Monthly Archives: July 2013

Suburgatory

My poor sidekick hasn’t gotten a break on the teething front.  It’s been one right after the other and his stupid teeth spent some time going up and down (and up and down, and up and down, and I think you get the idea) looking for the most annoying way to make their final appearance.  So I’ve spent the better part of 2 weeks keeping my son high as a kite on baby Tylenol and Oragel.  Right when the teething stopped, we lost a nap and spent a week learning how to live on a 2 nap schedule, which Lucas has decided is just as annoying as his teeth.  I think he’s done giving me a teeny, tiny middle finger every nap time and he’s back to slobbering like a rabid dog.  So one can conclude that angering Mommy is his entertainment every day, or a third tooth is on its way in that teeny, tiny mouth of his.

In the midst of this teething fest, we took Lucas to the beach and into the lake.  It was soooo much fun, but unfortunately was extremely windy so the sand became little death pellets that I had to shield Lucas from.  Other then that, he loved the water and Daddy was laughing with him in the waves, which melts my little Mommy heart.  You know what else melts my heart?  This face and those sunglasses!

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I miss the days that Lucas was in a car seat and would just sleep when we took him to dinner with us.  Those days are quickly becoming a faint memory.  If I leave him in his car seat now he flips out on me and when he’s in a high chair or cart that really only lasts about 30 seconds before he wants to be held or to eat or to be entertained.  It really makes things more difficult and our restaurant choices down to just loud bars with high chairs (see: Buffalo Wild Wings).  I used to take him to dinner, set him on a seat, and never hear a peep out of him thinking that I didn’t understand why all of these parents said it was so hard to go out with children.  And then Lucas learned how to scream and I started carrying around a plethora of toys in my diaper bag and cringing at the thought of being in quiet places.

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On Friday night Angel’s coworker offered to babysit Lucas for the night and who are we to pass up some free babysitting?  May God strike down anyone who passes up free babysitting.  So Angel took me to dinner a movie.  Last time we went on a real date like that, I had Lucas 9 months later.  After Despicable Me 2 and some sushi rolls, we went to Target to get baby formula and wine and rolled our eyes at the parents who’s children were throwing a fit in the toy aisle.  Haha, suckers.

We’re in the land of solid foods.  He wants to eat the peaches right out of our hands

literally

literally

Watermelon, avocado, ground turkey- he’s on it.  And I imagine that I’ll stop worrying about him choking on his food 6 years from never.  It’s best to feed him while totally naked and right before bath time on a tile floor.  Little man is meeeeeeessssssssssy!!

He probably got 2 of these into his mouth.  3 max.

He probably got 2 of these into his mouth. 3 max.

 

Last night Angel went to the Taste of Kalamazoo with some old college friends, and since I have a 13 pound sidekick with an 8:30 bedtime I agreed to stay home and implement an 8:30 bedtime for Momma.  I’m not sure when my fear of the night developed because I spent years living alone, but somewhere along the way I started freaking out when the sun goes down.  There’s no way that sound coming from the freezer is the ice maker.  It’s someone who froze ice cubes in their own freezer, broke into my house, and went to fill my ice maker before he comes upstairs to KILL ME.  Clearly. And I don’t believe in ghosts but when the sun goes down I’m a little bit more open minded.

And in my blogging hiatus, my little dude turned 8 months old.  High five for successfully keeping him happy and healthy for 8 months!  (I’ve pretty much given up on monthly photos at this point because this is all I get)

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At one point, my little man threw a 20 minute fit because I put clothes on him, thinking that it was too cold to let him keep playing in just a diaper.  He totally disagreed, and was crawling all over the floor screaming, crying, and throwing himself on the ground.  I was holding out to let him finish because really, who’s the adult here?  But you can’t win them all, so I gave up and took his clothes back off and he instantly got quiet and started smiling.  Yeah, well, don’t get used to this.  You won’t always get your way

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I can’t complain though.  My little sidekick is happy and healthy and absolutely adorable

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I may be biased.

 

Dear Embroidery Machine, $#*(&@#^!!

If my embroidery machine had feelings, I would have crushed them tonight.  Which is ironic because that’s sort of what I wanted to do to my beloved sewing machine come the ump-teenth time that the thread broke and 3rd time that the needle broke.  So instead of committing sewing machine homicide, I decided that the smarter thing would be to walk away from my crafting for the night and try again later.  But just so the blogging world is aware, I owe Lucas’ swear jar some change.

On an unrelated topic, what are the rules against yelling at your child and blasting profane rap music (circa 1990) so that he doesn’t fall asleep?  I was on my way to the grocery store and wouldn’t you figure that of the 6,000 times that I’ve wished that he would fall asleep in the car and didn’t that I wanted him to stay awake and he wouldn’t?  He was totally confused until I hit the produce of the grocery store and my little sidekick was sound asleep in his baby backpack, drooling down my neck.  It was the most peaceful, and strangely not the wettest, trip to the grocery store that I’ve had in a while.

My sewing machine, along with Lucas’ second tooth that keeps coming in and then going away so that it can make a repeat performance, have me so annoyed that I’m just going to practice what my kindergarten teacher taught me: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Radio silence.

Wine tasting: "No, you're supposed to be over here so that I can kiss you.  See?"

Wine tasting: “No, you’re supposed to be over here so that I can kiss you. See?”

