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.

Climbing the walls

Look at what Chris and Kyle did yesterday - they built a climbing wall in the garage!





This is only phase 1 - there will be 3 more sections complete with overhangs before it is finished.

Let the bouldering begin!

Obligatory Christmas post

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t do a Xmas photo highlights post? Don’t answer that. Just sit back and enjoy the festive goodness that is Kyle getting too much good stuff. Oh how he suffers – just ask him.


A new bike from Chris’ folks. Awesome. There was even a ramp set from Santa waiting for Kyle at home.

In the finest Christmas spirit – here is Kyle asking P for her new ipod. I guess he didn’t get everything he wanted. See suffering mentioned above.

And of course there were presents for “the bean”.

After Kyle was done with elf duties he disappeared until it was time to leave.

Priceless.

But why?!

Don't buy stuff you can't afford.

I know just who to get this for.

Organized

or - You can’t make me.

A couple weeks ago Chris bought me a Day Planner so that I can be just like him! On top of things. That’s funny on so many levels.

And while cleaning out my purse to make room for this new treasure of efficiency, I found an appointment card for the dentist. (I wasn’t that surprised as I had a nagging suspicion that I was due for a cleaning. But I never wrote the info down on my calendar at work so I was unaware it was this month. Wow, I am unorganized. I do need help) So I dutifully noted the date and time in the calendar section of my new organizer. Chris was so proud.

Also not surprising is the fact that I don’t want to go to the dentist. And I’ve spent every day since then complaining about the appointment and shooting hateful looks at the innocent day timer.

At the store, Chris had encouraged me to get the Weekly layout for the calendar section. But I protested and said that my schedule wasn’t busy enough to warrant that level of detail. And I’m used to seeing my month all laid out at one. So I stuck with the monthly layout for the calendar section. And I knew there would be trouble because the weeks start on Monday. And that is wrong. When I take a quick glance at a calendar, Monday should be the second square from the left. Am I wrong? No. Stubborn? Maybe.

I thought my appointment was today. And because I want to be just like Chris, I opened the day planner before I shoved it back into my purse this morning. Of course Chris had stuck the postcard the dentist office always sends as a reminder in there. So I read it. And it said Tuesday, Dec 19th in big bold letters. Tuesday?! My appointment isn’t until tomorrow?? That’s messing me up. I got ready under the assumption that my appointment was this afternoon. I’m packing floss people.

And now I have to buy the damn weekly inserts for that damn organizer I don’t have the discipline to check on a daily basis. Damn. And that evil Chris is smiling with smug satisfaction right now. I can feel it.

For Chris(tmas)

Charlie Brown Christmas - Performed by the Cast of Scrubs

Buckle up Charlize

Julie the Puppet Master

I just got off the phone with Julie and she’s got me jumping. Again.
I mentioned that my legs were achy and she said I needed to drink Nettle tea. So when I finish this post, I’m off to the health food store. (Last week she had me buying eucalyptus oil for my sore jaw and damn if my jaw isn’t better) And she wants another post. I sure hope she doesn’t decide to abuse this newfound power. I am not sending her money!

So, as I do every Monday morning, I checked my weekly update for week 17. It said the baby was now 5 inches long – about the size of an onion. I forwarded the info to Chris and teased him a bit about onions (I love them and he’s not such a fan. Last week we had an avocado!). But later in the morning I happened to notice the ruler on my desk. 5 inches. That’s pretty big. So I measured my coffee cup and it’s only a hair over 4 ½ inches! And I promptly began to hyperventilate. There is something the size of a coffee cup in my gut!!! All the fruits and the one crustacean were no problem (what the hell is a cumquat anyways?!). But this cup on my desk is huge. No wonder I had to loosen the elastic in my pants this morning.

I happened to be on the phone with Chris at the time and while barely suppressing his amusement he told me to calm down, take a deep breath, etc. My, isn’t he helpful. It’s easy to be calm when you don’t have a matricidal mug growing inside you.

Baby needs a new pair of shoes

Well not really. He needs a new t-shirt.
The one he is wearing is 22 years old!


Go Tigers!

Ante partum depression

You would have thought is was PRE-partum but no. I looked it up.

My in-laws have voiced their concern that I’m not very excited about being pregnant. Well duh.

Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned my desire to lie down in traffic whenever P called to see how I was doing.

Don’t get me wrong – I am happy to be pregnant. I’m thrilled. Really.
It’s just that 3 long months of feeling like total crap made it a little hard to put on my happy face. Within the first month I had outgrown all my pants. Nothing says ‘fun’ like having to go to the mall to buy stretchy pants while feeling faint and nauseous. Good times.
And I am now completely sick of food since I need to eat something every couple hours or I will drop dead. Mention another chicken sandwich to me and I’ll throw a stapler at your head.

So, it is obvious I am not having that “I love being pregnant” experience other women mention with a blissful look in their eyes. Those women… well, I want to kick them in the shin. Hard.

But I’m coming around. Things are getting better now that I’m in my second trimester. I can make brief forays out of the house. I only envision naps in bed. I’ve come to terms with maternity clothing (well, it’s more of a tenuous détente but it’s a start). I am thoroughly enjoying going through the baby name books and shouting out the worst names I can find to poor Chris who is just trying to read his book in peace.

Unfortunately I still don’t have the energy to do the dishes. Sorry baby.

What to do… what to do….

You want a post. I want to read my book – which would normally take a lot less energy on my part. But the book? It's all the way over there. Next to my desk. In my bag. On the floor. And the keyboard? Well, it’s right here under my fingertips. Aren’t you lucky?!

Now…what can I tell you?
I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. And my soon to be replaced doctor sided with Chris and told me that I was in fact not dying! But could he tell me why I have this horrible pain in my jaw? No! Quack.

But it was a quick appointment and I didn’t have to get undressed which pleased me greatly. We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat again. Which actually was quite reassuring because once I stopped feeling like absolute crap 24/7 – well, how am I supposed to know that everything is still progressing as it should? I seem to be much more paranoid this time around. Fun for me. I got another lab slip for another blood test. Joy. And I am now pre-registered at the hospital for the big day. So, we can check that off the to-do list.

In First Born news – Kyle decided to join the school band. We are now the proud renters of an Alto Saxophone. It was that or the clarinet. An easy choice cause you gotta admit the sax player in the Muppet Band was one cool dude.



I’m going to get my cello re-strung and a new bow. Then we be jammin’! Wait till you hear our version of Hot Crossed Buns!!

FYI

Just so you know - I will not be posting pictures of my belly on this or any other website. So stop asking!

So, what else has been going on? Not much. But I have been feeling better this week. I even watered my plants. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to spend some time not only out of my chair, but out of the house this weekend!

A girl can dream right?!

Neglect

I know… I know… my plants are dying too.

But really – I’ve got nothing. I haven’t done anything for the last 2 months. You probably think I am exaggerating. I wish. I get up, go to work and sit at my desk, go home and sit in my chair, and then go to bed. It’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it is down right depressing. On the weekends I just sit in my chair all day. It sucks.
And I think about posting but I assume you don’t want to hear me whine about how I don’t feel good and none of my clothes fit.

So, what can I tell you? Well, I learned that it talks 20 minutes for the water you just drank to reach your bladder. Yep, your life is more complete now.

I’ve been reading another book about Russia. This one is about Vladimir Putin and it is doing a very nice job of pissing me off! Jerk. I also read Lamb: The Gospel Aaccording to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. And that book I enjoyed mightily. Laugh out loud funny until the end. I won’t spoil it for you.

And I’m not feeling good right now so I’m off to eat lunch #1.