because we went there too...

I know we're all sick of looking at adorable kiddos navigating and picking the perfect pumpkin at the patch but I just cannot miss sharing our cute little skeleton monster from this past weekend.  And being that Halloween is only 2 days away...

Down and out!

our gender reveal

...if you didn't catch it in my last post.

This is how we shared the news!

Stroller Envy

Being a mom is bizarre.

Before I had children, I had baby fever.  I was known, long before my husband and I were married, to walk with friends and comment how adorable babies made me ovulate.  Right then and there.  However, not once did I look at their clothes.  Not once did I glance at the diaper bag.  And pay attention to the brand on their stroller?  Not in a million years.

And then J was born.  Then I was looking.  Scouting out, perhaps, for the most functional and, in the interest of honesty, fashionable stroller.

Living in a particularly affluent neighborhood in our large city, I began to notice that strollers were accessories (just like nannies); a sort of status symbol.  Desperately, I wanted to reject this - but it can be so hard when you're surrounded by these beautiful, almost robot-like, modes of transportation for little beings that sh*t in their pants.  Yes, we're transporting our babes in thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and taking a crap is really one of their few daily priorities.

Pardon the crass nature of the above.  But it is bizarre.

We ended up purchasing a BOB stroller.  $400.  More than my monthly car payment (but not student loan payment, grr).  Thankfully, we received many generous gift cards after J's birth that we hoarded for this purpose.  I wanted a functional stroller where I could exercise and bring him along.  All of the other jogging strollers that I considered buying were, frankly, just as bad as their price was good.  It didn't hurt that BOB strollers were/are highly popular and "fashionable."  And I hate that I admit knowing this.

I am not regretful in the least that we spent that kind of money on a stroller for our little man who still, at 19 months, is satisfied with standing in the corner of a room full of people and taking a crap.  I hope that the resale of the stroller will be such that it makes this purchase worthy of the original cost.  And getting a little exercise here and there (admittedly, this department has been neglected since #2 announced her existence).

But now I need another.  Want.  Need.

J's baby sister, S, is due to arrive late this winter.  And I know, come spring, I'm going to need to get these two out of the house.  With J's rambunctious nature, I know it will become necessary to strap him into a stroller with his sister to keep them both safe (because I keep him tied up in this contraption which is somehow more acceptable to me than putting a child on a leash.  It just is.).

I am in the market for a, preferably used, double stroller.  My eyes tell me I want the Bugaboo Donkey stroller, retailing at over 1k.  But, in actuality, I need something about 1k cheaper.

So, wise mothers out there, do you own a double stroller?  

Have you found one that is highly functional, not particularly hideous, and 

CHEAP!?  

thinking aloud

In July of 2008, I finished my very last graduate school class.  I remember walking out of the double doors and, with the swish as they slowly yet forcefully closed, I let out an exhale of relief and accomplishment.  Yet, as soon as my lungs relaxed, my shoulders tightened.  My thesis.

Although I had been guided through the beginning of my thesis the entire semester, I still had, virtually, the entire paper to write.  And the looming October 1 deadline was just a color change of a leaf, a drop in temperature, and a shift to autumn winds away.  2.5 months to prove myself, show what I had learned, and earn those very expensive letters after my name: M.Ed.

Naturally (for me), I put it off.  August came and went, and September was occupied with starting my first job in the adult world.  I opened up a new classroom in a small Montessori school.  I spent evenings and weekends in my classroom.  I spent nights dreaming about the children.  And, as October was just a page away on my calendar, my books and computer sat cold, untouched.

I have a wonderful ability to be terrified, anxious, and stressed.  I have a horrible ability in actually dealing with these issues to rid myself of these all consuming feelings.  After a quick plea to my supervisor, I was granted an extension to March 1.

Eventually, I wrote my thesis and proudly earned those letters.  But not without significantly more road bumps and delays, all caused by me.  The amount of time I was allotted, one would think that I would be able to finish my thesis long before it was due.  Instead, I procrastinated until sometime in February; at which time I pumped it out over the weekends and submitted it.  And graduated.

When I have issues that loom over me, I avoid.  I procrastinate.  I ignore.  Not because I feel that these problems will go away but because they are often painful, challenging, or downright too irritating for me to address.  Anyone who knows me (or knows better) sees that I can avoid so much stress if I simply handled the deck of cards that I have been dealt.  It is something that I am actively working on.

But at one year shy of 30, I am more stubborn than the day I emerged into this world.  It will take more effort than I often want to give. 

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So, WTF am I talking about and why do I choose to update now?  No reason in particular, other than today is a chilly day in the 40s, J is sick and taking an early nap, and the blog is yet another avoided part of my life.  Each day that passes that I have not updated, more my resistance to update grows.  Today and maybe tomorrow, but maybe not, I'll put that all aside and come share some of my thoughts in this place.  

Is anyone even out there?

(crickets)

More updates on my rapidly expanding waistline, growing baby, new home, yadda yadda, to come soon.

I hope.