Hiatus

Oh, right. Yes, I have a blog. I am here-ish, but just busy.

Recap?

I applied to graduate school. And now I am waiting to hear back. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Baby O has officially cut his first tooth. At 4 1/2 month old! Crazy right? The second one is going to happen any day now too. Man, he is so big! Cutting teeth hurts him and so it really hurts my sleeping habits (not that I was getting much before) so bring on the coffee!

G went to the jungle and saw some amazing things! Like a mountain lion in front of their car. I sort of wish he were joking, but he is not. He saw all the birds he wanted to see and then some. I think he has his fix for a while.

Baby O and I went away for a few days. It was so nice to get away and spend time with good friends and just relax without feeling like I had to do house work or run errands. Just relax. Ah...

We are having Turkey Day at my dad's house with BOTH of my families (they always have gotten along), and I delegated a job to everyone. It is always a pot luck Thanksgiving because there are, like, 30 of us... I still had to arrange it though. I hope the cleaning crew came!!

I am off to do LMC's Christmas shopping before the crazy weekend!

What makes a secret a secret?

I took a class in college called Marriage and Family Relationships. It basically summed up a whole ton of statistics over a semester. The stat that stood out in my mind the most significantly is the number of children that are molested. One in four. And nearly always by someone they know and trust. I knew people that had been molested and how it had affected their lives, always greatly.

LMC was small at that time, about 3 years old, and the feeling that I got in the pit of my stomach when hearing that number and the coinciding lectures was strong. I wanted to wrap my little girl up in a cocoon of safety so no one could ever hurt her like that. It was then that I started drilling into her brain that her body was hers alone, and that she should never, under any circumstances, keep a secret from me. She is pretty good about this. She even admits when she gets into trouble at school without me asking, and tells me WAY more info about her dad than I want to know (or that he would want me to know for that matter).

Basically she learned that secrets are not OK.

This leads to a very gray area, and I am so confused about how to teach her about what is a secret and what is private. Now, LMC is a little bit of an over sharer. I always cringe when she starts off with "My mom said..." because she often changes my words a little which can be totally embarrassing, or tells people things that they DO NOT need to know.


Example...

LMC (on the phone with her dad): Oh I am good, but my mom is annoyed because she got her period and breastfeeding women shouldn't get their periods.

Me: (silently) Thanks a lot kid! Overshare!!

Here is the hard part for a kid to understand...

Me: While it is not a secret that I got an unwelcome visit from Aunt Flo, I don't want your dad/dad's girlfriend of the week/teacher/guitar class/swim coach to hear about it. Because it is private.

LMC: So you mean like a secret?

Me: Uh... no, just, uh, like, uh, they just don't really need to know...

LMC: Well, if I can't tell anyone, that makes it a secret. And secrets are bad.

Me: Yes, secrets kept from me and dad are bad. You are right. I am not explaining this well...

So how do I explain the difference to her? She will find out things eventually that are private, like that people in her family have been to jail... Not a secret necessarily, but certainly private...

Like a caged bird, except I can't sing...

Yes, I am talking about myself in the title. I feel like I am in a little cage of sorts. Get ready for the bitch-fest...

I have had a few events recently that have added up to a perfect little storm of feeling sorry for myself. It started with the return of my monthly visit from Aunt Flo, and she brought her friends Hormone and PMS with her... They are really annoying to have around. Especially to husbands. THEN, Baby O got a cold. He already is a crappy sleeper, so that only compounded the problem. Up. Every. Hour. Hello sleep deprivation. Oh yeah, I also have been applying to graduate school, which in itself is not so bad, except I was already accepted to grad school. TWICE. In San Diego. Where it is not still 90 degrees out. Did I mention yet that it was 94 degrees the other day?

Aaaannnddd...

Last night Baby O and I tried to go to The Pioneer Woman's cook book signing, and had a major FAIL. There were a ton of people there, and she was going to talk for an hour before signing books. Cue crying baby and dirty looks, and we called it a night before it even started. I drowned my sorrows in some dark chocolate and a glass of red wine and whined to my sweet ladies that would listen...

TTTThhhhhheeennnnnnnn...

A while ago, G planned a trip to go birding (yes, birding is a word. it is the act of bird watching) with a few friends for 10 days, and most of it is on a week when LMC is with her dad. Now, I am fairly new to the whole staying home thing, and I am not super keen on it. As much as I like being able to go to the gym every day and have lunch with my husband (He works from home), I am bored. Not physically bored... Mentally bored. I need more stimulation. So the concept of being home alone with an infant for an entire week, without even my husband to harass, is seriously daunting. There is no one to talk to except Baby O, and he doesn't have much input. All of my friends here work, so I am on my own on this one...

I'm sure there is an upside to this... I just have to be creative to see it. I can watch whatever I want on TV, and have cereal for dinner... Until then, I am off to make
the Best Pot Pie Ever.

I don't care if they were here first...

