Friday, February 23, 2007

So I was watching Survivor while feeding Jesse and it wasn’t until 8:55 pm that I realized that the DVR was not recording as it should. The problem? I have it set up to record AI6 and the machine can’t record three things at once. So where it would normally record Survivor and The Office in the 8pm hour on Thursday nights, the addition of last night’s AI6 elimination show at 8pm hosed that deal. So nothing recorded in the 8pm hour.

No big deal about Survivor and AI6. But I’m sorely disappointed about not getting The Office. Now I need to find the time to watch it online, I guess.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

I really want to see Amazing Grace.

The hymn is beloved by just about everyone who knows it. But not everyone knows the story behind John Newton’s beautiful lyrics. This movie tells that story and it is amazing in itself. Knowing the story and taking a new look at the lyrics makes them ring so much more that song of God’s grace.

Amazing Grace
by John Newton

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

‘Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that Grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
We have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And Grace will lead me home. (Lead me home!)

The Lord hast promised good to me,
His word my hope secures!
He will my shield and portion be,
as long as life endures.

Yea, when this heart and flesh shall fail
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be for ever mine.

Many hymnbooks omit one or more of the last three verses, but add the following at the end:

When we’ve been here ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

This verse is not by Newton, but has been attributed to John P. Rees (1828-1900) and was included in a 19th century hymnal, Hymns Of The Christian Life.

My favorite verse is the fourth, which we don’t sing very often. Shame, that.

I was searching for plush kids toys - a lovey for Jesse to maul and chew and obsess over when he’s a little older - and happened upon this website. Quirky, no? Scroll down to see the Monty Python toys. Those are brilliant!

These are on backorder, not that I want them.

I fell asleep during the middle of the show so I missed 4 of the ladies’ performances. From the short recaps at the end of the episode, I didn’t miss anyone good.

My top 4:

Lakisha Jones
Melinda Doolittle
Stephanie Edwards
Sabrina Sloan

I totally agreed with the judges that if the rules didn’t require 6 men and 6 women in the final 12, it would be a female heavy final 12. They rock.

I also agree with Simon that it’s Lakisha’s competition to lose. Amazing! And I love her personality, too.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

I’ll be interested to see how the ladies perform tonight after seeing the guys last night. My overall impression was that they were all extremely nervous and played it safe with their song choices. All had trouble.

My top three?

Blake Lewis
Phil Stacey
Chris Sligh

I thought Sundance Head‘s song choice was really interesting, until he started to sing it. Simon was exactly right - it sounded like someone’s dad - maybe Sundance’s dad? It was weird and seemed high school choir-ish to me.

Who should go home? Sanjaya Malakar. He’s got a good voice, but his song choice was terrible and I don’t think he’s quite ready for this level of competition. However, he won’t because he’ll get the teen girl sympathy votes for several weeks, as always happens.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

... are up at Whiny Complaints - here and here. Pictures included.

A teaser…

First, about the All Stars TAR - I love. And I love almost all of the teams racing this time. I could do without the BQs from last season. And while I like Team Coalmine, also from last season, they don’t really measure up against the other all stars. The team I wish they had gotten again? Ken and Girard from season 3 - by far, my all time favorite Racers.

Second, about last night’s 24. SPOILER FOLLOWS… The episode was boring until the big reveal of President Weasel at the end, looking like he’s channeled Ted Kaczynski. Awesome!

Monday, February 19, 2007

I was surfing the channels while feeding Jesse this afternoon and happened upon an ad for Disney Mobile. It’s the happiest cell phone service on Earth!

The really, really bad thing about the ad was the “It’s a Small World” level of annoyance I experienced at the repeated “Zippedee Do Dah” in the background.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

This is posted at WC, too, along with another photo, but it was too cute not to share with the larger LM audience.

Jesse was laying on my chest and I heard what sounded like a wet burp. I pulled him up to inspect and saw that face. Beau grabbed the camera so that we didn’t lose the cute.

[LATER]: Also, Marmie has one of those frame bracelets with pictures of CootieGirl and CootieBoy. She gave it to me to see if we could replace a couple of those pics with shots of Jesse - I’ll see what I can do or I’ll create a new bracelet with Jesse pics. As I was looking at the pics, though, I could have sworn that one of the shots of CootieBoy was actually Jesse. It’s amazing how alike they look as newborns.

Here’s one of the pictures.

Beau and I have been well prayed over in the past year - for his job hunt and for the pregnancy mostly. Our families have prayed, our small group has prayed. My mother’s Bible study friends have prayed. Many of you guys have prayed. It’s a comfort and blessing.

Last night at church my mother was talking to a friend who had friends (a married couple) from out of town visiting. We walked over, with baby in hand, and the wife of this couple oohed and aahed over Jesse, noting how tiny he is, yadda yadda yadda. She asked what he weighed at birth, which we told her and then Beau added that he was a month early (we take pride in our big boy preemie). To which the lady exclaimed, “You’re the ones we’ve been praying for!”

How amazing is the family of God. How humbling the thought that there are probably many more distant brothers and sisters who have prayed for us and Jesse.

Thank you, Lord, for your blessings, provision, and care.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Your EQ is 120

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you’d have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You’ve got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You’re average. It’s easy to predict how you’ll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you’ve either out “Dr. Phil-ed” Dr. Phil… or you’re a dirty liar.

I have nothing new to report today. It’s been a quiet day and the new feeding regimen for Jesse is working well with Beau’s help. *TFS™ ALERT, although it’s a minor mention* We’ve got a system down where I nurse Jesse, then Beau takes over the burping while I pump for any hind milk and then he gives him the follow up formula. This saves a lot of my time.

So much time has been saved that I was able to take the time to put together a roasting chicken with veggies for dinner. It’s all in the oven. And Beau made dough for yeast rolls, which are rising as I type. Tonight we feast!

And we have a quiet weekend ahead as well. Nice.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Go here to read the latest stats on Jesse.

First, I took the following picture of Jesse the other day. Beau had changed him into a sleeper that’s a wee bit too big, which normally isn’t a problem. However, Jesse always has his legs motoring and he managed to get them in the one leg of the sleeper. In real life the sight was hilarious. I’m not sure it translates as well in a photo.

Our dinner last night was wonderful. Marmie and Pop came to our house to watch him and Pop let us drive his RAV-4 to the restaurant. Fortunately, the roads were mostly clear of snow/ice and there wasn’t much traffic. We had a lovely couple of hours together, ate a glorious meal (I had lamb, Beau had duck), and returned home quite full and recharged. There followed an evening with Jesse wide awake until I brought him into bed with us after his midnight feeding. From there we got a nice block of sleep until he got the hiccups at 6:00am, which I don’t remember, but Beau insists woke him up. I didn’t wake up fully until about 6:30am.

We head out in a little bit for Jesse’s doctor’s appointment. I’m looking forward to seeing how much he weighs now and I’m going to ask the doc to measure his length if he doesn’t automatically do that. After that, I think I’ll try for a nap and then I’m going to finish watching LOST from last night and then try to start BSG season two disc one, which arrived in the mail yesterday. Maternity leave rulz.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Despite the snowy and icy roads we’ve got, Beau and I are definitely going to keep our reservation for dinner tonight at the Heart in Hand restaurant. I just talked to my mother and she volunteered her Highlander to us for the trek into old town Clifton, a quaint little town that has narrow and curvy roads. We should be fine driving to their house to drop off Jesse for them to babysit in our car.

I can’t speak for Beau, but I’m looking forward to our romantic night out.