A small update

Li'l David now eats carrots. He loves them! He eats them like they're going out of style. He's very wonderful, and will be 6 months old in 17 days. He got really big this past week. It really does seem like he grew quite a bit in that time, because i was rocking him in his glider chair on Saturday night, which i hadn't done since Monday, and he was definitely taking up more space in my lap. i love him.
Found out i get to play both services at my church starting during the fall, instead of just the one! i'm so happy! Not only is it more dinero to go towards a bigger vehicle for me, it is also more piano playing i get to do! i'm very blessed and happy about this whole situation. It feels just so right being there. (i'm not just saying this only because i recently found out "my boss" reads my blog, either:)) Even though i don't believe in church denominations because i think they're unbiblical and mean, if i were to subscribe to one, i'm pretty sure it would be ELCA Lutheran. This might be another post.
Kris and i bought 12 lbs. of fresh meat today for $21. i love Sam's club. Kris also was a dear and when i asked him to go get feta while i picked out meat, he came back not only with feta, (which is a luxury) but also with goat cheese (luxuryx5!) He is a very caring person.
Does anyone know what to do if you find a lot of one kind of bug in your house? We have ticks, actually. Not the kind that carry lyme disease, thank goodness, but the other kind. Kris knows the name of them. i see them crawling up our walls mostly, but we don't seem to be able to find out if there is a nest or if they congregate somewhere. We just find them crawling around random different walls. They haven't jumped on us or anything, thankfully. But do you call an exterminator? i have never lived in my own house. If i were to call Terminex or some exterminator, i also know enough about myself that if i were just calling for pricing or something, they'd get me to agree to have them come out here and do the job no matter what. i'm a big pushover. Seriously, if you want money, just try selling me something and i'll probably buy it. i try not to go into stores where people actively try to sell you things, otherwise i'll come out with something i can't afford. Wow. Tangents are silly.
Anyway, i just feel really happy right now. David is sleeping, my kitchen is clean and my dishwasher is humming. In fact, my house is pretty clean-ish right now. My father-in-law dropped by with about 1 minute's notice today and i was able to have him come in and i didn't have much to be embarassed about. Really the only thing not in its place in our house is that all our deck stuff is in our living room because the association is treating and staining the decks this week. Isn't it strange how you feel better when your house is clean? Alright, it's time for food network and bed. May God's peace find its way into the hearts of all you who read this. (yep, Lutheran. Who would have guessed it from me?)

My sweet night

So tonight was very good. My boss asked if i could accompany a very famous violin piece called "Adoration" for church on Sunday. Having played it on violin, i quickly agreed, as it is a beautiful piece. Really really gorgeous. Here's a story.

Once upon a time, a 2-year-old Jessica saw an orchestra play at church. She pointed to the cello section and said "Mom, I want to play that." Her mother told her that someday, she'd play it. However, her parents were very poor, and when the time came for Jessica to start playing music, (age 7) her parents could only afford to buy her a little violin, not the cello she'd been dreaming of, because her brother played violin already and had all the books, as well as an inexpensive teacher the whole family loved. So Jessica started violin under the pretense that she would not be playing that particular instrument long, and would move to her beloved cello soon. She progressed rapidly at the violin, having heard these pieces since she was a tiny baby, and got through the first two "Suzuki" books within a year. She went to her parents, inquiring as to when she could quit violin and start cello. Then her parents decided that she was too good to quit violin, and forced her to continue playing it, not starting her on cello at all. They did, however, start her on piano at this time, which she did love. She begrudgingly continued playing violin, and started playing in youth orchestra, and got involved in violin things. Over the next few years, she started playing solos in church on both instruments, but was known mainly as a violinist, because she took violin lessons at somewhat prestigious schools, Macphail school of Music, and Augsburg College music program. She kept moving up in youth orchestras, and spent her years of high school in the top two youth orchestra levels in MN. She was concert master at Kennedy High School orchestra. She played in weddings, funerals, and string quartets.

