Brought to you by Home Depot and Publix...
The Home Depot and Publix thing is a joke Keith and I have been making for a long time. Every time there's a hurricane, HD and Publix step up and start advertising like crazy during every commercial break during the news. As if they don't already make millions on bottled water and plywood and generators every September. Shameless. I'm not saying that people don't need to buy these things and be prepared, but stop pushing it in our faces. Everybody in Florida knows where to buy batteries and canned soup.
This Ernesto thing is getting ridiculous. It's like, the only thing on the radio or tv here. IT'S A TROPICAL STORM!! I mean, we have a baby and am hoping not to lose power tomorrow, as it's about 100 degrees every day, but people are freakin out. Unless, maybe... is it possible that there's ANOTHER Ernesto? One I don't even know about? And THAT Ernesto is a "Cat 5" (Thank you, Weather Channel guy who wears the black baseball cap)? If so, we're in trouble.
Ugh... I am hoping that they close schools tomorrow, because then Keith will be home with us. That would be nice.
Be safe, Floridians...
Ernesto, Shmernesto
There's a hurricane a-comin'. Well, I guess it's a T.S. right now... but it will probably get back to Hurricane strength in a few days. Last I heard, they said it could be a Category 3 when and if it hits. OK, that's big, but not too bad. I mean, that's no Andrew or Charley or Rita. So, we'll see. In the meantime, I guess it's time to go buy some water and baby stuff.
The weekend with my family went SO WELL. I think we all had a great time. My parents are so great... my stepdad is so good with Jack and it was just so nice to see my mom. I am hopeful that we will be getting together more often now that they are settled in their new place.
Now that the family time is over, Keith and I are in a mad scramble to get stuff done to open our business. It is supposed to be up and running in about a week, so we are VERY busy trying to get set up.
What else... Jack's birthday quickly approaches as well, as does a glorious three day weekend next weekend. I can't wait.
Jack is either getting good at standing and reaching up high or he is tall. Or both. He is starting to be able to reach up, hold on to things like desks and tables and then grab things off of said desks and tables. Awww, cute.
Other than that, we are having a perfectly pleasant Friday. We spent the morning at the park where we saw Helen, this old lady who babysits these two little girls. They go to the little playground everyday. Jack and I go once or twice a week. Jack loves it. We go right before his nap so he'll be good and tired when we get home. This results in a consistently tired screaming child leaving the playground. THIS results in the St. Cloudians looking at me like, What is wrong with that baby/ mother?
From there we have been cleaning fools in preparation for Jack's grandparents' visit. Actually the house wasn't too bad, so it's not been a huge job, which is good because Jack wouldn't have that anyway.
Not much else to say. I hope everyone has a good weekend.
Sad stuff and exciting stuff
It's been a hard past few weeks for a few people I know. A lot of people seem to suddenly be going through some big stuff... death, divorce, etc. I'm the lucky one this time, as everything is fine, if not chaotic in our home. I just want those people to know that I'm thinking of them.
My parents are coming this weekend. This of course, is not sad. They will be seeing our new home, new place of business (it's almost ready!) and Jack, for pretty much, the first time, since he really became a person. I say this because the last time they saw him, he was three months old and wasn't doing a whole lot other than crying. Which, of course, he didn't do while they were here (if memory serves).
Anyway, Jack is like a real little toddler/ kid now, with toys and tv shows that he likes and food that he likes. He does certain little things to tell us when he's tired. He has little friends and places he likes to go. He has his own little life now. I'm excited for my parents to hopefully learn some of these things about him. It's not the same trying to explain that kind of stuff in a blog or over the phone. That's the kind of stuff you just have to experience with a little kid or a baby in order to really know about them.
I also am excited for Jack to finally get to spend a little time with someone
I'm related to. Jack spends most of his time when he's not with us with Keith's family. Jack has only met my brother twice, my father once, and my parents twice. Luckily, once we got to hang with Mr. and Mrs. Littlejeans, too. That totals up to six visits in his whole life with people that I'm related to. Ugh!
And, of course, there's always the option to take Jack to see them. Well, that's not so easy right now. There's the issue of time away from work and from the business (which is taking just about every free minute either of us have right now). My parents and brother live in North Carolina. And, to be honest, I'm just not up for loading Jack and all the things he will need, on a plane to go to a strange place and stay with people he really doesn't even know yet. Jack couldn't even make it back from Tampa without a Huge Scream Fest. And it only takes an hour and a half to get to Tampa. So, I won't be putting myself, Jack, Keith, and all the other people on the plane through hell to get to North Carolina. It will be a much different story when Jack grows up a little bit.
So... I think it will be good for Jack, although he won't really get that it's family right now... he's too little. But maybe over time, if he's able to spend more time with them, he'll get to know them and remember them. I think that would be great.
It's exciting....
Speaking of Sesame Street...
Keith and I have made a discovery. We are going to truly be together forever. We know this because we just realized that we are very much like another famous together forever couple... Bert and Ernie.
