Baby Olympics

I really think that the Olympics should add a baby division.  Who can properly diaper and clothe a child the fastest?  Who can feed a baby solids with the least amount of mess and the most food in the mouth?  Then there should be the car seat dash.  Which would involve getting the baby into the car seat, picking up the baby in the car seat and running to the car and then properly installing the car seat in the base.  Oh, and don't forget the save the baby sprint.  That would involve sprinting to a baby that was reaching for something harmful.  The Olympics could have a whole sub-division called the Mommy Games.

Rob is always amazed at my ability to diaper Pookie while half asleep.  This, however, is not always a good thing.  This morning I was having a few technical difficulties and I could have sworn that Pookie was awake.  I was out of bed and to the hall before realizing that Pookie was still sound asleep.  However, Rob was getting ready for work.  He thought I woke up to make a pit stop to the bathroom, but was surprised that I turned around and headed back to bed without making a pit stop.  I'm sure one day he'll find me making a bottle and trying to give it to the dog.  I think as long as I'm not trying to nurse the dog, everything will be okay.

Speaking of the dog.  He's been having accidents in the house.  Again.  I mentioned to Rob that we could cut a hole in Pookie’s diapers for the tail and put them on the dog.  Rob didn't think that was too funny.  Although, they do make diapers for dogs.  Maybe we should invest.

(I'm sorry this post isn't very cohesive.  I really need to get more sleep!)

As an aside.  I just wanted to update everyone about the hurricane.  On Sunday Rob decided that he needed to go to Dunkins to get himself a coffee and sandwich.  He was very thoughtful and bought me munchkins.  I was impressed that Dunkins was open, but Dunkins is always open.  Rob likes to get coffee from them when he's out plowing during the winter.  Then Rob decided that his truck was in need of a bath and washed his truck.  (Rob washed it in the garage.)  We never lost power.  Although there was a brown out for all of 30 seconds, in the middle of the day.  There are some downed branches and leaves everywhere.  There are some tree limbs that need to be looked at, but technically they are not on our property.  It's city owned.  More than likely Rob will take them down.  There was some tree damage in our neighborhood.  But I don't think there was anything too severe.  Where we live is like a bubble.  We get weather, but the bad stuff goes around us.  Considering that there is almost nothing I love more than a good storm, this does sadden me a little.

Chicken, anyone?

Now that Pookie is on the move, he has started to terrorise the dog.  Bailey, the dog, and I have an interesting love/hate relationship.  I put up with him, he puts up with me.  I am not a pet person.  If I do have a pet, it's more along the line of a tortoise, bird or cat.  Cats however, I am rather allergic to.  I am to dogs as well, but to a lesser extent.  On the whole, I'm not a big fan of dogs.  I almost didn't date Rob because he had one.  But then I didn't think we would end up married with a child either, but that's another story.  My mom is terrified of dogs, so I have cultivated a healthy distance between dogs and myself.  I tolerate Bailey because he's Rob's dog.  Bailey is 12, so there may be another year or two still in him.  Now that I have all the animal lovers out there cringing, I'm sorry about that, back to the story.  The other day was very busy.  I vacuumed, made a few phone calls, brought Bailey to the groomers, went to see Rob at a job site, got a tour of a house, went grocery shopping, picked Bailey up from the groomers, got gas for my car, and went to Babies'R'Us.  Luckily Rob was home by the time I got back.  He was a doll and brought in the groceries while I feed a very hungry Pookie.

When I go grocery shopping, I like to pick up a roasted chicken.  I love roasted chickens!  One, I don't have to touch raw chicken, and two, I can get two dinners out of one chicken!  I'm all for that!  Whenever I'm cooking, Bailey likes to sit near me in hopes that I will drop something.  Nothing like a free snack.  Well, Pookie likes to be close to me as well.  Sometimes even sitting on my feet.  Pookie has started to try to pet Bailey.  Bailey will put up with it for a while, but other times, not so much.  Well, Pookie decided to go for Bailey's tag's on his collar.  Bailey didn't think too much of that, so he went to my other side.  Unfortunately for Bailey, that was a bit of a tactical error.  He was sitting between a shelving unit and the cupboards, and there wasn't a lot of space to maneuver.  Of course Pookie had to go over and start playing with the tag's again.  So to try to prevent a bit of a disaster, I took a few pieces of chicken and put them in Bailey's bowl.  For an old dog, Bailey can move very quickly when he wants to.  By the time I took the three steps to get to the food dish, Bailey was right there waiting for it and then it came.  CRASH!  Followed by the ear-piercing cry.  I turn around and there is Pookie, splayed out on top of the cooling racks.  The cooling racks live on the shelving unit.  I swoop up Pookie, trying not to get chicken bits on him, and calm him down.  I'm not entirely sure what happened.  My guess is that Bailey decided to go over Pookie as apposed to around him, taking out the cooling racks along the way.  Never get between Bailey and food!  I have no idea what I'm going to do once Pookie starts eating Cheerio's.  Especially considering that Cheerios's are Bailey's treats. 

