ReporterStone

Posts I meant to write last week

2011-10-03T22:30:00.002-05:00

Monday: Our new-found love for the movie Tangled, and its supreme bribery powers to get Maya to behave.
Tuesday: Maya's second birthday. There would have been tears. Oh, and photo of the potty training toilet we're going to start using in the near future.
Thursday: More stuff.
Friday: A preview of my weekend/work trip to NYC.

What I actually did last week, instead of blogging:

Monday: Fell asleep on the couch as soon as Maya went to bed.
Tuesday: Put together one of Maya's birthday presents.Passed out upon completion.
Thursday: Packed for NYC and went to bed early due to a super-early flight the next morning.
Friday: Took a 6 am flight to NYC. Took Maya to Central Park. Napped.

So basically, I slept through blogging. Um, having a two-year-old is exhausting.

Wee WC

2011-09-21T15:26:00.000-05:00

As are most things in cosmopolitan cities, living quarters in London are notoriously small and expensive. And my flat in London was no exception. Our apartment was slightly larger than a dorm room and housed three of us.

My bed in particular was in a "loft" space in the room. Because the ceiling height was so high, a loft was created above the rest of the apartment, featuring some beds and a dresser. Unfortunately, this loft was only 4 feet high, meaning I could not stand up while doing important tasks, like walking and getting dressed.

But, I was in London, traveling almost every weekend to another country, and ridiculously happy (save for the heartache I had over Chris, who was so, so far away in Syracuse at law school).

Anyway, as you might expect in a teeny-tiny flat, we had a teeny-tiny bathroom:

Knaresborough Place, London

From Peed to Meet You

The little loo came with some perks, like the ability to pee and brush your teeth at the same time. Or, after a few too many pints at the local pub, you could rest your head on the sink while going to the bathroom.

And in a way, I look back on this bathroom fondly. Not for the size, so much, as for the time in my life: pre-graduation, pre-marriage, pre-parenthood. Days I could piss away as I pleased.

Gone with the Wind

2011-09-14T16:22:00.000-05:00

From the history of my toilet posts, it appears that all I do is go out to restaurants. And honestly, my bank account would likely agree.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I met my mom, aunt, sister and cousin out for lunch at Ted's Montana Grill. If you're not familar with the chain, it's Ted, as in, Ted Turner.

There wasn't anything remarkable about the bathrooms (save for the dual-flush technology). So in honor of Ted, I present this pic, fully colorized:


Ted's Montana Grill Naperville, IL

From Peed to Meet You

Things 264-284: High school

2011-09-08T17:27:00.001-05:00

First off, I've missed a toilet post, I know. The thing is, I ran into a little problem: I can't find all the photos I took in Europe.

I distinctly remember organizing them all and writing their locations on the back of the photos. I planned ahead. Then, I filed them somewhere. I just have no idea where.

So, one of my projects this weekend is to go through all the negatives from my Europe photos (because, obviously, I still have those), reprint them all, and scan them into my computer.

This is one of the many reasons I need to keep on top of my 365 project. The more I get rid of stuff I don't need, the more likely I'll find the things I actually want to keep.

Anyway, as my last post was on discarding relics from college, I thought it only appropriate to turn my attention to high school:

From 365 things

The high school graduation cap. Not sure what happened to the gown.

From 365 things

Assorted jewelry and jewelry boxes. And no, don't read too much into me getting rid of a pair of Cubs earrings. I just don't wear earrings too much anymore. The Cubs, however, will never be one of my 365 Things.

From 365 things

OK, this was hard. I was in high school during the height of grunge. And these old Chucks were my standby. I wore these shoes almost every day in high school. They were part of my identity.

But you know what? They're old shoes; not a person. I haven't worn them in more than 10 years. They have holes, and the soles are falling out, and honestly? Chucks really aren't that comfortable.

That doesn't mean, of course, that I haven't started eying a new pair.

Things 252-263: College

2011-09-02T11:15:00.002-05:00

It's been eight years since I graduated college. I have to admit that I didn't really love college. Sure, there were some high points (meeting my future husband, a few really great friends, London), but the low points sort of overshadowed everything else (losing yer toes will do that).

But more than the whole illness thing, I never really found my clique in college. There were the sorority/fraternity types (loathed them, although I did marry one), the Midwestern hicks (bigots might be a better description), and the hipsters (pretty much the entire j-school). Although most of my friends probably fell into the latter group, I never really fit in there. The judging, the cooler-than-thou attitude, the obsession with Cat Power. No thanks.

Anyway, given this sort of "meh" feeling about college in general, it's a bit of a head-scratcher that I've saved so much stuff from my college years—stuff I really don't need and will never use again, such as:

From 365 things

These class notes and graded blue books (do college students even use these anymore?). I have no idea why I saved these. I suppose I thought I could look back at the notes in my career. But let's face it: The journalism industry has changed quite a bit in the past eight years, and I seriously doubt any of the brilliant insights within will ever help me out. As for the blue books, I assume I held on to these because I aced some really hard final, which meant something to me when I was 23. Now? Eh.

From 365 things

And these relics from one of my internships. Yes, I learned a lot from my days at Pioneer Press, and the experience likely helped me land my first job. But a denim hat and unflattering photo of me in front of a ginormous, ancient computer probably aren't going to help out my career anytime soon.

I'm sure I have tons of other useless keepsakes from college, some I can easily pitch, other burrowed deep in my brain that I'll never be able to shake. And maybe that's not all bad.

Si Oui

2011-08-30T12:57:00.001-05:00

August and early September are providing quite a few baby getaways for me and Chris. We started the month out in Galena, and this weekend Chris' parents are coming in town and have requested the pleasure of babysitting Maya nearly round-the-clock for three days.

In addition, a few weeks ago Chris and I took advantage of some free babysitting (thanks sis!) and went out with another couple for some roller derby and dinner. This is a big deal for us. I could probably count on one hand the number of times we've gone out for a nice dinner, sans baby, in the past two years.

The restaurant was Mexique, a French-Mexican spot. The food was incredible, as was the wine—which I consumed after having two beers at derby. Needless to say, a trip to the bathroom was in order, and I had my camera ready:

Mexique
Chicago, IL

From Peed to Meet You

Potty mouth, continued

2011-08-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

We have another mispronunciation to add to Maya's vocabulary.

When asked: "Maya, what city do you live in?"
Her response: "Fish Taco."

Time out

2011-08-26T10:38:00.000-05:00

Let's just pretend the last three weeks didn't happen. Here I am, blogging away, keeping to my schedule. Wee!!

Since my last post (which was mere days ago, right?), Chris and I went to Galena for a little getaway. It was the first time in Maya's nearly two-year history that we've both spent more than 12 hours away from her. And I have to admit that it. was. awesome.

The most amazing part was breakfast Saturday morning. We ate at a leisurely pace, never had to pick up food or utensils thrown on the floor, and even had time to read the paper. All the while, these lovely people kept coming to our table, refilling our coffee and water.

Other highlights include the drive there and back, which didn't contain screaming, crying or shoe throwing, shopping at places featuring breakable objects, and the excessive consumption of alcohol with no fear of being awoken the next day at 6 am by a cranky, poopy toddler.

I cannot express how long overdue this weekend was. If you had told me in the September 2009 that it would be almost two years until Chris and I spent more than a few hours baby-free, I probably wouldn't have believed you. Because really, no two sane adults should ever go that long without a little break.

No dumping

2011-08-03T22:21:00.001-05:00

Three years ago, Chris, Rosie and I went camping in eastern Kentucky. We did "primitive" camping, meaning there aren't any campgrounds, RV hook ups, running water, etc. Instead, there's a parking lot and a trail. You hike out to a good-looking spot, clear out some space, and set up camp. We loved it, and Rosie was in doggie heaven.

As you might expect with primitive camping, there aren't really any bathrooms. Just a latrine near the parking lot (which was a 10-minute hike from the campsite.) So, most bathroom trips involved a flashlight and a tree.

Still, this latrine was one of the best I've ever visited. Not for the toilet, but for the decor:

Daniel Boone National Forest
Pine Ridge, KY

From Peed to Meet You

Best sign ever. Here's a closer look:

Daniel Boone National Forest
Pine Ridge, KY

From Peed to Meet You

Don't you want this sign in your bathroom, too?

Potty mouth

2011-08-01T22:40:00.001-05:00

In a little less than two months, Maya will be two. On one hand, I can't believe she's so big already. On the other, I feel like she's already been two for months. She's running and talking and becoming opinionated. We can almost have little conversations with her. It's pretty incredible.

She's at the age, though, that sometimes only Chris and I know what she's saying or what she means. "Choo choo," for example, means she wants to watch Thomas the Engine. "Gaga" means she wants to listen to music (the kid likes Lady Gaga. I have no idea how that happened). And "beer" is what she calls anything adults drink, be it coffee, tea, wine, whatever. To her, it's all "beer" (we are awesome parents).

And then there are the even more troublesome mispronunciations, especially these three: Spoon, which she pronounces "poon"; Grape, which she pronounces "rape"; and fork, which she pronounces as, well... I assume you can figure that one out.

I know this will pass. But until then, please accept my apologies for my foul-mouthed little lady. She can't help it. She takes after her mother. And her father.

Things 248-251

2011-07-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

I keep finding clothes that I no longer wear, but hold on to for silly reasons.

From 365 things

For example, the jeans above used to be my skinny pants. I gained a bit of weight when I lived in Syracuse, and these jeans got too tight. When I moved to Chicago and started walking everywhere, they finally fit again.

I remember the first time I was able to fit into them again. I wore them out to a club when Katie was in town visiting. They were my "skinny" jeans. I rejoiced.

Then, I started getting serious about getting back on track. I started running, eating better, trained for a triathlon, etc. And now these jeans are too big. They're also all frayed at the bottom and getting washed out. And when it comes to fat pants, I have other jeans that are in better shape. So it's time to get rid of the skinny fat pants.

The white shirt above is one I'll always remember wearing to the Taste of Randolph in 2002. I was home for the summer and Chris and I had just started dating. He came up to visit and we went to the festival with Laura and Eric (he was working on Randolph at the time.) Laura took a cute picture of me and Chris, and I brought it with me to London that fall, looking at it all the time because I missed Chris so much.

A few years later, I wore that shirt to the 3rd of July fireworks. Chris and I rode our bikes downtown, and it had just rained. I got mud splatters all over the back of the shirt. After the fireworks, we biked home, and the city shut down part of Lake Shore Drive, so we got to ride down Lake Shore at night, and it was beautiful.

I was never able to get the mud splatters out of the back of the shirt. So I never wore it again. I've saved it, though, for the past few years, solely for sentimental reasons. But I suppose I don't need the shirt. I already got Chris. And I still have the pic:

From 365 things

Peed to Meet You

2011-07-26T12:10:00.001-05:00

Let's just get something out of the way: I'm weird.

I have a weird sense of humor. I laugh at strange times. You know Dr. Hibbert? That's me.

So it's with that caveat that I introduce my latest project — one I've been planning for years, and I personally think is funny. You, on the other hand, might just think I'm weird.

The plan started nine years ago when I was about to leave for a semester in London. I knew that I'd do a lot of traveling during my three months there, and I wanted to be able to document all the places I'd been. (This was before the days of Facebook and FourSquare).

But simply taking pictures of buildings and landscapes was beyond cliche. Plus, a picture of, say, a cathedral, doesn't mean anything. Sure, the architecture is beautiful and the stained glass is exquisite. But that's doesn't express how well you got to know a place. I wanted to know everything about the places I visited — the interior and exterior, the blend of old world charm and modern conveniences, the beauty captured by tourists' cameras, and the reality those tourists experienced.

In other words, I wanted to document the bathrooms. Or more specifically, the toilets.

You see, these structures from centuries past had to be retrofitted to accommodate modern toilets. You walk out of the naturally lit beauty of a sanctuary, barely touched in 500 years, and into fluorescent-lit bathrooms with automatic-flush toilets. You have to love the contradiction.

Or so I thought.

In reality, many old world toilets haven't seen much updating. Some are beautifully decorated and provide a seamless transition. Some are nothing more than a hole in the ground. Many don't have toilet paper.

So the project evolved. And now the plan is this: Document my travels by toilet, then frame the pictures, along with their locations, and display them in our bathroom. It's a sort of traveling "George Washington Slept Here" idea, except I'm George Washington, and I, hopefully, haven't been sleeping on the toilet.

So here's the first entry, taken in Tangier, Morocco, in 2006, on my honeymoon:


Tangier, Morocco, September 2006

Just check out that tiling. Gorgeous, huh? And not one, but THREE, rolls of toilet paper.

So there you have my newest project. It's weird, yes. But at least I'm amused.

And if you've see me walking into a bathroom with a camera, now you know why.

Nerd alert

2011-07-25T09:25:00.003-05:00

Maya's really into books. So much so, that she brings them to bed with her every night, and often reads (or pretends to read) to her stuffed animals. She's also really into trains (or "choo-choos") and buses.

And in case it weren't already obvious that she'd follow in her parents' nerdy footsteps, she's now really into glasses, too.

While on vacation a few weeks ago, Maya got a new pair of sunglasses. For whatever reason, she popped the lenses out and has been obsessed with just wearing the frames.

Behold, my little poindexter:

From ReporterStone

Catching up

2011-07-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

Well hello there.

It's been a while. I've been busy, as always. Traveling a ton. Nothing new there. I've also been slowly picking away at this 365 project. Sorting through things, getting rid of stuff, taking pictures. Doing everything involved in the project, except blogging.

And you know what? I really need to blog. Not just to keep up with this project or track my progress, but to get shit out there. I need to write and share and get advice on everything from music recommendations to parenting help to recipe ideas.

Figuring out where to start up again is the hardest part. Do I attempt to recap all the milestones of the past few months? Just pick up again like I never stopped?

In my job, I sometimes help companies structure a blogging strategy. So I suppose I should know how to do this. If I were doing this for a client, I'd tell them to start with a schedule. You don't have to stick with the schedule forever, or even in the short term, but a regular schedule will help you get up and running.

Personally, I'll let alliteration guide my schedule:

Maya Mondays
Toilet Tuesdays (I'll explain more later)
Things Thursdays
Free-for-all Fridays

So there. Let's see how it goes.

The dog ate more Things (246-247)

2011-05-26T09:15:00.000-05:00

Continuing the theme of other people's dogs eating our stuff, today I have two things:

From 365 things

A not-totally eaten, but very slobbery pillow, and a chewed-through futon cover.

A few years ago, my in-laws came to visit and brought their dog Baron. Although he was full-grown, he was still very much a puppy. And like most German Shepherds, he was (and still is, to some extent) slightly neurotic. So when his mom and dad left him in our house for a few hours, he proceeded to eat part of it. Namely, our futon cover.

Chris' parent were kind enough to replace the cover. And of course, I saved the old one because that's what I do best: Save Things I don't need.

