My Busy Week

This is getting to be a boring topic but two different people asked me if I was pregnant in the past two weeks. Well, one didn’t ask but assumed I was pregnant. This is becoming a trend around a certain time of the month and I admit that my stomach does stick out quite a bit for a week or two out of the month but that doesn’t change the fact that you don’t ask if someone is pregnant until they appear to be 8 months pregnant and even then you don’t say anything!

Looks like I left off at Mother’s Day. It was really a so-so day because it really marked the start of Jack acting like a 2 year old (defiance and independence mixed with some clinginess). On Monday I had lunch with Camille. Camille used to live here and we worked together and then she moved to Seattle to be closer to her family. We really had some fun times. She has two kids about the same ages as mine. Our most memorable night was pre-kids and our husbands were out of town so we went to Barcelona where men bought us drinks all night and we stayed and danced until very late. Boy, those days are over!

On Tuesday night Brian’s sister Heather came into town for a class. She came over for dinner and got to see the kids. Jack had a great time with her. I went to my dance class and let them chat. I ended up coaching all the men through the cha-cha moves. My vacation started on Wednesday. My parents flew in around 11 AM and I took them straight to Pane Bianco’s sandwich shop and the coffee bar next door (Lux). They thought that was good. Afterwards we went to Last Chance where I bought two pairs of Stride Right shoes for Ty for $12 each. That evening, we went to the mall with the kids and ate at Rubio’s. The next day we went to Scottsdale Fashion Square for several hours and ate at La Madeleine’s for lunch. My goal was to find some clothes that didn’t make me look pregnant. I found a pair of pants at Ann Taylor for $16.99. Their sizes run really big and I bought a size 2 and tucked my saggy flabby stomach into the waistband. Ha ha. I got some pants at Banana Republic (size 6—back to reality) and a halter top. I had my volleyball tournament that night. We won the first game and then ended up playing the top seeded team for our second game and they crushed us. That team has one of the top 10 players in Arizona on that team. He is playing as a favor to his wife who is learning to play. He could have crushed us single handedly. But it was still fun. We came in 3rd in the tournament and I had a phenomenal time with this team. So we are going to play together again next season.

On Friday it was my 37th birthday. I got some cards and roses and we went to see the Da Vinci Code at the theater. I almost never see movies in the theater but I really liked this book and it was my birthday so we went. I really liked it. Then we went to dinner at Firebirds. My parents offered to watch the kids while we went to dinner but I wanted to go out for dinner as a family. So we all went out and Jack was just horrible and even Ty who is normally laid back was fussy. It really sucked. I sent my parents to Trader Joe’s with Brian while I got the kids to bed.

On Saturday we went to the Arizona Science Center. Because of money that we contributed to United Way, we got in free and they had a special event with food, and Matt Williams, who was one of my favorite Arizona Diamondbacks baseball players before he retired, was there to sign autographs. We had him sign Ty since he was wearing his Diamondbacks outfit. This is where someone assumed that I was pregnant. Ugh. We played with a lot of the exhibits and went to the Planetarium where Ty, Jack and Dad fell asleep. By now we were all starving so we decided to go to In and Out Burger. After In and Out Burger, Mom said she wanted to go to Goodwill for 30 minutes so Jack and I went in with her since by the time I dropped her off, took Jack home, I would have to turn around and pick her up again. By now Jack was 2 hours past his nap time and coupled with all the random stuff all over Goodwill, it was very stressful since he was getting into everything and then throwing tantrums when I would try to take the breakable figurines or glass bowls away from him. I did manage to snag a couple pairs of shorts and a Ralph Lauren shirt for Jack. By the time we got home, we were all exhausted but the kids were too overtired to nap, so they both crashed early… but then woke up at 4 AM. Ugh! We watched “Memoirs of a Geisha” on pay per view since I had read the book and enjoyed it.

Sunday morning I got to escape our Monster Child and met the girls (Fancy Nancy, Pam, Tracy and Jill) for breakfast. This was such a great treat. When I got home Brian was exhausted from taking care of the kids and left the house to run errands and escape the zoo called our home. After Jack’s nap, I took Jack, Mom and Dad to IKEA where we had an early dinner and then Jack and I spent an hour and half in the kids section. Jack loves playing with all the toys there. After we checked out, we met mom and dad for ice cream and then left. We watched the finale of Desperate Housewives together.

On Monday we went to Costco and then went to Abuello’s for lunch. Then we went to UHaul to buy a box for the cradle swing that we wanted to ship to my sister. We came home and I took a short nap and then we went to FedEx to ship the swing. Mom packed my crib bumper and a bunch of Ty’s baby clothes into the box since my sister is having a boy. The rest of the stuff for my sister included all of Jack and Ty’s baby clothes, the baby sling, mother’s milk lactation tea, breast pads, and various other baby stuff that I no longer need. It really felt good to get rid of all that baby stuff! Mom and Dad watched Jack (Ty was already asleep) for a while and Brian and I went out to Pasty Grimaldi’s for pizza and some wine. Jack did OK with my mom. We were worried because he seems terrified that I am going to leave or abandon him and has been screaming for me a lot. Even though were gone for a little over an hour, it was still nice to get away! I think the thing that bummed me out about my parents trip here was that I envisioned that my parents would spent a lot of time fawning over my kids especially when they saw how sweet, smart and well behaved Jack was. But unfortunately, he was nothing like that when they were here.

On Tuesday my mom packed all the stuff in their suitcases and I sent the infant carrier and two bases with them to take back to my sister. It wasn’t clear if the airline was going to count that as luggage or not but we worked it out. After dropping off my parents at the airport, I did some final shopping for clothes that didn’t make me look pregnant, had lunch at Wildflower and then had a birthday/post-breastfeeding present of a facial and massage. See, if formula costs $1200/year and I breastfed Ty for 11 months, then that means I saved us $1100 and therefore I deserve a massage, right? It was very nice. I went to dance class that night and ended up correcting the instructor on how to do a cha-cha move. It was an honest mistake on the instructor’s part (confusing the man’s part with the woman’s) but it’s pretty obvious that I’m in the wrong class. Still, the people are nice and I feel strongly about following through on commitments and completing classes that I sign up for so it’s not too bad. Today was the first day back at work in a week. Today Ty is 11 months and he refused to breastfeed tonight so he is officially weaned. I don’t really feel sad or even relieved like I thought I would. Kind of ambivalent. I guess we were both ready to end it. Now on to the Extreme Makeover!!!