One more thing. I went to Mounds today to get a cat pole for the cats to scratch and a running wheel for the lonely rat in the basement, and I weighed Morella on the pet scale. She weighs -- 15 pounds and 2 ounces!!!

This morning Morella and I made it to the Baby Book time at the library. I never would have thought to check for these things if Sarah hadn't had mentioned it to me a little while ago when I talked about my ongoing quest to go out and meet new Moms, or even old Mom's for that matter. Anyway. After getting up this morning, pumping, putting Morella down for her morning nap and taking a quick snooze myself, I still had plenty of time to get dressed. I wore a red v-neck t-shirt (the flattering shirt is one that I got from my clothing exchange party on Saturday), put a little mascara on, made sure my hair didn't stick up, put on my favorite skirt and sandals and felt good about myself. I now understand why Hilary was always "dressed up" whenever she left the house for lunch back before I had Morella. I mean, I am going out in public to see people and be seen! Right? I never thought I would feel overdressed though. ..and I sort of did later on at this little event. Even though I am so totally not.

Okay. So I get there and we all sit in a circle and everyone start singing! Like singing to everything. "Morella is here and she wearing a pink shirt...hi Morella blah blah blah." It was like going to nerd conference where everyone knew all the obscure facts and information. What does Brown Bear see? I don't effin' know! And apparently the parents on the bus don't say "Shh shh shh" but rather "I love you." [I would like to note that a few other folks made the same mistake I did]. They ended the 1/2 hour session by blowing bubbles and singing the good bye bubble song to each and every baby. This was the first time Morella has ever seen bubbles and she loved them! I should make some and go outside when the skeeters aren't so bad. Oh hey, that was another thing. I felt very reassured to look around at the other babies and see that almost everyone had insect bites on their faces, just like Morella.

Ha ha. Aside from my own reluctance to sing (because I sort of sound like a transvestite without the hormones), Morella had a great time! She loved seeing all the babies and listening to the songs, and looking at the people. She even made the baby next to us cry by shouting at him -- but really she was just saying hello.

I think I'll be going again next Monday.

I stopped by Creme afterward to get a medium coffee to help me on my day.

What a busy weekend!

Saturday I threw a Clothing Exchange party. It was an idea I shamelessly stole from my friend Laima and Callie. Callie had actually brought up the idea two years ago and then Laima brought it up again this year. I thought "Why not?" So I sent out an email to my lady friends in town and two to out of town folks on the off chance that they would be in town. Five women responded and we were in business. I made a fruit pizza, chocolate covered strawberries, a frozen pizza and a Gorgonzola/apricot appetizer, cheese/meat tray with Saltine crackers (I discovered that my good crackers were opened and stale -- whoops), Tim made us strawberry daiquiris, Lowen brought chips and dip and wine, Sigrid brought sugar peas, Laima brought awesome spring rolls, and Hilary brought wine and we were in business! The party lasted later then I thought it would, ending at 12.30AM and we all walked away with new treasures. Overall it was a cheap party that yielded great results: quality friend time, good food and clothes!

Morella gave us a bit of a hard time on Saturday morning because she was up at 4:00 and was really upset. We ended up giving her a bottle and she went back down at 5:00. I realized the day before that my milk supply had dropped 6-8 ounces so I took the opportunity of her getting up early to work in an extra pump. It also worked in my favor because I had more time to go between pumps without worrying as the evening approached and I was getting ready. I felt bad about the drop for a couple days and then concluded that I would actually be okay with producing 34 ounces a day. I mean, I was having a hard time keeping up with 40+ ounces a day, so much so that I was just dumping excess milk after I had Morella's bottles made. If it stays at 34 I can deal with that. So I am going to keep track for a week or two and see if that is the case. If it drops any lower than 30 then I will do the extra tricks to see if I can up it. I sort of hope that doesn't need to happen though.

Today we tried to all catch up on some sleep. Morella has been a little cranky, hungry and tired the last couple of days. She has grown, I noticed it mostly by carrying her last Friday. She is getting heavy hefting her around with one arm, and today I noticed that she outgrew her blue jumper outfit. I liked that outfit too -- but it's too short for her now. She really is getting bigger. Tonight before bed time, I read her a few books and she actually sat there and looked at the pictures and listened to the story. This is a new development! Before she wanted to interact with the books and eat them. I think it's time to put book reading back into the night time bed routine. I have been looking forward to night time story rituals with my own kid for a long as I could remember. My Mom never read to me growing up so this is sort of a fantasy of mine. Oh the books we are going to read!

We went over to our friend Sigrid and Matt's for a BBQ this afternoon. Our first one of the year and had wonderful time despite the blustery cool weather. I had a hamburger as big as my head and an awesome cherry cobbler with ice cream -- we were full the rest of the day. Our turn is next. We have had a standing dog park meetup on Sunday's. But this weekend we were watching Jack possibly for the last time. Jack's owners are the folks that we have been trading dog watching for five years now, but they are moving to MN and that is drawing to an end. It was a little sad to think that this might be the last time watching Jack. When his owner came to pick him he was very reluctant to leave. Tim said that it might be because he senses big changes happening at their house. I remember when Pluto and Jack were younger and had so much energy, now they are all geriatric.

