While Beebs gets her teeth brushed...

Went to Shawnee Mission Park tonight after the 3 of us woke up from a 4(!) hour nap. My sleep schedule is seriously out of whack and so is Beebs'. Last night she went to bed a little before 8 and I knew she'd wake up 'cause she never goes to bed that early. We started watching the Danny Boyle movie, "Millions" (really liked it). She woke up around 10 or so and Roommate and I went in to settle her back to sleep. She was having none of it. She was lying there for a good hour and a half, nearly asleep, breathing steady, eyes open - staring like a zombie. We were both just sort of in that ohmygosh, go-back-to-sleep-already mode and I was staring at him silently and smiling and then he couldn't stifle a laugh and then I was laughing and then we all just got up and ate ice cream on the couch while we finished the movie. Ha. We were in bed with her being so silent and then it was like we were in 4th grade and supposed to be quiet but we just couldn't any longer and we started cracking up.

We saw so many deer at Shawnee Mission Park. If you're local I'm sure you've heard about the over-population. What did they decide? To let local police snipers go in and kill some? It makes me sad and I can see the big picture but it's not the deer's fault they've become overcrowded. Them does is hoes, ya'know? heh. But seriously, are they going to at least feed some homeless people with the venison?

My alarm clock is going off at 5 am. I've been canceled from work a couple times in the last week and while my paycheck will suffer, it was so needed and so nice and I'm so grateful!

Planning steel cut oats for breakfast. Doesn't seem like a summer breakfast but it sounds so good.


I haven't showered in 3 days so I think I'll go do that now. Maybe we'll eventually sleep some tonight.

For Melinda: Baby Crap I Like

Baby Crap I Like:

Melinda. I have no idea what your price range is or really what you're interested in but here are some things I love.

Baby Hawk - this is a baby carrier you tie on. It's insanely comfortable and Beebs loved/loves being in it. I loved picking out the fabric too. You can make it reversible so you get even more options. These are pricey but I love mine. You can give a certificate so the person you're buying for can pick their own fabrics too.

Swing - Beebs LOVED her swing. So did we!! haha. Lots of different swings.

California Baby anything - I'm such a sucker for this stuff. I rarely buy it but damn it smells good. I love the calming and I love you baby bath. The diaper cream is my favorite diaper cream. Oh and the calendula cream is super awesome for baby and mamas. I like to rub a little on my face, under my eyes and stuff. If your mama friend doesn't have an ounce of hippie in her she might not like these scents.

Play Mat - this is the one we have. Beebs enjoyed it a lot.

Little Hoot - cute book. :) there's also little pea, little oink. amy rosenthal does cute stuff!!

Swaddler - We received this as a gift and it's great but sometimes Beebs liked sleeping in it and sometimes not. She's been an arms & legs free kind of girl from the beginning. It's super easy to swaddle in this though when you're like half asleep and it stays pretty secure/snug. (These look cute too - err, I love the prints!!)

Itzbeen - I heard I would like this but we're not really timer people. I know some Type A's that would enjoy this. I would throw it.

The First 1000 Days - Man. I LOVE anything Nikki McClure does. This book is so lovely and so perfect for writing in. You don't feel like you're going to mar its lovely pages by jotting and drawing and scribbling about your baby all over it. I have sucked at writing in this but I love it! the one entry (oh my gosh! mom of the year!) is under First Laugh, August 1. She has more fun kids' books too.

Avent - wide neck bottles. I breastfeed but when I'm at work, Beebs has gotten bottles. I tried a whole bunch and got a little obsessive about finding the coolest most breast-like one. These were given to us as a gift from one of my co-workers and they have been the ones we have always used even after trying 800 others. They make BPA free ones. Beebs had no problems going back and forth between these and breast. I was looking for wide neck on their website..maybe it's called the Natural Feeder? Either way, big wide nipple.