I'd like to point out, by the way, that none of these posts about dogs eating our stuff involve our dog, Rosie. That's because she's a sweet, old girl who doesn't chew our Things.

I'd also like to point out that I currently have a bruise with teeth marks on my thigh. That lovely bite came courtesy of my daughter. It was one of the five or so times she's bitten me. Number of times Rosie's bitten me? Zero.

I'd like to take credit for raising such a great dog. But the truth is, we just got really lucky.

Past-Due Things (244-245)

2011-05-25T13:27:00.000-05:00

Today's the day. Well, actually, yesterday was the day. I should have logged my 365th Thing yesterday. Instead, today, I give you Things 244-245:

From 365 things

Today, we have green Things. I've held on to these shirts solely to wear on St. Patrick's Day. But in reality, whenever March 17 rolls around, I usually end up wearing a different green shirt for whatever reason. So it's time to let these green Things go.

As far as my little project, I'm gonna keep chipping away. I missed my goal, but I still have a lot of crap to get rid of. Also, instead of lying to myself and saying that I'll post every day or every other day, I need to admit that'll never happen. So I'm going to create a calendar for myself. This will also allow me to schedule my next blogging project that's sure to be a great idea that's impossible to executive (for me, at least).

So it goes.

Things 237-243

2011-05-20T10:01:00.001-05:00

From workout clothes to work clothes:

From 365 things

The first group are mostly things I swear I'm gonna wear, but never do. The black dress on the left is one I have actually worn many times because Chris likes it. But the problem is, it's a wrap dress that doesn't wrap so well, and it flies open an inopportune times, which is probably why Chris likes it.

From 365 things

The group contains a white blazer a co-worker once told me looked like a lab coat (he was right), a sweat shirt, and a white cable-knit sweater that's been through one too many nose wipes.

Things 233-236

2011-05-19T17:12:00.000-05:00

Today, we have some workout clothes:

From 365 things

There are three tops that aren't long enough. For being relatively short, I have a crazy long torso. So it's common for shirts to be too short, letting a little belly hang out. And these shirts didn't look good on me pre-baby. So it's time to admit it's not gonna happen. Also, I'm ditching the soccer shorts I wore in high school. See-through white shorts probably weren't a good idea at 15 (although I didn't have a choice at the time), and they definitely aren't advised for a 30-something.

And speaking of working out: Once upon a time, I said that running was way harder outdoors. I'd like to retract that statement. Running inside is harder. At least it was on Monday.

I'm training for the Soldier Field 10 Mile. And now that my training runs are getting longer, I have to take them indoors on weeknights because it gets dark before I can get in my miles. So Monday night I ran the farthest I've gone so far (7.25 miles). And I did it on the treadmill at the gym.

Um, that sucked. For starters, it's hot inside and there's no breeze. When I run outside, my mind wanders and I problem-solve and think about stuff my little brain doesn't have time to think about during work hours, and suddenly I've run 5 miles without realizing it. At the gym, all I can think about is running. And my brain keeps telling me to stop.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. So much catching up to do...

Things 226-232

2011-05-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

I have eight days left to get rid of 140 Things. Can it be done? Eh. We'll see.

I rearranged my closet last weekend, and in the process, got rid of a ton of Things. Like all these shoes:

From 365 things

Or I should say, six pairs of shoes and one pair of giant sneaker-pillow slippers. That's actually the second pair of those slippers I've worn out.

In non-365 news, May marks a few milestones each year. We had our fifth annual Cinco de Mayo party last weekend, Chris and I celebrated nine years of togetherness on Wednesday, my niece celebrates her second birthday later this month, and today is the seventh anniversary of us bringing Rosie home. Because she was full-grown when we got her, we estimate she was about three at the time, which means she's celebrating the Big 1-0 today. Happy birthday to my first baby girl:

Thing 225

2011-04-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

Another quickie:

From 365 things

Speakers that accompanied a computer I got rid of six years ago.

Things 223-224

2011-04-26T21:22:00.001-05:00

Another quick post. Founds these two Things in the office closet:

From 365 things

A broken shower CD/radio, and yet another watch box.

12 years ago today

2011-04-21T12:46:00.001-05:00

As of 12 years ago today, there is no little one who went to the market. None who stayed home. None who ate roast beef. Nor the one who had none. And they were never be any wee, wee, wee-ing all the way home.

But 18 months ago, I gained 10 more piggies to wiggle and tickle, so it's all good.

The dog ate my Things (215-222)

2011-04-18T10:25:00.000-05:00

Remember Barkley? His was this wonderful, three-legged dog we used to dog sit for Chris' co-worker from time to time. Sadly, Barkley died about three years ago. Not long after, his owners got a new puppy. He was adorable, and playful, and even had four legs. We eventually dog sat him, after moving into the house back in 2008.

Unfortunately, unlike his chill, snuggly predecessor Barkley, this new pup instead ate our house. Our curtains, books, CDs, the remote, our phone, his leash, Rosie's leash, a FlipCam. The list goes on. For some reason, Chris wanted to save the things he ate. I'm not sure why. His owners replaced all the stuff we lost. But I obliged and saved it anyway.

Until this weekend. In my quest to clean out the office closet, I came across the bag full of chewed-up possessions:

From 365 things

We have two hats, a phone, a necklace, a coaster holder, two leashes, and the FlipCam bag.

Now, I will admit that it was kind of cool to go through these again. I mean, just look at the awesome carnage:

Leash one:
I'm amazed by his ability to chew in a straight line.

From 365 things

Leash two:
Retracted for eternity.

From 365 things

I'd love to see Chris wear this on the golf course.

From 365 things

All these Things are now in the trash where they belong. And that's the nice thing about digital cameras. I got rid of the Things, but I can always look back fondly at the time a dog ate our house.

Things 213-214

2011-04-16T08:25:00.000-05:00

Quick post today:

I finally sorted through all of Maya's socks (she had two drawers' full) and packed up the teeny tiny ones. In the process, I found these two things:

From 365 things

I must apologize if anyone reading this bought these for Maya. All I can say is, she's the youngest of three cousins and gets TONS of hand-me-downs. So sometimes, things never even get opened.

During the sock-sorting process, I also found a handful of socks with no partners. I'm going to hold on to those for a week or so to see what comes out in the wash. But except to be seeing some singular socks here soon.

Things 204-212

2011-04-15T08:49:00.000-05:00

I finally got a chance to organize the bookshelf to my liking (alphabetically). Although after going through all my books, I seriously considered some Dewey Decimal action. Also? For only having one kid, I own a hell of a lot of books on pregnancy and parenting.

But anyway, this little stack proved to be the only books I could part with:

Things 204-212

From 365 things

There's an old Zagats guide because we have a newer one (which is still 3 years old), an old textbook I finally admitted I was never going to read again, and some books I received as gifts. And then we have a nice assortment of books on wedding planning and surviving the Bush presidency—both things I hope to never need again.

Things 202-203: The beginning of the books

2011-03-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

I've started with the books on the bookshelf. But I didn't have time tonight to devote to my plan of attack: Arrange all the books alphabetically by author. Look for duplicates and/or books I know we'll never read again or lend out. Purge.

Instead, I just grabbed two I knew off the top of my head:

From 365 things

The first, a book I bought for Chris thinking it was a "guy" book he'd enjoy. He almost couldn't finish it because it was so bad. Whoops.

The second, a duplicate. When Chris and I started dating, he insisted I get this book by his favorite poet. So I did. And it is a great book, although I really only read his version. And now, nearly nine years later, we're married, live in a little house with a big dog and a fast-growing toddler, and we have still two copies of this book: his all marked-up and dog-eared; mine barely touched. So I'm saving the former and passing on the latter.

That's all for now. More TK.

Long lost blog

2011-03-24T12:23:00.001-05:00

It's been a while. As always, I will blame my lack of blogging on being busy. But really, I've been all kinds of busy, mostly travel-related. So far this year, I've been to:

- Orlando
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis
- Kansas City
- Orlando (again)
- Atlanta
- Kentucky

Later today, I'm flying to Charlotte. And then next week, I go to Phoenix.

After that, I'm staying put for a few weeks. Most of this travel is work-related, although a few trips (KC, Kentucky, Phoenix) are mini-vacations.

Despite this travel, I have been working on my 365 project, just not the documentation and blogging portion. Here's the latest:

Thing 188

From 365 things

Cleaned out a filing box...

Thing 189

From 365 things

... add random stuff found in the office closet...

Things 190-201

From 365 things

... and a collection of stuff from around the house. We have some ill-fitting winter hats, old gloves, and tons of baby bibs. Regarding the latter, I get tons and tons of hand-me-down bibs for Maya. And although my first instinct is to save them all for any potential future kids, even if I had 12 kids I'd never need the heaps of bibs we have.

Despite these efforts, I have just 59 days to get rid of another 164 Things. So we'll see. Maybe I'll get there. Maybe I'll come close.

p.s. A little shout-out to my dad, who turns 65 today. Happy birthday dad!

Friday morning madness

2011-02-04T09:41:00.002-06:00

Hi there. I'm not sure if you know this, but there was this sort of large snowstorm recently. Maybe you've heard about it.

Among other traveling headaches, this storm has left many Chicagoans who depend on alley access a wee bit stranded. People like use.

We did manage to dig out our garage and get the car out yesterday morning. We ended up getting stuck a few times trying to get out of our alley, and again on our street. But we finally got out by driving the wrong way down our street. When we got home last night, Chris once again had to dig out our garage to get the car back in. And that brings us to this morning...

This morning was one of those crazy mornings we have from time to time, even when we're not battling 3 feet of snow. Chris and I only have one car, which suits our needs quite well most of the time. But occasionally, a second car would come in quite handy. This morning was one of those occasions. Here's the back story:

This weekend we're going to Kansas City to visit some friends. Like many trips we take, Rosie isn't coming with us, so my parents, who live in the suburbs, are watching her for the weekend. Although we don't leave until tomorrow morning, Chris had court this morning in the suburbs, so it worked out well. Chris could drop the dog off at my parents house before court. But here's where it gets tricky.

Chris has to be at court at 9 a.m. And because we only have one car and the weather's too cold for Maya and I to take public transit, Chris has to drop off me and Maya at her daycare downtown before driving Rosie out my parents', and then driving from my parents' to court. As you can imagine, this means we all have to start off pretty early to get everyone delivered before Chris goes to court. Throw in an epic snowfall, and it was a very early morning indeed. Here how this morning went down:

- Chris got up at 5, showered, ate breakfast, and went outside to begin re-digging out our garage.
- I got up at 5:30, showered, got ready and got the baby ready.
- Chris finished digging out the car, came back in and got ready for court. Around this time, he realizes that he accidentally left his suit jacket at the office.
- Around 6:30, we load up the car with Maya and the dog and try to leave. We get stuck in the alley.
- In his half-suit and dress shoes, Chris pushes the car while I rev the engine and the wheels spin.
- In his half-suit and dress shoes, Chris falls in the snow and does a minor face plant into the hood of the car.
- We finally get out and Chris gets back in the car.
- I drive backward down our alley (not easy, considering there's a giant Rosie head blocking my view), turn down another alley (still going backward), and turn again down out street, going both the wrong way down our street, and of course, still driving backward.
- We finally get out to closest major street, begin driving forward, and begin driving to Maya's daycare.
- Traffic is terrible, and Chris begins to worry that he won't make it to court by 9.
- We finally get to Maya's daycare. Chris jumps into the driver's seat, and I take Maya into daycare. Chris and Rosie head to the burbs.
- I take public transit from Maya's daycare to my office. Other than being very, very cold, my drama ends there.
- Chris drives to the burbs, drops off Rosie at my parents' and drives to court. He makes it there at 9:00 on the nose, but not before sending me this text at 8:48:

"I just killed a squirrel."

It's been a heck of a day folks, and it's not even half over. So if you happen to know Chris, have his cell phone number, e-mail, whatever, send him some kind words. If you see him in person today, bring him some chocolate or even better, an alcoholic beverage. And if you've never met him, just send some positive vibes his way. Thanks.

Things 178-187

2011-01-29T17:41:00.001-06:00

I had to take a brief break from the office to document these Things. Most of them have been piling up in my Things to give away pile for a few months. I had planned to purge them when taking on my closet. But then there was a coat drive at my office, and I knew I needed to at least pass on the heavy coats during the cold season rather than wait until I get to the closet, which might not happen until summer 2012 at the rate I'm going.

So here we have an assortment of clothing, including three winter coats that are a little old and ill-fitting, and fortunately on their way to someone who needs them:

From 365 things

Things 151-177

2011-01-18T21:41:00.003-06:00

I decided to take a little break from the bookshelf of terror and instead focus on the office closet. This is because as I tried to file some things found on the bookshelf, I realized I could no longer open the office closet door to access the filing cabinet. This is quite a process.

Among the many Things jamming the office closet sliding doors is a plastic tub full of random electronic parts. Mostly wires, actually. In fact, of the 27 Things pictured below, about two dozen of them are Ethernet or telephone wires. Amazing when you consider that between the two of us, Chris and I have owned a grand total of four computers over the years. How we managed to accumulate more than 20 wires to connect those four computers to the the Internet is beyond me.

From 365 things

Also included in these Things are wire splitters, a DSL router and co-ax cables. The tub of electronics also was home to an assortment of power cords. What they supply power to, however, is still a mystery. I'm guessing old cell phones and digital cameras. Until I figure that out, though, I'm going to hold on to them.

The past week; a culinary tour

2011-01-02T22:28:00.000-06:00

The last week of the year is always a busy one for us. In addition to all the usual holiday chaos, Chris and I both have our birthdays. This year was no exception in the madness department. Maya even pitched in and got an ear infection last week (on Chris' birthday, in fact) to make the week even crazier than normal.

But rather than give a play-by-play of the past week, I thought I'd steal a post from a fellow blogger (who's on a blogging hiatus at the moment) and just give you all recap of what I ate over the past week or so:

Goat-cheese pizza
Sweet potato fries
Popcorn
Pork tamales
Pecan-crusted salmon
Cheese
Chicken skewers
Falafel
Jalepeno-stuffed green olives
Turkey
Sweet potatoes
Dried fruit
Mixed nuts
Chili dip
Cheese omelet
Broccoli cheddar soup
Mediterranean sandwich
Beet & potato quesadilla
Chili mac
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Cookies
Potato chips
Stuffed cabbage
Carnival squash soup
Raisin bran
Steak
Whole-wheat pancakes
Chicken & butternut squash curry
And of course, inordinate amounts of wine and beer.

'Tis the season.

Things 145-150

2010-12-31T15:40:00.001-06:00

Another baby nap, another shelf. Today we have this lovely assortment:

From 365 things

- Yet another Chicago Fire item. This time, it's a photo album featuring team pictures. Chris went to a Chicago Fire fundraiser a few years ago and got all this stuff.
- More cards from my baby shower.
- CD-ROM explaining how to install Ikea kitchen cabinets.
- Wedding invitation from 2009.
- Old reporter's notebook. This one was partially chewed up by a dog we briefly dog sat a few years ago.
- Thank-you cards I wrote and never sent.

