So Here's My Life

The things we make,
the food we eat and
the shenanigans in between.

A blog about making things by
MICHELLE SEXTON

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Morning Chaos

At the moment, I have some extra time - the boy is napping, the house is relatively clean and organized, and it's too early to start dinner. So I thought I would share my morning with you guys. This morning I woke up feeling unrested (Is that a word?) and as a result, I was agitated. I also managed to blow my nose too hard and got a nose bleed. I hate these - I get them often if I'm not careful, and they can last up to 60 minutes, due to my allergies. Not a great start to a day.

After breakfast the little one, Brody (our dog), and I went on our 3.5 mile power walk - the boy in the jogger and Brody leashed to the side of the jogger (and forced to walk calmly). While we were walking down one of the trails in our neighborhood, a short stocky man was approaching us with a giant 70 lb St. Bernard dog. He moved off the trail as we got closer as if he was going to let us pass. While we were passing, he tried covering the dog's eyes (who does that to a giant dog with success?) but without success and spotted us (mainly Brody), ripped himself free from the owner's grasp, and charged straight for Brody. Now at this point, most dog owners would run after their dog, but did this guy? NO!!! Instead he stood there shouting in a frantic and panicked voice, "OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD!", leaving me to try to defend both my dog and my child from this giant beast dog who was chewing on my dog's body. It all happened so fast, and I had the wrist strap from the jogger around my wrist (like a nice responsible mom) which ended up inhibiting my movement. I tried to release my dog's leash from the jogger, defend the jogger with my poor son strapped inside and beat that stupid beast dog off of mine - all at once. Didn't work out so well. I was also yelling at the beast dog, "NO! NO! OFF! GET BACK!" Finally because the man kept standing there like an idiot, I shrieked at the top of my lungs, "NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Mainly for shock value, and to get the man to pull his dog off of mine. I'm pretty sure that 1/3 of our gigantic neighborhood heard me. No joke. Finally the man came over and pulled the beast dog off. He kept saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." I was so furious, I said nothing to the man, walked away. Brody was fine -  not panicked, and fortunately not injured. Just a bunch of slobber marks where the dog chewed on him. Fortunately, the little one did not witness any of it because this all happened behind the jogger and he wasn't able to see what was going on. He only heard the commotion. After about 400 feet the little one started whimpering. So I stopped to comfort him, and kiss him. He had the saddest look on his face. I, on the other hand am furious with this stupid owner who managed to jeopardize the safety of my dog, myself, and my son because he couldn't control his dog. Why would you take a dog for a walk when you can't even managed to control him? And what the heck happened to the leash he was on when I saw him approaching us? And thanks for standing and staring while your dog attacked mine. Thanks a lot.

So moving on. When we got home from our long walk, I put the dog in the backyard, walked back to Levi who was patiently waiting in the jogger and noticed that my son was wearing only one shoe. ONE SHOE!!! One!!! I looked around, searched the jogger - nothing. Thanks boy for taking off your shoe on the walk. Apparently I was so furious and distracted after the dog incident, that I had failed to notice when my son pulled his shoe off and tossed it out of the jogger. (I'm usually pretty aware of what leaves the jogger during walks). So I put the jogger inside, strapped him into the bike seat, and got on the bicycle. Fortunately as I was doing that, a friend of mine called just as I was about to leave. She also walks the same trails I do, and came across a shoe that looks just like his. She told me where she found it, and I rode out to get it. (She saved me a lot of time and energy) and then rode back home - about a 2 mile ride. I would have to say this wasn't the best day to do long walk and then turn around and immediately go for a bike ride with a 20 pound kid on the back - especially since my energy level was on the low side due to the lack of sleep from the previous night. But I do have to laugh. When it rains, it definitely pours. At least I have something to laugh about. My friend said that it's a toddler conspiracy to remove their shoes at the most inopportune times. I have to agree. And I'm really tired.

Friday, May 14, 2010

The Happenings

It's been quite a while since I've written, so I thought give you guys an update on the things that have been going on around here. First of all - major victory! The boy takes good naps now!!!! How did I do it, you may ask? Several different ways. 2 books I found useful were, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth and Pre-Toddler Wise by Bucknam & Ezzo. Between those two books I learned a lot about sleep and how to fix his issues. Other than reading the books, I made his bedtime earlier, shortened his first nap, and stayed consistent - but I will admit, at times I thought I was going to lose my mind dealing with a child who was determined not to take good naps! It took about 2.5 months to work out it, but we did it!!!! Celebration! I can't even begin to tell you guys how much more pleasant my life has become since we have finally conquered the napping battle and I no longer have a consistently cranky baby! These days he only takes a 30 minute nap in the morning (but sometimes it's just a rest time if he isn't tired) and then a solid 3 hour nap immediately after lunch. I LOVE IT. Do you guys know how much I can get done in 3 hours? TONS!

