Stain? What Stain?

  For MONTHS I have been trying everything to get two cat puke stains out of my carpet.  My carpet is very light beige, and the stains were red that faded to a lovely shade of hot pink after a dozen or so attempts to remove them.  Awesome.  I figured they were never coming out and I'd made plans to replace all of the carpet in my house.  Then I found a "miracle carpet stain remover" of pinterest.com today and figured I'd give it a shot. Why not? Right?

  After Greg and Noah were asleep I headed off to Kroger to stock up on my ammo of ammonia, a spray bottle, and Bud Light.  Okay, so Bud Light wasn't part of the stain remover, but I was hopeful that I'd have a reason to celebrate with a beer or two.

  Armed with a spray bottle, an iron, and a cloth diaper I attacked the enemy. 

  I won. 

Source: onegoodthingbyjillee.com via Heidi on Pinterest

Noah's Orange Bowl

No, this has nothing to do with the Mountaineers incredible, record-setting victory over Clemson in Miami.  Sorry to those who clicked the link thinking it may be... This is a story about what can happen when you combine a sick, sleep-deprived mommy with a toddler armed with an orange.  Especially when the Army steals Daddy for the weekend.

Noah usually sleeps until 10 or so every morning. (Yep! I'm one of those lucky SAHMs.)  So imagine my surprise when he was wide awake well before the sun came up this morning.  He had a virus the day before, so I guess he was rested enough to start his day 5-6hrs early.  I was not.  In fact, I now had the virus.  We went downstairs to the living room and he began to play.  I was exhausted before I even got to the bottom of the stars.

Halfway through the second episode of "Little Einsteins" Noah became very, very quiet.  Any parent of a toddler knows that this is never a good thing.  He was sitting in the dog bed under the end table, and he was eating an orange.  Yes, an orange.  Not peeled, parted, or even rinsed off.  In fact, I have no clue where he found it.  Awesome parenting, Heidi...  He'd bitten through the peel so I took it from him and took the rest off.  I figured no one else would want his slobbery orange, so he might as well enjoy it!  I had every intention of keeping a close eye on him while he ate the sticky, juicy, sticky, deliciousness.  But then it happened.  I blinked.  The next thing I knew, Noah was laughing.  I opened my eyes, quickly realizing that they'd been closed longer than I thought.  The lack of sleep and the virus had simply caught up with me. Ohhhh crap... 

I immediately jumped up to make sure Noah hadn't gotten into anything that might hurt him, although our living room is pretty well toddler-proofed, aside from the ooccasional citrus fruit rolling around.  He was fine.  As I thanked my lucky stars I began to survey the room.  It looked like the orange had exploded all over my white carpet, his toys, the ottoman, his blanket... I'm sure I'll keep finding orange for weeks to come. 

I learned a few lessons today.
1- When Daddy is away, double-check the Red Bull supply
2- When Daddy is away, avoid cold medicine
3- Keep plenty of cleaner for the carpet scrubber on hand
4- Never, EVER give a 10-month-old an orange and leave him unsupervised, even if it's just for a couple of minutes.

not for the faint of heart...

Seriously... this is not for the faint of heart.  Unless you are a parent or work in healthcare, you may want to think twice before reading on.

So Noah enjoyed his dinner of oatmeal, lasagna, and a piece of cheesebread this evening before fussing in his highchair.  He was sleepy and sticky so we figured a quick bath and pjs would be an easy task.  Boy, were we wrong!  On our way up the stairs I noticed that Noah's bottom was wet.  He had fed himself much of his meal so this wasn't a surprise.  Then I smelled it...  I knew it was another explosion.  Thanks for that, btw, Pampers.  When I started undressing him I noticed that there was poop all the way down his leg.  I figured it wasn't too much and we could just rinse the clothes under the faucet in the bathtub before tossing them in the wash.  This worked fairly well with the onesie, but when I shook his pants out, well, let's just say I knew there couldn't be much in his actual diaper.  This was NOT going to go down the bathtub drain.  So now what?  Just as I was resigned to the fact that I'd have to grab it out by hand, Greg (who scored HUGE bf points for this) ran and grabbed the wipes.  Wipes or not, it was a task I do not want to repeat.  Ever.  This bath was more challenging than any we've given my cat, Fermata, who is not only exceptionally terrified of the water but also has a double coat.  Bring it on, Kitty.  You can't do anything that would compare to tonight's experience.  As I grabbed the largest "clump" that had come from his jeans, I dropped half of it.  This exposed the true contents.  McDonald's french fries.  Noah won't be having those again until he has a few more teeth.  We finally got him cleaned up and into bed.  As we kissed him goodnight and turned out his lights I was overcome by one thought... "I love this life." <3

taking back my living room... kind of.

