Comedy of Errors

You know when you wake up and you just have this sinking feeling that today is going to be an off day? Well, that was precisely what happened to me today.

At 1 am Toby woke up screaming-which is unusual for him. I trudged in his room and and found him in pain and in need of comfort. Teething, I suspected. After an 1 hour and a half of comforting and waiting for the Motrin to kick in, he drifted off to sleep. Then he woke up at 6:20 and I was SO very grateful to have my husband home to get up with him and allow me to catch some extra Z's.



This next part might be TMI for some of you, but I think since most of the people reading this are women, it should be more humorous than anything. So I had a doctors apt. with my OB/GYN to have an IUD put in for my endometriosis. I waited for an hour in the waiting area and then an additional 20 minutes in the exam room. I might add that I have hypoglycemia and was in too big of a hurry to eat breakfast and thus, was experiencing a serious blood sugar drop while I waited. I felt myself getting dizzy and my thoughts irrational. The only thing I can compare a hypoglycemic episode to is like having PMS x 10. Think Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I get really impatient and snap at the slightest provocation. I kept having these imaginary scenarios run through my mind of me going ballistic at one of the nurses. They went something like this: "Where is the freaking doctor?! This is ridiculous! I didn't make and apt. at 11:00 so I could wait around and hour and a half for a 5 minute procedure!" But of course, I suppress my erratic episode and just smile and nod when they apologize about the wait. I am such a pansy, even at my worst.


So finally the extremely uncomfortable procedure is over with and I am heading back home. The "temporary cramping and bleeding" felt more like "temporary child labor" , so I stopped off at Albertsons for Advil and sustenance to restore my sanity. I am in the check-out line and of course the checker is an elderly lady that wants to chit-chat with everyone in line. I put on another good face and try my best to hide my impatience. When I take off for the door, I am immediately stopped by yet another elderly lady who is slowly shuffling her way toward the exit. I really tried to be be patient but remember I am cramping, bleeding, and feeling like I am going to pass-out any moment so I decide to whiz pass her and make a run for my car. Just when I am about to leave the parking lot, I notice my debit card is not in my purse. Exasperated, I ran back into the store found at the exact spot where I passed up the old lady. I think my patience is being tested, I think to myself while gritting my teeth. Then as I make my 2nd attempt to flee, I am blocked AGAIN by another senior citizen! Yup, it is.

Then I am driving home and of course, of course everyone is going at or below the speed limit. I burst through the door, ranting to Nick about my series of unfortunate events. Only partially listening he offers an occasionally "uh-huh" and "oh really?". He knows the real antidote for me is food. I begin to devour my lunch and slowly feel my sanity return.

Feeling much better, I brush off the afternoons events and am determined to not let them overshadow the rest of the day. As soon as Nick leaves for work, Toby becomes extremely fussy and unfortunately we are out of Motrin. Nope, not going to let it get to me, I say to myself. I decide to give him a bath to distract him from his pain. Toby is seriously part fish, he loves water. After the bath, I look for some clothes and a diaper. Found some clothes, but no diaper. Not anywhere. Not in his room, not in the car, not in the diaper bag. This has never happened before! Panic once again ensues and I frantically try to think up of an alternative. Sadly, the only thing I could come up with is taping a maxi pad to the inside of his shorts! Poor child. Praying his bladder could hold out another 10 minutes (or at least not soak through his pathetic substitute of a diaper), I race to the nearest grocery store.



The plan was: get in, grab diapers and Motrin, avoid old people, get out. Well of course I grabbed the squeakiest, most annoying cart available and immediately decide to just hold Toby instead of enduring the insufferable screeches. I grab the Motrin, and am about to grab the diapers when Toby squirms out of my arms. He can't stand for me to hold him longer than a minute or two, especially in a new environment. So I let him run around while I go back and forth about which brand is cheaper (and if this was Nick he would probably already be in the check out line). Suddenly I hear Toby squeal with delight. I look over and he is pulling every possible item off the shelf and into the aisle - AND LOVING IT. I grab him, expecting a melt down. To my surprise, Toby laughs harder- he thinks this is a game! So then I start laughing with him as I desperately try to hold him back (and hope he is holding his bladder). Shaking my head at the absurdity of the situation, I give Toby the Motrin box to gnaw on to keep him occupied, and head for the check out stand. The girl scans the Motrin and then disgusted by its moist surface, wipes her hand on her pants. Embarrassed, I apologize profusely and explain that Toby had his mouth on it. Expecting at least a courtesy laugh, she simply rolls her eyes. I blush a nice crimson red, grab my receipt, and race out the door.

I am walking up the steps of our house when I realize the diapers I bought are one size too big. At this point though, I am beyond caring and am simply grateful to have something other than my own personal hygiene products to put on my son. I grab Toby and immediately notice his bladder could no longer wait.

While I am peeling off his wet clothes and putting on over sized diaper, I can't help but laugh at how this day had definitely been one long comedy of errors.

