Tuesday, June 29, 2010

To Texas. And home again.

Well, we are back from our trip to Dallas (as of Saturday night) and I am starting to get back into the swing of things. Meaning, our dishes need to be done, the carpet needs a good vacuuming, and I'm sitting in front of the computer while Bug eats mushy Cheerios.

Let me just share with you a little of how our week went in that great state of Texas.

First, we had the drive down there. It was 16 hours long. 16 hours. We left at 4am, EST, to get down there at a reasonable hour. Bug was AMAZING. I can't believe he handled the drive so well. We stopped every two to three hours to walk around, eat, and take potty breaks. Bug entertained himself in the car by throwing Goldfish at mommy and daddy in the front seats. Luckily, daddy decided it was more funny than something to get upset about, and calmed the mommy before she could threaten to turn the car around!

Bug also entertained himself by putting his blanket over his head. He would then call out "MOMMY! DADDY! MOMMY! DADDY!" until we replied, "Where is Bug? Where on earth could Bug be? I don't know where Bug is?"...you get the point. Then, Bug would uncover his head and yell, "Ah-da!" which is his form of "Ta-da!" And mommy and daddy would both have to say, "THERE he is!" And then the game would start over again. And again.

16 hours.

While the Hubs went to his training (remember, this was a business trip for him that I tagged along on, and not a family vacation) I tried to not go insane. Luckily, I have a cousin that lived only 40 minutes away from our hotel. So, I hung out with her and her family a lot. She has two young boys close in age to Bug, and she is expecting her third....it was nice to know I wasn't the only pregnant woman suffering in the heat of Texas!

My cousin took us to her local pool, that has a GREAT kid area. I had to fight Bug to get him covered in sunscreen, and then to even get him in the water at first. But, once he found out that it was actually fun, I could hardly get him to slow down enough to pull up his swim trunks. And boy oh boy, did I have to keep an eye on those swim trunks. I have a scrawny little kid, and pretty much the only thing keeping the trunks on his little booty was the liner! I really should have just let him run around in the swim diaper. And when it was time to go, Bug wished it wasn't. And frankly, I wished it wasn't either, just so I wouldn't have to fight with him. I secretly wished we could have stayed there, cool in the water, until Bug passed out from exhaustion. That would have been nice.

We also went to a petting farm. It wasn't all that spectacular, but it was free. And they had a turkey that was a big hit with the kids, for some unknown reason. And a cute little bunny, that Bug insisted needed a handful of bedding on its back. Poor little bunny.

It was so hot that day at the petting farm. You know, not being in water. I was sweating so badly, and I got a prickly heat rash under my ample pregnant-woman bosoms. Lovely. And then my husband told me that he would love to live in Texas...and I couldn't convey to him just how uncomfortable I was.

But, the trip wasn't total misery, exactly. Because I got to go swimming again. And again. And again. I don't think my swimming suit every properly dried out the whole time I was down there. Most of the time (like at the hotel pool, that didn't have a "kid" area) Bug sat next to the pool and put his feet in the water. Then he commanded me to swim to the other side, or to go "unner" the water. And one time...just once...the baby within pushed just right on my bladder, and I realized I had about .02 seconds before I couldn't contain it...and...well....we don't necessarily have to finish that story. But come on! Pregnant woman in pool + toddler that doesn't want to leave pool + not enough time to get to the proper facilities even without a toddler that would scream and resist the whole way = I guess you're welcome to come swim in my toilet.

Near the end of the week, we got to go out to dinner with the Hubs' new boss (by the way, the Hubby got a promotion, and it goes public today, so I'm gushing on the blog about it) and some other work friends. We went to Pappadeaux Seafood Restaurant. Bug ate some alligator and loved it so much, he threw a fit when it was gone. Too bad it was the appetizer for the whole table. And I ate crawfish etouffee (my first time eating crawfish and etouffee, which I've wanted to try since the first time I saw the movie The Princess and the Frog). By the way, it is 10 times more embarrassing to have your kid throw a fit when you are in the company of your husband's employers and they are the ones paying for the meal.

