jennanddave.com

Here's a glimpse of how my week is organized:

Sunday: laundry
Monday: pay the bills
Tuesday: grocery shopping
Wednesday: wash the bed sheets/blankets
Thursday: nothing in particular
Friday: clean the house
Saturday: actually get to spend some time with my husband who kills himself with work during the week. Because he has to. Remember how back in high school and college you thought teachers and professors were kicking back and enjoying life once four o'clock rolled around? So not true. Dave gets up at 7, works for an hour, takes care of the dog, gets to work by 9, stays until 5:30, plays with Henry until it's his bedtime, then works from 9 until 11 or 12. Then he starts all over again the next day. It's insane. Sometimes I feel like I don't see him at all during the week, which isn't true, but really that's what it feels like, so I *love* Friday nights and Saturdays because those are the times he's usually 100% free. My man works hard.

Anyway, most of the stuff listed up above takes place during Henry's naps. As you can tell, I've built in some free days so that I can relax during his nap.

Things I like to do during Henry's nap to relax: nap, have lunch, write something profound to post on this blog, read, knit.

Things I actually do during Henry's nap: surf the internet, suddenly realize I've just wasted 2 hours surfing the internet and that I only have one hour of Henry's nap left, write a completely mundane post, throw down some lunch, lay on the couch with my eyes closed while willing myself to squeeze all of the quality sleep of a two-hour nap into fifteen minutes, fail miserably. It's all very disatisfying.

Today I decided it would be different. I've been wanting to make this sushi toilet paper cover for about three years now. The only problem is the top is crochet, and I don't really know how to do that. So, as soon as Henry went down for a nap, I perused some internet tutorials and worked the directions out as best as I could. Here's what I've got so far:

Not bad, right? The joins are pretty awkward, but frankly I'm impressed it even looks like a circle. Now that I'm a little more comfortable with the technique, I think I'll start over again and see if I can't get it to look a little better. It'll be nice to get to the knitted part because that I can do.

Now I'm off to have a little lunch.

Posted by Jenn at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rainn Wilson hosted SNL this past week. His opening monologue is hilarious:

Lorne Michael's Michael Scott was *really* good.

Posted by Jenn at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning Henry and I went to our first play group in three weeks. It was a lot of fun. There were only three kids, Henry plus two girls. Good odds. Everyone played mostly on their own and yet somehow sort of together. Kids are great at that. There was much throwing of balls and stacking of blocks and stealing of dolls. (Well, only my kid stole a doll. The same doll. A light blue teddy bear one of the girls had brought. And never directly from her. Let's just say he knew where it was at all times and the second she would put it down he'd be on his way over to take it and run around with it. But he always put it back. Because he's a gentleman.) Me and the other two women got to talk a lot and to be honest, talking to another adult can sometimes feel like what I imagine hitting the lottery feels like, especially when you've been cooped up for the last two months with a little kid. So, I'll say it again: it was a lot of fun. Can't wait for next week.

Yesterday was a glorious day. Dave made pancakes for breakfast, then took Henry to the grocery store with him. By the time he got back it was time for Henry's nap. Both the grocery store trip and the nap amounted to quite a bit of time for me to do whatever I wanted. I watched "Idlewild" and painted my toenails. I also did a little online shopping. Well, window shopping really since I didn't buy anything. It was a very relaxing afternoon. Dave and I were going to do our taxes last night but got hung up on the Oscars just long enough for it to be too late to start something so time-consuming. Maybe next weekend.

Posted by Jenn at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night while watching "The Office", an add came on for some movie that's coming out soon. It was described as being the first "must-see movie of the year". My first thought was: "It's November; surely there have been other movies that have come out during the previous 10 months that were also 'must-see movies.'" My second thought was: "Wait, it's February." At least I had the second thought.

A conversation Megan and I had on Tuesday:
megan: Remember back when you first had Henry and I said "There's no way there's ever going to be another kid as cute as yours is?"
me: Yeah.
megan: I was wrong. My kid's cuter.

I've noticed recently that a lot of boys are being named Henry. My mom and I looked at the numbers for 2005 and it was number 103 on the list of popular boys names. The next year it was something like 86. Someone locally mentioned she's met a lot of little Henry's lately. My kid's probably going to have the exact same experience I did when I was growing up. Whenever anyone would call out "Hey Jenn!", five girls would say "What?" in unison.

