Flurries and fruitcake galore!

Folks, it’s official. Today is Tuesday, December 16, 2008, and it is snowing in Waco, Texas. Well, it started and stopped snowing in the time it took me to type the previous sentence, and I am no QWERTY slowpoke! I guess they don’t call it a “flurry” for nothing, because it was done and gone in a hurry! Luckily, Punkie Brewster is at home today with a sitter, so she is safe and warm in a comfortable environment. We were fortunate to find someone to watch her at our home yesterday and today, and to grandmother’s house we go tomorrow! The babysitting shuffle is getting old fast, and this is only the fifth day.

In other random news that I learned yesterday, some 3000 pounds of fruitcake were delivered to soldiers in Iraq over the last year. I am not sure from where that stat originated, but I am intrigued! As if our troops don’t have it bad enough as they spend the holidays in a Middle Eastern desert-- now we’re flooding them with the worst holiday gift of all time? Nice!

Tiff & Raymond—our fam is thinking of you today as we all await news of Ryder’s arrival! You can do iiiiiiiiiiiiit! :)

Back to the daily grind...

Yesterday marked my official return to work following twelve weeks of maternity leave (aka short term disability leave, but that is a whole 'nother can of worms!). Or rather, it marked my return to the office, because caring for a newborn and running a household should also qualify as “work.” The main differences between those two jobs are the number of showers taken and whether or not any makeup ever hits my face. Previously, my hair could go up to and including five days without a wash. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my coworkers at the Chamber are slightly more discriminating than Harper.

I originally intended to blog about this grand occasion yesterday, but I wasn’t willing to take away from the little time I had to spend with my sweet Punkus. After all, less than three hours exists between the time I get home from work and the time Harper hits the sack. Throw in a nap, a bath, a feeding and a book, and it was 8 p.m. before I knew it. Harper and I shared a bath, and thankfully for us all, no pictures were taken. :) I've never seen anyone quite so captivated by a rubber ducky disguised as a pirate. By the way, did you know babies float? And yes, I washed my hair, too!

I was in bed by 9:30. It had been a long day, emotionally speaking. I didn’t cry at all yesterday, but I did feel the occasional tug at my heart strings. (Yes, I have them, surprisingly enough.) Harper handled the day just fine. We both survived… now we’ll just have to see who cracks first!

Call me (insert name here).

Tiffany (still "with child") brought it to my attention that her cat, Ferra, and Harper share the "Punkie" nickname. While I am amused by the shared moniker, it doesn't not surprise me that Ferra is also a Punkie. Nicknames interest me to no end -- interestingly enough, as I've never really had a nickname of my own. I've always been called by a name that was somehow derived from my given name. While the back story is interesting to some and completely dull to others, I may be referred to by a dozen different versions of my name at any given moment. Just call me...Jenny, JenHowePeel, JenHowe, ChenHowe, Jen, Jennifer, JPeel, Jennybean, etc. Take your pick!

My little Punkie has more nicknames than I can keep track of, and the list grows longer nearly every day. Jeff called her Pumpkin from the very beginning, which quickly morphed into many other names. It went something like this: Pumpkin to Punkin to Punkin Princess to Punkie Princess to just good ol' Punkie. Harper also answers to Punkie Pie, HP, One-sock, No-sock (you can easily see that those two are also related), Sweet Baby Harper, Sweet Pea... Booger comes in handy when she is giving us a hard time. Ben Ber-nakey is the name to use whenever she lacks clothing. There are at least a dozen others that are dancing beyond the margins of my memory at the moment, but you get the idea. I call her "Punkie" so often that I have to make it a point to use her real name - just to make sure she knows that she is Harper, too!

I actually did have a nickname when I was very young. I had almost forgotten it. Well, more like pushed the memory back into the deep recesses of my mind. My grandma used to call me "Pumpkin," which, for a time, I felt was very special. I thought it was special until I realized that she called everyone Pumpkin. I straight up got robbed by my own sci-fi granny! Sheesh!

