Fantasy Shopping at Macy's

I've spent my day fantasy shopping at Macy's and I've filled up my cart with exciting purchases such as pants, tops, a few dresses, a necklace, two bras (hey.. my body has changed after having Nathan!!!), and a pair of flats. It's come to about $350. Now I need someone to talk some sense into me and tell me NOT to open a Macy's card and just get it. I know I shouldn't.. I know I shouldn't, but part of me feels like stamping my feet like a spoiled toddler and saying "BUT I WANT"....



Sigh. Being a grown-up stinks!!!

Husband

I have a wonderful husband. He's smart and funny as hell and kind and drives me crazy (sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way), and he's pretty damn good looking too:

So why am I cheating on my sweet husband by spending my days curled up with this person?

I just hope Jeff understands!

Love for the person who invented the swing

Dear Inventor of the Swing,

I wanted to take a minute and thank you. From the deepest corner of my very soul, I thank you. Your invention allowed our fussy and cranky newborn son to sleep for 4 hours. 4 HOURS!!! It was bliss, absolute and utter bliss to see Nathan all cozy and content as he swung for hours. He didn't make a peep as he slept, and it was wonderful as his parent to be able to walk around the house and get things done. I don't know if you realize just how wonderful your invention is, but truly I don't know how I would have survived without it.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you!

Katharine aka One truly grateful mom

Possible Donation

Just a quick post: Does anyone know a good place to donate one box of unopened Huggies Diapers - newborn size?? Jeff and I prefer the Pampers Swaddlers for Nathan, but I hate the idea of throwing out a whole box of diapers. Surely there are people who could use them? Does anyone know a charity that takes things like this?? Thanks so much!

Movie History

For some reason today I was remembering this SUPER cheesy movie that I saw on Cable WAY back when...



Yes, "Transylvania 6500". I don't have anything to write about it, I'm just wondering if anyone else has ever HEARD of this movie or if perhaps my fevered imagination just conjured it out of thin air...

Yaaaawnnn.....

Soooo sleepy... and I feel bad that I haven't written anything in a few days. So I'm taking a lead from MSNBC and asking people to confess their guilty pleasures. Their Television guilty pleasures that is! (see article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31896603/ns/entertainment-television/).

It's kind of amusing that two of the shows on the guilty pleasure list are two shows that I enjoy as well. "Say Yes to the Dress" and "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives".

For "Say Yes to the Dress", I actually TIVO each episode. As someone who got married on the lake here in Wakefield wearing a a wedding dress that cost about $100 from J. Crew, it FASCINATES me to see people looking at dresses that cost $8,000 and up. One girl bought her dream dress for $25,000. $25,000!! For a DRESS!! Now granted, the dress was gorgeous, but still. That's INSANE. And I love the drama within the wedding party, the whole search for the perfect gown, the crazy brides, basically the whole show.

My other guilty pleasure? Really, really bad SyFy movies. You know, movies like "Hellhounds" (see here: http://www.syfy.com/movies/originals/index.php?pageid=108) where the acting is SO BAD that it goes beyond laughable. Do I even need to write that I'll most certainly be watching "Malibu Shark Attack" (http://www.syfy.com/movies/originals/index.php?pageid=109) and routing for the shark?? I didn't think so!

I also love "Ghost Hunters" and "Ghost Hunters International". I'm not really someone who believes in the paranormal, but I find these shows utterly thrilling in that they try and debunk the idea that a place is haunted. They put up cameras and use a whole bunch of equipment that I don't understand to read heat signatures, EMF readings, and the such, so I really get caught up in the whole show. Never mind that I LOVE Grant - one of the lead investigators on the show! See his picture below, he's the dark haired guy on the left!

Anyone feel like fessing up to their own guilty pleasures? If so, feel free to add a comment!

Credit Cards

Jeff and I paid off one of our credit cards and I am soooo excited. We paid off our Jordan's Credit Card which means that FINALLY all our furniture that we've been using over the past couple of years is officially OURS!! Which is good, because our furniture has a hard life. Our sofa has had so many things spilled on it and it's held up so well. I wish the same could be said for our mattress. We got this insanely expensive mattress from Jordan's, it's called "Nature's Rest" and it's supposed to be one of the best mattresses out there. The sales guy guy told us that our mattress would be like a "rubber ball", and that it would always bounce back so there would be no indent.

