The Bank Job

I'm mad at Washington Mutual. In a moment of anger, I closed my account last week.

In retrospect, I should have waited a few days before doing so as I had some checks pending and an incoming credit on my debit card. The pending checks were easy to take care of -- I contacted the recipients and let them know that I needed to pay them from our new bank account. But the credit has become a problem. The company that issued the credit has stated it was processed on 3/11. I closed the account on 3/12 and the account shows no signs of a credit.

The company states they released the funds, WaMu says they never received them. And, I'm stuck in the middle trying to communicate between them.

Yesterday, I called WaMu. I spoke with a young woman who sounded too young to have any authority at the bank (not to discriminate against young people, but she kept using phases like, "no worries," "like" and "uh sure"). I felt as though she was giving me the run-around. So this morning, I pulled together all of my evidence and made a strategy call. I packed Lola too.

See, I believed that if I took Lola to the bank with me, one of two things would occur: (1) the manager would think Lola was very cute and grant me good customer service or (2) they would start to give me another run-around, Lola would begin crying, and then I would say (smartly), "I'm not leaving until you resolve this issue."

I was sure scenario number 2 would occur. But it didn't. Lola had been grumpy all afternoon and yet the moment we entered the bank, she perked right up. No crying. Nothing. It was as if she knew that I brought her along and planned to use her as a sympathy pawn. She wanted nothing to do with my scheme. I was highly disappointed. Apparently, my child is already striving to be a better person than me. :)

As for the issue with WaMu? It was dealt with, but not fully resolved. Hopefully, it will be soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I believe my day is pretty evenly divided between taking photos of Lola and watching daytime television while rocking her to sleep. Today, she is wearing her first dress. Her Granny Dawn bought it for her in honor of St. Patty's Day. (Lola wasn't too happy that I wanted to take her photo.)

Poop I

Yes, I am, in fact, titling this post "Poop I." This is because (1) I have a story about poop and (2) I imagine this will not be the only time I will be blogging about poop, plus I believe there is a very good chance that over the next couple of months there will be more stories about poop. So for now, here is Poop I:

Last weekend, we drove out to Berkeley. Usually, we exclusively use cloth diapers, but since I knew we would be gone most of the afternoon, I packed disposables thinking they would be easier to deal with. Most of our day went by without incident. Amy and I put Lola in the stroller and walked around Berkeley, going to a bookstore and stopping for frozen yogurt. It was relatively uneventful.


When we returned to Amy's apartment, Lola was a bit fussy, so I changed her diaper. Afterwards, I pulled out the fabulous hooter hider that Liz bought me and began to nurse Lola while sitting on the couch. Within minutes, Amy exclaimed, "POOP!" I looked down and saw Lola's leg, socks, my pants, the hooter hider, and the couch was covered in runny, seedy mustard-yellow poop.


I was mortified.

I jumped up, hoping to prevent any more poop from coming in contact with the couch. This upset Lola, as it interrupted her nursing session, and she began to wail. Amy grabbed a towel and I rushed to change Lola's diaper while repeatedly apologizing for the poop on the couch. When I opened up her diaper, there was relatively little poop inside the diaper. Apparently, all the poop was on Lola, myself, and the couch.

Luckily, I had packed an extra outfit for Lola and the poop easily came out of the couch, but unfortuantely, I failed to pack another pair of pants for myself. So I spot cleaned my pants, and sucked it up the situation to be another hazing incident in the rite of parenthood.


As for the couch, no serious damage was done. Amy and Adam told us not to worry about it (they are saints), and Lola spent the remainder of the day just hanging out in Amy's arms.

What a week!

Like Ehlan has told me, it's always something...

Last week, I was begging the heavens to let Lola sleep at night. This week, she developed a schedule where she slept during the night time hours (9 PM - 1 AM, then 2 AM - 5 AM), BUT she has been a terror during the afternoons/evenings. At one point, I turned to Josh and said " Oh God, do you think she has C*lic?" (I'm not even spelling the entire word in fear that it may be true). I don't think she has it, but still, you don't get much done when you are trying to comfort a grumpy baby from noon to 7 PM.

here is my serene baby of last week...oh where has she gone?

I now know why some mothers have incredible biceps. I believe there's a good chance I may soon own guns without even having to go to the gym. And, if I don't end up with muscles, I know I will definitely develop tennis elbow.

So, all week the afternoons were awful -- with the exception of Wednesday. On Wednesday, Josh's sister, and my mother and sister were all in town. Lola slept all afternoon. Apparently, she just needs a relative to hold her. :)

With her auntie loulou:

I have a lot more to write, including our adventure in Berkeley, but there's 8 pounds of love wailing my name in baby language. :) To be continued....

