Random Fun

Last Movie I Saw In A Movie Theater? Alice in Wonderland
What Book Are You Reading? The Wonder Spot

Favorite Board Game? Life
Favorite Magazine? Anything with beautiful pictures

Favorite Smells? Vanilla, Coffee, Burts Bees baby lotion

Favorite Sounds? My son saying "love you, momma"

Worst Feeling In The World? Not feeling in control of a bad situation

First Thing You Think of When You Wake? Is is really that early?

Favorite Fast Food Place? Jamba Juice

Future Child’s Name? Not telling.  :)
Finish This Statement—“If I Had a Lot of Money,” I'd buy a house

Do You Drive Fast? A little over the limit, but not too fast

Do You Sleep With a Stuffed Animal? No

Storms—cool or scary? Scary

What Was Your First Car? Honda Del Sol

Favorite Drink? Water

Finish This Statement—“If I Had the Time, I Would…” Finish all the partially started projects around my house.  I'm great at starting projects, but BAD at finishing them.

Do You Eat the Stems on Broccoli? Yuck, no

If You could Dye your Hair Any Other Color, What Would It Be? I'd like to red just once
Name All the Different Cities In Which You Have Lived. Harwood, Fargo, Fedreal Way, Seattle, Ann Arbor
Favorite Sport to Watch? Baseball

What’s Under Your Bed? Dust bunnies and some Diet Mt. Dew bottles

Would You Like to Be Born As Yourself Again? Yes!

Morning Person or Night Owl? Morning

Over Easy or Sunny Side Up? Scrambled.

Favorite Place to Relax? Home, in the corner of our sectional couch

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor? Daquari Ice

My Foot

My foot has been hurting for two weeks so I finally went to the doctor. She said I have a bunion.  Excellent.  She pointed to be adorable 3-inch BCBG heels and said "nuh-uh".  Instead, she recommended these.  Ugh, I think I'll deal witht he pain.

Drop Side Crib Recall

Today there was another recall on drop side cribs. There have been numerous recalls over the past few years, yet parents continue to use them. Why? As a parent, I do not understand how parents, even educated parents, completely ignore the guidlines that thousands of trained professionals outline to help insure their child's safety! Call me a helicopter parent, or an overprotective parent, but if there is anything I can help prevent my child from being injured or harmed in any way, I am going to do it, regardless of cost or convenience. These things include: a safe sleeping environment (baby in their own sleeping space, firm mattress, no bumpers, cool air, swaddle when little, wearable blankets when older, sleep on their back, NOTHING in the crib until they are a year, and even then, just a light blanket at naptime, and a sturdy side stationary or convertible crib), babyproofing, vaccinations, etc, etc, etc. Sure, accidents happen, and not everyone has the money to replace old furniture, but the government has got to put a ban on allowing these cribs to be sold and re-sold.

Please go here to check frequently for updates on infant and child product safety recall.


I'm stepping off my soap box, now.

Living the residency life

In the three years since I have been married I have had very few weekends with my husband at home to spend quality spousal time with, and in the past two years, family time. The schedule of a medical student then intern / resident is grueling and those scheduling issues quickly spill over into family life. It's not the "Honey, I'll be working a little late" phone call many married people get from time to time. Instead its learning anywhere from a few weeks before to the first day of the month that we'll have one weekend day together the entire month. That every fourth day he'll leave the house long before I wake up, and not arrive home until after 1pm the next day. Let me be honest, those days are rough on both of us.

Despite it all, Mike is a trooper, he wakes up with we come home around 5:30 so he can spend a few hours with Griffin and I before going back to bed after we tuck Griffin in for the night. On top of this crazy schedule and insane amount of hours, he works two side jobs to allow us extra money to indulge in fun activities, buy the grass fed beef I demand to cook with, and just generally keeps us from having to add the worry of "how do we make ends meet" to our already hectic lifestyle. He is awesome that way.

