Loves of my Life

Way Beyond

I am so way beyond writing a cute little post about how tired I am because my baby won't sleep. Things are bad over here folks. Desperate in fact. With every passing night I feel the life being further sucked out of me. I've tried keeping it in perspective, imagining that one day when she's older and actually sleeps we'll laugh about it. But it's looking more like we'll be saying "Remember that kid we had? She was nice but she didn't sleep worth a darn so we had to let her go." And hey, let me say that I'm no wimp. I totally knew what I was getting myself into here having another baby. I was prepared for a considerable lack of sleep. Call me crazy, but I was banking on having at least four hours at a time by the time the baby was 7 (almost 8!) months old. One - two hours at a time just do. not. cut. it. Not after this many months.

I've had her to the doctor numerous times (see previous posts) but they currently appear to be stumped. She is on a nose spray right now which I am conflicted about giving her because the pharmacist wasn't in favor of giving it to a baby. She discussed it with my doctor and he insists that it's not a problem to give it to her for the short period of one week. I am ready to pull my hair out what with the obsessing over what could be the reason for her frequent wakings? - sickness? medication for sickness? teeth? too hot? too cold? hungry? tummy ache? allergies? What? What! WHAT???

And watching Peter and Miss A suffer is not helping either. They are both exhausted as well. It's hard to tell with A. She doesn't seem to be bothered by the crying in the night but she's been sleeping in later which I think is a sign that her sleep is in fact, being disturbed. And yesterday she was having trouble listening which in her case always seems to lead to injury. Thus she is sporting a bump on top of a bump on her forehead. I feel badly that they have to share a room. And I would be trying to let Baby B cry a bit longer to see if she would self soothe and fall back to sleep. I try to be patient with her but after three or four times of getting up, I pretty much have none left. Not to mention that I barely have the capability to walk properly anymore. I hate losing my temper with her and everyone else in my family. They obviously don't deserve to have my fatigue taken out on them. I never seem to be able to stop myself before I say something or take a tone I later regret.

It's a bad scene over here. Somehow putting it down here makes me feel a little less burdened with it...

I Promise I Won't Spoil Anything

That said I will reference. So for anyone who hasn't read the book skip this post or read it and don't be mad, I warned you.

So. I saw Twilight last night. And I had to write about it. Not the movie really, but the experience.

I haven't gone to a special showing of a movie on opening night for a long, long time. Peter and I were discussing the one's we've gone to and all we could come up with were 'X-Files Fight the Future' and each of the Matrix sequels. And I can say that for me at least, my anticipation for Twilight was the greatest.

Since Peter has also read the series it was important to me that we saw it together for the first time. He had volunteered to babysit but I found a babysitter so that we could both go. We went with my fifteen year old niece and a friend of mine. We arrived almost an hour and a half early. There was already a small line up but we were sure to have good seats. Other friends of mine were ahead of us in line and they ended up sitting in front of us so while we waited for the movie to begin we all had a good, hyper visit.

The crowd was pretty diverse. A lot of teens, some with, some without their Mom's. A couple of hardcore girls with official Twilight T-shirts. There were also some almost gothy looking 20 somethings who sat behind us and they were acting too cool to be there. They amused the heck out of me because they were trying to be all 'I don't care' yet there they were at the sold out show. It's not like they just decided on a whim to come because they had nothing better to do. And I heard them muttering at the teens to 'Stop texting!' and then 'The movie's starting, shut up!'

There were audible cheers and applause as the lights went down. (Some of which may have come from me, it's a blur. Ha!) The most memorable trailer was for this movie which I hadn't heard of but I'm not very excited to see. Wow, Dakota Fanning is growing up. And I think she's going to make it. I'm so glad because I think she is an amazing actress and I'd hate to see her end up being 'that child star'. I digress.