This morning in the mail we got a Christmas card. Post-marked 12/22/06. How awesome is that?

Posted by Jenn at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know how certain mundane things that occur in your life become forever associated with whatever else it is that's going on at a particular time? For example, every once in a while I'll catch a whif of a certain kind of chicken cutlet and I'll be instantly transported to the second grade and my elementary school cafeteria. Or how whenever I hear "Check Your Head" by the Beastie Boys I think of the summer of '92, right before my senior year of high school. That was a very good summer. Actually, I find that music has been a very important part of my life. I can usually accurately date a song by relating it to whatever was going on in my life at the time I first heard it. (This doesn't work for oldies or classic rock. Obviously "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin didn't come out in the Fall of 1990, although the boxed set came out that year. Does that count?)

Back when we first moved to Salem in 2000 I sent away for Proactiv. I joined "the club" which meant I never had to reorder, a box would just magically appear on my doorstep once every two months. After about a year I had such a huge backlog of the stuff that I cancelled my membership, used up what I had, and then switched to the somewhat less expensive Cetaphil, which I could buy on an as-needed basis from my local drugstore.

Lately my skin has been a complete nightmare. Probably it's because it's winter and really dry despite the earnest efforts of our little-humidifier-that-could. Knowing that doesn't make it any less annoying. After the 37th (that's for you, Dave) viewing of the Proactiv commercial that prominently features a ridiculously good-looking Jessica Simpson, I finally caved and ordered the 30-day kit. The first few times I used it, it was like coming back to an old friend. Finally I realized why. Whenever I use the face cleanser, the scent makes me feel like I'm standing in the bathroom of our Salem condo and I am overwhelmed with the urge to go outside and walk up and down the pier while taking deep breaths of ocean air. Proactiv = perpetual summer in Salem. I'm always a little disappointed when I open my eyes only to discover I'm still in central Pennsylvania.

It's a good sixty seconds, though.

Posted by Jenn at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today it's absolutely glorious out. So glorious, Henry and I went for a walk downtown earlier this morning, something we haven't done in three weeks because one or all of us has either been: 1. sick, 2. getting better, or 3. scared to go outside because it's been 20 degrees or less out. By the time we got to where we were going, we were both so happy we were skipping and singing "Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips With Me" (you should hear Henry play the ukelele; it's wicked).

Last weekend my parents came up to spend a couple of days with us. It was great timing because Henry was feeling 400% better than he was the week before. There was much playing and chasing and squealing going on, which was a nice change from the moaning and coughing and grumping of the previous two weeks. Both sets of Grandparents brought books for Henry when they were here for visits, and both books are dastardly in their own ways. Dave's parents brought Henry a pop-up book featuring a dog named Scruff who's hiding so he doesn't have to take a bath. The first page is a pop-up of the bath that's actively being avoided by Scruff. It features lots of glittery bubbles. Henry is at the stage where he likes everything to be labeled, so sometimes we sit there for five minutes while he points at each bubble and waits for me to say "bubble". Then when we get to the end of the book, he turns it over and we do it all over again. Sigh. Thanks grandma and grandpa. My parents brought Henry Sandra Boynton's "Your Personal Penguin" book which has an accompanying song sung by Davy Jones which you can download for free from the publishers website. We listen to it approximately 497 times every day. It's the last thing I hear in my head when I go to sleep and the first thing I'm humming when I wake up. Thanks grandma and grandpa.

Posted by Jenn at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been scoping out the various Mardi Gras cams courtesy of NOLA.com. You can find them here. So far my favorite is the bourbocam. It's like I'm there except I don't have any beads and I've managed to keep my shirt on, although you never know, the day's not over.

Posted by Jenn at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear woman in SUV,

I understand that a pile of snow slipped from the roof of your vehicle onto your windshield, thereby rendering you unable to see. I also understand that by putting on your flashers you were letting whoever was behind you know that you'd be there for a little bit. Here's the thing, you were blocking the entire lane of traffic on a narrow two-way road RIGHT AT A BUSY INTERSECTION, so you'll forgive me if I wasn't so interested in trying to go around you, particularly when what you were doing was wiping snow from your windshield, a process which, for most people, takes one minute, or less! There was no need to scream at me. Twice. If you were that concerned about me going around, you could have made it a little less dangerous by moving your car off to the side a little bit. Despite all the snow, there was room. Or you could have backed away from the intersection. You had time to do that because you were already out of your car when I pulled up.

