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‘MA!’ means come get me now woman

Our son’s crib is in our room. Not just because I want him close so I don’t have to stumble through the house when he cries, but out of necessity. We live in a one bedroom place, so he’s either in our room or the middle of the living room. Not a lot of choices.

We arranged things to where he’s on my side of the bed, at a slight angle. Our bedroom is a jungle of furniture: bed, dressers, desk, sidetable, baby bed. Yeah, it’s a lot of stuff. I have a nightstand next to me, and his crib is on the other side.

Did I mention the kid can now stand up and reach outside of the crib? And that the nearest thing is my nightstand? Did I also mention said nightstand is now CLEAR? Um, yeah.

This morning, he stood in his crib, looking around, babbling, and waiting for his dear, precious mother to WAKE THE HECK UP ALREADY. He’ll usually entertain himself for a bit before he decides he needs a new diaper.

And today, he woke me up by yelling at me. Ma! Momomom. Ma! I rolled over and looked at him and was greeted with a most adorable and huge grin. How could I resist that? The crying? Eh, roll over and go back to sleep. But “ma” and a smile? Up in an instant.

He is crawling so fast now. Zips everywhere. We have a couple of laundry baskets as barriers between the living room and kitchen and barring the hallway to the bathroom and bedroom. He can’t move them YET, but he can stand up and hold on to them, which he loves to do. And he can finally sit back down from standing, which results in a lot less crying and frustration. From both of us. Also, he can move sideways while holding on to things. The coffee table, the couch, the rocking chair. It’s all so fast.

And last night? He got off of the couch. BY HIMSELF.

He was sitting with daddy, decided he wanted down, turned around, and put his legs off of the couch. We watched as he slowly lowered himself down. We cheered him a bit and then he took off. Wow.

Tomorrow is his first birthday. Last year at this time, well, it’s a blur. I was at the hospital, in labor. I had pitocin, and I believe they’d already put in the epidural as well. I don’t even remember when my water broke, but I know I was lying in bed and felt it happen. Did I mention I went to the hospital the day before Thanksgiving, in the morning, to get monitored and THEY KEPT ME? And I didn’t get to leave until almost a week later.

I guess I never really told the whole birth story. I may just have to do that in honor of the kiddo’s first year here. And it will be told often, because mommy didn’t get to have Thanksgiving (actually, I didn’t get to eat for almost 30 hours and I was begging for some food) thanks to a certain little rug rat.

So, maybe some more tomorrow, after we go to Balboa Park. I think we’ll forgo chocolate cake for some brownies or something like that. Haven’t decided yet. No party, just hanging with the boys. I can’t wait.

Oops… now where was I?

I had some ideas for writing. Some cute or funny things about the kid. Or maybe me. Something. I think.

But mommy brain has struck again and I can’t remember what it was I wanted to tell you. Or write for posterity. Or just vent. I think it was one of those. Not sure which. Maybe all?

Unless I write things down I can’t remember a darn thing right now. It’s so freakin’ irritating. I swear I’d forget the kid if… no, that’s a lie. He’s about the only thing I won’t forget.

I won’t forget him because I’ve read and written about too many kids being left in the car and it terrifies me. So I’m constantly checking him, making sure he’s where he should be.

Maybe that’s the problem. I’m so busy remembering where the kid is, what he needs, what’s next for him that I forget me. I forget what I was supposed to do. Or say. Or write.

I thought it would get better after a year. The memory. The forgetting things. I was so, so wrong. *sigh*

Fail!

So I was actually trying to post every day this month for NaBloPoMo. Just over a week and I blew it.

What can I say? The tired won out.

I’m feeling a lot better after getting some additional sleep, so I’ll see if I can keep on track for the remainder of the month.

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Category: babbling  2 Comments

Chicago, here I come… again!

I'm Going to BlogHer '09 The news is here… BlogHer ‘09 is going to be in Chicago again! And this time, instead of the Navy Pier (which was nice, btw, but a bit of a hike from the hotels), we’ll be at the Sheraton and Towers. (Wasn’t that formerly the Hilton and Towers?)

It’ll be nice to be back in the midwest again. And this time, I’m hoping to have a chance to putter around Chi-town a bit. Hope I’ll get to see you there!

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eco-friendly light bulbs – great price

Hubby and I stopped by Goodwill recently to see if they had any cool kid toys for a reasonable price. It’s a drop-off center so we figured they would have tons of goodies. They did, but it was mostly clothing and a bit of glassware (plates, glasses, vases, you name it).

But they did have one killer deal: light bulbs. What? Packages of two compact florescent lights, plus a bonus miniature night light. The local electric company, SDGE, sponsored an instant rebate. The final cost? 99 cents. Yes, 99 cents for the equivalent of 100 watt bulbs. We bought 5 packs and now I wish we’d gotten more.