Wine tasting: "Do you think I can photoshop the baby out of the backpack so that I don't look like an alcoholic mother?"

Wine tasting: “Do you think I can photoshop the baby out of the backpack so that I don’t look like an alcoholic mother?”

Picnic at the vineyard

Picnic at the vineyard

How I Spent My 4th of July: With the Gerstner Family on Lake Michigan.  Lucas was clearly too interested in the sand to look at the camera, but we'll work on it

How I Spent My 4th of July: With the Gerstner Family on Lake Michigan. Lucas was clearly too interested in the sand to look at the camera, but we’ll work on it

7 Months.  He doesn't want to sit still anymore so these sure are getting harder to take.  Also: more adorable.

7 Months. He doesn’t want to sit still anymore so these sure are getting harder to take. Also: more adorable.

This is what pure joy looks like.  Coincidentally, it's also what baby oatmeal looks like

This is what pure joy looks like. Coincidentally, it’s also what baby oatmeal looks like

Saying hi to grandma!

Saying hi to grandma!

Enjoyng some dinner at Pizza House in Ann Arbor.  It sure is nice to use the patio in the summer

Enjoyng some dinner at Pizza House in Ann Arbor. It sure is nice to use the patio in the summer

Do you recall me complaining about my hair coming out by the handful post pregnancy.  I cut bangs because I had to do something to hide the baby bangs that are growing in.  Nice to know that I'm not going to bald from this experience at least.

Do you recall me complaining about my hair coming out by the handful post pregnancy. I cut bangs because I had to do something to hide the baby bangs that are growing in. Nice to know that I’m not going to bald from this experience at least.

Signs of a real date night:  1. I dug a purse out of my closet.  2. It matched my outfit 3. It did not contain a diaper

Signs of a real date night:
1. I dug a purse out of my closet.
2. It matched my outfit
3. It did not contain a diaper

Looks like my adorable sidekick is enjoying the University of Michigan as much as his daddy does

Looks like my adorable sidekick is enjoying the University of Michigan as much as his daddy does

I believe that all inappropriate body parts are covered, so here is the traditional baby in the bubble bath photo that every parent (and now myself) has for future blackmail.

I believe that all inappropriate body parts are covered, so here is the traditional baby in the bubble bath photo that every parent (and now myself) has for future blackmail.

Lucas yelling at his toys for floating away

Lucas yelling at his toys for floating away

Boys sure learn at an early age how to make a mess

Boys sure learn at an early age how to make a mess

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Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

It’s been a while since I had the chance to post what I’ve been doing.  I assume you’ll understand why when I tell you that this:

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Turned into this:

IMG_1687Courtesy of some evil baby teeth finally making an appearance.  Having a screaming and sick baby really makes everything that much more challenging.  Right when I was sad that he was growing up so quickly and didn’t need me anymore, he started teething and decided that ONLY mommy can make him feel better.  Mommy, on the other hand, is more than happy to oblige by dropping everything and spending days on the couch doing this:

IMG_1669So what do you know?  My baby needs me after all to make him feel better.

I was able to sneak in some mommy time in the middle of this teething adventure.  First, I took a stroll around the mall hoping that I could sneak a few minutes of sleep out of the Little Dude.  Luckily he was calm long enough for me to get my eyebrows done

IMG_1689And then I pressed my luck and got a new haircut!

IMG_1691This came a day after I spent 20 minutes tearing apart the diaper bag and car looking for the sunglasses that were on top of my head.  So I’m assuming the two add up to me officially becoming a mom.  I should probably just give up now and spring for some new Mom Jeans to complete my Stay-At-Home-Mom makeover.

The only way that I’ve been able to get anything done is with my little man literally attached to my hip in  my 4th baby carrier.  Some people go through strollers to find the one that works, some people go through bottles.  I took the middle ground and went with baby carriers and now I think I finally found one that I LOVE (love, love, love) so I’m going to sell all of my others and kick myself for not just starting here.

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Before the teething started, I spent a busy week with folks who I’ve met here.  I spent a couple of days with ex-pat folks from Ireland.  Then a couple of play dates, a mom’s group, and a trip to the zoo!  I embraced the heat that I oh-so miss but was a little worried about my sweet boy over heating so I gave him a sippy cup of water, embraced the diaper look, and walked him through a couple of misters.  He didn’t care at all that it was hot as long as he was with mom and dad!

IMG_1657In the midst of all of this I’ve learned that now that Lucas doesn’t nap as well cuddling so he has to sleep in his crib, my new favorite time of day is letting him crawl around on the bedroom floor while I get dressed for the day.  He’s so stinking cute and I just love watching the personality that he’s getting!!!  I have the Pack n Play set up in the bedroom still and if he’s awake that’s where he goes when I shower.  Then it’s all fair game while I’m getting dressed and drying my hair.  Here are a few of the (pre teething) moments that I’ve caught on camera:

Make a new friend

Make a new friend

Then try to eat him

Then try to eat him

Let.  Me.  Out.

Let. Me. Out.

Oh I see.  Solitary.

Oh I see. Solitary.

Milk mustache

Milk mustache

Jail break with mommy

Jail break with mommy

 

And lastly, even while teething I have a happy baby.  This may have something to do with the baby Oragel and dose of Tylenol that he has in his system, but my snotball of a teething baby still has a smile in him to round off my blog post.

IMG_1693Cheers to a teething baby still sleeping 11 hours through the night uninterrupted!!