I'm sitting here drinking iced tea through a straw on the left side of my mouth because I currently have no feeling in the right side due to having a cavity fixed less than an hour ago so I decided to take a break, let my 3 year old destroy my house, let Jack sleep in his swing, let my husband enjoy some time on his computer without giving him the stink eye, and write a blog. It's been a while.
Michael and I have officially dubbed this the 'summer of hell' because seriously if one more thing goes wrong one of us (probably me) is going to lose their sanity. Our current dramas have been having to replace a wheel bearing on our vehicle...which happens to be a Land Rover...don't hate, we got a great deal on it, and after dumping a lot of money and sending it to the Land Rover dealership for multiple issues we know realize why we got such a great deal...but I still LOVE that car and no matter how many times Michael threatens to buy a minivan if I don't let him trade the Land Rover in for some other SUV, I stomp my foot and insist I must keep it because it makes me happy. But since we own a British vehicle, repairs are ridiculously expensive. A wheel bearing would have cost $450...but my thrifty hubby consulted his dad and they decided they could repair it themselves. I told him if the wheel fell off while I was driving I would personally run him over for being so cheap. But with the help of his dad and the tire place down the road, they replaced the wheel bearing for about $115. So far the wheel has not fallen off, and the back of the Land Rover no longer roars like a lost dinosaur.
A week after fixing that problem...our A/C died. The repairmen were at our house for one other issue earlier in the summer ($280...) but yet here we go again with no air. After the kids and sweated it out all night (Michael was working night shift) the repairmen showed up, looked for leaks, found none, refilled the freon and recharged the unit, charged $300 and left....12 hours later our air wasn't working...and it was Saturday, meaning it would have cost $120 for the service call or we could wait until Monday for no charge. So we waited until Monday....only to find out there IS indeed a leak after all and the part has to be ordered....now it's Wednesday...and we are still running fans and sweating like beasts of burden. I hate being hot. It makes me sweat and swear. And there's something about having a hot sticky house that makes it seem even dirtier and smellier than it actually is and my cleaning OCD has been in overdrive...'must...clean...sticky...kitchen...floor...' (with baby wipes under my feet by the way...it works!)
How's baby Jack you ask? He's doing GREAT! He had his 2 month checkup this past Monday and the little chunker is 14 pounds and 24 inches long. He was born tongue tied (meaning the flap of skin under the tongue was tighter than normal) and for some reason they didn't take care of it during his 25 day NICA stay...seriously, as we were signing release papers the doctor was like 'oh and by the way he's tongue tied, might want to get that taken care of...' REALLY?!! So on Monday he got his tongue clipped...I had been dreading it for weeks. Michael took Morgan (our 3 year old) out and the doctor asked if I wanted to stay or step out; I decided to step out....but as soon as the 3 of us stepped out of the room they began the procedure and we could hear Jack screaming and it was like a knife in my heart. My adrenaline kicked in and I swear I could have lifted a baby whale at that moment (just a baby...nothing bigger...) the doctor and intern that helped her brought Jack out to me....he was a livid shade of red and had tears in his eyes (for those of you that don't know, newborns don't cry tears...) and I got him calmed down just in time for his vaccinations, 3 shots in the leg. Once again the wailing commenced.
Jack and I both needed a shot of vodka that day.
But we survived.
Jack's blood pressure is great, his lungs have healed, it's amazing to think of how quickly his little body has recovered. Now he's an eating/pooping machine that occasionally gives us a gummy grin and sleeps a lot. He's been a really good baby compared to Morgan (who cried nonstop, hated everybody and everything, and threw up at least one feeding per day as if to say 'haha! take that! I wasted your money!')
Morgan still adores Jack. I'm amazed at how mothering she is. His carrier is in the middle of the backseat right next to her car seat and she will tell us 'he's spitting, I need a burpy cloth!' and she will clean him up! Whaaaa?? Is this the same kid that claims "I'm too tired, my legs are too tiny..." when asked to clean up the mound of Little People mess that I trip over while carrying a loaded laundry basket? I have been putting both kids in the bath together to save time (it takes 2 hours for bath and bedtime routine!) and the other evening Morgan was playing with something and not even looking at Jack...and he started peeing on her...a constant stream hitting her in side....so as any mother would do, I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe....so Morgan asked 'what's so funny mommy?' and then looked down and saw that she was getting peed on and said 'OHHH JACK!!' but didn't flip out! I don't think I could have handled getting peed on as calmly as that. This morning she wanted to hold him, and as I was putting him on her lap, fat boy lost some of his breakfast on her legs and she didn't even squirm! She just calmly sat there while I cleaned her up, and then she still wanted to hold him! This is the same kid that flips out if she gets WATER on her! If her clothes she wet she ends up nakey. She's an amazingly weird kid.
Every night after both kids are bathed, in their pajamas, Morgan's teeth are brushed, I get my shower (which is tricky when Michael is working nights...I have to put Jack in his bouncer seat in the bathroom and pray that I can at least wash the shampoo out of my hair before he starts to cry), I get both kids to sleep, I pump one last time, and then I dump both kids in their beds (they usually fall asleep on the couch)....as I collapse in bed for a little reading (I'm currently reading the sequel to Pillars of the Earth...you know, Medieval England...historical fiction...it's what every cool person reads, right?) I realize that the sense of accomplishment I feel for surviving one more day in mommyland...feeding and watering the kids, keeping them entertained (and more importantly...alive), doing loads of laundry (it's amazing how much more laundry I have now with a 24 inch human in the house), keeping my house clean, working on my crochet orders, washing dishes (I don't have a dishwasher), trying to 'workout' (which for now is either a walk around the neighborhood pushing 54 pounds worth of kids in a double stroller until one of them starts to cry, or having a dance party in the living room until Jack covered my shirt in regurgitated breast milk from too much jiggling or Morgan runs head first into the coffee table)...the sense of accomplishment I feel for balancing all of that is more than I ever felt for any college degree...
and now Morgan is rolling in the floor claiming she needs to go to the teeth doctor...time to jump back into mommy duties.
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