Thursday, May 29, 2008

We'll Make It, I Swear

Just finished watching VH1's Greatest Hits of the Eighties. That was SO different from Greatest Hits of the Nineties.

(spoiler alert)

The top three actually kind of blew my mind. I can't say that I disagree necessarily, But my neck is a little sore form all those double takes.

3. Duran Duran, Hungry Like the Wolf
2. Def Leppard, Pour Some Sugar On Me
1. Bon Jovi, Livin' On A Prayer

Um, OK, VH1. Whatever you say.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A little bit of blog

Call it a creativity block. Call it post-moving mayhem. Call it napping whenever possible. Call it whatever you want, but the blog is just not happening lately. There are always colors, images, ideas dancing around my brain, but sometimes it's just so hard to let them out. Sigh.

I'm saving any bit of blogginess for the month seven Samson update next week.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

We're going to have install a back-up camera in his rear end

Samson decided that it is now time to become mobile. Slowly at first, but the beginning of the end is definitely here. Luckily, he's only moving backwards, and very slowly, so it's not like he'll see a thing he wants and motor towards it. It's more like he's doing the worm, and then all of a sudden he's under the dining room table. I'm so proud.

The hammock arrived the other day. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Life, she is good.

I continue to love the heck out of this house, and to marvel at how much better it is to live in a non-rental. Improvements were made because they MAKE SENSE and MAKE LIFE EASIER and not because they increase the rental value. And let me say this: electric can opener. I have found my new religion. And that religion involves opening cans, electrically.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Up to my ears in boxes

The move went great, we're settling nicely into our new home--which I love. Blogging has been pushed aside by unpacking and by exploring the neighborhood, but I do have a couple of fun moving anecdotes that I'll post eventually. And pictures! Cats in boxes! Babies in boxes! Everyone in a box!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Don't forget to wrap my collection of tiny monuments in bubble wrap, guys

I feel like such an ass. For the last three hours, three nice Irish guys have been packing up my house. In the 95 degree heat. And what have I been doing? First I hastily threw all of the dry food left in our kitchen and garage into a box (we have Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Mac! Two boxes! Who knew!). When that five minutes was up, I brought a patio chair into the garage and sat there as I caught up on the last 5 months of Overheard in New York. Then I fell asleep. Then I woke myself up by soring, you know, like when you fall asleep on airplane and your head dangles back? Like that. Then I sat in my car with the AC on full blast and charged my cell phone. Then I darted back inside and grabbed my laptop, and now I'm sitting in the garage again. Except one of the movers is five feet behind me, packing up my VERY IMPORTANT THINGS like a dozen kongs and 10 years worth of T-shirts. Because someday, I am going to make that T-shirt quilt.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The eff??



Thanks, Sancho. I think.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A little more back

Argh, so I'm over my cold and back into the swing of things. Except that the swing of things includes sitting on the floor with my 6 month old son and playing with puppets and blocks and dolls and balls and napkins and empty boxes and ANYTHING ELSE WITHIN REACH THAT WILL MAKE HIM HAPPY. Unfortunately, the swing of things does not include folding laundry, doing dishes or taking out the garbage. My poor, poor husband.

We are moving this weekend, because, you know, that's what we do every 10 to 12 months is we move. For a year, we acquire more and more things and then we decide it would be fun to pack it all into a moving van and take it somewhere else for a year. Except that when we moved back from Ireland, SOMEBODY ELSE packed all of our stuff and moved it for us. Oh, happy day when you pay someone else to do the crap work for you!

