13th Month Newsletter

Dear Beatrix
I write this as I listen to you breath heavily over the baby monitor. You have a wee cold and have lots of gurgly snot to have anointed me with on the 13th month anniversary of your birth. Fun abounds around here!
Today you celebrated by letting me feel your gums, letting me notice that you have nearly cut your first tooth. You only struggled a little as I checked for the ever elusive teeth, that have been taunting us, but not making an appearance. You also blew kisses at Paula Deen on TV, which made me both sad and happy. Sad because you notice the TV now and I can't use it to be my grown up companion in the house when there are no other adults around, and happy because YAY Paula Deen cracks me up and you love her too!
Along with your mad kiss blowing skills you've picked up some other party tricks this month. You continue to sign for "milk", but the other day when you were having your first taste of peanut butter you finally signed "more". You've also finally learned the sign for "water", "thank you" and I am sure that you sign "please" sometimes, often followed by "milk" which can mean anything that you can consume. Also much to our amusement, you point and whine, which makes every parent proud. Although truthfully watching you point at things is so cute. Your little forefinger extended and your wee thumb just sticking out the side. So sweet. You're pointing at everything now, since you've discovered that it's a great way to get your intentions known. I can ask you where something is and you'll point to it, like balloons, Bonsai, Chachi, your baby etc. and you'll point. You've also learned about buttons and love to push them, using your pointer. Your favourite is to push the button to open the garage door, and when you do this you squeal with delight, pointing at the door going up. Then you point at the button again to make it go down, then up again, or vise versa if we're coming home. I'm sure our neighbours think we're crazy with all of the garage door up and downing that goes on around here. I've also taught you about light switches, more buttons with cause and effect, FUN!
On the walking front, you're so close. You walk well with a walker and do just fine only holding onto one of my hands. I am convinced that you can walk, but you're a little scared. You only seem to like standing on soft surfaces, like the bed or sofa. You have taken a few steps between your Daddy and I when I've walked you over and let go of your hands. You'll only let me do this a couple of times before you catch on and fall down and won't play the walking game anymore.
You're still a good eater, as in you will eat anything, but you don't eat a lot. I still give you a bottle to supplement your food, I'll keep doing this until you are happy to eat more. I figure that had I been able to breastfeed you I would still be, probably until you weaned yourself, or well after your 2nd birthday, so I am quite happy to still be giving you a bottle. You tried peanut butter for the first time the other day and you loved it, proving that you are your father's daughter. You still love berries and all manners of fruits and vegetables, making me grateful we live in California where I can find any type of exotic fruit or vegetable and expose you to them all. So far you haven't rejected any of them.
This month your Daddy and I bought a new bed which was much needed since the other was getting rather small. Now you have all sorts of room to roam around in at night, but you seem to prefer being right next to me, which is okay with me. It makes me happy that you choose to be that close to me. In terms of your sleep, I think you're transitioning to a one nap a day schedule, which is a little difficult because you don't want to nap at all. I can get you to nap in the car though, so I often find myself sitting in the car in the garage playing games on my phone while you sleep.
This past month has been a lot of fun. I love to see how you're changing and how you've become so much more interactive with me. Like this morning when you woke up you gave me some morning kisses, like you do everyday, the signed with both hands that you wanted milk. It made me giggle that you were so adamant that you wanted milk, NOW! Last night you were pointing at the bowl of oranges and whining for one and when I didn't respond fast enough you pointed at your pointing arm with your other hand as if to tell me that you were already pointing and therefore I should be acting quicker. I love how your little mind works. You amaze me everyday, and I am so blessed.

Love, Mama

Culture Shock.

I've been in California for over 3 years and I still find myself totally exasperated by culture shock. It's the silly little things that just make me want to pull my hair out.
For example, when I ask where the bathroom is, I am often met with a look of total confusion. I get frustrated because if you used common sense one might be able to deduce that bathroom is a synonym of washroom or restroom! It's not often that people can make that deduction, and it's so ingrained in me to say "bathroom". Another one is "toque", no one has a clue what a toque is, this totally drives me crazy! And to be totally belligerent I say toque whenever I am talking about a toque.
Even after 3 years my feathers still get ruffled when I thank someone for something and they respond with "uh huh". AHHHH! The correct response, the POLITE response is, "you're welcome"! Now I am sure that some people are going to tell me that I should adapt to the American way, but sorry (pronounced sO-rey, not sari) these are the little things that are totally in me, and I think aren't outrageous (okay I'll give you the toque thing) so it's unlikey that I'll change them.
Oh and finally, go check the mailbox, there should be a cheque in it!

