Ahem.

1. All My Life by the Foo Fighters
2. 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago
3. Like a Stone by Audioslave (when they modulate up towards the end? whoa! got chills just thinking about Chris Cornell’s voice…he makes my knees quiver!)

   

4. Play that Funky Music by Wild Cherry
5. Paralyzer by Finger Eleven
6. This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race by Fall Out Boy
7. California Love by Tupac
8. Hella Good by No Doubt
9. Canned Heat by Jamiroquai
10. Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine
11. Higher Ground by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
12. Vasoline by the Stone Temple Pilots
13. Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5 (and Adam Levine makes it harder for me to breathe…whoo!  the HOTness!  And uh, actually Justin used to look a lot like this when he was younger…that might explain the attraction)

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!  The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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That’s it for me, folks…tired from being up till 2am last night and getting up at 6am…also been dodging tornado watches and warnings all evening, which I felt compelled to stay up and listen to because what if I went to sleep and didn’t hear the siren? I even had a momentary panic moment of “OMG, what if we need to take cover? how do I get both kids downstairs when they’re sleeping? I’m not sure I can carry both at the same time! And what about the dogs? They refuse to come down the basement steps? And the cats hide under the beds during storms, how will I get all eight of us downstairs when I’m the only one willing to voluntarily walk down those steps???” And that voice in my head got shriller and shriller. Yeah, I’m a spaz…

Here’s a list of 13 things I love besides my husband, my kids, my dogs, my cats, and my friends and family, and stuff I said here because I’m lame and taking advantage of the holiday and hey, there’s all SORTS of reruns on TV right now, too.

1.  I love Blog Bling.  And I finally got some!   

 Burgh Baby’s Mom was sweet enough to bless me with this lovely bloggy Valentine: 

and I’d love to pass it along to Lag Liv, Precarious Tomato, Madame Queen, and The Rocking Pony (Karen, don’t feel you need to pass it along, since you were on top of things and already passed your earlier Valentine along).

And Karenwas so lovely as to give me this bloggy bling (even though she usually makes MY day):

I would like to pass this fun along to Burgh Baby’s Mom (yes, I know you already got it from Karen, but you do crack me up), and to Flea because she gave me such a sweet compliment about my awful Christmas morning pictures.

2.  I love how VDOT put down sand and salt on my residential street sometime between 9pm last night and 8am this morning.  Even though the ice storm was on Tuesday, where hundreds of people were stuck on major highway overpasses for 8-10 hours without moving due to the ice (and no road treatment–but don’t get me started on their lack of preparedness–that would take at least 300 words).  Even though the rain we got yesterday ended at 4pm.  Even though the wind whipping through the streets dried out the streets by 8pm last night.  Even though we did not receive any precipitation last night and aren’t forecasted to get any for another 2 days, at least.

3.   I love how I get up early and somehow everything keeps me from getting to work at a decent time and I end up late.  Yet, on the days I wake up late, I still need to deal with the stupid stuff and still end up at work late.

4.  I love how I will be sitting at my desk for 6 straight hours and not hear a peep from anyone, but the moment I get up to go to the ladies room, or run out to grab a bite to eat, I suddenly have 15 IM boxes blinking, 2 voicemails, 7 emails, and at least 3 people physically looking for me.

5.  I love steak.  Specifically, filet mignon…mmmmmmmmmmmm….nom nom nom.  My stomach is growling just THINKING about a steak!!!

6.  I love sitting at home vegging in front of the TV.  I am a big couch-potato-sitting-whore.  I just can’t get enough of sitting and doing nothing, letting my mind rot.  Although I do love watching those real detective shows and all sorts of programming on the History Channel and the Discovery channels…so maybe a little less rot going on?

7.  I love dancing.  I don’t claim to dance well by any means, folks, but holy crap do I love to dance!  If I’m at a bar and the music’s going, even without any alcohol in my system, it will be really hard for me to not at least do the Roxbury Head Bob.  And if I’ve had a drink or two?  Well, then *watch out*  because this dance ain’t for everybody–Only the sexy people!  (and yes, I think that I am one of them)

8.  I love people who use turn signals.  No, I’m not being facetious.  I am completely serious.  There are folks on the roads around me who seem to think turn signals are a minor option; some, I fear, don’t even know that their vehicles come equipped with turn signals.  Instead, they will stomp on the brakes to make their turn.  So if I have someone in front of me actually use their turn signals, I am this close to getting out of my car to hug them for their courtesy.