Go Green

Although I am usually partial to fall, I think spring is definitely a close 2nd because of how GREEN everything is. The last few days have been perfect park weather for Toby and me. Ever since Toby has learned how to walk he is constantly pointing to go outside or pounding on the window to join the kids at the park across the street. Also, Toby WILL NOT stay in his stroller longer than about 5 minutes now because he just loves to be free to explore. I like to call him my roamin' nome.



I don't mind his enthisuam for the outdoors at all. Especially after a LONG winter mostly indoors with Nick being gone 16 hours a day. And with the 100 degree weather just around the corner, I am relishing every moment outside in the temperate 70 degree weather. Plus, the mountains are SO GREEN and beautiful, I love it.


Usually around July when the sweltering 100+ weather sets in, the mountains start to get all brown and ugly so I try to really soak in the GREEN while its still here. Nick even commented on how beautiful they look right now (which is quite a compliment coming from a guy who is from the state where the mountains are GREEN and GORGEOUS all summer long). He said they reminded him of his Kodiak mountains. I snapped a few pictures but coudn't get a clear shot with out the telephone lines getting in the way.


P.S. If you are wondering about my playlist, Nick and I saw a commercial on TV advertising classic 60's and 70's songs, and we kept saying "I love that song!" Thus, I decided deviate from my usual John Mayer-ish playlist and go with the good-feeling classics of yester year. hehehe

Miss you...

Nick is going to attend his Grandma's funeral in Portland, Oregon this weekend. He will be gone from Thursday night until Monday afternoon. This is definitely not the first time that we have been apart since we have been married, but still whenever I think about him leaving I get so sad. Nick and I don't have a lot of close friends outside our relationship. As cliche as it may sound, we are each others best friend. We confide in each other about everything, we tell each other the smallest details about our days (especially me), we love to laugh and tease each other, and snuggle up on the couch to watch the newest Redbox release on Friday night. Anyway, tonight the reality of him leaving hit me harder than usual. To make matters worse, I saw a mushy AT&T commercial where the boyfriend leaves and sends pictures to his girlfriend of all the places he is site-seeing until he sends a picture of her sitting next to the ocean- obviously missing him. She turns around and is thrilled to see him standing right there. I know its just a dumb commercial but the timing of it seemed to evoke more emotion than I wanted. No I didn't cry. I am not a big cryer. But I did feel a twinge of emptiness when I thought about Nick's upcoming absence. The song on the commercial is called "The Coffee Shop." It has always been a favorite so I had to put on my blog playlist.

Nick, just want to say I love you and miss you already....

Reminiscing

I found this picture in a parenting magazine and immediately tore it out. I didn't know what I was going to with it, I just knew I liked it a lot because it reminded me of my dancing days and made me really miss them. It also made me really want to have a little girl that would share the same passion for dancing as me.
Toby has recently acquired an affinity for dancing though. I love it! When ever he hears music he immediately starts turning in circles - it so cute! And I always look forward to our daily dancing session. Sometime after Nick goes to work I turn on some music, he wraps his arms around my neck and we sway together to sounds of Frank Sinatra, John Mayer, or Norah Jones.

Our new home

With our contract ending in our rental home in June, Nick and I decided that we wanted to stop throwing our money away with rent, and buy a home of our own! No, Nick didn't get a higher paying job. The only way that it is even possible for us to buy a home is through the Rural Housing Development Program. Basically they pay a large portion of your interest rate (down to 1%) until you are able to afford a house without the subsidized loan. The catch? You have to live in a rural or developing area, like Eagle Mountain or Saratoga Springs. That aspect didn't bother us at all since I was quite familiar and fond of the area. I lived in Eagle Mtn. with my parents during my senior year and off and on post high school. And with record low interest rates, the $8,000 first-time home buyer incentive, and the fact that we would be paying the same monthly if we rented a place, we felt like this was a no-brainer decision.

We started our home hunting a few weeks ago. I was excited and hopeful in the beginning but then after looking at 20+ homes, I felt like we were destined to just keep renting. I came to the conclusion that home hunting is very similar to dating in a lot of ways. For example, sometimes we would get really excited about a home as soon as we walked into it and say "I think this could be the one," but then as we really took our time inspecting it more closely, big red flags came up and we were forced to keep looking. And then there were some homes that from the outside look of it I didn't even want to give it a chance, but then when we entered it we could tell that it had a lot of inner beauty and charm.


In the end though I feel we choose a house the had the whole package deal and seemed to be a good fit for us. And it's funny, because for me it was love at first sight. I was completely smitten with it! Even our realtor commented to Nick how he could tell we had found the one because my eyes just lit up when we walked into it. So I was ready to make and offer, but Nick needed a little convinicing. We went through the house 3 times before making our final decision. The big drawbacks for Nick were that there is not a bathroom on the main level, the basement is finished, but not as large as he would like it to be, and he didn't like that it only had three bedrooms. These concerns didn't bother me. I could deal with the no bathroom on the main level and I pointed out that we could eventually wall off part of the basement and make it a 4th bedroom, and I also emphasized the fact that this was a STARTER HOME. You are not going to get everything you want with your first home. That's why it is called a starter home. So after some tears, prayers, and advice from friends and family, Nick let go of his concerns and we put in an offer on Monday. By Tuesday morning our offer was accepted and we were on cloud 9! Finally a home of our own! Check out the pics:

