Year End Review

2007 is coming to a close..wow. Can you believe an entire year flew by?? I definitely had more than one thing that kept me unaware of how fast time was flying by. 2007 had its ups and down....lets just say that it was a more than interesting year. Here is my year end wrap up.

I hit this year off with a bang. I spent time with some old buddies for New Years and realized that I was so far beyond the house party phase. As we stood around the keg and they passed around a joint, I was longing for my baby. I spent the entirety of that party showing off my son's picture on my camera phone. Nobody understood....but this was definitely the precursor to what the year had to offer.

February came and went. It was another lousy Valentines Day. But I did discover that I will never again be lonely on this lonely overly commercialized holiday. I have an automatic Valentine every year...Jackson! I cant wait to get cut out hearts that say I love you mom! oooo I cant wait!

March-May..not much. I was struggling to lose the pounds I gained during my pregnancy. But it really has been an uphill battle. By May I had lost 30 lbs of the 50lbs I put on. I still have a long way to go. Jack was already 5 months. He was no longer a "newborn" but just a baby. He was losing that newborn look and smell. YES newborns have a smell...and unless you are a mother you will not understand. My friends think I am weird because I say I miss it.

June was the month of my 22nd birthday! I wanted it to be grandioso.. I was unable to really party hard for my 21st...considering I was creating life and all.. My best friend and I share the same birthday so we decided to party it up at a local bar. Friends and family came and it was great. I am always worried nobody will show up to my parties. Guess it stems from some long lost childhood memory. But people did show and it was good. $300 later...I was knocked on my butt by Capt. Morgan himself. I did reunite with some old friends...one in particular that would play a big part in my life at the end of the year.

July-August..Jackson was now crawling. This definitely made life more interesting! He kept me on my toes for sure. I was finishing up summer school with all A's! I didn't even have to sleep with my professors for those grades. yeah!

September-October- Had some school issues and I got sweet revenge on my arch enemy, ahem, 5 times. That is our little secret though.

November- Jack's first birthday!!! I could not believe how quickly a year went by. He was a normal walking and talking human being..thriving on toddler cookies and banana puffs.

Its now December. I have a great boyfriend. I did great in school this last semester and again got all A's. I did sleep with the teacher this time...kidding! I have a great job. I am in good health and I have a WONDERFUL son!!!! Life couldn't be any sweeter.

Thank You to everyone involved. Thank You for every one's help...I couldn't have lasted through without you..Here is to letting go of 2007 and embracing 2008!! Happy New Year!!

Baby Babble

Jack's most common form of communication is well, screaming. But the second most common form would be pointing and going, "da!" Which I am pretty sure means "that". This was all until recently and by recently I mean this afternoon.

We were in the car on the way back from the mall when Jack said, "tree" as clear as day. My mom was in the car so I had a witness.

That makes for seven words now. Mama, Papa, Dada, Nana, Banana, Cookie and Tree. It is amazing to watch him learn and develop daily.

Him walking amazed me enough. It is so funny. He walks like my drunk grandpa..all he needs is a wind suit and a cane and he would be doing the greatest impression. But it honestly took him a week to get a couple steps down and now, about 3 weeks into walking, he is practically running across my living room. But with this new gained experience comes true responsibility. He can now reach for everything. and if you know my family you can imagine how difficult this is....this is because there is clutter crap ALL OVER my house.

I couldn't wait for him to begin talking and now its beginning and I am on the edge about this. I want him to be able to verbalize his thoughts instead of me trying to decipher one of his many cries. But at the same time..nothing is more annoying than a child that doesn't shut up. I mean that the most loving way possible.

For now I will relish in his toddler babble....and chat it up about trees and cookies. My favorite is when you ask him how anything"goes" it started with a cow, which is moo of course. He got that down. No problem. But today when we asked him how his Aunt Madie went he replied with an ever so true answer, "Mooooo!" He is a genius.

Relationship Experiment

Well, I am still a single, working, student mother.. but I will admit that somethings have changed. I am single still.. no ring on my finger but I do have a boyfriend. *gulp* Yup, I said it. It's out there now.. for the world to read. It's a big step. Not that I haven't had a boyfriend before. The list is actually quite long, and I loved them all dam nit! But this new guy, you may have read about him before.. this cat named Andrew. That's him. He must be pretty damn special if I am writing a blog about him.

I wish, kinda, that I had found this blodgom earlier.. but my posts would have been very woe is me, I hate men. Which is great, I actual prefer reading that. But, in the same token I am glad that I waited to do this until I was happy again. It feels good to have things finally feel as if they are falling in to place and write about it.

So this new guy...Andrew. I have actually known him for years. Since High School. If you would have told me that I would be dating him now, I would have laughed in your face. I wouldn't say we got a long.. I merely tolerated him being around my other friends. But he showed up at my birthday party and its all history from there. Glorious history. Nice and cheesy, eh?

But really.. I would never had guessed that he would be the type that he is. He really is a great guy and really adores my son. What more can a 22 mother ask for? I definitely didn't think I would find that so quickly. BUT...there is always a but, I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.. I don't want to put the cart before the horse.. count my chickens before they hatch..etc.

My last relationship was not the best experience. I actually wouldn't put my worst enemy through what I went through. It was that awful. I was burned.. pretty bad. I was so close to becoming a lesbian and calling it quits. I am actually still in touch with my ex and we are good friends. But during the relationship and right after was AWFUL. I honestly didn't want to see another penis. Ever again.

But, then came Andrew.. not that I have seen anything of his anatomy. But even if I had I wouldn't tell you. I am a lady. He is great to me, my son...I cant let that pass me by. But I definitely have a guard up. I definitely don't want to give in so easy. But I am beginning to think that he can see right through that.

