Thursday, June 30, 2011

Ethan? Is that you?

Lately I've found myself thinking "Who is this baby?".
Things haven't been normal around here lately. Nap times last about 30 minutes if I am able to get him down at all, bedtime has been pushed back at least an hour or two, and finger foods are getting tossed to the dog.

Yesterday I thought my almost 9 month old had been replaced with a two year old with the temper tantrums he was throwing. We had a scream fest at Publix when I had to take the electronic pen away, a melt down in Target when I wouldn't let him stand up in the cart, and he even tried to throw himself over the edge of the stroller at Hobby Lobby when I wouldn't let him have my phone.

I felt the red heat of embarrassment crawling up my neck for the first time when it came to Ethan. I found myself asking "God? What have I done....where is my child?" "Is this really suppose to be starting NOW?" I thought I had awhile before we got to this temper tantrum thing. I'm unprepared.

Every time we get to a phase where things are weird like this I think...it's gotta be teething...and it never is. People look in his mouth and say "Nope, nothing there!". Damn. Just another baby phase I guess. There is no rhyme or reason. Mommy is wrong again.

So I've held my tongue this go around. "It's just a phase" "It's just a phase" "It's just a phase". Maybe this is just part of him getting older.

Yesterday, however, I noticed something else. His cheek was red, in fact, I suddenly remembered that it had been red at times the past several days. I tried to look inside of his mouth and every time I got near he clamped it shut. No way, no how was I getting in without a fight.

So, after dinner I started a mini (happy) screaming contest between him and me. He laughed and laughed and then, I finally saw it. He had a swollen gum line and there was even a little slit where a tooth is trying to pop through.  

Finally! It has happened.

He won't be a toothless baby after all!

And hopefully, all this temper tantrum, non sleeping business will pass soon.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I've Been Inspired

I think it's time to make Ethan's bathroom truly his!


Ideas came to me last night.
Today...
I will bring them to fruition.
Or so I hope.


Let's hope the craft stores have everything I dreamed of...
Hammers, hooks, modge podge, paper & frames
Oh my!


Monday, June 27, 2011

If You Fall Off a Horse...

Sometimes I think I might have an accident prone child on my hands. He hangs off the dresser when I'm changing him, hangs upside down in his doorway jumper, and pulls up on things that are clearly unstable.

I know most of this has to do with the fact that he's just a baby and doesn't know any better right now, but I feel like he might be heading down a more adventurous path in life.

It scares me that he has no fear, because fear is what keeps you out of danger. I don't want him to be that 16 year old that goes down the highway at 100 mph weaving in and out of cars because he thinks he is invincible.

The other day he attempted to climb the stairs while I wasn't looking. The next thing I heard were cries. He had rolled down them. I'm not sure how many, but thankfully he wasn't hurt. After I had comforted him, I made him climb them again.

If you fall off a horse, you gotta get back on.

It's funny, I had been saying all along that a little fear would do the kid good, but after I saw exactly how scared he was when I went to pick him up all I wanted was for him to feel invincible again. I don't want his fears to hold him back in life.

You see, I'm a person who is full of fear.

I'm fearful that I won't say the right things, that I want do the right things, that I won't be good enough or smart enough or cute enough or whatever it is. These fears have held me back in life. I don't go for certain things because I'm too scared.

I don't want my children to be like that.

I hope that they will be confident and go for anything they want in life.

Fear is such a tricky thing.

Too little can cause your life damage, but so can too much.

Ethan, I hope you have just the right amount one day.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

Project 52 - Week 25: Joy Riding



Friday, June 24, 2011

Breakfast of Champions

This morning was like any other morning. Ethan had just finished up his breakfast and was more than ready to get down on the floor and play.

Fridays are normally cleaning day around here so I was buzzing around the kitchen trying to get things cleaned up and was trying to extend his highchair time as long as I could.

No dice though.

So I put him on the floor in the living room so he could go explore. I hear him clomping (yes, my son crawls like a horse) around the dining room on the hardwood floors that have yet to be swept.

With a dog I could sweep one day and you would never know it the next. The dining room is hardly ever used so let's just say not a lot of attention is paid to it.

I hear him coughing which is pretty normal (he loves to cough, not sure why). This cough isn't his normal "talky cough" if you know what I mean so I go in there to check.

He's drooling like CRAZY which is odd.

I pick him up and guess what I find.

An unidentified, long, black bug leg hanging from his lips!

