27 September 2010

Tuesday

So, we're officially deep in the depths of teething. Last night was no better than the night before - up many hours with a very unhappy little boy. Looks like it's his incisors, canines, eye teeth, something, I looked at the charts & can't remember which ones they were! In any case, the teething drama queen has regained his grouchy throne. He's okay during the day, though, so I'll give him credit for that. A smart mama would nap when he naps but I'm going to color my hair again instead because the lighter brown I have at the moment just looks faded and it may be a tiny bit uneven in places because I didn't take much care in putting the color in last time.

My plan for tonight's drama is to start the evening by singing The Black Eyed Peas I've Got a Feeling. There's a chance that it's supposed to be I Gotta Feeling but I'm too lazy to google so I'm going with the grammatically correct version. Singing "Tonight's gonna be a good niiiiight" over & over is bound to bring positive results in my opinion.

And last night I knocked out day 5 of The Greatest 17 Days the World has Ever Known. It was a very half-hearted, half-assed attempt. I was very tired from the night before & had a crackin' headache so I just managed 11 minutes on the treadmill of walking briskly uphill then did some time on the squat machine (I wrote "squart" instead of "squat" at first & it's given me the giggles FYI) then gave up & went home. I don't think I ever said I was going to knock it out of the park for 17 days in a row, just that I was going to go to the gym for 17 days so I haven't failed yet.

Sadly, there is nothing else going in my life. Just counting down the days until Ben & I leave for America! I've got my suitcase sitting on the bedroom floor & have started a bit of packing. Need to put all the info for all of my flights in one itinerary for my sanity & print out e-tickets, Ben's visa info & get my luggage tags sorted. I like to be overly organized before I travel then I go all OCD & go over the information over & over - at some point in time I highlighted confirmation numbers & other important things. Actually, if I had a highlighter I would do that again this go 'round. Hmmmm, do I have a highlighter?

Anyway, off to get my boy down for a nap so I can color my hair, do some push-ups & sit-ups & get ready for the day. Hope yours is muy fabuloso!

26 September 2010

again

Quick gym update - days 2, 3 & 4 are done & dusted. I am sore but feeling pretty good so still going strong.

Now Ben is in the grips of something dark & terrible. Must be teething. Made the mistake of saying what a wonderful weekend we had - truly a great one - then he went down to sleep like a dream last night but woke up screeching a few hours later & then was up all night. And by all night, I mean ALL night. I set up camp on the living room floor around 3am so we could watch Toy Story & take his mind off of whatever was terrorising him. It was a good distraction for a while but nothing really totally worked - breastfeeding, Nurofen, Panadol, nothing. He finally settled a bit after 4am for a few hours but then was back up & about around 7am. Should be a fun day, right?!

Yesterday marked exactly 2 weeks until he & I leave for America. I hope he's a happier chappy then than he was last night. I still haven't gotten an update about my backordered bathing suit other than an email that said I won't be charged until it's shipped. Great, thanks. So I bought a backup bathing suit at Target yesterday - it's bright blue, which is terrifying but I liked the design & details. So I totally expected it to be terrible when I got home & tried it on (I was not about to try it on in the evil changing rooms) & was even more nervous when I realized that the bathing suit was a size smaller than I thought because the hanger it was on didn't match the suit - I am a moron who doesn't check such things. But, it fit! And wasn't half bad. The blue wasn't as radioactive as I feared & once I have a spray tan it may be downright okay. Let's not get crazy or anything - I'm no Heidi Klum but I'm also not Jabba the Hut so there is reason to celebrate.

Okay, he's crying again & just got himself onto the couch by himself for the first time so back to cuddling & soothing (with the occasional moment of me yelling "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DOf!"which doesn't help just FYI) for me.

Happy Monday!!

23 September 2010

One singular sensation every single step she takes ...