Tomorrow I am going to try and make it to the Pinney Library Baby Book hour. It's at 9.30 so Morella might or might not be up and at em at that time. I think it's doable without messing up her morning schedule too much. Then I need to make a trip downtown to pick up my wedding/engagement ring at some point. It will be nice to have those rings again. This is the longest I have ever gone without wearing rings. Then Thursday night we heading up to Hilbert to visit Tim's parents for the weekend. Our plan is to have Morella have a trial day with them on Friday while we go to Door County, to see how things go with making bottles and having Morella with them all day. That will be the longest I will ever be away from her *sniff*. A part of me just can't wait for our vacation to be done and over with so I can stop preemptively feeling sad and sick about being away from Morella for so long. The worst part is thinking about how miserable she is going to be without me around and that is causing her discomfort and I hate being the cause of that!

Sigh.

We are also meeting our friends Mike and Rachels' baby for the first time this week. That will be cool. I had thought we would go to the zoo but it closes at 5:00 so that's not gonna happen. I suppose we could go to Olbrich and walk around. Tim has never been there and I think they close at dusk.

Well, I am done pumping -- lets see today's results are: 34.5

Let's hope it stays at 34!

Friday Photos: 4th Week of June

Morella likes to be propped against the couch so that she can look out the window. She only started really doing this in the last week or so. It's cute...and I even caught her thinking about taking a step sideways. Mostly she just likes to fall over.

I don't get it. She LOVES the remote control. I don't know why considering she never sees us actually use it. Maybe it's instinctual.

Taken this afternoon at Hilary's. We went over to play with Cullen's toys since we had a little time to kill before her afternoon nap. I could have picked up my rings today but it was/is gonna rain and it would have been a longer trip than I would have wanted downtown. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow. Anyway. I also wanted to get another McDonald's iced coffee. Why do they have to be so addictive? I justified in 10 different ways.

Lastly, here is a picture of Migo and Morella sharin a toy. Migo is the kitty who actually likes to be "petted" by Morella.

I got a hair cut today. The colored parts were pretty faded in the back so instead of entering the whole dye it tango -- which is hard for me to keep up since I am really allergic to hair dye and would always need help doing it -- I decided to have most of it cut off. Besides, if I am going to do this short thing I want to really experience the whole thing and then grow it out. It's also nice to have it short when it's hot!



Before -- taken just as I was leaving so I didn't have time to look all beautiful and get just just the right photo -- I wish I could have gotten the back of it though. BUT someone was late coming home from work and I was in a rush to get out the door so this is all I have.



After: Front View



After Side views

Monday Catchup: 4th Week of June (aka, Friday Photos)

Dude, last Friday was busy, as I have already mentioned. This weekend was pretty busy too so I didn't get a chance to post like I wanted too. Thankfully, today is Monday and things are back to their regularily scheduled program.

On Wednesday or Thursday I ventured downtown to get some more deoderant (because I am allergic to anything else but the hippiest of deoderant concoctions) and some tea tree oil to add to Morella's baby wipe spray and diapers -- and you know because it's supposed to be like a cure all for everything and I would like to test that theory out. Anyway. I popped in to visit Janet, my old co-worker whom I miss very much. Man, we would cover a lot of ground in those three days a week that I worked - talking. I guess that is one thing I miss post baby -- our weekly chats. Look how big Morella is getting! Sheesh! You know Janet was the first person (aside from Tim) that I told when I got that first positive?

Last Friday I was supposed to meet up with my friend Sam at Scott's for lunch. My idea was to get some sandwiches and eat on the capitol lawn or on bench since the weather was so nice. After I got my food I realized I had just missed her call and she cancelled. So Morella and I ended up sitting on the lawn and eating lunch -- she just had her bottle, nothing fancy. I had a maple donut and a tuna fish sandwich.
Yum.


"Mom, uh .... Mom! Quit taking pictures and help ...*muffle muffle muffle*"


Our afterwork beer/fried food buddy Oliver and Morella. Oliver makes the best chocolate chip cookies the world has ever seen...er tasted.

Viva la Kitty!

Emo Baby is bored with life.

Morella made a new friend at the Zoo on Saturday. It was absolutely hilarious how they studied and groped each other. I think Morella's current boyfriend Cullen has some competition. No, Morella just said "Gah, we are just friends! Can't you stay out of my business? You don't know anything!"

I know, I let you down with no Friday Photos...but I can do it today or tomorrow. Yesterday was really busy. Morella and I squeezed in a little garage sailing before we rushed downtown to meet a friend for lunch. We get there, order out take away food and she canceled. So I took our food and went to Cha Cha salon to see if Sigrid was around. Sadly she had just taken her lunch and we missed her. I decided to make a hair cut appointment while I was there, because if I am going to do this short hair thing I want to try another style before I let it grow out again. I now have an appointment for Wednesday at 6:00. I wonder what I will do/get.

