Be Back Soon

Just thought I'd post an update since I have not posted in a long time. On April 12th I lost my Mother unexpectedly. She passed away in our home while visiting us. My parents had made the trip up to help take care of Baby G while my sitter was out of town. I would like to say I'm doing a lot better and dealing with it well, but some days I'm not sure that's the case. I am still devastated by the loss and miss my Mom more and more every day. When you are able send some positive thoughts my way...I will be back soon.

Lettuce Help You: Why Vegetable Names Can Be Confusing

I painted this last year right before Baby G arrived...I hope you like it!

Hi Everyone! How ARE you!? I'm still busy as ever, but am doing well. Binderclips and I had some things happen to us lately that I feel like you all would appreciate, so I'm going to share...

I know this might come as a shock to you guys, but our real names are not actually Binderclips and Hulabuns (I know, crazy, right!?)....don't worry I won't tell you what they really are. All I will say is our last name (when pronounced correctly) sounds exactly like a vegetable. Twice within the last week (one time to Binderclips and another time to me) someone has said this vegetable name to us and confused us. This is how it went down:

Binderclips' Situation:


He's out and decides to pick us something up to eat, as he waits for them to make the sandwich wraps the person says "Lettuce*?" to him. Thinking they just said his last name to him (to get his attention perhaps), he says "yes" in response. They proceed to put lettuce on the wrap. It is at this point he realizes they were asking him if he wanted lettuce on the wraps.

Hulabuns' Situation:


We're out grocery shopping and have lettuce in our cart. We go to check out and the person checking us out says "Mrs. Lettuce" to me. I look at the guy and say "Yes" to acknowledge him talking to me, then realize that he's holding up the lettuce from our items that he's scanning to confirm that's what it is.  I stand there looking at him very confused...It's at that point that I feel the need to explain why I look so confused and say "I thought you said Mrs. Lettuce, since that's exactly how you pronounce my last name" to the guy. He just looks at me all confused-like. As I walk away I'm sure he's making the "that lady is crazy" hand gesture (you know, the one where you point your index finger and the side of our head and move it in a circular motion? You're doing it now aren't you? I am).

Any who, I hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day (especially you Vince, since you are actually Irish and in Ireland)! Later Gators!

*Lettuce is not our last name, nor does our name sound like it. However, for the purposes of this post you can refer to us as Mr. and Mrs. Lettuce.

Workin' IT

Hola amigos! How is everyone out there? I'm doing well, surviving I guess. Work has been ridiculously busy and Baby G has been keeping us busy as well. Before I give you an update on Baby G (which I'm sure you are all just waiting in anticipation for), I'd like to share a couple of my work conversations with you all:

1) I work in IT and for a while there everyone on my team had to work the help desk phones. In doing so, if we received a hang up call we would have to create an incident and define it as a "Hang Up" call in the incident system. Usually, we create incidents with the users who call in being the owners of them, however when we get hang up calls we sometimes have to put them in our own names.

Well, on this particular occasion this happened, so I created a Hang Up call incident and put myself as the user. Users who call in incidents to our Help Desk get automatic emails that include surveys after the incidents are closed that allow them to rate the service they received from us. When I closed the Hang Up call incident I immediately got one of these auto-emails....and it wasn't until I received it that I realized what would motivate users to fill out the surveys. The text within the email stated:

"During the 90 seconds it takes you to complete our Customer Satisfaction Survey, your name will be placed in a drawing to WIN ONE OF TWO IPODS GIVEN AWAY THE FIRST WEEK OF EACH MONTH!..."

Almost immediately I sent an instant message to my manager and this is how the conversation went:

Me: Hey, I just got an auto email to complete a survey after an incident that I opened for myself as the user was closed and now I see why users may be motivated to fill them out...

My Manager: Why?

Me: Well, they have a chance to win an IPOD!

My Manager: Really?!

Me: Yep. My question, can I rate myself and possibly win the IPOD?

My Manager: I guess you could do that

Me: It would definitely increase my client satisfaction scores

My Manager: It would but only if you were happy with the service you received

I didn't end up filling out the survey but had I filled it out I would have rated myself exceptionally well. :)

2) I receive an instant message from one of my co-workers it says:

Her: Hood morning Hooovlavuns*

Me: Hi there

Her: OMG, I'm soo embarrassed, I should have looked at what I typed before I sent it

Me: That's ok, I just imagined you saying it like you were a vampire

Her: ROFL!!

*Instead of saying Hoovlavuns it had my name misspelled horribly

Baby G Update:

Baby G is growing soo quickly! She's 22 weeks old as of this past Sunday. I just can't believe the time is going by soo fast.  She's already grabbing at everything in our hands and we started feeding her rice cereal just about 3 weeks ago. Here's a recent picture of her:

Anyways, I hope all is well with everyone out there in blog world! Later gators!

