Thursday, May 28, 2009

Better find a house before the baby comes . . .

So yesterday I was at Bed Bath & Beyond chatting with the lady at the check-out, telling her we were trying to find a house. She says, "oh yeah - you want to find a house before the baby comes".

I said "I already have a baby - she's almost one!".

The lady proceeds to look at my mid-section and changes the subject because she realized she just called me pregnant.

Damn, I knew the babydoll shirt I was wearing would make me look pregnant, but I didn't have much else clean that didn't need ironing.


You would think that would scare me into getting my butt in shape, but nope, not really.

I deserve it. Almost one year later and I am the same weight I was two weeks after giving birth. Lost five, gained it all back. Sigh.

Once I was in the kitchen with four of HP's friends' wives and I said, "Oh, I'm the only one here not pregnant!"

One of the girls said, "I'm not pregnant."

Duh - I just passed her one-month old baby in the hallway. But she did look 6 months pregnant, to be perfectly honest. But that's also totally allowed. What's not allowed is looking 6 months pregnant one year later.

At least the lady thought I was pregnant and not just fat!

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Summer also means Kettle Corn

Seems a bit silly to write about kettle corn, I admit. But I love love love kettle corn so much that I think it does deserve to be written about. Especially since I just found out that I can have THE BEST kettle corn any time that I want.




Used to be that I had to wait until the county fair came around during the summer, or sometimes if I got lucky, I might go to a ball game that was selling some. I know they sell it at the farmer's markets, but I sheepishly admit that I never get out of the house in time to make it there.



Then suddenly, kettle corn was all over the supermarket shelves. I was very skeptical. How on earth could they keep the buttery, sweet goodness crisp if it's not freshly popped? I've had pre-popped pop corn in packages before, and they always disappointed. Not to mention they are usually over-priced.



One day at Whole Foods, I caved at the display and decided to try a bag. The brand was called Popcorn, Indiana, and was on sale for $3 from $4 so I thought, what the heck? Turns out I was wrong about the sale and the bag rung up for $4 at check out. This better be some good stuff, I thought.



And it was. It was soooo good - better than any kettle corn I've ever tasted. Each and every kernel was crispy with the sweet/salty coating, something you don't get from the fresh popped stuff (as if they were skimpy with it or something), in which I usually have to pick out the browner and shiny kernels since those are usually the crispy ones.



Since then I've also tried the Trader Joe's Brand. It's half the price at $2 a bag, and pretty good too. The kernels are crispy but they don't have the same coating the Popcorn, Indiana bag does. I've also finally made it to the farmer's market and bought some of the fresh popped stuff (Gold Rush) at $5 for an enormous bag. What a disappointment. And it was terrible compared to Popcorn, Indiana. Many of the kernels were stale, and I had to fish for the good pieces. And who needs that much popcorn anyway?



I no longer need to wait for special occasions, and I went out and bought another bag right away of Popcorn, Indiana. So if you love kettle corn as much as I do, buy Popcorn, Indiana. Don't eat directly from the bag and wrap up air-tight each time and it will be just as good in two weeks. And trust me, it took a lot of will power to keep the bag around for that long.







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Saturday, May 9, 2009

You know it's summer when you see the goats


They're here! At the beginning of every summer they bring out the goats here in the hills. I'm talking like 100+ goats, to eat down the shrubs and grass in the hills to prevent fires. It's a pretty neat thing to be exiting the freeway and seeing them right there along the street, chomping away. The next day they're on the otherside of the street, or in the hills by the parking lot, or wherever. I look forward to seeing them every year - it means the warm weather is here! One year someone actually tried to shoot at them and killed one or more. Isn't that awful? They're just innocent little goats. Poor things, probably get packed in a truck like sardines every night before they're schlepped off to another patch of overgrown weeds.

Summer also means I get to dress my baby in cute skimpy little baby clothes. And she finally looks less like a boy! Not that people still don't mistake her for one. The other day at dinner this older lady calls Tylo "cute little fella". She was wearing pastel yellow. And then after I repeated the name 3 times she started calling her Taylor.

And, summer means shorts and endless slathering of stinky self-tanner on the whitest legs you will ever see. I told HP I needed to go buy shorts and he reminded me that when we first started dating I never wore shorts. Or sneakers for that matter. I was all about the skirts and sandals, or flip flops. Well, I can't exactly tumble around the park with my baby in a skirt and flip flops are too risky when carrying a squirmy 11 month old. Plus I have this fear that someone will try to steal my baby and I won't be able to run after them in flip flops. So, here I am, in shorts and sneakers. Yet I still have a full face of makeup on, even for a trip to the supermarket. Some things never change I guess. I have stopped wearing lipstick, so I can pepper Tylo with kisses all day long.

Tylo and I had the best day today, and I manage to capture a few smiles. She was even in bed by 8. Incredible!


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Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Happy First Mother's Day to you, Tylo

I got this mass email today, giving activity ideas for Mother's Day. It said to write a letter to your baby, explaining what it's like to be a mother. What a great idea! This blog is for her, and someday I would love for her to read it, but to be honest, I don't trust the internet. I feel it's not tangible enough and can easily be wiped away in one fell swoop. I am all about greeting cards, so I dug one out and began writing . . . and writing . . . and writing. Before I knew it, I had a card and a full page of very messy handwriting. So what the hell, I'm going to type it up anyway, just so I can have two ways to keep this precious letter intact. It's my Happy 1st Mother's Day note to Tylo:

Dearest Tylo,

This is my first Mother's Day, and I wanted to write you a note that one day you will read on your first Mother's Day. I hope when that day comes your baby will bring you all the joy and wonder that you have brought to me.

Each smile, each snuggle, each shriek - I cannot go a few minutes without smiling at the thought of the cute thing you did earlier in the day.

Today, you played with your gumball machine. Each time a ball rolled out, you would turn to Daddy and me, waiting for us to clap and cheer. Then you would clap and yell so loud, and grin the biggest grin. We finally got it on video! You're also crawling really fast, and you love to climb over Daddy on the floor. Today you must have pulled my glasses off about 20 times, getting them dirty with your tiny fingerprints. . Then you'd try to put them back on my face, but you can't quite get that part right yet. Oh well, at least you tried!

I was so proud when you ate a big pasta dinner, peas and chicken and all! You kept insisting that you hold the fork yourself, but if I didn't guide it toward your mouth, the food would fall off when you twisted it. Then you would complain when I tried to take the fork back to get another bite!

My favorite part of the day is hearing you wake up. I open my eyes, and there you are, standing in your crib, watching me, very excited that your mommy is now awake. I wave and say "Hi!" and you wave back and say "Ahhh!"

You know so many words now, and oddly enough, you stopped saying the words you used to know, like blow, wow, and dada. These days you say mom (a lot), bear, hi (ahhh), and baby. You give a lot of love taps. Daddy and I have learned to tap each other to say I love you too.

Each day, each week, is so different with you and I hope I've given you a glimpse of what my first mother's day was like.

Watching you grow is amazing - there is nothing worth more in the world.

Happy 1st Mother's Day to you.

Love,
Mom

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