25 Random Things About Me

This is from Facebook. Thought I'd put it here, too.

1 - When I read or hear a sentence (online, in a book, TV, radio, etc.) that is grammatically incorrect, I have to mentally correct it before I can go on.

2 - When I read a sentence that seems awkward, I mentally diagram it to make sure it it grammatically correct.

3 - When I read a sentence and just flat out don't like the wording, I mentally rewrite it.

4 - Apparently, I'm a sentence nerd.

5 - I always dress Tamsin in her cutest outfits on the days I'm home with her so that I can enjoy the cuteness. She can wear the other stuff on days when I'm at work.

6 - I spent 7 months living in Italy and speak virtually no Italian. It's rather sad, really.

7 - Speaking of Tamsin's clothing, she was in a cute dress for baby story time this morning while I was dressed like schlub in jeans and a stained t-shirt (didn't realize it was stained until I was on my way). What happened to the days when I actually took pride in my appearance?

8 - I don't really want to be a stay-at-home mom, but I don't want to work either.

9 - I have the most amazing husband. Seriously. He puts up with so much crap from me.

10 - I love the smell of wood. I don't know why but it's the best smell in the world sometimes.

11 - My house is almost never truly clean. Once in a while I'll clean a room or two, but most of the time it's pretty cluttered.

12 - I'm not a natural germaphobe - couldn't care less about germs really. But now that I have a baby who gets sick all. the. time. I have become super paranoid. I've even become one of *those* moms who puts a cover on the grocery cart before putting her baby in it. But you'd do it too if you're kid got strep at 6 months old!

13 - I have an irrational fear of those semis that carry cars - I refuse to be behind one at a red light. I just know that last car on the top - the one that's angled slightly downward - is going to come loose and crash through my windshield.

14 - I've started probably 30 blogs (maybe not *quite* that many) in the past 5 years. They each have maybe 2 entries. Whenever I get the blogging (or journaling) itch, I just start a new one.

15 - I don't think I'll ever get my ugly entryway painted - I just cannot decide on a color.

16 - I really don't think I'm interesting enough to come up with 25 random things. Honest.

17 - I went to law school for one year. Now I think I know everything there is to know about how the world works.

18 - When I was a kid, I wanted to be a fashion designer. Based on #7 above, that's really funny.

19 - After I wanted to be a fashion designer, I wanted to be an archeaologist. I seriously thought I would discover Atlantis or something.

20 - I have a degree in Public Relations. When I picked my major, I went with something "I could use." Now that I'm not using it, I wish I would have done anthropology or something more interesting.

21 - Whenever I buy a lottery ticket I really think I have a chance of winning and am disappointed when I don't.

22 - I just entered HGTV's dream home sweepstakes. Again, I think I have a real chance of winning and will probably look up schools and job prospects in Sonoma at some point.

23 - Along the lines of truly improbable, when I was a teenager, I wanted to be "discovered" by a modelling scout. Because modeling scouts are regularly in Huntington, UT.

24 - I watch a lot of TV online these days. This is what I do during Tamsin's naps rather than cleaning my ever-dirty house.

25 - I got nothing. But I finally reached 25.

Monday Monday

Do you know any gypsies?
I've got a whiny baby who refuses to sleep and I'm considering selling her. Any buyers?

The Greatest Invention since Sliced Bread
I love the internet. I can satisfy my need to watch Super Bowl commercials without actually watching, you know, football. CareerBuilder won hands down.

Seeing Double
So, I just logged into Facebook, as I do several times a day. It's an addiction. The 2 most recent status updates are almost exactly the same. These are 2 friends who have no idea the other even exists. It's very bizarre.

Jennifer is back at work, wondering where the weekend
went. 8 minutes ago
Michelle is here, back at work, wondering WTF happened
to the weekend????? 19 minutes ago

In the Beginning

A New Perspective
I'm working (blogging) in the lobby of my office building. I drove my husband's car to work today and didn't think to bring my office keys with me. Fortunately, I'm able to access the company's wireless network. It's a little odd, sitting outside the office, looking in the windows, seeing the much more comfortable couch my company owns. Ah, well, only 30 minutes until another employee should be here.

A Little Bit of Heaven in Every Bite
I forgot how much I love brownies. Seriously love. I bought a premade dough thing (right next to the cookie dough) yesterday and I am having to use massive self-restraint to avoid eating the entire pan. I won't even say how many I brought with me to work. As soon as I get into the office and can get a cup of coffee, I'll be eating my brownies. Coffee and brownies is a nutritious breakfast, no?

Dry Run
Speaking of coffee, yesterday I tried to make it without water. I couldn't figure out why my coffee maker was broken. Yeah, that was bright of me. The worst part is that it's not the first time I've done it.