Channeling

When I moved to Massachusetts, I lived with my paternal grandparents, Louise and Vic.  They were a funny pair.  They had gotten into that rhythm that happens after two people have been together for years.  It drove me nuts if I had to be a passenger in a car with one of them driving.  Vic would be driving, Louise would be in the passenger seat, and I was in the back, with my eyes closed.  I had very good reason to keep my eyes either closed or adverted.  Louise would look to the right and say "all clear".  Vic would look to the left and say "all clear" and Louise would say "GO".  Mind you, Vic was the one driving.  Ugh.  I was in the back saying Hail Mary's, hoping that my number wasn't on the call list at the pearly white gates.  I don't know how they managed it, but they never got into an accident. 

The other day Rob and I were driving along.  I was driving and Rob was in the passenger seat.  We came to an intersection and I asked "all clear?", to which he replied "yep."  Holy mackerel, I'm channeling my grandparents.  As a side note, I did double check to make sure no one was coming from the right side before going.  However, I've noticed that it's not just that.  There are other little things.  Random stuff.  I didn't even notice some of it at first.  One of my aunts pointed out a few things.  I know part of it is when you live with people for an extended period of time, you pick up their habits.  It just makes me chuckle knowing that in several years Pookie and his siblings will be in the back seat saying Hail Mary's.  Hoping that their parents don't crash the car.

100 years

My Grandpa turned 100 years old yesterday.  Could you imagine, being alive for that length of time?  Think of all the things that he has witnessed in his lifetime.  The thought of living that long is almost mind boggling to me.   If I lived that long, I would be seeing the tail end of the 2070's.  For some reason, I can't get past the date 2020.  Anytime after that I feel is like Science Fiction.  Something that is outside of my lifetime.  Something that you can only find in books.  Maybe this is just part of getting older.  I hope I live a long life.  I always tease Rob about being old farts together.  I'm looking forward to the scooter races around the nursing home.  I'm sure his will be all suped up with a nitrous boost.  But mine will be pretty.  Maybe a lovely shade of pink, with a cute basket. 

The very wonderful thing about Grandpa's birthday is that all 5 of his children are there.  That doesn't happen too often, I think the last time that happened was when my Grandma passed away.  The siblings were all together for my wedding, but Grandpa wasn't there.  I would have loved to go down to be with him for his birthday.  However, that wasn't in the cards.  I was talking to Rob this evening, and I had mentioned how wonderful it would have been if the entire family could have gotten together.  I don't think that has ever happened. 

I definitely feel connected to Grandpa.  Pookie was born on what would have been my Grandma's 100th birthday.  Pookie is named after her father, well, his first name that is.  It's funny how things cycle around.  Grandpa is a very clever and resourceful guy.  I hope Pookie has managed to inherit at least some of those genes!  A cousin of mine had her baby at the beginning of August.  My aunt was joking with her about how wonderful it would be if she could have held out until the 23rd.  Seeing as she was due at the beginning of the month, that would have been quite the stretch.  No one wants to go past their due date, especially at the end of the summer!  It would have been very nifty if both of the babies born this year landed on both of my grandparents birthdays! 

Mommy Brain

Pregnancy Brain was tough.  All I could actually focus on was:
1. Where is my next meal coming from?
2. Where is the closest bathroom? 
Fortuitously for me, my good friend Amy was pregnant at the same time I was.  We had long conversations about what we had for breakfast and lunch, and then what we were planning on for dinner.  We talked about what are co-workers were eating, and what we had been craving that day.  Through out my entire day, food was constantly on my mind.  Oh, and don't get me started on snacks!  Yum, snacks!  I found it hard to focus on anything because all I could think about was when I was going to be able to eat again.  Rob would have to wait until I finished eating if he needed to tell me something important.  I don't know what he found worse.  My obsession with food, or having to go the bathroom every 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.  I didn't really care, because as I've mentioned, all I could think about was food and the bathroom. 

