Useless information

Once again, I dreamed that I was friends with Amy. That just by virtue of my reading her, she knew me and we were friends. In this dream (as opposed to another one I had -- multiple dreams, is what I'm saying!), some gamer-boy had referred to her on his blog or a message board, with a negative comment about "mommy bloggers." He'd even spelled her name wrong (Am-lah). I laughed knowingly with her as if to say, "Silly gamr dude, with his misspelling! But any PR is good PR in this crazy blogging business, right? Wink, wink, AmyMYBESTFRIEND." As if *I* am in the blogging business. And as if she needs more PR. HAaaaaa. Love Amy. Anyone else dream about your fellow bloggers?

* * * * * * * * *

Something I think about alot of the time is my German heritage. Although we do more cultural celebration of my Mom's side of the family (Cajun), my maiden name (one of those below) and my Dad's heritage is decidedly German. In fact, the little town I grew up in, in Texas, had a large collection of German-descended folks. I realized last night that it was concentrated mostly within our Catholic church, and that having the perspective of a child when I lived there is why it has seemed to me for years that "everyone" was German -- really it was just our general circle. The town had plenty of Scottish, English, Hispanic of course, and even French-sounding names. Anyway, the German thing is endlessly fascinating to me and I often find myself listing out all the names I can remember from from my elementary (parish) school or our family's acquaintances:

Albrecht
Berend
Geiger
Gerber
Herr
Kriegshauser
Lindeman
Lueb
Lowerwald
Reinart
Reinauer
Schilling
Schrandt
Schroeder
Schumacher
Wagner
Walterscheid
Wilhelm
Zinzer

I don't know why this interests me, but it does. My school served sausage and sauerkraut at its spring carnival, by the way.

* * * * * * * * *

Did I take a leave of absence from work because I had a baby or something? It is strange to me that, coming back, it really feels like I didn't much leave. Now, I advised this and I generally think it's a good thing, but lately it has seemed like I never was pregnant and that hospital thing was just a blip on the screen. I turn around and check behind me like, "Did that really happen?" I don't know -- the last time I returned from maternity leave it just felt a whole lot more monumental. This time it's just life, continued. Strange. Maybe KT is getting short shrift. Maybe TIME FLIES.

Porky Stories

Once upon a time, there was an itsy-bitsy, roly-poly, fatty-watty, pudgie-wudgie, piggledy-widdledy pink pig named Porkus M. Piggus. But his Mommy called him "Porky," for short.

...thus began the bedtime stories of my childhood. My Granny told Porky Stories when we spent the afternoon or evening with her, at naptime or at night. Porky had soft pink ears, a big pink belly, and "a little pink corkscrew tail." I distinctly remember one afternoon in her large "kids' bedroom," my sister and I each occupying one twin bed, heads cool on her down pillows. The light was just so, and she sat in the rocker in the corner of the room. The first words were always the same. Comforting, that. Now that I think about it with an adult's perspective.

I don't know where she got the idea of Porky Pig for her main character, but these were the only kind of stories she knew, apparently. :) I also don't remember what activities Porky participated in, but I wish I did, because I have introduced Porky into my son's future memories of storytime... and I am running out of ideas!

I mean, Granny had 4 boys of her own, so I'm sure many of her tales were from their real-life antics on the farm. Me, I've only come up with a few Porky Stories that are worth telling more than once:

• Porky and Stinky (his best friend) walk to the swimming pool, but on the way, they get distracted in a field. They climb a tree, play baseball with sticks and rocks, and share a piece of gum with Old Mister ...Wilson (was all I could come up with -- ya have an older neighbor, it has to be "Mr. Wilson," right?)... and then they hardly have any time to swim... but realize they had a super-fun day, anyway.
• Porky's birthday party, where he gives party hats to all his friends (Stinky, Hortense, and various other piglets named with the names of AJ's school buddies, coincidentally) and then opens presents (this is an especially good way to find out what AJ's hoping for around Christmas or birthday-time). I also let him decide who gets which color balloon. And all this participation by the listener DOES sorta defeat the purpose of Putting Him To Sleep, but I digress.
• Porky Eats Too Many Pickles and Gets a Tummyache. ...I know, right? But, um, the moral of the story is... don't eat too many pickles. AJ loves this one for some reason.