Anyway so we left and went to the capitol to sit on the lawn and eat my tuna fish sandwich, maple donut and cheesy cauliflower soup - and Morella had her bottle. I took her out to sit on a receiving blanket and realized she lost her giraffe toy! Nutz. I later back tracked and couldn't find it anyway. I bet it was ganked almost as soon as it fell out. :(

You know I had packed up the receiving blankets. They weren't actually that useful to use when Morella was a baby because she didn't spit up, and she didn't like to be swaddled. It was when summer came and I needed something light to drape over her lap to protect her from the sun that it came back out. Now I don't leave home without one! I think I am going to treat it with bug spray because the mosquitos are out in full force. I got bite twice while I was doing dishes in the same spot just a half an hour ago. Why do skeeters have to ruin a perfectly good summer? All that rain we got isn't going to help matters one bit.

After I we were done eating, I walked down State Street to Goodman's Jewelers to get my rings resized. Yes, my hands just got meatier after Morella was born, but lets be honest folks -- it was headed that way for many years. Hands just seem to get thicker the old you get. Both rings are going to adjusted a 1/2 a size for a total cost of $84 dollars! I was like "Can't you just stretch it out?" and they responded "Heck no! We add gold because we don't believe in compromising quality! And for the record we will have the setting to your gems checked and it will be spiffed up." You know the cost of my gold wedding band was only $130! Geez. But that was ten years ago and the cost of gold has increased the past year.

I then headed home to put Morella down for her afternoon nap. She only took an hour and half nap, but that gave me time to work on my Mom's overdue birthday present of a scrapbook. I tell you, I have no idea what I am doing with that. I am just decorating pages...so far I have three done, and like a 10 more to go. Oh well, it's the pictures that matter, right? I just find it ironic that I have all this scrapbooking stuff and really little idea on how to use it. It's one of those things that on my list of things to learn.

So after she got up from her paltry nap I had to feed her quick, fit in a quick pumping session and then head out to meet up with Oliver and Tim at the Harmony Bar and grill for afterwork fried food. Ugh, I had so much fried food I was thirsty the rest of the night. Morella had a blast, and she was admired from every end of the room! Maybe she's so attractive because she is so active, engaging and alert. She's always moving around, on someone's lap, looking around ... she is not a lump in any way shape or form.

I dislodged my stuffed self from the table, plunked Morella in the car and headed home so that she could eat dinner and go to bed.

I was so tired I had no energy to do anything other than watch three episodes of Dexter.

Today we got up, ate, took a long morning nap, and then got up and headed out to the zoo for their big fund raiser Feast with the Beasts. I met up with another woman though the group Hipmama's Meetup Group and we talked a while. Then Tim and I sort of split to get some food and a drink and sit under the tent. We ran into Eric of Nulldevice and his inlaw's/nephew and said hello. Then we left, picked up veggies on the way home, I had to pump, Morella took a nap, I did the dishes, washed the counter, transferred the simply thick and I still have to put the veggies away!

But I thought I would take a moment and explain why I haven't done Friday Photos yet. Also, you know I didn't have anything to offer because I hadn't taken any photos until Friday.

Ahh it was nice to sit down and chat -- but I want to sweep the kitchen floor too before Morella wakes up.

Last night I watched PS I Love You while working on my cross-stitch project. I liked the movie well enough. Tim went out to see Prince Caspian by himself. He later said that it wasn't something you had to see in the theater. I told him that going out to see a movie is hard the next day because you feel so tired. He confessed that he was drinking a 20 ounce diet coke. Ha ha. I should tell you more about the new and improved Hadjare...as in me not the website. I haven't feel compelled do anything about the design or lay out in a long time. I would need Tim to take a long trip before I did something like that (I used to only do website changes when he was traveling...something to keep my busy).

Let's do some comments on comments before I tell you about some readers have disappointed in the direction of this blog. It has become just another baby blog. Yes, yes, I admit I might talk about Morella a wee bit more, but hey I have been trying to change that. It make it more...I don't know -- well rounded. Just so you know though, I could talk about her non stop. I mean she's so freaking adorable! Right now she is bouncing around like jumping bean in her office and watching Migo dash up and down the hall. They just feed off of each other.

Ha! I snuck a reference in. Deal with it.

This morning I participated in the morning nap. I went out on Tuesday night to see the Sex and the City movie with Hilary. It was going to be with three other women but they all bailed at the last minute. I'd be lying if I said I was surprised. So Hilary and I went to TGIF beforehand to have a drink and an appetizer/dessert. I wasn't impressed with any of the food, and after tasting my grasshopper I realized that I didn't like it. Tastes too much like alcohol. Oh and the movie sucked. I lost interest half way through and just started squirming in my seat thinking about bad parts of it where. So... yeah sleeping in. I feel like it's a habit I need to break if I want to do other stuff around the house. Thing is, I don't feel much like doing other stuff around the house right now. I wonder if I start having caffeine more often if that would keep me awake and raring to go. I never before realized the power that caffeine from coffee -- I mean I fantasize about it on a daily basis. Will today be the day I go and get coffee? Should I drive to it, walk to it or incorporate it into something else like a trip to a coffee shop, a visit down state street or a pop in to the mall? Or save that pleasure for tomorrow? When I drink it I feel creative, energetic and interesting. When I don't I feel overly healthy. Hey speaking of which did you those macaroon cookies are 2 for 150 calories? No wonder they taste so good. I had six of them last night. Which wouldn't be such a big deal except you know that 450 calories. Dang.

Okay on to comment answer -- maybe I should make this a weekly feature. I'm all about organizing my life right now.

