My Complex

Ever since I had a baby I have had a bit of a superiority complex, I admit it, no questions asked. I feel like I had an exceptional pregnancy, I had no morning sickness, no bad mood swings, and none of the other common unpleasantries of pregnancy. Not only did I have an easy pregnancy, but I feel it was really healthy as well, I only gained 30 pounds, I had no complications and I was even able to Travel overseas to Australia a few weeks before Aiden was born. And to add more my labor experience was great, my labor wasn’t bad, and I didn’t have any of the awful things happen during Aiden’s birth either. I recovered extremely well, and I was up and walking 15 minutes after he was born. I was in class 3 days later too!!! And just to gloat, my baby had an easy time breastfeeding, we never had a problem, and trust me there are TONS of breastfeeding problems, I work on a post-partum floor I see a huge assortment of problems. So now that all that is covered, my baby has gained weight perfectly (he has always been right about the 50th percentile, although his head is big, only because he’s so smart;) I am also really proud of myself for being able to exclusively breastfeed him, and be a full-time student and a full-time RN. I can keep going… He slept through the night really early on, he has the sweetest, most easy-going personality, and he is gorgeous. I know, I know, every mother thinks her baby is the prettiest, but this time, it’s true!!! Aiden even got a job modeling; I am quite excited about it. I have to get his work permit taken care of this week, because he is modeling next Monday. And he is getting paid more than I do, and I have a degree!!!! So that’s my superiority complex, I like to gloat about how fortunate I am, I feel very blessed, even if I just sound like I am bragging. I have a lot to be proud of, Brandon, Aiden and I have done very well for ourselves. We have accomplished a lot. I mean I didn’t choose to have all these good things happen, but we have worked hard to get where we are, and we are in such a good place in life, especially for people as young as we are. I hope Aiden follows in our footsteps.

Living in Boxes

Ok so we’ve lived here for almost 6 months now, and we were all settled in nicely, it was great. Then about 2 weeks ago Brandon and I were thinking a bigger bed would be nice (we had a queen) so upgrading to a king, we’d have more room (Brandon kicks in his sleep). So… we decided to get one, but we wanted to sell or make sure our queen bed would sell. So I posted it on craigslist.com (for those of you who live in urban areas CHECK IT OUT!!!!) and what do you know, I sold it pretty quick. Well in the meantime I have ordered our new frame and mattress, but too bad for us it won’t be arriving for a few more days, so we are sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. I shouldn’t complain it is quite comfy. Here is where the story gets even better, I bought these really cool contemporary pieces of furniture a few years ago, they were great, a lingerie chest and a bench that went at the end of our bed. and with a king sized bed these aren’t going to fit that well, and lets face it Brandon and I have too much stuff anyway, so I decided to post those as well, thinking they would take several days/weeks to sell just like the bed did. Well I got a call about 20 min after I posted them and she wanted to come by in a half an hour. Ok so I have 7 drawers worth of stuff, with no place to go. Our livingroom is full of boxes and storage and such that came from underneath our bed (we had a platform bed, and we are getting a new platform bed, they are great for storage). So it feels like we have just moved in all over again. Wanna know something funny? This will be our forth bed since we have gotten married, we haven’t even been married that long, I certainly hope this bed is going to be here to stay!!!! I can’t handle it anymore, we should have just bought a king right away, neither one of us likes to be touched in our sleep. I remember when I used to be able to sleep in a twin bed with another person, I must have been out of my mind!!!

Top Ten List

It’s great to have four days off a week, today Aiden and I went to visit Brandon at work and meet him for lunch. It’s nice because he can’t ever come to see me for lunch because of my days at work, who knows when or if I get a chance to sit down for lunch. But Brandon’s schedule isn’t quite as demanding, so Aiden and I try to come down once a week, or maybe once every 2 weeks to see him. Aiden loves it, it’s so cute to ask him, “Aiden, you wanna go see daddy?” and he just lights up. Aiden is definitely a mamma’s boy, but he loves his daddy a lot too. As Aiden gets older I can see more and more of the things that he likes, infact I have a list of the top ten things on Aiden’s favorites. The best part? They are all pretty much the same as Brandon’s. The Apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.

