Friday, January 31, 2014

I Blame Wally Lamb

Reading a book a month was one of my 2014 goals. (Which I now realize I haven't even posted about yet, and at this point probably won't.) I didn't used to need to make reading one of my goals, but I guess that's life.

Anyway, my tablet recently took a nosedive. Yeah, yeah, paperback books, blah, blah, blah. But I like my tablet. It probably wouldn't hurt my baby as much when I drop that on her as the big ass books I read could. (I dropped a hardback copy of Breaking Dawn on my own head once and nearly saw stars).

Luckily (but unluckily for Piper), for Christmas I had asked for a paperback copy of We Are Water by Wally Lamb. I love (love, love, love) his writing. The way he writes from the inside of female characters minds is nothing short of astounding. If only my own husband understood the inner-workings of women's minds so clearly. I'm not very imaginative, but always get clear, vivid pictures from his prose. I love the way characters from some books come back in others, just for little cameos. I get a little jittery inside, like I know a secret only a few others know, when I see old characters show up in new books. I feel like he does it as a shout out to his most loyal fans.

And I'm one of them.

I've read all his work. Even one of those lame prison essay compilations he put together while teaching workshops at a correctional institute. Wally, if you're reading this, sorry about calling them lame.

So as I said, for Christmas this year I asked for a hard copy of his latest book because I like to have hard copies of all of his books. I usually only buy the hard copy after reading the e-book and falling in love. Hmmph, I say usually like I actually do it regularly, but I don't. I'm rarely that "spoken to." Fortunately, I can know I'll be spoken to in advance by Lamb's book, so I just go ahead and buy them in hard copy and try not to concuss whatever child/pet is in my lap while reading.

But the man can't write a book that's less than 900 pages. (Except for once) And that's kind of a commitment for the girl with two kids and no real time on her hands to use for reading.

So here I am, on page 300 of We Are Water, which is only 1/3 of the way through and I have today to read the other 600 pages. Not. Happening.

As such, I've broken my first goal for the year in the first month of the year.

Obviously, this is Wally's fault. Ya know, and not mine, for choosing to watch 2 seasons of the Pioneer Woman when I realized Food Network was on Amazon Prime. (Why is food TV so damn soothing?!)

Maybe his latest offering can count for 2 months since it's larger than the average novel? I hope so. I'd hate to be a failure so early in the year. If I'm not done by the end of February though, I'll have no one to blame but myself. ;)

Also, I promise I'm not a stalker.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Difference

Recently, I heard an article on NPR about why it's hard to make friends in your 30's. You can read it here, but I've cut and pasted my favorite excerpts:

"It was like one of those magical blind-date scenes out of a Hollywood rom-com, without the “rom.” I met Brian, a New York screenwriter, a few years ago through work, which led to dinner with our wives and friend chemistry that was instant and obvious. [...] As Brian and his wife wandered off toward the No. 2 train afterward, it crossed my mind that he was the kind of guy who might have ended up a groomsman at my wedding if we had met in college. That was four years ago. We’ve seen each other four times since. We are “friends,” but not quite friends. We keep trying to get over the hump, but life gets in the way."

"As external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other, said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology and gerontology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college, she added."

"External factors are not the only hurdle. After 30, people often experience internal shifts in how they approach friendship. Self-discovery gives way to self-knowledge, so you become pickier about whom you surround yourself with, said Marla Paul, the author of the 2004 book “The Friendship Crisis: Finding, Making, and Keeping Friends When You’re Not a Kid Anymore.” “The bar is higher than when we were younger and were willing to meet almost anyone for a margarita,” she said."

We've been here in "purgatory" for over a year and a half now, and I've had a revelation.

The difference between civilian and military friends is this: Civilian friends don't need you.


At a regular duty station it's not unreasonable to invite a new, potential friend to come along to try whatever festival is on that weekend in a nearby town. People come over for dinner. People invite you to lunch (you know, so if things go south they/you can always beg off saying you have to get home for nap). You're at someone's house on any given weekend for no reason other than they invited you over and that is how you make friends when you're a million miles away from your old ones.

