Uh... You Gonna Finish That?

For all the slamming I've done regarding breastfeeding, I have to admit it does have its benefits. Sure... there's the "healthy for the baby" stuff you have all heard about... but I'm talking about benefits to me. After all... even after two children... it is... All. About. Me.

Anyway, breastfeeding helps your uterus return to it's teeny tiny size by releasing one of those hormones... um... well, look... if you want a medical blog, go elsewhere. I can't be bothered with looking that up. It also helps you return to your prepregnancy weight... or in my case... less than your prepregnancy weight. Yes, folks. I may be one of the only people you know who loses weight when she has babies.

After Athena was born, the pounds just dropped off. I was told to eat more than normal as breastfeeding burns an extra 500 calories a day. However, Athena was an eater, so I think she was taking in even more than that.

Unfortunately, when you stop breastfeeding, you stop burning those calories. And therein lies the rub, my friends. I can easily eat twice what I normally eat at meals right now. I am hungry all the time. It's worse than when I was pregnant. I literally could eat all day long. So when Athena weaned herself (it happened quite naturally and a bit unexpectedly for me), my stomach thought it had been in training for the Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest. So it may have been easy to wean the little girl, but giving up the supersized meals was another story.

This time, I vowed to keep it under control. I vowed that I would maintain a healthy lifestyle and not eat like a pig. Survey says... I'm a loser.

I just had lunch. I ate four times as much as either Chris or Athena. FOUR TIMES! And then I had chocolate. (Curse Hershey's for coming out with dark chocolate miniatures... I'll never be the same.) And I'm still a little hungry. *sigh*

Countdown to the Magic

Due to the birth of my second child, we are taking the longest hiatus between pilgrimages to DisneyWorld. (For me, it's a pilgrimage... for Chris, it's a fate he accepted when he said "I Do.") Our last trip was in November, and we were really only in Orlando for a day. The rest of the time we were on the Disney Magic.

So our next trip is scheduled for April 28, 2007. That means it's almost 18 months between trips. I may get the shakes. I've already suggested maybe going for a four-day weekend in October. How totally sad is that? Pixie dust is worse than crack, I tell you.

Anyway, I mention it this far in advance not because I want you to understand how addicted to DisneyWorld I am (and oh, I am addicted), but because, as always, there is an open invitation to anyone I know and even vaguely like to join us. (What good is addiction if you don't try to force it on others, right?) We are going with another family we like to travel with (one of whom considers it a pilgrimage and one of whom considers it a duty of marriage as well). However, Disney is a big place, and last time I checked, anyone can go as long as you fork over the moolah... so if you were thinking of making a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth next year, consider getting there on or around April 28. :-)

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

At long last, I have been able to achieve something I was beginning to believe was only possible in fairy tales. I got the job at the library down the street. And thank God I did, because had I not, I was probably going to have to change this blog to "The Mommy."

I got the news on Tuesday afternoon. I don't know when I'll offiicially get to start, but it's looking like maybe part-time in mid-June... going full-time at the new location by early July. It's just a lateral move, but the money I will save in gas and food, not to mention the hour to 90 minutes I just got back in my life (formerly spent in traffic on the way to work and home again) will make this seem like a jump up the ladder.

The department I'll be managing is brand new. In fact, it hasn't even been created yet. So I'll get to build something from the bottom up. This is VERY cool. I love to start from nothing and create a whole program. So I'm looking forward to some exciting weeks ahead. I also get to add Young Adult fiction into my area (my old department managed adult fiction only), and I LOVE "YA" stuff.

I will miss my old library. Well, actually, I'll miss the people I work with. Fortunately, I should see them frequently at system committee meetings and activities. It's not like I'm leaving the system. As much as I wanted this job, it's still bittersweet... leaving behind some really wonderful people.

Of course, we've had some teenage hoodlums trying to take over the library lately... so I won't miss THEM.

The new location is very busy (currently, the busiest library in North Carolina, actually), so I doubt I'll have much time to get bored. Considering I don't have time to get bored NOW, and I'm in one of the less busy libraries... I'm hoping I don't get overwhelmed.

So there you have it. Contrary to the experience of the last eight months, I CAN still land a job when I set my mind to it. Whew.

A Few More Steps and We'll Be Safe in the Fire Swamp

The Princess Bride was on television a few days ago, so we were watching it with Athena. I always thought of it as a great family flick. Isn't it odd how you don't notice how downright scary something is until you watch it with kids?