If you don't care for my gym musings, the next 17 days will be painful for you. Oh, I'm sorry it's actually the next 16 days because day 1 was a smashing success if I do say so myself. Let's be clear that my definition of a smashing success is "I went to the gym like I said I would." High five!

I pushed myself again with my running even when I was very tired of it & I'm pushing my pace up a bit, pretending like I'm running from Hitler himself. Not really. Actually Hitler himself probably wouldn't have been that scary of an opponent - seemed little, weedy & running with muss that hair. Ever since I was a kid I had a theory that the leaders of countries are the ones that should fight the wars - like Bush should have had to fight Saddam in hand to hand combat. I guarantee there would be a hell of a lot less war if the bozos in charge had to get their hands dirty. And one good whomp from Churchill would have put Hitler in his place and saved us from the continued kerfuffle of World War II. FDR would have been a worry, though, I suppose. And if you see a giant bolt of lightning & hear me screaming, you can bet I'm being struck down for calling WWII a "kerfuffle." Yikes.

So the gym went well but I will try to spare you the details unless something interesting happens. Which it won't. Maybe years from now, I'll release a book simply called 17 Days in the vein of RFK's awesome 13 Days, chronicling the Cuban Missile Crisis (I capitalize it because it's important & I get confused about capitalizing rules in general)(my comma use is even more ridiculous) from the war room. I can't decide who will play me in the movie, though? Can I request Carey Mulligan? She was in one of my favorite movies of the year (this year? last year? I don't remember) An Education. She looks nothing like me, is British & would have to wear a fat suit but I think she'd bring a lot to the role - she could truly capture the struggle of a girl going to the gym 17 days in a row.

*sigh* But more likely my adventures will be turned into an animated short starring this fellow.

Dougal from The Magic Roundabout
Whenever Marcel happens to catch an episode of this show with us, he never fails to point out how much Dougal is like me. Not cool. He's very grouchy, sneaky & bossy. But yes, he does have my hair so what can you do?

Okay, I'm off to be a mother. And I'll warn you that today's trip to the gym may be a tricky one because it's Friday & we have friends coming over this afternoon so I have to squeeze it in after Marcel gets home but we also have to get groceries & clean. Oooooh, will she make it???

Staring at the sun

Remember how I used to always say that I don't like to say how good life is because each & every time I do, I get struck by lightning or run over by a bus? Figuratively, people, figuratively. I may be signing back up that way of thinking again. Made the mistake of telling you about my nice couple of days & then yesterday was a turd, a stinker & an all-around waste of my energy. Let me take you back in time to revisit such a woeful time ...

We open on a woman who does not want to get out of bed. Ehhhh, I'm tired of this literary writing already so I'm going to fall back on my favorite way of explaining things - the list.

1. I lost Bono's guitar pick. It's my good luck charm & I have managed to keep it safe for almost 15 years so there were a couple of quick tears shed for this. If I haven't made you suffer through my dramatic tellings of every U2 concert I've been to, you are a lucky soul ("And then Edge raaaaaan past on the catwalk like a bolt of lightning & even though he was wearing sunglasses & the spotlights were blinding me & he was facing the other direction, I'm pretty sure he winked at me ..."). If you have listened to my tall tales (actually they are all true, my enthusiasm just gets OUT OF CONTROL)(if you were a U2 fan, you'd get the double meaning) then you'll remember that in Atlanta with Joy, Bono jumped onto the audience - security was hanging onto the back of his pants & he was hovering over our heads like a Thanksgiving day parade float & if I weren't such a polite lady, I could have poked him in his hoo-ha. Do men have hoo-has? I could have poked him in his crotch nonetheless. But I didn't so the Lord blessed my respectful self by making Bono drop a guitar pick that got wedged in the mat below our feet & Joy kept her eye on this pick the rest of the show until the place emptied out enough for her to grab it away before the only other person in the place who noticed it could get it. I never noticed it - I was still coming down from my holy experience of being so close to Bono hovering above me ... & regretting not poking him in the crotch.