But I do have to say, the boy has had more cranky moments over the past couple of weeks because he is getting 5 teeth at once! 4 molars and 1 more in the front. Poor kid! And let me tell you all of these teeth are coming in SO slowly! 3 molars have started to peek through his gums, and the other two are close behind. His track record so far has been to get his teeth at least 2 at a time. At least we get it over with quickly.

 Change of subject. I've recently gotten to the point to where I feel like I need to get a job. An extra income would be incredibly helpful right now. However, the job market scene is kind of scarce right now. And to be honest with you, I'm not willing to work odd hours, nights, or weekends. (We do have to have some family time). And I want a photography job with steady income. So that narrows down my options even more. I found one job that I really wanted, but never heard back from them after I submitted my resume. Honestly, I was kind of shocked that they didn't at least call me back, (because I think my resume looked great) but I think it was because I wasn't willing to work on Sundays. Anyway, I've had my eye on the photography jobs out here (with steady income  - not commission, good hours, free weekends - at least not on Sunday), and I really haven't found a good fit. Surprise, surprise. So after a lot of contemplation I've decided to pursue free-lance photography full force. My goal is to get 2 jobs a week, which will also give me time to edit the photos in a timely manner, and still spend lots of time with my boys! So Joel and I have reworked my photography website over the past several weeks, and the other details that come with it - blogging, twitter, facebook, etc - all of these things to drive traffic to my website, make my site appear on the first page of the google search engine, and get my name and business out there. So make sure to check out my brand-spankin-new photography website, read a couple of my photography blogs, follow my twitters, and hit the Like button on my facebook fan page (all of which are also linked to my site under the About Me section). And if you're in my area, hire me!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

TV & a birthday party

I was going to go walking this morning. I was all ready. So was the baby. I was just about to get the both of us bundled up to walk in the cold. And the I noticed frozen mix falling from the sky. So nevermind. I guess we aren't going after all. So disappointing. I think the boy was a little disappointed too, despite the fact that he is required to wear a snow suit that inhibits his movements (just picture the kid from the movie, The Christmas Story, and you will have an idea of what he looks like wearing it).

So I decided to blog instead.

Over the past couple of months, my TV viewing habits have increased tremendously. It's terrible. I blame it partially on all the feeding issues the boy had when he was first born. Feeding times were always so stressful, I needed something else to focus on while feeding him, to help keep my stress level down. But as feeding times became more successful, the amount of TV I watched didn't decrease, but rather increased. Finally I got to the point to where the TV stayed on all day long, whether or not it was being watched. Terrible. I started to feel like a couch potato or maybe a zombie as I would stop and gaze at the picture on the screen as I was passing through the room. Depressing. But finally, I decided that enough was enough. I was tired of not being productive and getting so distracted. I turned off the TV. I miss my shows from time to time - Friends reruns, The Office reruns, and several chick flick movies that air during the day for women like me who stay home with their kid(s). But you know what? I get so much more done. And sometimes I can even find time to read, a far better choice. It makes my brain feel smarter. Ha ha.

Tomorrow the boy will be 10 months old! He doesn't walk yet. That's ok. But I'm pretty sure if he wanted to, he could. He walks along things quickly, and has great balance. I just think he doesn't feel the need to walk yet. I think he feels it's too hard, and that crawling is much easier. Whatever, son. My son's first birthday is 2 months away. I've been tossing around birthday ideas in my head for a couple of weeks. But I feel conflicted. He does not like to be the center of attention. He gets so stressed out and cries. Poor child. I totally understand. I want to invite lots of people to celebrate with us. But I'm not sure it's a good idea. I know that for a fact that he would spend the whole time clinging to me and be incredibly fussy. So I think we need to keep the party small. I haven't decided how small, but pretty small. Probably. I'm worried about hurting the feelings of those who don't get invited. But at the same time, I need to keep best interest of my child's well-being in mind - especially if we are giving him the birthday party. I mean, what's the point of having a party for him, if he's miserable the whole time, right? Just something to think about. I still have 2 months to decide what to do.

Ok that's it.