All in all, it was a pretty good week. Although, I did have to eat pizza four different times. (I remembered to bring Tums, so I guess it wasn't so bad!) And the trip back home went much the same as the trip down. "Where on earth could Bug be?"

16 hours.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Tra la la

[All posts this week have been scheduled. I am on "vacation" (accompanying my husband on a business trip) right now in the Dallas, TX area. Probably dying of heat. I will, hopefully, blog all about the trip when we get back. Including the insanely long drive, the insanely hot heat, the insanely boring days, etc.] 

We now have a piano in the house. We actually traded our Wii (and all games/accessories) for my mom's piano. We figured, "Hey, we never play our Wii, and we want a piano. Mom never plays the piano, and might want a Wii." My youngest sister is a little upset about the trade...even though she never played the piano. But, I figure she'll be ok, because she has a guitar, and she's really good at playing that!

The piano is OLD. And it looks it. Living through years of torture from my and my sisters, plus whatever torture before then...and now the torture of Bug! The piano started out as -my- grandma's piano. I'm not sure exactly when she got it, but I think the piano was made in 1963. It was never fancy. My mom acquired the piano when my sisters and I were all really young. We all had piano lessons (mine lasted for four years, and I still can't hardly play! Goes to show that practice really is important!) and we all abused the piano. It has water stains on it from being used as a side table. The keys are dirty and discolored. Some of the keys are chipped. And four of the black keys have come off (but that has mostly been Bug's doing). Chips, dents, scratches, water marks, and more. Plus, the thing hasn't been tuned in YEARS! And it has been through a couple of moves, too. So, it sounds pretty miserable. Oh, and the E flat key sticks.

Since we have had it in our home, I have been doing my best to train Bug to treat it nicely. The first rule for Bug to learn: The piano is NOT a train track! He seems to think it is a nice track to run his toys across (hence the four black keys that have come off). We also remind Bug to -only- use his fingers on the keys and to be soft. That means no toys of any sort. That means don't bang your head on it. Don't stand on it. Don't pound. Use your fingers and be soft!!!! I think it might take awhile before he remembers that particular rule! Rule three, no climbing on the piano. It might offer a pretty nice view of the room when you are sitting on the very top, but it isn't very nice to climb on a piano! Rule four, you are only allowed the play the piano from 8am to 8pm. We live in an apartment building. I really don't want my neighbors to have another reason to hate us (you know, on top of all the other noise that Bug tends to make). Hopefully he will learn to treat the piano nicely. And maybe I will start practicing again and finally learn how to play!

Also, we are planning on painting the piano bright red, to make it look more inviting. (Since fixing it up to look like a nice piano is not a monetary option.) I found this great link on painting a piano (via Progressive Pioneer). Can't wait until it's done!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bug-isms

[All posts this week have been scheduled. I am on "vacation" (accompanying my husband on a business trip) right now in the Dallas, TX area. Probably dying of heat. I will, hopefully, blog all about the trip when we get back. Including the insanely long drive, the insanely hot heat, the insanely boring days, etc.]

Life gets infinitely more exciting with a toddler when that toddler starts to talk. Or at least tries to talk. Back in March, I did a post about Bug's expanding vocabulary. He is definitely improving. Here are some more of the things that Bug says now:

"Da da do?" -Where did it go? Usually said while playing a game. But often said after he is caught with something he shouldn't have. If mommy tells him to "give it to mommy", he hides it behind his back and asks, "da da do?" Too bad mommy is smarter than that!

"Na na no." -I don't know. If we ask him where something is, he will either go get it, or just plain tell us that he has no idea!

"Yeah!" -self explanatory, a form of "yes", but oh-so-cute coming from a two year old. We usually prompt him with a question that will get an enthusiastic "yeah!" answer, to get him to stop a tantrum. As his grandma said recently, "Boy, that kid can turn it on and off quickly!" To which we reply, "Yeah!"

"Doctor" -lobster, seen in the tank at the grocery store. This makes me wonder if he will end up calling doctors lobsters?

