Doing, not writing.

Darn.

I guess I've been so busy doing things daily that I don't often have time to get over here and write much about it. Either that, or I can't come up with much to say about what I do -- I usually only get a few things done each day on either end of baby-care.

Today, not too different from most days, went something like this:

• Baby woke me up at 8:30
• We played downstairs until 10:15
• At 11:00 she fell asleep again.
• I went to the gym while she slept, and got home around 1:00
• She had woken up around 12:00, and played with gramma for a while. When I got home, she was tired again.
• I fed her and tried to put her back down for more sleep, but she just wanted to play more in bed with me.
• We got back up, and came downstairs to find gramma ready to run out for some shopping.
• We went to Toys R Us, Target, Home Depot, and Borders (We only went to Borders for coffee because Calina was sleeping in the sling through Target & Home Depot, and it was in the same plaza.)
• We got home around 5:00
• I wrapped some Christmas presents while Calina played with Gramma
• Colin came home at 7:30.
• I made dinner while he played with Calina.
• We all ate around 8:00
• We watched half an episode of Wonder Pets
• Calina got cranky and tired at 9:00 and went to bed around 9:30.
• I got caught up on some computer chores, read my email, and sat down to write a blog entry. It's almost midnight now, so... time for bed?

I guess that's life right now. Gym, shopping, cooking. That's really all the time I had my hands to myself sans-baby. I did a bit of baking over the last week, too.

It's unbelievable how short these days are, really. I spend quite a lot of time right now putting Calina to bed at various times of the day... She's in a transition between needing 3 naps and only needing 2. If she only gets 2, she tends to be cranky, unless one was at least 2.5 hours long. And it's getting harder and harder to help her fall asleep for that middle of the day nap... So a lot of time is spent TRYING to get her to go to sleep until I just give up and decide she's not really tired enough.

I love her to pieces, but I'm really excited for her to gain a little independence. She's starting to show signs of getting good at playing by herself, but she's still super clingy and needs me on hand at all times -- just in case she needs me for something, I guess. :) It's super fun to watch her play, though, and to see what she finds amusing. Like picking at the carpet to find a speck of fuzz to put in her mouth. Or using both hands to shake a rattling object that's only in one of them. Or suddenly dashing off away from me toward a doorway she shouldn't go out. And riding in her stroller behind Myles's swishing tail.

She's stirring upstairs, and I have to run. That's all for now. ::sigh::

We didn't do a couple cool things today...

We hit up Leu Gardens for their "Free Before Noon Every Monday" deal, but discovered upon arrival (after getting there at 11:00, not wanting to wake napping babies, driving back out to Einstein Bros. Bagels to grab a picnic lunch for the Gardens, and driving back there) that it was no longer free on Mondays. Only FIRST Mondays. $7 per person? I don't think so. So we left.

And we had a lovely picnic at Loch Haven Park, letting Jhonen run around and play in a big field and on a big tree (though he still wanted to go right for the street), and Calina sat on her blanket trying to reach for big fistfuls of grass to taste. (Prettiest. Day. Ever.)

We wanted to find something fun to do, so Jack suggested that we go downtown (nearby) and check out the puppet museum, where he had some pieces on display. We were all for that, so we drove over there, only to find that - yup - they were closed. 0 - 2. Instead, we walked down to Bento to get some Boba teas: I had a passionfruit red tea with [slightly too many] pearls. It was yummy, almost up until the very end. :)

My good friend Stefany and her friend Chris are coming over tomorrow after traveling all over the country promoting Mona-vie, so I knew I wanted to make a nice dinner tomorrow night... I opted to wait to do the shopping until tomorrow when I figure out what awesome thing to make. So tonight was a "get creative with leftovers" night... again. It was probably the worst menagerie of ingredients I've ever had to deal with in this situation -- and I am usually SO good at it. But when you're really just out of everything, it's really, really hard.

I had a roll of premade pizza dough in the fridge, so I went for the make-a-flatbread-out-of-everything idea. 1/2 of the rectangle was turkey chili with cheese on top; 1/4 was hummus with breakfast sausage and baked beans with cheese on top; 1/4 was red sauce with chopped up fried chicken, buffalo sauce, and - you guessed it - cheese on top. (I knew if nothing else, Colin would eat the buffalo chicken bit.) For the most part, it turned out well. Certainly edible. If a little soggy under the middle chili pieces.

--

Yesterday afternoon, we went to our friend Bryan's house for a why-the-crap-is-it-still-so-hot pool party... except that we had our first cold front of the year this weekend, and it was freezing. Still fun. My now-famous chocolate chip cookies were a huge hit, and Colin got in some rock band, with baby strapped on an all!  (Thanks for the awesome pic, Bryan!)

My 1st Halloween - er, Calina's first Halloween.

So, Colin's grandma (Nanny) has a crazy Raggedy Ann collection at her house in Oregon. I wish I had a picture to show you because when I say "collection", you don't usually picture what I am talking about. She has an entire bedroom in their house covered - top to bottom - in Raggedy Ann & Andy stuff. Bedding, lamps, dolls, figurines, books, toys, stuffed dolls, hard ones... Really, in a nutshell, it's a masterful, crazy, incredible room to set foot in - let alone try to get some sleep with all those EYES looking at you.

