Weekendy whatnot

This past weekend was surprisingly productive. There was running, home projects, time with parents, trips to Target, book clubs, T's trainer and even a pedicure squeezed in.

Oh, and snow. It was kind of a kick in the nads to see snow falling Sunday morning. I snorted in disgust and went about my business. What can you do? We live in Michigan.

Anyway, I hung a few things around the house and even patched a few holes where things used to hang.

Found this ginormous basket in the shape of a star and hung it at the top of our stairs. Bad boy was only $20.00 at Pier 1. Holla.

Kitschy and kind of cute; hanging in our sun porch.

T took one for the team and got up with E on Sunday morning. Except...except...they were soooo loud I didn't really sleep. Banging, clanging, shouting, clomping around. It was riotous.

Came home from my pedicure to find E passed. out. in T's lap. Homeboy was done. As an aside, I don't want his chubby baby feet to disappear. I'm always squeezing them. Plus they're the most perfect shade of brown on top and pink on the bottom. They're almost edible.

A photoretrospective of "Lounging with Lion"--Part VI

2 months

3 months, 2 weeks

5 months

6 months

7 months, 1 week



8 months, 2 days

9 months, 2 days



10 months, 1 day

(And loving the wooden spoon.)

I think probably the biggest change in the past few weeks is that E is wittling down the number of bottles he drinks and gobbling down some adult food. In the past week, he's tried:

• Grilled cheese
• Lasagna
• Pears
• Green beans
• Roast beef
• Macaroni and cheese
• Peas
• Toast
• Goldfish crackers
• Rotisserie chicken
• Ravioli
• Fish sticks
• Kashi waffle
• Chicken noodle casserole
• Mandarin oranges

Not everything gets the thumbs up, but I appreciate his willingness to pretty much shove anything in his maw (electrical cords, notwithstanding).

While not really making any moves to walking or running, he is fan of pulling himself up on our pant legs and standing on his own for a bit.

He's also fond of mimicking us. If we say, "Heeyyy!"--he'll say a baby Fonzi version of "Ehhyyy." If we fake cough, he'll fake cough. If we fake laugh, he'll fake laugh.

T and I are both realizing that he's growing up so fast. It scares me that it's hard to remember what he looked like when he was 3 months old. It scares me that soon he'll be walking. It scares me someday he won't want to be held as much or have his cheeks nibbled on. It makes my heart hurt.

I just hope that he is as happy and joyful at 10 years of age as he is at 10 months.

Mexican street justice

This morning E and I stopped at the grocery store on our way to daycare/Workplace. After grabbing what I needed (which was Easter candy, incidentally), we went to check-out and got in the lane of my Favorite Grocery Employee of All Time. Not only is she super friendly, but she's known E since he was inside and is always excited to see him. He, in return, smiles and claps for her. And also tries to snag her dangling nametag from around her neck; but, whatever.

She was having a bit of trouble with her cash register so she called for help at the Customer Service Desk. A woman who's nametag said she was an "Office Specialist" came over to help her and proceeded to act like a complete troll.

Lovely Grocery Employee: "I need to run this check through but it won't let me."
Troll: (punching keys) "What did you do?"
"Nothing. I've had this happen before and I usually just run a blank piece of paper through so that I can then void everything and rerun the check in as I needed to."
"Well, you can't do that. You never should. What were you thinking."
"Oh. Can you show me what to do so that I know next time."
"No. Just take care of all the people you have in line and are holding up and I'll show you when I have time. Stop messing things up."

What made the exchange horrible was not just the words, but the tone. Ach, the woman was just so mean.

And not to be superficial, but the Office Specialist also had screwy teeth.

Anyway, after being derided in front of store customers, Favorite Grocery Employee looked completely embarrassed. I gave her sympathetic looks and then tried to talk of other things to show her it was no big deal.

Except, it IS a big deal.

One, it's not cool to talk to another person like that. Condescension gets under my skin like nothing else. It seriously makes me want to put a foot in someone's neck.

Two, it's not cool to talk to another person like that in front of customers. Customers don't want to see nastiness. Not to be trite, but they want a pleasant shopping experience.

