Currently...

Listening: To ghost story podcasts in celebration of Halloween. My favorites are Jim Harold's Campfire and Anything Ghost. It's no secret that I'm a fan of paranormal TV shows; this is how I get my fix when I don't have time to catch up via my DVR.

Eating: I'm going out for Ethiopian food for lunch today for the first time ever, and I'm SUPER excited. Injera here I come!
Drinking: Coffee, coffee, and more coffee, please! I'm super addicted lately, and should cut back. There was half a second last week when I thought I might be pregnant (it was a stomach bug), and the thought of having to cut back again nearly made me cry (that was mostly likely PMS).
Wearing: Except for today, it's been sweater weather lately. While I'm not wearing it today (because I wore it on Monday), I love my new sweatshirt from Target (I have it in "Nightfall Blue" because I love navy stripes), and wish I could wear it everyday.

Feeling: Cozy. That's my favorite feeling in the fall. I'd love to be sitting under a blanket with Aaron, in front of a fire. That would be perfection.

Weather: Today it's going to be 72 and sunny. The rest of the week, before and after, it's been in the 40s or 50s and rainy, which makes me crave the cuddling in front of a fire even more.

Wanting: A vacation. I could use a couple of weeks away from my crazy busy reality.

Needing: More sick days. Everyone in my family, except for me (knock on wood!) has been sick for pretty much this entire month. Gabbie is home sick today with Aaron, and while I will probably have to head home for the afternoon to fill in, I may be short on hours to cover it. This happened in February, too!

Thinking: About babies. It seems like babies are happening everywhere around me, and both Aaron and I have serious baby fever. My best friend is due next weekend, and I can't wait to go see and snuggle on her sure-to-be-adorable baby boy!

Enjoying: The peace and quiet that's happening here today. Everyone is super busy, which is stressful for sure, but the quiet is pretty heavenly. Back to it!

And just because it's been a while, my girls at the zoo:

 

In my defense: I did fold one (small) load of laundry

Since yesterday was MLK day, my office was closed in observation of the holiday. Aaron's office, however, was not, and daycare was open, and since we still would have had to pay for the day whether we sent the girls or not, I chose to send them to school and take the day to do whatever I wanted.

And whatever I wanted included eating snack foods without having to share, finishing a crochet project (that I started 3 years ago), and watching some shows without distraction. I accomplished basically nothing else, but I did eat an entire bag of popcorn without a three year old scolding me to not eat it all. I also watched the entire first season of Downton Abbey. That crochet project is very nearly finished - I only have about a foot of the border left to do and I plan to accomplish that tonight after putting the girls to bed and starting up the first episode of Downton Abbey season two.

I think that Aaron was a little annoyed that I didn't get anything done - the house really needs some picking up, and while I did load the dishwasher, I apparently forgot to actually push the button to start it. However, a day all to myself was sorely needed (insert some slightly whiny statement about Sophie weaning a bit during the same week I'm about to get my monthly visitor, resulting wacky hormones), and greatly appreciated.

As an aside: I totally recommend Downton Abbey, if you couldn't gather that from the above paragraphs. (Very slightly spoilerish information ahead.) The only problem is I can't decide if I like or dislike most of the characters. I mean some (Thomas and O'Brien) are easy to dislike, while others (Sybil) are mostly likeable). However, I kind of feel sorry for the otherwise mostly unlikeable Edith, and Mary is a brat but I want her to get what she wants. Also, Matthew's blue eyes are second only in awesomeness to my husband's.

In sum, it was an awesome day. The only thing that would have made it better was a house staff even a fraction of the size of that in Downton Abbey. (A cook and a house maid would be fantastic.)

In the off-chance you might be a little bored...

Today I have found myself stuck in a Reddit-caused internet wormhole, which started from the following posted question:

"What are the best random facts you know, Reddit?"

I'm not very far down the list, but this exchange, so far, is my favorite (and completely made me LOL):

"[–]joonyung 127 points128 points129 points 5 hours ago

'stewardesses' is the longest word that is entirely typed with your left hand on the keyboard.

[–]sleepyworm 380 points381 points382 points 3 hours ago

That's only because nobody believes me when I tell them that breasttastetester is a word."

I love this kind of stuff (and people are funny)!

My favorite random fact from recent history includes this awesomeness/Scrabble tip: The last word in the OED is "zxyt."

Once I start down this random fact road, I always want more. So, hit me up. What is your favorite random fact?

This is why I have a category called "Random Randomness"

I'm pretty sure I just burned my butt when I got into my car, simply by sitting down on the seat. It has been (as with pretty  much everywhere else) ridiculously hot lately, and I am looking forward to the cool-down promised for tomorrow. Highs in the mid-70s? Yes, please! That sounds like perfection.

I have been sick for about a week now, and my biggest issue right now is that it feels like my ears need to pop and I can't get them to do it. Thankfully I feel approximately 95% better than I did just a few days ago. Stupid allergies plus a sinus infection. Summer colds are the worst!