Why would her doctor put her on medication that makes her hungry. Jeez there are so many medications out there today...

My Mom has a vicious cycle of medication. She has high blood sugar so she takes a medicine for that. So that medicine lowers her blood sugar and she has more of a need for her anti-psychotic medicine which makes her hungry. She needs both she just hasn't found a way to balance them. Eating pizza sure doesn't help her blood sugar levels...

I would love to hear some ho-chuck superstitions.



--Don't say good bye
--Don't whistle at night
--No eating or drinking in the dark
--No playing hide and seek after dark
--No looking back after you have viewed/paid your respect to the newly deceased.

Those are some off the top of my head.

I haven't taken any pictures yet this week. I should get on that. I am trying to figure out what we are going to do today for our daily leave the house trip. I didn't do anything yesterday because I felt like a tired slug. I would like to get more deoderant and some tea tree oil from Community Pharmacy, which would entail a trip to State Street. Maybe I could pop in and surprise my old coworker Janet.

And get some coffee... ;)

This morning, instead of sneaking back to bed or taking a nap on the couch after Tim left and Morella was snuggled up in her crib, I decided to read. Okay, I did try to slip in a few winks but Morella needed some resettling just as I got to the good part of a snooze. So this morning I finished A Marriage Made in Heaven - or Too Tired for an Affair by Erma Bombeck and just had to go look up whether or not she was still alive and if she got her wish of becoming a grandmother. Sadly the answer to both of these questions is no. I decided then that I was a serious fan and ordered two more books via interlibrary loan. I also thought to look up three of her favorite authors and check out their writing. They are all humorous suburban, child raising books. For some reason, I am finding these to be incredibly hilarious, soothing and insightful. I wish I could write as well as Erma does. One tidbit I learned from her book yesterday was that she experienced infertility as well, and tried for six years before adopting a little girl. Then a year later she got pregnant and then three years after that it happened again! Wow. She also had two miscarriages -- and I don't know. I feel a real connection with her, not to mention she is hilarious and makes me laugh so much.

It's a good thing I finished this book this morning. I thought I had until the 20th to return it to the library but saw that it's actually today. Whew! I have already given them enough money to remodel their bathroom in late fees. Sure, it's for a good cause, but sometimes I like to look responsible. I guess that is going to my outing with Morella today, a walk to the library sans dog. I typically call my Mom during these walks because it helps ease my frustration at hearing things like the following:

"I gotta get back on the diet wagon. I have a confession." She pauses. I hear her take a few steading breaths on the other line. I start to expect the worst - her vision is gone, she can't walk anymore, she has chest pains. "Shane threatened to tell you that I am eating a pizza a night."

"What?" I ask. Since when did I become the "just wait until your Dad gets home" person?

"A tombstone," she replied sadly. "It's just that this medication makes me so darn hungry!"

"Then eat some baby carrots!" I shouted.
"I don't want baby food," she stated firmly.
"Baby carrots isn't baby food, Mom" I sighed and changed my tactic before my blood pressure got any higher. "Well, why are you getting Tombstone. That's so expensive."

"No it's not, it's only $3.49 a pizza," she said.
"Mom, that's expensive! You could get two Jack's pizza for that price," I explained.

"If I am going to eat a pizza, I want it to taste good," she replied slowly.

I counted to five, but couldn't take it anymore.

"You shouldn't be eating a pizza night anyway!"

We lost one of Morella's bottles...I know it has some residue in it because one of the nipples is missing too. I guess I should make that a priority today -- to try and find it. Other things on my to do list:

--get the kitchen window screen from the the basement and install
--possibly clean the kitchen window first?
--put postage on mail and make sure to mail it
--look for that bottle
--print out letter for Hilary
--work on my Mom's birthday present (her birthday was yesterday, she's 59 now!)
--write a few emails

That's all I have so far...I'm sure there will be more as the day continues. You know right now I have ... too many journals around this house. I was thinking of combining the journals into one ... you know I have one book for my todo list and recipes that I hand write down, another for Morella's sleep/eating schedule, my personal journal, Morella's calendar and Morella's journal -- that one doesn't have to be combined. But if I combine the rest of these things then on any given day I can look back and see at least what I did that day. Even if I didn't write it out.

I used to only want to write in small pocket sized journals but that is not the greatest when I wan the journal open -- so I need a spiral bound sort of thing. In any case, that is what I am thinking of doing right now.

Father's Day was good yesterday. Morella presented Tim with a sparkely card that was only sightly soggy on one corner. She ate a bunch, eventually napped good, ate some solids (taters!), went to the dog park and went to sleep relatively easy without waking up a bunch at night. Overall a good day! I made three meals! A full breakfast with pancakes -- hey I should have that for the breakfast! Lunch of tuna salad pita pockets and dinner of lasagna and raspberry/strawberry/rhubarb pie -- oh man it is ever good. It's like the best pie I have ever made! I should ask Tim's parents to bring some rhubarb down next time they visit -- they have a huge stash of it in their backyard. Meh, I bet it's all gone now though. I should buy a rhubarb plant and see if we can grow it on our own again. We tried once before but it died.

I should go and make the morning bottles now and eat something. I'm hungry.

