Our First Born

Magnum apparently didn't get the memo from my last post where I said that I loved him. Because yesterday, he kept asking me if he was still the favorite.

Wham, Bam, I Love My Fam!

Yep, I love these three!!

The Day the Hair Dryer Was Used For Its Intended Purpose (And, Other Such Tales)

Yesterday, I actually dried and straightened my hair. I put on a dress. And, I even slapped a little make-up on my tired looking face. It was the first time in ages that I didn't look like the devil before breakfast, something sent for and couldn't come big fat sloppy mommy. So, when we finally got home from running our errands and before we put Olivia to bed, I made David capture us on film. That way, 20 years from now, Olivia might realize that I did actually spend time with her, but that I was always hiding behind the camera lens.

Maybe I have justified dropping one of those adjectives.

Olivia had her 4-month well check yesterday and came out with an A on her report card! She weighed in at 12 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 24 3/4 inches tall. I was told by the doctor to stop being such a worrywart. (Better men have tried and failed.)

This morning I left the house and ran a few errands by myself. Did you hear that internet? I said BY MYSELF. Olivia was napping and David was working in his office. And, you know what, she was in the same place when I returned home. Next step is to make that same solo trip only with the entire purpose of the trip be for me instead of for running errands.

She is now napping peacefully in her swing and I just attempted putting together the ugliest exersaucer on the planet. (Why, oh why, do these things have to be so obnoxious looking?!) I'm stumped at the first step. Maybe I'll just grab Olivia and nap with her.

Because, who WOULDN'T want to cuddle with this little love bug?

The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling (Or, Why Doing Laundry is Harmful to Your Health)

Yesterday as I was putting a load of laundry into the washing machine, a huge plastic bin came crashing down from the storage space above and fell directly onto the top of my head. It hurt. A LOT. (And, the pain has not subsided today.) I feel really fortunate that I wasn't holding Olivia at the time, that my neck didn't break, that it didn't land on my face, and that I'm not a cartoon character - because if I was, I would either be two feet shorter or have been pounded into the ground.

Last night before we went to bed, I asked David if he thought I might have a concussion. Here's a snippet of our conversation.

Me: Do you think I have a concussion?

Him: You are such a hypochondriac. No, you DO NOT have a concussion.

Me: What are you, a doctor?

Him: No, but I know a lot more about physiology and anatomy than you do.

Me: Have you forgotten that I pushed a 7 pound, 10 ounce baby AND a placenta out of my VUH-GINA without drugs?

Him: No.

Me: That's what I thought.

Yeah, four months later and I'm still using that line. 17 years and 8 months left to use it. (And, no, I don't care if it's a logical rebuttal to prove my point or not. It trumps EVERYTHING else.)

The scene of the crime and the guilty party!

My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard

So, I recently saw a picture of a fellow blogger breastfeeding at an airport where she jokingly called it SCANDALOUS. Scandalous? Psschht. Amateur.

When I first started reading about breastfeeding, I read about setting up a quiet and relaxing spot in the nursery to bond with and nourish my baby. HA! In the last four months, I have breast-fed Olivia in the strangest of places. Many of which have been anything but quiet and relaxing.

Here are just some of the crazy locations where I have provided Olivia with nourishment and bonding moments (even broken down into categories):

AIR TRAVEL

-8 airplanes

-2 airports (DC and SLO)

RESTAURANTS

-PF Changs, Baltimore

-Johnny Garlics, Santa Rosa

-California Crisp, San Diego

-Random restauarant in Monterey

*I know I am forgetting at least a handful of other restaurants where I have fed Olivia while simultaneously stuffing my own face

IN THE CAMRY

-WalMart parking lot in Arroyo Grande (I also b-fed her in a rental car in a different WalMart parking lot near Blue Ridge, Georgia)

-The parking lot of the Baltimore Convention Center (with a line of 6 cops watching)

-Downtown SLO on Higuera Street after a major screaming episode in the Apple store

-Downtown San Diego across from the Children's Museum while the rest of the fam stood in line for breakfast

-Outside Camp Pendleton on the way back from San Diego after a screaming fit in the car and NO EXITS and BUMPER TO BUMPER traffic for about 10 miles

-A church parking lot an hour north of San Diego

IN THE WORK VAN

-On a side road in Chualar, where we had to move 5 times because people kept coming out of their houses to see what we were doing.

