Snow Days

Winter seems not to be going anywhere in these parts. This weekend we were dumped upon with a bunch of snow and it is currently snowing as I write this. The cold snap we were having has at least let up. I found the cold much more depressing than this abundance of snow. At least with snow you can go outside and enjoy!



Which is what we've been trying to do. And the fact that taking A out in the sled is exercise for me doesn't hurt either! Miss A likes going for rides in the sled. She drags her hand along in the snow the way you'd drag your hand in the water if you were in a canoe. She usually gets sick of riding after a while and want to bail out. The other day when we went for a particularity long walk I let her get out and walk around on the trail. I eventually had to put her back in the sled which she wasn't too thrilled about.







A is still a bit too young to 'play' in this snow. Next winter will be a different story I'm sure. One things for sure... We'll have to get a bigger sled. She's already outgrown this one, her feet are squished into the front of the sled!

A Celebrity Winner

Our winner this week is not a blogger but he IS an actor. Apparently he's been dying to win this game. I'm sure he's shocked to have won by correctly identifying 'Short Circuit'. I gave a small hint last week when I mentioned my weakness for robots.



Since the winner doesn't have a blog I'll link his commercial instead.

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. 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 after much anticipation and Googling Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing won Say WHAT? I personally am appalled that you all missed such a truly horrid yet strangely awesome film. Shame on all of you. Now go rent it.



Time for today's quote. Don't forget to come back on Sunday (or maybe Monday if I'm lazy) to see if you are a winner. Have fun and good luck!



“I am thinking she is a virgin. Or at least she used to be. “

YouTubesday

This cheers me up and I hoped you all would find it funny too.

I love Drew Barrymore. Their 80's workout look is spot on don't you think. And the hair and makeup? Priceless.

I love how it really looks like crappy video quality. Mya's “Woo!” at 40 seconds cracks me up every time. As do the advanced version of the step and the “Or pencils!” (The way she says it is comic genius) “Or air.” And the slightly erotic celebration at the end is just silly.

So have a nice day won't you?

In the Muck

I've been keeping pretty quiet about something lately. I guess I haven't exactly been hiding it. But I haven't exactly been forthcoming either. Which is silly because the whole reason I do this blogging thing is to keep it real. This is therapeutic for me and if I make anyone else out there feel a little more normal in the process or at the very least, not alone, that is awesome.

So why have I been tight lipped and what about?

Why? – probably because I was slightly in denial. Because admitting it out loud and in writing even, made it too real and I wanted it not to be happening.

What? - In the past couple of months I have been slipping into... (deep breath) a depression. (there I said it. why is it such a hard thing to say?) I have been feeling similar to the way I did in the months after A's birth. Which was bad. Not to mention that I have been coming to realize just how bad I was actually feeling back then. I think I had suppressed it or decided it wasn't that big of a deal. But those feelings have come rushing back with thoughts/plans of having another baby. (thoughts/plans which are currently on hold)

It's like my brain was all like “Are you nuts!? You can't have another baby! Don't you remember how sick you were, how depressed? How hard it was on your marriage? Let me take this opportunity to remind you.” And then BAM! Like a ton of bricks had fallen on my head the memories came flooding back. Often when I was lying in bed trying to sleep or when I was up with A in the night. This is around the time when I noticed I just wasn't dealing well with stress of any kind. If Miss A decided to boycott a nap my world came crashing in. A small argument with Peter was in my mind the beginning of the end for us.

The loss of his father has made things even more difficult. Peter is also, not at his best. Last night was one of those horrible, the world is ending kind of nights. The kind of night that even though we talked, a lot, before going to sleep we still went to sleep feeling miserable. Or at least I did and I'm pretty sure he did too. I didn't wake up feeling much better.

What I recently accepted is that these feelings are not going away. And that I better do something about it. Soon. So I had made a counseling appointment which was yesterday. I think that I had convinced myself that once I actually talked to a professional I would feel better. The really awful thing is that I didn't. Last night was almost worse because I'd been to the counselor and it obviously hadn't helped. I couldn't help thinking that nothing is going to help me.

I know I have to give this counseling thing a chance. I can't expect to be 'fixed' in one visit. It just seemed as though when I got talking about 'stuff' it seemed trivial. She gave me a lot of photocopied stuff to read. About communication skills. Turns out I'm passive and passive/aggressive. No sh*t. I knew that already. Tell me how to fix it. There are also hand outs on how to be assertive. Which is what you want to be. Or something. I'm going to try it out. Can't hurt.

So anyway. Now it's out there. Not a secret anymore. Don't feel bad or worry about me. If you like tell me you've had these crazy feelings too, even if you haven't I'll never know and I won't feel like such a total freak. And if you really have felt like this or are feeling like this, I'm sorry. It sucks doesn't it. Feel free to drop me a line. And stay tuned. I plan to document how I dig myself out of the muck. And I will. Cause I'm stubborn like that.

Water Bug

I have always loved the water. For as long as I can remember I have loved to swim. When I was a child I spent every summer in swimming lessons and the rest of the time in water as much as possible. If we hadn't moved to the city I am quite sure that I would have spent my teen years as a lifeguard.

