Heart Shrine Relic Tour and a BBQ

Well, after 2 weekends of far too much driving and not enough fun (especially for Chris) we decide to stay home this past weekend. Actually, I told Chris we weren't going out of town again until Labor Day weekend. He whimpered a bit but I put my foot down, spoke my peace and counted to three.* And surprisingly enough we survived - although it was touch and go for me on Saturday night when a migraine swooped down and tried to kill me in my sleep. It was big, it was bad, it was ugly. But I don't blame Sharon one bit. Even though we had gone to a BBQ at her house earlier in the day. (Hi Sharon - great party!) I really don't think she was trying to off me so she could have my job again. No. She would never do such a thing. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't. Would she?! Hmm. Maybe she has also been reading about overthrowing governments and other covert actions. Good thing I didn't drink the kool-aid.

Fortunately by noon on Sunday I was feeling semi-human again so Chris, Erin and I took a drive up to Auburn to see the Heart Shrine Relic Tour.

"A precious collection of sacred relics of the Buddha and many other Buddhist masters is currently touring the world.

This is a rare opportunity to view these relics, which were found among the cremation ashes of Buddhist masters. They resemble beautiful, pearl-like crystals. Buddhists believe relics embody the master’s spiritual qualities of compassion and wisdom and are deliberately produced by the master at his death.

The relics are clearly visible inside display cases that encircle a life-size, golden statue of the Maitreya Buddha. Visitors may participate in a Blessing Ceremony where the relics of the Buddha are gently placed on the crown of the visitor’s head as a personal blessing."

There were gorgeous Thangkas hanging all around the hall.


I know it's out of focus - I was trying to not use the flash.




We circumambulated. We got blessed. And my head felt better. That is until I had to coordinate the Kyle transfer with the ex. He was harshin' my blessing buzz hard man.

For more information visit the Maitreya Project.

It's all about the loving-kindness baby!
Om Mani Padme Hum



*Bonus blessings if you know what movie that is from.
Here's another clue: "My hair!"
swoon...

4 months of pure immeasurable…

…spit up.

Erin is 4 months old today. She’s weighing in at 15 lbs 3 oz and is 24” long. And to my surprise her head is not off the charts big but only in the 75 percentile on the growth chart. How could that be? I think the doctor would have re-measured had he seen this picture -


Damn. That’s a big head. You should see what it looks like printed as an 8x10 glossy. Click on the photo to see for yourself!

I mentioned below somewhere that Erin started rolling over a couple weeks ago. Well, this morning on the exam table we noticed that she has begun to pull herself forward by little smidges. Now I’ve seen how fast smidges can grow and I’ve got to tell you - we are scared. The Dr says she looks and behaves like a 6 month old. At her 2 month visit he said she looked and acted like a 4 month old so we are obviously in trouble here.

And speaking of big kids in trouble – Kyle starts school next week. And he is looking forward to it! I give those positive school feelings a week at best. (remember - he was bored with summer vacation by day 3) But this year he’ll be in 5 grade. Top dog at the elementary school since 6th grade is at the middle school. And 9th will be in High School. Does that seem wrong to anyone else? Are all school systems like this now?

But what he’s really looking forward to is that this year he’ll get to ride his bike to school. Except on band days when he’ll have a big ol’ case to lug around. Oh yeah, he no longer wants to play the saxophone. He wants to play the bass. Not the stand up bass - the electric bass. I know, WTF? How is that they have no string instruments in the band but offer the electric bass? Another thing I just don’t get. And can you rent a bass? Of course not. We have to buy a bass and a small amplifier. And I do want Kyle to play in the band but this is edging it into uncomfortable territory for me. He is already telling me about his friend who plays the guitar and wants Kyle to join his band! I’ve been there and seen that. And I want to scream NoNoNo forget it. No music for you! Of any kind. Danger Danger Will Robinson. But stopping him from playing an instrument in school is not going to stop him from playing in a rock band later is that’s what he really wants to do.

So what can I do? Buy him a bass and hope for the best? Amplify my acoustic and ask to sit in with his band? Hmm...not a bad idea. That should burst his rock-n-roll dreams-

"...and on rhythm guitar - my mom"

The UTATAN

Well, if I didn't have 16 chairs to put together I could work on a proper post. Tell you about our speed run up to Fort Bragg and that the baby is rolling over now. But all that will have to wait. Hey now, don't look so disappointed - I have something special for you to do while you wait. Check out this year's big project from Utata:




There are so many great photographs - enjoy! But don't blame me if you get in trouble because you suppose to be working - I'm innocently unpacking boxes in the back room and will deny everything.

Brazen Self Promotion

Oh, I'm not above it.

See those 2 new badges to the right? I have submitted those photos to JPG Magazine. And if my photos were to get enough votes, they would be published in the next issue. How cool would that be?!

So click on those pictures and vote vote vote! I’ll lower taxes. I’ll fix Social Security. I’ll balance the budget. I am not a crook.


Update Aug 9th: Voting has now closed so I've removed the badges. Thanks for your support!

Counterbalance

After the last post I feel I owe you something sweet. So, because I care...

Photos from Grandma!

My teeth hurt.

Despotism, Godless Terrorism and Love

There are some books that should be banned. From me. I’m reading Overthrow – America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. You know this can't be good for me. It’s all I can do to not get out of bed each night and bang my head against the wall. oh. my. god. the stupid is frightening. And I’m only as far as Nixon and Chile. And did you know that just one man was responsible for the events in Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam and Chile? One completely insane man. But it’s easy to get a lot done when you are the Secretary of State and your brother runs the CIA!

The worst part of this is that it is ruining NPR for me. I can no longer listen blithely as I drive to and fro. Not any more. Now my brain screams “Liars!” “Don’t believe the hype” etc. to every story out of Washington. It’s kind of annoying. Yes brain, I know, now please use your inside-my-head voice.