ANYWAY, somehow I ended up with the guitar pick. I'm pretty sure it's because Joy is the most awesome lady in the world & knew that since I would marry Bono one day (whoops) I deserved the pick as a pseudo promise ring - I would totally have given her Larry's drumstick by the same rationale if he happened to fling one our way. Of course it would probably would have had to be surgically removed from my eye or something because drumsticks are dangerous. When Joy & I reconnected a few months ago, I made sure to apologize just in case I snatched it from her in some Gollum-esque frenzy but she didn't remember & just assumed she gave it to me. I don't know what grown-up world she lives in that she doesn't remember every painful moment of adolescent stalkertude but we'll just go with that.

ANYWAY x 2 -- So, I lost the pick. It was always kept tucked away in the coin section of my wallet so it was with me but safe & I could see it when I was paying for things. I apparently forgot to zip that section of my wallet because I pulled the wallet out of my purse yesterday & coins rained down all over the place & I spent the next hour desperately trying to find the pick - pulling out the couch, checking under all the cushions, being disgusted by what was under the cushions, vacuuming under the cushions, picking up everything in the loungeroom ... no luck. Seriously, NO luck. It's my lucky charm so without it I had no luck. Get it?

Marcel - who I depend on to find everything I lose - just happened to find the pick this morning. On the driveway, right beside my car. Weird. Must find someplace special for that thing since the zippy change compartment has let me down.

Did you forget I was making a list? I forgot so now have to remember what the hell I was talking about before I went off on my U2 concert tangent. Ahhh yes, the bad day....

2. The dog (Jack)(remember Jack, the giant greyhound?) snapped at Ben. I'd been keeping them out of each other's faces for the past few days because Ben was sick of being knocked over but yesterday Jack fell asleep on the rug in front of the TV while I was folding clothes on the couch & Ben was running around with his toys. Ben kept tripping over Jack but the dog ignored him so I thought we were all cool. But Ben stepped on Jack's back foot & that dog lunged back & growled/snapped/grew devils' horns like he was possessed. Luckily Ben fell back - if he had fallen forward he would be missing half his face. I took the dog outside, cuddled my little man & the dog went back to the fostering program a few hours later. Ain't havin' that in my house with my son.

And don't get me wrong, I am totally a dog person & realize you don't mess with a sleeping dog, a dog's feet & dogs can snap when they feel threatened so this was a perfect storm. Heaven knows he was the most peaceful dog before that & he'll probably never do it again but Benny boy comes first so the dog had to go.

3. I slipped while putting laundry detergent up on the shelf & ended up with half a box of laundry powder down my shirt & in my bra. No further explanation needed.

4. Marcel called right before he was supposed to be done with work & asked "Are you ready for the Bay?" Huh? What? We had talked about going out to eat with some friends - one of whom is an old friend of Marcel's who lives overseas & is in town for the moment - at a wonderful, wonderful, yummy, scrumptious restaurant called The Bay. Nobody (*cough*Marcel*cough*) told me it was going to be last night so I was in my worst house-cleaning/workout clothes reeking of flowery detergent & still fuming over the pick & the dog, just looking forward to going to the gym & going to bed early with a book. But then I really wanted to hang out with everybody & eat good food. But then I'm trying not to eat so much good food so I can lose some weight. And I haaaate taking Ben out to restaurants after his bedtime because Godzilla comes to life & I spend my whole time trying to prevent him from destroying Tokyo & no time having grown-up conversation or enjoying my yummy food. So I stayed home, Ben stayed up a little late because he has now started having an evening poop & he can't get to sleep until that's been taken care of (grrrrrr) but I did get to bed with my book & fell asleep right after 9pm.

