Oh NO HE DI'INT!!!!

Good morning!!  I am awake and blogging before 9:00am, who'd have thunk it??  I didn't sleep very well last night, and I woke up this morning still mad from yesterday's happenings.

When my husband got home from work yesterday, I was feeding the baby her dinner - chicken, vegetables - just normal stuff.  Well she decided after a few bites she didn't want to eat any more.  Her back teeth are coming in, and her gums are swollen, and I think she's just kind of uncomfortable right now.  But I still wanted her to eat, because if she doesn't eat, she doesn't sleep very well, which means no one sleeps very well.  I've learned that if I just give her enough time, she will eat eventually.  It's kind of her thing.  She'll eat a little.  Then play with the food for a few minutes.  Then cry and whine for a few minutes.  Then eat a little more.  Then dinner is over and we can move on with our evening. 

Well when my husband heard her start to cry, he came in the kitchen.  As soon as she saw him she stopped crying and started laughing and wanted to get out of her high chair.  I told him I wanted her to eat a little more first, she only had a few bites.  He replied that she obviously didn't like my food (or in his words "she doesn't want what you're serving up") otherwise she'd eat it.  He then took her out of the high chair and carried her into the living room.  She was looking at me over his shoulder with a little grin of satisfaction on her face because she had gotten her way! I was a little frustrated that he did that. Because now she wasn't going to eat anything else, and when she's hungry she's CRANKY!!!!!

About 30 minutes later the whining starts.  And she can whine with the best of them!!!!  My husband calls his mom up to chat.  She lives out of state, and he calls her a few times a week.  He's on the phone with her, and the baby is crying and carrying on.  I hear him tell his mom that the baby is spoiled, and he's tired of her crying all the time.  (that's his passive agressive way of insulting my parenting, ouch!). He then puts his mom on the speaker phone so that she can say hi to the baby and the baby can hear her voice.  She then said "She's a spoiled brat!  I know one when I see one!"  My husband quickly took her off the speaker and changed the subject.

Deep breath......  count to ten.......  pause......      EXCUSE ME???????

Did I just hear what I think I heard???  And did he just do nothing about it????  (double ouch!!!)

First of all, she was crying because she was hungry, because he didn't give her enough time to eat, because she was crying in her high chair and wanted out, and HE let her out!!!!  Who's doing the spoiling???? 
I could literally feel my heart racing, my palms getting sweaty, the room closing in on me. I had a bunch to say to BOTH of them, but I was so worked up, I knew that anything I did say would come out wrong and I would start crying.  I was too frustrated to talk. 

I could feel the mama grizzly oozing out of my pores!!!  No one talks about my cub like that, without paying the consequences!!!  It took all of my super human strength to NOT teleport myself through that phone line and give her a good......well, you know.  And it took triple amounts of my super human strength to keep myself from taking the casserole out of the oven and pouring it over his head!!!!  I must use my powers for good, not evil.  I couldn't believe that he said what he said, and she said what she said, and he didn't defend me/us!!!! 

Where is my hero? My grand defender?  Screw it, I'll be my own hero.  I'll defend myself.

I decided to give the baby a bath.  That way I wouldn't have to listen to them talk and conspire against me. Paranoid much???  Baths always calm her down.  Well most of the time.  I think she could sense my anger, and started crying in the tub.  My husband came in to see what was wrong (with his mom still on the phone).  As soon as she sees him she starts smiling and laughing!!!  I couldn't believe it!  Was she turning on me too?  That little stinker!  After the bath, I dried her off, put a fresh diaper on her, all the while she's crying.  He comes in, takes her from me, and starts talking to her in a sweet little baby voice:
"Would you like some jammies?" 
"Oh, mommy didn't dry your hair.  We don't want you to get sick.  I'll make sure your hair is dry so you don't get sick". 

Then he looks at me and says "Did you rinse all the shampoo out of her hair?  I don't think you got it all".  I replied "You can wash it again if you want".

Then I left. I got in my car and I left.  I was so pissed off!!!!!!  I drove around listening to vintage Fiona Apple (Tidal), Alanis Morisette (Jagged Little Pill), and Tupac Shakur (All Eyes on Me).  I swear there is nothing like listening to two angry male-bashing white women and an F-bomb dropping gansta rapper to take the edge off.  It works every time!!!  It really does!!

I drove around contemplating my revenge:
1.  Hide all of his right shoes and his left socks.  LOL!!
2.  Hem all of his slacks about 5 inches, so he goes to work with high-waters (ala Forrest Gump, RUN FORREST, RUN!!!) 
3.  Wash only mine and the baby's clothes, and refold his DIRTY clothes and put them back in his dresser.
4.  As soon as he comes home, leave and let him take care of the baby at night.
5.  Never do another dish or cook dinner again and let him figure out how to feed himself and the baby.
Then I remembered a book I read a long time ago, and suddenly I had a shift of perspective.  The book is called "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz.  It's a really good book about keeping life simple and dealing with all the crap that throws us off balance.  I thought of them, and applied them to this situation, and here's what I came up with:

Agreement 1 - Be impeccable with your word:  Whatever that means..  LOL!!!

Agreement 2 - Never make assumptions:   I guess that maybe his mom could have been talking about someone elses "spoiled brat".  I will not assume she was talking about my daughter (who she's only met twice, by the way).

