Baring It All

It was two weeks ago, at Storytime, when I was sitting in my seat in the back row, while The Lime sat on the carpet with the other kids. A mother abruptly got up from her seat in the front, with her daughter in her arms, and started walking away from the group. Vomit? Poopy diaper? Tantrum? I wasn't sure what was going on. She plopped down in the aisle seat of the row I was in and without hesitation, whipped out her boob and the kid latched on.

"Whoa!" was my initial reaction. "Am I really seeing this?!"

I don't know why it caught my attention and wouldn't let it go (it's like a bad accident...you just have to look). I nursed The Lime from day one until he weaned himself at 15 months. I pumped like a cow, and was very open about it. At first, I was shy about nursing and would prefer to do it in a room with just him and I. But after I got used to it, I was more than comfortable to do it in public...just with a cover on.

Because who doesn't have a picture of themselves nursing their children?

And I think that's what got me; she didn't use a cover.

I know what's going on under the covers yet I prefer to not see the actual boob or the child suckling.

It's natural, I know *rolls eyes* but so is sex and you (hopefully) don't see people doing that in public, with or without covers.

The most awkward part of the whole thing was when we started singing, "We are the Dinosaurs" and marched around the room, having to walk right by the lady. My heart went out to the dads that attend, who may or may not have minded.

Not just 1 cover...I have 2!

Taking Over

LaVor and I agreed early on that we would not be a "bed sharing with kids" couple. It's our space and The Lime can snuggle with us in the mornings but there's no sleeping kids allowed. That means that The Lime's floor has become our bed when he has a rough night. It's fine, for the most part, until we wake up the next morning with a sore neck.

LaVor was out of town this week and I hate sleeping alone, so I crashed on The Lime's floor. It seemed to happen within minutes of me falling asleep last night but he began crying, most likely from a bad dream. Despite my attempts to soothe him, he wasn't having it. So I brought him on the floor with me and we fell right back to sleep. Then I woke up at 2:00 with a face right in mine and my head off the pillow but his on. I also had a small piece of the blanket while The Lime was nice and cozy. I got an extra blanket and pillow and set up my second space right next to The Lime, only to wake up an hour later and my pillow was again no longer mine. I had to re-position The Lime numerous times throughout the night, all the while shivering because my new blanket was not as warm as my initial one.

When I woke up, The Lime was sleeping like he should - on his pillow, with his blanket, in a vertical position.

When I went to wake him up, he had made a 180 and was completely discombobulated.

And for that reason, we do not allow children in our bed.

It's a Small World After All

I think it's safe to say that I'm aware of things (except when I zone out while I'm driving), I pay attention to details, and I'm always listening.

So when I'm out and about and I recognize someone, which happens often, I'm not surprised.

The only thing is that the other person probably has no clue who I am.

For instance, today at the mall, The Lime was playing on the mechanical cars and I see a woman walking to Mrs. Field's. In my mind, I'm thinking, "Oh! There's my sister's ex-boyfriend's wife." It freaks me out, quite frankly, because it makes me wonder if people do the same thing to me.

Or like at my work Christmas party on Friday night. I was coming back from the bathroom and had to pass the bar, where I saw a girl that was in my sister's ward. Although we're friends on Facebook, only for business purposes, I doubt she recognized me.

Or maybe even the time I was out and texted my sister, letting her know I had seen her pen pal from the fourth grade (20 years ago) and boy had she changed.

Creepy? A bit. Amusing? Yes. Should I find a new hobby that doesn't involve blogstalking? Probably.

Until then, consider me a firm believer in the six degrees of separation.

From our visit in 2010.  Is the song stuck in your head?

My [Clean] Little Secret

I just spent over an hour folding laundry, one of my least favorite chores. I don't mind separating, washing, or drying clothes (even hang drying), but I'd love some folding fairies for Christmas.

It probably doesn't help that we have an empty cradle in our room, that The Lime used once or twice (he hated it), therefore leaving us with an easy spot to just dump the load (gross). Unfortunately, after one load is dumped, another one is added and so on and so on. Until we get to the point where we have little to no clothing in our dressers and it takes me all night to fold the darn things.

As I was bringing the piles out to the couch, so I could find the task somewhat enjoyable as I watched taped episodes of Teen Mom 2, you would have thought it was Christmas. The Lime gasped with joy as he saw blankets and clothes that have been MIA for weeks. And he also has socks that fit so he doesn't have to try to stuff his toes in the "baby socks".

