Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkin Funeral

Barely made it to Halloween. Wahh WAhhhhhhhh (Debbie Downer).

Trick or Thumb

Here's SuperPoop trick-or-treating with Grandpa. And flying in for a closer look at the pumpkin. Of course he didn't really know what was going on but he got a kick out of all the kids' costumes. I think we had more fun than he did. Then we ran home so we could hand out candy to our trick-or-treaters. My dad sat in a chair in the front of the house with a plastic bag on his head and scared the crap out of a couple of trick-or-treaters. Then one of them said in his little boy voice, "Don't you know you can have a heart attack with that bag on your head?" matter-of-factly. Funny. I guess that wasn't the best example for kids.


SuperPoop met the Wicked Witch of the West. Wasn't that interested. Thumb still better than candy. Oh, below was one of our favorite costumes of the night. Stewey from Family Guy. Don't worry, it's a fake butt.

STEWEY FROM THE FRONT


STEWEY FROM "BEHIND"

Hogwarts or bust!

It took me some serious wheeling and dealing to get Evan to dress up with me for a Halloween party Saturday night. He doesn't dress up. He's the conservative guy who wears polo shirts and never changes his haircut. So having him put on a black wig, glasses and a cape to transform him into Harry Potter almost made me pee with laughter. I was dying. I was Hermione. We were originally going to a Halloween party one of his co-workers was throwing but they had to cancel it. So we decided to go to something our city was throwing instead. Our friends came over. We invited them last minute and they rushed out to get costumes and they looked really cute as a witch and a dork. We got in the car and drove around looking for this party. It was supposed to be at a park, "with comedy and music all night." "Adults only." "Prizes for best Costume." Sounded like fun. We kept driving around. This should be it. But there's no one here. It's all dark. We called Evan's mom, who was watching the baby, to look at the flyer and make sure we had the right address. Yep, right address. No party. Evan was getting upset under his black wig. It was all itchy and uncomfortable and he became increasingly agitated. What do we do now? We can't go home. We actually have babysitters! So we went to Bennigans where thankfully there were other patrons dressed up. That made Evan feel better, even though he had already taken his wig off, had a beer in his hand, and was already much happier. Then we shot darts at a place nearby, and there were people dressed up there too (thankfully). Someone's costume was a big huge frothy beer, it was hysterical. We were tired by 11 and went home. We're lame. I guess we should have had a plan B. We still don't know what happened to that party.

Happy Halloweeny!!!

No more ghost house! We've finally been putting a lot of effort into the outside of our house because we wanted to have it presentable this year in time for our little trick-or-treaters. And not that we didn't want to work on the outside, but it's because of a comment from some neighborhood kids that made us hurry it up. Last year when we bought the house, I found out I was pregnant shortly afterward, so we were hammering away at the inside of the house to make it a "home" by the time poop was born. (It had lots of wallpaper, wood paneling, old carpet, the list goes on and on.) I had a severe case of "nesting". It took us a year to get it to where we liked it. This summer, my husband was outside doing something in the garage with the door up, when he saw a group of kids go by. He asked them if an umbrella that we found outside on our lawn belonged to them, and it did. When they rode off, he heard one of the little girls say "I have to tell Joey that it's NOT a ghost house! People actually live there!" How utterly embarrassing. My mom says they only said that because I built a graveyard outside last Halloween. But I knew the truth. Kids are brutally honest. I remember being a kid and having a "ghost house" in our neighborhood. Daring other kids to go up to it. I'm no dummy. But now, our house was the ghost house! I wanted to die. I knew that the outside was pretty bad (the previous owners had let it totally overgrow and the grass was pretty crappy, not to mention the paint on the house and the color). But I never thought it was that bad. I saw its potential! That's what girls do! Well that comment lit a fire under us, I could tell you that much right now. And except for the lawn, which is a work in progress, I'm proud to say our house isn't a ghost house this Halloween. So there. I wish we had the before. But here's the after.

Anyway, we'll be taking SuperPoop trick-or-treating (again) in a couple of hours, though he's cutting another tooth and it's been touch and go today. I'll post the pictures when we get back. Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeen!!!!! Woooooooooooooooooooo! (That's my ghost imitation). That one goes out to you, Evan! Love you!

SuperPoop

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SuperPoop! Every year there's one costume that everyone seems to be and this year it's Superman. We took little boy to a little fall festival where there was trick-or-treating and a hayride and lots and lots of kids and lots and lots of capes. He had a great time even though he didn't know what was going on. Meantime, it occurred to us last night as we were making plans to set the clocks back.. Who's going to re-set the baby's clock? It may take him a little bit to figure out that his 5am is really my 4am (yikes!), and that his 8pm (bedtime) is really my 7pm. This will be interesting.

