I am not one to shove pictures and videos down people's throats, but here I am shoving. We love our little man to pieces, and we are just in awe. From every little grunt, hiccup, gasey smile, poop, and wail. There is something magical about a newborn baby, and it is such a fleeting moment in your life with your child. Before we know it there will be baby food, tantrums, and backtalk. For now, just bliss - and little sleep. ;-)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A Long Weekend
I had the most fantastical and interesting bout with false labor this last week! All I can really say is....well, damn it. It was unpleasant. So maybe it did some work - and when it actually really gets going I won't have quite as much work to do. Nonetheless, by Saturday evening, we came to terms with the fact that little Reginald was not going to make his appearance this weekend after all... and we decided to make the most of it and enjoy the much needed rest and sunshine.
We stopped at the Veteran's Memorial at the park to pay our respects. We enjoyed some family bonding time, and a nice day in Morro Bay and Cayucos. Note, I cannot walk out of my apartment or go anywhere for that matter these days without drawing attention to myself. I realize now, looking at this picture - that even wearing a big bulky black sweatshirt cannot mask the fact that I am ready to pop.
We stopped at the Veteran's Memorial at the park to pay our respects. We enjoyed some family bonding time, and a nice day in Morro Bay and Cayucos. Note, I cannot walk out of my apartment or go anywhere for that matter these days without drawing attention to myself. I realize now, looking at this picture - that even wearing a big bulky black sweatshirt cannot mask the fact that I am ready to pop.
Chris was amazing, and so supportive, cooking and cleaning, and making sure to spend some extra time with Naomi, who yes. Even at almost 13 is showing signs of jealousy. More on that later....but very grateful to have such a caring and thoughtful person to share my life with, and a strong male role model that my daughter can look up to and learn from, and that my son will call Dad. So emotional. So pregnant. Sniff sniff....Until next time ~
Oh, if you need a laugh, check this out. Bahahahhaahahahaha!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Baby Shower
I had the best time. I was resigned to not even have a Baby Shower, this being my second time around. However, I have some very wonderful and generous people in my life who took the time and effort to do something very special for myself and my family ~ so thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
Responsibility
Well, it’s been a while. Aside from finally taking my leave at work - at 36 weeks, (we’re now at 39 - and that "Final Countdown" song is in my head right now), I have still yet to find the time for the things I really would like to do. Using that sewing machine, putting time and effort into writing, (I was craving chocolate covered frozen bananas…like 3 months ago - my blog has been abandoned it seems), and maybe even really getting lost in a book. Alas, I think that maybe I am avoiding all of these things due to an overwhelming need to nest. To prepare for what is very soon to come. I wake in the morning with excitement about doing a flipping load of laundry for Pete’s sake. Crazy. Maybe so - because in my normal daily life, laundry was a pain in my ass that I had to make time for around my work schedule. Now here I am at home, and I can do laundry all day. If there’s nothing to wash, I will find something damn it. And I dare anyone to try and stop me! I’ve washed all of my son’s clothes - and every time we receive or purchase anything new for him…I get excited about washing it. Seriously. Here is our little nursery nook. We are planning on moving in the not too distant future - so trying to keep things simple. Also, I love that this bassinet is portable. It is going to be right next to my bed very soon!
Anyhow, back to the subject at hand...sometimes, it takes certain things to shake me up, to you know…get me writing. When life is complacent and with its normal annoyances, I tend to get caught up in the mundane. I start to just go through the motions. However, there are things keeping me up at night lately. Maybe it’s just my pregnant body preparing me for the very near future. Whatever it is, I cannot fall asleep at a decent hour these days, and when my mind does shut down - it is very soon awoken with thoughts that nag at my brain. Mistakes I have made in the past (regrets), something I said that I wish I could take back, or just all the bad things that happen every day, every moment in this world - and how lucky I am that I have my family and home, and that we are all safe and relatively happy.
