I totally forgot about Cheerios!

I can't believe I forgot to relay the most exciting development of yesterday: Stella is feeding herself! We'd tried giving her bananas and corn (not together) in the past and she wasn't interested in it, but then last night we tried Cheerios. Man does she love Cheerios. Then we mixed the corn in with the Cheerios and she was digging it. Then I tried the same thing with bananas this morning and she ate those as well. Although those are much more messy. And the dogs won't eat them, so I have to clean them up myself. But still, it was very exciting!

9 Months and Growing

So Stella is Nine Months old now. It seems amazing that she's been out longer than she was in. It's gone by so fast. We went to the doctor yesterday for her check-up and the doctor used the "W" word. For those of you not freaking out about your baby growing up, the "W" word is weaning. She wants us to start giving her snacks of yogurt and cheese, which will eventually replace those breastfeeding sessions. I'm not ready! It's hilarious, because when I first started bfing, I was like, okay, I only have a year. For the first few months, I practically counted it down. But now that she's so active and only nurses for about 10 minutes or less at a time, it's not really a big commitment anymore and I really have come to treasure that time. It's our cuddle time. My favorite time is when we wake her up right before we go to bed to feed her. She's all sleepy and Tim changes her diaper and cuddles with her and then hands her to me. She doesn't even open her eyes as she eats and she reminds me of when she was a newborn and almost never opened her eyes. It's so adorable.

Of course, she is doing lots of amazing things that I have to remind myself to dwell on instead of the fact she is growing up. Yesterday the doctor showed us how to give her our fingers and she would sit up just holding on to them. She's been holding out on us, being lazy. Also, the doc showed us how to help her pull up the same way, she's really pushing us to work more on that. And when we got home, Stella did try to pull up on a chair for the first time, but gave up. I think she gets frustrated easily. Interestingly enough, the doctor didn't give us any suggestions on how to help Stella crawl and I forgot to ask. Stella still is mostly content with reaching for things, and rolling to get things, with some occasionally creeping, which usually results in her going backwards rather than forwards and getting frustrated.

Stella also seems to FINALLY be over her cold. Some coughing, but that's about it. I also am pretty much recovered. Part of me wants to put her in a hermetically sealed bubble now that we're both well, but I know that won't accomplish anything. Plus, I didn't get much social interaction because I had to avoid babies so we wouldn't take the chance of getting them sick. So hopefully January will be a well month!

Oh, and the doctor's office measured her and I think they at least did the height wrong. They got 27.5 inches, but we'd measured her at 28.5 about a month ago. I think the nurse didn't bother to stretch her out all the way. 27.5 would be the 50th percentile and trust me, Stella is not average height for her age. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but she is quite tall. We need to do our own measurement. Her weight is 18 lbs, 9.6 oz, which is actually a slight drop from when we went in a couple of weeks ago and she was 19lbs. That's only 50th percentile, but the doctor said they usually lose some weight as they become more active. Her head was 43.5 cm, and the doctor said it's rounding out nicely. Yeah!

Well, I hear the little munchkin waking up, so I must go!

Another Christmas come and gone

So Christmas 2006 is over. Stella's first Christmas was a resounding success, in fact perhaps too much of a success. We're going to Ikea Sunday to get bins to store all her old loot and new loot. We had a great time with everyone we got to see. Stella is so special she got 3 Christmases: one with her Aunt Caroline, her boyfriend Daniel, her Aunt Christine and her Uncle Brian, one at home with Daddy and Mommy, and one with her MeMe, Pappy and Uncle Keith. Wow, that's some serious Christmas overload! But she handled it in style.

I got some great stuff this year too. Actually, that's an understatement! Tim got me the most beautiful ring as an "upgrade" for my original engagement ring, which I haven't been able to wear since I took it off exactly a year ago because I was afraid it would get stuck. I'd been reading horror stories of pregnant ladies who had to go to the ER to get their rings cut off. My Christmas ring is just amazing, I love it! Tim did a great job! (okay, we went shopping together) I also got a new digital camera from my parents, and it totally rocks! It's a Canon PowerShot A630, 8 Megapixels, and it has manual controls, which I have not learned to use yet. So if you've noticed an increase in the quality of my pictures, it's the new camera that's responsible. It's got a kids and pets setting that takes kick ass pictures of both Stella and Lucy (I haven't tried it on the other furry kids yet). AND you can focus what you're looking at, then just wait for the photo you want to present itself, and snap almost instantly. I cannot believe how good pictures are when you can take them exactly when you want them, rather than having to wait for my slow camera to decide to snap a shot. The only downside to the PowerShot is that it's much larger than regular digital cameras, but that's so that it takes better pictures AND can fit Canon's lenses. Plus it has a really cool swivel LCD, so you can take pictures of yourself (handy for when Stella and I are playing photoshoot at home).

I was also happy because everyone seemed to really enjoy what I got them. I got my Dad some new varieties of beer for him to try, based on the recommendations of Bill, beer expert extraordinare, and my Dad really liked them. I got my mother some jewelry that my friend Nicole had made, and she really loved them too, especially the necklace that I was kind of on the fence about whether she would like it or not. I was very pleased.

So onto 2007, I guess. We'll be going to Bill the Beer Man's New Year's Eve party because my Mother is coming to watch Stella. This is the first time we haven't hosted New Year's since we got married (7 in a row) , so that's going to be kind of weird. But I'm proud to pass the torch to Bill!

Sick of Being Sick

So Stella has practically the entire month of December sick. She had stomach virus which we briefly thought was a UTI at the very beginning of the month, then a cold, then two days of wellness and then another cold which started Saturday. We went to a babysitting coop Friday night which we worked and an 18 month old girl that was there had snot aplenty and was breathing through her mouth. I knew she was sick and I was pissed that my child was now going to get sick because someone brought their sick child and dropped them off. I also somehow wound up being in charge of this little girl and Stella all night. I tried to keep them separated, but it really didn't matter. So Stella started having the sniffles again early Saturday morning and now I'm sick too. Whee! I keep reading that babies have like 8-10 colds their first year of life, but I didn't realize Stella was going to have all of them consecutively!

The picture is of us backstage at our church's Cantata Sunday night. We were Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus!

Dumb-Ass Moves

I backed into the garage door today. Not one of my proudest moments. I used to open the garage door and then put Stella in her car seat and then get into the car and go. But I had started worrying recently that someone could sneak up behind me while I was putting Stella in her carseat. Paranoid, I know. So the last couple of days, I'd been putting Stella in her carseat, and then opening the garage door from the car and backing out. Well this morning, I was super-excited about taking Stella to the mall to see Santa, and I was running late to meet Anna, and I gunned it to back out, not realizing that the garage door was not quite finished opening. So I hit it. Ouch. I was able to get it open all the way so I could finish backing out, but I wasn't able to get it closed again, but I was late and Anna and I both live in the non-cellphone world, so I had to go. My car didn't do too badly, some scrapes on the top above the window and the little knob piece that sticks out where a spoiler would go if I had a spoiler fell off, but otherwise not too bad. I inspected the door when I got home and it just has some minor dents, but when I forced it open with the garage door opener, I bent the bottom wheel that wheels it up. So to get it closed, I had to hammer that pin out on both sides. While Stella sat in her stroller with her earmuffs on (it was loud). So the garage door is closed, which is the important thing, but now we have to add "fix the garage door" to our already incredibly long to-do list!
What's weirder is that in the span of a few hours I felt like a) the biggest idiot on earth for backing into the garage door and then b) a total badass for figuring out why the door wasn't closing and then using my muscles to close it. Go figure.
And on a side note, Stella did beautifully for Santa. We got an adorable picture and Anna and I had fun at the mall. Daniel did not sit for Santa, but kept Stella's spirits up while we waited:) Also, I had to nurse Stella while we were in line and one of the "elves" was talking about how cool it was that I was breastfeeding her, how'd she'd done that with her children and we talked about how wonderful it was. Very cool!

Music Meme from Kelli

Instructions:1. Open your library on your Zen or Ipod or other MP3 player
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question press the next button

Ready, set, go!!!!!

Opening Credits: Golden Boy- Greg Dulli

Waking up: The Face of Zero and One-The New Pornographers


Falling in love: Lovely Day-The Pixies (oh, that’s nice)

Fight song: Celestial Annihilation-Unkle (Wow, gotta’ love any song with “annihilation”’ in it for your fight song)

Break up song: Big Man with a Gun-Nine Inch Nails (wow, that’s kind of disturbing. Although I would certainly break up with a man who just sang about his big gun.)

Making Up: Black Tongue-Yeah Yeah Yeahs Not the best way to make up with someone. I mean, she calls them some very not nice things in this song.

Life's Okay: 1,000 Seconds-Secret Machines Seems appropriate since SM are so stoner-rock and if you’re stoned, life’s generally pretty okay;)

Mental Breakdown: Drink To Me Babe, Then-A.C. Newman

Driving: Touch and Go-The Cars (ha! That’s awesome!)

Flashbacks: Textbook-We Are Scientists

Happy Dance: Glow in the Dark-David Garza This is totally appropriate, rock! “I glow in the dark and I won’t sit still”

Regret: My Mathematical Mind-Spoon (well, regret does usually start in your mind…)

Final Battle: Numb-U2 Appropriate somehow I think

Death Scene: Explain it To Me-Liz Phair

Final Credits: Sour Times-Portishead definitely great closing credits music to any movie

How about a Cold to go with that UTI?

