new stuff i saw today

quick pod - A tripod like arm that you attach to your camera. So, you're saying i can actually be in the photo..... neat!

happy t day!!

By t day i mean Tessa's Birthday!! oh, alright, Happy Thanksgiving too!

We had a great time at Bobby's brother's house for Thanksgiving. It is nice because my family doesn't have a standard plan for the holiday anymore, we used to but family moved away and such, which means they are open to go where ever the gathering takes us. The past few years that means gathering my family and Bobby's family which is nice now that Hayden is here because we don't have to tote her around a ton of places.

Hopefully Christmas will follow suite. This year we are going up north near Sequim to the condo, the option is open for both sides to come since we all have access to the same condo group. We'll see how this works.... and next year being a more meaningful Christmas for Hayden, we will probably stay home and either go visit family as needed or gather at our house.

So, last night Bobby went out with Hayden on a secret mission. (Something my mom used to call outings she took us on.) I wasn't sure what they were up to but under the pretense of going to help a friend buy a car he left and came back about a few hours later. He really is helping his friend but I figured he was up to something. He was looking all dolled up so I figured he was taking her to get their pictures taken, which we really need to do soon!!

Anyway, he got back and we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory with my family and after we got seated at dinner he quickly left (i assumed he had to use the restroom) and when he returned he had my birthday present (he actually went back out to the car to get it without me knowing). To my delight I got the new Jessica Seinfeld book Deceptively Delicious that I had been eying but hadn't bought yet, first because I didn't think I would actually use it but after making my own version of butternut squash pancakes i was convinced it would be a good purchase (they were super yummy) but hadn't gotten around to getting it yet.

Convinced that I have the best guy ever, we came home and watched a movie and went to bed. I woke up this morning and went to the kitchen to gather my pumping supplies to fill a bottle for Hayden, and to my super surprise!!!! There sitting on the counter was a brand new Kitchen Aid mixer that I had been wanting, as part of my effort to try and learn to cook so that my family doesn't starve to death.

He totally got one past me, I was thrilled at his thoughtfulness of the cook book and card... this was great!!! He said he had it in the tool box of our truck so I wouldn't see it when he came and picked me up to go to dinner.... Even more funny, as I pumped last night I was watching "Oprah's Favorite Things" that I had recorded on my tivo and the Kitchen Aid mixer was one of the things that Oprah gave away, I had told him how cool it was and mentioned that I almost bought one the other day at Fred Meyer as they were on sale but since I didn't know which one to get, there were like 4 different ones, so i didn't get one.

So tickle me fancy, i'm 32 today and living my best life...

clearing the air

Something has been bothering me for a few weeks now, and as not to outright offend anyone I won't mention any names.

I am getting used to people saying how big my daughter is, she is about 3 1/2 months old and weighs like 15 lbs. I don't even mind when people ask me what is in the bottle that I am feeding her. Now mind you I pump as much as I can to try and make our lives easier, both out in public and so that I don't have to be the only person to get up in the middle of the night to tend to her.

What I am not alright with is having to respond to a question as to the appearance of my breast milk. I have come to terms with the fact that I cannot always speak my mind as I was used to doing, heck I think speaking my mind is part of my nature (keeping it in makes me feel like a bomb about to explode), but in an attempt to keep the peace in my house I do my best not to purposefully make people feel as stupid and ignorant as they are behaving. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I feel these people are actually ignorant, it's just that they are a part of a very large portion of the population that I have lovingly come to know as "socially retarded".

Who in their right mind actually thinks it's permissible to question (to the person's face) the appearance and/or consistency of the breast milk of a relatively new mother? I am pretty sure I question myself enough... is she eating enough, is she eating too much, have I taken enough pictures of her, do I play with her enough, do I play with her too much, should she sleep on her back, should she sleep on her stomach, should I vaccinate, should I not vaccinate, should I be thinner by now, should I go back to work, should I stay home??????? I could go on... What I don't need is to have family, friends, or whomever question me regarding something I really don't have any control over.

How am I supposed to respond to such a question? I don't know why it's thick/thin, light/dark, white/blue, does it really matter? Last time I checked I am not a physician or a scientist who has studied such things... if you are really that curious shut your mouth, go to your computer, and google it! I already feel like a cow on display when I pump and there are people around - Don't even get me started on breastfeeding in public... if you don't like it then don't look! And for crying out loud.... stop staring!!!

In regards to this question I tried my best not to show how shocked I was and muster up some sort of response as to not make the offender feel bad, wouldn't want to make THEM feel bad.... I think it worked because I don't think the person had a clue as to what just happened. And in keeping with the can't we all just get along attitude I am trying so hard to maintain.... I'm off to TRY and be a mom now, because regardless of the color or consistency of my breast milk.... Hayden needs it and is thriving.... So I guess I'm doing something right after all.

So in the future don't be surprised if you get a not so nice answer to a not so nice question.