This sh*t is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

So I started my job today.  Wow! Work is hard.  I am not sure its for me.

Ok.  Just kidding.  Actually, I am pretty stoked about the job.  What I am doing: helping facilitate a project for Medicaid that will be getting all of the medical records for the State of Florida into one electronic system (insert right-wing conspiracy theory comment about insurance companies, premiums and "pre-existing conditions".  No, Thank YOU, Glen.)  Part of the stimulus package money was allocated to get these sorts of projects off the ground all over the country.  Sort of a kill three birds with one stone:

1. Theoretically better care because doctors have access to your whole medical history, not just the stuff you can remember when you present yourself at an emergency room in the middle of a cardiac event.

2.  Reduces waste... environmentally (less paper) and money spent on repeat exams and procedures that are done because each doctor needs to have a copy of your records/procedures/scans on file with their office. 

3. Puts people like me to work.  I got monehs... I save some... I spend some on things like baby clothes, dog treats, pedicures and dinners at "Food Glorious Food", putting money back into the economy. 

So right now, its pretty much just learning the lingo.  Its been pretty cool so far working there (for the one day I have been there).  The people are pretty nice.  However, I have already been part of a debacle.  I am trying to continue the whole breastfeeding thing as long as possible.  Our pediatrician says that most of the benefits of breastfeeding are for the first 6 months- which means I have one more month of breastfeeding/pumping.  I am idealistic and whatnot, hoping that I can keep going after the fact.  But, it looks doubtful.  Especially since today while I was pumping in my office one of the IT guys kind of invited himself in.  Despite the fact that I had a sign on the door that said, "Do Not Disturb".  Apparently, these types of signs are completely disregarded when you're new.  So I am pumping and the IT guy knocks.  I was sort of incredulous, because REALLY?  THERE IS A SIGN ON THE DOOR.  For added measure, I have my bag on the floor barracading the door.  I ignore the knock, because clearly, there is a sign- surely they are not knocking on my door.  Au contraire.  I answer, "YES?"  To which the guy pushes the door open just as I get covered up again.  Really?  Then again, someone kind of barged in as I was finished.  The suggestion was that I include a little more information on the sign (Breast milk Pumping in Progress).  As "Do Not Disturb" makes it seem like I am in there napping.  Napping.  Orly?

Not much else to report.  Nico hasn't been really into his rice cereal much these days.  He's eating it twice a day (morning and evening).  Its kind of cool, because in the morning, I am usually eating oatmeal, so its kind of like twinsies.  Today he wanted nothing to do with it.  So I took a tiny piece of banana (about the size of my pinky nail) and mashed it up in there, for a little bit of flavor.  He tried a couple of more bites, but was pretty much unimpressed.  But I got a great idea- I want to start a baby food blog.  Like, all the different ways you can prepare fruits and veggies for baby consumption, along with the results.  I have read that the supposition that baby food be bland is actually not exactly true.  That its okay to try out spices on babies- just in moderation.  Guess we are going to have to move to new house, so I can start to keep Dave's CuisineArt food processor on the counter in the kitchen.  Its a lot of work to put it together now. 

All for now. 

Crying it Out

Sorry I have been MIA- this week was pretty crazy. In between Nico starting child care (and all the hoops you have to jump through with the paper work and the what not) and the soccer season starting back up (we took a win against Godby and drew with Rutherford yesterday), we had kind of a social week.

Tuesday night one of our girls' parents had us over for dinner after the game (she kept Nico during the game since it was ridiculously cold). They had cornbread and soup waiting for us when we were done with the game. BTW- have found another corn bread that I will eat (in addition to Cracker Barrel's). Mmmmmmmmmm. So we were out late on Tuesday night. Then we had dinner with Ursie and Clay and Deanna on Thursday night. Ursie and Clay had a baby about six weeks after Nico was born- and just moved back from Ft Pierce. Of all my friends who have had babies recently, Ursie is most similar to me these days in that she is an advanced graduate student- trying to balance a dissertation and being a mom.

Nico is doing well. Getting big. He seemed to do well with child care last week. I think that the girls that work there might have had a come to jesus meeting with Nico about the sleeping- there arent enough of them to dedicate just one to hold Nico while he goes to sleep. In the struggle that Dave and I have had just to "get by" with Nico, we have produced a little monster when it comes to sleep habits. The Baby Whisperer called this "accidental parenting" where you just fall into something that works for you. Of course, this is largely because of our life thus far. Putting him on any kind of schedule didnt seem like a great idea at first, because I knew that it would just get messed up by soccer. For example, if we have games at home, this often doesn't put us back to Tallahassee until 1000-1030 at night. This is often after a long, stressful day. Having a 1.5-2.0 hour routine that involves eating, taking a bath, infant massage, reading books, changing into jammies, listening to music, singing, etc. didn't seem reasonable. However, rocking him to sleep did seem reasonable. So did nursing him till he went to sleep. The result is a situation I have now, where I am tipped far back in my office chair, him laying on my shoulder sleeping because this is the only way he can get a nap while I do something "productive".

But there are other things too. I am opposed to "Cry it out", where your baby learns to self-soothe himself to sleep. Its one of the only parts of parenting that Dave and I disagree on. He is worried that Nico won't be independent- that he will be fearful and afraid to be by himself. Which is a valid fear, I think. But all I can think about is, what Nico is probably thinking, which looks like this:

Nico (thinking): I am tired. I need to go to sleep. Where are those people that take care of me? I am tired. So I should start to cry now, because that is what happens. I cry and someone comes to get me... then I can go to sleep. Okay, I am crying now. Where is that lady? She usually comes to get me. Any minute now. Keep crying. Lets cry a little louder- she might be doing laundry or something and she probably can't hear me. As soon as she hears me she will come get me. Any minute now. Where is she? Why isn't she coming to get me? I AM TIRED. COME GET ME SO I CAN GO TO SLEEP. LADY- CAN'T YOU HEAR ME? I AM CRYING. WHY ISNT SHE COMING TO GET ME? MAYBE SHE ISNT TAKING CARE OF ME ANYMORE.

MAYBE ITS SOMEONE ELSE. OH GOD, WHO IS GOING TO TAKE CARE OF ME? WHAT IF I AM HUNGRY? I AM TIRED. COME GET ME!!

WHERE IS SHE? SHE ISN'T COMING. I AM SO... TIRED... GUESS I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF NOW... SINCE CLEARLY I CAN'T COUNT ON THE ONE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN TAKING CARE OF ME MY WHOLE LIFE. JUST GOES TO PROVE YOU CAN'T COUNT ON ANYONE EXCEPT YOURSELF IN THIS WORLD. EVERYONE ELSE LETS YOU DOWN. I AM ON MY OWN. 


