One year!

I can’t believe my baby is already one. I wish I’d found more time over the past 12 months to blog more, or at least journal his progress.

He’s hardly a baby anymore. Every day he looks more like a “kid” and he literally does something new each week.

This week, he is crawling on all fours and pulling up on furniture with purpose. Last week, he was able to climb over the couch cushions we use as a barricade in our living room to keep him out of the kitchen (open floor-plan problems!). The week before, he army crawled. Before that, he went from tummy to sitting for the first time. So to recap, in less than a month, he went from being helpless on his stomach to practically getting up on the couch with us. Whew!

One of the decorations I put up for his baseball-themed party was a series of photos mounted on pieces of construction paper that said “March: 1st inning,” “April: 2nd inning,” and so on. I noticed I had very little selection for January. Hmm. I seem to recall him starting to scoot around pretty good about two weeks in. That month, he got too mobile for pictures and the ones I did get were blurry!

I’m proud also to say we are still breastfeeding. My initial goal was 6 months, then a year, and now I’m looking at 18 months. Ideally, he will wean himself. I don’t want to take a source of nutrition and comfort away if he’s not ready, but it will be a bit nice to have my body back to myself.

Nursing is something I feel very passionately about now. I am so encouraged to see my friends having success as well. I feel like it’s so important for my generation to break the formula pattern and go back to what’s best for babies, moms and the environment.

Given what we know now – and what scientists are continually discovering – about breastmilk’s nutritional properties, the benefits for moms, the incredible technology (electric pumps!), the new laws protecting a baby’s right to eat wherever/mom’s right to pump and the vast resource of the Internet available on our smartphones, I am hopeful nursing will become the norm. I hope American society “grows up” and quits looking at it like it’s a perverse thing. Pretty sure it’s what God and nature intended!

Anyway, off my soapbox… Previous posts were largely about sleep. Josiah sleeps better, though we abandoned crib training in November. It felt, and still does, I guess, like giving up. I never thought I’d be a co-sleeping advocate. But we were at our fatigue limits and pretty much had no choice. I’m a little embarrassed to admit I really like it. There’s something about having the two most important people in my immediate life within arm’s reach that’s incredibly comforting. There’s no wondering if he’s breathing – I can feel it, or at least hear it. There’s no trudging down the hall and picking up a distraught baby – I just roll over. I’ve never come close to squishing him. I feel like he’s safe with us.

And after about a year, he is finally on a good schedule. Used to be, he’d be awake for an hour, then act sleepy and want to nap for an hour. Up and down, all day, all night. Sometimes he’d stretch it to two. This lasted for approximately nine months. I started distracting him during the day and tried to lengthen the amount of time he stayed awake in hopes he’d condense his night sleep. It’s still a work in progress, but much better. Today, if he’s not teething too bad, he can be awake for 3-4 hours at a time. He also sleeps for 3-4 hours at a time at night.

We’ve gotten on the following schedule:

Between 8:30-9:30…Wake up.
Change diaper, then I eat breakfast.
Baby eats oatmeal with breastmilk then plays on the living room floor while I alternate playing with him and watching glancing at the TV/sorting laundry/washing dishes/starting dinner in slow cooker, etc.
I also read him books in the big comfy reading chair in his room.
11 a.m.: Morning nap (1 hour) for both of us, usually.
Noon: Lunchtime for both of us. Him puree, me whatever is filling and relatively fast. He gets bites of mine if it’s acceptable for babies.
More playtime. More chores. Sometimes we have playdates.
2 p.m.: Stroller time! If the weather’s nice. If not, it’s more playtime and maybe I’ll try to hop in the shower and get that out of the way well before work.
Used to be he liked to nap about this time, but for the past couple weeks he has been cutting out the afternoon nap. He still wants it on the bad teething days, though.
3:40 p.m.: Husband gets home. I try not to dump the baby on him, but usually there is at least one critical task I still have left to do before work (shower, dress, put on makeup/do hair, wash bottles and pump parts, pack a dinner, etc.).
4:20 p.m.: Leave for work
12:50ish a.m.: Get home. If all is quiet when I open the door, that’s an excellent sign.
2 a.m.: Go to bed. Josiah has been waking at 3 a.m. like clockwork the past few weeks, so he’ll nurse then, and again a couple more times before we do it all again.