Stella has a cold too, poor baby. I can't decide which is worse, hearing her struggling to breathe through her nose, or watching her scream and cry when she has to pee. I'll call it a tie. Although I honestly am trying not to complain too much since she's a trooper and there are certainly way worse things that parents have to deal with than a couple of minor illnesses.

Sick Baby

So I've given up on blogging about Michigan. I can't get Blogger to work nor can I get LGT to let me post photos, so I guess it's a sign that the world doesn't need to know about our travels. Instead I will blog about Stella being sick for the first time. Man, it sucks. It started Thursday when she vomited in the car on the way to lunch with Tim. It was gnarly, but she was in a good mood, so I didn't worry too much. Then she had diarrhea when we got home and a fever. So I started to worry and gave her tylenol, although she was still in good spirits. But man was she warm and a little poo factory. Friday she still had a fever and it was still climbing (it got up to 101.7, which scared the bejeezus out of me), so I called the nurse at her doctor's office. She said to try Ibruprofen to bring down the fever and to monitor her over the weekend. If the fever didn't come down that evening or the next day, we'd have to take her to the ER or Urgent Care. Now that's something a mom doesn't want to hear. But her fever broke that night and there was no more diarrhea after 9am on Friday, so I started to relax. Then she felt warm again yesterday, so I took her temperature and it was 100.5. So we took her to the doctor yesterday and she thought it was just a virus, but did a urine test just to be sure. Let me tell you the way they do a urine test on a baby girl. They literally stick a bag to her to catch the pee. And of course, when they did this at the doctor's office, Stella decided she did not have to pee. I nursed her, gave her water, but nope, she wasn't going to pee while we were at the doctor's. So I had to take her home and collect the urine there and take it back this morning. Luckily, Tim took it for me. Well the doctor called this afternoon and the poor thing has a Urinary Tract Infection. We're going to have to give her antibiotics for the next 10 days. What worries me more is that when I looked online for information, Babycenter had an article that said 30-40% of babies that have a UTI also have VUR, which can cause Kidney failure if not detected and treated properly, and treatment can involve surgery. Great, just what I wanted to worry about! So I'm hoping that after this gets cleared up the doctor suggests the tests for that, which involves an ultrasound. But I'd rather she get the testing than have it go undetected. So scary!
If you'll excuse me now, I have to go clean up poo in Roxie's cage. She is probably sick again since she likes to get sick before we have people coming in town or other big events, and what other time would be better to get sick than when the baby is sick too. Oh, and she has been without her special food for over a week since I haven't gotten over to the vet's because of sick baby and other dramas. Sigh.
UPDATE: I cleaned out Roxie's cage and the poo appears to be cat poo that Roxie snuck out of the catbox. So keep your fingers crossed that's all it is.

I Hate you Blogger!

I have been trying to post about the Michigan trip for 3 days, but keep losing connection with Blogger. I'm going to try one more time, dammit, then I'm going to give up and put it on my lgt blog: www.loadedguntheory.com

Holiday Meme from Kelli

I plan to blog about our Michigan Extravaganza, but decided to do this first:

HOLIDAY TIME MEME
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate. I think Egg Nog is totally gross.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
When I was a kid, Santa set the presents from him under the tree and my parents wrapped the ones they gave us. Santa's presents were always arranged for maximum "wow" factor;) Guess we'll have to decide how to do it with Stella.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
white, white, white. I think colored lights look tacky. I love white lights, they are so beautiful.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No.

5. When do you put up your decorations?
Usually the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, but since we went to Michigan this year and just got back into town yesterday evening, I'm going to give myself a break and do them next weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
My mom's dressing.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
I have several, but a couple include: Going to Picadilly at the mall with my family on my Dad's side and spending the entire dinner begging my parents to take us back to my Grandma's house so we could open presents. It was always the longest dinner of the year! Also running downstairs on Christmas morning to find all my loot;) And when I got to be a teenager with a driver's license, I liked surprising my parents by stuffing their stockings.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was 9. I saw my parents bringing Keith and I's Alf dolls in from my Dad's truck. I knew it was over, but I didn't tell my brother.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Usually. Something boring like underwear or socks.

10. What kind of decorations are on your tree?
The colors are lilac, light blue, and silver. We also an ornament when we travel somewhere (the latest is one from MSU), and we have a tradition where we get each other one each year. Although Tim usually forgets to get one for me:)

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Love it! We never have it. The last time we had it was in February a couple of years ago and our friends were over and we all had a snowball fight. One of the top 5 experiences in my life. Oh, and experiencing snow falling in Times Square in NYC on Christmas Day. Amazing!

12. Can you ice skate?
Absolutely not. I'm pathetic. (I'm borrowing Kelli's response because it's true)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Honestly, no, but I'm always happy to have anything:)

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Spending time with family and eating way too much food!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Fudge, peanut brittle, Pecan SAndies (or Sandy Duncans as I called them as a child)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Timing the Thomas unwrapping extravaganza to see if we will set a new record for Longest Christmas Ever.

17. What tops your tree?
A lit up white star, I think.

18. Which do you prefer? Giving or receiving?
Giving, I love giving the perfect gift. Although I love getting it too!

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Silent Night

20. Candy canes: Yuck or yummy?
Yummy!

A Tooth Finally Rears its Ugly Head

So Stella, the baby who has been "teething" since she was two months old, finally has a tooth coming in. I can feel its sharp tip and see the white edge poking up from her gumline. Poor thing, I don't think it's making her very happy. She is sleeping a lot. I figure she will probably cut a bunch of teeth next week while we are in Michigan, so that all of her Thomas relatives will think she is a fussy little thing, rather than the angel we all know her to be.

In other news, Mother Earth, forgive me, for I have sinned. I have been using A Disposable Diaper (shudder!) on my child at night. I am sorry, but otherwise my baby wakes up at 2, either with a leaking Fuzzi Bunz, or with the diaper wet enough it has woken up her up because of her very sensitive bum. I think she pees more than other babies. If I put on one of the dreaded D.D.'s, she will make it to 4 or 4:30 before she wants to eat. I need my sleep. My baby needs her sleep. I realize that the landfills do not need the 365 diapers a year this will create, but I hope that because it is such a small amount in comparison to the mountains created by most parents, that I will be forgiven. This is a huge confession for me to make. I extol the virtues of cloth to all parents and parents-to-be I come across. I haven't even had D.D.'s in my house since Stella was two weeks old, but I ran out of diapers and my mother was in town and she was kind enough to go buy some for me and next thing you know... I still believe cloth is the way, but I have also fallen prey to the seduction of the evil diapers with their chemicals that keep the wetness away from my baby's skin so she'll sleep. And seem to give her instantaneous diaper rash. Her Daddy, the environmentalist in the family, is not down with this. But we all have our sins against the environment: he takes 20-30 minute showers, my shower lasts only 10 minutes, but I cover my child's bottom in a disposable once a day. We are considering switching to a diaper service and using pre-folds again, but I'm not sure whether Stella will go for that since she has gotten so accustomed to the fuzzi bunz which wick moisture awake from her most of the time, and only leak or announce their wetness while she slumbers.

Speaking of sins against the earth, have you ever thought someone was really cool, and then you see them driving a giant SUV and suddenly your opinion of them is knocked down a few pegs? This happened this Sunday when a friend from church waved at us from a giant SUV. What? No! They are so cool and so liberal and like all enviromental and even vegetarian, they can't drive one of those monstrosities. But, oh, they do. Tim said he thought he saw them emerging from an SUV the other night, but didn't mention it to me, hoped perhaps he was wrong. Maybe it was a rental? Maybe Enterprise was all out of smart cars and had to give them a giant gas-guzzling behemoth that destroys the earth's resources. But no, I think they own it. You'd think they'd at least be embarrassed about owning it and not wave to their friends, but I guess SUV-drivers have no shame. Sigh.

My Celebrity Look-a-likes

I stole this from Kelli's blog. Of course, I was only a wee lass of 24 when this photo was taken, so who knows what haggard folks I would look like now.

My Baby's Growing Up Way too Fast!

I am having a maudlin "Stella is growing up way too fast" day today. I don't know why. Perhaps because I was already having a weird "off" day and feeling down in the dumps, (kind of like PMS, but I don't have that right now. Sorry, TMI), just feeling depressed for no reason. Then I went through some pictures to send to my Grandmother of Stella, and I saw how tiny she once was and how big she's getting. She's so cool now, so much more fun than she was when she was brand new and tiny, like at the left, but sometimes I miss how fragile she used to feel. And it feels like her "babyhood" is running out. I thought of her weaning the other night and instantly my eyes filled up with tears. I know I still have a few months, but I don't plan to do extended nursing for a myriad of reasons, and so it will be here sooner than I think. It's such a special time to bond with her, and just gaze at her and hold her, I don't want to give that up and watch her go from a baby to a little girl. God, I'm being so melodramatic, sitting here, typing, my eyes welling up. I've got to go get Stella, speaking of, she's waking up. She keeps me from getting too introspective, thank God!