Trumpette Socks - we had the Cheeritoes (one sock is striped, the other is polka dots - box set). Beebs wore these every day. They're just cute. :)

Speesees - Love their stuff. All of it. Every last drop. We got a natural teether here that Beebs still loves to gnaw on. We also have a bib from here that is super thick and durable. Still looks great after a zillion washes. (cute mobile!)

Melinda, this is where I evaluate my list and see that maybe it's not that helpful? Ha. I keep thinking ok, super useful gadgets.. I guess we don't own any gadgety stuff really. We're simpletons. My friend LOVED having a little bottle mixer whirler thing for formula. We used a wipes warmer for awhile but then it was just annoying and I felt like Beebs should be introduced to the cruel cruel world.

Earth's Best - We really loved their variety of baby foods and I always thought it would be fun to give/receive one of their sampler cases.

Happy Baby Food - same thing - they have great cereals (frozen baby food that you won't be giving at a shower but..still..cool!)

Nerdling onesie - I always really wanted this.

Gowns - handy if they're easy to get over the head! We had some that were torture. I've always coveted Kate Quinn stuff but honestly do not own any. heh. These look SO soft and cozy.

Zutano - Love their Itzy Bitzy newborn line. The prints and colors and very very mixy matchy. Beebs came home in one of their outfits.

Soft Landing - great, non-toxic stuff.

Hope you've made it this far.

Sophie - this is one of the first things we bought for Beebs while she was still nestled in the ol' womb. (like i'm just a regular baby factory) -- She still loves this. I love it. Cute, great to chew on, squeaks, adorable, etc. Sophie! Roommate once made fun of paying so much for a teether but..worth it!

Boon - pretty cute stuff. We have the sippy cup which looks weird and people always wonder what the hell it is but it's easy for Beebs to hold, doesn't leak all over the place and doesn't have an annoying valve or something. We also have the snack ball - love it. These won't be immediately used for a baby but...soon enough!! It's fun to have baby gifts around that come in handy a few months down the road. We had a stash of those items and it'd be like oh cool, let's open this one now! Delayed satisfaction. Target carries some Boon stuff, a couple bath things, the cup & snack ball, the spoons & baby food squirter. I haven't tried the spoons or squirter. haha. squirter.

Grow with me walker - something we love now - got this when she was about 9 months old so she could start walking around with it. Versatile, sturdy, will last for years, changes.

Inhabitots - man they just link CUTE stuff.

Co-sleeper - we used this when she was tiny. Now she gets 3/4 of the bed and we share the last 1/4.

Combi - stroller and car seat from here. LOVE them both. love love.

American Apparel Kids - Super soft, super durable, very very washable, very easy to mix/match. We bought Beebs all diff color karate pants/onesies, a beanie, some long sleeve, some short sleeve. Wonderful!! I purchased from Amazon, it was cheaper.

MightyJunior - always links to things I covet or buy. ha. Here are some of their links for things babies 0-1 might like. :) -- love those Spanish blocks, Baby update cards, Once a year baby book, growth charts and I'm dying over the gorgeous letterpress alphabet prints. ((also see Mighty Goods and Mighty Haus))

Footprint kit - this looks sweet.

I'm pretty confident the baby needs these, Melinda. I've got some great stuff for my nephew from Knuckleheads.

I feel like I missed the mark some on this list. I feel like I've included anything we used the hell out of. Oh here's the highchair we have and love and use daily - since she was little little. We got it on sale though. Trust that I drooled over gorgeous pieces from Switzerland or something but this is the one we use. heh. I guess people usually register for those big items anyway. I always heard good things about Phil & Teds MeToo chair.

Let me know if you pick anything from this list!!

Here's a WAY cooler/more concise list from Maggie at MightyGirl!! I love this list and looked at it while pregnant and indeed purchased some of these items. Maggie's got her stuff together, man. OOooh, glass bottles! And a nursing cover is essential (err, was to me). I was super picky about the fabric though so I don't think someone else could've picked this for me as a gift. I love the idea of putting together a nursing kid. Ok, I'm going to delete my entire list now because you have everything you need with Maggie's list.

* Some Toddler things too!!