I only picked up this book because the one I wanted on the history of the CIA won’t be published until next month. By the time I finish that book I should be certifiable. This is the kind of stuff that will push me right over the edge. Soon I’ll be roaming the streets babbling to myself. Hmm, I’ll need to relocate to Santa Cruz – they embrace the weird and might not even notice me. And I’ve got a place to stay there. Hey, I might be willing to stand on a corner bad mouthing the government by day but I’m not going to give up a comfy bed at night – I ain’t that crazy.


On a more happy healthy hale and hardy* note – yesterday was my wedding anniversary. Chris and I have been married 2 (insert “wonderful” or the synonym of your choice here) years. Now others might get all lovey dovey and tell you how wonderful their husband is and how much they love him and can’t imagine life without him blah blah blah. But not me. I don’t do sappy. As true as it all is, putting it into eloquent words with violins playing softly in the background is just… icky. Chris knows how I feel about him. And I know how he feels about me when he makes me go to sleep at a reasonable hour every night completely against my will. So, no cards, no flowers, no trips to Hallmark – maker of fine holidays everywhere. You know, if Hallmark had better lobbyists, they could get Sweetest Day declared a national holiday and sell more cards on the west coast.

See? No good can come from reading.

Now I’ve got to go and practice snapping my fingers.



* this is the standard answer you’ll get from my dad when asked how he is. As Chris says – I didn’t have a chance.

If you ain’t first – you’re last

First –

It is with a very sad heart that I inform you that I have returned to work. Yes, it’s true. None of my whining or complaining could prevent the inevitable. But I sure tried. So now I’m back. And I don’t like it. Nothing is as I left it! While I was gone my Canadian company was bought by a nice big American company. Now this does have its benefits (Yay! State taxes are being withheld from my paychecks!) but it also means that I don’t know who does what in the corporate office anymore – especially since there are now at least 3 of them! We had 2 new regional managers join our team. Plus our office expanded into the suite next door to make room for a new training center. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem except my desk has been moved and I lost my window! The view to the outside world that I have fought tooth and nail to keep for over 7 years? Gone. Damn.

And it is hard to get back into the rhythm of an office. My brain hasn’t had to function in this way for over 4 months. Trying to do more than one thing at a time - hey what’s the hurry? Trying to make sense of the 10 things the boss just asked me to do - I have no idea what he is talking about. Trying to remember how to put someone into our voicemail system - sure, that doesn’t sound difficult to you but you haven’t met our mailbox system. It entails hitting at least 23 buttons in a very specific order! Thank god Sharon was there to talk me through it. She basically has had to retrain me. Well at least tell me where everything has been moved to. I still haven't seen my utility knife. And I might need it if I decide to stage a bloody coup to get a window.

Last –

Kyle is now half way through the first week of his annual 2 week southern California vacation. He is currently camping at Lake San Antoine and wake boarding every day. Next week he’ll go down to Oxnard for a few days and then on to Calabasas in the hills above Malibu. I’m sure I have mentioned before how he suffers. He’ll suffer riding the horses. Suffer cruising around on the quad or driving the golf cart. And don’t forget the surfing! How could life be so cruel?!! Poor baby.

But I had better stop thinking about him lest I begin to suffer. Moving on.

Last –

Tomorrow – Friday the 13th! – Erin will be 3 months old.* She has changed so much. Not only is she huge, she’s funny. (Lookin') She’s smiling and laughing all the time now (especially for her daddy). And she tells the most amusing stories! She’s also learning to use her hands as something other than little flying fists of fury. She now will grab hold of what ever happens to cross her open palm. And half the time the seized object will make it to her mouth. This child is truly amazing.

But her first love is still the ceiling fans, especially the one above our bed that she flirts with every night. She’ll notice it and a huge smile spreads across her face and she’ll coo. Then she’ll turn her head and give “fanny” a sideways glace and a cheeky smile. It’s big love I tell ya'.

Last –

Man, I already feel like I’m falling behind on everything. I have a million and two photos to upload to Flickr. I haven’t told you about Eric’s visit. Hmm, I think I’ll save that for one of my famous photo-heavy entries. There. Now you have a reason to get up in the morning. I also have photos that need to be printed, matted and framed. So much to do! And we are going to Santa Cruz this weekend, which will put me even farther behind. I could use a vacation!


* Chris made a point of mentioning that the van is 4 months old today since we got it one month and one day before Erin was born. Geek.

Grandma-time

and the livin’ is easy

Paula’s visit was great (although too short). And she came packin’ the lastest issue of Cooks Illustrated with the intent to make us blueberry scones. Being an Italian mother, P’s philosophy is “Food is love”. Well. Love is many things but it ain’t food. Food is fuel. Love is a many splendor thing. Love makes the world go round. Love will keep us together. Love will tear us apart. Love hurts. All you need is love. Modern love. Tainted love. Chains of love. Love me tender. Love potion #9. Love is in the air. Love is a battlefield. Love is like oxygen. Higher love. Endless Love. Crazy little thing called love. See? Not one word about food.

But do you want to know what I love? Those blueberry scones! Oh my god they were good. So good that it might just be worth the time and mess to make a batch myself. Especially since you can make them beforehand, toss ‘em in the freezer and then put them in the oven on a Sunday morning while the coffee is still brewing. Hmm, might be a project for tomorrow.

What else do I love? Cooks Illustrated!!* Do you know about this magazine?! It’s fantastic. Not only does it tell you what and how to do things, it also tells you what not to do. As in: don’t try doing it this way - we did and it sucked. Now that’s handy. And tips like: freeze the stick of butter and then grate it with a cheese grater. Who would have thought of that? (All Executive Chiefs are requested to keep their mouths shut!) Chris actually got the issues from ’05 and ’06 hardbound from his mom for Christmas. But it wasn’t until this week that I pulled them out and looked through them. Oh the scientific kitchen joy. Tuesday night I made their pan-roasted potatoes to have with our White Sea bass**. Again – oh my god they were good.