I hesitate posting this next part, because I'm not completely, 100% sold on the idea that it's purposeful, but Sophie has been saying "mama" for a while now, and on Sunday, when the girls and I got home from visiting my parents over the weekend, she looked at Aaron and said "dada." Several times, in fact, and she has been saying both regularly ever since, and sometimes it really seems like she's using it correctly. If she is, in fact, using the sounds as words, she has Gabbie beat on a first word by about six months. Craziness.

Sophie has never been quite as good at keeping herself entertained as Gabbie was, so we have had to be creative in ways to keep her occupied so we can get something (anything) done around the house. One surefire thing that buys us a good ten minutes? Ice cubes. We put them in either the mesh feeder or a sippy cup. One day last week I needed about twenty minutes to get dinner together, so I gave her two ice cubes, one in the mesh feeder (which she will then eat) and one in the sippy cup (which she can't quite figure out, so she shakes it to make noise and then pours out the water as it melts, and then splashes in the water (I taught her how to splash and so now if she sees liquid, it's splash city!)), and you would have thought I gave her a diamond-encrusted puppy for how excited she was. So, of course, I had to take a picture (see the cuteness above).

Over the long weekend two weekens ago now, we decided to go out to dinner one night. While waiting for our food to arrive, we were looking for ways to keep Sophie entertained (this is what takes up the majority of my time and energy when I'm not at work lately; I'm totally blaming her for the fact that it has been nearly a month since my last blog post. I'm brain-dead because of my adorable (time consuming) baby!), and Aaron thought he would try to see what she could do with a straw. So he put his water near her, and she grasped the straw, put it in her mouth, and started drinking his water. She's a straw savant!

While she will drink pretty much anything, this girl will not eat food (hey! There's a thing she has in common with her sister (grumble, grumble)). We've tried rice cereal (she will eat it for the daycare ladies, but not me), sweet potatoes (gag city) and pears (four bites then gag city), and she's not much of a fan of any of them. I'm going to keep on keeping on, though. Tonight? Bananas! (I'm guessing it will be Banana Gag City!) She remains a huge fan of nursing and would nurse 24-7 if I let her (I don't let her (don't worry, I'm not starving her, but I'm also not letting her use me as a human pacifier)).

Despite the fact that neither of my daughters will give me the satisfaction of eating one damn bite of real food (okay, Gabbie will take "a couple more bites", but that's it), both have been doing some major growing lately. One weekend a few weeks ago, Gabbie's shoes fit on Friday, but not on Monday. Needless to say, Gabbie has new shoes. We went for her 3-year appointment the following week and she had grown an inch and a pound in a little less than a month. Craziness. She's been complaining of growing pains lately, and I swear she wakes up noticibly taller than she goes to sleep some days. Sophie's 6 months size clothes are starting to get tight - Gabbie never got into a size until she was at least that age, and Sophie is growing out of things at approximately the age listed on the label. Despite all of Gabbie's growing, it has, as usual, gone to getting taller, not wider, and she can still comfortably wear size 24 month shorts (and does - I'm not spending money if I don't need to). I'm not looking forward to winter, when I have to make sure her pants are long enough, and will probably be shoping for tiny, pink belts.

Speaking of my girls getting bigger, we are almost completely done getting Sophie's room together. We just have to remove the blue tape from the trim and arrange the furniture, and she'll be sleeping in her own room. We painted the walls a pale green ("Celery"), and painted the trim a cream color (creatively titled, "Creamy" (Aaron says he hopes I like the trim in the rest of the house, because never again! (I say I hope he forgets soon because he is SO painting the trim in the family room))). I'm hoping to get some Beatrix Potter wall stickers or posters for decorations and then her room will be complete (and I'll post pictures!).

He also painted the family room over the past weekend. We chose "Afternoon," which is gorgeous in person, but looks really bright in pictures. I will try to take some good pictures soon, when we have everything more assembled. Aaron had been complaining that because we still had the same furniture and hadn't really done any decorating, he still felt like we were living in an apartment. Decorate away, I told him, and he is. We've actually let Gabbie pick out every paint color we've used so far, except the color we used in our bedroom, and she has done a great job! (We have not, and need to repaint the bedroom, because it's not great.)

Nice 'Stache

We had a very 'stache-tastic birthday party for Aaron this weekend, and some more photos and details are coming soon, but I couldn't resist posting these really quick while I had almost one second:

Yeah. We had fun.

Party Time

I posted a really whiny post here yesterday that was eaten by Blogger being down, but I'm not going to repost it. I got out what I needed to vent, and it was pretty boring anyway.

In the meantime, we're in full-on party throwing mode in our house and Aaron even took the day off to get the house ready and supplies purchased so we can get down to business and get this party thrown.

