Happy Halloween!

..."For I am ‘King of the Jungle’,
I am a mighty lion.
I am the one who rules the roost,
so don’t even bother trying..."

And then he saw a flock of birds...

I read an article recently in a parenting magazine  that said that "often" the wonder and excitement of a new baby wears off when the baby is about 9 months old. Yikes. That would be horrible considering you would have to put up with that child for at least the next 18 years! Lucky for me that statement isn't true at our house. I actually feel better about him now then I did at the beginning (though I was always excited about him!) maybe because I am getting a little bit of sleep now (sometimes as much as 6 hours in a row!) and maybe because my body doesn't hurt anymore...

Anyway, I have moments when I look at my little son and am amazed that he is mine, that he grew "in my belly" and that our adventures are really just starting. He is getting more and more curious about EVERYTHING and notices everything from flocks of birds in the sky to tiny specks on the floor (and naturally has to taste them...), its so refreshing to think about the world through his bright eyes. He doesn't know all the mean, harsh, ugly things about the world yet (and hopefully won't have to know abut them for a long time). He smiles at everyone, doesn't care what people look like, dress like or smell like; he just likes them. He also likes Eskimo kisses, Baby Cat, Daddy, the humming bird wind chime and his Mimi's glasses... I could write about him all night, haha! THE POINT IS: he is amazing and I love him more then a little.

May 24th, 2011

So being a parent in crazy. It is so much work, joy, emotions, tiredness... I'm feeling more things than I ever have in my life! I own cloth diapers and breastfeed, who would have thought!

Tonight I am sitting on my bed, next to my adorable, sleeping baby. He looks so sweet and this was a long, hot day (we visited Elk Neck State Park, in Maryland). Just looking at him invokes so many emotions. I love how he looks, all peaceful and relaxed. I want to much to keep him safe and surrounded by love for as long as I possibly can. I want him to feel secure about himself, to know that he is perfect the way he is. I can't wait to actually play with him, teach him things, cook with him! I can, however, wait to wake him up for his diaper change...

Aunt Elizabeth

Jaxon has four Aunties, so far he has only met on of them... His Aunt Elizabeth. And he loves her:

But how can you not love her :)

I have this little cat. We call her Baby Cat, mostly because when I adopted her she was the smallest of my cats. She was shy, would MAYBE let me pet her once a day. And I by pet I mean one pet, and she was gone again!
We got her while I was living in a small apartment in Philadelphia, she is a beautiful little grey striped cat, about 2 years old now. About 4 months after she joined my family we moved to Lebanon Pa, to live with the family I was nannying for at the time. The family we moved in with also had 2 cats, so cat count is up to 4 and guess who was at the bottom of the kitty totem pole? Baby Cat. So she stayed in my room a lot and at long last, warmed up to me! It was great, she was my little shadow, no one else could touch her. I loved her! Well I still love her. BUT. Now that my son has joined us and we have moved AGAIN, she is a completely different cat.
 

 She is now a loudmouth. She hates closed doors, will meow at them, scratch at them... generally hate them... even if every other door in the house is open! She meows at everything, and at nothing. She like to pick fights with me. She knows where I like to lay the baby on my bed, she will wait until I pick up the baby then she quickly lays down in his place and becomes "liquid cat" so I can't push her out of the way. Liquid cat with claws. At night she comes FLYING into our room, dives onto the bed landing on both of us as many times as possible before rocketing back into the hall.... It's a good thing she is cute. I know it's mostly that she is jealous, I don't love on her like I used to and her new behavior is so annoying I would just like to sell her to the gypsies, but D likes her, so that option is out... As I am typing this she is sitting sleepily at the end of my bed, waiting for my feet to make the slightest move so she can pounce on them, making me glad it's still winter and I have heavy blankets on the bed still!

I DO still love her though, and one of these days things will calm down, we will all get into a new routine and settled into the new house/life. Hopefully I will have skin on my feet when that magical time arrives. =)

Bodie, Ca

"By 1880 the phrase "Badman from Bodie" described the town's rambunctious inhabitants, earning the community a reputation for violence that rivaled Tombstone, Deadwood and Dodge City."~http://www.bodiehistory.com/

One of my favorite places, ever, is Bodie, California. In 1859 gold was in this area and by 1879, Bodie had a population of about 10,000 people at its peak! But the weather is pretty harsh there, so hot in the summer and sets records for cold weather in the winter, plus there were a few fires and eventually the last gold mine closed in 1942, making it a ghost town.

