I did it! I drove to Sun Prairie, using printed directions to meet a bunch of new people at the Mom's night out dessert night. :D I am proud of myself for doing both of these things, but really the driving one gets kudos. That is the farthest I have ever driven anywhere by myself, with only directions in hand. Cool.

They were a group of nice women. It was easy to talk to them after the initial ice was broken, and it was SO much easier than when we all have our kids with us.

I updated the Photo Gallery for August 2008 Photos. There are a LOT of pictures, so enjoy! We are off to Black River Falls tomorrow to visit my Dad.

Morella is fighting her afternoon nap, hence the lateness. BUT I am also updating August 2008 photos for the Gallery, which is a TON of pictures. So that should make up for this skimpy entry. Uh, I am going to have to finish this later.

Just as I settled down my second cup of real coffee and was going to post I hear a little baby voice talking in her bedroom. She just woke up, so I am sure she could use a little more waking time. A minute or two. It's funny when I go in there sometimes, she'll be laying down talking to her kitty and then when she hears the door open she sits up and got "uh!" and then looks towards the door. If I close it and then open it again a second later she'll be standing up waiting for me. SO CUTE!

I woke up with a bad headache this morning, along with rain. I didn't know it was supposed to rain. Huh. I think it's a combination of the post cold (stuck in my head) and weather that brought this on. I took some tylenol and tried to take a nap. I dozed for maybe 20 minutes but my throat is dry from recovering and I kept waking up. Finally I just got up and made coffee hoping the caffeine would help -- and it is! I even started a load of laundry. Made my list for the day. Wrote some emails. It's amazing what a little "me" time in the morning can do you for you! I used to live on the amount of sleep I get now...why do I feel like I still need to have extra naps in the morning? Just because I can?

Anyway. Tim has the car today, so we are house and stroller bound. I was thinking of walking to Woodman's to get something easy for dinner tonight since Tim has his game night. Hey more correspondence -- oh oh and tonight I can watch Juno. It's like a perfect chick night for me!

Okay I should go change Morella diaper. I am sure it's poopy. She either poops after her morning nap or when she is done with her afternoon nap.

Laima - I actually have one of those kids to fix a lawn chair that I got at a rummage sale last year. I should do it while I am having this year's sale. Good idea! I do have a favorite chair too. It's been with me for 13 years. It's my powwow chair, even though it's never b...wait it did go to one powwow.

So yeah. I've been sick. Last night was just awful. I had snot dripping out of my nose like a faucet -- splashing on my arms, the baby, anything that was in front of me if I didn't have a tissue in hand. In fact, when I went to bed the inside of my nose felt so raw from being runny that I did the classic little kid maneauver of plugging both sides with wads of kleenex. If I wasn't nursing you can bet your donutnuts that I would have been snuggling a bottle of nyquil. I do feel better today (though not 100 percent). Now I have a sore throat again from mouth breathing and I have enough sense to look around and feel a little squirrely at all the things I should be doing and that I have let slide in the last couple of days. But no. I will not. I shall not. Tonight, I am going to catch up on the internet. Make a post. Write an email. That reminds me I need to write a few real cards too...I wonder if I'll get to that.

I even made myself a cup of chamoile tea with honey and splurged on some cinnamon toast. Ahh, I remember when I was little, I could eat that stuff nonstop. My younger brother James and I would have cinnamon toast eating contests...we also had the same contst for French Toast. I almost made that for my lunch today, instead I settled for a grilled cheese.

I love bread.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be writing really great prose here...but then I think back on to all my previous years of posts and it's really just me rambling about crap that goes on my life. Is that interesting? I guess it is to me. Isn't that what journals for anyway? Besides it's an easy way for me to keep friends who are interested updated. The drawback to this, of course, is not all of those friends have journals themselves and no one ever feel the need to email because they already know what's going on my life. Plus, sometimes I think about all the readers out there I don't know. I wonder what you are like.

Tuesday night...oh wait that was last night. Anyway. Last night Tim had coupon's for %40 off CD's at Borders. We decided to take advantage of those and catch up on our Panera treat for Morella's good appointment. The funny thing about that was I let her play with a butter packet at the end because she was getting fussy. I looked away for a second and when I looked back I she has broken through the package and was squishing butter around in her fingers. I quickly wiped them off the best I could. Then while Tim was using the bathroom I lifted her up to look out the window. She put her hands to the window and then to my horror I saw tiny little butter handprints on the Panera picture window. Whoops! We beat a hasty retreat after that.

At Border's I got Morella three children's music CD's. The best of Seasame Street, and two other preschool favorite with all sorts of classic little kids songs. Later on when we played them for her, she went quiet and wide eyed. It was a hit! Since most of them are upbeat, I played one last night and the Seasame street one for her today. She has the attention span for half of the CD. When I try to trick her into sleeping or feeling tired I play a lullaby CD that her grandparents bought her. One of her favorite things to do right now is listen to the folk music that WORT plays in the late morning. She'll go to the stereo and pull up on it like a little raver.

Today I cancelled my walking date with my neighbor friend because I'm sick. We rescheduled for Friday. My other new friend Angie called me to ask if I was going to go the Mom's Night out dessert night this Friday. I am still undecided. I think it's in Sun Prairie and I don't know how to drive there. I know. It's a lame excuse. Tim thinks I should go. He's probably right. I should. But...but...I don't have a GPS! I'll get lost. I'll end up on the side of the road in the middle of Iowa.

Okay okay. I should get over that. Conquer this. Be courageous. Fearless.

I watched this movie Doomsday last night and thought it was like watching a video game, ala mad max. It'd talk about it more but it wasn't good enough to go through effort. I have Juno up next and breifly thought about watching that tonight but decided I wanted to be a Good Little Writer instead. I can't spend the quality time on the internet while pumping anymore because Morella is so mobile and is obessed with pulling up on things she shouldn't pull up on. I have seen her fall and whack her head more times than I would like to this past week. Consequently, pumping now feels like it takes twice as long. I fit in a 15 session when I can, then finish up with another 15 minutes an hour later, and there are countless times when I have to unhook to save her from herself. She is fearless I tell you.

