Post #100

Hello everyone,

I am back! Wow! I have been really, really bad about updating my blog. I haven't posted since March, so it's been six months. Lol! I guess that's what happens when you have a toddler, your own business to run, and a house to take care of. As busy as I am, I really am going to try to post here at least once a week to update on what's going on with my little family.

Well, I got my state license to do home daycare back in April, so I have been a child care provider for five months now and I am so glad I made this decision. I can honestly say that I love my job and that I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I have bad days, just like with any other job, but nothing beats being able to be home with Tristan while playing and teaching him as well as all of the other children that are here everyday. What could be better?

It gets stressful running the daycare though. Not just the kids, but the record keeping, shopping, planning lessons, cleaning, sanitizing, etc. I think as soon as we get some of our debt paid off and I fill my last opening in the daycare that I am going to hire an assistant. I could definitely use one! Lol!

Tristan is doing so well! He just had his first birthday two weeks ago. I still can't believe that I am a parent of a toddler now instead of a baby! He is so smart. He knows how to say mom, dad, duck, ball, hi, and a couple of other words. He also tries to sing E-I-E-I-O when we are singing Old McDonald. Lol! So cute! He can sign milk, more, kiss, all done, please, and he is learning more and more each day. I love my little man.

Robbie and I are doing great. We have been together for almost four years now and I love him more and more all of the time. He is a great husband and a wonderful dad to Tristan. He has been so patient with me and my business and helps out around the house whenever he can. I feel so lucky to have him in my life.

Life in general is just great! The first part of the year was really rough because I was starting the daycare, but things are getting better and better all of the time. I am starting to get baby hungry again. I know so many people that are pregnant with baby #2, but Robbie and I both think it would be best to wait until Tristan turns two before we start trying for our next baby. So I'll just have to wait I guess. =/

Sorry for the novel. Hopefully it won't be so long before I post again next time. ;)

formspring.me

A friend of mine started doing this and I thought it was pretty interesting, so I decided to try it myself. Ask me anything, http://formspring.me/RisingSun2010 All of the questions are anonymous, so I don't even have to know who is asking me what question, unless you want me to. =)

YES!!! 8 More Days!

...Until I get my State License! My licensing specialist called me yesterday to tell me that they received my application, they have processed our background checks as well as the rest of the paper work I had to send in, and she is ready to inspect my house!

I have the checklist for the licensing inspection. It is 14 pages long! She said it is going to take about 2.5 hours! At least I know what to expect though.

I'm so ready for this inspection and to finally get my license. I have been working for this for awhile now. We have hit more bumps in the road than intended, so it feels good that this process is finally coming to an end.

I have been trying to find kids to watch for the last month with no luck thus far, but I'm confident that once I get my State License it will make a huge difference. I will have help from Child Care Resource and Referral then and I will be able to accept families who need state assistance.

I ordered some flyers yesterday. One more form of advertising in addition to my website, Facebook, the Rising Sun Fun Care blog, KSL, and the local paper. I have business cards too. I have been marketing like crazy and my efforts are starting to pay off.

I am so excited! I could just cry. I can't wait!

Family Update

I haven't updated on what is going on with our little family for awhile, so I thought I would bring everyone up to speed.

Tristan is now 5.5 months old! I can't even believe that much time has gone by since he was born. He loves to roll over, he can sit up on his own, and he tries to crawl, but hasn't quite figured out how yet. He just scoots on his tummy and kicks his legs out. Lol!

He loves to grab onto everything he can; including mommy and daddy's plates when we are trying to eat. He is a little chatter box. He loves to talk, talk, talk. He can say 'mama', but that is his only word so far. His favorite toys are his car and our chihuahua, Roadie. He thinks he is so funny! Every time he sees him he laughs. Lol!

Speaking of Roadie, he is doing great. He misses Chili though and I didn't think he would. Oh, I haven't told you yet... We found a family for Chili. It was really hard to let him go, but not as hard as I thought it would be. I think I would have had a much more difficult time if I had to take him to a shelter.

