Happy Halloween!

Geeks and Vampires, Ghosts and Ghouls

I love Halloween. As a kid I always wanted to have great costumes but I never really did. At first my mom tried to get me to be what she thought I should be rather than what I wanted. That always ended up with me being embarrassed. Imagine having to wear black panty hose on your head with each of the legs cut into three strips and braided for braided pig tails. Sigh. Why didn't I just have my own braids? Because I had short, permed little orphan Annie hair remember?



When I finally was allowed to choose for myself what I wanted to be I had very little help. Some of the kids at my school had mothers with amazing sewing skills who would whip them up any costume out of their wildest dreams. I remember being green with envy upon seeing my friends absolutely gorgeous Rainbow Bright costume. I think I ended up being “a punk rocker” for about four years in a row. That basically entailed wearing ripped up stockings, spray painting my hair with pink and making it as big and crazy as I could. Not much of a costume but at least I liked it.

Needless to say that as an adult I have really enjoyed the freedom I have in deciding what my costume should be. A few years ago I invested in some very realistic looking vampire fangs. I am fascinated with that genre and have dressed up as a vampire at Halloween on many, many occasions. Often times I am disappointed at Halloween because there seems to be very little to do. But this year one of my super cool clients invited us to her Halloween party. If I am not mistaken I believe she throws this party every year.

Now although I was terribly excited to have the opportunity to dress up and go to a party my wonderful, but introverted husband was not nearly so thrilled. We did have fun getting ready to go. He decided to go as a 'geek' without any prompting from me. He kept asking me if it was enough of a stretch from what he usually looks like. You be the judge. I think he looks adorable. The best part of his costume was his 'geek' role playing. “Now by my calculations it should take us approximately 3 minutes and 45 seconds to arrive at our destination...” I did the obvious and dug out my fangs. I figure now that we have a baby I'll be dressing up in 'cute' non scary costumes for a few years anyway. Although that doesn't seem to be the case at Bon's house.



We planned it so I had Miss A in bed and my niece and her buddy came over to hang out and watch a movie. And out we went like a couple of teenagers on a date to a real grown up Halloween party. As we walked up to this absolutely gorgeous character home I must admit that even I, extrovert to the extreme, was a little nervous. Timing was on our side and my client 'J' happened to be right near the door when we walked through it. She looked amazing and welcomed us very warmly. We stood awkwardly by the door for a few minutes taking it all in. There were big speakers set up and the living room/ dining room was being used as a dance floor.

A guy I used to do TaeKwon Do with appeared. I was happy to see someone I knew but he was dressed as 'Silent Bob' and was totally in character. Ahem. That meant having a nice conversation was not a possibility. I couldn't help but notice how painfully uncomfortable Peter was. I felt pretty guilty about dragging him to an event that I knew was so far out of his comfort zone. We slowly made our way further into the house and gravitated towards the room that everyone seems to gravitate towards at every party. The kitchen. There we found another client of mine 'C'. He acts in local theater groups and was dressed as the character he'll be playing in an upcoming production of 'The Music Man'. He was totally in character and it was funny. We spent quite a long time in the kitchen with him. We were introduced to a lot of really cool people. My fangs were a huge hit. One woman in particular was totally mesmerized by them and kept telling me how real they looked.

We struck up a conversation with J's brother who ended up giving us a tour of the house. It was so amazing. It had the original stained glass, hardwood floors and woodwork. He told us about the renovations they had done. Peter and I loving hearing about that kind of stuff since we have a character home as well which we dream of some day being able to renovate.

We stayed for almost two hours, most of which I'm pretty sure were excruciating for my husband. I did manage to steal away a few times and dance. (Oh how I miss dancing...) Finally I put my husband out of his misery and we bid our farewells. We arrived home to find things as we had left them. Baby sleeping, girls still curled up on the couch watching their movie. It was like a dream. Had we really been out at all?

Here I am looking spooky, peeking around one of the amazing marble pillars at J's house.

So You Are Still Around

I have proof that The Big Fugr is still reading my blog. He won Say WHAT? I was gonna give it to Jenn for guessing 'Halloween' which was very close. I realized after picking that quote that likely the only person who would know it was 'Halloween III” would be The Big Fugr. And he's right, it was likely one of the worst horror movies ever to be made.



I specifically remember seeing this movie when I was approximately 13 years old. A friend and I watched it while I was visiting my dad. We thought it would be so exciting to watch a 'scary' movie. The trouble was this movie, it was not scary. Inappropriate for 13 year olds, yes. Scary, no. Until the end when Dr. Dan is on the phone screaming “Turn it off! Stop it! Stop it!” and I found myself screaming right along with him. Boy did I feel stupid when the credits started rolling. That's right, you never got to know. Did they stop it? Or did the masks with the Stonehenge computer chip thing-a-ma bobbers in them make their heads dissolve? Who knows? I'll never know. And I'll never get those 96 minutes back. Never.



Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely and safe Halloween this week. And make sure any masks you might be wearing don't haven't been tampered with by some crazy madman.

Say WHAT?

*Just wanted to let you all know I changed the rules a bit. See below for details.

It's Friday again and that means it's time for Say WHAT? The AMAZING 80's quote trivia game. In case you haven't played before, here is the down low – At the bottom of this post you will find a quote from an 80's movie. If you choose to play you must, without using the internet as a resource, guess which 80's movie the quote has been taken from. But here is where the rules have changed. If by Sunday we still don't have a winner anyone may go ahead and Google away. The first person to give the correct movie wins! Fun, huh? Leave your guesses in the comments section and if you are the first to correctly identify the quote, you win! I announce the winner on Sunday and that winner receives acknowledgment, linkage and if they have a profile picture I post that also. I recap the winner every Friday and include all of the aforementioned information. And hey, even if you don't know the answer just give me a shout out. I like to know who's stopped by!

Last week I changed my rules on the fly. Plantain gave the correct answer but confessed to having to look it up. So now I figure, if it's really too hard, I'd rather have a winner – so go ahead and look it up. This is the first time it's happened so I don't expect the new rules to come into play very often.




