Wake up, sunshine!

Or well, maybe not so much. Most of you when your little gal or guy wake up in the morning or from a nap, are greeted by a well-rested, bubbly, happy baby. Well, this isn't really our experience around here. Joseph's not much of a morning person - or a "just after his nap" person either. In fairness, he comes by this trait honestly. Anyone who has spent anytime around me in the morning knows to basically stay far, far away for a good 15 minutes upon waking.

This is a pretty typical greeting we get upon entering his room post-wakening (this happened to be after a nap). I usually get my hand slapped away a good 5-10 times before he is finally willing to come to me.

The first time Rich saw this video, his response was "Holy crap, you know that's exactly how you act in the morning, right?" and honestly, I'm even willing to admit it's true. It's not so bad now that I have to get up for Joseph, but a typical morning when I was working, went something like this:

Rich: Crystal, you have to get up or you'll be late.

Me: (Pulling covers over my face) I don't want to get up. Leave me alone. I'll get up when I want.

Rich: I am leaving for work and if you aren't up, you'll sleep another hour.

Me: Oh my god, you are so annoying.

Rich: (Rubbing my shoulders, trying to wake me up)

Me: Don't touch me. I don't like to be touched in the morning. I don't even want you talking to me. It's annoying.

How my husband hasn't killed me yet, I don't know.

So back to Joseph. So eventually after about 5 minutes, he'll actually let me touch him and bring him out to the couch to watch some TV (if you go anywhere else but the couch - it's a whole ordeal). Unfortunately, the mood doesn't improve much with a new location. We have a lot of back arching, kicking and crying for a good 5 minutes, even when bribed with cookies. Exhibit B:

Eventually, he wakes up and with a flip of a switch, he's off our lap and back to his hyperactive behaviors, as happy as ever. We really can't figure this kid out. Sometimes we just look at each other and say "Do you think he's....like...normal?" Look at his parents, of course he's not.

FYI - I realize this blog has been woefully neglected for a month and I will include some Christmas pictures at some point in the future. Hopefully, sometime before next Christmas.

Joseph's Got Talent

Joseph likes to dance and he actually has decent rhythm! His favorite jam to rock out to right now is the song "Sexy Chick". Everytime it comes on the radio when we are in the car, his little head and feet are bopping to the beat. Last weekend in an attempt to keep Joseph entertained while Daddy slept in (we were near meltdown stage because he just wanted to scream "Dada!" and run into our bedroom at 6:45 am), I found the video on You Tube and got a good 10 minutes of entertainment value out of it. Joseph broke out some moves for us, although they were slightly subdued compared to his usual dancing. I can't blame him, my dance moves aren't exceptional before 7 am either.

At our music classes, his dancing is...hmm...slightly more energetic and usually involves running in circles (to the beat, of course) and smacking the crap out of drums with sticks (also to the beat, of course) while turning himself in circles over and over again. The other kids sit on their mom's lap with their instruments and give Joseph a major side eye....like "Whoa! Something is wrong with that kid!" And then the mom's see my ever growing belly, find out I am having another boy, and give me the classic southern "Bless your heart" comment (translation for non-Southerners: Bless your heart = Oh wow, you are batshitcrazy.)

Please also note that I am very aware that the You Tube version of this song is not edited, which if you listen closely, means the word "whore" is not bleeped out and instead of "sexy chick" like on the radio version, they are clearly singing "sexy b*tch". Luckily, Joseph has not been heard calling anyone a whore or b*tch since our dance party (Besides Tiger Woods and his mistresses, of course, but we feel this is a very appropriate use of the words and not terribly concerned. At least he understands the context with which to use such words).

