Little Problem Solvers

I need to recharge my camera battery. I realize this blog is lacking in photos... sorry about that.

That's the problem. Solved. Ha ha! Just kidding.

I was thinking this morning about how babies are the most amazing problem solvers compared to adults. Literally ever single day, Hudson does something new. Nobody is teaching him these things. He just keeps trying to use his body and learns a new sound or movement every single day. I can't help but be impressed.

Before Hudson was born, I was reading this book called "Prenatal Parenting" by Frederick Wirth and it was really interesting. Some of the book was kind of boring and I didn't finish it but all the facts about how amazing babies really are was so great! Luke was trying to read his own book but I kept interrupting him with my "awesome facts" and he started getting a little bit irritated. I can't really blame him. I was pretty pumped, probably a little over-enthusiastic! And I hate it when he does that while I'm reading.

Hmph.

Did you know that what a baby experiences during the birth experience is so traumatic that it would probably kill an adult? But because babies are so resilient, they can go through the extremely difficult experience of being born and within about 30 seconds are totally and completely recovered and staring with awe at their mothers. When I read this, I was still pregnant and felt kind of bad for Hudson but I think it's probably a really good thing because a baby gets their first opportunity to work through a difficult process and see that they can do it... they can weather a storm and that there is joy on the other side of it.

Here's another one. Did you know that babies come out of the womb more intelligent that adults? They have the most amazing ability to problem solve that we lose as we get older. Obviously we can still solve problems but babies have double the amount of brain cells when they are born compared to a 10 year old child. There is so much potential just waiting to happen in their brains and as they get older, whatever isn't used supports the old saying... "you don't use it, you lose it."

So I can't help but be really impressed by Hudson's ability to figure out how to use his body. He must be so fascinated with himself. One day, he finds out that his hands are connected to his body and he can actually control their movement. Another day, he realizes he has feet and another, figures out how to get them into his mouth. What fun! One of my favorites so far is the day that he realized his tongue can change the way he manipulates sound. It started with chewing on his tongue and making little noises and ever since he figured that out, he has turned into a chatter box, talking for as long as he is awake as he experiments with the different sounds he can make. Luke always says he can't wait to hear Hudson's thoughts on the world and what he can learn from our little guy. I can't help but feel the same way!

Sorry about the gushing. Back to the whole learning thing. It's fascinating.

I know this has something do with the fact that I see Hudson every single day. My friend's kids were so cool to watch learn all of this too but there's something about being with a child every single day and watching the slow progression and discovery that leads them to learn how to roll over and then crawl, sit and stand and finally, to walk. I never really thought of the process before having Hudson. I knew a baby would learn to roll over but I didn't know that once they did, there would be some stressful moments because they were stuck... it's not automatic to know how to roll onto their back again. Or when they learn to crawl. My friend told me that her young daughter is crawling now and she had some times where she'd freak out because she'd crawled into a corner and didn't know that she could back up to get out of it. So crazy!

I tried to find an answer to how long, on average, it takes an adult to "relearn" to walk but I couldn't really find a good answer. However, my friend Shereen is an occupational therapist (she helps people learn to live life after accidents, etc) and I know from talking to her about this a bit that it takes some time for sure. I also know that it's way more frustrating and difficult for an adult to relearn to walk than it is for a baby to learn for the first time. They are amazing little people.

There's not really a lot else going on in my head right now. Not the most interesting post. It's 9:30am on a Saturday morning, Hudson is already napping, Luke went to work for about an hour and I'm thinking about pumping up our air mattresses to see if they have holes before packing them for our trip next week and I'm also thinking about whether I should put on real clothes today or stay in sweatpants. The big questions of life. I know, you wish you could be doing the same thing. Sometimes I have to pinch myself over how glamorous my life is.

On that note, I'm going to stop typing. I feel like I'm heading in a direction that I don't really want to go this morning.

Happy Saturday.

Vacation

Vacation - it's a beautiful word. Just breathe it in...

I feel better already!