Our only complaint? Our anticipated sunny, clear day is going to now be cold and rainy. We had planned on yard games and wearing all the kids out by letting them run around the yard. Instead we had to come up with alternate, indoor activities. So, I ran to the craft store today and picked up a big roll of paper and a few hand puppets. We're going to tape the paper to the wall and let the kids go at it with crayons. (We're about to paint the living room soon, so if they get a little on the wall we don't care too, too much.)

Here's hoping the party is successful, even if it's not going off according to original plan!

Updates of the Random Variety

Gabbie actually ate food last week! Real food! Without really any battles. It's amazing how much better my week goes when I don't have to fight with my child several times a day in order to get her to ingest a few calories. She even ate turkey pineapple chili and chicken spaghetti without a fight. It was amazing! Yesterday I was making pulled pork nachos for lunch (delicious!) and I knew she wouldn't eat those, but I gave her a plate with separate piles of chips, pork, cole slaw, and cheese sauce and she dug right in. There was a little bit of a battle to get her to try the cheese sauce, but once she did she loved it (who wouldn't?). Then she kept quoting Yo Gabba Gabba over and over again: "I tried it and I liked it!"

Of course, all of this eating doesn't come without consequence, and of course the pants that fit last week are flood pants this week.

As a reward for being so good last week, we took a family outing to local kids' science museum on Saturday morning, and she loved it. It was a blast, and we went early enough that we beat out the crowds, which were starting to get massive by the time we left. She, of course, loved it. (Especially the Bubble Room.)

Baby #2 provided all kinds of good news this morning at my OB appointment. My blood pressure was good, I didn't gain any weight since my last appointment (we've been eating healthy and avoiding take out as much as possible), Baby's heart rate was the same as always (it has been at 158 at every appointment), and the best news of all: she's head down! Now as long as she stays that way we're in business. I'm still not at the point where I'm uncomfortable all day (although I know that's not too far off), and I definitely have some limitations on what I can do, but I really can't complain all that much, which is awesome.

Lastly, I know it's only Monday, but I really can't wait until this weekend. Aaron is headed off to Beer Camp (aka Deer Camp, even though he doesn't hunt, he goes to hang out, eat fattening food, and drink good beer), and wanted to make sure someone was with me in case anything baby related went down, so my sister is spending the weekend with Gabbie and me. I'm especially excited, because I'm soaking in as much sister time as possible these days. Right now she lives with my parents (she works 60+ hours a week, and therefore would never see an apartment if she rented one) just 90 minutes away, but come March she's moving across the country to live with her boyfriend of five years (who is working on his PhD so is unable to move back here for another five years or so). I can't blame her, but I am going to miss her horribly. A girls' weekend with her sounds great right about now.

My Family is Nuts

This week all my whole family has wanted to do is stay in bed and cuddle all day. None of us has wanted to go to work or daycare, or spend time apart from one another.

Of course, now that the weekend is here, Aaron and I have made all kinds of plans that will keep us from doing that much, if at all. We're planning on breakfast out, a trip to a museum and local city market, a couple of shopping trips for things for the house, and various other items on our to-do list. I don't know what it is about the weekends, but we seem to fit in as much as humanly possible and then spend the days we need to be out of the house craving to do the opposite. We're obviously nuts.

Still, it has been a fantastic (if not quick enough) week, and it's nice when we're not all sick of each other. I mean, really, how could I ever be sick of spending time these two goofballs?

I can't wait until I have three of these nuts to deal with!

Vacations

It is a little bit sad that attending a conference feels like vacation to me, but right now it does. I'm sitting in a cafe, working, drinking some coffee (decaf, sadly), and it's QUIET. And wonderful. Tonight I have a hotel room to myself, and even if I don't sleep well, I don't have to worry about disturbing anyone else while tossing and turning. I can even go to bed at eight and not feel guilty, like I should be doing something else with my family or that I'm leaving too many things for Aaron to do.

Aaron and Gabbie are also on "vacation" this week. Aaron has the house to himself, with no one else constantly messing it up. He can come and go as he pleases, and has a man-date scheduled for tonight to go out for beer and burgers. Gabbie is at my parents' house - we arrived last night and she has already been spoiled rotten. She literally pushed me out the door this morning. She wants her "Gwama" all to herself, thankyouverymuch.

It has definitely been a LONG past few months and we were all in desperate need for a break from one another. I'd like to say that things will be slowing down after this week, but I can't. I have another project ramping up at work (plus a new one we just landed that has to be fully set up and ready to go before I go on leave), and then of course finishing getting ready for the baby. I've always told Aaron that maternity leave is emphatically not a vacation, but it's kind of starting to look like one. Add in a brand new baby to snuggle all warm and cozy when it's so cold outside, and it's looking downright luxurious. I know once reality sets in those first few weeks, it will be far from the idyllic scene I imagine right now, but I'm really, really, looking forward to it.

