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Month: January 2008

Notes From A Tired Mind

I apparently have the Thursday blahs today. I’m not sure if it is due to the pregnancy-induced insomnia that I’m now suffering from (even though I’m completely exhausted), the insomnia and general grouchiness that Zach has been suffering from the last week or so, or the fact that we were supposed to get up to eight inches of snow today and so far all I’ve seen is a few flurries. I was seriously hoping for a snow day. Eight inches of snow and an unexpected day home snuggling and watching TV with my boys was exactly what I needed. But no such luck. I woke up (late), looked out the window to see how much snow had fallen and all I could see was dead grass and a clear driveway.

The one thing I have to look forward to tonight is watching LOST. I’m seriously excited about that. I’m so excited, in fact, that I’ve been trying to come up with creative ways to get Zach to bed and asleep before 8:00. I’m guessing my chances aren’t real great though since it has been taking well over an hour lately to get him settled and asleep. I keep making the mistake of laying down with him until he falls asleep, but most of the time I end up falling asleep before he does. When I wake up – usually an hour or so later – he’s sound asleep. Unfortunately, this usually leaves me with a headache and by the time I get up and do the various other things I need to do before I go to bed I’m wide awake and can’t get back to sleep. I spend the rest of the night tossing and turning, covering and uncovering as I try to find the exact right balance of blankets and sheets, adjusting my 4(!) pillows that I seem to need these days, and stretching my calves in order to ward off the leg cramps that keep trying to set in. Oh, and when hubby tries to get all snuggly it takes everything in my power not to push him away. I love him dearly, but the last thing I need when I’m totally uncomfortable and can’t sleep is someone snuggling up next to me so that I can’t move.

So, back to the point of this post. I’m really looking forward to watching LOST. I’m just hoping that I can actually stay awake long enough to watch it and that I can remember enough details from last season that I’m not totally lost.


Don’t forget to keep checking in over at Recipe Corner.  The Super Bowl is coming up Sunday and we’ll be posting some great snack ideas over the next few days, like my sister’s yummy (yet oh so fattening) mozzarella dip.

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Some Of My Best Ideas Come From Blogs

Valentine's Decor

After seeing Zoot’s Valentine’s Day craft that she did with her two-year-old, I had to try it out. I dug out some colored paper and ribbon and Zach and I got busy making our own heart streamers. Since our Christmas paper chain was still hanging over the doorway, I thought maybe it was time to replace it with something different.

Zach got really excited when he saw the scissors, but he didn’t stay interested for long. Much to my dismay, he was more interested in the cartoons on TV. He helped a little bit, but I ended up doing most of it myself. Oh well, I think it looks cute. It also inspired me to try and make some homemade Valentine’s cards this year. Hopefully Zach will be more willing to help with those.

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Who Needs Productivity When You Can Sleep Instead?

Enough with the camera, mom!

This weekend ended up being extremely unproductive for me. I had all kinds of grand ideas for cleaning and organizing my house this weekend. I had even planned on taking down and washing curtains, dusting blinds and all sorts of things that I never actually do. As with anything I actually plan, none of that really happened. In fact, I didn’t get to any of my cleaning until about 9:30 Sunday night.

So, what did I do with my weekend instead? Actually I’m not sure. It seemed like the absolute shortest weekend ever. It started out Saturday morning with an emergency shoe shopping trip for the boy. He had been complaining about his shoes for a couple of weeks so I finally measured his feet and discovered that his shoes were entirely too small. He was wearing size 8 and actually needed a 9 1/2. Oops. No wonder he was complaining! So, we headed out for a quick shopping trip that ended up taking entirely longer than I had planned.

By the time we got home it was well past nap time. I got Zach down for his nap and then sat down to check my e-mail. Next thing I knew, two hours had passed and I was sitting up sleeping on the couch with my hand still on my laptop. Apparently I was a little more tired than I thought. We finished the night off with dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants and a visit to a friend’s house.

Sunday after church we ended up hanging out at my sister’s house. We were just about to head home when my brother and sister-in-law stopped by with my new niece so we had to stick around and visit with them for a while. By the time we finally got home it was after 6:00. I fixed Zach a quick dinner, then we sat down to snuggle for a bit before he had to get to bed.

By the time Zach was settled and in bed I was nearly ready for bed myself. I put in a load of laundry, picked up the living room, vacuumed the floor, folded one load of laundry, and headed to bed. I really can’t believe just how fast the time went.

Now here it is Monday night and I can’t believe how fast another day has gone by. There’s never enough time in the day to do all that I want to do. Well, not if I want to sleep anyway.

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Need A Little Help From the Babywearers

With Baby G’s arrival quickly approaching (only 9 more weeks!) I’m feeling this intense desire to get everything ready.  I’ve got a baby shower coming up in a few weeks, I’ve done the gift registries, and I’m anxiously waiting to see what adorable girly gifts my friends and family are going to bestow on me.  In the meantime though, I’m going crazy wanting to have everything ready.  It is taking every ounce of energy I have to keep myself from buying things while I wait.

The fun part about having a second baby is that I already have the majority of the “essentials” on hand.  I have the car seat, stroller, high chair, pack ‘n’ play, swing, etc.  That means that registering was a lot more fun.  I got to register for some of those frivolous things that I didn’t register for the last time around because I needed so many of the basics.  There are a few things of Zach’s that need replaced (bottle nipples, washcloths, bibs, etc.), and since I’m having a girl this time around I also want a few girly items to replace all of the blue.  Then there are the items I really wanted last time around that I just didn’t have the money for.

