Best friends in the making.
23 February 2010
17 February 2010
Nash's Nook
We decided to make our guest room into a shared nursery. We weren't quite ready to give up our guest room completely, but we also didn't think it would work for the boys to share a room yet. The space is a little crowded and Nash's section is literally just a nook of the room, but we made it work. I actually rearranged the furniture and put the crib together the day before Nash was born. Maybe that was what put me into labor! Talk about finishing just in time though. I tried to coordinate the baby items with what we already had in the room so it's nothing too cute or exciting, but I added a few things to make it more nursery-like.
I couldn't find a crib sheet in the color I wanted, so we made our own over the holidays (by "we" I mean I picked out the fabric and my mom did all the sewing).
This mobile turned out to be a nightmare to make, but I love the end result! I thought it would be a simple afternoon project but it ended up taking much longer. The strands got completely tangled while in production, I had to completely disassemble the entire thing and re-glue all of the circles when they kept falling off, and it took two entire movies just to tie the ribbons on. I thought about throwing it away several times. It truly was a labor of love.
We squeezed in the rocking chair and made the dresser into a makeshift changing table.
Voila, Nash's nook! Now if I could only paint the walls...
14 February 2010
Symbols of Marriage
A wedding ring is a daily symbol of commitment and loyalty to the one you love. Troy lost his ring about six months ago. I wasn't at all surprised. In fact, I was amazed that it lasted through more than three years of marriage! He took it off and played with it all the time and constantly spun it on flat surfaces. It's a good thing we're not very sentimental people because it was just a matter of time before it disappeared forever. However, after six months of appearing as if not married, I thought it was time to get him a new ring. We went on a Valentine's date the last weekend of January, which was good since we ended up having our baby a few days later. I thought it would be the perfect time to give Troy a replacement ring. I got him a very simple inexpensive ring knowing that he would probably lose that ring too. He was not very thrilled. He thought I was trying to "claim my territory." I guess that might have been part of it, but I thought that he would genuinely appreciate the thoughtfulness. I think the new ring has spent more time spinning than it has on his ring finger.
That brings me to my next story about wedding rings, or rather the lack thereof. This is a classic "You know you're at Walmart when..." story. The day before Nash was born, I went to Walmart to pick up something that I had shipped to the store. A gangly man in his mid-twenties helped me carry the item out to my car. While en route, he asked me how old Blake was. He then asked me when my baby was due. I answered both of his questions, and then in all seriousness, he asked, "Same dad?" I thought, are you kidding me? I frankly responded, "Yup." Who asks that kind of question? I mean, really? Do I look like the type of person that employs two different dads for my children within two years? He then proceeded to ask me a series of inappropriate questions about my marital status. The only credit I can give him is that I wasn't wearing my wedding ring because it gave me a rash towards the end of my pregnancy. The moral of the story is that wedding rings are apparently very important to avoid awkward conversations from strangers. Hopefully Troy can at least carry that knowledge into his use of wedding ring #2.
Happy Valentine's Day!
12 February 2010
10 February 2010
I Only Cried Once
Today was my first day at home alone with our two children. I usually don't like to share such graphic details, but as I look back upon how the day's events unfolded, I am sure that my first day will be a source of humor in days (maybe weeks) to come.
The morning battle began when Blake wanted crackers and cheese for breakfast. His dad gave in and let him have cheese and crackers yesterday, but I didn't want to start a trend. Blake had a major meltdown as he carried the block of cheese that he snuck out of the fridge around the kitchen. After explaining to my two-year-old 50 times that cheese and crackers were only for snacks and lunches, and giving him the options of cereal, yogurt, or bananas, he finally accepted the fruit loops I offered him.
That's when the blow-outs started. Blake has been taking amoxicillin for his ear infection, which leads to the most disastrous, up-the-back, dirty, messy diapers imaginable. He began chanting "wet back" over and over, but wouldn't let me take him out of his booster seat until he was completely satisfied with the amount of fruit loops and peanut-butter toast on his plate.
I cleaned up that disaster and started the first round of laundry and bathing. I thought it was pretty impressive that both Blake and I were bathed and showered by 9am. Our angel baby slept through it all. At 10am Blake started begging for pancakes. I don't just make him pancakes at his beckon call, but there were some leftover pancakes in the fridge that I heated up for him. Thus began blow-out #2, and another round of laundry and bathing.