Military friends need to make new friends because they're probably new, too. And if they're not new, their close friends probably just moved away. And if neither of those are true, they are just nice people who know it's hard to be new and know Army life is easier with Army Family nearby. Here, everyone is where they've always been, around the people they've always been around, and therefore don't have the drive to make another friend - which, as I showed you earlier, isn't exactly easy in the first place. There is someone here that could easily have become a close friend if circumstances were different. But having kids/jobs/spouses make it hard to get together if you're not especially motivated and people here don't have the kind of motivation - because they don't need new friends. It's not wrong. No one is at fault. It just is what it is.

But all this becomes painfully evident when I admit, with a somewhat heavy heart (and bruised ego), that not one of our "civilian friends" came to Grant's birthday party. Only one of them had RSVP'd, so I wasn't pinning all my hopes on everyone coming - but in my experience, people outside the military are pretty bad at RSVP'ing so I was still hoping some of them would come and show my little boy how much fun birthday parties full of friends can be. But that didn't happen. And I suppose it was just as well, because after the cupcake and sangria debacle we would have run out of cake anyway!

I'm not a person who gets their feelings hurt easily. And I don't get embarrassed all that easily, either. But in this case I was both. I went through the trouble of planning the party, cooking, decorating, I even had Mandy separate the red, yellow and orange candies for a centerpiece for heaven's sake (color scheme, ya know... - and it looked awesome, BTW!). I don't mind doing all those things for my family and closest friends (we still had a full house of guests), and for my sweet baby's birthday, but I felt a little silly when all but one family that came was in on the decorating and the tear down. I felt a little awkward that the following Sunday at church I was met with a million more apologies (okay, maybe just 3) and "were going to come, but..."'s, all in front of the others, and I am CERTAIN there were sideways glances exchanged when they came to the realization that they ALL missed the party. I was gracious. (I don't have any right to be mad, and I'm not - people have lives, and I TOTALLY understand. The story just serves to prove my point.) And luckily, the others that came are great kids that he loves to play with and close friends and family he doesn't see often enough - and he really wasn't any the wiser. But he will be someday, and I hope it's when we're back near Army Family again - I trust military friends with my babies hearts a little more easily, I think. They know it can be harder than it looks to make friends and feel a sense of family on days that should be spent with you're whole family but can't be. They're the only ones who COULD understand.

Well... Or this could have happened anywhere because maybe we're just totally and completely unlikable and I haven't gotten the memo yet.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Yesterday

We have had the plague in our home since MLK Day. Until today, the kids literally hadn't left the house since the prior Sunday.

Erik got hit first, the hardest, then Grant, then me (thanks to Zicam, I was only sick for a few days). Yesterday was the first day I felt human enough to get up and get around - seriously, this was a BAD strain of cold. So I get up, get in the shower, start shampooing and bam. Baby screams BLOODY MURDER. Then G starts beating on my shower door because the batteries in his Record-A-Story book are out and he really needs them replaced.

Baby screams again.

G comes in and tells me he told her to shut up.

WHAT?!
Baby screaming further.

I give up and get out.

G, with genuine interest: How was your shower, mommy?

WHAT?!???????

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

A Daniel Tiger Birthday Party

My Sweet little Grant turned 3 a few days (okay... weeks...) ago and all he requested was a Daniel Tiger birthday party with a "BIIIIIIIIIIIIIG cake!" and that's what he got. To be honest, he wasn't going to get a "biiiiiig cake" because cake decorating is irritating, but when I screwed up his cupcakes the night before, a big cake is what he got (after Erik went to the store for baking mixes...)

A ridiculously huge thanks goes out to my sweet, one-of-a-kind, m&m separator (see O the Owl centerpiece) and photographer extraordinaire BFF, Mandy, who literally went through hell and high ... snow (it was blizzard-ing at her house near Ft. Drum, NY the day before) to get here for G's party, and then snapped these great pictures out of the goodness of her heart so I didn't have to (and so they'd be prettier...).


















