Pumpkin

You want scary? How about Halloween-costume-induced heat exhaustion? How's that for scary?

Me this weekend:

"Ok honey, we can totally watch a scary movie, but I'm not going to look at the screen.

And please talk to me about something completely unrelated during the really scary parts.

And then recap all the parts I missed after you're done distracting me.

And the horrifically scary ending?  Yeah, I'll be leaving the room for that. Please shout the play-by-play down the hall for me."

And I still had trouble sleeping.  Hope Andy appreciates what a giving wife I am, letting him watch his movie and all.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Thoughts on Things

I compiled all of my cloth diapering supplies on this list.  I'm putting it out there because I know that some people care.  But in case you don't, the rest of this post is devoted to things that you should probably care about a whole lot....

This is a thing:

Sandra Lee's been popping up all over my internets lately, and today was no exception.  Oh dear.

For those of us worried about screwing up our children.

Also, want to know what's been stuck in me head all this week?

Think really hard about that.

You're sure you want to know?

Here you go.  Thanks a lot, Feeling Stitchy.

Finally, I will be complaining about all health issues vociferously henceforth as this seems to be the most surefire guaranty of immediate recovery.  Finley is feeling better.  Not best, but better.  Excuse me while I run off to knock on wood!

Duck Pants in Action

One more thing about our cousin Nolan. 

He tells great stories. He will regale you for hours at a time.

 Unless you fall asleep while he's regaling you.  Apologies, dear nephew!  My guys are brutes.

****

Actually, we are officially sick of this flu thing.  Finley's the only one who's actually suffering, but mom and dad are pretty drained too.  Over a full week now and while at first it seemed like a passing thing, it's only gotten worse over the past few days.  I hate to go full-on over-worried parent on you, but I've had a sad baby moaning his discomfort for the last seven days so I feel pretty justified.  I guess it's off to the doctor again!  We'll take any healing thoughts you'd like to send our way. 

City Mouse, Country Mouse

My sister and nephew visited this past weekend.  It was too short (and, sadly, we had a baby who was too sick).

cousin love

on a roof

Sister has a fancy new camera which is making me feel like these pictures are especially inadequate.  Sigh.  Guess I'll just have to link to her blog when she gets them up in a timely fashion (just the motivation you needed/wanted, right Megan?).

Uncles are the life of the party.  As much as I try to be the cool aunt, it seems the fix is in.

Neighbors

While we're on the subject of commutes, I walk by this every day:

More accurately, I usually walk a half-block away from it, but I went out of my way to get you some documentation last week.

The media is making a lot out of there not being a cohesive message, but with the majority of Americans supporting Occupy Wall Street, it seems like the message is clear enough.

As much as I enjoy snow, I'm wishing these guys a warm winter and an peaceful stay.  (And bathrooms!  Dear lord, give these people some bathrooms!)

Not Just Any Old Bag

I'm pretty pleased with myself on this one:

Cute! Practical!  And easy, easy, easy! The pattern is here and it's freeeee!  

So here's the part where I start talking about my breastpump.    

I could write a dissertation on the thought process that went into purchasing my pump, but I'll cut to the chase and just tell you that I ended up with the Ameda Purely Yours.  This pump is offered in a few different iterations, but whatever you end up getting, the actual pump is essentially the same.  The only reason it's offered at different prices is because of the bags that come with it--you can go for a basic tote, a backpack, or the mother-of-all-totes.  The thing is, the mother-of-all-totes ups the price by $90, and even the most basic bag is an extra $50.

More cutting to the chase: I'm cheap.  The bags weren't cute and I figured I could come up with a nicer alternative. 

But of course, the alternative ended up being the free Bloomingdales tote that was hanging in my closet and that looks remarkably like the not-so-cute bag I was trying to avoid in the first place (and admittedly probably even less cute than that).  I've been schlepping around this sad bag for over five months.  Until yesterday!

