half a thought

Josephine's birthday is tomorrow.
So I'll be working on the long mushy post in the next few days, with pictures!
until then......
I cooked a lot of my Christmas gifts this year, I haven't done that before. I made meatballs and tomato sauce, candied nuts, truffles, and herbed oils and vinegars. Everything turned out really well. Mostly. Sorry to those of you that got the nuts because I had never done that before and I tried several different recipes and last night I finally found the perfect one...so you got the "good enough" version and my family here got the "oh my freaking goodness" version.
Two nights ago I decided to make some of the recipes from the Hanukkah section of the website I use and it was absolutely the best dinner I've ever had. Kugle, matzo ball soup, latkes...mmmmm. Have you ever had kugle? I was skeptical but I ended up hogging all the left-overs. Except I did share with Josephine, she insisted on eating it with chopsticks, I wish I had a picture. I'll be making matzo ball soup again tomorrow night since Jose like it so much (and so did the rest of us).
I have a hair person now. I've gone back to the same girl 4 times now and have my next appointment already scheduled. This is kind of a big deal for me, I've been to a million other stylist in town and hated every one of them. Well, no, not hated, but I've never cared enough to schedule my next cut right away. I feel fancy. Also, I have super short hair now.
Going to see Avatar in about half an hour. In 3D. I've never sat through a whole 3D movie as far as I can remember. I saw a 3D nature film at a museum last year but it was kinda boring so I didn't have my glasses on the whole time. And I think I took some kids I babysat for to a 3D under the sea movie but they weren't the best behaved kids and half the movie was spent telling them to sit down and shut it.
I know I sat down because I had a story for you but now I'm drawing a blank- oh well.

oh right, I have a blog

You'd think having someone else link to me in their fantastic blog would get be to post something new already... gah, it's like I can only be one thing at a time. Or maybe two things. But that's it.

I can be a toddler wrangler and a student...but not both and a blogger! Who do I look like? Someone who has their act together?

Anyway, I've been given an award.

So there's that.

Several years ago I spent one year at a small private conservative baptist college in Minnesota. I'm much too liberal now for you to ever believe that I chose to attend that school...but I did..and I met some of the most ridiculous people there. But, I also met a few really amazing women. One young lady in my dorm was Jillian and she was so fun and cool that she really didn't belong at that school either. I met most of her friends as she was more-or-less a local and I had only been in the city about a year, and I soon call many of them my friends as well. Jillian had some really great friends, like, I was flattered that she liked me because she obviously had good taste in friends.

Jillian doesn't have a blog. But! One of her friends that I got to know, Jill, does!! Lucky us! Jill is one of those people that even if you only spend a few hours with her you don't forget her when you leave. I never had to say, "oh that one girl, what was her name?" I'm glad she has a blog.

So...I'm supposed to lay out 10 honest things about myself now- here goes-

1. Candy Cane Hershey kisses will be the death of me. Of if not death, they'll put me back into my maternity pants by the new year.

2. My daughter has just potty trained herself- in about a week. Don't hate me. She's even had dry nights the last two nights, as well as dry naps the last three days. I planned on getting her a potty for her 2nd birthday (in one month!!!) but that's out the window now. It converts to a travel potty so it's not a loss. I lucked out on this one, I know.

3. The best thing in the whole world first thing in the morning is hot coffee with a little cream. I am super picky about my morning routine and it can really set the tone for my whole day (and yours if we cross paths). I need to have a hot cup of coffee first, maybe while I'm checking some blogs and watching the news, then I can have some breakfast. If my breakfast is cold I can have another cup of coffee, if it's hot I have to have something cold to drink. I cannot have a hot drink and hot food at the same meal, especially breakfast.

4. I dressed Josephine up as Bessie Colman for Halloween. Never heard of her? Yeah, well, Josephine isn't two yet so she gets no say in her Halloween costume yet. Anyway, click over to read about her, she was the first African-American to have a pilots license. I have my grandfather's old flight cap that he wore in WWII and beyond so it was pretty neat to see my baby in it.

5. Josephine can say a lot of words but "Josephine" isn't one of them. She started calling herself Jojo and every one else picked it right up as well. Tonight I proposed to her that she go by Joey. It's been long enough since Dawson's creek has been on the air right? So anyway, she tries to say Joey and says JoLo. Nice, but maybe she should wait for a record deal before taking that one. Then JoLo turns to Jello, so most of tonight I've called her Jello. Mmmmmm.

6. I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving, or most holidays I guess, but anyway, Thanksgiving, right. I don't really like turkey, or stuffing, or anything with mushrooms, or those Pillsbury crescent rolls. And I can't convince anyone to stray from the "traditional". I try to contribute one dish to dinner so that I know I'll have at least one thing I like on my plate, this year I made this. You need to click over to that recipe, it was FABULOUS. Even better this morning for breakfast (after my coffee of course).

7. I squealed, out loud, like I was 15, when I saw the commercial for Scrubs coming back on Tuesday.

8. All I want for Christmas is to go swimming with Josephine. We had so much fun this summer at the pool.

9. Some of my fuzziest memories are from when I was in Jr High and High School. Like, entire holidays, vacations, even years are missing. I never did drugs so that's not to blame...

10. Number 8 is a lie, I also want a whole day of no obligations, including no toddler (except for select moments) so that I can spend all day playing Mario Kart, drinking diet Big K, and eating the tin of Christmas cookies from Costco in my pajamas.

I'm not giving this award to anyone. The people who I would've given it to just got it from someone else and most of the blogs I read are by people that would never read my blog...I should change that.