Time for today's quote. Don't forget to come back on Sunday to see if you are a winner. Have fun and good luck!



“It's almost time, kids. The clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV sets for the Horrorthon, followed by the Big Giveaway. Don't miss it. And don't forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking. It's almost time.”

Boo! Look What I Can Do!

Freaky smart things my daughter has learned (without our help) right before Halloween. She can unscrew the lid on her very tightened sippy cup. Oooooh! (May I also mention it was FULL of apple juice and she was drenched and so was the floor) While I was making her cereal and toast for breakfast she brought me her little play toaster from her kitchen. Coincidence? I think not. And finally while we were visiting a friend she made her way down several carpeted stairs without us knowing about it. (Bad parents, we need a spanking!) We even had a board across the stairs which had a small hole which we covered up with our jackets. She moved the jackets, wiggled through the hole and crawled safely down the stairs. Scary! What's really scary? We haven't taught her to go down stairs. AHHHH!

Here are some of the brilliant things I've been doing lately. There have been times I've frantically been looking for my backpack (Baby Bag/Purse) only to find that I have it strapped to my back! We went grocery shopping and while Peter was buckling Miss A into her car seat I put returned the grocery cart. When we got home I realized I hadn't taken the groceries out of the cart! This just happened this morning, I was making our breakfast and I starting pouring my tea into a jar of jam instead of my cup! I don't know what you are all thinking but I think this proves a theory I have. That my daughter is actually an alien sent down to us from space to destroy my brain cells so she can take over the world. I'm kidding of course. I love the little monkey. But I think it's obvious she gets her brains from her father.

The Joy Being a Woman Brings

*Very girlie post. Any Fellas reading should consider yourself warned.

Since hitting my teens or perhaps even earlier I had heard women talk about PMS. Pre Menstrual Syndrome. I heard stories of cramps, headaches, backaches and crankiness. Then there were always the asinine comments by men about PMS and 'the rag' and how every time a woman is angry or frustrated with them, those must be the reasons why.

Once I actually started getting my period I was confused by all of it. (Here I go again, about to make everyone want to throw darts at my head.) I never usually had cramps, at least not very bad ones, and I also never had any of the other terrible symptoms that can go along with menstruating. It would often come and go without giving me a whole lot of trouble.

I got through all of my teens never having been on the pill. It wasn't necessary for me as I wasn't sexually active. My doctor put me on a pill called Diane-35 when I was about 24 hoping that it would help clear up my acne. (On a side note, it did. They don't prescribe it often because of the serious side effects it can have on some people.) During the two years I was on that pill I found my periods to be even less memorable than ever. They were shorter and there was less blood. (sorry for the graphic detail) Who wouldn't be happy about that?

I went off the pill in September 2004 and became pregnant that December. Before getting pregnant I did notice my periods being a little heavier again and that they lasted closer to a full 5-7 days but I still didn't seem to have any other symptoms. Then of course during pregnancy there were a whole lot of other girlie problems to deal with.

This is turning out to be a long story to get to my point. I'm sure you're all very surprised since I always take forever to get-to-the-point already. Anyway, as especially Bon knows I got my period back again when Miss A was about 8 months old. I was pretty sad about it since I was (am) still nursing and thought I wouldn't get it again until I quit. (ha ha, what a stupid myth!) And here is where I finally start getting to the point.

I have found that my postpartum periods have been just terrible. I feel crampy and tired. They have been really heavy and difficult to keep up with. And perhaps the worst of all, and something that I suspected since they started six months ago but I have now decided is a fact, I have relatively severe PMS. For like two weeks before my period. I am sensitive, cranky and weepy. I find I argue with my husband a lot during that time and I also get emotional with very little cause to do so. So, to sum up. Two weeks PMS, one week period, one week normal. (?) And that makes a month. It sounds pretty crappy when I break it down that way. This may be why life feels so hard sometimes. At least I've figured it out.

I guess since I've never really had these symptoms before I am having an extra hard time coping with them now. Not to mention running around after a toddler too. So I'm probably sounding like a huge wimp to most of you out there. It's okay, you can say it. But I'm curious, has anyone else found that their period has been more um... intense after having a baby? Or is it just me? I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence or something. And I'm hoping someone is going to tell me it gets better. Anyone?

Evolution

It has been interesting to watch the relationship grow between my 15 year old cat and Miss A. A, of course, was oblivious to him when we first brought her home. But Casey was very curious as to who this new little person was. He sniffed at her every once in a while but was mostly content just to be near her. Never once did he act aggressively towards her, try to lay on top of her or get into her crib. He was very well behaved and even, loving towards her.



Then things began to get more interesting for both of them. She finally started noticing him. They would hang out on the floor together. This was still a relatively peaceful time because at this point she never attempted to really touch him that much. Basically she just thought he was cool and if he happened to walk by her and touch her with his fluffy fur, she was delighted.



Shortly after this stage she began to crawl. And with crawling came grabbing and chasing. This is when their relationship went a little sour. Poor Casey was being tormented by this little person WE brought home. This person who used to do things that he liked to do, like sleep and lay around. Now suddenly she was moving around, on the floor! And that was his domain. Not only that but she wouldn't leave him alone. And she pulled his fur. What's with that? Still he was well behaved, he tolerated the abuse and only on rare occasions gave her a slight warning to “Back off!” Let me also say that I did intervene, trying to teach Miss A to be gentle and showing her how to properly pet the kitty.



They have learned to coexist very well. They wander around the floor together. Casey seems much happier now that she is walking. He enjoys eating the scraps she throws down from her highchair. Miss A loves Casey and unfortunately for him that means that she often likes to 'hug' him. This entails her laying on him with her arms spread wide open. He protests and struggles. I tell her to be nice to the Casey. She thought that's what she was doing. Just this past weekend she kept saying the same word over and over. We eventually realized she was saying 'Casey'. It kind of sounds like Ka-see. It was pretty thrilling.






