Picture Post

Today you will be inundated with pictures of my life and baby. LOOK AWAY, THE BEAUTY IS OVERPOWERING!!!!! OMGZ!!!

Lilly (C's cousin), E (daughter of my college friend), and C. Lilly is about 2 weeks older than E and E is about 2 weeks older than C. Look at those smiles!! And you should have heard them all whining at once! Such a wonderful symphony! ;) Even better was when they were all napping at once:)

Hail that we got on Wednesday night. Wait, this shot is out of order. Woops, imagine it AFTER the sunny pics of C that are next. And you should have heard the hail on all our (8?) skylights!! THUNDEROUS!!!

Sweet C loves being outside. He dislikes eating grass and dried leaves but enjoys sticks. I think he would gladly play outside for HOURS without realizing he is hungry or tired! Makes it easier for me to get yard work done! We'll see how this happy arrangement changes when he starts crawling.... BTW, while outside, he got up on all fours and rocked back and forth! Oh no, he might learn how to crawl soon....

He wants the camera:) It's big, black, and YUMMY!!!

Daffodils are GROSS!!! Whose idea was it to hand me this flower? ICK!!

Got all my seeds in order! I'll plant the first ones this weekend (after I buy some soil and dig my heat mats out of a box hidden in the vast recesses of our messy garage...)!!!

C likes to tip and tilt like this when he's happy:) He often does it when people talk to him cause he's just so thrilled to have the social interaction! Mommy is old news;) I think this kid might actually have to go to preschool since he's such a social butterfly! Errands are C's favorite part of the day because he can get the attention of people who will coo and talk to him. BTW, I'm pretty sure J is happy in this pic.... looks a little annoyed at me for springing the camera on him as soon as he got home....

C has a new favorite sound: snorting. And he looks and sounds like a little pig when he does it!

Typical C- spit up boy. Only happens 1-3 times a day now. SOOO much nicer than 3-4 times after every meal:)

7 month old boy, cheesing for his monthly picture:)

C and His Daddy

My baby boy loves his daddy:) And J sure is the best dad in the world. Nothing like an amazing husband to keep a crazy me sane. J is the kind of man who will come home from a long day at work, find me a stressed mess trying to calm down the newbie babe, and without a thought he will finish (or start!) dinner, clean the kitchen, and then jiggle C to sleep. Such a dedicated dad and hubby!!!

Since I'm now a stay at home momma, my new job is to:

• raise, educate, and nurture our kid
• clean
• cook
• do laundry
• grocery shop
• pay the bills
• and anything else that comes up during the day:)

Makes my old 45 hours a week teaching job seem easy!

Of course since my job isn't confined to an 8 hour weekday and centers around a volatile yet oh so beautiful 2 month old, delightful hubby gets to work overtime with me. And he does it so graciously and happily. I feel very grateful for this and for him!

BTW, someone asked me (and I used to wonder this myself!) if I get bored being a SAHM. And the answer is NO WAY HOSEA. NOOOPE. Really, I have no time to get bored. Once (last week?) I actually sat and read a book during naptime! For 30 minutes!!! That's the only time I've not had something to work on during naptime. And non-naptime is filled with BABY. 

Speaking of work, I've got to go be the dishwasher to a countertop of dishes. It will be so nice to have a functioning dishwasher again one day!

Random

Our kid is 8 weeks old and we already like watching home videos of him. Our comments while watching them go like this:

"AWWWWW!!" "Look at how skinny he was!!" "Like a starving baby!" "AWWWW!!!" "Look how he can't control his hands!" "AWWWWW!!!!" "We made such a cute baby! Look C, look how cute you were!" "AWWWWW!!!"

Also, C's legs and arms are now too long for his 0-3 month clothes. I switched them out with the 3-6 month ones today... I must admit, I am very proud to be the sole source of my kid's chub. Pretty happy I've been the one to grow him from 1 cell to a 13-14 pound baby:)

I am also very glad we don't have to keep video-taping our pets. Seems a little more acceptable to have movies of your kid rather than your dog and cat. Oddly enough J did the pet videotaping and I do the C recording....

BTW, J and I discovered that we are too old and intellectual (code for stuck up) to listen to pop radio. Good thing we are NPR junkies since current music tends to inspire mucho mocking. We turned on the radio for C the other night in the car (he was screaming) and when he hushed, all you could hear was hubby and I mercilessly making fun of pop songs. So entertaining!!!

Baby is waking for his 10:27 PM meal, gotta go!

Amazing:)

We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful; it's that women are strong. -Laura Stavoe Harm.

A friend of mine posed this quote on Facebook the other day and boy is it true. I think motherhood has maybe had a bigger impact than birth though...

I've never loved such a challenging job quite so much, 

never loved such a beautifully moody person so very deeply and completely, 

never been so satisfied and happy with my quiet little life as I am now. 

And I find that nothing is too much for me to do for my kid, and that my husband is more amazing than I ever knew.

Happiness:)

Tuesday News

C likes to stretch and hold his feet up and out. He did this inside me too!!!