I am gonna continue to let it go with the flow.... keep trying my hardest to not be that crazy bitch I was with my Ex... and see how this goes. Its all too thrilling. Kinda like a relationship experiment.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus! ( I like Baby Jesus the best)

Happy Holidays

Get your yule logs a fired. Get your last minute shopping. Leave your cookies out for Santa. It's Christmas Eve!! Can you believe it? Christmas has been tip toeing closer and closer as each day passed. It's ridiculous how quickly the years go in your old age.

I have spent the day wrestling my over tired son, last minute shopping, wrapping gifts, eating, and I just finished washing my car. Its now 4 and I have to start getting things ready to go to Andrew's family's house.

As a Christmas gift to my hooptie, I just washed my car 3 TIMES. 3 freaking times. You would think after the third wash and dry that it would look sparkling clean and freaking fantastic, but NO. I put my blood, sweat and tears into that wash. It still looks like I went off roading in a dirt pit. The rims weren't even black anymore they were red. I even dried and waxed the thing. Nope. Still dirty. Jeez. I got a nice little shower out of it too. I am soaked to the bone. Thank goodness for South Texas Christmases, its only 69 degrees right now.

My son is napping right now, thank God. He has needed a nap for days now.

My neighbor just brought over goodies and I have some left over from my cookie tins. I am going to turn into a pumpkin cheesecake square soon(Thanks Ashley)

Well I am off to finish the rest of my to do list. Happy Holidays to all!!!!!!!!

Nobody Cries Over Spilled Milk

Nobody except for my one year old. The boy is constantly crying or fussing. I am not exaggerating either. People always tell me.."Maegan, he is a baby. Babies cry." But I am pretty sure that not all children excessively fuss/cry at their mother's feet for days at a time.

Then the other comment I love to hear about my constantly crying child is how spoiled he is. Here lies the catch 22. Do I let him cry at my feet and ignore him? Or do I give in and protect my own sanity and give into his every wants and needs? I usually pick the latter of the two choices. But I know there has to be a happy medium. I just have not yet found it.

I really don't want my child to grow up being the cry baby of the group, but I am pretty sure this is where he is headed. He is already 100% Mama's boy and to add the cry baby label is just giving him a first class ticket to nerdom.

I try, so often, to tell myself that this is only a stage...that I will look back on this blip in time and laugh...but honestly that is hard to do with a screaming toddler at your feet constantly. I mean constantly, people! I am trying to express that point the most.

Crying because he fell off the couch, understandable. Crying because I wont let him stand up on in his high chair...not so understandable. Ahhhh..the joys of motherhood.

Chocolate Dipped Heaven

Chocolate. It makes the world go round. Truly can you think of anything that chocolate doesn't make taste better? I am pretty sure it would make poop good. Go on, try it and get back to me.

I am in the process of making chocolate covered pretzels. They will go in my baked good packages that everyone is getting for Christmas. I am going to join my grandmother tomorrow

and make the rest. Well, juggle Jackson..fight off her psychotic dog Scooter...and try to bake.

I have one busy day tomorrow now that I think about it. I also have my company Christmas party at a fancy shmancy restaurant. Which involves getting dressed up. I am looking forward to seeing how Andrew cleans up.

and if he doesn't clean up well, than I can just drizzle some chocolate on him...

Shopping in the Hill Country

On Sunday my grandparents, Jack and I all got a little fresh air up in Fredricksburg, TX. Talk about a great 'ol Texas town. It was just a snowflake shy of being perfect. The old city's main street is lined with great shops and bakeries. No shopping journey to Fredricksburg would be complete without some delicious fudge, snickerdoodles and some honey. Luckily I left with 2 out of 3.

Fredricksburg features great little limestone buildings which were seasoned perfectly with garland and lights. You could smell the yuletide season in the air.

I got some great accessories, some mint chocolate fudge, some cookies, and a shirt for my mom that says,"World's Greatest Mimi".

One thing that is great about Texas is the wide variety of cities and most are only an hour to couple hours away. They are great day trips and I hope to go again soon..this time with more money!

Easy Like Saturday Morning

Today started out with so much promise. Jackson had spent the night with my grandmother and instead of having to pick him up early, my parents took on the role and said I didn't need to be home until 1ish. I got about 4 extra hours of straight sleep. No baby kicking me in the trachea or slapping me in the cheek. It was extraordinary. I haven't been able to sleep like that since before Jackson was in the equation. At around 11am, you read right...11am I rolled out of bed and got breakfast with Andrew. Tacos....my favorite!

Right after we had ordered breakfast is pretty much where it went downhill. I got a phone call from my parents to come pick up my kid. He was driving them nuts while they were trying to shop. They had the bright idea of taking him to Northstar Mall with no stroller and a baby that got about 4 hours of sleep. They called me about 5 times. Andrew and I said goodbye and that was the last I heard from him today.

I got home and was with Jackson,who was being incredibly cute. Which comes very easy to him all he has to do is just be. My parents took off to run some errands and shortly after they left Jack began rubbing his eyes...My cue to put him to sleep. He successfully went down and was asleep for 4 hours!

I had never been so bored in my life. I stayed inside all day. It was such a pretty day too, a little windy, but gorgeous. I felt like I was stuck in a fish tank looking out on the world and not being able to do a thing about it. I tried to call a couple friends, Andrew included, and nobody was answering. I guess they were out enjoying themselves. Must have been nice. I felt like everyone was at this super cool party and I had to stay home. It sucked.

To pass the time I: read magazines, myspaced, read blogs, had a mini photo session with myself, ate, watched tv, checked the UCM site, myspaced, myspaced and myspaced some more. I hate wasting a perfectly good day on the Internet. I did get a great pumpkin recipe from Mrs.B over at the Starcrossed Blogger.