And that concludes this installment of "Just how lazy are Sarah and Chris?"
See y'all next year!

Things 138-144

2010-12-18T14:59:00.000-06:00

I swear this is still happening. The holidays, people. That, and Maya's walking.

Anyway, here are some more Things, all found on one shelf of the bookcase.

From 365 things

In no particular order, we have:

- Broken Chicago Fire picture frame
- Wrist band certifying that one of us is, in fact, of legal drinking age
- Stack of receipts
- Cards from my baby shower
- Expired Gap certificates
- Ticket stub
- Casino player's card

Most of the Things above pre-date Maya. You know, that walking, sort-of talking 14-month-old kid. Which goes to show how long it's been since I've cleaned off the shelves of the bookcase.

It also illustrates our pre-baby life. One filled with things like casinos, shopping, and events requiring tickets and/or wrist bands. A life I hardly remember. But as awesome as that life was then, you know what I didn't have? Baby wipes in my purse. Greatest thing ever.

Oh yeah, and Maya.

Things 134-137

2010-12-05T12:24:00.000-06:00

The past few weeks have been extremely busy. All those other times I said I was busy? Total lies. This past month has been busy for reals. Still, I managed to find some time to do a little clutter clearing.

First, I took advantage of the newly created space in my filing cabinets to sort and file this bag o' bills and mail.

Thing 134

From 365 things

I'm a little embarrassed to admit how old some of the stuff in that bag was. It all began a year ago when I was on leave. My filing cabinets had gotten over-stuffed, so I couldn't fit another thing in them. I needed to go through all my old bills and purge, but I couldn't find them time or spare hand due to the little creature now attached to me at all times.

At the same time, I had grown too tired to keep up the constant nagging I do regarding Chris* and his inability to do anything with mail. It goes like this: About every two weeks, after I nag for a while, Chris will finally open all the mail he receives. He then recycles stuff he doesn't need, and places stuff that requires action in a pile on the coffee table. Then he never touches it again.

So last year, while tidying up before hosting Christmas Eve dinner, I threw all the piles of mail into this bag. And there it sat until a few weeks ago.

This method of clutter creation will likely be a common theme as I attempt to clean out our office. The task ahead is overwhelming because our office is so filled with piles of crap I haven't had the time or energy to deal with.

Because my head starts to spin every time I walk into the office and look at everything that needs to be done, I decided to start relatively small with this bookcase:

From 365 things

I started with the upper left-hand corner of the bookcase and pitched these three Things:

Things 135-137

From 365 things

Old batteries, old receipts and old business cards. I'm not sure how or why we still have these, but such is the story of our house. I'd like to point out that the area I cleared on this bookcase was about 1 percent of the whole thing. And this bookcase is only one small part of our cluttered office. So get comfy. We're gonna be here a while.

* Chris saw a little preview of this post as I was writing it and asked me to add the following: "Chris is the best husband, father and dog owner in the universe. However, he is not good at sorting mail." The man speaks the truth.

Everything's coming up uh-oh

2010-11-17T09:06:00.000-06:00

Maya's new saying is "uh-oh." Sometimes, she uses this word correctly:

She (intentionally) drops her cup on the floor — uh-oh!
She "accidentally" drops her dinner on the dog — uh-oh!

But more often than not, the phrase is her response to any situation:

We put her coat on — uh-oh!
She opens her toy box — uh-oh!
We change her diaper — uh-oh! (Well, sometimes that's an appropriate response).

But used correctly or not, it's pretty exciting to hear her communicate. "Uh-oh" joins her already extensive vocabulary of:

Ak (which refers to her cousin "Jack," or any photo of a boy)
Ba (when looking up, she means "balloon." Any other time, it means "book.")
Nana (Banana)
Eeeew (which means "moo," as in, the sound her stuffed animal cow makes — and sometimes, she's decided, her stuffed animal monkey, too.)
Da (Everything else)

Illnesses, things, etc.

2010-11-13T14:10:00.001-06:00

Well hello there. It's been a while. So what possible excuse do I have this time? Oh it's a good one.

Last Wednesday was like any other. We took Maya to daycare, went to work, then came home. Except when we walked in the door Wednesday evening, we immediately knew something was up. There was a stench in the air, and having been down this road before, we knew what would be waiting for us upstairs.

Sure enough, we walked into the kitchen and dining room to find doggie diarrhea everywhere.

This has happened before with Rosie. She eats something outside or something doesn't sit right with her, and it's poop city. The remedy is usually having her fast for 24 hours, then start her on a bland diet for 24 hours, then back to normal food. Unfortunately, during the first 12 or so hours of this process, Rosie usually has to go out every 15 minutes.

So that evening, I was repeatedly awoken by a poor doggie begging to go outside. But in addition to Rosie's cries, Maya was also up sick. She had been battling a cold for a few days, and was up coughing and crying. So Chris and I took turns letting the dog out, comforting the sick baby and trying to sleep.

On Thursday morning, we went back to our normal routine, hoping Rosie wouldn't have any more surprises waiting for us at home. Except this time, Maya gave us the surprise.

About an hour or so after dropping Maya off at daycare, Chris got a call that she was breathing rapidly and probably needed to go to the doctor. Chris left work, picked her up and took her to the doctor, while I stayed at work, thinking Maya just had a really bad cold. When Chris got to the doctor, he sent Maya straight to the emergency room to receive oxygen. Chris called me, and I rushed to the hospital.

Turns out Maya (most likely) had RSV, which is a really bad chest infection that can lead to things like croup (something I had repeatedly when I was baby). Fortunately, her case wasn't too extreme, but she still had to receive multiple oxygen and steroid treatments. Maya and I stayed overnight at the hospital, while Chris stayed home to take care of a still-sick Rosie.

Maya was discharged the next morning and spent last weekend recuperating at home. Mostly, she was just like her normal self, except her naps were significantly longer, and she slept about 14 hours each night.

And because we had no plans to leave the house much over the weekend while caring for our sick girls, I suddenly had all kinds of time to devote to some much-needed chores. So in addition to cleaning the house from top to bottom, I also had time to get back to my Things project. However, with Maya spending most of her time sleeping in the same room I was attempting to clean out, I had to move my focus to another room. And I finally decided to bit the bullet and attack the office — the very room that prompted this whole project in the first place.

But to even begin sorting through the Things in the office, I needed to organize other Things. For example, my filing cabinets are so stuffed I can't fit anything else in them. Hence, a giant stack of bills that need to be filed. So, I started there.

And here's the part where I once again prove what a big dork I am. I save ALL my bills, ALL my credit card statements, ALL my paycheck stubs and whole lot of my receipts. Combine my propensity toward hoarding with reading, writing and editing a few articles on identity theft, and well, I have files and files devoted to financial stuff.

I decided to start with one section: any credit card statements at least seven years old, and any expired balance transfer checks (by the way, it really pisses me off that these get mailed to me, despite the fact that I NEVER use them, and that I've opted for online-only statement for all my accounts).

Thing 133

From 365 things

I gathered all these documents and started shredding. Well, actually, Chris did most of the shredding. He also took the time to read each statement before shredding it, make fun of where ever I chose to spend my money seven years ago ("You charged $3.40 at Country Kitchen!?" "Why did you go to Dillard's three time on the same day?") and repeatedly remind me that over the past seven years we have moved five times, twice halfway across the country, and each time I moved these effin' documents with me.

What can I say? I like to save things. I like to play it safe. And honestly, I really enjoy filing documents.

But you know what I'm not looking forward to filing? The effin' hospital bill we're about to get.

Things 125-132

2010-10-23T20:11:00.001-05:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah....

But in my defense, I've been traveling for work for the past week. Also, I've started a new room — the baby's room. You might think this room would be quick and easy. Surely we don't store our junk in our only daughter's room, right???

Also complicating this room's purge is that normally I do my Thing-gathering and picture-taking while the baby's sleeping — which is surprisingly difficult to do when the baby's sleeping in the very room you're trying to clean out. So, the Thing gathering instead has to happen while baby's awake, and it often goes something like this:

- I open a dresser drawer and begin setting aside no-longer-needed Things.
- Baby grabs some Things and crawls away.
- I begin moving Things to a higher spot, while simultaneously trying to remove other Things from baby's fingers.
- Baby cries.
- I give baby one Thing to play with while continuing to go through other Things.
- Baby tries to eat Thing.
- I take Thing away.
- Baby cries.

And so on, and so on. Still, I've managed to gather these 8 Things:

From 365 things

We have two sets of beads, yet another headband, yet another tap light, sample-sized deodorant, sample-sized lipstick, plastic conference name tag and a beaded belt.

And just to show how I'm growing, while traveling for work last week I received yet another plastic conference name tag and didn't even bring it home. Aren't you proud of me?

Things 121-124: This room's through

2010-10-11T14:22:00.000-05:00

It turns out de-cluttering the bedroom took longer than I planned. Not because of an abundance of things, but rather because I once again fell behind.

But that's OK, because I will more than make up for it when I turn my attention to the office. There's a good chance I have 365 things to get rid of in that room alone. But that's for a future date.

For today, there are Things 121-124:

From 365 things

This first Thing is the goodie bag from the Chicago Triathlon. The more I do races, the more I realize how much clutter they create. Aside from the race t-shirt and occasional food sample, I rarely want the stuff they stuff in these bags.

From 365 things

These Things are remnants of our Summer of Weddings:

An old bag of chips received in a hotel goodie bag
Single-serve hotel coffee. This was all Chris. He wanted to take them for, I don't know why. I suppose they would be useful in case we have some sort of coffee emergency and need to break into the little plastic filters to get our fix. But I have a hard time believing we'll ever be in a situation when we're not within walking/driving distance of a Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds. Unless we're camping. But even then we bring along coffee and a peculator.

Anyway, although this room took longer than it should have, at least I have some tangible results:

From 365 things

Remember this shelf before? Now I've gotten rid of so many Things (and put away other stuff) that the bottom shelf is empty — which is how it'll stay until Maya's through her "taking everything off of shelves" phase.

Domestic goddess

2010-10-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

I am not Martha Stewart. I try to keep the house clean, but I am in a losing battle with the dog hair. I forget to send Thank You cards and didn't get our Christmas cards out last year until spring. Dinner often takes the form of a "leftover scramble" — eggs + cheese + whatever I find in the fridge.

But people. I had a Martha Stewart moment last weekend. I made a monkey-shaped birthday cake and monkey-shaped "smash" cake.

From Maya's 1st Birthday

I freaking rule. I'm pretty sure Maya thought so, too:

In truth, this is her "why the hell is everyone singing to me right now?" face

From Maya's 1st Birthday

Or at least, she thought the chocolate frosting ruled.

I'm having a real hard time fighting the urge to make a Dirty Sanchez joke here.

From Maya's 1st Birthday

Thing 120

2010-10-04T07:47:00.000-05:00

As usual, I'm behind. But you see, I had big stuff to do. Like, baking a monkey-shaped birthday cake, making 30 pounds of spaetzle, and rolling out dozens of homemade pretzles for Maya's Curious George/Oktoberfest birthday party.

What's that? You've never heard of a monkey-German-themed 1st birthday party? Well, apparently you're not the kind of parent who throws a kid-friendly birthday party with a heavy emphasis on beer consumption. I, however, am that kind of parent.

Anyway, I will post pictures of Maya's cake devouring and such soon. But for now, let's look at some trash:

From 365 things

I found these in my bedside table drawer. They're the tags from some towels we received for our wedding. At least, I think that's what they're from. I can't remember buying new towels since we got married four years ago, so that's my best guess. As for why I saved these and tucked them into my bedside table for safe-keeping? Your guess is as good as mine.

September smells

2010-09-30T08:46:00.000-05:00

The weather lately has been perfect for evening runs. Every night, I fall in love with Chicago and running all over again. The people, the dogs, the sights, even the smells. Here's a recreation of my evening run through my neighborhood, by scent:

grass
wet pavement
sidewalk chalk
exhaust
Chicago river
trees
dog poop
dirt
sweat
leaves
exhaust
pavement
tamale cart
sno-cones
barbecue
grass
dirt
KFC
trashcan
trees
alley
grass
dog poop
flowers
lawn mower
sweat
home

A confession, a Thing and a keeper

2010-09-26T21:21:00.000-05:00

Despite my earlier post declaring my caught-up status, it turns out I was sadly mistaken. A few posts ago when I recycled some boxes, I accidentally numbered them Things 86-100 instead of 86-90. You see, I have trouble counting sometimes. "86, 87, 88, 89, 100! Woo hoo!"

So, instead of being two Things ahead, I'm actually eight Things behind. But that's OK, because I have so, so many Things to get rid off.

Like Thing 119:

From 365 things

I have no idea what this is. It's a bag containing some kind of plastic brackets. I have no idea what they go to, where they came from, or why I saved them.

Getting rid of this Thing was a no-brainer, but they're not always that easy. I do agonize over whether or not to get rid of some stuff. And sometimes, I choose to hold on to things for purely sentimental reasons, such as these non-things:

From 365 things

Within one week last year, I became a mother and lost a grandfather*. And although some wrist bands and a laminated card serve no rational purpose, some things you keep.

* Technically, my grandma's boyfriend of 20+ years.

Things 110-118

2010-09-25T10:26:00.001-05:00

I think Maya's gearing up for some insane growth spurt because she's been sleeping a ton lately. Every night for the past week, she's barely been able to stay up for an hour after we get home from work. Then, she sleeps between 12-14 hours a night. And this morning, she was ready to go down for her morning nap an hour earlier than normal and has been sleeping for close to two hours.

I'm not gonna lie; it's been awesome. Last night, I was able to make homemade pretzels, and during her nap this morning I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, made the bed, changed the duvet, started a load of laundry, brushed the dog, took out the trash, cleaned up dog poop, washed out Maya's diaper covers, and gathered Thing 110-118:

Check out that made bed and clean duvet.

From 365 things

These Things include:

An issue of Working Mother a co-worker gave me (a childless co-worker who never subscribed to this magazine but for reason randomly started receiving it at work.)
The swim cap from the Chicago Tri. (Normally, I'd hold on to this to use when training, but this one's full of Lake Michigan filth. Ew.)
Offer letter to become a member of the Lincoln Park Zoo that I totally meant to send in. The offer expired in December.
Old Christmas cards.
Empty shoe box.
Gift bag the shoe box came in. (Again, normally I'd save and reuse such a Thing, but it sat on the shelf for so long and got all crinkled and torn.)
Race bag from the Shamrock Shuffle.

And with that, I've not only caught up to myself, but actually surpassed my Thing count by two. So, from now until I get woefully behind again, it's back to one Thing a day.

Things 91-109: A new room

2010-09-23T21:48:00.001-05:00

Surprisingly, the back room purge didn't take as long as I thought it would. I wish I had taken a before photo, because it looks so much better (albeit possibly dustier) than before.

