Six Word Saturday...

So much to do, no motivation.

We have nothing to fear...

Note: I do not wish to start a debate on gay marriage or hear anyone's interpretation of the Bible. I am posting this on MY blog because it reflects MY views. I think that my Mother and her partner of nearly 30 years, and any loving and committed couple, should have every right that my husband and I share!

Sorry I've been slacking...

So as you can see by the long gap in posts, I've been majorly slacking off on the blogging thing. I really enjoy reading other peoples blogs, but I just never know what to write on my own!
For those new to my blog, welcome! I promise to try to offer you something of interest or entertainment to read here.

Well the biggest news around here is we have added a family member. No no, I didn't give in to the raging baby fever, we got a dog. My cat Sassy passed away last month, and I had always told Jason that after the cat we could get the dog he wanted, a pug. Well I found an ad on craigslist for a 3 1/2 year old pug that was free to a good home, the people had to relocate for work and couldn't take their dogs with them. So I sent them an email and while Jason was at work, Amryn and I went to meet them and their pug Sigmund. He was great with Amryn, and I knew Jason was very excited about getting his "dream dog" so we took Sigmund home that night. Somehow "Jason's dog" has decided that I am his person, he follows me around and sleeps on my feet everynight in bed, I think this annoys Jason just a tiny bit because Sigmund was supposed to be "his dog". But I must admit, I am actually surprised that I love this ugly little fur baby so much. We didn't really have dogs when I was growing up, I think the last one we had I was like 3 years old, so I was used to having cats. All the things I didn't think I liked about having dogs (walking, cleaning up poop etc) are all things that I really don't even mind doing, because I love all the doggy cuddles and puppy breath! Amryn is having a great time with him too...


















We couldn't come up with any other name we could agree on, so he has stayed Sigmund, or "Siggy". Amryn insists on calling him "Baby" I guess anything smaller than her is a baby.

It has been a major life adjustment, but Sigmund is fitting in perfectly!

Crazy Driver!

When you drive the same route enough, you start to realize little things, like where the potholes are and that sort of thing. On the route to/from taking my hubby from work there is a place where an off ramp meets a street, and often times cars turning right on red will cut in front of traffic moving forward through the intersection. So usually when I come to this intersection and my light is green, I'll pause a moment when I see a car coming up on the right thinking that they may try to pull out in front of me. I did this today, and while I paused to see if this car was going to pull out, another car runs the red light and goes flying through the intersection what felt like just inches in front of me. I instantly realized, had I not let off on the gas a bit thinking that car was going to turn, I would have been hit by this car going atleast 45mph! (By the time I realized that this car had just crossed in front of me and looked to the left, the car was already down the on ramp and on the freeway!) When I learned to drive I was taught by my father that you have to drive your car and everyone elses, meaning you do have to anticipate what people may do, and that little bit of knowledge may have infact saved my life or the life of my daughter today. Thanks Dad.

Coming Soon - My first Giveaway!

I've gotten a great opportunity to give away a pretty cool gift package on my blog. More info to come probably next week! I'm getting one too and want to check it out before posting the contest.

I'm not too sure yet how to run a giveaway, so if anyone has any advice please leave a comment.

Toddler Chic

When I moved into my first apartment without roommates, my decorating style was basically what I would call "College Chic" i.e. mostly leftovers from my childhood bedroom and hand me downs from various relatives. Thing is, I wasn't in college anymore, and even when I was in college I always lived with roommates that had all the furniture and stuff so I never had to worry about it. Then I went through a stage that I would call "Ikea Chic" in which like 90% of my home furnishings came flat packed with picture instructions and an allen wrench, the remaining 10% was the aforementioned "College Chic". Over the years I have replaced a few pieces, a new La-Z-boy sectional, a new, larger bed, but my decorating sense has pretty much stayed the same...until I became the mother of a toddler.

Today I'd say our apartment is "Toddler Chic", an eclectic style which includes toy strewn flooring and empty shelving below the 3 foot mark. Framed posters and prints that once hung on the walls have been replaced with framed pictures of a smiling chubby cheeked infant. The coffee table is gone now, it's sharp corners too dangerous for a once wobbly walker. Any surface which may have once been clean and shiny is now covered in tiny little finger and nose prints. A once large great room, is now bisected by a large metal and mesh contraption with a gate in the center. A high chair now stands next to my hand-me-down dining room table, the carpet underneath covered by a new plastic area rug. The entire design is really decorating by Amryn.

For those interested in this new "Toddler Chic" style, I'd like to pass on some advice...never buy anything that has an open bottom or sits off the ground. I am constantly down on my hands and knees retrieving toys/books/sippy cups from under our furniture! I don't expect to see "Toddler Chic" hit it big on HGTV anytime soon, but that's okay, it is the style that works for us!

Write about what you love...

