The day started off pretty simple with the exception of Ellie being sick. She was up every 20 minutes or so last night, and I can’t figure out if she’s got a bug or if it’s her teeth. It could be a combination of both since she’s been teething nonstop for the last 3 weeks now. At least those little pearly whites are popping pretty easily. We’ve only had a few days here and there that have resulted in uncontrollable crying and fussiness. Today she’s running a fever, though, and you can tell she just doesn’t feel great. That’s also caused her to refuse to nap most of the day, in fact she just went down for a nap, and I’m hoping she’ll stay out awhile. She was in a pretty good mood this morning when my MIL stopped by to see her, but things went down hill from there. My Grandma called wanting to know if I could help my Grandpa cleanup some stuff in their basement since her knees aren’t allowing her to go downstairs much these days. They had a pipe burst, and now they’ve got a big ‘ole mess. I helped him setup their basement dehumidifier, and I went to work cleaning up the mess. My poor Grandma kept Ellie upstairs, but nothing she did would console her. Her mood went from bad to worse as her fever rose. I helped my Grandpa clean everything up as quickly as I possibly could, then we came straight home. I dosed Ellie up with some Tylenol, and she was out like a light. Now I hope she’ll sleep for a good little while, at least long enough to help her feel a little better. I hate it when my poor little baby girl is sick. While she’s out I’m going to get some work done and look for some birthday party decorations. I can’t believe Ellie’s first birthday is right around the corner! I guess it’s time to start planning everything, or it’ll sneak up on me!
Hypocritical Ignorance
I’ve been married for so long that I sometimes forget what it was like to be a giggly girl in love for the first time in my life. I had a moment to sort of relive that phase of my life last night through my little cousin. She brought her boyfriend over to hang out with us for awhile, and we had a great time.
While the guys played some Green Day: Rock Band my cousin and I headed into my office to chat. That’s when she confessed to me that she’s really head over heels for a guy for the first time ever. It did make me feel a little warm inside watching how she lit up when she talked about him.
The downside is that our family doesn’t like him, and she’s having to deal with the crap they’re throwing at her over who she’s chosen to be with. She wanted to confide in me because she knows I’ve been there. She wanted advice on how to handle the what those people threw at her, and I basically told her to ignore them, let there words slide off her back, and do what makes her happy.
When Hubby and I started dating I warned him that certain family members would probably snub him. I remember looking at diamond engagement rings while shopping with my Mom and aunt one day. I had a feeling I had found the perfect guy, and I was daydreaming about what it would be like if he proposed like I hoped he would. I was basically drug away from the case as both women went on and on about how he wasn’t good enough for me and I was too young to think about marriage. Almost 7 years later these are the same people who love my hubby to death even though they judged him this way so many years ago. Did they ever admit they were wrong about him? Of course not!
It wasn’t that he wasn’t good enough for me. No one seems to be good enough for some of my family members. They turn their noses to the air and act as if they are all high and mighty, yet they are no better than the people they are snubbing. Oh they act perfectly fake when face to face with the person they are snubbing, but the second the person leaves the room the comments and gossiping begins.
They talk about how the person isn’t good enough because they don’t have the exact same values or beliefs. They don’t make enough money (not like my family has a right to judge that as I grew up poor), they don’t have the right educational background (yet again hypocritical as I was the first person in my family to attend college), and so on. There is something wrong with every single person that anyone brings around, friend or date, because that person is not a member of our family. My dad said it best when he said “No one will ever be good enough for them, and they are doing nothing but pushing their own family members away.”
In my cousin’s case she is being told her boyfriend isn’t good enough simply because his mom has made some really bad choices in her life. My grandmother even felt the need to call me to gossip about it. She made mention of the fact that his mom came from a “good family”, and she didn’t know what happened to the woman, but she turned into an “evil drunk”. Then she went on and on about the woman’s poor parents and how they were good people who couldn’t be judged based on their daughter. I came right back at her with the fact that she’s judging this young man based on his mother’s actions, and she is being extremely hypocritical. In fact she’s the hypocrite she’s always preaching to us about, and she needed to start following her own advice.
