Sunday, February 29, 2004

RANT ABOUT A RESTAURANT...
Warning: This may be lengthy and has little to nothing to do with Lauren. Read at your own risk.

While out to dinner on Friday night with John, Lauren and Rebecca, the most odd things happened. We were asked to wait about 5 minutes while a table was cleared, which was fine because who doesn't want a clean table? There was another party right behind us with four adults and a baby about Lauren's age. When we sat down, our waitress took our drink orders and said that they were short staffed so she was sorry things were taking a while. We ordered and got our appetizers within about 10 or 15 minutes after we ordered. Not too bad. The table next to us said they had to wait a while for food as well, but they were eating. After 45 minutes of waiting, Lauren needed changed. We went to the restroom where there was not a changing station. When we got back to the table we had our food and so did the table next to us who came in about 10 minutes after us. The party that came in behind us with the baby still had no food. I really didn't notice because I was too busy noticing our food was old. We didn't complain to the waitress simply because of how long it took to get our food in the first place and Lauren was loosing patience. I don't blame her. A man from the party with no food got up and went to the kitchen window where the cook/dishwasher, I'm not sure which, promptly told the man to go sit down. A minute or two later, their food came out. The man must have said something to the effect of "we should not have to pay for this", which I tend to agree with. The waitress must have repeated this in front of the cook/dishwasher. He then came out of the kitchen and said, "If you aren't going to pay for it, then just don't eat it. There are orders in front of yours and we are really busy tonight." So? He then returned to the kitchen. One of the women at the table told the waitress that they had ordered fries not chips. The waitress apologised and said maybe she could get them free dessert or something. Everyone in the dining room was mumbling about poor customer service and how ridiculous the way that the c/d had treated that customer. The c/d then returned and said, "I don't know what your problem is. We are really busy. There are orders ahead of yours". The customer said, "That table came in after us and they already have their food." The c/d said, "Well, maybe they ordered something different than you did. I don't know." Anyway, the customer handed the c/d his plate and got up to go. When the customer tried to walk around the c/d, the c/d backed up on purpose and the the customer couldn't get around. Since they bumped into one another, the c/d dropped a couple of plates. The c/d then said, "See what happens when people get mad?" The woman at the table with the baby said, "I'm going to take my baby and go." To which the c/d said, "I wish you would."
Ass.
The c/d never even took in to consideration that there were also other children in the room. Including Lauren, four other children and then the baby at the table. Family dining? I don't think so.
I had never seen anything so blantly rude and unnecessary. What happened to the customer being right? Anyway, we were not sure we would ever go back anyway and then it happened. Mother called about an hour later and said a woman who works there called her and said we had paid the wrong ticket and therefore we had under paid. Our total was $45.91 with tip we paid $60. We ordered 3 cokes, a pound of pork, a 3 appetizer platter, 2 orders of potato skins, 1 order of mushrooms, 1 house salad, 1 order of mushrooms caps, and a grilled cheese. I thought the ticket seemed right. WRONG! We ended up paying the ticket for the table with the problem. Our total was $64.13. WHAT???? I told them to take it out of the tip and I was not paying the additional $4.13 for their mistake. They were lucky we weren't complaining about how long it took to get our food and that it was old when we got it. I assured her that there was not to be another charge on my card. She assured me that their wouldn't. I will be watching my statement. What if the woman had not known who we were? She wouldn't have been able to call us. I was ticked and so was John.
I didn't include the name of the restaurant here, but if you e-mail me, I'll tell you the name. It is in Princeton on south Main St.

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Baby Einstein

If there is a baby in your life that needs entertaining, I highly recommend these videos. They calm even the savage beast of a teething almost-eleven month old. She stood for 13 minutes in front of the TV, then she crawled over to me and sat in my lap for the rest of the video. Baby Galileo. GENIUS!! I don't know if there is a "baby whistle" like a dog whistle that keeps her attention, but there is something. Props to Baby Einstein. They are a disney company. That probably explains it.
38 days until she is 1 year old. How is that possible?