The R.O.U.S. (Rodents Of Unusual Size for the one person out there who hasn't memorized the film) appeared, and I thought Athena's eyeballs were going to pop out of her head. And it was just before bedtime too. We are such great parents. *sigh*

Library Dress Code

I do not like to make snide comments about library patrons and any irritating qualities they may have. It is unprofessional, and after all, they are my bread and butter. And goodness knows I do stupid things every now and then... so I'm not about to start a blog that natters on about the low IQ of the general public in an attempt to make myself look smarter. Truth is... I'm not that smart. But don't tell anyone. (If you want such a blog, try this one. I was reading it when I went into labor. I actually thought the initials labor pains were from laughing so hard.)

However, sometimes people do things that are just plain irritating, and sometimes it happens to be in a library. I am confident that the bad parents I previously ranted about are bad parents OUTSIDE of the library as well. I can only speak for what I observe IN the library, as that is where I am all the time.

Today, my topic is not parenting (for a change) but fashion.

I am the antithesis of a fashionista. Many times I have tried to make a vow to improve my fashion sense. It never works. And the reason is very simple. I have no taste for fashion. I don't understand what it is and I don't understand how to put it together. To me, clothes are comfortable... not necessarily attractive.

That said, I do have advisors (my sister and husband among them) so that I don't walk out of the house looking like any of these REAL people I have seen at the library:

• No Shirt Guy - Dude... put some clothes on. You may be a skinny, nineteen-year-old in your sexual prime, but the library is air conditioned and you can certainly find a wife-beater shirt at the very least to throw on for a few minutes while you troll myspace.
• Almost No Skirt Chick - Honey, there are young boys in this library, and we prefer that they get their anatomy lesson from books rather than real-life examples. Mothers are complaining because not only is your thong clearly visible above your waist, but your cheeks are hanging out the back, and your privates can no longer be considered private.
• Jailin' Thug - PULL UP YOUR PANTS! If nothing else, aren't you completely uncomfortable? Let me give you a clue... if we want to know whether you wear boxers or briefs, we want to find out on our own. Keep up a little air of mystery.
• Sleepy Chick - You are a beautiful young woman. What on EARTH would possess you to wear your pajamas with Stewie slippers into the library. At your age, you are supposed to be completely neurotic about your looks and what boys think. I suppose I should praise you for your lack of regard for others' opinions, but STEWIE slippers?! Egad.

end fashion rant.

Television - Sedatives for Men

Chris posted The Guys' Rules yesterday, and I thought I would expand on the television-related ones.

Sunday, I asked Chris if he would help me make cookies while Athena was napping. Athena, unfortunately, wouldn't nap... so Chris couldn't really help. Fortunately, Marcus was only mildly fussy, but the television was on... and his bouncy seat was awfully close to the sub-woofer. So I turned it off. There was nothing on anyway, and the damn thing had been on all day.

Chris came down like two seconds after I turned it off, and you won't believe this, but he turned it back on and proceded to flip through all the channels I had JUST flipped through. He, however, found something to watch... BlackHawk Down.

Now, it's bad enough that he can't participate in the cookie-making as he has to make regular trips upstairs to corral the tot. But then he selects a war movie. I don't like war movies, personally, and I don't think they are appropriate for the children. Within a minute, Chris had to go back upstairs to tend to Athena, and I turned the TV back off. One never knows if Chris will return from upstairs... the computer may lure him into her evil web and he could be up there for an hour. I wasn't about to watch people get shot up while trying to enjoy my cookie dough and appease a cranky 2-month-old.

He returned rather quickly (Ms. Computer was apparently not so intriguing) and immediately asked, "Why is this off?" while gesturing at the TV.

Not only is this an absurd question... after all... televisions aren't known to turn themselves off... but wtf? Can we not exist in a room without television for two minutes?

Cop Magnet

Some people are chick magnets. Some people are money magnets. (Or is that Magnate... whatever). And then there are people like Jason and Brian D. who are magnets for any kind of chaos or bad stuff that is out there... the more implausible, the better. Jason is the sort of guy who can have a three-of-a-kind, and invariably there is someone at the table with a full house... or even a royal flush. If it's going to happen in the game, it will be when Jason has three aces. But I digress...