Sorry, Great Pumpkin

PUMPKIN BRAINS

THE BOY AND HIS MINI-ME

Took little boy to the pumpkin patch and picked out a pumpkin family to carve up. (Forgot camera) Don't you just love Halloween? We worked our magic, then I sat in front of the World Series with the bowl of pumpkin guts, picking out the seeds and then baked them. Yum!

Men in Tights

I was on the phone with my dad this morning for a while. We don't have long phone conversations like we used to and I wish we did. But we did this morning and it was really nice.
We spoke for a while kind of recounting tales through the years, in disbelief about how quickly time passes. Even when it seems to drag at the time, you look back and whhhhoooosh! 30 years just went by. So this Halloween marks his 20th anniversary at his job, which is a pretty big milestone. And for some reason, I never knew he started his job on Halloween and I commented on how funny that was. The following year, he reminded me, he dressed up at work, as "Medicaid Man". He has a state job. He went to the office wearing a red shirt that said Medicaid Man, and white tights. It was a riot. When Evan and I were talking about what we were going to be for Halloween this year, he said "I'll do anything, but I'm not wearing tights." So we're going as Harry Potter and Hermione. He's the conservative guy who doesn't normally dress up for things, so he looks even more hysterical wearing that black wig and dork glasses. Anyway, my dad and I are laughing about all of this when my he reminds me that that wasn't the first time he wore tights. I remember it in my 3 year old little girl mind. I was staying with my aunt for the night when my parents dressed up for a Halloween party as pumpkins. They used chicken wire then put paper machier all over it, and painted them orange with big black faces. The costumes were like giant orange bulbs that went from their necks to their knees. They were huge! Underneath, they wore black turtlenecks and black tights. My dad doesn't look like a "tights" type of guy, not that I really know what that means. Anyway, they ended up going to the wrong party. Then, I'm not sure of the order, but at some point, they got a flat tire because he smashed into a parked car, and since my dad couldn't wear the pumpkin driving because it was so big, he had to take it off and was changing the tire in only a turtleneck and tights. And it was 30 degrees and there was a crowd. He must've looked like Dieter from Sprockets. Then they went to the right party and it turned out to be an Amway thing! I'm proud that they still had it in them to leave and go to a party downtown. Anyway, I love that. It's hard to believe he was only 25 or so when that happened. I can't believe how fast time goes by. I love that my dad's been known to wear tights. Tights!

Thursday Thirteen #3

13 Things I Couldn't Live Without as Mom and a Human Being

1.My I-Pod. This is by far my favorite earthly possession. I have a playlist for everything. All my favorite music in the world from Andrea Boccelli to KMFDM. N'Sync. Candlebox. Music gets me through everything in life and I can mark periods of time with songs I loved. I had two playlists for labor. (By the way, I'd like to pause for a moment to say thanks to my sister Anna for pointing out in front of my husband how many music purchases she saw on my I-Tunes account. Great job! ps. Those purchases were made over a span of 2 years.)
2. Speakers for my I-Pod. Like I always say, set your music free! OK I think it was I-POD who actually said that. But this invention is nothing short of a miracle. It's like having my own commercial-free radio station. We have three sets of I-Pod speakers. One's wireless.
3. Real Simple magazine. My mom and I both get it, and every month it's like Christmas seeing that beautiful magazine glistening in the mailbox. Whoever gets it first calls the other, "Did you get your Real Simple today??" Then we sit and read it cover to cover immediately. Great magazine. I've tried out tons of recipes on my family from it.
4. Blue water in my toilet bowl. I don't know why. I love it. When it runs out and turns clear again, I feel like worlds are colliding and I have to go out and get more.
5. The thermostat on 72. At least. I'd keep it cooler if I could, but my husband won't let me. My parents are like the Seinfelds. They keep the air on a cool 82. It's like a warm summer day inside their home at all times. My husband likes that. I sweat like a (fill in the blank-there are plenty of choices.) Multiply that by a million bazillion when I was pregnant.
6. Down feather comforter. OK I realize this sounds funny, but I love to be cold at night so I can subsequently bask in the warmth of the comforter. Love it. Need it.
7. Hot baths, candles, a glass of wine, IPod. Not separately if at all possible but I'll take that too. The combination gives me that "Calgon, take me away" feeling.
8. Clorox wipes. I go through TUBS of these wonderful wipes in no time flat. I use them on everything in my world. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
9. Coffee. Flavored, if possible. I've cut it down to one cup a day but I need it. Badly.
10. The Einstein play mat and the Aquarium Swing. Right now, little boy is quiet and it's because of the gentle lull of the "back and forth" and the little fishies swimming above him. I can get some serious stuff done with him in there, plus he loves it. After the swing, it's to the mat for valuable tummy time. These toys are two-in-one combo platters that allow me to wrap up the morning cleaning that I have to do every day. I swear it's not all selfish! He loves them too and the floor time is helping make a move toward crawling, though not quite.
11. My family. Through all my phases in life, I've had friends come and go, but my family is still right there with me plugging along, loving me for all my quirks. Although I do have one friend who weathered "all that stuff" since childhood who I consider my family too.
12. Lipstick. I don't leave home without it. Cover Girl ColorStay "Wine to Five". I found it for my wedding day because I wanted something that wouldn't "kiss off". It stays on through everything, I even sometimes wake up with it still on perfectly. I love lipstick. Even when you're feeling gross and ugly, lipstick can make it allll better.
13. Flip flops. I love cute shoes, but I love the comfort and reliability of the good old flip flop even more. I have multiple pairs in every design, white, black, beige with sparkles, and platform. I have a 40 dollar pair of flip flops that kind of defeats the purpose of flip-flop simplicity.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Poor, poor kitty (and other stuff)

