Crashed

My favorite time of the day is right before Poops goes to bed. He used to fall asleep when I held him all the time when he was a little guy, but now those times are few and far between and I relish them when it happens. He didn't quite make it to his 8 o'clock bedtime. But that was okay with me.

Hi. I'm in Delaware.

Oh the joy of Christmas! This picture cracks me up. We took it Saturday morning while picking out our Christmas tree at Lowes, so we could remember our first Christmas with Poops. It reminds me of that time in Utah when we were only dating, and he came to visit me just before Christmas and I thought it would be a great idea for us to get a real tree. In fact, if you go to my sister's blog, you'd see that we have both married "fake tree" men. Men who are from "fake tree" families. There is nothing wrong with that. We were fake tree people once too, until one year, my sister and I banded together and begged my parents for fresh pine and we haven't looked back since. For my husband though, it was a work in progress. Right now, he's in a state of acceptance. We have surpassed the stages of denial and anger. (My sister is currently working on hers). The process for us began when we were dating a couple years ago, and I lived in Salt Lake City and he still lived in Florida. We went out to get a real tree because boy didn't I think it would be fun to have my boyfriend in town just before the holidays and we can get our tree and decorate it together while watching It's a Wonderful Life. It can be tradition! Sadly for me, he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as I was about it, and when we bought the tree at the grocery store because that's the closest place I knew that sold them, it all came to a head. He lugged the big tree out to the Jeep, threw it on the roof, rolled down the windows, and tied the tree to the roof with rope. He was huffing and puffing the whole way, so I kept my silence thinking, 'ok as soon as we get it home he'll see what a nice time we'll have and he'll look back on this as a wonderful beautiful Christmas experience'. Plus I'm compromising, he's watching football instead of the movie. This is ok. Baby steps. Remember, he's not a "real tree" person. So we go to get into the Jeep to go home, and we both try to open the doors when we realize at the same time that he's managed to tie the doors shut. With the windows open. I'm trying desperately not to go into hysterics and I study his face and wait for his reaction, which I know would be either complete anger or maybe he'll force a smile, but it's key for me to not react until I see which way he goes and I know this. Thankfully, he laughs at himself and the whole process of getting our first tree together goes much more smoothly from there. But even now, it's still a challenge. He accepts that I thoroughly need fresh pine even though I'm always tracking needles all over the house and we've already vaccuumed three times since we put the tree up, and still we have to vaccuum again. And he accepts that I am like an elderly woman when it comes to my yearning for tradition. So I may get a picture like the one above when we get the Christmas tree, but I know he's smiling inside. We joke that by the time Poops is old enough to begin understanding and taking part in our traditions, Husband will have gotten all of his "real tree" reservations out of his system and be smiling on the outside too.

Who's putting on all the hats this year?

The honor goes to Aunt Kate. One year my sister put on all the hats at my birthday party. Another year, my 90 year old grandmother did it. This year, it was my sister-in-law who donned the pointy Spongebob hats at husband's birthday dinner. It's an odd tradition. But it makes for good pictures. We're bringing party hats back.

Doesn't that look like a picture of happiness? I can't get my husband to do anything other than the Chandler Bing smile ever, but one snuck out today and I was lucky enough to catch it on film. It's like getting a shot of the Lockness Monster. Happy Birthday husband! His real birthday's tomorrow. So if anyone from work is reading this, he likes pretty much any kind of cake.

O Christmas Tree!

Poops was inducted into all things Christmas Tree this weekend.

Friday night we took him to our little town's tree lighting. He sat on the ground and felt grass for the first time. He's felt it before, but that was back when he was a nub and didn't know any different. This is the new, more aware Poops.

Then we went to pick out a Christmas tree, to where else, but Lowes, and you'd be surprised what a good batch they have to choose from. And they're pretty cheap too. They're nothing like a tree farm, I know, but when Poops knows the difference, we'll take him there.

But he's a pretty hands-on type of baby. We were going to let him be the star on the tree, but the tree kept tipping over.

Thursday Thirteen: Ooh! Lucky Number 7!!

November is Prematurity Awareness Month as you may already know, and for me, this month has been a time of healing and many thanksgivings. I've begun stashing away some of my sadder memories in return for some of the happier ones that we've been making all year long, and the ones to come this holiday season. So to bring this month of reflection to a close, and because this is why my baby came early.. I wrote about:

THIRTEEN REASONS PREECLAMPSIA STINKS!

