89. Sew my daughter’s Halloween costume
My Mom use to sew all of mine. I vividly remember going to Walmart and looking at all the patterns in late September/early October. Endless possibilities for endless fun. I’d like to give Cecilia that memory at least once.

88. Watch all the Godfather movies
If I were to right a dating book, I’d advise all women to watch these movies. It’s essential to understanding men.

87. Visit Graceland
86. Wear a fancy dress for a formal adult-only event
I don’t have fond memories of prom. It seems like the fun was the planning, not the attending. However, this time I’d like to have fun planning and then fun attending. Its going to be much easier now that my date makes more than $5.50 an hour and I’m legally able to booze it up. (Just so you know, parents, I actually did not drink on prom night.)

85. Go on a road trip with only my sister
Despite all the years she spent tormenting me by hanging my dolls on a noose and swinging them at me while screaming “Ghost BABY!”, I still like her. It’d be nice to spend some time with her without the distraction of spouses and kiddos.

84. Learn to apply “smoky eyes” makeup
…without looking like a cheap hooker.

83. Figure out how to work all the buttons on my digital SLR
82. Host a fancy dinner party
I’ve got lots of serving dishes and recipes. I need to justify taking up all the cabinet space by actually using them.

81. Become a certified personal trainer

I’m smart enough, and I like helping folks with the fitness and health goals. Plus, I figure if that weird dude that wears high-top wrestling shoes at the gym can do it, I probably can too.
80. Attend a wine tasting

Cecilia

Momma

While looking over my post, the indomitable laughed.

“What?”

“She’s cute than you are.”

“Yeah.”

For the fourth consecutive day, Cecilia slept through the night, but like always, I did not.  I have a vague memory of eating bread and jelly with a couple swigs of milks.  I probably wouldn’t remember this incident except I woke on the sofa.  Generally sleepingKelly collapses there after her nightly feasts even though the comfy bed is only ten paces away.  However, it’s probably best that I sleep on the couch because Cecilia’s bassinet is in the bedroom.  I don’t hear her as well in the living room.  Of course, I realize that sounds harsh and neglectful.  Let me explain…

I can hear her from the sofa.  Just not as well.  My sweet little girl usually wakes up because she needs to poop, and, for her, pooping involves an hour of grunting beforehand.  Thankful she sleeps through this.  Chris usually sleeps through it too.  However, with my overly sensitive, super paranoid momma ears, I do not sleep.  I wake up immediately and start to wonder. Should I get her up? Is she suffocating in her blanket and grunting because she needs air? Maybe she’s too warm and can shake the sleep when she really needs something. Are my boobs too full? Should I pump? She might not wake for a few more hours. What if I pump and then she wakes? I may not have enough milk…  It can go on for 45 minutes or more.  By the time I finally calm down and start to drift off, she wakes up.

The past few days I’ve woken to Chris and Cecilia sitting on the loveseat in the living room.  She grunted enough that he woke up and changed her.  Its a much more peaceful world when I’ve gotten more (and better) sleep.  And waking to a freshly changed and still a little groggy baby and a sweet husband makes for a happier momma.

Well, she rose again.  Cecilia slept from 10:30pm until 6:30am.  sleepingKelly enjoyed a container of YoMommy Yogurt and lots of  grapes.  There are few things worse than waking with milk breath and grapes skin stock in your molars.

Well, last night the little indomitable-sleeping baby snoozed from 9:30pm to 4:30am.  This was her gift to us after spending most of the early evening screaming, and it was definitely a blessing for her very tired parents.  You’d think that I’d  stay asleep in my soft, warm bed, but I woke up to find myself on the sofa.  Apparently sleepingKelly got up in the night and ate grapes and 2 pieces of honey wheat bread.   Personally I would have gone after one of the four containers of reduced fat ice cream in the freezer, but I’ve never understand the rhyme or reason behind her actions.

Last week, Cecilia received this adorable plate in the mail, but it came without any sender information. I emailed both the artist and the company that markets the plates, but the only information they had was an address for the Hefleys in Franklin, Tennessee. Unfortunately, the only Hefleys in Franklin are the ones living in this house, and I know Lucy didn’t order it. She would prefer for all of Cecilia’s future dinners to be dropped on the floor, not contained by a plate.

