Sunday

I love the routine of Sunday. I have ever since I've graduated from school and gotten married. Sundays sucked in school. It was always the night you had to make sure you were up in all your reading for class and caught up on all your homework. Sundays were drudgery, hardly a part of the weekend at all.

When we got married, Sunday became the day we get ready for the rest of the week. We do the laundry, some cleaning and go to the grocery store and Costco. I love going to the grocery store. Nothing is so satisfying as having fresh groceries in the house for the week.

Now we're usually up early on Sunday, mostly thanks to Doug. I like that too, though. We get to church early and then we get some breakfast and then come home before we go out shopping. I love relaxing Sunday nights with Jeff and Doug after dinner when all the laundry is done.

I also love Sunday because that's the day we put fresh sheets on our bed. I swear that's one of the best feelings ever, getting into bed with nice fresh sheets.

Sunday is a great day, it helps me get into the right frame of mind for the coming week.

Happy 4 day work week!

Very disappointing

So I've been on the quest for a sundress, and have so far not found anything. I saw some nice ones at OldNavy.com and decided to go in and try some on. Here's a copy of an email I sent to their customer service :

" I will admit it's been a few years since I've bought anything from Old Navy, I find the sizing to be a bit odd. However, the selection of clothes has always been attractive and eye catching. So imagine my surprise and frustration when I go to shop in a store and find that the Plus Size section does not seem to exist anymore. Sure, enough I check your store's website, and I find that the Plus Size line is sold online only. Well, that can be ok if the sizing is consistent, however Old Navy's sizing has always been poor. In addition to charging the standard delivery fee, the customer now also needs to pay to have items returned as you don't accept Plus Size merchandise returns at the store. Why are you charging plus size customers to essentially try on your clothes? This isn't right, it's discrimination! Plus sized women have just the same right to try on clothes for free as regular women. I'm extremely disappointed in the brand and will not be shopping for anyone in my family at Old Navy ever again.

Sincerely,
Extremely Pissed Off. "

Howdy Stranger!

I have an amazing tip if you want to meet people. Get a baby. Please note, that if you're single and do not have kids, you may not want to use this tip to meet men. As a teenager my Mom used to go to the grocery store where my Dad worked. Frequently she took her nephew, and unfortunately my Dad avoided her for some time because he thought my cousin was her son. If my Dad did the math he would have realized that my Mom was about 12 or 13 when he was born. He eventually figured it out. But anyway, don't borrow babies to meet men.

Anyway, if you're a people person and love to yak it up with complete strangers, take a baby out somewhere, anywhere. You will find that the very old and the very young will be drawn to you like magnets. Also women of any age. Come to think of it, if you're a single GUY and want to meet women, this strategy could work for you.

I don't think I've been anywhere with Doug where we weren't stopped by some one to check him out. I find the chit chat kind of awkward, but I don't really mind. Most people (so far) have been very respectful of personal space and don't get to close to him. The only people who have trouble with this are little girls. A few weeks ago at church these two little girls, about 2 and 5ish, accosted Doug in his carrier. Their Mom was in tow, and as she saw her youngest was about to go and touch Doug she said "NO! Don't touch just look, let the baby sleep!". I was quite grateful for her intervention. Last week Jeff and I took Doug to the mall and were strolling around with him. We came upon a woman and a little girl about 18-24 months. She was out of her stroller walking with her mom, helping her push it. She saw us approach with the stroller and came over to check it out, it was so funny! Later that night we were leaving a restaurant when another little girl, about 4, came over to peer in the stroller as we walked by. She proceeded to follow us, at the exit a woman held the door for us. As we walked out she told us that we'd left our daughter behind! I don't know where that girl's parents were, but they sure weren't watching her!

Older grandmotherly women love to come up to Doug and check him out. And talk. Endlessly. Luckily its all been the gushing variety, I can tell they're dying to pick him up and squeeze him. But I know the day of unsolicited child rearing advice is coming. I know there will be a day when Doug's fussy in public, and it will come. I think pregnancy is meant to prepare you for a complete stranger's advice. I didn't really look pregnant until a few weeks before he was due, so I was largely spared from this. However, one day in January I was walking into a store without a coat, it was about 40 degrees out, and this older woman stopped to lecture me! I just smiled and walked on. I was so hot all the time, I couldn't fathom wearing a coat. During the snow storms I thought about running outside in my underwear to cool off. Jeff was able to persuade me not to.

