Teatopia

Trick-or-Treat!!!

This is what I'll remember from Olivia's first Halloween: great food, lots of kids WAY too old to Trick-or-Treat who didn't even dress up (my grandma gave these kids the candy that had melted in her car! HA!), and how my little pea did NOT want to be in her pod! I figured she'd be right at home as a "pea in the pod" since she loves peas so much, but apparently not! Everytime a baby came to the door looking adorable in his/her costume, I felt the need to explain why my little pumpkin was wearing pink pajamas. I kept saying, "she was dressed up too, but she fussed until we took it off!" My stubborn little girl. She knows her mind. Wonder where she gets that from? :-)

Here are some pictures from tonight:

Olivia and her mommy:

Olivia and her Grammie (doesn't my mom look great for 51?):

After she'd had enough of being paraded around:

Gooey caramel popcorn balls:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese dip:

And from yesterday, after going to the pumpkin patch-- Olivia the sock snatcher trying to steal MF's baby's sock!

Boo! (and some gossip)

I am officially in Halloween mode!

Tomorrow night we're staying in and handing out candy. My mom, sis, and grandma are coming over and I'm making lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and gooey caramel popcorn balls for dessert. My dad is in Florida because his best friend is having surgery tomorrow after being diagnosed with cancer. Anyway, tonight I used my juicer to make homemade apple cider (I used a ton of apples just to get enough for the 5 of us!) which I'm going to simmer on the stove tomorrow with mulling spices. My house is going to smell *amazing!*

I think we're all going to dress up, but Olivia will definitely be the cutest. Can't wait to take pictures!

Today, Mary Ann and I spent a lovely (but too hot) afternoon at the pumpkin patch. I got some cute pictures I'll post with Olivia's other Halloween pictures.

Tonight, we ate dinner with my family at Red Lobster (their treat!) and then I headed over to Target to buy some Halloween plates while James picked something up at work. I'm about to get started on the popcorn balls soon!

Ok, and now for the gossip. My friends are interesting . . .

friend #1: my friend B moved in with his boyfriend of like a month today, leaving a note for his current roommate while he was at work. He cleaned out ALL his stuff and left with NO notice. Not cool. And I can promise you if he and his man break-up, he'll be at my door after Rebecca turns him away. She tried to talk some sense into him, but he's in love. He's thinking with something else right now, I'm afraid.

friend #2: she's in a not-so-good marriage, and has gone back and forth about leaving him . . . anyway, now she's gone off her birth control pills in the hopes of getting pregnant and her hubby is none the wiser. I'm worried for her . . .

More peas, please!

Olivia has tried peas, carrots, and bananas, but she especially loves peas! She's just like her veggie lovin' mama!

Edited to add: speaking of food, our ped gave us few guidlelines to go by. I am forever in need of advice. What would I do without you guys? Huh? Maybe you can help here. Pretty, please?

Christmas Craft Fair and on the Mend!

Olivia is *finally* feeling better. She is smiling, playing, and actually not needing her nose wiped every other minute. Progress!

Yesterday, we went to one of my favorite annual traditions (at least since we've lived in Georgia), the "Christmas Made in the South" craft fair. Olivia was all decked out in her Halloween pants, socks, and black turtleneck. Too cute!

The fair kind of had a special meaning to me this year since this time last year, I had just found out I was having a girl (what I wanted!) the evening before. I remember walking around, holding my belly-- I was just starting to show!-- and looking at all the girly things. I actually purchased her Christening gown there, which my grandma paid for, but she was in the hospital at the time and couldn't be there. I remember thinking last year that this time next year, I'll be pushing a stroller as I look around, and indeed I was! I took a picture of Oivia at the booth where I purchased her gown. The same one is actually in the picture (the light pink one with the white cros) but it's hard to see.

