Chick-Fil-A

TOMORROW. I will have it. Tomorrow. I think I deserve it after getting my house quasipresentable and 90% of my laundry done. Also, I've been dealing with sick baby and husband. DAMN IT I DESERVE CHICK-FIL-A. If not tomorrow than Friday.

I did my marathon "getting ready for the brief holiday" errands done today. Somehow, despite having done at least 6 loads of laundry today, there are still more. I'm not sure how this happens. I'm pretty sure laundry was one of Hercules' trials and he never finished it. You just don't hear about it because it's not a good ending to the hero's journey.

SPEAKING OF WHICH. I ended up with an A in my American Lit course. I'm not sure how this happened and I'm hoping that it's high enough that my GPA doesn't fall too low. Right now I have a 3.42 or 3.49 or something and I need a 3.5 to get benefits for transferring to Worcester State. I really need to get on that too...crap.

This semester has been hell. I'm so glad it's over. I'm glad that I have only 3 classes next semester and I'm eternally grateful to have an awesome new friend that agreed to watch Jack while I'm in class. Even though he's a few months older than her son and keeps progressing in that fashion that babies do. You know...when they learn and get big :(

Jack is mostly crawling now. He gets up on all fours, takes two "steps" and then reverts to army crawling because it's faster, I guess. Still trying to figure that one out. I'm pretty sure he'll be crawling full on by next week. I'm excited!

Another thing that bugs me

I'm going to start out with a complaint: Please, PLEASE listen to everything I have to say and don't put words in my mouth. Instead, listen to what I actually say. This is really a continuation of things that bug me.

I wrote about this particular pet peeve a few blogs ago (I'm lazy, search the links) about how people take something that I say and twist it around so that it offends them.

Tonight's topic: Leashes. For your children. For little HUMAN BEINGS.

My stance: Vehemently opposed.

Other's stance: Necessary evil.

I was once told by my parents that if I EVER leash my kid, I will be out of the will/murdered. This was not said in a joking fashion. However, prior to this particular pearl of wisdom, I had already been opposed to leashing a child.

Would you like to be leashed? (and no, not in some freaky S&M way-get your damn mind out of the gutter!)

I wouldn't. I believe if you can hold a leash, why not the hand? I honestly think it should be classified as a form of child abuse. Just because it has a monkey on it doesn't make it right.

Anyway, beyond the leashing (which you should never, EVER do) I made a comment about how humans have gone millennia without leashing their children and over the last few generations, people have become lazy. This offended my physically disabled cousin and apparently I deserved to be reprimanded for being too "general" and my words were hurtful.

Please review the above statement. Prior to this comment I did specify which types of people leash their children and in which context. It was horrible stereotyping and I will not repeat it in written form. Ask me about it. Maybe I'll tell you what I said.

Maybe not.

It was bad.

I'm not going to say anything bad about my family, but seriously. Do you really think I would deliberately offend you? Am I not entitled to expressing my own opinion? You did. If so, maybe I'll just skip out on the next family party.

On a lighter note, the cupcakes were awesome as always.

Things that bug me...

I will try to keep this short as there are many, many, many things that drive me up a wall.

Today, my issue is this:

FBuser: is going to be induced tomorrow!! YAY!!
LoserSkank1: OMG I WAS INDUCED AND IT SUCKED SO BAD.
LoserSkank2: inducing makes your labor longer and more painful
LoserSkank3: Like, this one time...
(btw, these people obviously aren't really named "loserskank" nor are they losers or likely skanks, but for dramatic effect I'm naming them so)

You get the point. There's nothing NOTHING scarier than the unknown of giving birth. Having had given birth just 7 1/2 short months (OMG 7 1/2 months?!?!) ago, I can say this: It's not that bad. There's pain medication for a reason as well as many, many pain management techniques. Of course, it's quite possible that I just had a kick ass nursing team, but my labor rocked. And I suffered through it for close to 36 FREAKIN' HOURS. And I'm a total wimp. Seriously, you should see me stub my toe. Or smash my elbow on the bookshelf. Or when Amy runs into the back of my ankle with a shopping cart at Target.

Also, I have friends that have gone completely natural and swear it's not that bad. It's a matter of perspective. I went into labor thinking it was going to be horribly painful. Contractions suck. They do, but here's how I went into it: They only last a minute or so and you can survive anything for a minute.

I won't pretend to be an expert. After all, I've only done this once and my situation wasn't ideal (story later, it's in the works) BUT it's important to put a little enthusiasm and less fear into new mothers. It's bad enough that they know the basics about birth, so why scare them more?

teeth and new words

I decided after sounding like such a whiney little snot yesterday, I'd share some awesome news!

Last night, in front of witnesses, Jack said "dada"! And, it wasn't just a quiet "ada," it was "DADA!!" Todd didn't hear it and just thought he said "aga" so he missed it :(

On top of that happy little tidbit, Jack is also sitting up from his belly. After the initial crashing (seen above) Jack is now a pro at going from belly to butt. This morning, Todd went into Jack's room because there were big "whack" noises that sounded like Jack was punching the wall to find the baby sitting up rocking back and forth into his crib bars. No tears, just loud noises.

This week has been a series of firsts and it's just amazing to watch the baby grow up before my eyes. I LOVE it and it's such an overwhelming feeling to know that I have impacted his development in some manner.

wow. just...wow

So, I went to message a (ex)friend today to inform her that, after a particularly grueling semester in school, I finally have the time to work on her gift. (I make crocheted baby blankets for friends expecting little ones) I found out she unfriended me. Now, this may have been the result of a message sent telling her that she needs time to herself and not to feel bad about leaving her asshole husband to take care of the baby (I left the "asshole" out of the original message; however, now that we're no longer "friends" I am entitled to speak my opinion-please don't think less of me).  I've seen him on Xbox, I assume he spends his "working" time on Fcebook since he frequently comments on Todd's statuses, etc,. I don't think Todd logged on Xbox or anything for the first few months after Jack was born and he was an easy baby without any health concerns and I wasn't a neurotic mess. I just needed help from my husband. And he was happy to help because he's not a dick. Really, at her age, comments like "you deserve a break" followed up by sharing a story of someone in a similar situation (which was meant to make her feel as though she is not alone and it's possible to not go insane from it) should not be construed as "OMG I HATE YOU AND YOU'RE A HORRIBLE PERSON/FRIEND/MOTHER AND *INSERT RANDOM PERSON HERE* HAS NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT AND CONSIDERING I'VE NEVER BEEN IN YOUR SITUATION I OBVIOUSLY KNOW WHAT'S BEST" or whatever possibly offensive thing you can imagine.