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

So...
Sleeping is not going so well. We tried the "let her cry a little bit and then go in and reassure her, sit next to her and she will go to sleep." That is not true for our child. She cried until she almost vomited twice and when I finally did pick her up after probably 20 minutes, it took almost 25 minutes to calm her down. That sucked. Won't do that again for a while.
A trusted friend recommended limiting her naps after 4 or 5 o'clock. We'll give it a shot. I don't know how well it will work. I think she said we should try giving it a month. That is how long it takes to establish a habit. She is fairly educated so I feel like we should at least try.
John and I are a lot like walking zombies. Lauren is well rested after sleeping side-ways in our bed for almost the last two weeks. Now, before my mailbox is bombarded with "the dangers of babies in adult beds", fear not. I don't actually sleep when she is there. We do put her to bed in her own bed, but the last three nights at 3:03 a.m., WAH!! WAH!! How do I reset her internal clock? Push two buttons at once like on a watch? Change her time zones? How?
She is still the light of our lives and growing so fast. Will it ever slow down?

Saturday, February 21, 2004

The mystery of naps

Yesterday: 5 1/2 hours worth of naps.
Today: 1 1/2 hours worth of naps.

????????????????

I think that if she is sleepy I should let her sleep AND last night she was awake for about 20 minutes once and when she got up again, I took her to bed and I had to wake her this morning to leave for a loan closing. It just makes no sense to me. There is no rhyme or reason to sleep and babies. A fact I knew before, but now I really understand. Sleep is something I miss. Don't get me wrong, I'm not missing sleep all together. I just miss 7 solid hours of sleep, or at least the opportunity to try. I think that before I had Lauren and said I was tired or sleep, I was just being a wus. Now I know what those word really mean.
I have been advised to sleep when she sleeps. I have a problem convincing myself though. I have always had trouble sleeping at night if I slept during the day. Maybe that was then and this is now so I should possibly try it. I might actually like being able to be a fully functioning adult again.
Have I mentioned lately how much I love Lauren? She is amazing, beautiful, funny, charming, sweet and completely kissable. She is all around my favorite thing in the entire world and up until now, chocolate and coke were very high on that list. She blows them out of the water. Now, understand that I love the rest of my family unconditionally, but there is no love in the entire world like the love for your child. Nothing compares...

Friday, February 20, 2004

Better sleep, sorta'...

Last night Lauren went to sleep OK, however, after 30 very short minutes in her own bed, she awakened screaming! I put her next to me and she went to sleep right away. Slept all night with her foot in my back, but she slept. Everything I have read says that she should be sleeping 11 hours a night and 3 1/2 a day. Yeah, right! We average 8 hours a night and 3 during the day. She is growing great, happy when she is awake and rarely looks sleep deprived. I guess she's OK.
Thanks to all of our family for the recent help watching Lauren for work or fun!! We really appreciate it!
Keep your fingers crossed thar all goes well with the AT&T/Cingular buy out. We've been here before. Happy thoughts...:)

Monday, February 16, 2004

It's 4:30 in the A.M. hour...

Early. That's when Lauren has been getting up since I got back from Chicago. Why did she sleep until 6:45 for John and not for me? He says sleeping dust, I say pure dumb luck. I don't know how to get her to sleep longer or where my baby who slept until 7:15 on a REGULAR basis went. Any ideas?
Oprah update:
I saw my elbow two or three times and the back of my head once. I also saw myself as a small speck in a long shot across the studio. I really want to go back sometime. Maybe I'll try to go next time when John can go too. I think it was a really neat experience. Maybe we could go to the Christmas show. Wouldn't that be great? $5,000 worth of free stuff last Christmas. I think I could handle that.
More later...