This year, we are hiring a company to pack and move for us again so that I can sit on the floor and make silly voices and play with toys while someone else does the non-baby related stuff. I'm so attentive to my son and there to respond to his every need. So it makes perfect sense that I put him down for a nap so I could call moving companies this morning to find out how many weeks my husband would have to work to pay for this move. Samson cried, and I let him cry it out. Of course he eventually fell asleep and I made all of the necessary arrangements--movers, cleaners, carpet cleaners, etc. When the baby woke up 45 minutes later and I went upstairs to fetch him, I dutifully changed his diaper. And I found SO. MUCH. POOP. Poop that had, for 45 minutes, been squished and sloshed around in his diaper, so much so that I was cleaning poop OFF OF HIS BACK AND ELBOWS. Like I said, back in the swing of things.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Still here, sort of

I've been sick. Fuzzy headed, mucasy, head as big as a Costco sick. Feeling better today, but still very yuck. So that's where I've been. In bed.

Solid foods! Samson loves him some oatmeal and some squash! Next is carrots, then some kind of fruit. Every day is a celebration in this house.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Samson: Month Six



Five plus one equals THE MOST KICK ASS of all months thus far. Month six is officially my all-time favorite thing, beating out long weekends and bacon.

Where to begin. So much terrific stuff happened this month, I don't even know where to start! Fortunately, everyone loves a good top 5 list.

1. Samson stopped crying during every baby boot camp class. Up until this month, baby boot camp was great for me, physically and mentally, but not so great for Samson. He pretty much fussed, cried and screamed the whole time, and my saint of an instructor would take pity on all of us and pick him up and console him. It wasn't that I was ignoring him, but I was mostly just zoning out and trying to pretend that he was going to stop any moment now. It was pretty much the longest 75 minutes ever, three times a week.



This month, I tried letting him sit in the stroller, sitting up and facing forward, and not in the car seat. Last time I tried this, he screamed as if the seat was made out of shards of glass. But this time, he was quiet and content, even a little bit happy! Throughout the whole class! And has been for four consecutive classes! Score!

2. Sitting up on his own. Oh my lord, this is the most awesome thing ever. Still not mobile, so I don't have to baby-proof my gun cabinet and vodka collection just yet, but a nice little pile of baby, sitting there and grabbing things and putting them in his mouth. And smiling! Clearly, spending six months laying on your back has got to be annoying, and there's nothing better then eye-level cats.



3. Flying to the Midwest. I love to travel as it is--including going to the airport, going through security, all that stuff. It's like a game to me, and I love anything that involves fitting all of your stuff into arbitrarily sized plastic bags. Yes, I know this is weird. So going through the already problem-solvingly fun task of flying with a baby was like extra double bonus fun for me. As it turns out, the baby crying in public is like the absolute worst thing for me, ever. Period. So traveling with a 5 month old became an additional game of do WHATEVER IT TAKES to keep the baby happy and quiet in the airport, on the plane, etc. I think we did pretty well.



Of course, visiting friends and family was awesome as well. I do love to show off this adorable little baby.

4. More food and prune juice. It turned out that Samson had lost a few ounces, and that's just not right. So the doctor had us increase his formula in both quantity and frequency. Plus, we added an ounce of prune juice to his morning bottle. That, my friends, is the recipe for a happy baby. Need I say more?



5. Spending two weeks with Israel Safta. Max's mom came out for her annual Passover visit, so Samson's grandparent quotient increased by 30%. Plus, this particular safta likes to wear big, beautiful beads around her neck and wrists, which is a really effective way to make instant friends with a 5 month old. I predict a long and sparkly relationship.



Other highlights included:

Meeting Auntie Mir! Yay!
Cold number two! Boo!
Finding new and exciting things to put in our mouths! Yay!
Starting to babble! Yay!
Mastering the back-to-front roll and getting very good at the front-to-back roll as well! Yay!
Going to the sushi boat restaurant! Perfect for a grabby baby! Yay!
Learning to ride in the baby swing! Yay!
First time sitting in the shopping cart! Yay!



Let it be known that month six is the best month EVER.

Hello, I Love You

The fancy first picture with my fancy new camera:



I. Love. This. Camera.



Obviously the Sharks pajamas worked, as my stinky team actually won last night.