She's also a crabpot today.

Phil didn't come back last night or today. I wonder if he is going to stay in Milwaukee for good now. It was nice having a helping hand with Morella around, and a sinkful of dishes being done now and then was a great bonus.

This weekend we are going to my Dad's for a visit from Saturday to Sunday. I should probably stay more, but ... sigh. Sometimes I want a day for ourselves after a big weekend.

Okay. I should go and wash pumping parts so I can pump. :(

This morning Morella went down for a nap at 8.30! I couldn't believe it, so I hurried up and made her bottles and went to lay down myself. Today the cold has progressed into the sniffly stage. You know where you sound like you have a cold and it's all settled at the top of your nose in between your eyes? Yeah right there. The baby has been a pain to feed because her nose is stuffy too and cleaning it out is a huge battle. Even though you know she is grateful for it afterward. She ended up sleeping until 11:00. Oh thank goodness. I needed that extra sleep. I really did. I bet she does too.

I need to do some chores around the house today, one of which includes paying the mortgage and credit card bill (which we pay off in full every month). Sigh. I should also make a list for today and put the few things i have done on it like the Dr.'s appointment, posting here and paying those two bills. Being sick is teh suck.


Morella's 9 Month Well Baby Appointment:

16 lbs = 7%
28 1.2 inches = 81%
head is something something = 35% (that number hardly ever changes)

The rash in the front and on her lower tummy is recurring because she is a tummy sleeper. She said to put some vaseline on it before bedtime.

Take her randitine medicine now once a day. No change in dosage, we are letting her outgrow it.
Take prevacid once a day.

Try to give her more protein, and let her eat whatever she'll eat.

Put in a referral/order for the barium swallow study. I'll make the date once I have the referral in hand. Of course since Morella is sick she has choked twice today on bottles. Sigh. I hope it's because of snot and difficulty breathing than a real set back. When she isn't sick she has been doing so well and showing no signs of swallowing difficulty for the past month. Gotta trust in instincts and my instincts tell me she is getting better and the chances of her passing are better than they have ever been.

I didn't get my "baby check appointment = panera bread" treat because it was really late and I still needed to pump. Stupid pumping.

So Hurray for a good appointment!

Busy couple of days. Thursday night Tim's gaming night was canceled. Since Phil is staying with us, I asked what his plans were and he replied that he was going to read. Morella was in bed and sleeping so I asked he would baby sit and he agreed! On a whim, I exchanged writing correspondence for walking to Jade Monkey with Tim. It took a little bit of arm twisting but he said okay. It was a great night. We didn't say much on the way there but after a drink, we were yapping like old times and talked all the way home like two high schoolers. We only talked about Morella a little. :P

Friday night, Phil was in town unexpectedly and agreed to baby sit again since he had a date with a book. Tim and I rode bike over to the High Noon Saloon and participated a little bit in Reverence. I dressed up as much as one does while riding bike, but I am pleased to report I was able to wear a shirt that hasn't looked good on me in some time. I paid for it though, because I didn't get to bed until 2:30 and Morella was up at 6:30 -- but I had to pump so I had to be up too.

Then she didn't go to sleep again. Morning nap strike (day two) continues. I eventually gave up hopes of a nap by 10:30 and made real coffee. She eventually DID go down for a nap at 11ish. During that time, I sat on the couch and put all of Morella's first six month baby photos into a photo album. I am so pleased that they fit and there was still room for a little more! I was also able to put in decent time documenting the vacation photos from last year before I put them in an album. You see, I like to write the names of the people, the place, month and year on the backs of each one. When my Gaga died several years ago, and I was in charge of cleaning the house, I found stacks of old photos. It was so depressing because hardly any of them had any writing on the back to identify the people. I didn't want that to happen to any future grandchildren of mine, so why not do the work now? Besides, I might have old timer's and forget and wouldn't it be nice to have the information there already?

Tim's Mom called and said they would be by for a visit later the afternoon. In the meantime, we headed over to Bill and Stephanie's first anniversary party and spent a glorious day, picnicing at the park. There was awesome food, delicious cake, booze a plenty, drinks, babies, blankets, water, boat rides -- it was just so ideal. I felt like we had been transported to one of those movies of rich old victorians eating out in fields of flowers and what not. Morella had a blast too.

However, on the way home she fell asleep and from then to the veggie pickup to home, she slept a total of 20 minutes which she mistook to be a real nap. The rest of the evening was a little cranky. Her grandparents brought her a 9 month old mark present, which is this cool little lady bug spinning top bubble type toy (Parent's Lady Bug Popup)-- it's made by Parents (I LOVE their stuff....love it) -- and while we all thought it as the bees knees, Morella wasn't that impressed. We think it's because she needs to be a little older to really make it work.



Nonplussed, the grandparents had another present up their sleeve and busted out this Leap Frog Learning Lion -- which Morella couldn't wait for us to get it out of the packaging for her. She played with the whole rest of the evening. I haven't seen her this infatuated with a toy in quite a while.



What a lucky little girl!

Though she was a crank, she took a bath, had a walk, and ate a full bottle and actually went to bed with only one rescue (helping her back down from her obsessive pulling up).

We spent the rest of the evening watching the Spiderwick Chronicles and I LOVED it. I even cried at the end...it has been a long time since I've done that. Sadly, halfway through the movie I realized why it feels like I can't quench a thirst -- that is really just my mouth being parched. I'm sick. I have a sore throat, overly tired (then why am I still up? Stupid...just plain stupid)....and ... sigh. I haven't been sick in about two years. I hope it's a quick bug.

Okay off to bed with me. Tomorrow we have a greyhound appreciation day party to attend, I need to catch up on sleep to ward off the cold, and write in Morella's journal for her 9 month update. There is a lot to put in there!

Friday Photos: Morella - 9 Months old

Playing the piano in her fort.