Seriously.  Dude, did anyone ever see the episode of Mad About You, where Paul and Jamie do the CIO with Mabel?  Check it out here.  How Jamie feels at the end? Exactly.  

Since we have never really put him on a regular schedule and done all the other things that are supposed to help him sleep through the night on his own, I feel that the CIO method is a little extreme.  So the soccer season will end soon.  Likely at the end of the month or beginning of Feb.  And we'll try getting him on a regular schedule and see if that helps.  And maybe he wont have to be rocked to sleep or held as he sleeps.  Hopefully, because I dont want to use the nuclear option (CIO). 

Things taking up my mental bandwidth 3

Some things that are rattling around in my head:

*Aside from the sweet potato episode today (Nico got a taste of sweet potatoes at FSU today), I would like to start Nico with Avocado in the next month or so. Then, maybe some green beans, peas, mashed potatoes, carrots. Then maybe some fruits.
*Our girls played REALLY well against Godby. How to duplicate against Rutherford on Saturday?
*Excited to install stata 11 on computer this week.
*Finished coaching courses. FINALLY.
*Can't believe my freshmen are seniors. Surreal.

My child arrived just the other day, He came to the world in the usual way, But there were planes to catch and bills to pay, He learned to walk while I was away

So Nico started at the FSU childcare center today. Whoa. Has it really been five months? Yeah, I can't believe it.

As it turns out, I am actually pretty bad when it comes to paper work. I showed up this morning with five pages of the nearly 40 I had to sign and fill out and was like, "What?" Apparently, if I had read the instructions more thoroughly, I would have found that rather than having to fill out a bunch of paperwork by hand, had I just did what I was supposed to do (fill it out in Adobe, which would have populated all the other fields, it would have been cake). But since I didnt, I got to sit in an office filling out paperwork for 40 minutes while Dave waited for me to go with him to drop Nico.

And because I didnt have my act together, I had to then spend the rest of the morning running all over town. More paperwork for my job at AHCA, to the pediatrician's office for immunization and physical records, County Health Department for birth certificate then back to FSU to turn those in... note to self: read all the instructions next time.

It was weird. Sad, actually. For the past five months, its been Nico and me- he's like my little buddy, running errands, watching daytime tele (did you know that they are now showing 90210 on the soap channel during the day? Yeah, I didnt either. Turns out that the reason why I never watched it as a kid is that it exceeded the number of tools that my mom would allow us kids to watch in one show.) The worst of it- which was my inability to put the muscle on him and make him nap in his bassinet allowed me to watch all of Season 5 of LOST on abc.com. What- I can't do any work- he's napping. On me!! Man- I loved naptime! Of course, its weird, as a parent, your life gets divided up into small chunks of time... you lay him on the floor or the mats and he's good for 15-20 min, during which I scramble frantically for something productive to do. Then he gets fussy playing by himself. Play with him for a while. Set him in the bumpo for a bit. Diaper change. Then eat. Then sleep. Then do it all over again.

And I did get a little misty when I left him... mostly because I knew I would probably never be a stay at home mother again. And that is kind of sad.

But- its for the better. Dude- have you ever met those kids who only hung out with grown ups? Really- that is the problem with homeschooled kids... its not that they are dumb or rather socially inept. Its actually that they dont relate well to kids their own age, because they spend so much time hanging out with adults (their parents). So its good in the sense that he's gonna be hanging out with kids his own age. Check it- there were two new babies who were awake and chillin with Nico when I came to get him: one is Chinese and one is from Bangladesh. Isn't that awesome? I want Nico to hang out with those kids and their parents. Learn some Chinese. Learn some Bangledeshi(?).

One of my big fears did not come true today (he didnt cry all day). At least that is what his teachers told me (his eyes weren't all red and his face didnt have that tight, tear-stained look). Which is awesome. I was really nervous that he just wouldn't understand and would resort to crying all day. The fact that he didnt makes me feel better about taking him.

Of course it helped that he wasnt there ALL DAY. We dropped him at 930 and I got him at 200 (to go to practice down in Wakulla). So it was pretty good. I really like it there... I think he's gonna like it too.

So the follow-up question: "So Bishop, if Nico started daycare today and you havent started your job yet, what did you do with your day?" There wasn't much of my day left to speak of by the time I got done dropping forms and whatnot (maybe 2 hours). Literally, this was my thought process on the way home: first I am going to have some lunch, then I am going to do some dishes, print my dissertation proposal, print my PAA abstract, then I am going to clean my desk, then I am going to go for a run and take a shower, then I am going to do some laundry and change some lightbulbs, and then... and then..."

But, then I decided I needed to pump. And I had some lunch. And then it was time to get Nico to go to practice.

So now its curtains and drapes on anyone who hates...

So, I had sort of an interesting Sunday night.  While I would love to be able to have the life and the legs and the joints to run every day, I have set my bar kinda low in that department, telling myself that I will run every other day and maybe walk on the days that I don't run.  So far, its been working out okay for me.  Until last night.

I decided to go to Leon's track to run (can I share with you how much I love the solace of a dark and empty high school track?  LOVE IT!!)  so that I could calibrate my ipod.  I suspected after my last run (when I plotted my path on google's pedometer thing) that perhaps it needed to be calibrated because it said I rain half a mile more than I actually did.  Because my left knee was K-I-L-L-I-N-G me, I decided to take 1000 mg of acetometaphen and a full tab of percocet leftover from Nico's birth (I usually only take half a tab of percocet and no acetometaphen).  I gotta  couple of new tunes for the iphone.  Hello- how is it that I never heard "Round" by FloRida?  For my moms who has high speed now (check the song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrjp4IPXSY

So I get over to Leon's track and find that sadly, the percocet aceto combo wasn't miraclous.   So I do my run- start by calibrating my iphone (half a mile) then an "easy" two miler.  Its not easy.  By any stretch.  But it is what it is.  When I get done, I feel like I was hit by a truck- not in that kelly the baller-i just ran a marathon in the time it took you to run half a marathon sort of way, but more like, "I think I am going to pass out" sort of way.  And maybe throw up.  Light headed.  Nauseated.  Not good.

Then my heart sinks as I realize I have to climb up the stairs because I parked up by the highschool.  BARF.    So I get in my car and contemplate calling Dave to tell him I think I might be dying but will take a nap in the car to "sleep it off".  Decide to instead drive home.  Haul myself inside, feeling the entire time like I am going to RALPH. 

