| Gina's profileeugemar strikes backPhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
April 30 I have to say it was a good dayHad an awesome, action packed day today!
In addition to these things, there was no smog, and I made breakfast with no hog. It was sunny today. Some clouds, but overall a nice day. It is 6:30p.m. and I am exhausted waiting for Rog to get home. We walked over 6 miles today! Between that and the ordeal that is swim class, I get the sense that I am going to crash early tonight. It was a great day, and looking to be a good evening with hubby too--a nice bottle of wine, a fab dinner and, of course, Wed TV! April 29 Just like Flowers in the Attic!This is just like The Flowers in the Attic, but WORSE. 24 years in a basement. Woman forced to have sex with her father. Burning babies. Kids who haven't seen the light of day. This story has it all. How could the wife be deceived for 24 years? Blows my mind. April 28 Never Nude LipsHere's another pet peeve of mine--women who wear lipstick when they exercise. I don't get it. Why do you need lipstick to exercise?!? You already look flushed and with a tinge of color when you work out. There is no point to it, other than vanity. Like, you can't stand the color of your lips so much that you have to apply color before leaving the house. Today while on a walk I encountered not one but TWO women wearing lipstick (one bright red, the other hot pink) Yuck. One even had full on foundation/compact...and it was heavy. Sometimes I have to stop myself from making a poo face when I see bright lipstick on a jogger. I just want to wipe it off their sweaty faces when I see it. There is a black belt at my school who trains with bright red lipstick. She is awesome--totally fierce. Someone you watch when she trains so you can one day hope to emulate her style. But the lipstick took me a long time to get past. It has been four years that I have been training with her and I only recently stopped 'noticing' that she wears the lipstick. She's a badass, so she can do whatever she wants with her lips. But these other women I don't know and judge? They look gross. Hopefully, if you are reading this blog, you are not one of those women who exercises with lipstick, because I must be offending you. But if you are, why do you do it? I need insight. My kid is like 'SheedAlright-we already know that Lincoln is not an African American basketball player who plays for the Pistons. Nor is Linc known for his temper or ability to draw a technical foul (at least not yet since he doesn't even know what a basketball is). My kid does, however, have a circle of hair on the top of his head that is a lighter, blonder color than the rest of his hair, just like Rasheed Wallace. I barely noticed it last week while out in the sun with the kid. I assume it has happened recently otherwise I would have noticed it sooner. In general, his hair has been getting lighter, especially when viewed in the sun. Rog didn't believe me when I told him about the spot, but then he also noticed the circle of light hair when walking with the kid this weekend. It is very odd.
When Roger was little he went from dark brown hair, to strawberry blonde, to blonde and then back to light brown all before he turned two. It is so funny to look at baby pictures of Roger with blonde hair. Will my 1/2 mexican son turn blondie too? Maybe he'll just get some golden tones for a while. It is pretty adorable. April 23 Life's a songListen in at the Kurtz household and you will likely find us singing. We sing about what we're doing--daily activities, rituals, behaviors. Basically any activity or action can be made into a song. Although I sing my share of kid's songs, classic rock, and hip hop, I mostly sing original Gina creations for the kid. These are usually short tunes with repetitive stanzas. He doesn't really care what I sing--he just likes the singing. Here are some of the titles currently in rotation around the house:
April 22 On being a mom and other thingsIt has now been over six months since I took my maternity leave. This has been the longest span of time I haven't worked since college (yah, I'm working PT from home, but I'm talking about the day-to-day grind. What I am doing now is totally different). I always knew that I wanted to stay home with our kid but I had no idea what it would be like. And you know what? I actually love being home with Lincoln. It is a pretty amazing deal all things considered. I feel lucky to be able to spend all this quality time with my son, watching him grow, helping him to figure out the world around him. I'm thankful that I can stay home (big ups to Roger!).
I don't miss going into the office every day. I don't feel stress or anxiety about work. I don't subconsciously groan or exhale deeply during the evenings while watching TV like I used to (thinking about work). Part of the fact is that I was never very effective at keeping work out of my home life. I was always thinking about the day's events, how it went, conversations with people, next steps, etc. Maybe it is my profession--dealing with clients and the public, managing multiple projects, managing people's workload, driving all over the state, etc. I guess all jobs have their stresses, but one thing I don't miss--working on the weekends or evenings.
