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Hiiiii. Long time, no blog. How is everyone?
– Have you come out of your turkey coma yet? After three straight days of Thanksgiving deliciousness, I thought I couldn’t eat one more bite, and then this morning my mother-in-law gave me a gallon Ziplock bag of turkey and a giant Tupperware full of sides. You guys…I can’t. No more leftfovers! The sides, I don’t know, I guess I’m going to have to eat them. I’ll probably give the bulk of it to Bottomless Pit Owen, as he eats just about everything. As for the turkey, I’m going to turn it into soup, then freeze it until I can stand to look at poutlry again.
– In a box of hand-me-down toys, we found a set of plastic animals that Owen just loves. There’s one for each letter of the alphabet, and I’m astounded at how quickly he’s picked up their names. “Ippo” (Hippo) and “Addadada” (Alligator) are my personal favorites. Only, we’re having a little trouble with the letter ‘U’. Because….well, I have no idea what this animal is. I keep calling it a ram, but the big letter ‘U’ emblazoned on its haunches tells me I am WRONG.
So, uh, internets? What is this?
– Spotted at the grocery store: the “holiday line” of seltzer.
Flavors include eggnog, candy cane, granny smith apple, and pumpkin.
Eggnog seltzer? For some reason the idea of this makes me gag. On it’s own, eggnog teeters that line between being delicious and revolting, so now you want to go add bubbles to it? Meh. But what do I know, maybe it’s delicious! Or, actually just disgusting.
– I’m serious about that animial. First person to figure out what it is wins a bottle of eggnog seltzer.
– The vlog went over pretty well and some of you have asked that I make it a regular thing, so…ok. Only, I have no idea what to talk about vs. write about. Which means you guys get to pick what I talk about. Comment with whatever topic you’d like to hear me yammer about and I’ll do it next week!
– I thought when kids start walking there’s some sort of transition. Like, they wobble along for awhile getting their footing. No one told me that within a few weeks your kid might go from taking his first steps to running full speed through Lowe’s. So, that’s interesting.
– Speaking of Lowe’s, the one near us is closing and they are having a mega-sale, plus we had a coupon we got from the post office when we changed our address. We decided now would be a good time to replace the old coil-top stove that came with the house because I curse it daily and really wanted to go back to a gas range like we had before. As we started looking around, we discovered that with the sale and our coupon combined, the savings were ridiculous. Like, once in a blue moon ridiculous, and we would be foolish to pass up the opportunity to replace the appliances.
All…the appliances. While it certainly wasn’t in our immediate plans (or budget…eek), we did want to do it eventually and see it as a long-term investment. So we will install the new appliances in the coming weeks and it will give me some good blogging material as we slooooowly update the kitchen. You know you want to see pictures of the baby-pink countertops, don’t you?
– Michael and I went away last weekend for our anniversary. It was the first time we left Owen overnight. I know that seems a little crazy since he’s 16-months old, but really, we’ve wanted to bring him to most of the places we’ve been to since he was born. And early on, he was nursing so often that it would have been more of a hassle to leave him behind.
My mom and sister came for the weekend to watch him and I was a little apprehensive. Not about leaving him, but about him giving them a hard time at sleep time. He was so set in his routine — nurse before nap and bed — that I feared me not being there would turn him into a screaming banshee.
He went to sleep every time without a peep. Not even a fuss. Just, lay down. Went to sleep.
Huh.
When we got back, I fully expected him to dive right down my shirt, but he didn’t ask to nurse at all. So I didn’t offer. And then he didn’t ask at night. Or the next day. And then at one point he came up to me, pointed at my chest laughing and said, “Noooo”, then walked away. And that was that. He officially weaned himself.
In terms of weaning, I’m glad it went down this way. I think I was really nursing more for me at this point than for him, mostly because it was such an easy way to wind him down to sleep. After he nursed, I’d just pop him in the crib and he’d go to sleep. I was reluctant to let that go. But clearly, he was ready to be done, and it was pain-free (at least for him. I had a couple days of engorgement where my boobs were all, hey! What happened? Why isn’t there a little monkey pawing at us?).
