Kels' Blog

July 2007

2007-08-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

I left off at the end of June. We went to Cayman and Jagger’s birthday party which was a cookout and pool party. The boys had a really good time swimming and eating cake. I enjoyed the adult beverages of course. The next day I got an “IPL with Levulan” treatment. They put this Levulan gel on my face that made my face very photosensitive and they left it on for four hours. Then I went back for the laser treatment. By putting on the Levulan, it makes the laser really get down deep and is maybe the equivalent of three IPL’s. The downside is that my face was bright red and stinging for a day like a sunburn. Then it was bright red. And then pink and then it peeled and peeled. It took about a week to completely get back to normal and then I would say another week to actually look better than it looked before. I think in general my complexion looks better but not as big of a difference as I was hoping. They say you sometimes need 2 to 3 treatments but I am not sure I want to take it on again any time soon.

I reconnected with old friend of mine named Chrissy. We used to be neighbors from 1996 – 2000. It was pretty unusual that two single women the exact same age each bought a house next to each other in a neighborhood with a bunch of families. We lost touch after we moved to our new neighborhood but it turns out our neighbors across the street are best friends with her. She got married and had 3 kids since I last really saw her… we went to their house for July 4th and had a really nice time. She and her husband always put on great food spreads including homemade tortilla chips to go with homemade salsa. I couldn’t help but gorge myself.

Brian and I went out on a date to a new wine bar in Chandler. It was excellent. We sat at the bar and split a bottle of wine and ordered some appetizers and salads. This is my favorite way to eat dinner… not have a big entrée with a piece of meat… I would rather graze.

The next day I had brunch with Missie and afterwards we went to Nordstom Rack. I found a cool top even though it has an empire waist. Brian hates those tops and it seems they constitute 90% of what is on the racks these days. They do make you look kind of pregnant. After being pregnant and looking pregnant in the past few years, it’s not a look I want to have right now. I bought it anyway. Later that day, Sarah came over for swimming and dinner. We have been taking the boys out swimming just about every weekend afternoon and it’s a really nice time. Over a few mojitos, Sarah shared some details of her new long-distance relationship with a guy named Richard. There are some interesting challenges with it since he lives in Beijing so it’s not like someone who lives across the country.

Tuesday night was my first introduction to Bunco. This is a very easy dice game that women play as an excuse to get out of the house and drink with their friends. Pretty much like a book club. Ha ha. Chrissy had a wonderful spread again and I enjoyed meeting a bunch of new people. You need 12 players and you try to rotate houses every month. I had a really good time.

A couple nights later I went to a Party Lite party and bought a couple candle holders. Brian told me I couldn’t buy candles but he didn’t say I couldn’t buy candle holders.

Friday night Brian and I went to the Diamondbacks game with Pam and Murray and we stayed afterwards for the free Peacemakers concert. Brian and Murray are huge fans and were going crazy. I was surprised how many people stayed for the concert afterward. On Saturday we went to the Arizona Science Center with the boys and had a really good time. We ate a tea house afterwards and the boys were pretty decent. I thought it was a risk to go to a tea house with them. That afternoon I got a haircut that I really like. Shorter in the back and longer on the sides. On Sunday morning we got the boys’ picture taken. They were really good again and very cute. And then the highlight of the whole weekend was going to the Michael Bublé with Yvonne on Sunday night. I have always been a fan and have all his CD’s… but his concert was the best one I have ever been to (and I don’t speak in superlatives!) He really played with the crowd and had a great connection and even ran out into the audience and all around the theater. Everyone was going crazy. Yvonne and I had a great time.

I went to Gold Canyon candle party at my neighbor’s house. This time Brian didn’t tell me I couldn’t buy candles so I bought a couple. I don’t know why he thinks we have too many candles! I met a woman in the neighborhood I had met before once or twice who has two boys about Jack and Ty’s ages. We agreed that having two little boys was interesting and crazy and that we should get them together. Just have to find the time.

The next day we had a four hour work event at the F1 Factory Kart racing place… they have kart racing on an indoor track, rock climbing, a pit crew challenge where it’s a real car and real tires and you race each other to see who can do it the fastest and then a bunch of arcade games. I did the rock climbing which I haven’t done since I was at camp when I was 16 years old. It is harder now, even though I originally did it on real rocks where they don’t have really great hand holds. But I was much younger then. Then I did the kart racing which was fun… you are out there for like 15 minutes and it’s quite hot but fun. Then I did the pit crew challenge with Brian and this other guy from work. We went up against other teams of 3 to 5 people that were all men. We had the only team with a woman on it and we only had 3 people. And we won it! That felt great. Then I played the dance revolution game for quite a while which doesn’t require any dancing skills at all. In fact, it sort it worked against me because you have to stomp for the game to recognize your step. I am not used to doing such physical things through the day but I had a blast.

On Friday, I went to a going away happy hour for someone I have worked with for a long time. She is moving to Nebraska to marry the love of her life. What a good reason to leave the company.

So the dancing lessons are going pretty well. I go one time per week during my lunch hour and my instructor is named Will. He is about 23 years old. We’ve been working at getting me ready for social dancing. Social dancing means you show up to a social “open” dance where a DJ plays music that corresponds to all the ballroom, Latin and swing dances and you dance with pretty much anyone who asks you to dance (or anyone you ask). Given the sheer number of dances and moves to each dance, we’ve been focused on understanding basic patterns/rhythms and then my following skills. Obviously this wouldn’t work if I were dancing with a beginner so I have to count on dancing with someone who knows what they are doing. Friday night was my debut with the social dancing. I felt like I was going to throw up for most of the day. I was worried that no one would ask me to dance for one and secondly that if someone did, that I would be terrible. Sarah came with me for moral support. From 7:30 – 9 PM they do lessons and you keep rotating partners. At 9 they start the open dancing. Will showed up and surprised me by dancing with me for a lot of the dances at the beginning which I thought was really nice of him to do. I wasn’t expecting him to do that. So I really enjoyed that because he is a great dancer and a great lead and I can dance just about anything with him. I danced with a few other guys, most of them about 3 times each. Many were very good leads and I had a great time. Some were OK and we struggled a bit. One in particular wasn’t such a good lead and the West Coast Swing (my worst dance) was a disaster. My other disaster was the Viennese Waltz which I didn’t know the basic pattern for and it is definitely not like the waltz. But overall I had such a good time and I only sat out 2 – 3 dances. I left only because my feet were killing me and I got home a little before midnight. I am not going to be able to go every Friday night and if I’m lucky I can go 2x/months. Brian is going to hike rim to rim to rim in September so he got up at 4:30 AM to hike Camelback the next morning and I got up with the kids at 6 AM. I was so tired!

