a view of mt. baby

A little life lesson I got to give one my young women today at church:

If you see a pregnant mother, do not ask her repeatedly what is wrong
with her because she looks terrible. Instead, offer cookies.

I actually think I looked quite nice today, pregnancy and sleepiness and all.

saturday y u no monday?

I saw this a while back on the facebooks and it made me simultaneously guffaw and wince.  Especially as I get older, the later the gig or the more of my Saturday it takes up, the harder it is to get up or move the next day.  This isn't a current issue for me now, since my full-time job and current location make this point moot, but it's a truism that brings me to my next point.

I hate weekends.

The only good part about a weekend is the rush of a Friday night that isn't a "school night", and the hope of sleeping in on Saturday morning, which rarely happens.  Then there's Saturday which is always full of trying to catch up on the housework that I did all week that never appears to have been done,while simultaneously trying to keep the kids from going bonkers so maybe, just maybe, the husband can enjoy his one day off.  And then there's Sunday.  Let's just not go there.

Today deserves some kind of award, though.  The poor husband has been so stressed out lately that last night he was grinding his teeth in his sleep so loudly it actually woke me up.  And almost nothing wakes me up, although thanks to pregnancy insomnia almost nothing puts me back to sleep either.  So I sent him to the temple for some peace-getting.  The only problem is, we live in the middle of nowhere and the closest temple is in Chicago so the whole trip will take about 11 hours.  So today is.  Very weekend-y  At one point I screamed at the kids to just please, PLEASE stop trying to kill each other (in the Dude's defense, he was trying to kill her by hugging) and then marched out the door to take out the trash and my neighbors were on their porch, moving around furniture and trying their darndest to not make eye contact.  Ugh.  That's the downside to living near other humans.  They get to hear your crazy.

I was tempted to go over there and explain that I have not left the house except for grocery and school pick-ups in 4 days and my parents in China were AWOL for 3 of those days and I'm trying to potty train my 3 year old but unless I am an absolute slave to a timer it doesn't work and I'm feeling so alone and stressed out that I can hardly breathe and I also hate that I never learned how to do any kind of interior design and so my lovely house always looks like hobos are camping out in it.  Oh, and every time I look in the mirror I look older and worse and it wasn't until this morning that I realized it was because my natural hair color looks awful on me, and that it has been 6 months since I had my roots done.  That always sneaks up on me - I just start looking creepy and it doesn't occur to me why until after I have a mini meltdown in the bathroom with my sobbing at the mirror "FACE!!  Y U NO LOOK GOOD?!" and then I realize it's because my roots suck.  Getting them done doesn't fix the fact that I have the same face, but it helps out a bit.  And I need every bit of help.  But I can't get my roots done because I'm pregnant which is also not helping anything.  Also my back hurts really bad.

And that makes me yell sometimes.

I didn't go explain myself, though.  I just had a good cry on the bathroom floor instead.  I thought to myself - I HAVE to choose happiness.  Which may seem odd, as a person who will be taking anti-depressants until I die - but I really believe you can choose happiness.  I can only choose so much before I need the medication to keep me from going completely crazy, but the amount I have control over makes all the difference.  Medication can only take you so far.

But choosing happiness on a weekend when you are housewife is almost impossible. Even if you get out, someone else has to take the kids who go feral when I'm not around and the house ends up looking even more hobo-like so when you come back reality punches you in the face.  There's always Monday to look forward to.  I get 2 hours all to myself on Monday.  I just have to get past the weekend.

365 days 300-302

11-7-12

First day of potty training initiative.  It was a perfect day, until I had to head to church and both children turned into crazed puppies.   Potty training would be perfect if I never had to leave the house.

11-8-12
Day two of potty training.  Still adore the Dude, but so.   tired.

11-9-12
Day 300!  Inspiration was not my buddy today.  So pooped.

sacre blues

I don't really enjoy sitting at home watching election results because it's just too nerve-wracking.  This year I had a pretty nifty distraction lined up - a friend invited me to sit in with his blues band at the local Democratic party shindig, and it was fun to be an observer of people who were deeply involved in their local politicking.  And then I got to play some blues with a really, really sick band.     

I'd voted for some of the people they were supporting, and not for some others, and then wrote in the husband's name for every other uncontested city council seat. Everyone was so passionate and nice, and I wondered how their local GOP counterpart was celebrating.  I would have felt equally at ease at either party, but I don't think I could ever feel like I belonged to either one.  I was a little envious because I wish I could just whole-heartedly accept the platform of either party and belong.  Belonging is a nice feeling.  Especially because the party was full of aging hippies who knew how to get down and dance to the blues with reckless abandon and that's always fun to watch.

The next day I woke up to the election results and a facebook feed full of WE WON!!!  IN YO' FACE, JERKS!! and dire scriptural references predicting doom and gloom.  My picks had both lost and won, although where I live, had I voted a straight party ticket I think all my picks would have all been the winners. 

