First of Our Two Moves...Comin' Up!

     This year we aren't only saying goodbye to "the old year" and hello to the new one, but we're also saying goodbye to the home we've had for 5 years (as of February 2nd). Although I've been pining away over various houses for the past year and felt as though I might wither away if we didn't move, I am a little sad to be leaving this house. Its significance certainly isn't lost on me. Never again will the biggest, most monumental life events occur for me all while living in the same residence.
The arrival of this baby made moving seem all the more real:

     The Pack Rat representative said it will hold up to 4 rooms' worth of stuff, but...when I look at it, it just doesn't seem all that big. The inside may resemble a sardine can by the time we're through with it. Lucky for us that a portion of our belongings is coming with us to our temporary housing locale. The stuff going into the Pack Rat we won't see again until we move into the house we're buying. In other words, I have to be parted from my piano and Victrola until March! Sad, I know. :(
     Yesterday I was actually able to venture out into the world, with Mr. Wonderful and Junior. We went Christmas shopping...for Junior, who, although he was wide awake the entire time, isn't likely to open the books "Santa" got him and say "Hey, wait a minute...you got these at Barnes & Noble on Wednesday--I was there!"

We then went in search of a Sophie Giraffe--ever heard of these?

Apparently they're all the rage and chewing, teething kiddos everywhere adore them. We wandered through the Plaza in Kansas City, MO over to Pottery Barn Kids and they were sold out. The sweet lady who helped us (sweet because she oohed and ahhed appropriately over my darling boy) told us there'd been a run on them recently. All they had was the bath version, which Junior already has, thanks to his Aunt Sarah Craft.
The last stop we made was Target. Mr. Wonderful is a huge fan of Dunkin Donuts coffee--every flavor except Original. And Target was having a pretty terrific clearance sale (for those of you interested--Leslie Camara!) so we found Dunkin Donuts coffee on sale...for over $2 less. And we came home with good ole' Hazelnut...and this:

     I needed photographic evidence to show you, otherwise you may think I'm more creative than I really am. Strawberry Shortcake coffee. Depending on your viewpoint, it may or may not be a surprise that this (the last bag left) was marked down even more than the other coffee flavors. Suffice it to say, strawberry shortcake being my all-time favorite dessert, this little beauty came home with us. When we made coffee this morning, Hazelnut didn't stand a chance of making it into that pot. The verdict? Different...but good...but takes some getting used to (that particular flavor first thing in the morning).
     Today I'm off to take Junior shopping, visit a dear friend and drop off a Christmas gift. For those of you from "back home" who may even now be scattered around the entire southeast (and in one instance, Colorado), you are sorely missed this Christmas season. Love you all dearly and cannot wait to see you again. Have the merriest of Christmases!

Matthew 1:18-25

Bah-Humbug

Today is December 16th, as you're probably aware. Typically at around this time I have forced myself to put up our Christmas tree, grumbling the entire time, only to be pleased to have it up once it's done. (And no offense to Mr. Wonderful, but this is almost always done by myself. Hoping Junior will help when he's older.) Also at around this time, I have put into rotation my Christmas 78's on my 1921 Victrola. I've also at least attempted by now to make some sort of Christmas cookie/baked good/treat. Baking doesn't always go so well for me, as you may know.

However, this year is...well, different. There is not and will not be, a tree in our living room. Currently Junior's play pen is sitting where the tree would go anyway, and if his play pen can make him happy for just 5 minutes a day...it's staying right where it is. My Victrola motor is at the repair shop. I should be receiving it back soon, but it probably won't be much before Christmas if at all. That was Mr. Wonderful's push present to me--getting it repaired.
This less-than-convenient move, forced on us by less-than-considerate people (or so I think in my less generous moments) has taken away every single bit of anything slightly Christmassy around our house. And although I have battled Grinchiness off and on for about a decade now, having the option to indulge in the commercial Christmas trappings is something I never wanted taken away.

That being said, the older I've become, the more disgusted I am with certain aspects of the Christmas Season (and yes, I mean the Christmas season, not the holiday season). Pardon me as I rant for just a moment.
You see, I'm a stickler for that little phrase "The Reason for the Season". I even contemplated circumventing the whole Santa Clause thing with Junior because it truly takes away from Christmas' entire purpose--the remembrance of Christ; the marking of His birthday. After consideration and discussions, we are going to do Santa Clause with Beau but once he's old enough to really question...I won't be going to huge lengths to re-persuade him.
So, feeling that it's unfortunate that so many, when you ask them the meaning of Christmas, choose to say "It's about getting together with family and friends..." it's not going to be too difficult to skip all of the commercial trappings of Christmas this year. Every single one.
Besides, we have the following distraction:

What on earth did we do before Junior??

Boy Oh Boy

     Today my dear friends learned that they are expecting their first boy, thus providing for their gorgeous little girl, a little brother. To them I say: Welcome To The Club! It's a fun-filled, joyous membership with tons of perks. Not the least of these is sloppy boy kisses (i.e., where your son licks your face and you call it kisses), super-loud gutteral noises emitting from his windpipe, the noisiest poops imaginable, little stinker smiles and particularly for us mamas--a bond that's really difficult to put to words. Even for someone as wordy as myself.

