Ring What??

So Tristan has been quite the handful in the last month. And not only with his anger and tantrums but because he has gotten sick with something new every few days. Geez..... First it was an upper respiratory infection. Then he started wheezing and we had to go to the emergency room because the wheezing was causing Tristan to have a hard time breathing. Nope it was now bronchitis. Basically the upper respiratory infection was now a lower respiratory infection as well. So we got antibiodics and I stressed to Vincent how important it was not to miss a dose. About a week later Tristan started tugging at this ears. Vincent then informs me that he may have missed a few doses of the antibiotics. Grrrreeeeaaaat. Now Tristan has an ear infection. We go to the doctor again. I have to tell the doctor that Vincent missed a few doses. Of course, the doctor lectures ME about not missing doses like I was the one that missed the doses. We get new antibiotics and I post annoying little signs all over the house that say things like "Did Tristan get his medicine?" These signs were in Tristan's bathroom, by his bed, in the kitchen, by Vincent's night stand- basically we were not going to have Tristan miss a dose. And he didn't. No more runny nose and coughing and sneezing. Then low and behold a few days ago a rash of ringworm shows up. There were 2 on his legs and 1 on his head. My brothers used to get it all the time as kids. It's not actually a worm or has anything to do with worms. It's a fungus usually passed from pets and since we have 2 dogs and the babysitter has a dog, it's more than likely from them. Well, as a kid my mom would put clear nail polish on it and it would go away. So that's what I did. The ones on the legs- gone. The one on the head- nothing. I called our doctor and he said that the ones that get on the head have to be treated with oral medicine because of their location. So, we're going to the doctor again. Seriously, if we could get some frequent flyer miles for going to the doctor, I would probably get a trip to Hawaii with my miles right now. It's ridiculous. Of course during all this my little angel Caleb doesn't get sick at all. Perfect child. :)

I am now at the point where I'm counting down to go back to work. Believe me, I have enjoyed the time off but the same routine every day is killing me. I think I am finally ready for the drama of work again. It's funny how when I go to class for a few short hours at night, what a baby Vincent becomes to have to watch both kids at once. Never mind that I do it every other day for longer periods since Vincent works very late nowadays. But seriously, the way Vincent tells it, both Caleb and Tristan have the ability to torture Vincent. Never mind that all Caleb does is sleep and then wake up and cry until he has his bottle and then sleep again. But, oh no, when I get home from class, Vincent goes on and on about how terrible it was and how he deserves a massage or a special dinner of some sort. I mean, it really is hard. Believe me, if there is a 3rd child it won't be this close in age to Caleb. Even my stepmother-in-law confessed to being stressed out when she babysat for a day, and she had 4 kids. But she admitted that none of her kids were this close in age and that it made all the difference in the world. Then she hugged me and asked me how I did it. Luckily, I only have to do it by myself for a few hours when Tristan gets home from the babysitter. Otherwise, we'd have problems.

Okay, moving on to my new favorite book. Actually, it's an oldie but it has been revised recently. I read it when I was a lot younger, like when I was 9 or 10 so I didn't remember everything but there are parts of it that I have been obsessed with ever since. If anyone knows me very well they know that I am obsessed with only children. I hate them. I mean, I hate the way that 99% of them behave. I also am obsessed with picking them out. If I do say so myself, I'm pretty good at it. I think God decided to mess with my obsession by making all my roommates in college only children. They were awful in the way that only children can be. And, ironically, my adorable husband is an only child. Anyway, the book that I'm re-reading again explains that there is actually theory to my obsessions. It's called the "The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are" by Kevin Leman. It explains why where you are in the birth order has so much to do with your personality. And of course it explains that only children and first borns (myself) have a lot in common. Yeah, yeah. But it explains first borns, middle children, last borns and only children and why they act the way they do. And now I have become obsessed with figuring out where people are in their family. It really does line up every time. And I still dislike only children. Well, the ones that behave terribly. Which is a large chunk of them.Including my husband  :)

