Every Mothers' Son

Driving my dad's truck
The tape player plays classics
Glad we're close again.

We're borrowing my dad's truck and trailer in case everything doesn't fit in the truck this weekend (we got the 26'-er, it might be close). I got in and the tape deck was playing Lynyrd Skynyrd - a tape recording of the vinyl of "A Second Helping" and "Gimme Back My Bullets." The tape picked up at "Every Mother's Son." I can sing along with a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, but "Every Mother's Son" is one I actually like.

B-sides of classic rock albums always make me think of my dad. When I was a toddler, we called the radio the "boogie" and I loved when he would turn the music up and sing. Just blasting down the road in a pickup... good times.

I'm so happy to be living near my parents. Not just for the vinyl either.

(I swear I'll do the button again as soon as I have my computer back)

100th Post!

Happy hundred posts!

I wanted to do something special to celebrate 100 posts. Missy did "100 things about me" (and even did a cool button). I tried that, but I ran out around 27. I also considered listing 100 things I want, but that was just obnoxious!

So for my celebration, I'm going to do a Pilates workout - complete with the Hundred! I haven't done Pilates since before I got pregnant, so I'm going to do a beginner workout.

In honor of "100" stuff, I invite you do a little Pilates today!

Boutique bags are where it's at

I have a deep seated love of handmade things, and boutique bags are a favorite. Yes, that would include Vera Bradley, but isn't it more fun to have something original?

I bumped into a new designer while exploring a new-to-me mommy blog, It's My Life, Laugh if you Must. This woman clearly has impeccable taste and I plan to befriend her blog.

Anyhow, Pink Lemonade Boutique Bags are going straight on my wish list! I really wish I had seen the #9 (picture above) before Saturday (when I bought a new purse).

I have a fall and a winter bag, similar to the Pink Lemonade ones. They've changed the company name since I bought mine at the Watertown farmer's market, but they're still adorable. Check out Lennie bags.

Of course I wish I had the talent and patience to sew a tote bag. Maybe someday I'll try, but I'm happy buying for now. But I'm not hopping on the Pink Lemonade wagon just yet. I have housewares to focus on, and focus I shall! I have big plans for sewing curtains. Rectangles are more my speed.

End of an era

Breastfeeding Deuce is officially done. He weaned himself, which is what I thought was best considering all the changes in his life right now. It was not traumatic at all and I'm so thankful for that.

I can't describe the mixed emotions I'm feeling now that his infancy is really and truly over. That first time he latched on and I felt him nursing, I felt so connected to him. And I watched him grow, knowing that I was such an integral part of every cell in his body.

Don't get me wrong, breastfeeding isn't a walk in the park - we had our ups and downs. Certainly more up than down. He got his nickname-on-nickname "Deuce the Goose." I did something really special for him. He was happy and well nourished. I would do it again.

So how will life change now that he's weened? I have a to do list, including but not limited to:

1. Wear non-nursing bras (long overdue considering he's only been nursing at night/in the morning for weeks now)
2. Put away nursing pajamas
   
3. Go back on real pill
4. Eat broccoli
5. Eat egg rolls
6. Eat reuben sandwiches
   
7. Drink hard liquor
   
8. Other stuff you don't want to know about, but it has to do w/ DeuceDad

As you can see, breastfeeding primarily impacted my diet, but anyone who has seen me lately knows I've been managing to keep the pounds on just fine.

I miss it a little bit. When I give him a bottle at night I kind of tuck it against my breast and hold him close. And I know that his father can give him a bottle just as well as I can and so I get to sleep through the next night waking. Bottle feeding has its benefits, too.

Before I leave the topic of nursing for good (until theoretical future baby), I want to share some of the products that made nursing more enjoyable (or even possible) for us.

1. There's no link for him, but DeuceDad was an amazing support system. I can't say enough about him. So were both of our mothers, his grandma, and my girlfriends who were all there with a supportive word, a laugh, a survival story or anything we needed any time.
2. Lactation consultant. Call one. Right now. Even if you think you don't need her.
3. Rocking chair and nursing stool. I got an heirloom rocker from my MIL. It was a gift to her from her in-laws when my husband was born. I needed something to get my feet up (and facilitate sleeping in the rocker), hence the stool. A lot of gliders, which are popular now, come with stools. I highly recommend it.
4. Bebe Au Lait nursing cover. I'm shy. This is cute. It even has a little terry cloth in the corner for wiping dribbles. Brilliant.
5. Bravado nursing bras. I have Supreme and Original and love them both. So supportive, easy to use and comfortable. And come is crazy-big sizes.
6. Gerber nursing pads - reusable and disposable. The reusable are more comfortable and environmentally friendly, but if you wear them to work, you may have to bring home soggy pads at the end of the day. They machine wash and dry beautifully. The disposable ones I like are actually the cheap paper ones because the breath a million times better than the plastic lined maxi-pad ones. Personal preference, but I didn't like the swamp-boob feeling.
   
