It's 74 degrees out!

Jeremiah loves hanging out outside.

Where, oh where, have my girl scout cookies gone....

IT'S COOKIE SEASON!

Yeah, man, the Girl Scouts have taken their orders, and now the boxes should be coming in, which means I SHOULD BE IN COOKIE HEAVEN SOON!

I love me some Girl Scout Cookies! Our neighbor's daughter was selling them a few weeks ago, so I ordered a bunch. Or at least, I thought I ordered a bunch. Thinking of it now, 10 boxes really isn't that much. I mean, these things only come around once a year. So how long will 10 boxes last here in the Wilcox household?? Pre-pregnancy.... probably a couple of weeks. Preggers, though.... well, we'll just say I'm sending Jeremy out now to go hunt down some sellers so we can pick up a few extra boxes (like.... maybe another 10.)

Okay, yeah, I'm not happy to be spending $70 on cookies, but they only come by once a year! And maybe once I have my fill, I'll be able to spread them out over the rest of the year (and maybe pocket a few bucks on eBay once the season is officially dead? Nah, they won't last THAT long.)

Maybe part of my desire to buy so many cookies stems from the fact that we actually have Girl Scouts to buy from this year. Part of the joy of living in "the burbs". Seriously, this baby needs to be a girl, so I can have the in-home advantage... And by then, my neighbor's kid won't be a girl scout anymore, so it should all work out perfectly.

And man, my parents NEVER ordered GS cookies growing up.... Even though we'd get multiple girls asking, we just didn't have the money to justify, at most, one or two boxes of them (which were always delivered after school while my parents were working, so they never actually got any, I don't think.) I guess this is my way of showing I'm not my parents. :) Or something.

Okay, time to kick Jeremy outta here before the GS's run outta Tagalongs and Thin Mints....

(Can ya tell I was a bit obsessed when I wrote this??? I've calmed down now. :)

I'm not crazy, right??? Nevermind, don't answer that.... :)

Lost Epi 5- The Constant

Wow. That about sums up this episode! Much better than last week, though very little actually happened. For once, though, we have some answers! And, the best part of the episode: Desmond speaking with Penelope after all these years! I almost cried... almost!

I went into this episode being only slightly spoiled. I had seen the scene where the chopper first lands on the freighter, but if you see that scene by itself, it doesn't really reveal anything. And I heard the podcast that Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse did for the episode, but they also don't really reveal anything.

So here's what we learned:

~We now have a good idea what this "sickness" is that affects Rousseau's (sp? silly french names...) team, when they all go crazy and die. The "antidote" given to Claire in Season 1 wasn't an antidote at all (same thing with Desmond... though what it was, I dunno... maybe the same thing that Juliet "activated" in Claire so she could look like a hero at the end of Season 3.... )

~We now know how Whitmore acquires the journal of "Captain Hanso of the Black Rock". This was used to give coordinates to the ship in the LOST mini-game thingie, "Find815" (if you haven't checked it out yet, go to find815.com. It's kinda old news now, but some neat things in there.) Whitmore knows A LOT more about what's going on than he's letting on. Heck, the whole Dharma thing, everything that the Island is probably connects back to him. I'm sure we'll see more of this in the future.

~We now know exactly how much of an UBER GEEK Daniel is--seriously, the hair, the crazy twitchiness, the nutty theories (that turn out to be true.) He's beginning to reveal exactly why he belongs on this mission to the Island.

~We find out who Minkowski is! And why "he can't come to the phone right now." See what happens when you don't follow orders. Too bad he died....

~We know that Ben's mole is STILL on the boat. When we first learned Mr. Tied Up was Minkowski, I thought maybe he was the mole, and got caught or something. Nope, he's just crazy. But we know that Michael will be back at some point.... hmmm.....

~It's Christmas Eve 2004! Merry Christmas Losties!

~As if we didn't know already, Sayid is a very handy person to know. He's your one stop torturer/soldier/marksman/communications guy/assassin/interrogator/I-know-more-than-you'll-ever-know-I-know guy... If he can cook, too, wow, what a catch, huh ladies? :)

~We learned that C.S. Lewis is still kinda a... well, you fill in the blank... I don't like her, and I have a feeling we'll learn to like her even less as the season goes on.

For those who cry "PARADOX" at the whole time travel thing that's happened, something the writers said they'd avoid (basically, paradox would be like [for those of you who also watch Heroes] Future Hiro coming back in time to warn Peter to save the cheerleader save the world, to save his world... if he's successful, than there's no future Hiro, and no one to go back in time to warn of the future without the cheerleader, and therefore, the future remains unchanged, which means that future Hiro could then exist and..... *PHEW* see what I mean??? Paradox.)

Well, they kinda built a "Plan B" right into the series back when Desmond first started having his "flashes." Remember the woman he was going to buy Penny's ring from? She then took him outside and observed that, "That man is wearing red shoes." (or whatever color they were, I don't remember.) And then said man died? She told Desmond, and I'm paraphrasing, "It doesn't matter how many times you try to change the past... the world has a way of course correcting itself." That's why no matter how many times Desmond told Charlie he would die, he would see yet another way he would die. Meaning, despite the fact that Desmond was able to spare Charlie once, twice, three times, he was still destined to die, and death was going to find him, some way or another.

There weren't many questions raised by this episode, other than those left over from weeks before: who are the freighties, what aren't Dan & C.S. Lewis telling us, who's the mole, etc. I think we'll learn more about the second question next week, it seems, and look for a mole appearance sometime before the break (Episode 8, so three more!!!)

As I said before, I was very pleased with the episode. I didn't think I was going to like it, especially it mostly took place off the Island--and Locke's name wasn't even mentioned!

Oh, and good call, Dan, getting a haircut. Desmond, can we interest you in a trim???

Where have I been???

Apparently, I've been living under a rock because I just found out that Mister Rogers is dead. I guess he died of cancer 5 years ago... I think I may have heard about it then, but I was still shocked to find this out today. Now I'm all sad.... I used to LOVE Mr. Rogers Neighborhood--it used to come on right after Sesame Street (which I also loved) and my favorite part was when he'd go to different factories to show how things were made, like guitars or trumpets. I thought that was so cool. Land of Makebelieve was neat, but not at cool as Mr. Rogers himself.

Anyways, in honor of Mr. Rogers, Mr. McFeeley is trying to get March 20th to be "Sweater Day". It's a day for each and every person to wear their favorite sweater, in honor of Mr. Rogers memory. I hope March 20th is a cool day, so I can put all of us in our sweaters! At least Jeremiah and me--I don't know if Jeremy even owns a sweater.

And did you know that Mr. Rogers was from Latrobe, PA?? I didn't. You may have heard that he was an ordained minister, but he never preached. And at one point, he moved to Toronto, where he had an understudy who would later become "Mr. Dressup" (for our Canadian readers out there.) It's amazing what you learn about a person from Wikipedia. :)

Well, he's got 33 years of Mr. Rogers episodes out there, so hopefully they still air on PBS (I haven't seen it yet, but I haven't been looking either.) I remember thinking as a child that Mr. Rogers was so great, I hoped he would still be making shows when I had kids. He's done working, but his work will definitely live on.

Anywhoo, here's Mr. McFeely and the Sweater Day challenge! I hope everyone out there who loved Mr. Rogers will mark March 20th on their calendar and wear a sweater in honor of him.

