At least there's such a thing as wine to make it better

Today has been a very big day. A day of two major firsts, one I'm excited (and anxious) about, and one that I could have done without.

First, the day started off with a bang (literally) when we heard Gabbie screaming from her room. She sometimes has a hard time waking up, so that wasn't out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was where I found her when I got there. She was on her hands and knees in the middle of the floor, apparently unhurt, but incredibly scared. 

She wasn't the only one. I whisked her up and took her into our bedroom to strip her down and inspect for broken bones/bumps/bruises. Like I said, she was scared more than anything else, and has seemed fine all day, but I can't help to still be a little worried. I don't know if she hit her head, so I've been watching her like a hawk. We still can't figure out how she got out, but she did, so Aaron immediately lowered her crib mattress to it's lower level, and I'm considering sleeping in the bed in her room tonight. Like I needed any more anxiety today than I already had going on.

The rest of the anxiety came from the fact that we put in an offer on a house today. This is the first time we've done it following a very long search, and we're both excited and nervous. It's a really good deal, and we immediately fell in love with the house, even before we went inside. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, and I'll be fine if it falls through - there are other houses, lots of them, out there. But I'm still pretty anxious and on pins and needles waiting for their response. 

Which is why Aaron bought me a bottle of my favorite wine (Famega Vinho Verde , in case you're interested), and told me to drink a glass and chill the heck out because I was making him anxious with my anxiousness. And it's totally working (but I'm still probably sleeping her room tonight, and checking to make sure the phone is still working every few hours).

My One-Year-Old Girl

You turned one yesterday and had a lot of fun doing it. It hardly seems like an entire year has passed since you entered our lives, but it apparently has. You are our pride and joy. Our Itty Bitty.

You are acting like a little girl these days much more than a baby, but you are and will be my baby forever. Even though I sometimes wish you would stay small just a little bit longer, I'm having a ton of fun watching you grow, learn, and experience everything.

I remember the day you came out into this world vividly. I remember wondering if I could really do it - taking care of you seemed like such a big job. And it has been, a huge job even, but we've all survived a year and are better for it. You've expanded my heart and made me a better person. I can't believe I am so lucky that I get to be your mom. Here's to many more wonderful years with you, my sweetest pie.

Bert is Always the One in the Skirt

I'm currently en route to the airport for an overnight trip to Boston (I'll be there overnight only, not flying overnight), and thinking that this bus with free wifi is completely awesome. I'm not terribly excited about flying, but I figure with a big drink or two before I get on the plane, I should be just fine. Plus, I get to hang out with my uncle who lives in Boston, so that's at least pretty cool.

Travelling has me thinking about airport experiences in the past; some good (like when I had about 5 minutes to get to my plane, and they switched it to the gate next to the one I came in to, so I didn't have to run), some bad (like when I landed in between tornados, or in January when I was stuck in Minnesota overnight due to cold weather, even though the airline promised me there would be no weather delays and Gabbie was running short on bottles), and some funny like the one I'm about to tell you about right now.

When I was fairly little, I'm guessing about 3 or 4, my mom, dad, and I were at the small airport near our hometown waiting for my grandma's flight to arrive. Besides us there was only one other person in the waiting area, a gentleman who I'm guessing was in his 50s or 60s. He was reading his paper and trying his hardest to ignore me, while I was singing, dancing, and doing everything I could to get his attention. I tried all my tricks and still nothing was working, but I was determined.

I should note here, as an aside, that I had a record of silly Sesame Street songs that I was very into at that point in time.

Anyway, I was still working hard to get this guy's attention and he was still working hard to ignore me. Finally, I sat down in the seat right next to his and said loudly, "Hey Mister! Did you know that Bert is always the one in the skirt?"

That did it. He looked at me and burst out laughing. What else could he have done in such a situation? Satisfied that I got his attention, I walked back over to my parents and didn't bother him any more. I can only imagine what he told whoever he was there to pick up!