After collecting our bags of candy and as we're heading for the door, I see the Office Specialist (with the store manager nearby) at the Customer Service Desk. I decide to say something.

I am by no means aggressive. On most days, I struggle to even be assertive. But this made me kind of angry, so I decided to say something. Plus, in a completely wienie fashion, I figure she can't punch me since I'm holding a baby.

Me: "Hello."
Troll: "Yes?" (completely nice now)
"I was in line while you were helping C at the register and couldn't help but overhear your exchange."
(staring)
"Well...I...I just didn't like the way you talked to her."
(store manager now looking over)
"C is always so nice to us and other customers and I think she deserves more respect and patience. It wasn't her fault that the machine was acting up. That's all. Have a good day."

And we left.

Later it occurred to me that I hope I didn't get C in more trouble and throttled in the staff break room. And perhaps Office Specialist will still be a cranky bitch with jenked up teeth, although, maybe not. Maybe she'll think twice about being so mean to co-workers.

And maybe get braces.

Random useless tidbits

I just ate food court pizza.

It was tasty.

****

I bought this for E. Heh.



****

If you don't already know, be aware that unsalted butter tastes like ass. And not like butter.

Really? Because if I'm going to spread fat on something it better at least be tasty.

****

T and I are having a daydate tomorrow. And it will involve PF Changs, lettuce wraps and perhaps some hand holding. Holla.

****

I was so ridiculously productive this morning at work that I've astounded and surprised even myself.

****

T is off this week in his forced (which has connotations of gun point) vacation. Except (!!) that he's worked every day. From home. I vacillate between being put-out and understanding. Put-out because it was supposed to be home project extravaganza time. Patching, painting, general sprucing up, going to Comcast to replace our absolute crap remote--that sort of thing. Yet understanding because projects aren't stopping because he's at home and also his boss is "off" yet working from home as well.

If none of the other projects get done, I'm at least hoping for a new remote. He did at least fix one of our kitchen cabinets that was looking kind of hoopty.

****

I watched "Atonement" this past weekend with some co-workers. Beautiful movie, hella depressing story. As in sooo Debbie Downer, I'm still thinking about it.

While I enjoyed it, it is probably going to fall on the list of Movies I Need Only Watch Once where it will join "Cast Away," "Schindler's List" and a handful of others.

****

Why has Twitter been so dodgy lately? Pfft.

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Put in the sidebar that I was going to go to the gym to workout, but am now thinking of scooping E up early and taking us both for a walk.

Or to the grocery.

****

In my haste to get every last drop of coffee from my mug this morning, I proceeded to dump it down my face onto the front of my shirt. I then waffled, "What's worse? To leave a brown trail of liquid down my front or to try and wipe it off with water and then look like I'm lactating."

I went with the latter and hoped for speedy drying.

****

Just realized my paws smell like food court pizza. Grody. Off to wash them...

Hungry Day

Earlier today I emailed a friend telling her I was having a Hungry Day. Although, this may be coinciding with other monthly events--I have had Hungry Days other times as well.

I'd like to think that feeling this way is a direct result of working out more and therefore becoming a calorie burning machine, but ever present jiggly bits dispute this theory.

At any rate, I'm rubbing my fingers together Mr. Burns-style thinking of what to make for dinner. And dessert. And snack.

Until then, here are a list of things that I wouldn't mind consuming at this exact moment:

Cucumbers

Dip

A Big Mac

McDonald's french fries

Onion rings

Fruit salad

A salad with cheese, bacon and ranch dressing; light on the lettuce

Rolls from Logan's

A steak

Chips with processed cheese dip

A hot fudge sundae

Movie popcorn

Sweet tea

Chicken in a Biskit crackers

Bacon wrapped water chestnuts

Chocolate covered cashews

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting

A loaded baked potato

Candy easter eggs that taste like Whoppers

Diet Coke

Lettuce wraps from PF Changs

Pickles

"Dinner, you will be mine."

Lessons learned--Weekend Edition

If you want to celebrate the fact that your 10 month old is going to bed super easily and sleeping a fo' sho' 12 hours a night DO NOT brag on your blog about this as it a sure fire way for him to fight sleepytime and wake up at 5:30am.