Of course she isn’t speaking to me now, but I don’t really care. I stood up for my cousin not because she is family but because no one deserves to be treated the way she and her boyfriend are being treated. Our family hasn’t even taken the time to get to know him. They are all judging him based on someone else. If they took the time to get to know him they would realize he’s someone who had a hard life growing up, but he’s risen above it to be a great young man. They are the ones missing out. They will never take the time to get to know him.
People like that really make me mad. I don’t understand why some people are so judgmental. You can’t judge a person based on how much money they make or who their parents are. In fact I fully believe it is not up to us to judge anyone. Sometimes I wonder how I even came from a family like that. I am a complete opposite, and I’ve become a black sheep for it. My little cousin is now feeling the same way. She has been nicknamed as a mini me, and apparently that’s a bad thing according to my family.
My advice to her will stand. Ignore what they have to say because they can’t think, feel, and act for her. If she is happy that is what matters. If I had actually listened to my family I wouldn’t be as happy as I am today. I wouldn’t be making plans to celebrate my seventh wedding anniversary to the love of my life, and I wouldn’t have my beautiful daughter who is a mini version of her father in so many ways.
Couch Has The Funk
Today has definitely gotten off to a rocky start. The little one was up off and on all night due to a new tooth she’s popping through, and she was up bright and early this morning as well. That means I’ve been one grumpy mama today even though I’ve tried really hard not to be.
After fussing and fighting sleep for 5 hours she finally settled down for a nap, so I’m really really hoping she can sleep for awhile and wake up in a half way decent mood. It will improve both of our moods while she does. Plus I’d really love to have the extra time today to get some cleaning done.
I seriously need to steam clean the couches today. There’s a funky smell coming from one of the cushions on the love seat that I can only assume is spit up or something else baby related. I always try to scrub the cushions as soon as something like that happens, but we all know with a baby who is now mobile it’s not always easy to spot a mess as soon as it happens…and that can lead to the funk. I’d like to at least hit that one cushion with my steam cleaner before she wakes up.
Honestly I wish I could just throw these old couches out and spring for some new ones, but it’ll be awhile before that will happen. We just can’t afford to do that right now. I’d love to go with modern furniture in the living room, but Hubby probably won’t agree, and I really don’t need to be buying anything new with the baby in full destroy mode. Maybe I can spring for some more expensive furniture when she’s older and the spit up and such days are over.
I’m just going to finish checking my email, and I’m going to get myself into the living room and into cleaning mode. It’s just so hard to do this morning when I’m totally not in the mood.
Date Nights
All is happy and quiet around here today, and I’m very thankful for that. It was a rough weekend for our entire household with the little one spending about 22 out of each 24 hour day on a sleeping strike thanks to her teeth.
Saturday night Ellie stayed with her Mom mom and Pop pop for a few hours while Mommy and Daddy had a date night. She did pretty well although she’s not used to staying over there for an extended period of time, and she’s going through a bit of separation anxiety, too. She didn’t realize we were gone until about 10 minutes before we returned, so I think she did great. We’re trying to get her used to staying with all her Grandparents for longer periods of time, so we can have a baby free date night twice a month.
Sure she stays with my Grandparents and aunt a lot, but they both live next door to us, and she never stays for more than a couple hours at a time. If something is wrong I can run next door to get her. I’m not used to having a 30 minute drive to pick her up when she needs me, so I think I’m going to have to get used to it just as much as she is.
As for Hubby and I, we both felt completely lost without her. We went to dinner at Clemson Sushi Bar and did a little shopping. Once our shopping was done we both were at a loss as to what to do next. We still had a couple of hours of baby free time, but we didn’t know how to spend it. We could have gone home, but we’d have used half our free time just driving home and back, so we did the only thing we could think of. We visited our best friends who we visit almost every weekend.
This is the only time we’ve been to their house without the baby, and their 16 month old son knew it. He kept throwing his hands up in the air, babbling with a questioning look on his face then asking “bebe?” because he totally knew she wasn’t there to play with him.
I did enjoy getting to spend time with my friends without having to keep a close eye on Ellie at all times, but I felt kind of sad watching their son play alone. I made a mental note to take Ellie by one day this week so they can play for a bit.
I don’t know what the grandparent’s did with her while we were gone, but by the time we made it home Saturday night she was completely tuckered. All those sleepless nights probably finally piled up on her as well, and she’s slept like an angel since. She’s even slept through the night the last 3 nights. Maybe date night is what we all needed!
The Fam, relationships | 
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