Well, he LIED PEOPLE! I know, you're all shocked that a salesperson lied to make a sale. I know we are shocked. More than shocked - we're bewildered, confused, hurt.... the list goes on and on. So there's this big old INDENT in our mattress and the only thing that helps is to turn it every now and then. But a couple of nights later.. the indent is back. So basically our mattress sucks and I am fantasizing about a new mattress. And just what new mattress do I want??

Take a look:



Yes, I want a Craftmatic Adjustable Bed. I know it's marketed for senior citizens... but I want one. It looks so COMFY! And I love the whole idea of moving the bed to how I want it. So now my question is... can we justify getting a new mattress now that our credit card is paid off?? What do you all think??

Newest Purchase

You all know I am a complete and total product whore, easily swayed by marketing, right?? Good! At Target while I was loading up on exciting items such as wipes, diapers and formula, I also purchased the following:

So far I like it, the coverage is nice and sheer for the summer, and it blends pretty well. At a price tage of $24.00 it's a cheaper alternative to my usual Philosophy brand foundation so it fits my budget. Oh, and I also got my hair cut yesterday so I'll be sure to post pictures later!!!

New Life

So for all my friends who don't have squalling and squawking infants, I'd have to say the hardest part of being a parent is NOT the lack of sleep. Though you are soooo tired... and you know you'd fall asleep if you just lay your head down for a minute... It's the fact that you have no time for yourself. None. I know what you're thinking.. what about when the baby sleeps?? Well yes, Nathan sleeps a lot, but it's not the same thing. You are SCRAMBLING during his sleep time to accomplish all the things that you used to have all day for. You have maybe 1 hour to do the following:

• Read a Book
• Watch a movie or tv show
• Take a shower
• Get dressed for the day
• Do laundry
• Clean the house
• Run an errand (bonus points for this as you obviously need to take the baby WITH you, and he may be like Nathan and NOT happy about being buckled into his car seat)
• Spend time with your husband (HA HA!!! This so NEVER makes the list. By the time Jeff and I go to bed I drape one arm over him before passing out in a deep, deep sleep that has me drooling into his shoulder - that's our romantic time).

It's near impossible to do ANYTHING on this list in the time that Nathan sleeps. See, one eye is always ON your baby. Is he sleeping? Is he fussy? Is he making a weird noise that you suddenly need to worry about? And Nathan also prefers during the day (really, anytime) to sleep ON one of us. He's happiest if he's on our laps all cuddled up. And while it's ADORABLE that he does this.. it also severely limits what you can do. You're limited to attempting to watch a show (and it took me almost 2 hours last night to watch one episode of "Warehouse 13" as I had to keep stopping it and rewinding. Thank God for TIVO is all I have to say.) Or you can maybe a read a book. That's a better option, and I made my way through a new book last week in the time that Nathan spent on my lap. But still.. you have to prepared to stop whatever you are doing at any second because at some point your baby is going to SCREAM his little head off and demand IMMEDIATE ATTENTION.

So yes, the lack of sleep does suck. But it's the fact that your whole life is now revolving around this tiny person that is probably the hardest thing to adjust to.

Any questions??? ;-)

Object of Lust

I want these shoes.

http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7542401/c/197569.html

Can you see the link? They are Cole Haan Carma Air Mary Jane Wedges, and I want them in Gunmetal Croc, size 9. They have "concealed Nike Air technology" for extra cushioning, and I seriously love them. Look how comfy they appear!!! And the gunmetal color is GORGEOUS! God I want them. But let's take another look. The price is $300. That's right, $300. I just can't. Cannot justify those shoes. Not when we have diapers and daycare and wipes and oh.. CREDIT CARD bills to pay off. It's shoes like this that helped me GET my lovely credit card debt in the first place and are why I do not carry credit cards anymore. I have no impulse control so if I can't afford to pay cash, I don't get it. And so sadly, these shoes will not be on my feet anytime soon.

Maybe Payless has something comparable???

