A photo retrospective of "Lounging with Lion"--Part IV

2 months

3 months, 2 weeks

5 months



6 months



7 months, 1 week...

...and getting hard to keep him still.


At seven months...

...E is enjoying lots of fruit and veggie combinations twice a day. He'll scarf down pretty much anything in its entirety, but has a special place in his heart for bananas.

...he tries to sit-up on his own while lying on his changing table. So we now have to give him his apple rattle to keep him flat.

...E loves to sit-up, but then moves to the side to try and crawl.

...he still puts everything in his mouth.

...E goes to bed at 7:00pm, eats at 10:30pm and sleeps until 6:30am.

...he is starting to not dig taking long naps. At all.

...E is starting to play with two other boys in his classroom.

Gift exchange not documented

On Sunday, J and her son B came over to exchange gifts with E. J's husband, M, is deathly allergic to cats, so he stayed home and watched football.

Anyway, the gift exchange was fab. E was given the most marvelous Bee Bop Band which came with a tambourine (hello! gypsies, tramps and thieves!). We gave B a football taggie. Babies love tags. They're mystified by them. It's bizarre.

Anyway, the pics below are from their visit but strangely do not include any of the actual gift opening. T was the photographer, so all fingers point to him.



Well, hello, friend. May I offer you one of your own toys? Because I share like that.

Denied. Harsh.

I'll take that, though.

Uh, oh. Incoming paw.

Post-ear snaggle. B was all about E's ears and eyeballs. E, however, is used to being gnawed on (by his parents as well as the kids at daycare), so he wasn't phased.

A fabulous piano given to E by his uncle. Both boys pounded and chewed on it.

Doh. Another ear snaggle while E was unawares.

C stayed safely out of the way.

Random useless tidbits

I just received the most bizarre delivery of flowers ever (or at least I think so). Pretty much the only person who sends me flowers is T. Birthdays, anniversaries, thinking-of-you--he's pretty darn good on the flower front. Assuming they were from him, I thought that was pretty ambitious given we just had Christmas. I was all, "How about we space out the good cheer, buddy."


But they weren't from him. They were a "thank you" from some board members of an organization I was on. Seven months ago. The card also congratulated me on my "little one"--who is now seven months old.


Am now thinking I sound ungrateful, but mainly I'm just a little perplexed.


****


I am eating the most ridiculous cookies given to T and I yesterday from J. According to her, they're made of butter, lard, sugar and pumpkin. Plus they have the most healthy of dollops of cream cheese frosting on top.


Holla.


****


For Christmas, T and I gave each other time with a personal trainer at our gym. T wants to know more about what he should be doing while I need someone to push me to get my act together. I know it's only been seven months, but I kind of miss my old body. Or something that resembles it. Being 33 and having a 9lb. baby was hard on the body, yo.


My other plan is to just get knocked up again. But then I'd have these remaining pounds as well as new baby pounds to lose. Makes me want to eat another lard cookie just thinking about it.


****


I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. On one hand it's a good place to scrounge up people that I went to high school and college with. On the other hand, it's one more thing (Blogger, Twitter, email) that I have to keep up with.


****


My other friend J and I are going spa-ing on Saturday. Massages, facials, lunch--I'm pretty excited about this. I have a mysterious and kind of dodgey looking dry patch on my face. Am hoping the facial will rectify this.


****


The search for a party dress continues. I've looked online at French Connection, Club Monaco, Neiman Marcus, Net-a-porter, Bluefly, Banana Republic and I've tried to see if any other online sites carry the Polka Dot Dress of My Dreams. They don't.


I did sort of find one on Banana Republic's website, so it may be a go. Sigh.


The invites went out last week, RSVPs are rolling in and a babysitter has been secured for E.


All systems go.


****


I dropped C off this morning to have his front paw declawed. He couldn't have food after Midnight, so T stayed up and then stashed his food in the closet downstairs. I realized later it would be like if, while I was sleeping, someone moved my fridge to keep me from eating. Not a bad idea, really. See mention of lard cookies above.


I know declawing is kind of harsh, but if I didn't have a baby and furniture I'm attached to--then I would have forgone it.


