Babies Babies Babies

So it totally feels like everyone I know is having a kid or thinking about having a kid. I am suddenly surrounded by big-bellied women and teeny-tiny hats and socks. It’s scary.

And while many of those soon-to-be parents are good friends, I don’t yet feel a real connection with the tiny little person any of them are bringing forth into the world. Maybe it’s because I haven’t met said tiny people, or seen enough pictures to actually be able to tell any of them apart from one another, but whatever the case may be, I’m just not THERE yet with them.

Until Bradly. Other than a camera phone picture, I have not even seen this baby girl yet and I am blown away. Enamored, even.

Kaci Marie (Herion) Duke delivered Bradly Dawn at 6:14am on December 20. She is 6 lbs 5.5 oz, and 20 inches long. She is the first newborn baby I have ever seen that looks like a sweet BABY and not some weird-shaped bruised alien THING. She’s really damn cute.

Kaci is Chandra’s baby sister and to see her with a baby of her own just about knocks me on my ass. I met Kaci when she was in 9^th grade. 9^th grade!!! We’ve had slumber parties at the Herion house, she has been doing my hair since the days we will lovingly refer to as the “shakira roots incident,” and we’ve laughed A LOT. She’s always done her own thing and walked her own path and has constantly inspired me to try new things and not go with the flow just because it’s the flow. I am so so impressed with the woman she has grown up to be.

Welcome to the world, Baby Bradly! Follow in your mama’s fabulous footsteps and you’ll do just fine ;)

Buddy Christ

Text from SK at 7:16am:

So this morning god decided to play a cosmic fucking joke on me. Walgreens was closed, the bank was out of deposit slips and the gas station was out of gas. OUT OF GAS!

I laughed a little in my car and wrote back, cranky pants SK.

I now have a hit out on my life. Thanks, God.

The blog where I start talking about how I have nothing to talk about and then go off on a random tangent about relationships

Clearly, December has been a bit busy. I have posted a link to SOMEONE ELSE’S BLOG so that you can still have something interesting to read when you happen upon my page, and one Christmas survey. And really, for as busy as we’ve been, I haven’t got a whole lot to say. So I will just start typing and see where this leads. Always scary with me, but here we go anyway!

I've started my Christmas shopping, which is amazing because usually I don't start until around the 23rd. Yeah, you heard me--December 23rd. Booyah. I love buying gifts for people, but hate hate hate the malls at Christmas time. I despise the mall normally, but aroundChristmas they are just insane and I can’t handle them. My mom and I went out last weekend though and had a great time (possibly aided by the 7 or so mimosas we drank at Chandra’s house prior to going to the mall…hee) and I made a dent in my list. Go me.

Work hasn’t slowed down at all, which is both bad and good. Bad in that I never get a moment of free time and end up writing this on my lunch break, and good because I never get a moment of free time and my day fucking flies. Seriously. I feel like I sit down at my computer at a quarter to 8 and the next time I look up it’s 5. It’s awesome. My yearly raise should be decided this week, and our office Christmas party is Friday, and then 2 weeks of 4 –day weekends are coming up, so I have little to complain about as far as work goes.

SK has been sick, finally getting over it completely this past weekend. It never got to coughing and hacking and fever and grossness, but apparently his head felt not so good and he wore his cranky pants for a good portion of the beginning of December. As a result, his sleeping schedule was directly affected which, in turn, affected mine, and we have been going to sleep at 9pm every. single. night. Which, really…not gonna lie…has been pretty freaking fantastic.

We haven’t gone out on a weeknight in I don’t know how long, which is great for our bank accounts and makes Bella happy, but is a huge change for us. We used to go out all the time, to dinner and bars and friends houses and concerts. Didn’t matter what day of the week it was, we were down to drink and have a good time and spend too much money. I don’t know when the shift happened—we blame different things; SK, Bella and the fact that she needs attention all the time and Me, THE BUYING OF THE HOUSE that all of our extra money is going towards. Regardless, we have become a different set of people than we were even 8 months ago, and that freaks me the hell out.

I don’t want to be THOSE PEOPLE who never go out and never see their friends and stay holed up in their apartment and always complain of never having any money to do anything with.

One of my biggest issues with relationships has been the fear that being part of pair meant I would have to change into this person that I no longer recognized. That having a boyfriend meant that I would have to stay home all the time unless HE wanted to go out, and that I would have set nights that I would see my friends because all of my attention needed to go to HIM first. I have seen a lot of friends relationships go south because someone was too jealous or someone needed too much attention or someone was unwilling to compromise on even the littlest things. Probably why I never had a serious relationship in college…I never wanted to lose ME in the eventual US.

When I met and started dating SK, I realized that he was just as into hanging out with his friends and spending time by himself as I was. It’s definitely one of the things that attracted me to him. I was impressed by his ability to prioritize and make room for me in his life without making me his life. It was something I had never really looked for in a guy, because I didn’t know it was possible for someone else to think the same way as me when it came to stuff like that. In SK, I found that someone else.

He keeps teasing me that I used to be able to stay up later than him and was a bigger partier than he was when we first started dating. The response I throw back is, well you aren’t recovering from the last year and a half now, ARE YOU???

