Odds and ends and baby cheeks for your viewing (and my munching-on) pleasure
I was sick this week -- sicker than I've been in a long-ass time. I worked a total of about five hours and spent the rest of the time on the couch, trying to nap, but wishing I could just claw my face off instead.
I spent the greater part of Friday morning draining my tear ducts of all their fluids as I bawled my way through both Country Strong (wasn't expecting that ending) and Temple Grandin (Claire Danes, man) but I luckily felt human again yesterday, so I was able to go to a friend's house for a ladies' night.
Of course, when I came home, it appeared I'd passed the sickness on to both Chris and LG, so that sucks. Little lady, who looked cheerful and delightful yesterday...
...Slept from 6pm last night to 9am this morning...
---And then took a nap in the crook of my arm (that never happens!) this morning....
...And then took a real nap in her crib.
She's up now and in much better spirits, so I'm hoping she's on the mend. My scientific analysis is that since she's an eighth my size, she'll get over this cold in an eighth the time. Right? Right.
In news completely unrelated to this, I decided to not drink until my birthday (thankfully in February and not, like, in December.) It's been almost two weeks and it's been surprisingly easy, although I think a lot of that probably had to do with the sickness this past week. (Although damn, I bet a shot of whiskey could have helped with the congestion.)
I also finished The Marriage Plot, the first book-book I've read in a long time. (I read a lot of James Patterson, but I'm not sure his count as book-books, since they all have the same plot, not to mention, they're not even written by him anymore.) Anyway, so I finished a book, which makes me feel all studios and shit, and I am now starting in on The Hunger Games.
As I mentioned in my 2011 recap, I am not good with big sweeping goals or resolutions, but smaller ones seem to be my jam (says the girl who hasn't even yet completed the first small goal she set for herself) and I'm hoping to, like, improve upon some areas of my life via these small, manageable goals, rather than big, impossible ones that make me want to give them the finger.
And now that I've taken this blog into some unfamiliar self-help territory, I'm going to go make my fifth cup of tea of the day and munch on some baby cheekage:
It’s Friiiiiiiiiiiday
It's Friday, work sucks weekend woo-hoo, and the start of a three-day weekend for a lucky few of us.
After the holidays and guests, going back work and then more guests, I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend...
...Lunch with my grandparents (The GGPs, as we call them) tomorrow...
...Yoga, a mani/pedi, and much-needed eyebrow maintenance on Sunday, followed by the Golden Globes and tamale pie (recipe from a coworker; I'll report back) Sunday night...
...Then who knows what on Monday, but I suspect it will involve a lot of LG and I catching up on our Real Housewives. Girls gotta watch their STORIES, am I right?
A few outtakes from our daily pictures, which I send to Chris in the mornings. I usually look like a total fool, making funny faces to get LG to smile, but more recently I've just been to trying to get her to not steal my phone and shove it in her mouth. So. It's fun.
What do you have planned this weekend? I hope you enjoy it!
Dads of daughters
"Where are her lime green socks? I thought she had lime green socks."
"She might have but I think I packed them up because they don't fit. She has other socks, I thought...Yeah, here you go."
"Those are pink."
"So?"
"Pink doesn't match salmon."
All about LGeeeeeeee
It's been...a really long time since I did an LG update and I'm not sure you really even care, but I'd like to look back one day to remember what she did and when and hell if I'm going to...what? Write that shit down? Like in a baby book or something? Psh.
So! She's almost nine months old, which, exqueeze me? When did that happen? NOT OKAY.
I think the last time I updated, she had just started to sit up unassisted. She still does that and...not a whole lot else. Everyone says she's, "So! Close! To crawling!" but, meh. Crawl, don't crawl, Mom doesn't care. (Actually, Mom does care. Don't crawl LG. Stay a wee (20+ pound!) baby forever and ever.)
She also started eating solid foods around the time of the sitting up and she still does that. OH DOES SHE DO THAT. She will (and does!) eat anything. AN-Y-THING. There's a reason she's pushing 25 pounds and it's not because she's a picky little delicate flower. No daughter of mine!
She's had green beans, peas, carrots, yams, butternut squash, bananas, apples (lovingly made with cinnamon by her dear old mom), pears, rice, oatmeal, and countless puffins, which she has become quite adept at grabbing with her thumb and index finger before taking her other hand and SHOOOOVING everything in her mouth.
She also has started holding her own bottle and feeding herself, which is basically the best thing ever. It's sort of happened out of necessity/tough love, as she used to micro-manage her feedings, holding the bottle, then turning her head this way and that way. I finally got sick of being her puppet, so I one day I propped her up in the boppy and let her figure all that out. And because it was FOOOOOOOOOD, delicious formula nectar of the baby gods, she figured it out real quick.
