I’ve learned from observation and encounters with various people throughout my life that those fizzy sugary drinks we all love have very different names around the country. In the South, everything is “Coke.” It doesn’t matter what the actual drink is; it’s all Coke. Our Midwestern neighbors call it “Pop,” and those New Englanders up there prefer “Soda.” But did you know someone actually researched this? This map is several years old, and the number of respondents seems small to accurately reflect the population, but it’s funny how it still confirms casual observation!

On a totally unrelated note, look at how big some of those counties are in some of the western states! They’re huge!

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Mama went out partying last night! I didn’t get home until after midnight! What kind of trouble did I get myself into, you ask? Some wild stuff, I tell ya—the traditional Irish band Legacy out of Jackson, MS was performing for the Little Rock Folk Club last night, followed by a huge session and 50th birthday party for Judi Warner, one of our Arkansas Celtic Music Society fiddlers. I think almost the entire ACMS made it to hear the concert and celebrate with Judi. She had it catered, so we had some good food and birthday cake to keep us going. The session was probably made up of about 20 musicians I’d guess, including the band. I did more listening/visiting/eating than I did playing, as I’ve gotten quite out of practice lately and can’t quite keep up (or pretend to) as well as I used to. But it was still a lot of fun! I left about a quarter to midnight, but I don’t know how long it lasted. (Martha, do you know?) These things can go way into the wee small hours sometimes, long after all my energy is spent.

David was such a sweetie to stay home with Anna so I could go—thanks, David!

Here is a short clip from the final set of the concert. That’s Tim Britton (special guest) on uillean pipes, Valerie Plested on fiddle, and Don Penzien on guitar.

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You may recall that Sasha was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and has been receiving treatment for it. We have just finished up that treatment with no signs that the melanoma has spread, which is great news.

However, just as we were coming out of that with high hopes, we’ve had another cancer scare with her involving a second type of cancer. David wrote about it on his blog, and he did a much better job than I would, so please go there to read the whole story.

We love this dog so much, and I just want to put all this behind us and not have to worry about anything. That may never happen with a cancer victim, but the good news is she seems to be ok for the time being, and we can breathe a little easier for right now.

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Paper! Oh what a wonderful noise it makes!

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It’s the 23rd again, and I’m having a hard time with this one. Anna is 6 months old today. But she’s still my little baby! It’s sad knowing we’re already halfway through the first year. But as much as I want to hold on to the baby stage, she gets more and more fun the older she gets, and she brings new delights every day.

Let’s see… she weighs 13 lb. 9 oz., or at least she did a week and a half ago. I don’t know how long she is, but I’m guessing pretty long, since she outgrows her clothes in length before she ever fits into them in girth. Naps? About 3 a day. Rice cereal? No, thank you! Swaddling? Finally kicked the habit. Sitting up? Not yet. Exersaucer, swing, bouncy seat, bumbo, play mat? Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. That’s right, we have everything out because she uses it all right now. Favorite toys? Plastic links, soft baby doll, and pink puppy dog. Favorite radio station? NPR (much to Dad’s delight and Mom’s dismay). Shopping? She’s a great little shopping buddy. Riding in the car? Not so much. Sleeping through the night? Oh, but then she’d miss out on quality time with Mom and Dad! Bathtime? Fun! Bedtime? Pretty agreeable. Wake-up time? Usually happy, and usually after 8 AM!

Here she is sporting her cute new hat:

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It’s been a little rocky for a few days, but Anna is doing much better now. The first night she only got about 6 hours total sleep in about 3 spurts, poor thing. But last night she only woke up crying once, and then she slept through the rest of the night until 8:45 this morning! And she’s taken some pretty good naps, too.

So she’s at the point where she’ll sleep unswaddled; now we just need to get her to go to sleep unswaddled. With the swaddle, we could just rock her for a few minutes, put her in the crib sleepy but awake, and she would fall asleep on her own. But for right now, she has to be totally zonked out when we transfer her to the crib. We had such a good thing going, and I hope to get it back soon. She has fallen asleep unswaddled on her own twice, so I know she’s capable of it.

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Well, I think the swaddling days are finally coming to a close. Early this morning Anna flipped from her back to her tummy (with one arm in and one arm out). I’m pretty sure it’s not safe for her to be on her tummy with her arms bound up, so it’s time to drop the swaddle.

I tried for an hour and a half to get her down for a nap this morning. Poor girl—she was so tired, but she just couldn’t sleep with her arms flailing around. At one point she was mostly asleep, and I was holding her hands to keep them still, but then she had a big startle and sent her arms flying, and then she started to cry the saddest cry, like, “Please let me go to sleep!” I finally just got her up. A little bit later, I tried to feed her, and of course she fell asleep almost instantly. I put her down on her stomach, held her still for just a minute to let her get back to sleep, and she slept for 45 minutes. It’s a start, but she’s gonna have to learn to sleep a lot longer than that!

We may be in for a rough few days, but I know she’ll eventually adapt.

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I think I’ve already lost 2 of my 5 reusable shopping bags. I wonder if I left them in a shopping cart somewhere? That’s just great.

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If you haven’t been doing the Walgreens EasySaver program, this is a great month to get started. Some months there’s hardly anything, but this month they’re being VERY generous! I think this is the best one I’ve ever done!

Here’s what I’ve gotten so far:

• 3 Pantene Pro-V products (shampoo, conditioner, hairspray)
• 6 Garnier Fructis products (shampoo, conditioner, styling stuff)
• Chemistry conditioner
• Pert Plus shampoo
• Nivea body wash
• L’Oreal anti-wrinkle cream
• Crest toothpaste
• LypSyl lip moisturizer
• Revlon nail polish
• Walgreens acid controller
• Visine
• Excedrin
• Walgreens brand “Brita” filter
• 4 Glade products (candles, plug-ins)
• 2-pack vacuum storage bags

And here’s how much I will have spent:

• Nothing. Actually, I’m going to come out $2.60 ahead.

How’d I do it? Some stuff is obvious; the EasySaver catalog tells you it’s free after rebate. Other stuff is a little harder to see; you have to combine sales, rebates, register rewards, and coupons. And for that I credit Money Saving Mom (found through Jenny‘s blog). Of course, I must thank my bargain guardian angel, as Wendy says!

This almost makes up for all the picture frames we bought at Kohl’s last night with their 50-60% off sale and my extra 30% off coupon. We have so many digital pictures of our little cutie, but nothing on the walls. That’s about to change! Using free 4x6s, of course, which you can get through Snapfish, Shutterfly, Kodak Gallery, and I’m sure many others.

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We started Anna on her first solid (if that’s what you call it) food this evening. Here she is trying her rice cereal. I knew she would end up wearing more of it than she swallowed, but I wanted to get it on video anyway:

So, baby food. Life’s about to get really messy. And Sasha’s about to be very happy.

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