his first name is barak...

I saw this in the check-out line at CVS Pharmacy (I guess I spend a lot of time at drug stores). First I was confused (why is the "&" there? It's Michelle Obama), then I laughed (Ohhh, Michelle AND Obama), then my English teacher side kicked in and I was annoyed by the whole thing (Come on, people. It's "Michelle & Barak.").

If you're going to use first names, be consistent. Just a little pet peeve of mine. I know the magazine is a tabloid and none of what it says is true, but it should still have an editor who uses parallel structure, right?

{Oh, and as for the other headline story--perhaps we should be congratulating Clint Eastwood for being the only person in Hollywood who actually looks his age. I mean, he's almost 80.}

breastfeeding

Since the mentioning of breasfeeding was so popular in my last post, I'll post my top 10 reasons to breastfeed your baby.

{PS--Thanks for all the advice. Things actually started getting a lot better that day and it's not so bad now. I guess the 3-week mark was the turning point for me.}

Top 10 reasons to breastfeed your baby:

10. It's a way for your baby to prove that he's in charge: he'll stay awake when you want him to sleep, and he'll sleep when you are trying to feed him.

9. It guarantees the kid will bond with and want you even though your husband is the kid magnet of the family.

8. Because nothing makes you feel more attractive than wearing pads on your boobs.

7. So you can have the TV and laptop all to yourself in the middle of the night.

6. It's just a complicated way to get the kid to sit still so you can cut his fingernails.

5. You always wanted to know what it feels like to clamp lobsters onto your nipples.

4. Everyone needs a way to make guests feel awkward.

3. So you'll have more money to spend at Target.

2. It's the perfect time to challenge someone to a weight loss competition.

1. So you can finally fill your over-the-shoulder boulder holders.

'Nuff said.

gross!

I came across these at Walgreens last night.


Who comes up with these? Who thought that sucking on a reindeer's tongue sounded like a good idea? GROSS!

what we've been up to

1. Trying out various cloth diapers. Some seem to fit. Some don't. We got a good laugh when we found Graham like this after his nap. Thank goodness he hadn't pooped.


2. Not feeling like sleep-deprived new parents. Graham sleeps a ton and we are doing just fine. I feel like I've had the kid forever and everything feels quite natural for us. It helps that he's super mellow and easy.

3. Introducing Graham to his cousins. Luca and Graham are less than 2 months apart!


3. Celebrating Christian's birthday. Happy birthday, Christian!! To celebrate his new life as a father, I got him a skateboard. Every new dad needs a skateboard, right?




4. Visiting the cousins in Loomis. Happy birthday, Sutton! We had so much fun. Ian and Kitty--if you can find Christian a good job, we'll come live by you. :)




5. Having a little cry. I've done so so well since Graham was born. But the other day I broke down and cried. Breastfeeding hurts. 2 boobs x 8 times a day x 18 days = 288 painful latches (okay, the first couple days didn't hurt). Makes me cringe. But I think it's starting to get better...

6. Watching Christian's soccer game. Isn't he a cutie?


In other words, we have been having a lot of fun. And we love that Graham has attracted visits from lots of friends. We love you all and have loved all the visits! Keep 'em coming!

Time for me to go get back in bed...

something to work toward

Alright ladies (and gentlemen). It's time to talk fitness. Here's how a conversation with Christian went last night (we were chatting about what we'd like to improve about our bodies):

Molly: Let's have a fitness competition.
Christian: Okay, whichever of us gets into our ideal shape first wins $100.
Molly: Awesome. Deal.
Christian: I can live with my body the way it is. I'm done. I win. Should I go get the $100 now?

Ha ha. Very funny, Christian.

But seriously, I have a plan, and I'm wondering who wants to join me. The Sequoia Trail Run in Joaquin Miller Park (in the hills behind Oakland) is on February 27th. That's 16 1/2 weeks away. There is a 10k (6.2 miles) and a 20k (12.4 miles).

I plan to walk for the next 4 weeks until my body has fully healed and is ready to start running. I will then use the next 12 weeks to increase my mileage 1 mile a week. Sounds like a feasible plan, right?

Reasons you should sign up for this race:

1. It's only $35.
2. You don't have to do the 20k. You can sign up for the 10k! (Or the 30k or 50k if you really want.)
3. There's a limit of about 100 people for each distance, so you don't have to deal with crowds and crowds of people.
4. It's part of the Pacific Coast Trail Runs, which means it's beautiful and all on trail. But consider yourself warned--it's hilly. They don't mess around when it comes to hills. You need to train on hills. And you need to remember that on beautiful runs like this, there's no shame in walking up a hill. Trust me--sometimes these runs are more like hiking. {I love the hills and the hills love me!}
5. You'll be giving me peer pressure to get back into running shape!
6. It's not very far away and doesn't start at an insanely early hour, so you can sleep in your own beds the night before.
7. Packet pick-up is right before the race, so you don't have to make two trips to the race site.



I will be signing up as soon as the registration opens, and I'll remind all of you as well...

And now I'm off to take a walk.

halloween!

We had a very calm Halloween. Friday night we went to our church's "Trunk or Treat" and Graham made his debut as a dragon. The outfit was a bit big but cute nonetheless. And, of course, Graham slept the entire time.


Dianna got to meet Graham for the first time!


Christian and I were jellyfish. Can you tell?


Then on Halloween itself, we sat around all day. We watched the Batman movies. I fell in love with Catwoman's yellow chenille couch. I want one like it some day.


And around 9:00pm, we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. Hurray!

cleaning

Our room is a mess. I seem to be able to keep the living room clean. And the kitchen is clean. I mean, I have plenty of time. This kid sleeps a ton. But our room is the biggest mess. Clean clothes piled everywhere. It's hard to walk.

It took me a few days to figure out why I couldn't get to cleaning our room. Duh. Graham sleeps in the cradle in our room. He wakes up, I feed him, we burp him, we change him, we ooh and aah at him for a few minutes, we swaddle him, and we put him back down for another nap. Then we repeat. Over and over and over. All day and all night.

So it occurred to me--put him down for a nap in his own room! So today Graham is taking his first snooze in the big boy crib. Do you think he has enough space?


Time to go clean my room...

PS--We still haven't carved our pumpkins. Christian promises me we're doing it today. And we need to come up with Halloween costumes, because we're planning to venture out to our church's "Trunk or Treat" tonight. Graham will be making his debut as a dragon. I could dress up as a frazzled new mother, but I'd rather look nice since I spend all day in pajamas. What should we be?

Post-blog edit: I didn't clean our room. Here's how it went:

Christian: Let's watch 30 Rock.
Molly: No, I need to clean our room.
Christian: Let's clean it after we watch 30 Rock.
Molly: No, I want it clean now. The baby will be awake by the time we're done watching 30 Rock.
Christian: Okay, then I'll clean it on my own later.
Molly: Deal.

And that's how Christian ended up cleaning our room while I took a nap after we watched 30 Rock. I sure worked that deal, didn't I?