Abandoned By Astronauts

Hola out there in blog world! Hope all is well with everyone. Everything is great here, just super duper busy with Baby G. She is now a little over 4 months old (17 weeks and day to be exact) and she just found her voice this past saturday. Which, is probably the cutest thing I have EVER heard, I mean EVER. She just babbles on and on cooing and kaaaing, seriously it's the best thing ever (I'll try to post a video of it soon). Any who, here are a couple of recent pictures of our little pumpkin. Below that you will find a post that I believe to be an oldie but a goodie. Recently we had our cable disconnected and now only use AppleTV and Netflix. Well, this has resulted in me watching lots of space/astronomy shows and probably will result in something similar to what happened in this old post at some point. Wish me luck on that not happening (you'll understand after you read it I'm sure).

Original post 4/21/10

Remember how I mentioned that the Snaz fish incident was before we realized what happens to me when I get hot while sleeping? If you have not yet read the Snaz fish story I recommend you do.Well, the answer to that question is - I have nightmares, terrifying and unbearable, nightmares.

So, on this particular night we had went to bed fairly early - subsequently, leaving lots of time for reoccurring dreams (or nightmares). Anyways, the last nightmare (even if it's a reoccurring one) is the one that always makes the biggest impact (for me, at least).

In the nightmare I was on a shuttle that landed on the moon and for some reason was the chosen one to have to go outside of the shuttle and put a box on the moon (maybe I work for Alien FedEx perhaps?). I believe this was the main reason for the mission (it's always called a mission when you go to another planet or moon, right?). The nightmare always seems to start off in the same place - with me climbing down a ladder outside of the shuttle with the box in question in my astronaut hands (don't ask me how I was holding onto it with those gigantic gloves on). All I have to do is place the box on the moon's surface (which, appears to have no one on it, so I'm not sure who the heck is receiving the box), then get back into the shuttle so we can head back to Earth (BTW, now that I think about it, I'm certain this has something to do with Buzz Aldrin being on this season's DWTS).

For some reason, as I climb down the ladder - I'm terrified. Instead of stepping off the ladder at all, I just place the box on the ground as quickly as I can, then start to feverishly climb up the ladder to get back into the shuttle.This is where things get interesting - the shuttle starts to take off with me still on the ladder. I scream, yell, and pound on the shuttle as I realize it's doing this. This is my view from the shuttle, by the way (which, gives me the creeps because it's so reminiscent of the nightmare view).

Next thing I know, the shuttle blasts off with me still on the ladder - somehow, I'm able to hold on as we zoom through space and back to Earth. However, I'm freezing and again, terrified that I'll fall off at any moment. Then I wake up freaked out beyond belief.


The thing that I started to think about though was 'if I was an astronaut why would I be afraid of getting out and putting a package on the moon?' Well, I think I figured out the answer (remember this was a reoccurring nightmare): I believe the first time I got out of the shuttle (and had this nightmare) I was not terrified at all to climb down the ladder and set the box on the moon. Instead I merrily climbed down thinking 'I'm on the moon!!!!' (think "I'm on a boat!" excited - except without all the swearing). So, instead of feverishly climbing back up the ladder after setting the box down I believe I hopped off the ladder and lallygagged around for a bit. To which, the other astronaut FedExers got impatient and tried to take off without me.

My guess is that as the nightmare reoccurred again and again I spent less and less time on the moon and was more and more careful about not being left on the moon, which would explain why I was so terrified the last time I had the nightmare.

After this Binderclips told me I was "not allowed to watch anything astronomy or space related before bed" (what am I, 5?!). Anywho, if you want to see some awesome views check out Soichi Noguchi's twitter account - he just returned to Earth about a day ago from being on board the space station since last December. While in space he made several tweets that included pictures of Earth. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me (although, I shouldn't be allowed to look at them, since they will most likely give me nightmares - I hate when Binderclips is right).

Here's a recent Soichi tweet pic:

I bet Soichi wouldn't abandon me on the moon.

Slacker Slacker Bo-Backer

Hello all it's me...the slacker slacker bo-backer. I haven't posted in a while, well, because I've been focused on motherhood. Motherhood is awesome. Don't get me wrong, it's completely exhausting at times, but the truth is - it's pretty freaking awesome. Now, we (Binderclips and I) have had our share of ups and downs, but I love it. Would I go through labor again? Right now I plead the 5th.

So, where did I leave off last time I posted? Oh yeah that's right, our little Baby G had just arrived!

