On forgetfulness...

In an effort to distract myself from the screaming 9-month-old in the other room, here is another mini-post on a minor issue in my life. Wow, two days in a row!

Anyway, about 30 seconds after the drugs wore off post-partum, I realized that my memory would never be the same. I couldn't remember silly things, like how long ago Verity had nursed, or how long ago it had been since she had had a dirty diaper without writing it down. Since I've gone back to work, it's gotten about 100 times worse. I will put something down or someone will tell me something and 10 seconds later it's already forgotten. I will make plans with someone and forget that I've made them until they show up at my door later that week. I used to have a mind, "like a steel trap," but no more.

Today, I decided to finally do something about it. I bought a little notebook to carry around in my purse with me so that when someone tells me something I need to remember, or I make plans to do something with someone, I can write it down. Now I just need to remember that I actually have said notebook...and to look at it to check if anything is written down in it!

Hopefully memory doesn't get worse with each pregnancy, because I honestly fear I won't have any left if we have any more kids!

Catch Up

It seems my once-a-week posting has started to fall by the wayside, so here is a short post to tide the few who read this blog over until I can make a more substantial one. An update of sorts:

*Verity has started doing a plethora of new things over the last few weeks. They include, but are not limited to:

-crawling on her hands and knees

-pulling up to stand, and even trying to walk alongside the couch

-clapping

-giving high-five

-getting her two bottom teeth in

-trying some new foods such as chicken, Grandma Hill's blueberry muffins, baby yogurt, and other yummy things

*Joe and I continue to follow our Beachbody workouts. Thus far, he has lost about 10 lbs, and I have lost 11. The annoying part is that he has been doing his for 4 weeks and I have been doing mine for 8. Why do men seem to have an edge when it comes to weight loss?

*We installed a gate to keep the dog away from Verity, and to keep Verity out of the dog food, litter box, etc. It seems to be doing the job so far.

*I started doing powerpoint again for the worship services at Sojourn. I really am enjoying it and am glad I was able to start serving in this way again.

Anyway, this is turning longer than I planned on. Hopefully more later. There are more than a few book reviews coming in the future. One because of the blogging for books program I am in, but the others because of some controversy going on amongst people I love. More thoughts on those later.

I love the mountains; I love the rolling hills...

This weekend we went on our first real family vacation. By that, I mean our first vacation where we didn't go visit family in Michigan. On Friday, the Martin family left Louisville and headed south for Asheville, North Carolina. We got there mid-afternoon.

We didn't really do much as we wanted to keep Verity on her schedule as much as we could that day, so we checked out the mall, ordered pizza, and put her to bed. Lucky for us our room was right across the hall from the pool so Joe and I were able to take the baby monitor and go relax in the hot tub while Verity slept. It was almost like a date!

The next day V woke up at 5:30, which wasn't real fun, but Joe and I both worked out and then we spent the majority of the morning driving around in the mountains. We stopped at a few places along the way:

We ate lunch at the Moose Cafe, which has been featured in Southern Living for their amazing biscuits and apple butter. It was well worth going there, if only for that! After that we walked downtown for a few hours and visited some of the shops down there. It was about 70 degrees so it was the perfect day for it. Verity even got a new Cat in the Hat bag.

Downtown Asheville was a little bit overwhelming in places for a sheltered yooper like me. It almost felt like culture shock in some areas; I felt like I had been transported back to the sixties...and I am NOT exaggerating. There were hippies playing instruments everywhere and sometimes they had dancers accompanying them. There were people that looked like they had stepped out of Little House on the Prairie competing with the hippies for spare change. The downtown area was also very dog-friendly. We even saw a golden retriever just hanging out in a storefront. And it wasn't a pet shop. There were dogs sitting with their owners on the patios of restaurants just hoping for a scrap of table food to drop their way. It seemed to be a place without rules.

After we had had our fill of the downtown district, we had dinner at Nona Mia Italian Kitchen, where Joe tempted V with some of their delicious garlic bread. She would have preferred that to her dinner of green beans and bananas.

After dinner it was back to the hotel so V could go to bed. This vacation was a little weird for us in that we were back to the hotel so early every evening, but really it was nice to spend some more time in the hot tub, catch up on reading, and even watch a little tv (we don't have cable at home, so it seems like a luxury).

Thanks to day-light savings, Verity slept in till 8:30 this morning. When she woke up, we got her all suited up for her first dip in the pool.

It took her a little bit to get used to it, but she loved splashing around. She even took a dip in the (lukewarm) hot tub.

We had to leave too soon and are already looking forward to visiting again. I love the convenience of all that the city has to offer mixed with the raw beauty and activity options (skiing!) of the mountains. Too bad the responsibilities of life must be dealt with. Back to reality.

On procrastination

Or maybe just a short note to put off the review that I really should be writing after reading the last book I received for review. It's hard for me to want to write a review about a book that I may end up ripping to shreds. On second thought that might be fun. Moving on though...

This week was an interesting one of sorts. I would show you the week in pictures, but I can't find my camera cord, so some day soon, a huge album titled something like, "Winter 2011," will appear on Facebook and maybe then you will have an idea of what the last several weeks have looked like around the Martin household. To give you a general idea of our week, here are a few of the highlights (or possible lowlights, depending on how you look at it):

*Joe completed a whole week of P90, the precursor to the P90x workouts. He has been really disciplined about working out every day and about his diet, so hopefully the diet part will rub off on me! Usually once he gets going on something he is really able to stick with it.

*Verity rolled off the bed and hit her head while I was changing her socks. I know, what kind of mom lets her child do that while she is standing right there holding on to her? Apparently, I do. After many tears shed on her part and mine, we took her to the pediatrician, and she is doing just fine. Apparently, she hit the hardest part of her head, so that was a good thing. I have learned my lesson and will be changing clothes on the floor from now on. Verity is just too squirmy for her own good at this point.

*I got two bottles of Dawn dishsoap and a tube of Crest toothpaste for free plus ECBs at CVS this week. It's been a while since I've been able to really do the coupon thing well so I was semi-excited about that.

*We both enjoyed hanging out with various people from around Louisville, which doesn't happen as often as it used to due to V's schedule.

Anyway, it was a fairly uneventful week. This weekend we are going on our first family getaway to Asheville, NC. If I ever find my camera cord, there will be pictures from that, too. Until next time.