musings of Mother Hood

The Best of 2009. Blog Challenge.

What is the challenge?

A look back on your year. A time for reflection. A chance to make new friends.

__________

Sign. Me. Up.

I live for that stuff.

So I recently found a website called gwenbell.com. And though I am 18 days late, I LOVE the idea of taking time during each day in December to look back and highlight all of my 2009 notables. There is a prompt listed for each day, but since I didn't get in on the ground floor, I'll be taking some liberties so that I can fit it all in.

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December 18. Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

My name is Sarah Hood. And I am addicted to Shutterfly. I honestly can't imagine that you haven't heard of it, but I suppose stranger things have happened. From Shutterfly's About Us page: We are a leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service that enables consumers to share, print and preserve their memories by leveraging our technology-based platform and manufacturing processes.

Translation: A big pile of awesomeness.

I think I knew of Shutterfly before but I experienced my first Shutterfly project last Christmas when my sister-in-law Lynn made Jeff a photo book of his trip to Washington to climb Mt. Rainier. It is really cool and something we still look through from time to time. I loved that you could put journaling and photos together in a professionally bound book - and putting it together is SO easy. Everything is online so there are no scrapbooking supplies to buy/store/sort, you can make endless adjustments until you order, and you can work on multiple projects at once -- I currently have 6 open projects!

So. It's my new favorite thing. I did our Christmas cards with them this year and several Christmas presents for family. And! My most favorite! Colt's baby book. It starts the day I found out I was pregnant - October 1, 2007 - and runs through his entire first year. Shutterfly photo books start at 20 pages and max out at 100. His book is every bit of 100 pages and holds several hundred photographs. But honestly, if they had an option for a 700 page book...

I started it over six months ago. And working on it the last several months has all but permanently shifted my bedtime from around 10 to around midnight. I have stayed up after the boys are asleep, playing with backgrounds and fonts and cropping/editing photos until I just can't keep my eyes open. And I'm almost sad that it's all done. Though - never fear - I have already started his Second Year book!

Shutterfly is definitely a favorite new hobby - and not free (what is?!) - but it has truly been therapeutic. Looking through old photos, reading through old blog entries. I can't get enough. Jeff has been teasing me - saying I actually made the book for Colt's (someday) wife, which is probably somewhat true! But I hope that Colt and his family enjoy it someday, reading through his first year of life and getting a strong sense of where he came from.

I thought about posting the link here so you can see my handiwork, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for grandparents and family when they see it next week at Christmas. I promise to post a link after that. And as a consolation prize - and so you can see the photo book concept in action - you can feast your eyes on another recently completed project - my Africa trip.

Click here to view this photo book.

And if that doesn't work, try THIS LINK.

Friday June 20, 2008

Colt Edmund. Born Wednesday, 18 June at 3:06 pm. 6lbs 6 oz. 19 3/4 inches.

Still here...

I know how disappointed you must be. But trust me - no one's more disappointed than us. Poor little guy probably can't handle the pressure -- Erika pointed out this weekend that there are people on at least 3 continents waiting for a "The Baby is Here!" phone call! He'll be here soon enough. I know all you vultures really care about is his name anyway! :)

In the meantime, my friend Andrew was in town this weekend from Dallas -- and it was really good to see him. Andrew, Jenni and I went to see Sex and the City on Saturday and met up with Jeff for some yummy Bonefish that night.  And Sunday afternoon we took a stroll around campus and found our names on Senior Walk.

And we took Toby to the fountain. It took him a minute to warm to the idea -- but once he figured out how nice and cool it was in there -- it was hard to get him out!

Hopefully I will have baby news soon. Stay tuned.   

Who would want to own a house??

I would really appreciate it if all of the utilities and appliances in our house would band together and simultaneously WORK APPROPRIATELY for 24 hours in a row!