Some people have asked me if I miss my professional job, whether I get bored at home, etc. I don't ever get bored at home. Partly because I've never been one to sit on my ass all day--so I work on house projects, garden, go for walks, run errands, play with the kid, etc. I also relax--read the paper, listen to music, watch my daily news shows (CNN/HN in the morning & BBC World News America in the afternoon), play some XBOX, roll around on the floor with the kid and dog. The days go by pretty fast. We have things planned during the week--kung fu for me; swimming for the kid. We meet friends and co-workers for lunch. We go shopping. We plan out dinners. We do a lot. And all those nagging organizational house projects that I always thought "oh, I'll get to that eventually". I can do those now! It is slow going--it isn't like I'm super efficient with the kid. But I get things done. I feel at peace with myself, my family, and my life. All I can say is that I am really anxious for summer to roll around. I'm already looking forward to all kinds of outdoor activities with kid and pooch.
I may have a Master's degree and a profession (which back in the day seemed like such a personal accomplishment), but raising my kid is the most rewarding thing I've done in my life. Having my son is the greatest singular accomplishment of my life. All other things pretty much pale by comparison. I love the little guy more than I thought I could love something. It is so amazing to see him figure out his world, try new things, etc. I find I have more patience now than I ever thought I could have. His smile melts my heart. The way he reaches out to me to be held or snuggled is so adorable.
Chloe once asked me what is the best/worst thing about being a mom. I spent a lot of time thinking about this after the question was asked and I think my answer is still the same:
Best thing-- Watching your kid figure things out and helping him to become his own person. And of course, the smiles.
Worst thing--Your time is no longer your own. There is very little 'me' time these days. The funny thing is, I don't even really care too much about that. Your priorities change after you have a kid. Suddenly it isn't so important for me to go out to bars or fancy dinners. Sure, it is nice to see friends and to have some personal time (which right now is only when he naps, after he goes to bed, or kung fu), but sometimes when I do have free time I don't even know what to do with it. One day the kid napped for 3 hours and I was at a loss for what to do. I worked out. I emailed. I did the taxes. Not 'fun' or 'relaxing' per se, but hey, these things needed to be done ;) When I am apart from the kid for a while I still find myself thinking about him. Even when he is sleeping I feel the need to go in and look at him. This will change as he becomes less dependent on me, but for now, we're bosom buddies :) I just adjust how I approach life now. And I can be really efficient with 1/2 hour of free time these days. April 18 bunk weatherUm, anyone else find this snow/hail bullshit as annoying as I do? I am nearing a fit of rage. It is the middle of April and it is hailing so hard outside that I can barely see through the hail. The little hail bits sting with their intensity. I am so sad for the little veggies I planted last weekend when it was 70 degrees out. Bah, I am angry about this weather. How will any of my seeds germinate if it doesn't get any warmer? I always do seeds in April and it is always perfect timing. Grrr.... last weekend's weather was a total cock tease. I'm done with winter. Where is spring? breakfast for a stay-at-home momBack in the day I only half-heartedly ate breakfast--the occasional bowl of cereal or piece of toast. Better breakfast habits did not begin until I got pregnant. A typical breakfast on-the-go during my pregnancy consisted of yogurt, a piece of fruit (typically a banana), and either instant oatmeal or cinnamon toast.
Now that I am home, I have embraced my morning rituals with the kid and one of those happens to be making a good solid breakfast. I need to eat a good breakfast so that I have energy when feeding and playing with the kid. Breakfast is probably my best and favorite meal of the day now. It just so happens that the kid is usually really chill in the morning and hangs out in his chair while I make coffee, tidy up the kitchen, pump, and make my breakfast. Then we sit at the table and have our breakfast together—one bite for mama, two bites of cereal for Lincoln, etc. I like that we eat breakfast together and Baby Boo seems to enjoy it too.
A typical breakfast for me now revolves around a one pan/one-egg base. A standard breakfast includes: 1 egg, 1 piece of wheat toast, a glass of juice, yogurt, coffee, and either two slices of bacon or two turkey sausage links. It only takes a few minutes to cook up 2 slices of bacon and an egg. Actually, it is shocking how quick it is to make a one-egg breakfast. An alternative to my default breakfast consists of a breakfast burrito with one egg and some bacon. If I am feeling sassy I will throw in some leftover potatoes or else I will bake up some tater tots. When I am feeling ambitious, I’ll do something even fancier—like the French bread French toast I made on Wednesday, accompanied with a fresh fruit plate. I love that my life is leisurely enough that I can make homemade breakfast every day. April 16 pity partyIt's been a realy pity party in the Kurtz household the past week with Linc and I being sick. It has been over a week and we are still sick, but I feel like we are in the final stretch. At least, I'm not hacking up mucus every few minutes and Lincoln's nose isn't making snap, crackle, pop noises while trying to breathe. He actually slept through the night last night for the first time in several days. The bad part about a sick infant is that they don't know how to blow their nose and they can't communicate how they are feeling other than crying. It is so sad when you are trying to feed your kid and he can't eat because he can't breathe. Saturday night, when things were at their worst, Roger and I did everything we could to make him feel better, yet we both exclaimed "I don't know what to do" about a billion times when we listened to his labored breathing.