Today, my mom and I made a trip up to "Babies 'R Us" to pick up some things for Olivia. The closest one is about an hour away, but Olivia was an angel and we had some nice girl talk in the car. We got a lot of stuff for her: some Christmas presents: toys and stuff, a dress to wear for her Christmas pictures, a food mill for making baby food (my food processor wasn't pureeing the food enough as evidence by her diapers), undershirts, a winter coat, a highchair for my parents' house, breastpads, etc.

We actually set up her high chair here just this evening. She's taking great interest in feeding herslef, so we figured it's time. In fact, she'll barely let us feed her with the spoon at all. She grabs it every time and puts it in her own mouth, which ends up being a lot messier, but what can I say? She's little miss independence.

Well, I've got chicken curry bubbling on the stove and a scary movie waiting for me!

Reasons to Go Organic

I've found that Organic can be cheaper. I posted about it here.

She already wants to share!

I woke up this morning to a face looking right at me. When I opened my eyes, Olivia was smiling at me. Then, she picked up her pacifier and tried to put it in my mouth. She's never done this before, so I waited a minute to make sure she wasn't just waving it around, and she continued trying to push it into my mouth. When I opened my mouth and helped put it in (it wasn't facing the right way), she looked at me funny, and then giggled. When I took it out and put it in her mouth, she pulled it out and tried to put it back in mine. As James said, she's already trying to share!

Besides coughing and blowing snot everywhere, she spent with rest of the day saying "bababababababa" over and over again. I tell her "mama" and she yells "baba!" It's a start.

Olivia is still sick-- not much better in fact. We made the mistake of giving her Triaminic tonight. She went from being fussy and wanting to sleep but couldn't because of her coughing, to now being completely hyperactive. We were warned that it affects some babies this way. She is a live wire tonight! Before I got online a few minutes ago, she was banging the hell out of my laptop with the remote control. Then she wanted to stand. If I tried to pick her up, she got annoyed. She refused to straighten her legs to sit. She just wants to hold on to me and stand. Now Daddy has her and Mommy is taking a break.

Tomorrow, we are going to try to go to the annual start of the holiday season-- a huge craft fair! I really hope Olivia is feeling up to it!

Oh, and who would've thought? There's an organic farmer's market downtown on Saturday's this fall. I've been making some of my own Organic babyfood, and although it's MUCH cheaper than buying the non-organic jarred foods, I know I could save even more money buying produce at a farmer's market. I can't wait to check it out!

The chef . . . she's back!

I have been trying to get back to one of my favorite hobbies-- cooking! And not to mention, we have to eat, so it makes sense. I'm just trying to make things that are more fun and not let-me-heat-up-this-can-of-soup.

I made this Chop Chae a week or so ago. It's a Korean dish we had in Korea, except that they made it with squid (yucky) and I went vegetarian. It's just glass noodles with veggies, sesame oil, soy sauce, and a couple other little things. I love the texture of the noodles!

James has been complaining how hungry he's been lately. I'm thinking stress between school and work. So, today when he came home, this hummus was waiting for him with celery sticks, Kashi ranch crackers, and papad, a crunchy cracker-like Indian bread.

Hating this with the fire of a thousand suns

Olivia isn't much better. It's breaking my heart. This is how my today went:

wipe nose, she cries, makes nose run more, try to comfort her, try to get her to eat, when she finally does, she has a coughing spell and throws it up, wipe nose again, change snot-covered clothes, and repeat over and over and over again.

Sucky, sucky. We did actually get out of the house for a brief time. Had to buy a new pillow. Why you ask? Because someone pooped all over mine. And there was no pillow case on it because it was in the wash after being thrown-up on. It was a goose feather/down pillow that I loved, but I bought an Egyptian cotton one that is washable (so much more practical) and also, was much cheaper. Gotta watch the wallet, yo.

Tonight, I plan to watch Nip/Tuck, which shames me to say. We watch it more for laughs these days. This show is absurd. Case in point:

-- Liz's kidney was stolen by her boss-- although she doesn't know it was her boss and the boss who is married to a 70 year old man who can't get it up so he is blackmailing his wife to have sex with someone else. Pure trash!
-- Matt, biological son of Christian, but raised by Sean, is now trying to get with the same woman who slept with both his fathers.
-- When Sean and Julia had their baby (one with claw hands, no less), they hired a midget as the nanny because Sean slept with the other one and paid her off. Anyway, apparently tonight, Julia is going to kiss the midget because he "understands her".

