Weekend

So, another weekend flewn by way too fast. Do I really have to go to work tomorrow??

Friday night our upstairs neighbor took Seth to see Disney on Ice. He had a great time and it was really nice of her. Saturday I did a gajillion loads of laundry, so hopefully I won't have to do any all week. Sunday was church and a visit from a friend in the afternoon. Overall lately there's really not been much going on except being busy with the mundane stuff so I really haven't had much to blog. I still can't find my stupid usb chord, so I can't show you any pictures.

I missed Grey's Anatomy Thursday night putting the kids to bed, but I was happy to find out that ABC.com has full episodes you can watch on-line, so now I won't have to worry about missing it, and other shows like Ugly Betty....another favorite of mine!

John's asthma isn't getting any better, but it's not getting any worse either. We've got an appointment Wednesday so we'll see what the next step is. This week we're looking forward to having our friends Ashley and Nick visit with Seth's BFF Hayden. And we're having Seth's 4th b-day party (belated) on Saturday.

OH AND......I'd like to wish my friend Jenn M. a happy Belated Birthday as well......welcome to the 30 club.

So....

I took some pictures last night of the kids to post, but I can't find my usb chord to put them on my computer. I think this house is eating our things. I still can't find my keys, or my hairdryer, now the usb chord. Hrumph.

Guess what Thursday is?

Season opener of Grey's Anatomy!! Woo Hoo!
Are you excited too!?

Ode to my Dishwasher

Dishwasher
you are loved
You make me happy
and my hands
are not wrinkley
thanks to you
Oh HOW I HATE
to wash dishes in the sink
with all the spots
and the time that is missed
with my kids playing
while I slave away
but NOT ANYMORE!
thanks to you
my love
my dishwasher

Ahhhh Welcome Saturday

Yayayayay! It's Saturday!!! I'm so happy it's here. I've got apple cinnamin muffins baking in the oven and I'm relaxing in my jammies with no plans to get out of them soon. Ahhhh I love it. This week went by so fast. Yesterday I took John to the doctor for his first non-well baby appointment. He is having some coughing and breathing issues. But despite that, and despite another new tooth, John slept through the night last night for the first time!! He is getting around much more quickly now, and getting access to a lot more than he used to. He really loves his big brother, and now he can attempt to grab just about everything out of big brother's hands.

Work is going fairly well. I really like the people I work with, and the job itself despite being a call center is not that bad. Still, the hours are not great, and I'm looking forward to the Sunday paper to see what else might come up over the weekend. The boys have adjusted to their new schedule with Mom being at work, and life is overall less stressful. The house is coming along slowly, and I hope to get some more progress done this weekend. Slowly but surely, we're finally getting back into a routine and that is good.

Water Buffalo's Revenge

This is an amazing video. It's kinda long...almost 9 minutes but it's probably the most amazing nature video I've seen.

Still can't find my keys.

How I feel.

Tired. But mostly pretty indifferent about life lately. I feel like my days are just flying by, but I'm in a fog and don't really get to see any of it. I feel like all my energy is spent on work and this house and I'm not really getting to enjoy my family or this beautiful weather. I feel anxious and stressed and really heavy but I can't really think of any really main reason why, I just am........ and I REALLY want to dive into a big fat Dove Dark Chocolate bar. I think, not sure yet, but I'd be willing to bet my old friend Flo will be returning soon. Havent seen her since last April. Yippie doo.

more pics

How cute is my son in this picture? AND how cute are Seth and Ellie? Thanks to Amie for taking these pics this weekend.

Weekend

Another weekend gone by way to fast. It has been really nice being home with my boys. John is really trying hard to pull up to his feet now. He can get up on his knees, and then stands up for a short time. When you're 23lbs at 7 months it takes a while to build up the strenth to get up. But he sure is determined! He's also learning about what those hard things in his mouth are for. I bought some sweet potato puffs yesterday and tried them out on him. He LOVES them! Crunch Crunch crunch. He's pretty good at picking them up, now he just needs to master the art of actually getting the puffs in his mouth.

Seth is really enjoying having a playmate living upstairs. They've been outside playing quite a bit (and getting really dirty). He has been very affectionate lately, giving out lots of kisses and hugs. He uses it to try to schmooze me in the grocery store when he wants something, or at night before bed to stall the actual going to bed part. But it is so sweet when he tells me he loves me out of the blue, for no reason except to say it.

These are the pics of John standing up. He pulled himself up on the couch. On the right I helped him up a bit because the toy slides over the wood floors.

WHERE ARE MY KEYS!!!!?!?!? I can't find them ANYWHERE?

Fear

Along with a new apartment comes new adventures in living under another family. It will take us, and Seth a while to get used to having people walking around upstairs, up and down the stairs and the water in the pipes running down the walls in this old house. Seth is in the stage of his life where his imagination is just blooming, and the fear of all those unknown noises causes major breakdown in the evenings. I find that even simple things that he was never afraid of before, like rainstorms are are becoming new adventures in scaredom.

A Better Week So Far

Yay! So John is doing MUCH better this week. He is drinking from the bottles!! And eating more solids at daycare. It is such a huge relief from last week. If he continues to do well, I think next week I will stop nursing him during my dinner break and do exclusively night time nursing until he weans. As it is, I have been gulping my dinner down in the car on my way to the daycare so that I have enough time to go there, nurse him and get back to work in the middle of rush hour.