I still love to swim. While I was pregnant I did a lot of lap swimming. Miss A and I have done two sessions of swimming lessons. I love being in the water with her. I am so glad that she enjoys it as much as I do. A couple of weeks ago we were at a pool party which was held at a hotel which also had a waterslide. Miss A and I have gone down waterslides before so I figured we'd do it again. At first this slide seemed okay but then we picked up speed as we went around the three turns and as we headed for the end of the slide I prayed that I could keep her above the water. I mostly succeeded although I think she got a large face full of water. Luckily for both of us she didn't really care and was not forever traumatized thanks to her foolish mother.



Since we can't go swimming ALL the time (it is 30 below outside right now!) she has to settle for the bathtub. This suits her fine and she spends the time perfecting her swimming skills by blowing bubbles, laying her head and ears right back into the water, and splashing her arms and legs. The later I wish she would save only for the big swimming pool since I don't have to clean up there.



I really couldn't be more pleased to have a water bug baby. Now all we have to do is convince her Dada to join us more often...

Not Alone

The other day I had the most amazing conversation with a friend of mine. We had been playing phone tag and then we eventually caught up with one another. She and I were very good friends when we were younger. We both got married and she moved pretty far away and we kind of drifted apart. Not emotionally, just physically. We really lost touch with one another for a while.

We both have children now and since then I have found that we have gradually reconnected. She recently moved back 'home' and somehow that seems to have made a difference. Knowing that she is physically living closer now makes it seem that much easier to reconnect.

While talking to her on the telephone the other day I was amazed to find that we are still just as close as ever. We had absolutely no trouble opening up to one another the same way we did when we were seventeen, writing letters back and forth. We were surprised to find that we are living rather parallel lives at the moment. Sharing very similar struggles that are very real and very frightening. Though our situations are serious we managed to laugh at ourselves and find comfort in the fact that we are not alone.

After hanging up the phone that night I cannot express the renewed feeling I had. I was so thrilled to have been able to have such a great conversation with her and I realized just how much I'd missed her presence in my life. And knowing that although our lives may not be perfect, we have each other to lean on for support. And that's the kind of thing that makes it easier to get out of bed in the morning (or in the middle of the night as it may be.)

Adventures in Winning

We finally had a winner after implementing the 'go ahead a google it rule'. Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing is our winner. Way to go!



Apparently this was a hard one. Seriously? You all didn't see 'Deadly Friend'? But Kristy Swanson is in it. The original 'Buffy' and the girl Duckie ends up with at the end of 'Pretty in Pink'. 'Deadly Friend' is a horribly awesome film. It is both corny, heartbreaking and sweet. And I've always had a weakness for robots.

Say WHAT? HINT

Feel free to Google everyone. And here's a hint.

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. 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!

For the second time in a row, Bon. That girl is on fire. Not literally though because that would be awful. In the way that means you rock!



Time for today's quote. Don't forget to come back on Sunday (or maybe Monday if I'm lazy) to see if you are a winner. Have fun and good luck!



"He's my father. Sometimes I want to roll a truck over his face but he's still my father."

YouTubesday

If any of you didn't know this already, this is my favorite band.

Fan facts:

I have been a fan since approximately age 15 when I saw the video “Close to Me” (see YouTube) and fell completely in love.

In high school I wore a plain gold band on my left ring finger and a single gold sleeper in my left ear just like Robert Smith. Why? I'm not sure I knew why. My answer now would be – because I was cool.





I spent many a night alone in my room listening to The Cure and thinking – Wow, he really gets me.

The morning after seeing The Cure for the second time in concert I noticed a large horizontal bruise on my right thigh. I was perplexed for a while until I realized it was from the repeated bashing into the seat in front of me while was jumping up and down constantly during the concert.

I have slacked off in my fandom in recent years but I still love them and call them my favorite band ever.

And with that I give you, The Cure.

Houdini A

We have been having quite a bit of difficulty lately keeping Miss A in her clothing. And her diaper. I mentioned once before how much she enjoys her birthday suit. The problem is, it's winter for goodness sake! And diapers have a very important purpose and must be left in place on the bottom!



Some things that appear to be discouraging clothing removal are tights and onesies. And after a couple of bed time incidents (one of which pictured here) the pajamas have been going on backwards. Although yesterday morning despite the fact that her jammies were secure her diaper was not and there was a wet spot in her bed. Sigh. I bought some baby safe safety pins to try with her pajamas. I'm a little nervous using them because I am not convinced that she wouldn't be able to figure them out. At least enough to really poke herself which would be awful.





This is one of those challenges in parenting that is just random. I have had many moms tell me that their child never did this kind of thing. And then there are those who have experienced the same thing. A horror that I am desperately trying to avoid is poo fingerpainting. I have heard these tales and I don't want to go there.



If nothing else we have documented this phase on film.

Ashamed

Never in the span of almost 2 years (coincidently the timespan of Miss A's life) have I behaved in so many ways that are uncharacteristic and unpleasant. Parenting has at times brought the very worst out in me. My inner crazy person comes out, the one that is usually hiding just under the surface waiting for the opportunity to rear it's ugly, horrible head.

