You Are My Sunshine (June 27-July 3, 2010)

One of my favorite beverages, IZZE, is more than just delicious.  Check out what they're doing for the greater good here.  Then have some fun by sending a sparkle or designing a t-shirt and test some recipes.  I love them!  My favorite is Sparkling Clementine, how about you?

Winner!

The magnificent Gabrielle Blair from Design Mom had a tremendous giveaway last week, and I won!  Yay!  I won a year subscription to SafetyWeb, which is frighteningly necessary these days, and will be used to protect my dear niece, W, who, while otherwise brilliant, is much like any teenage girl.  Her horomones and immaturity get the best of her sometimes, and she doesn't think about consequences.  Anyway, SafetyWeb monitors the social web for anything your child may have posted that could come back to bite her/him, like inappropriate pictures, tweets, etc., any of which a potential employer/college/or anyone could see.  If anything negative turns up, SafetyWeb provides tools to remedy the situation before it becomes a true situation.  SafetyWeb also promises to defend against cyberbullying and online predators.  I hope we never need their services, but it feels good to know they're there to help us in that instance.

Thanks Gabrielle!!

Spiders: Evil Incarnate

So I'm off to the dermatologist in an hour for my first ever skin check.  The increasing number of freckles and wrinkles should've prompted me to go sooner, but it took the appearance of spider veins (!!) to get me to make an appointment.  Chances are good that I'll feel to vain (ha!) to bring them up when I should really be concerned about sun damage, but I hope to discuss it with the doctor.  Oh, also the mystery lump on my head.  Yikes!  Why didn't I do this sooner?! 

Then it's the weekend!  We have no real plans, and since my magnificent baby C started sleeping through the night (please let it be a trend!), we don't even have to use the weekend to catch up on sleep.  Instead I'll be preparing for the exterminator to come on Monday.  What preparations are needed, you ask?  Well, for those as anal as myself, it means cleaning places that rarely see daylight in the off chance that the exterminator may peek there (hello, baseboards behind the washer and dryer!).  The exterminator may be my favorite guest, actually.  Anyone who can ensure the absence of the horrible desert bugs we have here - especially the outdoors roaches and the freaky spiders - is tops with me.  Since we try to be as green as possible, and have a baby and kitty to worry about, we opted to use an eco-exterminator.  I hope it works! 

Buzzzzz

A secret ambition of mine has long been to have a bee hive.  Apparently, though, all bees in LV are "killer" bees, and unsafe for the average hive-keeper.  Instead, I buy yummy varieties of honey when I can and fight the temptation to buy lovelies like these:

from Etsy seller thumble

from shopsomethingblue

from studiolara316

when happiness is

I'm back!  We have a wonderful baby boy and have moved into our house.  I wouldn't advise doing these at the same time.  We got the keys to the house on February 26, I went into labor on February 28, and had the baby on March 1.  Then my mother-in-law surprised us with a visit starting two days after our release from the hospital.  I love my mother-in-law, but that's an inappropriate and unwelcome surprise. 

Anyway, over the past months I've learned... 

-prior to kissing your baby's impossibly cute feet, check to make sure said baby hasn't somehow managed to get his or her poo on those adorable feet.
-breastfeeding CAN be easy!
-Dr. P's quiet reassurance far outweighed the constant babble from one of my nurses.  Sometimes less is more.
-I was blessed to have an easy and enjoyable pregnancy, relatively easy delivery, and a quick recovery.  I'm afraid it's made me less than sympathetic to other new moms.  Sorry.
-As with women's clothing, there is no such thing as standard sizing in baby clothes.
-The pain of hearing your baby cry after circumcision far outweighs the pain of childbirth. 
-Though I wouldn't have predicted it, I miss grocery shopping and cooking and cleaning the way it used to be.

I've been gone a long time.  The first few weeks were just really busy and overwhelming.  Getting to know C, moving, adjusting.  Lately, though, I've just been immersed in drinking in the whole thing.  I'm at once impossibly happy and worried and scared.  It's the strangest thing.  I find myself obsessed with absorbing every minute - blissful, overwhelming, tiring, or anything else.  It doesn't matter - I want to etch each and every sight, sound, smell, and feeling into my brain.  It's all moving so fast, and it breaks my heart to think that one day I won't remember the smell of his sweet head, or the feeling of his nuzzling into my neck.  It's so strange how everything seems to be amplified now, with him.  The yellow of the sunflowers is more vivid, the smell of the jasmine, sweeter.  And, unfortunately, the worries about the future are more intense.  How will I teach him how to be safe in this world without making him afraid of it?  How can I impress on him the importance of relishing each moment of life?  How can I occupy each and every moment fully, so that I never regret taking it for granted? 