Front room

Kitchen

Dining Room

Master Bedroom

Pet peeves

“One young mother[…]often felt people were sometimes patronizing, almost always without meaning to be, because the advice she got or even the compliments she received seemed to reflect nothing of the mental investment, the spiritual and emotional exertion, the long-night, long-day, stretched-to-the-limit demands that sometimes are required in trying to be and wanting to be the mother God hopes she will be.”- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, reading a letter from a young mom

When I became a mom, there were 3 things I swore to myself I would never do:

1. I would never judge another parent when their child is throwing a terrible tantrum-especially in public (unless there is obvious abuse going on). To paraphrase that well-known Forest Gump phrase: "Kids are like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get!" I have learned painfully again and again that there are way too many people out there who think they are the experts of other peoples children! It drives me crazy when I see someone in a store have merely glanced at a child having a meltdown in a grocery store and make an arrogant comment like: "oh they just need to do __ and the child would be fine. Its really the parents fault the child is acting that way." Really? Are you kidding me? I think that maybe the parent might know their child a little bit better than you, a perfect stranger, seeing how they have been with them since day one and you have only witnessed a small moment of what I would call "one of those days." Now I am not saying that all parents are created equal. I know there are plenty of terrible and completely clueless parents out there and it angers me when I have to hear about them on the 10'o clock news. All I am getting at here is that we need to try to give people (especially parents) the benefit of the doubt before we make snap judgments. And I will admit, I use to be one of those people rolling my eyes when I saw a toddler scream back at their parents (and I didn't even have kids at the time!) But now that I have a very "spirited" toddler of my own and my eyes have been opened, I can appreciate and understand that most of us are really just doing the best we know how. So to all of you experts out there, if you see me at Wal-Mart with my son screaming because he won't sit in the shopping cart because he is overly excited with his new found ability of walking, please, please offer a sympathetic glance rather than a critical one. :)

2. I would never compare my child to another persons child. OK I guess I should be complete honest her: Every parent compares; its natural and immediate when we see or hear about someones child who seems so much more advanced (or behind) than your own. But I usually just tell myself that every child is unique and develops at their own pace, and try not to get caught up in it. Thus, I have vowed to never say to someone, "Oh she isn't crawling/walking/talking yet? That's weird." The implication of such a thoughtless statement is "There is something wrong with your child. My child is obviously superior or smarter than yours." If you read my last post, you would know that Toby is large for his age. And he looked really funny when at 12 months he was content to just crawl down the hallways at church, when most of the kids that were walking were much smaller than him. Needless to say I was ticked when a guy who had a son about Toby's age made a snide remark about how he couldn't believe he wasn't walking yet. I tried to point out that he was just barely a year old and that he still had plenty of time to join mankind- he was just enjoying life on all fours. Even still, he had to rub in that his son was walking at 11 months. I almost felt snapping back at him with "Yeah I and I am sure he's going to be a famous Olympic track star because he walked at 11 months!" But I remembered where we were and bit my tongue (and made a mental note to avoid that particular hallway of our church during Sunday School).

3. This last one happened just today and was the inspiration behind today's post. I swear I will never belittle or discount the struggles and challenges of another parent. Again, if you have read any of my previous posts you have probably gotten a pretty good idea about the rambunctious little boy that keeps me on my toes. Even my own mom (who raised 7 children!) admits that Toby is quite a handful to watch (and that's usually only for a couple of hours). I had to laugh when my dad watched Toby for about an hour while Nick and I were house hunting and upon my return said, "Wow Debbie, now I know why you are tired all time!" OK I am not trying to say that my son is the most difficult child ever born or that I have it SO much harder than other people because I know that is definitely not true. I believe every parent has challenges and hardships unique to their situation. I also believe that every parent universally understands what the words exhaustion and frustration take on completely different meaning the moment you become a parent. Thus, most parents should be able to sympathize better than anyone else when we have "one of those days" with our child . So you can understand my frustration when I am exhausted from a tough week with my son and then receive a remark from one of those "experts" who thinks my son is just going through a stage like every other 14 month old and she has seen much, much worse. I should mention this person is from my church and drops in monthly to check up on my sister and me (you fellow Mormons know her as a "visiting teacher"). I use to look forward to those visits because it gave me a chance to vent and just unwind about anything and everything. But I have learned time and time again from my VT that my son is no big deal and that I am really making a mountain out of a molehill. AHH! Again, I am not trying be a martyr. I am not avidly seeking to get an award that says "World's Toughest Child". All I want is a little validation. Someone to say: "Yeah I know. Its tough isn't it? I have been there too and know just how you feel. Hang in there though. Things will get better." I do NOT like hearing: "I have met SO many other kids that are much more difficult than your son."

*Sigh* OK I got that out of my system. Sometimes all it takes is one blog post to de-stress me. I feel much better now and think that maybe I should rely on my online writing for validation rather than my monthly visits. :)