Wedded Bliss

Today as I opened up my MSN and went on my merry little way opening my windows and about to close the "news" window that MSN gives me I noticed a little blurb about Jon and Kate of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" getting a divorce. So I read it and dismissed it because I know not to believe everything I read, and plus I like to live in this little bubble where marriage is sacred and real and not just something to throw away. But I noticed another link about Tyra having a divorce party on her show. Then another about divorce parties, wherein people celebrate being giant failures. Then the topping on the cake, is the cake, quite literally. And to use another cliche, here's the nail in the coffin.
Now I'm not really shocked that there is an industry for this. It was pointed out to me a mere few days before Adam and I were married that 50% of marriages fail, so naturally there should be an burgeoning demand for such a lame excuse for a party. I'm shocked that the people who are having these parties are proud that they're divorced, not hiding in the corner, in shame. I could be really prude and think it's a little deranged that there are actual party planners for divorce parties, but... well I just outed myself as a prude....
Personally I don't think that divorce is something to be celebrated, I don't care how trendy it is. I think that marriage is something you work at, not run away from when it's tough. I'm not going to assume that Adam and I will never have issues or that there won't be tough times, but I think that we both have the cojones to fumble through the hard times, because we've both committed to each other, for ever. Period.

Bringing back Date Night.

Last week Adam and I went out (with Trixie) and had Indian. Trixie loved the rogan josh which I was shocked about 'cause it's spicy.
Then tonight we went to uWink and it was fun! There are games that you can play against the whole restaurant, or just against the people at your table. There are plenty of games to play alone too.
Adam really liked that you order everything from your terminal, your food and even your water, it's rather efficient! You can also pay through your terminal and they can email you your receipt.
The down side of the whole restaurant is that you are occupied staring at a computer screen that there isn't much interaction going on with your date, it would be a great place to go with someone that you didn't want to talk to though! An alternative to the movie date! Heh.
Anyhow fun stuff. I was amazed that Trixie lasted for 2 hours there, but I think that the Cheerios helped!

500 things

Since Spring is knocking on our door... (do you hear that Spring? Knock dammit!) I figured I'd get a jump on spring cleaning, kind of like really premature nesting, you know since I'm not even a little bit pregnant right now. So I've decided to get rid of 500 things before the end of the month. In order to hold myself accountable I thought I would share this goal with the whole world, all 3 of my readers!
The rules:
-everything counts as one, but papers do not (I have thousands of sheets of scrapbooking paper I'm sure) ergo a pair of socks is two things-- 500 is a BIG number!
-I've told Adam that if I get rid of 20 books I should get a Kindle, he's mulling that over
-I'm going to donate as much as I can, and clothes that are undonatable will go into my scrap bin, but will still count as removed from the house
-I should count the stuff I bring into the house against my 500, but I'm not (my game- my rules!)
-I will not save clothes, I will be ruthless. I figure that if I lose weight after baby #7 I should deserve new stuff, ya know? Also Adam may not know, but I'm going to be ruthless to his side of the closet too. Uhm, Honey, those polyester sweaters which make my skin crawl? GONE! And if you really have a deep connection to that too small wool suit, it will be in it's best interest to hide it, the world does not need to see 2 inches of ankle and wrist at formal functions.
-I won't get rid of baby stuff, after all I need to have babies #2-7 first!

I've decided to do this because Trixie is starting to take up more space and we only have 1600 square feet, and I have a lot of clothes that I just don't wear any more. After all lovely dress pants that I wore to the bank are just not suitable for playgrounds and sand boxes.
I also want to make more room in our bedroom so that Trixie can have a play area in there to allow for us to have a couple more minutes of sleep in the morning. Trixie o'clock is frighteningly early!

wish me luck! Also I dare you to try as well!