Storks and Such

First of all, Happy Birthday to my spectacular brother.  Carl, we love you and miss you!  You took the most awesome Senior Photo, about 18 years ago? Of which I must share. 

!!!!!!!!!!!

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So, here we are....approaching the fourteenth week of our holy s***, we're so fertile - how could this have happened?  Pregnancy.  Well, we know how it happened, so to speak.  But, when you have a surgical procedure to prevent such an occurrence - this phrase tends to be the first one uttered out of your mouth.  We are still waiting on some test results to find out exactly what is going on with the right fallopian tube, but as long as BB#2 is doing okay, and mama isn't having any major health risks, then we are counting our blessings.  I have a superstitious theory.  My wonderful in-laws bought this adorable wine holder for me back in August of 2010. 

The summer of 2010 was the last time I wasn't pregnant, or nursing, or changing diapers, or finding out that I was pregnant again.  It was before they bought me that birdie pelican thingy....that sort of resembles, oh I don't know.  THIS.

Just a superstitious moment.  That's all.  I'm over it now.  A stork is obviously not a pelican.  They did not mean to send me a baby making generating wine holder thingy, which I love by the way, and I'm keeping.

If anyone is wondering how I am feeling these days....this might sum it up.

A yawning hippo.  So, tired and bloated.  That about sums it up.

Here are some recent photos of my exciting life.  Oh, and Oregon is beautiful, spring is finally here!  We've been enjoying SOME sunshine, and lots of rain.  ;-) 

" Look out ladies.  I've got one front tooth, and I'm ready to party."

 "Hey, that's a shiny silver thing with buttons...."  reach, grab, reach,

fall.

 Love love love.

 Love this guy.

The girls tolerated my need to be crafty and motherly, and they dyed eggs for us.  Oh, and yes, that's dad in the background - getting himself a beer, which is well deserved and needed.  I miss my wine.

Naomi is fast approaching her fourteenth birthday.  jlkajfoiehaigoenwagovnoaroieuoiafjoij!!!!!! How in the world did this happen?  She is now officially taller than I am, and still growing.  The last couple of months have been very eventful....new contacts. (Freedom from glasses!)  A plane trip to CA all on her own to see her dad.  It all flies by so fast these days.

Sierra will be sixteen in September.  Need I say more.  Learner's permit, driver's license, etc.  She's growing into such a beautiful young lady, and her papa couldn't be more proud, and freaked out at the same time, of course.

And here we are, starting all over again.  Happy Spring! 

Let There Be Sleep

It's been just about 10 months.  10 months since I slept for more than 2 to 3 hours at a time, and this is no joke.  I was fully prepared for whatever was in store before my son was born. Yes, it had been a while since I had a baby, but I knew those first few weeks, and even months would be full of sleep deprivation.  Those last few weeks of pregnancy were like a sleep honeymoon for me and my little Reggie.  We slept, and slept, and slept.  Completely and totally uninterrupted, except for the frequent pee breaks.  People asked me if I was ready to have "That Baby" and I just smiled and said...I'm taking advantage of the sleep and rest while I can. 

Then our little man was born in the mid-morning hours.  He snoozed the day away.  He was like grandpa after a turkey dinner. Then around midnight, the need to nurse and be soothed began.  He was such a good little latcher, that I named him "Hannibal Latcher."  He tried to latch onto anything and anyone that came within an inch of his face.  He had no preference.  He stayed latched, and didn't appreciate not being latched.  So, I ignored the lactation nurse's advice and slipped him a pacifier.  He latched onto it.  Thank God. 

Weeks went by, I dutifully responded to his every little whimper, fuss, and wail.  In the back of my mind, I knew that soon I would have to teach him to self soothe.  Then months went by.  I put it off with my daughter until she was 10 months old, and it wasn't so bad.  Reggie was such a great little nurser, and slept just fine nestled next to me at night.  So, I put it off.  We had good nights, we had okay nights, but most of them were seriously lacking in needed sleep.

