Wrestling (in More Ways Than One)

Last night, Willis showed me a wrestling move I could use on Nora (it doesn't hurt her, of course) so that I could hold her down long enough to get a diaper on her. Already, it has been a game changer. It never occurred to me that Willi's wrestling knowledge could end up being so helpful to me. I was about at my wits end at every single diaper change.

I suppose he's good for something now and then. 

And now, here are some photos of Nora from yesterday. As you can see, she's trying hard to slam on my keyboard or grab the remote. She loves her some buttons.


I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Nora annihilated her mobile. She seriously just snapped it in two one day. I'll be busting out the JB Weld to fix that. I guess that's what I get for not pulling that bad boy out of her crib when she started pulling herself up. Live and learn.

In other news, I got bangs today (and no: I didn't cut them myself). I don't think you can tell from the photo very well (it's rather dark), but they're there. What do you think? They're a bit of a side-swept bang. I wasn't feelin' gutsy enough to jump all into bangs. I wanted to test 'em out first. I wanted something a little different, but I wasn't willing to get my hair cut short or anything like that. I've been working hard to grow it out for the past couple of years.

Also, I am amazed at the amount of phone calls and house calls we get lately from the "Barack Obama: Campaign for Change."

They always seem to time it for when Nora's sleeping. If they call again, I'm going to be like, "Look. I was thinking about voting for Barack Obama, but since you people are so freaking relentless and keep waking up my kid, I'm thinking that the change I am looking for is some stinking peace and quiet for once! You can forget my vote, you annoying people! Good day!"

One lady called me on a Sunday morning from her house in Georgia. I realize I'm a "swing voter" (and I'm sure that's largely due to the fact that I'm a 27-year-old woman who voted Democratic during the primaries—I've got my reasons), but holy crap. Leave me alone. There's an air of desperation (clamoring, if you will) in all this, I think. It's a bit weird. It's amazing to me that people are suddenly coming out of the woodwork to care about this election—and they're persistent little buggers. A little short-sighted, perhaps, but persistent nonetheless. God love them.

That's really all I have to report for now. I need to get some work done. Catch you kids later.

(P.S. That's about all the politics you'll probably see out of me.)

On the Subject of Trick-or-Treat

I didn't get much chance last night to elaborate on Halloween (and I had intended to), so I'll take a moment now to do that since my work computer is absolutely crawling along today. It's killing me.

It's always a learning experience when it comes to handing out Halloween candy. I always think I have enough candy, but then I find that I'm always sorely mistaken. I have always run out half-way through trick-or-treat. I don't suppose I help myself by handing out two pieces at a time at first. I need to quit doing that. I bought four big bags of good candy: that should last two hours, I'd think! Note to self: only one piece of candy at a time!

I must've had four couples that came to my house with an infant (we're talking under four months) passed out in a car seat/stroller. Would you believe these people would walk up to me with a bag of candy and say, "She/he says, 'Trick or treat.'"

Are you kidding me? I should've grown a pair and said, "Um. No. I'm pretty sure your kid isn't saying that."

Instead, I just opted for the weird look and the reluctant release of candy into the bag of the idiot parents (I'm such a wuss). What the crap are they thinking: free candy for Mom and Dad? That has to be it—I sure as crap hope that they're not feeding that candy to their less-than-four-month-old (Nora's nearly 10 months old, and I'm not feeding her any candy).

It was ridiculously cold and windy out, too. That's not good for a kid under four months. It wasn't even good for Nora, and I had her all bundled up (in her frog costume) and on my lap while I passed out the candy. She didn't last long: she only sat out there with me for about 30 minutes or so (and she was having a blast watching all the people). In fact, the only reason I took her into the house was because she started squirming out of my arms, and that started to get difficult when I was needing to guard my candy from all the little kids who got greedy eyes when they spotted my stash.

I saw an abundance of older teenagers trick-or-treating, too. I was alarmed at how many said absolutely nothing when they came up to my porch to collect. Kids today! I'd always make sure to say loudly, "YOU'RE WELCOME!"

Next year I might do what my neighbors did: get some cheap candy (Dum-Dums) to hand out to rude people (that includes the trick-or-treating parents) and teenagers. I think that might be the most brilliant idea ever.