So anyway, I was thinking of inviting a little audience participation. How about this: You give me some ideas for my next Porky Stories -- since I seem to be getting requests for them more than once a day lately. Be creative! Here's the general set-up: Porky is a young boy-piggy, around 5, an only child who loves his Mommy and Daddy. He calls his Mom his "Poopy-Dommy Mommy" when he wants something or is feeling particularly grateful to her., as in, "Oh, I love you, my Poopy-Dommy-Mommy!" (...Yeah, I don't know, either!? But it's a non-negotiable feature of every story -- he has to say that at some point. Granny must have been trying to remind her boys to LOVE THEIR MOTHER. Heh.) His best friend is Stinky. In the original series, Porky got himself into plenty of mischief and learned valuable life lessons. In "Porky: The New Generation," he mostly wanders around "going to the store" or some other lame adventure since I can't think of any more complicated plots than that and the pickles.

So, help. Maybe I'll even type some up here after the fact and let you know how they were received. And Jilly, feel free to chime in with original editions if you remember any! Oh, and P.S., Historically, these stories are reeeallly long, like a winding path over hills and through deep valleys. If the storyteller falls asleep (and maybe snores) before the end, for instance... it's extremely genuine, is what I'm saying. ;)

I love this right now

Our son:
- Enjoys playing outside, getting his sunshine "and vitamin C" ("D, honey..."), and making up new games like driveway golf and dump-truck racing. Also enjoys a good game of Red Light, Green Light, where he is "all the colors." (Meaning everyone else runs.) Just like his Mama, that one.

- Goes on Missions with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, switching out their gear and (dare I say it?) weapons, hunting aliens and fighting off bad guys with one fell swoop. Or "Piiiyooo, pieeerr."

- Uses his highest pitch to speak lovingly to his sister. The best is when he coos, "Oh, don't cry, I'm right here," with a giant smile on his face and the green pacifier in launch position on his finger. How he loves sticking it in her mouth to SAVE her! Even when she's not fussing.

- Gets upset when I ask him if he needs to use the bathroom. One day he stopped and turned to me, saying, "MAMA. When I have to go, I just run to the potty and gostopASKINGMETHAT!" (He's been trained now for months, he's right, I need to stop bugging him about it.)

- Feels safest in our bed, nestled in between us, and has thankfully stopped kicking in his sleep so much. His warm little frame doesn't really even phase us anymore, despite having a queen-size. We're too lazy/tired to keep taking him back to his bed, which I'm sure is going to be a problem at some point, but right now it's just so NICE snuggled up there, we three.

Our daughter:
- Is so easy to care for. Hungry, wet, dirty, or tired. Those are really the only options we have to consider, and the solutions are cut and dried.

- Can have a smiling marathon when prompted, and just glows with innocence and joy. Nothing compares to a baby's big smile. She keeps me from getting things done because I get sucked right in to her sweet face and ask her to produce MORE smiles, and ONE MORE for Mommy, and yes, another one. She especially loves being on the changing table, after she's all cleaned up and fresh. We stay there a long time.

- Is beginning to sleep for longer stretches both at night and during the day. We're heading toward the three-month milestone and she seems to be right on track so Mommy and Daddy will be EDIT: hope to be! no jinxies! getting a little more REM soon.

- Knows just how to snuggle into my neck, making me feel warm and happy and loved, the safest place she knows. Aside from the hour of the clock in many of those moments, there's bliss there, and I'm soaking it all up.

My so-called diet

I stink at this. So far, I seem to be taking an "Every two days I'll eat healthy" approach. Yesterday started out well:


1 pumpkin muffin no butter

coffee w/ff 1/2 n 1/2

Then...

tricuits and cream cheese spread (left here by my dastardly cousin)

4 chocolate chip cookies (hello mcfly? cookies???)

1/2 cup black bean salad (virtuous)

1 dark chocolate candy (for antioxidants)

Had a high point:

30 minutes of this workout OMG which I coudln't even DO and I pride myself on being able to pick up aerobics choreography pretty easily...

And

dinner: pork roast, rice a roni, and a big green salad.... and a slice of chocolate pie. The rest has since been thrown out of this house! GAH!

Random drawer and return to work

I can't start off my first work-from-home day without blogging. It just wouldn't feel right. HA!

Yesterday I went to the office for a "quick meeting" that turned out to be ALL DAY. It was good. I am glad to be starting back to Real Life, even though my Pretend Life of full-time leave was quite nice. I got a lot done, but not everything on my list. My "random drawer" in my bedroom (scarves, really old jewelery, some stationery, a lint-remover, etc.) is not yet cleaned out. I haven't spent the gift certificate my Mom gave me at KT's birth for new non-maternity clothes. I haven't gotten a favorite necklace repaired yet. I haven't called my parish school to pre-register AJ for Kindergarten ('09).

