A weekend in Tucson

We spent this past weekend in Tucson. Michael and I both had today off from work and spending 3 nights down there instead of 1 or 2 nights makes the drive more worthwhile.

When Spencer was born we got a great swing from Michael's parents and a very fun jumper from my friend Sandy. When Spencer outgrew them we let my friend Heidi use them for her daughter Rylie. Rylie has now outgrown them so they came back to us. My holiday decorations take up a good chunk of the garage and there is just no space to store these monstrous baby items, so we asked Laura if she wanted to borrow them for her soon to be here baby girl. I was feeling nostalgic so we took pictures of Spencer in them before Laura and Josh came to retrieve them. Here's a comparison.

Spencer in the swing for the very first time, 9/29/07. He looks like a newborn rhesus monkey.

Spencer in the swing on Saturday. He's such a big boy.

Spencer in the jumper for the first time, 1/14/08.

He doesn't even fit now!

Michael and I woke up on Sunday morning and both had sore backs. We complained to my parents, who decided that maybe it was time to replace the guest bed. We went mattress shopping....
This bed cost $8,000 for a king. This is not what my parents bought.
Check out Spencer's new loafers. They cost $12.99.


He goes for the cactus every time.

Ginger's beauty shot

nursing and TV

I think I mentioned before that my friends are in the middle of a baby boom. Michelle had Lucas in October, Sarah had Bridget in December, Chelsea had Zac in December, Laura is due in April and Megan is due in August. Babies!

I was talking to Chelsea about nursing and how, when Spencer was born, I was surprised at how long it can take. Spencer was a notoriously slow nurser. From the time he was 2 weeks old until he was eating a lot of solids at about 9 months he would nurse for an hour every time. That means that as a newborn I nursed for up to 12 hours a day. By the time he was 4 months it was about 8 hours a day. From the time we started until we stopped Michael was able to load the dishwasher, start laundry, take the garbage out, mow the law, take a shower and get dressed.

I tried to read books and magazines while nursing, but nursing releases the hormone prolactin, which makes you sleepy (I should work for La Leche League) and I would often doze off. #1 it's hard to follow a plot when you fall asleep every other paragraph and #2 I was afraid I'd drop the book on Spencer's head. I once dropped the remote on his head while nursing and I was expecting a social worker from CPS to pop out of the closet and take him into custody while also chastizing me for holding onto a pair of jeans that haven't fit since high school.

So, as a lot of first time moms do when nursing a baby, I watched TV. A lot of TV. An excessive amount of TV. This is what I have learned from the last 16 months of TV watching.

* I am really tired of Billy Mays yelling at me. You've got some fine products, Billy. That mighty putty looks mighty useful, but could you use a normal speaking tone while trying to sell it to me? Maybe you should lay off the amphetamines.

* If a TV show is in syndication and shown twice a day, 5 days a week you can watch an entire season in two and 1/2 weeks.

* It is time to turn off the TV when your husband casually mentions that he has never seen the movie The Shining to which you reply that it will be on Bravo at 2 am on Saturday. TRUE story.

* Unbeatable Banzuke is an awesome show and I would travel to Japan for no other reason than to attend a taping.

* I can watch the same episode of Project Runway 14 times and will still tune in the next time it's on.

* I can watch 5 minutes of Denise Richards in "It's Complicated" before having to call a suicide prevention hotline. Denise, honey, you were in 3 movies in the mid-90's. Get over yourself. The rest of the world already has.

* Those Geico commercials with the cavemen are genuinely funny.

* Scary movies become comedic when the volume is turned off and closed captioning is turned on.

* When celebrities that have just had babies give an interview and talk about how their baby is so wonderful and motherhood is a blessing and they lost 45 pounds in 7 hours and their 4 day old sleeps through the night and they can't wait to have another baby they are 1) lying or 2) employing a full time nanny, nutritionist and pharmacist. Hey J-Lo, I was not using the words wonderful and blessing when I was breastfeeding Spencer for the 5th time between the hours of midnight and 4 am for the 20th night in a row.

* The Independent Film Channel shows full frontal nudity. If you don't know this you're in for a shock the first time you watch.

Me and Spencer on the brink of a lot of TV watching

Flashback Friday

My brother Nick is a Merchant Mariner and goes to sea for months at a time. I miss him terribly when he is gone. Then he comes home and he does something boneheaded and I want him to go to sea again. I can't think of anyone else that I love as much while also simultaneously being annoyed by as my little bro.

Here we are in Albuquerque in 1995 giving our secret Jack hand signal.

I can't explain the hand signal because then it wouldn't be secret.