This crazy person appeared at 3:30 am Sunday morning. Well okay, more like 4:30 am after it became clear that Miss Monkey Doodle A the First was not interested in going back to bed. I tried to be patient, to wait it out. She'd have to get tired eventually, right? Right. Several hours later, at 7:00 am she went back to bed. Prior to that time there was much frustration, some yelling and plenty of tears. Most of which belonging to me. My lovely husband was convinced I had lost it and frankly, I think I had.

We went back to be for about three hours and then got up for church. Getting a bit of sleep didn't make me feel better. I had this awful guilty feeling hanging over me from the night/morning before. I kept thinking that I should have handled things better. Asked myself why I'd gotten so upset. I didn't come up with any answers really.

With two good nights sleeps under my belt I am feeling more normal again. The memory of my unsavory behavior is fading. Yet I know it's just a matter of time before it happens again. Another night will come when A just doesn't want to sleep. Those are the times when I wish I was a celebrity and I could just get my live in nanny to take over. How much do live in nanny's cost these days anyway?

She Dominates

Sorry I have been so slack with the posting of my Say WHAT? winner. I am beginning to wonder how I ever found time to write a 'winners post' on Sundays.

For the second week in a row (kind of) our winner is Bon from The Mama. A true sign that we are kindred spirits – she knows quotes from my favorite movie.



I have raved about this movie before here. If you haven't seen it, I insist that you do so as soon as possible.



Diane Court: Are you shaking?
Lloyd Dobler: No.
Diane Court: You're shaking.
Lloyd Dobler: I don't think so.
Diane Court: You're cold.
Lloyd Dobler: I don't think I am.
Diane Court: Then why are you shaking?
Lloyd Dobler: I don't know. I think I'm happy.

Till tomorrow.

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. 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!

Our last winner was the marvelous Bon. I gotta say I wasn't expecting you to know the 'Red Dawn' quote, that really caught me by surprise.



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!





“Brains stick with brains. The bomb could go off and their mutant genes would form the same cliques.”

Happier Times

Peter is home now and I can't express how great it is to have him around again. I commend all of you single mothers out there. I really don't know how you do it.

Logically I should be well rested. I've been getting a decent amount of sleep for at least a week. Yet, I feel exhausted. In a way that I don't think I have been before. It is the strangest and scariest feeling.

Sadness is my only explanation. Being sad takes a lot out of a person. Miss A is a great distraction but she can also be a contributer to fatigue and stress. I picked up an extra day at work this week to try to make up for the three days that I missed. Though my week has only just begun I already feel so very, very tired.

The bitterly cold weather may not be helping my mood or my desire to get out and get some fresh air. It only makes me want to stay in bed with my electric blanket and hide.

Having Peter home again is helping me to feel better. We are getting back into our routine and having his help with things again is alleviating the stress I was feeling.



I took this picture last night of my two favorite people and I thought it was too sweet to keep to myself. When I have smiles like that to look at how could I be sad?

Far From Normal

Right now I am feeling rather awkward. Everything is still fresh and painful and I don't feel like writing about everyday life again yet. So it's either write nothing or write more about my feelings. Since this blog is ultimately therapy through writing I guess I know what I need to do.

One of the most difficult things about losing my father in law is that my own family who I am very close to just can't really grasp my loss. I find this very alienating and I can't help but feel very detached from them at the moment. Since Peter is still with his mom right now and A and I are at home alone I have been feeling very introspective.

I think I have had an unusual relationship with my in laws compared with most people. Usually you hear horror stories about overbearing mother in laws or intimidating father in laws. I could only describe my relationship as amazing.

When I started dating Peter he was living with his parents. Since they lived two hours away when I would visit it would be for the entire weekend. This gave me a unique opportunity to get to know them better and more quickly than one would usually get to know their boyfriend's parents. Luckily for me I think they liked me from the start. I think part of this might have been because they were relieved that their shy and introverted son had actually met someone. I didn't have to pretend to like them because they were fantastic. I will never forget and will forever cherish our long breakfast chats about everything and anything.

Although I had many years to get to know my father in law yet I can't help feeling now that I never really appreciated them. Sort of like if you had a lot of money for a long time but you spent it frivolously and then when you found yourself broke one day you realized that you should have paid more attention and been more careful about your spending. I feel like there were many things I had yet to tell him. Things I wish he had known.

I wish I had been able to tell him how much I appreciated the way he welcomed me into his family. Made me feel loved like one of his own children. That I felt closer to him than I do to my own father. How much it meant to me that he was so involved in our lives and in the life of our daughter. How much I admired the way he loved his wife, sons and grandchildren.

I really hope he knew how much I loved him and how much I would miss him when he was gone.

Saying Goodbye

The funeral was on Friday afternoon. I left Miss A with her Grandma for Friday night. My first night away from her. Not the most ideal circumstances. It was nice to know that she was in good hands as well as a relief to be able to be there for Peter and his family without also having to worry about my toddlers needs.

The day wasn't as awful as I had expected. I think my husband was right when he told me he thought we'd all done most of our grieving at the hospital the previous weekend. I think there will be much grieving to come as the reality of his absence sinks in.

I have already been missing his weekly emails. He wrote in such a way that you could actually hear him speaking to you while you read. This is an excerpt from an email he sent me after my birthday in August.

“Well 'D' do you feel really old now? I am glad you have reached 30. It won't be long until you are forty and then you will realize how much wiser you are.”