But these are all things that still can and will get accomplished, and meanwhile on Monday through Thursday I will be concentrating on a certain large university's email marketing efforts full-time. Whew -- nothing like jumping back in with both feet.

Meanwhile, KT baby has begun her daycare career, and yesterday the report was good. She behaved, took her bottles without protest, and didn't tick off the class bully, apparently. Hee hee. There are a lot of things I love about the Infant Room. One of the ladies always slips -- at least I think of it as "slipping" -- and tells me she "serviced" KT at 2:30 or whatever time. I would think she's supposed to refer to it (rocking the baby, feeding the baby, CARING FOR the baby) as something a little less custodial than "servicing," when talking to the parents. But she's great. I love that they already had her crib labeled with her name when we arrived first thing yesterday morning, and a spot in the fridge with her name, where we line up her bottles each day. They'd already put her diapers neatly in her own drawer. AND since she was the New Girl, she got the Fancy Bouncy Seat yesterday. :) She slept A LOT during the day, and after she got home, with all the excitement. I barely saw her eyes yesterday.

I wish that every family's daycare experience could be as great as ours has always been.

So anyway, I've got laundry to switch and LOTS of email marketing crap to sort though, as well as dinner to put in a crock pot (sorry, DH, but that's the way it has to be, I'm afraid) and *caffeinated* coffee to drink.

Oh! Two other things! Tomorrow, AJ's class is having a Spring Program. His first Spring Program!! I'm SO glad I have Fridays off so I can attend. And BELIEVE ME, there will be photos and video.

Also: He is coming home EVERY DAY lately with grass-stained pants, and some days, HOLES. What do we do about the holes, Moms? Patch them? Or just toss the pants and buy new?

What's in YOUR random drawer, by the way?

Riches

Saturday morning I drove down my street feeling richly blessed. The sun wasn't out and it was much too cool for April in Atlanta, but somehow I felt warm and happy.

It could have been that I'd had my hair cut on Friday by someone new, who made me feel like I'd known her a long time. (Score! New stylist, close to home!)

It could have been that after the haircut, my next-door neighbor called and invited me to lunch, and we spent two hours on the patio of one of our favorite local hangouts, and talked and laughed.

It could have been that MB and I chatted on the cellies, as usual, about nothing and everything and the daily round, and I just LOVE that I have a girlfriend with whom I can share my nothing and everything.

It could have been from Friday night, when Mandy and her sweet family came over for dinner, because we cousins got on like we'd been socializing together for years, even though it was our first meeting since she and I were about fifteen. Our conversation was easy, our boys played, shared and screeched like the best of 3-year-old friends, and we found uncanny parallels in our lives as parents of these precious kids. (So glad you guys could make it! And thanks for outfitting our pantry -- I'm enjoying my pie and AJ's enjoying his Hippie Goldfish. Heh.) I prolonged our dinnertime with inept kitchen mistakes, but... I hope no one cared. I sure enjoyed the extra time to visit. :)

So Saturday I was on my way to baptism preparation class for KT baby, which turned out to be a nice tie-up-with-ribbon reminder of how much joy exists in our lives, after experiencing the gift of it all so acutely. (I mean, a good haircut? Serious JOY.)

About babies

I think I have cracked the code on babies. Or part of it.

As we all now know, colic is a fake term for "crying baby." It really indicates nothing, there are no symptoms of colic, it's just a crying baby for a certain period of time. (The THINGS they never tell you before you get pregnant. I mean, seriously: THE. THINGS.)

Yesterday in the shower I had a revelation. Colic is probably an unreachable itch. Think about it -- what is super annoying and when you can't get it resolved, it just makes you crazy? ITCHING. I think colic could really be when the baby has an itch on the top of its head. Not on its back, not its leg, but the top of the head. Because when Mommy or Daddy picks Baby up, do they scratch his head? No. The top of the head is largely ignored in favor of the cheeks, the neck, the ear nuzzle. "Don't cry, Baby." Mommy could solve an itch on the baby's back or leg by accident, because her arms touch those areas naturally when she holds him. But not the top of the head.

(Why yes, I think I do have dandruff instead of postpartum hair-falling-out, why do you ask? And no, my baby isn't colicky, Thank Heavens, I was just thinking.)

