Baby days

With Jackson now going to preschool 2 days a week, I get to spend some quality alone time with my younger son. It's been really nice. I think he senses that he's got me to himself too because he kept me very busy today. I'm pretty sure that we hit all the baby apparatuses (apparati?) this morning, with the sole exception of the baby gym (that mat thing with the danglies overhead). I even put him in the stroller for a while and brought him out to the garage with me, so that I could tackle some boxes that we've yet to unpack in the 9+ months that we've lived here. The cooler weather (FINALLY!) was a huge factor in that decision. Cooper was pretty content to just sit there and watch me work, but every now and then he would get fussy, so we would go outside and walk around for a little bit. He calmed right down each time. I was able to empty another three boxes today, and I have now, combined with earlier efforts, reclaimed most of the front half of our one-car garage. I had planned on getting the ladder out and putting some "keeper" boxes into the attic (you know, like the computer, coffee maker, drinking glass boxes, though I got fed up with a lot of them in our move to tulsa and threw them out--and regretted not having the "proper" boxes to pack in. . .but I digress) which would substantially de-clutter the place, but I guess I'll save that for another day.

After lunch for myself and then Cooper, it was almost time to pick Jackson up from school. I had just started to get up to leave when Cooper--who was in my lap--picked that very same moment to have a BM. No big deal, I had a little time, so off we went to get changed. I took his diaper off and wiped him up, and I just couldn't resist cooing at him and kissing his belly a little bit. I got complacent. I dillydallied at the changing table before putting the clean diaper on. And I know better. But Cooper must have thought I needed this point reinforced, so he pooped and peed all over the table. greaaaat. And never stopped smiling at me. Little stinker.

My dad will appreciate this. Tonight, I made what Chris has deemed my "if not best then second best meal of all time". He that followed with, "it's like I'm having gourmet at home." I made feta-stuffed chicken and steamed spinach, from the diabetic cookbook. Yay me!! It was the first time that I had taken the list of ingredients for a recipe to the grocery store and consequently had everything I needed to make the dish. I normally don't try the more complicated recipes because I never have what I need on hand to make it, and it's too late to run to the store by the time I go looking for recipes anyway. But no more! I've come up with a project that I'll be working on little-by-little where I look up recipes that will suit us, and I write down all the perishable or non-staple items I will need to make them, then I file them in a portfolio as a meat, chicken, pork, veggie/side, or dessert dish. Then when I plan our meals for the week, I grab those note cards and head to the store. So far, the only glitch in this plan is looking at, essentially, multiple grocery lists at once, but I'm sure I'll be able to make it work. My first trip to the store after implementing this plan was a slow one, but I think that is also due to the fact that I'm not used to buying so many fresh and healthier foods and didn't know where to look.

All I wanted to do after our yummy dinner was to clean up my kitchen, but my baby had other ideas. He wouldn't be consoled except to be up in my arms, playing. Maybe he was spoiled by our one-on-one time earlier. I tried everything: I fed him and changed him and, again, made the circuit on the baby apparati, but nothing gave him more than a few fleeting moments of comfort. And I confess that I was frustrated. So, I let him "cry it out" for the twenty minutes that it took me to do the dishes. And it was hard on both of us. But he's no worse for wear, as far as I can tell. Really, I just wanted him to go to sleep. He hadn't slept but for 15 minutes here and there all day. But maybe that's because he had two marathon naps yesterday AND slept all night last night. Oh, who knows. I just take it a day at a time, and when even that gets to be too much, I leave him with his daddy for a few minutes and run out to Shake's for a Reese's concrete. Aaaaaaah, heaven in a cup.

♦