Friday, February 25, 2011
The Sweetest Gift- A barking dog?
So apparently, my little man was holding out on me. A few weeks ago I got him to 'laugh' a couple times by tickling his chin. By laugh I mean a Tyra Banksish smile with his eyes and faint 'ha ah'. Monday night however; we found out what his real laugh sounds like. We were sitting in the living room with a student who was visiting the university Micha works for. Her flight didn't leave for a few hours so we took her out to dinner. Before we left, we were hanging out and Lily the Destroyer was kind of bothering her. Micha, who had Charlie in his lap, got one of Lily's toys and she started barking. Charlie jumped at first and then, clear as day, laughed. Really laughed. It was the cutest thing! We were all so amazed that instead of telling Lily to shut up like we usually do, we encouraged her to bark away!
Friday, February 18, 2011
LIG
The Problem
Over the course of the last few weeks, I've been pretty, well, bitchy. I feel as though I am always either taking care of Charlie or doing housework. I'm certain that this is not an unusual feeling but I do have a partner and a twelve year old at home. I shouldn't have to do everything myself! I'd like a few minutes to do something for me! Needless to say there has been a lot of yelling, bickering and snapping going on at our house. And that's the problem. I'm yelling and getting mad, before I've asked for help. Now don't get me wrong, I think it is absurd that I would have to ask someone to take out the garbage or the recycling when it is obvious that it's full to the brim and overflowing, but if no one notices I should first say "Will someone please take that out?" instead of "Why the hell hasn't anyone taken that out? I know you know it's full. I just saw you smashing it down so you could stuff one more thing in there! Just take the trash out, geez!" But I'm tired and I tend to forgo all pleasantries when I'm tired and what should be a simple request turns into a shouted order and expression of my exasperation at the situation. So I'll admit it, part of the problem is me.
I'm sort of picky about how the house is kept. I hate to come home to a mess, so I feel like I have to have everything in order before I go to bed at night. This usually takes until 11 pm or midnight and since I have to get up with the baby at least once and then be up and starting my day around 4:30 am, I'm getting very little sleep during the week. And my pickiness extends through the whole house, even the garage. Ok, so maybe the other part of the problem is me too. I guess that means I have to be the solution.
The Solution
LIG; Let it go. I've resolved to just let a few things go. Mumbles room can be a little messy as long as it gets cleaned really well once a week, as with the basement. The garage, well as long as I can pull my car in, why should I care if it's a wreck? A couple of nights a week, I'll just let the dishes sit until the next day and if I don't do anything before I go to bed, LIG. It isn't as if the laundry or the dishes are going to go anywhere. And who's gonna judge me? Micha? Lily the Destroyer? I don't think so. Somethings, like washing diapers, I have to stay caught up on, but everything else can wait. In fact, I'm LIG of a little inventory project at work right now....
Another part of LIG, has to do with 'stuff'. I'm a bit of a shopaholic. I have a hard time passing up a good sale. So I end up buying a lot of things that I 'need' because I got a 'good deal'. I looked in my closet the other day and I didn't see clothes. I saw a hospital bill, our phone bill, a months worth of groceries and it bothered me. Micha said "I've never said anything to you. It makes you happy," but it doesn't. I had very little and I never shopped after I had Mumbles and I was happy. If I could live without all the 'stuff' back then, I could do it now. Money is tight and stressing us out so I'm giving up shopping, at least until we are back on track. I haven't laid out all the ground rules yet but it's happening, and it's tough. I took my ring to be sized at Zales the other day and walked by Banana Republic and they were having a clearance sale. I thought to myself "I'll just look..." but I never 'just look' so I kept walking.It's kind of liberating in a way; to know that I can restrain myself and that if everything were gone tomorrow, it would be ok. I've got the people and the memories to hang on to, rather than the crap that's filling my house. So, be sure and keep your eye out for our garage sale the first weekend in May ;)
Over the course of the last few weeks, I've been pretty, well, bitchy. I feel as though I am always either taking care of Charlie or doing housework. I'm certain that this is not an unusual feeling but I do have a partner and a twelve year old at home. I shouldn't have to do everything myself! I'd like a few minutes to do something for me! Needless to say there has been a lot of yelling, bickering and snapping going on at our house. And that's the problem. I'm yelling and getting mad, before I've asked for help. Now don't get me wrong, I think it is absurd that I would have to ask someone to take out the garbage or the recycling when it is obvious that it's full to the brim and overflowing, but if no one notices I should first say "Will someone please take that out?" instead of "Why the hell hasn't anyone taken that out? I know you know it's full. I just saw you smashing it down so you could stuff one more thing in there! Just take the trash out, geez!" But I'm tired and I tend to forgo all pleasantries when I'm tired and what should be a simple request turns into a shouted order and expression of my exasperation at the situation. So I'll admit it, part of the problem is me.