"Does this outfit make my butt look big?"

I love her look in this picture.

Her Gaga made her two dresses. This one is a creme and light green one with embroidered butterflies on the tulle. The overcast light made it hard for me to catch the color so I turned it into a black and white image because I still think it's a cute photo. She has a little growing into these dresses to do -- but rest assured I have plenty of heavy tights and long sleeved white/various colored turtleneck onsies for that. :)

I just love homemade, girlie girl, dresses. Morella has so few dresses, the fact that she has two specially made for her just fantastic. You know there is a big difference between clothes that are made carefully by seasoned seamstresses and clothes you get off the rack from a store.

"Uh, Are you gonna get me out of here or what?"
Little Miss Standing up in the Crib

We have seen lots of these faces in the last few days.

As always, clicking on the pictures will get you a big version. Enjoy!

I am often overcome by the urge to plan my life. Not in the goal oriented sort of way like I want to become a police officer by 2010 .... though I do enjoy setting goals for myself as a way to be motivated and keep it interesting. No, what I mean is that I want to plan every day. Something like:

Mondays: Stay at home day. Administrative day. Bill, junk mail sorting and filing.
Tuesday: YMCA, paper crafts - working on photo ablums, baby books, making cards/scrapbooks, etc.
Wednesday: Errand day. Go do errands. Watch a movie later. Go the Y again?
Thursday: Correspondence day. And other stuff.
Friday: eat out.

As you can plainly see, it sort of devolves. Then I get to thinking "Hey, am I sort of person that really wants that much structure?"

The answer, of course is, "Yes. On some level. I am a goal orientated sort of person. If I don't work on things that interest me, I eventually start to feel like a boring, plain, loser."

One method, in helping me through these slumps, is to make lists, and document everything. If I write it down, then it's proof that I did something, anything towards completing a goal. Even if just wrote down "Write a novel," and by the end of the day, I didn't, in fact write a novel...the very fact that I wrote it on my to do list means I made progress towards completing that goal. Are you following me? I was talking with a relatively new friend last night, and somewhere along the way confessed to having six different journals. But see, they all have different purposes, it's not that I am overly concerned with documenting every aspect of my life...or maybe I am. Is that such a bad thing? Sometimes I think that having several journals is really just a way of spreading the media out. If the internet crashes and burns for whatever reason, then my paper journals will still exist. Morella will be able to see what I did on almost any given day 50 years into the future. Or vice versa.

If I were to be overly analytical, I would suggest to myself that I like control.

"What? Me? Now way. Control freaks are time honored punchline to jokes. No one wants to admit to being a control freak because that is like admitting that you want to become a czar, queen or boss of the world."

Honestly, when it comes down to it how could I disagree? I can't, because it's true. I do like control. I'm bossy. I can't stand indecision for more than five minutes. Standing around arguing about where to eat dinner or giving directions to the local Dairy Queen in the middle of a sidewalk or parking lot make me want to crawl out of my skin. It doesn't have to be what I want to do, it just has to be doing something.

Maybe it isn't control though...perhaps there is another word I am thinking of.

My baby is crying. She has a fever and her 6 hours are up to the tee on her tylenol. She is absolutely miserable and not sleeping today. I think after dosing her, we might go for a long walk. To top it off, I think she has another yeast rash. She has only had an hour nap total today so far.

Two weeks ago at the neighborhood garage sale I met a woman who lives two blocks down, right next to the #1 bachelor, DIY guy who flips houses, has a dog, owns his own house, had a cool jeep, a truck and is super nice of the hood. I impulsively suggested that we hook up to walk or something and she readily agreed. She is also a SAHM and getting used to life with baby. We swapped info and I had all the best intentions of emailing her but didn't get around to it. Luckily a few days later she emailed me!

We made a date for getting together today at 11:00 to walk around the neighborhood. I went to her house and she invited me in. Her place was ravaged by the great flood this spring/summer too and the whole basement is being renovated. We ended up walking to Woodman's to get some donuts and then I planned a big circle to East Moorland park and then back. However, half way through it she said she needed to take a break because it was hard keeping up with my fast pace and I was such a hardcore walker.

Ha ha. ME!

It was good because it gave us more of a chance to talk. Morella sat in the grass on a small blanket and we ate donuts while swapping labor stories and talking about people we both knew in college (small world!). I was out longer than I expected, and Morella fell asleep 10 minutes before I got home. I left her in the stroller and decided to get my pumping session in quick. She woke up because Tim called and I still had my cell phone in the stroller. It was funny because the vibrating feature is on and when I heard it go off I looked over to see her slowly wake up with this amazed look on her face. Her stroller was vibrating and singing!

She was good enough to sit there for an extra 10 minutes while I finished pumping. BIL Phil came back at that point and said he was going to take a nap. He had returned from a long weekend in Milwaukee. Since Morella had that 1/2 an hour nap, she was convinced she was ready and raring to go. I put on the Moby, put her in the car and away to the grocery store we went.

I can't believe how much grocery prices went up. Granted I haven't gone shopping in like a month and I really should never, ever buy laundry detergent at the grocery store again. Ever. It was 18 dollars....that's ... SO much.

Oh that reminds me, I need to check angie's list to find a dryer repairman. Our dryer is making this horrible screeching noise everytime we use it. I am afraid of making it worse if we don't get it fixed. It probably just needs oil. I would figure it out myself, but I have a terrible knack for successfully taking apart things only to not be able to put it back together... except for vacuum cleaners. I can fix those.

As I was saying. I forgot what I was saying. I was writing about the day I think.

Can you believe Morella is standing? I can't. We lowered her crib mattress tonight after her bath. We skipped the walk because she was super cranky and fussy and needed to danced. I gave her some tylenol before bed and she went down without a peep. I think she is getting a cold. She was sneezing all day and had a small creek of snot coming out of her nose after her late nap.

Well I am done pumping for the day. I need to make a bottle and get to bed. My legs hurt from being on them all day. Tomorrow I have to wash the dishes, renew Morella's prescription for randitine, check my netflix lineup.

