A Star Is Born

5-11-05a
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

It's pictures like this one that make me think everyone is right when they tell me Nathan should be in baby ads. Everywhere we go they smile at him and he flashes a big flirty grin back, and they say "Oh he looks like a Gerber baby!" or "Oh he has the most beautiful face and eyes and he's so expressive!" So since the kid is presently eating us out of house and home I have decided to see if he can earn a buck on his good looks. I'm not gonna be all high pressure, but if someone wants to take his picture and pay me for it, why not? We'll keep you posted. Baby Gap, here we come!

First and Future Fourth Generation Chemical Engineers

Grandad
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

This is my paternal granddad, a man I have a tremendous amount of admiration for. He came from a poor pastor's family and got his BS and PhD from MIT in Chemical Engineering back in the 40's. He was smart enough to start saving money and investing in the stock market then. He worked his entire career for Shell Oil until he retired. Then his expertise was so sought after he traveled the world consulting for the next ten or fifteen years. (I lose track of time) Now at the age of somewhere around 85, I think, he still writes scientific articles for magazines and encyclopedias, he still teaches senior plant design to the chem eng students at the University of Houston, and he does the NYT crossword puzzle everyday in pen, and usually finishes it. He is brilliant and kind and sometimes witty. He is progressive beyond belief, attending an all black church (except for 5 people...it used to be all white 50 years ago) and using sophisticated process design software on his laptop. He give tremendous amounts of time and money to his church and to the Rotary Club's various service projects. And he treats his wife of 60 years, my grandmother, like gold. I could go on and on. His heart is often heavy since losing many of his friends, and his only two children, and seeing his wife age. But he plugs along, trying to keep his mind sharp and spreading his quiet kindness everywhere.

I couldn't have said it better myself

The Voice of Desperate Housewives - It's preachy and banal. Just like the show. By Matt�Feeney

A well written article on how Desperate Housewives went downhill....really fast. I won't be watching next season.

Girls Night Out

Last night was officially my first real girls night out since Nate was born. Check that, since I got pregnant. My best friend and I first went to our old high school to a reception for three of our teachers that were leaving the school. This may sound odd to some, but when you go to a private school for 12 or 13 years it becomes like a big family. Even though I hadn't spoken to my favorite teacher, my chemistry teacher, since I graduated, he immediately shouted "Look at you, Miss Marple (my maiden name)! How ya doin'?" and gave me a big hug. We spoke to a couple other teachers and four of our classmates. Then the real fun began and we went out for dinner and drinks. Well, only one drink really because it was a very strong cosmo and we were both driving. But we talked and talked and drank and it felt like the old days.

I had a flashback of the last time I drank a cosmo....L.A., October 2003 with my old boss, my current boss and his wife. I remember it was like drinking with the enemy because he was working for my competitor. We were in this gorgeous old hotel lobby, I can't remember the name. I think I remember being in a dress and high heels because the walk back to my hotel was hard on my tootsies. Those were the days.

Anyway I got home and was never so grateful to my husband for letting me out for a drink with my girlfriend while he put the very fussy, teething bambino to bed.

Did anyone see Rob and Amber get married?

I had to laugh when Amber was back in her hometown of Beaver, PA and her dressmaker said "this hem needs adjusted". For those of you that don't know, using this kind of grammer is a total West/Central PA thing. The first time I heard it was when I arrived my freshman year at Penn State and moved into an all honors students dorm. This guy a few doors down from me said something like "this room needs cleaned right away." I did a double take and asked him to repeat what he said. A girl standing nearby explained the dialect wherein they leave out the words "to be" when using certain verbs. I bristled at this misuse of grammer and the guy proceeded to emphatically insist that this lack of "to be" was perfectly correct grammer. He was, after all, an honors student who had gotten a 750 on his verbal SATs. He even said his mother was an English teacher in his hometown somewhere near Pittsburgh. We agreed to disagree and I got used to hearing it from alot of people. Including my future husband when I first met him the next year. I still hated hearing it but he was from Williamsport and his whole family used it. The scary part is how soon I picked it up.

Pepper on Puppywars

Here is my first baby Pepper as a star on Puppy Wars. Click the home link to play.

puppywar.com

Update: *********************

Robyn made me add a warning that this Puppy Wars game is very very very addictive.