Anyway, I was inspired by seeing her room, and I thought it would be a fun tribute to Nanny if I dressed Calina up like Raggedy Ann for Halloween. Naturally this meant that I would have to MAKE a costume, since nobody dresses up like Raggedy Ann for Halloween anymore. These days, with about 85% of our sample so far falling into line this year, little girls are all fairies/princesses and little boys are all dinosaurs/dragons.

It also seemed like a good excuse to flesh out my sewing skills, since, on a costume, you can be a little more "fudgy" than on real clothes. And I was sure I'd need some fudging. And I did, but not nearly as much as I figured.

I managed to pull out some sewing skills I didn't know I had, and Calina looks totally amazing.

So today, we went out to the Sanford Zoo here for their annual Halloween "Zoo Boo". Best part was, we not only had a trial run for the actual holiday, but it also made me finish it early so I could get a bunch of photos to send to Nanny before Halloween. Too fun. The whole album is here, but I'll give you a little taste:

Everyone was probably most impressed by the fact that she didn't rip her hat off. We seem to have found another added perk of her helmet! She didn't even notice that she had anything different on her head!

We entered into the Costume Contest, along with about a dozen other "under 3's".

3rd place: The Alligator Dragon kid!
2nd place: The Little Purple Octopus girl!
1st place: Our little Raggedy Ann!

And our prize? A monkey as big as she is. :)

Colin's worried I've set myself up for failure... Now every costume she wears has to be as awesome as this one. And has to win prizes. :)

Autumn

There is nothing like autumn to get the fiendishly ambitious kitchen goddess out in me.

Yummy autumn goodies thus far created in our household:

1. A pumpkin roll with cream cheese frosting. (Yummy, but not "the" recipe. Will try a different one soon.)
2. Curried pumpkin seeds, roasted. (Amazing.)
3. Jess put together a pumpkin pancake feast for us this morning, to which I added a hash brown potato with peppers & onions.
4. This is all after I discovered the very best chocolate chip cookie recipe and made 2 batches.

Also, I've been making Calina's baby food... steamed carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, avocado, pear sauce. She is an incredible eater!!

Coming up:
-My first attempt at sewing baby clothes
-Halloween!
-A huge post from our Oregon trip with lots of photos & video
-Wedding planning!?! (Yeah, we're getting around to it, finally...)

It's September 25th.

Jess's Mom-iversary

I guess it never really occurred to me before, but now that I'm a mom myself, I kind of understand how parents can go so nuts over their kids' birthday parties before they can really even remember any of it: birth is a crazy transformative experience, and a child's birthday is as much a celebration of the parents' memory of that occasion as it is a chance for the kid to celebrate his or her own existence.

I was so fortunate to be a part of Jhonen's birth one year ago today, and as much fun as it was to find fun presents for Jhonen's birthday (2 AWESOME Yo Gabba Gabba toys and a set of "Big Boy" PJ's), I really wanted to do something special for Jess on the anniversary of one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. Not only was Jhonen's birth significant, but the year since has been an amazingly fast, hard rollercoaster.

He is HUGE, and has been since the start, and poor Jess's body has been abused heartily by his - albeit sweet - clingy nature. Try lugging around a 30 pound boy who NEVER wants to ride in his stroller! And since he's been able to get around on his own, crawling and walking, a 30 pound boy who doesn't want to ride in his stroller, but DOES want to be put down - regardless of whether it's an appropriate safe place, of course. The only thing worse than a 30 pound sack of potatoes in your arms is a 30 pound sack of potatoes trying desperately to get OUT of your arms.

She is one tough mama. But, I guess we've always known that. :)

Anyway, I wanted to do something nice for her, to celebrate getting through birth itself as well as making it to the end of a very fast but very exhausting first year of momhood, so gramma and I rode out to the Winter Park farmers market this morning before the party and picked out an awesome bucket of mixed plants, a huge mixed herb pot, and a pot of gerber daisies (her fave), and a hazelnut coffee cooler from Barnie's.

[We incidentally discovered that A) the Winter Park Farmers Market is AWESOME and B) that they had a paramedic station with mercury-free flu shots. Trying desperately to NOT get the bug I had last year. Ick.]

So, it was a nice surprise. Like I said, I never really thought about it before, but... It's hard to see this milestone come and go. Calina's about to hit 6 months and I just cannot-belive-it. I guess as a parent your job is to just make sure that every day you appreciate what you have, enjoy each moment, and make sure that the day was as good for that little one as it could have been. Now that my little girl is really starting to "enjoy" doing things, I think we're going to make it a point to start doing more things. Playing at home is awesome, but I can already tell that she gets a little bored and stir crazy with the same toys every day. She loves morning outings when she can get them. She loved the farmers market this morning. She had a good-ish, if a little overstimulating, time at the party today. And her day, really, is only from 7 or 8am to 5pm or so when we start winding down for bedtime.

We're off to Oregon on Wednesday, gramma and Calina and I will be staying out there for 2 weeks, and Colin will come home after the first week. (One whole week away without daddy. Yikes!) Sooooo looking forward to it, though!

Like Riding a Bike

I used to do this sort of thing a lot...

It's prettiest if you go over to YouTube to watch it, but here's a teaser: (Okay, it's the whole thing, but... much smaller.)

Time Suck

I've discovered that, despite the fact that I am now waking far earlier than I have in years, I am losing days left and right. Just, poof, gone. Today, I was up too early, went to Dunkin Donuts for Coffee, drove to Kohl's and Target to let Jess return something and to pick up some new picture hangers, and suddenly it was 5:00. I don't have any idea what happened there.

