Old Sucks

So I had a birthday last week. Ho hum. Aging is for the birds. I just finished getting ready for bed and slathered on myriad creams and goop to try to prevent the inevitable. WHY does this happen?! If I am already this saggy and wrinkled what am I going to look like at 50?! Eye wrinkles, sun spots, double chin, boobs that point to the ground, saggy eye lids, and my least favorite: the extra stomach. Until about a year ago I didn't know what the extra stomach was. Here is my best description. No matter how hard you suck in that flap on your lower abs just hangs there. You know, that portion of your stomach with the stretch marks between your hip bones and below your belly button. So gross. Why can we not get better looking with age? I sure wish someone had told me that when I was 16 and complaining about being "fat" that I was the best I was ever going to look so I better just shut up and enjoy it!

Cream of Wheat

Chris loves and loves to feed Connor old school Cream Of Wheat. I am fine with that. I don't want to eat it but if they do, more power to them. The only thing I ask is that the finely ground powder disaster that is cream of wheat is contained within a large plastic bag. It is not a good sign when your Monday morning starts off by opening the pantry door to get your son breakfast only to be showered with a nasty dusting of cream of wheat that fell off the shelf. Time to vacuum already at 7 am.

Older

Well...another September 23rd, another year older. I had such a fabulous day thanks to my sweet family and friends. Chris and Connor let me sleep late and then woke me up with a big pile of presents. Chris is so great about making birthdays special. I had lunch and a pedicure and Chris even came home early to spend some time with me. He surprised me with a dinner at Eddie V's while Lea Ann watched Connor. He also hired my nephew Zach to install two new fans upstairs so now every room has a functional air circulator!! Woohoo!!

For the past few years on my birthday I always feel like things aren't quite right. I always had crazy expectations about what I would be like a certain age. When I am 21 I will be engaged. When I am 23 I will have a child and get my first promotion etc. This year I feel like I am completely so far beyond what I ever thought my life would be like at 28. I sometimes don't know how it is all possible. I have THE husband. I don't deserve him and he is so wonderful to me. I have the sweetest, funniest little son who challenges me and cracks me up every single day. I have parents and sisters who I love and who will do anything for me. I have several friends who I am pretty certain would come bail me out of jail in the middle of night if I called (although I don't intend for this to ever happen). I mean really...what else could a girl ask for?

Now if I could just do something about the belly flab and eye wrinkles that seem to keep getting worse.

On To The Next Hurdle

Last night our lovely child decided he was no longer going to sleep in a crib. Chris put him to bed and a few minutes later he walked out of his room. Again, Chris but him to bed, took his pillow away so that it could not be used as a step, and then caught him walking down the stairs a few minutes later. This morning Chris and I were awakened by Connor walking into our room saying, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii." So with great hesitation and dread we decided to take the rail off of his bed to convert it to a toddler bed.

I am the lucky one who got first try at putting him to sleep. He was acting super tired so I decided about 12:45 that it was time for the attempt. We read a few books and then I told him that I would read him one more book but he had to lay in his bed. He picked out "Dinosaur Roar" and we walked to his bed and read it. I handed him his book and told him it was nap time. The second I took my hand off of him he jumped out of bed and followed me to the door. This series repeated five times before I finally realized he was not going to stay in the bed long enough for me to get to the door. I ran to his door and yelled night night. I sat on the floor outside of his door holding the door knob for about ten minutes while he screamed and cried and tried to get the door open. He gave up and I heard him walk to his bed and get it. He read his books out loud for another ten minutes or so and then the noise stopped. I was too afraid to move so I sat outside his door for another few minutes and said several Our Father's for good measure. I am shocked! So please cross your fingers, hold your breath, knock on wood and pray that tonight is as easy.

My Kid Didn't Kill Me

Well, Chris is back!!! Wahoo! Now that he is home and everything is all right I can admit that I was not only scared for him to climb a mountain but I was also scared to be alone with my child for five days. Really...I was afraid of my almost two year old.

I think I am a pretty good mom (most of the time) but by about 3pm I start to count the minutes until Chris is coming home. I honestly just run out of things to do with Connor. We play blocks, puzzles, cars, coloring, play dough, go for walks, kick the ball, go to the park (weather permitting) and even end up driving around the neighborhood if it comes down to it. He wants to be constantly entertained and I just don't have it in me sometimes. OK, most of the time. As soon as Chris gets home from work Connor is a new man. He gets excited and chases his dad around until it is time to go to bed. Hearing the garage door is such a relief.

That being said, the prospect of Chris NOT coming home for five nights in a row terrified me. I pulled out all the stops. We went to the lake over the weekend so Nana and Papa could "help out." Aka take care of Connor so I can sleep. We had a hundred playdates. We went swimming, shopping, walking, to the library story time, to the park and even went to the gym EVERY day just so that I could drop him off at the nursery and have a few minutes if alone time. It seemed to get a little less frightening each day and I think the next time Chris leaves town I will be in much better shape. Not that I will ever allow him to try something like climbing a mountain again...ever.