I get home and tell Dave, who thinks I am an idiot.  Excused self to see if I can make myself throw up (always feels better to just get it over with).  Dont have to make myself because it just happens.  I feel a lot better after.  So I decide to go to bed, but have to Nurse Nico first.  But I itch.  Like I took off all my clothes and rolled around in a bed of poison ivy covered in itchy poison.  I thought at first it was a reaction to coming in from the cold-know how sometimes your skin can do that as it adjusts back to the warmth?  No.  My back, my neck, my legs, my arms.  It was CRAXY.  On further inspection, turns out I had hives.  Did some research on the internets.  Turns out that percocet releases a histamine (which can cause the itching).  Both itching and neausea are side effects of percocet- not that I had a deathly reaction to it.  I am an idiot.

Woke up this morning with the only evidence of my pharmaceutical escapades to find only a minor splotchy bit on my wrist.  Definitely a good life lesson learned.

Not much new to report on the Nico front.  I think Dave might be over the whole, "Dude you're a little baby thing" because he is teaching Nico how to feed himself.  This morning he was showing Nico how to hold his own bottle... and just a little while ago, he had Nico working the spoon.  Of course, Nico is still a bit sketchy on this- tries to gouge out his own cheek.  But he's trying.  

Got two games this week- one tomorrow night (Godby- Home) and one on Saturday (Rutherford-Home).  Because I didnt know the football schedule when I was making our schedule, I front loaded most of our games away in the beginning of the season).  If it is harder to play away than at home, it may have made our pre-christmas schedule harder.  So maybe it sets us up for several wins in the next two weeks?  Seriously, I could do with about 5 straight wins.  That would be great. Kthnks.

Tomorrow night is probably going to suck.  Its supposed to get down to 18 degrees.  Dave is all like, "Its probably too cold to play."  To which I say, "It builds character." However, I think it might be too cold to coach.  They are talking about snow flurries this week.  SNOW FLURRIES.  You can bet your butts that I would have loved to be able to say that I played in snow.  IN FLORIDA.  Its a golden opportunity.

Did some of my paperwork for AHCA today.  My boss isn't too hopeful for me to start on Wednesday- apparently things can move slow for them too.  But Nico starts at FSU on Wednesday.  I'm nervous!!

List of TO DO things for 2010.

The thing about Resolutions, is that I think they are supposed to be things that you work on to make yourself a better person-whereas I tend to "resolve" to do things.  Call me a list maker (like my sister).  The thing is, that I think of Resolutions as being things like, "Don't have road rage anymore" and "stop biting my finger nails."  The thing is, that I kind of like the person I am.  I dont see any parts of my personality that need work.  All of you that beg to differ can shut your pie holes.  Kthnkx. 

So rather than resolving to be a better person, I am posting my 10 item list of things to do for 2010.  Try not to be jealous. 

1.  Finish Dissertation.  I think this would make my advisor happy. This would also make me one step closer to being able to say, "That is Dr. Bishop-Royse to you.  I didn't spend 8 years in evil graduate school to be Mrs.  Thank you very much." 

2.  Do awesome at new job.  Given.

3.  Start learning Russian.  Dave and I have read several articles about language and early child development.  Our consensus is that kids who speak languages in the home learn them easily- almost without effort.  Its the reason that children whose parents have nannies and housekeepers who speak other languages acquire those languages so easily.  So we want to speak another language in the house...while Dave is pretty much fluent in French, I dont speak it very well.  So I was thinking we could learn another language together and teach Nico as we go.  I really want Nico to know a *useful* language- one that might get him a job one day.  Chinese would be useful since a quarter of the world's population speaks it.  Russian would be useful because its a gateway to many of the other slavic languages (and well, I'm just going to say it, could you imagine the Beast being a spy?).  I've got love for the romance languages, but for real... they are only useful if you're in South America or certain parts of Europe.  Besides, spanish, french, italian, and portugues wont teach him anything that Latin or Greek wouldn't teach him about roots, etc.

4. Learn Multilevel modeling.

5. Continue decluttering my life. I actually got on a roll just before the holidays. 

6. Run 5 Half Marathons this year.  Run Muddy Buddy.  Run Springtime.  Get my guns back.

7.  Start taking Nico to Baby Yoga.  The yoga place I go to has mom/baby yoga on Saturdays.  Nico says he wants to go as soon as the soccer season is over.  

8. Academic stuff: submit Age paper.  Finish aging paper. Submit. Poster at PAA (Dallas).

9. Read 24 non academic books.  Including:
Soccernomics
Half the Sky
Holidays on Ice
Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy
War of the Worlds
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Between Zeus and the Salmon
The Boy who Harnassed the Wind
A long way gone
The Road


10. Make more stuff for Nico: baby sweaters, leg warmers, animal applique blankets, baby food, toys. etc.

And I was runnin...

Define Irony: Deciding yesterday to start trying to write a blog every day- even if its short only to decide that I didnt have enough time yesterday to write anything.  HA!!

So, what is cooking?  I have a job.  Yeah, I know.  I can't believe it either.  Someone is going to pay me.  To work.  Its at the Agency for Health Care Administration (or AHCA as we like to call it in the biz).  Don't get your panties in a twist- its OPS.  No, they are not turning the whole thing over to me- but I think it will be ideal as I finish my dissertation and try to structure a life post-FSU.  Am currently refraining from adding to the list of stuff I am going to buy with my new income.  Which include:
-frappe machine from Mr. Coffee
-a new blender
-ice skates
-a pony
-a shamwow
-snuggies for the dogs
-a snuggie for Nico (what? babies like to be warm too).
-space bag storage system
-inflatable jungle gym set for the pool we dont have  
 
In fact, I made myself watch "Confessions of a Shopaholic" today, to remind myself that just because I will have a little money doesnt mean I need to get all Prada and Gucci and to remember that I am a grown ass woman with a kid and not to lose my damn mind just I can now pay my car payment and my cell phone payment in the same week. 

Of course, this is all pending the outcome of a background check.  DOH!!  JK. No, but seriously, I should be fine.  Of course, now that I have breathed mention of it, things are probably going to go to hell in a hand cart.  Well, it was nice while it lasted.

So that is the big-big news of late.

The other news is that I went for a run today.  My first since I got pregnant with Nico over a year ago.  While I did do some athletic endeavors last year (won Kissimmee, won IMS, scoring a goal, etc.) they don't compare to running.  The thing is, I never used to be a runner.  Really.  When my sister was doing track my senior year, I would go to track practice and do homework and wait for my best friend KK to come get me and we would go to Taco Bell, until I was recruited by the track coach to do track that didnt require much running (long jump, high jump, and shot put).  I eventually "concentrated" on shot put, but I wouldn't have called that a career (despite PR-ing three times in the district meet). 

