New Blog

I've started a new blog - Orbgirl Stuff! I am constantly on the internet, in fact, I spend most of my free time on the internet. My new blog, www.orbgirlstuff.com is going to focus on things that - I love, make my life easier, or must have. I'll still writing about our life and whatnot over here.

J is for Jax

I have decided to stop using the letter J to refer to my son and I am going to call him by his nickname. Also, I am trying to figure out what I can call my husband on here as I don't really like referring to him as T. The only reason I started doing this in the first place is for a little privacy. A little thing called google has made it possible for anyone to find anyone. And we want a little privacy. From people we know. Not from total strangers, you see, because that makes perfect sense!

Anyway, back to my husband and his name - his name is so unique that when googled, he makes a first page appearance and he hates it. Just recently, his old college girlfriend found our family photo website and sent him an email via the website. It was a benign message wishing congratulations on getting married and breeding and saying she was quite happy herself with family life. No big deal really, but the only way she could have found our website was by googling him. Now, I don't really care if an ex-girlfriend wants to catch up or stumbles (don't know if you could call googling an ex stumbling) onto our personal photo website, but I really don't want them reading my blog. And so for now, T will known as T.

Nap Bandit

Yesterday afternoon after I put J down for his nap, I was tired myself and decided to lie down on the couch and see if I could get a nap in too. Twenty minutes later, just as I was reaching that warm fuzzy place, the all too familiar cries jolted me back to the cold, crippling, almost asleep, awake state. Proving how I have NEVER been able to do that 'sleep while the baby sleeps' business.

This is what leveled me in the early days of motherhood. Each time I would lie down and attempt to sleep, whether it be for a nap or nighttime, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep. This anxiety would start to build because I knew as soon as I fell asleep I was going to get woken up and it was going to suck so bad. Suck worse then not sleeping, or so it seemed, and thus, a vicious cycle ensued. Me needing to sleep -me unable to sleep because anxious about being woke up from sleep - me FINALLY falling asleep, but woken up only a short time later due to the amount of time I was awake and anxious about that very thing! - me really needing sleep more than ever and so on and so on...

The nights are great now so it really did pass even though it seemed like it never would. J sleeps about 11 hours at night with no waking that requires intervention from us and it is the reason I AM ALIVE TO WRITE ABOUT IT. Seriously, I need my sleep. My brain does not function right without it and I have no doubt that I was probably suffering from some type of postpartum anxiety disorder.

The Plague, Part 2

I am getting over a stomach virus that woke me up at 3 AM on Thursday night. Ohh puking, how much fun you are! The worst of it lasted about 24 hours and then there has only been residual body aches and weakness. But that 24 hours, f-ing hell. T came home early from work on Thursday after feeling nauseous almost all day and with a massive headache. J had diarrhea twice that day so I was putting two and two together and getting a little nervous. But then T came home and started to feel better that evening so I didn't think about it again. Until 3 AM!

The first time we all had this nastiness was about a month ago. J had diarrhea again and then the next evening after a huge Chipotle burrito I wound up in the ER. I swore I had a intestinal obstruction my stomach hurt so bad! I received fluids and morphine (yummy!) and was sent on my way. But shortly before we left, T started feeling 'something'. Wouldn't you know it, he woke up a couple of hours later racing to the bathroom, which he did not make it to in time. ( For whatever reason, he thought it best to head for the bathroom downstairs. ??) He got, ohh I don't know, within 3 feet of the bathroom door and then SPLAT! So gross. We had to toss J's infant car seat as it was covered and his new crawling tube which was awesome. The worst of it was the first 24 hours, but again it was on a weekend and that SUCKED. J never exhibited signs of feeling bad, but his diarrhea continued for almost a week and then finally cleared up.

Both times we were lucky that Uncle K was able to watch J for us during the first day of being sick both times. J loves his Uncle K so it was no hardship for him. Thanks, Uncle K!!

Bruisehead

My little guy has hit his poor head in the same spot 3 TIMES in the last week, most recently this morning before this picture. He seems to be having a little trouble, 'getting down' from a standing position. Dang, bruiser!

***I changed the original photo I had posted because I am experiencing differences in color vibrance and brightness when I upload images. The pictures on the right, especially the one of the boys, looks washed out. They are way brighter when viewing in Lightroom or even Mac Preview, but for some reason not so much on here. I am having to overtweak the color etc. more than I think it should be so it will look ok on here. Anyway, I think I was able to do that with this picture but not the other one.

Trying to Be a Gym Rat

I have been mentally trying to get back into going to the gym, but it has been tough. First, we all had a stomach virus that knocked us out for about a week and then J had an upper respiratory infection and I had a sinus infection. But, yesterday we made it! And, it really felt great. But, just as I was finishing my cardio and about to start weights I was summoned by the daycare pager (in case they need you to attend to your kid). That thing scares the crap out of me! It's their new thing so they don't have to come track you down and it feels like - HEY YOU, COME GET YOUR BABY. He is cutting his top left tooth and I think that was bothering him as he was pretty upset and splotchy faced when I got him.

The last time we had made it to the gym, the pager went off. We had gone later than usual that day, during the early afternoon. J was the only child in there besides the daycare ladies' own children. When I went to get him he was sitting in the middle of the room on the floor and the ladies were about 10 feet from him. I can't really blame them as there was an explosion in his diaper that didn't stay in his diaper. That was fun. AND the last time we were there as that was the beginning of our stomach virus.

I love working out and going to the gym. Ideally, I like to do an hour of cardio and 30 minutes of weights and then 5 to 10 minutes stretching. I just don't have that luxury anymore. The daycare is only free for 1.5 hours/day but that's irrelevant as J never seems to last that long. It is really hard for me to get motivated to go knowing my workout is not going to be what I want it to be. My body physically won't respond to only 30 minutes of cardio, it just won't. I will never see the results I want that way.

So we are headed there now, let's see how today goes. I got this awesome Biomega Hoodie from Puma this weekend as a little motivation. I am going to try to link to it so I can practice all that linking bizness.

Cali, Here We Come...

T and I have been contemplating spending a month in Palo Alto. This week we almost signed a lease for a condo we would rent for a month. The guy was expecting the lease signed on Friday morning and on Thursday evening we discussed it at great length and made a final decision Friday morning not to do it. Yuck, I feel bad because T worked him really hard to do a 1-month rental for us when he really wanted at least 3 months or longer AND we had basically verbally committed to him. Ohh well.

T really liked the place because it is within walking distance of anything we would need. I just wasn't feeling it though. We did, however, find a place yesterday that looks very promising and is only 4 blocks from the other one, so still viable for walking to where ever. And, it's a house with a yard close to a park, AND cheaper. We are just waiting to find out exactly when it will be available...probably closer to the end of March and I am pretty sure we are going to try to get it. 

Why Cali? Well first, T has some business to attend to out there. Second, we are thinking it would be nice to escape the last bit of winter here. Third, my best friend lives in SF, only 30 minutes away! Yippee! Fourth, we are trying to still be adventurous. One thing we talked about before we had J was how we hoped we would still be able to travel. And finally, we are in search of a place to live that we both love. 

T loves Boulder, and is not a fan of Denver, and I am the other way around.  I spent 7 years in Denver and loved it, but I can't convince T to move there. We won't be moving anywhere anytime soon because we own too much real estate in this area and the market is crap right now. But, I think we will eventually move away from here. I like cities and T likes smaller college towns so it's not going to be easy!