Words cannot express how much I miss him already. The only thing that makes me feel less sorry for myself is thinking of how much Peter, his brothers and his mother must miss him.

I wish that A was older and knew him better. They would have been great friends. They already were. I am glad we have so many pictures of them together like this one from Christmas.



At times pictures can speak louder than words.

Loss

On Thursday night our world began falling apart piece by piece. It all started with a phone call from Peter's mom telling us that his dad was in the hospital. Apparently he'd been struggling with a bad cold for a while. When he became weak and had no appetite she decided to take him to the doctor. We were worried but tried to be rational and stay calm. Adding insult to injury Miss A wasn't feeling well and was up most of the night. She and I slept about two and a half hours that night. In the morning just before Peter left for work we got a call from his brother. Dad had been moved to ICU in the middle of the night. He had suffered a heart attack brought on by pneumonia. The rest is a blur.

We both went to work and later that day I received a call from Peter saying that his brother had called and told him to come right away. I followed soon after with A. The roads were terrible for the last 40 minutes of our drive. When we arrived we went straight to the hospital. I would love to be able to say that when I saw my father in law I put on a brave face. I would love to say that I didn't hold his hand and turn my face away because I didn't want him to see me crying. This man had been more of a father to me than my own.

Peter and his two brothers were amazing. Their hearts were breaking yet at times they were able to joke with each other and make each other laugh. I watched them in awe of their strength. Peter's mom was so brave. She sat by her husband's side for hours on end, holding his hand.

Although we were told that he would be gone within hours of the phone call Peter had received on Friday afternoon it carried on much, much longer. My father in law was a fighter and he was the strongest person I have ever known.

We got the call yesterday morning that he had passed away. We had made the difficult decision to come home on Sunday afternoon because we honestly had no idea how long things could carry on that way. I asked Peter if he was sorry that we decided to come home, he tells me he's not.

Everyone here and there are exhausted. Days of very little or no sleep have caught up to us. Since Peter and I were both sick at the start of this ordeal the stress and lack of sleep have only made things worse. Peter has a back and shoulder injury which has tightened up with stress making it nearly impossible for him to be comfortable and is interfering with his sleep.

Through all of this Miss A has been astounding. She contentedly played in the tiny ICU waiting room for hours while we all took turns sitting at the bedside. She slept remarkably well though not in her own bed. Slept through 2:00 am phone calls and commotion in the night. She traveled perfectly, sleeping most of the trips each way even though she'd already napped and yet she still went to bed at a decent hour. And she has been an angel since our return. She has brought joy to us with her giggles and smiles. Joy that we are so badly in need of.

YouTubesday

I did this monologue in high school for my musical theater class. I performed it at a small showcase we did that year in front of a good number of my school mates. I think I did a decent job. It was fun to smear fake blood all over the front of me. Unfortunately, I don't think everyone understood the humor. Kids in the Hall can be like that. An acquired taste. They just happen to be mine.

The guy in this sketch, Dave Foley, provided the voice for Flik in A Bug's Life. And now he hosts Celebrity Poker.

I went to see Kids in the Hall perform live when I was seventeen. I still consider it to be one of the most exciting things I have ever done. After the show was over a few of the guys were signing autographs. Fortunately for me Dave (my favorite) was one of them. He hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. I swore I'd never wash my cheek again. I have. But only because I really had no choice.

Colder

I am nursing myself back to health from what seems like the fifth almost back to back cold I have had this winter. I have no idea what is up. I'm taking vitamins. I'm taking care of myself. I am getting a reasonable amount of sleep.

It's getting to the point where I am getting paranoid. I'm starting to think that perhaps there is something in our old home that is making me sick. Mold maybe? I don't know. Then I think it may have to do with all the snotty nosed (yet adorable) babies that I help take care on Sunday mornings at church two weeks out of every month. Or did the freakishly mild weather cause some kind of super cold virus to morph into some sort of crazy cold that never really goes away? Ever.

I know it's just a little cold but it's really cramping my style. It's also really discouraging. Depressing even. I'm sick of being sick. I'm sick of my coworkers and my mother assuming that I'm not taking care of myself. It's like people look at you and blame you for being sick. Like “What did you do?” pointing their pointy finger at you. Dude, it's not my fault. Seriously. I'm sick of dragging my sorry sick butt into work despite being sick because I'm not dying after all and unless I'm dying, I go to work. And I sniffle and snort and excuse myself to blow my nose while my clients think “She SO better not give me her dang cold!” But then I say, “What about all of you lovely clients of mine. You'd come here and sit in my chair if you had the plague just so long as I made you look pretty.” You know it's true. And that's okay. We can't all lock ourselves in our bedrooms just because we've got a little cold.

Some of us have kids to look after. And that's another thing. Looking after toddlers when you are sick, is not fair. But that's life isn't it. Sometimes it's not fair. Sometimes we just have to blow our nose and carry on. Because if we don't do it, it's not going to get done.

I Can Take It (I hope)

So I've noticed something. You see I have a Site Meter. Each week I receive an email telling me how many of you stopped by each week. Now normally, I'm not overly concerned by this number. It usually is pretty much the same give or take a few. But lately I couldn't help but notice the number has been going down. For past few weeks each weeks number has dropped slightly lower. So I have become concerned. At this rate only Peter will be reading in a couple of months.