I started running a lot in the off-season in college- to rehab after my first knee surgery.  I have never been what you would call "swift" or "fast".  In fact, I have seen concrete set faster than I run.  But that is okay.  I dont do it for the speed.  Most of the reason why I don't run fast is that I am, as a general rule, in a lot of pain when I run- running faster makes it worse.  For real- no joke, it FEELS like there is no cushioning in my left knee anymore.  I can actually feel the bones crunching against each other.  Its excruciating- and has been for while.  True story: I fell asleep during the marathon I ran in Traverse City back in 2006 because I took *2* vicodins during the run.  No joke.  Its worse these days.  Good thing I still have a bottle of Percoset leftover from the delivery of the Beast. But I digress.

So today was 2.4 miles, around Indian Head. In the dark (which, as a general rule, is never a good idea).  But I managed to complete the run without twisting my ankle, falling down or otherwise causing serious damage to myself.  So that was good.  And actually a bit faster than I expected.  Not Baller fast.  But Fast*er*.  So that was good.  I did however, feel like I wanted to throw up for most of the run.  But for me, that is just like old times.  

I have committed to run the Pretty Princess Half Marathon in Orlando later this spring.  Supposedly, everyone who runs wears princess dresses and/or tutus.  Obviously, I will not be doing that (I think I would look ridiculous in a tutu... but I might be persuaded to wear a pink shirt.)  And perhaps a tiara, if I could steal one from my mother).  Theoretically, Julia, Kelly, April (and perhaps Lauren) will be running it as well... and by running, I mean, Julia is going to kick ass because she did a running class, April will kick ass because she's April, Kelly will probably win the thing (that is how she rolls).  Its sort of a team thing (I think).  Which means that April, Kelly, Lauren(?), and Julia will finish, have time to go grab several beers a piece, take showers, take naps, get lunch, do the rides at Disney and make it back in time for me stumble across the finish line, 15 minutes before they stop keeping time in the race.  So I got that going for me.  Try not to be jealous. 

I also committed to run the Muddy Buddy in May with Leslie.  This race is an event where you run with a partner and you switch running and biking at somewhat regular intervals (one rides, one runs, and you switch).  The end is a wade through a mud pit.  Am a little nervous because Leslie is kind of competitive.  Dont know if she is aware of what she is getting into being my partner.  But- there is no backing out now.  She's stuck!!  Sucka!! 

.

Things taking up my mental bandwidth 2

Things I am thinking about:

*Stoked that I downloaded "Soccernomics" last night on the Kindle.  Pondering a career change (not really)- didnt realize that there were people who analyzed sports statistics for a living (outside of ESPN).  Wish I would have known this before I started a PhD in sociology... just think, I could have been writing a dissertation on sports economics- why England always loses and why Germany and Brazil always win.
*Trying to break up "working out" into walking a couple of times a day- at least until Nico starts at FSU next week.
*Drooling over this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B2+Duo+Processor+-+Merlot/9556036.p?id=1218124204238&skuId=9556036
I want it badly.
*Trying not to think about all the stuff that has to be put away.
*Remembering a great holiday! 

I've had a really lousy Christmas, you've *just* managed to kill my New Year's, if you come back on Easter- you can burn down my apartment.

So in the Bishop family, we have a tradition of Christmas Bowls.  This arose out of the fact that we dont have a fireplace, by which to hang the stockings with care.  Also, since us Bishop kids were so good, Santa often bought us too much stuff to put into our stockings.  So a lot of times, we would get the standard oranges and walnuts, along with candy canes and other doo-dads and that would fill the stocking, plus Santa would have to rummage about in the kitchen for mixing bowls, or metal buckets in the laundry room or whatever.  This seems perfectly natural in my house.  Of course, you know Dave had to make fun of me: "I thought the story went, "The *STOCKINGS* were hung on the mantle with care" not "The bowls were hung on the mantle with care..."  Shut up Dave.

So the family is all in.  JJ surprised us by coming home for Christmas.  I invited his girlfriend Amanda by on Wednesday.  I said if she was going to be in town, then she should drop by.  So, she did.  She said that she had presents for us out in the car and went out to the car to get them.  And when she came back in, she had JJ with her, who was carrying gifts and wearing a Santa hat.  Holy What?  It was completely unexpected. He had told everyone that he would be picking fruit in Melbourne and would be out of touch.  Turns out he was scheming a way to get home.  It was awesome.  He totally had me going.  I have been telling all the girls that he's picking fruit in Australia and that he wasnt coming home for Christmas.  It was amazing!!

So we spent yesterday (Christmas Eve) cooking.  I issued a cupcake Challange (said with French accent) to my sister and my mom.  Nicole did her thing decorating the hell out of red velvet box cake cupcakes.  Mom made hers from scratch- chocolate with peanut butter cups.  I opted for the Cracker Barrel Coca Cola cake cupcakes.  I also cheated a little, because mine was presented with the standard vanilla ice cream and hot fudge.  But Mom ended up "winning".  I say "winning" because I think she is sleeping with the head judge (my Dad).  JK- her cupcakes were pretty awesome.  Quite delicious.

Dave's parents and Aunt Rosie came into town last night.  The brought some craxy weather with them.  Hard gusty winds and rain.  We managed to keep power on all night, but I am curious if any parts of the city lost it.

 All for now.  Have a big day of cooking ahead of me.

Hope you all have a great holiday!!

 

Ten minutes with Elton John and you're gay as a maypole!

Don't really have time to post a blog.  But I Nico is napping.  On me. I have tried putting him in his bassinet.  I ease him into it only for his eyes to pop open and he starts smiling.  For real.  The last couple of nights have been REALLY bad with the sleeping.  I think because his schedule is pretty messed up- since we're not practicing or playing right now, he doesnt get the benefit of sleeping in the car on the ride down to Wakulla.  Since we're busy cleaning and organizing and whatnot, I havent had the patience to sit with him laying on my shoulder to go to sleep.  Come night, he is so agitated and tired that he cant go to sleep. And if he does, he sleeps for an hour and then wakes up mad as hell.  End result, the last couple of nights I've been bringing him to bed with us.  HOLY WHAT?  Did Jessi Bishop infant mortality researcher extraordinaire just admit to co-sleeping?  With dogs? In the winter?  Someone take her dissertation away from her!!

So we hit up pagan hour at Borders this morning.  I got Elizabeth Brantly's "No-Cry Sleep Solution" (my mom, IE, JL and everyone else who warned me about this the sleep monster I created: you were right, I was wrong.  You are smart, I am stupid, you're incredibly good looking, me not so much <-- from Happy Gilmore!).  So now we have to retrain Nico to have better sleep associations.  Theoretically this can be done in 7-10 days.  I guess there is no time like the present, right?