They say you should write about what you love, and one of those things for me is reading. I love getting lost in an amazing book, I've laughed and cried with people and characters, I've closed books with a sigh thankful I finally finished it, and I've closed books with a sigh longing for more of the story. I have a hard time getting rid of books, especially ones that touch someplace in my heart or mind, unfortunately having open shelving full of books is like a magnet for a toddler, so most of my books are packed away in boxes for now. But I thought I'd share with you just what is (or was) on my bookshelves.

I love memoirs, not of famous people but of regular people who have something to share about their lives. Here are some of my very favorites :

Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster. This was the first of her books, others include Bright Lights, Big Ass, and Such a Pretty Fat, which I have also read. Her newest book is entitled Pretty in Plaid, unfortunately I have not had the extra money to purchase this book, but it is on my wishlist for sure! If you are looking for a book that will have your laughing until your sides hurt, you must check out Jen Lancaster. Also, check out her blog.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. I always think that books are better than the movies, and this is certainly true of this book as well! Also check out some of his other books Dry: A Memoir , Magical Thinking:True Stories, and Possible Side Effects. His newest books is titled A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father, and is sadly yet another book I have yet to read. The only thing I can really say about these books is Augusten certainly puts the FUN back in disfunctional, the man had led a very interesting life!

Any of these books would make great summer reads! I'll post more of my favorites soon, including my favorite fiction.

Summer Fun!

On Saturday a group my husband is involved in through work had a BBQ and picnic at a park. This park just happened to be just up the street from my in-laws so they stopped by and wanted to take Amryn over to another part of the park to play in the water. I really wanted to get some pictures, so my husband and I went along too.

Amryn went crazy! She loved playing in the fountains, when one would spray her in the face she'd just turn around and run the other way. She didn't care about all the big kids or anything. One Mom there even commented that she was "fearless". She probably would have stayed in there all day, but we finally pulled her out when she started shivering despite the 88 degree heat. We are definately going to have to go back there before the summer is over!

She was so busy running around and touching the water that this is the only picture I got where you can see her face!

Here she is fearlessly running under the spray of the big flower fountain.

Over- protective Daddy keeping his eye on her, as she's off and running again!

Escape!

I have been waiting none too anxiously for the day when Amryn would realize, "Hey, if I just put my leg over these bars I think I could totally get out of this crib!" Well that day happened to be yesterday. I put her down for her nap around 1:30pm, she usually sleeps on average about an hour and a half, when she was still asleep at 3:30pm, I thought it was unusual but not unheard of since she has taken two and a half hour naps before. Then I hear a doorknob start to rattle, it scared me at first because I thought someone was trying to open our front door again (that's a store for another time) until I realized that the noise was coming from down the hall. I get to Amryn's door and open it slowly to find her standing there with a big smile on her face. I have no clue how long she was awake before she tried to make her big escape, but her crib was full of books she had pulled off the shelf, so she must have been reading books for awhile before deciding to make a break for it.

Hubby now has to lower the crib again, there is one more notch on it still, I'm just hoping it will be enough! We are definately not ready for her to be in a toddler bed, but I also don't want her climbing out and hurting herself. If lowering it doesn't work then we will have to turn the crib around, since the back is higher than the front.

I fear that one of these days I'm going to lay down for a nap while Amryn is napping and awake to find her standing next to my bed! The little stinker!

What was I going to say???

Okay, I totally suck at this blogging thing. I think about things I could write about all the time, the ideas just hit me, but when it comes time to sit down and write something...all the ideas are gone. It isn't just blog ideas either, my entire short term memory is pretty shot. I swear I'm the only non-pregnant mother of a 14 1/2 month old that has pregnancy brain. I may have to resort to carrying around a notebook and a pen all the time the way my grandmother did when her memory started to go! Geesh I know I"m getting older, but memory loss at 32 is a bit much!

On another note, I think I'm going to file a workmans comp. claim with my husband for injuries aquired in the performance of my job as stay-at-home mom. lol In the past week I've dropped a can of cream of mushroom soup on my foot in the grocery store, and tryed to cut the tip of my thumb off while cutting up chicken for stir fry. I think the adequate compensation for these injuries might include a trip for a mani/pedi and a good nap. Think it will work?

Speaking of jobs, I still don't have one! I went to a job fair for a part time job at my husband's work, in home equity collections. I found out later from DH that they had over 85 people show up, the only interviewed 30 (I was one of them) and only had positions for 15 people. I guess they had quite alot of people that actually HAD collections experience. I have since applied for other full-time positions in other departments, I got a phone interview last week, but haven't heard anything more about a possible face-to-face interview. I also sent out 3 resumes for preschool teaching jobs, but heard nothing. I'm in this wonderful place where I'm overqualified for what I want to do, and underqualified for everything else. *sigh*

In the swim of things...

After much planning, canceling and re-planning we finally took Amryn for her first swim in the pool. She had gone in a hot tub with us back in February and really enjoyed it, so I was really excited to see how she would like the big pool.