You know what I've been meaning to ask? What the hell are the Roots doing on Jimmy Fallon?

mess, snow, and poop

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
yeah.
I haven't allowed myself much time to write lately. I've had time to complete homework (barely) and time to change diapers, and even time to take a few pictures (but not upload them). When I have a moment to either write or curl up in a ball on the couch and watch Ghost Whisperer, I've been choosing the latter.
My bedroom is on the main level of the house so when guest visit, guests who cannot go up and down stairs, guests like my grandmother, I have to move down stairs and give my room up as the guest bedroom. It's one thing to clean a room so that someone can peek into it or crash one night in it, it's a whole other thing to clean it up so someone can stay in it for a week...I'm in trouble. I am not neat. My grandmother arrives this afternoon.
I'm not dirty, some people are dirty, I'm not one of them. I don't have dishes or food wrappers laying around, I wash my clothes regularly etc. I don't unpack (stuff, I unpack dirty clothes right away) when I get home or put all my clean clothes in the closet right away though. I have piles of papers and half finished projects on every surface. I know where everything is of course, but it looks like a mess to anyone else...
I'm picking out colors to paint the walls in what will eventually be Josephine's room. Orange. I'll probably do most of the painting and decorating over winter break and it's going to be AWESOME!
It's snowing right now. It's snowed a little already this fall, but nothing worth talking about. This is looking like it'll stay for a while.
Josephine's birthday is 2 months...then I will have a 2 year old.
a few nights ago I was getting her ready for bed and she was fighting getting a new diaper on so I let her have a bare ass for a bit while I put some things away (I was putting things away, clothes even!). She came up to me and pointed to her butt and said her word for poop. Oh, crap, where is it?! There are clothes all over my floor and she's telling me she just pooped someone in here! I scooped her up and asked her where is it a few times while tip-toeing around. I checked her out, no "evidence" on her that she pooped and then it came to me. I leaped for the toilet and as I put her on the seat I asked her if she had to go poop. "Yes", or more like "Yesh" and as soon as her skin hit the porcelain it happened... my 22 month old pooped in the potty!!!!!!!
She was a little nervous but soon figured out that I was excited for her and she got excited too. We skipped to the living room to tell every one and stopped to get a sucker out of the Halloween basket on the way. We jumped and pumped our fists in the air, we sang Whoo Hoo with big smiles, I turned to see her slip and land hard on her bare bum and then crack her head on a wooden stool.
She's put in a good effort to go on the potty again a few times but so far nothing, also she is not interested in peeing on there. I hadn't even planned on actively potty training for a few more months anyway. She's getting a potty for her birthday (shh) but she hasn't quite mastered pulling her own pants down.
There is a lady in two of my classes that is just nuts. At first I thought she was just sarcastic and a little dramatic. She made every one laugh as she got worked up over different assignments and predicted her fantastic failures...then the drama kept increasing and the sarcasm faded out. She seems to genuinely believe that every professor should bend over for her every desire, like accept late work with out penalty and maybe get a new text book because she doesn't like this one and that assignment is too difficult it should be extra credit instead. At first I thought I was the only one who saw the crazy because everyone else still seemed charmed by her but then I got an eye roll last night. Yes! someone on my side! It's awkward to be the only one who doesn't like someone in the room, you start to think you are going crazy.
Apparently I've chosen to blog instead of shower before my class this morning...

A ball?

Foul moods are contagious aren't they? I don't know who started it, but there are a few SERIOUSLY FOUL moods in this house lately. It's like when you moved into your first dorm room and prayed your roommate(s) wouldn't be too difficult to get along with...I am living with my nightmare roommates and there are 4 of them, and they are family (Josephine doesn't count, she's still reasonably pleasant) I can't get away from them!
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This summer has been the summer of bubbles. Josephine can almost say bubbles, it sounds more like bubbas, and she has asked to go outside and blow bubbas almost every day for the last two months. We've also learned how to blow bubbles in water as well, we've had fun learning how to
"swim".
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My sister made me go to a AAA baseball game with her last weekend; she knows a player on the visiting team from high school or whatever. I didn't expect Josephine to last through a whole game that didn't start until 7pm, but she LOVED IT. She had her own seat and for most of the game she watched more intently than any TV show she's ever seen. She clapped and cheered with the crowd, participated in the wave, and when the players ran off the field at the end of the innings she would look up at me and say "more? more?" then she would motion throwing while saying "a ball?".
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She loves throwing things, which sucks when the thing is something breakable or hard and she is aiming at your face. She has good aim. When we go visit our friends who have two very energetic dogs she has the best time throwing their toys down the yard for them. Days and days after visiting them she will ask me "a ball?", complete with hand motions, every time we get in the car.
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The other day there was a football game on TV. It was the most important football game in the world (because to my father, every Auburn football game is the most important football game in the world) and Josephine woke up from her nap about 20 min into it and preceded to watch the hell out of that game.
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Some of the people who called to wish me a happy birthday asked me what Josephine had gotten me. I said she had gotten me some poopy diapers? She didn't spit her food on the floor? (she actually probably did, I don't remember, it happens about once a day, she's gross) BUT! She did give me something great later that night. She was dancing around and being silly for her audience and then she bent over and did a perfect somersault. She cannot do one when my camera is on though, sorry.

Well, I'm most likely bring Josephine to the wedding with me, mostly because everyone here refuses to change a diaper properly...it's ridiculous.



A great thing about being a parent: your kid is "the best" at something at some point. Maybe she was late to walk, or he was slow to roll over and maybe your child is behind in a million things that all the books say she should be doing, but there is at least one thing at one time that makes all the other mothers look on with envy.

Josephine is currently gifted in song. She is taking her sweet ass time talking, but sing a song once and she will remember the tune a week later and hum it to you on request. I've mentioned before how she will find a beat anywhere and move to it (the beeping of the security alarm at the store), but I'm really impressed with her singing.

Before she ever even made a noise other than a burp out of that pretty mouth I had decided that I was going to decorate her room in a musical theme...I'm prophetic, duh.



I can't go anywhere without someone commenting on Josephine's hair- It's so beautiful! I've even been asked a few times if her hair is naturally curly...really? You think I curl a baby's hair?

Her father is black, that's where the curl comes from. Funny thing, the top and sides of her hair is soft and smooth, while the back of her head is coarse and usually snarly...like the top is from me and the back is from him.

I've tried everything to get the back of her head a little less snarly and frizzy. Mostly I've been successful at making it look greasy. The winner is the conditioner I bought for myself because it matches my shampoo: Samy Pure. She has soft curls for most of the day when I use it, it's magical.
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I have classes on two different campuses this semester. One is five minutes down the street, the other is 20min into the next town. Through road construction. It's a little bit of a hassel, but my classes are going to be really great I can tell.

late night ramble

Sometimes Josephine puts something over her face, a hat that is too big or a sweater I've left out, and then she spins and walks around the living room until she crashes into the coffee table. I have no idea how she figured out to do this, but she thinks it is HILARIOUS. Sometimes I do too.