"Buh-buh-bubble" -bubble...nearly always said with a stutter! If he doesn't want to take a shower, I ask him instead if he wants to play with bubbles. What two year old can resist?

"Dars" -Cars, the movie. This is Bug's favorite movie. And while I am completely exhausted from my pregnancy, he gets to watch it quite often. (Shame on mommy!)

"Douche" -shoes. I promise. I think Bug has some form of dyslexia of speech. He tends to swap the hard sounds of words, or end his word with the most prominent sound of the word he is trying to say. It definitely makes for some pretty humorous mess ups!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Mean Bug

[All posts this week have been scheduled. I am on "vacation" (accompanying my husband on a business trip) right now in the Dallas, TX area. Probably dying of heat. I will, hopefully, blog all about the trip when we get back. Including the insanely long drive, the insanely hot heat, the insanely boring days, etc.]

Bug recently found out that bugs (the real kind, not the toddler variety) can be mean!

He got stung by a wasp.

And we were -inside- the house, even!

I think we have some wasps living under the siding right outside our back door. We really need to get rid of them, because almost every time we open the door, one of them finds its way inside. And Bug is a boy. He loves creepy, crawly things. Usually, he likes to disable the creepy, crawly thing, so he can carry it around without it getting away from him. His favorite things are ants. They are easy to catch, and easy to squish to the brink of death (while still allowing them to wiggle a bit in their agony). He also really likes June beetles (or potato beetles, whatever those things are called). Nice and orange. Round. Large enough to be easy to grasp, but not too big that they are intimidating. Luckily, they don't bite. So I'm ok with Bug carrying the gross things around. I don't mind bugs, usually. The older I get, the less tolerant of them I am becoming, though.

Anyway, a wasp got in our house. It flew around, hitting and bumping the ceiling, the light, the door and the walls. I think that was just making it ill-tempered. But, then it fell behind the couch, and I forgot about it. The next day, I was sitting on the computer (probably reading blogs) when I heard Bug SCREAM. It was a mixture between a terrified scream and an in-pain scream. I ran to him as fast as I could. He was standing next to our sliding back door, holding his finger (and sticking his whole hand in his mouth, before he would pull it back out and hold his finger again). My mother's intuition, I guess, told me right away that he had been stung by that wasp. I looked in the corner of the door's track, and there was the wasp, slightly disabled, but still alive.

I rushed to the kitchen, with Bug in my arms, and got him a wet paper towel to hold over his finger. Then I called my mom, "What was the mixture you used to put on our bee stings? Corn starch or baking soda? Baking soda. Got it. Love you. Bye!"

I mixed up some baking soda and water. Then I look all over Bug's finger to find out exactly where the sting was. His whole finger was red and swelling up. Directly around where the sting was, though, the skin was white, with a little red dot at the site of the sting. I slathered on some baking soda mix. I then told Bug not to lick it (as he stuck his tongue out and was bringing his hand up to his mouth). I decided it wrap the finger in a wet paper towel over the mixture, to keep Bug from eating the paste!

He only cried for a little bit. Then he fell asleep. (It was time for his nap, anyway!) His finger was quite swollen for a couple hours. But Bug was a real trooper! And he forgot about the pain quickly. Although, he is still afraid that there is going to be a wasp by the door!

Right after I took care of my little guy, I grabbed the nearest magazine (the latest edition of the Ensign), rolled it up, and beat the living daylights out of that wasp! Take that!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sleep Sharing Bliss

"You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone", right?

The other night I had an epiphany. I love sharing my bed with my kid.

It was one of those days. You know, the kind that starts early in the morning and doesn't include an afternoon nap....or any nap for that matter. So, around 7:48pm, Bug turned into a whining, screaming, thrashing, fighting, terrorizing, monster. Oh, it was bad.