Saturday, January 18, 2014

November Things Fell By the Wayside...

...and don't even ask about December!

I haven't been doing a great job of keeping up with Grant-isms lately, and I'm so irritated at myself for that!

The other day I was looking at old posts when I couldn't sleep and came across the one about how G read his Noah's Ark book (here). It's so sad/funny/life affirming that so much has changed in such a short amount of time. I'm so glad I started keeping up my blog again. I can't believe what I had already forgotten.

So I need to get back in the saddle. And here we go!

G: My Daddy not like sprinkles.
S: Oh?
G: My Daddy a Soldier. Soldiers not like sprinkles.

G: This clementine is too squirtie.
S: There's worse things in life than a squirtie clementine, don't you think?
G: I doubt it.


G: I really like this new Christmas music, Mommy.
S: This isn't Christmas music, bud.
G: That not HoHo singing?
S: No... It's Johnny Cash.

G, upon seeing Erik's tattoo: Nice birdie, Daddy!


G: Mommy said only naughty people ride motorcycles.

G: I miss Sar'nt Hall. He's a hard worker.
E: Oh yeah?
G: Not like my Mommy. She stays home.


G: I'm pretty nervous about going to school.
S: Why?
G: You know Mary Had a Little Lamb? It's fleece was white as snow! And everywhere Mary went, the lamb would go too! And it followed her to school and made the children laugh and play, laugh and play. (incredulously) AND THEN THE TEACHER TURNED IT OUT!!!
S, dying of laughter: You don't have a lamb, so I'm not sure what the problem is.
G: IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!!!!!!!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Sangria + Baking

I swear I only had one glass.

Annnnnd then a half of another glass while I baked Nutella cupcakes with my BFF for G's birthday.

And then around 10:30PM, Erik went to Wal-Mart for a couple of cake mixes (I requested two, just to be on the safe side...).

While he was gone, I had to throw out my muffin tins.


 
 
Remind me not to try a new recipe the night before Grant's next birthday party.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

One Size Diapers

Cloth diapering makes me feel like I know a big secret that only a few select others do. I don't know why not everyone does it. It takes a bit of trial-and-error, but after a week or two, it's smooth (and cheap, and blow-out free!) sailing. Thus, my mission to educate the masses.

A few weeks ago, I posted 5 Reasons Why I Love Cloth Diapering, which can be read here. Today I bring you 5 Reasons I Love One Size Diapers.

First though, what is a One Size (OS) Diaper?

It's a diaper with snaps along the front that allow you to size it to fit your baby properly. Because of these snaps, they can fit from about 7 pounds all the way up to about 35 pounds. Imagine buying one set of diapers for your child(ren). Ever.

Why do I love them? Let me count the reasons.

I love them because they're sizable. You can choose one "size" snap to accommodate the thighs and another snap or Velcro (very dad/grandparent/babysitter friendly!) to accommodate the belly - and this is after you have set your "rise" snaps to determine your diapers "size".  You can choose one row of "rise" snaps for your newborn and another for your toddler - all on the same diaper! Or buy the completely snap/Velcro free kind and have a completely customizable experience.

My Favorite: Bum Genius Freetime, (on medium rise).
 Click here to shop for yours!
I love them because they're adorable! Why look at Elmo or Bert and Ernie (or whoever the heck it is on everyone's disposables) when you can look at your baby in "her" color? Oh, my baby is the only one whose "color" has already been determined? (It's purple, by the way.) Then look at your baby in YOUR favorite color!

I love them because they're cheap! OS diapers pay for themselves in spades since they fit most kids from infancy to potty training, and can then be reused when you have another kiddo, sold, or given to other families. Every time I change my baby I think "I just saved 35 cents!" and each time I look at a laundry basket full of clean diapers I feel like a millionaire! It doesn't take long to make back your initial investment.

I love their convenience! When the "Polar Vortex" roared through here last week I didn't have to drag my kids out into the cold to stock up on diapers. All I had to do was put on a pot of soup and snuggle with my babies in front of the fire. Similarly, I love that all I have to do is push a couple of buttons on my washing machine and I have a whole new "box" of diapers at the ready!