I've known said person for approx. 4 years. We were friends of convenience. However, my bluntness and her low self-esteem generally ended up as me saying something offensive. I should not have to censor myself with a supposed friend. I never said anything like "omg, you're fat" or "you suck in every way possible" yet my comments somehow always had underlying meanings that were generally negative.

So I will lay it out for everyone to understand: If I mean to offend you, I will. If I say "hmmm, well that sounds odd" DOES NOT MEAN I THINK YOU ARE ODD OR THAT YOUR SITUATION IS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS ANYONE ELSE'S. It's simply me pondering the situation aloud. I'm sooooo sorry for offending you. That being said, I appreciate it when people call me on my mistakes when I make them. Not a week later; three weeks later or (as once happened) MONTHS later. Seriously, you've been dwelling on the issue for that long? Get over it. You're THIRTY YEARS OLD. Put on some big girl panties and suck it up. Not everyone is out to get you.

Now, considering I just wrote a rant about growing up at our age, I should mention that I'm also not 12. I just can't stand when people can't just grow up and tell me what's up. However, I can now enjoy my winter break between semesters by not working myself into a carpal tunnel attack. Although, I do know someone that is having a baby girl soon and perhaps be appreciative of a hand made baby blanket (actually, I KNOW she would be.)

I'm funny?

I found out that I have more readers than just my six followers. This is awesome. And a bit...well...intimidating. I'm now nervous that my sense of humor and overall funniness is going to go away. However, please keep reading. It may take a while for my stage fright to go away, but I will eventually return.

JACK'S TOOTH CAME IN!!! Last night at a cookie swap! It's so cool. I think he has both of his bottom teeth in. But, seeing as he won't let me look into his mouth, I'm going by touch. Other new and exciting news is that he's climbing UP on things. He climbed the diaper changing whatchamadooder today and was so proud of himself. He gets up onto his knees and it's just awesome.

Today was the MOM's club Christmas party and Todd was SANTA!! It was AMAZING! I can't quite figure out if Jack knew who he was, but here are some pictures:

I can't wait for Christmas, where we will hopefully see Santa again. I just have to get through this last week of homework and submit all of my finals and then I'm done with this semester. I don't think I did as well this semester as I have in the past, but that's to be expected seeing as I had a baby and all.

I wonder....

How many times it's okay to use the same title? I really want to write "I should be doing homework..." but I think it might be tacky.

Got two weeks of work done tonight. I have 5 weeks of "work" in my science class, including two labs and two exams. I think the last big exam is a culminated exam, but I'm not sure. In my English courses, I have some discussions and my final "Jack Story" work-in-progress due. Art has one paper left. I hope I don't have to do a final project in the class because this semester has kicked my ass. I've said it before and I will gladly say it again: I AM NEVER EVER TAKING ALL ONLINE COURSES AGAIN. I have a nice study plan to do one week of science a day for the next week and be done with it. I hope this works out for me.

Next semester will be crazy busy as I will be preparing myself to transfer schools, take my MTEL and of course, the most important item on my list: caring for the baby. I'm seriously considering graduating, getting my Associates degree and then applying for a teaching assistant job. At least until I get some moneys and can contribute to the student loans that I have been accruing for the last three years. I can't do this another three years. I really need to get my ass in gear and finish my Bachelors in two years. I would like to enjoy my child without schoolwork before he goes off to school himself.

Okay: I just looked up to see what Todd was doing (playing Call of Duty, of course) and I see the Joker in a gilly(sp?)suit. Weird. That image will now haunt my dreams (and hopefully yours so that I don't have to suffer alone.)

I'm so off to bed. Getting up early (at a whopping 8:30AM) has kicked my ass. However, I'm waiting for Jack to wake up so I can get him dressed in jammies. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and Todd just threw him in bed (not literally guys, he gently placed him in bed with a smoochie on his forehead) so I'm sure he's bound to get uncomfortable. Oh well, maybe I'll just kick Todd to the floor and snuggle with my munchkin. God, he's cute.

Too many updates?

So, here's the deal. I LIVE ON FACEBOOK. I very rarely leave my house (except recently because I actually made a friend) and therefore, I do tend to post. A LOT. But see, rather than making fun of me for it, Facebook has this nifty "Hide" link. Don't like reading WHEN I WOULD RATHER BE DOING SOMETHING FUN, Hide me. Better yet, if you don't care what I'm doing, unfriend me. I won't be offended, honest. Why not? Because you obviously don't give a shit.

I'm really, REALLY sick of being told that I comment too much. I DON'T LEAVE MY HOUSE. I can't go do anything during the day without taking my son and his millions of accessories out with me. I LIVE on Facebook. I have more chat conversations during the day than I talk to actual LIVE people during the week. I really shouldn't have to justify to every other person why I post so much. I am BORED. I have NOTHING in my life other than Jack right now. When he's asleep, I have NOTHING going on.

There, that's the actual "sad" truth of my day to day life. I get excited when I finally have a moment to myself. It's ridiculous that I have to justify myself.

Is Santa Claus a wizard?

This was written 10.10.10 (at astonishingly 10:08pm)...but I thought I should wait until Christmas to post it!

Every night we read Jack Harry Potter. After reading yet another Potter-filled Christmas story (so far, we're on book 3), I had to wonder aloud "why aren't there any Jewish wizards?" Well, Todd, being as incredibly smart as he is explained it this way:

Well, the witches and wizards probably celebrate it differently than Muggles. It's probably not religious the way it is for Muggles...it seems to be mostly about the presents (and the food!).

This sparked an entire conversation about how Santa is probably a wizard. Of course, this sounds silly...but follow along, it makes sense:

How else could Santa hit every house in one night? He obviously apparates AND uses a time-turner, guaranteeing that every house around the world gets hit. He would also have to use an invisibility cloak. Or, perhaps he's like Dumbledore and can render himself invisible if need be. On top of that, he can use the alohomora spell. This spell allows the user to open any door, unless it's magically sealed. In that case, he can just use a knife that is meant to open any door (similar to the knife that Sirius gives Harry). Even if he can't apparate into certain buildings (unplottables-like Hogwarts, those hidden by the fidelius charm, etc) he can use owls. Owls appear to be brighter than any other creature, and who would think to stop an owl from entering their home-especially if they're carrying gifts from Santa? I'm sure arrangements could even be made to have the gifts delivered to a friend, or perhaps Santa is all knowing and the ultimate secret keeper?

Of course, considering the wizarding world of J.K. Rowling's imagination is completely fictional, you have to admit, my logic makes sense.