5. Because the pick wasn't located until late this morning, the bad luck continued to a 2nd day. I ordered an awesome bathing suit online (shut up, how could that possibly go wrong??) after weeks of researching & trying to find exactly what I wanted. On sale, measurements matched, in stock, ordered, paid, ready to go, confirmation email received, second email received that said it was backordered so now I have no idea when I'll have that bathing suit so I had to send an obnoxious, but kindly worded email, to basically say "D-U-D-E, it literally said it was IN stock when I ordered it. Don't pull the bait & switch now, jerks. If I can't get it before my vacation, CANCEL IT because that sucks! ButIreallywantthesuitsopleasegetitformebecauseaSpanxbathingsuitsoundslikeheaventhankyou." I'll keep you posted on this drama as more information is received.

So yeah, there was more general suckiness & lots of laundry & house cleaning & couldn't go to the gym but now that the pick has been located, surely my luck should change. Ben wouldn't go down for his morning nap but now he's sleeping so that is an obvious pick connection.

But now I'm looking forward. Well, as soon as this whiny blog is written I will be looking forward. Many errands to run, so much more house cleaning to do, groceries to be bought, menus to be planned & mucho gymming to be done. Are you ready for a big claim? You better be ready because here it comes ...

I have 17 days until I leave for America. I have not yet lost enough weight to fit back into my skinny jeans, which was my goal. There is a chance I have lost no weight whatsoever but I'm feeling more fit but who really cares because all my jeans are still tight & those skinny jeans can't be convinced to shimmy anywhere over my chubby hips. Because of sickness & then some laziness & Marcel's availability to watch Ben, I have only been to the gym once this week. Henceforth & therein (huh?), here comes my bold claim so stand back ---- I, Ashley blah blah Eisele, will be going to the gym EVERY DAY for the next 17 days. I don't care if it's just to curl up on the treadmill for a nap, my ass will be in that gym every damn day. I don't expect to fit into my skinny jeans after 17 days - chances are it will take 17 months to lose the mess that has settled on to my body but I feel like really pushing myself for what may be the first true fitness challenge of my life, my Everest if you will. Bye bye lazy lady. Hello weird girl that went to the gym 17 days in a row.

Okay, enough for now. Ben's still asleep so I think I may take a few minutes rest to read & mentally prepare for my first of 17 consecutive trips to the gym tonight. I can feel your anticipation so I'll keep a log of how I survive the arduous task & if/when the people who work at the gym realize what I'm up to & hoist me on their muscly shoulders with a cry of huzzah! Maybe not, but this guy will be proud -
Bono, Popmart 1997 
(he's probably still trying to find the guitar pick he lost in Atlanta, poor guy)

21 September 2010

Stinky Pete

Yesterday was such a good day, it was weird. Well, it had one major bad event but it wasn't as bad as it could have been - Ben fell down the concrete steps at the front of our house. I was trying to be Super Mom (remind me it's never worth it) & take the boy & the dog for a walk so Ben & I were going out first so I could settle him into the pram then come back for the dog. Jack did not get the message so he was pushing past me to get out the door, Ben was running ahead & the pram was wedged between me & the dog while we fought. So Ben reached the stairs, barrelled ahead & tumbled down. He sobbed, I sobbed but all was okay about 3 minutes later. I really have to work on that whole concept of not overreacting when your child falls so they don't panic but it was the first time I've seen him actually fall so dramatically. Not cool. Luckily, not a bruise or scratch on him!

I can't even really remember why the day was good - just got boring things accomplished, dyed my hair, painted a box (details coming later in what will probably be the only crafty thing I ever do) & got to the gym. And to add the whipped cream to the day, when I got to the gym I realized I forgot my iPod & wasn't happy because that means I was going to have to listen to the music channel they always have playing, which keeps the top hits on repeat. No offense to Katy Perry, Usher & Adam Lambert but they don't get my fitness juices flowing ... whatever that means. But guess what was on? Oh nothing much, just THE BEST OF U2! How hilarious is that? So I got my treadmill on to my music in the end.