Too bad she resented the violin for not being the cello. She hated it. She found the violin to be a "naggy" instrument, not deep and beautiful like the cello, nor full and vibrant like the piano. She applied to Valparaiso University as a pianist/violinist, and was told that as a violinist she'd get much more scholarship money. So she did violin there, too, and received a LOT of money because of it. Because of being in orchestra, though, she didn't get the opportunity to sing in choir, which she wished she could do. It was hours and hours of violin playing in an orchestra less talented than the youth orchestra she'd been in in high school, though her position was considerably higher (3d chair, first violin, compared to youth orchestra where she was generally 8th chair, second violin. To be fair, in her youth orchestra, the top two violinists were accepted to Juilliard and Manhattan.) But so college found her to still not be doing what she loved, which had turned its focus from cello to piano. She still took piano lessons and played at a local church choir and accompanied voice lessons, but couldn't accompany the Valparaiso Chorale, much less sing in it, two things she really wanted to be doing. Feeling stuck doing what she never intended on doing in the first place, she transferred from Valpo to Bethel University, where she'd be closer to family, Kris, and her beloved nephew Ros. 

She never told Bethel she played violin. She recieved absolutely no music scholarships, because no schools like to give money to transfer student pianists, evidently. Interestingly enough, after telling the music faculty that she only played piano and sang, when she was auditioning to sing for Bethel choirs, she finished singing her piece and sight-singing a hymn. Here's how the conversation went:

Dr. Port: "Jessica, do you play a stringed instrument?" 

Jessica: "Why do you ask?"

Dr. Port "You sing like a string player. And you sight-sing like a violinist, actually."

She was accepted into the Bethel Women's Chorale, kind of the garbage choir of Bethel, the rejects for Bethel Choir, possibly because of lack of experience. She never figured out what singing like a string player meant. However, she didn't have to play violin anymore, and felt deliciously free. She didn't touch the violin, but for a few weddings, since she put it away when she was at Valpo her last concert, Beethoven's majestic 9th symphony. Since then, she would not admit to playing violin and would downplay its role in her life on every occasion possible.

First person again: So tonight i was looking for my old "Adoration" part, and found it and the piano part. i thought it might be fun to revisit it on violin, so i pulled my dear violin out again. And i opened it, and it wasn't something hateful at all. It was my beloved Merrick (yes I named it) and it was looking back at me like "Why have you forsaken me?" And i played Adoration on it, and despite my very rusty technique, especially my horrible vibrato, IT still played as pure and true as it could. And i apologized to it afterwards. And will continue to play it, so i can get back up to feeling like my vibrato doesn't sound like a beginner and my shifting doesn't sound like sliding again. And i feel like a more complete person. The piano part is so pretty, and i was able to play it without much pausing, and that will be great. But the real victor was my relationship with my violin. i think the reason i hated it was because maybe i thought it was taking away from my piano playing, but now that i am known as a piano player, playing violin again has brought back memories and made me realize it's wonderful. Maybe being with something 20+ hours/week makes you forget about its good qualities or something. You could probably relate that to marriage, too. Well, after coming back to it, i definitely don't want to let it go.

People that aren't musicians may not get this blog. Probably won't, actually. But i feel like i rediscovered something powerful. I  feel rediscovered, even. Man. Good stuff.

Just a bit of update

David is still teething. Thought we were safe, having gotten the one out, but it turns out one is right next to it. It feels like it will be very soon, because it seems to be making quite a ridge into his poor little gum. So he's still crying most afternoons. It's really strange: he'll be in a great mood mornings and evenings, but afternoon is teething time.

He really is the cutest thing. He's so vocal! He sings and talks so much! He's also become a grunter, and enjoys squawking and doing what Kris and i call his "Hulk" impression. He started enjoying his rice cereal last week finally, after getting the hang of the spoon, i guess, so i started him on oatmeal cereal yesterday, which he seemed to enjoy as well. i've started feeding him cereals twice a day now. He takes GREAT naps after them, but if i feed him cereal before bed, it doesn't seem to do much as far as helping him sleep longer, which apparently works for most others.

i joined "Curves" this week. i start my first routine thing on Tuesday, where they'll weigh and measure me and then teach me how to use the machines, i guess. It's not cheap, (though it's a great deal less expensive than Lifetime or Gold's) but Kris and i thought it was important both physically and mentally. i've been feeling like crap lately about my body, and i've got no energy, and i think a lot of it could do with my 25 extra lbs i've been carrying around. The Curves near me is within walking distance, too, so it'll be a nice little walk (really less than a full block) to bookend my workouts.

i have to send in my laptop for service. Unfortunately, i bought it at Comp USA (a month before i started Best Buy) and now no Comp USAs exist in MN, so i have to send it in for who knows how long. Yuck. i really don't know what i'll do without it! Maybe get stuff done....but i'm not looking forward to it. But so they tell you to back up all your files and stuff, but my comp won't let me do that, for some reason. So if they lose my documents, there is nothing that can be done about it. That freaks me out! Then i was trying to back up to my external hard drive, but that's acting up, too, and it keeps crashing my computer. i can't send it to Seagate for service, though, because it's really an internal hard drive that i've got in a Dynex external hard drive casing thing, so technically i'm using it improperly and it voids the warranty. Oy.

