Meme Thursday--Having the kind of life you want to live

I realize that this has now become Every Other Meme Thursday. And truthfully, I don't even have enough energy to come up with a clever Meme. In fact, I don't have enough energy to come up with anything clever to say, period. Working full time and raising a child and having the kind of life you want to live is HARD. Sometimes, it even sucks. It helps if you like your job, of course. And your husband. But even so, I've been thinking a lot lately about having the kind of life I want to live. What I want more of and what I want less of. And how to make that happen.

Here are some things I want more of:
Reading
Exercising
Planning
Productivity/efficiency
Gardening (now that it's spring!)
Cooking
Playing
Alone time with Ed

Here are some things I want less of:
Being tired
Being grumpy
Feeling frazzled
Feeling spent
Feeling unaccomplished

Obviously, more of the first list would mean less of the second list. But how do I make it happen? For me, I think I need to start small. I always tend to bite off more than I can chew. I think I should also establish priorities. Priority number one should be exercise. Making time to exercise is tough, though. To do that, I need to be more organized about meal planning and the following day. So, for the next two weeks, that's what I'll work on. For exercise, I want to walk for at least 30 minutes (briskly) 4 times a week, and dopushups and the yoga move that Mistie taught me. This weekend I'll work out the meal plan for the week. That's a good start, right?

So--do you have the kind of life that you want to live? What do you want more of, and what do you want less of?

Surgery update: the procedure went fine yesterday. They sent the scope down my esophagus, and I guess they found some scarring from reflux which had narrowed my esophagus, so the doctor inflated a balloon and stretched my esophagus to make it bigger. So hopefully, chicken won't get stuck going down anymore. Ed and William dropped me off at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. and picked me up at 11:00. When we got home, I went to sleep and Ed and William went outside to play. They must have played pretty hard because when they came back, William went to sleep and didn't wake up until almost 3:00. I woke up at 2:30.Ahhhh--the good life!

Spring at last!

The weather was gorgeous yesterday and today, so after work, William and I have been playing outside. Yesterday, William discovered how much fun dirt is. I let him crawl on the sidewalk, and when he found a patch of dirt and a big stick, he got down to business. He spent half an hour sitting in the dirt, pushing it around with the stick, trying to eat the stick, touching the dirt with his hands, and changing positions. When I finally picked him up to go home, he threw a fit. Tonight after work, he did the same thing. I have a feeling he's going to live outside this summer. Bring on the bug repellent and sunscreen! Here are a few pictures from yesterday. Pay no mind to the bruises on his forehead (one on each side) and the dirt all over his face. I have a feeling that will be his perpetual state this summer!


It seems like it's been so long since I've blogged, and now it's hard to catch up. Girls' Weekend was awesome. We were on the beach in Florida and the weather was fantastic. It was a little chilly sometimes, but we were able to lay out by the pool and on the beach, take a couple of long beach walks, eat at two fabulous restaurants, and pig out on chips and salsa and oreos. We even fit in a few hands of Spades, and a dip in the jacuzzi. And the condo we stayed in was super swanky. Best of all, though, was being with my 3 best friends. I have known these girls since the 7th grade, and we have all literally grown up together. They are all so awesome. And in case you're wondering, no--I didn't get much sleep. I'm just not used to sleeping through the night, so even when I have the opportunity, my body just does not cooperate. Oh well.

William and Ed were fine while I was gone. They spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's and seemed to have a great time. William has also had a good week at daycare so far. Tomorrow, though, he gets to stay home with daddy while I have my upper GI endoscopy. If I'm up to blogging tomorrow, I'll let you know how it went! Sadly, I'm looking forward to the nap I'll probably take when I get home!

Here's some video from last night. I finally got William to perform a few of his tricks on camera. Don't ask me why I decided to feed him spaghetti. I guess the dirt wasn't enough! Enjoy.

Look at him go!

I've been a bad blogger this week. But we've been busy. We made an offer on the Burke house, but we got turned down. There was another offer that the owners accepted. They definitely overpaid, though, so we don't feel too bad. Plus, I'm still not sure about the commute. Hopefully the right place for us is out there, just waiting for the right time. Soooo the house hunt continues.

I also tried to post this last night, but Blogger wasn't cooperating, so I abandoned it and went to bed. So now I'm trying again. Here's some video of William doing his new favorite thing:



I'm leaving tomorrow for girls' weekend, so I won't be posting this weekend, either. But I'll be back on Sunday or Monday with lots of pictures!

Weekend Report

We begin the Weekend Report tonight with some exciting news. William now how 3 teeth! His top left tooth broke through on Saturday. Finally! He's had his bottom two for 3 months now. That would explain some of the fussiness he's been experiencing this week. All in all, though, he didn't complain much at all. What a trooper.

