I've been having a few too many mommy meltdowns lately. I have a lot of buttons to begin with, but Alex knows just how to push them all. Every. single. one. Alex LOVES the word no. And he loves my angry face, and my stern voice. He loves doing bad things because he gets my attention and gets to see me angry. I've tried everything I can to babyproof this house, but there are just some things I can't baby-proof - and Alex knows exactly what they are and constantly goes for them. He bites. Oh, how he bites. He attacks Owen all the time, making Owen scream. He spits. Oh, how he spits. He rips his bib off over, and over, and over. During diaper changes he kicks and screams and contorts his body in every possible way making it almost impossible for me to get a diaper on him. Every time. He screams like no other baby has screams before. He pulls hair. And he thinks it's all SOOO funny! He walks toward those curtains looking over at me with a smile on his face saying "look Mom, I'm going to pull on these curtains, and you're going to chase after me saying 'no! no! no!' and it's going to be so fun and we'll do it again and again!" I can't ignore him. He's going to break the curtains, which belong to the landlord, which we will have to pay to replace. Or he's going to throw Owen to the ground, smacking his head on the floor. The kid is 12 months old - I'm pretty sure that's too young to discipline him in any way. It's constant. And it's making this mommy CRAZY. Please any words of advice would be very welcome.
So, I'm getting to the point where I really, really never want anyone to ever ask me the question "so, are they twins?" (obviously referring to Owen and Alex). Every time we leave the house, the question is inevitable and leads to 10 more questions and I really just want to go about my daily business like a normal person and NOT answer those questions over, and over, and over. The question is very normal. I get that. I would ask me that question if I were them. They are just being kind people and trying to strike up a conversation and I appreciate it and I'm not annoyed at them or anything. I just flat out don't want to explain it. Again. Lately when we get asked that question we answer with "no, but they're close" or "no, they're 5 months apart" and we just leave it at that. But by doing that we're basically saying to them "I know that doesn't make any sense and I know you have all sorts of questions, but I don't really want to talk to you right now, so leave me alone." And I don't want to come across as totally rude. And I actually do enjoy talking to strangers, but just not about my children's ages and their adoption story. But when we say they are 5 months apart and don't say anything else, they usually just sit there for a minute and let the wheels turn. Then one of the following: "which one is yours?", "are they both yours?", "so, how....?". Ya, they're both ours. They're adopted. And then the next line of questions... We've thought about just saying "yes, they're twins". But that's lying. And with potential follow-up questions I could really dig myself into a hole. And soon enough the boys will understand us and will either a) begin to think they are twins or b) know that their parents are liars. I love our babies. I love that they're adopted. I love their story - I think it's pretty cool. But after telling it 5, 938 times, I just want to talk about something else. Thank you.
Did I mention in my last post that I was over-the-moon excited for cool weather? Well, the 2-day cold front was awesome. Then summer came back and hasn't left and I'm super duper grumpy about it.
I'm such a downer. All the stuff I write about is negative. I'm really very pleased with life right now. The good stuff just isn't exceptionally interesting. I'll try to come up with something happy to write about next time :)
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Surprise! A blog post!
This post is for my sister Dana, who posts in her blog all the time but never gets to see family posts in return. Here are a few of the things going on around here lately.
COCKROACHES. Oh my heck. Last week, in the middle of the night, I'm just minding my own business off in dreamland when a giant cockroach falls from the ceiling and lands right on my arm! I was sleeping on my stomach so my arms were up by my face, so that thing was looking me right in the eyes. Oh man, I freaked out. I was out of bed with the lights on screaming at Zach to kill it in a fraction of a second. Luckily Zach was able to kill it. After changing my pillowcase and laying a clean sheet across the bed, we attempted to go back to sleep but neither of us could sleep the rest of the night. Zach was like "oh man, if that would have been another one of your bad dreams...I would be mad!" Then in the morning I found a GIANT one on the ceiling in the dining room, which I flicked down with a broom and was then unable to find. Then another one in front of my nightstand. Then that night I was changing the sheets before bed and one came scurrying out of the sheet as I was unfolding it! I held that one hostage under the bed with my flashlight for 25 min waiting for Zach to get home to help me kill it. I have a borderline phobia of cockroaches. They freak me out so bad I almost want to throw up. We will be paying for pest control to come spray our house this week.
