Hey, y'all!

Space Available; Inquire Within

2009-02-21T06:05:00.000-05:00

This will serve as my official last post here on blogger. It's been good to me, getting me started in this crazy writing adventure I've grown to love so much. But the shiny Typepad blogs made me want more, and so:

http://heyyall.typepad.com/hey_yall/

I have moved. Join me over there for Comfort Food Saturday, won't you

If you've got this blog bookmarked (thank you!), please don't forget to change it to the new address.

Well what are you waiting for? Let's go! See ya there.

If anyone needs me, I'll be over here in the Haz Mat suit

2009-02-19T22:47:00.005-05:00

Marcus is sick with what can only be described as "The Crud." Apparently that is a medical term here in Alabama. It's what the urgent care doctor told me I had last time I was sick. The Crud. And one of our co-workers thinks she has the shingles. Half our students have pneumonia or some version of the dreaded Crud. Welcome to February in Alabama! 70 degrees one minute 21 the next. And how 'bout those 50 mph winds and tornadoes? Good times, I say, good times.

I'm currently obsessed with the idea of keeping myself and Dean healthy. I chugged a big glass of juice today and shoved countless Zicam swabs up my nose. I even gave Dean two servings of juice water. (All "the stuff" I've read about juice and obesity and aaaaaaaaah, evil suuuuuuuuuugaaaaaaaaaarrrr has sufficiently freaked me out, so I give Dean 1 part juice to 2 parts water. It's just how I roll. Yet I let him eat Gerber baby fruit roll ups. Go figure.) Anyway, we are all up on our vitamin C now.

I knew Marcus was really sick when he asked me to call in and let the secretary know he wouldn't be teaching class OR having rehearsal today. Usually he'll just try to push through. Not so much today. He got up long enough to eat some Fruity Pebbles and sit with Dean while I showered and got ready for work. When I came downstairs, they were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Well, watching is a generous way to describe it. Dean doesn't really watch it per se, he mostly just plays til the Hot Dog Dance comes on, then goes nuts. Marcus was conked out on the couch and Dean had his little hand on his Daddy's knee. It was kind of the cutest thing I've ever seen. As I got closer, I understood just how clogged Marcus's nose must be because MY GOD the poop. I quickly took Dean up for fresh pants and dragged Marcus back to bed. Once he was settled, I closed our bedroom door and sealed it with Lysol. Oh, yes, I did.

I do not want to get sick. I will not get sick. (knocks frantically on wooden tray table) I deny the existence of The Crud. And now I go to stick another Zicam swab up my nose and chug one more glass of juice before I settle in for the night. In our guest room.

Rehearsal widow

2009-02-17T13:21:00.002-05:00

Last night I began my latest stint as a rehearsal widow. This means Marcus is starting rehearsal for a new show and I'm at home. It's been the other way around in our home a lot, where Marcus was abandoned while I worked on a show. But this time? I was reminded of one of the many reasons why living here in Alabama has improved our family's definition of quality time.

Marcus's commute from our apartment in NYC to his rehearsals: 2 hours ONE WAY
Marcus's commute from our house in Alabama to his rehearsals: 15 minutes ROUND TRIP

God bless Alabama.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

2009-02-15T21:27:00.008-05:00

We had a great day. I started my herb garden, FINALLY took a moment to paint my toenails, then we went exploring at a state park nearby. There were also slushies from Sonic at some point in there. We finished off our evening with a great dinner cooked on our brand-spankin' new grill, which was part of my birthday/Valentine's day gift.

DISCLAIMER: Readers living in colder areas of the globe may ending up cussing and hating me after seeing these pictures. Should you choose to continue, you will know why Marcus and I wanted to move back to the south. (we don't like snow much) Behold the 70 degree February day:

Planting herbs. Anybody need chives? Because I should have a TRUCKLOAD soon. That starter greenhouse thingy I'm planting? One of four!

And now, the 2 most beautiful parts of my weekend:

Dean was just happy he got to eat his YoBaby outside.

Moooooooom, what's an herb? (or a herb if you pronounce the h...)

My new favorite picture of my son.

My son who discovered pine cones today.

A perfect day.

Comfort Food Saturday--Red Velvet Cake

2009-02-14T15:14:00.002-05:00

In honor of Valentine's Day, I give you my favorite dessert recipe. Enjoy!

RED VELVET CAKE
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
½ cup milk
1 bottle (1 oz.) Red food coloring
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix sour cream, milk, food coloring and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed just until blended. Spoon batter into cake pan or muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting!

VANILLA CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 box (16 oz.) confectioners’ sugar
Beat softened cream cheese, softened butter, sour cream and vanilla extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until smooth.

TIP!! If you like pecans, you can stir some chopped ones into your frosting once it's made and then spread it on the cake, OR sprinkle them on top of the cake once it's frosted. YUM!

32

2009-02-13T10:12:00.006-05:00

I turn 32 today.

This many

I thought I'd do a little list. 32 Things on my 32nd. Here goes nothing.

1. This is an anti-climactic age.

2. On the eve of my 30th birthday, I had a small identity crisis. I called my friend Eileen and asked her if I was supposed to feel older and wiser. She said no. That made me feel better.

3. CVS just called to refill my prescription. How very nice of them.

4. I'm having lunch today with Auntie M and Loretta.

5. Dean's pretty jazzed about it.

6. Marcus, Dean and I had dinner at Cajun Steamers last night, courtesy of my parents.

7. Dean had his first kid's meal.

8. Dean likes Cajun fries.

9. I wore flip-flops. In February.

10. My favorite color is purple. Did you know? Now you do.

11. I bought my first pair of Clark's shoes this year.

12. They are the greatest pair of shoes I have ever owned. Also the most expensive.

13. I think it's cool when my birthday falls on Friday the 13th.

14. I kind of hate Valentine's day.

15. I especially hate it when people wrap my birthday gifts in Valentine gift wrap.

16. Dean keeps finding my cell phone and programming new numbers into it. This is annoying.

17. The plumber we hired to fix our leaky pipe was great. We will not have to sell anything on eBay to pay the bill.

18. Home ownership kinda sucks sometimes. (see above comment about leaky pipe)

19. Dean peed on me twice this morning. Happy birthday, mommy. ;)

20. My perfect "Fat Breakfast" would be Dunkin' Donuts Hazelnut coffee, Krispy Kreme donuts and hashbrowns from McDonald's, with a soy latte from Starbuck's for dessert.

21. I could eat pasta every single day. So could my son.

22. I don't remember going from the OR to the recovery room after my c-section. This kind of bothers me.

23. In college, we once had a 4-way joint birthday party for a bunch of us who were born between Feb. 10-13.

24. My family's new favorite word is "boon." (balloon)

25. My class brought in their assignment for next Thursday yesterday. Everyone did. So we did those presentations. Better early than late, huh?

26. I really hope Marcus gets me York Peppermint Patties for Valentine's Day. I enjoy them chilled.

27. I always cry when filling out holiday cards to Dean. Last year when he was a wee little tot, Marcus and I had to try 5 times before we could read him his Valentine. I'm sure his 6 week old self really cared about having it read aloud, but it was important to us.

28. I have never used a lawnmower. I have no intention of starting any time soon. (Marcus is getting ready to mow our yard.)

29. My secret dream is to receive an entire bag of trial-sized items for my birthday or Christmas.

30. I once had a pet crab named Charlie. I fed him bologna. He died.

31. Dean calls me "Nah Nah." I love it.

32. Wanna know what Marcus gave me for my birthday? I'M MOVING MY BLOG TO TYPEPAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to do the online tutorial and get everything set up, but within two weeks, you will be able to visit me at my new and improved site.

Now go have a cupcake and think of me. :)

Nothing out of the ordinary

2009-02-11T12:14:00.005-05:00

We have had a very ordinary week here in Lane Land. I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I'm kind of tired and ready for the weekend already. I'm also amazed at how anti-climactic the week leading up to my birthday has been. I usually get much more excited. I guess 32 is kind of an anti-climactic age--no new privileges, no new decade, no double numbers, just a 3 and a 2. On Friday (the actual day of birth--love it when it's Friday the 13th!), my Auntie M and our friend Loretta (or Roletta) are taking me to lunch. Marcus, Dean and I are going out to dinner that night, then coming home to chill out and watch a movie, probably LOVE ACTUALLY so we can quote it as we watch. (after Dean goes to bed, of course) Marcus has scholarship auditions on Saturday, so Dean and I will surely find something to fill our time while he's gone.

Dean's 4th tooth popped through yesterday. It terrified our manny, BJ, who thought something was terribly wrong. Dean always runs a very low-grade fever when he's cutting a tooth and acts really lethargic and cranky. Poor BJ was sure he was sick and that he would shrivel up and blow away because he didn't want much lunch. Once we inspected his gums, we gave him a little Tylenol and a cold chew toy and he was good to go. He did wake up FREAKING OUT twice during the night, though. Poor little guy. I'm going to make him a grilled cheese for lunch. Toast feels good to baby gums, I hear.

There's a new art gallery in Montevallo! It's called the Blue Phrog. We met the owner last night at Eclipse, our coffee and book store. I'm hoping to get in touch with him this week to ask about bringing my class to the gallery for a field trip. It would be nice for them to talk to a manager of an arts organization that isn't performance-based.

In other news, I really need to get cracking on the workshops I'll be presenting next month at the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Last year, Marcus, our friend Scott and I did one on moving to NYC. It was so well received that this year we've broken it into two different workshops, one on moving to NYC, the other on networking in NYC, and added a fourth panelist. I think this will be the last year we present this one, since we've been gone from the city for close to a year and are already losing touch with the way things are there. I'm also presenting a workshop on stage managing outdoor drama. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to the conference. It's always fun to see old friends and make new connections. Since I'm not job-hunting or hiring this year, I'll be spending my days presenting or attending workshops, going to meetings for my new position with Alabama Conference of Theatres and finding other opportunities to get involved. There is an interest group for people who would like to write for Southern Theatre, our quarterly magazine. I'm going to attend that and pitch an idea: I think we should start a Southern Theatre blog. It's an idea I've been playing around with for a while and I think it would be a great informational and networking tool for our region. I would happily serve as "blogmaster" and be responsible for finding content to post 2-3 times a week. I'd like to do one interview with someone working in professional theatre each week, then a feature about new products, new plays, new programs, etc. I'm reading Blogging for Dummies right now to teach myself a little more about the wonderful, mysterious blogosphere.

How's YOUR week going?

PS:

I am TOTALLY a rockstar!

With this ring...ugh.

2009-02-08T22:20:00.007-05:00

Disclaimer: The pictures in this post are fuzzy. All of them. And they weren't even taken on the same camera or at the same time. This is proof that my photography skills have not improved, even though I have a better camera. Alas.

This is my engagement ring. (The whole wedding set, actually.)

I think I took this right after we got married. Anyway, I love my engagement ring. LOVE it. It's beautiful and Marcus picked it out all on his own and it's perfect. I bent the prongs around the diamond once and the diamond fell out into my laundry basket, but then we got it re-set in a four-prong setting instead of the weaker six-prong setting it originally had. It looks gorgeous sitting atop my wedding band and is super-sparkly.

That was my engagement ring right after we got married.

Here is my engagement ring now.

This actually happened two weeks ago, but until now, I just haven't wanted to talk about it. It makes me want to cry. Here's what happened.

About 4 months into my pregnancy, my finger got too fat to wear my engagement ring, so I put it away and just wore my wedding band. I should point out that my engagement ring is a size 5, my wedding band a 5 1/4. Why I didn't get my engagement ring re-sized to fit on top of my band, I don't know. I'm sure it was partially laziness and partially money, or lack thereof. Anyway, it was never a problem before I got pregnant. SO. Everyone knows I swelled up like a balloon at the end of my pregnancy and my fingers never quite got back to their usual shape and size, what with losing most of my baby weight, then gaining again, then losing again. But I HAVE lost some and my wedding ring has been sliding around a lot. Two weeks ago I noticed that my wedding band had spend most of the day facing backwards. (It has channel-set diamonds and I had been seeing the back of the ring.) I thought to myself "WOW! I must have lost enough weight to get my fingers back to normal! I wonder if my engagement ring will fit?!?!" So upstairs I went. I got my engagement ring out of the jewelry box and slipped it, almost effortlessly, onto my finger. I was so happy to see it there again. I ran downstairs to show Marcus. Then I tried to take it off. You can guess the rest.

Here's the part where we talk about all the different ways people and the internet tell you to get a stuck ring off of your finger.

SOAP. Should make it slippery, right? Not enough.

LOTION. Tried three different kinds. None of them worked. The ring would turn around, but wouldn't move up and off.

PREPARATION H. It's an anti-inflammatory, right?

COOKING OIL. See lotion.

BUTTER. See cooking oil.

KY JELLY. See Jen blush that her dad knows what that is.

WINDEX. Apparently it's a miracle worker. Every website I visited (and you'd be amazed at how many there are) said to spray your finger with Windex and the ring would twist off in less than a minute. Of course, I was out of Windex, so I tried the other options first. Eventually, after the other options FAILED, I went to the store for Windex. By this time, I'd been smearing stuff on my finger and pulling at the ring for almost two hours. My finger was turning very red and getting chafed. We gave it the ole college try, but Windex, too, failed me.

SO...off to the jewelry store I went where a nice lady cut my ring off my finger with a tiny saw. And then I cried.

Poor Marcus. I think we've officially reached the "this thing has cost more for repairs than it cost for me to buy it" point. I haven't dared to ask when we can get it fixed.

Comfort Food Saturday, Take Two: Chocolate Fondue

2009-02-07T11:08:00.003-05:00

Since it looks like my cole slaw recipe was a flop, here's something chocolate. Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE FONDUE (just in time for Valentine's Day)

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped (or use semisweet chocolate chips)

Add-ins: 1/4 cup of your favorite flavored liqueur (coffee, etc.), 4 tablespoons instant coffee or 1/4 cup brewed coffee, 1/4 cup of your favorite extract (mint, almond, etc.)

In heavy saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until smooth. Stir into fondue pot. Add any add-ins you'd like. Keep warm over low heat. Serve with dippers of your choice. Recommended dippers: fruit, biscotti, bread or marshmallows.

*If you don't have a fondue pot, you can serve this out of a crock pot. Just make sure your heat is not too high. Mine has a "keep warm" setting that is perfect for fondue.

Comfort Food Saturday: Cole Slaw

2009-02-06T16:00:00.003-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I absolutely HATE mayonnaise. I can't stand the look or smell of it and the taste makes me gag. Therefore, cole slaw was not on my list of things I ate. Then I met my husband. And then I met his mother. And she made cole slaw with vinegar. Oh. My. Word. It is amazing. This is great for BBQs or picnics and gets better the longer it stays in the fridge. I've heard it called "Carolina Slaw," "Boston Slaw, " "That Really Good Slaw Your Mom Makes With The Vinegar" and a few other names. I just call it good. Try it on a hot dog or dip it onto your potato chips. Especially if you're pregnant. (It was one of my cravings)

LANE FAMILY COLE SLAW

1 medium head of green cabbage (about 4 cups chopped--julienne it or do it in the food processor)

1 cup cider vinegar

3-4 bunches green onion, chopped

2 tablespoons celery seed

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 cup sugar

salt and pepper to taste

*You may also add juliened carrots if you like it a little sweeter. (OR use a ready-made bag of cole slaw! EASY!)

Bring sugar, vinegar, mustard and celery seed to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, stirring often until sugar is dissolved. Allow this dressing to cool completely. Once the dressing is cool, pour over shredded cabbage and onions. Allow to marinate at least 3 hours, overnight if possible. Serve chilled, adding salt and pepper to suit your taste.

Enjoy!

Mistress Platelicker: Episode One

2009-02-04T18:03:00.010-05:00

We now return to your regularly scheduled episode of Mistress Platelicker with our hero of the hour, Mistress Platelicker herself, Jen and her tiny sidekick Deano the Bambino. When last we saw our fearless mommy heroine (did I spell that right or did I just call myself a street drug?), she had vowed to practice portion control. "Let all eat like toddlers and, thus, look like hotties," she proclaimed. Like all superheroes, however, Mistress Platelicker has one weakness: spinach dip. Could her willpower withstand this bowl brimming to the top with creamy, spinachy goodness?

Its emptiness tells us NO, she could not.

Or how about this sweet tea from Chick-Fil-A?

It, too, rendered her powerless with its sugary goodness. (It would take a toddler a week and a half to finish a cup that size!!!)

In an attempt to regain her super powers of portion control, the mighty Jen exclaimed this morning " Today is the day!" And so it was.

When lunch time rolled around, Deano the Bambino craved comfort food. His 3 1/2 teeth longed to bite through something tender, but also something with some POP to it. And so, our super hero mommy made lunch:

Behold! The small portion of pasta! (that's mine in the red bowl. Dean eats a lot for a little dude)

Behold! The part-skim mozzarella cheese, packed with calcium and protein for strong bones!

Behold! Green peas! In the middle of the day, even!

She ate. And she was satisfied.

Deano the Bambino remains unimpressed.

Moooooooooom, quit making up stories and cut up my pear!

Join us next time as our dynamic duo conquers BREAKFAST!

Let's be honest

2009-02-03T11:13:00.003-05:00

In honor of it being only 9 days til Honest Abe's birthday (10 days til MY birthday) and given the fact that I am typing this in my office, where I keep checking the door to see if my boss is coming, much like a seven year old would check to see if her mom was going to catch her staying up past her bedtime, let's be honest with one another:

How much time do you spend on the internet at work for personal reasons? What do you look at?

I read my personal email, sometimes read YOUR blogs (See, it's all your fault. If your lives weren't so interesting, I wouldn't care and would be able to get some work done!), twitter, check facebook, read playbill.com (ok, that one's actually work-related), and often browse Amazon. When I worked at Cornell, I was addicted to a game called Snood. My co-worker and I both were, actually, and we would play at the same time, then IM each other from across the office to compare scores. (If my former supervisor is reading this--she also shared our office--a light just went off in her head. Actually, who am I kidding? I'm sure she knew.)

If you need to be anonymous in your comment, we will all certainly understand.

Now 'fess up.

They said it was just a trim, but I thought she might cut my head off

2009-02-01T08:54:00.006-05:00

Hey, peeps, Dean here. Would you look at what Mommy and Daddy did to me yesterday!?!?!?!?

They made me get my HAIR CUT! I got excited because I thought we were going to Target. But noooo, we went into this other place where this lady I do not even KNOW put a cape on me (a cape with NO ARM HOLES!) and cut off my hair!

I wanted to slap her hand away like I do when Mom tries to blow my nose, but there were NO ARM HOLES in my cape! Daddy's cape had arm holes. NO FAIR.

Mom was no help. Instead of saving me from this stranger with scissors, she stood there collecting my hair in a zippy bag (how ghetto is THAT?) so she could keep a curl and give one to each of my grandmas. If my grandmas had BEEN there, they certainly would have saved me.

But not Mom. Nope. She just stood there with her zippy bag snapping pictures and taking video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AowwEH0n5Ns

(I'm only 1. I don't know how to embed videos. GAH.)

Anyway, it was over pretty quickly. The lady with the scissors gave me a sucker, which Mom TOOK. (She's really no fun these days, I tell ya.) I guess I do look pretty good. But I am NEVER doing that again EVER. So there.

Comfort Food Saturday--Spinach Artichoke Dip

2009-01-31T11:44:00.003-05:00

In honor of one of my favorite bloggers, Frema, who is at this very moment welcoming her baby boy into the world, I give you Spinach Artichoke Dip. Those of you who read Frema's blogs know of her deep affection for this stuff. I also love it and searched far and wide for a recipe that didn't involve mayonnaise, which I do NOT love. This one's tasty and uses low-fat ingredients. So here ya go, just in time for Super Sunday. Enjoy!

SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP
1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened (*I found that the reduced fat kind just works better for some reason, but feel free to use the "real" stuff!)
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, plus more as needed (This can be omitted if you don't like spicy food. You can also substitute a few red pepper flakes.)
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Squeeze all excess liquid from spinach, place in a food processor with sour cream, Parmesan, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, the cream cheese, garlic, pepper and hot sauce.
Process until just blended but still slightly lumpy. Add artichokes and pulse to form a chunky mixture. Place in a 1-quart baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella. Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Serve with carrot sticks, celery sticks, crackers, toasted pitas or tortilla chips.

Well, whaddya know?

2009-01-30T09:09:00.003-05:00

I have made a discovery. As I told you before, the numbers on my scale have been mercifully reducing over the past few months. I was pondering this yesterday. When we first moved, I was walking regularly, about 3 days a week, about 3 miles each time. Since the weather has turned cooler and my Aunt M has taken on a major kitchen renovation (she's my walking buddy), to call my workouts "spotty" is being extremely kind. However, Dean is much more active now, so I feel like I'm burning calories every minute I'm chasing him around or playing with toys. Since he's started solids, I've been making toddler-friendly meals and sharing them, especially on the days I'm home for lunch. Therein lies my discovery: if you eat like a toddler, you will not only be eating healthier, but you will lose weight.