As I am inexplicable drawn to forgotten places; abandoned houses, graveyards, factories, and towns,this place is perfect as there is so much to see at one particular spot. The former residents just left, there are all kinds furniture, cloths, canned food, cars just littered all around the park.

My last trip to Bodie was in July of 2007. I don't know what we were thinking exactly, it was wicked hot! But my sister and I were determined to go for a road trip before I moved to Pennsylvania, so away we went. My family lives near Fresno, CA so we drove all the way through Yosemite (always beautiful!) and camped by a reservoir near Bridgeport, Ca. Like I said, it was SO hot, we were both on the edge of heat exhaustion. We tried to swim in the reservoir but it was warm, Mono Lake was warm and smelled weird... so we got ice cream at the general store in Bridgeport! Ice cream makes almost everything better...

I would highly recommend visiting Bodie, if you get the chance. It is being maintained in a "state of arrested decay" so it wont be around for ever and it is so interesting/fun to see this part of our country's history! Just don't go in July...

I

On a Rainy Day

I have a peaceful baby sleeping next to me; I am so thankful that he is such an easy going baby now! I guess he almost anyway has been, once we got the feeding/gassing problems figured out. The next fight we are going to have is getting him to sleep by himself...

He usually gives me about an hour to cook dinner with, and usually his daddy or Mimi (D.'s mom) play with him then too.

We have been trying to eat healthier these days too. Mimi is a pescitarian; I have never eaten much fish but the last two weeks I have cooked perch, haddock, cod, and flounder. Last night it was haddock in red curry (so didn't make the curry from scratch, it was from a jar, oh well) with mushrooms, potatoes, bamboo shoots, orange bell pepper, onion and... I think that was all. But I thought it was really good! The fish was light and a little bit sweet which tasted great with the curry! We eat it over rice and had a spinach salad on the side! So one new menu item down. Yay for trying new foods!

Yesterday: We had an appointment with a Neurologist yesterday because when Jaxon was born he was vacuumed out and it left a huge bump on the back his little head! Over the last few months the bump shrank a bit and got as hard as a bone and his Pediatrician wanted to get it checked out, just in case. Dr. said he is fine, it is a hematoma, a calcified blood clot and will hardly be noticeable when he has more hair. "Go home and enjoy your healthy baby" said the P.A... Thank God!

First two months of mommyhood

Well my son is now 2-ish months old, my little sweetheart who has a fiery temper when he is hungry! He started smiling at around three weeks, its the cutest thing! He wakes up in the morning and smiles at me! He loves to watch his Daddy and "talk" to him, Daddy cracks him up.

Bebe's eyes seem to be getting bluer and he currently has three hair colors: brown, blonde and auburn, we will still have to wait to see what he ends up with!


While his birth was pretty terrifying, and I’m still in the "I never want to do that again" phase, the end result (my beautiful bebe) is amazing. I’m enjoying being a mom. I’m starting to get my energy back now, bit by bit! I was warned that I would miss sleep more than anything, and it’s true, haha! Some nights he will sleep 4-5 hours in a row and I feel AMAZING after one of those sleep chunks!

I was counting down till when I could work out, get back into my old cloths but 6 weeks came and went... and I had no desire to work out, mostly just wanted to sleep. I was, however, tired of wearing my maternity jeans but they were the only thing that fit! So I found some 15 minute work outs (belly dancing? heck yes, doesn’t even feel like a work out!) and now fit into ONE pair of regular pants! Granted they are still 4 sizes bigger than before Bebe, but I'm ok with that. Surprised?

I am also ok with my stretch marks. I feel like it’s sad that so many as women we are kind of told feel horrible about having stretch marks that don't go away. I'm embracing mine, I went through a lot to get them, blood, sweat and tears, literally!

I’m slightly in awe of moms who have more then one child, I don't know where they get the energy to get everything done! I would be a mess without D.’s help, he has done most of the cooking, cleaning, keeping my head on straight for the last 2+ months. Bebe and I are so lucky to have him around so much! We are working on getting a photography/media company off the ground so I will keep you posted on that project.

I had more to say but I can't remember now, haha, I’m going to bed since Bebe is sleeping now! Peace!