I am thoroughly weepy-eyed right now... I can chalk it up as pregnancy hormones, but for those of us who grew up with him, Mr. Rogers was like an Uncle/Grandfather type figure. When you read about the kind of life he led, it's hard to not become emotional and mourn his passing [our loss, for sure!]

Well, I need to put Jeremiah down for his nap. Thank you, Mr. Rogers, for giving us so much, and always taking the opportunity not to bask in your glory, but to remind us to be thankful for others who have made us all who we are today.

I really hope I'm not the only one who didn't know this... I was in college when he died, so maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Okay, enough of that, naptime for Jeremiah!

Oh and he got me this too...

And this wasn't for Valentine's--this was yesterday! :) Aww, he's so sweet.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know, I'm a little late. But that's because I got just my Valentine's Day gift from Jeremy today! No, he didn't forget or anything. It just took a little longer to ship than they originally promised him.

So what did Jeremy buy me to express he undying, never changing and everlasting love for me? How do we spell 'romance' in the Wilcox household?? Apparently, "e-l-e-c-t-r-o-n-i-c-s." :)

Yup, my uber romantic man-o-mine bought me a laptop for Valentine's Day. Not just any laptop--I "got a Dell, dude!" It was one of those too-good-a-deal-to-pass-up deals on Slickdeals the week of Valentine's. So he didn't. :)

It definitely isn't what I was expecting. We had kinda agreed to get "traditional" Valentine's gifts for each other--chocolates, flowers, cards. That's it. When he gave me the printout of the order confirmation (since it was delayed--originally it would have arrived that day, I think. So romantic, huh? :) I was a bit stunned, but didn't run out and buy him anything with a plug. He still got chocolates, a card, and a freakin' huge balloon that sang, "Hey, I Think I Love You" [by the Beatles, I think? lol, Nope, I googled it and it was by The Partridge Family] and that's it. I guess you could say the singing balloon was electronic... [And in case you ever think it's a good idea to get a freakin' huge balloon that sings, be aware that it will probably drive you crazy before it ever makes it to it's final destination. It played every time it moved, which mean it was going constantly from Herndon to Tysons, and then from the van, through the mall to Godiva, Starbucks, and then across the street to Jeremy's office, up the elevator, down the hall, and finally, by the time it arrived next to his chair, the batteries had died, and it would only say, "Heyyyyyy---" lol)

I am very happy with the new lappy. It's got some neat features that my old one didn't have (which I got for Christmas last year, so we'll probably sell it) including 4x the amount of RAM, an SD card reader built in, an anti-glare screen and NO IMPORTANT BUTTONS ON THE FRONT OF IT! My other lappy has the wireless switch in the front, so I was constantly hitting it, or it would hit a button on my jeans and turn off... sometimes, it wouldn't come back on, so I'd have to reset it, blah blah blah. Stupid. Oh, and THE SPACE BAR WORKS GREAT! After letting Jeremiah "work" on my laptop a couple of times, I noticed that the space bar doesn't always "space" when you hit it now. You can still type just fine, but I type pretty quickly, and was constantly having to backspace to add a space.... frustrating...

Oh, and can I just say that I love dissing Internet Explorer?? First thing I did when I started it up for the first time was go to Mozilla's site and download Firefox, and set it to my default web browser. Of course, IE has always had this honor, so it was a bit hurt and thought I might have been confused when I did that. The next time I opened up IE (which I'll do when I want to have various yahoo email accounts open at once.... I have a few that I never use but some people still do,) it asked me, "Internet Explorer is not your default web browser. Would you like to change it to your default browser?" CANCEL! and "Do not ask me again." Loved it. I know, I'm stupid, but I can't STAND IE, and use it only when I need to open said email accounts and don't want to log out of my primary or FF is PMS-ing, which happens every now and then. Anyways...

So, thank you, babish! (don't laugh) You're the best babish in the whole wide world! :)

Jeremiah vs. "The Bullfrog"

Okay, so here's what's going on. Jeremiah got this really cool toy from my cousin for his birthday. It's basically a tall tube with a winding ramp going down around it. It came with several balls, a peguin and a frog. The frog is the only thing designed to actually go down the tube--everything else just rolls down the ramp. To make it more entertaining, the frog has vents on the bottom and top of it which allows air to pass over a "noisemaker" which produces a "quack" like sound. Why a frog quacks, I don't know, but Jeremiah sure has a lot of fun playing with it!

His Uncle Stephin showed him that if he blows in it, it will produce the same sound it makes by dropping it down the tube. And that's exactly what he does here! So cute!

LOST ep. 4--"Eggtown"

This episode bugged me.

There were so many times when I wanted to yell, "What's wrong with you?!" at Kate. The big over-arching question (which I assume will be addressed by the end of the season) is WHY Kate left the island, knowing that she had a jail sentence waiting for her back home?! Another "WWWY???" question--what are you doing to Sawyer?? Poor guy is trying, in his own macho kind of way, to be romantic (boxed wine? lol) to win you, and you keep pushing him away. Oh but you'll go to see him when you, ahem, want some somethin' somethin', and then you kiss him as you tell him you're leaving? I do agree he deserved that slap, (why did you say her being preggers was the worst thing in the world?? Are you stupid or something? Sheesh,) but, I still think she was kinda harsh on him.

A few more "WWWY??" questions. Why so adament about keeping Aaron out of the court room (besides the fact that he's really young... but she was putting her foot down on that one. If it meant never seeing him again vs. chance at freedom, wouldn't it have been kinda worth it?) Why'd you cut Jack off during his testimony (besides the fact that it was a string of lies...??) Why'd you freak at the mention of 15 years jail (she was going to face 20 on each count before... 15 seems pretty good. Of course, 10 years probabtion is even better.) Why wouldn't you let your Mom see her Grandson in exchange for not testifying (I admit, it's kinda a messed up way how that came about, and I'd be pissed at my Mom, too, for calling the cops on me, and starting this whole mess... But c'mon... How many years have passed. Gal can hold a grudge. Guess she gets it from her Mom.) My final question for Kate is, "Why are you raising Aaron??" Now, I knew that he was the "he" she referred to at the end of last season (though I didn't know then,) but I still don't know why. Oh, and Jeremiah has the same shirt that Aaron was wearing when she woke him up from his nap (only Jeremiah's is long sleeved.)

Anyways, enough about Kate. Anyone else thought it was funny that Ben got to Locke again (and Locke reacts in the exact same way as before--smash food on wall! Smash bowl on floor! Locke smash!) I liked the whole grenade in the mouth thing for Miles. 'Bout time someone shut him up... he's so annoying. And poor Hurley keeps getting played by people. "You totally just scooby-doo'd me there." lol I love Hurley.

Back on the beach, we've got Jin & Sun trying to pick their future home. I don't know why she'd want to go back to Korea. I mean, I know she wanted to leave Jin, and that's the reason for almost moving to the States, but if they haven't yet, Jin & Sun need to have a little heart to heart and come clean about themselves. Sun is responsible for Jin's crappy job because his "mother" threatened to tell the world that Sun married the son of a fisherman and a prostitute. Jin never wanted that life for them, but because Sun needed to pay this woman off, that's the life they had to live. I don't think any of the affairs or anything would have happened if she had not done that. So yeah, they need to get all that stuff on the table and realize that her father is not interested in her happiness--he didn't approve of the marriage to begin with, and I don't think that will be any different when they return. So move to the states, kids! Sheesh.

