Goodbye Hot Ride, Hello Mom Car.

As I mentioned before, Jack and I recently took our first solo trip together in mommy's car.  Yes, I realize he's nearly 3 months old, but at first I was recovering from having him cut out of my abdomen, and then I was too scared to take him out by myself, AND THEN my car was having some body work done from a minor dent that I put in it last Spring, but now I finally have my car back and we're ready to roll! 

I drive a car that I love.  It's a 2006 Mustang and I seriously LOVE it.  It makes me happy.  It's so pretty and shiny and awesome!  Sometimes, I like to just pet it and tell it that it's pretty.  It's my dream car.  I've wanted a Mustang since before I could drive.  It was my first "real" car.  I mean, I bought a car prior to this that I drove from the time I was in high school until I bought this fine piece of machinery, actually it was a Camaro, but this was the first car that I bought once I got my first full-time job.  It was expensive.  It was new (to me).  It still had new car smell!  It was everything that I wanted and I still do. 

But... things have changed a bit in my life.  My new role in life is a mommy and with that comes not only a baby, but a bulky car seat and other baby paraphernalia.  Secretly, part of the reason why I was scared to take the baby by myself was because I was afraid that it wouldn't be possible in my car and to be honest with myself, it really isn't. 

You see, my gorgeous, fabulous car has a nearly non-existent backseat.  What is there is barely functional, complete with bucket seats, which means no middle seat to install the car seat, which is the safest location in a vehicle.  It's hard to nearly impossible to get said bulky car seat in and out.  Which means Mommy has to climb into the nearly non-existent back seat to strap in the car seat.  Ugh, it is so sad.  You shouldn't be breathing hard and glistening from putting your baby in the car. 

Not only is it nearly impossible to have a car seat back there, but our stroller physically won't fit in the truck, which means it had to be wedged in to ride shotgun.  This cuts down on visibility and also means that the bulky car seat had to be placed behind the driver's seat.

This meant that I had to sit at an awkward angle even closer to the steering wheel than I already am!  I'm only 5ft tall and I have some short legs, so I already have to sit close to the steering wheel, any closer and I'm going to be resting my chin on it.  I had to inch a little closer to make room for Jack's seat in the back.  Grrr... this makes me sad.

So with all of the above said, and all of the safety issues considered, it's just not going to work.  I'm afraid that I have to say goodbye to the last vestiges of my life before baby.  I hope that people don't think I'm selfish for feeling sad about giving up my car.  I KNOW what's important in life and I love being a mom and I wouldn't give it up for anything, but... my car.  It's MY CAR!!!  I know it's right to get something more baby-friendly, but that doesn't mean I won't cry when I sell my gorgeous car.  And that doesn't mean that I have to like it. 

Part of being a mom is making sacrifices.  Sometimes that means missing a meal while getting your baby fed.  Sometimes that means saying goodbye to things that you love.  But that's life. 

Well, I'm off to Craig's List to see what sort of vehicles are available that won't make me feel like a total Soccer Mom.  Wish me luck! 

And P.S. if you don't think it's selfish of me to feel sad about having to give up my car let me know because I'm feeling a little guilty : /

I'm Social!

Whew!  Finally getting a chance to blog!  Jackers is taking a napper and I'm happy to report that my back is FINALLY feeling better!  Still not 100%, but now it's just feeling normal-sore, not injured-sore. 

At the urging of the hubs and my interwebz friends I took a leap of faith on Monday!  Jack and I made our very first solo outing together to meet another local mommy. 

Especially now that I stay at home with a non-verbal baby all day I CRAVE friends.  I want people to talk to that share my interests and won't get bored with all of the baby talk.  Enter Meetup.com.  This is an online network of local groups.  You can search for groups you have an interest in, join the group, and meet face-to-face to do activities.  It's pretty cool.  It feels a lot like interwebz dating, but for friends, not love.   