In other news, William is now standing on his own (without holding on) for longer and longer periods of time. Also very exciting.

Ed and I looked at the house in Burke again. We love it. I'm going to do a test commute on Friday morning to see what traffic is like driving in. Then we'll make our decision about whether or not to make an offer. The real estate agent said there was another couple who was showing a lot of interest, so even if we make an offer, we may not get it. Stay tuned!

We had a busy but nice weekend overall. Yesterday, after Ed and I saw the house, we went to the mall with Ed's parents. William did great. Today William and I met Julie and Lana (same age as William) at Barnes and Noble and spent a few hours hanging out. William crawled around the children's section, pulling everything off the shelves that he could get his hands on. Lana, of course, was much more interested in actually reading the books. They were both pretty cute and we enjoyed the afternoon. When we came back, I thought William was going to take a nap. We played for a little while, he seemed tired, so I gave him a bottle and put him in his crib for his nap. After I closed his bedroom door, though, I realized that his video monitor was in his room. I figured I'd just wait for a little while and then go back and get it after he'd fallen asleep. We didn't hear a peep out of him, and after 35 minutes, I went in to get the monitor, only to find him happily playing in his crib with the mobile that he had managed to pull down. It was pretty funny. So he never took an afternoon nap.

And finally, Friday's meeting at William's daycare was not very good. I felt very defeated by the end of the meeting--like I've been overreacting and I should just leave the teachers alone and let them do their jobs. The upshot of the meeting was that the classroom enrollment is going back to 12 at the end of the month, and will stay at 12 permanently. My argument that they were transitioning infants too early came to nothing. The director basically dismissed concerns that the center was not following NAEYC guidelines. In some ways I feel good about it because somehow, I ended up as the "spokesperson" for the parents, and I didn't back down and was very direct and I think I did a good job. But by the end of the meeting, the director was directing her conversation only at me, as if I was the only one who had a problem. That was frustrating. She also said something at the end which made me feel like the teachers were really tired of me, which made me feel bad. But what else can I do. I'm going to lay low for a little while, get William on the waiting list at the Senate daycare, and look around for other options. Fortunately, William seems happy and I think he's well taken care of. So for now, that has to be enough.

So that's the Weekend Report. I'm hoping this will be a quiet and productive week. It's time to focus on work for a change (instead of William's daycare), and on my plan to get organized. So that's what I'll do. And I almost forgot the best part of all. This weekend is Girls' Weekend! Two days with my 3 best friends. I can't wait. I'm know I'm going to miss William like crazy, but the prospect of 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep in a row makes me giddy. So on that note, Goodnight!

Vote for Deakon

I'm making a shameless solicitation on behalf of my friend and fellow May Pixie, Carrie. Her son Deakon is in this week's Photowow contest. If you could take two seconds to go to the following Web site and give him a big fat 10, that would be awesome! You can only vote once from a computer, so don't bother voting more than once. (Unless you have more than one computer!) The prize is a really cool pop art picture made with the winner's picture.

Here's his picture. He's too cute for words:



Vote for Deakon! Go to the Photowow Website (contest section) and enter the number 43384. Click on 10 and then vote!

Thanks!

Meme Thursday--Organization

Well, LJ gave me several great options for Meme Thursday, but I'm going to hold onto those for a special occasion. So here is today's Meme question. It's a little boring and overdone, but it's on my mind, so here goes:

Do you consider yourself well organized? How often do you have to look for your keys?

No, I am not an organized person. I say this as I am running around trying to pick up before the cleaning service comes tomorrow, trying to make myself remember to leave a check tomorrow, and thinking I should go upstairs right now and write it because I won't remember tomorrow, or even when I'm done with this blog, and trying to ignore the fact that I keep shoving papers in my desk drawer that really need to be sorted, filed, tossed, etc. As for the question about my keys, the answer is more often than I should. I'm always leaving them in coat pockets, or the diaper bag, or the car if I let William play with them.

I think I have mentioned before the blog, I'm an Organizing Junkie. There's also Cathy's new blog, One Organized Chick. I love these blogs, but alas--I think I'm hopeless. Actually, I'm not THAT bad. But I just never seem to be able to get or stay that one step ahead. I tend to let things pile up, which is my downfall. Then it becomes incredibly time-consuming to take care of stuff. For example, I'm so bad about cleaning out my e-mail inbox. Instead of deleting and sorting e-mails to folders as I go, I wait until my inbox is too big, and then I end up spending days sorting through everything. The same goes for my desk drawer stuff. Instead of following the OHIO system (Only Handle it Once), where as soon as you get a piece of paper (like a bill, or a letter you want to keep, or a magazine article or recipe), you put it where it belongs--like your filing cabinet or recipe binder, or wherever--I throw everything into my desk drawer, and then it takes me hours to sort through it all. So I know what I need to do. It's just a matter of doing it. Being organized is really a habit, and I am soooo bad at starting new habits.

