Bets are on.

I'm still not speaking to the Large Child I married. A simple apology for being an imbecile was all that I needed. Instead, what I got was Mr. Wrong and Strong (is that just a trini phrase?). And a repeat performance on imbecility. Yes. A repeat performance.

I wonder how long it will take before it registers that:
1. Children and babies, like other mammals, need food and water on a regular and continuous basis.
2. Defending idiocy is a guaranteed panty-blocker.

I'm taking bets!

YAAAAAAAAAWN, grumble grumble grumble

You know how much sleep new moms get right?  Well, the ones that don't use sleep training anyway. This isn't about sleep training the Angel, so I don't need any advice there.  But thanks all the same :)

The way I figure it, I'm still a new mom.

Do you know how much sleep the new mom of a sick baby gets?  It is like taking the amount that she normally gets (which isn't much), and dividing it by a kajillion.  Or thereabouts.  You can round it off if you feel like.

Did I mention that it is winter?

One thing I learnt early on about this thing they call winter, EVERYBODY gets sick.  More than once.  More than twice.  Heck even more than 3 times.  And the funny thing about babies is that if someone coughs in the next town, they get sick too.

She's been sick 3 times so far.  Winter just started.  Sleep is allergic to me.

The bags under my eyes look like the big heavy duty garbage bags you use after a smashing party.  Now if I had been to the party... that was another lifetime.

So this morning I asked the man large child I live with (formerly known as The Funny Dude) if he would PLEASE take the baby downstairs after I nursed her and had been up for OVER AN HOUR WHILE HE SLEPT ON OBLIVIOUSLY so that I could grab just a little shut eye.  Just a little.

Eventually he did.  Waking up takes time, you know.  It does one no good to be rushed and all.  

The Angel was less than impressed at first, but eventually I heard her playing begrudgingly, and I rolled over, pulled the covers over my head and literally Slippery-Slope-FELL into a deep sleep.

But OF COURSE, it was just too good to last.

Her cries woke me up.  It's an evolutionary thing I hear.  Apparently dads don't have that ''baby is crying = alarm bell in my soul'' gene.  Which explains why he is usually SLEEPING ON OBLIVIOUSLY while I am NOT.

But I forgot to give you some background:

EVERY morning for the past SIX MONTHS or so, I make breakfast for us.  Fruits, yogurt, bread, cheese, eggs, oatmeal, pancakes... any combination of those that I can throw together.  Hubby usually just drinks coffee.  I feed the baby and myself.  EVERY MORNING.  This is NOT a new routine.

Back to the story.

Hubby opens the door to my short-lived haven and hands over a teary, sobby, snotty, sad, little Angel.  Poor thing.

''Did you give her breakfast?'' was my STOOOOOOOOPID question.

Honestly, if I could turn back time, I wouldn't have bothered to ask.  And saved myself a butt-load of thunderbolts.

''We don't have anything,'' was the DAFT AND OBVIOUSLY UNINFORMED reply.

You see, there was yogurt, bread, cream cheese, butter, oatmeal, cheerios, baby biscuits, fruits, even left-over pizza. 

But STUPID ME!!

I LEFT THE IDIOT THINGS IN THE FRIDGE!!!

Preeeesenting: The Angel's First Year complete with sappy Savage Garden song.

I finally got it to work. YAY!!  clap clap clap.  *takes a bow*

I know the song is super cheesy; but since she was born, every time I hear it, I fill up and overflow with Mommy Love.  Probably not the reaction they had in mind when they wrote it, but...  tough cookies.

So here you go.  The Angel's first year.

WT... on Wednesday

It's that time again! You know, where I share with you all the *beep* moments of my week.

I planned everything for the Angel's first birthday on Sunday gone... a clown to do balloon tricks, a menu that wasn't entirely based on sugar, friends from near and far with kids, balloons galore, custom-designed cake, hats and noisy thingamabobs. Everything. Or so I thought. I forgot to ask Mother Nature for permission to have a 'do'. And she had other plans. She thought a SNOW STORM would be more fun. WT...(AAAAAHHHHH) So much for the party. We ate the cake anyway, with 2 neighbours who braved the blizzard to join us. And then built a snow-man.

Google keeps ignoring me when I try to log in. WT...??? And that means blogger too. This post is a fluke.

Hours spent putting a slideshow of the Angel's first year together, complete with sappy music, seem to be in vain. Blogger and YouTube won't let me upload it. WT... (grrrrrrrrrr).

Some Estonian kids keep showing up at my door dressed in weird costumes and singing weird songs. And I have to give them snacks. WT...! Halloween was weeks ago! Now I have no more cookies.

Not too bad a week actually. It could have been worse.

What about you? How has your week gone so far?

Thursday 13. My first year of being a Mama.

In a few days, the Angel's first year will have be over. My baby just isn't a baby anymore. There were times during this year that I longed for her to be older just so I could understand and be understood, but there were countless more times when I held onto every inch of her soft, baby sweetness and whispered ''I want you to stay like this forever.''

1. Mommy-love is the most overwhelmingly beautiful thing that I have ever experienced. When she was first born, it took me completely by surprise and I swore I could never have another baby. It just wasn't possible to love more than one person this much. Now, I'm not so sure. Me thinks me wants more... lots more :) (Relax honey, I can wait a little while longer.)

2. Labour is the most horrendously, excruciatingly PAINFUL thing that I have ever experienced. When it was over, I swore that I would NEVER EVER EVER have another baby. There was NO WAY IN HELL that I would put myself through that again. And that was with an epidural (or so they told me). Now, I'm not so sure. Me thinks me wants an all-natural home birth next time :)

3. I don't know of anything sweeter than my baby's smile.

4. I don't know of anything more heartbreaking than my baby's tears.

5. Sleepless nights suck. You get over it and live to see another day. Although that doesn't change the fact that it sucks. It sucks especially hard when, despite being awake for half the night, the baby decides to start the day at 5:30 am.

