Saturday Night

Cookout at the parents house, with their friends.

Two+ bottles of wine and a shot of Jack.

Walking with my brother and his girlfriend in the dark, in the rain, with the express purpose of jumping in puddles and getting soaked.  The absolute best part of the night.

Trying to make sense of ignorance.

Hoping for deep friendships that stand the test of time, forever.

Secretly shedding tears, realizing that finding a job is eminent and the time of spending every day with Baby Girl is coming to an end.

Another Saturday night.

First Post About The Slowest House Reno's Ever

So I wanted to document our house renovations somewhere, and thought that maybe if I put it somewhere that other people would read about it too, I'd be more inclined to do things.  Or to make Jed do things, really.  You know, more motivation than people actually coming over to the house and seeing it in real life.  The internet counts for more than real life, obviously.

Please note that any before pictures are very badly shot.  They were taken quickly when we first toured the house, and I had no thoughts that I would be sharing them with anybody.  With that, please note that any after pictures are probably also very badly shot.  I'm learning.

First up, the bathroom, before:

Don't think it can get any brighter, huh?

Extremely tiny, and it's the only one in the house.  We make it work, though.  The two shelves in the cabinet slide in and out, so that's nice and helps make that small storage space really useable.  We just store Romy's bathtub in the tub when we're not using it, but I'll be glad when she just sits in the tub alone. 

And after:

Bam!  Bright-ass green.

Yes, our bathroom is so small that I don't know how to get a picture of the whole thing at once.  The paint is so in-your-face.  I picked it, but once it was on the wall, it was like "HAI I'M GREEN!!!"  I was originally wanting to do the dining room that color, and I'm glad I decided to do it on a smaller scale.  There's still work to be done, like the floor needs to be replaced.  It's tile that was apparently put in incorrectly (like a million other things in the house), and it's all cracked around the toilet.  We have large bathroom rug covering most of it to keep it down.  We're hoping to get the retro looking black and white small honeycomb tile.  

We also need to buy a cabinet to hang above the toilet.  I found one in pretty good condition at Goodwill that would've gone perfectly with everything, but it turned out to be way too big.  Which is why it's sat on the dining room table for the past two months.  

I need to find something to hang on the wall above the towel rack, though.  It's just a big blank space that would be perfect for hanging something.  I know that all of like two people look at this, but, suggestions?

Six Months

I can't believe that it's been six months already.  Six months since you made your circus act debut into the world, after so long of you being stuck in the same position.  You made a slight turn, I made one last push, trying to give it my all because I wanted you OUT, and you shot out like a cannonball.  You surprised everybody, not least the midwife, who had to throw the scalpel she had just picked up to catch you.  She was in the middle of turning, and had she still had her back to you, I don't know where you would've gone.

I was in shock.  I couldn't believe you were out.  This thing inside me, that I had such a hard time believing was a real-live human being, was out, laying on my chest, with those big lips and squished-up cheeks and that look of general disgruntlement on your face.  It was unbelievable how much you looked like your dad.  I just couldn't believe you were actually there, and you were mine.

You're still in our house, no one has come to claim you, you're really ours.  That's what we kept saying to each other, that someone must be coming to get you, there was no way that we had an actual baby.  We felt so unprepared.  We still feel that way.  But we haven't broken you yet.

You still look just like your dad, but you don't look anything like you did in those first few moments.  You're the happiest baby I think I've ever met or heard about or anything.  You were sleeping in four hour stretches almost right away, you rarely cried.  Even now when you really cry, I panic inside and sometimes out, because it happens so rarely, and it kills me. We moved you to your crib, and you had no qualms whatsoever about that.  You've slept through the night for months.  Sometimes it makes me sad that you can be so independent, because it makes me feel like you don't need your mommy to comfort you.  But then sometimes you do need me, and I love it.

You still let me read Goodnight Moon to you every night, without fussing much, if at all.  I hope it keeps up.

Going back to work is going to kill me.  I can't stand the thought of it.  But I have to, for you.