Jessie the Grouch

Tomorrow I am going to Boston for a meeting on Wednesday. I have one hour in which I need to be at this meeting, so it's totally worth the trip. At least my uncle lives there and can show me around during my minimal free time. I've been dreading this trip for months now; I can't stand to be away from my baby! But, given her behavior this afternoon, I'm almost looking forward to it now.

Is nearly a year old too early to be throwing tantrums? Because she literally did the throw herself on the ground thing and screamed. And then, when I (embarrassingly, I now admit) screamed back, she laughed at me. Then I put her in bed and shut the door, and that is where she's been sleeping soundly ever since.

Also, I think that Aaron should take me out for dinner tonight, but he won't because we had a huge grocery bill yesterday. He's not going to be happy to deal with my cranky ass tonight, that's for sure. Here's hoping the rest of the day and tomorrow go smoothly!

A Little (Creepy) Visitor

So, I'm still pumping milk for Gabbie several times a day (that is ending shortly after her first birthday, and I so cannot wait to finish pumping). This involves me sitting at my desk with my office door closed and usually reading a book or blogs. I was sitting there today, comfortable and engrossed in my book (Sookie Stackhouse book 5), when all of the sudden I felt something hit my head. Kind of like a drop of water or something.

That's weird, I thought to myself. Then I felt it hit my shoulder. Then it occurred to me:

SPIDER!

I dropped everything, jumped up, and tore off my shirt faster than you could say boo. I'm really glad my door was shut so no one else witnessed my topless freak out.

After I made sure it was nowhere on my person, nor was it on my chair or desk, I sat down to finish my pumping session. When I was done, I put everything away, and as I stood up from my chair, I noticed something move near my trash can. There it was, a big (about the size of a nickel), brown, creepy-crawly spider.

So I decided I was done with work for the day and left. No way was I sharing my office with that spider for longer than necessary. I just hope it's gone tomorrow or it could be a very short day again.

Where did my itty bitty baby go?

The other day at Target, I was in the baby feeding aisle and decided to buy some spoons made for toddler self-feeding. For when she's older, I thought to myself. In a few months she'll be big enough to attempt self-feeding. 

Tonight at dinner, Aaron handed her a bowl of oatmeal and one of the spoons. She took the spoon, gripped it correctly, dipped it in the oatmeal, and put the oatmeal in her mouth! I know they've been working with her a little at daycare, but apparently she's been getting more practice than I thought. Now, the whole meal didn't go that smoothly - she's in the bath right now and Aaron is scrubbing oatmeal from her hair, cheek, arms, and neck - but I'm so impressed that my little baby who couldn't even hold up her head or see more than a foot or two a little less than a year ago can crawl, almost walk, say a few words (Hi, Mama, More, Dada, Baby), and now feed herself with a spoon! I miss having a little infant so much it's almost enough to make me want to have another one right now.

Then she doesn't sleep all night and it reinforces our decision to wait a while longer.

How my car ate my iPhone

In our never-ending OMG comprehensive search for a house, we have recently taken to driving around neighborhoods where we might want to live to get an inventory of what is on the market. We decided to do this on Saturday and we drove around several such neighborhoods for almost three hours. Gabbie slept in her carseat the whole time, and Aaron and I chatted and made some more decisions about what we want (which then, of course, changed within the next few days). Sometime near the end of our drive it started to sprinkle. Aaron turned on the wipers and we continued on our way.

Probably about 15 minutes later (and about a 20 minute drive from home) the rain started coming down heavier, and the wipers started going slower.

Then they stopped, except for once in a while if we had them on high.

Throw in a diagnostic visit at $50, and if it is the wiper motor, another $500 in parts and service, and it was decided that sorry, we couldn't afford the iPhone I had been promised for Mother's Day any more. Stupid car.

