Fast and Furious

Dude. Seriously. This kid is in milestone overdrive. Last night, Wyatt crawled for the first time! He's been taking a few "steps" before losing his focus, but he's done it several times, so we know he has the mechanics down. He ought to be a speeding bullet of a rug rat in no time. As I mentioned in my last post, he's also learning to climb. We finally lowered his crib in order to prevent him from taking a dive over the top. Last night he also attempted to pull himself up to a standing position on the couch. He couldn't quite get there, but he looked determined, which seems to garner quick results in Wyatt land. I'm also trying to teach him how to crawl down backwards from the couch. I got a picture of him on my cell phone standing steady after a crawl-down lesson, and I expect we'll see more of this pose as he figures out how to pull all the way to standing. And since every time he's in a standing position, he tries to take steps, I foresee an early walker... I keep having to remind myself that my milestone-ramming, super tall little boy is really only 7 months old. Sometimes he looks so much older than that. Oh, but those chubby cheeks give him away... :)

I'm also happy to report that yesterday I slipped into the jeans I wore for my engagement pictures two years ago. I wore them comfortably for most of the day until Wyatt managed to get carrots on them. Fun with laundry! But it felt great. I'm not quite to my goal weight yet, but getting into some of my skinnier clothes is definitely incentive to keep fighting the good fight. It'll probably take a "mom job" after we're done having kids to get me back into my favorite bikini, but I sure do have a lot of great jeans I'll be thrilled to wear all winter. :)

More about me, me, me: I've been wrestling with an old manuscript lately. (Yes, reading Twilight inspired me.) I love my characters and the premise, but something was eating at me as I tried to move the story forward. Well, I figured it out! Now I can move forward, and potentially finish this thing! I realize this is kind of cryptic, since I'm not going to reveal my secret ingredient... or even the kind of recipe for that matter, ha ha, but I just had to share. I made a breakthrough. And for a writer, that kicks ass. :)

Here's the happy mama with her munchkin. I so rarely have pictures of myself posted anywhere, so I figured I'd drop in and say hello:

Lucky Number 7

On Saturday, the munchkin will be 7 months old. It's strange to even try to think about whether that happened quickly or slowly. Like with all things time-related, I have a mixed response with dramatic swings of the pendulum. But whether that took forever, or happened in a blink, we have a 7 month old child. And I say child, not baby. This kid quit being a baby a while back. He's such a little boy. It's crazy to listen to him growl, see him create his own game of peek-a-boo, and watch the milestones wander past us. He's cut his second tooth as of this morning (a grumpy morning indeed), and is learning how to climb. Evidently, a child doesn't need to know how to crawl forward in order to crawl up. He is easily bored, fights naps like a champ, and will always grin wildly at his first glimpse of his dad each day. He's a beautiful little boy, and he now actually knows what "no" means, and responds (usually) accordingly. Pretty stinkin' miraculous stuff.

I will now enter the portion of my blog I'll call "luck-schmuck". I'm going to give you the very abbreviated story of what I referred to at the end of my last blog. A week ago today, Ryan was called in to help his landlord evict a tenant. It was a church, which sounds innocent enough, but when all was said and done, the "pastor" had called in some thugs to break Ryan's face, and he had to pull his pistol (a gun he carries legally, by the way) to get them to stand down. (I put "pastor" in quotation marks fairly, considering by the end he was yelling "don't call me pastor. I'm not a pastor". I think that's what we refer to as a "wolf in sheep's clothing.") Well, they claimed they were gonna go get more guys and guns... As they sped of, Ryan called 911. After 5 attempts, he got through. (Makes you feel really safe, doesn't it? 5 attempts to get through to 911? Our safe society is such a thin veneer...) After a tense and scary 15 minutes, the police came to "diffuse" the situation. That means they made everyone go away, not that anyone was actually safe. But still, a gun fight was obverted, so that's a relief. Especially over a frickin' eviction of a church. Well, the next morning, the landlord got a call from the "pastor", saying the boys didn't like getting a gun pulled on them, so they were out looking for Ryan with a few "shooters" fresh out of the Pen. Great. Perfect. So there was like a hit out on my husband for evicting a church that never paid a cent of rent... and he's not even the landlord. Needless to say, we decided to leave town for a while and let things cool down. Things seem to be okay now, but no mother of a small child (okay no one, period) enjoys scary threats. So we're still on high alert for a while... Awesome. Heartwarming, ain't it? So that's the short version. I don't know if I have the energy to get into the longer version, but let me just tell you one thing: Ryan acted in wisdom and more importantly - he acted rightly. And I'll always be glad I'm married to the good guy, even if dealing with a bad guy may put him in danger. Contrary to what some may think, there's still such a thing as right and wrong, and my husband is on the good side.

