Sabrina J-R

I think I may be shopping on the wrong days. Last Thursday, I went to get a few groceries, and met a group I know at the store. Then on Sunday, I returned to the same store and again, saw the same group, but from afar. (Note to self–never go to that store on a Sunday again. Wayyy to crazy!!). Then today, again a Thursday, I happened to see the same group. This time, however, it was in driving past them at an intersection, though I was headed to a different store. LOL. Clearly I need to change over my shopping days….

Baby had an early awakening yet again today. Funny how I think it’s early, yet many other people childrens awake even earlier than mine. But, she went down after about 90 mins, for a good 2 hrs. Yay!! Translation–I also got a nap too. And yes, she did take a second nap today. Again, yay!!

Alrighty, must keep this short. Hubby’s working from home tonite. Beats being at the office though, fo shizzle… Yay!!

First off, Happy Anniversary to my cousins Andy & Coni. 3 yrs for them today. By today’s standards, that’s a milestone. Congrats!

It was a very humdrum kind of day. I didn’t go out (big surprise there). I did have a great chat today. We covered all sorts of topics in that convo. One thing I will say here is that we were wondering why sex, often (but not always) when shown on tv and spelled out in books, is portrayed as a neat & tidy and very meaningless chore?

Off the sex topic, I will segue into something else. I went to a child’s first birthday party this past weekend. Enough people were invited, thanks to the ease of Facebook invites. Though I had to wonder, and legitimately so, if the child’s parents actually knew all the people they were inviting. I mean, because they just blitzed their friends lists, out of towners were even casually invited. They rented out a room at a community sports arena for this party.

To be honest, however, a good part of me was wondering how much of this was actually for the kid. Did the child say to its parents “hey, throw me a bash and invite everyone you ‘kinda know of’ online?” Did the parents stop to think about how their child won’t ever remember this and that this event would really come across as a show for themselves? There were people at the party who had never met the birthday baby before. Almost like a social. Oh, and it was listed at a 5 hour event. I’ve been to shorter weddings… And, again on the honesty train, the party wasn’t all that. I wasn’t too impressed to be walking into a 1 yr old’s birthday party with the song “Sexual Healing” blasting through their speaker system. There were a gazillion presents, which seemed kinda overkill at the time. The food was cold and the selection was minimal. The room wasn’t the cleanest and this party really seemed to be more about the adults and not so much about the kids.

Don’t get me wrong–I think a child’s birthday should be celebrated. That first year can be quite a big one and deserves to be celebrated. However, I also think that when the party is for your child, then that should be evident. Invite people who mean something to your child’s life. No need to go overboard. If you want to have a party for yourself, then have a separate party. It’s shouldn’t be about the material presents or bragging rights because x number of people showed up at your event. Someone described the event interestingly…it seemed to be overcompensation for the circumstances of that family’s life.

I just let that experience be a learning one for myself. As a mother, when I claim to be doing something for Jamayia, then it should be about her. Small events are okay. Big events are fine too, when it’s not a waste…

Jamayia has this fascination for the water cooler in the kitchen. She loves water. Most importantly, she loves cascading water. Showers & bath times rock for this kid. Hand washing is pretty neat too. But in all those cases, she can never reach the faucets herself.

Enter the water cooler. Wouldn’t you know that the little tabs are right within arm’s reach. Of course we tried to block off the offending thing. There are 2 huge, and full, jugs of water in front of the cooler. But of course she can easily stretch and reach out and still get the tabs.

Today’s latest and greatest trick, realizing that by pulling up on the little tab, water comes out. (Just this morning she was trying hard to stick her finger in the little spout, but it always came out dry). As determined as she is, she finally figured it out all on her own. Water comes out when you pull on the tab-thingees. And, she can enjoy the water when she pulls with one hand, and puts her other hand under the streaming water. C’est excitant, n’est-ce pas?

Sure, now she’s got the rest of us mad busy trying to figure out how to block off the water cooler. Wish us luck please….

Black pepper—definition: something you don’t want your child playing in as though it’s sand.

We’re kinda living out of boxes for the moment. And well, they’re on the floor (because they don’t belong on the kitchen table) and within baby’s eye level and hand reach. Wouldn’t you know that she likes to reach in and grab things from these boxes. Today’s prize was the bottle of black pepper. I dunno how she got into it, and some got on the living room floor.

We were all watching the big reveal on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and I see something dark & grainy on the floor. Jamayia was having a grand time, rubbing her hands through this “dirt”. Excpet that dirt doesn’t just manifest from thin air. So, after a lightning round of the What’s-On-The-Floor-And-How-Did-It-Get-There game, I could smell it—black pepper. Ahhhh! We did an immediate strip down and proceeded to dunk her in the tub. Out came the broom, followed by the Swiffer.

And a good time was had by all.

Who paid this child to wake up so sillilly (yes, I like to invent new words sometimes) early today?? She awoke at about 6:15 am…and proceeded to stay awake. Usually when she wakes up during the middle of the night, I feed her, then her Daddy takes her and settles her back down into her crib. But this morning, because technically that hour is morning and no longer night, she was just clinging to me beyond belief. But I wasn’t quite done sleeping yet. Furthermore, since we are bunking with people, we wanted to make sure that we kept her noise to a minimum. As tempting as it was to wake up the Aunties at that unlawful hour, it was completely unnecessary. I’ll save my early wake ups for something that’s actually vital, thank you.

The only thing that kept me going was the fact that early wake up meant guaranteed catnap during church and a regular nap at Grandma’s house later. Sure enough, that’s exactly how it played out. She just conked out on my chest during the worship service, without any effort on my part. And stayed asleep for a good 30-45 minutes. Yippee!

We went to my parents’ house for lunch, as we usually do after church. This time the Aunties came along too. And, as usual, we had great, gut-busting after dinner convos. My, how the West Indian upbringing can be quite amusing at times. One conclusion we came to was that despite the discrepancies that sometimes occur in our families, they happen even worse in other cultures.

Clocks go back tonight. I generally don’t care for this day, when we “fall back”. It just makes the Sunday drag out for me. This year, though, I actually have things to do. So maybe it won’t feel as bad.

However, it does guarantee that Jamayia will be arising early yet again, according to the clock…

First day, and I’m not scrambling to post at minutes to midnite. Yeah!! Hopefully we can continue on this trend of posting at decent hours. The weekends are gonna be a bit challenging though, but not impossible. I’ll figure it all out.

Ahhh…a brief moment to do update. I made it to Superstore today. It was my first time going to that particular location. Why is it, though, that all Superstores have to be laid out differently? Just when I was getting used to once layout, everything’s changed yet again. Ah well, c’est la vie, n’est-ce pas?

I did bump into a lady from church. I guess that’s to be expected, since many a church member lives in the Northeast part of the city. And that Superstore seems to be a bumping place. I guess the trick is to go early during the day…and early in the week too.

Do I have anything exciting for today? Hmmm, I’m thinking of renaming the blog. Something snazzy-sounding-ish. Confessions Of A Displaced Houselady? LOL. Not. Although starting with the word “confessions” is bound to snag me a reader or two. Climbing Over Boxes? This totally describes my life at the moment…LOL. Whispers From The Lower Level? Privileged Information? Unbosoming of Moi? LOL…I got that word from a thesaurus…

Any suggestions, people?