My efforts have now turned to the bedroom. I don't think this room will take too long, either, because I actually don't keep much in here. The room's only closet and dresser belong to Chris (they're too small for me). I do keep my jewelry in here, but that collection's been abridged already.

Really, the only place where Things accumulate in here is on the book shelf, which we use as a TV stand. Behold:

From 365 things

It's a mess. Today, I tackled just the top shelf and managed to get rid of Things 91-109:

From 365 things

These Things include:

A file folder of hotel and flight information for a trip Chris took in May
Some very old gum
A branded pedometer received at a conference
Some very old lip balm
Unopened soap bar taken from a hotel
Unopened Raisinets
Random ribbons
Swim goggles that don't fit
The manual that came with Chris' watch
A collection of pregnancy magazines, GQs and the newsletter Chris' old fraternity still sends him. (Hmm, in order of life events, perhaps those publications should be reversed. First comes fraternity, then comes yuppiedom, then comes the baby in the baby Bjorn.)

Things 86-90

2010-09-22T22:49:00.002-05:00

Throughout this process, I've often wondered what constitutes a "Thing." If I recycle the daily ad sheet that's left on my doorstep everyday, does that mean I'm getting rid of something everyday? Technically, perhaps. But for the purposes of this project? No. But what if, instead of the ad sheet, it's the July 2009 issue of Women's Health that I've already read? I'd say yes.

So, when does trash become a Thing? When I've held on to it:

for irrational reasons, or
out of pure laziness.

Things 86-90 fall into that second category.

We spent most of the summer redoing our kitchen (which I realize I've yet to post pictures of. You see, although functionally, the kitchen's finished. Cosmetically ... not so much.) To keep costs down, we purchased all the cabinets from Ikea and assembled them ourselves. Everything from Ikea comes in flat boxes, the majority of which I recycled as soon as we finished assembling. But when our Blue Bins got too full, I tossed the rest of the flat boxes on the landing near our back room, and then forgot about them for 6 weeks:

Don't adjust your computer screens. That's really how level our back staircase is.

From 365 things

Again, these may not be the most exciting Things, but at least their contents were.

Things 83-85: This one's for the doggies

2010-09-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

For Valentine's Day 2009, Chris, Rosie and I visited Nashville. Other than being pregnant (and therefore, unable to drink while bar-hopping), and suffering one of my only bouts of morning sickness (which is why, to this day, I'm still not a huge fan of ribs), the trip was wonderful. I had the chance to reconnect with an old friend I hadn't seen in a decade, we got to take in tons of live music, and best of all, we got to bring Rosie with us.

We stayed at a Loews hotel, which is one of the few pet-friendly hotels out there. We booked the room during their President's day "Presidential Pooch Package" special. It included a reduced rate and free goodies for the dog, including treats, dog food, a bandana, and Things 83-85:

From 365 things

These Things comprise a small food/water dish, a dog tag bearing the hotel's web address and a dish place mat.

A combination of my appreciation for finding such a great, dog-friendly hotel, and my natural tendency to hoard stuff, led me to save these Things, even though both the dish and mat are far too small for my Rosie, and the dog tag is pretty much useless.

So, I'm letting them go. Fortunately, other than the bandana, Rosie ate the other stuff we got from the hotel. She still wears the bandana, and even though she has more than enough others, I'm holding on to it for now.

Listen people, I'm making progress. I swear.

Things 74-82: Most boring things ever

2010-09-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

I've realized that the only way I'm going to conquer this project is if I have a plan. (Something I should have thought about, oh, four months ago.) And my plan is simple: Attack this project room by room.

This week, I'm starting with the back storage room. If you've been to my house, this is the totally un-level room (OK, one of the totally un-level rooms) leading to the basement stairs. This room, much like our basement dungeon, is the place where random things go to die. As in "Say, what should I do with with totally useless broom head? How 'bout I throw in the back room!"

So when it comes to cleaning out this room, I have Things a-plenty. Unfortunately, those Things are both useless and boring:

From 365 things

Starting on the left, we have a back-up mop, for which I can never find the right style of mop head.
Then there's the previously mentioned random broom head. I have no idea what happened to the rest of it.
Dust pan, missing its broom. (And yes, I realize I could combine these two Things, but I already have multiple brooms and dustpans, all of which aren't missing other essential parts.)
Tap lights. These things eat batteries.
Assorted plastic protector thingys for some shelving we installed a few months ago. I have no idea why I held on to them.
Gift bag that held a baby bath set. I don't use the bag anymore, but for some reason, I saved it anyway.
Plastic Hurricane glass from New Orleans. This is actually Chris', but I talked him into finally letting it go.
Giant dish rack, no longer needed now that we have a dishwasher. A dishwasher that isn't me. Thank. God.

Things 66-73

2010-09-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

As usual, I continue to run behind in this quest. Not that I should be making excuses, but I had one heck of a busy week. In fact, the rest of September and first half of October are looking pretty darn busy, too.

That said, I played Wii frisbee golf for about an hour yesterday while Maya napped – a whole hour when I could have been doing more productive things, but instead chose to play a Wii game chosen primarily because it doesn't require me to get off the couch.

And speaking of restrictive movement, can we just stop for a second and reminisce about how absolutely huge I was last year at this time? One year ago today Laura and I threw my parents a surprise 40th anniversary party. Combined with the stress of that, I had also spent most of the night before at the emergency vet because Rosie was battling some kind of nasty stomach virus. So, I should have known then that six days later, I would be in labor.

But I digress. Here are Things 66-73:

As someone who doesn't wear much jewelry, I own an awful lot of it. Like so many Things, I hold on to this stuff for sentimental reasons. These Things, for example, were all acquired before we moved back to Chicago from Syracuse:

The two bracelets on the left are from ex-boyfriends in high school.
The green necklace and earrings on the right I bought from a street vendor in New Orleans, and never wore once.
The silver necklace I bought for one of Chris' law proms, and never wore again.
The red dress pin at the top I got while covering a story on heart disease while I was a reporter in Syracuse.
The silver earrings on the left I bought from the store I used to work at in the mall in Syracuse.
As for the red and black necklace in the middle, I can't remember where or why I got that. I'm pretty sure I got it in Syracuse, but that's about it. I guess not everything I save has sentimental value. Sometimes, I'm just lazy.

Things 38-65

2010-09-13T22:07:00.000-05:00

From 365 things

This is a laundry basket full of toiletries. Mostly, they're not useful toiletries, like toothpaste and shampoo. But rather, free samples acquired during my "obsession with Clinique Bonus Buys" phase. That, and old makeup, expired moisturizers, unlabeled over-the-counter medication, and random knick-knacks. The fact that I have enough of this stuff to fill a laundry basket is surely Hoarding Sign #257. Not that I've ever watched any of those hoarding shows. I just imagine this is the sort of the they run into all the time.

That, and cats.

As I don't have any cats to get rid of, I thought I should get rid of some of this stuff instead. Mind you, I didn't get rid of all of it, or even half of it. Because, hey, I might need Band-Aids sometime.

But I did manage to get rid of 28 Things:

From 365 things

Some of those things include too-dark foundation, too-light foundation, a Bare Minerals starter kit, old lipstick, hair bands, Nair, and yet another ugly-ass candle.

I threw out most of these Things. However, I held on to a few to see if any of you out in there might want 'em. Occasionally, some of you ask me where I send this stuff (so far, my basement), and if you could have 'em. I threw out most of the cosmetics, as reusing that stuff ain't too sanitary, but there are a few things I held on to for now. If you want to take a gander at these or any of the Things I've sent to the basement dungeon, lemme know.

Illustrating an earlier post

2010-09-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

Rosie continues to be the most patient of canines. A few pics from this weekend, captions provided by my husband. Ah, lawyer humor:

Bitch...

From My pictures

You got served.

From My pictures

Return of the Thing

2010-09-12T08:09:00.000-05:00

To date, I have gotten rid of 19 things. According to my self-imposed 365 Things schedule, I should gotten rid of 113 things by now. So, I'm a bit behind.

Despite this seemingly insurmountable task, I have faith I can catch up. Especially when people give me free booze for doing it.

My co-worker had her 2nd annual charity birthday party last night. Guests were asked to bring a bag of groceries and a bag of clothes to donate to a local food pantry. I was more than happy to oblige, bagging up Things 20-37:

From 365 things

These Things include some sweaters, shirts, pants and a dress. Maya also got in on the donation blitz and offers a few onesies, some socks and sleepers*.

I'm still more than 70 Things behind, but it's a start.

* After we had Maya, we went to Target and bought up everything we didn't get off our registry, for some reason totally forgetting that Maya's the youngest of three cousins and would be receiving hand-me-downs by the trunk-full for the next year.

Summer of weddings

2010-09-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

This summer combined two of my favorite things: 90-degree weather, and weddings. That's not a joke. I love hot summers, and I truly love weddings. Getting dressed up, crying during the ceremony, dancing like a fool, the open bar. Weddings are the best.

But I have to say that this summer delivered my favorite things in extreme abundance. It was a very hot summer, and we attended a record 5 weddings. And I must admit that for the first time ever, I'm looking forward to the end of summer and the wedding season. Not that the weddings we attended weren't awesome, because they were! But, whew, I'm tired. (And broke.)

Here's a little overview of our champagne-laden season:

June in Chicago: A co-worker gets married.

June in Kansas City: Chris was the best man and Maya was the flower girl in Chris' best friend's wedding.

Maya ate the flowers.

July in Pittsburgh: Chris' cousin got married. Here were are with Chris' family after the ceremony.

The husband and I attended the reception sans baby.

August in Chicagoland: Missy and Dave got married. Cutest cake toppers ever.

August in North Carolina: A childhood friend gets married. This was supposed to be a beach wedding, but got moved inside/on the dock due to rain. But on the plus side, check out the rainbow!

Raise a glass to Summer 2010!

Momma bear in training

2010-08-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

Growing up, we had a black lab named Mandy. She was a mean, grumpy dog who bit people, including me. Still, I LOVED that dog.

We got her when I was 5. I was 17 when she died, and I had pretty much never known life without her. Nor did I know what it was like to own a dog that didn't bite people. Mandy was particularly bad with treats or rawhides. The first time she bit me, I was probably about 6 or 7. She was chewing a rawhide in the doorway to my room, and in my attempt to step over her, she bit my foot. I remember thinking it was my fault for almost stepping on her face. Of course she would bite me!

Despite this somewhat negative canine upbringing, when I was in my 20s, I couldn't wait to get another dog, especially a great, big dog. Due to some Animal Planet show like "Breed All About It" or something, I fell in love with Rottweilers and wanted nothing other than the biggest, toughest-looking but sweetest Rottie out there. And that's exactly what we got when we found Rosie (then known as "Big Red" at the animal shelter).

Since the day we brought her home, Rosie has never once showed her teeth, snapped at or bit anyone. Nor has she ever intentionally hurt anyone. (Unintentionally, she steps on people's feet, sits on laps and knocks down small children with her massive tail.) She has quite the growl, and in the beginning it took me a few weeks to realize that her growl, albeit ferocious-sounding, is actually her way of playing, and sometimes purring.

I can't express how grateful I am to have a friendly dog, especially now that we have a baby. We always knew that Rosie would be good with the baby, and we even hoped that she'd take on a motherly role. That hasn't happened yet. In fact, for the first few months, she's mostly just tolerated Maya's presence. She gives her face or feet the occasional lick, but she doesn't follow her around or insist on sleeping in her room. (In fact, whenever Maya cries in the middle of the night, Rosie sighs loudly, then goes downstairs.)

Still, her extreme tolerance for the baby is noteworthy. Maya has recently starting pulling and pushing herself up to standing, and often uses various parts of Rosie's body to do so, including her belly and face. Rosie just takes it. And then yesterday, while Rosie was chewing on a rawhide, Maya attempted to crawl over Rosie's head, but instead opted to just sit on her nose. And in response to this intrusion of her personal space and coveted treat? Rosie gingerly moved the rawhide to the side and kept on chewing, while Maya leaned on her neck for a while, then crossed over the dog's paws before crawling along her merry way.

People, I would have bit Maya if she sat on my nose while I tried to eat. But not Rosie. She is beyond tolerant. She's the Dalai Lama of doggie tolerance.

So, although Rosie's yet to become to momma bear we had hoped, she's so much sweeter and more patient than I ever imagined. I still think Rosie will warm up more to the baby, especially when Maya's eating—and dropping—more table food. But for now, we are a blessed little household.

Separation Anxiety

2010-08-05T09:41:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I fly out to North Carolina for a work trip. I get back tomorrow night. This trip will be the longest amount of time I've been away from Maya.

For the weeks leading up to today, I've actually been looking forward to getting away. The idea that for the first time in 10 months, I know that a crying baby won't wake me up in the middle of the night has sounded like bliss. Add to that the fact that I get to eat an uninterrupted dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning, and it was enough to make me downright giddy.

At least, until I said goodbye this morning. I was pretty sad to leave her, and I tried to give a bunch of kisses and hugs, but she was so excited to see her babysitter that she didn't reciprocate. She did, however, manage to spit up on my shoulder. So when I miss her today, at least I have a little something to remember her by.

Big things

2010-07-30T11:38:00.001-05:00

I am so, so behind in my quest to get rid of 365 things. But now that I've found my camera and am nearing ever closer to having a fully functional kitchen, I'm recommitted to getting rid of crap.

And this week, I got rid of some big crap. I give you Things 16-19:

From 365 things

A cordless drill. Seems like a silly thing for two homeowners continually updating their house to get rid of. But the thing is, this thing kinda sucks. The battery doesn't hold a charge well. So it's great for hanging the occasional picture frame. Not so much for remodeling a kitchen.

From 365 things

Old TV stand.

From 365 things

Old coffee table. I actually really like this table, but babies, sharp corners and glass don't mix.

From 365 things

Old bed frame.

That's all for now!

Family

2010-07-27T11:20:00.003-05:00

Can I just take a minute to express how wonderfully awesome it is to have a family support system? Cause it is.

Maya's daycare is unexpectedly closed this week due to the recent storms. So she's staying out with my parents for most of the week, and my cousin who just graduated college and moved to the city is helping out, too. In addition to babysitting, my parents are also coming over this week to help us install our new kitchen counter tops.

This weekend, my sister and brother-in-law are babysitting Maya (along with their own two kids), while Chris and I go to a wedding.

Then, at the end of August, Chris will be out of town for work the same weekend as my triathlon. So, my mom is staying over to help out with Maya and help me get to and from the tri. This involves dropping me off downtown around 4:30 a.m.

So, allow me to restate: Family is awesome.

Crawling camera

2010-07-15T10:36:00.001-05:00

I can't find our camera. Its last known whereabouts went something like this:

I take out the camera to video Maya's newly acquired skill: crawling.
I set the camera down on the bottom shelf of the changing table.
Maya uses her newly acquired skill to begin pulling down anything not bolted to the floor.
Realizing that NOTHING is bolted to the floor, I frantically run around Maya's room moving things to higher ground.

