Janet’s Neighborhood

Seems innocuous enough, right?

Pros:

• Hey, it's fat free!
• It tastes okay.
• There's no rBST involved, which I'm sure means something to someone.

Cons:

• The bottle has this hilarious feature where the label is not securely attached, so that when you give it a good ol' shake, the bottle goes careening across the room, slamming into the floor, and shooting sticky fake-milk everywhere. It's great for people who want to spend the next twenty minutes of their lives on their hand and knees, wiping off every chair, table and baby toy that was unlucky enough to be in the spray's path.

The bottle, post-explosion. Not pictured: My rage.

The Lovely Virginia called me at work yesterday to tell me that Bea had all of a sudden started saying, "la, la, la." Which is a major step from her usual straight, open mouthed yell.

I know this is not a big deal, and most babies do it, but it was the big news in the Sommer home yesterday.

Here's video. You may catch a few "ba"s and "da"s, too.

Because Bea, all of a sudden, is crazy for consonants.

Babies are awesome.

Today's the day, friends!

Mad Men: Season One is available for purchase!

Catch up, quick! Season Two is only 27 days away!

That's a lot of exclamation points!

It's fat, because it's loaded with extras.

We took Beatrice down to the pool today.

We're so Hollywood

She had her very first swim.

Welcome to your fair skinned life, poor little Beatle

I did what I swore I would never do as a mother...I had her swim with a t-shirt on. When I was little Mom always made me put a t-shirt over my swimsuit so I wouldn't get a sunburn, I HATED IT. But today as I was getting Bea ready for the pool and sunscreening her up, I looked at her perfect skin and I caved. I couldn't bring her into the pool without some extra cover! Ah, the circle of life. (I've got to get her one of those baby swimsuits with the hottest new design: SLEEVES!)

This is awesome.

AMC is running a contest.

The prize is a walk-on role in Mad Men.

How cool is that?

Go here.

Looks like my Joan Holloway costume may be coming out of retirement...

  I know I haven't updated this in a while.  Like 24 days, or something.  Let me bring you up to speed:

Nothing new to report.  We went on a 10 day mission on 04June, and it was uneventful.  When my CET got back, the company commander, and the battalion commander wanted to go outside the wire.  So, my truck was bumped off of the next mission.  I've been sitting here for almost 2 weeks.  The above video is the fruit of that boredom.  Could have been worse, though.  I could've gone, and had to listen to the ridiculous amount of micromanaging that took place on that trip.  My CET leader is good.  He knows us, and for the most part, trusts us to get the job done on our own, without constant supervision.  Unfortunately, not everyone shares his beliefs.  Ah, well.  Like I said, I wasn't there.  And I have mixed feelings about it. 

Anyway, we're heading back out in three days, and should be gone for a week.  We're only heading about 45-50 minutes North of Baghdad, but weather/enemy activity will be the judge of how long we're really out.  My camera being broken, I wasn't able to get any pics from my last mission, and this one's not looking too promising camera-wise, either.  Sad.  I shall beg/borrow/acquire whatever pictures I can, to make future videos. 

Peace.  OUT.

Check out New York Times Online today, where you might find this picture:

Smoky.

Do spellcheckers ever make you feel crazy?

Mine just tried to tell me "isn't" isn't a word.

On my screen, right now, both instances of "isn't" are underlined in red.

That one too.

Don't get it.

Beatrice can sit up on her own now. She is very patient and independent. She likes to sit quietly and work on her projects.

We took Bea to the park today. It was fun, she spent a lot of time checking out the birds.

We brought a book to read but she decided to eat it instead...that's my girl.

good stuff