In a Nutshell

Yeah, I guess I'll post something. I haven't really been in the mood to post, whether it's because I'm sleeping, seeing Chancho or I just don't feel like I have something worthy to say, but I'm ending that now. Lately, it's been all about work. Since I've gotten back from Toronto I've been busy with The Container Store. We had an all store meeting, last Sunday, which they asked me to come in 5 hours earlier than I was supposed to. It was nice because I was able to leave 5 hours earlier. Then Monday I was babysitting Buster all day. I'm working on getting him to walk. He's very stubborn. He won't do it. He knows that if he cries long enough someone will a. give whatever he wants to him or b. he'll get picked up and carried. After a day of babysitting I headed in to work for an overnight. It was a huge night. We switched every single aisle around in the office and collections section. Which is about 6 aisles. I was beat. I was also up for 24 hours by the time I got home. Which lead me to sleep for all of Tuesday. Then I was up again this morning for more work. But good news! I am now a leader on mornings that there are trucks. This means that I am in charge of at least 13 people. I'm directly in charge of 3. It's a little odd, but I think I'll adjust okay as I do it more. I'm finally off for the next 2 days.
Then we start up with more happenings. Starting Saturday, I have work and then straight from work I'm driving the parents to their cruise. They'll be gone for a week in the Bahamas. I'll also be attending a cousin's birthday party that night. Chancho lovingly was able to switch around his schedule so that he would be able to attend it with me. I switched my schedule so that we could go to the NYPD BBQ on Sunday. Oh lord that is coming up quickly. I am nervous as usual to meet everyone. All the guys will be out paintballing while I'm left with the wives at the house. I'm not one to get along with women all that well. So we'll see how it goes. It always takes me a while to befriend women. I just seem to get along better with guys, that's always how it's been. This will definitely be a big step outside of my comfort zone.

Chancho made an arrest in plain clothes the other day. Very out of the ordinary. He was heading to go home when a couple came in and complained about being conned out of money and an apartment. Turns out that they met a woman to put a down payment on an apartment from Craigslist. Then they researched the apartment and it was a senior citizens home. No apartment. The woman was wiring the money to a man in Florida. So Chancho had them set up an appointment with the lady again at a Dunkin Donuts. He was there inside the Dunkin Donuts with them sitting across at another table and arrested her when they were handing over the money.

That seems to be my life in a nutshell. As you can see not much going on. Waiting for the weather to get a little bit nicer so we can go to the beach. I'm dying for the sand between my toes!

Quote of the Day: "I miss you, and I want things back to how they used to be. I need your friendship more then ever. I need you in my life again. Tell me what it is that went wrong, and I'll do what it takes to fix it in a second if it means having you by my side again."
Listening to: "Stellar" by Incubus

Chinchillas, iguanas, and turtles, oh my!

As promised, I took Buster to the Nature Center. I got my first experience of taking him out in public and it went beyond well. I met 4 of my friends there, two couples, one of which has an almost 2 year old son, LJ. I pulled up in the parking lot and got out putting Buster into his stroller and my two friends say Wow You really look like an adult. I guess seeing me with a baby, a stroller, diaper bag and an SUV would constitute an adult like appearance. All I could say was Hears a glimpse into my future, enjoy it while you can. One of my friends new the lady who was in charge of allowing kids to pet the animals so we luckily were able to get in for free. The fee would have been $7 per adult, free for kids under 2. Buster was a little shy at first as he was shown a large turtle, but he slowly came out of his shell. Ha no pun intended. He liked looking in all of the windows, I'm not sure he knew there were animals in many of them, but he was entertained. When we moved into the "furry" animal room, he lit up. He was able to pet a Chinchilla, which is the softest animal in the world, a Guinea pig, named squash, a ferret, and a hedgehog. His favorite was the hedgehog. He pet them very nicely. I was a little worried, but he was gentle and didn't want to bash their heads in or anything. My friends son was rambunctious to say the least. He has learned how to run and has taken advantage of it. He was also very talkative, in his own baby language. I think Buster and LJ would have gotten along great if Buster could walk. He's still in need of a hand to get around on his own.
From there we went outside to the Turkey area. There were about 5 turkeys, a goat, and two sheep. It was such a beautiful day out that we were able to stay out there for a good 45 minutes and chat. Buster played in the dirt collecting all of the wood chips that he was sitting and LJ ran up and down a small hill over and over again. We made one last stop to see prairie dogs, chickens and rabbits before heading home.
I made it back home just in time for his nap, but he beat me to it by falling asleep in the car seat.