And she really seemed to like it, she loved riding around in her Pooh boat, especially when I pushed her around and made the boat noise. She kept trying to drink the water though, she would stick her hand in the water and then suck the drops off, or she would lick off the water that landed on her boat. Ewwww. My husband was fairly concerned, but I told it I'm sure it would be okay, it wasn't like she was drinking gallons of it!
Of course she was very interested in all of the kids in the pool who were jumping in and making lots of waves and noise. And of course she had to say "Hi" to as many people as possible. She's such a social butterfly.

We've had exceptionally nice weather the past few weeks here in Oregon. I'm sure if this keeps up for awhile they will be screaming "drought" by the end of the summer. I've been having so much fun dressing Ammy in all of the summer clothes that have been waiting in her closet. Besides her new swimsuit, her newest summer wardrobe addition is a cute bucket hat we got at Dollar Tree. She'll wear it for a few minutes, usually if she is outside. We just have to make sure her Papa doesn't see it, or he may stick some fishing lures in it and a pole in her hand! lol

Hi-Ho-Hi-Ho..it's Back to Work I Go???

So I've been toying with the idea of going back to work for awhile now...I am a teacher, with a BS degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and just one portfolio away from a Masters degree in Reading and Literacy. I was looking to perhaps go back to teaching preschool part-time, somewhere I could also have Amryn in daycare as well. But there just haven't been any jobs in our area. Previously, I did some work as a substitute teacher in our local school district, but that schedule was just too unpredictable to allow for me to find daycare for Amryn.


Then I noticed on craigslist that my husband's work is hiring for part-time. (Yea, okay maybe he had mentioned it before...) From the ad we realized that we could work opposite shifts and then we wouldn't need daycare (except for a 4 week period when I'll be training full time). So I went ahead and put in my application online.


Then hubby talked to his supervisor about me applying, and learned about a job fair they are having this coming Saturday. He also said that she seemed really excited when she learned that I have a BS degree, and almost a Masters degree, even if they are totally unrelated to the job (home equity collections). I guess they hired like 15 people on the spot at the last job fair, so I'm hoping to know on Saturday if I'm going to be starting work on June 15th (when the next training class starts).


This leaves us in the position of perhaps needing daycare in less than 3 weeks! So I've been doing some research, and OMG daycare is expensive!! I mean if we had to have her in daycare full time for longer than a month it really wouldn't be worth me going back to work! The YMCA is almost $900 a month for only 4 full days, plus a $50 registration fee! In home daycares seem to range from $600-$800 for 4 or 5 full days.

While I would of course like to keep as much of my paycheck as possible, I am also super concerned about finding a good quality daycare. I'm trying not to think too much about it, or I start getting a major case of Mommy guilt. While I know she will probably LOVE daycare and getting to play with other kids. The guilty Mommy part of me worries that she won't get all the love and attention that she is used to, what if she is crying and no one can comfort her?!? Do I put her in a daycare center, a in home daycare, or do I find a nice stay at home Mom looking to make some extra money?! And what about the germs?! Amryn has never really been sick other than some sniffles while teething, is she going to go to daycare and immediately come down with some monster illness?!?! See...I just can't think about it all or I go crazy!!

Junk

My daughter loves junk mail, newspapers, ads, catalogs, post cards, anything addressed to "Current Resident" the child loves it all! This child has hundreds of dollars in toys, but her greatest joy is to sit on the living room floor surrounded by piles of junk mail. As I type she is currently investigating what is on sale at Albertsons. Sure eventually things get mangled or ripped up, but there is always a steady stream of new "toys" coming in the mailbox. No, she isn't embarassed, she just doesn't like the flash on the camera.

The teacher in me says it is positive because it allows her exposure to various forms of print. The Mom in me is just happy that something entertains her for 15 minutes!

WTF?! Miss California

I saw this on a friend's blog, thought it was pretty funny, and wanted to share it.

The bedtime guy.

My hubby works long hours, sometimes as many as 10+hours a day up to 6 days a week, and doesn't usually get off work until 9pm. So he misses out on alot of time with Amryn. Awhile back he offered to put Amryn to bed, and it has since become a nightly Daddy/daughter ritual. I'm not entirely clear how her does it, but she goes down at night alot easier for him than she ever did for me, apparently there are steps involved, including kisses and the ceremonal turning on of the fish tank thing in her crib. I'm glad they have their special time together, however brief. She has definately turned into a "daddy's girl" and it is just so cute!

On a side note, we have taught Amryn to blow kisses! As my hubby would carry her back the hall toward her room I would blow her kisses and tell her good night. Then hubby would show her how to give them back. Well the other night I blow her kisses and she did it back all on her own! It is the cutest thing ever!

Upcoming blog posts???

Lately I've been looking at my life for ideas on what to write about in this blog. Usually I will think of a topic, and then when it comes to sitting down and writing something I can't remember that "great idea" I had while lying awake at 2am the night before. But here are a few of the ideas I can actually remember, that may actually become blog posts here in the near future.