Once that was over & I had done by weights & was back to the treadmill (I've cobbled together a routine so let's just pretend I know what I'm doing) & it was suddenly Best of the 80s & 90s. This was wonderful as well but the worst thing happened - I got a case of the inexplicable giggles. On the treadmill. In public. I blame stupid Spandau Ballet. Their video "True" was on, which has the wacky ass lead singer singing very sincerely straight to camera so it was like he was looking deep into my eyes & I couldn't stop thinking about Modern Family's episode about that song. Giggles ensued & I couldn't keep making fake eye contact with the fellow so I got all sketchy-eyed, looking around the gym. Somehow that made me giggle more, then "My Sharona" came on with clips from Reality Bites & I was done for. I loved that movie in its day & am still convinced that if Winona Ryder & Janeane Garafalo would just give me a chance, we'd be awesome friends. Lord knows I already dance like their characters.

So, I made a fool of myself at the gym but I ended up running faster & longer than I ever have so I guess uncontrollable giggle power has its use. Let's make it clear that turtles could still overtake me when I'm "running" but I've now gone from alternately walking 3 minutes & running 1 to walking 2 minutes & running 1. At this rate I'll be running marathons in, like, 17 years. Good times, good times.

And hey, Benny boy is still doing alright with his sleeping. He's waking up twice now but the first time is while we're still awake anyway so I'm only having to wake up once a night with him!! I am still not holding my breath & expect he'll go back to 3 or 4 times a night any day now but I'm revelling in the extra sleep while I can! Not sure if it's that or the improved fitness but I have a lot more energy these days.

Today's been okay as well - seriously some of the best weather the world has ever known. Hot in the sun but a strong cool breeze. Boy, dog & I should be outside but we just ate some lunch & the dog is asleep on the rug, the boy is taking things he knows he's not allowed to take & putting them in a basket he knows he's supposed to leave alone. I should stop him but I reach a point every day where I get tired of saying no & trying to find tricky ways to distract him. I'll be back to my finger-wagging lecturing ways shortly. Reminds me that on Sunday I gave my first "If you don't treat your toys right, I'm going to have to take them away. Your father & I pay good money ... blah blah blah" lecture. 16 month olds don't seem to take much of this speech to heart, FYI. I had to sit down & take some deep breaths to recover from such a strong burst of cliched parenting. *sigh* It was bound to happen. He was tipping his wooden play kitchen over & over, just to hear the loud bang.

And now he's just dumped his basket of ill-gotten items on the ground so I need to go save the tissues from certain destruction. Happy Tuesday!

P.S.
For those of you who don't have total recall of 80s hits, I give you Spandeau Ballet's "True" (since when do they have ads before videos on YouTube?) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e4WLdLNajs
AND
I give you the dance scene from Reality Biteshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvhw-uAzbVc
If I could magically conjure up a photo of me from my freshman year of high school (I will not be doing this, thank you very much), you would see a little Winona Ryder doppelganger - same kinda terribly cut reddish hair, same awkward style, pasty skin, but missing an Ethan Hawke by my side. Ahhh the 90s.

19 September 2010

Progress report

Are you ready for me to jinx myself? We actually have already said it out loud so the damage is probably already done. Anyway, the last two nights Ben has kind of put himself to sleep AND only woken up ONCE each night!! Now, granted I have rocked & fed him as usual but when I put him down each time he woke up & started whining but it never lasted for more than a minute or two & never turned into actual crying. Otherwise, I think we all know I would have scooped him up & rescued him from the torture that every other perfectly well-adjusted child has experienced. Hmmmm. And I realize that a 16 month old that wakes up once a night is a massive fail to most parents but I feel like I'm floating on cloud 9 & have the energy to run a marathon. He did the same for his naps both days too - I rocked, he whined, then blessed silence. Today he did not give in for his nap but a little while later he had a ginormous, messy poo (sorry, should have warned you that was coming) so I blame his little squirrelly tummy for that & still have hopes for tonight going well again. I do not have high hopes, mind you, just minor run-of-the-mill hopes. If I get cocky, I will get burned.