I still haven't heard from Andrew...Still haven't left the house...I'm still in my pajamas...I did shower!

ok enough woe is me.. but here are some pics from my photo session.

Eat Pray Love

I just finished one of the best books I have ever read in my 22 years of existence. It surpassed One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by flying colors. The magnificent work is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I am pretty sure by know that you have heard about it on one level or another.

I don't really know what made me pick it up to begin with but I just knew, once I saw the cover that I had to read it and I am certainly glad I did. Her story is completely inspirational. I only dream that I could ever put my thoughts into words like she does. And I am utterly jealous of the life she is able to live.

I think every woman can so closely relate to her words because we have all been were she starts out. We have all been in that depressed darkness, if even only for a moment. I can relate so much to her when she speaks of how she loves someone. I am pretty sure I am the exact same.

I also love Richard from Texas' explanation of a soul mate:

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true

soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave."

How true is that? I can definitely see who those people in my life were... and as much as they TRULY hurt me they showed me the way. They are part of the reason I am who I am today.

And lastly I will end it with another great line taken from Richard from Texas lips, " You gotta start wearing your wishbone where your back bone oughtta be."

See not all people from Texas are blubbering fools....

Words to the Wise

Do not attempt to drink two decanters of Sake by yourself. Period. Just ask my mom....you will have to wait until she removes her head from the toilet bowl first.

Can I Get A Doggy Bag?

I believe my baby outing days are over. I have now entered the terrible toddler days and my son has only just turned one.

One thing you have to understand. My family doesn't cook. If you want to eat to survive you must fend for your own, i.e. head on down to Chick-fil-a or whatever other fast food you are craving that night.

That being said, my family gets together at least, AT LEAST, three times a week. I am not just talking immediate family, I am talking: aunt, her two little ones, grandma, grandpa, dad, mom, sister, me and jack and maybe a boyfriend here and there. Yes, its a little pricey. But that's how we do. It is how we spend our quality time. Andrew is always amazed that I know what every restaurant in town has to offer...especially since San Antonio has over 1000000000 restaurants.

He will mention one place and before he can finish I cut him off with, " oh they have the best fried macaroni" or " don't order the blackened chicken there". He is always baffled or answers,"where haven't you eaten?"

So tonight we all went to sushi for my sister's 14th birthday. I was SO excited. I even went on a temporary fast all day so I could stuff my face with Gyoza and Caterpillar rolls. yum. I brought Jackson with me, which was mistake number one. I seem to forget that right around the time the server brings the food, is the magical moment that Jackson gets a case of the sleepies. It always happens. It never fails. This results in everyone at the table getting up with him and walking him around, while I stuff my face quickly without savoring a single bite.

It make me feel bad every time. I usually end up leaving dinner early while everyone savors their dessert. I get to wrestle Jack in his car seat and drive around while he screams his head off. Its fun. I love it. ( I wish you could sense my sarcasm here)

So I think these days are done. I am over it and lord knows Jack is. Even though we tempt him with his own iced tea or grilled cheese. Maybe he is just sick of having a fat mommy and this is his attempt at getting me to lose some extra pounds.

Sick Baby=Tired Mommy

So my son has been stricken with who knows what. All I know is he has a 3 inch booger crust forming around his nostrils and he is hanging on me like a baby chimp. He had a fever the other night which put me in a panic and he would not go to sleep until the fever broke. That was around 3:30 am. So needless to say I walked around in a zombie like state all weekend.

This was not a good weekend to be zombie-like. I had finals today. The result of my finals for my humanities class will be revealed by Friday and I know I have an A in that class, but the final project was not up to par. I just wasn't that into it. But it all boils down to the exhaustion I had all weekend.

My son is now taking a nap and has been for almost an hour, WOO HOO! I should be taking this time to catch some zz's but I am more interested in watching, Notes of a Scandal and myspace.

Regardless of how sick my son may be, he still seems to be in good spirits. He has been playing and wrecking havoc on the living room just like that of a healthy boy. He has recently discovered that instead of sitting on his hippo toy, that it is much more exciting to stand on it. This is really funny, it looks like he is standing atop a segue in the shape of a hippo. He will do his banshee yell until I push him into some stacked blocks so he can push them down. It is really funny.

I hope I can catch up on my sleep after school is over. I have a busy month..I think I might have mentioned this before. Well until then, I will continue doing by best zombie impression. I am getting really good at it.

Tag Your It!

Whoa, two posts in one day?! Break out the champagne, its a celebration. I just got tagged by Mrs. B and now I must list 7 random things about myself. This was extremely hard. After I finish I have to tag 7 other lucky bloggers.. but I only know 3 personally.... so I dunno what to do.

ok so here goes nothing...

1. I can tie cherry stems with my tongue. An art I mastered at the age of 14, which I am sure gave my mom nightmares. It has come in handy at the bar, awkward silence? breakout the cherries!

2. I taught myself how to read at the age of 4 and was inducted into the gifted and talented program in kindergarten. That's right people..double trouble, not only gifted but talented also! Watch out.... Really though, after years of commitment to the group, all it got me was a few extra brownie points on my college applications.

3. I will one day have a lot of money..this whole trust fund thing...I plan to spend my money on innate objects such as a segue, a rocket jacket and a panini maker. Oprah said!

4. I am a tv junkie. I watch: Samantha Who?, Notes from the Underbelly, The Hills, Beauty and the Geek, Americas Next Top Model, Project Runway, CSI, Greys Anatomy, The Office, Survivor...the list goes on. This is only this season..

5. I go out to eat 2/3 meals a day! The only person that knows how to cook in my family is my grandma and she doesn't live with me. Unfortunately. I need to marry someone that knows how to cook!

