john's mom works

pic of the day: the first family walk with buddy our family got a little bit bigger today! buddy joined us today about 2:30 pm when he arrived from the long drive from nacodoches, tx. ann and another volunteer from st. francis anmal rescue over there were kind enough to take the time to bring buddy to his new home. buddy was a little nervous at first - it is clear that he has been mistreated at some point in his life, and he is particularly wary of men's hands. but in the less than seven hours he's been here the change is already phenomenal. he follows my husband every where he goes. he's happy to lean against us and almost get in our laps. he wags his tail and is happy to see us when we walk in from the other room. in short, i don't think it will be too long before he's 100% settled in and loving his new life. we went for our first family walk this evening. buddy definitely spooks when there are strange noises behind him, but he did well overall. he did pull...

pic of the day "me? up to no good? never!" so tonight, my husband is taking me out to a lovely italian restaurant for a date night. on a wednesday night, you might ask? well, yes. hey, you take it where you can get it with a sweet little man as the (much-welcomed) third wheel on most of our "dates"! we haven't been going out to eat lately, as a part of our efforts to get rid of debt and save towards having an emergency fund. and on friday, we're adopting a very sweet doggie who will need us to be around quite a lot in his first few days, since he will be not only adjusting to his new home but also learning to trust and love us. so the prospects of having some adult time weren't looking so hot for the next week or two. and then, my husband had a brilliant inspiration. he won a gift card in a golf tournament a while back ... so tonight's dinner will be free or very very cheap! and since one of my favorite people in the world is willing to come ...

pic of the day this is clearly not buddy :) it is nola, the new puppy belonging to our friends who came to the camp with us for easter. but john loves nola, too. breaking news first: buddy is coming to live with us on friday! we've passed the home test and jumped through the hurdles, and he'll be arriving friday afternoon. easter sunday was a big day: we brought john to the camp with us for the first time! for those of you not from south louisiana, "the camp" is a very fascinating local entity. most families have a camp somewhere. they're typically in the middle of nowhere, on the water. some people have hunting camps, some people have fishing camps. ours is sort of a general recreation camp. it's a well-loved ramshackle cypress shack on a small spit of land called graveyard island. about eight feet from the back door is the belle river, with a dock where the boats are parked. about eight feet from the front door is the gravel road, then the lake, wher...

pic of the day where did this big child come from, and what did you do with my tiny little baby?  i know i say this all the time. but where in the heck does time go? leaving for work this morning, my husband was still asleep and so was the baby. (the daycare is closed for good friday so my husband stayed home with john.) when i peeked in at john sleeping, he looked like a big kid (see the picture above). not like a sweet little baby bundle, but like a big ol' boy. sure, he's still small in size. but the way he holds himself, even when he's sleeping, has more child in it than baby. and yes, i'm waxing philosophical here a bit, but i can just tell i am going to bat my eyelashes and he'll be driving. he's coming up on a year already ... and then two ... etc. i know it's the natural way of things. i know every single mama in the world feels the same way. but i just look at this little creature that i nurtured in my body for 9 months and i think ... how...

pic of the day john shares his mom's guilty pleasure of reading trashy gossip rags 5:30 p.m. hurry to school to pick up peanut. enjoy his laughing/yelping in joy when his mama walks through the door to get him. distance traveled: 3.1 miles 5:45 p.m. hurry home so that peanut and mommy can go for a walk to the park. distance traveled: 4.1 miles 6:15 p.m. load john in the stroller and head on down to the park. should be a 1 mile round trip walk. 6:22 p.m. r ealize i was supposed to stop at the produce market on the way home from work. decide we can't go to the park after all. stop in my tracks and turn around. distance traveled: .65 miles 6:35 p.m. load john into his carseat. ignore his standard scream-when-you-put-me-in-a-carseat act. head to the produce market. did i mention the produce market is back near my work? distance traveled: 6.4 miles 6:55 p.m. back in the car. head to albertson's for the item or two i couldn't get at the produce market. re...