But now that William is here, being organized is more important than ever. Spending time with William and Ed and sleeping are my priorities now, so being organized gives me more of both of those things. So I am pledging right now to face this challenge head on. From now on, when I change clothes after work, no more throwing clothes on the rocking chair. I'll either hang them up in the closet, put them in the laundry room, or make a dry clean pile and put them there. My shoes will go back into the closet, too. I'm going back the OHIO system for bills and paper. And I will get back on my system of doing laundry on Saturdays. (That's been sliding and I am just no good at doing loads here and there. I need to do it all at once or else I forget.)

One place where I have been doing pretty well is cooking. The menus4moms thing hasn't really worked for me, although I still go there to find recipes and other helpful hints. Instead, I'm making my own menu plan, but for me, it's too confining to assign certain dinners to certain days. So I figure out 3 or 4 meals to plan for the week, and then make sure I have all the ingredients, and then kind of play it by ear. So this past week, we had pork tenderloin on Monday night, and then Tuesday night I made fajitas with the leftover pork (that was planned, but didn't know for sure what day we would have the fajitas); Wednesday night, I was going to make a chicken Dijon quiche, but had forgotten pie crusts at the store, so we made eggs, bacon, hash browns, and bagels instead. Then tonight I made the chicken Dijon quiche, and I also made a Chicken King Ranch casserole for tomorrow night (or Saturday if we decide on something else tomorrow). So anyway, loose menu planning is working well so far. So I'll try to stick with that.

That's enough boring blogging for now. William had a good day. Tomorrow is the big meeting with the daycare director and board president. I'm armed and ready. Today I gathered information about the infant programs at several area daycare centers to compare to ours. All centers do things a little differently, but I think I'm better prepared to discuss things now. I think what needs to happen is, 1) The mobile infant room needs to return to an enrollment of 12 kids with 4 teachers; 2) The transition from infant room to mobile room needs to be based on clear signs that the child is ready, meaning the child should be eating at least half table food, should be holding his or her own bottle, and should be fairly close to transitioning to one nap; and 3) No infant should be transitioned to the mobile room until there is a crib available for that infant, meaning that an older infant has successfully transitioned to a cot (a child should not be forced out of the crib before he or she is ready). Ideally, the mobile room shouldn't have more than 10 children, but based on how other centers operate, I'm willing to go with the 12 kids and 4 teachers if the transition for the infants is made a little later. Right now, they're basing it on 9 months, which is too young for most infants.

Well--this was a productive blog after all. I just organized my thoughts a little more for tomorrow's meeting. See--it's working already!

Mommy Brain Strikes Again

Today I dressed up a little by wearing a skirt and sweater set to work. That was probably mistake number one. Mistake number two was the decision to wear pantyhose. Mistake number three was finding a pair of hose without holes in the toes in a semi-lit room. Which is how I ended up wearing navy blue pantyhose with a black flowered skirt and green sweater set. You ladies can understand how awful I must have looked all day. The really funny thing is that I didn't even notice that the hose were navy blue until 3:00 this afternoon. Up until that point, I thought I was wearing off black! That is how brain-dead I have become about my appearance. I have also forgotten to wear eye makeup (eyeliner and mascara) for 3 days in a row because they are in my purse and I keep forgetting to make myself up before I get to my office. I swear--I never even look in the mirror after blow-drying my hair in the morning. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't made a bigger fashion faux pas than this. Like going to work in my slippers. It's only a matter of time.

In William news, guessed who stood and balanced for several seconds twice today? Yep--William! And he was so proud of himself. I went to his daycare at 12:30 and ended up playing with him for an hour while the teachers were putting all the other kids to sleep. He had slept from 10-11 and wasn't about to go to sleep again. He was also in a really good mood, which was great. Tonight after dinner we went outside and hung out with the neighbors and then Ed came home and we took a walk around the block. It was soooo nice. It's supposed to get cold again starting tomorrow, so it will be back indoors for a while, but it was nice while it lasted. Can't wait for the pool to open! Speaking of the pool, I'm signing William up for swim classes for babies. Our first one is May 13. It's just a class to get babies used to the water. It's only 4 sessions so it should be fun.

And in other news, there's a meeting on Friday with the parents in William's class, the daycare director, and the board president. I met with several moms today to hash out some talking points/issues that we want addressed. We narrowed it down to three and I really hope that either positive change comes from it, or that we give the director enough rope to hang herself. Even if I move William to a new daycare, it won't be until this summer. So we have to stick it out where we are for now. I'll be sure to report back on Friday about how it goes.