Sleep time has changed a little bit now. When I bring him to bed, he cries and doesn’t want to lie right now. It takes a little more time and a lot more back rubbing. But Michael has taken over a lot of the sleep time now and he goes down much faster for him than he does for me. I’m sure this is just a transition and soon enough he’ll go to sleep without a peep. I hope.
I was sad to see our breastfeeding relationship end, but I think we had a great run. And since there was no way I could have known that our last session was THE last, it’s not like I was mourning it all weekend.
I just hope the girls don’t deflate into pancakes now. That would really be a shame.
– I am SO behind on the October photography challenge and, um, it’s almost the end of October. I guess I’m just going to have to get my butt in gear and do a couple round-up posts next week. The fact that I’m behind does not surprise me in the slightest. I am a world-class procrastinator.
– You guys heard me speak yesterday. (Also, I retract what I said about not having a way to address a group. As my lovely friend Darcie pointed out, apparently I say, “Hi, guys!”) I still think I was a little awkward, but you guys were sweet. I especially liked the comment about me sounding tougher than one of you expected. ROAR! However, after I looked at the stats from the post I kind of wanted to crawl under the table. There were…a lot of you. I never would have been able to talk in front of that many people had they been sitting in front of me. A public speaker I am not.
(Side note: I had to take a public speaking class in high school and do a speech on something we were obsessed with. I did mine on lip gloss [tangent: I used to have a THING for lip gloss. Like, couldn’t go anywhere/do anything without applying some. It was weird.] and for a prop, I cleaned out my car before class and brought in a zip lock bag FILLED with glosses just from my car. I don’t know where I was going with this, but there you go. I also gave a speech on dance and quoted Madonna’s “Get Into the Groove”. Face —> Palm.)
– Owen is an official walker now, but I still don’t expect him to come walking into a room. Every time he rounds the corner doing that Franken-baby walk (hands in front, walking kind of with a side-to-side sway) I can’t help but laugh and think, whoa. Toddler. It’s super funny when he’s naked, though.
Not naked.
– Want to know how to annoy my husband? Leave these all over the house:
In my defense, I don’t do it on purpose. Half the time I don’t even know I’ve left them somewhere. Maybe one fell out when I was changing, or got tossed in a bag, or whatever. I swear, whenever I need a bobby pin I can never find one, yet he seems to come across them daily, then threaten to throw them away. I don’t think he’s made good on that threat, though. Yet…
– This. At Starbucks.
No. No, no, no, no, NO. All of it NO. Shiny leggings not technically as pants because the shirt did cover her butt, however it was cut really high on the sides. So, leggings as pseud0-pants. Still a NO in my book.
And then. The shoes. The gold…what are those? Sandals? Loafters? Sloafers. Landals.
One of you is going to comment that you own that very outfit, aren’t you? And you are going to unfollow me because I am mean about your shoes.
Well, your Sloafers are ugly. They look like cheese graters from space.
– Now that our living room isn’t the size of a postage stamp, we finally got with the times and upgraded to a flat screen TV. Do you know what that means? Elmo is now LIFE SIZE. I’m pretty sure Owen’s mind was sufficiently blown this morning.
Gahhh creepy blurry Elmo! (Also, the dog bed? Apparently is also Owen’s lounge chair.)
– I’m having company soon and my kitchen really needs to be cleaned. At yet…I’m blogging instead. Anyone want to come clean it for me? I can offer you some leftover chicken and dumplings and some slightly snot-covered toddler kisses. I mean, how could you turn that down?
Happy weekend!
– So, we moved! Two weeks ago! The actual move itself was as chaotic as you would imagine when closing on two houses in one day. We were up past midnight the night before packing up the truck, were up before 5 a.m. the next day to finish up, clean and officially leave, sat through two closings, signed our lives away, and became second-time homeowners. (Well, really first-time for me, since Michael bought the first house before we were married.)