1) Blanket Wars
2) The Top Two Most Annoying Toys Owned by my Daughter
3) What Happened to all my Friends?
4) Hubby vs. Cat
5) More Baby Fever
6) Is it Time to go Back to Work?
7) My Hubby the Gamer.
8) If You can't Beat'em Join'em

I'm developing a few of these in my head...so I'm sure a few of them will be showing up as full blogs soon.

Tweet Tweet

Okay, I've given in...I'm a Tweeter or Twitterer or Twitt...whatever...
So add me or else my thoughts are going to just be lost aimlessly in cyberspace forever...
https://twitter.com/jessjess1977

The Fever

I've got a fever. No, I'm not sick, this is a totally different type of fever. I've got baby fever. I've tried to fight it for some time, but there is no denying it anymore. If normal is 98.6 I'd say I'm around 101.9 right now, not a serious life threatening fever, but it is definately there.

When the fever first started I thought it was because my daughter was getting big so fast, and I kept saying that it wasn't that I wanted another baby, it was just that I missed my daughter being a baby. But this feeling is just not going away, in fact it is getting even stronger. I'm watching all the baby shows again, staring at babies when we are out in public, and remembering fondly what it felt like to be pregnant and have that little person in there moving around.

I must say I'm a little taken aback by this fever. Before having Amryn, when I thought about having kids I always said I wanted them atleast 3 years apart. I didn't want to deal with 2 in diapers, and I wanted to allow my first to have time to be "the baby". So when I first started feeling the inklings of this fever, I decided okay, we'll start trying after Amryn turns 2. Now that the fever is increasing by the day, I don't know if I can wait almost another year to try for number 2.

This little voice in my head says "Well, what if it takes awhile to get pregnant?" Okay, this was definately not a problem for us last time, I went off birthcontrol the end of June and I was pregnant by mid-July! So with our luck if I decided today I wanted to get pregnant, we'd probably be pregnant in the next month or so. But what if??

I think my husband would totally be onboard, he really wants his boy. He also makes comments to Amryn like "With the rate Mommy's going you'll be 20 before you get a brother." Of course he's not the one that actually has to carry and HAVE the baby, and he's the one that goes to work each day and wouldn't have to be home with 2 little ones.

Logistically, I think it would be better for me to have another baby before trying to go back to work again, or I'd just have to start a job and then end up taking time off. I would really like to be able to stay at home with the second child for atleast the 1st year. At this point if I waited to go back to work until after a second child I could probably wait to go back to work until Amryn starts preschool.

So much to think about...I will keep you posted.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet...

So I've been hearing all this hype about Twitter lately, but haven't really gotten around to joining...I'm not really sure why. I have a Myspace page which I don't really do much with anymore except post pics and check out bulletins. I also have a Facebook but mostly just because my hubby was playing some game on it and decided to create a page for me to get me involved in the game so he could get things from my game for his. And I have this blog thing, which I'm almost certain less than 3 people actually read. (If you do read this, hey give a girl some comments, let me know you're out there!) Between Babycenter and the ever-growing list of blogs that I read, do I really need one more thing to do on the computer?

So my probably non-existent readers...leave me a comment and tell me why I should Tweet. Should I Tweet? What do you like about Tweeting? And if you are a Tweeter (Twitterer?) then maybe you could leave your info so if I do decide I want to give it a shot that I may actually have people to Tweet with or to or whatever.

Love at first sight...

I've been on the look out for a doll for Amryn, just a regular old baby doll, I didn't want one that cried, peed, cooed, ate,pooped, took the SATs, wore makeup,danced, walked, drove,or any number of other "baby" things. I looked at Target before her birthday party, but just couldn't find what I was looking for.

Well, Amryn got a gift card for Fred Meyer (for those of you not familiar it is similar to Target but has groceries, owned by Kroger) so we went there today to continue baby search 2009. And there she was, a simple $7.49 baby complete with clothes and hat. I handed her to Amryn and her face just lit up, and right at that moment the song "Love of a Lifetime" started playing in the store and the moment was complete, my baby had found her own baby. I also got her one of those little toy baby bottles with the fake "milk" for $1.29.

Amryn has been playing with and "feeding" her baby all afternoon. Sometimes she tests out the bottle herself, but I keep telling her it is for the baby not for her, and then she'll put the bottle up to the dolls mouth, it is so sweet! She is so smart!

She got a couple hundred dollars worth of toys for her birthday, but the $8.78 baby and bottle seem to make her just as happy!

I'll try to get a picture and post it soon!

Watch out, it's MOMZILLA!!!!