6. I found some really great friends on an Internet forum group. I never thought that I would do something like this.. ask me two years ago, I didn't even know what myspace was. I text, chat, speak to them everyday and have so since I was pregnant. They helped me a lot during some rough patches.

7.I am a hypochondriac. I could never be anything in the medical field. While looking at my friends biology book I self diagnosed myself with over 5 different ailments, one being and I swear...prostate cancer. Which isn't physically possible, but the symptoms seemed eerily close to what I had. ha!

Ok now I have to tag others...Good Luck with that!

To-Do List Blues

Slowly...going...insane!!

It is the end of the year and everything seems to be creeping up on me. I have a million things I need to do and get done and just not enough time to do it. I must be really busy if I have written two blogs now about it.

So here is my current To-Do list(when in doubt of what to write on here...LIST!)

1. My eyebrows, I am beginning to look like Frida Kahlo's long lost twin.

2. A pedicure- I am most often reminded of this by Andrew, but last night was the final straw. He said my feet resembled that of a Runaway Slave.. horrible right? I am still laughing out loud at that one.

3.My nails done. I have a XMas party coming up and I don't want people to shake my hand a realize I gnaw at my fingers all day long.

4.Change my oil on my car. I believe I am 6000 miles over...is that bad?!?

5. Lose weight. This will always be on all my lists. Even if it is a to do list for school. Lose weight. Always a priority. My other chunky friend just informed me that she is going to a fat doctor today and that she will no longer be my chunky friend. NO FAIR!

6. Get Jack's pictures taken. I need 1year old pics!!! oh and a XMas card pic!!

7. Find shoes for my dress. I have my eye on the ones I want...Oh Nana dearest......

8. My final for humanities. This should be at the top but its not. I am just not that into it. I have to create a new society for humans..how hard is that? We had 1000s of years to come up with ours and look how screwed up it is. I have had 2 weeks...all I know is that we are living in Philadelphia. It is always sunny there right?

9. Pick out recipes to make for Christmas. I got the bright idea to play Martha Stewart and hand out home made goodies for everyone. I don't know where I will fit this in.....No those are homemade, Not Chips Ahoy! Oh yeah and I have an Oreo stamp at home in the old kitchen drawer...that's how that logo got on there. Promise..

10.Find baby daddy...

11. ALL of my work. Its a lot.

12. Talk to financial aid at school

13. Watch all the episodes I have missed on my DVR.

14. Finish reading Eat, Pray, Love....LOVE this BOOK!! GO GET IT NOW...Go on! Now!

15. Figure out what to get my son that he doesn't already have...this will be hard. I am going to have to search far and wide.

16. Figure out what to get Andrew. He may have to wait this one out...

17. Figure out what to get my PARENTS. jeez. I cant say I got them Jackson anymore...

18. Oh and Shave my legs. That would be nice.

That is I can think of right this minute.

All I know is I feel like I am going a mile a minute right now. I am sure it has everything to do with the Starbucks I drank this morning mixed with the extra large coke I am drinking now. I could REALLY use Spa Day in the middle of nowhere away from everybody. Maybe I can pull a Lindsey Lohan and go to Rehab in Malibu....hmm..

Busy Beaver

No not that you dirty minds!! But I was looking for a picture of an actual beaver to put here in the corner and came across this..

I have been sooooo busy the past couple days. I know that December is one of the busiest months of the year but jeez.

I have finals...a HUGE workload...Jackson...that is just to name a few things on my plate.

I realized the other day that I don't have much time to get pictures of Jackson for Christmas cards. Since I am on a tight budget I decided to create my own backdrop and put him in Christmas jammies. This is what we ended up with:

Not tooooo bad but I wanted him smiling and I didn't want the wall to be showing...grrr.. He was way more interested in dropping the glass ornaments on the hardwood floors. Sometimes they would hit the dog, he thought that was hilarious. I have been to lazy to clean up the backdrop so feel free to come by and take pictures. There is an entry fee of baked goods.

School is also coming to an end. I have 3 more days, wooo hoooo! But bad also because of finals. booo hooo. I think I wrote the worst humanities essay known to man last night, but I did it an hour. That's what you get for waiting until the very last minute.

I also have this new boyfriend. YES I admitted to it. whoa that was a big step. Really. I don't mind him being around, his company is actually nice. Nice change. He helps with Jack a lot, but he is one more person that I have to keep up with. I don't mind babe, really! (had to throw that in there so he doesn't get mad)

Back to being busy... I have to write two papers for my English class..unless you would like to write it, $10 a page.

Jack Pictures

Nothing funny has happened today so I am going to fill the empty void you could possibly be feeling with pictures of my adorable son.

Here he is looking like a lumberjack:

Here he is sitting in his favorite dump truck. Doing his best MiMi impersionation.

Making a mess... He makes all the mess around the house. Even the dirty laundry that is accumulating into a massive heap that rivals the trash heap from Fraggle Rock, yup you guessed it, Jacks fault.

Here he is pointing to his new favorite toy, the sing stage thing. I dont know what it's called. All I know is it's one more thing that plays music and flashes lights.

Getting in the laundry after eating spaghetti...which I am sure he had probably eaten hours before the picture was taken. I let my child go around like that. That's how I roll.

Last but not least, here he is getting double the love from my sister and I

You Know You're a Mom When...

Ok so this is a list that I have compiled myself... so you may agree, disagree or even add to it.

1. You find yourself really into the kids shows that you swear you put on for your child. "Jack is watching this, but I really want to see how the Wonderpets are going to figure out how to save baby skunk stuck in a rose bush!"

2. Here is one for the single mamas: Not only do you find yourself watching the kids shows..but you start wondering what Joe from Blues Clues looks like without those crazy colorful sweaters on. He is kinda cute....

