Happy Birthday, JD!

Well, Happy 8 month birthday, that is! I cannot believe my little-bitty baby is 8 months old today!! Look at how old he looks in his most recent pictures... and how BIG he is!! I am so happy that we are at this stage - it is definitely MUCH preferred to the newborn stage - but gosh, my little guy is getting SO big, SO fast. I remember thinking that if we could just make it to 4 months with our sanity, we'd be OK. Now, we've doubled that and while the presence of my sanity is questionable, we've made it... and have the beginnings of a very handsome little guy, if I do say so myself.

While I meant this photo montage to go from youngest to oldest, this website wouldn't cooperate so here is my little man... from most recent to when he was just a kicking bundle of acid reflux in his mommy's belly. :-)

I went out last night.... one thing started leading to another...

Last night, I was lucky enough to meet one of my friends out for dinner... not only did I get to meet her for dinner, but Jeremy got home from work early and so I left early and was able to go to Once Upon a Child, and Toys R Us as well (exciting I know). We had dinner at Houlihan's and then once dinner was over we decided to move to the bar there to have a few drinks being that I don't get to see my friends nearly enough.

It was not a late night. I was home by 10:30. My kitchen, freshly cleaned from the day before, was a mess. There were crumbs on the floor, baby food containers still left out from JD's dinner, and a Taco Bell cup working on a nice water ring on my dining room table. Ugh. Annoyance. But, I did get to go out so that is the price I pay, I guess.

JD started to wake up about 4:30 this morning and anyone who knows my husband knows it was not him who was getting up with the baby. It seems that this ALWAYS happens... anytime I am not there to do the bedtime routine and put JD down, he always seems to wake up disturbingly early. I mean, 4:30.... really?????

I used to think that I always happened to choose that one night where the stars become mis-aligned that makes my son's night sleep skimpy as best to be the one night that is "my night"... my big, exciting, look-forward-to-it night out (which still means I'm home by 11 at the latest, but still, it's a night out nonetheless).

However, now I am coming to the conclusion that the stars aren't misaligned, but it's actually my son who just does not sleep as well when I am not the one who puts him down. Wonderful. So, any time I get my big night out, it means that I will come home and pay the price at home with a son who starts crying to see me at 4 in the morning.

So, a night out, it's really a double-edged sword. Yes, very fun. Yes, very good time. Yes, much needed break from mom-life which allows me to catch a glimpse of my prior life. However, it also means that I will also be the following combination the next day: tired, crabby & hungover, emphasis on tired.

I really have finally figured out that I need to sharpen my negotation skills so that when I negotiate "my night" with Jeremy that it also includes "my morning" the morning after that allows me to sleep in until at least 6:00. A girl can dream, can't she???

Adventures in Babysitting

Ugh, the dreaded babysitter situation. SUCH a dilemma in the world of a mom, unless you have YOUR mom or a good friend who stays home that you really trust, chances are that there are things that you would change about your sitter. I know I would. a *great* babysitter... wow, SUPER hard to find. I feel like there are women who do in-home daycare who WANT to do in-home care and women who HAVE to do in-home care, and wow, what a difference there is between the two.

I have been struggling with my sitter for some time now. There have been little circumstances here & there that have come up which have led me down the path of trying to find someone else for the past 3-4 months. But, every girl that I meet with has some sort of issue. One was an out-of-work teacher who could get a job at the drop of a hat. A lot of them cannot even spell on their online postings advertising for more children. The good ones are full, the bad ones are always in need of children. The list goes on & on.

So, I have not been happy with my sitter, but I have been dealing....until yesterday. I about lost it. To make a long story short, when I got JD home, his diaper had soaked through his shorts and was so wet that it drenched my shirt from carrying him. This is something that he has done only 1x to me - it was OVERNIGHT. If he is getting his diaper changed on a regular basis, this would not be happening. The diaper was swollen and just enormously filled with pee. When I got home I was FURIOUS.

Jeremy gets home and I confront him with the situation, tears coming out of my eyes as I think about poor little JD plopped in front of the TV all day sitting in his own urine with no relief. Jeremy's answer, "Well, take him to a new babysitter then." As if oh wow!, I hadn't thought of THAT.

THAT is the problem. THAT is the issue. Who in the world will be our new babysitter??? He announces it as if he has solved the world hunger issue with an answer that is just so downright logical. Just like he said, "Well, just go to the mall if you want to go." As if it were that easy.

So, for right now I am re-visiting the out-of-work teacher who does not have a job for August, knowing that she may get work at the last minute, and I guess I am OK with that, but that buys me some time to go on the hunt and at the very, very least, I know (OK, I hope) my son will have his diaper changed when it's wet.

Jon & Kate Plus the whole world, including Perez

Some of you may know that I was quite the Jon & Kate follower during my pregnancy days, then after seeing one too many shows and after watching Kate go from real-life-relatable-housewife-person to some jacked-up-mommy-with-plastic-surgery-and-book-tours-person, I have decided that I was completely 100% OVER the Gosselins!

