busy, busy, busy

Max has been very busy loading all of his toys in the trunk of his car and pushing them around the house. He is always in a big hurry, as if he were late for a very important meeting. Then he unloads his car, loads it back up and repeats the drill. I love it because he wears himself out and takes a good nap. Hooray for naps!

Happy Birthday Max!

I'll never forget the sheer shock I felt as they placed Max on my belly after he was born. He was huge. I could barely breath when the nurse called out his stats: 9 lbs 1 oz, and 22 1/2 inches long. How in the world did this baby fit inside of me? In my highly medicated, sleep deprived condition I kept muttering "I can't believe I had a 9 pound baby" over and over like a broken record. I probably said it at least a 100 times a day for the first week of his life.

I can't believe a year has gone by since that day. Max doubled his birth weight by 2 1/2 months, and outgrew his infant car seat by 3 months. Luckily for us his sense of humor grew as quickly as he did. He has been lighting up our lives with laughter since he was 6 weeks old. He has taught me how to laugh at things that would normally make me cry (poopy messes, food covered floors, eating bugs and dirt...). Enjoy some of my favorite pictures from his first year...

2 months

3 months

5 months

8 months

10 months

It's a...

BOY!

We had our ultrasound this morning and the baby seems to be healthy, but a little small so my due date might get pushed back a couple of weeks. Not so happy about that. I also have a low laying placenta (very bad news for an already paranoid person) which I'm praying will move up. Other than that things at chez scoville are going well.

A Great Day...

Max is terrified of the dog and cow you see in this picture. He believes they
are alive and won't touch them. If they come near him he screams like a girl. I use
them to guard my folded laundry on the couch from a Max attack.

Today is a good day. I finished all of my errands and grocery shopping by 8:00 a.m. I finished my laundry by 9:00 a.m., and I finished dinner (and put it in the fridge) by 10:00 a.m. Aside from the haphazard explosion of toys that covers the living room floor, my house is clean. I feel great. Don't worry, this not a typical day. I usually end up chasing and entertaining Max all day long and not accomplishing anything.

Due to some unfortunate symptoms that result from a mangy intestinal parasite that both Max and I have, I have decided to cut dairy and wheat out of my diet. Not an easy thing to do. I have to improvise and be a very creative cook. My dinner inspiration today came from a blog I just discovered. I love it when I am trying to search for a great picture or recipe and google directs me to the archives of a fantastic new blog. I was searching everywhere for a soup recipe that had white beans, kale, and Italian sausage and...voila. Google introduced me to chez megáne. She has some great recipes and some exciting links to other food blogs. Click here for the soup recipe. I would recommend using spicy chicken Italian sausage that is nitrate free, it gives the soup a fantastic kick. You can find it at most health food stores (and trader joe's).

Sold!

Yesterday was a bittersweet day at chez Scoville. Bitter because J-P had to bid bon voyage to his vintage 1966 Landcruiser...sweet because he was able to talk someone into paying $900 for a car that doesn't run. We were ready to run out the door and go buy a new T.V. when we discovered our salt water pool mechanism needs to be replaced, which will cost much more than what we earned from the car. Oh well, hopefully the rest of our stuff will sell soon. Thank goodness for the internet.


Max and I had fun playing with babies at our play group (friends from school). The host had a dog and Max was screaming at it the whole time. He also had fun stealing everyone's toys. We had to watch everyone swim because my burgeoning belly has a horrible rash (happens every time I go through a growth spurt) that is rendered intolerable by chlorine.

Furniture Frustration

Spending money stresses me out. That’s why I never buy anything. When I was a little girl my mom always filled our cart with brand name foods at the supermarket, which immediately prompted me to give her a lecture about how we could save 37 cents if we bought the generic ketchup. I also took things out of the cart and put them back when she wasn't looking. In college I ate lentils almost everyday and never updated my wardrobe so I could make it through without asking my parents for money or taking out student loans. I even cut my own hair and wore wet n wild makeup. Gross, I know.

Last week I took the plunge and bought a couch. I'm still recovering from the stress of the purchase. Buying a couch is a big deal. Right now I'm super stressed, not only because I dropped a bunch of cash, but because the couch doesn't match anything in our house. It looks hideous. We have to buy all new stuff. I would just take it back, but we already sold our other couches and there is nothing else in our price range that I will allow in my living room. Right now all of our furniture is for sale on craigslist and I am practicing deep breathing to help prepare myself for more major purchases.


Yesterday we decided to go to IKEA to see if there was anything that might possibly go with our new decor. It was only after we got there that I realized that only crazy people go to IKEA on Memorial Day. Max loved it. I've never seen him so happy. He was screaming, laughing, flapping, clapping, pointing, and waving at all the people. He was in IKEA heaven. He created such a diversion that we were distracted from our mission: finding something, anything that we could cut, refinish, paint, or tweak to make it work for our new living space. After a very discouraging trek through the maze of home furnishings we dined on Swedish meatballs and lingonberry juice and headed home with nothing more than a salad spinner and some kitchen scrub brushes. Can someone please tell me where I can find chic, yet affordable home furnishings? We are also in the market for a new t.v., where is the best place to get one? Also, is it ok to mix a dark, chocolate brown couch with black accessories? (curtain rods, frames, lamps, etc..) I am in major need of some design therapy.

Playing Tag

I've been tagged by Dandee Designs.

What was I doing ten years ago?

I was getting fired as the editor of my high school newspaper two weeks before graduation. It's a long story that involves a crazy teacher, me sitting in a "punishment" room everyday with other banished staff members, and my parents appealing the ordeal all the way to the superintendent so that I could get credit for the class and graduate from high school.