I pick him on Wednesday. I hope to get him some tasty (used loosely) wet food in gravy. Which, incidentally, T asked me on Saturday if that was poo or wet food in his dish. I admit, they do bare an unfortunate resemblance to one another.


****

Lastly, a pic of E playing with new blocks courtesy of his rockin' grandparents:

An apple from A

One of the best gifts I / E received at a baby shower was this apple. It's a hand knit, life size apple that is also a rattle. It even has a cute little green stem and leaf attached to the top. It was my friend A who gave it to us.

E loves this apple. He shakes it. Gnaws on the leaf. Stares at it and passes it from hand to hand while lying on his changing table.

Thanks, A, for the wonderful gift--we love it.




A wee fuzzy, I know.

Up on the rooftop

E's first Christmas. Outfit courtesy of my friend A...

Have a happy holiday!

Nightstand

I realized that other night that my nightstand is pretty much the only space in the house that is mine. The kitchen, bathroom medicine cabinet, the tv, the couch, etc. are all touched by pretty much everyone. The nightstand, however, is expressly for me and my things. With the exception of the phone and baby monitor, there is nothing on it or in it that anyone else (T or E or C) would need. I think having a space especially for me will become more important as we have more children and more little fingers poking around the house.

1. January issue of Parents magazine
2. Streams in the Desert
3. Small framed print from my friend J a number of Christmases ago
4. Wooden statue that I bought at a market while on our honeymoon in St. Lucia
5. Small framed photo of T and I taken at my friend B's wedding eons ago
6. Battery operated (in case of power outage!) alarm clock
7. November issue of Parents magazine
8. December/January issue of Cottage Living magazine
9. I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids
10. Parent's Answer Book
11. Drop Dead Beautiful
12. January issue of Allure
13. December issue of Allure
14. The Well Fed Baby
15. This week's US Weekly
16. Black Ship by Carola Dunn
17. Baby monitor

What's on your nightstand?

Sunday

A lonely ornament.

One guess on who knocked it over there.

Second nap of the day. Despite being a good sleeper between the hours of 6:30pm and 6:00am, naps have become exceptionally trying; both at home and at daycare.

At least he's consistent.

While T tried to get E to sleep, I furiously wrapped gifts with the open slot of time.

Success!

An onlooker.

It has gone from no tv for E to only sports and animals. And cooking shows. We've loosened up a bit because I felt bad asking T to always have the tv off on the weekends (and during football season). Plus E doesn't get much of a whiff of it during the week. Anyway, we rented the Sound of Music and E loved (!!) the musical numbers. In this scene I believe Fraulein Maria is singing Do-Re-Mi in her they-once-were-drapes play clothes.

The introduction of the sippy cup and water. Homeboy grabbed that thing like a steering wheel and promptly sucked from it.

And then became a bit rowdy that soy formula was not spouting forth.

C resting between our couch and our living room wall.

And there you have it...

Conversation

While laying in bed watching the Sunday morning news on ABC:

Me: Do you know who I think looks like Satan?

T: Who?

Me: Dick Cheney.

T: (Silence)

T: But he wears glasses. That doesn't make any sense. He has magical powers. Don't you think he'd fix that if he could? Do you think Satan wears glasses?

Me: Well...he's been around awhile. He might have vision issues.

End scene.

Typing this out makes me fully realize that perhaps some couples watch the news and discuss economic recovery, the state of unemployment or other more relevant topics.

Oh well.

100 Things About Me (Part III)

51. I have a hard time sitting in the car for longer than 3 hours.

52. I once read the Bible from cover to cover.

53. People without a sense of humor unnerve me.

54. I step around ants and worms on the sidewalk, if possible.

55. It would take some convincing for me to drive a car made by one of the Big 3.
56. I honk at people if they're driving like douches.