I guess, I carry a whole crap load of guilt around on my shoulders. I feel awful about things I did nearly 2 decades ago to my parents. I lay awake at night wondering if my daughter will ever be able to get past her hurt and anger over coming from a broken home and all the emotional trimmings that go along with it. No matter how I try to explain to her all the why’s and how’s of all the choices I made in the past - in order to change our circumstances, there is still resentment and blame there, and it is dead center focused on me. Selfishly, I just want to scream at the top of my lungs and let it all out. Like a child. Exclaiming proclamations and placing blame anywhere but on myself. Shouting out what I believe to be true and right, and vindicating myself from all of it. From the mess that I most undoubtedly bestowed upon her - along with others. However, I am mom, the sole caretaker, the one who had to put a stop to the way things were, and therefore, the target. The punching bag.
When I really sit back and think about it - I absolutely get it. I understand, and I accept it. I am not too proud a parent to pause at certain times and apologize when warranted. Yes, there is a limit - I am the adult, and there has to be a level of respect and obedience on her part, but I also have to take all those emotions and really stop and pay attention to them when they come flying at me, because - she has every right to feel them. Sometimes they come in a whisper, sometimes through tears, sometimes hysteria, and sometimes with utter and complete deafening silence. The logical side of me knows…no matter what. She would have these emotions. Even if our lives were the most ordinary of ordinary. It’s her age and stage. She would find something to be angry about, she would find something to question, something, anything to create a stir.
Being a parent is the most beautiful and heartbreaking experience of my life. It has humbled me to the core - and brought me to my knees many a time. There is something so fragile and delicate about our relationship with our children. We will undoubtedly fail, we will inevitably have our hearts broken in ways we never could have even begun to imagine.
In many ways, I believe that through all of this I have learned more than anything…that I shouldn’t obsess and over analyze everything that has happened to me while on this earth, (aside from the absolutely tragic moments in life). That yes, it hurt like hell when this or that happened, and yes, it changed me. No matter who’s fault it was, no matter who was responsible - I hold the power in how I choose to process it. In how I take those experiences and move on with my life, because at the end of the day, it’s my life, it’s my happiness - and my responsibility to get on with it, before it catches up and swallows me and who I am and everything I wish to be. OMG - I sound like an episode of Oprah.
For my daughter, I hope she grows to learn some sense of this. After all the teenage drama and questioning of authority and blah blah blah. So annoying. Ahem.... Someday, hopefully not too many years from now, I hope she can take all my mistakes and those of others that affected her - and be stronger for it. I hope she can look into her own child’s eyes one day and see the bigger picture. I hope that she is humbled and blessed at the same time, and grows to know and realize that she is the only one responsible for her well being and peace of mind, that no one or no thing can take that away from her. That yes, it's okay to feel angry and to face all of those things that we feel messed us up in our life (sometimes head on), but also.... life has to move on and in order to grow personally, we must take all that crap, and let it go - if not all of it, as much as we can. We are responsible for our actions, for how we react, for how we choose to live despite what life throws at us. A lesson that I can never teach her - but only let her learn and find on her own.
This is not to say that I am the mother of a morose and miserable young lady, who sits around looking for things to complain about. To the contrary! I am so proud of her and all her accomplishments. I am in awe of her tenacity and amused by her unique and sometimes strange and hilarious sense of humor. I am touched by her sweet sensibility and love of things all family oriented. This is a child who will sit and talk with all the adults in the room with no interest whatsoever in texting on her phone, or browsing the Internet on her laptop. She would much rather hang out with mom - or whomever is at home, asking us endless questions and proclaiming unproven facts about everything from the assassination of Osama Bin Laden to hybrid dolphins in the Pacific. I am shocked frankly, at how smart she is - and wonder where she got it from. Probably her Uncle Bob. Certainly not yours truly!
In the meantime, I will do my best - as a mother to a teenage girl to keep my cool (most of the time) and refrain from unleashing my motherly wrath upon her whenever my temper gets lost. I will save my abandonment of sanity and patience, only for the most necessary of times when warranted, and that’s all I can say about that. ;-)
Anyhow, back to the subject at hand...sometimes, it takes certain things to shake me up, to you know…get me writing. When life is complacent and with its normal annoyances, I tend to get caught up in the mundane. I start to just go through the motions. However, there are things keeping me up at night lately. Maybe it’s just my pregnant body preparing me for the very near future. Whatever it is, I cannot fall asleep at a decent hour these days, and when my mind does shut down - it is very soon awoken with thoughts that nag at my brain. Mistakes I have made in the past (regrets), something I said that I wish I could take back, or just all the bad things that happen every day, every moment in this world - and how lucky I am that I have my family and home, and that we are all safe and relatively happy.