Tonight I made Pasta Caprese. I don’t want to keep repeating myself, so I’ll just say it was delicious. And easy! The trick? Freeze the mozzarella for 10 minutes before adding it to the pasta. No more rubbery inedible cheese. It was perfect. I’m hooked.

I would type out the recipe for you a la Bad Home Cooking, but you’ll have to leave a comment and ask for it. I’ve only got one more week of maternity leave and someone has got to save Zelda!



*I know, you told me about it first Sain’t – and you were right. It is perfect for Chris. And it turns out that it’s perfect for me too! (Chris says I have an engineer’s brain. I’m not sure how I feel about that)

** Chris has a recipe for WSB that is called Sex Sauce. And yes, it is worthy of the name. Let me know if you want that recipe too.

Big Brother

And I’m not talking about the George Orwell kind of Big Brother. Although I can see that baby monitor with video being very useful in the years to come.

Kyle has turned out to be a great big brother. Man does he love and fuss over Erin. He has even changed diapers without being asked! He’s been lucky so far and has only opened wet diapers. I’m afraid his first encounter with the other kind will make him gun shy about the solo changes. (Notice that I’m not mentioning poop directly. This ain’t that kind of blog)

Siblings-a-gogo (or should that be gah gah?)



And of course there are more at Flickr. Lots more. In fact I had a hard time limiting myself to the dozen I added. Those kids are cute!

Man, I need to get out of town again. But not this weekend. Tomorrow we are finally going to have that abalone I've been requesting the last 2 months. Jeez. And as a special bonus - my friend Eric is in town!!!

While the cat's away...

…the mouse won’t have enough good sense to go to bed at a reasonable hour causing her bio-rhythms to be screwed up for days.

It’s that time of year again – Chris’ annual spearfishing trip in SoCal. He leaves tonight after a work function downtown and will be gone until Monday morning around 5am. Until then it’s just me and the kids.

Pray for us.

And pray for fish! White Sea Bass and Yellowtail – yum.

Actually, the 4 days without Chris shouldn’t be too awful* – his mom is coming up for a few days to help out and this is Kyle’s weekend at his dads. The only tough part will be taking care of the baby solo at night. Although… if I have to go downstairs to get the bottle, I won’t be left upstairs with the screaming baby as I usually am. That might not be so bad. Erin is going to cry whether I am there or not – why should I suffer too?! Hmm… I just might talk to Chris about switching jobs when he gets back. I’ll go get the bottle while he changes Erin and then tries in vain to comfort her until the bottle is in her mouth and all is right with the world again.

Kyle has camp again tomorrow so I was going to try and get back to the gym (I’ve gone twice now -yeah me!) but I just got a call from my doctor’s office and now I have an appointment at noon. Fun for me. I’ll guess the gym will just have to wait until Friday. Bummer.

Speaking of bummers – and this is a big one - I just looked at a calendar. Oh my god. I only have 2½ weeks left of maternity leave! That’s not enough time! I don’t want to go back to work. I’ve got things to do! I haven’t played ANY Zelda yet. My canvas sits untouched. I still can’t fit into my clothes – I’ll have nothing to wear! I am not happy. Now we must pray for a miracle. Forget the brownies - send lotto tickets!

*besides missing the hell out of him. And that whole staying up too late each night while he is gone thing. And then there is the small problem of not wanting to share the bed again when he gets back. It really doesn’t take long to get use to sleeping in the middle of the bed does it?

Conspiracy Theory

2 months ago I had a baby. Today a migraine tried to kill me. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I’ve had migraines since I was a kid, but they were thankfully infrequent. One, maybe two a year. However, after Kyle was born I became the migraine queen! It was bad. Really bad. Headaches would pursue me for days on end until I was searching the house for a gun bad. Although they got better after I left the ex. Imagine that.

Alas (Alas?! yep, that is the cue for you to start feeling bad for me) over the last couple weeks I’ve been getting reacquainted with my old friend Maxalt the Migraine Medicine. Regrettably, after 9 months of not being able to take any (and luckily not really needing to) I have gotten out of the habit of carrying a pill in my purse, one in the car, and one taped to my forehead at all times! So today, by the time I got home from taking Kyle to his first day of STAR Summer Camp, getting an estimate on my car (another story for another time) and taking Erin to her 2 month check-up, well…I was screwed. I had missed the window for maximum Maxalt effectiveness. I didn’t start to feel better until around dinnertime. Which is far too long a stay in headache hell. (Thank you again Chris for picking up Kyle and going to the grocery store. You rock! Hey – Chris Rock. Ha. Wait. I was picturing Chris Tucker. He’s the one I like - especially in The Fifth Element. I can always watch that movie. There really is nothing I like better than hearing a grown man scream like a little girl! What? …I’m rambling? …sorry)

The point was that I’m finally feeling semi-human again. And that Erin is 2 months old. And she weighs 12 pounds! And she is perfect. (We though so, but its nice to have medical validation no?) And that I’m pretty sure my children are trying to kill me. And after all I’ve done for them what with the gift of life and all. How rude.

So I’ll call in a refill on my prescription and start stashing pills around town again. Moving on.

As promised: Back in Black


And who needs cable when there is a sleeping baby to watch?!

Fascinating.

What do you do with a crashed out baby in a car seat?

This:
And this:
And even a little of this!

Don't look at me like that (HA!)- you know that's funny. I especially like the middle one! Go ahead, scroll back up, I'll wait. Hehe... Yup. I'm feeling better.
Now before you get your knickers in a twist – remember that I am the meanest mom ever. And that these kids (together with my hormones) are conspiring against me. And that paybacks are a bitch. Especially when you have a digital camera and an internet connection.

Bangin'

When thrifty pays off - a love story.

