Silly Boy

So just a moment ago Carter walked into the room holding his little bowl of Cheese Nips (former snack of choice) and looked up at me sweetly and said "Noooooooo", and spit a mashed cheese nip on the floor. I suppose this is his way of saying that he no longer likes something but I sure wish the spitting thing would stop soon. I blame my father-in-law for this one. He taught him to spit and now he does it whenever he sees Papa or if he doesn't like something.....like last nights dinner. How does a child not like sweet potatoes? Oh well. I do think it's kinda cute that he's developing these likes and dislikes that will define his personality. I just love watching him grow.

I was thinking about jotting down here all the words he uses now but then the list in my head started to get really long. He's not exactly in the running for a position as Speech Writer for the White House but........No wait, if Bush gets away with half the crap he mumbles out then my son could probably improve on his public addresses quite a bit. Hmmmm, this reminds me. I must do our Will and make sure to state that our children will be raised democrats. :) That is mostly for Kevin, my darling bleeding heart liberal. I myself am a Conservative Democrat. Not sure if that means anything really but since my staunch Republican sister gets the job of instilling morals and beliefs in our kids if we aren't around......I bet it'd piss her off. hahaha.

Anyway, today in Mommy & Me he was very specific about what he wanted to participate in. We did the usual songs and stuff but he sat down and pouted when we got up to dance. I know the little boy has some sweet moves...maybe he is just shy right now. When we did a new song and dance (waddle waddle quack quack duck dance) he wen in the corner and frowned so hard I thought his little forehead might meet his nose. He has such expressions! I will download the camera this week and show everyone how much he has grown.

On some mommy news...

I've felt the little babers moving around a little. That is always the best part I think. I remember when I first felt Carter moving at 18 weeks I wasnt' even sure if it was him or me but now being the experienced momma that I am (no comments) I can feel this one at 15 weeks. Sometimes I walk up to Kevin and say "I'm pregnant!" and he's like "duh", but I mean it hits you at odd times like you are really pregnant. I guess I can't quite explain myself. Maybe the other mom's know what I mean.

How a toddler shows he loves you

When he:

• picks "flowers" for you (really weeds but who cares)
• gathers really cool leaves and sticks to show you
• exchanges cookies with you, to share
• helps you put away the dishes
• hugs you really tight and buries his face in your neck
• shares his strawberries or juice with you
• still wants you to hold him tight even after you discipline him
• laughs at your silly faces
• copies you when you are digging with the shovel or killing ants
• pours warm water on you in the bath and says "Niccccce" while nodding emphatically
• lets you comb and cut his hair
• eats up all your homemade mac&cheese and cornbread
• gives you kisses accompanied by the "MMMMaaaaahhhh" sound

The Omen

Remember that movie? Sometimes I think that little Damien--I mean Carter, is totally bent on my demise. It's not that bad but I must say he puts up quite a fight when something doesn't go his way. Today I had the joy of holding down screaming, kicking and punching toddler in the bed because I refused to drive him to nap in the car. He was 2 hours overdue for a nap and I knew if was "now or never" kinda thing....so hence the wrestling match. It only took about 15 minutes of torture and one really good kick to my belly before he passed out....whimpering pathetically. Hmmm, maybe next time I will try Mandi's "books and toys in bed" method...sounds much happier. I feel like a bad momma after episodes like that and then I start wondering if the little munchkin inside me is getting huge doses of adrenaline and stress hormones. After the nap he is always very sweet though, so I think he isn't permanently scarred by his evil mommy.

So I spoke too soon

I guess. Now that we are all better it seems that taking a nap is not a top priority to my darling child. At least, taking a nap in the house...in a bed. I tried and tried. I even put the babygate up at the door of his room and told him he had to nap. Yeah right. I gave up sometime in the afternoon yesterday and decided I needed to get on with my day so we went to Sam's Club and of course on the way home he fell asleep in the car. Arrrgggh. I am out of ideas. I've tried everyone's advice. I've read sleep problem books. I just don't know.
At the end of the day I told my husband that I've thought it over and decided that we are gonna sell him to the gypsy's.
(When I was little this was funny to the adults I think but I never got it. I guess it was a generational, parental threat)
So I think to myself "You are a fucking crazy woman! How the hell are you gonna survive this age? and a new baby?" Then I feel sorry for myself and wish I could go over to my sisters house and veg out while all the kids play. I want my sisters and brother and aunts and uncles and dad and blah. Maybe pregnancy has turned me into an emotional head case.