Indulgence

Okay, have any of you been watching The Real Housewives of NYC on Bravo? It is the one non-news TV show I have allowed myself -- well, the second... I also watch Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel at 1:00 pm most days if I'm home -- during my maternity leave. Not even Oprah!

Well, I just watched my DVR'd episode from last night and O.M.G! What is with Ramona?? I could not bee-lieve the drama! For those of you who don't indulge in this severely guilty pleasure like I do, pleeeease let me elaborate. You don't want to miss it.

One of the five women that the show profiles decided to host a dinner party for... the 4 other women. It was to be a Girls' Night, with a special dinner and super fancy million-dollar plates and table settings because they're all richer than God, of course, in the tradition of "Real Housewives" profile-ees.

Well. Alex, who fancies herself much more high society than she actually IS, asked if she could bring Simon, her husband, to the dinner... The Girls' Night dinner. The hostess was perplexed and thought, "Man, that Alex is kinda bizarre," but if you've been following the show you'd know that Alex and Simon are sickeningly, cheesily attached at the eyeballs. They shop together, they get dressed together, they parlez le francais badly together (and teach their toddlers badly, too, so they'll be "educated," natch, when they enroll in a Swiss boarding school or some such) and they are disturbingly In Love. Gah. Anyway, yes, it was weird, but the hostess said if you must, you must.

Well, Simon shows up with Alex. Then Ramona, who plays the rather trampy-but-has-a-boatload-of-money housewife (and again, NOT A HOUSEWIFE -- she has a job)... Ramona FREAKS OUT. She goes into hysterics, basically, saying, "I had a really tough day and was really looking forward to Girls' Night, and then YOU come here and ruin it!" She really laid into him. He was speechless, as well he should have been (although a self-deprecating retort wouldn't have hurt), and the rest of the guests had no idea what was happening. One woman kept saying, "But he's here now, and we're going to make him feel WELCOME, aren't we, Ramona?" as if Ramona was a 2-year-old! Hahahahaha! It was high comedy at her expense.

Later at dinner, they start this conversation about Class versus Etiquette, and Ramona gave further evidence that money equals neither one. In fact, after the soup course she inexplicably gets up and leaves, saying, "Oh, I forgot to tell you I have other plans at 9:30." WT? Such a faker! The next day she dug her hole EVEN further by trying to apologize and reiterate that she JUST FORGOT about those other plans and .... well, it just devolved into her being a spaz. Generally, I think that's her major malfunction, that she's just ditzy. And oh, is it fun to watch.

I basically love everything about this show -- from the New York accents (LOVE!) to the townhouses (gorge!), to the Countess, to the way they edited it so that each woman gets made fun of in some way, to the one single girl (with R.H. money) who actually has a brain and calls out all the other women for their high-class nonsense.

Season finale next Tuesday! Conveniently lined up with my last day of leave, which is AWESOME.

Flexing It

No secret: I'd prefer to have a part-time job rather than a full-time one. We need some sort of income from me, so the option of having a no-time job is really not an option, nor do I think I would handle it very well, judging by that week in March when AJ was home sick with me and KT. Lordy-mercy. (Although, here in my 8th week of maternity leave, I AM getting into the rhythm of getting shit done, as evidenced by my MOPPED FLOORS and FOLDED LAUNDRY. Gooooo me! I could be a good housekeeper, at least, if not a good SAHM.) Also, by the way, Where did March go?? Geez!

Well anyway, turns out my 8th week of maternity leave is going to be my last, as the company called last week. Someone has resigned, and could I please consider coming back early? ....That kinda sucks, doesn't it?

But I was considering shortening my leave anyway, "flexing" it so that I'd have Fridays off. And that's exactly how I'm going to work it to my advantage. In fact, for the first 2 weeks, they don't even want me in the office so I'll be working from home. I was doing that the last 2 weeks or so before KT was born, wisely thinking I didn't want to deliver her in my cubicle 32 miles from home. So it has been a nice long break from the hallowed halls of ___ Communications, actually, and who doesn't like Fridays off? 'Til July! I think it'll be nice. Except when I feel guilt for sticking KT in the bouncy seat while I type (um... like I'm doing now...) all day long. But that will only be 1 day a week -- she'll start daycare on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

I feel much better about daycare this time than last, naturally, since the school has become our second home and everyone's been waiting for her for nearly a year now. The infant teacher came out to see her today and told AJ she'd get his old crib ready for her. He liked that idea, and I think he likes the idea that she'll be at his school with him. I wonder if the first day I will cry or not. Last time I wept through my commute, then had little Moments during the day when I got sad. This time? I just wonder. I feel so mature and learn-ed about it. Hee.

