How many music dorks does it take to find a swing song?

After my pity party post last week, I realized I was headed in a direction I did not like at all. So, I went up to the Duke that evening and said "Hey, I'm not happy....and here is why....I feel hurt because you....and p.s. I DESPERATELY need you for me to get through this". We talked it all though and. since then, I have made my husband a priority instead of penciling him into my life. I have been a different person since. What a change! We both are making the effort to hug, touch, smile, hold each other up in rough times, and share in the glorious circus of raising our girls. I am tired, but I don't care....I am happy. I highly recommend it! Besides, if for no other reason, make-up sex ROCKS! :)

So, last night Tinkerbel would not calm down. She ended up, as she does most nights in the swing. Side note: Parents-to-be....you HAVE to have a swing. It WILL save your life! Maybe not your sanity as notedbelow....but definitely your life!

Ok, back to last night.

TB was in the swing. We had the music and the lights going and she was looking around calmly and enjoying her swing. Being as that we are both musicians (even though I am not a professional), we have a huge problem with the music on pretty much any baby toy. We criticize, cringe, and vow to make baby toys more tolerable....one of these days. (Sigh) Our swing has about an 8-9 song repertoire that randomly shuffles each time the swing is turned on or the music reset button is pushed. It plays about 5 songs for 10 minutes, then shuts off.

So....we are laying there together, talking about our day... listening to this crappy swing music that is keeping our daughter from waking up the rest of the house....

Me: "Honey, remember when Sunshine used this swing?"

Duke: "Yes."

Me: "that one day, you were getting ready for church and made some comment about the awful version of Pachelbel's Canon in D?"

Duke: "Um, vaguely"

Me: "Well, TB has logged many swing miles lately, and I have to say I have not heard the Canon. Are you sure it was the Canon? Cause I have not heard it since. And....in all honesty....I think you were wrong about it being the Canon in the first place. The melody is all wrong."

Duke: "Maybe it was another toy".

Me: "Nope, I'm sure it was the swing"

Duke: "Hmmmm. Well I remember that it doesn't play it that often"

Meanwhile the swing is playing a John Denveresque tune that we have pretty much memorized.

We start singing together. "Da da da da da da....da....da.....da da do da do."

We look at each other and keep singing along.....

Duke: "Why do we know this? And why are we singing it?

Me: "Oh cool.....here comes that crappy bridge part"

Now we are humming with hand motions. In the middle of said crappy bridge, for some bizarre reason it changes keys and goes back to the Denver melody.

Duke: "Rough transition."

Me: "Yeah they didn't plan that one well.....ouch!"

TB swings on and this repetitive soft drum sequence starts. Bum... bum bum bum....bum bum bum.

Me: "Ah Twinkle twinkle little star"

Duke: "Or is it the litte drummer boy?"

Me: "LOL......(singing) up above the world so high"

Duke: "they ruined it with that stupid drum thing"

Me: "TB seems to like it"

Duke: "Yeah....I need to play her the REAL version"

Me: "Drama has a mean recording of the Swingle Singers doing Twinkle"

Duke: "I said the REAL version....you know Mozart??"

Me: "Well yeah! Duh?"

Song changes again to Brahms lullaby.

We hum the first verse......thn start the 2nd.

Me: "Why'd they rewrite the melody on the second verse? It totally blows.

Duke: "I could write better crappy swing music"

Me: "Yeah you should do that....who writes this garbage anyway?"

TB is now asleep in the swing and the music stops.....the Duke gets out of bed and hits the reset button.

Duke: "Oh I can't stand this song"

Me: "Me neither....I think this is the worst one."

Yet for some reason, w continue to hum along.... in parts.

This goes on for three ten minute cycles. I finally get up and say "I STILL have not heard the Canon"

Duke: "I told you they don't play it often"

So, I stand at the swing and turn the music button on and off so it shuffles the music with each switch flip. After several tries, the Duke says...
"Wait! That's it!"

Me: "No it's not. That doesn't sound like it at all.....but it does sound a lot like John Denver"

The Duke starts humming the Base line of the Canon with the swing music. I can hear it.

Me: "oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh.......woooooooooooow. "

Duke: "See BAD arrangement"

Me: "Yeah, you were right....that is bad. Didn't even recognize it.
It's more like Crappy Canon in F"

Duke: "Or B flat! Sounds like some awful wedding ...or possibly John Denver arrangement"

Me: "Yeah, let's turn this crap off....TB is asleep anyway. Which means I should be too!"

Disclaimer:
This post in no way affects or undermines the gratitude we feel towards the friends who let us borrow crappy music swing.....and other various baby items. They are some of the best friends two music dorks could ever have! We love you Mama King! :)

Eat your peas

Affirm yourself each day.

I can... I will... I am...

I can find time to shave this week.

I will get my house clean...one of these years.

I am a loving mom. Maybe not such a great one, but definitely loving.

Fab five

After yesterday's dreary post I find myself in a much more positive mood. So, to cheer things up a bit I've decided in honor of our party of 5 to come up with 5 fabulous reasons to be me today.