I gag and as I'm about to do the finger swipe I remember that I haven't washed my hands from cleaning the sink so I run to the kitchen and grab a paper towel.

He clamps his mouth.

No one is getting in.

Or out for that matter.

I finally pry his mouth open and get the paper towel in to do some swipes.

I got a few bug pieces out, but I'm pretty sure he'd already eaten most of it by this point.

I hope it was dead although the coughing makes me thing otherwise.

Eww.

Now, please excuse me while I go sweep, vacuum, and mop all my floors.



Thursday, June 23, 2011

I'm All Hung Up

I have a confession...

I have a thing about hangers.

My husband has learned (the hard way I might add) that it's better to do things my way when it comes to hangers.

You wanna know why?

Because if you don't do it right......I will go nuts.

***Nuts = there will be several very long conversations about the situation and believe me...you don't want to hear my hanger spiel.***

End of story.

Hanger Rules

 Broken hangers should be thrown away immediately.

Under no circumstance should pants be hung on plastic hangers, only sturdy wooden ones please!

 All hangers must match. As of now we have all white plastic hangers with the exception of the pants hangers which are now all wooden. Hopefully all hangers will be wooden one day.

Never, should there ever, be a lack of hangers in this house.

Don't ever throw away the hangers with the clippies on them...you never know when you might need one for a skirt and for some reason those are hard to come by.

Empty hangers all go in one location in the closet. You remove a shirt, you place the hanger at the other end of the closet in the empty hanger section. Don't make me flip through every piece of clothing to find them!

And finally...

Hangers without the little dips for the strappy shirts should be illegal. There is nothing worse than a hanger that can't keep it's clothing in place.

Yikes.

Now that you know my little secret...What are you all hung up on???

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

No!

Before Ethan came along, I thought I knew the answer to every potential child related question.

I knew how I would discipline my children, I knew that we would have family dinners, I knew what I would do when they would throw a tantrum, I knew what I would do if they didn't want to nap.

Now that he's here?

I realize I know nothing.

Children are funny little things with minds of their own. They do what they want, when they want. Every stage brings on a new set of challenges (mostly for me).

Currently?

We are in the "I must explore every thing!" stage. Unfortunately, this stage is not coinciding with the communication stage like childless me would have thought it would.

So, he grabs the remote, the phone, the computer, the cords, anything dangerous or breakable repeatedly while I say "No, no, no".

These are plastic...not glass. It's cool, well, not really. You know what I mean.

I might as well be speaking a foreign language.

And it's not even that he doesn't understand "no", he also hasn't yet figured out my tone.

It's either that or he thinks my angry tone is down right hilarious, because that's the response I receive when I try the "Seriously Ethan, I mean NO!" voice. Complete laughter.

I knew this stage would be challenging. I just expected to have communication on my side.

And I know, I know...just "redirect him".

Yeah.

You come over here and try that.

Be my guest.


My kid has a one track mind (mhmm..he gets that from me). He knows what he wants and no pretty, noisy, shiny, yummy object is going to get in his way of it. He's going to turn right back around and go back for whatever he was after in the first place.

Over, and over, and over again.

I get it though.

I do.

Everything is new. Who can blame him for wanting to experience all of it? To touch it, to see it, to taste it, to figure it out. I'd want to do the same thing.

There have to be boundaries though and boundaries, sadly, are never fun. For anyone.


I hate having to tell him "no" all day long. Not because it's annoying to me (and it is sometimes) but more because no one wants to hear "no" all day.

It's discouraging.

It makes a person feel defeated and that's the last thing I want my child to feel.

I want to be able to tell him "yes" or "go for it". I want to be his cheerleader, not his referee.


Unfortunately, being a parent means I have to be both.

I want to use my words to explain "why" to him, because that's what I do best. We just aren't there yet.

I know it won't be much longer before he picks up on "no" and the tone of my voice, but it's going to be awhile before I can explain things to him.

I'm realizing that these tiniest years are going to be the hardest because there are just so many things I as a parent will have to say "no" to.

Today it's outlets, tomorrow it will be climbing trees, next week it will be telling him not to be a wreckless driver........

On second thought, maybe the tiniest years have some advantages after all.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Happenings

I apparently can't make words right now seeing as how this is the 4th time in two days that I've sat down to write this post. So I'm going to do this as simply as possible....with bullets  numbers.