Thanksgiving and my loving husband

I just realized that I don't have a single photo of Jack in his Thanksgiving bibs. I will have to rectify that soon by recreating some shots. OH NO! I'm falsifying my son's first Thanksgiving. In all honesty, we were having too much fun feeding him new foods. Now, before anyone says "oh it's fine he won't remember." I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT. THE FACT IS, I WILL REMEMBER IT AND THAT IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT! After all, this is MY blog about MY life with some cute pictures of the baby. At the moment, my life and therefore my blog revolve around the baby. Ultimately though, this is about me. And I am lying to my anxiety ridden brain that recreating these moments will be okay for me to do. It's important for my few readers to remember that I worked very, very, VERY hard to get Jack and I feel guilty for every moment and milestone that I don't document. NOT FOR HIM. FOR ME. I want to remember these moments and as the time rapidly FLIES by, I find myself forgetting the little things.

Reminder to self: dump and burn Jack's 4-6 month videos as he's about to start crawling and it's important to have the space to record those first wobbly knee moments.

This weekend has been long. At the same time too fast. I have three papers due on Wednesday. One of which is a 2,000 word research paper that I just started. I can't write more because I need light and for some reason the lights being on after Jack is asleep gives him the right to wake up and demand playtime.

(I have to make sure I yell at Todd and that it's in print (because I just told him that this blog isn't about him). STOP READING OVER MY SHOULDER! I get all anxious and can't write coherent sentences. If you continue to mock me, I WILL post the video of you dancing on YouTube; you know the one, from B305 and you're all cute and wiggly...Take that stinky-mcstinker-pants!)

Jack's bedtime routine has been somewhat of a battle lately. He'll either go down super easy and wake up at 5AM because he didn't get enough food in him before he zonked or he'll take FOREVER to go down and sleep until Todd freaks out and pokes him with a stick to ensure he (Jack) is still breathing. Poor Todd.

I must admit that our concerned parent roles are reversed from what we thought we'd be like. Todd's the one that gets up in the middle of the night. He actually hears the baby. Whereas I'm the one actually next to the wall that separates ours and the baby's room. Jack is literally a foot away from me and Todd hears him before I do. It's insane.

I've said it a million times, but Todd is the best husband ever. Even though he has no involvement in the actual feeding of the baby, he gets up with Jack and will change him and bring him to me. Todd is the one that responds and rocks the baby to sleep in the middle of the night. He really is an awesome daddy and husband. I may want to kill him 20 times a day, but then I stop and realize that I married him for a reason and that reason includes his many flaws. This week's favorites include (but are certainly not limited to): looking into the diaper bag and not finding the pacifier bag because it's in one pocket over, always (this is every week) forgetting to put pants back on the baby after a diaper change, NOT PUTTING A NEW TRASH BAG IN THE CAN. However, I can list his good qualities too (beyond the ones already listed): offering to be Santa at the MOMs Club Christmas Party, going out on Black Friday to indulge my "we have to have our own Thanksgiving so we get sufficient leftovers but I change my mind and decide to make chicken cutlets which render no leftovers because we eat them all night" need, agreeing to dress in silly coordinating sweaters for the Christmas photos and endlessly putting up with my insanity. I love you, Bear!

How did this blog end up being about Todd...damn you and your paranoia. Go play CoD and get out of my bubble :P

SANTAAAAAA!!!

I know him.

Saw Santa today (I typed "satan" there a few times before I got the "Santa" down.) AND MY CHILD DID NOT CRY! He's awesome.

Also had some Chick-Fil-A and some tasty cupcakes. We drove an HOUR to get to Chick-Fil-A and it was so worth it.

It's 2AM and I should be doing homework

Really...I should be doing homework. I have been saying that every night this week. However, blog design takes time.

In all honesty, I've just about caught up with my schoolwork. This is good. Now hopefully I won't fail. Maybe (but not likely) I'll be on the Dean's List again. If not this semester, than maybe next.

This whole going back to school thing with a baby is incredibly hard. I had a hard time this semester knowing that I would inevitably have to send Jack to daycare in a few months. My fears have been smooshed (because I couldn't think of how to spell qualmed...it's TWO IN THE FRICKIN' MORNING) as I have successfully made a new friend AND she likes my kid. Well, in all fairness, my child is incredibly happy and easygoing. IN MY household, he's the cutest kid ever. I'm sure Amy has a different opinion in her own household when it comes to her adorable little munchkin.

It seems silly that I make such a big deal about making new friends. The fact is, I'm a little...well...blunt and that tends to rub people the wrong way sometimes. I like to think that my bluntness is a good thing. After all, I'm not going to lie to you if those jeans make your ass look huge. However, my sense of humor has been known to occasionally offend people. I'm friendly enough but my directness and sarcasm make me seem a bit unapproachable. It's because of this (and my shyness to strike up conversation with interesting people because I seem awkward and weird) that Todd pushed me to join the MOMs Club. Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is lately?

I tend to bunker down in my house and complain about how lonely I am. I do have family and even some friends. However, they're not moments away. It's very exciting to not only have friends that now live close, but it's nice that our new friends have a lot in common with us. New parents? Check. Stay at home moms? Check. What could be better?

I now have a set social event every week. On Thursdays, Jack and I get our asses out of our pajamas and go to playgroup. This is awesome. Other new moms. It's so nice to be able to sympathize with someone that has gone through what I've gone through these last six and a half months.

Oh thank god it's Friday tomorrow. Can't wait for the weekend. Bring on the keyboard! Rock Band Sunday! YAY!! (because I don't say "woot")

Stupid people

The best thing I did when we went through infertility was joining a forum. There is one particular thread that was incredibly interesting: People say the dumbest things when you're trying to conceive. Among them were "Are you SURE you want one of these..."

I'd like to point out that these stupid comments don't stop once you actually conceive (and birth) a child. While grocery shopping with my friend today, her son started crying. My son cried the two previous stores and I don't believe I got many funny looks and I tend to shrug off my baby crying because, well...there's not much you can do about it. I did rig up the Mei Tai to be able to nurse in public (OMG lifesaver). So, baby was crying because he demands his milk be a certain temperature (damn picky babies-Jack has to start on one boob and switch to the other at night or he screams) and that just wasn't happening in the grocery store. Understandable. Like Jack used to be, baby is so quiet that you almost can't hear him from the next aisle over. It's so cute and now I understand what people were saying when they said "just wait" about the screaming. However, some jerkwad cashier and someone else had the audacity to discuss, IN FRONT OF MY FRIEND AND HER SCREAMING SON, the most annoying sounds in the world. They compared it to torture tapes played while interrogating Gitmo prisoners. WTF? Seriously, dude, get over it. It's a baby. They cry.

