Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I took these pictures last night. Jesse makes cute faces mostly because of what he does with his mouth. He’s a big time lip purser.

Note the pens in Beau’s shirt pocket - ever the teacher, that one.

For those interested, Whiny Complaints is back in business. Most Mommy blogging will occur over there, although you can count on the occasional cross post and picture here, too.

Maybe it’s me, but I think I’m wearying of the 24 formula.

Jack’s constant yelling is annoying me.

The torture seems extra gratuitous this season.

Chloe needs to snap out of her funk.

A nuke went off in LA and yet LA seems to be going on about it’s business as normal. There’s something wrong there.

I miss Curtis. I even miss Madame DHS. And I still want an explanation for Milo’s reappearance.

I don’t like the Dad-Brother thing.

I could go on with a litany of other complaints. Sad.

Monday, February 12, 2007

I’ve read a few baby books along the way to having Jesse. So far the one that’s resonating the most with me now that he’s actually here is Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg. Her advice is no-nonsense and fits itself somewhere right in between Drs. Sears and Ferber.

What I’ve appreciated most is her advice about breastfeeding, schedules, and sleep.

Highly recommended by me, I plan to share it with a couple of soon-to-be moms that I know.

He’s in a growth spurt, which I realized in the middle of the night after a challenging day of much fussiness and more frequent than usual feedings. At first I figured the fussiness was because the Friday and Saturday feedings were screwed up with outings. And maybe that was part of it, too. But I’m thinking it’s a growth spurt since he wanted to be fed every 2-3 hours like clockwork even through the night. Lately he’s been sleeping in 4-5 hour chunks in the night and I didn’t get that last night.

Anyhoo, the picture was taken yesterday morning. He’s focusing in on things when he looks around. He’s looking at the toy that’s attached the car seat handle. And he gave me a sweet smile last night before I gave him The Food Source™. No, not a gassy smile, but a genuine smile. I think he may have shallow dimples in his cheeks - too cute.

I just emailed to my mother that my goals for today are to get a shower and maybe a trip to Wegmans. We have grocery needs and I don’t want to wait until after the snow/ice event that’s coming tomorrow. 

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Maybe it was because we were interrupted several times by Jesse last night (we’re trying to get him to sleep in the bassinet (I got lazy in the beginning and he’s been co-sleeping, but I know that’s potential for trouble later, so I’m trying to correct that mistake) and it’s a struggle right now), but I think Beau and I were both a little underwhelmed by Flags of Our Fathers. That’s not to say that I didn’t like it. I did, but I think I expected a bit more from it than we got after all the kudos it got when it came out. And to be fair, I have to admit that I dozed off in a couple of places and probably missed some key things. My overall impression was that it was a nice tribute to the men who fought at Iwo Jima and of the men who raised the flags. And that’s about it.

FoOF gets 3 stars out of 5.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Me likey. A lot.

I’ve watched the whole first season of BSG and the producers can add another mark in the nutso fanatic column. Many thanks to Uncle Bill for the loan of the DVDs - I’ve passed them back to Dad so that he can jump on that Viper-wagon.

What I love - the new super scary yet strangely compelling and almost sympathetic human Cylons; Dr. Baltar (more about him in a second); Apollo Adama (more about him in a second as well); the excellent special effects; women fighter pilots; the spiritual aspect of the human Cylons

What I don’t love - the chick who plays Starbuck; marginal acting from some; Col Tigh’s wife; Dr. Baltar; frack

Dr. Baltar - in the original series he was the man to hate. In this series he’s more complex and I like how his character is played out. The only thing that annoys me is how susceptible he is to Number Six, but that’s the point, I guess.

Apollo Adama - I knew that I recognized the actor, Jamie Bamber. I think I first saw him in the Horatio Hornblower series. So he’s British, which is what confused me because his American accent is pretty good. Oh, and it doesn’t surprise me that he was also in Band of Brothers.