So Not Fair

My favorite heroine of daytime television is back from maternity leave a mere 6 weeks since the birth of her baby. I love Elisabeth Hasselbeck because she's young, cute, and conservative and she stands up and voices her opinions against all the liberal ladies (ladies? that's too kind) of The View. Now Elisabeth has come back wearing a dress that blatantly flaunts her milk-filled breasts against her teeny tiny waist. Now granted, I had the same cleavage....but that little waist and the glowing skin that makes her appear well-rested are not right only 6 weeks later.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck's New Rack

One Red Balloon

Bouncy Balloon
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

We brought a balloon home from the resturant and one very exhausted baby had a ball playing with it. He did not succeed in popping it with his one sharp tooth, thank goodness!

Dinner Out With Nathan

This weekend my grandparents stayed with us during their annual drive from their home base in Houston to their summer home on the south shore of Boston. It was the first time they had seen Nathan since he was a month old. It has been fun watching his antics as usual. My grandmother tearfully brought us the silver bowl and cup she had used when my dad, who passed away several years ago, was a baby. They offered to take us out to dinner tonight so we took them up on it and headed down to the local family resturant. We didn't call ahead like everyone else so we had to wait awhile. When we got seated Nathan was far more interested in the toddlers at the table next to us and their big red balloons than his food. They finally left and he started showing signs of tiredness and irritability, very unlike him, but he is getting ready to cut another tooth. Mike and I finished our meals so we took turns holding him and trying to keep him from squealing or crying. While I was holding him as we waited for our check I handed him a piece of a garlic breadstick to suck on. He seems to love the buttery garlic flavor, but after he had sucked on it awhile he proceeded to set it down on the shelf that is my chest and leave it there. At this, Mike said "I'm saving that for later, Mom" and we all burst out laughing. I guess they are useful to Nathan even without being full of milk.

Airline Mergers

US Airways (my airline of choice, being from Philly) just announced that it is merging with America West. This is GREAT news for me. I used to fly US Air almost all the time and racked up a ton of miles with them. I used most of them flying to California and Texas for my uncle's funerals last minute Xmas of '03, but I still have just enough for one coach ticket. The good thing is they aren't going to go under and make me lose those miles before I get to use them. The even better thing is they are combining frequent flyer programs and I actually have 23,000 miles with America West, which is just enough to be worthless. I used to fly to California alot with America West. I could use it if I wanted to fly from say, Palm Springs to San Francisco or something, but I can't go anywhere from Philly with them. Until now. Now I will have enough for two coach tickets on US Air from Philly. Perfect!!

Speaking of frequent traveler programs, I have recently discovered the wonderful world of downloading music thanks to my otherwise useless United Airlines miles. I had just enough to change in for 100 free songs. Then I also turned in my Northwest airlines miles for 25 free songs. I cashed in some Holiday Inn miles for a couple magazine subscriptions. I have all these handfuls of useless miles in every single program known to man because of all the travel I did with my old job. I do miss it.

Looking Out The Window

Looking Out The Window
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

There's so much cool stuff waiting to be discovered outside.

Pepper Knows

Pepper Knows
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

Nathan hasn't figured out the game of throwing food to the dog yet, but Pepper has figured out that occasionally things drop by accident.

Would Jesus Be a Republican or Democrat?

Ok, I know this is way more serious of a subject that I usually post about, but I've been talking politics and religion with a lot of people lately and perhaps I will get some good comments about this. I just want to share my own personal, off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts.

I think the real answer is Jesus is above politics and would not register with either party. I think we can find ideals similar to His in both parties. I'm not saying He doesn't care about the government, clearly He does. He commanded us to respect the government as our leaders. "Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar's and give to God what is God's." (Matt 22:21) Funny thing, everything is God's. Anyway, there has been all this talk of late about Evangelical Christians claiming that if you're not a Republican, you're not really a Christian. Well I'm an evangelical Christian and that's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Yes, I'm a Republican. I believe in the limited role of government. I am militantly pro-life and I know Jesus would be too. But I have Christian friends that are Democrats because they believe Jesus would want us to help the poor and disadvantaged. They're right, He would. And they're right that He preached love and would hang out with the worst offenders. But only if they wanted to hang out with Him. And He would show them the error of their ways, in His gentle, loving way. Not just homosexuals or adulters or prostitutes, but all of us. I don't think He would want us to legalize gay marriage, but maybe He wouldn't care that much. He cared more about people, one-on-one, than about the law. He broke the law of the Sabaath lots of times in order to reach out to individual people.

