Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, Spring!

Most of the blogs I follow have had posts recently about wishing spring would hurry up, get here quickly, etc.  The nice weather we've been having lately has inspired most people to look forward to the flowers, sunshine, and warmth of the season of spring. 

At our house however, we dread Spring.  We avoid discussion of it.  We pretend it doesn't exist.  Throughout the fall and winter, we refuse to look ahead, for fear of staring dead into the eyes of that most awful of seasons.  We literally avoid saying its name (Harry Potter-style with that bad guy from the books).  It haunts us throughout the winter, an ever-present ghost in the back of our minds...lingering...threatening....

And now it is technically, officially, seasonally, and otherwise HERE.

Why, you might ask, do we hate the spring so much?  No, we're not vampires.  Good guess though.
Spring is Brandon's "busy season" at work.  Because he works with swimming pools, winter is pretty quiet around here.  Yes, there is work to be done, but it's not the demanding, relentless, exhausting work that spring and summer bring.  It worked out so perfectly that Carson was born in the winter so that Brandon had a few months to spend extra time with her and really be around for so many of her "firsts."

Spring is when Brandon's company begins to get pools ready to open.  He finalizes contracts, schedules, and routines.  He gets out in the field to follow-up on, evaluate, and help out the guys who work for him.  He has endless phone calls, paperwork, and emails.  The days run together.  He can't come home when he is caught up because he is never caught up.  He just has to decide when to call it a day, and he picks up there tomorrow.

Ever since I have known Brandon, this time of year has sucked.  I miss him.  He is exhausted all the time.  He is stressed all the time.  He is no fun (sorry honey).  This year will be especially difficult for him, because his late nights and weekend work will be taking him away from Carson.  Also, with Brandon needed so much at work, everything at home will be up to me.  Those of you who know my disdain loathing LOVE of house-keeping know this is not good.  Obviously, it's not impossible.  It's not even something that thousands of moms don't do every single day.  It's just new to me.

So if you come to our house in the next few months, please don't judge the smell or the dust or the dog running in circles because I haven't played with him today (and, let's face it, these aren't things you've never seen at my house before).  I really am doing the best that I can.  And if Brandon doesn't return your emails and phone calls with his usual quickness, or he has a glazed-over look in his eyes, or if he just isn't very *sunny*--please give him a break.  He's doing the best that he can too.

And because I believe in the power of positive thinking--I'm going to give you guys a few reasons to get with me on the "NO MORE SPRING" bandwagon.  If we all wish really hard and clap our hands, maybe we can hold it off just a little big longer............wait, or will that kill a fairy? 
Anyway, here are some things that suck about spring:

*Pollen--if you live in Georgia, you know what I'm talking about.  Soon all our cars will be yellow.  Our houses, driveways, and some days even the air will be yellow.  For many of us, our noses will run, our eyes will itch, and there will be a constant nagging tickle at the back of our throats.  Boo.

*Taxes--long gone are the days of sitting in my apartment doing my own taxes online.  These days, we have to pay a professional to look through all our personal business and fill out all the papers I no longer understand.  Not to mention, they always need some tiny slip of paper we got in the mail eight months ago or something like that and I have to tear apart the house looking for it.  No fun.

*March Madness--sorry if you're in love with basketball, but I am not.  I find it to be the most pointless sport to watch.  In almost every game I have ever seen, it comes down to the last 2 minutes of scoring.  They go back & forth and whoever happens to have more points when the buzzer sounds is the winner.  But it seems like if the game was 15 seconds longer, the other team could just as easily have won.  Big waste of time if you ask me.

*Spring Cleaning--Eww!  Who wants to crawl into every corner and cranny of their house wiping up dirt and grime?  Okay, it's pretty great once it's finished, but the actual process of spring cleaning goes on my list of yuck.

*Mowing--grass starts growing again and the lawn needs mowing again.  Goodbye, 60-90 minutes of every weekend (or rather, $40 of the week's budget to pay someone who can do it much faster and better than us :)  ).


See?  Who wants spring now?  Not me!  Who's with me?!

Ch-ch-changes

So Carson is a bit over 3 months now, and it seems like she is a new baby every couple of days!  She has been changing so quickly and drastically (to us anyway) we feel like we can't keep up!  Here are a few of the things Carson has realized lately:
There are things attached to the ends of her arms (those things that wave around a lot when she's happy) and if she's lucky, they do what she tells them to do.

Other people have hands too!!!!  They are fun to watch.

It feels good when hands rub your eyes when you're tired or go into your mouth when you're hungry.

There is A LOT of cool stuff to see in the world.  She has become so aware of everything around her.  She can't concentrate when she eats, she contorts her body all over the place to see more while we play, and when we read her books she actually looks at the pages with interest.  

Lying down is no longer an option because she might miss something.  She is constantly trying to sit herself up further.  As a result, we see this face a lot:

Before long, Carson will be sitting up on her own!  She's still too unsteady to be set free though. 

There is a lot to be happy about, especially after a bath, when you're naked and clean!

We also tried putting Carson in her little doorway jumper thing this week, now that she can hold her head up.  I think they used to call them Johnny Jump Ups or something, but Carson's is called a Sassy Seat.  Which cracks me up.  She's still a little bit too small to get the full experience, but if this isn't sassy, I don't know what is:

A Totally Rad Weekend

I'm mainly going to let the pictures speak for themselves on this one.  Saturday night, Brandon's parents came to watch Carson (thanks Gram & Poppy!) while Brandon and I went to an eighties-themed birthday party for this guy (seen here dressed as Prince):

Everyone had a blast re-living their childhood fashion crimes.  I personally enjoyed seeing everyone's take on the 80's and what that period embodied for them.  Especially Brandon.