Cautionary note on sexual content - the show is on cable and while there’s no nudity, there are scenes that might make some uncomfortable. Also, there’s no profanity, but in the world of BSG “frack” is used as one would hear the F-word. It’s cheesy and annoying, imho.

If you like good sci-fi and haven’t seen BSG yet, check it out. It’s worth the rental. I’ve moved up season two to the top of my Netflix queue.

Beau’s trip went well overall. He’s now got the normal after interview doubts, although his initial impression was that he did pretty well overall. Now it’s in God’s hands and we just have to wait and see what is the outcome.

He said the town has a Sonic, which is a huge tick in the “pro” column for me.

He makes the cutest faces right before I feed him. But because I feed him via The Food Source™ there will be no pictures. No need to display The Food Source™ to the interweb loons.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Just a quick post before I feed Jesse again. He’s been snoozing peacefully, but of course as soon as I get to the computer he starts crying again. So this will be quick.

I talked with Beau last night - his trip went well and he spent a little time in the afternoon getting a tour of the area with the chairperson of the search committee. He said the town is about the size of the neighboring town of my college area. Little Rock is about 45 minutes away. To us, that’s not that far at all considering I’ve commuted for twice that time here. He was heading out for dinner with another of the folks on the search committee after we talked.

Today his schedule is to spend time interviewing this morning (that should be wrapping up soon), lecturing at 11am (central time), more meet-n-greet type stuff this afternoon, and a dinner tonight.

My day alone with Jesse went well. Mom came over and we worked on clearing up some of the clutter in the basement. She’s been a huge help to us over the past few months - mainly on the housekeeping front. She’s coming over again today for more of the same andI still plan to go out to BJs to get diapers. Lots of Battlestar Galactica was watched and I’m still enjoying the series. I’m really interested in the Cylons and their spirituality.

I’d better go. Jesse’s crying had moved into the frantic now.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Beau left at 6:45am this morning to jet off to Arkansas. I’m alone with Jesse until Friday evening when Daddy returns, Lord willing. If you think about him, please pray for Beau’s interview tomorrow - he spends pretty much the entire day at the college meeting folks, guest lecturing, yadda yadda yadda. His lecture is on the political parties and the role of primaries.

Yesterday I had grand plans that I would take Jesse out today for our first independent shopping trip. I was cleared to drive by my OB on Monday and thought I’d take advantage of my new freedom to run errands that I’ve depended on Beau and other people to do for the past several months. However, the wrench in that plan is the snow we got overnight - not much, but enough to close the schools and make me nervous about driving. I haven’t driven a car in about 3 months and don’t relish the idea of my reunion with the car to include the people who don’t know how to drive in snow on the roads. There’s also the carseat carrying in slick snow factor - I still have a surgical incision that’s healing - falling would be bad, for me and for baby. So I’m going to stay home today. We’ll try again tomorrow - here’s hoping we have enough diapers to last for the next 24 hours or so.

Fortunately, I’m hooked up with DVDs - Uncle Bill loaned a bunch of his DVDs to me when I was on bed rest. One set that I still have is season one of Battlestar Galactica. I watched the first DVD yesterday and liked it a lot. So I plan to watch more today as I can fit in around baby care.

Have I mentioned how much I’m enjoying maternity leave? It’s making it harder to get motivated to go back to work.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

I like Sandra Bullock and I like Keanu Reeves - they both have matured nicely as actors, I think, and do better at quieter characters. So I hoped to like The Lake House and I do, a lot.

A lonely doctor (Bullock) who once occupied an unusual lakeside home begins exchanging love letters with its former resident, a frustrated architect (Reeves). They must try to unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary romance before it’s too late.

I liked how the movie was put together. I liked the way the relationship and romance developed. Sure, it’s a clichéd romantic tale, but I like clichéd romance on occasion. And it wasn’t froofy romance.

I like that it was PG for mild language and a disturbing scene. The disturbing scene is in the beginning and the mild language comes mostly from Christopher Plummer’s character - he plays Reeves crusty old dad.