I, dear friends, am a cop magnet. My friend Jack was once laughing at me (okay, he laughs at me all the time... but I'm referring to one time in particular) because I am such a law-abiding citizen. I don't speed, and I refuse to have anything in the house that was pirated (music, movies, etc.). Chris sneaks stuff by me, but if I find it, I destroy it. Basically, no matter how inane the law is, I will follow it.

I'd like to say that the reason for this is because I am a really good person and citizen of this here planet. However, the truth is, I follow the law because if I don't, I will get caught. Ever since I was a tyke, I can't seem to get away with anything. I've been stopped four times for speeding, and I have four speeding tickets to show for it. I have NEVER been "let go." The closest I've come to getting a warning is when a cop pulled me over at midnight on an empty highway when I was by myself because he THOUGHT I was speeding (I wasn't) and then he noticed my license plate wasn't in his computer (NCDMV are never in a hurry to do their paperwork). When he told me why he pulled me, I asked him if he knew I was a woman by myself when he turned on his lights. He said, "Yes." This was at the height of "blue-light bandits" in NC... there had been a rash of attacks. Ass.

Anyway, in addition to my tickets, my very first two-car accident involved me backing into a police car at a very low speed in a parking lot. Mind you, the officer was at fault, and did all but admit that it was his fault. I was sixteen and it was dark. My reverse lights were working and were on. I was driving a '79 Cadillac de Ville. There was a truck on one side of me and a van on the other. I couldn't see very well around them, so I was going VERY slowly. There is no way said cop couldn't have seen me. The butt of that car was roughly the size of Rhode Island. Yet he continued to move forward in the parking lot, causing me to bump his front fender. Imagine being sixteen and licensed to drive for about a month, and seeing that you have just hit a police car. I can laugh about it now...

So today, I added to my list of cop weirdness when, much to my surprise, in the McDonald's drive-thru this morning (and believe it or not, it wasn't THAT McDonald's), a cop rear-ended ME. It was only a slight bump, and no damage was done. But really... what are the chances? *sigh*

Dream Dinners. Seriously.

Last Thursday, I tried something I have been dying to do for some time. I've been wanting to "feed the freezer," as my father used to call it. Basically, I was looking for a way to prepare several meals all at once and freeze them. Then I could thaw them and cook them on weeknights when I have less time.

To this end, I've checked out several cookbooks from the library that guide you through doing this. There are many of them out there -- many of them designed to have you cook thirty meals all on one day. That's basically eight hours of cooking. But the payoff is you have a whole month of meals at the ready.

As I read these, I was struck by several problems... the least of which was "Will I like this food?" In many cases, it didn't look all that tasty. And then, one day, I was browsing the paper and saw that one of these places was opening in my neighborhood. Dream Dinners was founded on the concept that busy women WANT to cook for their families, but just don't always have time to do it. The woman who founded it was running a catering company and had a friend into her kitchen one weekend to cook a few meals for the freezer. Soon, her friends and her friend's friends were calling her to see if THEY could come to her kitchen. It didn't take her long to realize there was a market for this.

So on Thursday at noon, I went to the new Dream Dinners store. It's about five minutes from my house. And in two hours and 15 minutes, I had 12 meals ready for the freezer. The coolest thing about this concept is you don't actually cook anything. You just put the meal together. Some meals have precooked ingredients like ground beef or chicken. All the ingredients are laid out with the appropriate measuring instruments in them. You just assemble it the way you like it. For instance, if something has red peppers and you don't like red peppers... leave 'em out.

It's affordable too, when you consider the groceries you don't need to buy (all entrees have meat, so it's not for you herbivores out there) and the time you save both at the store and at home each night. Each meal is 4-6 servings, so there is plenty for your family, or for two dinners if it's just two of you.

I loaded up my cooler, then went home and loaded up my freezer. All the food looked remarkable. I had all sorts of variety too, from a Chicago-style deep dish pizza to a macaroni casserole to chicken and bacon crepes.

The final test was tonight. I moved two meals to the freezer on Saturday to defrost for this week. We made the first one tonight -- Grilled Salmon with Garlic Dill Butter. In my case, the salmon was broiled, as our grill is kind of irritating. And it is Atlantic Salmon, which isn't my favorite. But let me tell you, our dinner was scrumptious. I should have taken a photo. It looked as good as it tasted. And it was SO easy and quick. Not that salmon is really difficult, but had I made the butter from scratch TONIGHT instead of last week, it would have taken me an extra thirty minutes to gather and assemble the ingredients. Not to mention the extra groceries I would have needed. For instance... capers. Not your everyday ingredient (although I admit I have a bottle in the cupboard.