3. You don't ask where the bathroom is anymore, it is now the potty. "Excuse me where is the potty?" I swear I asked this to a waiter at a restaurant

4. Where once you would have gagged at the sight, smell or even sound of throw up.. it no longer fazes you. You have been spit up on, thrown up on, pooped on, peed on, etc. Whatever comes oozing out of human bodies have landed on you at some point and you could care less.

5. All of your clothes have baby food residue or spit up residue. Mine typically are located on the top left shoulder. I have found that if I feed Jackson while I am holding him he likes to wipe his mouth on my shoulder. Every time. It never fails.

6. Because of number 5, Tide sticks are the most awesome invention EVER.

7. You get TOTALLY excited when a friend of yours has a baby. My babyless/single friends are the rarity these days.

8. You try and match your outfit to your diaper bag.

9. You check to see if there are new interesting ways to put your hair into a ponytail.

10. You know longer remember what it was like to pee or poop with the door shut. So much so that you forget to shut the door when you are at friends houses.

11.You don't mind picking your child's nose, ears..whatever its kinda fun.

12. You love your child more than the Justin Timberlake doll you once obsessed over. Don't worry Justin you still have my heart but I am a package deal now.

OK that is all for now... I will continue to add and feel free to add too!

A Bunch of Crazies

So everyone thinks that they are completely normal right? Even the strange people of the world think that they are the norm. Have you ever thought to yourself, "wow I must be the crazy and everyone else is normal" ? Andrew thinks that he is on a higher plane of normalcy and everyone around him just doesn't get it the way he does. I am sure we all think this way. But honestly there are some coooooooks out there.

I was sitting in the parking lot the other day waiting for someone to arrive to the store. This lady pulled into the open spot next to me. She came about 1/2 inch too close to the car I was in. I was driving my mom's Mercedes at the time so it bugged me even more. She then preceded to get out of her truck and hit my car with the door! She looked at me and then kept walking. I got out, assessed the damage and was appalled that the lady didn't give me a "sorry" a " omg" a "Fuck off" nothing... just kept walking.

I called after her and asked her to come back. "ummm ma'am, you just hit my car and left paint and a dent in my door" She looked at me like I had 5 eyeballs and a uni brow. and went, "oh sorry" and rudely walked off. I took her license plate down in a very dramatic way so that she knew I meant business, whatever that means.

Now had I been in my clunker of a vehicle I would have totally hit her door with mine and left a dent. BUT since I was in my mom's all I could do was this dramatic charade.

It made me think, am I the one making a big deal out of nothing? am I the weirdo here? I later saw the same cooky woman in the store with a very strange hat on her head, with the tag flapping about. Not trying it on, just walking around with it. Soooo, I guess she was the crazy one in that situation. I wish you could have seen the hat.

The Aftermath

Holy Moly! This weekend was crraazzyy. But good crazy not bad crazy. It started out with a heavenly day of stuffing my face full of everything that Thanksgiving has to offer. Then it came to a sleepy and kinda blurry close today, Sunday.

Yesterday, I got to experience the craziest moment in a mother's life. I threw my son his very first birthday party. I highly suggest any first time mother's to contract this idea to other places. Especially if your stress level is already at its max.

We decided it would start at 2 pm. I thought this gave me optimum time to get things ready, so much time that I would be able to kick back a few shots before everyone arrived. I was so wrong. It was down to the wire. Thank goodness everything turned out great. Really and truly I have to take the time to thank Andrew for all of his efforts. If it wasn't for him, my company would have been elbow deep in dust and dog hair. He truly knows how to handle a broom.

People begin showing up at 2. By then the house looked great. Looked like a true birthday party. I went with a sports theme. I didn't want any obnoxious characters taking over. We had a football cake and all kinds of footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, you get the idea.

We all were eating some pizza, CiCis Pizza 7 for $40 nice little plug for them, and people were piling in. Due to the weather we were all stuck inside. It really made our somewhat large house seem like the size of my first apartment, extra small.

At around 3 pm it was gift time aka craziness. Jackson really had NO interest in opening presents. I thought he would at least enjoy pulling the tissue paper out of the bags, but nope. He was honestly more interested in the mosaic tiles that are on the coffee table. But that's okay. I was opening gifts left and right. I didn't even have time to read cards. Then the other kids who knew what opening presents was all about, were opening them too. It was mayhem. I was physically tired and kinda panting after it was all over.

Next, CAKE TIME! I was looking forward to this the most. We sat Jack in his highchair and let him go to town on a cake of his own. It was the funniest thing ever. At first he wasn't too sure about digging in and getting his hands dirty, mama's boy or what? But after I showed him whats up he went all out. This session wrapped up after he began flinging the cake on the floor. He usually does this with all food he eats but the dogs are usually there to catch it. The dogs have learned its a feeding fest whenever Jacks in the high chair.

After the mess that was cake, I dumped him in the sink for a quick rinse down. Changed him, then let him enjoy all of his toys. There was a little scuffle over a cell phone, between babies, but it was sorted out and ok.

Overall the turnout was great. We got some great pictures and video. He will have those to remember always. Unless I tape over it with an episode of the Magic School Bus (thanks mom!)

Turkey Day 2007

Here we are before pigging out:

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!! Hope you enjoy your 2000 calorie dinners as much as I did!

New Discoveries

First off I would like to apologize for the long run on sentence that was my last post. I wrote that half asleep while I was hopped up on medication. (which the last part is a lie b/c I already said I cant take any)

Anyways, I was sitting around today in my humanities class to be exact, thinking of all the new milestones that Jackson has reached lately. I was a horrible first time mom and never wrote down all of the milestones he accomplished throughout this first year, but don't worry folks its all stored in my memory. Which is like an elephants. Those are the ones that never forget right?

