Celebrity Musings

Yesterday, I had two opportunities to think about celebrities and it really made me ponder a few things.

First, we saw Adam Sandler at Disneyland. Ian, Ruthie and I were standing in line for the carousel and he and his family walked right behind it, toward Tangled (hopefully they did not get sucked into that attraction - 45 minutes for a photo shoot? Craziness!). I was facing toward them, so I noticed them before Ian. Muttering under my breath, "Be cool, be cool" I said to Ian, "Look, Adam Sandler! Right there, in the blue baseball cap!"

We spent the next few minutes pondering Adam Sandler's visit to Disneyland. Did they wait in lines? Did people mob them? If they went on Storybook Land, did they get a boat to themselves? They appeared to be walking with a Disneyland cast member - were they getting a private tour? Did they have to pay for that?

Now I know deep in my rationale that he is a person, just like me. But then, they're not like us, you know? True, his kids probably begged him to go to Disneyland, just like other kids, but maybe they drove there in a limo, or had special parking, or got stopped for an autograph. And probably they didn't pack their lunch, let alone in a Tupperware because they are saving plastic bags. People, yes. Just like me? No.

Of course, I asked Ian if they had been in line right behind us (assuming they actually had to wait in lines, which I sort of doubt), would he say anything to him. You know, like, "Hey man, I think you're funny." If you know Ian, I'm sure you can guess that he would not. And I wouldn't either - I'm too proud to let them think I think they are interesting (which clearly I do, otherwise why would I be blogging about them now).

But since yesterday was the Academy Awards (and he clearly wasn't at it), something in my devious heart wanted to go up to him and say, "So, Jack and Jane didn't get that nomination after all, huh?"

Speaking of Academy Awards, Ian and I watched them last night after we got home. Of the 9 movies nominated for best picture, I've seen zero. Yep, zero out of nine. But for some reason, we both like watching the awards. And having seen a movie star earlier in the day, it set me to musing again, watching them and wondering about their lives. Do they like to be famous? Do they wish they had chosen a different career? Are any of them actually good actors or are they just attractive people who stumbled upon a good script? (BTW - Adam was actually part of a small video that aired during the awards - wonder why he wasn't at the actual show? I guess Small World just drew him in...). I thought Billy Crystal did a good job, and actually poked some good fun at the millionaires celebrating each other while the rest of us are still living in an slow economy.

Anyway, I wish it weren't true, but I'm fascinated by celebrities.

Of course, it wouldn't be a fun evening if we didn't have delicious snacks to go with our Oscar watching. Here is what we ate: I call it "Heart attack on a plate." Yes, rhyme intended.
The onion rings I made myself - thanks Sarah for passing along the recipe. They came out DELICIOUS. The rest are little appetizers I bought at Fresh & Easy.

(To be clear, those are fried mozzarella sticks, lest anyone think it's sausage, which is sort of what it looks like in this photo.)

What a lovely weekend! Don't you wish everyday was the weekend? Ruthie and I are missing Ian this Monday morning, but Target and the grocery store beckon, so I best be off.

A Drive with Sarah's Kids

Yesterday, Sarah and I drove to Pasadena to get cheese. Yes, all the way to Pasadena to get cheese. This isn't just any cheese, but delicious, stringy, salty, one of a kind Armenian string cheese. To get this kind of cheese, you have to go where the people are, hence the drive to Pasadena.

So while we were driving, I got to chat and hang out with her two youngest, Hannah (3) and Levi (1 1/2). They are awesome kids and two funny things happened while we were driving.

Sarah was saying something to Levi and at the end of her conversation with him, she said, "I love you, Levi." To which Hannah responded, "You're such a good Mommy." Sarah of course said thank you, but then humbly admitted that sometimes she's not. Hannah said, "Yeah, sometimes you're a mean Mommy." Trying to make Sarah feel alright at her daughter's admission, I said: "That's like you, right Hannah? Sometimes you're a good girl and sometimes you're naughty." Hannah of course agreed with this - she's very agreeable, really. Then Sarah, naturally wanting to turn it into a teaching moment said, "That's because we have sin and selfishness in our hearts, right Hannah? And because we have sin and selfishness, what do we need?"

