a mama adventure post.

for those who don't know or haven't seen me in a while: this is me......at a bachelorette party last friday night. & who might be the bride of honor?

christine! (see below). (yes, i do post wonderful pictures, eh?!)

i met christine at indiana wesleyan university. i will tell that story on her birthday post, coming up in about 6 weeks. anyway, christine is getting married this saturday! yippee!!!

below is a picture of christine with my sister (we are both friends with christine thanks to our living situation when i was in college...you know, one side of a double in clintonville/osu area + 4 or 5 women = getting to know each other, probably better than we had anticipated. like how all the ladies found out through some interesting encounters that i have no problem going to the bathroom with the door open. well, now everyone knows! lol...)

& this is holli, who frequents my blog. she's a rock star! duppa-da! (say that really fast to yourself in a whisper voice: holli, duppa-da!). in reality, holli is not a rock star, but is a legal aide/assistant/faux lawyer/missionary/wonderful friend/jokester. i will also tell her story on her birthday. WHICH IS ALSO MY BIRTHDAY! (yes, we share the same birthday, but i am one year her elder, as you can tell from my words of wisdom that i often impart to her). & oh yea, that's her boyfriend, aaron. or as i call him: high-school-spanish-facebook-friend (b/c they went to high school together, i think with a few years difference, he & holli both speak spanish, & they re-met on facebook awhile ago & started dating; hence, the name i have for him. i think holli finds this name annoying, lol. sorry! i have my quirks, you have yours). by the way, holli's name is NOT spelled: H-A-W-L-E-Y. as this old dude at the front gate at my parent's home which is in a small gated community out in the middle of no-where-ohio thought. i think the gate is in place to keep predators out, like lucky dinasours & prairie lions who have escaped extinction. anyway! this is a picture of holli & her duuude.

& this is a picture of the party at hounddog's pizza! missing is judy b/c she is the picture-taker. as she always is! yes, i was posing for this picture for some reason & christine is across from me saying something like 'hey you schmuck, smile'.
there are two ladies in the picture whom i don't know very well, so i'm not going to post discriminating pictures of them. b/c i will see them at the wedding on saturday & i want them to not think of me as a rude person. ??

& yes, this is a penis cake made my judy, in the middle of the table....i think by this time we had eaten a few pieces.
another picture of the bride to be, this time opening a lingerie gift. woo-hoooo!

judy questioning the logistics of the pickle-game.

in honor of christine, we ate dessert first that night. i made whoopie! pies, which are so yummilicious. especially if you freeze them & eat them like an ice cream sandwich.

& that's it for the pictures. i got home around 2 a.m. saturday morning & was exhausted! but thankfully i planned ahead & invited my mother in law here for the night/morning so wes & i could sleep in (wes was one of the designated drivers, as was holli's high-school-spanish-facebook-man) & i slept until 10:30! yea yea.

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what else?
well, we made it to the gym this morning. the girls slept in until 7:30 this morning, so it was a good day to start going to the gym again, as amelia would be alert & not so grumpy. i haven't been able to go for about 5 weeks, since amelia's nose started running like crazy. but i don't care about that anymore, now that we know it's probably from allergies...she has nothing to pass on to other kids. let them wipe her snot! i want to work out! i told them about her diaper rash & asked them to check her diaper frequently for pooiness & they said they would with a very reassuring smile, but after i picked them up, 50 minutes later, i checked her diaper & sure enough, there was a little hunk of poo & a bright red bottom. ggggggrrrrrrrr.

but i enjoy going to the gym, even if i'm hardly working out. i have more energy on the days i work out in the morning, my head is able to clear & i get to listen to MY music. i have found that for working-out purposes that r&b/rap works best. my favorites are mary j blige, jurassic 5, the roots, eminem, kanye west, alicia keys, lauryn hill, beyonce, ciarra...& i think that's all i have on my mp3 player right now. then there's the oldies songs that i like & attribute a few of them to my kiddoes & other indie rock stuff. there's U2 on there for wes, when he uses the mp3 player, & a few other random songs/artists (like bjork, the shins, & a few others off of the juno & garden state soundtrack). really, i don't have the time to find new music/artists, so i just keep listening to the same old, same old. but that's okay.

as a side-thought, i do think a person can be a feminist & listen to rap/r&b. sure some of the songs are not flattering on women, but while working my first real job i shadowed another social worker who listened to these genres of music & she & i had several conversations about how this affects women & also the ideas behind the lyrics & what is exaggerated & sung to be ironic & such. i guess before then i had never dug beyond the surface of the music into the 'industry' or whatever. plus, there are many rock songs that are very disugstingly against women, as well, & most (white) people don't think anything about singing along with them... anyhoo, another topic for another post another time.

