10 years ago I made my boyfriend a mixed tape.

I found it in my car today.

I had made it for his 25th birthday.

It had every song I thought was cool and probably a third he might have listened to at the time. (and that’s even a stretch.)

Luckily, I married the guy, so he gave me some slack for my taste in music in ‘98. (and everyday since then. He is a musician and all.)

Driving around in my car yesterday, ALONE, while hearing all these songs again brought back many memories including one song, “A long December” by Counting Crows.

Hubs and I dated long distance for 9 months before I moved out to CA to live with him. (I know, 24 and so carefree!) While we were dating long distance, he came out to visit me in Tulsa, maybe 5 weeks into our “dating” relationship.

While listening to some tunes, doing who the hell knows what, the following words came over my speakers,

“And its one more day up in the canyons
And its one more night in hollywood
If you think you might come to california…i think you should.”

Future-hubs also chimed in, and said, “I think you should.”

And, so I did.

What has become of us in these past 10 years? Many a thing, but the fact I have some of it documented on a mixed tape, is truly priceless. Hubs may not listen to it, or heck, IF EVER, but I could hear it over and over again, recalling what I was thinking while I picked a certain song, hoping not to come off too forward, too awkward, too corny while at the same time acting like I had a bit of taste.

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has begun.

I remember de-swaddling Rt in his 5th month, but only for the reason of “um, don’t you think we should take him out of his swaddle now? He’s kinda large.”

We tried taking Rt out of the swaddle at 3 months, and 4 months, but a bad night of sleep easily convinced us to wrap that puppy back up again until a later date. Come 5 months, it was time. I am sure it wasn’t easy, but I don’t recall it being traumatic either.

Fast-forward to present day. It’s Hola’s turn. In his 5th month, and once again, he’s kinda large. The only difference is Hola NEEDS to be swaddled, or has, since he was born. He was a feisty little one that needed to be tamed to settled down. The swaddle has been our friend. I have used both the Swaddle Me’s and a Miracle Blanket throughout this whole process.

So, today was the first day of Hola’s steps to freedom. Baby steps, that is.

First up.

The feet.

Our Swaddle Me’s are stretching out and need a good ‘ol washing to shrink down again, so I double wrapped him on top with two swaddles.

His feet, left out.

He was so tired, the moment I wrapped him up, his head turned to the side and he was out. So, putting him down was easy peasy.

Now all of those dolphin kicks I hear in the night will now be single leg kicks. Guess he’ll be workin on his back stroke!

After he gets comfortable with the bag-less legs, (Dear Hola, please get the hang of this, ok? We have more appendages to go.) we will start with one arm, then the next.

Heck, we might just move over to a sleep sack. I think this boy enjoys having a little bit of somethin somethin.

Wish us luck!

e

p.s. We moved on to carrots this morning. So far, Hola likes the orange veggies!

 Hola is enjoying his first week of eating real food!! He still has the newborn reflex of sticking out his tongue when something is placed in his mouth, but he is getting the hang of it the more we “practice.” He loves to use his hand to help me place the spoon in his mouth which makes for “CLEAN UP ON AISLE 10!.”

Duuuude. I need to invest in some more washcloths STAT. I am wasting way too many paper towels on this kid. I don’t expect everything to get into his mouth, but STILL! I am keeping a laid back attitude about this whole thing and actually ENJOYING it this go around. What a strange concept? So, we get messy and we spit and we blow sweet potatoes across the room. Who doesn’t? I do know, we are having fun.

Case in point:

So, once I can get adding 3 additional meals with Hola mixed into my already busy day, I’ll be back with something intellectual to talk about.

Ha, I highly doubt that.

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So, today this gal is another year older.

I don’t know where the time goes. (great. I am already sounding old by saying crap like that.)

Would you believe I’m 35 today?……………………………………..    ….. … …………… ..

(Whup, sorry, I just had to pick myself up off the ground there.)

I seriously feel twelve half the time. I do wonder who thought a 12 year old should be a mother to two precious boys. It’s maddening, I tell you!!

At least I just got my hair cut and colored. I do feel some sort of rejuvenation. I’m a little darker than I’d like, but due to the fall season approaching, the richness might be just what I needed.

Ok, I am off to do birthday things. My mom is coming up to watch the boys while hubs and I go see a movie. Any recommendations?? We also get to go out to dinner tonight. Thinking Japanese Steakhouse….

 She is even bringing me a homemade cake. See! Just like when I was twelve!

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Yep. That’s all I know about Seattle. Singles, the movie. Damn, that was a good movie. BUT, there are people out there, like LVGurl, who have never seen such a fine piece of film AND she went to UW back when the movie came out!! How can this happen? Ok, moving on.

I’m heading up to Seattle this evening for the UW/OU Football game tomorrow. Boomer Sooner!!

I’ve never been to Seattle, so I am way psyched!

I even have the honor of meeting up with Sizzle and the Alphababy crew on Sunday morning for Donuts. Alphamommy is on limited bed rest, but she said she’d take one for the team, just this once…

It will be the first time I am away from both boys since Hola was born. 3 whole nights to myself. Ahhh…. Hubs is staying back and being Mr. Mom for the weekend. I am sure they will have loads of fun and everyone will be on their best behavior and sleep for a gazillion hours in a row.

Any last recommendations for things to do in Seattle with limited time? I’m staying by the Needle. Whoop!

