TOOTPU on Sunday

If you live anywhere within a reasonable distance of the DC Metro area, please come and join The Order of the Plastic Uterus (formerly knows as the DC Metro Stirrup Queens) on Sunday! You've heard the stories of our great gatherings, and they are all true.

We are meeting at The Cheesecake Factory in White Flint Mall at 12 noon this Sunday (6/29). Let me or Shelby know if you are coming so that we can get a count. Hope to see you there!

Had a snake as a pet

I've got nothing of interest to talk about right now except babies and boobs, and don't feel like prattling on about either of them. So, I'll do this meme -- I saw this on a bunch of other blogs and think it's neato. The ones that I've done are orange.

Bought everyone in the bar a drink
Swam with wild dolphins
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
Been inside the Great Pyramid
Held a tarantula
Taken a candle lit bath
Said I love you and meant it
Hugged a tree
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
Seen the Northern Lights
Gone to a huge sports game
Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Grown and eaten your own vegetables
Touched an iceberg
Slept under the stars
Changed a baby’s diaper
Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
Watched a meteor shower
Gotten drunk on champagne
Given more than you can afford to charity
Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
Had a food fight
Bet on a winning horse
Asked out a stranger
Had a snowball fight
Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
Held a lamb
Seen a total eclipse
Ridden a rollercoaster
Hit a home run
Danced like a fool, not caring who watched
Adopted an accent for an entire day
Actually felt happy about your life, even for a moment
Had two hard drives for your computer
Visited all 50 states
Taken care of someone who was too drunk
Had amazing friends
Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
Watched wild whales
Stolen a sign
Hitchhiked in Europe
Taken a road-trip
Gone rock climbing
Midnight walk on the beach
Gone sky diving
Visited Ireland
Been heartbroken longer than you were in love
In a restaurant sat at a stranger’s table and ate with them
Visited Japan
Milked a cow
Alphabetized your CDs
Pretended to be a superhero
Sung karaoke
Lounged around in bed all day
Posed nude in front of strangers
Gone scuba diving
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Played in the rain
Gone to a drive-in theater
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
Toured ancient sites
Taken a martial arts class
Played a computer game for more than 6 hours straight
Gotten married
Been in a movie
Crashed a party
Gotten divorced
Gone without food for 5 days
Made cookies from scratch
Won first prize in a costume contest
Ridden a gondola in Venice
Gotten a tattoo
Rafted the Snake River
Been on television news program as an “expert”
Got flowers for no reason
Performed on a stage
Been to Las Vegas
Recorded music
Eaten shark
Had a one-night stand
Gone to Thailand
Bought a house
Been in a combat zone
Buried one/both of your parents
Been on a cruise ship
Spoken more than one language fluently
Performed in Rocky Horror
Raised children
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
Picked up and moved to another city
Walked on the Golden Gate Bridge
Sang loudly in the car and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
Had plastic surgery
Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have
Wrote articles for a large publication
Lost over 100 lbs
Held someone while they were having a flashback
Piloted an airplane
Petted a stingray
Broken someone’s heart
Helped an animal give birth
Won money on a TV game show
Broken a bone
Gone on an African safari
Had a body part below the neck pierced
Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol
Eaten mushrooms gathered in the wild
Ridden a horse
Had major surgery
Had a snake as a pet
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
Slept for more than 30 hours over 48 consecutive hours
Visited more foreign countries than US states
Visited all 7 continents
Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
Eaten kangaroo meat
Eaten sushi
Had your picture in the paper
Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
Gone back to school
Parasailed
Petted a cockroach
Eaten fried green tomatoes
Read the Illiad
Selected one important author who you missed school to read
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Skipped all of your school reunions
Communicated with someone without sharing a common language
Been elected to public office
Written your own computer language
Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
Had to put someone you love in hospice care
Build your own PC from parts
Sold your own artwork to someone that didn’t know it was yours
Had a booth in a street fair
Dyed your hair
Been a DJ
Shaved your head
Caused a car accident

Now you try it...

A Woman of Six Words

I am many things, both good and bad. One of them is NOT verbally brief. My nickname in Junior High (that's the equivalent of Middle School for you young whippersnappers who don't know what Junior High is) was "Loquacious Leah." Okay, so my friends were big geeks who used words like loquacious.

