Swoon

Clive Owen is in town and was having lunch two blocks from my office.  I love him and hope I can see him on the street while he is in town filming a movie.  I LOVE that Ann Arbor has become so popular to film movies in.  I think there are three currently being filmed here.  It's fun to see celebrities walking around town!

Planning for Christmas...Early!

Halloween just finished and I know we're still weeks away from Thanksgiving, but I've been giving a lot of thought to Christmas this year already.  I absolutely love buying gifts for my friends and family and take pride in find the "perfect" gift.  Having an energetic toddler and trying to shop for more than a few minutes does not mix, and with Mike's very unpredictible schedule, I rarely get time to shop for non-essentials or Griffin related items.  This is especially true right now with Mike's schedule, so I will be doing what I can this year.

While I will be buying some gifts this year, I am also striving to incorporate as many handcrafted, sentimental and non-commercial items as possible.  It might be easier to shop online and pick out gifts quickly, but I want those who receive these items to know that I was thinking just of them while creating it just for them. 

I have an especially great gift to some members of my family and I can't wait to share it with them!  It's an idea I've been playing around with for three or four years now, but have finally figured out a good way to implement it. 

Movies I Have to Watch

There are a few movies that I absolutely have to watch if I see they are on t.v.  These include off the top of my head:

Footloose
Sixteen Candles
Sabrina (the Julia Ormond / Harrison Ford version)
Lorenzo's Oil
Pretty in Pink
The Notebook
A Christmas Story
The Fugitive

Randomness

I'm taking a little inspiration from the Simple Woman's Day Book below:

Outside my window... beautiful vibrant fall leaves

I am thinking... I should really start on all of those homemade presents for Christmas

I am thankful for... being able to get Griffin his H1N1 shot

I am wearing... gray cuffed pants, navy short sleeved sweater and ballet flats

I am remembering... some fun childhood memories of me and my brother

I am going... to Old Navy tomorrow to pick up $2 Halloween costumes to put in a play dress up area for Griffin

I am reading... Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

I am hoping... the snow won't come early this year, I am enjoying Fall wall too much

On my mind... looking forward to visiting family in Fargo over Thanksgiving

Noticing that... our office bought WAY too much Halloween candy, we have about 20 bags left around here

Pondering these words... "A baby is born with a need to be loved - and never outgrows it."  Welcome to the world Oakley John.  I can't wait to meet you!

From the kitchen... Apple Crisp (this weekend)

Around the house... installing new doorknobs in the basement

Test Post - Pictures

3 Years

Today Mike and I are celebrating our 3rd anniversary. The suggested anniversary present for the 3rd year is leather, is that because the last year was supposed to have been rough? The last year has been filled with lots of changes for us. Griffin celebrated his 1st birthday and has quickly made the transition into toddlerhood. Mike graduated medical school and started working (and working, and working) a total of 3 jobs. We moved into a bigger house. Certainly not all of the changes were easy, but I wouldn't say they were rough either. In fact, I'd definitely say the 3rd year of marriage was much easier than the 2nd. Of course, the 2nd probably had something to do with throwing an infant into the mix!

We are very lucky to have Mike's parents in town this week, which we will take full advantage of by going out for a little date tonight.

Happy Anniversary, Mike. Thank you for working so hard to lay the foundation for our future, enduring sleep deprivation and the loss of any amount of personal time in order to allow us family time together around your crazy schedule. We only have a few more months of this until we can settle into a much easier routine. I looked ahead and next year's present is fruit and flowers - perhaps this next year will be "peachy".

No Spend October

I've been inspired by a few other blogs and have decided to enlist a month of "No Spending" for October. That is, no spending on non-essentials or pre-budgeted items. No ordering out lunch because I forgot to bring one or running to Starbucks for a peppermint mocha in the afternoon. The only items that will go outside that rule are a winter coat, hat, mittens and boots for Griffin because I haven't bought any, and he will need them before the month is up.