This may come as a shock to those who know me well but I can't WAIT to take down our Christmas tree tomorrow.  Why?  Because this thing has taken over our home in so many ways.  In an effort to keep Noah out of the tree we decided to move our couch away from the window and put the tree between them.  This way it was viewable from outside and Noah couldn't get to it.  Or so we thought.  Within 24 hours of it's grand entrance into our home, Noah learned to climb the couch.  Perhaps this was due to the fact that he had much less space to play and needed to expand his territory.  Or maybe it was because the beauty was far too much for him to resist.  Either way, there were several heart-stopping moments where I thought he might topple right over the back of the couch into the mass of lights and ornaments.  So tomorrow while Noah naps, his beloved "tee" will disappear.  Hopefully all the new toys in its place will help heal his heartbreak.  It will be so nice to have the space back in our living room.  Although that space will quick,ly be filled with things like a giant stuffed caterpiller, play table, pop-up tent, and numerous other treasures left by Santa.  Who am I kidding?  This isn't my living room.  This is Noah's playroom.  Maybe I should just sell the house, leave the damn tree, and move into a larger home. 

When a woman becomes a mother...

“A woman becomes a mother when she gets pregnant, a man becomes a father when he sees his baby."

True?  Maybe in most cases.  But isn't there a difference for moms as well when they actually see their baby?  Don't get me wrong.  Noah made damn sure I knew he was there between his acrobatics, the heartburn, and crazy hormones.  Greg, of course, was (in my mind) completely comfortable for all those months and never once worried about a tiny person karate chopping his dinner right back up his throat.  So the idea behind that quote makes sense.  but is either parent fully prepared for the amount of love they are going to have for this new life?   Seeing him, holding him, and kissing his sweet cheeks is something a new father OR mother can't fully understand until he/she experiences it. 

Depending on the pregnancy and the mother, some women do seem to become "mommies" sooner.  For example, when we had complications early on our midwife ignorantly stated that she'd see us next week if I was "still pregnant."  My instincts said to beat the crap out of her for suggesting my baby wasn't going to make it.  Fortunately I had restraint and simply asked to never EVER be scheduled with her again.  Of course, she ended up delivering my son and I've long since forgiven her insensitivity, but at the time this woman discovered her inner Mama Bear!   I've heard other moms say that they "got it" because they had been preparing for so long (mentally, physically, financially, etc.).  While others went through similar situations as I did, and had more experience protecting their child prior to birth. 

Then there are those on the other end of the spectrum. 

I admit to being a fairly selfish person, but sometimes I'm blown away by just how selfish some mothers are.  Yes, I was desperate to have my body back to myself, but that didn't mean I caved and drank a beer or a glass of wine just because I felt like it.  And how many times have you seen pregnant women smoking?  Some mothers just don't consider their unborn child.  They are more concerned with what they want right now than about what effects it may have on the child.  As a side note, let me say that I do give credit to the women who fight to give up their bad habits quickly upon finding out they are pregnant.  They are an example of the "I get it" moms.  (Afterall, an addict weaning quickly is often more successful than one quitting cold turkey.) It's the ones that continue, however frequently, simply because they want to.  "That beer looks so cold and frosty. One won't hurt!"  "My day is sucking. I need a smoke. So what if my baby weighs a little less? Little babies are cute!"  I wanted to smack myself writing those two sentences. 

I'm not sure what I'm getting at with this blog... It's pretty much just a rant after reading something online.  So I think I'll just end this abruptly.

Mompetitors

http://www.parenting.com/blogs/parenting-post/erin-zammett-ruddy/ever-come-across-mompetitor-are-you-one?src=soc&dom=fb#.TnyrqeB43ms.facebook

I know a few competitive parents like the one shown in the above link.  But, I certainly hope no one considers me a mompetitor. 