If anyone has read this far, I’ll be stunned. This post has kind of devolved into a journal entry, so I apologize. But if you are enthralled by my minutia, buckle your seat belt…

I’ve been really spoiled lately. As previously mentioned, Josiah has been sleeping solidly until 3 a.m. That gives me a precious two hours after work to relax. My husband doesn’t have this luxury, but he also didn’t carry the child around for nine-plus months then feed him with his body on demand for the past year, so… I deserve it a bit, I think.

Anyway, I feel so blessed to have this life. I have a supportive, caring, loving, responsible partner who brings new ideas to the table and pushes me in the right direction with his parenting instincts. So many times, I’ve been reticent to try something new with Josiah (solids, anyone?) and come to find out I don’t know it all. He keeps me humble.

I’m also very glad Josiah has never been sick other than a stopped-up nose earlier this year that cleared up on its own and typical post-vaccination low-grade fevers.

Well, a woman cannot live on red velvet birthday cake and ice cream alone. Time for this mama to get yet another snack. 🙂

Sleep update: Getting a little better

Quick update, since it’s late and I should be sleeping since baby is sleeping…

He is doing better. Usually he manages one longer stretch per night of 2-3 hours. He is slightly easier to calm back to sleep without picking him up, and he fights it less when I pick him up and just rock without nursing.

There was a brief teething period where he was waking up every hour again. No fun.

But typically, when I get home, he’s asleep, which is a vast improvement. With my newfound freedom, I’m able to do my Bible study/devotional with minimal apprehension about the baby monitor going off, which is awesome. I can also usually eat a snack, wash my face, brush my teeth, put on pajamas and do some light reading or TV watching and a couple chores before he wakes up.

I then go up and lay my hands on him, soothe him, and if he doesn’t settle, I pick him up and rock him and turn on the seahorse. The seahorse shuts off after about five minutes. He’s generally back asleep well before then. I set him in the crib and go sit in a chair in the corner and play on my phone or something for a few minutes to make sure he’s really asleep, then I leave and can resume what I was doing before. Or I go to sleep.

Before all this sleep drama, my husband and the baby were always awake when I got home. (Not husband’s fault, I should note. No one’s fault.) Now, baby has a more distinct bedtime and routine that also starts earlier. That’s progress.

We have kind of plateaued at the 2-3 hour stretch though. I’d love for him to sleep a five-hour stretch (official definition of Sleeping Through The Night). Not sure what we need to change to accomplish that, if anything. I’ve tried a quick diaper change around 4:00, but he still woke an hour later.

Nowadays, I put him back in his crib each time he awakens during the night. But I have to draw the line somewhere, and that somewhere is 4 a.m. At that point, it’s to the big bed with Mama, cuz Mama needs some rest…

Fingers crossed for continued progress. 🙂

Doctor’s orders: Cry it out

It’s 1:17 a.m.

As I rock in the nursery, baby in my lap, his downy head and soft, ivory cheeks reflect a bluish-white from the night-light. I fantasize about reading a fashion magazine, eating a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream or giggling my way through DVR’d new episodes of “Glee,” “Modern Family” and “The Office” with a glass of wine.

Then his tiny hand, resting on my chest with fingers softly outstretched, twitches and I think about how my days (or nights) in this chair are numbered. I push thoughts of me-time away and glance at two large plastic storage containers of outgrown baby clothes and want to cry.

***

Cry it out. The No-Cry Sleep Solution. The Weissbluth method. Aware Parenting’s “crying-in-arms” strategy. There are so many different ways to train your baby to go to sleep.

The hardest part? Finding out there is no “right” or “best” one.

It seems that no matter how different, most operate under similar principles: self-soothing, sleeping without sucking, sleeping alone.

I’m really opposed to CIO. I can’t fully explain why, and I don’t want to demonize people who do it or paint myself as some sort of saint for not doing it. The bottom line, for sleep training or otherwise, is that if you are motivated by love, not selfishness or indifference, you are doing the right thing for your family.

Doctor’s orders: Cry it out

My husband and I took Josiah, at just shy of 7 months, to the pediatrician to get help for his reflux. It’s gotten better as he has gotten older, but I had come to think it was contributing to his night-waking. He rarely sleeps for more than a sleep cycle at a time (50 minutes).

