Running through Nap Time SOS

You know the song in the movie "French Kiss," that Meg Ryan sings while she's getting up her nerve to get on an airplane; "I hate Paris in the springtime, I hate Paris in the Fall, I hate Paris..." etc. Well, I sing/chant my own version of that sing while I'm out jogging. Sometimes it's out loud and all of the bikers, runners, and dog walkers sharing the trail with me look at me funny, but mostly I sing it in my head. It goes like this (with moderate variations on the theme): I hate running in the springtime, I hate running in the fall, I hate running when it's rainy or it's sunny....etc" I don't know why I sing it because I don't hate it as much as I could or as much as I used to. I don't particularly like to push myself to do it, but I can usually run for about 1/3-1/2 of my walk so...I'm not trying to over do it. The gagging, painful, "I can't Breathe!!" scenario isn't my style. I'm much more for the jog until it gets almost to that point, slow down and walk...and maybe I'll start jogging again before I get home. Maybe.

My daughter is having a sleeping issue. She's teething a lot, so she likes to just be distracted from it from sun up to sun down. So, nap time and bed time are not her favorites. I was going to get her to try sleeping in her crib, but the teeth thing means she's getting me up 2-5 times a night again and I hate crawling out of bed to pick her up and do what's necessary and then spend the next 45 minutes to an hour trying to get her back to sleep in her crib. Usually her persistent crying wins out. After speaking with one of my friends about it, her daughter is 3 months older than mine, she shared some valuable information with me: 9-12 months is not usually a great time to try to get them to sleep someplace new. They are aware of where mommy and daddy are, they are usually teething, and would prefer to be someplace they KNOW is safe. So...temporary hold on the crib sleeping idea. Getting her to sleep is still an issue. Crying, even while being held, is a main theme. Yesterday I got her to sleep in my arms while she was sitting in my lap leaning back against me, it was great! She slept for almost 3 hours! All that is totally awesome...except that I couldn't get up. I was lying on my back with her on top of me, with only one book within reach. No cell phone. No husband and home. No one I could get in touch with. It was so ridiculously laughable. Nap-time SOS

Restaurant Etiquette

My husband and I just had the worst experience we have ever had while dining out this weekend. We are not hard to please in a restaurant as we have both worked in food service in our lives and understand some of the 'back room' stuff that goes on that most guests don't know about. However, this was, by far, the worst dining experience we have ever had. We had a lot of errands to run so we went to a restaurant near where we were doing most of our errand running. We've eaten there before and usually have a decent dining experience, but this time we were put next to a large table of very rude people. I almost asked to be moved because our daughter was with us and she's prone to being a little loud and I didn't want to ruin their lunch out if she was. Wouldn't have mattered they were talking so loud that my husband and I couldn't even have a conversation, I could barely hear myself think much less him, and our daughter's squeals were totally drowned out by their obnoxious laughter and conversation; which was, at one point, about one of their daughter's having a boy in her bed all night at 14. And on and on about what she might have been doing. In detail. Loudly. Then they went on to have an in depth conversation about their first sexual experiences. All the while using curse words and loud guffaws...

I'm happy that they were having such a great time. However, their great time shouldn't make my, or any one else's, dining experience be terrible. It didn't help that our waitress came to our table a total of 3 times. I'm not sure if she just wasn't very experienced or was totally wrapped up in catering to the one, large, table behind us. I don't get why people can't be AWARE of other people around them. All it would have taken for us to have a good time would be for them to have lowered their voices enough that my husband and I could hear each other. Gah!

Cold Feet

This is for all the wonderful busy bodies out there who think they know what's best for babies in regards to their feet. Going out to and from the car without socks and shoes on is not going to harm their little feet. If it was truly cold enough for a 5-10 minute trip to do some harm they would be bundled up in a snow suit anyway. Furthermore, if your child is learning to walk going barefoot is best. Babies who are barefoot while learning to walk, walk faster and are apt to walk properly. Babies who are in shoes all the time are apt to walk slower and not walk properly. So there.

"As your baby starts to walk, let him go barefoot as much as possible. Babies use their feet and toes to grip as they are learning to walk. When shoes are necessary, flexible ones with protective, but soft soles are best." This is a direct quote from a pamphlet at my Pediatrician's office. I just wanted to set the records straight for all of those wonderful busy bodies who keep stopping me in the stores or at the post office and giving me lectures on my baby's "poor cold tootsies...yes you tell your mama you need socks and shoes on." Gag. I'm ready to throttle the next one who tells me that.

Project Update

I'm not doing well in the project realm. I keep starting new things; I'm finishing them as I start them (mostly) but I keep doing new things....darn!

Cross-stitch: 1 stocking almost done, 2 stockings in the 'worked on' stage, 2 projects (from high school...) that I may finish someday, and 1 project that I haven't started (I'm not counting it since I haven't started it). Total: 5

Crafts: Hanging the letters for my daughter and painting two picture frames.
Total: 3

Sewing: 2 jackets needing sleeves, 1 pair of pants, 1 skirt, 1 jacket to finish completely, 1-2 pairs of pants needing hems, 1 dress needing a zipper, 1 dress in the pattern stage, 3 quilts still needing piecing (I added one...) 3 quilt tops to send off to my friends to quilt (THANK GOODNESS FOR FRIENDS, I no longer need to count these since they will be in the mail tomorrow!) 3 Halloween costumes for this year (not started but needing to be done all the same). Total: 15

Total in All: 23 Hooray! Progress HAS been made!