If aforementioned baby is awake from 4:30am to 5:45am and you have a 5K scheduled that same morning DO NOT run the race as you will only feel like a hot mess the rest of the day.

If a kindly Husband digs your pink bike out of the basement and spruces it all up with oil and air DO NOT take three bike rides in a 24 hour period at the risk of your biscuits feeling pummelled.

If you have five events/gatherings scheduled in one weekend day DO NOT expect to feel like anything but a mouth breather the next day.

If you decide to take a bike ride DO NOT wear gloves or a hat or a coat and expect to be happy for the next 45 minutes.

If you happen to put a table cloth on your dining room table DO NOT expect your baby to leave it alone.

If you send your husband out to the grocery store for cleaning supplies at 8:00pm because you forgot that you're out and the cleaning woman is coming the next day DO NOT expect him to interpret "dry Swiffers" as indeed needing dry Swiffers; expect wet Swiffers instead.

If you run out of time to go to the grocery store DO NOT be surprised when there is nothing in the fridge except barbecue sauce, yogurt and bacon bits.

If I were a rich (wo)man

T and I are trying to be conservative with our shekels; thinking twice about how we spend. I'd like to think that is because of the recent crapstorm the economy is in, but I think it's more accurate to say that it's because we have a baby.

Whatever the reason, I'm not buying certain things. Things that are kind of nice but aren't really necessary. However, I feel that I should have a list prepared should I suddenly come into a chunk of change that need only be spent on frivolous items and not college savings plans.

The list:





This running shirt. It's snazzy. It's yellow. It's by Stella McCartney for Adidas and therefore overpriced. But I heart it and I'm pretty sure it would make me run faster.

This new hedge. Our current row of hostas lining our front steps are very sad and by July just look like they should be put out of their misery. They're getting yanked this spring and replaced with something snazzy and flowering and non-traditional when it comes to hedges.

These little shoes for E. While not super expensive at all, I can't justify buying these for him when his little tootsies will just grow out of them in two months. Plus once he heads to the toddler room at daycare he has to wear harder soled shoes. But! These have aliens on them! Sigh.

This dress. I just like and want it but can't swallow the full price attached to it.




This rug. The perfect combination of all the colors in our house mixed into a floral pattern that's not nauseating. I can't help but think that it would be perfect for BB2's (Brown Baby 2) nursery. However, there is currently no BB2 and so why bother. Plus it's sold out. How convenient.

An apron. I already have a perfectly good apron, from Williams Sonoma, no less; but, see, this one is pink. And I kind of like that.

So, that's what I would waste hard earned money on.

What about you?

Go figure

E had his 9 month check-up yesterday (about 3 weeks late) and all looks well. He's doing all the things he need to be doing, saying all the things he needs to be saying and sleeping like a champ (time change notwithstanding). He's in the 58% percentile for weight and the 92% for height. Although, am hesitant to give too much credence to these numbers after reading this article.

One thing the pediatrician and I talked about was food. Given that E only has two chompers, I'd been holding out on giving him more substantial food--because, you know, teeth are good for that kind of thing. But basically the doctor said to let him have at it. It's good to have him trying lots of different things with lots of different consistencies. I've always thought the Gerber Peaches smelled like feet and am excited about moving away from them. I did slip him some Chicken in a Biskit ("biskit"? Really?) crackers the other day and he practically went ape. That, my son, is the lovely taste of sodium and MSG. Know it, love it.

Anyway, the other concern was phasing him off bottles and onto real milk/foods but with a bizarro worry of, "Is he still drinking enough formula?" Talk about feeling schizophrenic. Turns out he is getting more than enough sips of his soy cocktail while still getting three feedings food a day, usually consisting of a Yo Baby (which always makes me think of Yo! Mtv Raps) and baby food.

So, upon drop-off at daycare today I talked it over with the lead teacher (whom I want to come live with us up in our attic. I've not yet broached this with her.) and basically we can either bring in our own food (nix), look at the menu for the week and highlight what we'd like E to have each day (plan ahead!) or take a look at the menu each day when we drop him off and specify foods then (more our speed).

