Friday, October 24, 2008

Shallow

Politics aside, does anyone else get creeped out looking at John McCain? I'm just not sure I can look at him for the next four years. The teeth are creepy skeleton teeth and he has some sort of funny lisp. Both his hands work like the useless one Bob Dole has. When he smiles it seems like maybe I should turn around because there is a killer with a knife ready to get me.

Palin looks OK, but I'll always think Tina Fey got elected or maybe she should have.

I really don't know much about his politics, but as a person I'm a bit nervous to look at him.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Second Birthday Party

So last weekend was the birthday party with my family. The plan was relatively simple. We go to a park around 11 am to play, eat lunch and open gifts. Then we go across the parking lot to the indoor pool. Once everyone is done with that, they go home. This way my house doesn't have to get all messed up and I am much more relaxed with the (eight that can walk) kids being monkeys outside.

However, there were some problems. First the pool pass we were going to buy was not available so everyone was going to cost $2 more per person. Not a huge deal, but more complicated than with the pass. We worked around this. Second, my mother left me a voicemail the day before. Through her sobs she said she wasn't coming. I called my sister to get the story and through her sobs told me what happened. So I called my mom back and she was driving to my house. I won't go into the whole story, but for a few hours there was some serious drama. It all worked out, but it's not the way I would have liked. Third, one of the kids almost drowned. No really. He was alone and wandered to the lazy river and got swept away. He was bobbing along when Husband and I got to him and pulled him out. The lifeguard was just a few feet away not paying any attention to the three year old drowning in front of him. Once we got him out and gave him to his mother I yelled at him. I wish I would have told the manager. There is no excuse.

The boys had a great time and the adults enjoyed themselves too. I made a Spiderman cake that impressed the kids and made it all worth it. We were worn out and tired, but it was a total success.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Oh My!

So I feel pretty worthless right now. On Monday, Husband meets with his MBA group to study or whatever they need to get done. This makes the third week in a row that he has come home early to help. I can't seem to make it past about 6:00pm without intervention. One or both boys starts crying and I can't do jack to get them calmed down. Husband says he is on the way and things calm down.

I am no comfort to my own child. With Peanut all I had to do was pick him up and he was instantly calm. Holding him was all he needed. Even now that he is nearing 3 being held goes a long way with him. Thumper? Not so much. I hold. I sing. I rock, jiggle, sway, shush and a million other things. Unless he's hungry, it doesn't seem to be me he wants. That is not to say he wants Husband, but several times that has worked out OK for him.

Perhaps he has an ear infection or something else going on? When he nurses on my right side he seems less content. Maybe my right side tastes funny. I don't really know. The point is I don't seem to be able to relax him. Many a night he cries until he passes out from exhaustion. That is not the way I want him to learn to go to sleep.

This week I have no paint jobs or anything else planned. It is the week to get him sleep trained so he can put himself to sleep. All day I watched him and when he started to look a little sleepy I put him down. Poof. He would be asleep. Great. I didn't think he was trained and we were done with it, but then about 6 pm he started crying and would not be soothed. I gave him Tylenol and about 20 minutes later he nursed himself to sleep. Was is the Tylenol kicking in or the hour he fussed and cried that put him to sleep? Either way, it's not something I want to make a habit.

On one hand I'm happy Husband can get him to sleep, but on the other hand I want it to be me. So when Husband takes him from me and then puts him to sleep I'm jealous. The thing is, I've been having trouble with jealousy lately. A friend is newly pregnant and announced it after Peanuts birthday party. I wasn't really happy for her. I wasn't really sad either. Part of me is jealous that she gets to be pregnant and get the attention. She is the new cool thing right now. I'm a little sad it's not me. Especially since no one cared when I was pregnant. There is no sympathy for the second round. This is her second too, but because of who she is, I'm sure it will be a big deal.

Then last night I convinced her to play volleyball with me. She ended up hurting her ankle pretty bad. I felt really guilty. I didn't have anything to do with it, but felt at fault. After thinking about it I'm pretty sure I felt guilty because I was not happy for her pregnancy. It doesn't make sense, but that's how my moods/emotions are running these days. I feel quite damned if I do and damned if I don't. I'd like to paint, make money and get out of the house, but I feel guilty for hauling the baby out with me so much. My sister manages to make me feel guilty about not going, but yet tells me to take a day off.