Because I need to laugh

This week is eating my soul, I think. All I know is I work from sun up to sun down and then crash the second my head hits the pillow, only to wake up at about 2:30 am and unable to sleep well the rest of the night. We're headed to my parents' house this weekend and I think I will use that time to hide in the guest room with Mockingjay and frequent naps. Man, that sounds like heaven.

Anyway, here are five things that have made me laugh this week, just when I needed the laughter most.

1. Aaron was outside picking pears off of our tree, and got stung. The funny part is where he got stung - on his butt! Even he was laughing.

2. Gabbie has had a couple of potty accidents this week, but we can't get too upset about them, because most have been because she was too excited to get back to what she was doing and didn't finish going before she stood up. Oh, the things we have to learn in this life!

3. The Big Bang Theory last night. It was awesome.

4. Gabbie, though being annoying due to moving approximately the pace of molasses in January, singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and dancing to the car this morning.

5. Gabbie, again, bossing us around at dinner last night. Such authority from such a little person! She really does think she's the boss.

I thought weekends were for making you less exhausted

Oh, this past weekend is so on my list. Thank goodness it's over! It was a mix of not sleeping, toddlers refusing to eat, crabby adults, pregnancy aches, and a severe case of the pregnancy weepies. I really wish there was a do-over button, because I can think of a million ways to improve upon what just happened.

Can I rant on the toddlers refusing to eat for just a moment? We've been giving Gabbie the ability to choose what she wants to eat (within reason) for things like breakfast and weekend lunches. Yesterday we asked her what she would like to eat, and she said she wanted noodles and sauce. So we made her noodles and sauce. She ate one noodle, sans sauce, and then requested a treat. She is now grounded (what a milestone!) from treats until next Sunday, because she expects one for every piece of semi-healthy food she puts in her mouth and that's completely unacceptable. Aaron told Gabbie that she'd better eat up because I had threatened her with this and I don't make threats easily. I'm the more laid back parent, but when she does enough to make me upset? Watch out. I don't make idle threats. We even told her daycare teacher about the no sweets rule, and she totally agreed to make sure Gabbie got no treats this week. Consequences - she has to learn them, and this is the least painful way we can think of to teach that lesson.

I don't have too much to say about the pregnancy weepies other than they started out with a conversation about eclairs (seriously) and ended up with me wailing about how I can't handle a toddler that won't eat, a crabby husband (mostly about the not eating), AND a newborn, so they all have to shape up. Unreasonable, probably, but pregnancy hormones and reasonableness are not acquainted I don't think.

On Saturday we hosted my friend's husband and toddler for the day while she was in town for a couple of meetings. At the end of a (VERY LONG, mostly because it started at 4:45 am with a kicky baby) day we decided to all go out for dinner before they headed back home. That was a mistake, to say the very least. We realized at the end of the meal that the adults hadn't talked at all because we spent the entire time wrangling toddlers. Next time we're hiring a babysitter and doing an adults only dinner, because we totally deserve it.

The only redeeming thing about this weekend is that I didn't have to work and I got to spend quality time with my family. They're cute and all, so I think I'll keep them around, even if they do make me insane.

Friday Tidbits

I seem to have lost my mind (or at least my memory), so you get short bits and pieces today, because I'm afraid I'd get lost if I tried to write more than that and make a coherent point. Pregnancy brain, sleepless nights (HEARTBURN!), and finally wrapping up my huge work project are to blame, I'm sure.

• I had an OB appointment this morning and everything looks great with both me and the baby. Her heartbeat was strong and immediately present when the doppler hit my belly. I'm measuring perfectly and had the best blood pressure reading I've ever had when attending an OB appointment. I was already in a great mood this morning, and now I can't wipe the smile off my face. Such an excellent start to the day!
• I feel like I could do a whole, "Kids Say the Darndest Things" episode from the things Gabbie comes up with each week. She's so incredibly verbal (even if I am the only one that understands her half the time), and picks up on EVERYTHING that is said. Seriously everything. She has been sort of anti-bath lately, as she'd rather keep playing than get clean. We've tried everything to get her in there and have found that humor is our best weapon. So, when it's bath time we tell her it's time to go clean up because she has a stinky butt. Bathroom humor works with toddlers every time! Well, the other morning as I was getting ready to jump in the shower, Gabbie started softly giggling to herself. I asked her what was so funny, and she replied, "Mommy has a stinky butt!" Hilarious, Kid. Thanks.
• Is it sad that I've been looking forward to Saturday all week because I'm making meatball subs and I can't wait to eat them? I thought maybe.
• Also on the food related front, I think I'm giving up fast food again. I had been going strong eating at some fast food place about twice a week for the past couple months, but something happened recently that has made me cut it out cold turkey. This is really gross, so you may want to skip over this bullet if you're eating or have a weak stomach. So, at a local Mickey D's they were having problems with their frozen drink (frappe latte and smoothie) machine. It was sometimes working and sometimes not, and had been going on for a while, so finally someone decided to see what was up. Do you want to know what was up? Maggots were up. They were clogging the machine. Even worse? An employee said they were pressured to keep selling the products even though the cleanup was not successfully completed. Thankfully (very, very thankfully) this is not a branch of the establishment that I've ever visited. And now I most certainly never will. EWWWW!
• To change topics completely: I think I may be a geek. Today I told Aaron that instead of going to work today, I would prefer to stay home and watch Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth, along with a few other of my favorite SyFy shows. In fact, most of my favorite shows air on SyFy. It's a little sad how geeky I am. If only my sorority sisters could see me now.
• And, I'll wrap up on pregnancy related stuff too. Aren't you excited? Anyway, I haven't had too many consistent cravings during this pregnancy, just mostly fleeting, "You know what would be really excellent right now?" thoughts that I can usually ignore. Not bad, and helpful in the weight gain deparment (in the third trimester and only up 10 pounds!). However, the one thing I have been craving consistently is totally weird, because it's something I have never liked up until about 10 weeks ago. I really always want sliced black olives on everything. Pizza? Load it up. Nachos? Sounds fabulous. In fact, right now I think that some cheese fries topped with black olives would be excellent.

