The Speech Question

So we just finished Henry's speech therapy for the week.  First off, let me tell you that his therapist showed up thirty minutes early.  THIRTY MINUTES.  And, it isn't like we have therapy at 3pm when it might not be a big deal. Speech starts at nine thirty.  And maybe the therapist doesn't know me well, but I felt like it has been pretty clear over the last eight months that at nine thirty this family is just barely getting it's shit together enough to open the door to strangers.  Like to the point that when I opened the door to the knock at 9:03 Henry was still SOUND ASLEEP, Nick was showering with no clothes to put on in the bathroom (so you know...he had to walk around in just a towel) and  I was wearing a fantasy football tshirt with no bra and my hair was a rat's nest of a disaster all around my head.  There were clothes on the floor, toys (clearly from last night since my child is sound asleep) out in the living room, beds unmade, dishes on the counter.  I NEEDED THAT TWENTY SEVEN MINUTES TO HELP ME LOOK LIKE A GROWN UP! 

Anyway, I must have looked like a deer in headlights because she was like "....um.... I know I am early....sorry..." *looks away from the rats nest and pretends not to notice it* and I wanted to be like "WHY ARE YOU HERE SO EARLY?" but instead was like "Hahaha...no big deal...let me just..." and walk into Henry's room and hiss "HENRY!! Get. Up. Now!"  to which he replies "Light off!" and buries his face in his pillow.  Ah, school is going to be fun with this one, right?

Anyway, none of that story is the point of this post.  That's just there to tell you how great I am at this whole "grown up" thing.  What I am really wanting to talk about is speech therapy in general.  I just cannot decide if we should be continuing with his weekly therapy.  He seems to be right on track for a two year old at this point.  He talks ALL. THE. TIME.  And although he still totally says "fuck" for truck, the therapist tells us that is perfectly normal.  It doesn't even make her laugh. Not even when it's a "biiiiig FUCK!" Now there's a grown up.

So here's the thing, I can't decide if it's selfish to think about pulling him out of therapy, because one reason I want to pull him out is to avoid more mornings like this one.  On one hand, I really don't think he needs it any longer.  I am not even sure what difference an hour a week of therapy has made for him.  It made a big difference for me mentally to feel like we were doing something about his delayed speech, but did it really help him to start talking?  I am sure it helped. It gave us direction. It told us how to work with him. Yes, I really do think it helped. But I am not sure we would be in an extremely different place at this point with or without it.  Henry decided he was ready to start talking and he did.  The boy loves to learn and he is like a sponge. He knows all his letters and numbers.  He counts items, can tell you what is the same and what is different, he is using plurals and -ing.  He is asking and answering questions.  His therapist says that she does a lot of things with him that are really for older children.  And I don't mean that to brag about him.  I am sure lots of two year olds do those things.  But that's the point.  I think he is the same as lots of two year olds.  Do we still need early intervention for him?

We have a meeting today about the early intervention pre-school that he may qualify for because he is in the First Steps program.  His therapist was telling me today that the program tests equal or better than most of the very expensive private preschools in town.  She also said she would be very surprised if Henry tested in, but that you never know.  Do we keep him in speech in hopes of allowing him to be in this (free) preschool?  Is THAT selfish of me?  Or is it selfish to take him out of the system because I want to take him to the library story time on my day off?

That isn't the only reason, or even a reason in the top ten list of reasons.  I am not sure he needs it.  I KNOW there are kids who need it more.  We are paying (be it a small amount each month) for something I don't know is helping him anymore.  But how do I say we are pulling out if it IS helping him?  We aren't planning on preschool until he is three, not matter if it's this Early Start one that would be free or one we pay for.  He isn't in daycare, does he need this, even at just an hour a week?

I asked his therapist.  She said it was up to us, that he seems really on par for his age, but she would hesitate to pull him out of the system because he will never get back in.  I just don't know what to do.  And maybe that means we stay where we are.  It might not be helping, but I am positive it's not hurting him.  So maybe that's our answer. 

This parenting stuff.  Nobody tells you that you have to make so many decisions where the answers are in the grey area.  Not clear either way what is best.  So you are left second guessing. 

 Maybe I am a grown-up after all.  Rat's nest and all.