The sad thing is, is that a normal load of laundry would take me MAYBE 10 minutes to fold. You would think that at some point, my mind would *click* and I would choose the smaller, less time consuming chore, than waiting until I absolutely.had.to.fold.the.clothes.

I might have found a New Year's resolution.

The mountain of socks, waiting to find a match

Advent - Year 5 - Week 2

With a lot going on this Christmas season, on Sunday evenings, the entire family decided to skip our tradition of celebrating Advent as a whole.

The idea didn't seem to bother me until I saw my sister's blog, and their photos of their little family celebrating Advent, and I got really sad!  So we agreed to do it together the following week.

You can definitely tell that it wasn't our traditional Advent; naked children, mediocre desserts (the main one was AWFUL...makes me so mad when recipes are gross), no wreath or candles.  But we still had fun and now The Lime says, "We sang that!" whenever we hear a Christmas song on the radio.

Restored

I loved visiting my Omi's house up in Fort Bragg. She lived on an acre and had a patch of redwood trees in her front yard that we called "The Forest". We would play house in there for hours, with little sections of trees divided into the different rooms.

The lot next door had an old, abandoned barn on it, with a horse named Buttons. We would stop at the grocery store, while driving through town on our way to Omi's, to pick up some carrots to feed to Buttons.

Omi's home was lovely and a place where we spent many vacations. Her upstairs was a huge loft where we slept on her navy blue flowered sofa bed. Her bedroom was also upstairs, where we watched slides and played in her walk-in closet. She had pictures adorning the walls and resting on her dresser, she had an adjustable bed that I'm surprised we didn't break with how often we raised and lowered it, and she had a turquoise rotary phone on her nightstand that I played with often. I was in love with that phone and went as far as asking her to leave it to me in her will.

With much gratitude, I didn't have to wait until she passed away to get the phone. When she moved in with my uncle several years ago, she divided up her possessions and the phone was my gift.

The twin I found on Etsy

I.LOVE.THIS.PHONE!

About a year ago, Jared was over and The Lime was playing with the phone. I was telling Jared how much it meant to me and as soon as I finished my sentence, CRASH! The Lime had pulled the phone off the table and it broke into several pieces. Although an accident, I was SO upset. I picked up the pieces, went into my room, and cried. LaVor came in and told me that it was just a phone, but it wasn't just a phone. It was something I admired my entire life and now treasured.

Well, it sat on my dresser for months and months and months, in a box, while I contemplated what I should do. I went as far as googling it and ended up finding an exact twin on Etsy. Unfortunately, the girl had already sold her phone and I was shucks outta luck.

LaVor suggested I just go to Home Depot and buy some adhesive and glue the thing back together. But I was hesitant, as it isn't your typical plastic phone, but Bakelite.

After being inspired by a plethora of TAP Plastic commercials on tv last weekend, I finally decided to go in and see what they had to help. The girl that helped me wasn't sure what type of plastic it was so she tested it. Testing plastic? It was new to me, but I'm glad she did it. She suggested an adhesive, I bought it, and was on my way.

She said the adhesive needed to be applied very thin, as it would streak the outside of the phone if there were globs of it. She was right.

As soon as I got home, I glued my phone back together, and despite some hairline cracks, we are back in business!

The Lime is excited too because he thinks he can play with it again. But I am keeping it far, far away from his little hands.

One Step Closer to a Big Boy

The Lime will be 3 in about six weeks. I'm not surprised, just sad that my baby is becoming a big boy, more and more each day.

His 3T pants are beginning to flood on him, his vocabulary is expanding, and he doesn't freak out when I leave him. And now, he went pee in the toilet, standing up.

We've been talking up the potty training and he's getting excited, especially for the Cars undies.

A few weeks ago, he was standing in the bath and said, "Here we go!" Next thing I knew, he was peeing. He now pees every time he's in the bath/shower. This is actually a good thing, as he's getting used to "the feeling".

So when LaVor said he needed to go to the bathroom tonight, The Lime followed behind him saying, "Me too!"

We went into the bathroom, where he stood on his little stool, and I told him to remember the feeling from the bath. A couple toots came out and then a steady stream followed. Both of us squealed with delight.

Looks like my plan of potty training during Christmas break might happen sooner.