Tidbits

--We’re surviving.  That’s about it right now.  My entire body aches and I think my hips might be so out of socket that they are in separate zip codes.  Liam’s had a rough week (I have a call into his doctor…I have my suspicions on what is causing his problems…I’ll tell you if I find out I’m right)(you know, because I diagnose my child on the internet….I was right when I had PUPPPS during pregnancy….and when he had bad gas and constipation….so at least I’m not a hypochondriac-diagnoser) which means we’ve all had a rough week.

--School starts next week at the corporation I used to teach in.  It’s weird to not be preparing.  I walked down the school supplies aisle at Wal-Mart last night for old times sake…I would have smelled a notebook if I didn’t think the people around me would think I was crazy.

--A student who graduated from the high school I taught at is going to be one of the designers on this season of Project Runway, which starts tonight.  I hope it’s on Hulu tomorrow.  His name is Gunnar Deatherage, and I taught his younger brother my first year…I hope he doesn’t get eliminated too early….people in town are really excited about this.  Here’s a link to an article in the local paper about it.

--Sometimes I miss having cable.  There have been a few times lately.  But, I found a new show on Netflix—Army Wives.  I’m for real in love with it….I’ll be out of Netflix episodes soon (which is disturbing, because there are a lot)(in my defense, my child screams unless he is lying tummy to tummy at a 45 degree angle for many hours a day…so I watch tv during many of those many hours)(also my brain isn’t capable of much more than that)(last week I wrote a check to the hospital and I wrote the correct amount in the top and a totally different amount in the part where you spell out the number…they had to mail it back to me and ask me to fix it).  I saw that the latest season of Army Wives is available on Amazon for something like 12 dollars….it’s not on Netflix yet…and I think I have ten dollars in gift cards…so I think I’m going to order it.

--This is insanely boring.  Sorry.  I am just not interesting right now.  All I really do is soothe crying, change diapers, and feed a baby.

A message to Oliver

Dear Ollie,

You are a dog.  You’re supposed to be man’s best friend.  Not man’s jerky* friend who only wants to hang out when nothing better is going on.  I will not be your booty call.  Shape up, or we’re done hanging out and you’re stuck with your dad.  And he doesn’t share his food or snuggle.  So you’d be stuck rough-housing forever, and I’m pretty sure you’ll miss me.

Love,

Mom

(If you’re my mom or grandma and are concerned that I will talk to Liam like this, I promise to stop when he  can understand and not start again until he’s a high school student and ready to pick up sarcasm from a real master)(*If we’re going to be honest, I didn’t call him a jerk…but what I did call him isn’t very nice)

Really?!?!

After Monday’s post, it was suggested that Liam looks “just like Andy.”  In fact, it’s a thought I’ve heard a few times…many seem to think young Liam looks more like his dad than me.  To which I have to say, really?  He doesn’t look like me at all?  For real?  So today I present my case…the case that the bitty baby totally looks like his mommy at least a little….and not just his daddy.

   

Oatmeal Combinations

Since Liam has been born, I have developed an obsession with oatmeal.  Oatmeal and I have had an on-again off-again relationship, and we are so on-again….and not just “Oh sure I’ll attend your brother’s royal wedding” on-again like Chelsey Davy and Prince Harry…for real on-again.

But we’re not just casually hanging out, oatmeal and I.  Oh no.  We’re in that weird sort of relationship where I try to change him, make him what I want.  But unlike the relationships of most 16-year-olds, it works for us.  So here are a few of my favorite current combinations:

The Chunky Monkey

1 pack instant oatmeal (I’m currently crushing on Better Oats Oat Fit Maple and Brown Sugar) fix according to package, then add the following

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

Dark chocolate dream peanut butter (from Peanut Butter and Co) (a spoonful will do)

One banana, sliced

Granola Berry

1 pack instant oatmeal

Unsweetened vanilla almond milk

peanut butter

blueberries

fruit and nut granola (I’ve been using Cascadian farms—so good…just a small handful is enough)

Chocolate dipped strawberry

1 pack instant oatmeal

unsweetened vanilla almond milk

dark chocolate peanut butter or Nutella

sliced strawberries

And…I haven’t done this yet, I need to go to the grocery store—dark chocolate almond granola…but I’m pretty sure it will be awesome

So there you have it…my top three oatmeal combinations as of today :)

Big Day Out

All right.  Before I start this, I want to let you know that I realize I am ridiculous.  I’m sure I’ll look back on this in a few months and laugh at myself…and probably even more when we have a second child.  But for now, I’m crazy excited and proud of myself.

