17-22 whoo i’m behind!

Well, a number of things happened in the past week, the Bull City was trampled with about 7-8″ snow which of course crippled our town for the first two days. As of Sunday, life was slowly regaining consciousness. We have been two work both days and we travelled as a family to each destination.

This was a cool thing. D and I were able to talk a little about pressing things once we dropped LG off at the sitter’s house. It is daunting to play catch up at the end of the day when you have toddler who is (rightfully) demanding your attention until bed time.

I think our extra “us” time has helped our stress levels some!

I’m continually working on the groundwork for the Avon Walk in October, I was assigned my walk buddy and I have played around with my personal donors page. I need to decide on my training schedule and get my donor list together. I hate asking for money. HATE IT. But this is a good cause and I need to put my insecurites aside and step up to the challenge. I am aiming to have everything ready to launch when I return to Facebook on Feb 14th. My part-time lover and I will re-unite!

LG is picking up more and more personality everyday. He informed us this weekend while his gramma stayed with us that I was mommy dinosaur, D was daddy dinosaur and he was the baby dinosaur. Then he “roared” in each of our faces.

The cuteness that is LG.

I hope to post pictures soon of our snow event, at which point we will be going to password protection. There is a new password and currently the Aussie Grans are the only holders of said password. If you want it, send me your email and your blog to bullcityemorys @ gmail . com.

Okay, I’m off to get some other work done!

tootle-loo and much love,

Mama Jaja

 

#16 of 365…eh.

Chili is suitable for a chili evening. We had it for dinner. It was delicious and now I have heartburn.

That’s all.

 

#15 of 365-AVONWALK

Yep. It’s offical. I’m going to walk for the first time and raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

I’m still a little in shock that I’m committing to not only raise AT LEAST $1800 but I’m going to walk 39.3 miles. Sure they say you can walk just the 26 miles, or if you really wanted to only walk 10 miles that’s cool too…But darn it, I’m going to push myself to walk the entire thing. Set my goals high, right?

I will also be walking with D in The Great Human Race, which benefits local charities through the Volunteer Center of Durham. That’s only a 5k, which should be a good training exercise to my big walk. That’s in March.

This all spurned from my desire to make the most in between adoptions, because Lord knows, the adoption process takes a lot out of you in a New York minute.

I look forward to sharing this leg of our road worth traveling adventures with you. I’m most excited because even though it will be just me walking in October, this in no way keeps me from being separate from LG.  I can take him on my long walks and spend time with him, and D for that matter. It can be a family affair, not just a Mama Jaja deal. And when I pause for a moment and think about that, I then think of the families who lost a loved one to breast cancer, or the loved one who can’t walk because they are bravely battling through their treatments and they are tired and weak all the time…it’s quite sobering. I’m walking to remember and honor those folks.

Today’s daily LG update:

I swear he grew 6″ last night. He looked so grown up when we walked into his room this morning.

I missed him “somethin’ terrible” today at work. When I came home he greeted me with his little nose all crinkled up and he shouted, “MOMMYYYY!”

UGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!!!!

okay, off to make lists and plans and stuff.

love to all, good night and God Bless,

Mama Jaja

 

#14 of 365- Libibby (or Library in LG speak)

Today we are all markedly better, which comes with great relief. LG had a fine ‘first day back’ at Ms. S’s house, I think he wanted to remind her that hurricane LG was back in full effect!

ON our way home, we took a detour to the library or as he affectionately calls out LIBIBBY! It is purely edible to hear him repeat words sometimes. He was very good once inside, he stayed planted on my hip as we looked for a copy of The Lovely Bones, this month’s choice for the little book club I’m a part of.  With no such luck, I will resort to placing my order for the $6 used copy on Amazon. (Unless the Mighty LB comes through and finds her copy!)

Speaking of books, our lovely Aussie Grans sent a fantastic package of books for Christmas, we have all ready read The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, which LG loved mostly for the stickers, but he did point out the frog, the turtle, the fish…and he did sit still for the whole book.YAY!

This week, we have very few commitments, we are really working our way through this year with little weekly distraction. It’s pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

Tomorrow one of my best girlfriends finds out if she is having a girl or boy.

Tonight, I will relinquich the computer to my husband, curl up with my dogs on the couch and watch How I Met Your Mother while drinking some hot tea. This all sounds so grown up to me.

love love and night night,

mama jaja

 

#10-13 of 365 House of Bronchitis and Other Ailments

We learned Wednesday that Senor LG had Bronchitis. Therefore, I was not in blogging mode, especially since I was dealing with my first toddler sized vomit experience. It was pitiful. I felt so bad for his little spirit and body…

The reader’s digest version is this, at promptly 7pm, he had his bath, books, and a few last minutes of “playtime” (which when you are not feeling so hot was very low key and very contained to one toy). I mapped out our bedtime ritual, “LG, when we put your toy away, you’ll hop into bed…blahblahblah”

Once the five minutes was over, we put his toy away and he pulled himself up into bed and laid down. I covered him and as I turned around to get one last tissue for one last nose blow…

BLAHHHH….

yikes.

