I'm back...yet away

Ponder that title just for a little bit. It's amazing how TRUE that statement is. First off, I hope nobody missed me too much while I packed, moved and waited impatiently for my Internet to be up and running again. My husband must really understand how important the Internet is to me, because he made sure that it got hooked up ASAP. We were fully moved into the new apartment on Saturday, and Monday night we had Internet. That man loves me! Oh, and for the record, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE MY NEW APARTMENT. IT TOTALLY ROCKS AND YOU PROBABLY WISHED YOU LIVED HERE, TOO!

So, I'm back [online, to blogging, to wasting time on the Internet]. And yet, I am AWAY! I no longer live in the same town as my parents and in-laws. (Oh yeah, you probably didn't know, but my parents' house practically shares a backyard with my in-laws' house. Really, we would walk between them all the time.) Of course, I still live really close. But I AM farther away. And that puts us in a different ward at church. And it might make us plan our visits a little bit more. It is actually quite a relief.

Let me tell you what: having the only grandkid on my side of the family, and the only one close to home on my husband's side of the family, means that Bug is S-P-O-I-L-E-D. He isn't really spoiled with things, but with attention. Of course, I really don't think you can spoil a baby with attention. But, with two grandma's living really close, it gets pretty ridiculous. And once you add in the aunts and uncle and, I guess, the grandpas that love to love on Bug...Seriously. It is too much. Honestly, I don't mind having free sitters that are almost always available. Really, I should use them more often. BUT....the "fighting" and "arguing" that goes on drives me batty! "You guys are always at their house." or "Weren't you over at their house last week?" or "I want to hold him today at church!" or this grandma is the favorite or that grandma is the favorite or that aunt is the favorite, blah blah blah.

GAH!!!!

I can't handle that! There is just so much competition to win Bug's heart. Let me tell you all something--HE'S A BABY AND WILL LOVE ANYONE THAT HE SEES MORE THAN TWICE A MONTH!!! Heck, he will probably love you as long as you aren't a brand spankin' new stranger. And even then, he may still love you.

So, I am grateful to be just a little bit farther away from all the familial craziness. We'll see how well it takes care of the problem. Or, we may have to move to Brazil.



PS-Check out the button I made on the right hand side. And, if you like, grab it for yourself!

Off we Go!

We are moving. We have one week to pack everything and get out of our crappy apartment and into our lovely apartment. So, I don't really have time to blog. So, here are links to some of my favorite posts. Take your time, go read them.

Oh, Pump!

Love that Play Gym!

Grooming Mom

Declawing the Monster

How I realized I was a Mama Bear

That's Sweet

And then I hid under a rock.

When I get my dream house...

And here are some links to blogs that I love to read. Go read them, too. But don't forget about me!

Musings of Mommy Bee

Baby Makin(g) Machine

Mona's Musings

Banter, Baffoonery & Bloggy Blather

My Real Life was Backordered

and, of course, NieNie Dialogues

I'll be back as soon as I have Internet at my new place. It may be two weeks. But hopefully not that long!

Phew! What a week!

Bug puking in the middle of the night on mommy and daddy's bed. Bug having diarrhea. Bug getting a bright red bum. Bug and daddy and mommy waking up at 2am for at least four consecutive nights. Mom feeling crummy. Dad feeling crummy. Bug feeling crummy. Bug feeling active. Bug feeling needy. Bug getting bumps. Bug getting bruises. Bug getting poop on the carpet. Bug getting a paper cut on his lip that bled enough to freak mommy out. AND....our water getting turned off for the 10th AND 11th times in the seven months we've lived in our apartment. Looking for a new place to live. Not wanting to leave our ward at church. Not finding any place to live to keep us in our ward. Finding a place outside of our ward. Trying to break our lease without punishment because of all the heinous-ness we've had to deal with while living here. No cooperation on the part of our landlord. Mommy have nervous breakdowns.

And it hasn't ended yet. Somebody give me some chocolate. And tell God to keep up the beautiful weather! Maybe then I'll be able to produce a worthy blog post.

A Father's Lament

So, this is a little bit of a change as to the fact that Mommy has allowed me to write a post. And this is my Father’s Lament:

Last night was a very “messy” evening, for lack of better words.

We went to bed at around 9:00 and I set two alarms, one for 10:50 because I had get up and reboot a server at 11:00 when there wouldn’t be anyone on it anywhere in the world, and one for 6:15 to get up and ready for work in the morning.