I guess, I carry a whole crap load of guilt around on my shoulders. I feel awful about things I did nearly 2 decades ago to my parents. I lay awake at night wondering if my daughter will ever be able to get past her hurt and anger over coming from a broken home and all the emotional trimmings that go along with it. No matter how I try to explain to her all the why’s and how’s of all the choices I made in the past - in order to change our circumstances, there is still resentment and blame there, and it is dead center focused on me. Selfishly, I just want to scream at the top of my lungs and let it all out. Like a child. Exclaiming proclamations and placing blame anywhere but on myself. Shouting out what I believe to be true and right, and vindicating myself from all of it. From the mess that I most undoubtedly bestowed upon her - along with others. However, I am mom, the sole caretaker, the one who had to put a stop to the way things were, and therefore, the target. The punching bag.
When I really sit back and think about it - I absolutely get it. I understand, and I accept it. I am not too proud a parent to pause at certain times and apologize when warranted. Yes, there is a limit - I am the adult, and there has to be a level of respect and obedience on her part, but I also have to take all those emotions and really stop and pay attention to them when they come flying at me, because - she has every right to feel them. Sometimes they come in a whisper, sometimes through tears, sometimes hysteria, and sometimes with utter and complete deafening silence. The logical side of me knows…no matter what. She would have these emotions. Even if our lives were the most ordinary of ordinary. It’s her age and stage. She would find something to be angry about, she would find something to question, something, anything to create a stir.
Being a parent is the most beautiful and heartbreaking experience of my life. It has humbled me to the core - and brought me to my knees many a time. There is something so fragile and delicate about our relationship with our children. We will undoubtedly fail, we will inevitably have our hearts broken in ways we never could have even begun to imagine.
In many ways, I believe that through all of this I have learned more than anything…that I shouldn’t obsess and over analyze everything that has happened to me while on this earth, (aside from the absolutely tragic moments in life). That yes, it hurt like hell when this or that happened, and yes, it changed me. No matter who’s fault it was, no matter who was responsible - I hold the power in how I choose to process it. In how I take those experiences and move on with my life, because at the end of the day, it’s my life, it’s my happiness - and my responsibility to get on with it, before it catches up and swallows me and who I am and everything I wish to be. OMG - I sound like an episode of Oprah.
For my daughter, I hope she grows to learn some sense of this. After all the teenage drama and questioning of authority and blah blah blah. So annoying. Ahem.... Someday, hopefully not too many years from now, I hope she can take all my mistakes and those of others that affected her - and be stronger for it. I hope she can look into her own child’s eyes one day and see the bigger picture. I hope that she is humbled and blessed at the same time, and grows to know and realize that she is the only one responsible for her well being and peace of mind, that no one or no thing can take that away from her. That yes, it's okay to feel angry and to face all of those things that we feel messed us up in our life (sometimes head on), but also.... life has to move on and in order to grow personally, we must take all that crap, and let it go - if not all of it, as much as we can. We are responsible for our actions, for how we react, for how we choose to live despite what life throws at us. A lesson that I can never teach her - but only let her learn and find on her own.
This is not to say that I am the mother of a morose and miserable young lady, who sits around looking for things to complain about. To the contrary! I am so proud of her and all her accomplishments. I am in awe of her tenacity and amused by her unique and sometimes strange and hilarious sense of humor. I am touched by her sweet sensibility and love of things all family oriented. This is a child who will sit and talk with all the adults in the room with no interest whatsoever in texting on her phone, or browsing the Internet on her laptop. She would much rather hang out with mom - or whomever is at home, asking us endless questions and proclaiming unproven facts about everything from the assassination of Osama Bin Laden to hybrid dolphins in the Pacific. I am shocked frankly, at how smart she is - and wonder where she got it from. Probably her Uncle Bob. Certainly not yours truly!
