King of the Halls

Margot's Revenge

We are still working on being gentle, and sharing. This was a lesson on how not to squeeze a baby kitten to death.

Theo is less than two months away from turning three. Something he knows and talks about often. This kid loves party hats. His personality has exploded lately. We went to a playgroup this week, and the first part he was shy, wandering around the playground by himself or reading a comic book in a corner. Then, suddenly I saw him squealing and laughing with a group of kids, mimicking all their moves. I went to check on him once and he excitedly said, "We're going to space! Go away, Mommy!" I was so happy to go away. He left the park that day so exhausted from running around with sticks and letting four year olds push him on the swings. It was everything I was hoping for him for the past eight months. And he napped. I've given up fighting the constant nap battle, instead having quiet time and hoping for the best. He rarely naps, but I feel much less stressed by letting it go.

Theo is very outgoing, but easily becomes overwhelmed in new situations or among a crowd. This week we went to the mall, which had this place with a ton of inflatable play structures. There were hardly any kids there, so I thought it would be good to try it out for the first time. It took a while for him to get adjusted to how it felt to bounce--he really didn't like it at first. After some nudging from me he started to bounce and play in the little toddler areas. I couldn't even set Margot down on the inflatable surface without her freaking out. Same thing at a rhythm/dance class at the library today--he shut down and would hardly look at me, and wouldn't even hold some rhythm sticks. There were a million kids and a lot of loud music, and Margot was pretty chill although she would quickly shut me down if I tried anything bouncy or cheesy.

Favorite things lately: "This is my favorite." Counting past ten, not in order, including "eleventeen." Starting sentences with, "Well, actually..." Yelling, "Margot Laaady!" The way he sings songs to himself all the time, sometimes in falsetto. How much he loves his daddy. The way he dances and sings to Kipper (and laughs, which is funny cause I think that show is so boring). He loves nursery, and doesn't want to leave.

Theo loves to swim, and loves to jump off the diving board. In fact, if he ever jumps off of anything he treats it like a diving board and goes full on belly flop straight for your face. It can make for a hard catch.

Kite as friend

My birthday was great. I got a chambray shirt I'm going to wear the other days I'm not wearing my other chambray shirt, went out to eat without kids, and my hair looked awesome. And Jon got me my very own socks he promised not to wear and thus destroy. In other news, it's hot/windy/slightly chilly here all at the same time, which means you have to wear sunscreen with sweatshirts and you get to fly kites. Oh, and I'm a little sad that Margot hates swings. Who hates swings?

We've been in our house a month--and a couple of weeks ago we got served (!) with a bunch of legal papers that told us our house was being foreclosed on. Big thanks to my attorney dad who can speak in legal terms and hopefully will make our property manager feel bad that she mopped our dirty-a** floors with a sponge and how dare I complain that they are filthy and dirty! I don't know why lawyers get such a bad rap, it's real estate people who keep me in a constant state of eyes-rolled. Who cares that our house is getting foreclosed on--I want justice after moving into a "professionally cleaned" house that got the once over with a dust rag.

On my job

I really dislike full-time office jobs. It's the majority of work that I've done, it was the end game of my college degree, and I've only done it mostly because I have had to. I've always planned on being a mom staying at home with my kids. That's just me. All the dreams I have ever had (even the ones that are not mom related) do not have an 8:00 am start time.

But what am I kidding? These days my work days start more around seven. If it wasn't for my angel husband, it would be six. They end around 8:00 pm. I never imagined how people worked retail on their feet all day. But I'm on my feet all freaking day. Today I carried Theo and he's rather light and thin, but he did a dead weight hang and I thought I was going to collapse. I picked up a piece of poop off the ground yesterday that had a bite mark on it. It's my birthday this week and I really haven't cared much. Usually I make it into some sort of week long holiday, where all the planets orbit around me and I make grandiose desserts that usually don't taste as good as I hope. I spend too much money on myself and pretend that we make all birthdays this important.

I realized this week that Theo might be interested in this day, as he loves birthdays. So I told him my birthday was at the end of the week. He said, "My party? My Birthday?"

Theo, if I blow out candles on my cake it will be only because I want you to enjoy it. I finally realize now that I do have a full time job. One that always doesn't give me lunch hours, but I can wear whatever I want. And I might be exhausted and frustrated at times like any job, but I never went back to my office computer in the middle of the night just to look at its beautiful sleeping face. That computer didn't teach me how I could be a better person. It just made my eyes hurt. And yes, when I am studying a wet poop nugget, trying to figure out if the bite in question came from a single or multi-toothed person (answer: multi, and it was "yucky"), I wonder if I would like to instead hire a nanny and sit next a desk and a name plate all day.

But I never would do that, ever. I love my job--especially when I get to retell gross poop stories.