1. Absolutely no one knows why it happens. Because of this, there is no cure.

2.I gained more than 20 pounds in the last two weeks of my pregnancy in water weight alone. I could only fit into flip flops because my feet were so puffed up, and I had cankles. I had bought a pair of heels for my shower (I know, that was silly), and my feet looked like swollen muffin tops overflowing on top of the tiny stumps that were my shoes.

3. I learned about high blood pressure, and that the bottom number should never be over 100. My blood pressure was ridiculously high. I was actually scared.

4. Did you know that when a woman goes through complications with her pregnancy, her body and baby both know it, and the baby's organs mature quicker? It's true. It happened to us. Poops' lungs were perfect and he was off a breathing tube within 6 hours. The human body is fascinating.

5. I was on bedrest at 32 weeks and my water broke and I delivered at 34 weeks.

6. To this moment I secretly envy women who had healthy pregnancies and 10 pound babies.

7. I'm scared to death to get pregnant again even though doctors are "sure" it won't happen a second time.

8. A week and a half in the NICU is a week and a half too long. Right now I'm mentally hugging all moms who have to go through it for any amount of time, even if it's just a day. Right now, there are mommies and daddies sitting in the NICU with their babies. Right now, some are getting dressed to go home. I'm praying for each one of you.

9. I guess the bright side is that I've never experienced the "get this thing out of me" discomfort of the latter part of the third trimester.

10. I secretly want to.
11. I was overwhelmed with guilt for months about why it happened to me and even more about why it happened to my little guy.

12. It happens to way more people than I ever knew. And it happens to way more people *twice* than doctors acknowledge.

13. But ha ha, preeclampsia! I won. We won. He is healthy and wonderful and lovely. And that's all that counts.

*Please feel free to share your experiences here. You can also read about our story. There are also several great websites about preeclampsia, and how and why women get it, and what it is and what it means for women and their babies. They are: the official website, http://www.preeclampsia.org and a great support website here on blogger: http://preeclampsiasurvivors.blogspot.com. And please remember, especially when people are coming to you for pledges in the spring for the huge walk, to support the March of Dimes. Happy holidays to you and your family! God bless!

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!
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Finger Foods

Sweet! We're on finger foods! And I really thought they'd be a shoe-in. I mean, he eats everything. My hair, my hands, he tried to eat my foot this morning, he eats all his toys, his bibs, his burp cloths, blankets, absolutely everything he can get his hands on. Except finger foods. It's the funniest thing. Everything else he picks up goes straight to his mouth, but with finger foods, he has no idea what to do with them. If I put it in his mouth, he'll gum it to death. I'm impressed by his chewing. But he won't pick them up himself. So all the broken pieces of carrots that we've tried fall into his seat and they mush all up and get caught in the cracks of the high chair. He looks at me like I'm crazy. And maybe I am. Maybe he secretly knows that feeding himself will eventually make way for wiping himself and bathing himself. Maybe he's smarter than I think. Hmm.

Leveled

Where did Sunday and Monday go? I feel like Rip Van Winkle. I went to sleep on Sunday morning after dropping my sister off at the airport and I woke up this morning when my husband left for work. OK, I did wake up a few times to eat and pee and to hear Poops in the other room playing and cooing and laughing and I longed to play too. I even showered, but only to return to pajamas and let my hair dry by itself which means a curly frizzy mess that I just stick back into a ponytail. But mostly I just slept because I felt like I got hit by a bus and the past two days are just like a faint memory. Lovely. I kicked off the holiday season with a nice, big, fat flu. Poops had a smaller version of it last week. His first cold and thankfully it wasn't that bad. Just a little congestion and a runny nose. The adult version seems much more harsh. And we've given it to my parents and sister but I think Evan may have warded it off because he hasn't gotten it yet. Hopefully he won't. I had it this same week last year too now that I think about it. I've never gotten the flu shot because I was never entirely convinced it would help. But I think I may get in line for it next year.

Sitting Up

A friend of mine said to me how funny it was that one minute babies can't do something and the next day they can. It's so true. Last week, Poops could only sit up for a second before wobbling and falling over. I'd sit him up between my legs and he'd teeter and collapse. The next day, he would sit for a few minutes longer. Now, he doesn't fall at all, he just hangs out looking at the world from this whole new point of view. And he never wants to lay down at all now, he's way too interested in everything sitting up. This is cool for me too, I'm excited about the whole new world of high chairs at restaurants, sitting up in the shopping cart, and hopefully ditching that infant carrier soon! That thing's getting heavy.