Lazy Weekend

Following a weekend away and a hellishly busy work week during which I worked both my former and new jobs, our house looks not unlike a small tornado had gone through. Aaron and I were both looking forward to the weekend in order to get the place back into shape.

Then Saturday morning happened, when we all lazed around in bed until a time we haven't woken up to see in quite some time, then decided to head out for a day of family fun and togetherness. Nearly ten hours later we made it back home, having eaten breakfast, seen some ballet dancers, bought paint, gone for a walk, and then out to dinner. Then we all fell into bed.

Sunday was going to be it. We were going to get things done! We made a long list of everything we needed to accomplish and set out to get it done. Gabbie I made banana muffins while Aaron did some yard work. Then Aaron came in to check out something on the computer, which turned into a quick round of our new favorite computer game (Ticket to Ride, and yes I'm aware of what huge dorks we are). While Gabbie colored and played with her babies (and may have watched a movie - mama needed a nap), Aaron and I switched off playing our game until dinner time. This is not to say that we didn't get anything done - I framed some pictures and Aaron cleaned the kitchen and, um, that might have been it. However, those were just a very few of the things on our very long to-do list.

There was one thing about this weekend that we did accomplish, though. We all spent the weekend happy, which was a distinctly different mood from how we came into the weekend - exhausted and crabby at the world. So far the happiness has held, which makes me realize that I don't care if my house is in need of a little tidying up, what matters much more to me is that I have a house full of a happy family who had a great time hanging out together all weekend. That lazy weekend was just exactly what we all needed.

Snippets of the past two plus weeks

• On Friday the 23rd, we had our middle-of-the-pregnancy ultrasound. It went well, the baby looks healthy, but was also pretty uncooperative. We are fairly sure we're having another girl (!!!), but we will get another look to make sure (along with a better look at her heart, diaphragm, and her profile, as she was hiding these things too) on August 20th. I can't wait to get another peek in there at this little baby who insists on kicking me pretty much continuously these days! (I absolutely love that she kicks me pretty much continuously these days!)

• Last Thursday I finally got word that I got the promotion I had applied for last month! Which is totally awesome, but also comes with a buttload more work, because I still have to keep on doing some of my former position duties. All in all though, this promotion is a great thing. I'm excited to go to work again! My days have flown by lately, and before I know it it's time to go home, and once I get home, I blink and it's time to go to bed. This is why I've sucked at blogging lately (among other lazy reasons). 

• Aaron and I escaped for a weekend up north on Friday. We took Gabbie to my parents' house and then headed up to our favorite place in the state - Traverse City. We stayed in a really, incredibly lovely bed and breakfast, and spent the whole weekend eating and sleeping and enjoying being together. It was wonderful, and I'm really glad we took the chance to get away just the two of us. We really needed it.

• Weird pregnancy factoid - I have never in my life liked any kind of olives. I have tried to like them, but I just can't. Until lately, that is, because now I want sliced black olives on everything. So weird!

• Weird pregnancy factoid #2 - Not that I've tested this out *ahem*, but this pregnancy has made fantastic changes to my hair, including the ability to go at least 3 days without showering and it still looks fresh. One of those pregnancy things I wish would stay around forever.

• I found myself wishing today that I could vote a split ticket in the state's primaries. We have crap choices for our next governor, especially on the democrat side. I care much more about which republican candidates don't make it past the primary (there are some seriously shady and way-too-conservative choices over there), but I chose the most ethical choice and stuck to the democratic candidate who has better records and policy toward women and the environment. I still wish I could have played spoiler on the republican side though. Michigan polictics are such a mess (*ahem*Kwame*ahem*)!