I've been learning to be much more open minded lately. I've been trying to hold to my values while showing people GRACE. The grace that God has shown me. That's my ideal, that we Christians would demonstrate grace in a way that would amaze people.

Please, tell me what you think. As long as you keep your comments thoughtful and avoid name-calling or personal attacks, I'll welcome your opinion.

I'd like to buy a vowel

Tonight we went to the big mall for dinner and a stop at Old Navy to exchange some shirts I got for Mother's Day. On the way to the mall I turned the radio on to the ABC channel, that broadcasts whatever is on ABC tv at the time. I did this because a kayaker went missing in the river right behind our house and four news choppers were hanging overhead, so I wanted to hear what was up. Anyway when we were leaving the mall we got in the car and turned it on and the ABC radio came on. Wheel of Fortune was on.

Pat Sajack: "There's one L"
Contestant: "T!"
PS: "There's two T's"
Contestant: "I'd like to buy an E"
PS: "Four E's!!"

Mike: "Radio Wheel of Fortune SUCKS!! We know there's one L, two T's, and four E's....uhhhh wait...what is it....uhhhhh.....oh I know.....uhhh....how am I supposed to know what it is when I can't see it!!!!!!!!"

My Radio Debut

On the way to my friend's graduation on Saturday I was listening to the local Philadelphia talk radio station (because I was driving Mike's car and he left it on) and they told a story that got me fired up. A little kindergartener at a local elementary school was invited to have his mother come in to the class and read his favorite book as part of "Me" week in his class. His personal favorite book, above all others, was the Bible. He carries three little Bibles around in a knapsack and his parents read it to him once or twice a day. The mother thought just four verses out of Psalm 118 would be appropriate for the class. (I would agree) When she arrived to read the book, she got a nasty reaction from the teacher, was told she could not read the Bible because it violated separation of church and state, and was handed an alternative book to read. The alternative happened to be a book about witches. (Witches are definately religious, part of the Wiccan religion.) The mom and her lawyer were on the radio, and the host took callers, asking if they agreed or disagreed with the school's reaction. I was so mad I called in on my cell phone as I drove and got through right away. They put me on and asked me if I agreed with the host that this boy should have been allowed to have the Bible read. I said "Yes, I absolutely agree! I'm sick and tired of Christians being discriminated against in the public school system. When is the last time you saw the ACLU defending a Christian against this kind of discrimination?" At which point the lawyer jumped in with "I'm so glad you brought that up...blah blah blah". I was about to say some other stuff when I heard the "Beep beep beep" of my cell signal going out. ARGH! Guess it wasn't meant to be.

Agapepress version of the story here. Fox News article here. AP article here. National Constitution Center article here.

Shout Out

Alexis, Abigail, and Me
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

Major congratulations are in order to my bestest friend, the one in the middle there, for getting through some serious tough times and graduating with her Masters of Divinity. She had the highest GPA in her program! All my friends are such smartypants. Way to go girl, see you in Nashville!

We are...PENN STATE!

5-12-05d
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

Nathan has outgrown yet another size of clothing, so even though he hasn't even turned 8 months old yet he is wearing 12 month clothes. So I found these cute pjs in his big closet full of brand new 12 month clothes just waiting to be worn.

Fisher Price Monuments

Blocks2
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

Looks like Dad was playing with Nathan's blocks after Nate went to sleep last night. Did I mention he's an engineer too?

