Are we jerk neighbors?

I'm going to have a 8-9 year old boy some time here but are we the "jerk" neighbors?

Our subdivision does not have a fence as a standard to a home. So our home doesnt have a fence. Our neighbors to the right have a poorly constructed, falling down POS fence. The neighbors to the left have no fence. Both sets of neighbors have kids between the ages of 7-15. We are constantly asking the kids to not walk through our backyard to play at each others houses. This has been going on for almost a year now.

The teenage boy and his friend cut through our backyard to the empty field behind us to get to the main road.

The boys have walked past DH while he's edging the lawn without saying a word right through the middle of our backyard.

The right side neigbor boy cut through our backyard last weekend and when DH told him that he's asked to many times the boy answered "Sorry dude."

Both sets of kids walked repeatedly through our backyard after we had it re-seeded. We spent close to $600 in seed, labor and water for the re-seed.

Tonight I yelled at them for playing in our wood pile at the end of our property and he mumbled something about getting his back that magically rolled 200+ feet from their drive to the back of my property, up-frickin-hill.

We've talked to both sets of parts 3-4 times now. And if it was just getting a ball that would be different, but they frickin' cut through and play in our yard.

Are we the "jerk" neighbors because we want people to respect that our backyard is ours? And not a cut through to the main road, or to play at another kids house?

We are setting up estimates with three fence builders within the next week or so.

Note to self

Killing a moth with a fly swatter within 3 feet of the glass break on your security system sets it off......opppppps!

This doesn't last forever right?

I'm a little frustrated so you might see that in this post. No love lost for the boy but could use a vent and maybe some parentle suggestions.

Oz has a new trick, well in general I've noticed his sleep patterns seems to be getting worse and worse. I know he's going through a lot of changes right now and with every milestone he reaches it affect him but this new trick is driving me a bit batty. Oz has decided that its fun to wake around 4 am every day now and play, alternated with little snoozes. Supposedly teething babies do the wake up early thing, or ones going through a growth spurt - either way it sucks. I've been ignoring the play like everyone has said to do and only go to him if he's crying or fussing. But after two weeks of this, I am dog tired. I hear him playing and don't get any good sleep from 4am on.

Some folks have already mentioned turning off the baby monitor, but honestly I don't have the guts to do it. I know we both sleep hard, that's one reason why we chose not to co-sleep - it was a safety issue for us. So I'm afraid that by turning off the monitor I won't hear the play, but I might not hear the cry for me to come and take care of him either.

So basically Oz went from sleeping through the night around 9 weeks to now at 9 months requiring a dream feed at 10pm and wakes up to play at 4am. It he's cutting more teeth I really wish nature would hurry up and cut them already.

And we want a second baby soon? Oh my I believe I have left my mind back in crazytown.

Gotta love mobility

So I'm downstairs using the restroom. The door is open in case Oz wants to come see me. I hear him crawling around and playing. He's at the fridge playing with the farm animal musical thing we got him. So all is well and I continue doing my personal business.

I get out of the restroom and see that Oz has pulled himself up to a standing position over the dog's feeding station. One hand is stablizing himself, while the other? He's playing in the dog's water dish. He smiled at me so proud and started to laugh as he splashed water onto the wall. I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling and laughing while telling him "NO" and finding something else for him to do.

Ever....

Felt your age?

Last night I truly felt my age. I was sick over St Patty's day with a sinus infection and um last Friday I went back to the doc to find out I had another one. I probably didn't kick the first one, so I got a more serious antibiotic this time round.

So I'm nursing a sinus infection, have the runs thanks to antibiotics, girl issues thanks to the antibiotics and ended up being unable to sleep for 3 hours because I got a back spasm after sitting funny on the couch where even a left over Loratab wouldn't work.

*giggle* I feel old *giggle*

Wiskey Tango Hotel

I'm sick again and Oz is close to being sick...well he had a small temp tonight but no other symptoms. We've both been sneezing and today due to post nasal drip I've been coughing a lot and have throat irritation. Oz seems to have no other symptoms other than a occasional sneeze and this temp tonight. Basically the only thing I noticed he was warm so I took his temp and found it to be a little high. I'm not sure if this is the crazy weather or if the two of us keep giving the same germs back and forth.

I'm not sure how to stop it if we are passing it back and forth to each other. I wash my hands often. I do it after each diaper change, changing his clothes, before handling his food, his bottles etc. I cover my mouth when I cough or look away if my hands are full. I even try to cough into my elbow to try and keep from spreading germs if I can't cover my mouth. So if you have suggestions of something I need to be doing but aren't or something I'm missing on keeping from passing it on let me know.

If this is just the weather, then I guess spring needs to get its act together and allow us keep from re-catching this little irritating cold. Because it seems that if I don't get rid of it right away I get a sinus infection and I'm trying desperately to keep Oz from getting his second ear infection.

Bad mommy, bad bad mommy

Oz continues to advance developmentally which is great. He's now pulling himself up on EVERYTHING. This of course includes the inside of the crib. Today I came to get him and found him leaning over the crib with his arms up on the lip and was just a grinnin' at me so blasted proud of himself.

So when we got home tonight I fed him dinner and we went up stairs to lower the mattress. It required tools so I had to confine him in his exersaucer while I ran into the garage. Back up stairs we went and the fun begins. I had a nice series of toys for him but of course curious george wants to help. I pull out the mattress, take off the bed skirt and tip the crib on its side. The entire time I am unscrewing wingnuts and and pulling out bolts Oz is crawling all over my legs and pulling himself up my back using my pants, shirt and buttcrack. I last with that for about 5 minutes at a time before I put him back at his toys and tell him to be careful. We are going on now with this back and forth crap for about 30 minutes with him starting to get irritated and of course extremely tired.

Again, I move him away from the crib and put the crib back down in the normal position. Oz is now sitting in the middle of the room, totally pissed off and is just crying crocodile tears. I pick him up snuggle him a bit and then place him back down. I pick up the bed skirt and start to tuck it in. Just as I get to the backside of the crib the skirt moves a good 6 inches - because Oz has reached up snagged it and shoved it in his mouth. So I have to pull it back into place and do the fastest tuck in possible before he can get a hold of it again. I throw the mattress back in and grab the bumper. Now Oz wants me to just pick him up and hold him (because he's tired and its past his bedtime). I can't do that yet because I have to tie the dang bumper back on. Oz starts crawling around the crib following me, crying crocodile tears again while I tie the bumper back on, still attempting to crawl up my back using my buttcrack as a foothold.

Finally I have the crib back together put Oz in it and push it back into place. He's looking around his new lower digs and goes for the aquarium thing. Instead of just sitting up and pressing the button he grabs the top of it and pulls himself up to his knees and then lets go. Of course he fell backwards onto the mattress. That look on his face made me feel bad for him. He was so freaked out, he cried for a second until I told him "you aren't hurt it just scared you." Then I reached out and pat his leg and he stopped his tears.

I put his PJs on and take him down stairs for a bottle. Its almost and hour past his bedtime and he's so tired, really irritated and ready for meemees. I feed the little man, wrapped him up in his little burrito and plopped his adorable little butt into the crib. He fell asleep almost instantly, especially since we had snuggled in the glider just before putting him down.

You have no idea just how tired I am from doing that one chore with this little man chasing me about. I have total respect for single parents who deal with what I just dealt with on a daily basis. Now I need a nap before his dreamfeed and my bedtime.