Being in the call center is going ok. The work itself isn't very exciting, but I like the people I work with which makes a big difference. Still no word from D.C.

Oh yes! and I forgot to mention the building I work in is pretty cool. It's an old cotton mill that was powered by the water from the canal. The original boilers are still there on display. Apparantly they would heat up the floors with a very moist heat that was ideal for processing the cotton. The original floors are still there (though very creaky) and old signs like "Keep your Spools off the floor" are posted around the building. Most of the offices there are pretty fancy. Ours is nice (as nice as a call center can look) with the exposed brick and all. I went to the little museum on my 15 minute break the other day. Neat-o!

New House

Last week we moved into a new apartment. Here is the new place. It is a hundred year-old home and Dave and I fell in love with it's charm. I'd post pictures of the inside, but I'm afraid all you'd see is a bunch of boxes mixed with stuff everywhere. It is a work in progress.

Here is the back yard, or a portion of it. Seth loves it back there. Unfortunately so do the mosquitos.

WW

Well, having moved and stuff, I kinda put the diet on hold for a few weeks. We ate out practically every day last week simply because I had no way of cooking anything (understandably). But I think the kitchen is now to the point that I cannot use it as an excuse anymore. Tomorrow I'm back on. I missed last week's weigh-in, but I weighed myself this afternoon after church with clothes on, and I was pleasantly surprised that I had not gained. Though, I can't help but wonder where I might be if I had just TRIED to stick to it despite eating out. Oh well, time to move on.

The Weekend

Ahhh, a nice relaxing weekend with my boys. After such a hectic week all I wanted to do was spend some quality time with my babies. So, aside from a quick trip or two to the store or the old house we stayed at home. Here John is being his usual cute self playing with his toys. He is starting to crawl around a bit better and even pulling up occasionally. We also spent some time outside in the yard. Seth climbed a tree with Gabriel, a 5 year old living in the upstairs apartment. I was feeling very domestic this weekend, and although I didn't get a ton of work done on the unpacking like I'd hoped, I did make batches of strained green beans, butternut squash, carrots, and pumpkin. And I made another batch of laundry soap (click on me for the recipe). The best part about the weekend though, is that I reconnected with some old friends after about 7 years. It's always so nice to hear from people that you love so much and to know that despite the time separation you still have so much that you can relate with.

This morning Seth sits down next to me and says, "Mom, you're HUGE!". Lovely.

Coping

So, this week we've been just coping. All of us. Whether we like it or not. Poor Dave has had so much to deal with. He doesn't get a break...barely a moment to himself. Dave works nights, I from 12-9, so as soon as he wakes up he has to get the kids and take care of them till I get home, and then he leaves for work and does it all again. John is very sensitive now. He cries so much during the day that he's sleeping really hard at night time. (which i can't complain too much about, but not for that reason you know?) Dave managed to get him to drink half a bottle tonight, but he did so by letting him hold it himself. Mostly though, he just needs to be held, all the time. It is exhausting. We are exhausted. Tired of living out of boxes that we are too tired to unpack. And then poor Seth with all that energy and just wants to get his exhausted Mom and Dad to play with him.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work I go.

Yes, we all survived my first day back at work, though as to be expected it was not very easy. I boo hoo'ed my way to the car after I dropped John off and couldn't keep my thoughts off of him all evening. During my dinner hour break I went to his daycare to nurse him and visit. He didn't want me to put him down. Then when I got home tonight he nursed for a long time again and wouldn't smile at me. It breaks my heart. This is soooo hard.

The Littlest Hitler by Ryan Boudinot, a Book Review

The Littlest Hitler is a collection of short stories that are definitely weird, ironic, sadistic and hilarious (well, at least some of the time). The first story, also the title of the collection is about a young boy raised by his father who dresses up as Hitler to school for Halloween (big scary guy right?) until he realizes that another girl in his class has dressed up as Anne Frank. The teacher tries to make an educational lesson out of it and it causes all the kids in the class to gang up on him and treat him like he really killed their beautiful and popular little girl. This story had to be in my opinion the funniest of the entire collection (at least of the ones I actually read), and then they got progressively unfunny but still amusing and thought-provoking. I stopped after the story about a boy who is offered a full ride scholarship by the government at any university he wants as long as he performs his "civil duty" by killing his parents. But ultimately I ended up leaving it accidentally on the top of my car as I drove down Gordon Highway, where it remains (I couldn't find it), probably until some prisoner picks it up. I told the library already but they're just going to renew it a few times in the hopes that someone will pick it up and turn it in for me. Considering we live in Georgia, that is very unlikely. Overall, I think the stories were pretty well written, though it really takes the right person to find them amusing. I would recommend it, but only to the right person.

Moved In

OK! So, we're moved in. The house is only somewhat functional now, but it's coming along slowly. We can sleep in our beds, and use the bathroom and living room. Due to a small snaffoo with the air conditioner, we decided to go ahead and postpone Seth's birthday party for a week, but we will still do a family celebration for Seth at home on his birthday. The air is working now, but it pushed us back enough with the unpacking that the place will not be presentable enough by tomorrow. Oh, and btw for some weird reason we couldn't keep our old number, so we have a new one. It is on now. If you call the old number it will give you our new one.