Halloween and stuff

So last night was Stella's first Halloween. She was adorable as an Octopus, as you can see, but the night didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. See, last year, when I was pregnant with Stella, Anna was pregnant with Daniel, and Henry was 10 days old, I had this soft little picture of all of us taking the kids trick or treating this year. As I handed out candy and patted my barely noticeable belly last year, I thought of how I would dress up our little girl or boy (I found out the next day that she was a girl). Unfortunately, Henry was sick, and Daniel's Aunt was in town, so we didn't get to all get together. And Stella was more than a bit fussy. I felt bad, although we assured ourselves that she would be fussy with or without the costume;) Luckily, though, Jeff and Tara showed up and Tara and I took Stella to about 4 houses of the neighbors we know just to show her off a little. After all, she WAS all dressed up with nowhere to go! We wound up having a great time because it'd been so long since we'd all hung out together. Nothing special, just beer, way too much pizza (I'd unfortunately ordered 3 mediums just before Ashley called to say Henry was sick. Then I couldn't get through to the pizza place to change my order), and the candy Stella had gotten and that we had left over. Unfortunately, this year we didn't have very many trick or treaters, unlike past years when the doorbell is constantly ringing between 6 and 8:30. So I'd been stingy with the candy early in the night, and wound up giving the late trick or treaters, the uncostumed teenagers, big handfuls of loot. But it was fun.

On another note, I ran into our neighbor this morning, who I'd run into a few weeks ago. We chat when we see each other, and last time we'd talked he'd said he was joining the Army. I couldn't believe that someone would join the army in the middle of such a terrible war. When I ran into him today, I asked when he was leaving for the Army and he said not until January, which disappointed him, because he'd wanted to go right away. Apparently, he had to wait for an opening in the position he wants. I asked him what that was and he said Combat Engineer, he said they demolish bridges and rebuild them and rebuild roads. I told him to be careful and that he'd be in my thoughts, but I couldn't help thinking it was like playing Russian Roulette, who would willingly place themselves in that situation? I guess young guys who don't really have a lot of career prospects and look to the military as a way to shake them up and give them a career path, or at least more direction. Our neighbor had worked at HEB, and just returned this month from a year long motorcycle journey across America. I think a lot of guys like that join the military. It made me sad, like I would be seeing my neighbor's face on the news come next year, as one of the fallen. I hope not, but I also wish we didn't see anyone's neighbor's face on the news as one of the fallen. I can't believe how badly this war has been screwed up and if I stop to think about the fact that we just invaded another country with no provocation and completely fucked up their infrastructure and killed over half a million of them, it makes me cry. So I don't think about it, which is even worse. We are a disgusting, bloated country that throws its own weight around just to feel important. I'm sorry.

New post on LGT

I posted on LGT because it was kind of theatre-related post:
http://www.loadedguntheory.com/blog/director/list/julie.html

Another Cute Pic

Stella at 7 mos, 1 day.

Stella at 7 months

Stella turned 7 months old yesterday. It's hard to believe it's been 7 months since that little firecracker entered our world. She continues to astound and confound me every day. Yesterday she started saying "Da" over and over again, in effect saying "DaDa", although she says it indiscriminately. But it's so cute. Tim was so funny, he was like, "I know rationally that she has no clue what she's saying, but awww." His heart was melted. I'm only slightly jealous;)

Stella was fussy most of the day yesterday and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Sure she was teething, but that didn't seem to be all that was wrong with her. I couldn't get her to sit down, for one thing. I thought perhaps it was the nasty diaper rash she developed Monday that is slowly but surely healing. Then I thought "perhaps her denim overalls are too short in the stride". So I unbuttoned a couple of the crotch snaps and suddenly my baby was happy! I felt so bad that I'd tortured her for most of the day. But the overalls were just so dang cute and it was too cold in the house to go faluting around in just a onesie. I now think that tight pants were the same reason why she was fussy Monday. Although today her pants are definitely not too tight and she's still often keeping her legs rigid when I try to put her down. Perhaps she's practicing standing. Oh, dear!

Monday I made homemade baby food for Stella. I felt so freakin' domestic! It was surprisingly simple, except for the fact that Stella kept wanting me to hold her and cooking and holding a baby don't mix. We served her the potatoes Monday night, but she was not going to digest any of it. I was feeling inferior. But we served her the sweet potatoes yesterday and she dug them. Rock! The homemade stuff is such a better consistency. We were finding with a lot of the jarred stuff that it was just too liquidy and took forever to feed her. Stella would lose interest too soon and it also made a mess. I'm planning to make more homemade baby food tonight. I should have done it this afternoon, but I had no clue she'd take a two hour nap, those are very rare these days!

Wow!

This was one of a batch of photos I took this morning. This just might be my favorite picture of Stella ever taken. It just captures her personality so perfectly. I realize it's blurry, but it's because she's always in motion. I cannot believe how beautiful she is. Sometimes I just look at her little perfect petite features and am overwhelmed. People stop me to tell me what a beautiful baby she is when I'm at the store and stuff. Perhaps I should get her into modeling;) I'm just kidding about that last part!

Wal-Mart Still Sucks

So I broke down and went to Walmart yesterday for the first time in years. I was looking for reflectors for the jogging stroller so that I can send Tim and Stella off on their early morning, still dark runs without the worry that I have been sending them off with in the past. I had already checked Toys R' Us and Target and figured, "hey, Walmart will have it, they have everything." Tim has been trying to get me to go to Walmart lately. Apparently it's okay again, they're all environmentally friendly and stuff. So I went to the new one at Slaughter and 35 because I was curious about it and maybe wanted to relieve a little of the concerts of my youth (it's built over Southpark Meadows, which was a great outside concert venue. I saw Radiohead open for REM as well as NIN and David Bowie there). It's one of them thar SuperCenters that have a grocery store in addition to the regular Walmart and were previously only the domain of small East Texas Towns. These things are huge, they require a Rascal just to traverse the store. (Sidenote: I googled Rascal to put a link to one and something called "Rascal Flatts" kept coming up. Judging by their album covers and the fact that many of their songs seem to end in an apostrophe rather than ing, I'm guessing they are a country boy band. Weird).
Anyway, I pull into the Walmart parking lot and immediately my hands start sweating and I feel nervous. I am not used to going to stores larger than my neighborhood. There are cars driven by yokels, including one that has the sticker "Immigrant? Learn the Language and Assimilate". Yeah, for real. I doubt they even know what assimilate means. They probably think it means to do something with your ass. So I'm already nervous. I park and put Stella in her sling, fearful they'll recognize me as the hippie liberal I am simply because I've got my child in something that has her touching me and doesn't leave her free to stare empty-eyed at the ceiling while she drinks the bottle of formula I've propped up for her. We start towards the store. These people are not Austinites. They look like they have been bussed in from Central Casting as the inhabitants of a small depressed East or West Texas town. Maybe they drove in from Jasper or Seminole. I know how they like to waste money on gas with their big Dulli trucks. Once inside the store, Stella and I are both overwhelmed. It is huge and bright and ugly. I proceed to the toys since I am looking for a very specific thing I want to give as a gift. Unfortunately, they have it, but only one and it looks like someone dragged it all over the store before returning it to the shelf. It probably was used to keep a kid amused. Luckily, I find something else very cute and proceed to the bike accessories. No reflectors, nada. Apparently everything has to have batteries these days. So I go to the deodorant for Tim. I walk back and forth trying to find the aisle because they are called "anti-perspirants" on the sign and I miss it. I finally find the aisle and yep, they don't carry Tim's brand. At this point my legs are tired, Stella's trying to crawl out of the sling, and I just want to check out. But Walmart has decided in order to keep its prices low, it will only have 4 regular checkouts and 4 self-checkouts open at 5pm! The people at the self-checkouts are staring at the machines like they came from outerspace. I swear, any moment these shoppers are going to pull out sticks and start banging the machines and it's going to descend into total anarchy. I keep going to lines, seeing idiots operating them, and moving to another line. Finally I find a line behind a woman who, while she has a ton of stuff, seems to know how to scan an item and put it in a bag. Eventually I get to scan my one item and check out. I tell Stella to say hello and goodbye to Walmart because we ain't going back!
I just read this post and wow, does it live and die on stereotypes. I can only imagine what my fellow Walmart shoppers would have to say about me!

Sleep Rocks!

Stella slept till 4am last night, so she technically slept through the night. Sweet! Now our next challenge is getting her to sleep until 6:30. Go Stella, go!

Our Baby's All Grown Up!

Not really, but we did put Stella in her room by herself for the first time last night. I was really procrastinating doing it, and would get weepy whenever I even thought of it, but after several nights of very little sleep, figured it couldn't possibly get any worse. So Tim set her crib up in her room and we left her to sleep all alone. I wasn't actually really that upset. But our room does seem very empty and huge. I would love to report that on her first night in her room by herself miracles happened and that she slept through the night. I would be lying. She woke up at 1:30, 2:30 and 5:30 and didn't want to go back to sleep after she ate at 5:30, but Tim managed to get her to sleep until 7. The only difference from previous nights was that I had to walk into the room next door when she woke up, rather than just get out of bed and turn to the crib. But still, I'm sure we slept better. And it was nice not having to dread going to the bathroom for fear of waking up Stella. Although it was really odd because I kept waking up totally disoriented. We switched sides of the bed again, back to our pre-Stella sides so I would be back by the door instead of by the crib, plus we no longer had the nightlight that had lit our room for the past 6 and a half months, so when I woke up I really had no clue where I was. It was strange. I think I actually got up and went to Tim's side of the bed once when Stella woke up.