June 2007

2007-07-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

The “Range of Motion Machine” is the one key word that gets random people to this blog when they do Google searches. So I thought I would give an update on the machine. We have had it since January of 2006, so I’ve had a good year and half of usage. I do the machine 4 – 5 times per week and Pilates twice a week. Honestly, there really isn’t much of an excuse to not use the machine since it involves about 8 minutes of my time… doing the settings and turning on the fans and putting in my CD and putting on my shoes half the time (the front part of the machine does not require shoes). So for those of you who wonder if it really works, it does. But regular rules apply… it can only do so much… if your eating is out of control it won’t compensate for that but it can fully substitute your cardio and weight lifting. I highly recommend doing Pilates at least 2x/week, preferably 3x/week if you want the most optimal workout.

Brian and Ty flew to Portland to stay with Brian’s mom for a few days. It was the last few days of Ty’s life as a lap child and Brian wanted to take advantage of it. Jack and I stayed home. On Friday night I got a sitter and Jen and Pam came over. We went up to San Felipe in DC Ranch. I didn’t realize that DC Ranch was so far away. I saw the photo radar flash on the 101 but Jen and Pam assured me it wasn’t me. I haven’t gotten my picture in the mail so I guess they were right. We had dinner there and during dinner some really drunk guy kept trying to get my attention by yelling at me. It was annoying. One of his friends told us that he had been at this bar/restaurant when he learned that his sister had died or some story along those lines. Jen spent some time grousing about a phone call from her ex-husband. Nothing that a couple drinks didn’t take care of. At 10 PM they turn the restaurant into a club and a guy came around to card us. I had to put my cosmo down to pull out my driver’s license. I thought that was funny. The music was OK… a lot of hip hop type music. I would like to go somewhere where they play dance music. But still we had a good time.

I got up early the next morning to meet Jill and Connor at Wildflower for breakfast. The boys played in the play area and we went to the bookstore. We were out for hours, which was good because it meant I didn’t have to figure out how to entertain Jack at home. Jack and I then went to a pottery painting place where I had envisioned making a Father’s Day present for Brian. Jack really wanted to paint a monster truck piggy bank so we went with that. I really thought he would lose interest quickly but he loved painting the truck and seemed intrigued that we had to leave it there to be baked in a big oven for the paint to get shiny.

We went to a little café next door that was yummy. I had a shrimp and smoked salmon sandwich. Later that night I got a sitter again and went out this time with Sarah and Mindy. Sarah works with recruiters/consultants and someone from another company invited her to their office party. So we went and crashed someone else’s office party which was a little weird because everyone knew each other, except for us. The CEO even comes over and introduces himself and says, what are you doing here? Drinking free booze and eating free food and gambling with your fake money? Actually he was pretty cool about it and seemed pleased that we came, especially since I manage a > $6 million budget. They had dealers and black jack, roulette and craps. I played black jack and made a lot of fake money. I really wished that we were in Vegas. After doing this for a while we decided to go to Devil’s Martini. After staying there for a while, we decided to go to Andersens but when we got out on the sidewalk, I realized that I had lost my cell phone in the club. I had brought my cell phone to tell time and had taken it out on the dance floor and I guess it never made it back in my purse. I was really irked because I had just lost my watch two days ago! I went back to the club and the security guys said there wasn’t a chance of finding it until everyone left and they turn on the lights. ARRGGGH. That was kind of a buzz kill so we went home.

I met Missie and Reagan at Wildflower bright and early the next morning. By the time we got home, I was so ready to just chill out and do nothing. It was kind of nice just having the weekend to me and Jack alone. Meanwhile, Ty was having a great time in Portland with Brian’s mom and sister. They really doted on him.

On Monday I had another dance lesson which was exhilarating for me. We are working on a lot on the samba in terms of technique and did a little waltz, salsa and cha cha to see how well I did just “following”. If you are a good follower, then you don’t have to know all the steps… you just do them. Those dances are pretty easy for me to follow. That night I met up with my friend Mike and we went to our favorite meeting place, 4 Peaks. I think we could easily sit there and talk and laugh all night.

I sent out an email message to the distribution list for the workout center at work asking if someone found a watch. Someone had and thought it was mine so I got it back on Monday. I had left a message with the Devil’s Martini about my cell phone and they called me on Tuesday to say they had found one. I drove up there on Wednesday and sure enough it was mine. Score!

I wasn’t so lucky with our volleyball tournament that week because we pretty much came in last. We sucked. Sometimes we come in second in the tournament and sometimes we come in dead last. I personally didn’t play that well during this round. Hope it is better next season.

I had my 6 month check up with Dr. Spies. I am so happy with the results. I think his work is just about perfect and I would do it again in a second. It’s totally worth being miserable for a month. Buying clothes is so much more fun. And to think one of my biggest concerns was what other people would think. That turned out to be the least of my concerns.

On Friday night we took our nanny, Holly and her fiancé and daughter out to eat since it was her last day with us. After over a year of having a nanny, we decided it was time for Ty to move into the all day preschool at the Y with Jack. They will only take kids when they are 2 or older and they agreed to take Ty 1 week early. Having a nanny for Ty for about a year was a really good thing for us and him but I think we were all ready to get Ty into the Y with Jack.

On Saturday I took Jack to the Ahwatukee YMCA to do yoga with Jill. She brought Connor so they could play together. I really liked the class but it was hard work! After the class I took Jack to pick up his monster truck piggy bank. When we got there, his truck was sitting on the counter. Well, half of it. I guess it broke in the kiln. We decided to do another one right then and there. Jack was cool with that and we painted a new one. On Saturday night Yvonne and Colton came over and I took Brian out to dinner to the new French restaurant in Ahwatukee. I thought it was really good but I love eating a bunch of appetizers and they had one of my favorites, duck pate. We had a bottle of wine and topped of the night with a dessert. We didn’t even consider going to a movie afterwards because I would just fall asleep. The next morning we went to Wildflower for a father’s day breakfast and of course, played and went to Barnes and Noble. We really need frequent diner cards for that place.

Brian went to Oregon Monday morning for work which was a little dicey since that was Ty’s very first day in the all day preschool. I managed to get both boys there and Ty seemed pretty happy so it turned out to not be such a big deal. I had another dance lesson during lunch that day and learned a new dance for me, West Coast Swing. It’s fun but the beats are different and it may take a while for me to get used to. I actually changed my shirt before going to this class because I am very sweaty when I am done and I don’t like sitting there in my cube all gross for the next 4 – 5 hours. That night I was putting clothes away and left Jack and Ty unattended for a few minutes. During that very short period, they pulled chairs up to the kitchen sink and pulled out the nozzle and managed to flood the whole kitchen, getting water in all the cabinets and drawers and counters… and all over the floor. I really wanted to kill them but instead said NO DORA FOR A WEEK. It took a good half hour to clean it up.

My week at work was crazy and stressful so I was glad that Friday night was the Drinking Club with a Reading Problem. I think most of us, for once, read the book. Not that we talked about it. This is the second book club where the three new babies were in attendance. This is a sharp contrast to me, Jill and Kathleen who were basking in our childless presence and were gleefully plotting our girls’ weekend in Rocky Point for next year with no husbands or children. I guess the honeymoon period for us is over. I remember not wanting to spend a single minute away from Jack. The next book club will be the big Moms Gone Wild pool party and I would be very surprised to see any kids within a mile radius of that party. No parent should subject their child to that.

