Category Archives: Otter

In all parody

What happens when a creatively inclined type A personality stays home with the kids all day?
Musical Parodies!

The burping song: (Sung to “We will rock you!” by Queen. New lyrics by Moi!!)

“Pat pat pat
Pat pat pat

You’ve got a rumbly hunger
deep inside your tummy
time to fill it up with something
warm and yummy

You’ve got milk on your face
a big disgrace,
spitting that milk all over the place

Singing we will, we will, burp you.”

pat pat pat
pat pat pat

We will, we will, burp you.”

The standing song, created when Otter began to push himself up into a standing position. (Sung to “I believe I can fly” by R. Kelly. New Lyrics by Moi!)

“I believe I can stand
I believe I can eat my hand
I believe in my sister’s smile
the one that shines at me all the while

I believe I can stand
I believe I have many fans
All those people who kiss my toes
wipe my bottom and wipe my nose,
I believe I can stand.”

Otter likes his standing song so much now that he looks pointedly at me every time he rises up as if to say “Where is my theme song mommy?”

No faith at all… bad or otherwise

The eye of the storm…

It seems the Bad Faith acting landlords were actually merely soliciting my advice, not attempting to get to pay to replace the carpets. Forget that any rational individual would have read their email as an indication they were attempting to get us to buy them new carpet, they were really just asking for our knowledge. The house is great, they say, and we were great tenants. The check will be in the mail this week. (What is that hissing sound you ask? It’s my righteous litigation balloon deflating.)

I am sure they will never rent to a lawyer again, if they can help it.

Otter is getting better at tummy time, and seems to hate it less. He has such a large body, lifting all that cushy baby fat must be really hard, poor guy. However, day before yesterday he lifted his head up several times, and has continued to do so whenever placed on his tum-tum. Granted, he mostly lifts it to complain, but he does lift it. He is also a big fan of standing, his ability to rise up on his legs makes him smile again and again.

Monkey is progressing in her reading, and is beginning to do very well. She had been reading to Otter and me once a day. This week it is from the book “Oliver Cat goes to Planet B.” She likes to show her baby brother the pictures, and explain what is going on to him.

The children took a bath together yesterday, and Otter was so proud to be in the tub with Monkey. He looked at her, at the water, at her, and smiled a huge baby grin! Monkey greatly enjoyed the bath as well, showing Otter the various different ways you can wash your hair, your hands, etc.

The house is more settled, and I am beginning to feel slightly more human, and less like a stress-kitten. I am still firmly planted in the spinning vortex of a life filled with baby, child, pets, husband, and house, but there seems to be an occasional eye to my storm. It helps that Mom is here. Yay Mom!

Breathe. Take a page from FlyLady, and forgive myself for somehow losing entire days to games of Kiss the baby feet, and helping Monkey read. The housework will still be here, for the days that do seem to have fragments of discernable time.

A morning of cuteness…

This morning Otter settled on the couch next to Monkey and watched an episode of Dirty Jobs, Monkey’s favorite show. (Lee has trained her to say that she needs to finish school and go to college so she can choose whether or not she wants to have a Dirty Job. It’s pretty funny.)

The siblings enjoyed an early morning snuggle together for about half an hour, until Otter was ready for second breakfast.

Our house is so comfy. The house is large enough that the dogs seem smaller, we seem smaller. As Devon put it, the house is actually to scale for us.

It is nice to wake up in a pleasant room with plenty of space for one’s things. For the past year we lived in a dark tiny cramped space infested with ants and owned by two people who were determined to squeeze every dime they could out of us and not give much in return. Now we live in a huge open space, well lit, with gleaming hardwood floors and spanish tile. Sunlight streams in through the many windows, skylights, and glass paned doors.

Our current landlords are kind people. They are interested in making sure we are getting everything we need, and are willing to make necessary changes and repairs quickly and efficiently. They are also really nice, I like them a lot and look forward to working with them in the future.

We are almost finished setting up our bedroom/Otter’s room. It is a large space, but hard to capture on film. Nonetheless, as pictures were requested by a certain preggosaurus, I tried. (Everyone knows, you never turn down the request of a preggosaurus.)
Here is our bed and my dresser. To give you an idea of the size of the room, our bed is a King size, and has always been the item of furniture that turns rooms into tiny spaces with no walking room. It fits neatly along one wall, next to my huge antique dresser, and leaves room for two end tables and a dog bed.

Our bathroom is through that white door there, it is green marble and burgandy paint. Mmmm…. Green and red, Lee’s and my favorite colors. Otter’s changing station and storage are located on this wall. There is still plenty of space in the center of the room, and no sense of being cramped walking between the bed and the rest of the room.

Lee’s dresser is on the wall with the crib, between the bathroom door and the door to our other room, which we have deemed the sitting/hangout room. It is larger than our bedroom. We haven’t set it up yet, but soon it will have a couch, our T.V., our Apple T.V. system, a rocking chair, and our closet in it. Off to one side is a kitchenette and laundry room, where we have set up the cats. We plan to keep water and beverages up there, along with any non communal snacks.

Downstairs we have set up the kitchen, the office, and the living room. I have a photo of the living room, but the light was too odd to get the other rooms at the moment, so you will have to wait for those.

The house is really long, so all our rooms are set up such to allow flow through the whole thing. It is pretty calming and definitely a comfortable set up.

Ah… I hear the strident tones of a certain young man. Thanks to all who responded to my Bar Exam rant, I appreciate the thoughts and insight.