Saturday, February 28, 2009

Let Them Eat Cake...



...and nachos and hot dogs.

Cake courtesy of Aunt Jen.

Etcetera.

Friday, February 27, 2009

59 Minutes

MIL (mother-in-law, for the internet ole fogies) is scheduled to arrive in 59 minutes. So far this morning, I've been VOMITED on (at least it was on Alan's side of the bed, right?), sat on the floor of the bathroom singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish" ("...those are NOT the right words, Mommy!") for an hour while holding an infant and desperately pleading with the boy who turns three on Monday to potty in the potty and not in the pull-up, spent 30 minutes in a Wal-mart bathroom, and nursed a baby on a bench in Wal-mart (which seemed unsanitary the entire time), unloaded tons of groceries, straightened up the living room and kitchen, dealt with a clint's problem (but. fortunately, not a problem client), and listened to Loki cry anytime I am not holding him, because he's stuffy and it all hurts.

Ander's birthday party is tomorrow. Despite limiting the guest list to only kids very near his actual age who he sees all the time and immediate family, I have almost 50 people coming. (Of course, my sisters peeps and parents make up 10 by themselves.) Talk about overwhelming. I am cooking tomorrow morning, but definitely doing dinner out tonight. And we'll do the gym meet, so I can destress, right?

I'm also trying to get Loki to take a paci. Yes, it means weaning later, but he seems to need to chew and keeps choking on covers and stuffed animals and clothing and vomiting everywhere. ICK!

Even noticed that the more stressed I am, the more disjointed my blog entries are?

Etcetera.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

My Lenten Sacrifice

I'm not sure if this is a sacrifice or not, but for Lent, I'm going to have a conversation about God with Ander everyday during Lent.

I'm reading "A Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs (excellent, funny, easy read, BTW) and that's got me thinking about what I believe - and what I don't believe. I attend Catholic Church on a sporadic-but-getting-better-than-in-college basis. I know I don't believe all the Church's teachings, but I figure it's still better to hear the teachings and then disagree based on conscience than to not listen to the teachings in the first place. After all, how can I disagree in good conscience with something I am not willing to listen to and think about?

But I don't want Ander to just know about the Catholic Church. I want him to know about athiests, and pagans, and fundamentalist. I want him to understand that people have varying beliefs. I want him to have a solid basis to believe - or not believe - in God. My Faith is usually strong (though it has moments of great weakness), mostly because I came to my Faith on my own. I don't mindlessly follow rules, even as I choose to follow many of the "rules." I hope the same experience for my children.

Etcetera.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

If We Were Reality TV...

...like the Duggars or John and Kate Plus 8, what would the cameras show?

Our living room is a mess, with toys and blankets and computer bags and breastpads and breastpump and sheets and baby rug and baby swing. Our kitchen island is covered with crap - purse and jackets and baby carrier. I'm feeding Loki a bottle on the couch. Loki is only wearing a diaper, due to a recent blowout. Ander is in his booster seat, facing the living room tv with the Duggars on it, eating a frozen burrito that we made him "cook" (by pressing the microwave buttons...he he) himself. Ander is only wearing a pull-up, due to a recent blowout. Daddy is doing the dishes in the kitchen. Mommy is wearing a t-shirt and shorts that are too short, due to a blowout of sorts (not from mommy's bootie, fortunately) on the jogging pants she was wearing earlier.

Naked children, tv watching, bottlefeeding (pumped breastmilk, but still...someone is judging somewhere :/), frozen burritos.

I think we'd come off as trashy. We really aren't. Really. But there would be no family bonding dinners, vacations, or spotless houses. There would be too much reality, I'm afraid.

Etcetera.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Two Degrees From Kevin Bacon

If you date a guy in high school who later appears (in the second to last segment on Monday night) on Jay Leno's Tonight Show the same night as Kevin Bacon, how many degrees removed are you from Kevin, really?

Seriously, though, turn off the lights and air up the tires. And save the planet.

Etcetera.