admiral john and his ducky flotilla a brief note on perspective: after feeling so yukky yesterday morning, i had a conversation with an amazing friend of mine. i haven't cleared with her whether i can mention her here, so we shall call her "n." "n" is seven months pregnant with her second child, a baby girl we'll call "r". unfortunately, "r" has spina bifida. and recently, "n" and her family have discovered several other complications, including a chromosonal abnormality that does not bode well for baby "r". the chances of baby "r" even coming home from the hospital are not good. but "n" is amazing. yes, she and her family are praying for a miracle - how can you not? but she has also begun the process of making peace with this overwhelming situation. she is positive, and beautiful, and strong. she admits to crying late at night as though that were a weakness. she and her husband and their son ...

pic of the day: a quick cat nap on gigi's (great grandma's) couch before we got on a plane to fly home on monday.

i have a question for you, dear readers. i have reached the end of my 30-day promise to post a picture a day of the little bug. i did really well right up to the end there - i think i missed days 29 and 30. so, please comment here (or on my facebook if you have difficulties here): should i keep posting daily pics? is it annoying? or is it entertaining? do you think, "oh, what's the little dude doing today?" or do you click "ignore" on my facebook status? (and do be honest!)

no cute boo picture today. john's mom is feeling a little overwhelmed. it's probably because we travelled this weekend and didn't get home until late. or because i'm fighting some sort of cold/allergy thingy that makes my left ear sound like a tunnel and makes me have no voice (like, NO voice). or because i was out of work for two days to travel and i came back and re-wrote my to-do list and feel like i'll never get it all to-done. or because by the time i work out tonight, it'll be 7:15pm before i get home today, and pretty much the same deal for one reason or another every day this week. or because i haven't gotten enough sleep. or because sometimes when we feel yukky is when my husband and i are the least good at taking care of each other. or because i'm a whiny wuss, that too - 'cause really, couldn't just about everyone, mom or not, working or not, probably claim at least an item or two off this list? so who am i to complain, when these ar...

pic of the day: day 29 a silly blue monkey. and next to him, a stuffed animal. real updates coming soon, i promise. kiddo's super cute and we have stories to tell!

pic of the day: day 29 sleeping on the couch - what an angel

pic of the day: day 28 only a rare few climbers have ever successfully summitted mt. mommy, but john's determination pays off. his climb was done without the aid of oxygen. sometimes, i forget. i forget that i can no longer pack 8 hours before i get on an airplane to go on a trip. i forget that one little carry-on bag will no longer hold everything i need for a long weekend. (i forget that i can't hit snooze 4 times and still expect to get everything done in the morning.) i guess when you spend 29 years NOT packing for a baby, you have lots of practice not-packing-for-a-baby. so tonight, i will go home and pack ... lots of stuff. thank you, southwest airlines, for allowing me to have to free checked bags. i will need them! we're heading to gigi and great grandpa's house in florida this weekend, for passover*. it will be tons of family jammed into a little 3-bedroom condo. and it will be fantastic! and john will have lots of people to play with. and lots of ...

  pic of the day: day 27 i wonder if he dreamed he was in jail? after yesterday's awesome* morning, i confess i was a little nervous which baby i would pick up at school yesterday afternoon: happy-playful-crawl-everywhere baby or angry-yelling-hate-everything baby. much to my delight, a day at daycare apparently put john in a much better mood! we didn't get to spend a ton of time together as a family - it's hard when my husband and i both go to the gym after work. john goes from school to the gym playroom, and we're all back at the house around 7:30pm, just in time for john's 8pm bedtime. but what time we did have was great, with a little sleepy snugglebug loving on his mommy and daddy and exploring the house. (it cracks me up that he will crawl the whole way across a room to get to the most breakable item in the room. i guess it makes sense - most breakable items are coincidentally shiny and pretty. and, in our house, breakable items are now in a closet...

pic of the day: day 26 not always sunshine and roses. john had a very bad morning this morning. which means, mommy had a very bad morning this morning. nothing was right. everything made a baby cry. even snuggling with mom didn't fix it. head-butting mom and possibly giving her a black eye - nope that didn't work either. trying to go to sleep didn't fix it. eating tasty avocados for breakfast didn't fix it. crawling around the house certainly didn't fix it. watching dad clean up the dropped jar of pickles with glass and pickle juice everywhere - no go. even *milk* didn't fix it. and you know that's a rough day. maybe he's teething? maybe he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed? maybe he's tired of his stuffy nose and runny eyes? maybe he had a bad dream? who knows. but it's bad news, let me tell you. so here is a mama's prayer for this morning: dear lord, please take care of my wee one and let him be happy again. please don...