This Week's Dig List

Because I'm sick, tired, and sick and tired of it, here's a quick list of five things that are keeping me going this week:

1. The Joseph Schmidt truffles I got for mothers day. I especially recommend the english toffee, mushroom (shaped like a mushroom, not mushroom flavored), tiramisu, and salted caramel flavors. However, in my search for a link for these, I found out that Joseph Schmidt is shutting down ! I'm so sad about this! I guess I'll savor my chocolates even more now.

2. Still on the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I'm almost done with number four, and can't wait to start the fifth.

3. Catan on XBox 360 . My husband and I are big fans of the game Settlers of Catan (I know I've mentioned this before). We just found a downloadable version on our XBox, and while it doesn't allow us to play each other, it is enough to satisfy our Catan cravings until the next time we can get together with other people who play.

4. I am completely, completely addicted to the BBC series Mistresses . It made me sob this morning, but I still can't get enough. I just hope my suspicions that this was the season finale aren't right, because I'll be sad yet again today. I hate season finale week!

5. Speaking of hating season finale week, ANTM's final episode for this season is tomorrow night. I'm always sad when my favorite shows end for the year, but at least I get more done in the evenings once they do. Also, Team Allison all the way!

Progress

Nearly 4 years ago I was in a bad car accident on the freeway. I was uninjured, which is surprising since I rear-ended someone who slammed on their brakes, and I was going in excess of 45 miles an hour. Also, my airbags never deployed. It was fairly awesome, if by awesome you mean it totally sucked. I walked away uninjured, although my car definitely did not, and I was fine.

As the winter progressed, though, I became less fine. Finally, on my way back from seeing my sister for her birthday, I was driving down a freeway I've driven on dozens of times before, and I had a horrible panic attack. I thought I was going to faint while driving. I was light-headed and I couldn't catch my breath. My heart felt like it was going to beat through my chest. This definitely rates on one of my top five worst moments. It was way worse than the actual accident ever was.

After that day, I couldn't drive on the freeway for over a year. I had panic attacks even riding in the car when someone else was driving on the freeway. We found a lot of backroads ways to get the places we needed to go. It drove Aaron nuts, and I wasn't too fond of feeling like this either. I was a mess, in more ways than just this one. I didn't think I'd survive the winter, but then spring came and the sun reappeared and I got much, much better.

But I still hated driving on the freeway.

We bought a new, bigger, safer car. I slowly eased up to driving on the freeway by taking short cross-town jaunts. A year after that I was able to drive on the freeway for a decent distance, and even added in the cruise control again; something I couldn't handle up to that point. However, I still couldn't do either of those things in our smaller car, the one I was driving when the accident occurred.

I had to take the freeway to drive from work to my OB's office for nearly every appointment I had during my pregnancy. If they took by blood pressure after driving on the freeway, it was sky high. If they took it after I used the back roads to get there, it was normal. So, obviously, still not over the whole freeway phobia thing.

I had to drive to Detroit today, on some of the busiest, scariest freeways I've ever seen. I drove the small car. I used cruise control. And I only felt slightly light-headed one time and it was very brief. Then I drove home again. I did it! I can't believe it's been more than four years and I'm still dealing with these issues, but I'm beyond excited that I've made such progress.

Why I'm Sleepy

Do you know what sucks? When you go to bed an hour later than normal but can't fall asleep due to some stress around work and buying a home.

So then, you pick up your book because you usually fall asleep a page or two in, but then your book gets really good, and the next time you look at the clock it's nearly three hours past your bedtime.

Then you realize you're hungry and get up to scarf down a bowl of cereal and really get into the show your husband is watching on TV.

And then your daughter wakes up because it's time to nurse and you're still awake for it because you're up so far past your bedtime.

Add in a very busy day at work, and a daughter who skipped her usual post-work nap, and there you have it. That's why I'm sleepy.

Now I've Gone and Done It

I decided something recently. Monday Meal Planning will no longer be occurring here.

It will be here instead!

As if I could keep up with just this one site, now I have two. I hope you like it!