10. Nap time

9. Eating, meals, in between meals, or back to another meal

8. Watching TV

7. Playing with the nearest laptop or cellphone

6. Flirting with Pretty ladies

5. Car Rides

4. Shopping trips

3. Opening drawers and not closing them
2. Hanging out with mommy and daddy

And top of the list…..

Drumroll please….

1. BOOBIES!!!!!
So now you all know that the men in my life like the best, I can’t guarantee that Brandon loves them all in the same order as Aiden, but it’s probably not too far off.

Today Aiden and I went to this great farmers market in Culver City, it’s only open on tuesday afternoons, but it is very nice, and there were lots of people, and lots of vendors. Aiden loves watching people, especially if they look different or are dressed different than what he usually sees. I used to worry when he would intently stare at Indians (from India) and Black people, but I got over it.. I think he just finds them facinating because they are different. He also enjoys staring at the raggedy hairy hippie people on Venice beach. I always wonder what he is thinking when he sees people like that. Who knows I guess? Well…. Until we meet again.

It’s Been Awhile

I haven’t posted in nearly 2 weeks, I have been busy. It’s a Saturday afternoon and I just got Aiden down for a nap, Brandon is in the other room playing video games, and I am watching Maria Full of Grace, so far it’s pretty good, it’s all in Spanish with subtitles. It’s about a girl who loses her job and decides to carry drugs across the border for cash, it’s a little creepy. I posted a bunch of new photos of Aiden in the last couple of days they are soooo cute!!! Candice is the girl who takes care of Aiden, and she had her maternity photo’s done and she took Aiden with her and the photographer took some amazing shots of Aiden too.

I discovered that Aiden has this extreme facination with the bathroom. He loves taking baths and showers, but now it he likes to follow whomever goes in there. I hope that this facination lasts and that he will be easy to potty train.

On Wednesday Brandon, Aiden and I went down to Venice beach to take a walk and see the sights, it was fun. I never realzed how many psychics, hippies & peddlers there were down there. Did you know you can buy a bong in a store? I had no idea, apparently they are for tobacco too, so that makes them legal. Next weekend we want to take a trip down there again and rent bikes, and ride around, it should be fun. I just need to remember the sunscreen.

Laundry Room Psychos

I have decided that no matter where I go, no matter how hard I try, the laundry psychos will find me. Let me start by giving you a brief history, my first completely off campus, out of home experience, Brandon and I had an apt together in Brookings, it was great, it was big and nice, huge rooms, close to school and work etc. Well about 3 months after moving in I had my first experience with the laundry psychos. I was doing 3 loads of laundry and I had put them all in the dryer, later that night I sent Brandon to get the laundry and I folded it in the morning, and I noticed something strange, I wasn’t folding any of my underwear, and I know for darn sure I had been wearing some the week before. Turns out som psycho freak dug through all of my dryers and stole every single pair of my undies, my bras and my camisoles, etc (if you wear it under your clothes they took it). It sucked because not only did some psycho perv freak have my undies, but they were all nice Victorias secret stuff, and that stuff isn’t cheap!!!! Ok next home…. Brandon and I move into a nice apt in Sioux Falls, close to work etc etc… after about 2 months of living there some psycho chick used to go in right after I put my stuff in the dryers and pull it out while it was tumbling to dry her stuff, granted she only stole about 75 cents, but still!?!?!?!?!? come on how lame do you have to be. So I decided to confront her, I sat on the floor behind the dryer with my laptop (wireless internet is so great!!!) and waited, about 15 min later she came, opened up my dryer and started pulling my stuff out, and lo and behold, there I was. I asked her what she was doing, gave me a blank look and said, “Oh, is this stuff yours?” SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!! What the HELL is wrong with people?!?!?!? Yeah, it’s mine you psycho. Needless to say she quit taking my stuff out. Like 2 weeks later someone stole my really nice pier one imports laundry basket though. I put up a nasty note and got it back a week later. OK next apt (still in Sioux Falls) this time Brandon and I had our own washer and dryer (HALLELUJAH) So no problems there. Well as you all know Brandon and I are now living in Los Angeles, and so far so good on the laundry situation, until today…. I was getting ready to do some laundry (Aiden was asleep it was the perfect time) so I walk down with my stuff (luckily we live next to the laundry room) and I saw someone walk out just before I went in. (Little did I know she was a laundry room psycho) so I started my loads. She came back about 5 minutes later and gave me a really dirty look, snapped at me for having my landry basket on the floor (where else should I put it?) and then tried to steal my fabric softner, I looked at her and told her it was mine, and she looked at me and was like, “oh, really?” No, dumbass, I’m just saying that to piss you off, of course it’s mine and why on earth are you trying to take it? She was in a bad mood, or maybe has permanent PMS but she was obviously upset that I caught her. SO she left in a huff, and I saved my downy. I have a feeling she wanted to do another load of laundry, but I am not sure, I guess I would have been upset too I suppose. But she does not own the laundry room, and her stuff wasn’t in there, I didn’t move anything of hers she had no right to steal my downy. So that’s the saga of the laundry room psychos who follow me wherever I go. Anyone else have a laundry room horror story?