GAGGING. Owen discovered how to gag himself one night at dinner. And he thought it was hilarious. He'd gag himself with both pointer fingers and then bust up laughing. Well, that was funny until he threw up his WHOLE dinner and we had to feed him another meal. He was gagging himself the rest of the night and I was pretty nervous this was going to be his new favorite thing to do. Luckily the next day he forgot about that fun little activity.
POOP. Well, we've reached a new low. Both my boys ate poop today. We were playing in Owen's room when I had to use the bathroom. Owen's room is babyproofed (or so I thought) so I thought I was safe to leave the boys in there for 2 minutes while I used the bathroom. Somehow a poopy diaper that was on top of the dresser made its way to the floor (I'm still trying to figure out how that happened). When I got back in the room there were chunks of poop all over the carpet and both of them had it all over their hands and face. So, SO disgusting. SOOOOOOO disgusting. That was a fun little mess to clean up. And I'm pretty sure they both might get sick from it. Seriously people, I was gone for 2 minutes. Mother of the year.
HEAT. Three. more. days. of HOT in Dallas until a cold front comes through and cools us down for what's looking like a week. Then it's FALL. Oh blessed fall. I cannot adequately express the joy in my soul that summer is OVER! The boys can actually experience what outside is.
DECISIONS. Zach is only just beginning his 2-year residency, but it feels like we have so little time to make some very big decisions. Usually near the beginning of the second year of residency is when people start deciding where they will go next - signing contracts with other dentists and such. That leaves us about a year to figure this out. I can't stop thinking about it and it's kind of driving me crazy. With some professions you just kind of have to go where the job is...but with dentistry I feel like we can kind of pick where we want to settle down and we can find/build a good opportunity there. There are definitely some exceptions - some very saturated markets - but for the most part I feel like we could pretty much go wherever we want. Which is awesome and stressful all at the same time. The thing with dentistry is that the decision is quite final. Once you build up a practice, you're pretty much there forever. I don't know why I'm so stressed about it - I've always been a believer that you can "bloom where you're planted" and really be happy anywhere. And I still believe that. But when you can choose where you're planted? It seems like so many other people make these life-changing decisions with so much more ease than I do. I'm probably just over-thinking it and I probably just need to chill out a little. But deciding where you want to live for the rest of your years on this earth....isn't that kind of a big deal?
I'm not even going to attempt to do a catch-up of the goings-on in our family. But here are a few pics.
COCKROACHES. Oh my heck. Last week, in the middle of the night, I'm just minding my own business off in dreamland when a giant cockroach falls from the ceiling and lands right on my arm! I was sleeping on my stomach so my arms were up by my face, so that thing was looking me right in the eyes. Oh man, I freaked out. I was out of bed with the lights on screaming at Zach to kill it in a fraction of a second. Luckily Zach was able to kill it. After changing my pillowcase and laying a clean sheet across the bed, we attempted to go back to sleep but neither of us could sleep the rest of the night. Zach was like "oh man, if that would have been another one of your bad dreams...I would be mad!" Then in the morning I found a GIANT one on the ceiling in the dining room, which I flicked down with a broom and was then unable to find. Then another one in front of my nightstand. Then that night I was changing the sheets before bed and one came scurrying out of the sheet as I was unfolding it! I held that one hostage under the bed with my flashlight for 25 min waiting for Zach to get home to help me kill it. I have a borderline phobia of cockroaches. They freak me out so bad I almost want to throw up. We will be paying for pest control to come spray our house this week.
GAGGING. Owen discovered how to gag himself one night at dinner. And he thought it was hilarious. He'd gag himself with both pointer fingers and then bust up laughing. Well, that was funny until he threw up his WHOLE dinner and we had to feed him another meal. He was gagging himself the rest of the night and I was pretty nervous this was going to be his new favorite thing to do. Luckily the next day he forgot about that fun little activity.
