Thursday, January 31, 2008

Twelve Weeks, Twelve Pounds

Yesterday evening Anja suddenly became very congested and started hacking a lot. She had a miserable night of sleep because she was so full of gunk and coughing all night long, so we decided I ought to just take her in to the doctor to be safe. It's just a cold; he looked at her ears and listened to her chest, and he said that there isn't anything else now but to keep an eye on her because it could quickly turn into an ear infection or something nasty in her chest. For the time being I picked up some kiddie Tylenol and he gave me some nose drops for her to make her snot easier to snork. Anja's kind of funny... she seems to absolutely LOVE going to the doctors office. She never cries until it's time to go. She is all smiles and talk when she is there though, it's really funny!

She's become quite the chatterbox too. She makes cute baby noises all day long. Oh, and she has a new boyfriend (shh, don't tell Toucan) whose name is Itsy Bitsy. Her favorite part about Itsy Bitsy is when all the rain dries up for him and he gets to climb back up the spout again. And aside from that, the only song that will make her happy is the Beatles' "When I'm 64."

Oh my gosh. I drove down to Crawfordsville this evening to pick up Martin who had gone to Evansville today with one of the Wabash coaches and didn't get back until about 6:30, and he had a sore throat. So he asked if we could stop by Vienna on the way home where he could get a chai that would feel good on his throat. We did, and he ran in for his chai (and saw Megan Baker) and came out with a treat for me--a vegan chocolate-cherry tart. OH MY GOSH. It was a piece of chocolate cherry HEAVEN. And since it's vegan, it's Anja friendly!! It is DEFINITELY my new favorite dessert, at least for as long as I'm breastfeeding, but it was so good I'm sure it'll stay a favorite forever. I'm actually really starting to appreciate the veganism around this town lately!

So lately we've come into a few random bits of extra money and we've been talking about what to do with it all. Most ideas have to do with home improvement... fixing the lights in the dining room, tearing up carpet and finishing the wood floors, things like that. One idea is to replace our kitchen counters. For those who have never seen them, our counters are white and NASTY. They are ridiculously clean as far as sanitation goes, but to look at them you'd never believe it. They're soooooo gross. But we've kind of come to the point where we're used to it and don't think about what visitors must think when they see our nasty brown counters... so we might be doing something about it soon. Before we no longer realize their nastiness at all.

I've been keeping up with Mike Prangley's blog... tomorrow should be a cozy day!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Steal of a Deal!

This afternoon I went out to find baby-sized hangers so that all of Anja's sweaters and hangable clothes don't have to be stored in a heap on her bedroom floor anymore. On my way to Target I thought I'd just pop into Once Upon a Child like I'm always meaning to, and see what I find. Pop in I go, and OH MY GOSH. Talk about bargain shopping!! I got an adorable paisley onesie with eyelet trim around the collar and sleeves for ONE DOLLAR. !!!!!!! Their prices are better than Goodwill!! Seriously! Everything on the baby rack is $3.99 at Goodwill, where at OUAC they price every piece individually, so you can find some real deals. Plus, I hit the sale rack where things were anywhere from 30%-50% off. I got six outfits for Anja and spent less than $20. I am wowed.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Let the Cold Wind Blow!

Wow, it's really windy tonight. And snowy. Martin is planning on going into work a little bit later than usual tomorrow to be sure that 231 is well salted before he drives on it, and he said we can go to the bagel place for breakfast!! Yaaaay! This is especially wonderful news because just today I was thinking about bagels and being sad because then I thought about how I have no friends.

I mean, I do have friends. I just don't have any AVAILABLE friends. Everybody went and grew up over the last few years and now I'm all by myself. Tomorrow is my day with the car and I thought, "wouldn't it be fun if Anja and I could meet up with someone at Einstein Bagels after we got back to town?" Then I tried to think of who we could meet up with. And I thought of no one. Everybody is either too tied down, or living in some ridiculously far away place. Joannie's off gallivanting around Europe, Alison has a dumb job, Perkins lives in New Jersey, Anne's in Chicago, and my other three friends (Sarah, Tara and Anna) all have way more kids than I do. I'd like to just have one in-town friend with no job, no children, and no pressing commitments, ever, so I can meet up with them whenever I want. That's how it was when Perkins was in town for Christmas... as long as I could get her out of bed in the morning, she was free for whatever I wanted to do all day long.

Anja has been really fabulous the last few days. She was so incredibly happy all day today. She sat in her swing for SO LONG while I got ready for my day, cleaned part of the bathroom, did the dishes and put away dishes, and started to clean off the kitchen table, and then she finally got bored. The only disturbing thing about her swing keeping her happy is that it keeps her REALLY happy. I think she likes her hanging swing friends way better than she likes me. She just sits there grinning and grinning at this stuffed toucan that hangs over her swing. She NEVER smiles at me like that. She smiles at me, sure, but she doesn't act like she's in love with me like she does with this toucan. It's kind of depressing.

She's been really good all day, but now it's 9:00 and I really want her to go to sleep. She isn't going to sleep though. She's lying in Martin's lap, smiling. She is far away from dreamland.