I had hoped things would get better after Pookie was born.  No such luck.  It's just moved onto Mommy Brain.  I can't seem remember anything if I don't write it down.  The funny thing is, I don't really care.  Well, maybe a little.  As one of my aunts said, "You are so focused on your child, there isn't that much room left over for other thoughts."  She has a very good point.  For example, is Pookie awake or asleep?  If he's asleep, is he still breathing, is it too warm in his room, how much longer is he going to sleep for, I think I heard a noise emanating from his room is he waking up and how much time do I have until he's fully awake?   Then if he's awake, is he hungry, is he poopy, is his diaper wet, does he want to play in the Jumperoo, does he want to play with his toys on the floor, is he pulling the dog's tail, what did he just put in his mouth, where did he go he was just by me a second ago, OH MY GOD HE'S BY THE FLOOR LAMP!  Is he going to get brained by the lamp, the coffee table, the TV, the plant, the bookcase, the fill-in-the-blank?  As an FYI, the floor lamp is broken and is not very stable.  I'm on the market for a new one.  Also, there are all the bumps that come along.  The more tired Pookie is, the more he falls over.  This is fine on the carpet, but wood floors can be hard.  Then to top it all off, he is trying to pull himself up using the furniture.  Luckily Pookie has only been successful with that endeavor twice, and both things he used were somewhat low to the ground.  However, he tried pulling himself up using the sofa and that resounded in a large crash.   

You may ask why I'm going on about this.  Well, I had a thought for a post this morning.  I thought it was rather witty.  Do you think that I have any clue as to what it is now?  Um, that would be NO!  I have completely forgotten what it was.  Hopefully I think of it tomorrow.  It's bugging me that I can't think of it.  Hopefully one day I'll have my brain back.  I miss it.  Maybe I'll get a postcard from wherever it's having a vacation.  

Husband proofing

Now that Pookie is on the move, and holy mackerel, is he on the move!  I have started to baby proof my home.  Luckily most plugs are out of Pookie's reach, but I need to re-organize what I have where.  I also need to baby proof the kitchen.  I've started by latching the cupboard under the sink in both the kitchen and the bathroom.  The only problem is that Rob has a hard time with it.  Not only are the latches good for keeping babies out, they also stump the husband!  Rob has managed to figure out how the thing works, but he glares at it ever time he has to use it. 

It would probably help if the latches weren't the really cheap ones.  You have to slide the push button thing-a-ma-bobber off of the U-shaped doo-hicky-thing.  The trick comes in putting the push button thing-a-ma-bobber back on the U-shaped doo-hicky-thing.  If things aren't lined up properly, forget it.  It's never going back on.  I am now on the market for better ones.  I also have the push-down latch thingies, but those require screws.  (Don't y'all just love all the technical terms that I'm using?) 

It's astounding how much trouble one little person can get into.  Pookie is continuing to work on his pulling himself up skills.  I know he will be walking soon, the question is how soon.  Also, it's not just learning how to walk, it's learning how to RUN!  One of my younger brothers was a runner.  My mom had to get a leash for him so she didn't loose him.  I think I need to start shopping for a leash for Pookie.  I fully realize that quite a few people don't like leashes.  It's one of those polarizing things.  Either you love it or you hate it.  I personally think they are wonderful!  There are some kids you don't need them with.  They stay put and don't wander away too quickly.  Then there are the runners.  Run first, think later.  I think Pookie will fall under the second category.  I do not want to lose my child.  At first Rob did not like them, but last year at the Topsfield Fair, we saw a lost little girl.  The crowd was so thick, she just misplaced her parents and they didn't realize they had lost her.  Luckily someone helped the little girl to find her parents.  It could have easily ended very badly for her.  I feel that a leash allows the child the freedom of movement within reason.  I found a rather cute one at amazon.com, but I also want to see what else is out there.  I also found this one from Liberte Apparel, which I think is really cute.  I just wished that it came in more colors for boys.  Or at least something gender neutral. 