We were rushing to get everything out before the 9 a.m. closing, so I didn’t have much time to sit and reflect on leaving the old house. It was probably better that way. I did cry once, though. As I did our final walk-through, I told Owen to say “Bye, bye, room!” He waved and said, “Bah, bah, oom!” and I got weepy.
But! The new house is everything we wanted and more. We were hesitant about it at first, but are so glad we made this decision. From the quiet cul de sac to the hardwood floors to the closets…oh! The closets. And my favorite feature, a laundry room. (You may remember that in our old house built in 1900, to access the laundry you had to first go outside, then through a bulkhead to walk down steep stone steps into the basement. That was awesome in times of rain. And snow.) From our first day here it has felt like home, and I think that says it all. I plan on doing some before and after photos as we make updates and decorate, so that should be fun.
– In an attempt to get even more vegetables into Owen, I’ve been making green smoothies. I make a big one and we share it. He loves it, I love it, and they’re so good for you. Basically, it’s any type of milk (regular, soy, almond), any type of fruit, and a handful of spinach. I SWEAR, you cannot taste the spinach. At all. It just makes the smoothie green. But the health benefits are super high I feel good about him drinking it. Today’s was milk, half a banana, some mango and a handful of spinach. Delish!
(We happened to be playing in the dining room when I snapped this pic, hence the cup on the floor.)
– I’m disappointed with that new show Up All Night. I wanted to like it so badly! It’s about new parents! And they don’t get any sleep! And hey, I get that! Great show concept!
Only, it’s not as funny as I thought it would be. And as much as I like Maya Rudolph, I feel like all she does is sing in an annoying voice. So…there’s that. Luckily, The Good Wife came back with much awesomeness, as did Glee.
– We left behind in the old neighborhood a…colorful…neighbor. She deserves her own post, but if you didn’t see it back when I posted it to Twitter a few weeks ago, here is what she put in her yard the day after the hurricane. And yes, the doll is more than three feet tall. With an American flag. In a flower pot.
…to be continued.
– Why hasn’t anyone talked about the Terrible Ones? You hear all about the Terrible Twos, but I was not expecting to experience it so soon. Owen is a great kid, but lately he’s been so fresh! I find myself wondering what happened to that squishy little newborn I was just cradling in my arms. Suddenly, I have a toddler with a voice, and opinions, and demands.
Month 13 has been a noteworthy one, because I find him doing something new every day. I turn around for a second, and he’s opened the baby gate and climbed halfway up the stairs. In the flash it takes me to get there, he’s turned around, practically leaning backwards and waving at me. I’m gagging on my heart that has leaped into my throat, and he’s laughing and trying to eat a piece of dog hair he found on the step.
I turn my back to fold a blanket, and he’s discovered how to open the TV menu, and has effectively changed all the color and brightness settings so everyone is Fake Bake orange. He grabs my phone and crawls away at top speed, he opens a cabinet and hurls coffee K-Cups at the dog, he rips magazines and hurls himself backwards yelling “NOOOOO!” if he doesn’t want to do something.
Don’t get me wrong, if you add this all up it’s just a small portion of our day, interspersed between dazzling me with his humor, intelligence and cuteness. (Blowing kisses? I die.) But jeesh, is it A LOT. I guiltily find myself counting the minutes till nap time lately, if only for a chance to sit down for more than 45 seconds.
– I’m attending a black tie wedding in NYC in a month and I have no idea what to wear. Is the “rule” still the same? Floor length dress? I don’t own one, unless you count my wedding dress, and I highly doubt that would be appropriate. I’m hesitant to buy one because a) I don’t really have a lot of opportunities to wear a long formal dress and b) we want to have more children in the near-ish future, so who knows what my body will be like or what size I will be. A dress like this seems like an investment piece, so I want it to fit now and down the road.
