NC Friday

We made it to North Carolina on Wednesday! C played, nursed, and slept on the short flight here. Thursday we went to a Durham Museum of Life and Science and a barbecue restaurant for dinner. Today we took a long morning walk to a farm and later drove to the beach. No pictures from today yet but here are some from yesterday's adventure!

C got very quiet and stared at everything at the museum.

My sister-in-law Christine carrying her nearly 2 year old Charlotte and me carrying C.


Charlotte's reaction to the butterflies in the greenhouse area. She was so delighted by everything!!


C's reaction. As mentioned before, he just got very serious and stared. He tends to do this when he's amazed by life:)

We (Micah, Jeremy, and I) played with my camera.


C cheesing for his daddy while looking at the animals. Yep, this museum even had farm animals:)


Admiring the pigs.


What Charlotte did on the way home from the museum.


What C did on the way home. Yeah, different babies, different sleep habits:)

Tomorrow the BEACH!!! Btw, watching both babies see the ocean and sand tonight was very fun. Will try to post video of it tomorrow:)

There Are Times...

My sweet and happy SIL posted a "There are times..." status on Facebook today that made me think. This has been a kinda awful week for me in a few ways that I won't ramble on about. Oh wait, I probably will. This week makes me want to wallow and I probably will after I get done writing this supposedly upbeat post.

• There are times when I feel like a truly sucky mother because my 8 month old STILL doesn't sleep through the night. Sometimes I get so frustrated repeatedly helping him fall asleep that I want to let him scream himself to sleep and I hate that feeling. Makes me cry and rush to him after only a couple of minutes. Which leads to:
• There are times when I want to smack anyone who gives me any kind of parenting advice when I don't ask for it. I should also stick to this and sometime smack myself. Also:
• There are times when I want to stop listening to and reading what other people have done successfully with their kid and go live in a cave so no one will contribute my already "is this how I raise my kid right?" feelings.
  
• There are times when I feel like a lazy ass when I find a damp load of clothes in the dryer smelling nice and musty. Wonderful. Now I only have 12,000 loads of laundry to do today.
• There are times when I read the news and National Geographic and I lose faith in humanity. We are so divided and unthinkingly destructive.
• There are times when I want to be emotionally immature and hold a grudge or get angry for what someone has "done to me". I have to fight this to be accepting of others and look at the big picture and remember I LOVE/LIKE THESE PEOPLE. And no, I'm not talking about you, don't worry:)
  
• There are times when I want to spend time with my hubby, just me and him. And then I tell myself shut up, think how lucky you are to actually HAVE him.
• There are times when I wish I wouldn't tell myself how good I have it. Even lucky people deserve to wallow sometimes, right?
  
• There are times when I wish people and relationships didn't change with distance, age, and time.
• And there are times when I wish people would just grow up and grow a pair. This applies to me as well:)
• There are times when I hopehopehope I will be a good mama. When I plead/beg whoever/whatever to please let me do this parenting thing right. I want my kid to know I love him unconditionally, no matter anything. Which is what I whisper to him as he screams and goes through this "Sleep is for the WEAK!!!" phase.
  
• There are times when I wish everyone would think EXACTLY as I do. And then we'd all be so dull that we'd collectively explode and actually implode, simultaneously.
• And last, the one that bothers me a little: There are times when I gleefully murder the ants that crawl on my counters. What is wrong with me???

PS- Please return to your normally scheduled life.

Happy List

A few things I love today:

• The fact that my boy did all his bathroom business in the toilet this morning. Love using just 1 diaper all morning:)
• The guest room color of paint J and I mixed up from leftover paint. Sweet, simple, refreshing.
• My new lappie.
  
• No wasps for 3 days!! Dare I hold my breath??
• A load of clean cloth diapers drying.
• Waiting for C to wake from a so far 1.5 hour nap so we can eat lunch with my mommy:)
• Taking C to his first orchestra performance yesterday. He alternated among: hugging my neck, eating a Mum-Mum with J, and watching the musicians in amazement.
• After listening to them play wonderful music, I got to eat lunch with my lovely seester and her Harvard bound boyfriend at a vegan cafe.
• I will be 30 next week on Monday!! My birthday!!!!
• Sunny springs that pop up overnight.
• The fact that I can now grow as many dandelions in my lawn as I want. No neighborhood image to stress about, just cheery yellow flowers to smile at.

That's all folks!!