Here are some pictures from our first adventure together.

Quote of the Day: "Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers; remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs that just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care; some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers..." - Garth Brooks
Listening to: "Glitter In the Air" by Pink

What a poopie day

Remember how I had thought that it was going to be an okay day? I was wrong. It only got worse from 9am on. Buster woke up at 9 and was in a cheerful mood. The dog on the other hand decided it would be terrific to follow me back inside after being put out to use the potty. She had diarrhea and let it flow all over the living room carpet! It was squirting out as she walked from the living room and on in to the dining room. I did one of those "What are you doing?! Oh crap! Crap! Crap! Stoppppp!" type scenarios with my arms raised and flailing about thinking that would stop her from, what she obviously could not control. I was out of my mind. I mean, how do you stop an ill/handicapped dog from releasing herself? Of course she went to go lay back down for the rest of the day after that incident, but left me with a huge mess to clean. They had run out of paper towels so I couldn't clean it with that and I wasn't sure where to find the dog towels, so there I stood with the spot remover just spraying like crazy. My gag reflex was being tested good today. I had to walk away a few times to take a breather and recoup. Thank goodness Buster was down for his nap at this time, otherwise, who knows what I would have done.

Then it was Buster's time. His diaper exploded. And I mean exploded. He did his usually poop face and I just figured, quick and easy change and back to playing. Nope. It couldn't be that easy. He too, had diarrhea and it squished out of his diaper and all over. It covered his back and coated his onesie. It was another huge mess. I managed to get him all cleaned up and ready to go. It happened 2 more times...

If I have to see any more poop...

In the middle of all of that, I received a text from Chancho saying that an officer was shot today. 3 times in the stomach. He responded to an EDP who locked himself inside his house and then let loose firing his gun. As of now, he's in critical condition. Chancho, thankfully, has not been sent out, yet, like many other officers. My thoughts are prayers are with all officers and their families tonight. Please stay safe out there!

Not even 9am

It's Monday, first of all and second of all the sun has vanished. In rolled low hanging fog. I'm here watching Buster all day. The one good thing is that he is still sleeping! However, the dog has lost all use of her back legs making it very difficult for her to manuver about the apartment, especially when it comes to using the bathroom. I feel so bad for her. I want to put those wheels on her hindlegs so she'll have the ability to move around again. Since the sun has decided to not show up today, there goes my great idea of taking Buster out to the park down the street to entertain him for the day. Now, I'll be stuck inside figuring out what to do with him. I'll be here twice this week. It would be really great if I could take him out to a playground on Wed. So let's cross our fingers that the sun comes back.


This weekend coming up, I'll be taking a trip to NJ to visit my sister for fight night. She's a huge UFC fan and always throws a party on big fight nights. Chancho's going to join me, we'll be stopping in at the Crate and Barrel Outlet store first. I am still on that mission to find a great bed. Luckily, my sister works at Crate and Barrel so I'll be able to find some outstanding deals. I may even have to stop in at the NJ Container Store, just to see what it looks like. I've heard some cool things about it and it is literally 3 stores away from the Crate and Barrel Outlet. How can I not just mosey on in?
OH and here's an exciting insider tip: The Container Store is going to be starting up a Gift Registry soon!

Enjoy your day! Hope the sun is shining by you!