Now back to the dancing....where does he get such talent from, you ask? Well, this is debatable. Rich, of course, thinks he has blessed Joseph with his dancing genes, but a quick trip back to this post (there are several videos and photos featuring Rich's dance style), will prove Richard had very little dancing talent to pass on. Of course, I have immense dancing talent, it's just never been caught on video. However, my dancing talent clearly came straight from my father...who just happened to be silly enough to e-mail the following picture of his sweet dance moves from the mid-90's to my brother and I just last week (never thinking it would end up on this blog, I am sure):

Clearly, this is where Joseph's talent comes from...clearly. Clearly, my father would also break his hip if he attempted this move 15 years later.

Say Cheese!!!

Joseph might have a tendency to be a ham. He might also have a tendency to be in love with the camera and think that the camera loves him in return. And yes, he has a tendency to enjoy looking at photos of himself. Hmmm...who does this sound like? Hmmm...maybe, his father?

Lately, he's been taken with having impromptu photo sessions. We get out the camera and say "Cheese!" and he just stands there smiling and making faces. Here are some of the pictures from recent photo sessions. Please note that he looks sort of strange in some of them. I think it's from the flash making him squint right as the picture is taken. It could be that I just have a strange looking kid too.

We've apparently been doing photo sessions and saying "cheese!" so often, that he now thinks the camera is called a cheese. I get out of the camera and he calls it "cheese", as seen in this video below (note that cheese sounds more like "cheeeeeeee"):

This video also shows how patient our cat Porter is with Joseph. At least daily Joseph attempts to either ride Porter like he's a horse or rip his tail off of his body. Porter just puts up with until he's reached his limit and then takes off for the top perch of his kitty condo, where Joseph can't possibly get him (at least until he figures out how to climb it). Any other cat would have scratched the hell out of Joseph by now. Of course, Porter is missing his front paws (Don't come after me PETA. This de-clawing was done purposely without my knowledge while I was back at school - we got Porter together the summer we lived together before my senior year of college. I think the resulting argument when I found out was probably one of our biggest).

Joseph hearts Monkey

As mentioned in the previous post, Joseph loves his loveys. He loves all of them, but has a particular affinity for his monkey, which is one of the two original loveys he's had since he was like 3 months old. His affinity for Monkey makes it hard for Monkey to make it to the wash very often. I aim to wash Monkey once a week, but there are some laundry days where I'm just not getting between Monkey and Joseph.

Today was laundry day and Monkey was overdue for a cleaning. There is no sugar coating it, Monkey smelled...like really, really bad. Between a snotty nosed kid with a cold rubbing it all over his face and insisting he eat all his meals with it (last night Monkey was dragged through some pasta salad and regurgitated hard boiled egg), Monkey was more than a little funky his morning. Luckily, I found a moment when Joseph was distracted sticking my car keys in and out of the door and I was able to sneak Monkey into the washer. I was folding laundry in the hall near the laundry room (correction - laundry closet. Our laundry area is way too small to classify it as a room) and Joseph came running in. He has a strange fascination with me folding laundry. He likes to sit on my lap and help me put everything in the basket when I fold it. Of course, he doesn't really have the coordination to actually keep the clothes folded while placing them in the basket.

Unfortunately, as Joseph came running in, the door to the laundry room was still open and as Joseph peaked in, he spotted the bright red silk of Monkey pressed up against the window of the washer. He immediately went crazy pointing at it and yelling "THAT! THAT! THAT!". There was no way I was stopping the washer and handing him a wet, soapy Monkey so I prepared for the tantrum. This is a small glimpse (Note this was near the end when he was starting to calm down. The foot stomping and throwing himself against the wall had stopped).

Somehow I managed to lure him out of his tantrum with a secondary frog lovey and some Nick Jr. television for 10 minutes. Crisis averted. I managed to sneak Monkey into the dryer while Joseph ate his lunch (Trust me, there have been times he's seen it coming out of the washer and I have relented and let him have a wet monkey). I am happy to report that a very happy reunion took place right before nap time.

