Friday, October 24, 2008

Why do I do this job?

Ugh, how to begin? The title. Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and reading of others' blogs, and way too much more thinking on top of that, and some wishing and hoping and it all comes back to this: I love being a mom. Despite all the daily trials, the ever-present fatigue, the times I have to bite my tongue till it bleeds to avoid speaking harshly to my daughter. In spite of the low pay and long hours. If indeed each one of us is created for a unique purpose, motherhood is mine.

I'd love to elaborate, but this is not a personal forum. Suffice it to say I am wading through some deep stuff at the moment. Until next time.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

National Aquarium Trip





There's no doubt about it, Caitrin is at a really cute age right now. On Friday we took her on her first trip to one of our favorite places, the National Aquarium in Baltimore. She was so curious and interested in all the fish and other critters. Sean got some awesome pics of the fish, too. Afterward we went to the Harborplace for lunch and each got a piece of pizza, then came home and took a nap. All in all, a spectacular day!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Guitar!

Caitrin has a brand new word today! We are on Day 5 of Nap Boycott 2008 and my nerves are completely frayed. Very little is cute or funny right now and I am absolutely exhausted. This afternoon I actually had to lie down on the couch while I watched Caitrin play. Sean keeps the guitar I gave him for our anniversary in its (hardshell!) case in the living room and often plays for Caitrin. They love singing together and he even lets her strum a little.

Caitrin was busy pulling coasters off the end table when she suddenly decided to go bang on Daddy's guitar case. She loves to play drums on anything and has a scary-good sense of rhythm already. I said something like, "yeah, that's Daddy's guitar case. You love it when Daddy plays guitar, huh?" I kid you not, her reply was, "guitar, guitar, guitar!" Well, technically it was "guhtuh, guhtuh, guhtuh," but there was no mistaking what she meant. I gave her a big hug, called her dad, and got her to say it while he was on the phone. He was THRILLED!

Well, gotta feed my girl and get her to bed early. We are headed for the National Aquarium in Baltimore tomorrow and I want her to be well-rested!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

"Us da?!"





I know I have been terribly remiss in my posting duties over the last week or so. I know "everyone is," but I have been just so crazy-busy. My mom visited last week and we had such a great time. She can't get over just how much Caitrin is like me, as a baby, all over again. It was wonderful having an extra set of hands for a few days, too.

The pics above are from the interim since I last posted. I realize I may appear biased, but when God was handing out babies He really did give us the smartest, happiest, sweetest, most precious one. I didn't have to "stage" any of these photos. She is just that cute.

So the title of this may have piqued the interest of some. This is Caitrin's latest development. She points to everything and asks, "us da?" (what's that?). And babies don't start speaking in sentences till they're 18 months old. Uh huh.

I'm feeling a little better about it now that Caitrin's been in bed for an hour, but today was one of those days every new mom dreads. I realize I run the risk of getting flamed for saying this, but I am nothing if not honest: I love my daughter to distraction, but I have not liked her much the past couple days. We are on Day 4 of a complete nap boycott. My mom and Sean blame teething. I can't feel any new teeth, but I never have been able to until they sprout so it could very well be. I am just this side of loony right now. Thank God I have a husband who happily picks up my slack or we'd be living in utter filth right now because I have had absolutely no break in days. I don't understand what I am doing wrong. Her entire routine is the same as it's been for months. I'm slowly buying into the teething theory because her few previous nap strikes have directly preceded a crop of new chompers.

The good news is that her diaper rash is now completely gone. For the cloth-diapering mamas, we finally found a commercial diaper rash ointment that doesn't make CDs stink: Aveeno Soothing Relief Diaper Rash Cream. It's about 12% zinc oxide to Desitin's 40%, but it doesn't contain the cod liver oil that Desitin and Balmex do, which is what causes the stink. Oh, and if you make the mistake of using Desitin with CDs like I did, add half a cup of white vinegar to each wash cycle. After 3-4 complete washes (that's prewash, main wash, any extra rinses, and dry) the stink should dissipate.