One month!

We made it! Lola is one month old and we are celebrating by driving out to Berkeley today to visit Amy, Adam, and Curtis. YAY for outings!

About to go out for a walk

It's 39 degrees outside and this is the warmest outfit she owns (that fits). I can't decide if it's adorable or really ugly and obnoxious. (I'm going to layer her in a few blankets so the neighbors won't be able to pass any fashion judgment on our sweet little beancake). Whatever the case, you can't beat the Target clearance rack - $2!

Books

Books are a serious weakness for me. I love all sorts of books: classic lit, poetry, just about anything Oprah recommends, non-fiction, social commentaries, etc. (I do draw the line at sci fi, fantasy and trashy airplane reading material). Maybe it's because I was an English major in college, or maybe it's because of all the wonderful memories I have as a kid from going to the library with my family every Tuesday to load up on books to read for the week. Whatever the reason, I heart me some good books.

Josh loves to read too. At any given time, he is reading four or more books at the same time -- not my style, but to each their own. (He also loves sci fi and fantasy books, bleh).

One of our hopes for Lola is that she will love to read. Hoping to encourage this love, I've already started reading to her. While I know that she can't comprehend what I am doing, she does look at the pictures and listen to my voice. Even though she is only a few weeks old, I think it is good to get into a routine of reading books before going to bed.

Yesterday, Josh and I had our first trip out of the house together - ALONE. Don't worry we didn't leave Archie in charge of Lola. My mother-in-law was staying with us and volunteered to watch Lola so Josh and I could leave the house. So we did. And where did we go? The library, Barnes n Noble, and Adalbertos (the taco shop). We started at the library to search for some books for us (not that I have time to read right now, but I wanted another parenting book to confirm that I'm not completely neurotic and that my child is developmentally on path to becoming a respectable member of society), and to search for some picture books for Lola.

The library had the book that I wanted, but not the picture book I wanted to pick up for the bean. We quickly stopped by B&N to see if they had the book (they did not) and then made a quick trip through the drive-thru of Adalbertos to grab some rolled tacos with guacomole for lunch. We were out for almost two hours and it was nice. Strange to be without Lola, but nonetheless, nice.

When we got back to the house, I hopped online to search Amazon.com for the picture book I wanted for Lola. I found it, but I also found so many other great books at really great prices. This is where my weakness kicked it. Ten minutes and $38 later, my online shopping cart had five books in it and an estimated shipping date of next week. For a moment, I had buyer's remorse, but then reminded myself (as I always do with book purchases) that buying books is OK and buying them for Lola is practically an educational expense. :) (I also told myself that I would put some in the Easter basket I am planning on making her next month).

I bought:

• Pat the Bunny (for the Easter basket)
• Where the Wild Things Are (Josh's favorite children's book)
• Black on White (this is a photo book for infants to help their developing eyes) (Josh believes this book needs a new title because he thinks its current title sounds like a porno).
• Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed (need I say more?)
• Olivia (my favorite pig!)

I love children's books!

One Month Stats

Even though she's only 3.5 weeks old, here's her one-month stats:

21.5 inches

8 lb, 8 oz

According to her doctor, these numbers put her at the 50th percentile. At birth she was below the 50th percentile, but I can't tell you exactly where she was...maybe 20th? Numbers don't matter to me. All I care about is knowing that she is healthy and growing like she should. And apparently she is growing like a weed. Not that I'm surprised because this baby eats and eats and eats.

Here she is, all three and a half weeks of her. This isn't the greatest photo, mostly because it was taken on Josh's cell phone and because she has a ticked off look on her face (she knew I was just about to change her diaper).

But, I find this photo pretty amusing. I love this sleeper because of all the cassette tapes on it. The tapes have titles like, "My Mommy Rocks," "Up All Night Rockin'" and "The Crib Mix." But as Josh pointed out to me, this sleeper is also awesome because when Lola grows up and looks back at this photo she'll probably know what a cassette tape is, but she'll have never experienced a cassette tape - much like my generation never experienced the eight track. Who knows, maybe even CDs will be extinct by the time she hits her teen years.

And I'm also pretty sure she'll laugh about the cabbage patch kids changing pad too. :)

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

So....we had two great, FABULOUS, nights. And then, we had last night. Awake. Asleep. Awake. Asleep. Our little beancake could not make her mind. Hopefully, tonight will be better. :)

I don't want to jinx myself...

Do I dare write this? For the past two nights, Lola slept a 3 hour stretch, and then a FOUR hour stretch. I believe my prayers have been answered. Can I get an Amen up in here?