Out of Time

On Monday, my mom/sitter surprised me by anouncing that she could not babysit on Wednesday. (She had a good reason, but I didn't know in time to get a backup.) A friend of the family died, so I had a wake Tuesday night. I got sick on Wednesday (while home with both kids). My husband worked late two days this week and I had to/have to two other days. Friday night we have plans. Saturday morning and night I have plans. I'm sure someone called me about something on Sunday, though I can't quite remember right this minute. Monday I have a backup sitter (which means a whole bunch more prep work getting milk defrosted and pumping). Tuesday is a holiday, but Wednesday I have so sitter, again.

My house is reasonably clean, but can it stay that way? We have tons of company coming over next weekend (not this weekend), including MIL.

I need to be at work. Like a normal person, 8:30 - 3:30 daily, without interruptions. Without sitter issues. Without hubby working overtime (which is only going to get worse).

And that, my friends, is why I never get to blog.

Etcetera.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Mommy Blogger

Am I a mommy blogger? I feel like I blog about so many different things, but I'm sure my kids and husband are the stars of my blog more than I think.

Today I'm going to chat about the mornings with the kids. That's so a mommy blogger topic.

Ander never liked to sleep in. I really couldn't complain, since he takes a 2 - 4 hour nap everyday, but boy, I like sleeping past 5 a.m. Once I got pregnant, we had to do something. I was finally falling asleep around 4 a.m. and then up at 5 a.m. So we taught him to wake, drink his milk, and watch cartoons until mommy got up. I worried, a bit, that he might unlock the door and sneak outside, but checking on him always resulted in seeing him lying on his covers in the living room, watching cartoons or cuddling next to me in bed, watching cartoons. And either one was fine with me.

Lately, though, Ander is sleeping until 7 a.m. And then, he does the cuddle/cartoon thing for a while after that.

Loki, well, Loki is the baby made to be the perfect match for me. He likes to sleep, um, WHENEVER I SLEEP. And when he wakes, he just coos. He sometimes wants to nurse, quickly (as in 5 minutes or less while lying down) at 5 a.m., but otherwise sleeps until I wake him at 7 or 8 a.m.

The result? I can sleep until the alarm clock goes off.

I am MUCH easier to live with.

Etcetera.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Once Upon A Time

I make casual friends really easily. In law school, I was four years out of college. Most of the other students had not gone to graduate school, had another career, or gotten married. A handful already had kids, but those students were too busy with their children to really socialize. I had little in common with the other students. In addition, my life wasn't going so well. Alan was struggling with a bad time at his job, eventually losing his job halfway through my first year of law school. He was unhappy and difficult to live with. (Looking back at that time, it showed us we could get through anything, together. But it was impossible to see it as a blessing back then.) So I made casual friends, but no one of substance.

Then, one day, I found myself sitting next to Betsy.

I noticed Betsy, because she was always late to class. Or skipping class. And she was one of the few people who brought a laptop to class (though everyone does these days, I'm sure) so she was always late AND looking for a good seat, in the back, with a plug for her computer. It drove me crazy that someone would show up habitually late and unorganized. So I watched her, because I'm stupid and obsessive like that.

She was in tons of my classes. Her taste in electives mirrored mine - juvenile law, family law, advanced con law, and criminal punishment class. Few law students took these classes, since they are of little use in personal injury or big law firm work. So to have one other person show up at everything I enjoyed was interesting. We started to compete for top grades in these classes. I would make the top grade in the juvenile class and she would respond with the top grade in punishment class. We started to borrow notes from one another. I started to realize that she was smart, not afraid to ask questions, and had a wonderful heart.

Her perpencity to run late still drove me crazy (and probably still would, if I saw her all the time), but it was far outweighed by all her gifts. And, if anything, she was more willing to share her gifts than anyone else I knew. If she showed up a little late, well, she was worth waiting for, because she would say something insightful, or calm my nerves, or ask the right question.

I had known her a long time before I discovered she was a giftie, having graduated from LSMSA a few years after I did. I should have known.

We studied for the bar exam together, ate sushi in copious amounts, and developed our ideals as wives and mothers, together.

I had made a friend. Not an easy, casual friend, but a real friend, who I could cherish and respect.

Happy birthday, Betsy! I'm blessed to know you.

Etcetera.