I was looking over our budget today as I do often because I find it cathartic (I have problems) and it occurred to me that now that Josh has signed on to work full-time with his company, we'll be receiving his paychecks twice monthly as close to the 15th and 30th as possible. While that's hardly any different than my own pay schedule, it presents an interesting change in the way I'll be budgeting our income.
Josh was a contract employee up until yesterday, meaning he was technically employed by a hiring agency and his paychecks were delivered weekly. I like to plan the week's expenses--tithing, estimated food and fuel requirements, as well as any pending utilities or other bills--to determine how much of our income can be set aside for savings. I REALLY like to put money in our savings account, guys. It's almost like going shopping--I get this really satisfying high when transferring the money over. So when the leftover weekly income becomes available, I happily move it into savings and receive my positive boost of enthusiasm, happiness, energy, or whatever else you call it.
All this background is merely to present this new conundrum. We won't have those weekly paychecks anymore, meaning I won't get to put money into savings on a quadri-monthly basis. I'll have to wait until the end of the month to put anything into savings and that rather devastates me. No more high.
Now I'll have to find a real hobby like a normal person.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Hitler Mayo
So Josh likes mayonnaise but I'm not a big fan. I made chicken salad sandwiches the other day for dinner and I put in a bit of mayo for Josh's sake, which was more than I wanted but less than Josh wanted, so he felt compelled to pull out the mayo from the fridge and coat the sides of his bread before continuing to eat his sandwich.
As he did this, I explained to Josh that I put the purple grapes into the salad to provide a burst of flavor and moisture that essentially serves as a better kind of mayo for my sandwich. Josh then made these observations:
"Grapes are Camilla Mayo.
"Mayo is Josh Mayo.
"And Miracle Whip is Hitler Mayo."
Needless to say, Josh is not a fan of Miracle Whip.
As he did this, I explained to Josh that I put the purple grapes into the salad to provide a burst of flavor and moisture that essentially serves as a better kind of mayo for my sandwich. Josh then made these observations:
"Grapes are Camilla Mayo.
"Mayo is Josh Mayo.
"And Miracle Whip is Hitler Mayo."
Needless to say, Josh is not a fan of Miracle Whip.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
The Age of Clumsiness and Illness
Scarlet is causing me all kinds of grief these days, but it's really not her fault. She has finally reached that age where everything--absolutely EVERYTHING--she does leads to bumps and cuts and bruises. She is so clumsy now! She's been walking for three-ish months but suddenly it's like her feet are too big or too small for the rest of her and she trips over her own feet, her shoes, the carpet, the stairs, and sometimes literally nothing at all. On more than one occasion, I've seen her drop from a dead standstill, having fallen over nothing. It's exasperating and more than a little funny.
She fell down the stairs at my sister's house (despite my having put up a gate to prevent her from climbing the stairs) and got a nice scab on her right cheek that is almost entirely healed now. She also got a scratch down her other cheek that scabbed over whose origin is entirely unknown to me. She also fell at the play place at Chik-fil-a and slammed her forehead into the shoe cubby holes and got a lovely greenish bruise between the eyes. She also smashed my phone into her forehead and had a pinkish mark underneath her bangs for a few hours. That was just in one week.
A few weeks ago, I was playing with Scarlet by holding her hands and pulling her up and twisting her from side to side to get her laughing. It was adorable. After a time, she started to cry for a couple of minutes and then stopped suddenly. I was concerned but she seemed fine and relatively happy so I brushed it off. I took her with me to book club and she was somewhat fussy there, which was uncharacteristic of her. When Josh was changing her into pajamas that night, she started to cry a little bit and we were both concerned by then. I wanted to take her to the ER to have her checked out at that point, but Josh thought we should let her sleep it off and take her to see her pediatrician the next day if she was still feeling out of sorts. Well she was fussy the next day, so we took her to see her doctor, who confirmed she had nursemaid's elbow. The tendon in her elbow had been pulled askew by my swinging her, which was easy enough to fix (the doctor snapped it painlessly back into place in a second), but which meant that her elbow was more susceptible to that particular injury in the future. I've been incredibly careful ever since, but the guilt in knowing I injured my own baby will probably never go away entirely. Scarlet didn't cry in the doctor's office, but heaven knows I did.
