Monday, March 31, 2014

Tiiiime Is Not On My Side, No It's Nawt

 Things I have been spending my time on....

Obsessively watching Lightroom 5 tutorials and trying to learn how to edit pictures.  So many steps. So many options. I can spend 1 hour on 1 stinking picture but then we get a gem like this one. I dodged some areas that were too shaded. I enhanced iris. I enhanced whites of eyes. I sharpened face. I color corrected. I straightened my hair part (just kiddin). On and on and oooonnnn.

Converting Wyatt's crib to a toddler bed.  I love watching his behavior on the monitor. It's like a personality analysis and science experiment all in one. Day 1, Nap...he climbed out of bed, climbed back in, climbed out of bed, opened his door, climbed back in, climbed out of bed, walked into living room, looked so busted. I told him to go take his nap and he ran in there and slammed the door and hopped back in bed. Went to sleep.  When he woke up he called "opeeen da door" while standing in his bed like he can't get out.  Day 1, Night ..everything is fine but he still didnt realize he can get out of bed and come find me on his own. Day 2, Nap...straight to sleep and called for me to come get him.  Ha ha.  He is not a limit tester.  I do have a fear that somehow someway he would be able to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night.

Kate has her daddy's allergy problems I guess. She was not really able to sleep last night because she couldn't breathe laying down. Not sure why it took me until about 2:30 AM to try putting her in the baby swing again but it worked like a charm.  She was all propped up and breathing good. I repeated this for some quality naps again today.  I keep looking at the monitor that is focused on her crib and I am all "WHERE IS THE BABY" oh yeahhh. In the swing.  She is 5 months now - can ya believe it?


 

Work is good again as of last week. I got back on the wagon and caught up on my code reviews. I even have some time for some self improvement to be a better code reviewer.  Reading through my "SCJP 6" book again and checking out some "Wicket in Action". 

With the rest of my free time last week I scrubbed the toilets, vacuumed the floors, scrubbed the couch cushions, vacuumed under the couch cushions, sanitized the bathrooms...like real cleaning. Luckily I won't have to repeat this for another 5 months or so. Hunter and Wyatt mopped the kitchen for me too.  My usual bathroom cleaning routine consists of me wiping the sink with the cotton ball I used to clean my face.  Ha ha.

Yup. That is it.  That is what I have been doing with my free time.  All 3 hours a day of it.  The other 21 hours continue to be filled with diaper changes and feedings, dinner prep, dragging toys from the garage to the back yard and vice versa, working, sleeping, and laundrying.

So what other boring details of my life would you like to hear more about?  I can attempt to write another post or two this week.

  • The tractor playlist I created that Wyatt loves and listens to 3 times a day? I can burn you a copy.
  • New hair products and styling tools that even I can figure out how to use
  • 17 ways to eat spinach in one week (I should be popeye strong after last week)
  • My new workout plan I am following
  • Essential oils that I am trying so I can fit in with other SAHMs
  • None of the above

Friday, March 21, 2014

Tiny Town Happenins

So at the Sonic this week we had quite the experience.  Me and the neighbor gal decided to meet up at the Sonic for lunch time so the big kiddies could play, so the babies could roll around on a blanket, and so we could chat and eat tots.  This Sonic is known for bad customer service (at least in the mama group) but there is a playground with a fence that you can lock your kids in so it is forgivable.

So picture 4 car seats and 4 babies (3 triples and 1 single) rolling on the ground at the Sonic picnic area in the little center area.  Picture the amount of work that is required to keep that moving.  Picture the amount of times we have to yell "don't throw sand" or "dont climb up the slide" to the big kids on the playground. Then picture a stray dog walking up and sniffing the babies because we really needed more to worry about. 

THEN a John Deere mower rolls on up to the sonic with a little girl in pink earmuffs and pink boots and a grandpa.  They cut it off and place their order.  I really wanted to run over and take a picture at this point but thought it might be weird. At this time, Wyatt is fascinated.  He requests to come out of the caged playground to watch the mower.   Just our luck....after they get their food...they crank the mower and roll on over to our area to picnic and playground.  Picture the dust cloud and noise as the mower parks right in front of us.  Poppy and lil girl hop off the mower and the usual "that is a lot of babies" "are they twins" "omg triplets" ruckus that my neighbor hears every time she does anything occurs.  Turns out the dog wasn't a stray...its just ol Lucy.  Lucy moves faster than the mower and beat her owners to the spot. 

We are now balancing talking to the chattiest poppy EVER, keeping Lucy away from the babies, and handling the 6 kids...balancing bathroom visits, eating tots, flipping babies over back to tummy, diapers, bouncing, burping etc.  Do we leave? Heck no...this is the most social interaction we ever get during the day.

