Five Petty Peeves Friday - 5/29/09

It's Friday! You know what that means - time to vent! Here's this week's list of five random little things that annoy me.

1. (Just for you, Shane) People who run or bike in the street when there's a perfectly good sidewalk available.

2. People who don't even try to keep their kids safe in the car.

3. People who don't know when to stop with the "you have cute kids" comments and cross over into creepy weirdo territory.

4. People that misspell words that you KNOW they just read with the correct spelling.

5. Tween/IM/text speak.

Feel free to post a list on your blog!

Take a Trip Tuesday - 5/26/09

Time to take a trip down memory lane with some old photos. Last week we went back to Levi's first birthday. This week I'm going back to his second birthday. I did have my fancy camera then, so they are actually decent photos. :oP


Rockin' the amber necklace


Playing the piano at Grandad's house


More fun with the piano


Examining his new Lightning McQueen ice pack


My lovely drawing skills in icing

As promised...

New photos! These were taken at a Memorial Day cookout and at a local park we went to on Saturday.


The shirt says it all.



Levi playing with his beloved "Red Wightning Queen" (we also have a blue one, so he has to specify).


I love this outfit! The snorkeling dog is so random.


My poor boys sweat so easily. He's still darn cute, though!


Jonas' usual, concerned look.


Obviously I didn't take this one! I didn't bother to change the camera out of selective focus mode, so it's not perfect, but not bad for just handing the camera to someone and having them push the button. ;o)


Yes, I know my boys have the most gorgeous blue eyes. :oP


My happy baby is back! (I'll post more about that later.)


And these aren't my kids, but some friends from our church that were at the same cookout. They were good little practice subjects for me. ;o)


Beth Anne and Benjamin having fun with the tree swing.


Ben getting kisses from his mommy.


Benjamin was such a little ham!


Hannah and her daddy, Robert


Hannah has some gorgeous, big, hazel eyes!

New photos

I realize that I am not making this much of a "photo" blog lately with all my wordy, pictureless posts. I promise I will put up some new ones in the next few days! I really want to get some more practice with my 50 mm f/1.4 lens. I hardly ever use it, and that's a shame!

Five Petty Peeves Friday - 5/22/09

It's Friday! You know what that means - time to vent! Here's this week's list of five random little things that annoy me.

1. Socks with sandals. Please, just don't do it.

2. "I seen." Gaaaahhhh!

3. Not being able to find something when I KNOW I've seen it recently.

4. Growth spurts.

5. The constant unfinished state of projects in our house.

Angels among us?

I went in Levi's room this morning to change his diaper and take him downstairs for breakfast, and there was kind of a warm glow in one corner because of the way the sunlight through the window was reflecting off of his dresser. Levi noticed it and said, "What's that?" I told him it was light from the sun. He looked at me and very matter of factly said, "No, it's an angel." I don't even know where he would have learned that, but it left me speechless!

Where did my happy baby go?

TMI warning if you don't want to read about breastfeeding and birth.

Levi was an extremely intense baby that was only happy if he was in someone's arms and in motion. He cried a LOT. It wasn't colic or gas or any physical discomfort - he could be consoled, but it required every ounce of energy I had to carry him around all day long while I bounced to keep him happy. He would NOT sleep by himself, ever, so he slept on me for all of his naps and overnight for over a year and a half. When he was happy, he was intensely happy, but it would flip off like a light switch and he'd be melting down. When Jonas was born, I was terrified of another high-needs baby, but was so relieved to find that he was very laid back. He would let us put him down for naps, and was content to just sit in his swing or bouncy seat and watch the world go by. He only cried when he needed to eat, or when he was put in his car seat and we didn't get moving soon enough, and he smiled a lot. He was my happy baby.