Why do I watch this? Why do you ask? I have no flippin idea. It's a totally twisted show. I've watched it from the beginning though and I'm compelled to continue.

Speaking of twisted . . . did I mention that my 6 month old ordered a p@rn movie? She was playing with the remote, and the next thing I knew, I see "One Moment Please" on my TV and "Republic of Sexasia" is coming on. Then, a miracle. The cable goes out from the storm. Checked the bill. No such movie was ordered. Score!Saved me a v. embarrassing phone call.

"Hello, uh, I'd like to cancel the p@rn that was just ordered."
"Um, why?"
"See, my 6 month old accidentally ordered it."
"Uh huh, right."

You know they weren't going to cancel it without a fight. That's major money in their pocket. Can't say I know what it costs, but I know it's more than a regular old pay-per-view.

Thank you God for the storm. He's been pretty amazing lately.

Like today. A few days ago, I pulled up in front of the video store to return a movie (the shame! We pay for Netflix) and I pressed the hazard light button, and I pushed right through into the dashboard. James took it in today for an estimate. "What's the most we can spend?" he asked me. "Like $30" and James said there's no way. What can I say? It's nearing the end of the month and my darling doggie cost us $550 this month, so money is tight. Guess how much it was to fix? $30.26. Awesome!

I leave you with some pics of my sick little petunia. :-(

See her red, teary eyes? Oh, the heartache!

Taking a walk to get some fresh air . . .
What a good little girl. She's even smiling through her cold.

Places I simply couldn't live without

Tonight we went to my parents' for dinner. It was nice to get out of the house after staying in all day with a sick baby. I could tell she felt awful today, but she still smiled at me all day. Poor little thing. :-( She just beamed when she saw her Grammie. Love and kisses are the best medicine, right?

At dinner tonight, we got to talking about moving. We moved here almost 5 years ago from the DC area, knowing this would not be our permanent home. We are planning on moving with my parents in a year or 2 and we've started looking into different areas.

Jennie and I have sent a few e-mails back and forth and I asked her about where she lives in North Carolina. I was asking her if there was a Starbucks there, and she jokingly wrote back that there was, and since we had gotten that out of the way, she could proceed to tell me about the area. It got me thinking about places I couldn't live without. When I moved here, I had to do without a lot, since I was spoiled and came from an area with everything imaginable. Now, in Columbus, we have much more than we did a few years ago.

Ok, so here's my "couldn't live without" list:

Starbucks yes, they're like a cult and they charge way too much, but I can't live without them.
Pier 1 love, love, love their accessories!!! They are super chic!
Target my family calls this "my store", as in, "I went to your store today Hannah and bought . . . " yep, this is soooo my store, and I think they're pretty much everywhere these days.
big chain Italian place like an Olive Garden, Carraba's, etc.
an Indian restaurant and a Thai restaurant: if I was talented enough to make my own as good as they do, great! but I can't.

for the next move, here's what I'd like to have close by:
Williams-Sonoma
Whole Foods
PF Changs
Crate & Barrel
Teavana

What places could you not live without?

Survey Savvy

Wanna get paid a little money? Lisanne referred me and now I'm referring you. We've both made a little money from completing these surveys. Go here.

snot machine

Poor Olivia has her first cold. It was bound to happen, and I guess we're lucky that she was 6 and a half months old before ever getting sick. I guess I was hoping she was still protected since I'm still nursing. I'm guessing she picked it up at the doctor's office. I let her play with some toys in the room when, at the time, I kept thinking I shouldn't. She was crying though from the shots, and when she reached for the toys, how could I refuse? I guess I'm paying for it now.