Tim's gaming night is tomorrow so I guess I have correspondence night then. Expect emails friends!

Uh oh.

Guess who was standing in their crib when Daddy came to get her?

Guess!

It's like she is going through a developmental explosion! She also likes to climb up underneath the coffee table. What a scamp!

Morella has been taking her two naps between-ish 8:00AM to 10:00AM and 2:00ish to 4:00ish. It's nice to have some frame of mind on when they happen. She is definitely stretching her times between the naps -- it used to be she was awake for 3 hours and with the exception of the morning nap, she is now up to 4 hours in between.

Morella has teeth! I noticed last Saturday that there was something small and white on her lower jaw and said "Is that a tooth?" Tim felt and confirmed it. I later got a good luck at her mouth while she laughing (I was spinning her around in my arms) and I saw that both of the lower teeth are coming in, and she has a swollen spot next to the top tooth that might or might no be another tooth working on coming in. It could also be a cold sore...but upon closer examination it looks like a swollen gum. It sure explained why she didn't want to eat bottles! I eventually got some orajel and if she is being super fussy I give it to her about 5 minutes before a bottle.

Teeth! My little baby is getting big. Heck this weekend will be 9 months. I have a hard time fathoming 9 months...she still seems to teeny to me. I used to think anything beyond 8 months was an old baby, but I don't think that any more.

Yesterday was a home day. We hung around the house all day doing piddly stuff, catching up on chores and washing diapers. Then Tim said it that it was Name Day at Pedro's, which means anyone named Timothy or Linda could get a free meal up to 10 bucks. Linda is so close to Laura don't you think? As it was we 10$ off is pretty good, so we headed over there for dinner. I gave Morella a tortilla to eat and she guarded it ferociously. I ordered a pretty safe burrito and Tim got something really awesome that had lots of cheese in it. A seafood enchilada I think. Then we came home and I pumped while Tim took Morella and Pluto on the nightly walk.

Speaking of pumping -- my supply went back up! I wonder why it dropped...the only thing I can think of was that I was restricting calories ... not that crazy but enough and maybe...or maybe it was just coincidence? I think I am going to try and keep a better idea on that so it's not so worrisome when it happens again. Maybe it's coinciding with when I would get my period (if I was getting one). Or maybe ... I don't know.

I started working on Morella's baby book last night again. I had done a few pages when she was born and haven't touched it since. My excuse was I didn't have pictures. Well now I have them and I don't have an excuse for not doing it ... at least until I run out of pictures and have to wait for the next batch. Will she even care about the baby book? I never had one as a kid. Who is the baby book for? The baby or the parents?

I am having my garage sale September 12 and 13. I wonder if Tim's Mom would still be willing to help watch Morella. She'll be in working then, and no one has garage sales on Saturday past 3:00PM ... which is when she would probably be able to get here. Cecci (who just moved here last Friday!) said she would help -- at least hang out. Anyone else want to help? Anyone? Maybe I should make Tim take a day off since he is so eager to have one and he can help....

What the heck? Blogger has a new dashboard. Okay.

I missed Friday Photos because I have been super busy. I guess that's a good thing right? We have been entertaining fiends the past couple of weekends, having folks over for dinner, an overnight stay, a bbq, several fires in the firepit outback...I have been busy on making some new friends, walking, baby proofing the house, etc. My friend Laima said she misses Friday Photos, and I would have to agree. You know it was on my daily journal entry of things to do, and it never got done. :( But hey, it's a new week! Here are a few from this past week:


Zoey, Morella and Mina get down and creative with colored chalk. There were some great pictures after everyone had left that I get to enjoy until the next rain. :)

Alora and Cullen. She is such a sucker for babies. Morella was a sucker for pulling her hair out later. There was a big clump of it on the coffee table. I seem to recall Morella pulling her hair out before too. Sheesh! Alora is my friend Angie's youngest. I met Angie through the East Side Mom's Club.

Morella crawling...she can really rip around the house now. It's hilarious because you know she is going to start trucking when she starts huffing dramatically "huh huh huh huh huh". She prefers to have her knees and feet unclothed. I feel sorry for those poor little baby knees -- sometimes they are so red! I try to remember to put a little Burt Bee's hand salve on them before she takes naps to give them a chance to heal.

NOTE: I need to stop right now so I can feed Morella second bottle. Check back for more text regarding the rest of the photos.


Morella and her Uncle Phil. He has been staying with us for the month of August. The rest of his family has already moved on to Milwaukee where he will join them at the end of the month.

See that weird oil layer on the top of this milk? It was from thawed frozen milk and it just freaked me out when I saw it. I think this was the 4th or 5th time I have ever thawed milk to give to Morella and so I was not prepared to see this. I later found out that it's normal -- though by then I dumped it out. Tim's Mom later verified that she had seen this several times while she was watching Morella.

Cullen and Morella aren't too sure about this camera, each other or this crawling thing. To their defense, it was early, and they hadn't had their morning coffee yet.

Morella and her gymnastica cabbage patch doll. It's a toy that goes in the Bucket of Toys for the bedroom. It was easy to transport outside. We took her outside to hang in the play pen while Tim worked on some landscaping. The mosquito netting for the stroller doubled very nicely for for the play pen. She had a really nice time playing outside. I think she enjoyed the fresh air and different view. She didn't complain once!



BONUS!

I took this footage of Morella today. She was booking it down the hallway and I thought to myself "Self! You should record that!"

Today went well. We took Pluto to get an ultrasound and then decided after talking to the vet tech and based on how well he was doing we decided to not pursue an ultrasound. Thus saving us a ton of money, and Pluto trauma. Morella had a blast playing with the plastic animals in the waiting room while I enjoyed a hot coco.