Aside from that, we've been in ultra-cleaning mode around here.  Lots of family coming in this week.  Its actually great, because it forces me to get rid of stuff... like, there would be more room in here (which we need because the house is small), if I got rid of these three boxes.  Well, what is in these boxes?  Oh, old cell phone bills dating back to 2006?  SHRED.  Old bills?  Printed email battles?  WHY DO I HAVE ALL THIS?  I need to probably go through this process about once every six months- because I accumlate soooo much stuff.  This was Drake's contribution:

Nico tried solids for the first time last night.  By "solids" I mean we got the rice cereal and mixed it with breastmilk.  He wasn't too impressed.  But he "ate" some. 

We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

I am starting a new segment on the Nico Royse show called, "Things taking up my mental bandwith."  These are the things that I spend time thinking about. 

Today's edition:
* I am pretty sure that double stuffed oreos are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
* I really want to make a gingerbread house.  But it seems like a lot of work, when in reality, I could just get a bunch of candy and it.  And call it even.
* I wish the Cake Shop or Leo and Lucy's Cupcakery were closer to our house.
* I think it might be time to start introducing solids for Nico.
* Answers to questions like, "Can you name a circumstance where you dealt positively with adversity or a tough situation in a previous job? in preparation for a job interview I have next week.
* I am fairly certain that there is no softer thing than the cheek of a sleeping baby. 
*What is a good christmas gift for someone who has saved your a$$ on several occasions?
* I am looking forward to my family being here next week. 
*Wondering if I am going to be able to compete against Nicole's cupcake method (of decorating the hell out of cupcakes made from a box mix) in our cupcake competition. 

You've got a program featuring America's favorite old fart. Reading a book in front of a fireplace. Now, I have to kill all of you.

So we are in full-on holiday spirit around here. 

We played our last game before break on Monday night.  We went to Taylor.  We also lost one of our backs in the game.  SR got knocked to the ground pretty hard and hurt her ankle.  I thought she might have just sprained it- the way she was holding it on the field.  But her mom took her to the ortho and we find out yesterday that her season is done.  She's a senior so its pretty messed up.  You know, its funny with this kid- she was on JV her freshman year and came up as a sophomore.  Didnt play much her first two years- mostly because I didnt know where to play her.  She is probably the fastest thing on two legs I have ever seen in real life.  Last year we played her as a wing midfielder- which worked well for us against good teams- the teams that could switch the ball well.  I have seen her run down forwards attacking on the backside from 40 yards away.  She'd go jogging by and all we'd have to say is, "You gotta catch her, Stevey."  End of story.  Girl got caught. 

When we lost our big center back this year (she graduated), we moved Stevey into the back because she was so fast.  In fact, we even switched to a three back system, because we have one really tough back, one really smart back and one really fast back.  It was an amazing combination.  Except for our sophomore center back (the really smart one), she had the most number of minutes of anyone on the field (excluding our GK), if you dont count the 2 games she missed for a death in the family. 

Its funny with Taylor.  In the time that Dave and I have coached at Wakulla, we have played them 7 times.  Just under half the games we play against them, we have serious injuries (we lost a girl to an ACL our sophomore year at home, our GK ran into the goalpost our sophomore year at Taylor and now this).  One could argue that the ACL and the head injury had nothing to do with THEM, but rather an unlucky turn of events.  This one, though, its hard to make that case, when the girl threw Stevey down.  Of course, it is a physical sport, and perhaps it would have happened against some one else, or some other way.  The girl that did it apologized, but that isnt going to get Stevey back her senior year.  Its not going to help us figure out who is going to play back there now. 

Of course, it makes my justification for doing IP (injury prevention) harder.  Last year, I instituted a system of IP at practice- mostly just a few drills to help with agility and proper weight bearing- side to side shuffling, speed skaters, one legged hops.  The girls hated them.  But last year was the first year that we didnt lose anyone to a season ending knee injury- so I felt pretty good about making them do it.  This goes to show that all the IP in the world doesnt matter if someone jacks your ankle hard because she is frustrated. 

High school soccer tangent aside, we've been trying to get the house in order. Its hard, because Nico doesnt pull his weight very well.  I sit him in his bumpo seat on the table and he's all like, "I'm gonna eat some pretzel sticks, if you don't mind".  Yes, he actually helped himself to those pretzel sticks in the jar on the table.  That is the thing about babies, you're doing work and all they want to do is get into the snacks. 

I went to the post office today- dont know if yall know this or not, but I am currently partaking in a love affair with BookMooch.com, which trades books.  Like, you make a wishlist and when people add those books available to mooch, you contact them and set it up.  Its free, all you have to pay for is to send the books to other people... you dont pay to have books sent to you.  Its awesome.  In any case, I needed to send two books. 

This is what I have come to figure out: there are not many things in this world that make me irate.  But waiting in line at the post office sends me over the top almost every time.  It makes NO SENSE.  Why is there only one person working the desk and there are 12 people in line?  What is priceless is that there were two people working the counter.  As I got to the front of the line, one of them put up their little sign and walked away.  As I got up to the counter someone behind me in line asked, "Is that other guy coming back?" To which I replied, "Its the post office.  What do you think?"  The PO guy who was helping me said, when "He'll be back when he comes back from lunch."  It was 10:15. 

I am thinking about boycotting the Postal Service.  Seriously.  I dont do business with companies who I find it a PITA to deal with.  For example, Wal-Mart.  I know I should be all progressive and whatnot and disdain Walmart for their labor policies, etc (like a good hippie).  I should, for all intents and purposes like shopping at Walmart.  A place where I can get ice cream, a car battery, spray paint and jam?  Forget about.  But I  dont shop there because mostly I hate the experience of shopping at Walmart.  Its always an ordeal to go there.  Why should the Postal Service be any different?  In this age of email and UPS how in the hell does the USPS stay in business?  Note to self: find out location of closest UPS store and figure out how to cut the USPS out of the picture.  Snarky comment from my Dad about Government-run health care in 3....2....1....

In any case, the delicate leafy vines that I cut on Sunday to decorate the living room turned out to be a fail.  The vines are all dried up now... they look dead.  There aren't enough strings of little white lights that make that look good.  Looks like I will get to pull that down this weekend and put something else up there.  I thought about leaving it, hoping that it would look all artistic and whatnot.  Turns out, it looks like some dead vines hanging up there with little white lights.  Holiday decorating: FAIL!