We're leaving for a real (aka, leaving the house) vacation in a bit here. It's nothing fancy or anything like that but it's a big break from life as usual. I can't WAIT!!! I think it's been a good year and a half (March 2009?) since Luke and I got away for more than a few days. And that... is not healthy in my mind. But then again, maybe my mind is not healthy. I just can't relax and feel like it's 'vacation' at home when I know I should be sorting the mail and folding laundry. And I'm not one of those who can just ignore it. That's like telling the sun not to rise in the morning... impossible.

So, back to why we haven't done anything in awhile: I guess I was pregnant and other minor details like that so it's probably okay but there is truly something about putting life on pause for at least a full week and removing yourself from the routines and stresses and details of everyday life. Yes, diapers will follow me on this trip but Luke will be there so we get to "share" this whole routine for 10 glorious days! What a gift. :-) And... and... and we won't be driving in a car at all during this time so Hudson won't be able to poop in his car seat. I'll explain about that another time.

So, this morning while we were drinking our coffee, we planned out what we wanted to eat during this trip. We're going to be in Montana at Luke's great Uncle's cabin and the nearest fully stocked grocery store is about 1.5 hours away. And we cannot run out of whipping cream for coffee or whatever else I may crave while we are there... how do I foresee what I will want?? There is a small mercantile (yes, it's called that) about 15 minutes away but really? I'd rather not. So we made our plan this morning and I'm excited.

Good food is synonymous with good vacation to me. I guess this can be blamed on my parents... and I thank them! My dad was an airline pilot and since he ate in restaurants and stayed in hotels so often for work, he loathes them and our family trips always included the motorhome and home cooked meals. No restaurants. This was a bit disappointing as a child since I was fully aware that we had airline passes and the world was waiting. And we were camping. However, I have so many good memories of our times together as a family, so Mom... Dad... I forgive you. Actually I don't... at least about vacations because there's nothing to forgive here. We had a great time!

This old beast is where many childhood memories were made. My dad just traded it in 2 months ago... we bought it when I was 9 years old.

The best part of all of these memories is the food. Homemade pies, bbq'd chicken, potato salad... just good food. And lots of snacks that mom bought without us knowing and suddenly we'd be eating red licorice (which we never had at home) or brownies or popsicles. Yum! So, with all of that said, food is important for me on vacation. It makes it extra special!

The only conflict is that I haven't lost a single pound in August and here I'm planning how many boxes of brownies to bring and do we have enough whipped cream for coffee and pancakes? Before you say anything, I'm not worried about the baby weight, it's been coming off steadily and it knows it's unwelcome so I will be taking care of all of it. Just after vacation. But there's something contradictory about wanting to lose weight and dreaming of stuffing my face with swedish fish. But whatever. We all have vices. I like gummy, chewy candy and I haven't eaten any since I was pregnant.

So please raise your glass because I'd like to propose a toast.

To vacation and rest and best of all: eating!!!

What I've Learned So Far?

Intriguing question. I'm sure you're already hooked and HAVE to read the rest of this blog. Because based on my previous blogging history, I'm full of wisdom. Right? Right. I'm glad we agree.

If you don't agree, close this window now.

Ahem.

And just a warning... this isn't one of my funnier blogs. Sorry.

About a week or so ago I blogged about the 'Financial Peace University' class that we're hosting with a group of people at our house. My friend Amani posted a good question - "What is one of the most significant things you have learned?"

I can't really answer that in one answer. So let's pick my top 3. Is that okay? #3 will be my top one... I can't give it up right away. It takes away the suspense... you know?

1. Relevance: Literally every couple (or single) in the group is in a totally different place. We have a long married couple in their 50's all the way down to a newly married couple in college with no kids and lots of variation in between. And you know what? We're ALL getting tons of good stuff from the class. So I think the first thing I'm getting from the class is that no matter where you're at in life, this stuff is relevant and can make a BIG, HUGE difference in your life.