She is so sweet and is still smiling through her sickness, but I can tell her little nose hurts. I can't imagine having a cold and not being able to blow my nose!!! She keeps wiping her nose all over me. You know, being a mom is pretty amazing. I don't even care. I find myself wiping her little nose with my hand and wiping it on my pants (nice visual, I know), but I just don't care. Nothing about her bothers me. Well, I have to admit, the poop she had today was unpleasant-- the worst yet in fact. What a difference real food makes. This thing was F-O-U-L! I'm not even sure how it got so messy. One second she had nothing on her and I was starting to change her, and the next, it's like it squished out everywhere. She had it in her arm pits and even on her little nipples. Crazy!! After 2 baths (let the water out of the first, and re-filled the tub) and cleaning products to get the changing table clean, we are in good shape.

I hope the cold doesn't last too long. She's taking cold medicine and we're using that "little noses" saline spray. She doesn't seem to have as much of an appetite. She didn't want her cereal this morning, but she wants to nurse a lot, so I'm not going to worry about it.

We tried peas! Pictures later and a VERY funny story.

Hope everyone is having a good Sunday!

Polly Want a Cracker?

Um . . . apparently not. Don't let these pictures deceive you. What followed was the worst face you can imagine (you can kind of see the facial expression forming in the last one.) Yes, this face was even worse than eating organic cardboard cereal because your mother decided it was healthy. I didn't get a picture of that face because I was too busy trying to clean up the wet cracker she was spewing from her mouth. After that, I was busy trying to remove any offending cracker left in her mouth so she'd stop spitting. And what I really wish I could've caught was the audio. Every taste of the cracker was followed by a loud growl. I guess we don't like crackers. I actually shouldn't have given her a cracker in the first place because it contains wheat, which I didn't think of until later. Thank you GFF for telling me about the no-wheat for babies because I didn't know.

Note to self: no more crackers. Cracker=evil. Tomorrow, we'll try peas, which brings the tally to:

rice cereal: check. We like rice cereal as long as it's not the nasty cardboard flavored kind, unless mommy adds a bit of mushy banana to it. Yum.

cracker: what the hell was mommy thinking?

Recovering

Thank you for your kind words over at Mommy Musings about my screw-up accident. I think I may have recovered. Almost. I'm sure dropping your baby-- or in my case, knocking her off the table in her carrier-- is one of those things that haunts you for the rest of your life. I fell off the bed when I was little, and my mom said the nightmares didn't stop for a while.

I'm glad no one claimed the rice cereal. I spoke too soon. Note to self: make sure baby will eat the new stuff before you attempt to give away the old. The organic stuff tastes like cardboard, maybe worse. It's made with brown rice and it's pretty yucky. Can't blame her one bit. Me thinks I need to mush up some banana and sneak the cereal in there. I wish I had taken a picture of her face when she ate it. Most of it ended up on Daddy's face after she blew it back out. What can I say? My girl knows what she likes and what she doesn't.

My cousin and his wife are wonderful, wonderful people. My grandma just returned from visiting them, and they gave her their copy of "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" to pass on to me. If it works, I may have to send them a fruit basket.

We are co-sleeping. And we are eating lots of rice cereal before bed. We are sleeping, as in stretches of 6 hours, but only in our bed. But still, 6 hours ain't bad. Why didn't you people force me to feed this child cereal earlier? I could've prolonged the plastic surgery I will some day need to rid my face of bags under my eyes. I thought about putting her in her own bed since she is sleeping longer, hoping that she might not realize she's not in our bed, but I just can't. I feel too guilty about what happened. And I love waking up to her face.

Today, MF and I went power walking for 2 whole hours. We've been doing it a lot lately, and I am seeing the results! I am back to pre-pregnancy weight, lower in fact, but my damn hips are so wide now that I can't wear my old jeans. Must exercise. Cannot afford new clothes.

Tomorrow: MF and I are going to this Mom's group thing in the park. Yay for Fridays!

