Spying on a baby in my neighborhood...

Is there something wrong with me? I have become obsessed with this other baby that I can see when I turn on my video monitor! They must live nearby, but where? I don't recall anyone having "It's a Boy!" balloons up on my block, or on Bancroft. I am assuming that they live on Greeley. I rarely drive on that block.

In any case, when the baby was really small, they had their monitor set for channel B. Mine is on A, so just a simple switch and there's a tiny baby. Then the people switched to the same channel! I was so upset! Hey! Now I can't see your baby! (Well, I can, I just have to walk around the house/backyard covering the antenna just so, and then I can see for a second...)

I was watching him grow! I was reminiscing about Grace being so small, really.

To my surprise 2 days ago, he was back on channel B! Hooray! I see him sitting in the swing for a really long time. I think he's about 4 months old now. I bet his dad was watching him, cause he was in there a long time! ;)

So then, last night, I laid in bed and turned on the monitor to check in on Grace. Switch, let's check out the baby boy. Cute, so small, with those tiny sleepy noises. And then I fell asleep. At about 6 a.m. I hear, "My baby, you're up?? Hi cutie pie! What a big boy, let's change your diaper! Stinky! I love you! Did you have a nice sleep?"

I felt bad listening, but I kept on, for like a half an hour. I couldn't help myself! I listened to the diaper change, the morning feeding and play time. I really feel like when you're a mommy, getting up with your baby is more intimate than sex on your wedding night. Really! There's something so special about that time. It's not exactly the same as the baby gets older. (Don't worry Grace, I still love waking up with you in the morning!)

I'll tell you one thing though, I will not be taking Grace out of the crib in the morning right after I get out of the shower anymore, just in case they are watching me too!

OUNCES and the UK (GB?)

When you look at some baby bottles, they have a different set of ounce markings for the US than in the UK, strange, no? It has been bothering me so much that I had to look it up. Apparently, others find this odd as well, because it seems to be a commonly written about topic on the Internet. So, according to Wikipedia, "The British fluid ounce is smaller than (about 96%) the US fluid ounce, because the British quart is divided into 40 fluid ounces whereas the US quart is divided into 32 fluid ounces. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems

Hold on though, the quarts aren't the same to start off with either!! Oh, just read the link if you want to know why...

The New York Post

The post offers this statement in regards to the cartoon they published last week.

THAT CARTOON

Last updated: 9:21 am
February 20, 2009 
Posted: 8:00 pm
February 19, 2009

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

Period.

But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

I have to say, I agree the Post.  If you don't like the cartoon, don't buy the post. What the hell happened to Freedom of Speech in this country? Boo, hoo...some things that people say are offensive for so many reasons. Words can hurt your feelings. Blah, blah, blah...

Anything and everything that artists (cartoonists, painters, writers, teachers, engineers...really anyone who creates anything) create is open for interpretation. On the news this morning, there are many people from the NAACP demanding that the cartoonist gets fired.  FIRED! Oh come on now, get over it.

25 Random things about me!

This blog post is for Facebook!

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I like to do puzzles. Sudoku is very addictive. I like tetris a lot. Word puzzles, number puzzles or any type of logic puzzles are awesome. I am NOT a fan of crossword puzzles! See #2.

2. I do not believe in memorizing useless facts. I always hated history classes growing up because no one told history like a story of what was happening. I was just told to memorize whole loads of 'nonsense' for tests that I would just never use in my teenage mind anyway). My mantra would be, "Why do I have to remember this if I could just look it up in a book?" Now, I feel like an idiot because I just do not know very much about world history! Because of this piss-poor attitude, I am very, very bad at crossword puzzles. I just can't catch up on facts. If only I were taught to like history more!

3. I do believe in learning stuff in depth. So although I will not sit down and study facts, I do have lots of in depth knowledge about lots of stuff. Just not about history.