Along with saying his name she has become proficient with petting him nicely. She actually spreads her hand out and strokes it along his back. She stills clasps her little fingers every once in a while grasping a hand full of fur. He meows at her and walks away. Theirs is an ever evolving friendship.

Who Woulda Thunk?

In those first couple of months after bringing Miss A home from the hospital I'm sure I thought I would never get a decent nights sleep again. I would like to be able to say that the joy of becoming a mother made the lack of sleep bearable. But I can't. I was miserable. I was depressed. I was exhausted.

If I had been able to see into the future to the present day, perhaps I would have had hope. My darling daughter has started doing the most delightful thing. When it is getting close to bed time she goes and gets her pajamas and her blanket and brings them to us. She actually realizes that she is getting tired and wants to get ready for bed.

Let's all take a moment to do a happy dance. Happy Dance, happy dance, come on do the happy dance.

Seriously. And not only does she get her jammies and blanket, but after I nurse her and put her in her crib – awake – she rolls onto her side and begins sucking her thumb. I cover her with her blanket, tell her I love her, shut off the light and close the door. And 8 times out of ten she doesn't cry and just goes to sleep!

Now I realize that discussing Miss A's ability to do this while some of my fellow Mamas out there are not so fortunate is grounds for burning me at the stake, but please know that I am not bragging. I am merely trying to offer hope. To let you know that one day this could be you. I wouldn't have believed it either. I'm sure that when the day comes when we transition to a toddler bed she will constantly be getting out of it asking for a snack, a drink of water, a cuddle. My tune won't be so care free then. I won't be doing this same happy dance then. And you may go ahead and laugh at me when that day comes.

*Let me also add that she is teething and has actually been getting up in the night and sometimes throwing up on me. So don't be too angry with me...

A Winner and Some New Rules

I'm changing the rules to Say WHAT? a bit. This week's quote was apparently a toughie. No one had answered correctly until today. Plantain gave the correct answer. She also confessed to having to look it up on Google. I tried doing that myself by simply entering the quote as a search. I did not come up with anything. So, I figured she must have gone to at least a little trouble trying to find the answer. Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing also told me she had to look up the answer.

So the new rules are the same as the old rules EXCEPT if I still don't have a winner by Sunday anyone can feel free to use the internet as a resource and the first one to answer will be declared the winner. How about that? As for today I am declaring Plantain the winner for this week. I don't intend for the quotes to be so difficult but, sometimes it's bound to happen. Anyway, Congratulations Plantain!




It was actually my husbands idea to use 'The Sure Thing' this week since last week I mentioned that Daphne Zuniga hadn't been in many movies. He thought it would be challenging to pick another 80's movie she'd been in. Since my favorite fella John Cusack also stars in this film I agreed.



To be honest, 'The Sure Thing' doesn't stand out to me as a great movie, which is saying something since I love John Cusack so much. It is also kinda weird since Rob Reiner has made some great movies including one of my all time favorites, 'The Princess Bride'. Other interesting tidbits are the fact that Anthony Edwards (Dr. Mark Greene on ER) and Nicolette Sheridan (of Desperate Housewives) are also in this movie. Wow! Look how far they have come...

So that's all folks. Sorry I picked sure a hard quote. To be honest I thought it was a funny quote. You know because you can't be spontaneous if you plan it right? Um. Yeah.

Say WHAT?

It's Friday again and that means it's time for Say WHAT? The AMAZING 80's quote trivia game. In case you haven't played before, here is the down low – At the bottom of this post you will find a quote from an 80's movie. If you choose to play you must, without using the internet as a resource, guess which 80's movie the quote has been taken from. Fun, huh? Leave your guesses in the comments section and if you are the first to correctly identify the quote, you win! I announce the winner on Sunday and that winner receives acknowledgment, linkage and if they have a profile picture I post that also. I recap the winner every Friday and include all of the aforementioned information. And hey, even if you don't know the answer just give me a shout out. I like to know who's stopped by!

I am still so excited to remind you all that DAWNYEL from Tales of a RubbaUndiesLuva was the winner of Say WHAT? last week for the first time ever! And it was a long time coming. So way to go Dawnyel.




Time for today's quote. Don't forget to come back on Sunday to see if you are a winner. Have fun and good luck!





“Spontaneity has its time and place.”

Lazy Bones

I don't know what has been up with me lately, I have been so tired. Needing to catch up on sleep lost from Monday morning's barf fest perhaps? I don't know but I haven't been able to drag myself out of bed in the mornings.

I have been going to bed at the same time as my husband and often have great intentions of getting up around the same time or at least before he leaves for work. I haven't managed to do it all week. I keep thinking about all the stuff that so badly needs doing around here and feel dumb for ever complaining about it since, clearly I can't be bothered to get my rear out of bed to do any of it.

I justify my laziness somewhat by reminding myself how little sleep I'll be getting once we have another baby. So I may as well take advantage of the fact that Miss A enjoys sleeping until 9:00 am while I can. I am such a pessimist I am convinced our next child will get up at 6:00 am every day.

I have such a hard time giving myself a break about these kinds of things. I always have to feel guilty about sleeping later. Or I wonder why other mom's seem to be able to do it and I can't. I don't know. I know this is just a phase in my life. Once my kids are old enough to go to school (perhaps sooner) there will be no more sleeping till nine! I just can't seem to convince myself to relax and enjoy it.

Three!!

There was so much Bah Hum Bugging going on in yesterdays post I thought I'd try to lighten things up a bit. How can anyone be in a bad mood when faced with this picture.



Can you see yet another tooth? Yep, that's right, a third tooth. Oh the excitement! You can see a fourth on the other side is not too far behind. Unfortunately it would seem that each new tooth is accompanied by diarrhea and vomiting. That combination is bad at any time of day but as I mentioned at the end of yesterday's post having to deal with it at 5:30 after stupidly not going to bed until 1:00 am is the worst. Hey, I'm not Bah hum bugging. Just sayin'.