So I got on to find out if there were any local mommy/playgroups in the area that I would be interested in joining.  I was very happy to find that there is a local group of stay-at-home-moms around my age who get together to do all sorts of fun things like mall walks, zoo visits, craft days, mommy nights out, and other fun group activities. 

I was a little hesitant of getting out there and meeting new people.  I want friends.  I need friends.  I want Jack to have kids to play with that are around his age.  And how else will I accomplish this unless I actually leave my house?!

So on Monday, Jack and I took an adventure to Easton to meet with another mommy from the group.  A mall walk was scheduled, unfortunately only one other mom besides me was able to make it, but I had a blast anyway!  The woman that I met was about my age, has 2 kids (a 2-year-old girl, and 10-month-old boy), and I feel like we have quite a bit in common because we had a lot to talk about! 

We walked around a little bit and then sat and chatted while her kids ran around for a while.  We visited Trader Joe's for some light shopping and then had lunch at Panera.  Her kids are adorable and she was fun to talk to!  I finally felt like I was getting grown up time even if we spent most of the time talking about kids and family, but I guess that's what happens when your full-time job is to take care of your home and family. 

I really had a great time and I feel so good about finally making the choice to get out there and meet new people.  She has been with this group for a while so she was able to tell me a lot about it and had nothing, but good things to say about the people in the group.  Now, I'm really looking forward to meeting more of the moms and kids and hopefully we'll get out to another meetup soon! 

As I said, this was Jack's and my first solo outing together in mommy's car.  Stay tuned and I'll tell you why (unfortunately) my car just isn't going to work out as a mommy ride. 

Missing In Action

I haven't been around as I've been spending my time nursing an injury. If you know me in real life you know that I tend to be accident prone. I've had plenty of breaks, sprains, bumps, and bruises in my time and it's mostly just due to general klutzy-ness, but also because it seems that these things just tend to seek me out!

Tuesday afternoon I re-injured my back. Yes, RE-injured. 2 years ago I injured it for the first time lifting a laundry basket. I spent over a week suffering on the couch letting it heal. I saw the doctor when I first did it and he basically said it was a sprain which means there's nothing "they" can do for it. I just have to rest it and let it heal on its own. Good stuff.

The funny, well... not funny-ha-ha, but funny-weird thing is that this time I didn't injure it lifting something. I injured it bending over. Buh? Yeah. Since the first time I injured it my back has never been the same. It gets sore more easily than it used to and has never felt quite as strong. Thank goodness I haven't had any real problems until now, but I guess I knew it was coming.

The first night that I injured it - thankfully this happened very shortly before Hubs was due home from work - I ended up in tears 3 times. Not because of the pain, although I was near tears from that. It's painful! But because I couldn't care for my son. My baby who needs me and can't do anything for himself.

My husband is a wonderful father. He can do everything for Jack that I can. He's completely handi-capable and can handle everything baby-related with very minimal instruction from me. So it's not that I don't think that Jack will be well cared for while I'm resting on the couch. It's that I can't PHYSICALLY do my job. My job is to mother my son. And it really scares and hurts me that I can't do it.

The evening of my re-injury Mark got Jack fed and settled in his bouncy seat right next to me while I was laying on the couch. He then went to rustle up something for dinner. In the meantime, Jack decided he was no longer content to look up at the stuffed animals hanging in front of him while kicking his feet at lightening speeds. He loves doing this, but only for short periods of time. He began to get upset.

Here's how the conversation went:

First, he started with his annoyed fussing: "Hello Momma, I'm finished now. Please pick me up".

My response: "Okay, Jack. You're fine. Just play for a little longer and Daddy will come get you".

The crying picks up: "I saaaaaaid, I'm DONE NOW! Please to be rescuing me from this chair"

Me: "Jack. You're fine. Just a little longer". ::pats him on the leg::

Mark from the kitchen: "I'll be there in literally 2 minutes!"

And then the crying escalates further to full blown tears: "I'M DONE! I'M DONE! I'M DOOOOONE! PICK ME UP MOMMA! PICK ME UP! CAN'T YOU HEAR ME, WOMAN?!"

