No excuses

I'm not going to give you any excuses why I haven't been blogging. There's really only one and he's currently napping.

In my absence my blog hasn't been far from my mind. I'm trying to work out what I want to blog about. My day to day life is super boring. It makes me remember my time in Dublin as super kick ass. And England?? I was living the life of a superstar! I'm not sure the people reading my blog (aka my parents) want to hear about napping cycles, starting solids, and weaning off the pump. Crikey, that's boring. Maybe I just hate how lame I've become and trying to write about it just makes it all hit home.

Here's a list of some of the not-so-boring-to-me things that are in the works:

1. Adam is awesome. He is really a good baby and I have to remind my husband how easy we have it. Sure, he has his not awesome moments, but all in all, we're very lucky. He just turned 6 months old yesterday! He started eating solids a couple of weeks ago. Everything has been a hit (avocado, oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and peas) except apples. He was only lukewarm on those. Of course they're my favorite thing to give him because he makes hilarious faces. He's sitting up on his own. He still won't roll over from back to front, but quick to go front to back. And just today his first two teeth have started poking through!

2. I've finally convinced my husband to do some upgrades to the house. Living in the city and having a child can cause quite some parental stress. We don't have a yard (well, grass), will he hate us? We don't have a McMansion, will he hate us? We can't afford private school, will he hate us? Crime! No parking! Actually, the last two don't really bother us. It bothers other people who like to project their worries onto us. My husband's coworkers think we live in the middle of Islamabad. But, those first three things are real stresses that we have had, particularly schools. No yard? We live a half block away from a huge park. McMansion? We're not McMansion people, although I'd like a place a bit bigger. Living in this house, however, means I can stay home from work. I'm fine with living here (i.e. too lazy to get the house ready to sell), but there are some things that need to change if we're going to stay a few more years (minimum) and they're the biggies - bathroom and kitchen upgrades. Both need full remodels and this week people are coming to give us quotes! Squeee!!!

3. Schools - see number 2. My son is 6 months old and I need to start putting him on wait lists. I've done a tiny bit of research and I've learned that A.) Baltimore city elementary schools are not as bad as people think. Some actually out perform county schools. B.) You do not have to resign yourself to putting your kid in private school if you live in the city. and C.) I need to start getting him waiting lists pronto if I want to get him into one of these schools. We can't afford private school, plus, I'm not convinced my child would get a better education because we pay $20,000 per year to send him to a preschool. This means I'm going to have to do a bit of leg work and do some research. I grew up in a town where you went to this school for elementary school, then this school for junior high, then the local high school, so this is a whole new world for me. A good piece of advice I received was that since I clearly have no idea what type of learning style he'll do best in, we should put him on the wait lists for a variety of different schools so when it's time for him to go we'll have a choice. So, that's what I'll be doing this summer after we get back from number 4!

4. We're planning a trip to Ireland in a couple of months. CAN. NOT. WAIT!!! We haven't had a real vacation in way too long. Flying with a baby will be interesting, so I'm open to tips!