Long story short, I gave up.  We lived in a small apartment, noise was an issue with close neighbors.  I put a mattress on the floor next to the crib, and I became a co-sleeping mama.  I swore up and down that I would never do this, but I did it.  At first, it worked okay.  I slept okay.  He would wake up every couple hours, nurse, go back to sleep.  Repeat.  All night.

 
I wanted it to work so badly.  However, a good night's sleep never happened.  For either of us.  Not only was I not sleeping hardly at all, but I had a very fussy child on my hands, all day and all night.  The older he got, the worse it became.  This cartoon picture doesn't even begin to describe...

So, I threw in the towel.  I decided to teach Reggie how to self soothe at 9 months. 

We are still not quite all the way there, but I can say this.  My baby, the one that would wake at the drop of a pin, and the one that wouldn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time, tops.  Well, he's been sleeping through the night.  12 to 13 hours.  It has not been easy, but the full nights of sleep have been the most rewarding thing to both he and I.  I don't care about the neighbors anymore, yes - the woman upstairs did pound on her floor and yell something at me the other night.  However, the crying is temporary.  She can put in ear plugs.  I don't care anymore. 

If there's one thing I've learned as a mama, all babies and families are different, what works for one, won't always work for another.  Every situation is different.  Sometimes I enjoyed my co-sleeping, and bonding with my baby, and I secretly wish it hadn't impeded on his sleeping so badly.  It just wasn't right for him.  He was not able to establish a good sleeping rhythm, and it was wreaking havoc on his overall mood, and mine.  I wish he could have just stayed nestled to me, sleeping peacefully, but it was time to move forward, and so we did. 

This is the face of a very stubborn baby, who is about to be sleep trained. 



And this is the reason why I am even able to be on the computer and blogging right now.  Normally at this time, I would be trying to soothe a very fussy baby to sleep. 

Much better.  ;-)

Movie Day! Yay!

Chris and I decided we would treat ourselves to a movie day!  Yesterday.  He was not feeling so well, and took the day off work, so I packed up the baby and ran some errands.  I decided to head to the Redbox, I was super excited.  We hadn't seen any new movies in a while. 

Scrolling through my options.....I was looking for that new George Clooney one, we definitely wanted to see "The Descendants."  Nope, checked out.  That's okay.  I'll just get "The Ides of March"  he's in that one, and so is Gosling.  Win win.  It has to be good, right? 

Then my second choice.  "The Help".  Nope, that would definitely be too vagina of me.  How about...."Young Adult" with Charlize Theron.  He's always saying how the movie Monster just ruined her for him, and he couldn't even look at her the same anymore.  Maybe THIS would change his mind.  It looked funny. 

Then I remembered we also had an unwatched copy of "Friends With Benefits" with JT and that girl with the alien eyes from That Seventies Show.  We just couldn't go wrong.  Today was going to be the perfect movie day.  The best one ever. 

When I came home and announced my choices, he did not seem pleased.  He was not optimistic about my pickings.  Oh well, I would prove him wrong. 

The Ides of March was like trying to sit through a documentary about a bleeding heart Hollywood liberal who is so up to snuff with all the issues, that he has to make a movie.  About himself.  Running for President.  Suckfest.  Ryan Gosling, I loved you in The Notebook - but even you couldn't save this sack of movie S&%$.  Click.  Off.  I think we made it 20 minutes in. 

 Sigh....I miss the old Ryan.

Watching Young Adult was kind of like a car wreck.  It was that bad, we couldn't look away.  We just kept watching.  And boy should we not have ever.  What a waste of 2 hours.  Charlize Theron still disgusts Chris, in every way possible.  Probably more so than ever before.  He can thank me for that, and my stellar rental choices. 

Warning, this movie sucks.  Butt.

