New Hampshire

Jesse and I went to New Hampshire for the Memorial Day weekend to visit his family. When we got into the Manchester airport, I realized that even though Ian had flown four different times, I didn't have a picture of him at the airport. Here's the obligatory shot:

Jesse looks a little tired.

We thoughtfully selected the flight that got in around 10 a.m., making it impossible for Janice or George to give us a ride home (George was out of town, Janice working). So, Janice got a limousine service to drive us to the house. We were excited to see if an actual limousine was going to drive us, but it turns out it was a Cadillac, which was still pretty nice. The driver was waiting for us at the bottom of the escalators with a sign that had our names written on it. That was cool--probably a first and last for me. It turns out that he was a retired school principal, so we had a nice conversation about nutrition in schools on the way to the house.

After we got settled, we hit up the outlet stores in Kittery, Maine for some of the weekend sales. When Janice and Georgie got home, we decided to go to a Chinese buffet in North Hampton. We passed through a rainstorm on the way and saw the awesomest rainbow. It was really bright and you could see all the colors in it, both ends, and there was a second dimmer one, too.

It was really nice to spend time with Jesse's family. We got to play on the lawn without the fear of cat or dog poop:

I did find a tick, however. Easier to take care of than poop, so I liked the trade.

Jesse had fun taking nice pictures of the pretty trees that were still in bloom:

The lilacs were out, too, which I love.

Jens and Audree, Jesse's brother and sister in-law, came out for the weekend. Here they are entertaining Ian during dinner, so I could eat:

Audree was really nice and helped out a lot with Ian. And Jens did too. They all look like they are vampires, but they aren't. Our red eye fixer is broken on our computer.

Here is Jens eating Ian.

We went to see Prince Caspian, which I thought was pretty good, but had less of a plot than Narnia. On the way home we got stopped by a cop, who asked all of us how much we had been drinking and took all of our licenses, but didn't give us a ticket. George babysat Ian and entertained him by pulling him around in the wagon.

He's looking pretty tired.

We went for a walk along the coast in Maine. It was very pretty, but we couldn't help but notice that there were a ton of gay couples walking around. I counted 27 different pairs of gay men, and 2 lesbian couples, just when we were on our walk. We probably saw twice that many when we were trying to park, but I wasn't counting then, so it's not official.

Here we are on the hike:

We jimmirigged a sling for Ian out of an old bedsheet.

Our last day there we went to the beach. The day was pretty hot, and we were sweating. So we changed into our suits--just in time for it to get windy. Jesse went in, but I didn't. It was absolutely freezing. Ian ate sand.

On the trip, Ian improved his personal record for number of steps taken in a row to 5, and another tooth came in, making the total 7. And, while I was writing this post he ate some soap and figured out how to open the dishwasher and climb inside.

Sorry if this post is lacking all forms of humor. I just hit the "back to the real world" duldrums.

News!

Today Ian took his first three steps! Also, he bit a chunk of toilet paper off of the roll.

It's Like Pulling Teeth

When I was brushing Ian's teeth tonight, I wondered: at what point does helping your offspring maintain good personal hygiene become abusive? Ian HATES getting his teeth brushed. I basically hold him down the whole time (or, for five seconds--one second per tooth).

Is that going to cause psychological damage?

And while we're on the subject, Ian's sixth tooth came in. Keep 'em coming, that's what I say. The sooner they're all in, the sooner he'll stop being cranky.

Three Cheers For A Thousand Splendid Suns

I stole this book from my sister, Ashley, and finished reading it about a week ago. It was such a great book! There's such a sense of redemption at the end--loved it. The next book I'm going to read is Stephenie Meyer's The Host.

C'mon, UHEAA!

I was paying my student loan yesterday and I saw this picture on UHEAA's website:

It's kind of hard to get the same effect through this medium, but you can check out the original at UHEAA's website. Anyways, what do you think when you look at that picture?

My thought was that those people are WAY TOO THIN! I know models are supposed to be thin, but this is just ridiculous. You can totally see that guy's flat chest--no pecs whatsoever. And that woman on the left has such a thin shoulder!

UHEAA, I'm disappointed in you for supporting eating disorders and perpetuating such a huge societal problem.

I'm Having An Affair...

...with Target. I've known that I love Target for quite some time, and I suspect I will always love Target. The affection has slowly grown as I've found good deals, but the past two days have really awakened me to how I truly feel. It's not something I can deny any longer.

Check out this super cute wall plaque:

Normally this kind of thing isn't my style, but I love it. Originally $16.99, on sale for $2.14!

And this dress:

This wasn't as good of a deal. This was $20, on sale from $27, but, whatever. I can't wait until it's three dollars.

