We're about to have a serious toy problem here...

LL's first birthday party is this Saturday. One set of my in-laws can't make it to the party so my mother-in-law emailed me that she had ordered presents. So everyday this week a big box from Amazon has shown up at our doorstep bearing large, noisey, many-pieced, space-sucking toys. I really appreciate their generocity. I really do. And if it were just these toys, it'd be fine.

But I know what DL and I got him. Not a lot, but... enough.

Then there's my mother. She just retired from her goverment job she's held for over 30 years. A few times a week she calls and tells me about "a couple things" she picked up for LL. He's her only grandchild. It's his first birthday. I get it. I've been trying to tell her, very nicely, that it sounds like she's gotten him plenty already.

And this is all before we even have the party! Just a little something else to think about: Christmas is just a month away...

I'm thinking Toys For Tots will be getting a big donation from this family!

NOT Me Monday

I'm excited to play!

It is NOT me who still has 5 boxes in our guest room to unpack from our recent move. I promptly unpacked everything because if we haven't used it in the last 6 weeks, we probably don't need it!

Today, I am definitely NOT letting LL take a second nap at 5pm just so I don't have to deal with his grouchiness until bedtime. I understand that all young children need to transition from two naps to one, and that this is healthy and normal. I am NOT clinging to two naps because it gives me more time to myself during the day!

I am also NOT comtemplating dumping an entire lasagna from my mother-in-law because it's not as good as what DL can make. Free food is always welcome and I am certainly NOT ever a snob about it!

My house looks like a daycare...

Seriously. I think you could throw five more kids into our living room and it wouldn't get any messier. It looks like Toys R US threw up in here! The big 1st birthday is coming up soon too (party in 9 days!). I think that means a whole new batch of toys will be coming to live with us. I KNOW we need to pack up some of this stuff and store it for future llamas, but LL really does play with it all. Hence, the yard-sale-like spread of toys on my floor.

In other news...

I'm an aunt (again)! We got a new little Niece Llama last Friday and there will be a Nephew Llama born via c-section this afternoon! These are DL's sister's new babies. I can talk about this here because this is MY blog, but these babies were BOTH due right around LL's birthday. And everyone thought it would be "so cool" if the three of them had the same birthday. Um, no! My little guy deserves is own day. His own week preferrably. And now he has it! Niece Llama came three weeks early due to high blood pressure and Nephew Llama is breech. Phew! I had to keep my resentment to myself for all these months!

My butt is doing better. I can sit down if I'm careful and try to keep most of my weight on the "good cheek". My bruise is looking awesome though. I probably look at it in the bathroom mirror about 10 times a day. I want to feel back to normal, but I'll be sad when that bruise is gone.

I'm thinking of taking up running. It's getting cold and we'll have 14 feet of snow on the ground soon, so perfect timing, right?! I think it would be great to say "I'm a runner". What if I could run some kind of race?! What if I could run a marathon someday! I could get a medal for finishing the race, and a t-shirt! And what if I got a runner's body?! That would be kick-ass. But the only time I think I could get out there would be after LL is in bed for the night. That would cut into my time with DL. Plus, it gets dark out at 5pm now. I'd be running in the dark. I don't know. It's been on my mind though.

I'm sure I'll laugh about this some day...

Sunday night a "funny" thing happened. It was time for the jack-o-lanterns to go. Monday is garbage day, so what better time?! I was carrying a pumpkin down the stairs... and fell. On my butt. The pumpkin bounced off of me, bounced off the wall... Luckily it didn't break. Luckily my butt didn't break!

Oh, it's so sore though! Yesterday DL stayed home from work because I was so sore and it hurt to pick up LL. I felt much better last night and even better this morning. But now I think I've done too much. I just want to lay on the couch and watch tv, but LL won't stand for that. I think it will be a few hours before DL is home from work too. *sigh*

I had big plans to work on exercising this week. Instead, DL wanted apple pie with ice cream last night!

Crazy vs. Smart

I understand there's a wide range to how people feel about H1N1 and the vaccine. I haven't decided how I feel but I have a friend who definitely HAS. I can't tell if she's crazy or if she'll be considered smart once the world starts ending because of H1N1.

A local clinic got some of the vaccines and she was able to get appointments for her husband and her year-old son to get one. Her husband is a health professional and the age of her son obviously put them on the short list to get a vaccine. My friend? Not so much. Not to be left out, she LIED and said that she is pregnant. Her defense: they plan to try for another baby this winter. This already smells a little crazy.

Next she calls to schedule an appointment for her son to get his booster vaccine. The clinic is now out of the vaccine and they will not be able to give him his second dose. So she hunts down another clinic that does have it. They're only giving it to their existing patients. Logically, she signs him up for an appointment so that he will now be an existing patient and will be able to get the vaccine. Ok, so she's going to use up an appointment and waste the doctor's time because her son is perfectly healthy. Some sick kid isn't going to be seen at that time.

I agree that it was poor planning on the part of her clinic to not have the booster available for children who had received the first shot. In addition to her scheming and lying, she's contacted our local news stations to "report" her clinic. I just don't know.

Crazy or smart?

The Little Llama

I'll share some about my LL tonight.



He'll be 1 year old in 19 days. How the heck did that happen?! Just yesterday I was worried about getting in enough tummy-time. Today I have to tell him to leave the dog's water bowl alone a thousand times. I'd say we did enough tummy-time.

He's walking more and more. Understanding language more and more. Making messes more and more. Cracking me up more and more.

Well, here it is!

I've started a blog! I guess I just feel like there's so much going on in my life right now, and there's so many things I'm always trying to work out in my head... Actually writing things down (do we even have any paper??) would take up WAY too much time. And I need to use that time productively working all this stuff out!

So here are some possible topics I need to address:

My kid. *sigh* There's always something, right? Something to worry about. Something to brag about. Something to figure out. I think I'll call him Little Llama, LL for short.

My marriage. I have a husband and he's the greatest. I'm sure he'll come up from time to time. He can be Daddy Llama, DL.

My health. I'm young and healthy, but I need to lose weight and get in shape. I just don't want to let myself go now that I'm a mom.

My "job". I'm a stay-at-home mom but I want to treat it like a job. I want to save us money around every corner and help us get to the life we really want.

My hobbies. I love quilting but when was the last time I finished something?! Gotta work on that.

That's all I can think of for now! You know, I'm also just the last person on the planet to start a blog. I deserve one! I'm also the last person to get an iPod. Christmas is just around the corner!