Tonight we headed over to the East Side Business Club for their Friday fish fry. Morella had been up since 2, took a brief half hour nap from 6:30-7:00 and was crabby! I suggested Tim take her outside for a moment to get some fresh air and she stopped crying. After the fish fry, she was fine up until we stepped inside and she started crying again. I guess she hates our house as much as I do right now.

Okay, okay I don't hate it. Sure all the water in the basement has me bummed out, but at least I am not alone in that situation. It's just that the only room in the house that is somewhat in order and mostly done being rearranged and stuff is the living room. Everything else looks like someone had been taking refuge in here without cleaning up after themselves. Which is true to an extent. Yesterday and today I was just so tired that whenever Morella would finally take a nap, I would take one too. Sleep when the baby sleeps still applies right?

She has been waking up several times through the night the last week or so crying inconsolably. We tried taking her out to see if she was hungry or needed a diaper change or was just up but in all of those cases she seemed disorientated and super upset. Eventually I would put her back down and after awhile she would fall back asleep. It's a little tiring on me I think. Which is why as soon as I am done writing this I am going to bed and hoping that she doens't wake up four times tonight. A good night's sleep would do me some good.

Anyway at the fish fry, we got a high chair for her and sat her in it with my purse behind her as a little cushion. She was strapped in so I was sure she wouldn't fall out...mostly. When she started to wobble after about 20 minutes Tim and I would both gasp and reach out to steady her. But she was fine.

I think tonight's dinner will be etched in my memory forever. Looking at her sitting in that little high chair at the table. She was so tiny, yet she sat up straight, looked around and talked very loudly to us about this, that and the other thing. I was so proud of her. She even got a lady to stop and talk to her and tell her how bright her eyes were (she get's that a lot!) and what a doll she was. At the grocery store today an old man told me she looked like a doll and that she was beautiful! That was the first that an old man has ever lavished such a compliment on my little darling. She was just so precious, and dinner was delicious!

I noticed today that Morella is longer yet again. She is had outgrown most of her 3-6 month footed jammies -- but still fits most of the jumpers and pants just fine. She does fit into a lot of 9 month pant but only because her cloth diaper fills it out.

For the record, I noticed an outfit that night after Tim's parents babysat a couple weeks ago. It was a Peas on Earth outfit complete with a bib and socks. I told Tim that this outfit was snuck in there because I was familiar with most of her clothes hanging up. He said I was mistaken and that it was always there. Of course he seemed so sure of himself that I started to doubt myself...but it's has been at the back of my head ... that no it wasn't always there. But I am afraid to say anything about a grandma fairy in case it was a gift from someone and I forgot! What a conundrum!

Okay I should hit the hay. All in all this Friday the 13th was a good day. Then again I have never been superstitious for most white...er american things. Black cats, Friday the 13th, broken mirrors, umbrellas opened in the house and walking under ladders -- nope just never really related to it. However, some ho-chunk superstitions are another story. ;)

I can't believe how fast the summer is going by now! I feel like I waited for it to get warm and be summer forever and now that it's here is zooming by.

Friday Photos: 2nd Week of June


Believe it or not I can't find any better before picture of the living room. I KNOW I took some pictures of it a few months ago but I just can't find it now and I have already spent to much precious content baby in swing time looking for it. So, this will have to do.


Here is one view...it is always so hard to take pictures of the living room to really capture the whole length and depth of it. I love Morella's surprised look. She's so nosy!


Another view of the living room from the front entrance. Here you can see Pluto standing like an idiot in the middle of the room because I moved a lamp and made a slightly loud noise. He's such a scardy dog!



I finally took Morella to Olbrich Gardens and we had a great time. I foresee weekly visits to the gardens in our future. Here you see Morella in front of the Thai Pavilion -- the ONLY one in North America. People ask me what makes Madison unique -- and I like to tell them about this pavilion.


Sniffing some roses and taking a break in the shade. I later pulled her out of the stoller and we sat there enjoying the day. I love gardens, almost as much as I love sitting by large bodies of water.


For Mohamed.

Right now I am sitting on our new couch. It arrived on Monday afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to ditch the old couch (we found 43 cents in it), move the futon to the office and for me to really scrub mop the living room floor. There were some stains on the floor from the metal of the bed part of the old sofa rubbing on it that were hard to get rid off. I tried vigorous scrubbing followed by Goo Gone and before finally going back to my stand by -- the magic eraser. It rarely lets me down. I think these are my two favorite modern miracles. The floor hasn't looked this good since we moved in!

So Morella is yappin....no wait she is peeing now....now right next to me. She developed a bit of a rash either a yeast or a soap irritant rash that is raised, red and incredibly itchy. The one thing this rash taught her to do was learn how to take off her diaper. Anyway so I am giving her lots of naked time. Next to me on this mammoth couch, I laid down a thick blanket, followed by a thick towel and several prefolds that I can switch out as soon as she pees. I know, it's a risky thing to do on a new couch...but it's so comfortable and easy! The rash is much improved today...thank goodness.

Yesterday I took her to Olbrich Gardens for the first time. We went into the English Garden type courtyard where they have a long reflecting pool with mini waterfall thing and a pretty fountain and benches. We sat on a bench under some shade and just enjoyed the view. Morella wanted to eat the flowers next to us but I assured her it was better too look than eat. Man it's beautiful there. I wish that Olbrich was my back yard....but then you know it's close enough that I could say it is in my back yard. I decided today that I am going to go there every week. Yep that is what I am going to do. Morella seemed to enjoy it there too. Now I need to start doing that for the zoo, I haven't even gone yet!