On Sunday afternoon, Scarlet started to act a bit fussy, which is always a hint that she's not feeling well. We put her down to sleep a little earlier than usual, but she woke us up at one in the morning because she had vomited all over her bed, the poor thing. We were more than a little concerned because aside from spit-up, Scarlet had never vomited before. Josh cleaned her up and I changed her into new pajamas and cuddled with her in our big bed for a few minutes before Josh put her back into her own bed. Then twenty minutes later she started crying again, so I went in and checked on her. She hadn't thrown up again so I rocked her and sang to her and put her back down. It was odd for her to start crying for no reason, but I figured she just needed help getting back to sleep. Twenty minutes after that, she was sobbing again, so I got her out and carried her to my bed, thinking to sleep with her in the bed for a little bit. Instead, Scarlet threw up all over our bed. Ah. So THAT'S why she was crying.
That began the long morning wherein I sat with Scarlet in the rocking chair in her room, holding her and leaning her over a bowl each time she started to gag. She threw up a lot. She also needed several urgent diaper changes. She was so uncomfortable and feeling so poorly, that she was unable to sleep regularly and kept tossing and turning and crying and sleeping and waking up and starting it all over again. It was a LONG. NIGHT. Just before seven o'clock, I passed Scarlet off to Josh and I stumbled into bed. I was dead to the world until 2 in the afternoon. Josh, of course, had taken the day off from work to look after Scarlet. We were both headachey and exhausted the rest of the day. Apparently it takes two adults to look after one sick baby.
Anyway, that is an example of our first experiences with Scarlet's new stage of development: clumsiness and illness. I'm pretty sure this is a transition that will be permanent in her early childhood and perhaps later, but I am not excited about it. I miss her feeling healthy and happy and I miss not worrying about her as much.
She fell down the stairs at my sister's house (despite my having put up a gate to prevent her from climbing the stairs) and got a nice scab on her right cheek that is almost entirely healed now. She also got a scratch down her other cheek that scabbed over whose origin is entirely unknown to me. She also fell at the play place at Chik-fil-a and slammed her forehead into the shoe cubby holes and got a lovely greenish bruise between the eyes. She also smashed my phone into her forehead and had a pinkish mark underneath her bangs for a few hours. That was just in one week.
A few weeks ago, I was playing with Scarlet by holding her hands and pulling her up and twisting her from side to side to get her laughing. It was adorable. After a time, she started to cry for a couple of minutes and then stopped suddenly. I was concerned but she seemed fine and relatively happy so I brushed it off. I took her with me to book club and she was somewhat fussy there, which was uncharacteristic of her. When Josh was changing her into pajamas that night, she started to cry a little bit and we were both concerned by then. I wanted to take her to the ER to have her checked out at that point, but Josh thought we should let her sleep it off and take her to see her pediatrician the next day if she was still feeling out of sorts. Well she was fussy the next day, so we took her to see her doctor, who confirmed she had nursemaid's elbow. The tendon in her elbow had been pulled askew by my swinging her, which was easy enough to fix (the doctor snapped it painlessly back into place in a second), but which meant that her elbow was more susceptible to that particular injury in the future. I've been incredibly careful ever since, but the guilt in knowing I injured my own baby will probably never go away entirely. Scarlet didn't cry in the doctor's office, but heaven knows I did.
On Sunday afternoon, Scarlet started to act a bit fussy, which is always a hint that she's not feeling well. We put her down to sleep a little earlier than usual, but she woke us up at one in the morning because she had vomited all over her bed, the poor thing. We were more than a little concerned because aside from spit-up, Scarlet had never vomited before. Josh cleaned her up and I changed her into new pajamas and cuddled with her in our big bed for a few minutes before Josh put her back into her own bed. Then twenty minutes later she started crying again, so I went in and checked on her. She hadn't thrown up again so I rocked her and sang to her and put her back down. It was odd for her to start crying for no reason, but I figured she just needed help getting back to sleep. Twenty minutes after that, she was sobbing again, so I got her out and carried her to my bed, thinking to sleep with her in the bed for a little bit. Instead, Scarlet threw up all over our bed. Ah. So THAT'S why she was crying.
That began the long morning wherein I sat with Scarlet in the rocking chair in her room, holding her and leaning her over a bowl each time she started to gag. She threw up a lot. She also needed several urgent diaper changes. She was so uncomfortable and feeling so poorly, that she was unable to sleep regularly and kept tossing and turning and crying and sleeping and waking up and starting it all over again. It was a LONG. NIGHT. Just before seven o'clock, I passed Scarlet off to Josh and I stumbled into bed. I was dead to the world until 2 in the afternoon. Josh, of course, had taken the day off from work to look after Scarlet. We were both headachey and exhausted the rest of the day. Apparently it takes two adults to look after one sick baby.