3 weeks ago I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Lightroom. I was immediately smitten with the software and knew I had to have it. Unfortunately I had just missed the introductory price of $199 by a week. I would have to pay $299 when my 30 day trial was up. Bummer. So with 8 days left I decided to make my purchase this morning. And low and behold the software is still only $199 on Amazon! Nice. And with the monitor calibration system ($20 off) and a Canon Fine Art Paper Variety Pack (50% off) already in my shopping cart, plus 2nd day shipping, I was still able to get out the door so to speak for $292.95 – Happy Hump Day to me!!

Later this afternoon I will go to Staples and get a $16 ink cartridge for my printer for $1 thanks to the coupon for $15 off any $15 or above purchase. Man, I am cleaning up today. I might even go back in after the grocery store for another cartridge with the second coupon they sent me.

Yes, I am pleased with myself. But I deserve it. I’ve been working very hard around the house. I finally had to take matters into my own hands and clear off the desk and table in our office area. It was a mess! Now I am just waiting on Chris to go through the 6 piles of paperwork I put on the couch. Sooner or later that fat cat is gonna jump up there and start a landslide. Then Chris needs to go through the filing cabinets and move all the old files to our new storage unit. He can’t go out and play* again until all his work is done!

I’ve also been going through my boxes in the garage. I’ve taken a trunk load of stuff to Goodwill and have sent 4 boxes to storage. I am on an organization roll. This is almost as bad as all the time I’ve spent in the kitchen recently!

But soon we will have a nice neat place to work upstairs and a garage with space enough to get to the climbing wall and use the weights and bench that we just got from Chris’s brother (Hi Paul!). I can’t take the baby to the gym with me until she’s 6 months old. Which sucks. Cause I really need to start working out again. My clothes miss me.

In other happy news, I finally got my hair done yesterday. Not only did I get the color touched up, I had Tami chop all my hair off. Well a good 4 inches anyway. And she added layers, lots of layers. And – you guessed it – bangs!

* we have a freezer full of fish from Chris' speed run to Carmel last Friday. Yum!! And I’m pretty sure I can get him to make some abalone this weekend. Who’s coming?

Et tu, Bodhi?

All My Children

The little one is fine. She’s getting cuter every day. But the eat, poop, sleep routine is not were the action is. If you want real drama you go to the 4th grade!

Kyle’s classroom should be located in 90210!

Here is how it all went down: Cole was going out with Marina (I mean really, could you get more soap opera-y?!). But then one of Marina’s friends told Kyle that Marina liked him. So Cole asked Marina if she wanted to break-up and she said no. Kyle told Cole that he wasn’t interested and was staying out of it while they tried to work things out. Well it seems that their love had run its course so Cole dared Kyle to ask Marina out. And he did. Now Kyle and Marina are going out*. Kyle assured me that things between him and Cole are fine. Although Wyatt has turned into a lousy friend since Charisse broke up with him. According to Kyle he’s changed. Well that’s what a broken heart will do to ya right?

Upon hearing all this, I immediately pulled out Kyle’s class picture to check out the legendary Marina. She’s cute. And then last Thursday night at the open house/band concert we saw her! Though there was disappointingly little interaction between her and Kyle that we witnessed. Kyle was playing it cool in front of the ‘rents. Of course we are teasing him about this. Not too much. But enough to keep us entertained.

But all this was last week. Who knows what today will bring. Will Kyle and Marina still be together? Has Cole come to regret his decision to let her go? Will Wyatt get over his heartbreak or has young love scarred him forever?

Man, I’ve never been so anxious for Kyle to get home from school before!

* This apparently means hanging out together at school. I couldn’t get confirmation or denial on the kissing part. I think Kyle mentioned a cheek. I was the one singing about sitting in a tree…

Stay tuned... HA!

Oh, it’s a look all right

And we have not yet begun to embarrass you little girl. Or ourselves.
Or each other as the case may be.

Exhibit A:

And yes there is an explanation for this. Or at least I can tell you how this fashion statement came to be. It all started last year when Chris got this free blue camo baseball cap and a t-shirt (a disappointing solid navy) from a free-diving magazine. Then early this year we ran across this SkipHop diaper bag that came in blue camo. Now this was a diaper bag a man wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen carrying. At least not my man. So I bought it for him. He was already quite pleased with his matching hat and bag, but then I saw this blue camo onsie for $3.99. Oh there was no way that I was not going to buy this for him. It even had matching booties! And Chris was happy. I would catch him giggling to himself with gleeful satisfaction, just waiting for the day he could spring this daddy/daughter abomination on the world!

And that fateful day was Wednesday May 16th. The day Chris took Erin to her first dive club meeting.

“This guy is nuts”

“Hey lady, why don’t you put down that camera and help me?!”

"I am not a boy"

Next week, I’m going to dress the baby in black! Mommy-style.

Q: Where am I? What is this strange place?

A: The kitchen!

Oh dear. Is this some uncommon side-effect of postpartum depression? Has being at home the past 2 months finally pushed me over the edge? This is not normal behavior. Clearly this is a cry for help!

I’ve been in the kitchen for the past 2+ hours!

And just what have I been doing all afternoon? Prepping for tonight’s dinner! Which doesn’t involve the microwave, defrosting or the telephone. Something is definitely wrong with me.

It all started on Monday when I looked through a couple cookbooks, picked out a few recipes that didn’t look to daunting and added what I was missing to the grocery list. I should have known then that I was headed down a slippery slope.

Tonight I am going to make Pecan-encrusted Chicken. That’s right, I chopped pecans. And parsley. But here is the really sick part – the recipe called for fresh breadcrumbs. I have a container of breadcrumbs in the cupboard. And I didn’t use them. No I did not. I made toast. And then I crumbled that toast into little breadcrumby pieces. Yup, I made fresh breadcrumbs. (FYI, 3 pieces of toast yields 1-½ cups of breadcrumbs)

Who the hell am I?!