Eat like a toddler, look like a hottie.

It's my new mantra. What do you think? I don't know how I'd do with WW, counting points and such. Doing a food journal has helped in the past, like when I needed to drop the 11 pounds I piled on after getting married. But portion control has never been something I was good at. Until now. I've started serving myself toddler-sized portions of the entree (in our house, that usually means some type of pasta with lean meat and as many veggies as possible crammed in--see my recipe for turkey meatballs). I've even started serving myself out of Dean's Gerber bowls. Of course, these portions don't completely fill me up, so I fill the void with salad or low-fat soups or fruit. Dean FINALLY has enough teeth to chew a ripe pear or chunks of banana, so whole fruits have taken over the dessert scene in our house. (Much healthier than our previous dessert scene, which often consisted of my latest cake creation or gummi bears.) Another thing about toddler meals: We're less inclined to put a lot of added salt, butter, sugar, etc. into our kids' food, right? Those of us with high blood pressure, like me, don't need the salt anyway, so why not follow our kids' healthy-eating lead?

I'm going to give this a try and see if it really makes the difference I think it will. If I hit upon a great recipe that's both satisfying and yummy, I'll be sure to share it. In the meantime, if YOU have any toddler-friendly recipes, please share them!

Here's to hotness.

Things I've learned today

2009-01-27T16:01:00.004-05:00

1. I knew my class's presentations would probably be pretty good, but in reality? THEY ROCKED. I can't wait to see what else they come up with as the semester progresses.

2. On the day when you say to yourself "I'll just wait til the manny gets here to get dressed, put on makeup, etc." the manny will run late and you will not have time to straighten your hair. You will also forget to bring your yoga pants and t-shirt to work with you and will end up wearing your dress shirt, heels and a pair of your husband's pajama pants to do stage combat. (see next note)

3. I am SO about to turn 32. And I'm feeling it. Marcus has a studio-type stage combat drop-in session that he does on Tuesdays outside his regularly scheduled combat class (which meets the same time as my arts administration class). He asked me to come and help him teach it. (Didn't know I was a swordfighter, didja???) We did multiple drills with footwork for the first time today. And now I may die. How did I do this 5 times a week in my 20s? Because I was IN MY
20s!!!!!!!

It hurts to type, so I have to go lie down. Yow.

EDITED TO ADD (7:52am on Wednesday): You know, I'm not that sore! My legs were trembling for over an hour when I got home yesterday from muscle fatigue and I have the requisite right buttock soreness that only swordfighting can provide, but all in all, it's not really that bad. And Dean slept through the night, which didn't hurt either!

Six and six

2009-01-25T21:55:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, my cousin Heather did this "writing assignment" on her blog. The assignment is to describe yourself in six words, then have someone close to you do the same. I asked my best pal Meredith to find six words to describe me. She went above and beyond and I am humbled and flattered (and amused) by her answers.

6 words to describe me:

1. Punctual: I cannot stand to be late and I get quite irked when others are late. My students learned the first day of class that I do not tolerate tardiness.

2. Mother-hen: I've been mothering people for years. My actors, my students, my friends, they've all had a "Mama Jen" moment, even long before Dean was around. Since he's arrived, this one's gotten stronger.

3. Sassy: This one speaks for itself. :)

4. Passionate: About my work, my family, my son, my friends, the places I have lived/live now, my hobbies (like my blog!), causes that mean a lot to me, and food.

5. Detail-oriented: That's why I'm a stage manager.

6. Quirky: I have to have the hand towels in the bathroom folded a certain way, I can't stand the sound of certain words (like the M word...I'm sure my mother will elaborate in the comments section...), and the sight of cracked mud makes me want to wretch. I also like to dip my green beans in ketchup.

And now, Meredith's answers.

6 WORDS TO DESCRIBE JEN:

FRIEND: Jen and I met my Senior Year of college at Alabama. She was a grad student in the department. We hit it off right away and we’ve been the best of friends ever since. It’s funny but I had to call her to find out when it was we first met. I told her that I just don’t remember us ever not being friends. She is truly one of the best friends I have ever had. In 2007, I was getting married and no one could fill the role of Matron of Honor except for Jen (don’t you hate the term matron? It just screams old school marm or spinster. They should be called Lovely Assistant Buffer Go-Between Princess to the Bride). She & Marcus were on their way to Theatre West Virginia for the summer and I was getting married Memorial Day weekend. She worked it out so that she could be here for all the festivities. Talk about loyal. She even had TWV write it into her contract that she would be off that weekend. She told them not only was she in the wedding but she was the Matron of Honor and had to be there. We had an awesome time at the wedding and let me tell you there are very few people in this world who will keep annoying family members at bay, make you wear napkins and feed you French fries before you walk down the aisle and help you pee in your wedding dress. Not to mention she was about a minute pregnant during all this.

SISTER: Jen is the sister I never had. We can stay up til all hours talking about nothing or not say anything at all. Whenever something happens, good or bad, she is the first person I call. When my grandmother died in 2003, I immediately called Jen. We were both living in New York and the time and I was having to fly home. I was going to miss a very important work event and I was torn. Jen helped me understand that given the opportunity, I needed to be with my family and if I wasn’t I would regret it. She was right. She’s very much a part of my family. When my husband & I were dating, I dragged him to New York because he HAD to meet Jen. I needed her approval of this man that I was madly in love with and could possibly marry. I was right, she LOVED him! Nothing pleased me more than knowing my best friend approved of my future husband.

ADVENTUROUS: Jen and I have had our adventures over the years. Meeting up at Film Center Café in New York for brunch and not remembering where we went afterwards, but knowing we had a great time. The night Jen moved from Ithaca to Manhattan and it poured down rain and there were no cabs. But nothing really compares to our time in Tuscaloosa. We had some interesting times to say the least. Watching Waiting for Guffman on closed caption so we could learn the words to “A Penny for Your Thoughts” not to mention the choreography. Going on a ghost hunt to Old Bryce Mental Hospital and to “see” the Northport Ghost. The Snow Day where we stayed locked up in Jen’s apartment eating and watching The Price is Right and the Game Show network. Mind you it snowed for like 3 minutes and the entire town shut down. Alabama is not equipped to handle such treacherous weather! Cutting class to go eat at the Alabama Grill...Good times!

MOTHER: Jen called me 4 days before my wedding to inform me she was pregnant. I did not know what to say. I was SO happy for her. I also knew before her parents . When she arrived in Dothan it was all we could do to not burst into tears when we saw each other! At my bridesmaids luncheon we had a cake with the charms baked in. (You Southerners know what I’m talking about. ) Well, I had picked out the charms weeks before the luncheon. Jen pulled hers and it was a baby carriage. I had no idea prior to her calling me that she would be pregnant. Talk about intuition, or was it ESP? Who knows! But I was so excited for her and Marcus. Well, fast forward to January of 2008. My husband and I went to dinner with his parents and I got a voicemail on my phone that night from Jen that she has been admitted to the hospital and was in labor. Dean made his way into the world on January 5th. I couldn’t wait to see him. My sweet husband and I flew up to New York in April to meet Dean. Precious does not even describe this child and Jen is an awesome mom. When they moved back to Alabama, I went to visit Jen and Dean for the weekend. Marcus was out of town. Watching her in action was impressive. She knows what to do for every cry, laugh, smile. She is amazing. I can only hope that I am half as good a mother as she is. I secretly dream (obviously not so secret anymore if it’s on the internet, right?) that I will have a girl and she and Dean will grow up and get married. For those reading this, NO I am currently not pregnant. Hopefully soon though!

FUNNY: Jen and I can laugh at nothing for hours. We’ll sit there and talk about being trapped in the costume room one night at rehearsal during a tornado. Or the party at Daniel’s when Steven Perry (not from Journey) did something in the bathroom that you just don’t do at someone’s house (I’ll just leave that up to your imaginations). We’ll talk about what our husbands have done to make us laugh or the antics of our families. The trip to the beach with my family or the trip to Graceland Too with hers. Or the fact that when she is on vacation (wherever she might be) she HAS to play mini-golf. It’s SO much fun! We can pretty much find humor in everything. We laugh a lot. It’s always a good time when we are together.

THOUGHTFUL: Jen is the most thoughtful person. She always sends me a birthday and Christmas card. The best was my birthday card last year. She mentioned that my gift was being shipped and I was not to open it under any circumstances until my birthday. She said she had secretly trained Suzy, our dog, to alert her if I did. Needless to say, I waited until my birthday to open it. I’ve been having some “girl issues” and Jen will call to check on me. She will make sure everything is alright and if she could be here with me, she would. She’s even offered to move in with me and Dave if we end up having 12 kids! And I know I mentioned this before, but she was very thoughtful in making me wear napkins all over my wedding dress and feeding me French fries one by one so I would not ruin my dress. Oh yeah and there was the whole peeing in my wedding dress incident. There’s no need for details. Those of you who were there know what happened ;)

Thanks, Mer! Someday I'll write a blog entry all about your wedding dress bathroom trip!

Comfort Food Saturday: Chicken Tortilla Soup

2009-01-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

I made a big batch of this in the crock pot the day before our Christmas party only to be told that my husband does not like chicken tortilla soup. This is information he might have shared while we were at the grocery store, where I announced at least 3 times "I need this for my chicken tortilla soup!" Nope. I had a big ol' pot of soup ready to be sprinkled with cheese and annointed with tortilla strips when he came into the kitchen and turned his nose up at it. Thanks, honey.

Ever the mother hen, I filled every tupperware container I own, put a couple in the freezer and reserved one for a couple of our students who were coming over the next day. I sent it home with them and they reported back to me saying it was the best chicken tortilla soup they'd ever had. I don't know about all THAT, but it is pretty dang tasty. Add you own "flair" to make it the best it can be for your palate. (AJU5's Mom: I am DYING to try some of your chile-infused sour cream with this!) I kind of made this one up as I went along, like I do with most recipes. There are not a ton of spices because the mingling of the simple flavors is what makes it so tasty. Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup:
Cooked white chicken meat (I am being vague here, I know. You could technically used canned or pre-cooked stuff. OR you can do what I did, which was to throw a whole pound of boneless, skinless tenders in there raw and let them cook in the soup all day. They will eventually be so tender you can just pull them apart with a fork. If you like chunks, cut them up. You could also use 2-3 boneless skinless breasts.)

1 can Rotel tomatoes (with green chiles!), drained

1 small can tomato sauce

1 1/2-2 cups chicken broth (depends on how liquidy you like it and how big your slow cooker or pot is)

1 small can white shoepeg corn

1 can black beans, drained

1 medium onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon black pepper

dash of cayenne pepper (if you like it hot)

Pour all ingredients into slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low for at least 4 hours or until chicken is very tender. This can also be made on the stovetop in a stockpot, where it should simmer for at least 2 hours. If using the stovetop recipe, cook chicken before adding other ingredients.
Top with grated cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips or crushed tortilla chips.

Recommendation! If you like tortilla strips, buy your own corn or flour tortillas, cut into small strips and toss into a deep fryer or pan of hot oil until crisp. If you choose to use tortilla chips, the blue ones are excellent with this soup and are best when crushed into the bottom of the bowl with the soup ladeled over the top. YUM.

Pitchas

2009-01-23T17:40:00.004-05:00

That is how old southern people say "pictures." (Pitch-uh-s)
Anyway, here are some illustrating how we spent our week.

Dean LOVES his new Radio Flyer car that he got for his birthday from G-Mama and Pop Pop. He wants to sit in it all the time and has become quite the expert at turning on the blinkers and the radio. Today he learned to beep the horn. Then he tried to eat it.

Just like he tried to eat this leaf.

We read "Moo, Baa, La La La" exactly 328 times.

No Mom, I won't get out of my car and eat my broccoli. So there! Blaaaaaaaaah! Can you see my tonsils?

We had a crazy hair day. Or 5.

And we went to Old Navy.

Speed it up, Dad, I gotta cruise this place for girl babies before my nap time!

Have a good weekend!

Mission statement

2009-01-22T16:53:00.004-05:00

My class is working on writing mission statements for the mock theatre companies they are creating for their semester-long projects. As we talked today, I couldn't help thinking what a good idea it would be for some people to write mission statements for themselves. So let's try it, shall we?

First of all, you should know that in an organization, a mission statement is just that: A statement of your mission. Your "reason for being." Who you are, what you do, who you want to see it, what outcome you would like to see.

Jen strives to be successful at motherhood, marriage and her career. She strives to please others through providing organization, love, leadership, understanding and baked goods. As time passes, she hopes to touch lives and inspire others to find their personal best while finding fulfillment in her family, her faith, and her work and continually challenging herself.

Aside from the kind of awkward run-on sentence at the end, that's not too bad! I tried to work in a sentence about coffee, but it just didn't fit.

What's your mission statement?

RIP, little Gateway

2009-01-19T22:16:00.004-05:00

I knew this day was coming. When I bought my cheapo Gateway laptop almost three years ago, it was intended to be something I could use in my freelance work. I wanted a cheap computer that would let me do my word processing and internetting and a little Kodak Easy-Sharing. I also wanted something that I could hand over to my assistant(s) and not worry about it, or drop down the stairs and not worry about it. Ye Olde Gateway, she has served her time and served it well. But her time is up. A few weeks ago, my wireless card just up and died. I bought one of those external wireless sticks that goes into your USB port, and Dean decided he loooooooooved it. He would grab it every time he passed by my computer. Apparently his love for the wireless stick bent my USB port because yesterday the computer stopped recognizing our wireless network. That is not a good thing for an internet addict like myself, as I'm sure many of you understand. Anywho, Marcus offered to take me to Best Buy today to see if we could affordably upgrade. I found myself a Toshiba and brought it home. And let me tell you, it is a sexy thang! It's so fast and so cool! I'm still figuring out Vista, but I'll get there. The Geek Squad dude assured us that Windows is coming out with Windows 7 this summer and that it's much, much better than Vista. We shall see.

I'm about to start applying for grants to help me get to BlogHer this summer. Marcus and I have been talking about it and I think I can pitch it as a creative writing endeavor. I've been wanting to upgrade this blog for a while, but I feel like I need some more information before I make the big leap. I'm chatting with the TypePad community manager about some questions I have and about what I should be learning before I move over there. I also just became an officer for our state's Theatre Conference, and a part of my mission is to improve networking for theatre students and early career professionals. I think blogging may be a good way to do that. As a stage manager, I'm always shocked at how few networking opportunities there are for us. I'm thinking of starting a blog for stage managers to help with networking, sharing paperwork and ideas, and maybe interviewing a professional stage manager each week. Marcus and I are also interested in starting a blog to use as a recruitment tool for the theatre department at the University where we teach. If I could get some grant money, I could attend BlogHer, maybe even the Business Conference, and get all these ideas rolling! Plus, I could meet my blog friends in person. I think we all know that's the main reason I want to go! If you'll be there, let me know and let's hang out.

Comfort Food Saturday

2009-01-17T16:56:00.003-05:00

I'm craving comfort food. That is probably the reason I allowed Marcus to talk me into eating lunch at Dairy Queen. And yes, I did eat my sundae before I ate my cheeseburger. And I know, I didn't need either of them.

ANYWAY, I always enjoy doing recipe posts because sometimes it prompts folks to send me recipes of their own. Which I love. So keep sending them! It also saves me the bother of writing down new recipes, then losing them. I can just go to my archives! After the blandy mcbland turkey meatball recipe I posted earlier this week, which are quite tasty when mixed into tomato sauce, I thought I should give you something with a little more pizazz. So why don't we start Comfort Food Saturday? I'll try to provide a good, comforting recipe each weekend that won't break the bank. (And I realize some of our banks are more about saving calories than saving money!)

Here's one of my favorite snack recipes. I could eat an entire bowl of this stuff RIGHT NOW.

SOUTHERN CAVIAR

2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained
1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles (recommended: Ro-Tel)
2 cups chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 (8-ounce) bottle Italian dressing
1 (4-ounce) jar chopped pimentos, drained

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

Some notes about this recipe:
If you hate black-eyed peas, use black beans instead!
If you hate spicy food, use a regular can of diced tomatoes instead of Ro-Tels and omit the jalapeno. Maybe add some green bell pepper for color.
Use fat free Italian dressing or the Wishbone "Just 2 Good" dressing which has only 2 grams of fat. Those dressings tend to have more chunks in them, which adds to the yum factor of this recipe.

This is great for pot-lucks. Enjoy!

Successful Parenting?

2009-01-16T15:33:00.003-05:00

What up, peeps? Deano the bambino here. I'm writing this entry so you'll get the truth, the facts, the events as they happened, not my mom's fluffed up version. She and Daddy have been trying to get me to drink from a sippy cup. Sure, I'll do it, if someone holds it for me and lets me suck like a baby goat. But I got things to do, y'all! I'm way to busy to occupy both my hands with a sippy cup! I'm a multi-tasker! I need to clap or throw peas or turn the pages in my books while I drink. I cannot be bothered to stop what I'm doing just to sip milk.
Anywho, today after lunch (I had risotto and spring vegetables...my palate is quite sophisticated for someone who's this many (1) ), Mommy sat my sippy cup on my tray. I threw it on the floor 4 times. She then explained that I needed to drink my milk. I was a little parched, so I obliged. I let her put my cup in my mouth. THEN, she took both my hands and made ME hold my OWN cup while she, like, unloaded the dishwasher or something silly like that. I did it, but only because I was thirsty. Mommy, thinking she'd had a breakthrough of some sort, grabbed her cell phone (which she will NOT let me play with, by the way) and started snapping pictures to send to my daddy. But I knew what to do. I let her snap her pictures and send her message, then I threw my cup at her. And spit milk all over the place. Haha! Who's in charge? That's right.
She can't even figure out how to get the picture off her phone to post and brag to you guys about it.
Nice try, Mom. Now hold my cup. I need some juice while I push this wagon across the room!

American Idol quote of the night

2009-01-14T22:30:00.001-05:00

"You judges made the wrong choice and God's gonna get you."

One month til my birthday

2009-01-13T16:37:00.003-05:00

In case you were counting. :)

Warning: This will be a VERY random post! Are you ready? Good!

Class started for me today. I had planned to go in once I got Dean and the Manny settled in here and take a little time to go over my notes, maybe even work on an outline for Thursday's class. That all fell to pieces when the Manny texted me at 8:15 with a 102 degree fever and tonsil pain! I sent him packing to the doctor while Marcus made arrangements for Dean to attend his stage combat class (no swordfighting today, thank GOD), which meets at the same time as my arts management class. I have 7 students, all of whom were engaging and interesting and talkative. We spent today going through the syllabus, getting to know each other and our specific interests in the arts and brainstorming a bit. It was a fantastic start to the semester.

Marcus snuck home with us after class and we're having a nice, leisurely afternoon. I just made Dean some turkey meatballs. He's been eating pasta like it's going out of style, so I thought I'd make some meatballs to sneak in some protein (and more veggies!). Here's the recipe if anyone's interested. They seem quite toddler-friendly. Plus, I just tasted one and they are GOOD.
*To make mine "Dean-friendly," I minced my veggies in the food processor and only used a small amount of onion. If it was for just Marcus and me, there would have been much, much more onion. Oh, and this recipe is salt-free! Woo hoo! That would be me taking control of my hypertension. Also, you will see that I do not really do recipes. I throw things into bowls and cook them. Ok, recipe!

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (I used a lot because I also made a turkey meatloaf--same recipe!)
1/4 medium onion, minced
1 carrot, minced
1/3 cup frozen peas, cooked and pureed
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
dash garlic powder
dash salt-free Italian seasoning (Pampered Chef makes the BEST)
handful shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients together, then roll into balls, or press into loaf pan. You can also use this recipe to make turkey burgers. They may be baked at 350 for 30 minutes (for balls, longer for loaf), tossed into a slow-cooker with some chicken broth for a couple of hours, or fried in a pan of olive oil.

That very well may be the most random recipe in the history of the world. But since many of us are trying to eat healthier and/or feed toddlers with very few teeth and picky appetites, I thought I'd share it.

American Idol starts tonight. Yes, I will be watching. I don't know how I feel about this fourth host, but I do love me a good old BAD audition! Please, let's discuss tomorrow!

Delurkerday!

2009-01-12T22:23:00.002-05:00

Happy Delurker Day! If you don't know what "Delurking" is, it's coming out of hiding and commenting for the first time. I don't know if I have any readers who don't comment, but if you're there, why not say hi!

I head back to work tomorrow and I'm very excited. Dean's pretty jazzed about his Manny coming to play. Marcus started teaching today.

