Thoughts on Leaders and Traitors. In that order.

1. How much did the speech last night rule? Sure it was a production, carefully choreographed to deliver the optimum amount of political sparkle with a dash of inspiration thrown in. But trim down the 84,000 in the arena, the fireworks, the celebrities and just listen to the words. Historic. Inspiring. Hopeful. Crossing my fingers for us all.


2. Ooooooh the blogosphere is all abuzz about McSame's VP pick. OMG its a woman! How very 21st century!!! Barf. While his choice may be wise from a tactical perspective, it smacks of such blatant hypocrisy that I had a hard time swallowing my morning joe due to nausea.

First off, I agree with BitchPhD. that Joe Biden will need to be very, very careful in debates in order to avoid the sting of sexism. That being said, all he really need do, as BitchPhD. says, is compare Palin to Bush. Jesus-crazy conservative Governor of an oil rich state? Check. Wants to deny women the right to control their own bodies? Check. Etc. Etc.

And let me just say, how any woman can truly buy into the anti-woman republican platform is beyond me. But to each her own, I suppose.

Twit for twat...oh wait.*

So, yeah. I'm on Twitter now! Just for fun really. And because all the cool kids are doing it. You can follow me by clicking the link in the sidebar and let me know if you're on as well. We can be twit buddies.

*I crack myself up.

Still Here

We are keepin' on keepin' on. No matter what tragedies befall us, the world keeps on spinning and we have to spin with it, no? (Now, if I could just not be so DIZZY...)

McHann died on my 31st birthday and let me tell YOU, that put a damper on things. I had a bit of a re-do on Monday, taking the day off and shopping with a girlfriend. But things have been subdued. Just parenting, working, nursing, eating, sleeping...some knitting thrown in for good measure. (I am working on the most DELIGHTFUL little project! Should be done sometime in the next couple weeks at which point I will most certainly share!)

The Husband is doing remarkably well, helping out around the house a bit more than normal which I certainly won't complain about. He's been looking at puppies online and while I think its early for that, I'm glad he wants another dog at some point in the future. Its important to me that O grows up with pets. Dogs have a great deal to teach us about love, patience, nobility, loyalty...and I'd hate for Little O to miss out on those lessons.

Haven't caught much of the DNC this week...I keep meaning to watch some speeches on YouTube but you know how it goes...the day just flies by and before you know it, its 10pm and you still have to wash your pump parts and bag your milk for the next day. From what I've gleaned from various blogs/the newspaper/etc., Michelle Obama's speech is one to see as well as Hillary Clinton's. Maybe this weekend, I'll have a chance to catch up...

McHann

McHann
Dec. 1997- Aug 23, 2008
R.I.P.

Sad

Dear McHann,

We found out yesterday that you are leaving us. Your mind is there, but your body is failing. It will probably be today or tomorrow that we will need to help you leave. We don't want you to be in pain. We love you too much to try and selfishly hold on while you are suffering.

Let me just say that I cannot imagine a better dog. You have been in our family for nearly 11 years and each one of those has been precious to us. Sure you have had health problems (remember the time we had to take out a freaking loan to fix your ear??), and done some stupid shit (hello bath towels? NOT FOOD!) but it was worth every vet visit/cent and we wouldn't trade you for any other pooch.

Through all your trials, through moving, through having your world turned upside down by a little screaming thing in diapers, you have remained sweet and kind-hearted. Sure you got a little jealous of the baby, but that's understandable! You were our 'baby' before he came along. We tried not to neglect you after he showed up but I know that all of our lives changed a lot- including yours.

You were always up for anything and loved walks, hikes, rides in the car, milk bones, and any people food you could get. I was always a sucker for this and the Husband would tsk-tsk when he saw me slip you some goody off my plate. I knew it was a no-no but I couldn't resist those big brown eyes and the one-eared, earnest expression. You loved tennis balls and your collection of stuffed animals. Your very favorites were your chickens (my mom would send you a new one every year as that is about the length of time for them to get loved to death. :-).

Whenever we took you out, we got compliments, "What a beautiful dog!" You would very dutifully allow strange children to pet you and get excited when meeting new people.

I could go on and on, listing the wonderful things about you and all the great times we had. I hope we gave you a good life. I think we did. You have enriched our lives so much.

I love you and am so sorry to see you go. You will be greatly missed.

Stop Wastin' My Time

Last week, I had an appointment at the eye doctor. We laughed, I read charts with startling accuracy, we chatted, we got through an exam with no air puffs (so GLAD they don't do that!) We discussed trying new contacts that might be more comfortable. (And they are! Yay!) We held hands. (Well, almost.)

Most importantly, we discussed dialating my eyes and came to the conclusion that because I AM BREASTFEEDING, this would not be possible. Oh darn.

Then. The eye doctor gets that flirty twinkle in his optical cavities and convinces me to participate in a clinical trial. Only one visit! he promises, We'll pay you! All you have to do is fill out a questionairre about wearing contacts and BAM! $30 is yours!

So I reluctantly agree.