The family that has him is really great. They came over, met with us, played with Chili. Chili chose them more than they chose him. When it came time to leave, he left with that family and didn't even look back. I knew at that moment that's who he was supposed to be with. They will give him the love and attention he deserves. I will always miss him though.

Now that Chili has a home I can finally start my day care! I have everything done but my building inspection (to make sure our house is structurally sound and up to code) and my policies and procedures. I'm putting the final touches on those today and my building inspection is this week! Once those two things are done I can send everything into the bureau of child care licensing!

What is even better is I can watch four kids including Tristan while I am waiting for everything to process at the bureau. So I can start taking kids any day now! I'm so excited. I have worked so hard for this. I started this process in October and everything I have done is finally paying off. I am so happy.

That is my little update on what is going on in the Randall family's world. Talk to you soon!

Beautiful Boy

Close your eyes
Have no fear
The monster's gone
He's on the run and your mommy's here

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy

Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy

Out on the ocean sailing away
I can hardly wait
To see you to come of age
But I guess we'll both
Just have to be patient
Yes it's a long way to go
But in the meantime

Before you cross the street
Take my hand
Life is just what happens to you
While your busy making other plans

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Tristan

Brindle Pit Bull/Lab Mix (Male)

This is the ad I put on KSL for Chili Pepper. If you know anyone who is interested in having my dog, please have them contact me a.s.a.p.

My husband and I are looking for a good home for our 2 year old pit bull/lab mix. He is all brindle with the exception of a small white patch of fur on his chest, and he weighs approximately 64 lbs. He is a beautiful animal; he is neutered, and is current on all of his vaccinations.

He does not get along well with young children or other pets, but he is great with adults and older kids. He is very active and loves to go camping, fishing, and take long walks. So someone who loves the outdoors would be preferred.

A large, fenced backyard is a must for this dog. He has a lot of energy and needs a lot of area to run around in.

He is a lot of fun and a great dog. We would love to keep him, but we have a new baby and we haven't had time to give him the attention he needs and deserves.

We are not asking for any money. We are giving him away. What is important to us is that he goes to a good and loving home.

Does Anyone Want A Dog?

Does anyone want a pit bull/lab mix, or know anyone who might? There was an incident with Chili Pepper and Roadie and we have to get rid of him. It breaks my heart because Robbie and I have raised Chili from a puppy, but I can't risk anything happening to Tristan after what happened to Roadie. I'll explain...

About two weeks ago Roadie was chewing on one of Chili's raw hides. Chili got mad. Normally Chili will just let it go, but this time he didn't. He bit Roadie's head and Roadie's eye popped out of the socket. It was just hanging out of his head! It was probably one of the most traumatizing things I've ever seen.

We had to take Roadie to the vet right away. It was about 8:30 at night when this happened so they were closed. Luckily, the vet had an emergency number to call. We were able to get a hold of him and he met us at the vet office.

Roadie had to have emergency surgery and had to stay over night and most of the next day. The vet was able to get his eye back in, but poor Roadie is now blind in his left eye. Other than that he is okay. Thank God!

I love Chili to death, but all I have been thinking about since this happened is what if this had happened to Tristan? I would be devastated! It was bad enough that it happened to Roadie. I knew right away that we had to get rid of him. Robbie wanted to keep him. Chili is Robbie's dog and he is very attached to him. We argued and fought about it constantly until two days ago. He now realizes that we can't take a chance on our son.

So, we need to find a good home for Chili. We don't want any money for him. We are giving him away. It needs to be someone that will love him and give him the attention that he needs. Someone who doesn't have young kids or other pets. He is great with adults and older kids though!

A big, fenced yard is a must! He has a lot of energy and needs to be able to run around. Someone who is active and loves outdoors activities. Robbie and I used to take him to the dog park, camping, fishing, on long walks, etc. If he doesn't have this he gets antsy and he'll drive you crazy! Lol!

I'm really sad about everything that has happened, but I have to think about my family and what is best for us. I wish we had the time to give Chili the attention that he needs, but with a new baby we don't anymore. If you all could spread the word I would greatly appreciate it. I would rather someone that we know have him to put my mind at ease and so that we might be able to visit him once in awhile. Thanks everyone!