I won’t embellish, but know that the sound then followed by the smell… I have not moved so fast in quite a while! I pulled him up dashed across the hall into the bathroom, whereupon he asked in a small sweet confused voice, “What happened Mama? Why my shirt wet?”

I know, I said “Aww” too.

The next few minutes were blurred, in between stripping sheets off the bed, bathing him down, running ceiling fans and febreeze…my little guy held on before he finally crashed in our bed about 20 minutes later. His bed was going to the night to air out.

It was the first night, all week, that we actually slept most of the night through. I think the him being so close to us was both comforting to both him and us.

He is, for the most part, well. We still have the edge of a cough and runny nose, and he loves the fact he has spent two nights in our bed. Tonight after books he asked, “after this book, I sleep in mommy’s big bed, please?!”  I smiled graciously, thanked him for being so polite, then explaing that Daddy’s was sick and now he needed the big bed to himself. He didn’t like that answer, but did not push. He seemed to get it.

20 minutes later he was snoozing away.

Both my guys are in bed, my big guy is sound asleep in our room, and my little guy tucked in his bed with the humidifier on medium.

The house is quiet. hmmm….what should I do?!!?!

 

#9 of 365-The End of Commitment

The title is a little ominous this evening. No, D and I are not facing the end of OUR commitment, we are facing the ends of commitments we agreed to 3 and 4 years ago. Before the arrival of LG into our lives.  It astounds me how much we have accomplished while trying to be parents. And for some, the thrill would be worth it alone. We have on the other hand, have found it has been a challenge and an albatross.

The things we committed to were huge in our lives before LG, and when we became parents, we juggled the various things while still holding on to some social ties, trying to be there for friends and family. Understand this is NOT  a “whoa is me” post, it is a reflection of time passed. Would we do it again? I don’t think we will have the opportunities again, so there is no point in considering the out come of that question.

We have grown up with the use of our time, declaring 2010 to be the year of many things, including the word no. It is hard to say that word, when you want to be the “good guy” and be a “team player” especially when times call on you. There is ALWAYS a call to help, someone, somewhere, for some cause. I guess it could be said that we are trying to be more discerning and there is no reason to justify why we choose B over A. That is another part of the puzzle we are both struggling to work on.

Hurt feelings suck, folks.

LG is sleeping in his bed, still ill with his cold, still fevered (I mean, it comes and goes) and coughing. I stayed home all day with him today, and tomorrow D and I will split the shift.

Tomorrow night will mark the 10th post of the new year, new blog. What is it if you do something so many times it becomes habit?

love love,

mama jaja

 

#8 of 365-Sick baby.

The Little Guy is sick this evening. He has run a temp, on and off, since yesterday. D and I played the tricky two-parent working game, he stayed home with LG while ran to work for a few hours to turn in a report and get a pre-meditated head start in case I was out tomorrow. And as it stands, I will be. He is currently running a 101 temp, although not in bad spirits. He’s just really tired and very easily amused. I’ll take that over screaming in discomfort any day.

He has a phlegm-y cough, slightly runny nose, and of course the temp. All the same, no school or sitter tomorrow. He has to be fever free/medication free for 24 hours. I know some people fudge this with their kids, but what I went through today is the exact reason why I do not.  It keeps the cycle going. I’m no doctor, but I’m just not going to mess with my kid or your kid just because I don’t want to miss work. I like my job, but I like a healthy kid better.

I was able to get the rest of our laundry finished, although now the tough  part is putting it all away. I have a mound of my clothes waiting to be hung  up or tucked away in over crowded drawers in my bureau.

I always tell myself that I’m going to clean said drawers out before the next big wash. eh.

AP friends of ours recently received a referral of their second child, which I’m so excited about. The process of starting a second adoption has seemed daunting to me, although I know the outcome FAR outweighs the process. Especially nights like tonight when this little precious boy wants to snuggle with mama because he does not feel so great.

We are going back and forth on the right time, the right path, the right whatever. A lot like the adoption of LG, we find ourselves questioning our timing against God’s and sifting through the mud for the perfect sign that answers all of the above.

*sigh*

It’s never clear, and I guess that’s why they call it a leap of faith, huh?

As I close, know that LG just drifted off in a record 5 minutes of getting into bed. poor little guy. sleep well….

love,

mama jaja

 

#6 & #7 of 365-Facebook Withdrawals

On Friday, I made a rash decision to give up Facebook for 30 days. There were several reasons, but the biggest one was the need for a break. I do spend a lot of time, non constructively, looking at pictures, picking out corny flair and commenting on my beloved friends’ shenanigans.