Will & Grace

So last night was the finale, I loved that show, it was a good close to a great show though, for those of you who saw it I am sure you liked it, and for those of you who didn’t I won’t spoil it for you. I taped it on TIVO because Aiden was asleep and I didn’t want to disturb him. I watched it this morning while I ran on my EFX. I am trying to get better about working out at least 4 days a week, and so far I am doing well. I am still breastfeeding, so I can’t diet, so I am working on getting my body looking how it used to look pre-Aiden. After I finished running I decided to do some sit-ups so I was laying on the floor and Aiden was standing up next to me watching to see what I was doing, and as soon as I started pulling myself up he started laughing. He giggled and laughed though all of my sit-ups. I didn’t get it, why was it so funny? Maybe it’s because he knows he did all that to my stomach, and he is laughing about how hard I am going to have to work to get it back.

I am having carpet cleaners come on Wednesday, our carpet is SOOO bad. They should have cleaned it before we moved in, but they didn’t. But I noticed yesterday when Aiden was crawling around that his little socks were all dirty, and it was from our carpet!! How gross is that? So now he only wears dark socks until the carpet cleaners come. We vaccuum all the time, but apparently vacuuming doesn’t get the grime left from the last tenant. Maybe I just need to have Brandon wipe his feet when he comes in.

You’re Cancelled!

I was supposed to go to work this morning, but the hospital called me at 4:30am to let me know that there were not very many patients, and they didn’t need me. I was actually relieved, it was nice to have a day off. Tomorrow I have to be at a fetal heart monitoring class all day, it was great because I spent the day with Aiden and catching up on stuff. Poor Aiden is teething so bad, his upper gums are SOOOOO swollen and red, but he still manages to keep a smile on his face. When my wisdom teeth came in they hurt so bad I thought I was going to DIE, so I really feel for him.

I am watching an old episode of Friends on TBS, it really is a funny show. Brandon ruined part of it for me last week when he told me that it was filmed in LA. I thought they did it in NYC, does anyone know if Will & Grace is filmed in NYC? I hope it is, I know they did Sex and the City there. Oh, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry came to the hospital last week, they were there visiting a patient who had a baby. That’s something I am allowed to say (they weren’t patients themselves so it doesn’t violate and privacy stuff). I still get a bit star struck (as soon as I figure out who someone is) but I feel that in my position it is unprofessional to say anything, so I never do.

Mullets and Mothers Day

So today was my first mother’s day, it was OK I guess, I am not sure what I was expecting. I have never been a mother on monther’s day before, so it was all very new. My MIL sent me a beautiful vase of flowers, it arrived while I was at work last night. And I got to spend the day with Brandon and Aiden which was nice, I enjoyed that. brandon made me breakfast this morning, and helped out with dishes and laundry etc, he’s usually pretty good at helping out with household stuff. There are a few things he won’t do, but for the most part he pitches in and helps (at least since we have moved to LA and I work more). It’s nice, especially since we both work full-time and have a child, that we share household duties.

