Crunchy milestones

Actually, that's supposed to be 'crunchy' and 'milestones', not 'crunchy milestones'. This isn't a hippy marathon sponsored by Birkenstock.

The 'crunchy' comes from the fact that I'm eating homemade caramel popcorn right now. I love my Geekster. He's the supplier of all calorie-rich foods.

The 'milestones' are numerous. By 'numerous' I mean two. There were two. Two milestones reached today! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! *thunder* *lightening* *purple muppet with fangs and keen sense of fashion*

First, but not nearly as importantly, I was able to comfortably fit in to yet another pair of jeans. 3 down, 1 to go. So, despite my ravenous hunger and love for all things chock full of saturated fatty goodness, I'm still slimming down. The swelling from the cesarean is lessening every day and the preggo chunk is dissipating, too. I thank breastfeeding and its calorie-burning milk production for the latter. Well, that and carrying Spawnling around a great deal of the time. He's not a big fan of lengthly solo floor time. (To show his disatisfaction, he just puked down the back of my shoulder. Mmmmm, warmth.)

The second and most exciting milestone is that the Spawn has figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy! Well, it's exciting to me, anyway. In fact, all five of us were there when it occured and we clapped and cheered like the world will the next time a Democrat is elected as the US president.

He had the stomach-to-back thing figured out at two weeks old, but did it out of sheer pissedoffedness because he hates tummy time. So he rolled over while screaming. It was hilariously cute but he only repeated it one other time (while angry again). I didn't count them as 'real' rolls because it looked to be a fluke brought on by hatred towards me and the horrible things I make him do. Oh, and because I laugh when he's angry, which probably makes me an unfit parent.

I could see him kicking his legs today during diaper changes, throwing his body to the right, arms a-swingin'. I kept saying 'Oh goodness, sweetpea! You're almost there! You want to roll so bad, don't you, baby? That's my big, strong boy! You can do it! Mommy knows you can!' and other ridiculous things in my most annoying mommy voice.

He then threw me a couple of 'Listen. I know what the hell I'm supposed to do. Ok, mumsy-wumsy? I'd like to see how dadsy-wadsy would react if you babbled to him in babytalk while he's figuring out how to replace a doorknob. Idiot,' looks and kept right on trying.

Tonight, while on the bed, he decided he'd go for the gold and flip over. He was so darn proud of himself for about ten seconds.

Then he realized he'd forgotten how to flip back and that he was now stuck on his tumsy-wumsy. The frustrated yelling commenced and we all went 'Awww!' instead of actually helping him onto his back again. We're a very loving family.

More good news! One of my favourite people and bestest friends is moving back to Ottawa. The news completely threw me for a loop, as they had just relocated to the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) earlier this year. I'm absolutely THRILLED! She has four beautiful kids, a great husband and, because of all that stability, is very able to put up with my crap. That's what a true friendship is made of. Welcome back, Alana! I'll have to come up with a much spiffier name for you when I'm feeling more creative.

Today I took a congested Spawnling and hit the old people maul with my sister. I know, I know. I had enormous guilt over bringing him out while sick. But I figured he'd probably sleep most of the time (which he did) and I really needed the help to carry a lot of bigger items around (which I received).

There are very few people who's company I enjoy more than The Sister's. She's incredibly funny, loves a lot of the same things I do and is intuitively helpful with the kids.

Ever notice that it tends to go one way or the other? I find that a lot of people who haven't spawned their own little demons have no idea how to handle mine. Yet, there are others who naturally posess the gift of knowing exactly what to do even when they haven't done it themselves. My sister is someone who breezes in and takes over when I need it most. When Geekster and I were at the hospital awaiting Spawnling's grand entrance, The Sister took care of the older boys, made a 'Welcome, baby Jackson' sign with them and then cooked and froze a bunch of single portion meals for us. Who the heck thinks of doing stuff like that at 22 years of age when they haven't had babies?

I tell you: The gift. You have no idea how much work I have in store for me when she has her own children. I have a feeling she'll be building me a granny suite or something.

In other news, Gutsy is still fighting this new illness he's acquired. He didn't get feverish again until this evening, though. That's definitely positive. He's going to sleep in our bed tonight and curl up with daddy while Spawnling and I grab the trusty recliner in the livingroom. We were just transitioning to a lying down position when he caught his cold. Two steps forward, two steps back.

(We come together, 'cuz opposites attract! -- I know you were thinking it.)

Well, it's 10pm and somewhere, in at least one timezone, Family Guy is on. That warrants a publishing of this blog entry and scouting out where Geekster stashed the rest of the caramel popcorn. I have a feeling I won't be fitting into demin pair #4 anytime before Christmas. It's beginning to look a lot like blubber.