Lazy Day

Yesterday ended up being a rare lazy day around our house. First, Joseph slept in almost an hour later than usual, until 7:30. I know, those of you who don't hear a peep out of your kid until the clock hits 8, are like shuddering at the thought of "sleeping in" until 7:30. At our house, however, 7:30 is like a dream come true. I woke up, took a long-ish shower that didn't involve a screaming toddler locked down in a bouncy seat he is seriously over the weight limit for (a mom's gotta do, what a mom's gotta do), and even got a little Matt and Meredith fix from The Today Show in peace and quiet.


Even after waking up after his unusually long 12-hour slumber, Joseph was still pretty tired. He pretty much demanded to sit in my lap most of the morning watching Nick Jr. Since it was a rainy day (again) and I was running low on indoor activity ideas to get of the house, I let him have his way and enjoyed a rare morning of snuggling with my little monkey, both still in our PJs.


I have to say, I started to get a little worried after his afternoon nap when he was still pretty snuggly and tired. Joseph's lack of hyperactivity is usually a sign of impending illness. When he sat on my lap for 20 minutes reading books (!!!!), I started obsessing over his temperature, which was clearly in normal range. While folding laundry, Joseph actually took a towel put it over him like a blanket and laid down on the floor for 5 minutes. The picture below is extremely rare indeed:

He did perk up some when he realized there were like 5 of his loveys in the laundry. He made a dash to gather them all up. Joseph has this thing where if there is a lovey in sight, he has to have it. We spend many nap times gathering up every lovey around the house because he refuses to go to sleep without every one in his crib. So when he saw all of these loveys come out of the dryer, he pretty much flipped out. Joseph's attempt to carry them all at once:

We spent the afternoon just generally hanging out in our PJs. When Rich called at 6 to say he was on his way home, I had to warn him that he would find the two of us in the same clothes he had left us in that morning. Since it has been over 24 hours since our lazy day began and Joseph is still showing no signs of illness, I am just going to chalk it up to a calm, relaxing day at home we both needed. I actually think it *may* have been due to his molars finally coming in. Most kids become cranky and little hellions when their molars come in - nope, my strange kid gets tired and snuggly (Not that I am complaining - of all the craziness this kid throws at us, teething has been the most painless, effortless process to date. His teeth just sort of show up with no real fanfare).

Maybe in like 8 months we'll get another PJ day at home.

Craptastic

That is the only way to describe this week.

Craptastic Day #1 was Monday when I took Joseph for his H1N1 vaccination at the Dept. of Health. Somehow the nurse manages to give him my vaccination (the full adult dosage). I didn't realize it until the nurse bolted out of the room only to return with an administrator who starts asking me questions about my child's age and weight (something which no one else in the room had been asked). Only when I ask what the heck was going on, did anyone decide to inform me that my kid just got overdosed. Luckily, after a tearful drive home thinking I am a crappy mom who lets her kid gets overdosed at the hands of the incompetent Dept of Health, a call to the pediatrician and a call from the State Dept of Health was enough to calm me down. Luckily, 4 days later I can report there have been no signs of any negative effects of receiving double the dosage of H1N1 vaccine.

Tuesday and Wednesday were actually non-eventful besides the horribly awful pouring rain and windy weather. By Wednesday morning, I really thought our house might just float away. It's really difficult to keep Joseph inside all day. He doesn't really play with toys so if we are inside he's climbing things (note the foreshadowing for Friday's craptastic events), opening up every drawer and demanding he be allowed to play with things like meat mallets and scissors. When he's not doing that, he's pretty much standing at the door yelling "OUT! OUT! OUT!" over and over again. No attempts by me to make blanket forts to hide in or block towers to knock down could really take away from his sheer annoyance that we were in fact in our house.

So you'll understand why by Thursday morning, despite continued pouring rain and a 40 degree temp, it was time to get the eff out of the house. I figured a trip to the mall where I could park in the deck, avoid the rain and let him run around the train table and various toys at the bookstore, was the way to go. Awesome idea....until I get to the top of our street and realize I have a flat tire. Now, if it was any other day, I would have taken Joseph out of the car and enjoyed a walk back to the house but of course, we are dealing with craptastic weather. So I slowly drive the car back to the driveway (Joseph screaming in the back of course), praying this is not going to result in some $800 rim damage, only to be greeted by the mailman, who very seriously tells me "You shouldn't drive on a flat tire". Thanks for the tip - just give me my freaking mail and be on your way. Luckily, an hour and a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD later (yeah, I needed to calm my kid who was throwing the tantrum to end all tantrums at the sudden dash of his dream of leaving the house), AAA had come, put the spare on and my kid was ready for a nap.

