Best Laid Plans and Random Late-Night Thoughts

So, I had every intention of going to sleep early tonight. But a sick baby and sick husband have thrown a wrench into my plans. Hopefully I won't get sick, too. Jack seems to have caught the sniffles from Evan. So far it's nothing serious, but it makes the baby not sleep very well. Also, Evan has been extra snorey since he's sick. As a result, to avoid germs and his loud sawing of logs, I'm sleeping on the couch (yay).

The other night, when I was also up late after taking care of the baby, I was flipping past some low-quality late-night TV and I had a bunch of rapid-fire reactions to what I was watching. For your reading pleasure:

--Marlee Matlin (a deaf actress) has a male translator who speaks for her when she signs. I think this is odd. Anyone with me on that?

--Why is there ALWAYS a Girls Gone Wild commercial on late at night? On the same note, have you guys seen the sensual product infomercial? Two gals calmly extolling the virtues of each item. I'm weirded out by QVC for that stuff. Call me provincial if you must.

Shoot, I had more, but the sick baby calls again. Hopefully I'll get to sleep one of these hours.

Post-Christmas Roundup

Well, Christmas was an absolute blast. It was fabulous to have so much of my family in town and get to hang out with everybody. Jack LOVED seeing people and getting passed around. I loved seeing him have so much fun and having a few extra hours of doing something else besides caring for him. I'm posting a few pics that already appeared on my husband's blog. Oh and speaking of my husband's blog, Kelsey, you asked about our traditions, which Ev discussed in detail. Check out his post. Sorry I didn't get to respond to that comment.

These were taken by my brother on a fun family trip to the local zoo. They make me want a nicer camera; but that will wait for now. Anywho, don't you just love this one of my dad and Jack? They're good buddies.

I also got to hang out with my oldest nephews, who are 10 and 8-ish. They're seriously cool kids. It makes me look forward even more to the future with Jack.

The present with Jack has been great, except I think the teething train has started to pull into the station. He's fussy and - here's the big thing - won't eat much. I think he's also getting a little stopped up from not drinking enough. Thoughts on this, mommy friends? Just deal with it? How long do you think his not-eating-much-spell will last?

In other news, we're gorging on as much holiday candy as possible before we embark on yet another health kick for the new year. Yeah, I know. I get sick of talking about my fluctuating weight, so I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it. But, it's my blog, so get ready to jump back onto the bandwagon with me!

This post has been random enough for now, so I'll keep my miscellaneous thoughts from last night's midnight feeding for another post. Cheers.

Merry Christmas!

Unlike my husband, who has mixed feelings toward Christmas, I have loved this time of year and the holiday itself as long as I can remember. Sure, it started with awe-filled delight about Santa, candy, and the thrill of Christmas-morning gifts, but obviously there is more to the season than just those things.

I also love that for a few weeks (at least) people think more about others, are more charitable, and are kinder. And I love that at this time of year we have more opportunity to really think about Christ. This blog is not typically a place where I talk about religion. In fact, I typically don't discuss my religious beliefs or feelings in any public way. I guess I feel like the people who read my blog (whoever they are) don't come here to read about Jesus. But then, they also don't come to hear about my trials with breastfeeding, and I talk about that stuff anyway.

So briefly, I'm glad that at Christmas I have the opportunity to thank Jesus for coming into the world as a powerless babe--not so very different from my own sweet little one--only to live a perfect life and die for me. I'm thankful for the daily gift that his influence is in my life. And I'm thankful for the innumerable blessings that he and God have given to me, my family, and the rest of the world.

So Merry Christmas to all (five) of you readers. Please accept a bit of the warm Christmas cheer I am sending your way. And to my three Jewish readers, I'm sending Chanukah love your way, too. ;)

In My Dreams I am Brilliant! And A Secret Agent!

I just woke up from a baby-exhaustion- and-yummy-gingerbread-pancake-induced nap. I'm pretty sure I didn't hyphenate that properly, but cut me some slack: I'm so bleary eyed I can barely type.

Anyway, I just wanted to document that I had two fascinating ideas in my sleep. One was also slightly horrifying. Anyway, here goes. I dreamed I was a James Bond-style secret agent. I was just about to start on one of my secret missions, but I was feeling out of it (maybe my pancake reality was creeping in here). I needed to buy an airline ticket online, but when I started to type in my credit card number, I noticed that they were shifting every second. I looked a little closer and realized that the numbers were being electronically generated. Once I started typing a number that I saw on the card into the computer, that number became fixed on the card. Apparently it was a card that would make it more difficult to steal the person's identity without actually having the card, because the numbers would be constantly changing. (I can't tell if what I just typed made any sense, but if it did, YOU'RE WELCOME VISA!) I expect to see my million-bajillion-dollar idea produced soon.

The other idea was that as a secret agent I was about to scuba dive off the side of one of those big, motorized inflatable rafts. I realized that the gear I had was different than most scuba gear (not that I've ever in real life actually used any). Instead of putting a mask into your mouth, there was this multi-lobed apparatus that you actually swallow. Although it's kind of uncomfortable going down, it somehow makes sure that you breathe. And once it's in, it feels perfectly natural. Here's where the slightly horrifying part comes in: Once I had swallowed the breathing tube and tipped backward off the boat into the choppy, freezing, gray, water, I realized I had swallowed the WRONG one, and couldn't breathe. In my dream it didn't occur to me to swim to the surface. So I was just going to drown with something weird lodged in my throat. That's when I woke up. I don't think any scuba companies will steal this idea, but if they do, they have my blessing.

Weird, eh?

Family Photo

This year we're sending out a few Christmas cards - mostly to family. Yesterday Evan and I went downtown and took some family photos. These are two of the more successful results.



I had thought it would be easier to just take pictures with the camera on a tripod using the timer, since it's always a minor ordeal to get the three of us fed, dressed, and out of the house in between Jack's naps.

It was in fact nice that we didn't have to coordinate with another person's schedule. However, if we had had a director/photographer, we could have skipped some of our funnier outtakes. See below.

Tiger, Briefly

So I, like much of the nation (apparently) am somewhat fascinated by the debacle that is the Tiger Woods circus. What is it that makes it interesting? Certainly, I don't find it interesting every time I hear that someone famous has an affair. It's almost expected. So I think what is weird about the Tiger thing is the difference between appearance or perception and reality.

Tiger appeared to be a super nice, talented, extremely wealthy family man. He was even big on the charity circuit. Basically it seemed like a nearly perfect life. Plus he's a little goofy looking, so who expects him to be going around trying to get with every girl he sees? And then the truth comes out. Not just one affair with someone who he happened to find a meaningful if illicit connection with, but rather double digits of affairs with Vegas club girls and reality show castoffs. What?

Am I the only person who feels a little thrown off? Or, as I'm sure most males (who tend to not follow celeb news) would say, should I just get over it because all celeb types are skeezy and it's not reality anyway?

Love This Guy

I mean, right? Go ahead, expand the photo. It's cute!