Life List - Bigger, Bolder, Shorter

Ah, insomnia.  I was lying in bed, thinking about my Life List and decided it was a bit, well, weak.  Where was the bold, spicy flavor?  It's too safe, too...achievable.  So, I'm takin' some of the items up a notch.  Wha-bam!  And takin' some out - some that weren't really what I wanted to do, just what I thought I should want to do.

1. Write an international best seller that's published in 17 languages
2. Road trip, in a camper van, around New Zealand
3. Hike The Trail of the Buddha (a grueling, multi-week hike through India, China and Tibet)
4. Plant a sunflower garden
5. Plant a poppy garden
6. Bake bread from scratch
7. Swim with dolphins
8. Attend the bi-annual festival in Marostica, Italy
9. Learn to blow glass in Venice
10. Celebrate the winter solstice in Antarctica and the summer solstice in Barrow, AK
11. Learn to Tango in Argentina
12. See the Moai on Easter Island
13. Visit the pyramids in Egypt
14. Attend stunt car driving school
15. Sing with Sleater-Kinney
16. Learn to scuba dive
17. Care for a big dog (i.e., Great Dane, Irish Wolf Hound) - woof!
18. Visit Grandma Cora's grave
19. Run for an elected position
20. Attend the Olympics
21. Raise a bilingual child
22. Ride in a dog sled
23. Drink real Champagne in the Champagne Valley of France
24. Soak in a hot springs in Iceland
25. Touch a Viking ship in Denmark
26. Kayak the fjords of Norway
27. Hike the Great Wall of China
28. Participate in a traditional tea ceremony in Japan
29. Help baby turtles make it to the ocean
30. Drive the AL-CAN Highway
31. Send a telegram
32. Pet a whale
33. Sit on the shores of Lake Ponchatrain, LA
34. Sleep in a hut over the ocean
35. Wear a bikini in public
36. Picnic at The Getty
37. Travel via Zip Line through a rain forest
38. Live in a foreign country again
39. Own my own business
40. Hike Antelope Slot Canyon in Page, AZ
41. Serve as an Executive Director or CEO
42. See the Terracotta Army
43. Plant a vegetable garden (completed June 2010)
44. Own a Prius (completed Oct. 2008)
45. Give birth (completed 10/10/09)
46. Own a house (completed Dec. 2005)
47. Get my Master's degree (completed Dec. 2003)
48. Get a tattoo (completed May 2000)
49. Attend college in New England (completed May 1999)
50. Travel Europe (completed 1997-1998)
51. Live in Europe (completed 1997-1998)
52. Go nightswimming (completed August 1997)
53. Travel by myself (completed summer 1997)

10 months

Just a little late - we spent last week at the beach, having a grand time.

Now, Aggie has been out of my uterus longer than she was in it.  I keep searching for the meaning in this, but can't find it.

The romance continues.  Hugging is a new favorite activity.  She sometimes stops playing to give her papa and I hugs.  They are the best things in the whole wide world.  Except when she sneaks in a bite.  Or pinches my neck.

She's also started singing - it is so dang cute.  Sometimes she sings along with a tune, sometimes she just sings.

This morning she did the cutest thing (technically it should be saved for the 11 month update, but I don't want to forget it) - she was pushing her train car around and going "grrrr...grrrr."  We interpreted that as making car sounds.  How freaking adorable can you get?

And she had her first tastes of chocolate - cake and cupcake.  And she luuuvvved it.  Takes after her mama.

Still no crawling.  Still no pulling herself up.  I'm taking it as a kindness.  Our friends visited with their 10 month old, who can crawl and pull herself up and walk along furniture - whoa.  Aggie, though, was not impressed.

We did have a couple of rough nights thanks to teething.  One night, she cried for 45 min. straight.  Every time I touched her, she'd just scream louder.  Finally, I put her in her crib and walked away.  Five minutes later, she was sound asleep.  Poor thing.  And poor me too - it was hard seeing her in so much discomfort and not being able to do a damn thing.