9.  I love knitting.  It’s simple, but challenging all at the same time.  It’s quiet, you can do it in front of the TV or while riding in the car, and you usually have something to show for it by the time you’re done (as long as you complete the reception-blanket sized blanket before the child is a hunkering 25-lb one-year old).

10.  I love fast food.  I mean, I love sitting and eating a good meal and a restaurant, but OMG!!!!!  I am a drooling quivering twit if I can have either (a) the 12-piece nugget combo at Chik-Filet with buffalo sauce and a extra large sweet tea, or (b) the Big Mac meal at McDonald’s with an extra large sweet tea.

11.  I still love the idea of having a pet pig.  Since my husband drew the line at livestock, I have my two snorting Boston Terriers instead.  But given the chance, I would get me a pig and call him Gus.

12.  I love tax returns!!!  I’ve had several people suggest that Justin and I adjust our withholdings so that we get more in our check each week and less at the end of the year, but getting a little windfall each spring is nice.  That’s how we paid to replace the flooring in two bedrooms two different years (previous owners had a cat with litterbox issues, which, um, tempted our cats to have litterbox issues); it’s how we put a down payment on our truck; it’s how we paid for paint to purdy-up the house or get ready for a baby; it’s how we paid for furniture for Gavin (both nursery and big-boy furniture); it’s how we paid for part of our honeymoon.  This year, we will be paying off a credit card or two.  And maybe go on a date.

13.  I love stupid folks who have nothing better to do with their time or education except create worms and other malicious code.  I’m trying to figure out what they get out of it.  Are they trying to take down a major corporation?  Or do they just hope to take down every unsuspecting email user?  Well, I hope whomever created this nastiness has an undercooked dinner that makes them nauseous and vomit.  And not get any candy.

(14.  And um, I love how WordPress doesn’t allow me to center my images, no matter how bad I beat it with code)

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!  The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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My 2008 New Year’s Resolution is to Get Out of Debt…and here are 13 ways I’m going to save (or make) money in order to put a big dent in my debt:

1. Ensure I’m bringing my lunch to work every day (and politely enforcing this decision on my husband)–I’ve actually been doing a lot better, but I need to KEEP doing it and not succumb to my old lazy habits.
2. Check the programming on my thermostat…overnight and weekdays it’s set at 66 degrees and during the evening on weekdays and all day on weekends it’s set at 70 degrees…but I think it doesn’t drop down at night until midnight, so I could probably drop it at like 10pm.
3. Call my credit card and ask them to lower my APR…even though I pay more than the minimum due and always on time, they like to sneak it up when I’m not looking.
4. Try to do all my running around at once, instead of going to the store Monday, then again on Wednesday, then Friday and Saturday….saves gas and time, too.
5. Stick to the shopping list! I usually do pretty well on this, and when I do buy outside of the shopping list, it’s usually things I forgot to put on the list in the first place. But I need to be better about it.
6. Be more firm on the “Need versus Want” battle…that’s a hard one to overcome sometimes, especially when there’s TWO of us both wanting something when we really don’t need it.
7. Replace more light-bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. I usually wait until a bulb burns out before I replace it, but I might just go ahead and replace them sooner…at least on the last few lights that we use often. I don’t know what I’m going to do with those light fixtures with their ridiculous decorator bulbs with the itty-bitty bases…haven’t seen fluorescents for those yet. Maybe eventually just replace the light fixtures altogether…not a big fan of them in the first place. But then we’re back to #6….do I really NEED to replace the light fixtures?…or do I just WANT to?
8. Get some bookings and sell my jewelry! I’ve still got a ton and just have been having a heckuva time getting back into the swing of things since having Cooper. While the jewelry essentially sells itself, it’s not going to unless I get it in front of people.
9. Sell real estate on my blog, as mentioned yesterday.
10. Turn off the water while I’m brushing my teeth. I got into the very wasteful habit of leaving it on and now I need to curb that habit to conserve water and hopefully lower my water bill a little.
11. Spread out my haircuts…every 12 weeks instead of every 8 weeks.
12. On a related note, opt for a more subtle color for my highlights so that I can go longer in-between applications, especially since my stylist is wonderful and great and got a promotion a few months back and now costs more.
13. Go through my belongings…sell discarded items and clothing on eBay, donate what doesn’t sell and keep the receipt for next tax season.

