The grass is always greener ...

The grass is always greener at my parents' house. Actually, it is. My dad has a beautiful lawn. Us, on the other hand, have a pothole for a yard. A pothole with a couple dandelions and a few tufts of crab grass here and there. I kid you not. This extreme summer was hard on our landscaping. Well that and an adamant refusal to water our grass to keep it verdant looking. Lance is going to scold me for calling our yard a pothole.

But I digress.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. When I worked full-time, I envied my friends that got to be a stay-at-home mom. When I went to part-time all I wanted was my full-time salary back or to just be at home all the time. And now that I'm a pretend stay-at-home mom, I miss working. Well, maybe not exactly the act of working, but the ability to have time where I'm not "mommy." So either the grass is always greener or I'm the most flippant person ever. It could be a little of both :)

Both statuses are tough, but in entirely different ways. When I was full-time, I spent a fair amount of my day wondering what Lucan was up to and whether or not he was being good. I worried about all the other stuff I had to get done when I got off of work. I tried not to focus on all the germs Lu's immune system was being exposed to. Now that I'm at home with Lucan, I worry about his social development and if he's tired of hanging out with me or misses playing with lots of other kids. I suddenly have all that time I thought that I would have being a stay-at-home mom, but yet, none of the time to get anything done. I feel like I spend most of my time in the kitchen either making food, feeding Lu food, cleaning food off the floor that Lu thought would be fun to watch splat or cleaning up the mess I made preparing food for Lu to eat. Hit the repeat button in two hours and it's lunchtime! I find that at lunch Lu would prefer whatever food I've made for myself than eat what I've made for him. (Do you ever feel like God created the same behaviors in your child that you yourself exhibited as a wee one? Um, YES. I distinctly remember always thinking that my mom's food always tasted better than whatever was on my own plate. And then stealing her food. Lance asked my mom the other day what my favorite food was and she sort of hemmed and hawed and didn't have an answer. Because I was a HORRIBLE eater as a kid. So when Lu throws his peeled apple slice on the floor and pulls the kind of stuff I pulled as a child, I smile and sigh because God knew EXACTLY what He was doing when He made my child.)

Oh. I digress. Again.

But I miss adults and being able to logically reason with someone (besides myself). I miss not living in fear of waking Lucan up from his nap if I'm not quiet enough. I miss my grown-up clothes (on the flip side, I DO NOT miss all the ironing that comes from having to wear grown-up clothes). Getting out of the house is important. It allows me to turn a blind eye to the bathroom that could really use a going-over. I love watching Lucan do his little happy dances and being able to tickle and make him giggle madly. I love being there to see the progress he makes every day in walking just a bit further. I love my little conversations that I have with Lu after his naps like how his pillow ended up on the floor or why there are extra stuffed animals in his crib. He just looks wide-eyed and innocent as if he had nothing to do with any of it.

Everyone loves a naked baby. Especially a baby who is undressing his favorite MLB mascot.

Not working has granted me the opportunity to see if the grass is really greener on the other side of the fence. From where I'm standing presently, both sides look a little dry and crusty and in need of a good watering.

Lucan: 15 months

This past month has a big month for Lucan!

• Walking has been long in coming. It isn't Lucan's favorite method of transportation as he still prefers crawling, but he will take four or five steps at a time and move from item to item. But I'm happy to be able to say when asked: "yes, Lucan is walking now."
• Sippy cup. One piece of advice for new moms: introduce a sippy cup early. After having several conversations with my mom friends, we cut the bottle cold turkey. Lu has never been a thirsty kid, so we have to offer his milk to him because he won't take it on his own accord.
• Teething. Lucan currently has a total of 10 teeth, but is getting 4 more on the top. No wonder he is so drooly.
• Talking. Lucan's favorite words include "no" and "bye." Perhaps I should take this as a sign that Lucan wants me to go "bye" so he can quit hearing "no" from me all the time. I really think that Lucan understands the concept of bye because he will wait until he can't see you and then he will wave bye and say bye!
• Food. I'm pleased to sasy that Lucan is branching out in the foods he will eat . He really likes vegetables and meat. He's not so big of a fan of fruit or lots of bread. For breakfast Lu enjoys homemade banana bread or zucchini bread (he's already a food snob) and a banana. He also will eat oatmeal - which his father will not. Lu is good at eating leftovers for lunch, I just have to make sure they are appropriate leftovers like stir-fry veggies and chicken or beans. Weirdly, he eats things like water chestnuts and mushrooms but turns his nose up at apples.
• I often find myself scolding Lance for spoon feeding Lucan. I know that Lance doesn't like wiping food up off the floor the mess, but I'm not about to undo all the hard work I do at breakfast and lunch of getting Lu to feed himself. Lucan will let you know he's finished not with the "all done" sign, but by promptly throwing food on the floor and spitting it out. I went through the effort of really doing a good job of cleaning and mopping the floors on a Thurs night and by the weekend you couldn't tell any more.
• Napping. Unless he's tired, he will fuss when he's put down for his naps. But usually after about 10 or 15 minutes, he will settle down. Lu has to have his favorite blanket otherwise all bets are off. I try and stop him from dragging his white blanket all over, but it's usually a vain wish.
• Bedtime is at 8 pm. Lance has taken over bedtime duty which includes a couple sips of milk, a story or two and prayers.
• Lu is a dancing machine. If he hears a song that has a good beat, he bops right along to it. He's got my dancing genes!
• Lu still enjoys a good outing in his stroller or the bike trailer. With the weather getting nicer and less like a firey inferno, we've been trying to get out more.
• Something that Lucan isn't enjoying as much is outings in a shopping cart. I guess neither of us enjoy it when Lu tries to escape and stand up.
• Lu is graduating onto more interactive books. He has a jungle book in which you move different pieces of the pages up and down. Lu thinks that's pretty darn cool. He also likes books that have different things for him to touch and feel.
• Annoying things: turning light switches on and off, trying to hang on the baby gate, touching the tv, splashing in Fire's water dish, wailing uncontrollably when I won't let him play IN the fridge.
• I guess being a stay at home mom hasn't made me any more organized as I didn't call soon enough to get Lucan in for his 15 month appointment until he will be 16 months old. Opps. We'll have his stats next month.

Lucan likes M&Ms. I've caught him feeding himself M&Ms out of the people feeder and then one day Lu knocked the people feeder off the shelf and spilled 500 M&Ms all over the floor. Fantastic


 

Lance volunteers through work at the State Fair to help with the Little Hands on the Farm display. Next year Lu will finally be old enough to actually interact. This year he just got a Pioneer hat. Lu's uncle who works for the competitor, Monsanto, I'm sure isn't pleased.



 



Classic family photo - Lance has his eyes closed.





I attempted to take Lu's 15 month photo on my own. I don't have a single picture of him actually looking at the camera.





Lu's Grandma K picked up a John Deere visor for him at the State Fair.