Flash forward to today- my appointment for the trial. I ride my bike all the way up there (maybe 1.5 miles so, you know, not THAT far but far enough), wait in the waiting room (all the while taking TIME OFF OF WORK) only to discover that I am ineligable to participate because I AM BREASTFEEDING. Which, as has been established, the doctor knew.

Grrr. Here, I'll let Spinal Tap say it for me:

Monday Favorites

Here I am again, trying to stay positive while battling a killer case of the Mondays. And so, its time for another installment of My Favorite Things a la Julie Andrews. Thanks, Rogers and Hammerstein!

Here are some of my favorite things right now (in no particular order):

Watermelon

Anthony Bourdain

Wes Anderson Movies

Hot showers- with NO BABIES in the room whining, unrolling toilet paper, trying to play in the toilet etc. YOU know of that which I speak...

Going to the Farmer's Market

Bitch Ph.D. Pouring over the archives. Love these bitches!

This soundtrack

Getting birthday mail even though it means that the big 31 is just around the corner...


What are your favorite things today??

Reading Rainbow

(I totally stole this from I'm Beautiful Like Me. Because I can NEVER RESIST A LIST. Yay thievery!)

"The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six. According to another blogger, they encourage us to:*Look at the list and bold those we have read.*Italicize those we intend to read.*Underline the books we LOVE" Share this list in your blog, too, if you like. :)

(Oh, and THIS will get you in the mood.)

I have made the books I LOVE red. You know, for love.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Final Tally?

Read? 39 (Loved? 8)
Intend to read? 9

I read a great deal, but admittedly a great deal of that is "for fun" fantasy, sci-fi fiction, young adult fiction or the like.

I'm always looking for new fabulous books to read though...what are your favorites??

Lip my Stocking. Lip it!**

A few things:

1) The Olympic lip-syncing 'scandal'- sure, I feel sorry for the 'un-cute' little girl. Who cares about crooked teeth? If she has a beautiful voice then let us see her! The perfectionism thing is seeming a bit desperate and silly, no?
-But is it really the front page worthy new item? I mean really. People are dying in Georgia.

2) In completely unrelated news, (except for maybe a small 'un-cute' connection, ha ha) my 31st birthday is rapidly approaching. Somehow, its not quite as depressing as I thought it would be...30 was the big milestone and really, what's one more year? Nuthin'.

When pressed for gift ideas, I have requested the most boring of all: money for clothes. It IS depressing how few of my pre-baby clothes fit my new body. While I am only 8 lbs. heavier than I was before the little dude (and not likely to lose this until we wean, I hear), things are all disproportionate or something. Grrr. So I'm putting together a list of must haves:

Jeans that actually fit and don't make me want to kill someone because they are so tight in the waist
Button up shirts with collars
A few well fitting t-shirts/blouses
Cardigans
One pair new shoes (maybe something along these lines )
Socks, preferably funky

What else do I need for fall??


3) One last kid-related note: So yeah, Sunday's golden moment? Fleeting. While he is not spitting like the baby on today's Ask Moxie post (LOVE Moxie!), Little O is definitely going through some kind of developmental leap. And you know what? It is ANNOYING. Whiny, wriggly, throwing food, waking up at 5 FUCKING AM annoying. Say it with me: This too shall pass.

**I love Mr. Bob Harris

Golden

Too often, these days it can seem that weekends are caught in a whirling vortex of diapers, nursing, trips to the grocery store, laughing, playing, crying, crawling, cleaning bathrooms, pulling up, drool, and ferocious flinging of foodstuffs from highchairs...It is heady, crazy, hectic, tiring, exasperating, exhausting...as if we are desperately trying to get caught up from the week past and be prepared for the week ahead and maybe do something fun if we have time...and very rarely accomplishing these goals in their entirety.

However.

Sometimes, rarely, we get a break. A small, intake of breath. A glimpse into something else, someplace else where the craziness, the worrisome-ness, the day-to-day-ness of it all falls away, prostrate to something bigger than ourselves, bigger than the minutiae of our lives.

Yesterday dawned cool and overcast, a welcome change from the hot sun (close at 7,000 ft. above sea level). Somehow, just about all our chores had been accomplished on Saturday. The house was clean. The laundry was done. The groceries were in the fridge. We had Free Time.

A little after noon, O and I walked to the park. It was pleasant and cool. Adults were chatting quietly on park benches while their charges ran laughing over the wood chips into thick, fragrant grass. The slides elicited squeals of delight and every once in a while a dog yipped, no doubt asking for the ball to be thrown just one more time.

As we approached the playground, I heard sounds coming from the stroller; excited little exclamations in baby language. Once we arrived, I lifted him up, out of the stroller, high up into the air and then set him gently in the baby swing. As I pushed, we got into a rhythm. Back and forth, back and forth...hypnotic. The chains squeaked with each arc. Squeak...squeak...As the swing came toward me he would smile, reaching out with his fat little hands, giggling when they touched mine. As he swung backward, he would laugh out loud at the sensation.