I downloaded the pictures and video from yesterday, but the pictures stink and I can't figure out how to "crop" the video to show you just the first 20 seconds. Maybe later. I'll post the best of the bunch though. It's the only one that's not blurry:


Don't mind his lunch that ended up on his collar. Not sure if I'll ever get it clean! I was wondering why I didn't have many hand-me-downs in this size (6 months to 18 months) from my cousin and sister-in-law, but now I realize it's because they destroy clothes at this age. Live and learn!

10 months old

William is 10 months old today. Time really flies. Now I have to start thinking about his birthday party and what he's going to wear, and what presents to get him. (She says half in jest!) I got some pictures and video of him this evening, but then the camera battery died so I have to charge it before downloading. I can't find the cord to plug it in. So anyway, today was a little better than yesterday. He was still pretty cranky but I didn't have to go get him. I'm wondering if he might be teething in the midst of all of this. I think I see a white bump on his gums on top. But I've been thinking there's a tooth there for months, with no results. So I don't know.

I went to a GI specialist today about the weird esophagus spasm thing after I eat chicken, and he said I probably have scarring in my esophagus from reflux, which has narrowed the opening, and food like meat (especially chicken) get stuck there. So I'm scheduled for an upper GI endoscopy, where they put a video camera down my throat into my esophagus and then they inflate a balloon to stretch out the esophagus. He also gave me a prescription for Prevacid. Oh joy.

So that's about it. It was another beautiful day so as soon as we got home from work, I put William in the stroller and we went to the tot lot. He wasn't thrilled with the swing or the slide, but he loved the gravel that covered the ground. He had a great time trying to shove fistfuls of rocks in his mouth while I sternly said, "No mouth, William! No mouth!" and batted the rocks out of his hands. Hmmmm. We might be avoiding that particular tot lot this summer. We'll probably stick to the pool. He did enjoy crawling around the sidewalk, though, showing off for the neighbors. What a cutie!

Rough Day

I took William to the doctor this morning and he has an ear infection in his right ear. I'm glad I took him in because of course, I was waffling and feel like I take him to the doctor all the time. But that's life with a daycare baby, I guess. He's on Augmenten (sp?) now, since this is his 3rd ear infection. (Actually his fourth, but one of them we didn't have to treat.) Hopefully this will be his last for a while.

So after the doctor's appointment, I took him to daycare and went to work. He was not happy when I left and I guess he never really cheered up because his teacher called an hour after I left to say he was still pretty upset. So I bought some Tylenol (because I forgot mine at home--dumb mommy!) and and took it to him and ended up staying with him for about an hour and a half. When I got there they were on the playground, so I played outside with him. And then it was lunch time, so I stayed with him through lunch, and then gave him a bottle and tried to get him to go to sleep. He stopped crying as soon as he saw me, but clearly didn't want me to leave. When one of the teachers finally got free hands, I turned him over to her and he was so tired by then, he was okay. But I didn't get back to work until after 1:00. I don't think my boss was too happy, but what can you do.

All of which makes me think that even if we move to Burke, it might be better to keep William in the center close to my office. At least I didn't miss a whole day of work, I was able to be with him and comfort him, and it's good to know what's going on at the center all the time. Although sometimes, ignorance is bliss. To complicate my life even further, William got offered a spot at a brand new daycare that is opening this summer in Arlington, kind of on my way to work. It's a Bright Horizons Center, the building and facilities will be brand new, but that's all I know about it. I won't know anything about the teachers, or how it operates. As bad as things are at his current center, it could end up being worse at a different one. Tomorrow I'm visiting the center out at Burke. Ugh. I have to let the brand new center know by March 26 if we want the spot or not.

So now, I've got to decide whether or not I can live in Burke in a really great house but have a sucky commute, whether or not I should change William's daycare, and if we do change it, what center should we change it to? Ed made a good point that if we have baby #2 next spring, and we keep both of them in the current center by my office, I will be able to take the HOV lanes to work, which would make the commute tolerable. (It's HOV-3, meaning you have to have 3 people in the car in order to ride in certain lanes on the interstate.) Until then, I'd have to pick up slugs, which are people who wait in certain designated locations for rides to certain drop-off points in Arlington and downtown. So you go pick up a slug and then you can drive in the HOV lanes. I'm just not sure how slugs will feel listening to Sesame Street and me singing the Wheels on the Bus for the umpteenth time.