One of the things I really wanted and never managed to get when Zach was a baby was a sling.  I had a Snugli front carrier and later got a hip carrier, but I always wanted a sling when Zach was an infant.  Not only do I anticipate needing to have my hands free while mothering both an infant and a toddler, but I’m also hoping to find one that I can use to breastfeed a little more discretely when we’re out and about.  This is where I need help.  I’ve talked about wanting a sling so much that my mom has agreed to buy me one, but I have to pick out the one I want…and there are millions to choose from.  I found a couple that I like on Amazon, but it is so hard to tell from pictures which one would really be the best.

So, I’m looking for recommendations (with links, please!).  If any of you moms out there have used slings, which ones did you like or not like?  What was great about them?  What sucked about them?  How do you choose from the millions of options out there?

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Trying Not To Pass Along My Own Insecurities

I often complain about my lack of distinct memories from my childhood. I remember certain things that stand out, but my general memories aren’t that strong. I guess that’s why I don’t remember much about the day I hit my two front teeth – other than the seconds just before it happened.

I don’t remember how old I was, only that I know I was in elementary school and that I had not lost my baby teeth yet so I place it somewhere during kindergarten or first grade. It was recess time and instead of spending my thirty minutes of freedom on the swings as I normally did, I was playing tag or some similar game on the big play structure made of wooden logs. I can only imagine I was trying to escape the inevitable “tag” of my friend when I decided it would be a good idea to slide through the gap between the log steps and jump to the ground.

Apparently I misjudged the size of the gap because the next thing I knew I was lying on the ground with a bloody mouth and pain like I had never imagined. I don’t remember whether I got up and walked to the teacher or whether she came to me. I don’t remember much of what happened after that actually, except for the fact that my two front teeth turned a dark shade of gray.

I remember being so embarrassed of my teeth. From that point on I tried my hardest not to smile. I didn’t want anyone to see my dark, ugly teeth and think I had some terrible kind of tooth decay or something. I will say one thing though. I think I was the happiest kid on the planet when I finally lost those two front teeth and my permanent adult teeth came in.

Now, fast forward about 25 years or so. Here I am with my own child, a rambunctious little boy who loves to jump and climb and wrestle around whenever the opportunity presents itself. About a week or so ago he was snuggling in my lap and I was thinking to myself how lucky he is to have such nice straight teeth. I had a major overbite problem when I was a child so I’m really glad he didn’t inherit that from me. His teeth are – so far at least – nice and straight and almost perfectly aligned. He’s a lucky kid.

A couple days later I was helping him brush his teeth when I noticed something that didn’t look right. One of his front teeth looked a little dark. That sent all kinds of panicky feelings through me, but I told myself to chill out and check it again in a day or two. Two days later it was still dark, maybe even a little darker. Upon further investigation I discovered that his gums above the tooth were also a bit red and swollen. I can only imagine that he must have run into something (or someone) while playing. He’s not the type of kid who cries or fusses when he gets hurt unless he’s really trying to get some attention so no one even knew. Crap. Time for a visit to the dentist.

Teeth

A very goofy grin, but I was trying really hard to get a shot of his tooth.

Zach’s pediatrician had recommended at his 2 year check-up that I schedule a dentist visit for him just for a general check up. Of course I had put it off as I am prone to do with things like that. Friday morning I went on a search for a dentist that was covered under Hubby’s dental policy. I quickly found one only a couple of blocks away from Zach’s day care and made an appointment for Monday (the earliest they could get him in).

The dentist visit went very well. Zach got a little nervous, but overall did really well in the big dentist’s chair. They x-rayed the tooth, which looked perfectly fine, looked around in his mouth for a minute, gave him a little toy and a prescription for an antibiotic and sent us on our way.

The dentist said that everything was intact, that this happens all the time, and that the tooth would most likely stay discolored until he loses it in a few years. He told me what to watch for and gave him the antibiotic just in case there was any infection.

While it will probably never even phase him, all I can think about is how embarrassed I was about my gray teeth when I was younger. I didn’t have to live with it nearly as long as he will. He’s only two and will most likely not loose that tooth until he is 5 or 6. In the grand scheme of things it is a minor annoyance, but I can’t help but feel sad for him. He has such a great smile. I don’t want him to ever feel self-conscious about it.

One good thing has come about from this experience though. I finally scheduled myself a long overdue dental appointment while I had Zach there.

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The Big Reveal

recipecorner

I’ve mentioned several times lately that I’ve been working on a new project and it is finally ready to show off. There are still a few things to tweak here and there and I’m not 100% convinced that I like the layout so that might change in the near future too. But, it is functioning well enough to start getting a little traffic.

The site came about after months of discussions with my mom about needing a place to post all of our family recipes.  We were constantly e-mailing them between my mom, my sister, and I, and we decided there had to be a better way.  I’ve taken it a step further and have asked both family members and friends to send in contributions.  I’m hoping it will evolve into an online cookbook of sorts so that when I’m looking for recipes I can go there for some of my favorites and/or maybe find something new to try.

As with all new sites, there are probably some functions I haven’t tried out yet.  If you find something wonky, please let me know.  I would love some feedback/ideas/suggestions as I get this site off the ground.

Still here?  Please go on over and check out Recipe Corner!

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