Anyhoo, I'll leave you with a smattering of random photos from the last couple of weeks. Oh, a quick snippet of conversation from my field trip to pick up tissue paper from Wal-Mart... Harper and I exit the store right beside an older woman. Strangers, particularly old women, feel compelled to talk to me (and any other mother, I'm sure) about my baby. This lady, a new grandmother, proceeded to tell me about her two-week-old grandson. Apparently, he is cute, but Harper is "just soooooo precious!" Sorry 'bout your grandson, lady!

She has a thing for stripes! We call these her "jailbird" jammies!

Harper's 1st Thanksgiving

Hangin' out with Dad

She's got those sweet baby blues...

Two can play the pouting game! (Harper just happens to be cuter doing it!)

week in review

It's 10:30 pm, Punkie has long been fast asleep, and Jeff is out with friends. The best part of it all? My laptop is free to use, which means I am free to blog and such. Instead of blogging the many things I want to share myself, I've spent the last thirty minutes catching up on everyone else's blogs. I have particularly enjoyed the blog site belonging to an old college buddy, Laura, who now has a husband and a nearly nine-month old baby girl. How times have changed since our days at SWT... living in Tower hall, drinking kool-aid flavored 7-UP spiked with cheap vodka, harassing the party photographers at the Pike house and making the best grilled cheeses at 3am using illegal, yet handy, toaster ovens. Those days seem so long ago and so foreign, but they were so fun! Still, I must admit that these days are even better. There is just so much love to be found in a baby girl who prefers to wear only one sock and marinates every thing in sight with her drool!

I've started Christmush shopping this week. Yes, Christmush. I don't know where that came from, but it makes me smile when I say it, type it or text it. I wish a Happy Christmush to you all! I've only purchased a few items so far, but I need to turn up the heat. I go back to work this Wednesday, and I want to be near the end of Christmush shopping before I lose even more hours from my days. I am attempting to show some amount of restraint as I shop for Miss Harper, because I know there are many others that will shower her with gifts. I'm also resigned to the fact that my own Christmush presents will never quite be the same. We're no longer very important...it's all about the Punkie now! Ah well, at least I can derive some joy from opening her presents this year since she lacks any useful function of her own hands!

Barnes and Noble has a great sale on all Dr. Seuss books right now. Buy two, get one free. I picked out six books, and I could have easily picked out sixteen more! I don't remember reading many Dr. Seuss books as a child, and the doc penned so many titles that I had never even heard of until today. I can't wait to read them to Harper, but I've got a couple more weeks until she (well, I) opens them. I almost cheated and read a new one to her tonight, but she fell asleep before we made it to the reading portion of our bedtime routine. I didn't even have to turn on the Bob Schneider CD either... she must have been very sleepy, indeed! Back to the books... I wrote short notes in the front cover of each one in hopes that she will consider it something special when she is much older. I actually stole that trick from my friend, Lara, who gave Harper a handful of great books on the day she was born.

Ooh, speaking of gifts... I turned 28 on Wednesday. I spent the day with Punkie, and then went to dinner at Bangkok with family and friends (isn't it wonderful when those two groups are one and the same?). Lara and Breyer really outdid themselves with their gift this year. They put together a big box containing "a few of JenHowePeel's favorite things." Contents include: pop rocks, Heineken, Vintage Ink Merlot, ultra fine Sharpie markers, one very cool necklace, an assortment of $5 gift certificates to my favorite places (Bangkok, Target, Starbucks, Katie's Kustard, Schmaltz, and one more that I will save for later!), a bag of sweet & spicy snack mix, Dumb Blonde shampoo and conditioner, and much, much more! They even included the remaining five beers from the Heineken six-pack, the heavenly Haagen Daas fleur de sel ice cream, and Havarti cheese waiting back at Lara's house. I was floored by their creativity and their thoughtfulness...I think the best gifts show a person that you pay attention to them and you truly care. Those two definitely hit the nail on the head! As great friends as they both are, they did also play a mean trick on me. As I carefully opened one particular gift certificate envelope, I was greeted with the sight of Endless.com and what appeared to be a one thousand dollar credit! I immediately knew something was up when I saw the amount...and my suspicions were immediately confirmed when I scrolled down to the memo line. Their note explained that Endless doesn't actually sell gift certificates. I'm glad I read that part before I went on a shopping spree and tried to redeem it! ;) Oh, those girls! We had a lot of fun at dinner that night. We even discovered that Wayne Peel has a ton of Face-buddies! Hehehe... By the way, Lara has a fantastic birthday cake casserole recipe that she might be willing to sell at a fair price! ;)

Alrighty, I must be off to bed. Punkie patrol requires an abundance of energy, so I must recharge my batteries. Nighty night!

PS. Tiffany, will you have that baby already? Forget what you're feeling....I'm getting impatient! ;) Muhahaha...

Jane Fonda - watch out!

Check out a sneak peek of Harper's upcoming workout videos with Coach "Peanut" Chelle...

Apparently, too many crunches after dinner makes Harper puke. The mere thought of doing crunches makes me puke!

Crunches, kicks, and push ups, oh my! We're going to pump you up! ;)

Baby got back! Jane Fonda better watch out, 'cuz Punkie Peel is the new kid in town!

i'll leave when i'm good and ready!

I know yesterday's post was rather drab, but what can ya do? It served the purpose of letting y'all know that we are, in fact, alive and breathing, just not blogging with regularity. I found myself with a few spare minutes as Punkie finishes her nap, so I thought I'd give it another whirl!

It's 10:44 am, and check-out time at the hotel is 11am. However, I spoke with the front desk and one baby excuse later, we've got ourselves an extended check-out! Babies are fantastic - they provide you with a built in excuse whenever you might need to get out of something, cancel, postpone, etc., and ain't nobody gonna call your bluff! Don't get me wrong, babies also change your plans when you'd rather they not, but sometimes it can play out in your favor. Jeff's meetings end around lunch time, and Harper and I shall remain safely tucked in our cush bed until we're good and ready!


Speaking of hotels, we really might have done ourselves in with Harper already. Her first hotel stay was at the Adolphus hotel in Dallas....niiiice! Her second and current hotel stay is at the Hyatt Lost Pines.....again, niiiiice! All I know is once you've experienced the good life, fat chance on being satisfied with anything less! Say we take a road trip one day and find ourselves facing a string of Motel 6's and Ho Jo's on the side of the highway...do you think Harper is gonna go for that mess? Ha! Not to mention the fact that her first public breastfeeding experience (not quite the way it sounds!) was in a women's lounge in Nordstrom. You think this baby is gonna be happy with a snack break in just any place sub-Nordstrom-standard? We've created a snob in less than three months! ;)


Anyhoo, I haven't been able to get another round of pics out yet, so instead I'll leave you with this great e-card. (By the way, someecards.com, grrrreat site, but not for the faint of heart or those with a sub par sense of humor!) And I'm still gonna share pics, so there!

Gobble, Gobble!

Greetings, post-Thanksgiving, from the wee Peel family of three. Hope everyone had a tasty Turkey Day. We sure did! We spent Thanksgiving-eve and day with Jeff's family. It sure is nice when your T-Day trek is a mere 0.5 miles long. I promise we would have walked if we had not been transporting serving trays and a pan of mmm-mmm-good chipotle sweet potato gratin! Highways were not completely avoided as we ventured down to Killeen and Copperas Cove on Friday afternoon to spend some time with my family, too. Harper sure is fortunate to have three sets of grandparents, a pair of great-grandparents and a great-great grandma all within an hour's drive or less!

Long weekends are the best, aren't they? There is just something so wonderful about a Saturday when you've already been relaxing for the two preceding days. Even though I've been off work for the last ten (eleven?) weeks or so, I still feel the difference between weekdays and the weekends. Speaking of which, I can't believe my time off with Harper is rapidly coming to an end. I'm headed back to the office next Wednesday. December 10th - how I rue that day! Ugh, I find it extremely, extremely depressing... Next topic!