And last, but most certainly not least...

I love them because of the footprint they DON'T leave on our Earth. I'm not the crunchiest mama out there, but I do think about the Earth we are leaving behind for our Little's. Did you know it takes a disposable diaper several hundred years to biodegrade? Can you imagine the piles and piles of rotting diapers we're going to have laying around our planet in just a few years? Cloth diapers really help to alleviate that problem, and one size diapers are even more environmentally efficient - because instead of buying a set of diapers for a newborn, a small set, a medium set and a large set, you can just buy one OS set. You'll save money, natural resources and a little bit of the Earth, all at once!

Oh! I already said they're adorable, right? Because they are.

*This post contains affiliate links*

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Three Years? (!!!)

It seems impossible to me that it has been three years ago since my little G burst into the world.

How did I live more than 25 years before him? What did I do with all my time?

Someday I'll get around to posting his birth story (it's written, but should probably be edited for his sake, before it's posted up for posterity and all the world to see). But until then, here are a few of the things we love most about our sweet GiGi.

1. He's so sweet and patient and wants to include everyone in all he does. He very often asks "You want to join me?" to whomever is around as he plays or reads.

2. He's a great sleeper. We toss him into bed at 7:30 and he's good until about 8AM. Yes, I know how lucky I am.

3. He's so stinking smart it astounds me.

4. He can be reasoned with. Do you know how much easier this makes the tantrum phase?

5. He is, hands down, the most HYSTERICAL person on the planet. And he knows it.

 
Happy birthday, sweet baby (BTW, if you heard me call you that, you'd say "I not a baby, I just a boy!") - you make our world go 'round!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Suuuuuper Late...

Pipes turned 4 months like 4 weeks ago. And apparently I forgot to take a decent photograph. But here's her stat card, just the same (because I know you've been holding your breath)!



(TYPO ALERT: That should say she can put in her own binky if he's NOT sleepy. Oh, if only she did it when she was tired, too...)

Friday, January 10, 2014

Caught on Camera

 
Go ahead and judge my plastic table cloth. Way easier than washing every other day. ;)
Christmas bed head.
 
The carcasses of Christmas Present(s)

When I was a kid, my dad used to follow us around with a black leaf bag and we had to put our wrapping paper right in after opening a gift. It made me CRRRRAZZZYYY (and hello, OCD much?) so I LOVE that Erik doesn't mind that I leave the mess for a few hours after we are done opening. Nothing says fun like a huge mess in the living room!


Sweetly playing together, with the toy kitchen from Auntie and Uncle Mike.
BTW, those are new clothes behind them, not a pile of laundry I use to decorate.

 

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Magwet Cars and a Doctor Kit

That's what G said he wanted from HoHo.

Santa came!
 
And lo and behold, he brought a doctor kit!




And Mom and Dad delivered on the "magwet cars" (trains that magnetize together)
                                     

It was a good year to be a little boy.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Chistmas Catch Up...

...may never happen.

I have a billion pictures to sift through from Grandparent visits to friend visits to New Years Eve. Resolutions and revelations are swimming in my head to be written about, but who has the time?

Erik is going out of town for a few days which leaves me with house cleaning and birthday party prep for G's 3rd birthday "bash" that is rapidly approaching (and for which I have done minimal prep work), plus a close friend arrives for a visit on Thursday. Maybe she can help me figure out how to make a Daniel Tiger Trolley out of poster board.

And did I mention that the kids and I are all sick or getting sick from a long, fun, and apparently germy weekend with OTHER great friends? Small price to pay for long nights spent playing well after bed time, I suppose. Unless you're Piper. A cold when you're 4 months old is a big price to pay for anything. She seems to be the least afflicted of the three of us, hopefully it remains that way.

Oh crap, that reminds me that I need to do her 4 month stat card (11 days late... if I get it done today... which I probably won't because I have 57 mounds of laundry to deal with or my husband might divorce me... Although, here I sit, just the same...)