I have to go now. Marcus and I are frantically watching re-runs of LOST from last season so we'll be caught up for hte January 21st premier event!!!!

JUST BE

2009-01-10T16:16:00.002-05:00

That is my motto for 2009. Up until this exact moment in my life, I have, in one way or another, been waiting for "the next step." The next step has been something different with each passing year. For a while it was finishing my education. Then getting a job. Then getting the next job. Then getting promoted. Then getting married. Then having kids. Then watching Dean pass each milestone during his first year. Then buying a house. Then finding something to do with myself now that we've moved and are in our house. And it all happened. And I loved every second of it. And now, I want to sit back and enjoy it.

I really should have warned you about the bad grammar this post would contain BEFORE you committed to reading it, huh?

I'm not a maker of resolutions each new year, but I am a goal-setter. (really, the grammar is horrendous, isn't it?) I tend to set very high standards for myself, then decide that anything less is completely unacceptable. Funny how life sometimes throws a giant monkey wrench at you, huh? If 2008 taught me anything, it was that I have to be patient with myself and accept who I am and what my situation is at this very moment. And for the first time in over a year, I can tell you that today I am completely comfortable in my own skin, completely happy with where my life is right now and very, very excited about the coming months. This leads us to a revelation. (no, I'm not pregnant.) The past year has been, shall we say, rough. I know now that I have been dealing with some sort of post-partum depression and I feel like I'm ready to talk about it, like I need to talk about it. I would not open up about this on my blog normally, especially since I have a lot of readers who don't know me personally, but one of the only things that got me through a lot of days these past few months has been reading blogs. It's refreshing and reassuring to see that other people are going through the same struggles and facing the same challenges. Since moving, we have made a few friends, but none that we've really "clicked" with. I think that also has to do with the fact that we are parents now and our priorities are so different. Sure, we can socialize, but at 8:00, we want to be at home to put our kid to bed. But blogs are there 24 hours a day. Not to say they can replace human companionship, but when you're crying at 10am, your husband's at work and your baby's asleep, they sure can be comforting.

My one request is that my very close family members, who may or may not be aware of the things I talk about on here, do not use the comments section of this blog as an avenue for discussion. Call me on the phone or email me if you want to say something or ask me questions. If it's difficult for you to read these things on my blog, tell me and I'll tell you which entries to skip. It's something I need to share. My story may help someone else feel better and get through one tough day the way my "blog friends" helped me through so many last year. Also, telling about this situation makes me feel better. It's an important part of my life, even though it may be perceived as completely negative, but overcoming it has been wonderful.

As I head into new adventures, like a return to teaching, a new position with our state's theatre conference (!) and my second year of motherhood, I want to take my time and enjoy my life. After all, I've worked very hard to get here. My what-if's and when-that-happenses (again with the grammar!) are now my reality. It's time to just be.

Oh, ok, so this is really going to happen

2009-01-08T22:14:00.003-05:00

I think I just realized that I'm really going back to work on Tuesday. It's been a thing we've talked about for a while now, but it's always been in what seemed like the distant future. Yesterday, I locked myself in the bedroom for 2 hours while Dean took a nap on Marcus and finished my syllabus. I have a few tweaks to make, but it's more or less done. Dean took an insane 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon, so I was able to plan about 6 lectures. I'm washing my work clothes. We've arranged child care (more on that later). I go in tomorrow to fill out all my paperwork, get my ID card (which should be lovely because HELLO BREAKOUT ON MY CHIN!), get a university email account set-up and check back in with the department chair. And then on Tuesday, for the first time in a while, I will teach college students about arts management. I'm rather excited!

I'm using the same textbook that I used when I took this class back in my college/grad school days. Reading the notes I made in the margins is fun. I like seeing what I highlighted, what I thought was super-important information back then. Now that I've been working in arts management for ten years, I see how much of that was less-than-useful information and how much of it was stuff I've used every day. I also love it when I see things like "charge phone" scribbled on a page. The chapter on fundraising (not my favorite) even has a grocery list written over a pie chart. I can't remember why I wrote my grocery list in my arts management textbook, but I imagine my thought process went something like this:
Pie chart. Pie. I like pie. Winn Dixie has pie. If I go to Winn Dixie, I should also get chicken, Dr. Pepper and honey mustard.

My favorite marginal note, however is the one that is written in purple highlighter and all caps and doesn't even have an arrow to tell me what I'm referencing. It just says, "NO." Nice, college Jen, nice.

Jen's first day of class introduction:
Hey, y'all, I'm Jen! Who wants to manage the arts?!?!?!?
No? Ok.

So, childcare. We signed Dean up for Mother's Day Out at a church MONTHS ago, but were placed on a waiting list. I called after the first of the year and was told to call back at the end of January. UGH. Cutting it so close made me nervous. Marcus had even talked about taking Dean to stage combat class with him for the first couple of days (it meets when my class does) if we didn't have it figured out by then. Because that is just what I want--my baby in the room with 12 first-time swordfighters. Anyway, Jesus heard our pleas and sent us BJ. BJ is a recent graduate from the theatre program and the oldest of four kids. And Dean? ADORES him. They've played together a lot and I noticed at the holiday party that BJ just kind of started taking care of Dean while I was refilling the crostini tray. He mentioned the other day that he didn't have a job in town yet (he's hanging around til the end of the school year). Marcus and I talked about him and today we signed him on as our Manny. (that's New York talk for "male nanny." Seriously. That's what they call them there.) There were jokes made about requiring him to wear a uniform involving a neckerchief and a beret, but we decided that might be pushing it a little. He did offer to dress like Dean each day, which we thought was charming. I feel good about leaving Dean in his care for the few hours I'll be gone those two days. Who knows? I might even have time to go get a pedicure!

Speaking of luxury, another of our students wants some Dean time on Sunday, so Marcus and I are going to a movie! Do you know the last time we went to a movie? I do. It was January 2 OF LAST YEAR! We are giddy with anticipation.

Happy 74th Birthday, Elvis!

Thanks to everyone for your super comments on the eczema issue mentioned in yesterday's post!!! I will be referencing them many times, I'm sure.

Well, well

2009-01-07T22:03:00.003-05:00

Dean had his one-year well-baby appointment today. You want the stats? You got it!
Weight: 22 lbs. 1 oz. (50th percentile)
Height; 29 1/2 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 18 1/8 inches (75th percentile--way to go, Dean!)
Vaccinations: 3
Band-aids: 3
Books as birthday gifts from doctor: 1 (cool, huh?)
Prescriptions for nasty, horrible eczema: 2

He had his first taste of whole milk today. He spit the first sip out, but that's usually what happens with his first sip of anything. He should be walking any minute now and is finally able to eat table food for most of his meals.

The eczema is awful and I only write about it because a)I want to have a record of it and b)it might help another parent. He had a huge, nasty patch behind his knee, which is where I used to get it when I was a child. There are little patches scattered all over his body, but that one was the worst. It had gotten infected, so the dr. gave us a very mild steroid cream to help speed up his healing and an oral antibiotic. She told us to stop using the creams we'd been using and lube him up with Lubriderm. We also stopped using Johnson's baby wash in favor of (get ready) a plain white Dove beauty bar! The doctor said that is what dermatologists recommend for eczema. It was weird to have him emerge from the tub smelling like he'd just taken off his make-up instead of like a baby. Just another step in our growing process, I suppose.

The oral antibiotic has already been an adventure. When I brought it home from the pharmacy, I realized that the bottle was sealed and contained powder instead of liquid. There were instructions telling how to mix it, but I didn't really trust myself with that task. (Plus, for what it cost, the least they could do was mix it up!) I called the pharmacy and the lady said "Oooooooooooooooh, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." People in Alabama sometimes talk slow, you see. "We shoulda mixed that up. Come on back." So, back to the pharmacy went Marcus. When I opened the now-correctly-mixed bottle, the aroma of orange Sweet Tarts (or in Marcus's opinion, a ground-up orange Safety Pop) hit me. We tried our usual "give it to him in the bathtub" trick, which didn't work. He spit it all over Marcus's sleeve. We tried again before bed. He gargled it. GARGLED. How does a one-year old even know how to gargle? Anyway, tomorrow morning it's going in the cereal. And I may wear a Haz-Mat suit.

Happy, happy birthday, Deano

2009-01-05T09:39:00.007-05:00

I totally had a waffle with a candle in it this morning!

I have literally written this post a million times in my head and in "draft" form. I've read my favorite bloggers' archives to see how they put into mere words what they were feeling on their babies' first birthdays. I could say a million mushy things, but I won't. I will say that on this day last year, a little boy entered my life and my heart has been his ever since. With each passing day and each milestone, each smile and giggle, each new discovery, each goodnight hug, I love him more and more. When you're falling in love with someone, the rest of the world seems to fall away. I remember when Marcus and I were first together, we'd talk for hours about nothing in particular. Neither of us could tell you what any of those conversations were actually about, but they were some of the most important times in our relationship because they helped us learn about each other and about how we would function together. There have been times this year when the rest of the universe has seemed to fade away, leaving just our little family of three, or some days, just Dean and me. Watching the world through his eyes has been amazing.
Words are starting to fail me and Dean REALLY wants me to read his birthday book to him (again), so I leave you with my very first video montage. I was going to set it to a sappy song, but then decided to use one of Dean's favorite dancing songs, "I'm On My Way" by the Proclaimers from the Shrek 2 Soundtrack. (I think he likes it when they say "uh, huh.")

Happy first birthday, Deano. I love you to pieces.

Every day should be a birthday party!

2009-01-04T16:31:00.009-05:00

Hey, peeps! Dean here! Mommy said I could blog today to tell you all about my birthday party, which was yesterday! The weekend was already super-exciting because my Uncle Lee came to visit all the way from Arkansas.

On Friday, my cousin Heather came over to play with me while mommy and daddy ran some errands. I took a nap on her.
On Saturday morning while mommy, daddy and Uncle Lee drank a BIG pot of coffee, someone pulled up in our driveway...it was Grammy and Papa! I was a little confused at first, but really happy to see them. AND they were carrying presents! (I know all about those from Christmas.)

Mommy made everybody put on those goofy looking hats to take pictures. She also just told me that Papa is probably going to kill her for letting me post that picture, but that's the risk we take, right fellow bloggers?
After lunch, my Aunt Meredith, Auntie M, Heather and Chase showed up and mommy said it was time for my party! I didn't really know what a party was at that point, but it sounded like fun, so I went with it. She and daddy put me in my booster chair by the Christmas tree (which I attempted to disassemble, thank you very much) and started handing me PRESENTS!!!!

I got a TON of new books (My favorite!!), some awesome blocks, a couple of DVDs, a piano and even a new car! Mommy only cried once, when she tried to read my card from her and daddy. She said we could read it later. I wondered why she's been so sappy lately and she said it's because she and daddy love me sooooo much.

Can you feel the love? (and can you dig my daddy's new short hair, no goatee look?)

I certainly can! (Jeez, guys, let a boy read his new Boynton books in peace!)
After presents and kissy-face, daddy took me to the kitchen to see my cake. He said mommy worked on it for HOURS while I was asleep Friday night, trying to make it look just like my favorite monkey friend, Stu. I think she did a good job.

Mommy said she's glad it turned out cute or else she would have had to throw the cake in the yard under a pile of leaves and submit herself to Cake Wrecks.
I had my very first taste of chocolate. At first I was skeptical.

Then I got the hang of it!

After I finished, I had a bath. Mommy says I had cake in places she didn't know cake could go!
I was on a sugar high for quite a while, so my Papa followed me while I climbed the stairs over and over and over for about an hour. I think everyone was REALLY impressed with my stair-climbing abilities! I crashed in the car on the way to dinner and had to sleep on mommy until her food came. Then I had a biscuit and some chicken and dumplins.
All in all, it was a great party and a great weekend!

Mommy will post tomorrow on my real birthday. She says this time last year she was in triage in labor and hadn't even had any drugs yet. Poor mommy.

In honor of my first birthday, I have decided to go on a baby food strike. I mean, I have two whole teeth and one more little nubber on top. Break out the table food, folks! My Grammy tried to give me baby cereal this morning, but I showed her I'm a big boy by spitting it at her. I think she got the picture, because she got mommy to give me a toasted English muffin and a pear. For lunch, I amazed mommy by eating a ton of pasta, more pear and some toast. And I only threw one piece on the floor! Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for my daily post-nap Yo Baby. Later, peeps!

Things I have learned in the past 12 hours

2009-01-02T22:55:00.003-05:00

On the eve of Dean's first birthday party, I've received an education from the great teacher Experience. Here are my findings:

1. There is absolutely no way to clean your house for a party the day before said party is to occur. That is, unless you send everyone currently living in your home to a hotel. Seeing as the money tree will not allow that at this time, all cleaning of the kitchen and living areas will be left until in the morning. Because Lord knows we'll be up early enough. (SLEEP, DEAN, SLEEP!)
Side note: Other moms, have you heard the tale that just before they really start walking, babies start waking up every few hours? Dean is "cruising" all over, but not walking independently yet, but he IS waking up about every four hours. Just curious if anyone else has experienced that.

2. If your husband comes to you late on the eve of the party when you've decided "What the heck? I'll start cleaning the kitchen tonight!" and tells you he's going to make beignets
for breakfast (for the first time ever, mind you), glare at him until he talks himself out of it and leaves the room.

3. The people at Wilton have obviously never actually baked a cake in one of their own pans. They give you very dramatic instructions like "ONLY coat the pan with shortening, then dust with flour! DO NOT use butter, margarine or oil!!! NEEVVVEEERRRRRRR!" Then in little, tiny 3 point font, they write "Non-stick cooking spray may be substituted for flour and shortening." Gr. Also, they think that a half-round cake pan that is approximately 6 inches deep will bake a cake in one hour. They are obviously ON CRACK. My cake? Took 1 hour 52 minutes. That time may have been shortened had I not had to pause for a few minutes to clean the burned cake globs out of the bottom of my oven when THE PAN OVERFLOWED! They tell you to put waaaaaaaaaay too much batter in there, y'all. I trimmed enough off of that cake to feed everyone coming to this party tomorrow.

4. No matter how many times they visit, I always feel the need to "show off" my house to my parents. Look! A sparkly clean bathroom! Look! Freshly vacuumed floors! Look! All the labels in the fridge are pointing out! (Ok, maybe not that last one) I think deep down I know that they are really just coming to play with Dean, but I still don't want them to think my house isn't up to par.

5. Dean does not nap well with other people in the house. Because he might miss something. He also likes salsa.

In the next few days, I hope to post party pictures, including the insane monkey cake I baked and decorated. Unless the finishing touches don't work out and it turns out to be butt-ugly, in which case I'm throwing it in the leaf pile, burning it and going to Publix for a sheet cake.

Let's wrap it up!

2008-12-31T08:28:00.003-05:00

Jen over at She Likes Purple did this fun year-end wrap up, so I thought I'd follow suit. But first, go here and look at how swollen my feet were this time last year. YUK!
Hope everyone has a fun New Year's eve and a wonderful 2009. 2008 has certainly been a year like no other!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Gave birth! Via major abdominal surgery! Two-in-one...whaddya know?

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't remember making any last year. This year, I am hoping to settle into myself a little more and figure out the fine balance of motherhood and work.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

That would be me.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thankfully.

5. What countries did you visit?

None. We were doing good to get out of the house to go to the grocery store and work!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Emotional stability would be nice! (Fie on you, pregnancy and post-partum hormones!) No, seriously, I'd love a little more time to myself. That is something that was very lacking this year. (see previous note about emotional stability...)

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 5: Dean's birthday!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Surviving the first year of parenthood AND buying our first home!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Gaining more weight before I'd lost all the baby weight. Oy vey.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Pre-eclampsia, diagnosed with PKD, and an evil case of whiplash in July.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Our house!!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My husband's. He is such a wonderful father and has taken excellent care of Dean and me this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

There was some funky stuff going on at work this summer, which made for rough times. I won't go into specifics.

14. Where did most of your money go?

GAS and baby formula/food

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Moving to Alabama

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

"You Are My Sunshine." It's one of Dean's bedtime songs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:?
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?

Happier; SOOOOOO much thinner, about the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Said goodbye in person to more friends in NYC

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

cry

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Visited both families

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yes, with my son.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

LOST

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No, there's no time for any of that.

24. What was the best book you read?

Haaaaaaaaaa...does "What to Expect" count?

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

A classic Sesame Street video of Grover singing with Madeline Kahn. Dean LOVES it and it always calms him.

26. What did you want and get?

A baby, a house, a new job for my husband

27. What did you want and not get?

My size 6 body back ;) (Not happenin' kids!)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

HAAAA! You don't even want to know the last time I went to a movie! We keep saying we're going to go, but we never do.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 31. Kitty watched Dean so Marcus and I could go out to dinner.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Winning the lottery!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

"Today I"m going to stop wearing maternity clothes. Ok, maybe tomorrow." Then the Overhaul of October where I bought a whole new wardrobe.

32. What kept you sane?

Marcus, my family, my blog and my "Blog friends"

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Drew Sarich. sigh

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The election.

35. Who did you miss?

My New York friends.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Dean! I've also really enjoyed getting to know my Aunt Maxine and cousin Heather better since we moved closer to them.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Priorities become very obvious when you have a child. The little things tend to fall out of the picture so that big things, like playing with baby, feeding baby, staring at baby while he sleeps, can move to the front of the line. That said, you still have to make time for yourself every once in a while or you will go insane. A shower should be a daily occurrance, not a luxury.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I'd never let you go
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you til eternity
So won't you please (be my, be my) be my little baby
:)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Just so ya know...

2008-12-29T13:49:00.004-05:00

The Christmas decorations are staying up until January 6th. My friend Meredith helped me justify that decision by reminding me that January 6th is the last day of Epiphany, and therefore, the last official day of the holiday season. The real reason is that I want my mom and dad to see my tree and other decorations when they come for Dean's birthday party this weekend. And since we were gone for two weeks to celebrate with our families, I want to enjoy our decorations for a while longer. So there ya go. If you are among the guests for this weekend's festivities, prepare yourself for a little more Christmas.

In other news, Dean is slowly but surely getting used to sleeping in his own crib again. While we were gone, he decided that it would be fun to refuse to sleep except on male relatives or smack-dab in between Marcus and me. Aside from the 2am OH MY GOSH MY TEETH HURT screaming fit, we actually got some rest last night.

What's everyone doing for New Year's? We'll be preparing for the party this weekend. I'm baking the cake myself, a fact my father finds utterly hilarious. I may do a practice run, though I really don't need the extra sweets in the house. Our friend Lee is coming in on New Year's Day and I'm sure some of our students will be drifting back into town and coming over to beg for food...um, I mean tell us all about their holidays. :) On Jan. 2, we'll be cheering for Alabama as they play in the Sugar Bowl. (Roll Tide!) Then Saturday the 3rd is the big party for Mr. I'm One Year Old. (His actual birthday is the 5th, but who wants to celebrate on a Monday?) Every time I think about him turning one, I cry. Expect a lot of pictures because words will surely fail me in the coming days.

Maybe if I just keep my back turned to her Mommy will stop crying and kissing my face and saying "Oooooooh, my baby boy is gonna be oooooooonnnnnnnneeeeeeeee!" Jeez, Mom. Can't a guy watch Johnny and the Sprites in peace?

Picture pages....Christmas edition!

2008-12-27T19:11:00.013-05:00

Best Christmas present ever. :)

Dean had lots of quality time with his G-Mama!

He also took quite the liking to his Pop-Pop!!

Me, Dean and Mim (my dad's mom). I have had that sweatshirt since 6th grade. Are you horrified that I'm wearing it or impressed that I can still fit into it???

Reindeer bum-bum! Hanging out with Grandma Willie (my mom's mom).

Dean checks out his new wagon.

Family photo! Marcus, my mom (Grammy), Deano, my Dad (Papa) and yours truly. We clean up ok, huh? We added a little extra Merry to our Christmas by celebrating the first anniversary of my mom's kidney transplant on Dec. 19.

Double trouble...Dean and Adam.

Could you eat his face off in his monkey jammies?

Dean got this cool zebra from G-Mama and Pop Pop. Marcus thinks it's awesome.

Don't say I never post pictures of myself. My hair's even brushed in this one. You can't even see Dean's forehead bruise. ;)

Merry Christmas to all!

2008-12-24T14:28:00.006-05:00

I hope everyone's holidays are happy and bright and full of wonderful things like family, friends and food. My grandma arrived today with an entire carload of fresh veggies, homemade cookies and candy and, most importantly, cheese straws.

I am horribly behind on my blog-reading. Last week was not a good week for me to be out of town with limited computer access. All the babies I've been following all year (AJU5, Kara, Megan, and others) turned 1! I promise to go back and read every entry on all of my favorite blogs that I may have missed.

