Category: Living the Life

Things Causing My Brain Turmoil Today

Published by dee on September 21, 2006

The in-laws will arrive sometime either today or tomorrow. They are not sure if they are going to stop overnight or not. They very well could be at my house when I get home from work, which means that I don’t get my evening to myself with Zach and Hubby like I had planned. I’m really hoping that they will stop and not arrive until Friday (like they said they would). I really hope that they will understand (and not be offended by) my need to have a little bit of Mommy and Zach alone time while they are here. I only get about 2 1/2 hours a day with him as it is during the week and I don’t like the idea of sharing that time.
Hubby’s birthday is Sunday. He’ll be turning 30 this year and since he claims that until he met me his birthdays were always bad, I always try to make it a special day for him. This year we agreed to no gifts for birthdays or holidays in order to compensate for some traveling that we will be doing in the near future. Hubby is going to Pittsburgh in November. I’m going to Portland in December. Then, we’re all going to Hawaii in January. I kind of look at his trip to Pittsburgh as a birthday gift to him, but I still feel bad not having anything to give him on his birthday. We are having a few friends over Saturday for a party, but I feel like he just needs something special from me that says I love you and I got this special thing because you mean so much to me. I would just give him a card and some extra special lovin’ but his parents will be in the bedroom about 5 feet away from ours and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have to listen to the celebration.

Speaking of the party, my mom was supposed to watch Zach and my sister’s kids so that we could have a kid-free evening and enjoy the free-flowing booze without having to worry about waking up the babies and changing poopy diapers. However, there may end up being a little problem with that as my mom has been sick since Saturday and isn’t really showing signs of getting better. She has some mysterious illness that may or may not be some kind of cruel virus. She went to the doctor, had a bunch of blood drawn for tests, and still has no answers. She sees the doc again tomorrow and hopefully he’ll be able to tell her something. If she’s feeling better by Saturday, she still wants to keep the kids, but she’s been feeling very week and I’m just not sure that she’ll have it in her to chase around two toddlers. The older nephew will be fine, it’s just the little guys I worry about. If she’s not feeling better, I guess we’ll just have kids at the birthday party.
Another joy that goes along with my mom being sick is that she’s been out of the office all week. I actually don’t mind that so much, but it does leave me with even more work to do (and we all know how fond I am of work). So, being the good employee that I am, I procrastinate. I don’t know why I do it, but I seem to try to avoid actually working at all costs. I really hate this part of myself yet I can’t seem to make myself change.
My son, the sweet little innocent guy that I love with every ounce of my being, has started biting. More specifically, he’s been biting me. He doesn’t do it to anyone else. The worst part of it all is that he bites under the disguise of love. He’ll act like he’s giving me a hug or kiss and then chomp down. He has bitten me three times in as many days. The first time (that I briefly mentioned in yesterday’s post) he actually broke the skin and made me bleed. Then lastnight, as we were wandering around at Sam’s Club getting a few supplies for the weekend, he bit me again, this time on the shoulder. And then this morning, when I dropped him off at day care, I bent down to give him a kiss before I left and he bit me on the lip. He has done this a few times before but I personally think this is getting a bit excessive and I don’t know how to get him to stop. I also have no idea why he only bites me. He is getting some more teeth in, so that could be part of the problem, but I just don’t really think I taste that good.

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At this rate he'll be growing grey hair in a year!

Published by dee on September 20, 2006

The boy was being absolutely hillarious lastnight. He is just doing so many new things these days I can barely keep up, but yesterday he started doing something new. I posted before about him trying to sing along with one of his favorite Laurie Berkner songs, but then he was only singing to the one word he could repeat over and over. Yesterday, he started trying to sing along with an entire song. The only problem is, he can’t say the words so every word sounds the same. Well, and the other problem is that I discovered my son is totally tone deaf. I really hope that gets better with age. It is hard enough listening to his daddy sing! At least the boy has rhythm to go along with his tone deafness. He’s a dancing fool and I think he can keep a beat better than I can…and I gots me some rhythm! He loves to clap, spin, bounce, headbang, and sway to the music.

I turned on Jack’s Big Music Show for him lastnight (because he had already watched the Blue’s Clues that we had on the Tivo). Every time there is a visitor to the clubhouse, there is a little doorbell sound and Jack and his friends all say “Come in!” in this little singsongy way. Now, everytime Zach hears the doorbell sound, he belts out “Come In!” just like they say on the show. I know that’s not all that fantastic really, but I think it is just the cutest thing ever. I think it’s really cool that he’s connecting things like that.

Also, speaking of connections, every time he sees anything blue now, he hollers out “Blue’s Clues” because apparently he thinks everything blue is a dog or something. I’m really happy to see that he’s starting to recognize colors. Next we’ll be working on Magenta, Periwinkle, Orange Kitten, and Green Puppy. They’re all in his favorite Blue’s Clues book so that should be easy.

And, because I’m too lazy to try to edit video (and cause I’m at work and I’m pretty sure that’s not an acceptable work task) here are a couple of short video clips that I attempted to take lastnight. Please ignore my mess of a house, the shakiness, and the fact that he stops doing the cute stuff just as soon as I turn the camera on. The first video shows him doing a little bit of singing. The second one is of him saying “Come in!”

Because he was so cute, I totally forgive him for biting the heck out of me and causing me to actually bleed when I thought he was just trying to give me a hug.