The doctor prescribed an antacid but said the real problem was that we were putting him to bed already asleep and told us our only option was to let him cry it out. He basically said it was our one and only option and even if he cried for two-plus hours to just let him go, don’t touch him or go see him, nothing. My husband asked what if he cried so hard he made a poopy diaper, and the doc reluctantly said we could change it. Geez, what a softy.

I told him flat out, nope, not gonna do cry-it-out, and the lecture ensued. I looked at the floor, lips pursed, occasionally shaking my head as I held my sweet angel. I never want him to feel abandoned when he can’t understand what’s happening. Side note: I would totally use the doc’s advice on a 2- or 3-year-old. Just not a baby.

Anyway, the experience pretty much ruined my day. I asked my husband if we could please try a gentler method first, and if that doesn’t work, maybe implement CIO in stages. He agreed.

He also asked me to call my mom and ask what she used to do with me. Full of dread, I called my mom and we talked for a while, and thankfully her reaction to the doc’s advice mirrored mine: NO! I dreaded the call because I could see her saying, “Oh yeah, we let you cry for hours! And look, you turned out fine!” Very glad that didn’t happen.

So it’s been a couple of weeks. So far we’ve been doing Elizabeth Pantley’s “No-Cry Sleep Solution.” I think it’s helping build some good habits, like falling asleep without nursing and setting him down drowsy and shushing him back to sleep. No results yet though. And putting an awake baby to bed, even 95 percent sleepy, is really difficult, by the way.

A few nights ago I stumbled across a method that’s part of something called “Aware Parenting”. Basically, the baby cries it out while you are holding him, with the idea that 1) it’s the perceived abandonment of CIO that’s harmful, not the crying itself, and 2) crying is necessary for relieving pent-up stress from being shushed or given the breast/pacifier during the day to stop crying (i.e. crying achieves homeostasis).

The science of crying-in-arms is really intriguing to me, but I’m not sold on the emotional/psychological aspect as far as prolonged crying. I tried this out the night I read about it, and it was agony having him cry in my arms. I re-read the website the next day and tried again, and as he snuffled and as his eyelids got heavier and heavier, I really thought I was going to have success, until he launched into a fresh wave of tears. (I think teething is sabotaging any efforts right now.)

Some say American culture puts too much emphasis on sleeping through the night and crib sleeping. As far as STTN, I look at it this way: I’m an adult. I wake late at night, hungry, thirsty, hot, cold. Why should we expect more out of babies?? Waking once or twice a night, no big deal. Every hour, that’s different.

***

I’m not some kind of martyr. I know me-time is important, not indulgent. But no matter how many nights I rock only to have him awaken the moment I set him down, then I give up and take him into the guest bed with me so I can rest, I know babyhood won’t last forever.

“It won’t last forever” is the sad other side of the coin to “This too shall pass.”

Well, I’m hungry (surprised?). I’m too superstitious to disclose how long Josiah has been asleep (long enough to write this post 🙂 Update: Nearly two hours had passed when he woke up), but I am going to take it as a good sign. There’s a bowl of ice cream with my name on it.

Josiah, 5 days old

Six months later…

Since I wrote the post about Josiah’s birth, I can’t tell you how many other posts I’ve partially formed in my head, always meaning to sit down and type them out. Funny thing though, he kind of keeps me busy!

Here’s a list of titles for future topics that have been rattling around in my mind. Hopefully this will motivate me to come back and write more.

Side note: This used to be a sports/media industry opinion blog. I’m afraid it’s evolving into momness, but if there’s something sporty or newsy that I’m passionate about, I might slip in a post or two. Ideally.

Coming soon:

• Doctor’s orders: Cry it out
• My love/hate relationship with the rocking chair
• Breastfeeding is totally awesome
• Products new parents never knew they needed
• Going “green”
• Teething: Kill me now
• Co-sleeping: A private shame
• Photo ops missed and ensuing regret
• Little giant: My “off the charts” baby
• Plus general journaling of his milestones and cute moments

Even while compiling this list I had to rush down the hall to the crib to shush him back to sleep. My stomach rumbles. We missed our Friday grocery run so our cupboards are scarce and we have no snacky-type things that don’t contain oats, and I do not need oats in my system right now (long story).

