A healthy, happy, beautiful baby boy
My wonderful, handsome, and loving hubs
A job I love
An amazing church
Supportive friends (both in “real life” and via the Internets)
Selfless family
You, the ones who keep coming back and listening when I really don’t have much to say.
***
My cup runneth over, as they say. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
JR started his day by clipping the edge of one of our dining room chairs. A lovely purple line immediately took shape on his forehead.
Then he went to the doctor where he got a finger stick (and a Band-Aid which bothered him more than the stick), and a few shots.
Later, as he was cruising around the kitchen as I made his post-nap smoothie, the sound of the blender startled him, causing him to jump, fall forward, and smash his previously-injured forehead into a stainless steel shelf. After some silent, red-faced flailing, he engaged in the biggest sobfest he’s ever had in his young life as a huge goose egg sprung up.
I know that pain will happen but JEEZ, no one told me about this feeling of your stomach going into your throat and your heart ripping in half when it does.
Rain jackets, rain boots, and umbrellas should always be brightly colored.
If you’re going to buy Oreos, you might as well go for Double Stuff… because who are we kidding?
Children should only wear shoes when absolutely necessary.
Tylenol is useless.
There’s nothing wrong with not raking your leaves.
“Tell us how you really feel” should be officially retired from use in any and all conversations.
Lorelai Gilmore is completely responsible for all misfortunes in her life.
Pee-Pee Teepees are unnecessary (although fun to say).
Fear is a lousy motivator.
The best episode of Dawson’s Creek is the one when Joey gets everyone to come back to Capeside to film Dawson’s movie.
Hooded sweatshirts are essential to every wardrobe.
The omission of the Oxford comma is a bit of a travesty.
Now over to you…
Cake! Cake! Cake!
What happened to my shirt? No matter, seriously, let’s see the cake.
CAAAAAAAAAAAAKE.
Um. I’m not sure about this. Hmmm…
Jk, guys, this is great.
NOM NOM SMACK SMACK NOM.
My dimple comes out when I’m working hard.
Eyes.. glazing… over… must… keep… eating…
Too much cake makes me sad.
Thanks to everyone who shared their birthday wishes with our little man. We appreciate it so much.
JR,
What? How did this happen? How is it possible that an entire year ago today you joined our family?
I can’t understand how you’ve already gone from this:
To this:
And on to this:
But alas, here we are. This evening we’ll head over to your Mamaw and Papaw’s house to celebrate. You’ll open your present, look at us like we’re crazy as we sing to you, and (hopefully) smash your fist and face into the cake your Papaw will lovingly (and painstakingly) prepare. Life will be as it should be.
You’re a bundle of energy these days. And while you’re not quite walking yet, you really don’t need us to help you get where you want to go. As long as there’s a wall or piece of furniture for you to lightly rest your hand on, off you go. I’m sure walking is just around the corner, and then we’re all really screwed.
As far as talking goes, you’re all about the animal noises now. Whenever you see a duck, you shout “QUAAAAAA!” All lions are greeted with a bellowed “RAAAAAAAAH!” You’ve also recently started pointing to pictures of monkeys and grunting “OOH OOH OOH!” We can also tell that you’re understanding much of what we say. It’s so exciting to watch you learn. You’re just so smart and curious, made obvious by your constant points and chants of “This?” as you want to know what absolutely everything is.
Teeth have been a big focus this month. You went from having just two to FOUR on top and two more making their way through on the bottom. It hasn’t been too much of an issue, but you do seem uncomfortable at times. And, seriously, the drool is a little out of control. You’re back to wearing bibs pretty much all day.
You’re going through a bit of a clingy phase when it comes to your mama these days. Things are fine if I’m not in the room, but God help us if I pass through. Luckily the tears don’t last long. And I must say, I don’t mind the hugs and kisses you’re being so generous with these days. On Sunday (after an night spent at Grandma’s) I got what I think was your first very intentional hug. We were sitting on the floor, rolling a ball back and forth, and you stopped playing, scooted over to me, climbed up, and rested your head on my shoulder. And then I died. That, my friend, made all of the challenges and worrying and insecurities of the past year 100 percent worth it.
I have to confess, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few days staring at pictures from your first few days and weeks with us. There has been lots of sighing and blinking back tears. While I’m thrilled to meet the little man you’re becoming, I must say it’s hard to say goodbye to my little baby. My sweet, sweet boy who made me a mother, who has changed us, who has changed the world for me forever. Forever.
I don’t know what’s going to happen with these monthly letters. I can’t decide if I should continue them or not. It seems fitting to finish them up with this one, but they make such a great supplemental text to your baby book, what with the addition of commentary from other people who know you, either in real life on through this here Internet. But either way, I can’t wait to see what the next months and years hold. And I’m so proud to stand next to you as they come.
