...as the Squink does... though to me they are a matter of routine and offer me no excitement.
He loves to;
1) bathe
This evening I heard the bath water running and when I went to investigate I found the boy in the bathtub... he undressed all by himself, he put the stopper in the drain all by himself, he turned the water on all by himself and he got in all by himself.
Do you find this as scary as I do?
2) brush his teeth
If allowed, the Squink would stay in the bathtub forever, it is almost near impossible to get him out... except for one thing... if I ask if he is ready to brush his teeth, he jumps out of the tub and runs to the sink yelling "teeth, teeth, teeth". While I still have to brush for him at the end, he would keep that brush in his mouth moving it around for a good twenty minutes or more, though I have never let it go on and see how long he would really do it.
Tags: squink
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Preemies
Squink was only in the NICU for about 11 days.
Those days were really hard, but they were only 11 days.
Malcom had been there for months, other babies were looking at staying there for months. I have always felt like Squinks' 11 days, in comparison, were nothing, not even worth calling him a preemie... at least out loud to other people. Least they say something like "he was only there for 11 days, that is nothing".
Yeah, I know it is an internal struggle... no one has ever said anything about my claim to be a mother of a preemie as not being valid. Even the mommies of babies that had been there for a while never say that... but there is something that hangs out there in the air like a nasty noxious fume of a cloud that says "but your baby was only there for 11 days".
I can't see a picture of a baby in an incubator without tears welling up in my eyes, my heart feeling a little tighter, my brain getting muddled in recalling those days. those 11 days.
o, I have been trying to read this wonderful blog called sweet|salty for a while... she captures those feeling of sitting in the "pump house", the vocabulary you have to learn... but the truth is that every time I try to read her wonderfully put together story on this journey... but my heart gets tight, my eyes water, and I have to stop... only because there is a certain pain in recollecting those days when we were asked if we wanted last rights done, or as he was semi-intubated, as he was moved from middle care to the NICU... I don't know how parent's survive it, those days are bleak, hard, filled with beeps and dark hospital wards with tons of itty bitty bodies in different sizes with their own corresponding beeps... where you notice anyone else wearing that color coded hospital bracelet that means someone they love is a little baby in the NICU. Faces that imprint in your memory and have no names, where strangers provided little reassurances, and you are so grateful, where setbacks that others have give you almost as much pain as if it were your own partly because you are so glad it isn't you but know that there is no guarantee you won't be next....
I dunno, read her words if you want to know what it is like to have a premature baby in NICU, even though her twins will be there for 3 months, she is describing exactly what those 11 days were for me. At least what I have managed to read so far, before my eyes well with tears and my heart gets that tight feeling and I have to stop.
Tags: preemies
Those days were really hard, but they were only 11 days.
Malcom had been there for months, other babies were looking at staying there for months. I have always felt like Squinks' 11 days, in comparison, were nothing, not even worth calling him a preemie... at least out loud to other people. Least they say something like "he was only there for 11 days, that is nothing".
Yeah, I know it is an internal struggle... no one has ever said anything about my claim to be a mother of a preemie as not being valid. Even the mommies of babies that had been there for a while never say that... but there is something that hangs out there in the air like a nasty noxious fume of a cloud that says "but your baby was only there for 11 days".
I can't see a picture of a baby in an incubator without tears welling up in my eyes, my heart feeling a little tighter, my brain getting muddled in recalling those days. those 11 days.
o, I have been trying to read this wonderful blog called sweet|salty for a while... she captures those feeling of sitting in the "pump house", the vocabulary you have to learn... but the truth is that every time I try to read her wonderfully put together story on this journey... but my heart gets tight, my eyes water, and I have to stop... only because there is a certain pain in recollecting those days when we were asked if we wanted last rights done, or as he was semi-intubated, as he was moved from middle care to the NICU... I don't know how parent's survive it, those days are bleak, hard, filled with beeps and dark hospital wards with tons of itty bitty bodies in different sizes with their own corresponding beeps... where you notice anyone else wearing that color coded hospital bracelet that means someone they love is a little baby in the NICU. Faces that imprint in your memory and have no names, where strangers provided little reassurances, and you are so grateful, where setbacks that others have give you almost as much pain as if it were your own partly because you are so glad it isn't you but know that there is no guarantee you won't be next....
I dunno, read her words if you want to know what it is like to have a premature baby in NICU, even though her twins will be there for 3 months, she is describing exactly what those 11 days were for me. At least what I have managed to read so far, before my eyes well with tears and my heart gets that tight feeling and I have to stop.
Tags: preemies
Friday, May 11, 2007
Eurovision 2007
My votes for Eurovision 2007 go to any of the following:
FRANCE
LES FATALS PICARDS - L'amour À La Française
They are just goofy and I love it, the absolute fave in my brain... who can go wrong with a vespa (wait, was it a vespa? I was laughing too hard)
PAIN
D'NASH - I Love You Mi Vida
They make American Boy Bands look like a bunch of thugs
ROMANIA
TODOMONDO - Liubi, Liubi, I Love You
Uhm, it just cracks me up - singing "I love you" in a gazillion euro-ways with floating planets, or is it humans floating among planets?