I asked them to take more hair off of her than usual without shaving her. But my poor little Putty Tat has that "shaved" look anyway, and she's slinking around the house slowly and sadly like I've somehow managed to have her identity trimmed off, with a look on her face that says "Thanks a lot, lady." Now she looks more like Smiegel from Lord of the Rings and I hope she'll find it in her little cat heart to forgive me.

On another note: I'm excited that the Today show has another segment on fall centerpieces and that sounds so lame but I am! And I'm recording it! Last year, my Thanksgiving Dinner revolved around a centerpiece I made, from what else, but a demonstration I taped on the Today show. I'm thinking that maybe this will turn out to be a new Thanksgiving tradition, if I like what I see. But it's Martha Stewart and anything I try to replicate of hers never turns out quite as nice. Sidenote: have you ever noticed how mean Martha is to her staff on the air on her own show? She once yelled at her producer on the air for having a star guest on making fish with her, when the star hated fish. Yelled at them about not doing enough research on the guest. I felt really bad for the producer, that's something that probably should happen in the recap meeting in the board room after the show, like it does in news. That's embarrassing enough. Anyway, the new thing this year is putting a small vase INSIDE a pumpkin or gourd or squash and putting the flowers in the little vase, so it looks like the gourd is actually the "vase". It looks awesome. That's what I'm gonna do. Thanks Martha! I like you sometimes, even though you're mean!

Tackle It Tuesday

It's my first Tackle It Tuesday. And today, I'll be embarking on several things. A combo-platter, if you will, starting with home decoration. We got our house painted yesterday. Yay! However, the landscape now needs to catch up. I liken it to wearing a prom dress to a swap meet. My mom says it's like wearing a prom dress with sneakers, cause now that the house looks good, the landscaping needs serious help. Poor, poor landscape.

So that's what I'm doing today. Gathering some nice potted plants and some Halloween decorations to brighten up our terrible landscape until we can get to the weekend when we plan to put down some lava rock and plants and getting rid of that palm-tree thing. The lawn is another story. We're in the process of working on that. Next task: taking the cat to the groomer. The poor little flat-faced persian is all knotted and it's time to tackle the orange coif. It's her first "tackle it Tuesday" as well. And finally, working out, in the ongoing project that is my body. That's more like "Tackle it Quarterly" because I'll be doing this till the year runs out, possibly longer.

Sleeping In

OK. I know I'm supposed to be rejoicing that the boy is still sleeping right now. But I can't help but panic! Maybe it's a new day. Maybe in his little bald head, 8 is the new 5. Maybe it's because he had a rough day yesterday and I should chalk it up to exhaustion. Or the nice cool weather, I woke up and it was 69 in our room! I love it!! Anyway, I've already been in to check on him 3 times since 7 o'clock. Usually he's in bed by 8, and wakes up sometime around 5 then goes right back down until 8 or 9. Today, he's still sleeping! It's not even like I can go back to sleep happily because I'll hear a stir and think, "is this it? is he up?" Then it won't be and I'll lay down again. Then I'll hear another stir, and think "oh it must be time." And it won't be. So instead I'll sit here and talk about it.
Yesterday was a rough day for him. We had painters come do the house (and believe me, you'll drive right by next time you come over because it's sooooo different, I love it! Yay!). They started early, tearing down the gutters. Outside our front window, and yes, outside his window and boy were they loud. Little boy woke up in a complete hysterical panic, with his freaked-out scared cry and besides pausing for a bottle or two, the panic in his mind hung around for at least 2 and a half hours and so did the crying. The men were everywhere making noise, outside every room (there was a team working on the house). And he knew something was amiss and absolutely did not like it. It quieted down later in the afternoon, and he finally settled down for a nap and forgot about it for the rest of the day, but I can't help but think the stress of it all helped fuel his sleep last night. Which is right at this moment still going! I guess I'll go check on him one more time. I'm lame.

It sounds like a lot, cause it is.

