mulligan

I started posting a blog about swim class today, but it was terrible, so I am taking a mulligan.
I will try again later.
Until then, here are some cute videos of Hayden.

When I am done with boards

A friend of mine who is also taking boards in september recently sent an email to friends and family letting them know that he will be out of touch for the next nine weeks as he braces for the final stretch of studying. This email (and a recent conversation with my sister, Jen) has prompted me to write the following:
When I am done with boards, I will get back to the gym
I will excercise and eat less carbs and and run at 5 am
my house will be spotless and decorated in style
my office will be organized (which it hasn't been in a while)
Emily, my hairdresser, will know me by first name
She'll get my grays under control and keep my tresses tame
Yoga three times a week will keep my body toned
Friends and family that I've missed will finally be phoned
Letters will be written soon and emails sent at last
Phone calls will be returned and presents mailed real fast
I will finish all my manuscripts and submit them for review
Perhaps they'll be accepted and if rejected, well Boo-hoo
I will meditate and contemplate and find my missing chi
I will think using my right brain and dream up some poetry
My garden will grow vegetables and bright flowers galore
I will composte and recycle and knit scarves some more
I will start my own business or find myself a job
With boards under my belt, I don't have to be a slob
At night I will once again be peaceful in my bed
without dreams of cytology rushing through my head
I will have a conversation with a person i've just met
without having to explain how I am a studying vet
Hemoglobin and bilirubin will vanish from my thought
Erythrocyte metabolism wont leave me so distraught
My eyes wont ache, my head wont hurt, my back wont be so sore
from hunching at the microscope and thinking 'bout my score
I will be a better wife and a better mama, too
a better sister, friend and colleage just to name a few
Oh, the things that I will do when i finish this test
Take it easy ACVP, I need to get some rest
And when I'm done I hope that I will do all on my que
But honestly, I may just sit on the couch and watch The View
Or read some smutty magazines like people or life and style
My brain might turn to mush but it will all be so worth while
I know it all sounds crazy and I hope you all will see
that my life gets much better when I'm ACVP

Love to you all-
Amy

BTW-hayden is walking-videos to come, but I can't find the battery charger to the camera tonight!

Adaptations

I know, I know-it has been a long time since my last entry. I apologize, but suddenly we have a very active baby to tend to which is taking much of my time and energy. In between crawling, pulling up, falling down, cruising, chasing the cat and dog and screaming, there isn't much time for blogging. But, no excuses, I will try to do a better job.
My very wise sister, Kim, told me right after Hayden was born these words that I will never forget, "as soon as you think you have a baby figured out, they change and you have to totally rethink how you were doing things and adapt." Kim probably said it a lot more eloquently, but the idea is the same. So now we are living it. We had a few months of bliss where Hayden was sleeping from 7pm-7am or sometimes even 7:30am. Now he has been waking up sometime between 5:00 and 6:30. Sometimes he chats in his crib for an hour and sometimes he screams. The other morning he was screaming at 4:30am. I went in and he was standing up in the crib, howling. After a song and a lot of rocking, we were able to get him back to sleep for a few hours, but suddenly it feels like we have an infant again!
If that is the only negative, then I am fine with it. I could sit there and watch Hayden talk to his cheerios all day long. I could chase him all day long as he investigates "new" things and tests out his new strength. I could watch him learn and grow and succeed and fail until we are both exhausted. And I will cherish that last minute of the day before I put him to bed while he lets me cuddle him while he coos and rubs my arm. Yes, I know, all of this will pass and we will adapt and move on to the next phase. But for now, things are just about perfect.

What a difference a day makes!

Yay! Hayden did it-he FINALLY crawled for the first time yesterday. Some of you may have already seen it on Facebook, since matt has an iphone and in one click he was able to upload a video. Me, on the other hand, still iphone-less and uploading videos old-school (with a camera and the computer), spent most of the morning working on these videos.

Yesterday he took a few forward crawling steps intermixed with the usual "slither", but this morning he was off. You can see the difference 1 day made in the videos below!

Wish us luck...

A couple of nights ago, Matt and I were getting ready for bed. I was reading and Matt was checking his iPhone when suddenly, Matt started giggling. Quickly, the giggling turned in to a full out belly laugh and next the laughter became uncontrollable hysteria. I can't remember the last time (or any time) I heard Matt laugh like that.
At first I wrote it off because I knew that Matt was looking at "the chive" which is a website with all kinds of silly photos that random people post. At his persistence, I looked at the apparently hilarious photo...
It took me a minute, but I laughed, and man, I laughed hard. It was one of those rare moments when I realized how the last 8 months had really changed us and how our perception of hilarity had shifted. If we had seen this picture 8 months ago, we may have missed the joke, or not even found it funny. Perhaps we would have even been mildly offended...
So yes, we have changed. We think poo is funny. We have a hard time carrying on a conversation that doesn't revolve around Hayden. We are probably pretty boring to our old friends. But as "they" say, change is good-change is really, really good!


Even though this is not us in the photo, it easily could be. It's amazing what you don't realize when you are staring at your precious child.

Easter

This is how we spent our Easter afternoon...

Believe it or not, I am sitting here looking out of the window at about 2 inches of powdery, white snow. This Dallas weather was not what I expected! I am actually excited about this snow because last time it snowed we forgot to take pictures of Hayden sitting outside in a pile of snow or next to a snowman. As all of my mom friends were posting pictures of their precious babies on facebook all bundled up out in the snow, I was feeling like an idiot, because we completely forgot to do that. Thank goodness for second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances.

Well...

The snow melted quickly, so fifth chance gone!

Anyway, that is not what I wanted to write about today. I also do not want to write about crawling-you all know where we are with that. Today, I sadly write about the soon-to-be-retired bouncy chair.

The bouncy chair has been my salvation for the past 6 months and has allowed me to take a shower, put on make-up and dry my hair in the morning-it is responsible for me looking somewhat pulled together. The bouncy chair lives in our bathroom to allow me these luxuries while I keep an eye on the precious child. Meanwhile, Hayden kicks back, plays with the dangling zebra and elephant, listens to his music and gets a lovely vibrating massage. He talks and yells and laughs. It is a good start to our day.

Lately, however, Hayden has become increasingly dissatisfied with the relaxating nature of the bouncy chair. He is constantly trying to find ways out of the bouncy chair. I often see him arching his back and trying to roll out (which he can't sucessfully do because of the restraint device). Yesterday, he discovered a new move which has proven more successful. First, he rips down the arch that holds the zebra and elephant and tosses it to one side. Next he uses his legs to push his body to the very top of the chair which loosens the restraint device. The final move involves me grabbing him out of there so he doesn't end up on the floor! It's probably not the ending he had in mind, but the overall goal to get out of the bouncy chair has been met.

I have been struggling with the idea of retiring the bouncy chair for several weeks now, but I have not been able to do it. Why, you ask? Mainly because retiring the bouncy chair involves me getting up early to get my shower in. My goal is to get up at 6:00AM, but so far I have been completely unsucessful. I have read several articles on how to get up early in the morning which suggest that you set your alarm 15 minutes earlier every couple of days in order to allow your body to adjust. You should also put your alarm across the room so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off. Sounds great in theory, but so far I have simply gotten out of bed, walked across the room, turned the alarm off and gotten back in bed. Obviously, I am going to have to take drastic measures to make this work.

The take home message is that Hayden has a way of getting what he wants and whether I like it or not, I have to adjust my life to keep things flowing around here. So I will continue to set the alarm and try to become a morning person until I succeed (sorry Matt!)