Mommy: The Musical

I've started to notice something about Mac. Not only does he like to hear music, but he actually responds to it. He will stop what he’s doing if he hears a song. That being said, I have caught myself making up and singing very silly little songs to him to get his attention. We have some future hits in our house such as: “Oh Mr. Mac,” “Walk’n Up The Hill,” “Walk’n Down The Street,” “Mac-A-Doodle Dandy,” and my all time favorite “Who Wants To Take A Big Boy Bath?” I’m not kidding, these are actual tunes I have made up and started singing to my child. And no, I will not be sharing them with you! They are absolutely ridiculous, but they make him laugh. When we sing his bath song, he actually walks into the bathroom and stands by the tub!

Another way I have started communicating with Mac is through sign language. Well, he only has 1 sign, but we’re on our way. A week ago Mac learned/repeated the sign for please. I was so proud of him. Every time he sees his snacks or his drink he signs please so that you’ll give him one. Here’s the problem, Mac will also walk up to you, sign please, and just look at you. Unfortunately when I’m sitting in the middle of the living room I have no clue what he wants. He gets so frustrated and just keeps repeating the sign over and over. It’s so cute though. It reminds me of when I first taught Heisman to sit. I would show everyone how smart my puppy was…I guess now I’m doing it with my son? Did I just compare my child and my dog…oops.

I Have Gas!

You heard me...we have a gas leak! Fortunately the leak is actually inside our oven so we didn't have to cut off the gas to the house; only the oven. Unfortunately, for someone who uses the stove/oven twice a day, you quickly find that there are a limited number of things in the house to eat/prepare for meals. This all started Monday night and I'm almost to my breaking point. If I never see a sandwich again it will be too soon. And no, I'm really not saying this to make all you non-cookers look bad...I just really love to cook! GE is coming out on Monday so to all you P-Land people, don't be surprised if I come to your house with a pot of water and ask to boil it on your stove =).

And FYI to all you Mommy's with little boys...did you know that a 14 month old can get "jock itch" (I really hate that term so from here on out I will refer to it as "athlete's itch" or "AI"). I thought it was heat rash so we've been letting him "air it out" at night for a little while (and following him around with a towel just in case), but nope, it's AI. I had to buy the poor kid Lotrimin today. I feel that Mac has had enough trauma for one year in that area so hopefully it will get well quickly!

Since none of the above commentary would allow for a picture (the last section might get me a visit from CPS if I had photos), here is a picture my sister sent me that made me snort I laughed so hard. I really hate forwards, and this may not be that funny, but it made my day:

The Day Has Come...

Matthew 7:1: "Do not judge, lest ye be judged." The day has come people. All those times I saw people with their child on a leash. All those things I said in my head. Well, it's my turn. I bought my child (look of horror here)...a leash! I broke down today at Target and bought Mac a monkey leash. Yes, I recognize that they are silly looking, and yes, I know that I will be the giggled at as I stroll by, but too bad! I think it will be very helpful now that Mac wants to walk by himself. Especially in crowded public places. And lets be honest people, if anyone can pull off a monkey leash...it's my Mac!
(FYI..Mac does not like the monkey):

The Long Road Home

Last night when Eric got home from work we decided to take Mac for a quick walk around the neighborhood before it got dark. We put Mac in his stroller and headed out. We were about halfway done when Mac decided he was a big boy and did not wish to be in a stroller anymore. I figured, let the boy walk...it will wear him out! He walked for a little while on his own, but became easily distracted by a child on a bike, a child with a ball, a blade of grass; so back in the stroller he went. Of course he was not going to allow that after being out on his own so we let him walk again. I got a few feet ahead of him, turned around to walk backwards and started softly singing the alphabet song to him (Mac's favorite). He danced, clapped his hands, and started walking again. Little did I know that I would spend the net 20 minutes walking backwards down the street and singing the "ABC's" to my child. Every time I stopped Mac sat on the ground and cried. Now if you had of asked me what I would have done 14 months ago in the same situation my response would have been simple...put the kid in the stroller and walk home, but it's no longer that simple. The look of happiness that Mac gets on his face every time he hears that song somehow made it worthwhile for me to look like the crazy lady on the block. I just can't say no to those chubby little dancing legs. After a 20 minute walk you would think Mac would be exhausted right? Wrong. Not only would he not go to sleep, he would only let Eric hold him. He was clawing to get away from me and into his Daddy's lap. You kind of start to take it personally when your kid is hysterically struggling to get out of your arms...oh well, today he can't get enough of me so I guess I'll forgive him =).
Here's a video of Mac dancing to his ABC song. Please forgive the singing/yelling on my part =). Of course I have not been able to catch him really doing the hardcore dancing, but here's a little taste:

Let The Count Down Begin....

Well, it has officially begun. In less than 365 days I will be old...that's right, I'll be 30 next year. I"m just kidding (about being old, not about turning 30). I did have a great 29th birthday though. Eric got me 2 tickets to see Chelsea Handler, a beautiful flower arrangement, and 2 cards (one from him and one from Mac). I think after over 10 years of being together Eric has finally realized that it's not a complete birthday present until I have received a Hallmark card to commemorate the occasion. Eric had to go out of town on the actual day, but I had a great time with some of my best girl friends. We went to Tiny Boxwood's for dinner and came back to my place that night. Let me just say, I don't EVER remember staying up until 4:30 am on purpose. We had a blast! And by the way, if you live in Houston and you haven't had cupcakes from Crave, stop what you are doing and go get some! Oh my gosh...I have never had a better cupcake. And let me recommend the strawberry or red velvet..Yum! I don't even want to know how many calories are in one of those things....

