The Pacifier

I went to pick Nathaniel up from school tonight and he continued to play as usual, lol. Then he got up and walked over to a pacifier lying on the floor. He never took a pacifier, well, maybe once or twice, despite my strict instructions at the hospital NOT to give him a pacifier or formula (they did both), but he's played with and chewed on them, so I wondered what he was doing. There was a teacher in the room that I'd never seen before, usually Miss Jeraka is there alone in the evenings, and she immediately went to him and took the pacifier away which was fine cuz it wasn't his. He proceeded to throw a HUGE fit, screaming and crying, so she gave it back to him and told him to give it to Reagan, it was hers after all. He walked over to the new girl, a tiny little thing, all of 13 months old, and put his empty hand on her arm as if to say "It will be alright" and then gently put the pacifier in her mouth. I melted. My sweet little man. Rough and tumble with Carson and sweet and gentle with Reagan. He's definitely got his priorities straight. :) After I picked him up we went to my grandma's so she could see Nathaniel. She usually comes over every Saturday and brings us lunch. She loves him so much and has had so much loss in the last few years she sees him as compensation from God for what he has taken from her. She bribed me to get us over there with the money to go get a pedicure tomorrow, lol.

Nathaniel ate really well again tonight. I was home alone and we got home late so I made him the pizza sticks Kid Cuisine (I know, two nights in a row, BAD momma!!!) because I know he loves it and I needed him to eat in a hurry. He snarfed down every last bite!!! Well, except for the corn, but even the fruit chews for dessert!! And man that kid is chugging milk lately!!! So much that I had to call my sister to have her pick up a half gallon on her way home tonight!! Then I gave him a quick bath and I actually got to see him blow bubbles!!! What a little daredevil!!! He even gets excited now when I pour water over his head!!! Trying to brush his teeth was a whole other story though, he refused to let me do it and only wanted to do it himself. Since he let me know that by throwing a fit every time I got near him with the toothbrush that ended that pretty quickly. He's got to learn that momma's in charge here, not him.

I'm excited to have Jason finally home tonight. The longest we've ever been apart consecutively is 5 weeks, the last time I went to Europe, and 4 weeks, the first time I went. But that was so different. We didn't have Nathaniel. I miss him but more than that, I miss seeing him and Nathaniel together. It will be such a long weekend and yet so short. He won't be here long and most of the time that he will be here is spoken for. I do however have a "honey do" list as long as my arm. :)

So this will be my last blog until after the wedding. Tomorrow morning I'll take Nathaniel to school and then go get my pedicure. Then I've got to come home and pack for the weekend. I did decide that I'm going to stay with Jason and Nathaniel at Jason's dad's house tomorrow night rather than staying with the bride. I called her yesterday to find out a few last minute things and she gave me the laundry list of people who will be staying at her house tomorrow night. Like 6 other girls!!! She's got a VERY SMALL house and only one real bed. She does have 2 futons and a couch but when she started talking about sleeping bags I got nervous. Then I thought about trying to get ready for a wedding sharing a VERY SMALL bathroom with 6 other girls and that clinched it for me. I called her tonight to tell her, expecting her to try to change my mind but she didn't, thank God.

Good night and I'll see you on Monday!!!

I'm so lucky.........

Nathaniel's never been a very affectionate child. Even as a newborn he didn't want to be held unless you were standing up and moving around but that made the slings and Baby Bjorn really successful. Even when he started giving kisses they were reserved for dad and his teachers at daycare, not for mom. But lately he's become very affectionate. He gives hugs when asked and I can get a kiss out of him about half the time I ask for them. That's pretty good considering I'd kiss him all day long if given the opportunity, lol. Despite the biting he's well-loved by his teachers at daycare. He should be moving to another classroom next week since he turns 18 months on Friday and both of his teachers are beside themselves about it. They don't want him to leave and I think that's so sweet.

