no more muttering under your breath

because i can hear you! I can't believe it's taken me this long to update the situation, but I have my hearing aids and they make life a lot easier. I cannot stress enough just HOW much easier life is with these in -- if you know anyone with hearing loss, they really should give them a try -- it's like functioning with one arm and then suddenly being given the use of both arms. I can hear people whom I've always struggled to hear, can hear at concerts, restaurants... PLUS my phone's bluetooth can go directly to the hearing aids. If I ever get around to it, I can set up the television and iPod to do the same. Oh, and they're pretty cool for hearing aids. Not that you can really see them when I'm wearing them. But if you did, you'd see this:

They are the Siemens 'Life' series with the Tek Bluetooth hookup thingy. I have to get in the habit of putting them on each day -- right now, I put them in for situations where I know I'll need them. What this really means is that I need them and often have forgotten them. In my defense, they cannot get wet - like Gremlins can't get wet - and they're not comfy for napping -- so I'm imagining that after summer and Birdy's arrival, I'll find a better groove with them.

lyle, lyle, lyle

and so it was time again for y and i to trek to hear the prophet/cowboy/philosopher/poet. And we saw all of it and declared it to be good. VERY good. Lyle Lovett appeared at Ravinia with his Large Band (included Francine Reed!) on Wednesday, July 22 and we were there to grin our silly selves right through it. It felt like coming home and the second they started to play I regretted every second I've lived not playing that music as my soundtrack. My dad made a habit of buying tickets for us girls each year and I'm so thankful that he did because we've learned that the scheduling, driving, etc. are worth the full souls that we return with. See ya' next year, Lyle.

Please ignore the crazy eyes. It's the only shot we took all night. Oh and Lyle totally prefers I wear no makeup. :P

edited to add: Birdy either LOVED or HATED the concert. I like to think it was loved. Her ears just developed to be able to hear outside noises more clearly and boy did she respond to Lyle. It still makes me laugh to think of all those kicks and maneuvers.

some honest scrap

“The Honest Scrap award is given by other bloggers who consider a blog’s content or design to be brilliant. The awardee must then post ten honest things about themselves and pass the award on to other bloggers who fit the bill – in other words, whose blog is brilliant.”

HEF, from Spewage, passed this award on to me (and Christine). Here are my ten honest things about me in no particular order...

1) I don't know what I'm doing and worry that I'll just run out of time before I figure anything out. For real. I don't have a 'vision', viable mission statement, or long-term goals. I want to be a good mother, wife, friend, daughter and sister.

2) I won the family lottery. For reals. It's insanely unfair who I get to count as family and I'm eternally grateful.

3) I worry that we'll never have enough financially and then upon reflection realize that I don't really care. I think I care about losing a game that others think is important. And that's sillier than playing the game. Yet, here I am.

4) I have a limitless capacity for sleep. I'm not sure what my limit would be as I've never apparently neared my saturation point.

5) You know how we often say things about past negative experiences forming who we are today -- in someway embracing the experiences? I don't subscribe to that. Maybe we'd all be that much more fabulous for not having some of our negative experiences. I think I'd have more trust, less shame, and more confidence.

6) I was thinking the other day about what one thing I could change that would most greatly improve my life. I have a lisp speech impediment and if I could become confident despite the fact that people struggle to understand me at times, it would open doors. There are situations that I could really shine in if I could only speak.

7) It's totally unfair, considering my family lottery winnings, but I also have incredible, incredible friends. Like people who I can tell my whole truth to and still be loved and supported.

8) I no longer watch the news. It makes me sad and I am not sure that it edifies me in any way. My only news comes from Google headlines, NPR Radio news, Salon.com, the Sunday paper, and the occasional browse through cnn.com.

9) I want to learn guitar but all past/current attempts have shown my lack of willingness to put any effort into it. What does that mean? I mean, I really do want to learn it. I swear.

10) I love tall people hands. This may be because I have short people, chubby hands. They are square'ish -- reminiscent of Fred Flintstone. I'd bet that learning to love my own hands would be a good thing for me. Or, if that's not an option, ending my hand envy of the talls out there.

