Hairy Situation (har har)

from jezebel.com

from thesartorialist.blogspot.com

So, my hair is getting really tangly and annoying. I want to get it cut for real and am looking for different inspiration. I like the swoopy side bangs when they don't look too hipstery a la Joan from Mad Men, and kind of enjoy the Jacki O look the chick in the second picture is rocking, but I don't know if I could pull it off. (Mostly because I'm way too lazy to actually do my hair, so whatever I do has to look acceptable dirty and limp.)

I'm really looking for comments on this post. Please let me know what you think or if you have any ideas for what would look good on me. I'm probably going to cut it Labor Day Weekend. I don't want to go any shorter than my chin.

Mommy Blogging

Well, this is a self indulgent sort of post done out of boredom more than anything else. I guess this blog is a "mommy blog" since it mostly revolves around my role as mommy and my daughter. I started this blog not long after my cousin started a blog about her daughter because I thought, "Great idea, Brook! I should totally do that, too!" I mean, most of my family and friends live thousands of miles away, so why not let them know what's going on in our lives? But, it was weird that that's what got me going on this because I had been reading mommy blogs for awhile.

Like most non parental folks, I did not really know mommy blogging was a thing until I got pregnant. I happened upon a pregnancy blog of someone who was about three months farther along than I was when I was googling pregnancy stuff. Now, I'm no stranger to blogging. I've had a blog in some form or another since high school. I'm in no way surprised that people have blogs. But I was surprised that someone had a blog entirely devoted to their pregnancy. (Feel free to laugh now.)

Yeah, apparently that is in no way unique. There are tons of people with pregnancy blogs who then have mommy blogs. But I didn't know that. So I followed this woman's blog even though I kind of disliked her. Like, for some reason I obsessively read about her pregnancy, thinking of when I would get to that point in my pregnancy. I would constantly complain to Joe about this woman, too. Like, "I was reading that baby blog today, and the lady was complaining about how this other lady said this. Can you believe it? Who cares?" And although he would validate my complaints by agreeing with me, he would also point out that I could just stop reading this lady's blog at any time so I didn't have to be annoyed by it. Oh, Joe. So practical.

Then I somehow found baby bloggers I actually liked! I remember somehow stumbling on the818.com and feeling like, "Yes! This is what I'm wanting to read!" Number one, her baby was due less than a week after my baby, so all her pregnancy posts were on the same timeline as I was. Also, she was actually funny and likable and had awesome taste (in my opinion.) I was thrilled. From that point I was able to find more baby blogs that I liked. Now I have probably ten to fifteen baby blogs in my reader that I check out on a regular basis that I really enjoy. Reading their posts actually make me happy.

BUT. This is embarrassing. I still read the original blog that I don't like. And worse? There are two more bloggers I've found that I don't like that I read. I tell myself I won't read them. They are not in my reader. I don't "follow" them. But I get bored at work and STILL END UP READING THEM. And I still get annoyed by them. And I still complain to Joe about them. And I need to stop. So, my new goal is to stop reading baby blogs that annoy me. I have to make it a real goal and really draw the line with myself. I did it with Perez Hilton, I can do it with these baby blogs. I CAN DO IT! I can stop! I am not a victim of my addiction to bad baby blogs!

Mony McConaughy

Ramona is really into patting or hitting things right now, so she's super enjoying her baby bongo toy. I enjoy her hitting it instead of me. (She pats my boob the entire time she nurses and it is pretty annoying.)

My daughter got more awesome

In the last 24 hours, Ramona developed three new traits making her even more awesome.

1) Last night, she figured out how to stand by herself! She's been pulling up on things and letting go for a minute or two for awhile now, but last night she rose up from the ground herself and stood with nothing to hold on to. It was quite hilarious because she did it super sumo wrestler style (or grand plie from second position depending on your mind frame) but my heart just about exploded out of my chest in pride when she did it. She has done it several times today with her typical "What? I've been doing this FOREVER, mother" attitude.

2) She ate her veggies! Obviously, she eats pretty much whatever we give her, but I was thinking the other day that she doesn't eat enough veggies so I asked Joe to make sure to buy more baby friendly veggies when he went grocery shopping today and he did. So, for dinner tonight I made her some broccoli, cauliflower and carrots cut up into tiny pieces for her to feed herself and she ate them really well. I hope she stays on an awesome veggie kick, but we'll see. I have to say that she has taught me to appreciate my veggies more. Before tonight I was pretty sure I didn't like cauliflower, but when I made hers, I ate some too and realized, I did like it. I had a revelation of that sort a few months ago regarding sweet potatoes when they became Ramona's favorite food. I always thought they were gross, but when I fed Mony some I wound up eating a spoonful and was surprised at how good they were.