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Wastin' Time Like It Was Free

Published by dee on September 19, 2006

Bullet style because I’m too lazy to try to make these things all fit together any other way:

Tonight is the Shinedown, Godsmack, Rob Zombie show here in KC and I’m very, very, bummed that I will not be attending. Three of my favorite bands playing all together in the same place and I’ll be at home cleaning my house and catching up on some tv time if I’m lucky (my shows are finally starting up again). I love having a kid, but I sure do miss my concerts. Instead, I made my own little Shinedown, Godsmack, Zombie show on my computer….minus the visuals and the crowd.
I ventured out into the world of podcasts this week. I’ve heard about them and read about them, but never actually checked one out until now. I have no idea why. What I discovered is that I really like them but if I’m going to listen to them at work, I might as well forget about getting any work done. Plus, headphones are a good thing…especially at work.
2 1/2 days until the in-laws come. My house is a mess and all I want to do is hang with the kid and the hubby and get my time in before I have to share them. I suppose I should at least put some sheets on the bed in the guest room and maybe get rid of the inch of dust that has collected in there.
Zach has been waking up early the last few days which makes it really difficult for me to get myself ready and out the door on time. I’m guessing that part of the reason he is waking up so early is that it is getting cold in his room. It is still too warm in the afternoons to even think about turning the heat on, but it gets pretty chilly at night. He won’t keep a blanket on so I have to dress him in those fleece all-in-one jammies with the feet to keep him warm. So, I went to Wal-Mart today to pick some up as he’s outgrown last year’s. I had to buy a freaking 3T to fit him. The 2T’s are too short for him. Last Spring he was just outgrowing the 12 month size.

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Ouch!

Published by dee on September 18, 2006

That was the first word utterred Sunday morning as I rolled over in bed. Every single muscle in my body ached. Did you know that even the muscles in your fingers can hurt? Well they can. I’m better now, but still just a tad bit sore.

Overall the moving of the mother went well. We got all but a few last minute items in the truck and only had to make one trip to the house. We actually could have gotten everything in and had room to spare if I had been there to supervise when the boys started loading the truck. Instead, I was stuck at the new house waiting for the new refrigerator to be delivered. By the time I got over to the apartment to help load the truck, it was too late to rearrange the furniture that had already been loaded. Regardless, it all got moved.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, my mom ended up feeling sick Saturday morning (and still is) so it made things a little more difficult than expected. She wasn’t able to do a whole lot, being ill and all, so us kids all pitched in after we moved and spent the rest of the day unpacking and setting things up at the house. There was still a lot of work to do, so we returned on Sunday and dug in again.

Hubby, Zach, and I left her house at around 8:30 lastnight and the house was at least liveable. There are still several more boxes to unpack and usual decorating and rearranging that comes with a new house, but for the most part it is done.

I am absolutely exhausted today. I feel like I didn’t even have a weekend. I’m also feeling slightly guilty about not getting to spend any real quality time with Zach this weekend, knowing that it was my last weekend to have him to myself for at least a month. I know he had a great time playing with his cousins all weekend, but I still feel like he needed a little one-on-one mommy time.

Only 3 1/2 more days until the in-laws show up. In the meantime I must get my house clean and figure out a way to get the dog puke smell out of the carpet (that’s a story for another time). Plus, I really need some snuggle time with my boy. I have a feeling I’m going to miss that a lot in the next month.

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Moving Day

Published by dee on September 15, 2006

As of yesterday, my mom is officially a homeowner for the first time in her life. Being the wife of a preacher for many years and living in parsonages provided by the church, she never has had the luxury of having a space that she could truly call her own. After my parents separated, she moved from apartment to apartment trying to find a place to settle. As anyone could probably imagine, she quickly grew tired of the apartment life and decided it was time to do something about it.

As I type this, she is at her new house, lovingly cleaning it from top to bottom. She is preparing the house for the grueling process of moving all of her belongings into it tomorrow. She is as giddy as a child on Christmas morning. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother so truly excited about anything. Owning her own home is a dream that she thought would never be a reality.

I’m so proud of her for going through with this and making her dream a reality. Even though she is nervous and terrified of the payments and the responsibility, this is a huge step in her life. I’ll admit that I’m a little tired of hearing about the house, blinds, curtains, shower curtains, and everything that goes along with making a house a home, but deep down I’m just so very happy for her.

Tomorrow all three of her children, our spouses, and kids will gather up, load all of her belongings into a big truck, drive to her new house, then unload it all. Then we will spend the evening with her arranging and setting up all of her furniture. We will celebrate a dream come true for our mother, who never thought she would see this day happen.

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Pawprints: The Latest Fashion Trend to Hit the KC Metro

Published by dee on September 13, 2006

The weather in KC has been a bit cooler and wetter (more wet?) recently. I’m not complaining at all because it means that I can start digging out my fall clothing and Zach can finally wear those very cute painter’s jeans that I bought him at Old Navy. What I don’t like is the wet grass and the mud in my yard that doesn’t quite dry out between rainfalls. My reason for this is simple: I don’t like to wear pawprints to work.

After my morning rush to get ready and get out the door, I glanced down to see that there was a little something on my khaki’s down around the ankle region. Upon further inspection, I discovered that the something on my pants was a couple of perfect little puppy pawprints. I noticed this as I was getting in the car. It was too late to go back and change as I was already running a few mintues late and I had to be at day care by 7:45. There would have been no point anyway as I didn’t have anything clean to change into.

So, here I am at work, looking at my pawprinted pants. I’m thinking Zoot’s idea of employer’s giving you Stained Clothing Days could have definitely applied in this case. It’s not like anyone will really see the pawprints anyway because they are tucked away under my desk where no one would probably want to look anyway. But, I really could have used a day off.

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