Blog post #125, say whaaaat?!?

Who woulda thunk I'd be on blog post #125?!?  A big shout out to my four followers (haha) and to anyone else who actually keeps up with this...

I think it's safe to say that most bloggers write for their own memory's sake, and I am no exception.  What once began as a way to chronicle my South Africa trip quickly morphed into my pregnancy journal and now baby book of all things G.  And let's not forget my random mumblings and other nonsense.

I've enjoyed using this as not only my outlet, but as a way to chronicle important events in our lives.  So for the time being, I will continue writing until it becomes a chore rather than a joy.

Speaking of enjoyment, I am really liking my tutoring gig with the high school freshmen.  I'm not logging as many hours as I thought I would be initially, but I have made some great friends and get to work with some sweet (and motivated!) students.  So many changes from first grade, obviously.  The first week I was not accustomed to kids listening to their iPods while working/instead of listening and all of the other fun things that I'm sure you can imagine come with teenagers.  Our group of tutors is extremely diverse - different races, languages, cultures, ages, sexual orientations.... it is a nice little melting pot.

G and I survived another week at home alone, and I am so looking forward to a whole week of food, family and relaxation.  Mmmmm... food.  I definitely have Thanksgiving food on the brain and should probably pack some stretchy pants!  We fly out to New York and will be gone for an entire week - fingers crossed that G travels well and sleeps well while we are gone.

These past two weeks little dude has finally started signing for "please" and also saying it.  Yay!  I've only been showing him that sign since he was six months old!  Haha.  He also has been waving to every single car that pulls out and drives away whatever parking lot we happen to be in.  Cute boy.

Tomorrow evening I'm having a 'lil Thanksgiving feast shindig with some of my favorite ladies.  Third annual - woot woot!  Last year we feasted at my parents' casa since we were still up to our elbows in the house remodel and had taken over my parents' house.  Literally.  We had crap stuff in almost every single room of their house.  Ridic, I know.

Anyway, my mom was complaining that we are never in town for Thanksgiving.  This year we are going to New York, same as last year, and the year before that R and I went camping solo in Big Bend.  I promised her we would stay put next year though.  And we are always around for Christmas, so it's not like we are total holiday no-shows.  I'm finding it's hard to appease everyone once you get in a relationship, have a family, and then try to make the rounds during the holidays.  One side of the family will always get the short end of the stick unless you are fortunate enough to have all of your peeps in the same vicinity.  R's family is extremely spread out, and let's face it, everyone cares more about seeing G than the two of us combined.  :)

Last Thanksgiving feast G happened to turn 3 months old!  He was going through a spit bubble phase...

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your friends and family.  I have so much to be thankful for this year.  My heart has been so heavy for things I have been reading about lately and it makes me appreciate my many blessings.

What we've been up to lately

G has thankfully rebounded from his upper resp. infection (i heart you, antibiotics) and is sleeping well again ... cue the angels singing. Did I mention I love my sleep? If it's one thing this mama can do, it's sleep. I am an excellent sleeper.

Once G started sleeping through the night, I was so so happy.  I try to block out those several months in the beginning of miserable sleep b/c how else am I supposed to want to do it all over again when I have another baby?  Anyway, apparently I have passed on the gift of sleeping to my child because the boy? He can sleep.  Since starting "school," he has dropped down to one long nap and now goes to bed earlier.  Sometimes as early as 5:30 if he is Super Grouch, but normally we put him down around 6:30.  He wakes up in the mornings anytime between 7:00 and 9:00 - and sometimes as late as 9:30!  I love my good sleeper.  I also love that R will let me sleep in if G does happen to wake up at 7:00.  Our dada is the best.

While G is in "school" part-time on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's, I do my tutoring gig and then leave to pick him up by 2:00.  I have really enjoyed it so far.  At first I felt the intense mom guilt for having him in school since I am a SAHM, but I do like working.  And, in my opinion, it's the best of both worlds.  He gets to spend time with his own age peers and gets a break from me (haha), and I get to work minimal hours and spend time with other adults.  His teachers at his school love him and he always seems happy to be there, so my guilt has since subsided.  I don't (and won't) talk about my job much on here at all, if any, because I feel that the internet is just too big these days and I don't want anything I say to be used against me.  Not that I would ever say anything bad, but I feel you can never be too safe when it comes to those things.

My personal training program is quickly coming to a close and I am very happy with my progress.  I'll give you the final numbers once it's all said and done.  I have decided not to go through with the final photo shoot because I don't want my pictures published since (a) I'm working in the school setting and (b) you have to go through a crazy diet leading up to the photo shoot, get a spray tan, etc. etc. because they want you looking pristine for your pics ... that they intend to use for their own marketing purposes.  And I get it - they were the ones that helped me get here, but I feel like I did all the hard work and I don't need pictures to prove that to anyone.  We are trying to decide what our next step is going to be... whether it's finding another trainer that's not part of a "program" and just working out to maintain our fitness level or what.  I am definitely looking forward to cheating on some calorie loaded meals over Thanksgiving though!  And not feeling guilty about it (okay, maybe only slightly guilty).

That's pretty much the skinny with us these days.  On my days "off" with G, we spend our time going to Gymboree, playing with our play group friends, going for walks, reading lots of books, playing with his new kitchen (another craigslist score!), or running errands.  He is at such a fun age - into everything and very nosy!  But I love it - his little inquisitive self and all the new things he is picking up on.  The other day I gave him some of the clean washcloths and he started wiping the floor with them!  Haha!  Ummmm... I wonder how he picked up on that?  Maybe because I'm always cleaning the floor with them after he eats?  It's just funny to me the things they know that you never thought they were noticing.  He also puts his fake telephone up to his ear and "talks" as he walks around the house.  Love it.  He is such a little ham and I am so lucky to have this time with him at home.

