Lazy Saturday

So, I got a kiss from Brandon at 4 a.m., but we're still supposed to be going on our date tonight. I think the plan is to go to dinner and then go see Defiance. It was sort of funny because last night at bible study (yes, I did end up going) someone called it Deliverence - big difference! :-)

Colby was a little fussy last night, but he did well overall. He's such a good baby for the most part and people love playing with him. I just wish he could walk on his own, I think he'd be a much happier baby because he wouldn't have to rely on another person to get where he wants to go. I've been thinking about buying some low protein food for Colby so that I can practice with it. I really want his birthday to be all low protein food so that everyone can taste it and understand that Colby isn't really missing out on anything, he's just going to have different foods and no understanding of what a steak tastes like.

Last weekend I spent some time looking up some stories about what would happen if Colby didn't stay on diet and I'm dismayed to say that the possibility of him going off diet now terrifies me. I don't want Colby to have trouble concentrating, paranoia, schitzofrenia (sp??), anxiety or lose the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. I want him to be as happy and healthy as possible be as an adult. My biggest worry is that people, including friends or family, will inadvertantly make him feel bad about the food he has to eat. Our society makes it so hard to eat differently because our traditions center around food - for Thanksgiving you eat Turkey, for Christmas you have cookies, for Easter you have ham, for July 4th you have burgers. Colby can't have any of that. If our traditions were less food centered, it would be better, but I know that's going to be a slow change. I guess we'll just need to stress to Colby that these holidays are meant for hanging out with family and observing the things that happened in Bible and in our country. It's not about food, right?

Friday Blues

I woke up this morning and was pretty happy. Colby slept from like 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and Brandon and I were going to have the evening together to go to Bible study. Then, on my way to work, Brandon called to say that he'd been put on power shift and had to work tonight (power shift is 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.). I won't even be able to see him because he'll have to leave before I get home. When I see him Saturday morning, I won't have seen him for over 36 hours. This just ruins every plan I had for this evening. I don't even feel like going to Bible study anymore. We're going to be talking about how well we communicate with our spouses and I'm just going to be reminded that my spouse is working when he was supposed to be with us. And I bet he'll be tired tomorrow so we won't be able to go on our date. I hate the fact that the job he loves involves shifts that can change at the drop of a hat. I don't mind rotating shifts, those are predicatable. This change to power shift isn't.

Grrr...

I Want Gooey Chocolate

I desperately want something with gooey chocolate in it. What I really want is to go to Macado's and get a Pop's Sundae just like the good old days - a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate sauce would just about hit the spot. You may be asking why I don't just go get one? The answer is: Colby. Plus Brandon is working night shift so I'd have to go by myself. It would be a major disappointment to go by myself. I'd be eating my huge gooey sundae feeling sorry for myself becuase all my friends live far away :-( I almost made chocolate chip pancakes just to satisfy my need for a chocolatey baked good, but I talked myself out of it. After all, I've already eaten dinner.

Well, tomorrow is the end of my first semester at my new school. It's weird to get new students next week. It's almost like I'm starting a new school year except I'm starting it in February. Weird. I feel much less prepared than I usually do at the beginning of the school year. But I think I can fix a lot of problems I ran into last semester. I just need to make sure I finish grading the exams from this semester tomorrow so I'll be able to spend all my time on Monday getting ready for new students. It's supposed to snow though, so I don't even know if I'll be at school. Maybe I'll go even if it does snow.

If I do go to school, we're going to Fatz for lunch. I'm not sure what the fascination is with that place other than there's not another one in the area. There's some really cool smaller places that I'd like to try, but I'd rather hang out with the other teachers than try something new. Hanging out with the other teachers gives me new incites into what it has been like in past years when I wasn't there and it gives me incites into the inner workings of my school. Sometimes it's interesting and helpful. Other times, it's just gossip. But that's a bunch of female teachers for you! But Fatz...I think it's not that different from a Friday's or Applebees. The other teachers rave over the food, but I haven't had anything there that I absolutely couldn't live without. I wish that there was a Texas Roadhouse there instead. I LOVE the roadhouse! I hope Brandon isn't too upset that I want to go there to eat on Saturday for our date. We have a gift card for Olive Garden, but I'm craving an 8 oz sirloin, a house salad with italian dressing and some sort of potato (and maybe a blooming onion!), which you just can't get at Olive Garden.