Spencer's middle name is Nicholas, obviously as a tribute to my brother. This is the first time they met, in October 2007. Check out the size of Nick's hand in relation to Spencer's head.
Look at that baby wail!

The most annoying part of my day

.......was when I started to unload the dishwasher and I realized I never turned it on last night.

Son of a 5 letter word that starts with "b"

Wordless Wednesday

Spencer's 1st popsicle

I don't know what possessed me to buy popsicles in January....

What is this interesting thing? Feels cold.

Unique texture, great flavor. I think I like it.

Brain Freeze!

Finger lickin' good

All done

waffles

I usually make pancakes on Sunday morning for my guys. I woke up today and felt like Michael and Spencer deserve a wife and mother that makes waffles as well. Waffle is also a funny word. If I knew how to I'd include a sound clip of donkey, from Shrek, saying "in the morning, I'm making waffles".

I used this recipe:

Gingerbread Waffles

INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, separated
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat brown sugar and egg yolk until fluffy. Add buttermilk, molasses and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until combined. In a small bowl, beat egg white and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gently fold into batter. Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions until golden brown.


Look at those waffles steaming away

I should totally have my own show on the food network

Spencer loved them!

Exciting news

Since driving home after Christmas with this chair





on my lap, we decided that a "family car" was in order. The original plan was to buy something used with low miles. We even, gasp, looked at some mini-vans. I was actually really looking forward to the 3 rows of seats. It seems practical and spacious. (My god, I'm a suburban mom.)



We went car shopping yesterday and were pleasantly surprised to discover that Hyundai was selling off the rest of their 08's at a great price. We already have a Hyundai Sonata so we also qualified for their owner loyalty promotion in addition to getting a factory rebate.


We thought we'd also knock some pennies off the price by trading in our other car, but we gave thumbs down to the price offered by the dealership. OK, so it is a 1990 Plymouth Acclaim that my grandparents owned for 16 years before giving it to us, but $200 is a slap in the face. Even without the trade-in the cost of a used car was only about $400 cheaper than a new car so..... for the first time ever, we are the proud owners of a brand new car. A 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. It sounds fancy even when I type it.

Isn't it beautiful?

The original mileage was "32", but we didn't think to take a picture until 59 miles.

Since we now own two Hyundai's I think we need to name them so we know which one we're talking about. Saying "I'm taking the Santa Fe" or "how much gas does the Sonata have" is too laborious and wordy and obviously we can't say "the Hyundai" anymore. I'm voting for "Kip" for the Santa Fe. Michael is not on board, despite the fact that this is a very funny line from Seinfeld.

So, help us name the Santa Fe and Sonata. If you're the winner I'll give you some sort of home-baked goodie the next time I see you.

Anyone in the market for a 1990 Plymouth with a missing tail light and a broken air conditioner? It's got a good engine and a lot of giddy-up-and-go. We'll give you a good price with very little haggling.

6 things

You probably don't know about me
1. I enjoy watching old episodes of The Twilight Zone. If I had an extra $200, I'd buy the 28 disc collection. The classic William Shatner/gremlin episode is simultaneously horrifying and hilarious.

2. I have to have really hot water in the shower. If it wouldn't burn and/or kill me I'd probably shower with boiling water.

3. If Matt Damon showed up at the door, I'd drop Michael like a hot potato.
4. My favorite winter drink is hot Lady Grey tea with 1 splenda and a splash of cream. My favorite summer drink is really really cold ice water.

5.  5. I LOVE dinnerware and stemware. I would rather buy a set of beautiful dishes than a pair of beautiful shoes.

6. I have two titanium plates and 17 screws in my maxilla. This is an x-ray of my face 3 months after my jaw surgery and right before my dental implant surgery. This explains why I won't participate in any activity that involves my face smashing into something (skiing, roller-skating) or something smashing into my face (volleyball, football).

5 things you most likely don't know about Michael

1. He uses his left hand and only his left hand to eat doritos and potato chips. He says his right hand doesn't feel comfortable for chip eating.

2. We were married and on our honeymoon when he drank his very first hot drink. He had really never had hot cocoa, hot cider, hot tea or hot coffee until he was 24 years old. And he grew up in Vermont!

3. He can fold linens like nobody's business.

4. If Sarah Chalke showed up at our front door, he would drop me like a hot potato.

5. When he was a freshman in college he ate the same thing everyday for an entire year. Coco Roos for breakfast, a bologna sandwich for lunch and ramen soup for dinner. He also ate a twix everyday and drank a mountain dew everyday. Healthy.

