Sweet Disarray
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Wednesday
10Mar2010

Hold, Bake, Love

K has been inconsolable all day. He wants to be held all the time. If he's not being held, he's on the floor writhing and crying and jamming his little fingers into tiny fists. It breaks my heart and at the same time, I'm exhausted. I'm sick too and my body is tired and part of me just wants to lie on the couch and let him wail.

But I don't. Well, not for more than I have to to make lunch or go pee or pick up something off the floor (he's too heavy now for me to bend down while holding him). As I type, he's strapped to my chest, sleeping, finally. I'm standing by the side of the bed with my laptop propt up on pillows. I've been standing for the last hour and will probably (hopefully) have to stand for another hour. If I sit down, he wakes up.

I'm complaining, I know, and this blog is not supposed to be about complaining. It's supposed to be about pretty, happy things or at least thoughtful, considered things. Not tired complaints.

But here we are.

My back hurts.

I'm tired.

I'm sad that my baby feels so bad.

------

C and I started making a double batch of sugar cookies this morning. We've had the TV on non-stop since they've been sick, but C is feeling a lot better and I wanted to give him something fun today even though he can't yet go outside. He loves to bake with me and was so excited when I suggested we make some cookies. I let him open the box of butter and lay the sticks out to soften, he poured the sugar and counted the cups of flour I poured into the mixer. When the dough was mixed, he had a go at rolling it out and then I gave him a little ball of dough to play with while I finished up. (Meanwhile, K was strapped to my back.) The rolled out dough is now waiting in the fridge (I use the Cookie Craft technique - mix, roll, refridgerate, cut, cook, refridgerate again if needed) for us to cut into shapes.

------

From the time I was a very little girl, my grandmother would let me help her in the kitchen. She had (and still has) a tiny kitchen, but there was enough room for me to stand on a stool and pinch pie crusts or just sit up on the counter and watch her work. I loved to watch her cook. I loved to sit and talk to her while she worked. She likes to talk, my grandma, and she'd talk and talk about what she was doing, our family, her life story, her opinions on whatever. It made me feel important. And, when I needed to talk, she would listen, advise, support. Sometimes we would argue. But usually, we would just talk and cook and bake.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
09Mar2010

It is the beating of his hideous heart!

This crocheted anatomical heart was originally intended as a gift, but a turn of events made the gift slightly inappropriate for its intended recipient so now it is sitting quite contentedly on our mantle. Isn't it adorable/disgusting/fascinating?

plush anatomical heart from Shannon Gerard

(The cute-yet-shocking crocheted items at Shannon's etsy shop range from naughty to, well, less naughty and may or may not be appropriate for work. Just sayin'.)

Once our house is more orderly, I'll post more pictures.  I'm having fun decorating the house, mostly in my head, because we're still lacking some essential pieces of furniture - a TV stand and bookcases, for instance. I don't want to put anything on the walls until we find these pieces, but we're on a super tight budget so I'm hoping to find everything we need second-hand. I've also been rearranging the furniture almost daily (Yubo hates this about me, but I can't help myself!) Still, I've never had an actual mantle before and I'm having fun arranging my pictures and knick-knacks on it, like this funny little heart. 

Tuesday
09Mar2010

In Other News

I have a new girl crush:

Carey Mulligan in Prada at the Oscars

She is just too cute. I must note that I have a thing for that pixie look. My favorite actresses (when based solely on the very important factor of looks) are Audrey Hepburn and Natalie Portman.

Audrey!

Natalie!

Pattern?

Aside from her cute little face and adorable pixie cut, I love everything about her Oscar night look. On a night with precious few standouts and more than a few downright what-were-you-thinking looks, everything about Carey's outfit is right. The short in front, long in back Prada dress. The gorgeous beading. Her dangly earrings as the only jewelry. Her understated make-up. Those shoes!! *swoon*

And now I find out that she played Kitty in the not-as-good-as-the-BBC-version of Pride and Prejudice. One thing about the not-as-good-as-the-BBC-version - aside from Keira Knightly, whose acting tends to irritate me (charming pixie looks aside), I thought the girls who played the sisters in the not-as-good-as-the-BBC-version were very good. (Especially Rosamund Pike as Jane - she was perfect!) (As for our dear Lizzie, Jennifer Ehle will always be Lizzie in my mind.)

(P&P forevah!)

UPDATE: OMG, you have to see this!

Detail of Carey's dress via Style Rookie

Do you see that? That is not beading! That there is mini utencils! Tiny sissors! OMG!

I love her so much more now.

Tuesday
09Mar2010

Case of the Swine

So now, rather than thinking we all have different bugs, Yubo has put it in my head that we all have H1N1.

UGH!

I refuse to get all worked up about the dreaded swine. It's the flu. It's perhaps a bit more dangerous than a typical flu strain, which can be dangerous but in the vast majority of cases pass without incident.

I'm watching for warnings signs that something is seriously amiss, but aside from the fact that K still has a low-grade fever after a brief respite, the Niagra Falls of runny noses and diarrhea and C now has a cough/weird voice (but no fever), I think they are mostly okay (kind of, not really). I'm most concerned about K right now. He has had diarrhea since last Monday. It got better (i.e. more solid), but yesterday it was pretty much liquid again. (I know! TMI! But he's a baby. Baby poop is fair game.) He's still drinking and not dehydrated so I'm not too worried. Just enough to disturb my sleep at night. (Heh.)

The irony is that I did mean to get the kids vaccinated. C actually got the first dose (of both H1N1 and seasonal flu), but then he was sick when it was time for the booster dose and then our insurance changed because of Yubo's new job and we didn't have a new pediatrician lined up. Our pediatrician only had flu mist available at the time and that isn't approved for children under 2 so K was not vaccinated. I can't even remember if I got vaccinated for seasonal flu or not, but I'm pretty sure I didn't. I have been getting the vaccine every year since I was pregnant with C, but with the insurance/move thing, I guess I just let it slide this year.

Whatever this is - and I'm pretty sure it's some sort of flu - it sucks. Boo!

Monday
08Mar2010

This Week's Menu

We're not feeling all that much better this morning, but we're also not at all worse. So life goes on.

Here is this week's menu, heavy on simply prepared dishes:

Monday - TJ's BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, roasted small potatoes, something green

Tuesday - roasted mackerel, bap, ggim, miso soup, kkak tugi

Wednesday - sauteed brocolli and garlic over whole wheat penne pasta, salad

Thursday - pre-marinated Chicken Tikka, mango chutney, basmati rice, naan

Friday - TJ's tomato red pepper soup with canned corn and a bit of sour cream, salad

Saturday - dinner with my parents

Sunday - instant refrigerated jajangmyun (it really is much less gross than it sounds) with cucumbers