We were baptized!!!

I baptized my son (FINALLY) at 19 months old. An age way too old, by anyone's standards! I am not sure what took me so long to do it...well actually...I know exactly what took me so long. My husband nor I are very religious, we are of two different religious backgrounds, after extensive research - I found no one that would perform the service without limitations and ridiculous fees, and lastly, I am HORRIBLE at planning events.

In the end, I found an extremely nice priest from a Greek Orthodox church that would bend his policies, ever so slightly, to accommodate us. It was still a HUGE pain in the neck to go through with but in the end it was, I felt, the right thing to do. I wanted the baby to have some sort of spiritual foundation to begin life with and it made our families extremely happy (my husbands family, more so, of course!) that we went through with it.

The ceremony itself was very involved. To make a long story short, we were required to purchase various materials for the service, they dipped my son into a huge urn like structure filled with water and oil, and dressed him in white. The godparents were required to be Orthodox, although my cousin (Godmother) was not. She wasn't allowed to participate but the priest was kind enough to let her remain next to the Godfather at all times. My family didn't entirely approve but were very gracious about it anyway. I mean, either way someone feels slighted, no matter what service we chose. I am just extremely happy that its over. I am sure my son is as well. He spent the entire time, arms stretched out for me, screaming!

What's New???

The boy is napping...what a slice of heaven for mama! We have been sick for about a week now, ugh! I can't begin to describe how annoying this shit is! Especially since I am the one still waking up early to a hungry maniac, chasing him all morning while he finds a million things to get into, changing "man stink" diapers, cleaning and straightening up til I'm blue, making lunch and dinner and providing personal time to my husband at the end of the day. I want an official "mommy's off" day so I can lay around and do NOTHING!

Being sick really fucking stinks!

Greece!

Well, we arrived safely, I guess that is all that matters...

But DAMN! What a long, Long, LONG trip it was! The plane ride (which I feared most), was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. The flight attendants were assholes of course...but to be expected. They wouldn't give us a bassinet, although we were promised one in bulk head, they wouldn't heat up the milk for him and they kept badgering us about our bag on the floor. They wouldn't even give us a drink b/c they didn't take cash and of course their card scanner wasn't working - fucking bastards! That however, was fine. Until it was time to get this monster to sleep. He was so uncomfortable and had to lie on me of course, so guess who got ZERO sleep. Yup...me! But he slept, so I at least got some quiet time, lol.

However, we only just got through the first leg of our trip by that time. We then had to wait until we could board our ferry to get to the island of our destination. Unfortunately we landed at 10am greek time and couldn't board until 5pm. So we waited...and waited. I was so freakin tired, I couldn't even keep my eyes open. We sat at a café and I almost dropped my son three times b/c I couldn't stay awake. Then we braved the Greek metro system to get to the port where the ferry was docked. That was horrendous! But once we were on, it was like heaven. We had a small cabin, thank the gods for that! We were asleep within minutes and were here just when I hit my REM cycle.

Of course arriving doesn't automatically mean that the worst was over! Shouldn't it though? My son developed a fever, of course! He was miserable and so hot! He was teething (molars) and I am sure the trip didn't help. We spent the first three days with a screaming, cranky child who refused to eat. Nothing consoled him and of course he refused to drink the milk here which is the one thing back home that soothes him. That and our good old friend Mr. Monkey. Ahh, but Mr. Monkey smartly declined this vacation, lol.

Now that he is back to normal, the vacationing has begun, somewhat. We are getting tanner by the minute, the beach is awesome (although the water is abnormally cold!), the food is as tasty as I remember and it is so nice having a little help with the monster. Harry's parents have been really great this whole time. They help with him and love having him around...they even are overly accommodating to my moody, pain in the ass sister (which is another story all together!). I am glad that I at least got to experience this once more, even though it is nothing like I imagined. And I most certainly won't be doing this again for a long while. But is sure is nice being here!

Woosy Mom!

So we tried the whole sleep training thing...and I even recommended it to a friend who says it works great for her! Her son goes right down at 7pm, doesn't fuss and wakes up at 8am every morning. I did it for a while and it worked great, but now...