Margot 10 months

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Ever cautious on the sit down.

So I was in the midst of opening a Roth IRA account, but blanked on Jon's social--so here I am. My mind has been super fried the past two days, mommy life has been a little out of control without any breaks. I am constantly switching the letters of two word phrases, my shoulders are hunched around my ears, and I find it amazing that I got dressed this afternoon and went to the store. Theo might have thrown a couple of the things I needed out of my cart, but oh well. I forgot about 12 important things anyway so I'll be back.

But Margot, miss Margot. My itsy lady fell off the chart for height and down to 3% for weight (a little over 15 pounds), so we are in operation chub mode. I hope she's getting used to the taste of coconut oil and coconut cream. I'm not too worried as I think she is just a petite treat but I'm going to err on the side of baby rolls. I find myself amazed that Margot understands certain words and phrases, even though I'm sure it's developmentally appropriate. She makes the sign for milk, the cutest thing in the world, and waves her hands around when I say "all done?" I thought she was growing out of her clingy phase, but it seems she has entered a new, even more clingy one. She will smile and laugh at anyone around her--just don't try and hold her! Margot desperately loves to play peek-a-boo. She'll pull a blanket over her eyes or (my favorite) slap a hand over one eye. She also likes to make a wa-wa noise by rubbing her fist over her lips while making noise--she copies me when I flap my lips with my fingers. She loves books with pictures of real babies. She loves her water bottle, and tends to be selective or wary of new food. I gave her hair a little trim the other day to straighten up the crazy parts, but it can hold a hair clip just barely. She sleeps well all though the night, and takes two 1.5 hour naps a day.

She did not like her first experience in a park swing, and also hates baths outside of her baby tub. 

And a couple weeks ago she got her first tooth! Left bottom, pretty sure it happened while I was on
the phone after a burst of unexplained fussiness.

Breakin

Jon has always been after his family to go to Organ Stop Pizza, and they usually ignore him. We went finally, and had I known of the bubble filled, cat puppet dancing, muppet-esque show that was to come I would have gone five years ago. But maybe not back again? Might be a one time thing.

Eggs+ swimming

The final minutes of Theo's hair before it was to be "cleaned up" and barely trimmed by a certified hair stylist. Can't wait to see what six month's growth will look like with this one.

Paige is admiring Margot's socks-over-leggings look.

Jon is a gem. I know he looked at my receipt from Sephora but didn't say a word.

donuts+pjs. Yes, that is a maple buttermilk bar. Portland just gets better and better.

I was always excited for Jon to be done with school, but things like spring break and two week Christmas breaks that come along with it can really dull the pain. I was worried that spring breaks would be no longer, but hello! paid vacation. Much better. We first drove to Arizona to spend Easter with Jon's family and the cousins, which Theo loved of course. He loved finding eggs and checking the contents of each one. Some kids would feel bad and put their eggs in his basket--I say good for him! I made a four layer carrot cake that, for once, lived up to my expectations. Theo got in a few refresher swim lessons from his grandma, who is the best swim teacher around, and loved going all out on the diving board. I always spend a good amount of time grumbling about the heat and that sun thing, but I always enjoy breaking out my saltwaters a few months earlier than I am used to. Arizona also means catching up on my Bravo reality shows I miss so much (not the housewives ones, c'mon) and eating a lot of Cheez-its. Always great. Margot got more comfortable with Grandma than she has before--so much that Jon and I went out and after a scream filled bedtime, she promptly went back to being wary of even an arm shrug in her direction.

After carb loading, we all flew from there to Portland. I was itching to feel that constant rain drizzle and sweater requiring breezes. And well, everything, because I love Portland and feels like home to me. Most importantly, I spent quality time with wonderful adults and Theo got to play with friends in some of his old favorite spots. I also spent a lot of money overhauling my make up bag with friends that are close enough to tell me when a lipstick color is going to far into the matte-90s-goth realm. And also close enough to agree that my eyebrows were crazy and needed a lot of work--then proceeded to take matters into their own hands and fix it. After my transformation to a true lady, (Jon was taking classes throughout, unfortunately) we made room for our favorite doughnuts and reggie deluxe with egg over easy at Pine State, and a few others like "live" nachos and remembering how to bus our own tables after eating. We had the most generous and gracious hosts, and little Nellie put up with Theo's antics and human-bowling-using-an-exercise-ball game the best she possibly could, as she and Margot became unintentional bowling pins several times.

We flew back and drove almost immediately to Las Cruces, maybe regretting the mega travel day we made for ourselves, but I loved it anyway. Now I'm sitting amidst a crazy load of unpacking that I will likely put off for a few days. It's not fair since Jon had to go back to work today and see 20 patients, but I killed a roach this morning and am going grocery shopping later so...