I’m not afraid of losing myself in our relationship because I know that SK wouldn't ever push for that to happen, and what's more important, I know he wouldn't let me, but I am afraid that we will become boring and I will fight against that HARD. I rationalize that we are just worn out right now and we need to recoup before the big end of the year parties start happening.

I also think we have just hit a nice place where it’s just as fun to stay home, cook dinner, sit on the couch and watch TV with the dog as it is to go out and spend money at a bar, and for me to announce that to the world and be 100% ok with that is a really, really big fucking deal.

Buddy the Elf! What's your favorite color?

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
If you get your present in a gift bag, you will know that yours was one of the last to get wrapped…I was out of steam and had to throw it in the bag. Don’t worry, I still love you.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Liz, I love how you ignored all of your doctor’s advice and got a real tree anyway. You’re awesome ;)
I have a fake one this year…lots of tree scented candles, though. LOTS.

3. When do you put up the tree?
The weekend after Thanksgiving. I would have put it up in March, but SK forbid it. In turn, I have told him that if he wants the tree to come down, EVER, he is going to have to do it. Christmas trees year-round would make me happy.

4. When do you take the tree down?
When SK decides to do it.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Never had it. Don’t think I would like it. Egg as a drink? Gross.

6. What was your favorite gift received as a child?
I got a pretty sweet 3-story Barbie house with an elevator one year.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
We do, we just don’t have it out. Not enough space in our apt!

8. Hardest person to buy for?
SK. Well, he’s not hard to buy for, but he’s hard to surprise. Mostly because I want to tell him what I got him as soon as I buy it. I’m not a good secret keeper.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
My brother. Kiddo is cool with gift cards.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
One year an aunt was working at Mervyn’s during the holiday season and she gave us all clothes from there. Not such a bad deal, until I went to try and return the shirt because it was too small and I found that I could get exactly $2.13 worth of something else at Mervyn’s. She had shopped on the clearance rack AND used her discount, so I basically could exchange my too small shirt for a sock. Count ‘em—ONE.

11. Mail or email cards?
When I remember to, mail. We haven’t gotten ours out yet this year, though.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. “Merry Christmas! Shitter’s full!” I also love the Jim Carey Grinch, and Elf.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Um…about that…
I haven’t actually started yet. I KNOW. I am thinking about it though. I will get some, hopefully all, done on Saturday. 2 years ago was the worst. I had to work up to Dec 23rd, and decided to go shopping that night after work. December 23rd, people! And I went to the mall. It took me 25 minutes to find a parking spot, no lie, and I ended up calling my mom and screaming into the phone, “how pissed will everyone be if they DON’T get Christmas presents from me this year?!?!” I always end up putting it off until the last possible moment and then I usually shop frantic and mad. Which is weird because I LOVE buying gifts for people. Sigh…I need to work on my shopping discipline.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Recycled as in put it in the recycle bin because I was done with it (ie—consumed bottles of liquor from my brother) or recycled as in re-gifted? Because I’ve done both.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Gyoza. Think Japanese rice paper tacos. SO GOOD. Reminds me of Christmas in Lompoc, with all of the family. And the smell stays in the house for days, so it feels like it makes Christmas last longer.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
I like both, but our tree this year came pre-lit with colored lights. I’m not a themey Christmas tree person…none of the shit on my tree matches. And I love it that way.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
I love any and all Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas stuff. I also am a fan of Sarah McLaughlin’s Wintersong album. But really, I like it all.

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home?
Either. I’d love to spend Christmas with all of the family, but alas…we’re stuck in Houston.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
Really, Rudolph is the only important one.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star. We had an angel one year a loooooong time ago and it was like, animatronic and looked like it was flying at you. It was a possessed angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
We used to go to my dad’s parent’s house on Christmas Eve and do a big dinner and open presents from them and that side of the family. My mom and dad would bring 2 of the presents they got for us to open that night. The rest was done on Christmas morning at my mom’s parent’s house. There were more little kids on my mom’s side of the family so Christmas morning was a bigger deal to them.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
OHMYGOD Liz if you made a “Carmen’s Christmas Sweater” calendar I would SO buy one. I am guessing a lot of former So.Cal Rainbow girls would too!
For me, it’s just the traffic. Houston traffic is already terrible, but throw a holiday into the mix and it’s really almost unbearable. Also, I hate that the weather in Houston can’t ever make up its mind about whether or not to be cold. Hmmmm….80 degrees with 100% humidity Christmas, or 40 degrees and insanely windy? Who can tell?!

23. What I love most about Christmas?
Everything! I love decorating, I love buying and wrapping presents—when I can manage to do it in a timely fashion, I love hanging out with family and seeing friends that aren’t always in town, and I love the music and movies. When the weather is as it should be, Christmas is wonderful.

24. Favorite tradition?
Watching Christmas Vacation and texting Uncle Chip and Aunt Cheryl and Matthew and Elizabeth funny quotes. I miss you guys. Come home for Christmas!

Blog Plug

Since I am apparently going through a bout of writer's block and am incapable of producing anything interesting to post for you all to read, I present you with this:

The Daily Coyote

Unlike me, she has a very interesting blog--about a coyote she "adopted" when he has 10 days old. Really, it's a beautiful story about her experiences in cohabitation with a wild animal and the choices she's making daily in letting him be the free-spirited soul nature created, while making sure he doesn't eat her leg off in the middle of the night.

Enjoy.