Snow day

Everything outside is covered in snow. That means we're stuck indoors because I don't know how to drive when there's snow on the ground. Eleanor and I have not been out of the apartment together for three days now. It's becoming harder and harder to entertain her (and myself). She really enjoys being out and about, so I don't think she's happy with this at all. Okay, maybe she is a little bit because I've taken a liking to snuggling up and taking a nap with her. Here's a picture of her in our bed before she woke up and realized I wasn't cuddled up next to her.
Maybe snow days aren't all bad.

Crawling lessons

This is Eleanor trying to learn to crawl. I put her on the kitchen floor because I heard it was easier for babies to learn on a hard surface. (Not recommended for my germaphobic friends.) She can scoot herself a couple of inches now. I keep putting toys in front of her face or sitting in front of her saying, "Come here...come to mommy." Sounds mean, but she needs the motivation.

See you in Spring

This morning, when we woke up the temperature was 7. Seven!?! That doesn't even sound like a real temperature. The wind chill was somewhere around 6 below zero.

I had to go out last night to get groceries. I ordered online from Safeway, but that turned out to be a disaster. They only brought about half of the items I needed. They said most of the other items were out of stock, but they also charged me for three items that they didn't bring. Extremely annoying. So, I had to brave the frigid winter air after Eleanor went to bed to go get some food to feed my troops. (Maybe this counts as a Proverbs 31 moment.) The temperature was 15. I really thought to myself that it would be cold, but really not that bad. WRONG! 15 degrees hurts! Your clothes feel like they're freezing to your body, and your fingers feel like they're turning into ice cubes. Woe unto you should you accidentally lick your lips!

Bathing is one of my favorite hobbies. I bathe at least twice a day. Well, for about three or four days now, I've had to seriously reduce my number of baths due to limited hot water. Taking a bath in less-than-lukewarm water is not that relaxing.

I'm a prisoner in my home because I am afraid to take Eleanor out. Two of my fingers cracked and bled just from being out for a little while. I don't want something like that to happen to her! So, here we sit with the heater blowing full blast.

I think we might get out again some time in March.

Happy Dance

A few posts ago I mentioned that Eleanor does a happy dance whenever we come to get her from her bed. Well, I finally captured it on video. Here she is today when she woke up from her nap. I think I'm going to use this for her River Dance audition tape.

Six weird things about me

Robin did a great list of six weird (but, oh-so-cute) things about herself, and has inspired me to do the same. I would encourage anyone else to do it to because it's a pretty hilarious way to get to know people. If you don't have a blog, feel free to write your list as a comment here.

1. I am the pickiest eater ever.

I think I would prefer to call it "selective", but either way I have all sorts of weird food issues. First, there's a texture issue which won't allow me to eat Jell-o or cottage cheese or anything else that might feel slimy in my mouth. I also have a serious meat issue, and rarely eat meat in restaurants. I only eat turkey or chicken, and the chicken must be breast meat cooked until it is so dry it's barely edible (to most people), and it absolutely, positively cannot be on the bone. The only condiment that I really like is barbecue sauce. Just the sight of (or really even the thought of) mayonnaise makes me gag, which leads me to my next weird thing...

2. I have an extremely sensitive gag reflex.

I oftentimes gag in public restrooms just thinking about what other people have done and could be doing in them. I gag if I accidentally put my toothbrush too far into my mouth. I gag if I see my cat's um...what's a good word here?...anus. I must say that I did not gag while changing a dirty diaper until Eleanor started eating solid food. Now, I regularly gag, but I'd venture to say that you would too.

3. I have movie amnesia.

No matter how many times I have seen a movie, it's like I'm watching it for the first time every time. Jared gets really frustrated because he is like the movie trivia king, and I never have any idea what he's talking about. Sometimes we'll be sitting around with friends and everyone is quoting a movie, and I feel like such a clueless moron so I laugh even though it's not funny to me. So, if you ever mention to me your favorite part of a movie, I'll probably smile and nod, but have absolutely no clue what you're saying.

4. I shop in negative dollars.

I rarely buy anything that's not seriously on sale. I'm one of those people that walks straight to the back of the store and makes a beeline for the clearance rack. I base what I "want" on how much I could "save" by buying it. So, if something was $40, but is now $10, I have to buy it so that I can save $30. I get that it's totally illogical, but I can't help myself.