We've been extra whiny over here lately, extra cry-e and scream-y too. One particularly bad day had me putting Josephine on my bed a few times so she could have some time alone to calm down and selfish mama could watch Revolutionary Road in peace since Netflix sent it over a week ago(did not like it, but kinda liked, but not really, would not watch again). Anywho, Josephine finally figured out that she doesn't have to stay on the bed. She knows how to get down, but she never does...until now. Now she gets out immediately if she is awake. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Plus side: she doesn't cry for me to come get her anymore after a nap or in the morning, she just gets up and walks out to the living room. Negative side: no more quiet time on the bed when she is awake, and this hasn't happened yet, but what if I'm down stairs when she wakes up from a nap and she panics?

School starts Monday. I have a pretty full schedule, mostly night classes and one 7:30am class. I've conned my sister into watching Josephine those mornings...sucker.
I'm flying to Minnesota again in October to be in my best friend's wedding. I don't know if I'm going to take Josephine though...I'm very conflicted and if you want to chime in with some advice I'd love to hear it.

So, if I take the baby then I'd probably rent a car and car seat which would be a little more money than taking a shuttle from the airport but not much. I would have to pawn her off on someone while I stand up in the wedding (she HATES strangers) and I couldn't stay out too late at the reception because I'd have to go back to the hotel with a tired baby...also I'd have to stay pretty sober in that case.

If I don't bring her along my milk will likely (possibly?) dry up and she will have a few days (3-4) with no mama and no nursing for the first time in her short little life. The thought of climbing into bed without her makes me tear up a bit, but maybe it would be good for her to have to fall asleep without me there? I don't like the idea of forcing her to wean, but then again I *might* be able to pick up where I left off when I get home.

**she just woke up and walked out here...I think I like that she doesn't just sit in bed and cry for me.**

Does it sound like I'm deciding between being buzzed in a taxi vs. taking care of my daughter? Gah! It's just that the logistics of traveling with a baby are more complicated than without one...and how I enjoy the wedding reception will be different depending on whether or not I have a baby on my hip...and papa thinks everyone will be just fine if I leave Josephine with him and grandma...and I'll shut up now.

Change the subject already-

We've been swimming at a fantastic aquatic center in town lately. Josephine loves it and I do too. It is built with toddlers in mind, lots of shallow water and a few sprinklers and slides. There are things for bigger kids to play on too, but the best part is how much space is designed for babies. The aquatic center closes around labor day and thinking about how soon that is makes me a little sad.
I am going to try very hard to make sure that we get at least one more swim in this season and I'll hopefully remember my camera.

maybe she thought i needed a shower?

I slept on a towel again last night. Or, I suppose, really it was this morning that I had to lay a towel down in my bed. Hadn't had to do that since the great poop shoot party of 2008.
Thank the baby-poop gods that this time was much more sanitary than sleeping on poop.
Around 5 this morning Josephine got up and found the cup of water I have on the desk at the end of my bed. She wanted to give my a drink. She's really sweet, always always finding something to give to whomever else is in the room.
So, I had a cold glass of water poured down my front and all over my mattress at 5am. Then Josephine rolled around for about an hour asking for more water and a maybe a piece of candy from grandma's candy bowl...

1.5 I love you

Josephine is a year and a half old. She's been a year and a half for two months now and she will be a year and a half until about October when she will be almost two.

Things I love about a year and a half:

• She sings along at church and to her favorite commercial. No matter what is going on she will stop dead in her tracks to sing along to this song. (that isn't the commercial but it is the song that has hypnotized her)
• 99.9% of fussy moods can be stopped with either a book or a walk outside.
• She shifts her weight and lifts a cheek to fart and then laughs.
• At any time of the day she'll be humming the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
• For a brief moment I got her to call grandma "caca".
• Except for the Move episode of Yo Gabba Gabba (and the commercial I mentioned earlier), she couldn't care less about the TV.
• If I ask her to get a diaper she will bring me out one, take off her wet one, lay out the dry one and lay down with her butt in the right place so all I have to do is fasten it.
• If we watch anything on TV with a studio audience that laughs she will laugh along with them (Daily Show, America's Funniest Videos). If we watch something a second time and we laughed at a particular scene the first time, she will laugh at that scene the next time. (OK she likes TV a little if we are all watching and laughing)
• She loves the pool. She walks around in the 1.5 ft deep water and squats so that it comes up to her chin and then jumps as high as she can. When she get splashed in the face or trips and goes under she turns her face to me and I wipe her eyes and give them each a kiss and she is back to playing.
• When I ask her to "stand over there so I can take your picture" sometimes she does.

yesterday was fun

Our little local airport is mostly used for private leer jets and skydiving clubs but there are two restaurants there that are worth driving out to the middle of nowhere. After perusing the farmer's market we we out to breakfast at a deli there at the airport and it was fabulous. We all agreed that they made the perfect hash browns.
Later we drove up into the mountains to a friends house for a potluck/picnic. One of the other guests was a photographer that had eyes for Josephine (she is pretty gorgeous). He was taking candid shots throughout the party and later pulled me aside and took some fantastic mother-daughter portrait shots. I was sweaty and my hair was goofy but they still turned out pretty great- I'll share them when I get my copies.
Finally we drove a little way up to the ski resort that was close by to listen to Juice Newton. The music was wonderful and fun but even better was the fact that we were sitting on a steep kill and Josephine isn't too good at stopping herself when she starts walking down it. She had a blast diving and tumbling and bouncing around from me to my parents to my sister to the ground and back again. There was a freakishly fantastic sunset behind us at the concert and everyone around us was laughing and dancing and trying to keep their little kids from falling down the mountain.
I realized that I have never been away from home with Josephine for that long without it being an actual over-night trip. When we travel over-night I pack disposable diapers so that no one in the car/hotel has to deal with me saving her stinky cloth diapers in a bag for hours or days. The longest trips I've taken with Josephine and only used cloth diapers are shopping trips that require maybe one diaper change and it's usually only me in the car anyhow. Yesterday I found myself praying that she had finished her pooping that morning so that I would only have to store her wet diapers in the car. She's been eating a little more fruit than usual lately, grapes and blueberries mostly, so her stink is pretty impressive...you know, in case you were wondering...
Speaking of Juice and fruit, sort of, we have a Jack Lalanne Juicer now. My grandmother says she went through a period where she couldn't help herself from buying a few things from infomercials and ended up with this juicer sitting on her counter. She never used it so I asked her to send it to us. It's kind of a hassle as you'd expect. Cleaning it takes more time than making the juice and most of the time eating the fruit is more satisfying than drinking the little bit of juice that comes out of it. Still, it's fun if you get bored and want to pretend to be a health nut for an hour and I like that I can "juice" a chunk of ginger.

a look into the past

Thanks for all the comments on my hair, I obviously had nothing else on my mind all week seeing as how I've left those pictures up at the top of the page for so long...