It was one of those brief, golden moments in time. The world was perfect, still and lovely. It was my fantasy, the one I had while pregnant with O, when I thought about being a mother. Everything fell away and it was just us, the cool air, the sounds of the park, and the swing. Back and forth. Back and forth. A metronome, a heartbeat measuring the time we have here, on this earth, together.

Summertime

Dentata

Dear O's Two Front Teeth,

First of all, as we have not been formally introduced, please allow me to extend a heartfelt, Wyoming "Howdy" to you two gents. I am O's Mama. I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you. Really, I do.

As you may be aware, the two of you are kinda sorta taking just a little bit of a LONG-ASS time showing up. Currently one of you (we'll call you Righty) is just barely displaying a sharp white ridge and you, Lefty are still shyly peeking out from what can only be described as a tender, sore, swollen, painful looking little gum. While I certainly understand that you wouldn't want to rush in to anything, especially some of the things that find their way into O's mouth (yes DOGFOOD, I am talking about YOU) I also would plead the case that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Am I right?

So! While I am tickled MAGENTA to see you two fellas finally show up, let me just take a quick moment to pose a teensy weensy request:

PLEASE STOP TORTURING MY SON.


Thanks in advance.

Warmest regards,
Birdie

P.S. While I am, again, excited to see you both finally make your appearances, I am (I believe, understandably) pessimistic as to what your arrival may mean for my nipples. Hopefully, there will be no need to pen another such missive to address future complaints. Hopefully.

Clean

The Plan...aka Light at the End of the Tubing

As you may well remember, I have been a lactating, breastfeeding, pumping FOOL since little Mr. O graced us with his presence. And honestly? I've been happy to do it. Sure it's been challenging (understatement: please reference the first TWO WEEKS of mighty sore nipples, the engorgement, and the frequent plugged ducts. The latter of which have only recently vacated my life. Knock on wood. Oh, and the sleepless nights, leaking, and feeling not just a little bit like a milk cow) but. BUT it has also been rewarding (for this, please kindly reference the increased attachment to my baby, yummy "well-being" hormones, decreased risk of breast cancer, providing nature's perfect food for baby, increased I.Q. points (for him, not me. As you all know, I have been suffering from "momnesia") ) and for that I am glad I stuck with it.

Little Mr. O's 1st birthday is rapidly approaching, however, and I've been thinking, nay DREAMING about the day I get to stop pumping at work. I don't want to totally wean quite yet...I'm fine with the early morning nursing, the evening nursing, yes and even middle-of-the-night nursing for a while longer- its just that I'd like to say HASTA LA VISTA, BABY to my GD PUMP during daylight hours.

So here's my plan: Once Otto is 1, I'll assess how he's doing on eating solids (hopefully he'll be just a bit more gung-ho than he is at present) and try him out on some organic cow milk. See how that goes. If all's well, I'll start cutting out one workday pumping session at a time. (If all is not well, then we'll explore our options. )

Right now, I pump once in the morning, bike to daycare and nurse him at noon, then pump once in the afternoon. I figure I'll cut out the morning session first, then the afternoon session, saving the noon-time nursing for last. We both enjoy seeing each other in the middle of the day and while saying "Bye" twice a day (or as little O says, "Die-Die" while clenching and un-clenching his fist) is not too traumatic for him, I think it would be good to save this feeding for the last one to go.

So that's my plan. Whether or not it turns out to be actually feasible, it feels good to have it in place. (Yes, I am a teensy bit Type A...)

Sending good thoughts...

Just came across this piece of news.

I hope he is ok..he's one of my favorites.

Blog the Recession!!

Kristen over at Motherhood Uncensored came up with the fabulous idea of sharing bloggy love for the month of August..here, I'll let her explain:

"The premise is simple. If you read blogs, then for the month of August, make the "pledge" to click through from your feed reader. No obligation to leave a hilarious comment or send a long stalkerish email (although both, within reason, are always lovely). Just click through to the blog (not on ads unless you are so led) and if you're feeling generous, click around to their older posts.
Just those extra page views can make a big difference for bloggers who could really use the help, or in my case, where page views don't matter so much, a big fat ego boost. "

So how 'bout it? Give those blogs you love to read a little extra TLC and click around a bit. Page views can really make or break some blogs!

If you'd like to join in, here is the full post.

Phoning it in

Behold. To the left in all its glory is my old cell phone. Well, not my exact phone but a likeness. Whatever. As far as phones go, my Razr wasn't terrible but definately wasn't great. Just, as the husband would say, "meh." I've had it for 2 years: it is scratched, beat up, and gettin' fuzzy. Sure, this is the phone I took Otto's first pictures with but I've never been the sentimental type. Time to go.


And so, shit GOT CRAZY last night when I received my BRAND SPANKIN' NEW phone that will most certainly enable me to RULE THE KNOWN UNIVERSE. Or, you know, text people easier. Same thing.

Its an LG EnV2 and so far, me likey. Even if it did mean that I used the word "Qwerty" about 20 times last night. Yes. I am cool.

Boo-ya.