Aging

I know I'm getting older - not because of the time it now takes me to jog a mile though that pounds the message home quite well - but because I've found myself saying two things at two different times today: "boys' hair these days, it looks awful" and "what is this world coming to."

The hair: It's no big deal, but have you guys SEEN the style they are sportin' these days? It's crap! Long, shaggy crap with a part that makes it look like they're aiming for a combover without the male baldness. Gross.

The world: Aside from the economy and global warming, every time I click on my news site of choice, I read the headlines of another wackjob killing their kid or leaving a newborn alone with a dog or the latest, letting a toddler play with an 18 ft. python. Just today, some crackhead threw her newborn, umbilical cord still attached, into Lake Ponchartrain. Then, we have the unemployed, unwed mother of octoplets. When and where did ethics go? Doesn't anyone care about anything anymore?

What about kids who are killed after DHS returns them to their "biological" parents, knowing the risk is there that it will happen again?

I heard this morning on the radio about a reality show about a 28-year-old who is entering rehab because she is addicted to plastic surgery. She's had something like 13 boob jobs. How does a person get that messed up and not get any real help?

I just can't stand it.

Sleepy Ballerina

A few of Kaia's favorite things to do:

• Scoot around the living room with a diaper in hand.
• Cruise around from pacifier to pacifier (she has several, but only one favorite), swapping them out at each stop.
• Eat whatever we are eating, if feasible. She especially likes to ball up bread until it's gross and gooey from her sucking on it.
• Cruise around and around and around the ottoman.
• Look out the front window.
• Pull everything out of her toy basket. Or the diaper bag. Or Mom's purse. Or whatever.
• Give Fletcher her teething biscuits. I found his hidden pile in a corner-- apparently he doesn't think they taste good either.
• Still loves to smack the keyboard while we are trying to type/surf/work.
• "Read" books. She loves storytime.
• Watch the Wonderpets.
• Walk and walk and walk and walk until Mommy and Daddy are hunchbacks.
• A new one from today: move the money jar we have in the nursery as a doorstop, then close the door.
  

I love my music table almost as much as my tutu



Staying home with Mom makes me sleepy. Yes, that's our bed she's napping in. I broke my own crib rule today. But hey, she had a little fever and didn't feel good. That's a justifiable excuse, right?


Oh yeah, and she loves to look up at me and smile like this. It makes my day.

Parenting

Cory & I went to a parenting seminar last Thursday in Edmond. OK, I roped him into going but there were a LOT of men there, I was impressed. Anyway, it was with Betsy Geddes who teaches about the Love & Logic "approach" to parenting. We liked her a lot! She basically talked about how to raise responsible kids. I'm glad we went. I felt validated in our feeding approach and we learned a few things I hope we can remember down the line.

Kaia's teefies are popping through finally! We can see just a little bit of white now, so they are en route! She had a pretty bad night last night, we are thinking this is why.

I'm hoping to get some new pictures this week, so stay tuned.

Alright Already. 25 Things.

I've been tagged so many times, I guess it's time to suck up and think.