She was back in bed by seven and then woke up again at the usual 9:00 am-ish time. She woke up happy and normal. As though she didn't remember all the retching and dry heaving she had been doing several hours earlier. I wish I had that same amnesia regarding my first four months of pregnancy. If I did I may not be so absolutely terrified to get pregnant again.

Anyway, she is a happy three toothed girl. And I am a happy (just keep telling myself that) only slightly exhausted Mama. So we're doing good. Have a happy day!

Getting Our Kicks By Cramping Your Style

It's late Sunday night. Peter is in bed. I asked him if he would mind if I stayed up to write. I just wanted to get it down, you know.

This was a hard weekend. It was the kind of weekend that I am happy to see the end of. I won't go into the gruesome details (for once!) but suffice it to say that there was some marital strain. The happy part is that my husband and I are still very much in love. It just never ceases to amaze me how much we still have to learn about one another and how terrible we can be at communicating sometimes. Do you ever feel like you are watching yourself from outside of your body, and you are screaming at yourself to just grow up and say something rather than just raging on the inside? I felt this way a lot this weekend. I was very ashamed of myself and I am grateful for a husband who is forgiving and understanding of my flaws.

Something new, stressful and interesting arose in our parenting journey not once but twice this weekend. It was a little matter of us going to two different functions with Miss A in tow only to discover that they were not meant to be kid friendly events.

The first was a birthday party for a friend of ours. This friend and his wife have three children, one of whom is a few months younger than Miss A. When she invited us she never mentioned anything about it being a 'kid free' party. I assumed their kids would be there along with the many, many kids other kids that their friends would be bringing. I was oblivious at the time but thinking back I do recall people seeming a little surprised perhaps, that Miss A was with us. For the first half hour we were there I assumed that the other, older kids were playing in the basement. Maybe this is because it was suggested by our host that Miss A might have 'fun' down there. I later found out there were no other kids in the basement. Everyone's children were at a babysitter. Except mine. Which makes me wonder, did they think I was going to put A in the basement by herself and close the door? I don't think so but why tell me she'd have fun down there? In any case A was pretty well behaved, she just ran around smiling at everyone. She was quite possibly the best thing about the party. We left early and thanked our hosts for the invitation. It wasn't until this morning in Church while I was talking to another guest from the party. She mentioned something about it being a 'kid free' party. I was all “What? But we took A.” and she said “She never told you?” Um, no. She didn't. So then I feel like an idiot. I eventually convince myself that it wasn't that big of a deal.

Fast forward to later this evening. We had been invited to join a small group with some other folks from our Church. The group would be meeting for eight weeks on Sunday nights studying the Nooma videos. I found out my friend Jenn from And then there were four and her husband Kevin were also going to be joining this group. With my brilliant deduction skills hard at work I thought “The couple leading this group has a son who is almost the same age as A, Jenn and Kevin have two kids... it must be a group for parents with young kids. How great!” So, we happily headed to group tonight bringing A along. Jenn had told me that her kids would be with a babysitter but that didn't clue me in. As soon as we walked in the door I saw that there were no children anywhere. I asked our leaders where their son was and they explained he was with family. And also that she thought she would find it difficult to concentrate with him there. Uh, yeah. That's a good point. There were two other couples one older, one younger. Each had children who were also not present.

I felt like a total moron the whole time we were there. I was embarrassed, felt as though I should have known not to bring A, wondered why I hadn't bothered to ask... etc. Miss A was in fine, fine form. Running back and forth from the babies room with toys, looking at the fish in the aquarium, talking to the dog in his/her kennel, trying to knock over drinks, squish herself into confined spaces or go down the stairs. Whenever her Dada or myself tried to pick her up and hold her she threatened to throw a tantrum, wanting to be free to roam. I couldn't blame her but it only made me feel like an even bigger dumb@ss for even thinking that we were supposed to bring her. I was so happy when it was over and I left with an awful feeling in my stomach. The same awful feeling I've had all weekend.

This sort of situation is just another of the many things I wasn't expecting about being a parent. These awkward “Why did you bring your kid?” moments. Which brings me to another important question I have. How often should other people be looking after your kids? I mean, I work four days a week and that means A is with my sister two days and with a sitter one day. Last week on Monday Jenn was nice enough to look after her for a couple of hours while I did my mom's hair on my day off. So that was four times in one week that someone else had to look after my baby. Now we are going to have to make arrangements for Sunday nights. Which is fine, it's totally worth it. It's just I wasn't expecting it.

Peter and I haven't even gone out to celebrate our Anniversary (September 14th) yet! All of our usual babysitters have been busy. It just hasn't worked out. People offer all the time but it seems when you try to take them up on it they're all like “This weekend won't work for us, but any other time we'd LOVE to. Really.” Which is fine, but you know, you just stop bothering after a while. We're okay with the fact that we have a baby. She's a part of us. Mostly where we go, she goes. That just seems normal to us. Until this weekend when I got the feeling she was very unwelcome.

It was just the crappy icing on the rotten cake that was our weekend. Which is probably why I sound so bitter. Maybe if I just go to bed I'll wake up a happier person tomorrow. Let's hope so because I don't really think that you all want to read this kind of stuff all week long.

*edited to add why, oh why when you go to bed at one AM does your baby wake up poopy and then vomiting at 5:30? Guess I didn't wake up happier after all...

I Am Pleased to Announce Our Winner!

I am happier than ever to announce the winner of this week's Say WHAT? This is someone who comes here each and every week to play only to be frustrated that she isn't familiar with the movie quote. She is an example to us all that perseverance pays off! The wonderful person I am referring to is Dawnyel from Tale of a RubbaUndiesLuva! Way to go Dawnyel, I knew I'd quote one you'd know eventually!



I thought of 'Gross Anatomy' this week while watching 'Grey's Anatomy' (one of my favorite shows). I wasn't sure if it was an 80's movie but after looking it up on good old IMDB I found it was made in 1989! I thought it was a really great movie. I have a Matthew Modine weakness. Looking at pictures of him now I can't believe how much older he is looking. Why can't we stay young forever?