Got any other ideas on how to save money or create a few more dollars? Let me know…I’d love to hear them!

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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1. Took me several years, and a dirty look from my husband, to realize that cocoa butter smells like chocolate brownies because it’s made from cocoa.  I seriously just thought it was a coincidence that I smelled so yummy after slathering up in that stuff nearly every night throughout both pregnancies and several winters.
2. I consistently wear heeled shoes (loafers, pumps, boots) when it’s icy out.  Not too much of a problem when I lived in Chicago or was at school in Muncie, IN, but here in we-get-significant-snow-every-year-but-freak-out-and-don’t-budget-for-road-and-parking-lot-clearing-northern-Virginia, the roads, parking lots, and sidewalks are generally not cleared off in a timely manner (or at all, sometimes), and for whatever reason, I still wear the heels, and then wonder why I end up on my butt out in the parking lot.
3. To make matters worse, I will wear heels while it’s icy and while carrying a fully-loaded infant car-seat, thus, possibly setting myself up for child neglect charges when I slip and fall with the baby.
4. You would not believe what I walked out of the house wearing today.  Seriously.  I am wearing light colored jeans, a teal t-shirt, and a charcoal sweater.  Seems okay, right?  well, read on:  I am also wearing navy and baby blue socks (that look okay with the jeans…in my head at least), and faux snakeskin/croc skin heeled loafers that are kind of black/grey.  Not sure what I was thinking.  But I’ve done that before, where I obviously have two different thoughts in my head about what I’m going to wear and somehow merge them, and don’t realize it until I’m in public and very far away from my closets.
5. On a regular basis I will walk all the way into my office building, past three sets of locked doors, sit down, and realize that I left my laptop in my car.
6. Which at least is better than when I get all the way to work and realize I have left my laptop at home.
7. I have left Cooper’s diaper bag full of pre-made bottles sitting in my foyer next to the garage door where I exit the house each workday several times.  One time I got all the way to daycare (15 miles and 30 min away) before I realized what happened.
8. While I might be big and feisty here on my blog (well, not too feisty, I know my parents and my friends’ parents read it), I can be painfully shy in social situations.  And to add to the fun, I will blurt out weird things, almost involuntarily.  I’m sure I have mortified my husband more times than he can count with my social ineptitude (that’s not to say that you shouldn’t ever invite me over…I do warm up to folks fairly easily and am then reasonably tolerable and funny and endearing and less-weird).
9. While still in college, I went to a party with some co-workers.  We were having a great time drinking something, I dunno WHAT it was…I just know it was good and I drank a lot and it was that liquor that has the crystals in the bottle.  Well, someone broke off the side of the bottle so we could get to the crystals.  I reached clumsily into the broken bottle to pull off a few crystals and managed to slice open my thumb.  I bled all over the place and probably should’ve gotten stitches.  I still have that huge scar on my thumb today.  Even if I was 100% sober, I would’ve still reached into the broken bottle and would’ve sliced open my thumb.  *note*  I remembered what alcohol it was:  Aftershock
10. I’ve bought the same gift for my husband for Christmas two years in a row.  Thankfully I realized it the second time before I gave it to him.  If he’s reading this post, he’s just now learning about it.  Hi honey!  You almost got a second copy of The Princess Bride.
11. I’ve left Ginger outside all day while at work.  Got home after a good 9 or 10 hours away from the house, go to let her out of her crate and it’s open.  Maggie is wagging expectantly by the back door and I’m running all over the house screaming for Ginger, thinking she must’ve eaten something and was passed-out or dead somewhere in the house.  Nope.  Instead, I left her out in they yard the entire day without a bowl of water.
12. I drove nearly 20 miles with Cooper not strapped into his seat.  We were at Babies R Us and he started crying.  I pulled him out of his carseat to rock and soothe him (he was only 3 weeks old), and set him back into his seat without strapping him in, just in case he started crying again before we finished checking out.  Well, I forgot and didn’t realize it until I got home.  I actually started crying because I scared myself with my own stupidity, and because I was so grateful that I didn’t get into a car accident.
13. A few weeks ago when I picked up both boys from daycare, I was trying to get them loaded in the car quickly because it was really cold.  As usual, I had Gavin get in on Cooper’s side of the car, the clicked Cooper in.  He sat immediately in his seat and I got into mine.  And I drove away.  It wasn’t until I took a quick corner 4 blocks away that I realized I forgot to strap Gavin into his seat because I hear “whoa!!!!” and I see is butt going behind my shoulder.  He got out of his seat to see Cooper and when I took that corner, he was standing on the hump on the floor of my backseat and went swinging around into the foot-well on his side of the car.  I freaked, but managed to safely turn into a subdivision and got him strapped in.