Anyway......
He is using a lot more words these days but of course they aren't very clear. He is really trying hard to sound out new ones. I find it rather interesting that he is also using more sign language as well. I kinda thought once he started using more words to communicate that it would taper off but he picks up and uses new signs from his baby einstein videos everyday. My favorite word he is trying hard to get right is "more". When he says it he will do the sign but it will often come out "Nooooo(r)e" then he'll revamp it and go "Mah mah Moooohhe". Hey, at least he's workin on it. :) funny little guy.

A couple of days ago I bought him his very own baby doll. Kevin was like, "What exactly is the point to this?"
I view it as a prop to teach him that we are to be gentle with the new baby and how to nurture and care for it. I just got a sceptical "Hmmmm" from my husband. Well, we'll see. So far his "baby" has been lying on the chair with a bottle shoved in it's mouth. He fed it yesterday and then abandoned it.

Well, I must go paint my toenails (I use the word paint loosely) and prepare for storytime at the bookstore. I need to have a tired child ready for a damn nap in the house, later.

These are the days of our lives...or something

I haven't had a friggin pedicure in 3 years. My feet look like an old womans. Ya know, when they get those deep grooves in them and they are sorta wrinkly looking. Wtf. Plus I can't paint my toenails properly. I get it all over and then they are only shiny for about a day...then they start chipping and looking dingy again. I want pretty feet back. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway, it looks like things are starting to look more normal around here. Carter seems to be on the mend and Kevin groaned his way into work, late morning (he's still not 100%). Only one good thing has come out of this sickness and it was forced upon us but I would like to declare that our youngster has slept in a bed for his nap for 9 days now. Woohoo. I'm figuring after 2 weeks he won't remember anything else, kinda like the weaning process. Baby steps people!
I feel totally out of the loop since we haven't seen anyone or really done anything lately. It's very disorienting. I owe many people some callbacks, as well. Once again I question how the hell I'm supposed to function when I have two little ones. I have friends who do it so I know it's possible....but I have this seed of doubt in my mind whenever I look around my oh-so-messy-I-need-to-vacuum house. I'm thinking of inventing a Mommy Bulldozer for all the toys that are strewn about because by the time I'm finished picking them all up off the floor I'm too damned tired to vacuum. It also doesn't help that my "assistant" just follows behind me and throws them back on the floor again.
Then of course there are the "hmmm, wouldn't it be fun to crush these rice chex under my feet?" days and the "this floor is ugly! I bet if I color all over it it will look better" (in this case he's probably right...must get new flooring!)
Have you ever wondered why is costs money to be organized? You would think proper organization is more of a mind-set or a habit kinda like putting away all your clothes. But it's not. I did the math on all the files, bins, dividers, containers and/or stacking boxes that would make my life easier and realized that I would poor pooor poooor if I purchased all that crap. No wonder my dad made those cinder block and wood plank bookshelves when I was a kid (nice and kid friendly, huh?) This is why I refuse to watch those stupid "Get organized" or "Clean house" shows on TLC.
Anyway, I've begun to babble. Tired. Headache. Hey, at least I'm not sick with anything. Mind over body, I guess.

House of Horrors

Stay far away from us! So it's been week of Carter being ill. That pesky diahrrea just won't go away and of course it goes along with a hunger strike rivaling Ghandi's. (oh and for the record, those pedialyte popsicles are not a big hit) However, the last few days have been a little bit better.....at least he's been sleeping through the night with no incidents. Of course until last night when I changed 3 horrible diapers and had a restless, crying baby flopping around most of the night. It gets better. Kevin started heaving around 3 a.m. and he is now laying in bed groaning and saying that he is "dying". Oh man.

Please Please Please Please skip me. I cannot have some horrible stomach virus whilst pregnant! At least I'm officially in the second trimester....I think it's a little safer. I don't know. Arggggh.

I would like to order some Patience with a side of No Wrinkles and a 1/2 order of Less Frowning, please

I am truly an impatient person who can get very frustrated .....quickly. I may be a yoga devotee but you can go shove the whole meditation thing you-know-where. I don't "breath deeply" very well...nor do I know what to do when my darling child pushes me to my very limits.
I love my son and I think he is amazing and smart and sweet and funny but sometimes he will kick me and hit me in the face and say "No no no no no" alllllll day long. Good grief. It doesn't help that he is still sick. Argh. I hate seeing him throw up or have a really bad "liquid" diaper. He cries and cries in despair and it just breaks my heart. So for the last 4 days I've been trying to just hold him as much as possible and give him lots of love.....and then he'll sock me in the jaw and kick his younger sibling. Lordy my.