Here are some pictures because BOY do y'all want some pictures! (Thanks for all the emails!)

Have a great Christmas, everyone!

Dean was REALLY happy to see his cousin, Adam. Adam eventually accepted the baby and they worked on sharing all week. By the end of the week, they were partners in crime...and dressed exactly alike...for three straight days.

See? The Handy Manny talking tool kit was quite popular.

Now he's in Oxford hanging with Grammy, Papa and 2 great-grandmas for Christmas!
I promise to upload more pictures tonight once the festivities have concluded and do an all picture post!
Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!!!

Still tickin', but we did take a lickin'

2008-12-19T15:13:00.003-05:00

Well hi there! Remember me? We have been in DC this week (we're here til early Mon. morning) and computer access has been very limited. I haven't gotten brave enough (or dexterous enough!) to blog on my phone yet, but I'm sure that day will come soon. Anyway, we're having a lovely visit with the family. Dean loves hanging out with his big cousin, Adam. I would post pictures of them, but they seem to have hidden my camera somewhere. I plan to rummage through the couch cushions in a minute in an effort to find it.

Marcus and I went out the other day to do some shopping. It was fun to browse without a stroller, though I missed my little constant companion. The phone rang while we were in Borders. It was my mother in law calling to tell me that Dean had tried to impress her with his stunt-man abilities and had fallen off the bed and hit his head. The next 2 minutes are a blur of me dropping everything in my hands, searching for Marcus and trying to remember the name of our medical insurance. We got to the ER about an hour after they'd called and found Dean sitting happily in Grandmama's lap, HUGE goose-egg on his forehead, reading Pinnochio. He looks like he got into a fight and lost. Poor guy. We stayed for three hours of observation and were declared "Just fine" and sent home. In the meantime, Dean decided to impress the nurses with an amazingly stinky poop. And, naturally, we didn't have a single diaper. Fortunately, they had a loaner. It's always an adventure, isn't it?
Those of you who know me will notice that I am writing about this incident three days after it happened and am, therefore, able to have a good sense of humor about it. Because the day it happened? BASKETCASE!

We had a little birthday party for Adam and Dean the other night since they won't get to celebrate their actual birthdays together, and it was lots of fun. Dean tasted cake for the first time, and by tasted, I mean smeared icing in my hair and all over his dad's sweater. Adam eats like a champ and used a big boy fork for his cake. When I saw Adam for the first time this visit, (we haven't seen them since August) I teared up. I cannot believe Dean will be that big this time next year. Adam is a sweetheart and has taken quite a liking to his Auntie Jen. (Which doesn't thrill her AT ALL, let me tell you.;) )

We'll be doing family Christmas tomorrow, which should be a fun time full of babies in boxes wearing bows on their heads. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some couch cushions to rifle through so that I may take photos of said family Christmas!!

About that podiatrist appointment...

2008-12-12T23:12:00.004-05:00

It very much did not happen. I spent most of this morning freaking myself out to the point of nausea over the idea of some doctor I'd never met cutting my toe. Yes, I had a human removed from my body (AND AN EPIDURAL!) 11 months ago and was hardly nervous about THAT, but my toe? OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH! Anywho, I picked Marcus up at work, came home and had lunch, fed Dean and got ready to go. I called my mom on the way to the doctor so she could distract me and explain one more time exactly what they were going to do. I got into the office, saw that it was clean and settled in a bit. I even read a little flyer about ingrown toenails. I had just finished filling out my mountain of paperwork and was sitting down to play with my new phone when the receptionist called me to her window and said "You knwo this is going to cost you $286, right?" I said "HUUUUUUUUUH????????????" Appparently all outpatient procedures are subject to our deductible, which we haven't met because we JUST GOT OUR INSURANCE CARDS THIS WEEK and have not been to the doctor since going on this insurance. (We have been taking a tacky print-out as proof of benefits when we take Dean to the pediatrician.) Anyway, I called Marcus, we shared a laugh, and I told the lady thanks, but I'd be keeping my ingrown toenail. It really doesn't hurt that much. I'll let my dad work on it tomorrow.

Who else thinks this woman should have told me about the cost of this on the phone when I made the appointment? Or maybe I'm dense and should have realized this ahead of time. Either way, they did not get my money today. (see previous entries regarding the money tree and its current emptiness)

We head out tomorrow for our holiday travel extravagganza! Forgive me if my blogging is spottier than usual. Hope everyone's days are merry and bright!

Things that do not sound like fun

2008-12-11T16:31:00.004-05:00

Going to the podiatrist. Yet at 2:15 tomorrow afternoon, that is precisely where I shall be. I have a painful ingrown toenail on my left foot that I MUST get taken care of before we head off to holiday bliss. Am I scared? You bet! I'm willing myself not to think about the pain, but rather to focus on the fact that I am bringing my bedroom slippers for the drive home.
I realize that this paragraph is going to get a comment from my mom who has had this procedure done and assures me it's not so bad. I also feel guilty about whining about my toe hurting since my mom had someone else's organ put into her body last December. But what can I say? She's a tough old bird. Perhaps in comparison to my c-section it won't seem so bad...I wonder if they'll give me an epidural? Can't hurt to ask!

I spent the majority of this week struggling with a stomach virus. BLEH. The only good thing about said virus is that my weight loss has now hit the 20 pound mark. That's a heck of a way to lose three pounds, though. If I return from our holiday food fest (aka: Visiting our families) at the 15 pound mark, I'll still be happy. I fear my mother in law will serve fried pork chops and my grandmother will make divinity, so the odds are not in my favor.

It is supposed to snow here tonight. I moved back to the south to avoid such things and currently have no clue where my scarves, gloves or winter hats are. My child also refuses to wear socks and, often, pants, so we will not likely be going out tomorrow. Except me, to the podiatrist. In bedroom slippers.

We cleaned, we cooked, we partied

2008-12-08T21:49:00.007-05:00

What a weekend! For years, Marcus and I have dreamt of hosting "The Lane Formal." It would be a fabulous holiday gathering for our co-workers and/or students, inspired by the Guinn Formal, a party one of our professors hosted each year while we were in college. We always looked forward to the Formal. It was a chance to ditch your backstage blacks or funky paint clothes and wear something dressy or quirky, show off your best dip recipe and spend some time with your fellow students and teachers outside the classroom. Once it was evident that Marcus and I were going to be a family forever, we started daydreaming about the day when one or both of us would land at a University and we could throw a lovely holiday bash of our own. And last night, it finally became a reality.

We decided to start out small this year. Until after the first of the year when Uncle Sam gives us money back for having a baby, buying a house and having lots of taxes deducted from our paychecks each month, the money tree is not in full bloom, so the house is still not quite where we'd want it to be to throw an all-out bash. Just for this year, Marcus and I only invited the 11 students from his advanced classes. All are upper-classmen and were allowed to bring one guest. What resulted was about 20 very well-behaved, dressed-up, delightful party guests! And they ate EVERY MORSEL of food we made! Yay for easy cleanup.

What's that? You want to see pictures? Well, ok!

Here is our Christmas tree. I LOVE our Christmas tree! Even though we left all those ornaments at my mom and dad's house, our tree ended up being pretty full! Auntie M made us some adorable ornaments that I was thrilled to add to our collection and we picked up some "filler" ornaments at the 50% off sale at Lowe's.
Please don't judge our ugly curtains. We bought them at Big Lots just to have something over the window before we figured out the color scheme of the room which, thankfully, does not include that shade of green (they are really much uglier in person. They have a paisley pattern, too.). See above comment about the money tree to find out why we haven't bought new ones yet!

Here is our fireplace, which hosted its first fire of the season last night. Marcus was in charge of the mantle and I think he did a fantastic job. The garland and wreath are new, the candles, Santa and snowman were my grandma's. She gave them to us when we were in Oxford for Thanksgiving, along with her cake plate.

Here's the buffet. I have no idea why the picture wants to lay on its side. Please tilt your head to the left to view it properly. Tiiiiiiilt. Ok, see? It's cute, right? There was a ton more food on our dining room table. Our menu included the Cheeseball of Happiness, crostini with pesto and sundried tomato (a HUGE hit), mulled cider (another hit), marinated cheese, Texas sheet cake, corn dip, artichoke dip and the usual drinks. Oh, and BBQ cocktail weenies served straight out of the crockpot. Because I'm southern and that is what we do.

Ok, ok, enough with the house. I know what you REALLY want to see.

Dean was rockin' the green velvet. And the knee socks. One of his shoes even stayed on ALL NIGHT! He was, needless to say, the life of the party.

The students came dressed in a variety of "theatre formalwear." We had an elf, a gingerbread man, lots of girls in cocktail dresses, a few young men in suits, and a group who dressed up like each member of the theatre faculty! (Made me glad I'm not officially on staff yet!) Here's Zach, who we refer to as our oldest son, as Marcus.

In case you can't fully see it, his shirt says "You sure do got a purty mouth."
Marcus teaches movement classes, so he has to wear sweatpants and t-shirts. To keep things fun, he wears goofy PJ pants and t-shirts with funny sayings a lot. And, naturally, his Alabama hat.
Marcus had planned to wear a suit, but decided to go the funny route instead. He wore chaps (yes, he owns chaps. Help me, Jesus. Notice they do not appear in the picture. I had to "free" him from said chaps about an hour into the party.), his cowboy shirt and some sneakers because his boots dry-rotted and I made him leave them in NYC. I bought a gorgeous purple dress, but got overly paranoid about showing too much cleavage and not being able to eat enough cocktail weenies and gave myself such buyer's remorse that I returned it. I'm glad, though, because it gave me the courage to "just see" if I could fit into the dress I wore to my 30th birthday party. And whaddya know? I haven't talked about it on here, but I've lost 17 pounds since we moved to Montevallo. HAPPY JEN. Just a few more pounds and the pesky pregnancy weight PLUS the pesky summer weight will be a thing of the past. I'm in my skinny jeans full-time now.

So, a nice night with good times had by all. We look forward to this becoming an annual event, something the rest of the faculty joins in on, the alumni return for, the students get excited about and that we look forward to hosting each year.

Our last "months-old" birthday

2008-12-05T21:42:00.003-05:00

My little boy is 11 months old today. I say little boy because he is seeming less like a baby every day. I wish I could bottle moments with him to save forever. This age (all of babyhood, really) is so precious and is flying by so fast. I try to remember everything he does so I can tell him about it later, but I'm sure I'll forget so much. I want to remember how he smells, what it feels like when he gives me an open-mouthed kiss on the cheek, his two teeth scraping against my skin, the sound of his laugh when I blow on his belly. I know one day soon, he won't let me kiss his feet or nibble his earlobes. He won't want me around when he takes a bath (and GOD FORBID I sing "the song" when he's 5 years old!). Other things I want to remember:
*Dean LOVES tags. He would rather play with tags than whatever the tags are on. When we put his crib together, we cut all the tags off and gave them to him to play with. He was in Heaven. Christmas may be very easy this year...
*His favorite thing in the world to watch is "Don't Forget The Lyrics." He thinks they are singing to him. Dean doesn't watch a lot of TV, but he perks up whenever he hears a song, so this show is lots of fun for him.
*Whenever he's so cranky I can't console him with books, I log onto Youtube and play a classic Sesame Street video of Grover singing with Madeline Kahn. He LOVES this song.
*It is apparently hilarious whenever I put the binky in my mouth the wrong way so that he can come up and grab it from my mouth the right way. Unsanitary? Perhaps. Adorable? Definitely.
*He has this cute little shriek he does whenever he sees other kids. He gets so excited. I hope he's always a social being.
*If I can get a belly laugh out of him, I will keep doing whatever brought about said belly laugh until he's so bored with me that he just wanders away.
*I love that whenever he makes a new discovery or feels a new sensation, his eyebrows shoot up expressively.
*I love it when he wears footie jammies with animals on the feet.
*His hair is OUT OF CONTROL when he wakes up. Add his snaggle-toothed smile to that and how can you resist him?
*He sometimes sings in falsetto.
*He checks in with me. A lot.
I know soon he'll be into his own thing and I'll go back to work and our little Mommy-and-Dean Universe will not be the same, but these past few months have been amazing and I am so, so thankful to have my little boy.
I have to go stare at him while he sleeps now.

How very 21st Century of me

2008-12-04T11:03:00.003-05:00

Last Tuesday night, I logged onto Facebook and found out I'd lost my summer job.
Let me clarify. Theatre West Virginia, where Marcus and I work in the summers, lost $100,000 in government funding. On Tuesday of last week, the board of directors decided to close the doors, thus cancelling the 2009 summer season. When I logged onto Facebook, our artistic director's status said "TWV board has decided to close the doors. We would need 100 people to give $1,000 in order for us to stay open." Ugh. I immediately wrote to her, asking what we could do to help. I have no idea why a fundraiser was not thought to be the first plan of attack. However, this week the board has allowed them to start a huge fundraising effort. To my knowledge, they have already collected over $2,000. Marcus and I are going to be sending out a letter to everyone we can find who has ties to TWV as well as to a lot of our theatre contacts. Our goal is to try and get 20,000 people to give $5. Money is tight right now for everyone, but $5 seems like a reasonable amount, even for our employees who are college students. If TWV is closed this summer, that elimnates over 100 jobs in theatre. We cannot let this happen. Not only does this elimnate a huge employment opportunity for college students and early career professionals, it also puts educators and working artists like Marcus and me out of work. And, the most tragic part to me, it pulls the year-round educational tour off the road and puts TWV's 5 full time employees out of work. The tour travels all around the state of WV playing to elementary and middle school students. For most of them, it's the first theatre experience they have had. For some, it will be the only one they will have. The work we do is so important. Please send up a prayer and good thoughts for TWV and let's hope we don't have to close our doors this season.

On the off chance that you are interested in donating to TWV, email me. Address can be found in my full profile. Thanks!

The funniest thing in the whole world

2008-12-01T14:23:00.001-05:00

...is apparently me transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer. BELLY LAUGHS. Oh, to be ten months old. (11 this week. GAH.)

One more--for me

2008-11-30T22:11:00.002-05:00

Ok, after the whine fest "Oh poor Jen, she didn't finish NaBloPoMoBloPop" post of two days ago, I thought I should just get over myself and post my 30th post. Sure, it isn't the "right" way to do it, which is to post once each day, but at least I'll go to bed tonight knowing that I kind of did it.
I also wanted to give a shout out to YOU, my readers. Your comments and emails make me so happy and I love reading your blogs. I"m thrilled to have made some new "blog friends" this month and to have discovered some great new reads.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch up on my DVR'd shows. :)

PS: If you have any topics you'd like me to write about, let me know!!

Home again, home again, but not for long

2008-11-30T21:26:00.005-05:00

Holy clingy baby, Batman! Over the past 2 days, Dean has developed some serious separation anxiety issues. He wants all mommy all the time. Cute? Yes. Charming? Sure. Flattering, even? Absolutely. Also back-breaking, exhausting and sort of annoying when you would like to do something like go to the bathroom or eat. Poor guy.

This week the official holiday madness starts. We came home from my mom and dad's armed with Christmas decorations and serving platters. However, I think we forgot the big box of ornaments they gave us. (Poo! We somehow managed to accidentally steal 3 of my mom's outfits from the closet, though. Woops.) We did make off with the small Christmas tree that was in my room for years and years and years. It is now sitting happily in Dean's room. We decorated it as soon as we got home this afternoon. He likes to look at it while getting his diaper changed. This week, we'll go get our big tree for the family room. We're going with an artificial one this year. (Don't want to tempt bugs or vacuum needles...though a real tree would be nice...maybe in a few years when we host the holidays at our house.) We'll be spending the week before Christmas with Marcus's parents in VA, then flying back to spend Christmas with my family in MS. Then it'll be back home for a round of New Year's guests and Dean's first birthday party. And then I will need to go to the spa.

AND as if that all weren't enough, we're hosting a Christmas party for some of Marcus's students! This weekend! AAAAAAH! Who wants to babysit?

Na-Blo-Blew-It

2008-11-29T15:45:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe this. At 11:48 last night, I woke up when Dean screamed for a bottle. I went to the kitchen, noticed the time and went "Oh, no." I didn't blog yesterday. It completely got by me. We got up and headed to the Grove at Ole Miss to tailgate at 8am, then Dean and I came home for him to nap. I checked my email quickly, but got caught up in that and didn't blog. Then my mom and I went to lunch and shopping, then we all went to some friends' house for dinner. By the time we got home and got Dean to bed, we were ready to fall asleep, too, and it just slipped my mind. I got back into bed to feed Dean and told Marcus I hadn't blogged. He said "Go write one really quickly!" But both my parents were asleep in the room with my mom's computer and I knew my dad's laptop was password protected (it's for work), so I was out of luck. I am so, SO disappointed. NaBloPoMo was something I was doing just for me and as silly as I know this sounds, it was important to me to be successful at it. It meant that I was taking at least a couple of minutes a day for myself. Don't get me wrong, I had a good day yesterday, I just wish I hadn't fallen off the wagon, so to speak. I"ll try again next year, I guess. On the bright side, I did discover a ton of fun new blogs to follow this month and made some new blog friends. I also increased my readership. I would have liked to have done 30 posts in 30 days, though. Oh, well. Alas and alack!

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

2008-11-27T19:26:00.004-05:00

I have so much to give thanks for this year. The following list hits the highlights, which are pretty momentous. I hope wherever you are that you're having a wonderful, restful holiday. Leave a comment and tell me what you're thankful for this year.

*My mom's kidney transplant. If you haven't heard her story, you should. (Visit my December 2007 archives) The generosity of her donor, Bradley, the amazing success of her transplant, the wonderful care of her doctors...we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift last year. She truly has a new lease on life.

*Dean. Oh, Dean. In all the years I dreamed of having a baby, I never could have imagined one as perfect as the one we got. He is a perfect blend of Marcus and me and I adore him more each minute. Truly the biggest blessing of my life.

*Our new home. What a great thing to own the place you live, to make it yours and put down roots. The move to Montevallo was a good one.

*My husband's job. He's a wonderful teacher and he's finally in a place where he's not stretched in so many directions that he can't find his head with both hands. He has a great support system and is flourishing as a professor. His job provides us with enough to live the life we've wanted to live for a long time.

*This blog. Especially since our move, this blog has provided me with an outlet for my emotions, friendly feedback from all my readers and a place to call my own.

*Coffee. Because man, oh, man, was I missing it this time last year!

I hope your year has been as blessed as mine. Happy Thanksgiving.

Three Lanes safely delivered to Mississippi

2008-11-26T21:38:00.003-05:00

I have been trying to figure out a topic to blog about for an hour now. Instead, I'm sitting here busting a gut laughing with my mom. I think you'll all forgive me if I don't write an eloquent post tonight. We really need to giggle at our husbands right now.

For your amusement, however, here's a sample conversation between my mom and me.

Mom: I got pie.
Me: I like pie.
Mom: You want pie?
Me: I like pie.
Mom: I got Redi-Whip, too. For the pie.
Me: I like pie.
Mom: You want some?
Me: Ok!

And that's how it is.

PS: Due to popular demand (and about 15 comments and emails!), I promise to make a video of the bathtime song this weekend and post it here. Prepare yourself.

A break from the norm

2008-11-25T18:58:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, Deano, Marcus and I will load up and travel to my parents' house in Oxford for the long Thanksgiving weekend. We are all looking forward to a break. Dean is ready for "unbridled fun" as my dad says, and Marcus and I are jazzed about a full night's sleep and some food we didn't buy or cook ourselves. We have decided to go easy this year--we're eating at Cracker Barrel! That means NO cooking, NO shopping and NOOOOO cleaning! Yay! It also means no leftovers, but that's ok because we're going to a family party Friday night that's going to involve chili and a football game and tailgate Friday afternoon, so we're sure to stuff ourselves sufficiently.

We went to the college to have lunch with Marcus today and all the students looked like walking zombies. Many of them are closing HAIR tonight, so they have been stretched thinner than thin these past couple of weeks because of the production. They all need a break from classes and college life, I think. We've fed 3 of them dinner on at least one occasion over the past couple of weeks. See? I'll make the transition back to academia just fine--they're not even my students yet and already I want to take care of them!

I think back to my college days and remember how completely and utterly DONE I was by the time Thanksgiving rolled around each year. We were on the quarter system, so our first quarter ended in November, just in time for a lovely 2 week Thanksgiving break! My first day home, I would present my mother with her special gift (my laundry), eat at Abner's (my favorite chicken place) and go straight to bed for hours and hours and hours. It was usually the first night I'd slept more than 6 straight hours since the school year started, and also the first night in a month or so that I wasn't in rehearsal until at least 11pm. My parents worked hard to make my trips home relaxing for me. Comfort food was served, favorite restaurants were visited, shopping trips were planned, nostalgic movies were watched. Nowadays, we do a lot of the same things. This weekend, we'll get to visit with some old buddies, meet a new baby friend, see an Ole Miss football game and go to church with my mom and dad. And I have a hunch it'll feel like one of those quarter breaks from college. (Don't worry, mom, I'm not bringing our laundry!)