On Saturday I took Jack and Ty to the Way 2 Play café where you can get food and coffee and stuff and let your kids play. Jack and Ty really like to play on the stuff there but Jack wants to eat every 15 minutes and they don’t want you to bring food in there because you’re supposed to buy it there. So that drives me crazy. I think people there think I am starving my child. Jack: Mom, I’m hungry! Me: Go play! Repeat 12 times over the next 3 hours. Every once in a while I get him a granola bar or apple sauce.

When we got back, they were exhausted and so I put them down for a nap and sat down to watch a little TV. Although Jack decided not take a nap and instead put Vaseline on all his furniture, toys and walls in his room. Nice. I did a little shopping and found a great work top and stumbled on my favorite jeans in a great wash (Joe Jeans The Muse). So of course I bought them. On Sunday it was Ty’s birthday but we didn’t do anything special. I don’t even feel guilty for that because it’s the last time I can get away with it and plus Brian’s mom and sister had a little party for him when they were in Portland. I met Missie and Reagan at Wildflower and did the mall thing. I bought nice puzzles for the boys (from my mother) which they have done about every day since we bought them. They just LOVE doing puzzles and can seem to do them together without killing each other.

Next Installment: Burning My Face for Beauty—the continued quest for post-baby body improvements

Back to Dancing for Real Now

2007-06-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

May is a big month for me with Mother’s Day and my birthday. On the Friday before Mother’s Day, Jack’s preschool had a tea for the moms. They had tea and muffins and brownies and fruit to eat and the kids sang us a song. They were really cute. On Saturday we went to Kierland Commons so that I could get a haircut. Sometimes we go as a family because it’s so nice to walk around. We ate at the News Café and did some shopping after my haircut. That afternoon I took Jack to a birthday party at My Gym or Little Gym… I always get them confused. It was a great little party… I’m always scoping out places for Jack’s birthday because it’s in August and unless you do something in the water, it’s just too hot to have a party outside. After getting back from the party, JenDawg showed up and we went to Nancy’s house in Timbuktu to visit the baby. We had some lovely sangria and enjoyed visiting for a quite a while. When we got back to the house, we had dinner and played with the boys. The next day was Mother’s Day. I had asked to spend half the day with the boys and the other half of the day spending time doing some guilt-free shopping so after spending the morning with the boys, I did some shopping, mostly at Nordstrom Rack. I decided I like Nordstrom Rack more than Nordstrom just because they have a lot of variety but you definitely need a lot more time to spend there. The best part about Mother’s Day is not cleaning the litter boxes.

On Tuesday Brian and I had a date which is a big deal for us. We went to Cheuvont Wine Bar and had pate and appetizers and a bottle of wine. Then we took a taxi to the Dodge Theatre to see Harry Connick, Jr. who is always very good in concert. The next day I went to lunch with a couple of co-workers, one of who was leaving the group and leaving the state. We decided that we should have a “drinking lunch” where we could enjoy some adult beverages. We didn’t do a happy hour because one of the guys is a single dad and hasn’t found a good baby-sitter yet. I only managed to drink 1 ½ mojitos because I had had enough the night before with the wine. The other guys managed to drink a bit more so it was mission accomplished. I found out a friend is pregnant through IVF (Yea, Heather). One egg implanted but it split into identical twins She is freaking out a little. Twins sound great for the first round but maybe not so much for the second round when you have a 2 year old to take care of on top of that. But everyone seems to manage. On Friday I had a consult at a laser place to see what I could do for acne, hyper-pigmentation and broken blood vessels. I opted for a procedure that will leave my face red and peeling for like a week but that should help all three of those things, plus help prevent skin cancer in the future. I had to pick a week when I could work from home so that will be the week of July 4. That night we had book club. We talked about the book a little bit but the three new moms showed up with all their little babies so there was a bit of baby talk going on. Still it was great to see everyone since it had been a couple months since the last book club. All the new moms are doing great and the babies are all very cute. Saturday was my birthday and I had a pretty hard time with my birthday this year. I really didn’t want to be turning 38… it’s getting awfully close to 40 and I don’t feel like I’m almost 40 years old. We took the boys the new play area in Tumbleweed Park that is just awesome because it is mostly shaded. I don’t know why we don’t have a lot more shaded areas in Arizona. They boys played for over 2 hours there before we left and had brunch at Brunchies. In the afternoon I took a dinner over to Jeanette’s and got to see Ava. She is very cute and Jeanette seems to be loving motherhood. That night we met Jill and Gert at La Stalla for dinner. Brian had asked if I wanted a cocktail party or a big going out thing and I decided I didn’t feel up to it. Maybe next year. And then something really big for my 40th! The next day I met JenDawg at Wildflower at 7:30 AM with the boys. She is great with the boys. Afterwards we went to the play area which of course was deserted that early in the morning.

On Wednesday a big group of us from work spent several hours doing volunteer work at St. Mary’s Food Bank. We do these events for “teambuilding” and to be honest I just love doing these volunteer things. I find it fun to work (usually some kind of physical labor) with my co-workers, just because it’s easy to interact with them and have fun when we are busy. I worked on the assembly line making emergency food boxes. They had a big conveyor belt where the first person put on a box, then the next person put in cereal, the next one juice, the next one vegetables, the next one fruit (my job) and so on. Someone stands behind you and feeds you cans of food. It was kind of physically demanding. At some point a tower of applesauce cans fell down on my leg. OUCH. It is now a month later and I still have a nasty bruise on my leg from that. I also had a lot of cuts on my hands from the cardboard boxes. But I still had a great time and would do it again in a second.

Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend we went to a wedding. Actually my last two weddings… I didn’t actually see the wedding part… it was just the reception. Maybe that is a growing trend now. My friend Missie and her husband were there so that was fun but the most fun was dancing. I was surprised how much of the Swing that Brian remembered so we really went for it on the dance floor. It was awesome. It renewed my desire to pursue a hobby of ballroom/Latin and swing dancing. We did other things like go to the zoo and to a new café where the parents can sit and drink coffee while the kids play. I even treated myself to a massage on Monday, my first one since my surgery. It feels weird to lie on my stomach because it feels like I am lying on two firm pillows, which I am. But it didn’t bother me.