Today I finally went to an Mom's club meeting and it was ... chaotic. The meeting was at Tenny Park which has a lagoon right next to the shelter. Much of the get together was keeping the small children from hurling themselves into the open body of water so it was sort of hard to talk to folks. I did meet one lady though who was really laid back and nice. I got her email address. Overall, I think I would need to give it one more chance to get a good opinion.

--later...Morella is dressed and in her office ----

She has been sleeping for crap the past couple of nights. She keeps waking up every 1-2 hours and won't even settle for bed until 10! I don't know what's going on. Tim thought maybe she was hungry but I don't know. One of these three nights I offered a bottle and she didn't want it. I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep offering food though. I don't see any new teeth. She has been really hungry during the day though so maybe she is growing, though wouldn't they sleep more for that? She was up four times after we went to bed, I'm not even gonna count the times we had to go in there before we went to bed.

Tonight Tim is going to see Iron Man the movie by himself. We are still at that age with Morella where finding babysitters isn't that easy. Especially since she is having an unpredictable streak at bedtime right now. Tomorrow night I am going to see Sex and the City with Hilary and Stephanie. Friday, Tim and I are thinking of going to the East Side Club's fish fry for dinner, anyone is welcome to go with us!

Saturday Tim might be going to visit an old coworker of his who is leaving the state for Texas. He is thinking it is going to be an overnighter so that means I'll be single parenting most of the weekend.

Lastly, I threw around the idea with a few friends but I would like to open it up to anyone who is interested about attending a clothing exchange party at my house somewhere are the 27th or 28th. You bring all the clothes you know arent' wearing anymore -- even the nice ones and take turns going through each others clothing! Free new outfits and stuff gets recycled. Email me if you are interested and want to join in on the fun. I plan on doing fun food and showing off the new couch.

I should stop now it is taking forever for me to write this post.

Rain Rain ..... we have had so much rain and there is more to come to this week. Tim has done his best by keeping the gutters clean but the ground just can't take this much water. It's pooled all over the back yard, and it has started to seep in the basement. He said he is going to buy a wet dry vac tomorrow...who knows if there will be one to buy since everyone is experiencing the same problem. There is flooding everywhere and everyone is advised to stay home.

That said. There was a break in the rain around noon and we headed out to Dogfest to meet up with Sigrid and Matt in lieu of a dog park outing. We arrived with a bunch of other people and eager canines, unloaded baby and dog and ended up just walking a stretch of pavement around empty tents with other folks. There was nothing. We all congregated at the end of the walk to comment on the meaning of "rain or shine" with other folks and doggies and then headed back to the car. As a consolation prize we headed over to Michaels and got some frozen custard for ourselves and the dogs.

Other than the massive amounts of rain and thunderstorms, it's been a pretty good weekend. We moved the futon into the office in preparation for the couch delivery tomorrow and I finally got rid of the old cat scratching thing. I think we will get another one but more of a pole...not as big and cumbersome. I'm glad that we didn't move the couch out to the curb tonight and will do that tomorrow morning. However, I will admit to being a little worried that because of all the flooding and rain -- we won't have a couch tomorrow. I guess it's a good thing we still have the glider and one chair.

Morella has been good too -- eating and sleeping well. Knock on wood, but I think that Operation Crib is going great. For the last three or four days she has taken all of her naps in the crib as well as going to bed well at 8:00PM. She did stay up later than usual on Friday night because Tim and I went out to Cafe Momarte to celebrate Hilary's birthday. We had a good, but expensive night. We both boozed it up and then paid to have a Bender Defender drive us home. See, we just found out this neat little idea where someone in a scooter comes to your car, drives you home, then drives his scooter away! It cost $20 without tip which is more expensive than a cab, but we got to have our car home which made a huge difference the next day because we were both really tired from staying up so late.

Maybe she is doing so well at this because she is so independent. Have I mentioned how much I love that little girl? A ton. More than a ton. More than all the unique snowflakes that have ever fallen on this earth times a billion gagillion trillion million...ha ha. Tomorrow it will be twice that infinity.

Well, I'm gonna call it a day and head to bed.

Today I met up with an old college friend who is now a high powered fancy pants lawyer who works up on the square. We had lunch at Muramoto, which is a very dimly lite modern Japanese restaurant. If I had to rate this place on a scale of kid friendly I'd give it 2 out of 10. Our waitress was an old roommate's girlfriend and I inquired as to health of her daughter and then (here was my snafu) I asked what she thought of her sister. You see the father of her daughter had a new baby girl this past January with his wife. She then blunted asked "Who are you?" I realized my hair cut probably threw her off, it's been awhile -- and to be quite honest I don't even remember her name! Anyway....I reminded her of who I was and quickly changed the subject. Whoops! Apparently she didn't know that he had a baby...anyway.