BTW, I think it's Sun & Jin who get off as the last two Oceanic 6--I don't think Aaron counts, because he wasn't a ticketed passenger on the flight when it crashed. And I definitely don't think he'd count if the world believes he's Kate's son. Plus, they're the only other two that were on the plane that have featured episodes. Each of the Oceanic 6 we know of so far have had character centric episodes--Jack, end of last season, Hurley, ep 1, Sayid, ep 3, and now Kate, ep 4 (her appearance last year was a cameo, they never came out and said, "Kate is one of the Oceanic 6" until this "Eggtown" episode. So yeah, that's what I think. We'll see, I guess.

Oh, and any guesses on what happens to Sun's baby?? If they get off the island, will she be spared death? I'm thinking something will happen... I don't think it will be a happy ending for ANYONE who gets off the island, Sun & Jin included. So I think something will happen, either the baby will not survive, or she'll miscarry once she's off the island, or something. I guess we'll have to wait and see...

And that's 'bout all I have to say. I don't know what the whole card game with Dan & C.S. Lewis was. I don't know what's going on with the chopper. (I think they might be transported somewhere else, like, I dunno, Tunisia?? :) We'll find out next week!

Jeremiah vs. Big Fella

I've been trying to post this video for a while now, but it was always too big for blogger to handle, and I didn't want to deal with Google. So I finally got around to cutting out some of the fluff, and it's still almost 4 min long (orig. over 5) but at least it's a smaller file.

Anyways, it's pretty amusing. The best part is when he sits on him--ya don't see it coming, he just does it. So cute.

New Ticker Added!

In case you haven't noticed, I've replaced our anniversary ticker with a pregnancy ticker (it's actually been up on "Our Registry Information" post in the sidebar... I'm disappointed no one found it...) Not that I'm not proud of our marriage, but we know when our anniversary is, and it's function was really as a place holder, for when a preggers ticker could take it's place.

And now it has! And if you still haven't figured it out, yes, Jeremy & I are expecting #2 around September 1st. Unless she/he (hoping for a "she!") is timely like Jeremiah, most likely it'll be an August birth. But ya never know... :)

This pregnancy has been the worst one so far--had really bad nausea starting around 6 weeks (right around the time I wrapped up my sore throat/cold/flu thing from after Christmas,) and it's just now really beginning to taper off. I still have little appetite, and a very strong sense of smell (much to Jeremy's dismay... I kick him out of bed if he hasn't used mouthwash--freshly brushed teeth isn't good enough! lol)

Other than that, all is well! Just waiting to get my energy back so I can do more than just chase Jeremiah around the house all day (cleaning the house has been done at bare minimum. Just not that important right now. So if we've been meaning to invite ya over, hopefully soon!) Jeremiah, so far, has been really great around other babies, and hasn't gotten jealous of me holding one yet, so that's a good sign. I ordered a life-like baby doll for him, so we can practice taking care of a baby, and "gentle touch" so it won't be quite such a shock when he wakes up one morning this summer and find he's no longer an only child.

Oh, and to those people who think we rushed #2, this was part of the plan. We didn't want them to be too far apart--my brother Jay and I are barely a year apart, and we were best friends growing up. That's what we're hoping for for Jeremiah and "Jess Jr." (they'll be about 21 mos apart.) Personally, I was hoping they'd be a little closer together, but I'm glad nonetheless. And I think Jeremiah will make a great big brother! :)

In other news, it's a freezing rainy morning, and Jeremy is working from home today. I'm sure my brother Stephin is home as well. Jeremiah is still stuffed up, but it's not runny really anymore, so I think he's on the road to recovery. Hopefully by Monday he'll be as good as gold, so we can get together with a friend and her baby (we want to spend as much time with them as possible in addition to having the doll. Can't hurt, right? Plus, Mommies need to hang out with other Mommies! Keeps us sane.) And that's that. :)

Jeremiah vs. "the whoop whoop whoops"

Well, Jeremy couldn't get a good recording any one time, so here're three chances to hear the "whoop whoop whoops!"

I would have tried myself, but was otherwise occupied. :)

And if you can't guess what the "whoop whoop whoops" are, try reading Jeremiah's shirt....

"What's that sound, Jeremiah???"

That's the sound of inevitibility.... :)

It's official: HD-DVD is dead.

As you've probably heard by now, if you're the least bit tech-savvy, Toshiba has just pulled out of the HD-DVD market, handing the format wars trophy over to Blu-ray.

This is HUGE! Since Spring '06, people have been debating who was going to "win the war," with HD-DVD leading as the favorite among consumers, mostly because of it's lower price. It did launch a couple of months earlier than Blu-ray, but didn't have the giant behind it that BR had--the PS3.

Yes, folks, with each and every PS3 purchased, you get a blu-ray player. It's built into the drive--Sony's way of "future-proofing" their system. Think about it, as graphics continue to improve, and technology moves forward, that's going to need a much bigger storage medium than DVD's provide (it's pretty much 10-1, and could be 100-1 in the near future.) More storage capacity also means more "extras" for TV series and movies--more behind the scenes, alternate endings, commentaries, etc.

And, sorry to say it, Toshiba, but you didn't stand a chance, marketing wise, against a juggernaut like Sony (who partnered also with Mitsubishi, the owner of the Samsung brand. Raise your hand if you've heard of Samsung! Raise your hand if you've heard of Sony! Keep your hand up if you own a TV/DVD player/anything by them! Now, everyone who has a Toshiba-something-or-other, please raise your hand! Hello? Anyone? That's what I thought.)

What's kind of sad about this whole situation is that if you ask consumers, the people who buy this stuff, which they preferred, I would say at leat 70%, if not more, wanted HD-DVD to win. Why? It's cheaper. The players were cheaper (c'mon, you could buy an HD-DVD drive at Christmas from Wal-Mart for $99! $99!!!! The next closest in price for Blu-ray was $299!!) and the media was cheaper (though not by much, be enough for some people.) So what happened?

I'm not really sure... But I do know that Sony & Mitsubishi combined own A LOT of movie studios. So which format did they chose?? Duh. How many studios did Toshiba buy off?? Well, I can't think of any big ones that were exclusively HD (a few were both, like Fox and Warner.) Before Christmas, alliances began to change. Blockbuster announced it would no longer carry HD-DVD's in their stores (you could still rent them online, though.) Then Target dropped it (hey, these stores only have so much room!) A few others began following suit. And then a couple of weeks ago, the ball dropped--Warner is backing Blu-ray. Then Netflix stopped HD-DVD. And the biggest move of all, the writing on the wall was probably Wal-mart switching to Blu-ray only.

Poor Toshiba. I feel bad for 'em, I really do. They put up a good fight, but in the end, it's not about what consumers want, it's about what the industry will back. I mean, let's face it, if no one is going to stock and sell your stuff, it's never going to get to consumers. So they gracefully pulled the plug, losing hundreds of millions of dollars, but in the end, will probably end up more profitable as a whole.

So that's that. I'm glad we've got a PS3. As far as the HD-DVD drive we bought for the 360, well, it still upconverts nicely. And if we ever want to watch King Kong, we're set (didn't like it...)

On another note, it was absolutely gorgeous yesterday! 77 degrees at 11 am! CRAZY! Sadly, it's only about 52 today, with possible showers later in the day. But it's all good. Only 4 more weeks of winter, supposedly. Monday sure gave me something to look forward to (and I have a feeling that later today will add something else to that equation.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... ;)

Okay, time to put Jemiah down for a nap! We've got a busy afternoon, and he needs to be up by one so we can go pick up Daddy! Will probably post something else tonight, but if not, soon.

Well, don't we feel stupid, part 2.

