Pack this

I have nothing to say except that I am going to be on a plane with a seven month old in less than a day. Yes, I know, I have already complained about this but until I am back in a week I will be anxious.

For those of you who cant wait:




and....




Soon to be blowing kisses from NY!

P.S. Yes I did crop myself out of the first pic....I looked like a demon and my glasses were on the tip of my nose like a granny. Not how I want to be depicted in internet land.

P.P.S. Did I mention that my husband says he likes R. Kelly's song "I'm a flirt"?!?! Something else to be concerned about :)

Observe this

The past two days have been a funny/ annoying haze.

This morning I got dressed for casual Friday, thought I looked cute. Getting into the mirrored elevator at work I see.....my deluxe muffin top. Apparently I should have said no to the bagel this morning....doh!

Yesterday I spoke with a man in the hallway who I have said "hi" to maybe three times. The exchange went as follows:

Me: Hi
Him: Hello there
Me: Didn't I see you at the lacrosse game (my brother plays)
Him: Um, yeah
Me: Does your son play?
Him: No, I just like young boys (evil smile)
Me: Awesome
Him: Sweet
Me: (quickly take the stairs instead of being trapped in elevator with creepy Caucasian man)

While driving to work yesterday I saw two things: lady with leather driving gloves and a plumbing truck with a sign that said "blah, blah, blah, pypes"?!?

Ok, lets address go go speed racer driving lady. This was funny for a couple reasons. This first is that she was driving a Kia SUV. As a former owner of a super Kia I know there is nothing particularly speedy about those cars. Secondly,we live in Miami, it is hot, leather gloves!!???!!! Thirdly, maybe she was driving two miles an hour. I don't know, maybe you had to be there, but it was funny! As a side note, this is actually the third driver I have seen with speed racer gloves. I think the heat fries peoples brains (but that is a whole other post).

Plumbing truck, with a misspelling. Typos make me nutters (yes I know I have them on here all the time as I was so nicely told by my editor friend...WHATEVR), particularly when they are in the public eye. Maybe pypes is some sort of plumbing tool? Maybe not, it made me laugh....I think I need to get out more.

Cigarette??

So in the effort to write something/ anything because I don't like it when other people don't update today I will be discussing the Muffin sounds month 7.

You may have read the joy my daughter brought to my life when she uttered ma-ma. Apparently mama is not only the name for the woman who gave birth to her but is also a synonym for:

-Pick me up
-NOW!!
-Dada
-Grandma
-I've fallen and I can't get up
-Get me out of here
-Give me boob

Now in addition to the ma-ma and the occasional "hi" she has started to enjoy any sound she can make. This includes a new sound that is very similar to the cough that smokers have. It is a very intentional sound which I initially thought was hysterical, now not so much.

It is a little baby hack.....thinking about it makes me laugh because she is always smirking when she makes the sound, I think she knows it makes me laugh and makes her father panic. My mom thinks she is choking, the hubs thinks she is going to ruin her vocal cords, I think once she figures out another sound she will move on. Until then I have a muffin who could be the spokes baby for Truth the anti-smoking campaign.

Fear at 30,000 feet

So I don't actually know how high a plane flies but I'm going with 30,000 feet for today.

I just got off the phone with a lurking friend of mine and remembered something:

I am taking a flight next Tuesday with my 7 month old daughter....and as this "friend" (just kidding) reminded me "I hate people who bring babies on the plane, I always give them the dirtiest looks."

I am one of those people! The baby people with all the ridiculous bags. Don't they know to pack light???

Pack light, ha, ha, ha.

I need the car seat for the rental, the playpen for her to sleep in, 40 outfits for her (and us) because lately its gone from snowing to 80 degrees in NY and diapers, toys and anything else that isn't installed at home......because we might forget something. If that happens the world will end, didn't you know? In addition to the world ending there are no stores in the tri-state area, I am the only one with an infant.

Just so you know, I am never, ever, sarcastic.

I have to call my mom now and tell her to use those smart baby flash cards again. This is the first time the muffin is meeting a lot of people, all future impressions will be judged by this one. No pressure muffin, no pressure.

Scatter brain

My internet is down at home.....sigh.....

I have a lot of things that I am thinking about but nothing is processed enough to be allowed out into the blogosphere as of yet, I will exercise restraint.

On the upside I had some great beers yesterday (no I don't get out much), enough that I had a good buzz!

It is so funny how times change. Two years ago the above comment would have been a joke, an every weekend happening, not a breaking news event.

Okey-dokey (felt like throwing that in), back to work. Time to make the donuts.

Testing, one, two, testing

I read somewhere once about the phenomenon that as women we work so hard for so long not to get pregnant and then work so hard to get and maintain a pregnancy and I could relate.

So now I have my little bundle of joy and the mission is once again deployed to keep this muffin an only child for a couple years.