Still keeping my cool, I then brought out a fun project for Blake. I bought him a little Valentine's mailbox several weeks ago knowing how much he loves to receive mail. My plan was to leave him little Valentine's cards and treats in the box throughout February, but having our baby early slightly altered that plan. I let him decorate the box with stickers and color some Valentine's. I fed the baby while he was busy with the stickers.
The next ten minutes were when things really picked up. Nash projectile spit-up all over me, soaking both his and my clothing. I took him upstairs to take care of that mess. At the exact same time, Blake started in again about wanting cheese and crackers. I heard the fridge open and shut downstairs. I started to worry when I heard Blake dragging the chair across the floor, so I abandoned the wet baby to tend to my whining two-year-old. I found him armed with the block of cheese and a sharp knife that he had retrieved out of the dishwasher. He was sliding the chair to the pantry to obtain the crackers. That was the point when I started to cry. I was also topless because I was half-way through changing my wet clothes. Blake looked at me lovingly, as tears rolled down my cheeks, and said, "Mama, sad." "Mama, tissue." He then got a little worried about my immodesty, and started repeating, "Mama, clothes! Mama, clothes on!"
We endured one more blow-out after I finally got Blake settled with his cheese and crackers. It was such a relief when nap time rolled around. I know it will get easier, but things didn't run quite as smooth as I had hoped on our first day alone. Tonight will be Troy's turn to handle both of our children while I teach yoga. Hopefully things will go better for him.
The morning battle began when Blake wanted crackers and cheese for breakfast. His dad gave in and let him have cheese and crackers yesterday, but I didn't want to start a trend. Blake had a major meltdown as he carried the block of cheese that he snuck out of the fridge around the kitchen. After explaining to my two-year-old 50 times that cheese and crackers were only for snacks and lunches, and giving him the options of cereal, yogurt, or bananas, he finally accepted the fruit loops I offered him.
That's when the blow-outs started. Blake has been taking amoxicillin for his ear infection, which leads to the most disastrous, up-the-back, dirty, messy diapers imaginable. He began chanting "wet back" over and over, but wouldn't let me take him out of his booster seat until he was completely satisfied with the amount of fruit loops and peanut-butter toast on his plate.
I cleaned up that disaster and started the first round of laundry and bathing. I thought it was pretty impressive that both Blake and I were bathed and showered by 9am. Our angel baby slept through it all. At 10am Blake started begging for pancakes. I don't just make him pancakes at his beckon call, but there were some leftover pancakes in the fridge that I heated up for him. Thus began blow-out #2, and another round of laundry and bathing.
Still keeping my cool, I then brought out a fun project for Blake. I bought him a little Valentine's mailbox several weeks ago knowing how much he loves to receive mail. My plan was to leave him little Valentine's cards and treats in the box throughout February, but having our baby early slightly altered that plan. I let him decorate the box with stickers and color some Valentine's. I fed the baby while he was busy with the stickers.
The next ten minutes were when things really picked up. Nash projectile spit-up all over me, soaking both his and my clothing. I took him upstairs to take care of that mess. At the exact same time, Blake started in again about wanting cheese and crackers. I heard the fridge open and shut downstairs. I started to worry when I heard Blake dragging the chair across the floor, so I abandoned the wet baby to tend to my whining two-year-old. I found him armed with the block of cheese and a sharp knife that he had retrieved out of the dishwasher. He was sliding the chair to the pantry to obtain the crackers. That was the point when I started to cry. I was also topless because I was half-way through changing my wet clothes. Blake looked at me lovingly, as tears rolled down my cheeks, and said, "Mama, sad." "Mama, tissue." He then got a little worried about my immodesty, and started repeating, "Mama, clothes! Mama, clothes on!"
We endured one more blow-out after I finally got Blake settled with his cheese and crackers. It was such a relief when nap time rolled around. I know it will get easier, but things didn't run quite as smooth as I had hoped on our first day alone. Tonight will be Troy's turn to handle both of our children while I teach yoga. Hopefully things will go better for him.