4. I have always yearned to be someone that just remembers movie lines and can blurt them out and make people laugh.

5. The first time my hair was red was right before my 16th birthday. My mom would not comply with my requests to do it for me, so I tried to "Shampoo it in". Unfortunately, I only used 2 boxes, and had about 3 feet of hair at the time. It came out really bad. My mom brought me to the salon and we dyed it darker and cut it short right before my sweet 16 party. My 16th candle was very sad about this, he loved my hair!

6. I am very bad at throwing out old crap that I find somewhat sentimental. If you wrote me a note in high school, I probably still have it.

7. I have two sets of priorities. The first set matches my fantasy life. This list goes like this: "This Saturday I will spend the day in my crafty office room, creating my baby shower invite, scrap-booking and possibly making some earrings I've been meaning to create and start on some pom-pom bunnies for Easter. I will call some friends I've been meaning to catch up with. I will stop to eat momentarily and listen to good music the whole time. I will do this all day long! I will end the day conquering some gigs in Guitar Hero."

The second set sounds like: "I will waste an hour on the Internet, clean up the house, do some laundry, go pick out some tile for the bathroom, get something to make for dinner, go home and try to make an invitation for my baby shower, but I will run out of time because I will have to make dinner or even better, go out to get some, spend time with Len watching TV and folding laundry. Somewhere in this time I also have to write a long-winded e-mail to the Kindergarten staff about what they should be teaching this month, although we've already talked about this for 2 and a half hours a week ago. If we feel up to it, it's mildly possible that we might go to see a movie. I will go to sleep hoping to use fantasy life priority list tomorrow."

8. I now have this on my life 'to-do' list-teach Bill how to add and Antonio how to multiply (without memorizing the multiplication table!)

9. I love my job and take it more seriously than most people feel is necessary.

10. I want to own my own business so that I can work more flexible hours but still educate at the same time.

11. I have always wanted to get a PhD.

12. I always wonder if I should contact friends that I've lost touch with.

13. I really, really, really like animals.

14. I love cursing and even better, I love listening to other people curse. I don't actually curse as much as others I know.

15. I am very bad at doing physical activities unless I try really hard and practice. I am nowhere (and I mean NOWHERE!) near a 'natural' dancer or sports player.

16. I like tiny things.

17. I like to help people that need help.

18. I love listening to guys talk about girls when they don't know that I am listening.

19. I am sneaky.

20. The PC changed my life in college. My mac has invigorated my life.

21. I will go to any concert if you have an extra ticket.

22. I wish that Martha Stewart were my friend and that she'd invite me to be a guest at one of her houses. She provides so many thoughtful little things for her guests!

23. I wish that I didn't live in NYC.

24. I love hanging out with everyone, especially late at night when more goofy things tend to happen.

25. I value my marriage and my friendship with my husband. *Although that's the obligatory, you must say something about the one you are with in this thing, otherwise you will look like a heartless jerk #, I really do feel that way and look forward to how our life will turn out!

Baby Names

"So, have you thought of any baby names?"  About 4 people ask me this question every day.  Sometimes I don't know what to say.  Of course I've thought of names, the problem is when you talk about names everyone else has an opinion too.  Then you find yourself debating (or defending) names that you like.  In reality, I don't care if people don't like the names that I like.  It wouldn't stop me from choosing a particular name.  I guess what bothers me is how other people get offended when I tell them about the names that I dislike.  I have pretty strong opinions about names and being a teacher influences that a lot.  The moral of story is, 'Don't ask the question unless I can bash your baby names too'.

Here is my naming criteria for girls.  I do not have such regimented rules for boy names.  The first set of rules has to do with children whining.

1.  It cannot be an ultra-girly long name.  If it has 4 or more syllables, well then that is really ridiculous.  Why does it have to be so damn long.  These names can be whined by a sibling in a really long, annoying way. "ALLLL-EEEEEEEEEX-AAAAAAAN-DRIIIIIIIIIIIIII-AAAAAAAAAAAAAA keeps looking at me and making faces."  Oh, I just can't stand that.  That being said, some names are nice (but I repeat, not most) such as Olivia.  The problem with that name is that it is in the Top 10 baby names people chose in America in the past few years.  See below for more on that.