Although I’m not so sure about all of the plastic packaging for all of those bulbs, it was a good deal. Even cheaper than Costco’s bulbs. I don’t know if other areas are doing something similar, or just SDGE. But I think we’ll be going back so we can stock up. Know of any better deals than that?

Category: babbling, miscellany  Tags: , ,  Comments off

Trying to do better

I actually took a nap today. I know! A real nap! The baby has been going to bed super-early. He’s still on daylight savings time. So after we finally got him to stay down, I crashed out for a while.

And then my dad called.

Oh well. I needed to get back up anyway. I did get an hour or two, which makes a huge difference.

The baby was funny today. Lots of laughter and silliness. And then a meltdown. It was fun while it lasted. :) Short post tonight as I try to get to bed at a decent hour again. Yes, I’m trying to do better and stay on track.

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Category: babbling  5 Comments

crash and burn

My late nights are catching up with me. We went to pick up a few things and I was dragging, barely able to keep my eyes open half the time. Even a coffee didn’t help. We got home and I completely crashed. I managed to stay awake until we put the kid down. Barely.

I think I slept an hour or two. It puts me behind schedule on things, but I couldn’t keep functioning without it. It’s time to find a compromise where I get some things done in the early evening instead of staying up until midnight. Something’s got to give, and it can’t be my sleep any longer.

How are you doing with your sleep?

Enjoy the little things

Today I’m trying to just enjoy the little things:

* I put some pomegranate juice in my last batch of iced tea. It takes a little more sugar than normal, but MAN is it good.

* Took a walk with the kid earlier this week. He fell asleep during the walk, I got a little time for coffee. We stopped by the park afterwards and played on the swings. His laughter was infectious.

* Pecan pie.

* Leftover halloween candy.

* A call from a friend whose son is 10 wks 3 days younger than ours. We made plans to get together next week. By the way, she’s 9 wks 2 days younger than I. We think that’s a pretty cool coincidence.

* The helpfulness of my husband. And his backrubs. Mmmmm.

* Getting the chance to watch my son’s developments, even as some things annoy me, because this time won’t last long. I’m hoping the whining is temporary. But I pray his laugh is always easy to come by.

* Remembering that I’m in the situation I chose and that it’s fleeting. And being grateful for getting to choose.

What little things are you enjoying right now?

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Category: babbling  4 Comments

Only five days in

And I’m already losing steam. Oh boy, this is gonna be a long month.

I’m at a loss today, especially after spewing yesterday about money worries. *sigh* Sorry for phoning it in. It’s been a long day. The boy is still on daylight savings time and it’s been kinda rough for him.

And he’s discovered a new cry that goes straight to the button that makes my eyes roll back in my head. Then he proceeds to use that cry intermittently. All. day. long. It’s a cry of frustration as he stands up and gets stuck, not knowing how to get back down.

I’m kind of hoping this particular stage doesn’t last too long.

Category: babbling, spawn  2 Comments

This time my wallet cries “uncle”

I knew it would be tough when we decided that I’d stay at home with the kid. I have some wonderful freelance jobs that help a lot. If I couldn’t bring in any income we’d be in some serious hurt right now.

But it’s still not enough. I don’t want my husband to get a 2nd job where we never see him. I don’t know how I’m going to bring in more money without working an incredible amount of hours. As it is, I feel like I’m ignoring my boy. Oh, how I wish I could give him my undivided attention all day, or at least most of the day. What I need is to work in the afternoon/ evening when Daddy’s home. I get to do some of that, which helps a lot.

I know I’m rambling. I just really feel like I’m drowning right now. School debt, dentist bills, credit cards. We had to use our credit cards a bit when I was on maternity leave and it has just kept going from there. Came home from voting to check the mail and find a bunch of bills. So depressing.

I’m trying to find places to cut our expenses. Getting rid of cable, but I need to keep the high speed internet. We’re still under contract for our cell phones. I might be able to lower the monthly rate. My car is paid off. The motorcycle is paid off. The truck is not. Right now we can’t be without two vehicles. I can’t be stuck at home if something happens with the kid. And our public transportation isn’t good enough to rely on it except for short jaunts locally.

We could sell a few things, but we really don’t have that much to get rid of. Books, which don’t have a great resale value. Some fishing equipment. Nothing that substantial. Most of it is only donation material – and I’ve never been able to donate enough to make it a decent write-off. (No home, so we rarely qualify for itemized deductions.)

I’d like to move to a cheaper area, but we can’t even pull together the extra cash for that. It’s hard to be positive when I don’t see us getting out of debt for a very. long. time. Regardless of which way the election goes.