Amryn's birthday was Thursday, so we had her party yesterday. Over a week ago we ordered the cake from Safeway mostly because we had received a coupon in the mail for a free small cake for Amryn to smash up. We were supposed to pick the cakes up at 11am yesterday before heading over to her party which started at noon.
At 9am I get a message from the bakery saying that they don't have the decorating kit to make the cake that we ordered. Okay fine whatever, I called back and told her to just use the toy from the other Pooh cake they had.
At 10 am, one hour before we are supposed to pick it up, she calls back and leaves a message saying that they can't use the whipped cream icing that we had ordered because of the way they decorate the cake. I was totally livid! I called the store and asked to speak to the manager, who then passed me on to the bakery manager.
And then I went Momzilla!! I told him that we had ordered this cake over a week before, and they are just telling me NOW that they can't make the cake? I told him that they were ruining my daughters 1st birthday, and that there was no way I was going to eat a cake with sickening sweet frosting, and I certainly was NOT going to pay for a cake I wasn't going to eat! Well that got them into action, they called another store and got the original cake kit I had ordered, and hmmm all of a sudden it was no problem to make it with the whipped cream frosting, AND he tells me that the cake is going to be free!
Then we got to pick up the cakes...AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE LITTLE CAKE!!! It was RIGHT THERE on the order form! The manager got this scared look in his eyes, and then basically offered us anything we wanted. So Amryn got to dig into an 8inch round cake! We ended up with $42 worth of cake for FREE!

A year in review

Well, some of the pictures seem to be too big, I will have to try to go back and change it when I have more time.

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!

I guess it was inevitable, I've seen it coming for some time now, and despite my best efforts to prevent it, my baby has grown up! Today Amryn Claire is a big 1 year old girl, a toddler, no longer my little baby. Where did the year go? I swear a year has never gone by so fast, it is unbelievable! Yet here she is, walking around, eating big people food, emptying my bookself of all of its contents on a daily basis, and forever getting into SOMETHING on or in the entertainment center!



I am so amazed, in awe, and in love with this tiny little person, more so than I could have ever imagined! I love her sweet-sometimes open mouthed-kisses, I love the way her face lights up when I go and get her out of her crib, and I love her cute little giggle when we tickle her. She is a constant surprise and she makes everyday a new experience!



Everything I'd ever heard about motherhood is true, it really is like having your heart walking around outside of your body, they really do grow up too fast, and you really do forget about the pain. (Well, almost. lol) While I am sad that she is never going to be my little baby again, I am so excited to see who she is going to grow into. I know this next year is going to be filled with even more growth and changes, I am especially excited for her to really start talking (she still doesn't say Mama!!) though I'm sure I'll regret saying that in about 12 more years. lol



Happy Birthday my sweet little girl, it is a joy and an honor to be your mother.

Yay for coupons!

So I want to brag a bit about 2 awesome coupon deals I got today!

I had to go to the Dr today and got 2 prescriptions. Well our co-pay for Dr visits is $20, and our co-pay for prescriptions is $10 each. We have figured out that since both Target and Fred Meyer have the $4 generic deals that we can get meds CHEAPER by NOT using our insurance (crazy huh?). Well awhile back I picked up a Target coupon for a free $25 gift card with a new or transfered prescription!! So I took my prescriptions in, got one for $4 and then a 3 month supply of another for $10, for a grand total of $14 and then I got a $25 gift card!! So my $34 medical expenses were brought down to $9! I'm saving the $25 card for when we go get Amryn's birthday presents on Friday!

Super deal #2 will be FREE DINNER! I'm a member of BzzAgent and was chosen to try out this new Taco Bell Fiesta Family Meal! Dinner for 4 includes 10 taco shells (hard or soft), heated seasoned ground beef, real cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, sides of beans, rice, and chips! They are just testing it out right now in the Portland, OR area as well as Omaha, Nebraska, it sells for $14.99, but in exchange for my opinion and for sharing my experiences and coupons with others, we will be eating for free tonight! Whooohooo!!!

Things you would have overheard at our house this last weekend...

"Well then I guess we'll just have to tape Amryn collecting Pagan fertility symbols with Christians next year!"

"Umm...the mixed vegetables caught on fire."

Lots of Updates

We got our RENT tickets in the mail!! I am sooooooo excited, but I still have to wait over 2 months! :(

Hubby's paycheck snafu was all taken care of and we actually got both deposits in our account on Friday as scheduled!

Ammy is getting teeth like crazy!! Teeth 9 and 10 have just popped the gums! She the 4 front ones on top, 2 bottom front ones. 2 molars, the bottom and top on right side, and the newest editions the bottom left molar and the next bottom tooth on the left side! She has really been a fairly good teether, maybe a tiny bit more crabby, but nothing like the nightmares I've heard about. *knock on wood*

This day last year was my due date with Amryn. She didn't make her appearance until 9 day later, but through my entire pregnancy I always had April 7th stuck in my mind. I can't believe she is almost 1! I am so excited for her birthday party on the 18th!

Money crisis averted.