----------

The Dieting is going poorly because my parents in law came to visit. You know how it is. It's like that, plus homemade chocolate chip cookies that MIL insists on bringing every time she visits. (And I insist on inhaling.)

The Exercising is going okay, if you consider doing 1 or 2 workouts "okay." Bah. Let's try the whole thing again. I'm going to start a diet and hey, have you tried Weight Watchers' Pumpkin Muffins?

Life Cycle of a Mommy Blog

So now I've done the reveal, the symptoms-log, the naming post, the birth story... oh, wait, I didn't do the birth story? Here it is: my water broke all over the WORLD (at home actually, at 10:30pm), we went to the hospital, where my water continued to break all down the halls, I got hooked up to an IV with saline, antibiotics (StrepB positive), then later my glorious epidural and pitocin. I was itchy and they gave me Benadryl or something, I was sniffly and they gave me Claritin, I labored comfortably for 8 hours or so, pushed 3 times during one contraction and poof: Baby!... I am PRETTY GOOD at birthing babies, aren't I? AJ's delivery was equally easy.... anyway, the next thing I'm supposed to post as a bona-fide Mommy Blogger is

The Auspicious Beginning of My Diet and Exercise Regime.

Yeah.

Last weekend I went to Publix with a specific list in my hand, the list that included V8 juice, hummus, smoked almonds for gosh sakes, and celery. Who even puts CELERY on a LIST? Someone on a diet, that's who. Except I'm not quite ready to be on a Diet, and I'm not quite sure how it works when you're breastfeeding a little bit.

I'm trying to not to hurry things too much as I know you have to allow plenty of time to lose the baby fat that took 9 months to put on. Everyone says that. But not everyone has a beach vacation planned in June, harumph. I have a feeling I will want some faster results than "9 months off."

I believe in the "Change One" method, where you don't begin a diet full-on, but little by little. I had already been eating fairly good breakfasts and lunches -- balanced with fruits and veggies, and reasonable portions -- but dinner and snacks are where I need to make changes. I need to kiss regular Coca-Cola goodbye (sob!), and donate the 2nd bag of Oreos to AJ's daycare for THEIR snacktime.

I also like the idea of the "Just One More" healthy living promise. Hence, the V8. I love salad, so it really shouldn't be too hard. Hopefully those dietary changes will move the scale a bit to get me motivated. And then I've GOT to figure out a way to get more exercise in. My cable package includes some ExerciseTV On Demand, and it's cool because there are lots of workouts in 10, 16, and 22-minute increments. I bet I can do those for starters.

I just made Weight Watchers' Pumpkin Muffins, the recipe for which I found at SundryBuzz, in the comments section of this handy post. I thought you all should see it live and up close since I know some of you are on health-kicks, too, so I'm posting it here. It is a WEIRD recipe. Who in the world thought of this combination of ingredients? But put 'em together and they're pretty damn tasty with a virtuous spread of non-butter butter, like Smart Balance.

WW Yummy Pumpkin Bran Muffins

3 cups all-bran cereal
2 cups warm water
MIX together… let sit for five minutes

[seriously.... weird. I even felt weird buying All-Bran.]

1 box dry cake mix (SPICE flavor)
1 can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
MIX well.
ADD cereal mix.

1 TBSP vinegar

[even weirder!]

Hand mix this into batter.
Spoon into muffin cups sprayed with PAM.
BAKE 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Makes 24 muffins.

Natal-ity = done

Just had the 6-week checkup. My days of pre-natal and natal at the doctor are over. I was a little bit sad when the doc left the room! KT is all done being gestated, she's here, and my medical life now goes back to being my very own, and not scrutinized every month by the OBs. Kinda weird. End of an era, too, since our plan is to not have enough kids to outnumber us.

AJ is feeling better. He had a strep test but no strep, so it's just been a bad cold, whose fever finally ended in the middle of the night last night. He's fine to go to school tomorrow, but I kinda want to complete the "week off" and keep him home on a day when he feels good. We'll see. His Dad's pushing for taking him to school tomorrow, so he won't be completely "ruirnt" for it, as they say here in Georgia. I also want to make a lasagna tomorrow, so it may serve me better for him to go to school, too! Selfish, who? Me? I'd pick him up early though. Now that I'm better at this gig, I feel like I can get us out the door pretty much any time of day.

