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baby carrots

Breast Fest '09

Oh Lordy! Where do I even begin. Well... today I decided to take Blake to story time at the library. We ran into a new MOPS friend, and I was delighted. One Mom said "I really come more for the social interaction for myself than my daughter....". A woman after my own heart. Don't tell anyone that my main motivation is not the awesome songs and the three second story. The mere exchange of words other than "ahhhh..blaaaaa...mmmm..." is enough to just keep my mind going all day. So, we started out and Blake got a little fussy, then he started pulling angrily on my shirt...uh oh..plan b. I pull out the pacifier, and he promptly falls asleep. Great so here I sit in a circle of moms and babies, all AWAKE and I am stuck singing "When cow's get up in the morning, they always say good day. Mooo mooo mooo moo that is what they say, they say". I don't even have a baby to sing to. He is out! cold. Soooo.. around 10:30 he decides to wake up. I figure we might as well stay for 10:30 storytime and thus increase our odds of making new friends. (oh and stimulate Blake's brain as well). Round two went somewhat better. We were busy singing the grand ol' duke of York, when I suddenly saw a breast. Yes, a breast. A lady was breastfeeding with no cover. Phew, I looked away. I can do this . "i can so do this" i told myself. I am a hip and progressive mama. (oh who am i kidding, i was horrified, im more straight laced than Billy Graham) (well, usually..) Anyways, I looked again to make sure i wasn't going nuts and there she is, singing along with her breast out. Totally weird. So we keep singing, Blake liked to add his own sad and angry opera.. he wanted to go play. I look around again to see if my baby is the only one that hates these songs, and now lady #2 has pulled her shirt up and her year old is nursing. Let me mention these kids were OVER a year old, not like it was some milk emergency. I mean, what happened to bringing goldfish on your outings? Now its like "baby.. check. diapers...check...braless...check..boobs..check. " Ok lets go! Umm,.. get some cheerios please!! So then I turn to the lady next to me to say goodbye..her son was 9 months, the closest baby to Blake's age. And what is she doing??? NURSING! with a blanket? No, of course not. This is breastfest 2009, and I didn't even realize I was invited. So we left in a hurry, and I made a point of saying ..."WANT TO GO HOME FOR LUNCH???" very loudly to Blake. Although I am sure no one could hear me over the sound of all the babies slurping.

Can't wait til next week.

Mama and Blake hit the library

I love this guy. What better way to spend an afternoon!

The Ugly Baby Contest

Today we went to an event called the "Beautiful Baby Contest", but I refuse to call it that and will henceforth be referring to it as the "Ugly Baby Contest". I know that isn't nice. I know. But nobody said becoming a mother makes you nice. It makes you protective, and patient, and your heart grows a million times bigger... but nobody promised nice. I entered Blake in the contest held at the NEX. (The navy exchange for you civilians!) There was also a crawling derby. I wasn't going to put my eggs in that basket. (haha my eggs already have a basket..haha... ok never mind). We were preparing to leave the house, daddy had dressed Blake in his button down shirt and corduroys. He looked so handsome. He had a bath and his hair brushed and was patiently waiting in his jumper toy. As I loaded the diaper bag, he began to cry. Then he grunted. Then his face got red, and he cried more. Uh oh..you know where this is going. Down the toilet. I scooped him, changed him in record time, and off to the contest we went. Crisis averted.

When we arrived at the store, a table of late teens/young twenty something girls was at a table for the judges. They seemed nice, and didn't look particularly dumb. Looks can be deceiving. I signed in Blake and we decided to let him have his chance at the crawling derby. He is a champion scooter, and very motivated by the dog food and water dish. He races to them, at least 56 times a day. I started to eye up the competition. These kids all had weird names. That was the first thing I noticed. I observed a Kapri, Quinn,Tyrek(?),Raya, some other kid whose name was so jumbled I don't even remember. We will call her Rosalie because it was some form of rosa-something. I could see right away that Blake was CLEARLY the cutest. And if any of you know him one bit, he is also the most charismatic guy around. He loves the ladies, and the judges were all ladies. So where could we go wrong? Right?

Wrong. First off, the "emcee" (read large loud mouth lady) had us go first. I got to the judges and said "this is Blake, he loves girls.."THANKYOU BLAKE" came the booming voice. I quickly added "and crawling to the dog dishes". I tried to get him to smile, but he was very serious. He had his game face on, and was not to be distracted by tickling or plastic keys. We waited for the other babies, who all got way more time to get their smiles out.. (do you sense my bitterness?).

We eagerly awaited the results. I heard talk of a tie.. they started with the fourth runner up. No Blake.. Third runner up No Blake. etc. etc. Grand prize.. I was pumped, I was all smiles. I was beaming with pride.... "KAPRI". Um excuse me? Like the pants...? Like can someone come to the pants department with ? I was shocked. I got myself together though, because it was time for the crawling derby. We still had a chance to shine. I put Blake down, Daddy had his back, and I sat at the finish line. Daddy crawled behind him, I coaxed him on with plastic keys. First he laid on his belly and looked around. Then he started to scoot. Then stupid baby Quinn fell over and started to cry, which distracted him. He looked very concerned for her/him (gender neutral baby). On the end was baby Rosa-whatever. She had to be at least one. She was a cutie with black pigtails. And she howled. Oh did she ever... She cried for her Mama...who sat at the finish line and would not budge to pick her up! I could not believe it. She coaxed her with snacks and a bottle. The little girl rocked on her knees and cried. Meanwhile Blake was scooting away. After being ignored by her parents .. poor little Rosa-whatever crawled to them, crying her eyes out the whole time. Sick, people. Seriously? You are going to torture your kid to win a gift basket full of avent bottles? ridiculous. Anyhow, I wanted Blake to crawl as far as he wanted to Steve and I cheered him on. He pushed his little legs and threw out his arm and slapped the red finish line in a wonderful victory. He didn't win the avent bottles, but he won our hearts as he does every single day. I knew what it felt to be a proud mama.. I could tell Steve was proud too... to see our little guy do his best, and enjoy himself doing it. Heck he even won a consolation prize of squirty plastic bath toys!