I usually don't mind the attention people pay to Doug. It usually takes us a while to leave church because so many people come over to check out Doug. I know why though, he's just so cute! Although, I do have to remind myself that he's cute at 2 in the morning. Around then the cute kinda wears off ;)

Update

So, its been a while since I've posted. Last week was kind of a rough week. It seems that my female hormones and my thyroid decided that last week was the week that they were going to try to readjust themselves after the pregnancy. Basically, I was sore and exhausted all week. I'm just starting to feel better and hope to be completely better by this weekend.

Then there's the laptop situation. A few days before Mother's Day Jeff sent my laptop back to Dell for service. The screen was all jacked up and Jeff couldn't fix it himself; it was still under warranty, so back it went. Dell sent us a FedEx box and Jeff dropped it off at Office Max or whatever its called. So, last week I asked Jeff to check on the status of it. He assured me it was fine and that it would be back Friday. Friday came and went and he promised that it would be here Monday, yesterday. All day I waited, scared to take a shower for fear that I would miss the delivery man. At 6 it became apparent that it wasn't coming. Jeff finally checked with Dell. They didn't have it. He checked with FedEx. It had JUST left Beltsville for Dell yesterday. He dropped it off two weeks ago. Evidently what happened is that Office Max is NOT a FedEx place, they deal with UPS. Jeff didn't know this and the clerk who accepted the box didn't realize it was for FedEx until it was too late. They had no contact info for Jeff and instead of being pro-active they waited for either us to call them or FedEx to make a delivery, which is finally what happened. For some reason they couldn't run it half a mile down the road to the FedEx Kinko's. So it will probably be another week until I get my laptop back and I'll have to use Jeff's which is incredibly annoying and slow.

On the hair front. On Friday I finally went and made up with my hair stylist. I confessed that I had been to the Hair Cuttery. She told me to say three Hail Marys and...wait, wrong confession. Anyway, she agreed that the Hair Cuttery did some BAD things to my hair. I was the last customer that day and she ended up staying late to fix the damage. The end result is that my hair looks and feels MUCH better and that I will never ever go back to the Hair Cuttery again!

Doug. Doug got his first shots on Friday. He was fine until mid afternoon and then he became A Seriously Unhappy Baby. We had to find some infant pain relief meds as Tylenol had been recalled. Luckily we only had to go to two stores and we bought the generic. At about 3am he seemed he was finally feeling a bit better, and by that morning he was back to his usual cheerful self.

More things happened last week, most of them unexciting. But that's all for now.

Please take me back!

I've been unfaithful. It's true; I've cheated on my hair stylist with The Hair Cuttery. And like most celebrity infidelities, this one was not my fault. The Hair Cuttery flirted with me, promising me a great hair cut at a significantly lower price. The Hair Cuttery didn't need me to schedule a time to go. I could just show up any time and they'd take care of me, no questions or smelly products!

Like most people who've cheated, I'm ashamed and embarrassed. I'd feel awkward going back to my regular salon. They'll be able to look at my hair and just KNOW that I've had a relationship with another pair of scissors.

On the other hand, I think I got what I deserved. My hair is a mess. While my hair cut from the Hair Cuttery was acceptable, I think somewhere in there my layers got lost or messed up. My hair practically refuses to curl because it's so heavy.

I think the problem with my hair and my troubled relationship with my salon is the result of the pregnancy. My hair is already thick, and the pregnancy hormones kept my hair from falling out, so it got crazy thick. This led me to get it cut every 5 weeks, when normally I could go about 8. Getting it cut so frequently adds up quickly.

I think I need to bite the bullet and go back. My hair needs professional help. Maybe I'll bring flowers.

Genius?

Look out world!
Last week, at 5 weeks and 4 days, Doug rolled over! Surely that will get him a scholarship to Harvard! Pre-School? Gymboree?!?! Anyway, earlier this week we were able to finally get him to do it for the camera. He'd done it twice before we got the camera. This time he caught his foot on the sheet and didn't quite get all the way over, but you get the general idea.



Happy Friday! Happy Mother's Day!

