6:19

6:19. Six. Nineteen. AM.

That is what my clock said this morning when hubs came in and plopped a toddler in my bed. He was up getting ready for work (early shift at second job) and apparently thought that the burrito needed to come in bed with me.

Ten minutes later, he starts poking and kicking me, and I realize he has no paci, which helps soothe him back to sleep if he wakes up. So, get up, get paci, give to kid, go downstairs, try not to kill husband, let dog out and feed him (Leroy will start whining the second hubs leaves the house for some reason if he's still in his kennel), and go back up to bed.

I didn't get back to sleep until 7:30, which was superb because the burrito decided to wake for good at 8. Yaaaaay. Ah well. It was a mom's group gtg day anyway, so playplace for breakfast it was!

And of course that brings us to naptime - he's not taking it well these days. This weekend he was gated in his room and played with his books and blocks for an hour before falling asleep. Great, whatever. Past two days? Oh, the screaming. It's what we've always done, pick whatever toy you want to take with you, let's go upstairs. Nope! Not having it today or yesterday. I had to carry him up and put him in his bed, and yesterday it was about 45 minutes of alternating between crying, yelling "let me outta my room mama," and letting out these awesome banshee-type cries, which if he was in danger would come in handy, but in a townhome all they do is alert the neighbours you may be attacking your child and CPS should be on speeddial. ::repeat:: Yaaaay.

So, a new timer or clock is on our list of things to procure, and he can henceforth go to his room for "quiet time" if necessary, if he naps good (he apparently passed out after only 15 minutes of screaming today), if not, fine, but I need a little bit of time alone if we're going to keep up this work schedule that hubs has going.

*sigh* I miss these days

My weekly list that is turning into a once-a-year list, oops.

Total weight gain/loss: ah crap, this had to be the first category didn't it. I'm at a total of 16 lbs gained, and 4 lbs away from my "I don't want to cross this" line. I really need to stop going for bagels.

Maternity clothes? I was in mat clothes by 10 weeks this time. I'd like to rock some more dresses too, but I need bike shorts or spanx to deal with those babies - one word: chafing.

Stretch marks? The ones on my thighs are back, but I haven't seen any on my belly...yet.

Sleep: IT'S TOO DAMN HOT IN PA TO SLEEP. SEND ME A BIGGER A/C UNIT AND THEN WE'LL TALK.

Best moment this week: um...getting ice cream? oh wait, the Burrito started "talking" to the Pecan this week. It's pretty cute. He leans over to my belly and goes "hi baby!" in a high, quiet, squeaky voice.

Movement: so much. hiccups abound, as do the occasional kick to the right side. I'm pretty sure she's punching my left pelvic bone and kicking my right underboob at the same time - is she running out of room or something?! that's impossible, I'm sure, because as I stated above, 4lbs away from my previous-giving-birth weight. And she's not going to top 8lbs. RIGHT, little girl?

Food cravings: chocolate cake. salads with ranch dressing.

Gender: it's a girl!

Labor Signs: lots of fun BH, since about 20-some weeks I've been feeling them I believe.

Belly Button in or out? Shallow, but still in.

What I miss: doing any activity that involves reaching my feet.

What I am looking forward to: floating in a pool, once the damn thing opens. I'm way too big for the baby pool at this point. I'd kick the poor Burrito out just sitting down.

Weekly Wisdom: stop eating, dammit!

Milestones: I will be getting a double stroller this week! yay!

The genius that is pregnancy brain.

So, I have the big ultrasound (anatomy scan, and also where you can find out the sex of the baby if you would like) in April. April 18th, to be exact (or so I thought on Monday)... I went looking for the card with my appointment info on it, and found it at precisely 10:55 Monday March 11th. The April appointment info was on the back of a card listing my MARCH appointment...

Wait for it...

Which was listed at 10:45 on Monday March 11th. Pure. Genius. They should bottle this so people could prank their friends, like putting ex-lax in brownies: "lol, you just drank that! I put pregnancy brain in it. You'll be confused and forgetful the rest of the day!!!1!1!!"

SO, then we were supposed to go to a mom's group playdate at local restaurant with playplace for the kids. There are several of these around, but I thought when glancing at the website for the mom's group, I had the right location. It's pouring out, natch, and we actually get there FIVE MINUTES EARLY (this never happens), and order some breakfast. I look around - it's now 10:00 - there's no one here that even remotely resembles a mom with or without a child. Hmm...at 10:05, I asked them if they could make my order to go instead, because I have a sinking feeling that I picked the wrong location. Check the website: playplace, across from tarjay. Ok, we're here...WAIT...both of the playplaces in the area are across from tarjay...and the city name is not where I live, it's the nearby city, which means...I HAVE THE WRONG ONE!

