New Friend

Tonight I watched a friend of mine's baby.  It worked out that I don't ever want to leave the house on the weekends.  It was extra cool because she brought me some food from her restaurant (one of my favorites Fireside Pies). 

She is around 2 years & 3 months old.  She talks a lot, she loves babies, and she is very very sweet.  It was interesting because other than my nephew, I haven't spent a lot of time around this age, so I had no idea what it would be like.  It wasn't difficult, but there was a lot of monitoring how she touched Isaiah.  Meaning she was trying to be sweet, but sometimes she would hit instead of pet or throw a toy at him instead of give it to him.  She is still learning the limits to her strength.  She loved playing peek a boo with her "blankwet", but she instead of draping the blanket over him she would hit him with it.  At one point she pulled his hair; I guess she was interested in its texture.  She was so sad when he was hurt. 

She asked me what the gloworm did, and then she opened up the back & showed me how to turn on the music.

We ate some popcorn for a snack, and she really wanted Isaiah to have some.  He needed it, according to her.  I explained that because he doesn't have any teeth, it might hurt the baby.  She said ok but kept trying.

The best was that she thought Isaiah needed all the toys out at one time.  And that he needed to be covered up with her blankwet.  Poor Isaiah, he tried to play along, but he was so confused. 

Nana & Papa

Isaiah's babysitter was out all last week & Monday because her mom was in the hospital.  Monday was her last day out because her mom is better.  So Isaiah spent the day at his Nana & Papa's.  Thank God for them.  Seriously, I don't know what we would do without them.

I had no idea that it was a holiday until some money I was waiting for never came through & until all of the Briggs kids were in the car ready to go to the parade.  One of our clients scheduled us to come in, but it was a mistake because when we arrived, the security guard looked at us funny because there were only 20 out of 100 people there!

When they got back from the parade, the kids played with Isaiah the rest of the day.  They all love him, but this cousin spends all of her time with him.  She is incredibly nurturing.

Our Busy Day

6am.  The day began too early, at least early for us.  Last night I didn't get to bed until 1am.  It's another story, but we have a very inconsistent schedule.  And let's just say Isaiah isn't yet "sleeping through the night," a term that is still a mythical concept to me. 

I would have showered the night before, but I was too exhausted from a similarly early day.  So I showered, dried & fixed the hair, put on the makeup (2 of my least favorite things about being a girl), and fit a bagel & a cup of coffee in my belly before Isaiah woke up to eat. 

This particular day Marcus & I were both going to work the event to save some money, so we had to drop Isaiah off at his Nana's house, a place very far away from ours.  Since traffic is considerably unpredictable from Nana's to Uptown where we work, we took 2 cars just in case it was bad. 

Isaiah & I went to Restaurant Depot to pick up a few things.  I was a little scared about this trip with a baby, but it turned out he loved riding on the huge cart.  And of course, he got a lot of attention from the ladies.  One of them asked me if he was my baby.

Then I dropped him off with Nana.  She says she loves it when she gets to take care of him.  In fact, she gets angry when I don't bring him over enough.  But I feel like she has a lot of work to do with her other grandchildren, so I don't like to ask her too often.

We dropped off Marcus's car and we were off to the event, produced in association with Lemon Bar (one day I probably should explain the business).  Everything went perfectly. 

I almost never do, but I even had time to pump.  A side note...  Pumping away from home is a pain in the ass.  Can someone please invent an easier way?  Since my job is mobile & not in an office somewhere, I usually pump in my car.  In the parking lot of a rich office building surrounded by rich business people walking to & from work during their lunch breaks.  I bought an electric cord car charger adaptor to make this feat possible.  For this reason, I really want to one day magically receive the new Medela Freestyle, battery operated and hands free!  My sister will need her breast pump back when her new little one comes along in December, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do then.

By the time we finished the event, cleaned & washed dishes, picked up some tasty cakeballs for Nana (payment for babysitting) from our favorite bakery Creme de la Cookie, and got all the way back to Nana's, it was time to leave to go pick up Isaiah's big brother (I was calling him A, but I think I just decided to call him BB for big brother).  His mother's house is on the completely opposite edge of Dallas.  The very edge of that edge.  It's so far.  And it's always prime traffic time when we go pick him up.  There was extra extra traffic on this day.  I had time to pump again.

Of course we were late.  Marcus, BB & Isaiah ate at their favorite Subway while I went shopping for some necessities.  Then we went to Main Event to play games.  Isaiah ate almost the whole time, after which he was fascinated with all of the bright lights & noise.

We dropped off BB, because the custody agreement is silly and Marcus has BB every Thursday for 2 hours, which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't live on the edge of the edge of Dallas.