May is on the horizon and it is the very last work-every-weekend, endless-call-shifts, wake-up-at-4am, carry-the-pager-everywhere month of his career with the exception of a couple of weeks of having to carry a pager in about a years time. Let me say that this is making me more than a little excited! Not only because this means that we will be able to plan more than a month in advance, that he can be a part of our holidays again (he missed Thanksgiving and Christmas last year), but that I can feel a little less guilty about asking for "me" time, even for an hour or two on the weekends. There are projects I've wanted to start or finish, but time just does not allow for that very often. I love being creative and making things, but I have fallen off that wagon for a few years now. 
I managed to throw Griffin another pretty awesome, in my opinion, birthday bash, but I have about 20 projects I have sitting, waiting, for some attention! I'm hoping to carve out some time over the next month to finish some things for my friend Elaine's 1st baby girl due in June to start it all off. 

6 more weeks to a real family life, thats all. I can't believe it, but I'm nearly giddy with anticipation.

If I were

If I were a month I’d be September

If I were a day I’d be Saturday

If I were a time of day I’d be dusk

If I were a font I’d be Modern No. 20

If I were a sea animal I’d be a dolphin

If I were a direction I’d be North
If I were a piece of furniture I’d be a glider

If I were a liquid I’d be lemonade

If I were a gemstone I’d be aquamarine

If I were a tree I’d be a magnolia

If I were a tool I’d be a hammer

If I were a flower I’d be the peony

If I were an element of weather I’d be rain

If I were a musical instrument I’d be a piano

If I were a color I’d be pink

If I were an emotion I’d be love

If I were a fruit I’d be a strawberry

If I were a sound I’d be a whisper

If I were an element I’d be platinum

If I were a car I’d be a Land Rover

If I were a food I’d be cheesecake

If I were a place I’d be Montana

If I were a material I’d be silk

If I were a taste I’d be vanilla

If I were a scent I’d be strawberry coconut

If I were a body part I’d be a hand

If I were a song I’d be Push by Matchbox Twenty
If I were a bird I’d be a robin

If I were a gift I’d be thoughtful

If I were a city I’d be Paris

If I were a door I’d be sturdy and made of oak

If I were a pair of shoes I’d be comfy

If I were a poem I’d be Among the Multitude by Walt Whitman

Among the men and women the multitude,


I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,

Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother, child,

any nearer than I am,

Some are baffled, but that one is not--that one knows me.

Ah lover and perfect equal,

I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,

And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you.

Acceptance

The past few days I've been sneezing and had a mix of congestion and runny nose, but overall felt fine.  I've been telling people I have a cold, but I think I need to accept that I do, in fact, have allergies.  I don't feel any sicker as the days pass, nor do I feel any better.  I looked online and saw that tree pollen in our area is at a fairly high level right now, so I'm sure I'm "allergic" to something that is trying to bloom in this town, also known as "Tree City USA".  I guess that also means that because of the zillion trees that live in the same city that I do, I will be dealing with this nose for weeks to come.

I'm off to the pharmacy to get some medication - yippee!

New Favorite Site

Grooveshark is my new favorite website.  For those of you who like internet radio and have used something like Pandora in the past, Grooveshark is so much better and has the capability to really manage the music you like! 

Blessed

I have the most amazing in-laws and extended family on Mike's side.  This post has nothing to do with my family, they are awesome too, but my in-laws deserve some special recognition for all they do for us.

Last Friday Griffin came down with a little cough, and it continued throughout the weekend.  He was totally fine, playing well, eating well and I took him to daycare on Monday morning.  At 1pm I received a call that he had a temperature and I headed out to pick him up immediately.  Griffin's daycare has a policy that he cannot return until he's been fever free without the aid of Tylenol or Motrin for 24 hours.  Being that it was already afternoon I knew I'd be out of the office Monday and Tuesday for sure.  I called Mike's mom to tell her that Griffin was sick.  She likes to know so she can worry more effectively for her grandson.  She told me that Mike's dad had Tuesday off from work and they would happily jump in the car and drive down.  Which they did.  My father in law drove 6 hours to our house, slept, and drove 6 hours back home.  On top of this he is driving back down on Monday to spend a week with us. 

When you marry into a family you are never sure what kind of craziness you might be surrounded by.  If I have said it once, I've said it a million times.  My in-laws, and the entire family of siblings, grandparent, aunts, uncles, cousins, and extended family beyond them are so generous, kind and amazing.  I am so blessed to ahve them in my life, and in Griffin's life.  Thank you for all you do!

Give

Haiti.  Enough said.  Dig deep, give as much as you can.  Help those less fortunate than yourselves.  We made our donation.  Go ahead, make yours!