While everyone seemed to like my rugs the pervasive concern in the comment section lay with the scorpion catchers. You can revisit my scorpion haunts here and here. Just to be clear, we have found (and by we, I pretty much mean ME!) scorpions in my closet, on my bathroom wall, in the bathroom sink, on my bathroom floor, on my bedroom floor (x3), under my bed, on the wall over my bed, in the hall leading to my room (x2), on the living room floor (x2), on the living room wall, on the living room ceiling (x3), in the hall between living and family room, in the hall leading to the kids' rooms (x3) in the guest bathroom (already dead), on the kids' bathroom windowsill, on the kids' bathroom ceiling, behind Baby O's dresser (dead), in the kitchen sink (x2), on the kitchen ceiling, on the kitchen wall, and most recently... under the F*ing kitchen table. And that is just inside. I can picture every single one of the little bastards too. Ew!

Not once have we found a scorpion IN one of the scorpion traps. Crickets? yep. Little Spiders? Yep. Even a lizard (which was really sad because I made G take it outside and un-stick it and set it free. Poor little guy).

I can now add scorpion killer to one of my many talents. See, you can't just squish them because they don't die on the carpet, and they make a mess on the walls (experience people! Trust!!). You take a giant pair of tweezers (I am totally not joking kids) and sneak up on the little beast. Grab the stinger with the giant tweezers, carry the jerk outside, and THEN smash him. You must take great pleasure in the smash because he came in your house. And he could totally kill your baby in his sleep and for that you hate him and must smash him into pastelike smithereens. See? Giant tweezers:


Pretend scorpion:


G and I have a regular argument about them. He argues that, duh, we live in the freaking desert, and they like pools and palm trees and, well, look at our back yard.


Uh, pool, palm trees, and oh yeah, a mountainous desert.

And then I say yeah but her:


And him!


And he's all yeah, pesticides!, plus you can't really kill them by spraying, you can only kill their food. And I sort of agree and shut up.

And that is how we live with scorpions. And why we always wear flip flops in the house. Again... not kidding.

The end.

Cancel your weekend plans.***

Because, remember him?



Yeah, well he learned to do this today:

Baby O blows bubbles from MissM on Vimeo.

Now watch this over and over.

***Viewing video may cause the sudden urge to procreate/lactate. Sorry.

Month 4

Yes, yes, I know it seems like the only thing I have to post about is my baby... But do you really want to hear about grad school applications and my quest to lose the last 5 pounds? Didn't think so.

We had Baby O's well visit with the doctor this last week. He is 16 lbs of pure deliciousness! It was really pitiful when he got his first cold last week. He couldn't breathe through his nose and he made the tiniest little coughing sound... He still refuses to sleep for a reasonable amount of time, and since he is mostly over his cold I have started to try to "sleep train" him. And by started, I mean last night. So far it is not working, as measured by the bags still under my eyes. There is always hope that one day I will sleep for more than 2 hours in a row, right... RIGHT???

He is absolutely adorable otherwise. He started to reach for things deliberately then try to put them into his mouth and gnaw on them. He drools a TON! He LOVES to play with his daddy, and they play a very cute game where G helps him stand and O laughs. He smiles a huge cheesy grin whenever G or LMC walk into the room and acknowledge him.

He rubs his eyes when he's tired (adorable!) and rolls from his belly to his back (but only when I'm not looking of course). He arches his back in his swing or his crib when he wants to be picked up. And following in his sister's footsteps... he "talks" ALL the time. Here's to hoping he grows out of that. (Only kidding a little. I'm not sure I can handle two full time talkers.)

My dad wrote and recorded the song that is the audio...

Baby O Month 4 from MissM on Vimeo.

It shouldn't be this hard...*updated*

First. Entirely unrelated to the rest of this post, it was 104 degrees out today. For those of you freezing, this may sound great, but frankly, I have been sweating since March (blame my pregnancy only a little) and I am OVER IT!! I can move on now...

So I have been training for the same half marathon for over a year.

First there was pregnancy, then 2 weeks into running again, I hurt my knee. That annoyed me, but it got better. I don't want any setbacks or "excuses" to not reach my goal! Every time I hit a setback I take a week or so off running, and concentrate on the elliptical machine, plus strength training.

So my "running buddy" (who was also my labor coach/cousin) mentioned last week that there is a 5k and 10K this weekend. Score one for an opportunity to practice my running in a group setting! So I set my mind on the 10K. Cue calf pain. 10K should be pretty doable for me, but the pain on the treadmill bringing tears to my eyes told me there would be no 10K this weekend.

I went anyway and did the 5K, and it hurt a little to watch the runners pass as I pushed the jogging stroller and walked with my LMC and stepdad. I cheered my cousin on at the finish line, but I secretly wanted to be next to her who am I kidding, wayyyyy behind her, I am slow!

I am determined to run this half marathon in January. I enjoy running, and it is a check off for my life list. I can't wimp out. I just can't.

*We didn't watch the award ceremony because the times were, well, walking times. We should have stayed though. LMC took 3rd in her age group for the 5K! She is SO cool!

**The high temperature was actually 105.6 degrees out today. Because I know you care and all.