Bio Girl Goes Big Time

Well, it's official. Bio Girl has entered the big time. I officially decided to buy a domain address for this site! It's a big decision. I mean, it's an entire $10... per year. So you know, not something to enter into lightly. So what is the new address? Well, since I took SO LONG to decide to make this jump to "legitimate blogger who owns a domain" status, several of the logical choices for the site were taken. But after begging twitter for help I ended up going with... drum roll please....

www.biogirlblog.com

Welcome. Have a seat and stay awhile at my new domain. I am sure you all are more comfortable now that the pesky dash is gone. And the extra dot. And the entire word 'spot'. It's just so modern and stream lined now. God, I should have done this years ago.

Have no fear, if you have the blogspot address bookmarked or you are extremely against any sort of change. That site will always work too. It's like I am in two places at one time. Which, you know, is sorta a dream come true.

So bookmark the new page. Tell you family, tell your friends. We are legit around here.

While I am doing some blog upkeep, does anybody know how to make it so I have a little lab flask (like is in my header) up by the address instead of the blogger B ? Now that would REALLY make my blogging day!



***Update*****

Turns out that Blogger B is called a favicon and thanks to my awesome readers I have now changed it to the flask (science kinda flask, not alcohol flask!) that is in my header!

I am a blogging nerd and these things make me happy.

What We've been Up To

So.... hello. Did you notice I have been gone for five entire days?

No? That hurts.

Turns out our Thanksgiving break just sorta took on a life of it's own, and I just never found time to blog. The sad thing is that even with four (yes four) family Thanksgivings, I managed to take basically zero family pictures. I did take a bunch of random non-family/ non-holiday pictures though. And I figure what with me being missing for FIVE DAYS from the world wide web, you must at least sorta want to see so of those. Right? RIGHT?

Here we go. Lets start strong.

Henry wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving by showing off his new love of gloves. He wants to wear them. ALL. THE. TIME. He looks like a soccer goalie(This is one of my favorite pictures ever.)

Here is one of me and Nick at my parents house before the 21 family members (not photographed) ate a delishious meal. I think the look on my face is odd. Not bad, just odd. Like I look like I have a secret.

What else do we have here.... Oh we did this on Friday!

All Christmas decorations are officially up in the Bio Girl house hold. Almost all Christmas shopping is also done, which I am pretty proud of. I went out on Black Friday, shopping from midnight until 5am. Yeah. That was something.

At Thanksgiving with Nick's dad we broke out the XBox Kinect. As you can see, the boys really enjoyed it. As did all of the adults. Especially the "free style dance".

Moving into the more random events of the weekend, MY KINDLE ARRIVED! You all, I am so damn excited about this thing. I love it already.

Not only mama did some reading over the long weekend. Henry set aside a little "me" time as well with a good book.

At one point during the weekend we did this too. Good times.

I seem to be out of pictures, but just trust me. It has been exhausting. And perfect. Hope your holiday weekend was as wonderful as ours.

Twilight and Outlander Mash Up

What?

Okay FINE. I am not really mashing these two topics together. I just want to talk about Breaking Dawn AND I want to talk about A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander book 6) but I don't really want to take up two days of blog posts talking about it on a holiday week. So.... MASH UP*!  Don't worry, each section will be clearly marked so if you are only interested on one topic, you can easily avoid the other! But if you don't care about EITHER topic.... Well... Here is a picture of Henry when he was a baby:

(Why a baby picture?  Just because.) 

Okay, Breaking Dawn!  
(spoilers are abundant below)

Okay so my love of the Twilight series has really died down lately. Not that I don't still remember that I loved it when I first read it, but really everyone elses crazy obsessive love has sorta taken away from it for me. So although I love the story, I wasn't really excited to be in the theater on opening night because I was too busy being embarrassed. Silly, yes. But also true.

So imagine my surprise when I sat down in the theater and enjoyed the hell out of this movie! The speeches at the wedding made me laugh. Hard. I though Bella and Edward seemed normal and sweet rather than SUPER AWKWARD which is how I felt like they seemed most of the time in the other movies.Sometimes the first half was awkward, but for the most part I really liked it.