What a blessing he is. The other night as I got up for the umpteenth time to soothe him back to sleep I thought, "My life is ruled by a man who has been on this planet 1/46th the time that I have. " I wouldn't have it any other way.

Fowl Language!

So we have a new resident on Larch Drive. His name is... well I can't tell you what his name is. It's too dirty. There is a bird that is insistent on living atop our porch light. Anyone who is anyone knows how i feel about birds. I hate birds. I ABHOR birds. They make me cringe and want to cry all at the same time. The worst punishment I could have is going on the birdwalk at the zoo. So I though that if we named the bird, it would be less alarming and intimidating. Hence, the name. Unfortunately the name is far too inappropriate to write here. If you really want to know, ask me. In person, or via text. So, one night we came home to find... the bird. His alias will be Archie. Archie was on the porch light, pooping all over, and I told steve he better get em! So my valiant husband grabbed the first thing he saw --the toilet brush (remember we are moving, everything is in chaos). He swung at Archie, and tried to scare him. No luck, this is no ordinary bird. Finally-he almost had to smack him before he flew away. We had a few more of these incidents. Thankfully Steve was always home, otherwise I would have had to be housebound. The other night, Archie came back with his girlfriend. Bringin her home to meet the folks I guess...
So I sent Steve out.. armed with the toilet brush of course. He chased them around the carport and they finally landed on a beam, refusing to leave. I held Blake close to me, and ran for my life as fast as I could into the house. All the while saying "BLAKEY I wont let that bird get you!!!!!".
The next time, Archie was mad about the toilet brush. He is very edgy, and when Steve came a-chasin, he fought back. He started divebombing him, and nearly flew into his head, before exiting scene. If anyone knows a bird cowboy. Please call me at 1-800-Archieneedstogo!

Time for an update

I have been the worst blogger ever lately. I cannot even remember the last time I blogged. Oh well, lots of catch up. We moved into a new house. Totally awesome right? Yes, moving with a five month old is a blast. I recommend everyone do it. If possible, make sure you only attempt packing while he is teething hardcore. Provides motivational music! This mama has signed up for yoga in an attempt to stay flexible. (ok get flexible) and stay calm. I am thinking there is something to this "take care of yourself..." stuff. Not that I am not calm.. oh no.. moving a household, being a first time mom, and living 3,000 miles from home all makes for one calm girl. Hah! Ohhh, I have really become a domestic diva. I cannot tell you the joy I am deriving from my new frigidaire washer and dryer. They are front loading, digital screen, eight million settings, and best of all... they make my clothes smell w.o.n.d.e.r.f.u.l- I am seriously like a laundry junkie now. I wash as many loads a day as I can, depending on how much dirty stuff I can rustle up. Then when the timer beeps at the end of the dryer cycle I race to the laundry room and throw open the dryer door and smell the amazing fresh scent. You people with top loaders have no idea what you are missing. Also in household news, I got a swiffer mop and a swiffer sweeper. If you are aspiring to be a domestic diva like me, you HAVE to get these. I enjoy dirt on my floors. I chase it around with my swiffer, capturing each rouge little dog hair. Then I swiffer wet mop it away with the lovely grape-ish scented liquid. Which I am sure is composed of 58 chemicals that have been suspected of causing cancer in the state of california. se la vie. In mommy news, Blake has been introduced to solids!! Well introduced to mush would be a more accurate description. We had been gearing up for introducing baby food for a few weeks when we decided to wander down the baby aisle at the commissary one evening. Steve got excited about all the bananas, and we decided to give Blake his first bites. As Steve pa-roused the flavors, I got a little choked up thinking of my baby getting big. Then I thought "hmm.. he doesn't need me as much now". Well that did it, the floodgates opened, and lets just say, Steve shuffled me outta there before I drowned the other mothers in the tears of a first time mama. My darling husband said "can i feed him? " "Sure"... then he went on.. "but you can give him his first bite". How sweet is that!! He knew what a big deal it was to me. Anyways, i decided to be camera woman, and daddy did the banana honors. Blake was quite perplexed but took to the spoon right away. He is such a perfectly good boy. He did great. Next up was squash. He was not too keen on that, which is a tragedy, because I ate butternut squash for lunch the other day (yes ..just squash). He was a trooper though, and kept on. Along with introducing solids came.. well..lets just say it was time to introduce prunes. He LOVES prunes. Definitely his favorite! What did I learn from all this.....a diaper of three days worth of prunes for dinner is NOT for the faint of heart! So onto the next intro..Peaches! Yum!
Coming up, we have school starting for Steve and I. Blake and I are going to Mops on Thursdays, and doing bible study mondays. Its a busy fall... and Steve and I are trying to fit in ballroom dance lessons too!! Stay tuned for photos. Dancing with the stars here I come. You can call me Ginger. Its my catholic name. Hahahahaha....