Thanksgiving.

I think it is safe to say that I failed miserably at my little thanksgiving blog project. I thought it would be a fun exercise to really think about everything I am thankful for but I ended up just being too busy to write every day. I guess in the end I am glad that I have such a full life that I didn't have time to write every day. Plus it was kind of a cheesy project and I'm really not that sappy despite the fact that I'm currently watching the movie Valentine's Day (I am also trying to not throw up in my mouth while watching said movie).

With that being said I had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend. I had Wednesday off at work so I had lunch with my sister and grandparents and did a little shopping with the sister.

How cute is my little rascally raccoon?

Early Thursday morning we headed down to San Diego and by "we" I mean, me, the husband, the baby, the bullies, two sets of golf clubs, enough diapers to last a year, a pack n play, a stroller, a huge dish of mac n cheese, and all of our bags. Our car looked like a joke. We spent the weekend with my husband's family. Thursday to Saturday. Three days of nothing but family. It was fun but draining.

My husband's family has all these fun traditions. Every Thanksgiving they have a putt putt tournament, play games, do the chicken dance, have a talent show, and so forth. Everyone is welcome to this gathering so there is always someone new to meet.

The Beast had his first appearance in the putt putt tournament. He was none too pleased. I really only participated in the putt putt tournament. During every other function I was nursing the Beast who seemed to eat every freaking two hours the whole weekend.

The weekend was a lot of fun but three days of family is exhausting. It was hard being away from home with a baby, his routine was thrown off, I didn't have my breastfeeding pillow (seriously essential to breastfeeding), we tried to sleep with Mickey in the room and she kept us up all night with her snoring. And there were a lot of people there this weekend. The Beast did great with the crowd. He was smiling and laughing the whole time. It was me that didn't fare so well. By the time we left I was freaking sick of people asking me if I was nursing (seriously why do people care?), when I was going to start solids, if he likes his daycare, is it hard to go to work, and many, many other questions regarding my parenting.

And of course I get asked really great questions like, "when does your diet start?" or "how much weight did you gain while pregnant? You were huge!" Um, how about mind your own damn business? And then I told off a lady in her 80s. Not exactly my proudest moment. I was holding the Beast and walked outside of the house to talk to someone. This lady comes running after me and says, "it's cold, the baby needs a blanket." It was 11 am, sunny and brisk, but definitely not cold. I politely declined and said that we were fine. She kept telling me that the baby needed a blanket and that it was cold. I heard this about three or four times. I finally sternly said, "he's my son, don't tell me what he needs." Awesome, way to be a bitch to the little old lady who, while super annoying, was just trying to help.

After that incident I promptly told the husband that I was done and we were going home. And to top it all off there were a million kids there who played way too rough with our dogs. Frank sprained his leg so he got extra attention from Captain America. Captain America who tore the kids a new one for playing too rough with the dogs.

So by the end of the weekend we were the assholes who yell at old ladies and little kids. At least our kid is cute.

We eventually got home and I got our Christmas cards orders, took care of three presents, put up all the decorations, and actually did all the laundry. I'm exhausted but my tree is lit and I'm drining a Sierra Nevada Celebration beer. Bring on the Christmas!

Shutterfly

Hi There.

Today I am pimping out my little ol' blog to get 50 free holiday cards from shutterfly. Why? Because I send out like a million holiday cards and stamps keep going up in price and it gets real expensive, real fast. And since I basically sign over my entire paycheck to student loans and daycare, I could use a little break.

I just started using shutterfly and so far I am quite pleased. I have ordered a couple of their photo books and they turned out really cute. It was shockingly easy too. I uploaded a bunch of pictures and then the book maker thingy just formatted them. You can rearrange the pictures and add captions. Since I refuse to scrapbook this is pretty much the only way that I can ensure the Beast will have some kind of photographic evidence of his childhood. And you can import your pictures on facebook directly to shutterfly which is totally awesome. Shutterfly is great for just order prints as well.

So I like shutterfly and think you should try them out. Ok, where are my free cards?

Catch-Up

I am so woefully behind on my little thankful project. I do think it is better to play catch-up rather than just give up the project entirely. Here is my quickie way to catch-up:

Day Ten:

Let's see this was Wednesday. On Wednesday I was thankful that, oh lord, I can't even remember what happened on Wednesday. I went to work, I know that much. I hung out with the Beast, that's a given. I guess I am thankful I just made it through this day because clearly I was on auto-pilot and don't remember the day!

Day Eleven:

This was Veteran's Day. On this day I was thankful for all the brave men and women who have done so much for our country. I really have a lot of respect and admiration for these dedicated people and am very thankful that they protect our country, our freedom, our way of life.