I’ve looked into those sites where you can rent a designer dress, and while that seems really fun, it also seems silly to pay that much money to rent one, when I could pay the same amount to own one. Albeit, probably not a designer one, but a nice one none-the-less. What would you do? Or, can I get away with a cocktail length?
– That wedding we went to last weekend? Awesome. I had such a good time catching up with my friends and the brides were simply beautiful.
These girls? My heart.
– There is some news on the house front. I’m hesitant to talk too much about it less I jinx it, but it appears that we will be moving soon. Into a new house! Details to follow. Cross your fingers for us that everything goes smoothly!
– Being a parent makes me both love and hate the internet. Especially when it comes to comparisons of children. On one hand, it’s fun to talk to people with kids around the same age as you. You can share excitement over milestones, or commiserate over the hardships. But as one friend and I recently discussed, you’ll also want to reach into the screen and throttle people, no matter how lovely they are. Case in point: people whose children have been fabulous sleepers since they emerged from the womb.
I really, truly dislike those people.
No, that’s not true. I’m actually just really jealous of them. Some of my favorite internet people have babies that just love to sleep.
Owen took a long time to become a decent sleeper, but when the known sleep regressions hit, he takes to them very, very hard. Four months. Nine-ish months. Looking back, I remember a bleary haze of sleepless nights, but I guess my brain’s way of coping with it is to make me (mostly) forget how bad it was. Which is probably why I didn’t even think that could be the culprit when all of the sudden, Owen is awake at least twice a night, usually for at least an hour. And — of course — always between like 3-4. IN THE A.M.
It wasn’t until fellow mother Candice reminded me of the pesky R-word and lo and behold, it made sense. Another sleep regression. Caused most likely by new developments like learning how to walk. Added to the pain (literally) of having giant teeth push through his gums. I headed over to my favorite mom-advice site, and the dear Ask Moxie of course had a whole post about the 13-month sleep regression. While it offered no solutions, only an “I’ve been there” shoulder to lean on, it least it gave me hope that there is a light at the end of this long, sleepy tunnel, and we will emerge from it virtually unscathed as we have in the past.
In the meantime, I need an I.V. of caffeine immediately. Hell, stick it in my eyeball, maybe it will get into my system faster. (Have you heard about kids putting vodka in their eyeballs to get drunk quicker? Seriously? This part of parenting gives me anxiety. Am I really going to have to sit Owen down and say, “Now son, putting vodka INTO YOUR EYEBALLS is probably not a smart idea.”????)
– I’m thinking of taking my first outfit photo today. If I do, you have to promise not to laugh at the giant circles under my eyes. I mean it.
– I need a good book to read. Suggest one, will you?
– Bullet points are fun. Especially when you don’t have much to say.
– Owen just woke up from his nap. When I went upstairs he was pointing at his butt, letting me know he had pooped. Quite handy. Now if only he would surprise me and just sit on the toilet. At one year old, that would be REALLY surprising.
– Remember back before I got married and I confessed that I had never had a pedicure? Well, here’s another confession: I haven’t had one since the wedding. Almost three years ago. It’s not that I don’t want to. I mean, I’ve had manicures, I just never think to get a pedicure. I always think I can spend the money better elsewhere, especially since I’m not all that kind to my feet. Case in point: I broke in those super cute skimmers I got on sale by taking a long walk with Michael and Owen. By the time we got home, my heels and baby toes were blistered and I spent the next two days popping them (ew) and applying antibacterial ointment.
Once they heal, they will callous over and I’ll be able to wear the shoes comfortably as they break in even more. After they callous over, my feet will actually look worse than they do now. But here’s the thing: I’m a shoe person (like you didn’t know.) And since I’m not talking sneakers here, that usually means some pain for beauty. I guess I’d rather have ugly feet if I can wear the pretty shoes (virtually) pain free.
And I nuts? Should I just get the stupid pedicure?