So let's talk about the small pony roaming around our house at the moment. Hilarious. He actually woke me up last night once so I still ended up having to get up twice but I would much rather wake up to let him out instead of having the house flooded by the world's largest dog bladder. He is an awesome dog, I have to admit but I don't think a dog is for us in the long run. He's the lowest maintenance dog in history - we could have avoided the midnight wake up except that we're nannas that I had to go to bed early so he didn't get his last outside romp of the night. Greyhounds (well, this one at least) are calm, sweet, peaceful, sleepy, daybed-hogging lovers of cuddling. Nothing wrong with that.

Jack (race name Birraba Boy), shortly before he was taught that he is not actually allowed on the couch.

The cons are more along the line of the amount of food they consume - seriously, if we actually had to pay for all that food we'd be broke - & the size of the resulting poop is ridiculous. I'm tempted to take a picture of this dog's dumps but I don't want to lose the 5 followers I have struggled to get!

The ultimate downfall with Jack is his relationship with Ben. He is so gentle & lovely but even when he's ignoring Ben, he manages to knock him over or whack him in the face with his tail repeatedly. Totally not his fault that there's a miniature person around or that he's too big to manoeuvre around without swiping one of us. Unfortunately, Ben is subsequently not that crazy about Jack most of the time & usually does his best to avoid him if they meet up in the same room. I don't want Ben feeling uncomfortable in his own house so if it doesn't improve, Jack may not end up staying the full 3 weeks.

There is the thought in the back of my mind that all the bobbing & weaving Ben has had to do around here is the reason he has been sleeping so much better! There's also the chance that he heard us telling our friends about his sleeping woes when we visited them & their gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous 2 month old son. Maybe he decided that we deserved better than that but I doubt it. And can I say he was the life of the party for 2 days as well!! It was like having our goofy little man back instead of the crank pot that has been hanging around a lot recently. It's been awesome to see him smiling & cracking up as much as he used to. He's a bit crankier again today so I hope we're not reverting back. I also hope he wasn't sick for weeks or something that we just didn't catch like the awesome parents we are but I assume extra sleep makes everyone a little happier.

Anyhoo, that's our life in a nutshell these days. I am off to make myself useful & maybe try to convince Ben to take a late nap. Shyeah right! And monkeys might fly out of my butt.

14 September 2010

Jack be nimble

So, I'm sick again. Why, why, why? I just hope my body is purging it all out of my system at once so I'm nice & healthy during our entire holiday overseas. DO YOU HEAR ME, BODY?? My throat is absolutely on fire today. Ben seems to be feeling okay, which is good - was a bit warm when he woke up from his nap but he took an extra long one so he may have just been literally warm from being cuddled up so long during the day.

And it's pouring down rain today so it's so hard to find motivation to get up & take on the world. I'd just be happy to get up & get groceries but that will wait until tomorrow. Must find something creative to throw together for dinner tonight.

Well, we've got some news. Nothing major but I'm very excited. We're getting a foster dog this Friday!! We've been talking about getting a dog since we bought the house but keep going back & forth about whether we're ready for one with Mr. Magoo (Ben). Saw a notice that Greyhounds as Pets needed foster families for retired greyhounds so we applied. Very long process later (not painful, just caught them at the wrong time) & we'll soon have a young man named Jack.

Jack

Normally fostering is for 6 weeks but because it dragged out so long & I won't be around for a while next month, they're letting us do it for the 3-4 weeks we have left. Seems just perfect that we can get a feel for having a dog around but hopefully not get tooooo attached ... yeah right. Fostering is a great deal, by the way - they provide the food, bed, leashes, collar, dishes, every supply you could need, a manual, any vet costs that could possibly come up (hopefully nothing) & they are spayed/neutered. 

Jack is a big boy but with a great calm temperament, not jumpy & well-suited for kids. Turns out retired greyhounds are fantastic for families as I've been doing my research for months now. He was also apparently quite a good racer - rumour has it they were given a DVD of his last race but I'm guessing that will only go to whoever adopts him. 