So if I haven't been faithful about updating this daily, it's because by the time I can even think to remember to sit down and write something, it's hours past the time I should already be asleep.

Like now, for example. It's midnight, and Calina's been sleeping for 5 hours. That means she'll want to be up for good at 7am, and I'm looking at another disappearing, sleepy day ahead of me.

I did make dinner tonight, around 9pm.

What You Can't Store... Use!

We may have just doomed ourselves to a lifetime of obsessive picture-straightening, but we had to do something to relieve our storage issues in the garage. Hanging the art on the giant blank wall over our couch was a good step toward organization.

Colin was kind enough to provide a size comparison. He's not a small boy by any means... We like how the massive wall-full dwarfs the ridiculously monstrous couch we have.

From August 09

That's our living room -- we used to have a big bookcase on that wall behind the couch... then we moved the bookcase and that wall looked really bare... and we realized that we had a TON of art & mirrors in the garage that was weird and old, along with a creepy haunted-mansion type lamp, and some weird old books. None of it really goes with anything else in the house, but our living room didn't really have much personality. So we decided to roll with it.

Bravery

I spent the day yesterday painting Calina's future bedroom a soft, soothing pale yellow-green "Captured Moment". The day before, I tackled painting the ceiling a with a fresh coat of white. I think it turned out quite well.

There's something really soothing about the light coming into this bedroom. We noticed it when it was the guest room, too, but now the new wall color really makes it feel like a sanctuary. Somewhere you'd want to sleep for a very long time. We hope it makes Calina feel that way someday. ::grin::

Other rooms in the house are either coming along swimmingly, or not at all. The guest room? Best room in the house currently:

It's even got a DVR box. Cray-cray! Ben uses it for watching shows & playing games, Colin uses it for reading, and the babies use it for TV time and safe baby-proofed playing.

Our bedroom, on the other hand, looks like we raided a Goodwill seconhand store and it just spewed all over everywhere.

Pretty horrific. I suppose we'll get to it eventually. Unfortunately, Colin doesn't really mind it like this, so... It might be a while. The wall to the right of the door there could have a door installed that would lead to a walk-in closet (the closet in the guest room), which would really help our clothing storage situation. We were hoping that the flowered couch could go in Calina's room, but we realized that it won't go through her door, due to positioning of walls around the doorway. So it's continuing to live in our room, but we repositioned the bed to be under the A/C vent, and despite the fact that it's a pretty large room, you can't really walk anywhere in the room anymore.

It's OK, though, because we're comfortable sleeping, and... it's representative of our current life. It'll get put together when we get put together.

Sending off

While I was in the airport in Bangor, I was surrounded by soldiers waiting for their plane to Iraq. Probably a couple hundred in all. Many talking quietly on borrowed cell phones that the airport military office provided, some surrounding the TV blaring Fox News and its updates on Afghanistan, a few milling around the tiny gift shop. I bought a moose picture frame on the clearance rack, and listened to a few guys in camo behind me asking for scratch-off lottery tickets. One joked about "winning $100,000 right before getting on the plane to Iraq. Wouldn't that suck?"

I passed through security to one of three gates in the airport, on the other side of a glass wall from them all in the main terminal.

I imagine they made some sort of announcement I couldn't hear, asking them to pass through a set of double doors leading to their plane. They all calmly passed along the other side of the glass, shaking hands with a line of well-wishers to their right; I caught the eye of a young guy, and waved to him. Calina was sleeping in my arms. He smiled and waved back, glancing over at her on my shoulder. I wondered what he was thinking. Maybe just taking note of her helmet. Or maybe that she was why he was getting on a plane.

I like to imagine our military with noble ideals like that. Even if I sometimes think that their goodwill is abused or misused, it would be nice to know that they hope they're doing some good.

Maine, Grammy

While I've been away from here, I've been super busy doing things. Calina and I took our first trip together (of many, I'm sure). We flew up to Maine to enjoy some cooler air, some woodsy fun with long-lost friends, and some beautiful coastline. I took loads of video that needs to be pared down, but I'll whet your appetite for visuals with a snapshot:

Needless to say, traveling with an infant alone is very, very hard. Thank goodness I had the help of friends on the other side to help us with the impossible bits -- there is NO way I could have managed to carry a suitcase, a diaper bag, a stroller, a baby, AND a carseat onto an airplane. Just couldn't happen. Thankfully, I was able to secure a borrowed carseat on the Maine end, thanks to Chris's lovely mom Julie, and what was probably quite a lot of legwork by his sister Natalie.

We spent most of our time at Chris's family's "camp" which, translated from Northern-speak, is basically a little house on a (gorgeous) lake, with an extra cabin on the side. Jess, Ben, Jhonen, Calina and I had the cabin all to ourselves. We were a bit worried about the babies keeping each other up all night long, but they actually did quite well. I think Calina slept about what she usually does these days: 7pm-7am-ish with a half-dozen breaks for snacks.

Our second day there was filled with a fantastically fun and perfectly lovely day -- a big get-together to celebrate Chris & Leslie's wedding (on the anniversary of the ceremony we all missed going to). Perfect, perfect weather, great food, beautiful water, fun conversation, awesome cake. It was so nice to just enjoy the company of a ton of people who were all pleasant and having a good time.

