Once again, I’ve gotten lazy with my blogging, but it’s not for a lack of events. I have just been feeling really tired lately and felt that my blog posts might sound a bit droggy if I were to even attempt one. However, knowing this is only a three day work week for me, I have some energy! This burst of energy seems to come with every short work week I get throughout the year, but when I return back to work after my long weekend is over, all of my energy is gone because I know its business as usual once again. I’m guessing this is normal for other people too because Matt is usually happier during short weeks. Especially when he has one of his “government worker” holidays like Martin Luther King Day, or Arbor Day. Those weeks he is especially energetic because not only does he get a day off, but he gets a day off without having the wife at home!
Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I’ll start off with Matt’s birthday and Father’s Day weekend since that’s where I left off. Since Matt’s birthday fell during the week, we didn’t really celebrate it too much. I got up super early to bake him his favorite cake – angel food with nothing else on it – and make his favorite meal – pot roast with potatoes & carrots. Since I had given him his new grill the weekend prior, there was no gift to give, leaving the day pretty uneventful. None-the-less, I think he had an okay birthday.
For Father’s Day, I had ordered Matt a new trail camera…one he has wanted for about a year now…equipped with a safety box and a nice cable so it makes it harder to steal (he plans to put it on public hunting ground). I took all of the surprise precautions, shipping it to my Mom and Dad’s house to make sure he wouldn’t find the package at home because he always gets home before me and purchasing it using our Cabela’s credit card so he wouldn’t see the transaction in our bank account log. I picked up a cool Father’s Day gift bag with matching tissue paper, and was really looking forward to surprising Matt for his first ever Father’s Day. When I got home on Wednesday before Father’s Day (which happened to be Matt’s birthday), I found the Cabela’s credit card statement had come in the mail, and unfortunately Matt had opened it. I was so bummed! Knowing Matt would know exactly what I purchased when he saw the charge from beebusyoutdoors.com, I decided it would be best to just give the gift to him that night since the surprise was already ruined. So, I retrieved the camera and accessories from its hiding spot (still in the box they were mailed in), and just as I got the box out, Matt walked into the bedroom to greet Carter and me. Upsettingly, I pushed the box into Matt’s hands and said, “Here, Happy Father’s Day” in a fairly unexcited tone. I followed it up with “I figure you should just have it now since you already know what it is”. To my surprise, Matt looked surprised. His face even showed a little bit of confusion. Turns out, he glanced at the Cabela’s bill, but didn’t read it in depth. He hadn’t even seen the charge for beebusyoutdoors.com. So, I just ruined my own surprise and was even more bummed out than before! Once he saw the box though, he wouldn’t let me put it back, so of course he opened it. That “kid in the candy store” look on his face totally wiped away the crappy feeling I had. Maybe next year I’ll get to use my cool Father’s Day gift bag.
That weekend, we invited the neighbors over for a campfire on Friday night. Nothing too exciting, but I made chicken wings and some spinach artichoke dip for snacking. I think I went to bed around midnight, but Matt hung out with “the boys” around the fire until probably 2am. Saturday was pretty uneventful, but we mowed the yard together while Carter napped, and I even got some landscaping work done. I think the plants had been sitting in their purchase pots for about 6 weeks, so it was about time to get them in the ground.
For Sunday, we invited my parents and grandparents to our house for a little Father’s Day lunch which was really nice. Matt grilled burgers on his new grill, we all got to hang out with Carter a little bit, and even squeezed in some time to play cards with Mom and Dad after my grandparents left. Matt seemed happy with his greeting cards from Carter and me (sans gift). Overall, it was a nice little weekend. Going back to work really stunk.
Last week was quite uneventful except for all of the celebrity deaths. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson all in one week? What in the world?!? I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m awfully tired of seeing Michael Jackson’s pictures and hearing his songs on the TV. Thanks to his passing, I’ve had his ABC song in my head for three days straight now. It wouldn’t be so bad if I actually knew the lyrics, but all I can sing is “A-B-C…easy as 1-2-3…(do dooo do do) doe-re-me (do do do – do do do) baby you and me”. So, I just keep singing that over and over. I officially hate the song. If I knew even one word from his song “Thriller”, I’d probably be singing that one in my head too. Thank goodness that one isn’t so catchy. And to start this week off on a sour note, Billy Mays died yesterday. What the heck is going on in Hollywood?? I’m seriously more bummed about Billy Mays’ death though. We have been watching the “Pitchmen” show on the Discovery channel. Fun show to watch…I’ll miss Billy.
I FINALLY got a mini giggle from Carter this weekend!! 