Baby Jack Jack

Poops playing Super Hero at my Godson's birthday party (pictures finally!)

Baby Candy Frenzy

HAPPY BIRD DAY! The floors need mopping.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday EVER. Of course because it gives me time to reflect about what it is I am thankful for. But mostly because of dinner! And the opportunity to have "the perfect bite". Yum. I live for this. You can probably file this under "too much information" but at dinner, I take a little tiny bit of every one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day foods, and arrange it all on my fork for the perfect bite. Every time. And I can never deviate from our traditional menu that dates back to my childhood, for fear of compromising the perfect bite. That would be horrible! Then I'd have to wait a whole nother year! My sister used to refuse to sit next to me at the table because by the end, my plate would look like a pile of mush, but all of my favorite foods would be mixed together and it would look like paradise to me. I still do it now, but I make it look a little less sloppy. It was Poops' first Thankgiving, so we pulled the high chair up to the table and he had his first taste of turkey and he gagged and spit it all out. Oh well. Maybe next year. Anyway, I just love Thanksgiving. All of it. I spend pretty much the entire month of November sifting through magazines, watching Martha Stewart and the Today Show and pouring through websites looking for decorating and drink and food ideas. My mom came over a couple days early to help me (kind of like last year). We made place cards out of tiny pilgrim candles that we put in the tiniest terra cotta pot you'd ever seen and I wrote everyone's names on their little pot. Last year, I cut slits in tiny pumpkins and put name cards in them. For centerpieces this year, we carved out pumpkins and used them as vases for flowers. We shopped. For a couple days. And even then, Evan still had to make five trips out for stuff we forgot including cream cheese for the pumpkin cheesecake I was making. What a guy. My sister came down and at dinner, we were in hysterics over jokes that we couldn't explain to other people because it wouldn't be funny. She's the best. My dad flew in after a week of hunting up north, just in time for dinner. We had two small turkeys, one we baked, and the other that Evan fried in the driveway. I was scared for his life until my uncle showed up, who I knew had previous experience frying turkeys and I was relieved. It was an exhausting day of cooking and today, I am still trying to clean. There is a pile of china in the sink waiting for me but that's okay. Probably the funniest part of the day was Evan dropping his coke all over the floors I had just washed and then our shoes sticking to it and tracking it all over. But that was just the beginning of the series of floor events. Evan flooded the newly post-coke-washed floor with the water from the dirty mop bucket when he knocked it over. Then at some point, my mom, sister, and aunt, all kicked over the cat's water dish. I have decided it's time to move it. The floors were jinxed yesterday. Anyway, I'm thankful that the family was together and it was lovely. But we are seriously missing my sister's husband, though, and we can't wait for him to get back and start taking part in our family holiday madness. We miss you, Old Man! The holiday season has officially begun, and I know this because the smooth, easy favorites radio station has started playing only Christmas carols and I'll keep that radio station on until December 26th. Yay Christmas!

The Family Suitcase

I've learned a lot of things this weekend. The most useful is that the "family suitcase" does not work. At all. We were headed to Atlanta for my Godson's birthday party and I thought it was a great idea to pack one huge suitcase full of mine, Evan's and the baby's stuff instead of packing three bags. Plus I thought it would save space in the car. I couldn't have been more wrong. By the end of the first night, we didn't know whose clothes were whose or where anything was at all, so it looked like our suitcase threw up on the floor. Then, we start yelling at each other because no one can find anything and we feel like we're in complete disarray for the whole weekend. And of course, I pack it all up the day we leave and hope for the best that I'm not leaving anything behind. And of course, I do. Anyway, the birthday party was the cutest thing ever. It was a superhero party at an interactive kids museum, that looked like a village inside with all sorts of shops and everything is hands on. A grocery store with stocked shelves (boxes only and plastic fruit, and I look over and see my Godson packing up all his own "groceries". So cute.) A hair salon complete with wigs, a dentist office with chair and tools, doctor's office, even Tom the Turkey (an older guy wearing a turkey outfit and tights and when he didn't see any kids looking, would sit and drink his coffee and read the paper.) All the little kids had capes and superhero masks, and Poops wore an eye mask and looked like Jack Jack from the Incredibles. I would have pictures posted, but guess what I forgot in Atlanta? The cable to hook up the camera.