And yes, he really did shave his head.

I broke out my vintage Strawberry Shortcake watch (it's creepy calling something I owned as a kid vintage) and stuck with the more traditional side-ponytailed valley girl look...

While others went with the 80's glam/punk rock effect.

And still others had their own visions they brought to life.

Needless to say, there is not a thrift store left in the Altanta area with a single piece of neon clothing or a pair of keds to their name.  Which is probably a good thing.

Success!

So the trip to Vegas was a total success!  Carson survived (as I knew she would), the grandparents survived (although I think they might have been a bit tired), and I survived (with only minimal guilt).

Really though, Brandon and I had a blast in Las Vegas, and the grandparents had a great time here with Carson.  They took really good care of her and returned her to us in exactly the condition in which she was left--which I will enjoy while I can.  I know the day is coming when she is returned to us in a much more spoiled condition than when we left!

As for my trip, I arrived Friday around lunchtime in Vegas, made it to the hotel, and had some lunch.  Then I went back to the room for some rest before the evening.  Let me stop there and talk about this hotel room for a minute.  It was gorgeous.  Great view of the strip. Nice bathroom, an office area, a sitting area with a sectional couch, small table where we had breakfast each morning, three flat screen TVs (although I'm not sure why you'd need that many in one hotel suite!)...I'm talking nice.

Here's some fun stuff we did over the weekend:

• went to see the Cirque du Soleil show O--the one on water.  It was amazing, perplexing, overwhelming.  And our seats were possibly the best seats I've had to any event ever.
• went shopping--now, I am generally not a shopper.  Thirty minutes of shopping usually tires me out--like EXHAUSTS me.  And it's not very fun in most cases.  But this weekend, it was just Brandon and I and we were able to wander around together with no deadline, no place to be, and I really enjoyed it.  They have some crazy shops there too--at our hotel I mean.  They had an "old book" store, which I'm sure had a much more official name.  But that's what it was.  You could get a first edition copy of Green Eggs and Ham or a book autographed by Abraham Lincoln.  There were also the traditional Vegas knick knack shops where you could get just about anything shaped like a playing card or a poker chip (soap, salt & pepper shakers, etc).  Then there were the super-fancy stores.  And let me tell you, watching a die-hard NASCAR fan (as evidenced by their head-to-toe get-up with almost as many NASCAR endorsements as the drivers themselves have) meander through a Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin store was an interesting juxtaposition.  I guess that sounds judgmental of me. Sorry.  (by the way, when Brandon previewed this entry for me, he thought I made up the word juxtaposition. I didn't.)
• saw Kim Kardashian--she was just walking through the shopping area about 5 feet in front of us with a couple of her friends.  My friend Jana spotted her first and actually recognized Kim's friend from the TV show before she realized it was Kim.  Yeah that's right, we're on a first-name basis now.
• went for a gondola ride--again, I am not usually one for this straight-up touristy kind of stuff where I pay for a fake gondola to ride me through water that goes exactly where I just walked and some fake Italian sings and makes irrelevant chit-chat.  But I was doing my best to be in the moment, take advantage of chances I might not have again for awhile, and just indulge in whatever came along.  So a gondola ride it was!  And it was fun.  I'm really glad we did it.
• gambled--this is definitely  more Brandon's forte than my own, BUT I did end up winning more money than I lost and had a great time.  I played craps and a table poker game.  Oh, and war.  That's right.  You can play war at the casino.  The game where all you have to do is have the higher card.  I didn't win much there.
• napped--I like sleep.  Always have.  It's not that I require SO much of it or enjoy just laying around in bed all day.  I just don't function very well when I'm tired.  I never learned to "fight through" the fatigue.  Most young children beg their parents to stay up later than their set bedtime.  Most young kids try to pull a fast one on the babysitter and convince them bedtime is later than it really is.  Not me.  When I was younger, I would put myself to bed, even if it wasn't bedtime yet.  If I was tired, it wasn't fun anymore.  So motherhood has been a bit of a shock to me sleep-wise.  This weekend, I was able to nap and not feel guilty about it.  It was beautiful.
• went to an ice bar--this was one of my favorite things we did.  This bar was completely made of ice--completely.  You might think, "Wait, was the floor ice?"  Yes.  "But the tables and chairs?"  Yes.  Glasses, chandeliers, walls, ceiling, the actual bar where you go order...EVERYTHING was ice.  They even give you big coats and gloves to wear.  We weren't allowed to take cameras inside, but you can click here for their website.
• Skyped with Carson--not sure if Skype can be made into a verb, but I just did.  So there.  It was great to be able to see and talk to Carson even though we were far far away.
• felt like "me" again--it's hard to explain, but I felt more like my old self over the weekend.  I guess it's not that hard.  I used to not have a baby, and this weekend I kind of didn't again.  There, that was easy to explain.  Obviously, I love being a mom and adore Carson more than words can express.  But it was fun to get a little reminder of what life used to be like too.
• bonded with Brandon--along the same lines as the previous thing on the list.  Decisions were easy to make because there were no time limits or feedings to factor in.  And he and the other husbands put so much thought and effort into planning the weekend, it was fun to be able to enjoy it together.  I believe I have truly one of the all-time best husbands in the world (which I'm not saying just because I have to), and having fun with him reminded me again of all the reasons I love him.
• came home--possibly the best part was returning home to Carson.  It felt so fulfilling and comforting to have her back in our arms when we returned. 

And lastly, here are a few pictures I took the other day.  I really took about 50 of them, and I swear she had a different facial expression in every single one.  She's growing up so fast!