I've gotta go shower and spend some time with my husband, but before I go, do me a favor and listen to this. On Sunday, Pastor Bill gave an amazing sermon about the state of the economy in America and God's position in it. I was at once chastened, empowered, humbled, and relieved by the message God gave him. Every Christian needs to hear this.

Till soon, be blessed.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

My Basement's Back!

Hey peeps. Since no one else is saying it, I am: Sarah ANNIHILATED Joe Biden in the debate. I loved the contrast in their mannerisms. He never looked directly at the camera. She, on the other hand, seemed to be staring down the cameramen with the same look I'm sure she uses with an impudent child. You know, the one that says, "you look me in the face when I'm talking to you!"

But thanks to the geniuses in Congress, by Friday morning the debate was long since forgotten. That atrocity of a bill has now passed both houses. We all may as well just sign over all our possessions to Big Brother now; no sense postponing the inevitable. I am so sick and so thoroughly disgusted by this that it makes my blood boil. But while the government is systematically obliterating every principle upon which our nation was founded, I still have a lovely baby daughter to take care of and the most magnanimous and selfless husband in the world to walk through all this with. While my fellow ultra-conservatives (those of us who lean somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan) insist each day that tomorrow is the apocalypse, I'm gonna live. Moving right along.

When Sean and I bought this house three and a half years ago, we were both working full time and he was in his final semester at UMUC, taking an eighteen credit hour load. We both about broke our necks getting this place painted top to bottom, scrubbed and sanitized, pulling up carpet and replacing fixtures. But I ended up doing the majority of our packing. Many of the things we had in our apartment just didn't translate into the house, and I threw out what I could, but things like old furniture were too bulky. Thus, they all ended up in the basement. We are fortunate that our house came with a gigantic (albeit poorly) finished basement. When we first moved in and it was just Sean and I, we never imagined we'd be able to fill up all that space.

Well, the state of the economy being what it is, and our plans to expand our family being what they are, and our beliefs about excess being what they are, we see no reason to move out of this house any time in the foreseeable future. But once we add one more kid to the mix (and it probably won't be terribly long before we do), we're out of bedrooms. We believe that it's good for siblings to have to share rooms, but at some point we see ourselves turning the basement into part playroom, part guestroom, since ours will disappear. But that means we can't store junk that we're not going to use anymore, at least not here. Our attic hatch is 18 inches square and there's no floor up there anyhow, so that's out. The solution: 1-800-GOT-JUNK. They came Saturday afternoon and in half an hour, the crap that's been plaguing us for three years was GONE! Now all that's down there is the stuff we actually need to store, like baby clothes and gear and Christmas decorations. They were professional, friendly, NEAT (BIG points with me!!), and their services are very reasonably priced. If you have excess junk laying around, I highly recommend you give them a call!

My mom (Caitrin's Nanny) is coming to visit this week. We had all hoped it would work out for September, since our three birthdays are right in a row...Mom's is two days before mine and Caitrin's is eleven days after, but it'll actually be better that it's happening now because the weather here is starting to hint at fall. Caitrin's diaper rash is finally clearing up. It had gotten really bad. We were slathering Desitin on at every change but it wasn't doing a thing. It must have been very painful for Caitrin because her legs were actually trembling when I would change her. Thankfully, her pediatrician's office called in a prescription for nystatin cream. We have been using it with every diaper change for two days and man, what a difference. Thing is, I had no idea how to tell that this was a yeast rash versus a dermatitis-type diaper rash. The books all say it's very easy to tell, but you could've fooled Sean and I. Now that the rash is nearly gone, I will try PediaSure again and see what happens. I've started giving her two ounces of evaporated milk, diluted one to one with water, at lunch and dinner and at snack time if she seems to want it. She seems to be sensitive to whole milk (makes her rash worse), but evaporated milk is okay. It's the same thing as whole milk, just heat-treated and with 50% of the water removed, which is why it's okay to give babies as an alternative to whole milk.

Gonna go watch football with Sean for a bit before bed. I took some funny pics of Caitrin in the bath tonight and will get them edited and up ASAP. Be blessed!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Prayer for Lady Sarah

No pictures this time. I should be in bed but stayed up to watch the end of Chinga (XF: 5x10) after Sean wussed out on me and went up!