That all changed over the last few weeks. My happy baby has been fussy a lot, has not napped well during the day, and instead of being smiley and happy after eating, he is angry and screechy. Because of severe issues I had nursing Levi, including an almost 2 month period where he didn't gain any weight and I didn't know it, I have been weighing Jonas at least weekly to make sure he doesn't stop gaining weight too. He had slowed down to a little slower than I was comfortable with, but then had a good gain a few weeks ago and I thought I was in the clear and didn't need to worry. But he hasn't gained anything at all since then, and that's no good in a 2 month old baby.

So, I've tentatively concluded that Jonas is fussy because he is hungry, and I am going on the same medication (Domperidone) I took with Levi to produce more milk. At least production seems to be the only problem this time, unlike the whole host of issues I had the first time around, and the medication is a safe and easy fix for that. But it's still a blow to my self-esteem that once again*, my body doesn't seem to want to do what it's supposed to in regard to something baby-related. *sigh* At least I can grow 'em cute, right?

*(subfertility - I'm able to get pregnant, but it takes longer than most and I've had two miscarriages, one at 12 weeks and one very early; my first pregnancy was relatively easy other than horrendous reflux, but my second had even worse horrendous reflux, morning sickness, extreme fatigue, round ligament pain, and a whole lot of general uncomfortable-ness; my "easy" labor was 21 hours, and my hard one (oddly enough, with Jonas, not Levi) was 40 hours of complete misery; my body did not heal properly after either birth, requiring minor surgical procedures and months of pain/discomfort; my breasts were not shaped properly for Levi to latch on when he was first born and required nipple shields, which started a domino effect of other problems that lasted until 6 months, and now I'm not making enough milk for my second baby even though nursing has otherwise been ok.)

Take a Trip Tuesday - 5/19/09

Time to take a trip down memory lane with some old photos. These are pre-SLR and definitely pre-knowing how to do anything with a camera other than put it in auto mode and push the button!

This week we're going back to June 2007, when Levi turned one. I am planning his third birthday now, so I've been reminiscing about birthdays past.


Chair pic, take 1. Poor, sad, hungry baby. He was doing his baby sign for "more," which he used interchangeably with "eat." I'm a mean mommy for trying to take pictures before lunch. No idea why there is a random nursing pad on the chair with him...


Chair pic take 2. This was after lunch. Much better.


At his first party. I think he liked his cake.


At his second party. What's better than cake? Ice cream cake!


The birthday boy! You can't see it in this photo, but my dad got him those balloons and one of them said, "It's a boy!" You know, in case we didn't know that a year later. ;)


Ahhh, the joys of sound-making, light-blinking, battery-eating, "I swear my kids are never going to have any of those" toys for children. (AKA Grandma and Papaw had the turtle version of this toy at their house, and he loved it so much that Mommy and Daddy were suckered into finding one for our house.)


Opening presents

Not Me! Monday - 5/18/09

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not answer the door unshowered and in my pajamas when a friend randomly dropped by for dinner last week. I didn't decide that I should just give up and not bother to change even after he came in, either. Nope, not me!

I did not let Levi eat 3 granola bars for breakfast because I was too tired to try and convince him to eat anything else.

I did not let Levi jump on my bed and then feel super guilty when he got a little reckless and fell off and scraped his back.

I am not looking forward to moving out of this house but thinking we will never get this place finished and ready to sell. I love it here! The neighbors are great!

I am not running low on ideas for this post and putting it up really late because of that. I never get behind like that!

Five Petty Peeves Friday - 5/15/09

It's Friday! You know what that means - time to vent! Here's this week's list of five random little things that annoy me.

1. Painful sores on my lip that get jabbed by a tooth every time I move my mouth. (See yesterday's post.)

2. My jungle of a back yard, complete with mine field lawn, courtesy of a certain white Husky.

3. My seeming inability to go to bed at a reasonable time, even when I am completely and utterly exhausted.

4. Actually attempting to go to bed at a reasonable time and not being able to sleep for no apparent reason!

5. My dirty car. I love my car, just hate how dirty it is. And I hate washing it even more, so it will stay dirty until I take it to be washed.