Thursday Thirteen #6

Since I'll be out of town Friday, I'll do a combo platter early-weigh-in-slash-Thursday 13. So, HURRAH!! I'm down 2 more pounds, which brings me to a grand total of 10. Sweet! Almost to a new decade of numbers! Anyway, ever wonder what people are thinking about while they're on the elliptical? I wonder if they're as weird as me. My mind tends to completely wander. So I figured I'd do:

Thirteen Things I Think About While Working Out At the Gym

1. Ooh. Yikes. Spandex and a muscle tee. Not a good look. And it's always on that older guy trying to look buff and cool. Why is that?

2. My underwear is inching up. No, underwear, no! Stay where you are! Stubborn underwear! Ah, there. (Sure hope no one saw that.)

3. Something's wafting and it's not good. Shoot. Is it me? I put on deodorant. Didn't I? (inner panic setting in.)

4. I have to remember to call my mom back.

5. I wonder if I have time to get my eyebrows waxed after this.

6. I remember being 18 and looking like that. And I didn't even enjoy it! I thought I was fat! Boy to know then what I know now. Curse you, younger self!

7. Ugh. Five more minutes. Five. More. Long. Minutes. OK, that's only like one more song. Maybe a song and a half. OK I'll go till the end of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It's "B". Jumbo Jet. I can't believe he didn't get that! Must. Keep. Going. Legs burning. Hey! You on the elliptical! Focus! Get it together! No one's going to work out for you! Dig Deep. Don't be a loser. Wimp! Work it. Work it! Work itttt!

8. I wish Poops wasn't born early. I always see this March of Dimes commercial and get choked up on the elliptical. Must look away. No crying during the workout! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!

9. Someone left the cake out... in the rain! I don't think that I can take it! Cause it took so long to bake it! And I'll never have that recipe againnnnnnnn! Oh nooooooooooo! This song really rocks out! After the slow part.

10. Mamamia, I wish my thighs didn't rub together. Mine could be siamese twins. Look at hers. They look like they've never even met. How can that be?

11. Did I pay my student loan this month?

12. Ooh, next week I can do 13 of my favorite words. Or I can do 13 books that should never have been movies. Or 13 reasons I love the holidays. Or 13 things that will be on my Thanksgiving table. Yipes! I'm addicted to Thursday 13! All I do is think in terms of lists!!!

13. This feels good. Got a good sweat going here. I should definitely do this more often. I'll come back tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after. I'm motivated, now, baby. No one can stop me! I'm even getting up early on Thanksgiving to workout. (Picturing husband laughing in my head). Well maybe the day after. After shopping of course.

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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!

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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Dress Rehearsal

Places, everyone!

Poops' First Selfless Act

Poops told me that he wanted to send his trick-or-treating candy to his uncle in Iraq. Only seven months old, but already capable of random acts of kindness, it's amazing! Who needs him to start crawling or sitting up when you got that! So I told him, boy that's a wonderful idea! And it's getting colder over there, so the chocolate won't even melt! He'd rather eat the container than the candy that's in it anyway, so he won't be missing much. Anyway, if you're reading this, Old Man, some candy's comin your way! I think there's even a little thing of Play Doh in there for you and the guys. We miss you!

My Heroes

When my mom loves a TV show, she takes ownership of it and says things like "I have to watch 'my house' tonight". Meaning, of course, the show House. Recently, she fell in love with the show "The Unit", so she says very matter-of-factly "Oh, I have to watch my Unit tonight" . Which leaves me and Evan to snicker on the side like Beavis and Butthead, "Ha Ha, she said unit".

Anyway, that's a sidenote, and has nothing to do with my new favorite show in the whole world "Heroes"!!!!!! Which is now "My Heroes" to me. Can I just say how much I LOVE that show with a capital LOVE? Earlier on, I hadn't really decided what I thought of it, I knew it had potential but as you may remember, I had quite an extensive lineup already and I wasn't sure if it was worth the add-on. Since then, quite a few shows have dropped off my radar and I've been able to seal off a spot for Heroes, and rightfully so because we had been taping it and I accidentally had the TV on during the 3rd episode when I decided right there it was a keeper. So I caught up. And now it's starting to move and really get good and I'm so gleefully excited that we're soon going to find out if the cheerleader's dad is actually a bad guy or not, and what is the deal with the single mom, I guess she's an evil character after all? And what about the guy who makes things combust? This show is so cool! Anyone watching?? SAVE THE CHEERLEADER SAVE THE WORLD!
NBC has the episodes online if you want to check it out.. Here's last weeks: (Hiro also has a blog on nbc.com, it's pretty cool)
http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/?show=heroes

Don't Mind Me

Don't mind me, I'll be fooling around with the templates over the next few days because I'm so darned bored with the one I have now. I'll still be posting, so please don't mind the dust while the construction crews are working, so to speak.