Well, I guess this one's mostly on me.

For a few weeks now, we've been looking forward to a post-Valentine's Day dinner that our friends Allison & Kevin were hosting. It was to be a nice chance to get away and have conversations with adults that didn't involve the words, "Da-da," "ma-ma," "nose," "belly button," "poopy," etc. And we get to dress up a little bit, which is always fun every now and then (Jeremy gets to dress up all the time--me, I usually stick to jeans and a sweater or something... not like I walk around in my PJ's all day, but I definitely don't wear the few skirts/dresses that I have very often.)

My brother, Stephin, agreed to come over and baby-sit Jeremiah on Saturday for us. So yesterday, Friday, I went to pick him up in Warrenton. Brought him back here around dinner time, and we began to make our dinner plans. "Hey, let's order ZPizza!" (If you haven't had it, and there's one near you, try it! It's so good--you won't be able to eat Domino's or Pizza Hut again [at least, not without a bunch of toppings--it's amazing how little you need on a pizza when you have quality ingredients on it.] And this pizza is good for you! At least, as good as pizza can be for you.) Okay, so while Stephin & I put Jeremiah to bed, Jeremy went to pick up the pizzas.

After Jeremiah was asleep, I changed and got comfortable, ready to spend a relaxing evening at home. Jeremy came home shortly after, and I knew something was up, because he kinda shouted down the hall as he came into the house, usually when he's got something to say that will drastically change the tone of the evening. :) Can you guess where this is going?

Apparently, while picking up the pizza, he received several phone calls that he didn't notice since his phone was in his pocket. When he did finally answer, he found out that the dinner party we had planned on going to Saturday was going on right now. The first thing I thought when he started talking about it was that he was going to say the party had been canceled. Then I thought, "why did they move it up to Friday and not tell us they changed it?" Then I re-read the invite. Sure enough, it said "Fri, Feb. 15th"

........

By this time, the party had been going on for over an hour, and it'd be almost two before we'd be there. But we tried anyways--ran upstairs, dug through the closet to find something evening appropriate, put on some makeup, and tried to fix my hair (that had been in a ponytail all day, and had never seen the hair dryer.... yeah, when you've got long hair that sits all tied up all day, it gets that awesome crease in it that makes it impossible for you to wear it down, or do much else with it without making it blatantly obvious that it had been up in a ponytail all day....)

SOMEHOW, we made it just as they were finishing up the soup course, and we still got to sit with everyone and have a nice dinner.

Now, how did this happen. I don't know. I read the invite, and I do remember reading "Friday, Feb.15th." But in my mind, Saturday night is party night so I guess it translated to "Saturday, Feb. 15th" And I remembered the date, and remembered that it was the day after Valentines.... So I'm not sure how I became so convinced that it was on Saturday... I'm still baffled by it.

Jeremy tries to get out of any blame in this, saying he never saw the invite, but I did show it to him when it first came in. Ultimately, though, it was my fault. I'm the wife, after all! We have day planners instead of brains! I hope I haven't mixed up any other dates!

Sigh... placenta brain lives on, strike two!

Ya gotta wonder what's next?

We did have a great time, though, and the food/drinks were excellent, so thank you very much, Allison & Kevin, for throwing that shindig! Thanks so much! And sorry to Laurence & Katharine--we barely talked to you guys before you had to leave (that's usually what cocktail hour is for, huh? Whoops, we missed that part! Grumble grumble...) Next time, I'll have Jeremy put it in his calendar, and maybe we'll get there on time, on the right day. (I'm glad we got a phone call, or we'd be showing up there tonight, and look even more stupid....) Now that would be funny!

Well, don't we feel stupid.

As some of you know, the ice maker on our fridge stopped working shortly after Christmas. This has been REALLY frustrating, as we've had to resort to making ice the 'old fashioned way', using trays and tap water. This took up VALUABLE freezer space, causing the need to store more food in the downstairs' fridge than we'd like.

After much procrastination (it's what I do best) I finally called the repair guy from Sears. Lucky for us, when the previous owner bought the fridge, she got the extended 3 year in-home repair plan on it, which is good 'til November. So I called, scheduled an appointment for today, and waited for today to arrive.

Around 2 p.m. I got a call saying that the guy was on his way. Fifteen minutes later, he was here. Fifteen minutes later, he was gone. Wanna know what was wrong with the ice maker??? Why we haven't had ice since Christmas?!?!

It was off.

***waiting for the 'waaaa waaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa' music...***

Yes, we stupid, and shoved something back there that hit the switch and turned it off. He was really nice about it though, and kept saying, "oh, it vedy comma pwobwem." (He had a very heavy Asian accent... I couldn't understand half of what he was trying to say.) He then proceeded to explain that I have too much food in the freezer, and that would cause cooling problems throughout the whole fridge, and to not put plastic bags anywhere near the ice maker, because not only could they turn the ice maker off, they could also get caught up in the pieces that turn the ice out, and jam it.

So not a complete waste. We also learned that the reason for the poor water pressure from the water dispenser was likely due to a poor install, and we'd need to call a plumber to re-drill a hole.... or something.

Anyways, I'm glad we'll have ice again, "the new fashioned way." It's so much easier to just stick your glass under the dispenser than to have to pop cubes out of trays...

The placenta brain lives on (and has infected Jeremy, too, apparently....) :)

LOST

Too funny. Make sure to let the whole thing load before watching!

Lost takes a dramatic turn... (Sorry for the auto-play... don't know how to turn that off...)

Okay, I took the player off because the auto-play was driving me crazy. So just click on the link above if you haven't seen it yet.

Sorry 'bout that!

The STRIKE is OVA!

Finally!

Okay, writers, I'm glad you got what you were looking for (from what I can tell, based on the prelim terms I read,) now get back to work!

Carlton Cuse says we'll get 5 more episodes of LOST in addition to the 8 already filmed. So 13 instead of 16, but hey, 13 is better than 8!

Damon Lindelof, though, says we may get all 8 of the remaining epis due this season. So.... we'll see! And if you haven't yet, check out Jorge Garcia's blog (Hurley) linked to the right here. He's a funny guy.

Okay, enough of that, how 'bout a video?

"Hi, Da-Da..."

The exact conversation went like this:

Jeremiah walks into the bedroom part of our hotel room...

Jeremy: "Hi, Jeremiah."

Jeremiah: "Hi, Da-Da."

Yes, he really did say that, and no, we're not just wishing that's what we heard. It was *the* cutest thing he's ever done!

And he probably won't do it again for a long time... But we both remember it! So for now, it's all we've got.

Yay, we made it!

We finally made it back to DC. WOOT! Even though it's about 40 degrees colder here than San Diego, I'm glad to be home.

Our plane arrived about 40 minutes early this morning, around 5:25 a.m. Jeremiah was the best baby ever! We got him strapped into his carseat on the plane (such a lifesaver... That flight would have been so much harder to do without it...) and he just sat there and waited patiently for the plane to take off, even though it was 3 hours passed his bedtime, and had been almost 10 since his nap.

There were babies EVERYWHERE on this flight. There was a one & a half year older sitting in front of us, and he and Jeremiah had a great time waiting for the plane to take off. It was the absolute cutest thing to see--this kid would peer over the seat and look at Jeremiah, and Jeremiah would just start laughing hysterically! They were "talking" back and forth, and it was just so cute...

That went on for a good five minutes, and then it was time to start moving. They cut the cabin lights, and we began taxiing towards the runway. As we moved, you could see Jeremiah's eyes blinking heavily and we knew he would be out soon. By the time we were on the runway, Jeremiah was fast asleep.