Jeff, Harper and I are at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort today and tomorrow for the Chamber's Leadership Retreat. I wish I could join Jeff in the meetings, but I think Harper would feel slightly out of place and underdressed! On the other hand, it would make her day to coo and smile at a room full of older men! Maybe next year... ;)

It is ridiculous that I had to travel all the way down to Bastrop, Texas, just to get in some time on the computer. I would say that I don't know how that happens, but I do. I simply cannot sit down if I'm at my own house...that dang to-do list is ever expanding! In any case, it is quite nice to be out here at Lost Pines. The area is scenic, comfortable and relaxing - just what the doctor ordered! Bonus: I can blog uninterrupted for as long as Punkie will nap and I can also get around to uploading some photos and possibly even some video! (Aunt Chelle and Harper had a workout session the other day. Not sure if any one else will find it amusing, but I laughed!)

Well, lemme get to gettin'. Pictures to follow!

Baby got shot!

We had quite the morning. Harper was scheduled for her two-month check-up at 9am today, or so we thought. Upon arrival, we were told that our appointment had actually been scheduled for this past Monday. Not so, my friend! Before leaving Harper's two-week appointment, I told the lovely lady behind the glass that Monday was not good for us as Jeff works out of Valley Mills every other Monday. I made it a point to move the appointment to Wednesday, aka TODAY, which said lovely lady appeared to have made record of in her computer. ("The files are in the computer? - Zoolander, nice!) Somehow or another, that move was not saved, be it human or computer error. Anyhoo, we were then given the choice to wait for our back-up doctor or return in the afternoon to see our original pediatric nurse practitioner. We stayed. And we stayed. Finally, Harper's name was called and the real fun began.

You see, the two-month mark equals a whole slew of vaccines for babies, but Jeff and I both have reservations whether or not to immunize. If so, which immunizations and when. And do they contain Thimerosal (mercury)? How about aluminum? Formaldehyde? Why have you ever or would you now inject a baby (or anyone for that matter) with those substances? What about autism? What causes it? The MMR shot? Or is it genetic? Does Jenny McCarthy have any idea what she is talking about? Are parents of autistic children simply looking for something, anything to label as the cause of the disease? What about all those experts screaming about the importance of breast milk and how it is best for babies, all-natural, from the mother's body, only contains the nutrients needed by the baby and nothing else, attempting to make mothers feel guilty if they don't or can't breastfeed for whatever the reason, telling us how formula is an inferior choice because it contains artificial ingredients and substances that are not able to be processed by the developing baby's body... yet we should inject children with vaccines containing metals, preservatives and more?

To put it bluntly, the whole thing is confusing. You can easily find articles, personal testimonies, and books siding on both ends of the spectrum. Both sides are biased - that is what taking a side means. Where is the Joe Lieberman of immunizations when you need him?! Who do we believe? Where do we get the best information? What decision should we ultimately make here?

After a lengthy discussion with our pediatrician, we decided that Harper would receive just one vaccine, DTaP, today. Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis...you know, diphtheria, so she'll be safe the next time she travels the Oregon Trail! (Sorry, I had to try and toss in a joke somewhere...this blog entry is a bit more serious than usual.) She handled it very well, and so did her parents! She cried a bit while receiving the injection and shortly thereafter, but she has been a trooper all day long. Jeff called around lunch to ask how our "guinea pig" was doing, and I replied that she was just fine, behaving very well, but that she had surprisingly grown six inches since that morning. ;) (That would be scary--another six inches would nearly put her over the tops of us both!)

Most likely, we will go back to the doctor's office sometime next week for one more shot. Some of them we are just not sold on, particularly at her age. Regardless of what any of us believes, we owe it to ourselves (and the kiddos) to arm ourselves with information, ask questions, and feel like we have what we need to make the best decisions. In this case, I think Jeff and I have done just that. (However, not the best decision when I added "Made of Honor" to our Blockbuster queue...that movie was terrible, despite the help of McSteamy's lovely locks and pretty face! Ah well, you can't win them all!)