Ten honest things were not easy for me. Choosing just two people to pass this along to was even more difficult. Maybe everyone should do this post (hint hint). Should they choose to accept it, I now pass this esteemable award onto:

Steph

Alina

birdy's lovey

you might remember that birdy is a big winner. Well, her prizes have arrived from Lovie Baby Blankets and they're just the cutest. I especially love the Birdy lovey -- its so silky and the other side is the softest minky. Every little step makes me a little more excited to meet Lady Bird.

vacation notes and such

well, we survived a very nice family reunion. As nice as it was, we've decided it was our last. The family is now so far removed and we all tend to just hang out with each other anyways. We stayed at the dorms at Northwestern University in St. Paul -- it was so fun as Mom, the girls, and Joe, Nora, and I all shared a quad which means we shared our living room and kitchen. Nora had a blast being with her 'famiwee' all the time. What we can take from all of this is that we vacation well together and should do so in the future.

We had a main rec room at the college where there were family pictures, snacks, games and such. In the evenings, the family would hang out there. Joe and I played Scrabble a couple of times. One night, he opened the game with the word 'dildo'. About halfway through the game, an elderly woman (who must be a distant relative as I did not know her) came over to observe. She perused the board and then said, "What does this word mean?" My chilvalrous husband said, "Sarah?" I said, "Joe?" While Joe and I stammered, she said things like, 'if you play a word, you have to know what it is' and 'if it's Spanish, that's not normally allowed' and on and on. Finally I said that Joe wasn't very good at the game and had played slang. You would think the lesson would have been learned, but our next game started with 'orgy.'
The Mall of America was nowhere as bad as I had imagined it to be. The kids all had a blast shopping and riding rides. Nora even got her first American Girl Bitty Baby Doll. Originally, she was getting the baby only and the accessories later when her baby sister arrives. However, between her and her aunts, she somehow opened it all. We explained to her that she could name her baby any name in the whole wide world and then gave her examples of names. Nora wisely named her, "Baby Nora" The 'baby' title is helpful in differentiating between the two of them.

Nora picks up all sorts of phrases from her aunts. The one that sticks out to me from this trip is what we heard while driving home on the highway: "Wook at dose wims on dat twuck!" I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know what rims are -other than as a new interest of her Aunty Nisey. Some other funny things she has said to me lately are, "Spitting is happy manners!" and shoot... I can't remember another right now. I always {incorrectly} think it will be impossible to forget.

On the way home, we stopped overnight at a hotel with an indoor waterpark. The girls had a wonderful time. They had a really big area for littler ones, so even Nora had a blast. The older girls mostly hung out in the hot tub.

hormones and miscellany

written 7.6'ish posted 7.10

oh what to write about. I have been so tired yet and feeling ill. Partly because Birdy is so high up she pushes on my stomach -- at least that's my diagnosis. I feel as though I just need to catch this blog up for my own 'records' such as they may be. No need to read this rambling.

I have fallen three times now. I know that pregnancy can cause your center of balance to be off but these have been olympic caliber spills. In one of them I even hit my face and scraped my chin up. It's so strange because I don't even see it coming. I seem to do better not carrying anything and I certainly am not carrying Nora on stairs and the like. Outside of the obvious worry of carrying Nora or hurting Birdy, my next reaction is to protect my scarce maternity clothes. I hope this passes as I'm getting a bit sore.

We have a family reunion coming up in Minnesota. These things are not my 'thing.' However, I want to do my parents proud and have time away enjoying my family (the immediate sort of family.) With so many aunties with there is no reason Joe and I couldn't sneak off for a dinner alone...

Why do Sid the Science Kid (on PBS) and his entire family have stoner laughs? (no offense meant to the stoners out there) Science, my ass. They irritate the shit out of me. Especially that pothead grandma of his.

Hormones sometimes make me wonder just how in control we are of our beings. What if we're mostly instinct and chemicals mixed with some soul? Example: the other night I woke Joe up to have sex. Believe me, this is not something I do - Joe would certainly back me up on this. Because while sex is great, I love love love love love to sleep. Also, it's just not my style. Following this while my very pleased husband slept, I then cried for over an hour missing my dad. That's hormones. And that's crazy.

I've been having crazy dreams lately and missing my Dad like crazy. I feel so bad for us all. I know that Mom tries to go to bed only when she can be assured that she will fall right off to sleep. This often means 2 or 3 am and she wakes around 5 again. She says it's just so sad and she misses him so much then. Also, it appears that Nisey will be moving in soon. This deserves its own post on another day.

Some funny things Nora has started to say:

"ACtually..."

"Cudditout! You be KIDDING me!"

"Making me cwazy"

"That's harsh."