Also, on another random note, I LOVE Wal-Mart. I was thinking about it because a bunch of hippies in my class were talking about how much they hate it. Now granted, I hate the white trash people that come in there by the thousands but you have to learn when to go. Early morning or late late nights. I have tried to find better prices at other stores- NOPE. And I love that they were the ones that started a new way of inventory. We have studied it in several of my MBA classes. It's brilliant. They keep track of inventory electronically. Every time the product is rung up at the register it takes away from the inventory count. Once that inventory hits a certain number then it alerts the warehouse at some far location who loads it on the delivery truck and gets it delivered shortly after. Wal-Mart started this. Seriously, you have to give them credit for it. I have done a couple of papers on Wal-Mart just because I love it so much. Believe me, Wal-Mart was not intended to be like this. Sam Walton, the founder, never wanted Wal-Mart to be a super center like it is. But the minute he died and the board of directors took over, it all changed. And I know people hate Wal-Mart because it puts Mom-n-Pop places out of business but I say, do it. Only because our society is moving in a direction where we want faster, bigger and better and sorry to say but Mom-n-Pop places can't always provide this. So even if Wal-Mart didn't put them out of business, they would've been put out of business eventually. I don't want to go to 7 different stores to get 7 different types of groceries anymore. Sorry, I got crap to do. I mean, there is a place for Mom-n-Pop places. For instance, coffee. I hate Starbucks. I go there occasionally but I hate that it costs so much to get a cup of coffee that is made the same way any other cup of coffee is made. I hate Starbucks in Italy or any other country that has amazing Mom-n-Pop coffee places that thrive only on the people of their community. I really wish countries that actually have AMAZING coffee would ban Starbucks from entering their countries. It's sacrilegious. But as for grocery shopping, bring on Wal-Mart. The only thing I would change about Wal-Mart would be the cleanliness of all locations and the quality of people going it. But other than that, I love it.


Okay, well, that's enough for now. Time to do homework. Unless someone wants to do Accounting for me  :)

Rekindle

So, here I am again. I have decided that I really am going to make more of an effort to blog. I always think of things to type and get distracted by the baby, toddler, or husband but I do have time during the day sometimes so I am going to try and type during that time. And, of course, since Monique needs my blog to live, this is for her.  :)

First things first, I got a Kindle. I love it! If anyone knows me they know that I can read really fast. This lovely talent came from not having a TV growing up so that really increased the value of my life. Or not. Obviously this should help in school but the thing is that if I don't find it interesting then I don't read as fast. So really this just applies to "reading for fun" books. And I have gone through quite a few books with this thing now. My mom and I both have one so she'll read something she likes, text me and tell me and I'll get it right then and I'll do the same thing for her. I really am in love with it. It's just another reason I don't blog anymore....  ;)

As for my precious Caleb, a victim of not being the first born. Meaning, no pictures of him. Poor thing. The only pictures I do have of him are ones that my sister-in-law takes of her first born that just happen to include Caleb. He does have dimples though and I do want to snap a picture of those because they're pretty big dimples. But once he gets big enough to hold his head up I will get my friend Heather, who is an amazing photographer, to take more family pictures of us. Until then, I will have to try and get a few. But Caleb is doing awesome. At 4 weeks he started sleeping 8 hours a night. He's also a very low maintenance child until he knows that I am stressed out or have to take care of Tristan at the same time. Then, he acts up. Of course. :) Luckily, Tristan's babysitter is still watching Tristan during my maternity leave. Seriously, I don't know how stay-at-home moms do it. I would go bonkers. I had Tristan and Caleb together by myself the last 2 days because the babysitter had to get surgery and I seriously thought about suicide. It's intense. Of course, I think I have the worst possible ages to be put together right now. Caleb, the newborn, can't do anything for himself and Tristan also can't do anything for himself but who is also developing his temper and discovering tantrums right now. I think if Tristan was a year older it would probably be easier. That way, he could do some stuff for himself and probably not be so terrible with his anger. Who knows. Either way, I have to hand it to stay-at-home moms. If I were one, I would drink more.

