musings of Mother Hood

Where The Sidewalk Ends.

How often do you do things that make you uncomfortable? Things that break your Normal, your Everyday? How often do you think, "this is Crazy!" - but you do it anyway? I obviously don't do it enough. And I'm going to stop sitting back, making excuses for it.

You Run Deep In Me

Arkansas. You are on the map.

President of the United States? Yep.

American Idol? Woo hoo!

Woulda been nice to get a Heisman Trophy winner... but you can't win 'em all, right?

Vacation! Pictures!

I am always shocked at how exhausted I am when I get back from a week of relaxation... I am back to work today after having a week off (which was WONDERFUL) and find myself checking the schedule of holidays to be certain it's this coming Monday that we are off again, right? Thank goodness. 

Down to business. I took an obscene number of pictures this week, and, in the interest of efficiency, I've dropped all the good ones into a new album over there -- "Vacation - May 2009" (and I will likely not get around to giving all of them captions and titles by the time this posts - so bear with me), and I've posted my favorites below. FAIR WARNING! There are more than a few...

Oh, The Things You'll Learn To Do With One Arm

Or, the working title of the parenting* book I will never write.

Other alternatives include: 

• Top 10 Things You Would Dream About If You Were Allowed To Sleep
• Where Did THAT Bump Come From?
• Please Don't Eat Mud    

Any other suggestions?

*And by "parenting" I mean Seinfeld-esque Observations of Child-rearing. Not actual Parenting.

And It's Only 8:30

Wake up at 5:05 to baby sounds. Regret putting Colt to bed exceptionally early last night. - Check. 

Feed my baby bird. - Check.

Put Colt back in bed for a snooze. Stumble back to bed for another hour of sleep. - Check.

Wake up at 6:15, curse the alarm, and decide that another 5 minutes won't hurt. - Check.

Convince self that it actually IS important to get up and get ready for work. Stumble out of bed and into the shower at 6:20. - Check.

Get self and child clean, dressed and ready for the day. - Check.

Remember that it's trash day.  Frantically gather up all the trash in the house and drag the big disgusting trash can to the curb. - Check.

Purse. Keys. Phone. Diaper bag. Baby. - Check.

Out the door at 7:45. - Check.

Colt to daycare. Daily conversation with nanny about preschool. "No, Ms. Barbara, we have not reached the top of the waiting list since last I saw you on Friday." - Check.

Realize I forgot at home both baby wipes for daycare and all of the work I had with me while working from home on Monday. Run home to get both. - Check.

Back to daycare to drop off wipes. - Check.

To work by 10 after 8. (Which is kindof a miracle on a normal day.) - Check.

Say a little prayer for single mothers everywhere. - Check.

Look forward to next week's vacation, which really can't get here soon enough. - Check.

You Can't Handle the Truth

Those of you who have been reading awhile may remember that during my pregnancy I received weekly updates from babycenter.com. I would get a weekly email that told me what to be expecting as far as pregnancy symptoms and each week I got some insight into how the little guy was growing -- and, everyone's favorite, a vegetable comparison. This week, he's about the size of a kiwi... now he's the size of a Chinese cabbage... etc.

So even after my pregnancy was over, I've kept receiving emails from babycenter. And this week I got my "Your 10-Month Old: Week 3" email. I'll spare you the monologue about how quickly time is flying and how painful these little weekly reminders are that we are OH so close to a first birthday for the little guy... *pause to sigh and compose myself*. 

I read down through the email, making a mental note to continue encouraging Colt's recent babbling of "Mamamamama" and clicking on the link for "toddler-proofing your house" since our only baby-proofing so far has been to move things out of his way AS he gets into them. Efficient. I know. I read on down and chuckle at the funny story about going out to dinner with dried pasta stuck to your clothes. Nice.  

 

These emails are a nice reinforcement that Colt is moving along at a fairly normal rate. I like to read the funny cartoons and stories - and often the links are helpful for articles. But I've never really read any of the headlines on these emails and thought "Thank God I'm not the only one!". Until now.

Usually the "Problem/Solution" column is something about diaper rash or reflux or sleeping through the night or something else we - thankfully - haven't had to deal with much. Honestly, I usually skip this section altogether. But this week it stopped me in my tracks. Read that second sentence if you will - "Many babies go through a phase during which they scream loud and long, sometimes just for the fun of it. (Lucky you!)". THAT IS US! 

Colt loves LOVES the sound of his voice. And it constantly surprises us just how loud he is capable of getting. He's not frustrated, hurt or ill. Just loud. Just ask the people who were within 20 feet of our dinner table Saturday night at Buffalo Wild Wings. Loud. 

We have loved getting to see the little personality coming out in him, but we are increasingly aware that Colt is 10 months going on 2 years. All those times Jeff's mom insisted that "Jeff was not a naughty little boy, just full of energy" are coming back to haunt me...