Do you ever wonder if you were cut-out to be a mom? Like, when people try out for American Idol and they are horrible but they can't tell that they are? Sometimes I think "Am I on the American Mom tryouts...the blooper reel?"

You would think in our techno world we could just buy patience reserves like external harddrives when you need more RAM. :) It's funny that at a time in your life when you most need to swear you are supposed to be nippin it in the bud. So now I say "Crap, Holy Crap or Crappola", the occasional "Shazzbat" comes out (I guess this replaces shit?? I dunno) but I can't think of a good replacement for the ol' F-bomb. That one is irreplaceable as far as I'm concerned. Nothing can top it. Oh well. My sailor mouth will get used to it I'm sure....along with everything else.

But ya know what? Off subject. On to hoppier things (haha, I'm so lame), I put together---I mean the Easter Bunny put together his basket today and man, will he be excited. Nothing crazy but I tried to cover all the bases (sesame street, zoo animals, dvd's, candy, thomas the tank, bubbles...) oh yeah.

Sickly updates

So the pediatric clinic says there is a stomach bug going around town and it will soon pass. Oh joy. The only benefit to him being sick is that he has been napping in BED and he has allowed me to grocery shop without too much fuss....probably because the poor little man is too weak from lack of food to put up too big of a fight. He still won't eat.

So now I must go get stuff for his easter basket. Ya know it's gonna be a big prize basket because he is sick so he gets extra spoiled. He'll probably get some Sesame Street stuff, Thomas the Tank stuff (loves his new thomas jammies) and we will have to throw in a Barney dvd or something. Hopefully he is better by Sunday so he can have lots of candy. :) My poor little guy.

The last two mornings he has just layed on the couch or in our bed and watched cartoons....of course insisting that I come hug him every so often. What a munchkin.

Loco

Sooooo.... yesterday and last night were crazy around here.

Everything seemed fine when Carter woke up from his nap. He wanted to play in the backyard, as usual so I took my book out there and watched him scramble around in his sand box and then do various yard work with his little rake and shovel. I always try to keep him in certain areas of the yard because of the fire ant issue....they seem to colonize in 2 main spots, the little bastards. Well, lo and behold my poor little man must have found a few stragglers. He came walking to me with this confused look of distress on his face and he seemed to be trying to get something off his hand. I used my panicked-momma-eagle vision and saw some ants on him so I scooped him up and stripped his shoes off and tried to wipe those little f*%$ers off of him. But if you have ever been stung by red ants you know that once you start trying to get them off they all start stinging at once. So my sweet little baby is now howling and clinging to me as I try to get them all off. Luckily there weren't that many but they must have been biting him repeatedly. I would guess he ended up with about 16 bites or so... I cleaned him up and put some "Boo boo cream" on his bites....phew. That sucked. Oh, but it gets better.

A while later I think maybe I will go look at maternity clothes at the mall. Carter has refused lunch and has been clinging to me like a baby monkey but he likes the mall, so we go. I get in the van and start pulling out and notice an ant on my belly. wtf! Crap. I hate ants. I've had my fill, thank you very much. So I grab a napkin and try to squish it....and it disappeared. Ohhh great. I got out and looked all over. No freakin ant. Here we go a drivin'.
OUCH. Something is in my shirt and biting my stomach. Try being bit by a devil creature while negotiating traffic...it's like a stunt on Fear Factor. Hallelujah, a red light. I kill demon ant and now Carter is cringing and acting like he is being bit. ARGGGHHHH!
I never found his ant but he now has two pus-filled bites on his neck. (a minute ago I typed "pussy bites" then realized that you can't take the word pus and add an -sy to it...I swear this is all clean family content)

Later on I realize I have been plying my son with food all day to no avail. He just wants to sit on the couch and watch videos and cling to my neck. I'm thinking allergic reaction? I don't know?