He fights when it is time to get in the crib at 8pm, he wakes up three times a night and demands for me to pick him up and he is up at 6:30 every morning!

I think what we lack is consistency. Hubby never puts him down in the crib, but rather lies with him on the bed. When we nap during the day, it is also on the bed! I need to get it together b/c he will never sleep a full night on his own without needing me at some point. And he will never be ready for the transition to his own room which should have happened MONTHS ago! Of course Hubby thinks we should keep him in the room b/c he may fall out of the crib, he may get scared alone...and of course now my wheels are turning and I think to myself "well, he is only this young once and I won't get it back so maybe I should enjoy every moment of having his arms wrapped around my neck and little breath in my face while he sleeps"

is that crazy??

Happy Birthday Gussy!

Well, its been a long journey and the time flew by FAST! My little man is one already and getting into everything! He walks, he jibs, he screams and definitely keeps me on my toes. Its been one wild ride and I am sure it will only get harder from here, lol. I'm ready...BRING IT ON!!!

Bad news!

Little man fell asleep early last night and I decided to let him lie in bed with me since Harry was off to work anyway. BAD IDEA! He got really comfortable and then around 3am began tossing and turning and fussing.

He wanted to lie on me, then he wanted to lie beside me, then he wanted lie on me again...

Ugh! I finally got up and realized Harry was already home and watching TV. I rocked him sitting down and walked around the apartment with him (my back taking a pounding from his 20 pound ass!) until he fell asleep again. Sleep didn't come easy! He fussed until 5am. I wanted to shoot him! I tried to get back to sleep and it took a while after being up with him for so long. Finally I got back to sleep only to be woken up again at 7am. He shit himself and was hungry! OH JOY! I changed him while I dry heaved and then made his cereal, which he refused to eat. He made ugly faces and swatted at the bowl. So I let him have some of my toast and cheese instead. He wants only what I am eating, the monster!

He ate that with a smug little face.

I gave him a bottle and he went back to sleep. I thought GREAT! Now I can go back to sleep for at least another hour or so. I was just about to get into bed when the phone rang! It was my father-in-law. He was coming into the city to drop off our mattress and wanted to leave within the hour. SURE! No problem. I just wanted to sleep a little more, so maybe a half hour instead of an hour? I slip into bed with the covers around me and guess what?

The phone rang AGAIN!

This time it is my sister, she was supposed to come into the city to visit Hunter College but went out last night and didn't feel like coming. Okay, no biggie, I can still get some sleep then. I hang up and turn to go back into my room and the phone rang AGAIN! What now?!

I am starting to go crazy!

It's my brother. Weird. He never calls this early. It was 10am. I answer but not wanting to...

Me: Hello?
Bro: Nic?
Me: hey what's up?
Bro: daddy's in the hospital. He was in a car accident last night and got banged up.

FUCKING HELL! All I want is sleep. I call my dad just to be sure he is not in serious trouble and he says he is okay but bruised pretty bad. Nothing was broken or severe. PHEW! So of course I alert the family and hang up. I look at my bed longingly, realizing it and me...just weren't meant to be. So I shower and gather up the baby, while listen to my husband lecture me on the danger of having the baby in the hospital. Anything else?

Now home and tired as all hell, I am really glad daddy's okay. He was really lucky that he was only bruised b/c the accident was pretty bad (a truck hit a car and that car's bumper went flying into him). His car was totaled but he has his life. And of course all he could think about was his torn clothes (which he just bought) and his car. Silly man!

teething

teething, ugh! he spends most of his time with his mouth hanging open and saliva dripping from it! he is in constant pain and needs to chew shit...usually my face. i feel sorry for the poor bugger! a family member told me that baby ambesol is no good b/c it numbs their throats as well as their gums...where was that stuff on my anniversary?!

anyhoo, as a result of the ripping and tearing of gums, my son has taken to yelling, making weird faces, throwing things, wacking me and refuses to eat anything i put in front of him...

what's next i wonder?