monday night fever

Wanna know how to feel like the worst parent ever?  Take your kid to an indoor playground in the middle of the winter, and then wait 4 hours.  Your child will inevitably become feverish and clingy (and whiny)...and you will feel like crap!

That is precisely what happened on Monday.  We had a lovely family day planned.  No work for Mama.  No work for Daddy.  Just fun.  Daddy felt like the baby was getting cabin fever (side note, I don't think babies get cabin fever) so we ventured out to play in a new location.  There's an indoor playground about 40 minutes away which gets rave reviews.  So we went.

I was ready to leave about 4 minutes after we got there.  George was ready to leave about 15 minutes after we got there.  And Squirt, well Squirt was having a good time playing...the same good time he would have had a home playing.

I'm not joking, there were kids everywhere.  And not in a duh kind of way, I mean everywhere.  It was actually a lot of fun (read: chill with a reasonable number of children) while we were in the toddler area.  The Squirttoddler learned how to climb up the blocks and go down the slide by himself.  It was super cute!  But when he got bored there we went over to the baby area and then it was all over!  There, he just wanted to put things in his mouth and all I could see were little germs crawling all over everything (hence the fever). 

I'm also not so good with having to watch my child share/steel other kids toys.  I want to smack the kids who take his toys and I want to corral my kid when he tries to take other kids' toys.  I mean they're only doing what they're supposed to, I'm just not so hot on standing by quietly!  At least he made a little friend!

Squirt seemed like he had a good time.  He was slightly overwhelmed by the place but overall it was good.  However, it was not good enough to outweigh the looks he was giving us in the evening.

At least it made him slow down long enough to focus on something.  He must be the smartest baby ever!  He can remove and restack the rings!  It's amazing.

We hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.  And we hope you're getting back into your routine better than we are!

i should be sleeping but...

I had to tell you that I taught my son to turn the lights off (he thought it was hilarious)!  And he figured out how to use his index finger to flip through pictures on my iPhone.

These must be signs...he's obviously a genius.

 Last Friday

Today

Ok, good night!

hello again

OMG!  If this blog weren't about my kid I would change the name to The Blog of Shame.  But that seems inappropriate to describe my Squirtjoy!  

We are loving life here.  Squirt is walking, refusing to eat baby food, and learning a million new things everyday!  I can't wait for him to talk.  There is a definite change in his speech pattern but no words yet.  I'm thinking it's going to be a while still.  We'll just have to love the crazy faces and noises in the meantime.  Maybe when he learns to talk he'll also learn to listen!

Unfortunately, George and I have been super busy the last couple of months (hence the hiatus), but Squirt is resilient.  He comes to hug us every night when we get home, gives us a huge smile and wipes snot all over our clothes.  He is completely amazing.

I can't wait for a break from school so I can focus more on my family.  But in the meantime, when we have family time I dedicate my whole focus to them.  It was hard at first, because my mind goes a mile a minute.  But I've gotten pretty good at ignoring homework...and dishes...and bills so I can put all my energy into my energetic boys!

This is what we focused on today...

summertime...

...and the livin's easy!

This has been a fantastic weekend!  Even with the rain, the weather has been all wonderful and summery.  Warm in the day, cool in the evening.  It's just perfect!  And I'm so glad we had this amazing weekend, because school is going to start again and life is going to get crazy again very soon.

Here's what we've been up to this weekend (obsessing over Instagram is a given!)!

Yesterday we went to the food carts!  I'd heard about them from a few friends but let me tell you, it's all I want to do now!  Delish!

Today we went to the park!  Let me just tell you about the parks around our house...there is no ONE good park.  Each has something to offer, but unfortunately they can't all be in the same place.  The one in our neighborhood has baby swings, but they're the bad kind.  The one to the left of our house has slides but no baby swings.  The one to the right of our house has the good baby swings, and a rock climbing wall, but no slides!  I mean, come on people!  We visited the rock climbing park today.  Clearly, fun was had by all!

I was just complaining that I felt like summer was almost over and we hadn't had any fun family weekends.  Then this weekend happened!  Thank you, it was memorable! 

catch-up

Blogging is hard, yo.  I'm just gonna go ahead and add it to the list of things I'm bad at!  Want to know what I'm good at?  Being overtired, overscheduled, and waaaaay too anxious!  Yeah, adulthood fail!

My baby, though...is freaking awesome!  Ha!  George said when people ask him about the baby he tries not to be that parent that goes on and on and on about how great their kid is!!!  It's a good rule while out in public, but since I'm sitting on my couch here, I'm not afraid to tell you that my kid is killing it!