Conductivity

I want to have a laid-back parenting style.  I have mistaken this with being a laid-back parent*.  But yesterday I realized that having a laid-back parenting style and being a laid-back parent are two different things.  Let me explain.
- A laid-back parenting style is when the child has a boo-boo, you laugh it off.  When a small child thinks they have hurt themselves, the first thing they do is to look at the parent to see what the parents reaction is.  If the parent is freaking, then the child follows the parents lead and freaks out too.  The laid-back parenting style is when you go with the flow.  Yes, there are bumps in the road, but just go for it.  You might have a fun time bouncing along.
- With a laid-back parent, you might have a tendency to forget about your child.  Wonderful example of this is when a parent looses their child, at lets say a large chain bookstore.  The parent goes to the Bookseller to let the store know he/she can't find his/her child.  The Bookseller asks what the child is wearing and the parent has no clue.  The bookstore proceeds to call a Code Adam, giving an approximate description.  The child then pops up a minute later after hearing the Code Adam and recognizing the description as their own.  Then having the child say to the parent, "I was sitting right where you left me." 
I have realized that I don't want to be the laid-back parent, I want to have the laid-back parenting style.  How did I come to this realization, you may ask?  That is a wonderful question!  I keep forgetting exactly how mobile Pookie is and how fast he can crawl.  It dawned on me yesterday at the end of a mothers group.  I ended up talking with the leader of the group for a minute, to follow up on a question I had asked.  I should have done something when Pookie went for one of the other mom's feet.  (He has a strange fascination with feet.  Maybe because he thinks his toes are so tasty, maybe other peoples are too...)  When I next looked over he was sitting under a table and trying to stick his finger in the electrical outlet in the wall.  Seeing as I have managed to electrocute myself twice, (don't ask) I know that he would only get zapped.  But seeing that he's a very active boy, he's going to need all the brain cells he can keep.  I know he's going to knock his noggin many times in the process of growing up.  I would like to keep Pookie relatively intelligent.  As a side note, I managed to grab Pookie before he managed to stick his finger in the outlet.

In other fun events, Pookie managed to pull himself into a standing position today.  After dinner he was getting into the cooling racks.  He also managed to get his thumb stuck in between the racks, which is why I put them away.  As I was loading the dishwasher, he decided to grab onto the door and with that leverage grab onto the Kitchen-Aid mixer.  With that he fully pulled himself into a standing position to better reach the cooling racks.  After a minute or so of trying to reach the racks, he plunked down on his bottom.  He landed with a thunk.  Good thing his bottom is padded!  He was still a little jarred from the experience!



*I am not sure if "laid-back parent" is the correct term I am looking for.  However, seeing as I can't think of a better term at this moment, it will have to do.   

Smarty-pants and Peaches

Of course I think my child is a genius.  Don't all parents?  And if the parent doesn't think their child is a genius, I think there is something wrong with the parent.  What I find interesting is when other people comment about Pookie.  Pookie is a very alert little boy, he is also very sturdy and has what I think are good motor skills.  I had purchased a playpen from a seller on Craigslist, and the lady, let's call her M, was selling other items.  So today I packed Pookie up and went to look through some cloths and toys.  (I think I got some good stuff!)  M has a little boy that is 2 1/2 and he's adorable!  Although today he was taking a nap.  M couldn't get over how observant Pookie is.  As we were having a conversation Pookie was paying very close attention to everything that was being said.  Later as I was going through some items, M was playing with Pookie, and she couldn't get over his coordination and how sure he is of himself.  As she said, there is nothing flabby about him.  Pookie was too funny during that time.  He would keep turning around and looking at me, to make sure I was still there.  I know he's working on object permanence.

The thing that I find the most fascinating is that I get comments like this ALL the time.  I know he's quick to learn how to crawl.  That probably means that he'll be late to talk.  There is always give and take with various developments.  I guess it also boils down to what you are used too. 

In other funny news - As I was feeding Pookie this morning, he kept moving his head.  I almost feel that feeding him should be an Olympic sport some days.  Well, as it turns out, he kept putting his head down.  Inevitably when the spoon is in front of his mouth and he would get peaches on his nose.  One time it was a little too vigorous, and he got peaches UP his nose!  Oh!  The expression on his face was priceless!  It was so bad I had to get the boogie sucker (aka nasal aspirator) out and suck out the peaches.  He looked so happy as the peaches got sucked out.  Ah, it's all about the little things!