Stay At Home Mommy!

Well, work at home mommy anyway. I gave 30 days notice at my job last week and it felt so good! My last day is January 8th. Just four more weeks and I'll be home with my baby full time. I am so happy I can hardly stand it!

Everything is falling into place for my home day care. I am CPR and First Aid certified, I have my food handlers permit, I'm calling Tooele City about my business license tomorrow, I have all of things to safety proof my house. I should be ready to open up for business mid January.

I am so happy. I feel so blessed that I have this opportunity. Merry Christmas to me and my wonderful family! It's the best gift ever! =)

An Update of Sorts...

Well, it's been a month since I've posted so I thought I would update. I just never have time anymore.

Chili is fine. Our neighbors were assholes and said that Chili bit their dog when he didn't. He passed all of his aggression tests and was very well behaved while in quarentine. So we got him back after two days instead of ten. I'm so thankful I got my dog back.

The newest thing that I'm going through is postpartum depression. I didn't really understand how anyone could be so depressed after giving birth to a beautiful baby. What is there to be sad about? Now I have PPD.

It is awful! I cry everyday. It's mostly when I'm at work. I think about Tristan and I bawl my eyes out because I'm not with him. Sometimes I cry for no reason. I haven't been sleeping well, I never want to eat. I know that my hormones and brain chemicals are out of whack, but I hate feeling like this all of the time.

My doctor prescribed me Zoloft. It's been taking the edge off, but it's making me sick. Apparently my body needs to adjust to it for a couple of weeks though. I have an appt on the 15th to talk about it with my doc.

I think that me being home with Tristan will help so much though. I got my CPR and First Aid Certification today so I'm one step closer to getting my day care business. I'm going to be able to turn in my two weeks after Christmas and that keeps me sane every day I sit behind that desk. Getting state licensed is a lot of work, but it will be so worth it. I'm very grateful to my dad for helping me get started. I couldn't do it without him. At least not this soon.

That's the jist of what's happening now. I'll post again when I can.

I Hate Animal Control

Wow! I haven't blogged in such a long time. I've really been slacking. I do feel that this is important though and I want to share it with all of you.

We came home from work around 5:30 on Friday and found a notice on our door from Tooele City Animal Control. It said that Chili was involved in an incident of biting another dog and that he would have to be quarentined for a minimum of 10 days. It also said if we didn't take him in within 24 hours they would be forced to take further action.

Needless to say, I was in a panic. We rushed inside, then headed straight for our backyard. Chili and Roadie were both still out there. We checked our gate and it was locked and secure. Chili did rip a couple of the planks of our wood fence out which sucks for us, but the hole wasn't big enough for Chili to fit through and he didn't do any damage to the chain link fence in our neighbors yard.

We called animal control to find out what happened. If you know Chili, you know his mouth is too big to fit through a hole in a chain link fence so there was no way he could have bit a dog through there. The lady at animal control had no information because the officer that left the notice on our door didn't file the report before her shift ended. They said we could call back on Monday, but in the mean time we had to bring Chili in, or they would issue a warrant, they would come take him, and we would be fined!

I was furious! They didn't even have a record of what happened, but he has to be quarentined and observed for 10 days anyway and they threatened to fine us and take him away if we didn't comply. So we still have no idea what he did, but if he really did bite our neighbors dog, he was in our neighbors back yard playing so it obviously wasn't serious enough to need medical attention.

Now we have to just wait. If they decide he's not a threat they will release him back to us. If they decide he is dangerous or even potentially dangerous he will have to have a hearing and we can be fined anywhere from $50 to $500. Worst case scenario is that he'll be put down.

I'm so scared for Chili. When we brought him in he was shaking, he was so scared. He started whimpering and crying when they put him in the kennel. The kennels there are so disgusting! It smelled like shit and it didn't look like anyone had cleaned the kennels for days. I felt awful having to leave him there. I hope he's good while he's there so we can bring him home.

I'll post another blog when we get some answers. Fuck Tooele City Animal Control! I am so furious with them and I'm terrified for the fate of Chili Pepper. Everyone cross your fingers and pray that we can bring him home.