On a lighter note, where are my book recommendations, people? Come on, throw this literary fiend a bone! I'm almost done with my rebound book and I'm jonesing for input. Thanks!

Read the Signs

I basically decided that if I was going to start reading again after Twilight, it was going to have to be something very different and potentially mindless. I found the perfect transition book to help me enjoy some lighthearted chick lit again. It's called Baby Proof by Emily Giffin. The protagonist is pleasantly sarcastic and completely grown up, which helps my cause. I needed something written in a voice that sounded nothing like Bella Swan, so I wouldn't keep comparing and getting bored when she didn't fall madly in love with a vampire and repeatedly almost get herself killed... So yeah, this one works. Hopefully the books keep on coming. Ideas are always appreciated!

Wyatt, now 6 1/2 months old, is really on verge of crawling. I know I've said that several times, but he actually pushes with one knee now and magically finds himself a couple feet away from his initial location. I don't think he quite knows what out of his arsenal of movements actually works best, but he'll probably figure it out any day now. I started putting outlets plugs all over the house in preparation, and Ryan even put corner guards on our ridiculously sharp coffee table corners. We haven't installed the cabinet locks or actually moved things out of their low-to-floor positions (i.e. vases in the entryway...) and we still need to get something to guard the fireplace from little hands, and I guess we're gonna need a couple retractable gates... oy. Not sure how these changes will look in our house... Get over it, Shannon. You're a mom now. These things go with the territory... And really, can I complain when I already have a pile of toys in the living room and blankets spread all over the floor for playing? How is that not an eye sore? :) Only the best fo my little dude.

Speaking of the boy, I forgot to share his latest measurements from the doctor. He was 20lb 13oz (90th percentile) and 29.5" tall (off the charts). Still on his way to some sort of high-paying professional sports career, I think. :) But you know, we'll settle for a doctor; so he has options.

I will very briefly touch on one more topic from our day, before calling this blog quits. I am exceedingly grateful to God that my husband is safe today. And I have a brand new level of understanding as to why the 2nd Amendment was written for the good guys. Holy CRAP. If you know Ryan (or me, and want to know more details) give one of us call, and we'll give you the breakdown on how Ryan's CCW (permit to carry a concealed weapon) saved his life today. I'll blog little more about it next time. Not trying to be cryptic, just absorbing it before I spit it out to the masses.

Sit Up Straight!

A month after my last post, it has finally occurred to me that perhaps I should write again. You'd think I didn't find my life interesting enough for public consumption or something.... jeez.

So, anyway. Wyatt is sitting up on his own now! He just started doing it, without immediately falling over, today! I think it was the incentive of getting to beat up a toy football, as is illustrated in the picture. :) I'm hoping maybe this will also mean he'll stop spitting up soon, spitty little bugger that he is, but I'm not holding my breath. I think I may have a son who spits up until well into high school, ha ha. He's still working on the whole crawling thing. Not quite there, but very much on his way. And no, we still haven't baby proofed our house. Yeah... we really need to get around to that soon.

Let's see, what else? I just finished reading all four books in the Twilight saga. I'm embarrassed to even say it, because until I read them, I thought they were just obsessive teen books... about as tempting to me as the Jonas Brothers. But then, you know, I read them. I blame Andrea, who convinced me that they're as fun for adults as teens. :) And it turns out she was right; they're really good! And now every time I start a new book, I'm bored after a few pages. Nothing is entertaining me! Help! If any of you have some good ideas for books that are super entertaining and fun, I'm all ears. I was digging the reading thing so much, and now I'm ruined for most of the books I had on my "to read" list. For now, the good news is that I'm back to working on a book I started writing in grad school. My goal is to write a book that entertains me as much as those did. If you can't find one, write one, right?

I guess that's about it. Have a great October!