King Midas

It's been quite a week. I feel like King Midas. Except everything I touch turns into the opposite of gold. Isn't that life though? I've found that when you have a lot of good non-eventful weeks back-to-back, stuff tends to happen in a big combo-platter so you can have a few more good non-eventful weeks before stuff happens again. Like today. Got my keys now, as you know, after I threw them out earlier this week. Went out to the car this morning. Won't start. Isn't that just great. Dead car in the driveway. I'm sure it's probably battery related and probably no big deal. Just convenient, you know. Then, I'm opening up low-fat cheese slices to put on our veggie burgers and I notice all these little specks of something. So I pick one out. Hmm. Clear. Hard. Unusually sharp. Glass? Yep, tiny, tiny shards of glass sprinkled throughout all of the slices. At least, I'm pretty sure it's glass. I melted one slice just to see if maybe it's some weird hard fat or something in the cheese, but the specks survive the heat and don't melt and they're still sharp. Anyway, I've already eaten two slices so who knows what that means. I'm hoping they're too small to do any damage. I called the company. They're sending me coupons. Yippee. Even though I told them I won't be buying that particular brand again. Hopefully we will have no incidents related to my find, but it's funny how now that I think I may have consumed glass particles, I have all these imaginary pains because when something gets in my head that I can't seem to forget about, I have all these crazy thoughts of what could be happening. Hopefully, me and my insides will survive the weekend (haha), and I'll have a car to drive keys and all. I'll just hit "refresh" and start over on Monday. Till then I'll just sit here and make cinnamon buns for our new neighbors. The good news is, it's date night. So we'll be taking our minds off any of our little annoyances with a good bottle of wine. Sweet.

Friday Weigh-In

One lonely solitary pound at a time. Sigh. I've lost one pound since I last weighed in, which was 2 weeks ago. There was no change last week, so I made some changes to my workout and my diet and that's when the one pound came off. We'll see what happens over the next week. At this rate, I'll make my goal by next summer! Wah. But I mustn't get discouraged. At least I'm not gaining anything, right?

Thursday 13 #5

THIRTEEN REASONS I'M GLAD MY HUSBAND'S BACK FROM CHINA

1. He brought me back some cool stuff like a tea set and some awesome looking chopsticks. The ones I have are from the dollar store (but they were cute! they were a find!) . I know. I'm cheap.


2. We got to snuggle and watch The Biggest Loser and Dancing with the Stars together when he got home. Tonight we get to snuggle and watch The O.C. and The Office and Earl. I missed our tv watching rituals.


3. The bed is so much bigger without him.


4. I hate being the "man of the house." He's so much better at beating up (potential) bad guys than I am. (Though I can pack quite a punch!)


5. I miss his kisses and holding hands and did I mention snuggling?


6. He's so much better at taking out the trash and cleaning the litter box than I am. I threw out my keys. See? I suck at taking out the trash.


7. Especially on days where Poops is screaming all day and I can't figure out why...I can get some "time off" to do girly things and unwind when he gets home from work. Like pedicures. My feet are also happy he's back. Trust me on that one. Or just shutting myself away in a room. Alone. Or just getting out of the house. Alone. It's the little things.


8. The house is also so much bigger without him. Now it's complete again.


9. He can go to the Welcome Committee meetings in our Homeowners Association with me. He signed us up. Then went away and I had to go by myself! Thanks!


10. Date night's back! We go out once every week just the two of us, so we can reconnect. It has really helped, especially right after Poops was born. But while he was in China, we had "date night" over the internet by doing what we used to do when we were in a long distance relationship. No! Not that, potty minds! We played backgammon. For like 2 hours. It's the funnest. I know that's not a word but I like it.


11. I get to share the art of poopy diapers with someone. Although the Grandmas shared some of it with me when he was gone. Thanks Grandmas!


12. I can get in touch with him. When he was in China, I had to pretty much wait for him to call because he was out of pocket a lot. This is so much better.


13. $400 later, he wasn't mad at me for throwing out the keys! (I had to tow the car to the dealership and get the keys re-digitized). He even took some of the blame for not having a spare to the car. What a guy! Happy TT everyone!!!

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

Wordless Wednesday: My Favorite Tiny Dance Partner