So our next "Dream Dinner" will be on Friday, when we will have Morrocan Marinated Pork Roast. I'll let you know how it turns out!

I Have Returned!

Well, today was the momentous day... my first day back at work. Fortunately, I had a sort of meeting this morning, and I'm only working half-days until Friday, so my day was easy and fairly uneventful, work-wise. The day did have its moments, though. Wanna hear about 'em? No? Then quit reading now.

For those of you brave to continue onward through my post...

At 2:30 AM, Marcus awoke for his one and only feeding over the night. This is really good! I was pleased! He only munched on one boob, though, and this means that I had extra that needed to go somewhere. So instead of returning to bed immediately upon plopping el kiddo back in his swing, I had to hang around awake upstairs to be sure he was really asleep, then creep downstairs to pump. That takes about 10-15 minutes, but the set-up and clean-up add another 10-15... so I was back in bed around 3:30. While I was cleaning up, I heard much squeaking coming from our pantry. "Aha!" I exclaimed! "We have trapped that devilish mouse! Hooray!"

A little later, the three of us... Chris, Marcus, and myself... all managed to sleep through the 5:30 alarm Chris had so carefully set the night before. We're not sure how we ALL missed the alarm, but we are guessing that the volume was too low for us to hear. So, I woke up at 6:30. This was the time I used to rise when I only had one child, and she is pretty self-sufficient now. Basically, I had to do nothing for her in the mornings, as Chris did most of what she needed. In fact, often she was asleep until after I left. Marcus, on the other hand, requires feeding (something that does not allow me to multitask), bottle preparation for his day ahead, not to mention changing, dressing, etc. So I really needed the extra hour. And the proof of that is in the pudding. I was an hour late to work this morning. Again, fortunately, I only had a meeting, and I don't believe it was scheduled to start until 9, so all was well. I just stayed later than I expected to.

While I was showering, I sent Chris downstairs to tend to the little mouse who has been eating our Doritos and pooping on my cookbooks. Unfortunately, I came downstairs before Chris had finished his work. I had expected that the mouse would be part of our catch-and-release program. Instead, he met a very bloody end at my husband's hands. Although I do not blame him for terminating the rodent's life, I was caught by surprise. I did not see the actual end, but I heard it, and let me tell you, it broke my heart. So that was my first cry of the morning. Over a freaking mouse. One that had ruined a good deal of my food, mind you. Now we have to clean out the pantry AGAIN. Who knew there were two mice?! Damn cat.

I went to prepare Marcus' bottles, and the damn breastmilk was still frozen. I made bottles for Athena for three months with breastmilk two years ago, and they had ALWAYS thawed overnight. These were still frozen solid. So I had to thaw them on the stovetop, and naturally, they actually got warmed a little. This is not good for breastmilk. Hopefully, I haven't given my son food poisoning.

To further complicate my morning routine, I had to take the kids to daycare. It was my own fault, as poor planning on my part meant that Chris had to stay home to wait for some service people and let them into the house. And I don't really mind taking them to daycare. Athena sings songs for me, and Marcus... well, apparently he wails most of the way there.

Anyway, we get there, and you would not believe how complicated it can be to drop off two kids in two separate rooms. Each child has a bit of paperwork you have to complete each morning. And you can't wear shoes in the infant room. So I tossed Marcus and his carseat into the infant room and shouted to Ms. Penny that I would be right back to check him in officially. My plan was to then whisk Athena two doors down to her classroom and quickly fill out her stuff, then run back to the infant room to unload bottles and talk to the teachers about Marcus' feeding schedule. But Athena, as one might guess, had other plans.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAARCUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" she wailed. Apparently, the two have become rather close, and she just couldn't bear to leave him. She cried. She pled. She pressed her face up against the window to his classroom. It broke my heart. I cried. Again. After the teachers promised Athena she could come back later in the morning to visit, Athena grudgingly took my hand and allowed herself to be led to her classroom.