Unfortunately, I kept getting caught up in things around me (like planning our trip to Texas, or cleaning up the water that Bug got all over the bathroom, or realizing that I let my Red Raspberry Leaf tea steep for nearly two hours...). So, it wasn't until 8:15pm that I realized I needed to just stop and put the kid to sleep. And, since he's been sleeping in his own bed, I needed to get him to sleep without laying down next to him. Let me tell you, it is ridiculously difficult to calm a tantruming toddler, when you are trying to sit in a squeaky glider and you have no room on your lap (due to your hugely pregnant belly) and you are so exhausted that it's hard to contain the toddler's flailing arms and legs. I may or may not have swatted his butt a couple of times to get him to pay attention to me. I think I got lucky, though. Because after singing two songs, I was able to transfer Bug to his own bed, and he stayed asleep.

Later that night, when the hubs and I went to bed, Bug briefly woke up and started crying (because Bug's bed is at the foot of our bed...and the hubs has a noisy electric toothbrush). We quickly calmed him down again, and he stayed in his bed. But, then, as I was laying in my own bed, I could hear the post-cry hiccups that Bug had, even in his sleep. It made my heart ache to hold him close, so he would know that his mommy loves him. Really, REALLY, really loves him. (In fact, I was aching so much, and telling my husband all about it, the he even offered to get Bug and bring him to bed with us! I have such a sensitive and loving husband!!!)

And I realized that, although I complained all the time about sharing a bed with Bug, I loved it. Because it was a time where I could give Bug 100% of my attention. If he needed anything, I was right next to him to help. When we were nursing, the breast was right there for him. Even if he wasn't nursing, I could offer him his sippy cup. And there was always a soft and warm body there, letting him know that he was safe and secure. I can't offer that kind of parenting during the day, no matter how hard I try. And I must admit, I don't often try. I -want- to be able to offer my child everything he needs. I want him to know that he is loved, and that he is safe. I want him to be comfortable.  But it isn't always a reasonable option during the hustle and bustle of the day.

And THAT is why I love sharing my bed.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Permission to Complain

Week 28 was the beginning of the fetal hiccups. Oh, how I hate those hiccups. More annoying than an eye twitch, I tell ya! When I was pregnant with Bug, I always felt those repetitive baby jumps. I was hoping and hoping that this baby would not get the hiccups...at all...or at least not as often. It seems that is not going to be the case, however. Once they start, they almost never go away.

Which brings me to a topic I have thought much about: my large and growing number of complaints. I am a complainer. I was before I got pregnant. But, there is something about pregnancy that brings out the worst of it in me. My poor husband. My poor anyone-who-ever-talks-to-me. I think most of the reason I complain is to get attention. (Gosh, I can't believe I'm admitting this even to myself!) It is also nice to mark my complaints in my journal or here on my blog, so I can look back at them and say, "That was normal" or "I actually, secretly, liked that". Or it is nice to get reassurance, after complaint, from other women who have experienced similar problems. Perhaps -I- am the other woman, helping another. Wouldn't that be nice if my complaints were really to benefit others?

Whatever the reason is that makes me complain, it never is really that bad. Well...except for the SPD. And the heartburn. And having to pee 12 million times a day. And not being able to breathe. And the swollen feet. And the itchy skin. And the nausea. And the fatigue. And....

Really, you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you that I love being pregnant!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Bed Bug

The hubs and I have been working on getting Bug into his own bed. Although I've loved sharing a bed with Bug, there are times when it is quite annoying and frustrating! And now that we only have a few more months before the baby comes, we feel like we need to buckle down and get the big boy into his own bed. I definitely don't think it would be safe to have Bug and the baby in the same bed, even with mommy and daddy there! (And for my sanity, I need to be able to nurse the baby in bed!!!)

The hubby is doing most of the work (e.g., laying next to Bug's toddler bed until midnight). I figure that is what will work best, though. And he might as well get used to it, because he'll have to be the one to put Bug to bed when I'm busy with a newborn!

Night 1: Bug went to sleep fairly easily in his own bed, although later than we wanted him to. He slept until 4am, when he then fell out of bed and knocked his head. The hubs slept through the noise and crying, so I lugged my large pregnant self out of bed and brought Bug into my bed. (Then I went pee before I settled back down, because if I'm already up...I might as well!) Awake at 8am.