7. Medela Pump in Style. Against all recommendations, I personally chose to use a hand-me-down from a very trusted friend. It was a great benefit to me and I trust the person I got it from 100%. If you have to buy one, it's worth the investment. I wouldn't have been able to pump at work without this puppy.
8. The soft fit shields and personal fit connectors are a must. Made the pump sooo much more comfortable. And get some extra valves, tubing and bottles too. Face it -some days the dishes just don't get done.
9. Avent Isis manual pump. This was quicker, easier and more comfortable for once-in-a-while pumping.

There were a few other things along the way, but these are the items that were in constant rotation.

So that's that I guess, nursing in a nutshell. I hope it was a good experience for Deuce, because it was for me.

L is for Leaves

This photo is from Deuce's first day outside in the grass. We didn't really stick him in the grass last year because he was a newborn. Despite that, he has a deep baby-love of the outdoors and could (and does) spend all day outside if allowed, nap and all. A favorite activity is tasting leaves. I hope he grows out of his affection for weeds before he goes to high school.

K is for Kitty

Kittys have two eyes
They should only need one eye
I will poke one out.

Combining Haiku Friday and ABC-along today.

Just when I was starting to shake the mommy-guilt...

I am my harshest critic, on motherhood and all other subjects upon which a human can be judged. But even I was beginning to give myself credit for being a pretty darn good mom lately.

We found a new pediatrician and Deuce loves her. I applied sunblock every time he went in the pool. He has not fallen off the stairs despite his deep love of climbing up and then turning around to make sure someone is watching him. All success stories in my book.

So last night DeuceDad and I decided to go to Home Depot and start actually looking at the prices for materials for some of the projects we want to do to the new house. I met them after work in the parking lot, grabbed Deuce out of the car, gave him kisses, started walking to the store...

... and stepped on a rock, twisted my ankle and DROPPED HIM.

DeuceDad grabbed him and started comforting him and inspecting for injury. I sat on the ground saying "is he okay is he okay" (very helpful). Strangers ran over, and one woman tried to take Deuce away from his dad because I had not identified him as the father (brilliant on my part). Drama.

Miraculously, Deuce has a scrape on his one side. And that's it. I don't know how it's possible. My dad thinks I managed to sort of set him down hard on the ground as opposed to dropping him. I have a sprained ankle (which I've done 50 times before) and scrapes on both knees and hands.

And a heavy heart.

I dropped my baby.

But he is okay, and I'll be more careful where I step from now on and no harm was done. But I feel guilty all the same. I mean, shouldn't have broken bones and internal bleeding at the expense of cushioning his fall and having him laugh it off? This in unrealistic because my leg twisted out from under me and I fell to the ground. Oh, and he didn't really get hurt. I'm just saying that the guilt is back en force.

I'll have to make it up to him somehow. Like with candy and toys.

Wait, now that's being a bad mom.

J is for Juicy

Deuce is one drool-y baby. Or he was in April when he was cutting those teeth. See the drool running down his belly?

I is for Independent

I is for independent. This is Deuce going up the stairs at our home-between-homes at my parents'. He goes like lightening, and it's a great game to make for the stairs and then laugh for the parents/grandparents to run after him shouting "No!". This is the height of fun for babies. We're trying to teach him to go down, but he just flies back up the stairs again. He's such a big boy.

The Birthday Boy!

Cake is good, but ice cream is where it's at!



Happy Birthday!!

Babies Rock

"Breakfast Highchair" by Stone Temple Pilots
(To the tune of "Dead & Bloated")

I am smellin' like the O's
that somebody gave me
in my breakfast highchair
I am smellin' like the O's
that somebody gave me
'cause I love Cheerios.

Ohh yeah, babies love to eat O's
I feel I've come of age
When I can feed myself.
Ohh yeah, babies love to eat O's
I feel I've come of age
When I use my sippy cup.

You can't swallow two O's at once
You can't swallow a fistful of O's

I am covered in juice
'cause I shake my cup
and spray juice all over.