History in the Making
I'm spending an irrational amount of time gathering various things I've written from all over the internet. I've copied and pasted them all below for any reader's enjoyment.

Tamsin's Birth

Short story:
Tamsin Aiko
Born June 14, 1:40 AM
8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches

Long story:
We checked into the hospital a little after 7:30 Friday morning. I was put in a room and a pitocin drip was started. My doctor broke my water at about 9:00. It was a very uneventful morning. I got my epidural around 1:00. Almost immediately my heart rate sky-rocketed - it was at 220 for a long time. They kept monitoring my blood pressure and the baby to make sure my racing heartrate wasn't hurting anything. My doctor and the anesthesiologist were monitoring what was happening and a nurse stayed in the room with me basically just keeping a constant watch on all my vital signs. An echocardiogram was ordered and as soon as he was done, my heartrate started falling (somehow the test was therapeutic rather than just diagnostic), though it would fluctuate and never got below about 100 the entire time I was in labor.

Anyway, I had several more uneventful hours. Around 9, my epidural ran out. The nurse originally didn't say anything about it to me (or the anesthesiologist), so I just started feeling more and more pain. When I was finally told the epi was done, they told me I was so close that it would last until the baby was born. A couple of hours later, I was in a ton of pain and they told me to start pushing. Baby was in an anterior position and I wasn't fully dilated (they called it a lip), so it was more painful than it otherwise would have been. She was also only at +2 station (the same place she had been 2 hours earlier when the doctor said not to push yet - just wait). After about 45 minutes of pushing, I was done. I asked for a C-section (begged and ordered may be more accurate verbs here) a little before 1:00. At that point, my epi had completely worn off, I'd been in labor for 17+ hours and hadn't eaten in about 30 hours. I knew I did not have the energy to push the baby out. I know other women can do it in those circumstances, but I just couldn't.

So, they set up an OR for my C-section and gave me new drugs through my epidural. My heartrate again started racing - I think it stayed around 180 this time. The doctors have decided that when my body is under stress (either physical or mental), my heartrate goes up. There was some small incident in the OR with the baby (I can't even remember the circumstances) when it rose quite a bit while I waited to find out what happened, so I think they're probably right. Anyway, none of that matters, because my beautiful baby girl was born. Her first apgar was a 9 - I'm unreasonably proud of her for that. Kenji went with her to be weighed, measured and cleaned and I was sewn up. They brought her into me in the recovery room, she had a very succesful nursing session and I was taken to my room. Honestly, we think she couldn't be more perfect and we're so happy she's here.

You chose WHAT name?

For the past 4 months, Kenji & I have tried to give our baby a nickname so we're not referring to it as "it" or "the baby." This past week, Kenji's 3-yr-old nephew was staying with us for Christmas. When asked what we should name our baby, he suggested "Baby Sneezus." Apparently, at home he created an alternative nativity scene which, in addition to 2 pirates and Santa Claus, included two babies. One of whom he named Baby Sneezus...because he's really into rhyming right now. Somehow that name has stuck. I think it's adorable and even after we find out the sex in a couple of weeks, Baby Sneezus may stick.

Oh the things that you'll smell...

I’ve decided pregnancy is like a series of graduations from one symptom to another. It starts out with extreme fatigue and sore boobs, then moves on to morning sickness and sensitive smell. And speaking of sensitive smell, I have learned there is no such thing as odor-free. Everything has a scent. And after 6 months in our house, shouldn’t the previous owner smell be gone? Yeah, it’s not.
As for morning sickness, after 4 days of all-day nausea, I think I’ve got it figured out. All I have to do is throw up first thing in the morning then slowly and steadily fill my stomach with easy foods. By lunchtime, I’m good to eat whatever I want…and I basically have to eat everything I see. It’s very strange to go from complete nauseated to overwhelmingly hungry within a few hours every day.

My baby doesn't like coffee

It's been 1 week since I took the 3 positive pregnancy tests. Yes, I know it's a bit wasteful to take 3 tests. I know they're designed to show a false negative rather than a shaky positive. I know all of this, and yet I still needed to take 3 tests to be sure. I needed to see that digital test say "Pregnant."

I still don't really believe it, though. Not many symptoms so far:
* Tired all the time
* Have to pee all the time
* Gas (is gas a pregnancy symptom?)
* Bloat
So far pregnancy just seems like a big, ugly digestive condition.

Also, my baby doesn’t like coffee. This makes me very sad because I LOVE coffee. But starting 5 days ago, coffee started tasting like dish soap. I thought maybe it was just a bad pot of coffee that day…but, no, it tastes like dish soap. Last night, Kenji started talking to the baby. He asked it to “tell” him whether it’s a boy or a girl. He even “listened” for an answer. Then he asked it if it’s a “boy who will grow up to be a great baseball player who will make millions of dollars and can then support us?” Nothing like laying the pressure on early.