She got a tooth about a month ago, which resulted in the two of us laying in bed, staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night (she has never been a fall-asleep-in-your-arms kind of kid, but apparently snuggling with me made her feel better. Moms are the best, you know) and then a couple days later her gums grew up over the tooth and it...just disappeared. Which was annoying/frustrating/weird.
Then, randomly, a couple weeks ago, I noticed her bottom two teeth had popped through and they seem to be going nowhere but up, which means steak, fish tacos, and pork chops are in her future.
She laughs all the time. All the time. Over nothing. Over everything. She starts laughing before I even have a chance to put a new suit on her in the mornings, that's how much she looks forward to the inevitable tickling that occurs.
She says, "Blah blah blah!" and, "Dad dad dad!" and OMG, this is sounding so lame and I'm sorry, but she recently started whispering, "Dah dah dah" and it's the cutest, her realizing she can control how loud or quiet she is. (Quiet is good, LG.)
She will not nap long enough at school; doesn't want to miss out on the party, I assume, and starts to hyperventilate anytime she sees another kid's bottle, even if she's just eaten. The teachers have started to hide her elsewhere in the room, outside of view of the DELICIOUS Dr. Browns ("OMG I know him!") bottles.
The non or brief napping results in a usually cranky baby by the time we're all home from work and BottleWatch 2012 and it's hard for me to not be disappointed that my quality time with her is so limited. Besides her dad and a small handful of others, she's one of the coolest, most fun people to hang out with, so the fact that I only get maybe, maybe an hour a day with her is sad.
But then I have a day off work and we're home together and I'm like, damn B, you're needy 'n shit! And speaking of shit...AGAIN? REALLY?
Insomniacs in the night
Scene: Three o'clock in the morning, two people are wide awake in bed
"How are you supposed to fall back asleep if you're looking at your phone?"
"I was just thinking that. But when I get something in my head, I have to look it up..."
"...Wait, how are you supposed to fall back asleep if you're talking to me?"
"I was just thinking that."
"Remember when I use to be such a good sleeper?"
"Then we went and had a kid..."
"...And yet the kid is the only one actually asleep in this house."
Christmas drinks and dorks
Hey, so I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Hanukkah.
Here we are on Christmas day, looking like a couple-a dorks:
LG looks pissed (she wasn't), but this was the only shot where she was looking at the camera, so...
Here's a cute one of the two of us -- a little blurry -- but she's smiling and that's all that matters:
And last but certainly not least, here's a little roundup of our holiday beverages:
Holiday magnum from Domaine Carneros, a mocha with a peppermint stick (I suppose it's really a candycane, but whatever, peppermint stick sounds much more old time-y and quaint), and a duo of gin martinis, which look an awful lot like boobs here. Martini boobs!
Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy Festivus! Happy New Year!
May your days be merry and bright!
Mine sure are.
Thanks given for this year
Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday, which, after almost five years of blogging, is not something that needs repeating year after year. Plus, Thanksgiving is like everyone's favorite holiday, isn't it? The food, the drink, the naps, the second dinner, the fifth bottle of wine, etc., etc., it's not very original) is over, but what a lovely one it was. Lots of food and drink, family Skype-time, and laying around watching Elf.
I didn't workout, I didn't shower, I did take a picture of the two of us and cut off Chris's head...
...So everything went according to schedule
I intended to take pictures of all my Thanksgiving food, because contrary to a popular blogger, I know you all really do care what I had for lunch, or in this case, Thanksgiving lunch (the Best of all the Lunches!) Unfortunately, I was hungry, so this picture of cranberry sauce is all I got:
Leftovers making their way to me tomorrow as a stir-in with my vanilla Greek yogurt, YUM
LG totally dug her first Thanksgiving. I mean, she ate the usual formula and pureed slop, but whatever. She seemed happy nonetheless:
It's like she likes us or something. So weird, this one
We hit up Napa on Saturday, for the second weekend in a row BECAUSE WE CAN, and it was lovely and glorious, as you can imagine. The last time we were there, we picked up our HOLIDAY MAGNUM, which is something I am, for obvious reasons, looking forward to immensely. Now. Should we drink it on Christmas or New Year's Eve, Christmas or New Year's Eve? I know you're all feeling very sorry for me. I'll go drown my feelings of despair in my one-and-a-half-liters of champagne.
Other than that, there's nothing to report. My turkey soup is about done and my stomach's a-grumbling, so it looks like it's going to be an early dinner and bedtime for me.