'Grey's Anatomy' reminded me why I liked the movie. I find the whole becoming a doctor thing really intriguing. I cannot imagine having a job where I was responsible for another persons life. It gives new meaning to the phrase “I had a bad day at work.”

I could only find this one picture on the entire internet. Other than that I could only find the movie cover. I guess no one ever thought of starting a 'Gross Anatomy' fansite. Sigh. It was one of the few films Daphne Zuniga of Melrose Place made.




I'm glad I chose this quote this week mainly because it was the magic quote for Dawnyel and I really couldn't be happier that she won. I wish I had a prize!

Say WHAT?

It's Friday again and that means it's time for Say WHAT? The AMAZING 80's quote trivia game. In case you haven't played before, here is the down low – At the bottom of this post you will find a quote from an 80's movie. If you choose to play you must, without using the internet as a resource, guess which 80's movie the quote has been taken from. Fun, huh? Leave your guesses in the comments section and if you are the first to correctly identify the quote, you win! I announce the winner on Sunday and that winner receives acknowledgment, linkage and if they have a profile picture I post that also. I recap the winner every Friday and include all of the aforementioned information. And hey, even if you don't know the answer just give me a shout out. I like to know who's stopped by!

Our winner last week was none other than Bon from The Mama. Bon is my hero. She has amazing photos up of her Halloween decorations and her adorable girls and she is having a Halloween party that I'd so die to be invited to. Unfortunately she lives too far away. Sniff, Sniff.



Time for today's quote. Don't forget to come back on Sunday to see if you are a winner. Have fun and good luck!



“He's human. Not superhuman, just human. He did what he thought he had to do because he wanted to be a doctor more than anything else in the world and you ruined this for him.”

Taking Baby Proofing to a New Level

So way back when Miss A started crawling around we did some basic baby proofing. You know, outlet covers and putting unsafe stuff up out of reach. That seemed to do the trick. Sure she still managed to get into stuff but nothing really dangerous. The worst part of it all was having to tidy up whatever she'd gotten into.

Since she started walking three months ago the amount of trouble she can get into has been getting progressively worse. Somethings that stand out from those early days are finding her splashing in the toilet (yuk!) and discovering her in her room with bum cream all over her.



When we first brought her home from the hospital I remember cursing my love of older homes. Our hardwood floors are ridiculously creaky and often woke her up when we were on her way to put her into bed. Soon we all got used to the creaky floors. Now I have a new disdain for our home. Our cupboards are very... hmmm... what's the word? Cheap? Crappy? Either would do. I have a dream to replace them someday but for now, for now they'll have to do. The thing about these awful cupboards is that regular old baby proofy gadgets don't attach properly. So we've had to get creative.





So far they seem to be working well. It makes life a whole lot easier not having Miss A constantly hauling out everything from the cupboards. I know, how unfair of me. I do let her play with pots and pans sometimes but the problem is she has more fun just getting everything out than actually playing with any of it. And quite frankly, I find it exhausting.

Since she is rather tall for her age she can reach up to tables and to our desks. We have to make sure we don't leave anything near the edges or she'll pull them down. We had a Brita incident a couple of weeks ago. Water everywhere.

There are still some things that I haven't been able to find locks for. One being the garbage can. This is a necessity I think. She often goes into the garbage which I find totally disgusting and I tell her so. She could care less. She also enjoys throwing things such as toys or clothing into the garbage. The other day she threw one of her Dada's computer discs in. Luckily it was washable. I have tried teaching her to stay out but so far it hasn't worked. It just ends up being a lot of work for me washing the stuff that she throws in there.

A few different people have informed me lately that they didn't baby proof anything. They just taught their kids not to get into anything. To them I say “How nice for you.” I however seem not to possess the skills to do this. Or I have a more strong willed child. Or I'm lazy. In any case I find it easier to baby proof than to constantly be cleaning up the aftermath.

I think that all of you Mamas out there know that our husbands have a different “way” with the kids. I also know that Miss A seems to give her Dada a harder time with some things than she gives me. Example: Diaper Changes. She is not an easy kid for either of us to change but for some reason she seems to save up all her fighting strength for him. The same goes with stuff she shouldn't be getting into. She'll often get into way more trouble while he's looking after her. Because I work part time this means that I often come home to a very frustrated and exhausted Dada and a house than has that “lived in look”. Last night was the first time I've worked since some of the new baby proofing measures have been in place. Things were much more under control here and Dada seemed to be in rather a good mood. I think that's a good sign.



Maybe I'm whining. I'm sure all kids get into this much stuff. It's just new to me. I'm posting a list of the things she's been getting into. I may have forgotten some stuff. Let me know if your little angels have gotten into anything more interesting.

List of things Miss A gets into:

The CD/DVD drawer on the computer (we've added a locking code on our desktop)
our desks
tables
Drawers
cupboards
the garbages
bum cream
the toilet
The laundry
Our bedside tables
The cat food
The cat water

I Remember These

Dawnyel tagged me. I haven't done one of these is ages... don't get any ideas out there.

Four words and I guess I'm just supposed to write what comes to mind.

Hunger: I have a hearty appetite. I enjoy food quite a lot. Unfortunately the foods I enjoy the most are not the healthiest. Ah, life. On the other hand I often work 4-9 or 9-4 shifts without getting a break to eat my lunch or supper. It usually doesn't even phase me.

Pumpkin: Pie. Love pumkin pie. Delicious. As a kid I rarely was able to carve a pumpkin so as an adult I try to carve at least one for Halloween.

Mermaid: I have always loved to swim. When I was a kid I used to try to keep my legs together and kick, pretending I was a mermaid in the water. Also, I loved the movie “Splash”.

Carpet: I have mostly hardwood floors in my home. I have a couple of area rugs. My parents had a red shag carpet in their living room when I was growing up. I still have nightmares about it...

Here's the part where I tag someone...