6. Sucking the snot out of your newborn's nose when she can't breathe isn't as gross as it sounds. It tastes like water, but slightly more gelatinous. I know you were dying for that tidbit of information :D

7. Everyday I experience more joy than I knew existed before I had her.

8. I have, at times, gone days without a shower; I have often been covered in puke, snot, pee, poop, and sometimes a combination; I can't remember the last time I had my nails done or wore high heels; I am still fabulous :)

9. Now that she is a toddler, I miss my baby.

10. Now that she is a toddler, I can't wait to see who she will become.

11. A toddler is a world of fun, shrieking giggles, silly games, tests of patience, jiggly bottoms scurrying away at nappy-change-time, splashy baths, everything needs to be tasted, cupboards are for emptying, cat tails are for pulling, sweet snuggles, and unabashed love.

12. A newborn is a world of tiny hands, the sweetest angel sighs, itsy bitsy clothes, heart-breaking tenderness, softly curled little bodies, miraculous beginnings, and love love love.

13. Seeing a man lovingly take care of his baby is a guaranteed panty-dropper. (thanks for that lovely expression Witchypoo :)

WT... on Wednesday

CENSORSHIP!! WT...

Because I'm a good girl who listens to her parents (kyaaah kyaah kyaaah) I've decided to change my smash hit 'WTF Friday'. It was a one hit wonder. Now, you can express yourself with varying degrees of shock, surprise, anger, OMG'ness; from ''What the Heck'', to ''What the Blazing Red Firetruck''.

Express yourself!

No, I'm not a snob

ˇ
It's just that I can't seem to find the time to check you out, my wonderful bloggy friends, or if I do, I can't get around to writing my comments. I sometimes get as far as clicking on your link... but then the baby wakes up.... again. She's teething.... again.

And for the past couple days I bin bizy making the invitations for her first birthday party! How exciting!!! Drawing and cutting and gluing and, and, and... Oh My!! I'm in kindergarten heaven.

So now I have to play ketchup. A quick glance yesterday let me know that there are many wonderful posts and comments waiting to be read. I'm drooling with anticipation, kinda like the Angel is also doing atm.

Off I go!

Tea Time

ˇ
Me: ''Turn on the kettle please honey.''

Funny Dude winks seductively at said kettle and suggestively rubs its smooth, round body: ''Uh huuuuuhhhh''

Funny Dude: ''No?''

Poor fella.

WTF Friday

Last night I found out that today will be Friday. WTF! Where did the week go? In honor of my Eureka moment, I present all the things this week that have made me say WTF:

Only 35% of Estonians supported Obama. WTF??

The fact that this was a defining moment in history was not that important here (except to us foreigners). There wasn't much ado about it at all. WTF?

There was ICE on the car this morning. WTF!!

The Prime Minister of Trinidad wants to spend 35 million TT dollars to lease luxury vehicles for the Summit of the Americas from BMW in Germany. The local dealers wanted to lease them to the government at no cost. WTF?!?!?!?!?!

The tooth fairy now has to pay 20 dollars per tooth. WTF! In my day, I got 25 cents! Kinda like how in my parents' day they used to pay 3 cents for a loaf of bread, with cheese. Damn I feel old.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. So why am I doing this alone? WTF! (Yes, I have a husband, but he is at work all day. He does what he can, especially after enthusiastic discussions about the value of sitting on the couch with his laptop and its impact on the parenting experience.)

The cat's bowl is empty. Am I the only one that sees that? WTF?

I've been very tired, kinda pukey, head-achey, my boobs are sporadically leaking, but the pee-pee stick only shows 1 line. WTF??

Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent. W.T.F???????????

I saw a t-shirt that read ''Don't blame me, I voted for McCain''. WTF?

In 2 weeks, the Angel will be ONE YEAR OLD. WTF?!! Where did the year go??????? My tiny, soft, precious, beautiful, cooing, fragile little newborn is now a rumbling, tumbling, babbling, even more precious, even more beautiful toddler. But more on that in another post.

I am a wife and mother! WTF!!!!!! (But that's to be read in more of a ''Oh my God! HOW COOOOOL'' kinda way )

So there you have it. My Eureka moments for this week. Did you have any?

And now I hope.

So finally Ye Yankees have done something that the rest of the world fully agrees with. Kudos. Two very enthusiastic and wiggly thumbs up, with smiley lipstick faces painted on them (not the same shade Miss Alaska uses, obviously).

And now I allow myself the feeling of hope; a feeling that I have kept a lid on for the past couple months. Although I did take a lil taste every now and again.

I hope.

I hope that if a country as large and diverse and varying with extremes as the US can come together regardless of any differences to collectively choose something good, then so too can my own tiny country.

I hope that one day my faith will be restored in Trinidad's politicians, and that one day I will have a Prime Minister and Members of Parliament that I can respect, and even look up to.

I hope that climate change becomes an important enough issue in the US for Trini politicians to be forced to take it seriously too.

I hope that my daughter will grow up in a world that isn't 90% below sea level, and destroyed by war.

I hope that war will not be never again be the first option.

I hope that the disenfranchised young men in Trinidad's ghettos will see this new president as a role model, as something worth emulating, and feel the strength they need to change their lives and neighbourhoods.

I hope that somebody reading this will send me an Obama T-shirt (size S) :) I don't care if you have worn it already. I just want a little piece of history that I can be proud of, and that will restore my faith in humanity when it needs restoring.