The next weekend we went to the same playground in Tumbleweed Park and then went straight to the Kids Fare Expo in Glendale at the Cardinals Stadium. I had no idea what this was… all I knew is that Jack would get to meet Dora. Well, whoever organized it must not be a good organizer because they pretty much had one entrance and a bazillion people who showed up. You had to stand in line for like and hour just to get in. But for those of us who drove all the way there from the east valley felt we had to go through with it. Brian stood in line (no shade outside in the hot blazing sun) while I sat in the shade with the boys. We finally got our tickets and went inside and really it was just a bunch of people who had rented booths to sell their stuff or services. You had to pay extra to do the big bouncy thing. And then they had only one concession stand for all those people but only sold hot dogs and crappy nachos. We finally found Dora and the line was super long but we stood in it. Dora was leaving on her break apparently before it was Jack’s turn, only to be replaced the less desirable SpongeBob, so Brian busted his way up there and Jack was the last person to get his picture taken with Dora. After that, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough and I will never go to one of those again.

Sunday I had breakfast at Wildflower with JenDawg and Pam. We stayed for like 2 hours and it seemed we could keep going but we finally had to go. I swung by Target to buy the latest Michael Buble CD and the Nelly Furtado CD. I think there is a lot of good music out there right now. I bought tickets to see Michael Buble at the Dodge Theatre for July… Yvonne and I are going. Sunday afternoon we went to Ger and Ter’s for Terry’s birthday. I ate so much I could barely stand it. Someone had brought a delicious smoked salmon dip I couldn’t stop eating.

On Monday I finally did something I have been talking about for years. I took a private dance lesson, to be followed by others weekly. My goal initially is to become a good social dancer. This means that you can show up to dances and dance well with anyone who asks you. Yes, there are places you can go to ballroom dance where you dance with a lot of different people like every Friday night. So my goal is to be able to go to one of these and be able to dance any of the dances with anyone who asks me. My favorite dance is the samba so that is what we mostly worked on. I completely underestimated the effort involved in dancing for an hour straight. He didn’t spend much time showing me things… we were pretty much dancing the whole time and we were both sweating profusely. He said I learned more in 1 hour than most people learn in two months of group lessons. That is the benefit of doing private lessons… you can go as fast as you can go and don’t have to worry about anyone else. It felt fantastic and I liked the instructor (my guess is that he is about 16 years younger than me!) I did this during my lunch hour and it took a while for my sweaty clothes to dry and my red face to return back to normal. I will have to think more about how to handle this during my lunch hour without looking to disheveled in the afternoon. I am very excited for my next lesson (Monday!) Maybe you will see me on Dancing with the Stars (for seniors). Ha ha.

Oregon and Florida

2007-05-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

I got home from Vegas around 5 PM on Sunday. I would estimate that in Vegas I got 5 hours of sleep the first night and close to 3 hours the next night. I was shocked I didn't crash on Sunday night. On Tuesday I got up 4 AM which ironically was one hour before the time I went to bed in Vegas. I had to catch the plane to Oregon for a three day meeting for work. Normally we have our meetings at the work site but this time we stayed in Cannon Beach, OR. I am covering for my boss while he is off for 8 weeks and this was a big staff meeting. There are about 10 guys on the staff and one woman. So I am the second woman on staff for the next 8 weeks. I rode from the airport to the beach with the other woman, Julie. We also shared a suite because it was more cost effective. The meeting was pretty boring I must say. Very administrative which is a necessary evil for staffs. After several hours of this, we all went to dinner together and it was OK. I spent time in my room after that preparing for a big presentation to a VP that I had to give over the phone the next morning. That presentation went fine and then the rest of the staff meeting was again, really boring. In a way, I think I still had a Vegas hangover, meaning I went from all that excitement to something very boring. It picked up a little when we all went to this place on the beach and did a little hiking. It was really cold and invigorating. After this little excursion, Julie and I went to a nice restaurant and split appetizers and had wine. The wine got us very relaxed and we joked about meeting up with the guys saying "The Boobies are here!"

Julie did get a call from some of the other guys and they were at a brew pub so we joined them. We got a little silly and said a bunch of things you don't typically say to your co-workers but we were laughing so hard... we decided that we needed to build a bonfire on the beach so three of us went to the liquor store to get a few bottles of wine. We got back to the hotel, rounded up the other people and spent a while on the beach drinking, laughing and being stupid. This may not sound like a big deal but this group had seemed like the biggest group of stuffy nerds ever and our work environment is so politically correct that everyone acts so bland and boring. It was great to see everyone cutting loose and having a great time. The next day at the end of the meeting, one of the guys says "This was the best meeting ever! (referring to getting crazy the night before) and also says, "We DO need more diversity on this staff."

I got back Thursday night and got ready to fly to Florida very early Saturday morning with Jack. Brian and I decided that for trips to visit our respective families, it might be easier for one of us to travel with one of the kids versus all four of us traveling. So this was an experiment for us. This trip was to Port St. Lucie, Florida to visit my 87 year old grandmother. I brought my laptop with extended battery for Jack to watch DVD's. I didn't bring a whole lot else in our carry-ons because that is really all he cares about when we travel. We had a connecting flight in Atlanta and just as we were about to touch the ground in Atlanta, Jack said he had to go potty. Well, everyone knows you cannot get up when the plane is landing so I gave him a bunch of gummy bears to hopefully distract him. It worked for about 2 minutes and then he said he REALLY had to go. By then he had pretty much peed a gallon all over himself and the seat. Since he is potty trained, I hadn't brought any extra clothes for him. I was completely stressed out because I didn't know what he was going to wear and we had a layover and another hour and a half to fly. The flight attendant gave drink tickets to a couple who had a kid in exchange for a diaper. Then she managed to find a men's Hanes white T-shirt. So that is what Jack wore around the airport like a dress. He really didn't seem to care, even though everyone was looking at us very strangely. He even managed to flirt with some 20-something girls in the waiting area by the gate. So on the flight from Atlanta to Port St. Lucie, Jack said he had to go to the bathroom. This time we could get up but he went poop and I didn't realize that the man sized T-shirt was hanging down the back and that got covered in poop. Now I was panicked again because I still had nothing for Jack to wear and he couldn't wear a poop covered shirt. So I ended up putting my zippered hoodie on him. My parents had driven down from South Carolina the week before and took a cruise and picked us up at the airport. We had a 45 minute drive to my grandmother's. On the way down, Jack said he felt sick. Dad didn't pull over in time and Jack puked all over himself and the car seat. I couldn't believe it. At this point, we just took all his clothes off and he rode the rest of the way naked. The air conditioner had gone out in the car so he was warm enough. The moral of the story is to always pack extra clothes for kids, no matter what their age.

We were only at my grandmother's from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday around noon. My grandmother loved seeing Jack and she introduced him to chocolate milk. Jack thought that was pretty cool. We went to the beach one day when it was just gorgeous weather and blue water. But we didn't bring our swimsuits because usually it's cloudy and brown, rough and windy. So we went back the next day with our suits and sure enough, it was cloudy, brown, rough and windy. Oh, well. I did find out that my grandmother, who is very healthy and very slim, lives on Krispy Kreme doughnuts, pie and cookies. I'm contemplating this diet for myself.