57. I can sometimes be bossy.

58. I use caller ID to avoid people I don't want to talk to.

59. If sitting in a waiting room, I'll give people makeovers in my mind.

60. I've never mastered wearing eyeshadow.

61. Smelling like smoke and/or restaurants grosses me out.

62. I wear perfume everyday.

63. I loathe folding laundry and unloading the dishwasher.

64. I went to Girl's Camp during the summer while growing up and loved it.

65. Some of my favorite memories are of being at my grandparent's house.

66. I can cross-country ski.

67. I have a hard time drinking juice with pulp in it.

68. I rarely have bad days.

69. If it were up to me at home, we wouldn't have cable.

70. I don't understand why people would have fake plants in their homes.

71. I once had a wart on my knee growing up, but I fell off my bike and
scraped it clean off.

72. I owned an L.L. Bean backpack for fifteen years before it fell apart.

73. I am super pale in the winter but tan easily in the summer.

74. All of the family members on one side of the family worship the sun.

75. I rarely wear sunscreen and am occasionally fearful this will catch up with me.

E in a nutshell

E's hair is starting to come in curly; like little ringlets (not that you can tell from the picture above).

As it grows, I'd like to let it grow out like Heidi Klum and Seals' son, Johan:

If only I could let my body turn into what her's looks like. Sadly, this has not been the case thus far.

*****


At E's belated six month appointment on Monday, he was given the requisite measuring and weighing. His numbers, 47% percentile for weight and 78% percentile for length, (I recognize these numbers mean practically nothing to non-mothers), further solidify my suspicions that he is a little lo mein noodle. Long and brownish and kind of tasty.

So, the pediatrician talked about his eating and sleeping habits and while the restless thing has gradually faded, I still brought it up. What she questioned, however, was the fact that he was still waking up at midnight to eat. Her thoughts are that babies at this should be able to go 8-10 hours at night without eating and that at this point his needing to wake and eat the ginormous bottle he craves is merely habit. Hmmm. She likened it to an adult being woken up every night at 4am for a Snickers. Eventually, we'd wake up on our own expecting that candy bar. I told her that I could wholeheartedly support this if she wanted to start doing that for me.

Anyway, she said we should tank him up earlier--despite the earlier bedtime of 6:30ish--perhaps around 10:30, 10:45pm and that should last him until he wakes up at 6:00am.

Hmmm.

So we tried it. Of course, I was all, "I finally feel like we have him in a rhythm and now we have to f with it." Sigh.

But being the professional who went to, like, med school she apparently knew what she was talking about.

Since Monday night he's taken a biggie bottle at 10:30pm and then slept solid--no peeps or chatting or rocking required--until 6:30am.

Go figure.

(Pic is actually of E passed out in our bed one morning.)

100 Things About Me (Part II)

26. If I am wearing pinchy pants, I can think of nothing else all day.

27. I love to vacuum.

28. I loathe almost all photos of me.

29. Making small talk with those that I don't know well makes me nervous.

30. I am equal parts procrastinator and OCD-machine.

31. I can not tell the difference between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.

32. We moved seven times while growing up.

33. Gift cards over $25 make me nervous to spend. I feel as if I need to hoard them for a special occasion.

34. I have two brothers. One that is two and half years younger and one that eleven years younger than I.

35. I'm not sure how I feel about telling E about Santa.

36. I never had imaginary friends.

37. Classic rock makes my head hurt.

38. My music tastes range from Dolly Parton to the White Stripes to the Gipsy Kings.

39. The only way I can keep from chewing my nails is to get weekly manicures.

40. I prefer Red Vines over Twizzlers.

41. I think Hershey's chocolate tastes like ass.

42. I always drive over the speed limit.

43. I was born in Kansas City, Kansas.

44. I occasionally use the F-word too frequently.

45. T and I call C-SPAN "The Old White Guys in Ties Channel."

46. I used to want to be Linda Carter in "Wonder Woman."

47. "Legends of the Fall" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" make me sob.

48. T and I were a little disappointed that I wasn't pregnant with twins. Now wewe can't even fathom how we'd manage two babies.