POOP. Well, we've reached a new low. Both my boys ate poop today. We were playing in Owen's room when I had to use the bathroom. Owen's room is babyproofed (or so I thought) so I thought I was safe to leave the boys in there for 2 minutes while I used the bathroom. Somehow a poopy diaper that was on top of the dresser made its way to the floor (I'm still trying to figure out how that happened). When I got back in the room there were chunks of poop all over the carpet and both of them had it all over their hands and face. So, SO disgusting. SOOOOOOO disgusting. That was a fun little mess to clean up. And I'm pretty sure they both might get sick from it. Seriously people, I was gone for 2 minutes. Mother of the year.
HEAT. Three. more. days. of HOT in Dallas until a cold front comes through and cools us down for what's looking like a week. Then it's FALL. Oh blessed fall. I cannot adequately express the joy in my soul that summer is OVER! The boys can actually experience what outside is.
DECISIONS. Zach is only just beginning his 2-year residency, but it feels like we have so little time to make some very big decisions. Usually near the beginning of the second year of residency is when people start deciding where they will go next - signing contracts with other dentists and such. That leaves us about a year to figure this out. I can't stop thinking about it and it's kind of driving me crazy. With some professions you just kind of have to go where the job is...but with dentistry I feel like we can kind of pick where we want to settle down and we can find/build a good opportunity there. There are definitely some exceptions - some very saturated markets - but for the most part I feel like we could pretty much go wherever we want. Which is awesome and stressful all at the same time. The thing with dentistry is that the decision is quite final. Once you build up a practice, you're pretty much there forever. I don't know why I'm so stressed about it - I've always been a believer that you can "bloom where you're planted" and really be happy anywhere. And I still believe that. But when you can choose where you're planted? It seems like so many other people make these life-changing decisions with so much more ease than I do. I'm probably just over-thinking it and I probably just need to chill out a little. But deciding where you want to live for the rest of your years on this earth....isn't that kind of a big deal?
I'm not even going to attempt to do a catch-up of the goings-on in our family. But here are a few pics.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Some quick pics
Presenting OWEN...
Owen now pulls himself up to standing on just about everything and crawls over, under, and around anything he can find.
Christmas Day
In the dog kennel
First time I found him standing up in the crib!
Presenting ALEX.....
Lest you be confused, yes, this is Alex, who also has a helmet. Our niece came over a while ago after Alex got his helmet and she said "TWO baby Owens!" So cute.
Without the helmet
Owen never showed much interest in this toy until Alex started enjoying it. All of a sudden it's Owen's favorite toy and he crawls under it with Alex all the time. Any time I dangle anything in Alex's face Owen speedily crawls over and tries to grab it. Sharing problems already!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Six "quick" takes
Part of me feels the need to mentally review the last 4 months in my head and start composing separate posts about each significant event, with pictures and all the accompanying stories.
But if I did that, you would not see a post for a very long time 'cause I'm way too scatterbrained and noncommittal to pull that off any time soon. So today you get the first six things that pop in my mind.
1. I just ate strawberry Bluebell icecream. Bluebell icecream is the best icecream you will ever eat...IF you ever get the pleasure of eating it - it's only sold in mostly the southern states and parts of a few other lucky states. As long as I live in Texas I will never purchase another brand of ice cream - it's worth extra pennies. YUM.
2. The chance of having TWO babies in helmets at the SAME time is probably about as likely as winning the lottery... but we get the privilege! Seriously? Really? Yes. Zach's dad told us to tell those people who give us funny looks that they were twins conjoined at the head at birth. I like the idea. Welcome to the family helmet #2! (technically I guess it's helmet #4 since they had to remake Owen's first helmet b/c it didn't fit right, then his head grew out of that one so they made a third). We're crossing our fingers that Alex's head gets reshaped much faster than Owen's!
3. Zach got into Baylor Pedo!!!! (for those of you who aren't familiar with the dental lingo, "pedo" = pediatric) It was his top choice and he was thrilled to get matched there. He worked really hard for it and we are so happy for him. So we're here in Dallas for 2 more years. Then we will FINALLY be done with school....FOREVER. I keep thinking about how exciting that will be, then I think "wait, then all the hard stuff begins". While we're in school we don't have any money to spend so we don't have to decide how to spend it. We don't have to look for a job, don't have to decide where to settle down, and don't have to decide when/where/how to start our own practice and all the bazillion decisions that come along with that (stresses me out just thinking about it). So I'm just going to thoroughly enjoy hanging out in decision-free land for awhile.