We weren't there for long but it was the right amount of time because although Jack was in a pretty mood the whole time, he was a little clingy. I mean, he only saw my grandmother one time when he was 6 months old and then he only sees my parents a couple times a year... I guess it was like being in a house full of strangers to some extent. He didn't like for me to be out of his sight.

I packed just about all his clothes in a carry on for the trip back but of course nothing happened. It was good to get home. Brian is going to attempt a similar trip to Portland with Ty to see his mother. I think a man traveling with a 23 month old by himself will get a lot of positive attention. OK, this gets me to the first of May. More to come.

Vegas Baby

2007-05-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

I last left off around mid-April. On Saturday April 21st, we got a visit from Brian’s Aunt Cathie and Uncle Pete who were in town from Alaska for some kind of car racing. They are really good with the kids so that is a nice diversion. The next day I had my brunch with Missie and was able to do a little bit of shopping before I met Kathleen, Lisa, Pam and a very pregnant Jeanette and Jen at Kona Grill for Kathleen’s birthday. Lisa and I had mojitos that were $9 each which I thought were expensive until I went to Vegas (more later). That afternoon JenDawg came over and we had fajitas outside. Jen seems to like the kids and tolerates their “high energy” behavior pretty well. I spent the whole next week worrying about what I would wear in Vegas on the three day all girls trip there.

I’ve never been to Vegas before which is amazing because I’ve lived in Phoenix for 11 years. Shannon kept saying that we would be staying up all night and doing a lot of walking so I was obsessed about finding some comfortable dressy shoes for Friday night and Saturday night. I was told that I needed a dress for one of the nights so I had bought a dress at Nordstrom Rack with the help of my friend Sarah, a several time Vegas veteran. I had a nice pair of shoes to go with the dress but I wore them to work one day this week and could barely walk in the them so I didn’t have confidence that they would hold up in Vegas. I left work a little early one day to go to DSW and I found some perfect dressy shoes. I selected the brown and black ones because they were so comfortable and when I got to the cashier I realized I didn’t have my wallet. Now I completely freaked out because I instantly thought that someone stole my wallet. I am the worst when it comes to guarding my purse. I will put my purse down gaping open on the floor in DSW and walk down the entire aisle to see if shoes are comfortable. I am too slack and trusting. The thought of getting a new drivers license and all new credit cards 2 days before going to Vegas was enough to just about give me a heart attack. I was already late picking up Jack so I asked them to look out for my wallet and put the shoes on hold and rushed to get Jack. I dropped off Jack at home with Brian and drove back to work, hoping for some reason my wallet was there. I raced into the building and into my cube and there it was sitting on the floor. WHEW!

Later that night I went to Target with Jack where I bought him a Dora suitcase for our upcoming trip to Florida and went to DSW to buy those shoes.

On Friday morning I got up super early, got ready, threw my suitcase in the car and went to pick up Tracy and Shannon. Shannon brought a giant suitcase which of course we teased her about. We drove to Annette’s and Todd then drove us to the airport. The flight to Vegas was uneventful and we rode the shuttle bus to the Mandalay Bay. We met up with Annette’s sister Michelle and her friend Ann when we got there. We first went to the Venetian for some shopping and had lunch there.

Kelly and Annette at Lunch

Posing in Front of the The Blue Man Group

Then we went to Caesar’s Palace for some more shopping. Caesar’s Palace had the really nice shops like Louis Vitton and Juicy Couture. I bought one top. After walking around all day, we ended up at a bar. I wandered around the casino while the girls smoked. I couldn’t believe all the different types of slot machines. It was finally time to head back to the Mandalay Bay to check in. The rooms were nice and I shared a room with Shannon and Tracy. We spent time getting ready to go out that night and I decided to wear my extreme push up bra because well, it was Vegas.

The Girls Friday Night

A Couple Hours Later

We went to the Rum Jungle first and this was my first exposure to how expensive the drinks were relative to the size. I ordered a mojito and it was $13 for a tiny tumbler of it. Very disappointing. I was eager to gamble but the girls weren’t too interested in it so they went to the next bar while I tried to find a less than $15 minimum bid black jack table. I had no luck so I found the girls at the bar drinking $10 drinks that were even smaller than the first place. At 11 PM we went to dinner at a Mexican place where I had a big Tecate and some ceviche. After dinner we went to a lounge called the Foundation Room at the top of the Mandalay Bay. I just wasn’t really quite feeling the whole Vegas thing yet and was a little bored. So I went out on the terrace which had an amazing view of the strip. I started talking to a local named Joan. Joan decided that I needed to flirt and called over this guy and made up a story about us being sisters and a bunch of other crap but I ended up talking to this guy (also a local) for a long time and he bought me drinks and was attentive so that made me feel good. Shannon and I believe that you should not be buying your own drinks in Vegas! Meanwhile, this guy David had all his friends there and they were being drunk and rowdy and kept Tracy, Shannon and Annette entertained. It kept me entertained to watch all of this going on. All the girls went back to the room and I stayed with Shannon until we were kicked out of the lounge around 3 AM. We hung out at the casino for a while, again looking for a cheaper black jack table, but no luck. So Shannon and I went to bed around 3:30 AM. We woke up around 9 AM the next day and lay in bed laughing about the night before. I had a bunch of details written but I’ve decided that that I need to adhere to the “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” rule. After the complete review of the previous night, I went down and got Starbucks for everyone and then we got ready to go to the pool.

We get down to the “beach” area and there are a thousand bodies and no chairs. Yikes. And no shade in sight. We ate lunch there and fortunately found a smaller pool. The girls laid out in the direct sun and I found some shade to hang out in. It was awesome just vegging out without a care in the world—no kids to feed, no work to be done, no laundry taunting me. It was heaven. After we get back to the room, we got ready for the night thinking we should start earlier than we did the last night.

Kelly Pre Funking (Drinking) Before Going Out

Kelly and Tracy Ready to Go

Kelly and Shannon Ready to Go

We had a little party in the room for Stephanie, who the trip was in honor of—her 40th birthday—complete with cake and vodka/tonics. After the party we headed to the Hard Rock Café where Stephanie and her friend Nicole went to a concert and we ate at the Pink Taco. By this time, I had gotten pretty disinterested in eating which is a side effect of Vegas. After eating and having a martini, Shannon and I tried our hand at a black jack table. I was out $75 in 7 minutes with the $15 minimum bid. The dealer got 20 and 21 all 5 hands. That really sucked. We played some slots after that and then found a bar to hang out in to wait for Stephanie and Nicole. We ended up at a lounge at the Wynn, maybe around 11 PM… and I went to bed at 5 AM. So yes, 6 hours of details are missing… but that stays in Vegas. Ha ha.

