C's Sad Cold

C has a bad cold so he's officially Cranky Baby:( Sad:( The good news is he slept until 8 this morning. The bad news is he woke up crying every 30-60 minutes pretty much the whole night Sunday and Monday. Poor little boy:( It's not a pretty sight when your kid with a snotty nose sneezes (thrice in a row) and while you are diving for a tissue, he rubs BOTH fists on his face. Yum. Those of you lacking imagination, NEVER FEAR, I was able to take a picture of one instance of this!!! Feel free to avoid looking at the last picture in this post.... It's pretty gross.

C has had 4 colds so far in his 7.5 months of "out of the womb life" living:

1. Mommy could handle it= tiny cold. 2ish days.
   
2. Mommy could handle it= tiny cold. 2ish days.
3. Mommy could handle it= medium cold, sad little cough. 5ish days.
4. Now: Mommy is struggling= BAD COLD. Snot everywhere, fussy, Sleepless in Indiana, "put me down and I will die" and such. Mommy is going crazy.
   

So Cranky Boy won't tolerate being put down so pretty much I'm holding him all day for 2 days now. Plus I've sheeted (pinned sheets over the doors) off my kitchen and closed the doors to the guest room and upstairs bathroom due to random wasp appearances. SHUDDER. Today we have a carpet guy coming to give us a quote for the guest room, tomorrow an exterminator for the HORRIFIC wasps, and Thursday a plumber to fix the pipes in the gaping hole in C's wall. We worked all weekend (when I say that, I mean it) and due to C's lack of normal sleep and naps, I had a pity party yesterday.

Such is life. MUSTMUSTMUST stick to our goal of only working ONE weekend day, not all day Saturday AND Sunday. Why do we keep FAILING at that????? Nothing like putting in a few weeks of NEVER ENDING work days, 7 days a week to make a Me cry.

In other news: Sadie has become very disobedient lately. As in: "I shall never respond to "Here!!" or "Come!!" unless they've dropped food on the floor!!!"
Yeah.
Living in a wilderness (sort of) has turned her into a WILD ANIMAL!!!! She's intent on feigning deafness when outside so the squirrels and groundhog will think she's cool. Fortunately she'll still obey me when I tell her to sit and stay in front of C so he can be entertained by someone other than me for a minute.

Drumroll.......... PRESENTING: A 4 MINUTE STRETCH IN THE LIFE OF BABY C



He prefers getting his toys out himself. See how neat the playroom looks? The rest of the house is in shambles.

Mommy, pick me up, I have a cold!!!


Fine then, I'll come to you!!! YOU DON'T LOVE ME!! PUT DOWN THAT CAMERA!! Can't you see I'm tired and sick????


Oh, you do love me!! Thanks!!

She plopped me in front of the bookshelves!??! How devilishly fun!! I shall create havoc!!

PULL OUT ZE BOOKS!!!!

Wait, these down here are more fun to pull out.

Hmmm, what about these?


AHHHRRRGHHH!!!! MULTIPLE SNEEZES!!! LOOK AWAY, LOOK AWAY!!!

My Day

Yesterday was a busy day. Want to see? If not, go read something else a tad more interesting than my mundane life:)

Not in this order, but I did this yesterday:

1. Packed and shipped my laptop away. Bye bye! Hello soon to a new one!!
2. Washed 3 loads of laundry. Didn't fold them....
3. Did a few loads of dishes. Sink and counters are covered in more waiting to be done right now...
4. Ate a yummy lunch and finished this delightful book (finished it last night while Munchkin was sleeping).

1. Made and baked 2 loaves of bread. Slow cooker-ed black beans for recipes and freezing.
2. Froze beans, pasta sauce, and one pasta casserole. Ate the other pasta casserole for dinner;)
3. Made the pasta sauce. Pretty!!!
4. Cleaned the house. Obviously it needs cleaned again today because HEAVEN FORBID it stay clean more than one day;)
5. Visited my grandmother.
6. Most of this was done with C strapped to my back in the Ergo. Love the Ergo for my curious boy :D

This is what C did:

1. Tiny napped. Played. Whined.
2. Spit up everywhere except his bib. Mommy changed him. He still smelled icky but OH WELL.
3. Looked cute.
4. Fell over and bonked his head on the wood floor. Nursing made it better.
5. Fell over and bonked his head on the wood floor. Nursing made it better.
6. Bonked his head on Mommy's head (mean Mommy's fault!!!). Nursing and a nap made it better. Napped medium.
7. Dug in his toys.
8. Entertained LOTS of people at great-grandmother's nursing home. Had SOOO much fun being the center of attention.
9. BONKED HIS HEAD AGAIN. Mommy needs to remember to set him on BLANKETS.
10. Went to bed. Sad sad boy:(

Here's what Sadie did:

1. Slept. All day.
2. Ate C's food scraps.
3. Probably ate her own poop while outside.

J and Sadie

I've got a list of 20 something things to do today and I'm posting to my blog. REAL focused. I'm eating lunch though, and multitasking greatly aids digestion. Plus my list is getting accomplished at a good rate!

The 2 creatures in my life that I deal with/love the most day to day are: J and Sadie. Similarities: Both share the irrational need to protect me. Here's how.

J has INSANE nightmares sometimes. Often he'll wake me from a deep sleep, shouting that there are spiders on my head/monster in the door/snakes crawling on me/and such. Since I've been married SOOOOOO LONG and am thusly patient, I merely scream at him to be quiet and go back to sleep. NOW!!! (While shaking him awake and sometimes kicking him or throwing things at him, depending on the distance.) In the morning, he's often upset that I was so mean to him when he was just trying to protect me. BY TERRIFYING ME AWAKE, IN THE DARK, AT 2:33 AM. Yep.