Almost everyone thought Nora was a boy, too (those that didn't know her). Frogs can be girls, people.

In other news, Nora's on her second nap of the afternoon. It's been a bit of a weird napping day. When she wakes up, I'm going to go pick up some saw horses from someone on my Freecycle list (hopefully), and then I've got to run over to Ace to pick up our storm windows for the back door!

Also, both of our toilets have broken on us in the last week. Floyd says he's going to be starting on our bathrooms here soon (hopefully he will start this week), and I really hope he does. It's really, really annoying to have to open up the tank of the toilet (and shove my hand down into the cold water) every time I need to flush. We can't justify fixing them because we're about to rip them out: it's maddening!

Dilly out.

Cuteness and Whatnot

Here are some photos from the past few days. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera with me when I made a whirlwind trip to Lafayette with Nora to see some cousins (one of my cousins is getting married in a few weeks, and I scooted to Lafayette briefly to join in on some girl time festivities). So, I have zero photos of that, which is sad.

As you can see, Nora got all dressed up on Sunday evening to help me hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Can you tell she was thrilled? The photos of her passed out in her car are from Sunday morning (the morning after our whirlwind trip—we got home at 1 a.m.). I was actually napping while Willis was watching her. He gave her some Cheerios in her car, and I guess she passed out while she was eating 'em. He was a good boy and grabbed the camera for me. She took a pretty good nap after that picture was taken (once Willi put her in her bed, of course).

I didn't get any photos of Uncle Josh's visit, either. Darn it!

I can't believe we have, like, an inch of snow on the ground right now. That's just gross. I really hope that the repair guy at Ace Hardware gets our storm door window fixed, like, tomorrow.

Also, I'm up really late. Willi was hanging out with Randy this evening, so I took some time to get some personal jobs accomplished. This was one of 'em. Now, it's time for bed. Dilly out!

Three Things

1. The other day, Willis walked in the front door and said to me, "Did you cut into your little pumpkin today?"
   
   I looked at him like he was nuts, and I said, "No! Why?"
   "Well . . . somebody did."
   
   Somehow, I forgot to go look. Just yesterday, I happened to be on the front porch (putting the Netflix in the mail), and I saw it. Here's what it looks like.
   
   

   
   
   
   
   

   
   

   Yeah. The idiot chipmunks murdered my pumpkin. Did I mention before that they ate my Indian corn, too? Punk rockers. I'm starting to think that these little guys need to die.
   
2. Two nights ago, Willis and I were whipping up grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. I was adding basil to the soup, and we started talking about basil (naturally). I told him about how I had a big container of basil stashed in one of the cabinets because we use a lot of it. He was saying that he never uses it. I told him I use it all the time, and I said, "In fact, basil is probably my favorite spice."
   
   Without missing a stinking beat, the goober goes, "Oh, really? My favorite was Scary Spice."
   
   I asked him how long he'd been planning on dropping that bomb, but he said he made it up right then. I can't work with that. 
   
3. This morning, Willis said, "Jenny. I have some information for you, and you can choose to do with it what you will."
   
   I said, "What is it?"
   
   He goes, "Apparently, they've discovered through studies that if a woman drinks three cups of coffee a day, her breasts will shrink."
   
   I said, "Oh. What are you trying to tell me (I don't drink that much coffee, by the way)?"
   
   He goes, "Nothing, but I'm gonna go downstairs and throw out all of our coffee."
   
   What am I gonna do with this guy?

Cutest Sound in the World

If you're having a bad day, I highly suggest you listen to this.


There. All better?

Wah Wah

Admittedly, I've been in a bit of a funk lately, but I'm working on it. It's not, like, post-partem depression or anything of that nature. And yes: Willis and I are just as good as ever. There's just been a lot of other stuff happening. In fact, Nora's been a big help with everything. No matter how I seem to be feeling, when that kid looks at me, I can smile again. See what I mean?

Yesterday, I about burned the house down by accident. I decided I wanted some hot cocoa, so I started heating up the kettle. About two hours later (I get distracted), I started smelling smoke. Right about then, I remembered what I had done, and when I bolted down the stairs, I was seriously fearful that I was going to find our kitchen in flames. I didn't, though, so I suppose I should be feeling lucky (or blessed). Instead, I just feel kind-of stupid.

