tonight

Steak dinner grilled by my husband: delicious.

Time spent on the couch listening to dinner prep and “snuggling” my boy was: very relaxing.

The sounds of Prairie Home Companion on the radio: boring.

Number of times Ryan mini-pooped in his pull-ups tonight: 5

Number of times he blamed his “stinky” on daddy: 1

What I think of the movie The Wrestler: not much.

baby pics

tft: playing with your kids

I really need to know…am I the only mom who doesn’t like playing with her kid 24/7?? Let me rephrase that. It’s not that I don’t like being around my son, hanging out with him, interacting with him, enjoying his company. I do! I love him to death! But there’s just something about his incessant need to have me play with him that, well, bores me. Maybe it’s just that I’m tired of the toys that he has. Or maybe it’s that when he ORDERS me to sit down and play with him one of two things happens: 1.) He sits there and plays and when I try to do something he insists that he do it so I end up sitting there doing absolutely nothing, or 2.) he sits there and watches me and does nothing while *I* play. And my mind inevitably wanders to all of the productive things that I could be doing instead, like writing a grocery list or blow drying my hair or vacuuming or washing last night’s dinner dishes. So then I feel guilty because I KNOW!! I should JUST ENJOY THIS TIME WITH HIM! THEY DON’T STAY YOUNG FOREVER! ONE DAY HE’LL WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND YOU’LL WISH HE ASKED YOU TO PLAY WITH HIM. But guh, seriously after like 5 minutes of playing I have ants in my pants and have to find something else to do. And then Ryan gets mad and whiny and clingy and starts following me around the house and hitting the dog and whipping his blanket around because I’m not playing with him. It’s not that I’m not paying attention to him- we talk, and we sing songs, and we make up little games while I’m doing stuff…but it’s that I’m not playing with him that is apparently upsetting.

So I’m wondering…is a parent obligated to play with their child all day long? Am I a terrible parent and person because I get bored with playing after five minutes? Am I ignoring or neglecting my son if I tell him it’s time for me to do some work around the house instead of play with him? Do YOU spend a lot of time playing with your kid(s)?? Or are they super at playing independently? How do you find the balance between getting done what you need to and spending quality time with the children? And what about you working parents? When you get home from work do you spend the rest of the evening focusing solely on playtime with your kid, or do you insist that they entertain themselves while you get something done?

How does one find a good balance between playtime and work, and keep everyone happy???

AND, accepting all ideas for any new and different activities for us to do together in the house during these dreary, long winter days…

bullet-point Wednesday!!

I don’t even have anything to put into bullet points. Aye, this daily blogging…

• My living room looks like a daycare center. I don’t even bother picking it up anymore. Ryan’s in a “I like to take the toy basket and dump out its entire contents and roll around in it” phase.
• And he’s presently napping!! A miracle in and of itself. This must be a bonus gift to me from the cold that he has.
• Office/guest room/Ryan’s room renovation update: FatJ purchased a new computer over the weekend. We are now a Mac family. And a PC family…we’re both. The Mac will reside in the freezing cold dungeon-like spider infested basement, while the PC will reside on my lap on the cozy couch in the warm living room underneath a snuggly blanket. I started attacking the junk that lives in our now-office’s closet. The now-office/future room of Ryan actually has TWO closets that we have been throwing miscellaneous crap into for the past five years. Old computer equipment, cell phone boxes, my teaching materials, photo albums…you name it, it’s in there. I about cried the other day pondering the daunting task of emptying out those two closets and figuring out where all the stuff will go. There’s only so much that can get thrown away you know. Once that crap is all out of the closets, FatJ will set to the task of stripping the nasty wallpaper from the closets (who wallpapers closets??) and refinishing the walls and repainting. I start to have palpitations just thinking about how much needs to get done.
• We have our ‘big’ ultrasound this Friday!! I’m very excited to see that little bugger who’s just recently started to kick me. Sorry to disappoint, but we will not be finding out the gender. My mother will deny saying this, but when I told her about a month back that we had this ultrasound scheduled, she said “oh…well that won’t really be that big of a deal since you’re not even finding out if it’s a boy or a girl.” Uh huh, riiiiiiiiight. We’ll just be finding out if our baby has a four-chambered heart and a brain and all that, not so much of a big deal at all.
• My parents are coming down tomorrow to spend a few days. The Ry Guy is NOT allowed to come in for the ultrasound appointment, and we don’t really have any babysitters that are available during a work day, so the parentals are kind enough to come down here and stay with Ryan while FatJ and I attend the ultrasound and MD appointment. It will be so wonderful to have other people in this house to distract and play with Ryan!
• Let’s end with a funny Ryan quote. Today we were reading a new Thanksgiving book from Grandma. The Thanksgiving book mentions God a few times. On the last page is a picture of a family sitting around a big Thanksgiving dinner table, thanking God for all that they have. I told Ryan that next week at Grandma Karen’s house we’ll sit around the table with a big turkey and lots of food and Max will be there and it will be Thanksgiving! And then Ryan asks “God will be sitting there too?” Hahahaha.
• Yay, Glee! Tonight!

mlb daddy’s questions

My bro is a dork. He posted these 10 questions on his blog the other day. I’m answering them here to use up a day of blogging.

1). Would you commit perjury in court to save a friend or family member?

Right here and now I’d say oh heavens no I would never do such a thing, but faced with the actual situation…I quite possibly would. Totally depends on the scenario, what the person was on trial for, and who the friend/family member was though.

2). If your wife was a photographer, and she had a passion for it, greatly enjoyed taking pictures, and it was her most beloved hobby, yet you thought her pictures really sucked, would you tell her, or just keep your thoughts to yourself?