Having just barely survived a 4-day trip on my own with Calina, I'm thinking it might be a while before I try it again... Though we are planning a trip our to Oregon at some point in September. At least Colin and probably Gramma will be going along for that one, though, so... That should be much easier. It was really just the fact that I didn't get any break whatsoever. She'd scream if I put her down for even a second to use the bathroom or take a shower.

She seems to have hit a little bit of a rough patch the last couple of weeks. I don't know if it's helmet-related (if this one's getting too small), or teething-related, or illness-related, or just baby-getting-older, but she has been so much more difficult lately. Crying a ton, having trouble sleeping, drooling, chewing, eating a bunch then spitting it all up, and basically being a grumpy mess. Super fuss-face.

She was in rare form for Colin's Mom who came to visit over the past few days. I'm not sure if she's still recouperating from our trip or if she's really just taken a turn for the worse, but she's just terribly touchy, scared, exhausted and unwilling to nap, and antisocial with everyone except me and Colin (and gramma to some extent). She's decided that napping will only happen either in the Moby wrap on Colin or me, or on gramma's shoulder in her new rocker. Maybe in the carseat if she's really tired, but if she wakes up in the car, it's all over.

It was still great for Peggy to get to see her only grandchild for a couple of days, I just wish she had been in better spirits.

The Home Stretch

We're getting close to making our house manageable with all of this jumbling. I was foiled by Ikea (as tends to be the case with that place): I ended up coming home with one of the wrong pieces for my new desk, so... We have to go back yet again to exchange it. Which is OK, really, because I had to go back anyway -- they were out of something else I wanted. Grrr.

I spent a little time getting some videos off my camera... did a bit of uploading to youtube:

This is pretty much a nightly occurance:

Trying to get Jhonen to say "yeah yeah yeah". He totally did it.

Right now, this is Calina's favorite activity:

So, sure, it's a lot of babies. But... that's pretty representative of my life right now. And, who doesn't love watching babies?

R.I.P. Harrison Kitty

Our beloved cat Harry was found this morning to have met an untimely death at the hands of the brutal Florida heat. His curious nature led him to investigate the inside of our minivan, unfortunately without anyone's knowledge.

He'd recently been granted a life of pure catness in the great outdoors: chasing lizards, battling with yard snakes, gifting us headless rats. Basically living as the great hunter he was born to be. But even let loose, he was still a great friend. Every time we'd walk out the door, he'd let out a yowl and stand up on his hind legs to meet our fingers for a scratch on the noggin.

He was silly, pushy, powerful, and wicked smart. A star among our crowd of cats, right from the start.


I trust that he is as happy now as ever. As we buried him, an unseasonably cool breeze passed by the back of my neck. Comforting in a small way, possibly his way of letting me know that he's okay, and reminding me that we're surrounded by Love everywhere, even when things get tough.

Cupcakes, Done!

These are probably the best cupcakes I've ever eaten. The Martha Stewart chocolate chip cupcakes are a close second. Come to think of it, those two are the only cupcakes I've ever made from scratch. Maybe cupcakes are just awesomer than I realized.

Excuse

So, I got to thinking about the word "excuse". See, right there? You weren't sure if I meant "excuse" as in "I have a really good excuse for not writing on my blog this week." or "excuse" as in "excuse our dust, we're renovating". Now it doesn't even look like a real word at all, does it?

Anyway... please excuse the interruption in this blog. I do have a good excuse. You know all the house shuffling? Yeah, my PC ended up a casualty of relocation. It's okay, though, because all you would've heard about on here was how I didn't get as much done each day as I would've liked to, but we continue to chip away at projects.

Speaking of chips, I found a recipe in "The Great Book of Chocolate" while I was standing at the kitchen computer updating my iPhone -- they're called Black Bottom Cupcakes, but that name doesn't really make them sound too awesome. Instead, I'll rename them:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

You heard me.

Filling:
8oz Cream Cheese (Room temp)
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
5T natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not dutch-process)
1t baking soda
1/4t salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup veg oil
1T white or cider vinegar
1t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with paper (this recipe makes 12).

Make filling: beat everything except chips till smooth, stir in chips.

Make cupcake batter: sift together [flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt], mix together [water, oil, vinegar, vanilla]. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth (then stop).

Divide batter between muffin cups, Spoon a few tablespoons of filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing evenly. (Cups will be almost full, and that's OK)

Bake 25 mins or until the tops are a little golden and springy.

Good for 2-3 days unrefrigerated.

These will be made this week. Pictures forthcoming.

A Day of Doctors

Today we took Calina to get her helmet adjusted (she's doing really well), took her to a followup appointment with the neurosurgeon and the plastic surgeon, and then visited our friend Jacquie at Winnie Palmer Hospital who just had a new baby boy on Monday.

The hospital has a cool entry:

Those things pretty much took all day. We stopped by Ikea to pick up a shelf for our new office, but they were totally lame and closed up shop at 5pm (3 hours EARLY!) to train their employees on new products coming in. We would've been really, really pissed if we'd come all the way from home to get kicked out the minute we walked in. Luckily we were only a few miles up the road at the hospital before heading there.

Board Games

Our foyer is now completely filled with nothing but games. Also, we just got a new video camera. Yay!

And also video games:

The House

Today, I spent about 7 hours in the game room.

I think I discovered that the problem with this room has always been that there was simply too much to store in not enough space -- and then whenever anybody wanted to find anything, it was too hard, and whenever anybody wanted to put away something new, they had no idea where to put it.