Well, I was oblivious to this discussion because I was focused on getting us out of there quickly. However, I was appraised of the situation after leaving. I couldn't let this go. Well, my son had fallen asleep in his carseat, so I called the store and complained to the manager. He was very nice and understanding. He has two children and promised to speak to the employee that was rude. I can't stand for this treatment to anyone. As a mom, I know my kid is annoying when he screams. I also know that there's not much you can do besides feed or change such baby. Would these customers and employees rather we whipped out the diaper bag and change a dirty diaper on the tomatoes? Yeah, I'm thinking no.

This goes along with people being upset that babies cry on airplanes. They cannot control the volume of their voice. Much like these same people that cannot control their "inappropriate comment" section of their minuscule brains. I cry on airplanes and have been known to cry out loud because my ears hurt so bad. I remember one trip when I was 12 that was absolutely horrible. It was the same trip in which I moved to Washington. I was upset and crying already, so the pressure didn't help my sinuses or my ears. It was awful.

I really should write my art paper rather than post a blog. Oh well.

Technology rots and my son is awesome

Well, for the third time this year, my laptop needs to be repaired. A few weeks before Jack came along, my laptop started doing this thing where it would randomly shut off after a few minutes. We figured since the hard drive light went off at the same time, it was dying. So we bought a new one. The problem persisted until I wisened up and did something...I don't know what. Reformated after the new hard drive came? I can't remember. Either way, I was miserable. I was on bedrest and used ALL THREE consoles to Facebook and check my mail. We even fixed Todd's old crappy laptop that drove me bonkers because it's just so small.

Then, when Jack was just a few weeks old, I was making a list. I shut the pen I was writing with in the lid and cracked the screen. We had that repaired after I spent hours crying my eyes out that I had broken my only lifeline to the outside world. At least Todd's mom was in town.

The bright sides to both of these situations were that I was not in school. Well, now I'm in school. We were able to back up all the stuff, but it's been too stressful to actually focus on doing any homework. I know it sounds like a lame excuse, but when I get super stressed, I just kind of shutdown. I can't help it. Everything gets infinitely worse than it actually is and I can't handle the pressure. Honestly, I have no idea how I make it through school and this semester has yet again proven to me THAT IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA TO TAKE ALL ONLINE COURSES! It's too stressful and if something goes wrong, I'm basically screwed.


On a much, much, much happier note, Jack is rolling over like a super champ. I'm simply amazed at how milestones are reached in babydom. I don't think that's a word. Oh, well, it is now. First, Jack went from laying on his back and hating tummy time to kind of rolling 3/4 of the way over to rolling all the way over. He played with simply rolling over and then getting incredibly angry that he was on his tummy to rolling over. And over. And over. He can make it all the way across the room. He first did this at our new friends' house. I think it was the newness. He won't really do it over and over at home. I think it's because there's nothing new to see. Either way, it's pretty cool.

After rolling over once and before continuously rolling over, Jack learned to sit up. This was another "all of the sudden" activities. One minute he fell over, the next minute he was sitting up for a minute or two. Now, he spends most of his day sitting up in Boppy just playing with toys.

Tonight, he was watching Sara with incredible awe. She can pull herself up onto surfaces (and occasionally Jack) so I plopped him next to her and put his hands on the table. I spotted him, but he stood up holding onto the table for about 20 seconds before he realized "oh shit, I'm standing and MY MOM DOESN'T HAVE HOLD OF ME!!!" and proceeded to fall down. I was hoping she'd teach him to blow raspberries, because I can't without spitting all over him or myself and then we just look silly.

He was also watching her crawl. I don't think he was as fascinated with the crawling because he sees the kitties crawl all day. Well, they walk, but they're all about the same size as the babies. I don't think he found it anything new and exciting, but he was following her around. He wasn't very fascinated with the bigger kids either. However, he loves the grown ups. He just likes looking at our different faces.

The best thing about being a mom is that my son recognizes ME! If I hand him off to someone and leave the room, his whole face lights up when I walk back in. When I pick him up, I get the biggest baby hug ever. Todd's a bit envious because he doesn't get hugs as often as I do :) I have to admit, I love the feeling that Jack seems to prefer me. And then I watch Todd make Jack laugh his special laugh and my heart melts. I coudn't ask for a better husband and Jack couldn't have a better father.

That thing cost 45 dollars!!! WHY ARE YOU EATING IT???

Every new mom has nursing bras. They're "supposed" to help make nursing in public easier by simply detaching the cup to allow discrete access to the nipple. Well, when I bought mine,  I was 5 months pregnant, my boobs were HUGE and this bra was incredibly comfortable. It was also like $45 and I bought two. Stupid...

There are things that should not be purchased during pregnancy. Haircuts, clothing and mattresses. Mattresses are the biggest NO NO. I grumbled throughout the second half of my own pregnancy about how horribly uncomfortable our bed was and we went to various mattress shops to attempt picking out the perfect new mattress. Eventually, we decided to wait until after the baby was born and get a king size. So, I lived on the couch from February until May. It rocked. The couch hit my aching back and legs in just the right spots and the place where the cushions meet cradled my giant belly and I could sleep all night...minus the 3-4 bathroom breaks. Also, it had access to the good TV with DVR so my pregnant brain could rewatch the same 5 minutes of shows 17,000 times because I couldn't grasp what I was watching. Also, it had easy access to the fridge.

As soon as the baby came out, my bed was wonderfully comfortably again.
HOWEVER, back to the point. My boobs grew an entire cupsize and I bought nursing bras while 5 or 6 months pregnant and they ROCKED. Now, I realize that buying nursing bras when one has no idea what nursing will entail was stupid. First off...underwire. Sure. It's awesome for keeping the girls up for date night, but it's not very practical for nursing. When you nurse, your boobs fill up every few hours and you wonder how on earth they could get any bigger...well they do. A LOT. And underwire is not good for rock hard, milk filled breasts-it STABS them as though they're trying to rob the underwire of its money or...I dunno, copper. Then, as the volume reduces, the bra no longer fits properly and is constantly beating the baby in the face. I hope to rescue any woman from every buying nursing bras with underwire. I have lived in the sleeping nursing bras since I was in the hospital. I want more for Christmas.

So, having been peed on and spit up on my two favorite sleep bras, I was forced to wear the dreaded death trap that is the nursing bra with underwire. As I've mentioned, it's not comfortable for nursing, so invariably, I end up removing it to nurse. Where did I put it? Well I threw it across the room to attach the screaming, starving baby to my chest.

It's new purpose is a chew toy.

