Welcome to My Corner of the World



I hope you find humor, inspiration and something worthwhile on this blog. I plan to be as candid as possible. Life is hard. I know, I've overcome a lot (and still have a way to go).
It doesn't help others if the rough things are glossed over.

I will no doubt fill this blog with stories of my achievements as a mom as well as my personal struggles.

I have an incredible husband whom I call "my sanity." I have two great kids with strong personalities. I struggle with anxiety and depression and I have had a colorful childhood.

I also have an addiction to Gilmore Girls, A&W Cream Soda, and Starbucks peppermint mocha.
I have recently added biking to my list of hobbies and also love to read, knit, and play tennis.

Welcome to my little corner of the world!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Insane weekend



  I was really looking forward to this past weekend.  It had so much potential.
  One of my best friends and his wife (we'll call them the K family) were going to be visiting my hometown (which is only 2 hours away from where I live now).  A year ago they moved about 12 and a half hours away, then they had their first baby who is now 6 months old and I hadn't met her before this weekend.  I was really looking forward to spending time with all of them.
  The plan was for us to leave as soon as Hubby got home from work on Friday.  I was hoping that would be around 2 and that the kids could sleep/rest on the drive up.  Hubby got home around 2:30.  I ran a quick errand with Bug and he came home and fell asleep in my lap.  Hubby wanted a few minutes to pack and chill, so I put Bug in bed.  He slept for an hour.
  We got on the road an hour and a half later than I planned...but that was ok.  I was excited about the weekend!
  On the way A started looking sickish and actually took a nap.  Never a good sign.
  We got into town around 5.  Then we drove from the north side of town to the south side...in rush hour traffic.  With two bored, whiny, getting-over-being-sick-kids.  I planned to hang out with the K family from 4-10ish.  It was  now 5:30 and we were still 45 minutes away from seeing them.  Bleh.
  We checked into the hotel and walked into our room.  One of the queen beds was neatly made.  The other had covers strewn everywhere and pillows all askew.  There were dirty dishes on the table and a take-out box on top of the TV.  Excellent.
  Hubby called the front desk and we got a new room.  We dropped a few things off and I got a drink of water.  That's when I noticed a cute baby roach crawling across the bathroom counter (I hope you read that with heavy sarcasm).
  We met our friends for dinner and baby K sat in her car seat the entire time.  She was awake, but completely content being where she was.  After dinner I took Hubby back to the hotel because he wasn't feeling well and on the way Bug threw up.  I ended up dropping the boys off and then A and I headed over to hang out with the K family.
  By the time we got to my friend's parents house baby K was in bed (it was like 8:30 by this time).  I hadn't gotten to hold her and we didn't have plans to spend any more time with them.
  We did have a really good visit and I was thankful for our time together.  A and I headed back to the hotel around 10.
  None of us slept well.  Hubby didn't get to sleep until 5am.  Bug was restless and fussy throughout the night.  There were several high school boys' basketball teams staying in our hallway and the boys were in and out all night and were not quiet.
  Bug was up early so I took him to the continental breakfast (which was really good, thankfully) and then he and I went to Wal-Mart to get Hubby some meds.  Bug was in his PJs for that outing because I didn't want to risk waking A and Hubby up while he got dressed (we all know he's incapable of being quiet).
  I decided we were going home.  We hadn't been in town for 24 hours, but I knew my family needed to get home.
  Bug and I got back and Hubby actually felt like going to Best Buy for a bit by himself.  Check out at the hotel wasn't until noon so I decided to keep the kids at the hotel until then. 
  I soon found out that one of the best parts of staying at a hotel that doesn't have an indoor pool to occupy small children is jumping on the beds.  The kids were having a blast.  A very Loud blast.  They were rolling and wrestling and jumping and squealing.  When I tried separating them in hopes of quieting things down they just cried and whined Loudly about being apart.  It was a lose-lose situation so I did what any mother would do.  I threw them together on the same bed and then lost my patience.  At least some of us were having fun.
  I made lunch plans with the K family so we could see them one last time before we left and this time I actually got to hold the baby, so all was not lost.
  On the way home A wasn't feeling good, Hubby had me drive (which Never happens!) and slept the whole way and Bug conked out too.
  To top it all off, the next day at Church Bug slammed his head back into my mouth and gave me a fat lip.  Thanks kid.
  Whew!  And that was my weekend.

  ~Alexis

Monday, December 5, 2011

The case of the terrifying DVD player



  The other day Bug decided he wanted to watch "How to Train Your Dragon" (HTYD), his new favorite movie.  
  The first kink in "mission: watch HTYD" went as follows: We always watch movies in the living room...because that's where the DVD player is--well, was.  On Black Friday the Hubby decided to buy himself an early birthday present: an XBox 360.  Naturally he hooked it up to the TV in the living room.  I kindly had him move the DVD player into the family room so he could play and I could watch DVDs on a TV, not the laptop.
  It took me a few minutes to convince Bug that the family room was where we were going to watch the movie.  Of course, at first he was very adamant (in his loud, Bug way) that this was not where we watch anything.
  After settling that issue, the second kink came into play and it went something like this:
  I turned the TV on, but had left the DVD in the living room (silly me was not anticipating so much of an issue just relocating him).  I left Bug for 3 seconds to get the movie, and then I spent the next hour trying to right my wrong.
  You see, when the TV came on so did that interesting thing we call "static" or "snow."  And apparently that completely freaked Bug out.  He ran after me screaming and crying hysterically and insisting that I hold him.  I put the movie in and tried to explain that everything was ok in a way that a 2 year old would understand.
  Naturally, that wasn't good enough for Bug and he insisted that I hold him while he watched the movie--a movie he's been able to watch by himself for at least a month now.  He was now terrified of the DVD player and that fear affected his ability to play by himself part of the morning too.  Yay.
  That was a few days ago, and thankfully now the fear factor has been taken down a few notches.  It hasn't been forgotten, oh no.  Every time Bug walks past the DVD player, or watches a movie in the family room he has to have a conversation about how it scared him.
  There are times when I think it'd be nice to wrap my kids in bubble wrap and try to hide them away from all the scary, nasty things in this world.  Thankfully I'm sane and realize how impossible that is.  Really, though, who would have thought that DVD players would have fallen into the "scary" category?  Obviously I wouldn't have...until now.  Who knew?
  And that is the story of my life: daily encounters with the terrifying!  My kids must think I'm the bravest person on the earth, and I'm ok with that.
 
  ~Alexis