Fast forward to Kevin getting home from work. I've been trying to keep Carter up until his bedtime since 4pm. He is never this sleepy. Also, he refused dinner...just had a few bites of applesauce and some milk. Kevin walks in the door and Carter smelled up the entire house with some horrible explosion in his diaper. In the 19 months I've been changing diapers I have never smelled something this bad. OMG. Now, my slow brain is thinking "okay, stomach bug?". I put him to bed in like 5 seconds flat and call the nurses on call at the hospital. Yes. I'm one of those mothers. Hell, I'm just worried about some allergic reaction to fire ants and doing research online doesn't help... many times it just makes it worse. We decide he must have a virus or something. Now it is 10 p.m. and quite dark but Kevin is out in the backyard spraying a fertilizer/ant killer combo thing. What a devoted daddy.

I go to sleep and one hour later I am awoken by gagging, choking, crying child as he vomits all over. Oh lord. Need I remind you that we sleep in the same bed. Man, that sucked but I won't go into the smelly details. Needless to say we change clothes and strip some stuff off the bed and go back to sleep. This happens a couple more times. Yeah, guess who isn't gonna sleep much?

Finally all cozy again and I am awoken by Kevin leaping out of bed and a loud pounding on our front door....at 3 a.m. What?! What is going on? It's the police. They are responding to a domestic disturbance call (unless you want a domestic disturbance you better quit banging on my door nitwits). Of course it's the wrong house...apparently they weren't given the address. Sure, let's just knock on all these people's doors in the middle of the night. Makes sense, right?

Anyway, now our sick little guy is asleep.....get this.... In the bed. Not in the car. Neat, huh?

There were other things I was gonna tell y'all about but I'm just too freakin' tired.

Oh but the baby looks great and my belly is poking out and the ultrasound tech said she thought she saw something between it's little legs. Hmmmm. We'll see. 13 weeks! Woohoo.

I should know better...

...than to promise I will post more often. It's Murphy's Law isn't it? Haha! My internet has been down since Friday so I obviously haven't been able to fill all your lives with joy like I usually do, right? :)
Anyway, we are back up and running so I'll be sure to gather all my thoughts and give a full update of our week.... later this afternoon. Ta ta for now!

A long time gone

Ach! Where have we been? NOwhere. Just not in the mood to blog. Sorry to all my adoring fans out there....oh yes, I know there are one or two of you....there must be. :)

It's nearly impossible to blog when Carter is awake (as he is right now screeching and trying to climb in my lap). I don't know why I thought Sesame Street would keep him occupied while mommy actually did something! Anyway, we had the mo-in-laws visit over the weekend. Of course a joy, as usual. I've barely gotten to spend time with my husband since he has been working so much overtime and he is now out of town. Our weekend was spent entertaining other people so we had zero mommy-daddy time. Oh the seething resentment.

I will try not to let such a long gap in my family updates happen again. It throws me off, too.

So? What's new with little man C? His new favorite word is "No". I know toddlers like to say no but he is taking it to a whole nutha level. I find that I must school my facial expression before I ask him a question because inevitably I end up smiling or laughing at how darn cute he can be. He doesn't just say "No", he sing-songs it...like "NooOOO" in this tiny sweet voice. I don't know, it might be one of those things only a mom appreciates.

So there has been a grand coupe de'tat. The rule of the Wiggles has been overturned by the upstart Barney, who comes from lands unknown. Barney is a Benevolent Ruler and we hope for many months of peace under his reign. Long live the purple dinosaur.

Other popular characters in our young mans life are Elmo (of course) and Cookie Monster (pronounced "DeeDa-Dasmer"). We now have an interest in Thomas the Tank but he doesn't have much patience for the videos yet. He loves to listen for the trains and when he hears one he cups his hand to his ear and says "Choo Choo!" and does the bell-pull motion with his other hand. At our house you can vaguely hear them if you are very quiet....a rarety, I assure you. :)

Yesterday he played in his sandbox for the first time since the fall. He loved it!

Anyway, those are a bit disjointed hmmmm? Whatever. I must be quick. More to come later or tomorrow. I swear.

