Saturday night came and I escaped to the bathtub. Chris and I have been in need of a break lately. We have done what we can to give each other alone time, but when you come back from your hour of me time to have a child thrust at you by your wild eyed, frazzled spouse, you need more than just an hour off. I was sitting in the tub thinking about how I needed a break and then thinking Chris needs a break too, when it suddenly hit me that we hadn’t been on a date for about five months! Oh we tried. But every time we would have something lined up I would go into labor, or get put on bedrest, or a kid would get sick, or something would happen that made it impossible to be alone together. As I was shaving my legs, I suddenly realized that the stars were finally aligned.
I jumped out of the tub, asked Chris out, called a friend who took my kids and we were on a date. We spent the first half an hour driving around trying to remember what we do on dates. We figured the old dinner and a movie routine would work, so we went to the theater, bought our tickets, and ran across the street to the nearest diner.
The waitress gave us our menus and I proved to everyone in the diner that you don’t need to bring your two year old along to spill a glass of water all over. You just can’t take me anywhere.
The rest of the evening was wonderful. We held hands. We snuggled during the movie. I’m glad I married Chris. We need to make this date thing happen more often.
Posted by Lou on February 28, 2005 @ 10:17 pm | 0 Comments
1. to stop buying RANDOM PIECES OF PAPER on the hopes that they will someday match up with some project I am planning for. If I am to buy paper I will buy at least 2 coordinating sheets and a piece of matching cardstock.
2. I promise to always purchase a FULL YARD of cut ribbon and not a half a yard because I am willing to accept the fact that it isn’t going to be enough, and I am going to end up kicking myself in the end. Being a cheapskate is not helping here.
3. I promise to actually SUBMIT my LOs for publication and not just say I will and then blow it off. I need the cash or supplies if I am to continue on in the extremely expensive hobby.
4. I promise to not leave BUYING ADHESIVES until the very last second. They are important and just because I would rather buy toys, I need the Hermi. Just as I should keep my pantry stocked- I should have a spare roll of Hermi and also bulky embellishment glue on me at all times.
5. I promise to go through my scrap crap and USE OR LOSE stuff until it is more managable and my scrap closet doesn’t look like the first cantos of hell. I know organization will help me to be a more efficient scrapper, so I will add to this that
6. I promise to PUT STUFF WHERE IT GOES (have you seen my gingham ribbon, Lydia?? It’s brand new and I have misplaced it already. I did keep track of the heart brads you gave me because I put them in the kitchen mixer where I couldn’t miss them.)
7. I promise to CLEAN UP after myself better so DS stops dumping out my embossing powders and stealing my scissors, thus forcing me to purchase expensive replacements.
8. I promise to do my Design Team assignments at least two days in advance of the due date so they do not BITE ME IN THE BUTT and leave me creatively traumatized.
9. I promise to not buy any more pre made embellishments because no matter how CUTE they are, I don’t use them and I know it, so why am I wasting my time and money doing so?
10. I promise to eat more than M&Ms and Diet Coke while I scrap. I may be fueld up for a little bit, but when I come off the sugar/caffiene high I am worthless. I must stop this self destructive behavior and eat at least one healthy food during long scrapping binges.
Did I forget anything?
Posted by Lou on February 27, 2005 @ 10:16 pm | 0 Comments
We visited the San Francisco Zoo this week. It is open again (it’s about time) and the remodeling has done absolutely wonderful things for the facility. The animals look happier, their habitats are bigger and more natural, it’s easier to see the animals, and I got in free because I went the day after Chinese New Year, and it just so happens that this is the year of the Rooster, and I was born in the year of the Rooster.
I love to visit the zoo. It is wide open with fresh air, nifty keen plants with little tags telling me what they are, and poop flinging chimps. When Chris was in the first six months of his Air Force training, Jonas and I went to the zoo frequently. At the time, Jonas was a young one year old and pretty oblivious to most of the animals. I suppose when your view of an elephant is only of the beasts knees, it isn’t very interesting. We spent most of our time just running around or getting butted by goats in the petting zoo. I remember once a goat butted him so hard he knocked him flat on his back in the saw dust. Being the good mother I am, I laughed at him. Now he is a big two and a half year old. It was so awesome to take him to the zoo after not going for a year and seeing him see the animals and see his responses. He pointed at the giraffes (my favs), laughed at the flamingos, and stared pensively at the gorilla for about five minutes, which, in Jonas time, is like an hour. He had his face up against the glass and the gorilla sat there, about two feet away and looked right back at him. I wish I could read minds so I could know what they thought of each other. I’ve rarely seen Jonas study anything with such intensity. The moment felt very profound, although I’m still not sure why, or what the exact word describing what I felt was. In simple terms, it was just very cool.
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Posted by Lou on February 25, 2005 @ 10:15 pm | 0 Comments
This is yet another post about one of my favorite topics. My breasts!
Last night, as I was running the water for my bath, I stood in front of the mirror in the raw. My belly is still somewhat round, all my curves are quite curvy, and milk had begun to spray from my breasts as if I had swallowed two garden hoses. I was not unlike a very Rubenesque fountain. The milk arced gracefully beyond my toes and I was reminded of the statue of the little boy “peeing” into the pond. I am truly a work of art.