1. I was a writer/editor for the TV Guide Channel and credit that job to my eventual "growing up" of sorts. I started working out, quit smoking and decided to go to college while I worked there.
2. I used to drop classes that required oral presentations. Now I live to do them.
3. I would love to be one of those cycling instructors who goes around all the conferences and workshops teaching people how to be a good instructor. I plan to look into this in my very near future...
4. I have a lot of acquaintances that I adore but very few confidantes. I guess that's the way it should be though.
5. I hate talking on the phone. Yes, most of you know this about me already but it deserves being put on this list.
6. I am embarrassed to admit this but I STILL cannot figure out how to watch a goddamn movie the way Cory has our stuff set up. So complicated. Playstation? Xbox? Fuck all, give me a DVD player and the remote.
7. I used to write poetry, pretty good too I think, but have not been depressed enough to do it lately. This is both a good and bad thing.
8. I plan to go to OU to get a master's degree in public health. I looked into it several years ago but did not want to commute. Once we move, I'll start classes.
9. I hope to learn three things before I'm too old to enjoy them: photography, pottery and a foreign language.
10. I could totally binge on cereal. It's like candy to me. Even the healthy variety.
11. If I had three wishes, one would be for me and all my friends and family (you guys!) to live up to our potential.
12. I really, really wish I believed in god and religion.
13. If anyone hurt Kaia (not the broke her heart variety but really hurt her) I am pretty sure I would be able to summon enough anger to kill him/her with my bare hands, consequences be damned.
14. I really think our mistakes and failures help make us who we are.
15. I hope to goodness we don't pass along our body images issues to Kaia.
16. I could sit on the couch with sports on all day and not know a single score. I just like the sound of it. I think that's weird.
17. I think at some point, I will get my teaching certificate.
18. When I was pregnant, I was so scared I wouldn"t love my child when she was born
19. I love her so much, I can't even describe it. I think you all know this.
20. This has taken me several days to complete. Thanks to everyone who made me do it. 8\
21. I wish I would have taken high school more seriously.
22. I did have a lot of damn fun though. :)
23. I love my mom a lot, she is a lot of fun to be around, but I've never been able to talk to her about anything serious. Since having Kaia though, I can sometimes ask her questions and sometimes, she'll surprise me.
24. I want a new car so damn bad I can't stand it. But I will keep driving the green civic until it craps out because I SO DESPERATELY WANT OUT OF DEBT. And we are so close!
25. I got the health department job!!!

Day One with Mommy

She wore me out!

Day 1: the unemployment files

Well Friday was my last day at work. I was so excited about getting to stay home with Kaia today. Last night, I wrote out her schedule for the day along with a couple things I needed to get done so I wouldn't lose track and just hang out in PJs all day. It's been wondrous! Right now, she is napping in her crib. Right on schedule. :)

Funny thing about the crib. She is a year old and has maybe napped in it three times. I told her for her first birthday she was getting a new room! And her very own bed! We love having her in the room or in the bed with us but we are both tired...our restless little sleeper keeps us awake way too much so it's time to move on.

So, goal for week 1 of the unemployment files: all naps must take place in the crib. Not in mommy's lap or in the pack & play or with Mommy in bed.

We'll see how it goes...

Ah yes... the hillbilly heritage

I remembered one of them... I hope you enjoy this, because I can't believe I'm actually going to write it down.

My sister and I took my Mom and Kaia to my aunts house in Bixby. Mom will make the drive from there to home, so it saves us some time and it gave Mom's family (two sisters and a brother) a chance to see us and meet Kaia for the first time.

I know everyone says their family is dysfunctional, or they don't know how they made it out alive, but honestly, sometimes I think we have you all beat. On the one side, we have the recovered alcoholic who is also a manic-depressive paranoid schizophrenic who moved us from house to house, trying to find one with the "right number." His family is as embarrassed of him as we always were, so we were treated by them as though we were pariahs when we were all just little kids who wanted to fit in but didn't.

Mom's side was always my favorite. "Down to earth" and "fun" is how I always thought of them. They were always laughing and eating and fishing and working in the garden... I grew up playing in creeks and digging for worms and my brother and sister built forts in the hillside. We had outdoor dogs and inside cats and lived right next to the school where my mom taught third grade. Christmas Eve meant chili night and junk food and playing cards til the wee hours of the night.

All grown up, these people are very, very different than I remember them. Maybe this is why kids don't spend a lot of time with extended family when they grow up. It's much better to remember the happy times of our youth.

In reality, even though they are all college educated (three teachers and an engineer), they are bible-thumping Baptist hillbillies. Seriously. To say I wonder how I turned out this way is the understatement of the year. Or decade. If you don't believe me ask Cory. (though he probably doesn't remember because I usually say something like, "you don't have to come if you don't want to" so he doesn't). Better yet, witness this conversation heard Saturday today while having all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet:

Aunt 1: I lost my glasses, so I called my doctor and made an appointment to get new ones. Then one day I was cleaning and I found them under the bed.

Uncle: Did you find Joyce's teeth? Because she lost hers.

Aunt: Under my bed?? No, I didn't find her teeth.

Uncle: Do you have an extra set?

Aunt 2: I have extra teeth. They don't fit me anymore. Maybe they'll fit her.

I think they were kidding. My sister does not. We don't really want to know the truth.