On another note, Toys R' Us really sucks. Stella and I went there today to search for a present for Henry, who turns One on Saturday with a Birthday Bash that I'm sure all the babies will be talking about for years to come, as well as a ball for Stella, and reflectors for Tim's jogging stroller. The toys were WAY overpriced. And they didn't have any balls, in fact sports had been relegated to a single aisle. No wonder our kids are so fat! And they didn't have any reflectors. Plus Stella and I were totally overwhelmed by the brightness and loudness of the place. Although I did see some really cute toys Stella told me she wants to add to her Christmas list:)

I had a dream last night that Stella just started walking. At 7 months old. Tim and I would astounded. It was such a weird dream.

That's enough rambling for now, I guess.

F is for Frugal

Tim got paid today, woot! I am going to have to practice extreme self-control not to spend it all at once. Okay, not really all, but basically we have been extra frugal the last couple of weeks because due to various costs, foreseen and unforeseen (but mostly related to our four-legged children and our two-legged child's Baptism and attendant hoopla), we've been beyond broke. (Disclaimer: when I say "beyond broke" I mean had to dip into savings, not had to Pawn our wedding rings or anything) So when I go into Fabulously Frugal Mode, we try not to buy anything that isn't absolutely necessary. Like my hair mousse, which is why my hair has been so limp lately, although I actually kind of like the look. I've been feeling like a caged animal this week, going kind of crazy, because I've barely been getting out. I've got to find new activities because I'm realizing that a lot of my current ones involve shopping, which is sad and expensive. But anyway, the result of this is often that once Tim gets paid, I go around buying all the stuff I've not been getting and suddenly we're perilously close to broke again. It's an unhappy cycle. Tim just IM'd to ask if he could go out to lunch today. See, it's like we get a little money in our pocket and just can't wait to spend it! (I told him yes, of course, I'm not Draconian!)
Tim depressingly calculated that 10% of his income goes to our health insurance costs. I didn't have the heart to tell him it's actually more than 10%, I'd already calculated this sad little figure. And a national healthcare system would be worse, why exactly? I think someone who runs his health insurance is getting insanely rich because it should not cost that much for healthcare for 2 adults and a baby when the employer is supposedly paying for the employee's part and subsidizing the dependents (I don't believe that they actually are).
Okay, enough bitching. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to stay home with my baby, own a house, own one car and be two payments away from owning the other. I don't have any credit card debt, (well, two plane tickets and Roxie's hospital bill, but those are already in the works to be paid off), and we all have our health. I suddenly feel sheepish for complaining, especially when so many people have nothing. I'm sorry for the whining but I feel I have to share my pettiness sometimes.

Rain Glorious Rain!

Or Super Crappy Night is Made Better by Sooper Awesome Morning.
Stella is really teething. No really, I mean it, she's finally in the teething shit now. Night before last she woke up several times with it. In fact, at one point, about 12:30am, she was chewing on her pacifier for relief. Last night she woke up at least every two hours and I had to nurse her to get her back to sleep. It was obvious she wanted some comfort because her teeth hurt her. Poor thing. Poor me.
But then, this morning, Tim took her on their run. He got back about 20 till 8. Then I heard him come out of the bathroom and instead of handing Stella off to me, I heard her playing in her exersaucer. I still didn't dare take the pillow off my head. Then I didn't hear her anymore. "Oh, that's so sweet, he took her down with him to eat breakfast", I thought. Then I looked at the clock and it was 8:30 and still Stella had not been returned to me, "he must be driving" I thought. Then 9:30 and I realized that he must be working from home! I didn't want to stir, although I finally did because I thought Stella was probably getting hungry. I came downstairs and it was pouring rain (outside, of course), and Stella was sleeping in the crook of Tim's arm as he slept on the couch. It was adorable. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want to wake them up. So I curled up on the other end, joined by Roxie and Lucy, and just enjoyed listening to the rain and the thunder and the lightening. Of course, I found out the reason Tim was staying home was that he'd unfortunately hurt his knee, so hopefully that's a temporary problem, but it was so nice to get a chance to rest after the horrible night we'd had last night.

The cutest picture ever!

Can you stand the cuteness? Seriously, wow, these are some cute babies! Daniel was cute too, but I think he was eating at this moment, so he isn't pictured. Stella and Henry were so cute today. Henry crawled right over to Stella and took her pacifier out. Stella was stunned. But I think she's pretty enamored of Henry. After all, he can crawl all over the place and say "yeah". Then Henry kept offering Stella toys. Oh it was just adorable! Stella's so fun now that she sits up. Tim and I both think it's so cute, we make her do it all the time. I need a synonym for cute, this is worse than my sweet potato post.

MeMe that is distracting me from cleaning my filthy kitchen

Learn 50 things about your friends, and let them learn 50 things about you!
1. How tall are you barefoot? 5'9" and a half
2. Have you ever been unfaithful in a relationship? Nope.
3. Do you own a gun? No.
4. Have you had a mental disorder? No, although sometimes I do think I'm crazy, but don't we all?
5. Why is a raven like a writing desk? Both quoth "Nevermore"? I have no clue.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Not a huge fan, but Tim bought some Hebrew Nationals that were delish
7. What's your favorite Christmas song? Silent Night, makes me cry everytime. ONe of the few things I could still play on the piano years after I stopped taking lessons.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Oj, milk, and Decaf coffee
9. Do you do push-ups? Nope. Although in yoga they make us do things similar to pushups which I hate.
10. Have you ever done ecstasy? No.
11. Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? No, I've been married for over 7 years.
12. Do you like the rain? Yes, especially since it never rains here. I actually find myself pining for the afternoon showers and storms of Houston. But I don't pine for the humidity.
13. Are you sweet? I don't know that that would be the first adjective I would use to describe myself, but I think I can be.
14. Do you have A.D.D.? I don't think so, but I have a short attention span.
15. Full initials? JDWT
16. Do you like the snow? Yes! I've only seen it a few times, but a few years ago, it snowed when we had a bunch of friends over and we had snowball fights and drank spiked hot chocolate. It was one of the most magical, fun nights I've ever had!
17. Name 4 thoughts at this exact moment. I really should clean the kitchen. I wish I'd taken a shower when Stella went down for her nap. How long before Stella wakes up. I need to order that halloween costume for Stella.
18. Name the last 3 things you have bought in the past week: groceries for dinner last night at HEB, groceries for Stella's Baptism party Saturday night at HEB, and dinner for Friday night at Central Market.
19. Have you ever been arrested? No, but I got an Minor in Possession my first weekend at UT when I was 18.
20. What time did you wake up today? 2:50 when Roxie started barking and woke me up and more importantly stella, 5:30 when Stella woke up and I had to get her back to sleep, 6:40 when Stella woke up to eat, 8:09 when Stella's Aunt Kate brought her in to try to get her down for a nap, and finally 9:10 when I realized Stella was probably hungry and I should get her and feed her.
21. Can you spell? yes and woe to anyone who can't. I also made it to my school's spelling bee and usually came in 2nd.
23. Current hate? Poopy diapers after Stella has eaten peas. Had one this morning and I swear that smell was manufactured in the 9th circle of hell.
24. Favorite place to be? on the beach
25. Least favorite place to be? the DMV?
26. Where would you like to go? Back to England, I think about it all the time. Or Cozumel to the beach, I've never been to Mexico.
27. Do you own slippers? Yes, they're in the closet but I only wear them during the winter. DUring the rest of the year, I wear flip flops around the house and often go out in them because I forgot to change shoes.
28. Where do you think you'll be in 10 yrs? still in Austin, but hopefully in another house. Probably have 3 kids, still acting a lot, and LGT will be the coolest theatre company in Austin and people other than us will know it.
29. Do you burn or tan? either. If I put sunscreen on, I can get a tan, but it fades quickly. If I do not put sunscreen on, I burn.
30. Yellow or blue? Blue
31. Would you be a pirate? ARgh! Yes, I like the idea of travelling the high seas, but I wouldn't steal stuff and kill people.
32. When was the last time your phone rang? I think probably Saturday evening when my Mom called to tell me they were in town.
33. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't sing in the shower.
34. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? evil cars. I had a recurring dream where I was standing in my grandmother's kitchen at the screen down that led to the garage, and a car was coming straight for me.
35. What's in your pockets right now? Nothing.
36. Last thing that made you laugh? Stella eating her cereal this morning.
37. Best bed sheets you had as a child? I don't remember.
38. Worst injury you've ever had? I dove into the pool after swim practice on a dare, dove too shallowly and hit my head. That ended my swimming career because I was scared to dive after that. I got a big lump on my noggin, but no concussion or anything. Or the time I sprained my ankle two years ago and had to drag myself to the sidewalk on sixth street. I had to go to physical therapy and everything, it was pretty bad.
39. Have you ever crashed a car/truck? Yeah. two weeks after I got my license I crashed my dad's truck when driving to work at Splashtown in the rain, and 3 months later I crashed my Ford Fairmont into a woman when I was trying to turn left. After that my car's right headlight pointed into the trees like the bat signal.
40. How many TVs do you have in your house? 2. Living room and office, although we never watch the one in the office.
41. Would you ever buy an iguana? possibly, I think they are very cool.
42. Are you attracted to your same sex? Sometimes, unconsciously, like I'll have a weird dream or something and think, "what the heck was that about?"
44. Do you wish on stars? No.
45. What is your favorite book? I have lots. I loved "The House of Sand and Fog". "The Great Gatsby" is an all-time fave.
46. What song did you last hear? Bennie and the Jets on the Running with Scissors preview. Can't wait to see that!
47. Do you think Mormons are hot? Eww, no. THey're usually super-blond and super-inbred.
48. What is your favorite cereal? Oreo crunch, but I haven't eaten it in years and would only eat it for dessert.
49. What were you doing at midnight last night? Sleeping.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I hope Katie still doesn't mind if I give her Stella while go back to sleep.