Anyway, that's it. I'm pretty excited about bagels tomorrow. Some kind of cheese-less bagel with no cream cheese, but whatever. And no decaf coffee cause they don't have non-dairy creamer at the bagel store. But whatever. I'll live.

Monday, January 28, 2008


I bought the other Risa Green book, the sequel to "Notes from the Underbelly" which is called "Tales from the Crib." It is not quite as funny, but I've still laughed out loud plenty of times. Saying it's "not quite as funny" isn't at all saying that it's NOT funny... it's just that "Notes from the Underbelly" was the funniest book I've ever read in my life. And how can anything compete with that? Anyway, it also has a certain level of depressingness to it, seeing as this woman just had a baby and is all sad about losing her figure... which is where I am right now. Somehow pregnancy seems really funny because you know that there is a definite end to it. But losing your spare tire? Hmm.... there's no set date for that. Not even an estimated one. (Which is REALLY too bad.)

Martin has been bringing Skittles home for me as treats since I can't have chocolate these days. Although, you know what? I think as soon as she hits 3 months I'll do a small experiment with regular coffee, or maybe a little bit of chocolate. Because I'm afraid I shouldn't drink decaf anymore... I've been paying attention to it, and everytime I drink decaf coffee, she gets green poops. And I don't imagine green poops are very good. So I'll just be careful with it and finish that bag and then I guess I'll just give it all up either until I'm done breastfeeding or until her stomach toughens up.

I'm meeing up with my good friend Alison on Wednesday!!! I haven't seen her in forever and I'm dying to hear about all her wedding plans and her job and stuff. The last time I saw her was when Anja was only about a week old. That was a long time ago!

We went to Target last night and saw Kier. We always see her at Target. I like our Monday night grocery shopping. It's a nice little ritual we have. And we usually spend a Starbucks giftcard on drinks afterward and sit and people watch for awhile. It's really nice.
Anja has been awesome today. She's been soooooo happy, which makes it easy for me to get a lot done! It's fabulous. We went to the library today. I like having the library across the street because it enables me to go out even when I can't really go anyplace because of the weather. Across the street is nothing. And I got a David Lodge book because I think he's funny.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

From the Desk of Mr. M.E.Schap


Well what a funny day we've had. Martin had to come to work to do some of his usual calls, so Anja and I came with him! On the way out of town we stopped by Vienna for a quick muffin breakfast, where the nicest girl was working, but Anja still didn't give her a smile. Too bad. Then it was off to Crawfordsville! While Martin was at his office Anja and I went to that HUGE antique store down the street, and then walked down to what was Campbell's for a cup of ROOIBOS tea. So nice. We sat in a comfy chair and she was very happy. Then we met back up with Martino and he took us to Uncle Smiley's for dinner. It was here that our daughter was kidnapped by strangers. Not really. She was getting a little bit fussy (as soon as our foods came) and this woman says, "Let a GREAT grandma hold her while you eat!" and since my mom told me I should just let all the well-meaning grandparents have their way, I handed Anja over to this really nice and pleasantly plump grandma and her nice grandpa husband, who was really the one Anja liked. They were such nice people! They held Anja and kept her happy until we had finished our dinner, then Martin bought them their pie for dessert. Isn't that nice?

Martin and I really like pie. It's much better to like pie rather than cake because you can't always get cake and coffee when you go places, but you can always find someplace that has pie.

Speaking of coffee and pie, as soon as Anja is finished with this milk protein allergy, I am sitting myself down and having a big cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate pie. I CAN'T WAIT.

This is my penguin neice, Angelica, sporting her new glasses!!! SOOOOO CUTE!!!!
That's all!!!!

Friday, January 25, 2008

To Be a Housewife

First of all, what is WITH everybody and their no-posting habits? Are the bloggers on strike or something?!? Seriously! How am I supposed to know what's going on outside my house if nobody blogs?!?

The other day on Anne's blog someone made a comment about being a stay-at-home-mom and "think of all the things you can do, read, knit, etc." (I forget the exact quote) and I thought to myself, "jeesh, I WISH I had time to do all those things..." well, today I get to! My mom just called and told me my sister is picking me up in a few minutes and we're all going up to my mom's house to sit in front of the fire and knit. How nice.

Ever since our major cleaning spree the day of Anja's baptism, I have taken a lot more pleasure in my housework. It seems much less overwhelming since starting from a clean slate. Also, I've finally found my routine and figured out when I can get things done with Anja, what things to do while she's sleeping, etc. It's working out pretty well!

Also being a housewife makes for finding humor in really lame things. For instance, tonight I think it's funny that we are eating a lot of chicken for dinner because when I got the chicken breasts out to thaw, they had all melted and refrozen together. So we're eating half the bag instead of the usual two pieces. And when I washed the sheets this morning I found in with them a pair of underwear that I haven't seen in a really long time and I realized they must've been made in with the bed last time I changed the sheets (you don't really want to know how long ago that was.) This struck me as hilarious... a clue that I don't get out much.

