Thursday, April 28, 2011

Leeches

Gross title, I know... but follow along with me for a bit. I've got something I need to process. Basically a leech is a parasite that attaches to their host and feeds off their blood until they become full, at which time the leech detaches and falls off to digest... until it's hungry again. Have anyone in your life that fits that description?

Ya'll, I've worked for people that fit this description, had coworkers that fit the bill, and have even had some people in my personal life that defined this type of creature. The people that will bully you... then when they get their fill - they will go away for a while - only to return again when they need their fix. People that will suck the life out of you... by either monopolizing every encounter or by having an opinion about EVERY. THING. The people that are extremely difficult to be around if you are trying to "rise above it all" and do your best to get through life.

I think often the most difficult to deal with are those in authority positions that are of this personality type. I recently worked for one, and believe me - it was like a seriously abusive relationship gone wrong. This particular person bullied me to the point where I physically became ill in their presence or even at the site of their name/number on my office caller ID. It was terrible... oddly enough - the first 6 months I worked for them - they thought I was so sweet, wonderful, and loved that I just kept to myself and did my job without much supervision. After that initial period... like with many relationships... the very things that were my initial strengths became my biggest weaknesses in their eyes. Those were the things that were wrong with me - and that was even verbalized on many occasions. It got to the point that I seriously began to think that something was wrong with me... and eventually it became a situation where the only thing I can compare it to is like an abused pet. The kind of animal where when you reach out to touch them in love and affection - they shy away in fear because they've been beaten up so badly by others.

In other situations - it's just more of an annoyance where people monopolize the conversation, relationship, and everything else that comes into play. I grew up with one of these people... loved her dearly, but everything we did had to be what she wanted to do... where she wanted to eat, shop, relax, whatever. Eventually, she became so spoiled as we became adults that the relationship started to suck the life out of me, and I couldn't do it anymore.

Coworkers have been the same - only it's more of a situation where in their attempt to climb the professional ladder - they step on you, belittle you, and ignore your experience.

After almost 33 years in dealing with people like this... and believe me - there have been people in my life for the entire 33 years that in some form fit this bill... I can see some serious effects in my personality. I am completely different in real life than my "online persona." Online, I am free to give my opinions and say a lot of the things that I wouldn't dare say to anyone... and not really be bashful about it. I don't need to apologize for my feelings and thoughts in this format.

In real life however, I've become very reserved for the most part. I worry about what everyone around me is thinking, feeling, how my presence effects them, every small detail. (Yes, I sweat the small things!) I have a really hard time stating my actual opinion. I often can't speak at all to people... I become unable to catch my breath because I'm so worried about how my words will be perceived. I can't make decisions about where I want to go or what I want to do, in fear that it's not what the other person wants to do. This has become a bit of a joke with John and I - because I literally can't chose a restaurant to save my life. Good Lord, don't tell me - "we can go anywhere in the city... where do you want to go?" because my mind will go completely blank and I can't think of a single restaurant. It basically has to be narrowed down for me to about three places... and then sometimes I can choose... or I'll eliminate one option and force John to choose the final decision.

Odd, but a little insight into who I am... and why I am that way. I was laying in bed last night thinking about some of these people that have crossed my path and left an enormous impact on me in a not so necessarily positive way, and felt like I needed to write about it. More baby pictures and fun to come soon! We're off to get Tyler's 6 month exam and shots at the doctor... so I'll give some details about it when I can.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

1 Year Checkup

This week has been full of sickies and doctor visits... but I think we're on the upswing and hopefully we will enjoy our Easter weekend. It's James' last "first holiday" - so I'm hoping to make it special. Both boys have had colds this week... and Mom & Dad too. Top that with our baby sitter having strep throat and her kids all having sinus/ear infections... and we've all been quarantined since Monday.











My little stinker man went in for his 1 year shots and check up today - he did GREAT, and I was a super proud Momma. He is now 22 pounds 8 ounces, and measured 28.5 inches... (he was 7 pounds 5 ounces and 19.5 inches at birth) He got three shots and had a finger prick... he only cried at the shots for a little while, and was doing fine by the time we left the office.

He has been on soy formula and 2 medicines for reflux since he was about 2 months old... and now the doctor says that he can come completely off the medicines and over the next week we'll work gradually at moving him off of the formula and on to regular milk. I'm starting with whole milk this week, but he said that I could give him 2% milk if I wanted to... so we might move to that once we get on full milk bottles.

Next week, this little guy gets his turn for some shots and a check up....






And while we were at getting portraits made a couple of weeks ago... we got some family shots...








Coming soon - the boys have started noticing each other and playing together... photos and video to come. Also, pics from our first Easter and our other April adventures!

Monday, April 18, 2011

No Excuses Accepted

I'm sure many of you have seen the articles coming out in the news about the toddlers that were served alcohol instead of the juice their parents ordered at two popular restaurants lately. One toddler served a margarita at an Applebees and another served sangria at an Olive Garden.