So two Tuesdays ago I noticed that he was finally able to get into a sitting position on his own.  Just overnight he could suddenly do it, and he was really practicing!  The next day I got down on the ground to play with him and he casually went from sitting, to all fours, and then took four little crawl-steps before plopping down on his belly.  For about 5 seconds I didn't realize what he had done and then I was so excited I wanted to cry.  I was looking around our living room to see if anyone else saw...but I was the only one home!!!  Basically, it was amazing!

Now there is no containing him!  There is no more belly crawl.  Today I actually found him up on the first step, so we will be getting a second gate now!  He's also pulling himself up on the coffee table and will use it to walk all around to get to his toys (or the remote, or my glass, or anything else he feels he can put in his mouth).  He basically doesn't want to play with his toys unless I put them on the coffee table!

We're also trying to introduce some new foods, since he has a tooth coming in!  But he's having a hard time with the different textures!  The faces he makes though are priceless!  

Ok, enough bragging about my baby!  Let's get to the good stuff...pictures!

Enjoying some cherries!

a tale of two boobs

***Warning: this post is about boobs.  Specifically...my boobs.

Apparently, only one of my boobs can read.

I sent the ladies a very official memo stating that my Squirtkiddo and I were done breastfeeding, but only Lefty got the message.  Righty seems to be under the impression that we're still trying to feed a 6 month old boy who's the size of a one year old!

She is wrong.

She is killing me.

I am officially LopsidedMama.  I mean seriously, try not to stare...because it's obvious!

But for real, experienced mothers, help this mama out!  I don't know what to do about this predicament!  Do I relieve the pressure?  (Because I'm getting more painful, and lopsided, by the minute.)  Or do I give her some tough love and just let her work it out on her own?  Help me!!!

And...here's a video in which my child is entertained by his own hand.  This actually happens alot.  Hmmm.

dr. nonsense

People!  Blogger just made my day!  (I'm pathetic, let's not dwell on it.)  No but really, I just clicked some box and now I have a mobile version of this site!!!  Rock on!

And I swear I'm trying to do something about this horrible header.  It's terrible.  But what's worse, is the amount of time I spend trying to figure out what to change it to, and how to do it.  Grrrr.

Ok, here's the stats on my munchkin from our SIX MONTH visit:
Weight: 19 lb. 7 oz.
Height: 28 5/8 inches
Head: huge
Number of shots: 2
Time (in seconds) spent crying after shots: 7
Hours spent at office for routine well child visit: 2
Mama's mood when finally leaving said well child visit: priceless...no I'm joking, I was livid!

So, I'm contemplating a new pediatrician.  Seriously, our appointment was a 10:30 am and they were already that far behind.  We waited for an hour, in the room.  When I told George that, he apparently couldn't hear me and said you waited for an hour in the waiting room?  Negative, we waited in the room.  I would have been less annoyed waiting in the waiting room.  Nope, instead we could hear the PedDevil in the hall and could only pray that we were next.  Which we weren't...for an hour!

Also, try entertaining your child in that environment for an hour.  I mean, yes, he does love the paper on the exam table.  He loves smacking it, and ripping it, and shaking it, and even eating it.  But it's freaking paper, even babies can't be entertained by paper for an hour.  And yes, I brought toys with me.  But he's six months old, his attention span only lasts like 3 minutes.

George has a theory that pediatricians are what's wrong with this world and I'm beginning to think so too.  (No offense pediatrons.  Also, if you're say, marrying a pediatrician, don't mention this post to him...you know who you are!)  My pediatrician told me to boil my water before giving it to Squirt.  Seriously?  Seriously.  No, but what?  Yeah, that's what she said, because he could get a parasite.  Damn it, we could all get a parasite!  I would like to see the data on the number of parasites obtained by infants from the city water in this Hippie Kingdom/town we live in.  And, she wasn't joking.  In fact she looked at me like what kind of mother are you, not boiling your water?  George told me I should tell her we live on a farm and she what she says then.  Annoying.  Boil the water...insane.

(I will say that AK's Dr. PedsFiance told me that if it doesn't make sense I shouldn't do it.  So he seems like a special kind of pediatrician/normal person/keeper!)

For the record, it does make me feel like a bad patient, to think about switching doctors.  I mean, she's just trying to tell me what she thinks I should do to make my kiddo big and strong.  If I were her I'd be annoyed by me.  I'd be all why do I waste my breath if she's not going to listen?  But at the same time, I feel like some of her advice is impractical (hence this rant).  And I don't want to be "doctor shopping" but shouldn't I want a Dr. that I "click" with?  What's a mama to do?

Good God, I'm getting all excited again so I'd better shut up.  But let's all look at pictures of my baby now to feel better.  That always works for me!