The one upside of Linc's illness is that he was pretty compliant. He basically did what I asked of him and was chill. He napped when I needed to nap. He laid in his bouncy chair for extended periods of time, etc. He still had plenty of smiles even when he felt like crap. I definitely passed a major mom milestone this week--being sick and taking care of a sick kid. I was sicker than I have been in recent memory. I am lucky in that I don't typically get many colds/flus etc. I didn't even get sick at all last year while pregnant. But it was inevitable that I would get sick, esp with the kid. Roger was calling me Phyllis Diller with my husky, mucus induced voice. For the most part I dealt with the illness fine and I only had one crying meltdown Saturday night when I was feeling the worst and we only got a few hours of sleep, but that is how it goes. As is typical when I do get sick, I lost about 5 lbs in the past week. I am now within spitting distance of my pre-pregnancy weight. This is actually not a good thing as one really shouldn't be losing that much weight in one week, especially while breastfeeding. Plus, I should be keeping on a few extra pounds for nursing. My milk production has been affected by the illness and weight loss at a time when the kid is really dependent on me for hydration. What also sucks is that you really have to watch which medications you take while breastfeeding because of the effects to the kid and the milk supply.
Thank goodness Roger wasn't sick when we were at our worst and took care of his sick family. But of couse, he is sick now. I think by tomorrow I'll be ready to start tidying up the house and cleaning out the sick. For now, Linc and I are still keepin' cozy at home in our jammies, sleeping a lot, taking steamy showers and baths, and generally trying to recover. We're skipping swimming class today and getting more rest. I need to try and work tomorrow. I haven't worked in over a week! April 15 the plight of the one hit wonder?Anybody else catch this story about Vanilla Ice getting arrested for beating up his wife? What a LOSER. It isn't the first time, and apparently the domestic fight started because his wife went out and bought a new bedroom set. He is total trash. It is a tragic tale of domestic bullshit where people got heated and things escalate. What is worse is that I wasn't concerned about her well being. I found myself more concerned about the fact that I might, on principle, have to stop singing Ice Ice Baby at karaoke. It is one of my all time favorites to sing. It is one of those songs you just gotta love because everyone knows it and can sing along and you can really get into the tune, gesticulate, and dance around in the silly Vanilla Ice fashion. And of course I have to sing it any time Mark wears the "If you have a problem" t-shirt. But I am feeling like I have to boycott the song now. SUCK. April 01 Do You Let it Mellow?I used to be vaguely disgusted by 'letting it mellow'. I agreed with it on principle, but couldn't be persuaded to implement the approach in my own household. I remember it being a big thing in college, but I just couldn't get past the potential for splash back. Whenever I've observed that someone has let it mellow in a public setting, I use another stall. If I happen upon the mellow while in a friends' home I usually add to the mellow and then quickly remove the evidence with a quick depression of the handle. I remember discovering that my boss lets it mellow at the office and being a little grossed out by it all. People at my kwoon love to let it mellow. Given this background, it is with great shock and a bit of pride that I must announce that we've been letting it mellow the past few weeks. It started mostly because the kid's room is near the bathroom and the commode is noisy because it perpetually runs unless you jiggle the handle. But now that I am letting it mellow I am feeling quite environmental and proud. We save water! Rog has always been a proponent of letting it mellow but he doesn't have to worry about the splashback. When I am home alone (or in the middle of the night) I like to push the envelope with the mellow. How mellow is too mellow? Close the lid and there is no such thing! With the kid, I've been trying to think of ways to minimize our household's footprint. This is a way for me to feel like I save some water given how many additional loads of laundry I do each week. But don't worry. We don't let it mellow when guests come over, nor would we expect our guests to let it mellow. But it made me wonder...do a lot of people let it mellow in the privacy of their own home?
|
|
|