2. Budgeting: It's amazing how much a GOOD budget can change your marriage. GASP! I'm not exaggerating. We've had a budget for our whole marriage. By budget, according to how we worked it... was a loose categorization of how we thought we might want to spend our money. And then we'd not really follow it. Except I think for a little while in the first few years of our marriage.

We've kind of taken turns doing our money stuff and just sort of let the other one know what we'd done for the month. Not a very good plan since our lives and our futures are really one and the same. We had to do a VERY detailed budget (it's provided) TOGETHER in this class and STICK TO IT. And it's so much easier to do that when you do it together. And you know what? We had our first real money fight. Don't worry though. It was a good thing!

You know how money is considered "the least" in terms of importance in the Bible? Well, it's not the least, like don't thing about it or be responsible or do anything with it. There are 100's of verses about money... so it must actually be important. But what we're figuring out in our relationship is that when there is order in the financial area of our life, Luke and I have so much more emotional and spiritual room to deal with the more important areas of our marriage and relationship. Does that make sense? There is peace in an area that should be "the least" instead of chaos which can make it front and center in our lives.

And we're not the only ones feeling this way. Every married couple in the group will vouch for this. It's awesome! It's actually changed a few marriages BIG TIME!!! I'm including Luke and I in this statement. Weird that a budget can do this, huh! Usually you think... marriage counseling or a marriage retreat. But money is such an intertwining part of our lives and so many of us have no idea how to actually "do" this part of life... you know what I mean?? And every single person in the class had some kind of negative connotation with the word "budget" but now we're all realizing how freeing it is. I know that when I spend the money I'm spending, I'm allowed to spend it. It's not supposed to be going somewhere else. It's a good feeling.

3. Debt: Believe it or not, Luke and I didn't have any debt other than a very small mortgage and a pithy car payment (which was a bad idea) until we'd been married over 3 years. Then we graduated from college, started making money and did what most "adults" do. We borrowed money because we thought we "deserved" the stuff we were buying, we could "afford" the payments, etc. How wrong we were...

And we've been trying to clean up this mess for quite awhile. And we haven't been succeeding.

This class has taught us HOW to clean up our debt mess in a totally simple, but not easy, way. Simple and easy are not the same. It's simple because I can't really get confused on how the process works. It's that simple. But it is SO hard. We've had to change everything that we've been doing in our lives and we're living like we're broke and killing our debt like crazy. Even though we have income every month, we kinda are broke... all that debt puts us in a negative net worth. Huh.

But we're actually making a big dent in our debt and we have such a different view on debt. Dave Ramsey says normal is broke... so who wants to be normal? And you know what? I really don't anymore. And I'm willing to go the distance and do the work to be weird.

And so...

That's just a few things that I've loved about this class. I actually read 'Total Money Makeover' first and I'd recommend that because it's an easy read, really entertaining and kind of gets you on a fast track before the class starts. The class is much more detailed and I've learned so much. Why don't they teach this stuff in high school or college? It's way more relevant than every single thing I learned there... plus, we laugh so hard sometimes over the classes that I'm worried we'll wake up Hudson... so it's fun too!

He never does but isn't it always just the worst when a sleeping baby is woken up by the dog or loud construction or... or... whatever it is... it's just the WORST. And with that, I'm going to go and clean up the mess from last night's group while Hudson is still asleep.

The Fable - My Fable

As I sat down to write this morning, I knew what I wanted to write about. And the word that came to my mind was a fable. But after looking up a definition of "Fable", I don't know if this is going to happen. According to Wikipedia (which is not considered a reliable source for any formal educational papers... just so you know... but reliable enough for my blog),

A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.

I'm not sure if this is going be a real fable but here goes.

Once upon a time, in a land close to the Canadian border, it was Friday night. Luke said he would take the baby after I fed him so I could go back to sleep and enjoy a "sleeping in" Saturday. I was excited.

As Saturday morning approached, Hudson woke up REALLY extra early, which barely ever happens. It was 4:50am. So I got out of bed, fed him and popped him straight back to bed, knowing he would go back to sleep. Around 7:30am, Luke woke me up with Hudson in hand. I fed him again to "start" the day and went back to sleep. This is where I don't know what I was doing. I should've asked for a wake-up call.