This is Father's Day.  B's first Father's Day with C.  It feels more like it's for me, though.  A day to pamper and honor B makes me feel good.  I look at them together (with H, the kitty, of course), and I burst with love.  I've come to realize that while my disappointments in life are real and sometimes consequential, they can't stack up to all that I have and all I have had.  Now I'm going to go gaze a little longer at what I have, in awe.

Loss of Control

So I'm still pregnant.  I'm not due until Sunday, but I'm scheduled to be induced next week.  It's so frustrating for me to know that my kid will be exposed to Pitocin and probably Cervadil when I've done so much through this pregnancy to avoid exposing him to anything that could harm him.  Now I'm reading of possible links between Pitocin and autism (one of my nightmares) and the increased odds of needing an epidural or even a c-section and decreased odds of successful breastfeeding.  Of course, BB is totally calm about it all.  In home ownership news, we went to sign the papers this week only to find several mistakes.  Now we're delayed again, and hope to have the keys on Tuesday.  Yes, you guessed it, the day I'll be induced if I haven't already gone into labor.  I can tell you for certain that focused anger (at the title company in this scenario) does not cause one to go into labor.  Nor does annoyance, frustration, anger, or constant calls from nosey and needy mothers.  If I had control over anything in my life right now, most of it would be different.  Alas, I do not.  Thus ends my rant for the day.  Carry on.

Wanted

I don't really consider myself to be a hat person, but it's not for a lack of trying.  Rather, it's that I have an unusually small head and a lot of affordable hats are one size.  Really, is anything actually one size fits all??  Anyway, Lulu's has this one in real sizes with real measurements for $44!

Also from Lulu's, is this fabulous dress that I'd certainly pick up under certain circumstances, such as if we were to renew our vows at a little Las Vegas chapel and if I weren't currently hugely pregnant.  Get this, it's only $39.  $39, people!! 

Valentine's Day

I've always loved Valentine's Day - well except for that Charlie Brown feeling I had at the school parties where everyone exchanged valentines and, always being hypercritical and unusually self-aware, knowing that a good percentage came from people who wouldn't have given them if they weren't required. Anyway, a good cinnamon candy heart makes up for all of that. In light of the holiday, I thought I'd compile a short list of Valentine's Day gift ideas for your sweeties. Here goes...

1. For those of you in Las Vegas, Frisco, or Dallas, head to The Cupcakery. I especially recommend the fabulous Southern Belle.

2.  Ted Kooser's book Valentines.  For more than two decades, the former US Poet Laureate has written a special Valentine's Day poem to distribute to women who requested them.  They aren't particularly romantic, and are certainly not erotic, but are evocative none-the-less.

3.  Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.  Doesn't every girl love it?  Get both the book and the movie, preferably this version, with Colin Firth.

4.  How about this adorable, and more than affordable ring from ModCloth? 

5.  My BB would love a new Holga!

6.  This sweet little book from Etsy seller CoriKindred is what Valentine's Day is all about.  Try wrapping it in a small box filled with conversation hearts.

Happy Valentine's Day!  Enjoy all of those you love. BB, our kitty, and I will be celebrating this last Valentine's Day before the baby arrives at home with some crepes, candlelight, and YoYo Ma.

Random Thoughts

1. Go Saints!!
2. Is there such a thing as an attractive and comfortable nursing bra?
3. Packing without knowing the closing date on our new house ranks up there on the list of my all-time most ridiculous ideas. Now, where is my pizza cutter???
4. Yay for rain in Las Vegas!!
5. Boo for boring posts, but seriously, sometimes a girl needs a mental break.


Happy weekend.

Hurdles

So we were supposed to have already had our appraisal and inspection on the house, but the lock box went missing, and apparently it takes FIVE days to replace. Anyway, we're finally getting back on track, and have the inspection today. We've been this far on a house before and had it all go to hell, so I won't believe it's ours until we clear these last hurdles. I'm sort of dreading this. In better news, tonight some fabulous ladies from BB's office are throwing us a co-ed baby shower! How sweet!! The past four years of working from home have rendered me socially awkward at best and socially inept at worst, so these kind of things make me nervous. I haven't really missed alcohol since I've been pregnant, but a drink would be good tonight. I know these are truly good people, though, and that might loosen me up a bit. Here's to them!