Until (you all know) the latest drama.

It seems as if the Gosselins now have every single Tom, Perez, and Harry watching their every move. I saw an online article the other day showing photos of Kate spanking one of the girls. And then there is that video of Kate drinking water right in front of one of the twins. Seriously people. This has gone too far.

I think Jon is 110% to blame for this current turmoil. Who really cares if Kate can be a biotch? And honestly, are people seriously blaming her lesbian haircut?? Because I think she's had that for eons. If Jon decided he was over her, then Jon, go see an attorney and start divorce proceedings. Don't start running around with some 23-year-old hoochie mama all over town when you have 8 kids at home and a reality TV show.

I think the problem with cheating spouses is 2-fold. (a) we have the husbands who think that for some reason their behavior is "justified" because their spouse is a "bitch" or has a "lesbian haircut" then (b) we also have little hoochies who for some reason do not think that they are worth enough to have 100% of a man, they feel that they need to have whatever percentage of him is left after his wife and children are done with him.

Even though I have lived this problem up close and personal, for the love, I still do not understand it. I can understand how marriage can be difficult, and I can imagine how hard life must be with 8 children, but I don't understand how you can resolve that one in your head at the end of the day, somehow kidding yourself into thinking that your behavior is OK.

And, just as bad is the woman who can justify in her own head why it is OK to pursue a married man and try to convince him to leave his wife. Hello honey! If he will cheat WITH you, then he will cheat ON you. Time to get a clue, along with some self-esteem!

Anyway, I have been sucked into all this drama recently, even though I hate to watch it because I cannot even imagine how difficult this must be for Kate... having to go through this turmoil in her marriage, then have the entire world watch and critique her parenting, blame the affair on her, and then find some way to explain all of this to her 8 children. Un-thinkable.

But, I guess we will all tune into J&K on Monday night to see their "big revelation" that they are making on the show. Hopefully it will be that they are taking a break from their reality show to heal their family and focus on themselves, but somehow I doubt that is coming...

Adventures in Road Tripping

Wow, what an adventure that I experienced this weekend!! For some reason I was dumb/naive enough to think that it would be an extra-great idea to pack up my handsome little man and make the 4-5 hour voyage up to Chicago to visit one of my roommates from college, Michelle. Upon completion of this trip and now having reached the point of total exhaustion, I have to admit that I had no idea what I was in for.

The drive up there actually went very smoothly. We left promptly after JD's dinner at 5:30 and he was a tired, tired little boy. The problem was that mommy was also very tired, so our first order of business was a 20 oz. Mountain Dew.

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?? I knew I would need the caffeine to survive the drive... however actually obtaining a Mountain Dew would mean stopping, unstrapping JD, get both of us into the gas station, etc etc. Luckily, I was still in town at this point and Daddy met us at the gas station to say goodbye, so he was able to be on baby duty while I was on Mountain Dew duty.

Fast forward about 2 hours into the trip.... Man, oh man, did I have to pee!!! The problem was that I had a sleeping baby in the back seat and the slightest mis-step could lead to total & complete meltdown. Eventually I noticed an ominous odor eminating from the back seat and realized that we would now stop on JD's terms.

Both of us went into the McDonald's bathroom. I changed his diaper easily enough, but now was the tricky part. How in the world was I going to tinkle when I had a baby in my arms????? This was one of those "take-for-granted" moments that I never thought of ahead of time - I never thought that I would need to take extra precautions to ensure that I would be able to potty on the trip up.

But, alas, I finally wiggled out of my pants while still holding JD, since of course did not want him hanging out on the bathroom floor but let me assure you that this was (a) extremely difficult to maneuver and (b) very time consuming.

We made it back out into the restaurant finally where I gave JD his bottle, but by the end of the bottle, he stunk up his diaper again, so back to the changing table we did go. But, finally, after all of that, we made it back on the road.

Anyway, after a few more hours, a few more malfunctions with his personal DVD player, and without another sip of Mountain Dew for Mommy (out of fear I would have to brave another stop), we made it to Naperville in a cool 5 hours.

We had a GREAT time up there... the highlight of course was seeing Michelle, Ryan, Lucy & Henry, but seeing Kenny Chesney unexpectedly was a close 2nd!!! The show was amazing and I am his new #1 BIGGEST fan... not that I wasn't a fan before but I think I have found true love now. :-)

Anyway, JD was EXHAUSTED after our weekend when it came time to brave the trip home. I thought it was sure going to be smooth sailing since it was likely that JD would pass out when we left...and SURELY sleep all the way through the ride.

However, I did not count on one dumb-ass gas station lady. I stopped for gas reluctantly after I had been on the road for an hour. I swiped my debit card at the pump and quietly began to fill my tank. After all $47.51 worth of gas had filled me up, the gas station lady comes over the load speaker.