I post a comment in the mom's group saying I'm going to be about 15 minutes late and we leave, eating our breakfast in the car on the way. Get to playplace #2. Couple of moms inside, with kids. I ask if they are from the mom's group. Um...no, what mom's group? Fuck. Apparently I was right the first time, it's just that everyone else was late. See? More proof of how the universe wants me to be late. *sigh* I posted again in the group, something about how today just wasn't going the right way, I'll take an actual "rain check" and see them at the next playplace playdate. I just didn't have the heart to go into the story, although I'm sure just writing "pregnancy brain" would suffice.

No we are not watching toy story again.

So, I joined twitter. I know, I know, I'm probably the last person in the world other than my toddler to join (and I'm not so sure he's not already on there...) - be gentle with me. @TBlueTeapot Currently, I am working up the courage to leave the house, with its glorious heater, and get in my car, with its tiny-ass heater, and get groceries. They're calling for snow on Friday, so all the bread, milk, and eggs will be gone tomorrow - ahh, PA. Toddler is asking every half hour to watch Toy Story. (toy sto-yee? toy sto-yee?) Wish me luck.

New Mayan Calendar: I take over the world.

Day One: accomplished. (That would be day one of my new existence as a stay-at-home mom, or SAHM.) However, it wasn't a new routine since we're going on vacation this Friday - it's "let's try to ascertain what exactly we'll need for a week in Disney with three families and taking the train to Florida and getting a rental car." Soooo, my dreams of being a Pinterest-worthy SAHM are squashed, for now. I did fold one load of laundry so far. I also went to Old Navy and Tarjay. Super-mom! Lolz. Bright side? I think I have two Christmas presents left to purchase/make, and I am aiming for cookies sometime this week, which should be interesting. I also have a pinterest craft, but it may fall by the wayside in lieu of packing. Because, really, what do you pack for a totally different climate when it involves a train for part of the time? hmm. Kid survived, all is good.

Making a comeback

at least, that's what I hope to be doing. We have a plan: for me to morph into a stay-at-home mom (SAHM for those of you not hip to the mommy-blogger lingo) by October of this year, at the latest. nervous{squee} We're working on ways to save money and cut down on spending, including saving energy, less eating out, and family cloth. Totally kidding about that last one, guys. I don't mess around with the miracles of modern indoor plumbing and its accoutrements. Anywho, I hope to come back here more frequently, with more updates about life with toddler, both while working and while working my arse off at home. To remind myself, here are some of the things I had planned to write about, but didn't get to yet: - the burrito's feeding habits - recycling toddler toys - trying to get him to sit on his potty - buying him a baby doll - his love of babyfirst tv - his budding vocabulary, including his immense use of the Klingon language (entitled "From dog to doch") - climbing everything and using the windowsill as his own personal gymnastic beam In closing, here is a picture of the kid to keep you coming back for more:

Home Safety - "childproofing"

What, I haven't been here for months, you say? Pssh. I'll just ignore that for now and come back to it in another post... ::distracts you with glow sticks::

I pull out pages and dog-ear magazines to be saved for later - things I want, rooms and colors and fabrics I like, crafts to be made, recipes to test. Pinterest has been great for this, as now I can recycle those magazines and pages and my husband will not have to burn the house down (oh wait, it was me who threatened that...). I'm totally kidding - we will NOT burn the house down, lurking insurance people.

So I ran across one that I just had to write down, as i can't really pin an article, and secondly - I have no idea from what magazine it came. Oops.

Home Safety - here are the suggestions it makes:

ENTIRE HOUSE
Safety locks on windows
Outlet covers
Smoke & Carbon Monoxide detectors
Corner protectors & edge cushions
Cord Shorteners
TV/DVD guard
Safety gates
Tips - keep batteries and purses out of reach. Keep space heaters away from baby.

