john's mom works

the cause of - and solution to - most of my life's frustrations. i did not ring in the new year as i had hoped. in fact, i did not ring in the new year at all. the new year arrived somewhere in between rounds of charlie in his bedroom door screaming "me want to go downstairs!" and me, patiently as i could muster, placing him gently back in his bed and telling him i loved him, goodnight. i finally collapsed in my bed around 2:30 a.m. after he finally, FINALLY, fell into a mommy-milk induced sleep and let me place him in his bed to stay. my last thought was a whispered prayer that please may these children sleep. at 7:11 a.m., the tiniest feet in the house padded next to my bedside and asked to sleep with me, which translated to throwing elle belle at daddy and eating my chapstick. so much for sleep. and i was mad. i didn't yell at charlie, but i did grump at both he and john to go upstairs and play. and when my husband got up to tend to them a wh...

or, how to ring out the old year when you're an ornery two year old 3:42 a.m. wailing from upstairs wakes me from a dead sleep. it's the big bad kind of crying, where you just know someone needs you. i head up the stairs in a groggy daze, softly calling "hey, charlie, mama's coming," as he howls for his mommy. his voice sounds oddly close considering the closed door to his room. when i walk into his room, though, he's not there. the door to the bathroom between john and charlie's rooms is open, as is the door to john's room beyond. i walk through, and there i find charlie on his knees in desperation in his brother's room. best i can tell, charlie woke up, and decided to get brother. but when he went to brother's room the bed was empty - because john was sleeping in the teepee across the room. devastated that he couldn't find brother, charlie just howled. john slept as i collected charlie, closed the appropriate doors, and...

his mama's child - i used to sleep with a mess of stuffed animals, too. our family is not a group that will every be described as morning people. i've discussed this a little bit before , but it seems to be a recurring theme in our lives. oh sure, when we absolutely must, we're perfectly capable of getting up and running at the crack of dawn -- or before -- to catch a plane, get to a doctor, whatever. but mornings are not typically a bright and chipper time of day for us. my husband and i are "snoozers" -- fans of hitting the snooze button. this is an invention i sort of wish had never graced us. i'm constantly running nine minutes behind (or 18 minutes) and i am always thinking, "if you just hadn't hit snooze that one last time, you'd have been fine ..." (or "if you'd just set your alarm nine minutes earlier you'd be fine ...") as a result, mornings are also sort of constantly rushed and frantic and "oh d...

when we got to school this morning, john wanted to go on a slide - very specifically, THAT slide. as a part of our night-night routine, i often tell john a story, and frequently sing songs as well. so it comes as no surprise that he's recently started to tell stories to me, too, and to sing songs. i thought i'd share the lyrics to john's version of 'twinkle twinkle little star,' per last night's performance. "twinkle twinkle twinkle star how i how what you mommy h i j k ellmenohpeee up above sky so high twinkle twinkle twinkle star!" but the piece de resistance last night was john's story that he told me. typically i tell him very short stories about toys that like to play with john and his best friend buddy. they encounter some kind of trouble, john and/or buddy and/or daddy saves the day, and they go back to playing alllllll dayy looong. so john informed me that *he* was going to tell *me* a story. and it went like this: "o...

the lighting in ihop leaves a little to be desired ... but my company at breakfast was perfect. i told myself i would take it easy this weekend. after all, i had surgery - albeit very minor - on friday morning, so i would need all the rest and laying around i could get, right?  but saturday morning, i woke up feeling REALLY good. pretty much normal, actually. and when i saw a commercial on tv for ihop and their pumpkin pancakes, i couldn't resist ... so we headed off for delicious pancake breakfast. and, despite having to wait about 20 minutes, we actually had a great family breakfast. john got his very own plate of silver-dollar pancakes, eggs, and bacon, so goodness knows he was happy. and after breakfast, it was off for a haircut for my shaggy-haired little monster. he didn't like it much - did a lot of wiggling - but at least he didn't cry the whole time like he did last time. and that was a MIGHTY full morning for a wee peanut, so he crashed hard on the ...

a pretty face to go with a yukky story. it's 11 after minute and i'm awake. not for any bad reason you might suspect: i'm actually still feeling great. still haven't needed and pain meds. i think i just slept so much all day (and then had too much oh-so-delicious iced tea ... with caffeine) that i'm just now starting to fade to black for the night. and if you have a weak stomach (nothing gory about my surgery - just a lovely child vomit story) you can stop reading right now, know we're all ok, and have a fabulous night. anyone still here? ok. so john is on a lot of medicine right now for his hand. well, not a LOT, but he does have to take two daily doses of antibiotics plus several doses a day of benadryl. and he's actually a great medicine taker, typically, even of the yukky ones. he just sips them down out of the little syringe, sometimes with a grimace, but no major problems. but. tonight, we made a strategic error. he took a cool bat...

i have two sippy cups ...one for each of you. this morning my husband was feeling under the weather. it's the same crud, i suppose, that i've been battling for over a week now. but since he wasn't feeling well, he decided to stay home and rest today rather than trying to get up and go to work. i tiptoed around a little bit and tried to stay out of his way so he could sleep. that whole process used to be much easier. now we have a semi-autonomous morning monkey who randomly decides that instead of eating cheese, he would like to jump on daddy's bed. (this is particularly poignant as another new favorite song is "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!") add in a dog who only wants to be glued to my right hip, and it's a little hectic on the best of days, let alone when we're a man down and i'm trying to be quiet. then, that's absolute chaos unfurling. so, my apologies, sick daddy. i did try to protect you. i hope you rested well today...