My little man

So today turned out to be a beautiful day. I've had much more energy today and no icky nausea so after Carters nap we got out of the house. We went to the library and I had a list of books I needed them to order, a few I wanted to check out and some I needed to renew. I think Carter lasted in the stroller maybe 5 minutes, no joke. He has become pretty much impossible to handle at the library. He doesn't care if it would disturb anyone if he screamed at the top of his lungs. I on the other hand was raised to respect the 'Quiet' rule at the library and I tend to get very stressed when my very vocal child acts out. I somehow managed to hold him down while I filled out book order forms, dragged him down a couple of aisles and grabbed a few books (who the hell knows if they're any good, I didn't exactly have much of a chance to peruse the back) and finally I gave in and took him downstairs to the kids section. He really likes it although there really isn't much for him to do down there but run back and forth and throw himself on animal shaped pillows (probably encrusted with years of childrens sneezes, eww). I was just glad he wasn't yelling and carrying on.
I had promised him that we would go see the Choo choo trains (new obsession) so after the library I drove around downtown where the train station is and was hoping we'd get lucky and have one come through....I should have found out the schedule but whatever. I circled around twice and we got one! It was only a 2 car choo choo but it made alot of noise coming through. That's all that matters. It went Choo Choo! It was pretty loud when we were right up on it and Carters bottom lip stuck out...I think he still gets upset when things are too loud. We have a very sensitive littly boy. So library was basically a success, Choo choo was a success...now what? I guess we drive home.
Ah ha! Not done yet with our big day out. We went and got a yummy strawberry milkshake to share between the Three of Us ;)
Now, Mr. Sweet Pea is happily sucking down the remnants of his shake and watching what else? Barney, of course. Ahhhh. We are relaxed. Let's see how long this lasts....

I love my husband

But why does he have to use my toothbrush? I've caught him in the act a few times and he's like *shrug* "What's the big deal?".

Um. Cuz it's my toothbrush. We have two different colored toothbrushes...he doesn't seem to notice this blaring fact.

I must be weird about this but it freaks me out. I'll kiss my husband but scrub his gums and then scrub mine. Argh! We all have our issues I suppose....

We have an ongoing Temperature War in our house that has caused many a bickering word to pass our lips. He'll be sneaky about it and go behind my back really quick and turn it down to 62 or something. Then I'll be like "I'm f*&%ing freezing!" and I'll go change it back to whatever I had it set on. This goes on and on. We see who can get to the thermostat before the other notices. Good grief.


Beyond the whole toothbrush thing and temperature thing, he's wonderful. He does dishes and laundry and takes out all the garbage (including the diaper pail) even after a hard day at work. He is so supportive and caring and still smacks me on the butt and calls me sexy even when I have my hair in a messy half ponytail and I'm wearing stained mismatched clothes.
Ya know? I really miss working with him. I miss getting ready for work together and packing things for lunch to share. I miss smarting off to him (which was fun since he was my boss) and saying "Tick check tonight" over the radio and having him understand. I remember having to use a panty liner (the sticky part, of course....hey we couldn't find any tape!) to remove about 300 seed ticks from his stomach and back. I miss all of our work jokes and the shared joy when we found something cool; especially if it was a hole we were working on together (can you say favoritism? :) ). All this makes me smile.

I fold quickly

...and I'm not talking about the laundry. Bah-dum-baah (cymbal crash)

I'm not feeling that hot today so I've not wanted to leave the house. This is rare. Usually I'm out doing something. Needless to say we are a bit bored. I let Carter watch some cartoons this morning and of course, Sesame Street (a pantheon of toddler gods for him to worship). I feel that he is becoming a bit too dependent on t.v. and videos for his entertainment, recently. So....I say strictly "No" to all the dvd's he's been bringing me this afternoon. It's very hard because he is so damn cute about it. He has this favorite Barney video where they sing "Wheels on the Bus" (his fave song) and he will walk up to me carrying it and doing these funny circular arm movements with his arms like "wheels on the bus". So we've been coloring and "playing" clean-up and reading books and having snacks..... damn, I ran out of distractions and I totally folded when he brought me Barney 5 minutes ago. I swear I need to get more creative or just get out of the house.
You'd think a mothers heart wouldn't melt as often the older the child gets, but this is untrue, it's always melting, cracking and breaking (the damn thing). Just last night when he was watching the same Barney video and his favorite part came on he started doing the arm movements like the kids in the video and smiling; so freakin' cute...and then he flipped sideways out of his chair onto the hardwood. (mind you this is the chair of death that my MIL bought him but he loves)
My heart just about broke.
He gets so excited to do certain things during the day and I just can't stand to see him disappointed. He really looks forward to putting on his shoes and walking with me down the front walk to the mailbox. Today, I wasn't thinking and just decided to run and go do it so I didn't have to get his shoes on and a jacket and the whole thing (selfish mommy). He knew what I was going to do but I figured he would just wait for me. By the time I was walking back in with the mail he had gone and put his shoes on by himself and was walking to me with this devastated "you did it without me?" look on his face. I felt horrible.