Rice Cereal Give-away

We have decided to go the Organic route. If you're not a crazy health nut tree-hugger, and you'd like a regular box of Gerber rice cereal that we barely used, give me a holler. I'd be happy to mail it to the first person to respond so it doesn't go to waste.

Too Damn Hot

You know it's too damn hot when there are still lizards in your yard in mid-October. I tried to take a picture of one, but he ran away.

Come over here to see why I'm the worst mother in the whole world. The dreaded has finally happened.

Anyone know any sites that host pictures for free? Kodak is about to dump me unless I buy something. Help! BTW, 6 month pictures are on the sidebar!

6 Month Check-Up

Today, after Olivia's 6 month shots, and then a trip back to the pediatrician later in the day after she developed hives from the flu shot (something about egg in the flu shot and her being allergic), we went to buy Olivia her first baby food. She's tasted rice cereal before and loved it, but this was the first time we made a meal of it. We're going to start veggies in a few days. I didn't want to introduce anything too major while her body is a bit "off" from the shots.

Yes, she is missing a sock. Who knows where it is? Not I. The dog probably ate it. Again. It would be the 3rd one this week.

The cereal is tinted brownish because I put vitamin drops in it. I read that babies absorb vitamin D from the sun, but breastfed babies don't always get enough. Formula fed babies get enough because there's a lot in the formula, but breastfed babies who aren't out in the sun enough-- like down here in the blazing south-- need a vitamin supplement. Anyway, I digress.

I talked to the doctor about why my daughter never naps more than 20 minutes. Why she wakes up every hour or two at night and often can't fall asleep until 2:00 am in the morning. Although he didn't have answers, he assured me that some babies do this and she will grow into a schedule, and that assurance was enough for me. I told him that we had been doing some co-sleeping, something I never intended to do (more on that later). She stil wakes up just as often in our bed, but I can pat her, sush her, and let her know I'm there, and she goes back quickly most of the time. Sometimes she wants to nurse for a bit, but she usually falls asleep before she finishes. He said that if co-sleeping helps her (and us) sleep more, than we should do it. I told him about the little dark circles that often appear under my baby girl's eyes, and he said definitely co-sleep, at least until she is a better sleeper and he recommended some books to help transition her back into her bed at that time.

Today, we took a trip to Target for some Benadryl to help the allergic reaction, and I came away with more than I planned: a new outfit for Olivia, new baby socks (because the poodle keeps eating them), laundry supplies, etc. What is it about that store that makes you buy 10 times what you planned? Have you seen their Halloween stuff? So, so cute!

Ok, time for bed. Nighty night!

P.S. Olivia weighed in at 17 pounds and 8 ounces with a dry diaper on. And she's close to 27 inches. That's about 75th pecentile for height and weight, folks. My little chubbers. :-)

The Controversy Over Organics

Come on over and share your opinion!

Fun with GFF

Today was an awesome day! We got to meet Girl from Florida, her hubby, and the precious baby Amelia! James, Olivia, and I headed up to Atlanta to meet them at Lenox Square Mall and we had so much fun!!! I felt like I had always been friends with them, and we talked as if we knew each other in real life! Baby Amelia was so smiley and cute. Poor Olivia was not herself at all. She was so quiet and sleepy. We had our worst night ever last night with her waking up every 45 minutes or so with teething pain.

We browsed stores, ate a yummy lunch, and talked about me visiting her in Florida soon. :-) The hubbies got along well too, which was great because James tends to be quiet. I only hope next time we get together, Olivia is feeling better. Amelia smiled at her and reached for her to play. It was so cute!

I don't have any pictures to share (don't hate me). I brought my camera but never took any pictures! *slaps hand* I guess I wouldn't have posted them anyway because GFF is anonymous, as I sometimes wish I was.

Oh, and I re-uploaded pictures on my blog so everything should be back to normal. FINALLY!

Still not really working

My site is still crazy, and probably, things won't be back to normal until Monday. I won't be here though, because I'll be in Atlanta with Girl from Florida!!!