I can't say he got great sleep while on the plane. He was in his chair, which isn't the most comfortable way to rest, as his head kept bobbing forward, and his body wanted to roll over, but he couldn't. So a few times, I saw him wake up for a sec, rub his eyes and face, and go back to sleep.

Can't say the same about the other babies on the plane. One baby in particular (her poor mother...) just would NOT fall asleep, and you could hear it in her cry, she was sooo tired. She was about 11 months, and was sitting across the aisle in the row in front of us. Her mother tried and tried, and finally, after about 30-45 minutes of crying and fighting, she fell asleep. And there was much rejoicing.... (yay!)

I tried to snooze a bit... Once the cable shows switched to infomercials, I decided to give it a go. I think I snoozed for about 45 minutes, but was worried I wouldn't wake up in time to get Jeremiah's EarPlanes in his ears, so I ended up staying up the rest of the flight.

For those of you who don't know, EarPlanes are the greatest invention ever! There're these ribbed ear-plug type things that you put in an hour before landing, and it regulates the air pressure so your ears don't pop as the plane decends. This was always very painful and uncomfortable for me as a kid, and I wanted Jeremiah to be as comfortable as possible, so we tried them out, and by golly, did they do their job well! They also block about 20 decibels of sound, which was helpful for a sleeping baby. One of them fell out just as we were touching down on the runway, so for them I would say, "Great Success!" He was the only baby on the plane that wasn't crying when he woke up--he was actually smiling! Did his little "BIG STRETCH" and then looked at us as if to say, "I'm ready to start the day!"

All in all, a good flight. I must say, too, that the whole "bring candy for the flight crew" really was great. We brought a Whitman's sampler on each flight, and on both flights, got free drinks (the alcoholic kind.... Y'know, $5/pop? Yeah... Jeremy took good advantage of that for both of us. :) unlimited drinks and snacks, whatever we wanted. I will say that it did work better on the first flight where our attendents were mostly women, and a (possibly) gay man. This flight, it was all guys, and only the attendent we gave the box to seemed very appreciative (none of the others said anything to us about it, unlike the first flight.) I should point out that this man was pretty flaming (possibly gay... :) I think that's the key. Not that we did it to get stuff out of it--it made my day just seeing their shock and appreciation on their faces when we gave it to them. They kept asking, "Are you in the industry??" and under their breath, "do you work for another airline or something???" They just couldn't believe the fact that a "civilian" would bring them something--"no one EVER brings" them anything.

:)

Needless to say, we'll be bringing candy for the crew from now on.

So we're back! We got home around 7 this morning, changed and fed Jeremiah, and he's been asleep ever since (woke up for a little bit, but went back to sleep.) Jeremy and I got about 8 hours of sleep (thank you, Jeremiah!) so we're feeling okay now. And it looks like our Z Pizza just showed up, so I'm signing off. Will write about the trip itself soon!

So tired...

And yet, still so smiley. Only a few more min now and we'll be on our way home to DC!

Hanging out in the hotel lobby...

We've got over four hours to go before our plane leaves for VA... We've run out of things to do...

Happy 13 Months, Jeremiah!

I know, technically, I'm a day late, but here on the West Coast, it's only ten o'clock, so I'm still good.

We walked from our hotel to the San Diego Zoo today (just Jeremiah and me... Daddy was working.) When the gal at the Concierge desk highlighted the route on the map, it didn't look very far. Turns out it was about 3.5 miles, mostly uphile. Now, for those of you who are city dwellers, that's probably a walk in the park. But for us suburban types who drive everywhere, yeah, that was quite the hike. Add the hills, the stroller, and then walking around the zoo itself (which is huge, and I kept getting lost, so we gave up after about an hour... they were closing anyways!)

Was going to walk home, but the muscles in my legs that haven't gotten that much attention in a long time just wouldn't have it. So we cabbed it. The stupid cabbie, though, started the meter before we even got in the car, and then didn't stop it until we were completely unloaded and ready to walk off. I shouldn't have given him a tip... I thought I was being a stickler by giving him $2, but he seemed happy with that, so I guess I gave him too much. Oh well.

Needless to say, walking to the mall tomorrow now seems like a small feat. I wasn't particularly impressed with the zoo.... We saw a few animals, like some meerkats, which Jeremiah loved, and some birds, monkeys, otters (another fave of Jemiah's), and hippos. The hippos were cute, they were just standing underwater, cuddling next to each other. I'm serious, they just stood there, with their front legs up on a rock, and their heads nuzzling... Very sweet. I didn't think they were real at first, they were so perfectly posed, but every now and then, they'd move their heads ever so slightly. It was sweet--Jemiah could care less... They weren't very exciting to him.

And that's that. Tomorrow is Jeremy's birthday, so happy birthday, babish! The big 3-1... That's gettin' up there. :) We're going out for a schwanky dinner to celebrate--Morton's steak... mmmm.... should be yummy!

Jeremiah makes it Downtown!

Today, we took Jeremiah to the National Portrait Gallery in NW DC, in an attempt to give him a little culture....

....pop culture, that is. Yes, our main motivation for the trip was to get a picture of Stephen Colbert's portrait, hanging just outside the hall of Presidents (which we did walk through and got a few shots of as well.)

We weren't the only couple to do so, though... At least 10 other people came for the exact same reason. One guy told us that he's lived in DC 6 years, and had never been there before--until today, and only to see Colbert's portrait. :) Yes, a bit sad, but like I said, we did go through some of the other exhibits, which had some neat portraits in them as well.

I was disappointed to find out that the portrait was really just a digital print on canvas... Maybe I can get my Mom to paint a "real" portrait for him. We'll see.

The "plaque" next to his portrait.

Up close and personal with Colbert.

I couldn't get Jeremy to smile all day... Jeremiah has no problem making up for it, though!

Jeremy, striking his best Colbert-esqe pose.

Jeremiah and I with an unfinished portrait of George Washington. This was intentional, though the reason given didn't make much sense to me... Something about the artist wanting to be able to make copies easily or something... I dunno.

Jeremy & Jeremiah with an unfinished Martha Washington, not that you can see her very well.

Yes, we found these more interesting than the completed pieces. :)

All in all, it was a nice trip downtown, though I would have liked to do a bit more. We didn't get to go anywhere else, but that's alright. Maybe next time when we have more time.

CONGRATULATIONS, GIANTS!!!

You did the unthinkable.... You did what no one said you would be able to do.... You did what NO ONE else could this season--you beat the unstoppable NE Patriots, 17-14!

Okay, so I went into this game saying that I wasn't rooting for either team, even though, by default, I'm a NE fan (born and raised in RI, after all!) But y'know, I'm always for the underdog upsetting the favorite... And boy, did they come through.

I take back everything I said about the Manning family. Although I still find Peyton to be obnoxious and maybe a bit too proud at times, I would take him as a roll model for my kids over Tom Brady, any day! At least he's married to his kids' Mama!

And Eli, good for you! I'm proud of ya!

Also, way to go to Burress. Even though you boasted the Giants would win a week ago (never good to boast), you made good on your promise, and caught that game-winning touchdown to win it for your team.

Sorry to all my NE fan-blog readers. But, it was time. :)

I still can't believe it. GO GIANTS!

Can I just say, to Mr. Tom Brady...

....don't quit your day job.

I caught his bit on Saturday Night Live, and, well, dude can't act to save his life. Forget being funny, he can't even say his lines!

