Cabin Fever

I think this week has been the earliest in my life that I have uttered "I wish it was spring already". I'm so tired of cold weather, mostly because I love going outside. I miss going out to get fresh air without having to bundle up as though we're headed for an artic excursion. Granted, I don't always dress that way, but dressing a toddler for outside feels as though I'm wrestling a 24 pound baby seal into a jacket and a hat. Todays high is supposed to be 53 degrees, but with snow on the ground and sidewalks, even a walk outside will be a chore. Don't get me wrong, I'll still go outside, because otherwise, I'll develop a bad case of cabin fever.

I've always been a winter person, always relishing the cold, enjoying the snow, and wrapping myself in blankets cradling a cup of hot cocoa. But this winter, I've utterly despised the cold. It's just hard to get out in with an active one year old. He doesn't seem to have the tolerence for the cold that I do (hmmm... wonder why? Maybe he's 200 lbs lighter?!?!) and gets quite fussy if he gets cold. I've gotten creative in our outings this winter, and I've tried to get out once a day. This week promises to be the best week for outings, as we start Gymboree this week, along with the other list of activities I have written out. But today? Today I'm stumped. I'm tempted to stay inside all day, but know that if I do, by the time Forrest gets home, I'll be sitting in the corner, rocking to and fro, giggling quitely to myself as I slowly succumb to the mania.

So this is where I need your help... What are some things YOU do to get out during the dead of winter? What are some activities you do around the house that get your mind off of being stuck inside(and don't say cleaning... I've already cleaned my house... I even bought a real mop!!)?

Weekend Recap

This weekend was surprisingly relaxing, seeing as it included a lot of cleaning and plenty of play in the surprise snowstorm we got. We worked hard and played harder, but something about being home for the first weekend in a while with nothing to do just made it a perfect weekend.

Again with the climbing
SNOW!
Mommy and me playing in the snow
The snow was coming down so hard that after only a 15 minute walk in the snow, Forrest and Shepherd had almost an inch of snow in them!
Daddy playing with Shepherd's Doodle Pro
If only I could teach him how to use this...
More fun with the Swiffer
The number one reason our weekend was so great... the cutest kid EVER

So totally screwed.....

I only wish I had a picture of him hanging (yes HANGING) from the end table this morning.

12 months

Shepherd,

Yesterday, you turned one. O-N-E. That number is enough to make my head spin at all of the things that have happened in the last 365 days. One year ago, you were handed to me, a wrinkled, slimey, red bundle of pure heaven. I remember the moment I laid hands on you, and it was magical. Nothing in this life has ever compared to that moment. We'd waited so long for you to arrive, in fact, it seemed as though you'd never come. And then you came. And it seemed as though you'd always been here. You have changed so much this last year. So much, that I hardley recognize the little tiny bundle of baby in the pictures we took that day. You've developed into this wonderful and beautiful person, whose smile and laugh brighten any room.


You know how to tell jokes now... well, not really "tell" jokes, but you know what we find funny and you do those things to make us laugh. Just last week, on our road trip down to see Papa D in the hospital, you woke up in the middle of the night, 30 minutes before we got to Gram and Grandaddy's house. Those 30 minutes you spent entertaining us with a variety of raspberries and noises you've learned. Some were quite impressive! We laughed and laughed, and it was just what mommy and daddy needed on that last leg of the trip.


This past weekend, we celebrated your birthday. We had family over for cake and ice cream, and you had a blast with everyone. After a little while, though, you'd had enough of all the commotion, so we started on presents and then we ate cake. It took you a second to dive into the cake, but after a few small bites, you dove right in and smeared icing all over your face. :) It was a busy day full of excitement, and after cake, you crashed hard for a long and much needed nap.


As you were going to sleep, I sat there, holding you, and thought of all of the changes that have occured in the last year and about how much you've grown. I couldn't help but cry, not because I was sad that you'd grown up, but because of all the joy you have brought me. I've always known that I wanted to be a mother. And with your birth came the unexpected joy and fulfillment that I'd longed for all that time. You are my wish come true. I cannot imagine my life without you in it.


I love you more than I can express. Happy Birthday lil' man.

Love,
Mommy

Update

Hello All...

I'm still down in NC where the weather is actually decent. Poor Forrest drove back to work a few days and found himself in a nasty snow/sleet/ice/freezing rain storm. But all is well.

