Happy Birthday! (And also, bedtime wars part 23.3423)

Today is my beloved husband's birthday! I have been making fun of him a little bit for a few weeks, about how he's getting old. Granted, he isnot old. He's one year older than I am, and I'm not old, so... yeah. But, I like to poke fun, all in a good nature, anyway. He takes it like a pro. It's also his twin brother, Jesse's birthday (which I know, sounds obvious, but sometimes...)! Happy birthday, dearests!

Sad story. Jake had to work all day today. In fact, tonight is his overnight route, so he doesn't even come home! Okay, that's only sad for me, because he'll get a peaceful night's sleep tonight, while

there's a 50/50 chance of that at home. More on that soon.

My husband is awesome. This is evident by all these wonderful pictures (courtesy my friend Rena after a wonderful Skype session a month or two ago).

Oh wait, that seems like an odd way to prove his awesomeness. Well, let's see. He works SUPER hard, and long hours, in the crappy weather, and all that, to provide for Spencer and

I. While I complain about him being gone, I know he is doing it to support us. He makes me laugh. He makes Spencer laugh. He gets up with

Spencer at night! He is a fantastic musician. He's a wonderful friend.

And stuff.

Seeing as how I knew I'd only see him for about 23 minutes on his actual birthday, I decided we would celebrate it yesterday instead.

I started off by leaving the house with the baby in the morning. Okay, that wasn't for his sake, but

rather, Spencer and I went to visit the Hedgehogs (that's the name of the room I used to work in before I had Spencer). When we came back, I

brought Jake his favorite Starbucks beverage. That'd be a venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte with extra caramel drizzle on top. It smells, and tastes, like a gooey cinnamon roll, if you're wondering.

Then I made an awesome batch of soup, an original creation (recipe found here, because now I have a food blog), that he downright loved.

Tarah came and took Spencer for six hours, and

Jake and I went to the movies. We saw Breaking Dawn. Yup, we did. And we were the only ones in the theater, so I got to play "Mystery Science

Theater" and Jake let me make any snarky comments I want. And he laughed REALLY loud, because he could. Woot.

Then, I took him for a fancy-pants surprise supper. Well, he knew we were going to eat, but he didn't know where. I'm a really bad liar, so he didn't even guess, because he didn't want to ruin my surprise (for once, haha). I took him to Carnaval Brazillian Grill, which was AMAZING. Robert and Jillian joined us. We spent a good two hours there, enjoying the feast, laughing our buttoxes a size smaller, and having good conversation. Yes, it was fantastic.

After, we went and got our little man, and Jake read him a story or four, before giving him a bath and putting him to bed. Then, we watched a little tv (or TV on DVD) and went to bed.

Oh, and for the record. I wore MAKE-UP yesterday. Full out make-up, even. With foundation and everything. That's special, I tell you. I generally skip all make-up, except maybe mascara (which I accidentally told Jake I would be wearing "Marsala" instead of "mascara" thanks to my phone's auto-correct), because I feel like if I wear full-out make-up, I look almost like a drag queen. Okay, maybe not, but I feel like it looks odd on me. Though, yesterday, I think I actually looked kind of nice.

I asked Jake today, and he said he enjoyed his birthday celebration very much.

Success!

But... NOT succesfully... do I... put our son to sleep. Ever. Anymore. It seems.

For the past few weeks, I have been trying anything I can think of (that's sane and reasonable, anyway) to get Spencer to go to sleep with minimal fighting. It's just not working. I don't know what the issue is. Well, sometimes I have a good night and he goes to sleep easily.

The most frustrating part to me is that it seems like what works one night is NEVER the same as what will work another. For example, one night, rocking him to sleep worked. The next, pretending to cry on the floor of his room. Another night, pretending to sleep while he screamed in his crib, eventually falling asleep, too. Jake puts him to sleep by playing guitar and suggested that to me, and I tried, but that just made him even more mad. Some nights, rocking him to sleep torques him off pretty badly. Sometimes, singing "You Are my Sunshine" is the key to getting him to sleep, but other nights, it just fuels his anger.

I'm at such a loss.

Confession: it makes me feel like a bad mom! And, it's making me hate (maybe not quite that strong.. despise) bedtime.

*sigh*

Tonight, it took almost two hours of getting him to wind down and fight him to sleep. What worked? Letting him scream for twenty minutes before laying him face down in his crib and patting his back somewhat hard. Go figure.