Clearly, the answer Sarah was fishing for was "Jesus" but Hannah, in all her cheerfulness promptly answered, "Spankings! We need spankings!"

Then, a little later on the drive, Levi was showing off his new skill of blowing his nose. It's quite amazing actually, that a one year old would now how to blow the snot out of his nose. Only trouble was, Levi didn't have a tissue. He was doing in the good ol' fashioned way, with his fingers.

Exhibit A:

Which of course resulted in snotty fingers and a snotty face.

Exhibit B:

Man, I can't wait until Ruthie does and says awesome things like my nieces and nephews!

We Barely Survived This Afternoon

I'll try to make this brief.

This afternoon I was making granola, which has been on my to-do list all week. (I should have a post about it later.) Granola is a little fussy, as it needs to be stirred a lot, both in and out of the oven.

I also needed to water this afternoon, which requires setting up the sprinkler and then starting a timer and rotating it every 13 minutes.

So I'm stirring the granola in the oven, then changing the water, then stirring, the changing the water. Add into this mix the fact that I also have a few emails from work that I'm trying to answer.

Of course, Ruthie wakes up before I'm finished with all of these activities and wants to eat. So I'm feeding her, then while I'm sort of burping her I stir the granola (out of the oven now, don't worry). Then the timer goes off for the water, so I dash out to move it.

She didn't have a great nursing and since I was so full, I decided to pump for just a few minutes. So I stir the granola, turn off the water, prop her on the couch next to me and turn on my pump. I pump for just a few minutes, disconnect, lay the pump on the couch and get up to stir the granola. While I'm stirring, I hear a massive toot from her. When I get back to the couch, I realize the massive toot was actually a record-breaking poop (even greater than the Poopageddon). In an effort to save the couch, I quickly grab her and rush her over to the changing table. Once I take her diaper off, I can see that the situation clearly calls for something much more serious. So, we hurry off to the bathtub where I strip her clothes off, thrown them in the tub and get her soaped up and clean. Of course, I didn't have enough hands (or the forethought) to grab her towel out of her room, so after the bath we rush, dripping, back to her room to get her dressed.

Then I head back into the kitchen, stir the granola one final time, go outside to hang up her soiled clothes in the sun (a miracle stain remover) and go to set her back down on the couch. That's when I notice that all the lovely milk I pumped had leaked out of the bottles and onto the sofa. So I rush to grab the couch cleaner and when I get to cleaning it, I notice that not only has it leaked onto the couch, it has leaked through the couch and down onto the carpet. So I'm wiping the carpet, scrubbing the couch, trying to figure out how I can drag it into the sun. I give up, since there is no way I can get it through the door by myself and resign myself (and all of you) to a stinky couch.

And people think being a stay at home mom means eating bon-bons and watching soap operas. Ha!

Miscellaneous Musings

One of my favorite things to do for dinner, especially on the weekend, is to have snacks for dinner. Last Sunday night, we did just that. Every once in a while, usually when we are having snacks for dinner, we also decide to eat while we begin a movie. This time, when I was setting our dinner down on the coffee table, I noticed how pretty it was and wanted to take a photo. I'm often struck by how beautiful food is.

So, here is our snack dinner: apple slices, crackers, cheese, hummus (homemade, from my awesome new book Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - more on that book in a later post), olives, and pickles. What's not pictured here are some fancy appetizers from Trader Joe's that were still in the oven. I bought them on Valentine's Day as part of our V Day celebration and we had enough left over to eat them again this night. Also, in the wine goblets is blueberry smoothie. Very delicious!

On Sunday afternoon, before aforementioned dinner, Ian and I were watching Mary and Mike's kids while they were working. I promise not to make every post a "What Sam Did with His Underwear" post, but I felt this story merited telling.