Anyway, that is an example of our first experiences with Scarlet's new stage of development: clumsiness and illness. I'm pretty sure this is a transition that will be permanent in her early childhood and perhaps later, but I am not excited about it. I miss her feeling healthy and happy and I miss not worrying about her as much.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
My Baby, the Speechless Barnacle
I'm getting very anxious for Scarlet to learn speech so that she doesn't have to sob uncontrollably to let me know that she wants a bite of my cereal. It would also be nice to be able to explain to her that when I'm in the shower, I'm safe and happy and don't need her to pull back the shower curtain and sob as water soaks her clothes and hair for TEN MINUTES while I rinse out the shampoo and conditioner from my hair. I would also like to explain that the toilet paper roll she discovered this morning should not be swatted at until all the paper unravels onto the floor as I'm doing my hair in front of the mirror.
Scarlet can do so much these days--eat real food, walk unaided, sit still in front of a Barbie movie for ten minutes at a time--but I'm certain that life will be a bit easier once she understands that she doesn't need to be by my side constantly. I love her affection and cuddling but I also love being able to type with two hands and being able to place my work laptop in my actual lap, and not awkwardly on the arm of the couch so I can hold Scarlet in my lap and edit one-handed.
*sigh* One day...
Scarlet can do so much these days--eat real food, walk unaided, sit still in front of a Barbie movie for ten minutes at a time--but I'm certain that life will be a bit easier once she understands that she doesn't need to be by my side constantly. I love her affection and cuddling but I also love being able to type with two hands and being able to place my work laptop in my actual lap, and not awkwardly on the arm of the couch so I can hold Scarlet in my lap and edit one-handed.
*sigh* One day...
Friday, February 28, 2014
Scarlet's First Year of Life
Scarlet has been one year old for six days now. I am utterly smitten with her. Here are a few of her current activities:
-She's walking like a very precariously balanced toddler. Occasionally she'll just be standing and suddenly drop to the ground. Thankfully she doesn't have far to fall because she's pretty lousy at staying upright.
-She likes to get into things ceaselessly. She pulls open the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom and my nightstand to get at all the things we store underneath. I turned my back for a minute after changing her diaper and she had pulled out twenty wipes and was trying to reach into the container to get at the rest. She dumps out Q-tips and then picks them up one at a time to put back in their box or insert into her mouth (gag). She especially loves to pull down dvds and play with my work phone.
-She is a good eater and can eat anything that adults eat now, but her favorites are yogurt, cottage cheese, carrots, bread, and graham crackers. She's tentative about vegetables and seems not to like broccoli, beets, any leafy greens, or tomatoes.
-She watches Barbie movies all day long because I need to distract her while I'm working. Sometimes she demands attention to emphatically that I have to stop work to play with her for a few minutes. Otherwise she clings to my legs, sobs with her head thrown back, and slams her hands on the keyboard. It tries my patience, especially when we're slammed with work, but I really am just losing patience with myself because I have unending guilt for working when my little girl needs me to take care of her.
-She loves Color Crew on Netflix. When she sees the show start to play, she'll scream in excitement and start dancing.
-She is a shameless flirt at church. She refuses to sit in the pew, and instead insists on standing between her parents, facing the row behind her, and flirting with whoever is unfortunate enough to sit behind us. She also enjoys tearing the program into shreds.
-She is generally a happy baby who wants to smile and play, so I have learned that when she cries (hurts herself, is not feeling well) it means something is genuinely wrong. She never cries wolf when it comes to actual crying so I always treat her tears seriously.
-When Josh comes home from work, Scarlet jumps at the sound of the key turning in the lock. She gets so excited to see him!
Josh and I are so lucky/blessed to have her and to have her as a first baby. I wouldn't be able to keep working at WGU with a more difficult child, and life would be a lot less pleasant than it is. I'm looking forward to the next year of milestones and laughter!
-She's walking like a very precariously balanced toddler. Occasionally she'll just be standing and suddenly drop to the ground. Thankfully she doesn't have far to fall because she's pretty lousy at staying upright.
