Mall Warriors
After a good, calm, quiet morning, we are preparing to liven things up a bit by heading to the mall. The only mall in these parts is located near the attractions and is a bit of a tourist trap. I find that I am often the only person within earshot speaking English... so... it will also be a good multicultural lesson for Jack. How often do you see Germans, Brazilians, and British people all in the same food court?
I still have some gift cards from Christmas that need to get spent and I also really need to get some chick fil a in my tummy. Hopefully this will go well. I've learned the hard way that taking a toddler to the mall is totally different than taking a baby to the mall. And by different I mean HARDER.
One other thing: my oldest friend just lost her grandfather. Please think good thoughts or say a prayer for her. We love you.
Painting St. Cloud Red
We are going out tonight!! Grandpoppy is babysitting and we are going to an Irish bar (so far, the only place that we've found that we like in St. Cloud) to have dinner, have beer, and have pool.
We've never been to this place at night, much less a Saturday night, so it will be interesting to see what kind of peeps are there. We may have to ditch the place and retreat to the Chili's on the corner, eating and drinking our weights in chips, salsa, and Bud Light.
We are going to have fun!!!!
Regressing to a four month old
Sheesh. I don't know what's going on with Jack today, but he's been major grumpy all morning. Last night at 11:00, he woke up screaming and the only thing that calmed him down was a bottle of milk. This morning he was pleasant enough, until about 9:00. He suddenly got really cranky. I tried to put him in the car to take him to a park, but we didn't even get him buckled into the car seat because he threw such a huge fit. After that, I set him down on the driveway with a toy truck and figured he could play here, at home. Well, not five minutes later, he leaned over too far and bumped his head on the driveway, causing a little bump and a little abrasion. It looked like it hurt, but geez, you should have heard him. Actually, you probably did. I know all the neighbors did. He screamed bloody murder. We went back inside and the only thing that would calm him this time was Pee Wee's Playhouse.
Then it was naptime, which seemed perfect because he definitely seemed tired and that being tired was the likely cause of all the tantrums and the head bump. Well. The nap didn't go over so well at first. He threw another fit, the type where I get worried that he's gotten so worked up he's going to puke. He didn't and after I gave him a very unscheduled bottle of milk, he calmed down and went to sleep.
I hope this afternoon brings a happier child. God.
Cheerios and french fries... Miracle foods?
Well, I had a bad cold for awhile and then it seemed to go away. Then... I got a mysterious, painful, weird bout of a stomach virus. Let's just say it was awful. This has been for the past week. Well, for the past two days, I'd been slowly feeling better and then today I started getting these weird stomach cramps/ pains (this was all happening about an hour before a birthday party we were supposed to be going to) and I decided to eat some cheerios.
I immediately felt a little better. Better enough, at least, to suck it up and go to the birthday party. An hour later, we are at the bowling alley birthday party and someone hands me Jack's grilled cheese and fries... his complimentary birthday party bowling alley dinner. I eat some of the fries... suddenly I feel better than I have in two freakin' weeks!
Maybe it's just coincidence and I was already getting well. Or maybe... french fries are amazing healers wrapped in a crispy, fried, salty wrapper or goodness.
Anyway, I am happy.
In other news, Keith and Jack seemed to have a great weekend. They went out and about a lot to give me time to rest. Jack is doing great and talking up a storm. Keith is also doing great and talking up a storm.
An Open Letter to the Dying Bird
Dear Dying Bird,
First, let me start off with by saying that I'm sorry you're dying. It is unfortunate and I would have never wanted this for you. There was a time when I would have put on shoes, gotten a flashlight and gone looking for you to see if I could help you.
But I am now a mother getting over a bad cold and need every single precious minute of sleep possible. It is simply unacceptable to start squawking right outside of our bedroom window at one am, only to continue to do so all the way up until seven am. I don't know if you know this, but that means that we got absolutely no sleep last night. It is also cruel to squawk consistently for hours, only to stop for about ten minutes here and there, leading us to foolishly believe you've A. died or B. somehow gotten better and flown away.
Again, I'm sorry for your lot in life, I'm sorry that you've been resigned to squawking all night long, withering away, but I swear to god, if you do this again tonight, I will come looking for you and it will be for the sole purpose of putting you out of your misery. (Think baseball bat... no, I'm not kidding... I get a little crazy when I'm this tired.)
Sincerely,
SueBaby
Sick again...