It’s 2:10 a.m. I’m amazed I’ve been able to sneak away to even type this much. As he starts sleeping better (fingers crossed), it should get easier.

Right?

In the white room, with no curtains

I’ve been pretty busy lately. Between craziness at work and plotting home renovations, blogging has hit the backburner, I’m afraid.

The title of this post refers to our north-facing upstairs bedroom, which is about halfway finished. When we bought our home a year ago, fixing up that room was No. 1 on my to-do list. So, of course, we’ve waited until about now to do anything with it.

The formerly little girl’s room had purple walls (and ceiling), two shades of pink polka dots and two shades of green polka dots on the walls. Oh, and the previous owners also painted the window sill and all the trim in the room LIME GREEN. Like, sickly pale, about-to-vomit green.

The execution of the polka-dot scheme was actually really well done, but the colors weren’t our taste.

So, a few weeks ago I dived in and got to priming. I used almost three cans of Kilz latex primer to cover the purple and the dots. I especially curse the former owners for painting the ceiling. If you’ve never tried to cover up a crazy paint scheme that’s above your head, I don’t recommend trying. I thought my arms were going to fall off.

That’s where we’re at now. The walls and ceiling are all white, and a line of blue painter’s tape divides the white painted lower third of the room. The upper two-thirds are still primer with the ghosts of a few polka dots here and there. I’d upload a picture, but really. It’s a stark white room with plastic on the floor, empty except for a stepladder, a baby gate left by the previous owners that keeps the cat out, and a roller, tray and a can of Valspar “Du Jour” in satin finish. (I was a bit disappointed that the white paint and white primer looked basically the same.)

The next step is picking out a color. I’m really torn. I want a color that will warm up the room, since it doesn’t get any direct sunlight.I get to pick this color, and my husband will pick out the one for the other room. He really likes blue, which I think would be perfect for the south-facing room.

After that will be cutting the crown molding and installing it. It’s already bought, so hopefully we get can get it up there soon. Same for the chair rail. Then we’ll pick out a window treatment and probably move my computer, desk and bookcases back in there. Then we’ll cram all the stuff from the other room when we start painting again!

So, yeah, I’ve been all about the projects lately. Also, I read and hear about the Big 12/Pac-10/Big Ten mess at work ad nauseum and can’t muster the energy to blog about it. But for the record, I think it sucks.

Baby, it’s below zero outside

Well, the wind chill is anyway. It’s all anyone, including myself, can talk about. My Facebook feed is totally clogged with statuses by cold-lovers and heat-seekers alike.

Through a quick Google search, I have learned that in most parts of the world, it can never be too cold to snow. However, looking out my window, that seems doubtful. The radar says it’s snowing, but I see nothing. All I see is icy ruts in the street, a pristine white blanket on my back yard, and I hear my wind chimes going crazy.

Speaking of my back yard, no, the drift that formed against our back door has not yet melted enough for us to get out there. (Well, I probably could squeeze through there, but not Jonathan.) The drift’s top has melted and frozen and refrozen since it blessed us with its visit two weeks ago.

So the forecast for my area is this:

Today Chance Flurries Hi 15 °F

Tonight Mostly Cloudy Lo 3 °F

Friday ColdHi 12 °F

Friday Night Mostly Clear Lo 0 °F

Saturday SunnyHi 17 °F

Saturday Night ClearLo 5 °F

Sunday SunnyHi 36 °F

Sunday Night Mostly Clear Lo 22 °F

Monday SunnyHi 39 °F

Here’s a link to the NOAA site.

While I’m dishing out links, here is a great story appearing in today’s World. A good read for people who scoff at cold but deep down, it scares them (like me).

To me, cold is cold. Not sure if it’s because I grew up in Texas or what, but there’s a difference between 97° and 103° to me. But 12° and 17°? Same thing.

Thankfully, I have all the hair-crushing hats, durable gloves, thick socks, cozy scarves, robust boots and sturdy coats I need to keep me warm. But apparently there’s a lot of kids in my city who don’t have such necessities, which is one reason why school is closed for the next two days. Many of them must wait at the bus stop or walk to school.