I've thought about the fact that we were driving out of a hospital parking lot, and that perhaps you just got some bad news, or maybe a loved one is sick. I'm trying to be sympathetic and give you the benefit of the doubt, but honestly I'm having a hard time doing that because even under the worst circumstances I would never treat anyone the way you treated me. Frankly, if you feel the need to rain abuse on people you don't know, do us all a favor and stay home.

Jenn

Posted by Jenn at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Victoria's Secret,

Please stop sending me two catalogs a week. Yes I know you're having amazing sales. Yes, I know you're very proud of your Pink Collection, and let's face it, you should be. It's all very cute. In fact, it might as well have been designed with me in mind because I want to buy one of everything in it. The problem is, I have no money. So you force me to spend precious time every week flipping through your catalogs, earmarking the things I have to have, only to realize I've just tallied a $400 order. Which brings me back to the point about not having any money. It's very depressing. Also, it's February, the most depressing month of the year, so I really don't appreciate being hit with a double-whammy of depressing.

So once again, please stop.

Sincerely,
Jenn

ps. I'll take this in "large" please.

Posted by Jenn at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Valentines received:

Henry - 3
Flash - 1
Dave - 0
Jenn - 0

Yes, even the dog got a Valentine, and not from me or Dave either. It's very Charlie Brown, isn't it? It's always sad to see Valentine's Day come and go. I love all of the pinks and reds and heart-shaped everything that take over the local shops. It's a cheery holiday to have in the middle of the winter, just when cabin fever starts to settle in.

It's been snowing here since yesterday morning. I'm very happy about this because it really was about time. I've been out shoveling twice just to revel in the glory of it all. I love how quiet it gets in the middle of the day during a snowstorm. Very peaceful. I'm hoping that by Friday Henry will be feeling well enough to go out for a bit of snow tubing. Actually, I'm hoping that by Friday we'll have dug ourselves out enough to be able to go buy Henry a snowsuit and snow boots.

Posted by Jenn at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes this is another entry all about how my kid is still sick.

Last Monday was the last night of good sleep Henry's had. Tuesday night he was fussy all night, Wednesday night he moaned and groaned, Thursday night he had a full-blown cold and couldn't breathe comfortably, Friday night see Thursday but also include the revelation that he's also teething (because apparently the Universe hates us). Which brings us to Saturday night. He couldn't settle down long enough to sleep because of the teething and the coughing. Around 3:30AM I pulled him out of his crib and brought him to bed with us so that I could rub his back until he fell asleep. He slept for a couple of hours, then sat up, fussed, and threw himself dramatically across Dave's neck, after which he sighed comfortably and settled down. Dave put up with this for a few minutes then came to his senses and put Henry back in his crib. He slept until 8AM. Dave went in to get him up for the day but as soon as he picked him up, Henry laid his head on Dave's shoulder and went back to sleep. So back to bed he went. And he slept until noon.

Henry was pretty groggy during the early afternoon but he had some lunch and wandered around the house for a bit. Dave and his parents took him up to the University for a tour of Dave's lab and by the time they came home around three, Henry was ready to crash again. I put him down for a nap and let him go for two and a half hours. When I got him up at 5:30, he was out like a light but I was worried that if we didn't get him up now, he'd be awake all night. He was feeling hot so I took his temperature which was 103.4. We got pretty worried, gave him some Tylenol Cough and Cold for Infants, then called his doctor. He said we were doing the right thing, that Henry's temperature was high but not at the point where he was really worried about it. If it got up to 104 or more, put him in lukewarm bath to cool him down. He also told us to bring him in for a checkup today at 8AM. We stripped Henry down to his diapers and put him back to bed. He went to sleep immediately. Dave and I took turns fretting and going upstairs every 20 or 30 minutes to take his temperature. It went steadily down until it finally broke a few hours later. At 10 Henry woke up hungry so we gave him a late dinner then freaked out because we were uttlery exhausted and here Henry was, wide awake after having slept the entire day with the exception of about four hours in the middle. Dave read him his favorite book which he wasn't remotely interested in. In a desperate bid to get him to sleep, we turned off all the lights and Dave rocked him. He fell asleep a few minutes later. I couldn't believe it. He only woke up a few times during the night after that.