-She likes to get into things ceaselessly. She pulls open the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom and my nightstand to get at all the things we store underneath. I turned my back for a minute after changing her diaper and she had pulled out twenty wipes and was trying to reach into the container to get at the rest. She dumps out Q-tips and then picks them up one at a time to put back in their box or insert into her mouth (gag). She especially loves to pull down dvds and play with my work phone.
 |
| She got into the toilet paper and trailed it behind her until I could stop laughing long enough to help her. |
 |
 |
 |
| And sometimes she'll leave me alone long enough to stare at the tv. She really likes when the animals come on the screen. |
-She is a shameless flirt at church. She refuses to sit in the pew, and instead insists on standing between her parents, facing the row behind her, and flirting with whoever is unfortunate enough to sit behind us. She also enjoys tearing the program into shreds.
-She is generally a happy baby who wants to smile and play, so I have learned that when she cries (hurts herself, is not feeling well) it means something is genuinely wrong. She never cries wolf when it comes to actual crying so I always treat her tears seriously.
-When Josh comes home from work, Scarlet jumps at the sound of the key turning in the lock. She gets so excited to see him!
Josh and I are so lucky/blessed to have her and to have her as a first baby. I wouldn't be able to keep working at WGU with a more difficult child, and life would be a lot less pleasant than it is. I'm looking forward to the next year of milestones and laughter!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
True Love
In honor of Valentine's Day (one full week late), I dedicate this blog post to admitting that I have finally discovered what true love really is. Sure, Josh and I love each other forever and always and all that, but it's taken these past three and a half years to really understand that love. It keeps changing so I'm not ever certain I have a grasp on what it means. I think I've got it now. Here are my observations:
True love is waking up early on the weekends to take care of the baby so your wife can sleep in on her days off.
True love is buying symphony and opera tickets for your wife's Christmas present and then snoozing quietly beside her in the semi-darkness while she enjoys the experience.
True love is spending money you don't want to spend to eat out at that restaurant you're so tired of visiting because it is your wife's favorite.
True love is working 5-10 extra hours a week for months on end so your family can save up for an amazing vacation.
True love is Josh providing this limitless service again and again every day since the day we first fell in love. Sometimes I get really mad at him and sometimes I tease him and sometimes I joke with others about his goofiness and his quirks, but I am irrevocably in love with him because he has shown me what true love is.
I love you, Josh.
True love is waking up early on the weekends to take care of the baby so your wife can sleep in on her days off.
True love is buying symphony and opera tickets for your wife's Christmas present and then snoozing quietly beside her in the semi-darkness while she enjoys the experience.
True love is spending money you don't want to spend to eat out at that restaurant you're so tired of visiting because it is your wife's favorite.
True love is working 5-10 extra hours a week for months on end so your family can save up for an amazing vacation.
True love is Josh providing this limitless service again and again every day since the day we first fell in love. Sometimes I get really mad at him and sometimes I tease him and sometimes I joke with others about his goofiness and his quirks, but I am irrevocably in love with him because he has shown me what true love is.
I love you, Josh.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Our Saturday
Poor Scarlet is sick today.
Josh got up with her this morning so I could sleep in, but I woke to her raspy, constricted breathing coming from the front room. I am so sad when she's sick. She's working on getting her second front tooth out--the tip broke through her gums but the rest is still in there--and it's given her a nasty cold and runny nose as her body struggles to grow older. Her nose is so chapped from my wiping away at it, that it's temporarily reddened and she cries out every time I approach her with a tissue. I just feel awful each time.
Growing pains are real, my friends, and they make for one sad baby.
Josh and I gave her a hot bath before her morning nap in the hopes that she'd get warmed up and breathe in some of the nice, warm steam, but it seemed to make her even colder and she's never enjoyed bath time, so she just sobbed the entire time, per her usual.
In the afternoon we took shifts tending to her and cleaning up the apartment. When Josh and I were putting away out laundry, Scarlet grabbed hold of one of my shirts and somehow managed to slip it over her head. She wore it like a fashionable scarf as she toddled around the room until it slid over her shoulders and down to her waist. Then she had to hold it and keep hoisting it over her waist to keep it from slipping entirely off. I laughed so hard watching her hitch the "skirt" back over her waist and stumble around the room. When we finally braved going to Costco after the snow stopped to pick up some bigger diapers. All boxes of diapers are the same price, but with each new size up, we lose out on 10-30 diapers per box. I told Scarlet in the store that she's not allowed to grow anymore because we can't afford her to. She smiled at me.
