Holden turned 10 months old earlier this week and I have neglected to dedicate a post especially for my little guy.  I am going to brag about him without restraint because I feel so crappy that someone referred to him as a nuisance.

In short, Holden is into EVERYTHING.  NOTHING IS SAFE!  He can remove child safety latches….with ease.  He goes through our bookcases and casually chucks paperbacks over his shoulder.  I leave the room for 5 minutes and return to find a heap of books on the floor.  He crawls everywhere, stands up, and is starting to stand unsupported for very brief periods.  He can identify pictures of kitties and puppies in his animal book by pointing at them.  He can identify my nose, mouth, and chin by pointing as well, and I have no clue where he learned that stuff.  He must have learned it from me somehow since he spends almost all of his time with me; makes me realize I have to be careful about what I say around him!  He understands words for basic kitchen implements, like spoons.  He loves to be outside and loves animals more and more every day.  

I think we’re finally getting through a rough patch (hopefully) where he would wake every 30-60 minutes all night long.  The frequent waking was related to teething pain and there was nothing much we could do to make him feel better.   Rob and I have been utterly shattered from lack of sleep.  In fact, last week I was participating in a study at the hospital on preeclampsia, and part of my duty as a volunteer was to get an IV so they could do multiple blood draws.  I actually fell asleep when they were placing the IV because I was so tired and it was the only break I was able to get in a really long time!  So yes, the lack of sleep has been extremely difficult, to put it mildly.  Holden gets clingy when he goes through phases of teething, so my sleepless nights were followed up by days where Holden insisted that he be held for a large portion of the day.  I should have very muscular upper arms by now.

In just 2 short weeks, I return to work part-time.  It is an ideal arrangement in many ways, because it allows me to return to work gradually so that Holden (and Rob and I) can acclimate to our new schedule with greater ease.  I am looking forward to building professional connections again, yet I don’t feel like I am sacrificing too much time away from my favorite little guy.  I still have 5 days a week that I get to spend with him!  I am pretty stoked.  

Today is a beautiful day—we spent the morning cleaning in anticipation of our Open House tomorrow.  Then Holden got a bath and we put him in his first pair of short overalls so that we could get some fresh 85 degree air.  We went for a drive to identify neighborhoods into which we would consider moving.  We’ve narrowed it down pretty well—places that are close to the bus, have small yards for gardening since we no longer do the Community Garden, places that are quiet.  This list of requirements makes me feel like some old lady.  But at least I am an old lady who loves her 10-month old nuisance very much.

At 7:30AM, Rob was in the middle of changing Holden’s diaper.  Diaper changes these days are fraught with squirming and sometimes the accidental bumping of Holden’s head on the floor .  Holden bumped his head and started crying.  And of course he kicks even harder when this happens and tries to get away to avoid the dreaded diaper change.  While this was going on, I heard a door slam really loudly downstairs and then someone stomping up our steps and banging on our door.  Rob answered the door.  Our neighbor had come upstairs to tell Rob that we need to keep our baby more quiet because he is making too much noise right over their heads while they are trying to sleep.  Rob replied that we don’t like the noise either but that there isn’t exactly a whole lot that can be done with a 10-month old baby.  They simply make noise, kick, pull heavy books off bookshelves that come crashing to the floor, bang spoons and mixing bowls on the floor, test the loudness of their voice, etc.  Ten-month olds aren’t exactly quiet.  Well, I guess our neighbor was dissatisfied that Rob wasn’t willing to duct tape our first-born to a chair and wire his jaw shut because she left in a huff and muttered that Holden was a nuisance.  Rob was flabbergasted and closed the door, not wanting to escalate the situation further.  So at this precise moment, while Holden is trying to nap, they are blasting truly awful hip-hop and slamming doors.  I could simply call the cops and have them arrested for the sheer amount of drugs they have in their unit.  Typically, I don’t care about whether people do drugs or anything like that.  Why should I?  But shit, if you want to come up here and insult my son, BRING IT.  This girl’s father owns the unit downstairs, and her parents have traditionally stepped in and protected her from everything, so she probably thinks she can get away with saying or doing whatever she wants.  She has taken the trash out maybe 3 times in 3 years.  She doesn’t recycle which is a pretty good indication of how useless she is.   She has NEVER vacuumed the common area.  She is a slob and a disgrace to society and I just really hope I don’t see her again because I really don’t know what I’ll do to her….verbally, of course.

We have an Open House for our unit tomorrow.  I am worried that they will be smoking pot and blasting music during the Open House and that no one will buy our place and we’ll be stuck here longer.  It’s getting stressful for us.  Every time Holden makes a noise I find myself shushing him, which really isn’t fair to him.  It just makes me feel awful. 

I can’t wait to be out of here so we can feel like a real family, like real adults:(