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...