Bath Time

We still bathe LP in our kitchen sink. It is actually a really big sink. It is more comfortable for us because we don't have to kneel and it uses much less water than if we put her in the tub. We put a pillow thing in the sink for her to sit on so she doesn't slide and so her little bottom has a cushy place to rest. We are starting to think that maybe she is outgrowing this practice though...

Meet Mr. Stupid

I manage public relations for an environmental engineering firm. A large part of my job is securing editorial coverage for my firm. A few months ago I had a huge coupe, getting my firm featured in an article about women in the engineering field. It was to include an interview with one of our employees as well as her photo. Yesterday, I received my copy of the publication in the mail.

After my immediate thrill at seeing our name on the cover, I realized that is was misspelled. Ugh. A PR person's worst nightmare. All that effort, for what could be great coverage, that I can't use.

To set the stage, the firm is named for a person, which can often be confusing. He did exist at one point, but he has long been deceased and his name lives on through the firm. The name may be tricky for some to spell, let's say that is it "Johnny Quest, Inc." Other than replacing the actual firm name with this pseudonym, below is my actual email conversation with the editor of the publication.
_______________
Jim –
Thank you so much. I received the copies today and they look great. One problem I notice is that “Johnny” is spelled incorrectly throughout the entire thing. Is there a way we can get a corrected pdf of the article so we can post it to our website?

Thank you,
Amy
___________________

Hi, Amy:

I also had a question about the spelling of the company’s name, so I checked the Website, which lists the corporation as Jonny Quest, without the h. Please check and advise me if the Website is incorrect. Thanks.

Jim
___________________

I assure you, the name of the firm is Johnny Quest Inc. If you can give me the url that you saw the incorrect spelling, I will make sure that is fixed right away.
___________________
Hi, Amy:

I accessed the website for www.jonnyquest.com. When I went to johnnyquest.com, there was no listing. If I have somehow made an error, we can make a correction on the PDF files and in the next issue. Thanks.

Jim

___END OF EMAIL STRING

It is important to note that the writer we worked with on the interview spelled it correctly, I have a draft she sent me to review. In addition, the article actually has the correct url - which is neither of those he searched (www.quest.com) IN IT and this editor took it upon himself to do this bizarre search (who types in www.Whatever you think the website might be. com to check how to spell a company’s name?) and change the spelling. If he had just done a Google Search for either “Jonny Quest” or “Johnny Quest” the correct spelling would have come up!

Adding to my frustration, is that he doesn’t seem to believe me that it is incorrect! Is it just me, or are there more stupid people in the world today than there were even a few weeks ago?

Dang Time Change!

So I know it has been over a week since we changed the clocks. I thought by now my sweet little angel's internal clock would have readjusted, but it appears that she continues to march to the beat of the former drum.

LP used to sleep peacefully until sometime between 8 and 8:30. The Hoos would have to wake her up at 7:45 for day care the three days a week that she goes. And even after rousing her from her peaceful sleep she would rest her fuzzy little head on his shoulder, milking every last second of relaxation she could before having to greet the day.

Don't let the media fool you - only people without young children actually gain an hour of sleep when we turn the clocks back. In my house, since "falling back" we have all lost an hour of sleep. LP now wakes up at 7:15 or so EVERY DAY. And not just waking up and mewling for us - but standing in her crib and calling at the top of her lungs to be released.

On the weekends we try to bring her into bed with us and hunker down, hoping that she will just relax and enjoy the warmth of mommy and daddy. But no. She is up and she wants to play. She may stay in bed with us, but there is no rest to be had. She will poke, prod, smack, and generally make it impossible for grumpy grown-ups to maintain the illusion of sleep. The other day, she pulled my lips back and attempted to force her pacifier into my mouth. She thought it was hysterical. I was not as amused.

Please don't tell me that we have to wait until Spring to regain our precious hour of sleep....

I Am So Lame

This weekend was supposed to be an exciting adventure for the Hoos and me. Mid-day Saturday we dropped LP off with my parents on Long Island and returned home to an empty house for 24 hours. We actually had a concert to attend Saturday night, the impetus for the baby-sitting. I know, it sounds like we are going to have something crazy planned, right? We are going to party like rock stars, relive our second honeymoon (the first honeymoon, Canada in December, was a bust)...