Today, in addition to soy formula and a pear Yo Baby, E may get a serving of broccoli along with some bread. Gag. Talk about a suck lunch. We'll see what his daily note says about the openness to broccoli. I know how I feel about it and it's less than positive.

So, last night as I'm unpacking the diaper bag, I look at the sheet from the doctor's office and notice something odd. After the requisite measurements at each appointment, the nurse usually hands us a slip of paper with his numbers as well as what shots he received. It read:

Now goes by the name "Nadia."

Trauma!

In the past week or so the weather has become more acceptable outside so I've found myself racing to pick-up E, careening home and putting him the stroller so that we can take a walk before The Bedtime Process begins.

But despite his ability to languish for hours on end in stroller last fall, this spring--meh. Not so much. E digs it for a few blocks but then he wants to be held. Which I can appreciate. How can I refuse those cheeks? However, what this means on walks to the grocery store is that the stroller becomes a very expensive shopping cart and I develop one freakishly large Popeye-esqe arm from toting him on my left side.

I happen to love pushing E in his stroller, so here's hoping that he slowly becomes reaccustomed to it.

Psssstt

March 17, 2009


Dear You Know Who You Are:

For real? What's your deal? Are you so effing bitter that you did not get this job that you continue to point out why you'd be better in the job? Really? Because the last I checked you only worked here part-time and had only been doing your job (not mine) for a year and a half. Not six.

Heads up--constantly moaning about things you think are unfair is what six year olds do. Not professionals in their thirties. Another thing I'd recommend against is complaining to your boss. Because, yeah, that seems petty. And is making you look bad. Real bad.

So, you know I'd just kind of worked through knowing some of the things you said earlier--but now, not so much. You can suck it. That frostiness you feel?--it's real.

Signed,

K

If money grew on trees...

...and I had to spend it by Sunday, I would:

1. Finish our front entryway. I'll spare you photos at this particular time, but just know that it started with a simple, "Just let me see what's under there..." almost two years ago.
2. Buy 10 more sessions with the personal trainer.
3. Get a pedicure.
4. Schedule our backyard for landscaping.
5. Buy two new winter coats for next season.
6. Have my car detailed.
7. Buy E big boy furniture and stash it away until he needs it.
8. Order new kitchen counters at Lowe's.
9. Get T new clothes for work.
10. Order a month's worth of meals from here.

Kind of makes for a busy weekend. Good thing none of the oak trees in our yard are sprouting anything but sad looking buds.

Instead, we'll be spending time with my cousin and her daughter and husband this Saturday and Sunday. Their daughter, I, is only two years old and has...ummm...a lot of energy. Should be tons of fun and, frankly, scare the pants off E. Pictures forthcoming.

Listy lists

Months we have left to buy formula: 4

Number of times this past month that I've driven with my gas light on: 3

Cartoons on Noggin that I've unfortunately watched: 4

Times E woke up last night: 0

Pant sizes I'd like to shed: 3

Number of times today that I've waffled as to whether or not to spend money on additional sessions with the trainer: 86

Pages I have left in American Wife: 273

Miles on my car: 24,089

Years I've been married: 5 (and change)

Inches around my waist that I've lost in the last 16 days of activity: 2

Number of times E's burrito saved our bacon at night, despite his ability to break out of it: 1,320,578

Magazines I have sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read: 5

Blouses on the Gap website that I want to order: Too many to count

Number of dresses that I did in fact order: 1

Hours left in my workday: 2

Wafting upwards

T and I are on the prowl for a new church so we've designated March the Month of the Church Crawl (which, unlike pub crawls, does not involve adult beverages. Unless you count communion--but we're not Catholic, so really it's still only grape juice.).

We usually keep E with us in the service because even though there is a nursery available, I'm sorry--I don't know you and creepy people can even be found at churches.

However, inevitably, once the music is done and he's through checking out the overhead lights and everyone around us, E wants to get down off my lap. So, we slip out and check out the nursery together.