I had determined to not get too emotionally involved since I'm slightly volatile and not-so-slightly pregnant (the two are related) so I was able to keep an even keel.  I am glad I got to observe the people in the trenches though, and be thankful there are people willing to be in the trenches to keep this country going.  I'm way too emotional to ever get involved in local politics.  Can you imagine if I got a position on a board and someone disagreed with me?  I think we can all agree I'd hide under the table bawling, then bite their ankles.

 Much thanks to husband for snapping pictures.  Hopefully I didn't hit too many wrong notes and they'll let me hang out with them again.  I probably shouldn't lose my chops until AFTER all that college I took is paid for :)

the potty dance of joy

Created with cinemagr.am

I told you I was going nuts on my new iPhone.  This one app - cinemagr.am (that's a link to the few I made so far) makes cute, addicting little gifs from your videos.  And how was I supposed to resist snagging this snippet of my Dude doing his happy potty dance in his cool stars underwear around the kitchen??   Yes, I blocked off my day for today and tomorrow so I could finally attempt this potty training thing.  And only a few hours in, I'm doing the same dance.  Thanks to massive amounts of juice and snacks, he has gone to the bathroom so many times I lost count and has been asking for the potty instead of having accidents.  I have a timer, but he keeps politely asking for the bathroom before the timer goes off.  There is nothing that snazzy underpants and massive amounts of attention won't do for this adorable little boy.

This morning  a few minutes into the initiative, dear WonderGirl took on the responsibility to supervising him on his potty while I took a shower, and slipped this note under my door, complete with an aerial shot of the potty contents for me.  I didn't realize potty training would actually make me fall in love with these kids even MORE.  Pee and poop, who knew??

Now, I know this is a long haul, and tomorrow is always a new day, but today, let's all do the potty dance today, shall we?

365 days 299

 11-6-12
Ugh, this is such a boring picture.  But it's voting day and I voted.  Voted starts with a V.  Subtle, huh?

This one doesn't count, it's just a picture of me.  I'm really lucky I have a husband who loves this mug.  In my brain, I look way hotter.  I'm coming to terms with this aging thing, and that I'll never look like I'm 19 again.  I also have to come to terms with the fact that I was kind of weird looking at 19, too.

I was thinking about this earlier today.  I think I'm a grown-up.  I still don't feel it 100%, and I still look at other grown-ups like they are the actual grown ups, but I think I'm there-ish.  Maybe it's because the teens at church think I'm weirder than other teens did when I was a teen, or maybe it's because I am starting to really own this Mom thing.  I may not be a pro now or ever, but at 6 and a half I'm at least competing on the Olympic level.

But believe you me - no matter how Mom I may become - I will never be as lame as that missionary assumed I was.  Pssshhhh.

365 days 294-298

 11-2-12
Lookit that there.

 11-3-12
Forgive me, but since the husband got me a snazzy new iPhone, I am reloving the iPhone camera and apps.  Last time around there was no instagram, so I am having fun with it.  I'm not following anyone,
but if you are on it and I should follow you, lemme know!   My username is onebrickshyish.  Of course.

 11-4-12
I  was going for snapping a pic of the sexy husband cooking, but I couldn't resist giving him a snuggle instead, and neither could WonderGirl.

11-5-12
Trying to get did for the day.  I'm looking my age, and I REALLY looking today like I was woken up at 4am by an adorable little boy singing The Wheels On The Truck happily in his crib.  Blast that daylight savings time - it is NOT for parents of wee ones, that's for sure.

Pinterest Party!

So we all adore Pinterest, right?  I personally converted just about all the women at church into full Pinterest-addicts and I love seeing what they pin, then taking to them about what they actually tried.  Pinterest - it even makes conversations!  Is there anything it can't do??  One of my friends had a brilliant idea that we should have a party where everyone has to make something they found on Pinterest and another awesome friend did the hard work of actually nailing down a date and hosting it.  I used it as an opportunity to work on my photography, and since it's a slow Sunday, that's whatcha get for this post.  I wish I could add links to recipes, but wouldn't it be more fun to try and find them on Pinterest yourself?  Of course!  (heh.  laziness maintained.)

This was my contribution.  It's marshmallow popcorn - basically Rice Krispie treats but with popcorn instead of cereal.  I got it from a recipe to make popcorn balls, but this is easier, and no one got sick from it, shocker!  Although there were a few near misses of breaking teeth on unpopped kernels, but thankfully my poor cooking skills are notorious enough that the ladies approached this dish with caution and were prepared.

Caramel apple cupcakes.  I'm kind of proud of this picture, and she should be proud of these cupcakes.   Adorable AND delicious!  YUM.

This was the only thing I couldn't eat from the night - chocolate lava cake.  Pregnancy and chocolate don't work for me, ugh.  But I was assured this was heavenly.

Our hostess made this - bacon wrapped chicken.  DUDE.  SO GOOD.

This was a chicken/pasta/green salad that was just right.  We didn't plan on who should bring desserts or entrees, but we totally lucked out and there was a perfect balance.  And also, I'll eat just about anything with fresh Parmesan on it.