• Speaking of polictics, if you made it past that last painfully boring bullet point, there's something that has been cracking me up lately. I listen to NPR in the car (another weird pregnancy thing - I have a hard time listening to music or being around loud noise, it's just too much to handle), and they are frequently interviewing republican politicians who spend the whole interview complaining about Obama and the other democrats playing politics. I'm sorry, isn't that kind of their whole job as politicians? There are quite a few lawmakers over there that need to stop whining and actually do their jobs. (Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now.)

• Okay, I'll end with something fun. (At least it's fun for people other than me.) Lately, when Gabbie doesn't want to do something she lets us know by saying, "No thank you," which yes, is polite. Until you hear it a million times or have it screamed in your face. Then it becomes less funny and polite. My family thought it was hilarious until they heard it a million times this past weekend. A couple of weeks ago, we were home in the afternoon, and Gabbie really needed to take a nap. She had refused to clean up her toys (instead kicking them under the couch), screamed at me for a treat (she is so two these days), and was throwing a huge tantrum. So, I picked her up and took her upstairs to her crib. She spent the next 30 minutes, laying down, kicking the matress and slats, and screaming, "NO THANK YOU" at the top of her lungs. I finally couldn't take it anymore (see the above weird noise thing) and took her downstairs and plopped her in front of a movie. But, even though it's annoying, I chuckled a little bit at her using politeness during a tantrum and I'm sure we'll look back at this a few years from now and think that it was all very adorable.

Bits and Pieces

Coming off of a weekend that nice, it's hella hard to be back at work this morning. My brain hasn't quite regained the necessary focus, so I figured I'd brain-dump here and see if that helps. We shall see.

1. The baby has a new nickname. We started out calling the baby Baby J, but now he/she is known as Kicky. I'm seventeen weeks along and I'm getting some pretty strong kicks for such a small baby. It's awesome though. Kicks are my very, very favorite part of being pregnant. Oh, there it goes again! I don't remember Gabbie moving so much - she was kind of short on space in there and was a pretty calm baby. This one? I could be in for some major movement for the next 23 weeks. (I just had to do some subtraction on a calculator to figure that out. My brain? Is gone. The "pregnesia" this time is way worse than I had with Gabbie.)

2. This weekend we started to tackle potty training at home. It went pretty well - we only had one accident and one foot-stomping, wailing tantrum after her nap when she didn't want to give up the diaper (we soon found out it was because she was about to soil it and didn't want to try doing that on the potty just yet). I'm not above bribing her on this, and getting a treat every time she went on the potty seemed to work pretty well.

3. We went to see Dispicable Me on Saturday morning, and we all really enjoyed it. The sound in the theatre was a little loud and Gabbie didn't really like that part, but she really loved the minions and the music. She got down off my lap and danced a few times during the movie. Aaron laughed like crazy and I got in a few good giggles too. Ultimately, it was very sweet and it will be joining our movie collection when it comes out on DVD.

4. Our neighbors down the street celebrated the husband's 40th birthday this weekend, and his gift was a new dog that they brought home yesterday mid-day. A cute little beagle, that they haven't named yet. Last night just as True Blood was starting, the wife knocked on our door - the dog escaped and they can't find him. Aaron headed out on his bike to circle the wooded area near our house, and I kept a look out through the back yards. Neither of us spotted the dog and they were all still out looking when I went to bed. I feel so bad for them and can't get it out of my mind. I hope they will have good news by the time we get home tonight!

5. Speaking of - for those who watch it, what did you think of True Blood last night? Aaron thought it was a little too sensationalist - especially the dripping blood at the end (that shouldn't be a spoiler). My favorite part was the preview for next week which looks like it might finally move the story along a little more. I also wish they were doing more of the Alcide story - this was one of my favorite books and I'm missing the parts they're leaving out.

6. We did a lot of baking and cooking yesterday. We had a ton of eggs we needed to use, because we get a dozen every other week right now through the CSA. With more than a dozen sitting in the fridge and another dozen arriving on Wednesday, we had to come up with something that would use up some eggs. We had a baked egg dish for breakfast, I mixed up some brioche dough from the ABin5 cookbook, and Gabbie and Aaron made banana bread (Gabbie's favorite, especially when she gets to help bake it). We also made chicken taquitos and red rice for dinner last night, which was delicious. I'm sure you'll see much more about all of these things over at my other site this week. All that cooking was totally worth the three loads of dishes we had to do yesterday.

What is it with old men at Lowe's?

Several things that are too short for their own entry:

1. Many of my family members have been teasing me lately for something really weird - the amount of toilet paper I use. Apparently I go through it much faster than the average woman, even though I think I'm using a completely normal amount. The whole thing came about because we went through an entire roll of toilet paper one weekend when I was visiting, and they say that it takes them about a week to go through a roll on a normal basis. So I'm curious. How much toilet paper does a regular person use then, per visit to the throne? I'd say I use about 10 squares. Is that a ridiculous amount? Am I using way too much? I guess I just want to gauge whether I'm the weird one or if they're abnormal.