Jack has unattached the cup from the strap and is chewing on the clip. I guess it feels wonderful on his budding teeth because he's happily chewing away on it. He's eating my $45 bra while surrounded by $20 worth of teething toys. At least he's quiet.

Time To Decorate!!!

Okay. I'm a FREAK for Christmas. Normally, decorations are up November 1st. However, I just joined a play group and it was my first hosting and I didn't want the other mommies to think I'm insane this early on in the friendship.

(We didn't always decorate this early. A few years ago, we had a bad Halloween. The prior year, we had a TON of trick-or-treaters and ran out of candy. The "dark" year, we had 2 and gorged ourselves on 10 pounds of candy for MONTHS. I said "eff this" and decorated for Christmas. I still decorate for Halloween a month early.)

IT'S UP NOW!!! We took a few photos of Jack with the penguin tree. There are approximately 6 ornaments on the tree that aren't penguin related. This is not counting the "filler" red and silver balls. The tree is missing an entire box of ornaments that I deem too fragile for life with kitties (and probably with babies, too). Once the cats are old and Jack is maybe 18, I will put them back up. For now, they're lovingly wrapped in tissue paper and stored until I find the cats aren't assholes. Yeah, that's right. My cats are assholes-even the girl cat (under the tree in the top photo) because they like to chew and/or floss their teeth on the bottom branches. Penguin goes NUTS over the snowflakes so they can't be hung anywhere that he can see them. In their defense, last year's first tree was possessed and would randomly fall over on it's own, enticing the already curious cats to chew on things they're not allowed to eat. We invested in a better tree with a sturdier stand, so I don't think there would be as many casualties, but I don't want to take the risk. It's a good thing they're not wire chewers like Link was. Penguin did bite through a strand during his first Christmas with us and I think he got a good shock because he ignores the wires now. Thank god.

We did get the rest of Jack's 6 months photos back and there are way too many cute ones to go up here and I've posted them all on Facebook.

Playing with a giant ornament.

I'm not sure why this one is blurry. He has hold of the tree!

I can't wait until it's actually Christmas. I've already done a little bit of shopping for Jack and I know my mother-in-law is going INSANE for him. We're so excited! I'm glad that Todd is just as fanatical about Christmas as I am.

Now, before anyone gripes about me skipping over Thanksgiving, I have a penguin decoration that we call our Thanksgiving penkey because he looks like Tom Turkey to us. Also, how does one really decorate for Thanskgiving? I don't like turkeys and my house is already full of warm fall colors. Besides, what better way to enjoy the holidays than by being festive for two whole months??

SIX MONTHS ALREADY!?!?!

Tomorrow my baby boy will be 6 months old! I can't believe it's already been half a year since he was born. He's more than doubled and almost tripled his birth weight. He started rolling over last week and is starting to be able to sit up fully on his own! 

Last night he woke up at 2am with a horrible wheezy cry! I ran into his room (flew is more like it, I don't think I touched the floor) and he had a horribly runny nose! OH NO! What do we do? Do we take him to the ER? Okay, let's think about this...is he running a fever? No. Is he breathing funny? No, he's just snotty. He was smiley and happy to see us. What do we do? Call Nana in the middle of the night and ask her what to do. Thankfully, she is a voice of reason.

After describing his symptoms, we narrowed it down to possible food allergies or teething. The food allergies were ruled out since his tummy actions seem normal. No funky rashes and food allergies likely wouldn't present as cold symptoms. So, we factored in his age, developmental milestones and the past 2 months of drool and hopefully he'll just cut his first tooth in the next few days. We're very excited for this!

We had two sets of 6 month photos taken today. We had our friend Jen take some at the pun'kin patch. We got some great shots with his buddy Sara and they're just so cute together. We also had some done with the Boston skyline in the background. Those were incredibly cold and hopefully came out well because I'm not sure I want to relive that particular moment. Jack did fantastic through both--leading me to believe further that he's just cutting teeth and not sick. Besides, his feeding hasn't cut back and isn't the saying "feed a fever, starve a cold"? I always lose my appetite when I'm super stuffy and Jack appears to be in excellent eating form!

I love babies in black and white

Happy boy!

Learning to sit!

DIMPLES!

Sly face

I just can't seem to get over how much more in love with this boy I get everyday. He is the epitome of happiness and just warms my heart every time he flashes that toothless grin. I hope we have enough toothless photos because it's the best smile ever!

I love you Buddy!

I went back to school and all I got was this stupid brain ache

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. It seemed perfect, I love to teach little kids things and am amazed at their willingness to learn. I can stand them-I very rarely get impatient with small children. Once they start getting mouthy-around 3rd grade-I can take 'em or leave 'em, but first and second graders, wow...they're like little sponges. So, I decided to go back to school.

Three years later...I cram assignments into Jack's 30 minute naps (of which he takes 3 during the day) and then stay up super late trying to cram more thoughtful information into a two hour window before my brain dies. Why? So that I can one day (sometime, I can't even envision this particular part of my life at the moment) I can say "I'm a teacher" I spent more on my education than I will ever get paid. Why? Because it's fulfilling...well, yes there's that. Also, my husband has a pretty good job so really I can do whatever I want for work.

Then I stop and remind myself...had I never gone back to school, I could be a stay at home mom. Like, full time. I would love this. However, getting halfway through school just to drop out and stay home with my son kind of sounds like a cop out. So for now, I am not so happily slaving away in the dead of night to attempt some sort of degree so eventually my son won't be embarrassed of me. You know, when I drop him off at school with curlers in my hair or slippers on my feet. Well, maybe slippers but curlers don't really work for my hair. But you get the point, right?

Taking 4 online courses is really hard to keep up with. I'm 2 weeks behind in my science class because I can only do that homework when Todd is entertaining the boy. Lately, Jack has not been wanting to be held or entertained by anyone but me. This presents a problem when it comes time to get work done. Next week, we're instilling a "Daddy comes home an hour earlier so Mommy can go to the library and get some work done" regime. Because, I really, really, really need to get caught up with school.

Take this: I have completely run out of creativity. I can not make up names or produce any original thoughts lately. Why? I think my brain has left. Oh, it still hurts, I think that's the separation pain though because it's definitely run away. Sometimes I sit there and just stare at Todd for words that used to be a part of my expansive vocabulary (look I'm smart, I promise!)...you know like "touch football" (I swear to frickin' jeebus-ask me about the time I forgot the word "cheese").

How do people do this? How can I devote all the necessary time to school when all I really want to do is snuggle with my baby? I can't withdraw again. That would be silly...besides, we'd have to start paying back those stupid loans.