Keith is obviously Ernie, and I am obviously Bert. And Jack is Rubber Ducky.
You know you're a mom when...
1. You clean out your purse and at the bottom of it, along with six pennies, you find a random Cheerio and a baby spoon.
2. You leave the house to go to the movies with your husband only to look down and notice you've got baby poop on your thumb.
3. You and your child have both eaten a Cheerio or two (or ten) off the floor.
4. You have been in public without knowing there was baby food on your face.
5. You know all the songs from the Wiggles, Doodlebops, and the theme song to Higglytown Heroes.
6. You begin to remember why you loved Sesame Street so much.
7. Sleeping late becomes sleeping until 7:00am.
8. You seriously consider killing the neighbor kids who are playing outside when your baby is sleeping.
9. You are suddenly able to clean your house, top to bottom, in one hour (exactly how long your baby naps).
10. Poop, pee, vomit, boogers, earwax, rectal thermometers, and spitup just aren't big deals anymore.
11. You have forgotten what it's like to drive at night.
12. You are TIRED.
Can anyone think of anymore? Please comment!
Jack turns 11 months!
If you read Keith's blog, you probably already know that our little family ventured out of Orlando this past weekend for the first time since Christmas. It was a 90% success. Jack was great on the way to Tampa, great in Tampa, great at the baby shower, but not so great in the car on the way home from Tampa. Poor guy. I was about done, too, at that point. We'd spent a huge portion of the day in the car, and when we weren't in the car, we were outside in the heat.
But, we made it and I am very proud of us. Driving to Tampa isn't such a big deal, but it was for us when we had the Sultan in the car.
Our next big event is having my parents come to town and visit. This will be happening in less than two weeks. They haven't seen Jack since he was three months old, and I have told Jack to temporarily stop growing so that he won't get any bigger than he already is before they see him. This is very exciting stuff. They will only be here for about a day and a half, so we will need to make the most of the time.
Other big news...
Jack turns 11 months today. I already bought party decorations for next month's big bash. I am getting very excited about making the switch from formula to regular milk, which is done when a baby turns one. I have never done the math to see quite how much we've spent on formula this year (that would just be depressing) but I know that a can lasts about a week, maybe a week and a half and it's $23. per can. Easy math, but I still refuse to compute it. And if you love me, you won't either. And if you don't love me and you do the math, don't EVER tell me the amount.
I am also happy to report that we are halfway through August and have not been hit by any hurricanes... yet.
bad mama
So, today we meet with the neurosurgeon to review Jack's MRI results. Hopefully, this goes well. And, of course, today is the day that while sitting on the floor, he rears backward and bangs his little (big) head on the CORNER of two walls. Needless to say, there's a nice purply lump on his head. Good timing. I say this because the dr. always makes this big production about feeling the shape of Jack's head. So, I'm going to have to tell him to be careful not to touch the bruise and then explain to the dr. why I'm a neglectful mom and my son has a bruise on his head. Ugh.
It's 808
I remember a few years ago, I had a friend who had a baby. And I remember her being sad when she noticed that her daughter (about a year old at the time) was growing regular kid-like leg hair. I remember being like, "whatever, crazy mom." Well, Jack has begun growing regular kiddie leg hair. No more baby hair. And I'm sad. Which is a funny feeling, considering I haven't exactly been a big fan of 99% of "the baby stage". It's weird when you miss or feel sentimental about something you really didn't enjoy all that much. Not to say I hated it, but I definitely think I'll be enjoying the years to come a hell of a lot more.
Bye bye baby. First birthday is a little over a month away.
One Milllion Dollars!!!!!
I can't believe there are people out there that don't like Austin Powers... who ARE you people?! Well, I know who you are, Wendi. No giggles while watching Dr. Evil? Come on! This is baffling to me.
Anyway... so the third and (hopefully for awhile) final MRI was this morning. I didn't blog about it beforehand because I just didn't want to talk about it. I guess I'm getting used to it because I hadn't even really given it much thought this week anyway. This one was WAY better... first of all, it was very fast because it was a simpler MRI and Jack didn't need to be sedated, so he didn't need to fast. Yes! Jack was so so good... Keith went in with him and said Jack was scared, but he just kept looking at Keith and he was ok. That boy loves his daddy. AND!! I didn't get bird flu this time. I enjoyed that part immensely. We have our follow up appointment on Wed. afternoon... hopefully, we will again get good news of the "wait and see" variety.
We have a busy weekend coming up, full of working on the business and hopefully getting to see Ricky Bobby with Steffie Jayie. We also have to go car shopping because the 11 year old toyota is officially starting to crap out. It's a little scary to go buy a car when you're starting a business, but what are you gonna do? Not have a car? Not in St. Cloud!
I'm a little punchy since we got up at 5:30 to get to our appointment on time. Jackie's taking his nap and I think I'll go lay down too. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
ugh...
The screaming fit lasted for thirty minutes. All in protest of a nap. Which, ironically, is the one thing I want more than anything.
