17 days and counting...

...until my boy turns 1. Time has flown by and now neither Hubs nor I can imagine what our life was like before him. He has brought us out of ourselves in a way neither of us could explain but that anyone who is a parent can totally understand. When you have someone who is totally dependent upon you to feed, dress, entertain, change diapers, put to sleep, etc. you realize what you are capable of. You may be sick, sad, angry, or whatever but that creature still needs you. So you get up and do because you have to and because that big ol' smile is the highlight of your day. In fact, I credit my little boy (and God, of course) with my life because at one point during my postpartum depression (which medicine DOES help, Tom Cruise!) I was suicidal. I was ready to drive my car off the bridge and into the Tar River more than once but I didn't because my boy was in the car with me at all those times. I would not go back to that feeling for all the money in the world, by the way.

So what is Wonder Child (as my stepdad calls him) up to these days? Being his sweet, spoiled rotten self! His dad uses the word tremendo, which is about the Spanish equivalent to saying he's a mess or he's full of himself. He is in a Dad-only phase, meaning that apart from the nursing bit, he wants to be w/ Hubs 24/7. If it's just Daniel and me at home, that's fine, but the second Hubs appears, it's adios to Mom. What else....oh yes, everything that can be pushed along the floor (which is a lot of stuff) is now a car. He pushes whatever it is along and says "bbbbrrrrrrm". Everything with buttons on it is a telephone to be put to his ear and screamed into. His current favorite is "HEY!" at the top of his lungs. We have one of those plastic boxes with different shapes cut out and the little shapes that fit into them to help them learn what fits where...he's getting the hang of it. Yesterday he put the circle in the round hole and the square in the square hole. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he repeated it today and then some! He has decided that he's way too big for Gerber so now we're eating big-boy food with our 6 teeth. We only eat some of the Gerber desserts, other than that, he's purely on table food. So now I have to cook, whether I like it or not. Again, one of those things that you do because the creature depends on you!

Breaking from the mold a little (we do like to live dangerously sometimes), I'm going to list my favorite movies. Sad when that's your idea of living dangerously. So, by category, these are my favorites:
Drama: Forrest Gump, Dead Poets Society, Life is Beautiful, Children of Heaven (made in Iran, very good)
Comedy: What About Bob, Austin Powers (only the first), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Good Morning Vietnam (could also be drama)
Chick flick: Steel Magnolias (was there any doubt?)
Films to not waste your time on: Monster (the one about Aileen Wuornos the female serial killer in Florida), Y Tu Mama Tambien, Army of Darkness (this last category I guess you could say includes my least favorite films).

You'll notice that I have not included action movies. First, because I'm not crazy about too many of them. Second, Hubs is. So when he gives me his list of favorites to post, we'll more than make up for their absence in my listing! So that's the news from our piece of paradise in eastern NC.

Almost 11 months

Sorry for the prolonged absence! Life here has been chaotic but pretty good otherwise. I started my job at WakeMed 8/15 and so far have been really enjoying it. I'm working in the newborn nursery right now but will be working on the floor (postpartum, antepartum, women's health) this coming Wednesday. The folks there have been really nice and I've been learning a lot so far. And we have our fair share of excitement...like yesterday when we had 4 babies come in within 10 minutes of each other, 2 of whom came from a lady who didn't know she was having twins. That was kind of fun. And we threw a baby shower for one of our patients who was a Katrina evacuee and of course had nothing for the baby she delivered while here. One of the best parts about my job is that I'm working 3-4 days a week max and have a lot more time to spend at home with my 2 favorite guys (the hubby and the son, of course).

Hubs is also enjoying having more family time. He's had to take on some extra responsibility during this orientation when I'm having to work days; he's had to get the wee one to the babysitter (whom he adores and who spoils him rotten) and back. While this is a bit of a strain, he also knows it's temporary and not every day. He's also the one responsible for making the yard so pretty. The wee one of course helps him water the flowers! We have some nice Roma tomatoes out back thanks to his hard work.

My son will be 11 months old tomorrow. That is really hard to believe, considering it seems like yesterday that he was born! He is so funny and gets funnier by the day. Currently his favorite word is "hey". He gets on the phone with my mom (or whoever) and says it over and over. He'll get anything that remotely resembles a phone (the mouse, the remote, his pacifier, his toy truck) and hold it up to his ear and yell "Hey!" He's recently decided that he wants nothing to do with Mom if Papi's around. He's preferred Papi for a while now but recently he's been dissing Mom completely in favor of Papi. (except of course to eat...) He also decided that he is too big for Gerber foods and will not eat them. He insists on table foods. So now I have to cook! I think he will take his sweet time walking, which is just fine by me, considering that right now he makes a disaster of our house as it is. This afternoon while he was sleeping I cleaned up 4 distinct messes OUTSIDE his room. He loves sunglasses and baseball caps. We're going to celebrate his 1st birthday Oct. 9....time flies when you're having fun!