Laowai

MY POOL

BEDTIME BOTTLE

48% SATURATED FAT

So I’ve been munching away on these dried banana chips. Thinking, not that I was being particularly healthy, but that I was doing a good job of satisfying my afternoon munchies by not eating brownies or chips or butter straight up. I thought to myself, mmmm these are good and hey they probably have a bunch of sugar but look, I’m eating fruit right? So later I casually turn the bag over to read the nutrition panel. I was wondering just how much sugar I was eating or exactly how many banana chips constitute a serving. And GOOD GOD a serving (about 13 pieces) contains 48% of my daily saturated fat. Coconut oil – ah yes – it contains coconut oil. That’s why they tasted so good.

They dutifully label things as fat free and reduced fat. Well, these should have big letters on the front that read FATFULL or FULL OF GUILT or THESE MAY LOOK LIKE FRUIT BUT YOU MIGHT AS WELL EAT A STICK OF BUTTER.

Now I’m back to enjoying clementines. I know they are full of yummy sugar but I also know they don’t have any coconut oil.

AMB23 ENG23 TRK23

DIMPLE

Brian got us a fancy new camera with some of his frequent flier miles. So I’ve been trying to think of some assignment that would be fun and force me to learn how to use the camera. I’ve decided all I need to do is something like this. So if all goes as planned I’ll be posting a photo everyday for the next 30 days.

Along the same lines: my link called 3191 – A Year of Mornings has now become 3191- A Year of Evenings. Two women who live on opposite ends of the country each post a photo every evening. Their photos are beautiful and inspirational. All the morning photos will be published in a book soon (hint, hint).

It feels so nice to check off a major item on my to-do list – new carpet and base boards in the baby room/office. I couldn’t have done it without my mom’s help. She played with Bea all week while I worked on the carpet. The carpet that was there when we moved in was always grungy so I installed Flor carpet tiles to match the ones I did in my bedroom. It’s very easy to install. I also had to install baseboard that had been missing since we moved in. I finally have everything loaded back into the room and organized. The only thing that bugs me are all the spaghetti cords under our computer desk. I can’t seem to get them organized – they are so very unruly.

So here are a couple shots of the new carpet. Plus some photos from Bea’s week of bliss with her Grandma J.

Bea is soon going to be 11 months old. I thought it was time to make a list of what she’s up to lately.

– She seems really close to walking. She’s really good at walking sideways, supported by the couch, the kitchen cupboards, the coffee table, etc. Her little steps are adorable – she gingerly kicks her foot out like there is a helium balloon attached to it.

– She doesn’t let anything go unnoticed. I can hardly do anything in the kitchen when she’s around. As soon as I open the fridge or dishwasher she high tails it over to investigate. The other day when I was trying to make some cookies I let her root around in the fridge for oh maybe 5 minutes so I could get the dang cookies in the oven. Was that wrong?

– She’s also gotten to the stage where she will wrap her arms around my legs and look up at me asking to be picked up. So I end up trying to get something done in the kitchen while planted like a tree – reaching my arms out as far as I can. Luckily our kitchen is fairly small so this sometimes works when she is in her “must eat now” mode.

– She’s been making this “PBL PBL PBL” sound by waggling her fingers over her lips. I should try to get it on video. At least twice a day she entices me to make the sound too and we sit there smiling and being goofy.

– She’s into everything. It used to be our bedroom and bathroom was a pretty good space to let her roam free. But now she wanders into the closet and starts unloading the drawers. Throwing Brian’s t-shirts over her shoulder with a certain zest is her favorite way to amuse herself. It’s probably more exciting because she knows she is doing something she shouldn’t be doing and soon I will run over and put an end to her fun. But no worries she will move onto another recent discovery – the toilet paper. Yes, if you come to our house you’ll be treated to that telltale lumpy, uneven roll of toilet paper. She unrolls the toilet paper with as much fervor as she unloads daddy’s t-shirt drawer. I come upon her with a big grin on her face and her arm wildly and rhythmically hitting the roll.