Well, gotta give the boy a bath. i'll post about happy things later!

Friday Five on Saturday

1. What’s a gross food you like anyway? i like Brussels sprouts, too, Kristine. They're good!
2. Who’s an unlikable person you like anyway? Can't think of any real people, but if any of you watch the show "Heroes", the "bad guy" Sylar is my fav character.
3. What’s an unpleasant task you enjoy performing anyway? Scrubbing something that's really stuck and getting it to come off. i get this small thrill:)
4. What’s a dumb song you enjoy anyway? OK, i'll admit it. i still rock out to "mmm bop" by Hanson.
5. What’s a lousy restaurant you frequent anyway? My parents go to Applebees a lot. i don't particularly like it, i only like about 1 1/2 things on the menu, but if they're paying i go! It's really not lousy though. But it's the only restaurant i go to regularly where i'd usually rather go somewhere else.

As always, got this from Friday5.org.

Good news!

We've finally sighted a tooth! It's just the tip of David's very first tiny little tooth! We're so glad it finally popped through: now the poor kid will have a bit of relief. That tooth was taking forever and it was hurting him so much. Yay for teeth!

Friday Five

i normally take this from Friday5.org, but i didn't like this week's on there. A bit creepy for my tastes. So i took this one from here. Happy belated Fourth ya'll!

1. What sets you apart from your friends? i have the cutest baby in the planet and of my friends that do have babies, mine is the youngest.
2. What sets you apart from your family? Well, from my immediate family (husband and baby) i'm the only girl. From my family growing up (mom, dad, brother) i'm the only one whose last name is not Hudson. From my new family of Gensmers, i'm the only member who is not extremely comfortable in gigantic social situations and am also slow to give my opinions or argue.
3. What sets you apart from your coworkers/fellow students? Um, i'm the youngest of my coworkers, and my fellow students from Valpo are graduating this year, and i'm not.
4. What is the one thing about you that is most unique? i don't know. i can only think of tiny things, like i don't like olives, or have never been a bridesmaid in a wedding.
5. What is your most interesting quality? Um, i can enjoy cleaning? i watch Food Network more than can be healthy?

So

Two days ago Wednesday Kris and i went to Valleyfair. It was really fun. He bought for my birthday/mother's day two season passes to there, so we went for the first time in two years. It was so fun! We got good exercise, sun, and fun while we were there, plus we packed a lunch so we hardly spent any money while we were there (quite an accomplishment.) We picked up a season parking pass too. So now we can go there any time someone will watch David. We're already planning on going again Sunday. It's wonderful to be able to go there with Kris and just hold hands and not have David and walk around.
After we were pretty tired, Kris took me to see a movie (Waitress) that he'd promised to take me to for weeks. So the dialogue was super cute, and i really enjoyed the awkward kind of relationships in the movie, but pretty much everyone was cheating on their spouses, and it got really annoying, and towards the end i was just tired of trying to enjoy it despite unfaithfulness, which i hate. Thankfully, all the cheating relationships ended up unhappily, so at least it was true to life, but it was just too much. It was like the movie "Closer" which had a great cast and writing, but it turned my stomach over because of all the darned unfaithfulness. i was pretty disappointed with it.
David is having a rough time. That kid has been teething for like 2 weeks. i'm beginning to think a tooth is stuck, because he's been drooling like a faucet for days and has been so fussy, but not a tooth yet, though i can feel where one is on his poor little gum:( Can a tooth get stuck?

Friday Five 06.29.07

1. What’s something you wear only on special occasions, and when was the last time? i only wear dresses, generally, on special occasions. And the last time i wore one was to the wedding last weekend in WI. i'm a bit shy when it comes to dresses right now though, because none of mine fit quite right anymore, except the one i bought at Kohls a couple months ago (for $14, love that store) in the women's department. Juniors clothes, well, they don't fit really anymore.
   
2. What’s something you consume only on special occasions, and when was the last time? i don't know. i'd say wine, but i drink wine pretty much whenever i get an extra $5-6 and run and buy a bottle. Having wine in the house is a special occasion i guess:) i'm lucky there is some because Devin came over and i bought a bottle with cash i squirreled away and so i've got some really fruity white zin in the refrigerator right now. It's so fruity, it's almost like juice. i almost want to add ice to it!
   
3. Who’s someone you see only on special occasions, and when was the last time? My favorite professor from Bethel, my piano teacher when i went there has come over to my residences the last two years on Thanksgiving. His wife lives in Ohio but he can't go see her most holidays because he is the organist at a church, and churches are big into their holiday services. So he comes to my house on Thanksgiving. i'm a BIG fan of his.
   
4. From now on, you will commemorate every year on this date something that happened to you in the past twenty-four hours! What will it be? i guess i didn't know there would be a commitment like this in this week's Friday 5. i went to Valleyfair this week, but not sure i'm going to celebrate it every year. This Friday 5 is strange.
   
5. What’s a unique special occasion you share with just a few people you know? June 6th will always be celebrated, pretty sure, with Kris and David, labeling the day we found out about David's existence! (6.6.6.)
   

Almost forgot...

i finally mastered the art of soft chocolate chip cookies! It's taken in the 20's of batches until i finally got it right, but Kris finally could say "These taste better than the Keebler Soft Batch cookies!" i'm very proud.

Last friday i made this for lunch, subbing havarti for the brie because who can afford brie? Yum. You'll notice, though, that the recipe says it takes 10 minutes to prep. This was written by Tyler Florence who must have forgotten that he has an entire prep staff. It took a while, but it was very good. i LOVE cooking. And food. Food is good. i feel better about myself when i cook, too, better than when we just stick pizzas in the oven. Anyway, i'm beginning to become a bit of a gourmet, adding fresh basil from my plant in the living room to my salads and lasagnas, whatnot. Cilantro in turkey sandwiches? You bet! 

Update-ish

How's it going folks? i just put the D-man in his exersaucer, and since Kris is at work, it looks like i have bought myself some time to blog.

The wedding went well, though everything went wrong that day. First i got up, fed David, put him in his exersaucer (man i love that thing) and took my shower, etc. Got all of our stuff together. Kris was complaining because his goatee trimmer freaked out and almost lobbed off the whole thing, so it was very short, almost not there. Then he said "The day is starting off badly" and i thought he was crazy and i laughed at him. So we needed to pick up my mom in Bloomington at about 9:00, so we decided to leave at 8:30. Surprise of all surprises, we were ready on time!! Then the carbon monoxide detector went off. So we called my mom and let her know, then waited AN HOUR for Centerpoint to come out for us, a false alarm. So the wedding was to start at 3, and leaving at 9 was going to give us this huge pillow of time. So then we left Bloomington at 10:30, in quite a bit of a hurry. i joked and said "David and i were praying for a safe trip, but we forgot to pray for a problem-free morning!" Well, then we got to a gas station right outside of Green Bay to change, and i realised i had forgotten David's pants. i had brought two choices of dress outfits for him, but had forgotten to go downstairs to the laundry room and get his pants out of the dryer. And Kris wonders why i'm so anal about bringing clothes up from down there instead of going down there every morning, the way he does. So here's this adorable boy at this wedding, button-down shirt, denim shorts. i felt like a bad mommy again. But the wedding was fun, though we were late by 8 minutes and had already missed more than half the service. (How do you feel about shortie weddings? They are nicer than uber-long weddings, but under 15 minutes seems a bit anti-climactic to me.) The reception was a good time. Bride and Groom had chosen pizza as their main course, and i appreciated it. It wasn't as cool as Kris' and my hot dog and karaoke reception, but what could be? Outside of David screaming about 1/2 the ride home, the rest went very smoothly.

Sunday was very fun. Any day i get to play piano is a good day, but playing outside is very fun, as well as having lots of hidden "adventures" like your music having to be tethered due to winds. Sidenote: my friend Lars plays the cello and he and i have done several weddings, me on violin, him on cello, and one outdoor wedding we did, we forgot paper clips, and my music kept flying off the stand. Luckily, it was all cliche Canon in D crap so i could play it in my sleep. Then a bee flew onto his hand (he's allergic) as the bride was walking down the aisle and Lars stopped playing and it was a problem. The bride had no clue, though. She said when i got married that i wouldn't notice the music while walking down the aisle. She lied. Outside of looking at Kris and being excited, most of what i was doing while walking down the aisle was noticing that my oboe d'amores were out of tune with each other and also did not do their tonguing and slurring as i had discussed with them. They were the most expensive part of my wedding, for the 45 seconds they played, and i'm still mad when i listen to the video. Back to Sunday. It was very good, and the little baby girls were baptised with much success and minimal crying, unlike David's where he was crying as if diapers had been discontinued or something. After the service, Kris and i went back to Bloomington Baptist to see everyone and pick up a gift (maracas, how perfect!) for David. It was good to see them. It's also good to no longer be going there. 

Had a slight preggo scare Sunday. Don't worry, i'm not going to be a mommy again anytime soon, thankfully. But what if i were? It would be REALLY BAD TIMING. Worse timing, even, than last year, when i had just moved in with my parents to save money and Kris and i were going to be getting married this following summer. Anyway, i'm not, thank God. And i mean it. Sorry about the TMI post, but man that was quite a scare. Phew.

Monday was pretty uneventful. Listened to some great music, though. Lately i can't stop listening to the album "Cloudburst" by the composer Eric Whitacre. If you haven't heard him, you gotta. He blows my mind. He's on tour with an electronica opera right now, Paradise Lost, and i'm anxiously awaiting its release onto cd.

Tuesday, that's today! Went to the dr, got the shot that will make me preggo-free till at least three months from now. Kris and David and i went on a long walk to try to shed some poundage. Kris and i, cumulatively, weigh 50 lbs more than we did when we got married last August. Ugh. That's gotta change. i weigh more now than i did in my 7th month of pregnancy. We're trying to get in the habit of walking every day. i'm also trying to stop drinking soda, which is like 200-400 calories/day of sheer delight that i could live without. Anyone know how many calories wine has? i'd give up Dr. Pepper as long as i could have a glass of white zin or chard every day or so. Wine's more expensive than soda, even though i buy cheapo wine because, well, i'm no wine snob and it tastes the same to me. Plus we're broke.

OK. David is getting unhappy all over there by himself. Poor teething baby:)

Wedding

So my mom and Kris and David and i are attending my cousin's wedding in Green Bay, WI today. It will be David's first car ride longer than 45 minutes or so. That should be interesting. It'll be about 4 1/2 hours, give or take stopping for lunch, changing his diaper, etc. The bad part is he HATES his car seat, and he's going to be in it for like 9 hours today, poor buddy. The wedding should be fun, and i'm looking forward to spending the time with my mom and Kris. Thankfully David is now on formula, or we'd have to stop every two hours so i could feed him. But now i'll be sitting back there next to him, book in one hand, bottle in the other. Seriously, formula is so gosh darn convenient!
i hope ya'll have a great day!
Tomorrow at church the service will be held outdoors, at Staring Lake ampitheatre in Eden Prairie. i think it'll be so fun! The music we're doing is great. Plus, there will be a couple baptisms, which will be SO cool. Baptisms outside? It'll be like Bible times! Except it'll be babies being baptised, not adults. But the pictures will be great. i almost wish we hadn't yet gotten my little Mr. baptised already so he could be with the cool kids and be baptised outside, though i daresay the Great Pastor Dodge did a great job:)
Night kids.

Friday Five, 06.22.07

1. If you get the first choice of Monopoly tokens, which do you
   choose? If someone else chooses it first, which is your second choice? Um, i like the dog. Otherwise i tend to choose the iron. Not sure why.
   
   
2. What’s a board game you are especially bad at? Clue.
   
   
3. What board game are you particularly good at? Um, scrabble, usually. i tend to win.
   
   
4. How competitive do you get while playing board games or party games? i try to hide it, but am pretty competitive and take winning/losing board games pretty seriously. It's hard for me not to sulk if i lose:)
   
   
5. What’s your favorite board game? What’s a board game you can’t stand? My favorite is Monopoly by far. i love that game. i HATE Risk. It freaks me out. It's so confrontational!
   
   

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The result of David's 4-month checkup

He is a healthy little boy! The Dr. was glad to see he gained weight normally this time, (4 lbs in 2 months!) and he's growing a good amount, too. He's now in the 90 percentile for length, 50% for head size, and 50% for weight. Last time he was 95% for length and only 25% for weight. God bless formula.

We also got the green light for feeding him rice cereal, so we can't wait to start him on that today! Once Kris wakes up, we're going to try it! We're going to get lots of video. i can't wait to see that face! Well, David is grunting in his exersaucer, and concentrating, so i think i've got a diaper to change here soon. Have a great day!

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Five for 6.15.07

1. What’s something you were into before it became popular? Not sure. i certainly am no fashion pioneer. Maybe wide-leg pants.
2. What’s something you were reluctant to jump on the bandwagon with, but now are totally into? Gaucho pants. Actually, i was nervous to try them, because they get made fun of in "Never Been Kissed", but i don't get why more people didn't wear them before. They're sooo comfy! i wore the same pair while i was preggo that i do now!
3. What’s a current trend or fad you just don’t get? Skinny jeans on guys. Ugh.
4. If you could turn any current fondness of yours into a popular trend, what would it be? Um, i wish the comfy and warm clothes could be popular. You know, the ones Stacy and Clinton hate. T shirts and sweatpants and your husband's button-down shirts.
   
5. What’s something that’s totally uncool that you love anyway? Not gonna lie. Glitter/shimmery eye shadow. i try not to, but sometimes my favourite blue shimmer eye pencil is in my hand before i can stop it!

This week's five i got from friday5.org. Last week's sucked because i got it off some livejournal pretending to be the Friday 5. i like this one way better! Thanks Kristine!

Sad but good

So last night was David's last night wearing my favourite of his sleepers. It just really doesn't fit anymore! Kris was putting it on him, and said "Hey buddy, it looks like this will be the last time you'll be able to wear this." So of course i burst into tears. i got it from the second baby shower i had, and it's white with a teddy bear on it, and the feet are made of light brown suede, and i actually cried when i received it, because it was that cute. The pics of him with Kris and him in his chair are from when he was itty, and the one of him on the blue is today. He used to just swim in it, and now he can't stretch out all the way in it:( Actually, i used to put it on him when he was first born, even though it's a size 3 months, just because i liked it so much. At least he got a lot of use out of it.

He's feeling better, now. The cold is gone, but he's been a very clingy boy lately. He just likes to be rocked and held, which is fine with me, but different for him. He's been kind of independent mostly. So now that he's Mr. Snuggly, it's been nice for me, but it's a bit harder to get things done. Oh well. Things will get done eventually.

He has his four-month checkup next Tuesday. i'm so excited to see how much he weighs and how long he is, compared to his 2-month checkup before we started him on acid reflux meds and formula. Ever since we've done that, he's like this whole other baby that doesn't seem to hate life the way he was before. It was really sad that breastfeeding didn't work out for him. However, it is so nice to have other people be able to feed him, and also that when he needs to eat in public, i don't have to cover up or anything. It's wonderful. After his checkup, we should be able to start him on rice cereal, and i can't wait to see his face with that first spoonful. Can you imagine what it's gotta be like, having a liquid-only diet your whole life, then all of a sudden having textures on your tongue? It'll probably blow his little mind! And it'll all go on tape:)

poor David

My little one is sick today. It's very sad. It's his first cold. You know how awful you feel when you have a cold? Well he doesn't know that it'll get better! He is just sitting there, and probably thinks that he will be miserable and tired and moist the rest of his existence, poor thing. He's sleeping now, but when he's awake he just screams. It's so sad. i keep trying to get him to drink more fluids, so i've been giving him formula all day, whenever he wants it. i've been cutting the amount of formula/water ratio, like one scoop-4 oz water instead of two scoops. He's been drinking so much that i know he's getting enough calories, and should be getting pretty well-hydrated. There isn't much else to do with babies at this point, though, except a bit of baby Tylenol. Anyway, Kris is already away at work tonight, and will probably be there till about 1 AM, so please pray that David will have a good night since i'm here all alone with him.
Oh, David's pictures are up online, check out his new photo album! David

Friday Five

Surprisingly, i beat Kristine to the punch on this one!

**Remember the scene with Molly Ringwald putting lipstick on by holding it in her cleavage? Name one really bizarre thing you know how to do. No matter how small: i am very double-jointed and can do crazy things with my fingers, like bend them all at the top knuckle at the same time.
**What's your favourite way to pass the time? Outside of playing with David, i probably enjoy talking with friends in a quiet place. Maybe some wine with that.
**What's your favourite restaurant and why? Don Pablos. It is delicious and you get to eat BEFORE you eat. Plus they have the best guacomole you can find at any restaurant, though it's still not as good as mine or my mom's.
**Which TV/Radio show did you like that's not aired any more? i'm already going through withdrawal over Gilmore Girls. i cried at the finale!
**If you had a choice of learning another new language, what would you choose? what do you think that reflects about you? Italian i think. i think it means that i like musical languages.
This wasn't a particularly interesting five. Maybe next week's will be better.

*sigh*

so i fell in love with David just a little bit more tonight. i was rocking him, singing to him, and giving him his bedtime bottle just a little bit ago, and he was just staring into my eyes and having the softest cheeks ever, and i fell in love again. This whole motherhood thing? Totally worth it. i love that he woke up from his late afternoon nap a fussy baby, and by the time i put him to bed, he was a smily, gurgly baby with shining eyes and an easy laugh. i also love that i put him down awake, and he's just been talking to his mobile for a while, and is now probably sleeping, as he hasn't made a peep in 5 minutes. What a darling little gift.

6.4.07

So yesterday David rolled over for the first time!!! Kris caught the tail end of it: Kris heard him stirring after his morning nap and went to check on him, and David was just flipping onto his tummy, (and i'd laid him on his back!) So that's very exciting. He's also teething, we're pretty sure, so out of fear that we'll wake up one morning and his beautiful gummy smile will be gone and a toofer will be there, we took him to Proex with the gift card Kris gave me as a wedding gift almost 10 months ago, and David finally had his first professional pictures taken! i feel like a BAD mommy that we hadn't done that yet, but they turned out SO well. They'll send me a link to the pictures so i can have you all see them. They are GOOD. i mean, i didn't think he'd be good because he was pretty tired when we got there, but the photographer just got smile after smile out of him, and we entered him in a cute babies contest:) i just can't believe that he will be going to his 4 months checkup in 15 days. He'll start eating rice cereal, and i'll have to get tiny spoons, and it'll be cute but sad that he's so advanced! Remember when he was first born? i do.
i'm tired today, which doesn't make much sense because of how much sleep i got last night. Oh well. The weather is an easy thing to blame.
David and i are going to my parents' house tonight for dinner, as well as going grocery shopping in their basement:) They won a chest freezer last year, and it was sitting in storage because they already have one, so they gave it to us. Now we have lots of space for frozen food which is always cheaper when you buy in bulk. So this will hopefully improve our lives, though i can't imagine it will improve our waistlines:)
Have a wonderful evening ya'll.

Friday Five (belated)

i have a cool friend named Kristine who does this "Friday Five thing", and i decided to jump on the wagon and do it too, though it is Saturday. Here ya go!
**What’s your favorite goody at your favorite bakery? donuts. Glazed twists, to be exact. Or chocolate covered old-fashioned donuts.
**Someone’s visiting from out of town and craves something sweet: Where do you take him or her for an experience he or she can’t get at home? Izzy's in St Paul. It is so famous, actually, it was featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. i've been there once, they make all their ice cream on site, and they always have different flavors, and it's always good. Plus they give an "Izzy scoop" on top of every order, so you order your cone or whatever in whatever flavor, and then they say "What flavor do you want your izzy scoop to be?" and then you say another flavor that sounds good to you and they give you this cute little scoop right on top of your other ice cream, like a sample of ice cream for the next time you come or something. It's way cute and very much a Minnesotan place. i craved it a lot when i was preggo, but it was too far to go. That's probably good though. i gained just the right amount according to what the dr suggested.
**What’s your favorite order at your favorite ice creamery? The only creamery i've been to is Cold Stone, and my favorite is the birthday cake remix, that has the cake batter flavored ice cream, sprinkles, hot fudge, and a brownie mashed up into it. i order it with gummy bears, too, because they add a cool texture and taste to it. Yum. Coldstone is too expensive for me though, no matter how much i "love it". My parents take me there sometimes though.
**Oh no! You forgot to save room for dessert! What dessert item on the menu will you order anyway, because you can’t resist? i could eat the warm brownie ala mode anywhere, no matter how much food i've eaten.
**You’ve got a craving for sweets, but it’s so late at night that only the corner convenience store is open. What do you get? oreos and some milk? Or cookies and cream ice cream. i LOVE c+c ice cream.
i got fatter just doing this survey. Luckily i have no sweets in the house, or i'd be eating them all.