I find these stories to be completely unbelievable for a huge number of reasons. I guess for starters - are the employees not paying attention enough to think twice before putting completely unrelated items into a freaking kids cup?! I believe in the case at the Applebees - they ordered apple juice... does a margarita look ANYTHING like apple juice to you? I'm thinking not. Not to mention that typically restaurants have margarita machines. In the second cause, I believe orange juice was ordered - and I don't know about what sangria you've had... but I've never seen on that was completely orange.

I don't see why kids drinks are coming out of the bar in the first place - it would make so much more sense to me to keep the drinks for children back near the cokes and iced tea... I mean MY drink doesn't come from the bar... why should my child's?

Honestly, though - I can't get over the fact that they put either of those items in a KIDS cup... where in the world would that be common practice? Two children were beyond the legal adult limit for alcohol in their system, and one of them could have died. How is this even possible?

As parents, we have to protect our children because no one else will... these stories make that all the much more apparent to me. You'd think that you could go out to get a meal as a family and not have to double and triple check everything - but I for one will not ever give my kids a drink without tasting it first.

What happened to the days when you truly could udder the words "it takes a village" and know that really was true? People are so careless that even our children can't let their guards down - and that's just sad to me.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Farm Party

I've got a bazillion pictures for you guys of the party celebrating Mr. James' first year of life... so let me keep the words as minimal as possible, but I do have some tidbits to share along the way. (to save some time from loading and all - I'm making the photos smaller than I normally would - but you can click on any of them to make it larger.)

One of the walls all decorated for my little man's farm themed birthday! I pretty much had everything covered in some sort of decor.

The centerpieces... I had a vision - but thankfully my sister and stepmom brought them to life. To say I had a vision means that I bought stuff that I thought would be cute... but had no clue how to put it together. They turned out GREAT!

These balloons just made me laugh... and we had such a fun time blowing them up - the the udders on the cow and the curly tail on the pig made me just smile. Too funny!

 I set up a craft table for the kids to paint a window decoration (farm themed, of course) as a part of their party favors.

I also set up a station for people to make James a birthday card to be put in a birthday time capsule - or maybe just in his baby book... we got a LOT of cards from the kids. I think only 1 adult (thanks Aunt Cindy) made him a card, but I'll save all the cards that came with his gifts too. 

This was the "fill your own favor bag" candy bar... I had a little bit of everything - thanks to Sam's for making it easy!

 James' cake made by my sister in law and her neighbor, Amber. It truly is amazing, and I loved all of the personal aspects of it - it couldn't have been more perfect! Each animal has amazing detail, and I honestly could write a blog post alone on this cake... and I might (does anyone have interest in the detailed photos I took of each aspect?)

 The smash cake... and ooooh did he smash it... but we'll get to that. The cuteness can't be missed here, but even more than that there is a funny story that goes along with this little guy. Apparently Susan & Amber were up working on this masterpiece until at least 2:30AM - and after a glass or two of wine... they decided the pig needed nipples... how funny is that?!

James trying out one of his two (yes, TWO) new wagons with his cousins... we let the boys stay with my inlaws Saturday morning while we decorated for the party - and when we got there... there was an exact duplicate of the wagon we bought... great minds, right? Hilarious. I guess we now have one for the boys to use for mud pies and all the other things little boys will do with a wagon, and one to keep clean for trips to the park or zoo.
 The many faces of James... he looks miserable here, doesn't he? HAHAHA - he really did enjoy the party - but I guess he's wondering why in the WORLD are these people sticking my face in this thing. I LOVE IT!

 My Dad & Tyler... too cute for words. He just flat crashed out - and when he's not grinning from ear to ear - looking exactly like John as a baby - rumor has it that he looks a lot like my Dad.

 My little tiny man... I made his shirt on a site called Inktastic - I uploaded a picture of 1/2 a cake... and it said "I'm halfway to my 1st birthday"... I'll try to get a pic of it at the end of the post.

 The Hap HAP Happiest birthday boy! It could have gone either way on the singing and hat... but he had a blast. I just love that face and it doesn't get captured on camera very often!

 Mmmmmmmmmmm... CAKE! I think he enjoyed himself... what do you think? His little hands stayed green until sometime much later.

 Mom & Dad with the cake covered birthday boy! Memo to Susan & Amber... smashcakes need white icing!! HAHA!

 He enjoyed opening about 1/4 of his presents - then it just became overwhelming... and I believe I've got a picture to show you why! Oiy!

Opening presents and still having fun... he got so much great stuff - and luckily he's still little enough that he won't notice if a lot of it doesn't get opened until after we get to Memphis! 

My little Motley Crew... love these kids so stinking much! We truly had a blast and all the work was more than worth it just to see the big smiles on James' face.

Any wonder why he might have gotten overwhelmed?! Wow... the boy is loved... that's all I can say. Some really fun stuff though - a trike, a water table, two wagons, clothes, books, little people, golf sets and much much more!

And lastly... the shirts... cell phone cameras are not good... BOO!



A great time was had by all - and I've got plenty of other photos to share... so hopefully, I'll get my act together and post another bunch of photos this week.