You roll around everywhere.  Sometimes I don't even know how you get where you are, like under the coffee table, or trying to pull up on the legs of your swing.  You sit up and play in longer and longer stretches.  I think your favorite toys are your Ikea Torva Strawberry person and your monkey Skelanimal, you always smile at them.  And of course the obnoxious loud singing cookie jar thing your Oma gave you.  You pull your legs underneath you when your sleep, and will go all night with your butt up in the air, but you refuse to do it when you're awake.  I think you don't realize you can.  But I'm not worried about it.  You'll do it when you're ready.

I can't wait to see what the next six months bring, but I'm in no hurry for it.  These months have flown by, and I realize that the rest of our lives will probably fly by even faster.

And I love you.  More than you know.

Glammin' It Up

Ah, the glamourous aspects of motherhood.

I wiggled Romy out of her jumper and very quickly realized that she was completely soaked.  I took her upstairs thinking it was just wetness, and maybe she was salvageable.  No.  There was stinky green crap all the way up to her neck.  This was a new specimen, likely brought on by her recent introduction to peaches.

We had to get in the bathtub, both of us still in our pajamas.  Let's just say thank god, again, for the removable showerhead, that thing is a lifesaver in these situations.  Got all cleaned up, had a little bit of tub time, ended up stripped down to my underwear and undersized Lord of the Rings shirt that I only wear for sleep now because dammit that thing will never fit me right again, and took her upstairs to put her down for her nap.  I rocked her a bit over her crib while she rubbed her eyes, and right before I laid her down...I noticed she had a big booger sticking out of her nose.

Which I promptly picked and wiped on my shirt because that was all I had.

Some of you may judge me, but some of you have been there.

Irked

Another trip to Target, another stroll through the baby aisle.

I was looking at rattles in the little infant toy section when something caught my eye, but not in a good way.  First, there was the hammer and saw for "Bouncing Baby Boys", then there was the purse and diamond ring for "sweet little girls" (links are for the gift sets with all the toys together, so the wording on the box doesn't match the individual packaging).

Really?  We need to start the girls off that young with the giant diamond ring?  And why does the wording make it seem like it would be wrong to give the tools to a girl, since that's not who they are intended for?  R's father works with tools all the time, and he used to be in remodeling, maybe we'd like her to have tools to match daddy's.  Most of the time, when you look at the baby items, there are "girl" items, and gender neutral items.  I have quite a few girl toys that were given to me as gifts, but I just generally prefer the neutral items ("neutral" being anything but, they are usually nice, bright, bold colors), as does J.  It just generally irks me.

Then again, there are some ultra-girly things that I like for R.  Things that tend more toward a magical realm, like tutus and her flower head garland with long ribbons curling down the back, and clothes with rainbows and unicorns.  But yes, she still has a few items with robots on them, and yes, I got her a little stuffed dinosaur for her Easter basket.  And when we have a boy, I will paint his toenails pink if he wants me to, no questions asked.

(Offbeat Mama has some great articles about gender, written much more eloquently than my disjointed rambling above.  Love that site!)

Dear Romy

Dear lovely daughter,

I'm so excited that you're rolling now, who doesn't love seeing a new skill? I just wonder, why do it so much if you hate being on your tummy?! You roll over, and then I have to roll you back after a couple minutes. Then you roll back over almost immediately! Although I love how you keep me on my toes, lets keep working on the tummy to back roll! 

Ramona Droolface before the tummy-hate kicks in.

Love you!

That's one way to start the day

Oh, 6 am, we were supposed to be like two ships passing in the night; we weren't supposed to meet this way.

I woke up to clear the wads of snot out of my nose, since breathing is cool, and you gotta keep up, you know? Decided to check on the munchkin, and decided that sleeping on the tummy was not for those who can't roll back over. Cue pterodactyl-like screeching because that obviously means it's playtime for those who went to bed two hours later than normal.

Oh, and then having the hubs come in to tell me that the van was dead just added to the fun. It's a guessing game as to whether it'll start later or not, but games are fun, right? (...right?)  My cold seems to have returned with a vengeance, which is great, because everyone at Jed's work wants cupcakes made by a red-eyed, snot-nosed, sneezing machine.

If I can get them there, that is.