So there you are…13 knucklehead moves…enjoy them…I’m still laughing at most of them.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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1. a few bottles of the champagne that we had a few days after Cooper was born…I have NO idea what it was, since I was well medicated and sleep deprived, but it was one of the best I’ve ever had…ever (Justin, you just may need to consider this for my b-day in January since I know you’re already done shopping for me for Christmas)
2. a 2-hour massage…with the sleep deprivation and back-to-back illnesses these lovely children have been sharing with me, I could use a good, long back rub, with the permission to pass out immediately afterwards
3. my credit card company’s computers to blow up and lose all record of the total amount I owe them
4. a new car…considering a Hyundai Tuscon or something else with a spectacular warranty since I do not have any luck with cars
5. longer vacation time from work to visit family that I miss…and who haven’t gotten a chance to meet Cooper, or even Gavin, for that matter
6. two or three straight nights of good, restful sleep…no kids, no cats, no dogs…maybe no husband (although he bothers me the least, except when he snores)
7. homemade chex mix…I’m totally NOT kidding…I’ve been jonesing for it for a few weeks now and am too lazy (and busy!) to make my own and the premade stuff is just not that good
8. a shorter commute…whether because I have a new job, or traffic lightens up, I don’t care…I am just REALLY tired of being in my car nearly 3 hours a day (and I’m kind of annoyed at myself when I snarl at people who complain about being in the car for 30 minutes for their commute)
9. a relaxing trip with my husband to wineries in California…Napa Valley, Sonoma, doesn’t matter…just would like to drink wine with my husband like adults
10. new carpet for my family room and upstairs hallway, although I’d be happy with a good old fashioned (free) steam-cleaning, eh Stanley Steemer?
11. A month’s reprieve from litterbox duty.  Even when I was pregnant, I would suit up and scoop out.  So…a month off and meanwhile someone else will lovingly clean the litterboxes instead.
12. a fantastic steak dinner with a wonderful caesar salad and wine
13. more time with my husband and kids

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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fight desperately with my three year old over MY boots  

(think they look alike?…first one is Gavin, second one is Cooper)