*whine*

I have a huge sore on the inside of my lip (must have bitten it in my sleep or something, because I have NO idea where it came from) and the point of my eye tooth jabs it every time I open my mouth. Ouchie. (You can thank me later for sparing you and not posting pics of it. It ain't pretty.)

Take a Trip Tuesday - 5/12/09

Time to take a trip down memory lane with some old photos. These are pre-SLR and definitely pre-knowing how to do anything with a camera other than put it in auto mode and push the button!

This week we're going back to August 2006, when Levi was 10 weeks old - the same age Jonas is now.







It's amazing how alike, yet different they look.

(Yes, I am just now getting around to publishing this post at 12:30 am on Thursday. Whoops...)

Not Me! Monday - 5/11/09

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am not incredibly relieved and excited to have my husband home again. I am not already dreading him leaving again in less than a month. I am not trying not to think about that right now...

I did not purposely wait too long to thaw something for dinner tonight so that we'd have to go out to eat as a family. That would be so lazy.

I did not walk around in my underwear for 3 hours yesterday because all of my pajama shorts were in the wash.

I did not let Levi wear this atrocious combination of clothing yesterday because I didn't want to fight that battle with him:

(just the shirt)

I have not put off mopping my floor for so long that you can actually see the dirt. Who would do that?

I did not have such a bad day yesterday that I sent Levi to his room for nap/quiet time and he fell asleep on the floor because I ignored him whining for 15 minutes.

I did not have to give Levi a bath last night because his feet were visibly dirty from said floor.

I am not looking forward to snuggling up with my sweet baby boy and my hubby for some z's tonight. *yawn*

This makes it all worth it

My Mother's Day was not exactly enjoyable. My husband is out to sea, Levi woke up in a horrible mood (which made us miss church) and whined all day, Jonas was fussy, and I got nothing done. Just an all around bad day, on top of my "I hate Mother's Day" feelings. But this:







makes it all worth it.

Bittersweet Mother's Day

I'll come right out and say it: I hate Mother's Day. Today is actually my 5th Mother's Day, even though Levi is not quite three. In April 2005, after 10 months of trying to conceive, I found out I was pregnant for the first time. We celebrated Mother's Day soon after, and were very excited about our baby. Then, at the end of June, our world came crashing down when we learned that our baby was not to be. All the hopes and dreams we had of what our child's personality would be like, what she (I felt very strongly from the start that it was a girl) would look like, what she would grow up to be were gone. We were devastated. I was able to get pregnant again fairly quickly, and was 31 weeks pregnant by Mother's Day 2006, but it still stung that my baby, who would have been 4 months old then, was not there with me.

Mother's Day is also a painful reminder to me of the loss of my own mother. She died of cancer 9 years ago this summer. Mother's Day was never a huge deal for my family (and Mom was ok with that), but we did get Mom some kind of gift every year. The last Mother's Day she was alive was in 2000, and we knew it would be a miracle if she was still alive for Mother's Day the next year. She was making plans to change over to hospice care at home so she could live out the rest of her days there. Like I said, Mother's Day was never a very elaborate thing for our family, but I still carry some guilt that I didn't do better for that last one we had with Mom. I would love to be able to tell her one more time how much we loved and appreciated her. And that's all I want from my kids when they are older.

I now have my two boys to be thankful for on Mother's Day, but I think it will always bring some sadness too. So, anyway, to anyone out there that has a hard time on Mother's Day because of their own longing to be a mother or because of the loss of their mother, I know how much it hurts and I'm praying for you.

Five Petty Peeves Friday - 5/8/09

This will be the start of a weekly post of 5 petty things that bug me. If you don't like griping or think that everyone has the right to whine once in a while, here's your warning. Feel free to add your own Petty Peeves to your blog!

