Stuff and Whatever

A confession (that is always a juicy way to start a post, eh?):

I gave up on my garden. So sad! It just kept getting browner and browner despite anything I did...and aside from a teenie-tiny mini zucchini and watermelon that started to grow and then quickly withered away, no fruit or vegetable ever developed...and I should have been able to harvest everything by now. Everything started out so green and flowery and then just tanked. Plus critters just kept eating all the blooms. So did it get too hot (The garden is west facing)? Not enough fertilizer? And of course, the critters are partially to blame.  I dunno. When we get back from our trip, I'm gonna rip everything out and try to transplant some peppers and chiles and forgo planting from seed in the middle of summer. I'm also going to contact the local community garden experts to see what they recommend. 

Also, there have not been additional sightings of that snake. Phew! I do have flashbacks every time I go into the garage, though, and have visions of snakes coming out of unexpected places to terrorize me--something a la Snakes on a Plane (yes we saw that movie and it was awesome. FYI Tim Riggins is in it and is just as Tim Riggins-y as ever although he has a somewhat naughty role).

Which makes me want to digress to Friday Night Lights. We have Season Four episodes accumulating on our DVR and cannot wait to watch them. Plus, every time I see a Super 8 commercial I just want to freeze it on Coach Taylor and hear him say, "Clear Eyes Full Hearts Can't Loose" and then see him have the perfect marriage with Mrs. Coach. If I could live in a TV show, I would live in Friday Night Lights and wear the coolest aviator sunglasses and look effortlessly beautiful and not care that life revolved around football. 

Back to my post--which, if you haven't gathered, is about nothing. So maybe I should continue talking about FNL? Eh, maybe next time.

Yesterday, when the baby was sleeping and Brandon was away at work, I snuck a few bites of ice cream.  In the middle of the day! With a fork!  Don't tell.  My waistline will, if that keeps up. But it was a Sunday and I was all alone, a little bored, and hungry.  That makes it OK, right?

I fed Russell green beans again and he ate them up. I guess he is broadening his horizons which is more than I can say because I still pick at my veggies. 

Here are two videos I wanted to share.  The first needs no explaining, although I did kind of feel like a mean mom for filming this.  Does that make me meaner for showing ya'll?

This next one demonstrates Russell's superior crawling skills.  He crawled over from the other side of the couches...the whole way with that little ball.  I've noticed him crawling with a toy cradled in his arms several times now and I find it pretty cute.

Oh, here's another confession that is Internet appropriate--that ball is a freebie from the VA hospital. It says, "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help" and it shows the silhouette of a soldier with their head in their hands against the back drop of an American flag. Yes, our son's current favorite toy is suicide prevention schwag. But he loves it and Brandon interprets it to mean that Russell will one day become a skilled athlete.  I smile and nod...wait, who am I kidding...I always (and quickly) remind him that all babies love playing with balls, especially ones that are so shiny, smooth, and squishy (ie perfect for licking and trying to suck). That's me, the dream-dasher. At least I use a nice tone of voice...            

Food Wars

This picture is hilarious to me.  Russell doesn't really look that cute but it is illustrative of what it is often like to feed that boy. He usually battles me for the spoon the entire time.  By the end, he is so desperate for the spoon that he is practically climbing out of his chair to get it from me and whining in his baby moans and grunts, "I want it Mom. I want it so so so bad! Why do you get to hold it and not me? Why won't you give it to me? That is going to be so gratifying to suck on and you won't let me do it. You are so mean!  Grrr!!!"  

At first, we used to give him a spoon to hold on to while we fed him with a different spoon. It only worked so so. As you can see from the photo, he usually ended up with both spoons, which defeated the whole reason I gave him a spoon to hold in the first place.  Now I just use one arm as defence against his aggressive grabbing and the other arm to strategically feed him.  He does a great job of simultaneously reaching for the spoon and opening his mouth to recieve his next bite. 

So the question/caption for the above photo is "Victory or defeat"?  He looks exhausted from our great battle, but a little smug too, like "I got the spoons, Mom, not you." 

This picture is an obvious victory.  If there was any doubt, I always let him play with the spoon at the end of his meal, mostly because it keeps him occupied for a good five minutes as I play Clean Up After Baby.  He gets another victory if he can figure out how to take off his bib and suck on it while holding his spoon.   

This victory is similar to the battle he wages while nursing as he usually likes to simultaneously and frantically search for the tag of my boppy (nursing pillow). "Where is it?" he seems to be saying. "I know there is a silky long tag somewhere around here. I want to hold it and put it in my mouth soooo bad. The way it feels in my mouth is amazing...A-MA-ZING!  It is so smooth and coated in my old saliva. I could just suck on that all day. And my mom won't let me look for it while I nurse. She is so rude! Grr. Why can't I wiggle around for it?  Why why why??!!" 

At the end of each nursing session, he knows the drill. I sit him up, flip the pillow around, and he immediately grabs the tag and inserts it into his mouth. Tags are the perfect desert for him. Not for me though. I prefer cookies and brownies.  I wish I could go for fruit but I have little willpower in that department.