Had a nice day today. Visiting old co-workers and power walking with MF. Now, I'm making Chop Chae, a Korean dish of glass noodles, veggies, and a yummy soy-sesame sauce.

Have pictures to post and other news, but I'm not even sure this entry will stay up. :-(

Hiatus

Please check back later and do not try to leave any comments. Things should be back to normal by tomorrow according to my host.

This totally sucks.

6 Months

My Daughter,

I cannot quite grasp that you are 6 months old already. You've been here for half a year already, yet in some ways, it's difficult to remember life before your arrival. Knowing I get to spend the rest of my life with you seems almost too good to be true. What a lucky mommy I am!

This has been a big month for you, literally! You had a huge growth spurt. I can't wait to see how long you are next week when we go to the doctor. You've gotten too long for many of your pants and I'm going to have to pack up your 6-9 month stuff very soon. This month, you acquired a new roll of fat on your arms and the ones on your thighs got even bigger! You still haven't had anything but my milk (except for trying rice cereal a few times) and you're thriving. I know it'll be time to introduce new things soon. In some ways, I'm looking forward to being able to feed you new flavors and be able to go palces without worrying about feeding you every 2-3 hours, but it'll also make me sad. I try to remind myself I'll still be nursing you for a while yet.

It's scary how quickly time is passing now that you're here. We all seem to be aging so quickly these days. I just want to freeze time-- to preserve these moments I have with you. I have never felt so fulfilled as I do that I'm your mommy.

We had hoped that as you approached the 6th month mark, you'd begin sleeping in longer stretches again and might actually consider taking a nap longer than 20 minutes, but I guess it's something we have to look forard to for the next month, or the one after that. Just don't wait too long.

This month has been marked by much teething discomfort. I never thought we'd get to 6 months without any teeth. I saw the tiny white of a tooth a few months ago, and now your poor little gums are swollen over it. I hope next month I can happily report that the tooth (or teeth) is/are through and you are feeling better. I hate that you are uncomfortable.

I love you, my Olivia Beth. You are a much-loved little girl and I hope you always know that.

5 months pictures are on the sidebar. 6 month coming soon!

Maple Macchiato

Yesterday, my friend B asked me to swing by Starbucks so I could meet his latest squeeze. I was impressed with his new man-- very sweet and has seemingly genuine feelings for my pal B, which is a relief since he's dated his share of jerks.

Anyway, while there, I decided to take the plunge and order the new Maple Macchiato, which I was told tastes like pancake syrup, and indeed it does. I had it iced and it was heavenly. I'm thinking next time, I'll try the Maple Frap. Anyone else tried it yet?

E-mail from Mom on the Road

Remember when I posted about my new favorite show, "Moms on the Road: Africa"? Well, the neatest thing happened. I got an e-mail from one of the moms on the show, Camisha. Not sure how she found me. Camisha, if you're reading, how did you find me anyway?

I had written that some of the moms seemed oblivious about where they were going, and that one had remarked she didn't know there were whites in South Africa-- well, Camisha e-mailed me to clear up that it had been a joke. Seemed like the Travel Channel tried to play up the "clueless" side of the moms, when in reality, they probably weren't. Camisha wasn't. Glad I didn't offend her. She just wanted to clear up the misconception.

Anyway, since then, Camisha and I have exchanged a few e-mails and I've enjoyed corresponding with someone who was able to go on such an amazing journey. She said something in one of her e-mails that I thought was beautiful, me being all Africa obsessed and all!

"She is the mother of us all. No matter the color."

I can't wait to go back someday! Oh, and watch the show! It's on the Travel Channel on Thursday nights. I'm living vicariously through the moms on the show until I get me some money to travel again!

Hair pictures, at last

Here are the pictures I promised, but forgot to post, until my friend Connie reminded me. Thanks!

Last night, I had to wait while James wondered aimlessly around Curcuit City, so I snapped a few shots with my handy dandy camera phone. My hair was in a twisty thing when I took these, but you can see the highlights clearly. They aren't drastic by any means. In fact, I expected a bigger change, but James said he really likes how natural it looks.