Agreement 3 - Always do your best:  I bust my butt on a daily basis to keep our household moving smoothly.  Regardless of if I've had a full night's sleep.  I put my all into all of this, I could do way less and it woud still be more than most people. 

Agreement 4 - Never Take Anything Personally:  If my husband and his mom have a problem with how I am taking care of our daughter, that's their problem, not mine.  I know I am doing a good job.  I tread lightly here, but who made them the experts on child-rearing??  I can't get into more detail, that's all I have to say about that.......

So I'm letting it go.  Well, kind of.  I will forward this post to my husband, since he doesn't read my blog that much.  And he can do with it what he wants with it.

You wanna put me on blast?  Right back at'cha babe!!!  Y tu mama tambien!!  (that's Spanish for "and your momma too!). 

I would normally feel bad about being disrespectful, but since I didn't get any respect in this situation, I don't feel the need to give it.

P.S.   The silver lining in all of this......
I remember recently I made a comment that I thought a friend of mine was over-indulgent with her child.  Karma is a crazy thing!  Who am I to critique someone else's parenting style?  Being critiqued by my husband and my mother-in-law didn't feel so good.  I've only been a parent for a 1.5 years, and I had the nerve to comment on someone else????  I actually woke up in the middle of the night last night and thought about my comments, and I felt convicted.  We are all figuring this whole parenting thing out as we go. We are not perfect. We do the best that we can.  When we know better, we do better. Instead of insulting someone, we should offer support and a helping hand.  If you know of something better, let me know what it is.  I will take any help I can get. 
  

Change of Heart, Change of Plans

OK, so I know I haven't written in a long time.  It's strange, I've been really busy, but I'm not too sure what I've been busy doing.  Being a mom, wife, (maid???), looking for work etc. tends to take up a lot of time I'm learning.  The last month or so have been pretty interesting to say the least.  I remember when I first got laid off, I was kind of happy to not have to go to work for about the first month.  Then the second and third months I found myself getting irritated by the way we were laid off, and a little bit bitter about how the whole thing went down.  Also I wasn't getting any interviews (aside from 1, and I didn't get the job) and no calls back even acknowleding that I applied for a job.  I could actually feel my brain turning to mush, I'd forget what day it was (seriously), and just felt like I was starting to sink into a foggy kind of mild depression.

But then something changed.  A group of friends we having a "Welcome to the unemployed club" party, and I was the newest member!!!  Everyone in the group was laid off from my old job about a year before me.  Only 2 people came!!  LOL!!!  That's OK, I know how easy it is to get busy.  So anyway, the 3 of us were sitting in her living room talking about what we've been up to, how challenging it can be to make ends meet, how frustrating it is to not get a call back on jobs we've applied for.  It was nice just to talk to people that had the same experiences that I'm having.  Right in the middle of all this chatter, my friend's phone rang.  The person on the other end of the line saw she had applied for a job the day before, and basically interviewed her over the phone and offered her a job on the spot!!!!  That was a Friday, and she was going to start on Monday!!!!  It was CRAZY!!!  I was really happy for her, and kind of sad for myself that no one called and offered me a job on the spot. 

The next day I got to thinking about how much I thought I wanted to go back to work.  But then I started thinking about what that would REALLY mean.  I'd have to get up early (anything before 9am is just wrong) to get myself and my daughter dressed.  Then she'd have to go to daycare or to her grandparents for 9-10 hours every day. Then I'd get home from work, probably exhausted, and have only a few hours to spend with her before she went to bed.  I used to think that going to work was like a break from motherhood.  But now I feel a little differently. 

I was surprised to find that I kind of like not working.  I can do what I want with the day.  I get to sleep until 9am or so. Yes, the baby likes to sleep, just like her momma.  I rediscovered my love for spending time in bookstores and libraries.  I get to meet my friends for lunch - they have to go back to work, I get to go home and take a nap. LOL!! I've been going to matinees during the week BY MYSELF.  (I LOVE doing things by myself, probably because I NEVER get to). All while wearing my trusty sweatpants, of course. Luckily my parents are just a few blocks away and are available to babysit most of the time, which is AWESOME. But most importantly, I get to spend time with my baby, time that I'll never get back. We go on long walks around the park, and to play groups and to play dates, the zoo, the aquarium and shopping and cooking.  She's my little sidekick!  She almost 18 months, and is a lot of fun!  (Although I have to admit, after she was born, the first 3 months that I spent home with her were BRUTAL!!!!!  No sleep and wacky hormones are a BAD combination.  Going back to work really was a break then.  Things are totally different now).

Don't get me wrong, if I got a good job offer, I would take it (I'm not stupid!).  I have been looking and making applications, but I'm not stressing about it like I was before.  Because who knows when I'll have an opportunity like this again.  Of course, not working also means that there is way less money coming in.  The unemployment checks are piddly compared to what I was making before, and realistically my husband and I need 2 full paychecks to keep up our current lifestyle.  There's a good chance that we will have to make other changes, like moving, unless something drastic happens ASAP.  The thought of moving makes me really sad.  But at the same time, I feel like I'm living some sort of adventure, and it's kind of scary but exciting and crazy all wrapped up in a ball of insanity!  I really don't know what's going to happen next, and I'm kind of OK with it.  I am beginning to take comfort in the fact that the only thing constant in life is change.  If nothing ever changes, then something is wrong.

Life changes, people change, plans change and it's all good!  I say that now, but that may change too.