a day in the life of a crank-o-potamus

Poor Little C. She has been very irritable the past few days and I don't know what is wrong. I think she is teething again--she is tired and clingy, much like her first bout of teething. However, she may just be going through her own version of SAD (seasonal effective disorder).

See all those pretty trees (that beautiful image is what we get to see every time we exit our apartment)? They make a lot of pollen. Maybe she is just affected from them? Whatever it is, I hope she feels better soon!

She would wake up, play for a bit, eat a bit, and then get cranky and tired. I ended up laying her down three times today and she slept just like this for two of those times. It reminded me of her infant days. So sweet:

PS Do not fear, her left leg does exist.

Review: Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo

A long time ago, Pre-C, I found a great deal on Craigslist for a baby papasan swing. Because J and I still only "owned" the Cabrio (tangent: I say "owned" because we did not purchase it from my parents until months after C was born despite using it for years. Thanks M&D!), I took the twin to the seller's house so that we could fit it in her nice SUV. When we got there, we found that they were also selling the above little number. They cut the twin a deal and she bought it for Lil' Miss.

We had read lots of reviews and it seemed like every single baby ever born was destined to love the jumperoo. Poor Lil' Miss, however, was a bit frightened at first...almost to the point of pooing in her pants upon entry (as remembered in this post). She eventually grew to love it and then, to outgrow it, as she became more mobile.

The twin was generous enough to let us borrow it for C. Much like her cousin, she was a bit unsure of it as well. However, she quickly caught on and became a HUGE FAN of it.

She initially loved the jumping sensation but, what is neat about this toy, like most Fisher Price toys, is that it offers different stimulation for different stages of infancy. So, while the jumping part was the basic fun feature of the toy, C soon discovered all the little doodads on it and then, wonders-of-wonders, the hanging frog and toucan. Who knew toys dangling above her head could be so exciting? Additional fun features besides the obvious are the spinning seat--C learned to tiptoe her way around in a circle because of this toy; the dragonfly teether; and the baiscs that allow you to adjust the seat and wash the seat cover (essential, in my opinion).

I will tell you that the past few times we've placed her in it, she gets excited and then quickly gets a slightly scared-get-me-out-of-here look on her face. I'm not sure if it is because she is still teething or if she is getting too mobile for it herself (sniff sniff) but it certainly was entertaining for the past three months!

I thought I had tons of pictures of C in the jumperoo but I can only find one of her that I've already posted. Hope it suffices:

Please note: I was not compensated for this review. This review is based on my own opinion. Baby C and I love the Jumperoo so much that i just wanted to share!

Sadly uncrafty

I attempted to make the crafts for this age-old giveaway and I failed. Miserably. So, if you are waiting for your crafty gift, please be a bit more patient. I'm going to get with the crafty twin and have her help me.

In other news, I spent 4 hours on DiaperSwappers looking at cloth diapers. I'm obsessed. At least I'm good at something. Actually, the twin wants to add a few more cloth diapers to her current stash of...three...(yeah, 3 doesn't cut it when you change a diaper at least 4 times a day.)

And, while we're on the topic of diaper changes, I might as well add that I did not change one #2 diaper today.

Sorry to all you non-mommies who read my blog...this is going to get into details that only a mother of an infant could love...

No, Baby C is not constipated--I've actually been putting her on the toilet every time she starts indicating that she is going to pass a BM. And, it works! No-fuss-no-mess-genius-i-love-it! We'll see how long it lasts...

and for those of you still reading, thank you. this concludes the yucky diaper post

We did all that in 48 hours?

Saturday started with my road race!

I've decided that, while my training from Wednesday (remember this post?) might have helped me a bit, I could still use a lot more mileage and speed workouts...

In between March Madness games, we took C for a walk while visiting Mimi and Poppy. C liked the view from their stroller and admired the budding spring trees:

We hung out with the twin who was hosting our sorority friend from college and her adorable daughter, Baby J

More March Madness ensued until we were too exhausted to watch.

J and I had nursery duty again this morning. Instead of relegating Baby C to the corner in her crib like last time, we let her play with the kids. She absolutely loved it when Audrey played with her

Lots more happened like a trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and a swing in the park:

C was so exhausted that she fell asleep at her bedtime feeding. We tried to get a priceless picture of her passed out, asleep at the bottle, but we didn't want to wake her...[tangent: since she is only taking ONE NAP a day, sleep is precious to her and to us. (I'm still trying to figure out how she dropped her first and last naps without warning. It just happened one day last week--she now only sleeps from 1-2:30/3...any suggestions from you seasoned moms? I miss those nap times!)]

