Long Time Friends August 31, 2008

Yesterday I stopped by the wedding shower of an old friend.  I met Patrick in the first grade, and we were in the same classes up to the 12th grade, and even shared a few of the same classes at Clemson University.  I hadn’t seen him in several years, but seeing him again warmed my heart.  Its the feeling of familiarity, of a friend you have known so long he is like the brother I never had.

So this got me thinking about the Moose.  Hubby and I have a dream of living overseas.  His company has plants around the world, and we would love to live and work in Australia, Spain, Italy, even Brazil.  My sister thinks it would be sad to move around alot, that Moose would never get the chance to have those long-time friends she and I grew up with.  But instead of friends you have for a long time, I think its even more enriching to have friends for a lifetime.  You don’t need to have spent 20 years with them to develop that relationship.

Maybe he’ll end up with one or two close friends from around the world, people he will email and call and visit throughout his life.  In my last few years of living in different places, I have ended up with those few but cherished close friends. 

We can’t predict what our kids are going to be like.  All we can do is give them every opportunity we can to have a fulfilling life.  So congratulations Patrick and Mandy.  Here’s to life long friends.

Moose in GC August 30, 2008

Here we are.. back home.  Its funny how Goose Creek will always be home.  Moose handled the drive well last night, but he was not ready to go back to sleep at 1 AM when we actually got to the house.  I couldn’t get him to sleep in the nursery (yes, my mom has a nursery in her house!), so he slept with us last night.  But between Moose’s and hubby’s body heat, it was a freakin’ furnace.  So none of us slept very well.  Luckily Moose is having a good day.  He had a 2 hour nap this morning and just went down for a late afternoon nap.

I have recently been complaining about the excessive weight loss.  I have no clothes to wear because my butt is disappearing.  Not in a good way.  It is sad when I have saggy butt in every pair of shorts/pants that I own.  But gotta love my mom, she is helping me put the weight back on   Since Hubby was joining his friends tonight for dinner and some Clemson football, my mom decided she would make lunch.  “Lunch” included about 10 pounds of snow crab legs, some awesome marinated beef tenderloin, kare-kare (a peanut butter base filipino beef stew – yumm!!), rice, and corn (Dad threw that in as our “vegetable”). 

Who knows what’s in store for dinner tonight.  But tomorrow Moose gets to play with the WHOLE family.  Yup, the aunties, uncles, some of the cousins and some other folks are coming over for a little gathering.  All for the Moose.  Gotta love Goose Creek!!

Meeting People August 29, 2008

I had a hard time meeting people in Knoxville.  Sadly, I didn’t even make an attempt until Moose was 6 months old, which was 9 months after we moved here!!  I was used to meeting people at work and my hubby is not into bringing coworkers into our home life. 

I was also (and still kinda am) a Mom Group snob.  I hadn’t really gotten a handle on who I was.  I was lost.  As a person whose identity was always wrapped up in her title, I had a hard time with the SAHM status, even though I loved being with the Moose.

During a particularly dark period in my life, I took Moose home to Charleston.  My best friend took me to one of her Mom’s groups, and I realized it wasn’t too bad.  So there were a dozen people I had nothing in common with, but if I could have just one conversation with another adult besides my husband, it would be nice.  And she said she was in several mom’s groups and ended up with 2 good friends.  Not bad odds, right?

So I immediately went home and started checking out sites.  I ended up joining Stroller Strides.  Even though I was already 10 pounds lighter than my pre-preggy weight (I hear the cursing, but hey, I can’t help it!!), I needed to tighten up and I figured I could meet some people.  And I ended meeting some moms very similar to myself – no one was native to Knoxville, everyone wanted to be fit, and most of us didn’t consider ourselves typical SAHM even though all of us were! 

