Who Hates Bugs? I Do! I Do!

So, my last blog ended with me stating I wouldn't have another breakdown for 3 months, but that did not even last 24 hours. However, this time it was not due to my darling little bug, but rather the un-darling little bugs that decided to move into our place. Ants. I hate them. Just thinking about them gives me the willies. And, yes, I know that "hate" is a strong word. And, yes, I hate them. I'm just going to say it: I think they might be God's little mistake.


And just in case you're curious like I was, I searched for the meaning of the phrase "it gives me the willies" and here's what I found: The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, traces "the willies" to the slang expression "willie-boy," meaning "sissy" -- presumably the sort who would be prone to the "willies." I feel sorry for the first little boy named Willie that started this. But I digress.


Every summer these rotten mini-hell-monsters decide that our home should be their home. The landlord has an exterminator spray around the building which forces all the ants indoors. There were ants in the kitchen cabinets, bathrooms, living room carpet, and they were coming through the outlets. I even found an ant in Luke's diaper. It was a poopy one and it made me happy that the ant died such a stinky death.

I tore the house apart in a cleaning spree, finding every nook and cranny that could possibly hold any sort of ant bait, then panicked at the mess I left in my wake. Breakdown #2 was pending... Husband appeared, saw my sweaty face, crazy hair, and the mess I had made and told me to stop freaking out and to take Luke to the mall for some air conditioning and retail therapy. (Did I mention that since Luke was born I lost my trademark chilliness and replaced it with constant sweating? Unfair trade.) While I was gone, Matt put the house back together and I came home a happy laddy.

On the positive side, we gave the house a good cleaning and I got a lovely dress to wear to an upcoming wedding.

Here are some cute picture of Luke to end this, because that's really why your're here, right? I call them "Surprise!" and "Drooooool!"

A Little Alone Time

Today Matt took Luke out to shop for my anniversary present. (We will hit our two year mark on August 11. More about that on my Tribute to Husband blog in the coming weeks...) This was a great thing for three reasons:


1. Matt rarely gets alone time with Luke, and I don't think he's ever taken him out by himself for an extended period.

2. I get presents.

3. I get the afternoon to myself!


Luke just turned 3 months old this week, and I can't remember the last time I was without him, let alone, ALONE. I went to the gym a few weeks ago, but that doesn't really count because I had to prepare all day for it and it was far from restful and I certainly wasn't alone there. I seriously can't recall a time since Luke was born when I wasn't with at least one of my men. This is in stark contrast to ALL the time I spent alone when I was pregnant. I'm glad I enjoyed that time like my mom told me to!


So here's how it all went down: This morning I took Luke for our daily walk at the beach (that has become our walk/jog at the beach! Yay us! (I can't wait for my jogging stroller husband-who-I-love-so-much!! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!!)) and I came home to a husband offering to take the little man for the afternoon. I gave him a resounding "YES YES YES!!" and rushed to get Luke ready for his outing. I sent them on their way and relished in the silence of the house...for about 5 minutes. Then I got antsy and wondered what to do with my hours of freedom.

I got many suggestions with how to spend my time (thank you facebook friends!) but ended up taking a long shower (without the baby monitor or the shower door half open) followed by a short nap. Then I drove to the mall without worrying about the volume on the radio, and did some much needed shopping. To a parent, solo shopping can only be described as joyful. I browsed and filled both arms with clothes and took my time trying things on, and I never had to shake a rattle or maneuver a stroller through clothing racks or crowds. I took the escalator. Things were just easy.

I know these little breaks are necessary, especially since I had my first mommy meltdown this week. It was hot, Luke was grumpy and wouldn't go to sleep, I hadn't had a chance to clean the house all week, everything seemed difficult and messy, and I just started crying. It had taken 3 months, but it had arrived. I pretty much cried the rest of the day, through Luke's eventual nap, and up until my husband walked in the door. He took care of dinner that night. Maybe that was why he offered to take the baby today. I didn't even think of that until now. Must remember to kiss and thank husband when finished.

But as much as I loved the ease of my much needed alone time, I missed my little boy. I like looking in the rear view mirror when I'm driving and seeing his cute face, and pushing him around in the mall while people "ooh" and "ahh" at him (due to his insane adorableness -- yes, that's a word, I looked it up), and just having him with me. So when I walked through the door this afternoon I was more than ready to give up my freedom and regain my role as Mommy. When I picked Luke up and put him to my shoulder he smiled at me then tucked his little head into my neck and cuddled.

That moment alone will keep me sane for another 3 months.

Favoritism, Family, Blood, Birthday, and A Brief Coma

**So this post has some formatting issues. Sorry. I'm new to this!!**

Here is our weekend recap.

First off, Matt took the 4am feeding on Saturday morning so I got to sleep through the night. Good husband. Luke always gets me up at about 6am with his "I'm ready to play now, mom!" shout. But not today! I open my eyes and check the clock. 7:15. Hmmm... No husband next to me, but why don't I hear noises coming from the rest of the house? A quick peek finds my boys asleep in the bed in Luke's room. So cute! It can't last long so I take the opportunity to pack my clothes and get things ready for our weekend away. Check the clock again: 7:45 and still sleeping. I eat breakfast. 8:15...are you kidding me? I took a picture to remember the day Luke let daddy sleep in.

