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Letting part of my baby go

Posted on November 20, 2008 12:05 am by TheAngelForever

Way back in July hubby and I started to have a disagreement about something with JSL. Hubby wanted to get his hair cut and I was against it. I blogged about it and told him that perhaps after the summer I would consider it since his scalp would not be as vulnerable to the sun. The summer left and JL started to harass me about the hair cut again. Note to others, do not tick off the Mama! When I am pressured into something I will usually dig in my heels and stand my ground.

Back when JSL turned one I figured that we would likely be able to last another six months IF we were lucky. Of course, I am never going to admit that it really needed to be done.

Nope, not going to do it. I still loved the soft baby hair. It was so sweet to watch the little guy twist and play with his own hair as he soothed himself. That is something I actually still do to this day when my hair is partly down.

Against my better judgment, I finally agreed to get JSL’s first haircut Wednesday night. I cringed at the thought, but decided that I was getting sick of listening to JL and other family members that were getting way too vocal about it.

During the afternoon, JSL refused to nap. After we dropped big brother off to Nana and Papa’s house we went to the hair salon. Of course, on the way there JSL fell asleep. He was so exhausted we managed to get him out of the car and into the salon without him stirring.

When we walked in we were surprised to see our favorite stylist there. She had left to have a baby six months ago and decided to come back part time. We were thrilled! She told us to just try to take the little guy out and if he slept so be it. We managed to get his hat off successfully. Please note the major hat hair!

I almost managed to get his winter coat off, but he woke up. I sat down with him and he was so snuggly. I think he knew it would pull at my heart.

Right after this I became the photographer because JSL was crying for JL to hold him. This worked out nicely. The little guy was not thrilled about being up. He just snuggled on Daddy and eventually settled enough for K to cut his hair. These photos still seem so surreal to me, but I know it is reality.

Soon after this we were headed to pick up a wheat pizza and go back to Nana and Papa’s house. For some odd reason, JSL was not in the mood to eat and just wanted to curl up with people. Eventually he started to run around again and we captured a few shots of his new hair cut.

We left it a little bit longer so ~~Mommy would not cry as much~~ JSL can still run his little fingers through it. He seems a little confused since he has to move his hands up higher to find it. Of course, I know that I will likely cry soon. Tonight after his tub his hair was not behaving and was standing up. I growled at hubby and told him it was HIS fault!

Categories:
decisions jsl milestone NaBloPoMo photos vent

Motrin Makes Mommy Mistake

Posted on November 16, 2008 10:54 am by TheAngelForever

Have you heard about the new Motrin campaign that was recently launched? Yesterday I found out about it thanks to a huge uproar on Twitter (#motrinmoms). Clearly the advertising department did not think about the consumers that they would be outraging. Nobody messes with the mommies of the world that proudly wear their children. None of us that have ever worn our child does it for a fashion statement.

Assuming the campaign has not been pulled when you read this, the video is on Motrin’s website. Just in case it is pulled, this is come of what the fast talking woman says during the promotion for Motrin:

Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion.

I mean in theory it’s a great idea.

…

And who knows what else they’ve come up with. Wear your baby on your side, your front, go hands free.

Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience.

They say that babies carried close to the bod tend to cry less than others.

But what about me? Do moms that wear their babies cry more than those who don’t?

I sure do!

These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back?!

I mean, I’ll put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain; it’s for my kid.

Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom. . . .

Last night a lot of bloggers started their campaign to boycott Motrin for not using their heads and doing research with the Moms that wear their children. Had they done just this little bit extra they may have been able to avoid the headache they will be feeling come Monday morning.

Here are two of the amazing blog posts that I have seen in my travels:

Motrin the Anti-Mom — by Christy of Shake the Salt

Motrin’s new ad attacks babywearing, insults moms — by Amy of Crunchy Domestic Goddess

Don’t Mess with Babywearers — by Stephanie Precourt of Adventures in Babywearing

Motrin Makes Moms Mad — by Katja Presnal of Ladybugs Landings

Katja was also the one that asked her followers on Twitter to comment on what they felt about the new Motrin campaign and use the #motrinmoms on Twitter to allow everyone to follow along. She was asking for feedback to make a video message to Motrin. She has been wonderful enough to put her hard work on YouTube so we can all share this. Please look at the comments Katja received in such a short amount of time yesterday evening.

Update: Katja has also set up a Mr. Linky with other Motrin blog posts here on her Skimbaco Lifestyle blog.

Categories:
customer service interesting NaBloPoMo stupidity vent video

Ponderings of a PTA Parent

Posted on November 13, 2008 9:08 am by TheAngelForever

It is official, I finally went to my first PTA meeting last night. Something came up in September and the second one was the evening that Yom Kippur started, so I did not attend those.The boys all stayed at home and I set off on my adventure ALONE. Imagine that . . . I actually managed to break away from all three of the boys!

I am not too sure what I was expecting, but it was different. Not different bad, just different. The meeting was very casual and there were about 15 parents there, one teacher and the principal. I suppose this is the beauty of a small school in a very large district. Still I felt like an outsider. I think participating more and going to meetings will help with that, yet I am not entirely sure if I want to.

