tornado james.

i really thought with matt being home on vaca i wouldn’t feel this way but HOLY CRAP, get me OUT of this house!
i haven’t gone anywhere since christmas day!
granted, it’s hella snowy out there, and for two days i did nothing but scrapbook so that was kind of my fault.

i’m going nuts, now.

matt has been a zombie for almost two days now. i have seriously never seen someone sleep SO much before. he was in bed from about 9pm on sunday until 5pm yesterday. and even then, his awake time consisted of sitting lifelessly in the recliner, eating two tablespoons of chicken noodle soup, and going back to bed at 8:30. where he still is, 12 hours later. i do realize that HE has the short end of the stick here, feeling like death and spending his vacation time in bed (and not in a good way, ha), but i thought i’d have a little relief this week, too. like…i dunno, catching up on the laundry without having a little monster pants me every two seconds. or maybe even (if i was lucky enough), go shopping at michaels & joanns BY MYSELF! (gasp!), so i could take my sweet time and not have anyone glaring at me to "hurry up already".

i don’t think it would matter so much if luke wasn’t in the process of turning into a living tornado.
(maybe we really should have named him tornado james, hmmmm).

i don’t know why this surprises me. from the moment my handsome boy was conceived he began sucking the life out of me…in greater proportions than i usually see happen to most women. he has always taken the first opportunity he finds to get around, gain control, eat the entire contents of my kitchen (and back in our nursing days, my body). there is certainly a very powerful force in my chubby son. or maybe, i just don’t understand boys at all. are they all this insane? lol

i guess maybe the "easier" part happens when he’s a teenager. i picture him channelling his never-ending stream of energy into whatever sport he ends up obsessive about (though still eating the entire contents of my kitchen). which, i imagine, is far easier to deal with than teenage girls crying over boys because they don’t measure up to edward cullen. and i guess, mentally, i already count myself out of that group because i have a sneaking suspicion that my husband only carries boy sperm, which is the case for about 95% of his side of the family.

luke is just…….exhausting. and i mean that in every negative and positive meaning of the word. he exhausts all of my energy, all of my food, all of my patience, and most certainly, all of my time. but he also finds the sneakiest ways of exhausting any negative feelings i gain along the way. my boy is sneaky like that. he knows he’s a holy terror, so he throws me little glowing smiles and sweet, loving gestures that melt my heart and let him go on his path of destruction. it’s kind of scary. does that sound like a politician or what?

the closer luke gets to walking, the harder and harder it is to get through our days. eeeveryday he gains a little more confidence and gets a little more daring. but his desire to destroy things kind of boggles my mind. i don’t get it at all. example: he will creep his way around the table, all the while reaching for things at the edges and throwing them on the floor, and sometimes across the room. he doesn’t necessarily want to play with/eat the things he’s throwing…….he just wants to throw them. why????

another of his favorites (which, i’m hoping matt has lost enough zombie to take us to target today so i can fix it), is going through cupboards. he will crawl at top speed towards the one he wants (he’s figured out the faster he goes, the more he can get "done" before i get to him and pull him away), and then stand up in front of it. he then whips it open (all dramatic-like), and furiously throws the contents on the floor as fast as he can until i get there to stop him. he tries to do this AT LEAST 20 times a day. i even set one up that was "safe"….full of baby things that wouldn’t hurt him so he could get his weirdo fix of doing this without me having a heart attack, but let me tell you…..i got sick of re-washing that stuff 5 times a day REAL friggin fast. so now i think i’m just going to lock them up and say sorry kid, when you can learn how to do the dishes you can do that all you want.

speaking of dishes. he has a weird obsession with the dishwasher. he’ll crawl up to it, stand just to the side of it (which he’s figured out is the best place to stand), and then he flings it open. then he starts to crawl ONTO the door of the dishwasher so he can have a good seat to pull all the dishes out of it. sooo that has to be locked at all times.

then there’s the fact that he neverrrr stoooops eating (which, i think i’ve touched on). it’s just that i seem to be his go-to food machine since, ya know, since birth i’ve been the main source of it (even when his daddy feeds him breakfast or dinner, i’m the one who makes it). all of that is fine really, but it’s the fact that he’ll be a complete angel for everyone, even while he’s hungry, until he sees me. then he all but flips out because he wants food. and, guess what. he says mom now. i thought it was adorable and amazing for about two days. he not only starts saying it rapid-fire when he sees me (in an attempt to get fed), but he uses it as his go-to complain word. when he’s tired, or has a dirty diaper, or got yelled at for putting his hands in the dog’s water bowl for the 10th time that day, the whiny "mom mom mom mom mom’s" start pouring out of his mouth. how did he already figure that out? isn’t this like, terrible 2 stuff? oye!

i think i finally understand why i was blessed with such a good sleeper. if i didn’t have his regular naps and his long night sleeps i would, most definitely, be out of my mind.

i think you all know me well enough to know that i love my baby more than anything on this planet. and nothing i’m saying here lessens that. i love his crazy, energy-filled, over-the-top love of exploring and life in general. i do love this about him, despite how exhausting it is. it’s what makes him, him….and finding out what he’s like, who he is….is the most fun i’ve ever had!

and he makes every tiring moment worth it. you know what one of his new "things" is? while we’re playing together with something, he will just randomly stop and dive at me for a hug. almost like he’s saying "thanks for putting up with me, mom. tornado and all".

well.

it’s snowing again. pretty freaking hard. and matt is on hour 13 in bed. luke is down for nap #1. it doesn’t look like i’ll be getting out of here today. so, cricut, here i come (i’m really not that disappointed).