When we moved in, we spent 2 months tiptoeing around giant boxes of wires and games, and I was so tired of climbing over things that I took it upon myself to find a place for everything. And everything had a place, but with just barely enough room as it was. Most of it stayed where it was (because it hasn't been touched in 2.5 years), but anything that had been touched had been moved, because I think I was the only one who knew where things went. And it ended up in serious disarray.

I spent about 7 hours today with a new strategy for this incredible array of items:

1. Any games in easily-stacked cases go immediately to the designated shelf downstairs (Jess's project to organize and make look awesome).
2. Any old cartridge games get sorted properly and packaged together with their respective old-school consoles.
3. Create boxes for Ben to sort (so nothing we don't have to keep is kept, and I'm not actually making any decisions about stuff): audio/video cables & television cords; internet cables; power adaptors; power cables; older-looking computer cables (like old monitor cables); constantly useful computer cables (like USB); a stack of keyboards; a few hundred loose CDs/DVDs; a pile of unidentifyable cables; a heap of old consoles and peripherals; several shelves of programming manuals; a mountain of PC games new and old; a mile wide collection of gaming magazines, comic books, and strategy guides; and a huge bin of action figures.
4. Gather all of Colin's stuff separately (other than games in cases).
5. Throw out a gigantic collection of empty boxes (that were "decorating" the tops of every shelf all the way to the ceiling).

Other than having to run up and down and up and down and up and down the stairs a hundred times, it was actually quite fun. (I am kind of sick when it comes to organizational projects. I just don't stop until it's perfect.)

Colin's Weekend

Saturday:

1. Get up with Calina for an hour from 8:30-9:30 (because Mel needed sleep)

2. Leave Calina with gramma

3. Go back to bed

4. Get up & eat peanut butter cinnamon sugar banana bagel with 4 links of maple sausage

5. Shower

6. Hold Calina sleeping on a pillow while playing classic NES game on the Wii (not sure which one)

7. Take off Calina's helmet and shampoo her head

8. Go with Mel & Calina to Astrid's house for a Rock Band Party

9. Help get baby to bed

10. Disappear someplace... to read?

Sunday:

1. Sleep in

2. Drive to Milennia to eat at CPK, walk around mall, go to Ikea.

3. Spend way too long at Ikea not getting anything good except icees.

4. Head home & eat pizza

5. Put baby to bed way early after washing her head again

6. Read more (and think about why Excel is stupid)

Starting Over

After living here for 3 years, I think we've finally decided to move in.

You know how sometimes, after living in a place for a while, you start to really get annoyed at the way things are... and just HAVE to fix them? We're totally there. So I'll probably be writing a lot over the coming weeks about the stuff we're doing to rearrange the house to make it more enjoyable for all of us to live here.

Part of the issue, of course, is that there are babies to worry about now... And the house is absolutely not baby proofed in the least. It's an outright danger zone! So, step #1 is creating a design around safer, more organized, more kid-friendly ideals. Step #2, unfortunately, is reorganizing all our s-t-u-f-f, and probably selling a ton of it. (Thank goodness for Craigslist, right?)

Today's project was the garage: we still have piles of stuff lying around from the gelato shop we just closed out (because we weren't sure what our successor would want of our stash exactly). So we finally just gave up and piled a bazillion plastic gelato cups in the recycling pile. So sad, but... There's really no one who will take them off our hands, and I'm not willing to spend money on shipping them somewhere.

Our garage is also filled with things that my gramma insists upon keeping even though there is no way in the world anyone in their right minds would want any of these things. Like a box of rocks. Literally. Or broken picture frames. Or a collection of old dental tools she might someday use to make wax moulds for casting jewelry. Or a "thing that pilots use," she told me when I held up some sort of unidentifyable mathematical tool. And about a million woven baskets of every shape and size (many with handles, so they don't even stack). And, of course, her giant collection of hundreds upon hundreds of seashells in tupperware stacked to the ceiling. And still, she really, truly, thinks that she's brutally whittled her stockpile of junk. These things are just "the essentials". And she can't understand how Colin could refuse to get rid of 2 of the 4 pieces of furniture that he owns. "But that dresser is so hideous." Hilarious. I love her, but she needs a serious intervention.

Can we get the Clean House TV show to come fix her? I don't think they'd do it. Our mess wouldn't make for good TV; her packrat-ism is too sneaky, because she's really good at hiding things. Like, filling up the entire garage, for example. Or the floor of her closet. Or filling all her dresser drawers -- rather than with clothing -- with her mother's old dolls, a "real indian papoose,"dozens of silk scarves and hankies, or a box of trilobites.

I'm not sure our house redo will actually even address a third of her stuff (it's so well hidden away I'm not sure I could even find it), and 80% of the third we find, she'll fight for. In the meantime, we can pretty easily address the mess we can see: the collection of video game boxes and action figures filling the top 2 feet of our game room; the random collection of not-particularly-attractive knick-knacks filling our foyer's bookcase, and by selling off all of the furniture that we hate (and replacing it with fewer, nicer pieces).