I always believe if you open your mind for good things to happen, they will come to you.  Not long after I joined Stroller Strides, I met a random girl and her daughter at the park.  Now almost 3 months later, they are our closest friends in Knoxville.  Ana and Chick Pea are the friends that we see everyday and never get sick of

So to all the lonely mommies out there, make it a goal to attend one organized session where there are other mommies – whether its a mom’s group, a library function, or whatever.  And if you find yourself at a park or Walmart and you spy another mommy with the same lonely look in her eyes, walk up and ask her how old her baby is.  You never know where your next friend is hiding!!

Moose Wants to Read! August 29, 2008

We have a routine – every morning, we read Millie Moo Touch and Feel Picture Book and every night we read Llama, Llama Red Pajama. After we read, I let him play with the book.  I was helping Hubby take care of some things for work earlier, so I left Moose to play on the bed.

Little Moose… hopefully turning into a little reader!

new blog August 28, 2008

I didn’t want to clutter Moose’s Lodge with my ramblings, so I created a new blog where I give my opinions on tons of shit stuff.

The Way of the Moose August 27, 2008

I am a lucky, lucky Mommy.  By all means, the Moose is an easy baby.  He started sleeping through the night at less than a month old.  He loves routine and we were able to create a rough schedule where I always knew when he was hungry, when he was sleepy, even when he would poop!  His only issues have been daytime naps.  He was a champ until he was 3 months, then he decided he didn’t want them anymore.  But since it didn’t affect his sparkling personality, I never let it bother me.

So you would think, ahhh, bliss, happy baby, happy parents?  Hmmm, well, the strange thing is, with a baby this easy, we don’t get to practice patience and frustration management because it hardly comes up.  During the rare moments when he is inconsolable, I can feel my frustration meter running up quick.  And I always know the two main causes – teething and belly.  The Moose will only respond to so many teething tablets, so much ibruprofren, so much gripe water. 

Take last week.  Hubby came home late (its hell week at work for him – he was in at 4:30AM, home by after 10PM).  So I took over the nightly Moose duties – food, bath, story, bedtime.  Surprisingly, Moose went down easy.  Normally, Hubby does the bath, I do story and last milky snack, then I hand the Moose back over and hubby finishes him off. 

We are cuddling watching the women’s finals for beach volleyball – GO USA!!! We snuggle down to sleep (no McLovin tonite, my man was too tired!!)  And… the screaming started.  I go to the Moose’s room, remove the pacifier that was stuck under his neck, he knocks back out.  I go back for cuddles.  10 minutes later, more screaming.  This went on for about an hour. 

Finally, hubby gets up, thinking maybe the Moose just missed Daddy.  He settles him down, but the Moose pops back up the second his head hits the crib.  So, the Moose gets brought back to our bed, where he will normally knock out, happy to snuggle between mom and dad.  Nope, screams again.  Poor tired hubby.  He grunts in frustration, “I’m sleeping downstairs” and stomps on down. 

So I take over Moose duty.  Rub his belly.  Move his legs around.  Curl him up like a roly poly.  It helps, but he won’t lay down to sleep.  I can feel the frustration starting to boil.  Then the mommy guilt immediately sets in.  Why am I complaining?  This is not the norm so why I am reacting this way?

The same thing happened again last night.  Except this time I hit the wall and Hubby took Moose to the guest room so I could get some sleep.

Luckily, Hubby and I seem to alternate when we reach our boiling points.  One always takes over when the other has hit the wall.  Times like this make me have all kinds of respect for single moms.  I don’t know what I would do without my Hubby, my PIC, the best Moose daddy ever.  Love you babes..

Intro – The Riggs August 25, 2008

My family is made up of 4 people - me, hubby, Moose and The Riggs (aka the cat).  The Riggs has taken to vomiting VIOLENTLY in front of every doorway in this house.  I fear walking through the house at night for stepping in a warm puddle of hairball.. ugh.  Then comes the cleaning.  ‘Cause this house we are renting has carpet.  Lucky for me, I have found something to remove those blasted stains!

But we love The Riggs.  Even though he wakes up and starts MEEEEE-OOOWWing loudly every time I get up to tend to the Moose.  Even though he takes secret poops in our closet sometimes.  Even though he is the messiest eater I have ever known in my life.  Even though he likes to lay on everything dark in the house to show off his lovely white fur.  Even though he loves to jump on our bed when we are in “the heat of the moment”. 