You may remember the washer issues that we had recently. Turns out that was only the beginning... I have (in the last 10 days) been on the phone with repairmen for the following:

• Dryer: After a week of playing phone-tag, this marks the second time in 30 days for the dryer repairman. Oddly enough, the dryer started making the same God-awful metal grinding noise as the washer had been making. So Ray came out to fix it. Again. It seems to be ok - for now.
• Cable Internet: After waiting on hold for over 30 minutes - twice in 4 days - I scheduled a serviceman to come to the house. He was here approximately 10 minutes before informing me that the signal to our house was "too strong" and that he had adjusted it appropriately. "Too strong" you say? Hmm. This is SO not the first time we've had issues with Cox Cable - and if there were another viable option in town - we would switch in a heartbeat.
• Air Conditioning: This one was a little scary, but turned out to be the most convenient fix of all. Yesterday the air started freaking out while I was home in the afternoon. It would run for a few minutes - shut off - then immediately come back on. ALL AFTERNOON. It was making me crazy, but I thought it might be something I did to it or that there was a window open somewhere --- I don't know. But the repairman came that night - after 8:00 - to fix it. That's service.

Altogether - I think I've spent about 20 hours waiting on various repairmen at the house over the last few weeks. Ridiculous.

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So. Bump is due to arrive today. TODAY! T minus zero. But still waiting...

All kinds.

I know I've mentioned that we've been going to the park to walk lately, and I wanted to share a few of the borderline-bizarre things that have happened while at the park in the last few days. I absolutely love people-watching and I never dreamed that Wilson Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas would be a prime place for such entertainment--

1. Monday afternoon. There were 4 boys (older than 18 and old enough to know better) taking turns jumping onto a rope they'd tied between a tree and a street lamp. First, I thought they were trying to jump over the rope -- but upon closer inspection, discovered they were indeed attempting to jump onto the rope and walk it like a tightrope. We watched this for several minutes on our way around the park -- and didn't see a single one of them perform what I would call satisfactorily. In fact, it looked pretty painful. They were barefoot, and most of them tried to "mount" the rope by running toward the tree, running up the tree, and landing on the rope. We decided they were fledgling acrobats as on our next lap around that corner of the park we noticed one of them walking around on his hands...

2. Tuesday afternoon. We were finishing up our last lap and almost back to the car, when (for the 4th or 5th time that day) a kind little old lady caught up to us and - making the common assumption that pregnant women are public property - struck up a conversation with me about the baby. I am fairly used to fielding questions such as: "When are you due? Is it a boy or a girl? Do you have a name picked out?" After that, the conversation usually fizzles out, because - afterall - we are strangers and what else do you really say?? But people are very friendly, and I don't really mind it. So this poor, unassuming lady catches up to us and is working her way through the usual questions. She was very sweet -- telling us that she was sure we would have a beautiful baby as we were both "lovely people" and telling me to be sure and take care of myself "in this heat" -- all harmless, all nonsense. Well, apparently someone had had enough of our chitchat as right about then - a huge, hot pile of bird poop landed on me from above. 100% of it landed on me - hair, neck, arm, back - but I think my sweet new friend was more startled than I was! She immediately got all flustered and started frantically going through her empty pockets for a napkin or a towel or something that I could use to clean off the poop - with no luck. After that, she didn't really know what to say. It was a really awkward and abrupt end to our baby conversation -- but she kept up the same pace as us, all the way to the car! We just kept walking, side-by-side -- perfect strangers, one of us covered in bird poop.

3. Wednesday afternoon. I walked by myself because the boys went to a concert at Bud Walton for Shareholders. The same people typically walk at the park around the same time everyday so we are starting to see a lot of familiar faces on the path. There are several older people who walk (almost) as slow as we do - and yesterday one of them decided that I looked lonely and needed a conversation. He was walking the opposite direction than me, so I'd passed by him a few times. The third time, he stopped me and told me how much he admired me for "hoofing it around the park", but warned me (while pointing at my belly) that "all this walking's not gonna do anything for that gut of yours!" -- everybody's a comedian.  

7 days and (YES, I'm) Counting!

So despite the (almost) 3 miles a day we've been walking and the sheer will I've been attempting to exert on the baby to make an appearance – still pregnant. It is getting increasingly equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking. 

 

I feel a little like I’m cramming for a big test.  I’ve had months and months to get everything ready, read all the books, learn everything that I’m supposed to do (and NOT do) and now that it’s literally DAYS away – I feel like I know nothing. I swing back and forth between being totally confident that I’m ready – and jumping up and down on the Panic Button, not knowing the first thing about having/raising a child. Sadly enough, I find comfort knowing that millions of people do “this” everyday – and there must be some nature involved or more people would fail at it. Right?