– My kid is backwards. He sat unassisted way before he rolled over. He pulled up and started cruising along the furniture before he crawled. And in the two days since he officially started crawling (no longer army-crawling, but hands-and-knees for real crawling), I am shocked to see how fast he’s progressing. He’s thisclose to just taking off and walking. I spend my day now chasing him around the house, trying not to impede his progress, but also trying to keep him from a face-meets-table situtation. Forget putting him down and watching him play with his toys. That ship has SAILED. No, no. Now we’re on the move and that’s all he wants to do. Today he’s been PISSED OFF and me all day too. Like, all day. Screeching, flailing. I don’t know what’s up with him, but I am praying that he takes one of those rare two-hour naps because whoa, could he use it. Well, let’s be honest. I could really use it.
Who says an 11-month old can’t make a mess? Not pictured: the huge pile of books he dragged off the shelf.
– So, I never got around to those budget posts. Gah, I’m all talk, aren’t I? I just…I don’t know. I didn’t do well the first month. If you’re really, really interested I can write one out for you. But in brief: Yesterday I tallied up my grocery bill for two weeks and spent less than $140! With my goal of $400/month on groceries, this is awesome. I’m super proud of myself. The biggest change to my pre-budget shopping habit was making a meal plan for the week.
I start with looking in the freezer to see which proteins I have and then go from there filling in the blanks. Sticking to not only a grocery list, but a specific meal list really cut down on unneccessary spending and buying of things I already had but didn’t remember I did. I used a few coupons here and there, but nothing significant. And all this was achieved while still buying fresh produce and meats and some organic items (specifically milk and apple juice, which tend to be pricey), and without skimping on treats. (Michael is a cookie guy and always likes them on hand. I bought a pint of ice cream that I am embarrassed to say did not last me more than three days. Oops!)
Also, I paid in cash. I had my debit card on me in case, but I had $200 for two weeks with me and I think knowing I had a tangible amount in my hand to work with made me really prioritize. Once I really master this, I’d like to tackle some other areas of spending in our lives and see if I can get those down too.
– Are there any good shows starting up this summer? I’m at a loss now that my usuals had their finales…
– I was feeling a little blah yesterday and reached out on Twitter for something to make me smile. Colleen made a suggestion that I thought was hilarious, and so I’m reaching out to all of you. She said, hey, think about your prom dress. I bet that will make you laugh! Actually, in the scheme of things, the dresses were pretty nice. The hair, however. Well, that’s another story.
So I was thinking, why don’t we all share our prom dresses! (Or, any formal dress). Because you know you have some what-was-I-thinking moment captured on film, and what better reason to break out the old scanner than making fun of yourself on the Internet?
If you’d like to participate (please do! So fun!), send me a photo and a little info about where it was taken to tlmoments (at) gmail (dot) com by Thursday morning. I’ll post a Flashback Friday post a week from today and we can all smile!
– Owen is cutting ANOTHER top tooth (arrrghhh haaate teething). It seems like we get only a few days to a week’s reprieve before he starts cutting another. I know it’s worse for him than for us, but seriously, the screeching? Meh. His front two teeth are full through, but it looks like one is a little chipped! He didn’t have any trauma to the mouth, it just looks like it came through that way. I don’t even know if that’s possible, but to be sure, he’s going to tag along to Michael’s dentist appointment today for a professional look. As far as I’m concerned, if it is chipped, but is only a cosmetic issue, we’re just going to leave it alone. We’ll only take action if it’s something that will affect the health of his teeth.
– I’m going to be doing some freelance blogging for a beverage company, and the other day a box filled with their product arrived on my doorstep. Included was packages and packages of chai. You know all about my chai addiction. I emailed them immediately and told them they sure know how to facilitate a junkie. It certainly helps with the budget, having free chai on hand. I’ll tell you more about it later (giveaways!) after it’s up and running.
– Speaking of budget, I’m working on my April Food Budget Roundup. It didn’t go as well as it should, hence, the accountability on the blog. You guys will need to whip me into shape for May.