Because I know there is power in prayer, I want to offer up a prayer for Gov. Palin on the eve of the Vice-Presidential debate.

Father, I thank you for my sister in Christ, Sarah Palin. Thank you for the example you have provided modern women through her of the Proverbs 31 woman. Lord, I pray that as Governor Palin takes the podium at tomorrow night's debate, Your Holy Spirit would fill her with power. When she speaks, Lord, let it be Your words we hear. Your word says "I am about to open my mouth; my words are on the tip of my tongue. My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know. The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life" (Job 33:2-4). May Governor Palin speak the truth in Your name, and in such a way that it edifies those who hear (Eph. 4:29). May your Spirit rest upon those gathered in that auditorium at Washington University in St. Louis, and may Your will be done in this election. Amen.

"Put your forks down, kids, Mama's fixin' to lose her mind!"

In my year as a stay-at-home-mom, I've learned many things. The best way to clean a filthy high chair tray is to put it in the dishwasher. The moment you get the baby down for a nap, the landscaping crew shows up with more lawnmowers than Southwest Airlines has 737's. "No TV for the baby" means no TV for Mom and Dad either. These little pearls of wisdom have been attained with many a frazzled sigh, and even a few tears.

But today I learned something that surprised me even more than the time we woke up to find Caitrin had ripped her diaper off and had poo in every orifice. Because I am an SAHM, my time is not valuable to anyone but me. Backstory: this morning I had an appointment at 9:15 in Annapolis, which, for the uninitiated, is a mere 15 miles away but a half hour's drive with all the Route 97 & West Street traffic. Since everything takes longer once you have kids, I started our day earlier than normal. To add evidence to my assertion that Caitrin is scary-brilliant for her age, it was as if she sensed we were pressed for time and put her brakes on. Instead of wolfing her breakfast as usual, it was one bite, and talk for several minutes. Another bite, and bang on the high chair tray. Miraculously, we were out the door at 8:35, just 5 minutes later than I had hoped. It felt like a guardian angel was looking out for me when a prime parking spot opened up in the garage just as I was pulling up. Okay, I thought, the day started out a little harried, but things are looking up!

I grabbed baby, Hotsling and stroller and we made our way to the doctor's office. By now we were edging up on Caitrin's naptime and she was happy but restless. We walked in and the receptionist's first words were, "we tried to call you on Monday...your appointment had to be rescheduled." I felt my blood boil, but maintained my composure. Come to find out, their attempt to contact me had failed because they called an incorrect variation on our home number (which doesn't work anyway since we only use it for DSL now), and (AND THIS WAS THE KICKER) Medallion. Upon hearing that I (stupidly) reminded them that I'm no longer working. I swear I could feel the Earth's axis tilt when the words came out of my mouth, and the atmosphere changed immediately. There was no "I'm sorry for the inconvenience" or "if you don't mind waiting, we'll try to work you in." No, sir. It was, "...but the doctor has some openings tomorrow."

It was at that moment that I was eternally grateful I had my innocent baby daughter perched on my hip, because if you could've peered inside my brain you'd have seen something like this: @!$%& *&^+$# ^&~#*&%$#!!!!! I successfully stopped these words from making it to my mouth and rescheduled the appointment for tomorrow. On my way back to the car I took a sidebar and called Sean, because I was about to blow. Bless him, he talked me down out of the wacko tree. Mind you, Caitrin's morning nap never did happen. And you know what nap zealots we are.

What gets me is that, had I still been working and left my "real job" to go to the appointment-that-wasn't, I'll bet you Donald Trump's salary they'd have fit me in. But, see, I don't do anything. I sit on the couch all day and watch soaps, remember? So it doesn't matter whether I'm notified that I needn't waste three hours and a quarter tank of gas and frig up my baby's naptime.

There. I am severing ties with sarcasm for the rest of the day.

More Birthday Pics!





Still editing, but got a bunch done this morning! Will post again later today...a rant is coming.

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