2.  Three-syllables don't make the cut for me either.  This raises lots of eyebrows.  Most people seem to like three syllable names.  Listen, the name can still be whined.  Furthermore, it takes one more syllable for me to yell out the name when I am mad, unless there's a good nickname for it.  When I think of all of the people I know, the women with three syllable names just seem to be more of a pain-in-the-ass than friends with one- or two-syllable names.  You can decide for yourself where you belong, there is a fine line that you can cross over.

3.  Any possible 3-syllable names cannot end with -na.  Christina, Arianna, what-ever-na.  *Whining.  

4.  The name cannot be one of the most popular names in the last 10-15 years.  I didn't go to school (until high school) with anyone named Danielle and I liked it.  If I had to be called Danielle P. for 6-9 years I would have went out of my mind.  Therefore the following pretty names are out-Emily, Emma, Sophia, Isabella, Ava, and Olivia.  Can you believe that Madison has been in the top 10 for the past 10 years?  Almost 1% (0.85%) of kids born last year have this name.  Madison A., B., C., D., E., F...Too many!  Just too many!

5.   The name cannot be a name that a good friend really likes or has used already.  This is a crappy rule, but its just not nice to be a name stealer.  If anyone wants to *gift* a name to me though, I may take you up on it...Renee, this means you.  You better have a girl named Julia one day.  You hear this Bill?  Coach those sperm for girls now!

This leaves me with short names.  I like older names.  Helen (my mom's mom), Anna (dad's mom was Ann), Grace, Rose.  Basically, if your grandma had the name, I probably like it. Today I found out that Helen was a very popular name in America from 1908-1930.  See http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/top5names.html 

There you have it.  Those are some possible names and reasons why I chose them.  Maybe you'll approve.  Maybe you won't.  You can say that my names suck.  I don't care.  You may love luscious long names and may have one yourself.  You also might be a pain-in-the-ass (Oops, did I say that out loud?  I am sure that you're a very sweet person.  Sorry if I offend.)  Either way, that's your answer if you were wondering about the names we were thinking about.

So, we're having a baby.

I know, I know.  I've written before how I just wanted more time (or forever).  I wanted to be selfish.  Blah, blah, blah...

After I wrote that blog, I thought that I was pregnant.  This was about early August.  I was crying.  Stomping my feet even.  I was so mad at myself for being irresponsible.  And also mad at myself for being angry about something so nice.  I kept taking home pregnancy tests.  Nothing.  I went to the doctor.  He said, "I see nothing."  Then I went for a blood test.  Nothing.  Negative.

To my disbelief, I felt so sad.  I felt a loss that hurt really badly.  I felt ashamed that I could have been so selfish (but honest and realistic) before.

So, I drank many beers and glasses of wine to end the summer.  We went camping.  We went to Great Adventure and rode many, many roller coasters.  But, after all this (and during) I still felt different.  Some weeks had past and I took another pregnancy test.  

Positive.

I went to the doctor.  The doctor said, "Wow, that was fast!"  Then the doctor takes a look and says, "Wow.  This is a big baby!"  He looked perplexed.  The new doc with him looked perplexed.  Len and I were confused.  He then said, "The blood test must have been wrong.  This baby is about six weeks old already."

There's the story.  I am now a very proud pregnant mom-to-be of a little girl (if the doctor is right about this).  I am very excited!  Everyone is happy.  I have a new (different) outlook on life and how much more wonderful it will become.  Who knew this would feel so good!?    

Alla Shchegol

Alla Shchegol and her mansion on Todt Hill make me want to vomit.  I just wanted to get that off of my chest.  Len saw an article today and sent it to me reminding me of how barf-a-licious her lawn ornaments are.  

http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2008/08/coming_soon_to_todt_hill_an_el.html