Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Wordless Wednesday


 
 
 
 

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'...


Keep

That

Baby

Rollin'
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Serving Solids


 "Wait a minute... that pizza you ate doesn't look this green... what is this stuff?!"

When we got home on Saturday, the first thing I did was whip up some homemade baby food. We started with green beans, and B loves them. Well, love is a strong word, but he doesn't NOT like them either. I think he's more excited about starting the process of eating like a big boy than anything else, so it doesn't really matter what we feed him.


"Hey, it's not that bad actually!"
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Monday, September 28, 2009

Cajuns, Swine '09, Pack and Plays, Police & Planes

Sorry for the blogging sabbatical I took without any explanation. While I know most of the people who read my blog are friends and people who mean well, it creeps me out a bit to post anything about my whereabouts just in case there really is a real life creeper who wants to do something nasty. The past 2 weeks Brayden and I have been spending quality time with my family down in Baton Rouge. While the visit was SO much fun, we're glad to be back home with Drew and Toby, both of whom we greatly missed (and I am sure Toby especially missed us since he was kenneled most of the time-- poor guy!).

Our original plan was to drive down with my sister Megan and her boyfriend after they visited us for Labor Day weekend. That plan got nixed however, when Megan came down with the Swine Flu. Drew and I thought it best that we keep separation, especially with B and I having to drive in the same car for so long with Meg. So we waited a week, and drove down half way, where my dad picked us up to bring us down to BTR. B did SO good in the car. He actually slept from Vicksburg, MS to Baton Rouge without a peep-- about 4 hours! I was so impressed and VERY thankful (I had had nightmares of him screaming the entire way down). 2 days after we arrived in Baton Rouge, my sister Laura, who lives with my parents, came down with the swine flu. G-R-E-A-T. My mom was kind of freaking out about it, just stressing about B being in the house. I called 2 pediatricians up here and also called Drew. In talking with the doctors and with Drew, we just decided to stay in Baton Rouge. Since Drew has just started a new job, time off isn't really an option right now, so in the event that B (or I) got sick, we'd pretty much be on our own. We had both already been exposed so it was pretty much a waiting game at that point on whether or not we got it. Drew also reminded me that Baton Rouge is such a bigger city, that the level of care B receives there would be a bit higher and we would have hospitals that had PICU's available. So we stayed. Thankfully my parents house is set up in such a way that Laura was on different floors and sides of the house than us. She basically was quarantined the whole first week we were there, and thankfully no one else in the family came down with the swine-o or anything else while we were there.

Since I grew up in Baton Rouge, the food and people are not foreign to me, even though I am sure that I come across as foreign to them (since my nice Arkansas Razorback shirts and Arkansas accent was clearly evident most days I was there!). I miss the culture of Louisiana, and definitely miss the food, but, oh my gosh, the heat is unbearable-- and I went at the end of September! I don't think B liked the heat either, because every time we'd take him for his evening walk, he'd cry. Normally he loves the stroller, but I think down there it was just a lot more hot than he's used to (not to mention HORRID humidity, which only makes the heat worse!).

During our stay B was able to meet my grandmother, and his great-grandmother Laura. We got pictures to mark the occasion. She's the only great-grandparent still alive for B, so it was neat to watch her interact with him and tell him stories about my dad. B was also supposed to meet his great-great-uncle Mike and great-great-aunt Rina, but my Uncle Mike came down with the swine flu too (they live a different city though!), so that meeting is postponed until Thanksgiving.

Sleeping in the same room as a child was probably the hardest thing I've had to do as a parent so far. I don't know how people co-sleep or have their child in the same room. I'd NEVER sleep if that were the case. B stirs a lot when he is sleeping and since he was in a pack and play (and because he's really tall) he'd kick the sides. SO loud, and definitely annoying at 4am. He stirs for literally 3 hours before I get him. Incredible. So basically, I would sleep from 11-4, and then off and on until he'd finally start fussing at 6:45. He'd start talking at 5:30 though, so really anything after that was just rest. Needless to say we're both thankful for our own beds and rooms again :) 