49. Sometimes I love E so much my heart hurts.

50. I hate all Christmas songs sung by any of the Beatles or the Beach Boys.

100 Things About Me (Part I)

1. I have loved every birthday I have ever had. Turning older has yet to bother me.
2. My middle name is Louise and in elementary school I used to tell people it was "Lynn" because Louise wasn't a "cool" name.
3. I like the words persnickety, perpendicular and faux.
4. I don't like words where I'm unsure whether or not they require a hyphen.
5. I graduated from undergrad in three years.
6. I have a minor in Spanish and German.
7. I've known since I was 16 that I wanted to be a librarian.
8. I don't like science fiction movies--the characters creep me out.
9. I hated junior high school.
10. I won Young Authors for my school in fourth grade and got to go to a statewide conference for young writers.
11. I met my husband in a bar and gave him my work number in case he was pervy and weird.
12. I also met him at the restaurant on our first date. Again, in case he was pervy and weird.
13. Before meeting T, I made a list of everything I needed in a new boyfriend/husband. T meets every single item.
14. Days will go by where I will not eat vegetables or fruit.
15. I hate working out and only do so that I don't grow out of my pants.
16. I like to make check-lists.
17. I am horrible at math and having to do any sort of calculations makes me sweaty.
18. Almost everyone on my dad's side of the family is also horrible at math.
19. I refuse to kills spiders since I have an unfounded fear that they will come alive, jump out of the Kleenex and bite me on the neck.
20. I never had pets growing up.
21. I hate broccoli.
22. When I turned 16 my first car was a Toyota Corolla and a stick shift.
23. I love McDonald's.
24. I sometimes don't recycle. And don't really feel guilty about it.
25. I don't like it when people say, "That's so gay."

Archie McPhee

I love Archie McPhee. Their catalog and website make me giggle like a goofy, 12 year old kid with no friends.

Some of my favorite items:


Squirrel Underpants!

Personally, I AM sick and tired of having squirrels run around naked in the trees.



Mr. Bacon v. Monsieur Tofu.

I know who would win in my house.

Heh.

WWND.





Because nothings says formal evening wedding like slinging some brides and grooms into the audience.




I know. Again, with the bacon.

But, seriously--Bacon Band-Aids people!

I did actually buy this for my friend A one year. It was fun to watch a fez-wearing monkey smoke a tiny cigarette.




I bought this for A too. Who doesn't need a little affirmation every now and then?

Craftmatic

A few months ago, my friend J discovered that I had a working Easy Bake oven (a gift from my brother A--aka the pilgrim a la Thanksgiving--a few years ago). Since she never got one when she was young, she promptly invited herself over for some Easy Baking. Incidentally, she had a Snoopy Snow Cone Maker when she was young but doesn't know where it went. Along with an Easy Bake Oven, I would have KILLED for a Snoopy Snow Cone Maker back in 1985.

Anyway, we also tried to BeDazzle some stuff (one of T's undershirts, onesies for E and her son B)--with limited success. The end result was that often the onesies looked like they'd taken a hit from a throwing star.

Oh, and we crafted Christmas stockings for the boys.

Pics...

Please notice the copy on the booklet: "Makes so many of your favorite snacks."

I wasn't aware that so many things could be cooked with a 100 watt bulb. Who knew?

Before

Looks promising...

Eh.

Oh, my.

See what had happened was...J had kind of a heavy hand when frosting. So much so, in fact, that the cake was actually smashed through the cooling rack.

Despite not having palates that are terribly discerning, this cake rocked. It tasted like a funfetti cupcake.

I recommend.

Again with the copy: "From Dull to Fabulous in Minutes!"

So, that's what I've been missing.

The aftermath on the dining room table.

The kitchen looked a lot worse.

Meet Calvin

The initial plan had been to keep him, along with his food and litter box and little bed, in our bedroom for a few days until he could suss things out and get used to his surroundings. That plan lasted about six hours.

He's made himself quite at home and is now prowling about the house--minus the nursery. Am still a bit fearful that he'll sit on E's face while E is sleeping.

At various times this afternoon, E did grab a handful of whiskers, ear, fur and paw. Calvin didn't blink.

I think he will be a good addition to the K household. Although, T is still looking a bit unsure.

Party dress

Am in deep, deep love with this dress.

I saw it in a store front window last week Friday. T was with me and dug it as well and even offered for us to go inside so that I could try it on. The shop is a little upscale, so I didn't even want to go there because is there anything more depressing than trying on clothes you really shouldn't be buying?

No, there isn't.

Well, today a co-worker and I were talking about clothes and I went into swoon mode when talking about this dress. I even stalked the dress over the phone and called the store to see how much it cost.

