Sunday, September 27, 2009

I Have the Sweetest Baby Ever!!!

I know, I know. She really isn't a baby anymore. But she is my baby, and my only baby, and I will probably call her that when she's 42. But that's beside the point.

Tonight, I injured myself. I will live. Maybe. It certainly wouldn't hurt if someone wanted bake me some cookies. ;)

Now you are probably wondering what happened. I stubbed my toe. Now, before you start rolling your eyes, let me tell you about this toe...

While I was pregnant with the sweetest baby ever, I broke this toe. Not once, but twice. And how did I break this toe? By walking into a door. In our Tucson house we had a linen closet in the master bath. The door on the closet opened outward. And I am blind as a bat without the aid of contact lenses. So on two separate occasions, I stumbled out of bed, fighting morning sickness and blindness, go to get a towel to jump in a nice warm shower, and I would walk into the door.

My poor little toe turned the most disgusting shade of greenish-black. To this day, it starts to ache when the weather changes. (Shut up, I'm not that old.)

And yes, I stubbed the same toe this evening. As I was walking into the bathroom to give Madeline her bath, I caught my toe on her step stool. And instead of just scooting out of the way, the stool scooted into the cabinet. It hurt.

I'm very proud of myself, though. I did not utter any of the words that were running through my head in front of my child. I did however say "ow, ow, ow, ow."

After a minute of collecting myself, I sat down next to the tub. Madeline just looked at me and said, "Don't worry, Mommy. It'll be okay." Then she asked to hold my hand.

That one little phrase right there was worth the pain.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Things They Don't Tell You

You would think that with all the millions and zillions of books out there, there are a few things they would tell you everything there is to know about motherhood. They tell you that you will be sleep deprived. That you will have to change diapers and clean up puke. That you will have to do mountains upon mountains of laundry. But I've learned quite a few things that I've never seen in a book or magazine.

They don't tell you that every trip to the store will turn into a lesson on numbers and colors. And yes, we had to count every orange pumpkin last night.

They don't tell you that you will cry over things that don't really warrant that much emotion. Like pee pee in the potty for the first time.

They don't tell you that you will have to watch Shrek at least once a day. And that every time your child wants to watch it, you will end up getting sucked in and watching it with your child.

They don't tell you that it's possible for a child to go from wearing at 24 month infant size to a size 3 toddler. Not too many 2Ts in this house.

They don't tell you how much it will break your heart to have to pack away clothes after each season, knowing she will never wear those cute little sundresses again.

They don't tell you that you will regret buying that really long, 12 days of Christmas book that will have to be read over and over and over and over, even in the middle of summer.

They don't tell you that you will get the songs from Dora the Explorer stuck in your head to the point you start to apply them to everyday life.

They don't tell you that your house will be overtaken by plastic and plush.

They don't tell you that trying to get a 2-year old ready for preschool and out the door in the mornings is enough to make you break a sweat.

They don't tell you that you will have to have three different kinds of graham crackers because one day we might like princess shapes, one day we might like car shapes, and another day we might like just good old-fashioned rectangles.

But most of all, they don't tell you how wonderful it is to be so wholly and unconditionally loved by another human being.

Friday, September 18, 2009

I finally did it!!!

What, you may ask, is so exciting that it requires three exclamation points? Is it a new hair color or finally getting around to painting my walls? Or maybe started on the looong path to finishing my master's degree?

No, I finally spent (a portion) of my Pottery Barn gift card from my parents for my birthday. In April.

I know, you're thinking "I would have spent that in a heartbeat" or "What's the big deal?" Well, let me tell you my story.

When my mom started asking me what I would like for my birthday, I had no idea what to tell her. Knowing about how much they usually spend on birthdays, I knew it wouldn't cover the things we need around the house (like furniture, a gas cooktop, etc.) I have plenty of clothing and more than enough "stuff." I have objets de cuisine coming out of my ears (I've been reading Julia Child's book), so I really don't need any of that stuff. So, I just couldn't think of a single thing that I wanted for my birthday.

Well, then I got the bright idea to ask for a Pottery Barn gift card. It seemed so ingenious. First of all, I ALWAYS ask for gift cards. Because really, is there anything better than the gift of shopping? I thought not. But then, I thought this would be even better, because I can never bring myself to spend money at PB. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff. But it is pricey.

But, I thought if it wasn't my money, I would have no problem going in there and buying something to make my house pretty. Well, I was wrong.

I went a couple of weeks after my birthday. I walked through and saw a few things that I would like, but I hadn't really given much thought to which room I want to concentrate on next. My kitchen is pretty good and Madeline's room and bathroom are finished. That just leaves the rest of the house...

Well, I left that day thinking I would come home, take a look around, and develop a plan. (Yes, I need a plan. I AM an engineer people, that's what I do.)

Well, I thought I would start working on the master bedroom next. I saw some really cute pillow shams that would pair really well with a solid comforter and the chair that we already have in there. Then I started thinking. We really don't have furniture in there. Well, we have furniture, but it's mish-mash and consists of a lot of pieces that came out of a box and that are not real wood. So maybe I shouldn't spend a lot of money on bed linens and accessories until we get some furniture. What if I fall in love with furniture and the accessories that are only a couple of years old don't match?

Then I thought I could do the master bath. Really, I would just need a few towels and rugs. But, that was the one "department" that they just don't have anything I really like right now. There was a shower curtain, but no other printed accessories to go with it. I didn't want just solid colored towels. So that option was out.

Then I thought I would buy some beverage-ware for a cocktail party we were going to throw. Well, we scheduled it for a bad weekend for everyone else, so nobody was going to be there. And, I just couldn't bring myself to pay the prices for some of the stuff they had knowing I could get almost identical items at Target for less than half the price.

Then my final plan was a patio umbrella. Our patio table is setup for an umbrella and I found one that I liked. But, this was already at the end of the summer and we couldn't find the stand for the umbrella.

At this point, I decided to just wait awhile. This was turning into such an agonizing decision that I wasn't even having fun anymore.

Then, I had another stroke of genius. I would wait for holiday decorations. And I was not disappointed.

This week, I bought some of the cutest (and most ridiculously expensive) mini-pumpkin vase filler for my candle holders. Now I can start decorating for fall (I am jumping up and down right now). I love fall decorations.

And I even have money left over on my gift card. Maybe some Christmas decorations...