I was composing a post on my way home that I thought I'd title, "Me and The Girls," with a mention of Book Club tonight, deceptively on-topic, and then casually turn to the metaphoric topic of breastfeeding. (Oh, who am I kidding, I can't ever casually turn into a topic; it'd be an abrupt paragraph change like always.) It was going to be a touching history of the difficulty I had trying to nurse AJ, and my subsequent hesitation about nursing this time. But I don't have time for all that. The Girls, they have performed pretty well for KT. I can tell you it still satisfies me when she first starts a feeding and swallows after every suck, like there's actually -- a lot of -- liquid coming out of those babies! It's hard for me to believe, honestly. Anyway, I was relieved to hear from my OB today that she continued to b'feed her son 'til he was nearly a year, without having to pump at work. THAT would work for me. Because people, I do not have the energy or drive to pump at work. I have alternately wanted to absolutely quit breastfeeding when it was still painful, and then want to maybe hang on just a bit longer, these last six weeks. In fact, my only goal was to get to 1 month, and my hope was to get to 6 weeks -- both accomplished. *golf claps for me!* Of course I know I'm going back to work and so at this point we're doing every other feeding with a bottle of formula. I wonder how my supply will handle a further weaning, and if I really CAN hold onto one or two feedings for a while. Like everything I ever say, I guess We'll See. (I should have named my blog that.)

I gotta go because it's 70 degrees out and AJ needs fresh air. :) Tomorrow's Friday, hooray!

Day 2 at home with 2 kids

Pssst..... hey, over here:

O.M.G. HOW does this work???


(AJ is home sick(ish) today.But well enough, thanks Motrin, that he wants to play. All. day. I am.... let's see... flummoxed? Is that the right word? It's too cold and he's too sick to play outside, we can't go do errands because of baby's eating schedule.... he refuses to color and has already watched 5.79 hours of TV at least......p.s.? He played at the sink in the bubbles -- oh, yes, I tried it -- for approximately 5 minutes.)

SAHMs are truly, truly my heroes.

Pride (In the Name of Easter)

(Notice how suspicious KT looks! Ha!)

I was not certain we'd be able to pull off any semblance of an Easter celebration, but we DID! The bunny came, and his cleverness was appreciated, both in toy selection ("Wow, the Bunny KNEW I wanted a yellow RACE CAR!") and candy options, which included a Nerds Rope and some Sweet Tarts. We managed to get ourselves out the door and to the 9:00 AM Mass (I KNOW! NINE A.M.!), with both kids dressed and hair combed, and even better, we stayed in our seats the entire service. I don't think my Husband has spent a whole Mass next to me in at least a year. He usually carts a fussing toddler out to the narthex, and stays there.

It helped that we attended the Family Mass in the school gym, complete with children's choir and songs that clap. That kept AJ entertained a bit, and he even came home singing, "This is the DAAAY, This is the DAY-AY, This is the DAAAY that the LORD HAS MADE." (More on that in coming post but you KNOW my chorister heart was smiling!) Maybe we'll have to do the Family Mass more often. I've tried to avoid it because it's all Drums and Electric Guitar. Gah. But... sometimes you gotta lower your standards. I lowered them in one other way that helped our cause: brought AJ a Ziploc'd snack. Now, I have long abhorred the idea of snacks in church, because HELLO, WE didn't have snacks and yet we managed to behave most of the time (and walked uphill both ways). But... again, I just decided why fight it.

Smartest thing we did -- saved Easter Egg Hunting for After Mass. Brilliant way to convince AJ to sit still. Not that we'd THREATEN to skip the Egg Hunting of course. Ahem. But the opportunity was there just in case.

I even made fancy Easter dinner -- or, more to the point, served it fancily on good china with linen napkins. We hardly ever eat in the dining room but you know, there has to be a Special Occasion once in a while that you HARNESS, and Make Special. Plus, using china and silver makes ME feel good (and it's all about me, after all). Dinner was a roast chicken breast, steamed asparagus with lime sauce, and Uncle Ben's. Actually not that exciting, but the whole presentation gave me great satisfaction.

What did you guys do to celebrate?