1. Honestly, I'd love to send a bullet straight through my computer. "Please wait...","Not    responding...", "Recover", "Battery needs to be replaced". I'm seeing all these lovely statements amidst lock-ups and slow, slow loading times.

2. Did I also mention that for some reason it's not responding to certain letters on the keyboard unless I hit them repeatedly?

3. Anyways...we had an amazing anniversary weekend in Nashville.

4. I found a $220/night room for $90/night by naming "my own price" on Priceline for a 4-star hotel.

5. We saw a Cirque du Soleil show for free!

6. We had an AMAZING gourmet dinner at Merchants downtown.


7. I had fun getting all dolled up! I found this dress for $35 at the Loft.



8. Did I say the dinner was amazing? I'm drooling just thinking about it! We were served soup table side and we had an amazingly caramelized peach tartan...to die for!

9. I think we are up to 4 on the "amazing" count. See I told you I couldn't make words today! Forgive me?

10. We visited some honkey tonk bars after our AMAZING dinner (hehe).




11. We slept in till 9....I'm pretty sure that means we are old when that qualifies as sleeping in.

12. Ethan and I gave Michael Adirondack chairs for Father's Day....it was a hit.


13. Ethan learned to climb the stairs. Oh, and apparently I sound really country on this video.

 


14. Please send baby gates.............and a new computer. Or at the very least, suggestions on really "AMAZING" ones.

15. I might do one of those dreadful v-log posts only so that I can show you what I really sound like.

16. Maybe...maybe not. V-logs scare me. Not v-logs themselves, but the thought of doing one.

17. Ok, That's all.

18. (Because I can't end on an uneven number) P.S. The pictures and correctly spelled words were made possible only through my pure determination and the fact that I'll be damned if I let this stupid computer win.

You are welcome.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Project 52: Week 24

Week 24 - When Pigs Fly



Friday, June 17, 2011

Our "Picture" Perfect Wedding Day

Do you guys get out your wedding album on your anniversary? I do. So many pictures. I mean really. You pay out the wazoo for them and usually your wedding day is when you look your best so why not capture every single moment of it. Every detail was planned out to a T. Honestly I just love having an excuse to look at them again.

***Again, all pictures were taken by the lovely Whitney Carlson from Dove Wedding Photography***

Our day came out looking pretty much just as I had pictured in my head. I had a huge folder of ideas from magazines, books, and websites all just waiting to come into fruition. Maybe not everything went according to plan, but I'm going to choose not to remember that at this time and just focus on what went right.



 
We were married at 7PM at my mom's church in our hometown that was packed with 300 invited guests.



We were buzzing around getting ready.





Pictures were taken beforehand so we didn't have to waste any time getting to the reception.






It was a hot summer day, but I couldn't have cared less about the heat at the time.




Our ceremony was beautiful, filled with words picked by us.




We performed the salt ceremony joining our two separate lives together as one.


We smiled, we giggled, we faced our guests too early. It was perfect.



After we were officially hitched, we took a few more pictures as a newly married couple.




Then we headed out in our borrowed Rolls Royce to our reception site.


 


Our reception was held at an old jean factory that used to be my mom's dads place of business.






When I dreamed of my wedding, I always envisioned having a band. Once we entered the reception site we danced our first dance to the classic "At Last".




My signature drink of Apple-tinis were served along with lots of wine and beer. Horderves were passed during the cocktail hour and a bounty of food was served buffet style later that night.



We had draped the place in white gauze and twinkle lights. The tables were covered with blue linen table cloths that perfectly matched the bridesmaids dresses and each table had a towering silver vase filled with orchids, my favorite flower.




The best man shared the classically embarrassing speech to which we laughed then I quickly yelled "wrap it up!".



We cut the cake (each layer was a different flavor) and smashed it into each others faces.


Yes, he got me.


Internally I was pissed.


Then I got over it.


I had started it after all.



Next we cut the grooms cake that I refused to eat.....a deer cake done in red velvet Steel Magnolia style.


I threw the bouquet.


He threw the garter.




We honestly spent most of our night on the dance floor dancing the night away. It was that kind of reception.







The party wrapped up around midnight and that's where I will end this recap. It was a beautiful night, exactly as I had pictured.


It was almost perfect.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Creative Commons License

My Thoughts - Uninterrupted by Laura Sager is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.mythoughts-uninterrupted.blogspot.com/p/contact.html.

All images are property of Laura Sager unless otherwise noted.