What a busy but great weekend!

Who needs Saturday morning cartoons?

When you can watch your friends on the computer all the way from Boston?




Baby C thought it was hilarious when Baby E started playing with her daddy in the video on my computer.

C thinks all babies are just the crème de la crème of entertianment. I love showing her pictures of other babies on the computer--it is an especially great trick whenever she gets cranky--smiling babies definitely put her in a better mood!

Thanks KT for showing us Baby E and making C smile!

St. Patrick's Day Giveaway WINNERS!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2 39

Timestamp: 2009-03-22 04:49:29 UTC

Congratulations to April who said:

April said...

I also loved dolls, but I don't remember ever having a specific lovey. Both of my girls have them. My older daughter has a blankie and my younger daughter has to have her dolls.

March 18, 2009 8:59 AM

and to pjay5 who said:

pjay5 said...

I absolutely loved my Mrs. Beasley doll, I loved her to her stuffing and Mom put her in the hospital, and gave her a new body so I could love her some more.

March 21, 2009 12:57 PM

Conveniently it appears that April has two girls and pjay5 has two boys! That certainly makes the decision on who gets what very easy! April, you'll be getting the adorable pink puppy lovey and pjay5, you'll be getting the super cute green frog lovey. Look for emails from me soon.

Thanks for playing everyone! It was really fun to read all about your favorite toys when you were little.

Friday ramblings

Our day started at another Consignment Sale. J came with me for the first time and couldn't believe the line (I told him this was nothing...and maybe a sign that it wasn't a great sale!)

We traipsed around the sale for a long time just looking at everything. Lots of random, higher priced things. I decided to venture into another room and left J with C. When I came back, C was firmly planted on this little number, rocking away and having the time of her life:

so, we bought it. We're suckers.

C also ate banana with her hands successfully for the first time today (the other times she just smushed it):

In other news, C is 32 weeks today! This is what she looked like when she was 32 weeks in the womb. I only had a bit more than 6 weeks to go but it felt like for-evah:

March Madness

Back in the days when the twin and I were not allowed to watch TV we were allowed to watch sports. Our parents are huge sports fans, mainly of collegiate teams but also of professional football and all things Olympic.

We grew up with the sounds of golf, tennis, football and baseball as our background soundtrack. It came to the point where hearing those noises became a soothing white noise for me and I functioned better (like doing homework or reading) when I heard sporty sounds in the background.

Anyway. I always digress, don't I? Sorry for the tangents!

Since we were continually surrounded by sports, we learned to love sports, especially March Madness. I love getting caught up in the excitement of bracket picks and Cinderella stories. Making my bracket picks every year takes a long time and requires some serious attention. The first rounds are always fun because that is when you get a lot of the upsets and there are a lot of games on at the same time. Since there are so many games on, this almost always requires you to go to a sports bar to watch them all.

Such was the case today. Baby C decided that sleep was not in the cards today so she came along with us to our local sports bar. We rarely have TV on in the house so she gets a huge kick out of seeing all the TVs. Here are a few pics from our night. May the best team advance!

hop-flop-crawl

Baby C attempted to crawl today. She did a really good job getting from one end of the rug to the other. Her next attempt came right before bath and bed so she wasn't as fresh.

I knew her favorite Roll-A-Round Ball would tempt her to at least hop-flop-crawl her way towards it. So, if you have nothing else to do today, feel free to watch this 3-minute video of her attempts. Most likely it will just appeal to family :)

Running: 3 IS the magic number

C and I, along with our trusty jogger (3) went on a run this afternoon. Along with us, we took our ever-faithful rice crackers (split into 3 pieces) and her sippy cup (sadly, only 1). Here is how our run exemplified the wonderful number 3 (the twin would beg to differ as she hates odd numbers)

I have raced three times since having C. I've won two races and come in second for the third (I was racing with C prior to the trusty jogger). I typically like Half Marathon distances (10.1 + THREE!) but two out of the last three races have been 5ks (3.1 miles).

I am training for my fourth race this Saturday. Training has not gone well as I've been out of commission for quite some time but that is a completely different post. I decided to get some last-minute training in before Saturday so headed out towards the race course (we live very close to part of it).

I split my run into thirds and decided to give C a third of a rice cake each time we started a section of the run. Mid-run, I decided to do some hill repeats on a hill that will be on the course--"why not do THREE," i thought, "one for each mile I'll be racing" (and to stick with the number theme, it seemed like a good idea).