I’m glad school officials are taking the cold weather seriously. It makes me want to donate some of my lesser-used stuff to people who really need it. No one, especially a child, should be out in subfreezing wind chills or temperatures without proper bundling.

Anyway, enough about the cold. Here are some odds and ends that have been floating around in my head because they never formed into full blogs:

*TCU broke my heart. The Horned Frogs looked out of place at the Fiesta Bowl, and I feel really bad for the guy who dropped that sure touchdown. I was glad for Boise when they beat OU in their instant classic, but now I’m tired of them.

*Where do I start on the Cotton Bowl? I’ll save that for another blog.

*I want Texas to win the BCS national championship tonight. By many accounts, Heisman winner Mark Ingram seems like a standup guy, but I’m not rooting for Nick Saban. Plus, conference pride, right? Go Big 12… do something, anything, good this year.

*Gundy suspends Perrish Cox for the Cotton Bowl for breaking curfew. Ford suspends Marshall Moses for Coppin State for marijuana arrest. These situations have generated a lot of chatter, and outsiders (including myself) who spout off opinions about punishments don’t usually know anything about what’s going on behind closed doors. Cox’s too harsh, Moses’ a slap on the wrist? Perhaps. Gundy says even the stars must play by the rules, and Ford says trust me, this kid has run many miles of laps.

*Darren Oliver. WHY. The third time will not be the charm for this guy. His career ERA as a Ranger is 5.28. On paper, he appears to have found success in the bullpen (3.10 ERA as an Angel), but that seems like an anomaly to me. The real question is, can he pitch in his own stadium? Surprisingly, the best baseball Web site ever, baseball-reference.com, didn’t have the answer, but I think we all know it’s no.

*”The Hangover” is the first movie I have seen that truly lived up to the hype. EVERYONE was raving about how it was the funniest movie ever, and it really was quite good in all its gross-out hilarity. I think I read somewhere they are making a sequel about what happened that night. (The characters spend most of the first movie putting together the booze-soaked puzzles pieces of the previous night to help find their missing friend.)

Well, I’m just getting started here, but hunger has set in. I’ve got some of Giada’s lentil soup with beef in the fridge. We’ll be eating it for a week, as it made enough for an army. (Less stock, more lentils next time.)

Stay warm, y’all!

White Christmas

This is my first white Christmas. I never need to see another one — I think I’m set for life.

All the interstates in Oklahoma City had shut down by this evening, and Tulsa wasn’t far behind. Fortunately, my route was open.

We had early deadlines tonight and were out by 8:30. After a couple of very helpful co-workers shoveled a path for me, I was able to get my car out and onto the road.

I rolled home, encountering whiteout conditions on the highway and saw as many cars turned the wrong way on the highway as the right way.

It was probably not the best choice, but by God I was not going to get stranded downtown on Christmas Eve!

I think I’m done tempting fate. My little car has always gotten me through wintry weather, but I think I’ll take the hotel option if this ever happens again.

Forget the presents under the tree. The best gift is that I got home in one piece. It’s a miracle.

I’m heartbroken for my stranded co-workers with kids. I would be unbelievably upset if I couldn’t be at home to play Santa on Christmas. But it could be a blessing in disguise. Better to be safe than out on these treacherous roads.

Here are some pics I took of the truly frightful weather after I got home. Twenty-one degrees, wind chill of 7, northwest winds gusting to 31 mph.

I'm pretty sure our house is there somewhere

No flash this time. Much better.

Wreath

Front door

My patio chairs totally trump the ones on CNN's homepage.

I tried to open the back door to take more pictures of the back yard, but snow was piled up against it and I couldn’t get out.

Hope everyone is safe out there tonight and tomorrow. Have a blessed Christmas.

Family fun

After a long Christmas nap, I find myself awake at a weird hour (5 a.m.). What better way to pass the time than reminisce about the previous day.

Saturday was spent with my dad’s side of the family. All my aunts and uncles were there, which is definitely a rarity. The photo op alone left us all in stitches. I bet the pictures of them crying with laughter are just as good as the one where finally they were all still and smiling.

The day was filled with “y’all”s and “bless your heart”s and talk of the Cowboys and Longhorns and plates of fabulous food, just the way I like it.

Don’t get me wrong – I adore my husband’s polite Midwestern family (their Thanksgiving is always so warm, friendly and relaxed), but there’s just something about a Southern gathering.