Well, I've been rambling. I just feel a little overwhelmed right now. There's a meeting on Friday with our daycare director, the president of the board, and the parents in our class to talk about all the issues we've been having lately. Let's hope something positive comes out of it. And on Saturday, we're going to look at the Burke house again. Ed wants it so bad that even if my commute sucks, it might almost be worth it to see him so happy there. Maybe William will have mercy on me and let me get some sleep this week, too. Since he's been sick, when he wakes up in the middle of the night, I've been laying him down in bed with me until he falls asleep and then moving him to his crib, but I think that's starting to be a bad idea. I've also been giving him his bottle while he's lying in his crib, rather than sitting in the glider with me, which is also probably not a good idea. So tonight I gave him Motrin and gave him his bottle in the chair, and when he didn't want anymore I put him in his crib and kissed him goodnight and walked out, and he protested for a second but then got quiet. Ed and I watched him in the monitor and he was sitting up playing with his blankets for about 5 minutes and then he lay down and went to sleep. Made a fool out of me. But I'll take it.

One good thing to mention--Yay for the time change! We got home from work at 5:30 and I needed to get William's prescription filled so I put him in his stroller and we walked to the pharmacy and walked home and ran into all kinds of families on the way there and back. It was so nice. I think the rest of this week will be nice, too, so something to look forward to. On that note, I'm going to bed.

It feels like spring!

Yesterday and today the weather here was gorgeous! It was a little too windy today, but I'll take it. Yesterday we spent a lot of time outside with William and he got to crawl around on the sidewalk and on our patio. He had a lot of fun picking up sticks and trying to eat them before mommy got them out of his mouth. He is amazingly deft when it comes to getting things in his mouth! He is also a champion stair climber now and thinks it's great fun to race mommy or daddy to the stairs and start climbing.

Unfortunately, however, he was sick the whole weekend, and sleeping has been difficult, at best. On both Friday evening and yesterday evening, he was running a low fever (101.5), and his cough was still bad, and it looked like his pink eye came back. So I started the eye drops again on Saturday, and gave him Tylenol. Today he was fever free, and while he still coughed some, it wasn't as bad as it has been, so I'm hoping he's on the mend. Depending on how his night goes, I might take him in to the doctor's in the morning to get him checked out. Ugh. This is what happens when you overcrowd a classroom!

Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for Grandpa's 60th birthday. And I forgot my camera. Yet another missed opportunity for pictures. When we got home, Ed looked at his dream house on-line again. This is the house out in Burke that I've mentioned before that is a gorgeous house--everything that Ed wants--but my commute would suck, and we would probably switch William's daycare. At this point, switching his daycare might not be such a bad thing, but I just don't know about the commute. Ed is sort of wearing me down. Plus we've looked at a lot of houses in Arlington that haven't been what we wanted. I don't know what to do. Part of me thinks we should just bite the bullet and we'll make it work and it won't be all that different than what we do now. But the other part of me just cringes thinking about being stuck in traffic and not getting home until almost 6:00. People do it every single day, though. And there are lots of options as far as my commute goes. I could try to carpool, or pick up slugs, and then could get in the HOV lanes. I could drive to the metro and metro in. I could take the train. Maybe it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be. Definitely something to think about. On Tuesday, I'm going to visit the daycare center out there. That might be a big factor in my decision.

Well, I should go to bed while the getting's good. Today William went to sleep at 8:20, which was like 7:20 to him. We ended up staying a little longer at Ed's parents than we normally would, and since the time changed, we weren't too worried about it. But I'll probably have to wake him up in the morning. But maybe not. I think it might take him longer to get used to this time change than it did the last one.

Division of Labor

I know, I know. I missed Meme Thursday. I was too tired to post. Plus I started watching Grey's Anatomy and I really liked it. I actually cried at the end when the doctor was singing to her baby over the phone. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Yes--being a mother has definitely made me more emotional. Anyway.

I spend a lot of time on the May '06 Message Board on Babycenter.com. This is a place where other moms of babies born in May 2006 "get together" to chat about everything under the sun, from our babies' development to American Idol. It's fun and very helpful, and I have learned so much from "talking" to all of these mothers every day. I also feel like I have made a lot of great friends through the board. It seems like no matter what you're going through, or what question you have, someone else has experienced something similar, or has an answer. For many moms, it's a wonderful place to vent, because you almost always automatically have 25 or more moms who will give you sympathy and tell you you're right. So I'm getting to the point of this post now. Women will often complain about their husbands or boyfriends on the board, and after reading these vents, I always feel so lucky that I married Ed.

Most of these complaints involve either disagreements about money and spending, or about how their DHs (that's dear husbands) or BFs (that's boyfriends) don't help around the house or help with the kids. It usually makes me feel frustrated for these women, because I just want to tell them, "Don't wash his dishes or make him dinner or do his laundry. He's a big boy. He can do it for himself." Or I want to say, "Get your own bank account and your own credit card and sit down and figure out a budget and he doesn't get to say anything about what you do with your spending money." There are never simple answers to other peoples' problems, though.

