ahhh ... mmmm ....

Well, I've never seen a $258 check before, but there it was. Not that it was all ours and it was definitely worth the money ... just not every day. Ceviche was amazing, as always.

We went with Acie/Tom and Steph/George and had a delightful time. There were stuffed artichokes, duck with chocolate sauce, mushrooms, veal meatballs, fillet, goat cheese (ahh, let me remember the goat cheese), olives, pancheta (sp?), sangria, creme brulee, almond croissants ... we didn't order smart which is what ran our bill up, but everything was so good it was worth it. We don't do that often. We went to the new Tampa location since they moved down Howard in SoHo as the races were going on in St. Pete and we figured it would be crazy down there. The new location is beautiful (although I never went to the old location in Tampa) but there's still something I like about the St. Pete one a little better - the packed seating, the waiter whose accent is so thick you can't understand but love to hear him recite the menu options ... next time we go back, we make reservations afterward for the dessert room at Bern's since it's two blocks away. Mmmm .... I'm already salivating again.

Oh, and the boy was on his best behavior. He didn't sleep through much of the meal but he hung out and relished being adored. He did scream all the way home, but such is life. I'm getting used to him doing that to me -- when he's done in the car, he's done and it doesn't matter how far from home you are. He doesn't want to be in the seat anymore. This is three times. At least he is on good behavior around others; I can deal with the crying every once in awhile.

Knights in White Satin

My brother and I keep talking about old songs that I love and he makes fun of. Of which he makes fun. Whatevs. This is from the boy whose favorite song is Blinded By the Light. His second favorite song is something from Der Toten Hosen. Yes, we're a highly eclectic family. Just because between Christen and I we know all the words to Bust a Move, it's nothing to be embarassed by when we sing along in public.

He insists that Blue Oyster Cult is considered metal. How can they be? There's melody there.

Anywho, the bebe slept 8 hours straight last night. I only woke up because my boobs hurt, and Christen was getting him back to sleep because he had gotten a little restless and I told him I needed to feed him. Pronto. So I did and he went back to sleep for another 2 1/2 hours. What is this every other night thing?

Right now he's being a cranky babe, so maybe that will mean he'll be in good spirits when we meet Acie/Tom and Steph/George for dinner at Ceviche. So excited for that!

It's 11:28pm -- do you know where your kids are?

I should be sleeping, like the snoring oaf next to me (yes, that's my husband. he snores like a champ). But I'm not, obviously. Why not? Who knows.

I need a baby carrier. We have a Baby Bjorn, but it's so hot and uncomfortable (Christen likes it; he can keep it). I have a sling that was made for me too, but I can't seem to get used to it; it makes me feel like I'm smothering the kid. After seeing Joy's, I think I want one of those Mai Tai carriers like this:


But I don't want to pay $90 for it. Any ideas? I want one with very little padding because I get so hot with those things, but the Birdman seems to be obsessed with being carried lately and it would be a lot easier on my back, I'm sure.

So I had to be out of the house today for at least three hours while the bugman was here, and Ann and I went to brunch at Nicki's ... very good. I only had the fruit platter because I was overwhelmed with choices, but everything looked good (even Ann's hash, and yuck - it was hash) so I will have to go back and try something real. After that Spencer and I went to Kohl's to get some more work clothes for me ... does anybody else's kid hate dressing rooms? He would be fast asleep and as soon as I got into the dressing room he would be awake and crying. Bastard. hehe, not really though :)

Anyhow, I really must get some sleep while the rest of the house is slumbering as well. And by the rest of the house I really mean Spencer - he's the only one who counts, right? I wonder if I could smother Christen to get him to stop snoring, just long enough for me to get to sleep.

On a side note ...

Did anyone see How I Met Your Mother last night? The Doogie reference at the end was priceless.

That is all. I sleep now.

It's 6am I must be dreaming

I’m not sure that what I had to go through last night was worth tonight’s bliss, but I’ll take it. Spencer and I had a marvelous time yesterday. We met the girls for girls’ lunch at Panera and it was delish -- it’s been a long time since I had Panera ... mmm, mmm good. Spencer was good fun and the girls took turns holding him and getting him to laugh.

Then we met Theresa and Alexa and baby Cash at the Ruby Tuesday’s in Tyrone and I had dessert (I didn’t mean to but boy was it good - strawberries and ice cream on this ridiculously-sized puff pastry that I didn’t chow into). After eating they took turns holding him through the mall and making him laugh, and then we went to the new Old Navy which now looks like every other teeny bopper store instead of the old warehouse style. It looks really good, but I’m mostly excited that they have new clothes that are super cute. I’m less excited that it seems like they have less sales. We shall see.

After that we went back to Tree’s house (hehe, treehouse ...) and hung out with the baby boys (Theresa got some cute pics of the boys ... Tree, I need those pics ) and had dinner which was also muy delicioso (do I care if my foreign spelling is right? I think not).

The problem was Spencer maybe slept a total of 1/2 hour the whole day ... 10 minute breaks in the car and a brief catnap at Tree’s, so on the 45 minute drive home which included a brief interlude at CompUSA to make an exchange, he screamed bloody freaking murder. I changed him in the uber-sketchy parking lot of CompUSA just in case that was his issue (it wasn’t) and held him for a few minutes outside the car which didn’t really help, but mostly he screamed. You know when he fell asleep? about 45 seconds before we got home. On a side note, we were listening to NPR all the way home to preserve my sanity and drowned him out and the one time he stopped crying was when the dude was talking between songs. Maybe I need a recording of that guy.