I was thinking how Jackson's first year is coming to a close. This Saturday to be exact. And it is truly amazing how much we humans accomplish in our first year of life. I don't want to go through all of the milestones he reached, because my child is in fact a genius and the list is long and still growing, but the most recent ones I will account for.

Lets see, he has learned to climb. He can spend hours, days I am sure if I let him, crawling up and down the chaise lounges we have in our living room. This was a great achievement because now he can get into the things we would put up high and out of reach for him. Sometimes he wiggles backwards down the slope in the front of the chair and other times he goes feet first off the sides of the chair. If his feet don't touch the floor right away he freaks out thinking he has miles to fall, when really if he were to point his toes his big toe would touch. It is rather funny to watch, I laugh a little before helping him, mean I know..but funny.

But the latest discovery he has embarked upon would probably be his favorite and I am sure it will stay that way for as long as he lives. This would be the discovery of his penis. I thought this moment would weird me out way more than it actually does. He is pretty much obsessed with it. Every time I change his diaper its the first thing he goes for. Which is not very convenient when I am changing a poopy diaper. He grabs and yanks that thing in many different directions. Some of which I had no idea existed. I cant help but wonder if he is doing some long term damage to his family jewels.

We will keep the fact that I referred to my sons testicles as his family jewels between us.

While all these accomplishments that he has reached are truly exciting to watch unfold, there is still one major milestone that he has not yet tried. This would be walking. He has zero interest in the sport. I'm afraid I am going to be carrying him for the rest of his life. I know he has no interest not because its scary to take those first steps, but because he is lazy. I know it. He comes from me...I know I would much rather be carried along than have to walk all the time and I am 22 years old.

But I am in no hurry. He is into everything as it is and he can only get around on his hands and knees. Little does he know that the world has way more to offer when you walk upright. I will keep that little piece of information from him for as long as possible.

Puro Exhaustion

If I knew the Spanish word for exhaustion I would have used that instead...but I don't, where is Val when I need her?
Actually exhaustion doesn't even begin to cover it. I am so tired I am not tired anymore. Whatever blew in on Sunday has taken over everyone surrounding me, we are dropping like flies. My poor son doesn't even know what hit him.
I have a feeling it will effect this years Thanksgiving.. I think God is trying to keep me away from food or something. Every time Thanksgiving rolls around something happens. Last year, it was the one thing I looked forward to the most right up there with meeting my son for the first time. Well depends on when you asked me back then, it could have been before meeting him on some days. Well I never got to fully enjoy everything that Thanksgiving had to offer, all 2000 calories of it, because I was having contractions all day. Who can sleep after eating all that turkey, while having contractions? Not me!

Last year I was giving birth to a Turkey, this year I have the worlds worse sinus headache imaginable. ugh. I should take it as a sign and walk away..but not without my damn dinner!

Calling in Sick

Holy Sinus Headache! I don't know what blew in to San Antonio last night but it came with a vengeance. At about 11 pm I had a sneeze attack that hit me faster than you can say Kelly Clarkson! It went downhill from there. My eyes were watery, my throat was scratchy, I was coughing..It was pretty damn ridiculous. Right now I would rather rip out my sinus cavities than leave them there aching it up. It is awful. I even missed school because of it. Which I haven't done ALL semester.

Not only am I sick but so is Jackson. He is coughing so bad, it sounds like an old smokers hack. It is pretty awful not to mention it keeps him up all night long, which means I get to stay up all night long.

One thing that definitely stinks about being a single mom and this is the one and only thing I have complained about is the fact that you cannot take any form of medication that makes you drowsy. It is out of the question. Until my son can fend for himself...Bummer huh? Got to suck it up and take it like a man! (really like a woman because we all know men are whiney unmanageable babies when they get sick)

But before I decided to stay home from school..I had another one of those whacked out mornings, that concluded with me burning the crap out of my forehead with a curling iron. Who does that anymore?

I was out the door this morning and on my way to the babysitters, Jackson was doing his typical banshee "EEK!"ing at one minute intervals, when a sinus headache just rammed me in the head. I even got dizzy from it. That is when I decided it would be better to relieve myself from my education duties and get a Starbucks and a Jack in the Box breakfast instead. You can always count on food to cheer me up!

On my way back home Jack fell asleep..score 3 for Maegan! So I have had a good hour of solitude, this was way better than learning about the human race.

Boy Energy

My son is a screamer. That is his only form of communication with us thus far. Yes, he knows words like: mama, nana, dada, yaya, baba, etc. But most of the time he lets out the LOUDEST and most high pitched "EEK!" He uses this method when he

a) wants something and isn't getting it fast enough.

b) Is trying to get your attention

c) to hear it echo

d) just for the hell of it

I try hard to ignore it for as long as possible, I would rather him point if he wants something and I am trying to teach him the sign for "more" so if he wants more food he can let me know that way. But nooooo. I have to give in. If I don't he will "EEK!" me to death. I have talked about this before in posts. But this is only because I hear it ALL day long. When my family is around they can barely stand it for the hour they are consistently around him. Try ALL day EVERY day people. My eardrums are begging me for earplugs.

I try and tell myself that it is only a stage and that I will laugh at his dolphin impersonations someday in the future when he is all grown up. But honestly...it will only get worse. I can already tell at the age of 11 months 3 weeks (he is going to be 1 soon, *sob*) that this little boy is going to be a spitfire.

My aunt was the first in the family to produce a boy. This was four years ago. During his toddler times/hell on earth days, we were amazed at all the energy he had. The boy was into everything and if he wasn't in it, he was creating it so he could be in it. We as a family were completely not used to it. His nickname is crazy, that is how much energy he had and still has.