2. I am very excited about the 3-day-weekend coming up. We have a party on Friday night and then nothing else planned for the entire weekend, save for daily family naps. Seeing as how we've all been going about a hundred miles an hour for the entire month of May, I'm more than happy that we're ending it by relaxing.

3. Tomorrow morning we have what is, hopefully, Gabbie's last appointment with an orthopedist about her hips. She has to get an x-ray and then see the doctor, and if all is well we won't have to see the doctor again. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed on this one. We haven't seen any problems - she's walking, running, jumping, riding a bike, and dancing just fine. In fact, she never really stops moving. Still, I can't help but worry a little bit. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it goes as well as we expect it will.

4. If I have to watch Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs one more time in the near future, I may scream. Gabbie wakes up requesting, "Ice Age?" We indulged her on vacation and were very thankful the movie kept her busy while we were working on refinishing our deck last week (expect a post on that soon), but now she expects to watch television, and especially that movie, whenever she wants. I'm sure all the spoiling she received over the weekend didn't help my cause, but seriously. It was on our tv about 10 times last week, and I'm thinking that's about 8 times too many.

5. There's something exciting happening next Tuesday that I can't wait to tell you all about after the fact, and it has both Aaron and I up at night with anticipation. This is why we're looking forward to the family naps this weekend so much. Between croup and anxiety, we're quite the sleepless bunch.

6. So, the title. Several months ago we were at our local Lowe's and an old man stopped us to give Gabbie a dollar coin. A little weird, but we said thank you and were on our way. Then two weekends ago when we were there picking up deck supplies, another old man stopped us. This time, without asking us, he handed a sucker directly to Gabbie. Well, we said thank you, and again headed on our way. Since Gabbie has never before had a sucker and had basically no idea what it was, plus we wanted to avoid a meltdown in the middle of Lowe's that would most likely occur if we took it away from her, we let her hold it. She just held it and looked around and we figured we'd take it away when we were leaving and it would be no big deal.

At one point Aaron and Gabbie took off to find brushes while I was waiting for the paint guy to mix up a color sample of paint for Gabbie's room. Apparently Aaron was looking at the shelf, then looked back down and Gabbie had the sucker unwrapped and in her mouth. When they got back, I freaked a little (on the inside; I still didn't want to cause a fit), but I guess if anything bad were going to happen it would be too late - she had already had it in her mouth. Thankfully, she's just fine and the guy apparently had no bad intent (we didn't think he did, but you can never be too sure), but I still worried a little the rest of the afternoon.

Seriously, old guys at Lowe's, what's up? Why must you give candy and other goodies to strangers' kids? Is it just me or is this weird?

This is what you get when I've basically been awake since 3 AM

One hell of a thunder storm blew through our area in the middle of last night. At one point lightning and thunder were happening more or less simultaneously (as in, the lightning and resulting thunder were happening at the same time) on both sides of our house. It was CRAZY!

You should know, at this point, that since having a child I have, for some reason, become completely paranoid about tornados. It does not help that in the year prior to Gabbie's birth there were several tornados that touched down around where we live and that during the summer when Gabbie was an infant the tornado sirens went off on a regular basis.

(I need to stop here and avoid crying about the fact that this will be Gabbie's third summer. Time! Where does it go and why does it go so fast?)

Needless to say when the storm woke me up and subsequently freaked me the hell out, I made a break for Gabbie's room and woke my poor baby out of a nice, sound sleep. She sleeps most soundly during storms thanks to genius parents who play a white-noise-esque thunder storm CD in her room as she is falling asleep. We headed downstairs to the first floor - that much closer to the basement - to weather out the rest of the storm. Which, of course, ended approximately two minutes after we got comfortable. Still, since I had already scared her awake once, I wasn't anxious to wake Gabbie up again, so she and I stayed down there for the rest of the night, she sleeping soundly and me wired from the adrenaline burst I had experienced mere moments before when an extra-loud-and-scary thunderclap about made me jump out of my skin.

I weathered out the rest of the night on the couch, reading tweets and watching some horrible Lifetime movie starring Yasmine Bleeth that according to Comcast came out in 2010, but kept referencing 1997, and I'm pretty sure that Yasmine doesn't quite look like she did in the movies these days (not to say she looks bad these days, she just probably looks older than 22). I dozed off between 5 and 6, at which point Gabbie woke up and demanded 'ca-too' and a 'bah' (cartoons and a breakfast bar). Then she asked for a mommy-cuddle, and if that cuteness doesn't make up for so little sleep I don't know what does.

I promise I'm not as crazy as I sound in this post

Sometimes, like when we're really bored on a long road trip, Aaron and I will have some pretty deep, all existential-like conversations. We have this sort of game we play, which I'll call, "You know what really blows my mind?" Invariably, we'll get to a point where one of us calls the other weird, and then the other tries to be, "But, no! Let me explain better what I mean!" and then the first one is all, "You're still weird."