MONDAY!

I questioned whether maybe I'm bi-polar but can't think of any uppity ups so I'm thinking no. Then, after a couple of online quizzes (not of the facebook variety but almost as absurd) questioning bi-polarness I instead searched out the employee assistance program my hospital place of employment offers and decided tomorrow OR my next day off (Thursday) I'll make an appointment. The lows are getting lower and longer and more ragey. Ew.

We swam today and this girl, 12 or so, would NOT leave us alone. It was crowded, much more crowded than I prefer (empty, please) and she was all touchy talky with the baby. I understand, people do this, and I've yet to find my comfort level. I can't decide if I should interact with that person or just ignore it or? Usually I give a polite little "Say Hi!" and then I do not interact anymore. She would latch onto the baby's floaty and spin her around and then she wanted to know where we live (to which I responded, "at the bottom of the hill") and I'm telling you, this went on the ENTIRE time we were there. She basically had the 3 of us backed into a corner and sometimes she'd go underwater and I'd attempt to escape and then HERE she comes! Roommate was annoyed too and we ended up cuting our water escapades short because of her. I feel kind of mean for responding that way but MAN.

Anyway.
I made an attempt at grooming myself prior to work tomorrow. I showered, put this shine stuff on my hair and then put it in curlers. Sponge curlers. To sleep in.

Hope you had a fun holiday weekend and such.

The History of Love.

Yesterday was good and awful. Not good and also awful but good and awful.
I woke up too early and was excited to start the day and be so productive but instead I spent much of the day feeling totally exhausted and I was grumpy and snippy and mean to my Roommate/s. The baby girl we have decided sleep was useless until after dinner when she had a full belly and drifted off to sleep in her highchair doing the slow slow blinks. We lifted her out and washed her hands before laying her down and she was up up up for the rest of the day. I fell asleep on the bare bed that had no sheets on it because one of my roommates had put them in the wash yesterday morning. I woke up periodically to hear the baby girl screeching or laughing or fussing and toddling around while her roommate, our roommate, THE Roommate cleaned up after dinner and operated quietly after I'd snipped and snapped and lay sleeping in our bare bed. I woke up after 11 and then we spent a long, confusing while getting the baby to sleep. I just wanted to fall back asleep but she was so awake and and and.

Right now they're still both asleep. I made scones and cleaned the kitchen and drank coffee and started the dishwasher and a load of towels in the wash and then I got my book out, The History of Love and ripped off a scrap of paper to be my bookmark as the hair tie of baby girl's I'd been using fell out at some point. I went out on the porch in the sun to read and I propped up my feet so my legs were also in the sunny part of the porch and I kept thinking Vitamin D will make me happier. Vitamin D. I need this sun to make some Vitamin D in me to make some happiness in me. I finished my book out there so I didn't need that scrap of paper. I kept flipping those last blank pages looking for some more words but it was finished. I felt a little drop of sweat slip under my breast and felt more alive than I have in months. Do not breathe too much conditioned air or it will kill you.

post work, pre sleep, pre work.

Hi! Regular'ish posting is fun!

Man, long day at work, buddies. I was almost late, clocked in about 0640 and clocked out at like 2109. what's that? I don't know. long. Great patients, great co-workers. K helped me tie up a bunch of loose ends while I gave report. Thank you.

Can't believe Michael Jackson died but what's with calling him MJ? Ok, you're on Twitter and space is limited but come on. I don't like it. But who asked me? Also it makes me think of Kirsten Dunst. stoppit.
I gave Beebs a bite of my peanut butter/honey sandwich. I felt like I was giving her a beer and cigarette. I'm all googling that shit WHILE she's panting at my side desperate for a bite. I told Roommate to get ready to call 911 just in case.

I've decided Beebs looks like a Beatle. Total moptop, man.
(Yay for this post, right?!)

Ok, back to work in a bit. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

My mom's coming over this weekend. She's never seen our new place because we work like opposite schedules.