But once we were there, I was not permitted to leave. She asked nicely to be picked up, so I did, but then she clamped her legs around my waist so hard that had I let go of her, she would have just sat there, attached to my waist, sitting on my hip. Finally, a teacher was able to lure her away with promises of animal pictures.

I finally left daycare after a few more minutes with Marcus, and headed to work. I needed to stop at McDonald's to get something to eat, despite the fact that I was already late. Unforunately, the only place even close to on the way is THE McDonald's. You remember? The one in Cary? So naturally, it took 15 minutes to get through the drive thru.

Work was probably the easiest part of my day. The only bummer was that I found out the last interview for that job at the local library was at 3pm today. So I will probably have to wait until tomorrow (or later) to find out if I have been selected. Many people said they were pulling for me. Unfortunately, none of them actually interviewed me.

I got home and began chores. Laundry and organizing the clutter in the kitchen and dining room in the hopes of ridding ourselves of it. Now I have to start dinner. If nothing else, going back to work really picks up the pace of my life. I'm going to be exhausted tonight. Wait, I already am.

The Final Countdown

(Has my title put that awful song in your head?! It's driving me crazy!!)

This is my last week of maternity leave, and I have never felt less ready to get back to work. My interview was, in my opinion, completely awful. I can't think straight and I can't get my head back into work. The job I interviewed for is so close to my house and would be an ideal position for me. However, my previous luck with interviews this past twelve months has me reeling still, and my confidence is in the toilet. I feel like I came across as scatterbrained, weak, and incompetent. Of course, I've believed I've tanked interviews before and I end up getting the job, so we'll see.

On Monday, I start back, but only part time. I'm working half-days Monday through Thursday, then a whole day on Friday. The following week I'm back up to full time. I'm hoping that will make the transition easier. Also, I took Marcus into daycare yesterday and I'm doing so again tomorrow... just in the afternoon. I couldn't believe how much it bothered me to drop him off. I was nervous the first day I left Athena. She was only six weeks old and so helpless. But this guy is much more independent (not that he's doing anything on his own... he's just more communicative and easy-going), and two weeks older than Athena was, and yet I still feel like my heart is being ripped from my chest when I leave him. I never had that strong a feeling when I left Athena. It's odd.

Still looking for a business partner to buy/run a franchise with me. Any interest out there? Send me an email. This would, of course, require that you live in the area. :-)

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

Athena is sleeping in her big girl bed tonight. I am beside myself with excitement. We had no solid plan for how to move her into her new bedroom with her new big HUGE bed, but we've been asking her from time to time if she wants to sleep in her big girl bed that night. She always said, "No." But tonight, she said "Yeah!"

We moved her CD player (with its lullaby CD -- a birthday gift from Aunt Lisa) and her favorite blanket into the room. At first, she jumped under the covers, put her head on her pillow, and started twirling her hair (her own sign language for, "Damn, I'm sleepy!" But when Chris first closed the door on her, she started wailing.

He went back in and tried to reassure her, but exit number two brought on the same tears. Upon exit number three, Chris made it to our bedroom door, but soon our little "big girl" was opening the door to come out. I went in and laid down on the bed with her, very aware that I COULD not offer to sleep with her that first night or else I would never get to sleep in my own bed again.

When she wouldn't settle down, I asked her if she would rather be in her crib. "NO! NO CRIB!" was the adamant reply. But then she ran out of the room. I caught her after cornering her in OUR room and carried her to her crib. I figured she would just collapse from exhaustion and from comfort in being back in "her own bed" (soon to be Marcus' own bed). Instead, she screamed like a Banshee. She did NOT want to be in her crib... apparently EVER again.

We returned to her new room and I explained that if she wanted to sleep in her bed, she had to stay in her room. I told her that if she came out of the room again before morning, she would have to go back into the crib. And guess what! It worked! She's been in bed for an hour and a half now. Granted, the night's not over, but I am shamelessly optimistic.

Funky Town

Chris worked from home today, and he got a wild hair to pick Athena up early and take her out for some fun. His original idea was to play Putt-Putt, but it was raining lightly, so we went to Bullwinkles instead. (Not familiar with it? Think of Chuck E. Cheese, but with Rocky and Bullwinkle instead.)