5. I can touch my elbows together behind my back.

A completely useless skill, but weird nonetheless.

6. I LOVE Maxwell House commercials.

I was hoping to post a commercial or at least a link to one, but I can't find it anywhere online. You can hear that snazzy, little tune, though, by clicking here. My favorite is the most recent one- you know, the one with the factory workers singing. There's a lady in a ball cap (she's my favorite!). My favorite part is when they sing, "This coffee's really rich and bold." The website says they have a new commercial coming soon, and I can't wait! I can't explain it, but those commercials have a way of brightening my day. This really funny thing happened when I went to their website the first time...they have a product called 'Coffee Pods', but I thought it was link to download the Maxwell House jingles to your iPod. For a brief moment, I was on top of the world...
(Yes, I know it's a real song, but I like the coffee lyrics better.)

After a bath

We have not had the best of days today (i.e. lots of crying, like a millisecond of napping). Miss Robin can vouch for all of it. I decided to try and see if a bath would help little Punkin' find her smile. She did the happy dance afterwards, and I couldn't resist getting this photo of her in her extra-special, made-with-love towel from Miss Ashley. She hesitantly agreed to take a nap, but we'll see how long that lasts. I give it a centisecond. (I don't think that's real- I was just trying to think of something a little longer than a millisecond.) Days like today make teaching first grade look like a piece of cake, but when I see that little face, I think, "Who needs cake when I've got this?"

Note: Statement about cake not meant to imply that I wouldn't love a big hunk of it right now or ever.

Why women have more wrinkles (a tale of mommy-hood)

I know why women usually get more wrinkles than men as they get older. We worry. Specifically, I worry- a lot! I remember my third grade teacher calling me a "worry wart" because I was freaking out about a tornado "drill" (which turned out to be a real tornado by the way.) But even I didn't know the meaning of the word worry until now- until I became a mommy.

Since she was itty-bitty Eleanor has done this thing where she shudders and her head shakes. It looks like she's getting the chills. The first time she did it I thought it was cute. I assumed that she had actually gotten the chills (besides the fact that pretty much everything is cute when a five pound baby does it.) Then it happened again, and I started taking note. Well, recently, it began to happen more often. And in the past few days, I had noticed it happening much more frequently. I couldn't get it out of mind, so I called the doctor's office. They suggested that I video tape it, and have the doctor take a look. (They also said that it sounded like it was nothing to worry about, but I didn't let that stop me.) Yesterday afternoon, I captured this little head bobble thing with my video camera. I called the doctor's office- all excited that they would be able to drop what they were doing and watch my video. So, it was 5:30?! I don't see the problem. The phone nurse said no one would be able to look at it until tomorrow (that was yesterday. You with me here?!) I was totally bummed. I even asked if I could e-mail it to her. She said yes, but she never received the message. I was frantic. I had a knot in my stomach and was on the verge of tears. So, I turned to the next best thing to a doctor- my mommy friends. I e-mailed it to my friend Ashley who said it looked like it was either nothing or reflux. Reflux had never crossed my mind, but here are a few of the thoughts I had as I was lying in bed last night (in between trips to check on the Punkin') fully awake:

• Parkinson's disease (which I don't even know babies can have)


• Tourette's syndrome


• Infantile seizures


• Nerve damage (from the vaccinations she had Monday)

You get the picture...I was thinking of all the most horrible scenarios that this little head wobble could be a part of. This morning, I had a prior engagement with Little Jordan, so I couldn't go immediately to the doctor's office, but don't think I let the morning go by without making Jordan's mommy Laura watch the video. She said the exact same thing as Ashley! Nothing or reflux. Both much better answers than those ideas I had let crop up in my little noggin' overnight.

I took the video to the doctor's office and the bestest nurse ever Lori said she would look at it right away. (She thinks Eleanor is the cutest baby ever and she loves her.) She came out and took me into one of the exam rooms, and told me that she and Dr. Schwartz watched it, and determined that it was most likely- REFLUX! I should try giving her Maalox three times a day. (And a side of Xanax for mommy, please!)

So, there are two morals to this story-

1. My friends should be pediatricians.

2. By the time I'm 30, I'm going to look something like this:

if I don't stop worrying!


If anyone is interested, here's a link to the video. The questionable shuddering is at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5MLfi_l468