Erin Brockovich step aside

I really think that the movie, not the person herself per say, ruined what is deemed "appropriate" attire for women. Slap some really white trash outfits on Julia Roberts and you are bound to convince a rather astonishing percentage of women that they too can dress this way and look hot. Case in point: I went to Target yesterday to begin back to school/don't fit into my pre-baby clothes shopping (yes I know that leave my child and go to work day is this coming Monday) and I was waiting to go into a fitting room. I take the stroller into Target. That way, I don't have a cart and I don't buy as much for lack of space. However, when wanting to try on clothes I had to wait at least 15 minutes for the extra large dressing room containing a lady, her screaming two year old, and every article of clothing at Target. So as I patiently wait, Erin Brockovich wannabe (we will call her EBW) walks up with her two sons who look about 7 and 9. These boys are adorable. She hands them their stuff to try on and into the dressing rooms they go. Let me just paint a picture here for you. Do you know how you sometimes see teenage girls with their hair in a very messy, strange sort of ponytail on the top of their head? The hair hasn't been pulled through the elastic all the way so there is just a gigantic mound of hair piled high that has obviously been forced to look that way. Sunglasses have been shoved into the mess at the forefront with lots of rhinestones on them. That was EBW's first offense totally unrelated to Erin Brockovich, but worth mentioning. The rest goes like this:

1) Two different color (blue and black I think) sets of large hoop earrings along with a smattering of other earrings up the ears.

2) A very tight white tank top with thin blue stripes boasting a black bra out the front, but oddly covering her midsection.

3) The shortest navy blue-ish miniskirt I have ever seen

4) Plastic-ish wide strap sandals in tiger print

You could tell EBW was sure she looked amazing. I have a self-admitted staring problem so I probably solidified this belief by being physically incapable of looking away. In her defense, she probably took one look at me and thought "that lady could have at least tried not to look like the only thing missing from her outfit is the vacuum cleaner and curlers". Listen, I would rather be me than her any day. For a minute I thought about asking her name so that I could become friends with her and then get her on "What Not To Wear". Stacy and Clinton would have a FIELD DAY with this one. But I know in my heart I would only be doing that because I secretly want to be on the show myself (hint, hint). Who am I to judge right? Actually, I am the person who can see EBW's behind hanging out of her mini...that's who I am.

Seeing green...in more ways than one

Today I spent the entire day in my learning cottage happily working my little heart out in preparation for the day that is coming that we are not going to talk about. I came home and fell into a deep pit of envious despair. My strong feelings of accomplishment, satisfaction, and pride fell to the wayside as I perused Facebook and the blogs I check on a daily basis. PLEASE DON'T GET ME WRONG HERE. I love my life. I am one of the luckiest people around. I have a supportive, loving, hysterical husband. I have the most perfect, dreamy, lovable daughter. However, having a baby enlightens everyone to the things that may not happen to them for a long time that other people gush about on things like Facebook. Take for example sipping wine on a balcony in Italy (love you Kristin), or hiking the gorgeous coast of Maine (somewhere I would never have thought to just go, but Christine and Corey make it look like paradise), or reading about the random escapades of a girl in her early twenties (I don't know her, but her blog seriously makes me laugh out loud). There are just as many, if not many more, postings and blogs about things like a friend's little boy peeing on the floor and blaming it on the dog or gorgeous pregnant photos being shared. It just so happens that today the things that stood out to me had more of a carefree, seeing the world kind of vibe.

So here is the rundown of my day that was incredibly good aside from the above mentioned envious despair (dramatic - I'm aware). I woke up to the insanely happy, cooing, smiling almost 3 month old (AHAHAHA) who wakes up at 6:45 on the dot every morning now wide awake and ready to go (unlike her mama as her daddy so affectionately pointed out this morning). Then I went up to the learning cottage, did some major laminating, changed a blowout we will call "a present from the grinch" (I suck at naming these things - Seth is way better at it), hung out with my super helpful sister, then came home and started to ready the room my super helpful sister will be living in. I fell into the despair and now I am blogging about it so that those of you who read this and feel guilty sometimes about feeling jealous of others will feel better knowing that I feel that way too and have no problem calling myself out. Live vicariously on my friends.

**SIDE NOTE**I just realized that naming poo is now at the forefront of conversation in my house.

Will we ever be as happy as the Baby Bjorn couple?

My husband is one of the most repetitive people on the planet. If you are ever around him for extended periods of time, you know this and you know it well. He gets a phrase in his repertoire of funny things to say and beats it to death to the point where you find yourself saying it. It's like an evil trap. I have now titled our St. Augustine trip picture album on Facebook the same title I have chosen for this post. He has sucked me in yet again.

