Fathering for the Win!

Now she's done it. Kalina has started working. That means I get what I imagine will eventually be the joy of caring for Apollo all by myself. I say eventually because I've got a lot to learn. For instance, right now I just spent the last 100 minutes or so trying to get him to sleep. Not exactly the quickest its been done. He's still just lying there playing with his giraffe. I've pulled every trick I know, and even invented a few new ones. At least he's not crying. You see, it's not that he's a bad kid - I'm just a noob.
It doesn't help that everything is a death trap now. Apollo is starting to crawl? Any paper, rock, nail or scissors on the floor is his potential end. I laid him down for a nap in his crib earlier today I he managed to get his leg stuck between the rungs. Bed or coffin? Nothing is safe.

Today's Black Friday. Our big purchases? A $25 vacuum that's the quality of a $25 vacuum, 200 pieces of Mega Blocks for the little man and a safe/fun/foam bowling set. Hooray for commerce!

 

blurry picture of apollo in his very own taxi. enjoy.

thanks for nothing.

i'm just kidding. like steven said, "i'm thankful we are not dead." so happy thanksgiving everyone. i hope everyone has enjoyed their gluttonous day.

actually steven, apollo, and i had a pretty wonderful day. we unpacked some packed items, had breakfast, lunch, and supper, and we are now getting ready for bed. i plan on ending my thanksgiving by reading the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and falling asleep to Harry Potter battling some bad wizards and getting out of tights spots. isn't this all fantastic in its spectacular ordinariness?

thanks to my parents and brother for bringing all of our junk to our new apartment. It now looks like we live here. We have our bed and our books, which is all we really need. Apollo has his crib. Now I just have to get him to sleep in it.

mysterious case file#2145: time flies and peanut m&ms disappear

We finally got internet in the home. I feel like I've just skipped a decade. I was in the early 90's you see.. I had a home computer and played solitaire and wrote word documents. But now, NOW! I can communicate like it's 2009! No dial up connection, no cords at all! I give money and get freedom my friends!

On the turn side I have now increased my anxiety...Did someone email me? Better check. No, no email. Maybe a facebook wall post!!! No, not that either. The internet is like a drug. You can't help but want it. And then once you've got it, you wonder what to do with this wonderful high at the tip of your fingers. It's like you can have anything in the world and you can't think of what it is you want most. So you settle for checking your email every 10 minutes and eating m&ms. Before you know it, it's the next day and your bag of m&ms is empty...

Since I haven't posted in a while here's some catch up:

Apollo is sitting on up on his own rump without assistance! Bam! Happy 5th monthiversary buddy.

Belated Happy Birthday to The Steven. He is now in his mid-twenties.

I am attempting to find a job. Lucky me. The only thing worse than looking for jobs, is having to fill out applications. I'm applying for mostly seasonal jobs that have minimum responsibilites and mediocre benefits.
When they ask me
"What skills do you have that make you an ideal candidate for the job?"
I want to respond with
"I'm not a moron."
Lucky, Lucky me.

My parents (The Kim and The Ferlin and The Brett, although The Brett is not my parent) are visiting this weekend. Steven and I have been contemplating where to take them out to eat on Saturday night. We have decided to narrow it down and let them choose either steak or pizza. Both restaurants have original montana flavor. I'll update on the outcome after this weekend.

SNOW!

It has snowed like mad here! Measuring by the snow that accumulated on the top of the electrical box in our front yard, it's probably snowed 18 inches by now, and it's still going. I had a hard time pulling the car out of it's spot on the street, but luckily I managed without even getting a shovel. Things sure are messy though, tree branches have fallen all over. Apollo has been amazed with all the white stuff. He's even been a trooper getting into his snow suit. It's now the first snow, but it sure is a big one.

13 year old self

"i think sometimes i fight to stay my 13 year old self. the one that doesn't realize what she thinks is cool really isn't. i get so down because everyone just wants to fit in. whats so great about fitting in? then everyone is the same. why even exist if you want to be the same as everyone else?

i dont know. i just don't get it. and i kind of hate that people think im the weird one because i like chunky bracelets and cutting my own hair. what the fuck. why does it matter to them? can't we all just express ourselves however we feel we need to? maybe one day every single person will do exactly what they feel they need to do to become more whole within themselves.

i hate having to fight the man just to be myself. it seems it should be the opposite way. it should be weird to copy what everyone else is wearing and thinking and doing. it is if you think about it. but perhaps my view of this only proves my unwillingness to form to societal stereotypes that are pushed upon me.

the saddest part about it is that it is incredibly hard and difficult to find yourself in the first place. we search and search to find out who we are. and once we know, instead of basking in the wonderfulness of it, we put on the sameness outfit, haircut, jewelry, car, home, family, lifestyle, religious beliefs, etc. because if we don't, we are the weird ones."

apollo is teething, it's true. i can see those two little nubs on his bottom gum. this makes for a very cranky, restless sleeping apollo and very tired momma k. so, as i am so exhausted, i copied a message i wrote to a friend and posted it on my blog. sorry no original thoughts for the blog today.

Personal Space

Okay, so overall we really like it here. But there is just this weird sort of problem people have with giving you the proper amount of space.

With elevators especially. It's not that the people here are rude, they are actually pretty considerate like when it comes to letting you cross the street and holding doors open for you. When we have the stroller and need to go to the second floor of the Co-Op or the library, we use the elevator. More than once when the doors will open at our destination people, who incidentally are perfectly capable of using the stairs, will be waiting to enter the elevator. Both of these have only two floors, so anyone in the elevator when it opens is more than likely getting out. But they just stand there directly in front of the door waiting for you to get out. But WE HAVE A STROLLER. You need to step aside in order for us to get out. And we'll say "Excuse Me" unnessicarily and they take a half step back or to the side. Thanks. And they'll stand there and smile at you the whole time they block your path. And you'd think, "Well maybe they just don't realize they are in the way." But it's so obvious that in order for us to get out, they have to move. They are like standing IN the doorway. With 4 people. They aren't upset at you or anything, they just can't figure out why you are not exiting the elevator.

Same sort of thing has happened to us with building entrances where we'll be trying to exit a building with just us, no stroller or anything and just as we are at the doorway, a doublewide stroller pulls up and is trying to get in the building. Only clearly it won't fit in the door. So rather than letting us out quick, it takes 3 people to take one side off the stroller while blocking the doorway. And then try it again, only clearly it still won't fit. So then they take the other side off while blocking the doorway, until finally they can barely squeeze through the doorway the whole time we have politely stood at the exit waiting for them.

Or just now at the library we are sitting at a table and some art is hung all along the wall that we are sitting at. Some lady is looking at the art, standing too close for comfort. Kalina tries to get something out of her bag and the lady is standing so close that Kalina is unable to get in her bag. The lady says excuse me as though we are in her way. She is litterally standing about six inches from our table. This is a pretty open space, and art hangs on the wall opposite us, nothing else there, just art on the wall, and she doesn't even look at those. Same artist, same style photographs, more interesting even in my opinion.

Or yesterday in a store some lady and her daughter have their shopping cart sitting perpendicular to the aisle. We try to get thorough, the lady looks at us, continues shopping. We say excuse me and she continues shopping.

Like I said, it's not that people here are rude, it's just like they don't have this sense of personal space. Which is weird since people don't live in as close of quarters as say people in Chicago. It's nothing short of bizarre.