Gin from the Cat Dish

Darry is growing like a weed, although still kind of a skinny guy. Today he was only in the 16% percentile for weight. But he's long and his noggin is perfect so perhaps he'll take after all the tall Swede types in my family. Today was a follow up EEG and a visit with his neurologist. We left this morning with lots of time. We went to check in only to find out that we were supposed to be at the Cherry Hill hospital. I looked at the lady and looked around and asked, "Isn't that where we are?" No, we were at the First Hill. Oh right. So we scrambled back in the car and raced over to the Cherry Hill site which is only a few blocks away. I let Shaughn and Darry out at the entrance and parked the car in what seemed like the most haphazardly arranged garage you've ever seen. Shaughn had already checked Darry in and was headed to the EEG lab. I followed his directions but even still I had to ask for further directions from staff three more times. Finally a nurse wal...

Darry Update:      Darry is doing wonderful! He had a neurological assessment by an OT today. It was hilarious watching her try to get him interested in a toy to track back and forth. Darry preferred just to look at her and smile. So she moved her head back and forth to see how well he tracked. He did really well overall. He scored very high on his cognitive and a little lower on his physical. He's very active but when it comes to tummy time, he really only prefers to look toward his right. He will eventually move his head to the left but it doesn't seem like he enjoys it. So even though his physical score was still in the normal range we're going to get an assessment from a physical therapist to see if there is some muscular tightness going on. Or they might say there is nothing to worry about, he's just getting started. Either way it's a really tiny hitch in his giddy-up but I felt a little sad anyway. It's just hard because he's already been through so ...

Well, I'm 10 days overdue. To have a baby. I'd really like to blame the baby because that's my parenting philosophy but he's been heads down seven up for months now. I'm pretty sure he's just as annoyed as I am that this is taking so long. We're passengers on a road trip that has lost its romance. We're tired of touching and we've heard all each other's stories. Joanna Newsom's sad crone voice is on repeat with that line of hers, "And I am progressing abominably."Well that and the line about slow low flying turkeys. If you've ever seen one, it's impressive and surprisingly graceful but you're also fairly concerned that it will fly right into a tree. I walked up Phinney Ridge to the bakery Fresh Flours and felt a little obscene. My belly is so big and the baby is riding so low that walking is less like a waddle and more like two halves of two different people not quite going the same direction. And I can't tell you ho...

This week is my first week off from work before the baby comes. I've been looking forward to this month before the baby ever since Shaughn and I decided we could probably swing it. This would be my month to spring clean the house, do some writing, read a book, and most of all to "nest." My vision of nesting has been this burst of energy I would feel to clean the nooks and crannies of my house, make space for our new roommate, and to set up the nursery with love and care until it just gleams with soothing smells and good parenting. But four days in and nesting has presented itself very differently. Instead of calmly folding cute onesies and putting them lovingly in the new-to-us dresser that is ADORABLE, I got extremely annoyed that I couldn't find little baskets to fit in the drawers. This will never work. The first time I have to do laundry and put his clothes away, all these little piles will just fall over until it's one horrible drawer of chaos! Our baby wil...

Growing up we rarely had peas as my dad is not much of a fan. However, whenever there were peas served, he liked to note that he ate them despite them not being his favorite. This, of course, made my siblings and I roll our eyes. We weren't picky eaters by any means but none of us like beets or this weird cabbage dish appropriately called "Stuff", both of which my parents loved. We were a little whiny about it. So to set an example, Dad would announce how polite he was being every time he ate peas. Which was a good call because none of us would have noticed otherwise. To his credit, he doesn't do this anymore. In fact, my sister and I both made dishes with peas in them the last time he and Mom were out here and he made a point of saying how much he wanted to try it WITH the peas and was not only game but very complementary. Shaughn loves peas. They are easily one of his favorites so we grow quite a few in our garden. But every time I pick them, I can't help but ...

I love seeing all the old pictures on Facebook on Thursdays but I never really feel like I have enough time on Thursdays to sort through old pictures and post one. But this morning as I was rereading some of my old blog, I came across this post that cracked me up. It's even better than 80's hair in that it's pretty embarrassing. I can't believe I used to use the health of my va-j-j as material! Aghhhh!!!!! Friday, December 21st, 2007         About a week and half ago I woke up with some problems down yonder. So instead of a fun day with my boyfriend, I spent the morning at the Dr's learning that I had a urinary track infection AND a yeast infection. Later that day, I got my period and surrendered to the absolute shittiness of the situation. I basically cried for the rest of the night and sent my boyfriend home so he and I could cut our losses before I accidentally died. Things got better in the sense that my va-j-j recovered. But I'm still weepy. I l...

On August 6th, Shaughn and I will celebrate 3 years of marriage. Although we have talked about whether or not we wanted to go out or eat in (eat in: steaks from the quarter cow we just bought), there hasn't been much conversation around anniversary gifts. Which is typical. Of me.  Shaughn is an amazing gift giver. He puts a lot of thought into them and is happy to splurge on me. While I'll have to strong arm him to buy things he needs, he has no problem hording tip money to buy me something lavish. He never misses a birthday, an anniversary, or a Valentine's Day. I mean, I'm a real lucky lady. Last year was our "cotton" anniversary and Shaughn got me a big fluffy white bathrobe. I got Shaughn a big fat nothing. He even got me a card. Honestly, I thought we were just going out to eat for our anniversary. I had no idea we were exchanging gifts! I felt like such a schmuck.  This year I ALMOST DID IT AGAIN! The only reason I didn't was because I asked S...