But being stuck in the house isn't so bad in the dead of winter, and once springtime comes, Anja and I will be all over town having all sorts of fun. I can't wait!

Hooray for ROOIBOS tea!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Thanks, Yo!

I had lunch with Joannie today! She came by and picked Anja and me up after the noon mass. Anja woke up earlier than usual today though, and as a result, I wasn't able to take a shower. So finally a little after 11:00 I called my mom and asked her if she'd come down and hold Anja so I could get ready. And she did! And I have to say, Anja looked really cute today in her ruffly-cuffed blue jeans, pink sweater and pink socks with her little sheepskin booties!! Joannie and I went to T.G.I.Friday's and had a swell time. And Anja was PERFECT. She was awake and happy when we got there and then, without so much as a whimper, she zonked out in my arms and slept for the entire meal. Then on the way home she made the most miniscule fussies, and was fine by the time we got home! It was great!

Oh, another thing about my mom: for Christmas she got all of us girls a pair of wool tights. Mine are multicolored stripes, VERY cute, but most of all, they are so comfy and warm! And they are not tight up at the waist, they are just normal fitting. They're the most comfortable tights ever. And really great for a one-degree day!

Funny how once you can't have something it makes you want it all the more. For example, I suddenly have this crazy desire to go see a movie in the theatre. Um, hello? Martin and I never did that before we had kids. I think we've seen a total of 5 theatre movies together in our lives, and that includes our highschool days. Why the sudden craving now? Oh, because I can't. And foods... fettuccini alfredo... it's NEVER been something I've particularly enjoyed, but suddenly I want it worse than anything. What's WITH that??

This is what my husband does while he's at work: http://www.bebeaulait.com He says one of these would improve my quality of life. I think he thinks one of the reasons I never leave the house is because I'm afraid to nurse in public. Or maybe it's because every time we go on a "date" I spend the majority of the time in the handicapped stall of the ladies room feeding Anja. And, he might be right. And they are very cute...

I am more than ready for the warm weather to arrive. I'm ready to burn off the rest of my belly by taking long walks. One of the first places I'm going on our long walks is to the West Lafayette library to get a library card over there. That way if the convenient library doesn't have what we're looking for, the better library will.

Let me spend a moment talking about my laundry. Remember the All Free & Clear? Out. Tide? IN!!!! My clothes actually smell good again!! And a lot of the spit-up stains are coming out! I had seriously forgotten what it was like to not smell like baby barf. Aaah, it is a good feeling. I've spent too much of my day today sniffing my shirt sleeves and just enjoying it.

Anja didn't take any really good naps today, so I'm hoping that means she'll sleep well tonight. It's never been that way in the past, but you never know. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Germ Central

I guess it's just that time of year; it seems like everyone on the blogs is suffering through cold/flu season just the same as we are here at the Schap house. Anja's sniffles have turned into a cough, although she is still smiling. Last night Martin came home "early" from work (it wasn't early at all... he thought he'd be home at 9:00 and was home at 8:15 instead) because he didn't feel well and this morning he didn't go to work... he's still in bed! He came downstairs once for some tea and then went straight back up and I haven't heard from him again.

Okay, speaking of tea: I got the rooibos from the grocery store--the same kind I had at the Watsons!--and this morning Anja and I went to Nature's Pharm and got ourselves that giant jar of raw honey... it's a 5lb jar for only $23!!! Considering a medium sized honeybear from the bee man is $7.00 in the summertime, I think this is quite a steal of a deal! And honey NEVER goes bad! You can eat honey that is millions of years old!! How amazing is that?!?? And by the size of this jar, we may well still be eating it when it's millions of years old.

I heard a rumor that one of my nieces is getting glasses. I think this is SO CUTE. I cannot wait to see her in her new specs, she will be absolutely adorable.

I haven't been to the dentist in..... years. It's gotten to the point where I'm nervous to go because I don't really want to know how rotten my teeth are. Remember the last time I went to the dentist?!? I mean, who wants to hear news like that again???? Martin claims he'll still love me when my teeth fall out, but I'm not so sure... who wants to be married to a 25 year old with dentures and hearing aids?

Anja hasn't given us a proper laugh yet, although she does squeal and make other cute noises. Yesterday morning she was making "ooo-ooo" monkey noises and her mouth was perfectly round, it was so cute. Also she spends a lot of time opening and closing her hands. Wow. Talk about a busy day.

I have pictures on my camera that I'm too lazy to get off. I am feeling really lazy this afternoon since I was up early and running errands. This is the first I've gotten to sit down and I'm loving it, even though there are a zillion better things I could (and should) be doing.

I don't think I realized when I was pregnant how tired I was. I literally did nothing for nine months because I didn't have the energy or motivation to do it. (part of that might be because I was by myself for the last months and who wants to do any housework when you're the only one who comes to your house?) But ever since Anja was born (or at least since she was some weeks old) I've done a pretty amazing job of keeping up with the laundry and dishes and general housework. Yeah, after Christmas we got a little overly cluttered, but that was an extreme circumstance.

