Puppy Practice

I am sure this doesn't completely fit the definition of normal. But Steph from Adventures in Babywearing was asking for submissions for International Babywearing Week, and I laughingly asked about dachshund wearing since I've been threatening to use Audrey as practice.  Steph lol'd and told me to do it...and that was just the motivation I needed!

I chose the most complicated carrier (and the easiest to wash), and went with the sleepy wrap.  I have to say, the motivation was helpful because this thing usually perplexes me, but within a few minutes I had it wrapped up and ready to go.  Audrey was an eager participant (because anything that puts her close to my face pleases her to no end)...however, that meant that getting a decent picture was incredibly hard as I was trying to smile and show her, and she was simply trying to lick my nose.

In the end, I persevered.  G was laughing at me because I was all, "Oh wait, we're not supporting her neck enough" as I adjusted the wrap.  I'm wearing no make-up, my hair is pulled back and I'm exhausted...kind of like a normal new mom.  And I finally got this wrap down with a month to go!

 

*EDIT* Everyone always comments that they'd love to see more puppy pics...sadly, we try.  But as you can kind of see here those 2 have a chronic case of "wiggly butts" and nearly all photos turn out blurry!

It's 4:44 a.m.

My husband is sitting/lying on the couch next to me.  He's been ill all night, something we've never experienced before.  He hasn't had the flu since he was a senior in high school.  It's the time of day when all is silent, still.  The niece is downstairs sleeping, Grandmama is dreaming away, and my parents I think are finally asleep (although they aren't feeling well either).  I'm wide awake.  For once it's not from a lack of sleep but rather I curled up with G at about 8 because he wanted me to, and fell asleep.  I got 7 1/2 hours and now it's the wrong time of day to be awake.  It happens.


It was my mother's birthday yesterday.  She's always like a kid on her birthday, wanting her gifts right away, nearly clapping with the excitement.  I'll have to post photos of everything later as my camera battery has died and the charger was the first on the list of "things we probably shouldn't have forgotten."  I took her out to lunch for Mexican.  As usual it was unfortunate that my brother was the topic of the day.  He's a jerk, and to my knowledge didn't call my mother to wish her a happy birthday.  Oh, nor did he call these 2 days to check in on his daughter.  He also got pissed that her mother called and wished my parents a merry Christmas from her and my niece, but didn't call him.  As my maman and I discussed, he didn't call his daughter on Christmas either.  


I need to vent, and if you don't want to read, don't.  I've tried really hard to not talk about this on here.  Mainly because I kept hoping he would change, turn out different.  Where did my little brother who would spend hours playing outdoor imaginary land games with me go?  Hell, where did the annoying brat from high school who loved to sing and wanted to teach go?  Instead I'm left with a sad impression of a formerly great person.  Instead I get to see his actions rip my family apart, with him accusing my maman of attempting to steal his daughter from him.  No dear, you're giving her away.  You don't call to check on her, you spent less than an hour with her on our "Christmas" with her, and we haven't seen or heard from you since.  Two days off and you chose to go with your girlfriend and her son rather than spend the time with your daughter.  It's sad.  I always assumed you would be a good father, instead you are an embarrassment.  A member of my family that I am trying to ignore.  You don't deserve her, and she never notices when you go.


My niece is a blessing from God.  I truly believe he made her so wonderful so that this whole thing would never taint her.  She doesn't notice when her father leaves.  And as a comparison, twice today when I walked away she started crying and wouldn't stop until I came back.  When she's here we focus on her.  She's going to be incredibly spoiled, but I am loving every second of it.  The first night she was here she woke up at 12:40 and didn't go back to sleep until 3:30.  We played for nearly 3 hours, making her fly through the air, singing to her.  We even e-mailed her father and my maman.  I enjoyed the sheer exhaustion of it all.  Of getting to drift back off to sleep curled up with her.  I wasn't irritated that I lost those hours of sleep, rather I was grateful to have had that time with her.  My brother is missing all these great moments and there will be no way to get them back if he ever wakes up from the land of selfishness.  