I don't blog to be a celebrity or to see how many readers I can accumulate. That being said though it's nice to have an audience. I blog to get things out of my system. To work through stuff. To get feedback. To entertain. So if I lose my readers I lose at least some of my purpose.

My question is. What up? It's okay. Give it to me straight. Have I become boring? Has my writing become fluffy? Not deep enough? I haven't written any really dark, searching my soul kind of post lately. Do you actually like those? Or maybe is it not enough cute stories about A or not enough pictures of her? Or too many? Do you really hate YouTubesday that much? Just tell me what I can do better and I'll do it.

I know Bon was telling me the other day that she was having trouble commenting and I myself was having trouble with blogger and commenting during that whole blogger beta period. But it's not really the comments I'm worried about. It's what my Site Meter is telling me. It's telling me I suck.

I realize I'm really asking for it here. I asking for people to slaughter me with cruel comments about how boring I've become or how they just don't give a crap about me or my family anymore. But that's alright. Why? Because another reason why I started blogging was because I wanted even one person out there to feel comforted by something that I shared about my life. That when I make awful, personal and shameful confessions here that someone can feel better that they aren't the only one's who feel that way. And then they forgive themselves. Because that's what I do when I read stuff like that.

So tell me how I can be better. Tell me what you want to hear. Or you know, tell me I'm funny.

Last night a DJ Saved my Life

First of all I was lazy on Sunday and I didn't announce that BON won Say WHAT? this week. 'Red Dawn' is one of Peter's favorite 80's movies. I mostly just like it because it has Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in it, pre-Dirty Dancing.





And speaking of dancing... I went dancing on Saturday as I mentioned here. Almost everything went according to plan.

-Baby to bed on time CHECK
-Babysitters settled in CHECK
-Dancing attire donned CHECK
-Husband CHECK
-Have a great time CHECK
-Baby sleeps till morning ?

Unfortunately not. I had a 5:15 wake up call and a baby that didn't want to stay in her bed. So I did something that I haven't ever really done since she was tiny and we were desperate. I let her sleep in our bed. I have tried it other times in desperation but it has never worked. She has never actually slept. She just picks our noses or puts her fingers in our ears. But this time she did sleep. And I grabbed whatever extra ZZZ's I could so my fatigued body could somehow function the next day.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. The evening was perfect. I was so happy that Peter actually came along. He sat with our friends and chatted while I was on the dance floor. Every once in a while I came back for a kiss and a glass of coke. He looks a little pained in this picture but that's probably because I was ridiculously hyper.



I danced. And danced. And danced. DJ Hunnicutt and Mama Cutsworth were amazing. Everyone loved them. The dance floor was packed until the bitter end. Between sets I was able to have a chat with my former school mate which was nice. I asked for his permission to take a photo and put it on my blog. He told me he would “love that”. So, cool. Here we are. For some reason I look bored, which I absolutely wasn't. Let's pretend I look cool instead.



And here is a photo that appeared on the front of our local newspaper yesterday. I usually miss hearing about these events until they are over. I am glad that I made it to this one. It was worth losing sleep over.

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. 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 weeks winner when no one else had a clue was my good friend The Big Fugr. I can always count on him to know pretty much any quote out there. I don't know where he puts them all.



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!



"My family would want me to stay alive. Your family would want you to stay alive. You think you're so smart, man, but you're just a bunch of scared kids."

YouTubesday

I am going out on Saturday night. This is nearly monumental. This guy I used to go to high school with grew up to be a DJ and he's DJing a party here this weekend. There will be much dancing done by me. Dancing for at least 3 consecutive hours, most of which will likely be done with my eyes closed because I'm in the moment.

When I searched for DJ Hunnicutt on YouTube I found that he and one of his DJ friends always make up videos to advertise their latest party. Since they haven't done one for this particular event this is the most recent one from New Years. It's pretty funny in a slightly annoying kind of way. (DJ Hunnicutt is the one with the beard)

The Wondersitters

We have been blessed with the worlds best babysitters. They are two sisters who have been clients of mine for a couple of years. They have recently moved to the city from the nearby small town the lived in. They are the sweetest, friendliest, greatest girls. They let me know that they would be living nearby and that they'd love to babysit for us if we needed them. How could I pass up an offer like that?

They have been babysitting while Peter and I go to our small group. This past week was their second time looking after A. Each time went smashingly well. It was totally clear how much Miss A adores these girls. When we arrive home they tell us about everything they did together and how much fun they had. Last time they even took pictures of her with their camera phones! They think of things to do with A that we would never think of. They spend the entire time playing and doing fun stuff. (I wish I had the time to do that.)

The most amazing part is that they genuinely enjoy looking after her. They think A is hilarious and when they talk about her it's almost as if she is their little sister or their niece or something. It just makes Peter and I smile and feel so relieved to have these girls watching A.

I can honestly say that I don't know very many girls their age that are as responsible as they are. Not to mention girls their age that actually want to babysit. Shouldn't they be doing more important things like going out with friends, text messaging, chatting on the internet, talking on the phone or washing their hair? If Miss A grows up to be anything like either of these sisters I will congratulate myself on a job well done as a parent.