-The parking lot of The Garlic Farm in Gilroy

-The parking lot of Sonoma State - while David and Grandpa Peter finished an install

-A side street at Stanford campus - multiple times

-In front of Soudy's house

-A random exit off of 101 heading up to Palo Alto

-The parking lot of a Dairy Queen in Salinas (and, YES, of course we got a DQ treat afterwards!)

TARGET

-Two different times in the dressing room - thank you Michele and David for entertaining me with fashion shows

HOTELS

-I have fed Olivia in no fewer than 8 hotel rooms

AND, OH MY GOD, YOU DID IT WHERE?

-The ladies room of the Baltimore Convention Center

-On top of the USS Midway in San Diego...on Memorial Day.

HONORABLE MENTION FOR STRANGEST PLACE TO PUMP

-A room in the new dormitory at Young Harris College in the middle of an installation

All I can say is: Thank You Hooter Hider. You do your job, and you do it well.

(And, looook how teeny tiny she was. *Sniff Sniff*)

Four for Four

Happy Four Month Birthday, Baby Girl!

What is the What

Good Lord, she looks so much like me in this picture!

I feel that since becoming a mother, I have learned some new things about myself. And, since I haven't posted anything in awhile, I thought I might share.

1. I'm not a total biatch without a good night's sleep. Without carbs, yes, but without sleep, I'm still pretty cool.

2. I worry more about what Olivia looks like than what I look like. (Probably much to David's chagrin...) Today, I realized that I had a dollop of poop juice on my shirt and, yeah, I'm still wearing it. I also just ordered clothes for Olivia that she probably won't be able to wear for ANOTHER YEAR or so, but haven't bought myself anything new to wear in the last 2 months.

3. I manage time much better in my head than I do in real life. Once Olivia goes down for a nap, I think of the zillion things I could do...fix David a snack, take a shower, check my email, write a blog post, call my mom, do a load of laundry, get started on dinner, make a grocery list, put pictures up on Shutterfly. When, in actuality, I usually can get one or two of those things done.

4. I work in circles. This is pretty much related to number 3 and something I've always done. Come to our house (like RIGHT NOW) and you'll see a little pile of clothes half-folded in the family room, a stack of half-written letters on the bar, and the dishwasher door down and half-loaded.

5. I have a pretty decent singing voice. I actually harmonize quite well with Raffi, especially on "Down By the Bay." And, Olivia agrees.

6. I am an AMAZING dancer....er, amazingly funny, maybe. I can make Olivia crack up just by dancing for her.

7. Changing poopy diapers doesn't bother me. The spit-up kinda sucks, but poopy diapers are okay.

8. This little peanut of mine can light up my life. She is by far the best thing that I have ever done.

9. I love my husband more than I ever thought possible. Watching David and Olivia interact with each other fills my chest with such warmth that I honestly feel as if it could explode. She is ENAMORED with him. And, I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

10. My life before Olivia seems like a million years ago. I loved the freedom, but I wouldn't trade this for anything.

#104 - This post is called #104 because it's the 104th post I've written

So, this is the first summer in FIFTEEN years that I haven't been to a Dave Matthews Band concert. Maybe that's why this summer just doesn't feel like summer. (That or the fact that the temperature never changes where we live.) And, last year was the first summer where I have only been to one Dave Matthews Band show. This past weekend the Fab Five (minus the saxophonist LeRoi who passed away last year) played at our old stomping grounds in Noblesville and it put me on a little trip down memory lane. Yeah, I pulled out my ticket stubs, my cds, and even a couple dvds to try and make us feel like we were there.