All-in-all it was a great run. I tried to charge up those hills, knowing that pushing a jogger would add to the challenge and, hopefully, make me stronger by race day...oh in THREE days (which, really, probably won't help since it is so close to the race but no matter). Stay tuned for the results.

I'm not going to lie, I stole a few (3 maybe?!?) swigs of water from C's sippy. Glad she is my training partner!

More Giveaways for you Mommies

Sorry to all my non-mommy friends who read my blog. I WILL have something for you sometime soon...I hope :)

In the meantime, here are some more great giveaways sponsored by A Psych Mommy. She is offering two giveaways, both of which I'd love to win...so if you don't want to enter, that's okay with me...ha!

First up is the ingenius DaBib. Click on the picture to read more about the DaBib and for a chance to win it:

Next up is the best giveaway if you have a baby in diapers--3 FuzziBunz! What a great prize! Click on the picture below to read more about the Fuzzibunz and to submit your entry to win it, too (or don't, giving me more chances to win :)

iPhone

Many of you know that I was a bit hesitant to receive the iPhone as my birthday gift (as mentioned here). I am a klutz with a capital K.

When I was pregnant with C, I ran a half marathon, tripped, fell, and broke my previous phone's screen into multiple pieces. I knew I was bound to do something sometime to my newest phone, which is why I was hoping to just get the old-school Nokia 3360.

I loved that phone! It was my first mobile phone and it had the awesome snake game. Simple pleasures.

Regardless, I grew to love my iPhone and get comfortable with it...a little too comfortable. Yesterday, I was leaning over to change C's diaper and it dropped into my coffee mug. Yes. INTO the mug. The mug that had COFFEE IN IT. Yes.

I flipped out. Called J. He flipped out. Turned it off. Went online, did some research, heeded some sage advice from Facebook friends, and waited.

I waited until last night to turn it back on. Trepidly, I dialed J's #. Would I be able to hear it ringing? (that was the only issue I found before I turned it off after the dropping episode--the speaker didn't work). Amazing answer to a small prayer--It works! yay! Praise!

CLOSED! Happy St. Patrick's Day GIVEAWAY!

C loves loveys. She loves to hug all stuffed animals and to "pet" all her blankets. It came as no surprise, then, that she would love her monkey lovey from Grandma. (note the monkey theme? we have lots of monkey toys and monkey apparel)

In honor of her monkey lovey, I would like to give away two loveys to two other babes (or friends of babes) for them to love on. One is definitely girly and one is gender neutral. You can see the pink puppy and green frog below:

and their close-ups:

To enter:

1) Please leave a comment about what you used to love as a child. For me, it was the Mutsy puppies. I always wanted a pet and asked Santa for a puppy every Christmas. Alas, all I ever got was Mutsy but he was better than nothing!

2) For an extra entry: if you've ever left a comment on my blog before, lucky you! I love reading your comments! They make me smile! So, post a second entry if you've commented before :)

3) If you are a follower or a subscriber (or want to be), you can have a third entry. Woo hoo, i know you're so excited to win these loveys :)

The details:

I'll draw TWO random comments by using randominteger.org on Sunday, March 21st! Stay tuned for details. (So two people can win). If you win and do not have a blog, please leave me another way of contacting you (unless I know you personally and already have your details :)

MVOTW, Attempt #2

So I've failed miserably at memorizing this Psalm.

I know memorizing this Psalm is not a requirement for salvation or to receive God's grace and mercy. However, memorizing it is a commitment I've made and have not followed through with. The good news is, God's mercies are never failing and He can renew my mind and refresh my spirit!

Here are verses 1 and 2 again (with the other verses for context).

A Psalm of David.
¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
² When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
³ Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
⁵ For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

⁶ And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

⁷ Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
⁹ Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
¹⁰ When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the LORD will take care of me.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
¹² Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
¹³ I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!

We're back Part II

We were only gone for 36 hours. It felt like a whirlwind but a long time away at the same time. Much like Baby C's birthday seems like AGES ago but just yesterday. I digress, again.

I'm waiting to get photos from J's dad to post. For the time being, here are a few pictures snapped on the way back home. She finally gave me a glimpse of tooth #1 and #2 (its on its way out!)...Note that 1) she is missing her signature headband and, 2) that she could be a baby model for TJ's Rice Cakes--great teethers, by the way!

and, finally, the teeth themselves:

Also, one day last summer, J, the twin, and I happened to be in a park the same day the video posted below was filmed. I always wondered when I would see the commercial...until I watched the video and realized the true purpose of the filming:

Verizon Wireless Surprises Customer - Watch more