The fact that breasts, upon delivery of a child, start serving up the one particular food the child likes to eat is truly remarkable. For the most part, my experiences breast feeding have been positive. I enjoy the close contact and the ability I have to soothe my child anywhere at any time by simply popping a boob into her mouth. I’ll be honest though, I am way too lazy to fix a bottle. I can’t imagine getting up three times a night to prepare a bottle while the baby yells, then have to sit down and feed it to her. It is so much easier to have her in bed with me, give her a breast when she wants it, and go back to sleep! Maggie and I have a great system going for our nighttime feeds. She gets fed, I get sleep. How is this a bad thing?
I know there are quite a few people out there who are vehemently against co sleeping, but it is working very nicely for my family. I figure that as long as she is nursing during the night, my daughter should share my bed. Of course, we do things safely, no blankies by the face (I keep her at eye level with me unless she is eating) and she has her own space. I tried the whole get up and nurse in the rocking chair thing with Jonas and it turned me into a zombie. He ate every hour and a half for at least a half an hour. When I just gave up and co-slept at about 3 months old, I turned into a person again.
Chris tried to be thoughtful again last night. I think he has it out for me. I had taken Jonas out for the evening and Maggie had a bottle. When I got home I pumped about half way empty because I knew she would be eating in about an hour. Then I went to bed with instructions to Chris to change her diaper and bring her to me when she cried. Well, Mr. Thoughtful decided to just give her another bottle so I could sleep. Being male, he doesn’t understand that a nursing mother’s breasts are going to keep producing milk even if the baby skips a meal or two. (Perhaps if his testicles swelled up and he wet his pants whenever she got hungry he’d understand or at least keep better track of when he fed her last.) Anyway, at two am I woke up completely soaked and engorged. I woke Maggie up to eat, and she took care of about half the problem. I threw a receiving blanket over the huge wet spot in my bed and then tried to go back to sleep while reminiscing about the great fun I had when I had mastitis a month ago and how being engorged ups your chances of getting it again. Thankfully it is morning now and things have evened out, so I don’t think anything bad will happen. But it made for great middle of the night anxiety. I love having things to think about while Chris is snoring away.
Posted by Lou on @ 10:12 pm | 3 Comments
Do you ever feel like you are living in an alternate reality? I recently stumbled upon a few blogs belonging to old friends and reading them was like being violently propelled into a surreal world where everything was familiar and yet completely foreign. I grew up with these people, they were dear to my heart and my affection for them knew no bounds. Now I am attached with the interest of seventy-two year old biddies comparing photos of grandchildren. It makes for pleasant small talk, a few exclamations of “oh my,” and then I go on my way, musing for a moment on what has become of my old friends, and caring in the sense that I am glad they are happy or successful (and would be pained to hear they were not so), but not caring in the sense of wanting to be near them and participating in their lives.
I am also amazed at how different we are. In five years I have lived in four different states, been married, had two kids, earned my associates degree. My world is completely altered. Only a sliver of the person I used to be is still around. I look the same, but feel unrecognizable. Their blogs talk of parties and work and this guy (or girl), and mine talks about toddler tantrums and baby poop. They are blissfully single and I am totally wrapped up in motherhood and family life. We are on opposite sides of the Berlin wall. I wonder if they look at me with the same curious wonder that I am thinking of them with?
Whatever choices they have made in their lives, I hope they are happy. I would like to know that life is treating them well. I hope they are as comfortable in their skin as I am in mine.
Posted by Lou on February 22, 2005 @ 10:10 pm | 0 Comments
Maggie is now sleeping just about through the night. It is her two month birthday and she sleeps a solid six to seven hours every night. I should be rested shouldn’t I? Unfortunately my two year old is still working on this concept.
Last night was a total disaster. We got to bed late, then Jonas woke up screaming five times. Each time he was inconsolable for at least twenty minutes. The third time he did it I even parked him in front of the tv to see if that would help. I feel badly for him when he has bad dreams, but I can only take so much. Forty-five minutes later he was screaming again. That time he joined me in my bed, woke up screaming a half hour later, then fell asleep and proceeded to snore and kick me for the rest (all two hours) of the night. That was at about five thirty. Every morning at five-thirty, Maggie gets up to eat, then lays in bed kicking and farting for the next two hours while I doze. She is such a delicate little flower.
So, here I am, Friday morning, a day full of plans, and I feel hungover. My head is fuzzy and pounding and I am definitely grouchy. If I am going to feel this crappy I think deserve the satisfaction of having had an all night bender, not just routine, nocturnal childcare. My house is a disaster area. Jonas is making messes faster than I can clean and Maggie is demanding to be held at all times, making it impossible to do any housekeeping. The only way I can type on my computer is if she is on her boppy on my lap with a breast in her mouth. I’m getting pretty good at this weird typing posture.
We have two play dates today, which is good. I can leave my messy house and Jonas will most likely be entertained. I haven’t figured out if I will sleep or clean during naptime. I guess it will depend on if Miss Maggie decides to nap at the same time. If she doesn’t, it is quite possible that nothing will get accomplished. Just like yesterday.
I spend all day trying to keep people happy and get the house clean. Then I wake up and do it again. If these are to be the current daily events, I deserve at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Posted by Lou on February 18, 2005 @ 10:09 pm | 0 Comments
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