Food was decent, show didn't happen because we were too early, and Athena was only really interested in the Skee-Ball, but we had a good time. Then we went to downtown Apex (don't laugh... it's a whole three blocks, but it's nifty) and had ice cream. Athena had a cone and when her ice cream was gone (some was spilled to the floor), she held up her cone to get a refill. When I told her it didn't work that way, she started following the ice cream scooper lady around the store holding it up for her to refill. I wish I'd had a video camera.

On the way home (okay, honestly, it was on the way to get ice cream, so I'm taking a little license with story sequence for the sake of flow...), we were listening to a new station I stumbled across while in Greensboro a few weeks ago. Their call numbers are WSMW 98.7. They refer to themselves as "Simon," they have no djs except in the morning, and their tag line is "We play everything." They aren't kidding. It's like listening to someone's iPod Shuffle.

To date, I have heard the following songs (in no particular order and this does not include ALL songs... just the ones that stand out.) Keep in mind that these songs are played back to back...

Kiss - Rock and Roll All Night
Cyndi Lauper - She Bop
Styx - Come Sail Away
Duran Duran - Rio, New Moon on Monday, AND Union of the Snake
Olivia and John - Summer Lovin'
George Clinton - Atomic Dog
Howard Jones - No One Is To Blame
The Rolling Stones - hmmm... can't remember which one now
AND they have played various hits from the nineties and today.

However, tonight, they played Funkytown by Lipps, Inc. As soon as it started, Chris and I started bobbing our heads to the beat like the white folk we are. I glanced in my rearview and little Athena was bobbing right along with us. The kicker is, she wasn't even looking at us. She was staring out the window... so her head bob was totally her own. Primitive instincts... so cool.

Loved Ones: A Cathartic Stream-of-Consciousness Post

Lately, the theme of friends and family has been pushing itself into the front of my brain. Tempura73 just posted about her family being two days away in Malaysia. My husband has been learning a lot about his family (he isn't even sure how old he was when his parents divorced, so he obviously has a lot to study), and I learned that I will not be able to go to Seattle before my maternity leave is up to see my sister and two very good friends who I NEVER get to see (as they live in Washington, which is VERY far away from North Carolina for those of you who failed Jessey's Geography Test). I also had a wonderful visit with Sophie, but that only proved that Charlotte can seem as far away from me as Washington State is. And even my local friends are wrapped up in work and other personal issues (Jamie, I'm thinking of you... we need to do lunch soon), that I simply can't connect with them as much as I should.

So all these things make me think of how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and circle of friends, and that makes me wonder why I feel sad to think about them. Is it a fear of losing someone? Is it just lonliness from being surrounded by a baby all day? Or is it the empty-brain syndrom I have from lack of sleep?

This morning, I was up at the right time so that I could get the baby fed and situated before Chris and Athena headed downstairs for breakfast. I have not eaten breakfast with them on a weekday since before Marcus was born. This morning, I was not only able to make Athena breakfast (pouring cereal counts, right?), but I was able to eat my breakfast with them AND I was able to pack a lunch for Chris. Then, when Chris got home, I made dinner for us all for the SECOND night in a row! The satisfaction I gained from doing something for Chris and Athena -- as domestic as it was -- was downright intoxicating.

I also saw several of my work friends today, as Marcus and I attended a baby shower at our administrative offices. I have great friends at work, and I was having so much fun visiting that I didn't want to leave when they all headed into a meeting after the shower.

My mother and her best friend each attended funerals this weekend - for different people. One of the people who died was 44. She had cancer. And a 13-year-old son. Cancer runs in my family. It runs in Chris' as well. In fact, Chris' father had it four times before it finally emerged victorious. Needless to say, I don't like cancer very much.

So why this blathering? I don't know. I'm just glad to have so many loved ones, and I don't want anything bad to happen to them. Y'all take care of yourselves, okay?

Athena is Two!

The Remote Control Pound Puppy. AKA Dad's Toy.


Athena's only guest her age, Aiden, and his dad, with the bubble machine.


She loves her new trike.


The Homemade Cake (thank you, Pampered Chef!)

Presents and Cake

Baby Talk

MARCUS: So, uh, you want to go get a latte?

ELISE: Sure, although I prefer espresso, if that's okay.

MARCUS: Great! I'll drive.

ELISE: Okay, but can we wait until you can see over the wheel?

MARCUS: Okay. If you think that's important.

ELISE: Besides, this vibrating chair is pretty comfy.

MARCUS: Good point.