Can't Sleep Meme

From Violet. It's 3 AM and I can't sleep.


1. Where were you THREE hours ago?
Asleep in bed.

2. What was the last thing to make you mad?
Probably something moving-related, but I can't recall what.

3. Are you wearing SOCKS right now?
No way.

4. When was the last time you went out of STATE?
Visiting the in-laws out west? Or mother's day? I can't remember which trip was first at this point.

5. Have you been to the M0VIES in the last 5 days?
No. But I did see Iron Man seven days ago.

6. What did you see?
Iron Man.

7. What was the last thing you had to drink?
I am drinking from my jug of ice water (I carry around a 1-liter container to make sure I drink enough.

8. What are you wearing right now?
Pink nightgown.

9. What was your last purchase?
A toilet seat, locks, and other various items for the house we just bought.

10. Last food you ate?
Delivery pizza at the new house (sensing a trend here?).

11. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
Insurance agent about the house. Or my mom. Can't remember.

12. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
No. I received a bunch of new clothes from my family for my birthday, though. Apparently they were sick of my jeans and t-shirts I normally wear. That and I asked for clothes because my work tops don't fit as long as I'm nursing.

13. Do you have a pet?
Just the dust bunnies. But we've discussed a cat.

14. What did you do last night?
Last night we all went to the hardware store to buy the stuff listed above and we hung out at the house.

16. If you could be anywhere you want where would it be?
Sleeping at the moment. Otherwise, somehow the magical fairies have cleaned the new house for us, and are in process of moving all our stuff. Voila. We'd wake up tomorrow and it'd all be done! Yay!

17. What is the last thing you purchased online?
According to email, a rental truck reservation.

18. One thing you hate about yourself?
My lack of energy/laziness/lack of focus.

19. What’s your favorite soup?
Ramen when I'm craving salt so badly I'd lick a salt lick. Otherwise French onion soup. Mmmm.

20. Do you miss anyone?
At this very moment, no.

21. Last movie you saw?
Iron Man.

22. What are your plans for the day?
Actually sleeping some more, packing up cleaning supplies for the house, scrubbing the carpet for Baby Bug's new room, scrubbing the carpet in the living room, starting to scrub down the kitchen and bathroom. Tend to Baby Bug (and get her eating solids today since yesterday we were so discombobulated she didn't get solids). Chat with people who are supposed to be coming by the house to look at it and see if they'll tend to Baby Bug for 30 minutes or an hour at a time so I can hurry and get stuff done.

23. Did you have fun today?
Yes, surprisingly.

24. Who is your last text message from?
My mail server at work. It misses me (actually, it was down and messaged to tell me that).

25. Were you an honor roll student in school?
Yep.

26. What do you know about the future?
That there will be a lot of work ahead of us. :)

27. Who was the last person you rode in a car with?
Baby Bug and R!

29. Do you have a tan?
HAHAHAHAH *snerk* That's funny. No. I'm so white, I'm practically blue.

30. How old do you want to be when you have kids?
I guess 30 was a good year to have kids.

31. Did you meet anyone new today?
Met lots of new people today.

32. Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
Yes. And there will be more.

33. How do you like your soda?
Cold and lots of ice if it's Diet Coke. Otherwise, out of a glass of some sort.

34. Do you like hot sauces?
Not especially. I enjoyed spicier foods before my gallbladder surgery.

35. What are you doing tomorrow?
Sunday will be more of the same of yesterday - cleaning the house, tending to Baby Bug, packing.

36. What day is tomorrow?
Sunday.

37. What is your current mood?
Tired. And sort of frustrated.

38. Why?
It's 3 AM and this apartment is not packing itself (the nerve).

39. Do you remember the first person you ever kissed?
Yep.

40. Do you have a crush on anyone right now?
My husband. He even still gives me goosebumps.

41. If you could be on a TV show, which one would it be?
Extreme Home Makeover, only without the tragic tale of sadness. Other than that, I can't think of one I'd want to be on.

42. Why?
I like our house and all, but having a new house with a re-finished yard (ours needs some work) would be awesome.

43. Have you ever watched a movie and just “had” to do what they did?
Not that I recall.

44. Do you have a “face” you make in the mirror?
I do.

45. Ever use someone else’s toothbrush?
Barf. No.

46. Do you like/love the person you got this survey from?
I do. :)

47. Can you whistle?
Yes, but I despise whistling. Drives me batty. But I do whistle for Baby Bug because she enjoys grabbing my lips while I do it and laughing.

48. Can you wiggle your ears?
Yes!

49. You have a song that comes on that you just “have” to turn up and sing to?
Modest Mouse's Float On.

50. Who are you thinking about right now?
R. And also Baby Bug.

Random Brain Dump

Baby Bug is eating avocado, sweet potatoes, and bananas. She hates bananas. We'll wait a while before we try those again.

We're moving. MOVING. If someone wants to come pack up and move our stuff for us, I'll let you do it because if we keep this up, R may end up kicking me out of the house and forcing me to live in the apartment because I've become such a harpie about this whole ordeal. WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED MOVING YET.