Everything fits in this bag perfectly, including my lunch bag, which conveniently doubles as an insulated bottle carrier.  If I were truly industrious, I could probably even fit in enough basics to abandon my regular purse altogether, but that would require some paring down on my part.  There isn't a zipper, but I'd taken to putting everything in big ziplocs anyway.  Bonus #1: it's reversible.  Bonus #2: it's washable.

My work commute just got a lot more pleasant!  And I expect this'll be a lovely weekend bag, too, for those lucky ladies who aren't in the pumping business these days.

Marathon Widow

The title of this post is overly dramatic.  I'm riffing on the football widow meme, which I don't really get, because: my husband has a hobby that requires me to watch tv, drink beer and eat wings? oh no!

Marathon training does not involve beer drinking, unfortunately.  It involves the opposite of beer drinking these days.  It occurs to me that I should be gloating about how I'm getting even for my pregnancy-induced sobriety by indulging in front of sober Andy, but then 4 weeks of pre-marathon abstinence vs. 9 months of pregnancy = not even. 

But the widow part comes in with the training runs.  Marathon training is a major time suck, and I'm finding myself doing a lot more single parenting than I signed up for.

Consequently, I'm trying not to feel too bad when I ignore my post-twenty-mile-run husband as he deals with the kiddo so that I can do this:

Cutting out fabric is the worst part, but it turns out I have a little to show for it!  I'll save my results for another day, 'cause I know you're only concerned about how the boys made out.

Andy does not have the mumps, he is just trying to out-puffy-cheek Mr. Chubbycheeks

Oh look, they're fine.  I know he likes me too, but Finley is definitely a daddy's boy.  You should see the tizzy he gets into when he hears Andrew coming in the door from work (or from a run).  Ridiculous. 

In conclusion, here's a picture of questionable quality, but so cute:

Moping

I find it hard to believe that this article is over a year old, but it occurs to me that I first read it during my month-plus-long pregnancy cold which, yes, was actually over a year ago.  I am now on my second post-pregnancy cold (hopefully not on track to last an entire month) and it is comforting to revisit.

The article is required reading for any of you fellow severe cold sufferers out there.  It is also required in case you non-severe cold sufferers are wondering why us severe cold sufferers are better than you.  Is that snotty? (Ha!)  I don't care; I'm sick! 

What Else Have I Been Missing Out On?

Hey!  I got new glasses!

Someone broke my old ones. 

seeing is for suckers

Finley's had a seeing-impaired mommy for 3? 4? months now.  Whatever, it doesn't matter.  My old glasses were toast anyway.  They were very old and the prescription was worthless.  So I suppose I owe Finley a thank you?  If it weren't for him, I'd still be happily walking around half-blind in my old specs.

But as it was, I was without any sort of corrective eyewear for a long time, which I couldn't really appreciate until I put my new ones on.  Holy crap, guys.  Seeing is awesome!  I could read signs, I could make out faces across the street, and then I walked around the corner and, bam!  Rachel Dratch.*  This after having a conversation the night before about never seeing celebrities.

And then I walked down the street to the grocery store and, bam!  commemorative plaque commemorating birthplace of Winston Churchill's mother** after years of wondering aloud to various people about historical spots in our neighborhood.

Caveats aside, I find these things incredible.  I find seeing incredible.  Looking forward to peppering this blog with celebrity sightings from now on!***

* I realize that you might not know who this is.  Suffice it to say, she's wikipediable.
 ** Which I feel compelled to tell you may not be entirely accurate, but still.
*** Not really. I'm actually pretty terrible at this sort of thing, even with perfect vision.

8 Months

1) This picture was only possible because we haven't mastered "forward" yet.

2) It's still too warm to be wearing long sleeves and pants.  Get with the program, October.

Four teeth; babbling up a storm; new favorite toy: wet rags.  Yum.

Seahawks vs. Giants

this game is ridiculous!

This is us letting Finley watch television.  Question our parenting choices all you want, but he's reacting to football at levels incredibly advanced for his age.