Just so we're clear, he had me up at 6am the next morning. He's already picking favorites.

We headed out to meet my cousin Diane in Century City at Bread Bar (so yummy) for lunch. She lives in Northern California and was here with her niece for the weekend. This was her first time meeting Luke and he greeted her by sleeping and then fussing and then sleeping again. Good introduction. However, we had a great meal and it was so nice to visit with her. We then continued our trek to Newbury Park where we spent the rest of the weekend with Auntie Mary and Uncle Brennie (henceforth referred to as AM/UB).

Luke was well rested by then and put on a great show. Lots of cooing and "talking" and smiles all around. He also had an entertaining bath that resulted in a wet mirror and a wet mommy. I don't have pictures of that, but here is my favorite picture of Luke in the bath. (This was really just an excuse to post this picture.)

So the little man kept scratching his face with his sharp little talons (that I just freakin' trimmed!), so on Sunday morning I thought I would quickly cut them. I will never again try to quickly cut anything off of my child. Who knew so much blood could come from a pinkie. People kept warning me that it would eventually happen, but I was unprepared for the guilt I would feel at wounding my child. I did not take a picture of that. The good news is that, as I was reminded by my friend Karisha, he won't remember the incident. And here I've gone and made a record of it. I'll have to delete this when he learns to read.

Then it was off to the park to celebrate Baby Faythe's 1st birthday!

There was ice,

and bubbles,

and ice,

and magic (props to UB!),

and ice. The kid loves ice!

So, on to the best part of a 1st birthday party. The cake arrived and the little lady very delicately began eating her treat.

She was far too polite to just dive in. Little cake fangs, but still waiting for the big mess...

sharing with mommy...

and...squish. You'll notice there is now a chocolate ice cream goatee and cake in the hair. Good times!

Luke had fun, too.

Now, since this was the first time that we thought Luke's little baby skin would see the sunlight we were prepared with sunblock and the sweetest hat known to man. Had he been awake there would have been pictures like this. He obviously loves the hat less than I do.

At this point it was about 300 degrees and we headed back to AM/UB's to cool off. Luke decided to grace us with some awake time, but awake baby became grumpy baby, became exhausted baby, became crying monster baby. I could sense that a meltdown was just around the corner and we quickly loaded up the car for the drive back to HB. We hoped that Luke might get in a little nap during the drive so he'd be smiley Luke at home. Well, we definitely got more than we asked for. He slept through the 1 hour 10 minute drive (Anyone who knows that drive will appreciate my husband's skillfull freeway navigation. It involved 6 freeways.), woke for a bottle and immediately went back to sleep for 5 more hours. Then woke for another bottle and went back to sleep for another 6 hours. Apparently we need to spend more time at AM/UB's house as it induces brief comas.

All in all it was a great weekend.

This is the dawning of...my blog.

First blog. A lot of pressure. Here goes.

I'm Lisa. This is me at my wedding.

This is my handsome husband, Matt, with some birds.

Here is us together looking cute.

This is our amazing son, Luke. He looks just like his daddy.

We have a pretty great life. I get to walk along the beach every morning with my little man. The big man has to go to work every morning so that I can continue to walk along the beach every morning with my little man. I'm a lucky girl.

Before I was a mommy I used to think that my days were busy. I had no idea.

Right now my life goes a little like this: wake up at 6am to crying baby, feed crying baby, try to put now wide eyed smiling baby back in his crib for just thirty more minutes of sleep, no luck, try bleary-eyed to play with baby, kiss husband goodbye, turn on singing mobile and brush teeth while baby plays in crib, restart singing mobile and get dressed, restart singing mobile again and drink protein shake, grab laughing and gurgling baby from crib and change baby's diaper and clothes because baby spit up, sing songs to baby while putting him in car seat and trying to finish protein shake, lug baby and heavy car seat down stairs, drive to beach, walk along the beach trail while baby observes and laughs and naps, drive home, lug baby and heavy car seat up stairs, play the "let's lay, sit, stand!" game with baby, have a little tummy-time, feed baby, put baby down for nap, take a breath...makecoffeeandoatmealdrink coffeeeatoatmealcheckemailandblogsandfacebooktakeshower, attend to crying baby, take another breath... sweepandmopfloorsdustunloaddishwashercleankitchencleanbathrooms, run out of time for anything else because baby is now awake and wants out of the crib NOW, stop for a second to marvel that 3 hours have gone by, refocus, feed baby, change baby's diaper and clothes because baby spit up, eat turkey slices and string cheese and apple while singing songs to baby and putting baby in car seat, lug baby and heavy car seat down stairs, go to Target for formula and Trader Joe's for groceries, lug baby and groceries and heavy carseat up stairs, play the "let's lay, sit, stand!" game with baby, put baby in the Baby Bjorn so I can do laundry, take baby out of Baby Bjorn and feed baby, put baby down for a nap, start cooking dinner, kiss husband hello, hand now awake baby to daddy, serve and eat dinner, bathe baby, put daddy in charge of baby, kiss husband good-night, brush teeth, collapse in bed. Repeat.

And you know what? I can't think of a better day.

First blog, done.