My Cup Overfloweth

there are so many cute lil' stories i could tell you about the past 24ish hours. things like our son watching the twin conversation video with total intrigue, laughing along at the private toddler jokes, or that he tried to feed me a cheerio mama-bird style, mushing it down in his mouth for me first. i could tell you about going to the grocery store and how he seemed to actually think the steering wheel on the kid cart was driving the whole thing. how he lifted his hands to strangers, pleading with them to remove him from the horrible restraints of a grocery cart. that we let him out during checkout and he ran to the medicine aisle where he promptly grabbed rubbing alcohol and rolaids (i sincerely hope he wasn't planning on using them together).

but my favorite story of the past 24 hours is just a tad more adorable, though it starts off kind of gross.

jp has had rotavirus for nearly 3 weeks now (it would have been nice to know what it was in the beginning so i could have known that putting him in a restraint jacket would be the only real way to prevent re-infection). that means we've had 3 weeks of newborn-esque pooping, from a toddler.

what does that mean, you ask?

it means that he's having 6-8 bm's a day (that's bowel movements, for those of you who aren't quite familiar with poop lingo yet). but 15 month old size bm's, not the cute newborn size ones. i could go into detail, but i'll let this sum it up: our pediatrician said the easiest way to diagnose rotavirus is to ask the parents how bad the smell has been. if it's the worst they've ever encountered, rotavirus is the likely culprit.

so, 3 weeks of that.

it's finally starting to clear up some, but all of that rear action is bound to have some ill effect on sensitive skin, and i would be willing to call a kid's booty sensitive. he's getting red and raw and i know it can't feel good.

last night he had a bm in his sleep. this has happened a few times now. they're usually pretty bad. this wasn't terrible, but it took a few hours between the actual event and him waking up to realize it. needless to say, his poor little bum was red and splotchy and sad looking (if butts can look sad, which they apparently can). he just kept crying and screaming and i knew my little boy didn't feel so hot. so i brought him to our room for cuddles.

he ditched me. no lie. the mommy who has been cleaning this mess for 3 weeks, who has carefully and diligently watched his food and liquid intake and let him run around naked so he could air out. the mommy who has slaved over his health. the mommy who brought him to this bed to begin with!

he wiggled out of my arms, crawled over to daddy and sprawled out on top of his back. i wish i could have taken a picture (to my knowledge my husband isn't a fan of flashes going off in his face at 2am). he doesn't really fit on e's back because of how big he is now, so their heads were sharing e's pillow and his feet were dangling off daddy from the knees down.

and he just laid there. as though daddy radiated some kind of magical healing power through his skin, a medicine that only daddy's with butts could give. mommy's couldn't know this kind of pain.

but daddy, oh, daddy knows.

Look Out, Ladies

i'm not sure how this is even possible. if you had told me the same thing about your child when i didn't have one of my own, i would likely have laughed with you and feigned a little amusement. internally i would have been rolling my eyes and accusing you of being one of those parents who overestimates what their child is capable of.

my 15 month old knows the difference between girls and boys. and he LOVES the ladies. i mean, loves them. love love love love. tiny babies, toddlers, cougars, you name it. he gravitates toward them. he follows them around. he gives them kisses.

we went to the park with a friend a few days ago. e had gotten off work early so he tagged along for a play date where he and jp were the ONLY y chromosomes present.

7 double x chromosomes v. slides.

we may have just given him the most difficult decision he has ever faced. play or be a playah?

he managed to do both. though i'm not sure the girls knew they were being wooed, to be honest.

he taught himself how to start from the stairs on the opposite side of the jungle gym and make his way to the slides (at the very top of the jungle gym) and go down.... totally alone.

impressed yet ladies?

mommy and daddy certainly were.

i've turned into that parent. and you know what? I DON'T CARE!!!!!!! MY KID IS TOTALLY AWESOME!!!! :) the reality is that i probably do overplay his cognitive skills just a tad. and his physical capabilities, while certainly advanced, aren't guiness world record worthy (yet!!).

but the big bang theory happened to my internal organs and a mere 2 years later the product of that spontaneous combustion has climbed onto my bar stool computer chair (it has a back!), wiggled his way behind me, made the sign for food so he can steal my french toast and is now giving me a back rub (a ploy to get more french toast).

i'm pretty sure that 2 years after earth's birth she was still working on amoebas.

i'm allowed to be proud. just sayin'.