And in other hair news, my hair isn't falling out quite as much as it was and it doesn't look as thin on the sides as it did. I still am a bit self-conscious about pulling it back in a ponytail though . . .

Ok, and now for the pictures:

And when Olivia saw I was taking pictures of my hair, she expressed interest in me posting one of hers. She's quite proud of the new strands of golden blonde that recently appeared atop her precious little head.

Mexican Lasagna and other stuff

Thank you for all your sweet comments yesterday about that man's comment. It just really bummed me out, but I'm determined to keep on walking so I can fit my old clothes, maybe even go down a size less! MF e-mailed me today and said how much she loves our walks and that we should do it more often. Amen to that.

Today, our dogs went to the vet for their yearly check-ups. Gracie, our rat terrier, has had horrible allergies since she was 1 (she's now 4) and she gets frequent ear infections. She had another one today, and the whole visit-- check-up, shots, meds, etc-- cost over $300. It is so hard to get ahead financially because it's always something. The good thing is, they put her on a new medication that already seems to be helping her allergies.

I had another back appointment today. I'm making progress, but my physical therapist thinks the pain and numbness is something I might struggle with off and on. The damage is done. Again, let me say how glad I am we hired a lawyer, because we only have 2 years until we settle, and the check-ups and therapy will continue long past that. And it won't be covered by health care probably because it's a previous condition and it's accident-related. I'd better be compensated.

After my appointment, which James came to so he could watch Olivia, she and I headed downtown to the Oriental Market. James and I love Cheese Ramyun (which is spicy Korean ramen soup with cheese in it). I also have been wanting to make Chop Chae, and I found some noodles I thought would work. I asked the lady if they were Korean glass noodles (the see through ones) and she didn't understand me, but she replied "Chop Chae noodle". Yes! I found a recipe that looks pretty accurate in one of our cookbooks. We ate it a few times in Korea and it was so yummy. It's got a strong sesame flavor. I also remember how to say "thank you" from James's sister teaching us, so I always try to thank the ladies in Korean when I go to the market. They always seem impressed. It's the only word I remember though. :-)

Tonight, we had Mexican lasagna. Yummy yum yum! Just layer tortillas (any flavor works) with a meat mixture (lean ground beed, sauteed with onion, garlic, and taco seasoning), and cheese. Then on top, more meat, lots of cheese, and scallions. Serve with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, whatever. So easy and good.

Tomorrow, MF and I are going to this mom's group. They are meeting at Burger King for breakfast. Not that thrilling, but it's something. It's actually our first event. Hope it'll be fun!

Shattered Hopes

Last night, I posted that I thought I had lost some weight, that I was looking better. Well, not good enough.

While MF and I were power walking with our strollers today, this couple stopped us, and the man looked at MF and said, "You did not have that big baby!" Huh? What about me? What about my even bigger baby? I guess it came as no surprise that I could have a large baby.

At least she didn't gush over the compliment. She said, "yep, I did" and gave me a funny look as the couple walked away. She is the greatest and she's not one of those "skinny friends" that I mind having, but today, being with her, hearing that comment, made me feel really, really big.

Dropping pounds (well, maybe a few)

Yay! Yay! Yay!

I have lost some weight. Don't know how much because I haven't weighed myself since a few weeks post-partum because I know it's more than I'd like, and I can't handle the truth. Anyway, clothes are fitting better. I even was brave enough to try my pre-preg jeans on again, and this time, they zipped up, but they are still a bit tight to wear, but I'm making progress. This nursing thing rocks. It burns so many calories! I've also been trying to walk more, and now that I have MF to hang out with during the day, I have a walking buddy. :-)

Olivia is still teething badly. Just how long does it take for a tooth to come in? Some days I see it, some I don't Her gums look swollen to me, too. She also still wakes up every few hours. What happened to 6/7/8 hour stretches? There hasn't been one longer than 4 hours in months. I am so freaking tired, and I have bags under my eyes, and some days, so does Olivia. Poor baby. I've tried everything: teething tablets and Tylenol before bed. Even rice cereal in case she's hungry, but that doesn't help either. I was worried since I'm still exclusively nursing, that maybe she wasn't getting enough, but she's as chubby as ever and having rice cereal before bed makes no difference.

