the bright side

In the spirit of my husbands last post I thought I would share some of my favorite Seth moments.

1. My husband was right, the mesmerized look he gives you with his big blue eyes. The look of love.

2. His own personal language. It is quite entertaining to hear all that he has to say. I love his baby talk so much I almost don't want it to end.

3. When he laughs there is no better feeling. He loves being tickled and it is such an easy way to get a grin on both of our faces.

4. Watching him enjoy water. Whether in a pool or the bathtub he loves a good splash.

5. Milestones. Whether it was when he rolled for the first time, put the soother back in his own mouth, or sat up on his own, each time he checked off a milestone you can't help but be proud of him. It is also wonderful to see how he responds to his new accomplishments.

oink, oink

First off to address my husband's last post. While I may have called him a jerk, (when he acts like one of course), and I have called him stupid, I have never used the two words together. I also won't lower myself to type out some of the choice phrases he uses when referring to me.

Well to continue where I left off.

Soon after I wrote my last post I was getting ready to go out for the day with some friends shopping out of town. I woke up early to ensure I had time to blow dry my hair and apply a little makeup. I dressed for the day and fed Seth, However, while feeding him he proceeded to pull on my shirt. By the time he was done the bottle my shirt was completely unwearable. So I went upstairs quickly to change. Quickly did not happen.

I started to go through my closet. First I pulled those shirts that I thought fit me pretty well. However, upon closer inspection they all had stains. Combination of breast milk, formula, and spit up. Than I pulled out some older selections from pre-baby wardrobe. However, most of these did not fit quite like they use too. All they seemed to accomplish was to accent my newly acquired mommy tummy.

By this time I had grown extremely frustrated. The mound of clothes on my bed mounted and I was beging to believe I was going to have to cancel on the outing for lack of anything to wear. I was at my breaking point....

Meanwhile, Seth was planning with a toy on the floor, and than I heard it. While this mechanical toy goes from A-Z somehow my son managed to get the toy stuck on the P, or Pig, or as I heard it oink, oink, oink, repeating over and over and over again. I broke down into tears. I couldn't have said it better my self. Oink, Oink.

Eventually I pulled myself together, threw on some standard, boring, ill fitting outfit and left the house late. Any signs that I had actually spent time that morning doing my hair had vanished with the many shirt changes, and the little bit of makeup I was wearing wasn't enough to make me feel put together. I wonder if I ever will feel that way again.

He Said...That's Right, He Said: What's Love got to do, got to do with it?

I think it's high time this blog got a little injection of testosterone....oh god, how sad is it that I actually thought about grunting Tim the Tool Man Taylor style....damn you 1990's DAMN YOU!!

Anyways, for months my better half has been reminding me that I have yet to really write anything in our "joint" blog. Those kindly reminders have recently turned into verbal lashings generally with the words "stupid jerk" added on to the end of some choice sentences.

"You said you were going to write this blog with me you stupid jerk!"

"I thought you loved me you stupid jerk"

"Write in the blog or I'm going to throw a ketchup bottle at you again you stupid jerk"

(notice how I felt the need to highlight again in that last one....we'll leave that story for another day)

So after all this time, here I am because I really do love my wife, more than she knows, and I love my son. I love our family. For those that don't know us too well, that includes our two fur babies as my wife calls them; Jack the dog and Kali the Cat. Hell, I even love my mean fish. I don't think my wife loves the fish as it ate her fish years ago. I think she secretly plots to feed my fish to the cat.

Wow, how off track do I get, now you know why I can't write very well. Like a dog...SQUIRREL!!!! hehe awful, I know.

Well, since this blog is actually supposed to be about parenting and my son, I've got a little story from last night that I thought I'd share that I think really illustrates just how well the little bundles of joy can wiggle their way into your heart.

Seth has been rather restless lately. Seems to be going to bed a lot earlier than normal and just rolling all over the crib like crazy. Our general routine at home is we alternate evenings putting the little guy to bed. Let's say Monday Kathleen gives Seth the bath and puts him own, Tuesday is my day, Wednesday is hers, etc.