Brandon's mom is just as excited as I am that we're going on a date. I swear you'd think we kept Colbster away from her for a month or more (which we didn't). I'm glad that we have a set of grandparents close by that don't mind us dropping Colby off while we go out to just be a couple. I know we'll probably end up talking about Colby, but at least we won't have to give him a bottle or pick up his toys or let him stand on our laps while we eat. Plus, it's great to just be us. It's almost like before we had Colby...almost. Don't get me wrong, Colby is one of the best things in our lives, but babies are a lot of work. And frustration is the norm, especially when pureed carrots are flying all over the place. Oh well. At least Colby looks good in orange :-)

Baby Compliment Protocol

Today I went to school, graded papers and fussed at a few students, went to Walmart, came home, ate dinner, and went to bible study. I'm doing a Beth Moore study on Esther with Katie and Elaine at Katie's church. So far I like the study. We're watching the videos which I'd never done before and let me tell you that Beth Moore is the most intense speaker I think I've ever watched. Sometimes she looks a little crazy, but she sure knows how to make connections across the Bible and offer new incites to stories I thought I always knew.

Colby doesn't seem to mind going either and hanging out in the nursery. They love the fact that he doesn't cry when I leave him - he's just content to sit and play. Lots of people got to meet Colby today and I have to admit I like it when someone says he's cute, I just don't know what I'm supposed to say. If I say 'Thank you,' it seems like I'm taking credit for his cuteness (which I guess I could since I'm his mom) but it also sounds sort of like 'yeah, I know my baby's the cutest.' Sometimes I joke and say that I agree, but that I'm partial. I don't know if that's the right thing to do. I wonder what the protocol is on something like that. What would Dear Prudence say? He is pretty cute, but his hair makes him look like he stuck his finger in a socket (which of course he can't do at our house since Brandon's already babyproofed it). I wonder if his hair will settle down - I don't want him to look like a crazy kid when he goes to school with his hair sticking out every which way. Okay, I promise I'm done being a crazy mom - for today :-)

At school my kids had to go to an assembly on cyber issues. I know that kids do crazy stuff, but I don't think I'll ever understand their need to text nude pictures of themselves back and forth. In what world would anyone think that's okay? I mean, I know we live in a sexed up world, but sending pictures of yourself to some boy who can, with the press of a button, pass it on is beyond insane. I think kids aren't taught to think about the consequences of their actions. Plus, in what world would you give a twelve year old a full use cell phone? I think a Mego would be a good option if you caught your twelve year old texting inappropriate pictures. And grounding them for life. Why don't some parents act like parents? I mean is it really that hard? I guess I'll find out.

I've wanted to start a blog for a while, but I never did because I didn't know if I'd be very good at it. Plus I worried that my life wasn't very interesting. I'm going to try it for a couple of weeks and see if I'm any good at it. If you're reading this later, then I guess I succeeded and told everyone about it. If nobody reads it because I'm awful and decided not to tell anyone, that's okay too. They always say that journaling is really good for you so even if nobody reads this blog, it'll be like I was journaling for my sanity.

Today was a "snow" day, though it turned out more like a rain day - not that I'm complaining about being off from school, I just know someone feels pretty silly that I'm sitting at home watching the rain splash on my deck. Brandon was off so we both got to spend some quality time with Colby who was kind of fussy today. He wants to be standing constantly, but he doesn't have any balance yet, so someone has to hold him or he has to be in the exersaucer. You can see where the problem would lie - we don't want to hold him constantly and he doesn't want to be in the exersaucer constantly so one of us is usually frustrated. One day he'll be able to walk around by himself and then we'll be going crazy because everything on a table will be on the floor and everything on the floor will be in his mouth. He's still very fun, though. Brandon spins him in circles in the kitchen and he just giggles! He'll never be afraid of roller coasters that's for sure. Sometimes he just makes me giggle when I look at him and his hair is sticking up all crazy. That boy has a serious cowlick.

I've been experimenting with my new ice cream maker. A couple of days ago I made vanilla ice cream, but when I put the chocolate chips in, it clogged it up and made it stop. It was still really tasty though. Today we experimented with chocolate pudding - freezing chocolate pudding makes it taste like fudgecicles. I don't know if I'll make it again. I think there's so many good options that I don't need to settle for something I only like sort of. I think next time I'll try to make some ice cream that Colby can eat - I mean not that he can eat it now, but at some point when he's older. His ice cream is made with cool whip, I like cool whip so it'll probably taste really good. I let you know.