We think that Lila had a great first trip to the beach. She slept 9 hours straight and has every night since Wednesday. I would say it was a very successful trip. The trip itself was pretty uneventful. We did a lot of playing dominoes, watching the Tour de France, and eating. We did much less laying on the beach than in past years. However, we know we are gearing up for next year when we won't get a relaxing moment due to chasing a one year old.

The ride home was more eventful than we would have liked. We have had a constant problem of leaky, nasty, runny poopy diapers. Lila has the kind of blowouts where you have to make sure you have backups for your backup outfits or she will go naked. For instance, when uncle Levi arrived at the beach and we were just about to order dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, Lila dropped a bomb on his lap. No seriously, there was poop all over him. Truly this happens a couple of times a week at least. So on the way home we were kind of waiting for it and not really sure what to do other than just deal when it happened. We tried to make one stop that would be over an hour so that she could have a break from the car seat. So we stopped at a Chili's to have dinner in Tifton. We get seated, we order, the food arrives and Lila starts crying (still in the car seat at this point). Seth goes to pull her out of the car seat and one lift up and the dripping poop prompted him to set her right back down. We kind of looked at each other like "seriously?". Seth, being the fabulous father/husband he is, grabs the car seat and heads to the car. I am sitting there stunned. This wasn't the best Chili's ever. It took forever to get drinks or even see a waitress so I was nervous to just leave our food and go help him. I called the waitress over and made her SWEAR she wouldn't let them trash our food because we would be right back. I headed outside and Seth had almost cleaned up the whole mess! He had even named the poop..."Pumpkin Pie Gone Awry" and decided that all of these explosions need names from here on out.

So we went back to the table and started eating and I began seeing spots. For me this is none other than a massive migraine coming on. I have had migraines for years at least once a year. Recently I feel like I have had them more often. I ate my dinner wondering how I was going to survive it. I know that sounds dramatic, but the only thing that stops a migraine for me is sleep. Dark, deep, silent, comatose kind of sleep. We got in the car and I immediately knew I was just going to have to suffer through it. You can't turn off the sun so that was strike number one. Lila's car seat was right behind my seat and we were packed to the gills everywhere else so laying back/down was not an option. Strike number two. Feeling like someone took a baseball bat to the right side of my face...strike three (sorry for the very bad metaphor). I finally sort of fall asleep with my hooter hider (breastfeeding cover to feed in public) covering my face. So when I wake up to Lila crying I am kind of in a fog. I feel better but not REALLY better. Better enough to get over it. Well, not to whine even further, but yesterday the headache remnants still lingered. Last night I went to bed and got ZERO sleep. I woke up with a fever, cold sweats, and still in a headache infused fog. I finally got some real sleep while taking a nap with Lila this morning. Thank God I have a child that loves to sleep. Since that nap I feel that I have come out the other side of this beast. If you have never had a migraine I am aware that this may sound insanely melodramatic to you. When/if you ever have one give me a call and tell me you are sorry for judging me.

Summer is coming to an end which I am not fully prepared to discuss right now. I hope everyone who reads this blog has been living it up at the pool, beach, or really just anywhere fun and summery. It will be over before you know it!

Waiting and sucking...

Yesterday was the big two month check up for Lila and while I wish I could say it was fun and happy like the first one, it just wasn't. Throw in a large number of sick kids in the waiting room (yes we were separated from them), a 45 minute wait due to this strange influx of sickness, and 4 shots to end the visit and you have a very unhappy family....

....while waiting Lila was the first to fade (no shock here):

....daddy was the next to fade (again, not a shocker):

....and mommy just got irritated (I know this shocks some of you, but it really did happen):

All of this just to hear my perfect little baby scream bloody murder and turn all shades of pink and red. Seriously, it broke my heart. I already have VERY mixed emotions about vaccines that I will not even begin to get into on this blog, but the sheer lack of pain management for an infant in most pediatric offices also bothers me. Next time I will be making a HUGE effort to manage it more for her. I realize she won't remember it. I know it probably bothers me more than her. I am aware that I can't protect her from everything. But I do believe in making every one's lives easier by being proactive is well worth it in the end. Had I known we were in for four shots in one visit I would have thought long and hard about how to make it at least a little bit better. Now I know!

Anyway, Lila weighed in at 12 pounds 3 ounces and 24 and a quarter inches long. So over a pound and an inch was gained in one month!

On to more interesting events in the world of Lila...