I know, he's a football player, not an actor, but come on... They had Peyton Manning on, too, and he did a WAYYY better job hosting.

Sorry, Tom. When it comes to SNL, Peyton > Tom. He totally PWNED you there.

Yes, I'll excuse you while you go make room for your fouth Lombardi....

Nothing good can come of this...

...except for filling the networks' pocketbooks.

In an interesting twist in the writer's strike-starved season of new shows, NBC and CBS have decided to take matters north--as in Canada.

That's right folks, both networks will be importing new scripted shows from the land of Cannucks, since all of our writers can't work until a deal is made. (BTW, any rumblings we heard earlier in the week about a possible end doesn't seem to have come to frutition... Oh well.) These shows won't actually hit the air for a while still, probably just in time for fall sweeps.

Considering all we have to look forward to at the moment is more reality tv, I guess this would be a nice change. Even if the writers' strike resolves itself soon, that's only a couple of months for studios to get some scripts written and filmed before a rumored SAG strike (for the same reasons, too...)

At least we've got 7 more episodes of LOST. And then, that's it. (BTW, I thought LOST last night was very interesting... Couple of observations:
~Jack's father, Christian, in Jacob's chair when Hurley looks in the cabin. That eye, though... who knows. Some people thinks that the 'real' Jacob, but is Jacob even real? Or is he just the "physical" manifestation of the island itself. Hmmm...
~I guarantee you that when Naomi said, "Tell my sister I love her," it was some kind of code... Why would she cover for the Losties?? What would she have to gain from that? Though I'm not sure why she felt the need to hide that info in front of Kate...
~What happens in Locke's camp that makes Hurley wish he'd gone with Jack??
~That Matthew Abbadon guy who visits Hurley in the hospital was creeeeeepy.... Is he the smoke monster? I don't think so, I think he's one of the peeps that knows what the island really is. I have a feeling that Hurley and the rest of the Oceanic 6 made some kind of deal to get off the island, and the rest of the Losties are paying the price. And if you want to know who those 6 are, highlight the following: Kate, Jack, Hurley, Jin, Sun, Sayid [and Aaron, but he wasn't officially on the plane when it went down. This is the "he" Kate is referring to when she met up with Jack at the end of season 3.]

That's enough for now. Overall, I'm glad LOST is back, but I don't miss all the questions each episode tends to add every week. Oh well. At least we know in 47 more episodes, we'll have all the answers we want. Though I can't picture what the final ep. would be like. How do you end a series like Lost??? It isn't with everyone getting off the island--sounds like it may be more like thos 6 going back somehow...

Okay, I'm done. More to come down the road...

Booo...

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Starbucks is pulling their hot breakfast sandwiches from stores, so that the aroma won't compete with the coffee.

I really liked their breakfast sandwiches, and was glad when they introduced them a couple of years ago. I didn't get 'em very often, but they were a nice alternative to their breakfast pastries. Black Forest Ham, Egg & Cheddar, Spinach & Fontina Cheese, Turkey Bacon, all yum yum yum.

Sadly, they are no more. :( Oh well.

LOST STARTS AGAIN TONIGHT!!!

So, I really need to put Jeremiah down for his nap, but I wanted to let everyone know, in case you're living in a cave or something (at which point this won't really matter) that LOST is on at 8 pm EST TONIGHT!

It's a special two hour premeire, which is nice, since it's been like, I dunno, years! it seems, since the last season. And then it'll be on Thursday nights at 9 from here on out. Good stuff!

Unfortunately, because of the strike, they've only got 8 episodes (maybe 10... can't remember exactly,) of the 16 episodes for the season filmed and ready to go. If the strike ends tomorrow, as some are speculating, then we'd probably only have to wait maybe a couple of weeks, a month at the most, at the end of what's been filmed for the rest of the season to start up again. But as it stands right now, we're going to be left with a MAJOR cliffhanger in 8 weeks that will probably be worse than those left with the season finale from last year (did ya watch last night's re-run? Had some cute comments at the bottom of the screen... Good stuff, good stuff.)

If you haven't yet, you can also participate in the find815.com viral campaign. It's pretty cool, you're basically helping this guy try to find his girlfriend, who was aboard the flight, and you have to help him find clues along the way. Very interesting stuff.

Okay, time for Jemiah to sleep.

What to do...

Was reading on Ali's blog about the Superbowl, and it reminded me that we have nothing planned. :( Surprisingly, no one we know is having a party (or if they are, they haven't invited us!) and since the Steelers aren't in it, Jeremy feels no need to throw one ourselves.

............

Now, I've asked Jeremy if we could have one, just for fun. I mean, we've got the set up for it, between the HD tv upstairs, and the 10 ft screen with the HD projector downstairs... And it'd be a great way to finish off the keg from the Christmas party (I'm so sick of it being in the fridge downstairs.... we're not a frat house, after all.) But all I got from Jeremy was a "We'll think about it.. " :( Oh well. Maybe we'll just invite the neighbors over like last time, or something. It's kinda like New Years--a great reason to throw a party and see friends... it's almost a waste to not... But I digress...

I had a dream about it last night... I don't know why, it's not like I'm excited for either team (I wanted Green Bay to go, not the Giants... Oh well.) That's kinda sacrilegious for me to say, being a born & raised New Englander, but part of me doesn't want them to win (the Steeler side...) And part of me does (the NE side, I guess...) I don't really want the Giants to win, only because Eli Manning is Peyton Manning's brother, and we despise the Colts in this household. I don't want Peyton to have ANY bragging rights in regards to this superbowl, "well, if it wasn't me, at least my baby brother won it... I taught him everything he knows about the game..." or something.

Heh.... just thinking back to the SNL skit with Peyton Manning in it--"Don't pull a Peyton Manning! Don't do it!" You had to see it. Lemme see if I can find it. Nope, I can't. Just like the Penelope sketch I tried to find, NBC pulled it from Youtube, and Google, etc. Stupid NBC. At least host it on your own site, if you're not going to allow someone else to! Sheesh. Well, if ya ever wanna try finding it, it's called, "ESPN's NCAA Tournament Pool Party" with Peyton Manning. Basically, it's a sketch so they can poke fun at Peyton Manning, and "Don't pull a Peyton Manning" is kinda like saying, "they seem all impressive, but then can't pull through when it really matters..." lol, Too funny! He was a good sport about it. Good stuff.

Okay, yeah, so according my dream, the Patriots are going to win 34-33... They're going to kick a game-winning field goal with only seconds left on the clock and win the whole thing! So place yer bets, people! Sorry Giants, that's probably the way it's going to be. Nothing personal.

It'll be interesting to see how right I am.

Oh, and if YOU don't have anywhere to watch the game this weekend either, come on over! We'll have an impromptu informal party! Bring a snack to share, or some soda, and we'll root for neither team together! :) I'm serious!

There's one in every building....

Or family.... or workplace.... etc...

If you're not familiar with who "Penelope" is from SNL (Saturday Night Live), well, this ought to sum it up pretty well. I've been looking for this clip for a while, ever since we saw Peyton Manning host, and this was one of the skits. Very funny stuff.

Anyways, I tried to embed a player, but that didn't work too well, so you'll just have to click on the link. This is the ONLY version I could find, so it's a bit grainy, but you get the idea.

And do yourself a favor--don't visit the site shown while the video is playing... it's a naughty site (but the page you're going to isn't! It is safe for work! :)

Enjoy!

Penelope at the Tennent Meeting

Guess it's time for an update.