What was I doing one year ago?

I was teaching Spanish, giving finals, doing prenatal yoga, speed walking for hours on end at the mall to try to go into labor, eating at least one whole pineapple a day to try to go into labor, eating lots of really spicy food to try to go into labor, massaging all the acupressure points that are supposed to help start labor, etc... Nothing worked. I delivered 4 days late (after 3 days of labor).

Five snacks I enjoy:

-Red Hot Blues organic tortilla chips
-Luna Bars
-Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate bar with cranberries, blueberries, and almonds
-Mangoes
-Afternoon tea with scones and any other appropriate pastry

Five songs I know all the words to:

-El Muelle de San Blas -by Mana
-Ballad For My One True Love - by Mason Jennings
-Aserejé- by Las Ketchup
-Bizarre Love Triangle - by New Order
-Pick Yourself Up -by Diana Krall

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire?

-I would buy a bigger house with a beautifully landscaped backyard and a mini-van. I would put what little was left in our savings account (we have a great interest rate). I would also consider hiring a housekeeper.

Five of my Many bad habits:

-Procrastinating everything
-Going to bed too late
-Watching too much T.V.
-Being judgemental and bossy
-Reading Ann Coulter's weekly column instead of things I should be reading

Five things I like doing:

-Floating (in my pool, the ocean, in a kayak, on a boat...it's so relaxing)
-Going to the Library or Barnes and Noble to read magazines I'm too cheap to buy
-Trying new restaurants and recipes
-Going to a spa or staying in a fancy hotel (doesn't happen that often)
-Travelling

Five things I will never wear again:

I can only think of one: a tucked-in shirt. My torso is just too short and I've been laughed at too many times. I'll never say never about anything else because you never know what will come back in style. I never thought the 80's would.

Five of my Favorite toys:

-my garlic press
-the internet
-our saws (although I won't touch them, I make J-P do the cuts)
-my dyson vacuum
-all electronics (Tivo, digital camera, cell phone, etc..)

I didn't follow all the tagging instructions correctly (adding the previous links) because Max just woke up and my free time is over.

I'm tagging (no pressure):

alex and anna
scoville clan
warren family
sarah

Fruitarians Unite

Max loves fruit. He has pretty much eradicated everything else from his diet. It all started when he saw me eating a grapefruit. I don't think you are supposed to give babies grapefruit, but he was screaming for a bite so I gave him one. Then it started, the grapefruit hysteria. He started hyperventilating and furiously flapping his arms (this is his sign language for feed me faster). I cut up the whole grapefruit and put it on his tray, hoping to buy myself a couple minutes of peace and quiet. Nope, he finished the whole thing in a matter of seconds and started screaming for more. He ate the grapefruit with such fury and intensity that he was literally punching himself in the mouth with each bite he shoveled in. He didn't seem to notice that I was laughing. Two grapefruits later I cut him off. These were my grapefruits, and he was not getting the last one. Now I hide the grapefruit, and he only gets one a day.

Max also has an obsession with blueberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, and several other fruits. Everyday when I am sitting at the table feeding him fruit, this scene from Notting Hill plays in my mind:

Keziah: "No thanks, I'm a fruitarian."
Max: "I didn't realize that."
William: "And, ahm: what exactly is a fruitarian?"
Keziah: "We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already."
William: "Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these carrots..."
Keziah: "Have been murdered, yes."
William: "Murdered? Poor carrots. How beastly!"

I laugh out loud when I get to the part about the murdered carrots. I almost wet my pants in the theater during that scene because I was laughing so hard. Max starts screaming for more fruit and I pull myself out of my Notting Hill daydream. Did I get a fruitarian baby because I have mocked their movement? Please don't tell me this is bad kharma.

p.s. Here is a link about how to become a fruitarian, just in case you are interested. Yes they do exist.

Sans Curls

Max has been long overdue for his first haircut. I have been putting it off for months because I've been too chicken--a wiggly, squirmy baby and scissors are not a good combo. Today we decided we couldn't wait any longer. At least not if we want to take him out in public. Here are the before and after shots.

Before:




After:

He has a love/hate relationship with this white dog...

He spends most of the day yelling at it.

When we were finished with the cut J-P said "ok, go get a plastic bag." When I asked why, he responded that you have to save the hair from their first haircut as a keepsake. I immediately started gagging (probably some lingering morning sickness) at the thought of saving hair in a plastic bag. Yuck! Does anyone else do this?

Date Night!

J-P and I had a blast of a courtship and this is, sadly, one of the only pictures we have to show for it. Most of it was spent at Disneyland, fancy restaurants, the beach, concerts, hiking, bike rides, swimming, playing tennis, parties, exploring Southern California, chatting in bookstores and coffee shops, and much more. We had so much fun. I think about our courtship a lot because now my life is really boring. I never go anywhere. J-P and I haven't been on a real, uninterrupted date since Max was born. Tonight will be our first one (thanks for babysitting Sarah). I can't stop thinking about it and have been planning it all day. Because I need to gain some weight (and because sushi is off limits), I think we will go to the Cheesecake Factory. The Cheesecake Factory refuses to publish nutritional information for their menu, and this tells me that there are lot's o' calories in their gigantesque portion meals. According to this site, there are 910 calories in a slice of chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake and 64 grams of fat. I can't think of a better way to indulge myself.


p.s. If anyone has pictures of J-P and I while we were dating please email them to me. I don't know why we didn't take any pictures.