So my hubby sends me an email last night from work, saying that he checked on how much his paycheck is going to be on Friday, and for some reason he was only getting paid for 1 week. (Meaning he wasn't getting paid for 40 hours and nearly 10 hours of OT) "Sure, sure" I said "April Fools!" and he kept writing back saying "No, really. No joke." When I finally saw the print out myself I realized "Holy Crap! He's right!" Yeeeeahh big problem, the amount that he will be paid is less than 1/2 the rent that we need to pay on Friday (I have 1/2 the rent already in savings, we take 1/2 out of each check). Luckily we actually have money in our savings account that we were saving for Amryn's birthday party later this month. So rent is covered but that won't leave much to live on or to pay the other bills with.

Hubby got to work today and called HR and they were like, well we will just add that to your next direct deposit. Okay really, who can do without half the pay check for 2 more weeks? Hello, people have bills to pay! It isn't like it would be hard to deposit it, THEY ARE THE BANK! (Hubby works in home equity collections for one of the major banks.) Well, hubby explained to them that we NEED that money, and they said that he would have it by Monday. We aren't sure if this is going to be in the form of a check or a direct deposit, but atleast we won't have to wait 2 more weeks!!!

RENT RENT RENT RENT RENT!!

My favorite broadway musical is coming to town in June, and when we heard this the hubby and I decided to save some of our tax return money to get tickets as part of our anniversary presents to each other. Well we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for them to go on sale with ticketmaster, and today a co-worker of my husband's told us about this fundraiser for the local AIDS charity, you can buy tickets to the opening night of the show plus you get a ticket for an after show cast party, and a portion is donated to the charity. I'm super excited to see the show again (this will be the 3rd time hehe) but I am even more excited for the cast party because the original Mark and Roger, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp are going to be in the cast!! I just bought our tickets a little bit ago! Now I have to wait nearly 3 months!!

Fun Bites

Ammy and I had a playdate today with a few Moms and kids from the playgroup. There were two other April babies there, and a 9 month old. Amryn was having so much fun! She kept trying to kiss and hug the other little girl who was just 1 day older than her. She loved playing in this tent that they had.

It was nice for her to get some play time with kids her own age. So many of the playdates have had older kids.

And then it happened. The little boy came over to see what Amryn was doing, and Amryn being the trusting and curious little thing she is, stuck her finger in his mouth. The photo at the right was taken just seconds before the little bugger chomped down on my baby's finger like a dog with a bone! Amryn didn't know what was happening, and all the other Mom kept saying was "Oh, I forgot to tell you he bites." She pulls her kid off of Amryn and says to him "Oh it's okay, you didn't mean to." HUH?!? Seeing as he very nearly broke the skin I think he did damn well mean it! If it would have been Amryn biting I would have told her sternly "No biting!!" and this lady is comforting her little piranha?

Yes I know kids bite, and I'm sure this isn't going to be the last time in her life that she gets biten. But seriously, how is a kid supposed to learn NOT to bite unless they are taught that biting is not okay?

All in all we had a good time, Amryn cried for like a minute and then wanted to be put down so she could go play again, so I'm sure there's been no permanent damage. I guess she learned that sometimes, fun bites.

Birthday party planning....

Invitations for Amryn's first birthday party went out this week. She'll definately have an interesting mix of people at her first party, we invited family (2 sets of grandparents, uncles, girlfriends and cousins) and "family" (a couple dozen gay uncles) and a few friends with their kids. This could either be a lot of fun or one giant strange mess. Sure, a part of me is kind of giddy with the idea of making my church going Mother in law sit next to one of my openly gay and slightly flaming best friends, but I also don't want the entire 2 hours to be totally awkward.

But if there is one thing I have learned about "my bois" it is that they tend to surprise even the most closed minded individual. Many of my friends are professionals with good stable jobs, and they are all very well mannered and articulate. Amryn is loved by a lot of people, and I don't ever want her to feel like she has to choose who to invite based on who they choose to love.

Unfortunately my husband's work has decided to make everyone work on the day of Amryn's party. They have to work 2 Saturdays a month, and it had been the second and fourth Saturdays, but because they are closing on Easter they decided to give everyone the second Saturday off and work the third Saturday instead. So now he has to take a vacation day for a day he SHOULD have had off any way! And the handful of friends we invited that work with him aren't going to be able to come to the party!! So we will be taking the leftover cake to work after the party so everyone can still see her.

We are doing a Winnie the Pooh 1st birthday theme, I have plates for the cake, cups, and napkins all with the Pooh theme (got those before we had to move to a restaurant) and a Pooh 1 candle, and a Happy Birthday banner. We still need to order the cake, and maybe a little "smash" cake for Ammy. We are having it at a pizza place so all we have to do is order food, I think I might call ahead and order the pizza so it will be ready when we get there. Once I know how many kids are coming, I will go to Dollar Tree and buy some Pooh puzzles/books/stickers for party favors.

Now I just hope people will actually RSVP!!