This is where I often think about the division of labor in our household, and how it seems to be working for us. But I have to come forward with a disclaimer first: I am a martyr and like to complain to Ed about how I do ALL of the laundry, and ALL of the cooking, and almost of all of the childcare, and most of the cleaning (before we had a cleaning service). So I have to admit that we don't do everything 50/50 in this house. And our division of labor seems a little traditional, which sometimes makes me cringe. But I am also a control freak, and that makes it hard for me to turn over some of my responsibilities to Ed. So instead, I try to make him feel guilty. But knowing all of that, I still think our division of labor actually works pretty well for us. And we are both perfectly capable of doing each others' jobs. And while I do more of the daily care for William, and while I should probably have Ed do more of it (like getting William dressed in the mornings, or packing his diaper bag, or feeding him, or putting him to sleep) these are things I want done a certain way, or that I enjoy doing, so I have to try to let go slowly.

Also, I'm really big on wanting to be appreciated for what I do, and I try to show appreciation to Ed for the things that he does. But sometimes I forget the big things--like the fact that he spends a lot of time paying bills and managing our money. He takes care of all of our bills and finances. He does our taxes. He figures out what to do with our money. And while this makes me feel somewhat guilty and anti-feminist, I am happy that he does this. He doesn't control ALL our money. We have separate accounts (although they're all joint accounts), and I buy groceries, baby stuff, gifts, pay my personal bills, and other odds and ends out of my account. But I turn over most of my money to his account, and he does the rest. I'm glad this works for us because we hardly ever argue about money.

As for chores, he empties the garbage, keeps things picked up (his biggest pet peeve with me is the fact that I'm a bit of a slob), cleans up in the kitchen, vacuums (although not nearly as much since we've had the cleaning service), cleans snow and ice off the cars when needed, takes on home improvement projects, hangs pictures (I can't help him with home improvement projects because we don't work well together at all! ), changes light bulbs, changes filters, and probably lots of other stuff I'm forgetting. I cook, grocery shop, clean bathrooms, dust, mop floors (again--not as much with the cleaning service), do laundry, iron, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting. Like I said, it seems very Ozzie and Harriet, but it works for us. And he doesn't mind doing laundry and will cook when I ask him to, and I can certainly take out the garbage and change light bulbs. So for the most part, this works for us to.

As for William, I need to work on this. Ed could easily get up first with William and get him dressed for the day; he can clean bottles (and he often does) and make formula for the next day; he can figure out what goes in the diaper bag; and he can get William fed. It's really just a matter of me giving up control. He does give William his bath almost every night though. And he's really great with William.

Wow--this turned into a really long blog. I guess what I wanted to say is that hearing other peoples' problems always puts your own into perspective. Ed is such a good dad and husband, and it's so hard sometimes, as new parents, to focus on each other and the marriage. It can be such an emotional and draining and tiring time, and at the same time, so happy and hopeful and amazing. What got me thinking about all of this (besides the fact that last night I didn't feel like making dinner, but I made it anyway, but I fussed at Ed the whole time about how it would have been nice if he had taken the initiative to make dinner, but of course, if I had just said to him, will you make dinner, he would have) was that tonight, William was sitting on my lap and Ed and I were just talking about something (I can't even remember what) and we were both laughing out loud and William started laughing, too, and it was such a nice moment. For just a few minutes, Ed and I were engaged in conversation that had nothing to do with William, and we were enjoying each other, and William could tell and obviously felt happy and secure. That is what family is all about.

Really Yummy Casserole

I made a really good recipe last night and thought I'd share. It was pretty easy, doesn't require a lot of ingredients, would probably freeze well, and tasted great. This recipe is for a 13x9 or 3 qt. dish, but I cut everything in half and put it in a 9x9 glass dish.

French Onion-Beef-Noodle Bake

5 cups uncooked wide egg noodles (8 oz.)
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
2 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 medium onions, thinly sliced (4 cups)
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cups beef broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 cups seasoned croutons (4 oz.)
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese (8 oz.)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook and drain noodles as directed on package.
2. Meanwhile, in a 5-quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add beef, onions, and mushrooms; cook about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is browned on all sides, onions are soft, and mushrooms are browned.
3. Spreak noodles in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch (3 quart) glass baking dish. Spoon beef mixture over noodles.
4. In same Dutch oven, heat 2 and 1/2 cups of the broth to boiling over medium-high heat. In a small bowl, mix remaining 1/2 cup of broth and the flour until smooth. [I use a clean jelly jar and shake it up. It gets smoother this way.] Stir flour mixture into boiling broth. Cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly and thickened. Stir in rosemary, salt, and pepper. Pour over beef mixture; stir until well blended. [You can freeze the casserole at this point, or cover it and put it in the refrigerator for later. Thaw it or bring to room temperature before adding croutons and cheese.] Sprinkle with croutons, then cheese.
5. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until bubbly around the edges and cheese is melted.