"Thank you for calling the Weight Loss Hotline. If you'd like to lose a half pound right now, press 1 eighteen thousand times." ~ Randy Glasbergen

I turn to you, dear blog, to hold me accountable. From here on out, I'm tracking my quest through pregnancy-pound weightloss through the eyes of all of you. Humiliating? Could be. But I'm going to own this and plus I'm not supplying my actual weight, just my loss, if any, so sorry. I'm quite sure many of you won't care about my weight loss, and that's ok too. But if it's out there like an exposed journal for all to see, I will think better of taking that bite of pie that I so long for. Plus, if anyone else needs to lose weight, you can join me on the adventure. We can be like Bonnie and Clyde. Or Bonnie and Bonnie. I'll update my lovely ticker every Tuesday after I return from the gym. I trust their scale. I have until the first of the New Year to lose 30 pregnancy pounds. I will not buy any clothing until then.* That's because I will not allow myself to become comfortable at current weight. I also do not want to waste more money on fat clothes if I plan to lose weight. I have an entire pre-pregnancy wardrobe in the guest room anxiously awaiting the return to my closet. Plus, I would like to lose exactly one chin so I can feel better about taking pictures with my son. Obviously, I will encounter such obstacles as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Christmas Parties, several family birthdays and subsequent parties etc etc. I will not deprive myself. But I will not go for seconds and thirds and have more than one dessert in a sitting. And since I'm hosting Thanksgiving (which happens to be my favorite holiday) I will not have Thanksgiving dinner more than once that week due to leftovers. I will work out 5-6 days a week, lifting weights and doing some hard-core cardio in a very "Body-For-Life" type of way. I will cross my fingers and hope for the best. So far, I'm down 7 pounds, with 23 to go. Wish me luck.

*Except 1 shirt to supplement my one "date night" shirt rotation and I reserve the right to buy an outfit for Christmas Day.

Six Months Later, I'm Me Again

If someone asked me how long it took for me to feel like a real person again after my baby was born, I'd say six months. Six months to figure out whether or not the person I was before the baby was appropriate as a mother. Should I act more "mother-y"? Are my poop jokes and inappropriate comments "un-mother-like"? Should I ditch trying to dress cool or wear cute shoes? Should I start keeping my house completely spotless with floors you can eat off of? Dust-free? Try new recipes? Wear an apron? Our baby came just over a year after our marriage, so I was still trying to find myself as a wife.

Six months to feel like I could finally leave the house. Six months to feel sociable again. We moved into a new subdivision a few months before I got pregnant. But once I got pregnant, I grew incredibly unsociable which only escalated after the baby was born. People were always asking me questions, how will you handle this, will you breastfeed, what's your theory on this that or the other. I didn't know yet, so I felt stupid. Even though I seemed to know what I was doing on the outside, I was flailing out of control on the inside thinking everyone else had more answers than I did about how to take care of this little guy. I didn't want to meet the neighbors. I broke brunch dates and hangout dates with friends. I stopped returning phone calls. I didn't hang out with people from work, or keep in touch once I decided to stay home. I saw my mom, my husband, and my baby. I went to Target and I went grocery shopping. Maybe the mall. That was pretty much it, but at the time, I was ok with that.

Six months to have more energy. After Aidan started sleeping, I had more energy to expand my horizons and get to the gym. Before, if it were a choice between the gym and sleep, you know which one won. So, about a month ago, I started working out 5 or 6 times a week. I need another knee surgery (I had one already when I was six months pregnant), so besides wanting to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans, I want to be in better shape for surgery, for recovery. Plus, I don't want to be a fat pregnant person, should we decide to have a baby sooner rather than later. Even though I haven't shed all of it yet, I'm down 7 pounds, and I don't look much different but I feel much better. If that counts. My husband compliments me. My huge sizes feel a little baggy. Not there yet, but maybe some day. I keep trying on my old jeans "just in case".

Six months to feel pretty again. This may be a no-brainer because of the work-out thing. More energy, yada yada yada, who knows. But would you believe, it also took six months for me to get my pre-pregnancy hair back again? I have long hair which is usually kind of nice, but I'm telling you when I got pregnant, Aidan sucked all the moisture out of it and it became a frizzy uncontrollable coif. Not a good look for someone who already feels big and fat. At least you can have your cute hair if everything else seems to fail. But not me. And it's back, baby, and boy am I happy. Also, no more maternity clothes. I've packed them up and let a friend borrow them so I can't be tempted to frump myself up. And no more big old nursing shirts and ugly 18-hour cross your heart nursing bras. Sweet. I'm back in cute shoes. And I've decided that for me, being a mom doesn't have to mean not drying your hair because there's no time and wearing it all wet in a ponytail holder anymore. It also doesn't mean I have to wear mom jeans or ugly shoes or go without makeup. It's ok to have a camouflage messenger bag as a diaper bag because it's just as functional, but more importantly, it's cute. Yes, it took me six months to realize this.