But we got home around 9:15pm, and I fed him as much as his little belly would hold and he slept ... from about 9:45 until 5am. 5am! That’s more than 7 hours! Christen woke me up at 4:30 and goes "I haven’t heard him, do you think he’s okay? Should we wake him???" but I had heard him make sleep noises here and there so I convinced him not to wake him, and he woke at 5am for food and changing. I’m pretty sure he’s back asleep now (I’ve been trying to keep myself awake for a few minutes after putting him down in case I have to get back up to insert pacifier) so I’m going to catch a few more zzz’s because he’ll be up between 7:30 and 8 and I doubt he’ll go back to sleep then. Toodles!

BTW, SwaddleMe+White Noise+Sleep Positioner= a great night’s sleep!

A good old fashioned rant -- don't you miss those?

So about a month out of my warranty, my Sony digital camera decides to stop closing properly. It closes most of the way, just not all the way, like there's something stuck in it. I always keep it in the case, and it looks brand new -- no scratches, no dings, nothing.

Today I finally bring myself into the Sony store. Guess what? They no longer service cameras in store. I have to call the 800 number. So I do. And find out that it will cost a flat fee of $111 to send it back to their repair center to be fixed. $111! Are they crazy? I can buy a new one for that!

So we've decided to try to fix it ourselves. What have we got to lose? If we mess it up further, it would cost the same to fix it, and we could just buy a new one. One with an extended warranty. I've never been a big proponent of extended warranties, having worked in retail for as long as I did. But now here are my thoughts on them: If will cost the same to fix an item as to buy a new one, and if you won't be able to fix it yourself (i.e. with a computer we have the knowledge between the two of us to fix it. With a camera you need tiny special tools and I can't do that), then buy the warranty. The warranty is $25 for a year, $45 for two years. And then I wouldn't have this god-forsaken problem.

I'm taking canned air to the sucker and hopefully that will blow out whatever got stuck in it. If it breaks? I have my Nikon that I've had for 5 years that still works without fail.

BTW, this is not our first recent issue with Sony. Everything we own is Sony -- cameras, DVD players, tvs ... my husband had a Sony credit card and we remained loyal, buying everything through them even though it was often more expensive. He had a $6000 credit limit, and he always paid it off quickly. We usually only used it for big purchases though, because we could get free financing for so long (18, 24 months, things like that). The last purchase on it we made was our big screen tv for $3500 about 3 years ago. But we went to buy a $1200 camcorder from them before Spencer was born and they had closed the damn account due to inactivity. If we would have carried a balance, they never would have closed it because they would want their money, but because we're responsible purchasers who paid it off in a reasonable amount of time, they closed the account. And because we're buying a house, we don't want to reapply because we don't want another hit to our credit. We still haven't bought a camcorder, and it won't be from them when we do, assholes.

My secret (total mommy-blog time)

Here's my dirty secret, while I wait to make sure that Spencer is fully asleep so I can go back to sleep:

I hate breastfeeding. At first it was because I wasn't exactly doing it right and he was hurting me. In the past six weeks I've really tried to like it. I know of all the benefits for him and for me; I certainly know how much cheaper it is. And I'm not going to stop any time soon -- I enjoy those benefits too much that it outways the other things.

But my main problem is that it still hurts. It's not because of what I'm doing, but Spencer ... he's impatient, and I don't know if it's because it takes a minute for my milk to let down or because he wants it faster than it can flow, but he tugs and shakes his head with it in his mouth and it hurts for hours afterward. And then when I feed him again on that breast it seriously hurts. Tonight we decided to make a bottle for him (at 4am -- another perk, not having to do that; it sucks when he's ready for food and it still takes another 6 minutes to get it for him) because my boob hurt too much, and then I topped him off with the pained breast after he had eaten a bit. It still hurt because it was sore from before, but he didn't move around so much so it was manageable.

My other major problem with it is the isolation. I know I'm supposed to be able to breastfeed anywhere, but I don't feel comfortable doing it in public. I'll do it in the car, or in a women's lounge at the mall but I can't just pull it out in Starbucks -- it's just not me. Now, I don't really have a problem feeding in front of friends or family, but my in-laws are of a different era and are very uncomfortable about such things (FIL more than MIL; he won't even set foot in our room. She just gets flustered and leaves immediately or talks to me from around the corner). So I spend much of my days at home in my room or Spencer's so that I can feed him. Half an hour a feeding (approximately) every three hours is at least four hours a day I spend by myself (He's been eating almost every two hours lately so it's probably closer to six hours). My husband tries to hang out with me when he's home, but he gets bored too; I don't blame him.

To a lesser extent and more lately (like since his last doctor's visit) I also worry about how much he's getting. The doctor wasn't happy with how little he had gained since his last appointment, and so I try to feed him as much as I can. However, he is always trying to eat so I can't tell when he's done (if he had his way he'd be permanently attached, which also doesn't help the soreness) until he starts spitting up his meal because he's overfull. But then what if his spitting up is not because he's full, and he's not getting enough to eat because he is spitting up so much?

I feel guilty not enjoying breastfeeding; I know it's supposed to be this great bonding time for me and my child but I feel like I bond with him so much more when we're playing. Feeding has become so utilitarian. We do it because we have to.

But like I said, I'm not going to stop anytime soon. The perks outway the bad. I just had to get it off my chest (no pun intended) and at 5am it seemed like as good a time as any.