I highly recommend The Lake House and give it 4 stars out of 5.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Think you know about the two coaches of today’s Super Bowl teams? Maybe you don’t - I didn’t. Check this out.

Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are making history.

Each has coached his team to the verge of a world championship, something no African-American has ever done in professional football. They are old friends.

They coached together at Tampa Bay. But they also are bound together by something deeper and more profound than a love of football. Each of them, in his own way, is driven by a love of Jesus Christ.

[via The Thinklings]

Yesterday was a full day.

We are still trying to organize our crap, so Beau went to buy more storage shelves for our utility room (more on that later). We then hung the pot rack that the Cooties had given to us, which meant removing some shelves from a cabinet for that wall space to be available. I’m planning to use those shelves in my “office” - the table that we’ve set up in my computer area in the basement for when I start back to work. Anyway, moving pots and pans to the pot rack freed up some cabinet space so we then reorganized the rest of the cookware in order to empty the free standing cabinet under the pot rack for baby things. I have a bin of large bottles and sippy cups from the Cooties that still needs emptying.

By the time we got that done, it was nearing mid-afternoon and I needed to start the process of showering and dressing for church at 5:30pm. TMI ALERT: I was in desperate need of shaving my legs, which had not seen a razor since I went into the hospital that last time. Yes, I had been able to shower while in the hospital, but with my expanding girth there was no way I could navigate that tiny cubicle in any attempt to shave my legs. And I wasn’t vain enough to ask a nurse for help with that - in the great scheme of things, having smooth legs wasn’t that important at that point. Then of course, I wasn’t able to do much other than stand upright after the c-section ... you get my problem. Needless to say this was a two blade event and probably should have been three and took enough time that by the time I was exiting the shower there wasn’t much hot water left.

I got out of the shower to hear yelling coming from the basement that reminded me of A Christmas Story only with a lot less profanity. I thought maybe Beau was yelling at the cat - they have a running battle of wits over where the cat is allowed to go - Beau’s recliner is off limits, but Mr. Kitty simply adores it. Turns out Beau was yelling at the storage shelves, which were not as easy to put together as the non-existent directions said. But he got them assembled and they’re going to be great (Mom and I are planning a clean up session while Beau is in Arkansas this week).

We made it to church, which was great. How can you not love your pastor when his favorite comedy is Dumb and Dumber? And he watches a lot of the same TV shows that I do, too. But I digress ... church was great, as always, and Jesse was fawned over by more people. He slept through the whole service and woke up as we were leaving, showing off his extreme cuteness. He’s cute when sleeping peacefully. He’s off the hook cute when he’s awake and alert. Of course, I’m a little biased.

We then braved a dinner in a restaurant. Fortunately, I had prepared by bringing a bottle just in case we missed getting home by his feeding time. He was a champ and slept through most of our meal, waking up after Pop finished eating so that he was able to feed him that bottle. No crying at all; he did great. Not that I expect that to be the norm when we are brave enough to take him out with us.

Marmie and Pop offered to Jesse-sit on Valentine’s Day so that Beau and I can cash in our rain check on the anniversary dinner at the Heart in Hand that we missed when I was in the hospital. Of course, we were smart enough to take them up on that offer and I’ll call later to make our reservations.

There followed a great night’s sleep since Jesse slept from 11:00pm-5:00am. I got up then to feed him and then we slept for another few hours, when Beau woke up for a later than usual Dawn Patrol feeding and let me sleep until about 10am. Glorious. All in all a good Saturday. Today we lounge at home until we head for my parents’ house for the Super Bowl, where Uncle Bill will get to meet his newest great-nephew.

Friday, February 02, 2007

I’ve added some sub-cats to the Make Room for Baby category:

Doc’s Report - all of Jesse’s stats

The Food Source - your requests for a boob category were heard, my peeps; this one is for all things breastfeeding - I’ll title these posts TFS: to warn Jaynee and all others who are boob squeamish.

Isn’t He the Cutest? - pictures of the kid