Junior and I, pooped out after his baby dedication and luncheon this past Sunday. Geez I look mad when I'm alseep!


     In short, there's nothing in the world quite like a little boy. Which was probably what prompted me, when Junior was roughly 24 hours old, to look at Mr. Wonderful and say "I want 10 more just like him." Lucky for Mr. Wonderful that there was a chair behind him to fall into. :) After all, I was the girl who never really wanted children until about 2 years ago!

But Mr. Wonderful changed my mind...man, am I ever glad he did--look at the super-cute guys I get to spend my time with now! (Sorry, Mr. Wonderful, for cutting part of your head off in this photo!) Imagine the frustration when you have the World's Smiliest Baby--until someone points a camera at him. This photo, taken, last night, was one of a few attempts to capture his cheeseball grin...no luck this time!

All this to say, I never knew what kind of excitement would be involved with expanding our family before we brought Junior into the world. I can only imagine the excitement my friends are experiencing today, with the expectation of their second child.

Note: I am a reckless boy-diaper changer. I do not lay a cloth, diaper or anything down on his little anatomy while changing his diaper. I "wing it" every time and hope for no whizzing the best. This is reckless, reckless behavior and is not recommended!

     

Tipping The Scales

     No, that is not a reference to the baby weight that is clinging to me as if for dear life (all 25 pounds of it--dear Lord!) I am currently seeking a little balance in my life. I appear to be somewhat off-kilter. And by that I mean:

This small person takes up all of my time. I mean all. Even when he's asleep, which he only is during the day for 30 minutes at a time, I am racing around the house doing his laundry, setting up his bottles for the next round and looking for spare minutes to swipe the kitchen counters with a rag and swiffer the living room. This is nothing new. Every new mother faces this, I know. I'm just looking for ways to combat the problem. Because currently in neglect are the following:

Mr. Wonderful
The House
The Cat
The Dog
My Friends
Myself

     Although I may be the happiest I've ever been, I do see the problem areas. I just can't get to them, because Junior is hungry or wet or tired or bored or lonely or smiling (which means I always want to hang around and make him smile some more). We recently (and finally) purchased a baby monitor. Which I believe overall is a wonderful thing but now I have compounded my problems by the fact that while he's in his crib sleeping, I'm in the living room watching him sleep on the monitor. I've named it "Beau TV--all Beau, all the time". The really sick part is that I like to watch him wake up--so I can race to his side before he starts crying.

                                    Anything to avoid seeing that particular expression on his face
This pretty much ensures that not a lot is accomplished while he's snoozing. I would love to be able to, in addition to caring for Junior, keep a clean house, work out every day, chat with friends for a few minutes, wash/dry/straighten my hair a couple times a week, give the cat a few minutes of attention and still have the energy left over to make out with my husband (if you're reading this Dad, I'm really sorry!)
If I'm not going to be able to do it all, how on earth do I decide where to make "cuts"?

Goodbye...and Goodbye

     This week has been chock-full of BIG news for Mr. Wonderful, Junior and I. We have been planning, since Junior was about a week old, to travel to Virginia for Christmas so Junior could spend his first Christmas with his Grandaddy (my Dad). But unfortunately, Thursday rolled around and we learned that the owners of our home, who for the past 5 years have been missionaries to China, are coming back...and they want their house back. We have to be out of here by January 1st. So no Christmas with my family this year. :( I was heartbroken. Really looking forward to that trip.
The frustrating part about all this is that we weren't going to be officially ready to buy a house until after the first of the year. So...we're going to have to move twice. The first move will be into temporary housing that we may have already lined up:

     So, not too bad. It's waaaay far away from the city and from where we ultimately want to end up, but temporary is the key word here. Besides, it looks pretty nice and the owners have been really pleasant so far. AND they accept both cats and dogs--SCORE!
     That was Thursday's news. 24 hours later, our mechanic told us that our SUV should be sold immediately...before the engine blew on us. Wow. Just...wow. By this time I was so preoccupied with our housing situation that I almost took this news in stride. As if someone had simply said to me "I like peanuts." I give credit to Mr. Wonderful for how he handled each of these situations. He immediately found us the temporary housing (I mean 5 minutes after we got our notice) and today--he sold our SUV. Now all we need is a permanent residence and a vehicle. No biggie. :)

So, tell me: Ever been hit with a major double whammy like this??

Hello There Self...

     As my previous blog posts have made abundantly clear, being pregnant and having a child is all-consuming. Every waking thought is in some way centered around said child--their needs, their wants, and in my case--frantically coming up with ideas to entertain him during his wakeful times. (Mr. Wonderful has no worries in this department, as he is naturally entertaining, and elicited Junior's first laugh from him just last week.)
     But there comes a point when you begin to miss...well, yourself. Just a little. The aspects of yourself that make you uniquely you; your hobbies, and as discussed in detail on SATC, the quirky things you do when you're alone. (I believe they referred to it as Secret Single Behavior, but it applies to anybody!)