3) She doesn't like a dirty diaper! Ramona has never seemed to care one way or another about the state of her diaper. Like she could be in a wet, poopy diaper all day and not care (not that we left her in a wet, poopy diaper to prove this theory, but I'm just conveying her general attitude from what I could tell.) But tonight, she was playing in the corner and started fussing so I went to see what the fuss was about and she was attempting to sit up so she was touching her diaper as little as possible and I could tell from the horrible smell that hit me that she was a super poop. I changed her and she was happy again. I think this bodes well for potty training in the future.

She's growing by leaps and bounds right now. Her development is crazy. She learns something new at least once a week. I also think she has overwhelmed herself in the physical development department because she is unable to calm down even in her sleep. She sleep crawls. I am not kidding. I didn't know babies could do it, but she sits up and crawls around in her sleep, and then wakes up and realizes what's going on and starts crying. It's so weird. But I really think she's doing it because she's so into moving around right now that her brain can't shut it off.

I'm really enjoying this age. She's just so alive and excited about everything. I've always thought the whole "see the world through a child's eyes" BS is so cheesy, but actually being around Ramona I can't help but get excited about life. She's contagious.

9 Months

Just being cute before turning 9 months old

Thursday I took Erin to the airport to return to the mighty midwest, but on the way we stopped in Pahrump for Ramona's 9 month well baby check up. No shots this time, so it was pretty easy. The weird part was Ramona's pediatrician wasn't there. First the nurse did the usual weight, length, head circumference thing (note: it took an embarrassingly long time to spell circumference correctly and I had to consult with Joe, who also spelled it wrong, so I finally just googled it.) She's 95 percentile for height still, so it looks like she's taking after me. (My evil plan to have giant children and make Joe look like the munchkin of our family is working! In fairness, his evil plan was to have short children and make me look like a giant, so it's not like I'm the only one with evil plans here.)

Then some lady came in to do the doctor stuff, but it wasn't her usual doctor. It was some lady who seemed more like someone's mom than a doctor. I have no idea who she was, and since I'm such an idiot, I didn't even ask. She didn't really ask any of the stuff the doctor usually asks or give advice like he usually does. Ramona peed when she was doing the under the diaper check, though, so that was pretty hilarious. She was also wearing a big beaded necklace that Ramona kept grabbing, which added to my doubts of her being a pediatrician. Who would wear breakable jewelry knowing they would be in contact with babies all day? Anyway, I'm guessing the doctor was on vacation and this lady was his stand in, but it was weird and felt kind of pointless.

We went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch and Ramona super hammed it up and got the waitress to pick her up. After getting picked up, she tried to steal the waitress's glasses because she's crafty like that. (Also, she thinks no one should ever wear glasses. I have to wear my contacts or she rips them off my face all day.) We got cupcakes and took Erin to the airport. She was gone and Ramona and I headed back home. Vacation over, my little girl getting big, and back to the grind.

Part Trois- Zooin it up

After we were showered and coffeed the next morning we ran off to the zoo. It was pretty awesome. I must say it was really hilly and I got a good workout pushing Ramona's stroller up and down the hills. Joe and I switched off pushing the stroller and holding Ramona since she had no interest in being in her stroller except during nap time. In my opinion, the coolest sights were the giraffes, the reptile house, the koalas and the giant pandas. I love me some pandas, and they had a baby one that was only 11 months old that was up in a tree, which I had never seen before. (A panda in a tree I mean, I obviously had never seen that particular panda before.) There was also a peacock in a tree that I found to be kind of odd looking. They had quite a few baby animals and a bunch of them were born in October, so we got to do a lot of "if Ramona were a giraffe/sea turtle/wild pig, she would be that big!" which was fun.

The petting zoo was also interesting. Ramona was not especially interested in petting the animals, but I was determined she should pet something. We settled on a fat goat that didn't look too intimidating. Ramona pet him nicely for a couple seconds before yanking his hair in the same manner as she does to our cats. The goat didn't seem to notice, and it occurred to me that this was probably not the first time it had happened to him. Poor guy.