Of course I was disappointed to see that Morella weighed only 15 lbs and 8oz -- and that was *just* after eating a 6 ounce bottle. Sigh. I swear she is bigger though! She is outgrowing clothes in the torso lengthwise...but you know I guess I felt bad because I have gotten three comments on how tiny and petite she is after people learn how old she is. Okay. Just have to remember she is healthy, hitting milestones and very energetic and active. Plus, she was two weeks overdue and was born weighing 6 lb 14 oz....dude that little! Ironically, it was enough to still give me stretch marks. :P

After we got home, she ate a good lunch of last night's bean stew and then took a nap. She woke up after an hour, but she was still tired. So I changed her diaper and put her back down and she slept for another hour and half. A long afternoon nap on top of a long morning nap = happy day! I totally cleaned the living room, taped down rugs, baby proofed stuff....and having Phil around to do dishes every now and then is amazing. It's like I have finally been able to get on top of the house and make some headway. Hilary reasoned it was because since I don't have to do dishes I have time to do other stuff. It makes me wonder if maybe we should get a dishwasher...even one of those stupid portable ones.

We had mac and cheese for dinner and Morella at a good portion and then almost killed a 5th bottle before bed without a fuss. It was a pretty awesome day -- almost enough to make up for yesterday. I mean, it did for Morella but we could have gone without the dog attack.

The best part is that I decided to take advantage of my new Y membership and headed down to walk the treadmill on a good incline for 30 minutes. The key is to not think about it too much and just do it. Okay! Now I am well on my way to becoming as svelte as my friend Sarah who banished 30 pounds in the last 8 months.

Tim's rendition of tonight's happening:

Morella was having a grumpy day today, so the DW and I packed her up into her stroller, put Pluto on his leash, and went for a walk. The walk went fine until the last leg home. We decided to stretch the walk out a little longer since it was doing a good job of keeping Morella mellow.

As we were walking down the street, we heard someone yelling, and we looked over to see a Great Pyrenees barreling down on us. Laura got Morella out of the way, and I put myself between the charging dog and Pluto. As the dog charged over, he didn't even glance at me; he was fixated on Pluto. I tried to spin Pluto around to keep myself between him and the white cyclone of teeth and fur. I kicked the dog twice, as hard as I could, pushing off after each kick as I tried to spin Pluto to stay between him and 120 pounds of hate, but I couldn't get him out of the way fast enough. The dog bit Pluto 3 times before his owners could catch up and tackle the Great Pyrenees. It took both of them to hold him down.

We walked away, getting Pluto clear of the dog, and I tried to look at Pluto to see what the damage was, but I couldn't see anything on the surface with all the fur in the way, and Pluto would not let me near the wounds without yelping and scooting away.

The owners called down the block, asking if Pluto was OK. I think I said 'I don't know.' We were just interested in getting Pluto away from that dog. It was a short block to get home, and I called our regular vet to see if they could see him. They didn't answer, so I just packed Pluto in the car and took him to the vet anyway, which was still open for their normal business hours.

Once we got to the vet, they were able to see him almost right away. To make a long story short, they shaved him, cleaned out the wounds, which ended up being three punctures that didn't require stitches, but they didn't like the amount of bruising he was suffering, and were a little concerned that the force of the bite right on the thinnest part of his waist may have inflicted internal injuries. They gave him some antibiotics, some pain meds, and strongly recommended that I take him in for an abdominal ultrasound tomorrow to make sure he didn't have any hemorrhaging. They also showed me how to check his gums and his heart rate to make sure that if he is hemorrhaging, we can catch it over the night.

After I got home, the DW and I had the unpleasant business of talking to the owners of the Pyr. They were very distraught, and very worried about Pluto. They asked after his condition constantly, praying that he'll be fine.

As they told it, their dog was napping in the garage with the husband who was working, when he suddenly jumped up, bashed right through the gate (!!!), and came at Pluto. They told us that they had decided that they were going to put the dog to sleep tomorrow morning. He was too much for them to handle, and they just couldn't risk him hurting another dog or, heavens forbid, a child.

We know these people. We ride the bus with them. We told them that we know that they know how dangerous their dog is, and that we've seen that they take great pains to avoid an accident (walking him later at night, staying on the other side of the street, putting up tarps over the fence so that he won't see other dogs in the neighborhood walking by). We weren't asking them to put their dog to sleep. But, through their tears, they insisted that they just can't live with that kind of threat any longer.

We told them how much we expected the bills to be, and the husband pleaded with us that they were just working class folks. I said something to the effect that we weren't interested in a war, that we like them, we know they did what they could to keep their dog under control, we live in the same neighborhood, but that we were interested in equity.

So, they asked us to keep them informed of Pluto's condition, and I will let them know how much his vet care is going to cost. It looks like it's going to be 400 bucks when all is said and done.

I'm optimistic that Pluto will be fine, but all the same, good thoughts, prayers, appeals to the fates, etc. can't do any harm
--

Rough Mommy Day

I'm feeling like a bad Mom today. I know the reason why and it's really kind of stupid. Okay so she woke up, spit out her medicine twice, ate a bottle and had a 45-50 min nap after her morning bottle. In other words it was short. So I decided to take advantage of it and go over to visit Hilary with a brief stop at Woodman's to buy size three diapers!, donuts, lactose free milk and grill lighter fluid. We went over and she has a pretty good morning. She drank her second bottle down with no problems, spent lots of time standing, crawling and jabbering. At 12 she showed signs of tired so we went home. She took a nap from 12:30 to 1:30. A one hour nap.

Okay here is where the doubts creep in. I am trying to cycle through some of my older frozen milk because in a month it will expire. I decided yesterday to give her one bottle a day of frozen stuff so that I can really decide to drop a pump when it's her first birthday and not worry about a supply hit OR I can decide to quit altogether and still have milk to last her another couple of months.

Last night's frozen milk bottle she only ate 2 ounces. But her usual amount for the last bottle is between 2-4 ounces. So at this bottle she only drank 3.5 ounces before refusing it. Before I made that bottle, I had thawed on bag of milk and it separated funny. There was this layer of dark yellow, almost orange .... like oil layer over the milk. I shook it and it reappeared after only a minute. Well it smelled fine, it tasted fine (I compared it with a bottle in fridge), but it creeped me out so much I dumped it and thawed another one. That one she drank 3.5 ounces from.