Now as for the second half, with the mutant pregnancy and wolf conversations... I really enjoyed most of that too!  I cannot believe how AWFUL Bella looked when pregnant. Like, HER BONES you all.  HOW did they make her took that terrible??  The birth scene make my skin crawl, but in the way it was suppose to I think.  I mean, it was gross and horrible, but acceptable.  I though the part where the wolves were talking in human voices was funny in a not good way, but I don't really know how else they could have done that scene, and it needed to be in the movie. So I will give it a pass.

All in all, I liked it. Not that people who hate the series will like it.  They will still hate it.  But, if you read the book and enjoyed the book, they did a really good job with the movie.  I was pleased.  And not nearly as embarrassed as I walked out of the theater as I was when I walked in!


Now, A Breath of Snow and Ashes!
(Spoilers are also abundant in the section. Fair Warning)

We are doing the bullet style, as per the norm for my Outlander book reviews.

• This was, in my opinion, the best book in the series so far.  It didn't have the slow start I have just come to accept from all the other books.  It was INTENSE from the very start and it never seemed to stop. But at the same time, it never crossed the line to being too much.  It was just AWESOME from start to finish!
• Claire being abducted and raped.   I was so shocked and horrified with that entire series of events.  And the part where she hears the drums and she knows they are coming to save her, and THEN when Arch Bug offers to let Claire kill the men that did this too her, and Jamie is like "I do her killing for her" and then Ian was like "and I" .  I just about died.  It was INTENSE. 
• The entire Malva story line.  WHAT A BITCH for standing there saying Jamie was the father of her baby! (may she rest in peace and all that. but still.... BITCH!) I mean, I know she was knocked up by her brother and everything, but COME ON.  HOW DARE SHE??
• The part where the mob comes for Claire and her and Jamie lock themselves up in the house and have that little moment where they say they don't regret anything.  Oh man.  LOVED IT.
• BREE AND ROGER LEAVE THE PAST.  It killed me that they go back to their own time!  I mean, of course they had to. There is no parent that wouldn't do everything in their power to save their child.  But when they are leaving and Jamie tells Jemmy "If you meet a mouse named Michael, tell him your Granda says hello." Just about broke my heart.  And at the very end when they get the box with Jemmy's name on it and you realize that Jamie has been writing them letters for them to find 200 years in the future.  You all. I cried.
• Stephen Bonnett!  That entire THING.  Him taking Bree, Jamie and Roger finding him, him being tied to the post, Bree killing him. THIS BOOK WAS SO CRAZY!
• The little scene where Roger finally finds out that Jemmy is his son because they share the birth mark on their head.  I cried at that part too.
• And then at the end when the big house  really does burn and Donner being an all around ass from the future.  I knew that guy was going to be trouble. 
• Bree meeting William but not being able to tell him that they are siblings.  How heart breaking would that be? To meet your only sibling for just this one time in your life and not being able to embrace him and call him brother.  

Okay, that's it for this book. I am sure I had more feelings to talk about with it, but it was just SO DAMN GOOD that they have now all run together.  Have you read it? Did you think it was the best in the series too?

*yes, by calling it a mash up I am also owning up to the fact that I watch Glee. Could I be a bigger nerd?

Hello There

Hello everyone who is visiting for the first time from ICLW! I have taken a little break from ICLW, but decided last month that I missed it and so I AM BACK!

Here is my little family.















We are the type of people that see a robot sweater hanging in the kids department and think, "YESSSSSSSS". (we are nerds)

As for our TTC story, you can read about that in detail here. The basic outline is that I have stage four endo diagnosed in late 2004. We were lucky enough to have our little miracle, Henry, in May of 2009 after a successful IVF. We got back into the game in early 2011 for baby #2 but after two failed FET's we are now officially out of the game for good and living as a family of three.

If you are interested in other things about me (non-TTC related) .... well, here are 100 things that are sorta interesting. I talk about parenting, family, what I am reading ... I talk a lot about nothing at all. Welcome to the mess of Bio Girl!

PS. We are also the kind of people that think this makes for a great family picture.

further proof of nerdiness. What else could you want in a blog?

Dancing

Henry has always loved music.  He will ask us to turn it on all the time.  He has danced for a long time too.  Moving his little body to the beat as he listens.  But lately his dancing has changed. It has become more pronounced.  It has become something that he is choosing to do.  "DANCE!" he will shout when he hears music.  Freezing where he is and starts to move his body, head bobbing and arms flailing to no particular rhythm whats so ever.  He bends his knees and moves his butt, the entire time smiling up a storm and while saying 'Henry DANCING!!".  He asks us to dance with him and we always do, hidden away in our house where nobody can see.

