100 Things.

In honor of my 100th post:

100 things about me

1. My nickname growing up was Jaybird.

2. My dad still calls me that.

3. My astrological sign is Virgo.

4. I am married to a Leo.

5. Up until my sophmore year in college, I thought I was going to have a career in Music.

6. I ended up getting my degree in Humanities and writing an honors thesis on the role of mothers in 1970's horror films.

7. My favorite horror film from the 70's (that I've seen) is Rosemary's Baby.

8. I spent my senior year in high school in Denmark.

9. By the time the year was up, I was fluent in Danish, but now...not so much.

10. I got married at the age of 22.

11. I've known my husband since I was 16 but we dated off and on up until we got married.

12. I had 2 other serious boyfriends before I married my husband.

13. I'm glad I picked him. :-)

14. I've always had pets and I love animals.

15. I also love kids- I was a live-in nanny and a pre-school teacher during college.

16. I love to read.

17. I especially love victorian fiction: Dracula by Bram Stoker, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte...

18. My favorite movie is Empire Strikes Back, followed closely by Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...

19. Star Wars was the first movie I ever went to (in utero.)

20. I have 3 brothers. All are younger than me.

21. I get along with 2 of those brothers.

22. I am a recovering catholic.

23. I knew the church was wrong for me at a very early age and I refused to be confirmed at the age of 15.

24. It was the first time I'd ever seen my dad cry.

25. It was the right decision though- I have never wanted to go back. Its been 15 years.

26. I love to knit, but I'm not very good.

27. If there's one talent I wish I had that I don't, it would be the ability to draw and/or paint.

28. My first job was at a place called "Mark's In and Out Beefburgers."

29. I think I made $4.00/hr.

30. I love to travel.

31. Countries I have been to: Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Italy, Estonia, The Czech Republic...

32. Countries I would still like to see: All of them! Especially New Zealand, Japan, South Africa

33. I really don't like most team sports.

34. I especially hate watching sports on TV.

35. I do, however, enjoy watching hockey and soccer live.

36. I love to run.

37. I also love hiking, bike riding, camping, snowshoeing, and canoeing.

38. I was born in Kansas, raised in Montana and Wyoming, and I got my college degree in Colorado.

39. I would like to go to graduate school.

40. I wonder if I'll ever get to.

41. My favorite color to look at is Blue.

42. My favorite color to wear is Black.

43. My second toes are longer than my big toes.

44. I hear that is a sign of intelligence. :-)

45. My number one pet peeve is when people chew loud and/or smack their lips. It makes me physically ill.

46. I also cannot abide snoring.

47. I am not very good at playing board games, card games, or doing puzzles.

48. I wish I was- these are all activities that the Husband's family members love to do.

49. I am very punctual.

50. I love coffee and love my organic decaf now that I'm nursing and not drinking caffeine.

51. I love coffee with cream but never sugar.

52. Chocolate is this girl's best friend.

53. My favorite non-chocolate candy is Hot Tamales.

54. I also love Good N' Plenty, which the Husband thinks is gross.

55. I can never pick a favorite song or musician/band.

56. That said, some of my faves are: Tori Amos, Johnny Cash, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Neil Young, Reverand Horton Heat, The Supersuckers, Tenacious D, Neil Diamond...I could go on and on.

57. I play the piano (sort of), the flute (my college instrument), the guitar (sort-of- I know lots of chords), and I played the saxaphone in jazz band in high school and college.

58. I have also had voice lessons.

59. In high school I was a member of the speech and debate team.

60. I was really, really good at debate. I love to argue :-)

61. I am a proud liberal.

62. I excersise my right to vote.

63. I enjoy reading and learning about politics but I could never be a politician.

64. I like most science fiction.

65. I am a nerd with a myspace page.

66. I also enjoy playing video games from time to time.

67. Not that I have any time for that sort of thing nowadays. :-)

68. I love sushi.

69. I also love mexican food, but not too spicy.

70. Road trips rule.

71. I kept my last name when I got married. (And my last name is now Otto's middle name)

72. I am a feminist.

73. I love to cook but I'm not that good at it.

74. Hence, I love watching the Food Network.

75. I also love to watch the reality shows on TLC: the tattoo shows and American Chopper.

76. Speaking of tattoos, I have 6 of them.

77. My next tattoo will be on my right arm.

78. I also have piercings: my right ear is pierced 3 times, my left is pierced 4, and I have a nose ring.

79. I did have my belly button pierced but I had to take that out when I got pregnant.

80. My husband is relieved by this because he always said that having my belly button pierced was too much like "a sorority girl."