The doctor checked him out this morning and said to continue giving him the Tylenol or we could switch to Advil (which you don't have to give as frequently). He also said Henry has infections in both of his ears so we got a prescription for antibiotics which we have to give him twice a day. The Dr. mentioned he couldn't really hear what was going on in Henry's lungs because he was crying the whole time, so he couldn't rule out pneumonia, although he doesn't think Henry has it. Either way the antiobiotics would take care of it if he does. He's been in a much better mood today, running around the house a bit and playing with some of his toys which had gone untouched since Thursday or Friday. All the sleep he got yesterday really helped him out.

I'm so looking forward to having things return to normal around here.

Also, thank god Dave's parents were here to help look after Henry because we were both stretched pretty thin by the time the weekend rolled around. At one point Saturday evening we were standing in the kitchen, completely dazed, getting dinner ready when Dave stopped and said "Look, we're both in the kitchen getting dinner ready. And Henry's in the living room with my parents. How great is this?" And it truly was great.

Posted by Jenn at 01:54 PM | Permalink

Henry got a cold Tuesday night. Yesterday I started showing symptoms of it too. Sleep? What's that? Last night was the worst night so far. He's really stuffed up and can't sleep even though he's dead tired so Dave and I took turns all night long rocking him. There was lots of moaning and groaning and snuffling and coughing. Finally around 5AM he dropped off in his crib. For two hours. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't had to blow my nose every four seconds during the night. He's pretty loopy today from lack of sleep, but is otherwise in a decent mood. Okay, technically right now he's rather vocally protesting having to take a nap, but other than that he's in a decent mood.

Dave's parents are arriving some time this afternoon. Reinforcements. Thank god. They're bringing some Thai food up from a local restaurant in Virginia for us all to have for dinner. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to a couple of naps over the course of the weekend.

Lately I've been hearing bits and pieces about the 18-month sleep regression and how not fun it is. My question is: since Henry hasn't actually slept very much the past three nights, do you think it will help avoid the aforementioned regression? I hope so because two weeks of being sick and not sleeping well pretty much has me strung out as far as I want to go.

Posted by Jenn at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 3:30 and Henry's actively refusing to nap. That plus the fact that he woke up a lot last night means I'm a little groggy. It also means I'm desperate for him to take a nap, any kind of nap. I put him down (again) five minutes ago and the crying seems to have subsided so my wish may be coming to fruition. I'm supposed to be making meatballs for spaghetti tonight but I think it may be time to call in the reinforcements. (The reinforcements being anyone who will deliver food to our door.)

Is anyone else tired of the extreme cold weather? Henry and I have been cooped up (with the exception of playgroup and grocery shopping) since Saturday because it's too cold to go for walks around the neighborhood. It's very demoralizing. It's also a little difficult to come up with new and exciting activities to pass the time. Today we read every single one of his books. Yesterday we wreaked havoc with his crayons and even colored a little. What do you do with a 17 month old kid when you're stuck inside? Any suggestions?

It's still quiet upstairs. I'm going to seize this opportunity to go crash on the couch.

I shouldn't have written those last two sentences. He's crying again. So....Dave, when are you coming home?

Posted by Jenn at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

And just to be wacky, I'm working in reverse chronological order:

How cute is this:

I found it at one of the shops in town that sell handmade crafts. I can't decide what it is though. A dragon? A bird? A chicken? My grandmother has a shelf full of glass animals in her bedroom, so I think I'm going to send it to her. A few years ago I was looking at her collection and she said that she used to have more but that she had bumped the display case which caused a lot of them to fall and break. She said she was really mad at herself for doing it, but that she was also glad it had been her because she would have never forgiven anyone else. Then she gave me the stink-eye and I backed away from the shelf quickly but carefully. Okay, the part about the stink-eye isn't true. The backing away from the shelf after hearing the story is.

Here's a picture of it with my keys and Consumer Reports, just to give you an idea of how big the thing is.

Posted by Jenn at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)