Suzy Q Homemaker

I can’t believe that Spring Break is over already. We all had an enjoyable time of it though.

Friday was our 8th wedding anniversary and we took a trip to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium. It was just me & Jamie & Simon. The Aquarium was so cool! I was thankful we didn’t bring a stroller because before every exhibit, there was a little “Stroller Parking” area and it would have been a holy pain-in-the-ass to have to keep getting Simon in and out of the stroller. I opted for my Moby and toted him around on my back almost the whole time.

Toward the end of our visit, Simon got tired, though, and I had to bring him around to the front so he could nurse a little.

So about the Aquarium:

Whale Sharks are HUGE!!! There’s one part of the aquarium where you walk through this tunnel where you’re under the water and you look up and all the fish are swimming over your head. And then all of a sudden there are gigantic sharks the size of cars swimming over your head. It’s so surreal.

Jamie said the beluga whales are funny because they have tiny dolphin heads but big whale bodies.

We also got to see a leatherback sea turtle real close up and I just about died with glee. It was also the only thing I took pictures of.

Tonight I’m making ribs for dinner. Thsese are ribs that came in our angel food package this month, so I can’t let them go to waste! I have never ever made ribs before so I hope they are not terrible. I’m cooking them in the crockpot I got at the Goodwill ($6!). I smothered them with my famous homemade bbq sauce. Delish!

I’m starting to wonder if the age of 3 has a tantrum requirement. I’m all about encouraging Aiden’s independence, but, quite frankly, it’s sometimes annoying. I don’t know how to teach him that it’s ok for me to give him his drink, that he doesn’t need to throw himself on the floor in tears if I bring it to him…just because he didn’t get it by himself. Maybe if I ignore the outbursts every now and then, he’ll start to grow out of them. Redirecting him only helps part of the time…

I had a dream last night that a former professor of mine was pregnant. I was talking to her about breastfeeding and asked her if she was planning to nurse. She replied that she was pretty sure she wasn’t going to. I didn’t freak out (except in my mind, of course), but I asked her why. She said that she was planning on returning to work, and I told her that she could still give her baby milk by pumping, etc. Then I told her about the book Nursing Mother, Working Mother. I haven’t read it myself, but I know it’s highly recommended.

Then we got onto the subject of babywearing and she said that slings are stupid. I asked her which slings she’s seen and she’d only seen ring slings, which, I’ll admit, aren’t my favorite. I told her all about pouch slings and mei tais, and she seemed a little bit more interested.

The last thing we talked about was attachment parenting in general. She told me that she thought I was smothering my baby. At this, I got incredibly defensive and went on to give a big spiel about the importance of learning your baby’s communication. I told her that babies, because they don’t have speech, quickly learn to communicate with different pitches & cues. Simon, for example, doesn’t cry unless something is really wrong. It takes him a while to build up to a cry, and for the most part, he only goes, “Mmmm, mmm, mmm” if he’s fussing about something. I can usually figure out what’s wrong before we ever get to the crying. Most days, he doesn’t cry at all.

After I was done with my speech, she appeared to be impressed, like I’d finally shown her “the way.”

I know that I had this dream because of my brother-in-law and their baby-on-the-way. The part about nursing came from the fact that I checked out that book for them to read. I also let them borrow my copies of The Baby Book and The Pregnancy Book by Dr. Sears. Now, I need to admit that I wasn’t familiar with attachment parenting when Corey and Aiden were babies. I thought that babies were supposed to just lie on the floor and play with their toys, eat every few hours on a schedule, sleep in their cribs, and, yes, I even tried crying it out with Corey. I’m almost certain that some of Corey’s behavior problems probably stem from my “mistakes” in parenting. I wish I could go back and try again, but I remind myself that parenting is a learning process and there are things I can do now to try and remedy a few of Corey’s issues.

Now, more than ever, have I become such a hard core advocate of breastfeeding and attachment parenting. It started with my business, yes, but now that I’m seeing first hand how it’s working for us with Simon, I’m more about the cause. If I had more of me, one would be a professional singer, one would be a SAHM, one would be a WAHM, one would be an LLL Leader, one would be a doula, one would be a Bradley instructor, and one would be something else, I’m sure. I have too many passions, I’m afraid, so I need to be careful not to spread myself too thin, which is incredibly easy for me to do lately.

Guess what we’re doing this weekend? Cat sitting! I had to get the big crate out of the shed and vacuum any and all traces of spiders & spiderwebs. I’m having a bad spider day. While I was vacuuming the living room earlier, I sucked up a giant (thankfully) dead spider. The whole time I was thinking, how many more of you are hiding in my house?

I need to go to the library at some point so I can return the movies we checked out. I can’t decide if I want to go before or after Corey gets home. It would be easier to go before because I would only have to chase one child. And Corey still hasn’t learned to control the volum of his voice in a library, so I wouldn’t have to constantly shush him.

