Wednesday, July 31, 2013

fun in the sun

i've been super hankering for some outside time, so when loverboy got home from work last night we all jumped in the car and headed to the park. i will say that's the nice thing about living where we do — the park is really close and it's quite nice. so many people were out! i was all, this is the place to be after school! and then loverboy had to remind me it's still summer. still? seeing as it's a constant 72 degrees and shaded in my world, i tend to forget...

and on the other hand, i can't believe  how much my baby has grown in the past few months. he no longer fits in the bassinet of his stroller!








Tuesday, July 30, 2013

peace for 50 cents

this weekend was what i like to call the epic no fight weekend. the hubs and i had a weekend of smooth sailing. and so let this one go down in the books as that maybe one weekend in a thousand where everyone got along. you know, it's surprisingly easy to do. you just have to like be nice and stuff. also, let the wife drive, give the man some food (and coffee and sleep), don't sweat the small stuff (that one is so hard. the small stuff is the only easy stuff to sweat about man! and we all know i like things that are easy;), and eat plenty of hot dogs (but not from costco).

also, i've started fining loverboy when he tries to tell me about video games. it's surprisingly really helpful in the how-to-stay-married department. here's how it works. does your lover do something that super annoys you and they just won't believe that it annoys you? fine them every time they do it. i earned 50 cents this weekend. well, almost. you can also cut them off mid-sentence with the threat of the fine and that works even better because then you don't have to sit through the annoying thing first. i learned that one from That 70s Show (Eric owes Donna a quarter every time he starts talking about Star Wars), which is really good for the learning. for instance, the jackie is always right. (i'm the jackie.) i'm talking to you, eric. i mean, loverboy!

it was a pretty typical weekend for us, really. we let the baby wake us up at 8 and then took turns running errands while he napped. on saturday my errand was taking the dog to the park for the first time in 3.5 months. i need more sunshine in my life. then around 4 we got out of the house and went shopping for house stuff (hello ikea for the fourth time in a week!). on sunday we slept in and missed church, which let's be honest, has happened a lot in the last three months. what can i say? these babies are sleep-stealers. i made pancakes for probably the second time in my life and then remembered that i don't like pancakes so much. i think i like them, but then i don't. it's sad. i so much want to like them.

then loverboy spent four hours on our yard and i swore we would never buy a house again. loverboy swore our next house would have fewer trees and fewer snakes, and then i swore our next house would be somewhere north of the mississippi. there was a lot of swearing. ;)

all in all, it was a fine time.

...and also, kind of boring (but in a good way??). turns out, a fight-free weekend is the derivative of a boring weekend. so next time...just kidding!

who could call a weekend with these two faces boring??


i sure do love them.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

on making a home (sort of)

as i type this, it's windy in my backyard and sunny out front. probably in an hour it will start to rain again, because the weather this summer is schizo.

it's sort of what my state of mind feels like right now. during the day i've been psychotically stalking furniture websites trying to find the perfect chairs for our living room at an affordable price in between feeding, changing and playing with a baby who really deserves my full attention. come ten p.m. i am exhausted like i've just birthed a second baby. that's what this house feels like — a second baby. i know it's all i ever talk about. blah blah blah. i think i mentioned that patience isn't my strong suit? i want it to feel like a home like NOW. but with a baby, everything is sloooooooooooooow.

i think my nesting instinct that never happened when i was pregnant just kicked into hyperdrive.

my advice to all the pregnant and/or soon-to-be-pregnant people out there: get your big projects done before you have kids!

in my mind i will finally be able to relax when this house feels like a home. on a daily basis i swing wildly between wanting to just let everything lie where it is and not touch it till next summer and wanting to do everything THIS WEEKEND (every weekend i have hopes for that. and every weekend it never fails to amaze me how little progress is made).

but if there's one thing that motherhood has taught me, it's that you have to just go with the flow. by all means, stop and tickle some baby feet in the middle of ikea. take out the camera for some photos of your sweet baby sleeping with his eyes open (why??). taking the time to just be with this little man, homemaking be darned, is what life is all about these days.

from a few weeks ago:



but since i've sort of got a one track mind and really this place is bugging me, does anyone have any recommendations for good artwork? thanks!