Since then a lot has happened but let me share with you the experience we had getting her newborn pictures taken (and let this be a lesson to all of you possibly wanting to do the same thing in the future). Here is the chain of events:

1. We show up, photographer insists Baby G is naked
2. Baby G is now naked and pissed (majorly pissed)
3. We try to get some pictures of her on her belly, she screams as if she is being tortured
4. We decide  to stop doing that
5. Photog decides Binderclips needs to hold Baby G with her hands and head on his shoulder. She's still naked at this point. Binderclips cannot be seen in the photos since he's wearing black and the background is black and the photog is taking the pictures very close up. This is a good thing.
6. As soon as the photog starts snapping pictures a yell is heard from Binderclips
7. Upon further examination it is discovered that Baby G has peed ALL OVER Binderclips
8. The fun doesn't stop there
9. The photog continues to snap pictures and another yell is heard from Binderclips... this time just slightly more urgent
10. Upon another examination it is discovered that Baby G has pooped ALL OVER Binderclips (Quick note here: Baby G is being breastfed. Breastfed baby poop is usually very runny and it was in this case, just fyi.)
11. We decide to take a break to clean her and Binderclips up
12. As soon as we clean her up I feed her a little bit and am holding her trying to comfort her (maybe for approx. 15 minutes). 
13. I hand her to Binderclips who has just gotten cleaned up
14. As soon as she's in his arms she poops all over him again
15. As I decide to go clean up the poop that has landed on the ground I'm crouching under Binderclips and Baby G who are standing above me. At this point I realize I could get pooped or peed on, so I move.
16. Not even a second after I move Baby G proceeds to pee all over Binderclips
17. We all laugh hysterically

Now I know Baby G is not going to enjoy this story being shared once she gets old enough to read but, seriously? How could I not share it? Right? Any who, I'll leave you with some of the pictures taken that day. I will try to post more frequently but I'm not making any promises. Later gators!

photos taken by Olga Thomas Photography

Bacon Baby has Arrived!

Hello Everyone! I haven't updated the blog in a while and thought you all would want to know the good news... Baby G has arrived! She was born on October 9th at 9:06 am after 10 hours of labor weighing in at a whopping 7 lbs 13 ounces and 21 inches long. Our original due date was October 20th, but I had a feeling she wanted to arrive early and boy did she ever! The above picture is of her immediately after delivery and the one below is of her and I immediately after. Isn't she a cutie? Well, clearly I'm biased, but even if I wasn't I'm sure I'd still think she's a cutie. ;)

This picture is after we got her home. She's just maxin' and relaxin'. 

So, what's up with the title of this post you ask? Well, I'm here to tell all the pregnant ladies as you get closer to delivery watch what you eat! The day before she was born I had a wonderful breakfast with lots of bacon. Immediately after pushing her out I started to smell a familiar smell. 'What is that familiar smell?' I thought to myself...then they placed her on my chest and it hit me - the familiar smell was bacon!! My amniotic fluid was scented in bacon and so was Baby G! 'No one warned me about this' I thought as I looked around the room wondering if anyone else noticed the bacony smell. (No one seemed to, but I can't be too sure they didn't. Most likely they did smell it but were polite and just didn't say anything, but who knows.) This is a warning to pregnant ladies everywhere, be very aware of what you eat before you deliver because it will come back to haunt you! My advice is - if you want to test out the folks doing your delivery eat something like bacon (meaning something with a distinctive smell...or just eat some bacon) and play Guess What I Ate This Morning in the delivery room.

Any who, I hope all is well with you all! Better get back to my little pumpkin....later gators!

Maternity Pictures and Random Stuff

Thought I'd share a few more of the maternity pictures with you all. Again, this is me a little over 32 weeks. The photos were done by Olga Thomas Photography - and I think she did a fabulous job. I don't think I've ever felt as comfortable being nearly naked around someone after having known them for just an hour before. :)

In other news, Binderclips went to China a little over a month ago. When he was gone he ate all kinds of stuff that he had never eaten before... After he came back I was watching Andrew Zimmern's show Bizarre Foods and they mentioned that they eat a lot of donkey in China. This prompted me to send Binderclips the following text (he was at work, so no I did not text him while we were in the same house/room or whatever you might be thinking, however I would not put that past us):

Hey, while you were in China did you eat any donkey? I hear it's popular there...

To which he responded with the following:

What on earth is this about donkey?!...some things did taste like ass - but I thought that was just me.

Any who, I'm going to keep this short - I need to go be overly anxious about if our little girl is going to show up early (as I'm typing this I'm saying to her out loud "please don't come early, please don't come early..." over and over again). I just have a feeling she wants to get out of there early. Good news is she gets the hiccups often so I know exactly where she is. So, far she's down (she dropped a couple of weeks ago) but I do not want her out if you get my drift.

Also, just so everyone knows I literally look like I swallowed a watermelon now. Binderclips thinks this is hilarious since we fight about watermelons often. Just thought you all should know. Ok, I'm outta here.

Later gators!