How about Jenn from And then there were four?

We Interrupt Our Current Program

So here it is, as promised my television interview.

Here are some interesting tidbits of information.

#1 The 'set' that we filmed on was in a huge warehouse sized room. Although the laminate flooring appears to go on and on, it doesn't. About a foot (maybe) in front of where I am sitting it just drops off and below the 'set' is concrete floor. Someone who saw the interview asked, was I hanging on to Miss A's sleeve to try to keep her on camera? No. I was trying to keep her from walking off the set and splitting her head open.

#2 You'll notice my husband's voice dubbed in “Mama D” and “Baby A” near the beginning of the interview. Just for fun he did it in a cheesy voice. I'm not sure how many times she said our names but it was a lot. Also the white bar at the bottom during the clip is protecting our identities. We also edited out the names of the midwives and the lactation consultant that I mentioned. So when the audio cuts out, that's why.

#3 During the 7 minute interview I say “breastfeed” or “breastfeeding” six times and the interviewer says it three times. I also saying “pump” or “pumping” seven times. I only counted once, I may be a bit off. I also said “Like” a couple of times.

You can see at the beginning of the interview Miss A is having some snacks. As I mentioned here she soon decides they would be more fun to throw than eat. Then she decides to play 'horsey' and eat them right out of my hand rather than pick them up. At this point she begins rubbing her eyes, classic “I'm tired” behavior. I consider it lucky that we didn't have any sort of screaming or head throwing during the interview.

My voice sounds pretty husky in this interview. I was still getting over a bad cold which caused me to actually lose my voice altogether. Another thing that annoys me is that I mention how I would bottle feed her what I pumped while I was at work. Obviously, I wasn't the one who bottle fed her while I was working. There I go again, trying to take credit for EVERYTHING around here.

I have watched it several times now and I can do it without cringing. I think the interview went pretty well. I don't know how inspiring I was or how many Mamas or expectant Mamas were actually watching but if there were I hope I was interesting at the very least. I'm glad I agreed to do it and if I was ever asked to do anything like that again I wouldn't hesitate to say yes.

Well Done!

This is late and it's going to be quick.

Our winner of Say WHAT? this week is none other than the beautiful, the charming, the hilarious, BON from The Mama. I think it's fabulous that she won. It's been a while. And since she sent me this movie for my birthday I am forever indebted to her.



Okay, so Pretty in Pink. It's a shame I have to write this so quickly. This is right up there with my all time favorites. Love Molly Ringwald. Wanted to be her. Especially this character 'Andie'. I could totally relate to the fact that she was supposed to be poor. I say supposed to be because my version of poor doesn't include having an answering machine in my room and a really cool pink car. The car did have a dent in it though. Ha! Another issue I have with this movie. There is no way she had enough fabric to make her prom dress. I'm no seamstress but you can plainly see it would have been impossible. Prove me wrong.




James Spader was brilliant as the rich bleepity bleep bleep. He made me so mad I wanted to shave off all of that perfectly feathered blond hair. And here's another problem I had. If he was so in love with Andie, why didn't his best friend Blane know about this? Harry Dean Stanton also gives a great performance. He makes me cry in the scene when he admits that he can't stop loving Andy's mother even though she deserted them. This also reminds me of my own life although Harry is like my mother. And Annie Potts? The best performance ever.

So next time you watch this movie, and you know you're going to, watch Andy McCarthy's eyes go all bulgy when Andie is yelling at him in the hallway. When he tells her he forgot he'd already asked someone else to prom. It's funny and scary at the same time.






And then there is Duckie. Of course he is great, there is no doubt. It's funny because my husband tells me that he had wanted Andie to pick him instead of Blane. As much as I loved Duckie, I really wanted her to be with Blane. And hey, Duckie ended up with the future Vampire Slayer anyway so it was all good.





Come on, go dig out your Pretty in Pink VHS and pop it in. You won't regret it!

Say WHAT?

It's Friday again and that means it's time for Say WHAT? The AMAZING 80's quote trivia game. In case you haven't played before, here is the down low – At the bottom of this post you will find a quote from an 80's movie. If you choose to play you must, without using the internet as a resource, guess which 80's movie the quote has been taken from. Fun, huh? Leave your guesses in the comments section and if you are the first to correctly identify the quote, you win! I announce the winner on Sunday and that winner receives acknowledgment, linkage and if they have a profile picture I post that also. I recap the winner every Friday and include all of the aforementioned information. And hey, even if you don't know the answer just give me a shout out. I like to know who's stopped by!

Last week's winner was Kelli in the Mirror from Holding the Mirror up to My Soul. She guessed correctly at 7:38 am! Wow! Looks like you have to be up early to be competitive here! The only reason I post so early is because I work on Friday mornings!




Time for today's quote. Don't forget to come back on Sunday to see if you are a winner. Have fun and good luck!




“You told me you couldn't believe in somebody who didn't believe in you. I always believed in you. I just didn't believe in me.”

What's For Dinner?

Since I got married just over four years ago I think I have become quite a good house wife. Not that it was my goal, I think it just comes naturally. I like my home (which was an apartment for the first year of marriage) to be clean, I don't mind doing laundry, I have no problem buying groceries. I also found time to work, train and teach TaeKwon Do and go to the gym. What I never really enjoyed doing was cooking. Not only that but my schedule allowed me to get out of doing it very often. I wasn't home any earlier than 8:00 Monday through Thursday. I was either training, teaching or working. So the few days I was home it wasn't too hard to come up with something to cook. Pasta, Tacos, Soup. Something easy.

Since I spent so much of my pregnancy feeling horribly ill I certainly was in no condition to be cooking. My darling husband often made something for us while I lay in bed cuddling with my bucket. So you see, I've gotten off easy in the cooking department thus far.

