Crumbs, Crying and Crib Matters (in no particular order!)

Here's my three-point sermon for today.  I know you're looking forward to it - - especially since you're wondering what these three things have in common.  Don't look too hard - they have nothing to do with one another, except that they're all relevant in my life.

1)  Crumbs
     I pride myself in being a pretty good housekeeper (most of the time).  I think this stems from my upbringing and my dad especially.  I can remember him making a nightly walk through the house where he'd announce any shoes that were left in the living room, and anything else, and we'd have to come claim them.  Maybe this is something his parents did?  Or maybe his tidiness came from being in the Army?  I dunno...  And, this isn't to say that my mom isn't a spectacular housekeeper.  Believe me, she is!  However, I don't remember either of my parents harping on us about our rooms growing up, but that was probably because they were perfect!  HA!  Anyhoo... as my dear husband would say, "Land the plane, Stacy!" ie:  get to the point!
    So, last night, I was vacuuming (I do it even MORE regularly now that our house is for sale) and decided to vacuum the Red Room as we call it - only because it has red walls and we don't know what else to call it.  It's the formal living room - ya, know, 'cause we're so formal and all...  I decided to vacuum the couch cushions and found a little surprise.  At first I thought it was a raw-hide bone of Naya's, only to discover that it was a petrified tortilla.  The sad/scary thing is, I don't even remember the last time we had tortillas at our house.  Clearly, this was a treat for Naya that she decided to bury in a couch cushion for later enjoyment.  Unfortunately, later never came.  This leads me to two confessions:  we feed Naya table food (which we probably shouldn't), and I'm not NEARLY the housekeeper I thought I was.

2) Crying
    Poor Jack.  He's getting his top two teeth and was absolutely miserable all day Saturday.  Seriously, if he wasn't eating or sleeping, he was crying!  It was awful, especially since we had lunch plans with the Baileys at their gorgeous new home.  They "claimed" that it didn't bother them ;) but who wants to have lunch while listening to a crying baby?  Not me.

Jack and Aunt Kimmie

    I was able to snap this picture during a brief halt in the crying.  Notice he's holding my phone??  That's because it was playing his favorite song, Welcome Friends.  Basically, I'll do anything to keep him from crying non-stop.  Even if it means sacrificing my iPhone.

3) Crib Matters
   A few weeks ago, I noticed that Jack had woken from his nap, but wasn't making any noise.  I would normally just assume that he was playing in his crib, but this time I had a strange suspicion about what was going on.  I went in to get him and found him standing in his crib (nothing unusual here..) CHEWING on the railing.  It's amazing what two little bottom teeth can do to a wooden bed!

this is a SMALL portion of the damage that's been done

   I spent some time that afternoon researching what to do to prevent my little beaver from chewing the bed to pieces.  I found some chintzy items for sale on the internet and then asked a few new-mom friends who calmly said "Oh, I don't know.  ____ never did that."  Thanks, just me, huh??  Great.
   A few more days passed without anymore damage being done to the bed, and then, whammo!  He started going to town on this thing!  I guess it wouldn't bother me too much, but we actually paid good money for this crib - which coincidentally turns into a full size bed.  I can just see me trying to explain to Jack when he's 15 why half the finish is missing from his footboard.  So, I made a trip to Babies R Us and bought what looked like a good product:  Gummi Crib Rail Teether.  It's a big piece of plastic that sticks (or is supposed to stick) to the crib rail.  I got it home, unrolled this thing, and began to "install" it on Jack's bed.  It took about .5 seconds to figure out whoever invented this thing never had a baby, much less a boy!  I promise you, Jack would have had this thing ripped off in about .2 seconds!  Item returned.
  My creative mind began to work and this is what I've come up with.  Some might call it Southern Engineering - - call it whatever you want.  There aren't anymore teeth marks on the bed.

Yes, those are zip-ties on a baby bed.  They're securely holding down burp rags.  And you thought there was only one purpose for a burp rag.  Just be glad I didn't use bailing wire or duct tape.