So it begins. I had the most bizarre warm feeling inside my body the entire movie. I actually enjoyed the experience of watching it with other avid fans of all ages. I thought they behaved themselves rather well. * If you don't want to know anything about what is in the movie even though you've read the book and can guess skip to the next paragraph. The only time I was confused with the crowd reaction was during the classroom scene where Edward first catches Bella's potent scent. Here is Edward Cullen obviously in pain, tormented - and the crowd starts laughing. It was the sort of reaction only a large group of people who'd read the book would have. Maybe it was nervous laughter? Who knows? Anyway, it was weird.

*Maybe skip this one too. I was happy that they took a lot of lines directly from the book. I was also impressed with some of the lines they added that were either very funny or touching. And I can't keep this one to myself, when Edward first speaks in the movie I think Robert Pattinson may have channeled Edward Scissorhands. Just that scared, socially awkward thing and his tone of voice. Don't let that turn you off though. It worked and yet was very amusing to me.

There were also parts were I had to fan myself with my hand because they were so romantically intense and beautiful. Unfortunately there were as many of those times in the movie as there were in the book but I wasn't expecting there to be so I wasn't disappointed.

I found myself feeling sad as I knew we were approaching the end. I took comfort in the fact that I'll be seeing it again on Sunday night. When it was over there were cheers and applause again and the gothy 20 somethings mocked saying 'Oh my God Twilight!!' in shrill voices. I couldn't keep my mouth shut and piped up. (indirectly) I don't remember what I said but it seemed to shut them up. I just couldn't take any more of their we're too cool to be there crap.

I was relieved when my niece broke down in the car afterwards clapping her hands saying "That was so good!!!" I was beginning to feel like a bit of a loser for being more excited than a 15 year old.

And I have said nothing of the experience of watching it with Peter. We laughed at all the same parts, swooned (I think) at all the same parts and agreed on the parts we thought were cheesy or lame. Though we both needed our sleep we lay in bed for a long while last night whispering about it. I am so glad I married someone who I have so much in common with and whose company I enjoy so much. Being married to him is like getting to have the best sleepover (or slumpover) party every night.

Anyway, go to the movie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA D!!!

Today is my lovely husband's Birthday. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing much of each other because he works until 3:45, we kiss at the door and then I work until 9:00(ish). Miss A and I made a treat for us/him. Also, I thought the picture diary would be a cute present he could check out from work. Almost as good as spending the day with us.

This one was taken last night actually. Miss A was so pooped that she tipped out of her chair and crashed on the floor. It's a cute one of both of them.



And here are our cookie making adventures.









And as you can see Miss A is holding a special Birthday cookie with a candle in it!



We love you Papa D!

No Comment

Things have been a bit hairy around here lately so I'm feeling a little slack in the blogging department.

Peter sprained his ankle on Thursday. It was one of those great things that happen. I can only imagine. He was hurrying to get Miss A to the babysitter so he could be on time for his massage appointment (I know, I was shocked too) when he accidentally locked his keys in the house. That meant no car keys and no house keys. He thought fast and strapped A to her bike seat while he broke in through the window. Flawless plan. Except for the slipping part. And the falling part. And the twisting the ankle part. He was worried but brushed himself off and successfully broke in on his next try. He was able to walk (limp) on it and make it to the appointment after all. He also managed to work Friday although I'm not sure how. Good timing for a long weekend. I tried to nurse him back to health as much as I was able to.



And then there was yesterday. The day when I truly realized my daughter's potential to be a criminal. You see for the past few weeks I have been getting lazy with the measures I use to keep her in her pajamas. I have still been putting them on backwards but she had made no attempt to remove them for some time. I got into the habit of not bothering the extra precaution of safety pinning as well.

BIG MISTAKE!

It was all a trick. A well planned scheme. A joke on me. For shame.

She was in her bed yesterday afternoon for the duration of her intended nap. Peter and I also dozed but I was well aware that she was not sleeping. This is becoming a regular occurrence lately much to my chagrin. When I finally went in to rescue her from the confines of her crib - OH THE HORROR. The nudity. the poo.

The best thing I can say is that everything was washable. And 45 minutes later the only trace of the incident was the faint odor in the air. Which I then killed with fresh air and air freshener.