And since I was already in the kitchen, I figured I would prep the veggies for the side dish. Now, this was not part of the original try a couple recipes plan. Julie (my own Bad Home Cooking Kitchen Goddess) posted a recipe for Vegetable Couscous on Tuesday that she claims is a ‘sure thing’. And who doesn’t love a sure thing? Or couscous? I even had some in the pantry. In fact I had all the ingredients but the onion and zucchinis. And since I was going to the store again anyways, I figured I would give it a try. I’m clearly easily influenced in this unstable state.

So now I have my pecan-encrusted chicken chillin’ in the fridge. My vegetables are chopped, spices mixed and chickpeas rinsed and drained. When Chris gets home, all I’ll have to do is throw the chicken in the oven, cook the veggies and couscous and it’ll be Miller-time (except without the bad beer).

See?! I’m obviously sick. What’s next? Home-made cupcakes for Kyle’s class?
Oh crap – I already did that.

Promise me that if you see me in the grocery store with pearls around my neck and anything other than Crocs on my feet, you’ll ram me with your cart and drag me to the pharmacy for an emergency dose of some ‘Mother’s Little Helper’. Or Thorazine if the shoes have heels!!!

Last call!

Oh glorious day, the baby only woke up once last night! We fed her at 8:30pm and went to bed an hour later. Erin woke up at 2:00am* and then slept until 6:00am! Now that I can handle. What wasn’t so nice was Kyle knocking over my one and only cup of coffee! Luckily I was up and ready early enough to make a coffee stop before dropping Kyle off at school. So put those worry beads down, I’m caffeinated and ok.

I have to pack again today for Santa Cruz (I know, life is rough) but this time I’m not stressin’ it. Most of the stuff we need is either still in the bags or close by and ready to go. Now that we know what to bring and how to pack it – no worries – I only need to do a couple small loads of laundry and run the dishwasher. And this time I only have to over-pack for two! In fact, I just gave the Bean her bath and already have her clothes picked out.

Since Erin’s umbilical cord stump fell off last Sunday, we’ve been avoiding the onsies and dressing her in a t-shirt only to let her creeps-me-out belly button heal. This morning I put her in her first dress. Yes, I’ve gone all pink and girly. Don’t judge me.

I’m also going to try and get over to REI this afternoon. I have a 20% off coupon that expires this weekend and a need for shoes. Now before you go making any ‘what a girl- always buying shoes and bags’ assumptions, my Tevas broke last week while taking the baby for a walk. I am not happy. This was my second pair of Tevas that have broken in the exact same spot! Both pairs just over a year old! And I am not hard on my sandals. I walk in them. And since I am a girl and have shoe options, they aren’t the only pair I wear (unlike Chris who has had the same pair of Tevas since I met him and wore them continuously until the croc purchase of ’06! Again- don’t judge.) So, I’m gonna try on some Chacos. Tevas are dead to me.

Hopefully I’ll find a sandal replacement at REI and won’t have to spend all my Santa Cruz shopping time in the shoe stores. Danger Will Robinson Danger.


*For whatever twisted reason, when I looked at the clock and saw it was 2am, I imagined a large black woman stomping around in the baby’s head shouting “Last call!”

Travel tip for new parents

Get a vehicle that is big enough for all your crap! And I’m not talking about a mini-van. See that word there in front? Mini? Well, that is not gonna cut it. You need a real van. A man’s van! Like this:


Yes, our maiden voyage to Santa Cruz in the van with the baby was a complete success. We packed everything (except the bathtub) not knowing what we would end up needing but having the room for all of it. And we ended up using everything we brought. Although I did over-pack the clothes for the baby (and me and Kyle if you want the whole truth) – but that’s just how I pack – always too much but covering every clothing possibility. This weekend I’ll leave all the extra shoes at home. Of course that will be the one time I need a different pair of shoes! I’m all over that Murphy and his law.

But lets get back to singing the praises of the man’s van. So, not only were we able to pack all the stuff for the baby, we had plenty of room for 3 duffle bags, all of Chris’ dive gear and guns, plus the pillows, a pile of jackets, Kyle’s Game Cube container and then some. All of this was behind the 3rd row bench seat. I'm sure there was room for more but Chris doesn't want to encourage me! And I will admit that it was nice to be able to climb back to the bench seat and sit next to the bean and feed her as we cruised down the highway. Oh yes, Chris is mighty pleased with himself! Good thing there is plenty of headroom.

And the baby had her first trip to the beach. She snoozed the whole time in her little pop-up shade tent. Kyle got his surfing fix. I took some pictures – and they weren’t all of Erin! My favorite car was still parked outside the condos:


So was this nice old Ford. The roof was rusted but the body was in great shape:


It wasn’t until I passed it the second day that I noticed the little red Dorothy shoes hanging from the rear-view mirror of this roached out Isuzu:


But I did manage to take a few pictures of Erin. As predicted, this is how that baby spent the majority of the weekend:


And since Chris didn’t get to do any diving last weekend, we are going back down this weekend. Kyle will be at his dad’s so we’ll have a bit more free time. Chris can go spearfishing on Saturday and I’ll get in an afternoon of shopping with Grandma and Erin. Sounds good to me. I need a new pair of shoes!

The Bean Giveth and the Bean Taketh Away…

Wow, Erin is 3 weeks old today. How the hell did that happen?!
Today is Friday correct?

Erin is a joy. Although a little more sleep would be nice. 2 nights ago, she slept from around 8pm to 2am – a 5 hour run! It felt sooo good. But then she went and ruined it by not going back to sleep and fussing for the next 2+ hours. Not good. Chris and I were dog-sh*t all day yesterday.

Last night she did the 8:30 to 2:30 5 hour run again. Nice. But this time she went back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until 5:30am. Now that’s how to do it baby! So, I’m feeling pretty good this morning. Good thing too since I’ve got a lot of packing to do today for Santa Cruz.

I’ve actually been really busy this whole week. I’ve been working on all the financial stuff to get our health benefits and flex spending accounts updated. Research, claim forms, math. So not fun for me. But I think we’ve got that all squared away now.