All told, it was a lot of fun. Belly laughs, bear hugs, picture-taking, story-telling and second and third helpings of food really made it great. And since four people there had December birthdays, my mom brought red velvet cake and numbered candles, which supposedly added up to their combined age. (At only 226, it appeared the math had been fudged by a decade or two.)

My aunt had the house decorated to the hilt for Christmas. It really was festive and beautiful, and we all appreciated the roaring fire.

Basically, we just spent the day hanging out and catching up, talking about our jobs and speculating on who would win the Heisman that night. Some of us went to go see the lights display at Rhema Bible College, and it did not disappoint. I’ll post pics later.

The traffic was horrendous, but we got a great parking place and seemed to beat the real rush and got some cute pictures. My cousin wore her burnt orange jacket and I feared for her life, but it was all good. The weather was just OK; I could have done without the mist.

Hopefully we can get back to gathering every year, like we did when my sister and I were growing up. Tulsa might not be the most convenient place for all the Texans, but it sure works for me. 🙂

Rhema Bible College Christmas lights display

Glowing trees!

Tunnel of lights

Pond and fountain

Horses!

So many lights

My sister and I

Soccer moms talk trash, too

I wish I’d had the energy to write this blog yesterday, but I was worn out from a jam-packed Thanksgiving weekend and Black Fridaying.

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jonathan’s family this year and got to know some people better. I watched more garage ping pong than football, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Anyway, I experienced my first taste of Black Friday madness yesterday. I was up anyway, and though I was tired enough to sleep, the temptation of getting some good deals on Christmas presents was enough to keep me awake.

I prepared pretty well, I think. I tried to bring a buddy, but Jonathan chickened out and went to bed. Probably for the best, considering I was shopping for him too.

I dressed for comfort in fleece pants, tennis shoes, a T-shirt and an orange OSU hoodie. I ate before I left, and I considered bringing bottled water but decided it was unnecessary (wrong decision).

The best decision I made was to bring my own shopping bag  (a strong, large mesh-type green number with pink Hawaiian flowers I used to use as a beach bag) in case they ran out.

My first stop was Kohl’s, which opened at 4 a.m. I arrived at 4:05, just as the floodgates had opened. I parked far away and at the wrong door, but I didn’t care.

I strategically made a beeline for menswear and electronics, knowing those things would go quickly. I nabbed the last curling iron* with glee and stuffed it into my bag.  Next, I perused the socks*, repeatedly having to remind myself that this wasn’t an ordinary day at the store and that I needed to hurry.

Next up was supposed to be women’s accessories, but that area was a madhouse so I bypassed it altogether. I moved on to the automotive* department but came up empty.

I made a very slight detour to the bedding department for some luxury sheets that were seriously marked down. I had told myself “presents before personal,” but… I was right there. I had to take a moment to rearrange my already overflowing shopping bag and unsurprisingly found a quiet spot near the throw pillows, which I would imagine are not Christmas doorbuster items.

I grabbed the last coaster* and one of the last chainsaws* and made a U-turn to my final stop in the produce* department, the scene of my showdown.

I was standing at a display of a variety of toothbrushes*, trying to figure out if the one I wanted was there.

Then I heard a woman ask, “So, you think you’re going to win, don’t you?”

What?

I eyed the benign-looking woman curiously as I wondered if by “win” she meant we were going to have to do battle for the last toothbrush*.

She smiled and explained, “I’m wearing red under here (her coat).” I laughed and said I really didn’t know who would win, trying to sound as unconfident as I could to build some rapport in case we were actually going to have to throw down.

Oh yeah. I had forgotten – temporarily, of course – about Bedlam.

Turns out she apparently wasn’t looking for the same thing as me, or like me, she didn’t see the present she was looking for. Who knows.

I milled around for a little while longer, seeing if anything struck me as a good present. Finally, I gave up and joined the back of the line, which was all the way back to the towel department. I kid you not: It wrapped around menswear, shoes, electronics, kitchen and bath.

I’m not sure how long I stood in line. I estimate it was about 45 minutes. I realized I was getting the stink-eye from more than one crimson-clad woman. Isn’t 4:45 a.m. a little too early to be talking trash (verbally or with dirty looks)?