The other evening we were sitting in the living room.  I was reading, but on the TV in the background was some event in to honor Motown.  A Jackson five song came on (Oh how I love the Jackson Five) and Henry runs over to tell me. As he runs, he sees his own reflection in the fire place glass.  He freezes and says, "Ohhhh.... Two Henrys!  TWO HENRYS DANCE!!" Then he stood in from of the fire place for the length of two Motown songs and danced with himself.  I was so tickled with him.  He loves music. He loves dancing.

The next day we were out grocery shopping.  I pulled him out of the car and we both heard music blaring from a car near by.  It was some sort of rock music, loud, but with a noticeable beat.  Henry gasped with delight and whispered, "Music...."  I dropped him in the cart as the music played on.  His head started to bob and I noticed his arm go up in his classic "chicken wing dance move" fashion.  "DANCE!"  he shouted and started dancing in the cart.  I smiled at him and said, "Yes, you are dancing!"  He froze and said, "No.... Mama Dance?? Mama dance with Henry??"

I laughed it off.  Thinking there was no way in hell I was dancing in the Kroger parking lot.  But then he looked at me, and I could see him questioning why I wasn't dancing. I dance with him at home.  "Mama, dance?"  And I realized that one day he wouldn't dance in public either. He would be embarrassed to dance in front of strangers.  But for right now, he was doing exactly what he wanted, which was to move his little body to the sound of the music. And he wanted his mama to dance with him. Something else that soon enough will be embarrassing to him too.  Dancing in public, with his mother.

So I danced with him.  There in the parking lot.  To show him it was okay.  To tell him he was perfect for wanting to dance. That it wasn't embarrassing at all.

As I walked into the store, pushing the cart as both our heads bobbed to the song fading away behind us, I saw an older woman look at us and smile, then look away.  I had the distinct impression she had danced with her young children too.  They grow up too fast to not dance with them whenever they ask.

A SURPRISE Baby Shower! (Take Two)

Did you possibly already see a baby shower post? A sorta rambling one, full of plot holes and spelling errors containing a total of three pictures? Oops. Meant to hit "save", accidentally hit "publish". My bad. And now google reader will NEVER let me forget it! So lets start again, shall we?

The second Sunday of every month our group of girlfriends meet up for brunch at our sweet friend Charing's house.  We call it "Second Sunday Brunch Bunch".  Because we are adorable (annoying) like that.  It's really just a time we have set aside once a month to make sure we see each other in our crazy busy lives.  We used to go OUT once a month. Dinner, movies, dancing, drinking... you know, OUT. But then we all got busy and got poor and it just stopped happening.  But we all love each other and we missed that time, so Charing stepped up and said "BRUNCH!!"  And the Second Sunday Brunch Bunch for the ZPO's was established.  We love it.

The ZPO's were so excited to celebrate our soon to be newest member!

  It was at our November Brunch that we held the ever shocking SURPRISE BABY SHOWER for Boo.  So she literally had no idea, even as we pulled up and there were cars everywhere.  Even as we walked in and heard laughing and talking in the other room.  Even, alarmingly, as she walked past balloons and onsies hung up on a string.

She was THAT clueless. She basically looked like this:


 When she walked in and saw not only the ZPO but also several of her close school friends there to celebrate our sweet new baby.
 
Here are Boo and Cici with her school friends who were able to join us!

It was such a wonderful surprise and I am so glad Charing thought to host it, and to keep it secret.

Here is Boo with Charing and Morgan, the perfect Hosts.


Charing had the cutest shower activity for us! She had everyone make the sweet baby girl a onsie to wear.
They all came out so cute!



Boo made her one that said "I love my Big Sister." Aw.

There were great presents, like this owl hat that Missy and I ordered from Etsy. How cute is that?? The new girl got so so much great stuff!

Cici got some presents too. She is VERY excited about her new sister. Actually, she has no idea what is happening, but she is IN LOVE with HER second bedroom and all HER new stuff :)


The food was awesome. As always at Charing's house!

The time together was even better.

We had such a great time celebrating our new girl. Now we just can't wait to meet her!