Six months to feel like a wife AND a mother. My husband and I are totally in sync right now, and even though I know life changes that all the time, right now it feels real good. He understands me, us and our family unit. We're respectful of each other. We give each other an "out" when we need it. We are in unison and I've never been happier.

Six months to feel like I've finally hit my stride. I've gone out enough times and met a few other new moms to know that I am doing the right thing with Aidan. My choices are ok. He's doing well. He's behind some kids, but he's ahead of others. That's just the way the world works. And it's ok to be me. I don't have to have all these parenting theories and I don't have to judge other people's parenting in order to justify my own. I don't have to defend myself, either. What works for us, works for us, and that's that and it's been pretty good so far. I do keep my house cleaner, and I work up new recipes and host family gatherings, but it's come natural and it's fun and I'm not trying to force it. If I go a day with dishes in the sink, I'm still an ok mom. So there.

Over the past week, I've received two of the best compliments I've ever received from my husband, which makes me believe he sees me coming out of my shell too. He told me one day that I look "sexy." And another day, he told me I look like I have it together. I feel funny about the sexy part (sorry any relatives reading this), because I've never considered myself that, ever. That seems like an awfully grown-up term. But I'll take the other compliment hands down. I finally feel like I do.

All Tuckered Out

We took Aidan on his first trip to the zoo and this is him afterward. He was more interested in his teething blanket than that big giraffe face staring at him. (below). But that's ok. We had a pretty good time, and come to find out our local zoo is pretty cool! Who knew!

He didn't care much for the rhinos either, he was a little more focused on his teething rings. But he did seem to get a kick out of the carousel.

Finally Getting Somewhere

Yep! He's making it off the playmat and starting to get around, although that's really as far as he ever gets before he gets frustrated. But until then, he's all proud of himself. See below.

There's some movement there too, some teeth coming in on the bottom which was a really hard picture to take. I'm not sure if anyone else can see them. I can, but I know they're there. Maybe it's more like baby abstract art.
That's my little homey. I just hope he turns out more like Marky Mark than K-Fed.

Thursday Thirteen #2

We just finished getting our house stucco'd and we're about to get it painted, among the millions of things we've had to do since we moved in last year. That's why I've decided to do..

THIRTEEN LOVELY THINGS ABOUT HOME IMPROVEMENT

1. Not being referred to as "the ghost house" by neighborhood kids anymore

2. Mounting debt and lots of 0% interest credit cards from home improvement, furniture, and carpet stores.

3. Getting your house out of the 1980's once and for all.

4. Not feeling like you're raising your child in a shanty house anymore and finally feeling like a worthy parent.

5. That is, until having to pay for college

6. Knocking one thing off the list means adding at least 20 more.

7. Starting and finishing a project is NEVER "that easy", even if it means something as simple-sounding as pressure-washing.

8. Spending the day trying to get motivated to start or finish a project.

9. Starting a project and then giving up, realizing it would have been better to call in the professionals in the first place, then being too lazy to call them and having the unfinished project sit for weeks and weeks.

10. Arguing with your spouse about whose way is the best way to start or finish said project.

11. The comments from visitors about how much you've done with the place.

12. Realizing that buying a fixer-upper is more fun for you than your non-handyman husband.

13. Putting together a growing list of things that we will definitely NOT want in our next house because of our newfound experiences with them...like skylights (that leak), wallpaper (that's permanently stuck to drywall), old carpet, popcorn ceilings, old wood paneling with hunters and ducks on it, fruit trees (spiders), and a crazy, Amazon-jungle-like backyard. In no particular order.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Big Huge Empty House

During our little tea party last week, my mom suggested I leave Aidan at their house for the night. I was completely taken aback by the request. Flabbergasted, if you will. This wasn't something that had even dawned on me to do! I don't really know why. It's not because I didn't want to or anything, I guess I just get into that rut of he always needs to be with me and if he's not with me than he's with his dad, otherwise we'll only be gone for a couple of hours. So I called my husband at work and he sat silent on the phone while he began to wrap his mind around this idea too. This was a big step! It sounds so silly. But we couldn't think of a reason "why not." Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Anna would get him all to theirselves and they'd be in their glory. I'd get a night off. Uh, ok. Let's do it. He had all his stuff with him and a place to sleep and all we had to do was figure out how to put the car seat in their car, which I never do, so I wasn't sure how. And of course, that was a production because everything in my family is a production. We thought, hey let's go to the firestation, they check them, what a great idea. I was scared to death just driving there cause I was sure the carseat was in wrong and I was holding onto it for dear life. Not that that would help. We pulled up, and one of their big garage doors was open with a workout bench in it so we knew they had to be home. It was just trying to figure out who was going to knock, cause we were all embarrassed, none of us had done this before. So we sat their for eternity bickering loudly about who should go, which turned into a unanimous vote for my dad but before he could go, my mom honked. Great. This isn't embarrassing at all. We're like the Keystone Cops, I swear. My dad got out and knocked on the door and then firemen started coming out from all over the place. From the back, from the side, even the Fire Chief came out. Who was honking! So two of them helped us put the carseat in right and Aidan was sleeping the whole time and a whole bunch of them were just milling around, watching. I think I knew one of them from high school. They got the carseat in, we thanked the nice men, and we went happily on our way to Pit Boss, the best BBQ joint in the world. We've been going there since I was about 10. On my way home without the carseat, I realized there was no one to listen to me belting out my favorite songs. And when I got home, I almost turned on the monitor thinking he was in the other room. Our smallish house never seemed so big. We went out. We drank beer and shot darts without looking at the clock. I kicked ass. We came home and ordered pizza and ate my sister's heart-shaped brownies that were no longer heart-shaped. The house was so quiet. We kept talking about Aidan. We felt naked. It's so funny how such a tiny being can fill up an entire house. I guess the moral of the story is, we survived. We may even do it again.