To me, this was incredibly upsetting. I mean, Jack can clearly see that I'm sitting right there yet I'm not answering his cries aside from reaching over and patting him with my hand.

And at this point Mark returns from the kitchen to not only a crying baby who needs consoling, but also a crying wife. Ugh, it was awful.

The following day my Mom came out to help me take care of Jack. She was wonderfully helpful, but I still hated not being able to do it for myself. It's just something about not being able to act on the mothering instincts that your baby inspires in you.

I'm feeling better today, but I'm still taking meds round the clock to help with the pain. I'm still having a lot of trouble with sitting, which I have to do a lot of with a baby who is still eating every 2-3 hours! And I'm also having trouble bending to pick Jack up or put him down. So frustrating!

Anyway, I'm glad we're going into the weekend. That means that Daddy will be home so that I can rest my back and hopefully be fully healed by next week. And it's supposed to actually be nice this weekend!

Put 'em up, Mr. Monkey!

Happy Friday!

Note to Self:

Keep all fingers away from the heating element in the dishwasher even if you have JUST turned it on. It gets hot quickly. Kind of like when you decided to experiment with the cigarette lighter in the car just to see how quickly it got hot. It doesn't have to be glowing to burn part of your finger print off.

Yep, this was my klutzy mishap of the day. Earlier this week I managed to bump my face on the moulding surrounding the door while trying to throw things out into the recycling bin. Later that same day I shut my fingers in the closet door. Today, I burnt my finger on the heating element in the dishwasher. It's really not a wonder why Mark worries about me.

I started up the dishwasher first thing this morning and moments later I thought I smelled melted plastic. So I stopped the cycle and opened the door to investigate because a few weeks ago a bottle managed to make its way down to the bottom of the dishwasher and melted all over the place. It smelled to high Heaven.

I didn't see anything suspicious after a quick check so I turned it back on and walked away for a few minutes. When I returned to the kitchen I again smelled melting plastic (Perhaps this is a sign of some sort of mental illness or break with reality? Kind of like how smelling something burning is associated with ghosts. Or, I think that's what I've heard anyway. I could be making that part up. Don't quote me... ). So I stopped the cycle again and this time did a more thorough inspection and still didn't find anything.

I thought to myself, "Self, does the heating element even get hot that quickly? I hope the dang thing isn't about to catch on fire. Mark will really not appreciate that phone call (here I imagine me calling him at work from my cell phone whilst standing in the front yard trying to juggle all the living things in our house whom I had to evacuate due to an electrical fire which occurred under my watch).".

So me being the smart and appliance savvy person that I am, I decided to reach into the dishwasher and put my finger ON the heating element to see if it was even hot.

Guess what.

It was! It was hot. And now so is the tip of my finger. And now it smells like melting plastic AND burnt fingertip.

At this point I decided to give up on the dishes and move on to laundry. I haven't managed to break the washing machine yet.

Let us all learn a lesson from this. Keep all extremities away from anything that may potentially be hot. Shut off anything electrical and wait for the hubs to get home. No independent investigating allowed!

Jack's 2 Month Stats

Yesterday Jack had his 2 month appointment with the Pediatrician. He's still emotionally scarred from all of the shots! Okay... actually he's fine, but I'm probably going to need therapy. It's SO HARD watching your tiny baby get stuck with needles!

Jack had to get 3 vaccines - 1 administered orally and 2 shots. He has had 2 prior vaccine shots before, but this was the first time that he had to get stuck multiple times! Look at him's little leggy!


And he's even getting some meat on those thighs!

Actually, Jack did great! He's such a trooper! After mugging for the nurse and his ped he took the shots like a champ. He only cried for about a minute. I had tears in my eyes for longer than he did!

The doctor said he's nice and healthy, but he is just a little guy!

Here are his stats:

2 months: 10lbs 9oz and 22 1/2 inches

He's 50th percentile for his height, but only 25 for his weight! He does NOT get this from me!

For comparison:

1 month: 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches
Birth: 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches