Baby Laughing...

I babysat tonight. One of them was a 13 month old little girl. She doesn't walk too well, but she and I hang out on Tuesday nights.

We start out with feed/water time. I make sure everyone has snacks, then sit down to feed her. It's frankly hilarious. We both end up with food on us. And the only way I know how to tell if she is done is the way she won't open her mouth like a little bird when I put the spoon in the general area of her mouth.

Today I made her laugh. Which surprised me more than her I think. She was sticking out her belly so I poked at her. She looked at me with her baby blues and giggled. I tried it again and she straight up laughed.

I've never made a baby laugh before, but in that moment, I felt like I could fly to the moon...

Gift Ninja...

Tonight I was talking to Courtney about a gift that will soon come in the mail. I'm very excited about it. She asked me if I was going to present to the giftee, cuz she knows that's the worst part for me... Um, heck no!

You see, I love giving gifts. Ok, not like giving them giving them. I love the up to that point in the gift giving process. I love thinking of random ways to show you I love you. I like to break out the glitter glue, colored pens, stamps, etc. All that foolishness that in the long run doesn't mean much, but its a glimpse into one of the best parts of you in that you give a little something of yourself when you give a gift.

That being said, I'm counting the days until this last gift. I won't give it in person. I'm not that kind of a girl. Absolutely I hope it will be well received, but honestly, it doesn't matter if its loved or hated. My joy is in the creation of it, not necessarily its rise and fall in popularity.

Now I just gotta figure out how I'm going to deliver it. I'm small and don't make much noise, so I figure I'll do what I always do. Blend in... And then bam! you never know what hit you...

Terrific TV...

To distance myself from the vulnerability of my last post, I'm going to tell you something lighthearted and fun... Like random tv shows I like...

Scrubs (I could watch these all day. They are just some good clean fun.)
The UK Office (Painful to watch. But priceless.)
Law and Order, the original, and criminal intent (I'm addicted.)
30 Rock (Its fast-paced but worth the mental effort of paying attention.)
Fairly Oddparents (Do I even have to explain this one?)
The Colbert Report (Seriously funny. No lie.)
The US Office (Formidable imitation of the UK office.)
Food Network Challenge (Any of the challenges are amazing.)
Ace of Cakes (Cake and Power Tools.)
Dirty Jobs (Mike Rowe is cool.)
Man v. Wild ('Nuff said.)

Ok that should be enough filler... Mission Accomplished!

A Day of Dental Drama...

My mouth hurts. And I'll probably never be a board patient ever again. It all started last week when I took my 1/2 hour lunch break to go get x-rays done. First of all, LSU south campus is in the middle of nowhere, so I was 6 minutes late. I hate being late... He sits me in the chair and the first thing I say is, I have a small mouth. He doesn't say anything in response, just starts sticking in the regular size films. Which proceed to cut up my palate. Irritating and mildly painful, but I'll live. Then it turns out he's not too good at getting the xrays he needs. Two and a half hours later, along with some child size film, I'm back in the same chair, doing the last of the xrays. I've taken off my glasses so he can get his hands on my face. I've got my eyes closed and something hits me in my right eye. Yep, the xray machine. He apologizes and says that isn't his fault...

Fast forward to today getting my filling. The shots don't hurt, its uncomfortable but its ok. Plus I was laying completely horizontal so when my face went numb, I went into shock and got all clammy. Usually I pass out at this point, but like I said, I was completely horizontal so no oxygen lost to my brain, i.e. no passing out. Yay!

Its time to put the wedges in. When you're getting a filling, the teeth have to have contact with each other. So he stuck a wedge in. And got it stuck. So I start crying. I don't say a peep, but I couldn't stop the tears rolling down my face. Sidenote, I'm a girl who doesn't have a huge tolerance for physical pain. Its not a regular part of my world, which is a good thing. That being said, when I'm hurting, I cry. But I make sure I don't make noise. Which definitely was a good thing today. As he's trying to pull the wedge out, tears stream down my cheeks into my ears, and I've got a deathgrip on the chair as he's tugging and pulling. Three hours later, I'm utterly exhausted and just plain ol' sore.

Speaking of, I'm going to take some more pills and head to bed...

The Athletic Type...

I'm not the athletic type. Sure I'll run around and play. I'M A HUGE FAN OF PLAYING. I think sometimes I take myself too seriously. Its nice to run around like a kid again. That being said, theres some sort of softball team at the ring. I think. Sign up was a few weeks ago but I've not heard anything else about it...

So Court and I signed up. Let me describe Courtney. She's one of the most beautiful women I've met. Inside and out. She's tall, has a fantastic smile, is extremely gifted with children, can tan like a Mexican jumping bean, and loves Jesus with every part of her. And when I say Court and I signed up, what I mean is I signed Court and I up. We always talk about how we need exercise. So this is just as good as anything else. Frankly I need the discipline of someone holding me accountable in getting my rear in shape.

Saturday morning we were out at the park. Court was learning the basics of softball. She's going to be good. She catches on real quick. Unfortunately, she learned the toughest lesson in softball saturday. I pegged her in the shin with the softball. Not intentionally! It bounced and knocked her shin.

She says I threw it a thousand miles an hour. (Not true.) But she definitely went into the fetal position and started crying. I felt like a jerk even though it was an accident. After the tears dried and she could walk again, I told her that was as bad as it got. Once you get hit with the ball, you're not so scared of it anymore. We threw a few more times then it was on to batting. She would begrudgingly swing at it. I told her to get mad. Throw a little umph into it! Sure enough, the more mad she got the better her swing got until she was knocking those whiffle balls into the outfield...

I'm excited to see how much she'll improve when we practice again...

Knives & Nuptials...

The great and not-so-great thing about moving around a lot is that no one ever really gets to know you. You can tell people only good bits. Or let people in enough to let them see the highs and lows. Your surprising successes and fabulous failures. That's the beauty of living like a gypsy. Its a choose your own adventure kind of thing when you get to a new place...

A friend asked me if I wanted to be married one day. I told her, uh, I think I'll pass. Which could be seen as weird, but since I was ten years old, that's been my answer.

I don't think I'm much of a scaredy cat. If anything, I'm way too blunt for my own good. However, marriage is an idea that stops me in my tracks. I've learned a lot growing up about marriages. As I get older I realize how that learning has affected me. I sabotage anything that could even remotely have a whisper of a relationship. And I'm very good at it. I recently rearranged my room and found a stack of old journals from high school. One of the running themes in it is a prayer asking God that if I had to fall in love with a mere mortal, it would be one time. And that he'd be just fine with walking very slowly with me. We could both be in love with Him as well as each other! We just wouldn't get married... It's fun that through journals you can see how much you've grown or how much you have left to grow...

The idea of trusting someone with every part of me is TERRIFYING. I'm not sure why people do that. They just give over all of themselves?! That's crazy! Ok, giving all of me over to God? Heck yes, in a heartbeat. But to a person? People betray/hurt/scar you. I know He won't ever do that. Not to me, not to you. Never. Ever. Ever. But we are not God. When a marriage succeeds, its beautiful and lovely and gets stronger for the challenges they've walked through. But when it fails, it fails horribly. A persons' world cracks in unexpected and long lasting ways.

God and I are working on this attitude of mine. We have been for a while now actually. Some of it is physical, but not for long, some of it is mental with my head giving me historical facts and figures; meanwhile, my heart is starting to have a bit of a say-so in this conversation. Its full of hope... Hope of what I honestly couldn't tell you. But its hopeful and trusting Him that He knows what He's doing with me...