So I proceeded to fall back asleep. I dreamed of many things. And almost every scene had apple trees in them, full of apples and my angst over asking permission to pick the apples. (there are lots of trees in our neighborhood with apples that nobody picks and I want them. ALL of them. Not just for myself, but to give away. I just hate the thought of good food rotting on the ground... sorry, sidetracked.) I also dreamed of a pinata that I filled with bottles of cheap bubble bath, that somebody put our house on the market without our permission, something about a spaceship and something about quilts that cost $1700 a piece. That's just what I can remember. I know there was more.

And then I woke up...

This was not that refreshed feeling of being rested and "catching up" but more like, WHERE'S THE COFFEE because I feel like a train wreck. And then I looked at the clock. 11am. Oh, that explains the train wreck part.

In my head, "sleeping in" as I imagined it was more like 9am, getting up and eating breakfast and then getting on with my day, feeling all rested and caught up from a crazy week. Now it's almost noon, the day half wasted and that groggy feeling of sleeping way, WAY too long is not going away. So lame. And I have to live with the fact that I had hours of really weird dreams. I'm not going to try and interpret them or I may need to call a counselor.

The End.

Not that calling a counselor is bad. Just to be clear. Been there, done that. Probably doing that again. Sidetracked again!

So the moral of my story is don't sleep in too late. It wastes half the day, you feel a little bit poopy (trying to keep this "family friendly" folks) and you wonder what you can do to remedy the fact that you were so groggy, and don't make fresh coffee but nuke the slightly warm old coffee because the caffeine headache is on your tail. Another terrible activity that I've never partaken in until this very morning. DO NOT DO IT. That's all I can say about that.

So.

I want to make sure that my story fits into a fable's definition. I think it was a "succinct story" and it did feature plants and inanimate objects AND forces of nature... not necessarily human qualities given to them but I'll just ignore that. But there's definitely a moral to the story and I'm not sure what a "pithy maxim" is but I'll look it up right now.

Okay, it's some sort of forceful saying. Here's mine. DO NOT DO IT.

I think I've succeeded. I hope you learned something this morning. I did. n't.

Faux Pas

So, I'm a dork.

I feel like I should just put that out there first thing because I think it prepares you for a lot of things that I tend to say. But today I'm feeling it.

My friend Diane sent me this super awesome apron for my birthday. It's green and patterned and has a little ruffle and everything. I'm totally gonna use it because I have this bad habit of wiping my kitchen foodie hands all over my clothes while I cook and it just makes a mess. Anyway, so I got this wonderful gift in the mail and I needed to call her and thank her. So I called her this morning.

Guess what time it was?

8:20am.

And after she answered the phone, a little surprised to hear from me, I realized the time. And then I was like, OH MY GOODNESS. I AM SO SORRY! lol. I've been up since 5:50am so by 8am, it feels like the middle of the day. At least she'd been up kinda early too so it wasn't life altering. I think we're still friends. :-)

A couple of weeks ago I did the same thing, calling my mom at 7:30am to ask her a question... actually, I think it was to see if she wanted Deeter (read previous posts). But I quickly hung up when I realized that it was still so early. I don't think she woke up. I hope not. And can you imagine being woken up to be asked if you want someone else's annoying little dog? I'd say no, just out of principle. Even if I wanted to say yes. I'd have to say no.

In my mind, 9am is the best time to start phone calls, unless it's your doctor's office or something like that. They open at 8am and hope you'll call them. It gives the receptionist something to do. At least I'd like to think they're glad to hear from me... (awkward silence).

Well, that's my thought for this morning. Don't call before 9am. I mean, you can call ME before 9am because I'm awake. And totally doing my day already so go for it. I just mean other people and mostly, just me calling other people. I'm really preaching to myself here... I'm part of the problem and I'm trying to not be anymore. :-)

Correction

So, apparently I was wrong about the Pirate Pak. Please forgive me Pirate Pak. I will order you again soon. Because of the gold coin and ice cream for dessert. Thank-you to my commenter (I don't know who you are... it said 'anonymous') for clarifying for me!

