The Gift

 

I doubt most of you know the way I am about spending money and NOT "Keeping Up With The Joneses." The fact is that I am not like that at all. I do once in a blue moon see the need to purchase some new technology but usually use the same old camera, computer, generic mp3 player, etc. as long as they are in working order and money can be used for something else like home improvements, basic necessities, and the such.

I purchased a cheap little mp3 player when Little Buddy was about 18 months old and I started to go to the gym and needed tunes and all I had was a huge, portable, blue, cd player with headphones. So I got the mp3 player and loaded it with songs for my workout and I was happy. Happy for the more modern and compact music player and the cheapness of it ($50 @ Target), and happy that I was not in fact one of the people that had to have the most expensive music player with all the bells and whistles. And I was being practical when I was going to listen to some tunes for maybe an hour a day only when I went to the gym.

Now, I do not go to the gym anymore. I was cramping during pregnancy really bad and being high risk they said it was not worth putting myself or baby in jeopardy so I stopped going when I was about 3 months pregnant. My little generic mp3 player sat unused for all this time.

When I had Little Munchkin I quickly settled into a routine and as soon as she was sleeping through the night I only found myself with one frustrating and time consuming part of my day: Putting her down for bed. It sometimes took hours. I was sitting there in the dark and staring at the clock as I am not a cosleeper but do room share with her and the crib is about a foot from where I lay. So I would nurse her to sleep in the rocking chair with my nursing pillow and wait til she fell asleep then creep over to the crib to lay her down ever so gently only to have her wake up and have to start all over again. This went on some nights for hours. It was very frustrating and I never dealt with this quite so badly with Little Buddy. So I started to send text messages to hubby and friends and relatives in the dark but quickly learned that people are busy or sleeping or have lives and so I sat again, in the dark, with my thoughts and Little Munchkin. Then I though of downloading audio books onto my mp3 player to listen to during this time. So I downloaded several from a freebie file sharing site. This was great, I was at least able to listen to something as I sat there in the rocker, in between my many failed attempts to lay her down in her crib and it did not bother her or anyone else in the house. Yeah!

This was a great thing until many of the audio books I downloaded ended up being garbled, cut off in the middle, or sped up and sounded like The Chipmunks reading rather than an adult human. THEN the darn thing kept dying on me after very little usage the battery was draining really fast. Ugh, I felt defeated. Just as soon as I found a fabulous new little outlet for in this point and time I have no other, no tv other than kiddie shows, no sex, no coffee, no fun outings in the cold, no red sauce, no girls night, no date night, no texting the world, AND NOW no more audio books in the dark. Ugh! I was about to lose my mind. No, I WAS losing my mind. Quickly.

Then Cop Dad asked me what I thought of the iTouch? I have no idea what I think of it, just seems like some name I've heard of something unnecessary for me and I have no idea what it even does?!? Then he asked me what I thought of the iPod Classic. Again, what would I need that for? I need to be all eyes and ears and arms and hands and quick reflexes and nerves of steel while staying home and taking care of a baby and toddler every day. Those items are for college students of childless people who ride the train to work and so I have no idea why he was asking me about this. Then he told me that he wanted to get me one for my birthday present so I could download movies and music and audio books so I would be a little happier and have a little fun in my life and during my endless nightly hours in the rocking chair with Little Munchkin.

So as we both looked into both items a little further, I decided that I wanted an iPod Classic. The touch has internet which would be nice to be able to check e-mail or surf the internet but in April we will be getting new phones with qwerty and internet and gps so really we didn't think we would need that in the touch. Also the iPod Classic has way more space on it. The screen is much smaller but I do not want a huge screen because it would be much more distracting/stimulating while I am trying to watch something on it and Little Munchkin is falling asleep.

So, Cop Dad got me and iPod for my birthday last week. I connected it to my computer and loaded everything on my iTunes all by itself. Then I went to the iTunes store and bought some movies: The Picture Of Dorian Gray, It's A Wonderful Life, The Wizard Of Oz, then Cop Dad bought and loaded National Lampoons Christmas Vacation for me.

I never would have thought that this would be such a wonderful thing for me. Ooooooooohhhhhhhh, AND I was elated to find that there are many Old Time Radio broadcasts as Podcasts that are free. So I am loading and have a subscription to Old Time Radio Mystery, Thriller, and Detectives too. It is really very cool.

Don't get me wrong. I love my daughter and love nursing her and staring at her angelic face in the light of the night light. I love resting my head back with eyes shut and decompressing for a bit too. Some nights though, 2-3 hours in the dark with a baby (who's asleep and can;t talk to you anyways) can make even the best of mothers a little nutty.

I love my gift! Thanks Cop Dad! You did mention that my iTunes account had no limit. Right? lol