I Heart Auntie Anna

When I used to live in New York and Salt Lake and I would come down to visit, I'd fly in for a whirlwind weekend and try to fit everything in, seeing all my family, my husband-to-be and my friends. For my family, the weekend was exhausting. Like a tornado blowing through. Now, it's my sister's turn. "Auntie Anna" came home for a little R&R (or as we call it, a little "energy") while her husband's away on deployment. Whenever our family's apart for too long, our "energy" gets depleted and we say we need a fill-up and the missing member of the family makes it back to complete the circle and we're good for a little while until our energy runs out again. My relationship with my sister is the exception, not the norm, and as I get older I see that more. We're so close we say that we're actually from the same egg, she just incubated seven years longer. Anyway, it was a successful weekend. We had a tea party at our mom's house, she got to see her baby nephew, we had a big huge baby-fest bbq with all the family babies, and we even got to go out and party. Today, I slept all day. I don't have the stamina of my youth.

BABY-FEST 2006

Thursday Thirteen (#1)

Thirteen Reasons Why My Preemie's Not a Preemie Anymore (Happy six month birthday, Aidan!!) 1. He's rolling around on the floor 2. He smiles incessantly and I love it 3. He laughs at things like tickles and big huge rottweilers 4. He eats all his vegetables and cereal and he loves using a spoon 5. He holds his own bottle and shrieks and screams when you try to take it away and stares it down until the nipple is placed firmly back in his mouth again 6. He is in 6-9 month clothes and has huge ham hock legs and Michelin Man arms 7. He is about to sit up any day now, any day 8. He has two teeth poking out from underneath. He's been working hard on these and trust me, it's not easy work for him or for us 9. He is sleeping through the night, yay sleep! Yay! 10. He loves being outside and watching the world go on around him 11. He says "I love you". OK, he doesn't actually say it but his voice mimicks mine when I say it, does that count? It's more like a hum. 12. He tells us exotic stories of superheroes, love and life, riches and adventures, all through his extraordinary gift of babble 13. He'll only drink water from a cup, but that's ok with us!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Psycho Crazy Nazi Mom

OK, so I really am not one of those moms who would just assume put their baby in a plastic bubble so as to protect them and not allow a single germ on them. I must preface this with that fact. I've been reading a bunch of "new mom" books, some of them handbook-ish, like "What to Expect the First Year" and some of them just funny, like "Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay". Which was a really cute book by a comedianne I've never heard of. I saw her on the Today Show promoting her new book and she was pretty funny so I bought it while browsing the baby book section at Barnes and Noble looking for a how-to-make-your-own-babyfood book. A couple of pages in, she starts making fun of some new moms. Then, as I keep reading, just as you would think, she talks about her newfound experiences and life lessons. Then she makes fun of other moms some more, you know the type, the ones who take the bumper off their crib because they're afraid that their baby might suffocate. Or the moms who don't use blankets because they're afraid that their baby might suffocate. Or the moms who make their own babyfood. Sounds crazy, right? She makes it sound really bad, like "never get cornered by one of those crazy moms". I swear I never thought I was going to be one of "those" moms and I still don't really think I am. I was always the one who never had an opinion on anything and had the messiest room and talked incessantly in class.

See, by nature I can't be one of those moms. I'll have you know that I've since put the bumper back on the crib since Aidan started sticking his arm through the rails and getting it stuck. (We check on him at least 4 times throughout the night to make sure he hasn't suffocated.) Also we use "sleepsacks" that act just like blankets only he wears it and they look really cute! (and they calm my nerves at night about the possibility of suffocation, isn't that a plus??!!) Oh... and Aidan just wrapped up a week of green beans. He's on to potatoes. (I made em myself.) Sigh.

I gots me a girlfriend!

