Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Unexpected aspects of having a girl and other random bits

Morning, folks! First, let me share some bits of news. I might even get to the topic at hand, if I'm lucky and Team Umizoomi holds Charlie's attention long enough.

SHAMELESS PLUG TIME!!!

I entered Charlie's photo in a contest for Parent's magazine, and we found out yesterday that he was short-listed. I need ALL THE VOTES I CAN GET for him! As of this morning, he was #51 out of a few hundred (there were 100,000+  entries) and if he wins this week's reader's choice poll, he wins $250 and moves on to the next round, which puts him up against 19 other kids in for one of 10 spots to go to NYC for a photo shoot! In short, if he wins this week, he's got a 50/50 shot of going to NYC, and if he goes to NYC, he's got a 1 in 10 shot of winning $10,000. We could use this....hell, we could use $250. Money's tight around here.

So, please, go to this web page and vote! It'll ask you to solve a captcha to weed out spam (God, I wish I could spam), and you can vote once a day. Ask your friends to help, too! Help a sista out, y'all!

And now, Back to your originally scheduled programming...

I accomplished my goal yesterday, but I had to change things around. Yesterday at about noon, I decided that I was determined to take the kids to the park, come hell or high water. I gave myself until half an hour after Charlie got up from his nap. During Charlie's nap, I took out the trash and went to the mailbox. By the time I made that one short trip, I was sweating like Heidi Fleiss in church. So I said to myself..."self? Do you seriously want to hang out in this heat and humidity right now?" Then I answered myself. "Hellz to the no."

So, we went after dinner. We went to our neighboorhood playground, but we were only there about 90 seconds. (I'll get into why in another post.) We went to the tennis court to kick around a ball, and that lasted about five minutes. Finally, we went back to our own yard and that worked out great because the blessed ice cream truck came by, and Charlie had his very first ice cream bar from the ice cream truck. His lips are still stained blue this morning.

My good friend Kari and her two daughters came by last night, and although they apologized about 50 times because they thought they were interrupting or whatever, I don't think they realized what a breath of fresh air it was for me. Granted, Chris was somewhat put-out because he was watching "Heroes," but he is the ONLY adult interaction I ever have. I was thrilled to have company. It made my whole day. Thanks, Kari. :)

And now for my big accomplishment...this morning, within 45 minutes of getting out of bed, I was dressed in actual clothes I could go out in public in. My hair was moderately fixed and everything (pulled back in a headband.) I missed out on my shower last night due to a wicked thunderstorm, so I had a quick birdbath, and I don't have on any socks and shoes, but hey. I have on clothes. Real clothes.

This is a big deal, because honestly, for the past 2 months, I've been wearing sleepwear 24 hours a day and only getting dressed if I absolutely have to. So, although I have no intention to go anywhere at all today (the weatherman is calling for more wicked storms this afternoon, worse than last night), I'm up, I'm dressed, and I'm pretty dang proud of myself. Depression, prepare to be my bitch.

Okay. Back to the topic at hand. Here are a handful of things about having a girl that I didn't expect.

1) She stinks. I mean it...she really reeks. Part two of this is that she farts like a man. (I'm actually kind of proud of that bit.) But it's amazing to me that my seven-pound bundle of sweetness and light can cut this gigantic fart that sounds like one of her big brothers and all of the sudden, her 6'4" father feels the need to vacate the room. My boys never stank like this...although Charlie is starting to now. Which is fabulous. The two of them stinking up the house at the same time is just marvelous. Really.

2) I suddenly want everything that is pink, has bows, is ruffle-y, is covered in hearts....you get the idea. I mean, where the hell did THAT come from? But it's true. I swore to myself for years that I'd never put one of those headbands that looks like a garter on my child's head. Ever. Ever EVER. Those things were for moronic bitches who didn't care if thier babies looked stupid. Right? My Katie had one on at three days old and is rarely without one. On another note, crow isn't that bad with a little salt and pepper.

3) It has been 7 weeks since she's been born, and I'm still surprised every time I open her diaper and there's a bajingo there and not a noodle. For almost 6 solid years before she was born, I changed little boy diapers at least 5-6 times a day. You get used to the view, know what I mean? Then, along comes Katie, and the landscape changes. Charlie isn't anywhere near potty trained yet, so I still have to change him, and it's almost a relief to see the familiar. It's still a jolt when I open up her diaper and there's nothing there. I'm getting used to it, but it's going to take time. And, by the way, yes I did refer to them as "bajingo" and "noodle."

4) I have had the brief impulse to put her in a pageant.  All I have to do to curb this is a) watch one single episode of 'Toddlers and Tiaras' and b) look at my husband. That cures it right quick. If I want to stay married, I won't do it.

and 5) I fear for her future more than I fear for my boys. Maybe it's because I have been a teenage girl. Maybe it's because I went through that gawky, awkward phase when your feet are too big for your body and you develop boobs and you just don't feel right. Maybe it's because I remember wanting to fit in so badly. I think that, in large part, it's because she has her father and I as her parents, and neither of us (particularly me) were even close to cool in high school. I don't want her to be a reject like me. I want her to be confident, intelligent, fun, and have a circle of good friends who are good people. But I desperately fear her being a social reject. It's already keeping me up at night. I've considered sending her to live with my sister-in-law when she gets to that age, because my sister-in-law was the epitome of high school awesomeness...the girl you wanted to hate because she was so perfect but couldn't because she was just too damned nice. This is not a worry I have about the boys.

Well, that's all I have for today. I need to do the dishes, but I'm putting it off, just like always. My big plans for the day are to mow the grass when Charlie goes down for his nap. I'm really looking forward to that...I'm an odd bird who loves yard work. But then, I'm an odd bird about almost everything. :)

Til later then,
Vote for Charlie! :)
Love to all!
Me

1 comment:

  1. I'm going through those exact same thoughts about my Katie, however since she is a 'special needs' kidlet, that may have been taken out of my hands.
    She's a beautiful, bright little girl, as I'm sure your Katie is too.

    ReplyDelete