Signs you need a vacation.

The past few weeks have been madness for me. I've been working like crazy. I've been dealing with work-related drama. I'm stressed over planning Luca's birthday and working with everyone's schedules. To top it off, Luca's been battling an ear infection that made her a crib puker and today Darrick took her to daycare and forgot her bottle. So after our poor nanny had to watch her yesterday after she puked at night....she then had to deal with her refusing the sippy cup all day today. And, she called me to tell me about it when I was in the middle of a huge and difficult work project. UGH. Needless to say, the stress level was through the roof.

So today I'm driving home from work, and Darrick called me, asking if I'd be here before 6 so he could go to jiu jitsu practice. I decided I should try to make it home in time so he could get to class and I could have some quiet time alone (love you, honey, but I needed a rest). I was driving through our neighborhood thinking about how I'd just pull into the driveway and not open the garage (Luca is sleeping, didn't want to wake her), and how if I hurried inside he could get there on time. As I'm thinking this, I'm putting my phone in my bag and unbuckling my seat belt and turning off my car and....WHAT!!!???!!....I'm TURNING OFF MY CAR!?!??!?! WHILE DRIVING?!?!?!?

Yup. Friends...step aside...there's a new idiot in town, and her party wagon may be cruising down a street near you soon.

Couch Climber

I am so screwed. She's not walking yet, but she IS figuring out how to get on the couch. And, once there, how to do this:



I also caught it on video because, apparently, thumping your head on the wall is just as much fun as sitting on the back of the couch:



After climbing down from the back of the couch, Luca and her BFF Piggy spent some time hanging out. Luca is very into putting things on her head these days. She found her bunny ears and was trying to put them on her head.

Weekend Irony, Take 2.

Ok, so technically this happened yesterday, but Friday is almost the weekend, so it counts.

I went to a luncheon for work yesterday. I won't say what company hosted it, but it was one of our large utility companies. This particular company I happen to like, and I know that they tout their efforts to be more environmentally friendly. So, as a thank you for attending the luncheon, on our way out we were each given a CFL. ONE CFL (which, if you've never seen them, are not that big) in a GIANT plastic bag.

Sit on that one for a minute.

I asked for my CFL without the bag, as did my co-worker.

Baby Ironman.

Luca is walking!!!

Ok, sorta. She is SO close to being able to get up from a seated position to a standing one on her own...and I DO mean without even holding a couch or a hand. She starts out sitting, then kneels, then props one leg up, but the balance isn't there yet. In the meantime, she's practicing walking with some assistance. My longtime friend and her daughter bought her a pink exercauser for my baby shower way back when, and I almost died when I opened it.

Those of you who know me well know that pink is, uh....not my color? But the cool thing about this particular exercauser is that the 'toy ring' and seat come off, and you're left with a walker. We took the ring off a few weeks ago because she was getting too tall for it and it wasn't keeping her attention anymore. Ok, truth be told, it never kept her attention for long anyhow. That's my ADD baby for you. Anyhow, Darrick took off the ring and seat, leaving it in walker mode, but Luca had zero interest in it. I am learning one thing about her for certain: Luca does things when Luca is damn well ready to do them.

Well, 2 nights ago, she decided she was damn well ready. And of course I had to capture it on my digital camera in video mode.

Here's the funny part: the Ironman in happening this weekend in Tempe, and this video totally makes me think of triathalons. Her triathalon events would be: The Assisted Walk, The Crazy Crawl, and the Weighted Stair Climb (Thanks, Kellie, for naming the events for her!). Enjoy the video. It's kind of on the long side, but I think she's cute enough to make watching the whole thing worth your time.

Thursday 13, #4.

This Week: 13 Movies I Love, in no particular order.

1. My Girl. I remember watching this with my best friend when it came out, and we bawled and bawled and bawled. I laughed as well, particularly at lines like "Go away, and don't come back for 5 to 7 days!". If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to see it.

2. Empire Records. You just really can't go wrong. It's the epitome of the 90s...grungy, angsty teens/early 20s beautiful people work in record store that is being bought out by mega corporation. Angsty employees decide to rebel with an impromptu concert fundraiser after one of them gambles away the savings in Vegas. Side plot: hot guy with full lips and long-ish hair is in love with hot but sheltered perfect girl (Liv Tyler), but SHE has plans to lose her virginity to Sexy Rexy. Oh, AND it has Ethan Embry in it, which ALWAYS makes for a good movie.

3. Jawbreaker. This is a cult classic, starring Rose McGowan and the Noxema Girl who's now married to McSteamy. It's the classic high school campy drama complete with bitchy chicks in short skirts and an ugly-duckling makeover. But it's snarkier and smarter than most.

4. Finding Neverland. This is a fabulous, amazing, poignant, touching movie. Johnny Depp in one of his finest performances. Kate Winslet is etheral and amazing as always. And little Freddie Highmore is INSANELY good. This is a movie you NEED to watch...bring tissues.