Aidan looks like a monster next to baby Kailey. He got to meet his new girlfriend over the weekend. It's hard to believe he was actually smaller than her at one time. Don't they look cute together? I took quite a few pictures of this, and that last one is him telling me I'm taking way too long. Oddly enough, we actually hung out with Kailey's parents at their house two days before I went into labor. Then, when it was their turn to have a baby, they had hung out at our house two days before she went into labor. Coincidence? I guess so. I wanted to put "I think not" because that's just what you write after asking if it was a coincidence. But it really is one of those odd things in life.

Baby Haiku: A Series of Mental Pictures

A baby with folds.
How much stuff is stuck in there?
I keep finding more.

Crying, laughing, snore.
Rolling around on the floor.
Crying, laughing, snore.

Tiny, toothy smile.
Drool running down his big face.
Happiness galore.

Wrinkly baby head.

Still bald and waiting for hair.

Like an old, old man.

Thought of the Moment

"People often ask me, "What's the difference between couplehood and babyhood?" In a word? Moisture. Everything in my life is now more moist. Between your spittle, your diapers, your spit-up and drool, you got your baby food, your wipes, your formula, your leaky bottles, sweaty baby backs, and numerous other untraceable sources--all creating an ever-present moistness in my life, which heretofore was mainly dry." -- Paul Reiser, Babyhood

Waiting for the O.C.

NBC is smart. I'm waiting for the O.C. to come back, but meantime, there's a couple of great new series on, and most of them are on NBC. The only catch is, they come on after "Deal or No Deal". So of course, you get sucked in to watching the ridiculous drama of "I have absolutely no skill nor do I know what I'm doing but I'll take my shoes off and do somersaults on the stage when I pick the right case". Of course, I could change the channel. But I don't, and I don't know why. I think it's because it's like a train wreck watching these people act like they're winning because of their skills. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdhiLgwptZI . But while my O.C. remains on hiatus, I must say, I applaud you, Fall Season, because I rarely like new shows and now I'm seriously going to have to re-think my TV line-up so as to not become one with my couch because of watching too much of it. Our DVR is already on overload.

New additions to current line-up:
-Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. VERY good show. I am hooked already. Matthew Perry is great in this, he's still funny in a serious Chandler Bing sort of way. I love it.
-Heroes. Still trying to figure out if I like it. The whole show seems like something out of one of my wacked out dreams. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUgK2HQrlDY . I guess I do like it. I just don't know if yet if it's worth adding to the line-up.

Then of course there's 30 Rock which looks funny, and that new show with John Lithgow, 20 Good Years, which also looks funny.
I don't know if these are worth it either, because look at my line-up already! I am not a deadbeat mom. I do pay attention to my child and even find time to work out and clean! Ask my husband!

-The Office
-My Name is Earl
-Best Week Ever (VH1. Hilarious.)
-Extreme Home Makeover
-Dancing with the Stars. (guilty pleasure).
-Gilmore Girls
I swear we do other things rather than watch TV.

Waiting for: (eagerly)
-Scrubs
-The O.C. (coming back in November! Wah.)
-Psych (I LOVE this show. It's on USA and it's hilarious. It's about two guys who pretend they're psychic and help police solve crimes, but all they are is really really observant.) Comes back in January. http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/

I'm so surprised that I even like TV these days. My normal repertoire is Seinfeld re-runs and that's it. I may need a hobby.

Toy Nemesis

I don't usually put together Aidan's toys or furniture, my husband does. And I usually wonder why it takes him so long. Now I feel bad. Fortunately for us, we bought the unused floor model of this swing and we didn't have to put it together. This has been Aidan's favorite thing in the world, but I think I may love it even more because without it, I'd get nothing done. It mesmerizes him and puts him in a trance that no other toy or piece of furniture dares to do. But as he gets older, the usual routine of eat, swing, play on floormat, hang out with mommy, nap is getting a little stale. Which means new, more stimulating toys. Like the one I tried to put together today. This particular 5-in-1 gym looked real great, and looked real easy to put together. He can use it forever, lying down, sitting, and standing. (This is him in it, below)

So after I laid Aidan down for a nap and commenced its construction, I started reading the directions. Which were only a bunch of pictures of parts with corresponding numbers. So I sat on the floor for about a half hour looking at these parts and making sure they're all in the correct direction before I put them together like the diagrams showed. They say you need a Phillips screwdriver. Which was a lie. You need a Phillips POWER screwdriver. Because after another half-hour of screwing in these screws which were going nowhere no matter how hard I pushed, I got out the powerful one and it did the trick in about a second. Apparently you make the hole yourself. Good to know. Then, what the directions fail to tell you because there are none, remember only pictures, is that if you put one of the parts on the wrong way, in my case, upside down because I'm real bright, that you can never ever ever take the part off again. Ever. So after some finagling and a deep gash on my thumb from a wayward tool, I didn't get it off, but I was able to figure out how to fix it. The gym only has like 6 parts and in hindsight was really easy to put together, except for a few facts that instructions with words probably would have helped and saved me a band-aid. Veteran parents are probably sympathizing with my plight of toy assembly right now, because I'm sure that sadly, this is only the beginning. Now I know what my parents went through putting together my Barbie Dream House. Ps. Sorry Evan.