MY BILL STAINES CD CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY!!!! I listened to it in the car this morning as I ran my errands!!! I only got to track 6 or 7, but I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!! His music makes me so happy. I don't care if it's cheesy. I'm in love with it.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hey Anna:

Where'd you get that ginormous jar of honey you have at your house?? And how 'bout that delicious rooibos tea... and how do you pronounce "rooibos"?

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Easy Like Sunday Morning

What a beautifully lazy Sunday this has been! We went to 4:30 mass last night and it turned out to be a good thing since Anja again again had not such a great night. I know, shocking, considering how long she was awake yesterday! So this morning we lazed around, staying in our jammies and eating eggs. Martin ran an early errand and came home with decaf coffee (which didn't appear to have any affect on Anja!) and Skittles for me, and "Rocky" on DVD, which we spent the day watching! It was so great. I didn't take a shower till long after noon, then we put a chicken in the oven and lazed around drinking tea and playing with Anja. Martin finished "Catch-22" a couple weeks ago and we got our next book yesterday at Barnes & Noble. It is "the Master & Margarita." And since we've got a chicken in the oven, we called Joannie over for dinner! She should be here shortly. And Martin just got back from running out for dessert--donuts!! Hahaha, what a goon!

It's kind of nice when the weekend weather confines us to the house. Yesterday we went out but today was so cold we decided not to take Anja out at all, and look at what a great day it turned out to be! So cozy and fun. If it had been good weather, we would've gone out and even though it would've been fun, it would not have been the cozy tea-drinking day that it was.

I think Anja didn't feel well last night and this morning. She slept horribly, waking up every hour or two, and this morning she sounded sooooo plugged up. She seems a lot better this afternoon, but I wonder if she'll be kept up all night again with the snotties? Poor thing.

I ordered a Bill Staines CD!!! I'm soooooooo excited about this. I can't wait to listen to it. Yay. I love him.

We've decided that Annie Car Day is going to be moved to Wednesday so I don't have to be stuck in the house for four days in a row. It'll break up the week. I don't even know why I take the car anymore... we've started doing our grocery shopping together on Monday nights, we run all other errands on Saturdays, and what do I have to do during the days? Nothing. But it's nice to have the option. Maybe on Wednesday morning when we get back from Crawfordsville Anja and I will get a bagel or something. But my favorite bagels are coated in cheese. *sigh*

Saturday, January 19, 2008

She Who Does Not Sleep

It's after 9:00 and OUR BABY HAS BEEN AWAKE ALL DAY. I don't know what's wrong with her. I mean, nothing's wrong with her, she's perfectly happy. Just not tired, I guess. She's taken little half-hour catnaps a few times throughout the day, but no real nap. And the reason it's so surprising is because she was up all night again last night! I'm hoping this is a good thing though and that she'll fall asleep (soon) and sleep well all night!

We just watched "Coming to America" and it was really funny. I had never seen it before.

I made steak and potatoes for dinner and I made a lot of both and now I'm absolutely stuffed to the point of sickness. It's the same sick I get after eating roast beef and brown gravy served by my mom. Ugh, it's such a gross and familiar feeling.

Awhile back we put up Anja's mobile that her Ooma gave her for Christmas, and she LOVES it. She absolutely adores it. She also loves her musical pull-toy dinosaur from Mrs. Watson. But you know what I hate about both toys? When Martin comes in and turns on the baby monitor back here and then goes and starts both toys singing their different chimey lullabies and it sounds like a horror movie and it FREAKS ME OUT. Oh, but we should totally record them and send them into All Things Considered for their weird sound segment!

Also Anja today got to meet her Great Aunt Anna May! And she was smiley then too. She's been pretty smiley all day, really, which is fabulous.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Choosing Wines

Martin, Anja and I have been invited over to the Aikens house for dinner tonight. Rena has baptism pictures for us! So I went to the store today to get a bottle of wine to take over. Now, I know NOTHING about wine. The first thing I look at is the label to see how cute it is, and the second thing I look at is the price to see how cheap it is. If I find a nice match, I take it. When drinking wine I know that I prefer white to red, sweet to dry, but that's really the extent of my knowledge. I don't even know how to pronounce a lot of them. So anyway, I was at the grocery store today looking at the cuteness of labels, and I found THE CUTEST WINE EVER. It's called "Toad Hollow"!!!!!! And it has this adorable picture of a toad on it, walking along in his hollow!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S SO ADORABLE!!!! Needless to say, I bought it. I really hope the Aikens appreciate it as much as I do, although I have a feeling it would be a wine better suited for, say, Joannie. I hope it's as yummie as it is cute so I don't feel guilty buying more!

The Italian side of Anja seems to be suddenly revealing itself. She's taken to sleeping all day. This makes for some rough nights. Lucky now it's the weekend. The thing is, when she stays up late she usually isn't unhappy... she just wants to be held and walked around. So the other night I put in a movie and walked around the big back room until shortly after 3:00 when she finally fell asleep. Last night we were prepared to stay up and do the same, but luckily for us she fell asleep at about 11:30.