Whoever sent this, thank you. It’s adorable, and I really love it. I’m pretty sure Cecilia will love it too. (Right now she’s too captivated by the ceiling fan to notice.) I’d like to send you a thank you card so let me know if your the giver of this wonderful gift.

This is the same voice my sister uses to call her cat.

Smiling baby Cecilia from sleepingKelly on Vimeo.

Cecilia was born with a type 4 posterior tongue-tie. This means that her lingul frenulum (the piece of skin attached to the underside of the tongue) is too thick and tight, and her tongue cannot correctly cover her bottom gum while she nurses. Basically she’s gnawing on my breast while she eats which feels something like taking a cheese grater to my nipple. (Sorry for the repulsive description. Be thankful you’re not living it.) The lactation consultant advised us that she might grow out of it or we could consider frenotomy, which is a basic, painless clipping procedure.

I decided to wait a little while in hopes that her mouth would mature. In the meantime, I’ve been using a nipple shield. It’s been a messy ordeal, but it has helped me survive the past six weeks of Cecilia’s constant nursing. Another thing that’s helped me survive was NBC’s Heroes. The indomitable and I never watched the show until recently we discovered it was available on demand for 99-cents an episode. In the first few weeks of Cecilia’s life (when I was stuck on the sofa with her camped out on my breast), we watch the entire first season (20+ episodes) and half of the second.

Well, this morning we took Cecilia to a local ENT to have her tongue clipped. After we settled into the exam room, this guy walked in:

This is Dr. H, the ENT who was very sweet with my daughter. However, he looks a lot like this guy:

This guy is Sylar, the evil serial killer on Heroes that cuts people’s heads open and steals their brain. I had to think twice before letting him take my baby away to cut her tongue.

An author on my blog roll recently posted her 100 item to do list, and I thought I’d follow her lead. Some are self explanatory and some are not.

100. Find a favorite recipe in every cookbook I own
I have lots of them, including several of my late grandmother. Those are treasured items because they contain several handwritten recipes and notes. I also have many cookbooks that have never been used and probably never opened. There are several grilling books that I’ve given to Chris as gifts over the years. Those were failing attempts to get him interested in cooking.

99. Learn how to make fudge without burning it

98. Bake another cheesecake instead of talking about how I can bake them. (The last time was in 2002.)
The last one I made had a raspberry red wine glaze. I was 19 and used a fake id to buy the wine. That was the only time I used the fake id to buy alcohol, and then I baked the alcohol right out of the wine. Such a rebel. (I did, however, use it to get into clubs and bars, but my alcohol was purchased for me.)

97. Learn to play and love a sport that requires equipment (like bats or balls)
I played t-ball as a kid. The only game my team one was the only game I missed. I remember it was on a Wednesday, which wasn’t our usual gae day, and I was out of town visit my grandmother, the one with the cookbooks. I’m sure they didn’t miss me. After all, I gave myself a black eye once just by throwing the softball in the air and trying to catch it.

96. Take a foreign language course at a community college for the hell of it.
I took German in high school. I know how to say, “Where is the bathroom?”, “How much?,” and the always important “Do you speak English?” This will probably get me around in Germany, but unfortunately most of the world doesn’t “Sprechen Deutch.”

95. Buy a fancy umbrella
I’m not talking parasol. I’m talking pretty umbrella with fancy colors or patterns. My black tote one just ain’t cuttin’ it.

94. Order lobster at a fancy restaurant and know what I’m doing when I eat it
I’ve never thought enough of myself to spend that much money on my dinner. Of course, once it arrives, I’ll have no idea what to do with it.

93. Obtain an elementary understanding of white wine
92. Make a great find at a flea market
By this, I mean something awesome for my house. I’m not looking for resale and profit purposes. I want to find something that people will admire when they walk in my house. I also want to get a great price on it so I may have to learn to haggle.
91. Travel to a foreign country and speak the native language (not English)
90. Home school my children for a year in order to travel and show them history and science
The indomitable was home schooled and would like it if I taught our children. Personally, I don’t want to be solely responsible in teaching our children how to read. (Of course, I’ll play a part in it.) However, I feel like I could probably tackle fourth grade. I’d love to show them history in person, like Washington DC, and science at the Smithsonian’s. I just have to figure out if I’m going to take all the kids out at one time or individually. Either way, I think that’s going to be a special year with their momma.