Made a Thing: a Ring Sling

I've been meaning to sew one of these up for quite a while now. This one is super luxurious: it has two padded rails and a nice squishy shoulder pad. Gramma's little antique sewing machine almost didn't make it through, but... you'd never really know unless you looked really closely at the stitching on top of the batting. Here's Jess modeling mine:

She made one, too, only royal blue & white. They're super cheerful, and an awesome alternative to the more complex Moby Wrap (which will definitely be sticking around) and the more rugged Ergo Baby Carrier (also not going anywhere). They all serve their purpose. This thing is just perfect for throwing on around the house during those times when we just can't put 'em down. And great for running errands when we don't want to deal with a real intricate setup.

This is the pattern I used, though it is really quite cryptic, and I had to spend a really long time figuring out what she was trying to say. I'm not certain I actually did what she intended, but... it all worked out all right.

By Any Other Name

I'm officially Melanie Campbell, finally.

I've been Melanie Light for far too long. While I love the name itself, it has an unfortunate relationship to my adoptive father. It ties me to a family of which I have not been a part, even as long as I have had the name. I remember, as young as 4 years old, a sense of injustice when it came to my dad. And later, his absolute disregard for logic whenever any situation was emotionally-charged.

I can move beyond everything I know of him now, and everything my family has been through because of him and his brothers, his parents, and indeed everyone who ever had the name Light; because I am now creating a meaning for my own name, together with Colin and Calina Campbell -- a new namesake that will carry with it a different type of love.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Movie

My unofficial review of HP6: Parched. Sad. Empty. Way too much quidditch. Way, WAY too much of this:


This might have been my favorite book in the series (definitely in the top third) - so incredibly scary and tense. The film adaptation just fell totally flat.

I still want to see it again, though. Maybe I'll change my mind if I don't have a cranky baby to tend to for half the movie.

Colin got tickets to a preview night at the Universal Studios theaters through his work. Fun to go to, but the theater was really loud and Calina was really freaked out when the action got intense.

Helmet Day

This week will probably be pretty lame in terms of blog updates. Today's the day we got Calina's first helmet.

For those of you who don't know, because of the type of cranial surgery she had, she needs to wear a shaping band, to make sure that the shape of her head is both A) beautifully round and B) not going to go back the way it was before.

I'm so glad that we're getting it going, though, because the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done. The orthotist (that's what they call the "doctor" who manages the helmet therapy), says that he thinks we'll be done within 3 months. The longest he can imagine is 6 months, and that's only if something weird comes up or her head grows reeeealy slowly. I love this news because my craniofacial surgeon warned us that we might be looking at a year of helmet therapy.

While there's not much fun about this stuff, there is one cool thing: I get to decorate! I'm such a dork, but... I'm going to go all out. Here's my first attempt:


These are just scrapbooking stickers. If I can manage it, I might try to work out designing something for the next helmet (we'll be going through a few, no doubt, as her head grows over the coming months), and getting my design printed and punched out by an auto graphics place. If any of you talented designers out there ::cough cough:: want to come up with some designs, Calina would totally sport your awesome art.

Colin's Weekend

I kind of think this should be a weekly installment...

Saturday:

1. Sleep till noon
2. Get woken up by Mel handing baby back into bed.
3. Eat grilled banana bread
4. Watch Dead Like Me movie (not terrible)
5. Hang out
6. Go get Chick-Fil-A (with a Peach Milkshake)
7. Play with Calina
8. Have fun with friends playing Left4Dead till 2am

Sunday:

1. Sleep till 11
2. Grumble over some insurance nonsense
3. Watch South Park with Calina
4. Drive out to Mark & Jacquie's house
5. Play with Elizabeth
6. Drive home
7. Try to get Calina to stop crying
8. Eat some stir-fry (not sushi)
9. Try to get Calina to stop crying
10. Decompress doing computer stuff
11. Fun with Mel playing WoW

Oh, Martha!

Martha sure does know how to hire people who know how to make good cupcakes. I tried out the Martha Stewart Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Frosting, in honor of Colin's love of all things Chocolate Chip. And also because I felt like baking.

We took half of the batch over to Mark & Jacquie's house (including 3 unfrosted, chocolate-chip-free cupcakes for Mark). I thought they might enjoy some sweets. Jacquie is scheduled to deliver her baby boy, Christopher, on July 24th, less than 2 weeks away, and she's already ready to burst! Their 3-year-old, Elizabeth, is the best little girl I've ever met. She's just so smart and cute and talks endlessly. She's going to be an awesome big sis.

--

I'm trying to make travel plans for the beginning of August, but things are so difficult to organize! I want to go out to Oregon, to visit with Colin's family, and coordinate a trip out with my family. The same darn week, though, my friend is having a hey-you-didn't-make-it-to-my-wedding party in Maine, which would be SO amazing to go to, too. Why, conflicts, why??

Update: I found a way to have my cupcakes and eat them, too. I'll be making the journey up to Maine from Aug 7-10 and then out to Oregon a couple weeks later! :) Yay!!!

Just Stab Me

Wow, these kidney stones are relentless. I spent the last 48 hours battling my worst ones ever. I always say this every time I get past a bad episode: I am going to drink more water. Forever. Minimal caffeine. Minimal alcohol. Minimal sodium/salt. This is not out of my control. I just... start to slack, and then pay big time for my forgetfulness.

Cheating

Okay, so while I am able to come up with something interesting to talk about every day, I can't always find the time to do so. So, you can expect (starting with this post here) to be lied to: I am going to change the timestamp on some entries to suit when I would've submitted them, instead of when they're actually written.