Since then, the camera has been missing. Once I find it, I'll post the video of Maya on the move.

By the way, now that Maya's mobile, we've realized that we need to invest in a new trashcan. Once she's on the floor, she make a beeline for it and all its plastic-bag and dirty-diaper goodness. Anyone have a recommendation for a baby-proof trashcan?

Quarantined

2010-07-09T09:40:00.000-05:00

We're living primarily on the second floor of the house right now. The first floor of our house is pretty much uninhabitable for a number of reasons: the kitchen is torn up; the dining room is full of all our kitchen stuff, as well as our new cabinets; and the family room is both full of new cabinets and without power.

So, we live upstairs. And outside. Last night, we went on a 2-hour walk. Maya had dinner in the park. It's actually not so bad. Our neighborhood is so kid-friendly and walkable, and now we're actually taking the time to appreciate it. Sure beats watching prime time TV.

Still, I'm counting down the days until we no longer have to wash vegetables and baby bottles in the bathroom sink, or eat dinner in bed.

Nomads

2010-07-01T09:26:00.002-05:00

So much has been going on lately I don't even know where to start. So, let's do this PowerPoint style, as in, lots of bullets points and an occasional visual thrown in:

We all went to Kansas City for a wedding and then to Branson to hang with the in-laws. Missouri itself was great, but getting in and out of Chicago during tornado season was less than. Without going into the gory details, I'll just say this: Over the course of 6 days, Maya and I spent a combined total of 15 hours in airports. Fun times.

After we got back, we stayed at our house for all of 72 hours before going to stay in the suburbs. Maya's daycare is closed this week, so we stayed at my parents' house for three nights.

We leave again tomorrow to head to Pittsburgh for another wedding. Thankfully, this time we're driving.

Traveling and sleeping in various cities and states over two weeks is stressful. So naturally, Chris and I decided to do what any two sane people would: remodel our kitchen. Honestly, this does make sense. Because we're spending so little time home, we're not as disrupted by the construction. But I must admit — you don't realize how much you use the kitchen sink until it's not there anymore:

Once we get back from Pittsburgh on Sunday, we have six blissful, travel-free weeks. Which should give me plenty of time to train for that triathlon I've been meaning to prepare for. Ha.

Things 14 & 15

2010-06-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

Oh, I have so much catching up to do. I should be up to Thing 26 by now. Instead, I give you Things 14 and 15:

From 365 things

Like our dear iron, this silverware is backup-backup silverware. We got everyday silverware for our wedding, as well as fancy silverware. But then I also have my parents' first set of everyday silverware, which they've since replaced, twice. All of the silverware you see above is the random, unmatched stuff I used in college and before Chris and I got married. Which is why it's perfect for my cousin who just graduated from college.

From 365 things

That same cousin also recently took home this colander. This is our backup colander, and as much as I'm all about having a backup for everything, I decided I needed to let this go. I'm mean really, how many colanders does one need? Plus, we have a set of mesh strainers sitting the bench in case we ever encounter some sort of straining emergency.

The purging, photographing and blogging will be on hold for the next week as the Wunder family travels to Missouri. In a few days, Chris and I will be sitting poolside, sipping margaritas, while Maya spends some quality time with Gigi and Grandad. Bliss.

Mondays

2010-06-14T09:33:00.000-05:00

I have tons of catching up to do on my purging project. I've actually continued to work on this, and even found someone to take some of my stuff. But I'm a bit behind in the picture-taking and posting department. Maybe tomorrow.

The little Wunder family has being running around non-stop lately. On Friday night, we went to North Center's Ribfest. Saturday was Aqua Babies. Saturday night Chris and I went to a wedding, and my cousin stayed overnight to babysit. Sunday morning, we all recovered a bit, had a big brunch, watched some soccer. Then we headed to Blues Fest to meet up with an old friend and her parents. There was also tons of errand running, cleaning and gardening going on over the weekend, too.

I'm beat. By 7 o'clock last night, I was starting to look forward to going into work today.

Honestly, I sort of love Monday mornings. Usually, I get in early before most of my co-workers. I make the coffee, log onto my computer, and just enjoy the silence for a bit.

The running around continues this weekend. On Friday, we fly down to Kansas City for a wedding. Then we're meeting up with Chris' parents in Branson for a few days. Eight days after we get back, we'll be off to Pittsburgh for yet another wedding. (We have five total this summer, three of which are out of town).

Just thinking about all this is making me tired. Time for more coffee.

Things 12 & 13

2010-06-04T18:28:00.001-05:00

Remember when I said I only had one "designer" item and therefore saved the pretty box it came in? I lied. I own two "designer" things. Chris got me a Burberry watch for Christmas. This is the box it came in. Isn't it purty?

From 365 things

Then there's this discman. Honestly, getting rid of this thing is kinda difficult. It's a relic, a symbol of my youth, something Chris tried to convince me to keep just so we can show Maya what a discman was someday. But I can't save crap just for the sake of its obsolescence. Besides, I still have a tape deck and a closet full of cassettes and VHS tapes. So Maya can marvel at those someday, then return to listening to whatever wireless, brain-activated music device they've invented by the time she's a teenager.

From 365 things

Things 6-11

2010-06-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

I'm still here, getting rid of junk. I just took a little break from picture-taking and post-writing to enjoy the long weekend and such. But without further ado, I give you things 6-11:

From 365 things

Thing 6: This was a hand-me-down from some friends. Like most parents, I still get up some nights to make sure the baby's breathing. It's this strange OCD-neurosis thing that overtakes even the most laid-back moms. You wake up at 3 AM convinced that the baby is eerily quiet, or maybe you think you heard her cough or snore, and you convince yourself she's suffocating. And there's no way you can go back to bed until you check to make sure everything's OK. It happens to every parent. Fortunately, my form of neurosis never got so out of control that I needed this baby motion sensor. And considering it's never been opened, I assume the same was true of our friends.

Thing 7: Those same friends did use this wipe warmer. Perhaps there's some medical or developmental thing behind using warm wipes that I don't understand. But Maya seems just fine with room-temperature wipes, so we're sticking with those.

Thing 8: It's hard to find shoes tiny enough for my tiny feet. Amazingly, these shoes are too tiny.

Thing 9: I bought a pin at the Marc by Marc Jacobs store a while back. Although the pin was relatively cheap, it is the one and only "designer" item I own. So why am I getting rid of it? I'm not. I'm getting rid of the box it came in. Because when you're a true pack rat, you save things like fancy boxes from high-end stores. It's an illness, I swear.

Thing 10: This is a tissue dispenser that I got for free at the Taste of Chicago a few years ago. Why would anyone ever need this? And more importantly, why would anyone ever save it? See above.

Thing 11: What is it about women where we save clothing, convincing ourselves that someday it will fit? This dress is too big on top and too small on the bottom. And surprisingly, after holding on to this dress for years, my body shape never changed drastically, other than the giant belly I was sporting for a few months. It's time to let go of the dress, and the ideal.

Things 3, 4 & 5

2010-05-27T22:29:00.000-05:00

Wow. I have a lot of crap. Let's start with Thing 3:

From 365 things

I got this candle from my boyfriend in high school. It's a black light candle, which is way cool when you're 15 and sit around staring at crap under a black light. Then one day you wake up and you're 30, and you realize that this has to be the ugliest candle you've ever seen. Like, seriously. Fugly.

I'm going to attempt to sell it at our yard sale, but I can't imagine anyone would actually want to own it. The only reason I've held on to it for the past 15(!) years is that I keep thinking I'll melt it down and turn it into some other, less god-awful candle. But after a decade and a half, it might be time for me to realize that I'm not going to be struck by some artsy-crafty bug anytime soon. Which brings me to Thing 4...

From 365 things

I bought this pretty blue bottle while on a winery tour around the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. I thought the color was gorgeous and vowed to use it to decorate somehow, obviously forgetting about my lack of craftiness and apartment full of other knick-knacks, like the aforementioned ugly-ass candle. But that's what happens when you make purchases after visiting six wineries. Which brings me to Thing 5...

From 365 things

It's one thing to save a gift from a high school boyfriend or a pretty blue bottle — things that have the teensiest bit of sentimental or monetary value. But it's a true sign of illness when you save some stupid string of plastic obtained for free while drinking in the name of an Americanized holiday honoring an ethnicity of which you are less than 5%.

Maybe I saved it because of the cute, little Chicago flags. Or maybe because it's from Miller Lite — my favorite cheapo beer. Or maybe because I dropped it on a shelf one St. Patrick's Day after a few drinks and never thought about it again.

I honestly don't remember when or where I got this. And for the life of me, I can't imagine why I STILL have it. To the basement dungeon you go, cheapo Chi-rish beads. And take your empty blue bottle and ugly candle friends with you.

Too much light makes the baby go to sleep

2010-05-27T12:22:00.003-05:00

Things 3-5 will come along later today. But for now, enjoy these pics from our friend Todd's visit and Maya's second Cubs game.

Thing 2

2010-05-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

I don't have much of a story behind this thing, other than to say that I thought I could wear it. But I can't. I just can't pull it off.

I bought this belt online about two years ago. Since then, every few weeks I try it on with an outfit, then throw it to the side because it just doesn't looks right. And back into my closet it goes.

If, after two years, I've yet to find an outfit this belt looks cute with, then it's time to go. So long giant belt!

365 things

2010-05-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

Oy, I haven't posted in more than a month. It's not that I don't have things to blog about: We recently had our annual Cinco de Mayo party, my uncle's doing our landscaping right now, we're getting our roof replaced, we're planning to partially redo the kitchen, and so on.

But instead of blogging about any of those things, I'm going to blog about this iron:

Thing 1

I've had this iron for many years. I don't remember exactly when I got it, but I believe it pre-dates me and Chris' itemhood, meaning that I've had it for at least 8 years.

But I haven't used it in quite a while. This used to be our back-up iron — we had another iron we liked more, but kept this one around just in case. But about a year ago, we got a new, fancy Rowenta number. It's like the Cadillac of irons. And as a result, this iron became our back-up, back-up. So, should our all-mighty Rowenta fail us, we have another iron. And if that one should fail, we have this fella.

That's a lot of ironing insurance for people who iron, oh, maybe once a month.

Which is why this iron is being sacrificed for my newest blogging project — a project I'm sure to get all gung-ho about for a week or so, and then abandon, as I'm wont to do.

I recently read an article in Body + Soul about de-cluttering — something I'm so desperate to do. Chris and I have a problem with clutter. When an English major/lawyer and journalist get married, it's inevitable. Identical copies of British literature. Every copy of Esquire from the past four years. All my newspaper and magazine clips. Old reporter's notebooks. Volumes and volumes of law books. And these are just the things I can see. Right now. From my computer.

Add to that all the things not currently in my line of sight. And then add all the clutter a 7-month-old accumulates. I'm amazed we don't have a show on TLC.

I've managed to organize, file and store things in a somewhat neat way, so to the untrained eye, we don't look like hoarders. But I still know it's there — useless crap taking up precious space in my house.

Anyway, in this article, the author talks about how she decided to tackle her own clutter problem by getting rid of one thing every day for a year. She called it 365 in 365. I instantly fell in love, and promptly decided not only to steal her idea, but to blog about it as well.

Which brings me back to this dear, old iron. This iron is going to go live in a box in the basement with some other things I had already decided to purge. I'm going to keep adding to the box every day. Then, later this summer, we're going to have a yard sale, and whatever clutter doesn't sell immediately goes to good will. And after that? The clutter collection shall continue, until I hit the one year mark, or I run out of stuff to get rid of, or I forget about the whole thing and start some other ridiculous project.

Dear CTA

2010-04-22T13:22:00.003-05:00

We both know that this has been a long-time coming. Things have changed between us. The excitement is gone. The adoration. The passion.

I think it's time we go our separate ways.

Once upon a time, our love affair was strong. You were always there for me, and I looked forward to spending every day with you. I even painted your likeness on my wall, so I'd always feel like you were close by. But over the years, that love has faded. I'm not going to say "it's not you, it's me." Because in truth, you had a big part in our demise. But I know that I've changed, too. So, let's just say we grew apart.

It all began years ago, when I made my first sacrifice for you; I sold my dear little red truck so I could spend more time with you. I don't regret that decision now. It didn't make sense then, and still doesn't make sense now, for Chris and I to live in the city and own two cars.

Back then you and I had the perfect relationship. We'd spend a half-hour together in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. I truly cherished that time every day. I loved sitting on the bus, reading a book, looking out the window at the lake, or zoning out while watching your reticular middle twist and turn. I'll never forgot that time four years ago when I was sitting in the back row of the bus on my way to work, and my mom called to tell me I had a nephew. "It's a boy?!" I cried, a little too loud on the usually silent morning commute. A few people looked at me, but you didn't judge. You were happy for me.

Although we had a great thing going then, on the home front, living in a tiny Lakeview apartment with no backyard for Rosie was getting difficult. So, Chris and I moved to Logan Square. This strained our relationship a bit. I changed bus routes, and as a result, you became less reliable. You came around less often each morning and afternoon. On the other hand, we were spending more time together, about 45 minutes each morning and afternoon. But due to your unpredictability, I started to resent that extra time spent together.

Still, we stayed together, and we were mostly exclusive. Sometimes in the summer, I'd ride my bike to and from work. But otherwise, you were my one and only mode of transportation.

But then Chris and I decided to buy a house, and we moved to North Center. Again, us moving wasn't your fault. I take full responsibility for that. But once again, the move strained our relationship. I had to change my daily commute, using both the bus and the train. And for the first time, I started to feel like you weren't there for me.

I'd start out each morning walking to the bus stop. I'd try to time my arrival with when bus tracker said you'd arrive. But bus tracker was often wrong, so I missed the bus a lot. On this new bus route, you come around even less often than my previous one. So if I missed the bus, many times another wasn't due for nearly a half hour. So, I'd walk from the bus stop to the train, which usually took about 15 minutes.

Once to the train station, usually I didn't have to wait too long for you to arrive. I will give you credit for that. On my particular line, you're usually pretty dependable. However, the amount of time we had to spend together was lengthy, about a half hour. Then after getting off the train, I had to walk the better part of a mile to get to my office. This is because you don't offer any stops on my line close to my office, nor do you offer a bus route from my line to the office. So, all together, my commute took more than hour each morning. Considering I live roughly 7 miles from work, this isn't a very efficient use of my time.

Still, STILL, I stayed with you. Granted, I did start to stray a bit more — taking a cab or driving in. But you were still my number one choice. At least until this year.

As you know, Chris and I recently became parents. And when I returned to work, we started taking our daughter to a daycare in the South Loop every day. Once again, our decision to enroll her at this particular daycare is not your fault. But the decision ultimately revealed to me just how broken, unreliable and discriminating you can be.