I’m considering making longies for Simon. The thing is, I still have 2 cute sweaters that are waiting to be transformed, but I don’t know if I want to wait until Simon’s a little bigger and walking so he can show them off.

I finally mastered a rucksack with the “lexie twist.” Yay! It’s a lot cooler than the BWCC I was doing with the Moby. I still ended up sweating a bunch but it was because I was vacuuming and running around cleaning stuff while Simon was hitching a ride.

Hm. I can’t decide what I want to cook for dinner…

Good morning! We had a great weekend, how about you?

We didn’t do much Friday night because, for once, I didn’t have to go anywhere! So we made dinner & hung out around the house. Jamie and I started watching “Capote” but turned it off half-way through and went to bed.

Saturday afternoon, Jamie’s parents took Corey & Aiden over to their house. They planned on going to the movies, but “Barnyard” was sold out. They picked up a couple videos instead.

Meanwhile, Jamie and I went grocery shopping with Simon. How romantic, I know! But…as I was strapping Simon in his carseat in the parking lot, a woman approached me & asked about my wrap. I wish I’d been wearing the Moby instead of the SPoC, but she still wanted to know where she could get one & I gave her my card, told her I’d help her learn all about them, etc, etc.

Business is still painfully slow, I’m afraid. There just doesn’t seem to be much of a market for AP parenting stuff around here. I’m trying to “educate” a newly pregnant couple at church right now. They’ve never heard of the Bradly Method, so I’m letting them borrow my book & giving them my coach’s number. The mama already expressed interest in a pouch sling & I offered to help her learn how to use it. I get so giddy when I talk about sling & diapers. It’s so ridiculous!

I am so close to finishing my tier skirt! It’s taken me so long because every time I sit down to work on it, Simon fusses or the kids need me. I haven’t been able to spend more than a few minutes at a time on it. Last night, though, Jamie held Simon while I finished the bottom tier, hemmed it and started on the elastic casing on the waist. I’m calling this, “The Skirt that Doesn’t Want to be Made,” because while I was sewing the waist, I ran out of bobbin thread. This wouldn’t be so bad except I’m almost out of white thread as it is! Who knows when it’ll finally be done.

In garden news, the African violet I saved from Certain Death is flowering! Isn’t it pretty? I still can’t believe I managed to clone the dying one & have it survive. Sadly, though, the motherless orchid keiki I’ve been nursing finally kicked it & I had to toss it. One of Jamie’s bonsai’s died, too.

We also still need to get some new fish. Our tank is so barren!

We had a fancy weekend! At least, I want to think it was fancy.

Saturday I went over to my sister’s house to cut some hair. Her almost 3-year-old twin boys were sporting some shaggy dos (am I supposed to use an apostrophe for that?) and I needed to take action. I’m grateful there was no screaming this time, and my sister is grateful for being able to see her children’s faces again.

That night, I took Simon with me to celebrate the birthday of a friend I don’t see all that often. We met her and some other friends at a local pizza dive. It was rather loud, so I kept having to get up and dance Simon around (he was in & out of the wrap, depending on his mood). I managed to eat about five bites of my sandwich before I gave up and had it boxed.

After our dinner, we went back to one of the friends’ house, endearingly named “The Beaumont.” Apparently, they also have an imaginary butler named Toby. We sat around talking for a while, Simon fell asleep sucking his thumb, and then we enjoyed a rousing game of Cranium. Once the game was over, everyone exchanged their favorite Mitch Hedburg quotes and I had to call it a night.

Sunday morning, Jamie cooked a gigantic breakfast and then we just messed around the house for a while. After the boys had lunch, I decided I needed a haircut and went to the mall. The place where I got my hair cut two days before Simon was born is closed now, so I had to go to the Hair Cuttery. It smelled of burning hair and the stylist didn’t talk to me except when she wanted me to check the back of my head. Obviously, this was not a fancy part of the weekend, but now that my hair is finally off my neck, I feel fancy. I swear, my hair is getting shorter and shorter…

When I got home, we all went swimming at Jamie’s parents’ house, then went back home for dinner. Jamie chose chicken for dinner but when I looked in the fridge to get the chicken out, it wasn’t there! We searched the kitchen and the back of the van in case we’d accidentally left it in there Thursday night, but no chicken was to be found. We figured it got left at the checkout.

So, Jamie went to the store to get some Kid Cuisines for the kids and a pork loin for us (chicken, too, but we’ll eat it later this week). Obviously, the Kid Cuisines weren’t fancy, but here’s what WE had for dinner:

Curried pork loin with mango chutney
Crispy new potatoes with garlic & rosemary
Steamed asparagus with balsamic vinegar butter

ISN’T THAT FANCY??

It was so good. The only thing that we overlooked was the curry overpowering the balsamic butter. Everything we ate was inspired by the cookbook I got from the library, except the mango chutney, which was store bought.

Today is not fancy because it is diaper-washing day. I also need to vacuum & dust. I noticed a growing accumulation of dust on my little sister’s painting that needs some taking care of.

Here’s to happy homemaking!