After just over a year of being a stay at home mom I found that something is missing, my identity. I seem to have become NHL and JSL’s mommy. Everyone at NHL’s school calls me "NHL’s Mom" – not my name. His teacher calls me Mrs. AngelForever, rather than my first name. Sure that is technically my name, but I think of it as more of my mother-in-law. In the classroom when I was teaching I was fine with my students using it, but this is not in that setting. I love being a wife and mommy, but I also need to know who I am now that I am home and no longer teaching. I was always upset that I never stayed home with NHL when I was teaching, I missed so much that I will never get back. As hard as it is sometimes I am glad I am home with both of my boys to see them grow up.

My plan was to get a part time job to earn some extra money and get some contact with other people. The trouble is timing. By the time JL gets home from work it is pretty late. In addition to this we had to factor the time gone, money earned, and gas purchased to get to a location. In most cases it was not worth the effort and lack of family time in the evening. I would love to tutor kids in science, reading or anything else, but that is a hard area to break into.

Blogging is great, but I need actual contact with real people before possibly going to Blogher 2009 in Chicago next summer. What I think I want to do is at least get involved in an organization to volunteer and socalize with other people locally. There is something that I have in mind. It happens to be a cancer service organization that I remember my mother always being active in while growing up. Perhaps I can get her to go with me again and another friend who has relatives involved. Maybe putting this out there will actually make me move and do something.

Hopefully my need for a complete bathroom rehaul and the state of the economy will not dash the dream to attend my first BlogHer conference.

Categories:
decisions me moments my boys NaBloPoMo sahm travel vent

Plumbing predicament

Posted on November 11, 2008 9:27 am by TheAngelForever

When in the middle of buying a house, nobody ever thinks about all of the drawbacks. Do you know what I mean? Now a home owner for over four years, I really appreciate when we were living in our apartment. Those were the days. When something went wrong I only had to dial one number to report it. Something leaking, AC not working, drain backing up, no matter what I called the landlord. Ah, the simplicity!

Now, the problems are all ours. We have to find the problem and figure out who to call if we deem the problem above what we are able to work on ourselves. I love my hubby, but where JL can build a computer from scratch. . . . he is lacking in the home repair area. We have learned over the four years of owning this house that we do not try things when it comes to be electricity or plumbing issues. This is mainly because of the age of our house.

So back to where I was yesterday when I mentioned that the plumber was here. I asked if anyone wanted to guess how long he was here working.

The answer . . . . . just over 4 hours!

Can you see me panicking as the time kept going by?

Project #1 – The leak under the sink. This was "easy" according to the plumber. All he had to do was fix things that were done previously that were wrong. In doing this he had to remove more of the backing and wall going to the pipes.

Project #2 – I mentioned to him that that sink was constantly plugging up and has since we have lived here. I would venture to say this was where most of the time was spent. According to the plumber this clog was likely haunting this house for 8-10 years. He actually had to attack it from our attic. This was during lunch time and poor JSL was spooked when the snake from upstairs suddenly came out the wrong way. The snack actually came out of the bathroom sink when it should have continued down to the basement. Ooops! End product – the clog was fixed and the sink is working amazingly well!

Project #3 – I asked the plumber to look at our bathtub to see if he could give an estimate on how to fix the leaks in our nobs. Unfortunately, the parts are no longer made for our antiqued system. He explained what would have to be done to ultimately fix the problem. Basically it means and entire bathroom rehaul! You know spending $10-20K at least . . . . yikes! So as I tried to steady my breathing I asked if he could at least snake that drain and help us to delay the emergency of the situation. I was amazed at how quickly that drain cooperated. They were able to attack it from two spots and it was over.

This particular plumber bills later (he is very old fashioned, but so thorough). I sort of pressured him for a ball park estimate on the work done. Thankfully he was under the $100 an hour that most plumbers locally charge. Not too shabby, but we shall see what happens when the actual bill arrives.

Ah, the "joys" of owning a house . . . specifically an older one.

Categories:
bad news house losing my mind NaBloPoMo sarcasm vent

The “joys” of owning a home

Posted on November 10, 2008 9:10 am by TheAngelForever

On Election Day I was greeted in the bathroom with a leak under our sink. I was just sitting there and suddenly heard air and water dripping at the same time. This is never a good sign. Sure enough I looked under the sink and saw water oozing out of the pipe.

What a sweet way to have our house say good morning to me on such a monumental day in United States history. We were in a hurry to head to a parent/teacher conference for NHL and then I went to vote with the boys. Still, I made an effort to put out calls and e-mails to people asking for recommendations of a plumber. NHL suggested "Joe the Plumber" . . . . JL and I prefer licensed plumbers, so that was not a real option (*wink*).

When I arrived home I put in a call for a plumber that came highly recommended and was quoted as being reasonably priced. Fast forward to Friday. Yes, you read that right. We never heard back from the plumber until Friday morning. Sure, I could have been angry, but we were all so sick we were not really up to a plumber in the house anyway so it worked out.

When he called at about 8:40 he said he would be over in about 20 minutes. There I was standing in my pajamas with a 17 month old refusing to nap. I quickly got dressed and moved toys out of the path of anyone coming into and out of the bathroom.

Anyone care to guess how long the plumber was here?

Cue the Jeopardy music and I will leave you with this. . . . . . he fixed the sink and cleared two clogs in different parts of the house. Oh and he said he had never seen a clog quite as bad as one of them in a LONG time.