That said, Thursday's post would go something like this:

This morning, Jess and I drove the babies out to Winter Springs to a yoga studio. There was a mom & baby class for Calina and I that was pretty entertaining. I learned some cool stretches for her, and got some exercise for myself... without feeling selfconscious about her whining and crying in what should be a peaceful place - all the babies fussed a little. And they all ended up nursing at the same time. Totally weird nursing party!

Jess & Jho went to a mom & toddler free-for-all, with some singing, but mostly just a huge, almost baby-proofed open room with toys spread everywhere. Could've been cool if the moms weren't quite such gripey gripesters, but... they're all home with babies all the time without adult interaction - it seemed like a good way for them to unwind, rather than a cool super-interactive guided playtime.

--

I am part of a craniosynostosis support message board, something that really helped me get through Calina's surgery, and indeed helped me decide what sort of surgery to do (we went with the less invasive endoscopic surgery, opting for our misery to be spread out over a long time, with helmet therapy for as long as 12 months...). The problem with the board is that there are so many mothers on there who are very vocal about how they came to decide on the MORE invasive surgery; more often than not their doctors either don't do the endo surgery and/or convinced them somehow that the endo surgery was inferior.

The endoscopic surgery is the "new" development, and it's only good for a small percentage of cases with the same condition. There are a lot of special requirements for the kids who can take advantage of the new technique -- but we absolutely decided that if Calina were a good candidate, that we wanted the best new technology possible.

There are doctors out there, however, (without naming names) who have made a name for themselves poo-poohing the endo procedure, claiming all sorts of inferiority, and how much more reliable and safe the "open" procedure is... that is, cutting the entire scalp from one ear across to the other, and reshaping the skull all at once.

And many of the mothers on this board are very vocal about how they opted for this procedure over the endoscopic one... I think it's really sad to imagine that people who have the option for their child could be going with the endo but are scared away by horror stories -- so I have to be an advocate for it! There are new moms coming into the board every day asking the same questions I asked when I first came to it: Pros and Cons for CVR (open) vs. Endoscopic.

The hard part is not getting into it too much with these moms who've been sold on the fact that the open procedure is "better" and are adamant about it, while still advocating my decision. I could've easily been swayed the other way... and if later someone incinuated that I made the wrong choice, I would lose my mind being defensive.

They are, after all, making a slightly harder choice... endo is allegedly the "safer, more gentle" option that some of them have actually opted out of... which HAS to be a really hard choice for any mom to make -- and I am sure they will knock down, drag out, fight to defend that decision. But I really feel like it's my responsibility to help other moms through the process, like I was helped (with even more info).

Silly Baby

Generally speaking, my adorable little girl is very easygoing and fun to be around. Today, however, she did not offer up a shining representation of her wonderful character.

I'll start by saying that lately, she's been a blast to "entertain" - she finds almost anything you say absolutely hilarious, spreading a beautiful gummy grin across her face, and squishing up those chunky cheeks underneath her big baby blues. If you're particularly fabulous (and know how much she loves repetitive noises and tickles), you might even get a chuckle out of her, which honestly sounds more like a duck honking or maybe an old man hacking. Kind of a sputtering choking sound. But adorable.

Today, she was doing the most bizarre thing I've ever seen a baby do: she was happily watching me talk, cooing in response, and smiling hugely... when suddenly a huge storm cloud would pass right over her face and she'd pout so horribly I thought she'd been injured in some way, but then the smile would come right back... and then the frown! And then the smile! And then the frown! It was like I was seeing the child I knew become possessed by some demon trying to steal her happy repeatedly. Scary crap.

Any time I would stop talking to her, however, the show was over. The demons won the battle, and I was crap out of luck. If I wanted her to calm back down, I would have to pick her up (only my LEFT shoulder will do) and walk around for 5 minutes. Then, she might sit happily for a little bit (but only if being talked to), and then go back to being possessed by the grumpmeister.

Chances are good that she's started teething: she's a soaking wet drooling mess-face, constantly chewing on her hands, eating in fits and starts, and generally being a big cranky-puss. I absolutely would have attributed this sort of behavior to her surgery or convinced myself that her head hurts, except that I know it's not true. Her head is fine. It's just her attitude that's unfortunate.

Today, we went to visit her craniofacial surgeon, Dr. Ruiz. He's a funny guy. He has a lot to say, and never seems to have enough time to say it all. So he talks really quickly. Incidentally, he thinks her head looks as perfect as it can be, and gave us the green light to go ahead with the helmet therapy to finish the job. [Sarcastic tone inserted here] It's going to be awesome when she gets her helmet. She's going to love it so much. We are going to continue sleeping really well, and have a generally super cheerful kid all the time. It's all lining up so perfectly, she's starting teething anyway, so we can just make it all better by putting a big hunk of plastic on her head. She'll be so happy. [End sarcastic rant]

Apparently, the inevitable misery caused by the helmet for both the child and the parents is beyond brutal for the first several days. And then upkeep with it absolutely sucks for the remainder of the time - probably 3 months+. It's going to be a heckuva challenge, but I think it'll be worth it to see her perfectly rounded head coming out of the process. I swear, I never noticed babies' head shapes before, and now... they're all I see when I come across little ones. Very weird.

I also had a lovely conversation with the helmet office -- apparently, they failed to start the paperwork for the insurance on time, so we're going to have to fork over payment in advance and just HOPE the insurance comes through.