I have pictures on file when I am need of the most evil blackmail material ever.

I have learned my lesson. Never. Trust. Again.

How can someone so cute be so... naughty?

Operation – Fix the Cupboard

So I mentioned a while back how fun it was to baby proof our crappy cupboards. But once we did we were all like “Ha! Let's see you get in there!” See, we had total confidence in our baby proofy gadgets. We failed to consider however, the extreme crappyness of our cupboards. (Yes, I know I'm making up words. So what!) Imagine our surprise one day when Miss A was yanking on the cupboard doors trying to get in while we stood back watching her with amused expressions thinking, she'll never get in. Get in? No. Pull the cupboard door right off it's hinge? Yes. Okay, in actuality the hinge broke off the wood it was screwed into. Because the wood was garbage. This was no longer amusing.

Upon closer inspection and realizing that due to the wood essentially crumbling apart it would not be a quick fix. It would require replacing that board with a new piece of wood and totally disassembling the cupboards. What a pain. It stayed broken for at least a week and on Sunday we finally began the task of repairing it.

Miss A was very interested in helping which was cute and funny for about five minutes and then I had to take her to her room to read books and play with her babies. The job took several hours (all of which my kitchen was in shambles) because there were interruptions like supper, having to rewire a table saw (I didn't do that) putting a baby to bed and Law & Order (C.I.). We were finally finished by around 10:30. Just in time for bed.

Here are the photos of our progress.





I am happy to say that they are back to normal and my kitchen no longer has pots and pans and stuff strewn about. My blood pressure has gone back down to normal. My cupboards may be ugly but they are functional once again. (For now.)

The Job

As I had mentioned in a past post. My darling husband has a new job. It is not my place to go on about what a fantastic job it is, why and start giving particulars. What I will do however is tell you all how it has positively affected me, Miss A and our family unit in general.

One of the biggest things that I am enjoying since he began his new employment has been my piece of mind. I especially noticed this when the weather began to get a tad ugly. You know, cold, snow, freezing rain, ice... At his former job he was often required to drive all over the city and often out of town. If the weather was bad it didn't really matter and he'd still have to go because 'THE WORLD WILL END IF A COMPUTER IS DOWN'. (Just so you know.) One of his former coworkers actually hit the ditch once while driving on terrible roads. I find it comforting to know that he now only drives to work and then home again. I only have to worry about him for about fifteen minutes twice a day. As opposed to the approximate nine hours I used to worry about him. (Although sometimes I'd just call him to make sure he was okay.)

The next is the fact that his work day is much shorter. This falls into the category – good for everyone. He is less tired, less stressed, happier and gets more time with us. How could that be a bad thing? It just can't. It works out really well on the days when I work because it means that she is hardly with a sitter on Wednesdays and Thursdays and he can pick her up on time (since there is no telling if I will ever be done when I should be) on Fridays. And Saturdays are always Dada and A days. No more working on the weekends. Sigh. Except for me.

Having him home earlier on the days when I don't work has motivated me to cook actual meals. I'm not sure how this makes a difference but it does. Plus Miss A doesn't get impatient waiting for supper and or I feed her early so she doesn't have a total melt down. We now sit down together, AT THE TABLE, and eat our meal. This is a very exciting development in our household. Not that I don't miss the old days of eating on the couch together while watching 'The Daily Show' from the night before. Those were good times too, but change is good.

Then there is the health care benefits package. This perhaps rocks most of all since neither of us had this before. It just feels luxurious. I mean, we could go to the dentist and have our teeth cleaned. And not have to worry about being able to afford it! How fantastic! And Peter wears glasses so his eye appointments and future new frames are covered. If Miss A ends up with his vision, she'll be covered. If she has crooked teeth she won't have to tell all her friends her parents are too poor to fix them. The list goes on and on. It's all good.

I remember the night that he got the call and was offered the position. After he'd hung up the phone he told me,

“I feel like I won the lottery. Is it weird that I feel like I won the lottery?”

No sweetie, it's not weird. Because that's exactly the way I feel too.