So you remember how back in May I flew to Alabama? Then I disappeared for two months? Well I think it's about time we talk about it a bit, get it out in the open you know?

It wasn't a vacation because a vacation implies relaxation and Josephine would NOT let me relax. She wouldn't let me do anything.

Mama: Let me put you down for a second so I can open your juice.

Josephine: AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH The floor is lava. Don't abandon me, I thought you loved me!

Mama: Yeah! It's bath time, we get to splash in bubbles!

Jose: (who usually loves baths) AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH No No No, This is not OK, NOT OK!

Mama: Hey we get to go see Sarah, let's all get buckled up for a minute.

Jose: AAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH gag sputter, Why are you doing this to me? This is not my car seat, I don't trust this contraption! Get Me Out Of Here Now!

Mama: Oh look it's your aunt/uncle/cousin, can you wave Hi? I won't put you down I promise, just look at them for a second.

Jose: Must. Resist. Eye. Contact. Ignore. All. Attempts. To. Hug. If I don't move, they will leave.

Mama: Let's get a snack from our house! Just right in here, in the kitchen, where we've been all week.

Jose: We Do Not Live Here. This Is Not Our House. I Want To Go HOME. TO MY HOME. AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Mama: Time to get back on the airplane!

Jose: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

END.

So I had a little freaky Koala attached to my hip the whole trip, but it was still nice to see everyone and get a little sun.

Bo Jackson was the commencement speaker.

I was the only one affected by the chiggers? mosquitoes? I never saw what bit me but my legs, feet and hands were covered in itchy red bites and I was the only one.

The house we stayed in was very nice and right next to my Aunt and Uncle's house. We could wake up and walk out the back door 100yds and hop on a jet ski or kayak or lounge on the dock.

There were a lot of cockroaches.

Unfortunately the house we stayed in was undergoing a little remodeling so it was difficult to find a room that had both a mirror and working lights. The bathroom I used had neither. I did my make-up and hair at the kitchen table where the windows allowed enough light to use my little compact mirror. You know what happens when you don't get a good look at yourself for over a week? You get home and look in your own bathroom mirror and see that your eyebrows have gone crazy and how did that happen in one week What The Hell?

So, I cleaned myself up when I got home, then got to work. I was a week behind in my summer classes already and one of them was only 7 weeks long. A condensed class isn't any less work, it's the same amount of work with deadlines and due dates that come up much faster than in a regular semester. That's where I was in June, typing and reading and typing and reading and trying to keep up with my other classes as well and trying to entertain Josephine. I have helpers that will watch the baby when I ask, but I have to ask every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and none of them can figure out how to change a diaper...and only remember to feed her 50% of the time.

So now I have a bit more of a relaxing summer ahead. My newly graduated sister is living here now which makes the house a little crowded. I got the dress that I'm wearing in my friends wedding...so I'm feeling guilty about every bite of ice cream and handful of potato chips I eat...though I haven't stopped eating them...

turns out my naked forehead was holding me back

Pretty good for a home job, eh? I've paid for enough crappy haircuts that I felt confident I could give myself one. It's not any worse than some of the ones i've gotten at the mall... Sometimes I feel like Trixie from Speed Racer.

Vegas Vacation

what could be more exciting than a spur-of-the-moment trip to Las Vegas? How about when that trip is with your parents and your 1.5 year old daughter? WOO HOO!

When we arrived in town it was 117 degrees.

So as we were checking in to our room at Treasure Island and we have a great view of the whole strip- perfect for watching the fireworks in air-conditioning- the lady behind the desk informs us that Las Vegas is "tightening its belt" and not doing the fireworks show it usually does. Oh.

At dinner we hear that maybe one or two hotels will be doing their own show, but not any of the ones on the strip...bummer.

When the sun went down we all looked out the window and watched some small private fireworks go off around the city, not exactly what we came for. Tiny poofs in the distance, not worth sitting by the window for. What's on TV?

While everyone else was gambling, Josephine and I got ready for bed. I was washing my face when I heard the BOOM BOOM POP BOOM...I grabbed the baby and ran to the window. With soap still on my face and a nervous baby on my lap I got to watch a decent fireworks show after all.

Josephine was a trooper- poor girl had to sit in the car for hours and then be carried around the hot city and all she wanted to do was run and play. We jumped on the bed.

Sunday morning we got to the pool as soon as it opened at 8am to beat the crowds. I figured most would be sleeping in and too hungover to make it to the pool that early, I was right. I did see one couple though, with drinks in their hands, staggering and yelling through the casino at that early hour, dressed-up, obviously hadn't been to bed yet.

Overall we all had a good time.

This morning Josephine slept in until 10:30

she bangs, she bangs

Did you ever try giving yourself a haircut as a kid? I don't remember ever doing it myself, I think it was because I always wanted long hair would even cry my eyes out over a trim. I saw a lady on Sesame Street that had hair down to her knees and that's what I wanted.
I know lots of people though that have tried giving themselves bangs only to end up lopping off too much.
Last night I was searching for ways to style my hair when I made the decision that maybe I could do with some bangs...so I cut my hair and...it looks great! I did good guys! I'll take a picture later, I think it makes my face look thinner even...
Later last night we were all talking about where we should go to watch the fireworks tonight when we decided that Las Vegas would be a good place. So we're off to Vegas with good hair.

Marvelous Girl

Here's a little update on Josephine: She's become a cross between the Hulk and Wolverine...

Lately she's been getting upset when someone has the nerve to walk into the kitchen in the middle of playing with her. I guess she's afraid that we've gotten bored with her? Or we're going to make her eat something? She hates eating, by the way, it's such a waste of time. Anyway, here's an example of the Hulk: she had found an old comb somewhere, (grandma never throws anything away) the kind of comb you get on picture day in elementary school. A little red comb, she was playing with it all day and then her playmate Martha got up to put a glass in the sink. Hulk Mad! She made one annoying "uggghhh" and the comb was in 4 pieces. This scene has since played out with popsicle sticks in place of the comb as well... yikes!