Now if you'll pardon me, I have to go finish cooking my very healthy and well-balanced dinner which consists of Velveeta Shells and Cheese and Coke Zero. It's "Eat What You Can Find" day here in the Lane home. Guess how you play!? ;)

If you're traveling for Thanksgiving, please do so safely and have a great trip!

Today I was a good mom

2008-11-24T16:25:00.004-05:00

I think I'm a pretty good mom most days, but today seemed like a REALLY good day. We got up this morning, had breakfast and got Dean settled into "baby jail" to do his morning routine, which involves talking to every stuffed monkey we own, making sure all his musical toys still work, then reading every book in the house. (I should mention that I am usually in baby jail WITH him while he's doing this. Got a mental picture now? Good.) Our friend Alli left after her weekend stay with us and I got to work. By 11:30am, Dean had taken his morning nap and I had done 3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes (in my dishwasher, which miraculously started working again when the power flashed off this weekend! Hallelujah!), swept and mopped the kitchen, switched out the hand towels in the bathroom (I am a bit obsessive compulsive about hand towels in the bathrooms) eaten lunch and sent two work-related emails! I'm on fire, I tell you! After lunch, Dean and I played for a while, then he showed me how well he can climb the stairs. We stood at the front door and looked out at the rain, then he somehow got dirt on his hands. I took him up to the bathroom sink to wash his hands and you would have thought we went to Disney World. He BELLY LAUGHED at the water and started trying to splash. So I pulled the stopper and let some water puddle in the sink so he could splash. Soon we were both soaked. He grabbed a hair elastic and was trying to play with it, so I decided, what the heck? Let's go swimming. I stripped him down and tossed him into the tub with his toys. He had a BLAST. He splashed and crawled around and explored parts of the tub that were new to him. At night, our bathtime is fairly routine. Daddy runs the water and washes the hair. I wash the body, Daddy helps rinse and keep baby from drowning and gives comfort when Mommy splashes baby in the face. Then Daddy stands baby up so Mommy can wash his bottom parts (and there's a song we sing), then out we go into the hooded towel and off to bedtime. I think Dean enjoyed his little swim party. I was proud of myself for being impromptu and not getting frustrated when he got us both soaking wet. I want to be that mom on the commercial who sprays her kid with the kitchen sink sprayer. (By the way, if you ever want to mess with a member of your family or your roommate, put a rubber band around the "trigger" on the kitchen sink sprayer. They will get HOSED the next time they turn on the sink. HILARIOUS! Learned it from my mom!)
Deano's down for his second nap of the day and my kitchen has been scrubbed with Clorox. There is one glass in my sink and there are 2 garments in my laundry basket (they require gentle cycle with like colors, so they will likely be there a while) and there is not one board book on my floor. I'm going to stop writing now and breathe it all in while it lasts.

Aquariuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!

2008-11-23T16:19:00.007-05:00

That song will be stuck in my head for the rest of my life. I'm sure of it. We saw HAIR last night and that song kind of sticks with you. It was a good production and Marcus and I were quite proud of the students. Alli, our friend who's in for the weekend, even did our hair for the occasion. Let her loose with a straightening iron and look what happens:

We look kind of emo.
(That's me wearing real clothes and makeup, by the way. Haven't seen that in a while, have we?)

Dean had a swell time with Brittney. HIS hair was out of control and could have used some time with the straightening iron:

I can't believe there are only 7 days of November left. Aren't you glad? Cause then NaBloPoMo will be over and you don't have to read about us straightening our hair every day? :) That also means CHRISTMAAAAAAAAS is almost here and I am SO excited. I'm also gearing up for Dean's first birthday party. If anyone has any genius ideas about what we should get our little guy, please let me know. We would like to get him something memorable, not just a toy. (Grandparents seem to have the toys covered, thank you very much.) Marcus keeps threatening to re-wrap all his Christmas gifts and give them to him for his birthday. Anyone have any good suggestions?

For those interested, the Publix penny item this week was bleach. You had your choice of regular or lemon flavored. I thought that was a weird choice, but I got some anyway! Cause it was a penny!

God Bless Brittney Hunt

2008-11-22T15:31:00.003-05:00

Because she is keeping my child so I can GO OUT TONIGHT! WITH ADULTS! IN REAL CLOTHES AAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDDD MAKEUP! I may even wear jewelry. Wow. I have cabin fever, can you tell?
We'll be going to the college tonight to see their production of HAIR. Not my favorite, but WHO CARES? I WILL BE OUT! WITH ADULTS! :):):) Dean's girlfriend Kate is coming over to also be babysat (oh, God, did you see the bad grammar!?!?!?) by Brittney. Fun is sure to be had by all.
I'll let you know how it goes.

In other news, Alli is visiting this weekend to pick up her wedding dress (made by Brittney Hunt. She's so talented--sewing AND babysitting! Wow!). For lunch, I served brownies and cheeseball of happiness. Gourmet, that's me.

Freaky Friday!

2008-11-21T20:21:00.004-05:00

What up, peeps!?!? Dean here. (That's how they talk in New York. I was born there, you know.) Today's been an exciting day, so mommy said I could hijack her blog. I was hoping she'd let me blog again during NaNaBloPop or whatever it is y'all are calling this month. I don't get it...all I know is she gets up every morning, feeds me, then puts me in baby jail so she can type while she guzzles many cups of coffee. Whatever floats your boat, mom.

Anyway, we registered our new car today! I liked the DMV. It has good echoes. I think the lady helping us was really impressed with my singing abilities, and especially liked it when I did my high-pitched scream. (All the ladies go for that one.)

I played in my saucer and had some toast while mom did some cleaning, THEN we picked up daddy and went to tour my new daycare! It was nap time when we got there, but a couple of the kids were up. I immediately spotted a big boy (I think he might be 1 already) wearing an I Love New York shirt. I was like, "Hey, Buddy! That's the land of my peeps!" I got down and crawled toward him and he ran away. I chased him, though, so we could be friends. All the teachers seemed really nice and the room was very clean. AND everyone gets their own bed to nap in! I might bring some pictures of monkeys to hang in my bed to give it a little touch of home. They even have this cool table that you can SIT IN (it has built in seats!) to eat lunch! Think of all the surface area I would have there to cover with food! I'll bet they'd be impressed by the way I rub turkey in my hair. I'll have to be sure to show them that trick the very first day! And they have snack time, which is my favorite time of day. I think it'll be a cool place to go while mommy and daddy are at work next semester. Mommy kept telling daddy "See, I didn't even cry!" I don't know why she would cry. That's just weird.

This week, I found a cool new book at our house! Here is a picture of me looking at it.

Mommy says it's from a store called Victoria's Secret and that it's not nice for me to keep looking at it and ESPECIALLY not nice for me to chew on it. She also said I should tell you that this is the picture of the week and you should go to town writing captions. (But don't be dirty because my GRAMMY and PAPA read this blog.)

Later, peeps! Gotta go get my beauty rest. (Because guess who DID NOT HAVE A NAP AT ALL today!?!?) :):):)

I got nothin.

2008-11-20T13:19:00.003-05:00

I'm having a weird day. So, let's play a game, shall we?
Lay it on me: YOUR FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE.

Mine is Glamour magazine. I LOVE Glamour magazine! I started reading it in college. I will never, ever wear high-end designer clothes, but I like to look at them. Glamour has great hair and makeup tips and has recently added a financial advisor to do a column about how to get the most bang for your buck, savings, retirement, etc. They have fun lists like "Top Ten Things each woman should have in her bathroom" and a column written by a "real guy" so we can know how men think (haha) and sad stories about people with illness who triumph thanks to medical technology! They also do neat celebrity interviews and choose the Glamour women of the year and such.

One of my favorite things is "Where has YOUR Glamour been?" which features pictures of women standing on top of the Pyramids in Egypt with the magazine or reading it while scuba diving in the ocean. My friend Kitty and I were all geared up to send in a picture of me in labor reading my Glamour. It was even on the "what to pack" list for my hospital bag (a lot of good that did me...you'll see what I mean if I ever post Dean's birth story). I opened my new issue of the magazine 2 days before I had my baby and wouldn't you know it? Some woman is sitting there hooked up to a fetal monitor, Glamour magazine propped up on her baby belly. She totally stole my idea. And they went on about how cooooooool it was that she brought her Glamour to the delivery room and how they bet she'll be suuuuuuuuch a Glamorous mom. Yeah.

I also enjoy the Fashion Do's and Don'ts. While I was in New York, I was always terrified of ending up on the Don't page, so I paid a little extra attention to what I wore outside my apartment, lest a Glamour photographer be on a stake out for bad fashion at the bakery next door and snap a picture of me in mis-matched yoga pants and a holey sweatshirt. (I have obviously lost this fear since moving to Alabama. If they could see me now, they'd have an entire page of don'ts!)

Anyway, when I get my Glamour, I open it immediately and rip out anything that smells (perfume ads) or is made of cardstock and causes the pages to flip open. Once Dean's in bed, I read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Yay, Glamour.

What is your guilty pleasure?

What's in YOUR purse?

2008-11-19T11:11:00.002-05:00

I admit that I totally stole this idea from Jennifer at Playgroups are no place for children, and she admits to having stolen it from Ali, so there ya go. But it was fun. Let's explore the weird contents of Jen's purse, shall we? (I probably should have taken a picture of my purse, too. It is, as you can see, rather large.)

I have a lot of "normal" purse stuff, like my wallet, my phone, keys, etc., but I was surprised at a few of the things I found. Such as:

*A $50 gift card to Baby Gap that I FORGOT I HAD! One of our NYC neighbors thought Dean was a girl when he was born (?) and bought him a precious little white dress and lacy sweater, which I returned. I got store credit on a gift card and still have not spent it. Looks like Mama's going shopping!

*A sock. My sock. Just one. (bottom right corner) I have no idea.

*3 packs of gum, not a single one in a flavor I enjoy.

*Approximately 398 feminine hygiene products. You know, cause you need that many.

There are also some other more normal (well, normal for me) things like Dean's pig on a ring (Great for entertaining children in the grocery store), my lactaid pills, the little tool and extra links for my Italian charm bracelet, several Dulcolax pills that spilled into the bottom of my purse (leftover from those pesky post-partum days), a makeup sponge, baby nail clippers, my mini-Leatherman multi-tool, one of Dean's books, 2 flavors of hand santizer, 2 kinds of lotion, my "sea bands" which are supposed to help nausea associated with morning sickness or sea-sickness (and which do not work for either---hence the Dramamine), my coupon holder, a keyring with no keys and my business card holder.

So what's in your purse (or wallet) that might be considered out of the ordinary?

(I tried to make the picture bigger so you could see it better, but it kinda turned into a fuzzy mess...woops.)

NOOOO! This is NOT happening now!

2008-11-18T10:18:00.005-05:00

So, my wireless card is dead. At least I think (and hope)that is what's wrong. I cannot seem to connect to the internet on my computer. I tried for 3 hours last night and again this morning. I have finally given in and moved over to Marcus's computer, which is not making me happy. His computer is fine. I even kind of prefer typing on his keyboard. But I miss MY computer. It has my bookmarks and my pictures and a purple background and my shortcuts and it's MINE. Guess Deano and I will be going to Best Buy today to get some help from the Geek Squad. [Speaking of which, did you know that they really drive that silly little car when they come to your house? It's true.] I cannot believe this is happening, especially during NaBloPoMo (or as Marcus calls it, NaNaBloPop).

I had a fun post with a picture for today, but I need my computer to do it. Boo. SO, let's see. What can we do instead? I know, in honor of my mom's birthday (happy birthday, mom!!), let's have everyone tell me about a birthday memory. It could be a cool party you had, a nice gift you received, whatever you'd like to tell us.

One of my favorite birthday memories is from this past year. Dean was about 7 weeks old on my 31st birthday. We'd had a particularly rough night, preceded by an even rougher day. This was around the time we found out that he's a little lactose intolerant, so we were experimenting with different feeding techniques. The doctor had recommended that I only feed him "sensitive" formula (no lactose) for an entire 24 hours to see if that made a difference. I was still nursing at this point, so needless to say, we were both miserable with him on just bottles of new formula. He woke up at 5am, was not too happy when I popped a bottle in his mouth, and half-heartedly ate. After he was done, he burped, spit up, then nuzzled in for a cuddle. Then he looked up and smiled at me. His very first smile. Just for me. On my birthday. Kind of made the fact that I'd only slept 2 hours that week worth it.

You can't look away

2008-11-17T09:39:00.002-05:00

You must visit this blog.

Cake wrecks

As a baker of cakes, I am always nervous about someone "judging" my cakes. After looking at this site for about 2 hours the other night, I have a new confidence in my cakes. My favorites are the ones where people have obviously put on the order form "I want sprinkles" and they write it ON THE CAKE! Check it out. It will make you giggle.

In other news, Dean has grown approximately 3 feet over the weekend and is currently sitting in baby jail with a Victoria's Secret bag on his head. Whatever floats your boat, man.

And the winner is...

2008-11-16T17:45:00.006-05:00

AJU5's Mom!! Yay and congrats. A long time reader, AJU5's mom could probably use some pampering--they are in the middle of a huge home renovation. Email me your address and I'll get your prize in the mail. (Eva, I haven't forgotten about you! I've just been to lazy to go to the P.O.!)
I used random.org to pick the winner. You can roll a virtual die. It's totally fun.

Happy Sunday, everyone. Our weekend was good. My friend Meredith came to stay with Deano and me while Marcus was out of town picking up our car. (Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, new car!) The insurance people, by the way, never showed on Friday to pick up the wrecked car. Color me surprised.

Here are some picture from our weekend.

This is our car, or what's left of it. (Look over to the left. That silver thing sticking into the picture is the bumper.) If they don't pick it up soon, I'm going to decorate it for Christmas.

Dean met Santa. Unfortunately, this picture is better than the ones I bought. We may have to try again. See his cute sweater, though!?!? When I noticed Santa was at the mall (with NO WAITING!), I called Marcus. He said to buy that kid a Christmas sweater and give him to Santa! Meredith and I always have a crazy time together, but add a baby to the mix and hilarity is sure to ensue. Picture, if you will, the two of us shoved into the bathroom at JC Penney changing a wriggling Dean out of his one-piece outfit and into jeans and a sweater. We had an audience by the time it was done. But it was worth it. ;)

Dean also got his first pair of "big boy" shoes from Stride Rite. (We had a gift card from The View.) He went completely insane in the store, probably just happy to be freed from the stroller. He tried to crawl back to the store room. He tried to climb a display. He drooled on the saleslady. But we came out with a cute pair of "pre-walker" shoes that are supposed to help him learn to walk. I like that he doesn't seem to be able to pull them off easily.

Mostly, Dean enjoyed visiting with his Auntie Meredith. I think she likes him a little bit, too. :)

Everyone have a good week!

Five by Five by Five

2008-11-15T08:24:00.002-05:00

There's still time to enter yesterday's caption contest! Just leave your caption in the comments section to be entered in the random drawing for the Beauti Control Herbal Serenity Instant Manicure and Handcream!! Drawing will take place on Sunday. Woo hoo!

Five Things, courtesy of Sheri at www.unexpectedbliss.com .

Five things I was doing 10 years ago (1998)

1. Completing my final year of college.

2. Flirting with my (then future) husband. :)

3. Driving my Dodge Shadow.

4. Wondering what was next

5. Living in a brothel. (5 or more unmarried, unrelated women living under one roof in Louisiana is considered a brothel. Yee Haw.)

Five things on my to do list

1. Make my blog better. Awesome even.

2. Finish my syllabus for next semester’s class.

3. Lose the &*%^$^ baby weight.

4. Get the dishwasher fixed. (*Top Priority)

5. Find a new cell phone service.

Five things I like to snack on

1. Kit Kats

2. Chips and salsa

3. Ruffles and onion dip

4. Twizzlers

5. Pears

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire

1. Pay off all bills

2. Buy a huge hunk of land and move our families there.

3. Buy a house in the Florida Keys

4. Travel all over the place

5. Give, give, give

Five jobs I have had

1. Sno-cone maker (best job EVER)

2. stage manager

3. teacher

4. personal assistant (worst job EVER)

5. Mom (ok, THAT'S the best job EVER)

Caption Contest Friday!

2008-11-14T09:00:00.003-05:00

Here it is, Friday already! Dean and I just dropped Marcus off at the airport and are now chilling at home. He got me up at 4;55am. There will be many naps today.

Today's caption contest features a great prize! My friend Amy, who sells Beauti Control, has donated a great 2 piece set from their Herbal Serenity line. One lucky winner will receive the Show of Hands Instant Manicure and Moisturizer! This stuff is amazing...I own it myself. It makes your hands so smooth and shiny! All you have to do to be entered in the random drawing is leave a comment in the form of a caption for this lovely picture:

That's my husband, Marcus. Yeah.

Have a great weekend!

My birthday's in 3 months, for those keeping count

2008-11-13T11:03:00.006-05:00

I have apparently lost the ability to cook overnight. Last night, I made dinner. Sure it was a simple menu, but I worked in a new chicken batter (salt-free, no less!) and made sure we had a green vegetable and such. This morning, I got up with Dean at 5:47 (imagine that in all-caps, if that were possible with numbers) and made strong coffee and cereal. As I sat down to eat my Cheerios, Dean made me a little present in his diapee, so off we went to change. By the time I got back to my bowl, the cereal was icky and soggy, so I tossed it. And, of course, that was the last of the box. I wanted to make cookies, but just couldn't justify having those for breakfast. Dean fell asleep at 7:30 and I went and got back into bed. Marcus grunted at me. I told him I wanted cookies. He said he did, too, so I went and put some in the oven. (we got some of the break-apart ones that you just pop in and bake.) I burned the bottoms. Once Marcus went to work (early, by the way, probably so he could stop and get something edible on his way to class), I decided to make eggs. I don't know what I did, but they were a weird texture. I give up. I do, however, think this is a sign that I should go to Chik Fil A for lunch. ;D

Marcus leaves tomorrow morning to fly to DC to pick up our "New" car. His dad is letting us take his 2004 Honda Accord because he just got a snazzy 09 model. We are SO excited! He'll pick it up and start driving home Saturday, stopping to spend the night with his grandparents in Knoxville. I HATE it when Marcus is not with us, but I'm not as bummed this weekend because Meredith is coming! I haven't seen her since March when she and her husband came to NYC for a visit. Many of you will remember Meredith from previous blogs about how I almost ruined her wedding by becoming pregnant right before the big day and how I nearly put out people's eyes by shoving my already-swelling-newly-pregnant body into my bridesmaid's dress. Seriously, if I had been a minute more pregnant, we would have had to go to the mall to find me something else to wear. Anyway, good times are sure to ensue. I think we're going to the Galleria. Just for sport, I'm going to let her be in charge of dressing Dean all weekend. Maybe between the two of us, we can get his diaper on without breaking a sweat.

Be sure to check back tomorrow, when my blog will hopefully be more inspired and entertaining, and when there will be a new caption contest with a randomly awarded PRIZE!!!!!!!!!

Some fun things my little boy has done this week

2008-11-12T08:15:00.012-05:00

Taken this picture of me, which, except for the fact that I have no mouth or chin, ain't too shabby.

Ridden in a duffle bag. You know, because the 2 million and 20 toys scattered on our floor are just not enough to hold his attention sometimes.

Ok, this picture does not do justice to what happened here. Somehow, Dean's right leg ended up in the left leg of his PJs and the right leg was just kind of hanging over to the side. I have no idea what's going on at the top, but it kinda looks like a toga.

Become obsessed with (and fearless about) the stairs. He crawls to them all the time and tries to climb. We finally had to build a barricade. And yes, we sang a song from Les Miz while we built it. Because we are JUST THAT GOOFY!

Done a little light reading. See the red thing? It's his new "book rack." (see the proper use of quotation marks there, by the way?) It's really a magazine rack, but I got it for 68 CENTS at the Target dollar spot to keep his books for him. And he dumps it out. And swims in the sea of books. And it is precious and makes me oh, so proud that he would rather look at books than do almost anything else these days.

Fallen asleep on his daddy. In bizarre positions.

Cheered for the Crimson Tide against LSU. He said overtime makes him nervous.

Played in the leaves. Which makes him super happy and giggly.

Worn cute old-man-style Spiderman flannel PJs. And apparently begun practicing yoga.

How's your week going?