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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1. I panic easily while pumping…maybe it’s the  fact that I feel so naked and weird and vulnerable, but I do freak out a lot more than I might if I was just sitting there nursing Cooper.  Case-in-point, the day before I started back to work, I dropped Cooper off at daycare for a few hours so I could get a few things done at home and so he could get a small taste of daycare.  Of course I had to pump while he was gone.  Well, while I was sitting there pumping, our power went out (yeah, we seem to be on a very touchy electric infrastructure).  Since we have so much computer equipment in the house, we have all these back-up batteries…and they all beep loudly once the power is out so that you know you have a few precious minutes to save and shut things down properly before the battery goes out.  So power goes out, I freak a little (“omigosh, this is SOO going to mess up my supply if I can’t properly pump and get all the milk out so that these silly boobs know to fill back up….”), then get annoyed at all the incessant beeping and throw on a robe over myself, with the breast shields and collection cups still attached to me, to run around to shut down all the machines in the house.  I get my desktop and our printer shut down fine, then I run down to the basement to mess with Justin’s desktop and our server.  I stupidly bend over the server to reach something (maybe the external hard drive?  I’m not even sure now…) and I manage to splash some of that precious milk onto the basement floor, just narrowly missing the computer equipment itself.  And of course, instead of stopping, removing the equipment attached to me, I instead just bent at the knee to turn off Justin’s computer equipment.
2. I realized that we are not that far removed from the animal kingdom.  When Cooper was about 3 or 4 weeks old, I was trying to unlatch him from me to switch sides while nursing him and he GROWLED at me. 
3. I consider myself of at least average intelligence (maybe even a little above?).  When I’m faced with something new, I usually start researching it to the N^th degree so that I am as prepared as I can possibly be.  When I was pregnant with Gavin, I read a lot of pregnancy books, articles, and websites.  Like many expecting women, I was obsessed with finding out every minute detail about pregnancy, delivery, birth, and even read “What to Expect the First Year” when I was still only 6 or 7 months pregnant.  We took a great birthing class that also had the benefit of breastfeeding basics (the instructor was an RN and lactation consultant and had several children…she was fabulous…I still have her business card!).  But nothing I came across (or since, now that I think of it) prepared me for this:  unlike a baby bottle nipple, or even seemingly a cow’s udder (I do not pretend to know the ways of farm animals…just what I see in cartoons), human milk has SEVERAL points of exit.  Yep, I thought that the milk would come out of one little lacta-duct (if you will).  Imagine my surprise the first time I saw about 3 or 4 mini-streams of milk…I actually freaked out a bit (albeit, I was pumping, and we have already established that I am a weird weird person while pumping).  So other breastfeeding newbies out there, consider yourself EDUCATED!
4. Both of my boys latched on perfectly the first time I fed them during the first hour of each of their lives.  It was amazing and wonderful, and a little too easy.  And I can hear the gnashing of teeth of other mothers out there who had tons of latching-on issues…sorry.  It’s probably my only easy part to nursing.
5. I should’ve known that when my nurse at the hospital had to interrupt Cooper eating that first hour (well, he ate well into the 2nd hour of his life), that he would be a big, slow eater.
6. In the continuing saga of Colleen is a Pumping Freak, I spilled breastmilk on my pants and chair while pumping at work the other day because I underestimated how much I might express at the end of the day…which leads me to my new understanding that breastmilk can stain fabrics.  I was able to successfully get the breastmilk out of my pants, but the chair was not so lucky, probably because the chair did not have the advantage of Shout laundry spray and a good run through the washer with Dreft baby detergent.
7. Thrush.  To many in the breastfeeding community, that one word will bring cold shivers to your spine, and maybe even one or two of you may have gasped audibly.  To those of you lucky enough to never have encountered thrush, let me just tell you…I personally rank it as more painful than childbirth.  The reason I do so is because the pain of childbirth is excruciating, but there is generally a happy ending…once you pop that baby out, the sharp intense pain is gone (for the most part) and you have this joyous celebration of life.  With thrush, you have excruciating pain every single time you feed your baby…and babies nurse every 2-3 hours when they’re really young (or are piggy-eaters like Cooper).  The pain I experienced made me wish I had an epidural for my boobs.  I bit on my lip to keep from screaming in pain (didn’t want to make eating a negative experience for Cooper), and often bit so hard to prevent the screaming that I drew blood.  Then the skin on your nipples is so sensitive and ravaged by the infection that just feeding your baby for a few minutes can draw blood as well.  It got to the point where I would start crying before nursing Cooper because the anticipation of such awful pain was more than my post-partum body/mind could handle.  I finally stopped nursing him and pumped instead for nearly a week until my thrush was under control.  The best part was that I got a second run of it three weeks after the first time…this time I was able to procure a more aggressive medicinal approach (and caught it earlier) and wiped that nastiness out quicker.
8. Cooper is a really chubby baby, which is a totally foreign concept to me since Gavin was such a string-bean by the time he was 3 months old, and Justin and I are hardly big people (nor were we big babies or children).  I believe it’s because my breastmilk is a good 33% fat!  I know this because nearly a third of all my pumped breastmilk is fat floating on top (well, you can see this once it’s been chilled).  Sometimes it’s even more than that!
9. Cooper is an extremely demanding infant when he’s hungry; conversely, once he’s been fed, he’s very content.  But the difference between when he’s had a bottle of formula and when he’s had a bottle of breastmilk is like night and day.  After formula, he’s happy and smiley.  After breastmilk, he’s like what we call “milk-drunk”…so deliriously happy that he looks and even acts a little drunk.Maybe it’s because breastmilk is really sweet.  I mean, formula is sweet with a slight metallic aftertaste, but breastmilk is really sweet, kind of like the difference between regular milk and lactose-free milk…you’d swear there was a good tablespoon of sugar in there.
10. Nursing really does help you lose weight quicker.  When I came home from the hospital, I still had about 25 extra pounds on me.  Now that Cooper is nearly 4 months old, I only have 5 lbs left to lose.  Granted, I’ve been blessed with thin genes, but I’m pretty certain that if I wasn’t nursing, I’d probably still have a good 15 or so to lose.  Plus, I’ve seen it on other friends who nursed (and didn’t nurse) their babies.  It probably helped that I stopped eating like I was pregnant, too (hello, nearly 40lb weight-gain!).
11. Your milk supply is nothing to play with, at least in my case where mine is so ridiculously sensitive.  Babies are the most efficient emptiers of the breast, so that’s why La Leche League is so crazy about making sure you nurse nurse nurse your baby.  But for those of us who need, or want, to work, a good breastpump is a good investment.  Some women rent them, since well, what else are you going to use that thing for once you’ve stopped nursing?  Suction water off your shower walls?  But rental prices can really stack up if you’re doing it for more than 2 or 3 months…by that time, you could’ve bought a Playtex Double Embrace (hospital-grade, closed system like a hospital rental, soft massaging cups–no need to try to find a breast cup that fits, price includes a nice bag with tons of accessories, and WONDERFUL customer service…I know it’s a shameless plug, but I REALLY love my pump), or even the Medela Pump In Style line, which a lot of other moms out there use.  They seem expensive (usually starting around $200 or more), but they are WELL worth it.  Plus your hands don’t get tired from using a manual pump!  And in my case, pumping has the added bonus of making me a complete spaz, much to the delight and entertainment of others.
12. Breastfeeding your baby in public is interesting.  I’m still a bit shy about it, but I did it a LOT more when I was still home with Cooper and was anxious to get out of the house and interact with adults, which meant that I did it at restaurants a lot, usually while I was eating, too, which is how I dropped food on his face.  I’m a great mama, huh?
13. And my last freak-pump experience (although probably far from my last) was when I totally forgot the white valves for the breastcups on my pump (#8 on this picture).  Without them, the pump doesn’t actually create suction and doesn’t work.  So I go flying out of my dark little breastpumping office and drive 20 minutes to the Babies R Us, praying that they carry them.  Nope.  So I had to drive another 25 minutes away back home to pick up the little buggers, drive all the way back to work, and then still needed to pump.  Needless to say, I haven’t forgotten the valves again and I managed to store the extra two valves in my little accessory bag with my pump in case I do forget the others at home again.