Other than that...Mac seems to be doing new things everyday. The other day we were at the store and Mac looked up at a the ceiling, pointed to a light, looked and me with the biggest grin and said "ight!" (I didn't miss the "L"...Mac can't say it.) Of course I made a huge fuss over him for saying it and for the remainder of our shopping visit he pointed to the ceiling and yelled "ight!" He has also learned that shaking his head from side to side means "No." Whenever he doesn't want something he shakes his head "No." I'm not sure I like this one as much as "ight" but I guess it means he's learning. My favorite new Mac trick has to be the dancing. He loves to dance. If you sing to him and clap your hands, play a CD for him, or even bounce up and down like a fool, he will dance for you. If you ask him to play his "ABC's" he goes and turns on the song on his play table and dances. It provides hours of entertainment.

I'm basically going to be lazy and not post any pictures this time...but you can see everything on Facebook anyway if you need your Mac fix for the day =)

What Is That Smell???

You know the smell when food has gone bad? You know what's really annoying? When you have smelled the smell for a week and can't figure out what it is. I have gone through all the obvious places, the fridge, the freezer, I ran the disposal over and over in case something was down there, and even checked in the trash can in case "somebody" (you know who you are) threw trash in there without noticing there was no bag. I have come up empty handed for the last week...until today. I was looking for some scissors in our junk drawer (okay I won't lie, at this point they are all junk drawers) and this horrid smell arose. It was like in cartoons when you see the stinky smell line rise up into the air. There was a cut onion in a plastic bag sitting in the drawer! It was covered in mold and some reddish/pink stuff that I was unable to identify. So gross. Now I know I did not put an onion in the drawer and I know Eric does not like to be within 10 feet of an onion so who the heck put it in there? I think this may be one of those mysteries that is just never solved. Oh well....

In Mac news, he is healing really well from his surgery. The day of the surgery we got up REALLY early and headed down to the Med Center. I was hoping he would go back to sleep since it was hours before he usually gets up, but of course not. He was wide awake and ready to party. He was in pretty good mood until about the time we went back to the pre op area. By then he was hungry and I think just had a feeling something was going on. They gave us the cutest little hospital gown for Mac, butt open and all. It probably would have seemed a lot cuter if they weren't about to cut on my kid. The nurse told us that the best thing to do was just kiss him good-bye, hand him over and walk away. I hugged him tight, kissed him and followed directions. I handled it better than I thought I would. Within 25 minutes they had paged us to come back and see Mac. Unfortunately as soon as we got into PACU I could hear him wailing. They had warned us that kids, especially younger kids, are often very upset when they wake up from surgery. If you've ever had surgery you know how disoriented you are following the procedure. Imagine not even knowing you were having something done and waking up to strangers who can't explain what's happening to you. It's got to be scary. I'd like to say that he calmed down as soon as he saw us, but he didn't. He cried for a decent amount of time, but once we got in the car and got on the road he fell asleep. After a good 2 hour nap (one for me too), he was up and not really pleased. They gave us liquid Vicodin and I really appreciate it. Not only did it provide some comic releif (Mac was a nut when we gave it to him), it knocked him out within 20 minutes of taking it. We had planned on letting him sleep in our room, in the pack and play, that night, but Mac wasn't having it. He wanted to be in our bed. I think that was the first time Mac ever slept with us the whole night and it won't be a common occurence. We got no sleep. The next day was not too bad. He was actually in pretty good mood until lunch time. Things went south after that and we had to give him a couple of doses of Vicodin by the time the day had ended. The swelling, stitches, and bleeding were not pleaseant to see the first 2 days, but by Sunday it looked so much better. Today it looks pretty normal (minus the stitches). I also learned something through this whole process...a sponge bath does not work for more than one day when you have a stinky little boy! He wasn't allowed to bathe for 3 days and by Monday I was desperate to get him in the tub. So the title of this post also fits in this section...but I can answer the question...the smell was Mac!

With all the drama and craziness that has happened this last month I don't know why I was surprised to find out that the whole part time job thing wasn't going to work. VERY long story short, the job I was promised back in December, was not the job I was asked to do when I went into meet with my supervisor. After thinking about what they were asking of me, and talking to Eric, I called the next day to tell them I just couldn't do it. I would have had to work every second Mac was asleep or in school and give up my weekends/time with Eric and Mac just to get to the minimum number of hours they wanted. It just wasn't worth it. Honestly, I am kind of glad. I love spending time with my Mac and there is such a short period of time I have before he will be in school so for now, I think it's best to wait on getting a job.

Today was another zoo day for Mac and his buddy Will. Mac was not all that into it today. We headed straight for the petting zoo (aka Big Goat World) but there was very little interest. I mean, I was disappointed there were no brushes for him to groom all the goats, so I can only imagine how he felt =). There is one goat there that is just a freak of nature. I'm sure it's a different breed of goat than the others or something but this thing is huge. And it's my favorite. I have named him Dwight and we are buddies. I don't even know if Dwight is a boy...I didn't bother to look, but the name just fits. Dwight loves to have his chin scratched and he makes this noise that I don't even know how to describe. I'm sure everyone there thinks I'm insane because I just sit there and scratch the goat and laugh, but hey...it makes me happy =)
And here was Mac about 2 minutes after we got in the car:
And just as a side note...tell me that Mac isn't a star athlete in the making: