Moving...

That new blog I mentioned? It's mostly up. It's probably not going to be as anonymous, so I haven't decided if I'm going to link from this one to the new one. If you'd like the address, just send me an email (reneec73 at gmail) and I'll share the new site. I have no current plans to delete this blog, just don't know that I'll be updating it.

Seven Quick Takes, aka I'm Back (Maybe)

1. Last year I kept meaning to participate in Jennifer at Conversion Diary's Seven Quick Takes Friday's, but never managed to, in part because I hadn't started at the beginning of the year. For whatever reason, it really bugged me that I would be coming into it later in the year and I just couldn't do that. Yes, I'm nuts. But hey! It's January! Fresh start time & all of that, so here goes.

2. No posts here for quite awhile. I'm not entirely sure what happened to me other than what you can imagine; still trying to figure out a schedule and routine for me to blog while taking care of the baby. My respect for writers who manage to continue posting regularly through personal upheaval of all sorts is immense, because when life gets hectic, my blog gets ignored completely.

3. I have not read a single book so far in 2010. I haven't even started one. That alone should tell you all that something is wrong with me, or at least has been. And you would be correct. I have been siiiiiiiiccccccckkkkkkkk. I think we picked up something from one of L's relatives at Christmas. He was the first to go down, while I hoped that G & I would avoid it - not an impossible dream since I often avoid colds or even the flu when L is knocked out by them. Alas, not to be this time. New Years Eve Eve it began and I'm still a snotty mess. Fortunately G had a mild case so other than a couple of miserable nights where he slept on me, coughing and hacking and dripping mucus everywhere, he's mostly been ok. And still amazingly happy throughout it all.

4. I'm trying to set up a new blog but have run into some difficulties. I'm about to concede defeat and go ask L for help. I was trying to avoid that because all he's been doing lately is helping friends and family with their computers. At least this will be a change of pace from the hardware stuff.

5. Since getting married, we've purchased at least 3 shredders, usually whatever is on sale. Our cheap purchases last for maybe a year or two, then they slowly start dying until eventually they conk out entirely and we begin the process again. After six-months of no working shredder, I finally purchased a new one, and we're sick of buying them so regularly so we bought a more substantial one. One with good ratings that will hopefully take care of our shredding needs long into the future. And it even has some kind of sensor so that if little fingers come too close to it, it shuts down. So no worries of G finding it and shredding himself. Although we should worry about G finding it and pulling it over onto himself, because this thing is HEAVY.

6. Wondering why I'm taking about G finding things as if he's mobile? Oh, that's because he is. He started army-crawling for real shortly after Thanksgiving. ("For real" = more than just one or two pulls forward.) He crosses the room in seconds if he's motivated (i.e. there's a toy or something he wants over there.) The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas also brought forth his first tooth - a cute little bottom one.

7. He turns six months tomorrow.

Poor Baby...

G had his 4-month doctor's visit yesterday. He looks great, and the doctor couldn't hear the heart murmur he had at his 1-month visit so that's wonderful.

What's not so wonderful is the bad timing of the visit in relation to when he wanted to nap, and then the oral vaccine & two shots he received. He was soooooo tired that he was crying when the doctor was just listening to his heart & lungs; he wanted to be left alone to sleep! Then when he got that stuff squirted into his mouth the tears really flowed. All topped off by two shots in his thigh. He was such a sad baby after that. I nursed him for a bit in the room to get him settled down, then he fell asleep in his car set on the drive home, and slept in that for another hour (usually even if he's fallen asleep in the car seat, he wakes up as soon as we stop moving).

He was restless all day yesterday, and fairly cranky and tired. He also had a ROUGH night (which means I had a rough night too.) He's napping well today, but I'm trying to decide if I should think about discouring him from napping too much in hopes of a better night's sleep for both of us tonight.

Fortunately we won't have to do that again until January.

Weekend Recap

• I washed a mountain of laundry this weekend.
  
  
• I have not yet folded or put away said mountain. It currently resides on the futon in the family room.
  
  
• I got to the library BY MYSELF. As in, sans child, which meant that I got to drive my car since there was no need for the car seat. I'd forgotten how much fun my car is to drive.
  
  
• G has his four-month well-baby doctor's visit tomorrow. I've been dreading it because the poor guy gets shots. Based on how he cries, I'd say that the shots are much harder on his momma than on him.
  
  
• Not such a good sports weekend. Can I pretend it didn't happen? I wrote too soon! All was redeemed by the amazing finish last night. Which I didn't manage to see thanks to going to bed so early, but the highlights sure were nice. :)
  
  
• I made some AWESOME coconut bread. Unfortunately L also thinks it's awesome and he keeps eating it! I thought it would be all mine, but instead I'm having to share. Drat.
  
  
• I also made some rice pudding that is not even close to awesome. Unfortunately this one is all mine.
  
  
• I cut my finger on the inside of a can while opening it. Now I keep catching it on everything and realizing what an obnoxious spot it's in. Typing isn't easy with it either.
  
  
• I think I've postponed enough. Time for me to get to bed.

I Am Such a Dork

I just ordered some stuff for myself from one of my favorite stores. Seriously, it's kind of ridiculous how excited I get about ordering from them. I've always got a wish list of items I'd like, and every so often (usually when they've got free shipping offered) I put in an order. And now I just have to wait for my stuff to arrive!

What I'm most excited about this time is some bread pans. I've been using incorrectly sized pans for years, and I finally decided to get the 8 inch pans instead of continuing to use 9 inch pans. I hope to see improved results now!

I've also got a dough whisk coming, and I'm hoping it's as wonderful as it sounds. Assorted other goodies rounds out my order.

So yes, I think my enthusiasm for this officially makes me a dork. But that's ok, I'll admit to it.

Change of Plans

Due to a sick child (not my own, fortunately) today's visit by L's aunt and grandmother has been canceled.

I feel like my day has just opened up tremendously.

L wants to go to Chili's for lunch. I'd hate to disappoint him, so I suppose he'll just have to drag us along. ;)

I'm sure that will mean he won't be up for lasagna for dinner. I'm beginning to think that this lasagna is destined to not ever happen. Although I guess if I have the energy to make it, I could then just stash it in the fridge to bake tomorrow. That would probaby work pretty well, just depending on if I can get to it today. Because despite it being a holiday, L will be working.

Dinnertime Scramble

I've got potato cheese soup cooking for dinner, but it's not looking or tasting right, so I'm not sure if we'll be eating it or scrambling for something else instead.

It's been a rough stretch recently for dinners - unsuccessful new recipes and uninspired meals scrounged up when I haven't had a plan at all.

Lasagna would have been good, I'm pretty sure anyway, I just never managed to fix it because the baby wasn't letting me put him down long enough to make it. I'm hoping to try tomorrow since L has the day off and should be able to wrangle his son.

The only reason I'm not sure it will happen is because L's grandmother and aunt are both coming over to see the baby and may make it so I can't get to the lasagna. You'd think it'd be easier with them around (and it should), but I'll probably have to visit with them. (These crazy extraverts who otherwise get their feelings hurt if I'm trying to hide in the kitchen.)

I'll guess I'll just see what happens...

Turning into a Stereotype

G and I had quite the outing today. I took him in to my old workplace to show him off. He was so good throughout his time being handed from one person to the next. Then we went to lunch together - he fell asleep during the drive so I went through the drive-thru and then ate my sandwich in the truck so I wouldn't disturb him by moving him. After I finished I went to Trader Joe's and read in the parking lot until he woke up (I was trying to avoid him having too short of a nap leading to extreme crankiness later in the day.) We made a semi-quick trip through the store once he was awake, then it was back home.

He's fallen asleep again now, I think all the excitement did wear him out. And I need to see about getting some more accomplished with my day. Like perhaps paying bills and laundry and wonderful things like that.

So Successful

At this blogging every day thing I mean. I lasted less than a week. Gah.

So it's Sunday and that means FOOTBALL. In addition to watching the Colts play, I plan to make lasagna and tollhouse pie. Yummm. We'll see how that goes because the baby does not always cooperate with my plans. He's snoozing now, which gives me the chance to get a post up and then get myself some lunch.

Thanksgiving

It's only three weeks away. I repeat, it's only. three. weeks. away.

How is this possible?

I'm kind of freaking myself out with thoughts of what I'd like to accomplish before the end of the year. I think I need to rein myself in a bit, even if I'd like to go for it all. (sound familiar?)

I should probably start with a list of absolute, must do's, then expand from there into would like to do's.

New Door!