Can I be a painter? I swear I can be as good as that guy that just splatters the paint on the canvas. Imagine making $$MILLIONS$$ on ink splatter. Only, I can use spit up and baby poop as my medium. It's innovative, right?

Jeez, no wonder I'm having insomnia. Stupid stress. I hope you die some day and that it's a horrible, bloody, violently messy death. Take that.

You know what else is bugging me lately? Oh, that would be Mt. Eckert. There's a mountain growing in my hallway. A mountain of LAUNDRY. Why!? I just did ALL of it before we left on vacation. HOW can there possibly be MORE? It is a mathematical improbability that there would be that much laundry. There's only two people. I consider Jack a separate laundry entity. He has his own bubble that rarely overflows. I stay on top of his. Lucky little dude.

On the other hand, I've developed some sort of yummy gooey casserole. It's sort of like Shepard's Pie, but has stuffing...and corn...and gravy. OMG if we use ground turkey, it would be Thanksgiving dinner in a baking dish. I'm pretty sure Rachael Ray has already done it and that's probably where I got the idea from.

Now why can't I take all this and write like this for my classes? Who knows...I sure as heck don't.

One of "those" moms

I'm one of "those" moms. The mom that shoves pictures of her kid down your throat every 2 minutes...I'm not necessarily proud of this, however it is what it is. In my defense, my kid is REALLY cute. To prove his cuteness and forever remind you that I am "that" mom, enjoy some of his eternal cuteness:

Mommy and Jack at the family reunion

Jack is totally awesome!

Well hello there pretty eyes!

First plane trip

Happy boy

Little monkey stole Mommy's cracker-I guess he enjoyed it

Of course, this post is ridiculous because it's not accomplishing anything. I, also, am failing to accomplish anything. I really need to get caught up on homework. Taking a weekend off for vacation was not really the brightest thing to do...go Molly!

BIG NEWS!!

A couple of firsts these past few days:

We had our first plane trip. Jack was AWESOME. He wowed the flight attendant and had she not made a big fuss over him, you wouldn't have even known he was on the plane. He flirted with the lady across the aisle and let the flight attendant snuggle him as he tried to rip her earrings out! She even gave him a "first flight" certificate and TWO sets of wings that will fit in his scrapbook! He was so good, I'm so proud of him!

To combat baby ear pain: bring Boppy (OMG THIS IS A LIFESAVER!!), book an empty flight, bring the BINK! Jack sucked his bink on takeoff and landing and was just a pleasant little monkey. He got a bit fussy so somewhere over Long Island I nursed him and he was happy again! Mommy was in extreme pain (I forgot my gum...) but he just did so well! I only wish our stupid camera didn't break so I could post pictures of how super smiley he was!

!!!BIG NEWS!!!

JACK STARTED ROLLING OVER THIS WEEKEND!!!!

He can roll to tummy and then back to his belly! Since this new development, however, he will only sleep on his side. This freaks both Todd and I out just a bit. Last night, I sat for a good 5 minutes trying to get him to go back to his back, but he kept rolling to his side. THEN every time he would roll onto his back, it scared him so much he would wake up! We were at Grandmom's so he was in our room in the Pack and Play and woke us up every time it happened! By this morning, he seemed to be an old pro though and was on his back WITHOUT waking us!! YAY!

We tried desperately to get him to roll over for the video camera, but he's just too stealthy!

Tonight on the flight home, he was even more wonderful than the flight to Grandmom's. He was awake and distracted with his bink during takeoff and then he decided he was hungry so we nursed and he nodded off. Daddy took over baby duty and I wrote some paragraphs in my paper. He was awake during the landing and seemed to have a good time throughout the flight. There was a little old man that sat in front of us that gave us wary eyes when we boarded, but I'm sure he's happy that the only noises Jack made were of pure joy. Man, that kid is a social butterfly. We stole Grandmom's camera so we do have pictures of the flight home. I can't believe he's MY baby-he's so calm and happy :) :)

Both flights were empty, so we got to bring the car seat on with us. Even though we didn't use it, I'm glad we took it with us because it was a catch all for Jack's various "things" that we brought with us and we didn't have to worry about them flying all over the plane. Really, we could not have asked for better conditions! Southwest FTW! Their crew is just awesome. I don't think I've been on a Southwest flight where I was unhappy with the flight attendants.

What's "her" name?

While shopping at JoAnn Fabric today, some lady in line asked me all sorts of questions about Jack. Our conversation went something like this:

Woman tries to walk past me in line
"Oh, you're not waiting here are you?"
"Uh, yeah actually I am."
"Oh how cute! How old?"
"5 1/2 months."
"Oh that's precious. What's her name?"
"HIS name is Jack."
"Of course I chose the wrong one. Did you say Josh?" (note that there's no apology-she didn't even sound apologetic)
"No, his name is Jack."
"Oh, I like that name." (spoken as though she had control over his naming)
"Thank you (thinking "as though I need your approval")"

My son is wearing one of the most boyish outfits..he's wearing a sports onesie with basketballs, nets, footballs and cleats along with dark blue pants and white and blue socks. Now, granted girls can wear blue and sports as well, and their carseats can be black along with all other accessories, but people don't normally do that. I really don't think my son looks anything like a girl. Might be biased of me but I've been told by other random strangers that he looks boyish as well. I've never had someone mistake him for a girl. I've had people ask "boy or girl?" when he was dressed fairly gender neutral but never has ANYONE ever referred to Jack as a "she" or "her" so yes, this bugged me a bit. I wish he hadn't grinned at this idiotic woman...

Homework and stuff

I haven't really updated. I'm working on a big assignment for my creative writing class that is all about how our "quest" to get pregnant. It's a work in progress and I'm editing it down as I go for blog usage.

After nearly two months of classes, the work is finally beginning to get difficult. That, mixed with our crappy router is really making keeping up with schoolwork difficult. Thank goodness I only have one semester left at QCC before I officially move onto my elem. ed. program. Well, one semester and a big ass test. Despite all of my grumblings about school and the fact that I swore I'd never do all online classes EVER again, I'm really enjoy school. I don't know why. One class I'm taking (American Lit) I actually took a year ago and withdrew because I couldn't keep up. This semester, I'm really enjoying it. Well, except the poetry. Sadly, I'm just not a fan of poetry. I don't like things that have hidden messages. How am I supposed to know that a cold winter's night is symbolic for potentially suicidal thoughts?