Tonight, while washing my son’s hair in the bathtub I realised that his hair has gotton quite long in the back, while the front is not growing as fast. In a few weeks if I let this continue my son will have a mullet, you know “business in the front, party in the back” I have always vowed never to date, marry or have a child with a mullet, so it looks like Aiden might be getting a haircut here pretty soon. I thinking a mo-hawk, not the real thing where the sides are shaved, but maybe a faux-hawk, where they sides are just shorter and he has a long stripe down the middle. I think it’ll be cute, think Maddox Jolie-Pitt, except Aiden’s hair is a bit curlier. Aiden doesn’t want to go to bed tonight, he cried when we try to put him in bed, usually he is so good at bedtime. I think his teeth are bugging him. He is getting his top two in right now, and that can’t feel good, so we give him some baby motrin, hopefully it kicks in. Too bad they don’t make baby sleeping pills.

Bath Time

Aiden adores his bath, I worked all day today and then came home and he got a bath. Aiden discovered that he could find his reflection in that shiney metal circle under the bath tub spout. This was like the best bath ever. He has always loved the bath, but tonight more than usual, he definiely loves to look at himself. He also loves to stand in the tub (a big no-no) and to crawl around and chase his rubber Ducky (Thanks Katie S, he loves it!!!) It’s sonn funny to watch because as he is crawling the ducky “swims” away, so he tries crawling even faster, and tries to be really stealthy, and he eventually hunts the duck down, and procedes to put the duck in his mouth. It must taste pretty good because he sure seems to enjoy it. Aiden also learned how to control the TV, he found the power button, and he enjoys pushing it, waiting a few seconds and pushing it again, and repeating over and over and over.

Aiden’s Grandma Judy sent a box of toys and all sorts of other goodies for him today. We opened it together and I showed him all his new stuff, and his favorite thing? The box…. it’s pretty funny when a kid likes the packaging more than the gift itself. He was quite enjoying himself until he noticed he got a new sippy cup, (he loves cups) and he tried to drink from it, of course not knowing it was empty, he looked at me like “mommy, what’s wrong with this cup? There isn’t any juice!!!”

Sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite

Stairs

Aiden is very smart, he also learns stuff, fast!!! Last night Brandon taught him how to go up the stairs, It’s completely adorable, but the thing Aiden neglected to learn was how to go down them safely. We tried to show him, but he likes to face the directions he is going, which is understandable, just not alwasy safe. He is getting good about getting off the sofa and the rocking chair, he is learning to go feet first, although I am not sure how long it’s going to take him to go down the stairs. He really has developed a bit fast for his age, so we have to worry about more stuff then we should. It’s nice to have an advanced kid, but with advancement come more danger. He learned which cupboard in the kitchen has the soap (etc) so we got some of those door locks, but they have yet to be installed.

I went to visit my friend Leah down on Coronado Island a few weeks ago, our little guys played and went swimming together. One thing Leah and I discovered we have in common? Poor Parallel parking skills. In bigger cities it is so important to know how to parallel park, back in old SD there is so much space you can park anywhere, it’s a big wild open country out there, so neither Leah or I got much practice or experience with parallel parking. Everywhere in LA you need to parallel park, it’s terrible I have to take like three or four swipes at it, and to top it off, seems every driver on the road in LA is pissed about something, they love to honk and yell at you. Anytime really, when you park, when you stop at a red light or stop sign, when you sneeze, when you pass them, and my favorite when you honk at them because they are about to hit your car. All the drivers here seem to need anger management classes. I think it’s because the average LA driver has to spend at least an hour in traffic. Luckily Brandon and I live near where we work and we don’t usually have to drive in any traffic, I go to work at 6:30am and Brandon takes a drive down the coast, needless to say we are much happier drivers than most, But we still have to endure all the mad ones.