In the spirit of not being wasteful I'm going to start working on some projects around the house that I've been planning to do forever, but haven't had the time or energy to do. First on the list is filling in quite a few blanks in Griffin's baby book. Thank goodness I've documented his milestones on his blog (and a huge reason why I use descriptors like last night, or this morning, or last Sunday) so I can look back and get the dates right. I have entire room for my hobbies, and haven't spent more than an hour in there since we moved in, which is absolutely shameful.

So here we go, day 1 of the "No Spend October", we'll see how it goes.

Dinner Drop Off

I dropped off dinner to the wife of one of the radiology residents over my lunch hour today. They had a baby boy three weeks ago and some of the wives arranged to deliver meals a few days a week. I brought over a very delicious sausage lasagna recipe I made for company last week. Mike was sad yesterday that it wasn't for our dinner. I also brought along salad, bread and homemade chocolate chip cookies to complete their meal. I hope it made their dinnertime tonight a little easier and gave them more time to spend with their beautiful baby boy.

TV

I don't get a chance to watch a lot of live t.v., so I end up recording most of it and catching pieces of it when I can. Plus, I really, really like fast forwarding through all the commercials.

I am really excited for the Grey's Anatomoy season premiere tonight! It is definitely one of my favorite shows. My all time favorite, ER, was cancelled last season and I'm bummed that Thursday nights will no longer include them.

I watched the first episode of Glee on Hulu and it is absolutely hilarious, its definitly going on my to-watch list. A few other new shows coming out, like Three Rivers, have caught my attention and I'm looking forward to them.

Sunday night the new season of Dexter starts, which both Mike and I are pumped for. We started watching Season 1 when we had a free Showtime promotion, and quickly burned through all three seasons on our DVR. If you haven't see it, you should definitely check it out.

Goose Egg

Last night I had a bad mommy moment. Griffin and I were sitting on the orange shag rug in his room giggling and tickling and hanging out before bedtime. Mike can in with the bottle and I got up and asked Griffin to get his sleep sack so he could go to bed. He smiled and started runningfor the door and I leaped ahead and went to push the door closed. Unfortunately Griffin didn't stop in time and he hit his head on the edge of the door and got a big goose egg on his forehead. I felt so bad as we watched it get bigger and bigger and Mike got all doctor-like on it poking and prodding and checking him out. We gave him some Tylenol and he went to bed like normal - even slept through the night which he hasn't done for about 3 weeks now. Mike and I went in to check on him before we went to bed and it didn't get any bigger, but we knew he might wake up with a black eye. Luckily this morning it is just a small bruise on his forehead, and no black eye. This is only my 3rd or 4th baby mommy moment I've had in 18 months, so I guess thats not too bad...and I've had thousands of good mommy moments, so hopefully that outweighs this not-so-fun memory.

Random Thought

I hate on blogs when people nickname significant people in their lives so they don't reveal their identity. For instance, if your husbands name is Thomas Knudsen the 4th, please don't call him TK4, its just silly. If you have a nickname you normally use for your spouse or child routinely, that is fine and understandable and fun, as it lets readers into your life a little. Its okay to leave your last name out of the mix, but I think calling your child on your blog by their "internet nick name" instead of their first name is just strange.

Travel

The family and I are headed out of town tomorrow for 11 days to Mike's hometown. We are really looking forward to it. Being up there is really relaxing, and his family is great to be around. We also have babysitters (hurray!) that are awesome and free! We have quite a few fun activities planned while we are up there, so I hope to have some new pictures to share when we get back.

Because they get it

Tonight Griffin and I went to an ice cream social that was sponsored by the Resident Support Network at the University of Michigan. The group is open to residents and spouses and offers opportunities to get together. The events range from playgroups to tailgating parties to wine and cheese events to movie nights. The group is funded by the house officers association, so most events are free, and some even include some cash to help cover the cost of a babysitter.