I talked with his mom this morning, and things are daily improving with his step-dad. His kidney function is much better, his swelling is down... and they've almost got him completely off the ventilator. He has to wake up before they take him 100% off. The ventilator is breathing about only 4 times a minute for him, which is much better than 100% of the time. It'll take a while to wake up since the anesthesia is stored in the body, and takes a while to wear off. So, things are looking much better than a few days ago.

Shepherd has died and gone to heaven here at Gram and Grandaddy's. He has 24 hour access to a real, live D-O-G (as Shepherd would call it, the "og" or he'd just pant like the dog). Also in the house is a real, live C-A-T, "tat". That and the much needed room to run around the house and wear his little self slap out. He's slept better than he's ever slept these past few nights, sleeping from 7 to 8 am (not counting the few times he wakes up because of the MOLARS he's cutting)(MOLARS!!!!)(My baby is getting so big!)

Anyways... we've got a big party planned for Saturday, and I've still not decided what to do about the cake. I'm sure it'll come to me. Oh well, little man is almost done with lunch (I'm sitting at the kitchen table typing as he eats), so I'd better go.

Thanks again for all your prayers/thoughts/meditations!!

Prayers

Hey guys,

Quick update. I hadn't written much about it out of respect for privacy, but I feel that I need to get this out. My husband's step-father had surgery last week (gastric bypass). Things looked fine at first, but there were come complications, and he's now in critical care in the ICU (on a ventilator, which is so, so, SO scary). There's so much to explain, and not enough energy to explain it... but your prayers and thoughts and meditations would be greatly appreciated. Forrest is with his mom tonight, and I'm back at my parents to get Shepherd (he spent the weekend with them while we spent the weekend at the hospital). Hopefully things will start improving in the next few days... I'll try to keep things updated...

Cravings?

Our little mechanic

Good news, folks! I'm actually eating again... and not getting sick! I finally sucked it up and asked the doctor for some mild medication for the nausea. I only take it once a day (it's recommended for up to 4 times a day) and that seems to have helped a LOT so far. In fact, last night, I started with the cravings. Actually, they started Sunday at our friends Super Bowl party. One of the guys brought this heavenly french onion dip. I must have eaten half of the dip and chips. That, and they had some cans of coke. I had a coke and it immediately settled my stomach. I'd been avoiding them because of the caffeine, but my doctor suggested that I try one every now and then for my stomach. She seemed to think it might help. Which... it does, but now I'm craving coke, Ruffles, and french onion dip all the time!!!

In other news, I was getting ready for bed last night, and finally, around 11 (I know, it was way too late to be up), I just HAD it with my kitchen. So I got down on my knees and scrubbed the floors. I scrubbed because there was junk encrusted on our floor that I don't even KNOW what it was. Once I scrubbed the floors, I scrubbed the stove... then the counters... then cleaned all the junk off of our table! So today, I woke up to a nice, clean, kitchen. Do you have any idea what that feels like? That, and the laundry is done (thanks to the local laundromat where I did 5 loads of laundry in the time it takes to do one load at home). The only thing I need to do is clean the bathrooms and vacumn the entire house. Any volunteers??

I will say, I've been in a much better mood these past few days. I knew that this day would come, it just felt like it took forever. I actually have energy to play with Shepherd, I have a little energy left at the end of the day to attempt to cook dinner. It's amazing what a difference a single pill can make. :)

The only downside is that Shepherd is now cutting his bottom molars. So the poor guy is miserable. I finally got my fingers back in his mouth and felt the bulging of the molars. Poor guy! Makes me so sad. Last night, he cried and fussed for an hour solid before Forrest got home. Nothing I did helped. It wasn't until Forrest got home, and we started signing for "bath" that he got excited and quit fussing. So, while Forrest gave him a bath and put him to bed, I took a much needed break and made a run to the grocery store. It's amazing how frayed your nerves can get with an hour of your child crying. I hadn't been to the store in a while (other than for basic necessities) as I hadn't felt well enough to eat anything. But last night, it was all I could do to not buy the entire store out. I did purchase some french onion dip. I balanced my junk food purchase with a bunch of bananas. Shepherd would eat bananas all the live long day if I let him, so we go through them pretty fast.