And, without further ado, here is my list for this week:

1. House listings that have multiple (bad) pictures of the same thing and nothing else. I'd like to see other parts of the house, too, not just 4 different shots of the kitchen sink.

2. Creepy crawlies that make themselves at home in my house. Yuck.

3. Loud chewing. Especially gum. Gum should be outlawed. *shudder*

4. Extraneous' apostrophe's.

5. White fur on everything I own.


(Old photo, before my D80 days.)

Big Boy Hair Cut!

I buzzed Levi's hair last night. He has completely flipped out and screamed bloody murder for every other hair cut he's had, but I guess me being the one doing it this time made him trust that he wasn't going to get his head cut off, heh. It's a little funky around the ears since it was hard to get the clippers very close there and he didn't understand what I meant when I told him to hold still. It looks ok for a DIY hair cut, though, I think! He definitely looks like a big kid now. *sniff*

Before (I don't brush it forward like that over his ears, he had just been rolling around on his bed.)

Before

After

After

Two Months!

(Working on the format of my blog so my photos don't get cut off. It's 3:30 am and I give up for the night, so just click the photos that are chopped off if you want to see the whole thing.)

My baby boy is already two months old! Where does the time go?

When Levi was a month old, I sat him in our glider and took some photos of him. He happened to be wearing a cute overall outfit, so when he turned two months, I sat him in the chair in another set of overalls and took pictures again. I did it every month until he was 23 months, and only missed his second birthday because we were out of town for the birth of my nephew, and by the time we were home, I was 6 weeks pregnant with Jonas and feeling like garbage all day long.

So, anyway, I thought it would be neat to continue the tradition with Jonas, except I didn't have any season-appropriate overalls in his size when he was a month old, so I am putting him in rompers. And I was too busy to take his one month shots until he was a month and a half old. But I will do my best to keep up from now on.

Here's my sweet, happy boy at 2 months:


And some other cute ones from the same session:

Take a Trip Tuesday - 5/5/09

Time to take a trip down memory lane with some old photos. These are pre-SLR and definitely pre-knowing how to do anything with a camera other than put it in auto mode and push the button!

This week we're going back to October 2007, when we visited Shane's brother's family in California.

This is the view from my brother in law's neighborhood - that's the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island!

Look at Levi's wispy blond baby hair! And he was so little! (Pacific Ocean in the background - that's as close as we got to it on our trip, though. Next time I want to actually go to the beach, even if just to walk around!)

At a farm/orchard.

I miss him being so sweet and innocent!

At Disneyland!

Not Me! Monday - 5/4/09

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I'm not still in my pajamas at 2:30 pm. And it's not because I haven't been able to shower in 3 days. Being alone with a toddler and an infant for the past nearly 3 weeks certainly can't have anything to do with that!

I did not let Levi turn on the TV in my bedroom, randomly change the channel to C-SPAN, snuggle up under the covers, and "take a nap" by himself, with the door closed (per his very specific request).

I do not still have boxes, bins, bags, and piles of junk from our bedroom still sitting all over the house after getting our carpet replaced almost two weeks ago.

I definitely don't have enough dog hair on my floors right now to stuff an oversized pillow. I'd never neglect to vacuum for that long! And I am not contemplating attempting to rig the vacuum with a brush on the end so the shedding beast dog won't make such a mess.

I did not hide in the back of my van to pee in an empty cup so I wouldn't have to take both kids, one of which was sleeping, into a gas station restroom on my drive up to NoVa last week. Nope, not me!

I did not lug my camera bag with me everywhere I went this weekend and not take a single picture. And it wasn't because I hardly got any sleep and felt like I was barely keeping up.

I am definitely not putting off grocery shopping, even though my pantry and fridge are down to the bare minimum. We definitely won't be eating frozen pizza for dinner because of that, either!

I'm not considering wrapping up this post so I can eat some chocolate while Levi is having quiet/nap time and won't drive me batty with his whining beg me to share.