How I know my honey loves me Part 2

I've had an interesting day.  It started with Pookie sleeping until 9am.  (Thank you God!)  Then it progressed to my honey buying me Munchkins.  He was debating on whether he should buy me a drink or not, so he only bought the Munchkins.  (When in doubt, buy the drink!)  Mid-morning, while Pookie was eating his cereal he whacked the bowl and the entire thing went over me and the floor.  He decided to do this three bites in.  So a kitchen clean-up and breakfast remake later, Pookie was well fed.  As the day progressed, I had a lovely visit with one of my aunts. 

Then my honey suggested that we go out to dinner for a modified date night.  I love date night, especially when they pop up as a surprise.  We went out for Chinese, and I was able to get egg rolls.  I love egg rolls, they are yummy and delicious!  Pookie decided to be good and slept through most of dinner.  The ever-wonderful nap!  Even after he woke up, he was very content to look around at the other people.  He really loves to study people.  There was a table close to us that had a large group of people.  They were finishing up as we were looking through the menu.  We chatted with two of the ladies as they were getting ready to leave.  After they left and the waiter was cleaning up, he notice their to-go bag under the table.  Luckily one of the ladies realized they had left behind their leftovers and came back for it.  I was joking with her that normally I make it all the way home before realizing that I had forgotten the leftovers.

The meal was yummy and we had had some left over, so it all got wrapped up!   Score, leftovers!  I thought Rob had maneuvered the bag as I was getting myself and Pookie all together.  Rob grabbed Pookie and off we went.  We made it all the way home and were getting into the house when I asked "where are the leftovers?".  Yep, we left them in the restaurant.  I thought Rob had grabbed them and he thought I had.  I was a little upset about this.  I had saved an egg roll for the exact purpose of bringing it home with me.  Rob, my ever-valiant honey-pie, volunteered to go back to the restaurant to pick up our leftovers.  With a minute or two of hemming and hawing on my part, then a phone call to the restaurant to make sure they still had the leftovers later, Rob drove back to pick it up.  Just so I could have my leftovers.  That right there Ladies and Gentlemen, is true love. 

One am

Pookie likes to wake up in the middle of the night.  In all honesty, I don't mind it.  I am a night owl and I have a hard time falling asleep if it's too early.  My perfect sleep schedule is from 2am to 10am.  That however rarely happens especially now that Pookie has come along.  There are some nights that Pookie sleeps through.  However, he generally wakes up once or twice during the night.  This is actually a good thing, because it helps to keep my milk supply up.  It's kind of nice sitting in the semi-darkness feeding my baby.  Last night Pookie woke up at 1am.  As I was sitting on the couch I started thinking.  My line of thought: curtains. 

There are two small windows on either side of the fireplace and they have a straight valance across the top and venetian blinds.  The blinds are somewhat broken and I think they came with the house.  I hate them.  With a passion.  Especially from the outside, they look sad.  Normally I have them up, but because of the hot weather Rob keeps putting them down.  It makes since, they keep the light and heat out to help keep the house cool.  There is also a large window on another wall.  It has the same straight valance, but these windows have sheers.  The sheers have brown stains on them from the dog.  This is back when the dog was allowed to sit on top of the couch.  I have tried washing them, but the stains are enground.  It's time to fix things up. 

Back to last night.  I was sitting, looking at the sad window treatments and trying to come up with a plan of action.  I'm not a big fan of straight valance's, but I don't know what I want in their place.  So for the moment they will be staying.  I want to get new sheers for all of the windows, and tie them to the sides.  I've been going back and forth about the small windows, but I think I've come up with a solution.  This afternoon I told Rob what I wanted to do.  He gave me this funny look and asked what was wrong with the venetian blinds.  At which point I gave him a funny look and he told me that what I had described sounded wonderful and to do whatever I wanted.  Because it all boils down to I get the run of the inside of the house (within reason) and he get's the run of the outside of the house (within reason). 

The thing's I think of in the middle of the night.  That could be a blog topic all it's own!