Sit Right Back and Enjoy a Tale

TBS just announced their new cast for this season's show "The Real Gilligan's Island" and guess what....I KNOW THE PROFESSOR! I am flabbergasted to learn that a guy I am currently working with who is a professor at Duke spent two months last fall shooting for the show. We had been talking for a few months and I finally met him in person a few weeks ago over coffee at Duke. We got along famously because he's young, adorable, and we share a passion and knowledge of wastewater treatment technologies. He and I sat and had a brainstorming session for all the research he and his students are going to conduct for us and all the papers we are going to write together and grants we are going to get. When I first saw him I thought he was a student because he was walking across campus with a backpack and khakis and a plaid shirt on, and he has a goatee. It was only looking at his face up close that I noticed the lines of experience around his eyes and smile. He neglected to mention his little adventure on the island, but I'm sure he was under contract to keep it secret. There are rumors of him being involved in a love triangle between Mary Ann and Ginger, but I find that hard to believe since I know his fiance too. She just moved from Kansas City out to Carolina to be near him. Season starts June 8 and you KNOW I will be watching!

tbs.com - The Real Gilligan's Island 2 - Professor - Green team

Article about Andy in North Carolina newspaper

Andy's Webpage

Andy's Profile at Duke

************************UPDATE***********************

Ok, now I'm a little embarressed because Andy found my blog and corrected me that he and his girlfriend are not engaged. My mistake. So, on with the love triangle! I just hope this doesn't hurt his chances of getting tenure.

WTF?

I thought tonight was supposed to be the big finale of The Apprentice! I was tricked! I wondered a little why it wasn't hyped more...now I know. Well, at least I don't have to wonder who will win next week. I liked Tana going into this episode but now I think her "I'm a really nice person" act is just that...an act. She's got a major attitude problem. She blew it, bigtime. I didn't think much of Kendra, but she did a good job, kept her priorities straight, and motivated her team. She may not be a cut throat competitior, but she'd make a good middle manager anyway. College education DOES add something to the equation, and Tana's attitude is probably characteristic of those who have had to scratch and claw their way up to make up for the lack of a degree. I understand her dropping out of college to follow her husband, but she should have finished in her new location. I have less respect for someone who went through 3 years of college and didn't finish than someone who saw another calling and never went at all.

Standing

Standing
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

It's hard to tell from this picture but the Natester is standing up, leaning on a little table I bought him at a yard sale for $2 this weekend. I'm just making sure he doesn't fall back and crack his head on the fireplace. Doesn't he look pleased with himself.

She Thinks His Tractor's Sexy

Zellweger, Chesney Tie Knot
This is more of a shock than the Tom and Katie thing! I thought she was into really strange guys, first dating Jim Carey and then the guy from the White Stripes. And Kenny!! I thought he might be a bachelor forever. They've known each other for about two hours. Well you know what they say about "when the sun goes down"!

Yes, I'm Bragging

Somehow, either by training or divine providence, my son is an awesome sleeper at the age of 8 months. He has been an awesome sleeper for at least the past three months. He goes to bed easily around 8:30, wakes up occasionally with a momentary wimper in the middle of the night but puts himself right back to sleep, and wakes up sometime after daybreak. Since daybreak has gotten too early for me to get my butt out of bed, we have taught him to go back to sleep in the mornings until I'm good and ready to get him up. Last night he woke up around 3:30 am and had a happy little chat with himself for 10 or 15 minutes. I thought to myself that he may have a dirty diaper and that's why he's so awake, but I didn't want to risk making him mad by changing his diaper and then leaving...so I just left him to go back to sleep on his own. He made a few quiet peeps around 6 am but I ignored him and he went back to sleep long enough for me to shower and get dressed. He has recently started rolling over onto his tummy in his crib and fussing a little when he gets stuck there, but I think he has found that this is actually quite comfortable for sleeping. When I finally got him up he was sound asleep on his tummy, with an extremely gross poopy diaper. I can't believe he didn't yell at me to get him out of that predicament earlier. He naps wonderfully too, twice a day for an hour and a half. Enough for me to get lots of work done.

I chalk it up to following Ezzo's book "On Becoming Babywise", almost to the letter. I'm sure my next one will be a holy terror.

Nathan's Favorite Band is Aerosmith

Hands down, no contest. The child never watches TV, even though it is almost always on when we are in the TV room. He usually sits and plays, oblivious to the noise and motion of our 36" flat screen with surround sound. But there is one commercial that immediately causes him to stop whatever he's doing and turn to look, mesmorized, at the screen. It is this commercial for Buick. At first I thought it was just the song that catches his attention. But I think now they play the commercial so frequently that the sound of the waterfall at the beginning alerts him to the fact that the song is about to start. I think he knows it's coming even before they play the notes. It's amazing to watch, we'll be playing on the floor and he'll look up and stare even before I realize the commercial is on again. The just as soon as the next commercial comes on he looks down and resumes sucking on his blocks. Yesterday he was in his highchair, getting ready for dinner, where his view of the TV is obstructed by a half-wall. The song came on and I glanced over and noticed him craning forward out of his seat, trying desparatly to see around the wall to the TV. Well, at least the kid has taste.