For the love of food

A couple of things before any words about food.

Deeter's adoption has been finalized but is pending aka, my mom wants to wait until her old Rosie has had enough of this earth. So Deeter will be spending his time split between our house and visits to my Dad's house because he is treated so well there!

My friend Angie had a birthday on July 26th and her present is STILL sitting on my dining room table. In a box. With a Fed/Ex label on it. I know, it's so bad. So I'm going to send it and pretend her birthday was August 26th and that I'm early. I try.

Anyway, now that I've got that out of the way...

Yesterday I brought Hudson to Canada. We met up with my Mom and went to pick up my Grandma to take her out for lunch. We went to a B.C. favorite, White Spot. I never eat there anymore because I don't live anywhere near one. Things have changed since I was younger. It's "prettier" in there and their burgers are not quite as large. Disappointing. But still good! Just not what I remember.

I really wanted to order a Pirate Pak. It's this cardboard ship that comes with fries, burger, drink and a dessert. It used to be a chocolate pudding but now it's some absurdity like cotton candy something or other. What's wrong with kids today? And the parents? I'd demand chocolate pudding. Like, really force the issue. And there used to be a chocolate gold coin, which was my favorite and really emphasized the whole pirate/treasure theme but that's no longer offered. I just found that out online a second ago... so maybe I don't really want the Pirate Pak ever again. The coin sealed the deal for me.

Sidetracked... it happens.

So we take my Grandma (Hudson's Great Grandma) out to eat. She orders a hot turkey sandwich with all the fixings and my Mom is holding Hudson right next to her. My Grandma has always been a slow careful eater but since she is now 89 years old, it's a little bit more pronounced. And with each careful movement of fork to mouth, Hudson was stalking that fork with his eyes. Seriously eyeballing the turkey and stuffing. I'm glad his large motor skills have not developed all the way or Grandma wouldn't have gotten any of her lunch because Hudson was fixin' to grapple that fork out of her hand and tasted his first bites of solid food. Hilarious.

And again this morning, my toast and jam was absolutely mesmerizing to him. Needless to say, I can't wait to give him solids. It's going to be a messy, happy day!

And now I must do something productive. Not that blogging isn't productive, but it doesn't fold my laundry for me.

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT my laundry pile. But I think mine may be bigger. Remember, Jesus said not to judge. Just a reminder.

2 things

thing 1:

Today is the first day of the Northwest Washington Fair. And we're going! Hudson will see all sorts of animals for the first time ever... so we're kind of excited. He won't remember a lick of this but we will and that makes it worth it to us! And after we spend some time with Hudson and the animals, he is going to Grandma's house to sleep so Luke and I can see the "Demolition Derby."

What is this Demolition Derby, you ask?

It's total redneck chaotic mess. And so much fun! This is our 3rd year going to celebrate for our anniversary. Not so romantic but totally hilarious and I'd rather laugh my butt off than anything else for our anniversary! We got married during fair week in Lynden and after the wedding, I was watching the video and there was this AWFUL sound in the background. Like, rip-roaring loud noises. So I called my mom to ask what was happening on the video and she was like... "you didn't hear that???" Apparently not. I was too busy freaking out that I was getting married and saying my wedding vows to Luke to NOT HEAR THE TRACTOR PULL happening 4 blocks away.