Quote of the Day: “When we have ‘second thoughts’ about something, our first thoughts don’t seem like thoughts at all―just feelings.” - Sydney J. Harris

Round 2

We're making progress. Buster and I made it through another successful day together. It was a lot better than day one. He once again was awake when I got there, allowing me to dive right into my duties. He thankfully took an hour and a half nap though. I was almost bored while he was sleeping until I remembered the mess that is in the apartment. I have noticed that since I've succumbed to The Container Store life I can't feel rest easily unless there isn't a mess around me. They live in a one bedroom apartment with very little space. So the overflowing clothing mountain of Buster's clothes is slowly taking over the living room. I decided to tackle it. In the hour and a half that I had, I was able to fold all of his clothes in the first closet. I can't believe how many clothes this child has. I'm not sure if it will stay nicely folded and organized by color and short/long sleeve, but at least for the time being I was able to be satisfied. My next task will be to organize the kitchen cupboards. As of right now they just toss things into them. There isn't any rhyme or reason to it. It's just a complete mess. Hopefully, I can fix it. I think it would save them a lot more time if there was a spot for everything and it was easily accessible. I know it would help me out a bunch.
Anyways, back to my day, I think I have mastered the concept of walking a dog and a baby at the same time. I have everything laid out for me waiting. The keys, poop bag, backpack, jackets and shoes. I just go down the line and I'm out the door before the dog is peeing on the carpet. I've also used the music channel to help keep Buster occupied and it has helped given me a work out. We dance around the living room. It really wears him down. There was very little fussing when it came to nap time. He's also a lot quieter when we sit to read books. In fact, when it came to putting him down for the night, I fed him his bottle and he passed out in the middle of it. All I had to do was scoop him up and put him into the crib. I had a good half hour left to myself until his parents came home. I was able to clean up all the toys and wash dishes for them.
Great day. I'm ready for next week.

Listening to : "Perfect Day" by Lady Antebellum
Quote of the Day: "Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man."  ~Rabindranath Tagore

Bubbles

Today was my first 12 hour day. Yep that is correct, a 12 hour day of watching Buster. He's 8 months old now and has skipped over the whole idea of crawling and has moved straight on to standing and wanting to walk.
We had an okay day.
He woke up early, which didn't give me any time to make breakfast beforehand or have breakfast by myself. He was cranky way before he was supposed to nap, but after his first nap he seemed to wake up on the right side of the bed and was very playful and happy, right up until it was time for his second nap. He fought Mr. Sandman so hard. He refused to close his eyes. Every single time they would close he would catch himself and they would pop right back open. He cried and fussed and then his father called. He heard his voice and BAM he was out like a light switch. Must have just needed a familiar voice to settle him down, I'm sure my singing wasn't doing the trick. I bet that was what was keeping him up. After his second nap we took a nice long walk, played on the balcony, and blew bubbles. Bubbles are my life savor. If a frown showed up, a tear started to fall, or a crinkle in the nose, out came the bubbles and he was smiling again. 
Today's toy of choice was this: He has a xylophone and this is the stick to hit it with. He only likes the stick.

Dinner. I'm not sure what happened. We were doing so well. I had him bathed and in his PJ's. He was still very happy and then I attempted to feed him dinner. He screamed. That boy has a set of lungs on him. I don't know if he just didn't like it or if it wasn't the right temperature or what, but he wasn't having it. I, however, wasn't going to let a 8 month old tell me no. He needed to have dinner so that's exactly what happened. Every chance I had I stuck that spoon into his mouth. He ate. He ate it all. I felt very accomplished after that.
We're still learning each other. Me, more than him, but he needs to know what can and can't be done with me and how I do certain things. I think it being the first day of 12 hours, it turned out just fine. I am exhausted though. I work at The Container Store tomorrow so I need to get to bed. Then Wed. I'm back to a 12 hour day with Buster. Round 2.

Listening to: "Fearless" by Taylor Swift
Quote of the Day: "Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future"