Fifteen birds

I watched the cartoon version of "The Hobbit" when I was little, which I do not recommend since it is quite frightening for little children.  (It is probably too late for you to take my advice, you grown up you, but I give it anyway.)  Despite the movie's creepiness, the soundtrack is quite catchy.

This song has been stuck in my head for most of the day:



Truly a disturbing glimpse into a terrifying movie.

From rags to riches!

I did this to my niece's hair while we were having a GINORMOUS family slumber party, and now I want to do it to ME:

Also, I have discovered that it is nearly impossible to take a normal picture of a small child if they are aware that you have a camera.  And by small child I mean 15 and under, although I do make some exceptions.  Like, this 28-year-old I know always makes weird faces too.

Out and about with the wild bunch

I got to spend the day with my lovely sister and her six kids today. It was loud and sticky and I'm pretty sure that there was always at least one sad person, if not more.

Pretty much I had a wonderful time. And I got to buy some books, so make that a double wonderful time.

Frosting doesn't just go on cupcakes, folks.

I like it when my breakfast is happy to see me.

Things that go bump in the house.

I wonder if I will ever become less paranoid as a mother. Maybe when I have a dozen* of the little blighters running around I'll be able to look at little Alouicious planning to jump off the roof and I'll think, "Well maybe he can fly" and then I'll go back to reading my book or changing lead into gold or whatever.

But right now, I hear even the slightest thump from the downstairs neighbors and I'm sitting bolt upright, looking for my baby, making sure she hasn't fallen off the floor....

This is my response even if she happens to be in my arms or at her grandparents. Like I said---paranoid.


*I don't actually plan on having a dozen kids, but sometimes these things happen.

Nice dress.

My brother graduated from college this week. His major was something like Agro-business management, and he was one of three people in it. I don't know what he's going to do with his degree (or even what it's for), but it will probably be something awesome and farmy.

I didn't really get him a graduation present, but I did make him a lei out of candy. College graduates just need candy, right?

Oh, those kids and their imaginations!

You were a kid once, right? You probably made funny little drawings that looked all cute and out of proportion and put-up-on-the-fridge-able. If those drawings were real, though, it's quite possible they would be terrifying. There are some folks out there demonstrating this most effectively.

Observe:

There are more like that here.

Two unrelated things.

First thing:

Today I got to see my sister Kristin after almost two years of not seeing her. She and her numerous children are in town for a little while for a last hurrah with various relatives before they move out of the country for another few years.

My sister and I look quite a bit alike, so every once in a while one of her kids would run up to me and then stop, look surprised, and run away. Ha ha! Guess again!

I had a good time visiting with all the chilluns, and I think they were excited to meet their cousin. One of them must have had an extra good time; a little while after they left I went to use the bathroom and found that the waste basket was full of almost an entire roll of loose toilet paper. Woo!

Second thing:

It was a nice evening, so I decided we should go on a walk for some ice cream. To be specific, I wanted ice cream for the hands, not ice cream from a box. The grocery store is about a half a mile away, but when we got there they had stopped selling soft serve.

Not to be deterred, we walked another half mile to find a little custard shop that we had previously enjoyed. We walked to where we thought it was, then a bit further, and then backtracked, but we couldn't find it. What we did find was a large empty lot.... So apparently the place had been torn down and we just hadn't noticed. Dang it.

In a last ditch effort to at least get some kind of ice cream, we walked another few blocks to the 7/11. They did not even have a soft serve machine, but we each picked out something from the freezer bin and called it good. IT WAS, IN FACT, NOT GOOD. I couldn't eat it and had to throw it away. Then we had to walk another mile home, sans delicious ice cream. Ice cream for me, anyway; Matt liked what he picked.

Izzy had been pretty happy this whole time, looking about and whatnot, but by this time she was getting tired and hungry. It was getting dark and I was dressed in a manner that allowed me to be sneaky, so I picked her up and breastfed her while we walked. That was definitely a first for me.

So while I did not get as much ice cream as I wanted, I got a lot more walking. That is probably better for me in the end anyway. The rear end.

This concludes my two things.

Maybe I used too many exclamation points here!!

I am now the proud owner of like a kajillion cupcake trays!

Why?

BECAUSE CUPCAKES ARE DELICIOUS!

The more trays I have the more I can make!!
Theoretically speaking!!!

I am THIS close to being an athlete.

I went running THREE TIMES this week.  I hate running, too, but this hasn't been bad.  I think what usually happens is I go too hard or too long and end up pooping myself out, thereby waylaying any further attempts at the sport.  I'm doing the couch to 5K running plan, and I've got 8 weeks to go.  However,  we have a race scheduled in about 5 weeks.  I won't be ready for it, but I will be more ready than I was for the last one.

