Would you forgive me love / If I danced in your shower So I suck at updating. Welcome to my life, dears.
Brianna is walking. And has a tooth. Both of these things are awesome and also scary. The good news? we mostly weaned before the appearance of said tooth.
Also, she has given up on formula. She weaned her own sweet self onto cows milk, which is early, earlier than I had intended, but I'm rolling with it. I'm just trying to make sure she gets enough iron - and we'll all be good.
And she's eating table food like it's going out of style. She took down an entire happy meal Sunday night, while we were killing time waiting to see if Chad was going to get admitted to the hospital overnight - long story. The point is, she's only 10-months old, and ate 4 chicken nuggets and all her fries. And drank 8 oz of milk. There is no way a child that small should be able to hold that much, lol.
I did NaNoWriMo this year. I didn't win, but i came really close - 43000 words or so. I blame my being sick, and out of town for the last weekend in Nov for not winning. But it was a pretty good experience overall, at any rate.
Getting ready for the Great Christmas Tour - with an added complication of a 10-month-old added to the already crazy 12+-hour drive with dog and cat and presents. If you want to get together whilst we are back home - let me know, and we'll see what we can do.
Also, Brianna will have a new little cousin (on her Daddy's side) sometime this month. Probably sooner rather than later. We're looking forward to meeting him!
There are other things, but my mind is mushy. Being sick (all the time) sucks, and I'm hopping to be done with it soon. (Probably just in time to create another germ carrier to make us sick all the time, lol).
And I want to lay my head down on you Edit (1/16): Apparently, it doesn't count if you don't hit "publish". So this has been sitting as a draft for like a week. Ha.
I'm still pregnant. Which isn't surprising, as I'm not quite 38 weeks (so depending on who you ask, I've either been full term for a few days, or I'll be full term on Sunday). But I'm about done. All my joints are swollen (had to take my watch off today... my wrists have swollen that much), and I'm super cranky, and I'm tired all the time. It's kinda annoying. So here's hoping the baby come early. I'll be trying anything (uh... anything I deem safe? I suppose) to coax the little one out in the next week or two. Not only am I seriously uncomfortable and tired of being pregnant...
I'm actually pretty scared of induction at this point. I mean, in some ways it's silly, as it happens all the time, people do it every day... but the thought of pumping chemicals into my body to induce contractions (not to mention the harder labor) seems much scarier to me than say, having my water break while I'm waddling around Wal-Mart (which is also scary). Plus, I've known 4 women who've been induced in the last 9 months - all at different hospitals - and they've all ended up with c-sections. For various reasons, mind you, not all the typical "failure to progress" that's often related to inductions. But still. Scary stuff. That being said, all the mommies and babies came through fine, so it's all good in the end... but I'm trying my hardest to avoid a c-section at this point (at least until the doctor says it's needed, anyway).
This child will not sleep through the night. I mean, we were going good for a while, but the last few nights have been kinda rough... I've been up and down all night, trying to soothe a child that I can't even really touch and coax him/her to stop throwing dance parties while I'm supposed to be sleeping. Last night was a little better, but still... this does not bode well for sleeping through the night later. At least at this point, the silence and lack of crying means that I'm the only one that's awake (in theory... Chad hasn't slept well, either, and I think it may have something to do with my restlessness).
I have had the most bizarre baby-related dreams lately (when the baby has let me sleep, that is). For instance. A couple of weeks ago, I dreamed that Angelina Jolie and I went to a spa. The kind with pink fuzzy bathrobes and everything. And we got pedicures and talked about being mommies. (Seriously. Who dreams of stuff like that?). Last night, I dreamed the baby was about the size of my cell phone, and I kept losing track of where it was - because, as it turns out, Chad kept stuffing it in the pocket of his trench coat. To replace his broken yo-yo, he said (yeah, I don't know either). Later in the dream, I tried to nurse the baby (because it had somehow morphed to normal size), but my boobs fell off. (Sorry... that might have been TMI, but in retrospect, it was pretty funny).
Work is crazy right now, as I'm trying to get a ton of stuff done before I go out on leave, which could be any day, but will probably be in like, two weeks or so. That level of uncertainty is a little unsettling for everyone, and to make it worse the girl who was supposed to take over some of my bigger day-to-day duties... is stuck in China right now, because some lawyer somewhere forgot to fax some paper to someone, and the end result is she's waiting on a visa to come back. It may well be after I leave that she gets home, and some of the tasks will be difficult for her to do so far removed from the office. So yeah, there's some amount of panic. (Not on my part, though, since I'll be gone for the worst of it. Ha!). Plus, something in the server just broke, and the sys admin is AWOL, and no one else can fix it. So there's more panic, as I'm the link between our group and the sys admin, so we're hoping she gets back to me soon.
My parents are flying in on February 2 (yet another good reason not to have the baby late...) Which will be nice, as we'll get to visit, but crazy, as I'll be dealing with a newborn and house guests and even less sleep, and I might have to remove the flash from my mother's camera so she doesn't blind the poor kid. :-) Between now and then, I have to figure out whether my dad can negotiate the stairs or if he and mom will need to sleep downstairs, if downstairs, where the mattress will fit, and how to keep the animals off of it.