BULGARIA
Elitsa TODOROVA & Stoyan YANKOULOV - Water
I am just intrigued, not sure what else to say it is tribal and dark.
ARMENIA
Hayko - Anytime You Need
lip-sinking anyone? and ONLY for that reason... I kept trying to figure out what they were saying in the non-English version that was in the video... it made me want to make up things that they were "really saying".
MOLDOVA
Natalia BARBU - Fight
A pretty girl, a violin and a wanna-be 80's hair metal feel (must be the upcoming reunion that influenced this)
and after looking through the Semi-Finalists I think this group should have not been cut...
ANDORRA
ANONYMOUS - Salvem El Món
because they did a pretty good job of looking like an American Red Dead Day Surfers (yeah, that is a bunch of words from some of the American Bands that I think influenced them).
UPDATE: The winner is -
SERBIA
Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ - Molitva
It was a nice song, but had the feel of "just another dramatic ballad" so I did not even listen to the whole thing until the winner was announced... I still think it is just another dramatic ballad and further proof how how Europe has eclectic music taste very unlike ours here in America... only there could I hear a zippy Tom Jones-esque song right after the Ramones, and just before something like Perry Como... which I did. once. unforgettable
Tags: Eurovision
FRANCE
LES FATALS PICARDS - L'amour À La Française
They are just goofy and I love it, the absolute fave in my brain... who can go wrong with a vespa (wait, was it a vespa? I was laughing too hard)
PAIN
D'NASH - I Love You Mi Vida
They make American Boy Bands look like a bunch of thugs
ROMANIA
TODOMONDO - Liubi, Liubi, I Love You
Uhm, it just cracks me up - singing "I love you" in a gazillion euro-ways with floating planets, or is it humans floating among planets?
BULGARIA
Elitsa TODOROVA & Stoyan YANKOULOV - Water
I am just intrigued, not sure what else to say it is tribal and dark.
ARMENIA
Hayko - Anytime You Need
lip-sinking anyone? and ONLY for that reason... I kept trying to figure out what they were saying in the non-English version that was in the video... it made me want to make up things that they were "really saying".
MOLDOVA
Natalia BARBU - Fight
A pretty girl, a violin and a wanna-be 80's hair metal feel (must be the upcoming reunion that influenced this)
and after looking through the Semi-Finalists I think this group should have not been cut...
ANDORRA
ANONYMOUS - Salvem El Món
because they did a pretty good job of looking like an American Red Dead Day Surfers (yeah, that is a bunch of words from some of the American Bands that I think influenced them).
UPDATE: The winner is -
SERBIA
Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ - Molitva
It was a nice song, but had the feel of "just another dramatic ballad" so I did not even listen to the whole thing until the winner was announced... I still think it is just another dramatic ballad and further proof how how Europe has eclectic music taste very unlike ours here in America... only there could I hear a zippy Tom Jones-esque song right after the Ramones, and just before something like Perry Como... which I did. once. unforgettable
Tags: Eurovision
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Thursday Thirteen
because sometimes I need some form of inspiration...
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
I start with this Thursday and these Thirteen because I thought there was a "weekly theme" and the code I had to paste in was updated to show that... but really when I read more of the directions, it just says to write about whatever... but I am leaving this like it is,because for one brief shining moment, there was a theme and it was about our name and not where I was supposed to insert mine.
Tags: Thursday Thirteen
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1. I am apparently named after one of my father's girlfriends in college (not my first name though) 2. My first name is unbelievably hard to pronounce in Spanish and that created problems for me growing up, so I would go by other names... 3. My brother and I have a "not exactly elegant" pair of initials together, which some of my fathers people (aka family) like to state every time I see them... I am almost 40, it has been old for a while. 4. A translation of my first name says that it means field or plain 5. My middle name means lord or goddess of the sea 6. Both are originally boy's names though that has apparently changed since the 1980's 7. I like that I can make several puns with my first name - ahem the name of this blog. 8. I hated my name growing up (though probably because no one could pronounce it more than I just plain ol' didn't like it) and had a sit down talk with my dad at age 8 about changing it, I actually suggested the following names as options; Reina and Isabella. (I am still trying to figure out where that came from) 9. I get called Claire an awful lot 10. 25247 - my first name using phone code 11. IFF people get my name right, they try to put an e on the end of it... there isn't one, hasn't been... ever. 12. I have many aliases, all legal. This makes filling out some legal forms a bit of a trial though. 13. I know very few women that share my name, and I love that when someone calls out "Blair" within hearing distance, it is 99.97% of the time directed at me. Bonus: I hate references to the TV show "Facts of Life"... for those that knew me way back when also know that "the other name", when the show was running, was a bit to close for comfort. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) |
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
I start with this Thursday and these Thirteen because I thought there was a "weekly theme" and the code I had to paste in was updated to show that... but really when I read more of the directions, it just says to write about whatever... but I am leaving this like it is,because for one brief shining moment, there was a theme and it was about our name and not where I was supposed to insert mine.
Tags: Thursday Thirteen