Sure, I feed my son organic most of the time, but sometimes the non-organic stuff is just soooo much cheaper I can't bring myself to not get it!  Plus, there are fewer flavors in the organic brands.  But he also eats cheese puffs and other semi-junk food right now.  Inevitably, he will someday eat a McDonald's cheeseburger and that does not freak me out in the least.

Yes, he has been hitting some of his milestones early.  What should I do?  Pretend it isn't happening?  Post "Noah's crawling!" as my facebook status 2 months after the fact because it's a more normal age for crawling?  I'm proud of him regardless of when he achieves these developmental goals, as I should be.  To be honest, it makes me sad that he hits so many so early.  To me, my baby is growing up too fast.  We lose 2-3 months of "baby time."  But still, I am proud of my tough, strong little man and I don't think I should hold back that pride so I don't offend another mom.

We also still use Dreft for all of his laundry (I love the smell!) and use baby powder on a regular basis (again... that amazing smell!).  I made my own diaper bag and am sewing his Halloween costume.  This is out of boredom, not because I want my kid to look better than your kid while they go around getting candy they can't even eat yet.  I actually haven't started the costume, just bought the materials.  So we'll see if it actually happens.

Sure, Noah and I have our strong points.  But believe me, we've got our weaknesses. 

Nursing?  Not for us.  We gave it a try and it didn't work.  I finally thought to myself, "Can I tell which of my friends were nursed and which were bottle-fed?  No!  They're all (fairly) well-adjusted human beings."  I'm confident that my bottle-fed son will turn out just fine.

Pacifiers?  You bethca!  They're orthodontic, so we're pretty much just hoping that prevents any dental damage.  But if they help him now, we're gonna use them.  Unless you're planning on helping us pay for braces, keep your opinion to yourself.  My son won't graduate high school with a binky, so suck away kid!

Schedule?  What's that?  We're on Noah time around here.  It's a pain in the butt, but frankly I'm too damn lazy to try to enforce some sort of schedule.  Some days he eats 3 meals with bottles in between, other days it's only 2.  Some naps (taken in his pack-n-play in the living room) are 20min. others are 2-3 hours.  Sometimes bedtime is at 8, sometimes it's at 11.  I do not care.  We do what we do when we do it and it works for us.

Our diapers are disposable, we have an actual walker with wheels and all, sometimes his Bumbo is placed on the couch, and right now he's playing with a (closed) paint can. 

Am I a mompetitor?  No.  I'm just Noah's mom.

Are we perfect?  Not by a longshot.  But we are us, and that's alright with me.  Strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between. <3

Being forgotten

Living in a town the size of Morgantown, you would think there would be at least a few child (& parent) friendly activities.  Not so much.  At least not for little ones.  To my knowledge there are no baby gyms or activity centers.  Nor are there any parenting groups that I've heard of.  This wouldn't be so bad if I had plenty of other friends with small children, but I don't. 

Almost everyone that Greg and I spent time with pre-Noah were childless.  Not because we didn't like families, it was just how things worked out.  But as soon as I found out we were expecting, most of those non-parent friends began pulling away.  I couldn't just hop in the car at a moments notice to meet them at a bar, movie, or restaurant anymore.  I no longer fit into their lifestyle.  So what use was I to them?  None.  A year later this still hurts an unbelievable amount.  I'm sure everyone goes through this to some degree.  But some people are fortunate enough to be surrounded by the kinds of friends who genuinely care about them.  I had a couple of those friends, but the rest seemed to fall off the face of the earth last July. 

I was forgotten. 

I do have other mom friends.  Friends from high school, college, and some from more recent years.   Most of them live far away, though.  Almost all of them lead very busy lives between work and family.  It would be wonderful to have a stay-at-home mom friend here in Morgantown.  I have just one, who has been amazing but is leaving soon.  So now what? 

This brings me back to my original topic.  A town like Morgantown should have WAY more options for parents and little ones.  But no.  This entire town caters to students at the university.  Doesn't this town realize there are families here, too?  Moms will spend a whole lot more time and money to help the local economy than some 19-year-old still getting an allowance from home.  Open up an indoor playground!  Organize some sort of groups for parents!  Do something for the local citizens who should be your first priority anyway seeing as how we vote, pay taxes, etc.  Maybe then more young families will stay in the area.  Because right now I just want to leave and find a more family-oriented town to live in.  Right now I just want to find other people who understand.  Right now I just don't want to feel alone.

Being a mom can be extremely isolating and lonely.  :(