Martin has been working late this week and will continue the trend next week and the week after until February 1st. Evidently that is an important deadline in the admissions office and after that he won't have to work so hard. It's too bad that he has to work all the time, but at the same time, it isn't going to kill ME. However, our parents don't seem to realize this. Every time our families know that Martin will be gone for dinner, I get phone calls from everybody asking if I'm okay, if I need anything, if I want anything, if I'm lonely, etc. It's really bizarre. Nice, but weird. And the funniest part about last night is that Mrs. Schap called for that reason, and then I wrote Martin and email that was a lot like this paragraph. Not two minutes after I sent the email, my dad called for the same reason. !!!!! I asked if he'd been snooping in my inbox!

So last night when Martin got home we got Chinese delivery!!!!! Sweet and Sour Chicken, Flied Lice, and Eggrolls!!! Yuuuum yum, death in a foldy box!!

Hey, I just discovered a whole lot more styrofoam cups back here...

I basically live on Rice Dream, orange juice, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It's not so bad. At least I know none of those things upset Anja Pie's tummy. Better to have a boring lunch than a cranky baby!

My laundry basket is glaring at me...

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

some photos






















Going Back to Purex

Okay. So my sister raves on and on about this All Free & Clear laundry detergent and how it's so great because it has no added colors or scents. I wonder if that's why my clothes don't get clean and still smell like spitup even when I put them on fresh out of the dryer? It's gross. Every one of my shirts is now stained and they carry with them a permanent smell of sour milk. Talk about gross! I'm going back to Purex and I don't care how artificial the colors and scents are, at least I won't smell like a burp rag anymore. I didn't even buy the stuff because my sister told me to. I bought it because they were out of All Baby at the store and the Free & Clear was double the amount for the same price. (They're obviously doing all they can to make the stuff sell.) Well next time they're out of the cheap baby detergent I'll just spend the money on Dreft. One time when I did a load of Anja's clothes, a onesie came out WITH THE POOP STILL ON IT. It was so gross. So I'm never buying that stuff again. I think it's just water with some corn starch mixed in to thicken it.

I was sick today. Well, actually I was sick last night. I don't mean to make this entire post a big blame party pointed at my sister, but I do think she is the culprit. And I think that's why Anja was throwing up and sleeping so much on Monday. Yesterday evening TusaRebecca came down with it and then later that night I did! Lucky for me (and evidently Anja has gotten my good genes for this) stomach bugs never last the advertised 24 hours. I just throw up a lot for a few hours and then I feel great. Well, not fabulous... I mean, I still feel that achey day-after-being-sick way, but it doesn't completely knock me down like it does some people. Also last night Anja decided to stay wide awake until sometime after 1:00 in the morning, and since I was sick, Martin stayed up with her. He stayed home from work for the morning and we all slept in together (including Theodore, who late in the morning joined us in bed and curled up right at the top of Anja's head!) Tonight he'll stay at work until 9:00.

The change in Anja's disposition since her baptism absolutely amazes me. All she does anymore is smile. It's like she's finally become a baby. And I noticed today that her ears look exactly like mine. I can't wait to take her places in the springtime in our awesome Ergo carrier and show her off to everyone. She has a really cute sunhat to wear on sunny days, too.

I'm also really, really glad that she is a girl. I was hoping for a girl the whole time I was pregnant, but now that she's here I'm SOOO glad she is a girl. Not that I have anything against boys... but to go through Target and see all those little pink things...!!!! I love it! She is so cute. Seriously, she's sitting here next to me just smiling at me and making cute little baby noises. What a change this is!

I'm going to put pictures on the computer sometime tonight... I'll post them when I do.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Rice Dream by the Bucket

I'm sitting here eating my Rice Dream treat straight out of the carton. I've been eating it all day. I love it. I'm totally going to look for more at the store tonight and also look for more chocolate ricemilk to drink because I ran out of that too, even though I tried to make it last. Will eating so much Rice Dream make me fat? Not very fast, Martin says... And besides, say I, I have a blue kettlebell which keeps me in shape.

This morning Anja threw up a lot. I worried she was sick. I'm still a little worried about it because she also slept for SEVEN HOURS last night!!!!!!! However, she had a doctor appointment for 10:30 anyway, so I took her in and told him about it and he didn't seem too concerned. She was awake and soooo happy during her appointment, she smiled up at Dr. Beardmore a lot. It was really cute. Plus, she's always naked at her appointments, and I love it when she's naked because she is so fat and cute. She spit up a little more throughout the day and she slept for a lot of the day (except when Kim randomly stopped by and she was awake and happy!) so I'm keeping an eye on her... but she ate when I fed her and she had good poopies, so I won't worry unless it continues through tomorrow.

Seriously! I can't get enough of this Rice Dream!!

Also yesterday a most important thing happened: Anja was baptized! And she was WONDERFUL. So now she is officially a member of the Catholic Church, and I almost believe that until yesterday she was possessed by the devil because she has been so happy since then, it's unbelievable. She was so happy through her whole party too! Then she did have her usual nighttime fit, although it wasn't too intense and I slept through it while Martin walked her to sleep.