And the last 2 days I’ve had to go into the office for a couple hours to train my temporary replacement, the lovely Sharon. And only 2 months after I started my maternity leave! So of course there was a huge stack of expense reports that hadn’t been processed. Looks like I really am a ‘vital cog’ – at least to our sales guys and their Amex bills!

My neck, shoulders and back are all jacked up from lugging the baby around in her car seat – I think I’ll add ‘Schedule a massage’ to my to-do list!

What’s left?
I need to call around to local daycares to get the going rates.
More laundry.
A shower. (Hey, I’m not doing to bad today – I actually ate breakfast before 10:30!)

My life summed up in a picture:

Roll me Amadeus!

After 9 long months I've finally got my sushi fix today! Chris and I had lunch at Mukuni's and it was just as wonderful as I remember it. We had the BBQ Tuna and a couple order of rolls. So good. Now that I'm free to eat all the seafood I want again, I think I'll ask Chris to make abalone soon. And the Dive Club has a crab-feed coming up (we had to skip the one we usually attend in February). Hmm... where can I get some scallops?!

I should have eaten more than yogurt for dinner tonight.

Keeping with the theme of things I can do again - next weekend we are planning a trip to Santa Cruz. Kyle has been especially anxious to get back to the coast. He even suggested leaving me at home! Like that would ever happen kiddo.

Grandma and Grandpa will spend the weekend holding the baby. Chris and Kyle are going fishing. And me? Well, my camera doesn't seem so heavy anymore...

But you're not tired of baby pictures already are you?!!



And if you're only an hour or so away and you mentioned making me some perogies...
Cruise on down!

A quickie

Last night in bed -

Chris: I love you Dawn.

Me: I love you too sleep.


Tomorrow I'll tell you about Kyle's first band concert last night. And how the checker at Trader Joe's carded me this afternoon for the six-pack of Red Seal Ale. Life is good.

Now with more baby

It seems I’m not very good at this napping thing. I’m so very tired. But so very happy! Erin was 5 days late but that means she was born on Friday the 13th, which seems much more fitting for a baby of mine. And that was already 12 days ago! Crazy.

It started with an all-nighter. Again let me say – I’m too old for that kind of thing! But I was restless Thursday night and couldn’t sleep. So, I sat up watching TV and then around midnight my water broke. We got to the hospital at 1:30am Friday morning and Erin was born at 12:46pm Friday afternoon. And Saturday afternoon we were home. If you want more information than that you’ll need to call and talk to Chris. All I remember was that things were getting pretty god awful right before I got the epidural. After that it was smooth sailing. And apparently Chris got tired of being handed the phone yet again to relay the story, so he wrote down all the details and times etc for me but I’ve already lost that piece of paper.

The important thing is that the baby is perfect and I’m recovering nicely. In fact, the hardest part has been taking it easy. Which is strange because that’s all I’ve been doing for 8+ months. But I’ve been feeling really good (thanks in part to the Motrin prescription) and I don’t feel the need to sit in my chair 24/7. You can’t image how wonderful it is to have my body back! Or at least a slim (HA!) resemblance to my former body. I can tie my own shoes. I can lie on my stomach or flat on my back. I can twist and see what’s behind me again – which is very helpful for backing out of parking spaces. I’ve spent the last handful of months counting on my mirrors, moving extra slow and praying no one is behind me because I just can’t see them!

So, we’ve been busy getting used to life with a newborn. Which means we are trying not to walk into any walls. Kyle is adjusting well. It’s a bit harder to keep him on task with the distraction of the baby but he’s also helping out a lot. He likes to feed and hold her and walks around repeating, “She’s so cute!” Yes she is.

Behold!










And of course there are more pictures on Flickr. Click here to go directly to the Erin Set. I've spent the last couple days printing pictures between feedings. A smart person would run out and buy stock in Canon inks and paper! I might be a cheap date when it comes to beer and wine but I more than make up for that in printing costs.

I hear squeaks from the other room - gotta go!

She's here...

Erin Christine
Born on Friday, April 13th at 12:46pm
7 lbs 3 oz and 19 3/4"

Stay tuned! More baby after this brief nap.

Do they charge late fees?

Well. The Easter bunny came and went and yet - no baby. Crap.
I just got back from another doctor’s visit – no change. Crap.
If I haven’t gone into labor by then, I have another appointment set for Friday - when we’ll discuss the possibility of inducing me. Holy crap.
It’s all so very annoying.

Other than the threat of a never-ending pregnancy, things are fine. I spent the last week with Kyle at home each and every day on Spring Break and we both survived. In fact it was no problem at all. And no one is more surprised than I am. I might even let Kyle stay home the last half of June before I go back to work.

Work?! Hmm… after one month off I can barely remember having to go to the office every day. It’s much nicer here. And the cat seems to enjoy having the company.

So, that’s it. We wait. I haven’t gotten desperate enough to try vacuuming or mopping the floors in the hopes of starting labor. If those things really worked I would have had the baby already since I did end up cleaning the fridge last week. But maybe a couple laps around the bookstore would help. I just whipped through "The Namesake". What should I read next?

The room

As promised - and only a day late! Not too shabby.




And now I need to get ready for my weekly doctor's appointment. Oh the joy.

Finally!

No, no baby yet. But still a fine accomplishment. After almost 2 years we have finally wallpapered Kyle's bedroom. And by 'we' of course I mean Chris. He worked his fine ass off for 2 days this past weekend. I was on hand to sing his praises and um... well that's about it. I might have made him a sandwich.

Chris bought one of the model homes so the house was already filled with some random decorator's choices of wallpapers. Unfortunately for Kyle when we moved in he ended up in the room that had been decorated for a little girl. Teacup wallpaper with a sickeningly sweet tea party border.