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today is going to be a day that i don't even attempt to put addy down for a nap. i think it has something to do with me not even having the get-up-&-go to put her down. b/c i have been TRYING to get amelia to sleep for 50 minutes now. the whole going into her room, picking her up, rocking & singing to her. amelia falls asleep on me. i put her in the crib. she starts wailing immediately. i calm her down a bit, then i whisper 'night night baby' at which time she starts wailing again. i walk out & listen to her cry as i'm trying to pick up toys & other stuff strewn about the house. lately it has been so difficult to get her to sleep, i have no clue why. why why why... she is not the cry it out type at all, we have discovered. it just worked with adeline, but with amelia, she will have the most restless sleep after she's cried for any period of time. it's so frustrating...

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& i just started reading (per suggestion from several folks) the time traveler's wife. i'm into about chapter 3 maybe & so far i am really liking it! it sort of reminds of what is going on in lost right now (wes & i have around 7 episodes left of the season! we had to take an few weeks' intermission to finish out bedroom painting, though, sniff sniff).

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& what things has melted my heart lately?
hearing addy laugh at cartoons. she has just seemed to get really interested in tv & i think that's just a-okay with me. she has been such a rambuctious kid so far, not wanting to sit still for even 1 minute that her concentrating on a tv show for awhile each day is a good thing. i mean, i tried to get her to watch tv since 6 months old, with those stupid baby einstein movies! she would just look at them & cry. it seemed she was thinking 'where's my exersaucer? where's my rattle? get me away from that thing!' no worries folks, she still plays outside & inside for most of the day. she is simply learning about the joy of entertainment right now.

another heart melter? amelia sleeping. for obvious reasons, like peace & quiet & time to myself. but also just watching her sleep. she smacks her lips a lot when asleep & she also has this tiny little sighs & finger movements that go along with them. like she's strumming her fingers in the air. & i get to admire how beautiful she is, of course.

want more? amelia's baby hugs. they are very loose but very very aggressive. she'll crawl right up to me, beg & cry & claw at me until i pick her up (sorta sounds like a puppy??!) then she'll hold onto my shoulders with her wee arms for nearly 30 seconds maybe. then she's done & wants down. amelia: "just letting you know i love you, mama".

& more? laying on the grass with addy, discussing what we hear, see, smell, feel. we did this last night & also a few days ago in our yard. she's taking it all in, learning, learning, learning. watching adeline love on others, especially her sister. telling adeline 'i love you' & then responds in her babble: yea yea yea.

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& i will leave you with this story.

amelia has diarrhea & a nasty diaper rash. so we've been doing diaper off time a lot the past few days. yesterday was going well, so i decide to do some no diaper time. amelia's crawling around like crazy, getting into things & peeing a bit here & there. no big deal. spray a little vinegar & water & scrub for a minute & it's gone. then i am busy doing something, in the same room. i hear the poo grunt & run to get the cloth diaper under her bottom. i didn't make it in time. that's okay, i think, she nearly always poos in two's. so i put the cloth under her bottom again & wait & wait for nearly a minute. i finally come to my senses as i'm wondering why amelia isn't pooing again...i realize that she's playing with something in front of her, that's how she's stayed so still. i peek around her body to see what she's so interested in. there, my friends, is the FIRST poo pile. amelia is happilly playing in her green, slimy, diarrhea pile. it's on her face, hair, clothes, arms, legs. she's playing in it like mud, smacking it, smearing it, swirling it. lovely.

come to find out, this green poo does not come out of carpet.