Night 2: Bug fought sleeping in his own bed just a little bit. The hubs laid on the floor next to the toddler bed until nearly midnight. Bug slept in his own bed until 7am.

Night 3: Bug missed his daily nap, and fell asleep in my lap (on the couch) at 8:30pm. The hubs moved him to his little bed. He slept great! Although, we did hear him a couple of times awake at night, he just moved into a more comfortable position, took a drink from his sippy, and went back to sleep on his own! He didn't get out of bed until 8:30am. Twelve glorious hours of wonderful sleep in his own bed!

Night 4: Fought it hard. Hubs on floor until midnight. Bug fell out of bed at 3am, but slept on the floor for half an hour. When he woke up and realized he wasn't in bed, he cried. The hubs put him back into bed. Bug pushed the hubs away, he apparently wanted to go back to sleep on his own. Bug got up around 6:30am.

Night 5: Fought it hard...but not quite as hard as the previous night. Hubs on floor until midnight. Mom out of bed to go pee at midnight. Bug restless and whiny. Finally, mom gets annoyed because she can't sleep with Bug making so much noise, and has the hubs bring him into our bed. Mom out of bed again, to pee, at 3am. All awake by 7:30am.

I'm seriously debating whether or not I want to cut out Bug's daily nap. As you can see, the day he missed his nap resulted in the best night of sleep for us all! It's a work in progress. And I haven't been good at getting Bug to nap in his own bed...usually we both nap together in my bed. The hubs says that has got to stop, because Bug needs to learn that he only gets to sleep in his own bed. Usually, I'm too exhausted by nap time to fight, though! Of course, if I cut out Bug's nap altogether, I will be doubly exhausted...but it might mean twelve hours of sleep for us all!

We'll just keep working on it. Hopefully we will all get into a happy and restful routine!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Why I hate Cheerios

Anybody remember my "Banana Poop" post? (Which gets a surprisingly high number of hits from searches, by the way!) Well, banana poop is like a fresh spring breeze in comparison to...

Cheerio poop.

Now, Bug has been eating the little round O's of oaty goodness for quite a while. He actually prefers the honey nut variety (which I willingly buy, because I'll eat them, too). For the past several months, Bug has actually succeeded in eating a toddler-sized bowl of cereal for breakfast, complete with a couple tablespoons of milk in the bottom of the bowl. He even uses a spoon...er....usually. Some mornings, he will eat oatmeal, which he actually loves! Some mornings, I (or, more likely, the hubby) get fancy and make eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon, ad nauseum. But, Bug doesn't eat the eggs. Some mornings, I make crumb cake, which I promise is a legitimate breakfast, or pancakes. Some mornings, I peel the kid a banana. But, most mornings, I give Bug a bowl of honey nut flavored, toasted oat O's.

And, most afternoons, I regret it.

I don't know how to honey nut coat it, but it causes the most horrendous diaper changes...other than those other horrendous kinds, because we all know if there are solid foods making poop, it is never pretty. Let me just give you a brief idea of how it goes: mom sits down with a full container of wipes and a fresh diaper. Mom opens up diaper and uses one wipe. Two wipes. Three wipes. Four wipes. Five wipes...By this time, mom starts weighing the cost/benefit of just sticking the kiddo in the shower for a while. Mom figures she will try two more wipes. Please note that majority of the poop was wiped off that cute little bum with only two wipes. The remaining wipes are being used to try to remove the stubbornly sticky poop flecks. The damning characteristic of Cheerio poop. Mom wipes. They stay. Mom wipes again. They move over an inch, but do not come off the kiddo's rear. Mom wipes with a pinching technique. Two come off. Twelve million remain. Seven wipes later, mom sticks kid in the shower. Mom remembers next time to not sit down with a fresh diaper and wipes, but to go straight for the fresh diaper and towel.

You'd think I would just stop feeding him Cheerios for breakfast...and snacks throughout the day. But it's the easiest, cheapest, cleanest, minimal prep, most devoured snack/meal that I can find. What can I say? I'm a lazy mom. And Bug loves those showers.