I also realize that there's been a serious lack of worthy content here lately -- sorry about that.  My brain is seriously sleep-deprived and a little one-tracked these days. So hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon -- whatever that is. It's more likely you'll all be subject to torture by way of stories and photos and videos of my brilliant child doing brilliant things like smiling and rolling over and teething.... Get ready!

Finally an update!

There are 3 parts to this update - as I realize it's been "forever" since I've posted an update. If anyone is still out there... and still reading... enjoy!

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1. Bump is officially fully cooked! We are 37 weeks and counting - and are open to any and all suggestions/secrets/old-wive's-tales for "naturally" inducing labor. Bring them on! I'm going to the doctor every week now and hope to find out tomorrow morning that I've made some sort of progress. I was crossing my fingers yesterday since it was both the official 37-week-mark AND a full moon. But alas... still pregnant.

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2. Happy Mother's Day! Mom and Dad ventured up to Arkansas last weekend (8-10 May) for the presentation of the first 1LT Tom Martin Memorial Scholarship at CHS. Becky and I drove down to Cabot to meet them. We really enjoyed meeting Jared and being part of the presentation.

We all drove back up to Fayetteville for the weekend - celebrating Becky's early BD, Mother's Day, and finally putting furniture in the baby's room!

(More pics in the "Baby" photo album.)

 

The nursery has truly been a labor of love - my sweet Mom made all of the bedding and curtains and accessories for Bump (note the pillow ) and recovered the rocker, my handy and patient Dad built the changing table shelf and refinished the crib for the little guy, and Dad/Jeff/Mom/Me (mostly Dad and Jeff) have spent endless puzzled moments poring over assembly instructions for things like highchairs, Pack'n'Plays, and strollers. The room is still in-progress, hopefully I'll be able to post some "officially done" pictures someday soon.

 

Laura: This terribly flattering picture of me is just for you. I am trying to lure Keebler out from under Becky's bed -- though Dad tells me it looks like I'm trying to lure the baby out! We eventually got him (Keebler not Bump) out by showing him a picture of you!

 

 

 

 

We had a great weekend together, but Mom and Dad had to get back in time to regroup for their trip to Alaska this week. They were able to attend the dedication of the memorial at Ft. Richardson in Anchorage. Pictures are HERE. Mom is in #5, Dad is in #48. I wish we all could have been there.

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3. Happy Birthday Don!

Don turned the big 4-0 on Mother's Day and Keith threw a bash this weekend at the house. It was a Hat Party - so we all got gussied up to celebrate Don's big day. This collection of photos reminds me of Party Pics...

 

 

First, Second and Third place winners of the "Coolest Hat Contest".

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is one of my favorites from the evening -- GK! When are you due??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Don! (More pics in the albums.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play ball!

For those of you out-of-towners, Northwest Arkansas recently acquired a minor league baseball team - The Northwest Arkansas Naturals (formerly the Wichita Wranglers) - a AA farm team for the Kansas City Royals. We play in the same league as San Antonio's team - The San Antonio Missions!

Anyway. They played their first game here in early April - and it has quickly become THE thing to do on the weekends. So of course, we had to go. We watched them beat the Tulsa Drillers Saturday night with friends Nicholas and Angela.

It was a little colder than I anticipated, and Bump is used to going to bed around 9 -- so we skipped out during the 8th inning -- but it was a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll be back - especially when it warms up a little.

Instead of going home, we decided to drop by the soiree taking place at Keith's house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got to see a few folks we don't see that often - and visit "my" dog, Ace!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff even managed to snap a picture of the elusive Toby. This picture makes me laugh - he looks absolutely terrified. Toby is Keith and Don's pomeranian - who is scared to death of people and spends most of his time and energy running away from people trying to pet him... but he's cute.

 

 

 

 

Good weekend - cleaned house on Sunday - getting ready for visitors this weekend. Mom and Dad are coming up - should be fun! We are NEARLY under 30 days to go until Baby Day!

Like a weed.

I am trying hard to convince myself that it is due to the shirt I'm wearing today - but so far it's not working. 3 separate people have made comments today about how big my belly is getting. Thank God they have been polite and limited their comments to the belly...

