Fight Night, Track Meet, and How to Simultaneously Handle a Phone Call and a Baby Eating an Envelope

"Air Horn" Addie versus The "Black Mom-ba"

The night before last night was a UFC fight between Addie and I (thus our meanest fightin' faces and names above). I wanted her to sleep, she wanted to eat. It was 3 am. The rule around these parts is no eating until after 5 am. She may be a lightweight, but she's apparently had some training in the art of Jiu Jitsu. She cried, she pulled my hair out, she pinched, then she settled down for ten minutes or so and then began again. I came in with some strong defense and rocked her, cuddled her, even gave her a laser show on the bedroom ceiling with a flashlight (which kept her quiet, but still awake). For two hours we were both up and going all five rounds.I stuck to my guns to avoid starting a bad habit that invovles me being woken up every night at 3 am. At four minutes to 5 am I decided it had been long enough. She went right to sleep after eating and we both slept in until 10. We were both onery and irritable the next day, recovering from our injuries. Anyway, I think I won...although I did break the rule by four minutes. Judges? If it's a tie then we'll just leave it at that. I don't want a rematch. Where was Jason, you ask? Oh, just sleeping. I don't know how he sleeps through it...maybe he's just faking it so I'll leave him alone.

Last night she slept in her new crib for the first time and slept like a champ, staying asleep until 6:30 am. Why am I posting about this? Do I really think other people care about my child's sleeping habits? I just wanted to prove a point that motherhood is a sport. And an extreme one, at that.

Last night we went to Jeff and Melenie's house to play World Class Track Meet with the Power Pad on regular Nintendo. It was awesome! I had never played that game before and I'm a little embarrassed to say that my arms are sore. I can't figure out why though, since it's a running/ jumping game.


One more thing: I was on the phone today trying to figure out health insurance stuff (not my favorite) when I noticed Addie (who was on my lap) had grabbed an envelope off the desk and was eating it. EATING it. She had a corner chunk of envelope on her tongue and was grinning about it. I instantly stuck my fingers in her mouth to get it out and she choked on the paper a little bit and then swallowed it. I had to explain to the lady on the phone why I had just stopped talking mid-sentence and this is what I said, "I'm sorry, but my child is choking. I need to pass her off." By which I meant give her to Jason. He teased me about it. "My child is choking, I need to get rid of her like a hot potato" or "My child is choking, I need to sign this paper saying she has fulfilled that requirement" or "My child is choking, I am too busy to worry about that right now because I am making an important phone call". Anyway, Addie seemed to enjoy the experience, oddly enough. I'll be looking for it to come out, just to see how it holds up to the trip.

Sour faces, Collision in a Shoe Aisle, and a New Crib.

Addie is not a huge fan of apples.

I just thought I'd post what we've been up to: nothing. We've been doing regular, normal things with no exciting upsets, which is just fine. I did run over a little boy with a shopping cart a few weeks ago. I was at Walmart ( I really don't like shopping there, and this story just adds to that feeling) and I was going down a dark, narrow shoe aisle with Addie along for the ride when I bumped into to something. I didn't bother to look because I figured it was a box of shoes on the floor. (Walmart has more items on the floor than any other store I've been in...why is that? Oh, maybe because the whole world is shopping there at once.) Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this man look at me and then at whatever I bumped into. So, thinking I must have ran into his pile of things to purchase, I looked around Addie's carseat to see what was there. I was very suprised to see a pair of eyes staring up at me (I say a pair of eyes because it was such a dark aisle, that's all that was visible). Whoops! I just ran over someone's child, that's all. I immediately apologized to both the man and his son, and the man said, "It's okay," and smiled. He had a gold tooth. Who wants to stick around and look at shoes after an embarrasing encounter like that? So I left and went to find Jason so we could go home right away and never go back there again. Maybe there should be a height requirement for operating shopping carts, just for safety reasons. Or maybe they should be equipped with mirrors. Anyway, I guess it counts as an exciting upset. Or maybe just an upset.