Frustration

I am in between sizes. And by that I mean I am still wearing maternity clothes but they are literally falling off me... so why aren't I in different clothes? Well I am TOO FAT for my regular clothes still. Even my FAT CLOTHES don't fit me so I am wearing maternity clothes. And when I walk around in maternity clothes I have to stop what I'm doing and hike them back up to where they belong because the crotch on my jeans starts to migrate downards on a path no crotch should ever go. Ever.

I can't exercise right now though, and even if I wanted to, I'm soooooo very tired. There's no way in hell I'm exercising when I could be sleeping. Ahhh.. sweet sleep... sleep..... that elusive creature that continues to taunt me so.

Where was I? Oh yes, clothes. Now I NEED to lose weight because when I go back to work I need clothes that FIT, and clothes that look somewhat decent. And I can't AFFORD new clothes... so I've got to somehow squeeze myself into the clothes I do have. Suggestions? I also would like to add that having a baby changes your SHAPE. I have a belly now.. something I never had before. My weight and I had a very comfortable arrangement previously where any extra poundage would settle around my butt and thighs. I knew this is where the weight would go, my weight knew that this is where it would go. Not so now. I have a belly. A BELLY. How the hell do I dress to hide my new belly???? I don't have clothes that work with a belly hiding issue... I have clothes that work with a minimizing the butt issue. GAH! What am I going to do??

I think I should start a collection, a charity of sorts. The "Katharine Needs to Fit into her Clothes Again and Learn How to Hide her Belly" charity. What do you think??

Book Reading to Nathan

I've already started reading to Nathan. I read somewhere that newborns actually enjoy the sound of rhymes, and that they can recognize voices. Nathan might not understand what I'm reading to him, but I'm doing it all the same. I want him to love to read like his mommy does! Now, I COULD read him whatever I'm reading - because basically he has no idea what I'm saying. But that seems wrong. I don't like the idea of reading such grown up material to my baby (though that hasn't stopped Jeff from reading graphic novels to him with titles such as "Captain America is Dead"). I'm more into the children's books, and I've already started a collection of books. Just yesterday I read "Llama Llama Mad at Mama", "Bats in the Library", and "Froggy Bakes a Cake" to him, and I swear he was listening to me. Want proof?

See, how cute is Nathan?? And here's another picture of Jeff and Nathan that I took because it was just too adorable for words, take a look:

And to everyone who volunteered baby sitting services - I'm totally holding you to it!!! And you wrote it on my BLOG so it's in WRITING! I may be getting a date night out after all!! SCORE!

Love for Harry Potter

The new Harry Potter movie is coming soon. How in the WORLD am I going to indulge my love for Harry Potter with Nathan??? I can't TAKE him to the movie... there's no way he'd sleep through the entire thing and I don't want to be the person with a baby that everyone shoots dirty looks to when the baby starts WAILING in the middle of the film. And Nathan is way too young for this Nervous Nellie to leave with a sitter.... so now I'm in a bit of a quandry. I don't have the patience to wait for this movie to come out on DVD, I'm going to want to see it NOW... but how can I make this happen?? Suggestions? Anyone?




Jeff says that he'll stay home and take care of our son, but I don't want that. I want to go WITH my husband. I ENJOY seeing movies with Jeff, so really we're in a tight spot. I guess I'm going to have wait for DVD. Ah well... think of the money we'll save by waiting!!!

Baby

I was watching television this evening with Nathan on my lap. A pretty common night these days for us. As I watched, I glanced down at Nathan and was greeted by this sight:

He was staring up at me with his eyes wide open, and I swear it's like he's plotting against me already. I think though I've figured out his plan. After a night and day of my sweet baby boy where he morphed into "Mr. Cranky Fussy Pants" - I am almost positive that this is what he wants to do to us. Turn us into the following:

That's right, he wants to turn us into zombies.