Um yeah, so this whole food poisoning, nauseous, wanna barf but can't, stomach upset etc. has scared the piss out of me. It took a couple days and countless people asking if I was pregnant for me to ask myself "could this be true??"

Let me give you the background: My entire immediate family knew I was pregnant before I did. Apparently there are several tell tale signs, so much for knowing my body.

Anywhoooo, so yeah, not pregnant thank you very much. This whole reproduction/ sex thing is so complicated.....and something that is so necessary....

I want a more long term solution for this problem but am scared of compromising my future off spring capabilities. It is very hard to tread line of current needs and future needs/ desires.

Sorry to go there....women have it so much harder! It's all on us and that is all I have to say about that.

The Rachel Interview

In my readings of the amazing Rachel(see side bar) she had a post similar to the one below where she challenged people to be interviewed. So here is the Rachel interview:

1. If family and finances were not an issue, where would you want to live to raise your daughter and why?

This is harder than I thought......I would live down here in S. Florida (hello weather!), in a particular neighborhood where the public schools are rated in the top of the nation. For me education and exposure to a lot of different things was critical to my youth and has benefited me to this day. I want the same for her. Being exposed to those different cultures/ social classes/ education levels made me respect what I had been given, made me see what I wanted to strive for and I think kept me level headed. (I feel like I'm writing a school entrance essay)

As for summers I would live it Italy, I spent a month there and it was one of the best times of my life.

2. What is one book that you have read that made a significant impact on you? What was that impact?

That is like asking which child is your favorite. I am such a reader that almost every book I read (at this point I choose carefully because of time constraints) has an impact.

Right now I am finishing up Babyproofing Your Marriage. This book is brilliant and exactly what I needed for this period of my life. It has been critical because I am the first of my friends to have a baby. I have no contemporaries to discuss what is going on, the extreme changes that no one tells you about:

-who knew I wouldn't want sex for months (thankfully this has gotten better)
-I cannot be a scorekeeper with my husband
-you cannot make large decisions until you have had at least 2 months of your baby sleeping 8 hours straight (I'm waiting!)

This book along with my blog reading has made me feel "normal", that this time will pass and you will find a new pace of life.

3. Other than sleep, what do you miss the most about your life B.C. (before child)?

I miss being care free. I am always thinking/ worrying about something now. If I'm not with the baby I am thinking about how she is. I worry about finances where I never did before. It is interesting what having someone completely depend on you does to you.

4. If you could ask your favorite famous person two questions who would you ask and what would the questions be?

I have a strange fascination with celebrity but I honestly don't have a favorite. In high school I did have a thing for Gavin Rossdale the lead singer of Bush (now married to Gwen Steffani). At that time I would have asked him what Glycerine meant to him and if I could bear his beautiful rock star children!


5. What is one thing that you do in secret that you are embarrassed to admit?

Hee, hee, I am trying to figure out which one to reveal...... I fart, very rarely (a habit that I strongly discourage in my husband but one that I have convinced him that I never do because I am super human.....I hope he doesn't read this).



OK, the rules:

1. If you want to be interviewed by me, (and I encourage perfect strangers to take me up on this, it will be fun) leave me a comment saying "Interview Me".

2. I will respond by asking you five questions of my choice.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to my questions.

4. You will include these rules, and offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Breaking news

Drum roll please.......................

My daughter said Ma-Ma.

I was leaning down to pick her up and bam, boo-yah, MA-MA.

I had to keep it together for the sake of the child (ha!)

You ever think you have so much love for one person that you want to almost explode, or at the very least burst into uncontrollable laughter/ tears?

It's incredible the amount that I love that little girls (Internet sob). I want so much for her in life, sniff, sniff.

I'm off to go blubber elsewhere!

Manic Monday

My thought process is out of control. I think of idea, get really excited about it, think of the work involved, life happens, forget about idea, remember idea, get excited, forget about idea and occasionally act, but rarely.

Example:

People say my daughter is cute, better than the Gerber baby some say, I think my daughter is cute, damn college costs a lot..............

She could be a baby model! None of that pageant shit, just print work. We all gotta do our part to get her into Harvard. Where the hell are those smart baby flash cards??

What was I doing??

I love butterflies. When I open my luxury goods for the home store I am definitely going to have one in the logo, yup, definitely.

I need to spell check this thing....

I already posted today, I should have saved this for tomorrow....nah, then my title wouldn't work, and it makes me laugh.

I have that song stuck in my head now.

I love that kid. What if the snobby model people reject her??? Can I handle that?

NO.

Is this a good idea? I need a drink. Water, vodka, I gotta be equal opportunity here!




*Yes, I know it is Tuesday, but I got a bit of food poisoning last night...it is as fun as it sounds.

Yes, I have a problem.