Oh.  my. word.  This shrimp, people.  It was the easiest recipe - nothing but melted butter, lemon, shrimp and Italian dressing mix baked for 15 minutes at 350.  I have this memorized because it was so good I went back for 3rds, finished it up and begged her to repeat the recipe until I committed this to my long term memory.  That.  good.


I didn't commit the recipe to this to memory, but I did eat like half of them.  Parmesan potatoes, thank you cheese gods.

This is out lovely hostess and the gifts she made us.  Yeah, she has 4 boys, made bacon wrapped chicken for us AND made these adorable skeleton thingys!  We're not worthy!!

Edible marker on marshmallows, white chocolate covered pretzels and brownies, all cutesy and junk.  If i can't be crafty, at least I have friends like her!

I got photography practice AND fed the most amazing meal.  We ate and had the most hilarious conversations.  Then we decided we should do this as often as possible.  I'll let you know when the next time is, you can come and enjoy too.  I may be a cruddy cook, but thank heavens I have good taste in friends!

You can totally steal this idea, by the way.  PINTEREST PARTY.  It's a thing now!

the m-word

I posted this to FB this morning:

Yes.  yes this happened.  And I am not done on this subject, so you, fair blog reader have walked right into a rant.  Luckyyyy!!

There's a few things amiss with this.  There's the assertion that all moms must obviously be completely clueless as to popular culture, but the way he said it honestly sounded like my favorite quote from the fabulous Mom Jeans SNL sketch - "You're not a woman anymore - you're a MOM!"


If we are going to be going around tossing around coolness points, this poor 20 year old kid had a deficit compared to my hard-earned coolness everything.  Wait - is it massively uncool to talk about how cool you are?  Whatever.  I'm awesomesauce.

And then there's the tiny fact that that song came out when he was 11.  I was 23.  Because I was GOING to be a mom in the upcoming years, should I have then been preemptively living under a rock in preparation of my future career?  Blarg.  Blarg, I say!

I wish I had had some witty comeback to punch the poor elder with, but instead I sputtered a whole bunch of "Huh??  What the..??" witticisms about while the husband pretended he hadn't heard anything, just to be safe.

Honestly, I was doing okay back in 2003, but I'm loving my life in 2012.  I own my choice to be in bed by 10, and I also own that I do not wear Mom Jeans and my taste in music kicks butt.

And this morning, while I was snuggling with the kids, I turned on the front-facing function of my snazzy new iPhone and nabbed this shot of the kids:

If that isn't cool I don't wanna be.  But I am, so nyah.  And then because the idea of seeing themselves on a tiny screen was so high-larious, I had to take a video of their reaction.

Why yes, I AM this awesome AND I have also expelled multiple humans from my uterus.  Shocking, huh??

not there yet

Let's take a wee break from all the picturing and go into my brain.

I'm having a human.  A boy human.  In about 4 months.  No, I don't have a name picked out.  The Dude is still sleeping in the crib that the new human will be sleeping in.  I don't remember much from my previous pregnancies, but I'm pretty sure I prepared a little.  I've never made a nursery with all the cutesiness, but I at least mentally tried to prepare.

I was planning on accepting things after I found out the gender - because then, I could have a mental image of what my family was going to look like.  And for about 24 hours I had a really great image in mind, my family of two girls and three boys.  I started picturing another little boy - and that was great - I mean, I have one boy and he is so flipping adorable it's insane.  But right about then the flipping adorable boy headbutted me.  Not because he was mad, just because some of his wires are crossed and he needs stuff like that.  It's not the hardest challenge to deal with, but it's something I have to deal with.

He has physical challenges.  WonderGirl just has emotional challenges, that actually feel something like being headbutted in the emotions sometimes (the "emotions" is located near the kidneys).  And thinking about all the headbutting made me realize this little one is going to have his own challenges.  Autism runs in the family and is definitely on the table, but so are a few other things.  I don't know if I'm up to 3 sets of challenges, and not knowing what this next child's challenges will be is making them loom and seem ginormous in my head.

So this child still isn't real in my brain (he is pretty real in my uterus though.  I have the heartburn to prove it).  Although, I was so terrified to have a boy last time I didn't really picture him in my head until he came, and then he was the most angelic little boy I'd ever met, and my fears went toodle-oo.

We have to move the Dude into WG's room at some point, so that might make this real.  Eventually.  Does anyone else spend the majority of their pregnancy terrified or in denial?

365 days 287-293

 10-26-12
I was going for a Thing picture but couldn't manage to get it to work.  So I cheated and had the husband do it for me.  Thanks, husband!

10-27-12
 I went shopping and snagged a few fabulous dresses for $8 each.  Not maternity of course, since maternity clothing is awfulhorribleterrible.  Woohoo!

10-28-12
 Sunday shots tend to be taken in bed after a long day of family time.  The Dude joined me and did MuggaMugga on my nose repeatedly.  Dagnabit he's cute.

10-29-12
Shoe.

10-30-12
Hot apple cider will get me through this winter.  And pregnancy.

10-31-12
Creeeeepy Halloweeeennnny.

11-1-12

I found a great blog with lots of b&w shots for inspiration.  So there's this.