So, she doesn't like to stop what she is doing to eat, but she'll happily pop a few grapes or strawberries in her mouth while we have a tea party. (yeah yeah, choke-ables...) So, she has never choked or even gagged on anything as far as I know in her 1.5 years but she is determined to change that I guess. Scene: she is sitting on the counter while I hull strawberries and give her the occasional slice to eat. She sees me dipping my berries in sugar and she mimics me nicely. She puts a strawberry in the sugar and takes a bite, repeat. Oh what a big girl. Then she picks up the biggest strawberry in the package, dips it, and puts the whole thing in her mouth. When I reach towards her face to yank it out (she can't even close her lips) she turns into Wolverine. Claws slash at my hands and face at lightening speed and by the time I realize what has happened she has chewed the berry and swallowed most of it with only a tiny bit of juice on her chin. This has happened similarly with putting more than one grape in her mouth or suddenly putting the last five pieces of cheese in her cheeks. She cannot be trusted.

i can type!

I will see you in July... I miss you already

quickly

I'll likely be running around like crazy* today and tomorrow so I won't be blogging until after I return in a little over a week- I might be sending twitters from my phone though if you care to check that out.
-*I almost typed "running around like a chicken with it's head cut off" but that wouldn't be accurate, there is going to be much more blood here.

awkward

So far we are still go for our Alabama invasion. In three days.
Summer classes start Monday so I'll be enjoying my vacation by reading text books so that I don't fall behind- Yes!
I am not losing my mind. I am completely calm.
I got out of the shower this morning and heard a knock on one of my bedroom windows...I thought It was bird...Then I saw the silouhette of a ladder behind the blinds.
I remembered we had an open appointment with a window washer. Thank goodness I still had that robe hanging in the bathroom!

now she loves pointing out the airplanes

Ever feel like your brain has thrown it's hands up in the air with a big sigh and said "No more!"? Can you imagine what my body has been doing if my brain is that melodramatic?
There has been some spontaneous collapses on the couch, and possibly the floor, and I spent one whole afternoon just planning out my outfits for the week we'll be in Alabama.
The school semester is ending, I have a final exam today. The material isn't difficult, but finding time to read it is. Last week Josephine had suddenly developed a fear of loud noises, cars/lawn mowers/jets, and would koala-cling to me every few minutes. We live close to an air force base and jets fly over ALL THE TIME*. She is better now. I don't know what that was all about.
*It's not that bad, they change their coarse every few weeks so it isn't every day, except for last week...
Do you spring clean? I'm not so much a seasonal cleaner, I'm more of a holiday and vacation cleaner. I cleaned the crap out of our rooms right before Christmas and Jose's birthday, and now I am sorting/purging/re-organizing like mad because I can't stop thinking about our upcoming trip. I have to take inventory of Josephine's summer clothes twice a day, you know, to keep the earth from screeching to a halt. If I don't always know where her favorite books and toys are then I might forget to pack one and certainly fire will rain from the sky and destroy us all.
So I'm doing this for the good of humanity you understand?

volume: turn it up

in an email from a friend I was asked to put up more videos of this monster, specifically ones of her talking.

Look at me being so compliant!

What now?

where's josephine?

where's josephine?
Originally uploaded by wi77ow

If you have to ask, you don't want to know.
I had five blissful minutes of quiet and OF COURSE it was because she was getting into trouble...DUH

digging story #2:
Easter was great, a sunny oasis in a week of rain and snow. We hunted eggs (for grandma's sake) and she played along quite well considering her age. The weather was glorious enough that I went shopping for seeds and sprouts to start my herb garden. I had started some seeds in the house a few days earlier...and right before I could transplant them to the yard I turned to see Josephine scooping the contents of one planter into another. So will we get basil? parsley? a freaky delicious hybrid?

a rose by any other name blah blah blah

Today is Name Yourself Day
What would you change your name to if you could, for just a day?
I always liked my name, but that didn't stop me from re-naming myself when my friends and I would play school or house or whatever the hell when we were in grade school.
Names I remember using:

Kelly- at the time I knew more males than females named Kelly but I knew it could be a girl name too...
Mikayla- I have a cousin with this name so I knew it was a real name (I was obsessed with what could be a real name and what was "made up"...I never would've believed someone would name their baby Banjo or Apple). None of my friends had heard the name before so it made me a little special.
Madeline- from the story books and cartoons. you know, that french girl with the nun.
My last name was always Strawberry- I had heard of Darryl Strawberry and I knew he was a good baseball player. That was it, I didn't follow baseball or know anything about him otherwise, I just liked his name.

Today I am Chantilly Sarsaparilla McGillacutty (that is the correct spelling of "sasparilla", who knew?)

So, today you can pick a new name. Make a name tag. Confuse someone.

a downer and an upper

Today: I went with my dad to SLC to browse some salvage yards for a few things. At first I was thinking how this could be really fun if I had the time and resources to fix up cars; the hunt for the missing piece, like a real-life Where's Waldo.
I loved those books.
It didn't take long to get depressed though, seeing car after car with deployed airbags, smashed windshields, dented roofs...you can't help but imagine what might have happened to cause that damage. Who was hurt? God, I hope there wasn't children in the back seat.
We didn't find what we were looking for, but on the way from one yard to another I spotted an African restaurant and made sure we stopped there on the way home.
It seemed very authentic, though I've never been to Africa so I can't be positive, but there wasn't any silverware. I am sure it was very delicious and I'm glad we found it.

do I get a medal?

I'm having one of those days where I want to hurl things across the room every time something small doesn't go my way. Pen out of ink? It's lodged in the drywall. Stub my toe on a chair? Chair is in pieces on the lawn.
It may have something to do with the lack of sleep, the snow I woke up to this morning, or that my back is killing me.
I'm not alone though, all week this house has been filled with sighs and eye rolls, everyone thinking they are the only sane person left in this house of crazies.
Yes I would like some cheese with this whine...but even more, I'd like some wine with this whine.
Josephine is 15 months old today. In the last week she has managed to get the worst diaper rash in history, then get better practically overnight. (teething rash, I think) She fell while dancing outside and has a scraped up knee, and she did something or another and has a long gash on her shin (well not as bad as a gash, but worse than a scratch, a gatch? a scrash?). Then, she was bent over, playing with her new shoes and lost balance. She did a face plant on the cement patio and had a scrape from her forehead down to her nose. I say "had" because the last of those scabs came off this morning in the shower. Just in time too, I felt weird showing up at the pediatrician's office with my mangled baby. (she also has a black fingernail from smashing it in a cubbard a few weeks ago)
I don't supervise.
I took the stair blocking gate down last week too...so far so good.

here we go again.