That evening we ate at a restaurant (Harbor something?) near the water again and Ramona made friends with the people sitting next to us since she's such a little ham. The food was good (Joe and Erin both exclaimed over the mashed potatoes- Joe said they were the best he's ever had in his life) and we walked around a bit. Ramona played at the hotel for awhile while Erin did some exploring and we talked about renting a movie, but ended up just falling asleep because we're that cool.

The next day we did some shopping (I got some cheap-o costume jewelry in case you were dying to know) and eventually ended up at Stone Brewing. The directions from google maps were kind of confusing and we got a little lost but finally made it there. I wasn't sure if we were in the right place at first, but then I saw the short term parking for growler refills and figured we must have arrived. When we got there the first thing I noticed were all the high quality video cameras and figured they must be recording a tv segment or something. When we were seated for dinner we walked past where they were taping and I'm pretty sure it was the dude from 3 Sheets, so that was pretty cool. It was weird how compelled I felt to say hi (don't worry, I didn't, I'm not that embarrassing yet) to a complete stranger because I'd seen him on television, but I had to restrain myself from making a dumb comment as we passed by.

We sat outside and the weather was gorgeous and the patio and surrounding garden area were just beautiful. The landscaping was top-notch and the staff was incredibly friendly. Our waitress was from the UP so she and Joe talked about Michigan for a little bit and one of the busboys or something kept coming over and playing with Ramona (who was eating it up, as usual.) A lot of their selection seemed to be IPAs, and I'm not into super hoppy beers (unless I'm in the right mood), so I tried an ale and had a taste of Joe's porter (the ale was good and I thought the porter was excellent) and then Joe had an IPA and I decided to try one of their guest brews, a Peach Sour from New Belgium, and it was AWESOME. I like New Belgium a lot to begin with (I drink Fat Tire pretty often) and they had a cherry brew a couple years ago that I really liked that I haven't been able to get a hold of since then, so I was pretty excited when I saw the peach beer listed. But, obviously, the point of this trip was Stone Brewing and I enjoyed their beers and the food was really good. I had a mushroom pasta with a cream sauce that was absolutely delicious, and I also had their garlic cheddar soup that was tasty as well. Erin wasn't super hungry so she just had their crab cake appetizer and she seemed very impressed with it. Joe got the lamb and deemed it excellent. All around, I highly recommend a visit to anyone who winds up in the area. I will definitely be back next time we're in the SD area.

Then Joe drove us back home and it was like a hundred degrees in the house even though it was midnight when we got back. That was the last straw as far as the heat, so I complained to the housing department the next day and got one of our air conditioners replaced. Since then it has been much more pleasant in the house.

In conclusion, it was awesome to get the hell out of Death Valley for a few days; San Diego was awesome; I miss the real world; My daughter is a really well behaved baby; My sister is growing up to be a pretty awesome chick.

Part Deux

The second morning we actually slept in for the first time since Ramona was born. It was glorious. When we finally got up, Erin and I went shopping while Joe and Ramona hung out. I bought a new bag (very cutesy stripes with rope like handles and a sparkly blue anchor on it) and we made plans to come back and buy other stuff. When we got back to the hotel, we went to Coronado Brewing. It was fairly easy to fine and there was no wait. I got a shrimp and pesto calzone and it was SO good. Erin got a steak and Joe got some kind of seafood sandwich. The beer was good, too. Joe and I each got two beers and sampled each others' beers, and everything we had was good. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Everyone liked their food and drinks, and Ramona was well behaved and helped eat some of my calzone crust.

We headed back to the hotel to get ready for the beach and then we were off to Ocean Beach. We set up on the north end of the beach which is a no leash dog beach, which was pretty crazy. There were tons of dogs, but they all were pretty good, so I wasn't worried about it. Ramona was just hanging out on the blanket and eating her shovel and putting sand in her mouth. We laid around for awhile and Joe took Ramona into the ocean, but the water was pretty chilly and it was kind of overcast so Erin and I just hung out in the sand. We left before long and went back to the hotel pool where the water was a little warmer. Ramona wasn't sure about the pool at first, but I showed her that she could splash in the water like she does in the bath and then she started enjoying it. Joe and I got some silly cocktails and we went out for pizza. Not long after that was bed time again, and once again I was pretty exhausted and totally ready for it.

To be continued again...