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I’ve been to therapy.

I ENJOYED the hell out of it.

If any of you know me outside of this blog, you know I LIKE TO TALK.

I LIKE TO TALK ABOUT ME. and you.

Therapy works. Works for me.

And, when I’m done talking, I don’t schedule another session. It may be a year, or even two until I make that call again needing to talk about little ‘ol me.

What has therapy done for me?

I recognize “my issues” when they actually happen.

Like panicking. (which is brought on by anxiety which is brought on by years of living with an alcoholic growing up.)

While I run around in a total panic, which is usually time induced, I think to myself, “Hello, You’re panicking. You need to pull yourself out of this. You look like a Jackass and are definitely ACTING like one.”

And, most of the time, that works.

And those few other times, hubs has to be the one telling me I am acting like a Jackass.

Today, was one of those days.

This morning, actually, really early this morning, I was battling Hola to go back to sleep.

He tends to turn into Flipper at the most inopportune occasions, like IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. He woke at 3am cooing to himself and flipping his swaddled flipper up and down, up and down, up and down. THUD, THUD, THUD. Dear Hola, get your sweet little dimply ass back to bed mister! Pronto! Honestly, I have no recollection what magic I performed, if any, to get him to go back to sleep, but he did, eventually.

Bottom line is, sleep wasn’t ideal after that 3am wake up call, so momma was a bit tired when it was time to hit it. Hubs was nice enough to get up with the boys and began feeding Rt breakfast before I finally decided to get my tossed and turned rear out of bed. All was well, I wasn’t in charge, the morning was good.

Then, all of a sudden, the baby didn’t want his bottle, (HELLO, it’s time to eat pete!), and hubs needed a rinse. I took over the feeding duties while Rt finished his breakfast. Time was a tickin and no one, especially me, wants to be late to preschool! Door opens? We need to be there.

Hubs walked in, looking for clean underwear, and asked me some question, but I couldn’t hear him over the baby bottle protest, so I blew a fuse and responded quite sassily. Let’s just say it wasn’t an ideal reply.

I knew it.

He knew it.

So, all I could do was retreat to the nursery and finish up feed shop there. He eventually ate, he eventually slept. All was well.

Boys got to preschool on time. All was well.

I just tend to panic a little. More in my head than anywhere else, but it can resonate in my tone. I get flustered.

Time is not my favorite friend.

But, luckily it is going to be around for quite awhile, so I have plenty of TIME to get used to it.

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That’s just how it is these days.

Birthday emails are sent a day late. Medical claims are faxed AFTER the nasty “you better send this in, moron” email is sent. Arriving at preschool pickup completely out of breath while running with stroller, to be one of the LAST people there to pick up their kid. Way to go, slick.

It’s a sign of the times.

Back when I realized I’d be home with both kids for almost 5 months before Rt went to preschool, I was WAY bummin. I thought, all that TIME, with TWO KIDS??? How am I going to survive? How did I survive?

ALL THAT TIME.

Funny how that happens. I needed all summer with no concrete plans, no expectations to just “be” with the two boys. I think we all benefited from the down-time.

Now, now that my life has way more structure, complete with drop-offs and pick-ups, and naps shoved somewhere in between, and Dear God, where do I fit in that trip to the store while 3 yr old is at preschool, when the 4 month old needs to nap?

So, that is where I am at this point. Managing my time. Since Hola will be 5 months next week (Hello?? How in the hell did that happen?) I think we will fall into a routine sooner than later. His naps are getting closer to 9am and 1pm, so that’s nice. Easier to schedule doctor’s appts. and such.

So, without further adieu, here is Rt’s first day of school….last week.

I still remember my first day of school photo. Would love to find that sucker somewhere…

Whoop. Party foul.

The arm. The ARM is killing me! Ah, the love. My heart hurts.

(note to self. While using new handheld camera, please hold STILL. Fuzzy photos are not acceptable on first day of school.)

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Hello! I’ve been in “what the hell is wrong with my child” mode today and haven’t gotten a chance, until now, to share with you that I am a contributor of the Finance Bliss Channel over at Blissfully Domestic, and one of my posts is up today! Whoop!

Check it!

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For almost 3 years, hubs has traveled to San Diego every. single. week for 2 days and 1 night.

Every Wednesday morning, hubs woke at 4:30am to catch a 6am flight down South. Every Thursday evening, hubs would return home no earlier than 9pm. Along with that, he surfed every Thursday morning and mingled with coworkers every Wednesday night. (Oh, and got one good night of sleep without some small martian waking him needing something, like a bottle or to scare the boogie man away.)

Not a bad gig, huh? Well, the times, they are a changin.

Next week, he will no longer travel down South. His time in SD has come to an end.

His last week with his company is next week. After that, he is taking two months off to just be.

Come November, he will join the family business.

He will travel again. It just won’t be to the same place EVERY SINGLE WEEK. (But hubs has already stated he will make some business trips back down to SD. He can’t stay away from the surf too long. And Northern CA surf is just not the same. I wouldn’t know. That’s just what he said.)

Until he starts up again, I will enjoy having my hubs home.

Oh, and getting to have EVERY Wednesday to myself will not suck either.

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I have a new niece. Her name is Stella. She’s petite at 5 lb 14 oz. She’s perfect. And, she’s ours!