Tonight I am attempting to make stuffed green peppers. They were on sale at Target, 2 for a dollar (OH MY GOSH, they are usually $3.99 each at Payless!) so I got some. I'm not sure how to eat stuffed peppers. I guess we'll figure it out. I think the stuffing is pretty good, but it's oniony so Martin might not like it so well. And after dinner we will go to the grocery and to the hardware store.

Oh yeah, she weighs 11lbs 4oz! What a fatty! I'll have baptism pictures to post... sometime.

Time to eat!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Knock, Knock... Who's There?

We got a little bit of a start last night. My family went up to the river and took pictures of the flooded cottages and after dinner they came by to show us the pictures. Mrs. Schap came too. So we looked at pictures and chatted and then they all left and Martino and I went back to cleaning up the house. A few minutes later we were in the dining room and we heard something at the door--what sounded like someone trying to open the door. Assuming that it was one of our mothers coming back for something, I went to let them in. I saw the person at the window and thought, "who is that?" and I kept getting closer and closer to the door until I realized that I really didn't know this person at all--it was a crazy looking man with a long grey beard and big glasses and a hat, and he was trying to open the door!! It FREAKED ME OUT. So I ran back to the dining room saying, "Martin! It's a man! It's a strange man!" Martin peeked around the corner and I guess the guy looked in curiously like, "hey, why aren't you letting me in?" and then he called the police. Martin got his axe and I called Tara to tell her to lock her door, but as it turns out, this man wasn't a robber... he thought he lived here! The police came and arrested him. They took from him a bag full of liquor bottles and emptied them all out in the grass. Then one of the policemen came down to talk to us and said he'd be spending the night with them, that he was reeeaally drunk and trying to find his house. It was kind of sad and funny at the same time in the end, but at first Martin couldn't remember if he had locked the door behind our parents or not. Also, in the end, it was a man Martin recognized as the guy who has come up to him in the driveway before on multiple occasions and asked him for money. But when I first saw a strange hairy face staring it at me, I was very scared!! So that was our exciting night.

This morning after mass we went to Target to do some party shopping. Afterward we sat in the Starbucks out there and had some free drinks. (I had carmel apple cider. It's kind of lost it's fun now that it's the only thing I can drink.) While we were there this big SUV pulled up to the curb and put on his flashers and then this middle-aged man moseyed into the store. I was disgusted. It was 9:00 on a Sunday morning. NOBODY was at Target, there were numerous legal parking spaces ten feet from his car. I became even more disgusted with him when he came in and got a drink at Starbucks. Gross. It WOULD be some Starbucks addict illegally parking for no reason. But THEN, we were watching him and noticed that after he left the Starbucks, he didn't go back to his car... eventually he did... he'd gone shopping!!!! So he had illegally parked on the curb as if he were an unloading vehicle, gotten coffee AND done his grocery shopping!!!!!! And let me clarify: This man was not handicapped. He didn't have a passenger in the car who could've moved it if the firetrucks came. He was just a lazy, lazy man. Ugh! Disgusting!!

I've been hearing a lot of hype for awhile now about the new dollar coins and how they don't say "In God We Trust" on them. But they do. It's inscribed around the edge. I wonder how so many people have missed it?

Baptism and party today... and LOTS TO DO!!!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Welcome to the Schap Refugee Camp... please empty your wellies outside the door

Well, it's been a whole business week since I've posted, and what a week it has been! Doubtless you all heard about the flooding up by the Oakdale Dam that occurred this past Tuesday. Sadly, the Schap and Hatke river cottages (four houses apart from each other) were drowned in the flash flood. My family has had our cottage for 19 1/2 years and never had water in the house... and boy, when it finally got in, it got in!!! The saddest part is not the loss of all the stuff or the fact that we might just tear the place down and start over. The saddest part is that no matter what we do with it, it will never have the same cottage smell ever again. No one was staying at our cottage at the time so we don't have any first-hand information about our house; we'll just have to wait until it's safe to go back and we will assess the damage.

At the Schap cottage, however, it was a different story! AnnLaura was here for a few days with Aurelio (13 months old) and she and TusaRebecca were staying up at the cottage. Around 6:00 Tuesday morning, neighbors came around to tell them the river was flooding. They couldn't leave by car because the road goes under water pretty easily, and it was already under. In the end, they had to climb out of a bedroom window into a canoe, paddle through the yard and across the street to a mailbox and hang onto it until someone came to help them. This was all with Aurelio and Baxter too. Eventually the rescue workers got them back to the road and they were brought to my house, where they stayed until last night when AnnLaura's husband got back from Miami and came to pick her up. It sounds bad to say that it was kind of a fun week, but it kind of was. The bummer of it is that almost all of TusaRebecca's belongings were at the cottage so they were all drowned with the house.