I eat my O's thinkin' 'bout bananas, thinkin' 'bout bananas
I eat my O's thinkin' 'bout bananas, thinkin' 'bout bananas

DeuceDad and I love to change song lyrics to be about Deuce, but I think this was actually worth sharing. There is a series called Rockabye Baby! (my favorite cover is the Rolling Stones one with the binkies in the lips). These are soothing lullaby versions of rock bands songs. Our little hobby is slightly different in that we change the lyrics. Good clean fun!

Super WalMart Soup

Six Father's Day cards
WalMart is cheap but busy
hurry before work

Thunderstorm and rain
mix with the parking lot sludge
soup in my flip flops

I don't love the Super WalMart near my office, but it's cheap and convenient and I don't have time to go to Hallmark or Target, my preferred card-shopping places. Plus Claude needs litter. Long live one stop shopping.

But after elbowing through all the other moms trying to buy all their Father's Day cards before rushing off to work, I ran out in the rain (with my 25 lb box of litter in hand) and sloshed a whole bunch of nasty parking lot puddles through the flip flops onto my feet. Yuck.

Oh well, the errand is done.

Enjoy some more Haikus!

And have a nice weekend. We're at our old house sans internet this weekend.

No birthday pics yet

I have to remember to bring the mini usb cable with us when we go to our house this weekend! I think my sister in law is going to fly here and pummel me if I don't get some pics up soon. Plus Deuce went in the pool for the first time and ate cake with chocolate frosting... so much to share!

I do owe an update on the house situation. Last Friday our agent agreed that we are sick of waiting for our stupid buyers and he set up a bunch of showings. The bad news is that no one from any of the showings is interested. The good news is the buyers supposedly got their mortgage commitment and the bank ordered the appraisal! The appraisal is the final hurdle. I called our agent this morning for an update and left a message. So more later on that.

In the mean time I have a ton of work to do. The new office is almost ready and I'll have my own office! I can't tell you how happy I'll be - I share an office with 5 other people right now!

Cross those fingers for good news today!

A mix of disappointment and anger

I haven't gone into a lot of detail on the sale of the house because it's been a stressful subject around DeuceFamily and I'm trying to keep it light here. But today brought deep disappointment and furious anger and I have to get it out.

The house shows well (or did before there were boxes strewn everywhere) and is in one of the few remaining hot real estate markets, and we had an excepted offer after 11 days. Great. DeuceDad and I haggled quite a bit with the buyers because they wanted cash at closing to pay their closing costs. We new that this was a risk because the property has to be appraised for the amount they want to finance in order to get the loan. But we figured we would know in 2 weeks tops, plus even the price we settled on is in line with what houses are going for in the neighborhood.

Yeah.

FOUR weeks later.

The generous amount of time we allowed them to get their mortgage commitment has come and gone, but we allowed additional time because they assured us (through their banker to their agent to our agent to us) that they were waiting for "paperwork." Four weeks later, we're sure that their is a bigger issue than paperwork.

And now we've lost 4 weeks.

And we have our mortgage commitment on Ugly House.

And our offer is contingent so it's not like we're trapped, but we want ugly house. It's a good opportunity for us.

The thing is that there is no recourse. We have no recourse at all whatsoever besides the fact that we get to keep their earnest money. And even in that respect we were way too flexible and accepted a deposit of only $200. So that's the booby prize for trying to be nice.

Oh, I'm a compassionate person, don't get me wrong. People lose jobs in the middle of a mortgage application and can't come through. That happened to us. But they strung us on for weeks and just didn't even try. Their application didn't get rejected, they never finished it!

I'm a fool. Next time, it's the standard 10% earnest deposit, and the standard times to get contingencies met or the buyers can forget it.

I'm so mad right now!

I don't actually feel better now, but now you know. Hopefully we'll celebrate soon. I'll let ya know.

The big "one"

No such thing as time
Just love, laughter, memories
Deuce is one Sunday

Too lazy to do the button thing

An old flame

When I moved back to my old home town, I ran into an old flame. I wasn't too interested in what they were saying and I ignored them for several weeks. Monday night I was out running errands and ran into this old flame again. The voice was so familiar. The musical sounds felt so right. And I was back in love.

WBER, who long have I loved you? Since I realized there was more to radio than AC/DC (Dad) or soft rock (Mom). You introduced me to new bands, you made me laugh. And I love to laugh. I know you had a life before me, ever since 1985 to be exact. And many people have loved you more than I. But I'm so glad you're back in my life. I don't like every song, or every DJ, but you challenge me and more often than not make me turn up the volume.

I'm a slob

I actually walked out the door, went to the pediatrician, went in to work and am going to go to our mortgage application appointment wearing my house shoes. I was a busy morning, but not so crazy that I couldn't put an actual shoe on my foot. Oh well, too late now.