The holiday weekend was a bit of a bust. Friday morning I woke up feeling like crap and proceeded to spend the entire weekend with a cold. Keith assumed all Jack and household duties while I slept in and tried to get better. We did squeeze in a quick trip to Leu Gardens with Grammy and Grandpoppy, but that's about it. Disappointing indeed, as three day weekends don't come around too often.
Not much else to report. Hope everyone is well.
Blog apathy, a bad connection, and more JW adventures
I have been feeling guilty about my lack of blogging. Part of it is that I'm having a hard time finding time to do it, another part is a bit of apathy... I guess the blog novelty has worn off, and the other part is that we have a very bad (sometimes nonexistent) internet connection and sometimes, when I actually have the time, I don't have the connection.
Anyway, a little JW update. When was this? Saturday? I don't know for sure and I'm already getting ahead of myself.
The JW's have been out in full force, specifically two young boys (maybe 16?) on their bikes. They often frequent the house next door to us and then a few weeks ago, they rang our doorbell.
They, of course, were just as sweet as they could be, and asked if they could talk to me about Jesus Christ. I politely said that I really didn't want to talk about this with them and then I told them that I did not want them to come back. They were equally polite and went on their way. Ahhh. All done. Uh, no.
So! I guess it was Saturday afternoon and they were back. Their specific goal was clearly to talk to our neighbors, as they showed up, knocked, rang the bell, and proceeded to wait for our not- home- neighbors for like 20 minutes! Keith and I were watching this and were a little confused as to why they were... for lack of a better term, loitering.
Meanwhile, Jack's naptime approached, we put him in his crib and he fell asleep. The JW's continued to stand around our neighbors house, even sitting on the floor of their back patio. Also, everytime they passed by the door or one of our windows, they peeked in. Now we're both starting to get pissed.
Finally, they rang our bell. BAD DECISION! Keith and I answered the door, both very annoyed. Now, one of the reasons I asked the JW's not to come back is because I don't want to talk to them about Jesus Christ. The other reason is that Jack takes naps and if you happen to ring our doorbell while he's napping, he usually wakes up. Rather than explain that to the JW's the first time they came by, I just told them I didn't want them to come back. Silly me, I assumed telling someone not to come back to my home would be enough.
Anyway, back to the ringing doorbell. We answered the door together and looked at them expectantly. I think both of them were sorry they rang the bell as soon as we opened the door. Then they asked if they could use our phone to call the neighbors, as apparently, the neighbors told them to come by at this time and then are nowhere to be found. "No," was our answer. Then we told them that I'd already told them not to come back so what were they doing here? And this time I did explain that part of that reason was because of our sleeping one year old.
They appeared to feel very bad. They apologized profusely and left. I've not seen them in the neighborhood since.
I really don't have anything against JW's or in believing in something. I really don't like to make people feel bad. But! It pissed me off that they chose to ring our bell, after I'd specifically asked them not to come back. It would piss me off if anyone did this.
I am assuming that since they were really only asking to use our phone, instead of talking about religion, they probably felt that it was ok to bother us. Maybe they are lacking in common sense or something. I never would make this type of leap in logic, so I really don't know what they were thinking.
And that's where the story ends.
Although, I'd like to thank Jesus because that time, the ringing doorbell did not wake Jack.
Happy Birthday, Kelly and a rambling on the treatment of young women in our society... yes, I digressed.
I don't know how many of you are still reading this blog, as I've been very unmotivated and not writing much lately, but if you are, please take a minute to wish my oldest friend, Kelly, a Happy 30th Birthday today!!!
Kelly turning thirty means it will soon be my turn. Her birthday is three months before mine. I am ok with this, I think. Lots of people talk about all the big birthdays like they are to be dreaded or something... but I have been looking forward to thirty for years.
In a world where I've often been treated as helpless or unable to do things all by myself (because I am a small, quiet female,) I've been hoping for a long time that by turning thirty, I will officially be an adult and will be treated as such.
"Just a Girl" by No Doubt should be playing in the background.
I also hope that as many of my friends are either nearing or recently passed birthday, that this is the case for them as well.
Yes, I can drive all by myself at night, in the rain. Yes, I can do the math to figure out the tip. Yes, I can pump my own gas
and open my own car door. Yes, I can buy a cheap piece of furniture from Target and put it together all by myself.
Sometimes I do need a little help opening a jar. I am small.