Other Pictures

So the shower pictures... you must wait. I went to load them at 11:30 last night and realized that red eye had totally taken over in nearly every picture. I didn't have time to edit, so... tomorrow! I promise! (fingers crossed. Just in case)

For today I want to show you what my brother in law and his girlfriend got me for my birthday.

Wait for it...

Wait for it...


Ahhhh hahaha! I do actually have it on at work right now. (Of course I do.) How awesome is it? Chris hacked into my blog code to get the image. I am thinking I could take him for all he's got.

We actually were all together on Sunday to celebrate mine and my Mother in laws birthdays. Here is a grainy sorta wonderful picture of Henry piling around with said brother-in-law and family.
And here is Henry with his Neena and Nicole putting candles on the birthday cakes. Adorable.

It was a really good day. I am a lucky girl. 

*Bio Girl shirts on sale now.

*Not really.

*Unless someone besides me actually wants one.

My Next Movie Obsession

Well Harry Potter is over (it actually still makes me sad to say that), and as far as I know they aren't making the Outlander Series into a movie anytime soon. But still, I have something to be very exciting to look forward to seeing on the big screen:



The Hunger Games. Good lord, it looks so awesome, right?? I have been worrying about the movie since they cast the three main characters (I think they all look too old) but after seeing this... You all, I CANNOT WAIT.

I am giddy. March 23rd, you are on my calendar as a "BIG BIG Day!".

**What? two posts in one day?? I know, right? I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but then decided that you all NEEDED to see the preview tonight. You. Are. Welcome.

The Surprise Keeper

I may very well be the worst keeper of surprises of all time. Now, that isn't to say I can't keep a secret. That I can do. Really well. Like my secret keeping vault is a steal trap that nobody will enter. Not to say it has always been that way, but as young girls commonly do, I learned the hard way the importance of keeping secrets, and now I do it like a champ.

But that isn't what we are talking about. We are talking about surprises. The things that you are excited about, looking forward too, but cannot talk about until the predetermined time that the surprise is to be reveled. For example, Christmas. In the 12 years we have been together I have never once been able to pull of a Christmas surprise for Nick. This is because he will watch my face closely and guess as he holds each package. And my face tells all. I CANNOT seem to lie. I mean, I LIE, but it is so obvious that I am lying that it is like a written confession of guilt. Add in the fact that I am COMPLETELY unable to lie on the fly, and you have a girl that is bound a determined to ruin any good surprise. Might as well keep me out of the loop. It's for the best.

But this weekend we had a surprise event that I was forced to be in the loop about. We had Boo a surprise baby shower! So for the last couple of weeks I have been helping my sweet friend plan this shower, but have had to keep it a secret from Boo. Do you know how hard that is for a terrible surprise keeper with an extremely nosy sister?? DO YOU??

Boo, Chris and Darcy were over on Friday for dinner and I had the present hidden away in the new bathroom where I was POSITIVE nobody would go. Well, in walks Chris to take a look at the bathroom and I actually block him from the door where the present is hidden and hiss "Don't go in there!" He looks at me kinda shocked and said "I am not allowed to go into your bathroom?" and laughed a little. You know, waiting to know WHY he isn't allowed in a bathroom that is under construction. And there were a million good answers. The main one being just go with the truth. There are PRESENTS in there. They could be for CHRISTMAS you know. But What did I do? I get all squirrelly and weird (YOU ALL, I was WEIRD about it) and say "Ummm.... NO! I will..." (then I whisper) "I will just tell you later."  Under my breath all super secret (read creepy) like and give him a knowing (read odd) look. It was exceptionally awkward.

And the thing is, that is just ONE of my many increasingly attempts to keep this shower a secret. I also told Boo on Sunday I was tired and need to go home from Christmas shopping...something we had only started about 45 minutes before, at 5:15PM.  FIVE FIFTEEN PM. I actually fake stretched. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??

You want to surprise someone with something? Consider this a warning, it's best to NEVER tell me about it.

**Great pictures from the shower to come tomorrow. Turns out even with me being a complete idiot, she was truly surprised. It was great.

Wishing

Today is 11-11-11.  How many weddings are happening today, do you think?  I am thinking lots.  It has such a nice ring to it, 11-11-11.  How many babies are being born over the next week, parents who were hoping for that 11-11-11 birthday.  I remember nine months ago hoping I was pregnant because our due date would have been right around now.  It feels like a lifetime ago.