So there you go. This would make a good company dish because you can make it in the morning and then just pop it in the oven and you don't have to worry about it. Just serve with salad and warm crusty bread.

So other than sharing recipes today, not much else to report. William's eyes look totally cleared up, but now his cough seems a little worse. Last night he only woke up once, but it was at 2:30. I'll never figure him out, but that's okay. Keeps things interesting.

Ed got a blackberry and I'm trying to convince him to let me have his iPAQ pocket pc. I'm sure that's all I need to become a more organized and productive person. I can't even keep track of my cell phone on a daily basis. But still, I'm sure if I had my own iPAQ, I'd be a different person. Ed thinks I just want it so I can play the cool dot game. Well, that certainly doesn't make it less enticing! I'll keep you posted.

Baby Steps

Tonight William walked behind his push toy the whole length of the couch and back. And at daycare, his teacher said he stood by himself several times. ("Look Mom! No hands!") I still think it will be several months before he walks, but maybe that's wishful thinking. He was quite proud of himself tonight and got frustrated with me for holding onto the toy. I didn't want it to fly out from under him, but after he pushed my hands away, I realized that he was really good at holding it steady. I think he's been doing this at daycare, too.

He's also climbing the stairs now, so we have to get a gate for the bottom of the stairs this weekend. Like everything else, one day, he can't do something, and the next day, he's an expert. I keep waiting for his first word, too. He talks a lot and I know there are words in there somewhere!

His eyes were much better today--hardly any goop at all. (Sorry Laura! They're really not that bad at all.) But now he's got a cough. I hope it's the end of this cold we've both been fighting. He didn't sleep very well last night because of the coughing, but I'm hoping tonight will be better. I'm still frustrated with his daycare, but we're stuck for now. All the good centers have wait lists, and a decent nanny would be $600-$800/week. Not to mention the fact that a child has never died in a daycare center. You can't say that about a nanny or in-home child care. Anyway, I'm going to try to go to sleep early tonight. Even though William woke up several times last night, he didn't take a bottle until 4 a.m. He's been waking up for a bottle later and later, so I'm hoping the trend will continue.

Pink Eye Confirmed

Well, I was right. William has pink eye. So we stayed home today. I have to put drops in his eyes for the next 3-5 days. This morning it wasn't too bad, but this evening, he didn't like it one bit. Poor guy! He doesn't have an ear infection, which is good. And other than the stuffy nose, he seems to be fine. We actually had a really good day--one of those days that makes me wish I was a stay-at-home mom. Hopefully he'll have a good day at daycare tomorrow, too. He ate well today, took a 2-hour nap (just one nap though), and played and played and played.

Laura's blog today talked about how her boys prefer playing with household items, as opposed to the hundreds of dollars worth of toys in their house. I had to laugh because William is the exact same way. Today, he spent about 20 minutes pushing a 3-pack of facial tissue around the house (3 big boxes that were shrink-wrapped together). That was a lot of fun. He also spent a while banging around a large plastic yogurt container. And one of his favorite things to do is to make a beeline for the fridge whenever I open the door so that he can get the plastic chocolate syrup container off the door and bang that all around the floor. He loves pot lids, shampoo bottles, the wicker waste basket, the laundry basket (especially when there are folded clothes in it that he can pull out and toss, one by one), the folding door between the kitchen and dining room, and Clark (the cat). I went to Target today and strolled the toy aisles, but in the end, it was easy to pass them up.

So that's our news. Have I mentioned how much I can't wait for Spring to arrive? On Saturday it got pretty warm and lots of neighbors were out, and William actually crawled around on the ground. It was a whole new world for him from that aspect. I can't wait to take long walks and go swimming and play in a sandbox. Unfortunately, it's supposed to be really cold this week and we may even get snow on Wednesday. So I'll just have to keep thinking warm thoughts for now.

Pink Eye?

I think William has Pink Eye. Yesterday it was his right eye and today it's his left. His eyes are bloodshot and goopy. They haven't been too bad--not stuck together or anything--but I guess I have to take him to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully I can get in early. I also want them to check for an ear infection. We've both had a cold, and he's been really congested, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has one.

So other than battling illness, our weekend has been pretty good. Tonight I made roast beef and mashed potatoes for dinner. And earlier in the day, I made meatballs for William. I gave him one for dinner and he seemed to like it. So that's good. He's eating pretty well these days, but I have no idea if he's really eating enough solid food. In the morning, he'll eat a 4-oz. container of yogurt, or a whole jar of baby food mixed with oatmeal, but at dinner, it's hard to get him to eat half a container of baby food. Sometimes he seems to eat a lot of table food, but other times, not much at all. He's still getting enough formula, though, so for now I won't worry about it. If he's anything like his dad, he'll eat like a bird.