Square One

Ah yes, Square One. How familiar you are with your four 90 degree angles and your squareness. So after the sucess of last Friday night (Doug spent the night at my parent's) we got greedy. We started a "Take Back the Bedroom" initiative. Those of you with older children are probably already laughing. We decided that Doug's swing, bottles, fish mobile and most importantly bed, were going in his room. Well, there must have been some residual 'Grandma Dust' on him, because he slept quite well that night and so did we.

However during the rest of the week things started going down hill again. I'd be up and back between his room several times before he was able to fall asleep and stay asleep. Then, not long after he'd fallen asleep, he'd wake up for his next bottle, at which point I wanted to bang my head into the wall repeatedly. Yesterday, after not having slept a whole lot in a few days, I had my Mom come over and sit with him while I took a nap. A very generous and lovely nap. She noticed that he really does have trouble soothing himslef to sleep and until he's deeply asleep, he frequently wakes himself up.

Last night we decided to give up the ghost and Doug moved back in with us. It's ok, I miseed sleeping with the fish. At one point he wanted to eat an hour earlier than he should have. Instead of feeding him, Jeff suggested I just take him into bed with me. I'm not a huge fan of this for safety reasons, but as long as I keep the comforter off me and the sheet down, I think it's ok. The arm I use to cradle him with also gets terribly sore. But Doug slept for two hours, going five hours between feedings. The rest of the night I'd put him in his bassinet again after a feeding only to have him fuss forever. Each time I took him back in bed with me and he slept quite well. So did I.

So Doug and I struck up a deal. He can sleep in his bassinet next to me or in bed as needed for a few more weeks as long as he takes at least one nap during the day in his crib. I want him to get used to soothing himself back to sleep and sleeping alone. I can deal with getting up and helping him back to sleep more during the day when I'm not sleep depreived. I put him in his crib at the beginning of 'Ellen' and fifty minutes later he's still not asleep. He keeps making small fussy noises and losing his pacifier. He keeps nearly getting to sleep. I'm hopeful that he'll be out in the next ten minutes. We shall see.

Skeletons Under my Sink

So, I've been cleaning the house (finally). I knew that the area under the sink was going to be a challenge. Sure enough, I open the cabinet and there are endless hair and face products. They were all gathered together, as if to start a riot. Some of them had been under there for so long that they were shocked that the bathroom trim had been repainted. Many of them were feeling neglected, some were jealous and a few were outraged to have been stowed away under there for so long. So, in order to smooth things over, I asked them if they wanted to have their photo taken and appear in my blog. They eagerly accepted my offer.



Quite a motley crew, isn't it?

One might wonder how I could acquire such an array of products. Also, don't pretend that your cabinets don't have a good number of products. I know where some of you live and I've seen the evidence!

So here's the story. I, like just about every other woman, am still looking out for the right products. Unfortunately, some of the things I used and liked as a teenager don't work for adult hair and skin (super oil blasting and skin scraping face wash for instance. Or Mane and Tail. I really don't know what I was thinking there.)So over the years I've collected different products for different needs.

My hair really really needs some sort of leave in conditioner. It gets dry and frizzy without one. However, most leave in conditioners weigh down the curls and make my hair greasy. To top it off, I have to also use a curl scrunching gel, or else my curls flatten out. So those two things right there account for a good third or more of the products. Then you throw in the pregnancy hormones and things get interesting. My hair has always been really thick, but since the pregnancy kept it from falling out for a few months, its even worse than before. Additionally it was exceptionally oily at the end of the pregnancy and is now very dry. So I have to keep experimenting to find the right combination of shampoos, conditioners, leave in products and styling agents.

And then there's my face. In the wake of the pregnancy, it should be declared a Federal Disaster area. Perhaps I should talk to my senator. I couldn't use certain products during my pregnancy, there is some idea that salicylic acid can be harmful, and it was difficult to avoid. Of course, during the last trimester my face was super oily. I was washing it at least three times a day. Now it's very dry in some parts and greasy in others, so once again I needed to find a new battery of cleansers and moisturizers.

I wish the makers of these products would have a return policy if you weren't satisfied. I could return a king's ransom in leave in conditioners. Sigh.

And then there's Jeff's assortment of products:



Yep. A bar of soap and a shampoo/conditioner. Not a bottle of shampoo AND a bottle of conditioner. Nope. Two in one. Before we got married, the shower shelf Jeff had only had one tier to it. Sometimes it must be really great to be a guy. The only other time I envy men is when I have to pee in a cup. Thank God that's over for now.