What was wrong with me? If I wasn't even totally aware during the ceremony, do the vows count? I'm going to go with a yes for this one... ;-)

Obviously I didn't know about "fair week", not being from Lynden and all, when we picked the wedding date. Oops. But anyway, we now go and celebrate the noise and obnoxious entertainment of the fair every year and we'll probably make this our date until the kids want to join us and then we'll have to go out another night together. I have a feeling Hudson wouldn't appreciate the loud engines and crushing metal and flames everywhere at this point. I think it's my mommy instinct kicking in.

thing 2:

I'm about to unleash the beast on my insurance company. They keep messing up my coverage dates and the hospital has billed them 2 times for my ob/gyn care and they keep sending it back, UNPAID. The hospital has a policy to only send 3 times before requiring us to pay. Wee-hhheeee-heeeeellll. I just got a message from the insurance company that some paperwork that was supposed to be fixed is not fixed yet and that means my claim will be denied again. And we're not paying it. I'm just putting this out there. We pay for very good medical insurance. I shouldn't have to pay for this. And I won't. And thus, I'm about to "communicate" VERY CLEARLY with the 1-800 number.

And that's it for now.

Happy Sunday

Well, I sit here, thinking of what I shall blog about on this super duper HOT Sunday afternoon while I listen to my little boy crying in the monitor. Sundays are always a little bit off with naps because of church in the morning. But I've gotten brave lately and attempted to pretend we're on schedule when we get home and put him to bed.

He doesn't really like it.

And now that he's starting to get more expression (he's mastered the pouty lower lip thing which completely tears me apart), he's really good at telling me he does not approve of this new approach. But I steel my heart and close the door and then he sleeps. And we all breathe a sigh of relief.

So, I know I've ranted plenty of times, probably more than is appropriate about my totally adorable, totally annoying dog, so today I won't. But I will announce that we've made a formal offer of adoption to my mom. Her 2 dogs are aging rapidly, especially Rosie, who we got when I was 14... I'm 30 now. So, she's quite old in dog years. We'll find out in a few days or so if my mom would like to adopt Deeter once Rosie goes to meet her maker. I don't want to be a terrible person and pray that this happens swiftly... in fact, I promise I won't because my mom really loves her. But Deeter will be happier and I won't be yelling at the dog in front of my baby anymore. It's just not nice.

In fact, Deeter calls my mom "grandma hamburger" because he went for a long weekend visit a year ago and enjoyed a small serving of hamburger EVERY SINGLE DAY. I assure you, this doesn't happen at our house. On occasion, I'll give him a few scraps of meat when we're done dinner and it's either his dish or the compost bin. And because of this crazy indulgent weekend with grandma, he goes absolutely berserk when she comes to visit. Every time. He tries to escape and get into her car... like, "get me out of here, Grandma hamburger. Please. This place is not like your house at all." It's actually kind of funny.

But one of these days, I think he will get in her car and he won't be coming back. It makes me really happy for him and for us on the one hand. On the other, I will miss his little personality in our home. And I just can't give him to anyone. I need to know that he will be taken care of VERY well. I would sob if we gave him away and he was being treated badly. He's just too little and cute for that. I'd rather him stay here than be hurt by some other family.

I don't really have much else to say on this subject. That's about it. Yup. And Hudson is still not sleeping. He's half awake, fighting sleep. And we have to be at a bbq very soon so I hope he does sleep or it'll be an interesting afternoon.

The end.

Financial Peace... Who Knew?

It's funny because Luke and I really thought for a long time that we knew what we were doing with money. Seriously. And then last January, I found this book by Dave Ramsey called "Total Money Makeover" and read it in like... 3 days. Not kidding. Now, one thing to know about me is that I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction. Any non-fiction. I only have so much reading time in my day and I read stories. Period. Well, almost.

So anyway, back to the book. I read it in 3 days. And I was spouting off all the crazy things in there I was reading to Luke and he was getting kinda irritated. Because some of the stuff in there was TOTALLY the opposite of what he learned in college. You know, in his finance degree. But he was curious so he read the book in 4 days. He also isn't a huge non-fiction reader. And then we were in. Totally in. Like, cut your credit cards up, in.

And I'm really excited.

That was back in January and we've paid off so much debt since then, I didn't know it was possible. It hasn't been easy. It's been completely the opposite. But I've learned that more than any outside issue that I could blame for our debt and lack of savings... WE were the problem. It was a tough thing to admit to. I guess Dave's book could also be called "Character 101". Because that's what it feels like to me. It's hard work but I feel like we're building some character in a place we've never had it.