My brilliant two month old has now truly perfected the art of thumb sucking. I did not know this was even possible at such an early age. She loves her pacifier, but one night in the middle of the night I was awakened to the sound of what can only be described as obnoxiously loud kissing noises. I went in to find her dragging her fist back and forth over her face trying to somehow get a finger in. Her face was covered with slobber as well. I put the pacifier in her mouth and went back to bed. The next couple of nights was the same thing. Now, I feel like breaking a child of a passy has to be easier than breaking them of their own thumb. With a pacifier you can take it away, hide it, have a passy going away party, and so on. You can't very well tell your kid they are no longer allowed to stick their own thumb in their own mouth. You can't even create a party where they give it to a younger sibling, other relative, or friend. I am not too overly concerned about it, but I do feel like she is opting for the thumb more than the passy sometimes. She also doesn't understand that if you stick the thumb too far in you will gauge. What's really great is that as I sit here writing this, she just did this and barfed. Seriously? This is like a really bad lifetime movie (horrible to say...I know this). So I am trying to give her the passy every time the thumb search begins. But she has gotten so good at finding it now that she gets it in there before I have a chance to object! To take it even a step further, the pacifiers we have are the kind you get at the hospital where you can see into the part that goes in the mouth. It's like there's no back on it. So now, when I do get the passy in her mouth in time, she just sticks her thumb in the hole.....

Thumb sucking with the passy:

And thumb sucking without:

Part of me feels like this is really advanced and I should be proud and the other part of me feels like that is ridiculous and I should be stopping her. But really, if it puts her back to sleep at night without my help I selfishly want to say, "rock on with your thumb sucking self!".

Seriously needed a pick me up...

....I have been in a major funk this week. Like I think I need a shrink. Instead of doing that, I went back and watched "I love Jesus but I drink a little" and it helped for a minute. I keep watching this video tonight and it's doing the trick for now....

Decisions all around...

Thank you to everyone who put in their two cents about Seth and I going to GA/FL in October. Being the indecisive chickie that I am, I feel very validated now in our desire and decision to go. The look of sheer joy on the faces of the grandmothers when we asked them about staying with mini-Seth while we are gone also helped a great deal. I knew I was still writing this blog for more than just my own selfish need to babble.

That being said, we are on the path to yet another decision that is a struggle to say the least. We have recently been considering finding a new home for one of our dogs. I hate even talking about this because it makes me feel like a quitter. It makes me feel like a bad person. We have only had Woody less than a year, but the more we discuss it the more I feel like there could be a better situation out there for him. Below I have listed our thoughts on the matter:

Reasons we should give Woody away:

1) Woody and Molly are dramatically different dogs. Woody is little and should be sitting on someones lap cuddling with them as much as possible. However, if allowed into our recently filled laps on the couch Molly suddenly feels she is a small lap dog and jumps onto the couch as well. I just don't think it's fair to tell one they can do this and the other they can't. Molly is so easy to train and she is so smart. Woody is smart but not easy to train. He beats to his own drum and constantly makes sure you know that. He isn't bad. He just doesn't do sit, down, lay, etc. and those are the primary ways we keep Molly under control. Therefore, when he's around Molly and we are working on these things it is next to impossible to get them on the same page.

2) Going back to the recently filled lap situation, Woody has not been coping well with the newest addition to our family. He hasn't been mean to her or anything, but he has chewed up many of her things. He has never chewed up anything belonging to Seth or myself. He gets obviously frustrated when I am holding Lila. He isn't aggressive. He just whines and sits at my feet and gets upset. Again, he deserves to be someones lap dog and my lap is full.

3) Molly has grown up a lot in a lot of ways that we can't foster in her because we can't do the same for him. Molly could easily be left in the house without ever being in the crate now. She could sleep in our room, wander the house or go outside when we are gone, and she would have a lot more freedom. We just don't trust Woody to not chew up something because he is mad that we aren't here or bitter about Lila. Of course, this could change over time for him. I just really believe that dogs behave when they are getting what they need in return and we can't seem to give him enough of what he needs.

(Disclaimer - I am aware that these reasons sound like I am talking myself into giving him away. I am just trying to sort this out so I have to get it all out. )

Reasons we should keep Woody:

1) We are actually Woody's third home in his life. I hate that he has bounced around like that and I would hate to continue it. That has probably contributed a lot to his desire to do things his way at all times.

2) Woody is an incredibly loving animal. He has made me laugh so many times and has been so sweet to be around. He wants and needs a lot of love and he gives just as much love, if not more, in return.

3) Molly and Woody have a love, hate relationship. They fight a lot which is both a reason to keep him and a reason not to. It is rough and out of control and we can get Molly to stop, but again, Woody doesn't follow commands well. I think it would be both hard and a bit of a relief for both of them and if they were separated.

Any input you have about this decision would be welcomed and appreciated. And I would be lying if I didn't add that at the heart of the matter, our lives would be less stressful if we gave Woody away or we wouldn't even be talking about it in the first place. What sucks about that is that if I was wonder mom/dog owner/wife/teacher I would make it work. I would figure out a way to make both dogs behave and be perfect pets while being a perfect pet owner and all those above mentioned things at the same time. Mommy guilt is now crossing into other things....

Lastly, if you know someone who is dieing to have a dog whose love knows no bounds but who also needs to be an only dog with a lot of boundaries, let me know.