Speaking of pack and plays, something funny happened on the night before we left to meet my dad. We had decided to stay the night in Little Rock to shave some of the driving time off of our day on Saturday. B woke up uncharacteristically early on Saturday morning and it quickly escalated to a cry, so I went to check on him. To my horror the little pad bottom of the pack and play had accordianed all the way to one corner, leaving no bottom to the pack and play. B was wedged between the two cross bars of the bottom of the pack and play, curled in a fetal position, arms and legs facing up. He wasn't really crying hard, but was obviously in some discomfort. Who knows how long he had been like that before waking up. Thankfully he was face up... I shudder at the thought of what would have happened had he been face down! I think the reason it did that is because Drew and I forgot to velcro the pad through the bottom of the pack and play. I can assure you that won't happen again!

And the, "yes I am an adult, and no I am not acting one" award goes to yours truly. The night before I left I went on an outing with my two youngest siblings. Jeff was given my dad's old car while I was down there, so I was able to help him polish it up. He also had a 15" subwoofer installed and so Laura and I had wanted to check out the new ride. We went and got fresh beneigts (again, no clue on how to spell that word) and then drove back with the windows down with some pimping music blaring. About half way home we were stopped at a stoplight and we had the music cranking. All of us were dancing and throwing our arms around, when all of the sudden blue lights started flashing 2 cars ahead of us. My stomach sank as a state trooper started walking towards the car. He was really cool about everything, and asked the usual questions. The most humiliating one though was how old we all were. Jeff: "I am 17." Laura (laughing so hard I thought she might pee her pants, and wishing I could kick her for laughing when clearly we could be getting a ticket): I am 19" Flashlight shining on me, Me: "I'm 27." Bahahaha. Really? Why does stuff like this happen to me? Thankfully the guy let us off the hook and just explained to Jeff that at lights we should probably turn the music down since some people don't want to listen to the rap we've got playing. Whew. Definitely something to laugh about now, but geez.

The plane ride back wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be.  I was afraid I'd be "that" person on the plane... you know, the one with the screaming child who won't shut up and makes everyone else's trip miserable? Not to mention I was lugging around not only my almost 20 pound baby, but also my breat pump, a carry-on suitcase for B, AND my diaper bag, which was stuffed to the gills. Getting through security wasn't that bad, but having to strap B on to me with the snugli AND carrying all of that stuff was a pain. Once I got on the plane it was fine though. Thankfully from Baton Rouge to Memphis he slept the entire plane ride. Once we got off though, I really thought the rest of the trip was doomed for failure. He was fussy and hungry, I had to pee, and as I got off I realized that I was at gate A2 and needed to get to gate C5-- clear across the Memphis airport! So I plugged B up with a paci, got all of my bags situated so I could lug them, and off we went. Half way to our destination gate, I decided to take a potty break. Before I had left I naively thought to myself that the diaper changing stations would be IN the handciap stalls, and therefore I could just strap B to it, quickly pee and be on my way. Oh, but I was wrong. The diaper changing tables were outside the stalls, so I had to change B, THEN pee. Well, remember now, that all I had was an infant carrier (which he was already removed from due to the diaper change moments before-- and he's still hungry at this point b/c I haven't given him his bottle). So I had to unbutton my shorts and pull down my underwear all with one hand. Then I had to prop B up on my knee and SIT on the toilet. I should note here that I NEVER sit on the toilet (actually, I try to avoid public restrooms altogether) in public. It really grosses me out. So there I was, sitting on the toilet, my shorts and underwear down to my ankles, 6 month old on my knee (screaming by this point because he's hungry), peeing. Ah, the humility God grants us by being parents. I mean, really, I wonder what the people in the other stalls were thinking. As I finished my business, I quickly realized that the hardest part was yet to be done. See, I had quickly unbuttoned my pants and pulled my drawers down, but I didn't think about having to pull them back UP with one hand. And you know how sometimes, if you're in a rush, when you pull your drawers down the top part gets all rolled and you have to unroll it (ok, well maybe that doesn't happen to you, but it does to me, so just roll with me for a minute)? Yeah, mine had done that. So there I was, screaming child in one hand, trying to bend down to get my shorts and drawers (without letting the paci that was on his clip hit the floor), trying to unroll my drawers, and once I got it all up trying to button (remember, I am post-baby here, so although my clothes fit, they don't have as much give as they used to) my shorts. I finally realized that my zipper was only going to zip half way with one hand, and decided that I was OK with that, hoping my t-shirt would hid anything that was showing. I grabbed all of my gear, ran (well, not really... but it was as close to running as you can get when you are hauling the aforementioned gear) out of the bathroom, plopping myself into the closest chair and frantically searching for a bottle. B immediately quieted up, but once the bottle was gone he got fussy again. At this point the people at the gate I had positioned myself at were really starting to stare, and I KNOW they were thinking "Dear God, please don't let this woman be the one sitting next to me." Luckily for them I was still another 100 yards or so to my gate. I finally got B to settle down, grabbed a Corky's BBQ sandwich (which by the way, airport food is the biggest rip off known to man. It's even worse than a football game!), and finally made it to the gate. I antibacterial wiped the seats, laid B down on chair and I sat next to him, scarfing down my sandwich before he had time to roll of the chair. Thankfully by this point he was SO happy. Almost too happy. You see, when B is happy, he will make these screaching sounds that Drew likens to a small dinosaur. So there I was, eating Corky's like a fat person who had been on a diet for 10 years, with my small dinosaur of a son, screeching for all of gates C1-5 to hear. Some of the ladies around thought it was cute, but I could tell it was wearing on some of the other passengers. Holding him didn't help either, so finally I just let go and let live. I mean, these people who were glaring had to, at some point in their lives, screech like a dinosaur too right? And I don't know about you, but I would much rather a happy screeching baby than a mad screaming one? So he just screeched to his heart's content. Once we boarded the plane, he was fine, all screeching done with, and he was asleep right as we took off. He slept half way through that last flight and was happy when we got home. All in all it was a great trip. I'll sign off with a few of my favorite pics taken during our travels.