By the way, have I ever mentioned that in High School I was co-captain of the cheerleading squad, VP of the student council, and the biggest drug dealer in the school? Yeah, I'm a woman of many talents. I also played on the basketball team (um, I'm barely 5'4") and got kicked out of school halfway through 11th grade for smoking an illegal substance right in the hallway between classes. Can you say "stoopid?" I did manage to go back and take a year and a half worth of classes in my Senior year to graduate on time. Shockingly, they didn't ask me to be the Valedictorian despite the fact I had a perfect 4.0 GPA. That's me, I'm a real walkin' talkin' paradox. I'm so straight-laced and law-abiding and downright yuppyish now you would never ever believe this stuff, but it's true. But I digress...

Anyway, Bean tagged me to do this 6 word memoir meme. I've also been tagged to do at least 1 other meme, so I'll try to post about that one tomorrow.

Here's the deal with this meme:

1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it to your blog including a visual illustration if you would like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post and to this original post http://herebaby.blogspot.com/2008/06/six-word-memior.html if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogsphere
4. Tag 5 more blogs with links
5. Don't forget to leave a comment in the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

So, to sum myself up in 6 words...

"Ferociously loves family, friends and food"

Sort of lame, but all so true. Now I tag JJ, E, Bee Cee, Portia, Sunny, and Kristen.

Happy Blogaversary

Geez, long time no post, eh? You'd think I had a new baby around the house or something.


First off, let me say a belated Happy Blogaversary to me! It was on May 30th and I would have completely missed it if Susan hadn't mentioned it in a comment on my last post. How she knew is way beyond me, I've even convinced myself at this point that she must have thought she was commenting on someone else's blog. :-)

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to Farah on the arrival of Austin (aka Mini Vann). We're so excited he's here, safe and sound!

Things are good here. Liam is still not so interested in nursing, only latching on with the nipple shield. And I only try that sporadically. Mostly because when he isn't in the mood, he starts screaming like I'm snapping his little chicken legs off and beating him with them. That makes both of us agitated, hot and sweaty. That sucks since it's been about 6 bazillion degrees in Maryland lately (I'm not exaggerating), and a not-so-balmy 80 degrees or so inside my house despite the air conditioning trying so hard it's about to kill itself. So I haven't even tried much lately, but I will in earnest when the heat wave breaks. Plus, I love, love, love the freedom of having him drink from a bottle. Anyone can feed him -- and I mean anyone, hell, the UPS man could probably feed him and Liam wouldn't care. I did so love breastfeeding Megan, but felt trapped and tethered sometimes.

What I don't love? Pumping. A million times a day. I've been pumping every 3 - 4 hours during the day and going a 6 hour stretch at night. I've managed to provide everything he needs to eat (he takes 3 - 4 oz every 3 hours or so), and I tallied up my frozen stash last night. In addition to feeding him, I've managed to freeze almost 150 ounces. Not to shabby for just over 2 weeks of pumping. But I can't keep up this pace. I'm going to drop to pumping 4x a day, every 6 hours. We'll see what that does to my supply. Who the hell knows.

Liam is doing great, he's a good baby. He's developed his fussy period at night, about an hour and a half around 8 or 9pm. It's not too bad (Megan was a million times worse), but it's inconvenient because that's when we are putting Megan to bed. I just hope it doesn't get worse because right now -- despite the fact he's shrieking for no good reason during that time -- it's manageable. I'm looking forward to him sleeping longer than 3 hours at night, but that will come. At his 2 week appt he was exactly 8 lbs (a full pound above his birthweight!), so he's certainly not having any issues with eating or weight gain. That's a relief.

Megan's adjustment issues are getting better. We're far from out of the woods, but we can at least recognize progress.

That's it for now. I'm heading to bed in the hopes that this splitting headache disappears soon. Before I go, I'd like to ask you to head over and show some love to two of my favorite blog buddies who are having a rough time right now. LJ and Bean -- I love you two ladies, I wish I could sprinkle some pixie dust on you both and make everything magically better.