[One more little sarcastic rant]

Dear United Healthcare,

Thanks, once again, for the amazing service you provide. I thought it was really awesome when you refused to pay for my midwife's services that legally have to be covered, under a very clear Florida statute. It was super cool how you made us go through 3 appeals and then went back to the midwife to ask, again, for her information. But also still didn't pay up.

And now, once again, you rise to the occasion by saying that you have 30 days to review the information in our case to decide whether to pay for my daughter's helmet, but those 30 days can't start until the helmet place bills you, and they can't bill you until we get the helmet, of course. Which, naturally, someone has to pay for if we've got it already, right? Might as well be us, until you decide for sure whether we actually need it or not. Or, rather, determine if it's actually medically necessary, no matter what her surgeons say. 'Cause you're the experts.

All our love,

The Campbell Family

[End second sarcastic rant]

--

I cooked Colin and I some awesome sandwiches tonight: Chicken and marinated portabello mushrooms with goat cheese on yummy rolls, toasted up. We scarfed them down with some Fritos while Calina stayed happy with gramma for 5 minutes.

Baked Goods

Today, we visited the French bakery we'd been meaning to check out on Park Avenue. And, believe me, it was totally worth the trip down there.

Not the cheapest thing in the world, but the Chicken and Mushroom Croissant with yummy cheesy sauce and a slice of swiss melted on top.... holy cow. Heaven. It came in a combo with a drink and - get this - a pastry. :) So I took home an amazing cheese danish.

Calina slept happily in her Moby Wrap during our whole outing. Aunt Courtney was visiting, so we took her out for the afternoon. And, yes, we ALSO had yogurt at Gurtzberry. Mmmm... probiotics.

Useless

I was completely useless today. From the time I woke up, to just now when I can't seem to get to sleep... I've been battling a stupid kidney stone. And losing!

Heaven help me, I just want to get through this night.

Successfully Gained Independence

We did a bunch of party-type things today. Swept the floor, put away laundry, and cleaned up the "playpen" (AKA our living room) in anticipation of lots of company for the holiday.

Lori brought us flowers and cupcakes, and - along with the Argentinian boys, Josh, and Ryan - played many hours of games with Colin at the big white table. After Josh and Lori left to go have real 4th of July fun with, you know, booze and fireworks... everyone else moved into Smash Bros. land:

Calina, you see, had quite enough fun for the day, and slept for a good long time with Gramma, while I taught Courtney, Rich, and Karen how to play Ticket to Ride. (Which, incidentally, I LOST for the first time in ages... to Rich - a first-timer, no less. Oh, the shame.)

The bitterness of my defeat didn't, however, sully the sweet and tart deliciousness of the cherry/pineapple dump cake.

In this order, fill a pan evenly with:

A spritz of pam

1 large can cherry pie filling

1 large can pineapple

(mix them together)

1 box yellow cake mix

(flatten out and score with a fork. don't mix.)

1 stick melted butter

(drizzle as evenly over the top as possible)

1/2 bag sweetened coconut

(sprinkled on top, if you like. I don't.)

Quite possibly the perfect summer party dessert.

So, I did a few things today. Enjoyed my independence from the U.K.. And from mommyhood for a few hours. It felt weird, a little, to not attempt to find fireworks to go see, but I couldn't imagine subjecting my newborn to the booms, nor could I imagine subjecting myself to the disgusting, disgusting heat and mosquito-death by which we'd be guaranteed to suffer a horrible misery.

I was commiserating with Chris Stiles the other day over twitter, about the fun I'd had in Chicago on the 4th of July back in '05. Chicago is really fun during the summer. During the winter everyone hibernates indoors, but the city comes alive during the summer. Chairs cover every sidewalk because even the idea of going indoors for meals while the weather is so lovely would be a downright shame. Outdoor seating leads to more friendly socialization and larger get-togethers. More people are having parties and barbecues, filling tiny patios and alleyways. Drinking cold beer and listening to lots of music. And, when Independence Day rolls around, they are dragging out the explosives, and dangerously setting them off among tall buildings. I distinctly remember attempts to blow up a watermelon in an alleyway. Not me attempting this personally, but with me standing close by. I don't remember if it worked. I just remember that a neighbor wasn't happy. And it was raining.

The Beginning

Hello, and happy birthday to America. As befits the occasion, I've decided to spawn a little something new of my own. My daily pursuit of blogalicious happiness has outgrown the confines of the rigid pregnancy and mommy blog of yesterday; I now require a realm of freedom.

This page is representative of my desire to do something - anything - each and every day. Something that's significant enough to write about.

I will continue, when it is pertinent, to update the mommyblog (http://www.myeggoispreggo.net - until August 2 - then it'll move here: http://eggoispreggo.blogspot.com), but mostly, I'll be reporting my daily doings here.

But, Mel. This doesn't seem like much of a concept for a blog. To have any significance at all, you will have to pare it down. You will have to speak to a specific audience. You will have to have a clear message and purpose.

Well, naysayers. I think we'll get to that eventually. Kinda depends on what I end up doing, doesn't it?

This might end up being a crafting blog. Or a writing blog. Or a parenting blog. Or a blog about games or relationships or dreaming or weddings or gardening or art or home improvement or stupid annoying crap. Or maybe it'll be all of those things.

The important bit is having a responsibility to myself, and now to this page, that I will do a thing a day - every day.

Starting with today. Except that it's 1:30am today, and it's technically yesterday still. Guess I'll do a thing tomorrow and report on it today.

So, welcome.