Celebrating Meg's birthday



Gigi reading B his favorite book, "Moo, Baa, La La La"

Getting kisses from his Aunt Laura and Aunt Meg

Such a cutie patootie!

Talking with Pappa D about guy stuff

Playing with Aunt Laura after she recovered from Swine-O

4 Generations

Getting his first piano lesson from Aunt Meg :)

Gigi clearly was pooped out by the end of our trip

Mom and I got pedicures a few days before I left. Cody was very impressed.



Fishin' with Poppa D

Leavin' on a jet plane: his first airplane ride


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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Another Dose of Perspective

Today was another doozy. Screaming, knashing of teeth (or gums in our case), you know, the whole shabang. Drew called this afternoon and I almost lost it on the phone with him. I am just SO drained. Finally, I just gave up fighting and went to Sam's. Surprisingly, Brayden did well and just talked to himself as I perused the aisles in hopes to regain some of my sanity (as I sipped on my coke icee). On the way home however, he started crying again. As I was veering off of the interstate (ok, I really wasn't, but I kind of felt like it) Darius Rucker's song "It Won't Be Like This For Long" came on and God gave me my 2nd dose of perspective this week. I started crying and pretty much cried myself back home. Thank you God for reminding me that these moments are fleeting and I need to make the most of them. And thank you for this precious gift; I prayed so hard for this little being, and you blessed us with an answered prayer. May I always remember, even through the screaming.
PS-- I know I already posted this video before, but I figured I would post it again since I made mention of it.
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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

5 Months Old...

And cuter than ever!
"Here Toby, we can share toys"