It wasn’t long before I became so overheated I shed my orange, wrapping my sweater around my waist. The long line snaked through displays in the middle of the aisle, so it was hard to see people from above the waist, which could have helped my cause.

It’s just funny though how I put zero thought into wearing orange the day before Bedlam. I guess Black Friday had gotten everyone’s competitive juices flowing a little early, and with adrenaline pumping through your veins, I guess it’s hard to resist a little smack talk.

*The names of the presents and departments have been changed to protect the recipients of said presents. 🙂

Prediction

As for a prediction, I’ll go with OSU 38, OU 31.

I think too much has been made of “The Streak.” OU may have the nation’s longest home winning streak at 29, and it may be perfect at home this year, but I think that’s been overblown.

As for the five teams OU has beaten in Norman this year? They have a combined record of 21-36. That’s a .368 record. Of course the Sooners won.

Also, according to the Tulsa World’s live chat, OU has lost another offensive lineman. That could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. And if Landry Jones goes down, OU’s only option is to use a walk-on QB (or burn a redshirt).

The crowd is not to be underestimated. I expect it to be 1,000 times more vicious than usual, as OU has nothing to lose and OSU has nothing to gain. I’m glad I’m going to be enjoying the game from the safety of my couch.

Looking back at the U2 concert: With pics!

OK. Time to play serious blog catch-up as I relive U2 in concert via the live webcast on YouTube…

First things first

My husband and I went down to Arlington to see U2 at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium last week with my mom and sister. In short, it was amazing.

We went because my mom is a longtime U2 fan, and I don’t think she would have wanted to go by herself. Our seats were nosebleed, and once we found them, the song “Vertigo” came to mind.

The crazy-looking stage was sweet. Moving bridges, the honeycomb videoboard, lighting up…

Muse

The opening act in Arlington was Muse, who incredibly I’d never heard of. They were a fitting opener, kind of like a Radiohead/Queen hybrid. Let’s just say my iPod is stocked with some good Muse now.

Fandom

I have said before that I’m not a big fan, but it’s not because I don’t like U2. “Beautiful Day” is a sentimental favorite though. (It’s what we walked back down the aisle to at our wedding.)

It’s just that I had never felt the need to dig deeper beyond the tried-and-true radio hits before. But the more I listen to and watch this live webcast, the more I appreciate the band. iTunes is open and on the U2 page, ready for me to comb when I finish this blog.

Man, the big expandable video board is amazing. Search YouTube for “The Unforgettable Fire,” not just for the song but for that impressive structure.

What’s he saying down there?

Also, the more I listen, the more I realize I should not have been as forgiving for Cowboys Stadium’s awful acoustics. I think that might have played a big part in feeling more “into” the performance, if I’d been able to better understand the songs I didn’t recognize right away.

The acoustics were so bad up on the fourth level it was a little hard to decipher what Bono was saying about a Burmese political prisoner and African poverty and hunger. Watching the webcast, I’m getting a lot better feel for what’s going on.

It’s kind of like the difference between going to a game and watching it on TV at home, I suppose. It’s great being there in person, but you can’t beat TV angles and closeups. And crystal clear sound. Even makes me feel a tad guilty for not comprehending the band’s messages the first time.

Pictures

It also helps when you’re not distracted taking pictures. I took over 300, I think. Don’t worry, I only used the flash on a couple of them, I’m not a total jerk. 🙂

Here’s some of the best ones. As always, click to zoom. You won’t be disappointed.

Closeup of stage early in show

Awesome videoboard, in its expanded state

"Sunday Bloody Sunday"

Interacting with fans

Bono is on the speakers.

Cell phones ablaze during "Moment of Surrender". Definitely worth a click and zoom.

A nice group shot, sans Larry

This one cracks me up!

Pretty colors!

Saving one of the best pics for last.

Overall, we all had an awesome time. Definitely the best concert I’ve ever been to (Sorry, “new” Journey).

I always like discovering songs and bands, and it made for a great memory. U2 could have played for three more hours and no one would have left their seat, I’m sure of it.

They are playing “Where the Streets Have No Name” … It’s simply epic.

P.S. U2’s YouTube channel has over 39 million hits. When I started writing this blog, they were at 17 million. That’s 20 million-plus in a few hours. Wow.