The first two hours of sleep were horrendous. I was in one of those half asleep half awake modes the whole time and then I woke up in a cold sweat when the first alarm went off, bug was being really fussy, and he felt like he still had a temp, and to tell you the truth I felt really bad for him and for mommy. I was trying to change the time on the alarm for some silly reason when mommy told me to just turn it off and that I didn’t need it anymore. So I turned it off and went to fulfill my responsibilities as a loving providing father and went to work. I first went out into the living room and rebooted the server, waited 5 min. for it to come back up. I then verified that everything was working the way that it should and sent out an email to anyone who might possibly be awake and told them that everything was back up and I shutdown my computer and tried to go back to bed.

Of course bug wouldn’t have it. Mommy was having one of the emotional breakdowns like a pregnant woman would have, except for the fact that she isn’t, wondering what could be wrong with her baby. You know if those pregnancy signs are really true than mommy is always pregnant even when she’s not. So I picked up bug and went out into the living room and closed the door so that mommy could get some sleep. I swear I had him for less than a minute when he threw up ALL over me… yeah…. Like really really gross. So I called for mommy and she snaps at me… WHAT and all I could say was “HELP.” She asked if he had thrown up and I answered in the affirmative and she came rushing out to my aid.

I will tell you what though, that throw-up smelt so horrendous, and I made a small noise of disgust. Mommy then glared at me and asked what the matter was as she was cleaning and trying to take care of bug. I said “nothing.” Out of fear more than anything… and she said “your just making things worse” under her breath and I ask “what?” as if I hadn’t heard her and she said “nothing” hoping that I hadn’t really heard her. By this time bug had started letting out some of the most horrid farts/poops ever smelt in the history of the world… I mean how the heck can a baby make something smell so horrendous? So I ran and got a change of clothes for bug, a burp cloth, and a nose sucker “aka nasal aspirator” for mommy and asked if she needed me to do anything else. She said no, of course because I was just making things worse, so I asked if I could go clean all the vomit off of me as it was running down my arms/legs/sides/and just about every other imaginable part of me that should stay clean. Why do I say it this way well because I am a clean freak so this whole time I am afraid to touch anything and am hoping that vomit isn’t getting all over everything in the house as I try to help take care of my son. So with mommy’s permission I went and jumped in the shower, washed three/four times just for good measure and went back to bed while in the mean time bug is as happy as can be ready to play because he no longer felt bad due to unwanted fluids in his little self. By this time it is well past midnight and I finally got myself down for a restless night, by the time the second alarm went off I was so tired I turned it off and slept for another two hours.

Uhhh...Whoops.

I am very strict about what my kid eats. And everybody knows it. My mom threatened to feed him a pickle once, and I told her that if she did, she wouldn't be allowed to babysit him EVER AGAIN. I get to decide what he eats. And when. Although that is proving to be more and more difficult, as Bug is deciding that he really wants to eat big people food now.

The other day, we were over at my parents' house. Hanging out, eating their food, the usual. After dinner, we had some ice cream. Mint chocolate chip for me, and raspberry chocolate chip for anyone who didn't want mint (who wouldn't want mint?)

Of course, Bug was there next to me. Begging, whining. So, I sucked the ice cream off of a piece of chocolate and gave it to him. (I'm not sure which would be worse for him to have, the ice cream or the chocolate?) He stopped whining as he enjoyed his little treat. Then, he moved along to my dad...because grandpa is always a sucker for begging babies. My dad gave Bug a little spoonful of raspberry ice cream.

"Did you just give him ice cream?!??!" I asked, shocked.
"Yeah, isn't that what you just gave him?" my dad was a little confused.
"NO!" I shrieked, "I gave him a piece of chocolate!"
"Oh."
Sigh. My kid is going to have digestional problems, and allergies, and diabetes, and tooth decay, and obesity, and heart problems, and cancer, and every other health problem I can think of.

Chop Chop

Bug was born with a lot of hair. And then, as he got a little bit older, he lost nearly all of it. Typical. Then, he started growing back the most beautiful, soft, strawberry blonde hair a mother could ever want for her child. It was still very fine. And he never had those desirable curls. But it was still perfect hair.

But, it kept growing, and it was over his ears, getting down past his eyebrows, and looking a little too much like a mullet in the back. I didn't want to cut his hair until he was a year old. I thought I could wait those last two months. But, apparently I couldn't. My sons will never be allowed to have such scraggly, long hair. A missionary hair cut is required (i.e., no hair that is below the ears, to the eyes, or mullet-like)! So, I cut his hair.