So. Was she hungry but doesn't like frozen thawed milk? Was it bad and I just didn't know it? (Everyone says that you can tell milk is bad a mile away). Is it because she didn't get all her reflux medicine this morning? ( I was late on giving her prevacid too), or is it something else entirely?

I gave her nibblets of Cheerios and puffs, and she had a little bit of banana muffin before playing and eventually taking a long bath with me (our version of an indoor swimming pool for babies). Then she melted down after that. I gave her randitine because she essentially went all day without it in case that was it, I tried to feed a lame jar puree (trying to use it up and it was ready instantly...) she didn't want it, and in fact smeared it all over herself, the table and her outfit. I changed her and then she was ... sigh.

I eventually did get her to eat that bottle after she refused it several times because of crying fits. She powered through it, was quiet for 3 minutes and then started melting down again. I put her to bed and she cried for 5 - 7 minutes before falling asleep.

It's when she is like this that I feel like a bad Mom. Is it selfish to give her a bottle of frozen milk? Is it selfish to even think about quitting this pumping nonsense at a year?

It's probably she is just over tired (true) and is having an off day or maybe those stupid teeth are starting (though she is showing no signs of teething). But in the meanwhile I wonder if I am making mistake after mistake with her and that is the reason for her grumpy days.

Which you know, I know is bound to happen and I shouldn't take it personally but, I still feel like the fault is mine somehow.

I did it. I packed up Morella in the stroller after her afternoon nap and we walked down to the YMCA and signed us up. I got a tour of the place, saw the child care drop off room, looked at what rooms were going to be and was fairly impressed. They are in the middle of remodeling but they promise it will be done by September 1st and will be really nice then. I hope so! I look forward to seeing it.

I also signed Morella up for Shrimp swim classes. I originally did it for the morning, but after talking to Tim about it we might tag team (or he might do it all) and change the class time to 6:30 - 7:00 so that he could take her on Mondays. Cool!

Now I gotta figure out when I am going to be going. They are open from 5:45 to 10:30. I am actually feeling like I might way until the fall drop in schedule is out because I prefer to go to classes.

Anyway. Our main computer monitor died today. Kaput. It was over 8 years old. So we went and bought a new monitor -- it's amazing how they are all flatscreens now, fairly inexpensive (especially compared to how expensive they used to be!), and transporting it home was a piece of cake! I'm glad that huge monitors are a thing of the past. SO glad.

Last night went really well. We had pesto pasta with grilled chicken, garden salad and coleslaw. I also made an apple pie but had to preface it with "I used canned apples..." because I didn't want them to think that my apple pie was really that ... uh bland. I mean it was good. Of course it was good, homemade crust makes everything better, but it still wasn't as awesome as a real apple pie. In the spirit of staying calm and casual, I went with what I had. They left at 10:30, I pumped took a shower and was in bed by 11:30.

Hey I should head that way now.

Last night decided to have a fire because it was cooler and nice. I invited a few folks over last minute -- via email because you know, I hate talking on the phone. I did get a bit from Sigrid and Matt who showed up for a drink before heading to the Inferno to sell Reverence Tickets. They are coming back tonight for dinner -- I'm making pesto pasta with grilled chicken. I don't know what else....I am trying to remember how calm and unworried Kathleen was about having folks over. I am not going to go over every inch of the house or make a super gourmet dinner. The whole point of it is to hang out with friends and we are going to do that more. I foresee inviting someone over for dinner at least once a month.

We put a pretty good dent into our huge pile of brush. I think there are still 2-3 more fires sitting in that brush pile. My goal is to finish it by the time it snows.

Right now Tim and Phil are outside with Morella. I set up the play pen so that Morella could be in it while Tim works on fixing the red mulch area of the yard and I was thinking about more paint scraping and then painting for the back part of the garage. You know household chores. It's looking like a beautiful day though! We might have to go to the dog park and tire out Pluto before we have company.

I made pancakes this morning for breakfast. Tim cooked the sausage.

He also said I have the decorating taste of an old lady. For some reason that stings today. :(

Friday Photos: 1st Week of August

Summer classic: Baby wearing only diaper

"Okay...I got this far....now what do I do?"
(For the record today she is up to 3-4 crawls and starting to make some distance through a combination of crawling, scooting, army crawl and rolling. I won't consider it actually crawling until she can do it 5 times in a row. But you know she is getting exponentially better each day. It's really fantastic to watch!

"Look at me Mom!"
I was trying to capture how she had this massive front cowlick from the walk, but I also wanted a picture of her in these short overalls which are just so dangerously cute.

I feel downright giddy! I was looking around for more poetry slams for tonight and stumbled upon this article written in the Isthmus (our free twice weekly paper, similar to Chicago's Reader full of events, opinions -- blah blah): Blogging day two of National Poetry Slam 2008 in Madison

There I was reading the article, I clicked on the first blogger's link and was unimpressed with their post and scrolled on down to read the next one. It was block quoted and everything and at first I thought "What does this bozo have to say...probably another one of those overly thought out critique's. I read the first two lines and realized "Holy shit! That's me!"

Crazy! I wrote that while I was pumping, after I had gotten home late. I wish it was proofed a little more, but the day was past done and I was tired.

I'm famous!!

[Edit: There is a link to the full blog but you can also read it here: "Judge"

I am having a correspondence night. Tim started a new gaming night with some folks, and Phil is out doing a Vollyball game so it was just me and the little girl. We had a pretty day so she ended up going down for bed without a fuss.