Oh gosh, yes, we're FINE

Melessa asked if I'd update to say that we're okay after the I-guess Famous Atlanta Tornadoes of 2008 -- Yes, we're perfectly FINE. Funny that she's the Oklahoman, asking about MY tornadoes. :) It was quite a weird weekend, though, with our local ABC-affiliate broadcasting their greenscreen and 3D maps all day. DH got pretty good at understanding the meterologists' mumbo-jumbo about BTIs and F-numbers. I was happy for them, getting their Big Day. I just love when meteorologists take off the sports coats and roll up their sleeves, like, "We've got to get down and dirty here, folks, this shit is SERIOUS." Secretly they're in the breakroom high-fiving each other and saying, "WOO HOO, AIR TIME!!"

My big event of Saturday, between warning sirens, was a birthday party at where else? Chuck E. Cheese. I went with AJ and left KT baby at home with her daddy, and it was really fun. AJ and I haven't gotten to spend a lot of quality time together, just us, in the last 4 weeks. Sure, we play the occasional game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when he's in the bathtub, and I've been reading a lot to him (only thing you can do with no hands), but as for going out together? Like we used to? Not so much. (Don't be fooled, I'm not talking about appletini and pedicure dates. We just used to go to Publix or Target together after I picked him up from school on weekdays. Special time on the cereal aisle, y'know.)

So, Chuck E. is still the same ridiculous beeping and flashing place it always has been, in case you're wondering. You'd be wise NOT to schedule your kids' birthdays there, but you probably will; people always do. So of course we're now thinking about AJ's next birthday -- we've only done small parties at our house so far, but since his classmates seem to be having Parties now, capital P, we probably will, too, come July. I'm thinking one of the jumping places.

If you can believe this, I'm also already dreaming about our summer vacation at the beach. Simply can't wait. Guess my Oreo habit will have to be terminated before swimsuit season, but I think I'll give myself two more weeks ('til my 6-week OB visit) before cutting down to one lousy cookie per day. THAT will sure be a buzzkill.

SPEAKING of buzzkills (I am all over the place with 2-sentence paragraphs today) --! Holy crap, did I have a meltdown last night. After 2 hours of rocking, walking, rocking again (my back hurted, waaa), letting her suck on my finger, her pacifier, her hands (she'd already had both b00b and bottle at 10:30pm), she STILL wasn't falling asleep. Meanwhile, I WAS, and at 12:40 I went crying downstairs with her, and actually told her to "Shut Up and go to Sleep." Sigh. I hate those kind of (perfectly normal) feelings. Gawd, they make you hate yourself 2 seconds after you say them out loud, don't they? After five more minutes of me snuffling and her nursing, thank goodness she settled.

Hey, ONE last thing -- I LIED to our pediatrician yesterday. "Does she always sleep on her back?" *Nods head convincingly* "Oh, yes." (Anyone else? C'mon, I can't be the only rebel out there.)

One, two, and three

My father, being the fine, upstanding fellow that he is, bought me something to replace some somethings he had helped polish off, when he was here last month. I am both thrilled and horrified with him for this, because

THESE are the somethings;


because they were on sale TWO for ONE;

and because I like to eat them THREE at a time.

Tasks and Outings

This is my game plan these days: Tasks and Outings.

Tasks include things like emptying the dishwasher. Doing a load of laundry. Addressing birth announcements. Cleaning toilets. I try to do one per day. If more are accomplished, good for me, but there's only a self-imposed requirement of One.

Outings are self-explanatory. I can mange about one outing per day, either in the 10 o'clock hour or the 1 o'clock hour (but usually, we are nursing at 1 o'clock, and watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel channel). I don't always have an outing, taking the opportunity to nap if needed instead. We go to the grocery store one day, the toy store another (for Easter basket stuff), Target or Staples or wherever is mission-critical at the moment. On my list for the future: A trip to Old Navy for summer clothes for AJ, Wal-Mart because I have a gift card and we need Easter candy (NEED!), Babies R Us to return a few gifts (why didn't more people include gift receipts?), and a lunch outing or two in the works.

I'm enjoying this part of maternity leave. Going back to work is on my mind all the time, not only because the HR people KEEP calling me to confirm all my dates and such nonsense, but also because I'm considering how exactly I'm going to approach it. I'm almost wishing I had only taken 6 weeks off, and could plan to use the other 6 weeks for every Friday off. That would have been smart. I suppose it's not too late to change to that plan, but it would mean more dealings with HR and NO THANK YOU.