Lost and Found

I've never had a problem with socks going missing until I moved to Massachusetts.  I swear my grandparent's washing machine ate socks as a snack.  When we brought Pookie home from the hospital, he was wearing a very cute outfit with brown socks.  As babies tend to do, they loose socks.  It always seems to be from the same foot.  One day I would like to know why.  Anyway, he happened to loose a sock and I placed it on top of some blankets on the love seat.  Rob needed to sit down, and he moved the pile.  Wouldn't you know it, the sock went missing.  Rob looked, my mom looked and I looked, to no avail.  We went through the blankets, we searched the couch.  Nothing.  I knew that sock had to be there somewhere, so I kept the mate tucked away in a drawer.  Wouldn't you know it, I was in a fit of cleaning today, and I found the missing sock.  Almost 7 months later and it was covered in dust bunnies.  (No surprise there!)  I think the couch ate the sock, then it took 6+ months to digest it and it has popped out the other end.  (Nice visual, I know.)  I'm really kind of excited that I've managed to find this sock.  Sometimes, it's all about the little things in life.  The really funny thing about this is that I've pulled the couch out on several occasions.  Never once seeing even a glimpse of the missing sock.  Trust me, I searched that couch high and low.  From now on I'm going to have to keep closer tabs on loose socks on the love seat.  Especially now that I know that it likes to eat them as snacks!

Dirt

I will freely admit it.  I have a dirty house.  Part is lack of effort on my end, but the slightly larger part comes from my wonderful husband.  As a landscaper, he gets dirty.  Really dirty.  His socks are ingrained with grass, dirt and debris.  There was a pair of socks that were so covered in burs that I tossed them out.  Rob makes a valiant effort to shake off before he comes in.  Even so, stuff gets tracked through.  I've found pieces of the outdoors everywhere.  From the normal places like the floor and the shower.  To the not so normal places like the washer and Pookie's ear.  Whenever I do a load of Rob's work cloths I have to clean out the washer.  There are always twigs, leaves and other stuff left behind.  It cracks me up though.  It falls under the category of "what am I going to find today". 

All of this has become more apparent now that Pookie is on the move.  He end's up getting covered in stuff.  I think I might go back to my original Swiffer idea.  Now that Pookie is getting into more places, he can also clean more places.   I think that just might be a call from DSS waiting to happen. 

Speaking of Pookie on the move. I need to find ways to keep him contained. I have given in. I bought a playpen. Not a Pack-and-Play. I think those are way too small. They also try to do way too many things all at once. I found the playpen on Craigslist and got it for a good price. It's nice and roomy.  I'm kind of excited about this. My next item that I'm looking for is an ExerSaucer. There are two of them that I'm eyeballing, but I might be inheriting one from someone else. At the rate Pookie is growing, it probably won't matter too much. He'll outgrow it sooner rather than later. 

As a side note, is it just me or do baby toys and dog toys look suspiciously a lot a like?

Sit, Stay, Roll Over

My little man is on the move.  He has mastered the art of rolling at 3 1/2 months.  Within the past two weeks he has managed to sit unassisted and he has moved onto crawling. 

Sitting all by himself

Now that he is on the move, he is getting into EVERYTHING!  I have a very busy little boy.  I don't think he ever stops moving.  I wish I could bottle his energy, I could make a mint!  It's only a matter of time before he starts walking.  He's already eyeballing the furniture to see where he could easily pull himself up.  Pookie really reminds me of one of my brothers, and he was walking by 9 months.  Between that and the fact that my husband is a ball of energy, I'm screwed.  I see a lot of running around in my future.  The funny thing is, I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what Pookie manages to get into.  Boy's are a lot of fun, they get into the most crazy stuff.  Jumping off stuff, running here and there and getting dirty.  The next several years are going to be interesting.  The challenge is trying to figure out how to contain Pookie.  If he could only learn how to stay...

The Shack

The first week in August Rob, Pookie and I went up north to my aunt's house, which has been named the "Love Shack" or just the "Shack".  Nothing fancy, but I love it there.  The only thing that I would change is the location of the grocery store.  My mom always drilled the importance of having a grocery store within walking distance.  Auntie told me that there was a Hannafords 20 min to a half hour away.  OnStar decided that there was a closer one, but that ended up by being 58 minutes away.  Yep, I had to drive almost ONE HOUR in ONE DIRECTION to get to a grocery store.  UGH!  I don't think I have ever done my shopping so fast!  Normally it takes me an hour and a half to do my shopping.  It took me 45 minutes.  I did manage to get everything on my list though! 

