Signs of Parenthood

Happy Half Birthday to Lexi!

After only 6 months of life for our little girl, we certainly have jumped into this parenthood thing with both feet. We've also pretty much accepted that 'parenthood' has become synonymous with 'boring', but it's totally worth it. Here are just a few of the signs that we are now parents first, and everything else second:

1. We think going to bed at 10:00 is going to bed late, and waking up at 7:30 or 8:00 is sleeping in.

2. An exciting weekend is having another couple with a child over, with the possibility of getting an hour or two of adult time after the kids go to bed.

3. A living room full of pictures and knick knacks has been replaced with one full of nothing but plastic .

4. We have churned through more batteries in the past 6 months than in the entire decade previous to that.

5. Bowel movements have become something to study and document, as opposed to being a topic used exclusively for sophomoric humor.

6. We no longer buy clothes for ourselves, as all clothing funds go to Janie and Jack, Gymboree, and Baby Gap instead.

7. We can sing every word to The Old Grey Mare and the Wheels on the Bus, but don't recognize a single word of any top 40 song on the radio.

8. Your golden retriever goes from being queen of the back seat on road trips, to being lucky if we remember to throw her in the back end of the vehicle before taking off.

9. Credit card statements have ten times the number of Sams, Target, and Walgreens entries, and 1/10th the number of restaurants and movie theater entries.

10. We've gone from connoisseurs of ethnic restaurants in St Louis, to connoisseurs of takeout and delivery chains in the burbs.

11. We no longer laugh nearly as hard as we used to at Will Ferrell's Home Depot and Bed, Bath, and Beyond one liner in Old School.

12. The loudest screams at New Year's parties come when children fall down, not when touchdowns are scored for the home team.

Happy New Year 2009!

Despite some great things that happened in 2008, most notably the birth of Lexi, we have to concede that in general it was a pretty 'crappy' year. With the imminent threat of Brian losing his job, the death of one of our dearest friends, and Lexi's multitude of health issues and near-death experiences, it hasn't exactly been one of our best years. However, 2008 being a 'crappy' year took on a completely new meaning on new year's eve last night, when we literally spent the evening cleaning up crap.

Since Lexi is quarantined, we didn't have exciting new year's eve plans. We planned on a quiet night at my mom's house in Bettendorf, partly because of Lexi and partly so Brian could throw a New Year's Party for the Iowa game and its 10am kickoff. My mom was not actually around, as even she as a 60+ year old had exciting overnight plans out of town. We were ready for a quiet night until right when everyone else was leaving for their plans, as then the crap hit....literally. My mom's sewer system decided to back up to the point that poop backed up and spilled out of her showers, and all the toilets became unusable. We spent a few hours troubleshooting the problem, and then after giving up and calling five sewer companies, we finally found someone who would come out and take a look at the problem. After they identified and fixed the problem, they left, and Brian and I were saddled with the clean up. We pulled on our gloves and got to work scrubbing the bathrooms and downstairs bedroom, then scrubbing ourselves, as to make certain not to infect Lexi.

So, our year that we termed crappy often times during 2008 turned into literal crap for the last few hours of 2008. It was a fitting end to the year, really. Needless to say, we've been looking forward to turning the page to 2009 for quite awhile, so we are pretty excited that finally happened this morning. With a fun bowl party, a big Iowa victory, and a couple good feedings for Lexi, we're off to a great start and hope it continues!

Lexi's Throne

Lexi has been enjoying her new Christmas gifts. We're starting to work on cause and effect, which means there are a lot of additions of noise and plastic in our living room. I guess that makes us truly into the parenting gig to have more plastic than anything else in the house! Grandma Phyllis spoiled Lexi by buying her this chair. We're hoping this encourages her trunk to develop and help her understand this sitting thing. For now, we'll just enjoy how cute she looks with her matching chair, pillow, and outfit.