Things I need to write about

1) San Diego vacation
2) My sister is engaged
3) Ramona's nine month dr's visit and taking Erin to the airport

I promise a report on all these before the end of the weekend. I hoped to do at least one tonight, but Ramona decided that she doesn't care for early bed times anymore. Unfortunately I still do. Here is a sweet picture of Ocean Beach to hold you over.

The family that vacations together something that rhymes with vacation together

So, San Diego was awesome. Getting out of here is always great in general, but the vacation was really fun and it was nice to spend some time together as a family. We also got some pictures with all of us in them since my sister was there, so that was a bonus.

We left at 3am on Saturday morning so Ramona could sleep through the drive. I drove so Joe could sleep since he'd worked that night. Well, I drove until we were almost there and then I was tired and getting annoyed with traffic so Joe took over. We went straight to Sea World since it was too early to check into the hotel, so we were all a little gross since we were wearing clothes we'd traveled in and hadn't brushed out teeth. But we got there and had a lot of fun. The first thing we did was go to the sea lion/harbor seal exhibit and there was a cute seal that had learned to wave at people so they would feed him. It was so cute! Ramona did not seem interested in the animals at that point, but I didn't expect her to be. We went to their new show which was a dolphin/pilot whale/bird thing and it really sucked. I mean, I guess it would've seemed ok if they advertised it as a dancing with some animals, but they made it seem like an animal show with some dancing, which it definitely wasn't. Ramona was pretty fussy during that show, too, and we left early because none of us were really into it anyway. After that Ramona took a nap, which helped the rest of the day go pretty smoothly.

I also feel like I should point out how awesomely baby friendly Sea World is. They have bathrooms devoted entirely to diaper changing areas, and they have rooms for nursing all over the park. They also had signs letting you know that there was bottle warming service at all restaurants. It was nice to see them work so hard to make it easier to take babies there. There are a lot of family friendly places that aren't necessarily set up to cater to babies, especially regarding nursing areas, so I was really happy with it (even though we did bottles that day.) After Mony's nap we went to the Sea Lion show, which is always my favorite. I was just beaming like a little kid the whole time. It was awesome and Ramona was really good at that one.

Then we just wandered around and looked at stuff. There was an area where you could pet bat rays, but I couldn't get one to come to me since I wouldn't buy any food, so I was kind of bummed. But other than that it was pretty awesome. We went to see the Shamu show at the end of the day and it was fun. Ramona was ok during that one, but she wanted me to hold her standing up the whole time, so Joe and I took turns going out to the exit to stand up. After that we bought her a Shamu doll and left. Erin seemed like she enjoyed Sea World, too, and it occurred to me that she probably didn't really remember the last time we'd been since she was so little then.

We went to check into the hotel and everyone was a little sunburned despite the SPF 60 sunscreen we'd put on twice. Ramona didn't seem bothered by it (I think she hated getting sunscreen on more than she hated having a sunburn), but hers looked much worse than it actually was since she's so pale. I felt bad about it, especially since everyone who saw her had to say something about it. ("Oh, thanks, that's a sunburn? I thought she was a chameleon baby who was just changing colors." <--What I should have said to every jerk that had to point it out.)

We went out to get dinner on the water there, and since it was a pretty touristy part of town there were all these people doing weird grifter stuff. You know, being a robot or a statue or stacking rocks or whatever. Erin found these people to be especially hilarious. I found them to be especially creepy. Especially the guy dressed as Spongebob. Sorry, dude, I'm not letting my kid hug you. I don't know what kind of weirdo you are in that costume. But we had a nice dinner and then went back to the hotel and passed out. I was seriously exhausted after the 3am wake up and being out in the sun.

To be continued...

Picking up Aunt Erin at the Airport

Ramona (wearing her I heart my Auntie onesie) with Aunt Erin at the airport

Yay, my littlest sister is here! I left work a few minutes early last night so I could pack up Ramona and we could go to Vegas to pick up Erin from the airport. She was fine until we got to Pahrump. Then she just freaked out and cried almost the entire way to Vegas (which is a very long hour from there when someone is crying.) We stopped to get gas outside of Vegas so I could calm her down, and we met a biker guy who was wearing old timey goggles and had a little dog in a baby bjorn type carrier. Ramona was fascinated with him and he told me about how all babies like him for some reason. He also joked about how his little dog is a chick magnet, but since he's a chick repellent it evens out. He was definitely one of the more colorful characters I've met in awhile. I really wish I had a picture because my description does not do him justice.