According to the 33-week email update this past Tuesday, the baby is approximately 4 pounds and 17 inches. A coworker (Kim) and I got distracted today trying to find something in the office that was around that size and the closest we could come was some product on the Fabric Care Account Sup's desk-- a bottle of Dreft weighing 52 ounces. That's not even 4 pounds - and it seemed SO heavy.  Kim was holding it up in front of her own belly-- and then looked up at me and said, "that CAN'T be comfortable". Yeah.

So I'm pretty sure that the baby has had a growth spurt in the last week or so. This whole pregnancy thing was never uncomfortable or inconvenient in any way until about 10 days ago -- let's just say I've already started practicing for the nights-of-no-sleep to come.

In other news, the term "growing like a weed" has taken on new meaning for us. Jeff has been fighting the good fight out on our lawn the last few weeks. He claims that dandelions are literally growing in a matter of hours -- he'll weed the entire backyard at lunchtime only to come home to a spatter of the damned things. We have been intently watching the barrage of commercials for weed-killing-grass-growing miracle products on TV lately and will invest in some if it ever stops raining here for 6 minutes in a row.

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If you haven't visited Laura's new site - please drop by http://www.freewebs.com/chiquitaq/   She's posted a few entries and a handful of pictures -- on her latest adventure.

She mentioned that there's a guy in her group that reminds her of Tom -- which I think is great. I had a dream about Tom last night - I think he knows that his family really needs him right now. He's with Laura on her trip and with me getting ready for the baby - and with everyone else in their own daily goingson. I love that he's as much of an encouraging friend now as ever.

In Honor of Earth Day

It’s raining. Pretty hard. Like it’s dark outside – at 11am. What a downer. I am trying to decide what to do for lunch – since I left my umbrella in the car like an idiot. Do I brave the rain to get to the car to drive in the rain with my sub-par windshield wipers to eat lunch at home? Or do I wait it out, eat something from the vending machine to pull me through, and leave when/if it stops raining? Hmm. My 4-pound passenger will probably vote for the rain…

 

So I’ve been thinking about this for a few days and I think I’m ready to comment. I don’t quite know how seriously we should be taking this plastic bottle scare. I first saw the story on Today (where I get most all of my TV news) about a week ago.Matt Lauer interviewed some teenage-looking doctor who claimed that there are certain “numbers” of water bottles that are – in a word – poisonous.

 

Grab the closest plastic bottle. Turn it over. There should be a symbol on the bottom that looks like this:

 

 

Apparently, plastic bottles range in “number” from 1 to 7 depending on thickness, durability, yada yada. A typical Coke bottle is an example of a 1, while a Nalgene bottle is an example of a 7. According to this doctor/scientist/whatever-he-was, numbers 5,6 and 7 contain dangerous levels of a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA). So… the doctor went on to warn of all the horrible things that will happen if you (God forbid) reuse a grocery-grade water bottle, and (calling out the Nalgene brand) went on and on about the deadly affects of using these number 6s and 7s.

 

Now.Not only do I tend to be skeptical of such claims, but I also thought it was a TAD dramatic. Out of nowhere, this no-name doctor claims that the BAJILLIONS of plastic bottles we use everyday are causing neurological, behavioral and fertility issues and even some cancers? Please.

 

However. I continued to hear about this through various vehicles: TV, internet Mommy message boards… and I’m starting to think that it’s all a big marketing gimmick choreographed by Nalgene.

 

(Editor’s Note: As always, there is a chance I will be forced to eat these words when the news breaks that this plastic bottle epidemic is, in fact, disastrous on a scale comparable to the recent Pet Food Recall or Mad Cow Disease. Laura – check your peanut butter.)

 

Here’s my take. Nalgene is pulling all of their BPA-containing bottles from stores and replacing them with “safe” alternatives. Does no one else see through this?? Nalgene is a trusted brand with significant brand-loyalty. Everyone who owns a BPA-contaminated water bottle will inevitably throw it out and buy one of the new models. This is genius. Nalgene currently sells a product that is virtually indestructible. Not a lot of repeat purchase. You don’t really go through several of these bottles in a short period – so Nalgene is hurting for repeat business. It’s kinda like whatever that chewing gum is that claims to keep its flavor so long that their sales are suffering because people are “still on their first piece”… Same idea. But Nalgene has devised a plan to get all (most?) of their current customers to RE-buy their SAME PRODUCT!

 

If it’s NOT a marketing trick – it’d be a great one. Suddenly, an image of Pinky and the Brain comes to mind…