– Prom pictures? SEND THEM! Bonus if you were Prom Queen or on Homecoming Court. The sash and tiara? I die.
– Owen slept 13 hours last night. THIRTEEN. Anyone who has followed the blog since he was born knows that he and sleep did not get a long for a very long time, so naturally this sleeping through the night thing has thrown me for a loop. I checked on him twice to make sure he was still breathing, and what I found is that he’s finally sleeping on his stomach — something I’ve suspected for a while, just never caught him doing.
But there he was, face down, sleeping on his hands. FACE DOWN. Likes to freak me out, this kid. But hey, I guess he’s comfortable…and well rested!
– I’d also just like to state for the records, since this basically serves has his baby book, that he now says “Mama”, “Dada”, “Dog” (EVERYTHING is dog. Dog, dog, dog. Especially…well, dogs.) and…”Elmo”. Yup, he says Elmo. We do let him watch some Sesame Street so don’t bother sending the Bad Parenting Police our way with their anti-TV torches. I’m ok with 20 minutes of PBS. He turned 10-months this week and I can’t believe we have this real live person who attempts to communicate with us. Nuts!
– I’d like to start working on a photo montage of Owen’s first year before the next two months fly by me. I started looking into songs that might work with it, and most of them are JUST SO CHEESY. I have one in mind that might work, but am looking for some suggestions. What do you think would work for a recap of a little boy’s first year? (And please, no “Beautiful Boy”. I can’t put my finger on it, but that song bugs me.)
– I had a clothing meltdown last weekend. I’m not saying this is a braggy way, but I’ve lost a lot of weight and don’t know what to do with this new body. I’m about 12 pounds less than my pre-pregnancy weight and nothing I own fits. Yeah, yeah, wah, wah. But it’s true. And I know it’s because I’ve been nursing a big baby and he’s just taking away all those extra calories. Most likely when he stops nursing, most if not all of the weight will return and then my clothes will fit.
But right now, they don’t. And I can only wear the same jeggings/tee/cardigan/ballet flats- comb so many times. I need some clothes.
The meltdown happened on Easter when I realized I was dangerously approaching a go-naked-to-the-inlaw’s situation and I really don’t think that would have gone over well. I ended up in an ill-fitting outfit that made me feel sloppy and unattractive and while of course it didn’t matter what I was wearing there, it affected my mood.
Owen’s baptism is this weekend. I have a handful of showers coming up and three weddings to attend. So in addition to every day clothes, I need some fancier options. I’m hesitant, though, because I feel guilty about it. Like buying clothes that I most likely won’t fit in by the end of the year is a waste of money and I should save it or spend it on something more useful, like a new vacuum. (Ours has finally waved its white flag in surrender to the beast that is Kodiak.)
So yeah, I’m just whining. But I’m conflicted about it. And in the meantime, I absolutely must buy something to wear this weekend, because if I thought going naked to my in-law’s would have been a bad idea, I can’t even imagine the repercussions of going nude to church.
– Can we talk about Extreme Couponing on TLC? Have you seen this show? I started watching after I decided to get serious about our food budget, and YOU GUYS. These women. Ok, they do amazing saving money. I mean, they get their grocery bills down from something like $600 to under a buck by using coupons. But…BUT. Do you see what they buy? Most of it is crap.Piles and piles of frozen pizza, 50 bottles of yellow mustard, tons of candy.
I am fascinated by their skills, yet horrified by their Hoarders-esque storage rooms filled to the brim with items they don’t use, yet bought because they could. At least some of them donate items to charities.
I am super impressed by the way some get overages by couponing, which they in turn put towards fresh items at the grocery store. I’m pretty sure my store doesn’t do that, though, and also, I don’t have the desire to buy, nor the space to store 100 boxes of antacid just to earn some free stuff.
It’s riveting, though, and keeps me most entertained on Wednesday night. Thank you, TLC, for such a gem of a show.
These Little Moments 