New year....

...New blog!

Please catch up with my updates at my new blog from now on.

For now, I've got all of my archives from Random Acts there, but they may go away soon.

Thanks so much for sticking with me through the slow times. Exciting things to come!

-B

PS: If you have a linky to me, please update the URL for optimum traffic flow ;)

I'm going to shove the game up her....

Christmas is all gone now, and I've got to wait until next year for more joy, cheer, and Santa. Our tree is still up, but it's lingering about like a washed up relative does around the Christmas buffet...no one knows why it's still there and it's not going away on its own.

Teething has turned my sweet baby into a fussy, drooling monster on sleep strike. He sleeps decently at night, but napping? Well, that's out of the question. And on top of everything, he now bites me during every feeding. He got his first two teeth when he was only four months old, and now he's going to have six teeth by the time he's 6 months old. He's currently getting in four on top. And mind you, breastfeeding is expected for the first year.

Adrien is sitting on the couch in his underwear. Yes, underwear. The big boy kind and all...complete with lightning McQueen. Please lord let him stay dry. The couch can't afford another pee spot. If the cushion covers get washed one more time, I think they might fall right apart. So far so good. But, so help me, if I have to wash poop out of those teeny whitey tighties...well. That's another story entirely.

So Christmas is over. We're on to New Year's. My head is full of resolutions that I'm sure will be broken a day or two in. I suppose I'm just not a very resolute person. I do have other attributes though. I guess.

In case you were wondering my Mom did come for Christmas and she did bring said video game thing. It's entirely too advanced for him. It's for ages 3 and up, and while I tried nicely to urge her not to get it, I guess she just had to. He didn't make the fuss about it Christmas morning like I thought he would. Thomas the Train actually did win him over. But it's the fuss he's now making to play the darn thing. We got it out finally Sunday evening and low and behold, it's too hard. It takes either me or Andi to actually play it and he mainly watches and pushes a button or two every now and then. It's just too hard. So now my days are also filled with fits about playing his games. To top it off, my Mom bought him a Shrek game to go with it. The Shrek game is for ages four and up, so I can just imagine how incredibly above him that one is. Her reasoning for getting that one? Well they just didn't have any ones for the younger age group left at the store. Oh come on! Oh well. The thing came with a game anyway. But whatever.

I guess that's what Grandma's are for, eh? Causing havoc with the grandkids and getting the privilege of walking away from it all. Seriously. She is not my favorite person right now.

My Mom, the Narcissist

My Mom is a narcissist. No really, she is. I know we all feel this way about our mothers...or, um, maybe we don't. But in dysfunction land -- where my family resides -- she is. And I can prove it.

I won't even delve into the realm of what she did at my wedding. She single-handedly ruined the entire thing for me, and pretty much everyone else attending; forever staining that day into my memory. And not in the good way you'd think it would be. No, I'm not going there. And I won't even venture into how she left me more than 13 voicemails in the week following my wedding, while Andi and I were honeymooning. She eventually ended up calling our hotel. Why? Because my wedding was supposed to be about the bride's mother and the bride. It was her day. And those are her words, my friend. But I'm not going there...just as I said I wouldn't.

I'm not even going to get into this past Thanksgiving and how it was supposed to be about her and her friends and family. Yet again, I'm quoting of course.

Nope, not me. I don't live in the past. I'm speaking of the future, and how my Mom intends to steal Christmas. My Mom's husband works offshore. He will be working on Christmas, and as such we've celebrated early with them this year just a few weekends back. Now that was fine. Then I found out my Mom was inviting herself over for Christmas this year. Which is fine, I don't want her to spend the day alone. Great. I'll see my Mom and the kids will see Meemaw. Wonderful. But then she announced she was coming up Christmas Eve. I can deal, really I can.

In November my Mom told me about what she was wanting to order Adrien for Christmas. He's absolutely obsessed with tractors, as any boy is, and so she was getting him a pedal tractor. You know, a tractor that's just his size that can be pedaled around. It was even coming complete with a trailor. I figured it would be fine and he would love it. And he will, love it. And therein lies the problem.

I'm not a mean Mom. I want my kids to have presents they like. I want to see his joyful, expressive face light up when he sees this thing. And no doubt he'll want to ride it for hours on end after receiving it. He will LOVE it. But it didn't come in in time for our early Christmas with my Mom. So of course, she was going to be bringing it along for the real Christmas.

Although Santa's got a grand Christmas planned for my little Pooka, let's face it. Thomas the Train does not compare to a big fat Adrien-sized tractor with trailer. It just doesn't. Neither do any of the other gifts Santa's going to be dropping through the chimney. So I politely called my Mom and requested she hold off on gifting the tractor until later that day. I'd prepared myself for my Mom to take it as badly as possible, and of course she would because you know, everything is about her. But to my surprise, she understood. Or at least she said she did. That is, until she called me this morning asking if Adrien would like one of those VTech video game systems.

It doesn't have to be from Meemaw or the parents, she explained, It can just be from Santa.

I guess her understanding is out the window.

Check it out, yo

I've got a new blog in progress! My content is all moved over, and we're (my super genius web designer husband and I) are going to be working on design soon.

I've got my very own URL. I feel like such a big girl blogger!

Check it out:

www.apronstringsymphony.com

Budding Van Gogh

Adrien never ceases to amaze me.

About two weeks ago, I was astonished to hear him call All Aboard! while playing with his trains. I realize, of course, that others probably don't see the significance in this. But to me, it was the world.

I was even more astounded yesterday when we were watching Noggin. They always have these "picture puzzle" things between shows and they had a big picture with a ton of shapes hidden in it. The point was to find all the squares within the picture. Adrien walked straight up to the TV and pointed them ALL out. He knows what a square is! Once again, I realize the significance may be lost to others...

And then today. I came into the living room from just having been checking email for about two minutes prior. I found him spraying a bottle of aerosol sunscreen onto his hand and licking it off.

Never ceases to amaze me.

Elfish Charleston

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Wordless Wednesday: Look what I made!