Griffin and I had a great time! There was even a little boy that Griffin used to go to daycare with who we found out whose dad is also a doctor. They ran around the playground laughing and chasing each other. It was a nice to talk to people who had kids and are going through the same struggles we are. I'm not saying that others don't understand what our lives are like, but at the same time unless you live this life, its hard to explain and understand. He can't call in the middle of the day to say "hi", he doesn't "get off early", being done at 7 really means he's done at 8 and taking a "sick" day doesn't ever happen. Mike's schedule is really busy with extremely long and changing hours. On top of that he works two other part time jobs to add to the chaos. When asked where Mike was tonight I said he was on night float and one woman just smiled and nodded. I didn't have to explain what that meant to her, she understood and it felt nice to be surrounded with people who just got it, at least for tonight!

Shorts

I think everyone should leave Michelle Obama's shorts alone! Do we really not have bigger things to concern ourselves other than the length and style of her casual wear?

Sick Boy

Griffin woke up with a fever this morning. We took him to the doctor this afternoon as every time he has a fever, he has an ear infection. This time he didn't. On the positive side, he doesn't have an ear infection, which means most likely his ear canals are growing in the right direction and we'll be able to avoid putting tubes in. On the negative side, we have a sick little boy with a 102.7 fever who can't go back to daycare until its been gone for 24 hours. Mike was luckily home today and will be tomorrow, and I'll have to take Thursday and potentially Friday off. I feel so bad when he's sick. I know he gets bored laying around, but he doesn't feel much like doing anything either.

And as always, I hate that even minor illnesses can have scary complications (although rare). I need to not look at Google any more.

Stopping at the store on the way home for some pudding pops and popsicles to make sure he stays fed and hydrated.

Healthcare Debate

I created a long post this morning that I decided to take down after I posted it. I'm not for universal health care coverage for a variety of reasons. If you want to know why, feel free to ask, otherwise that is all I'll have to say about the drama that is going on right now in Washington. Everyone is so heated about this topic and I don't believe they have all of the facts in hand to truly debate it.

Reflections on the past 16 months

Trying to bring my blog back up to date with a very large missing gap has been perplexing me for awhile. At first I was going to abandon it, but decided for a variety of reasons to keep it.

Motherhood - what an amazing journey it has been for me so far. It is unbelievable how quickly you can bond to your child, the depth of the love that you acquire and the instinct that developes to protect them at all costs.

Griffin has filled my life with more love, fun, joy and happiness that I could have ever imagined. I continue to be amazed by looking back at pictures of him from birth through current, all of the ages and stages we went through together, and all of the memories we've made. Every minute, every second with Griffin is a precious gift, and although it isn't always easy, it is the most awesome responsibility and honor I will ever have the opportunity to have.

There are lots of milestones of Griffin's I posted on his blog. Both as an easy way for friends and family to watch him grow from far away, but also as a psuedo baby journal to easily look back on pictures, events and milestones. Now I'm ready to restart my blog so that I can look back and continue to see how I've grown and changed.

Reflecting back over the last 16 months, aside from all of the wonderful things Griffin has learned and accomplished, I am proud of myself, personally, most for one thing the most. Breastfeeding Griffin for an entire year. This may seem like a no-brainer for a lot of people, and not something to pat yourself on the back for, but I'm giving myself a little pat. Pat, pat, pat. I was the one who got up for every night feeding, changing, rocking back to sleep (not that I would have had a choice with Mike gone a good percentage of the time, or wanted one because I LOVED our nights together), I was the one who pumped milk 3 times a day at work, I was the one that gave up alchohol, most over-the-counter medications (sorry - tylenol was necessary at times), nights out with friends. I did it for Griffin, and I did it for me. I believe the bond that we created during countless hours of nursing sessions is something that will resonante forever between us. I'm proud that I made a committment to do it for a full year and stuck through with it.

A return to blogging

Its been 15 months since I've blogged on this site and I'm ready to make a return to it. Motherhood has been the most awesome adventure and gift, and I've enjoyed every second of the journey so far. I've been fairly good at keeping Griffin's blog up and running, but definitely pushed mine aside to make time and room. There are only so many hours in the day, and as a result this blog stopped.

Now, what to write about?