We now have baby furniture, which is awesome. Chad's parents brought in his old stuff, and I'm very excited about it. Now there's just a few more pieces to buy.
The nursery is painted. Chad and his dad did it. And it looks really nice. And was a great thing for them to do on a rainy day. Except...
The all day rain + cold temps + wind brought out our Ike problems (that they swore were not problems). Now all our back windows leak (we have 11, seriously). Including the one in the nursery, which nicely streaked the brand new paint. So we're dealing with the insurance again, and hopefully they'll be as awesome this time around as they were last time.
I have a serious craving for Reddi-Whip and Kool-ade. Together. Which is disgusting, and I refuse to eat it. But having the two separately isn't fixing it. Maybe Jello and Reddi-Whip would be less disgusting and still satisfy me? Who knows.
There is a very very small possibility that I will see a couple of snowflakes t some point tonight. Chad is skeptical, but I'm a believer :-)
Everything (with the exception of the windows) is still going well. I'm good (except for some sinus trouble that's annoying), the baby's good, everything (besides the aforementioned windows) is good. Which is awesome.
Pancakes piled up til they reach the sky... IHOP bought Applebee's?... I'm not sure if this means good things for IHOP, bad for Applebee's, or both. Although, I would like to see Applebee's start serving pancakes. (I say this, but I actually can't remember when the last time I was at an Applebee's was...)
Who ever sinvented Peach & Mango Salsa should be sainted. Or granted god-hood. Or something. I would write the Vatican and suggest this (the sainting, I don't think they handle bestowing god-hood), but I'm not catholic. So in leiu of that, I hope they make a million bucks.
Who ever invented finals should be stabbed in the eye with a really hot french fry.
I might finally regain my sanity... after May 7th. But don't count on it or anything.
My hair is long anough to manage braided pigtails again... but I'm thinking about cutting it off again, too. Decisions, decisions.
A couple more weeks of Iron Yoga & pilates, and I'll have the most awesome abs eVar. Seriously.
Lord of the Rings online is terribly addictive. As is ice cream, and caffiene, and the aforementioned peach & mango salsa.
Christmas in Huntsville So... made it to Huntsville. Had christmas with the cousins. Fixin' to get some sleep, then tomorrow have christmas with the parents/siblings, eat yummy breakfast (biscuits and gravy, and Robbie is cooking the gravy... mmmm), eating yummy lunch (grilled cheese, cooked by Mandie), and eating yummy dinner (ham, which will claim to be cooked by mom but will relaly be cooked by a joint effort of the entire family, minus mom, who will boil some water or something). Have you noticed a theme here? :-)
Should be relatively free on the 28th, 29th, and 30th (although we're taking family pictures sometime in there, and we still have christmas with one grandmother to schedule). Leaving on the 31st.
Tupelo here we come! I think we're going to tupelo for dinner tonight. At the very least, we're going out for steak.
Richard has happy news, news that apparently made him dance around the room when he found out (and I don't blame him)... he has a job offer, doing something he likes to do, working for a big well-known company. (as no one who reads this knows Richard, besides me and Chad, I don't think I'm really stealing his thunder here).
The only problem... it's in Seattle. No so much of a problem for Richard, but you know, kinda sad for us (although the logicy side of me admits that we are moving to Houston in January anyway...). At least now I guess we have an excuse for traveling to Washington (I've never been there).
Anyway. A yummy steak dinner will be enjoyed by all tonight. Yay!
Chad just asked me what I ate for dinner. Four King's Hawaiian Honey wheat rolls, a bagel with butter, one Russel Stover's chocolate (rasberry cream), and two girl scout cookies (the caramel ones that come in the purple box).
He says that's not dinner, and I need to eat some real food.
You know that Hardees commercial, that has the girl wandering through her house, eating random food, and it says "You know those days where all you feel like eating is a gallon of rocky road, some chocolate, a big jar of peanut butter, and a whole lot more chocolate"? I feel kind of like that today.
But I guess I should find some food. Real food, whatever that is.
Chad makes good fried chicken. Just in case you wondered.
Also. Learned an important lesson today. Never do any homework before it's actually due. I did homework like, four or five days before it was due, and the prof changed the assignment. So now I have to redo it. According to the new assignment. We love professors.
Thought of the day: Do football coaches really wear $28 underwear?
p.s. posting from class during lecture is eVil. but fun. :-)
Why is it, in a house full of Atkin's dieters, I can't find any protien type foods worth eating? I wonder what my family does eat... as the only things I've found to eat today are Froot Loops, oatmeal, and pasta. None of which they can eat... hm.
So. Yeah. I'm fixin' to finish my patsa... enjoy a glass of high class wine... or, well, malt likka, anyway, and head to bed... not sure if one glass of Boones will be enough to make me sleep... but the thought of getting drunk in order to get a "good night's sleep" isn't terribly appealing. Eh. Maybe it will help some, anyway. Or something.