In other news, Harper now weighs 9.4 lbs and is nearly 23 inches tall. She is still holding strong in the 25th percentile for her weight and 75th percentile on height. The doc seemed to think she will actually thin out even more eventually...something she certainly did not inherit from her dear ol' mom & pop!

Well, that's all I got for now. My "patient" is ready for her dinner, a bedtime story and her crib. It's been a long day for us all! :)

She might not have loved the shot itself, but she looks so cute with her pink camo band-aid!

She managed to squeeze out plenty of smiles today, despite the morning's trauma. :)

Great shirt, too... "This is my little black dress!"

PS. Happy Anniversary to Wayne & Toni! Today marks 32 years of marriage for those two bird lovers. ;)

Oooh, Mommy lies...

One startling realization that has come with the joy of motherhood is that moms lie. Who knew!? I've always made it a point to stand by my word, and to be a person of action. However, this whole motherhood thing sometimes slams the door right in the face of all my good intentions.

I make promises that I will get certain things done in certain time frames, but more often than not, I fall short. Sure, these certain things will eventually come to fruition be it a day or a week behind my intended schedule. I imagine that a lot of people would simply be satisfied with the act of completion despite the slight tardiness in which it occurred. Well, not me. I feel like a liar when I say I will post pictures before the day's end, and then don't. It's not that I don't want to, but rather that I can't always find those extra hours (heck, even minutes would be good!) in the day.

I thrive on order and organization, but babies just don't care. I've said this before, and I'll say it again - Harper runs my life. It doesn't matter that her eating and sleeping patterns have fallen into a more predictable routine. Those patterns are finally taking less of a toll of me, but I still have so much to do during Harper's slumbering hours. A lot of it I put on myself, because there are some tasks that I just can't pass on to anyone else.

I could ask Jeff to grocery shop, but I don't want to. I enjoy my special time at HEB, and besides, Jeff would run us into the poor house buying DVDs, mega cartons of protein powder and every single can of assorted flavors of almonds sold in the store. I could never give up cooking. Whipping up breakfast, lunch and/or dinner provides me with a release that I can't explain. It's my thing. It doesn't matter if I'm making a recipe straight off a can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup or (attempting) a recipe off the enticing pages of Bon Appetit magazine...cooking helps me relax. So, no, I can't make up time there. And my house has to be clean. I have loosened my standards slightly in this area, but I stress slightly. It is important to me to keep a clean house. Besides, you all know how much I love my vacuum cleaner. Long live the Dyson! Or in Tiffany's case, long live the Rainbow! ;)

Basically, I want it all! I want my pound cake, and I want to bake it, too. The clock is ticking down until I go back to work on December 10th, and I am anxious to see how life will be with that factor added back into the mix. Will I survive? Will anyone at 809 Falcon Drive survive? We shall see! :)

Time...how do I make the most of it, and where can I buy more? Now I know why babies don't wear watches. Of all the millions of ridiculous and unnecessary products that are sold on this great globe, baby watches are one item that would never make it. It isn't that babies can't tell time -- it's just that they don't flippin' care!

What do you know, ol' Harper Peel is a ringing my bell. I WILL post pictures...don't wanna make a liar out of myself! Check back again on this entry sometime after lunch. May the word "sometime" save me after all! ;)

See you gators later!

**Ok, I'm back! I put this album together while breastfeeding...talk about talent!**
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=feae1id.9g0uq4kp&x=0&y=uzm5gz&localeid=en_US

Is this thing on?

Sorry we've been MIA from blogland for the last two weeks.... the Peel trio has been in and out of town since the weekend before last, and I am behind on pretty much everything! Catching up today on household stuff, errands, phone calls, blogs, etc.

Harper turned two-months old on Saturday! Pictures to come to bring y'all up to date... My computer time this morning is rapidly coming to an end, so it will have to wait until this afternoon. Ta ta for now! :)