Anyways... after shopping, I came home, where Forrest and I sat down and watched a few of my Friends DVDs. I'd forgotten how nice it is to just sit and watch Friends without commercials, and to just enjoy cuddling on the couch with my hubby (I haven't been much of a cuddler with the sick tummy). I'm so glad things are starting to turn around... hopefully, Shepherd will start feeling better, and all will be wonderful!!! :)

Baby Steps

Last night.... I vacumned. Aren't you proud of me? I stood in our living room, grabbed my hair and finally screamed, "I've had it!" Only, I didn't scream... I more muttered to myself. I put Shepherd's toys away and vacumned. And it felt wonderful. And while I was vacumning, Forrest did the dishes in the kitchen. My living room was spotless this morning. It felt so wonderful to walk out into a clean living room.

My goal this weekend is to tackle the laundry. I'm sure some of you are thinking that it can't be that bad. Let me explain. Last night, I had to do one load of laundry simply because Forrest had nothing to wear. I mean nothing. At least nothing clean. Which, you know, if I don't wear clean shirts, no one knows... wait, was that to much information? I swear I don't run around every day in dirty clothes... just... you know... sometimes....when the laundry is backed up... you know... because I have a kid and I've been sick.... that's normal... right? Anyways... so I did a load of laundry (actually, Forrest transfered them from washer to dryer because I was in bed exhausted). That said, I have GOT to do laundry this weekend. Which beckons the question. How bad has the laundry situation gotten at your house? I'm contemplating taking the laundry to a laundermat so I can wash everything at one time and dry everything at one time. That's how bad it is.

Anyways... I haven't posted a picture of the lil' man quite a while, here's one post-traumatic haircut (I still haven't blogged about it because I'm just not there emotionally... let's just say it involved a lady who barely spoke english, some scissors, and massive amounts of sobbing and tears by me) and then one of my two men in the snow a few weeks ago.


Mommy promises that in a few weeks the kids at playgroup will stop calling me Lloyd

Aren't they adorable? And isn't my husband HOTT!?

The Almighty Wipeout

Today was going to be a great day. We were going to meet Beth and Mia for lunch at my favorite place in all the world, P.F. Chang's. We were going to Get! Out! of! The! House! The house that has taken on a life of its own, with dirty laundry piles in the bedroom, the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, and God only knows where else. The house with the kitchen floor that hasn't been mopped in weeks (and has only seen the broom maybe 3 times in that time). For those of you with a toddler learning to self-feed know exactly how filthy my floor is right now. Especially when the broom misses a few peas your toddler has chucked across the room, and you slim the bottom of your foot and smear peas across the kitchen floor during a midnight raid on the fridge. Yeah, it's pretty bad. I finally managed to move the laundry that had been sitting in the laundry for the last week into the dryer (only after washing it 4 times because they'd soured, and each time forgetting to move them). That laundry has been taken out of the dryer and is now sitting on my couch, begging to be folded. The living room hasn't been vacumned since the beginning of the month, and dusting? I forget, remind me what that is?

Some of you may blame my husband for not picking up the slack. To those of you who say that, I say a hearty "Screw You!" My husband has been amazing these last few weeks (heck, who am I kidding, he's always been amazing). He now wakes up between 4:30 and 5:30 to give Shepherd his morning bottle, allowing me to sleep through until at least 7 am. He's kept our dishes clean, and he's not uttered one word about the filth we now live in. To top it off, each weekend, when I'm passed out from exhaustion from running around all week with Shepherd and growing a baby, he gladly takes Shepherd and plays with him while I sleep, and sleep, and sleep some more. And despite all of that, he's gone to work every day, worked his butt off, and comes home every night exhausted from the hour and half commute TO work, and then again home. So after spending 3 hours in a car, he comes home, feeds Shepherd dinner, gives Shepherd a bath, and then puts Shepherd to bed. So, no, it's not that.

I know one of these days I'll catch up. I feel that I'm behind in everything. Not only am I behind in housework, I'm behind on my friendships. I haven't kept in touch with friends like I want to... Normally, I'll e-mail folks several times a week, and yet, I find it utterly exhausting to sit down at the computer and type. The same goes for blogging. All I've written about is how bad I feel, but I guess that's to be expected. I feel as though I'm losing readers, who come to the site for something else, and instead leave utterly depressed, or there are those who kindly write me encouragement, and I feel guilty. Like they've written because they felt obligated to cheer me up from this hum-drum slump I've been in. I know it's not the case, but still...

I don't even know the purpose of writing this, except maybe to get it off of my chest. I so very much want things to return to a semi-normal state, where I have at least enough energy to put clothes in the laundry one day, and enough the next to mop, and the next to vacumn. My only hope is that magically, overnight, the cleaning fairy will show up and do everything for me. Who says you can't dream?