Sleeping Quarters

have you ever been to the biltmore estate? i went over a decade ago and it was stunning then. i remember giggling at the separate sleeping quarters for mr. and mrs. vanderbilt.

sometimes i envy them.

i'm sure i could convince my husband to adorn our room in purple velvet and gold embroidery. totally within our price range as a one income family in the military. clearly that's not the issue.

generally speaking our queen size bed has just enough space for the two of us.

generally speaking.

while watching a dvr-ed episode of harry's law, we began discussing our restraint of using violence against one another in our marriage.

translation: i mentioned to e that there have been a few times that i have honestly had to stop myself from punching him in the face.

e: "really? like when?"
me: "umm.... well, you've been asleep every time..."

let's talk about the olden days of yore.

when babies were teething, the remedy was whiskey. when people were fever stricken and hallucinating, the doctors poured liquor down their throats. what would warm a person on a cold winter's night when central heating and air hadn't made it out east yet? ALCOHOL.

i imagine the vanderbilts have more in common with us than fine taste in drapery.

 my guess is that mrs. vanderbilt had seen mr. vanderbilt fall "ill" so many times that she knew precisely how a night of sleep would (or rather, wouldn't) play out once the nuptials were said and done.

she knew she would wake up to find a sweaty ogre crushing her right leg, breathing on her face with unbrushed teeth while wrapping himself in her half of the blanket as well as his own (and sweating through it, might i remind you). she knew that no matter how many times she tried to frighten him into moving off of her side of the bed with her freezing cold feet, tried pinching his nose shut or lightly slapping his face, he would not budge. she was aware that she could scream at him and the screams would be unheard because his headphones would be blaring a senseless comedy channel on the aol radio directly into his eardrums, rendering him temporarily deaf.

and as a last ditch effort to reclaim her side of the bed and a few winks of sleep before she inevitably was the one to get up with the toddler the next morning, she would reel back and punch him in the chest. and he would, finally, move.

luckily for her, he would have no recollection of the domestic abuse, but she would live with the guilt for many moons.

so she just went ahead and got herself her own room.

that's my version of the story, but i could be wrong. i can't really speak from experience or anything.

Evolution

you would think by this time that good ole' darwin would have slowly and methodically eliminated the mechanisms that cause morning sickness. although i can't prove it, i'm fairly certain that morning sickness has to have killed at least one person in history.

ok, that might be a stretch.

in all seriousness, i haven't had much morning sickness. a little nausea here and there, sure. but no sickness. instead i have raging heartburn and a correlating total disinterest in food. nothing sounds worth eating when your esophagus is trying to climb out of your GI tract through a gap in your ribs while your stomach attempts to maul your intestines with acidic warfare.

or while you're cleaning the aftermath of your son's rotovirus from the carpets. i digest... err... digress...

i want to update this blog. i think about it often. but at this particular moment in time i'm eating to sustain and nourish, not for joy. and focusing a sliver of my free time on something that already has me feeling frustrated sort of defeats the purpose this blog began with. it was intended to be an outlet, a piece of myself that wasn't focused on anything but myself.

food will become my dear friend again, but until it does, i'd like my blog to evolve.

my life is overflowing with silly mishaps, the quaint and common stories associated with child rearing and an army lifestyle. the posts may not all be long and i think there will rarely be anything to learn, but i hope there will be loads of laughter and eye rolling.

here we goooooooo!!!!