When Josh picked up the mail tonight, we found we'd received a birthday card for Scarlet from her great-grandmother Wilson. Scarlet's birthday is on the 22nd this month, and this was her first birthday card. We took a picture of her holding the card and the money. As soon as it was in her hand she licked the dollar bill, so I had to snatch it away and try not to gag. So gross. So dirty. So NOT what a sick little girl should be putting in her mouth.
After I changed her into pajamas and fed her the last bottle in the evening, she started to get playful. She's always playful just before bedtime. Some nights when we lose track of the time, we are clued in that it's bedtime by Scarlet's silliness. I wish she were that playful all day long, but she reserves it for when she's trying to convince us to keep her up longer. It has never worked and likely never will because the hours after she sleeps and before we do are precious. Some days I live for those few short hours of selfishness. I usually read a book or watch tv or do something completely wasteful and insignificant. It doesn't matter what I do--all that matters is that I can do it completely uninterrupted. Tonight we watched a clean version of Braveheart until I was too sad and went into the bedroom to surf the web. Man, that movie depresses me.
Anyway, that was our Saturday. It was pretty standard as far as activities go, except that poor Scarlet was sick and probably will be again tomorrow. I wish Scarlet had been feeling healthy and that we'd had amazing plans to do something epic; that would have made for a nice break from the stresses of work. Instead, we did pretty much what we always do on our days off, but I'm feeling pretty content about it just the same. My life is fairly ordinary and I love it more than anything.
Josh got up with her this morning so I could sleep in, but I woke to her raspy, constricted breathing coming from the front room. I am so sad when she's sick. She's working on getting her second front tooth out--the tip broke through her gums but the rest is still in there--and it's given her a nasty cold and runny nose as her body struggles to grow older. Her nose is so chapped from my wiping away at it, that it's temporarily reddened and she cries out every time I approach her with a tissue. I just feel awful each time.
Growing pains are real, my friends, and they make for one sad baby.
Josh and I gave her a hot bath before her morning nap in the hopes that she'd get warmed up and breathe in some of the nice, warm steam, but it seemed to make her even colder and she's never enjoyed bath time, so she just sobbed the entire time, per her usual.
In the afternoon we took shifts tending to her and cleaning up the apartment. When Josh and I were putting away out laundry, Scarlet grabbed hold of one of my shirts and somehow managed to slip it over her head. She wore it like a fashionable scarf as she toddled around the room until it slid over her shoulders and down to her waist. Then she had to hold it and keep hoisting it over her waist to keep it from slipping entirely off. I laughed so hard watching her hitch the "skirt" back over her waist and stumble around the room. When we finally braved going to Costco after the snow stopped to pick up some bigger diapers. All boxes of diapers are the same price, but with each new size up, we lose out on 10-30 diapers per box. I told Scarlet in the store that she's not allowed to grow anymore because we can't afford her to. She smiled at me.
When Josh picked up the mail tonight, we found we'd received a birthday card for Scarlet from her great-grandmother Wilson. Scarlet's birthday is on the 22nd this month, and this was her first birthday card. We took a picture of her holding the card and the money. As soon as it was in her hand she licked the dollar bill, so I had to snatch it away and try not to gag. So gross. So dirty. So NOT what a sick little girl should be putting in her mouth.
 |
| The card, she can eat. |
After I changed her into pajamas and fed her the last bottle in the evening, she started to get playful. She's always playful just before bedtime. Some nights when we lose track of the time, we are clued in that it's bedtime by Scarlet's silliness. I wish she were that playful all day long, but she reserves it for when she's trying to convince us to keep her up longer. It has never worked and likely never will because the hours after she sleeps and before we do are precious. Some days I live for those few short hours of selfishness. I usually read a book or watch tv or do something completely wasteful and insignificant. It doesn't matter what I do--all that matters is that I can do it completely uninterrupted. Tonight we watched a clean version of Braveheart until I was too sad and went into the bedroom to surf the web. Man, that movie depresses me.
Anyway, that was our Saturday. It was pretty standard as far as activities go, except that poor Scarlet was sick and probably will be again tomorrow. I wish Scarlet had been feeling healthy and that we'd had amazing plans to do something epic; that would have made for a nice break from the stresses of work. Instead, we did pretty much what we always do on our days off, but I'm feeling pretty content about it just the same. My life is fairly ordinary and I love it more than anything.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)