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Having said that, let me tell you about the whirlwind trip to Chicago. My mother and I left Thursday afternoon and got to Chicago by about 9:00 p.m. We got a SWEET deal on a hotel room at the Palmer House in downtown, ate dinner at The Big Downtown (a restaurant in the hotel), got back to the room and there was a voice mail message. It was room service. John had called the hotel while we were at dinner and ordered dessert to be sent to our room. It was snicker cheesecake and six cookies. Delicious and such a surprise.
The next morning, we got up at 6:00, left the hotel about 7:20 and arrived at Harpo Studios about 7:35. It was cold outside but thankfully, we got there after the doors open, so we waited inside. We went through the security check, waited a while then went to the studio, waited a while, Oprah came out, we taped the show, which will be on Monday, and when it was over, we got a bag of goodies, 2 actually, picked up our shirts and waited for a cab. Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our bags, get the truck and head back to Indiana. All in all it was a great trip, cold, but wonderful. Very surreal. Seeing celebrities in person is very odd.
I was very glad to see Lauren and John.
Don't forget to watch Oprah's PopStar Challenge on Monday and look for mother and me. OH! And don't forget to vote at oprah.com for your favorite finalist after the show.
More later...

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Chicago here we come!

Well, it took what seems like an eternity for Shavaughn to call me back, but she finally did and mother and I are headed out for Chicago tomorrow afternoon. Yay!!!
How can I leave Lauren even if only for one night? I hope she cooperates with John. If only I were a fly on the wall...
More later...
WE DID IT!!

For those of you following along, I am referring to sleep. We did it! The whole night once again. We've done it before, and will hopefully continue. How exciting!!

NEWS FLASH:
I might have gotten tickets to go to the Oprah Winfrey Show. I'll let you know once I know for sure. What this means is my first over night without Lauren. That also means John's first night alone all night with Lauren. I'm sure they will be fine. Not so sure about me. However, it's just one night. Less than 24 hours. I'm sure I will call John mulitple times during the trip. That's what wireless phones are for right?

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Sleeping, sleeping

Do you see a pattern in my posts? I am starting to. We slept most of the night. All but 45 little minutes. Didn't feel so little at 1:15 a.m., but hey, I promised to try. And try I will.

Today we are trying something new. We are going to go to the pool. It's indoor, don't worry. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. She loves bath time, therefore I have very high hopes for the pool. She has a sweet little two piece swimming suit with lady bugs on it so the camera will also be going to the pool. I will send out pictures if any are good.

Monday, February 09, 2004

Sleep, glorious sleep

Just when Lauren was back on a good schedule, John and I had to go and mess with it by leaving town for the weekend. As previously stated, if you mess with a babies schedule you've done it to yourself. Last night was pay back for messing with her schedule. SEVEN times awakening. SEVEN. That is a huge number of awake times. Tonight will be better. Tomorrow will hopefully be back to normal.
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Picture day

Today is picture day and I have no idea what she will wear. Maybe a diaper. Why not? We have plenty of them, they are very natural and I know that they fit. Perhaps I should have a fall back plan of clothes, but what fun would that be? Any way, say cheese...

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Reading group at the library

We went to reading group today and I really watched Lauren from a "distance" and this is what I think. I think that the last ten months have been so fast that I don't know how much faster time can go. I also know that for every year I have lived, time speeds up. And speeds up and speeds up. Therefore, she will be graduating before I know it. Why? Why can't she stay small just a little while longer? I know I can't wish time to slow down, so I will do what I can to enjoy every day of her pulling up, smiling, crying, waking at night and try to be patient even when patience is the last thing on my mind. I will try to remember that sweet breath on my neck while she is sleeping on my shoulder when she is wailing because she doesn't get her way. I will try to remember the sweet kisses I get when she is screaming for no apparent reason. I will also try to remember that she is her own person and I am trying to rear her to have an opinion and express it even if it is different than mine. I will try.

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Naptime

I don't understand the mystery surrounding naps and babies. Why fight naps? I certainly wouldn't if I were offered one. I have often heard that you go through stages with naps:
1. You need one but don't want one
2. You want one but can't have one
3. You take one but can't remember taking one, therefore you take another
Am I right? I think so. Still, napping is good for Lauren and for me. She gets rest, I get some other things done, and occationally I get to post to my blog and read e-mails. Naps are great. They also make Lauren A LOT more fun to play with since she is rested. I love naps, but not as much as I love her.