The Taxi Line at 3 AM

Even after going to bed so late, we still woke up at 9 AM and did another post-mortem. On my way up the elevator with the coffee, a woman goes, Hey weren’t you in the elevator at 5 AM? We checked out and did a little more shopping and walking around and then got our luggage and headed to the airport. I still felt pretty good even after getting just about no sleep. Then when I got home, I felt like I was so ready to see Brian and the boys but then the boys were all over me the second I got home and it was really overwhelming. I decided you cannot go from a place like Vegas where reality is suspended and then come right back into reality where you left off without going into shock. What I loved about Vegas was just the opportunity to be Kelly and not a wife, a mom, an employee and to flirt and feel attractive. Everyone is so friendly in Vegas…everyone is there to have a great time. And they do. So it was a little shocking to immediately get back to wife and mom. But I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it because I had to work the next day and then head to Oregon for three days…

Get Off Your Butts

2007-04-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Volleyball started up again the last week of March. I play fours in the sand courts outside of work. We really have a fun time together. We are competitive and laid back most of the time but sometimes we play against teams that are really arrogant and that annoys us—then we get kind of feisty. I mean, it’s not like we are playing the Championship of the Universe. You can play competitively and still be nice. I had a happy hour to go to on Friday night but I decided I would rather spend the time with Brian and the kids so we went to ZTejas. I don’t know if it’s work stress or what but I definitely want to drink more often. I wanted to try something new so I ordered a mojito. This is almost like a Tom Collins or Mint Julep—it was yummy and refreshing and I would like for Brian to add this to his repertoire of drinks. He bought some rum and mint plants last night.

The next day we went to a birthday party in one of those places where they have giant inflatables inside a big room. I had to go on everything because Jack was a little timid at first but after a few trips down the big slide, he got confident and so I could rest—I was getting tired and sweaty! Brian, on the other hand, had to take Ty up and down all the stairs and slides and so he was getting a really good workout.

We’ve gotten into the pattern of getting out and doing something with the boys every weekend morning. We went to the Tempe Art Festival with the boys. After all these years I still don’t get tired of going to this… although I do move through the booths very quickly. I saw a booth for the marble rings that Tracy, Annette, Shannon and I all own. Apparently they make necklaces and earrings too. Brian bought a hummingbird feeder but that’s about it.

Most of the time I avoid talking about work in this blog. First of all it’s boring for other people to read but also this is a public blog so I should be careful about what I say. But I don’t think what I agonize about is unique to me and my company by any means. I tend to be passionate and driven at work and made a fairly quick ascension since working here. I’ve plateaued in the past 3 ½ years that I have been having babies. I’m actually OK with this for now because my priority is my kids and with my current job, I really do not have to work much overtime and don’t have to travel much. The problem is that there is a part of me that yearns to take on more responsibility… I mean, if I think I am well qualified, it’s a little hard to watch someone less qualified take on positions and even potentially become my boss. Especially if I think they are incompetent. So I am in a bit of a conundrum. And this is another reason that drinking more seems like a good idea. Ha ha. Brian traveled for a couple days this week. That always increases my stress. On Wednesday I wanted to go to a parenting seminar at the YMCA so I had to get a babysitter since Brian was gone. The seminar was good—it was given by Jack’s preschool director who had a lot of good ideas. She had 6 kids herself and has been in elementary education for 30 years. Jack started swimming lessons this same week so I had get Ty and take him to Jack’s swimming lesson. It wasn’t so bad. Jack LOVES swimming lessons this time around. He has a huge smile on his face the whole time. That makes me happy.

We had another birthday party the next Saturday in one of those place with the big inflatables so I came well prepared in workout clothes. Unfortunately I got chafed going down the big slide (like a bad rug burn). Of course, none of the kids got hurt. After the birthday party I took a couple meals to Kathleen’s house for delivery to the two preggo’s in “Egypt”. OK, east Mesa but it seems like a long way away. I ran into Jeanette there and we ended staying about an hour. We also got to see Marion briefly as she dropped off a meal. Then we helped Kathleen load up her car with all the meals. The idea is that the meals can be frozen and used after the babies comes.

The next day was Easter which is an interesting day for me. I was a Christian growing up and still consider myself a Christian even though I don’t go to church. However, growing up our church did not observe Easter because it originated as a pagan holiday. I cannot seem to get past that, just like I cannot eat pork. It’s emotional baggage. I will probably never recognize Easter as a religious holiday for that reason. So the truth is that we have no Easter traditions. I’m OK with the secular/traditional element of the Easter egg hunt. That seems like a fun kid thing. So that’s why we went to Encanto Park for their big Easter egg hunt. Us and about 1,000,000 Hispanic people. The instructions for the hunt were in Spanish and the Spanish speaking radio station was broadcasting. It really was quite the mob scene. Cross that off our list of possible traditions. We decided to stick with opening presents from Gramma in front of the web cam (which we did Easter morning) and then will do an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. And that will be it for us.

Friday after work I went to a co-worker’s going away party at Teakwood’s. Teakwood’s really does have the best burgers and steak fries. And I’m not a burger and fries kind of gal. I left around 6:30 and met up Brian and boys at Wildflower. We went to the play area in front of Barnes and Nobles where the kids were wild and crazy. After that, Brian took Ty home and I went to the Discovery Store where Jack and I looked at our favorite toy there: a clear ball filled with fake worms. It’s really gross but for some reason I love it. One day I will actually buy it. I bought a jade necklace there since I love green jewelry and it was all 50% off.

The next day we went to IKEA for breakfast and walked around through the store. We bought a second “high” chair since Jack and Ty fight over Jack’s chair. It’s really like a bar stool but for the table, so no more high chairs or booster seats in our house. Saturday night Brian went to the George Thorogood concert. I went to my first George Thorogood concert when I was 18 years old. That was 20 years ago. He is the best performer I have ever seen. (For those of you who are scratching your heads wondering what he sings… “Bad to the Bone” and “I Drink Alone” and “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer”.) Every single concert I’ve been to see him has been a small venue, with no seats and lots of beer. Everyone stands and dances and hangs out. So I was looking forward to this concert because it’s been about 9 years since I had seen him. It was a disappointment! Don’t get me wrong… George was great, as usual. But the problem was that everyone sat in their seats like we were at the symphony! Brian and I stood up for a couple songs but everyone around us was just sitting. I was completely baffled. We ended up moving to an area where we could stand up for the rest of the concert. If anyone has any ideas why people would be sitting through someone like George Thorogood, please let me know. It’s not like he has any ballads. Brian said, “Well the crowd is older.” Does that mean that you no longer have the use of your legs? Has your rhythm been sucked out of you? Are we that out of shape in America that we cannot stand for an hour and a half concert? I mean, George has to be in his 60’s now and he wasn’t sitting on stool—he was all over the place. I have to believe that he likes to have people standing, clapping, singing, moving… ARRGGHH.

I watched the “Sound of Music” over the course of the week. Our nanny had recorded it and so I watched it little by little through the week. I’ve seen that move about 100 times and it was still good. Although as an adult, the romance part of it was more interesting than when I was a kid and the resistance to the Nazi’s was also more interesting. But I wonder if this movie is like “Star Wars” where if you saw it as a kid, you love it as an adult but if you saw it for the first time today, you would think it was really bad.