I did end up giving away the rest of my beading so I wouldn't even have to worry about it anymore. I also decided that some of the pants I was going to hem didn't really suit me anymore so I'm not going to bother with them either; they are going to goodwill.

Dishes and the craptastic apartment

I know that dishwashers are becoming more and more common place in our lives and they really do make doing the dishes easier, but there is something very calming and relaxing about doing the dishes by hand. Of course, with a 9 month old, there really isn't enough time to do that because you have to watch them every second of the day. I really need another baby gate. Okay, what I really need is to not be living in this crap hole apartment anymore. Seriously, the walls don't match up well enough to even PUT a baby gate where we need them. When we moved in over a year ago I pushed to the back of my mind all of the things that were bad about this apartment because I did not want to face them. Now that other things in our lives are going wonderfully all of the bad things are coming back to haunt me. For instance, we have spots on our floor that are 'squishy.' There's no other word for it. I told the apartment managers the first week we moved in because I did NOT want to fall through the floor. Someone came over to take a look and proclaimed that the floor was sound, but the sub floor wasn't installed properly and we'd have to move into another apartment in order for them to fix it. Since I had JUST finished unpacking most of our stuff I wasn't really interested in it. Now, of course, I just keep finding more squishy spots. I hate it. You walk and the whole floor bounces with you. When I'm dancing around with the baby I pray that my foot doesn't fall through the floor. But if it did I would want two years worth of rent money returned to me. As it is I am going to refuse to pay a cleaning fee for the carpet because they are going to have to rip up all of the carpet to fix the squishy spots anyway (or they should because it's negligence not to now that I've pointed it out). So, I'm not going to pay for something that they should fix. Hopefully, they are good enough of a management company to fix that sort of thing and not try to charge us for it. If not there will be words. Many of them, in fact. The kitchen is kind of crappy too. I have two drawers. That's it. Two. What can you do with two drawers? Not much. Our stove is exactly the same as the one we had in our condo that we replaced because the oven stopped working (this one works fine, but it's old). The refrigerator is old too. It hums and today made an interesting rattle hum noise. I'm not going to say anything, if it dies the management company might put in a new one. The bathrooms in this place are frightening. They are small and the water molds. It's very odd, but the water in the bathrooms seems different than the water from the kitchen and it molds; easily. EW!!!!

Not to say that there aren't good things. The bedrooms are large, the closets are huge, and we have a washer and dryer. For the price we're paying that's actually pretty good since I've been searching for new apartments and none in our price range have washer and dryers. That sucks.

My Week

I realize that I have not blogged in quite a while. In my defense I was out of town and then recovering from being out of town. So there. I surprised one of my very best friends at her baby shower last weekend. It was in Montana, so my daughter and I hopped on 3 airplanes, traveled for 9 hours and totally shocked her. It was a lot of fun. Being there and seeing her I mean; the traveling to and from was not. Every time I get on an airplane security gets worse for me. This time not only were my bags checked, but I was frisked. My daughter was also frisked on the way home. I realize that TSA has a job to do and it's supposed to keep us all safe; but darn it it makes it harder and HARDER to travel with an infant! With that in mind I'd like to rate a few airports:

Salt Lake City - by far the BEST airport to travel through with an infant. They have family bathrooms (in logical places), they have changing stations in the women's restrooms as well, they have at least 3 playgrounds for kids to roam around in with toys and a 'house' to play in, and they have a map of the airport placed in logical places that indicate different shops, where you are...etc. My favorite one to get stuck in with an infant by far.

Phoenix - oh Phoenix, how I loathe thee! I will say that I didn't get to spend a ton of time in the Phoenix airport because I was rushing through security there. Again. Be wary oh travelers of Phoenix! If you have to change airlines you must go through security again; after catching a bus to a different terminal (make sure it's the right bus since they have three different ones that take you different places). I will also say that although Phoenix claims to be 'the friendliest airport' many of the people I ran into were rude, not helpful, and downright condescending. I'm a mom traveling alone with an infant in a carseat and no one helped me get onto or off of the bus. The drivers just sat there semi-glaring at me to move faster. Grrrr.

Atlanta - not too bad. As a large airport there are lots of amenities, as well as lots of places to get lost. The only thing I can think of right now is that their elevators to get to the trains are not very noticeable from the upper level.

Missoula - you're small and tiny; yet you felt the need to frisk the baby. Odd.

Denver - Thank goodness for the train because if you had to walk the whole way with a baby, your arm WOULD fall off.

So, after all my airplane adventures I get home to discover that my daughter is teething. Again. Still. On top of that she has a cold. It's been a fun couple of days. I found Baby Vicks Rub today. Too bad I didn't have it two days ago. My poor daughter, she has two teeth in on the bottom. One on the top that has cut through and I initially thought was one of her front center ones that was a lot farther to the side, but now that I've looked in her mouth again I've decided it WAS one of the side ones. I can now see that she has her front two and her other side one on the top all trying to come in at the same time. No wonder she's been fussing and screaming!

Oh, and projects....I'm doing better...and worse. I started and finished a project for my friend's baby shower, so that leaves me still at 28. I started and finished a project for my husband's cousin's wedding in May; again still at 28. I'm scrapping all of my beading, so that leaves me at 27 (hooray!!). I started, and have mostly finished, a really cute dress for my daughter; back at 28.