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice OH HELL NO!

Amryn is officially a walker now so I figured she needed some good sturdy shoes to get around in, so today we went to the mall to go to Stride Rite. Wow that was a crazy experience. It is Springbreak here in Oregon, so the store was packed and they only had 2 people working. But I was already there and Ammy really needed shoes so I waited patiently. Finally one of the sales people looks at me and says "Did you sign up on the list up front?" Umm...list?! How the heck was I supposed to know there was a list?! But it worked out okay and Ammy got her foot measured (Bad Mommy moment #1 I've been shoving her size 4 foot into a size 3 shoes oops) and I picked out 2 shoes to try on which they only had 1 of in a 4 1/2. Well I had a 15% off coupon to use, but the sales lady tried to convince to take advantage of their buy 1 get one 50% off sale. Yea, these things are already going to cost me a fourtune, I don't think I want to spend another $30 thanks. So she got her "big girl shoes" and then we walked around the mall for a bit.

While walking around I notice that they have the Easter Bunny there, and much like with Santa Clause kids can meet and get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Amryn did okay with Santa, I sort of just backed her in and sat her down and she sat there a good minute before she realized what was going on, then it sort of happened in slow motion, her face started to crinkle up and then she started to cry, but not before we got a pretty good looking picture (minus the tongue sticking out like a puppy dog).

So when I saw the Easter Bunny, and the no Easter Bunny line, I thought PERFECT! I take Ammy over and figure out what picture package to get. Normally this would be where I'd post the lovely picture of my daughter and the Easter Bunny, sadly things didn't work out so well. As I'm walking over to where the Easter Bunny is sitting on a bench, Amryn starts FREAKING OUT! She refused to sit on or near the Easter Bunny. I even tried sitting down on the bench and holding her, but she wouldn't even sit on my knee next to the Easter Bunny. So after reviewing the horrible pictures, I decided not to purchase any and to not traumatize my poor baby any further by trying to take "a good picture". Guess I wasn't going to fool her again!

My only guess is that Santa was okay because he looked like a person. This was her first encounter with a "character". I guess if I were her I would have lost my shit too, this giant 7 foot fuzzy things with glasses and HUGE eyes is trying to take me away from my MOMMY?!?! YEA NO!! Oh well, there's always next year.

One Year.

Tomorrow (February 27th) is our 1 year wedding anniversary. The time last year we were in Las Vegas soaking up the sun! Now we are back in Oregon soaking wet! We were married at Mandalay Bay at their Shark Reef Aquarium. My "aisle" was the walk thru tunnel with sharks swimming overhead. I figured if you're going to get married in Vegas you might as well do something different.

Shh...we've taken her regular baby and replaced it with Folgers Crystals...

I've had to come to the inevitable conclusion that my baby isn't quite a baby anymore. We had her pictures taken last week, and as we were going through all the different poses to pick our favorites, I kept thinking "Someone stole my baby and left this big kid!" At one point the photographer says he wants to get some pictures of her standing, ok, well she's been standing on her own for short periods of time, but I was wary that we would be able to get her to do it long enough to get any good shots. So I stand her up and she stood there! When I first saw this picture it hit me, she's almost 1 year old, and soon she will be walking and talking, and driving, and going off to college and OMG where is my baby!?!

Then they tried to get her to stand next to this little column thing, and all she wanted to do was push it around the set! She is starting to take 1 or 2 steps on her own now, and I keep holding my breath everytime it looks like she is going to start walking.
She's so mobile already, I can't even imagine what she's going to be into when she isn't restrained to crawling and cruising.

But one up side, now that she is a "big girl" she is actually taking naps! Right after she turned 9 months old, she all of a sudden decided to go from taking maybe 1 - 30 min to 1 hour nap, to taking 2 - 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps!! And she still sleeps 9-10 hours straight at night!! Of course I was worried at first, thinking she must be sick or something, but day after day she kept taking naps and now her normal routine is to go down for a nap around 11:30-12 and another nap around 5:30-6, then bedtime around 9:30pm.

As much as I miss the little baby that she used to be, I am really in no rush to have another and start all over again. I know if my hubby had his way I'd probably already be pregnant, he really wants his little boy! I think I'll probably be ready to try next summer, so that Amryn will be around 3 and hopefully potty trained before a baby arrives in the picture.

Daredevil

Apparently she wanted to get a closer look at this Beggin' Strips Commercial. Ugh, just when I think I've got everything baby proofed to a certain level, she starts climbing!

She is not even standing on her own yet, but she was able to climb right up on her car and stand there for awhile. But don't worry, after I snapped the picture I made her get down.