What did we do? First we went to the Eastside Mom's club meeting. I showed up and started to think the whole thing was mistake until I started talking to the lady next to me. She was wearing a sundress and had her hair pulled back in flawless pony tail and her son had a head full of blond curls and was a sweet as can be. She told me that the meetings are always chaotic and sort of lame and to not base the group on these meetings. I finally got some paper work from the main recruiter Mom and said I would think about. Hours later, I have thought about it. I did meet one cool Mom - Angie from the the first meeting I went too, and now there is the potential for another cool Mom so if you think about it I already got my money's worth right there. It's only $20 bucks...not that much for a year's membership of valuable networking. ;)

The meeting was at 10:00 which is kind of hard because between 10 and 11 is when Morella has her second bottle of the day. I was able to actually get her to eat it while we were at the meeting (I got around the perfect temp thing by putting her bottle in a coffee cup themos with hot water), I changed her diaper after ward and we were good to go! I saw that our neighborhood is having their annual garage sales which means the Moravian Church is having their all sale. I went over there to see if they had set up. I lucked out, because they they were setting up but also letting folks look around and buy stuff. I hit the mother lode folks. I got oodles of pans (the stainless steel/aluminum ones I have been replacing my crappy Teflon with, a bunch of pillow cases (I have been replacing the nasty ones we have with new/old ones that aren't nasty), frames, and a large round blue gingham tablecloth. I was able to shop so much because a nice old lady offered to hold Morella while I browsed. For the record, I don't hand her off to women who appear to be crazy and I keep I close eye on her while I am shopping. I just tell them to face her out and she has a great time! Oh I also got a baby sled! I can't wait until winter for her to try out. Scratch that...I can wait until winter -- but this will make winter a little more fun. She'll be able to fit the Finnish snowsuit this year complete with the booties and glove and what not. It will be blast taking her out in that -- it has safety straps on it even!

After that, we came home she ate another bottle and then laid down for a nap while I pumped and caught on on some email and put things away. She woke up after an hour and half and we headed out to the Nerd Slam downtown in Humanities Bldg. We stayed for about a 1/2 an hour and I got to only hear 3 poems because of a stupid nerd quiz that was taking forever in between. Finally Morella got overwhelmed by their boisterousness and we stopped at the bank to deposit a check and then to Starbucks to get me a passion iced tea. Of course Morella got tons of comments because I was wearing her in the moby. Whenever I wear her she gets constant attention and interaction.

She took a small nap on the way home. After that Tim had to go his gaming group, Phil played with her for awhile while I pumped and then I took her and Pluto on a walk. Of course he took a giant dump while I was walking him. He doesn't do that when it's Tim and I. Sheesh. Stupid dog. Got home and still had an hour to go before bed time so we fed the animals and then went to the bedroom to let her play on the bed for a 1/2 hour. I think she's getting that crawling thing down! I would put forbidden items out of reach -- like a ruler, a little notebook, etc and she got them all. That little stinker also tried to climb off the bed! I hovered over her to see if she really meant on going all the way and half way of the bed I scooped her up and called her a stinker all the while she was laughing! What a nut!

I changed her into jammies, read a few stories she at a whole bottle (for a total of like 30 ounces today) and then went to bed without a problem. I then called my old coworker Janet to catch up and then decided it was catch up night with friends so I poured myself a glass of wine and got started.

Look I even did a post! I think I'm on fire for tonight!

Judge.

Tonight I went to one of the preliminary rounds for one of the National Poetry Slam 2008 Bouts. You see, my friend Zoey insisted that I go and see some of these and so based on her recommendation I went to see the Denver and Albuquerque teams which was supposed to be at the Brink (under the High Noon Saloon) except when I got there they said that the schedule was wrong and that I needed to be at the Bartell. Well she said one of her friends would say hi to me so I headed over to the Bartell Theater. It was kind of funny because the door man at the Brink referred to the Capitol as city hall when giving me directions to the Bartell. I figured it out in the end.

So I get the Bartell and there are bunch of people getting directions to the Brink Lounge on account of the misinformation that had me at the wrong place too. Eventually I asked someone behind a counter if they wanted money for me to enter. The woman, knitting what I presume to be a scarf, said that she was just in charge of the food and to ask the two ladies sitting at a card table to the left. I stepped over three feet and asked two hipsters hovering over a few CD's, a few random paper and soda's if they wanted any money from me to enter. They said that they weren't in charge of that and to go down the hall to someone who would take my money.

Well I walk down the hall and there are a few people standing at the door. A poem was in progress so I waited near the door until they were finished before going in. I was fully expecting someone to ask me if I wanted to pay to get in, but no one did. In fact, the MC said "Come in don't be shy! Sit down!" Well, I'm not one to turn down an invitation so I went in and sat down.

I got to see most of the first rounds (there were two bouts apparently) and none of the teams were Alberquue or Denver so I figured it was the second bout that I was waiting for. I enjoyed listening to the poems and to the folks in the audience. Did you know people still snap their fingers in approval? There were also some woots, a few stomps and hand clapping -- but my favorite by far was the "What."

"God is a shoe lace, on the side of the road. Forgotten, neglected, dirty but still there.."

"What!"

Ha ha ha. I think that was an approval thing.

The first round ended and no one approached me. I was sort of afraid to leave and get a drink in case someone asked me for proof of my entry so I stayed put as the place started to fill up. Then the MC asked if anyone was no affiliated with the groups to be a judge. There weren't many non affiliated bystanders like myself and so I ended up being a judge. It was after I got my dry erase board and instructions that I ventured out for some liquid courage. I figured they couldn't kick me out after making a judge, right?

The night went fast. There were a lot of poems about race, one about love in Texas, two about the Mexican immigrant experience, the pharmaceutical industry and several about god. I'll admit those get old fast. As do the ones where the person talks so fast that you don't have any idea what they are talking about except for the line or two about race relations that they slow down to stoke the crowd. I judged based on creativity, presentation and originality of the poems rather than the typical knee jerk to get a reaction poems. Over all though, I think I liked the group of folks in the first bout that I didn't judge because they were based more on personal stories and experience. I liked those. Those spoke to me and seemed more honest, beautiful and meaningful.