Ah yes, then there is the third and final straw.  Friends With Benefits.  I will just say this.  If I wanted to see horrible acting, and endless dry humping with only side and back nudity - I would turn on Cinemax after 11pm.  We shut that off after an hour of waiting for something to surprise us.  What an original plot! 

"Listen here!  The only people who will enjoy this movie are either super high, or 14 year old boys - but you will rent it anyway, and I will get paid.  Then I will star in another stupid movie.  That you will pay to see, because you forgot about this one, and just how bad it was." 

Maybe if we had started drinking a little earlier, it would have been more bearable.  No, probably still NOT.  

Happy St. Pat's!

Have a green beer for me!

Movement

Just a couple of months ago, it was so easy to get a snapshot of Reggie, with that gummy smile - he would sit and pose for me.  What a good baby.

This is what I get now....he literally just doesn't stop moving.  Every picture has a blur in it.

 Or his backside, as he pretty much rolls out of every shot.

 He managed to almost completely roll out of this one.

 He isn't crawling.  He just gets on his haunches and rocks back and forth, drops, then rolls.

 He was so excited by his reflection that he just couldn't stop flapping.  For even a second.

 The trick is to trap him in a sitting position, where he can't move.  This was a lucky shot.

I am exhausted, but very happy to have a healthy baby boy - who is teething crazy right now. Not to brag or anything, but I think he slept a total of 2 hours last night.  He slept better when he was a newborn. 

Hope everyone had a lovely V-Day. 

Click here for some chuckles.



Inspired

It's been one of those months.  You know, where there is not a lot of motivation.  Frustration and aggravation tend to trump motivation when the two are linked together. 

Have you ever said a prayer, and then apologized to God - because your request really just in the grand scheme of things is probably...well, pathetic?

"Please make ______ stop doing what they are doing.  Because if they don't, I'm going to lose my frackin' mind!"

  For the most part, if we need things to change, or want them to change, we have to take the first step.  Divine intervention is not really an option.  In my humble opinion, God has a greater plan, and it doesn't consist of ridding me of all my annoyances and making MY life easier, and saving me from all that is painful, and heart wrenching, and even dreadful. 

So, here is to all the lovely beings that have come and gone from my life.  The ones that I can't seem to get away from, the ones that I want to stay with forever (if only this life would allow), and the ones that break my heart and melt it at the same time, (children).  You have made me who I am, and from you I have learned more than I wanted to at times, there's been joy, sadness, grief, unconditional love, hatred, and every other strong emotion I could possibly conjure up. 

I ramble on about this because on days like this, sometimes I wonder why I am where I am at this moment, and all I know is that I am supposed to be here, and all I want is to know where to go next.  What is my next step?  Days like this where I haven't had a chance to even shower yet, I ate Top Ramen for lunch, and I am bored out of my mind, and too exhausted to do anything about it.  :-)

And for the love of diapers, where is my motivation? 

Thanks, Bill.

Bill Gates: 11 Things You Won't Learn in High School
 Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
 Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one

Blocked

The writer of this blog has temporarily reached an impasse.  Sometimes random thoughts and information do enter into the orbital lobe, however, nothing has been coming out.  Not one clever "ism" or witty and snarky thought on the day, week, or month, or rating of an amazing side mullet that she spotted at the Winco.  Things go in, all the time.  They are just not being processed in the usual way.   Perhaps it is because these days she is finding herself blissfully unaware of a lot of things in general - life has slowed down, just a smidge.  Although, there is time, there really isn't when you are caring for a little human who is so vulnerable, so in need of your utmost attention, yet so precious.  All rolled into this chubby little diapered package.  She does find time to do the things she enjoys, but mostly these things succumb to the overwhelming need for a damn nap.  That should be one word.  Damnap. Or, more accurately, the baby waking up, which he did four times while I was trying to write this damnblogpost.  It's nearly 11pm.

I need some of this, for my brain. For now, you have no idea how accomplished I feel that I was able to get the baby back to sleep, and write something.  Anything.  Accomplishment!