Our new garage door is in and looks great! We've got a new motor, keypad, trim etc. Much better than the old one with the huge crack and large hole in it, as well as a motor that needed lots of encouragement when the temperatures dipped. It should make it much warmer too this winter - the new door has significantly more insulation than the old one (something like a 10 versus a 3 I think it was).

Happily, they even had one available in a good color that coordinates with the house already and doesn't seem to need to be painted. I say "seem to" because it might be a little too glossy and end up looking odd, but it'll make it through the winter and in the spring we'll reevaluate it and may paint it if it'll look better with a flatter finish.

Baby Stuff

How do I balance enjoying the baby & all of that with also documenting/preserving memories? I thought of a story about him today that I should blog. Of course right at that moment I was in the midst of feeding him, so I couldn't write it down. Now, I have no idea what it was.

I don't want to forget his babyhood, but I also want to enjoy it while it's happening and not ignore him to write things down or photograph him etc.

Things I Haven't Been Doing Lately

• Posting the books I've read. I've read them, just haven't updated my widget or posted the monthly lists.
  
  
• The exercises my physical therapist gave me. And my back and wrist are letting me know I've been neglecting them.
  
  
• Sending those last few thank you notes. They're not really that late; I got a couple of gift cards in the mail in the last month, so it's not like they're from before G was born. But still, I need to get them written.
  
  
• Walking with G. The weather is beautiful right now, but it seems like I only think about it when he's sleeping or about to go to sleep. Such as right now, he's napping but I'm ready to go.
  
  
• Driving my car. Our garage door is broken, and the car is trapped behind the non-working door. At least the truck was outside when the door broke so we can use it.
  
  
• Stopping by my former place of employment to show off the baby. This I blame on L who has had doctor's appointments every morning since our return due to his back. He's got the truck, so I can't go anywhere, and by the time he gets back it's been too late for me to leave. However! We're getting our garage door replaced on Wednesday so we will now be able to get the car out of the garage so we can both go to different places at the same time. Amazing how that will work.
  
  
• Returning a few phone calls. No good reason other than by the time they'd be home from work, I'm tired and not up for talking, and they're going to want more than a five-minute conversation. I think I need to try and reach them on a weekend.

The above may make me seem like a huge slacker. Not true, I've been busy and have gotten lots of other stuff done, some items even that had been waiting awhile. I just still have more before I feel caught-up from, oh, last fall.

NaBlPoMo, Again

I did it in 2007 (more or less, but the effort was there). So I'm trying again.

And this counts as a post, as far as I'm concerned. I spent the day baking and cooking and cleaning. Oh, and taking care of a almost-four-month-old. Now it's late & my bed is calling me...

Time Management

During a discussion at lunch today, I came to a sad realization. I can't do it all. Earth-shattering, I know.

I want to be able to do more. But it really hit me this afternoon that no matter how much I want it, I can't manage to do everything I'd like. I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time accepting this, but there you have it.

Outside of the "have-to's" that I'd be happy not doing (house cleaning, grocery shopping, bill paying, etc.) there are four big areas where I choose to spend my time: pleasure reading, baking, blogging, and watching tv. I can do two of them easily. I can generally manage three of them when things aren't completely crazy on the home front (say, with a new baby or a husband disabled by a bad back and unable to do ANYTHING. It's been exhausting.) All four just doesn't happen.

My preference would be to drop tv. Other than Colts games and Top Chef I could skip it all and not miss it. But L really prefers me to watch some with him in the evenings, and so I do. This month it's pretty obviously been blogging that's been ignored. Actually, it's been baking too but that's due to L's injury requiring so much more time from me.

I'm debating how to handle it. So far I'm leaning towards lumping reading & blogging and alternating them; one day I do one and then next day the other. Or more likely, two days reading, one day blogging. That should hopefully keep my reading needs satisfied and still keep me writing (because I don't want to stop).

What I really need to do is stop the aimless internet surfing which I find myself doing at times. Why do I do that?

September Baking

I almost made it 30-for-30, but one Monday tripped me up. G was cluster-feeding and I didn't manage to get semi-prepared during his one real nap of the day and then by the time I did have time it was 9:30 and I just was too tired to do anything. Sigh. I was surprisingly disappointed that I couldn't make it to a perfect string.

But, here's what I learned in my month of baking:

• It's easiest if I prep for whatever it is I'm going to bake as soon as I can. What I mean is measuring everything and having it ready to go, so that if need be I can dump ingredients into a mixing bowl with one hand while the other holds the baby.
  