The Day from Hell and Infant Experiments

So this morning, Stella and I went to the Children's Research Lab at UT so that they could conduct an "experiment" on her. It was fun! Stella enjoyed having all that attention lavished on her and of course I did too. She got a brush, a t-shirt and a bib, as well as lots of cute pictures in this silly hat thing that measures brain waves. Basically, they showed her pictures of women's faces and registered her brain activity. They are trying to judge if infants find the same faces attractive that adults do, or if they just react to all of them as a "face". Do they recognize more attractive faces as a face more easily? But apparently Stella did extremely well. Not only was she very cooperative and smiley, she looked at the faces for 7 and a half minutes before losing interest. Apparently most babies only go 3 and a half, and even adults only go 8. So I guess she has a better attention span than her parents! But it was really fun, I hope they ask Stella to do it again.

Then the crappy part of the day began. I was supposed to pick up boots and some gloves for Le for Zombie. I called Ashley and Anna, the holders of said boots, after the experiment and they were unfortunately not home. So we headed home, Stella sweetly sleeping in the backseat, and I put her down for a nap when we got home. No cigar, she wasn't going to sleep. And then I let the dogs out and noticed that Roxie left a trail of blood all the way down the stairs and out the back door. Nice. She had this problem in May, on our anniversary. Bloody diarrhea. And they never figured out what was wrong with her, even after we spent $700 on her. Although they were kind enough to point out her teeth were rotting out of her skull and charge us over $300 to fix that in a separate visit. So it's back. And we don't really have $700 lying around to fix it again. Especially since we just spent $650 on plane tickets to visit Tim's family in Michigan. And we have a house full of people coming this weekend for Stella's Baptism Sunday. Roxie has really impeccable timing. So instead of helping Ian out with Zombie, I spent the afternoon at the vet's office. They couldn't get us in until 2, and they ran the tests for $244, and once again they showed nothing, all her blood work was perfectamundo. The doctor thought it could be a bunch of stuff, and basically filled Roxie full of fluids, sent us home with a bunch of expensive medicines and food, and told us that if it didn't work, we'd probably have to bring her back and have her hospitalized again. And that we should probably have a $200 test to test her steroid levels to see if she has Addison's disease. We got these results after we'd been there 2.5 hours. Stella was such a trooper, I can't believe she made it. As soon as we got in the car to come home, she was out like a light. Of course, once again, this didn't translate into a nap when she got home. I was starving and ate "lunch" at a quarter to five. Ah, fun, fun, fun. And I still need to go to the run-through tonight. Not that I want Roxie to die, but why can't she be like most dogs and just live a long, healthy life until she peacefully dies in her sleep? Why does she have to need annual $300 teeth-cleanings and quarterly $700 hospital stays?

Wow, Stella is really cracked out. Her eyes are so pink, she looks like she has pink eye. Of course, she was ina really good mood until about 30 seconds ago, so I'm not complaining. Guess I better switch into "entertaining fussy baby mode". I may have to pull out the big guns again: the Rent soundtrack. Shudder!

Stella at 6 months

We had Stella's six month checkup today. Everything's still fine, but the doctor wants us to up our solid feeding to 3 times a day. Fun, it's already a challenge to get 2 in! Stella is 26 1/4 in. long (75th percentile), 16 lbs 9.6 oz (just below 75th) and 42 cm head circumference (25-50%). Apparently the doc thinks they just over-stretched her at her first visit, which is why she started in the 90th percentile on height. Too bad, I was expecting her to be longer. Don't know why I get such pleasure out of having a big baby, but I do. So the doc gently admonished us to give Stella more sitting up and tummy time to round out the right side of her head and to feed her more solids. She said that you shouldn't need to be breastfeeding every 3 hours anymore at this age, apparently only feeding 4-5 times a day. I don't think I believe that, but I do agree Stella needs more food. And I would not complain if it meant she needed to be fed less often. And slept longer at night. The doc said that once they have teeth, they don't want to them to be fed at night because the milk stays in their mouth and can cause cavities. I knew that was a problem with babies being put to bed with a bottle, but I didn't know it was a problem with breastfed babies. Sometimes I think the docs just make up new things for us parents to worry about. Stella also got her vaccines, plus the flu shot. She's out like a light right now. I expect that to last a while. After her last vaccines, I think she took a 3 hour nap!

Friday Flicks Answers

And I thought the theme was really easy. It is Books made into Movies (points to Beth).
1) Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley
points to The Holmes
2) Cher in Clueless (based on Emma by Jane Austen)
points to Jay
3) The Virgin Suicides
points to The Holmes
4) Bridget Jones’ Diary: Bridget (Renee Zellweger), on phone, while in bed wth Daniel Cleaver
points to jeana (i thought everyone would get this, since it was in the preview)
5) A Christmas Story the Dad (based on In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd
points to Kelli
6) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan
points to Kelli
7) The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Necie, Sidda and Caro
points to Jeana
8) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Ron
points to Carrie
9) Lolita, Humbert Humbert
points to MamaChristy (isn't that a great book, even though it's so hard to read? I've never seen the movie though)
10) About a Boy, Will (Hugh Grant)
points to Jeana

points for showing up to all youse guys. Now, Kelli, did I do this right?

Friday Flicks!

Hope you enjoy. I tried to do some variety to give everyone a chance.
1) “I always thought it'd be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.”
2) “Miss Stoeger, I would just like to say that physical education in this school is a disgrace. I mean, standing in line for forty minutes is hardly aerobically effective. I doubt I've worked off the calories in a stick of Carefree gum.”
3) “What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets.”
“Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl.”
4) “________ ________ wanton sex goddess, with a very bad man between her thighs... Dad... Hi.”
5) “Fra-gee-lay. That must be Italian.”
6) “Do not cite the Deep Magic to me Witch. I was there when it was written.”
7) “I wish you could've known your momma back then, you would've loved her.”
“Necie, me not loving momma was never the problem.”
“Her not loving you was never the problem either.”
8) “Neville, you're supposed to stroke it!”
9) “A normal man, given a group photograph of school girls and asked to point out the loveliest one, will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them.”
10) “The thing is, a person's life is like a TV show. I was the star of The Will Show. And The Will Show wasn't an ensemble drama. Guests came and went, but I was the regular. It came down to me and me alone. If Marcus' mum couldn't manage her own show, if her ratings were falling, it was sad, but that was her problem. Ultimately, the whole single mum plotline was a bit complicated for me.”

Sweeeeeeet Potatoes!

So Sweet Potatoes = 1 hour of sleep for Stella. We gave her vegetables at dinner last night and she woke up at 4:30am instead of 3 or 3:30. So she technically slept through the night. Yay! As I ambled to the bathroom before changing her I had running through my head, "I'd like to thank the Academy for this wonderful honor..." As you can probably tell, it's been a while since she slept that long. She still got up at 6:30, though, unfortunately. I think that is just how her body works. So Stella ate two meals yesterday: cereal for lunch and sweet potatoes for dinner. Stella was not crazy about the sweet potatoes. She'd eat them, but every few bites she'd give a little shudder like, "okay, I'll eat this because I'll eat anything, but this is kind of gross." She's definitely her father's daughter. He'd shudder and then eat them. I'd shudder and then throw them at the person who served them to me. In this case, however, I thought the sweet potatoes were pretty good. And I normally don't even like sweet potatoes! So perhaps if Stella doesn't eat the rest of the sweet potatoes, I'll just eat them. Wow, this post is probably going to come up number one in google when you search for sweet potatoes. I think I've used that phrase about 300 times in one paragraph.

Dude, baby food is expensive! The sweet potatoes (reference # 301) were two for $1.29, and they were the cheapest veggies they had! Granted, they were organic (nothing but the best for our little monkey), but still. Totally ridiculous. I once had this grand plan to make all of her food from scratch with vegetables I grew myself in my garden. I thought I'd sew all her clothes and even my own. What a joke. I still haven't sewn the curtains for our room despite having bought the fabric about 3 months ago. My goals for each day now are a shower, two meals and cleaning the kitchen. And usually laundry. Usually lots of laundry. I totally don't mind doing laundry though, but I do think it's funny how some days the washer seems to be going constantly!

This morning, Stella totally crawled. Well, I guess creeped, but she was moving her legs in the proper way to be crawling. It was so cool. Well, what I saw of it was cool. She was playing on the floor next to me while I was reading other people blogging about their daughter and when I looked up Stella was no longer lying perpindicular to me on the blanket on the floor. She was lying parallel to me and half her body was on the tile and half was on the blanket and she was totally trying to move herself along. I'm embarassed to say I missed it, both with my eyes and my camera. But she only seems to do these grand things when I'm ignoring her. The first time she rolled over I was totally not paying attention, and she does all kinds of exciting things in Yoga while I'm not focused on her. So I ignore her when she plays ON PURPOSE! That's right, yep, that's it, I'm pushing her.

By the way, you should totally read the blog I linked to, Sweet Juniper, it is fantastic. Juniper's parents are great writers and really inspire me. I wish I could be as eloquent. Actually, Tim and I were discussing this because a friend of ours has an awesome blog where every month he writes these really beautiful letters to his daughter, talking about all she's done the previous month and how much he loves her. They make you get all misty eyed. And Tim was saying he just can't write like that, not honestly anyway. And I thought that was funny because he's a writer. He can write fake situations with people saying those sort of things, but not real ones. And I don't think I really can either. I guess we all have different gifts, and being able to write about our feelings for our loved ones is not a skill we have. I did used to write poetry, perhaps I should try that as a way to express myself. Although I'm sure as hell not going to do it on my blog, I don't want to get laughed at!