Unfortunately Matt was in the kitchen when he did it and I couldn’t get him to do it again, but he did it once for me…that’s enough to keep me happy for another couple of weeks. He should have some new tricks ready by then, right? Carter also made a little motor boat noise with his lips last week. It was only once that he did it, but very cute. Unfortunately Matt missed that one too since Carter did it while we were getting ready for daycare. Yesterday, I tried to give Carter a little tummy time while Matt was out golfing, but he kept rolling over, so the actual tummy time was nil. Finally, after three times of rolling over, he just started scooting. He’s to the point where he can get his legs completely underneath him and push himself forward. Good thing we have him on a blanket, otherwise the poor little guy would have rug burn on his face! When Matt returned home, I put Carter on his tummy again, but he must have been tired of rolling over. He did scoot for Matt though…super cute.
Carter’s four month milestone is coming up on Wednesday. I thought for sure that by four months he’d be getting close to sleeping through the night, but unfortunately he’s still waking up a fairly consistent two times each night. We have his four month well baby visit next week, and if the doctor says we can officially start him on cereal, I’ll be happy. I know I’m not supposed to, but I’ve tried feeding him cereal a couple of times now (the second attempt was a couple of weeks after the first one). He really doesn’t like it, so I haven’t been forcing it, but I also figure that it doesn’t hurt to try. If he’s pushing it out of his mouth, it means he’s not ready for it, and I find it hard to believe that it’s harming him if all he’s doing is pushing it out. I hope that these early attempts might get him to think about accepting new textures and swallowing. I guess they could be hindering the solids transition too if he connects a bad/icky feeling with whatever comes on a spoon. I’ll deal with whatever comes, but hopefully he’ll be able to start on cereal in the next few weeks, which will hopefully help him to sleep through the night for once. I have a lot of hope in the little guy, don’t I?
This weekend was fairly uneventful for me. I was dog tired on Friday, so I went to bed after my usual weeknight routine (pump, make dinner, play with Carter, put Carter to bed, pump, wash bottles – almost always in that exact order). Carter and I went shopping on Saturday morning and I got a new dress for the wedding we’re going to this coming weekend. I got home to find out that I need some new shoes to wear with it (go figure), so hopefully I’ll find some time to go shopping on Friday while Matt is fishing with the boys (we’ll be in the great cheese state from Thursday until Sunday). After shopping, we went home for a little bit to catch a nap (at least Carter did) and then we went to Mahoney Park to spend a little time with Matt in between his softball games. Once we returned home from the park, we had a little time for a nap, some play time, and then Carter went to bed. Since Matt was still out with the boys, I decided to be a little selfish and watch the Netflix movie we received this last week. If you haven’t watched Marley & Me yet, I don’t recommend it. It made me cry, and I don’t recommend movies that make me cry. I’ve never seen Old Yeller, but I’m pretty sure this is a modern day version of it. And now that we have Carter, the movie really hit home for me. I cried my eyes out. I was forced to eat some cookies and ice cream to make myself feel better. Just terrible…
In the early afternoon on Sunday, we finally moved some items over to the storage garage I rented last week. Yay!! Of course, there’s a lot more to move yet, but at least we’ve started. I can just feel the clutter dissipating. Once we moved a couple of loads, I got to relax and watch some HGTV and Food Network (my two favorite channels right now) in between playing with Carter. It was a pretty nice little Sunday.
Matt on the other hand had a pretty eventful weekend. He took it easy on Friday evening in preparation for his softball tournament on Saturday, by working on refurbishing some cornhole boards for his old neighbors since after 3 years of use they were a little water damaged and the paint was peeling. Then on Saturday he was up bright and early in order to make it to Mahoney Park in time for his first game at 9am. His team played at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 2:45pm, and then played (and won) the championship game at 5:00. The team then took their winnings (a $125 gift card to Brewsky’s), and celebrated. Once they were done at Brewsky’s, Matt’s brother Jamee needed a ride to a “slip-and-slide” party where Jamee’s girlfriend Codi was already in attendance (put on by Codi’s tall, good looking girl friend – according to Jamee). So, Matt did the honors of escorting Jamee to the party, and ended up staying to party himself. Since he didn’t have any swimming trunks, Matt had to slip-and-slide in his snug fitting softball sliding shorts (aka – underwear). He complained that night of being all scratched up from the grass he slid on after sliding straight through the pool, but was still able to sleep soundly through Carter’s waking in the night. I’m guessing the beer helped ease the pain. Then on Sunday, after helping to move some things over to the new storage garage, he spent some time playing with Carter until he went golfing with Jamee, Codi, and some other friends and family. They only golfed nine holes, so he was home in time to play more with Carter before Carter’s bedtime. Being sore from playing softball, he didn’t do much but lie in his recliner after that. I can’t blame him. I think I’d be sore too, after a weekend of five softball games and an evening of drunken sliping-and-sliding.