Typical...Just Typical

Today I was at playgroup, and this woman started telling everyone about how she found lice in her daughter's hair Saturday night. They all went to church Sunday, and she also had her little boy at playgroup.

C'mon, people. You get ticked off that someone's kid gives your kid lice, then you take your kid to church and...give other kids lice.

M.I.A.

My landlord's fiance came to fix some things in our new apartment--broken dishwasher, shower that doesn't work--the small things you always have to fix. (Are you catching my sarcasm?)

Side note: One of the things he had to fix was our toilet. For some reason, when you sat down it clunked forward. When I came home after he had left, the bathroom floor was all wet because, while he fixed the original problem, he somehow caused the toilet to start leaking, creating a whole new problem. Don't worry--we didn't call him to fix it. We fixed it ourselves. We learn quickly.


Anyways, aside from the bathroom floor being all wet, there was something else different in the bathroom. Our bathroom garbage was gone. Not the trash--that would have been too helpful--the trash can. Yes. Pedro stole our trash can. I had emptied it right before he got here because it had diapers in it and when I got back from institute it was gone.

I thought maybe I had absentmindedly set it down somewhere after taking the trash bag out of it but it is nowhere to be seen. Should I call him on it? I seem to remember a Seinfeld episode dealing with something like this. I also seem to remember it didn't have a happy ending.

There's A Line...

There is this one cashier at Safeway who is crazy, and Jesse always likes going to her lane to hear what crazy things she has to say. Today she started talking to me about Ian, and then talking about how hot it was inside. Here is how the conversation ensued:

Crazy lady: But it's a different kind of hot than normal people feel. Your mom might be able to identify (alluding to menopause).

Me: Well, I was pregnant all last summer and I was hot.

Man behind us: Wait, I thought it was common knowledge that cold winters made babies.

Me: !?!

Crazy lady: Not my first one. He was conceived on the hottest day of the summer. Both my husband and I called in sick and our bedroom was air conditioned. But, then I guess I was cold--

Man behind us: Well, my brother was conceived right before Pearl Harbor. My dad had three days of leave, and he didn't know when he was going to see my mother again.

Me: Have a nice day!

Crazy lady: Yeah, my second son was planned, though....

We chose to use a checker because the last time I was at Safeway I used the self-check and ended up yelling at the clerk overseeing it because she was so nasty to the lady in front of me and then even meaner to me. I just wanted a painless experience. I guess I learned my lesson.

Back In Town

I'm back in business, everyone. I just got home late last night from visiting my family in Washington state (I realize it was kind of ambiguous as to where I went and why. Sorry.). Luckily the flight went well with Ian--he probably would have slept for the whole length of the flight from Seattle to D.C. if I would've let him, but I woke him up three and a half hours in to feed him. On the flight out there he slept for two hours and then bounced on my lap and pulled my hair for the remainder of the time. He didn't cry, though, and I was thankful.

Highlights from the trip:

1. Helping Austa get ready for Prom! Way fun, and the time was well worth it. Her eyebrows look way better plucked.

2. Playing the goon and taking pictures of Austa and her date before they left.

3. Eating my mom's cooking.

4. Getting food poisoning from Panda Express. As my friend Mariana put it, of course I got food poisoning from Chinese fast food. What did I expect?

5. Getting fabric to make a table runner and place mats, and to recover our dining room table chairs.

6. Seeing the wildflowers.

7. Standing outside and only hearing birds and the wind.

8. Learning about the "real world" from a brother who still lives at home--at the age of 27. Apparently the "real world" involves a lot of scavenging for food in your parent's well-stocked kitchen, while avoiding doing any actual "cooking".

9. Watching the above-mentioned brother put a whole boiled egg in the microwave and then be surprised when it exploded all over the kitchen.

10. Teaching my little sisters the true meaning of a messy diaper.

11. Getting my hair cut. Ian probably would've pulled it for the whole return trip, too. Probably the only reason he slept for so long is because there wasn't anything fun to do anymore.

All in all, a great two weeks.

A Little Success, A Little Failure

Since we moved out of our old apartment and bought a dining room table, I've decided we need trivets and coasters. You know, because we have a real table now, not a plastic veneer table.

I decided to undertake this craft project at my mom's house in Washington. She's really crafty and I figured I might need some help. Well, I have tried for the last two weeks to make mosaic trivets and coasters, but it's just not working out. At first, my tile pieces were too small. Then the grout kept cracking. Now it just won't dry. I'm giving up.

Luckily, I also decided to make some earrings. Those turned out fine. They also cost about three dollars to make two pair, compared to my mosaic coaster/trivet failure, which probably cost about thirty dollars.