pic of the day: day 25 it took 29 attempts to get a picture of john while he was sitting still during our travels yesterday, john was SO good: he was stuck in his seat for a total of 10-11 hours, and he was such a good sport. yeah, he fussed from time to time - but so did i. he did so good just hanging out with us, i was so impressed and so proud of him. (as an aside: i don't think we'll be doing much more traveling like this again. john was great, but it is just exhausting. aside from the normal traveling wear and tear there's the constant efforts to entertain a busy kiddo, and both daddy and i were bushed.) when we got to nacogdoches, we were greeted by john and ann at st francis animal rescue. they are amazing, passionate people who love every single doggie they encounter. they have a beautiful home and a beautiful rescue facility on 15 wooded acres tucked right in town in nacogdoches. they didn't think it was at all strange that we were willing to drive 10 h...

pic of the day: day 25 buddy ok. i cheated a little ... that's clearly not john. it is, however, buddy, who will soon be our newest family member if all goes according to plan! we left the house at 8am today to drive to nacogdoches, tx, to visit with buddy at a rescue shelter there. he's a 92 lb lab/newfoundland mix, and he's an awesome dog. we're really looking forward to him moving to baton rouge soon to be john's new big brother! i could write a whole story about our journey, but the truth is it's 10:12pm on a school night, john's fussing in his crib, and daddy and i are ready to crash for the night. for now, i'll leave you with this, which is probably more accurately pic 24 of the john-pic-of-the-day series: john at the little mexican restaurant where we grabbed lunch before heading back to baton rouge.

pic of the day: day 24 nap fail i think the only way today's pic of the day could be funnier would be if it could have been shot with an infrared camera while i was not in john's room with him. he took a GREAT nap for daddy earlier in the day while mom was at work (more on that in a sec) but when i tried to put him down for his second nap, he faked me out. he fell asleep in my arms, plopped right into bed with bear and was quiet for about 20 minutes. then i heard noises and peeked in the room to see him ... and this is what i found. a little crawling creature talking to himself as he explored the crib, pulled every blanket down, and played happily. oh well, naps are over-rated anyway, right? no. but that's ok. the reason i had to work today on a saturday was two-fold - we hosted a set of three financial education seminars for kids between the ages of 5 and 15 this morning. it was a bit like herding cats - what youth-related event isn't - but i think some great infor...

pic of the day: day 24 baby godzilla wreaks havoc on the changing table   it is truly phenomenal how much a 16+ lb baby boy can get into in a brief period of time ... especially considering his little scooty-booty version of crawling doesn't allow him to move very fast. but in the two hours he was awake before we left the house this morning, he found and tried to eat or drum with the following: daddy's running shoes (drumming) daddy's shoe insoles (eating then drumming) the diaper wipes, diapers, pacifier, and nose bulb on his changing table (alternately eating and drumming) (see above) a gossip magazine (tearing to shreds) another gossip magazine (tearing to shreds and eating) (fyi: for some mysterious reason i have a subscription to "ok" magazine that i'm pretty sure i never paid for. i've had it for almost a year now. i wouldn't pay for it ... but if it comes to my mailbox free i can guiltily indulge. so if you sent it to me, thanks. and if ...

pic of the day: day 23 mommy don't go my boss has a saying that she shares frequently when we discuss the challenges of being a mom who works out of the home. she says, "wherever you are, be there 100%." surprisingly, that's not the part of being a working mom that i struggle with. when i am at work, i am focused on my work, in part because i love what i do and i love where i work. and of course when i am at home, i love being home with my family. i am blessed to have a challenging job that i don't have to take home with me, mentally or physically. no, the difficult time for me are the transitions. that, friends, is when the ambivalent feelings rear their heads. as i get ready to get out the door on the way to work, i want to go to work, but i don't want to let go of my little bug. towards the end of my work day, i can't wait to get home to john and his daddy, but i don't want to stop working on whatever project i am engrossed in. that is my ...