I don't want to discuss books again, but I have to. I have a real problem! When I got pregnant I decided that finances had to buckle down, blah, blah, blah. What this meant in my everyday life was no more Starbucks and no more Barnes & Nobles. I even restricted myself going to the best used book store ever. I can't deny myself when it comes to books. I am a book junky.

A couple weeks ago my fellow friend in books called to say that our favorite used book store, the store where we planned to take our children, the store where everyone knows our name (and reading preferences) was closing. The bastard! Only thinking of himself, moving to N. Carolina for the betterment of his family, the nerve. Needless to say I swooped in there and bought a ton of books. They are all half off, they are practically being given away. That was a couple weeks ago.

This weekend I went to B&N.......twice. I don't think my husband realizes the magnitude of my problem. I don't allow myself to go to the full price aisles anymore, only the sale books, but there are so many. I walked away with 3 books and that was using restraint.

The real problem lies in the fact that as soon as I get this "great new book" I want to read it right away, which is not going to happen. So I am all set for the next couple months, if anyone needs a good book to borrow I am so here for you!

(yeah, yeah, I know I promised book reviews, they are coming, I promise.......as soon as I finish this other book)

These are a few of my favorite things

Damn Sound of Music song stuck in my head....

I love to travel.
This has probably been one of the hardest things to let go of since getting married, having a baby, putting down roots. I chose to live in the same city as my parents because I wanted to have a tight nuclear family, I grew up with my grandparents and loved it and I want the same for my kids.

With that said, I get extremely stir crazy. I love being in different cultures, learning new things and seeing history live. I have learned the most about myself when traveling. Being a fish out of water lets you see what is important and what is trivial.

I love to read.
This is my saving grace. Historical fiction or a topic relating to something I am going through at the moment are my favorites. Reading allows me to mentally travel. When I was pregnant my favorite weekend activity was to read through a whole book. Any problems are forgotten and suddenly I can be in an exotic locale.

I need to make a more concentrated effort to set aside time to read. In the past couple months I have been better. I love seeing what other people are reading, I am hoping to start reviewing books in the next couple days.

I love my friends and family.
I'm coming to NY people!!! I have been blessed to pick up friends throughout my life. These women are an amazing, brilliant and beautiful group. Because I live in Miami with the lure of palm trees I see them on a regular basis but even without seeing them I know they are always here.

I don't exactly know where this post is going and I don't like the way it is set up (it is always so much better in my head).
What are you guys reading?
What is the best place you have travelled to? (My answer is the island of Capri, just off of Naples, Italy. Damn those Italians do it right!).

In case you were wondering

I don't know why I feel the need to share the following but I do:

I have just pumped an ounce of breast milk onto my pants.

This is a tragedy for several reasons.

1. Each drop of that milk is very hard to come by.
2. I am wearing very light khaki pants.
3. I have to pee very badly so I will have to step out my office door very soon and be seen by the rest of my office and then anyone else I might encounter on the long walk to the bathroom.
4. I smell like breast milk now.
5. Did you know breast milk is very sticky when it dries??

OK, I am off now to make a bigger mess in attempt to clean the current mess, toodles.

We went to a wedding this weekend, by ourselves. This is the first time since the baby was born that I really relaxed, didn't worry about the baby (she was with my mom) and had fun.

Yes, there were drinks involved. Yes, it was more than one. I looked at my husband and I saw the face that I dated. Before we were married, before we had the muffin our only job was to make each other happy. In his face it was just happiness. There was no strain of earning a living, of finishing grad school, of being the "perfect" parent and husband.

Needless to say it was great. So if you are having a wedding make sure you invite us, we'll be the smiling drinkers in the back.

Is there a patch for the internet?

I'm addicted. There is this whole new world that I have found and it has no limits. I click on one persons page and read it, read it, read it, read it. I have gotten to the point (over and over again) where I cannot find the original blog that inspired me to read the rest. This is getting in the way of my "real life".

I love to read, always have but it is getting a little out of control. Reading bogs in combination with trying to master other websites to be able to link into this website with trying to figure out how the hell to put up a masthead, this is turning into a full time job..... don't I already have one of those. Just like everything else I suppose I need balance, but I never was very good at that. I tend to be all or nothing.

What are your favorite pages (any type)?

This weekend we went to a dinner party where inevitably there was a point in time where the women were all left alone (to knit or something equally hard). As soon as the last man had closed the door all these women started talking about which one had the biggest loser for a husband/ boyfriend.

I am very competitive by nature, I always want to win, but in this case I didn't even want to play. I am all for bitching with friends but I never talk about my real personal problems with people I don't know. Is this just me? I have had problems in the past with bottling emotions and feelings but I do think that discretion should be exercised, at least sometimes by (most) people.

I have so much more to say on this issue but am censoring myself. Old habits die hard. I still have to reconcile the fact that what I say on here could bite me in the ass. How do you as bloggers/ writers divide your life up?