The Newest Winston Arrives!

My cousin, Trey and his wife Lisa just had their baby, Joshua Owen Winston. I'm so excited that there is another Winston in the world! He's absolutely adorable. He was just born Monday and look at how alert he is! He looks a lot like my Uncle (his grandfather), in the picture at the left. I'm not sure exactly when these pictures were taken, but he's at the most 3 days old. My cousin is also a professional photographer, so I'm sure that gives him a leg up on the rest of us and our newborn snapshots:) Welcome Joshua, can't wait to meet you!

Sounds like someone's got a case of the Mondays!

Today has most definitely been a Monday. I didn't think I would still have crappy Mondays once I was a SAHM. But Stella gets totally wonky on Mondays. I think it's because her Daddy's not around and she's off. This morning she slept until 9, so it may be my fault since I didn't wake her up. She normally gets up at 7:30 and hasn't slept until 9 in eons. But today I've spent most of my time trying to get her to sleep, then she'll only sleep for half an hour. It's exhausting. My shoulders and arms hurt from trying to rock her. And she cries hysterically whenever I try to put her down for a nap. Like I'm physically hurting her. It's awful and definitely a new development, she's been much better at going down for naps lately.

Icing on the cake: this afternoon after spending 30 minutes failing at trying to get her to nap, I came downstairs to find Roxie eating the baguette I had bought for dinner tonight. I had left it on the floor because I didn't have time to put all the groceries away (just the cold stuff), before Stella got hungry. Argh, that damn dog! Then some weird lady with a really thick accent calls about Zombie tickets. She needed me to recite all the dates and then asked, "are you a student at UT?" Uh, no. She called twice more while I was nursing Stella and didn't leave a message. Dude, I cannot deal with you today! I don't even know where she got the number. The show doesn't open for two and a half weeks!

Now I'm trying to decide if I should be responsible and finish putting the groceries away, or stare at my computer in a catatonic state, which is what I really want to do.

To Sell or Not to Sell

I had to go to the post office and "on the way" home, I decided to swing by The Children's Orchard, a kid's resale shop. I found an adorable skirt that I almost resisted, but then didn't, for only $3.99. So adorable and I just need the right top and it'll be a little punk. I totally would wear it if it weren't in Stella's size. Anyway, it got me thinking about selling some of the stuff Stella has outgrown. I'd originally planned to keep almost all of it because we are planning on having more children, but I realized today, would our future daughter/s want to have the exact same wardrobe as their older sister? Wouldn't it make you feel pretty crappy if all your pictures were of you in the same clothes your sister had? It would be weird, wouldn't it? I am the oldest and only have a brother, so I never had to deal with hand-me-downs, but I understand they suck. My father periodically reminds us to treat any future children just as well as Stella. I think his concern in this area might have something to do with the fact that he's a middle child. Maybe I should sell the clothes, then keep the cash in a safe place to purchase clothes for the future child. Yeah right. The other thing is that there's no way I could buy a wardrobe for a new child with what you would get from reselling Stella's clothes. I think I might pick out some of the more heinous things that I don't like that Stella got as gifts from well-meaning people whose taste I don't agree with and sell those. I mean, Stella has clothes that she has never worn, or only worn once!

Adorable Moments and Stella's Famous!

I was just reading I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words to Stella and she was watching me read instead of watching the pages and she laughed out loud at me. It was so cute! I love her laugh, it's adorable. I just wish she'd do it for her Daddy.

We just got the latest issue of The Alcalde, the Texas Exes Magazine, and there's Stella! They printed the birth announcement we sent in. She of course puts all the other babies to shame, although I wish that I'd read that photo taking book before I did the one for the magazine, I'm sure it would look even better. I'll try to scan that and get it up so I can show her off to the world of non Texas-Exes.

Well, it's taken me hours to post this because Stella's teething hardcore (AGAIN!), so I've been spending a lot of time getting her to sleep, soothing her. I've also found out she LOVES old 80's Madonna. Especially "La Isla Bonita". I need to brush up on my Madonna, because, while I was a huge fan as a child, I haven't really listened to her in about 20 years. Stella was so-so on Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, but seemed to dig We Are the Champions and Another Bites the Dust. What I remembered of them, anyway.

Oh, and the picture above is of Stella being her cranky indy self and listening to cuts from her new album. In the next frame she throws a couch out the motel window and downs a fifth of Jack Daniels. She's such a rock star.

Sometimes you just have to put the book down

I'm reading Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham (the author of The Hours and A Home at the End of the World). It's very good, so good that I even hold my breast pump with my arm to read it, which causes the plastic circle to dig into my flesh and leave a mark. Yes, it's that good, and yes, the only time I get to read these days is when I am pumping. Anyway, I was reading it, and it's suddenly become kind of scary. Like, I feel sick at my stomach right now, even though I put it down a few minutes ago. They described a kid dying and I had to put it down. It wasn't graphic or anything, just made me sad. Those things really get to me these days. I thought kids dying equaled sad before I had Stella, but boy, oh, boy, now it can get me into hysterics. Even in a fiction book.

I really should go back to the book because it's good and I certainly don't get many opportunites to read lately (Stella's sleeping, thank God), but I'm apprehensive about reading it. Really! Isn't that sad? I guess it goes without saying that I get really into books. I read Inconsolable: How I Threw My Mental Health Out with the Diapers by Marrit Ingram in like 3 days. And I read it while ignoring my child at play, I was kind of dangling things above her while I read it with the other hand. It's that good. If you are a parent, you definitely should read it!

Stella no longer allows me to read while I am nursing, which sucks, but she also no longer takes an hour like she did when she was a newborn, so I guess there are trade-offs. LGT meeting tonight. We're discussing budget. Should be the exact opposite of fun. Me: "Can we do it with what we already have? Check out our garage for lots of set pieces and costumes." Everyone else: "No, we need all these fantastic things that will make the show awesome and cost one million dollars." I don't blame them, it's just that we need a show to make money soon or else.... I can't go there, but we really need a show to make money! Come on Zombie!

Dude, I do not know why I am so scatterbrained today. You may just want to ignore this post entirely.

Punky eases Stella's pain

So our cat Punky who, as those of you who know her know, hates everyone and everything, apparently adores Stella. I got Punky when I was a sophomore in college so Punky's over 10 years old now, and she just gets more ornery and fatter with each passing year. But she lets Stella pet her. And today, she just did the most amazing thing. Stella was crying while I was trying to feed her because she's teething so bad, and she was hungry, but it hurt too bad to eat. It was awful. Well, Punky came right up and sat on my lap, which made Stella stop crying, of course, because she is fascinated by all our animals, and then Punky let Stella pet her. And I mean 5-month old "petting". Pulling of fur, pulling of ears, nearly poking her in the eye. I was supervising of course, but Punky didn't seem to mind a bit. And Punky would "kiss" Stella and lick her. Stella was in heaven. Of course, she'll also probably be coughing up furballs now. She had fistfuls of Punky fur in her hands, and then she'd stick her fingers in her mouth. Eww. But until I finally decided that I needed to try and get Stella to eat some more, at least 5 minutes, maybe ten, Punky sat there patiently and let Stella pet her and pull her and poke her. It was adorable! I think Punky has a new friend.

Season of Change

For whatever reason, I decided I was tired of the way my living room and dining room looked today and that I was going to move stuff around. Of course, it didn't make much of a change because it's just small stuff, like moving a candlestick here or there, changing what's on the coffee table, etc. I would like to move furniture, but unfortunately, my couch is the size of a small country and will only fit into my living room one way: the way it is. I remember when the couch was delivered. I came home and thought instantly: "my God, what have we done, this thing is huge!" And so it is. But it's also pretty darn comfy and fits tons of people, which is convenient for movie night, LGT meetings, and having peole over. But it does mean that we are stuck with a certain configuration in there. I also came dowstairs this morning and suddenly hated my dining room curtains. I've always loved them in the past. But now, they are ugly and kitschy and overwhelming. I should sew some new ones, although what fabric I'll use I have no clue. They have been up there for nearly 5 years, I was bound to get tired of them eventually. Of course, all decorating decisions have to be run by Tim. He's one of those guys that actually cares about how their house is decorated, which is good and bad. Good because it's nice that he cares and bad because I can't just do everything the way I want it:) I'm also trying to further pare down knick knacks and clutter, as it does not go with the modern aesthetic I now love. Even though my house is anything but modern. I suppose it's contemporary, with some fifties nostalgia thrown in.
We have a bunch of stuff on display above our kitchen cabinets, and I can't decide whether to keep it or lose it. Probably I'll most likely just take some of it down. It's amazing how much you can think about these things when you're home all day!
Left: Dining room (okay, it's really a breakfast room), complete with curtains I now hate; Right: Living Room, complete with MONSTER COUCH!

