The procedure went off without a hitch. He got a shot in the leg and was asleep 5 minutes later. They kicked me out for 10 minutes while they cut and stitched and brought me back in to wait for 10 minutes while he woke up enough to take home.

Now it’s more or less like taking care of a tiny drunk person. He’s irritable, needs help walking, and we have a trashbag in case he throws up.

We’re dedicated to spending all concious hours today laying down and watching TV. Hayden has expressed a desire to watch The Incredibles 4 times. Ice cream has already been had. For dinner there will be waffles positively drenched in syrup.

Now it’s time to get back to the cuddling.

Tomorrow Hayden is getting his tongue snipped at 7:45 a.m., not due to his 3 year old style back talk, because he’s tongue tied. We’ve mentioned this before, but tomorrow’s the big day. The procedure is supposed to be pretty simple and painless, but because it’s hard to get a toddler to stay still they’ll likely be putting him under. We’re anticipating there to be much sleeping and cuddling in the hours to follow. Should conciousness be achieved there will be spoiling, pampering, and Hayden has already called dibs on watching The Incredibles; which is his favorite movie to watch…every 5 minutes. Not that I mind as it’s my favorite of his favorites.

So…I haven’t been active here lately. I’ve already been taken to task about the lack of baby pictures. My free time has been absorbed by things that I can’t really talk about here; also Mass Effect. Eventually I’ll get back on track.

In the meantime, here’s a link dump of all the things that have been awesome recently:

• First, go to Google and do a search on “find Chuck Norris” and click “I’m Feeling Lucky”.
• I would totally use this if I were still in school. Text to mp3 conversion site. I could put all my notes on my iPod!
• Happy 50th birthday LEGO!. We will honor you in our house as we honor you 8-9 times a day by building a robot to get bad guys. I love Google’s image today.

• Cloverfield may be the best movie that will make you vomit, but this soundtrack from the party in the beginning of the movie (with mp3s!) won’t. I wanted to be at the party based on the soundtrack alone even with the inevitable destruction.
• Also, in music news Last.fm started allowing full track plays. It’s still a limited number of plays per track, but it makes listening to music on the internet a lot easier.
• I’ve seen a couple of these images around before, but I love this Guide For New Parents.
• It turns out I may have a future in medicine, but if that doesn’t work out maybe I can fit in with these nice people.

I detest being asked how old I am. I understand that most women don’t like this question but for different reasons.

Today, I mentioned that I can’t seem to let go of my high-school jeans. They don’t come anywhere close to fitting me anymore and likely never will (despite the compliments I’ve been receiving on my weight loss recently), but I can’t donate them or throw them away. The woman across from me scoffed a bit as she said, “They wouldn’t be in style anymore.”

My face told her something. I can’t quite tell you what, but she proceeded to look at me questioningly. Either my face said my jeans are older than yours, I had better style than any high schooler should hope to have, or it said that she had no clue just how young I am.

Mind you, this is one of the few women at work with children anywhere close in age to mine. (She has a 5 year old and a two year old.) She looked me up and down and asked me how old I was.

I gave my usual answer of “I don’t like to answer that.” She took it to mean that I was older than my appearance.

“It can’t be that bad. I’m nearly 40.” (This woman also got a mini-van for Christmas. I think it was worse for her than it was for me.)

My phone started to ring, and I said, as I turned away, “I’m 27.” I think she thinks I think I’m old at 27. (Here’s a second to parse that one.)

Rather, I know I’m not taken seriously most of the time by my older co-workers (I’m a mother and therefore I am not as dedicated to work), and I’d prefer my age didn’t play into that even more.

So, beware of the answer you may get to “How old are you?” And stop asking me already.

RIP, Heath Ledger.

“The trial balance is a bit skiltered right now…”
“Skiltered?” A laugh. At least she was in a good mood this morning. “Skiltered… I don’t think I’ve heard that one before. Is that like jabberwocky?”
“Yeah, um, a bit funky because physical inventory is in the process of being completed.”
“But the counting is done.”
Yes, counts are close to done (I don’t have final numbers for Appliques yet). Yes, the Access database is complete. No, the main system’s input isn’t done yet. People don’t trust it enough to give it priority. Piling the physical count sheets on my desk and doing data entry for each item, each color, each manufacturer, each size takes time. And because the financial reports depend on the data entry, I can’t just forgo the data entry.

I returned to my desk, and I proceeded to rack my brain for the source of “skiltered.” Hilter-skilter (a form of helter-skelter). Why I chose the “i” version, I have little clue.

We decided to have a lazy day at home. We will not go grocery shopping. We will not stress about dinner (pizza dough is rising right now). We will not get out of our jammies (or in Kris’ case, his new robe). We will relax and spoil ourselves.

Brownies have been made. Aladdin has been watched. Lost Boys has been read. Cuddling has happened.

Gabe decided to leave us all in the dust as far as accomplishments go. (No, he didn’t roll over.) He sprouted his first tooth.

Lost Boys was a book I asked Kris if we could put in the freezer. Most parents of my generation will feel the same. (I hope people get that.)

This is one of the few books granted a rating of five that I will never read again. Much as I loved the movie, Pan’s Labyrinth, I loved this book. Damn you, OSC, for being able to draw me in so completely.

This is a story that allows the reader to see a family’s life, the small details that might seem unconsequential, the large issues that most would like to keep covered, the love and the frustration that comes from having so close a connection with other humans. It wraps you up in the relationships, and it ends up ripping out your heart.

Be forewarned, as I was, when my husband read it first, finished it, and came to me with tears in his eyes. Read it anyway, as I did. It is worth it.

Hayden and Brooke have seperated. We all had hoped for the best between them, but it just didn’t work out. These things happen and you can’t blame anyone except Britney Spears.

He’s taking it all in stride, but I’m sure he’s putting up a tough front. We’re having chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner tonight to console him and because we forgot to take anything out of the freezer last night.

He says that after a lot of sleeps they’ll be friends once more and then maybe they’ll get married again one day; which I believe is 3 y.o. speak for “our hearts will mend with time and maybe we’ll rediscover what we found so interesting about each other and share our Legos again”.

Gabe was a blessing and slept from 9:30 last night until about 4:30 this morning. After feeding him, I figured since I was up and everyone else was asleep, I might as well go to the gym. I didn’t go for long, but I could justify it with “something is better than nothing.”

I came home, unloaded the dishwasher, made coffee, hopefully fixed our coffee grinder, and got a few minutes to myself. A good step in the right direction, if nothing else for the beginning of a week.

I’m back to using my brain for something other than to-do lists and balancing the family checkbook, and I am exhausted. Returning to work has been a roller coaster. I love getting out of the house and having adult conversations and goals throughout the day. I fear that I will not be able to meet certain family goals because of leaving the home, though.

I love being back in my office. I hate pumping in order to try to give Gabe the six months of breast milk I told myself is mandatory for him (due to his small birthweight and being a second child… I could go into details, but suffice to say, brain power and immune system are priorities for him). I love having a lunch break. I hate not being able to use it to go see Gabe in the middle of the day. We chose childcare near home rather than one of our employment locations.

I love the drive to clear my brain with songs by Over the Rhine or NPR. I hate the new gas mileage we’re getting with the van.

Life is full of ups and downs. I am blessed to have so many amazing ups and such minor downs.