Sunday we did a lot of chores. Gert and Jill came over with Connor and Luke for dinner. We ate fajitas and it was such a nice evening that we ate outside. The boys played well together. After they left and the boys went to bed, I sewed a button on a pair of pants and repaired a hole in Jack’s sock. I think the official term is that I “darned his sock”. That made me feel very domestic.

March

2007-03-29T11:36:00.001-07:00

I wonder if anyone still reads this blog since I update it so infrequently. My last post showed the Manicure and Martini charity event (on March 2) which was so much fun that I will definitely do it again next year. The rest of that weekend was a blur—we went to the Farm with Jill, Joe and family and Kim and the kids, and Pam and Murray. It was a beautiful day and the kids ran around and had fun. That night we had dinner with our friends Liz and Inigo from Washington, DC, plus Jill and Gert and another couple. I enjoyed catching up with Liz but the acoustics aren’t that great at Z’Tejas and so it was hard to hear others. I had my favorite restaurant dessert, the Ancho Chili Pie. J The next day was Jeannette’s shower. Brian ended up making the cheese tray that we contributed to the cause. It was a nice shower and they served coffee with the cake. I’ve decided that baby showers should always have coffee served with the cake and that makes my baby shower experience complete and satisfying. Ha ha. Either that or a stiff drink. I did win the baby shower Mad Lib game. Nicki and I used to do Mad Libs all the time and would come up with the most “out there” words. We never used nouns like “chair” or “table”. I had to apply the same philosophy to the baby shower game.

The next two weekends were kind of repeats. We went to the Desert Breeze Train Park with the kids and met Jill and Gert and their kids there. The next week I met my friend from Oregon there. We met through work and she was down here with her husband and her daughter for vacation and spring training. Then it was time for Jen’s baby shower. Since it was in Glendale, we carpooled so the trip wasn’t too bad. I won yet another baby shower game by guessing the baby food flavors, including the tie breaker “chicken pasta”. There was no coffee but there were petit fours which were yummy and addictive. The coffee would have probably put me over the edge into a state of ecstasy.

Last weekend I had ‘the girls’ over for cosmos and Sex and the City shows. There was more chatting, drinking and eating than TV watching but that is OK. No one got too silly, unfortunately. We went to the Salsa Challenge the next day and I ate a ton of chips and salsa. I was so stuffed. But most of it was really yummy. The next night Brian went to a Peacemakers concert with Pam and Murray. I didn’t go because I don’t necessarily enjoy the crowds and late night that go along with a concert but I make exceptions every now and then. I saw “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Orpheum at Sunday night. That originally came out in 1970 but it was one of the better musicals I’ve seen. The guy who played Jesus was the guy who was in the Broadway show which means Jesus was more like 60 years old than 30 years old. That was weird.

Monday night I went to Lifetime as Shannon’s guess for a salsa dancing class. I thought we were going to be learning how to do the salsa but the class was a fitness class where we did the salsa, cha-cha-cha and samba very fast for a whole hour. My body was in shock but it went fast and it was fun. I would do it again but I won’t be joining Lifetime anytime soon. Maybe I will go as a guest again.

I was talking to Jack’s preschool director about what to expect when he goes to kindergarten and she asked when his birthday was. It’s August 26 and he is still only 3 1/2. She said even though September 1 is the cut off, that we should hold him back. Not academically but for social reasons. Frankly I was shocked that she said that because it never occurred to me to hold him back if he makes the cut off so now I am obsessing about this and he’s still only 3 years old. I think the best I can do is just continue to watch how he does. Fortunately I don’t have to make any decisions about this any time soon.

We learned yesterday that my dad has melanoma. My dad is the healthiest guy I have ever known (he’s a vegan, has exercised for an hour a day every day his whole life, etc.). I am really hoping it’s the early stages but I’m also very worried. It sucks.

Manicures and Martinis

2007-03-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

On Friday March 2, my friend Ger held a charity event called Manicures and Martini's. For $50, we got a manicure and/or pedicure and a martini. Brian, Joe and Terry served up to the drinks to what seemed like about 100 women. I was thinking there would only be one drink served but they seemed to keep coming. Kim, Jeanette, Jill, Pam and Nancy were all there.

Kim in the pedicure chair

Fancy Nancy

Pam with her martini

Jill stuffing her face

Jill getting her manicure

Joe being Joe

Kelly looking very serious about her drink

Kim enjoying her drink

Terry, Joe, and Brian--the Bartenders.

Brian and Kelly
Deb and Ger
Jeanette

The Neutered Dad

2007-03-02T10:14:00.001-07:00

There’s a new type of dad out there. JenDawg and I came up with a term for it that I forget now but it was something like “The Neutered Dad”. My discovery of this kind of dad started at IKEA at a couple months ago. I heard a higher pitched male voice softly say, with a little whininess and pleading to it… “Now let’s not do that Madeline.” My head whipped around to see a man who clearly was the girl’s father. I shuddered. I noticed him a couple more times, the softness of his voice, the pleading sound… usually reserved for mothers. I observed another man like this on the playground the other day and then another one at the mall a couple weeks ago. I am all for men who are equal with the parenting duties. 9 times out of 10, Brian is the one who changes Ty’s diaper when we are out and about. He knows as much about their eating habits as I do and packs Jack’s lunch everyday. So I am definitely all for that kind of equality. But I still believe a man needs to be a man. I’m not saying that a guy has to yell at his kids and be mean but let’s at least use a “big boy” voice. Has anyone else seen these kinds of dads?

Valentine’s Day was a non-event for us. I’m sure I mentioned this last year but I am just not into the holiday. I have zero interest in going to an overpriced restaurant or Brian buying me overpriced flowers. I don’t want to knock the people who enjoy this holiday. It’s just not for my overly practical self. I do like helping Jack with his school valentines but otherwise, I’m a scrooge. Plus our anniversary is just 2 weeks later which is much more meaningful to us than a random day on the calendar.

Book club was in east Mesa so all the Chandler women met at Jeanette’s to ride together. At our last book club we all brought food and we didn’t have much wine so this time most of us brought drinks and no food but Jen had a nice spread for us. There was the normal amount of baby talk since two of the pregnant members were there but we got to talk about wedding stuff too when Pam showed up. She is getting married in October. Jen had photos of her son Spencer around the house. Spencer died of SIDS about one year ago. I think he was about 4 months. I get teary eyed just thinking about losing a child—just looking at the photos made me very sad.

The next day I went to get my hair cut and Brian and boys came with me to Kierland Commons. We had lunch and walked around. It was a gorgeous day. After the kids nap we went to Jeepers, an indoor play area that someone recommended. I am not sure I will go there again. I’m sure the expression on our faces when we walked in was priceless. The place just seemed dirty and chaotic. After acclimating for a few minutes, we ended up having a good time. There were rides inside that were appropriate for Jack’s age. Plus games and big climbing structure that Ty loved.

