Dirt and heart attacks

Why exactly have I not remembered to write as much as I used to? I missed getting my thoughts out on paper. Cheaper than therapy and less messy than gardening; although there’s quite a lot to be said about the satisfaction of picking the dirt out from under your nails while looking over a freshly cleaned flower bed and/or planters.

But anyway…

As I said, I’ve missed having this as my outlet to vent. And boy have I needed an outlet to vent.

I have been thinking a lot about the heart attacks everyone gives their parents throughout childhood lately. Growing up, I know I must have given my parents no fewer than half a dozen heart attacks (that I can think of – I’m sure they can easily count double or triple that).

While I am not entirely ready to discuss the details of what has been happening in public, I can say that the karmic powers that be have gotten me back and then some.

Luckily, the Good Lord has seen to it that the right people have been in my path and he has been great enough to answer some pretty tough prayers. Otherwise, I would have been a sobbing heap.

Finding Time

This weekend I got to reconnect with three wonderful women that I haven’t seen in what seems like ages. They are my three of my closest friends from high school. One of them had a baby shower this past Sunday. Since Aaron volunteered to watch our nieces that day, it only seemed fitting that I bring the boy with me and give Baby Girl a day in which she doesn't have to share her older cousins. 

The thing that I was most delighted by is how despite time (three years since I last saw my friends) the conversations just picked up as if no time had passed. I have to admit, the ease of the conversations kind of made me feel quite the twinge of guilt. Not sure why this happens. And it hasn't just happened with them. It's happened with several of my groups of friends. things get in the way and I kind of forget to make time for myself. I mean, don't even get me started on the last time I took a few hours to get an honest to goodness mandi/pedi. Hell, the last time I got my hair cut I was still in the second trimester with the boy.

On the up-side, the boy was a big hit. He was his usual chill self, ate well, was playful, and managed to draw quite the group of little girls. At one point I went to the bathroom and came back to a group of two little girls surrounding him. The group grew to three, then four. One little girl kept touching his face and wanted to give him kissies. I suspect he kind of liked the attention, at least he did at first. Once the group got a little too close, and a tad too grabby, he started to get a little cranky.  I told Aaron about this. He was proud of his mini ladies man.

Physical Therapy and Need for a Helmet

About four months ago, we discovered that Little Man has a touch of torticollis which we noticed because of a flat spot on his head and his tendency to favor his right side. Since then we have been working with him to try to build up the left side and we’ve been vigilant about making sure we alternate the direction we lay him in at bed time. 

Today we had our first physical therapy session. It went well. The therapist working with him said his fine motor skills are actually really great and he has great range of motion. His biggest issue is that he still does show some signs of weakness on his left side. However, it's nothing that can’t be remedied.

Later today, Aaron will be taking the little guy over to have his head measured again for a helmet to correct the flat spot. Luckily, it’s really not bad either. He’s just in range to need the helmet, and hopefully, he will only need to be in it for about six months or so. I just feel bad because I know he is going to hate it with a passion. He has a real dislike for anything on his head.

Duh!

Whoa! Two in one day…

Yes. There is one more thing that I did want to bring up—the primary reason why I wanted to actually post something, actually— and that is the fact that I am putting Aaron and myself on a diet. Aaron has had issues with his toe (he found out it’s gout) and I am just not eating right and have started to really feel it. I feel sluggish all the time and I still want to shed the pounds I gained during my first pregnancy.

So I have decided to put us on an almost vegetarian diet. By this, I mean, I am restricting us to two dinners with chicken, fish, or beef. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating beef but if it’s starting to cause issues like gout, we can do without it. I have also pretty much declared that we will not be drinking soda unless we’re having a party or something. This is a big one. Aaron pretty much grew up drinking coke over juices, milk, and water. Yep you read that right. Not that juice is the healthiest stuff in the world, but it’s better than soda. 

So far we’re doing pretty good. I’ve even started experimenting more with different grains such as farro, quinoa, barley, and millet.

So yes, I have also started making veggie and fruit shakes for us. This is basically a different way to get raw veggies in. Baby Girl loved these and Aaron didn't mind that I was throwing in raw kale. 

Phase two will be to get our ever expanding butts into some kind of workout regiment. The other night Baby Girl told Aaron and I that we have big tummies. Out of the mouths of babes...

Yep. I’ve been a bad blogger. Whoops.

So to catch up… The Little Man was born on April 3 – a whole week ahead of schedule. Apparently he had his own plans. 

What has happened since then? I honestly don’t remember. There have been loads of things that I wanted to write about and I have dozens of drafts that I started but never managed to post. Meh. But today, I decided I would get back to getting my thoughts out there. 

So the biggest thing after the birth of the Little Man, I am back to searching for a new job. My current job welcomed me back after maternity leave with a 20 percent cut to my salary. Ouch. So that was pretty much the last straw. I can understand hurting financially, but we can’t lose our house. It’s time to look for bigger and better. 

The other big struggle for me has been the balancing act between the things I can and need to do around the house. As much as I try I am still not quite getting the hang of this being a mommy to two little ones. I always feel like I have to either pay attention to them and leave the house in shambles or leave the Baby Girl to do her thing and let Little Man cry it out.

Sure Aaron helps, but there is only so much he can do. Unless it’s one of his days off, he pretty much has enough time to pick up the little ones, feeds them, eats dinner, then gets ready to head out to work. 

Heck, I am surprised the holidays came together as well as they did. Now I’m trying to get ready for Baby Girl’s third birthday. Totally threw together invitations for the kiddos at daycare and don’t even ask me what we’re getting her. I have no idea yet and her birthday is on Sunday. Yay bad Mommy!

Bad Blogger

I’ve been a bad blogger. But in my defense, I have been on the verge of either tearing my hair out or ready to tell people to piss off, so really, the idea of sitting down at a computer screen after work would not have been a good thing for anyone involved. 

So here’s another one of my famous recaps. 

I am not at week 30. I have 69 (teehee- yes, I am giggling over something completely childish, but if you’re reading this, you already know I can’t help myself) days left to go till the new little one comes along.

What’s new?

It’s a boy!

So far everything has been going as smoothly as possible. I haven’t lost feeling in my hands like I did the last time around and the morning sickness actually seems to have dissipated when the books said it would. Woohoo! 

Ooh… this weekend, Aaron took me out for a weekend of relaxing… sort of. I relaxed at a spa all day on Sunday; he gambled and played in a tournament. I don’t mind, I was overdue for some R&R and my toenails were in terrible since I haven’t been able to reach them in weeks. The down side was that I missed the Baby Girl. She went to stay with my parents for the weekend. Yes, she can be a handful but she really is the center of our world. Well, for now.  

Work… work is work and the main source of my stress and aggravation lately so I will refrain from going there. 

The family. The family is… Well— One brother and his family just lost their long-time buddy and one of the best dogs I have ever known, Benny. I will also miss him greatly. Meanwhile my other brother is going through a rough time in his marriage and it will not likely end well. Luckily my parents are doing very well. They’re just kind of doing their own thing. 

My extended family is doing very well. We’re supposed to be having Aaron’s two half-brothers out to visit us in June.  Aaron’s siblings and the two half-brothers haven’t had a close relationship for years. But then their two aunts, on separate occasions, each asked me to make them a promise to make sure Aaron keeps in contact with the two from Texas and crazy me, I kept my promise. So now after many, many years the five siblings will actually be together for a week. Happy day.

So that is pretty much the bulk of it all lately. The whole work stuff would take up its own entry and quite honestly, I don’t think I have it in me to go into it all at the moment.

Cheers!