Interview Question #2 & #3

Q2: If we asked your husband (or your wife), what would he tell us your biggest vice is?

A: Like The Farmer's Wife, I've been procrastinating on answering this one...but the Mr. Monk in me is too strong to answer out of order, so here we go. I'm pretty certain that both of them would say the same thing--that I'm too much of a perfectionist. If you're not one, this may not sound like a vice to you at first, but believe me, for the poor people that have to live with you it certainly is. Wanting to get everything juuuussst right all the time is, of course, impossible...but that doesn't stop me from trying (and making Tim and/or Nicole try with me). Nicole probably doesn't get quite as much of it as Tim, as I've somewhat learned to roll with the punches at work, but I really haven't been able to relax my standards much in my personal pursuits. I'll admit that having a baby has forced me to chill out a bit, but I still have a little too much of a Goldilocks complex. (I once saw a shirt that read "I want to be Martha Stewart, that bitch can do anything"...I felt sorry for Martha. I myself own a shirt that just says "Prefectionist", which pretty much says it all.)

Wanting everything just right also usually leads to, shall we say..."selective" tastes (that sounds so much better than "picky"). I tend to, without meaning to, have a taste for the best of everything...which is another nice way of saying that I'm high maintenance and not a cheap date. ;o) I'm a firm believer in the "buy the best once" principle, and usually would rather go without than lower my standards. A fact that Tim should have considered before promising me a 25 year annivesary ring of my choosing...at the rate I'm going (i.e. platinum, multiple carats, etc) it's going to take us 25 years to save up for it. :P I'm still gunning for knocking a few years off that requirement for good behavior, but I'm not making much progress.

In my defense, he knew what he was getting into when he married me (as did my wife, who is a kindred spirit in this regard).


Q3: What about your best quality?

A: I felt the need to include this one in the same post, as a rebuttal to the prosecution. I think Tim would probably say that my sense of fun is my best quality. I do my best to never be boring, to always come up with new things to try, and to find the funny and/or absurd side to any situation. And though I do my fair share of giving my loved ones a hard time (I can't help it, it is a genetic tendency, inherited from a long line of teasers) I am ultimately a very loyal wife and friend. I don't have a lot of "close" friends for this reason--I tend to devote most of my time and effort to those closest to me, and while I do enjoy more casual friendships, they are allotted much less time in my "schedule" (read that in a british accent, "shed-dule"). I prefer a small, close group of a friends to a large circle of acquaintances, and I cherish them.

Having said all of that, I am curious to see what discussions this will bring with my husband and wife. ;o) I exercised an amazing amount of self control and didn't discuss this with either of them ahead of time, so I'm curious to see if they agree with me or have instead thought of one of my other myriad vices, which I have conveniently overlooked. ;o)

120 oz down, 120 to go...

Sorry for any of you reading this post for whom "breast" is a naughty word, but I have to do a small, virtual celebration dance. You see, spring is "trade show season" at work, and part of my job is to lug myself to these events and stand on a concrete trade show floor and answer questions about our product for 8+ hours a day for four or five days. I'm sure you're jealous.

These shows are usually enough of a challenge on their own (though rewarding in their own way), but this year I've been especially worried about it for a couple of reasons:

1) The shows are in San Francisco and Las Vegas...which means that I will be away from my baby for 4-5 days at a time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without my daily fix of kissing those chubby little cheeks.

2) We're breastfeeding. At this age, a baby eats approximately 30 oz of breastmilk a day (plus her other "big girl" food) and while I recognize that we could introduce some formula, I'm stubborn. I'd really like to keep her purely on breastmilk (why? because it's there, it's free, and dang it, I just want to try) which means A LOT of pumping on my part.

3) I don't want to "waste" the milk I pump while I'm gone, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to get it back on the plane with me. Any thoughts or suggestions here from you other nursing mothers who travel are much appreciated! I have been doing research and found a useful blog post on the subject of travelling with breastfed infants, as well as the fact that they've changed the regulations now for breastfeeding mothers travelling without infants.

I started pumping back in December in preparation for all of this, every day (plus the days I go to my work office and pump all day...not whining here too much, but it is not my favorite pastime). I feel like a field tester for Medela, the manufacturer of my breast pump..."Yep guys, still works! Now let's see how it performs in adverse weather conditions...such as a baby spit-up monsoon."

Long story short, as of today, I officially have an extra 120 ounces of milk for that first trip in the deep freeze (yay)! That's a lot of milk...about a gallon. Which feels like an accomplishment when I only get 3-4 "extra" ounces a day. ;o) Now only 120 more ounces for the second trip to go.

Interview Question #1

You may have seen Jen's posts on her personal interview questions and her generous offer to spend the brain space to think up some for the rest of us, too. This is the first in a five part series, so stay tuned!

Q1: What is your favorite childhood memory?

A: This is tough one for me to answer because I'm one of those people who doesn't remember doing something until someone else reminds me that I did it (and if you can figure that sentence out, you're smarter than me). I have a great memory for numbers, phone numbers especially, but experiences I have to write down or they get stored clear at the bottom of my brain. That being said, I do have a few that stick with me without outside influence and a large group of them involve my-best-friend-since-kindergarten, Anne. As you can imagine, having been friends with someone for so long we have had our share of ups and downs...but she is a true friend and the closest thing to a true-blood sister an only child could have. ;o) Ironically, she is also my memory box and serves to remind me of all those other childhood memories I have forgotten (sometimes willfully).