The wrong side of the bed.

Almost every day, I think how lucky I am that Aidan wasn't colicky and that he seems to be an otherwise very happy, very easy baby. He eats well, he sleeps through the night and he smiles a lot. And I wait for the other shoe to drop. Like today. When he wakes up screaming inconsolably, and you sing, and you hug, and go on patrol for anything that could be hurting him. The toes. Check. Fingers. Check. Folds. Check. Diaper. Check. He ate an hour ago, could he be hungry again? File that, keep going. No obvious pain anywhere. Still wailing. Walk around house, look outside, listen to birds, turn on TV, walk around some more, slows to a whimper. Progress. Try to play, he laughs a little, more wailing. Apparently false progress. Watch Meredith stomp grapes on Today show. Still wailing. Sit in "Fred", (our big black Lazy Boy chair that doesn't match with anything but is the most comfortable thing ever), rock, sing his favorite song, "This Old Man," slows to whimper. Progress. Grows to wailing. Darn. OK, I'll make a bottle. He eats, burps, wails some more. OK, I'll give him that Humphreys stuff for his teeth. Lops it up, more wailing. Back in Fred. More rocking and more wailing. Wriggles self from my shoulder down to my lap, lays on side, sticks thumb in mouth, falls asleep. Sigh. Need coffee. Ps. Did not win Lottery.

Thought of the Moment

"If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'" - Jeff Foxworthy

The Winning Ticket

I had a dream last night that I won $81 million in the lottery. I guess that's impossible because tonight's jackpot is only $9 million. I dreamt that I was afraid of blowing the whole load on junk so I decided I would keep my current house and buy a brownstone in New York City and save the rest, maybe invest some of it. Then I went to a diner and ordered Lemon Merengue pie and a coffee and so did everyone at my table, there were about six of us. I even remembered the numbers when I woke up but then I forgot them. I think there was a 3 or a 6 in there. I'm going to get a ticket just in case. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Why can't I jumprope?

Isn't this supposed to be easy? Don't young children, the elderly, and boxers do this without complication? Even the sumo wrestlers on Celebrity Fit Club make it look easy. I remember doing this as a kid but I don't remember being this embarrassed when I did it. So I picked up the jumprope at Stroller Fit class yesterday thinking I would be nothing less than Rocky training for my next big fight. We had to jump rope for a minute. How hard could that be? What I turned out to be was the jumproping equivalent of Elaine dancing, with tiny kicks and some random galloping. The rope would go so slow around me, that it would get all floppy and snag on my back foot on the way up so that I'd have to stop every 10 seconds and start the ridiculous display all over again. I stunk so bad at jumproping that I had to stop BEFORE the minute was up, and jump in place real fast. Like you would do with an invisible jumprope. I looked over and Aidan was covering his eyes, pretending not to know me in front of new potential baby friends. Task for today: buy jumprope and practice within privacy of own home so as not to make fool of self again in front of other moms.

Anger Management

Whenever Aidan has a meltdown I think about how wonderful it would be if we could do the same thing in adult situations. Like when we get tired, start rubbing our eyes and screaming our heads off. Or when we're hungry, throw ourselves on the floor, screw up our faces and start wailing. Or when we don't feel like going into a meeting and we throw a tantrum, or perhaps when we're at the grocery store and my husband tells me I can't have a candy bar. Or in a quiet movie theater, when I just don't feel like sitting still. Or when I miss my mommy. Or I just want to be held. Or in a couple years when my diaper is stinky.

Halloween

"This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him." ~Conan O'Brien

A Trip Into Fall

Yay! Fall! Finally the hot, heavy mugginess of summer has lifted, not even a week after the ushering in of Fall and it's music to my body. That infant carrier weighs a hundred-thousand-bazillion tons under the weight of the sweltering summer heat, and Aidan and anyone else who goes outside for more than 10 minutes needs a change of clothing after braving it. Like people up north during the winter months, I spend a lot of time indoors in the summer, only I wrap myself up in the comfort of 72-degree air conditioning and corresponding $200 electric bills. Every year, I get excited about the "holiday season" a little earlier and this year I've already started my Christmas shopping which if anyone knows me, is a huge feat. I usually finish shopping mere hours before midnight and am up until 3am wrapping, only to unwrap it all in a present-giving blitz a couple hours later. Anyway, now it's time for pumpkin carving, pumpkin pie, Turkey with a capital "T", pretty leaves, crisp air, early sunsets and my favorite, that extra hour of sleep that I lost in the spring! Yay! And we'll return to our youth in a few weeks when we take Aidan trick-or-treating, cause who are we kidding, that candy he gets is for us.