Stay tuned for next week when I deliver 13 things I never thought I’d hear/say/experience as a mother.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Oh, and I’m not sure if there is some Master List that I should be working off of.  I just liked the idea of a meme today and since I’ve been such a crab all week, it’s time I quit complaining and talk about things I enjoy (in no particular order):

1. Gavin’s belly laugh…like most young kids, it’s completely unadulterated and infectious.
2. Cooper’s smiles and laughs…especially since he’s still such a sensitive and serious baby.  I also love it when Cooper grabs his little stuffed frog and “eats” it…maybe one of these times I’ll get it on video.
3. Justin’s sense of humor…funny and warped.
4. Tuna Casserole…I’m not kidding…I could literally eat it several times a week.
5. Sitting and enjoying chilled white wine at the winery, or at home on the deck, or in my kitchen, or on my couch watching TV…you get the point.
6. Sleeping in, even if it’s just an hour.
7. Seeing a good movie at the theater while eating really yummy theater popcorn.
8. Sitting on the couch watching TV or movies with all my animals all piled around me.
9. Sitting and reading on the beach.
10. Reading…I really do enjoy it, although I never have enough time anymore…so I read blogs…that seems to help a little.
11. Gardening…although you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at my yard…new baby and drought have kind of killed everything.  I’ll be lucky if my drought-loving lavendar comes back.
12. Beautiful sunny days where the sky is that gorgeous, intense blue, and the clouds are white and fluffy.
13. Spending time with my family, doing anything…sitting around talking or going out to dinner or picking apples.

So there it is.  Me being nice and sweet and thoughtful.

 oh, here’s my official add-on:

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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