Things I do NOT love

Okay, I don't mean to be a Negative Nancy but there are some things that I've seen/experienced lately that I'm just not too fond of.

The first and foremost being women's jeans.  Seriously, what the heck?  I don't know why there can't be consistent sizing across all brands.  Since my personal training journey began, I've obviously been dropping some lbs and needed some new jeans.  The journey of jeans shopping began and I have since decided that women's jeans are c-razy.  Even in ONE store, I fit into three different sizes depending on the style I was trying on.  How is that even possible?  Severe dislike.

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The second one is smocked outfits.  Don't hate me, I'm just not a fan.  Especially on little boys.  At all.  I guess since I technically live in the South it's more common here down yonder, but I cannot jump on that bandwagon.  I like my little man in cute, stylish clothes, and believe me, he has a lot of clothes.  But smocked outfits?  Those will never make their way into his closet.  Bleh.

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And finally, chin waxing.  Every time I go in to get my eyebrows waxed at the local nails salon down the street from my house, they always without fail try to convince me to wax my chin as well because of "all my blonde hairs."  Ummmm... do I have a man beard?  I've never had any other person tell me this so it's either one of two things: (1) I should get my chin waxed or (2) They are just trying to make more $.  I had previously given in twice and had it done only to end up with a pimple beard that was not pretty... just trust me.  For whatever reason, the skin on my chin doesn't react well to waxing.  I don't even know why I went for it the second time.  Well, after months of saying "no" to the chin wax, I finally gave in and let them do it a few weeks ago (!).  Yeah, don't ask.  The reaction wasn't as bad as the first two times but there was definitely acne.  No more chin waxing for this lady!  No pic for this gripe, sorry!  And you're welcome.  :)

A Slice of Humble Pie

Every time I have one of those moments - the ones where I start to feel sorry for myself for whatever reason, I immediately try to snap out of it.  'Cause let's face it.  I have it pretty good.  In fact, my life is pretty awesome.

All it takes is one click and finding a blog like this and I feel like I've been served a slice of humble pie.  It's a good slice, trust me.  One that needs to be eaten from time to time to make me realize that my worries are so small compared to all of the others that are out there.

So while I sit here and commiserate that G is feeling so crummy, I don't, in fact, feel so sorry for myself.  

Fun Times

Yesterday and today have just been "one of those days."  All parents know what I am talking about.  G woke up grouchy and stayed grouchy all. day. long.  Like my post says, "Fun times."

To his credit, he is fighting a nasty upper respiratory infection, so the poor dude isn't feeling the greatest.

He woke up from his nap yesterday with a ridiculously disgusting diaper.  These are times when I am so glad R works from home because I immediately yelled, "Poop emergency!" when I realized his pants were oozing stinky goo onto me.  Thankfully, dada came to the rescue and helped me clean up the little mister and then his bed.

Then, I had a lunch date scheduled with one of my besties I hadn't seen in a while and drug G along for the ride.  The Thai restaurant we went to is known for their good grub but not necessarily for their outstanding service.  Case in point: I had to ask for a high chair four times.  Then I told the waiter "no raisins please" in my salad, and I know he heard me because I had to repeat myself and he then repeated me.  Yup, my salad had raisins.  Okay, no biggie.  Then we were asked mid-meal by a different server to move tables so that a large party next to us could have our table.  Our waiter never made another appearance after he took our order to check in and see if we needed anything, how the food was, etc.  Awesome.

After lunch I decided to run a few errands with a cranky baby instead of going stir crazy with a cranky baby at home.  In hindsight, not sure if I made the best decision.  He was a terror in Baby Gap and Gymboree (did not want to be held but did not want to listen to me) - he wanted to go into their back storage rooms, crawl behind the hanging clothes, lay on the ground...  Fun times.  I was definitely one of those moms that other women look at with shooting daggers trying to mentally b*tch me out for not controlling my kid.  Have they not ever had a toddler with tantrums in a public place?

He was much much better in Target, thank the baby jeebus, but still wasn't his usual charming self.  We hightailed it home after that because I had reached my limit o' fun for one day.

Then, last night?  Up all *&^%$ night with a horrible hacking cough that would not subside.  He couldn't breathe well enough to sleep (even with a vaporizer running and after a steam shower treatment).

We decided to take him in today and crossed our fingers antibiotics would be handed our way.  *Side note: I am not in favor of drugging my kid unless the circumstances are dire, so no judgments please.  R opted to stay at home and work.  G opted to have the most horrific screaming fits ever while waiting in room 3 at the pediatrician's office.  We waited for at least 20 minutes (who knows, everything seems longer when your child will not stop throwing himself on the ground and screaming bloody murder) and we left triumphantly with a Rx in hand.

Fingers crossed he will be on the mend soon.  Either that or I need to convince my trainer to let me drink my calories, if you catch my drift.  :)

Things I love Thursday...

Tom's shoes - love love love my tom's.  It was one of those things where I always saw them on other people and admired them but never quite loved the way they looked on my own feet.  Then I tried them on again and wore them out the door.  So comfy and love that I'm also providing someone else with a pair of shoes who would otherwise be without.  Like I said ... love.

This Halloween costume.  Haha!  

I know this video is old, but it still gives me chills.  It helps me remember that there is good out there in the world.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fw1CcxCUgg

Sweet cousins... even the little ones that don't want to cooperate for pumpkin patch pictures.  :)

And especially this sweet face and his cheesy grin.  He is so loving to everyone, even complete strangers.  I love that he is mine.