For Anja, the week was not so fun. I've known for awhile that Anja is a lot like her daddy, but I didn't realize she would be WORSE. We've created the most anti-social little girl in the world. Christmas was hard on her, but this week she was kind of miserable. She cried a lot and stayed up at night. (So much for the 5-hour sleep streak!) Usually she is most happy in the mornings but even then she wasn't so smiley. Now that everyone's gone though, she's loving the quiet again. She was soooo happy and calm this morning. We are debating the idea of a party after her baptism on Sunday, especially since the baptism is at 5:00 in the evening. That will be going into her crankiest time, and it's always worse when there are lots of people around. So. We'll see.

You're all invited, by the way.

We went shopping yesterday and I was talked into a pair of jeans for $10.99 from Gap. I wasn't sure they'd fit because I am still wearing a few sizes bigger than my normal size.... this is the size between my postpartum size and my regular size. And guess what??? THEY FIT!! PERFECTLY!!!! Talk about a good start to your day!

Theodore is so fat.

Monday, January 7, 2008

My Chocolate's All Ricey

Thanks to my sister and sister-in-law, I'm still eating well during this dairy-free period of my life. My sister came to my house today bearing gifts(!)--Chocolate Organic Ricemilk!! What a treat. I'm actually being kind of serious--it doesn't taste anything like milk, but it's good. It tastes like a Yoo-hoo. Much like the Chocolate-Chai Rice Dream (that I get to eat out of the carton all by myself whenever I want because Martin doesn't like it) that Anna suggested... as long as you don't go into the experience expecting something remotely like ice cream, it's a nice little snack. In fact, it's quite delicious!

I don't remember what I posted yesterday, so if I repeat myself I'm sorry.

Yesterday was an experimental day with caffeine. I drank one soy vanilla latte in the morning and had half a coke in the afternoon. Big, big, big mistake. Poor little Anja Lasagna. So that's out and I'm being really careful about avoiding the milky stuff, and today she was a delight to be around! Of course, then my mom came over and she cried a lot... but I think she was just hungry. She was awake for most of the afternoon (catnaps don't count as sleep) and she's still awake and happy now! She was very smiley too... if you kiss her on the lips, she smiles big. Also, she has a set of colorful keys that her Auntie Sarah gave her (on the baby shower diaper cake) and she looooves them. Today she grasped them and got a big kick out of it when she could make them rattle by flailing her arms. She was so smiley today.

I think the baptism is going to be on Friday, around 4-ish or so.... maybe 5. Anyone reading this blog is invited, and if I get my house cleaned (QUITE a job) there will be a little party afterwards, possibly with a pie. Of course, none of this is set in stone, so keep an eye on the blog for the real plans which will inevitably come together at the very last minute.

Here's something depressing. You're all going to think I'm completely obsessed with skinniness and that I have some kind of disorder or something, but I don't... however, I would really like to be wearing my normal size again because I have some cute clothes that I'm starting to miss. Anyway, I was reading "What to Expect the First Year" (which I'd like to have a copy of because I find it much more useful than "...When You're Expecting") which I'm borrowing from the library (very overdue, btw, hope nobody's waiting for it) and it was talking about the age-old debate about breastfeeding in relation to fertility. This book said that for most women, fertility stays away for at least some months, and often until the baby is at least partially weaned. Then it went on to say that fertility COULD return as early as six weeks, if the mother has "substantial fat reserves" and a high BMI (body mass index.) Well. If that doesn't just make a girl feel good about herself. I know I'm obsessing about this, and I know that this whole topic is just screaming "T.M.I.!!!!!" but I can't help it. It's what's on my mind. However, on Sunday I pulled my darker pair of post partum jeans out of the dryer and were delighted to see that they were hanging just the teensiest bit loose!

Oh! Speaking of cute pants! We kind of randomly went to the cottage on Sunday and TusaRebecca randomly went with us and she was going through her clothes up there, and I got first dibs on the Goodwill pile! Along with some cutie shirts, I got a REALLY great pair of brown J.Crew pants that she bought and wore once, only to find them shrink in the wash so much that they were too short on her! Bummer for her--PRESENT FOR ME!! They're really cute.

I'm working out, using my cute blue kettlebell, and one of the things I do is what's called presses, and they're really fun.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

I Think My Boobs Are Shrinking

Is this normal? Suddenly my chest is not as ginormous as it was (although one side is still slightly bigger than the other) and I don't seem to have as much milk. This is sort of a good thing because it means a few things: A) I don't have such discomfort from my top-heaviness B) I'm not spraying all the furniture every time Anja randomly detaches C) She doesn't nearly choke to death at the beginning of every meal. Now, keep in mind she was for a long time only eating off one side, and on that amount was going hours at a time without eating anymore, and cleary she's gaining plenty of weight, so I know that she isn't starving or anything. But suddenly today on that method she never seemed satisfied so I started feeding her from both sides. Is it normal for my milk supply to suddenly go down like that? I really hope that the lack of MY milk isn't a result of my lack of DRINKING milk, because this could be a really miserable situation.

Also, caffeine is out. We experimented today and it was a bad day. The experiment went very badly.