"Oh Mommy! You are so funny!"
"Mommy tells me that boxes are fun toys!"
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Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Forgive me for posting words on wordless Wednesday, but I am feeling slightly insightful and a bit philosophical about mom things today, and figured there's not better way to remember things than to jot them down on the good ol' blog.
Yesterday started out like any other mom day starts; you know, laying in bed, dreaming about how you used to sleep well into the afternoon with not a care in the world. Then the wee one wakes and you lay in bed and wonder what they really must be cooing about at 6am in the morning, and if they must coo, does it have to last for an hour? It's kind of like a human rooster-- so vibrant and awake, even before the sun comes out, ready for the world to play. Not that I don't like my son cooing in the morning. I really do. But sometimes (especially after a 3 day weekend) you just want to rest. I fed Brayden and he had independent playtime. Most of the time, he'll play by himself for about 30 minutes. This ensures I am not spoiling him by holding/playing with him ALL the time, and also gives me a few minutes to eat breakfast. He only wanted to play by himself for about 10 minutes. So I went and picked him up. And basically had to hold him for the remainder of the day. It didn't matter what I did, he just wasn't happy. After about 4 hours of this (mind you, he didn't nap either) I was literally to the point of wanting to gouge my own eyes out. At one point, after I had done all I knew to do for him (and he was still crying), I put him in his crib, walked out of the house and almost started crying myself. So the day went on, until finally 7:30pm came-- the last supper :)  When B was finished eating, he pulled off, looked at me sweetly and started to "talk". At first I was kind of peeved, and thought to myself "unbelievable. you've been a pill all day and then decide to be all cute right when it's time to go to bed?" Then I thought of Rebecca & Katie, and God humbled me. I thanked God for giving me a screaming child, and let the little boy ramble away (perhaps he was asking for forgiveness for being so hard on me?), rocked him a little longer, placed him in his crib, kissed him on the forehead and walked out of the door as he fell asleep. Iwas so emotionally exhausted last night, yet I was grateful that at the end of the day God gave me some perspective.
After my nerves recovered, a sadness remained. Sometimes I think motherhood (especially a stay at home mom) is such a lonely road. Even though there are millions of other people traveling along this road, most rarely speak of the emotional roller coaster that you take when you sign up to be a mommy, and those that do are generally written off as crazy. I try to explain to Drew how I feel, but it's almost one of those things that no matter how hard you try, words cannot express what you truly feel. My best effort to put it into a context that Drew would understand went kind of like this: "Imagine you had the job you've ALWAYS dreamed of. And you absolutely LOVE it. But you were never able to leave your desk. EVER. You had a potty right there, and all of the people you worked for watched you crap, shower, dress, etc. You were able to sleep at your desk, but this did not assure you that the phone wouldn't go off in the middle of the night, (and even if you answered it it might still keep ringing)  and the boss came in to work to tell you you needed to wake up early to get on things today. To top it off, you were stuck in that same position for the rest of your life, with no raise, accolades or atta-boys. And to make matters worse, the person you work for will go through phases where they absolutely hate your guts, think you are the stupidest thing to walk the face of this earth, etc." The story still doesn't really give justice to the life of a mom, but for a moment Drew was able to at least slightly comprehend the feelings I go through on a daily basis. I am thankful that even though he doesn't comprehend it completely, he tries to express gratitude for me staying home (for that matter, I am grateful he allows me to stay home!). I am not sure I'll ever grow out of these feelings. And to be honest, I don't really feel them EVERY day. Sorry for the book... I am not really sure that this post was as philosophical as I thought it would be when I was thinking about all of this today, but sometimes I guess it's good to get it out of your head and onto some "paper." Here's to hoping that the next few days are not a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.... and if they are, may God give me the patience to persevere.
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Wordless Wednesday

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Monday, September 7, 2009

Weekend in Review

Hope Everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Ours was filled with celebrating the start of college football season. It was the first time I was lax on B watching TV. I figure I need to indoctrinate him early so he grows that passion for SEC football (specifically the Hogs, but we'll go broad at first!). Saturday we spent most of the day just chilling, watching football & watching B roll all over. He has completely mastered rolling from either back to tummy or tummy to back, and is very well aware that this is also a new mode of transportation. He still gets frustrated because he can't scoot or crawl, so I have a feeling it won't be long before that follows suite! Saturday evening we actually planned on watching the Hogs game through ESPN 360 at our friends Chris & Katie's house, but it ended up being blacked out :( That didn't mean we didn't get the kids dressed for the occasion! B dove right in for the full kiss, and tried to plant one on little Avery :) Aren't they the cutest!
Sunday we went to church and then chilled in the afternoon. Our plan was to go to the new athletic facility with B and go swimming, but unfortunately he was fussy pants magoo all day, and so when he finally crashed, I decided to just stay home so he could rest. 
Today we were able to go to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with some new friends of ours. B actually took a nap in public for the first time in a while, so we were able to enjoy the start of breakfast. Then he decided that he wanted to be the center of attention so we had to play baby handoff several times. This afternoon we hit up Chick-Fil-A for free Chicken sandwiches. Since we're cheapos, we just got the free sandwiches and came home to make our own french fries (thank you Ore Ida). Ofcourse, no Chick-Fil-A meal is complete without sweet tea, so I made a gallon of that and we ate to our hearts content. The meal was also complemented with my new find: Claussen pickles. OH MY GOODNESS are the the best! They taste just like the ones at the restaurants! If you haven't tried them, please go and get some TODAY. You will not regret it... I promise! And that, my friends, was our weekend.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Straight Out a Stooge Movie