    
     Just this week, I have begun to make a slight comeback. On Sunday evening I went shopping for long, baggy tunics and sweaters, and cheap jeans in a size I hope will shortly be far too large for me. Earlier on Sunday I had washed, dried and straightened my hair. This process takes me about an hour so it was no small task. But it made me feel more like me. The girl with the frizzy hair piled on top of her head that's been lurking around my house in a bathrobe for the past 8 weeks is not going to be here forever--I'm determined! And to add to the increase in "self" I've seen lately, I got up this morning and combined the following ingredients in a blender:

1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 banana
5 large frozen strawberries
1 cup strawberry-banana V8 Fusion
1 handful fresh spinach

And I drank it all! Minus the workout that usually follows a protein shake like this, it reminded me very much of the morning routine I had in place prior to pregnancy. The workouts will come as soon as my brother-in-law can help Mr. Wonderful move my treadmill back into our office...poor Todd!
    
     All these little activities are so small--tiny, really--that nobody else would think it remarkable that I've managed to incorporate them back into my days. But really, it's huge. In 8 weeks I've gone from feeling as though I were flying by the seat of my pants without a parachute to driving on a paved road with the occasional pothole. It is impossible to do this (parenting) long-term without taking care of yourself, without treating yourself and without reminding yourself to be yourself. It was a gradual wake-up call for me. I am not just Junior's mama. I'm still me, I'm still Mr. Wonderful's wife, I'm still a daughter and I'm still a friend.
     The friend aspect especially is something that I realized today I have been failing miserably to do. A close friend, who is pregnant and the mother to an almost 10 month old lives what feels like forever away. She sounded so tired when I spoke to her today. I realized I have not asked her how she was feeling near enough as of late, and was so surprised to hear she's going out of the country next week! Every conversation with her the past few weeks has been about Junior, and she's been more than happy to help me with my issues with his napping problems.
I have not kept up with others' goings-on as I should--I've let the parenting role dominate me! Today is going to be the start of reverting back to the old me in that department as well--taking an active interest in those I care so much about.

So, tell me: Any major event in your life ever lead you to neglect being you?

Sickly Prickly

     I had not been sick in a year, maybe a little more. And that's amazing, because I'm one of those--know me long enough and you'll experience my sinus infections, colds and flus right along with me. I get sick multiple, multiple times a year. But as soon as I was pregnant--wham! Sickness didn't stand a chance with me. According to my doctor, it's because your body approaches a baby in your uterus as a foreign object. Baby isn't wholly made up of you, he or she has your husband in them too. So to deal with this, your body makes tons and tons of steroids...which in turn kept me from getting sick. Fast-forward to Junior at his six and a half week old mark...and I'm sick. Sore throat, weak, a cough and a headache. In other words, I feel lousy. And since Mr. Wonderful is on the tail end of illness himself...it's not too fun around here. I have come to the conclusion that if I'm sick, I can tolerate no other stressors before I become extremely irritable; read: prickly.

Add to all this the fact that Junior is less than a fan of napping. And by that I mean he screams bloody murder for the majority of the time he's in his crib. We've tried swaddling, not swaddling, pacifier, no pacifier, warmer outfit, cooler outfit, a bath beforehand...

with no luck. As I write, this very second--he is hollering to the extent that I fear the neighbors will call CPS to accuse me of beating my child. But when I check on him--he is fine. He's crabby and tired but doesn't want to nap. Mr. Wonderful questions whether he is truly my child, as I lay down to nap and am out before my head hits the pillow--for hours. We're lucky to get 20 minutes out of Junior. So the new method we're trying is to put him down for a nap every couple of hours and just see what happens. It worked this morning at 7:30 like a charm...less so at 10:30 but he still napped, and when I put him down 15 minutes ago, well--I may never hear quite right in my left ear ever again. That being said--it's getting better. Only now do I hear the fan and his Sleep Sheep's ocean sounds in his room (trying to get him accustomed to the ocean!) rather than his tonsils vibrating around in his little head.

                  Yes, this was taken 7 weeks ago, but not much has changed...that's still his mad-face. :)
     In order to ensure that Mr. Wonderful and I do not strangle each other during this most frustrating of times (illness, screaming baby, etc.) we will, I believe, have to find a regular reliable babysitter and make sure we bring back Date Night, stat. One recommendation is...

     He's reliable, I'll give him that. And the two of them are very interested in each other. He's generous too. During one of Junior's earlier-on crying fits (this was before we figured out his tummy issues), I opened Junior's door to leave his room and Tyson had brought the baby a toy and a bone and set them down outside his door. :) We have promised Tyson a saddle when Junior's a little older so he can offer the baby "pony rides".
     I am off to finish reading "Baby Wise". I would stop at this point, as I am somewhat frustrated by all the varying parental advice out there, but I never feel good about stopping a book before I've finished it...unless it's a text book. :)