Days and Nights

Since Jeff and I have a newborn, we spend a lot of our time with Nathan cuddled up on our laps as we watch movies and read books. And bedtime we usually have Nathan in a co-sleeper next to our bed, and we watch movies upstairs really, really quietly. So quietly that Jeff is seriously interested in getting a wireless headphone so he can HEAR the people talking, and I just bought a booklight on Amazon.com. See, we're trying to keep the room dark since babies have no sense of night or day and right now OUR baby seems to have inherited our night owl tendencies. Not something we'd really like to encourage as he gets older! But I digress... we watch movies. Lots of movies. And just what quality programming are we watching? Well take a look:




Why yes, that is "Megashark vs Giant Octopus" and it is STARRING Deborah Gibson. You know, Deborah Gibson formerly known as Debbie Gibson, the writer of such fabulous songs as the following:




You know when Deborah Gibson is the starring actor in a movie that you've got a quality movie on your hands. And when that quality movies includes a shark so big that it CATCHES A JET PLANE AS IT FLIES THROUGH THE AIR AT WARP SPEED - well what's not to like?? I confess it took us three full days to actually WATCH this movie because we kept falling asleep. I don't think that's entirely the movies' fault though... it could happen to be the fault of this small person who has taken over our LIVES and makes enough noise at night that we are constantly waking up to check on him! But if you're looking for a B movie that embraces it's "B movieness".. than this is the movie for you! Enjoy!

Obnoxious Neighbor

Dear Neighbor,
While I understand that you are a bachelor and that as such you like to have large groups of people over to your house for all night parties, as evidenced by the disco ball you have hanging in your living room. And while I also understand that the Fourth of July is a momentous and wonderful day that includes apple pie, hot dogs, beer and lots of celebrating - it does not require you to set off fireworks ALL DAY LONG, and then follow that up with setting off fireworks ALL NIGHT LONG.

At first, the noise was okay. Jeff and I accepted that not everyone on the block has a new baby and a chicken shit dog, and thus we excused your actions with much eye rolling and jokes. But as the day went on with no sign of ending, our patience neared an end. Our poor dog was so stressed that he was panting and drooling like some sort of hound from hell, and we wound up crating him for most of the night. Never mind that my poor husband was ready to call in the Riot Police to shut you down, and only my pleading prevented him from walking over and telling you to quiet down. I also didn't appreciate that as sleep-deprived new parents this noise kept us from taking a much deserved afternoon nap, and falling asleep later that night.

In the future, we would appreciate you perhaps recognizing the fact that yours is not the only house on the block and try and keep your celebratory and illegal fireworks to a minimum. Oh, and to also see that we live right near the WOODS, and that what you are doing could cause a massive fire thus also adding to my husband's stress level as we monitored your actions.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Any further questions can be redirected to my husband.

Sincerely,
Your exhausted neighbors

Adorable baby

All I do now is stare at Nathan. I mean I stare at him and cannot believe he is here, that he's MY baby. It's absolutely the most amazing thing, and I'm almost in disbelief that he's arrived. He's just so cute and adorable and I can't help but stare at him like the hypnotized zombie that I am.

In light of the fact that I'm completely and utterly boring because I have no thought in my skull other than "How cute is Nathan"? and Jeff and I play the "Look at how cute he is sleeping" game all day long, here are some more pictures!

This is Nathan in his nursery with me.... and his eyes are OPEN! Right now his eyes are blue and we're wondering if they're going to change color and be more like Jeff's... time will tell I suppose!

Yes people, we took Nathan to Target and words cannot describe how anxious we were the entire time. I had my hand on the car seat the WHOLE TIME, and we planned the outing around his feeding schedule. I had a diaper bag stocked with enough crap to supply a third world nation, and I am sure I blocked aisles as everytime he made ANY noise I stopped dead in my tracks to lean over and coo at him. Still, I managed to spend about $80 on diapers, soap, some Newborn outfits, dog biscuits, and other assorted items that my tired brain can no longer process!

And look at how tiny he is in his car seat. There are no words for how cute this is! And no words for how slowly Jeff drives now that he has a baby in the car. Oh, and I sit in the back seat next to Nathan all the better to indulge my paranoia that he might stop breathing, or need me, or make any sort of noise.....

Last, Jeff and Nathan. I have to say, Jeff has been WONDERFUL as a father. He is devoted and attentive and as equally inclined to obsess over our tiny baby. AND Jeff actually got up and killed a GIGANTIC spider this morning, and he'd only had a few hours of sleep. I'm telling you, he's a keeper!