Yesterday once the rain and storms passed it ended up being a beautiful day. B and I decided to go for a stroll so I headed out the garage door. Unfortunately I stumbled down the step (yes, just 1... I am a klutz!) and fell into the wall on the left. Then, in hopes to regain my balance, quickly swung myself to the right of the stair (and yes, I was holding B while all of this was happening). I still didn't regain my balance, and stepped onto the push broom I had put in the garage earlier that day to shelter it from the rain. Have you ever seen anyone step on a push broom? Well, if not, I highly recommend you watch, because I am pretty sure it has to be the funniest thing you've ever seen. Not that I was laughing at the moment. Because I can assure you I was not. However, I lived to tell about it and so I am making sure I write it down to chronicle along with all the other weird things that happen in my life. When I stepped on the broom, it was angled in such a way that it the handle swung back and popped me straight above the eye! Thankfully the bruise is not too bad, but GOSH did it hurt. I was thankful that it didn't hit B, otherwise this story might be one about us going to the hospital with an infant with a busted head. Ofcourse, all of this happened in like, 5 seconds, so like I said before, I am sure it was a sight to behold.

On a completely separate note, I also thought I'd share a story that happened last week that I didn't blog about because I didn't think many would think it was that funny, or get it really. But when I shared it with Mare, she thought it was blog worthy, so here I am sharing.... I almost made my husband poop in his pants. No, really. Here's how it all went down. I was laying in bed waiting for Drew to get finished feeding B. While waiting I was looking at old pictures I had on my phone. I had completely forgotten about the fact that I had taken pictures of the pregnancy test for Brayden with my cell phone and then emailed them to myself. So, there I was, laying in bed (probably with a cheesy grin on my face) thinking about how I told Drew I was pregnant, thinking about how it was almost a year ago and now we have a little person sleeping in the room next to ours, dreaming about what B will become, and how it all started with that pregnancy test saying "pregnant" (well, actually it started before the pregnancy test, but let's not go there!). Drew walked in and was groggily setting his alarm on his watch, drinking his last sips of water, and was about to slither into bed, when I get the notion to show him the phone. "Isn't this cool?" I said, in an extremely casual voice, handing him the phone. You see, I wasn't really thinking that he hadn't been in my head to reminence with me... no, he thought this was a recent picture, that I was staring at trying to decipher. He looked at the phone and his eyes immediately got about the size of dinner plates. He looked back at me and his mouth dropped. At that same moment I realized what I had done, but it was too late. "You're pregnant? What?" I think gasps came next and I was trying to talk over him and explain my sappy thoughts about one year ago we found out we were pregnant, etc. I finally got him calmed down enough to listen and actually believe that I truly was not pregnant. I guess it just goes to show that I really do think that he can read my thoughts! I asked him later what went through his head and he said 2 things: the 3-5 year plan we're on to get a new house shrunk to 1, and that he almost crapped his pants. hahahaha! So glad I can look back on this and laugh. I think this gets him back for pretending to get down on one knee on the ferris wheel at the county fair when we were dating. What do you think?

Rollin', Rollin' Rollin'

Last night (while I wasn't looking ofcourse) Brayden rolled from his back to his tummy! I made a big deal of it for him since we've been working on it for a while (I am hoping this will help some of the sleep issues we've been having with him since he get SO mad when he flips to his back!). This morning, during independent playtime, I heard the door stop in the study making that awkward noise, and ran to check it out. This is what I found:
I had laid B with his feet facing away from the wall (so his head was closest to the wall). He had rolled all the way behind the door and was kicking the door stop! Life's about to get ALOT more interesting!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Wordless Wednesday



 

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