So last night was my night. I get home from work, she gets home from the pool with Seth. We spend some time in the kitchen together getting dinner ready, checking email and stalkerbook (Facebook) with Seth having a grand time in his exersaucer. About 20 minutes later, beef stir fry is ready, plates on the table, mmm this looks good Kathleen....WHAAAAA WHAAAAA WHAAAAA. Go figure, we can't even have 5 minutes to eat dinner together, so I grab a bottle, get it ready start feeding, Kathleen finishes her dinner, we trade off, I finish mine. Now dinner is done and Kathleen says "hey do you want Dairy Queen?" I say not really, I'm trying to loose some weight. Then she does it...like a shot from a shotgun, the sad eyes and "oh.......ok" and there it is, the seed planted! She already knows she's won. So I say fine fine, what size do you want? Sad eyes again and "medium". All guys should know that sad eyes and the word medium is woman code for the Biggest Darn Blizzard one can buy.

So I go get her blizzard, and one for me of course, hit Blockbuster on the way home and rent Disney's UP (great movie by way.) Now, all of that giant description of our evening has just been an introduction to real event I'd like to talk about. I put the little guy to bed and he conks pretty quick. We watch our movie, Kat goes to bed and now it's time for Daddy's alone time! oh yeah 9 to 12 baby. Sometimes he wakes up, sometime he doesn't. If he does, feeding during these hours is all up to me. Last night he happened to get up around 11pm. It didn't bother me I was watching Half Baked at the time...absolutely nothing else on TV. So I get his bottle ready, go upstairs, Kathleen had gotten up as well and changed him for me. And I feed him. He finishes the bottle like he hasn't eaten in days and then proceeds to stare at me with those " I love you" eyes. Big, wide open, unblinking with a little smirk on the face that just melts you like butter.

Those are the moments I live for.

Post baby body, not so bikini ready

For nine months you watch you body change in ways you didn't think was possible. Things grow, strech, and move about. I thought by 6 months post baby I would be more or less back to my pre-baby weight and feeling pretty good about what I saw in the mirror. The reflection I caught of myself the other day left a little or should I say alot to be desired.

I assumed that once the scale made its way back down to my prepregnancy weight my body would look more or less the same. However, the scale is only a number, it means nothing about what your body looks like under your clothes.

Somehow while giving labour I managed to not only push out my son but I lost my butt in the process too. I have never had much of a booty, but at least it used to have some shape. Now I got the infamous pancake bum. In consolation you would think losing your behind would result in a lower weight class. Nope. The number one mommy survioneur is the mommy tummy. It just hangs around your waist no matter what number of crunches you try to squeeeze in between feedings, diaper changes, pick ups and puts downs. Oh who are we kidding who has time to do crunches. Not to mention when you attempt a crunch you quickly realize how shot your core is. I don't understand how going throught the reigors of labour can destroy your core section. To me that should of been the ultimate workout and your core should be stronger for it. The tell tale sign that my core was shot came to me when I got into the plank pose in my yoga class

for the first time post baby. My yoga teacher genlty reminded the classes that if your breathe is uneven you have gone to far. Instead I found myself praying no one could feel the floor trememble benethe as I tried desperatly to hold my body in the pose.

But perhaps the most distrubing change to my body resulted after I weaned my son off. A couple weeks after I shut down the dairy, I got out of the shower and gasped. I am not kidding I did, I gasped. I caught my profile in the mirror and saw that my breasts weren't where they use to be. Not only had there location gone south but they also went east and west. It was like a pair of snowbirds on my chest one travelling to the Carolinas the other to Californina.

To try and disguise these body modifications I am very thankful for a great fitting bra, (girls get yourself fitted!), super tight tank tops, and jeans with great pockets. But beware, once you start to peel off those layers things will unravel right before your eyes.

she said...just me here

So the idea behind this blog in the beginning was to share both mine and my husband point of views on what it is like being a new parent. However, I have been doing all the sharing, so I think it no longer necessary to title each blog as "She said"...

Hopefully, some time in the future my husband will share a little, but until than I will keep on blogging on my own.