Well turns out poppy was county commissioner for 19 years. They found a tumor the size of a grapefruit on his brain stem and he survived it but hasn't been able to drive since.  He takes his mower everywhere.  But he doesn't cross the major highway because that would just be silliness.  He asked me if I knew quite a few people from my hometown and I am sad to say I didn't.  He asked my neighbor if she knew quite a few people from her hometown.  Same story.  We didn't pay attention to family names when we were younger.  He guaranteed that my neighbor had the only triplets in our town.  Believe it or not there were triplets in his family.  What a hoot.  Poppy hopped up off the picnic bench in his coveralls to retrieve his grand daughter.  His coveralls had quite the hole in the waistband. I am pretty sure he was keeping things cool in there with no additional layers.  He offered to wait for us to load the kids up before cranking his mower but we let him know it would take all day.  He did seem to know everybody at the Sonic and everybody passing through the Sonic (its on the way to the Dollar General maybe??).  Poppy, see ya next time.  Looking forward to it.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Hall Pass

I am taking a hall pass on everything this week. I am wandering around aimlessly and never checking in for long on any one thing. My downward spiral started on Sunday with an infection, fever, and me huddled under a blanket with layers of clothes on.

I felt much better on Monday, but I drove to the big city to go see my old knee surgeon.  Talk about a way to feel old.  When did you have your surgery? Ohh about 15 years ago.  What sports do you play? Ohhh I just cook, clean, sit at a computer, and chase 2 kids.  BUT I do run 1 to 2 times a week and do the Jillian Michaels "Once a Week Shred".    At the appointment I learned I have bone spurs, kneecap displacement issues, and some quad failure caused by kneecap issues (I cannot jump in the air on that one leg).  I made one physical therapy appointment and I am hoping the rest can turn into at home.  They said try therapy, and then injections and surgery next steps.  Not sure if I am worthy of any of that but we will see.

I followed that up with almost no hours of work logged this week.  Minimal cooking. Absolutely no cleaning.  Sometimes getting dressed.  Maybe fixing my hair. Always brushing my teeth.  I had pizza for breakfast yesterday and sonic for lunch??!!  I need a do-over week (don't tell my bosses). 

You know how I can tell I feel guilty?  I hear a lot more phantom baby cries than usual.  You know..those cries when you are taking a shower or your baby is napping and you go check and there were no cries just sweet snoozing.  Please tell me other people hear phantom baby cries.

Whew.  Now I feel better.  Going to login to work for 5 minutes.  See if I can find some more leftover pizza (kidding kidding). 

A scene from our 1 hour walk around the block. 
Swinging!






Sunday, March 9, 2014

Lose An Hour of Sleep Day

How did you celebrate national lose an hour of sleep day? We took a family trip to Wal Mart and I got to go on a run by myself. <<The Wal Mart had a new flavor of Blue Bell Sea Salted Caramel.  Go get this one!>> I tucked Wyatt into bed 30 minutes earlier than usual and he fell for it.  Ha ha.  Luckily, next week is spring break so I have all week to get him adjusted to the time.  Kate and I are just going to bumble along in our normal sorta schedule/routine I guess.

This is how Wyatt wakes us up now.  In a very ghostlike voice he says "oopeeeeen da doooor"  "oopeeeen da dooor".  "OPEN THE DOOR MOM!"  If I happen to be sitting in the living room half asleep trying to feed a baby it kinda scares me.  Maybe that is also because I started watching Walking Dead.  I can't help it.  I love survival type books / movies / tv shows.   The zombie stuff is just a side show.

Wyatt is a total daddy's boy until something doesn't go his way and then he is all "I want mommy".   In the evenings, I am sometimes told to go back in the living room so he and dad can play without me.   I'm so crushed.  Dad is also the lucky winner for "read books"  aka put to bed.  I usually celebrate by folding clothes or logging into work. 

So Wyatt's popularity rankings are 1. iPad 2. Daddy 3. Mommy. 4. Kate. One Friday Hunter got home early from work, so he went to get Wyatt out of his bed when he woke up.  The first thing he sad was "hey dad where is your ipad?"  I guess we will never be able to compete with something that can let him play Caillou games, color Thomas the Train, and play Mighty Machines episodes. 

Somebody has been teaching him way too much stuff about babies.  Maybe there is a toddler app for that and he downloaded it?  He had some interest in understanding Baby Kate and belly bobos.  He wanted to know where the hole was that Baby Kate came out of.  Of course,  I showed him my belly button.  Of course, I couldn't stop laughing so he will repeat the question frequently. 

Somebody remind me when the post pregnancy hair fall out stops?  I forget how long I must endure.  Time to brush out my lose hairs, feed a baby, and tuck myself in.  Nighty night. 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Kate - 4 Months


Kate weighs 12 lbs and 10 oz now.  She is 23&1/2" long.  She is 50th percentile for all her stats.





She smiles. She laughs. She coos. She rolls tummy to back. She falls asleep on her own (faster than rocking her with a terrific two year old running around). She is always happy right when she wakes up.







She is never happy when she gets tired. She almost jumps into her bed and closes her eyes. She will drift happily off to sleep in a stroller. She doesn't like the first 3 minutes in her car seat. She is still not a fan of noisy places. She still wakes me up in the 3 to 5 am range at night.





She loves to smile at people now...especially big brother.  She can grab some toys and move them to her mouth. She likes to watch the chaos of big kids playing. She is so sweet. She is growing too fast. She is 4 months old (and a few days)!




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