Note: An entire bowl of raw brocolli is not a good idea if you're having stomach problems. Raw brocolli is not as easily digestable as, say, ham sammiches or something. PopTarts are also pushing the limit of what is acceptable on a problematic stomach.
For those of you using IE, you may have been experianceing technical difficulties with my site... namely, it wouldn't load... if you still can't get to it (how will you read this?), I think the problem lies in your cookie settings... try accepting more cookies... or something like that.
Anyway... now that that frustration has been dealt with...
Life is still good. It rained all day yesterday, a cold dark rain... it was awesome. I went puddle jumping... which was even awesomer. And I cooked some of the best lamb chops ever... I love lamb. But it's so expensive.... I prolly won't be able to buy any more until Passover, at least. I suppose I should be happy they even sell it in Starkvegas... that's an imporvement over last year.
Tonight I'm cooking again, stroganoff, it looks like. For Me and William and whoever else shows up... Matt, Sbbn, Greg... dunno who's going to be able to make it. but it'll be good. :-)
Meanwhile, I need to shower and clean my room and stuff so I can have company over tonight. I may post later.... we'll see.
Images on the sidewalk
Speak of dream's descent
Washed away by the storms
To graves of cynical lament
Dirty canvases to call my own
Protest limericks carved
By the old pay phone
And in your picture book
I'm trying hard to see
Turning endless pages
Of this tragedy
Sculpting every move
You compose a symphony
And you plead to everyone
See the art in me
Broken stained glass windows
The fragments ramble on
Tales of broken souls
An eternity's been won
As critics scorn the thoughts
And works of mortal man
My eyes have drawn to you
In awe once again
--Jars of Clay
So today is an interesting day... I'm in a odd, introspective mood... Don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing yet... we'll see.
On a happy note, my mommy bought me enough food to feed an army... so I'll have food when I go to school. That'll be good. maybe I won't kill my roommate. Maybe.
grrr. I will never get to sleep. But, I'm not taking Linear this summer, which should help. let me explain... no, there is to much. Let me sum up. :-)
I wil never get any sleep becasue I am to dadgum busy for my own good. I have to leave the house at 7am every morning to get to work, which means getting up around 6am... And starting the 28th, I'll be in class until 9:45pm every night except Friday, which puts me home around 10:15pm, if I get out on time. Between those times I have to work 8+ hours, eat, do homework, and clean house... and of course, visit with my family (that's why I came home, right?). My weekends will mostly be spent traveling, or Chad will be in town, so I won't want to sleep the entire weekend away. And even when I don't have class, I have enough stuff to do for three people. Take, for instance, this weeks schedule.
Yesterday: Worked (or did random crap at work) from 8am-4pm. Went to leave, car stalled, had to get pushed back into the parking lot. *funny car/guy story* I tried to tell the guys that came to help me that the engine was turing over, but it wasn't getting gas. They were like, oh, yeah, whatever, you have no clue. So after 15 minutes of fiddling with the spark plugs, they were like, you know, I think the engine is turnging over, but it's not getting any gas. *Doh* (real problem: The emergancy cut-off for the fuel pump is flakey, something Daddy *forgot* to mention). *end of story* So, after getting my car fixed, I drove to church, my parents picked me up, we ate dinner, went to church, and got home around 9pm. But then I had to eat, and put dinner away, and get ready for bed, and talk to people, and.... I finally got in bed after 10pm, but couldn't sleep.
Today: Got up at 6am, browned hamburger meat, put stuff in crockpot for spagetti sauce. Talked to Mom for a minute, left 15 minutes late to go to work. I'm here until 4pm or so, then go home and cook spagetti and stuff to go with the sauce... and I will probably end up going out with Mom to Walmart or something.
Tomorrow: Work 7am-3pm (which means leaving the house by 6:30am). Get off Work, go help Aunt Dorinne With yardwork/housework at her house, eat with her, get home sometime around 9pm. Clean *my* house until I fall into bed exausted.
Saturday: Get up at 6am to go yard saleing with Mom... Yard sale until 1pm or so, then (if Henry has found the title to the bug) go meet Dad to get my car (an all-afternoon process). If Henry has not found the title, I might go swimming, but I think it may be to cold. If I go home, I'll end up doing housework. Oh yeah, I also need to go to Cingular and price a cellphone plan... sometime Saturday. And if I get my bug, I might try and find time to go to the VW parts shop and see about a floor pan. And mirrors.
If this is my life without class... how am I going to get everything done? I think I may spend a week between work and school recovering... from life! Oh well.... I'll get ever it. Plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead, right?
On a more interesting note, I get to go to a family reunion Sunday... My Dad's Father's family, or, more specificly, my Dad's Father's Mother's family :-) The Duncans. And they are all getting together at Anne's house (not sure if she's an Aunt or a cousin... never have figured that one out). So I get to go and see lots of people that share my blood, but I have no clue how or why or even who the hell they are. And lots of them will say things like, "I knew you when youe were *this* big", or "Are you Ray's Grandaughter? My you've grown up!", or "What's your major?", or "Are you dating/engaged/married?". But I've been promised good food... One can never pass up good food :-)
This is my brain..... in part, at least.