He was so good. I just used our clippers and buzzed it to 3/4". Bug sat practically still the whole time. Well, really, most of the time he was tilting his head back, trying to figure out what I was doing, what was making that noise, and what was touching his noggin'. Then, I pulled out the scissors to trim up a little bit. Obviously, my hair scissors aren't up to snuff, because one little snip and the whole hair cut looked like poop. Luckily, I was able to fix it with the clippers.

-phew!-

Then, after a shower for Bug, a cookie for Bug (I've pretty much given up on the single ingredient thing), lots of oohing and awe-ing over how grown up and cute Bug looks, I sat down and was nursing the little guy. That's when I saw them. I saw a few long hairs poking up on his head. They were just mocking me, laughing at getting through the trim, unscathed. So, I called my husband over with the non-hair scissors (which are up to snuff, thank you very much) and had him snip off those pesky, long hairs. And my husband did such a great job getting those hairs, that I won't even mention that he cut my finger just a little bit in the process. I love you, dearest honey!

Down the drain.

I'm not one of those moms who bathe regularly. My kid, I mean; bathe my kid regularly. (Although, I don't get a daily shower, either. But that's another Mother's Lament.) Really, he only needs it about every other day, if that. And in all honesty, I HATE baths. Ever since Bug was born, I have washed his pink, little body with a shower. It is so fast. A wipe with a cloth, a little bit of soap, a spray down rinse-Voila! Done! I know, there are so many moms who plop their kiddos in the tub, promptly at 7:32pm, give them bubbles, toys, and sheer happiness. They stay in there until half an hour later, when the bubbles are gone, the water is cold and their bodies are wrinkled. But, I'm really not interested in letting my kids play in the bath tub, while I kneel on the hard bathroom floor, with my sleeves rolled up, while getting drenched to the bone trying to keep anyone from drowning. Until my kids can take a bath on their own, I'd rather them just take a shower with me. I don't have to worry about getting my clothes wet, and I don't have to worry about wasting time. (Plus, the thought of my child excreting anything in the bath water totally freaks me out!)

Usually, when I give Bug a shower, I wipe down his face with a wash cloth, then I give it to him to distract him while I wash the rest of his body. Recently, Bug has entered the stage of development where he likes to put things IN and take things OUT. Wherever, whatever. IN, OUT. Unfortunately, our bathtub doesn't have a drain stopper. There is a nice, open hole for the water to drain. It is very enticing to Bug. And, no matter how quickly I wash him, he will make it to the drain with his wash cloth and try to put it IN. Then I have to, quickly, take it OUT before it necessitates a call to the plumber. All while trying to soap up and/or rinse Bug's slippery body. And, boy oh boy, does it make him M.A.D. when I take his wash cloth OUT of the drain. It makes him so mad, that he just has to get that wash cloth back IN.

What IS that?

Sometimes, my house can be pretty messy. Shocking, isn't it? I mean, it isn't dirty, it's just -messy-. The dishes may be having a party in my sink, the floor most likely needs to be vacuumed, the living room is littered with Bug's toys (I swear I put those away 10 minutes ago)! And, sometimes, it is just easier to leave it that way. I really don't want to be the kind of mom that is too worried about keeping the house clean, that my kids only remember me cleaning. I really don't think I'm in danger of that. At least not with the good start I've gotten on letting my house get...messy.

One day, I was laying on the floor, enjoying the time with my husband and baby. I was laying on a blanket that was kind of piled up in a heap on the floor. It was pretty comfortable. Bug was playing with some toys next to me, and my husband was laying next to me with his head on my stomach. I'm not sure what started it, but my hubby started teasing me by scooting up farther, so practically his whole top half was laying across me. (I probably told him that he was squishing me!) I soon noticed that the blanket I was laying on felt unusually hard. Gosh, I didn't notice that there was a huge knot in the blanket right under my shoulder blade. IT'S JUST A BLANKET! They are supposed to be soft! I started voicing my pain, "Ouch, honey, quit squishing me, this blanket all the sudden got really hard!" Typically, that would just be me, making an excuse to get him off of me. But, seriously, that blanket got hard! So, my husband grabbed the blanket to straighten it out, because once it was straightened out, he could continue to squish me. And you'll never believe what he found under there...the remote to the DVD player!

I shouldn't have been so surprised to find something under the blanket, making it hard. But, I wonder. Maybe...just maybe...that blanket has magical powers to find things that are usually lost.

WaaaaHoooo!

Hey everybody! Guess what!?!? I won an award over at Baby Makin(g) Machine for her Mommy Moment of the Month in February! See, look, click here, here I am! And when you click over there, stay awhile and check out what an awesome blog it is!

THANK YOU!!!!!