Oh, but first, here's a picture of the baby actually enjoying her bath for once:
Or, you know, not hating it like usual. Whatever, I'll take it
Happy belated Thanksgiving to you all! Life's Good around here and I hope it's the same for you!
Nothin’ lasts forever/Even cold November rain
Well hello! October just drug its little ass, didn't it? And now here we are, in November, the beginning of my favorite time of year (THANKSGIVING! HECK YEAH!) and I'm sure now until the end of the year will go by in a second. Regardless, I've already started playing the Mariah Carey (Holiday) station on Pandora, so I'll be in the damn holiday spirit for the next eight weeks.
Although it drug by, my October was busy, what with trips to Bakersfield and Austin. I feel like I went somewhere else...maybe? But I guess I didn't.
October really was The Month Of The Internet, which started out by seeing Rhiannon (and Bill) (and BoB, sort of indirectly) at the champagnery. I don't have a picture of that; HOWEVER, Rhiannon did get to meet Tyler Florence later that day and she didn't even offend him or anything, unlike yours truly.
Then there was @theblathering in Austin, which was quite the whirlwind. So much so that I think I'm still catching up on the sleep I missed that weekend. I think - and this is being generous - I got maybe, MAYBE six hours of sleep the entire weekend. Maybe.
Anyway, here's a picture of some of us ladies in Austin. (I stole this picture from Elisabeth.)
Miss Vanity (me) chose this because her hair and boobs look good. Neither of these things happen often, what can I say?
Then last weekend I got to see MORE Internet ladies (and Peppa) for brunch in Sacramento. (Picture stolen from Amy. I can't be taking my own pictures these days, clearly.)
Check out how cute LG and Peppa are going to look together when they're older. Luckily they won't be able to kiss because those four giant cheeks will totally get in the way. Giant Cheeks: Messing up Game Since 2011
Then there was Halloween, a holiday which I'm not into too much, and neither is Chris, so we spent our evening hunkered down in the dark, drinking wine, and eating Reece's Pumpkins.
She's all skin and bones, hardy har har!
October also marked the month LG could start sitting up (albiet wobbily-y) on her own, as evidenced here:
And eating solid (and I use the word "solid" - quite literally - very loosely, as it's just a bunch of pureed ickiness) food:
I feel like I can't just leave you with that gross picture of my kid, so here's one of the two of us, dressed up all nice and fancy for Napa:
If fancy means the leggings that don't have the hole in the butt, that is
Oh, okay, FINE. One more of the little turd-monster:
Turns on the charm if, and only if, I move the camera out of my face so she can see me making ridiculous faces at her. So high maintenance, this one
Happy Thursday, best day of the week!
Working out the work and workout
I'm in sort of a weird place and it's bothering me, so I'm gonna get all 2007 and write my feelings about it.
I've been back to work for a little over two months and things are fine, truly; nothing to report either way about that. I like my job and it provides stellar healthcare and while I miss my kid (all day, but usually pretty hardcore around 2pm), work is good.
What's NOT good is the working out. From the time LG was about three weeks old, I started working out again, mostly doing the Shred and/or Bethenny's yoga DVD and/or going on walks (LG was silent on our walks! Or, she was silent to ME when I put my music on. Same diff.)
I did this mostly for my sanity, as I'm one of those weirdos who starts to freak out if she doesn't workout. I'm not a hardcore worker-outer, mind you. I just feel better when I DO something.
Anyway, the (re)start of work has put me in this weird place where I want to workout, but I also want to spend time with my child (imagine that) and it's been hard finding the right balance between the two.
See, I get home from work around 6pm and if I go on a quick workout, I can be home around 6:45pm. The problem, though, is that LG goes to bed sometime between 7pm and 7:45pm, which means if I workout, my time with her is very limited.
Not to mention, working out after work causes us to eat dinner around 7:30pm or 8pm and when you go to bed at 9pm, that's too damn late for dinner.
I know the answer is to just drag myself out of bed and workout before work, which is actually when I prefer to workout, but DAMN. I'm tired.
All this whining aside, I've been doing the Couch to 5k program and will be completing it this week. I was a little skeptical of the program; if you'd have told me eight weeks ago I could run three miles straight two months from then, I'd have laughed at you.
But, I started the program to give myself a workout I could complete in 30 minutes and I've done just that.
Regardless, I still feel this pressure to find the time to do what I want to do (workout, hang with LG and Chris) and what I need to do (workout, hang with LG and Chris.) But hey, at least my wants and needs align, right? Could be worse, I suppose.
In other news, I bought jeggings this weekend and they're fabulous. So at least I've got a roof over my head, food on the table in front of the TV, and jeggs.
Flickr