This is C's classic "I'm Pooping" face

This is his "I'm Full For 2 Seconds" face

I would like to apologize to my reader. The subject matter of this blog is probably going to change from my random thoughts to those about The Most Perfect Being In the World: My Son. Feel free to stop reading if this is annoying to you. However, He Who Is The Center of My Universe at the moment is highly amusing and my focus right now. Oops to those of you who are annoyed by people who drone ON and ON and ON about their kids. Unsubscribe me!! 

Yesterday was J's birthday!!! Yay 29 years!!!! We went to a lovely little Asian restaurant, ate good food in surprisingly reasonable portions (no leftovers!! What, did we leave America???), and had iced Vietnamese coffee. The restaurant owner remarked on how we were holding C and didn't have him in a baby carrier/pumpkin seat. I tried to explain to him that we had a convertible carseat that stays in the car but I think he was still a bit confused. Should whipped out the baby sling to blow his mind even more but I had forgotten it:( Or even pulled out a cloth diaper. OR TOLD HIM WE HAD OUR BABY AT HOME!!!

Hippies.

Anyway: after eating, we changed C's diaper in the car but what do you know, the kid wasn't quite finished pooping. Oh the joys of watching non-stop goop squirt out your child's rear end while trying to keep your skirt from blowing up in the wind, hunched next to your car's backseat.  

Back to the birthday man: J is such a good daddy:) He keeps C warm with socks, hats, and blankets, plays with him (as much as you can play with a 10 day old kid), changes lots of diapers, holds fussy C, and asks C's doctor smart questions. Also, he gets me food and stuff when The Brilliant and Advanced For His Age Child has me tied down, chops up a whole watermelon so I won't have to later, and listens to me ramble about baby stuff and random thoughts. 

I love my hubby lots but after C's birth day, when J stayed with me the WHOLE DAY, even held his breath and pushed when I pushed, endured me scratching up his hands with my nails, and took such wonderful care of me that week, I love him even more. Sure makes you appreciate your significant other when they make you such a priority just because they love you!

So: HAPPY (yesterday) BIRTHDAY J!!!!!

Monday News

Calm C

Frantic C

C gets so bored with Mommy's constant kisses that he falls asleep.

Forlorn Sadie needs attention

C sunning (he was jaundiced) in normally unused crib, rollsrollsrolls, and viola!!! He falls for The Baby Trap!!

My baby is sleeping and I already got a 30 minute nap this morning so I cleaned the house, am eating lunch, and writing this. Lucky for you!!!

This is what our days are like Post Baby Jarvis (PBJ): I eat, C nurses, nurses, poops, nurses, plays, pees, nurses, sleeps. I eat, C nurses, nurses, poops, nurses, pees, plays, nurses, sleeps. I eat, C nurses, nurses, plays, poops, nurses, pees, nurses, sleeps.

In the evening we like to mix it up: we dim all the lights, C nurses, nurses, nurses, I get ready for bed, C poops, nurses, we sleep, sleep, sleep, he eats, we sleep, we wake.

4 nights in a row now he's slept 6-8 hours and only wakes up once or twice a night. I attribute it to his mad nursing skillz during the day. Each night I brace myself for no sleep but then I get to sleep awesome stretches like 4 hours and it is HEAVEN. My legs get so relaxed, my hips don't ache from a giant baby between them, and I don't get heartburn!

I USE ONE (1ONE1) PILLOW WHEN I SLEEP!!!

Plus I get a squishy baby to cuddle all day. How score-alicious is that???

So, news other than The Light of the Universe Who Happens to be My Child: Tomorrow is J's birthday and C's first doctor appointment. We are also going to attempt to go to a restaurant for an early family birthday dinner. Those of you who have actually eaten out with a newborn, please don't laugh, we'd like to at least attempt it. It'll make J's birthday a great adventure! Super fun!!

House News: We met the person who is buying our house at Saturday's inspection and I'm pretty sure he'll take good care of my first home. We move in 26 days and close in 32 days!!! EEEK! The fact that we have no house to move to isn't phasing me too much. We'll live with my mom till we find another place and are looking at a few houses on Thursday. I'll commence with panicking in about 2 weeks I'm sure. 

Well, this is a LONGGGGG post. I should fold laundry (babies make tons of laundry, especially when you are using cloth wipes and diapers), attack my To Do List, and go look at my baby. Probably I'll only look at the baby and the do the laundry. That To Do list is a bit daunting.  

Yes, It's Important

You ever notice how men have the ability/need to close things really tightly? Like jelly jars? And sunflower oil? And the hose on the vacuum? Any lid/slot/thing AT ALL. I don't know why.

When I was a kid, we always knew my dad had closed the coke bottles when we couldn't get them opened. Maybe he did it for a reason? Little chillens getting hyped up on coke? Nah!

Now whenever I have trouble opening things, I know it's due to J. He loves closing things nice and securely. The jelly jar and the sunflower oil lids cause me to say bad words sometimes:) I'm so glad nothing will be escaping those jars though. It sure helps me sleep at night. Whew.