And lately, again, he's waking up multiple times a night. And if I go into the room to put him to sleep, he just gets more mad than if Jake does, which is utterly confusing and frustrating to me.

Anyway, so, at night, I find myself feeling like a bad mom, because I can't figure this out. At all. Jake says he thinks I'm a fantastic mom, but he hasn't told me why. Clearly, my "get our son to sleep" skills do not rank that highly, so... there must be something good.

I guess I will go lay in bed now and try to fall asleep. Have I ever confessed that on Jake's overnight routes I have a very difficult time sleeping, because I worry that I will die in my sleep and no one will check up on me and Spencer will go an entire day stuck in his crib, painfully hungry, thirsty, soiled, sad, mad, and lonely. Guh. EVERY WEEK that keeps me up.

Okay, adios for the evening.

Confessions (written) from (on) my phone.

Our computer is currently out if commission (again). I am afraid this time we will have lost everything on it for good, though I am keeping my fingers hypothetically crossed. That said, tonight, I am writing my blog on my cell phone. I expect that it will most likely be shorter than average, due to the one finger-letter at a time typing method I am forced to use.

I am happy to report that I went to the gym both days this weekend! Except for family swimming, I haven't really gone in ages. On Saturday, Jillian and I worked out while our sons stayed in the nursery and Jake played racquetball. We had a great laugh when we decided to try some of the weight machines, and after pulling on the levers a few times and staring at them quizzically, we decided they were broken, and moved on. Jake later showed us that we were in fact, just kind of... slow, and they worked fine if you had a clue what you were doing.

On Sunday, Jake taught me to play racquetball before we swam with Spencer. I will admit, my skills are lacking, but I had a blast! I didn't score a single point (which autocorrect had me writing store a dingle point, Haha), but I did have a few side-outs, so that says something I guess. Jake was playing "nice" though, so maybe it doesn't say much.

After the gym on Saturday morning, I read a text from ky mom, saying our long time family friend, Josh, passed away that morning as a result of a car accident. It took my breath away. He was a year younger than me, and one of ky brother's very best friends. The funeral is Wednesday.

Sunday night, Jesse and Samantha made it back to Sioux Falls, and we met them for supper. It was so great to see them again! They moved to Alaska in August. They are here for the next week or so and excited to spend Spencer's birthday with him.

They joined us and some friends for trick-or-treating tonight, where Spencer was dressed as a super cute elephant.

I am having a difficult time wrapping my kind around the fact that tomorrow is Spencer's first birthday. It does not seem like a year since we welcomed him into this world! I mean yes, he is walking and can say "Nicole," but it does not seem like it has been 12 months since I gave birth to him.

It is bittersweet. I am proud, blessed, and excited to know our miracle has been living with us a year already, but its sad to know his tiny, infant days are nearing the end. He is nearly a toddler!

People say time goes fast and to cherish the years you have with your children, because they aren't a baby for long. I always understood that, but feeling the time race by is a completely different story. I mused to jake the other night that I don't think it would seem to have gone so quickly, but he changed in size so fast. Newborn clothes for a month, the next size a few months later... barely holding his head up when we brought him home and now walking... its like his life exists in fast forward!

That said, he is sound asleep in his bed after a very long day, and I have this plaguing urge to go watch him sleep a while, thank God for him again, and pray a prayer for his next year of life.

Now Accepting Applications:

I've decided that it would be fantastic if I could get myself a 1950's cliche housewife. Either that, or a maid.

I am very happy to be back working, spending time with my dear friend, Jillian, and her son, Grayson, (and her sister Brieanne and her husband Robert, too...) as well as providing some income for our family so I don't feel as worthless as I did while not making money.

But, it comes with a price.

Jillian and I, today, were discussing Spencer's new crying habits, and how they are probably a product of many things: ear infection (which seemed to start it all, though it was probably just the timing of that coinciding with the next parts), going to daycare, me working, and a change in our routine and schedule.

I know from experience working in an infant room that babies going to daycare for the first time have a bit of a shock and hard time adjusting (generally). I don't know why I expected that to be any different for Spencer. Just because I am going to daycare with him as a provider doesn't mean that it's different for him. He just doesn't have to adjust to a new care provider as that role is still mine. But, he does have to share my attention with others, just like those in other daycares would. He doesn't necessarily get picked up every second he cries (not that he did while I was on leave, let me tell you!), and sometimes he has to wait a little longer than usual for feedings. He has to sleep through more noise. You know, various things like that. So, that might be part (a big part) of why he's been fussier lately. I'm hoping he adjusts and gets back to his jolly little self.