What the common denominator has been is crap. That is, E's crap. Every week, like clockwork, E poos at church. As bottoms are sniffed to suss out which of the children smell ridiculous, I'm recoiling inward knowing it's us. I'm then left with cracking a joke, "Ha! Ha! It's the new kid!" and asking them if I can borrow a diaper. Because in my haste to get out of the service before E bursts out with, "LALALALALALADADADADADADA!", I end up leaving the diaper bag with T.

Sigh.

Everyone in the nursery is a good sport and while giving us a diaper (this past week it was a size too small, and E gave me the hairy eyeball as I made it stretch beyond humanly possible around his thighs) and wipes. And maybe even a plastic baggie for a treat to bring home in the form of a defiled onesie due to an abundance of fruit the day before. Lordy.

So, the next time we leave the sanctuary I will be bringing the diaper bag with us. And at precisely 11:03am--we will not be in the nursery so that I can save the folks I'm trying to get to know from the foulness that is my son's diaper.

That is the plan...

Random useless tidbits

I have signed up for a 5K run for next Saturday and I am woefully ill-prepared. Have been focusing my activities of late on things at the gym, and if I am at the gym--I do not run.

So, my options are:

1. Keep on logging the miles between now and next Thursday and hope for the best come the 21st.
2. Feel happy with the other activity I'm doing and not stress the running.
3. Bail on the 5K
4. Proceed with the 5K and relegate it to a walk/run.

****

Last night with E was much better, in fact, back to normal sleepy loveliness. Have decided that Sunday night was 50% time change nonsense and 50% SuckFest.

****

Last night I used a new recipe to make a homemade macaroni and cheese dish. T and I are conflicted on it. Some bites were completely tasteless; some bites were chock full of yummy cheesy greatness.

Have decided it needs less of one thing, more of another and a dash of bacon.

****

Am very hungry.

****

Made chocolate chips bars this weekend and while they were not as good as CurlyGirl's, they were sufficient.

And are now mostly gone. Although, in my defense, I did give most of them away to someone here at work who was kind enough to work for me on Sunday.

****

I am so very pasty and would love nothing better than to go tanning. However, while I am not very responsible with the SPF during the summer, I don't feel like I can sit in the UV Bed of Wrinkles at the keen age of 33. That's just asking for trouble.

****

My pants are officially less squeezy in the waistline area.

Have also made a new pact with myself to not step on the scale for the remaining 33 days of activity. Need to remind myself that what's important is being healthy and stronger as well as having looser clothes.

****

It's raining here today and I am loving it. The grey and cold and rain never really bothered me that much, however, snow in March makes me want to weep. So as long as it keeps raining, I am a-okay.

****

Through some obsessive-compulsive investigating using the Title Search of our digital cable, I recently spotted that G4 is running old episodes of Arrested Development on Sunday nights (and am not ashamed to admit that I audibly gasped when I discovered this).

Because how can you not love that Buster has his hand bitten off by a bowtie- wearing seal? And Scott Baio playing an attorney named Bob Loblaw? Ugh. That is show is ridiculous.

****

Am still hungry.

****

Lastly, I leave you some pics of E modeling his new jammies...

Nighttime trickery

Last night I was awake from 3:00am to 4:45am. Apparently, E found this a fine time to want to be awake and play. We disagreed on this point.

I've heard from friends who have children of various ages that this sort of thing randomly happens. I also read that developmentally a 9 month old is pretty keen on crawling and playing, and it is not unlikely for them to want to do so in the middle of the night.

Sigh.

After having so many months of solid once-he's-out-he's-out, I figure our jig was up.

Perhaps I can blame it on the new jammies? Probably not.

3:48am
"Listen, sir, if you're not going to sleep--that's fine. But we are not playing and I am so not going to chat and act like this is cool."

So we rocked and rocked and rocked. Both of us just waiting it out to see who folded first. Him to just pass out and sleep already? Or me to head downstairs to play? Well, while we're both stubborn--I've got 32 1/3 years of practice on him.

Rocked some more. He lounged with his pacifier and put his little chubby finger up to my ear to play with my earring.