Running makes me feel sexy and productive (when it doesn't make me feel dead) because supposedly if I do it enough I will eventually be a runner.  Runners are skinny, energetic folk who wear tight fitting, technologically advanced clothing that does stuff like "wick."  I want clothes that wick, too!  But I'm pretty sure I've actually got to do the running to justify the fanciness, so I'll let you know in a month or two how that's progressing.

When I finally earn some real running clothes, I'll start out with this.

If it were the future already, I could just stick my head in a machine.

I've been having a bit of a hair crisis lately.  I just don't know what to do with it.  It's too long, it's too fine, and it's too appealing to the baby.  And I've got this weird cowlick sort of thing on the back of my head that makes things worse.  I've started parting it on the other side, just to change things up, but what I really need is some know-how.

Boo, I suck at hair.

Ewww....

Izzy and I went on a walk today.  The morning started out kind of drizzly and decidedly Aprilish, but after a few hours the rain stopped, even if the sun didn't quite come out.  That's probably why the sidewalks were covered with bedraggled looking worms.  We used the stroller for once, too, so they were rather hard to avoid.

On the bright side, though, at least Izzy's not big enough to pick 'em up and eat 'em.  That will come later.

I just sort of want one for free, you know?

Today I discovered this website, which offers a product that I have been looking for but didn't quite know how to find. They make T-shirts that look sort of skanky but are actually quite practical! I nurse Izzy and it's such a hassle to wear clothes at all, let alone ones that cover me decently.

So woo! I am excited to find out about this. I went so far as to cut off the bottom of one of my own shirts, but I'm pretty sure Half Tees does it more elegantly and with less squnchiness.

My friend Lola is having a giveaway on her blog, so if you are interested in the shirts check it out. But don't do anything else because I'm pretty sure your entries marginalize my chances of winning. And I know I normally don't do giveaway stuff here because it makes me feel a bit whorish, but I already wrote so much stuff. It's just too late to take it all back.

I think everybody wins here.

One of the best things ever is being able to brush your teeth when you want to. Today I got to do that TWICE!

Woooo.....

My life is pretty much made up of small victories like that.

Soooooo good lookin'

People stared at me a lot when I was pregnant, but now they stare at the baby a lot more. She's already so much more popular than either of her parents. Also she has developed a habit of staring at strange men, and this is obviously something that I would like to eventually discourage. On our recent plane trip, she kept her eyes glued to the man next to us while her little fingers reached out to grab his arm. He didn't mind, of course, because she was so charming.

So I guess my point is that it's okay for you to stare at my baby because she's so cute. But if she stares back, you're probably strange, possibly a man, and likely both.

Almost home!

Tonight is our last night out here. It's been a lot like being at home except for all the differences. I'm excited to be back where we keep our books and stuff, mostly for Izzy's sake. And for the internet's sake. I've had about fifteen minutes a day on the computer, which pretty much consists of updating the Izzy blog and reading select comics. Those are the essentials.

Hotels are okay I guess, but I'm pretty sure the only thing I will miss is the Discovery Channel. It's almost enough to make us want cable...almost.

So we're here in the state of gators and haven't seen any. That's probably because the only water we've seen is chlorinated. It was Izzy's first time swimming, so look at the Izzy Blog because she has a very cute swimsuit.

But yesterday was her first Easter, so we have pictures of that here.





Woo, so much candy that she can't eat!









But fortunately she has an Uncle David to help her with it.

Trip, woohoo!

Tomorrow Matt, Izzy, and I are going to Orlando. We went this time last year, too! No, we are not rich folk who just take off on mere whimsy, and if we were we would probably not go to Florida. It's the annual SPIE conference, and the acronym is something French so we don't actually know what it stands for. If Matt's going, though, it probably has at least a little bit to do with radars. He will spend most of his time doing stuff that is boring. I will be spending most of my time in the hotel with Izzy, also doing boring things, but at least we'll be able to check out the pool. Not a terribly exciting trip...but hey, pool! I am excited about that.

Also, this will be Izzy's first time in a plane. I'm a bit nervous and whatnot, but it'll be cool. We will all survive the trip, even if it kills us.

Secret, shmecret!

Can you guess which one of these three people is me?

That's right! The one not labeled...because it's supposed to be a secret identity. I'm not sure it worked, though. When my 4-year-old niece saw me, I'm pretty sure she figured it out. I can actually say that I'm 100% sure because she addressed me by name. "Aunt Mary?!" she said, and then she looked at me funny.

But everybody else's kids thought I was great, and nobody cried on my lap. Teenage girl bunnies are not as frightening as bearded old man elves, I guess.