At the end of the day, The Riggs is the OGB – Original Gangsta Baby.  We raised him as a little kitten and he has been with us through our entire relationship.  So through poop and hairballs, we love him – damn little hemorrhoid.

The Moose and the Bear August 25, 2008

We went hiking with the family this weekend at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains.  We did a short but fun trail called Abrams Falls.  Every time we hike, the hubby is always on bear lookout.  He really, really wants to see a bear.  I really, really don’t. 

So we are driving back after the hike through the Cades Cove scenic loop, a one-way 11 mile drive that kind of feels like a redneck amusement ride at times.  At one point, all the cars come to a dead stop.  We were trying to get to a rest stop at the middle of the loop, so we were a bit annoyed.  Finally, the cars moved and we approached the rest stop.  “Got alot of traffic today cause of that bear in the field”, says a man as we walk up.

Ooooh!  A bear!  So hubby and I run over to look.  We are staring out in the field, not seeing anything.  Suddenly, I notice – the bear is not in the field, it is walking along the fence not 10 yards from us!!  There are people driving by in cars within 10 feet of the bear, and even bigger idiots walking along the fence right next to the bear.  Then the bear casually hops the fence, taking no notice of the crowd. 

Next someone mentioned it was a mama bear, and the cub was in the tree right in front of us.  At that point, we hightailed it to the car. 

I must say though, people are idiots.  Entire families, with their kids, were walking up toward the bear.  This is why people get attacked, and its not the bear’s fault.  People are so used to watching nature on TV, they have no fear when they see these things in real life.  They think the camera or camera phone they are holding up will protect them when the bear decides to charge.  So far, I haven’t found any news articles about a bear attack this weekend.  And to think, the Moose slept through the entire thing!

Hitting on Mama August 24, 2008

I took my sis-in-law to lunch the other day to a cute little place in Market Square.  We’re sitting there with the Moose when 3 guys walk in.  So we are minding our own business, tending to Moose’s favorite game – See How Many Times I Can Drop This (insert item here) Before Mommy Finally Puts It Away.  One fella turns around in his chair and is completely staring at us. 

After awhile, he starts spouting out lines:

“What a lucky little man to have two fine women looking after him.”

“You gonna spoil him if you keep pampering him like that, why don’t you throw some of that pampering over here?”

“If I cry like that will you come spoil me too?”

“Ooooh, my neck really hurts, why don’t one of y’all come take care of me”

And my favorite, as I walked by to go wash my hands:

“Daaayyyumm mama…”

Okay, so seriously, I obviously have a baby, am obviously married and this guy is just throwing line after line.  He finally said:

“Man, y’all are some fast eaters, why you gotta eat so fast?”

Jenn commented on his perseverance, that he must get rejected hundreds of times on a daily basis given the speedy delivery of his lines.  But, think about it – if you go to bat 100 times, you’re bound to hit it once, right?  Even if she is a married mama.. shheeeshh..

The Family is Here! (Mostly) August 22, 2008

Yesterday Moose and I picked up his Auntie Jenny from the Greyhound Station in K-town.  That was an adventure in itself – my TomTom couldn’t find the address, so I drove around in circles cursing all the damn construction.  I thought I left all that behind in Boston!!

The bond between Moose and Jenn is pretty amazing.  He hasn’t seen her since April.  As soon as we settled into the house, he was happily playing with her and completely ignoring me!!  Normally, if he is playing with someone else and sees me leave the room, he whines or cries (unless I sneak out).  But with Jenn, he practically shoved me out of the way.  They made up a few new games together and he stole her heart (again).

The in-laws will arrive tonight around midnight along with a couple of pounds of fresh-out-the-water Charleston shrimp…. yummmmmmmy!  I will be making Shrimp and Grits on Sunday.  Can’t wait.  Did I mention I love food?  More on that some other time