Baby Bug was to have a vacation of her own at Grandma's but that got canceled due to multiple circumstances. So now she's hanging out with us at the new house while we prep it for moving in.

R got me a Nintendo DS for my birthday with a game from a series I really, really like. I've played far too much. This is a horrible gift to give someone when you're one week from MOVING because I just want to sit and play video games instead of being a responsible adult.

This week we'll be buying a lawn mower, a ladder, and a new air conditioner. And I'm excited by these things. Truthfully, the fact we're buying anything for the house makes me happy and I'd probably be happy going to Fleet Farm to buy a garden hose at this point.

We took Baby Bug in for her well-baby checkup. She's 19 pounds, 2 ounces. She's 26 inches long. Nurses commented on her Michelin-baby-appearance. "Oh, she's very well-nourished!" And she was cooed over and talked to and she batted her eyes and just stared at people. Though she did have a smile for the nurse even after she got jabbed in the thighs with a needle three times.

I am behind in sending out photos.

Have I mentioned we're MOVING?! To a house? With an actual big yard? And nosy neighbors?

Meme

I'm not sure what this says about me.

Skin Disease or Dungeons and Dragons Character?



Score: 100% (16 out of 16)

SIx Months

Baby Bug is six months old.

This past month is the month that almost did me in. More so than her first month home with us.

She met a bunch of family on her father's side. She flew on an airplane. She got her first cold.

We're moving into a house, and I know she doesn't get this yet, but it's great. She's currently in a room that is essentially a walk-in closet, a computer room, an office, a store room, and a nursery. Child needs her own space.

Her new room currently has shag carpeting, but we will fix that soon. She'll probably try and eat it before we have a chance to swap it out.

She's still changing every day. Does that ever stop? Every day there is a new element to her personality that seems to emerge. Things she smiles or laughs at. Things that make her get her frowny face (few and far between, those are).

One of her favorite activities is when I turn on iTunes and play music, I turn on the Visualizer and she sits on my lap and we clap and wiggle around to the music. She is entranced with the Visualizer and will pitch a fit when I turn it off after a couple of songs.

One of the pamphlets from her pediatrician said to allow no more than one hour of television a day. It hasn't occurred to me to have her watch tv yet. We accidentally turned on Sesame Street one day when I hit the remote while juggling things around, and she was certainly interested in the television and what was on. But I didn't think to leave it on for her. I'm by no means anti-tv (I have a few shows I watch regularly and I do channel surf with abandon when we stay in a hotel and have access to cable), but I worry about having a six-month-old vegging out in front of the boob tube.

Anyway. Happy six-month-birthday, Baby Bug.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you who do the mothering gig to animal, vegetable, or mineral.

My almost six-month old daughter and her daddy made me a lovely card of hand prints and poems. I got to sleep in until 11:30 AM on Saturday (I was exhausted from the past few weeks), and I got a homemade breakfast. While the card is freaking awesome, the sleeping in until 11:30 was probably the highlight of my month.

It's been a good weekend.

What's Gnu with You?

What do you call a group of gnus? An implausibility of gnus.

I love that one more than a "peep of chickens" or a "rumba of rattlesnakes."

First Owie

There are few times that Baby Bug has cried from pain.

Vaccinations, of course. The wailing and crying and weeping and hiccuping made me weepy, but it was tolerable. She was consolable. She got calmed down. We all survived. The first round of vaccinations were the worst of all her owies, though.

There was the first time I cut her nails and I nicked the tip of her thumb. Blood. Tears (from her and I).

Tonight she got her first owie from being mobile. She was sitting up (on her own! sort of.) and reached to get her toy cell phone and she fell face-first into the edge of the base of her activity center. SLAM.

Poor Baby Bug.

I watched it happen and grabbed her and had her up against my chest before she finished taking the big breath before screaming. And boy did she scream and cry and wail. Big, big tears. Big, big sobs. Slamming of fists on my shoulders. Burying of her head into my neck and shoulder.

*sigh*

I realize these are all really minor and that the owies will get worse. I realize that these all heal quickly. I realize that I won't be around for all of them.

It still makes me want to put her in a big, protective bubble.

Home

We're home from a cross-country visit with the family. It's been an interesting trip.

Baby Bug's first plane ride. She did really well on the flight out. On the way home? Man, I am so very sorry to my fellow passengers. She was just too overtired due to the flight delay we had and it threw all our (my?) plans out the window for keeping her comfortable.

Fire alarms in the hotel early in the morning. I remembered to pack diapers, wipes, and clothes for Baby Bug as well as my laptop and wallet, but forget to grab the bottles of milk and the car seat as we hurried out. Ah well. False alarm. Baby Bug's ears are probably still ringing.

Seeing where R got some of his tendencies. Family is good for history like that. I learned more about my in-laws and about R.

Resting and relaxing. Our hotel was nice, and was even nicer than I thought with Baby Bug having her very own bedroom in our suite. Fantastic. She got plenty of rest. So did we.

I do indeed want a mini-van. I'm crazy. I know. We drove one the duration of our trip and I liked it. *sigh* You know what will happen if we get one? I will have triplets.