I really need some time to myself, but feel guilty about it. Husband is supposed to have Monday and Thursday evenings for school. I play volleyball on Sunday and have a study group meeting on Wednesday. While I'm glad he watched the boys so I can attend both, it's not really a break. I get so busy for the hour I'm gone, that it isn't very relaxing. I'd love to spend some time at a spa or even home alone or out with a friend (if I had any that could go with me). I realize Husband spends the day working, not relaxing, but he still gets out of the house and away from the kids. I have at least one of them all the time. Of course I'm nursing so it's harder to get away.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

First Birthday Party

Today we had the first birthday party for Peanut. He will be 3 next week. This party was for his and our friends. He picked a Batman theme so we had Batman plates, napkins and I make a Batman cake too. I'll try to post a picture later.

I've been under the weather so it was a little rough getting ready for today. We made it and had a good time. Then the kids got more wild and I started to feel nervous. There is something about all those people and rowdy kids that makes me uncomfortable. I went upstairs for a while and did OK until I started thinking of everything happening to my house while I was away. Luckily, folks started to leave not long afterwards.

Husband put Peanut to bed and the last thing he said was "I liked my party. I liked my Batman party, daddy". Sweet. He seemed to have a great time. He also got a few really cool toys too.

Next weekend is the family party. I'm not as excited about that one. My sister said she was flexible and basically left the planning to me. So I made a plan and then she acted like that wasn't going to be fun. Maybe I just caught her at a bad time, but she was pretty grumpy about it. Oh well. If the 3 other kids freaked me out tonight then what will it be like with 8 other kids here? Plus at least our friends do an OK job of watching their own kids. My sister just checks her mommy badge at the door. It's like because we're at my house she isn't responsible for them. It's like that wherever she goes. We joke that she is the 'tornado' family. When they come and go it's like a tornado. You feel run over. The house is a wreck afterwards too. My plan is to go to a park for lunch and open gifts then go to the indoor pool to swim for the rest of the day. No need to go to anyones house for anything. That way the wreckage is outside.

I'm wiped out. It's been a busy week. I've been painting and planning this party and trying to keep the house up and all sorts of things. There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to get it all done. I'm going to take next week off from painting to see if I can relax and catch up on laundry. Thumper needs some sleep training too. He doesn't seem to know how to fall asleep on his own. We get so busy with other things that we miss his (tiny) sleep window. Then he has to be rocked or nursed to sleep. I'm hoping to spend some time next week teaching him how to just go to sleep.

Overall today was good. I got to watch my boy have fun. Even better I got to help the fun be possible. It's great to give a gift like that. Nothing tangible. Putting a smile on his face makes it totally worth it.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Not Cohesive at All

So a lot of days are rough with an almost 3 yr old. Yesterday was a different story. Thursday is usually our difficult day because Husband is gone all day at work and late into the night with school. Instead of being hard though, it was a great day. Peanut only lost his mind twice and was easily calmed down. I can't even think of anything specific that happened, but it was relaxed and overall a great day.

Of course this morning when he got up he was grumpy again, but I'll take the time I get. It took us a long time to get to school.

I wrenched my back on Monday. I couldn't move much at all. Today it's better, but gets cramped up pretty easy. The worst part was yesterday when both Husband and my sister were like " aren't you better yet?" I understand being curious, but it came out more like they were done caring. Every time I think of talking about it or even mentioning that it hurts I bite my tongue. Then I get annoyed when I do wince or groan in pain and they are like "what's wrong". I'll say, my back hurts and they ask if it's again. No. Not again. Still. How about we not talk about it and I'll just let you know when it's right again?

Random Thoughts:

Why do we pronounce the name Herb with the H, but the seasonings we don't even though they are all spelled the same?

We're watching Posiedon (sp?) on television and it seems to have a few flaws in it. Wouldn't someone notice their ship having issues? I know it would take a while before they could get there, but wow. So are they all part fish? They seem to have a very large lung capacity.

Ok. I'm tired.