clean floors, dirty paws

  Just a little fist fight to start off the morning.  Note how well Abner and Georgia are playing until a giant red deer comes in and turns the friendly spar into a wild cat chase.

I like to decorate for all major holidays; Easter grass, shamrocks, heart shaped thingambobs, faux spiderwebs and ridiculous useless pots of "gold?"  Yes, please!  I'm THAT person.  So when I realized that my Valentine's Day decor was seriously lacking I decided to hit up the after holiday sales. Unfortunately every other person in town had the same idea leaving only broken heart shaped lollypops, red dye 40 pink cake mix, hideous "gifts" and conversation hearts, in Espanol!  I know there is supposed to be a tilde but I have no clue how to make it happen so we'll just pretend it is there, OK?  Oh, and I totally bought the conversation hearts.  $1.24 a bag and perfect for my empty apothecary jars next year, muy bien! Later that day I headed out to a birthday party accidentally leaving the bags of conversation hearts low enough for the ever starving, counter surfing Ridgeback.  No bueno!! She ate an entire bag...AN ENTIRE BAG!  300 conversation hear

As I type, the neighbor's gardener is edging the lawn right outside Caches' window.  He is asleep, for now, so I am shifting my attention back and forth between praying to the video monitor that he stays asleep and attempting to write a coherent blog post for the possible 4 people who are sticking with me and still reading. I would be lying if I told you Caches' sleep hasn't improved, but my pants would be completely on fire if I told you that I was pleased with his sleeping habits, waking bright eyed and bushy tailed.  I'm still rising black eyed and knotted pony tail.  You see, in addition to his poor night sleep and wakings, Caches is a cat napper, between twenty and thirty minutes, who likes to throw in a random hour long nap about once a week just to fuck with me.  And the gardener woke him up.... Where was I?  Oh yes, the baby messing with my head. I know I talked a little bit about doing a very modified version of cry it out with him a few months ago an

  Photo credit: Suzanne Nguyen putupyourdukesdesign.com

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I have spent the past seven and a half months trying to get Caches on something that resembles a schedule.  It's not working.  The only and I mean ONLY thing that is somewhat predictable is that he will be hungry every 2 hours.  Yep, my 7.5 month old baby STILL nurses every 2 hours like a newborn.  Probably because he likes to eat ALL day like his mama he never holds still and is constantly burning calories; it takes a lot of energy to drive ones mother INSANE, and I should know. I have read all the books, attempted to let him develop his own schedule (epic FAIL), and done research above and beyond what most would call sufficient.  I have literally tried everything aside from locking him in his room until he's 30; he resists.  And I don't know why I am surprised.  You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now.  You'd think I would resign and just let it be but that's simply not my style.  We have established that I'm kind of a control freak, right?  I

As Caches becomes more manageable in public, i.e not screaming the ENTIRE TIME, we have been venturing out more and more on our own.  The car ride is hit or miss with the screaming, but the fresh air and people watching make it worth it either way.  One of our favorite haunts is Target, we probably go at least twice a week.  I'm actually considering dressing Cache in a red shirt and khaki's and leaving him there for a shift to learn the ropes. The other day we were wandering up and down the aisles when something shiny caught Caches' eye.  Because he can not speak English and I can not speak whining baby, a quiet outing started to get heated.  He starts with a quiet whine that quickly gets a particular "tone."  At this point if I can figure out what he wants he will calm down and happily chew on whatever it is he wanted.  But if I can't figure out what he wants my trying only serves to piss him off until he's like what the hell mom!!  READ MY MIND, DAMN I

I fully intended to start this yesterday, on the first of the month, as the "rules" state.  But because I am always a day late and a dollar short these days, I am starting on the second, at 7:27 PM.  And it will have to do.  I am following "February Photo A Day,"  A fun challenge that one of my friends suggested.  Each Day I will simply post the inspiration behind the photo and a picture.  No description.  Today I won't do that.  Today I will add my picture to this post and break the rules.  I will also add the picture from yesterday that I failed to post YESTERDAY because I decided going to bed at 8:30 to stare at the ceiling sounded far more exciting. Rebel 1. Your View Today 2. Inside your refrigerator

Caches, Today you woke up smiling.  You must have known it was your seven month birthday.  Or perhaps it was the pea and oatmeal poop in your pants that you knew I would soon be changing, all the while wishing I had one extra arm to keep your hands out of the poop while I wrestled with you, your body rolling around like a baby crocodile. Caches Michael, you are becoming quite the handful...And I love it.  You have so much personality, so much passion, such a desire to learn and explore.  You do not sit still and casually observe life, you jump in with two feet and experience it!  From the moment you wake up in the morning, a little too early for my taste thankyouverymuch, until the moment you give in to sleep, you are moving!  Occasionally you are so busy that I forget to stop, breathe, and enjoy the little things. Like when you are sitting in front of me and I catch myself staring at the perfect little divot along the back of your neck.  One of my absolute favorite places to kis