Tyler (Jason's little brother) has moved nearby so we get to see him more often, and that's exciting. We're going on a trip to Florida at the end of February just for the hey of it. We knew we would be really sick of the cold by then (we already are now) so we thought a trip to one of the warmest place in the states would be cheer us up. I'm really looking forward to spending time on the beach with Jason and our little Addie, and Jason's excited about the Everglades. This will be our first family vacation!

Addie thinks she's so tricky these days and likes to move around when no one is watching so no one knows how she's doing it. I did see her roll from her back to her belly and then onto her back again for the first time yesterday, which sort of explains how she's getting around these days.
We had a visit from the Bess' on Sunday and that was pretty cool! It was fun to see the girls together, even if all they did was poke each other's faces.

Annie and Addie: good friends, even though they might know it yet.

We are starting good habits early. Actally, this is the toothbrush we use to brush her hair.
Oh, and she can sit by herself now.

Addie has a new crib! It was a Christmas present from my parents and it came a few days ago. We are really excited! We don't have sheets for it yet so she hasn't slept in it yet. I think she'll really like the extra room to move around in! (We'll take the plastic off the mattress before she sleeps in it.)

Well, I guess that'll do for now.

Epikidcerjumuter

(everything in this blog in one word)

Happy New Year! I just thought I'd post some updates:

We saw the Body Worlds exhibit with my family and it was pretty cool. I really became fond of the epiglottis, a little feature in the throat that closes off the windpipe when you eat, drink, or just swallow. It looks cool and it performs a thankless yet important job. I suggest a moment to consider our epiglotti and appreciate them: {insert moment here} I also thought the fetal development section was quite educational and awesome. Oh, and the vertical slices of the obese person was super interesting and made me carefully think about my lunch choice later that day. Which was delicious, by the way. (Something from the Red Iguana...I can't remember the name.)

Jason passed his kidney stone at 4:44 a.m. on Christmas morning. He was too excited to sleep after that and so he woke me up (he'll tell you he didn't, but why else was I awake?) He named it Jesus (hey-seuss, the Hispanic pronunciation) which seems fitting since it was born on Christmas Day. While all of you were most likely sleeping, Jason and I were awake discussing names for his kidney stone and whether or not those names were controversial and inappropriate. Anyway, he feels much better and keeps his stone in an empty medicine bottle padded with a bit of toilet paper. He'll gladly take it out and show you if you're interested. It has a dragon spike on one side.

Size comparison with common household items.
Yes, I know it's upside-down, but try not to worry about it.

Just in case you didn't believe me about the dragon spike.

Addie has started eating rice cereal. She seems to like it, especially in her hair. She makes me laugh with her silliness. She likes to straighten her legs, cross her ankles and point her toes after a furious bout of kicking...like it's the ending pose to her dance. She also prefers to talk inward instead of outward. (According to Jack Black,this skill means she can rock twice as hard!) She sucks in while making sounds which then causes her to cough a lot. She got a Johnny Jump Up for Christmas from my parents and she loves it! She spins around, jumps crazily, and/or just hangs there and sucks on the harness.

Cereal face. Cereal ears, too, but you can't quite see those.

Addie's first balloon. She played with this thing for hours...don't worry, she was under close supervision. What kind of a mom do you think I am? Thanks, Kim and Milo for the balloon!

Addie just getting some jumps out.

I am typing this on my new computer (thank you, Jason and thank you, Shovelnub). It was my Christmas gift from Jason and I was very surprised and pleased. Guess what it can do? Read pictures off of my camera so I can put them directly on this computer and on this blog! Yay! So gone are the days of yesteryear when I could only post photos in one huge heap and long after the event has taken place. To prove it, I will post a picture I have taken this very hour:

I took this photo of me typing this on my new computer just a few minutes ago. Ta-da!

All in all, we had a really great holiday season, although we did greatly miss Jason's family. We feel special that we got to spend time with so many friends, too! Lucky us...