Rocked some more; kind of eyeballing each other. Despite holding strong, I almost wept with tiredness and the dismay that T's alarm clock would be going off in a 30 minutes and the day would be starting.

Eventually, I decided to give him a bottle. He wasn't acting hungry and I knew he couldn't possibly need to eat having had a ginormous cocktail of soy formula at 11pm, but it was my last option before crying in the dark.

Wouldn't you know, homeboy took the whole bottle and promptly rolled over in my lap and passed out.

Lordy.

We'll see what tonight brings.

Stream o' conciousness

It's raining.

I'm starving.

I wish I could hunker down in sheets all day.

I was able to resurrect my hair in order to venture to the gym without looking like a crazy woman. Not easily done with short hair.

I would rather eat chocolate chip cookies than workout.

E and T are both taking super long morning naps.

I would like the 50 degree weather to return.

Is not my business, but way disappointed that Rihanna is even thinking of Chris Brown.

I need a pedicure in a bad way.

May head to Home and Garden Show in an attempt at a family outing.

Must find something to eat.

A pallet of fabulousness

I (heart) Costco. A lot.

What's not to love? They have samples, everything in mass quantities, friendly employees who are well-paid, samples, a cheap and fabulous photo lab and samples.

Things I've recently bought and love at Costco:

1. Formula. They carry the ginormous containers of E's soy formula at a most ridiculously low price.
2. Dried mangos. I happen to think they smell like feet, but not being a fan of any dried fruit--I may not be the best judge. These are for T.
3. A 32" LCD tv. For T. He loves it.
4. A bag of 100 Tyson chicken nuggets. Sampled one Saturday afternoon, I've been a fan ever since. The breading isn't really breading as it's more of a crispy outside. Trust me, there's a difference and it's great.
5. Sparkling lemonade. Unfortunately, T and I lose all control when this stuff is in the house and practically brush our teeth with it, so we don't buy it that often.
6. Black fleece pants. I lounge in them; I run in them and I tried to sleep in them once, but woke-up sweaty. They're thick and warm and super soft.
7. Giant jugs (heh) of milk. Have you seen the cost of milk in the grocery stores? They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Milk at Costco is much cheaper.
8. Chicken noodle soup. Made by the fine folks at Costco, the noodles are soft, the carrots are fresh and the chicken is from those rotisserie birds. Thumbs up.
9. Giant package of cookies. As this doesn't really fit into the goal of less squeezy pants, I haven't purchased said cookies in awhile--but I highly recommend the chocolate chunk ones.
10. A car seat for E. Perhaps the creme de la creme of the Costco purchases. E has officially out noodled his carseat, with his legs oozing off the end. After lots of research, we decided on the Britax Marathon and were trying to accept the price. While $280 at Target and Babies R' Us, we found this bad boy for $120 at Costco. Holla. That practically made my week as I am a sucka for a good deal (see items 1-9).

Random useless tidbits

I think I may need some sort of Quiznos intervention. I've eaten there four times this week. Yikes.

I am ridiculously addicted to their chopped Cobb salad, Diet Pepsi and small cup of pickles.

Help, please.

****

Yesterday I put on pants that were less squeezy. I think they'd be even less squeezy if I were better about watching what I eat. I'm not eating horribly and not even really eating a lot, but I know it could be better and more inclusive of things from the earth. Like, you know, fruits and veggies and whatnot.

So, am considering Weight Watchers to really help maximize this stretch of activity as well as my time with the trainer.

****

Am up to 9 days straight of activity. Crikey. It's feeling less tricky to do some hard things, but I feel as if I still have a long way to go.

Trainer gave pep talk this morning and said to not concentrate on the number on the scale, but to instead focus on tightness of pants.

Sadly, that's not always much more encouraging.

****

I may have a girl crush on Michelle Obama.

And her clothes.

****

I find that I can no longer listen to Chris Brown. While running the other day, a song cropped up on my iPod and I sneered in disgust and pushed the button for a new song.

****

I recently wrote out a big check to pay off the bill for the new furnace and air conditioning we had installed before E was born (best chunk o' change evah spent).

