Mullet King

Sam got his 4th hair cut last night.  His mop of crazy hair was just getting to be too long.  It was always in his eyes, in his ears, in everything.  But I still refuse to cut those curls away in the back.  I love those curls.  Those curls that I just can't stop touching and playing with.

Mama, mop hair is cool.  Chill.

Perhaps I should have payed attention to the concerned look Morgan was giving as he held Sam on his lap and I tried to sculpt some kind of hair cut that left those curls alone.  Perhaps.  Because I gave him a mullet.

Why is Daddy laughing?

Where's a mirror?  Why is he still laughing?

YOU Mama, YOU did this to me!

Yes, yes I did.  It'll grow out.  Dork.  (sorry)

Surprise!!!

Turn back time with me.  Think back, kinda way back.  Valentine's Day to be exact.  The hubby and I had been working on a secret project for a few months and Valentine's Day was the big day!  Test taking day.

Word.

That's right, my little friends!  Having Sam seems to have boosted my magical fertility powers and Morgan and I are now pregnant with no medical assistance.  We were shocked, to be sure.  Yes, this is a very planned pregnancy.  But did I really think we would be able to get pregnant on our own?  No.    We were pretty much just messin around while waiting for our tax refund to show up so we could go back to Shady Grove Fertility.  SURPRISE!

Which means I've been a pukey mess.  Which means I didn't get to taste ANY of that wine on that fabulous winery limo tour I went on in March.  Which means I almost outed my own pregnancy at a dinner party when I unexpectedly developed a gnarly morning sickness reaction to turnips.  Which means that April 1st post about how we had a bunch of nothing going on in our lives was a big fat lie April Fools joke!  And most of all, it means Sam is going to have a sibling!

Things are looking good and looking healthy!  April 12th we had our NT scan and the results came back very in our favor for no genetic abnormalities.  Heartbeat has been strong at every Dr visit and ultrasounds show a squiggler squiggling around like a squiggly thing.  Yay!

Profile - head on right half of image.  Might be picking nose.

Entire body, complete with goat legs.  Yes, picking nose.

The NT scan also led to this ones nickname.  Sam was Mongo.  This one is Pencil Neck, because his neck measurement (checking for Down's Syndrome) is like half of what Sam's was.

Mother's Day was yesterday and seeing as we had kept this secret for 4 month already (that's right, I'm 16 weeks along right now!) we told our families about Pencil Neck.  Now everyone is waiting anxiously for early June so we can find out the sex of the baby!  Yup, less than a month away.  DUN, Dun, dunnnn.

Whew!  I do have to say it was fun having a secret.  A special something only a select few knew about before this past weekend.  The shock has finally worn off and has been replaced with excitement that Sam is going to have a sibling!  They'll be 20 months apart and hopefully bestest of buds forever!

8 Days Ago

Eight days ago I got home from Cleveland.  I ended up going on my own because my friend was sick, but it was a great trip regardless!  I mean a great trip.

Kimball has got to be the easiest to care for baby ever born.  Quite often I would even forget that he was asleep in the room as her two other kids chased each other while shouting random (yet correctly used) Spanish words learned from Dora.  Del and Ev seemed to have reached that point in life where they listen and understand commands and needs, which made helping to watch them super easy.  Which will no doubt be great for Aud as Kimball becomes more aware of his surroundings and spends more time awake and needy.

We went to Saturday morning market, we ate way too much chocolate cake, Aud made the most delicious homemade pizza I've ever had, we stayed up too late each night just talking, and I snuggled that baby perhaps a bit too much.  And once her husband got home from his conference Sunday night we even snuck away to go see a movie while the older kids were asleep and Chris could look after Kimball.  It was truly a great trip!

I did miss Sam.  Missed him a lot.  And I was doing really good till Morgan called Saturday night and Sam started crying when he heard my voice.  Oof.  That almost made me throw my bags back in the car and race on home.  But I'm very happy to report that Daddy did an excellent job taking care of Pud and everyone was happy and healthy when I returned home on Monday.  In fact, Sam's overjoyed mix of laughing and crying at the same time because he was so happy to see me was priceless!  So nice to feel the love.

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Since returning home it's been a busy, busy 8 days!  Tuesday Morgan returned to work and I attempted to return Sam to his normal schedule.  That schedule thing took a couple days because Sam seemed to think I was going to disappear every time I went out of his sight.  Plus I had a crapload of cleaning to do.

Then Thursday I hosted the neighborhood MEGA playdate.  Meaning I had invited 5 other kids right around Sam's age to our house as a meet and greet.  Only all but 1 of the kids/mothers came down with sick or allergies. . .so it was a normal playdate.  And it was awesome.