While I was at the grocery store Rob was putting Pookie's bed together.  There are two funny stories to go with this:
1. With my emergency trip to IKEA, I planned on getting Pookie a crib.  Something that could turn into a toddler bed so we could use it for the next few years.  Well, as it turns out, IKEA just had a recall on one of their cribs.  So they decided to pull ALL of their cribs, and they won't be back until December.  That isn't going to help me out any.  I talked it over with Rob, and we went with a toddler bed that had three sides to it.  We just turned the open side to the wall, and presto-chango, we had an enclosed space for the baby. 
2. As Rob was putting the bed together, he noticed that there was one rather important piece missing.  The bottom section that you put the mattress on, is apparently sold separately.  And I forgot to buy it.  Well, I didn't forget, I thought it came with it.  Apparently I missed the memo.  Anyway, I got crafty.  Pookie is about the same size as the suitcase.  I put in a pillow and some blankets and I made a nice little bed for Pookie.  Yes, I had my son sleep in a suitcase.  The next day Rob went to Lowe's and had them cut a piece of plywood to fit the bed.

Pookie in the suitcase.

Pookie in his bed.

As for the rest of the vacation, we went on a train ride, which was a lot of fun.  It left North Conway traveled north, then the engine was switched around and we headed back.  It was a very cool old train.  The conductor gave us a guided tour as we went along. 

We went to the Polar Cave's:

I know, there are not any pictures of the actual caves. I did make it through two of them. With that being said, I had Pookie strapped to the front of me and I was wearing flip-flops. Neither of these were conducive to going through caves. Also, Pookie freaks out when I lean forward and he's in the carrier. I can't say that I blame him. Luckily they have walkways around to the end of the cave if you don't want to go through. The scenery was beautiful and it was a lot cooler there. But with all the walking up the steps I managed to fog up my glasses.

Later in the week we did some outlet shopping. Pookie is growing like a weed and need new cloths.  I'm a little impressed with myself.  I managed to go into a Coach store and leave a Coach store without buying anything.  I also stuck to my shopping mission.  This is rather impressive.  Although I am very upset that we were not able to make it to the L.L. Bean outlet.  I actually needed a few things from them.  Oh well!  Luckily there is a regular store and an outlet that are close by.  I'm sure I can find what I'm looking for there. 

We also went to the beach. Rob was able to take his Sea-Doo out on the lake. It's a small lake, but I think he managed to still have a good time. While Rob was off on the Sea-Doo, Pookie and I had fun on the small beach. I managed to dunk Pookie in a little deeper than intended. Poor thing was sputtering. At some point I need to sign him up for swim classes. We are around water way too much for him not to know how to swim. Mostly we just sat at the waters edge, and Pookie tried to eat the sand. He seemed to have a lot of fun splashing around.

But the thing that I think I enjoyed the most was just being able to bum around with my hubby and baby. We were able to watch some family movies and I was able to read a book.  From cover to cover!  In a week!  It's hard to find time to read on a regular basis.  Hopefully that will get better with time. 

Poor Pookie, we kept managing to mess up his schedule. But all in all he's a really happy baby and was a complete trouper. I can deal with a few bouts of crying. At the end of the trip I was trying to convince Rob to let Pookie and me stay at the Shack. But then I realized that I really needed my car, and I had to come home. At least for a little while!

A little goes a long way

Sorry there haven't been any post's for the last week.  We've been on vacation and I haven't had access to a computer.  I'll update on the vacation in my next post, but I wanted to share something I found slightly funny.

Today after we got home from up North, I was working on getting things situated.  Pookie is crawling and getting into everything!  I used to plunk him on the bed so he could see what I was doing, but that is no longer a good idea.  He was on the floor getting into this and that, and came upon something that he shouldn't put in his mouth.  So I swooped in to get the offending item and divert Pookie's attention.  Well the item was covered in dust bunnies.  I'll freely admit it, I am not the best housekeeper in the world.  My dust bunnies have dust bunnies.  You know what they say about bunnies...  Anyway, Pookie had some dust stuck to his face.  A little bit of spit (mine) and a thumb-swipe away, there goes the dust.  I have progressed to cleaning with spit.

A slightly, but not to much so, related story.  Way back in the day my Grandpa was working for lord knows who, and was given the job to find a way to remove writing in ink off of glass slides.  He tried all sorts of chemicals and nothing was working.  One day he went to his boss and told him that he managed to get the ink off.  The boss asked how he managed to do it.  Grandpa replied that after trying a variety of solutions, he thought that maybe a little bit of spit would work.  Wouldn't you know, it took the ink right off.  Go figure.