A Book Meme

Bon from The Mama tagged me with this meme.

Here's the deal.

1. Find the nearest book.
2. Name the book & the author.
3. Turn to page 123.
4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog.
5. Tag three more folks.

All the books closest to me were Miss A's and thus didn't have a page 123. I had to go to our bedroom and get the book I am (very slowly) reading right now.

So without further ado...

The Birth House by Ami McKay. (Now here is the weird part. The fifth sentence on page 123 isn't really a sentence, it's sort of an advertisement. This book takes place in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 1st World War. The following must have been a poster that was up to “motivate” young men to join the army.)

To the
YOUNG WOMEN OF CANADA

Is your “Best Boy” wearing Khaki?
If not, don't YOU THINK he should be?

If he does not think
you and your country are worth fighting for,
Do you think he is WORTHY of you?

Don't pity the girl who is alone -
her young man is probably a soldier,
fighting for her and her country -
and for YOU.

If your young man neglects his duty to his
King and Country, the time may come when
he will NEGLECT YOU.

Think it over – then ask him to
JOIN THE ARMY TODAY

Wow! It's not all so heavy. This novel is actually about a young woman apprenticing to become a midwife just as a doctor moves to town promising the women “fast, painless childbirth” (Wah?) She struggles to “protect the birthing tradition and women's wisdom that have been passed down to her.” So far I'm enjoying it very much.

I like the idea of this meme. I hoping it will encourage people to pick up books that they may not have otherwise. Just call me Oprah. On second thought, don't.

Home-Work

I have designated a 'work at home' day. How would that be any different from any other day you may ask. Well the specific 'work' that I'm about to do is some of those tasks I've been avoiding. The kitchen ceiling fan has about an inch of dust/grease/gunk on it which I am bravely going to tackle. Also our computer armoire is harboring some pretty enormous dust bunnies and dust bunny offspring. Not to mention I am doing laundry and have a new curried chicken recipe on the go.

Although I have yet to complete these daunting cleaning tasks I know that once I have I will feel an over whelming sense of accomplishment. This only makes me slightly sad. I don't think I realized how much having a baby would hinder my ability to keep up with the most basic housekeeping. (And those of you out there with more than one child, I am humbly awestruck that you ever get anything done at all.)

It seems that I spend all day running around from room to room picking up messes like this.



Which isn't so bad, I know but it really is a constant job all day long. And if I ever want to get any cleaning done I must do it while Miss A is sleeping otherwise she'd be right in the middle “helping”.

I think it would be slightly easier if I ever had any significant amount of time when Peter and I were both at home. That way he could distract A and I could accomplish something. As it is when I'm home he's working and when he's home I'm working. With the exception of Monday (yoga), Tuesday (volleyball), Friday (tired) and Saturday (exhausted) evenings. Sunday is our only full day together but we have church, lunch with family, nap time for A and down time for us then small group in the evening. It's ridiculous I know. I could adjust our schedule I know but honestly I don't know how. And I'm mostly okay with it really. I'd love to have more time for cleaning but more importantly to spend time as a family. We are doing what we have to to pay the bills. And it won't be this way forever. (I keep telling myself this.)

And as I complain about my lack of time I sit here during perfectly good nap time NOT getting my tasks done. So off I go.

You Saved the Day

My old friend The Big Fugr was our Say WHAT? winner for this week. Coming in to save the day when no one else knew the quote. It was from “Big”. I have not seen this movie in many years but I watched it many times over back then.



It really is a sweet movie. Probably one of my favorite Tom Hanks films. He plays a kid in the body of a man very convincingly.

And thanks to the wonderful YouTube here is the most memorable scene from the movie for you all to enjoy!

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. 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 my Canadian homegirl Allie won by correctly identifying 'Revenge of the Nerds'. It's always nice to have a first time winner.

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 a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. So you don't get lost."

YouTubesday

It's time for another YouTube day. Since this went over like gangbusters last week when I put myself out there embedding one of my new favorite bands and DIDN'T RECEIVE A SINGLE COMMENT. Not that it hurt my feelings or anything. You were probably all just busy that day or something. That's all. (But if you wanted to make me feel better you could go back and comment now...)

Today I'm embedding one of my favorite NOOMA videos. My husband and I are in a small group study right now and we are watching all of the NOOMA videos. This one made me cry the first time I saw it. Probably other times too. Maybe because now that I have a child I can really get what he is talking about.

I can't say enough about how much I love these videos. The music, the way they are filmed, Rob Bell's messages. They are awesome.

Anyway, hope you like it. And please, feel free to COMMENT.



*Edited to Add

This Rob Bell video has been pulled. Which I understand, I was actually surprised you could find it on YouTube at all. If you want to watch "Rain" which was the one I originally linked go here and click on video 001. Anyway here is another video which contains clips of several Nooma videos.

Operation – Fix the Cupboard

So I mentioned a while back how fun it was to baby proof our crappy cupboards. But once we did we were all like “Ha! Let's see you get in there!” See, we had total confidence in our baby proofy gadgets. We failed to consider however, the extreme crappyness of our cupboards. (Yes, I know I'm making up words. So what!) Imagine our surprise one day when Miss A was yanking on the cupboard doors trying to get in while we stood back watching her with amused expressions thinking, she'll never get in. Get in? No. Pull the cupboard door right off it's hinge? Yes. Okay, in actuality the hinge broke off the wood it was screwed into. Because the wood was garbage. This was no longer amusing.