When we were walking to the ticketing counter to head home, I got a bit teary. I'm not sure why. The trip was good. It was sad for me in some ways, because I didn't see enough of my family (I canceled a second evening with them for other plans) and visiting in-laws always stresses me out (sorry in-laws who read this, but it's true). R's and my families are so different, and I have to adjust to that when we do get to see his family. Plus, I've just come off of two solid weeks with R's family. At least I don't think I horrified anybody this time around. And certain in-laws wanted to stress to only believe half of what we read on the internet. Very well. Does this mean I get to pick which half?

On our long drive home from the airport, Baby Bug cooed and chattered and squealed and babbled happily to her little bear we have on the back seat that faces her. I like to think she talked about her adventure happily and talked about meeting Great-Grandma and Grandma and aunts and uncles and cousins. R and I are old news. Everyone was all about the baby. That's ok. It's all about the baby for us lately, too.

On that note, it's time for bed. I'm exhausted. R has been asleep for an hour. Hopefully he'll sleep through my snoring. Tomorrow I get pictures developed and mailed out. It's back to work. It's time to start packing. We're moving! YAY! No more neighbors downstairs yelling. No more neighbors smoking and throwing their cigarette butts on our balcony. No more white trash dude down the street who revs his motorcycle so loud our walls rattle. No more Baby Bug sleeping in what has become a walk-in closet/office/store-room/nursery. Hooray bigger kitchen! Even if it is still decorated from the 70's and wallpapered by blind and deaf (it's that loud) decorators. No more parking 100 yards from the front door.

Of course, we now have traded in about 100 worries for around 10,000 worries.......

Screaming

Baby Bug woke up screaming in her sleep tonight. I think this has happened twice since we figured out the whole "Mom can't eat dairy products" thing.

We've got out of town family here for the past week, so our eating schedule and diet has been altered. No dairy to speak of for me (save for a trial run of ice cream - which still gives Baby Bug tummy problems), but we've been having big meals and going out to eat more.

When she screams and R is the first to get her, I have to physically restrain myself from snatching Baby Bug out of his arms. He is good comfort to her, I know. He pulls her close and she wails and sobs while we try to figure out what is wrong. But eventually I just cannot let it go on and I do always take her from him. I can't help it. She screams and I stop hearing everything else.

As she's growing up, her cries are morphing out of the tiny baby cries. Oh, when she was a few weeks' old and we were trying to figure out why she was crying, those cries seemed louder than any bass-thumping car. Now she adds different intonations, consonants (I swear she says Mama sometimes but I know I'm deluding myself), and she is, indeed, louder. Though, compare to a tantrum-throwing four-year-old, and she's still pretty quiet.

She's a happy baby, overall. She gets dragged around wherever we go, and she seems mostly content. She plays with her toys and chews on her plastic rings, and she charms people around her. We get comments from people about how good she is. Lordy, I hope that lasts.

Tomorrow, we leave her with babysitters for the second time ever. The first time was with Grandma and Grandpa while we ran to someone's house quickly. We were there and back in an hour. Tomorrow she is again with Grandma and Grandpa while we have a very important meeting to attend. My cell phone number is posted prominently. I'm debating adding the phone number of where we'll be. I think daycare would kill me at this point.

I think about in the future, for R's sanity, if we should enroll Baby Bug in a daycare a couple of days a week. He could work, or program, or tinker, or work on the house. Or do nothing. Right now, I'm really, really against daycare as long as we are blessed enough to keep her with one of us all the time. And we are indeed blessed. We'll see when we get there.

And this middle of the night rambling will conclude. I need to go back to bed.

Bless You

We had the blessing ceremony for Baby Bug this weekend.

Let's back up a couple of days, though.

Wednesday was gorgeous - Sunny, 75 degrees, blue sky. It felt like spring. A few weeks prior, I bought her dress. It was white with crochet trim. Very cute. Very springy. Perfect for the blessing. Family flew in from far away. They expected warm weather.

Saturday morning we woke up to snow and 30 degrees and strong winds.

In spite of that, it all went wonderfully.

We sent out invitations about a month ago with decorated cards asking everyone to fill out what they wished for in Baby Bug's life. People wrote some wonderful wishes for her. It made me kind of teary.

The ceremony was short and sweet. We thanked everyone for coming, and explained why they were invited. We spoke of why Baby Bug is named what she is.

I read an excerpt from "The Prophet."

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,
"Speak to us of Children".
And he said:

Your children are not your children,
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but are not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your chilren
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and
He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
So he loves also the bow that is stable.

R spoke a bit about what it means to be a parent. He started speaking to how he wished for Baby Bug to be an upstanding member of society. She decided to punctuate his statement by burping. Such a comedian, that one.

One of Baby Bug's grandfathers stood up and read a bit from the bible and said a prayer for her. She adorably smiled up at him a few times when he said her name.

We wrapped it up by some people reading their cards of what they wished for Baby Bug.

Then everyone got to hang out and eat.

It was a fun day, in spite of the weather.

Baby Bug is truly blessed.