Anyway, we got to the airport and parked, and of course the one time I actually had change for the meters there I found out they had gotten rid of the meters and to make you get a ticket and go through the line for short term parking. Annoying! Ramona was hot and unhappy with being cooped up in the car for two hours during playtime, so she was being kind of cranky even though we were finally out of the car. Erin's flight was delayed by a half hour that turned into an hour and fifteen minutes. Ramona was fussy and I figured she was hungry so I decided to nurse her. I very rarely nurse in public because I don't like to make people uncomfortable, but Ramona was starving and I had to be at the airport and it was way too hot to go back and feed her in the car. So we went and found a quiet corner. I don't think anyone really noticed, but it wasn't from lack of trying on Ramona's part. She has started going "Mmmmmmm!" really loudly whenever she nurses, which I guess is flattering (I make some awesome milk apparently), but it's mostly embarrassing. Also, I used to be able to cover up pretty well and just pop my nipple out under my shirt so there wasn't really anything to see, but now Ramona thinks my entire boob should be exposed when she eats. I kept pulling my shirt down and she kept pushing it back up. I guess it adds to the ambiance. Ramona knows what she likes in a dining experience.

After that we went and waited by the gate Erin was supposed to come from, and Ramona was chewing on the cell phone and babbling. Some middle aged guy who was reading kept giving us mean looks, but he was lucky she wasn't crying, and if he knows how to make a baby be quiet he really should reveal his secret. He could make some serious money.

She started getting fussy so we went for a walk so we wouldn't ruin middle aged guy's reading, and when we came back, Erin's flight was no longer on the board, so I figured it must have come in. We went down to the baggage area to wait for Erin and she called a couple minutes later. We found her and I gave her a hug and Ramona was super excited. She tried to stay in the hug when I was pulling away, and after that, she kept throwing her hands out to get Erin to hold her. She was extra enthusiastic because Erin was wearing a necklace, which is pretty much a wearable toy in the mind of a baby. Unfortunately Mommy carried her back to the car since Aunt Erin had to carry her luggage. Then she had to get back in the car which she was not happy about, but she fell asleep pretty quickly so Erin and I could talk without hearing Ramona's tortured soul in the back. (Honestly, sometimes I want one of those sound proof dividers they have in limos for my car.)

Then it took us 90 years to get home because I kept missing my exits on the freeway, but we eventually made it. Now Erin knows what it's like to be in Death Valley in the summer, which is something no one should have to know, but it's only one more day before we're off to the coast.

How tall is Ramona?

Well, she can reach juuuust to the top of those smudges on the TV. Not that she knows anything about them, of course.

Holy cow

So today is the beginning of the Badwater Ultra Marathon. The farthest I've run is a half marathon (13.1 miles). The farthest Joe has run is a marathon (26.2 miles). This race is 135 miles. In Death Valley. Today. I couldn't run 135 miles in the most beautiful running weather possible. I can't imagine doing it today. Today it was a hundred degrees. Haha, just kidding, it was a hundred degrees when I went to work this morning at 7:45 am. It was between 115 and 120 at the high. Ramona and I are sweating to death in our air conditioned apartment doing nothing but laying around. And somewhere not far from us, crazy people are running 135 miles. Oh, did I mention the insane elevation increase over the course of this race? It's around 3,000 feet. Yeah. It makes you feel like a total jerk complaining about the heat when you know this thing is going on.

But it is crazy hot. Ramona seems to handle the heat pretty well. She pretty much lives in only a diaper. It's frustrating since she has so many cute outfits she's not wearing, but it's much more practical to let her hang out as close to naked as possible. When I get home from work I throw on the tiniest shorts I can find and still manage to get a heat rash. Joe just wears boxers most of the time (his only complaint about my sister visiting is that he has to wear pants.) I am soooo done with this weather.

It also looks like I'm not going to be able to go home in August like I want, but we'll see. My boss is going to let me know for sure, but as of now it's not looking too good. I doubt I'll be able to do anything in September either because I have a conference to go to so my schedule is already kind of weird. But it is a five week month, so I might be able to do something.

One More Week

This weekend is kind of boring. Joe's friend Steve moved back to Oakland this weekend and Joe drove him back, so Ramona and I are doing a girl's weekend. This is not half as fun as the last one because it's too friggin hot to leave the house. So we're vegging in the air conditioning and overdosing on graham crackers. Tomorrow is Joe's birthday, but he won't be back until the evening. We aren't doing much, but I'm paying for the San Diego trip, so that's kind of a birthday present. I'm also planning on sewing some patches on his jacket like he has wanted forever.