But no. Here is what really happened:

• 2:30. We return home.
• 2:35. The Hoos notices that there is water pooling around our less-than-a-year-old boiler.
• 2:40. We search our disorganized files to find the boiler paperwork and service number. We call.
• 2:45-3:30. We do yard work while waiting for the service guy to show up. I rake by the driveway and side of the house and he shreds leaves to dump into our new composter.
• 3:35-4. The composter is full, so I go inside the house and start to clean up, I vacuum, spot clean sticky spots on the tile floor...you know, the good stuff.
• 4-4:10: The service guy shows up, looks at the boiler, closes a valve and is gone is less than 10 minutes.
• 4:10. I leave the house in search of a "nap mat". Apparently you can only buy these things online, because at all of the stores I go to, all I get is sympathetic looks.
• 5:10. I return home, peek my head into the basement where the Hoos is cleaning off the kayak he is building, and remind him that we have to leave by 5:30 in order to grab dinner before going to the concert.
• 5:45. After going through my entire closet to select an outfit, I throw on clothes, grab the directions and we make our way to the car.
• 6:10. We arrive in fabulous Ridgefield, CT to discover that the town only has 3 restaurants. Since the concert is at 7, we both eat breakfast at the local diner. Fancy.
• 7:02. We circle the parking lot of the East Ridge Middle School in Ridgefield looking for a spot. Eventually we end up parking about as far from the entrance as possible, illegally, and make our way to the entrance.
• 7:10. We find seats in the last row of the auditorium and the lights dim.

......In case you thought we were maybe at a rager of a concert, we are watching the Ridgefield Chorale. A local chorus, the Hoos did some pro bono work for them and they rewarded him with free tickets to their concert. They sang a selection of songs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. We did enjoy the music, but we also found time to be catty, as one woman was wearing a black dress slit up to her crotch. Every time she moved we would crack up. We were thankful to be in the last row. We are horrible people...........

• 9:05. The concert ends and we make our way back to the car and home.
• 9:10. I call my parents to check on LP. She in wonderful, had a great time and went right to sleep at 8:30 when they put her down.
• 9:30. We arrive home and go upstairs to change. I tell the Hoos that I have no intention of going back downstairs and slip into my flannel PJs. He agrees to stay upstairs, but only if I watch TV in bed instead of going right to sleep.
• 10:00. We watch a very romantic episode of Law and Order: SVU. I fall asleep before the final credits roll.

Are you sick of the play-by-play yet? Because I haven't told you about the grocery shopping that I did Sunday morning...I was at the store by 9:15 since I woke up at 7:45.

Lest you think the weekend was a complete bust, let me reassure you, the Hoos and I actually had a very nice time. We spent some time together, got to do things individually without worrying about occupying LP, and I did even manage to get a manicure...

To be honest, the weekend was reminiscent of any weekend before we became parents. Errands had to be run, things had to get done, they just didn't take as long.

Sigh...I have become lame.

Lessons in Being a Girl

Today I am wearing a skirt and stockings. This is a relatively momentous occasion. Every few months or so I get tired of wearing the same thing week after week and throw on a more girly outfit to mix it up.

As I pulled on the stockings, trying to take special care not to catch them on my really dry hands, I noticed that this particular pair of pantyhose has something akin to built-in panties. I hadn't noticed before because, well, I typically just buy whatever pair of hose is on sale. This got me thinking - are there women out there that wear stockings without underwear? I find the idea highly unappealing and actually quite disgusting. Does this make me not-so-womanly?

I am also not too keen on the idea of thong underwear. I don't really care if people see my pantylines (or my bra strap for that matter). I do care if I have an irritating piece of string up my tush. Furthermore, much to the Hoos' chagrin, it is very rare that I wear make-up and I blow-dry my hair about as often as I wear stockings.

As LP gets older, it will be my responsibility to teach her about these things. In general, I find the task to be quite daunting. Growing up,I was a bit of a tomboy. I played Little League all through elementary school and as much as I wanted ballet and gymnastics lessons to be like the other girls, I didn't last more than a semester in either. In fact, I am about as graceful as an elephant in high heels.

While I hope for her sake that LP is lighter on her feet than me, I also hope that she is a rough and tumble little girl. And not just because I am dreading her asking me questions about boys and the birds and the bees, but because dang it, I don't know if I am ready to learn how to properly utilize cosmetics.

Better than a Post

My mother thought my post yesterday was "random". I guess that means it wasn't her favorite, so I am guessing she won't like my main post today any better. To make everyone happy, here is a picture of LP.

Joie de Vivre

Yesterday I was feeling particularly blah. Over lunch, my good buddy Wenderina commented that I seemed to be shrugging or responding "whatever" a lot more lately. This got me wondering - have I lost my passion? Even more direct - what was my passion?

Interruption - my goodness, the last sentence sounds an awful lot like a reading from a book on tape. Wenderina gave me a book on tape, which is enjoyable but frustrating. For a silly little romp of a book that would take me two hours to read I am investing countless hours listening to 14 cassette tapes.

Back to our regularly scheduled posting...

Obviously of late, as in the last two years or so, my family has been my number one priority. LP is the most wondrous and spectacular thing in my life. I love her to pieces and channel a lot of my energy into all things LP. Just by existing she makes me feel more full, more alive than I even thought possible.

But, I can't think of what else I am passionate about - or have ever been passionate about. I know some people are passionate about their jobs, others about their hobbies.

Unfortunately, I am not a woman that has hobbies. (This is endlessly frustrating for the Hoos who never knows what to buy me for presents. If I just collected something or focused my energies on a particular type of project it would make his life much easier.) I love to read and cook. And, well, I couldn't imagine life without food. But since I am not in any way, shape or form passionate about exercising, I don't see eating as a full-on passion.

Don't get me wrong, my life is full. I am content. But I wonder if I am missing something.

What are you passionate about?

I Got Nothing

As the sole author of this blog, I have certain ground rules for myself:

1. Nothing too personal. People I know and people I don't know read this.
2. Minimize the cutesy. LP is cute, that doesn't count. But I am not big on animation, or picking up silly things from around the web or chain letters. Sure, I go with it every once in a while, but looking back, my link to The Onion child care thing was just dopey (IMHO).
   
3. Keep it positive. I can be catty, but who wants to read a pissy rant about nothing? Besides, I will eventually get over whatever is bugging me.

Today I am breaking rule numero tres. For some reason, I am stuck in Negative-ville. Maybe it is because I had class last night and it seemed like an absolute waste. Or because I ate so much random crap yesterday that I went to bed with a belly ache and while there is no more physical ick, the mental ick is sticking around. Or maybe it is because it was pouring raining all night long and who wants to get out from under the covers on a dreary day? Whatever it is, today is a blah blah blog day.

I don't even have any super cute pictures of LP to post since I saved them all to our home computer and I am at work.

East Side - Here She Comes!

Sometime in the next few weeks, LP is going to be moving up from the "older infant room" to the "younger toddler room" at her day care. It is hard to believe that my little munchkin is really a toddler.

Obviously, she is a toddler. She toddles around and babbles incessantly and is just so smart that she continues to constantly amaze me. Even more amazing is how much she has changed in the 15 or so months she has been in day care. When she started she was just over three months old. She could barely support her head on her short little neck (she does still have a short neck) and her activities consisted of crying, sleeping, spitting up, peeing, pooping and drinking. She was fed a bottle while being cradled in someone's arms.

Now she runs circles around me, pointing out things that she wants to eat or play with or read. She feeds herself, drinks from a sippy cup and drags chairs across the kitchen floor when she wants to play bubbles.

I know there is a constant debate in the mommy world about child care. Some people prefer nannies, others home care or day care centers. For us, day care has been the right choice, despite the hiccups and challenges I occasionally complain about. LP is a social, outgoing kid. She doesn't cry when mommy or daddy leave her in someone else's care. She is independent and really fun to be around. And, while the fact that she doesn't fear strangers may become a concern in the future, for now it means that she is a happy kid who likes to meet new people, even if she acts coy until she warms up.

Today I had her parent-teacher conference and her lead teacher impressed upon me how sad she was to see LP go. This makes me feel good that my little girl is in the hands of people that care about her. Now we can all sniffle together as we watch her grow up.

The Dancing Ladybug

Most of you have already seen this, I sent it to about a zillion people, but I can watch it over and over again.



A few minutes before the Hoos shot the video, I was standing in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner. LP walks in with something stuck to her chin. Turns out to be a small part of a Milky Way wrapper from her trick-or-treat exploits. I remove it and throw it out. Two seconds later, I feel a tap on my leg. She has removed the entire wrapper from the candy bar (sometimes I have a hard time opening packages, I have no idea how she did it) and wants me to take the garbage.

She then proceeds to go into the living room, grab her Bootylicious Turtle and put it on the steps to accompany her fantabulous dancing. My favorite part is when she knocks over the turtle with her spin move. If you listen closely she says "uh oh" as she picks it up. I swear, she was not goaded into a single aspect of this production. She really is that awesome.