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back home with new shoes
We’re home again! I could go on and on about how nice it is to be back at the beach or how nice it is to be able to cook in my big, clean kitchen or how much Baby Bug missed her dad…. OR I could just blog about how cute these shoes are instead!
So cute! I’m such a sucker for miniature adult things. Forget flowers and bows, bugs and loopy stitching, it’s all about the mini versions for me. These shoes are like little vans, except they aren’t. They’re some cheap copy-cat brand from Payless. You can tell I don’t get out shopping much any more. I’m sure there are a bazillion other cute van-type shoes for babies but these just grabbed me and made me buy them. I was looking for sandals and came home with these. Hmmmm… her toes won’t be cool and breezy but she’ll be the hippest skater baby on the block.
Speaking of not getting out shopping much anymore, I went to Target today with my mom and I was bombarded (BOMBARDED!) with all the cute adorable buyable stuff. I just cannot set foot in there. It makes me almost physically ill. Why do they makes so many cute things? Why do they make me feel like I must buy these cute things in order to have a cute happy life? This is so wrong. I do not have the cute adorable funds for these cute adorable things. And you can’t give in either. If you buy just one item, it weakens your resolve and next thing you know you’re checking out with $75 dollars worth of merchandise that you really do not have places for in your home. It’s just evil.
I don’t think Target is doing anything differently than anybody has ever done since the beginning of consumerism but I do think that I am finally the target market for a majority of their designers and buyers and let me just say that they have me dialed in like Flynn. I just cannot buy anything at all.
Somehow all that will power didn’t stop me from going to the shoe store next to Target. Baby Bug needs some sandals and one thing lead to another. None of their sandals met my criteria but aren’t her new slip-ons cute?
It looks like Baby Bug doesn’t like her new shoes and she is trying to get them off. Don’t worry, she likes them. She calls them her “BuuuhBBle shoes” (except she says “shoes” more like “sheees” for some reason). She is trying to get them off in that one picture but only because she wants to drag me down to the “wah-whoo” so she can play in the waves. She loves the water. Any kind of water. It’s “wah-whoo” this and “wah-whoo” that at our house these days. She’s so funny.
Have I told you she says 49 words now? Forty-nine! She’s going to be a jabberbox just like her mom. A jabberbox with cute shoes.
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Child Care Family Style
The sticks have been just what I needed. Usually, the clutter and chaos of “camp chaos” drives me crazy but this time it’s been very pleasant. Ever since I decided not to try and fix everything, I’m much more mellow when I’m out here. Maybe even too mellow. I don’t help around the house like I used to. The dishes pile up, dinner doesn’t get made until the kids start whining, the laundry is so thick you have to kick yourself a path just to get down the hallway but that’s just how it is. I’m okay with it.
The perks of camp chaos is that there is always somebody around who loves Baby Bug and will keep a third eyeball on her for me. I don’t need to worry about her wandering off. If Grandma isn’t gardening with her then Auntie CC is swinging with her in the hammock. If she’s out in the yard, her cousins are playing with her. And if they leave her alone for a minute, then the dogs are watching out for her.
A lot of times I worry about her playing with dogs or bigger kids. They might pick her up and then fall with her or turn around too quickly and knock her off her feet, or whap her with their giant wagging tail. But the niece-com-poops are remarkably good with her. Or maybe they’ve just learned that Auntie can and will yell at them if Baby Bug so much as peeps. They play ball with her and take her for drives in their Barbie jeep. It’s been really nice. It’s like having eight babysitters all working for you at the same time.
I think it’s also nice because Spring is probably the most beautiful time of the year out here. Everything is green and pretty and the temperature is pretty much perfect all day long. I love going out in the mornings and walking through the dewy grass. I love sitting in a sun beam and warming up with a steamy cup of coffee. I love watching Baby Bug explore every weed, twig and rock. She loves being outside here. At home I can’t really let her play outside. Our porch is our yard and it’s on the second story with a steep drop onto concrete below. We don’t have gardens or yards of grass to run in. It’s just streets and sidewalks and well the park and the beach of course. Which are really really nice but there’s something fun about a big wrap around yard to play in.
Earlier, Baby Bug was fussing and I couldn’t figure out what she wanted. She wasn’t hungry, she wasn’t tired. What could it be? Then somebody said Grandma was outside in the garden and that was it for Baby Bug. “SIDE! SIDE! SIDE!” she shouts, pointing towards the door. So outside we go and then all was right with the world again.
I was also able to go to my Aunt’s house today and let her babysit Baby Bug while I got a lot of work done. I was so stressed out about the babysitter situation at home, thinking I’d never be able to work again now that I’ve gone and let my only babysitter go. But I have a lot of family out here who beg me to leave Baby Bug with them. The great thing is Baby Bug seems to like being left with them. She doesn’t cry and cling to me as if I’m going to leave her forever and put her up for adoption or something. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with her, maybe I coddle her too much and she’ll never learn to be okay with others besides me. But I don’t think so now. She goes to all of her aunts and my mom so willingly. She’s very social and outgoing here. Maybe she’s just a family girl. That’s okay. She knows who loves her.