Upon closer inspection and realizing that due to the wood essentially crumbling apart it would not be a quick fix. It would require replacing that board with a new piece of wood and totally disassembling the cupboards. What a pain. It stayed broken for at least a week and on Sunday we finally began the task of repairing it.

Miss A was very interested in helping which was cute and funny for about five minutes and then I had to take her to her room to read books and play with her babies. The job took several hours (all of which my kitchen was in shambles) because there were interruptions like supper, having to rewire a table saw (I didn't do that) putting a baby to bed and Law & Order (C.I.). We were finally finished by around 10:30. Just in time for bed.

Here are the photos of our progress.





I am happy to say that they are back to normal and my kitchen no longer has pots and pans and stuff strewn about. My blood pressure has gone back down to normal. My cupboards may be ugly but they are functional once again. (For now.)

Sleepy Head

We have been having some issues over here at my house. Some sleep issues. Now I know that several of you would say that I deserve it. After having months of restful nights when Miss A slept for at least ten hours in a row. But it's payback time. She has consistently been getting up at least once every night. What's worse it's usually at around 4:00 AM. Yuck. The worst part about that hour or the next three is that they are so close to morning. You have already been sleeping a long while, but not long enough. When you try to go back to sleep your body is confused and thinks that you've slept enough and it seems to take forever fall asleep again. If she must get up, any hour earlier than 4:00 AM is preferred.

On a few rare occasions she has decided that 4:00 AM is a totally acceptable time to get up. I strongly disagree. I am firm and insist that she, at the very least, must stay in her bed. She will chatter away to herself and play with her stuffed toys, aquarium and crib toy. Eventually she falls asleep again. I then have no idea how much sleep she actually got since I usually fall asleep despite still hearing the chatter coming from her room.

Some of you may be surprised to learn that I am still breastfeeding. Not a lot. Just first thing in the morning, before and after her nap (if I'm not working) and before bed. Oh yeah and IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT if she gets up. Since she went for months sleeping through the night, not nursing at all I know that she can do it. Therefore I can't say that hunger is the reason for her waking. We've even tried giving her a bottle in the evening to help 'fill her up' in case she's just not getting enough from me. (Breastfeeding so infrequently has definitely decreased my milk supply)

I know that her waking up could be due to any number of reasons. Growth spurt. Teething. Nightmares. Who knows what the reason is. I do feel lucky to have had it so good for so long. However that doesn't make it any easier to deal with now. In fact it may be harder because I've grown accustomed to getting more sleep.

Now here is the part where I ask the internet for advice. Or suggestions. First let me start by telling you that I don't jump out of bed and run to her room the moment I hear her cry out. So those of you in the cry it out camp can be assured that I wait to see if she'll just fall back to sleep. On the other hand sometimes I think I have unintentionally shot myself in the foot by letting her complain too long, in turn giving her too much time to fully wake up, making it harder to get her back to sleep. This usually happens when I am so tired that it takes me forever to drag myself out of bed. At those times I am having a groggy argument with myself – “Get up, she's crying. Don't bother, she'll go back to sleep. She's not going back to sleep, get up! I don't want to get up.” etc. Also, once when we tried the whole 'fill her up' with a bottle before bed she peed so much it leaked out of her diaper and onto her pajamas and I'm assuming that she woke up because she was wet. So what do you think? Is there anything else I can try? Or should I just suck it up?

And I will wrap up this gripey little post with the most hilarious picture I have ever taken of Miss A. This was taken last Friday morning. She usually gets up in her own good time except on Fridays and Saturdays when I work in the morning. On those days I often take my camera into her room in attempts to catch the rare sleeping picture. On this occasion she heard me coming in and started to get up. And then I captured this priceless photo of my sleepy headed baby. I have seen her father in the morning with the exact same impression on his face.

Singing Fools

Since Miss A was born Peter and I have sung to her. Sometimes we sang real actual songs and sometimes made up ones. For instance “You're the best, you're the best, you're the best pooper ever.” We wrote that one in honor of her weekly poop. We were hoping it would make her poop more often. It might have had the opposite effect... Anyway we both love music and seem to have passed that love on to her. When the television is on in the background she'll always turn and look as soon as there is music. If she is fed up with being in the car a quick rendition of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” usually makes her stop screaming.

And of course there are the Baby Einstein videos. She has watched these since she was four months old and seen them all a multitude of times. The other day the three of us were watching Baby Beethoven together. Peter and I started singing the “Hallelujah!” chorus and suddenly A was singing it too. Only it was more like “Aaaalala.”. But of course being the proud and ridiculous parents that we are we kept prompting and encouraging. She kept singing. So we whipped out the video camera. We haven't put anything up on YouTube since my television interview so I thought it was time. Also captured in this video is her new favorite hobby of stuffing her fake food down her shirt. The other day I found her fake green beans in the toe of her pajamas. You'll also notice her hamming it up when she realizes she's on camera. That was a new one. I guess that means it will be more challenging to catch her in a candid moment. Once she sees the camera she'll be all like “Hey look at me, I'm so funny and cute!” “Look what I can do!”