We don't have extra safety locks on the windows currently because it's winter and they're ALL locked regularly. The only ones he can get to would be our bedroom windows, and I won't leave him in there unsupervised unless they are locked.
Outlet covers, smoke & CO detectors - CHECK. And Hubs changed the batts a few weeks ago.
Corner protectors, edge cushions - the only thing I can see him running into that has a sharp corner is the TV stand, and there is currently a bag of clothes from Hubs' SIL living there. I can't really think of any other sharp edges in our house. We don't have a fireplace, so I don't need to block it off with 18 baby gates (you know I would).
Cord shorteners - the only place he is left unsupervised where there are cords is the living room, where we have a lamp on the end table, our computer chargers, and the phone plugged in. Since we're geniuses, we put a baby gate in front of the whole thing, lol. And, I remixed it with the help of some velcro straps to make NOTHING stick out.
TV/DVD guard - you're looking at her. Er, listening...reading...her?
Safety gate - (see cord shorteners.) We have one at the basement steps, because right now the heat is on and that door is open. We have one at the end table, and one at the top of the stairs which can be used either in the hall to keep him away from the bathroom, for when we have the space heater on there before we give him a bath (it gets shut off if he is in there), or can be used at the top of the stairs with a little finagling - has to be VERY tight.

NURSERY
Screw-in door stoppers to keep doors from closing and locking
Finger pinch guard on doors and toy boxes
Crib rail teether
Baby monitor

Since our house was built in 1925 (yes we've had his bloodwork done, no signs of lead), most of our doors don't actually close. Getting the dingy, dust-hoarding carpet out and Killz-ing the bathroom was a priority when we bought it, lol. I have a planer, but didn't get there yet. So, the screw-in door stoppers to keep them from locking? Not necessary; we don't have any doors that lock other than the front and back. And the story of the front door locking is for ANOTHER POST ENTIRELY.
As for finger-pinch guards? he's learning now to close doors, and how they work, and I am of the school that he should learn what happens and not have to keep a contraption on the door until all of our (present and future) kids are in college.
Our toy box is actually a Longaberger laundry basket which we re-purposed for that, so no shutting of any lids there!
Crib rail teether - He hasn't chewed on his crib yet, hopefully he won't! But if he does, I will revisit this topic then, because our crib has a ledge for a rail.
Baby monitor - check. Got that one before he was born. Still use it if he's playing in his room or taking a nap somewhere throughout the house.

KITCHEN
Cabinet locks & drawer latches
Appliance knob covers & latches
Stove & burner guards
Tips: Keep cleaning products and sharp objects out of reach. Keep a list of important and emergency numbers handy. Never seat baby on the counter. Turn pot handles to the back of the stove.

The only cabinet in our kitchen which is currently latched is the under-sink one which has the cleaning products, trash bags, and vases. All of the other cabinets (two total) either have tupperware, which I let him play in, much to my husband's chagrin - I think it's totally cute when he sits in the cabinet and bangs plastic lids on things and sees how many ice cube trays he can fit in my iced tea pitcher. he's a toddler. it makes him happy. Or, they contain his food, bibs, and cups, which is semi-impossible for him to open currently due to the construction of the cabinet (1925, remember?) and the type of handle - cup drawer pull. There are only two more drawers within his reach, the muffin tin/cookie sheet/cake pan drawer, which I'm *pretty sure* I'll hear the second he pulls something out, and the pot holders and bread drawer. No harm there unless he tries to smother himself in pot holders. Or pretzels and graham crackers, which are currently the only things in my bread drawer, because I'm THAT person who keeps her bread in the frig. And spells refrigerator frig for short.
But I digress. Appliance knob covers - all of my appliances have no knobs within his reach - controls are on the back of the stove, and it's a glass-top; dishwasher buttons are on the top of the door, and there's a lock.
Stove & burner guards - I will have to look into something like this for when he gets a little taller, because we do have a glass-top and if he goes to put his hands up there it may hurt him. Obviously I've been teaching him "HOT" and not to touch, but y'know...toddlers.
Emergency numbers - on the frig, and I have a "babysitters' info sheet" with a dry-erase marker too.

BATHROOM
Toilet latch
Bathtub soft spout cover
Nonskid tub mat
Cabinet locks
Childproof containers
Tip: Keep all medications securely out of baby's reach.

I'm going to check on toilet latches this week, and am getting a whale-y cover at tarjay as well. We don't need a nonskid tub mat yet, because I'm still using his tub - it's ginormous, but uses less water than filling the whole tub, and has an incline so I can rinse his head w/o getting water in his toddler eyeballs.
Cabinet locks - we only have one cabinet in our bathroom, and it is currently held closed with a jack-o'lantern hair tie. SOOOO, yes I need to put latches on that one.
We have all of our medications in the kitchen in our medicine box in the cabinet above the sink, so he won't be able to get to them for another year, and hopefully in that time I will have taught him that climbing on the counters is NOT GOOD and will get you a seat on the TIME-OUT BENCH and possibly NO DESSERT. Or something.

Well, hopefully you have enjoyed that foray into my shopping list for this week, heh heh.