The first day was not hard, as I wasn’t home most of the day and I don’t have internet on my phone.

Today, however, was a little more tricky. LG had some funny status update worthy moments and I couldn’t fly over to the computer to post. That was weird.  For instance, he has learned the phrase, “I wanna play with _____ for one more minute.” It could be a book, a toy or the remote control.  But he fancies that phrase for everything, both things he’s allowed to play with and things he is not allowed to play with…which to me is more hilarious (unless it is something dangerous of course!). He’s figured out how to open the book shelf doors, and now helps himself to the movies inside. Namely Cars, which I watched him, with precision, open the doors, retrieve the movie, close the doors, lock them back and proceed to take the DVD out of the case, and try to figure out which button was right to open the tray. He was able to turn it on, he couldn’t remember where the open/close button was.

Understand he doesn’t watch a lot of television, even movies are regulated to 20-30 minute spurts. He has a list of shows he watches through a rotation, most days his afternoon TV choice is Dora, but occasionally, Backyardigans, Olivia, Dinosaur Train and the very irritating Thomas the Train (why are they always so cross? or vindictive?)

Anyway, I digress. My Facebook hiatus will supposedly be good for me. For one thing, it may get me back to posting on here more frequently and I’ll stop feeling like I have to keep accounting for where I am when I don’t post an update every few hours. No one requires that and I am sure no one really cares, but I have some how made it into a big deal. I hope the next 28 days will break me of that habit and I can go back to checking FB once or twice a week with no guilt.

D is so excited and impressed, as he hates all things social network, even though he does have a page (which he RARELY checks).

The weather today was rainy with a few bursts of balmy sun, we attended church and heard an old friend preach a great sermon which was both entertaining and thought provoking. He will indeed make a good priest some day.

I, on the other hand, will make a good sleeping mommy here in about 20 minutes. I hope you all have a nice evening or day, wherever you are in the world. And please continue to pray for Haiti.

much love,

Mama Jaja

 

#3-5 of 365

See how easy it is to fall off the wagon? And rather than give the truth (because sometimes that is just not exciting….at all) I’ll make up something.

You see over the past two days, our house was the rest stop for 2 dragons. Enormous, scaly, smelly dragons.  One was purple with bright green and gold wings and hot pink eyes and the other was fuchsia with sparkling wings of orange and blue  and emerald eyes. They sat perched atop our house for 48 hours snarling and growling, occasionally knocking out the power. Therefore, no internet and no way to post.

As much as I wanted to keep them, D reasoned that dragon upkeep can be quite costly. And since we are trying to work our way out of debt, it was collectively decided, through gritted teeth, that they must go. We tried everything we knew, spells and potions, the ’shoo dragon’ song (to the tune of ’shoo fly’)  but they looked at us unimpressed. LG came to the rescue with whole wheat bread smothered in Nutella. We launched the pieces into the woods, where they clamored off hungrily.

Who knew dragons loved Nutella?!?

So Little Guy saved the day, which allowed me to finally sit down and post.  He’s simply just that amazing!

love love,

mama jaja

 

#2 0f 365-Overcommitting? Me? Nah.

At the end of craft market season last year, I was done.  Although I failed to see it at the time- I was simply burned out. When the reality of the inventory and raw materials I still possessed smacked me in the face, I knew I had to go back. The even bigger reality of me going out and finding small shows to participate in would be both costly in both time and money.

So I renewed.

And everyone has looked at me with sad eyes. Sure, the fear is that I’m once again, inching down the road of overcommittment. But I’m not- really. I feel like perhaps I’m getting a chance to actually ‘enjoy’ selling at market. I haven’t done that since we got started 5 years ago!

But enough of that, it’s my other endeavors that I’m working on, which include *maybe* a 2nd adoption, Avon Walk and writing more that I think people are raising a brow over.

I mean, nevermind the parenting, being a wife, sister, full time employee and whatever else I’m forgetting. OH yeah, daily chores…can’t forget those. I could list all the ways in which I stink as a wife, but I make up for it in many other ways. (So I am told by the one person that currently can speak a full coherent sentence. ) One day the smaller one will put his two cents in, I’m sure.

I feel like maybe it’s just in my make-up to have many irons in the fire, that maybe I’m making up for some previous life where I was a prisoner shackled to a grimy, dungeon wall. I’m so happy to have a second chance; that this life is all about getting it out of my system and in the next life I will have peace for my chaotic soul.

Who knows. I sure don’t. I’m going to focus on better time management, and saying ‘no’ more. I have only said yes to things I want to do so far this year, which feels really nice. I hope, like this blog, to keep it up.

love love,

Mama Jaja