4 things that may (or may not) surprise you about Spencer

1. When he was 6 weeks old he stayed awake for 20 hours straight- from 5 am until 1am THE NEXT DAY. That means that I too stayed awake for 20 hours trying to stop his crying and pleading with God to make him go to sleep.

Spencer at 6 weeks- one of very few pictures we have of him sleeping
2. His favorite book is Moo Baa La La La. Sometimes we read it upwards of 40 times a day.

3. If a big graham cracker showed up at the door he would drop us, his beloved parents, like hot potatoes.

4. He's an absolute genius. Seriously, his IQ is in, like, the 99th Percentile. Here are some recent examples of his aptitude: 1) I peeled a bunch of carrots for dinner and then took all the peels to the garbage and threw them away. Then I peeled one more strip and handed it to Spencer. He took it, walked to the garbage and threw it away. He's a prodigy! 2) He started walking backwards about 6 weeks ago and he can do it well. Whiz kid! 3) His vocabulary is immense. As a speech therapist I can tell you with total certainty that there is a correlation between vocabulary skills and IQ. New words this week are nana (banana) and nini (night-night). Harvard here we come!

Spencer in 75 years?

3 things I'd be shocked if you knew about Ginger

1. When we go to Tucson she drops us like hot potatoes and sleeps curled up next to my dad.

2. She has three beds in our house, yet spends most of her time on our furniture.

Bed #1- her favorite

Bed #2
Bed #3

3. Her full name is Ginger Marie Jones.

I don't have a picture for that.


Tag! Megan, Chelsea and Maryellen- It's your turn to share, on your blogs, something other people probably don't know about you.

Flashback Friday

Michael and I met on November 16, 1996 and started dating on January 31, 1997. (I had a really good memory before having a baby). These are 2 of the first pictures ever taken of us together. I was 17 and he was 19. We look like children!

One of our first dates was a double date with Chelsea and Mark. Chelsea took this picture.
I thought Michael was so mature and sophisticated when I met him. Now I think he looks like he was 12 years old. Nice clothes young Michael and Natalie.

We had been dating for about 3 months when Michael was my date for my senior prom. What a guy! A college student going to the prom.
My mom and I went shopping in Tucson for my prom dress. We found this one and it was my dream dress, but they didn't have it in the right size. The only place in the state that had it was at Metro-Center mall in Phoenix. I was 17 years old and my mother (who is very level-headed and sensible) handed me the car keys and her credit card and told me to be back before dinner and not to tell my dad. What a mom! I'm almost positive that my dad did find out at some point before reading this post......

Monday Morning

Start your work week out with a smile, compliments of Ginger, mid-shake:

Marital Karma

Michael is always and forever banging his toes into things- chairs, walls, cabinets, corners. Whenever he smashes his toe for, like, the 20th time in a week I tell him I have no sympathy for him because the walls, chairs, etc have not moved and it is his own damn fault. (I don't always use profanity). Four days before Christmas I smashed my foot into the underside of the recliner and broke my left baby toe. It got all swollen and bruised and still hurts. In a sad and tragic twist of fate I was putting stuff into the pantry yesterday and, as I walked across the kitchen, I slammed my right foot into the floorboard and actually heard the bones break in my right baby toe. Michael says it is karma. I say I am my podiatrist's 401K's best friend. My new name is Mrs. Gimpy Vonlimp.

I was going to include a picture of my mangled toe, but it was too disgusting and I would lose too many friends as a result. In lieu of the photographic image of my pain, please enjoy this picture of everything we received for Christmas.

Flashback Friday

I'm going to copy the idea for Flashback Friday from one of my friend's blogs. Michael and I went to England, France and Italy on our honeymoon 7 years ago. We flew into London on New Years Day. A little advice for all you travelers out there- Don't plan on doing anything in London on January 1st, because everything is closed. The only thing we found to do was a 3 hour Jack the Ripper walking tour. We don't have any pictures of it because it was night time and it was too cold to take our hands out of gloves and pockets. On January 2nd we took a fantastic tour of the city. It was cold (it never got above freezing until we made it to Rome the second week of the trip) but it was a fabulous honeymoon.

Here we are in front of Parliament.


And at dinner before we went to the theatre

Happy New Year!

Spencer got a Happy New Year 2009 shirt as a gift in the mail yesterday. Geech is spending the week with us while my parents are in Nevada. We tried to take a nice picture with the dogs. This is what happened:

We tried to involve some toys, but Ginger had other plans.

I guess Spencer just wanted the spotlight all to himself because minus the dogs he turned into a runway model.


There's nothing like a picture of a baby without pants sitting in a chair.

Best wishes to all of you for a fabulous 2009.