She's incredibly smart, watching everything we do.  After I made kiss-y noises at her I began to giggle when she immediately tried to imitate me.  In less than 10 minutes I taught her how to pucker up her lips and make a kiss.  Her favorite trick of the week has been fake coughing.  She was coughing (for real) and I imitated her.  Now it amuses her to have me cough after her, so we go back and forth until she's giggling.  She's learned to say "ta-da!"  and she thinks my husband is the biggest sucker in the world.  She knows he will hold her until his arms fall off, and she utilizes that knowledge to the best of her abilities.  She has no fear and takes of crawling to the edge of the bed, only to turn and roll the other way.  She jabbers incessantly and I'm working on getting her to say "bye bye."  My heart is so near bursting that I cannot imagine how my brother doesn't make her the number one thing.  She's so easy to love.  I should know, I was hoping I wouldn't even like her, now we spend most days pretending we're plotting a grand kidnapping scheme that involves the Swiss guard.  


She will not be tainted by this.  She will go untouched.  Her mother, my maman and I will make sure of it.  She will have all the things she is meant to have, mainly lots and lots of love.  And she will grow up never knowing all of this.  He'll have to answer to her someday, but only as a blank to be filled in.  Never because she wasn't loved enough.  We've got that part covered.

Up In The Air

In 2 months we'll be back in our hometown visiting family and friends. Two months. Kinda freaks me out, if I'm honest. It's been over a year since I've seen my mom, almost a year since I've seen my baby brother, and over 2 years since I or Garret have seen anyone else. Which makes it where things are going to be crazy busy when we do go home. We have family and friends to see (listen up people, if you have any events you want us at, let me know....I am gonna make a schedule for us!), a car to buy (we're thinking of getting a Honda Civic.....anyone have an opinion on them?), stuff to pack up, dogs to deal with. It's going to be a roller coaster, the time will fly by I am sure.

Two months and my life is going to change dramatically. We're desperately hoping for a day job (and plan on fighting for one if at first it's shift work). We'll find out in August if G has made Staff Sergeant. We'll be moving from sheep country to a bigger city (which I am whoa thrilled about!). And we'll be eventually starting our family.

Which is where we are at now. Stuck. Trying to decide when the best time for us to start a family would be. We both want a baby now, but there are a lot of factors playing into our decision. My weight loss is one. I kinda plateaued, and now am working harder to lose more and be healthier (if I could only quit making yummy french bread, that would help). And I am loving being able to run again.

We've also been told about all the amazing things there are to do in Baltimore, and how much fun we are going to have. Which leaves us with the question, will we be able to do all those fun things with a baby? If we lived near family we would be able to work out some nights to have them babysit so we could go out. But moving to a new city, having to start over with new friends, I think unless we really hit it off with some people, I might be too terrified to leave the baby with anyone. New mom thing I guess.

The problem is it's breaking both our hearts. It's a huge decision, and both sides have appeal. G works a crazy schedule which oftentimes leaves us exhausted or running errands when he is home, so as much as the blog constitutes our outings, we've lost a little bit of the romantic time together. We were looking forward to having a more normal schedule to plan some things like taking a cooking class together. On the other hand, we're as ready as we'll ever be to start our family and move from the 2 of us to a little family of 3. And if G doesn't become a Daddy in the next year and a half I think I will seriously have to watch that he doesn't try to adopt a child on the sly and bring them home like a lost puppy. Seriously, he's a sucker for babies!

So that's what's going on here in our household. So many emotions. Excitement, confusion, anxiousness, and hope. Yes, we're looking to the future with hope.

Planning For The Future

Well, G and I have been talking a lot about babies.  And how within the next year or so we would like to start a family.  We both know babies are expensive as all get out, so we've been brainstorming ideas to make it more reasonable (which mainly will include me not going crazy and needing every gadget and whatchamacallit out there).  And I figured I would take to my blog and ask if my readers had any ideas for ways to make a baby more affordable.  We've already come up with ideas to save money in an account for the future.  But are there any ideas that worked for you?

I know some other blogs I read have talked about buying used furniture and sprucing it up.  And also, many seem to only finish the nursery months after the baby arrives (which makes perfect sense since they sleep in their parents room during the first few months).  Please let me know of any tips, ideas, etc.  It's a big thing, and we want to plan right!