Because I loved you and thought you were still the best option for me and my infant daughter, I tried, repeatedly, to commute with you every day. Chris and I first tried putting the baby in a stroller and commuting in. We'd take the bus to the train, then the train downtown. But sadly, and maddeningly, you do NOT offer handicap access at the stop closest to the daycare. No handicap access means no elevators, which means no way for us to get from the train platform down to the street. Not only was this frustrating for us, but the fact that you don't even offer people in wheelchairs to access some of your stations is downright criminal.

Despite these tremendous faults, I kept trying to make the commute work. I tried putting the baby in a Bjorn, thereby removing the no-elevator issue. Although this did make getting from the train to the platform easier (although carrying the baby, my purse, and her daycare bag wasn't exactly easy), it did nothing to resolve your biggest problem — your lack of reach. Once off the train, I had to walk a half mile to the daycare. Then, after dropping her off, I had to walk that half mile again back to the train. Then, I usually had to wait at least 15 minutes for you to come around. Once you did, I'd take you to the stop closest to my office, and then had to walk another 5 or so minutes in.

All together, from the time I left my house to the time I got to work, was close to 2 hours — just for the morning commute. Then I had to do all of it, or part of it, over again in the evening. As much as I love you, I refuse to spend close to 4 hours with you every day. Sorry, I just have other needs in my life. It can't be about YOU all the time.

Chris and I have started driving in every day. Even with the construction and the traffic, we're at work within an hour, sometimes less. And that includes dropping off the baby, parking and walking to work. And, considering how many modes of transit and stops we had to use before, parking actually costs the same as you. Granted, there's the cost of gas and mileage. And there's also the environmental guilt I feel every day. But ultimately, the amount of stress relieved and amount of time saved makes up for both the economical and moral drawbacks.

This isn't goodbye forever. We can still be friends. I know we'll still see each other from time to time. Chances are, you'll still be there for me when I want to commute to and from a baseball game, or I've had too much to drink (or both). As unreliable as you are, I know you'll still be there for me then.

But our daily relationship is over for now. I hope that someday we can work things out. Maybe we'll move again to a more CTA-friendly area (but I doubt it). Or maybe you'll finally expand your reach and access (again, doubtful). Maybe we'll find some other, yet unforeseen, compromise.

At least I hope so, because I will always, ALWAYS, have feelings for you, and I know I'm going to miss you terribly.

So long for now,

Sarah

Working mother

2010-04-13T17:56:00.000-05:00

It's been one of those weeks. (Mind you, it's only Tuesday). A week when I feel like I'm not devoting enough attention to my career, to my family, to my house, to my fitness, to my wardrobe. I want to work my ass off, be a devoted wife and mother, with a clean house, toned abs, a killer wardrobe and an actual hairstyle.

I keep thinking I can do and be all these things, if I just watched less television, got up earlier, spent less time on the Internet, prioritized more, organized more, and made even more to-do lists. Then today, I read this article in the New York Times. The article isn't about my generation, but it hits the nail on the head:

"It did not take long, of course, before the guilt set in ... They expected to be both their mothers (or their rosy memory of what their mothers had been) and their fathers (who won the bread but never dreamed of baking it), and because that is an impossible task, they felt they had failed. The old guideposts were gone, and new ones had not been established."

The article is by Lisa Belkin. I read her book, “Life’s Work: Confessions of an Unbalanced Mom” years ago, before I was a wife or mother. It might be time to read it again.

Not sleeping

2010-03-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. I haven't posted in more than a month. But I have a really good excuse: The Wunder household is officially NOT SLEEPING

When Maya was about six weeks old, she suddenly starting sleeping through the night. And not just for five or six hours. No, no. This angel slept for 11 hours straight. Every night. It was pure bliss. Having done very little to prompt this — no sleep training or meticulously scheduled bedtime routine — I knew I was damn lucky.

Then, when she was about 4 1/2 months old, she got her first cold. (Not coincidentally, this was also a few weeks after starting daycare). So, with all the sneezing and congestion, she had some trouble sleeping. But it wasn't too bad. We'd get up with her, use the bulb syringe (or as we call, the brain sucker) to clear her nose a bit, then help her fall back to sleep. Sometimes, I'd nurse her if she were really having trouble sleeping. But all in all, this only happened once or twice a night, and only lasted for 15 minutes to an hour. No big deal, especially because one week of getting up at night while baby gets over a cold isn't that bad.

Except, after that cold, she got another one. And then another. And another. In fact, for the past two months, she has been just getting a cold or just getting over one almost every day. And her nighttime wakings have been getting worse and worse. Currently, she has a nasty chest cold that has her stuffed up and makes her cough a ton. We have a cool-mist humidifier running, but it doesn't seem to help. For a while, we had her sleeping in her bouncy chair because it kept her a little more upright, and that helped for about a week. But it's not working anymore.

The past week has been absolute hell. She will only sleep when face down on either my or Chris' chest — preferably his as it's wider and far less bumpy than mine. Unfortunately, though, neither Chris nor I can sleep like this. So we take turns not sleeping. (To be fair, Chris takes the not-sleeping duty way more than me.)

Some nights, like last night, she just won't sleep. I tried all the go-to moves: face down on chest, upright in bouncy chair, rocking, nursing, brain sucking, rhythmic butt patting. Nothing worked. She just cried, rubbed her eyes, coughed, sneezed, and cried some more. It's so frustrating. And she seems to sense this because most nights, when I feel like I've reached my limit, she'll suddenly stop crying, look up at me, take my face in both of her hands, and give me the biggest, sweetest, toothless smile. Like, "Hey Mom, I know this sucks, but thanks for sticking around. Love ya!"

At least, that's what I'd like to believe. Chances are, it's more like "So, who's holding me anyway? Oh it's you. I know you!"

Oy.

I've read up on all the sleep methods, sleep training, etc. Problem is, these all say you need to try when baby's healthy. So, maybe when cold and flu season officially ends in late-April/early-May, we'll start sleeping again.

Which should be right in time for teething.

Curling, pillows and smelly cat

2010-02-24T10:58:00.001-06:00

I must admit that I've really gotten into Olympic curling. I don't totally understand it, but it's fun to watch anyway.

Last night, Chris and I came home from a wake (sadly, this was the second wake Maya's attended in her 5 months of life), opened a beer, and promptly fell asleep on the couch watching women's curling. When I awoke and tried to get Chris to come up to bed later, we had this exchange:

Chris: Did you remember the stuff?
Me: What stuff?
Chris: The baby's hair stuff.
Me: Huh?
Chris: The stuff she sits on.
Me: What?
Chris: The Olympic stuff.
Me: What stuff?
Chris: The curling stuff.
Me: What are you talking about?
Chris: Nevermind.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Chris talks in his sleep. Not often enough or with enough hilarity to start a blog like this one, but it's nonetheless entertaining — like the time a few years ago when he woke me up and asked me if I remembered to get the dog's uniform.

Although sometimes it's a little scary. For example, a few weeks ago he got up in the middle of the night and started patting down his pillow. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he wanted to see if the baby was in there. I of course freaked out and started asking him why the baby would be in his pillow case. He got confused and went back to sleep. I ran to the crib, where the baby was sleeping soundly.

There have been many other times he's woken me up to ask me random questions. Unfortunately, I usually fall asleep again and can't remember what was exchanged. I should start keeping my cell phone nearby so I can tweet what he says.

In totally unrelated news, I've been reading this blog lately called This Old Smelly House. It's about a couple who bought a house from a crazy cat lady. Some of the stuff they've uncovered is eerily similar to things we've found. It makes me wish I had done a better job of documenting every crazy discovery we made after moving in because — surprisingly, and somewhat sadly — the walls covered in bird poop and pee-soaked carpeting were just the tip of the iceberg.

Sweet free

2010-02-16T17:23:00.000-06:00

If you watch way too much TV like I do, you might have noticed that the fast food restaurants are starting to roll out their fish-themed advertising. (McDonald's "Give me back that filet-of-fish" is easily my fave, though I haven't seen it yet this year). This influx of meat-free ads means one thing: it's Lent. Well, almost. It starts tomorrow.

After sort of giving up alcohol last year (I gave it up, but really just used Lent as an excuse for not drinking because I hadn't revealed my pregnancy yet), and giving up meat in 2008, I thought I'd try on a new vice to banish. So as of tomorrow, I'm giving up sweets. No cakes, cookies, candies or confections.

Appropriately, I've so far spent my Fat Tuesday eating Oreos and chocolate-covered pretzels.

This is a strange restriction for me. During my college years, I totally lost my sweet tooth. I'm not sure why. I remember going months without eating sweets for no reason other than having absolutely no taste for them. Then, I graduated and started working in an office. And that's when the 3 p.m. sweet tooth set in.

Now, when late-afternoon rolls around and my morning coffee has long worn off, I start scavenging for sweets. Mostly, this scavenging takes places in my cube mate's desk drawer. When the drawer's offerings aren't up to my standards, I try the kitchen on the off-chance that there are leftover cookies from a client meeting, or one of our many fabulous home bakers brought in some goodies. When all those options bear no fruit, I usually give up. Although on occasion, I hit up the vending machines or convenience store for my fix (typically, peanut M&Ms).

I still haven't worked out the exact restrictions. Can I have a fruity cocktail? O how about pancakes if I don't use syrup? And what about jelly? I don't know. Guess I'll figure it out along the way (i.e. justify that something isn't technically a "sweet," eat it, and then feel guilty....have I mentioned that I'm not Catholic?)

Christmas Cards

2010-02-11T09:47:00.001-06:00

Back in December, I sent out a round of Christmas cards, mostly to people who live out of town, knowing that those cards would take the longest to arrive. Then, in mid-January, I sent out another set. This time to family in and around Chicago. I saved many of my friends for the last stack, knowing they'd be most forgiving about receiving a Christmas card in late-January.

But now it's February, and that stack of about 20 cards still sits on my desk at work. Cards I stuffed into envelopes, addressed and return addressed, and then never sent. I have excuses: Every time I went to CVS to get stamps, they were out. Then I went back to work full time, then we went out of town, then... it just never happened.

So I've decided that as penance for my extreme tardiness, I need to hand deliver the rest of my Christmas cards. Because really, I'd rather visit and socialize with my friends than send them some meaningless card. That's the whole Christmas spirit, right? Taking the time to keep in touch with old friends?

At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Combo-Combo

2010-01-19T11:55:00.002-06:00

When you have a birthday near Christmas like I do (my 30th was on New Year's Day), you get used to getting the combo present. As in, this present is both your Christmas present AND your birthday present.

When you marry someone who also has a Christmas-time birthday (Chris' 31st was Dec. 27), you get the combo-combo. As in, this present is for both of you, covering both of your Christmas presents AND both of your birthday presents.

When I was 12, I hated the combo present. Now that I'm older, wiser and own a home that's quickly filling up with baby toys, clothes, jungle gyms and other assorted baby gear, I'm beginning to appreciate the whole "quality over quantity" idea.

For example, last year, Chris' parents got us furniture for our combo-combo. And this year, they got us a Wii and the Wii Fit Plus, which we are loving. Chris has perfected playing tennis while holding Maya. It's like a combo-combo workout.

My parents and sister also got us tons of home repair gifts — a circular saw, sander, workbench, massive pliers, etc. So, we're finally going to tackle a handful of home projects when we have time. Although somehow, many of our weekends between now and August are already starting to fill up. I have no idea how. I swear we're not that popular. But we have a ton of little trips and events planned for the next few months. (In fact, we just got back from Florida last night. I'll post pics and tales from taking a 3-month-old on a flight soon.)

On the weekends we're not traveling, I'm hoping to do some races. Without officially making a New Year's resolution, I'd like to say that I plan on doing a triathlon this year. And I really, really want to do the Soldier Field 10 Miler in May. But we'll see. Can one of you out there hold me accountable please? Maybe give my butt a little kick? Thanks.

Me and Bret Michaels

2009-12-28T13:54:00.000-06:00

When I was pregnant, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and part of that diagnosis meant that I had to get tested again after having the baby to determine if I'm actually diabetic. So a few weeks ago, I took a follow-up glucose test, and my numbers came back high. So, I made an appointment with my doctor, and in the days between receiving my results and my doctor's appointment, I freaked out a bit. But eventually, I came around to the idea that although I was diabetic, it was something I could control and live with. I even decided that whenever I would blog about diabetes, I'd use the label "Me and Bret Michaels" because on Rock of Love, Bret Michaels often mentions that he has diabetes and he pronounces it weird ("dia-bettis").

So I went to my doctor's appointment last week fully expecting to get educated about my condition, get prescriptions for more lancets and testing strips, and be on my merry, little low-carb way. Instead, the doctor gave me a quick A1C test, took a look at my results, and determined that there was no way I'm diabetic.

Although I'm very relieved that I'm not diabetic, the news was a bit jarring. Since July, I've been counting my carbs and trying to eat a healthy, balanced diet. And now I don't have to anymore. Which, believe me, is welcome news. But at the same time, I sort of enjoyed having to follow a diet. So despite this diagnosis, I'm going to try to continue eating the same way. (Although if my eating habits of the past four days are any indication, this will be short-lived.) Having gestational diabetes means I'll always be at an increased risk of forming diabetes later in life, so hopefully, I can always keep that "later" part 20 years away.

Live-Action Christmas Card

2009-12-24T17:19:00.000-06:00

We wanted to get a picture of Rosie and Maya together for our Christmas card this year, but figured that the chance of getting the two of them to hold still long enough to get a good shot were pretty much nil. So instead, we shot them together on our Flip cam, which allows you to turn video into stills.

Here's the video...

Live-Action Christmas Card from Sarah Wunder on Vimeo.

...and the resulting pic.

Although Chris really, really wanted to send this one out instead.

Happy holidays everyone!

On leave

2009-12-22T11:26:00.006-06:00

First of all, here are the results to the "3 Reasons" post:

1. To hear how Maya vocalizes her love for left thumb.
2. As Highnumber correctly guessed, to hear Chris get very impressed with a midget's weight.
3. To hear the thumb-sucking stop long enough to let out a nice fart.

You missed that last one, didn't you? I think you should go back and watch it again.

Second, I've returned to the working world, and honestly? I couldn't be happier. I struggled with, and am continuing to struggle with, the fact that I did not enjoy maternity leave. It was hard. Really hard. Harder than my job by a long shot.

In the first few weeks, I was physically limited. I couldn't sit for very long, or stand for very long, or walk for very long. I wasn't sleeping and barely had time to eat or go to the bathroom.

As my strength returned, Maya also starting sleeping at night (or perhaps my strength returned because she started sleeping at night), which made things a bit easier. But sleeping at night meant she was awake most of the day. And most days, she spent a good deal of her awake hours crying. If she'd been changed, fed and burped and still cried, pretty much the only thing that made her stop was being carried around while I paced the halls for hours. We'd walk from the living room to the kitchen and back. Over and over again. Then up and down the stairs. Again and again.