Um, I would probably keep my thoughts to myself about my wife’s sucky pictures. I mean, if photography was her hobby and she got lots of enjoyment out of it, I would not want to burst her bubble and risk spousal retaliation (or worse- I mean, I’ve never had a wife. But I hear they can get pretty vicious at times?). Now, let’s say the wife-who-takes-bad-pictures was going to empty our savings account and open up her own photography business…well then I’d probably step in to tell her that her pictures really sucked.

3). In what room would you be most comfortable…

ROOM A – Filled with 10 puffy vest wearing soccer moms

ROOM B – Filled with 10 Project Runway watching soccer moms

ROOM C – Filled with 10 baseball hating soccer moms

I guess I’d be most comfortable in room A. Unlike my brother, I don’t have any aversions to puffy vests. I even OWN one, so I guess I’d fit right in with the other 10 moms, although I’m not a soccer mom so that could cause some discord.

4). Who is your all time favorite Minnesota Twin?

Kirby Puckett

With Johan Santana as a distant (yet hotter) second.

5). What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked in an interivew?

I don’t remember ever getting asked any really stupid questions, but I do recall during on-campus interviews in college there were some people who got asked “If you were a pizza topping, what would you be?”

6). What do you dread more, a trip to the dentist or a trip to the doctor?

Doctor.

7). Do you honestly think blondes are dumb?

No.

8). At the start of the 30 day shred I weighed 176 lbs, how much do you think I will weigh when I am done with 30 days of shredding?

172 lbs.

9). What is the most likely scenario that will bring the end of human existence on the planet earth?

An invasion of puffy-vest wearing soccer mom aliens.

10). Was there a better song in 2009 than Beyonce’s Single Ladies?

Yes.

boys’ bedding

I’ve started thinking about and looking for bedroom furniture and bedding for Ryan’s upcoming big boy room. And I’m finding NOTHING that I like in the bedding department. Granted, I’ve not been searching for long, and my search has not been far-reaching, but I’ve already learned that in the world of little boy bedding you can choose from four decor options: trains, cars, sports, or dinosaurs. I have nothing against these themes, but I’d like a few more options. Ryan does not seem to care what’s on his bed; I asked him the other day what he wanted his big boy bed to look like, and he said “blue.” So I’m hoping to go with something that will last him a bit beyond the age of four, that I won’t tire of looking at after two months.

So, I ask you…how have you decorated your little boy’s first big boy room? Do you recommend any certain stores/sites? Have you gotten creative and made your own decor, or did you buy everything? (I’m not creative or crafty that way- so making something probably won’t be happening!) I’d love to see pictures of your kid’s room, if you’d be willing to send a link or do a post on your own blog (NaBloPoMo participants- that would get you one day covered!!) Do you have any inspired design ideas for me??

Here’s what we’re working with so far:

We don’t need to paint the room, but we probably will. Right now it’s a can’t-put-my-finger-on-it sage/seafoam green.

FatJ wants to put this poster in the room:

Which I think would look nice on light blue walls, but I don’t think we’ll be designing the room around this trike poster.

Bed- to be determined. Other furniture in the room- probably a dresser to be determined, and a bookcase, of the ugly tan fake wood pressboard variety.

I also have a Norman Rockwell baseball picture I’d like to hang in there.

That’s it so far…help a decorator out here!!

sunday fun

I created a fort for Ryan today. I was able to get in some quality time on the couch with my O magazine while he played in it.

Also, FatJ scored some major husband points today. Posted all about that here.

new machine

This is the kind of moment FatJ lives for.

friday the 13th

Are you supersititous??? I don’t really think I am. (I do believe in the ‘jinx’ and karma though.) However, yesterday when I scheduled a vaccine appointment with the nurse and she said “that’ll be Friday the 13th” I kind of had a little moment of panic thinking of ALL THAT COULD GO WRONG WITH AN INJECTION ON FRIDAY THE 13TH.

***[Yes I'm finally getting that damn pig flu shot. OINK OINK.]

thursday

Ryan and I went and ran errands this morning. And he was an ANGEL- an absolute peach of an angel!! It was so much fun to have a pleasant morning of errands with a happy and smiley little guy!!

So we’re in Target and I thought I’d stroll through the kid clothes to see if there was anything good on sale. Ryan and I looked at a couple things, pointed out some pants that looked like his, and then parked next to a clearance rack so I could peruse. As I was looking thru stuff, I see him reach out to an item of clothing and say “what’s this little thing?” And he’s holding in his hand an itty bitty cutesy tootsy newborn sized sleeper, and I said “that’s a little pajama for a new baby.” And he was all “yeah! it is!” and grabs it off the rack and is holding it, and then I tell him that that would fit OUR new baby when he/she is born. So then I ask him if he’d like to buy that for the new baby, and he says YEAH! and flings it into the back of the cart. I held up a few other NB sleepers that were a little more ‘boyish’ that I thought would appeal to Ryan more, and asked him if he wanted to get the baby one of those instead, but he said NO NO NO THAT one!! So this one it is……aaawwww. Trust me, I didn’t have to have my arm twisted too much to buy a teeny baby outfit.

We also went to Walgreen’s to get Ryan’s passport pictures taken. He thought this experience was hilarious. He also enjoyed staring at the chochki singing Christmas novelties while we waited for the pictures to get processed. I’ve written before about horrid looking passport pictures (most specifically, my own), and apparently the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to looking like a weirdo in passport photos. Here are Ryan’s:

He looks like a deer in the headlights!! But this deer is more than ready to travel internationally, yes he is. As we’re leaving the store he says to me “We’re going to Mexico now?” hahahaha.

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