Suggest a new job for me.
What would I love?
Ha.
I don't want to work 5 days a week. 12 hrs is fine, but 15 or 16 is hard sometimes. oy.

We're goin' to bed.
shoot.

Oh hi again.

Hi again. Trying to clean out my brain.
Roommate and I went on a date tonight and it was fun! We'd never been gone from Beebs for so long. I mean, I'm gone all day when I go to work but never both of us, gone, away. She had so much fun without us! heh. We ate food and went to see Drag Me to Hell. Roommate's choice.

I'm kind of dreading work tomorrow. I get to work with my favorite co-worker so that takes the sting out.

I really meant to come home, hop in the shower, go to bed.
And then I started looking at Liz's blog and I got all engrossed in it. (Man I love when ppl update their blogs regularly!!! It's like I can work a couple days or something and then have something to get all lost in. Glorious!) Also I'm reading my library books and gah! Love reading. I got The Three Incestuous Sisters because it's by the author of The Time Traveler's Wife and that one had a 71 day wait at the library. Two of those books I heard of via H.
And what the hell..google books? I can read the whole thing online? all 800 something pages? Hrm.
Thank you for giving my brain something to think about besides the 8 million boxes we haven't unpacked. Go ahead and picture 8 million boxes in a 2 bedroom apartment.
Crowded, right?
Stressful!!
Now picture the glorious wonderland it is for a toddler tot.

Ok crud. I better shower and get to bed. The alarm is going off early!! ew.

Eat a plum in your underwear today, err tomorrow!!
Also, that Big Bird chair? It was mine!

I got in trouble this past week at work and I just can't shake the way it has made me feel. My feeling-like-a-failureness has been amped up bigger and nastier than before and I don't know how to handle it. Part of me is like oh F it! Who cares? So I got in trouble. I'm not getting fired. And part of me would kick your ass if you flat out told me I suck but if you try to say it in a more subtle way, I'll probably agree and sink. Hate these qualities about myself.

This post brought to you by Target. oy.

Trying on clothes at Target makes me feel super fat.

When people say on their blogs they have nothing to say and then write some long rambling post about "nothing"(a la this post) - those are my favorites.

Tonight Beebs and I are going to a baby shower for one of my closest friends in HS that now lives in China. I'm excited to see her. We were close in HS and hardly talk now. So it goes.

I was a serious consumer today and spent way too much $$ at Target. Bad sign when I spent way too much money and could carry everything in from the car in 1 measly trip. Meep. Should work some overtime. ick!

Hey, Kristen - update your blog when you're not busy working for me. :)

I still have to remind myself I don't need to look at Father's Day cards for my own dad each year.
At Target when I was getting a lame storebought card for my father in law and father of my child this mom was telling her son they'd make cards at home and he kept whining and saying NOoooo, I want a REAL card!! heh. oh kid.

TV sucks since the digital conversion. We get hardly any channels with our stupid converter box and I'm annoyed to think about going to get a special antenna or something. Ahh well. We don't need it, right?

I'm still jumpy when I can hear other people talking and such right outside my door. So weird.

Went swimming alone yesterday morning. Pool was empty. It was glorious.

Was considering a nap while my family sleeps and now I hear them stirring.
bye!

Today!

I'm drained so I've had nothin' but pictures to share with you lately. a thousand words and all that.

This is an adorable shirt our friend made for us. I've yet to send out thank you cards from Beebs' birthday because I suck and...busy and that drained thing and also I suck. We vowed last night that today was a productive day and then we slept in and now we're planning a trip to the pool so whatevs. That's productive, right? Productive in filling up the reserves again. Hope you're having a great day. I love pigtails and this shirt! Thank you!! (P.S. The next time some ice cream inspiration washes over you, I'm rushing over with a spoon and open maw.)

If you meet someone with no bean, you should give them half your bean 'cause you will be less hungry than if you eat your bean in front of someone with no bean. (from kimya d)

fave

One of my favorite photos from the Old Shawnee Days Parade.

This was so fun. (sorry 'bout the squeezies, baby ckn and frog)