Pictures, Take Two

I took Sabrina to get her pictures taken again today, because those we took on her birthday were NOT successful. She was way too clingy. I put her down, and NOOOOOOO! Piiiiick meeeee uuuuuuupp! Okay baby girl, let's try again. No, let go of my hair. And shirt. And earrings. Okay, don't hold on with your teeth. Good! No, stop crying, Mommy's right here. Okay, I'll pick you up again. Oh, you're done crying? Good. Now....No, don't cry. Sigh.

Yeah, well, it was almost like that again this time, too. We got a grand total of zero smiling pictures, but we did get one beautiful picture of her little face. I was kind of bugged at the photographer, though. You'd think she'd learn after a half hour that every time she touched Sabrina or did that really high loud, annoying RRRRRRRRR! Sabrina would start crying. Oh, and be ready to snap a picture whenever she's not crying, 'k? Because, if you wait for a smile you be waitin' a long time. Oh, and here's another tip: don't lose all your customer service skillz when the customer pulls out a coupon, because the whole POINT of the coupon is to make people come IN to your STORE so they HAVE A GOOD EXPERIENCE and COME AGAIN. Capice?

Happy birthday baby girl!

Yesterday, Sabrina turned one. (Or, as Dad put it, Tuesday was her last day of being zero.) I took her to get some pictures at Sears (coupon), and ended up walking through the baby clothes. When I saw those "newborn" clothes, I just got so nostalgic for the tiny Tiny one! It's hard to remember the lack of sleep and 45-minute nursing sessions (just to do it again an hour and 15 minutes later) and so easy to remember her tiny body, skinny little folded-up legs and the challenge of dressing and bathing this brand new human. Way back then Sabrina was an extension of me. A really needy extension, but still. When she slept for four hours I was delighted, and when she wouldn't wake up for a feeding I worried she would starve. She had yellow poop and her legs did not reach to the leg divider in the swing.

Now she is big (well, 2nd percentile in weight, but still). She is mobile, can climb into her stroller, stands up, screeches when she doesn't like something, has solid, disgusting poop, and can give hugs and kisses. She loves stuffed animals and sleeps with a death grip on her kitty. Sabrina likes to pull books off shelves and silverware out of the dishwasher. She loves books and hates the third hour of church. In other words, she is becoming her own person. I feel like celebrating, and crying.

Service to Community

Today, the 24th of July, I got up at 6 am to go charge people for parking at Zane's office. I made $57, not bad. I also got yelled at once by a guy who works for Qwest, telling me I have no patriotism and parking should be a community service, and with the economy...I thanked him for being a nice, kind neighbor, and he left in a huff. He apologized later, but I feel I must justify myself.

Okay, here goes. Who payed $3 to park? Old people, handicapped people, and mothers of small children. (Oh, and people who work at the office and our family. Perks!) If we were not charging for parking, most of these people would have had to park blocks away, and perfectly able people (like Mr. I can be rude because you're an easily intimidated girl) would park in the close spots. Duh, we don't park far away because an old person might get the parking space we could have had!

I wish I would have said to Mr. Icbrbyaeig "What's more American than capitalism, prick?" But I didn't. However, I'm saying it to YOU, which is almost as good.

Productivity

I have been SO productive these last two days! It's really very exciting. One of the things I did today--five hours worth--is get the food ready for our trip to Lake Powell. Two hours of cooking bacon, anyone? The thing is, I am really product-oriented, and man, did I complete some products today!

Another really exciting thing is that Sabrina was outside yesterday and stood up. No, waaaait for it. While she was up, she took three steps! (That's it, you can cheer now.) She's really standing up a lot lately, so I can't wait for her to really start walking. Wait, then she starts running, and then she makes a beeline for the dog food or cat food because it, apparently, is tasty. Oh well, it's not like she doesn't do that now.

Last, of course, is happy birthday to my daddy!

Litterbug

I have several pet peeves. I should stop feeding them, maybe then they would go away. Anyway, one of them is I hate people throwing their cigarette butts out the car window. I really want a license plate frame that says:

The world
Is not your ashtray

At a stoplight yesterday, I had just such an occasion to yell this at an inconsiderate, selfish smoker. He was surprised, at first, and looked all confused. This did not surprise me; smokers lack a certain amount of consideration for others. After all, who could object to secondhand smoke and cigarette butts all over our fine city of Ogden? Then his unsurprisingly uncouth personality (he is a smoker, after all) took over, and he drove away at a high speed, threw a napkin out the window, and flipped me off. I couldn't help but laugh. Oooh, don't throw a napkin at me! Stupid smoker.

Talking

Overheard in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple: Sabrina, we don't quack in the temple.

Sabrina can now say quack, hiiiii, kitty (the other day she was waving madly and saying diddydiiddydiddydiddy. I looked over and saw Achilles sitting in the doorway), tickle, daddy, and (most importantly), cookie. She says a GREAT cookie.

Getting stuff done

I reread (most of) Evening Class, by Maeve Binchy yesterday and today. One of the mothers spends her..shoot! Sabrina just went out the dog door. Hold on. Okay, I'm back. As I was saying, one of the mothers in the book spends her days "getting things done," which actually means she plays slot machines all day long. Now, I don't play slot machines, such activity being a) unsanctioned by the church; b) illegal in Utah; and c) not really interesting to me, but I do feel like I spend my days "getting things done," which means sometimes doing nothing useful at all. I know that's not true, but putting away laundry and sweeping the kitchen floor is not giving me a big sense of accomplishment. I need to get back to work on my quiet book! (Did I mention my quiet book I'm making for Sabrina? It will be SO CUTE! When I get it done.)

One thing that does make me feel happy is that I got new curtains for my kitchen today. I threw away the disgusting curtains from before. They were disgusting. Also, they clashed with the new green of my kitchen. I swear, I'll post pictures soon!

Don't tell my mom, but...

I was dressing Sabrina the other day. I had her clothes, and put her on the changing table while I bent down six inches to get her onsie. Sabrina was so excited about her clothes that she raised them over her head, over, over, until they were behind her head, and she tipped over. Off the changing table. Into the clothes hamper. She was screaming, I felt like screaming. At the same time, I was giggling, because you should have seen how funny and indignant she looked as the clothes basket caught her! In fact, once I knew she was not hurt I could not stop laughing. Hysterical laughter, sure, but still laughter. Poor baby.

A kind of rough week

It's been a rough week. On Monday, we had Zane's grandma's funeral. She survived her husband by only about six months. It was a surprise to the family that Grandpa died first, because he was so active and Grandma was practically wheelchair-bound. I personally was equally surprised, although maybe I shouldn't have been, that Grandma went downhill so fast after Grandpa died. Regardless, it was one of those happy/sad deaths, where Grandma was really ready to go.

Also on Monday, my grandma died. I was with her two hours before she died, which is nice. My MIL Marilyn said she's been missing her mom for years, and that's how I feel about Grandma. I've been missing her for years. I don't think she's recognized me for years, and hasn't recognized her children for at least six months, maybe more. Here's how I remember Grandma:

Past year: Old. Tired.

Past five years: Aggies soar in '44, I think I'm the oldest person here, Did someone say children? Suzanne Kathleen Wayne Saundra Dale Gay Jerry, Hattie Erma Bagley--what a name, I'd like some cookies and ice cream, [breaking out into song], I just love you.

Before then: Making blankets (who did she make the elephant blanket with the crocheted tails for?), chocolates, biking shorts, rugs, and many other projects; telling stories about Aunt Ginny putting honey in Grandma's hair because Ginny was jealous of Grandma's curls; being a grandma.

I love you, Grandma.