"Um, pump 7, it's prepay or debit only."

I think to myself, OK, I DID prepay WITH my debit card. What is the problem? I thought surely this broad was confused, so I considered getting back into my car. Instead, I shouted back into the vast gas station darkness, "But I did prepay."

"Pump Seven. Prepay. Cash or Debit. Only."

Ugh, irritation. I got JD out of his car seat, journeyed into the gas station, only to have the attendant tell me that she confused me with Pump 8 and that my gas was already paid for.

But, the damage was done. To make a long story short, JD pretty much screamed for a small portion of every half hour the entire journey from that point home as he fought sleep and refused to relax. So, I had to stop. Then stop again. Then stop again. Then stop again.

Ugh. All of this when mommy was again very tired plus add a hangover into the mix and you have one very nervewracking car ride for both mommy & baby.

We made it home all in one piece though at about 9:30 only to have Daddy say, "Oh, wow, I'm glad you guys are home. I'm SO TIRED."

Right.....

Our first swim lesson

Wow! What a day!! JD had his very first swim lesson today and he did GREAT...well...aside from coming alarmingly close to falling asleep while he was on the kickboard, that is. He really loved the water and surprisingly, he did not mind being dunked either. I pulled out my mom suit and it was nice to see that I was not the worst mom body in the room.

Anyway, JD LOVED it. Plus, he was EXHAUSTED at the end of the half hour class. I pulled him out of the pool and we made our way to the changing table in the women's locker room so that I could unwrap the "present" JD had delivered for me in his little swimmers diaper.

While I was changing his diaper, I was talking away to my friend Ashley, and while we were standing there, some mom came up and used this little metal container that was fasted to the wall right next to the changing table. The mom came up, deposited some item into the container, it made a deep wiiirrrr-wiiirrrr-wiiiirrrr noise, and then the mom was done.

I looked at Ashley like "What was that?" and my mind heard "Trash compactor." Ahh... perfect... some sooped-up diaper destroyer that could take my soiled swimmie off my hands.

I deposited the diaper, along with a few wipes into this contraption, waited for the wiiirrr-wiiirrr-wiiirrr, and then look inside to make sure the deed was done, but surprisingly my diaper was still inside. "OK, maybe I didn't wiirr-wiirr long enough." I pressed the lid down again to allow ample time for diaper destruction, but alas.... STILL there!!!!!

I looked at Ashley and asked what was going on with our friend diaper compactor.

"Ummm.... that's for wet suits."

OH. Whoops!!!!

I had been making the YMCA swimsuit dryer contraption spin around a poopy diaper inside for cycle after cycle. What a dummy!!!!!!!! Obviously, I should've investigated the Y more thoroughly before our first swim class. After my blunder, the swim dryer had to be shut down until it could be bleached out and disinfected. Wonderful.

Anyway, word to the wise. At the Y, there is a metal contraption that DRIES SWIMSUITS and then if you look really hard, you will find a diaper genie to take that soiled swimmie off your hands. Good to know. :-)

Further Education

You know how there are certain times in your life that you can remember just like they were yesterday? Well, I'm doing good to remember the REAL yesterday anymore, but there are still random memories from my younger days that pop into my head from time to time... some good, some bad, and some downright ugly. One of those popped into my head when I was trying to come up with a good name for my blog. After trying about a million names that have already been taken, I remembered my MRS degree.

When I was in high school, I worked at the local animal hospital & all & all, it was a job that I really loved. I'm an animal person, so I got to be around animals all day, plus I got out of school an hour early to go work there senior year, and I was always out of there by 7:30 every night, which meant I didn' thave to leave my social life behind to go work. It was a good gig for a high schooler.

I was working the front counter one evening the summer before I left for college, and one of the doctor's pointed that out my soon-to-begin higher education to one of our clients. He said, "Oh, really? Where are you going?" I replied, "The University of Illinois." He said, "Oh yeah, whatcha studying?" I said, "Oh, I don't know... I haven't really made up my mind just quite yet." He says, "Oh, I'd have figured you were going up there for your MRS degree." Stupid me was a little slow on the pick-up that day. I said, "No, I was thinking either business or vet med."

After he left, I finally figured it out... my M R S degree - going to college to find a man! Hardy, har, har, Mr. Client-with-the-mean-ol-grumpy-dog. I was not that kind of girl... I was going to college to learn, dangit!!

Anyway, I did earn a business degree from U of I, and I guess for all those interested, I guess you could say that I earned a MRS degree as well.... one of them worked out better than the other... I'll let you take a guess on that one. :-)

But, for some reason, that conversation has stuck with me, and over the years I have learned that your MRS degree is not something that can ever be completed... it's kind of like one of those licenses where you always have to take continuing education when you think that you're an expert already.

And, even harder is completing your MRS degree with an emphasis in MOM... and that's what I'm working on these days.

Yours,
Amy Vacca, MRS/MOM