So, we get Sam up from his rest time and notice that once again, he is not wearing underpants. This time the give away was his jeans which were so bunched and rolled under that he had a plumber situation going on every time he bent over or lifted his shirt up. Naturally, we let this slide, because as mentioned in the previous post, aunts and uncles don't concern ourselves with enforcing undergarment wearing.

However, later, when we went for a walk, I began to realize the importance of underwear (don't worry, no bodily fluids are involved with this story). As Sam was running around, he kept pulling his pants up. I tried to tell him that one of the great things about underwear is that it helps keep your pants on, but he didn't seem too convinced. He was happy to run around pulling his pants up for the entire walk. I tried to get a picture of it, it was so funny to watch, but it didn't totally come out. Hopefully you can see a little of what was happening.

Ruthie REALLY likes to sit up. It's so cute to prop her up on a couch or chair or bed and see her sit up like a big girl. Of course, you have to monitor her a lot, since she tends to timber to one side or the other, but for a few minutes (or sometimes seconds) she is quite content to sit upright and show off her skills.

Here she is on our couch, in an outfit Grandma McCurry gave her. Isn't she too cute?! (That outfit is 3 months, by the way - she's so big! She has a doctor's appointment today, so we'll get the full report!)

One of our favorite things to do each day is go for a walk. Ruthie loves to look around and I love to be outside and get some exercise. Here we are, walking to the post office. She is a cozy little bug-a-boo!

That's all I have for now. But stay tuned for the doctor's report!

Life with Ruthie

For those of you who only check this blog for photos (I know you're out there), this post is for you.

Here is Ruthie with her Pop Pop. Can I get a show of hands for people who see some similarities?

Here she is with Sam, who is making her laugh. Cousins are the best.
I love, love, love this photo of her. What a sweet girl!

I took this one yesterday, trying to get her to smile. Close, but no cigar.

You Know You're a New Parent When

5. You say everything twice - "Do you need a fresh diaper? Hmm? Do you need a fresh diaper?"

4. You worry when the baby lets you sleep through the night. In fact, you're more likely to go wake her up then let her sleep through the night.

3. You pray for poop. And then regret it later (see post below).

2. You constantly think your baby has a fever, even though everyone else can see she's perfectly fine.

1. And the number one way you know you're a new parent is when you put your baby down for bed and then spend the next 30 minutes watching videos of her.

Poopageddon

Two nights ago was Poopageddon. I kid you not, it was the most poop I have ever seen. If you have the stomach for a truly remarkable poop tale, then read on. If you're squeamish or think poop conversations are inappropriate, best to stop here.

I got up to nurse Ruthie at 3AM, when she cried out that she was ready. While we nursed, I noticed that she had the most gas I have ever heard her have. I went into the office that day, so she had a bottle with Grandma and she's always gassy after a bottle. But this was man-like gas. I'm talking 50 year old, beer-drinking, fried-onion-ring-eating man gas. I was truly amazed at the sounds coming out of her.

Then I began to hear juicy toots (you were warned) and knew she was up to some serious business. So even after we were finished nursing, and even though it was the middle of the night and I wanted to go back to bed, I waited and waited, letting her get all her work done. At around 3:30, I thought it was safe, so I got up and began to change her.

When I took her diaper off, you would not believe the amount of poop in there. It was incredible. So I'm wiping and wiping and then all of a sudden, more poop is coming. I grab more wipes and the next diaper, and I'm wiping and wiping. Still more poop. Now it's spilling out of her diaper and onto the changing table pad. It's soaking through her nightgown and the burp cloth we keep on the changing pad. So I'm wiping and wiping.

And that's when it happened. Just as I'm reaching for yet another wipe, she coughs. This tiny little cough sends the poopie flying - and it spats against my arm in a hot, wet mess, just as I'm reaching for the wipe. It must have traveled a foot and a half, at least. I'm so shocked I actually laugh at loud. Projectile poopies - amazing. It gets all over the changing table, dribbles down the side of the drawers and even onto the carpet.