Day Twelve:

This was Friday and I was thankful that my husband finally came home after another week in Arkansas. And he brought me a travel coffee mug from the Bill Clinton museum. I love me some Slick Willie and I love me some coffee. Now I can enjoy both together! Thanks Captain America!

Day Thirteen:

This was Saturday and I was thankful for some time with my husband, some time with my baby, and a trip to the mall to get the Beast's picture taken with Santa. Yea I know I am crazy early but there was absolutely no line. Have you seen the line for Santa in the mall during December? I was not going to stand in a two hour line with a baby so we got that holiday outing marked off our list.

Day Fourteen:

And we are caught up to today. Today my friends from college came over to my house for a little lunch get together. I am very thankful for my friends and the fact that we have stayed friends since college. We have gone through so much together and they are just awesome ladies. Plus, it is so much fun to reminisce about our crazy college days. It is nice to be reminded that I once went out to bars and danced and got crazy. Especially now that I go to bed at 9pm and getting crazy means having two glasses of chardonnay instead of my normal one glass.

Ok, technically I'm caught up on my project. And my house is relatively clean. And I have a Christmas tree up in my house. And I got through all the laundry. And I hosted a luncheon for my friends. And I went on a date with my husband on Saturday. Whew, this was quite the weekend!

Day Nine

I am thankful for sleep, which I am in desperate need of right now.

Goodnight!

Day Eight

I am thankful for the Beast's daycare. I am thankful for his teachers who truly love him and look after him while I'm at work. I'm thankful for the director who is also a new mom and understands when I am teary eyed after dropping him off. I am thankful for the detailed reports they give me about his day and the smiles he has when he sees his teacher in the morning. I am thankful for the peace of mind that my baby is in good hands while I am at work.

That being said, sometimes his daycare drives me crazy. I understand the need to be cautious but sometimes they get a little carried away. Right now the Beast is obsessed with sucking/chewing on his hands. Sometimes his hands are not enough and he sucks on his arm. Well the other day he gave himself a hickey doing this. Daycare called me at work to tell me about the mark on his arm. I asked, is it a rash? They said no. Is it a scratch? No. Is it bleeding? No. Do I need to pick him up? No. Then why the hell are you calling me at work?!?! When I picked him up and finally saw the infamous mark, I realized that it was from him sucking on his arm. I had to sign an incident report for my kid giving himself a hickey. The next day I went to Target and cleared them out of pacifiers and teethers. But really? Don't call me at work for such a silly little thing.

Today I got a call because they couldn't find his diapers and needed permission to use another kid's diaper. I thought, why are they calling me? Just put a diaper on his bum, he'll be fine! I suppose there are some moms that would flip out if their little darling's tushy touched a different brand of diaper than he was used to. I am not that kind of mom.

And while I love getting the detailed reports about his day, there is no need to blow sunshine up my behind. I want to know how many naps and for how long, how many bottles he drank, and how many wet/dirty diapers. I do not need to hear "the Beast enjoyed making new friends." Um, he's a baby people. He doesn't make friends or play with friends. He doesn't even engage in parallel play (oooh fancy developmental term).

All in all, I really like the Beast's daycare. Even if they are a little over the top.

Day Seven

I am thankful for weekends.


So obvious yet so true. I am so very thankful for two whole uninterrupted days with my family. I am thankful for being able to spend the entire day with the Beast and especially thankful for being able to go back to sleep after his 5am wake up call.


I am thankful for walks around the neighborhood with the Beast in his big boy stroller all bundled up. Ok, this hasn't been the case lately because it is freaking a million degrees in Southern California in November! Al Gore may have been right...




I am thankful for watching my boys watch football together. I am especially thankful when Michigan wins because then I don't have to deal with a fussy husband.




Starting this weekend, I am thankful for eating breakfast with my big boy sitting in his highchair beside me. He is not ready to join in the eating fun yet but having his highchair in the kitchen has been great. I was able to sit down and eat breakfast while he played. I cleaned the kitchen and cooked a lasagna while he watched me. I even sang songs and did little dances to keep him entertained. I got so much more done this weekend with him in the kitchen with me.





Every weekend I am thankful to run errands with my husband. First, I like running errands because I like getting stuff done and errands almost always include a trip to Target, my happy place. Second, I just really like running errands with my husband. Isn't that a little weird? I feel like we have had some great conversations while at Home Depot about our plans for the future (which includes painting our bedroom and office), grabbing lunch always ends up being a really pleasant meal, and sometimes we go to open houses just to keep tabs on the real estate market and for fun which always results into an in depth conversation about what we want in a home. Plus, you see some crazy decor in these open houses. We've seen wall-to-wall zebra carpet and the freaky wall of porcelain d0lls (not in the same house thankfully).


Even though the weekends are always too short, I am extremely thankful for them.