Liam and I had our first big day out today.  We have been out to eat with Andy a few times…with my parents…and with friends from church.  But I had never attempted on my own.  We also pretty much stay home all the time.  We go meet Mandy and Ben for walks downtown, and we go to small group and church, and doctor’s appointments.  But that’s about it.  At first I wasn’t up to it, and then his stomach hurt so much that he screamed all the time, and it just wasn’t worth it.  But today we changed that. 

First, we went to Andy’s office.  His coworkers wanted to meet Liam, so we stopped by there about 11 to say hi and see everyone.  Then we met our friend Jodi for lunch at 11:30.  Honestly, I was so proud that we did a two stop trip.  I was beside myself.  And then I decided to get gutsy.  Liam only has four pairs of pajamas that fit him, which meant that I was washing his clothes AT LEAST twice a week just to have clean jams, and it seems like a waste to do that many loads of baby laundry…because his clothes are so teeny.  I had picked up a pair (the fourth pair) at Wal-Mart in their Carter’s Child of Mine brand last week, but that was all they had.  I ordered a pair from Kohls last week using some Kohls cash, but they only had one in his size..and they haven’t arrived yet.  Old Navy and Baby Gap only had 6-12 months in their cotton sleepers.  So I decided to try JC Penney.  Penney’s in town is right beside the restaurant we were in….so my gutsy move was to to go Penney’s right after lunch.  Jodi went with me in case Liam woke up and melted down, so one of us could hold him.  But he was perfect.  I found 4 pairs of his pajamas and they were on sale.  Then we made it home and he slept in his carseat for another 15 minutes until he woke up to eat. Amazeballs.  We left the house for two whole hours and lived to tell about it!!

It’s his heritage

So remember on Friday when I suggested that someday Liam might grow up and choose to put the wig on his own child?  Well, my very sweet mother-in-law scanned this in and sent it to us:

Yup.  Same wig….well, from the same place.  Liam wore the blonder of the two, Andy’s wearing the brunette wig.  It belonged to Andy’s grandparents…they dressed up one Halloween and came to “trick” the family when Andy was about 16 months old.

And because he’s Andy, he did this to the two pictures:

Yup.  That’s our bitty boy’s face spliced with his daddy’s.  Charming, I know.  There is also this gem, with the bitty boy’s face on his dad’s body:

What can I say?  I mean really…I don’t know.  That may be because it’s 7:30 in the morning and I’ve been awake for two hours because my child has gone on a sleep strike and refuses to nap or sleep for appropriate amounts of time and instead smiles and giggle-coos at me when I try to convince him that appropriate sleep is important.  And his father (the man from whom he inherited these awful sleep habits) has recently (as in since Liam’s birth) has decided that he really likes to sleep and that there is such a thing as an “appropriate amount” for work.  Thank goodness for caffeine. 

Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can’t Lose

Sometimes, I get a bit attached to television shows.  Gilmore Girls was probably the most obviously obsessive over the years…since I watched the seasons on repeat through my last two years of college.  But there is a close second—Friday Night Lights.  Last night marked the end of this series, one that I dearly love, and I can’t bring myself to watch the last episode yet.  I keep looking at it in my Hulu queue this morning, but I don’t want to say good-bye yet.  I remember how sad I was when I finished the last episode of Gilmore Girls, and I feel like this will be just as bad.  I am fully aware that this is ridiculous.  It’s okay.  I sobbed when Growing Pains was over too, to the point that my mom suggested not letting me watch the last episode of Full House.  It’s not a new ridiculous.  Andy does the same thing (not the crying part).  Anytime we finish watching a show on Netflix, we are both kind of sad  about it and go through a whole “I can’t believe it’s over” time period.  But this one…this one is tough.  I so love Coach Taylor, and Tami, and the team.  I don’t want to say good-bye to Tim Riggins and his greasy hair. 

Okay….I’m getting control of myself.  Melodramatic moment controlled.  At least Jason Katims’s other show, Parenthood, will be back in the fall.  If I can’t hang out with the Taylors and all of Dillon, Texas, at least I’ll have the Bravermans.