It's Been A While

I've let a few weeks slip by. . .

I went back to school a few weeks ago, so on top of that and work and Harry and the house, the juggling is pretty intense. I think I'm handling it pretty well, if I do say so myself, but I'm also honest enough to admit that housework particularly has been slipping. And I may be letting Harry watch an extra episode of Blue's Clues every now and then. (Don't tell, okay?)

But I've got a lot of things to look forward to in the near future: a trip to Kentucky, playgroup at the museum, and a chance to knit The Dude's sweater from The Big Lebowski! It's a gift for a friend, and since he's probably the only person I know who doesn't have a computer (or even an email address, for that matter), I feel pretty safe blogging about it. It will be the biggest project I've undertaken in a while (read: since Harry came along) but I ordered the yarn last night, so there's no going back now. If nothing else, it will be a great excuse to watch The Big Lebowski again.

Tiny Palate

It's 9:45 on Saturday night, and I'm blogging about baby food. I'd like to say that before the baby I would have been drinking champagne, wearing unbelievable shoes, and dancing with my husband, but honestly I usually didn't do anything so glamorous. A typical pre-baby Saturday night might have involved a movie and a walk.

Regardless, Harry has been asleep for an hour and a half and Kevin and I just finished watching I ❤ Huckabees for the second time, (I'm super proud that I was able to use a heart icon instead of typing out "heart"), so I thought it might be time to update Nothing Fancy.

Harry's been on a pretty strict three-day wait rule between new foods. For those of you not feeding an infant, doctors/nutritionists/pretty much everyone recommends waiting three days after introducing New Food A before introducing New Food B. This is supposed to make it easier to determine which (if any) food is causing baby problems. The only con (in my opinion) with this approach is that it takes a pretty long time to get baby eating a variety of foods.

But today we added spinach to Harry's repertoire! I was shocked that he not only ate it - he really will try anything once - but actually did so without making a face or his classic gagging sound. Spinach is only the newest food, joining sweet potatoes, acorn and butternut squash, peas, carrots, green beans, pears, peaches, applesauce, pumpkin, banana, avocado, rice, oats, and prunes. It did take several weeks to get to this sizable a list, but with no food reactions, it was well worth it.

It's kind of embarrassing that Harry eats a better variety of vegetables than I do. I'm so excited that he's eating all of these wonderful foods, but I worry that in a year or two he's going to be like every other kid I know and cement his lips when presented with squash or beans. My theory is this: I, his mother, only really like three or four vegetables, and Kevin is the same way, so I find myself cooking green beans, peas, and carrots over and over again, occasionally turning to the odd salad. So once Harry is eating "table food" he won't be offered squash or spinach, mostly because Kevin and I don't want to eat it.

Is this how babies who enthusiastically eat pumpkin become toddlers that only eat crackers, Cheerios, and tiny cookies? I guess Kevin and I are going to have to rediscover some of these things we purportedly loved when we were babies ourselves.

Stuff I Miss, and Stuff I Love

I'm having one of THOSE days. You know, where you just feel blah for no apparent reason, and something that wouldn't bother you normally is a really big deal now. Today that something is my hair: I hate it. I need a haircut. I've needed a haircut for about two weeks. I want to get a haircut, but I'm taking care of Harry. So, things I miss:

1. Being able to go get a haircut as soon as my hair really starts to bother me, instead of planning it a week in advance so I can get one of the much-coveted evening appointments while Kevin watches Harry or guiltily asking my mom to provide yet another hour of free childcare while I get it done during the day. Really, doing anything on the spur of the moment is something I miss.

2. Taking a shower in the morning. This just does not happen anymore, since Kevin has dibs on the before-work shower on weekdays. I look forward to my evening bath or shower because it provides some me-time and a chance to decompress after a long day, but does hair ever really look right after it's been slept on?

3. Finishing a movie/meal/blog post in one sitting. Granted, finishing a meal has gotten easier, but that's only because Kevin and I are both getting much better at eating one handed. We watched No Country for Old Men last week, and it took us almost the entire week.

And now, because I'm trying to be mindful of and grateful for the positive things in my life, stuff I love:

1. Harry. Everything about him, from his smiles and coos to his ability to roll over (but only on his left side).

2. The incredibly easy and very delicious chicken pot pie that we're having for dinner tonight. Recipe courtesy of Mom, crusts courtesy of Sara Lee.

3. My blog. I had no idea when I started how cathartic it would be to put all of this out there on the internet. I think if I wasn't able to post a few grumbles now and then, I'd have a lot of pent up frustration. Also, adding to my blog always reminds me to check friends' blogs, letting me feel like I haven't completely lost touch with the grown-up world.

Good Movie, Bad Timing

When is the wrong time to watch Alien? When you're 39 weeks pregnant, that's when. I've seen enough "Best Scary Movies" countdown shows and parodies of this scene, most notably Spaceballs, but even knowing this scene was coming had my skin crawling and my hands clenching.

Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

My household has just caught up with technology from 2004: we have a DVR.

Tired of seeing endless DirecTv commercials offering a free DVR receiver and three free months of HBO/Cinemax to new customers, my husband sent a cordial email to customer service, and within seven days we had a techinician in our living room. I guess it pays to send checks on time every month for five years!

We're recording more movies than we can possibly watch, and I have a real fear that we're going to use all 100 available hours of storage. Today's offerings from HBO/Cinemax being recorded for future viewing pleasure: Singles, The Notorious Bettie Page, and Drop Dead Fred.

History Flicks

Amadeus Beautiful portrayal of Mozart's life in Salzburg, particularly his relationship with fellow composer Salieri. Kudos if you can tune out the annoying giggle.
Band of Brothers This amazing miniseries is beautifully acted, shockingly graphic, and necessary to watch.
Braveheart Scottish patriot William Wallace defies the English. Glad this came out before I decided to boycott Mel Gibson projects.
Cold Mountain Nicole Kidman and Jude Law, both pulling out the Southern accents to play star-crossed lovers during the Civil War.
The Crucible Based on the play by Arthur Miller, a commentary on the McCarthy hearings, set during the Salem witch trials. Watched during G. W. Bush's presidency, an entirely new set of comparisons can be made.
Flags of Our Fathers The actual events of raising the flag on Iwo Jima, as well as the effects it had on the lives of the men who were there.
Gangs of New York The Nativist movement and turf wars in New York, complete with Tammany Hall and old-timey moustaches!
The Last of the Mohicans Loosely follows Cooper's novel of the French and Indian War.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Coen brothers' take on Homer's Odyssey, set in Depression-era America.
Sommersby Civil War remake of the French film, Le Retour de Martin Guerre, in which a long-missing soldier returns home, only to have his identity questioned by those he left behind.

Good Laughs

Bubba Ho-Tep What if Elvis hadn't left the building? And the building was a rest home? And that rest home was bedeviled by a mummy?
Clerks All the funnier for those of us who have worked at video stores and/or markets.
The Full Monty Unemployed, working-class Brits decide to bare all in a plan to get rich quick.
Hot Fuzz London's top cop begrudgingly transfers to a quiet village with a sinister secret.
History of the World: Part I Mel. Brooks. Period.
Kingpin Amish bowling prodigy teams up with one-handed con man. Hilarity, naturally, ensues.
Office Space Ever worked in a cubicle? Yeah, me too.
Shaun of the Dead Amazingly hilarious yet incredibly gory zombie movie.
Super Troopers Slacker highway patrol cops fight to save their obsolete station. The first scene makes it worth watching.