How charming. And even though Kyle did not complain, Chris and I have talked about the need to change it and looked at samples dozens of times with nothing ever getting done. But on one of our recent trips to Lowe's we came across this skateboard border and the race to beat the baby was on! We took Kyle back to Lowe's and let him choose between the border with the blue background or the black background (he has many times over the last year requested that we paint or wallpaper his room black. Um, no. You're too young and do not yet have the requisite teenage angst to pull it off!) As you can see he choose wisely.


Yes little girl - look upon your fate!


And here it is! A room fit for a 10 year old boy.


And it works with the blue surfboard/tiki bedding, blue lamp, and blue/orange/green locker style desk he already had in his room. I'll get a picture of the room posted later today. Maybe tomorrow. All this typing has been exhausting.

Nesting

Greetings from Week 2 of my Maternity Leave.* Life here at home is good. I am feeling much better now that I’m not spending my days slumped over my desk in that uncomfortable chair. My back isn’t hurting as much and the sciatic pains have diminished also. And even though I’ve kept busy, I can take things at my own pace and not over-do it. A couple errands completed each day and then I just take it easy. (And yes Chris, the day-timer is coming in fairly handy. Shut up.)

I’ve managed to get quite a bit done around the house in just a week. I’ve gotten caught up on our Flex Spending files for last year and set up the spreadsheet and files for ‘07. I’m just about done with all the pre-washing of baby stuff and her room is almost finished. Just a few more incidentals and we’ll be done. Then I can get to all the fun stuff I was planning for this free time. I need to work on my painting, make some more prints (and mat and ship the ones I’ve printed for Julie) and damn, I haven’t even gotten around to playing any Zelda yet!

I’m getting my hair done this afternoon. And not a moment too soon. This streak down the center of my head has been transformed seemingly overnight from a nice wide suburban street to a major 6 lane super highway. And if you reorient the road so that from forehead to crown is the width of the 6 lane super highway – then all those white stripes up there are the lane dividers. Hmm… must be 6 lanes in each direction. Anyway my hair - it’s growing fast - so off to Tami I go. Must resist the urge to chop it all off!

What else – tomorrow Kyle has an orthodontist appointment, Thursday I have my weekly doctor’s appointment and that’s about it for this week. Then this weekend we are finally going to wallpaper Kyle’s room. No more tea party wallpaper for him! Now there will be skateboards. Very cool. Very blue.

I need get some copies of the pictures taken at my shower. I’ll add that to my to-do list. And I’m thinking about reorganizing the kitchen cupboards. The thought of cleaning the fridge has even popped into my head – but that’s one that I know I can resist.

* Which means I’m in my 37th week of pregnancy. The baby is now considered full term and my due date 19 days away. That’s less than 3 weeks! I guess I should finish packing my hospital bag. We are all starting to feel a little anxious/excited/nervous - although I’m still the only one who is feeling increasingly uncomfortable and getting beat up from the inside. There just isn’t room for the 2 of us in this body. And I was here first so…yeah… lets go baby.

Ask and you shall receive

Wow. Things must be bad when the infrequent readers start complaining about the lack of posts. The pictures off my handsome boy just not cuttin’ it anymore?!

That’s ok. I’ve been meaning to post for a while now but I usually do the internet thing while at work and things here have been rather hectic lately. This is my last week before I start maternity leave. And it has taken me months to get the details of my benefits squared away with our HR dept. My company is based in another country eh? So, they had no plan in place for a California employee seeking disability benefits. Oh it has been fun. If you live in CA and have SDI questions – call me! I can probably answer your question and you won’t even have to wait on hold for 30 minutes first!

Hmm…beside the unnecessary work-related stress (I really shouldn’t have had to do HR’s job for them!) what else has been going on? Not too much. I’m becoming more uncomfortable each day. And I have 5 more weeks to go. I suffer moments of great doubt.

We had my baby shower last –no wait- 2 weekends ago! (I am behind on things) It was wonderful but exhausting. Everything was beautiful and of course there were fresh flowers on the table – P~ and Aunt Rita did a fabulous job. The food was fantastic. And so many of my friends and family were able to attend - I couldn’t have been happier. Even Dr. Kim made it and I haven’t seen her in a couple years. I told her that under no circumstances was I going to go through such extreme measures again just to see her! My only regret was that I didn’t get to spend more time with the Fresno family contingent that drove up for the shower and then had to turn around and head back home. And unfortunately Sharon was out of town that weekend. But it was still a great party and I am almost done writing out my thank you cards. And the best thing is that I think I’m finally over my cake/cupcake obsession.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time, ink and paper on printing photos with my new printer. The quality is amazing! I’ve filled 2 photo albums with vacations photos that have been languishing on my computer for the last year. I sent a bunch of 8”x10”s of Kyle to my dad. And just this weekend I picked up some 13”x19” photo paper. So, now is the time to look through my Flickr photo stream and if you see something you like – ask and you just might receive!

Maybe I’ll even take some new photos. Kyle’s haircut is growing out fast!

Birthday Boy

Hair cut is next Saturday.

10 years - 10 weeks

Today is Kyle’s birthday. I’ve been a mom for 10 years. And in 10 weeks I’ll be a mom of 2. I will not be doing this again in another 10 years. Or any amount of years for that matter.

Last night I made cupcakes. 2 batches! And besides the 3 we ate (and the second one that Chris snagged) the remaining 32 cupcakes were packed up and sent to school this morning with Kyle. All that work and I got one cupcake. It just doesn’t seem fair.

We decided to buy Kyle a small boom box for his birthday. It was just too pathetic to hear him trying to rock out to his punk mix cd on his tinny dvd player speakers. If you’re gonna kick out the jams mother f@#%er* you gonna need a little bass!
And I bought him a Replacements cd because the kid has some fine musical taste. He loves the Clash (I'm so proud) and I'm going to recommend that he pick us up a copy of London Calling with his birthday cash.