I'm taking my baby on another airplane.
You know what that means? It means that mentally making packing lists and various other travel check lists has been the dominating brain activity.
I can't help it, we aren't leaving until May but the tickets were bought a few weeks ago and already I have made 4 million lists just concerning the diaper bag. I know what toys to bring on the plane but once a week I step out of the shower and realize I've forgotten to wash my hair.
This time we won't be traveling alone (phew), my parents and sister will be there. I don't know if I could handle this extremely mobile baby+bags+general traveling anxiety all by myself.
We are going to see my little sister graduate...from college...she's one of those weird people who spent 4 years at the same school, with the same major, and is acting all grown-up now. Blah Blah Blah.
She's going to be an Auburn University alumni, (just like her parents, and most of her aunts and uncles, but not her big sister) so we are going to be in Alabama, where we have much family, so we are sticking around for about a week afterward.
I'm super excited to swim with Josephine in the lake at my aunt and uncle's place. So excited that I've gone to three different store already looking for a swim suit for Josephine.
-I've also gone suit shopping for myself, I don't want to talk about it.
Don't be surprised if there are 10 more posts just like this one between now and the second week of May...it really is all I can think about.

Dear vegetarians, think about taking a day off for this

One of the ways I earn my keep around here is to do the grocery shopping for the whole family as well as prepare dinner Mon-Fri. I really enjoy cooking for someone other than myself (Josephine doesn't count, all she wants to eat are scrambled eggs) and I try really hard to make an interesting meal each night. Every once in a while I find time to make a little something extra like a pie or banana bread. Last night I made magically delicious cupcakes. No, there was no weed involved, and no Lucky Charms either... are you ready for this?

Dark Chocolate+Coffee+Bacon Cupcake!!!!!!!

It's like breakfast and dessert in one cute package. I'm giving you this recipe because I love you, but be careful, you will have a hard time not passing out face first into the whole batch.


(The recipe I followed said it was for 24 cupcakes, so I split the batter 24 ways. They all overflowed in the oven, I really could have made 30ish.)

• Cook a package of bacon, extra crispy, crumble and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in big bowl and create a well:

• 2cup flour
• 3/4cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2cup sugar
• 2tea baking soda
• 1tea baking powder
• 1/2tea sea salt

Pour wet ingredients into well and stir until just combined:

• 2eggs
• 1cup cold strong coffee
• 1cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Stir in 3/4 bacon crumbles

375degrees, 20-25min
Frost and top with remaining bacon.

part two

Josephine really really really loves causing chaos, order is for babies.
She watches you stack up blocks and can hardly wait for the last tier before she winds up and Godzilla's your structure, squealing with delight.
She lines up the shoes kicked off by the door, backs up, and runs full speed with her arms swinging wildly, knocking them all around like a human bowling ball.
She "helps" with the laundry by waiting for at least three diapers to be in a stack before grabbing each one and slinging it behind her.
You don't even want to know what happens to her dinner.
Josephine is very loving and thoughtful.
When she decides to leave the living room to explore the hallway or to follow grandma to her room she always stops before rounding the corner to say "later" and blow a kiss to all of us still on the couch.
She always signs "more please" when she wants a sip of your juice or another bite of food.
She makes the sign for "please" on my chest instead of her own if she wants to nurse.
When asked to be gentle she will lightly pat my cheeks. If I'm lucky she'll then put both hands behind my head and pull me in for a super hug.
In the morning she'll sit up and reach for me to pick her up, when I do she always has her head a little down so that it wastes no time getting to my shoulder. Good morning hugs are the best kind.

Josephine Update

Things have been pretty wild here lately. Josephine is one of the most rambunctious babies I've ever met. She is incredibly trusting of her mama, to the point where she'll back flip off the couch into my lap without any prompting...or even checking that I'm still there to catch her. She's happy to spend all evening running full speed into the couch, and then into me, and then into the dog. She loves showing off how she can balance on a box and jump off all by herself, and it's even more fun when she doesn't land on her feet!
You'd never know all of this if I didn't tell you, she is still awfully shy around strangers. Even more so around men (excluding papa) no matter how many times she's met them.
I started bringing her to the nursery at church a few weeks ago but I always staid in there with her. Slowly she spent more and more time exploring the toys and less time crawling up my leg. Last Sunday I dropped her off and left to join my family in the sanctuary. When I came in at the end of service she was playing nicely on the floor, looked up at me and burst into tears. I was told she only cried for a minute while I was gone; I guess when I came back in she remembered that Oh Yeah, Mama Left Me and she was not happy. It was real sobbing, tears, clinging to my neck like a little koala... She wouldn't let me put her down for the rest of the afternoon.
On one hand, I want her to start being more comfortable with new situations and not having me around 24/7 so that I can take more classes and work more hours while leaving her with a friend/babysitter. On the other hand, My Baby! Oh don't cry Baby! I'm so sorry, I'll never leave you Again!
I love watching Josephine try on new hats...I don't mean dress up, though that's fun too. I mean, one moment she my little book worm and the next she a scientist exploring the wonders of nature (and every night she's an Olympic gymnast). Sometimes she will "read" to herself, but usually she brings a book over and thrusts it in your lap. She recognizes cat and meows at the picture, she know dog and pets the page. She floats her hand through the air at air plane, and gives a big sniff and a satisfying ahhhh when she turns the page to flower. She knows which page has the Pat-a-cake rhyme on it and makes sure that is the one you are reading. My favorite though, is that she knows all the parts to 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, complete with falling down and then holding her head like she's hurt...
Even though today it's snowing like it's winter or something, yesterday was warm and sunny and mostly green outside. We were tromping around the yard and enjoying the sun when she put on her scientist hat. I was pretty much only making sure she wasn't running out into the street and keeping her from eating any dog poop, she was pretty much ignoring me. I saw her pick up a piece of wood from the garden and place in on the front step. A few minutes later she was inspecting a leaf and ran up the driveway to place it next to the wood chip. I asked her if she was starting a collection, she replied eh. Next was a single blade of grass that seemed to be chosen quite deliberately out of the millions in front of her.
Most nights she still wakes up a few times. It's pretty annoying, yeah, but sometimes it's kinda funny. She doesn't lie there and cry, she stands up and falls on top of me, mutiple times. Last night was really sweet though, she stood up and plopped onto my chest but didn't make it over because of a pillow in her way. She wriggled around for a few second and finally settled herself back to sleep, curled up like a kitten on my chest. She staid there for several minutes before rolling back to the mattress. Best several minutes I've had in a long time.

Lately

Nothing motivates you to exercise like full length mirrors and measuring tape.