A recent example of this was when I was explaining to him how amazing it is to me that we can all understand each other - written word, spoken word, visual cues - we all use the same terms to mean the same things and can understand what other people mean. Then I mentioned, what if we all see colors differently? I mean, we're taught that you see a certain color, and that's what it's called. So, you see something and someone tells you it's called yellow, and so from now on, that color is yellow to you. But, are we all seeing yellow the same, or are we do we see it differently but know that it's yellow because that's what we're taught it is? Does this make any sense?

Anyway, this conversation, like usual, wound down to the English language, and how some words are spelled weird and completely unlike how they are actually pronounced. Aaron's most recent examples are the words "one" and "two." I mean, we all know how they're pronounced, because everyone pronounces them this way, but how did they become pronounced those ways and so differently from how they're spelled? And then, also, why is it that "first", "second", and "third" and not, "oneth" or "onest", "twoth" or "twond", and "threed" or "threest". I mean, yeah, they sound weird to us now, but how did that all evolve?

Of course, the remedy for all this major brain usage is to plop down in front of something mindless on the television as soon as we get home, but we know someday it will happen again. We'll be in the car, and one of us will start in: "You know what really blows my mind?"

Don't even get me started on the conversation about how humans discovered animals could be eaten, because there's a whole religious debate raging on with that one and we're not allowed to ever bring it up ever again. Ever.

So how about you. Anything that really blows your mind? I need some new conversation fodder, because we've got some long road trips coming up.

This Post is Probably the Definition of Slapdash (but I'm too lazy to look it up)

• Last night Aaron and I watched the documentary King of Kong while we were getting Gabbie to go to sleep (yes I still rock her to sleep every night, and I'm fine with it). While we were a little unsure we would enjoy it when we started it up, we ended up loving it. It is always so interesting to me how other people live, and these people are definitely different from us. Not that there's anything wrong with geeks, but these people are geeks. It also ended just how we wanted it to end, so that was awesome.
• We were supposed to get maybe 2 additional inches of snow today (it has been snowing since late Sunday night). So far we've gotten five, and it's still coming down hard. I'm supposed to go to the theatre tonight, and I'm somewhere way south of thrilled that I have to go out in this crap. I'm making sure my phone is charged and giving myself an extra 15 minutes to get approximately 2 miles away from my house. We're seeing Pilobolus, and my long-time fascination with this dance troop is the only reason I'm braving the storm. 
• I'm desperately hoping the snow stops by Friday, which is when Gabbie and I are headed to my parents' house for the weekend to celebrate my best friend's daughter's 1st birthday. There are supposed to be a lot of kids there, so it should be fun for Gabbie, and I'm kind of hoping there's some booze for me, but I doubt it. I'm sure I'll still survive. I'll just have a drinking lunch afterwards.
• I had a problem today that I've had before. Gabbie is growing out of all her shoes (again at the end of a season - I should make sure I remember this from now on) so I headed over to Target today to pick her up some kicks. They had exactly 3 pair of shoes in her size that were not sandals. Well, they also had some awesome Converse All-Stars in her size, but I couldn't justify spending twice as much as the other pair of tennis shoes would have cost. But still. It's February. Target is headquartered in Minnesota. I know for a fact that Minnesota does not have sandal weather right now. Couldn't we wait until April for the all-sandals shoe rack? Or even maybe a sandal or two for spring breakers, but shoes for the rest of us? I still put Gabbie in shoes for most of the summer, unless it gets really hot. I can't be the only parent that does this. Why must retailers always do this to me? (/rant)

And, I'm off to change a very stinky diaper (shouldn't have fed her beans two nights in a row) before getting dressed up to head out. My life is so absolutely glamorous. Ha!

What I have been busy doing instead of going anywhere near my computer

• Going to Aaron's cousin's baby shower, where I ate my first piece(s) of red meat since Christmas and where Gabbie discovered how much fun balloons can be.

• This was also when I had to field/deflect about a million people asking me when we were going to add another baby to our family. Thankfully, I was able to deflect some of those questions by showing up with chocolate chip cookie pie. Several family members tend to get upset when I show up without pie, so I decided to give them a pleasant surprise, and they were too busy stuffing their faces to ask about a new bambino.
• Getting a surprise visit from an aunt who got stranded at the Detroit airport, and called us about an hour before she got here. Related: cleaning the house in record time.
• Freaking out when we realized the opening ceremony of the Olympics took up so much space on our DVR that it automatically erased Shrek, Shrek 3, Kung Fu Panda, and Horton Hears a Who. These are the only way we make it through weekend mornings when Gabbie wakes up at five. Put on one of those and the adult can snooze on the couch for an extra 90 minutes. So, as you can see, this is a tragedy.
• Stressing out about my annual review (it went much better than my freaked-out-for-no-reason self expected).
• Stressing out about my dad's gall bladder removal surgery (it went fine).
• Drinking more whiskey than was prudent between those two events, and therefore barely making it through a 7:30 a.m. meeting today.