However, our day wasn't all bad. We went to the Watson's for dinner! Joannie made us a scrumptious dinner of turkey, veggies and potatoes (all deliciously cooked) and we supplied the white wine and the party included Matt Spencer and later in the evening, Dr. and Mrs. Watson themselves! It was great.

And this is all the time I have for tonight. The new baby's name is Julia Noel, very pretty.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

My Week in Pictures
















And Now We Are Seven!

Here is the newest member of the Hatke side of our family! Weighing 7lbs 3(?)oz, she was born around 6:00 this morning (January 5,) sharing a birthday with Mr. Denver, Aunt Josepha, Cousin Trevor, among others I can't now remember. A popular day! I'm not just teasing you by not posting her name--she, as of yet, doesn't have one before Hatke. But she is a doll, and she looks JUST like her big sister Zita! I got to hold her... but of course she cried. I am cursed. Babies hate me. I can't wait to find out what they decide on for a name... I'm voting for Natalina, but Martin likes Lucy Noel. Also in the running is Julia. We shall see!
Oh yeah... in case you don't know whose baby this is, belongs to my brother Ben and his wife Anna.

So now our family has FIVE GIRLS. And two lonely boys. If my sister Sarah has a girl in March/April, these three new ones will be quite the trio. I hope they like each other. It'd be kind of sad if they were all the same age and weren't friends.

I made stirfry tonight and it didn't turn out as yummy as the last time I made it. For our wedding we were given a wok from Mrs. & Suzanne Spencer, and we love it. The only problem I can find with it is that it's huge--much huger than any of my cabinets! But tonight's was okay. Last night we spur of the moment decided to go up to the Klein Brot Haus for dinner! That was fun... Steve and Angela weren't there but Jerry was, and he was happy to see us, exclaiming when we came in the door: "Let me see mah bay-bayee!" Hee hee hee... I love Jerry.

I have re-fallen in love with Bill Staines, just for the record. And John McCutcheon.

Here is our new and improved baby girl. This is the beginning of a much bigger smile for her daddy. She smiles all the time now! And the really great news: I drank coffee this morning!! And NO SCREAMING!!! What a fabulous thing. So even if I can't have mochas and chais, at least I can have regular coffee. Doesn't she look like such a red-head in this picture? She doesn't look like so much of one in person, I don't think... but it'll be interesting to see. Her eyes are still blue. When did other people's babies eyes change? Sarah's babies are practically born with black eyes... well except for PX whose got greenish ones. His stayed blue for a long time though, didn't they? Okay, now I'm just basically "talking" to myself on my blog....
We went up to my parents' house today (also spur of the moment) after visiting with our new neice, and had a really fun time. It's always funny to hang out with my parents when no one else is there. The conversation seems a little different than it is when all of us are together. And they had these delicious gingerbread cookies!
I'm going to make another post in a minute of just pictures... one of them featuring my new blue kettlebell!!

Friday, January 4, 2008

WARNING: Mean Post Ahead

I really like getting on Facebook and looking at pictures of people who obviously spend WAY too much time practicing their smile in front of the mirror. It annoys me so MUCH!!!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Year, Newborn

Well, the demilkification results are in and screaming positive! After only two full days of milk-free living the difference is so huge it's amazing! She smiles all the time now. Great big smiles! She must feel SO much better.... I wouldn't smile either if I had a perpetual stomach ache. Nobody would!

Anyway. New Years was boring and lame, as it always is. Like Caitie said in her blog, New Years always starts with these great plans to be wonderful and romantic and full of nostalgia and bliss... but seriously, who has EVER had a New Years like that outside of Hollywood? The best New Years I've ever had was the year when at the time it was really rotten because the guy who was supposed to be my boyfriend at the time obviously had better things to do than to hang out with me (or even call me at midnight to wish me a happy new year and make kissy noises on the phone) so I went to midnight mass with Caitie and Matt and afterward a bunch of people met up at my apartment (my Sarah's House apartment) where we hung out grumpily, agreeing that New Years is lame, and Caitie and I decided to live together. And she was wearing really cute wellies. This year was just as boring as any other year. In afternoon we bundled Anja in a sling and walked over to the Starbucks on the levee to meet Matt Aiken for coffee. It felt GREAT to get a walk. For the big changing of the year, however, we put Anja to bed early and split a beer. Then Anja woke up about a half hour later and we spent a good chunk of the night driving around in the car trying to calm her down. We went to McDonald's for coffee and orange juice and talked about sad, lonely drunk people on New Years. When Anja finally fell asleep we were well into 2008.

I realize that ever since Anja was born my blog posts have become incredibly boring. I'm sorry about that. We don't get out much though, especially with the cold weather. I'm really looking forward to springtime temperatures so Anja and I can start taking walks. As I told Joannie in an email this morning--I'm not getting cabin fever, I'm just getting fat.

Last night she slept for four hours, woke to eat, and slept another four hours. Fantastic!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Milk Allergy Experiment

So, we're experimenting with the possibility of Anja having a milk allergy. If I'm to cut out the milks that give her the gassies, what does that mean I can and can't have? And if it works, how long does the milk-free diet last?