Anyway, I'll post lots of pictures & videos when we get him - nothing better than a kid with a dog!

Okee dokee, I'm off to do a bit of cleaning & seriously try to find something to eat for tonight. And taking some more Panadol so I can feel better tonight & get my booty to the gym. Hope you're having a fantastic week in your corner of the world!

12 September 2010

Rootin' Tootinest

It has been a lovely, glorious weekend - love when things are like this. Lots of friends, lots of fun & way too much food. Also managed to sneak in a trip to Sabbath school, a doctor's appointment (all of my blood work & urine were clear & good - yahoo!) & two trips to the gym. Did I mention all the food? Lonestar, pizza, a barbeque, then a gorgeous buffet breakfast this morning. Not sure why I bothered with the gym since I'm just sabotaging my own efforts. Ah well, back to the healthier eating tomorrow, right?

Hmmmm, well that's just about it. Not sure why I started this blog since I have nowhere to go with it. Oh! Marcel surprised with me with a gift certificate for a spa today (the breakfast this morning for a friend's birthday was at a hotel back in Terrigal with an amazing spa) for no reason. I'm cobbling together a plan that involves a massage next weekend then waxing & spray tanning before I go overseas. Or maybe a serious pedicure - my feet desperately need it. Lordy, nothing better than fun times at a spa!

Oh, did I mention the awesome new print I got for Ben's room? I'm tempted to put it in our room or even in the loungeroom because it's so gorgeous. It's from Sara Jane Studios, who does some gorgeous things & I got it from our fantastic friend Nicole's shop The Princess & The Pea - check it out!
www.theprincessandthepea.com.au
Whenever I get the right frame for it & decide which room to put it in, I'll take another picture of it "in action." 

Benny boy is doing well, nothing new to report these days. Seems to be eating better every day - except for today where he refused everything except hash browns but what can you do? No better with sleep, unfortunately, but my mom & I are going to work on that in America so I won't be suffering alone. Should be interesting if nothing else.

Okay, I need to run & see if I can get some more food into Ben so he's not running on fried potato fumes all afternoon. Also need to see if I can trick him into a late nap since he only did a quick snooze in the car on the way home. Good times, good times.

07 September 2010

Know what I mean, Vern?

Happy Tuesday everyone. Hope everyone in our corner of the world is happy that the bizarro election madness has come to an end finally! Yikes. I was a little worried that Ben was going to have his 3rd prime minister in his wee 15 months of life. Anyway, don't have anything important to report in our lives over here. Just doing the day to day as usual so let's see what updates I can pull together for you. Hmmm ...

Benny
I'll start with the boy since this is supposed to be my mothering blog. He is glorious as usual - another stinking tooth coming in so grouchiness all around, moping & staying up late, trying to breastfeed around the clock. Either he has the most evil teeth on earth or our son is little bit on the dramatic side.

He is still addicted to Toy Story - we seriously put it on everyday even though we usually don't make it through the whole thing. I think he prefers the first one but has started to pay more attention to the second. I am looking forward to #3 coming out on DVD just so we have a bit more variety. I would like to give a sincere thank you to Woody & Buzz Lightyear for allowing me a peaceful shower everyday. And one bonus of watching the first one is too hear the late great Tennessean, Jim Varney.

Ben also had a small upper respiratory infection last week but it's pretty much cleared up now. We've been really lucky with his health - his infection was just a cough, not too bad & went away quickly. Maybe the regular teething dramas balance us out.

Me
Just to add more doctor's office waiting room joy, I had some blood & urine tests run after chatting with Ben's doctor while there for his infection. Turns out I have a bunch of blood in my urine. That doesn't sound good. Getting results back for everything tomorrow to see if it's just an infection (luckily, I'm not feeling any bladder infection symptoms) or if it's just something else ... liiiiike ... uhhhh, someone stabbed my bladder? I don't know. My trust online research says that it can come from running so I'm blaming my extreme physical fitness. Ha!