Love,
Mama
Dear dogs (you a-holes),
I know it’s raining. I’ve been lugging a 23+ pound child in and out of the rain all day. I am aware.
I am also aware of the fact that perhaps squidgy grass does not feel exactly pleasant on your dainty feet, so maybe going outside isn’t so much fun. But you see, the thing is, if you would do your “business” right when you get outside, rather than tiptoeing around with a look of disdain on your face while whimpering and then quickly bounding inside without relieving yourselves, you wouldn’t then turn to me 3 minutes later with an “Oh sh*t!” look on your face and leap for the door, only to repeat the previously outlined and annoying-as-hell routine.
Sincerely,
That Lady Who Was Screaming “GOOOOOOOOO!” At You All Evening
PS – Stop using my couch as a towel.
This past Thursday I got home from work at around 3:30 to find a delightfully healthy boy toddling around the front yard with his lovely babysitter/our lovely friend. JR was all smiles and laughs, bright eyed and on the move.
About 90 minutes later his nose was a river of snot (green, the best kind) and his eyes were rimmed with that reddish-pinkish tone that calls out “FEVER.”
Sure enough, a quick poke of the thermometer indicated that his temperature was slightly above 100. We pumped him full of Motrin and put him to bed early.
(I make it seem as I was so calm during this episode, when in fact my inner monologue kept chanting, “It came on so quick! Doesn’t the flu/H1N1 (and, yes, my inner monologue often incorporates slashes) come on really quick? He’s only had the first dose of the flu shot! OH WOE!)
The poor little man was up off and on until about 1am, requiring the suckage of snot out of his head, which lead to much screaming and thrashing. Oh, parenthood.
He woke up Friday morning completely fever-free but with his face covered in crusted snot and his nose still dripping constantly. The day was full of whining, sneezing, shrieking at the site of the nasal aspirator, refusing to eat anything but bananas, and (blessedly) taking wicked-long naps.
By Sunday morning he was at about 80 percent. Come Sunday evening, he was basically his old self. But me? OH HO HO HO me, you ask? Well, it seems that as soon as the cold/flu-ish thing had run its course through his system, it jumped straight into mine. Add that sickness to the unthinkable injustice that I, personally, cannot sleep 16 hours a day, and you’ve got a very sick, very grumpy, very-stuffed-up-and-unable-to-correctly-pronounce-Ns young lady.
And it’s all his fault. How the hell am I supposed to resist kissing on a face like this, especially when he feels like poo and actually wants to cuddle for the first time in his life?
JR was born right before Thanksgiving, and he technically celebrated his first Christmas last year. But come on, he was basically a blob then, so other then a few festive pictures, we deemed the holiday season kind of a wash and moved on.
Now that he’s a smiling, babbling (LORD THE BABBLING IT DOES NOT STOP), almost walking little person, the time has come to celebrate holidays to the furthest extent.* First up: Halloween.
We opted for a store bought costume because 1) I am unable to sew, 2) I am too busy/lazy to track down bits and pieces of a costume. After a bit of hemming and hawing on my part, we settled on this:
(Go ahead and squee, it’s ok.) (Over him, not me.) (Please ignore the weeds growing out of the steps on my porch.)
The best way to describe JR during the whole Halloween process was “a good sport.” He tolerated me covering his nose with black eye shadow and tracing whiskers on his face with eyeliner. He dutifully said “RAHHH!” when asked what a lion says. And he refrained from losing his shit when taken out in 70 degree weather (WTF, October?) dressed in a costume designed for what one would anticipate fall weather to be like.
We headed out at around 6:00, just stopping by a couple houses (friends from church who are at least mildly invested in our child), before spending the rest of the evening strolling our neighborhood, trying not to get run over by the out-of-their-damn-minds-with-sugar children tearing up and down the sidewalk.
JR started to get fussy at around 8:00, so we took him out of the stroller and started the walk home. We wanted kept him up late to compensate for the time change that night (it actually worked… don’t kill me!), so he had his bottle while we watched Night of the Living Dead. Not exactly our finest parenting moment, but what are you gonna do?
Overall, the evening was a definite win. I mean, COME ON:
*That is, except for Santa. Ross is decidedly anti-Claus. I am unsure how I feel about this. Particularly because it is highly unlikely that he will be fielding calls from other parents when JR crushes their children’s dreams.
I’ve mentioned Momversation here before, but let me just tell you that I feel the same anticipation for these that others feel for new episodes of Mad Men or So You Think You Can Dance? I love it so.
Anyway, as you may remember, I’ve struggled with depression in the past. It’s very difficult to articulate what it’s like, and while my experiences were nowhere near as severe as what other people have gone through, I could very much relate to this video. So watch it.
