For The Kanucks

Have I ever mentioned my affinity for all things Canadian? No? Well I love me some Canadians. I think they are just cooler somehow. Their humor is more finely honed - think Kids In the Hall. They write with more wit and a piercing insight into the human condition - as in Margaret Atwood. They have given us bacon, zippers and also Pamela Anderson.

So of course when I was tagged for a meme by not one but TWO amazing Canadian bloggers, Schmutzie and Saviabella, I had to put aside my aversion to memes and play along.

Here are the rules:

Each player creates a list of eight random personal facts/habits.

At the end of your post, list eight people who you want to tag to also do this meme.

People who are tagged will post these rules and write their own list of eight personal facts/habits.

Eight facts/habits about TB:

• I love to dance, but I never officially learned how because I grew up in a very Footloose-like fundamentalist church where dancing was not allowed. For a long time when I would go to concerts, dance clubs and the like, I would pick a person who was grooving in a way that I thought looked especially cool and copy them. Nowadays, I have my own style, which I describe as hippie white girl. If you've ever been to a Phish concert, you've seen it.
• I'm afraid I've passed on two traits to Myles that probably won't serve him very well - oral fixation and insomnia. He sucks on his fingers, even when he's not hungry and he doesn't sleep very well. (okay that's a huge understatement. He doesn't sleep at all during the day, but thankfully he's exhausted at night from all the not sleeping)
• A brief conversation Jeff and I had yesterday when we were trying to get Myles to sleep after 12 hours of wakefulness/fussiness: Me - "Do you think our baby is the Antichrist?" Jeff - "I don't know, did you take a close look at that birthmark on his head? Does it say 666?"
• One of the highlights of my day, for as long as I can remember, is getting the mail. I don't know why, maybe it's the promise that there might be something other than bills, like a card or letter. It's the simple things in life.
• I am donating my extra breast milk to a milk bank, so I have to pump every time I feed Myles. It's pretty boring and since I'm hooked to a machine there's not much else I can do during that 10 minutes. So I've made it into a game to see if I can beat my previous record for amount of milk pumped. Also, I try to figure out what the repetitive sound of the pump is saying to me. Today, it sounded like it was saying Coq au van. I don't know why. 
• Along the same lines, I now have a freezer full of breast milk that I collected when I was trying to build up my supply. I can't bring myself to throw it away, even though my body is going to continue to make more. So if you come to my house, stay away from the pouches in the bottom drawer of the freezer.
• I am a confirmed coffee fiend and something of a coffee snob - have been ever since college. I buy whole bean and grind fresh every morning. I love coffee more dearly than just about anything and a good cup of java can make or break my day. Due to the amazing non-sleeping baby, I quit drinking coffee. There's a huge hole in my morning now.
• Due to my oral fixation, I was a thumb sucker as a child, then I moved to nail biting. When I quit biting my nails in sixth grade, I started nibbling my cuticles, which is almost a worse habit. I still do it to this day.

And now, even though I never, ever tag, I will because Schmutzie and Saviabella have commanded it and also because Schmutzie put me on her Cockroll. Go check it out and join yourself. It's fun, and you get to say "cock":

WordGirl

Ortizzle

Feral Mom

Heather

Tink

DD

The New Girl

Comments

[V-Grrrl]

My son never slept more than 2-3 consecutive hours day or night until he was 7 months old. He was a preemie and he had colic and it was a nightmare.

Around month four, I passed exhaustion and moved into mild delirium. In the middle of the night, I actually did bang my head against the wall--and it felt good. And I twisted pieces of hair until they came out of my head. I hit that point. And that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was that even when I had opportunities to sleep, I couldn't. My sleep/wake cycle was so trashed and my body so used to running on adrenaline that I had trouble falling asleep and when I did sleep it wasn't deep or restful, but light.

When he finally, finally, finally started sleeping through the night when he was close to 8 months old, I finally started sleeping again too.

My daughter didn't sleep well either. She didn't start sleeping through the night on a regular basis until she was two.

My secret: I hate hearing stories of people whose babies slept through the night after a few weeks. I just want to shake them and tell them they have no idea what an extreme sport parenting can become when your kid doesn't sleep. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do but ride it out. And that's killer.

[schmutzie]

I have not yet tired of saying cockroll. Cockroll cockroll cockroll. COCKROLL.

I accidentally put breast milk in my coffee once at a friend's house. It wasn't a bad creamer.

[DD]

Not too long ago I read of another blogger looking for breast milk for their baby that they had adopted as they wanted to build up her immunity. I'll see if I can remember who it was...

I'm glad your description of your oral habits stopped at the cuticles.

[Tink]

All that spare breast milk makes me think of Borat.

"Do you like the cheese? My wife made it out of her own breast milk."

You could start a whole new "natural" line!

Thanks for the tag. ;)

[Chris]

My niece started out not sleeping. Over time, that has changed - so don't give up hope!!

[JessR]

This was great. I love getting the mail, too. And I sucked my thumb a LOONG time when I was a kid; it too morphed into nail-biting & cuticle chewing. I still do the cuticle thing, unfortunately.

[the new girl]

I'll get on this for you TB.

I too, like Canadians but even more, I like non-coffeed, cuticle-nibbling, mail-loving, mothers of new-born possible antichrists.

xo

[Nancy]

Canadians also have HOCKEY. Extremely important.

I loved getting the mail too. Still do -- I get cranky if J intercepts it before I do.

[jill]

hey there!

I have a friend with a new baby who is banking her extra breast milk to donate to this really cool charity:

http://www.breastmilkproject.org/

if you are so inclined, your breast milk could help to nourish orphans in Africa. Being a person who has never given birth and doesn't intend to, it sounded a little "HyperRighteousATypeMom" to me at first; but upon further reflection, it seems like a really practical, tangible charitable donation.

And my friend has used breast milk as creamer in a pinch, too.

[stella]

i did the cockroll. that was fun.

although i accidentally picked the same pic as someone else and had to resend (the rooster on a leash...is great).

[Cee]

I hope Myles gets the hang of the whole sleeping thing soon :-) I love getting the mail too, although I'm mostly disappointed with its contents - bills and advertising, and never my Ebay purchases.

[Ortizzle]

Oh, dear, sorry to hear he isn't sleeping as much as you would like. I suppose it is a relief that he at least sleeps the night through out of sheer exhaustion!

I feel honored to be tagged for this meme. I will tend to it in a few days, though, as I have just put up a brand new post.

P.S. On reading the comments above, there might just be a thing for 'baby cheese' made from breast milk, LOL!

[mothergoosemouse]

I love to get the mail too. And my nails/cuticles are in awful condition - I swear it doesn't feel like a nervous habit, but I guess it qualifies as one.

Please give that antichrist baby a kiss for me.

[DebbieDoesLife]

I CANNOT give up coffee. EVER.

I was exactly like you. Grew up biting my nails but stopped in 2nd grade. Then moved on to the cuticles. I don't smoke so I figure this is my "habit".

Myles is NOT the anti-christ. He sounds like a normal baby to me. I read every baby sleep book out there with my second one. Yeah, the one who would not sleep and if there was one creak on a staircase he would wake up screaming.

[Bobita~]

Dancing, coffee, late-night discussions of the antichrist, a talking breast-pump, insomnia and an oral fixation...we might need to hang out sometime!! I think we would be fast friends!