I should also mention that Joseph is going through an awesome phase of wanting to get up for the day at 4:30 am. Without fail since Sunday morning, we hear "MaMa! DaDa!" over the monitor somewhere in the 4:30-5:00 am time frame. We just let him do his thing and he fusses, sleeps for 10 minutes, fusses some more, whines...repeat...until somewhere around 5:45 when he breaks down into an all out scream fest. Our days have been starting early, and quite frankly, we are just downright tired. It didn't help this morning when I woke up with a touch of a stomach bug...I'll spare you the details. Luckily, my wonderful hubby agreed to come home a little early because I was wiped out and just needed to lay down for a little while.

Yeah...well, we lucked out he came home early...except he ended up meeting us at the pediatrician's office. Why, you wonder? Because Joseph decided to climb the kitchen chair when I left the room for 45 seconds max. As I am coming back, he is reaching for something on the table, reaches too far and slips off the chair. On his fall to the floor, he cracks the back of his head on the seat of the chair. I rush to him to comfort him, only to realize my hand is covered in blood. At this moment, I thank god that I am there to deal with this and not Rich (I love him but if you ever have an emergency, call me, don't call him). I got the bleeding stopped only to realize we have a sizeable, deep gash back there. Oy vey! Luckily, Joseph is calmed down enough to again be willing to watch his Yo Gabba Gabba DVD for 5 minutes, while I call the pedi. Luckily, they let me come in instead of sending me to the ER.

An hour later and a whole lot of screaming, Joseph has 3 staples in the back of his head. Thank goodness Rich was there because there is no way I could have held Joseph down to have his head cleaned and stapled. He is insanely strong for an 18 month old - Rich's arms are throbbing tonight. He seemed rather unphased by the time we got home (I am sure allowing him to eat dinner on Daddy's lap, on the couch with Nick Jr on TV and the popsicle he got afterwards helped) and was back to his hyperactive ways by bedtime. In fact, we put him to bed slightly earlier because he was running around in circles and neither one of us could handle another accident tonight.

So as this craptastic week closes, I am just saying a little prayer that the weekend doesn't get craptastic-ier and that some higher power has some sympathy for me and is bestowing upon me a second son who is a delightfully easy and calm little fellow. Rich is just laughing at me even typing this. I know, I know...wrestle mania in my den, kids jumping off of furniture, brothers throwing rocks at one another and lots and lots more stitches are in my future. I need some sleep just imagining it.

Halfway

As of yesterday, I am officially halfway done with this pregnancy. Well, if the pregnancy with Joseph is any indication it may be a few more days until I hit the actual halfway mark - he made a fashionably late entrance to the world. At the very least, I am halfway to the point where I can look at my OB and beg "Please, lets schedule an induction!"

I am 20 weeks pregnant! 20 weeks! When did that happen? When did I get halfway to holding my second son in my arms? Halfway to Joseph being a big brother. Halfway to referring to my children as "my boys". (On a slightly less excited note - halfway to being up every 2-3 hours at night). This pregnancy has flown by and I have to say, other than the nasty morning sickness from weeks 6-9, it's been the easiest, least drama free pregnancy I could have imagined. Lets hope it continues that way.

And for your viewing pleasure, a 20 week belly pic.

And yes, I am bigger than I was with Joseph. It's apparently true that you pop earlier with the 2nd. This, despite the fact that I have actually gained significantly less weight this time around (hmmm...do you think controlling my hyperactive toddler could be the cause of the that?)

My 23 week belly pic with Joseph: