I'm Baaack

Yes folks, it's true, I am finally back. I know ya'll missed me and were terribly worried. If you can't tell, or didn't know, I spent last weekend down in Texas. (I was actually sort of surprised at how many people down there don't have a Texas accent)

The getting to Texas required some effort, mainly because it involved a plane ride, an 11 week old, and a control freak. (Workaholic is only a control freak in traveling situations...I thought for 10 years that it was me who didn't travel well, until I realized that I don't travel well with him)

(Let me give you an example of how getting on the plane goes...drive to airport, get out of car, pull Baby Bjorn out of suitcase for shuttle ride. Get on shuttle. Get to airport, get in line, put coat in suitcase and take out paperwork that was in suitcase. After checking in, put paperwork back in suitcase, then check to make sure you have wallet and phone. Walk to security, stand off to side to make sure you have boarding pass that was just handed to you, get liquids out of carry-on that have to be taken out, get in security line. Realize that you didn't take out everything that needed to be taken out of carry-on, rush to take stuff out, and toss shoes, belt, wallet, and phone in bins. Rearrange bins for easier gathering on the other side. Give yourself twice over to make sure you won't set off metal detector. Go through metal detector. Go through again when you realize that you didn't take out the change in your pocket. Grab wallet and phone first and try to pile everything into arms to walk to benches to put on shoes. Re-pack carry-on. Check for wallet and phone. Check carry-on for boarding passes that you just put in there, take out, and put in back pocket. Check on wife who is now wondering exactly where her phone walked off to. OCD has been contagious, it's in her back pocket, where she put it 30 seconds before. Now situated, head to bathrooms, because wife always has to pee.) I think you can imagine what it is like once we actually get on the plane!!

We were incredibly fortunate that we didn't have to take a stroller or most baby products because our friends in Texas have two little kids and friends with little kids and had the necessary large equipment. All I had to pack was bottles, clothes and pacifiers. (we saw the same family of three on our flight down and back, they actually came up to us and asked how we managed without the stroller and car seat) Workaholic saw to it that there was much more packed though, he's like a friggin' Boy Scout, always prepared for anything. (Except for once we got on the plane, he took off his shoes right away. Experts say that you shouldn't do that in case, you know, you crash on take-off and need your shoes...that is if you don't die first) Here is a picture of Samantha as we were packing, she didn't think it was very funny.

Samantha did really well on her first plane ride. I was really nervous about having a screaming baby. She laid on the floor most of the time, as we were able to get a front seat. I didn't take any pictures on the way there, but on the way home, she was so happy to do it again, she was dancing on the tray table.

On the way home, all three of us actually slept. By the end of the day Monday, poor little Samantha was so sick of traveling. We stopped by Cabela's for Grandpa, (yes, dad, the Goby Alive thingy's are on my kitchen table, and I got hooks and instructions too) stopped by my in-laws to pick up the Fonz (sooo happy to see me) and had dinner at Cracker Barrel. I don't know what it is about traveling, it makes me crave Cracker Barrel.

Moral of the story, traveling with baby isn't all that bad...the jury is still out on traveling with Workaholic.

Thursday Thoughts

Something occured me to last night that I am surprised didn't occur to me before. I'm a little worried about how Fonz is going to react when I go back to work. Right now, he is my shadow. (except for this exact moment, he is in the hall outside the office, whereas I am in the office) He has been that typical Golden, the velcro. I feel bad sometimes, because he is just following me up and down the stairs. (I usually have to make several trips, because if I go down to write a check to the insurance company, I see that the dishwasher is done, and empty it, and then go back upstairs to get a load of laundry, and then go back down to put that in, and then have to go back up to tend to a crying baby, and then realize that I never did write the check and then I have to go back down to do that. Don't even get me started on the process of trying to get the check to the mailbox)

In all honesty, I think that he'll be fine. He'll get a little depressed perhaps, or a little more needy than usual, but summer is coming, and that is the cure-all. Just take him to water, and the boy will play. He's a live-in-the-moment type of guy.

Speaking of insurance, I finally got a bill from my and Sam's hospital stay. There were charges dating back to May. And can I just tell you this? I love my insurance. Because I can pick up the phone, get a person right away who knows what I am talking about and can help me without transferring me. There were a couple of charges that I didn't have EOBs for, so they are just sending them right over! And THEN, I call the hospital billing, and explain that 4 charges for Samantha should have been paid by the insurance, and they are all like, "OK, we'll rebill. Just pay the other stuff." And so I wrote my tiny little check, and voila!! Done for now. I'm sort of anal about things, so the fact that I have EOBs for every single charge makes me happy. In this day and age of crappy insurance, why can't everyone have Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL?? (through the union) What a great start to my day. Hopefully, at 1:30, I can turn on the Purdue game and watch the Boilers kick some panther ass!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is what happens by dinnertime when I get left home alone all day...

You can almost see the devil-ish glint in her eye...

What Attitude??

Disclaimer: I have changed last names in this blog to protect the innocent

It's not a secret that I was a tad surprised when I had a girl. And it really isn't a secret either that I am also a tad nervous about having a red-headed girl. I totally have a valid reason for my nervousness...for God's sake, my husband's red-headed cousin is a professional boxer. And she is a girl. My husband is also nervous about having a girl...specifically, he is afraid of the attitude and personality that could come along with a red-headed girl with his last name. (his mother will occasionally say to him "That's the O'Donnell shining through"...and she only means that he is being, well, difficult)

On a side note, when I was dating my husband, one of the funniest things I ever saw my MIL do was during an argument with her husband. (you have to understand something about my MIL...my neighbor once described her as a classy lady...she drinks cosmos, she doesn't raise her voice, and she definitely doesn't use 4 letter words, sort of a Southern Belle without the Southern) He was being, well, difficult, and she was being just as difficult back. It was like watching two of those mountain goats butt heads, neither backing down, both pissed as hell. When he finally got to where he had no other arguments, he retreated to what he thought was the last resort, the final straw, the "ultimate insult". He says to her, "What's the matter with you? You acting just like an O'Donnell." Her response? "I've been an O'Donnell longer than I was a Van Cleve, it's about damn time I started acting like it." (I don't remember if she actually said "damn", because if she did, we'd have to call her out on her "language", but it makes for a better story) I thought I was going to cry, I laughed so hard. Neither one of them appreciated that. And needless to say, I can't wait until I can say that. It's a great excuse. Only 26 more years. But I digress.

Anyway, Workaholic and I were watching TV last night, as it was a great evening for TV. And he was holding Samantha, trying to feed her, and she was having none of it. She pushed the bottle nipple out of her mouth and fussed and cried. He changed her diaper. She still fussed and cried. He held her and talked to her, and she fussed and cried. Finally, out of frustration, he plopped her on the Bumbo seat on the couch next to him. She immediately quieted. Poor thing just wanted to be left alone. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we realized that we already have a kid who knows exactly what she wants. Uh-oh...we are in for it. After that, we put her on the floor where she talked to herself for at least an hour. Looks like the O'Donnell in her is meshing well with the Grundman in her...at least she happy to just chill. Let's just hope she doesn't want to become a professional boxer...that would be just too scary for me!!

Oops, I Did It Again

A friend of mine e-mailed me the other day. She is due in 3 weeks, and was taking her 2 sons to daycare before work, when her oldest asked where they were going. Seems she forgot to pick up the 2 kids she was supposed to pick up...oops! We chalked it up to pregnancy absentmindedness. Because as much as pregnant women hate to admit it, it totally exists...usually in more extreme cases than you would ever think.

Workaholic told me a couple of weeks ago that I am in my "4th trimester". Seems he learned that from a book I bought when I first got pregnant and left in the bathroom...abandoned. (it was actually a journal, I was supposed to write in it every day...yeah, that didn't happen) (side note: as I am typing this, I can hear Samantha screaming her pretty little head off. She is getting a bath, and I chose not to participate tonight. Baths are great, wears them out right before bed. Does that make me a sadist??)

Anyway, so I didn't think much of this 4th trimester thing, until this morning. Well, actually last night. My pediatrician recommends a vitamin supplement, seems the only things that breast milk doesn't have is fluoride and vitamin D. No one really cares about fluoride in an infant, but I guess studies have shown that vitamin D in the first year can decrease risk of Type II diabetes and MS. So I make her drink this sweet goo once a day, or I try. So last night I give her the vitamins, and proceed to try to screw the cap back on. (key word-try) You should see this stuff. It's the color of vanilla flavoring, and about the consistancy of that green stuff that they used to slime people on Double Dare. (you know what I am talking about...don't deny it) So as I am trying to screw the cap back on, I somehow knock it off the nightstand, all over the boppy, and the floor, and the bed skirt. Oh dear.

It actually cleaned up pretty well, and we washed everything right away, so there was no staining. I thought no more of it. Until...I go to screw the cap back on my eye cream this morning, and POW!! All over the floor. And my jeans. What the hell?? When did I become butterfingers? I somehow threw about $30 worth of crap on the floor in about 12 hours. And then I remember that I am in my 4th trimester, so that MUST be it.

Random iPod-ness

I regularly read a blog by Jen Lancaster, because she is not only hil-ar-ious, she also went to Purdue. Boiler Up!! So today she posted 14 random songs on her iPod...and tagged everyone reading her blog to do it on their blogs. So, since I don't have much else to talk about...here goes.

"Peaches"~The Presidents of the United States of America-Every time I hear it, I think of when I took my sister to the Cactus for the first time and she was damned determined to not have a good time. She just could. not. believe. Bruce did not know this song.

"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"~Mozart-I just really like some classical music, especially this one. Every time it comes on at work, my cube-neighbor asks me what the hell I am listening to. I just smile.

"I'm Allright"~Jo Dee Messina-For some reason, way before I got my iPod, whenever I was having a really great or really shitty day, this song would come on the radio. I think of it as my own personal theme song, and would love to sing it karaoke someday. Or not...don't want to ruin it for myself.

"Devil Went Down to Georgia"~Charlie Daniels-If you know me, this is a duh. But there is a story behind it. My house when I grew up wasn't one of those filled with music. I mean, we weren't deprived or anything, but it isn't like it was always on and we got this really expansive education in all genres by the time we were 3. One thing I can clearly remember is my dad putting this song on, and singing along as he wandered around the house. So when they weren't home, I started to put the CD in myself and listen on repeat. My senior year in high school, my friends and I made the dumb decision to cross the river and go to an apartment party on campus. (we didn't usually do this, because we knew those crazy college bitches didn't want us there and the guys just wanted to *%^& us anyway.) So we go, and they put this song on, and I freak out and dance around and start singing it. (at the top of my lungs) None of my friends had ever heard of it, (which is in-sane now, because everyone knew the Devil by my senior year, which I think was even before Coyote Ugly came out) so they thought I was nuts, and the college guys thought it was hot that I knew it. I also met Joe-Fucking-Yoder that night, ugh. Anyway, from then on, that was my song.

"It Was a Very Good Year"~Frank Sinatra-Workaholic always sings this whenever it comes on. We both think of dinner at Uncle Tony's cottage in Michigan on a hot summer night with his jukebox music playing in the background. Until he gave it away for free.

"Nymphomaniac"~Bruce Barker-It's so inappropriate, it's awesome. I miss Bruce.

"Enter Sandman"~Metallica-We've recently discovered that Samantha LOVES this song. Loud. REALLY REALLY LOUD.

"You Can Call Me Al"~Paul Simon-I loved this video with Chevy Chase. Because I watched MTV all the time, back when they still played videos. I didn't know which guy in the video was Paul Simon until I was about 25. (I just thought the guy singing just looked like Chevy Chase) I still wonder why the man was in the strange world and how he got there.

"We Didn't Start the Fire"~Billy Joel-I actually have a ton of Billy Joel, but I remember this song from way back when I was little. I always try to sing all the words, but I always fail.

"Coma"~Guns N Roses-I love GNR, always have, but this is one of the most f-ed up songs they ever made.

"Bittersweet Symphony"~The Verve-I wanted the string part of this song to be played at my wedding, but the music bitch shot me down. After listening to the words, I thought it might not be appropriate. On a side note, Kristy Follmar used to come into the arena to this song when she boxed...but not anymore. Sad.

So that's my 11 random songs on my iPod. Feel free to put your top 5 random i-Pod songs in the comments section...