I'm sort of picky about how the house is kept. I hate to come home to a mess, so I feel like I have to have everything in order before I go to bed at night. This usually takes until 11 pm or midnight and since I have to get up with the baby at least once and then be up and starting my day around 4:30 am, I'm getting very little sleep during the week. And my pickiness extends through the whole house, even the garage. Ok, so maybe the other part of the problem is me too. I guess that means I have to be the solution.
The Solution
LIG; Let it go. I've resolved to just let a few things go. Mumbles room can be a little messy as long as it gets cleaned really well once a week, as with the basement. The garage, well as long as I can pull my car in, why should I care if it's a wreck? A couple of nights a week, I'll just let the dishes sit until the next day and if I don't do anything before I go to bed, LIG. It isn't as if the laundry or the dishes are going to go anywhere. And who's gonna judge me? Micha? Lily the Destroyer? I don't think so. Somethings, like washing diapers, I have to stay caught up on, but everything else can wait. In fact, I'm LIG of a little inventory project at work right now....
Another part of LIG, has to do with 'stuff'. I'm a bit of a shopaholic. I have a hard time passing up a good sale. So I end up buying a lot of things that I 'need' because I got a 'good deal'. I looked in my closet the other day and I didn't see clothes. I saw a hospital bill, our phone bill, a months worth of groceries and it bothered me. Micha said "I've never said anything to you. It makes you happy," but it doesn't. I had very little and I never shopped after I had Mumbles and I was happy. If I could live without all the 'stuff' back then, I could do it now. Money is tight and stressing us out so I'm giving up shopping, at least until we are back on track. I haven't laid out all the ground rules yet but it's happening, and it's tough. I took my ring to be sized at Zales the other day and walked by Banana Republic and they were having a clearance sale. I thought to myself "I'll just look..." but I never 'just look' so I kept walking.It's kind of liberating in a way; to know that I can restrain myself and that if everything were gone tomorrow, it would be ok. I've got the people and the memories to hang on to, rather than the crap that's filling my house. So, be sure and keep your eye out for our garage sale the first weekend in May ;)
Laughable
The sweetest sound I've ever heard, I heard Wednesday, February 9th. Charlie laughed. I was changing his diaper and blowing raspberries on his neck and clear as day he laughed, twice. No one else was around, it was just the two of us. It is one of those memories that will stick with me forever. I have them of Mumbles too, but they are just a little fuzzy now. What I wouldn't give to have had the video camera going right then!
Snownami 2011
I hate snow! Seriously, I'm so over winter. I'm desperately looking forward to throwing open all the windows, giving the house a good scrub down and getting rid of a lot of junk. Unfortunately, Old Man Winter has different ideas. We got somewhere around 9" of snow Tuesday evening. So for two whole days we were home bound. Being stuck at home taught me a couple of things (besides that I hate snow, which I already knew) 1) I hate my job and 2) a little elbow grease brings Mumbles and I together.
Point number one, when I was on maternity leave, I couldn't wait to get back to work. Now that I'm back at work, I'd really like to go back on maternity leave. The grass is always greener, right? I really liked being at home just doing the things that make a household run, hell I even helped prepare a meal or two. It's definitely more interesting than what I'm doing at work right now (nothing).
Point number two, even when Mumbles and I are seemingly at odds with one another (an occurrence more frequent now that she is a 'tween and therefore knows everything) a little hard work never fails to bring us together. Truth be told the work doesn't even have to be that hard although shoveling 6 ft of snow out of our driveway definitely was hard (ok that might be a slight exaggeration but seriously it was, like, waist deep).
At any rate, whenever she and I work together on anything; cleaning the house, a project at school, we seem to get along beautifully.
Point number one, when I was on maternity leave, I couldn't wait to get back to work. Now that I'm back at work, I'd really like to go back on maternity leave. The grass is always greener, right? I really liked being at home just doing the things that make a household run, hell I even helped prepare a meal or two. It's definitely more interesting than what I'm doing at work right now (nothing).
Point number two, even when Mumbles and I are seemingly at odds with one another (an occurrence more frequent now that she is a 'tween and therefore knows everything) a little hard work never fails to bring us together. Truth be told the work doesn't even have to be that hard although shoveling 6 ft of snow out of our driveway definitely was hard (ok that might be a slight exaggeration but seriously it was, like, waist deep).
At any rate, whenever she and I work together on anything; cleaning the house, a project at school, we seem to get along beautifully.
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