Common annoyances and other unusual problems

2008-11-11T15:03:00.004-05:00

Even though I'm in a good mood today, I think I'll do a list of pet-peeves. Heather recently did one on her blog, so I'll follow suit.

Dean is happily standing in his new and improved baby jail holding on with one hand , flinging toys with the other and sporting new, snazzy Spiderman flannel PJ pants, so I think I have time to post!

STUFF THAT AGGRAVATES ME:
1. The misuse of quotation marks. This must be a problem for others, too, because there is a whole blog devoted to it. I read this blog for hours on Sunday and it had me laughing so hard I cried.

2. The fact that the site of my epidural STILL HURTS from time to time, even ten months after it was administered. Other moms (or people who have had spinal anesthesia), do you have this problem? You know, though, even though this pain flares up from time to time, I am still SO glad I had that epidural!!!

3. Stepping in gum. Didn't your mom teach you to save the wrapper to spit it in!?!? I mean, really.

4. The fact that Dean WILL NOT keep socks on his feet for more than 10 minutes at a time. His little toes felt like ice when he got up from his (short) nap today.

5. The word "playdate."

6. The fact that my feet do not reach the ground on airplanes, at the movies, in restaurant booths or even now, on my own couch.

7. My dishwasher is broken. GRRRRRRRRRR. Mama no like dishpan hands...

8. College students who think they know more than me. This is particularly challenging when you, uh, teach college.

9. When my mother says "nourishing." This has always irked me. I think she does it on purpose sometimes. (She is now leaving a comment using that word. Look for it.)

10. People looking at and remarking about my food when I'm the only one in the room eating. This used to happen a lot with a woman I worked with. She was a total foodie but was on Weight Watchers, so she would hover just over my shoulder and sniff at my food. It totally grossed me out and I'm pretty sure I lost more weight than she did because of it.

11. Earwax. Bleh.

12. Unsweetened iced tea. I have tried, believe me I have. But the southerner in me will win every time. Put some sugar in that stuff!

13. One-sided friendships. I hate these. I have lost 3 good friends (or people I thought were good friends) as a result of one-sided friendships. Here's what I've learned: You can only give so much.

14. Yo Gabba Gabba.
Go ahead. Watch the video. Tell me you're not scared. DEAN LOVES THIS SHOW.

15. I covered this in my 100 things list, but I feel it merits mention in this one, too. I HATE when people spell things with a K that should be spelled with a C. (Krunchy Krispies, Kountry Kitchen, etc.) The only exception is Krispy Kremes, because they are JUST THAT GOOD!

Ok, enough of that. Lists are always fun. I think this one was really prompted by the epidural site hurting because MAN does it hurt today.

On a brighter note, Dean and I went to play with the play group for the first time today and had a swell time making new friends. It has thrown our nap and eating schedule off for the day, but who cares, right? (Ask me again at 8pm...)

One's trash is another's treasure

2008-11-10T13:03:00.011-05:00

This is the most unbelievable thing to happen to me since I was on THE VIEW last year and got hooked up with a million awesome baby prizes.
Last night our friend Jason called. He was so excited that he was out of breath. The conversation went a little like this:
JJ (his initials): JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! Our neighbors just threw away a bunch of baby stuff!
ME: Oh, cool!
JJ: No, you don't understand, it's a BUNCH of baby stuff!
ME: Oh?
JJ: We just brought up 6 bags for Kate (their daughter) and we aren't going to have to buy clothes for her for 2 years! We pulled out about 60 outfits for Dean. I'm bringing them over!
ME: Holy cow!
JJ: There are also 2 car seats, 2 swings, a diaper genie, a BRAND NEW Graco high chair and some toys!
ME: WHAT!!? They didn't want Salvation Army to come get them? They'll pick it up!
JJ: I KNOW! I asked and they were throwing it out with their trash! I'm coming over!
ME: Why aren't you here yet!??!

Well, it was better than he said. We have over 50 new outfits that Dean can either wear now or grow into. We have like-new stuff in newborn sizes that I can pass along to my friends TJ and Amy who are expecting a girl baby (eeeeek!) in May. We have a NEW GRACO HIGHCHAIR! I mean, look at this:

My bed is covered with baby clothes! (Please do not judge ugly bedspread---we are waiting for the really cool comforter we like to go on sale...)
And some of these have designer labels on them! I didn't know people bought designer clothes for their children! There is a Polo shirt for a 12 month old! Look!

It's the Polo horsey! (No idea why this picture will not be right-side up.)
There were also shoes:

Spit rags (and who couldn't use more of those, right?)

This cool swaddling blanket, which will go to TJ and Amy's baby (lotsa luck figuring out how to use this, y'all!)

And even 3 Halloween costumes of the Elmo, Pumpkin and Tigger variety.
(No idea why Elmo insists on only posting upside down. My pictures have a mind of their own today...espcially the ones of red items...)

But the best part? THE EXTENDER PACK FOR OUR PLAYARD! We had already planned on buying this next month when the money tree blooms again and were making-do with the playard as a hexagon. ("Playard" still looks misspelled, doesn't it?) We dreamed of a square playard and only needed the two-piece extender pack to make it happend. Jason walked in and said "Here's two weird looking baby gates." And I almost passed out. I screamed for Marcus, who was burning pancakes in the kitchen. He came down and went "Is that the extender pack?" Then we did a little happy dance and now Jason probably thinks we're nuts. (or did until we explained. Then he was totally excited, too. He didn't dance though.)
Behold square baby jail:

Dean is very excited about his new, expanded play space. Perhaps that is why he refused to go down for his nap until 11:19. ELEVEN NINETEEN, PEOPLE! He better sleep for 3 hours...

Anyway, yesterday was certainly an unexpected blessing. It was like Christmas around here. I spent the morning washing all the new baby duds, so the house smells like Dreft. (not a bad thing...better than burned pancakes.)
Hope everyone's having a good Monday!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

2008-11-09T12:32:00.005-05:00

The alternate title of this post should be "If you can follow this, you deserve a cookie." Because, my friends, I have had a cortisone shot. And I'm gooooooooffffffffyyyyyyyyyy! I have been battling my allergies since moving back to Alabama. (Amazing what 4 years in a city with very little grass will do to your sinuses!) Things are blooming and pollen is swarming and my poor throat has been scratchy for a week. Dean woke up hungry at 4am and I realized then that my throat and right ear HURT. Fearing tonsilitis or strep, I high-tailed it to the walk-in doctor's office this morning and was second in line when they opened. After blood work and a strep test, it was determined that I have a viral infection. The doctor asked if I'd like a cortisone shot to help me feel better and I immediately said "YES!" You see, the cortisone shot and I have a long, swell history. Growing up in Louisiana, my allergies were AWFUL. My ENT doctor once told me I had the worst sinus problems he'd ever seen. I took allergy shots for 12 years, 11 of those years giving them to myself. (That sounds grammatically wrong, but I don't care! I"m goooooooofffffffyyyyyy!) When I would go in with a really bad infection, he'd pop me with a cortisone shot and by the time I got home, I was already starting to feel better. I am happy to report that my throat is already feeling much better and I haven't coughed in 2 hours. My right buttock, however, is another story. ;0

While in the waiting room at the dr.'s office, I listened to an 8 year old explain to her mom why they should use the walk-in clinic as her primary doctor because the place was much cleaner and quieter than her pediatrician's office. I also heard her (on the other side of the "triage curtain") correct her mother when she told the nurse what dosage of Tylenol she'd been giving the little girl. She was also able to recite her own drug allergies and knew exactly when her last immunizations were. I wish I were that together at 7:45 on a Sunday morning. When they asked me if I'd had any surgeries, I answered "no" then remembered "Oh, yeah, I had a C-SECTION in January!" The nurse was like "Hm, that's a big one!" Yeah. Oops...

Does medicine make you loopy? I was so high when I got my wisdom teeth out that I begged them to give me my teeth (which they did in a little pill bottle...which may still be at my mom's house), then giggled all the way down the hall before passing out cold in my dad's car.

I'm gonna go play with Dean now. His toys seem extra cool to me right now.
Have a good week!

To upgrade or not to upgrade?

2008-11-08T08:24:00.003-05:00

First of all, let me commend all of you on your FUNNY captions yesterday! I think I'll make this a weekly thing. I even got all creative yesterday and got some PRIZES donated! Look at me go. From now on, if you leave a caption, you'll be entered in a random drawing (translation: Marcus will draw a name out of a hat) to win the coveted prize.
This week, however, I have to declare a winner based on what I found to be the funniest comment. And the winner is.....Eva at Surprised Suburban Wife! Her comment really captured our family's sense of humor. I laughed out loud. Really hard. My husband, who claims he doesn't read my blog OR laugh out loud, was sitting at his computer and started to giggle. I looked at him, shocked, and he said "This is the comment that should win."
So congrats, Eva! Email me your address--I've got a little happy for you and Megan!

Ok, enough with the italics already. I really got into reading blogs while I was pregnant. A few of my friends kept them before that and I started mine a couple of years ago as a way for friends to keep up with Marcus and me while we were in WV for the summer, but I didn't become the blog freak that I am today until I discovered the wonderful ones on Parents.com while gestating. Those led me to a few of their bloggers' personal sites, which led me to others through the comments section, and so on. For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to Typepad. I'd like to ask for that to be a Christmas gift from Marcus (it's a paid service). The features are attractive to me and I feel like it might help me generate more traffic and give my blog a little more personality. I also want to ditch the "marcusandjenlane" part of my blog address, since I've done an overhaul and made this blog my own, rather than just a family record. I'd love to have "heyyall.com" be my address. I have considered doing Typepad's free 14 day trial, but it seems like a real hassle to direct everyone over there, then possibly back over here if I end up not being happy with it. Plus, I'm no internet whiz (shocking, I know!), so 14 days is probably not long enough for me to get everything situated like I'd want to.

Anyone out there use Typepad? Do you love it? Give me some feedback. Others who are on Blogger, are there features I am not using to the best of my abilities? Should I stick around here?

Hope everyone has a peachy weekend! I will be leaving in a few hours with Heather and Auntie M for a GIRLS' DAY! Oh, Lord, how I need a girls' day...

Caption Contest!

2008-11-07T11:51:00.006-05:00

I should have thought about this before now. How about once a week during NaBloPoMo we do a caption contest!?!? That'll be fun. I have lots of pictures we an use. I'll try to get more creative and organized for next week and give away an actual prize, but this week, your prize will be a big ol' cyber hug from yours truly. (And really, who doesn't want THAT!?!?)

Leave your caption in the comments section. Be sure to check back to read others' captions.
Happy Friday!

This is me last Christmas, approximately 6000 months pregnant. That's our nephew Adam. Have at it!

Is it really only day 6?

2008-11-06T10:21:00.004-05:00

So, yeah. I have a list of things to post here during NaBloPoMo, and at the top of that list is Dean's birth story. You know, since he's ten months old and I still haven't written it? Yeah. I had planned to post it today, but my writing is taking longer than I'd expected. I'm only up to the epidural, and that's a really, really good part, so I don't want to rush. ;) It's coming, I promise.

Instead, how about a recipe!?!? OR 2 even! The holidays are coming up, so if you're anything like me you are looking for new, yummy things to put on your table. Here's one for corn casserole. My friend Daniel introduced me to this yumminess and my mom perfected the recipe by adding cheese. (Cause really, what's not better with CHEESE!?!?) Warning: This is not a low-fat recipe, but the holidays are not a low-fat time. Especially in the deep south.

CORN CASSEROLE:
2 cans white shoepeg corn (It does actually make a difference what kind you use!)
1 16-oz container sour cream (use low-fat or fat free if it helps you sleep at night)
3 strips bacon (here we go)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
black pepper
shredded cheese (It's especially good with cheddar or colby jack)

Fry bacon. Remove from pan. Add onions to bacon grease. Sautee until clear and tender. Place corn, sour cream, black pepper (to taste) and cooked onion into large bowl and mix together. Pour into casserole dish (my 9 X 9 brownie pan works quite well for this recipe, though you can also use a plastic Gladware container if you'd rather microwave it or if you plan to re-heat soon.) Top with bacon crumbles, then cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted OR microwave approximately 3 minutes, until cheese is melted. Serve and enjoy!

And now the recipe you've all been waiting for. Among my circle of friends, it's called "The Ball of Happiness." It's a home-made cheese ball that will knock your socks off. It's SO easy to make, but tastes AMAZING!

Cheese Ball of Happiness :)
2-8oz. blocks of cream cheese (set out to let it soften, but DO NOT microwave!)
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dip/dressing mix
Seasoned pepper (Can be found in your spice aisle--I prefer Lawry's)

Wash hands. Place softened cream cheese and Ranch mix into a bowl. Mix by hand until ranch is evenly distributed throughout the cheese, then roll into a ball. Pour seasoned pepper over ball to coat. Place on a plate and DIG IN!
This will change your life.

Hope you enjoy these! Feel free to share a recipe with me in your comments! I do love the food.

10 whole months

2008-11-05T11:28:00.016-05:00

My baby boy is ten months old today. Let's reminisce, shall we?

Waiting...

Here he is!

Six days old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old! Daddy and Mommy love you, Dean!

Rock the vote OR Seasons change

2008-11-04T07:52:00.008-05:00

Get out there and do it!

Betcha think today's post is going to be about voting and politics. WRONG! It's not that I don't care or have lots of thoughts on those subjects, I just don't intend to use my blog as a place to display those thoughts. I think it comes from living in NYC for so long (and during the last election) where people would come up to you on the street and scream at you about their political views. I happily filled out my absentee ballot last month in a room alone and am looking forward to avoiding the polls today!

I have seasonal nostalgia, y'all. Every time the seasons change, I get a little yearning feeling in my heart for places I've lived before. Fall is the worst. I miss Ithaca, NY, where I lived for three years. It was the first place I experienced what I would consider a "real" fall. Having only lived in the south until I moved there, I had never even owned a scarf. It was like a new world was opened up to me when I moved up there and experienced Apple Fest, colored leaves that seemed to explode on the trees overnight, crisp fall mornings and the like. I even had these feelings about Ithaca when I moved to NYC. On the other hand, when living in NYC, I would always get really excited when Christmastime rolled around. (More excited than usual, if you can imagine that!) I can't even describe how much fun it was to walk through the streets I'd always seen on TV and see them decked out for the holidays. The tree at Rockefeller Center, the Unicef Snowflake across 5th Avenue (which my friend Matthew called the "Unisex" snowflake), Macy's window displays, giant wreaths, musical light shows inside the Time Warner Center, the tree at Lincoln Center and the Christmas music pumping through speakers on Steinway Street in Queens are just a few of the things I'll miss seeing first-hand this year. When living up north, I always got really nostalgic for the south when the seasons changed to warmer weather. I love summertime in the south, even the blazing heat. There's nothing like a small-town 4th of July or a Southern Easter with a picnic. I hope I'm always able to embrace these feelings, as I think they keep me connected to where I have been and help remind me how I got to where I am today.

You are miiiiiiiiiiine! Myyyyyyyy mooooommmmyyyyyyyy! You will do what I say because I have cast a spell on you with my cuteness! Gimme Cheeeeeeeerrrriiiiiiiiooooooooooooooos!

It's a good place to be.

**Don't forget that Starbuck's will give you free coffee if you go in and tell them you voted! Certain Ben and Jerry's locations will also give you a free scoop! Yay, America!

100 things

2008-11-03T09:04:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to do one of these for a while, so here ya go!

I was born in Jackson, Mississippi.
My birthday is the day before Valentine’s Day.
I don’t like Valentine’s Day.
I especially don’t like it when people wrap my birthday gifts in Valentine’s paper.
I DO like Valentine’s candy.
But not as much as I like my friend Pam’s home-made Christmas candy.
My parents have been married for over 30 years.
They were young when they had me.
They have been the perfect example of love, support and marriage.
I met my husband in college.
I was engaged to someone else at the time.
The first thing I ever said to my husband was “Man I’m tired of hearing about you.” (One of our friends had been talking about his coooool new friend Marcus for MONTHS.)
My favorite color is purple.
Not lavender, purple.
In pre-school, I would get angry if we didn’t get to color something purple each day.
My favorite toys growing up were my Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
I called them my “Little Dolls.” (Abbreviated LDs.)
The first thing I did was undress them and cut their hair into a Mohawk.
Each had an intricate backstory, all of which I remembered.
I don’t remember them now.
I should have written them down.
I had a Hello Kitty diary when I was little.
Its name was Roxy.
I named it so it would be like I was writing to a friend.
I no longer keep a diary.
I keep a blog instead.
I was on the dance team in high school, the Bronco Belles.
It was one of the happiest times of my life.
And the thinnest.
Gaaaaaah, my legs looked great back then.
Yours would too if you high-kicked four hours a day.
I grew up outside Baton Rouge in a town called Zachary.
We had 2 stoplights.
My husband calls me Monkey Butt.
I’ve always dreamed of being a mom.
My little boy is better than I could ever have imagined.
I didn’t like his name, Dean, when my husband first suggested it.
If he had been a girl, we would have named him Olivia Faith.
My great-grandpa’s name was Pervie Lester.
We will not be naming any offspring after him.
My strongest pregnancy craving was mandarin oranges.
I went to college to major in musical theatre.
I ended up a stage manager.
I made the right choice.
I have done 2 Broadway shows.
They were truly a dream come true.
I never dreamed I would live in NYC.
I LOVED living in NYC.
I did NOT love riding the subway at night or paying high rent.
I lived across from an Italian deli.
I would kill for some of their balsamic ravioli salad right now.
I am super-picky about grammar.
I proof-read all important things my husband writes.
He is not picky about grammar.
Bono is my fantasy boyfriend.
I totally have a crush on John Clayton, the dorky little man who does injury reports on ESPN. He is my sports boyfriend.
I REALLY love coffee.
Especially hazelnut coffee.
I do not like French Vanilla coffee.
I have polycystic kidney disease.
And high blood pressure.
My mom has it, too.
She had a transplant in December 2007.
Her donor, Bradley, is my hero.
He has red hair and doesn’t eat anything green.
I love vegetables, especially home-grown ones.
I like to buy produce on the side of the road.
I never had braces.
My eyes are two different colors.
The only foreign country I’ve ever been to is Poland.
I have no desire to go back to Poland.
I went there to produce a show at a theatre festival.
I ate at McDonald’s so I could order a Royale with cheese.
After getting my Master of Fine Arts degree, I moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Ithaca, New York.
I had never seen snow before.
I also did not own a “real” winter coat.
I bought a parka. It was a good move.
I love moo cows.
I have texture issues with raw tomatoes.
I hate olives. My husband, unfortunately, loves them.
I was 6 weeks pregnant when I served as Matron of Honor in my friend Meredith’s wedding.
If I had been a minute more pregnant, my dress would not have zipped.
I have switched to Coke Zero.
I could eat pizza or pasta every single day.
When I was in labor and on Demerol, I drunk-dialed my mom.
I hate mayonnaise.
I am a good baker.
My Texas Sheet Cake will make you slap your mama.
I enjoy “Your Mom” jokes. A lot. (Your Mom’s a lot!)
I find vacuuming to be the most satisfying chore.
I get along really well with my mother in law.
I love SEC football.
My all-time favorite TV show is Sports Night.
I pronounce my name “Gin” due to my southern accent. It has 2 syllables when I say it.
No one vomits alone in my presence.
I hate when people spell things with a K that should be spelled with a C. (Example: Kountry Kitchen or Kiddie Kandids.) The exception to this rule is Krispy Kreme donuts.
I don’t like peanut butter cookies.
I want a pug dog.
I can’t wait to start teaching again.
I actually had fun filling this out!

Musings of a first-time mom

2008-11-02T11:31:00.004-05:00

Here are some things I've learned about parenthood this week:

*When you know the time change is coming, start training your kid to go to bed later BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE the change happens! You don't even want to know what it was like trying to get Dean to stay up til 9 last night. He finally just gave out at 8:35. We didn't even finish Goodnight Moon.

*I think he's allergic to Pampers. We bought a gigantic box of them at a too-good-to-pass-up sale at our grocery store (of course) and since we started using them exclusively, he has his first-ever diaper rash. EW. Anyone need some size 3 Pampers?

*While the baby may enjoy a couple of bites of peach cobbler, make sure you know the consequences of feeding said baby said cobbler. Can you say W-I-L-D sugar high?

*Getting up at 6 am means you are ready for lunch by 9. This is not good, especially if it's 2 days after Halloween and you have an entire bag of Reese's and Kit Kats and 5 popcorn balls in your kitchen.

*Right before Dean is going to pee on me when I'm changing his diaper, he makes this weird little grunt sound. This is information I wish I'd discovered before this week.