81. I wish I was better at taking photographs. Honestly, I pretty much suck at it.

82. I love to take random classes.

83. I've taken classes in knitting, ikebana, yoga, and even belly dancing.

84. I was NOT good at the bellydancing.

85. I'm not religious but I love cathedrals.

86. I love art, especially religious art. Which is weird since, again, I'm not at all religious.

87. Museums are wonderful.

88. I love beer. But only good beer.

89. I'm a bit of a beer snob.

90. Red wine is ok too.

91. I used to be a smoker.

92. I have not smoked for 5 years.

93. I still need to lose 10 lbs to get back to my pre-baby weight.

94. I'm not stressing about this.

95. My best childhood memories involve road trips with my family: reading books out loud to eachother, singing songs, and spending time in the mountains...

96. I hope Otto's do too.

97. I have really blue eyes and people often ask me if I wear colored contacts. I don't.

98. I love pajamas.

99. I hate having cold feet, so I can never really sleep barefoot- even in the summer I usually wear socks to bed.

100. I have a serious lip balm addiction.

Friday = Fun Day

I really should be posting Otto's 5 month letter but I'd like to add pictures and finding time to download them off our camera is hard, people!

So instead, here is some nonsense. Enjoy.


46%

20

I'd Like to Thank the Academy

This weekend was so fun. Really! On Saturday, I took Otto swimming for the first time. He had the best. time. ever. He was a little worried in the beginning, kept giving me looks like "Mama...what the hell are we doing??" but after a bit, he really warmed up to it. By the end he was kicking and splashing and smiling and breaking other swimmers' hearts with his cuteness. We were only in the water maybe 30 minutes and I think he could have tolerated more but I didn't want to push my luck...I knew I still had to get through the locker room and the ride home. I needn't have worried- he was a doll the entire time.

That night we visited some friends but then when I got home I realized I had locked myself and Otto out of the house. Oops. Fortunately, the Husband was on his way home from getting tattooed and we only had to wait in the car for 15 min. or so. Otto nursed off to sleep and I just sat in the back seat listening to Prairie Home Companion and watching the snow fall.

Yesterday, we had our new bed delivered- YEE HAW. Its a little taller than our other mattress so the co-sleeper doesn't quite fit the way it used to. But I think it will work for now, and besides, Otto spends most of the night in bed with us so its not a big deal. I do worry about what will happen when he starts crawling though...maybe we'll just forgo the frame and headboard and put our mattress on the floor? Or I've seen things about sidecaring a crib...I'll have to do some research.

Finally, last night, we watched the Oscars, which we weren't really planning to do but we got sucked in by the hairdo's and fancy garb. I'd actually seen some of the films nominated for various things, which made it fun, and we also had a good time critiquing the appearances of celebrities: I thought Cate Blanchett looked amazing (as usual) and that Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger looked, well, scary. But that' just me.

And last but not least...

Am I the only one who thinks that Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel are HI-LARIOUS??



and

Good things (A list.)

1. I am SO GLAD IT IS FRIDAY.

2. I went and picked up our new Maya Sling at lunch and I LOVE IT. Its black, white, and gray and I think it will be so much easier than the padded sling that we currently have. I still love the mei tai for long periods of baby-wearing but the sling is just so handy for quick in-and-outs like the grocery store, post office, etc.

3. The Husband is getting tattooed in Ft. Collins tomorrow so Otto and I will have the afternoon and the house to ourselves. I'm hoping to do some serious cleaning, organizing, and if we're lucky, a little baking.

4. We are getting our new mattress delivered on Sunday. I'm so excited to sleep on it, I can't even tell you.

5. I just booked a plane ticket for myself and Otto to Missouri in May to visit my parents. While I'm a little nervous about flying alone with a baby, there's lots of advice out on the old internets and I've got plenty of time to research. And my folks will be So Happy! to see him and my grandpa might even get to meet him. All good things.

6. Did I mention how glad I am that its Friday? Have a good weekend.

Midnight Confession

Last night, at 4 am, Otto woke up with a weak little cough/cry.

Me: "Ugh. Otto. Go back to sleep."

Otto: "Ack ack waaaaahh ack"

Me: "Please? "

Otto: "Ack ack waaaaah. WAAAAAAHHHH."

I look over at him and he's got his eyes closed but he's obviously upset. I try to stick a boob in his mouth. This is apparently the Most. Offensive. Thing. Ever. The crying is turned up a notch.

Me: "Fine."

I haul my bleary-eyed, grumbling, crazy-haired self out of bed , pick up the whining baby and troop down the hall to the changing table.

The second I lay him down and start unzipping his jammies, Otto stops crying, brings both hands together and gives me the biggest smile ever. Then he starts cooing and doing this little half-giggle thing he's been doing lately.