I know I don't talk much about the failed cycles anymore.  I don't know what else to day.  But if you are curious, I think about them all the time.  Maybe not as much as I did five months ago, not every second, or every minute even, but at least once a day.  I read blogs who had their transfers the same time as us. I watch those soon to be mama's grow and think "I was almost there with them".  I could have been due now if trying on our own had worked.  I would be due in January if the first FET had worked, or in March if the last chance one had actually happened.  And I wish I didn't know those dates.  I wish I didn't think about it, but I do.

People always say to make a wish at 11:11.  What about on 11-11-11?  Is this a lucky day?  Can I make a wish for myself?  Because if it is just a wish in general, my little sister will always and forever get my one wish.  More than anything I want her healthy.  But if I am making a selfish wish, or if we think of this a genie and I have three wishes and the first is for the health of my family, the second is for a baby.  Still.  Always.

Or maybe it's to stop thinking about it.  To stop asking for it. To be satisfied.  I am closer than I was, but still not nearly close enough.  I see siblings and my heart breaks.  I see the three of us together, and think there is that perfect spot for one more.  And I wish I didn't feel that way, but I just can't stop myself. I can't stop the wishing every day, every cycle, all the time.  So maybe for today, on this day of wishes, I should wish to stop wishing.  But that might be just as likely to come true as actually getting pregnant.


As for my third wish, just in case you were curious, I of course wish to free the genie.

The New Bed

Every night since the new bed arrived at the house we seem to find ourselves hanging out in it.  All three of us.  We finish dinner, then instead of spending time in the living room, we seem to all head for the bed.  We crawl in together and watch movies, play games, read, laugh, basically just hang out.  In bed.

On the second night it was past Henry's bed time and he was still laying there with us.  It was clear he was just about to fall asleep, so I tell Nick he better move him on into his bed.  With the daylight time change and some schedule shifting that has been happening I was worried that letting him fall sleep in our bed would be the start of  a new bedtime fight I wasn't willing to take on.

So Nick gets up and looks at Henry and says "Henry, it's bed time.  Do you want to walk to your bed or do you want Papa to carry you?"  This is a nightly question and the answer flips back and forth between "Carry You..."  and "WALK!" which takes on the look and sound of a marching band heading into the bedroom.  But on this night we got a different answer.

"No..." Henry said, sorta thoughtful.  "Dis one."  Patting the bed to be sure it was clear.  He was happy to sleep in this bed, thank you very much.  "Dis one!"

Nick says "No Henry, walk or Papa carry you?"

Henry closes his eyes and settles into the bed, pats Nick's pillow and says " Lay down Papa, Lay down."  He then barely opens one eye to look at his papa still standing by the bed, snaps it shut again and says "sleeeeeeeeeeep."  with a tiny little grin on his face.

These random moments.  Sometimes they take my off guard, how they fill me with love for my little family of three.  God, I love them so.

All That Stuff

I have this list of things in my head that I want to blog about, but none of them make an actual post. So... without further ado, BULLETS!

• I got my hair cut for the first time in....well...I am not sure.  A year maybe.  Could be 18 months.  You all, it has been a LONG TIME.  I just ran into a cheap place near the grocery because because it would be fast and cost next to nothing.  The hair cut took all of five minutes.  She cut my hair DRY, and just cut straight across the bottom.  I was horrified.  But more horrified when this $13 hair cut actually made my hair look remarkably better.  That will show me for walking around with 12-18 months of split ends.  Anything looks better than that!

• We bought a new mattress set.  It. Is. Heaven.  Like I never want to get out of it. Ever.  It makes being productive difficult, but it's totally worth it. 

•  I am getting one of the new Kindle Touches for my birthday from my parents.  You all.  I am SO EXCITED.  Like I just keep logging in to Amazon to make sure they didn't decide to release it early and it will be here sooner than expected.  This will be my first eReader and I picked it carefully.    I know everyone is all into their fancy tablets, but I really wanted the eInk and thought it would reduce arguments with Henry if the thing DIDN'T play games or have movies on it.  I can't wait for my new toy!

•   I was in a meeting at work today and someone actually stood up and yelled "YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!!" And stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Thank god she wasn't talking to me.  Still...it was intense.