My point of the story is, after I had an excellent lunch with great company, toured her law office, got back to Tim's work to pick up the car, drove home, fed the baby -- I didn't get to pump until 2:15! Yikes. Then apparently Morella though that 10 minute nap she took on the way home was enough (she got up at 9.30 this morning) and I have fought with her all afternoon to take a nap. Lord knows she needs one. Her Aunt and Uncle are going to stay with her this evening while Tim and I go out to help Hilary celebrate her birthday. Oh crap she is awake! That was only 35 minutes!!!! Oh no. :(

What a handful my little girl is today.

Friday Photos: 2nd Week of May

Sunday Dog park trip with our friend Sigrid and Matt. Here we have Matt showcasing Morella in her jogging stroller that she is finally big enough. This jogging stroller included a few bonus items: a pair of cloth booties, a denim visor hat and a red/white/blue bandanna. Thanks Kathy! This stroller was a dream to drive.

Morella and her Grandpa (She was on the verge of tired break down -- you can just see how hard it was to keep her eyes open).

Tim and Morella chowing down! Tim had some of the "Thank you for 17 years of Service" cake and Morella feasted on some tiny fists.

I got Tim this piece of cake.
He loves the frosting so I made sure to get him a piece with the most.

Waiting in a parking lot.

The Happy Couple: Heather and Nick -- Congrats again!

Sarah, the Bride and me take a moment to post for a photo. Note that I am wearing my patented Wedding Dress. So far no one has gotten a divorce from me wearing this dress to their wedding. I can't vouch for weddings previously attended without said dress.

Beautiful, cheesecake centered wedding cake.

Morella plays with her Prince Charming.

PS: Bekah -- you're parents are worried about you! Leave a message next time you call more than two relatives at a time. Otherwise they think something happened to you. And say Hi to Greg for us. :D

Time for Tidbits

• Tonight is Morella's 3rd night in the crib. So far so good. She goes down well into the crib at 8:00, rolls onto her back and thrashes her legs up and down for about 10 minutes before passing out. Really she goes to sleep easier in there than in the cosleeper. Naps however are still occurring in the cosleeper...I'll work on those in the next few weeks. We really miss having her in the bedroom. The last two nights I have gotten really crappy sleep.
  
• She has been sort of crabby the last two days. Naps are erratic. She's eating a lot but also has been struggling reflux.
  
• Morella got a little piece of paper in her mouth and I caught it a second too late -- she started to gag as she swallowed it and I hurriedly gave her a sippy cup with some plain water in it to help it go down. She did manage a sip or two and then choked...you know the choking that you do when spit or water goes down the wrong pipe? Well that is exactly what aspiration is. The reaction was immediate and it confirms my suspicion that she is choking more these days -- as in she is now feeling it. So. She has probably quit the silent part of the aspirating...but is she still aspirating if she chokes? I mean the choke reflex stops it right away...Sigh. Tim thinks she is has swallowing issues and will probably need to see a speech pathologist after her next test to help her rehabilitate. :( I hope he is wrong.
  
• Solids suck.
• Monday is New Couch Day! Tim took down the L desk in the office, and we are going to move the futon in there over the weekend. That means we will have a functional guest bedroom again! Then Sunday night we'll move the old couch out to the curb. I will be couchless on Monday until the new one arrives. Thank goodness I have a glider in the mean time.
  
• Thank goodness the Grandparent's convinced me to keep this old flannel shirt I was about to toss out. I mean, it has been ripped up from a foster dog two years ago and I just held onto it trying to think of a good use for it. It sat in the living room for two months before I was going to trash it. They suggested just keeping it -- and wouldn't you know I found a use for it! Cloth wipes. Flannel is the cloth of choice for those serious cloth diaper people. I just cut it up into squares, filled a spray bottle with some water and teeny bit of baby wash and you just spray a square with it and wipe the baby. It works so well! Even better than the wipes. Then you just toss the cloth wipe into the diaper pail and done.
  
• Pluto was attacked by a medium sized black dog on our walk this evening. The dog managed a soft bite to his leg but Tim stepped in the way while the owner came running over and apologized -- so no one was hurt. Still, I don't think I'll be walking on that street anymore which is a pity because I met a Mom who lives over the other day. :(
• Tomorrow I am going to attend a MOM's club...I hope I can find my way there and that the people are nice and it isn't weird.
• I finally went through and ordered a bunch of pictures via Kodak. I have like 700 pictures coming my way from the last two years. Uh, there are about 300 of Morella -- and I was being picky! It's just so hard to pick because she's adorable in every single one of them. I'm looking forward to getting them and really working on her baby book.
  

Operation Crib Transition: Midafternoon Nap

FAIL

She was tired starting at 10:30AM. It took me three hours, a shower, getting her up, running an errand and a bottle that she fell asleep eating -- and whenever she does that there is a 90% chance that I will get barfed on...and she didn't let me down. It came up with the burp and man, it was almost projectile! Eww.

Finally after she completely melted down, and I interrupted pumping twice to calm her, I gave in and put her back in the cosleeper where she fussed for a minute and then went to sleep. I had the front door open and was standing in the hallway with a mess of a baby when I realized the mail man had come. I bet he was thinking "Thank god I'm not doing THAT!" Sheesh.