Now that Miss A is eating more and more table food I feel the need to improve not only my cooking abilities but also how to be more organized in regards to what I'm cooking. For two weeks now I have made up a menu plan, bought the groceries I require for these meals and carried out the plan. This is especially difficult on Wednesday and Thursday when I am not here for supper. Wednesday usually ends up being a crockpot meal and Thursday is a leftovers night. Last week my crockpot meal was apparently so good Peter considered calling me at work to tell me how delicious it was.

I'm catching on to this cooking thing. I'm trying not to be too discouraged if things don't turn out as well as I'd hoped. The fact that Miss A seems to enjoy everything and anything I give her is very helpful. I'm sure this will not last forever so I am taking advantage of it now. Soon it will be “That's yucky Mama.” or “I don't like it.” Then we'll see how much fun cooking will really be.

We eat mostly chicken and fish. I'm throwing this request out to all of you. Even my lurkers. (Yeah you!) If any of you have EASY recipes (especially crockpot ones) would you email them to me at crazy_d_AT mts DOT com. I will be eternally grateful to any contributers to the 'Let's Make Mama D a Better Cook' campaign. I'll keep you all updated. I have a weakness for photographing food. In the meantime here is what we are having for dinner tonight.

Patience

Sorry to report that the YouTube of our television appearance isn't ready yet. I'd say tomorrow but I think it would be safer to say Tuesday.

It turned out to be a little more difficult to edit than we hoped. The host says our names several times and there is also a caption at the bottom for a portion of the interview that has our names on it as well. In the interest of being somewhat anonymous these things must be edited out.

We didn't get a chance to begin the editing process until after 10 pm and by 11 ish we hadn't really gotten very far. (I say we, but I basically just sat there and watched) We run Linux and use Cinelerra for video editing. Since having Miss A we have been doing a lot more video editing. We are getting a lot better at it but when it's getting late and things aren't going right... we run out of patience and decide we better just stop.

Oh well. The delay just builds up the anticipation. Right?

For now how about a picture to tide you over. If it had a caption it would say:

"But Mama!! I want to play in the toilet!!"

Behind the Scenes

Going on T.V. wasn't too bad. The anticipation nearly made me crazy but when I was actually doing the interview I was surprised to feel pretty relaxed. Here's how it all went down.

As I had mentioned previously I was contacted weeks ago about doing this interview. I was told that it would be pre taped and shown during World Breastfeeding Week. Then last week when I still hadn't heard anything I called Noreen back. I asked her if I was still supposed to be doing the interview. She was shocked that I hadn't been contacted yet and made some calls. She later phoned me back saying that I would be getting a call from the host, Karen. Of course Karen called on Friday, when I was at work. I tried calling her back and left a message. I tried calling her Monday, she called back while we were at swimming lessons and left a message. She said it was too late to pre tape (crap!) but that if we could come at 12:30 pm that would be great. I tried calling her back again and left a message for her. I was starting to get nervous. I had questions. Important questions. Like, what were we going to do with my daughter when she decided to have a fit on camera. Would there be someone to pull her off stage with a cane when she started to act up?

Karen finally called me back this morning at like 10:00 am. Sheesh. We basically planned the interview over the phone. Ironically, I was breastfeeding at the time. I felt much better knowing what she would be asking me and what I was going to say. I asked if I could bring toys and snacks on with Miss A to try to amuse her. Of course she told me that would be fine. Then I told her that she may want to run off and in that case what would we do. I also explained that if I tried to make her sit on my lap if she didn't want to she'd have a melt down. She asked if A would mind going to someone else. I told her she would be fine. So she arranged to have someone standing by to take her when she was tired of being on camera. That made me feel better.

After we got off the phone I put on a video for Miss A and started to get ready. I opted for the straight hair because the wavy is always unpredictable. I did use plenty of bronzer but I thought it looked pretty natural. I used brown shadows on my eyes but applied it a little heavier than I would normally. (Does anyone care about this stuff?) I did wear black. Well, my pants had a silver pinstripe but I'm not sure if anyone would notice. Since watching the interview I am happy with my hair, makeup and clothing choices. I didn't find myself too horrifying to look at.

After I was done getting ready myself I was wandering aimlessly around the house. Not wanting to do anything which might mess up my hair, makeup or outfit. I began to get nervous and started to sweat. I didn't want to dress Miss A until it was pretty much time to go. Knowing her she would get her knees all filthy or decide to play in the cat's water or something. I dressed her in her birthday outfit. Not to be confused with her birthday suit. Although babies do look cute when they are naked. The outfit I am referring to is her beige jumper, brown turtle neck and her little brown boots. She looked much better than me, which goes without saying.

Finally it was time to leave. When we arrived at the station they were expecting us. We were escorted to “The Green Room” which, by the way wasn't green. I think it was tan. It was a small room and the first thing I noticed was a huge scary looking glass coffee table with sharp corners. Excellent. “Sorry, Mama D couldn't do the interview she's taking her baby to get stitches.” No, we didn't have any coffee table incidents but it did make me nervous. There was a television in the room which was tuned in to the show. I had brought plenty of toys for her to play with but she wasn't interested in any of them. She proceeded to pull the pamphlets and books off the table and on to the floor. Miss A tried to push buttons on the television and VCR. Then she discovered our hosts shoes. The girl loves shoes. (she comes by it honestly) Apparently she didn't like these ones because she tried to put them in the trash can. I was beginning to feel trapped in this “green room” with a destructive child.

Karen came in and introduced herself. She explained that we would be on after the sports at about 12:45. We would come through the door and walk behind the cameras (good tip) and wait until they went to commercial. Then they'd plug my microphone in and we'd be all set. Miss A had some snacks while we waited which was likely a mistake since that was my trick to keep her on my lap. In the interview she actually tossed some of her snacks in the air like confetti. It was good for comic relief.

I won't talk about the actual interview since Papa D is working on putting it on YouTube. Hopefully that will be up tomorrow. I will say the interview went pretty well though. Miss A lasted about a minute before being whisked away by a nice lady named Monica. She even quietly read her book on my lap before getting down to run off stage. Very endearing.

