It's my birthday and I'll complain if I want to

Sleeping in
Originally uploaded by riblet.

I've got a cranky kid. He's recovering from his shots yesterday and might be coming down with a little cold. The poor thing won't sleep unless he's strapped to my chest. As you can imagine, this is putting a major crimp in my busy day! I have a whole house to clean, errands to run and I badly need to wash my hair. I also want to eat food, a grilled cheese from Nationwide to be exact, but the kid is dead set against me doing anything besides holding him and pacing the floor. I feel like a grand wreck. And so does he.

For my birthday, I should have asked for the day off.

Postpartum hair loss

Though I knew I'd have a bit of hair loss after Ira was born, I didn't think it would be so much! Every day when I comb my hair, I end up with a big pile of strands. It's even worse when I wash it. I find hairs everywhere. They're all over my pillow, all over the bathroom floor, sometimes wrapped around little Ira's hand. I'm amazed that I have any left at all. But there it is, thank goodness. And it still feels like I have a ton left. So glad I didn't have hair loss as bad as Britney's.

Ira had his 4 month check up today. He's 12 pounds, 12 ounces and 25.25 inches tall. The doctor says he's a little feather weight, but not to be worried. She also gave me some devastating orders. I must go without cheese for 3 weeks. I know! I'm not taking this well. You don't really want to know why, but it's for the good of the kid. Cheese makes up a huge portion of my diet. I have no idea what I'm going to eat if I don't have cheese! I might have to start eating....soy cheese.

One day...

!
Originally uploaded by bugbiteme.

For some reason Ira thinks it's hilarious to tell him what he's going to have to do when he grows up. If you say "Ira, one day you'll have to get a job and pay taxes!" He just starts cracking up, which is totally cute and funny. Before you know it, you're both laughing until you start thinking, wait....maybe he's laughing because he's planning to grow up to be one of those guys who lives in his parent's basement for 35 years, without a job or a car. Great. And I was so hoping for a dentist or a lawyer.

Man, I'm so bored today. I've been doing pile after pile of laundry all morning. I really wanted to make it out to a mommy's group this afternoon, but I can't tell if the sore throat and runny nose I woke up with is allergies or a cold. I don't want to get any babies sick because let me tell you, there's nothing sadder than a sick baby, so I'm going to stay home.

Happy birthday Leon!

Shout out to my dude, who's thirty-brew today! Ira and I have some birthday shopping to do this afternoon and then later we celebrate with sushi and moms and sisters. Still not sure exactly what is happening for the combined Neon celebration. I'm just sitting here enjoying the last 12 days of my 20's.

Yesterday was valentine's day and we spent the evening in. Leon made me a fabulous Italian dinner. Here's how it went:


Wine



Appetizers



Salad



Pasta



Fancy tea



Mini cheesecakes



Then we sent the baby to my sister's place and played a really tame game of dice. My face feels so relaxed today.

Heaven knows I'm almost miserable

Sleeping mouth
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Brace yourself. I've started looking for work. It's hard! I redid my resume about a hundred times and applied for a couple of things last week. I'm not looking forward to interviews. I don't always speak very well under pressure and have absolutely no nice clothes, let alone any interview-type clothes. In fact, I still have a couple of maternity shirts in my wardrobe rotation. Not because I've got the belly for them, but because my new milk rig makes all my pre-pregnancy shirts too short, if you know what I mean. I need an H&M birthday shopping spree.

Not much else to see here. At least nothing exciting. Okay, you still want to know? It involves diapers on ebay, prime time television and PBS's 1900 house. Oh, and job searching, cheap earring allergies , myspace spying and one very, very sore toe.

AARP won't leave me be!

AARP
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Hey, doesn't AARP stand for American Association of Retired Persons or something like that? I won't deny it, I'm getting older, but this is ridiculous! I'm nowhere near retirement age! So I do have a birthday coming up. No set plan yet on how I want to celebrate my dirty thirty, but it might include at least 2 of the 7 deadly sins.

Hmm, what else is new? I was at the mall last week with my niece. She's 14 now and it's so weird that I can totally talk to her like an adult now. So anyway, we went into Bath and Body Works and I swear I found the reincarnation of one of my favorite '80s fragrances, Electric Youth! It's B&BW's new pomegranate line and it reminds me of reading teen magazines and obsessing over the Coreys.

Uh, food? I love it. Shout out to Leon, who made a delicious winter mushroom stew last night using one of the best cookbooks ever, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (thanks sabrandall!). Soooo meaty! But in a non-meat kind of way. I stuffed myself silly with it.

More on food. I've been discovering the joy of podcasts and subscribed to two of them about food alone! Hidden Kitchens, which is a NPR show, is my favorite. I've also taken a liking to Good Food, which comes out of NPR affiliate, KCRW in LA. I like their farmers market report at the start of the program that tells you what's in season. I'm also checking out the podcast of the call-in portion of the Splendid Table, which inspired me to make up this easy dinner:

Sautee a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed) with some minced garlic and shallot untill the chickpeas begin to brown. Watch that garlic! Don't let that brown. Pour in a can of diced tomatoes and their liquids. Add some italian-type spices. Simmer a little until much of the liquid is reduced. Spoon over some cous-cous (I made my cous-cous with butter and broth) and dinner is done. And if you make whole weat cous-cous, I think you have a complete vegetable protein there.