• Bread is not that scary. And it is sooooo goooood it's worth the effort.
  
• Apparently I do not ever get tired of chocolate.
  
• Tyler Florence has a killer coconut bread recipe.
  
• Everything I've ever tried by Dorie Greenspan is killer.
  
• Pie crust is also not that scary. But it is impossible to roll while holding a baby or even wearing him, so plan accordingly.
  
• I counted baking from a mix twice. Because my point in this month was mostly to clear out my backlog of new recipes, but also to clear out my baking cabinet of odds-and-ends, which included some mixes.
  
• I love love LOVE trying new recipes. I thought I'd get annoyed by it or something, but nope, never did. In fact it inspired me to continue with it even more. Details to follow.
  
• I need to trust my instincts, because I had a recipe that was a complete disaster and I thought it seemed weird when I was preparing it. I should have followed my gut.
  
• L never questioned what I was doing with all the baking, or what was going on. He just enjoyed it.

I Love This Time of Year

And by "this time of year," I mean, of course, football season. (Something tells me Jennifer knew what I meant).

I watched a ridiculous amount of football both Saturday and Sunday. I completely enjoyed some of the games (see: USF on Saturday, and the Colts on Sunday), and was very disappointed in others (see: IU on Saturday, and the Steelers, Dolphins, and Falcons on Sunday).

What I am NOT crazy about is the late start for Sunday (and Monday) night games for those of us in the Eastern time zone. I fell asleep before the end of the Colts game yesterday. So what if the game was all but over, I still couldn't manage to stay awake to actually see it end. Tonight I don't even know if I'll make it to halftime of the game. This is when I miss living in the Mountain or Pacific time zones. I could watch games until the end! And not regret it the next day even!

I forgot to put G in his Colts outfit yesterday. He's got an aunt who is a RABID Colts fan so she made sure he would be appropriately attired for the season. That and she wanted to preempt him from possibly having his first sports clothing be for any other team.

Baby Updates

G had his 2 month appointment this week. Two months! I know, every mom says it, but still. It seems impossible that it's been two months already. And I still haven't managed to write up his birth story.

The big news from his appointment was his stats - 26 inches long and 14 pounds 5 ounces. Let me repeat that: FOURTEEN POUNDS, FIVE OUNCES. a.k.a. a whole lotta baby.

And let's not overlook that length; it's 99th percentile and 4 inches more than his birth length. No wonder I feel like he eats a lot.

Everything looks good with him other than his moderate-to-severe case of cradle cap. He's quite scaly, and the doctor suggested using dandruff shampoo twice a week. If only I'd remembered to buy some at the store...

Not so good news is his bottle strike. It began with just him needing lots of encouragement to take a bottle. Then it was refusing a bottle now & then. Then always refusing the bottle. And now it doesn't matter what's in the bottle; he reacts as if we're torturing him by offering it.

This does not bode well for me ever leaving the boy.

He's still super cute though!

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - leftovers

Monday - baked gnocchi

Tuesday - black bean quesadillas

Wednesday - baked mushroom risotto with steak

Thursday - linguine with butter and pecorino

Friday - minestrone soup and homemade bread

Saturday - pizza

August Books

Robin Elise Weiss - 150 Tips and Tricks for New Moms: From Those Frantic First Days to Baby’s First Birthday: Everything You Need to Know to Enjoy Your New Addition

Charlaine Harris - Shakespeare’s Trollop

Alan Gordon – The Lark’s Lament

Elizabeth George - A Mom After God’s Own Heart: 10 Ways To Love Your Children

Nevada Barr - Borderline

Elizabeth M. Ward - Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, & After Pregnancy

George Barna - Finding a Church You Can Call Home: The Complete Guide to Making One of the Most Signifi-cant Decisions of Your Life

Laura Hunter and Jennifer Walker - The Moms on Call Guide to Basic Baby Care: The First 6 Months

Beverly Connor - One Grave Too Many

Jan Burke - Nine

Sue Grafton - T is for Trespass

Erin Hart - Lake of Sorrows

Gladys M. Hunt - Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life

Royal College of Midwives - Successful Breastfeeding

La Reine Chabut - Lose That Baby Fat! Bouncing Back the First Year after Having a Baby

Rick Warren - Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods: Twelve Ways You Can Unlock God’s Word

Stephanie Barron - Jane and the Stillroom Maid

Conrad Allen - Murder on the Marmora