Since hot lunch at school today was tuna/macaroni salad I'm assuming Nathaniel didn't eat much but he sure made up for it tonight. He ate every little piece of pasta he could dig out of his spaghetti Kid's Cuisine and he even managed to get a few kernels of corn in there but he was having none of the meat. If he accidently got a bite he promptly spit it out. He was such a mess!! He fed the whole thing to himself and it showed. He started out well with a plastic spork but quickly realized he'd get a lot more food in his mouth if he just shoveled it in with his hands. That made for quite a mess. He even got to eat some of the brownie that came with his TV dinner although mom did have a bite or two. :) Then aunt Reecee gave him a bath during which he squatted down and blew bubbles in the water. I'm guessing he remembers doing that in swim class this summer. Unfortunately I missed it. :(

I had a rough day. Merisa got me sick and my throat is killing me so it will be another Nyquil night which is okay cuz damn, I missed that stuff while I was pregnant and nursing. I went and got my Spanx today and spent $73!!! I got it and my steam pressed dress (which cost me $25 by the way) home and tried them on and needless to say it was a waste of $73. My problem is apparently not in the stomach area, it's in the boob/back department. The last two times I was measured at Victoria's Secret I was a 40C!!! That's the problem, I'm 40 inches around!!!! I'm not that big and I don't understand!! Oh well, I'll suffer through, not being able to breathe, it's only one night.

Jason's dad and his new wife have offered to pick Nathaniel up from the wedding and take him to their house for the night so we can stay at the reception and not go through the pain of sharing a single hotel room with an easily woken baby. That kicks ass!! It sucks though because this weekend is costing us so much money. Granted I didn't have to pay for my dress but I had to buy Nathaniel's outfit, my shoes, the Spanx, have the dress pressed, buy the gift and card, pay for the hotel room, the gas for Jason to drive back from Arkansas to Wichita, from Wichita to Lawrence and back, and then back again to Arkansas, the tolls for every leg of the trip, and Jason will miss three days of work which is at least $150 a day. We're so broke it hurts and that's BEFORE all of this. I just want it to be over already.

Biter, biter, pants on fire

Nathaniel bit again at school today. He has issues with this other little boy in his class who is about 5 months younger than he is. Carson is new, he's only been there a month or so, and they have a love/hate relationship. In the mornings when Jason or I sit Nathaniel down for his breakfast pancakes, Carson always tries to take them from him. If Carson's doing something fun Nathaniel won't even sit down to eat, he wants to play. The afternoon teacher Jeraka told me a week ago that Carson is a troublemaker and when I asked who Nathaniel bit today she told me it was Carson again. I asked if they had problems and she said "Carson has problems with everyone". I looked at Carson's hand and he had a nice red bitemark from my little guy. I don't know what to do about this. Nathaniel did learn the word "bite" the other day in reference to eating so hopefully I can parlay this new knowledge into some form of discipline for biting other children.

On a lighter note, Nathaniel now puts his finger to his mouth and says "shhhhhh", something we didn't teach him but it's so cute!! He also laid his head down on his blanket which was on the back of the couch tonight and said "night night". He is now nodding his head "yes" as well which will go very far in improving our communication so I'm VERY excited!! When I ask him if he wants more he can now tell me instead of whining which is definitely nice.

Tonight Nathaniel ate well for the first time in a LONG time. He had three whole chicken nuggets, 1/3 of a container of yogurt, almost a whole mixed berry applesauce, two rice cakes, a smoothie and LOTS of milk. I swear that kid's drinking like a horse lately and has the diapers to prove it!!

Jason called and told me that when he leaves again on Monday it will be for another 2 weeks at least. He still hasn't asked if he'll be home for Nathaniel's first "real" Halloween or not and I'm pissed. He got angry with me and I hung up on him. Whatever. I know he's lonely and homesick but life's no bed of roses for us either.

Something to talk about.....

Something to talk about.....

My first real blogger blog, lol. It only took me 8 months to post.

Last night SP shut down forever. Before it did I went back through my posts about Nathaniel so I could create a timeline of his milestones (yes, bad mommy, that's what baby books are for but I'm lazy) so I thought I'd post them here.

February 15, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel's first steps
February 17, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel's first haircut (a chop job done by momma and daddy)
March 6, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel started walking
March 14, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel's first wave bye bye (on momma's birthday)
March 27, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel's first clap
April 1, 2006 ~~ The first time momma cut Nathaniel's fingernails (yes, I'm a coward)
May 13, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel's first professional haircut (aka, The Mullet)
July 18, 2006 ~~ Nathaniel's last bottle

Oh how my little man has grown........