Sadie, my other beloved companion, is intent on keeping ALLLLLLLL forms of life at least 500 feet from the house. This includes cats, dogs, people, birds, and flies. Lately she's been doing a SUPER job at this. Not sure if it is due to my pregnancy and her need to protect or the fact that I'm home a lot more now.  And when I get on her case to be quiet and go back to sleep, her face and world droops. Apparently I need to let her chase my monsters away too.

Hubby and Doggy both imagine threats everywhere and try to shield me from them. And all I do is scream at them. Sigh. Horrible me.

3 Negative Facets of Life

Things I Don't Appreciate That Much:

1. Clematis plants that leave their trellises (PS I had to look up how to pluralize 'trellis'). I double check dear clematis' stability and then 2 weeks later they've jumped to nearby trees and grounds to grow. Then there is me, panting and heaving this mound of a plant up to the trellis and fence, jerking scores of ravenous vines back where they belong. Nothing like containing nature. 
2. The waddling that is my sexy walk now. Waddle waddle waddle. Hahaha:) I look funny:)
3. Sadie eating the gum, lip gloss, and Emergency Hunger Situation Defcon 12,000 Granola Bars in my purse. Why is she doing this? Is it a phase? Will I seriously have to lift my purse and hang it every day instead of throwing it on the floor? 

And wow, how nice to have such trivial things on my mind!! Life is good and happy. I have fresh water every day (coming from my sink, in my house!!!!!! Thanks NG!!!)! I have a yard to work on! I have Baby Boy coming in 4 months! I have a delightful hubby to annoy!!!

:)

Sadie

Whilst Sadie and I were walking this afternoon (minding our own business, mind you), we were chased. Fiercely and feverishly followed. Nipped at the heels. Terrorized you might say.
BY A CHIHUAHUA.
Yep, once again, the little bugger was free to roam and didn't want us to go anywhere near its abode. Always this thing hates us and SCARES ME TO DEATH. Let me say it again, he/she hates us. Not a sweet dog. Come to think of it, I've never met a nice chihuahua.

Until today I didn't know how to spell chihuahua. Today one of my kids told me how to spell it. I'm happy to give them those moments when they may teach the teacher. Although really, this happens very often.

I also found out today that Sadie is about 30 years old in dog years. She seems to be dragging for a 30 year old. I guess in 2 years, if given the chance, I might nap a lot too.
I CANNOT WAIT TO BE 30!!!

I Worked Out

My one relaxing thing to do at work is to read Time Magazine. Odd, I know. But when I decide to have lunch in my room because the morning has been especially hairy, I enjoy reading the goings-on in the world, courtesy of Time. I get (or rather got) the mag free when my students got their Time For Kids last year. This year I'm doing National Geographic Explorer but do I get that free? NOOO. Fortunately, I get NG at home. Alas, this leaves me with nothing to read at work:(

So I had ONE issue of Time left and I read it last week during lunch. I really enjoyed this article about how exercising doesn't really help make you thin.

Basically, exercising won't make you thinner because you:

1. Tend to eat more when you exercise since your body needs more energy to replace the calories you burned.
2. Tend to eat more thinking you deserve that cookie since you worked out.
   
3. Tend to be less active throughout the day/evening since you had such a hard workout.
   

Last Sunday I went to yoga. It was a new class and place so I didn't know their routine and MAN was I sweating like a pig by the end!!! I was WORKED OUT. Went to Whole Foods afterwards and thought, I can have a piece of pizza for lunch because I worked out! Sat around the rest of the day cause I worked out. Didn't want to do much cause I worked out. In the end, I did take Sadie for a walk. But I worked out, I didn't have to do anything, RIGHT?

So yes, makes sense how you can actually gain/replace weight when you exercise. SO TRUE!!

The cure for this is to be active DURING the day, not just at one big workout. As a teacher I walk, sit, stand, and scream (hehe) all day at my job. When I wear my pedometer, I get close to 10,000 steps by the time I get home. And then I take Sadie for a walk after dinner. I eat healthy generally. I'm good to go:)

I think I'm okay.
But I just wanted YOU to know about this.
Cause I worked out.

My Pets

The Official Standard of the Miniature Schnauzer describes temperament as "alert and spirited, yet obedient to command. Friendly, intelligent and willing to please. They should never be overaggressive or timid. Usually easy to train, they tend to be excellent watchdogs, with a good territorial instinct, but more inclined toward vocal notification than attack. They are often guarded towards strangers until the owners of the home welcome the guest, upon which they are typically very friendly to them; unlike some of their terrier cousins, they are not typically aggressive. However, they will express themselves vocally, and may bark to greet their owner, or to express joy, excitement, or displeasure. In German, the verb schnauzen means to snap vocally (as in repartee,) or to give lip to something, or to talk back.- Wikipedia

<sup>I am happy at least one of my pets is normal. Sadie fits the bill PERFECTLY for her breed. Spock, not so much. Today I get to clean up the vinegar/baking soda mixture I poured over a section of carpet in an attempt to rid the floor of URINE. Yep, my cat pees on the floor. But he hasn't done it for nearly a month now. A MONTH!!!!! We're all very excited!

In case you were wondering, here's a pic of a toilet trained cat.</sup>