I simply solved the problem. We needed a coffin... Er, a tree. There are no lots open on Christmas Eve. Lewis burned down my tree so I replaced it as best I could. Voilà.

So things have been busy around here.  Our game at Suwannee was canceled this weekend due to the weather.  It was cold and rainy here, and apparently was so all through the night in Live Oak, because the field was under water.  Of course, I find this out on the drive on I-10- close to Perry.  It sort of sucked for the JV girls and the Varsity girls since they had to be at the highschool at 745 to catch the bus.  This pretty much bums me out because we're 2-10-1.  Every game gives us a chance of digging out to .500.  But it is what it is.  Stupid weather.  Note to self: Talk to Kelly the Baller and make her fix that for the rest of the season!

To recap: The Bishop-Royses are going to play a game this holiday called "How many people can we fit into Dave and Jessi's House?"  Its great fun for all!!  We've got my Aunt Judy coming from Washington, Mom and Dad from the 239, NiCody and the kids from Texas and Royse's parents and Aunt Rosie.  So obviously the house needs to be cleaned, and I choose to procrastinate by doing crafts.  Yay!!   I bet you didnt know this: but there are some people that decorate the hell out of their houses at Christmas time.  Like LH and DH.  I only know this second hand from Julia- but they really do it up.  Then last night, Dave and I went to a holiday party at his coworker's house- it was awesome.  Like the house fell out of the Christmas Tree and hit every Christmas branch on the way down and fell into a pile of Christmas. 

So- since I can't be productive in the locked-in-my-office-writing-brilliant-papers-pimping-data-and-being-an-awesome-researcher sort of way, I have taken to decorating the house festively with Nico.  A sampling of our work:

I saw this and was floored, because three quarters of the Christmas ornaments that I got down from the attic and unwrapped where those glass ball ornaments.  Which I like, but only if I am going to do a tree that is only glass ornaments.  Otherwise, they look too random.  So I thought about taking them to Goodwill when I found a blog post about doing this with your old ornaments.  Of course, the point is to use up stuff that you already have.... I only had enough to cover about 80 percent of the foam wreath I had to buy.  So that was kind of a sustainability fail.  But it looks cool!! (Note to self: before you whip out your glue gun and proceed to copy my awesomeness, be advised that this project requires hot glue and its a pain in the ass... and that I fully expect to be picking up broken glass ornaments off the ground for the next two weeks.)

We also did this Christmas card wreath.  I have a wonderful bell wreath that I got a couple of years ago, that I absolutely adore on the door.  Every year, its about the first thing that goes up, somewhere on or near December 10.  And Dave takes it down on December 11.  Then I put it back up- is there anything better than the sound of jingle bells?  Apparently, yes, the sound of silence, because then Dave takes it down.  AGAIN.  He is pretty ANTI.  So I decided to fulfill the wreath need with something functional: 

This week I have been painting clothespins green, in order to make the above wreath- which you attach Christmas cards to... which I love, because I like displaying the cards, but dont ever know what is the best way. Since going to the crafts store is kind of a production and since I am trying to be all sustainable and whatnot, I am trying hard to use items that I already have this holiday, for decorating, wrapping, etc. 

So Nico and I have been working on this wreath, which is made mostly from items that I already had (except for the green paint and the red pony beads).  Its a little droopier than I would like, mostly because I destroyed my wire cutters trying to cut coat hanger for this project... so I ended up twisting floral wire together to make the body of the wreath.  This has worked pretty good for us- he sits pretty well in his bumpo seat for 15-20 minutes at a time, as long as I am standing up and moving around.  He takes it all in- watching me cook, do dishes, fold laundry, paint a bunch of clothespins, etc.  So far, he's not particularly interested in watching me write job market letters.  JOB MARKET: FAIL!

But, on the upside- Nico is starting at the FSU Infant and Toddler Center in January.  So I will have some time to devote to dissertating and job searches.  He is definitely going to be a hot mess up in there!  His schedule, as it were, includes cat naps in the car to Wakulla, eating every 2-4 hours (as he feels like), and me cuddling with him for inordinate amounts of time during the day.  Needy Momma's boy?  Yes, indeed.  My apologies to the girls that have to take care of him! Awesome!!

They say less is more...

Blog posts two days in a row?  Lucky!!

My favorite time of the year is the Fall...specifically the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas (okay- so technically its not really fall, but whatev!).  I like most of the stuff about this time of year- people tend to be in a better mood, looking forward to time off, seeing family, etc.  I also like giving gifts.  There is something that is awesome about it.  I think about it a lot, I consider it... hell, I have a 45 minute drive each way down  to Wakulla.  What else would you think about? 

To me, the perfect gift is one that is used a lot, or where it is completely evident that the gift giver took some time thinking about you and what you would like.  For example, 6 years ago, my mom gave me an italian charm bracelet for Christmas.  It had flags for all the countries where I had been.  It also had the year I graduated from highschool, etc.  I have since added charms for the marathon I ran, the minutes I got playing in the W-League, Win-Loss-Tie records for the last three highschool seasons and two black paw prints for Drake and Gordon.  Before Nico came, I wore it every day, except for when I went to Africa and only because I was afraid that I would lose it (I dont wear it now because it sometimes scratches and pinches Nico). It was truly a great gift.

Those are the gifts I try to give- ones that I think the receiver will use a lot (or appreciated a lot).  If you've ever received a gift from me, know that this is how I approach gift giving.  If I was ever wrong, sorry.  But my heart was in the right place. 

But it can be kind of stressful.  A lot of times its hard to figure out a good gift  because there are literally, too many that would be great.  But I guess as IE would say, "That is a good problem to have." 

However, this year in our family, we have decided to scale back Christmas.  A lot.  Part of it came from the realization that Dave and I cant have any more stuff in our house... it is out of control.  And, I feel guilty about bringing more stuff into the house, especially if it is associated with a hoppy like sewing, quilting, knitting and or scrapbooking.  Seriously, my dissertation isnt going to write itself as I work on a quilt.  And obviously, the hippie in me fights about the wasted wrapping and packaging materials.  But its also a realization that the things I enjoy about the holidays do not include fighting with holiday shopping traffic.  Nor do they include waiting in long check out lines or dealing with pissy shoppers.  Plus, I will shoot myself in the face if I become one of those parents who is in a tug of war with another grown ass adult over a Tickle Me Elmo.