1. Tinkerbell let me sleep for a whole 5 1/2 hours last night. I even hit REM for the first time in weeks! It feels wonderful.
2. I had 1 1/2 hours of uninterrupted bliss today when I went and got a haircut.
3. I have officially lost all of my pregnancy weight (33 pounds thank you) from Tinkerbell and only have 7 lingering pounds from Sunshine's.
4. Fall is right around the corner....I can smell it. It is y favorite season, and today is a little taste of the beautiful days ahead.
5. My children. They love me no matter what I look (or smell) like and they make my heart smile.

So, what is fab about being you today?

Godsend

I have not posted in awhile. Truth is...I have no interest in posting. If you want the really ugly dirty truth, I have no interest in a lot of things anymore.

While I was pregnant with Tinkerbell I asked a fellow mom of three what it was like. She said it's like treading water and barely being able to keep your nose above so you can breathe. Well...I feel like I am about to go under. I am exhausted, I am sick, I am sad, I am overwhelmed. You may ask why I even bothered to title this post "Godsend" after hearing all this negative garbage. I am too.

You see, I am a social creature. I love being around people of all types. I am usually the one who calls my friends to initiate a get-together, to see what's up, or to tell them I just saw something on TV that I thought they would be interested in. I always wondered what would happen if I stopped calling people and taking the first step. In the last few weeks I have been too busy and tired to pick up that phone or write that email. After asking several friends to do many things....I just stopped. No one was interested. People have new babies, hectic jobs, PTA, or whatever that just keeps us all so busy. I needed something to get me out of the house and hear my pain, but there was no one to get out of the house with. No one to talk to. No friend that understood what I was going through. Why? I don't know. I have good friends, great friends. Don't I?

Tinkerbell is sucking the life out of me. I love her more than I could ever tell you. She is incredibly beautiful and even talking about this gives me a great deal of pain. I want to stop nursing. But I can't. She won't take a bottle or a paci and her latch leaves my nipples sore and cracked. Feeding her hurts. The thought of it sometimes makes me cry. I don't sleep much at all anymore. I lay awake wondering what to do about the whole thing. I feel completely tied down. My husband and I have not been on a date since May. Thinking about nursing until her first birthday is depressing me beyond belief. I didn't realize how sad and withdrawn I was until last week.

A friend of mine, D, casually asked me after choir how things were going. I started telling her this and that. How frustrated I was. How no one understood what I was going through. People say she's obviously getting enough to eat because she is so chubby. But it doesn't mean she is doing it correctly, or that it is working. D just hugged me and said she knew what I was feeling. And she did. She went through all the same things with her son. When I saw that she completely knew what I was going through I just started bawling...in front of most of my choir friends. That was really hard. I don't cry much in public. I am pretty detached and unemotional for the most part (or so my husband says). Even hugging someone is hard for me. But there in that moment I became completely vulnerable and just cried. I wasn't alone. Everyone else ran off to go get drinks at that point. When they asked D if she was in she said no, that she wanted to stay and make sure I was ok. Her and another friend T stayed with me for another 30 minutes. She gave me some information and contacts and told me exactly what to do. Then she called 3 times over the weekend to just see how I was doing.

She doesn't know that she saved my sanity, though I have tried to thank her over and over. God tugged at her heart strings at just the right moment and she touched me when I so desperately needed someone. It makes me realize that maybe we don't always know what our "friends" are going through. We suffer behind the closed doors of security, or at least I do because it is safe. The Duke is my best friend, but couldn't possibly help me, or know what I was feeling I am doing as best as I can today despite being sick and having two sick babies. But I am not as depressed, knowing that there is help for what I am going through, and validation that my feelings are normal and I am still a good mom. Thank God for that wonderful lesson in humility. I can't be perfect, and no one expects me to. And when I need a friend...I always have one looking down on me. He will always call me back....even if it isn't quite his voice on the other line.

Apparently, I've been tagged

Mrs. Swizzle from Brain Swizzle tagged me for the Fab 4 Meme (whatever that is). I'm new to this so please be gentle.

4 Jobs I’ve Held

Hostess with the mostess at Tippin's Pie Pantry (come on down ya'll)
Personal Trainer at 24 Hour Fitness
Sales Support/Account Manager for the Canadian division of a German Telecom parts manufacturer (I got to visit Canada a lot....it was sweet!!!)
Business Development Representative (my boss was an ass....I hated this job)

4 Films I Could Watch Over and Over

Love Actually
Anchorman
Pride and Prejudice
Dangerous Beauty

4 TV Shows I Watch

Grey's Anatomy
The Office
CSI and CSI Miami
Side Order of Life

4 Places I’ve Lived

Bakersfield, CA
Ft Worth, TX
UK
Flower Mound, TX

4 Favorite Foods

Pasta
Fillet Mignon
Mexican food
Wedding cake (well, really any cake)

4 Websites I Visit Everyday
(I can't possibly really get online for long everyday....be serious)

Weather.com
Babycenter.com
Toysrus.com (started my Christmas shopping early this year)
Various blogs

4 Favorite Colors

Pink
Blue (like my babies' and hubby's eyes)
Green (like Drama's eyes)
Pale Yellow

Places I Would Love to Be Right Now

Tahiti
Italy
Vancouver, B.C.
Lake Tahoe, CA

4 Names I Love But Would/Could Not Use for my Children

Emily
Anna
William
Grace

Hmmmm, I don't have anyone to tag. The meager group of blog friends I know have already been tagged! I need to get out more!