5. What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Johhny Depp again, as the adult son of an incredibly obese woman who is homebound. He takes care of the family, which includes Leonardo DiCaprio as a mentally ill teen who hides in trees and climbs water towers. Enter Juliette Lewis as the out-of-towner who Johnny's character falls for, as well as the most interesting use of a crane in a movie.

6. This Boy's Life. If #5 doesn't convince you that Leonardo is a good actor, this movie should. He costars with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin as his evil step-dad and his desperate mom. Look, Leonardo is 19 in this movie (although he looks 13) and he holds his own acting with De Niro. That has to say something about his true acting abilities. The movie is based on a memoir, and is just stunning and sad and amazing and beautiful. There are some gritty parts and some parts that are hard to watch. Another movie you want to bring tissues to.

7. The Squid and the Whale. This is another cult classic...or, someday it will be. It's a hilarious and jaded look at an intellectual New England family going through a divorce. The acting, the dialogue, the amazing comedic timing of even the youngest actor...it's not to be missed. Ignore the ridiculous title and rent this sucker.

8. Love, Actually. Just...sigh. I love this movie, actually.

9. Dear Frankie. This one also is a tear jerker, but a feel good one. It's acted fabulously, the story is just great...it'll leave you feeling warm.

10. Brokedown Palace. Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale star as two girls taking 'the trip of a lifetime' to Thailand. They end up in a prison for smuggling drugs. This follows their struggle to gain their freedom with the help of an American attorney, as well as the metamorphasis of their friendship. It's kind of almost sorta a chick flick, but it's got appeal to all audiences.

11. Best in Show. I know a lot of people would cite other Christopher Guest films as his best, but I think Best is Show is my favorite. This movie is insanely funny and witty and just a good time. The cast is totally on point and the script is killer. It may help that I love dogs...

12. Stealing Beauty. Another Liv Tyler movie from the mid-90s. She plays a teen who goes to a small Italian village where her deceased mother spent a lot of time. She reunites with people her mother wrote about in her diary, and goes on a mission of sorts to lose her virginity. The story is good, but the cinematography (for mid-90s) was so captivating.

13. Dazed and Confused. Yeah, it's not exactly oscar-worthy. The acting in some places downright sucks, and the plot is...uh...a bunch of senior boys in high school chase down freshman boys to beat their asses with paddles while a bunch of other people get high and plan a party. But with quotable quotes like "Fry like bacon, you little freshman piggies!", "Wipe that face off your head, bitch!", "Dominany male monkey mother fucker.", and "You cool, man?"....how could you even THINK of passing this gem up? Rent it. Watch it. Laugh. Watch again and get some more of the jokes you missed the first time. You potheads and former potheads will want to have the pause button handy so you can laugh knowingly in that pothead throaty laugh you have as you retell stories about, "This one time, when we were smoking a bowl..."

Have some favorite movies that didn't make my list? Share them with me, but they better be good...and don't even THINK I will publish your comment if they star Jim Carrey or Nicholas Cage.

View more Thursday Thirteen participants here:
http://technorati.com/tag/thursday+thirteen

My baby is 11 months old.

Just don't try to talk to me about this, because I am likely to have an emotional breakdown. What the hell? Wasn't she JUST born????

Anyhow, it's been another busy month. We went to LA to visit my Grandma. We celebrated my Mom's 65th birthday. We had lots of busy weekends and took tons of walks to enjoy the nice Arizona evenings while they are still here. Soon they will be gone, and opening the front door at night will be akin to opening an oven set on 425 degrees. The only good side to summer approaching so soon is baby swimming pools and swimming suits.



We also celebrated St Patty's Day and Easter, both of which required new outfits.







Now that we have a crawler, she is into everything. She's forever climbing up and down the stairs and climbing on things and petting the dogs and...and...and...it's never ending. The plus side is, she sleeps like a champ. And, she's got 2 lower teeth now, so her food choices keep getting more varied. She's almost entirely off purees, since she seems to think those are for BABIES and she's not a BABY so she wants chunks of food. She is also now officially weaned from breastfeeding. It went a lot more quickly and easily than I had anticipated. Part of me misses having that connection to her and that time with her. But I know it was time...her interest was waning fast, and those teeth never made a connection but they sure did threaten to once or twice. I must admit, though, I got an ego check when weaning her. I was pretty worried she'd fight weaning and miss me. Ah...no. Not at all. She adjusted like a champ. I will say, as well, that I do NOT miss pumping. Not one teeny, tiny bit.





In other big Luca news, she has a new favorite word: apple. She says it in her little munchkin voice, and it's so cute I want to wrap that word up and put it in my pocket to save for later. Then, when she's 14 and all angsty, I can pull it out of my pocket, unwrap it, and remember when I used to think her being able to talk was so freaking cute.

So, that's about it in Luca Land for her month 11 update. Next month she will be a year old, and I will either feel immense pride at making it that far or I will lock myself in the bathroom every evening for a week straight, crying and lamenting over my baby growing up.