I didn't stutter but I did say “um” and “like” a couple of times. Like, you know it's hard to be on T.V. people! As I said when watching it myself later on I wasn't too disturbed. I watched it again later with Peter and he told me he thought it was a very good interview and that I did really well. Of course, he has to say that. He has to live with me. But I'll trust him anyway.

Inspiring?

So now I know. Tomorrow is the day. The day when Miss A and her Mama will be appearing on our local television station (for a six minute interview). I mentioned this before. I agreed to do it in honor of World Breastfeeding Week. The lactation consultant at our hospital seems to think that I may have something inspiring to say. I certainly hope so. I'm thinking she might have put a little too much confidence in me.

But now that I know when it is actually happening, I'm getting nervous. What should I wear? Should my hair be up or down? Wavy or straight? What should I dress Miss A in? A dress? Or just a nice outfit? I don't want to look pasty on T.V. but I'm so pale. Bronzer powder. Yeah, lots of bronzer. But not too much. Don't want people to say “Hey is Mama D Latino? Has she been to Cancun lately? Oh no, she just put too much bronzer on.” I want to look natural but I'm worried the lights will just wash me out. And I've been doing research. Watching the show, checking out the camera angles. I'm pretty happy about the fact that they seem to mostly film you from just below the shoulders – up. Or if the use a wide shot the chair seems to hide your midsection. This is good for me. My top and bottom half are pretty cute, my midsection? That's a bit of a 'problem area' right now. (Just ask my doctor.) (No, I won't just let it go already!)

Another concern of mine is the state of my daughters head. I was told by my LLL leader that one reason among many of why I had been asked to appear on television was because Miss A is so 'cute'. Currently she has an abundance of bruises on her forehead and one on her cheek. They are a rainbow of colors corresponding with how recently each bruise was acquired. I was slightly concerned about this yesterday as I thought about this interview and noticed what an awful lot of bruises she seemed to have right now. Then this morning just before we left for church she decided to do a quick sprint to the kitchen and back. She somehow missed the doorway, ran into the frame and fell down on her bottom. When I went to her I noticed the dent in her head right away and attempted to put a gel/ice pack on it to prevent it from looking so horrible. She wasn't too impressed to have it there so I gave up after a couple of minutes. I do think it would have been much worse without the ice pack.

Still it is quite the bump and it should be very apparent by the time we make our television debut. I'm hoping no one will think I'm an abusive mother. That's the message I want to send out “I'm an advocate of breastfeeding but I don't have any problem smacking my kid around.” I'm hoping I'll have an opportunity to joke about how many bumps and bruises she gets now that she's running around. If anyone knows how judgmental people can be it's me. I have one of the worlds most judgmental mothers. One who often seems to think that I should be able to prevent all of her mishaps. Maybe if we lived in a house made entirely of bubble wrap and furniture made of cotton balls. Of course anyone who has recently had a child her age will be able to relate.




I may also be slightly concerned that she will constantly make one of her new faces.









And on top of the nervousness about how we will look there is the nervousness about how I will sound. What questions will she ask me? What if I end up not knowing how to answer? More likely than that, what if I go on and on and on and she has to interrupt me? What if I come across as a dimwit? Worst of all, what if I'm not inspiring? That's the whole point, right?

That is ultimately the reason I agreed to do this interview. Because if anyone out there is encouraged to breastfeed or to persevere through difficulties through hearing about mine then I accomplished what I hoped I could.

I'll be recording my 'appearance' and YouTubing it as soon as possible. Stay tuned.

That's The One

A shout out to Kelli in the Mirror from Holding the Mirror up to My Soul for winning Say WHAT? this week by correctly identifying my quote from “Say Anything”. I've been meaning to use a quote from this movie for a long time but I was saving it. Why? Because it's special.



That's right. I finally used a quote from the movie that was essentially my inspiration for this game. The movie from which a photo is used each and every week for Say WHAT? This movie that gave me higher expectations of guys in general and especially any guys that I chose to date. Frankly, it helped shape the person I am today.



Am I giving an 80's flick too much credit? Maybe. Maybe not. At the very least I hope to inspire anyone who hasn't seen it to do so.



Why do I love it so much? Why is it so great? Basically it all comes down to two words. Lloyd. Dobler. This character may be the single best male character (without question THEE best TEEN male character) ever written. He has everything a girl wants in a guy. Brains, brawn, personality, sensitivity and he's freakin' gorgeous. Totally well rounded. He's so great there is a band named after him.

Let me tell you about some of my favorite things about Lloyd's character. He kickboxes. He sticks up for his best friend and tries to protect her from the scumbag who keeps messing with her head. He asks the girl he has a crush on out on a date even though 'she is out of his league'. Even though he is absolutely nuts about this girl, at the party they go to he gives her space to do her own thing. He agrees to drive a very drunk and most likely stinky guy home from the party killing any possibility of romance with his date. He teaches girlfriend how to drive her car which has a standard transmission. He plays guitar. He is an awesome uncle. Being intimate with his girlfriend means so much to him that he begins to shiver uncontrollably because 'he's happy.' (Let me just say that this scene when they are in his car by the ocean and “In your Eyes” is playing in the background... and the part with him shivering, wow. In high school, my friend and I cried like babies watching that scene. We didn't think we'd ever find a guy so sweet.) Even after his girlfriend breaks up with him he won't say anything bad about her. When she wants to get back together and really needs him, he's there. He is nice to her father even though he doesn't deserve it.

Hmmm. Something about this movie turns me into a gushing teenager again. I'm linking trailers and putting up this video. I dare anyone who has never heard of this movie or seen it to watch these trailers and not feel compelled to go rent it. I dare you. Consider yourself dared.





So this movie. It taught me that I didn't have to settle for some jerk. Some guy who'd rather hang out with his friends than me. A guy who had an enormous ego. That I could expect the person I chose to be with to care about what I had to say and who I was. Someone who'd be there for me no matter what. Lloyd Dobler was my ideal man for a long time.

Until I met the real thing. And then I married him. And we both have Lloyd Dobler to thank for that.