The Tell-Tale Thump

So I have this headache.

Actually, it’s more like a head-thump. Literally, it feels like something is rhythmically pounding in the back of my head, right at the base of my skull.

And it’s not just a sometimes thing. It’s an all the time thing.

Poor Chad and my work wife know that when I make a certain motion with my hand (that, come to think of it, must look questionable if you don’t know what it’s about…) it means that the thumping is so bad that I can’t hear/think/do anything else.

I thought it might be caffeine-related… until I cut back my caffeine to one serving per day and the thumping didn’t stop.

So, even though I’m not a huge fan of going to the doctor…. I broke down and made an appointment. I’m going this Friday, so please y’all, pray that it’s not a brain tumor.

In the meantime, I have WebMD’d the crap out of my symptoms (well, the one overriding undeniably annoying and anti-concentrating symptom), and I’m starting to think it might be stress-related.

Wait… Me? Stressed? Naaaaaaaaah.

Today I was making mental list of all of the things that I’m mildly to majorly stressed out about, and I surprised myself with the amount of things I stress about! So here it is:

• I'm stressed about my living situation in general. As many of you know, we are in the final stages of buying a house. We are also in the final stages of finding a renter for the place we are in now. The mortgage people and the realtor and the seller always need paperwork signed and returned THAT DAY, and our landlady is a PAIN. Not to speak ill of the elderly, but if you can't remember what you tell your tenant from one day to another, you're probably too old to be a landlord. Just saying. Stress City.  
• My poor baby has been sick for WEEKS. Constant runny nose, night cough, yucky poops (sorry TMI), etc. Nurse friends -- diagnose him! I just convinced myself (another WebMD over-exertion) that he has a milk allergy, so we are trying out Soy Milk for the time being. Stress County, VA. 
• I think I overdid it with school this semester. I love my program, but with the new job, new house, new challenges with family, etc., I am finding that I cram all of my work into the weekend -- and that makes the weekend not so relaxing. Stress University. 
• My well-intentioned husband is a TERRIBLE money manager. And it stresses me out that he has all these huge, expensive (pipe) dreams for the massive renovations he is going to do to the (new, perfectly fine without renovations) house. Can't someone be practical with me?? I know it's terrible to squash his dreams, so I can't do that. I guess all I can do is vent on my blog. Stress.com.

I know that in the grand scheme of things, my problems are relatively few. However, to little old me, it seems like a lot right now. Prayers and good vibes are appreciated, people. Thanks for listening. 

"Ball. I get it."

I had a moment of panic tonight when I realized that I have not been good about writing down Parker’s words! My mom has a faded, totally 80’s, teddy bears and too much pastel calendar where she wrote down each word I learned on the day she first heard me say it, and I have…. Nothing.

I have some mom guilt about it, but this is another one of those forgotten things that I attribute to being a working mama. After working 40+ hours a week, making dinner, doing laundry, doing homework, and pinching my husband’s cute butt, I just don’t have the energy (or the memory) to write all of that down! But just for you guys, I’m going to try.

Parker’s first word, believe it or not, was “Light.” He has always been fascinated with lights and anything that lights up, so one day we heard him in the living room saying “Ba, Ba, Ba” over and over – and we realized that he was talking about the light that was on over our dining room table.

Ok, so “Ba” for “Light” isn’t a reeeeeal first word, but that was the first time that we could tell that, in his mind, he was matching what he was seeing to something he could verbalize. Which to Mommy, the English major, was, well… major!

(Confession time: His first actual real word was “Da-Da.” But I am in denial about this. Wasn’t I in labor for 21 hours?? Didn’t I have 50 stitches? Didn’t I pull the night shift until month 4 when he started sleeping through the night? Can I get a “Ma-ma”?? No.)

Since then we have also learned to say:

• Ma-Ma (thank God)
• Mimi
• Nana
• Lala (our Monday babysitter)
• ba-ba (Are you starting to see a trend with these two repeating syllable words? Yep, me too. I speak in them all day long)
• Uh-oh
• Bye-bye
• Night-Night
• Aaaaaaaaamen
• shoe
• sock
• ball
• pee-pee
• poopy (my personal favorite…especially when he pulls it out in public)
• yogurt (which is more like “yuh-guh”)
• go-go (for Goldfish)
• diaper (he says “dipey”)
• sleep sheep

And tonight, for the first time, he said “Pizza.” So. Stinking. Cute. It’s actually more like “Sa-Sa” and he sticks his tongue out at the start of each syllable. I wish I had a video.

      We also have some phrases!

• I get it
• Thank you (does my heart proud, y’all)
• Bye-bye Da-Da/Ma-Ma
• Night-Night Da-Da/Ma-Ma 

Ok, ok, I’ll stop bragging. I know he is very advanced for a 16 month old. You don’t have to tell me he’s a baby genius. (Just kidding guys! I just have some Mommy Pride over here!)