Thought I'd post some better news than the crappy news that's plagued the newspapers this week.

Well, let's see... Jeremiah is now well into his 13th month of life outside the womb. I can't believe how much time has gone by already... I think back to things that have happened in the past, and have to remind myself, "Oh yeah, that was over a year ago, because I wasn't even pregnant then!" Very crazy.

Of course, our little man is still growing like crazy. He loves to just run around wherever he can, whether that's around the couch, around our bed, or up and down the stairs (with assistance from one of us.) He actually won't even let us carry him up or down anymore--he insists on climbing them himself, and he has to do it like Mommy and Daddy (holding onto the rail he can't really reach and stepping down, or holding onto both of us and stepping up.) We've tried to teach him the "baby way" of just crawling up and down, and while he'll do that for going up, forget about it for going down. He just won't do it. In his mind, I guess, he thinks, "Mommy and Daddy don't go down the stairs backwards, so why should I???" Oh well.

I was reading Katharine's blog on Lilly's communication skills and had to laugh. :-) Jeremiah isn't the least bit interested in learning words, signs, or really anything that doesn't have to do with running around and playing. While I haven't been very good about trying to teach him sign language (we started, and then our book got packed for the move, and I didn't make a huge effort to find it until recently,) there are a few signs that I've been doing since he was about six months--eat, all done, milk, and drink. Yeah, he just looks at me blankly when I do any of those.

I do know he understands what we say to him, even if he doesn't acknowledge it all the time. I've been trying to teach him where parts of his body are, such as mouth, feet, hands, tummy. So far, everything is "nose." "Jeremiah, where's you foot??" He points to his nose. "Jeremiah, where's your tummy???" He points to his nose. :) "Jeremiah, where's your nose??" He points to his nose! Or sometimes, he'll point to my nose. At least he's got that down! We'll continue to work on it.

What else. Well, he has become an increasingly picky eater, but at least he has a set list of likes and dislikes. He likes eggs, peanut butter sandwiches (apparently, we shouldn't have given him pb until he was like 2, but aside from the freak incident my Mom had with an Asian pear the night before my baby shower, there's no history of food allergies in our families, so we went with it, and he's just fine!) Cherrios, pineapples, bananas, cheese, etc, etc... He does NOT like baby food. Nope. Not that I give him much, but if I try, he acts insulted and spits it out. Even the baby oatmeal he's been eating every morning for months has become boring to him. Same thing with yogurt (he used to LOVE yogurt!) Not enough texture. He'd rather have pieces of banana and whole wheat toast. So that's what I'll start giving him. Or "eggs in a basket". He likes that, too (was a childhood fav of mine, as well--he likes dipping the toast in the yolk. What a big boy!)

One thing that's kinda amusing is his growing affection for Starbucks. Yup, Starbucks. I'm becoming one of those "mom's." But I set boundaries--I'll ask for water, or milk, in a kid's size cup, and he's content with that. What can I say, we love Starbucks. :)

An interesting change for him has gotta be bath time. He used to love bath time, and would just splash around happily for as long as you let him. Now, though, all he's interested in doing is walking around the tub. He'll pick up a toy, walk up and down, put the toy in the water, pick up another toy, walk some more, and so on. Will.... not.... sit.... EVER.... Then, when we try to wash his hair, he decides, "Okay, I've had enough of this, time to bail," and proceeds to start trying to climb out of the tub. And not by crawling over the side, nope. Nope, he's gotta do it like Mommy and Daddy, so up comes his leg, over the side, and next thing you know, he's straddling the side of the tub (I'm not a guy, but I'm pretty sure that's really NOT comfortable....) He absolutely LOVES to run around in his birthday suit, though! After his bath, when he's dripping wet, he'll just take off and GO. Next thing you know, he's running around out room, or down the hall, still soaking wet, and just laughing and squealing... So funny.

Switching gears a bit, I've been thinking about the eventual move that Jeremiah will have to make from the nursery to a big boy room. I kinda wish the other two rooms we have were more equal in size--one is the same size as ours, minus the bathroom and a walk-in closet, but that just seems way too big for such a little guy... I don't want to overwhelm him. On the flip side, I don't really want to move him into the 11x11 room (or maybe 10x10... I dunno...) because if we have another boy next, then we'll have to move him into the big room anyways...

I'm leaning towards sticking him in the big room... We don't yet know if we're going to have all boys, or boys and girls, so unless we have a bunch a girls from here on out, more than likely Jeremiah will end up in there at some point. Maybe we'll wait until we know what #2 will be before deciding. We'll have time between then and when he'd need to be out, for sure.

Mmmm.... Iron Chef is having "Battle Lentils". I suddenly have the urge to eat lentils.... Hmm.... And guess who one of the judges is! "The man who will eat it all for you.... Joel McHale...." from The Soup. In his intro, they mentioned he was in Spider-Man 2. He was???? I looked it up, and apparently, he was a character named "Mr. Jacks". Who the heck is Mr. Jacks?! Apparently, not a very important person, as he falls between "Elevator Passenger" and "Man Dodging Debris" in the credits. I can't think of where that places him in the movie, but the next time I watch it, I'll have to look extra carefully. (Oh, and Thank you! Joel McHale, for sticking up for Heath Ledger--"Heath Ledger passed away this week, and in all the years we've been doing this show, we've never had cause to mention him. So stop digging through the dirt, weasels! A talented and decent guy is gone, and our thoughts go to those that knew him" Well said. If there had been anything worth reporting after his death, The Soup would have talked about it a long time ago. So thank you, Mr. McHale, for standing up for an upstanding actor when everyone else just wants to find something 'wrong'. For shame. /rant)

What a surprise... A Nutrisystem commercial. Hmm, Tori Spelling lost 36 lbs... She looks good. Guess that baby weight is all gone. Or maybe she just couldn't afford to buy food because her B&B is draining all their money with little return. Or maybe I'm just being cynical...

Oooo, the lentils are back... Mmm... lentils... I think I'd better grab some dinner.

Can you tell I'm watching TV as I write this? Maybe I should end now before the randomness gets worse.

That's all folks!

Well, that stinks...

Not a very happy day, news wise.

First, the feds cut interest rates 3/4 of a point--the market sinks even further, and concerns about the economy grow (at least it leveled out a bit by COB.)

Then, I hear Fred Thompson dropped out of the race for President. Now, this didn't sadden me as much as when Colbert dropped out (by the way, anyone else going to go see his painting at the National Gallery??? I gotta go!) but he was an entertaining fella to have in the race.

And then, the bomb dropped: Heath Ledger was found dead in his NYC apartment. That... just... stinks. Not that I was a fan of his role in Brokeback Mountain, but from what I've seen of him as the Joker in The Dark Knight, man this guy was going to be on fire!

Oh well. Dems the way things are. I feel bad for his daughter, of course. No one should have to lose their Dad so soon. And I'm kinda annoyed with the way the media has been covering it. Yes, pills were found in his room, but mostly OTC stuff. While the police are not ruling out a suicide, it sounds more like an accidental overdose. One site said that he just returned from filming in London, and was trying to get back on East Coast time. Makes sense to me. I hope it wasn't a suicide, and he certainly isn't a druggie. I guess we'll just wait for the medical reports to come out.

On a more selfish note, I hope this doesn't affect The Dark Knight's release. Don't see why it would, since it doesn't open until July, but ya never know.

Boooooo of a day. Very sad.

Congratulations, Todd & Paige!