pic of the day: day 22 my baby is a mobile toy-seeking device. i knew it was coming. i've been watching john learn to crawl for weeks now. but i think i can officially say: the era of the stationary baby is OVER. kaput. no longer. it is an ex-era. (kudos to you if you got my lame monty python reference.) he has a funny little crawl, where he tucks one leg under him and sorta drags it along with him. but he moves surprisingly fast, and is quite agile. he has figured out how to pull over his toy basket and take out whatever he likes. (and worth noting: last night he put a toy BACK in the basket when he was done. is it possible he might be a better housekeeper than mama? only time will tell.) we had a wake up at 3:30 this morning. and i found him sitting upright in bed again, this time in the middle of the bed. apparently he can sit up without the assistance of the crib rails now! so. on mom's to-do list: 1) replace any missing outlet covers 2) hide any visible el...

pic of the day: day 21 mommy's two favorite boys and one attempted sock escape i should know better than to even say this aloud. maybe i'll whisper? (how do you whisper in a blog?) i'm scared to jinx myself but ... i think we're getting better at leaving the house on time. i've made light of the fact that i'm never on time these days. i joke about it because, frankly ... i hate it! i don't like being late. i hate keeping people waiting. to our credit, we're not usually WAY late - a minute or 5 here and there, but it's still not how i aspire to be. but today makes three days in a row that we've actually left the house when we intended. we were EARLY for church on sunday - woohoo! and i've made it to work when i'm supposed to the past two days, and the mornings have been pretty low-key and not too stressful. maybe we're finally figuring out the routine? or maybe tomorrow will be meltdown wednesday and i'll eat my word...

pic of the day: day 20 john plays kleenex head all by himself. when john's grammy (my mom) was in town in january, they made up a lot of games together. great, simple baby games. in one game, you bang on a table, then look at john and say "baby," which makes him utterly crack up. but far and away his favorite is kleenex head. much as the name might imply, you play kleenex head by tickling his forhead, face, and scalp with a kleenex. he giggles and grins. you can do this over and over again for ages. i think he likes the way the wispy kleenex feels - he seems to be a very tactile baby who loves different textures, etc. well, little kleenex head is growing up. this morning, he crawled across the bed, grabbed his own kleenex out of the box, and played kleenex head all by himself. and then, he went to school ... where he's not in the littlest baby class anymore. as of today, he's in the next class up, with big ol' babies who walk and talk and love little ...

pic of the day: day 19 little man banging his "drum," all dressed up for church.  this morning our little family got up early and made it to church for the first time in a while. it's funny - there are so many old jokes about people who don't go to church until they have kids, but there's some truth to it. i've never felt compelled to attend church - i feel comfortable in my spirituality and my relationship with god whether i am in a certain building or not - but i find myself wanting to get more involved now, so that baby john can have that community of faith around him. after church we took a (failed) nap, then picked up a good friend of ours to go to the lsu baseball game. baby john's first game at alex box! baby tiger cheering for the big boys on the diamond it turns out, it was FAR too hot and sunny in our seats for the little man. he did great for two innings, but then we gave up and went to walk ons to watch the rest of the game.  ho...

pic of the day: pic 18 popeye the baby boy checks out mom and dad's big ol' bathtub. last night we went to live after five - you probably saw the picture of kookoo in his baby brees ear protection. it's funny, i could have been carrying him upside down by one ankle, but with his ear protectors on, and people would have still stopped me in the crowd to say "attaboy mom!" i have some other great pictures of the boy playing with a budweiser/bud light cup (empty - what do you take me for!) that i'll put up one of these days. today was a really full day, too, but a really good one. the family slept in a bit (go sleepy baby go!) and the john came to the gym with me. it's been embarrassingly long since i've been to the gym, so the ladies in the daycare were like, "oh, look how BIG he's gotten!" i am sure they don't mean to guilt trip me, but man, it works. when we got home, john took a 45 minute nap then we went for a walk down to...

    pic of the day: day 17 john kicks it at the v.i.p. tent at live after five. and a good time was had by all!