I ruined two checks before getting the amount in words correctly written out. Am thinking of heading back to fourth grade to repeat this unit in math. Criminy.

****

In January I volunteered for a project at work and just now started working on it. What I thought would initially take only an hour is now looking like it's going to take 20x that to complete.

Major sucka for putting hand up in meeting. Co-worker recently reminded me of this.

****

Come March I always want all new spring clothes. However, the good thing about living in Michigan is that, essentially, the spring clothes are all new since I haven't worn or even looked at them since last September.

Despite this, I'm finding myself drawn to some new dresses and have been scooping up them up here and there to stash in closet for when it is actually warm out.

****

I recently started reading "American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld. Am enjoying it so far.

Wishing I had more time to read.

An Ode to T

T, you are fabulous. I like that you can tell me jokes that are actually funny and I like that you can tell me jokes that only you think are funny. I like that you often laugh so hard that you sprout tears in your eyes.

Before we met I made a list of all the things I needed in my next boyfriend. After getting to know you better, I realized that you were all of the things on that list. And more.

You are always concerned about my well-being and whereabouts and are always worried that I'm going to get snagglepussed while riding my bike at dusk.

And while you chastise me for occasionally dropping the f-bomb in front of our son, you become concerned when I'm too quiet and not liberally sharing my opinions.

Sometimes you say that you become nervous when I say, "I've been thinking...", you've made it know that you value my ideas, thoughts and plans.

You work exceptionally hard for our family, both in and out of our house. I never thought I could have a more equal parenting partner, and I appreciate all you do.

I love that you are speedy to the kill when I shout, "Bug!" and that you were willing to not eat rice for the nine months I was pregnant because the smell made me want to hork.

You are the best traveling companion ever and your love of live shows on cruise lines should not be scoffed at.

You're the first person I would always choose to spend my time with and the last person I want to talk to at night.

Thank you for being my husband.

TGIM

Sometimes I sink into my office chair on Monday, happy to start a new week. I love the anticipation come Friday at 4:59pm, but our weekends are not exactly restorative. I take that back. They are restorative in that we get time together as a family, time to be at home, time to not rush around in the morning and time to plan our days how the three of us want to spend them.

I guess I meant they're not restorative in that I'm not usually returning to work on Monday any more rested than when I left on Friday. Of all the ways my life has changed since having E, this the single thing I'm still struggling to come to terms with. I miss my sleep. I miss calling the shots on my sleep. Maybe this is like the analogy used with breaking up with a boyfriend; you know, for every month you were together, it will take twice that to get over him.

So does this mean that I won't come to terms with being sleepy until I'm in my sixties?

Sigh.

Anyway, I was mad productive yesterday, which while leaving me tired--had me feeling good.

Sunday
Start day with E at 7:00am
Feed E fruit
Bake cake
Two loads of laundry
Go running
With T's help, get the three of us clean, dressed and out the door for church at 10am
Put E down for a nap
Send T out for lunch once home at Noon
Put random things away from throughout the house
Pick-up kitchen
Two more loads of laundry
Get E up from nap
Head out with E to go grocery shopping
Speedracer home
Three more loads of laundry
Make cheesy potatoes and salad for birthday dinner with fam
Make E's bottles for nighttime
Make E's bottles for Monday at school
Speedracer over to parents for birthday fun
Meet fab book club for dinner Part II and discussion
Head home at 8:00pm
Put food away, wash face, put on jammies
Fold all laundry piled in mountain on bed and watch Hush
Read People magazine
Asleep by 10:00pm


Am currently trying to figure out what I want to do for a workout this evening. It's so cold I am not running outside and with our week shaping up to be kind of nutty, I may stick around at home this evening rather than driving to the gym (plus I've pencilled in a step class for tomorrow eve).

Our On Demand has a lot of workouts that I can choose from. It's where I've been doing the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels. Holy crap on a stick, it is freakin' hard. H.A.R.D.

Anyway, the On Demand has other options too, so I might crack out the weights and choose one through the ol' telly. Plus it then allows me to get it done with while T is putting E to bed which is nice.

Always a fan of multi-tasking...