*Cough.*

Yikes.

Anyway, the only way I can justify buying it is for my fabulous friend A's Super Swank Brunch for her fortieth birthday. It's going to be here which is a perfect spot to sport a cute party dress for eating omelettes and pastries and perhaps getting sloshed on mimosas and Bloody Mary's by 2pm. Just sayin'.

(Psst...A...dude, you need to send me the list of names so I can send out invites. Like, soon.)

Anyway, I figure it's even a dress I could wear to a wedding reception or other fun events. So if I divide the cost of the dress over its potential uses, it's really quite affordable.

It's a fairly weak argument, I know. Something I may need to beef up before pitching the purchase to T.

Random useless tidbits

Well, I think E may have known I was talking smack about him online.

This morning he slept until 8am. No waking up last night. No rocking required. Just quiet, sleeping baby shrimp. (Undrugged, mind you.)

What does this mean? I feel like he might be messing with my mind.

****

Men that are dead but whom I wouldn't mind making out with if they were still alive:

1. Cary Grant
2. Clark Gable
3. Paul Newman
4. Marlon Brando (but just the hot one of yesteryear)

****

Today I went to Target to grab--really quick--a pair of cheap, easy pants suitable for weekend wear. What I had in mind was something like this:

I didn't want jeans. I didn't anything anything made of velour. And I didn't want anything called "chinos" (mainly because I am not 59 years old). Incidentally, I'm not sure why Target had so many options in velour. It was kind of freakish.

Anyway, they had nothing. How is that even possible?! It's Target, for pete's sake. Now I have to head to Old Navy, which I hate shopping at because it feels like I'm buying clothes in a warehouse (I think it's the lighting and exposed ceilings), wrestle with their completely jenky sizing system and figure out some sort of option.

****

Last night T was working on his charts and graphs for work so I snaggled the remote while he was wrapped up in his nerdy love for Excel.

And I watched this.

What bothered me the entire time is that the description said "go-go dancing," but I'm pretty sure she was actually just a stripper in a state that had a no-nude dancing law. When I picture a go-go dancer I think girl at a club who already has minimal clothes on, but is not really taking any more off and not really collecting cash from forty-five year old men who may or may not smell funny.

This chick was doing all of the above--but in reverse. Taking clothes off at a place with a silhouette of a woman's body on the door and minimal windows (always a dead giveaway for a strip club) and collecting five dollar bills from men, who in this case didn't smell funny but were just bad actors.

Hmmm.

****

Back when we were going to Dr. Eccentricbutfreakishlysmart, he had what T and I called the "Wall of Fame." That is, a wall of pictures of babies from woman that he helped get knocked up. While checking out after each appointment, T and I would stare wistfully at this wall and hope that one day we would get to put up a picture of our own brown baby.

Also, the Wall of Fame was right near the rendering of his brand new office space that he was planning to move into. It announced "New Offices Early 2008!" My goal was to leave his current office before the move took place. How depressing to follow Dr. EBFS to new digs while having nothing inside yours.

Anyway, since E came along, T and I have talked about sending in a picture of E to be on the Wall of Fame with a nice note from the two of us, but I always hesitated because I was all, "Do you know how many women he saw? He's not going to remember us by name. Frankly, he may only recognize me if I take my pants off and smell of desperation."

But with the advent of the family holiday photo...voila! We can send in a photo of E plus T and I. Plus I get to keep my pants on.

****

I have a girl crush on Posh Spice's short hair. Sadly, I would look like a baby bird if I went that route.

****

Our DVR/cable box fritzed out last week, so Comcast came and replaced it for us. On the upside it has more memory. On the downside we lost everything we had saved on the old DVR.

And it smelled like cigarette smoke.

****

It's looking Saturday is cat pick-up day.

Kind of interested in this one and this one.

Am sort of feeling like I might need a back-up plan in case the Humane Society doesn't have one of these two available. Perhaps I will go out there tomorrow after work and see what their temperaments are like. If cuddly, perhaps they'll put one on 99% hold for me. Like Dr. EBFS, maybe they'll smell the desperation and help a sister out.