– We still have sleep issues. Is this normal or do I (as I suspect) have a problem sleeper on my hands. About once or twice a week she refuses to sleep after around midnight or 3:00 a.m. She insists on crying out about every 5 minutes. And this just seems to go on and on and on. Brian and I find ourselves cursing in the dark because we can’t figure out why she is still awake. We try everything and sometimes just to get some sleep, even if it’s crappy sleep, I grab her and lay down on the couch with her. At least Brian and the neighbor that shares her bedroom wall get some sleep.

– Of course the strange thing when you have a horrible night is she acts like nothing happened in the morning and she is her cute and entertaining self bright and early. While Brian and I mope around with a slight feeling of resentment because we can’t begrudge her for her behavior. Mornings like this we refer to her as our little Beast.

– She’s getting into blanket love. She likes to pick up her blanket and play peek-a-boo with me (it’s the cutest thing ever). When it’s close to nap time she’ll pause and burry her face in her blanket. And when I put her down in her crib she puts her blanket against her cheek.

– She does the Bea-bop. It’s when she bops up and down to music or just because she’s excited. Another thing I must get a video of.

– She has seven teeth and her hair is filling in. She likes cottage cheese for breakfast. She’s weighed a whopping 22 pounds 7 ounces at her last check up. She has a ticklish spot on her side. She loves sitting in the high chair at restaurants like a big girl.

– As Dooce said “she makes me feel like my veins have been injected with glitter”

OK now I must go sweep the floor.

Hmmm how did the conversation start? Oh right – Brian gave me a bracelet for Christmas. He bought it at the Jewelry store near our house. The one where I always peak in the window at the pretty jewelry while waiting for the light to change. He was telling me how picking out the bracelet was surprisingly easy and they were very helpful. I thought, of course it was super easy, they want to sell you some jewelry, they know all about jewelry and even though I’ve never gone inside I suspect they are nice and helpful bunch in there. Anyway we were on a walk while we talked, it was New Year’s Eve and he started comparing his experience to when he bought my engagement ring. Apparently I owe my getting married to Pete Vert (one of Brian’s co-workers back at Dow Corning). I guess Pete had been telling Brian that he had a ton of knowledge about diamonds after buying an engagement ring himself and he felt he needed to share this vast knowledge. So, and this seems so strange, Pete and Brian went to the jewelry store on their lunch hour. Pete Vert is a deer hunting, bar frequenting guy who grew up in the U.P. Going to a jewelry store with a friend is not something I picture him or Brian doing. I asked Brian in a hopeful way “but had you been thinking of asking me to marry you before you decided to learn about diamonds from Pete on that day right?” He replied “not really”. He knew we would be together forever and get married eventually but he really hadn’t been contemplating it. So they go to the jewelry store and he casually decided to buy an engagement ring for me. It’s hard for me to believe that it’s so unromantic. Even though I know how Brian operates and he is romantic and loving in other ways my jaw still dropped when he was telling me this stuff. “But when did you know when you wanted to marry me then” I asked. He said he probably decided he was ready to marry me when I had been spouting off about how I didn’t want a big wedding and that I wouldn’t let myself get sucked into the whole wedding industry must have stuff. I can’t help wanting the story to be different – you know something like Brian’s love for me had been growing and he carefully plotted our special engagement. But on the other hand this story makes me love him all the more – because I love who he is and it’s so him.

So he engaged me on Christmas Eve. It was after we came home from having Christmas at Mom and Dad’s. We opened our presents to each other in front of the fire and the ring was inside the last one I opened. He put the ring inside a little book about Chicago Architecture (we didn’t know we would be moving to Chicago a couple years later – we just liked Chicago and thought about it often). He told me two things: he said he had loved me a long time and he liked our life together. So it ended up being a great surprise and it makes a beautiful memory. I think of it every Christmas Eve.

Here we are on our walk to the beach on New Year’s Eve:

Have you seen the stickers on the Chiquita bananas in your store? The ones with all the catchy phrases? It makes grocery shopping fun when I have to hunt down a sticker that I don’t have. Then when I get home I put the new sticker on the inside of a cupboard door in the kitchen. I love it when a simple little design can make something like buying and eating bananas more that just… well, buying and eating bananas.

I had to stick that last one on Bea.