In the meantime, I will do my best - as a mother to a teenage girl to keep my cool (most of the time) and refrain from unleashing my motherly wrath upon her whenever my temper gets lost. I will save my abandonment of sanity and patience, only for the most necessary of times when warranted, and that’s all I can say about that. ;-)
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Oh, Come On!
Ever stopped and paused during certain moments in your life, to just ask....why? Just to nobody in particular. Why? I mean, come on! I don't mean WHY in a bad way. There's always that, when bad things happen, and let's face it - there are a lot of bad things happening right now.
However, let me lighten the emotional toll and burden for a few, let's talk about funny crap. Awkward funny. Seriously uncomfortable moments that you have to handle head on. Things that you will definitely look back on later and laugh, sometimes these things piss you off at the same time (while making you smirk on the inside) because you know you will most definitely be laughing later, but you're annoyed that you have to deal with them. Moments like this. One of your students walks through the door with one of these on Friday morning.
However, let me lighten the emotional toll and burden for a few, let's talk about funny crap. Awkward funny. Seriously uncomfortable moments that you have to handle head on. Things that you will definitely look back on later and laugh, sometimes these things piss you off at the same time (while making you smirk on the inside) because you know you will most definitely be laughing later, but you're annoyed that you have to deal with them. Moments like this. One of your students walks through the door with one of these on Friday morning.
Nothing weird about this. Nothing wrong at all. Except for this balloon had the words "Bailey's and Bushmills" plastered across it in bold lettering, and dad was clearly recovering from the night prior. I just discreetly put it in her cubby where it stood there suspended in the air for all parents to muse and chuckle over, as they picked up and dropped off during the day. It was a good time had by all. But really dad? Come on!
Then there was this incident.....so call me a prude, but I don't have things like this in my underwear drawer. I wouldn't know what to do with a tiny little thing such as this. I mean, why even wear anything at all? Seriously, people pay for stuff like this? Give me some ribbon, a small doily and a permanent marker - I'm going into the string underwear making business. Kudos to the mom with the rock hard bod who can still pull off such a naughty look, but shame on her for not using fabric softener, because her daughter walked into class with THIS stuck to the backside of her jacket.
Well, I couldn't even find a picture to do it justice. Seriously. Nothing small enough. So....use your imagination.
At first, embarrassingly - probably because of the lace and little tiny flower at the top...I thought for sure it was a pretty pretty headband, and I almost nearly, quite possibly could have tried to put it on her daughter's head. It would have fit perfectly. Maybe I'm an ass, but I thought I would save mom the embarrassment - and I threw it away. It was the only prudent thing I could think to do. Save her the humiliation, and really, would she actually even notice it was missing? Come on!
This leads me to another story, of which I did not have the pleasure of experiencing firsthand. It involved a nearly 4-year-old boy, who is still on the potty training wagon. He is a large toddler in my class. We love him. He's got great parents, and bless them for raising such a strong willed and spirited little man. However, he had just been changed, the kids were playing outside for the last part of the day. Dad came shortly to pick his little guy up for the evening. He quickly noticed that his son had created something significant and solid in his diaper.
He then proceeded to ask the closing Teacher if she would so kindly change him. She patiently explained to him that she couldn't possibly, because she was alone with 10 children outside already, and she had just changed his son 10 minutes ago. Oh, come on!!!!!!! You can't take 5 minutes to change your son? You seriously just asked a poor girl, who has her hands completely full, to drop everything, shuttle nearly a dozen children into the bathroom, so she can change your child's stinky, while you stand in the corner checking your watch????!!!!!! Deep breaths...
Then there's the mom who told me that her daughter was doing so well with using the potty, because she knew that if she stopped pooping her pants - are you ready? Wait for it......they would be taking her to Disneyland! Oh, flippin COME ON!!
I am a parent, I say and do stupid things quite frequently. I don't think it's okay to make fun of people. However, there are some parents who amuse me beyond words, and just when I feel like I've seen and heard it all.....I am blessed with fresh and new moments to chuckle and giggle about - and maybe share with a friend or two.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Fundraising
Somebody earned nearly 40 dollars on Friday. From these two boxes, and a little bit of effort. I think I'm in the wrong line of work. Good job Nay! Only about $400.00 left to go...
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