•  I am loving that my Bengals are 6-2 this season.  Who Dey.

• Are you all watching Grimm?  I think I might love it.

• I am making plans with my girlfriends to see Breaking Dawn on opening night.  I am equal parts excited and embarrassed about these plans.  

Okay, I am thinking that's it.  You all are totally up to date on the random stuff going on in my life.  What?  You only come here for pictures of Henry?  You couldn't care less about my Kindle, my new bed, my hair cut, what I am watching on TV or my work drama?  Okay, FINE.

Before and After

Before...

And After.

Someone got a hair cut this weekend. Two inches gone. He is fine, but his mama is a little worse for wear.

Henry says: "Seriously mama, you are going to have to stop posting about every single hair cut I get. I don't think anybody but you thinks it's blog worthy..."

Mama says: "That CAN'T be true Henry! Everyone loves your hair! And this was two inches!! That's a lot of hair!"

Henry: "Nobody mama, nobody cares."

Mama: " I respectfully disagree."

*I do know I am insane about his hair, but I CANNOT STOP.  You must put up with me about it for at least a little longer.

BlogHer Book Club Review: Theodora

So my latest Blogher book club book arrived a couple of weeks ago and Nick saw it laying on the table.  Theodora: Actress, Empress Whore by Stella Duffy has the backside of a naked woman on the cover and the quote, “There is no end of the show business, court intrigue, and exotic sex. – The Guardian(London)”  on the front.  Nick laughed and said “That looks like book that will be an HBO series...”  I then opened the cover to find an info sheet inside that said this book IS actually going to be the newest HBO miniseries!  And you all, it's going to be awesome.

Theodora is the life story of Theodora of Constantinople, whom, in case you didn't know, became the Empress of the Byzantine Empire in 527 AD.  Don't worry. I didn't know either.  But her story is amazing.  At five her father is killed by a bear (he is a bear trainer...clearly not a great one) and she and her two sisters are forced to become actresses in order to support her family.  Once an actress hits the ripe old age of 12, she is also for sale as a whore.  The book follows Theodora from the age of eleven, where she is first sold to the big stage after six years of training, through her stage career which ended at 19.  Her story then follows her as she leaves the country, finds religion and eventually becomes the Empress.  Something which should have been entirely impossible for a whore, seeing as how in that day whores were not permitted to marry.

Now I myself would not say this book is full of "exotic sex".  Just in case you are turned off by that statement.  Or if you might want to run out and get the book because of it.  Either way, I feel that it is an overstatement.  There is talk of her whoring and what not, but that's mainly it.  The story isn't a graphic sex tale, it is the life story of an amazing woman from history.  In an odd way it was empowering to read about her, how far she came, what a difference she made in 527 AD.

I truly enjoyed this book.  I know that story are lost in time, and this book is a novel.  It is fiction.  but I did a little checking and the skeleton of the story is true enough.  Nobody knows the things that were said between these characters 1500 years ago, but Theodora's mark was lasting.  History remembers her story, and I am happy to now know it too.

We will be discussing Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore over at Blogher for the next several weeks.  Please come join in the conversation!

Also, just to keep things out in the open, this is a paid review.  But as always, my opinions of the book are entirely my own.  I would never suggest you read something I didn't enjoy.  I am all for honestly around here.

Back Rub

Henry's new favorite thing is having his back rubbed before he falls asleep.  He will lay down in his bed, ask for his toys, his blankets, to be tucked in.  Then he will say "Rub back?". And we always do. 

If he has a hard time falling asleep we will hear him call out from his room, "Mama, Papa?? Rub Back?!?!"  And we do.  Giving him a few more minutes to be really ready for bed.

This morning Henry and I were up and getting ready for speech and he said, "Mama's bed?"

I am not one to protest getting back into bed for a few minutes, so we climb back into my bed together.  "Blanket?" he says.  So I put the blanket on both of us. 

"Henry rub Mama's back?"  he says, then rubs the side of my arm and shoulder for me.  I tell him "thank you so much! What a sweet boy you are!"  He has never tried to rub my back before.

After a few seconds he smiles at me, flips on his belly and says "Mama turn!"

This child.  he is cleaver.

After a couple of minutes later he smiles at me and says "Happy."

Mama too, baby.  Mama's happy too.