Take better photos

(This was actually written yesterday afternoon)
12:57pm I'm writing this blog for later posting since our cable is currently down. You forget how dependent you are on the internet until you don't have it for a while. In this case, it's been a couple of days. Tim accidentally cut the cable while gardening Saturday (we're both perplexed as to why the cable was so close to the surface). The repair guy will be here at some point today. So of course I'm housebound. I thought I'd be super-responsible and get lots done since I don't have the internet (or tv, but I never watch tv during the day anyway because Stella will try and watch it too), but I forget that I still have books. And I can do stuff on my computer that doesn't require the internet. I did start trying to write, but only got about half a page in before losing interest.
I read a great book Saturday afternoon about how to photograph your baby. I bought it at the monster library book sale a few months back and intended to read it before Stella arrived. That didn't happen, but I decided to read it Saturday and I'm so glad I did! It only took me about half an hour to read and I have already had great results. I took pictures Sunday morning and afternoon and they turned out better than any others I'd taken in the entire time Stella's been around. I used to take pretty good pictures, but digital has kind of screwed me up. It just doesn't work as well as film. But anyway, this book basically recommended some really simple steps which have already had a tremendous impact on my photographs. 1) Get really close to your subject. He said that most baby photographs are really a document of your living room. Good point. He said get close to your baby and fill the frame with them. 2) Turn off the flash and use natural light. He recommends putting your baby parallel to a window and taking pictures that way. It will create really cool shadow on one side of their face and light on the other and lots of drama. 3) Take lots of pictures. He'd written the book in the time of film photography, so he tells you not to be afraid to waste film, but in the time of digital, this is easy as pie. I just kept snapping continuously and then afterwards you can delete what you don't want. 4) Never center your subject in the middle of the frame. It's boring. 5) pay attention to the background. You don't want the Washington Monument growing out of Junior's head. Although if you fill the frame with your baby, this won't be an issue. 6) clothes are distracting, take pictures of your baby naked or just in a diaper. I haven't followed this one yet because once I have the clothes on, they ain't coming off unless they have poop or pee on them. But I'm sure he's right about this one also.If anyone wants to borrow the book, let me know. I think the shots I've taken speak for themselves, although the one on the left is way too dark. Now I want to get a better camera:)
yay, the cable guy just called and he'll be here in 20 minutes. Although this will probably be smack-dab in the middle of when i feed stella, of course...

Babies Every Frickin' Where!

Oh, before I forget, Joni, yes, please link to me, I look forward to reading your blog, too! And if I ever figure out how to put links on my page I'll link to yours:)
Okay, so Stella has been teething HARDCORE and so I don't get much of her nap time to do stuff. Maybe 45 minutes twice a day. So my house is in a shambles and my blog is a week old. So of course, which one do I do first? Update my blog of course! Actually, I did stay up until midnight last night to straighten up. It'd gotten to red alert proportions, where it messes with my inner peace and must be cleaned. I can ignore the cat hair on the couch, the dog hair on the floor, etc, but I cannot stand a dirty kitchen or clutter. So now things are liveable and I am spending Stella's nap blogging. Actually, I spent the first half hour trying to get into blogger because I couldn't remember my login which is a bizarre login I made up because I didn't realize I'd already used my usual login to set up an account for the Stella Lily blog. Sigh, I digress.
So in addition to dealing with Super Fussy Baby, I have been dragging her all over God's creation this week. This is very good for Mommy's mental health. We met Miriam for lunch Wednesday and Stella probably scared the crap out of her (she's 5 months pregnant), and yesterday we went to a Austin Mama's play group. It was pandemonium. Hence the title, "babies every frickin' where!" But it was fun. Although we spent most of the time tending to our babies and not a whole lot of time talking, I did get to chat with some cool moms. There was an adorable little 4 year old there who was really sweet and when Stella was crying was like, "she wants her pacifier" and put it back in her mouth and held it. She spit it out but a couple of minutes later, I guess I'd put it back in and she was happy and he was like, "see, she wanted it." So cute! He was there with his 7 week old little sister. He's going to be a great big brother! I'm looking forward to when Stella is that age and we can have real conversations, honestly. I always thought I was a baby person. But while babies are cute, I can't wait to be able to talk to Stella and really show her stuff and teach her. That's going to rock!
So much has been going on I haven't blogged about. First and foremost, I am way behind on plugging Ashley's great slings: www.littlepepperpouches.com They are awesome and you should totally buy one if you want a sling. Trust me, once you start trying different slings, you'll discover they are not only the easiest to use, but the best looking and some of the cheapest. I thought slings were for hippies until Ashley let us borrow one when Stella was first born. If we had not had that, neither Tim nor I would have eaten until she was at least a month old! And now it's the best way to cart her around.
Also, this article was fascinating and frightening. There is so much the media is not telling us about the downsides of formula: http://www.austinmama.com/Formulafordisaster.htm I think every woman should be armed with this information so they can make informed decisions about what is best for them and their child.
And I have decided that after my Yoga card from pre-Stella is done next week, I'm going to continue to budget for weekly Yoga sessions. Even on the weeks when I spend 2/3rd of the class soothing Stella, I still get interaction with other Mommies and a little exercise. I'm not getting much since it's 100+ these days!
Okay, Stella is stirring again, my popping the binky in didn't work, so that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be back in less than a week!

99 cents!

I got a hankering for a cherry limeade after I had lunch with my chicas and I decided to order the large, I figured I deserve a large cherry limeade every once in a while, I'll splurge. Then the guy gave me a total of $1.07. Turns out they are only 99 cents right now! Sweet! This could turn into a regular indulgence. Maybe I'll even branch out and try other nifty drinks. Yes, this is what passes for exciting in my life right now. I am disappointed because it was mostly ice, but oh well, I guess that's how they afford to sell them for 99 cents!

Teething sucks

Stella is teething hardcore and breaking my heart/driving me crazy. We went to Yoga this morning and she was fussy for about 45 minutes out of the hour and fifteen minute class, then we drove to pick up my sunglasses at the Off Center and she fell asleep. We came back home and she was in a good mood for a little while, then I tried to feed her, which was quite a chore since because she's teething she thinks she wants to nurse, then it hurts to suck, so she comes off and cries because it hurts/she's hungry. Sigh. I finally gave her some Tylenol, which I try to avoid at all costs. Then she wouldn't go to sleep, just cried and cried. I kept trying different teethers, even used some Ambesol. Even, and this is a big confession, resorted to letting her watch tv because it calmed her down. Unfortunately, it only worked for about three minutes. Finally, the Tylenol kicked in and/or Coldplay soothed her and she calmed down and I was able to put her down for a nap. I wish these stinking teeth would just break through already, this is getting ridiculous!

Stella Has her First Solid Meal!

So we gave Stella her first solid meal last night. I was a bit skeptical, since she'd also had her shots yesterday, and I was afraid she'd just scream like a banshee. Luckily, she had a much better reaction to her shots this time than last, they seemed to just make her sleepy and maybe a little irritable. Although it's hard to tell now when she's irritable if it's teething or something else. Anyway, we got all set up and I was ready for her to completely reject the cereal, but she loved it! It was so cool to watch her figuring out what to do. At first she kind of lapped it up like a cat, then she got that she was supposed to put the spoon in her mouth and so she then wanted to hold on to the spoon and feed herself. She even wiped her mouth with her bib at one point, it was adorable! So I guess the girl is ready for solids. I do not mourn the passing of the all-breastmilk diet, but celebrate the excitement of Stella discovering how to eat! And I certainly shouldn't feel intimidated by her current meal, which is once a day and 3/4ths breastmilk anyway:)
Notice the nifty modern high chair? A gift from her Aunt Kate from Ikea so that Stella can eat in style. All those regular high chairs were too boring for our little trendsetter. Okay, they were really too ugly and too bulky to match our kitchen!

Dreading Tomorrow

Stella's getting her 4 month vaccines tomorrow and I am DREADING IT! We were supposed to get them last Wednesday but waited so she wouldn't be a complete pill for her Baba and her Aunts who came to visit. OF course, yesterday she still was a pill, she just refused to sleep. Between getting off of her nap schedule, us having lunch at a place that took FOREVER and didn't have a/c (we didn't know!), and her teething, we couldn't get her to sleep at all. Having guests is nice, but I think it totally gets ALL our schedules off when they are here for several days! I realized a few minutes ago that what I really should be doing is cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, all the stuff that Stella may not let me do for the next couple of days if she has an unhappy reaction to the shots like she did last time. Poor thing was just not herself for 2 or 3 days, and cried out in pain whenever I accidentally brushed her legs where she'd gotten the shots. At least this time I'm prepared and know what to expect. Oh, well, a little pain is a small price to pay to have the world rid of horrible diseases that 50 years ago could cripple or kill your child (polio anyone? shudder!)
In an hour I have to go all the way across town to have a meeting for a murder mystery I'm doing this Friday. It was presented to me as having NO rehearsals. Of course, I guess this doesn't count as a rehearsal, it is just a happy hour meeting to discuss the game plan. I thought that was why we arrived at the place we're performing an hour early! Oh, well, these things never are as promised. Let's just hope Stella doesn't give her Daddy any trouble tonight when they are home alone.