Today is one of those days where I'm pretty sure I could be replaced by a recording of "Ramona! No!" and it would be pretty much the same parenting experience for Ramona. I'm super cleaning the house (which I always do when Joe is away. I don't know why since it's harder to do it when he's gone because I have to keep an eye on Ramona while I work.) She is getting into everything. I swear she has go-go gadget arms. Whenever I think something is out of her reach she manages to stretch that extra couple of inches to grab it. And she definitely has figured out what no means. There are also three things she knows she is not supposed to do. I base this on the fact that she always looks at me to see if I'm paying attention when she does them, and when I inevitably say no, she throws herself on the ground and starts fake crying. The three things are 1) pulling on the cord that attaches the Wii or DVD player or Xbox to the TV, 2) eating cat food, and 3) trying to play with the fire extinguisher. She is starting to listen to me when I tell her no, which I enjoy. I enjoy it most when she does it without the fake crying part, but really, if she stops without me having to physically stop her, I consider it a victory.

Erin will be here Wednesday and I absolutely cannot wait. I have built this trip up like crazy and am so pumped! I have the following Monday and Tuesday off of work for San Diego and took Thursday off to take Ramona to the pediatrician for her 9 month check up and to take Erin to the airport to go home. I heart short work weeks. And, I'm going to talk to my boss about taking off August 16-20 to go visit back in Ohio. Plane tickets are actually fairly reasonable still, and I really want everyone to Ramona. Also, I'd by lying if I didn't admit that I'm looking for any excuse to get out of this heat for awhile! I need Joe to figure out if he can come or not so I can buy tickets. I think he should be able to come because they've hired quite a few more F&B employees lately, but we'll see.

Jeez!

Another tooth for this kid. That makes six total. She has four on bottom and two on top and I think two more top ones will be popping out soon. She also stood independently for a good ten seconds tonight which surprised me, and I think it surprised her as well. She just kind of looked at me like, "Whoa, how am I doing this? Sweet!" and then landed on her butt. I couldn't get a repeat performance, but I'm sure she'll be trying it more and more over the next few weeks.

Last night I talked to my friend Lindsey on the phone for the first time in awhile. It was really awesome to hear from her, but it also kind of put me in a bummed out mood for the day. Last year she bought a house and I had a baby and I still haven't seen her house and she still hasn't seen my baby. I wish I could see people I care about more often. I still consider her one of my best friends, and I feel pretty crappy that she's never seen my eight month old kid. It just sucks because we're so far away, and since she's not in Ohio anymore it's hard to see her even when we're home visiting. But she did mention possibly coming out Labor Day weekend which would be awesome. As much as I hope we'll have moved home before then, I don't think it's going to happen. So the visit would definitely be a bright spot. I could probably book us a night in Vegas if she visits, too, so I could step out of Mommy mode and have some grown up fun for the first time in forever. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this can happen.

As much fun as I had last weekend, I've been kind of bummed the past couple of days. I don't know what it is. I just feel like I have big dreams right now and there's nothing I can do to make them come true. It's really frustrating for me to really try and have nothing come out of it. And as much as I remind myself to count my blessings and live in the moment, I can't help but think of things I want and can't have right now. I feel guilty that our families are missing out on Ramona growing and learning. I feel guilty that Ramona doesn't have any other babies to play with and that she can't play outside. I want to change things but it's not happening. I feel like I have no control over my life right now and it's irritating and depressing. I really need to grow up and quit whining, and I usually do, but I have my down days and today is one of them. So, boo hoo, you get to read my belly aching.

Cheer up time- how cute are they? And how lucky am I that they love me so much? It's hard to stay sad when I see that smile.

4th of July Weekend

Wow, what a sweet weekend! We went to Vegas Saturday and spent the day shopping and goofing off. I didn't find a swimsuit, so it looks like I'll be doing my old swimsuit with a tank top over it or something when we go to San Diego. It's really hard to get a swimsuit that works on my body unless I order a custom one, and I don't really have time to do that before the trip. I was hoping I could just get a giant one at Target and try to take it in a little, but it wasn't happening. The only one that I tried was way too short for my torso and would not work at all.