Anyway, now that I'm working outside of my own home, I'm (obviously) not at our place much. So, while I divide up my attention during the day, it's just as divided at night. That means that over the course of a day now, SJ gets less of my focus than he ever has before.

That's why I decided tonight I could use a housewife or a maid.

When I come home, between oh, say 6 and 10 (sometimes I stay and visit), I not only am trying to have one-on-one quality time with my precious son, but now I have to use what little time I have left of the day to do the things I normally spread throughout the day (while giving most of my attention to Spencer and also trying to remember to eat and use the bathroom and such). So, I come home and want to just cuddle and play with him, but I also have to take the dog out, feed the dog, do the dishes, wash the clothes, clean up whatever messes are left behind, eat supper, and get ready for bed and if I'm lucky, the day to follow.

That's a lot to do on my own in a few hours.

I feel horrible letting him cry in his chair, or swing, or on the floor while I wash dishes instead. What I really want to do is lay down next to him and make him laugh and smile at me. I can't always do it. It often breaks my heart. I hate listening to him cry, knowing that he would stop if I'd just hold him. But, I can't always hold him! Ack! It's torment!

Anyway, so, I'd like to accept applications for my 1950's houswife or maid. Please provide two references and your own uniform. Thanks! Haha.

Now that's what I call a grocery list.

Yes, I just blogged an hour or so ago.

After I finished my last post, I took to my next task at hand, making our Schwan's list.

For those who don't know, my husband is a "Schwan's Man." Yes, that's right, I have the priviledge of being married to one of those fellows who, in the summer, wears those sexy tan shorts with reflective tape on them and a blue and white table-cloth-like shirt. He drives a big yellow truck with frozen food on it.

(I love Jake.)

Anyway, although my husband is a Schwan's man, we have another Schwan's man stop by our house every other Thursday. This happens to be the "every" Thursday he stops on. So, I needed to make a shopping list.

Since I throw out the catalogs I find lying around the house, I found myself without one this particular evening. Thus, I decided to make my list online.

I went about my business, opening up a new tab for every item I desired for my initial wish-list, and then added each item to the cart for review. I was about to go through and purge things I didn't really want/need this time around and then ask Jake for his thoughts, when I suddenly noticed my grand total...

$58,324.49

Well, what the heck, right?

I had to do a double take, and then I realized this is what my final cart ended up looking like:
4096 - Sweet Cream Cheese Pretzel Poppers $26,583.04
2048 - SCHWAN'S SNACK ROLLS® Buffalo Chicken $18,411.52

1024 - SPECIAL RECIPE™ Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza $5,109.76

512 - Tomato Basil Soup $4,602.88
256 - Loaded Baked Potato Soup $2,301.44
128 - Chicken Tortilla Soup $1,150.72
64 - Macaroni & Cheese - Limited Availability $447.36
32 - Fiesta Lime Chicken Meal for Two $319.68
16 - Chicken Enchilada $159.84
8 - Tuscan Vegetable Soup $28.72
4 - Pepperoni and Three Cheese Calzone $35.96
2 - Classic Club Oven Baked Sandwiches $17.98
1 - Italian Melt Oven Baked Sandwiches $8.99

Apparently, every time I added a new item, it doubled the quantity of the item I added before!

I about peed my pants laughing, and then of course, had to share my amusement with others. The visualization of all of those items had me in a fit of uncontrollable giggles when my husband called me on the phone to laugh about it with me. Can you imagine all that pizza?! I wonder how many guys in shorts it would take to carry them all here. Heck, I wonder how many big yellow trucks it would take? I'd need a meat locker to store all the pretzels in. I'd share though, that's for sure. I mean, we could have a pretzel-popper-palooza every day for at least a week! Yay!

For the record, our new list is much smaller, and much more affordable!

It's a Boy!

The secret is out.

We're going to be having a son this fall (hopefully late October/early November)! We're absolutely elated.

I don't feel bad. I felt bad when I let the secret slip to Jake.