UPDATE

Can't believe I forgot to post this one:

Gratuitous Baby Picture

Fall Dinner

 white beans with roasted fennel

This is good, though this is not my picture--I didn't have the time or motivation to focus on appearance today, so our particular iteration went undocumented.

Thanks to cooler weather, I can turn on my oven again!  Summer dinners are usually a study in trying not to inflict heat exhaustion upon ourselves, so our menu is pretty limited.  But give me an oven and dinners suddenly become interesting again. 

I'm a recent convert to fennel, but if you're not sure about the stuff, this is a good way to go--roasting it really mellows out the licorice flavor.  I deviated from the recipe by adding a tablespoon or so of apple cider vinegar (not my idea--thanks comments section!) and two poached eggs on top per serving.  Pair with some nice bread and you have delicious.  And quick!  It only took about a half-hour, not including oven pre-heat and bean prep (which is because I use dried beans as it's the smart, practical thing to do even though it usually results in me avoiding bean dishes altogether)  Once again, the recipe is here.  

Added bonus: no meat and very little cheese (which I gather is just as bad for the environment as meat?), in case you care about that kind of thing.

Hooray for variety!  I was afraid I was about to turn into a 5'9" tortellini!

Father-Son Lounging

duck pants!

I'm going to lay off the ducks soon, promise.  But I figured a little duck loungewear wouldn't hurt anyone.  I figured it necessary, even.

Here's the thing about my husband: he's a giant.  A skinny, skinny giant.  Clothes that fit him are just about impossible to find.  (Remember my pant amputation?  That's what we resort to in these parts.)  We've gotten him out of the house with his ankles covered for the most part, but the poor guy has had ridiculously too short pajama pants for the better part of a year now.  With a new person in the house to impress, I figured it was time to take matters into my own hands.

Conveniently, I discovered this free! pattern!  Free patterns are awesome.  I also found a free pattern for Fin's pants, but I would have been just as successful tracing a pair of pants in his wardrobe.  You'll note that I added those cuffs for extra growth accommodation, but the pattern I used isn't offering a lot of room for his big diaper bottom, so we'll see how long they actually last.

Anyone out there want some made-with-love pajama pants as their Christmas present this year? You can pick your own fabric.  I am not limited to ducks.

Some notes on the pattern:

For those of you who may be interested in trying out this sewing thing, this is a good project to start with.  I mean, I started out with all sorts of non-pattern stuff, and that's a good way to go too, but if you feel up for trying out apparel, this is definitely the project for you. The directions are pretty thorough, though you'll want to read them carefully.  Also, the PDF is a little fiddly to tape together.  You'll probably figure it out without too much trouble, but there are definitely more idiot-proof PDFs out there.  And I will say that the whole make-your-own drawstring business is unnecessary if not downright sadistic.  Just use some webbing or ribbon.  Or better yet, skip the buttonholes and drawstring altogether.  The elastic does the job just fine. 

Also, I think it would be easy enough to add on some side-seam pockets with these.  I might have to try this out on some pants of my own. Unfortunately/fortunately, I used up the entire two yards that I bought, so no ducks for me. 

Antic

Custard pies have their place, but they're honestly not my favorite member of the pie family.  Pudding is amazing.  Pie is amazing.  The combination?  Somehow less so.  Unfortunately, I've heard of people who cannot abide by fruit pie.  These people make me sad.  It is because of these people that I've made my fair share of chocolate cream pie--I am just that committed to the promotion of pie consumption. 

Coconut cream pie--blech.  Banana cream--meh.  Key lime--that's one I just don't get.

Then there is a key lime pie on a stick, dipped in chocolate.  Pie + custard + chocolate dip + stick, and suddenly you're back in the realm of amazing.  That beer didn't hurt either. 

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You know what might be ridiculously amazing?  Frozen chocolate-dipped cheesecake.  On a stick.  Just sayin'.