Today Daniel had a barbecue with some friends, and obviously Mark and I were there. We got covered in food and dirt and bubbles (the "stack-able" kind that stay around much longer than they should), and it so much fun. And messy. Damn, was it messy.

Crappy dinosaur-phone picture of bubbles that you can't see.
All the spots on the ground, those are them.

Anyway, Mark decided to stop taking naps a few weeks ago, and therefore he sleeps pretty early now. Around 8 o'clock, I pointed out that it was about his usual bedtime and that I should probably get him home, especially after a day of playing in the heat. He was starting to get to that "I hate everything" stage that only tired kids have perfected and no mom wants to deal with that even a minute longer than they can help, am I right?

I decided to wipe Mark down to the best of my ability in case he fell asleep in the car, which he often does. Because of his eczema, we have to use gentle soaps to ensure that his skin will not be all scaly the next day, and I had forgotten to bring it with us or to leave some there. I told Daniel that was I going to put Mark in his pajamas for the ride home; "If he falls asleep in the car, then at least I feel like he's decently clean and comfortable," I told him, "and if he doesn't, he'll get a bath as soon as we get there."

He looked at me and said, "That's a great idea, babe. You've got this mom thing figured out." And he said it so lovingly that I couldn't help but melt.

I don't, though. I don't know if anyone ever has this mom thing figured out. We learn as we go and every single moment is a surprise even if we planned it down to a "T"--our kids don't follow plans. And then someday there will be second babies and we'll have to plan all over again because human beings just insist on being individuals.

I really like that I make it seem that way, though. I'm happy to be a mom, even if an imperfect one. Maybe the joy that comes from really loving something (or someone) is enough.

So it feels like I may be on the verge of getting sick - sadface. Such a miserable thing when you're pregnant and not allowed to pop aspirin and cold medicine every ten minutes (just kidding...every fifteen). But I promised to write about this and I probably need to before I sit around to the point that I'm like, "Wait, what did we even do?"

Yeah, that happens to me. A lot.

So here's the basis of it: my mom came into town Thursday, and Friday after Daniel got off work we headed to Barstow (where mom lives). There wasn't really much to the day...just a four hour car ride, and then we watched Juno as we fell asleep. I forgot how much that movie rocks, especially with all the Kimya Dawson hanging around on the soundtrack. So awesome.

Image via Wikipedia

Saturday we slept in and basically hung around the house until around 3 in the afternoon. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Barstow, but if you haven't, I'm going to assume your life is a lot more interesting than mine. The town is awful. Think of that Disney movie Cars come to life - it's probably exactly like that.

Anyway, once we were all up and dressed, Mom took us to a local secondhand store where we looked at baby clothes (so cute!) and then we went to Food 4 Less to pick up (basically) junk food. We headed back to the house, barbecued, and then packed up the van and took the family to the drive-in. I loved it! My dad used to take my sisters and I almost monthly, so it's been pretty lame since ours shut down. Of course Barstow would still have one - just to prove to me that they can one-up us in some way.

Oh, we watched Mr. Popper's Penguins (sp?) and Super 8. They were both pretty alright.

On Sunday, we woke up at about 7-something and headed to Chino around 9-something (where we had even more barbecue). My grandma's husband has this thing where he'll sit a pile of food right in front of you so that it stares you down and makes you feel guilty about the fact that it's not being eaten, so there was that.

And we had watermelon! Which I've been craving so badly (for months), so it was amazing. And there was strawberry shortcake involved, so food-wise I was a pretty happy camper. Nana sat and talked with me for a while and seemed to enjoy Boyfriend, and I told her that I want to use her middle name for my baby's if it turns out to be a girl (two more days until I know, two more, two!) and she told me the history behind it. It was wonderful.

The drive between Barstow and Chino is an hour and a half, so Sunday consisted of probably three hours in the car. Monday we headed back to town, four more hours. The entire weekend was about eleven total. By the time we got home, I had never been happier to walk.

And yeah, that's probably that. I'm not sure if I have anything more to say...hm.

Oh, of course I do: my little brother is a lunatic. And because of him, I now have a Grenade parody permanently stuck in  my head.

 

The biggest problem might be that Brother sings it better than the original. So now I can't even completely enjoy it alone at night when it's stuck on repeat somewhere deep in my brain. Damn.