So, what's been going on in the last year + since I tried to start this process? Well, Gordon has grown into a little human... he's not just a screaming, pooping, little meatloaf anymore. He understands things we say, eats the same food we do, says words (granted there are just a few and really only I can understand them, but still), makes all sorts of animal and truck noises, and is generally just a joy to hang out with. That is unless he's missed a nap, in which case he makes for less than desirable company... but those days are few and far between - for now!
I contemplated going back to work after my maternity leave, went back and decided to quit the very same day I returned. I just couldn't imagine being gone for 50+ hours a week - things change so quickly with these little people I just couldn't miss out on such a big part of his life. I stayed for about a month to help out with some things the team was working on, plus it was nice to have some adult interaction for a while after staying home with an infant 24/7 for 4 solid months. No offense to my little man, but he wasn't bringing much to the table in those first few months - a lot of taking and not much giving :)
After my month back, I started a nanny job for 2 boys, Maclean and Ian Thomas, ages 4 and 7. Gordon and I hung out with them every afternoon, Monday through Friday doing school pick ups, shuttling to and from lessons, etc. for a few months until their dad was able to quit his job and stay home with the kids for a while since mom returned to work. We had a great time, but were also happy to just have some Gordon and Mommy time when they no longer needed us. Additionally, we found out in March that we were expecting our #2, so I was kind of happy to be able to spend some one on one time with Gordon before the baby comes.
Joe took an awesome paternity/FMLA leave when Gordon was born and was off pretty much from late September through early January 2011. We got to do some mini-trips to Carmel and Tahoe as well as a big trip to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving to go hang out with the Williams clan. It was so nice to have time to bond as a new little family. We were concerned Sophie might need some doggie anti-depressants after Gordon's arrival, but she bounced back pretty quickly. It was just a big adjustment going from getting all the attention to very little.
AMR lost the contract in Santa Clara and rather than just moving over to a Paramedic position with the new provider, Rural Metro, Joe took an office job with them as a Clinical Coordinator. He started with them in late May and has been working very hard ever since, but getting a ton of great experience and really getting to use some skills that he never would have when he was still working on the street.
We are just weeks away from welcoming Gordon's little sister into the world (though Joe is still convinced it just might be a boy!) She is due 12/3 and we are very excited/terrified/unsure of how the heck we're going to manage 2 babies... but mostly excited :) I'm already putting the bug in Joe's ear for a #3, but he mostly thinks I'm nuts - and he's probably right.
Other big things that have happened in the last year... hmmm... trip-wise, we took Gordon back to MI in May to meet the whole crew, we went to Portland in September for Danielle's wedding which was absolutely beautiful, and we did another Tahoe trip in October. Joe's parents made a visit out in February and helped us (okay- did it all for us) remodel the master bath, which looks great! His mom came back for a visit in October. My parents came out in December for a visit and enjoyed hanging out with Gordon for a few days.
We've passed many milestones with Little G - rolling, crawling, walking, teeth.... all kinds of big things. He started walking at about 11 months, which is long before Joe did as a baby and about a month before I did. He was pretty proficient by his first birthday party. He's currently 14.5 months and has 6 teeth (4 top and 2 bottom) with a third bottom tooth coming in now. At this point he's pretty much a little terrorist... running everywhere, climbing on top of the most dangerous things he can find, just standard boy stuff! Gordon and I try to keep quite busy during the week - we spend lots of time at local parks, he belongs to a playgroup that meets every Thursday, and he's got lots of little friends (OK - I have a couple of friends and they have kids.. but it works!) We do frequent trips to the zoo, coyote point/curiodyssey, and pretty much any place that he can wander around and remain relatively safe.
So there's a year in a nutshell. Future posts will be shorter and hopefully much more humorous. Now that we get to relive all those seemingly traumatizing infant moments, I'm sure we'll have all sorts of woes to share.
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