But we did get cupcakes and ice cream, which was awesome. We went out to the fireworks and Ramona was pretty fussy at first so I was worried about how it was going to go, but she chilled out after awhile and was having fun. The fireworks started almost a half hour late, so I was kind of annoyed since we were already keeping Ramona up pretty late, but they finally started. Ramona was really excited at first because the kids sitting near us started clapping when the fireworks started and she loves clapping right now, so she just kept looking at the kids and smiling, and didn't even notice the fireworks for a few minutes. We kept pointing them out to her and she finally saw them, and seemed to like them. We were far enough back that they weren't too loud so she was a happy girl. She fell asleep on the walk back to the car, and slept in her pack n play at the hotel.


The hotel was pretty nice and they gave us cookies when we checked in, so they were definitely on my good side. As soon as we came in the room and I saw the floor to ceiling mirror door on the closet I knew Ramona would love it. Baby in the mirror is one of her favorite games and she was so excited about it. She kept trying to crawl into the mirror, which was amusing for Joe and me, and we did some dancing in front of the mirror that she likes a lot. The full length mirror was also the first time I saw myself naked in a full length mirror since having a baby, and it's not as horrible as I'd been fearing. I'm not as horrified of the idea of wearing a swimsuit in San Diego as I was now that I know I'm looking somewhat acceptable. I still have more work to go in the midsection area, but it's not as bad as I thought.

Sunday we went to Ellis Island Brewery for another t-shirt, and Ramona was super popular. Everyone had to stop and talk about how cute she is, and she since she always has a smile for anyone that talks to her she makes friends everywhere. She was very well behaved the whole weekend, which bodes well for the San Diego trip. As long as we drive during her usual sleeping times as we're planning, I think she'll be fine. She was noticeably happy to be home, though, and Joe barbequed ribs for dinner while Ramona and I played. All in all it was a really great first Fourth for Ramona. I wouldn't change a minute. Well, maybe I shouldn't have eaten all those baked goods, but it made me happy, so whatever. I'm going with not changing a minute.

Happy Independence Day!

July?

I can't believe it's July. Not only in a "time flies" kind of way, but in a boo, I thought we would have moved by now way. I think Joe and I were both holding on to the hope that we would move before 'holy mother of God it is hot' season began. It is here, and we are here. Still.

The heat is pretty crazy. You get dehydrated being outside for fifteen minutes. Your eyes feel cold when you blink because your body temperature is so much cooler than the air. Walking outside barefoot is an option only if you want burnt feet. The wind just makes it hotter, like a furnace blowing directly in your face when it's already 120 degrees.

Taking Ramona outside isn't really an option. I will sometimes walk her up to the store and she is bright red from the heat in that less than ten minute walk. I have a sippy cup of water with her at all times. I'm so worried about her getting dehyrated. Death Valley residents are probably some of the only people in the United States who look forward to going to Las Vegas in July so they can cool down.

In short, it's hot.

Seriously?

The title is appropriate because Ramona scared the crap out of me the other day ago. It was her first real injury where I thought she might really be hurt. She was in the bathtub, and she kept standing up. It's her favorite thing. Every time she stands up, I sit her down and say, "Sit on your butt." It's very annoying and has led to record short bath times over the last week. But on this particular day, I turned around to grab a wash cloth and in those few seconds, Ramona stood up, slipped, and hit her face on the edge of the tub. She started screaming and I picked her up and there was blood running down her face. I got the wash cloth wet so I could wipe her face and figure out where she was bleeding from. I figured it was either a tooth she knocked loose or she bit her tongue. After I wiped the blood away I saw she had bit her tongue pretty hard. Not all the way through, but enough to bleed a little bit and leave a noticeable scab for a couple of days.

She was fine, and I cuddled with her and let her comfort nurse. Joe came home on break moments later and was confused as to why I was nursing her naked. (I generally try to keep her naked time to a minimum because she is awesome at peeing/pooping at the worst possible moment.) She was happy to see him and cheered up really quickly. I was so happy she was okay. Joe accidentally dropped her a couple weeks ago and was really worried he had hurt her, so he knew how freaked out I felt when I saw her injured. I think it's always scary when your kid is hurt, especially before you've deduced how serious the injury is, but it's extra scary since we live so far away from any sort of hospital. It's probably the least ideal location to live with someone who is accident prone and medically compromised by being incredibly tiny.

I'm also glad her teeth seem to have made it through the fall alright. She has been sleeping really well since her fifth one broke through, but I think more are coming in because she is drooling twice as much as usual. It's pretty nasty. But I am loving her little gap toothed smile.