playing with daddy before school this is such an age of change for john - for all two-year-olds, i suppose, but he's the one i know the best! next week he will be moved up to the two-year-old class at his daycare. that means no sippy cups at school - big kid cups instead! - and starting toward potty training with his peers. it means a new teacher, though john's been visiting with that class for a while and loves all the teachers at the daycare. it means more organized learning, which is awesome ... and crazy, since i still so clearly remember bringing my barely-six-pound infant to the baby room almost exactly two years ago when i started back to work after john was born. but there is an even larger shift afoot, which i knew was coming ...  since john was born, i've been assuring my husband, "a day is coming when mommy will be chopped liver and all john will want to do is follow daddy around. don't feel bad that he is so mommy-centered now ... the daddy s...

and for once, i'm not sniffling over my child, aren't you proud of me? it's actually my allergies, which i've suddenly developed after 31 years on this planet, and MAN are they terrible! it's a good thing we don't have to type like we talk, because you would barely be able to hear my scratchy nasally voice. but you didn't come here to hear about my problems. you came here to see this naked booty: friday, since my husband didn't have to work and john's daycare was closed, the two of them got to spend a day together. in the afternoon, a great friend of ours kept the little monkey for a couple hours so dad could go to the gym. when i got their, john was helping her repot a plant and was coated head to toe in potting soil. she tried to apologize, and of course i assured her that that was exactly how a little boy SHOULD be! (she rightly added, a little girl too, but since mine's all boy we'll stick with that for now!) after a dip in the kiddie...

"dang, son. mama ran hard this afternoon. thanks for coming with me." "didn't look so hard to me, mama. i think you could have gone faster and we'd have made it home to my juice sooner." yesterday i managed to get a good run in after work, before the storms showed up. but i guess it's thunderstorm season. and this season, they seem to be coming all at night.  used to be i loved a good night-time thunderstorm. sure, it might wake me up, but i'd listen to the thunder and see the lightning play through the curtains, and i'd hear the rain on the roof, and i'd sleep peacefully. occasionally another big boom would startle me, but only for a moment. nowadays all that has changed. not because of john - he slept like the proverbial baby through the whole thing. no, this is the culprit: why yes, this IS a new thundershirt. thanks for noticing. poor wussy buddy. he did much better last night than in previous stormy nights, in part becaus...

yesterday felt more like monday than monday did. john woke up unhappy. he didn't want anything i offered him, didn't want juice, didn't want cars, didn't want to walk, didn't want to be carried, didn't want a new diaper, didn't want the wet diaper he was in. certainly it's not his fault - i think we all have those days. but as a mama - and especially as a mama with a limited time before we have to rush off to school and work - it is so difficult. all i wanted in the world was to make him happy ... but nothing did. no amount of me saying, "use your words, baby, and we'll get what you need" seemed to work - it was all no, no, no, and uh-uh. he finally calmed a little (after one tantrum that left him laying on the kitchen floor yelling "no" at the top of his lungs while my husband and i went back to our room to get ready for work). so i picked him up off the floor, snuggled him close and told him i loved him. and we walked back t...

luckily for buddy, this is NOT his strangled body after he woke us up at 3:30am due to storm anxiety. when you have an infant, you sort of expect sleep to be in short supply. we got pretty lucky with john, who slept early and well, and with the exceptions of some spotty issues here and there we've slept pretty well in our house since he was born. in fact, more sleep disruption probably happens in our house because of one culprit: buddy the dog. he's a great dog, don't get me wrong. and he's come a LOOOOOOONG way since he came to live with us around a year ago. but he is still utterly neurotic and nuts. he is afraid of his own shadow. he's afraid of loud noises. he's afraid of my husband about 25% of the time, strange men about 99% of the time (that 1% is my cousin ben, who buddy oddly loves).  he doesn't pee when he's scared anymore. which is good - i spend MUCH less time mopping up dog pee. but he does freak out at thunderstorms. and if you liv...

there is no caption that can live up to the cuteness of this picture. but maybe i'm biased. i don't usually have to work on saturdays, but today is an exception - we have not one but two events going on at the mall today, so i have to be here to play gracious hostess and make sure all runs as planned. (they are low-key and relatively easy events, which is why i popped into the office to check email and post this blog.) since i had to work, i knew today wasn't a sleeping-in day. so i wasn't dismayed to hear a little voice talking to himself at around 645 - it was time to get up anyway. i went and got the little voice, and as soon as i walked into the room he said, "mommy! juice?" so we took the juice and layed back in bed with daddy, and john happily drank juice while mommy and daddy snoozed. and that juice must have REALLY hit the spot, because as soon as the last drop left the sippy cup, john sat bolt up right and raring to go! he climbed the bed. he ...

i remember many times in my life when i wouldn't even be awake yet on a saturday morning. my how things change. 630 this morning, we heard john talking to himself in his bed. the talking bloomed into crying, so daddy went to check on him to let mommy sleep a little more. (best. husband. ever.) but no such luck - mommy was awake. so she blearily stumbled into john room where she finds this: the aftermath of hurricane john john was thrilled to be busily playing with daddy:   rarely do hurricanes return to the scene of the crime ... but john is an exception mommy was less thrilled to be awake: yaaaaay. but ultimately here it is 1030 am and the dishes are done, we're on laundry load number three, daddy's already been to the gym, we have all eaten breakfast, we found john's costume for the mardi gras parade this afternoon, we're working on the meal plan/grocery list for next week and john's down for a nap. all before we ever would have woken up not ...

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.

  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 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 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 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 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...