*Kids these days ARE lazier than we were at their age. What proof do I have? As Dean mentioned in yesterday's post, we got rolled Halloween night. And it's the WORST TP job I've ever seen! I guess they were nervous or something because it's just kind of tossed over a branch or two. Marcus just laughed and said "Man, when I was rolling houses, we made sure you couldn't see a leaf on the tree!" Come on, teens of 2008. If you're gonna do it, do it up right.

*The guilt you think you will feel accepting trick or treat candy for your 9 month old child quickly goes away when they break out the mini Oreos.

*We need to contain Dean. He is waaaaay too interested in the bricks on the fireplace and the buttons on the cable box, not to mention all wires, plugs, stairs and doorstops. He is crawling faster than ever, which prompted us to buy him a playard. I think it should be spelled "play yard," but what do I know? Anyway, the reviews were good and they showed pictures of 3 toddlers playing in one together, so it's much bigger than it looks in the picture. It will keep our cable box safe, hopefully keep our child from banging his head into bricks or eating wires, and give him a cool place to play. He will only stay in his exersaucer for a few minutes at a time these days and I think he's about a minute away from learning how to escape from the pack n play. I'll let you know how the playard works out.

*It is not easy to get sweet potatoes out of your channel-set diamond wedding band.

*I cannot depend on my husband to tell me if I have applesauce on my face or formula stains on my shirt before we go to Target.

*My almost-ten-month-old now officially looks like a little boy to me and not a baby, unless he's in the tub. Nakedness seems to make him appear smaller.

Let's give this a whirl!

2008-11-01T10:39:00.019-04:00

Well, howdy, everyone! Deano the Bambino here. I discovered the other day that some of my mom's blog friends have babies my age (or younger! Gasp!) who have already done guest spots on their blogs, so I figure it's high time I write my first guest post!
Yesterday was a very peculiar day. When I woke up, Mommy and Daddy gave me this pumpkin (which I'd already found and played with last week, but they don't need to know that!)

They kept telling me to look inside, but I was a little leery...

Finally, I gave in.

And scored myself a brand new book! (I can turn pages, you know.)

After a nice day of napping, playing in the yard and visiting my cool Halloween decorations,

Mommy said it was time to pick up Daddy and go tricker treating. (am I spelling that right??????? I'm just a baby...)

My friend Kate brought her Mama and Papa and we hit downtown Montevallo, where all the businesses were passing out treats. Mommy and Daddy said it was a perfect reminder why we moved back to the south. (Where were we before? Did I miss something? I have a very short-term memory...)

Isn't Kate soooooooooooo pretty in her Tinkerbell costume?

I do love the older women...

We scored lots of neat treats, like cookies, candy and freezie pops. I don't really go for freezie pops, so Kate ate mine.

She even color-coordinated them with her outfit!

After dinner, we headed to Auntie M's and saw Chase in his Viking costume.

Back at home, some kids in costumes knocked on our door and Mommy gave them candy. It only took her three times to figure out that she needed to take me to the door with her so I wouldn't COMPLETELY FREAK OUT. You know, because if she leaves my sight for a second she might never come back oh my gooooooooooooooooooosh, where's my mommyyyyyyyyy?????????? :)
I proceeded to pass out around 7:30 from all the excitement.

But the excitement didn't end there! When we woke up this morning, Daddy went outside and discovered that someone had decorated our trees!

Wasn't that nice of them!?!? They must know we're new to the neighborhood...

All in all, I enjoyed my first Halloween, but I hope Mommy doesn't try to dress me up like a monkey again today. It's awful hot in that costume.
Later, peeps!

****************************************************************
PS from Jen L.:
Hey, y'all! Hope you enjoyed Dean's first guest post. I fear there will be more in our future.
I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), which means I'll be posting a blog each day in November. Be sure to check back often!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:36:00.003-04:00

Have you ever seen a cuter little monkey? Hope your Halloween's a happy one!

Moooooooooom, can I take it off now?
No.
How 'bout now?
No, son, it's only 7:45am and I fully intend for you to sleep in that tonight.

Maybe he can fix our dishwasher

2008-10-29T08:51:00.001-04:00

I think Dean may have a future career as a plumber.

Can't help loving that man of mine

2008-10-27T21:44:00.002-04:00

I have to tell you that I originally wrote this post yesterday (and it was brilliant! Brilliant, I say!) but it was sucked into the black hole of the internet by some kind of freak keystroke error, so here's my second, less brilliant shot. Boo.

It's funny how things change over the years. It's even funnier how they stay exactly the same. Marcus and I are still essentially newlyweds, but we have a ten-year history together, so sometimes the past peeks around a corner and reminds us of where we came from. Back then when we were just starting to "spark" as we say in the south, we were so pre-occupied with things that seem so trivial now. He would always make sure his long hair was freshly washed when he knew he'd be seeing me because he knew I liked the smell of his shampoo. I would wear green a lot because it's his favorite color (even though it does NOTHING for my skin tone). When living in NY, Marcus would do sweet things like making sure I had an umbrella or a metro card and I'd make sure the fridge was stocked with Coca-Cola and sharp cheddar cheese. When I was pregnant, he would take me to the diner at 11pm to satisfy a craving for a reuben, which must have disgusted him. (Ever seen a pregnant woman devour sauerkraut in the middle of the night? It ain't pretty.) I once chopped olives for him. I HATE olives. But he loves them and I love him, so there ya go. Since Dean's come along, we've become quite the team of care-takers and playmates.

Yesterday, Dean was sick. He had a cough and some sinus drainage and was really lethargic all day. He woke up from one of many naps and I tried to feed him a little lunch. He didnt' really eat much, so I put him on my lap on the couch and gave him a couple of Cheerios. Marcus had just made his lunch and was sitting down next to us to eat. Suddenly without warning, Dean started vomitting. I've never seen a baby throw up like that. It JUST KEPT COMING. It poured out of him over and over. And you don't even get the courtesy of a gag. It JUST KEEPS COMING. On me, on the couch, all over the place. Marcus calmly set his sandwich aside and ran for a towel, while it JUST KEPT COMING all over me. He put Dean in the bathtub and got him cleaned up while I peeled my clothes off and cleaned the couch. (thank GOD we got the microfiber sofa!) Once things had calmed down, I went into the bathroom to check on Dean and Marcus turned around, met my eyes and flashed me a smile. There I stood, half dressed, covered in baby vomit and sporting a nasty cold sore on my lip (YOW) and there he sat soaked with bath water, little baby hands clinging to his collar and hair, yet we were giving each other the same look as we have so many times before. It's that smile that reminds me how much he "gets it." He understands exactly what I'm thinking so much of the time and all it takes is that look to let me know we are on the same wavelength. I saw it when we were dating and it told me "I think you're cool." I saw it on our wedding day and it said "I'm so happy you're my wife." I saw it when I was in labor and it said "I wish I could take away the pain." (fortunately the epidural man took care of that one.) I saw it the first time we held Dean and it said "Look at what we have!" And I saw it yesterday. It said "Wow, baby vomit is gross. And there's some in your hair."

I'm sure we have many vomit-filled days in our future, not to mention other nasty things. It's so comforting to know that we can look through the sludge and still see each other.

Vacation, all I ever wanted

2008-10-23T14:52:00.003-04:00

You know how sometimes you say you need a vacation at home? I got one! (more or less) My mom and dad brought Dean and me home with them this week to Oxford, MS, where we have been loved and pampered since our arrival. I have had 2 consecutive FULL NIGHTS OF SLEEP! I feel like a new person. I've only had to drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning to get going! And Dean? He's in the lap of luxury! He has his Grammy and Papa to entertain him so mommy can do things like work on her syllabus for next semester's classes and SLEEP!

My grandmother declared my wardrobe unfit and sent me shopping with her Belk credit card. Y'all...I bought a whole new wardrobe. And everything fits! It's not "Oh, I'll buy this six dollar pair of pants just to get me through until I lose five more pounds." It's clothes that fit my body now. And they are CUTE. And my shoes are not from Payless! I even sprung for new underthings. I'll post pictures soon.

It's been a good few days. Aside from the SLEEP, I've gotten to spend good, quality time with my mom, dad and grandmother, see lots of old friends, show Dean off to everyone, and I FINALLY got to meet Bradley, my mom's kidney donor! He's tall and red-headed. Dean loved him. It was great to finally get a chance to meet him and his wife, Nicole and give them both a big hug. I only cried on him a little, which I'm sure he appreciated.

Dean has been HYPER since we arrived and got so excited the other night that he spit up peas on me and my mom's white bedspread. Nice. He loves playing peek-a-boo with his Papa and his Grammy has taken excellent care of him at night. (So I can SLEEP!)

We'll be heading home on Saturday, so you'll hear more from me then. Right now, I'm going to get another fresh-baked cookie and cup of coffee. Because my mommy loves me. ;)

Yes, but it's MY rut...

2008-10-13T22:13:00.004-04:00

What I have had to eat in the past 2 days:
Yesterday:
Coffee
Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
V8 Fusion
3 meatballs in a bowl with marinara sauce and cheese
Coke Zero
Turkey sandwich on sourdough with lacey swiss, honey mustard and lettuce
a few Ruffles chips
Pibb Zero (like Coke Zero, only Pibb! Who knew? It's so good! And on sale even! ! )
Water

Today
Coffee
Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
V8 Fusion
Water
Turkey sandwich on sourdough with lacey swiss, honey mustard and lettuce
a few Ruffles chips
Coke Zero
Turkey sandwich on sourdough with lacey swiss, honey mustard and lettuce
a few Ruffles chips
Pibb Zero

We see a pattern, yes? I was going to make a pizza for dinner (I'm a dang GOURMET, I tell ya), but Marcus and I got caught up digging through still-packed boxes trying to find the Netflix movies we brought with us from NYC and still have not watched. (Still haven't found them, by the way) As we did this, we decided to eat sandwiches (again) in shifts so someone could entertain Dean while the other dug through boxes. We only stopped for a minute to put a Band-aid on Dean's finger when he somehow managed to tear his little cuticle. He didn't even tell us, he just started bleeding on everything. Ever put a Band-aid on a 9 month old? Well, DON'T. They try to EAT them. Should have known that one...

My plans for tomorrow include getting an estimate to repair our car, dusting and eating something that's NOT turkey and lacey swiss. I'm out of sourdough bread anyway.

PS: For those who are interested (and some of you are! You are goobers like me!) the Publix penny item this week was Chex Mix. A whole bag of Chex Mix for a penny! Woo hoo!

Next year we're getting fireman hats

2008-10-11T15:57:00.013-04:00

Today was the annual Fire Prevention Parade in Montevallo. It is a TRIP! All the fire trucks in the entire county come to town and parade down Main Street blasting their sirens, flashing their lights, throwing candy and waving to the crowd. There were about 50 trucks in this year's line-up and they held everyone from the mayor to local Girl Scouts. Marcus and I were really excited. This is the reason we moved back to the to the south--community-wide events. (And SEC football, of course) After a quick bite at McDonald's (we went there solely to collect Monopoly pieces--the annual McMonopoly game has started!), we rolled Dean's stroller out to the sidewalk and waited for the parade to start. Dean found a girl baby to flirt with and seemed really excited about whatever was coming.

(Hey, look! Jen posed for a picture! Pay no mind to her lack of make-up...)
Suddenly, we heard the sound of a drum line and soon, the Montevallo High School marching band, majorettes, dance team and flag corps came marching down the street.

That's the ENTIRE band. If you didn't believe we lived in a small town before, betcha do now! We have seen the band practicing on the field a couple of times and we noticed how few people there were. I told Marcus "Oh, maybe they're practicing in sections." Not so much. At least everyone's marching on the right foot.
Soon, we heard the squeal of sirens. Make that the deafening squeal of sirens. And horns. It was really fun, but I worried that Dean would be scared. He seemed un-phased by the loud sounds, so I held him close, putting a hand over his ear when the noise got really loud. Marcus took some great pictures and caught a good amount of candy.

The parade started with this cool vintage engine, incidentally driven by one of the nice fire and rescue guys who checked Dean and me out after our wreck on Tuesday. It was followed by several Volswagons from the Montevallo Volswagon Club. Yes, we have a Volswagon Club, complete with "Sweet Pickles Buses" as we used to call them.

We call that one "Roll Tide Bug." Anyway, there were a ton of very cool trucks. Marcus was having a blast. He grew up in a family full of firefighters, so this parade really hit home for him.

Marcus wants the boat.

This image made Marcus and me cry. We are sappy.
At about this point in the parade, I noticed Dean had laid his head on my shoulder and started to relax. I turned him so Marcus could see his face and...

ASLEEP. Never mind the BLARING SIRENS, HONKING HORNS and crazy children running around screaming. Can you tell he's a former New Yorker?

All in all, it's a cool event, completely unique to Montevallo. After the parade, we went over to Orr Park where they had booths set up selling everything from Tupperware to shaved ice (yes, I got one!). The local drug store was giving out free shopping bags full of loot. Ours contained Alabama Lip Balm (Roll Tide!), an energy drink, a calendar, some magnets, about 20 individual packets of Excedrin, some candy and a Slim Jim (the sausage stick, not the thing you use to unlock your car). It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning in our new home town.

Dean remains unimpressed.

If ya can't beat em, join em

2008-10-09T08:15:00.002-04:00

I started blog entries 3 times yesterday and ended up ditching all of them due to lack of interest (from me). I've already told you everything Dean can do, and after talking to not one but two claims adjusters, I have no desire to talk about my wreck again. EVER. SO, I'll take it as a sign that several (like, a weird, uncanny amount) of my favorite bloggers wrote about music in one form or another over the past few days. I cannot tell you my absolute favorite song in the world. It doesn't work that way for me. Music has always been super-important to me, thanks to my musical parents, and certain songs define certain periods of my life. Nothing can evoke feelings of nostalgia in me like hearing a song from my past. So, in no particular order, here is a list of some of my favorites. Remember, I grew up in the 80s and was a teenager in the 90s, but had parents and uncles who grew up in the 70s and early 80s, so that has definitely informed my musical tastes. It doesn't help that I married an 80s alterna-guy.

Song I wish I'd written: "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" by U2. Anyone ever heard this one? Because it's awesome. OH, Bono, how I love thee... I really love all U2 songs. Their lyrics are amazing.

Favorite sappy lyrics: "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi. I mean, come on, who doesn't love the line "Tonight I won' t be alone, but you know that don't mean I'm not lonely." I used to like listening to this one when pining over boys in my single days.

Song that immediately reminds me of my husband: "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. He once sang it with the band at a Mexican restaurant, but he forgot the words to the second verse. So, in true Marcus form, he yelled, from the stage and into a microphone "Baby! What's the second verse?"

Song that immediately transports me back to high school: There are so many of these, but the first one that comes to my mind is "Friday I'm In Love" by the Cure. Every time I hear the opening riff, I feel like I'm back in my old Dodge Shadow driving to Bronco Belle practice. (The Bronco Belles was our dance team. We rocked it. I was much thinner then and looked hawt in my sequined leotard.)

Cassette Single my 8th Grade best friend, Paige, and I wore out fastest: It's a tie between "Blaze of Glory" by Bon Jovi from the "Young Guns 2" soundtrack and "To Be With You" by Mr. Big. Dean and I just heard the latter on the all 90's music TV channel. He was unimpressed that I knew every word.

Best song for skating: "Mickey" by Toni Basil. This is the only song I ever remember them playing at the skating rink. I'm sure there were others. I vaguely remember hearing "Karma Chameleon" at one point, but "Mickey" was definitely the most-played at our particular rink.

Most played slow song at high school CYO dances: Again, a tie. Growing up in Louisiana, we had a lot of country fans, so "The Dance" by Garth Brooks was a constant fixture at our dances. For the rest of us, Asher the DJ always played "Everybody Hurts" by REM.

Favorite song we did a Bronco Belle routine to: "If" by Janet Jackson. We actually had to change the choreography right before the pep rally. (Scandalous!) My friend Jessica, whose father just happened to be our assistant principal, choreographed this one and it was a bit, um, risque in her dad's opinion. We toned it down.

Favorite song from college: "Turn My Head" by Live. My roommate, Charlie, and I used to listen to this and classic Aerosmith for HOURS.

Favorite song from grad school: Ok, so this song was not written or recorded while I was in grad school, but I played it on the juke box every single Sunday night at Bumpers, the place we went to sing Karaoke. (Karaoke with theatre folks, by the way, is amazing. They actually added a second karaoke night just for us.) I digress. The song is "Come Monday" by Jimmy Buffett. We all liked it because Monday was our day off.

Song I wish I could sing really, really well: ANYTHING by Dusty Springfield. GAAAAH! She's amazing. "Song of a Preacher Man?" Awesome! "Wishin and Hopin?" AWESOME! Heard her version of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" Cause guess what? It's awesome!

Favorite song to hear at Karaoke: "Kiss" (The Prince version). I should add a disclaimer that I only like this when it's done well. There's nothing worse than bad, off-key falsetto, you know?

Song that reminds me of my dad: "When A Man Loves A Woman" by Percy Sledge. Because my dad can sing it JUST LIKE Percy! (I'm sure he will appreciate me sharing that with the internet) Dad, Mom and I once saw Percy Sledge in concert in the lounge of a casino in Tunica, MS. It was surreal.

Song that reminds me of my mom: "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do" and "Build Me Up Buttercup." We like to sing them in harmony. We sing them to Dean sometimes. I think it confuses him because our voices sound alike. He seems pretty underwhelmed. But dang it, we've been working on these songs for 20 years and planning to sing them to a baby and you are going to listen and love them, Deeeeeeeeeeean. Yeah.

Non-baby song that Dean likes: "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Lepard. Seriously, there are nights when Marcus and I have to sing it over and over just to get him to eat.

So there's a sampling of my, uh, eclectic taste in music! Share your favorite song in comments!

Well, baby

2008-10-07T14:50:00.003-04:00

Dean had his 9-month well baby visit today. Here are his stats:
Weight: 20 lbs. 11 oz.
Height: 27 3/4 inches
Head: 18 1/4 inches
He is a healthy, happy little guy. He got a flu shot, so the happy may wear off later tonight, but so far, he's ok.

On the way home (hold onto your hats) we got rear-ended. Those of you who have followed my blog for a while may remember the last time I got rear-ended in July. That time, I was in the middle, crunched between a Stratus and a Mini-van. (The guy who hit me fled the scene and we've heard nothing ever since.) Today, I was sitting still on the highway, waiting to turn ONTO MY OWN STREET. There was a lot of traffic coming from the other direction, so we were sitting there for a while, Dean starting to fuss because he was hungry. Suddenly, I heard it. SLAM, SLAM, and felt it SLAM. Compared to last time, the bump was nothing, but the sheer horror was much worse because this time I had a passenger. Fortunately, Dean started crying immediately, so I knew he was ok enough to yell. I pulled over and jumped out of the car to get to him. When I opened the door to the backseat, he saw me and giggled. Then he started trying to climb out of his carseat. I got him out, which I wasn't sure was the right thing to do or not, but I NEEDED to hold my baby. The guy from the third car had it worse. He came toward us, worried about Dean, but I noticed he had a big red mark on his head. I told him not to move, remembering my bout with whiplash. By the time the EMTs and police got there, he had to be put in a neck stabilizer and strapped to a gurney. The man behind me also had to go to the hospital. Four different EMTs checked Dean out and he's just fine, Thank God. I called Marcus, who was in class at the time, and he got to us quite quickly (yay, small towns, and thank you Zach for driving him!). Anyway, we're both fine. Our car isn't so fine. The bumper had to be completely taken off and the car looks even worse than before. (Our car's 11 years old and has kind of been through the ringer lately.)

Needless to say, this is not how we wanted to spend our day. Or our money, since we'll almost certainly be needing a new car. Ugh. I'm looking forward to getting the accident report (in 3-6 days) to see if the guy who started it all was drunk. I have a bad feeling he was. At 9:45am.
But the bottom line is that Dean's ok and that is truly all that matters.

Happy Happy, Joy Joy

2008-10-05T09:12:00.004-04:00

My cousin Heather "tagged" me on her blog to write about six things that make me happy. That will not be hard and feels like a good thing to do on a Sunday morning.

1. Dean. He's better than I could have ever expected my child to be. I love him in a way I never understood was possible until he was here. He's nine months old today and it's hard to remember what my heart felt like before he was here. He amazes us every day with his new skills and bright smile. Good things do, indeed, come in small packages.

2. Marcus. I could not have picked a better life-partner, father for my child, or best friend. He is the perfect blend of goofiness and sensibility. He's practical and patient. And he makes really good tacos.

3. Weekends. Working in the theatre, weekends are usually the busiest time of your week, since you usually have two shows on Saturday and a matinee on Sundays. (Our day off is usually Monday) I had honestly forgotten how good it felt to have two whole days to just do what you wanted to do. Since moving to Montevallo, we've enjoyed our weekends SO much. We get up early (thank you, Dean) and visit garage sales, parks or community events. We watch football and eat good food. On Sundays, we read the paper, clip coupons, eat donuts and do our shopping. Today, we'll be planting an herb garden. I do love this slow, southern life.