Today, I had lunch with my grandma and then we went and ran errands. I also had a physical therapy appointment today for my back. I am making progress, but I still have pain and numbness from the accident. My grandma came with me to the appointment and watched Olivia while I was in with the doctor. While I was gone, she pooped EVERYWHERE. She was in her carrier, so my grandma didn't see it, because it was all under her. It was such a mess that the doctor gave us some towels to take to stuff in there with her. Then, while I was trying to clean her up, she stuck her hand in it and wiped it on her face. EEEEEWWWWW!

Tonight we ate at Cracker Barrel with my family. I had yummy meatloaf and veggies. My mom bought Olivia the cutest snowman outfit for Christmas. We go to this Christmas light show every year, and she can wear it then. I am so excited for Christmas already. :-)

Well, I'm ashamed to say it, but Nip/Tuck comes on shortly, and I am off to make hot chocolate before it starts. Hey-- does anyone else think that Matt on Nip/Tuck looks a bit like Michael Jackson?

For mommies: milk pumping quesion here.

The last few days

Just finished a yummy herb, cheese, ham, and veggie omelette for lunch. Yummy cheesey goodness. I miss spinach though. :-(

I've been a busy mama. My aunt just left today, and we had a wonderful time visiting with her. She loved seeing Olivia and Olivia loved her!

Ok, the last few days:

On Thursday, I met my new mommy friend, we'll call her "MF" for "mommy friend", and we went shopping for over half the day. I was on the look-out for some dressy clothes for Olivia, but I didn't have much luck. I did find, however, the cutest pair of white velcro sneakers for her to wear this winter. Then, I met my mom and grandma for dinner at Red Lobster. By the time I got home, I was feeling so tired.

On Friday, I spent some of the day with my aunt and grandma. We visited my mom at work, and had lunch. Then, that afternoon, I ran some errands. We all ate at an Italian restaurant Friday night.

Yesterday, I got my hair done (pictures to come, although it's not as light as I thought it would be, but I likey). I spent the afternoon baking caramel turtle brownies and making a salad with honey roasted almonds, gorgonzola cheese, dried cranberries, and scallions. Yum! Then, we headed over to my grandma's for a big family dinner, and Olivia did the biggest, stinkiest poop EVER, and naturally, we had forgotten the diaper bag for the first time EVER. So, James made an emergency baby supply run. We went home to change her clothes after that because they were all poopy, and we did our usual long Friday night walk.

While we were walking, I totally got sexually harrased-- IN FRONT OF THE HUBBY- by 4 soldiers while we were walking.

It went like this: "Hey Baby!" yelled one. I looked to see who was yelling. Bad mistake. Never look. Next guy: "Look at that bitch!" yes, he called me a bitch. In front of hubby. In front of baby. "I want a piece of that bitch!" I wanted to cry, but I didn't. James didn't say anything. There was no point. Yes, he would've liked to have yelled "F#CK YOU!" but it only would've caused a fight. We have a huge military base here, and the soldiers like to get drunk and cause trouble sometimes. It's well-known that when they graduate boot camp, some of them think they're all big and bad, and they like to start fights. Kind of pathetic. At first, I was mad James didn't say anything, but when I confronted him, he said "what did you want me to do? Get into a fight with 4 guys with the baby strapped to my chest in her baby bjorn? They're assholes. It's better to ignore them" Point taken. But seriously, what kind of guys talk to a woman like that in front of her husband and child?

This morning, I put Olivia in the nursery at church for the first time. When I picked her up, I could tell she had been crying and I felt like the worst mother ever. They didn't page me, so it couldn't have been too bad, but still. When she saw us, she was so happy. I love this baby girl more every day!

Oh, and for a dear friend who had a birthday the other day: