kapachino

Category: personal

  • Weekend Activities, Self-Reflection, and Baby Hair Control

    So I had a really good weekend. It was a perfect mix of productive and fun. I could have possibly used a bit more relaxing at home time, but you can’t win ’em all. I was so proud of all that I had accomplished on Saturday that I was bragging to David at the end of the day.

    Me, with smug satisfaction: …and I even showered, and shaved my legs, and plucked my eyebrows, and completely groomed myself!

    David: Honey, MOST people do that.

    Me, not quite so smug: Well, so do I, OBVIOUSLY. Just…not all the time.

    ***

    Because of some things that have happened lately I have been examining myself and how I handle conflict. I have come to the conclusion that it is near impossible to make me angry, and I am probably the most forgiving person I know. I’m not saying that to brag, because it can actually be a significant fault. I will look for any and every excuse to not be upset with someone, even if they really don’t deserve it. And if someone, like my husband, is upset with a person for good reason, I will immediately take up that person’s cause in order to smooth things over, when what I should really be doing is supporting my husband. There’s nothing I hate more than a broken relationship, but I need to make sure not to let that come in between my most important relationships of all.

    ***

    I took my computer to the Apple store in the mall yesterday to visit the Genius Bar. It was kind of embarrassing because it’s like 5 years old, the edges of the keyboard are peeling off, there is a huge black line through the screen where it got bent, and it’s just overall obviously old, dirty, and slow. I felt sort of bad for it in there with all the shiny new things. This one still works, though, and I feel an affection for it since it saw me through nursing school. I even named it, although now I know someone with that name so I’ll keep it to myself. But it had stopped connecting to the internet at our house which is quite inconvenient. I’m saving up for a new one, but it’s slow going. Anyway, the point of this whole thing is that I was in the mall, and there was Christmas music playing and all the holiday decorations were up. I’m not against premature holiday-celebrating, but it did kind of surprise me, and then I realized that Thanksgiving is only two weeks away so it’s not truly premature. I think I must be in another world somewhere and time is passing without me realizing it.

    ***

    You must have noticed that this post is of the random variety, so I can’t let it pass without talking about the baby. Specifically, that her hair is out of control. It is completely bald on one side, sort of bald on the other side, and the rest of it is getting SO long. It swoops completely to one side like an emo kid, has a huge swirling cowlick in the back that refuses to be tamed, and basically from the side she looks like she has a horse’s mane. It is what it is, but still, we’re into hats these days.

  • Joining the Confession

    Recently Ashley wrote a post listing all the things she doesn’t do in order to highlight the fact that she’s an imperfect human, just like all of us, because it’s so easy to get caught up in jealousy in the blog world where you only see what other people want you to see.

    Since then I’ve seen a bunch of other people follow her lead, which I think is awesome. I’m here to make my own confessions. I’m so not perfect, don’t have it all together, and there are a bunch of areas that I want to improve. BUT, I’m happy with my life and I like myself. I hope you do, too. (Like YOURSELF. I hope you like me too, but that’s not what I meant.)

    ***

    I don’t walk our dogs, hardly ever.

    I barely cook anymore. We eat packaged foods or shamelessly invite ourselves to dinner at our parents’ house. (I wonder how long I will use “new baby” as an excuse?)

    I sometimes let Meredith cry when I’m trying to finish getting something done.

    I don’t always give my husband the attention that he wants and needs.

    I’m not interested in makeup, and I hardly ever buy new clothes.

    I haven’t exercised since halfway through my pregnancy.

    I don’t eat a lot of vegetables, and I do eat my favorite three C’s: chocolate, cheese, and carbs.

    I don’t floss.

    I can’t break my paper towel habit.

    Sometimes if I find a mess made by the dogs in the morning when I’m in a rush I won’t clean it up until later.

    I’m not good at creative or personal gifts.

    Our house is covered in a thin layer of dog hair. And the windowsills are chewed, as is the rug, the carpet, and the coffee table. Only a couple rooms are “finished” and the backyard is a disaster.

    ***

    And to be honest, there are other things that I’m too embarrassed to mention publicly! But I think it’s time we all make our confessions. What are yours?

  • Nothing Says Fall Like Babies With Pumpkins

    In the past couple of weeks it’s turned into fall around these parts. Although we’re still in an outrageous drought, the weather has been beautiful. Over the weekend we visited a tiny pumpkin patch, went to the zoo, and dressed up for Halloween. Here is a post with gratuitous baby pictures. Be ye warned.

    Pumpkin Patch

    The pumpkin patch was tiny and picked over, but all we needed was a little bench and a pumpkin to prop her up.

    She wasn’t so much into smiling, but was really enjoying sticking out her tongue.

    Meredith’s cousin Cameron, nearly two years old, was there with us.


    He was being sweet to share the little pumpkins with Meredith.

    And of course she wanted to eat them.

    Look! I was there too.

    Finally, a smile!

    The Zoo

    We went to the zoo on the day before Halloween, not knowing that it was “Boo Zoo” day and people arrived hours before opening to find a parking spot. We got so frustrated looking for a place to park that David ended up just dropping me off (with a few other family members) and driving around for a few hours. Once we were inside it was nice, but I really wish David would have been there.

    It was sunny, so Meredith broke out her shades and basically napped the whole time.

    She woke up while we were taking a break, I nursed her, then put her in the Ergo for the rest of the visit.


    I can’t wait to go back to the zoo when Meredith is older and can really enjoy it!

    Halloween

    We have been calling Meredith “Mer-maid” as a nickname since before she was born, so it only made sense that she would be a mermaid for Halloween. This costume was 0-9 months, which is a huge range, and it was quite baggy on her so I had to pin it from the back. It still worked out though. Witness the cute:

    Her cousin Cameron was fat Elvis and Lucas was Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately this is the only picture we could manage with the three of them. Nice finger, Cameron.

    We walked around to a few houses just to show her off. I think she had fun. :)

    Unfortunately somewhere along the way Meredith caught a virus. She has had a wet cough and congestion since Tuesday, had a really rough night of sleep last night, and woke up with a fever this morning. I decided to take the day off and take her to the doctor (who basically told us to keep her comfortable and monitor her condition until it runs its course), and now we’re resting at home. Thankfully she’ll be with my mom tomorrow so I can go back to work, and hopefully she’ll be well enough on Monday to go back to daycare! I can tell she’s uncomfortable, but she is mostly still her sweet, smiley self. :)

     

  • Good Things: October

    I love October for the beginning of fall and the holiday season, our anniversary, and the arrival of decent weather. We had a good month, and I am no less excited for November!

    ***

    1 – Watching Bridesmaids with David while Meredith sleeps in my arms

    2 – Movie at Alamo Drafthouse with David

    3 – Our three-year anniversary; family walk in beautiful weather

    4 –  Successfully completing a very busy day without feeling overwhelmed

    5 – A PA overhearing my interaction with a patient and saying, “That should have been filmed as a commercial for Methodist.”

    6 –  Los Cucos with Vanessa, Lucas, & Alice

    7 – Waking up to all of us, even Cleo, huddled together on the bed and David with his hand on Meredith

    8 –  Catching up on TV shows

    9 – Celebrating our anniversary by seeing Over the Rhine in concert

    10 – First day of charge nurse training going well

    11 – I didn’t die driving home with a 103 degree fever

    12 – Visiting Uncle Ralph and introducing him to Meredith

    13 – Uncle David and Marchar coming into town

    14 – David and Maggie’s rehearsal dinner

    15 – David and Maggie’s wedding!

    16 – Meredith being good and sleeping through the whole church service

    17 – Dinner at my in-laws’ house

    18 – Dinner at Scott’s with Nathan; my nephew Lucas holding Meredith

    19 – Family over and David getting us all soup for dinner

    20 – Being able to leave work early

    21 – Meredith laughs for Mom for the first time

    22 – Bookstore & Target outing with David

    23 – Lots of good blog work

    24 – La Leche League meeting with Sara

    25 – Dinner at my in-laws’ house (we do this a lot and it’s always a highlight)

    26 – Hearing Meredith babble a whole lot

    27 – An idea for changing up book club

    28 – Pumping going really well

    29 – Hearing Meredith laugh for the first time; dinner with great-grandparents

    30 – Zoo & beautiful weather

    31 – Dressing up Meredith for Halloween

    ***

    Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for 25 free cards from Shutterfly! It closes on Monday, November 7.

  • It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas?

    Don’t stone me, but even though it’s not even Halloween I am about to talk about Christmas. Some of you probably shun all things Christmas until after Thanksgiving but it’s my favorite holiday, I want it to last as long as possible, so as far as my blog is concerned Christmas has arrived!

    I like almost everything about Christmas including the gifts, shopping, delicious food and cookies, holiday music, lights, and family getting together. I also really love sending and receiving Christmas cards. One of my only serious crafty hobbies is making cards, and I actually have done that several times in the past for Christmas, but it’s a huge undertaking and I obviously do not have that kind of time anymore. Besides, all anyone cares about now is Meredith, so we want to send out a photo card with her picture on it.

    I’m so happy to be partnering with Shutterfly this year for my holiday cards. I’ve heard great things about them (my mom used them to make a photo book from our wedding), and they have so many choices it’s kind of ridiculous. I have spent WAY too long picking out our design, choosing pictures, and editing.

    I had specific criteria for my card: one main photo, must be flat because I don’t want to have to write anything (hey, it’s either that or don’t send cards at all), stationery paper, simple. These were some of my finalists, but it was hard to narrow it down. I’ll be placing my order this week!

    What’s even better is that I have a code for three of you to win 25 free cards of your own! Use it for your own holiday cards, or even for regular greeting cards or birth announcements. To enter, fill out the form below. (If you have trouble seeing it, make sure you have Javascript enabled.)

    Oh, and merry Christmas. ;)