Speaking of moms, I have been thinking about the topic of first time moms and why my experience as one was so different than most. Most women have a really hard time leaving their child for the first time, and maybe even more times after that. I had no problem at all. In fact, I welcomed the break. I knew that Tristan had no idea that I wasn't there and therefore he wasn't suffering from me being gone. On the other hand, if I didn't take a break, I would be suffering from a mental breakdown. But I know this isn't normal. Most women have a very difficult time leaving their child with a person or even taking a break at all. But I wish for their sake, it was easier because every mom needs that break. I firmly believe that listening to a baby's cry over and over again can make a person go insane, literally. I never understood 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' until I had a baby. But it makes sense to shake something to get it to stop crying because nothing else seems to work. I think you have to have that break so you can get back in touch with reality and talk to adults that don't cry for no reason. Time and time again, I've tried to warn new mothers-to-be that the most important thing they can do is take care of themselves but every time it never happens. But honestly, I don't know why it was so easy for me. I think I have too many male attributes to hang onto basic maternal instincts. Don't get me wrong, I am a fantastic mother and very protective of my children but only of the things that make sense to me. I would never let other children pick on my children for no reason. But at the same time I want to teach my children to stand up for themselves. But constantly holding my baby or refusing to let them EVER cry don't make sense to me. It's not possible. I mean, it might be possible but after 6 months of it the mother is more than likely drowning those kids in a bathtub. Seriously. You can't keep your kids from all the bad things in life when they're older so what makes you think you can when they're babies? Just because you have more access to them? It makes for a very unhappy mommy and more than likely it makes for a very unhappy daddy who can't understand the mommy and her feelings. And really, kids need their moms and dads to get along more than they need their moms to prevent them from crying. Of course I can say all this because I don't have to fight any urges to do otherwise. If anyone knows Vincent and I, they know that he has more tendencies to be the "woman" and I have more tendencies to be the "man". This works for us because we're balanced but it's odd because it's not the norm. I am certainly not girly and enjoy hanging out with guys watching TV and drinking beers. Vincent, on the other hand, lives for gossip. This made things easier for having our first child. Vincent was definitely nervous leaving Tristan with babysitters the first time but he wasn't fighting natural maternal instincts and he definitely didn't cry about it. With all this being said, I do wish there was a way to make it easier for first time moms to leave the house and relax. Moms of all people deserve it. They do a lot more than they're given credit for. They don't deserve to go through 9 months of hell, then a grueling number of hours of giving birth just to turn around and suffer from terrible feelings in order to get a break. Pharmaceutical companies should create a pill to help first time mothers think of themselves every once in awhile. I mean, they have drugs for every other topic under the sun. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

Other than that, life is busy, as usual. In a few weeks my dad, Caleb and I are flying out to Georgia to visit my grandparents. My grandfather wants to meet Caleb and since I am off of work it is a great time to go. I started classes last night and it looks like now I'll be graduating in the summer, hopefully. I was 1 point away from passing Accounting last semester so I have to take it again. I HATE accounting. Vincent is aggravated with me because Accounting was so easy for him and I am struggling with it. It's like a foreign language to me. I wish that if you had no intention of EVER using a subject, like Accounting, that you didn't have to take it. I know Vincent would kill me for saying this but if I could pay someone to pass this class for me, I would. Ugh, it's that bad. Also, we still haven't sold our house yet. We got rid of our real estate agent and need to find another one before we put it back on the market again. I hate this house. I mean, I loved it when it was just me and Vincent and it was party central and we stayed up late drinking and playing beer pong but now that none of that happens and we have 2 children and more toys and crap than I can deal with, this house sucks. Anyone want to buy it???

Well, it looks like I have wrote a book so that should do for now. I really do promise to try and write more. As for pictures, I can't promise that.  :)

Caleb Michael Martinez

I was born on December 16, 2010. I am the most easy going baby ever- not like my big brother :) I like to eat and eat a lot. I am always happy except when I'm hungry. But once I am not hungry anymore,  I'm back to giggling and smiling. My mom and dad are most grateful for me because my personality allows for them to take a break every now and then  :)