Now, granted, the things that my family does during the holidays arent all hippy-fied.  For example-we love food.  We talk about it, we prepare it, we eat it, we compete over it.  Hell, my mom was pushing me to nail down a Christmas menu back in October.  Its what we do.  We also sit around and watch Christmas movies.  Even the ones that we've seen 20 times.  Yes, we all know all the lines to Christmas Vacation.  But its what we do.  We play games like yahtzee and boggle.  We used to play games like Taboo (until the Key West Incident) and Scattergories (until the double letter incident).  But we could play just about any game.  We are some game loving folk.   But its what we do.  I'd rather this kid have Christmas memories that involve getting his butt kicked by Aunt Nicole in Dont Break the Ice or his horror when Granny You and Grampy were inappropriate during Cranium. 
So- we arent doing it.  Not this year.  My mom and my sister's need for Christmas lists has made it very easy this year- just go to a list and buy something.  No need to obsess.  To wonder if it's an appropriate representation of our "love".  We made lists of stuff that we want/need.  That way we're sure that when we do give something, its something that we know will be used.  A lot.  Or LOVED.   

Oh Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree.

So this weekend was pretty good.  We spent Friday night and Saturday playing in the Chiles Soccer tournament.  We played Rutherford on Friday night and drew with them (but then went on to lose in PKs) and then played Fernidina Beach on Saturday morning.  We gave up a silly goal 4 minutes in, but then played okay for the rest of the game- resulting in a loss (1-0).  We were set to play against Lincoln for the third game, but the tournament people ended up having to cancel the third game, due a combination of the weather and referees availability.  This is okay with us- since we had already played Lincoln during the regular season (although, I wouldnt have minded another go at them- they didnt look look like they had brought their A- Game...

We got a tree on the way home from the tournament.  I grew up with an artificial tree- so I was sort of ambivalent about getting a real tree (especially since I think having a real tree makes us bad hippies).  Dave is into the smell of the tree- which I totally get.  Its a great smell.  Spent Saturday night, Sunday and today decorating said tree.

I think I am making Dave crazy.  I keep tearing up the house with my projects.  Even worse: I am not packing away one project before moving onto another.  The result is that the house is STILL a disaster area - but I am trying.  Right now I have two wreaths in the works.  I know IE is reading this like, "How about a little less arts and crafts and a little more work on your dissertation?"  To which I would reply- Nico gets very bored with the tapa-tapa-tapa, very quickly.  Whereas with bigger projects involving me making stuff he is a lot more interested.  Ce la vie.  What are you going to do?

Am looking forward to Christmas.  It will probably be pretty crazy.  My family is coming, Dave's family is coming.  We're planning on frying a turkey on Christmas day.  While we are at it, we are gonna fry some other stuff too... twinkies, snickers and oreos (just to see how they are) and try our hand at boudin balls (from Randols). and fried green chilli wontons (from the Bristol up in the Lou).  Of course, there will be a cupcake throw down.  My sister, Mom and I are having a cupcake competition.  My mom and I wanted to make our cupcakes from the jumbo muffin tins... Nicole is calling for the standard muffin tins.  We may need to get a ruling in this.  :)

Am also looking forward to beginning training on the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  Julia, Lauren and Kelly and I are *running* it in March.  I say *running* because there is no way in hell I could keep pace with Julie and Lauren (and definitely not Kelly- who RAN BOSTON.  In fact I see it looking something like this: Kelly finishes 2nd of everyone with a time of 1 hour flat- wearing a pink tutu.  Julia and Lauren run it in an hour and half- also wearing tutus and looking very graceful at that.   And it takes me nearly three hours to complete it and am struck with the fact that there are some elephants who can rock a tutu better than me on any day of the week.  What?   

On an unrelated note: I have decided to start a baby book for Nico.  After flim-flamming around with it, I decided to do it after seeing how Dave poured over his baby book.  Of course, I have this here blog- which has been important for the videos and the pictures of him and whatnot.  The book will be cool, but will be without video.  I wont go over the top with the scrapbooking- but might print some pictures to go in.  I think it will be pretty sweet.  All for now.  Headed to bed. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty awesome. We ended up leaving mid-afternoon on Wednesday. It was slow going though- especially once we got on I-75. But once we got on the turnpike, it picked up a little and we ended up making it into Miami around 1 am. As expected, the craxy traveling schedule+new surroundings threw a wrench in Nico's flow. This meant that instead of sleeping until 552 am, he proceeded to wake up at 3am. AWESOME. Naturally this lead to a lot of napping over the holiday.

Dave's Mom and Aunt made a huge Thanksgiving Feast, which was delicious- including a very tasty cranberry sauce- which I proceeded to eat most of by myself. That is how I roll.

On Friday, we went up to Christian and Heather's place to meet their new baby, Liam. Their older child (Miranda) is about 2 and half and is a genius. Overheard: "Mommy, can I get another marker? The pink doesnt show up well." The pink doesnt show up well? Srsly? Good grammar at two and half? Yes please. Apparently, the fact that she is pretty smart helps- but they dont talk to her like she is a little kid. They talk to her like she is a human. LOVE IT. Of course, Dave and I would like to have a genius kid like that- but I dont know if its worth not talking in LOLSpeak. For real- how much fun is it to say things like, "I can haz some milk?" or "All of ur diapers are belong to us nao!" And its even awesomer since we talk for him anyways.

Saturday we went to a place called "The Field" for lunch (an Irish Pub). It was delicious, thank you very much. I had Bangers and Mash- both of which I highly recommend.

On Sunday, we skipped across Aligator Alley and swung into Ft. Myers to do brunch with my parents. We saw a ton of alligators- which was very cool. They dont play! In any case, brunch with my parents was cool. My dad got to meet Nico for the first time, which was awesome. I think the jacked up sleeping schedule, plus all the stimuli got to Nico, because it wasn't long after we got on the road when he had a MELTDOWN MELTDOWN MELTDOWN. Not a lot of fun. I spent much of the drive on Sunday reclined back in the passenger seat trying to keep him from crying his face off.
We ended up getting back on Sunday night around 930 pm. Not too bad. Was actually a pretty fun weekend, if tiring. Right now, we're just trying to get our feet under us for this upcoming week. Its pretty out of control.

On a completely unrelated matter- I am thinking about entering Nico into a cute baby contest. Trying to figure out what kind of picture to send in. Any thoughts? How do you guys feel about these? I dont have any really great pictures of him smiling...and he's not really extradordinary looking (like the Nelson tripletts who are very adorable, with their curly blonde hair and blue eyes). Advice?

Rollin, rollin, rollin, keep those doggies rollin...

This is a picture that my friend Dylan took of the boy last week (on our Christmas Photo Session outing to Optimist Park). Isn't our boy handsome? The best thing about this picture? He has his little eyebrow arched. Makes my day!