This of course merits me turning on all the nights, something I never do during a night time feeding. Now I'm fully awake, Ruthie is fully awake and we're both getting a complete costume change (which required me putting both our clothes in the shower). I'm finally able to get a diaper on her and around 4AM, I put her back into bed, wide awake from all the activity.

I crawl back into the bed, whisper something to Ian about a poop explosion, and try to go to sleep. All the while, I'm smelling poop and I can't figure out if it's just lingering in my nose or if, worse, it's in my hair or somewhere else on me that I didn't notice.

The next morning, I set to spraying and scrubbing the carpet to remove the evidence. I didn't have the heart to do a thorough cleaning in the middle of the night.

And Ruthie? As you can see in this photo taken the next morning, she survived the Poopageddon just fine.

In fact, she's looking rather innocent here, don't you think?

A Bill Cosby Moment

The other day I was watching Mary's kids, Sam and Abbie. Abbie was down for a nap most of the time, but Sam and I got to have some fun together. After his rest time, he had a treat, which consisted of part of a candy cane (yes, we are still working our way through our Christmas candy canes). We were going to make granola next, so I took Sam to our guest bathroom to wash his sticky hands. That bathroom is in the guest bedroom, where Sam had his rest time. While in that room, I noticed his underpants on the floor.

The rest is a true story, told to the best of my recollection:

"Sam, did you take your underwear off during nap time?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really? That looks like your underwear on the floor there. Did you take them off?"

"No."

"How did your underwear get on the floor?"

"I don't know."

"Are those your underwear?"

"Yes."

"Did you take them off?"

"I don't know."

"Why did you take them off?"

"Because they were bothering me."

During the whole conversation, I couldn't help but feel like I was in the middle of a Bill Cosby sketch. It was freakin' hysterical.

And for those that may be wondering if I made him put the underwear back on, I most certainly did not. I'm his aunt, not his mother, and while mommies make you put your underpants back on, aunts let your rock it commando style.

Cousins

Ruthie has 13 cousins - 12 on my side and 1 on Ian's. And she has two more on the way - one from each side. We are RICHLY blessed! Considering that she doesn't really do anything, she is surprisingly popular among her cousins.

Before Ian went back to work, we went to the Aquarium with Mary, Mike and their kids and happily, Rowan and Rob were there too! (Sorry for the bad photo quality - what can I say?)

Sam and Abbie came over the other day, to go for a walk to our neighborhood park. They had a lot of fun swinging Ruthie in the swing they are loaning us. Sam kept bringing her toys, hence the monkey on the handle.

Hannah is IN LOVE with Ruthie. She apparently talks about her all the time. So one day last week, Ruthie and I picked up Hannah and brought her back to our house for a little while (Sarah and Eric live really close - it's so great!). Hannah had quite the time entertaining Ruthie. Here they are, getting ready to go for a walk.

David and Gina's kids made it over to our house too, when the brought us In & Out for dinner. Yum! Plus, the two older kids got to hold our little girl. They were so cute with her!

Here is Joseph and Ruthie.

And Elena and Ruthie - I can't believe how much bigger Ruthie already looks and these pictures are only a few weeks old!

There are obviously more cousins than I have photos of, so rest assured, she is well-loved by them all. Having a big family nearby is so awesome!

Battery Musings

Yes, battery musings. Truly, have you stopped recently to marvel at the invention of batteries? They store power. Isn't that incredible? You put them in objects and that thing that previously did nothing now moves, make noise, rotates, drills, play music, takes photos, swings, etc. A tiny little thing that can do so much. A great invention, in my mind. I don't even quite now how it works, but I'm grateful for batteries!

This post was inspired by the swing Mary and Mike are loaning to us; powered by batteries, it's magical motion is now Ruthie's favorite toy.