Pics of the month (thanks, Hilleri!):

I read a post on Girl's Gone Child and commented:

"Now I want to cry because in your pictures [of her son] I saw my little baby getting bigger and leaving pre-school, though she's only 9 mos.  I keep saying to myself, adamantly, "I'm not ready for this!" (this being her getting older), as though by saying so, often enough, it will stop her growing.

Though, I don't actually want to stop her growing - watching her become a little person has been amazing.

This parenting gig, it's a tough one."

I am sensing a theme to my view on parenting.  And an uncanny ability to state the obvious.

But look - she started out here -

Just kidding!  Here - 

And just a short 9 months later is now here - 

Sigh.

I am not ready for this!

Quotes, Links & a List

Just some random stuff that's been bopping around my head...

• "If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner." - Tallulah Bankhead
• "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." - Morrie Schwartz
• "Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul." - Wayne Dyer
• "Don't ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Fun blogs

• Mila's Daydreams
• Catalog Living

60+ Things - A Life List

Two bloggers I follow, Mighty Girl and Making it Lovely, have Life Lists, aka things they'd like to do during their lifetime.  Being inspired by them, here's my list (in no particular order):

1. Plant a sunflower garden
2. Plant a poppy garden
3. Plant a vegetable garden (completed June 2010)
4. Bake bread from scratch
5. Attend college in New England (completed May 1999)
6. Swim with dolphins
7. Run a 5k (scheduled for Oct. 2010)
8. Run a 10k (scheduled for Oct. 2011)
9. Back packing adventure, multi-day
10. Publish an article
11. Travel Europe (completed 1997-1998)
12. Live in Europe (completed 1997-1998)
13. Travel by myself (completed summer 1997)
14. Attend the bi-annual festival in Marostica, Italy
15. Take Aggie to Paris
16. Take Jason & Aggie to Venice
17. Visit Antartica
18. Visit Lhasa, Tibet
19. See the Taj Mahal and drink Chai in India
20. Get a tattoo (completed May 2000)
21. Visit Bali
22. Learn to Tango in Argentina
23. Visit the Galapagos Islands
24. See the Moai on Easter Island
25. Visit the pyramids in Egypt
26. Attend stunt car driving school
27. Sing with Sleater-Kinney
28. Own a house (completed Dec. 2005)
29. Learn to scuba dive
30. Care for a big dog (i.e., Great Dane, Irish Wolf Hound) - woof!
31. Visit Grandma Cora's grave
32. Run for an elected position
33. Attend the Olympics
34. Give birth (completed 10/10/09)
35. Raise a child (started 10/10/09)
36. Ride in a dog sled
37. Drink real Champagne in the Champagne Valley of France
38. Take a dip in a hot springs in Iceland
39. Go nightswimming (completed August 1997)
40. See a Viking ship in Denmark
41. Kayak the fjords of Norway
42. Walk the Great Wall of China
43. Participate in a traditional tea ceremony in Japan
44. Help baby turtles make it to the ocean
45. Drive the AL-CAN Highway
46. Send a telegram
47. Touch a whale
48. Get my Master's degree (completed Dec. 2003)
49. Visit Taos, New Mexico
50. Visit the Isle of Women, Mexico
51. Visit Lake Ponchatrain, LA
52. Visit the Statute of Liberty and the Guggenheim in NYC
53. Sleep in a hut over the ocean
54. Wear a bikini in public
55. Get another tattoo
56. Own a Prius (completed Oct. 2008)
57. See a manatee close up
58. Visit The Getty
59. Travel via Zip Line through a rain forest
60. Visit Andorra
61. Live in a foreign country again
62. Own my own business
63. Visit Antelope Slot Canyon in Page, AZ
64. Serve as an Executive Director or CEO
65. See the Terracotta Army