Enjoy!

It's Her First Time

Revenge of the Nerds was indeed the Say What? quote of the week. Congratulations to a first time winner of my game as well as a fellow Canadian, Allie from A Day in the Life of the Whittinghams. Thanks for playing Allie.

I don't have a lot to say about this movie other than it was pretty entertaining. And I love Anthony Edwards and in my opinion he should have gotten the hotter chick. Oh and I think Poindexter was the inspiration for Bubbles from The Trailer Park Boys. (And no, I don't like that show.)

I'm embedding the best part of the movie.



See you all next week!

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. 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!

Our last winner of Say What was Kelli in the Mirror. Gee, that seems like a long while ago. I guess it was...




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!



“Jocks only think about sports, nerds only think about sex.”

YouTubesday

I have decided to add a YouTube day to my blogging week. Not my own personal videos (necessarily) but videos that I like and feel like sharing with all of my lovely readers. Although I love to blog I sometimes find that it takes a great deal of time, energy and thought that don't always seem to be available, especially on days when I work. I'm hoping the YouTube day will be entertaining for all of you as well as give you some insight into the things that I like or things I find funny or interesting. Not to mention it doesn't require a lot of brain power on my part so that is always a good thing...

So without further ado here is the first video I have chosen. This is one of my new favorite bands which I discovered by listening to this station, here. Not only does this band have a sense of humor, they also happen to be rather cute and are just plain wicked awesome. Don't you think?

The Piano

When I was young I only really ever had one babysitter. I was quite close to her and her family. Her son was a couple of years younger than me and we used to take swimming lessons together. I went camping with her and her family for a week in the summer. Sometimes I would daydream that I was part of her family instead of my own. One of my favorite things about her was that she taught piano. She was the music teacher at my school.

I spent many days at her house plunking away at her piano figuring out little tunes. Like 'Mary had a little Lamb'. I often begged her to teach me how to play, to give me lessons. She always gave me the same answer. 'No.' She told me that because I didn't have a piano at home and wouldn't be able to practice that there was no point. Looking back now I think it had more to do with the fact that my parents likely couldn't afford lessons for me. I told her I would practice at her house or at the school, that I would find a way. She still refused and I had to settle for playing around on her piano when I was at her house.

I still regret never learning to play an instrument. I still wish that I'd had the opportunity to take piano lessons and think that I would have been very good if I'd had the chance. When Peter and I bought this house mutually agreed that a nice old piano would really suit it and we wanted to get one. Almost three years have passed since we've moved in and we hadn't looked into getting one. Shortly before Christmas my sister told us that some friends of hers who already had a piano had just inherited another one. Since they didn't need two the offered to give us the one they didn't want. We were only responsible for the cost of having it moved to our house. (Which was about $200)





And this is how we ended up with this beautiful piano. We are all enjoying it already. Even A who sometimes sits at it and delights in the music she can make. Other times she absentmindedly drags her fingers along the keys as she walks by. I would love to take up piano lessons now. But for the time being I am settling for learning by watching videos like this.



I am so looking forward to the beautiful music that our new piano will bring into our home.

Two Thousand Seven

Happy 2007 Everyone!

Wow! Another year. One year closer to 2010. Doesn't that seem crazy? Or is it just me. I remember thinking years ago that 2010 just seemed so far away and science fictiony. I don't think there will be flying cars by then but we'll see.

Here is a blast from the past – Miss A around this time last year!



We had a very nice Christmas. I did find it somewhat stressful to pack up all our gifts and travel to Peter's parents house two hours away. I shouldn't complain though because I know many of you were flying to see family and I am very grateful that our family isn't so far away. We took about a million pictures so I had to pick just a couple.

This is the Tea Ring that my mother in law makes every Christmas. It's kinda like cinnamon buns. I love it and I love the tradition. I should learn how to make it, I really should.



Here is Miss A finding the coolest tiny Buttercup book in her stocking. (She has no idea that her mother once dressed up as Buttercup for Halloween. “Buttercup is the toughest Powerpuff Girl!”)



One of her best presents, a broom. Just her size.




Her main gifts. A baby crib which she likes to get in herself. (Thankfully the novelty of that seems to have worn off before she completely wrecked it.) And a shopping cart/baby/food items.







I also learned something this Christmas. Not that it helps now of course. Maybe for the next baby... I learned that the suggested age for toys is actually useful. For instance, the doll crib had a suggested age of 3 and up. Maybe 3 year olds would actually understand that their baby goes in the crib and not climb in themselves... The most popular gift she received were age appropriate ones. Books and puzzles were her favorites.

We spent New Years Eve with Jenn and her family. We had a great time. There was a ton of food and we played “Scene It”. She had another couple over as well and between us all there were four kids, three of them under two. They were all very well behaved. Until A hit that magical moment in the evening when she was suddenly tired and we knew that we needed to skidaddle before she made a huge scene. She went down for the night relatively easily which gave Peter and I ample New Years Eve cuddle time.



It was a crazy year. This year could be crazier. We'll see. Having kids really makes the time fly. I'm going to try not to miss anything...