Heather's Handmade Life

"He’s a climber …"

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Heather Laura Clarke

How many times a day do I hear that phrase?
And SAY that phrase???

Baby Boy is an unstoppable climber. He has always been very physical — moving, running, jumping, exploring — but the climbing is awful. When you are 13 months old, what, honestly, can you climb safely? Nothing!

Since moving to my mom’s, his climbing has gotten a lot worse, because there are so many new things to climb!

Last week, he climbed onto my mom’s antique table so he could see out the window. Yesterday I caught him standing on the window ledge (he climbed up a large chair and then onto the ledge) and my mom caught him a couple of hours later standing on a hutch (he climbed onto a couch and then up the back of it until he reached the hutch).*

(*This probably sounds like we leave him unattended or just don’t watch him carefully, but we do. Swearies. He’s just frickin’ fast!)

I have been rearranging furniture and moving countless items away, and my poor mom’s house is starting to look NOTHING like the house it was before we moved in.

Any parents out there have little monkeys of their own? Advice would be greatly appreciated. I don’t want to turn around next and see him hanging from a curtain rod or something, and, at this point, nothing would surprise me.

Wordless Wednesday: Kiddie notes

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Heather Laura Clarke

The month of three (THREE!) big fat negatives

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Heather Laura Clarke

1 Comment

How do you get three negative pregnancy tests in one month?
A. You are impatient
B. You love taking tests, so you jump at each chance
C. You are stubborn, and don’t believe tests (when they’re wrong)
D. You have a stupid irregular cycle that confuses you
E. All of the above

Darling Husband and I have been trying for the last couple of months. At first, I wasn’t really sure if it was going to work, because my body was still wonky from all zat breastfeeding biz-ness. My cycle was totally off-kilter, and it was annoying, but things seem to be OK now.

So at the end of June, I was late.*

(*Well, technically I just took a test on the day my period was due, because HELLO, I love taking tests AND am super impatient. So … yeah.)

Tested … negative … Sigh.

But then! I was really late! Like THREE DAYS late! I was even totally feeling symptoms and junk!

Tested … negative … Really???

And then?!?! Suddenly I was FIVE DAYS late! I started getting all obsessed with the idea, and was pretty much convinced I WAS pregnant, and it was just the stupid tests’ fault, and OMG LET’S TALK BABY NAMES!

Tested … negative … WTF???

Aunt Flow arrived the next day (six days late). Clearly my body was not done being screwy from the lack of hormone thing-a-ma-gigs or what have you.

I was sad not to be pregnant, because even though I’m not in the over-the-top obsessed mode I was when we were trying to conceive Baby Boy, I still really DO want another child. And getting negative pregnancy tests? Really sucks.**

(**Unless, I suppose, you’re 16 — in which case, yahoozers, right?)

I felt OK, though, and chalked it up to my body just not being “back to normal” yet. I felt July went well, and that we gave it a good ol’ college try (even despite the packing/moving and living across the hall from my mooooooom, which … yeah … not sexy).

But this month, before I could even test … period.
Boo and bullfrogs and also MERDE.

The good news is that everything seems really back to normal now — no more ridiculous 35-day cycles, please, uterus. I have been using a wicked-cool app on my phone (it’s called PT — Period Tracker) and I quite enjoy the logs and prediction thingys.

All I can do is hope that August is *the* month, and keep my fingers crossed (and my legs uncrossed).