I ended up leaving KT baby at home when I went to the shower on Sunday. It was not about MY baby, it was about my friend, plus the drive was really long. Based on her schedule from that morning, I'd have had to either nurse KT on the side of Georgia Rt. 400 or arrive at the party with a screaming infant, and neither option seemed good. ("Hi, I'm so happy you're having a BABY!! They scream, isn't it cute??") So I left them with the Fabulous DH. When I called to say I was on the way home, and asked how things were going, he whispered, "Everybody is asleep." He rocks my world, to say the least.

She's crying, so I've got to go for now. I really miss reading all of y'all every day.

Who likes paperwork?

Here's what I don't want to be doing these quiet milk-toast days: Driving all over town to get Short-Term Disability forms filled out by my doctor (*additional forms, never before mentioned by the short-term disability people and yet suddenly "DUE TODAY, MRS. EL-E-E-OMG," upon penalty of me never getting my rightful pay*), then to Staples to fax them appropriately. And yet, that is what I did today. With a side-item of sitting in the OB/GYN's inadequate parking lot fuming at a lady who exited the office, got in her car, then promptly SAT THERE not leaving for 10 minutes, while a line of 6 of us were very obviously WAITING for just ONE parking spot to open up. Rrrrr. Road rage is even better when the 3-week-old is in the back seat crying and you can't do anything about it.

Blah! I also enjoyed re-faxing some paperwork to a freelance client -- for which I sent an invoice more than a MONTH AGO. Hello, client, you are annoying. But I want my $250 so there ya go.

This morning at 7, I felt quite guilty lying on the couch with the precious sleeping baby as my husband scurried around, doing the HARDEST part of the day -- Getting (AJ) Out The Door -- all by himself. So next week, that's the end of that. I've had three weeks to be sleep-deprived and overwrought, and now I'm just going to have to suck it up and re-insert myself into the morning routine. Unless, of course, it's been a particularly awful night. But we haven't had one of those in a few days now, so it's time. I have a sling, a bouncy seat, a pack n play, and, oh yeah, her crib -- if KT's still sleeping I just need to plop her gently into some device and go about the business of getting juice and waffles and backpack items for AJ.

On the upside, I did submit an article I have been meaning to write (for pay -- peanuts, but still pay). It's been hanging over my head forever. And it's not the best work I've ever done, but who cares, it's DONE.

I would like to please go back to diapers and nipple soreness (still) now kthanxbye.

(I'm not ALL grumpy. Am looking forward to the weekend and planning to attend a baby shower -- eek, my first possible nurse-in-public situation EVER. Glad it'll be with friends who have baby on the brain already. Maybe I can give lessons for the mom-to-be, HA!! Anyway, it was fun buying a gift since I'm all about baby items lately. I got her Boudreaux's Butt-Paste, Purell, a multi-use lap pad, and the receiving blankies she registered for, and also unloaded a couple of duplicate "The Poky Little Puppy"s and "Thomas & the the Big, Big Bridge"s I have had laying around. So that's all GOOD! Also? It's Friday night and "Lost" is on TiVo. Big party for me!)

Yellow blanket

Taken yesterday. I think she's already changing and filling out. Her cheeks are, unfortunately, not edible.

On my own

My parents left yesterday. Bittersweet. Today has been alright but I had to make my OWN sandwich for lunch. Such a chore. I think I need a nap from doing that... or possibly from being up from 11 pm to 4 am last night. One or the other.

KT baby slept in her sling today. W00t! The first time I tried her in it, she was displeased, so today was a victory. Then I was an idiot and tried to take her out of it, and place her gently in her crib. "HAHAHAHAHAhahaha, oh ha, Mother," she said. Seems she is a bit spoiled by all the holding and loving we have been doing (even through the night). Yes, I have allowed this to happen -- she and I have slept on the couch, tummy to tummy, most every night. At this point I guess I've cared less about the future "cry it out" question and more about the present SLEEP question. If we are sleeping, it is GOOD. Tell me I am not going to regret this later. Please, tell me.

I am enjoying a root beer at the moment (did not know all this time that it is caffeine-free! I could have avoided all that dang SPRITE during pregnancy!), and she is happily bouncing in her bouncy seat. Awake. During the day. Good girl.

When will I feel I have something to post other than Baby-N-Me updates? I don't know. You, beggars, can't be choosers. :)

Announcements

1. Nicole had her baby! Go see! She's a cutie!

2. I have showered two days in a row!