But I think that boys just posses a different energy than girls have. They have boy energy. Something that doesn't ever go away, we all know men that clearly have bouts of this boy energy.

So I look forward and dread what lies ahead. I look forward to playing and running around with Jackson when the time is right. I do not however look forward to running after him while we are all at a restaurant, like my other aunt and her 2 year old son, Evan. He mischievously took off during a meal and ran straight into the kitchen. Little stinker. But I know I will have those moments.

I guess they make up for it with all the hugs and kisses, which Jackson is definitely good at. Although don't kiss him too long, he will bite your upper lip.

TGIF

Thank God It's Friday! I totally didn't update this yesterday, but what can I say? My day was filled with errands. My grandma took me to get those awesome shoes I wrote about but as my luck would have it, they only had them in size 9. If only they weren't peep toes, then I could stuff toilet paper in the toe so I could fit in them. I used to do that with my mom's heels as a child. But I did score by picking up the new Alicia Keys CD(AWESOME) and the Sugarland CD(also awesome)

My evening was filled with laughter courtesy of the office, that show is hilarious!! Favorite part, "Hey Hey you you I don't like your boyfriend. cause, cause, cause, cause, cause he sucks at ping pong" haha priceless. Then I was drooling over Dr. Karev in Grey's Anatomy. yummy

That was yesterday, I know you are sweating from all the excitement. But let me tell you it only goes up from there. Today is pure awesomeness...

I got my cell phone back, thank you cell tech guys. I worked, thank you Nana. I ate some leftover soggy nachos, thank you Chacho workers and I get to look forward to taking my sister to the movies, Andrew MAYBE coming over...whew...exciting. This is what typical 22 year olds get to do on Friday....right?

At the moment my son is so tired he is enjoying screaming in my right ear while saying, "yayaya" translated into "pick me up so I can type MOM!"

I wouldn't trade anything in my life in. I typically enjoy it. But there are moments that I would definitely rewind through, like the Head On Commercial. Although, I could REALLY use some Head On right now... How and where do I apply it again?

Major Situations

So I wanted to be a comedian when I grew up. This has been a life long ambition of mine since I can remember. Ridiculous I know, the only person I can get to laugh consistently would be Jackson and my mom. But she laughs at anything.

But seriously. I would practice my future career with my family when I was a kid. I would stand atop my grandmother's fireplace and belt these jokes out. My forte at the age of 7 was impressions. I could impersonate anyone in my family.

Now that I am older and not as funny as I thought, I have decided to brush my childhood dream aside. Could you imagine if every kid followed their dream? We would have an abundance of firefighters, astronauts and veterinarians.

So now that I am the sole provider of a child, I am taking on the task of finishing school so I may one day fully provide for us both. I am seeking out a degree that I know I will master in, I know I will enjoy the job I could get from it, but it doesn't seem to be impressing to many people. Including my family. I am trying to get a bachelors in fine art with a concentration in graphic art. But as soon as I mention, art degree, I get the "you loony artsy fartsy" look. What is so wrong with an art degree I ask...

Can I not do what I want to do? Do I have to get a business degree? Is that the key to money and happiness? I just don't get it. I am just happy I have a goal set and I know exactly how I want to achieve it. This is the first time in my life I feel I have a path set out for me and I want to follow it. Without the, "what are you gonna do with an art degree?" comments. Know what I am going to do? Be happy with it. That's what.

for the sake of copyright purposes that art up there is:

Jackson Pollock

Number 4, 1950

Oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Gift of Frank R. S. Kaplan, 1954

Sleepytime Woes

So my son...my son, my son, my son. He is a handful. Enough to make a grown man cry..I've seen it, I swear. With a quick shriek to the ear, he will bring you to your knees. Those shrieks of his, they are higher pitched than Mariah Carey's highest octave. I donut know how he does it. But he does and he does them at least 20 times a minute. I wish I could record it and post it on here. It has to be the most annoying sound in the world, more annoying than Jim Carey's most annoying sound on Dumb and Dumber.

His shrieks were going strong today. They seem to increase the more tired he gets. and boy was he tired today. He woke up at 7 am and didn't nap all day. That is another thing. He does not like to go to sleep. I thought he got the sleep gene from me, but obviously not. He thinks he is going to miss out on the greatest show on earth or something.

Putting my son to sleep has to be the most frustrating time of day for me. I dread it all day long, thinking of different ways I can get him to go to sleep. All completely legal and P.C. of course. Putting him to sleep drives me insane...makes me want to kick rocks really.

I cant wait until I don't have to rock him to sleep anymore.. so when he is what, 18?

Rub A Dub Dub

So I woke up to the most putrid smell today. No it wasn't the week old bottle on the floor next to my bed and no it wasn't the laundry piling up to the ceiling. I rubbed my eyes and smiled sweetly at my son only to have the good feelings knocked out of me. I realized it was my son who smelled so horrid. Jeez..when was the last time I gave this kid a bath?!?

I usually TRY and give him one every other day...but not this week or maybe two....

I looked at my sweetness and his hair was matted to his forehead. He had black toes, which also means its time to wash the floors. I think I even found cheese in his ear. It was definitely time for a bath!

So I dunked him in, finally, tonight. I can see what color his skin and hair really is. It isn't ashy grey...and his smell, its no longer putrid. Its actually amazing. I love the way clean babies smell, I think they need to bottle it up. I'd wear it, that's for sure. Eau de clean baby booty...I might be on to something!

Insufficent Funds

So I talked myself out of buying the cutest pair of shoes today. They were perfect. Steve Maddens, Black, patent leather, peep toe, Mary Jane style heals which are originally $90 and they were marked down to $29.99(which sounds way better than $30) I even hid them in the store so I could go get some money out and return later to buy them. I haven't been that excited in awhile. I felt as if I embarked on a hidden treasure.

