7 Quick Takes

It has been forever and a day since I've done 7 Quick Takes. I'm slowly trying to get back on the blog band wagon, because I have a feeling in a few months I will be stopping blogging all together.

1.

Why won't I be blogging as much, you may ask? It turns out that little harebrained idea I had churning in my head isn't going away. I've spent a lot of time researching my options on nursing school and I am pretty serious about pursuing this idea. I will probably start taking my pre-requisite classes this coming January, so I will be pretty busy! I am really excited about this new journey!

2. 

I've been feeling like a crummy mom lately. I know I'm still postpartum and recovering from major abdominal surgery, but I've been feeling bad about letting Joe watch TV all day and snack constantly. There are some days he is lucky if he gets out of his PJ's. I also feel guilty about living in a small apartment because there is no place for him to run around and be outside. This week I decided to get my act together. I'm limiting TV time. Instead of vegging on the couch I'm getting off my ass and molding animals out of Play Doh and playing with Legos. The TV isn't on, instead we're listening to toddler radio and Disney radio on Pandora and singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The Circle of Life." Yesterday we made cookies. It was a tad bit frustrating since Joe insisted he stir it all by himself. Still, we had a good time and made some yummy cookies!

3. 

Speaking of postpartum... I swear it's harder on me than 9 months of pregnancy. I'm not even talking about recovering from a c-section. My hair is falling out and acne is attacking me like I'm a 16 year old again. I'm getting dry, itchy skin. I had forgotten about the back aches and head aches. I'm feeling really gross about my body. I'm wearing super duper granny panties and am feeling like Jabba the Hutt, only with bigger boobs.

Just slap on some Dolly Parton boobies and you'll get an idea of what I look like.

Oh, yeah. I smell like old milk because I'm leaking this much:

Niagra Falls y'all.

I know some women are miserable when they are pregnant. Yeah, it sucks that we ultimately turn into a small-scale whale, but I like being pregnant. When people gave me that sympathetic "Oh, you must be ready to be done!" look I just shrugged it off.

The only perk is being able to sleep on my stomach again!

4. 

I was feeling fairly confident of handling a newborn again. That was until Sam actually entered the world and I learned quickly that he is nothing like his older brother was, except in the looks department. Joe was always a very laid-back newborn. He would sleep and nurse. Even when he spit up he was chillaxin'.

Not Sam. He is a fussy budget. He's so alert and wants to party all the time by screaming. We started thinking he was getting reflux like Joe did, so his doctor put him on some Zantac. It doesn't seem to be working very well. We tried gripe water once but he projectile vomited that up. He's like a time bomb... you have to be very careful for he'll explode!

But he's pretty darn cute and he's getting close to those first real smiles. I can't believe how fast this month has gone. It seems like yesterday I was complaining about being overdue and now here he is! He seems to be paying attention to what I am saying so I'm really feeling the bond between us grow.

5. 

Now that there is a newborn in the house it is so weird when I change Joe's diapers or pick him up. He seems like a giant now (even though he is in the 3rd percentile range for his height. He's our little elf!) He seems so grown up, too. And guess who finally, finally FINALLY after 2 looong years is sleeping in his own room the WHOLE night?

Yup. My little man.

6. 

At long last we're getting some fall-like temperatures. Yesterday I got out my fall decor, lit my fall candle and fixed some warm chili for supper. Fall is my favorite season for a bajillion reasons. Falling leaves, farmers harvesting their crops, football, that musty smell when the furnace kicks on for the first time. Pumpkins, cider, hoodies, warm blankets, Halloween and Thanksgiving, back to school activities. Basically September through December is my favorite time of year!

This is the new candle I got and I LOVE it. It's called Leaves and I got it at Bath and Body Works. It's not too strong, but the smell reminds me of the days in high school when I would come home from golf practice and my mom would have something cooking in the crock pot, the house was warm and toasty and you could faintly hear the sounds of the grain bins on the edge of town.

The jar looks different, but this is the only pic I could find.

7. 

Some of you may be aware of our annoying neighbors upstairs. We can hear EVERY.THING. they do. They tend to stomp around a lot. But what is most annoying is their surround sound system. There was one time it sounded like they were having a bitchin' party up there. The music woke up Joe so Ryan went up there. They were watching 20/20. 20 freakin' 20. Ryan had to go up there a number of times and everytime he always aplogized for being a pain in the ass, but it was disturbing our son's sleep. Finally, when they were vacuuming at 11:30 at night we went to management. Their surround sound was turned off for about a week, and then it started back up.

There was one time I had family over and we heard a bunch of booming up above. Our ceiling was MOVING. It looked like a heartbeat. I could even feel it move when I touched it. It was so bad we were honestly worried the ceiling was going to crack. We went up there, not to complain, but to inquire what they were doing and let them know that we were going to go to maintainence to check our ceiling because it is right above where Joe plays. The neighbor girl, who has always been very stand off-ish, opened the door and she was sweaty. She had been exercising, specifically, jumping jacks. We aplogized profusely. Ryan even ran into her finance later that night and apologized. It was so awkward and we felt so bad. A week later we got a call from managemnt. They had complained because she was "greatly offended" at us coming up there.Who does that?!

They kept being loud and we just tried to deal with it. But a few days after we got home from the hospital they had their music BLARING. It was downright rude. Ryan went up there to tell them to turn it down and they didn't answer the door even though we knew for a fact they were home. Ryan called management and they said not to go up there anymore because our neighbors felt that Ryan was "hostile", which is downright laughable. Our neighbors turned it down while we were on the phone with management. I got on the phone with the lady and started bawling, telling her that Ryan wasn't hostile and that we weren't trying to be pains. That was a lovely postpartum moment.

Now they completely avoid Ryan. One time Ryan was at the top of the stairs going down and she showed up getting ready to go up, but once she saw him she turned around and went up another flight of stairs. The guy neighbor always avoids Ryan as well.

I've resorted to throwing tennis balls at the ceiling and Ryan is extra friendly to them when they don't have enough time to run away from him.

I found this on my friend's facebook wall and I really might be tempted to use this as a template and leave it on their door someday.

If I had a neighbor who sent me this note I would bake them cookies after I apologized and asked them to be my best friend forever. 

 

Have a great weekend y'all! Visit Grace at Camp Patton for more Quick takes!