Friday I had 3 minutes to breathe.

Saturday we had a contractor at our house all day to install ceiling fans, lights, and an attic fan.  Can I just take a moment to say how much I LOVE dimmer switches?  'Cause I do.  And our friend Zeke stopped in for a visit!

Sunday we were supposed to get a MIL visit, but she didn't feel like getting out of bed.  So yeah, Sunday was pretty damn awesome!

And that brings us to today.  Yes.  That was a lot.  Which is why I'm lounging around and pretty much doing nothing but make dinner tonight and write this during Sam's nap time.  Oh, nap time, how I love you.  I love nap time about as much as Sam loves bath time.  Which as you can see, is way much!

8 Days Away

My sweetest, bestest of friends had her third baby at the beginning of this month.  Kimball is an adorable little, tiny, squishy, baby boy and I can't wait to pinch his thighs.  Next Friday a friend and I leave for Cleveland to do just that.  I'm leaving Sam behind with his Daddy.

Which means I'm already starting to go through the very early stages of panic because I've never been away from Sam overnight.  I've never not been there to kiss him goodnight.  Daddy has never given him a bath, a situation I plan to remedy tomorrow night.  Daddy has never had to go through the goodnight routine without me there to settle and ready him to be taken upstairs.  Plus Morgan keeps teasing the hell out of me that Sam's going to start walking while I'm away.  This teasing, I think, is because he secretly (or not so secretly) is even more nervous about 3 days of solo parenting than I am about leaving him for that long.

Oof.  I apologize, Audrey, if I have a 5 minute breakdown while visiting you.  But I promise it will be a quick one.  Just don't let me sit in the corner with my phone looking at pictures like this one and everything will be fine.

Last of the Summer Wine

I have been unemployed for 15 months now.  Being laid off when almost 8 months pregnant certainly was stressful.  Dealing with unemployment benefits through the confusion of being a new mom unsure of if we could afford for me to stay home after the benefits ran out was. . . confusing.  Then came October and the unemployment benefits did run dry.  Christmas was survived.  I did Sam's birthday party on a tight budget.  And now, at this very moment, I have less than $25 in my account.

I'm proud that I was able to stretch out my savings and make it last this long.  However, this household is in for some big adjustments now.  Morgan is now the lone income provider, bill payer, and budget daddy.  And now he's going to have to start providing for me in even more ways.  I'm no longer paying for half the groceries each month, my own gas in my own car, any bills, etc.

I'm sure most people will read this and think "So what!  You're married.  That's what you are supposed to do!"  But I have always been extremely independent and don't like doing things like sharing bank accounts.  Hell, even after I was laid off I was still paying half the mortgage for several months because I could and wanted to.  I don't like feeling like I'm not pulling my own weight.  Thankfully my car is paid off and I have no credit card/school loan debt.  That makes this change in status a little easier.

We are very lucky that Morgan has a good paying job.  I'm very lucky that he has agreed to let me be a stay at home mom.  And now, now he is my sugar daddy.  Long live the king.

Steady As He Goes

Standing.  He's been doing it for a good while.  But in the past couple of weeks it went from lazy leaning to upright citizen.  His balance improves every day and I keep finding myself caught off guard when I leave for a minute and walk back in to see him on the other side of the room standing and reaching for things that just 3 days ago he could not reach.  He's definitely keeping me on my toes these days!

Yes.  Few things are safe now.  If it's less than 3 1/2 feet off the ground it should be considered in the danger zone.  Plus, of course, standing skills go hand in hand with cruising skills.  All of this combined means I think Pud will start walking sooner than I expected!  Much sooner.  I'll keep you updated.

Le Sigh, T'is Boring Here

Ho hum, ho hum.  What's a bored housewife to do?  With her first world problems and plenty she could be doing (hello laundry!), but nothing that she wants to do.

I haven't been posting much as of late because there really isn't much of anything going on.  Easter was fun.  Sam was gifted a blue Easter bunny bigger than he is by his Grandpa.  And since he gave him a giant blue Easter bunny last year he now has two of them. . . sitting in the closet.  Here's hoping this doesn't become a yearly thing because that closet can only hold so many bunnies.

Our weekends have been filled with this and that, but nothing too terribly exciting or picture worthy.  Spring is here and the daffodils have bloomed and my iris have already shot up with buds prepping to pop, so that's awesome!  But yeah. . .

So, here's a picture of the boy.  He learned how to use a straw cup this week.  He also learned how much fun it is to flick the straw and shoot milk everywhere.  Yup, highlight of the week over here.