Extreme Couponing

I want to be one of those Moms that can buy like $200 worth of groceries for 75 cents. But the entire process and lingo of "couponing" just seem so out of my element. Also it seems that a big part of making it work is to stockpile certain items when they are on sale and you have a coupon. Now that's all well and good if you live in a big house and have a giant pantry or garage to store 25 boxes of elbow macaroni or the like. But we live in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment that is quite frankly already busting at the seams with 2 adults and 1 semi-spoiled baby and all her stuff.
Plus all the time spent cutting and sorting and digging through recycling bins for extra copies of 35 cents off deodorant coupons, I don't think I can manage to squeeze in one more thing into my day.

Plus I think we do a pretty good job with saving money on groceries. We shop at Winco, pretty much only buy generic brands, we buy meat in bulk and repackage and freeze it in meal sized portions. I think if we had more than just the small refrigerator sized freezer compartment we would freeze a lot more. We buy snack items (chips, microwave popcorn, pop etc) at Dollar Tree, and household items such as laundry soap and toilet paper at Costco.

Well, I guess I'll give it a try and atleast get a Sunday paper this week. Who knows pretty soon I could be digging through our apartment complex recycling center....yea...umm...maybe not.

Stepford Moms

In an attempt to make friends with other women with children I've joined a playgroup on meetup.com. We've made it to several of the playdates, and while everyone is so nice and friendly I still feel like an imposter or something. And I start to feel like the only Mom who doesn't "have it together". I mean where are the other Moms with dark circles under their eyes, wearing baby barf stained t-shirts, and hair they can't remember the last time they ran a brush through? Frankly I just don't know if I can handle hanging out with women who are able to make it to a 10am playdate fully dressed with makeup and perfect hair! I am starting to wonder if they are like that everyday or if they really are sick enough to spend extra time to make themselves look nice for a bunch of other women. I'm lucky to get a shower everyday before 10pm, I am certainly not going to attempt to put on makeup while trying to keep my curious crusier out of the toilet!

I don't know, maybe it's me... or maybe I need to start a group for "unperfect" Moms who live in apartments and don't wear designer clothes. I keep telling myself to not give up, because Ammy has alot of fun with the other kids, and maybe I just need to re-learn how to have girl friends, because right now this is only reminding me of all the reasons I don't really have women friends.

My baby can sleep!!

My 9 month old daughter, who usually doesn't nap more than 30mins at a time, has actually taken 2 naps today! This morning she slept for about 1 hour and 15 mins, and she is currently still sleeping after about 1 hour and 40 mins. Of course this change in behavior has me worried...is she getting sick? Maybe it is a growth spurt? Teething? A part of me doesn't even want to hope that this could be a new trend! I can't imagine what things I'll beable to get done if she sleeps like this everyday! A shower before 10pm? Breakfast AND lunch in the same day? Do laundry AND be able to put it away? Wow...the possibilities are endless...

I just worry that all of this lovely napping is going to mess with her wonderful ability to sleep through the night. I've gotten used to her sleeping 8-10 hours at a stretch at night, I really don't think I want to give that up!

A little about Momland...

If someone would have told me about 2 years, that I would be sitting here today, a wife and a mother, I would have thought they were crazy!! I had reached the point where I didn't really think those things were in my future. I certainly didn't have any clue how those things would so drastically change everything in my life.

For most of my adult life my friends have mostly been gay men, yes folks I am a fag hag. I didn't really choose to only have gay male friends, it just sort of happened...my best friend from high school came out to me my Freshman year of college, and he started introducing me to people, and it just sort of snowballed from there. I have always said my friends are my friends because of the people they are not for who they sleep with. (Though a friend once pointed out that some of my friends are my friends because of who've they've slept with...lol) But with all of these gay friends, I guess I sort of "checked out" of the straight world, so while women my age were off getting married and having babies, I was "mothering" a gaggle of gay bois! Then I turn 30, and things really started to change in my life, and I found myself slowly being forced back into this "straight world" and realizing that I have no clue how to behave. The problem is, I don't feel like I belong in either world anymore. Some of those I once called friends don't seem to understand me now, and I have no clue how to go about making friends with these other women whom I feel like the only thing we have in common is the fact that we are mothers.

I'm not exactly what you'd call domestic. I attribute that to several factors, one being the fact that growing up I never really had to worry about doing chores, or learning about how a home is run. Some would say I was spoiled, and I guess for lack of a better term, I was. I grew up with my Dad and Grandparents, and being an only child of an only child...well, the sun rose and set on me for the most part. But it is the lack of domestic skills that I find really overwhelming as a stay at home Mom. I guess I'm just not sure of how to organize myself, let alone how to do it all while dealing with a baby!

Sometimes I feel like I've been thrust into someone elses life. Now don't get me wrong, I love my husband and daughter, and I wouldn't change having them for anything. I guess it is just that I don't really know how to live this new life, where to go, what to do. I understood how my life used to work, now I have no idea what I am supposed to do.

So dear reader, this is Jess in Momland. This is where I'll be writing about my experiences with motherhood, gay bois, being a wife, and finding my way through my new life. Stay tuned, I'm sure things will get interesting!