I called Tim and gave him a progress report and he said "We should try again tonight." Yikes. I tell you, it's so easy for him to cubicle parent when he's not there...but he'll be there tonight! I was looking at some online hints and there are so many advice articles on how it should be done. Do we let her cry it out? Reassure her? Pick her up every time she cries? Pat the back? I tried the sitting next to her and reassuring her with my Motherly presence. All that got me was immediate flips to her back and furious kicking followed by a pause and check to see if I was looking (I would alternate between not looking and looking and pretending I was asleep) and she would smile and repeat. I tried picking her up and all that seems to do is give her a second wind.

Don't worry readers, I'll keep you apprised of every gory detail. Or should I say barfy detail?

In other news, I am making a rhubarb crisp. It's in the oven now...crisping.

I am also feeling chubbtastic these days and out of shape. It's been awhile since we have taken a walk every day due to traveling, sick baby and crappy weather. But all that aside, I feel like I lost all my flexibility and strength that I had pre-pregnancy. I should start small, 10 minutes of stretching. Just need to work that back into the daily routine.

Solids have been going not very well. Morella has this aversion to spoons or anything being put into her mouth. I blame it on the four times a day medicine rituals that she dealt with. Even though now it's down to two times a day with a syringe. The prevacid we just pop into her mouth and let it dissolve -- SO much easier. Now that she has a little independence and bigger brain cells I think she realized that she can prevent it all from happening if she just clamps her mouth shut. I took the pediatrician's advice and switched to finger feeding her after a few attempts with the spoon. It worked a little better, but as soon as she starts to get mad I stop. I tried repeating her Grandmother's approach of mixing oatmeal cereal with pears but it didn't work so well. I don't know how she manages to feed Morella so well! I think I need to have her over for a instructional how-to.

Ahh babies.

It's hard to believe that she is six months now. In some ways it seems like it has gone by so fast, but really, it started going by fast only after it got nicer outside. Before the snow melted (aka the first four months) it felt like an eternity. I think it's also different because now she is changing exponentially every day. Learning new things, becoming independent and developing quite the personality. Her favorite toy right now is a small pink kitten that she got from her Aunt Kandance.

Up on the radar for this week is attending the Eastside MOMS club to try and meet other Mom's and babies. That is this Thursday at 10:00. I also need to get my bangs trimmed because I can't stand having hair in my eyes. It's been difficult to resist cutting them myself instead of taking up my friends offer of doing it for me. Sigrid is the one who cut my hair to begin with...and she's a lot better at it then I am! Friday is Hilary's birthday shindig. I asked Phil or Kandance if they would be able to babysit so we could both go out but I'm not holding my breath. At least I will go out and have a good time. On Wednesday, Morella and I are having lunch with an college peep I am reconnecting with. She just found out she is pregnant is due in December. Babies all over the place!

I would also like to go to the zoo sometime this week. Morella has never been to zoo...OR Olbrich Gardens. Granted I don't think she would have gotten much out of it before now, but now that she is aware of her surrounding and likes to go .. we need to do. I should ask Marnie if she wants to do that sometime this week. Yeah.

Well, her nap is almost done and I want to see if I can squeeze in some formatting for my obsessive journal taking entries about Morella's food intake and sleeping patterns. I tinker with the idea of making a graph with all this information...but then conclude that I am already neurotic enough about this. That would just be proof of it.

I also want to get to work on ordering some baby photos prints...I don't have ANY that weren't professionally done (aka two).

We started watching Dexter on netflix and LOVE it! It's nice to have a show to watch at night before bed. Makes pumping and cross stitching more relaxing.

It was a busy weekend. On Saturday, Morella and I went garage sailing and I found some nice bumpers for her crib for a buck. A BUCK! Now I don't don't have to worry about her banging her head on the slats when she flips....this week is when I should start in earnest about this taking naps in the crib business. The thing is when I put her down she plays....and plays....and plays...

Oh she has been quacking like a duck all week (aka laughing). It's hilarious.

I also managed to finally clean the house on Saturday. Oh it's amazing how much better I feel about the place once everything was clean. Morella is terrified of the vacuum. When I was vacuuming Tim had to take her outside. Then they came back in and spent some time with the vacuuming running and he touched it, smiled it and tried to prove that it was okay. She even patted it once or twice and then started bawling again. When I was done and she came back in from outside again, she was fine...until I stood next to the vacuum while holding her. She looked at it and started crying even though it wasn't turned on! Dang.

I guess it's a good thing that we don't have wall to wall carpeting....I can get away with not vacuuming every other day.

Saturday night Tim's parents came into town and graciously baby sat Morella while we went to a friends wedding. It was a good time and I had lots of spotted cow beer ...that I regretted a teeny bit today only because I was tired and we didn't get to sleep in.

Instead of sleeping in we got up and headed to Milwaukee to attend Tim's Mom's farewell potluck at the school she ...used to teach at. Or will still be teaching for at least three more days. She taught there for 17 years! Wow.

I love lutheran potlucks. Those people know how to cook! Though, there was one dish...a tuna pineapple and chow mein noodles that made me gag. WHY would someone think of that combo?

Oh this is all over the place. After we came back, we went to the dog park and then BIL Phil and his stepson Caleb came over to talk games with Tim while I made a huge cold macaroni and tuna salad for the week. My Dad gave us a chunk of government cheese so I put it to good use. It's also sort of funny because I used government macaroni too....this meal brought to you by the USDA.

Too tired to make sense...going to bed.