In the end my friend's friend didn't approach me. I asked two folks on the Albuquerque team if they knew my friend and they didn't. Wait, one did but he said it was a long time ago when he was just a kid starting out. I didn't catch his name. I also met a nice young man from San Deigo who had just started doing this four months ago - I wonder what his poem would be like. I left with my ears aching because of all the shouting and what what's -- but mostly from the woman who sat next to me who was also a judge. I can't begin to describe how obnoxious she was -- she was screaming, wooting, slamming her fists and marker onto her dry erase board, standing up and hooting -- it was ear splitting and for a few brief moments thought about moving except it was a packed place and I was stuck. Even as I write this, my right ear feels a little tender.

I am going to try and make the nerd slam tomorrow afternoon but that might be a trickier because I'll have Morella with me. It's downtown so I would have to deal with traffic and parking. Plus, you know when Morella is around a lot of boisterous talking she wants to get in on the action and talk exuberantly too. That might or might not be funny.

There you have it. My first Poetry Slam -- it was definitely an interesting experience. I wish Zoey could have made it, and even more -- that I could have heard her read a poem. Maybe next year though I'm pretty sure it won't be held in Madison again.

Okay! I did it. I went through and uploaded our vacation pictures from Louisiana vacation and also our trip to the Blooming Butterflies at Olbrich Garden with my new friend Angie and her kids. They are to the left or you can click here: See pictures now!. It took me a long time to do this - two days! It's sort of a guided tour, so you can read the descriptions there. It was a packed week and there are lots of things we didn't take pictures of that we did but ...sigh. It's enough.

In other news, Morella was super tired yesterday and grumpy. Today so far it's the same thing. I'm not gonna complain too much because I needed those morning naps just as much as she did to catch up on sleep. She is busting her butt to learn to learn how to crawl and Tim thinks that might be the reason why she is tuckering out so fast. At least today I managed to take a shower and actually get dressed during her nap (which I think she is waking up from now). I guess this means she is going to have another nap later this afternoon. There is no way she can make it from 1.30 to 8:00 without any of use losing it. :)

Tim was up late last night making mini florentine ham cups for his work's snack day. I only got to eat half a one...I wish I had more now...or that he would make fancy stuff like that for home. We had tater tot casserole last night. Tonight I am thinking ... gah I don't know yet. I am going over to my friend Amy's tonight for a Discovery Toy party. Mostly I am going for the cake and to be supportive. I am really looking forward to that cake. Tim has the car today because he needed to transport those goodies to work so I am house bound. That isn't a bad thing when you have been away for a week, you know?

Okay time to rescue my Sweeps.

Home sweet home.

This morning, I got up and looked over the balcony on the second floor of Tim's parents house to see Morella eating her morning bottle with Grandma. She noticed me and smiled. I promised her I would be down really quick after I went to the bathroom. A few minutes later I come and who should be down there holding Morella but that baby snatcher Tim! I couldn't believe it! He was sleeping when I got up, and in the span of two seconds ganked my long awaited for baby moment. What a stinker.

At church this morning I couldn't concentrate. I just stared, held, kissed, stroked her smooth skin, held her little toes, smoothed her hair back and just marveled at how lucky I am to have such a beautiful, magical little girl like Morella. I was just astounded at how much she has changed in a week. It's incredibly apparent now that she isn't a little baby any more. Her voice is a little deeper, she is much more focused on people and examining situations .... the good news is she didn't crawl or say her first real word while we are gone. The fun news is that she is inches away from crawling. She can get up onto her hands and knees and rock back and forth and by the end of the day she has road rash on her knees. :) I am looking around the living room realizing that this might be the week that we start baby proofing. She adjusted to coming back home really well, ate all five bottles and went to bed without a fuss. I do think that MIL Sharon is right though, that she is outgrowing her 6-9 mo jammies. She is definitely long!

The other exciting news is that she didn't choke on any bottles the whole week, or today while I was watching. I even gave her a couple sips of water and she didn't have a problem with it at all! I think it's time to make the follow up barium swallow study appointment. Now to just call the doctor to get the referral before calling the specialist to see when she can be fit in. I think it will be a couple of weeks. I think in the mean time I am going to cautiously let her practice with a cup with thinner milk. Ohh -- it's so exciting to think that she might be able to swallow normally...and not need all the thickeners.

But I have a lot to talk about -- I guess I'll work on dong that this week, and do pictures as well. I might just gallery that up with detailed comments explaining pictures. That might just be easier than posting about it.

I can't believe how much I love and missed Morella. She came home with four new duckies and then found mail with a new Froggie themed duckie from our friend Erika, along with a beautiful handmade dress from her Grandma Barb.

I also missed Migo. She's my sweetie kitty. Pluto missed Tim and the dog sitter even sent him home with a picture of him, the date he spent with them and a one word description that said "Insistent". I think that describes him quite well (at least when it comes to attention). Arkham and Innsmouth are their same crabby selves and I am sure will come out for attention in the middle of the night.

Okay. I should hit the hay. The one sure thing about being on vacation is that when you return from it you need to catch up on your sleep. I know that is the case for me. Once I am done pumping I will be able to have lots of glorious sleep...and time. I just know it.

My crazy idea right now is to get into the framing business. Start making frames. Tim is going to make art from dead bugs (think patterns). I need to do some research. It can't be that hard to make frames, right? I want to frame everything!

I didn't gain any weight! How awesome is that. I still need to get back into watching what we eat mode though. I would love to be back down to my college weight, which is just 10 pounds away. I went grocery shopping tonight and got some of those frosted animal crackers. Those are SO good, and also bad for you, which is why it's the only real junk food snacky thing I got. Except for my dinner of course which was a Reese's peanut butter cup, a beer and a back of BBQ chips.

One more thing. I got Morella these socks last week at the coolest baby store ever...they had SO many things I wanted to spend money on, but it was so expensive. SO expensive. But since it was vacation, I did make an exception for some baby leg warmers and these.... (Morella got at least 3 compliments on her cute socks at Church this morning...I know she is going to get a ton more as winter comes near and she'll be wearing socks more).

Happy 10th Anniversary Darling!