Monday, July 22, 2013

outside at the beach

beeeeaaaaaaacccccchhhhhh!

that is the crazed call of the 30-year-old pale woman who hasn't been outside since April. truly, my skin last week was so pale i just plum disappeared against a beige wall.

you know, it seems like every time i go to target or ikea — so multiple times this past weekend — i see a baby around my baby's age, happily munching on a pacifier as they recline oh so serenely in their car seat in the shopping cart while their mom goes about their shopping leisure. meanwhile i am frantically bouncing my baby in the bjorn while he looks around in equal eager franticness, just waiting for a bouncing pause to clench his fists and arch his back in shopping frustration. why is this, baby, i ask? why do you not like the shopping? or the carseat? and he just responds with his drooly laugh cry. he has perfected that laugh cry. it makes you want to laugh and cry too.

loverboy asked me tonight what it was like to be a mom. i said it was "pretty cool." and then i changed it to "really cool." it's not always pretty, but it's real. yes, i thought of that zinger of a witticism right there in the moment. i'm also writing this at 2 in the morning because i'm fully planning to take a nap tomorrow morning. and also, no, it's much better than cool.

so, back to the beach! yes! we went to the beach! there was fresh air! and sunshine! and outside! oh my!

i never knew i could appreciate just being outside so much. when we finally got there (hello road trip with a baby who hates his car seat!), i went straight to dip my toes in the ocean for a few minutes. and it was heavenly.

loverboy and i even got to go out for a walk on the beach one night. we watched some solemn fishermen (and fisherwomen) on the pier. it was eerily quiet on that pier. apparently the ten o'clock crowd takes their fishing seriously.

we didn't take enough pictures in my opinion because my camera was acting up in the heat and humidity, but we managed to take a few with our iphones:

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cutest little ice cream cart
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i found my bliss: beach, donuts, coffee and a book. can i go back now?
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it was super smelly here. and also, i saw someone catch a shark. umm umm umm umm!
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first night out without baby together...down the beach to the pier...for 30 minutes. 
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torturing our baby at the beach
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little sailor man. 
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yes, i do feel like a movie star in this hat. and no snide comments can take that away from me, loverboy.
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my little gnome elf. 
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getting lovin' from the cousins
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pulled over, watching the rain on our what should have been a 7.5 hour trip that took 12 hours with a screaming baby car ride back home. oh baby. 


and now back to being inside...at least i have a tan.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

wilder's beach trip...at the pool

earlier this week we hit up the beach in north carolina family style. all loverboy's family on his mom's side were mostly in attendance and it was fun seeing Wilder meet all the relatives. he enjoyed having everyone cuddle and hold him. he did not enjoy being outside in the sun, but that's to be expected. when i was a kid i thought i was allergic to the sun. the beach was not my idea of fun. so he mostly spent his time inside, napping. as babies do.

but we were determined that he should like it, so we got him up early on our last day and took him out to the pool for a few minutes before it got too hot and bright outside.

these are some of my most favorite photos of him yet.





 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

photo essay from our fourth by Wilder


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well now this is just strange... 
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hey! somebody get me some food pronto!
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woa! i'll have what they're having!
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or, alright, this will do...
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you know, this place aint half bad...

Monday, July 8, 2013

how to paint *all the walls in your house



you know how when the weekend rolls around and you are so super ready to get the party started by not painting *all the walls in your house? well not me. i love painting *all the walls. i live for it!

no. no i don't.

but on the up side, it turns out that when your weekend is packed with lots and lots of painting of *all the walls in your house, a table to pick up and assemble, and an infant to feed, entertain and try to get to sleep, you can still manage to be a super grump. i know! it isn't easy, but someone's gotta do it.

seriously, the last two weekends have been painting sagas. and we've learned many things, as one does when one learns as one goes.

and now, i consider it my special commission to pass on these sage bits of advice to you:

1. cheap paint is like real butter. it don't spread. so buy the expensive paint. (and real butter, because duh).

2. buy an arm brace for the tendonitis that will surely follow painting the ceiling.