Hiatus

i took one.... whoops! sorry about that! pregnancy takes its toll i suppose, along with a basket full of life's other curve balls.

so pregnancy. list off in your mind a few of the common signs of an impending birth: nausea, pickles and ice cream, giant belly, swollen feet, healthy glow, FABULOUS hair, you remember.

let's talk about pickles and ice cream. pregnancy cravings and food aversions are a riot. your life becomes a sort of personal war zone with landmines in places you couldn't possibly have foreseen them. thankfully in this war you won't lose a limb, just your lunch, if you should accidentally hit one of these bombs.

my personal landmine for the past 4 months has been meat. there have been a few other odd aversions thrown in that lasted a few weeks but meat has been consistent. chicken, beef, pork, all of it looks horrifying to me. fish is my friend right now.

this isn't any major upheaval in my life because i ate vegetarian for some time. i'm quite capable of fending for myself without one of the common meat sources and even more able if i have fish. i also seem to be craving pasta and carbs of all kinds which is working in my favor!

so let's start there, with a carb-y fishy-y recipe that i will end up using stock photos for (don't judge! a hiatus is hard to come back from ;) )

tuna steaks and curried couscous
this is enough for 2 people :)

2 tuna steaks (i have no sizes for this... just... you know, steak sized...)

per serving of couscous:
use chicken stock instead of called for amount of water
1/4t ground pepper
1/4t curry powder

mix pepper and curry into chicken stock, cook couscous according to package directions.

heat a skillet to medium high and add a T or so of olive oil
season tuna steaks on one side. i think a nice peppery rub is perfect on tuna steaks! i like to use a mix of pepper, salt and one other spice and rub it on thick on one side of the steak. throw it into the skillet (it should sizzle!) and rub down the other side. cook for 2 minutes on each side for a nice rare center.

 

like this!

I Need An Inspirational Mixed Tape

or a cd. either is fine. i don't think i have the means to play a tape... what a sad realization... let's stick with cd.

the mix needs to be filled with songs about how you can't get out of bed because you're so nauseated and yet hungry, exhausted yet restless, and how you are about to cry because you can't think of what to make your son to eat because all of the smells in the world make you turn green.

go.

i've been poor about posting, and this post won't be very satisfying. no pictures, no recipes. maybe not even food...

truth be told, this pregnancy is actually MUCH easier than the first. it's not the pregnancy that's really bringing me down-- it's the life i have during this pregnancy. i'm chasing around the most adorable 1 year old ever. i don't want to miss a moment of his cuteness and my husband is gone most of the day, so i find myself overwhelmed with domestic duties. don't get me wrong, the pregnancy is playing a role is this. my energy wears out by about noon. there's only so much you can do before noon hits, and i prefer to not spend my mornings doing ALL of the things on my chore hit list. i still want to dance with my son and try out some new foods (homemade english muffins, anyone?), catch up with friends on my social networking site, you know, all that stuff that cool, hip, young people do.

but i'm not hip. or young. i requested a mixed tape. i spend my time in my bed with husband watching late night talk shows and giggling at subtle stabs directed toward vague d-list celebrities that i still remember and think of as demi-gods.i spend my free time trading recipes with friends, reading, and knitting.

i eat cottage cheese.

and you know what? i love it. i wish i had turned 90 YEARS ago. i enjoy knowing that i can't seem to force myself out of bed NOT because i drank myself into a stupor last night while mindlessly flirting with someone that i will later find out was in fact my friend's mom who came to pick us up, but because i am cultivating a human. i like being responsible. i like that i worry that my house will be invaded by police for negligent parenting when i haven't mopped the floors in 3 or 4 days.

i like being old.

and i like mixed tapes.

Sacrifice

what do all of these have in common?

i love them. and you aren't supposed to have any of them when you have one of these:

we're having another baby!!!! time to start making food in bigger batches ;)

baby is due 8.19.2011, a day after my niece's first birthday! we're so excited!!!!!! :) :)