4. My job is DONE and it is the BEST, best , BEST feeling in the world. It was stressing me out so bad that I had to squeeze in these 20-30 hours somewhere to finish this horrible project that I was dreading and I couldn't find the time. Now that stress is gone and I can focus on my babies. Now they can keep me 100% occupied all day and it's OKAY because I'm not stressing about finding time to work.
5. Did I say 100% occupied was okay? Not totally true. 85% is about right. Those 100% days are when I go a little bit CRAZY. Some days I swear they plot against me. Is it possible that with Owen taking 4-5 hours of naps during the day that NONE of those naps would correlate with Alex's naps? Yes. Alex usually thinks he can't nap longer than 30 minutes, or mom might actually get to finish her shower AND get dressed AND dry her hair in the same day. I think he took seven 30-min naps today.
6. I'm getting really, really, really sick of doing workout videos for exercise. Some sort of gym pass might be in our near future. I can only take this for so long.
Happy weekend!
But if I did that, you would not see a post for a very long time 'cause I'm way too scatterbrained and noncommittal to pull that off any time soon. So today you get the first six things that pop in my mind.
1. I just ate strawberry Bluebell icecream. Bluebell icecream is the best icecream you will ever eat...IF you ever get the pleasure of eating it - it's only sold in mostly the southern states and parts of a few other lucky states. As long as I live in Texas I will never purchase another brand of ice cream - it's worth extra pennies. YUM.
2. The chance of having TWO babies in helmets at the SAME time is probably about as likely as winning the lottery... but we get the privilege! Seriously? Really? Yes. Zach's dad told us to tell those people who give us funny looks that they were twins conjoined at the head at birth. I like the idea. Welcome to the family helmet #2! (technically I guess it's helmet #4 since they had to remake Owen's first helmet b/c it didn't fit right, then his head grew out of that one so they made a third). We're crossing our fingers that Alex's head gets reshaped much faster than Owen's!
3. Zach got into Baylor Pedo!!!! (for those of you who aren't familiar with the dental lingo, "pedo" = pediatric) It was his top choice and he was thrilled to get matched there. He worked really hard for it and we are so happy for him. So we're here in Dallas for 2 more years. Then we will FINALLY be done with school....FOREVER. I keep thinking about how exciting that will be, then I think "wait, then all the hard stuff begins". While we're in school we don't have any money to spend so we don't have to decide how to spend it. We don't have to look for a job, don't have to decide where to settle down, and don't have to decide when/where/how to start our own practice and all the bazillion decisions that come along with that (stresses me out just thinking about it). So I'm just going to thoroughly enjoy hanging out in decision-free land for awhile.
4. My job is DONE and it is the BEST, best , BEST feeling in the world. It was stressing me out so bad that I had to squeeze in these 20-30 hours somewhere to finish this horrible project that I was dreading and I couldn't find the time. Now that stress is gone and I can focus on my babies. Now they can keep me 100% occupied all day and it's OKAY because I'm not stressing about finding time to work.
5. Did I say 100% occupied was okay? Not totally true. 85% is about right. Those 100% days are when I go a little bit CRAZY. Some days I swear they plot against me. Is it possible that with Owen taking 4-5 hours of naps during the day that NONE of those naps would correlate with Alex's naps? Yes. Alex usually thinks he can't nap longer than 30 minutes, or mom might actually get to finish her shower AND get dressed AND dry her hair in the same day. I think he took seven 30-min naps today.
6. I'm getting really, really, really sick of doing workout videos for exercise. Some sort of gym pass might be in our near future. I can only take this for so long.
Happy weekend!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Alex Alleman
To start off the post, here are some glamour shots of the newest member of our family, Alex Alleman (middle name TBD). He's such a sweetheart :)
Pearl Harbor
Random beach:
Laura's brother John:
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