OK, I got the Next Food Network Star guess right (Guy), but I was totally wrong about my pics for American Idol, Top Chef, and American Inventor.

As for the AI finale...
...still convinced Chris is way better than the rest
...was Toni Braxton stoned?
...Meatloaf has aged surprisingly well
...only an ubur geek could make Clay Aiken look sexy
...Prince? Prince! Prince!
...Soul Patrol!

As for the Top Chef finale...
...well, what can you say about food you didn't get to taste? Actually, I'm glad I didn't get to taste it - I'll definitely pass on the squid ink stuff, gross!

What am I going to watch now? I guess I'll have to give in and watch So You Think You Can Dance?

Little L

Little L,
originally uploaded by tostina.

This is Lauren looking at herself in the mirror. I think she likes what she sees, though I'm sure hoping for more hair.

I posted more pics at my EasyShare Gallery.

Messy Boy

Messy Boy,
originally uploaded by tostina.

Sis was over with the kids yesterday and gave Tyler one of my gooey brownies. Thank God SHE was cleaning him up, not me!

I like the contrast of the chocolate against his blue eyes.

I ordered this video baby monitor from Target. It is so cool. I'm not sure why it is so fun to be in another room watching your baby on a little monitor, but it is strangely entertaining.

I'm wondering if I can hook it up to my computer and make it into a webcam. Then I can not only spy on my kid, I can spy on any babysitters she might have.

Speaking of babysitters, as we were walking through the neighborhood I was on the lookout for girls with potential Lauren-babysitting-worthiness. Teenage girls in groups annoy the crap out of me. Oy, all the screaming.

Dave got voted off Top Chef today. He had really good food, but instead he's going to be famous for saying "I'm not your Bitch, Bitch" to Tiffani. And I firmly believe that they kept Tiffani (the "bitch) because they think it makes for good tv, because obviously her food was the worst last night.

I hate that the networks take some really compelling shows ideas and let the producers manipulate the contestants, the editing, and the results. That's why the nasty ass people make it through so far, because some jackass producer in tvland thinks it makes "better tv".

Don't they realize - from the success of American Idol - that not every viewer needs the drama and that we like to see nice people win? AI has more viewers than most of the manipulated shows put together. I mean, do they really need to show adult professional chefs acting like jealous school girls? NO. They need to let them cook. Do they really need to show models stealing each other's nutrition bars and threatening to beat each other up? NO. They need to let them don a mermaid outfit and hang upside down over a Thai canal and see who takes the best picture.

That's why I love DVR. I can fast forward through the crap.

Lately, Little L is not often smiling like this. Lately she is usually screaming bloody murder. I mean SCREAMING. Inconsolably. She has reflux and her meds don't seem to help enough. It is heartbreaking to not be able to make her feel better.

For some reason, probably because as a preemie it took awhile before she even made ANY noise, I thought she was going to be an angelic baby with little or no crying. Holy crap was I deluded.

WAAAAHHHHHH (that's me).

Luckily, she does have times during the day where she's awake, alert and NOT crying - and I am convinced that she is going to start laughing any day now. That will make my day, or rather my life!

Mother's Day. A difficult holiday. Exciting to be a new Mom. Still heartbreaking to be reminded that my Mom isn't here to share in this joy with me. And to add to it, my Father passed away on Mother's Day 15 years ago.

I tried not to think of the situation with the parents and enjoyed being spoiled with heart shape pancakes, relief from baby duties, and a gorgeous "mother/daughter" necklace.

It was funny to hear hubby say to Lauren - as she began crying - "now what did we talk about? We said we'd be good for Mommy today." How cute is that?

Over the last week, I managed to break two toilets in our house. The little string thing that pulls up the plug broke. My husband used this tone that insinuated that even though I've been flushing toilets for over 30 years, all of a sudden I've become a maniacle flusher.

Happy Birthday Jenny! Think Pink.

Jenny sent me a link to a site called tinyeyes - it shows you what your baby sees at different ages and distances.

This simulates how Lauren might see me from 6 inches away (I am always in her face). I put in an age of 4 weeks old, which is neither her real age (13 weeks) or her adjusted age (2 weeks) so I'm not sure how accurate it is, I just know I'm a fuzzy blob to her. Which is fitting, because I feel like a fuzzy blob most of the time anyway.

I ordered some skin care stuff from philosophy last week and got free samples of the Shear Splendor hair stuff. It included this hair marinade. It's an oil you rub into your hair, let it sit as long as possible, then wash out. It smells yummy and definitely made my hair softer. I love it! Did I mention it smells yummy? Definitely better than my more common smell as of late - Eau de Bebe Puke.

Oh, I uploaded more pix from week 11 and 12. http://www.kodakgallery.com/tina

Q: what makes you smell funny, breaks your heart, but feeds your human spirit?

A: an adorable little baby who pukes all the time, cries for no apparent reason, then smiles at you.

Lauren finally totally passed her ear exam this week! She won't be able to say, "what Mom? I didn't hear you tell me I couldn't go to the Metallica concert with Billy."

She is going for an Upper GI test in 2 weeks to make sure everything is normal with the digestive track system.

Her Physical Therapist came today so she got her weekly baby massage. Because she was so tiny at birth, she qualified for the New York State Early Intervention program that offers rehabilitation services for free. It's a great program. Too bad it doesn't cover the Mommies too, because I, on the other hand, had to shell out $75 to get my neck and shoulders massaged, since they are killing me from looking down at her.