We caught the last 10 minutes of Burlington to check out their crib bedding selection because for some reason I'm having the worse time ever finding some that we both can tolerate.  Why is everything zoo animals, teddy bears, & airplanes?  Someone please create a line of baby bedding that isn't so...  babyish.  And yes, Isaiah just got his crib.

Then the fun began.  Since he had just eaten, a lot, I pumped again on the way back to get Marcus's car.  Bad idea.  He started getting really fussy right after I finished pumping.  He fell back asleep, and I thought if we just dropped Marcus off really quickly, he would stay asleep.  Second bad idea.  I also had to pee badly, but I didn't want to stop because I didn't want to wake him up.  And third bad idea. 

I dropped Marcus off.  And well, all would have been well, except his car was right in the middle of Dallas night life, so traffic & people walking around was horrible.  So we never picked up the same driving momentum.  He started screaming.  I thought I just needed to get on the highway then he would go back to sleep.  Well it would have, but at that moment, there was some sort of wreck & the highway was backed up with traffic. 

So I had to pee quite badly.  I mean I was downing water earlier for my milk.  My baby was screaming.  I couldn't really reach him to put his pacifier back in.  And I couldn't stop because there were no open exits for awhile. 

I was starving because the last thing I had to eat was half of a cupcake from the bakery 7 hours earlier.  I was exhausted.  And those necessities I was buying earlier were because for some reason, I am a member of the club of privelaged mommies who start their periods right after giving birth.  But by this time half of the previously applied necessities had had enough.  It was bad.

The traffic finally eased up but by this time, Isaiah was so worked up, he didn't stop crying.  No matter how fast I drove. 

When we finally got home, the only parking space I could find was a block away. 

I had 3 huge bags to carry.  And my son.  Back across that block & up the stairs because the elevator was taking too long.  II had to all the bags down to dig through my purse to find the keys. 

I still had to pee.  And I still was incredibly uncomfortable because of the other thing.  So I sat Isaiah in his Bumbo in the bathroom so I could take care of business. 

Somehow, on the way from the car to his Bumbo, he got happy.  He smiled this huge smile, and I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. 

I guess the last part of the day wasn't so bad.

Scattered

Well, we're all moved in.  Thanks to the help of our family.  I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for them.  Without them, I would have been lost.  I mean, almost everything required picking up something heavy, and I lived on the third floor of a building with no elevator.  I had to take a break after every trip up the stairs! 

My parents drove from Mississippi.  My sister & her family drove from Houston.  And then my future brother-in-law showed up (a surprise to me) with a huge, I mean real huge, truck to help.  I owe him a carrot cake, and I haven't figured out how I am going to thank the rest of them.  I almost cried a few times during the move because I was so thankful for their presence. 

And one of my favorite parts -- seeing my adorable nephew!

Now for the bad parts.  The electricity was on.  The hot water was not.  The internet wasn't working, although I thought scheduling it for two days before the move would ensure that it would be.  And Marcus didn't realize that the dryer his parents gave him was gas and that most new apartments don't have gas hookups anymore. 

Thankfully, the apartment's maintenance is fantastic, so they fixed the water that night.

At&t, not so fantastic.  They told me different stories about why my internet wasn't working every time I called.  They didn't send someone out until Wednesday.  No internet for 4 days!!!  6 days after it was supposed to be turned on.  Sunday night, I had to send in my homework via the internet, but it was too late for the business center and too late for a coffee shop.  I had to sit in the parking lot of a restaurant that offered free wi-fi.  I'm sure they thought someone was about to rob them.

And we still don't have a dryer.  Turns out everyone in Dallas is buying & selling washers & dryers through Craig's List.  They are sold minutes after being posted.  We have come close to snagging one several times, but not close enough.  And well, I use my dryer a LOT.  I long for it. 

And of course, I'm still unpacking. 

But that's what happens right?  Everything can't be perfect.  It wouldn't feel like a move otherwise. 

It has felt wonderful being near my boyfriend more.  It may not even be more because we both work different jobs.  But it feels like more because of a bunch of little things.  He comes home to me every night.  We go shopping together.  And he seems different, I don't know, more tender perhaps.  Perhaps I will think of more words for it later.  Maybe I will have more words later.

I have been feeling my son move a lot lately.  He still seems like he's a laid back little one, but I definitely can tell he's in there. 

And now, we are spending the first weekend here with Marcus's son.  I've envisioning quite a busy future!  In the next year, I will be grocery shopping with a 5 year old and a newborn.  Grocery shopping for a 5 year old.  Cooking for a 5 year old.  Taking care of a newborn.  Taking care of a newborn and a 5 year old.  Figuring out how to keep a 5 year old that is used to Playstations, XBoxes, & Wiis.  Wow, I have a lot of work to do!