Speaking of my gymming, which I know I promised not to go on & on about but I digress, it's going well. Uh, well, it's going well in the sense that I'm still going very regularly & kicking my own ass while I'm there. Not going well in the sense that I have had NO RESULTS WHATSOEVER. I suppose it may take more than a few weeks to drop my gut, butt & other flabby bits but I would still love to have a tiny bit extra room in my jeans just to keep my spirits up. Oddly enough, my face seems to have more definition, looking a little less like this guy than usual:


And my feet seems to be a bit leaner. *sigh* Typing that out makes it sound really stupid but I swear my feet are looking stronger. I have to stop talking about it, I know it's weird. Now my fear is if my head & feet are getting the first effects, is it all going to start going inward so the parts that need it most will get the effects last. I'll be all goose-necked & skinny-calved with a big round middle. Lovely. Anyway, I really truly am working very hard at the gym for like an hour 4-5 days a week so I guess I'm going to have to eat healthier, less, blah blah blah I'm done boring you with this.

Oh! Another Ben note - he has started holding my boob. What I mean is when he's nursing on one side, he insists on sliding his other hand into my bra & holding on for dear life! W-H-Y? I fight him every single time but he usually wins. At night it tends to be the difference between wiggling & going to sleep peacefully so what's a mom to do? Ugh.

The Journey
Yep, still thinking about the trip that is now only a bit over a month away! I absolutely can't wait to see everyone & have a few little adventures. We did manage to get our hands on some good medicine to sedate the boy if needed. Tried it out a few days ago & it worked well & it seemed to work naturally so hopefully it won't be like I'm dragging a big ragdoll around with me. We'll do another test or two before we leave to make sure it wasn't a fluke. When we tried the all natural version of a sedative it made him hyper so I really don't want that to happen on the plane so better safe than sorry. And we're being very careful with the medicine & only giving half a dose, which put him out for 7 good hours. Of course 7 hours is only half the flight but I've also got little books & finger puppets wrapped up to entertain him & I'm buying Toy Story for my ipod & kiddy headphones so he can watch movies, etc. when he's awake. I'm stressing less so that's gotta work in our favor.

Random junk
Okay, I have to give a big high five to Channel 10 for their lovely new Sunday night line-up. I've always enjoyed Talking 'Bout Your Generation but it's leaving Sunday night, which is sad. BUT they're replacing it with Masterchef Junior, which is awesome (until it causes me to eat crazily, plumping up my newly dainty feet). 

But what I really want to talk about is Offspring. I am LOVING this show - so interesting, different, quirky without being obnoxiously so & the cast is seriously stellar. I will take a quick moment to say the best of the main cast are RGM clients (Kat, Don, Deb, Linda). I never appreciated Asher Keddie in the past because her shows didn't really interest me but she is fantastic in this show. And let's face it, I would watch Kat Stewart act out the phone book - that girl is a gem. And not to break my still-relevant confidentiality agreement but she is really awesome & friendly in real life. Also so happy to see Deb Mailman in her role on the show - don't you love her? I do. 

And of course no words can do enough justice to Don Hany. When it comes to hospital love drama shows, he makes those McDreamy, McSteamy, McSneezy & Doc look like children.

You're welcome.

Heck, I even like the British show that's on after Offspring. I think it's Married Single Other, which is a truly terrible name for a show & I didn't expect much but I gotta say I enjoy it. I do love TV, folks & I am seriously looking forward to getting the US sitcoms back in my life. Community, 30 Rock are you listening?? Come back soon.

You know when I start reviewing TV shows that it's time for me to shut my trap & find something else to do. I am stopping just short of telling you about the new grout brush I bought that has made my life so much brighter ... well, it's made my shower tiles much brighter. Oh, that was a terrible job of stopping short of telling you because I did tell you. But now I'm off like a prom dress!