Sometimes we'd go for a walk outside, but this was more difficult than it sounds. Going outside meant I'd have to change out of my pajamas and into real clothes and shoes. And that process was not fun because it was usually accompanied by a screaming baby. Once I'd put her in her crib to go change, she'd start screaming. The kind of screams where her whole head turns red and no sound comes out and tears roll down her cheeks, and I'd feel so terrible that most days, I'd choose to pace the house for hours rather than put her through 5 minutes of this type of screaming.

There were a lot of days that I wanted nothing more than an hour to do the dishes and tidy up. The house got so unorganized. We had tons of gift boxes and bags from friends and family on the coffee table, in her room and on the floor. Newspapers piled up on the front porch. Dishes overflowed the sink. Dog hair covered everything. We went weeks without changing the sheets. In my old age, I've become more and more obsessive about a clean house. When the house is full of clutter, I get stressed out. And many days during leave, I'd sit in the rocking chair nursing Maya, staring at all that clutter, about to have a nervous breakdown.

And some days, I did break down. She'd cry all day, and so would I. It wasn't until she was about 8 weeks old that her crying slowed down. She's take regular naps and I've have a chance to eat, clean and relax. And when she was awake, she was in a good mood and we'd play. That's when maternity leave started to get fun. But it's also when I went back to work.

Currently, I'm working from home a few days a week and going into the office on the other days. Chris is doing the same, and my parents babysit once a week. Next month, Maya starts daycare. And although I'm a little sad about her spending the majority of her waking hours with non-family members, I know that it has to be this way. I like going to work everyday. I enjoy eating lunch at a leisurely pace without the fear that the baby will begin crying any minute. I like have the option of going to the bathroom when nature calls rather than getting trapped on the rocking chair holding a nursing or sleeping baby. I enjoy working with people, helping clients, solving problems, and most of all, not watching TV all day.

And I like missing Maya. It sounds terrible, but it's true. I'm so happy to see her when I get home from work everyday. But when I was on leave, I can't say I was always happy to see her. When Maya was about 5 or 6 weeks old, I went to the grocery store by myself, and Chris stayed home with her. It was the first time in her life that we were apart for more than a few minutes. I was only gone for about an hour, but honestly, I wanted to stay at the grocery store all day.

Part of me feels terrible for feeling this way. As a mom, I'm supposed to cherish every moment I spend with my daughter. I'm supposed to wish I could stay home with her. I'm supposed be the only person who knows how to make her happy or stop her crying. But I'm not that mom. I'm the mom who loves her daughter, but also loves her job. And I'm the mom who sometimes — a lot of times — has no clue how to make her daughter happy.

I'd like to conclude right now with something like "but I'm OK with that." But I'm not yet. On one hand, I'm glad that I value both my career and my family, and that I can admit that I don't have all the answers when it comes to being a successful mom. But on the other hand, I can't help but beat myself up over the fact that perhaps I wasn't born with that mom instinct.

So instead, I'll conclude this way. I still don't know how to feel about any of this, but I think it's important to be honest about it in a public way. There were many days that I'd think about and reread this post from my bloggy-friend Melinda, and this post from my co-worker Michelle to remind myself that yes, I'm miserable, and yes, that's OK.

My little turkey

2009-12-01T12:36:00.003-06:00

For Thanksgiving this year, Chris, Maya and I went to Pennsylvania, which is where most of Chris' relatives live. His parents and sister also came up from North Carolina. Chris' dad is a professional photographer, which means that with little more than Grandma's couch, a camera, a fancy light, and a blue Snuggie as a backdrop, we got some awesome pics that look like they were shot in a studio. Jealous? You should be.

There are 3 reasons you need the sound on for this video.

2009-11-28T18:27:00.001-06:00

Can you name them all?

Maya's Thumb from Sarah Wunder on Vimeo.

Fortunate Girl

2009-11-16T12:56:00.003-06:00

I'm once again making up for my lack of posts with Maya-themed multimedia. Here, she auditions to be John Fogerty's newest and cutest drummer:

Fortunate Girl from Sarah Wunder on Vimeo.

October in pictures

2009-11-01T10:41:00.004-06:00

I haven't had much time to post lately. So to make up for my neglect, here are some baby pics:

My two girls

Can I interest you in some partially digested breast milk?

Baby bath time

Maya visits Daddy at work...

...then she takes over the place.

Happy Halloween!
(Chris is holding her up here even though you can't see him in the pic. Although Maya is obviously very advanced for her age, we didn't want y'all to think she could sit up on her own at one month.)

On Oprah

2009-10-23T10:52:00.003-05:00

Since going on maternity leave, I must admit that I've become a fan of Oprah. It all started as a study. I watched her show to try to figure out why people worshiped her. I used to work at a book store back in high school, and her effect on book sales was unbelievable. She puts something in her book club, and it's an instant best seller. Why is that? How can she have that kind of power?

So, nearly four weeks ago, I started watching Oprah. And now, I'm one of them. I watch her and I'm mesmerized. She mentioned a certain brand of jeans yesterday, and all I wanted to do afterward was go out and buy those jeans. She had Chris Rock on recently promoting Good Hair, and since then, I've been dying to see that movie. Everything she does, everything she loves, I can't help but want to do and love also.

But the weird thing is, I still don't know why she has that affect on me, an otherwise independently minded, non-trend following person. Perhaps my removal from the working and social worlds has somehow shut down the part of my brain that can think for itself. Or maybe she really is that amazing. I have no idea.

The summer after I had meningitis was sort of similar to being on maternity leave, except for the caring for another human being part. I was mentally active, but physically unable to do much of anything. So I spent most days on the couch watching bad daytime television. That summer, I got hooked on the Rosie O'Donnell show. I loved her and watched her show religiously. She was part best friend, part therapist, part entertainer. When I was finally able to return to school, I never had a chance to watch her show during the day. It wasn't until about a year later that I happened to be home during the day and decided to revisit my old friend, the Rosie O'Donnell show — and I distinctly remember hating it. I remember thinking to myself, how on Earth did you get hooked on this show? It's mind numbing and insincere and in general, just plain stupid. But for whatever reason, when I was laid up and an emotional wreck after being sick, none of those things bothered me.

So maybe after I go back to work and my post-pregnancy hormones aren't raging quite as much as they are now, I'll catch Oprah again one day and wonder the same thing. Or maybe she'll feature some new product, and no amount of willpower will be able to keep me from going out and buying it.

Restless

2009-10-17T14:26:00.002-05:00

It's flu season, and I have an infant, so we haven't left the house much. Which has been fine by me, because I've been resting, relaxing, healing and nursing and all that good stuff. Also, it's been really, really crummy outside for days. So, staying cooped up with a newborn, having soup for lunch everyday and not doing much day after day hasn't really bothered me.

Until now. I'm ready to get out of the house now. I'm kind of surprised it took 3 weeks for me to get restless. Guess I needed the relaxation.

So it's official. The Wunder girls are ready to come visit you. Just tell me when and where, and we'll be there. Assuming you don't have the flu.

When the baby sleeps

2009-10-15T09:25:00.003-05:00

Oh my. It turns out finding time to blog when you have an infant is more difficult than I first thought.

You see, there's this magical time known as "when the baby sleeps." When I was pregnant, lots of people gave me the advice to "sleep when the baby sleeps." And back then, I was all gung ho about following that advice. Take naps everyday? Yes please. But it turns out that when that magical time arrives, it's my first chance to do other important things, like eating, drinking and going to the bathroom. Occasionally, I take a shower, do the dishes or change my clothes. And then if I'm really lucky, I'll do laundry or read. And sadly, blogging has sort of fallen to the end of the list. Which stinks, because I feel like I have so much to blog about. I write them in my head while nursing. Blogs about how Rosie's adjusting to her new sister, about Maya's well-developed sense of comedic timing, and about my bellybutton's refusal to return from outie to innie.

But those will have to wait for now because 1). Although I'm upstairs in the office, and Maya's sleeping downstairs in her pack n play, I clearly just heard some explosive poop action, and 2). Price is Right starts in 15 minutes.

The gory details

2009-10-07T16:28:00.002-05:00

First of all, today was my due date. I can’t even remember what being pregnant and not being a mommy feels like right now. Crazy.

So, everything started two weeks ago today. That day was like any other Wednesday. Went to work, came home and went to the church to pick up our CSA food. We ate dinner, watched the greatest night of television ever (SYTYCD, followed by Glee, followed by Top Chef. God, I LOVE Wednesdays), and went to bed. But, I didn’t sleep too long. Around 3 a.m., I started having what I thought were Braxton-Hicks contractions. They weren’t too regular or extremely painful, but they were enough to keep me up. I went down to the couch so I wouldn’t wake up Chris, watched some TV and tried to get some rest.

The contractions continued through Thursday morning, and I wasn’t sure if they were the real deal, so I decided to stay home from work that morning to see what happened. The more I moved around, the less intense they got, so I went into work around 11 a.m.

At this point, even though I was pretty sure my contractions weren’t yet the real deal, I kind of knew labor wasn’t far off. So, I tried to tie up as many loose ends at work as possible. While there, the contractions continued about every half hour. Again, not terrible, but enough to take my concentration for a minute. I was also moving really slowly. So, just about everyone I saw at work could tell baby time was close, too.

That night, I just tried to relax and get some rest to see if the contractions slowed down, got more intense, etc. I was supposed to have a prenatal appointment Friday morning, so I thought I’d wait until then to see what was going on. We called my good friend and doula, Holly, to let her know what’s up.

The contractions were pretty steady through the night and started developing a pattern by Friday morning. Realizing this was finally happening, we called the midwife on call at our hospital to let her know what was going on. From the beginning, our plan was to labor at home as much as possible. I didn’t see any point in going to our prenatal appointment, and the midwife agreed, so we skipped it and stayed home. Holly came over and the three of us tried to get me to relax through contractions.

There were a few things that weren’t textbook early on. For one, the baby all on the left side of my belly. And second, although my contractions were getting closer together, they lasted between 60 seconds and 2 to 3 minutes each. (Normally, they should regulate to 60 seconds each.) To address to lopsided belly, Holly suggested a few different positions to try to get the baby to line up. Friday is kind of a blur now, but I remember walking around the backyard while Holly applied counter pressure on my lower back. It was a little show for the neighbors.

I also remember laboring with my yoga ball, laboring in the shower, and mostly, laboring in the rocking chair. That was the most comfortable position. Looking back on it now, I probably wasn’t helping myself my sitting in that rocking chair. I was so focused on getting comfortable, but if I had embraced the pain a little more, I probably would have moved things along faster.

Eventually, my contractions got to about 3 to 4 minutes apart (although their length still hadn’t regulated, nor would they ever regulate for another two days, but I’m getting ahead of myself), so we went to the hospital around 6 p.m. on Friday. Once there, we found out that I had fully effaced but only dilated to about 3 or 4 cm, which in natural childbirth terms, is pretty much nothing. I wanted to get to the hospital dilated to at least 6 cm or further. However, now I’m not sure that ever would have happened on its own.

So, we labored some more at the hospital. Again, Friday is kind of a blur, but I remember laboring in the tub, laboring in the bed, walking around and vigorously tapping my right foot to get through contractions. Chris would tap along with me to help. He and Holly took turns holding me, massaging me, applying counter pressure. My mom and sister came around 7 or 8 p.m. and joined in, too. I had an awesome support team.

At some point, I think after midnight but I don’t remember, the midwife checked me and I had only dilated to 4 or 5 cm. Frustrated, we kept laboring. My mom and sister left around 4 a.m. to get some rest, and my mom and dad went to my house to get Rosie and take her home with them for the night.

We kept laboring through the night and Saturday morning into the next midwife’s shift. (I feel like I shouldn’t name which midwives I had, but both were absolutely amazing.) Saturday’s a bit of blur now, too, but I remember trying out all kinds of different positions and techniques. I also remember starting to ask for drugs. I warned Chris months ago that even though I was totally set on a natural childbirth, when things got really bad, I knew I’d ask for drugs. And his job was to ignore me and change the subject and get me to work through it. So, he and Holly both got me to focus on each contraction and tried to distract me from insisting on drugs. It worked for the most part.

By Saturday afternoon, I still hadn’t dilated much more. We tried everything. The breast pump, showering, bathing, everything. But not only was I not progressing, I was starting to regress. The midwife said my cervix started to get swollen (sort of the opposite of effacement). We decided to break my bag of waters to see if we could get things moving forward. So I kept laboring. At this point, I was tired and weak and frustrated and scared. We were starting down a path toward a c-section, which was the last thing I wanted. (Later on, I would beg for one just to be done with everything. Luckily, my midwife rocks and talked me out of it).

Unfortunately, breaking the bag of waters did little to dilate me more. I think I got to about 6 or 7 cm, although Chris says I was further along. I don't remember. So, around 10 p.m. or so Saturday night, we had to move on to pitocin, a drug that makes you contract, and something I never wanted to have to use. But I pretty much had no choice at this point. This was the last option before a c-section. Pitocin makes contractions extremely strong, and I was physically kaput. I hadn’t slept in days. I hadn’t eaten much. I had been in active labor for close to 48 hours. I was done. So I begged for drugs again, and this time, my team didn’t fight me. So I got an epidural. I have to admit, it was pretty great. I passed out and slept for a few hours. Looking back, I wish I had been stronger. I’m disappointed because not taking drugs was extremely important to me. But I also know that I might not have gotten through pushing had I not gotten those few hours of sleep.

Which brings me to the happiest part of this whole experience. The pitocin worked, I fully dilated, and I was able to deliver my baby without having a c-section. (I’d should note here that I know a lot of women who have had c-sections and I don’t mean to suggest that it’s a horrible thing. Personally, I just wanted to avoid surgery at all costs. I’ve had enough surgeries in my lifetime.) We had to wait a bit for the epidural to wear off because I couldn’t feel a thing, which made pushing really difficult. According to Chris, I pushed for 2.5 hours. It didn’t seem like that long to me, but I hear it’s common for women not to realize how much time passes during labor.

Eventually, after three days of hard work, I had beautiful baby girl on Sunday morning. She came out slightly at an angle, with the umbilical cord around her neck (this is super common, and her heartbeat never dropped), and with her elbow up near her face, which explains why the labor was so long and complicated. But she’s perfectly healthy, and beautiful, and well, perfect. I’m a proud mommy.

So that’s my birth story. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, like how pushing hard made me dry heave, and the weird show about donkeys we watched on Saturday in between contractions, but this little post is nearing 1,500 words, so it’s time to wrap it up. I promise to post more often, especially because like other mommy bloggers, I’m getting good at this typing with one hand thing.

Meet Maya!

2009-09-30T09:52:00.004-05:00

Baby TK is now Maya Adeline Wunder. She came two weeks early, but took 3 days to come out. It was rough, but totally worth it. I'll write out the gory details later this week, but for now, here are some pics of our little Wunder Baby:

Maya, born Sept. 27, 2009. 6:51 a.m. 7 pounds, 11 ounces.

Maya's glamour shot.

Me and Maya

Chris making faces.

The new Wunder family (minus Rosie, of course).