Here are some other random photos. The dresser that I've been refinishing is in there along with some snapshots of our street. I meant to get out there sooner (while the leaves were in their prime) to take those, but I suppose it still looks pretty out there.






I just burned my mouth on some hot cocoa a little bit ago (and yes, I remembered that I had the kettle on this time). I have a wuss mouth anyway, but dang. It hurt.

In other news, I constantly have Disney Channel songs in my head. I wasn't ever really going to let Nora watch TV, but sometimes, when I'm giving her breakfast in her car in the morning, I flip on the Disney Channel. It's the only channel that has lots of music on it (that I'm willing to let her watch), and this kid absolutely loves it! She otherwise doesn't really watch TV during the day, but I've been able to catch several shows that are on in the mornings. I find myself singing songs from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (hot dog!), Handy Manny (¡jugamos juntos!), and My Friends Tigger and Pooh. I never thought that'd happen. I guess we do have the Disney Channel on in the background when I am watchin' Marian, too. I'm sure that helps.

Nora's awake in her crib and talking. This is what she's saying, "Oohgahdooh! Digga digga! (Pfffffft!) Ahhh! (Pfffft!) Mama. (Pffft!) Ohh."

Good stuff. I'mma gonna go squeeze her.

Multitasking

That's right. This kid can stand up and eat at the same time.

The Maple City Sure Is Pretty

The leaves are turning now, and being that we live in the Maple City, it is just beautiful. We see lots of warm colors everywhere around here, and it's always so pretty. I should probably take some pictures, but I'm not getting outside much these days. Maybe over the weekend, I'll get a chance. A lot of the leaves are already in our yard, too. Oi.

Nora had her nine month checkup yesterday. Here are her stats:

• 18 pounds, 8 ounces
• 28.75 inches long (She grew a half inch in three months.)
• 44 cm head circumference

From what I understand, she's not in the upper percentile anymore (although, she's still above average, on these). So, we can start saying (with a little more confidence) that we're actually her parents.

Here's a video of the little rascal eating lunch yesterday.



She's starting to develop a little sense of humor. I think we're in for a riot.

She's been doing a ton of things lately that have been amazing to me. Let me see if I can remember them all here:

• She's been clapping regularly (this is just so stinking fun).
• She picks up books and "reads" them (even if they're closed).
• She loves to call her daddy, still, and requests it every time she sees the phone. I've been trying to figure out how to get a video of this, but it's virtually impossible.
• She's been doing really well with feeding herself. I'm all inspired now to have her try new things, and this is really exciting for me!
• She's definitely cruising now. As a result, she's also bruising.
• She's napping better in the last few days.
• She's starting to know where she's not supposed to go, and she goes there. Often. (My little Destructa.)
• She loves the dog. He loves her.
• She loves the cat. He loves the cat (and bolts as soon as there's a threat of her touching him).
• She shouts at her toys, the floor, and whatever will listen. She just sits there and goes, "Ah! Ah! Ah!"
• She's been doing some more intricate babbling. There's the loud stuff, and then there's the quiet, whisper-like talk she typically does first thing in the morning (or on the changing table).
• She also makes a pig-grunt noise. I think I've mentioned this before, but she definitely still does it. Often.
• Oh, and she's suddenly started squirming on the changing table again. This is a problem.
• She doesn't let anyone else but Willis or me hold her. This could become a problem.
• She has tons of hair. Tons.
• She absolutely has her daddy's sleepy eyes.

And, here are some photos:






She just keeps on growing—right before my eyes! It seems like every time she goes to sleep, she's changed so much when she wakes.

I'm really excited for the weekend. We're not doing anything (in fact, Willis has to work tomorrow), but I'm so thrilled.

In other news, Mom and Dad came by for a little while last night. We ordered some Chinese, and we ate dinner with them. at our house. Nora was only up for a few minutes when they got here (she was falling asleep on us), which was kind-of sad. We'll get to see them again soon, though! Thanksgiving isn't so far away, and there's always a chance that we might get over there before then.

It's getting chilly out there (and in here). We haven't turned on the furnace yet, but we're going to do the prep work involved with that over the weekend.

My pie was delicious, by the way. I actually made two, and Willi took one to work for a coworker's birthday.

Oh, and one last thing. The idiot chipmunks ate all my Indian corn. Jerks.