Yesterday, I was at work, and a 3 year-old informed me that my baby was taking my first name as it's last name. The child's lead teacher had told her that I had a baby in my tummy, and she asked the name. So I told her, and she said something along the lines of "So, his name is ****** Nicole." I asked why, and she informed me that my baby had to have a last name!

I came home from work and updated my facebook status to say that a 3 year-old told me that my baby was going to have my first name as it's last name.

The first response was, "hahaha! That's funny!"

The second was from my dear husband, who did not realize what he had said, until I pointed it out to him 14 hours later, after I had logged into facebook and saw the excitement unfolding after it. He said, "so.... Spencer Nicole it is? Well... it could be worse."

Yes, he had let the name slip, along with it, the sex of our first child.

I got the giggles really badly, and barged into the bathroom asking him, "Do you know what you did 14 hours ago!?" I told him and then told him he had better call and tell his parents before someone else did.

So, the secret, as I said before, is out. I thought I'd be more bummed, but I'm not, at all.

In other news, as I don't know if I've said this before, you can see my belly move when he kicks or punches. It's crazy cool. And I'm 24 weeks along today.

Laughing is (one of) my favorite activities.

It occured to me (today, and on many prior occasions), that I like to surround myself with family and friends who have a great sense of humor (individually, and collectively). Laughter is one of my favorite noises, and also one of my favorite activities.

Now, I don't seek out people who are funny, it just seems that I think all of my closest family and friends have moments of pure hilarity.

My wonderful husband makes me laugh on a daily basis. Often, it's fits of rolling laughter and school-girl type giggles where my voice gets really high and squeaky and I can't catch my breath.

My sister, Samantha, who is spending most of the summer living with us, is also one who can get me giggling. And Tarah, my cousin and dear friend, who lives in our basement!

I name these three in particular, because they all live in my house.

Anyway, today I got the giggles for no apparent reason, while my sister and I were driving through a parking lot. Giggling lead to coughing. Giggling lead to gagging. I rolled down my window afraid I was going to vomit all over the place, and pulled up to a stop sign. And as I did, some older lady in her car, coming toward us, was laughing and looking at me with a huge grin on her face. Glad I could spread some joy.

There's no real reason to this post, other than to say, I like laughter.

Happy Thursday.

He Wants to Etch-A-Sketch my Head.

I have had a headache, off and on, all day, every day, a week ago today... for sure, not to mention randomly before that. I tried tylenol, which is what I was told I could take, and drinking a lot of water, and it just wasn't helping. So, I gave in and called the doctor (after the urging of many friends), in attempt to solve the problem.

Jake, in attempt to be helpful, told me "I would love to etch-a-sketch your head." I laughed so hard. He meant it to mean he wished he could erase my headache, but it sounded like an insult more than anything.

It was a frustrating and long day as I waited to hear what they wanted, if they wanted me to come in maybe, and check my blood pressure or iron... and then waiting to hear what they wanted to do about it.

They suggested a few things:

* VICODIN (how about, hey, I'm pregnant and that scares me (and yes, they know I'm pregnant))

* Excedrin, but if that doesn't work, maybe Vicodin anyway

I was really... shocked, nonetheless, by the Vicodin thing.

Anyway, beyond pain killers, they suggested I take it easy, rest more (which seems funny because I'm tired all the time, but apparently they say it could just be my body's way of telling me I'm pushing too much), relax and de-stress as much as possible, and if all else fails, cool showers, so we'll see.

Moving on. Jake had flowers sent to me for my first Mother's Day ever! I mean, granted ourbaby is not born yet, but I guess it still counts. They hadn't bloomed by yesterday morning, and I made a joke about them being fortune flowers and telling me I was going to be a bad mother. We both got a great laugh out of that, and Jake informed me I am the funniest person he's ever met.

We visited his mother yesterday, as well as his best friend, and I learned a little about HDR photography, so when my headache isn't bugging me as much, I'm going to try that out a little more. My first and somewhat lame attempt can be seen here. It is my mother's day flowers on top of Wendell's dog dish. Yeah, like I said, kind of lame. But I am not feeling well (I was home sick today).

We had a wedding on Saturday, for a friend that I work with. It was a blast. I wasn't feeling well at all (headache and such) but Jake did a fantastic job running the show. I kept things in check and took pictures of stuff (like I love to do), and now it is my job to proof and edit all the photos. You can see a few of the previews that I did on Sunday morning, by clicking here.