4. Coffee. OH, how I love coffee. I totally lost my taste for it while I was pregnant, but am very much back on the bandwagon now. I wish I had back all the money I spent at Starbuck's while I worked at Lincoln Center, but oh, well.

5. The outdoors. I didn't grow up in a particularly "outdoorsy" family, but I have come to really appreciate the great outdoors. In New York, you are outside a lot by necessity, since you pretty much have to walk everywhere you go. Also, you apartment is so small that you will often do ANYTHING to just get out of there! I spent a lot of time in Central Park when I lived there. I would also sometimes get off the subway one stop early to walk and explore new neighborhoods. Now that we're in Alabama, we're enjoying the parks and downtown areas and are hoping to get out and hit some of the hiking trails this fall. And, of course, we like to spend time in outdoor football arenas. ;)

6. Christmas. This year's gonna be better than ever!!!!!!!!!!!

Picture pages, picture pages!

2008-10-02T22:51:00.012-04:00

Before we get to the pictures, I have to tell you that Dean kicked me in the nose so hard tonight that I saw stars. No blood, thankfully. YOW.

Mr. Hey Look At Me I Can Crawl. And I can eat Mommy's flip flop! Gross.
Don't be mad at me for eating your shoe or almost breaking your face, Mommy! Look how cute my eyebrows are! They almost meet in the middle...just like yours!

I have decided there is nothing in the world cuter than baby jeans. I mean, look at this little bum bum in baby jeans!

So sweet, I think I have a cavity!
Here are the ghosts we hung in our trees, on our mailbox and on our porch posts.

The 12-ghost kit was only a dollar at Publix. That's a deal, I tell you. Marcus made fun of them, but I don't care. Dean thinks they are HILARIOUS and bursts out laughing whenever we see them and I say "BOO!" He sat in his stroller playing with a leaf while I strung up said ghosts.

Here's Dean in the pumpkin patch at the church down the road. They have their entire lawn covered in pumpkins, which they sell. All the proceeds go to the Safe House, a shelter for abused women and children. He had a really good time seeing all the pumpkins and we brought one home for his official Halloween picture in his costume. (Sorry, you don't get to see that one yet! Gotta wait til Halloween!)

Dean got new shoes this week. Dean HATES to wear shoes or socks. I saw these on major sale and thought "Hey! Those are cool! They have flames on them and little toes on the bottom! SURELY Dean will WANT to wear them!" Not so much. He does, however, enjoy eating them and throwing them at displays in Walgreen's. (Ok, and what's up with him playing with diapers? See it there, to his left? He takes them away from me when I go to change him, so I have to get another one to put on him!)

His 9 month well baby appointment is on Tuesday. I cannot believe he's already almost 9 months old. It seems like only two minutes have passed between this:

and this:

This is how I post when Dean keeps me awake all night

2008-10-01T22:52:00.006-04:00

I will start by telling you that I have some kind of bizarre thing going on under my wedding ring. I don't know what has happened, but the skin is raw, almost like it's been burned. Marcus is certain I have a chemical burn from using too many Clorox wipes. Maybe so. It's better than it was, but still hurts a lot. The annoying part has been not being able to wear my ring. I finally just put a bunch of lotion on my finger and put the ring back on today. So there.

So, we grocery shop at Publix. I love it. It's a nice store and you can find whatever you need. They carry the right kind of baby food (Dean's a fan of some of the Beech-nut flavors) and my yogurt (soy, because I"m lactarded. It's not nearly as gross as it sounds.) My favorite thing they do is offer a penny mystery coupon in Sunday's paper. You clip it, bring it in and then find out what the mystery item is that you get for a penny! Last week it was Pringles chips. This week it was peanut butter. I didn't really need either of those items, but you better believe I grabbed them up for a penny! Ok, I digress. The one thing I don't care for as a part of my Publix shopping experience is the freaky, over-zealous baggers. Sometimes they are fine. Other times, like today, they are waaaay over the top. I suppose it's the store's policy to have the baggers bag your groceries (duh), then push your buggy to your car and load them up for you. They wear buttons saying "Don't tip." I always feel bad not giving them a dollar or something. Marcus HATES this practice. He likes to bag and carry the groceries so they will be easier to unload when we get home. He says the baggers make him feel unimportant and like his job has been taken away. I think he's being over-emotional about it, but who am I to judge, right? MY problem is that sometimes, the bagger finishes loading the buggy then just takes off to the parking lot WITH MY BABY IN THE BUGGY. Today, for instance, an older woman was my bagger. Y'all, I had 9 jars of baby food and some parmesan cheese. It all fit intot one bag. I was planning to push the buggy to the "lobby," take Dean and my bag out and walk to the car. She threw my one bag into the buggy and proceeded to take off with my buggy, bag and BABY. And I went all New York crazy in the Publix. (This is what all those years of "if you see something, say something" does to you. And it's not a bad thing!) I, quite loudly, screamed, "HEY!" She looked shocked. I noted my tone, smiled a little and said "I can get it." She said "No, ma'am! I'll take it for you!" and took off again. I ran up beside her, muttered something about wanting to stay near my baby and put a hand on the buggy, gripping it so hard my knuckle was white. Dean is fine with these people, who are always lovely, pushing him in the cart. And, truth be told, I very seriously doubt the Publix bagger is just going to take off with my kid, and even if they did, I"ll bet I could catch them, considering they'd almost certainly be slowed down by the weight of my groceries and my 20 pound child. I just wish they would at least ask "Ma'am, can I push your baby?" instead of taking off and giving me a heart attack.

Perhaps I'm over-reacting and this is just one of those small-town things I'm going to have to get used to again. Marcus is amazed by the number of people who come up in stores and restaurants to touch Dean. That doesn't bug me. What do you think? Would the baby in the buggy with the bagger thing freak you out?

The week in review

2008-09-28T09:25:00.004-04:00

It's been a pretty fun week in the Marjen household, what with Dean dazzling us with new skills daily and such. He's been clapping for a while, but this week, he learned to applaud. Which he does ALL THE TIME. He also learned to stick his tongue all the way out and make noises with it. And he FINALLY crawled forward a bit! He's been going backwards, which is pretty adorable. He loooks like a little crab. Possibly the funniest new skill is his ability to blow "zerberts" on my arm. Or my cheek. He only does it to me.

I've seen a lot about those mesh feeders you can get for babies and we've had one sitting in a drawer for a while, but I was pretty grossed out by the idea of it, so I never used it. Then Eva over at Surprised Suburban Wife blogged about the mesh feeder helping her daughter on a bad teething day, so I broke ours out. WOW. Dean has been enjoying slices of frozen peaches over the past several day. He LOVES that thing! Marcus does not love it so much, as Dean kept smacking it on his hand last night, covering him in chewed-up peach pulp. Haha, don't you wish he'd just zerbert YOUR arm? I don't want to hear it. (See yesterday's post about baby vomit ON ME.)

I got some great news on Friday: Next semester, I'll be joining the Theatre Dept. at Montevallo as an Adjunct Professor, teaching Theatre Management and Stage Management! I'm so excited to get back into the classroom and can't wait to get started. I've already been re-working my syllabus from the last time I taught theatre management and I'm working on a semester-long project for my students.

So, I gave Dean a popsicle the other day. I know he didn't need the high-fructose corn syrup, but I was having one for my sore throat and thought he might enjoy one, too. Truth be told, he maybe took 3 licks. He mostly played with it. It was still pretty precious.

Dean has also learned the fine art of getting more food ON him than IN him.

Good times there! Shout out to my mom for the awesome baby feeding smock. It cleams up easily and keeps his bibs from getting stained.

I'm officially hacked off at the WalMart. We found the perfect Halloween costume for Dean the other day (guess what it was!?!?), but the smallest one they had was a 2T, which would swallow him. I went to the OTHER WalMart today, but they didn't have a single one. Oh, what to do? What are your kids going to be for Halloween?

Everyone have a great week!

My morning thus far

2008-09-27T09:42:00.006-04:00

It is 8:42 am. I woke up around 7:45 (wow, we slept late) to the sweet sounds of Dean cooing in his room, then the knocking of his binky as he banged it against the headboard. I went in, lifted him up, got a great hug, then changed his diaper, which involved BIG POOP. This is the second time this week he's woken up with poopy pants. I'm hoping he does it after he wakes up and that he's not sleeping with it for hours. Anyway, enough about poop. We went downstairs, made coffee and started breakfast. I'd bought a jar of "stage 3" oatmeal w/pears. The jar is really big, but his appetite is increasing, so I figured he could handle it. Well, he LOVED it. He ate the entire jar. About halfway through feeding him, Marcus came down and started making our breakfast. Rewind for a moment to last night when I went to make Dean a bedtime bottle and, out of the corner of my eye, saw a lizard run across our kitchen. I squealed, but Marcus assured me this was a good thing...they eat bugs. Ok. The lizard may stay, but it had better not touch me. Back to breakfast today. Dean and I are singing and making faces at each other between bites, when all of a sudden I see the lizard out of the orner of my eye again, except it's tail's awfully skinny to be a lizard and that is fur and OH MY GAWD THAT IS A MOUSE! Marcus had to jump over the thing as it disappeared into a hole under our cabinet. (Nice.) So we added mousetraps to our shopping list. (Just what I want to deal with.) Dean finished his breakfast and I clapped for him, telling him what a big boy he was for finishing that WHOLE JAR of oatmeal! I picked him up, started telling him about our plans to go downstairs and play, when all of a sudden I heard it. And felt it. Baby vomit. SPLAT on my floor. BLECH on my sleeve, pants leg and ARM. All I could do was scream for help and wait for Marcus to come and take him so I could get cleaned up. Fortunately, I didn't vomit. I thought about it though.

How's YOUR morning going!?!?

Just call me Little Miss Muffett

2008-09-25T14:39:00.005-04:00

So, the other day, Dean was ready for his afternoon snack, which usually consists of some type of home-made fruit puree. We sit at the table, like at mealtimes, and enjoy our snack together. (I usually have a soy yogurt or some dried fruit.) On this particular day, the weather was GORGEOUS. It was about 80 degrees with a nice, cool breeze. I decided it would be nice to turn the AC off and open the back door while Dean and I sat and had our snack so he could look out at the yard. Well, I got him set up in his highchair, pulled back the curtain, opened the door and came face to, uh, legs with this:

This photo does not do it justice. This was the biggest, ugliest, scariest spider I have EVER seen. (And growing up in the deep south, I've seen a LOT of spiders.) Y'all, it had HAIR. And big pincher teethy things. I flipped out, closed the door and stood there marveling at the size of the web, wondering if the thing would stay put until Marcus got home to kill it. Then I did what any genteel southern woman would do...I called my daddy. Only my mom answered the phone.
Here's how the conversation would have gone if DAD had answered:
JEN: Daddy, there's a BIG, HAIRY, ICKY spider outside my door and I'm sure he's going to eat Dean and me.
DAD: Oh, poooooooooor giiiiiiiiiiiirl. Call Marcus right now and tell him to come home! You're far too pretty to kill a big, hairy spider! If he can't get there soon enough, I'LL come get it for you! (which, ok, would never happen, because he hates spiders, too, but go with me here.)
JEN: Thanks, Daddy, you're the best!
DAD: And you're pretty! Tell Deano his Papa loves him!

Here's the conversation between my mom and me:
JEN: Mom, there's a BIG, HAIRY, ICKY spider outside my door and I'm sure he's going to eat Dean and me.
MOM: (emotionless) Kill it.
JEN: Did you hear me? It's BIG and HAIRY. It might eat us. I'm pretty sure it will. ME and DEAN.
MOM: So kill it.
JEN: ??????
MOM: Don't you have some bug spray? You ARE back in the south, you know.
JEN: Um, yeah, I think so.
MOM: Then grab it and kill the thing!
JEN: But I can't leave the baby alone. I'll just wait til Marcus gets home.
MOM: It's right outside the door. You can still see the baby. Put the phone on speaker and I'll talk to Dean and you KILL THE SPIDER.
JEN: Fine.
Jen puts phone on speaker. Grammy starts to sing "Baa Baa Blacksheep" to Dean. They giggle together. Jen glares at them, bug spray in hand. Jen opens door, realizes that she cannot close it AND get out without hitting spider web face first. Tells mom this. Is told to go around. Wishes Marcus would miraculously come home early, even though he has no transportation. Goes around, sees spider, squeals, sprays the EVER-LOVING HECK out of spider and web. Spider scurries up to outdoor light fixture. Jen blasts fixture with spray. Spider's movements get slower and it starts to turn a funky gray color. Jen squeals again, all the way back inside.
MOM: Did you kill it?
JEN: I think so. It turned gray when I sprayed it.
MOM: You'd better knock it down with a broom and step on it.
JEN : What if it has babies!?!? Remember that time I killed one on our porch and baby spiders shot out of it? That was gross!
MOM: Get the broom and knock it down and step on it. Then knock the web down.
JEN: Woops, gotta go, Dean needs his snack.
MOM: Knock the web down.
JEN: Will do, thanks a lot! Love ya! Bye!

Ok, so maybe that's a TAD exaggerated, but you get the picture. Anywho, Marcus came home and we went out to check on the thing. IT WAS STILL ALIVE. So he, at my mother's urging, knocked it down with a broom and stepped on it.

NASTY.

Post-script: In my defense, I feel I should point out that I'm not always this girly. Almost never, in fact. Remember the time I moved all the way to NY? Or the time I had a baby? Or built things with tools? Yeah. Keep that in mind. ;)

I've obviously inhaled too many Clorox fumes today..and why rose-colored glasses should be taken off the shelves

2008-09-19T23:26:00.006-04:00

Look at this hilarious website I found: www.yearbookyourself.com. You put in a picture of yourself and it turns you into a yearbook photo for every even-numbered year from 1950-2000! This was my favorite, from 1988.

The ones of Marcus from the 80s were surprisingly accurate, according to his REAL yearbook photos!

And we learned that Dean would look hot with an afro!

Ok, enough goofiness.
We have spent today cleaning like mad people and putting a few finishing touches on the house. It's nowhere near finished, but we do have towel bars now. (How did I not notice in our walk-through that there were no towel bars or toilet paper holders!?!? My word, that would've been a deal breaker! Ok, that's not true.) Anyway, we're pooped now. Dean had to go to the doctor yesterday for an ear infection and is now taking amoxil, which makes him sleepy, so we got a lot done while he napped today. Poor guy.

I've started an entry for today about 11 times and deleted it each time. I know what I want to say, but am not sure how to A. make it brief enough for my blog and B. start writing on this topic. So, I'll just dive right in. A little backstory first, so you know where this is coming from. I read a lot of blogs. By a lot, I mean that I religiously follow about 6 and I have 3 or 4 others that I check pretty regularly. If folks leave me a comment on my blog, I visit theirs and try to reciprocate, especially if their blog is about something that interests me. I enjoy reading about other folks with kids. I also often visit the blogs of folks who leave interesting comments on the other blogs I read. (Here I go again, saying BLOG a lot...) ANYWHO, just this week on three of the blogs I follow closely, the authors have felt as though they needed to apologize for something they were saying or were scolded by readers for their content. One of the blogs I like a lot on Parents.com, "Not That You Asked," is written by a woman named Emily who has a toddler and one on the way. What I like about her writing is that she is a REAL person talking about REAL things that happen in the life of a parent. A reader left the first comment on a post of hers recently scolding her for "complaining" so much in her blog and telling her she should suck it up and stop taking her life for granted. This led to her loyal readers sounding off about why they like her blog (for the reasons I explained above) and telling her not to change a thing. On my very favorite blog, Parental Discretion Advised, Bree, the author, revealed that she's having a little boy. We were all thrilled, but one reader felt the need to immediately hop on the soapbox about "genital integrity" while another made a snarky comment about her grammar. Amalah, whose son struggles with some social issues, felt like she needed to preface her blog about her son's breakthrough at school with an apology. These women are all strong, independent, hard-working moms who should not have to apologize for what they write ON THEIR BLOGS. Who would want to read about your wonderful life with your precious, perfect, clean children who frolic in meadows and never throw sweet potatoes in your hair and your immaculate house and wonderful husband every single day!?!? Life is sticky and stinky and downright funky sometimes, folks, and what I like about blogs like these is that they remind me I'm not the only one out there spending half her day helping an 8 month old blow his nose.

Wow, it felt really good to say all that, and I hope you followed at least some of it! If you know me, you know I'm an over-achiever and I try to be the best all the time. I will now admit that there are days when motherhood is kicking my tail. I love it so much, even more than I could have ever imagined, but y'all, some days I would give anything to be able to take a shower whenever the desire hit me. I adore my little family and am extremely thankful that Marcus and I were able to have a baby so quickly and that he's so amazing, but I don't ever want to sugar-coat my life for my blog.
I'll give you the good and the bad, because sometimes at the end of MY day, reading about YOUR kid throwing a tantrum in McDonald's makes me feel just a little more normal.

So write on, fellow bloggers, and have a great weekend!

Miles of Milestones

2008-09-17T08:27:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was a big day in the Lane home. Dean FINALLY learned to clap his hands! He's been doing the "muted clap" for a while, where he almost brings them together, but stops just short of them meeting. But yesterday, he got it. Boy, did he get it! He's excited to be able to join in on his own when we sing "If You're Happy And You Know It." He also surprised the heck out of Marcus and me by standing up on his own last night! We'd been playing on the floor (Translation: rolling around trying to wear the baby out before bed time) when suddenly he grabbed the side of his exersaucer and pulled himself to standing. Then he looked over his shoulder and smiled at us like "Betcha didn't know I could do THAT!" I seriously think he may be one of those babies who just walks instead of crawling. He still scoots, but no real progress on the crawling. He rolls to get to where he needs to be.

In other news, I've been walking with my aunt. We're headed that way soon. It makes me feel good and having a walking buddy give me the motivation to get up and go. The social contact's nice, too.

Yesterday, Marcus and I killed the biggest spider I've ever seen. So big, in fact, that it deserves its own post with pictures, pictures which the camera is currently holding hostage. Tune in later for said post. You won't believe the size of this thing.

Baby asleep by 7:45...leaves Mommy with idle time on her hands!

2008-09-14T21:21:00.003-04:00

Well this is weird. Dean, who has had a BAD teething day (still no teeth, though), finally settled down and fell asleep on me at 7:45. So we put him to bed. Even though he needed a bath. Because there is food in his hair. Oh, well. Anyway, I don't have a specific topic for a post, but let's review some things that have happened this weekend, shall we?

*We went to Tuscaloosa yesterday for tailgating. Not the game, just tailgating. Each year, a lot of theatre alumni come in for one game and this was it. We got to introduce Dean to our old teachers and friends and we got to see how much the campus has changed. Which is a LOT. The student health center, which used to be a small room in a scary building, is now a huge complex on the other side of campus. And there is a water slide on campus. A WATER SLIDE. When I was in college, we once made a slip and slide out of a garbage bag. Looks like college has gotten a lot cooler since I was there, kids.

*We didn't eat anything at the tailgating party, which is unlike both Marcus and me. Dean was hungry, so we fed him and visited with friends and just never got around to eating. Which we made up for on the way home. There is now a Five Guys Burgers in Tuscaloosa! If you've never had one, they are wonderful! We always go when we're in DC visiting Marcus's folks. YUM. And when we were done there, the HOT NOW sign was flashing at Krispy Kreme, so you know we had to stop.

*Krispy Kremes, cheeseburgers and fries are counter-productive when trying to lose baby weight.

*On the flip side, I started walking with my aunt and her friend in the mornings. We did three miles on Friday. Up hills. Pushing Dean in his stroller. I still have shin splints.

*We went to the lovely Kate's second birthday party today. It was a trip, as most children's birthay parties are. There was chili cheese dip.

*Anyone else have a new "McCafe" at the McDonald's in their town? They have been advertising it here and I picked up a coupon for a chicken biscuit with purchase of an espresso coffee. Dean and I will have to check it out this week. Again with the not helping to lose the baby weight!

*This weekend, my grandma and my parents are coming to visit! My cousin Heather is also coming up to meet Dean for the first time. (Shout out to Heather's new blog! Check her out if you have time.) We are very excited to see the fam and show them the house. We are also excited that Grammy and Papa will be taking care of Dean on Sunday afternoon so we can FINALLY unpack some boxes! Or nap. The jury's still out on that one.

*Meredith, if you don't come visit me soon, I will cry. CRYYYYYY. No pressure.

*Dean peed on me today. Twice. Then he laughed. A lot.

*I really think I'm going to bed now. At 8:30. Because my child will probably wake up ready to party at 4am. And, chances are, he'll pee on me.

Everyone have a great week!