In looking for the link to this commercial I found this very good article about rock music and commercials.

The Worth of a Mom

In the past week every major news outlet and talkshow that I watch on TV has run a story on how Salary.com tabulated that if a SAHM was paid what she was worth she'd make about $130,000 a year. They say she works 100 hours a week and her duties include those similar to a child care worker, chauffer, family accountant, receptionist, chef, gardner, home repairman, cleaning lady, etc.

All I can say is that if I were being paid for being a SAHM with all those types of duties, I would get fired by whoever my employer was! I only have one little kid to take care of and he is often left to entertain himself while I check my email or unload the dishwasher. My floors are almost never mopped, rarely vacuumed, and there are small orange stains in a few places from post-carrot drool. And dusting?? Get real. Gardening is not for me, I hate digging around in the dirt on my knees while bugs fly around my head. I'm a pretty good driver but my once prized vehicle has three chips in the winsheild, a busted sideview mirror, and hasn't been washed or cleaned out in....6 months?! And as far as being a chef goes....if it doesn't come out of a box I don't make it. Even then it's usually only 3-5 times a week with the rest going to fast food or pizza. I can fix a few things when they break and the bills are never late. But if I were my boss, I'd definately tell myself "Sarah, You're FIRED!" Good thing I'm not getting paid.

Nathan has a girlfriend

Her name is Keira. She's 10 months old. He's into older women. She's more experienced than he. Much more petite too, weighing in at only 16 lbs compared to his 21. I would post a pic of the two of them but I don't know if her parents would want me to. Tonight we had Keira and her big brother and parents over for dinner and a movie...Nemo. The two got along famously. Nathan gave Keira a big slobbery kiss on her forehead and Keira squeezed Nathan's chubby foot. She can crawl so she crawled her way right on over to him. He just sat and stared, wide-eyed and mouth agape. She makes him laugh and he makes her laugh. They both laugh at Pepper together. They even shared a purple plastic baby spoon for sucking on. But alas, Keira lives back in our old hometown of Wyomissing, 30 miles away. Nathan probably won't see her again till she's running around and leaving him in the dust. Maybe then it will give him motivation to get mobile.

Big day of hitting all the local yard sales tomorrow morning looking for cheap toys and baby clothes. I scoured the classifieds and scouted out the locations on mapquest. I have formulated a plan of attack for optimum bargain hunting, seeking out the nicest neighborhoods first and traveling efficiently from one "multi-family sale" with "baby stuff" to another. Geez, I am such a mom.

Boppin'

May3 001
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

Nate's favorite game is where he and I take turns bobbing our heads up and down while babbling.

May3 008

May3 008
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

Here is that face again. If you look closely you can see the tooth.

Wed night TV

While watching Jeopardy, tournament of uber-champions, a commercial came on that caught Mike's and my attention. We were watching the kid suck the life out of a plastic water bottle when I heard "YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASPERCREME!" We both instantly paused, looked at each other in shocked silence, and then burst out laughing hysterically. Nathan stopped sucking his bottle and looked up at us both like, "What's going on? What'd I miss? What's up with you two?!"

YIKES

YIKES
Originally uploaded by Pooqueen.

I don't know why, but Nathan keeps making this face over and over again all day long. I think it may be because of the tooth.

We have a tooth!!

Having mostly recovered from his nasty cold, Nathan is back to his happy self. We went to Williamsport on Thursday because Mike's grandmother died and Nathan was great all weekend. He had to sleep in our room because the house was full and it turned out to be not a problem at all. Mike's family, particularly his Uncle Frank, entertained the kid and passed him around all weekend. On Saturday he was mildly fussy, especially when he was passed around in a room of 50 people, and he even fell asleep on cousin Hilary's lap. I thought it a bit strange, so the next morning I happened to check his gums and there was the culprit. His first TOOTH had come in! His sleep was never interupted and he was mostly happy all week, so if this is as bad as teething gets...we are SOOOO lucky!!