Freshly diapered, I scoop him up in my arms and he immediately nuzzles his head on my shoulder and wraps an arm around my neck.

Suddenly, being up at 4am is amazingly fine.

I swaddle him up and plod back down the hall and hop into bed. He snuggles up to me, all warm and soft, and nurses back off to sleep.

As I lay there in the dark, listening to the husband's soft breathing and the baby's little nursing hums and sighs I realize that being a sleep-deprived Mama isn't bad. In fact, there's nothing I'd rather be.

Beddie Bye.

The Husband and I have had it. You hear me? Had it! With our bed that is. We bought our mattresses right after we got married in 2000. From what I'm reading online, mattresses generally give out after about 7 years or so and boy are we feeling it. Each morning we wake up stiff and achy with back pain. We've been in denial about this for some time but NO MORE! For today, we are going mattress shopping.

I can safely say that there are about a BILLION other things I'd like to be spending our tax return on, but sleep is so important- especially to the husband. If he doesn't sleep well, we all suffer.

So wish us luck. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we will have a new bed and a new back pain-free lease on life!

Happy Heart Day

(I took this today when I went to nurse him at lunch. I need to stop taking so many crappy cell phone pictures and start using our expensive-ass camera, I know.)

(Oh, and I've now been blogging here for 1 year. Happy Blogiversary to me!!)

When you're sliding into home and your pants are full of foam...

LOL. I just noticed the google ad on my page:

Baby Diarrhea
A complete website dedicated to Baby Diarrhea

That cracks me up.

Monday, Monday

I went to the movies with a girlfriend yesterday afternoon (we saw Atonement which was beautifully shot, but wholly depressing) and the Husband amused himself by sending pix messages to my cell phone. This was my favorite.

I like that the baby is totally rocking the Johnny Cash man-in-black thing and then sitting on a pink blanket.

Book Report.

I have to say this: One thing that nursing has provided for me has been ample time for reading. I love getting home, sitting in the rocker, boppy and baby on lap, and settling in for a good 20-30 min. stretch of breastfeeding and reading. Its a wonderful way to relax at the end of a hard day. Really!

Anyway, I just finished a great book and thought I'd share:

I'm usually sort of a fiction whore (Oh! What I won't do for some well written fantasy, sci-fi, or historical romantic fiction. Yum.) However, for a piece of non-fiction, Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette was suprisingly entertaining. Her descriptions of life at Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI are so richly woven that you can practically smell the wig powder and B.O.. Similarly, Fraser paints the tragically doomed queen of France as a complex, sympathetic, (if somewhat clueless) character and draws the reader into a world of excess and abundance in a time of political turmoil and unrest. In Fraser's eyes, she is first a naive girl just doing her duty to her own mother and motherland, then a sheltered, spoiled woman trying to find herself midst the rigid rules of decorum in the French palace, and finally a devoted mother and wife who bore the upmost of indignities with grace and brave resolve.

All in all, I thouroughly enjoyed this book, even though I already knew how it would end. Now that's some good non-fiction.

Ess-Emm-Ay-Are-Tee

I swear sometimes lately it feels like my brains are just running out my boobs along with the milk:

Needed to get gas this morning on the way to daycare. Forgot.

Needed to take decongestant to function. Forgot.

Couldn't for the life of me think of the word "probiotic" when I called the health food store to see if they had any.

Me smart.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Oh and I do have a sinus infection AND an ear infection. Didn't I say!!??? So I am on antibiotics hence the request for probiotics. Jeesh.

Weekend Update

This weekend started out really great. Otto was in a wonderful mood on Saturday. We went out to lunch and then over to a friends house and had a great time. He's such a social little thing!

Then we came home and just for fun, I put him in the high chair and gave him a 'breastmilk slushie' (partially thawed milk) to eat with a spoon- just to see what he would do. I think it was the first time he has ever had anything cold- the look on his face was priceless! (Of course, I didn't take any pictures *slapping self in forehead*) He had fun playing with the spoon and being up in the high chair. I have a bunch of frozen milk that will expire soon** so I think we will do it again. Its good practice for solids, I think!

Sunday took a turn for the worse, however, as I started developing (or relapsing- depending on how you look at it) a killer cold/sinus pain thingy. I was a total grouch and just laid on the couch for a good portion of the day while the Husband did things like change diapers and go to the grocery store for the week. What a dude.

My head hurts so badly today that I made a Dr's appointment. I'm pretty sure its a sinus infection and I want to be aggressive with it before it gets into my ears which always seems to happen to me.

Welcome to February. Blah.


**My freezer stash is sort of out of control- right now I am pumping twice what Otto eats at daycare so half goes in the freezer and the other half goes to daycare the next day. I am a pumping goddess!