Finally, after 42 weeks of pregnancy, Paige gave birth to a baby girl, Zoe Allison, over the weekend!

I don't have details, as I'm getting my info from her sister-in-law's blog (M&M's Blog from Todd & Paige's), but I just wanted to say congrats!

Yay for Todd & Paige! Enjoy parenthood--it's the best thing in the world!

Krispy Kreme has gone trans-free!

Krispy Kreme, home to some of the best doughnuts on earth, has recently announced that their entire menu, ALL of their doughnuts, are now trans-fat free! Yay!

Of course, they're still bad for you, but now, just slightly less so. Now when you eat a dozen in under three minutes (easy to do when they're HOT), you can take comfort in knowing that while your insulin may spike, your cholesterol will not.

Had I known this earlier, I may have stopped to pick some up from one of their location in Alexandria, VA, since I was in the area. Probably a good thing, though. :)

Poll Added

In case you never look to the side, or the blog is showing up as only two columns in your browser, please take a moment to find the poll that I've added. It should be in the right column under the "More About Us" box.

I've never had a problem viewing the blog, in either Firefox or Internet Explorer (haven't tested Safari, so Mac users, you'll have to let me know if you're having trouble. There's only a few of you out there--I know who you are from our stat counter.) However, Jeremy's had problems when he views it in IE, though none in FF. I'm trying to figure out if it's a size problem, a browser problem, or something else.

Also note that this blog is optimized to be viewed at 1024x768. Only 6% of our viewers use a resolution smaller than that, so everything should show up just fine. If you are viewing in 800x600, and are having problems viewing all three columns, that's probably why. My guess is that you may only see two columns, with the third under the first at the bottom of the page. Look there for the poll if you don't see it to the right.

Thanks for your feedback! I'm hoping Jeremy's the only one with issues, but if not, we'll do our best to fix it.

My poor baby...

Well, Jeremiah had his 1-year check up today!
Yay for Jemiah!
It wasn't very good.
Awww... poor Jemiah...
As far as health goes, he's in tip top shape! He weighed in at 27lbs 13oz (I thought he would be closer to 30lbs, but that was because I thought he weighed in at 26lbs at his 9 month when really it was only 24lb 12oz. Eh. Whatever!) 32 inches long, and a big 'ole 19 inch head! But, he's well proportioned, so Dr. was happy with that (95+%-tile all around.) He didn't like getting weighed, or being forced to lay down so they could measure him (he screamed,) nor did he enjoy having his ears' checked, or his heart/lungs listened to.... or anything else the dr was trying to do.

The worst part, though, was getting shots. Apparently, he would have only gotten three, but Merck stopped making a combined vaccine, so he had to get 4! needles.
When Jess Jr shows up, we're going to be a lot more selective about what vaccines she gets!
Yeah, that didn't go very well.

We got him to lay down on the table, somewhat happily, as he played with my cell phone. And then came the first prick..... all of a sudden, shock appeared on his face, and quickly changed to squinted eyes, and a wide-open mouth. A gulp of breath later, and out came a cry just as needle #2 was being stuck in his leg. Now wailing, he decided he was done with this, and started kicking his legs--all while still getting a shot! The needle came out, vaccine everywhere, blood everywhere, needles starting to fly everywhere.... Yeah, it was bad.
The worst part of being a parent--having to watch your child get stuck over and over...
Nurse managed to recover the situation, and was able to administer the last two vaccines in his other leg, while still managing to be as gentle as possible (most nurses we've have just jammed it in... I appreciated the fact that this nurse was at least, trying to be nice about it.) Jeremiah also recovered shortly after that (my poor baby!) but boy... that was tough.

After that, we went to the mall for lunch, and to use up his free ice cream from Coldstone (expired today, timing worked out well.) He played in the play area for a while, and had a blast with it! Guess we'll be stopping by there more often now that's he's big enough.
Hopefully by the time Jess Jr. shows up, he'll be able to play by himself, so Mommy can just sit with baby and watch.
Unfortunately, his medicine from before eventually wore off, and he started getting fussy. We gave him another dose and put him to bed. Hopefully he wakes up feeling much better tomorrow.
So far, so good, though Mommy slept 'til 10! Jeremiah woke up around 8:30, and just played in his crib for an hour and a half (I think he fell back asleep for a few minutes... didn't hear a peep outta him for a while.)

Who's that cute little girl?!

Wait a second.....

That's not a girl! That's Jemiah!!

Good thing we got his hair cut! :-)

(We were asked just the other day how old she was. Yup, that convinced Jeremy it was time to chop it off. :-)

Many Updates!

First of all, Happy Birthday to my little bullfrog!! He turned one today! YAY!
Secondly, we're pregnant! YAY! :)
We were going to get his picture taken today, but he fought me so long about his nap that he didn't actually fall asleep until 2:15! Almost 3 hours to get him to take a nap! Crazy.
I hope he figures out this whole nap thing before Jess Jr shows up!
Of course, we kept him up late last night, and he didn't wake up until 9:25 this morning, so that may have something to do with it. Still, he's used to taking his naps about 3 hours after he wakes up. Instead, he decides to let me change his diaper, pretend to fall asleep (be vewy vewy quiet.... we're trickin' mommy....) only to wake up/get up and poop his diaper! This happens at least twice, over a period of an hour or two (has been for a couple of days now.) Had I left that wet diaper on him, he would have never gone, but as soon as he's fresh and clean, call Mommy....
The plan is to have him out of diapers during the day by September, so I only have to wash one set instead of two!
Anyways, that was probably TMI, but you asked (you read this blog, after all. :-) Whatever!
Did I mention we're expecting yet???
Lots has happened over the weekend. Saturday, sadly, the Steelers ended their season in their game against the Jaguars. With less than 3 min left in the game, up by ONE point, they decide to let Gerrard (QB for Jacksonville) run 32! yards on a 4th & 2! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! It would have ended the game right there, had they stopped him, but instead that run put them in field goal range, and they got it to win the game by two points. Jeremy took off his jersey and threw it on the floor after that. :-) Oh well, at least it was interesting.

Previous to that sad game, we watched the Redskins lose with some neighbors of ours. While they were here, we had a little b-day cake for Jemiah. It's all in his Happy Birthday post.

Then on Sunday, we had to take Stephin home so he could start school again tomorrow [today] (they'd been in the Azores the past week.) While there we had a little mini-b-day party for Jeremiah with my family (also in the Happy Birthday post.)

And finally, today we took Jeremiah out for the big 0-1! and went to Konami for dinner. Okay, more for us than him, but he did enjoy the smoked salmon, and his favorite, pickled ginger. Yes, folks, he was practically begging for it, like a baby bird keeping his mouth wide open, waiting for the mommy bird to drop some food into it. Crazy kid. :-)

Oh, and I put some Christmas pictures in the Merry Christmas post. Also see this post for an interesting Christmas card we received over the holidays. Do we know you???

Did I mention I'm not sick anymore?? I'm about 90% healed, and soooo glad for it, too! What a lousy last week. Yay! Now maybe we can tackle taking down our Christmas tree. It's still pretty, just a funny shade of green/yellow/brownish... (sounds like something else I used to encounter regularly....) Maybe this weekend.
Now it's all about morning sickness! Yes! Actually, it hasn't been too bad thus far, but there's definitely some nausea and aversions to certain foods, though it's an ever-changing list.
Us at dinner tonight:

What's with that face???

He sure liked that spoon!

Such a big boy!

Jeremiah beaming in his new view of the world from a face forward position in the back seat.