Stick a fork in me

2009-09-14T14:31:00.004-05:00

I've been trying to write a recap post of the past month and a half, but things like lack of time and motivation keep getting in the way. So instead, here's a little story and a picture.

My sister and I both have very fine, naturally curly hair, which, in our youth, lead to knots and tangles that far surpassed those of the average kid. My mom likes to tell this story about how when she tried to comb my sister's hair — which, as you might imagine, was an involved process — after a few minutes my sister would run away, comb still stuck in her hair, repeating, "I'm done, Mom. I'm done, Mom. I'm done, Mom."

That mantra has been repeating in my head for about the past week. I'm due in three weeks, and I'm so, so done. Everything is starting to hurt, I can't get comfortable, I have to get up to pee at least four times a night, and I have cankles.

Typically, complaining is my pet peeve — especially when the act of doing so has no effect on the situation. But right now, I want to complain incessantly even though there's nothing I can do except wait. (Well, I suppose I could demand to be induced early, but that's definitely not happening.) So, I'm just going to keep waiting it out. And complaining. Sorry.

In the meantime, here's a pic of my very pregnant self and the hubby from this weekend. We celebrated our third wedding anniversary at Wildfire, which is where we had our rehearsal dinner. It's a steak and seafood place, so for someone who's supposed to curb carbs and pack on the protein, it was pretty much heaven.

I promise to post more soon detailing things what I've been up to for the past 6 weeks, which doesn't include anything too exciting, actually. Well, maybe there were a few exciting moments. But for the most part? Blah.

Will blog again

2009-08-17T12:47:00.002-05:00

I promise. I'm just insanely busy these days. Real life is getting in the way of my social media life right now. Stupid un-digitized reality.

Not so grown-up, either

2009-07-31T11:18:00.002-05:00

So, despite all my apprehensions, my nutrition appointment wasn't too bad. Basically, she said that I'm already doing everything right and that I just have to make a few, small adjustments. Then we went over the whole blood testing process, and it seemed easy enough. I tried it out once at the office, got my result quickly, and went on my merry way.

Unfortunately, that testing ease significantly diminished as soon as I left the nutritionist's office. I'm supposed to test my blood sugar four time a day: once right when I get up, and then one hour after eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. So, after lunch yesterday, I went to the bathroom at work to test myself. But this time, I couldn't seem to get enough blood out of my finger and onto the strip. After two finger pricks and two "error" messages on my monitor, I finally got a reading on the third try. But the number was really low, so I'm guessing I did something wrong.

Then, last night after dinner, I tried to test my blood sugar again. This time, I pricked myself three times, tried to squeeze out enough blood, and ultimately received three "error" messages.

And that's when I had a total meltdown. A meltdown of the order that would make my 3-year-old nephew look mature. And then, for some reason, all this crying and tantrum throwing gave me a bloody nose. (And no, I didn't test my blood sugar using my snotty nose blood. And yes, I briefly considered it.)

I next spent the better part of an hour crying in the bathroom, trying to get my nose to stop bleeding, all the while making the blood run faster by my continual crying. I kept wondering how I'd become such a failure at something as simple as getting a drop of blood onto a test strip, and then realizing that this is nothing, nothing, compared to how hard raising a child is going to be. And holy crap, what am I going to do?

Poor Chris, who has been my rock through this whole pregnancy, was exhausted after a long day and kept trying to get me to calm down and come to bed.

This morning, I tried to do a reading again and again got an "error" message. Then Chris tried on himself and succeeded the first time. He showed me his technique for getting more blood to come out — in his words, milking your finger like an udder. Since trying out this technique, I've gotten two good reads, so hopefully we've finally figured this whole thing out. At least I hope so, because I can't spend any more nights crying in the bathroom. The Wunder household would really like to enjoy these last 10 weeks of blissful, baby-free sleep.

Not so healthy

2009-07-29T13:50:00.004-05:00

Remind me never to write things like "I've been blessed with a healthy pregnancy" on my blog. Because, of course, I jinxed myself. It turns out I have gestational diabetes.

I just found out on Tuesday. I gotta admit, when I found out, I was shocked, and pissed. My initial glucose screen came back on the high side, but that screen has a high rate of false positives. My sister actually had a false positive on her screen, but after further tests, was determined to be just fine. So naturally, I assumed I'd be OK, too.

I had my second round of tests on Saturday. It involved fasting for 12 hours, then drinking this nasty sugar water and having my blood taken four times over a three-hour period. (Yeah, worst way to spend a Saturday ever.) On the bright side, as a reward for having to go through this, Chris and I went to Kuma's Corner after the test and ate mac n' cheese and giant burgers until we were literally sick to our stomachs. Unfortunately, that little indulgence turned out to be a last hurrah for me. No more pasta, fries and pretzel rolls. At least, not for the next 10 weeks.

The reason I'm pissed is because I already eat healthy. Other than the occasional indulgence like the one mentioned above, I don't eat simple carbs like pasta, white bread and white rice. We don't even have any in the house. And I rarely eat sweets. My diet pretty much consists of fish and lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, nuts and whole grains. And I exercise. And I'm not overweight. And with this new food co-op we joined, I've been eating tons of fresh kale, greens, arugula and cabbage for the past month. WTF?

I suppose this means adopting a new "diet" won't be difficult. I have an appointment tomorrow to learn about all this stuff. I'm trying to be positive, but the idea of sitting through a lecture on how I shouldn't eat ice cream, fried chicken and pizza for every meal is infuriating.

Argh. I need to stop and remember that this is temporary. Lots of people have much worse conditions, none of which were deserved. And they don't get to say goodbye to those problems 10 weeks from now. So yeah, I'm just being a brat.

Countdown

2009-07-24T10:35:00.003-05:00

I've been blessed with a very easy pregnancy so far. Never had morning sickness. No health problems (at least, not yet). No mood swings or insane fears. But I have to admit, I'm kinda looking forward to NOT being pregnant anymore.

There's the obvious reason: I can't wait to meet this baby that already seems to have a personality and sense of humor. For example, when Chris tries to listen to the baby's heartbeat, Baby TK has taken to kicking him in the ear. I'm so proud.

But then there are the day-to-day things I miss, like being able to bend over to tie my shoes, or walking up a flight of stairs without getting winded. This morning, it took me 30 minutes to walk from our house to the train. Usually, it only takes 10.

Part of me feels selfish and weak for mentally being done with this whole pregnancy thing only 70% of the way through. I'm not a C- kind of gal. But then again, this week, three people told me I'm starting to waddle. What's up with that?

Further proof that I am an adult

2009-07-22T10:52:00.003-05:00

As of yesterday, I am now the proud owner of a home with central air, as well as a fancy, new furnace that, unlike our previous one, was actually constructed after the McKinley administration.

Add the A/C and furnace to the new windows we recently had installed throughout our home, and you'll get the next sure sign of our adulthood: a home equity line of credit.

And if those four things weren't enough, we now have a fully assembled baby crib, rocking chair and stroller/car seat combo. We are, undeniably, grown-ups.

Part of becoming an adult must involve turning into your parents. Less than 12 hours after the A/C was installed, I became my father and started scolding Chris for running the A/C too much. Our electricity bill's going to skyrocket. It's nice outside. We don't even need to run the A/C. Just open the windows.

But Chris wanted to play with our new household toy, so I caved. But after the novelty's worn off, I'll put my foot down because it really is too nice outside to run the A/C at night, and our electricity bill really is going to skyrocket.

Politically, I might be pretty liberal, but in MY house, I'm a fiscal conservative, dammit.

I am huge...

2009-07-15T15:06:00.004-05:00

... and not in the Paris Hilton "that's hot" kind of way*, but rather in the "are you sure you're not having twins?" kind of way.

Seriously, one of my co-workers asked me that this morning. When I said no, she suggested that perhaps I'm carrying both a baby and a puppy. Which is kind of gross (birthing a puppy? ewww), but also pretty funny. Chris and I have often said that the baby should get its own dog, because Rosie's our dog and we don't want to share, not even with our first born.

To date, I've gained 16 pounds since getting pregnant, which is actually a smidgen on the low end — so much for gaining weight too rapidly in the beginning. The main reason I've slowed down is because eating has become quite difficult. My stomach must now be the size of a grape, because I get full extremely fast. As a result, I have to graze all day, eating little bits here and there. Which is actually really good for maintaining a regular blood sugar level for the baby. But it's also really good for your metabolism, meaning I probably burn a crazy amount of calories schlepping my massive self to the bathroom 50 times a day.

So, even though I haven't gained that much so far, currently it's ALL BELLY. This has also led every woman who sees me to say that, without a doubt, I'm having a boy. The fetal heart rate would suggest otherwise, but you know what? Both of these things are old wives tales.

All I know is this: I'm having a baby. Just one. And possibly a puppy.

* I just learned this term from a recent episode of "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," which, other than SYTYCD, is quickly becoming my favorite thing on television.

How I spent my 4th of July vacation

2009-07-06T21:29:00.004-05:00

For the 4th of July this year, we spent the weekend at my sister's friend's annual multi-day party. We've been to this bash before, but this was the first year we stayed most of the weekend.

It was pretty much the perfect 4th weekend: there was swimming, fireworks of legal and illegal varieties, mass quantities of grilled meats and foods served in salad form, and hours of backyard whiffleball.

Here are a few highlights from the weekend:

Me and my new niece, Lucy. Also featured in this photo is my rapidly expanding belly. Thankfully, Lucy is obscuring most of that (because really, nobody wants to see a pregnant chick in a bikini). Next to Lucy's teeny right foot, you can make out my bellybutton, which is mere millimeters from becoming a full-blown outie.

At night Chris, Rosie and I camped out in the backyard, and Jack joined us as well. It was his first time sleeping in a tent, and I think he's a fan. Also a fan? The hosts' dog, Chewy (above), who wanted to hang out in the tent all the time, even when we weren't around.

Chris, demonstrating how with the use of baby sling, your hands are free for important tasks, like drinking a margarita and eating a burger. He is so ready for fatherhood.

Green in the city

2009-06-30T12:52:00.005-05:00

Chris and I recently joined a farmer' cooperative food share program. Every two weeks, we get a box filled with organic produce from southern Wisconsin farms. We got our first allotment on June 17, and we're finally using up the rest of the bounty. We got:

Asparagus
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Mushrooms
Mint
Green Onions
and three types of leafy greens, which we think are romaine, lettuce and arugula, but we could be wrong. For a while, I argued that one of these greens was actually swiss chard. So yeah, we have no idea what we're eating.

Having this stuff around the house has given us an excuse to try out all kinds of new recipes, like this cake I just made yesterday, and this potato salad I'm planning to make tonight, as well as old standbys, like the strawberry asparagus salad I insisted* Chris bring for Father's Day dinner at my parents' house.

We get our next allotment tomorrow. I can't wait to find out what's in there. The program also offers a cheese share, but most of their cheese is raw, which sadly, I'm not supposed to have while pregnant. But next summer? That cheese share will be mine.

In other veggie news, we also recently planted our first garden in our backyard. It features tomatoes, three types of peppers, cucumbers, basil, oregano, cilantro and thyme. Chris' ultimate goal was to grow everything necessary to make Greek salad. Now we just need to buy a goat.

* as you might recall, I hate asparagus, to the point that I can't even handle the smell of it cooking in our house. I know. I'm weird.

I want to hug this reviewer

2009-06-23T08:51:00.003-05:00

I had no plans whatsoever to see Transformers 2 anyway, but the first paragraph of Roger Ebert's review is a thing of beauty:

"'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination."

Read the rest of the review here.

9 Links, June 17

2009-06-17T13:45:00.005-05:00

There's just too much good stuff floating around the internets today.

1. So cute. Rottweilers get a bad reputation, but check out this male rottie that adopted an abandoned wolf cub. Adorable.

2. More cute stuff. They're called "mini-schwein." I want one.

3. Kinda cute. I've watched this video of The Count Censored so many times, but it still makes me laugh every time.

4. Not cute. The 1968 Chicago riot cops are holding a reunion. And if that weren't enough, check out this gem from the article: "Former Police Supt. Philip Cline is scheduled to be a keynote speaker." Unbelievable.

5. I can't stand Joe Buck, so for this week at least, I'm in love with Artie Lange.

6. I'm sure a lot of people have already seen this video of Obama going Mr. Miyagi on a fly, but if not, enjoy.

7. I'm not sure how I feel about the film adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife. I love Eric Bana. I'm undecided on Rachel McAdams. And Ron Livingston as Gomez? But who am I kidding? I almost started crying during the trailer.

8. It only took two years, but I've finally started redesigning my Web site. It still needs some work, but it's infinitely better than my old one.

9. And finally, a BIG congrats to my boss, who just won the American Business Media 2009 Custom Media Innovator of the Year Award. Yay Jim!

Still here...

2009-06-15T12:09:00.002-05:00

...just kind of busy at work and home. Chris and I went to New Buffalo, Mich. this weekend for a little getaway. It was lovely and quaint and the perfect little getaway, although I wish that going once meant no longer having to hear or see those Tim Allen "Pure Michigan" ads.

Birth and birthdays

2009-06-02T14:20:00.004-05:00

About five months ago, I wrote this nice little post about how I planned to celebrate Chris' 30th year for all of 2009. I still have a list in my desk at work with all my ideas for the 30 things I'll get/make/surprise Chris with over the next year. And that list has sat mostly untouched since Jan. 31, the day we found out I was pregnant.

Suddenly, all those lovely weekend trips I had planned and big-ticket purchases I thought we could afford have disappeared as I sink every extra penny into the "maternity leave/day care/holy shit, we're having a kid" fund.

In my the last post on this topic, I wrote about gifts 1 - 6. Since then, I did manage to check off a few more items:

7. New York trip - We went the weekend of Jan. 23
8. Carbomb cupcakes - Made a bunch for Chris to bring into work for St. Patrick's Day
9. Massage in Arizona - I got one, too. Week of March 23.
10. Another weekend in New York, but this time with his guy friends, sans wifey - weekend of May 22

And that's it. My average so far ain't too good, unless I manage to pull off five more gifts in the next four weeks. Unfortunately, most of the ideas on my list are no longer doable, due to the aforementioned lack of funds, or my own lack of ability (like that ski trip I was going to plan for last February, until I remembered that pregnancy and downhill skiing don't mix. Although, now I can add "carrying your first born child for nine months in my womb" and "childbirth" to the list.)

Pretty much, the only things left of the list that are affordable and doable are food related, which are fine, but I need more variety. I've got some brainstorming to do.

A new niece and a belly

2009-05-27T12:38:00.007-05:00

Sorry this took a few days, but here are some pics of my new niece, Lucinda Joy. She was born on Sunday at 7:33 am. 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and 19 inches long.

From My pictures

She looks a lot like her big brother Jack. Check out his birthday pics here.

From My picture

The happy family

From My pictures

Lucy, doing her best Mr. Burns impression. Excellent.

And because a few folks have asked, here's me showing off the bump.

From My pictures

It's sort of a weird pic. I think I was moving or something.