Speaking of Daddy, we actually all sat down and ate together, which was nice for a change. William seemed to enjoy having Ed there. He kept watching Ed and laughing. I swear--no one makes William laugh like his daddy does. I love watching them play together. It's so cute. It was just a really nice family day.

Not much else to report. Here's a great picture from today.


So that's all. I've got laundry to do and Desperate Housewives is on soon. I don't know why I still bother with that show--except that I'm hooked and it's the one thing I still make a point to watch. I'll be back tomorrow with an update from our doctor's visit.

Scary noises

William has always been upset by startling noises. It's not necessarily loud noises--just the startling ones that you don't expect. In the Fall we took baby yoga classes, and one day, we did these moves where you bend your knees and exhale as you bend down. The teacher was demonstrating how the exhale could be quiet or loud--whatever your baby prefers. When she demonstrated the loud whooshing exhale sound, William freaked out and started crying. There was a toy in the infant classroom that made this God-awful sound when you hit it--and again, William would freak out whenever it went off. There's a boy in William's class named Michael who liked to shriek a lot. One day, Michael and William were playing with the same toy and Michael started laughing and shrieking and William freaked out and started crying. Apparently there's a toy truck in his classroom that also freaks him out. (But his teacher said he finally got over it and started hitting the truck out of his way whenever he gets near it.) Tonight, I tried to use the food processor, but as soon as I turned it on, William freaked out. These are just a few examples.

It's so sad and so funny at the same time. I feel bad for laughing when it happens, because he cries so hard and I know it really scares him. But I keep thinking that I've got to get it on video. Is that totally cruel? Am I a bad mom for thinking of the prize-winning possibilities on AFV?

Besides freaking my child out with the evil food processor today, we looked at 2 houses and Ed did our taxes. He's not completely finished, but it looks like we got hosed. We knew that would happen though because we sold both condos last spring, and I guess our investments did well. So that's a good thing, I guess. As for houses, nothing great. All of the houses we're looking at have only one bathroom upstairs with either 2 or 3 bedrooms. The second full bath is either on the main level or lower level. Ugh. Guess we'll keep looking.

Meme Thursday

It's funny that I mentioned in yesterday's blog that William wasn't clapping yet because today, he started clapping. If you can call it that. He sort of waves his arms around and then clasps his hands together. It's very cute. They sang a lot of songs today at daycare and William loved it, which is what got him clapping. He's very attentive when you sing songs with hand movements. I need to find a book or get a CD with some more songs like that. So far my repertoires is limited to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and "Where is Thumbkin." Got any more ideas out there?

I was scouring the Internet today for more cool blogs and learned about memes. Ever heard of them? It's an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs. So I'm declaring Thursdays to be Meme Day, and I'll start by posing the following question (from The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock).

What would constitute a perfect evening for you?

Well, my answer to this question is a lot different today than it would have been a year ago. Today, a perfect evening would be: After leaving work, we encounter no traffic and get home at 5:00. The weather is beautiful outside, and Ed gets home at the same time as William and I, so we all take a walk around the neighborhood for about 30 minutes. Maybe we run into some neighbors and chat a bit. When we get home, we play with William. At 6:00, we feed William with food that has already been prepared. All I have to do is put him in his high chair and snap the tray in place. He eats every bite, never once throwing anything and never once spitting with mouthfuls of food. Ed and I indulge in some delicious appetizers--which have also been miraculously prepared for us--while William eats. When he's done I clean him up (and he doesn't fuss at all. In fact, he holds his hands out for me to wipe and his head stays perfectly still while I wipe his mouth and cheeks.) and then we play some more. William delights us by saying "I love my mommy and daddy" and spends time playing with every single toy that we've ever spent money on. While Ed gives William a bath, I relax on the couch with a cold beer and flip though a Real Simple or Cooks Illustrated Magazine. When they're done, I get William dressed and give him his bottle (which had already been made for me) and read him two stories and then put him to bed. After this, Ed and I eat our dinner--which has also been miraculously prepared for us--at a leisurely pace, enjoying each other's company and stimulating conversation. After dinner, the dishes do themselves and the kitchen cleans itself up, and the bottles get washed and new bottles get made for tomorrow--all while Ed and I head downstairs to relax, maybe watch a little T.V., maybe read. Ed gives me a back rub, we play a thrilling game of cards (for my Pixie friends out there!), and we're dead asleep by 10:00 p.m.

So that's my perfect evening. Laura, Teresa, Cecile, Cathy, MJ, LJ--tag, you're it! What's your perfect evening? You can leave me a comment, or post it on your own blog!