However, I am enjoying Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I appreciate that she (among others) came out and wrote about controversial topics. I think it's horrible that within just one century, women went from being hysterical to having a recognized condition (postpartum depression). I was worried about postpartum because I had PMDD. Considering it's a type of depressive disorder, it's one of the concerns for developing PDD. I can't imagine anything that's made me happier than the birth of my son. I think it's sad that even to this day, men overshadow women and undermine their complaints (Andrea Yates, anyone). Unlike my condition, which is miraculously cured by getting pregnant (balances out the hormones) and giving birth (don't know why, perhaps because the body goes through a complete metaphysical change?) PDD is consistent throughout pregnancy.

I never expected this blog to be so down. I also didn't expect my schoolwork to hit so close to home and have the impact that it does on me. It's very strange how just a year ago, I had no interest in reading these stories and now I can't get enough of them. It's true camaraderie. Or I'm just going nuts like the woman in the story. Anything is possible.

Bad Drivers

If any of the following pertains to you and or your driving, I demand you relinquish your license:

1. When it rains and you leave your headlights off. Especially at dusk-that's the best.

2. If you're going to turn LEFT (or really, any turns, changing lanes, etc, but especially LEFT) and fail to use your turn signal.

3. If you miss your turn yet continue to turn anyway and then decide that you really don't want to turn and instead want to come back to the original lane of traffic-when people have already passed you due to your moronic turn.

FOR THE LOVE OF JEEBUS PEOPLE, LEARN TO DRIVE!

And that's my rant for the day.

Ran a million errands. Got my hair cut (very, very short), went to the bank, got my oil changed, bought diapers and zyrtec, met Todd for lunch, got our Christmas outfits at Old Navy and last but not least: got peed on FOUR times today.

Let's just say that Jack is not a fan of driving around all day and will let me know. Haven't been peed on for months and today, every time I removed his diaper WHAM he starts to pee. One change, twice. I turned away to grab a wipe, turned back and realized he was peeing. He laughed at me, stopped and as I started to wipe the pee off him, he peed on me again. I love being a mom :) Did he pee on Todd? No. Little butt!

Having Tons of Fun!!

I've not been a huge fan of playing around with photos. However, my cousin Lindsey introduced me to picnik.com and I also found paint.net. I like paint.net. I found it has some features that picnik does not...or at least that were not as readily available to me. This is what I've been doing (instead of homework...of course!)

Yes, I have finally learned how to omit all but the fun colors that I want. I've always liked the look of photos like these and now I've figured it out! (you can see the original photo in my header, in all it's colored glory)

Wow. I really need to start working on the two papers that I have due this week.

My Heart is Broken :(

As we're all quite aware, I'm VERY new to the whole blog world. I think it's both neat and creepy that I can read about other people's lives.

Today, using the "next blog" button, I stumbled upon this blog and my heart breaks for this family.

I can only imagine how impossibly hard it is to lose a child mere months after he or she is born. What makes this horrible tragedy 10x worse is that the baby was lost to SIDS. Ever since the moment I found out I was pregnant, I researched until my eyes bled on how to prevent SIDS from happening. We do it all: we sleep with the air on, Jack wears jammies that are light and airy, but will keep him warm if the temperature drops low. We use a fan to oscillate "stale" air and ensure that there is good air flow in his room. Most importantly, we keep him on his back.

But what happens when babies start rolling over in their sleep? I am thankful-despite my secret worries that my child is "stunted"-that Jack has not learned to roll over yet. How can a mother prevent tummy sleeping at night? I certainly can't stay up all night if I'm to be expected to actually care for said child in the morning.

After reading Ayden's story, I feel so much more love for my family. This family has reminded me that the most important thing in this world is love...and the human ability to learn and grow from even the most unpredictable, unpreventable tragedies.

Pretzels and Sunday Dinner. YUM!

Every week, we join our friends for Sunday Dinner. It's almost never (twice) hosted at our house because we don't have the room for our growing clan. It's a potluck where everyone brings something. This week, I'm going to attempt to make pretzels.

I have never made homemade soft pretzels from scratch. This is going to be an interesting experiment. It's not too humid out, so it should be good. Or is humidity better for making dough? See, normally I use my bread maker for this.

So, we made pretzels. OMG they were delicious! So warm and soft. Mmmm. I am definitely making them for dinner tomorrow. I made a parmesan garlic powder topping for mine and Todd just had salt. We dipped them in salsa con queso and marinara, respectively.

I overheard some gossip at the local grocery store (second stop today, forgot something of course!) I overheard the manager and district manager talking. Well, it was more the district manager yelling at the poor store manager-IN FRONT of customers. He was telling her that if he had any more, ONE more customer complaint, he'd be shutting the store down. Now it might be possible that he was sharing with her an anecdote of something else, but she got pretty defensive. They're also implementing a policy where you have to sign up for their store card. This ridiculous store already removed their phone lookup for the savings cards, so I can imagine that this new policy will only lead towards MORE complaints, not less.

I hope they don't close the store. It's very convenient to home and despite always having a lot of cars in the parking lot, always seems empty. I love that I can avoid yet more human-to-human interaction when shopping there.

Although, I did pick up a package of expired baby food...I complained to a manager and have yet to see another incident. Of course, I only bought baby food at this store once and the manager was very considerate and immediately took all of the expired baby food (yes, there was more than one pack) and agreed that his stock guys should be more observant. It was a situation that was taken care of quickly and with sincere remorse.

On a separate, unrelated shopping trip at a different store, we picked up an expired box of crackers. I have never thought of checking expiration dates to ensure that things AREN'T expired at the damn grocery store.

This next bit of information should probably have it's own post, but I'm lazy...

Yesterday, as I was feeding Jack his lunch of prunes, we held the following conversation:
Me: Mmmmm! Momma likes prunes *Jack smiles* Well, Momma doesn't really like prunes, but YOU like prunes.

Jack-while looking directly in my eyes, not babbling at all says: Mama.

Me: OH DEAR GOD YOU SAID MAMA! SAY IT AGAIN! SAY MAMA!
I ran and grabbed the phone and called Todd. Of course, he didn't believe me. In the meantime, you might wonder what is going on with Jack while I'm freaking out...well, he got mad that he was no longer being fed and smacked his hands on the highchair to show me his displeasure. I promptly fed the little traitor (remember, he wouldn't say "mama" again!) and we were happy once again.

However, today Jack has said many forms of the letter "M" and at least half of them that came out sound like "mama" and it just makes my heart grow 10x it's normal size.

I also heard horror stories upon waking up that Todd let Jack grab Zelda's leg with his death grip. Todd was worried that Z would bite Jack...of course, she did not! But it's nice to know that Daddy and Jack can have such a good time without me. Or maybe it's not so nice to know. Now I'm a bit sad :(

Teething bites...literally.