Kyle also has a fondness for classic rock thanks to his dad. He likes the Stones, AC/DC and Guns n Roses. Oh joy. And then he is surprised to find out that I am more than familiar with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”. Like I haven't been subjected to classic rock for the last 20 years. In fact I’ve seen Ozzy’s butt! Not that I would recommend that to others.

Not too long ago Kyle asked me if I was going to make ‘the Bean’ like punk music too. I explained that you can’t make someone like a genre of music. All you can do is expose them to it and see what happens. I just happened to get lucky with Kyle. And then a horrifying realization hit me – ‘the Bean’ – she’s a girl. And that means there is a high probability of …oh sweet mother of Jesus and the Mary Chain help me - I can hardly bring myself to type the words…Boy Bands!!!

And there are no more cupcakes!


* Regrettably this MC5 number was cut from Kyle’s version of Punk Mix. While I take great pleasure from hearing him sing along to the Circle Jerks and Fear from the back seat – I must draw the line at the obvious cursing. So, no Dead Kennedy’s “Too Drunk to F*ck” for him! I also left off the Suicidal Tendencies “I Saw Your Mommy” because well no.

All my friends are doing it

And by ‘it’ I mean writing about food.

Although I’m sure most of them wouldn’t mind doing what you first thought. Maybe just not with each other. Oh dear, I’ve gone someplace icky. Think happy thoughts. Rainbows and puppies. Think about cupcakes!

Mmm…cupcakes.
I'm ok now. Thanks.

Back to food. We’ve got our favorite Bad Home Cook who seems to be riding high on a string of kitchen successes. And the infamous Sain’t - although lately he seems to post more pictures of babies than his culinary creations. Works for me – those kids are cute. Soon we will add Cynthia to the mix.
Ha! Funny.

I finally managed to get Cynthia over last Saturday afternoon for lunch (which she of course made and it was wonderful), laundry, and artistic endeavors. We didn’t get around to the watercolors but I printed some of my photos and now we are both newly inspired to paint. And we finally got Cynthia set up with her very own Blogger account. I can speak no more about it until she gives me the ok. But I will say that I was quite upset when I saw all the new features for customizing your template that the new version of Blogger provides. Bastards. I had to teach myself code and now it’s all right there for you ‘Johnny-come-lately’s that are just now setting up a new blog. And can I with my ‘I already upgraded to the new version’ account access these new tools? No. Not without having to start from scratch with one of the provided templates that I could then customize thus loosing all the work I’ve already done! Bastards.

(Deep breath)

(One more)

I’m alright. But just to be sure - let’s go back to thinking about cupcakes. I’m going to make some! For Kyle’s birthday on Thursday. And if he can manage to behave himself for the next 2 nights, I’ll make enough for him to take to school for for an in-class party. I don’t want to go into all the trouble he’s gotten himself in during the last 2 weeks. (I just managed to get myself calmed down again) But we did end up canceling his birthday party and he is still grounded. That kid can be more vexing than Blogger!

Crap. Can someone please come check my blood pressure?!

Om cupcakes om….repeat…

That's beautiful (wipes tear from eye)

So, every week Kyle get a list of spelling words. On Wednesdays, their assignment is to write a sentence using each word. Typically Kyle writes 25 of the shortest sentences he can. Things like:
I cough.

That boy is lazy when it comes to writing. But last night something miraculous happened. Kyle decided his sentences whould have a theme. Then it became a story! And oh what a story it is. Checking homework just got a little more entertaining for Mr. S.

It starts out a little slow but you will be rewarded in the end. Enjoy! (Spelling words are green)


1. There was a dancing baffoon outside.
2. The dancing baffoon skipped.
3. The baffoon was the best hiker.
4. When the baffoon reached the top he flipped.
5. The baffoon landed in a snapping turtles mouth.
6. Then the turtle had to go wee-wee and he raced to go.
7. He tripped, landed head first in the toilet.
8. When he was done he saw a pleasing young lady.
9. He started checking her out.
10. Then the turtle’s friend said “Dare you to ask her out.” So he did.
11. Then the lights dimmed
12. Rubbing his neck he asked her out.
13. She was a redhead with brown stripes down her hair.
14. “You’re wasting your time on me go away” she said to him.
15. He drew a picture of her and traced it.
16. For there first date they stripped wall paper.
17. Then they went tanning on the beach
18. He started smelling her perfume.
19. The turtle started phoning his friend “She’s wearing perfume.”
20. Then they kissed and he fainted.
21. He was breathing hard.
22. “It was so tiring to breath like that” he said.
23. She urged him to kiss her again he fainted
24. That night he scrubbed his forehead.
25. Then she knocked at the door striving to get him to open the door.

I think Kyle's got a future in writing and I see Fabio on the covers!

Buy or Lease?

Kids. They’re like cars right?! You trade one in when you get a new one?

Are you sure?

Damn. Because Kyle is cruisin’ for a bruisin’ as my dad always said.
What is up with the attitude and lip these last couple days? Right when we are planning his birthday party. Not good. I feel far less inclined to spend a whole lot of money on his requested party location when all he does is growl at me to be quiet and yell that he does not have to listen to us. Alrighty then… let me get right on the phone to book the indoor pool at the dive shop for a 3 hour party. No problem mutton head.*

In other happier party news, plans are being made for the baby shower. I was trying to decide between 2 equally nice restaurants and well, you must know by now how I am with making decisions. Ha! So, I emailed the lovely Karen to ask her opinion. The Italian restaurant with the light and airy banquet room and easy parking or the restaurant at the Galleria (one of my favorites) with the windowless party room and mall parking? Well, all she had to do was say “I don’t think the lack of windows will be an issue because it helps people focus more on you.” and the choice was made. You just need to put things in Leo terms. See how easy that is?

And now K and I are engaged in a long email exchange about cupcakes. I really want a cupcake!

*Chris just called the guy at the dive shop a 'mutton head' for putting the party deposit on the wrong credit card after a detailed discussion over which on file card to use.
Mutton head! Who says that?!
Apparently we do. It just seems to work.