3. paint tray liners and stir sticks are not optional. and no, a piece of cardboard is not a good substitute.

4. stir your paint.

5. cut in before you roll. or go ahead, roll the wall three times. for the fun of it.

6. remember to sand your spackling jobs before you start painting. and preferably before turning the fans on too.

7. make sure the white on your walls is not whiter than the white on your trim. because then your trim will look dirty.

8. don't listen if your husband says "ok, do it your way, it seems to be working for you." instead, grab a coke from the fridge and head upstairs until the painting saga finale. where you will swoop in and take all the credit.

9. have a father-in-law who will come over and take over when the painting has become a monster who has eaten your husband's arm.

10. the level of success is heavily weighted by the trifecta of painting essentials (coke, donuts and beer).

if this doesn't spare you the painting sagas, all i can say is, i hope you at least remember number 10.

*and now to be completely truthful, because that's what blogs are for, we did not paint ALL the walls. we painted the dining room, living room and kitchen. but it is ALL the walls I am painting for AWHILE.

happy monday to you!

Friday, July 5, 2013

happy fourth!

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well, wouldn't you know that the fourth of july would fall on a rainy thursday? there should be a law against that. the city of decatur was so ticked off they postponed the fourth of july till september. seems like a drastic solution. my much more awesome idea is to give everyone friday off too! but sadly, no one asked me...

all i wanted to do for the fourth of july was find a good hot dog and maybe get a patriotic popsicle. only, you can't eat popsicles in the rain, and then i made the really great decision to go to some questionable hot dog place called Skip's near decatur, rather than following the reviews for best hotdogs in atlanta. and thus, our hot dogs were...well, sad and puny. and most definitely not real chicago dogs like they were advertised. but! we had hotdogs! and some good conversation until loverboy got bored after five minutes and wanted to go! do! stuff! okay, okay, maybe it was ten minutes. i tell ya. men and their always wanting to do stuff. can't a body just relax in a dirty, uncomfortable, fast food booth with a cheap hot dog in hand every once and again?

after a naptime and some coffee and some serenading of the baby, we went over to the grandparents house for some wings and patriotic cake (much better than a popsicle now i think about it) with loverboy's virginia relatives down for the weekend.

i think wilder really enjoyed meeting his uncle andrew. maybe uncle andrew can teach him a thing or two about being bald. ;D

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i'll have that right there.
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sad little hot dog.
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but really, can a hot dog be gourmet?
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patriotic cake! patriotic marshmallows = regular rice krispy treats.


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

my new job



yesterday would have been my first day back to work after maternity leave, but we decided i would stay at home with Wilder. this makes me so happy. it really does. i think all i've ever wanted was to have a family and be a stay at home mama. and i'm so grateful for this opportunity. even when i'm not really sure how we'll swing things financially or when it seems like i'll never get to leave the house again without paying in skipped naptimes for the rest of the day. i still love it.

but as i like to remind loverboy, it's not all fun and games. for instance, naptimes spent crying instead of sleeping. they are not fun. neither are shots. which was how we did yesterday. this mothering thing can be quite exhausting. so today, i am celebrating my new job by sitting on the couch and pondering the intricacies of the perfectly brewed cup of tea, courtesy of a lovely care package, and the bewitchery of my baby's still-blue eyes.

in other news, i have a bruised eardrum and negative pressure in my ear, supposedly from flying with a cold. also, there are mysterious bruises on my left leg that look like fingerprints. i like to think they are the battle wounds of motherhood. i'm not sure why because it's not like this baby can stand up, much less make fingerprint bruises on my leg, but still...motherhood really takes a toll on a body.

lately, this is how our mornings go:

loverboy: "he's awake." or, my favorite: "we should get him up now to keep him on his schedule."
me (having just been rudely awakened from semi-coma sleep): "huh?"
loverboy: "do you want me to hand him to you?"
me: "uh?" struggles to a sitting position and holds out arms. eyes open just enough to catch the baby.
baby: "gulp gulp gulp."
loverboy: bye!
me: zzzzz (no, but i wish)

oh yeah, this is the life.


no, but seriously, it is.

:)