I have a dress fitting coming up for a friend's wedding.

I haven't lost the last bit of baby weight that I need to lose.

Wii Fit is not enough and I am already eating the best that I can right now (I could eat better, but then I'd crack and eat an entire cheesecake in one night…so for now I'm doing the best I can).

I bought an exercise video.

I got mad at everyone eating the food I make but never helping me clean up so I declared that no one was allowed to eat anything I cook.

I still wanted to cook though, and I had just made a banana cream pie and banana bread.

So I ate the whole pie by myself.

I started sharing my food again.

I bruised my heel.

Josephine wakes up furious 5-6 times a night. Seriously, she is pissed.

I am exhausted.

Me Me Me Me Me

I might be one of the last people to do this. It's been floating around Facebook for weeks and has trickled into the blogosphere. Here are 23 things about me (I edited off the last two because there were kinda inside jokes with some Facebook friends):

1. I like the idea of everyone getting their 15 minutes. For the longest time though, I couldn't shake the idea that mine would come from being diagnosed with some rare disease (boo). More recently, however, I picture myself making some fantastic discovery, like a fossil or giant diamond.
   
2. One summer I thought I broke my thumb after smashing it into a plastic gun while Kelly Theiler and I were making a music video in my yard.
   
3. I'd like to go on record as saying that 99% of all of the bad decisions I made in high school were Kelly Schaffer's fault. But damn if she didn't make high school fun.
   
4. 7^th and 8^th grade were so miserable that in 12 years when Josephine is there, if she asks to be home schooled I am totally taking her seriously.
   
5. I am a sucker for a museum, especially natural history museums.
   
6. I took a sleep aid every night for over 4 years before I got pregnant. I don't need them anymore.
   
7. I've lived in 6 states, (not counting Nevada even though I had a Nevada driver's license), and the place I'm in now is by far my favorite.
   
8. I lose my shit in crowded places.
   
9. I am currently enrolled in my 4^th university.
   
10. There are some "girl" things that I never understood but pretended to anyway. Like needing to have a good cry? I hate crying, I try to avoid things that make me cry.
    
11. One of my favorite lazy-day activities is watching old home movies.
    
12. Picky eaters are super annoying.
    
13. 14 years ago some friends and I built a giant snow turtle in a snow sculpting competition and we won…something place, I don't remember, but we got a trophy to share. I must have had it last because I just found it in a box of my stuff in the garage. (I threw it away guys, sorry.) Josephine and I mad a smaller version in the back yard the other day.
    
14. I have fond memories of dancing in Sara Williams' drive way when we were 10 years old. We danced to Kris Kross, Tag Team, and Sir Mix-a-Lot. Whoomp there it is!
    
15. The first rated R movie I saw was Stephen King's IT when I was 7 or 8. It's about a scary clown that kills a bunch of people. It's pretty amazing I don't have a clown phobia today.
    
16. One night in high school someone knocked on my bedroom window in the middle of the night and scared the shit out of me. My blinds were down and I just lay still until I thought the coast was clear. I still have no idea who that was.
    
17. A lot of this being a parent business is actually exactly how I thought it would be.
    
18. I probably still know the words to every Ace of Base song. When I was 7,8,9 the cool place to have a birthday party was at the Breckenridge Recreation Center (the Breck Rec) where we'd swim and eat pizza until we dropped. The car ride there was long enough to listen to every song on the Ace of Base tape twice.
    
19. It doesn't matter how many hours of History channel or Discovery channel I watch. That information never comes up in trivia games!
    
20. 90% of my book shelf is full of ½ read books.
    
21. Speed scares me. Riding on 4-wheelers and ski boats are fun, but not so fast please.
    
22. Can you tell I'm running out of stuff to say? I'm for keeping the topic on me just as much as the next narcissist but this is a little much.
    
23. Hmmm…23 is a pretty good number, Josephine was born on the 23^rd, I was 23 years old when I became pregnant and moved across the country, I've eaten 23 potato chips today, I pulled 23 muscles yesterday trying to maneuver the snow blower through the driveway.
    

 

Poetry

ScrambledJill provided this link to a Heretical Rhyme Generator and it's more than awesome.
Here is my poem for today:

She's pooped her pants again

But then again, don't they all?

for the pool will remove the stain

As she started to rub against the wall

I think it's perfect.

mountain weather

Monday Josephine and I played outside. In the rain. On green grass. Seriously. (Check out my Flickr page for some movies.)

Tuesday morning we woke to some serious snow.

Here she is pulling on a vine that is woven through the oak trees.

The oak trees had a lot of snow on them

We both thought it was pretty funny.

is it just me or does her poop smell worse when she has a cold?

I just wrote a loooooong rant about Thank-You notes. Seriously, it was several paragraphs. Feel free to send me one for deleting that post. You are welcome.

I can't seem to get my thoughts out in a way that makes sense lately... I've also deleted a long post on the things Josephine has been doing lately but it turned into a list of things she had done today and not really what I was going for. I wanted to tell you that she often asks me to help her get her shoes on. She has a pair that squeaks with each step that she likes best, but any pair will usually do. And I wanted to tie in how she chases the dog around the house. The dog, Akila, is scared of everything. Josephine has figured this out and yesterday chased her around first with a lawn mower toy that I had to take away, then a roll of wrapping paper, then a dinosaur plate she used for lunch...she thinks she is funny (she is). I wanted to let you all know that Josephine can open anything now. Pantry door? check. Can of baking powder? check. Tube of butt cream? check. Infant Tylenol bottle with child safety top? check. Safe with three combination locks? OK no, but that might be the only thing.

We are right now on the tail end of the longest snot fest in the history of snot fests. Jose started her cold symptoms over a week ago and still hasn't shaken that awful snoring that comes with a stuffy nose. Needless to say she has been an absolute gem lately.