Which brings me to what this blog post is about.

We ordered a 13 week class called "Financial Peace University" and have been running a small test home group at our house for the past several weeks. It's been SO great for everyone who's attending. I'm excited for each of our futures!! But we really, REALLY want so many more people we know to experience this class and the tools it teaches. You go from having an empty tool belt to being fully equipped to win... in 13 weeks. As Dave says, "it's really simple but it's not easy". I agree. Because it's really hard.

And with that said, I've posted a video clip of part of the first class. We're hoping to facilitate a group at Abundant Life Community Church in 2011 and it's open to the community. It's not "churchy". It's practical stuff. Dave does the teaching and then there's small group discussion and (gasp) HOMEWORK!

But I have to say this. If you're single, it empowers you to make good decisions for your future. If you're married, it gets you both on the same page. About money. Seriously. (I know, it's weird right?!?!?) And it's awesome. So I hope you enjoy the clip below and maybe we'll see you at FPU this winter!

Before/After

Today is a special day for me. I'm getting my hair done. For some of you, this may just be another day in the life of... but for me, today is SPECIAL! Here's why:

1. My roots are rooty

2. I live in a permanent ponytail these days

3. I'm sick of #2

4. #3 makes me feel like I'm in a rut and gives me a bad attitude

5. And finally, it's just time

So Luke is coming home early to work from home and hang out with Hudson while I dash off to the salon where my great stylist, Yangee (who is great, btw) will rescue me from a month of bad hair days.

Here's the sad state of affairs...

It's the proverbial "mom-tail"... I have no problem with ponytails but I don't know if I blow dried and styled my hair more than twice in July. I know, it's bad.

I don't really know what to say.

After:

So this afternoon, I carted myself off to Fairhaven for an appointment with the girl who cuts my hair. I happily sat as a TON of hair got cut off. I'm pretty happy with this style overall, but I think I may call back to get her to angle the back up a bit. I didn't realize until I got home that it hadn't really happened.

And the bangs!!! We went back and forth on these for a few minutes and finally, I committed.

So that's my before/after adventure. And then I stopped for groceries and headed home to feed my baby and eat dinner with Luke. Not exactly glamorous but perfectly happy to me!

And that's probably one of the last times you'll see my face on this blog. I like blogging about my baby, my dog and pretty much everything else except photos of me. ;-)

Social Suicide

You know those awkward people... the ones that no matter how much you try and "give them the hint" they never get it? Well, I haven't really ever done that to anyone but I've seen it in play and as of today, I am guilty.

Not that I would call my dog a "someone" but really, today he's entered into a new level of insecurity (who knew!). Since we've had the baby he doesn't really exist to me in the same way he used to. Obviously, same with this blog. But I think at least the blog may be making a come back!

Because Deeter knows the extent of his fall from my good graces, he has tried with extra fervor to gain my attention. However, because Hudson is now very aware of the dog, Deeter has decided to bypass me and go straight for the baby. Example: Today, Hudson rolled over for the first time. Deeter saw some play potential there and he's over the top trying to get at Hudson's face for a good lick within about 2.4 seconds. This makes me crazy so I'm practically guarding Hudson with my arms which makes Deeter even more crazy and desperate to be included. And by included, I mean, licking the baby's face. Ain't gonna happen.

Even as I type this, Hudson has fallen asleep on the floor and Deeter is carefully inching his way towards that little face, hoping I won't notice. Which I do. And then he looks at me with trembling glassy eyes. And he knows that eternity is but a wet sloppy lick away. I'm not even really joking...

It's like begging to be shot. Or at least some kennel time.

Really? He sits on Luke's feet every night at dinner.

Attempting to enjoy the baby's stuff. And.... laundry.

This one was actually really funny!

Luke looks like he's enjoying this!

I mean, I guess there's potential for the future here. Just not for now.

So I think that's it for my back to blogging post.