I know that I am too old to be going on tour with a band like I pretty much did each summer during/after college, but I still would like to be going to see their shows for several more years to come. If not just for the love of the music, but also for the feelings of nostalgia that it stirs up in my aging bones.

I have so many wonderful memories of all of the shows. Some personal highlights include:

--The summer my friend Tara and I had tickets for back to back shows at Deer Creek. The first night, we took my car up and it overheated in the parking lot. We decided the next night to take her more reliable car up and we ended up pulling off the side of the road to let the car cool down. Upon realizing we were going to miss Dave come onstage to introduce the opening band, we decided that we would just have to be the car that everyone curses and bypass the bumper to bumper traffic and drive on the shoulder. (To be fair, we DID scream "Sooorrrryyy" to everyone we passed.

--Taking David to his first DMB show - sharing something that was a huge part of my life with him was wonderful.

--Taking my friend Jill to a show where we had 2nd row seats. She decided to throw a pair of aviators onstage for Dave to wear and instead about got herself kicked out of the show. It's a good thing she is pretty (and has big boobs) because she convinced the security guard to let her stay. And, no, Dave didn't wear the sunglasses. (And, no, this picture is not from our show with 2nd row seats.)

--Driving by myself to Philadelphia so I could go to two shows with my friend Brad.

--Meeting my friend Matt in Lafayette to see the best Dave and Tim show EVER.

--Stalking Dave at just about every venue we ever went to.

--Taking that stalking to a whole new level by showing up at restaurants and hotels where we thought he might be. Jill was just as much a stalker as me and she knew where the band stayed when they came into town and she knew the steakhouse he liked to eat at and Jill just happened to be friends with people who worked at both. I convinced my neighbor Andrew and his friend Paul (who was a huge Dave fan) to go with us to St. Elmo's to spy for Dave. The entire time we were at the bar Andrew kept saying how crazy we were and that there was no way we were going to see Dave there. After a couple of cocktails, out walks Dave and his entourage. And, I KID YOU NOT, he stared at ME from the second he rounded the corner to the second that Jill stood up and blocked his path and said, "I just had to come and say hello." Haha, and then he resumed staring at me!

My favorite, favorite, favorite memory, however, is the show where I was able to meet him. Yes, I will admit to the internet, that I am a member of the Warehouse - a DMB fan club. I have been a member since the first week the club started. It gives me access to tickets before they go on sale to the public and supposedly gives me a better chance at getting good seats. (Remember my 2nd row story? Yeah. Thank you Warehouse.) Another one of the perks was that we would have a chance to meet Dave Matthews backstage...something I NEVER dreamed would happen. Well, Father's Day rolls around and my parents come up to Indy so we can go out to eat. I had worked at the golf course all morning and when Dad came to the house he took a look at my

wind-blown hair and said, "Go do something with that, will you?!" So, I stuck it under the tub and proceeded to fix it. Our apartment phone rang and Dad answered it and yelled back to

me, "Hey, it's someone from the warehouse." HUH? I picked it up and they confirmed my tickets for the upcoming show. I'd never had a call like that, but that was the first year my tickets had been placed on will-call, so I thought maybe it was just standard procedure. The lady on the phone goes on to tell me that I've also been given a pass to bring a friend and meet Dave before the show! I ended up taking my friend Ivy and we seriously barely made it up there on time. There was so much traffic and they parked us on the opposite side of the venue from where we had to meet that we literally had to throw our shoes off and RUN all the way around Deer Creek. We made it to the meeting place just as the rest of the fans were being escorted

backstage. It was really cool meeting him - he was as much of a nut as I knew he would be. I was extremely lucky because he went around shaking everyone's hands and as he shook mine, the guy next to me asked him a question. So Dave just kept holding my hand during his conversation. I seriously considered never washing that hand. When picture time rolled around, I weaseled my way right up next to him. Hey, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, right?! I hope not.

(This picture was taken with a disposable camera. For some reason, it was the only type of camera we were allowed to take backstage with us. So, sorry for the poor quality.)

(And, yeah, I had no shame. I made him sign it that way.)