I'm all caught up in my class now. yeah for me.

but she still finds things to put in her mouth

What's that? You say you are impressed with the cleanliness of my floors? Every floor, I know! The carpets, the hard wood, the tile, it's all so clean. Well, thank you, would you like to know my secret? Sometimes the only thing that will get Josephine to shut up already is to get out the vacuum, swiffer, or carpet cleaner and have at it. So even though this hardly used room could easily go a few days with out a vacuum, every last little speck of fuzz is sucked up while the baby chases me around and charges the hoover in her own freaky game of chicken.
...........
I read a lot of blogs. Every once in a while I read an entry that bothers me or is annoying and I feel compelled to respond to it here, as if all of you who read this have been reading the same websites. But that's not a good idea, really. So if I can't find something else to write about, if that entry is stuck in my head, I have to step back from the computer a few days. That's where I've been. Hiding. And yet, I still can't help but make a comment anyway. (what is wrong with me) I've read in a few places about people who made sure their kids didn't watch the presidential inauguration at school. When these kids grow up their memory of this historic day, this day that the first black president was inaugurated, was that they had to sit in a separate room from their classmates because their parents didn't vote for him. Boo! Yeah I said it, Boo! It just irked me a bit. I think January 20, 2009 should be a day that you always remember where you were, regardless of whether or not you considered it a good or bad day. (It was a good day for me!) If you felt 1/20/2009 wasn't any more special a day than any other, oh well. Oh well oh well oh well, but keeping your kids from it? ah, why can't I shut up about this already? Why can't everyone think the way I tell them to think?
.......
Friday I went to tour a LDS Temple. If you know anything about the Mormon religion then you know how important the temples are to the LDS church. Not just anyone can go in once it's been dedicated. But! after one is built the church opens it up to the public for a short time, which is what is going on now about an hour south of us. If you know me well enough you know that I am always up for learning more about your religion so I was pretty pumped to be able to do this. I could go on and on about the things I disagree with in the Mormon religion, but there are many things that are wonderful as well and I don't want to turn this post into an argument for or against any faith. I will say this though, the temple smelled slightly like a hospital, and maybe it was just me, but a little like formaldehyde. It was at the same time, plainer and fancier than I expected. ( I know, What?!) Just trust me.
.........
Tonight I'm going to watch Ed Asner in a reenactment of the Scopes Monkey trial. I guess I'll have to fill you in on that later though.
........
Back in November I applied to a local college. December, after I had allowed plenty of time for my trascripts to be mailed I tried contacting the admission office to ask what the hold up could be. After a million (seriously one million) attempts to contact them I finally found out that they needed one more piece of paper that they were waiting for even though they never asked me to send it! Fast forward to last week, I am finally officially admitted even though the semester started three weeks ago. I find one professor who is willing to let me join her class late, I get up at the ass crack of dawn to meet with her, succeed at buying my text book after 2 tries, and get to reading. It's an online class and when I tried to log on Sunday to start my massive catch-up of assignments I was greeted with a message saying it's all down for maitenence for 5 days! So there, when I'm not vacuuming, I'm reading.
.......
I leave you with a parenting dilema like no other:
The baby is asleep, finally, on your lap. She is a little sick and currently a light sleeper so any atempt to move her would certainly wake her up. You know she has poop in her diaper, and enough pee that it's leaking on your leg.
I normally wouldn't let her sleep in poopy pants but this is the first moment she hasn't yelled at me in what feels like years...ok it's been just this morning (and last night) that she's been cranky.
The decision may be made for me because I have to pee.

My Big Girl

Josephine just put a potato chip the size of a checker piece in her mouth. She looked at me and turned to run away like she does whenever she puts anything in her mouth that I haven't given her myself. I grabbed her arm, she gave me a whiny noise, and then crunch.
She couldn't believe that this "checker piece" had crumbled so easily in her mouth. There was a look of shock, then she joined me in laughing so hard that pieces of greasy potato flew out of her mouth.

A few nights ago I tossed Josephine onto my bed and handed her the TV remote to play with like I always do when we get ready for bed. I turned to step into the bathroom, taking out my hair clips and turning the lights off. When I turned back she was already three steps away from the bed and running full speed towards me. I scooped her up as fast as I could and explained to her that she wasn't big enough yet to be getting off the bed all by herself. She is still a baby! She's gotten off of the couch by herself plenty of times, but my bed is much higher and I had never seen her even attempt to get down from it alone. I was happy to see her first step, slightly bummed to pack away all her itty-bitty newborn clothes, but this really hit me hard. As silly as it sounds, this was too big for her. I'm running out of baby time and closing in on toddler.

i can breath

I am pleased to announce that MarioKart therapy works! I feel much better today after winning a few trophies.
Have you seen the movie Burn After Reading? For some reason I was under the impression that it was going to be a comedy...it was just creepy, and kind of sad.
You know what's cute? The way Josephine plays along with me on the Wii Fit. She stomps her feet and tries to lift one leg in the air when I do the Yoga. Then when I'm skiing and there is a chime to signal I've made it through a gate successfully, she mimics a beep noise from wherever she is in the room. Beep beep beep beep.
So I just found out that my dad knows about this blog and has informed my extended family about it- Hi guys!
There hasn't been anything scandalous on here (right?) but still, I'm gonna be a little shy for a few posts until I forget who is reading.
I have a few pictures on my camera that need to be uploaded...that'll come later when Josephine takes an actual nap (HA)!
One last thing- do you know how freaking excited I am that Scrubs is back on?
Very.
I am very freaking excited.

math problem

I
am
dieing...
A cold+a rambunctious toddler+phone calls that need to be made+college admission office workers that don't care about doing their jobs+ICan'tBreath+MyHeadIsSpinning=my death.
the end.
I think some MarioKart might help me to feel better.

belated new year...

my thoughts on New Year resolutions:
As a woman, when I automatically think of making a New Year resolution I think of losing weight. Personally I never thought I needed to lose weight (until now) so leaping into a diet has never been an issue for me. I don't think I've ever made a New Year resolution actually. If you can think of something that you need to change about yourself you should do it, right then. Why wait for January 1st?
That being said, here are my resolutions:

1. Live as if this is my do-over. If me 10 years from now got to come back to 2009 and have a do-over, what would I do differently? This means choosing to play with Josephine over starting the laundry, even if it means spending the day in my PJ's because nothing else is clean (oh what a sacrifice!). It means not stepping on the scale everyday or pinching my belly fat and instead being thankful I'm healthy enough to chase my daughter around the house. It means trying that much harder to understand and/or ignore the crazy in my family and enjoy the time I have with them now.
2. Continue learning more and more about healthy living.
3. Fill up the recipe book I've started. I put together a blank book ( I'll show you later) and I write in a recipe after it turns out to be a big success in this house. I don't add ones that are boring or obvious, only the special ones.
4. Get better at talking on the phone.
5. Sleep 6 hours straight. Just once. Come on Josephine!

I think 2009 is gonna be good.
I'm thankful for a lot of things 2008 brought and remembering those things is just as important, if not more, than making new resolutions.
What was so great about your 2008?