On an unrelated matter- little homey rolled over today. Front to back. It was pretty great. I had just changed him out of a sleeper (that was covered in drool) and had laid him on our bed and was playing with him. I figured I ought to try to do some tummy time with him... especially since the last time we did it, he was pushing up really high. Unlike before where he just laid there on his stomach and made crying noses until I rolled him over. This afternoon he pushed up really high on to his elbows and kept pushing with one arm until he turned over. It was fantastic!

I yelled for Dave to come from the kitchen to see- but then Nico decided he wouldnt do it for Dad. So Dave went away... and Nico did it again. It was brilliant. Next step: walking!

I took a video of him doing it after I got back from tutoring:

All jacked up on mountain dew...

A new video:



Back story: my moms favorite movie kids are the little boys from Talladega Nights. When Nico is a little older, I'm going to teach him (along with his cousin Maddox) the lines. Until then, this will have to do.

Have a great weekend!

Panama City, Pictures and Puppies in the Pool

Had a pretty good weekend. Nico was a peach for the trip to PC yesterday. During the whole 13 hour trip, he only spent about 2 hours with me... he spent the rest of the time with Dave in the car, or with RM and the other parents. Got some good sleeps and came home to sleep about 10 hours (love it). We lost 4-0... to a team who wasnt a 4-0 win team. I could handle the loss, if I felt like this team was that good. But we didnt play very well, and we definitely quit towards the end of the second half. While I miss the hell out of my little brother, its a good thing he wasn't here to see it (he's not dead, he's in Australia). I keep waiting for it... its going to happen. All the pieces are going to click. And I hate to be the team on the other end of it. Sort of like Liverpool last year, when they started the season with several ties and not playing well. Then Fernando Torres opened up on some poor team, maybe Boro or Wigan? Liverpool had 6 goals that game, with Fernando having 3 or 4. That is going to happen to us... I know it.

Lauren and Dylan came over today and we took them to Optimist Park, so that he could take some pictures for our Christmas card- with the dogs, its always out of control. Figured more so with a baby. Was pretty painless and pretty quick. Good stuff.

Later today, we took the boys to Trusdale Pool for "Puppies in the Pool". In the fall, Trusdale shuts down for a weekend and people are allowed to bring their dogs. Its basically just a big dog social at a pool. Its pretty amazing. We took the boys last year. With Nico in tow, we thought we'd hit it up. Here is a video:



Note Drake accosting the little old stranger lady. Man, he is the world's worst dog!

Good to be back here...

So I am about to finish the book, "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. She is British and is apparently widely regarded as the Baby Whisperer. Of course reading it has got me questioning everything. Thankfully I have been down this road before and I have decided to consider our circumstances and our life before incorporating baby advice into our life.

She's anti "attachment parenting" which is apparently, mostly what I do (on accident- turns out a lot of hippie-types do) by virtue of the fact that I wear this little guy. She has this philosophy called EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) and says that bad habits are really easy to learn. She even gives a check list as to how sleeping problems occur. Aparently, Dave and I are on a run-away train on THAT track. Let Nico fall asleep on us? Check? Rock to sleep? Check. Developing a sleeping problem? WIN! For real, though... Usually by 8 or 9 at night, I am so exhausted that I will do anything short of giving him gin to make him go to sleep quickly and with as little fuss as possible.

There are situations like today, where I tried to go with the EASY method... feed him, lay him in his crib to chillax, hoping that he'll drift off to sleep. He doesnt. He lays there for a while, I am walking in and out, putting away diapers, blankets, etc. Eventually he gets pissed. So then I move onto another routine- put him in the bumpo chair, the swing, the papasan chair. Set him on my lap as I look at Failblog.org and Facebook. Nope... still pissed. Because I cant just sit around all day hovering over his crib, I bite the bullet, put the baby wrap on, put him in the pouch, go for a walk around the block and the next thing you know, someone is sleeping up a storm.

Of course, I would love to do her EASY method. It sounds so easy and wonderful. But a little unrealistic at this point. Exhibit A: soccer season is still going on. As long as I am taking him down to Wakulla with me, I think its unrealistic to train him out of the sleeping on us habit. Mostly because when I take him to practice, I put him in the pouch or in the Baby Bjorn. That = sleep. Also- guess who is teething? Yeah. For real. Homey is drooling like his name is Richard Droolfess. I shouldnt really be shocked at this... I have three sets of wisdom teeth. Okay, so I am not sure that is relevant, but thought it would be an interesting anecdote.

So now we have a cranktastic baby who doesnt self-soothe, who only sleeps when he is on one of us. Add to that, he doesnt do pacifiers. WHA-WHAT? How is this possible? Yeah, he wont keep them in his mouth. Literally, we have at least 10 pacifiers, none of which he could be the least interested in. The most recent purchases were two teething pacifiers, with flat textured "nipples" that he is supposed to chew on to help relieve some of the pain of teething. At least that one has a bigger handle thing that I can sometimes stick his fingers in to keep it on his hand.

This brings me to my point: the third hardest thing about having a kid (behind the sleep and the only having two arms thing) is that there is so much advice out there on how to deal with various baby problems, that its hard to know what to do. The book "Happiest Baby on the Block" (which was a boon for us) got us in the habit of rocking, swaddling and shushing. Now this "Baby Whisperer" is saying that sets up bad sleep habits by training a baby to be parented to sleep. So I am back to the drawing board of "Doing whatever works for us." Its good to be back here.

On a completely unrelated note- I have taken to calling Nico "Baby Head". This comes from what Dave and I call the boys sometimes (Dog Heads) and what I sometimes call Drake in my sleep (Dog Fish Head- a micro brewery), but think it comes originally from Doug and Bob McKenzie, who called their dog Doghead. Coincidentally, "Baby Head" has the same number of syllables as "Spider Pig" (of Simpsons Movie Fame). I think you know where this is going:



"Baby Head, Baby Head, does whatever a Baby Head does.
Does he fly through the air, no, cuz he's a Baby Head."

Okay... so now that I have accomplished the ever-important blog for the day and now have 45 minutes left till I have to leave for Leon (game tonight)... this is fantastic! Never mind that I have approximately 10 job applications that need to go out this month. Lets talk about the state of my desk.... not one bare spot. Its covered with all variety of items- thank you notes, ipod accessories, papers, books, pens, cartridges, old bills that need to be shredded, etc. Seriously, what Dave and I need is a stay at home wife. Of course, now might be the time to resurrect talk of starting a commune with some of my friends. I am thinking of a set up where I dont have to work, nor do I have to clean or cook. I was kind of just hoping for a set up where I could hang out with my kid and watch TV all day and do some crafting type things, and someone cooks meals for us, makes the money, pays the bills and does the cleaning. That's a commune, right? No? FAIL!!