Still, there are a few that really stick out:

* Rolling down the hill behind her house in the spring, when the grass had just turned green and everything smelled new and earthy. We would race her brothers to the bottom, and whoever was the most dizzy (and likely couldn't even stand up) by the end, would win.

* The day she tried to "gift" her brothers to me in large brown box. If you've ever had two farm boys unexpectedly jump out of a big box tied up with ribbon, you'll know that it's an experience you won't soon forget. It was around this time they picked up the nickname with which I'm afraid they'll be forever remembered: The Bothers.

* The day her family's wayward sheep, a large, woolly, and bad tempered creature named Maxwell, tried to make me a permanent part of the holding pen fence by repeatedly ramming me into it. "The Bothers" were less than helpful as they alternately tried to help me climb out and egged the sheep on.

* Picking berries every summer. I am a blackberry fiend and she is a thimbleberry fiend, and since we each had the other's favorite berry growing on our property we would designate a day and have a huge berry picking. Between me gobbling all the blackberries and her gobbling all the thimbleberries, we almost had a enough to make a cobbler by the time we were done. Usually not, so we'd throw some raspberries there, too and call it a Berry Buckle.

* The night we were late for our pre-dance dinner in high school (I believe it was winter ball) and I drove us from her house to a restaurant in Clarkston in just under 15 minutes--that's normally a 30-40 min drive. We literally had to peel ourselves off the seat when we arrived.

* Sneaking up behind her and yelling "THIRTEEN YEARS!" at the top of my lungs our senior year, reminding her that she had never given me a school photo in all that time. (She later delivered unto me a box of school photos, all the way from kindergarten on, as a graduation present...probably mostly to shut me up).

* All the times she believed everything I told her--for that, I love her to death and always will.

I look forward to adding the memory of "when Anne called me up after reading this blog post" to my memory box. ;o)

I take it back...

Make that *two* teeth coming in up top this week--what's with this two at once policy anyway? And I thought she was supposed to wait for Christmas to get those two front teeth? Nursing moms, beware! (P.S. Couldn't get her to show us the two top ones, so if you want to get the gist, just turn your monitor upside down ;o).

Rules of a 7 Month Old

Anna Olivia is 7 months old! My how time flies...I'm not sure why 7 months old seems so much older than 6, but perhaps it is because she has begun to develop so many more personality traits this month. She has always been an alert baby, but now she is very aware of what is going on around her in a room, not just in her immediate area. This is not always an advantage--it means a lot less freedom for Mom since she has also decided that Mom must always be in her line of vision. She has a few rules like this, which include:

#10: Socks suck. They must be avoided at all costs, and should Mom manage to wrangle them on your feet, kick them off as soon as you possibly can.

#9: Burley baby carriers make for excellent napping. Keel over and pass out as soon as Mom goes for her walk and she will walk you longer!

#8: Sitting up by yourself is best. Rolling around the room is fun, too. Tummy time is a necessary evil for learning how to crawl so the dogs can be chased.

#7: Dogs ears were made for pulling. Get yourself at least two, preferrably with long, curly-haired ears.

#6: Eat your big girl food at least two times a day! Orange food stains the most and is therefore the most tasty. Whenever possible, wait until Mom has just loaded your mouth with said orange food and then return it all to her by blowing a huge raspberry. She will appreciate it.

#5: Teeth are weird. Just when I got used to the two on the bottom, another one showed up on the top this week! The work never ends.

#4: Cousins are fascinating. Get yourself a 2 year old cousin and watch her allllll day. After she leaves, tell Mom and Dad all about it for the rest of the night.

#3: Hair was made for pulling. So were necklaces...and earrings...and bracelets...and...and...

#2: Mom must be your sight at all times--watch out, she's wily! If she puts her jacket on then you should immediately start pitching a fit--this means she is leaving to go to her "other" job, whatever that means.

#1: If it can be chewed, it must. Because it's there.

Happy Birthday, Timmy!

This Saturday was Timmy's birthday. He turned 29.


Anna found his age quite shocking.



There was much playing and frivolity. There were hats and horns and cake. We ate bratwurst and sauerkraut and drank german beer. We watched very old movies on Grammy and Poppy's film projector.


After the party, everyone was tired, even the dogs. But we all had a good time.


Happy Birthday, Timmy! We love you!




(Have you ever noticed that if you read enough children's books, you start to think like them? Maybe not the bit about the beer.)

A week in the life of Anna...

Last week was a busy week for me at work--I had to be in the office all 5 days (I usually work two from home...I know, shut up and go play my tiny violin already). That means that Anna had a busy week as well, keeping Dad and Grandma & Grandpa and the dogs entertained.


She learned to cha-cha with Dad's maracas...




Enough cha-cha, time to hang with Dad...



Grandpas and cousins make great napping buddies...



Go Vandals!...



And finally, she learned to share with her sisters...

Such a busy week!

The Wonderful thing about Tiggers...

A Tigger's a wonderful thing!
Their heads are made of the rubber,
Their tails are made of the spring!

Thanks, Aunty Annabelle!

Anna received a most mysterious package in the mail, from her Aunty Annabelle and "cousin" Gwennie. Upon opening it, we found this!


Isn't it beautiful? Those of you who attended my Lewiston baby shower will probably recognize it--we got a sneak preview of it then, but now it is complete! As we understand it, this was a joint effort by mom and daughter (I can only imagine the type of help Gwennie provided, and applaud Anne even more for actually finishing this). Thank you so much! We love the colors. :o)