Stella's 4 Month Check up

We just returned from Stella's 4-month check up and she is healthy and growing apace! She is 25.5 inches long (still 90th percentile), 14 lbs, 12.8 oz (still 75th) and 40 centimeters in head circumference (only 25th percentile). Although the doctor thinks the head size will increase once the flat spot she has on one side evens out. To that end, we are to spend even more time with Stella upright and on her tummy. The doctor even recommended we put her down for naps on her tummy, with her head turned so that the flat side of her head is not touching the mattress. I was surprised by this, but apparently it's safe now that she can lift her head and roll over. This means doing away with the Swaddler, though, so we're going to wait to attempt this until the weekend when Tim is home. I'm sure the first few times I'll be checking on her every five minutes! But we don't want her to have to go through life with a misshapen head:0
Also, the subject of solids came up, and the doctor said as long as I don't mind feeding her more often like I have been, I don't have to give cereal until I'm ready. Phew! Although I think we're going to start doing it soon, as Stella seems ready. She watches us eat and reaches out to pull plates and stuff towards her sometimes. I read a bit in T. Barry Brazelton about mommies being reticent to give their children solids because we'll no longer be the sole source of nourishment, and recognized myself. He really made me realize that it's okay to move on this next stage. Of course I also dread solids because of the cost and the fact poopy diapers will now have to be rinsed in the toilet. So far, Stella has been practically free on a day-to-day basis since I bought the cloth diapers eons ago and she's breastfed. Now we'll have an ongoing expense! Another new development, we should start giving her water, especially when she's out in the heat. We'll see how she takes to that after only having the sweet taste of milk. I'm going to try tonight when we go to Tim's run, since she'll be outside. Last Tuesday she wanted to eat when we were out and I think it was because she was thirsty, not hungry. New developments every day, this is when she's really getting exciting!
Her Baba and Aunt Christine were supposed to be here 40 minutes ago. Hopefully they didn't encounter any bad weather! 

Another meme!

So Tim tells me I am still pronouncing it wrong. I think it's meem not mim. Whatever. Anyway, the newest meme is typing "Julie wants" into Google and then typing up the first ten responses. Fun! Some of them didn't make any sense, so I skipped them in favor of ones that did.
Julie wants ..... to know if she'll ever get Straight A's (not again until Grad School, but this happened a few times in my younger days. Unfortunately it has no bearing on your future life. they don't tell you that.)
Julie wants.... to meet 1 person
badass Julie wants ....to go clubbing (this is my favorite. God how I would love to go clubbing, I haven't done that in years! Dude, once we're all done with breastfeeding, I should totally drag Anna and Ashley to do that. We already have something else we are going to do that we all agree on. hee hee. only 8 months to go!)
Julie wants ..... Jean killed like an animal. (oh wait, maybe this is my favorite, although I've only ever met a couple of Jeans/Genes, but they were both incredibly sweet)
Julie wants .... to do 8 things.
Julie wants.... to return to her roots.
Julie wants.... to be a mathematics teacher after finishing college. (no freaking way!)
Juli(a) wants .... me to flip the bird this way (not really, I'm not picky, flip the bird anyway you'd like, just don't flip it at other drivers, they will often get out of their car and try to kick your ass. I learned this the hard way in high school. trust me, don't do it)
Julie wants.... to fall in love and exactly who she is looking to fall in love with. (too late, already fell in love with Mr. Tim nearly 10 years ago and Miss. Stella 4 months ago)
Julie wants.... out

Meme from Kelli

Tim makes fun of me because I call these things "mee mees". They are apparently mims. Whatever. Kelli tagged me to do one from Stella's point of view, although it's nearly impossible, as being only 4 months old, Stella doesn't have very strong opinions. But I'll do what I can!

3 Things That Scare Me
naps
Being laid on my changing table when I'm really hungry and really wet. What if she never feeds me?!
loud noises

3 People That Make Me Laugh
Daddy
Mommy
MeMe

3 Things I Love
Rabbit (aka Rae, aka Rae Rae)
Buddy
Kitty

3 Things I Hate
naps
wet diapers
having to poo but it just won't come out!

3 Things I Don’t Understand
English
Why Mommy is annoyed when I wake up at 5am raring to play
Let Down - I want my milk RIGHT THIS SECOND!

3 Things On My Desk/Table
I don't have desk or table. Mommy's bedside table, which is next to my crib has:
A Book about Baby Giraffes
A Book about Baby Koalas
a coaster

3 Things I’m Doing Right Now
Sleeping in my crib, which is now in Mommy and Daddy's room. I love my crib, I do a 360 turn in it and spend lots of time trying to roll over and waking Mommy and Daddy up really early.
I'm wrapped in my swaddler
I'm dreaming of crawling. Or at least sitting up!

3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
I agree with the first two responders: Mommy’s not even willing to discuss me in the same sentence with that word so I guess we have to skip it.

3 Things I Can Do
Roll over
Do baby sit-ups
Smile the world's most beautiful smile

3 Ways to Describe My Personality
Happy
Outgoing
Selfish (hey I'm a baby!)

3 Things I Can’t Do
More like 300!:
Be Reasoned with
Recite Shakespeare
Control my bodily functions

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To
Here Come the ABC's by They Might Be Giants
For the Kids cd, especially "Hop Hop Hippity Hop"
My cries

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To
dogs barking
phones ringing
"shhing" my parents do when they are trying to get me to go to sleep

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
Mommy's Milk
Mommy's Milk
Mommy's Milk

3 Things I’d Like to Learn
To sit up
To crawl
to walk

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
See "Absolute Favorite Foods"

3 Shows I Watched as a Kid
I am not allowed to watch tv, but I really try. I am trying to be like an owl so I can turn my head around 360 degrees and see the tv no matter what Mommy and Daddy do!

3 People I Tag
Henry
Daniel (use Mommy's LGT blog!)
Jackson (tell Mommy to start a blog!)

Here's a picture of me with my Great Grandma, Mama and my Great Grandpa, Papa. Don't let my expression fool you, I really liked them, I was just really sleepy!

So fortunate!

I was just doing our finances and realized how fortunate we are that we can afford for me to stay home with Stella. We made it through the first half of the month without touching savings, with even a little bit to spare. This the first month since I've become a Stay At Home Mom that we were able to do that. Of course, we did have a month where Roxie was sick and then needed her teeth cleaned which cost over a $1,000, which you can hardly budget for. It's really a relief to be like, "phew, we can do this!" Sometimes I think, "what did we spend our money on when I worked?" Of course, then I remember that we put a ton of money in savings, took great vacations, and last, but certainly not least, went out A LOT. So that's where the money went! I can't wait for November, when Tim's car is paid off and then we can start saving again. Tim wants to sell his car, but I just think there's too much convenience in having two cars. Sure, he takes the bus, but what about when I start doing plays again? I'm sure there'll be times when he'll need a car and I'm gone to rehearsal. And with his car just a few payments away from being ours, it seems silly to sell it and risk us needing to buy a new one and take on a car payment. I don't know, maybe he'll convince me, we'll see. It would be nice that big chunk of change in savings, and it's silly that it only gets driven once a week, if that.
Tim thinks I'm a master budgeter, but I'm really not. I couldn't do it without Quicken. I tell you who is a master budgeter: my friend Kelli. I read how much she's getting with how little, as far as groceries and just generally living and I am blown away! Maybe I'll start issuing challenges to myself. We've definitely cut back on our eating out, which is good, but we both just love Tim's gourmet meals so much, it's hard to cut back on the groceries hardcore. Well, as we've both said, you gotta' set your priorities for what makes you happy in life. Family, friends, food, music and theatre I think are Tim and I's top 5.
The picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post, but I thought the post was pretty boring and needed some spicing up:) It's from her "Future Longhorn" photo shoot. Now I just need to get one of them printed and sent to the Alcalde, the Texas Exes magazine, so we can show her off!

July 4th Partay

Isn't this the cutest picture? It's Anna, Daniel, Me, Stella, Ashley and Henry. Aren't we the best looking group of mamas you ever saw?! :)

Oh, this is going to be a fine day

I am really tired. Yesterday, Stella woke up at 7:30am, which is now her new waking up time, but for some reason I was more tired than usual because of this. But I have accepted 7:30 because she went from midnight to 7:30am without waking up at all. Yes! Oh, and Monday Tim had the day off work. Stella woke up at 7:15am, I fed her, we played, then I put her back down to sleep about 9. I went back to sleep too and we all 3 slept in until 11am! I have not done this since she was born. It was so awesome! Then this morning she decided to wake up at 6:05am. And decided she was not going back to sleep after I fed her. She was going to be all talkative and cute and want to play. Sigh. So I got up with her, ate a bowl of cereal, and then she seemed fussy so I thought perhaps she'd go back to sleep. This was a little after 7am. I read her the rest of "Are you my Mother?", (I really need to get more books. Maybe I'll check out the Monster Library Sale again. I am so tired of alternating the Foot Book, The ABC's, Are You My Mother and Mr. Brown Goes Moo. I really like Dr. Seuss, can you tell?), and then after a lot of "shhing" (our sleep cue word, we learned this from The No Cry Sleep Solution), she finally went to sleep. So did I. But she woke up again at 8:10am. We had a little tummy time and I fed her and then she was fussy again about 9:00am, so I read her the Feet Book and after much shhing, she went to sleep. But I cannot go back to sleep, AND apparently I accidentally threw away the can opener because it was in the bag from Slapdash and I didn't realize it. So no Decaf Coffee for me (which amazingly keeps me awake). I just re-read that and wow, I am not even coherent.
I really should be cleaning. I'm hosting book club tonight and I did not realize my house was so dirty until early yesterday evening. I thought I'd just have to run the vaccuum and be done. But I think I have a bit more than that to do. Damn.
And we have decided we are going to move the crib into our room because Stella is outgrowing the pack n' play bassinet. So don't laugh when you come to our house and there is no crib in the nursery. It's just actually being used! Tim has sweetly agreed to having her in our room for at least a bit longer. I'm just not ready to have her all the way over in the other room!