Last night was...well it wasn't really BAD. We rarely, if ever, have BAD nights, but it wasn't good either. Normally, bedtime is as follows: Around 9:30-10ish, when Jack shows signs of being tired (rubbing eyes, mild fussiness) we mosey upstairs, get him changed and put his jammies on him. I settle into the rocker recliner while Todd sits on a folding chair. Todd reads a chapter of Harry Potter while Jack pleasantly nurses and nods off to sleep. Then, we put baby in his crib and recite (no longer needing to read) Goodnight Moon. Jack stays asleep and we back out of the room. This whole teething thing sucks. Jack doesn't want to nurse because he's not hungry, but he wants to nurse for comfort but gets mad when there's milk coming. What's my solution? The Bink.

I fully believe in the binky (or pacifier for you that don't know what a bink is). Babies have an ingrained need to suck. Studies have shown that using a bink at bedtime reduces the risk of SIDS. It keeps babies calm and quiet at things like meetings with the head of the education department or shopping.

When Jack gets mad that there's milk coming often he shows his displeasure by choking, gagging, pulling away while still attached to me and growling while his little face turns bright red and mommy tends to get grumpy. Well, it's painful and I get upset that he's not eating, he gets upset that he IS eating and it's a vicious circle. Hey, I never said I was perfect. I get frustrated.

Well, last night this was all going on so I gave him the binky. This went over well until he pulls out the bink to chew on the sides. I'm all for this, as he is not chewing on me. However, he gets mad that he can't suck and chew at the same time. We have the Soothie bink teether and he likes this, but once again, he cannot suck and chew at the same time! So, every minute or so, I'm pulling the bink out of his iron death grip to replace it properly in his mouth. Finally, he wouldn't take the bink or the boob, so I let him scream for a minute and then attempted to walk around with him. It worked!

One thing about parenting that no one tells you is that it's really hard on your back. Babies are dead weight. Jack is 17+ pounds of dead weight. So, despite lifting with my legs, my back inevitably starts to hurt (also, this doesn't happen often, so I don't think to use a sling). So, I sit down again. BIG mistake. Jack screams, I get mad and hand him off to Todd. Todd, the love that he is, hands me Harry Potter (we're reading The Prisoner of Azkaban right now) and we swap places. Somehow, thank the maker, Todd gets Jack to sleep.

Apparently he woke up at 3:45 this morning. I don't recall this. I only remember Todd getting back in bed sometime later. Why, you may ask, doesn't the mother that stays home not get up with the baby? Well, to answer you, I didn't hear him and it's what works for us. Todd functions at near 100% capacity on lack of sleep. Me, not so much. I turn into a raving bitch. And that's putting it nicely.

Todd took Zelda to the vet this morning. Simply put, she's not a fan. He managed to get her into the carrier with little fight. I'm very impressed. This afternoon, Jack and I will pick her up from the vet. I haven't maneuvered baby and cat up the stairs yet, so this will be very interesting.

Thank God It's Friday

Two posts, one day

So, now that I've figured out how to edit my background, I'm going to attempt adding photos. Well that was easy! These are some pictures from our vacation to the Jersey Shore this summer:

Jack's first pool experience

Obviously, it wiped him out. This is him in a kid sized lounge chair

Family photo on the beach 

Jack LOVED the ocean!

This semester, I'm taking a creative writing class. I'm a sporadic journaler, so I figured this might be a good way to journal my thoughts and random activities that are being done. Surprisingly, this class is requiring me to examine some of my childhood. A lot of the exercises somehow play into memories of my past. I mean, I'm only 26, my past isn't that huge and there are key moments in my life that spark to memory-no matter how unpleasant they may be.

Now, don't get me wrong. Most of my life has been pleasant and without complaint. Most of my bad memories come from my early life. But that's a story for another day...and possibly a private blog. I don't want to depress my readers! After all, it took all of my Facebook connections to get you both here!

It seems as though I spend an absurd amount of time online. This may be true, but mostly I stay connected throughout the day. Sometimes, I will leave the internet open to take care of my child. His screams don't always allow time to close windows and shut down laptops. As you can see from the above photos, my child lacks for nothing. I'm not one of those moms that neglect their children to raise a Sim family. 

So...what exactly is a blog?

After spending days "discovering" blogs online, I have been talked into starting one.

I just became a mom. Jack was born on May 1, 2010 and simply put, he is the center of my world.

I am also a full time student. Currently, I'm taking all online courses. This is awesome as I didn't really want to put Jack into daycare. Actually, I REALLY didn't want to subject him to the torture of being away from mommy for 3 hours twice a week. Yes, that's it. Sadly, this means that we are stuck in the house all day with little human interaction. I rely on Facebook to ensure that I get an adequate amount of social interaction with real people. This blog is either going to become a life-sucking entity that further draws me into my own personal bubble or it'll be a great outlet of my inability to "get out there" and befriend random strangers.

I feel that since I only have a limited time to enjoy my first born's baby days, I should try not to leave him with perfect strangers. I don't know if it was because it was so hard to get him here, but I know that being away from me for 6 hours every week would be the end of the world and I just couldn't fathom how I was going to be able to focus on school knowing that he was suffering all sorts of abuse (i.e having fun without mom) at the hands of his caretakers. These next few months are full of all sorts of important milestones that I was broken hearted at the mere thought of leaving my baby and letting someone else "raise him" for 6 hours a week. I realize how silly this is, but ask any new mom and I bet they have the same feelings.

Before Jack was born, my cats were the center of my world. While they've taken a backseat the last few months while Todd and I were adjusting to parenthood, they're still an important part of our family. Sure, they've been banned from the bedrooms at night and we don't have 20 minutes to play fetch with the boy cats everyday, but we still focus on taking a few minutes each day to snuggle them. Thus far, they've been pretty good about not torturing the baby. In fact, they've surprised us in their welcome of the baby by completely ignoring the fact that anything has changed. Perhaps they're in denial...there I go again, anthropomorphizing the animals.

In recent news, Jack says "AHMA" when he cries. It's the only time he says something that resembles "mama" that I jump up from whatever I'm doing to rescue him from his turtle-stuck-on-his-back existence. He's also starting to teethe. I'm just waiting for the day when those little pearly whites cut through the gums. Sadly, it will be the end of an era and will force me to recognize that my baby is doing something awful--growing up. Part of me can't wait, because it means that the unusual fussiness will go away and he will revert back to his super happy self instead of this awful "mostly" happy self. By mostly happy and fussiness I refer to the 20 or so minutes a day where he can't be tempted into a smile. Overall, I have the world's happiest baby.

Now, I need to figure out how to put pictures and videos up. And learn how to change the font and background of my new blog. I should probably be putting this much focus into my homework, but let's face it, this is way more fun!