Tuesday, June 22, 2010

New addition


I've talked about our cat. We also have a late-middle-aged border collie mutt who may well be the best dog in the world. She's moved across the country three times and had her position in the family userped twice by beings that poop in their pants. She's horribly neglected but would never think to complain about it, especially now that said beings are dropping food on the floor regularly. Between the two, I was pretty sure we were done with pets. Fact was, once the kids came we sort of sucked as "human companions" (I have an awesome story that goes with that term. I'll tell you sometime. But not today.) Turns out though, that I was wrong. And this time the pet is much more my speed. Minimal care required and doesn't shed, bark, meow, wake me up, or mess up my furniture.








Meet Snaily


We've kept him alive for a week now, including an unfortunate accident that rendered him a "differently abled" snail. So far so good...

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Silver lining

Today I got to experience the clusterfuckery of our local DMV in all its glory. An hour in line, to get a number. Another two hours to talk to a real live person.Surrounded by all of our city's finest. I had no idea we had so many clothing minimalists and "all natural" (read: no deodorant or bathing) citizens. All while Sydney screamed her discontent. She barely stopped when I whipped my boob out, in line, and fed her while simultaneously filling out form 43568654oh-who-cares. So I finally got to the counter, only to find out I couldn't get my stupid f-ing license today.

Silver lining? I didn't have to immortalize this freakish post-baby zit for the next ten years on my ID photo. So today? Total win.

Friday, June 11, 2010

I can't stop myself

When we found out we were having a girl, I had a moment of panic (in Target, of course) because I just couldn't get excited about all the clothes. I had no desire to buy every tiny dress and pair of low-rider jeans I saw. It was all just so pink, and I was sure this was a sign of my inevitable failure as a girl's mom. Yes, I was hormonal. Why do you ask?
Since then I've gotten much more used to the increased pink in our lives, although it's still not my favorite. And I do have a soft spot for the ruffles on the butt. For the most part, though, I'm pretty temperate as far as the "girl stuff" goes.

But for the life of me, I can't stop doing this...

I expect to see this look often over the next 18 years

Even better...





It gets worse...

Seriously, I need an intervention.



Monday, June 7, 2010

Big brother



One of the questions I get most is "How's Eli doing with the new baby sister?" I'll admit that I expected him to struggle with it. He's been the only for almost 4 years, and he certainly hasn't wanted for grown-up attention. But he's done great. He loves Sydney, loves being a brother.

I don't know if it's new, or if I've just started to notice it, but Eli talks a lot. Constantly. Seriously, the kid is talking at least 95% of the time that he's awake (and sometimes even while he's sleeping). He's got questions and stories and memories and thoughts and ideas and on and on and on. I'll admit that some of the time I just nod my head and say "uh huh" because he is ALWAYS talking. I love that he's got so much to say, so I try to see the sweetness and keep my irritation in check. One of the things that helps is that when he's not talking, he's singing. Just to himself. In fact he prefers if you don't acknowledge that he's been singing. He used to sing "Hey Diddle Diddle" and you could tell how amped he was by how fast he sang it. Lately he's been singing rodeo songs (including "Rock and Roll Girls" by John Fogerty). He also has two songs that he sings just for Sydney, one that he made up and one that he learned from Abba. The rodeo songs are sung loud and are the soundtrack for whatever he's doing at the time but the Sydney songs are sung quietly and he stops whatever he's doing to sing to her. She just watches him with big eyes. So sweet.

The kid's doing awesome. He plays in his "spaceship" everyday. He's obsessed with all things Toy Story and rodeo. He can count to 30 but still skips over 16 every time. He logics his way out of more arguments than I want to admit to. He tells people that they're "deep in his heart." He's still totally crazy, but also totally awesome.