After hiding them in the perfect spot (I swear nobody will find them) I headed out the door to the closest ATM machine. I was walking towards my car with Jackson on my hip when my two oldest and closest friends came by, guilt and doubt. They left an obvious impression on me considering I am here writing this very blog.

I looked down at Jackson, who looked extra hungry at the time and thought..my son really needs to eat more than I need those perfectly priced shoes. I also don't think the shoes will be great at catching poop...gotta have those diapers. And seriously who can afford great shoes anymore? That $30 investment is the equivalent to about half a tank of gas. geez.

So thank you guilt and doubt for dropping in at the last minute and kicking my butt into reality. But if anyone wants to buy those shoes for me I will happily draw up a map to the secret location where my shoes now reside.

Saturday Night Mumbo Jumbo

It's been a blah kind of day. The aftermath of the big 4-0 party was not fun. But the party went great so that's all that matters! I have had a ton of time to think today and I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to blog about today...

Would y'all rather hear about Jackson finding his family jewels? my religious quests? my boy toy trouble? It's all rather interesting, trust me my life is VERY interesting...I am literally living the dream. literally.

I'm actually rather perturbed today, well I have been for a couple of weeks now. I have about five essay's due for school. 4 of which I have put off for a good month, but that teacher is crazy. I could tell her I have turned them in and she would believe me. She is nuts. I feel like I need to smoke a joint before her class just to be on the same level she is.

The last essay is for my humanities class, which I am actually enjoying. We can all thank Mr. Lewis for my religious quest and for the ridiculous essay that I am having to write. He wants us to go out into nature and walk. He made it sound WAY more interesting than it actually is. I've put it off for over a month and waited until the very last minute, I am just not feeling very one with nature right now.

But alas, I cannot put it off any further. It is due Wednesday. I have brown nosed my A in that class and I don't want to lose my top spot. I wish Jackson understood that mommy has homework though. Trying to get anything done with an eleven month old crawling all over you in not an easy task. Think my professor would understand, the closest I came to nature was sweeping up the dirt from the plant Jackson knocked over...

The Big 4-0

So today is my dad's birthday, he is turning 40... wow. makes me feel old. Every year older my parents turn reminds me that I too am getting older. Which isnt very fun. But anyways..that is going nowhere but negative...so moving on.

I will say that planning a suprise party sounded way more exciting than it really is. It was kind of last minute so there will be more family than there are friends of his, but whatever..he is 40. Thats what happens when you are older. right?

He has been in my mom's and mine hair all day. He has the day off and won't leave the house. He has to be somewhere at 5pm and will be gone until about 7:30pm That is when we will be cleaning, preparing, and setting up everybody and everything. If you know my family this isnt enough time at all. That is how long it should take to clean the house alone. yikes!

From now on I want to be on the recieving end of the suprise parties(hint, hint)

Are You My Daddy?

So my son is about to turn one in a couple of weeks and the only thing that is consuming my mind these past few days is his father. His biological father. This is one of those touchy issues that nobody really knows about, only close family and friends.

My son the cutie patootie that he is, is the product of too much alcohol one late St. Patricks Day nights. Does that make sense? While I couldn't thank Capt. Morgan more and honestly owe him my life, I still cant help but wonder what if sometimes. Which is horrible and one should never ponder what ifs.. it really gets you no where.

So where do I start really? How do you let some man you knew for maybe one week and really knew for about one hour... that he is the father of your son. This awesomely funny and really cute little boy. But oh by the way you cant be in his life, just wanted to let you know....

This decision is a hard one. Right up there with the decision to have my son. But I know I made the right decision then, so I know I am going to make the right one now. Time to break out the phone book...Thank goodness his last name isnt Smith.

Good Morning and I mean it

So this morning I awoke about two hours too late. I am by no means complaining and will never apologize for this fault. If and when my 11 month old decides he needs more sleep than usual is ok by me.

One moment I was catching z's and the next I was catching a swift kick to my trachea. After choking and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I rolled over to find my eleven month old sitting up in my bed in a puddle of pee..yup it was one of THOSE mornings.

I quickly jolted out of bed, realizing I had but only one hour to take a shower, feed my son and get us both decent looking for the day. So I did what any normal single mother of one does when they have no time for any of this, or at least I like to think I am one of the norm.

I jumped in the shower with the baby by my side, stuck him on the bathtub floor and began to bathe us both. I was blissfully rinsing my hair and relaxing in the warmth when I looked down to see my soon sucking down a bottle of shampoo!!! Thank god it was already empty, but I was half asleep so of course I freaked out.

We got out of the shower and I somehow managed to get us both wrapped in towels, this is one of my many one handed accomplishments and I headed towards my bedroom. I laid him down and was toweling him off, when he decided I wasn't clean enough and needed a golden shower. nice...It was one of THOSE mornings...

This time I had NO time for a shower and settled for a wipey wipe down. Thank goodness for the nice scented ones. I got dressed and began doing my hair with a crawling, getting into everything, child by my side. At one moment he was playing with the TV buttons, then the electrical cords, which are all dangerous YES but it kept him quiet, understand?? Then I look up for one second and then glance back at him and he is missing...where did he go???? Of course it was climbing the stairs time.

I somehow got us both decent enough for my grandmother who was coming by to babysit him and so I may go to school. My grandmother came and brought my son breakfast. Pancakes...with syrup. Nice. He finally gets a bath after who knows how long and its in turn, ruined by maple syrup. Thanks grams!

I headed out the door, got into my car and blasted the music all the way to school. To melt the stress away of course. As I turned out of my neighborhood and I was belting out the newest Natasha Beddingfield song, my car died. Yup....one of THOSE mornings...