Do All Boys Act This Crazy?!

Yesterday I went to a feeding class at the WIC office and sat in a room with mothers and 7 other babies that were 4 or 5 months old (same age as Ethan). It was during this class that I truly realized how hyperactive and crazy my child really is. Let me just give you a background on this thought. So I’ve always wondered how mothers of other babies his age seem to be able to get so much done during the day. They seem to be able to shower, clean the house, cook dinner, do chores, and work on projects, etc. I am lucky to find time to write on this blog or take a shower everyday (its usually one or the other)! This is how my days usually go… I put Ethan on the floor to play with his toys and he’s content with them for all of maybe a few minutes at the most, then he gets bored, yells at me to come pick him up (which he’ll scream even louder if I don’t) and wants to do something else. So then I’ll put him in his high chair with toys and that’ll last another few minutes (this is always my time to throw some dishes in the dishwasher or make myself some food) and then he’s done with that. Then he’ll want to be picked up and he doesn’t like it if I sit down with him, I have to stand. Guess he likes the bird eye view! So my day is constantly filled with sitting, standing, picking him up, putting him down, trying new ideas to keep him entertained and help him learn new things, etc. As for church, that’s practically non-existent these days as my parents can attest to that. I recently attended their ward a few weeks ago and I was unable to attend the combined priesthood/relief society meeting or Sunday school because he was not happy and the only way to make him happy (and quiet!) was to walk the halls or go see Grammy in nursery. The only reason I was able to sit in sacrament was because my wonderful mother took him out into the foyer for me. He FINALLY went to sleep about a half hour before church was over. Usually when Jordon is with me at church (which he wasn’t during this particular occasion), we do a lot of tag-teaming so we can each have some time to listen to lessons or sacrament.

I find that when I am in a room with other people, I naturally look for a seat in the back of the room that is close to the exit to make it easier for me to make a mad dash toward the door in case of a screaming child. So here I am in this feeding class and I’m looking around at all these babies his age who are quietly and contently sitting on their mother’s lap just looking at the speaker or playing with a simple toy. This class, by the way, was about 40 minutes long and they were content almost the ENTIRE time! And here Ethan was squirming and wiggling and wanting out of my lap, wanting to stand or walk around. He was the only verbal child in the class the entire time. Then I’d try giving him a toy and he’d play and suck on it for a few seconds and decide he was done with that and then I’d give him another toy and he’d do the same thing for a few seconds and decide he was done. Not to mention he also decided this was a great time to spit up all over himself, all over mommy, and all over the floor (3 different times) throughout the class. It was a BLAST! I keep thinking that maybe it’s just because he’s a boy and boys are incredibly busy little kids, but there were plenty of other boys in this class just sitting contently on mommy’s lap. WOW! I have a crazy child. I know that as soon as he starts crawling and walking, I’m in BIG trouble and he’s going to give me a huge run for my money. I already know that naps for mommy will be forever non-existent until the day he moves out of the house!

We are going to Grammy and Papa Marquis’s house this next week to spend a few weeks there and Grammy has already informed me that she’s going to be stealing Ethan away from me most of the time, which I’m really just fine with and want her to spend as much time with him as she can since we don’t see them very often. But Jordon and I think Ethan is going to tire Grammy out pretty darn quickly! Guess we’ll see how it goes. No matter, we know that she and Papa are just going to LOVE him because even with his crazy quirks, he’s such a fun little guy to have around. He makes us laugh so much everyday, and though we may be biased parents, we think we have the cutest little boy in the whole world!

I made my first tie quilt for Ethan the other day! It’s this cute fabric of cows jumping over the moon. I used the extra fabric to make some more burp rags. I feel so proud of myself for being so crafty! This was all thanks to my neighbor downstairs who's so crafty and creative, she inspired me! So yes mom, I finally pulled my sewing machine out of the box and figured out how to set it up and use it! You'd be so proud of me.

Jordon had a work Christmas party the other night that we went to. We had some good friends watch Ethan for us. This was the first time we’ve had anyone other than family watch him. I was nervous… not about our friends watching him, but I was nervous about how he’d be with them. I was scared he’d give them grief. Much to my horror, he did! He was asleep when we left (which I wasn’t big on that idea because I knew if he woke up and found us gone, it would be traumatic), and so when he woke up he screamed for almost an hour. Then he wouldn’t take the bottle I’d left for them. He really hates bottles, but sure loves mommy! (I affectionately call him my little "boob monster"). Thankfully he did quiet down eventually and they just played with him the rest of the time. When we got home, he gave us the biggest smile and reached for us. He snuggled right up to me when I held him. I love that he’s a momma’s boy, but it also makes me feel like I can’t go anywhere without him. So I’m a bit nervous about how our little outings are going to go when we head home to Washington for Christmas and have Grammy and Papa babysit.

Well today is the very last day of finals for Jordon and we both are SOOOOOO glad it’s almost over. Jordon is still at school as I am writing this with one more final and another assignment to go. I have not had my husband sleep in the same bed as me in over a week… probably close to two weeks. Oh wait, he slept about 2 hours the other night in bed with me from 4-6am. He’s been up all night for the last few weeks working madly on trying to get everything done with his mechanical engineering classes. He’ll take breaks and snooze on the couch for an hour or two when he needs some sleep and then get up and keep on going. I worry so much about him and his health. I’m so glad that tonight he’ll finally be able to get a full night sleep in his own bed! And that he’ll have about 3 weeks of time off from school before next semester starts. The other night was a sight to see. I was writing an English paper for him (as this is something I’m good at and was able to help him out with). I was pretty tired by midnight, so I laid on the couch to take a nap and woke up around 2:30 to find him sleeping on the living room floor right next to me. Then we both got up and started working again on papers and assignments. Well at least we were able to see each other a little that night! Even if it was while we were doing homework and taking naps on the couch/floor. Yay for finals week being almost over! Christmas vacation here we come!!!