On Sunday I don’t have much recollection of what we did but that evening, Brian and I went to an early anniversary evening by going to the Chevont Wine Bar where we had goose and duck pate (one of my favorite dishes) and then wine flights paired with unique cheeses. This place was just perfect for us. I am not a big fan of fancy dinners with a big meat entrée. After my flight with cheese, I had a really nice salad. I wanted to order dessert even though I was stuffed but they were out of the dessert I wanted, so I skipped it. After dinner we went to the AZ Science Center to see BodyWorlds. This is the exhibit of real humans who have been plastinated. You can see all the bones and muscles and even skin and organs of real people who donated their bodies to this cause. The bodies are in positions like a man jumping a hurdle. We showed up at 8 PM and they closed at 9 PM. Turns out during the day people waited in line for like 3 hours so we picked a really good time to go. We had to move through quickly but I would rather do that than deal with hundreds of people around me. It was like a private showing. We had the next day, President’s Day, off so I went to the dentist in the morning. Afterwards I met Brian and Jack at Wildflower for breakfast (Jack was at school). Later that afternoon, I went to Dr. Spies office where a woman in his office gave me a free facial (for giving him referrals). She scraped my face with a scalpel to get all the dead skin cells off and then did some of peel. Then she did extractions. I was definitely pink when I left but I definitely felt exfoliated!

Later that week, I met Mike at Four Peaks for our “Bitch Session”. For some reason we got on the topic of Ding Dongs, one of the Hostess products like a Twinkie. I claimed I would never buy a Ding Dong for my kids and Mike said that was un-American. I think all of the Hostess products are horrible and I don’t see any reason to actually purchase them and bring them into your house. Mike doesn’t think a diet of crap like this contributes to childhood obesity—only that TV and video games do. I think diet plays a huge role in it, in addition to the sedentary lifestyle. We also talked about his plan to smoke a cigarette on his 1 year anniversary of quitting smoking. I definitely think he should not. I mean, why tempt yourself after going through a whole year of not smoking? He seems to be set in his decision so we will see.

On Friday night we went to dinner at Firebirds where the boys were well behaved. We’ve pretty much consistently gone out to eat once a week with the boys. There have definitely been dinners out where we really think hard about never going out to eat with them again but I feel strongly that they should be able to sit through a dinner out, so we have persevered. Of course, with our kids, a cookie at the end of the dinner is the ultimate reward so they have something to work for. We went to the mall afterwards and did our usual rounds to Pottery Barn Kids where Jack went potty three times (he always goes potty three times when we are there… I have no idea why) and then the play area outside Barnes and Noble. On Saturday morning I met Missie at the Train Park with both kids. We were there for almost three hours. It’s quite a workout for me because I need to chase Ty up the play structure every time he goes up there. I am looking forward to Ty being a couple months older where I can sit below the play structure and just track him. I didn’t get to socialize too much but we had a good time on the train and the other little rides. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the pot luck that we threw for Kim and Jonny. I wanted everyone to sit around the table together because then you don’t feel like you are missing out on socializing with the guests of honor. So we got 10 chairs around the table and Brian said that he would kind of float around. Everyone came and brought great food and Brian made salmon on the grill that was delicious. When we gathered around the dining room table we realized that we were actually short 3 – 4 chairs (I had grossly miscounted the number of people). With 4 of us sharing 3 chairs between us and bringing in some old cruddy chairs from the garage, we were able to squeeze in everyone. It was totally worth it though because I laughed throughout the whole dinner. Everyone was being very funny. Most people left by 10:30 but Jen, Kim and Jonny stayed another hour and we got to catch up some more. It was a really fun, laid back evening and I loved that it was a pot luck so Brian and I didn’t have to spend the whole day toiling over the meal (and we did paper plates to make the cleanup super easy!)

The next day was Nancy’s baby shower. I’m not the biggest fan of baby showers but recognize and appreciate their purpose in life. For me it’s all about the food. There was a nice Mexican shrimp cocktail/ceviche type dish. All I could think about during the present opening portion of the shower was how glad I was that I didn’t have to use any of that stuff anymore. Part of me wonders if I had an out of body experience for the past 3 ½ years because I’m not sure how I got through those early years. At the last book club we were talking about mothers and mother-in-laws who really like babies and then those that aren’t so keen on them and then Tracy says… Hey Kelly isn’t that into babies. She is right. My favorite things about having kids: 1) having a conversation with them 2) getting hugs and kisses and 3) having them sit on my lap while I read books to them. You can’t do these things with a 3 month old. They just sit there. Or cry. So sue me. On Sunday night I was supposed to see “On Golden Pond” at the Orpheum but Tami called to say she wasn’t going and that she heard it was “long and boring”. The last thing I saw that long and boring was Oklahoma! And that was horrendous. So I decided to stay home at watch the Oscars. But it ran long and I was watching on TiVo so I missed all the good awards at the end. I hate that.

JennDawg Back in Town

2007-02-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

I took Jack to see Disney on Ice at the US Airways arena. This was the first big production that we took him to. I was worried that he would lose interest after 15 minutes and that I would be bored myself but Jack was mesmerized the whole time. He truly believed that he had helped saved Mickey Mouse from that bad guy from the “The Incredibles.” I was mildly entertained myself so I would say it was big success. I would definitely take him to another one. Poor Jack was the only kid who didn’t have any concessions or $20 toys but I have a pretty easy time saying “no” to a box of $7 stale popcorn. Instead Jack ate almonds and Starbucks mints out of my purse. After the show, Jack and I walked several blocks through downtown to get to the Arizona Center where we met up with Brian and Ty at the Greek restaurant. It was a beautiful night and we ate outside by the fountains. There were lots of shows and activities downtown so it was bustling and exciting and full of energy. We had a really great time.

On Sunday Brian and Joe brought over Joe’s old wine cooler that holds over 200 bottles. Brian bought it from Joe since Joe is moving to Tucson and was selling a few things. We are storing many bottles of wine for Joe. I won’t even hazard a guess as to the value of the wine sitting in that refrigerator but I will guess it’s pretty hefty. Around 4 PM we got our first visit from JennDawg, who moved back to Arizona from Illinois. So many people move away from here but just about none move back. Brian made lamb shanks for the occasion. It’s great to have her back. I guess “Cacti to Cornfields” will be called “Cacti to Cornfields to Cacti” now.

On Monday I started a 9 day cleanse. I have friends who have done a 10 day cleanse where all they do is drink water mixed with maple syrup, cayenne pepper and lemon juice. I don’t think I have the willpower to do that. The cleanse I did is from Isagenix: http://brianstinson.isagenix.com/

With this cleanse, you do 2 cleanse days where you eat very little but are flushing your body full of nutrients and then you do 5 days where you have 2 shakes and a healthy meal and then you finish with 2 more cleanse days. Most people lose quite a bit of weight and inches. I was hoping for more energy and better skin. Maybe in hindsight it wasn’t that smart to do all four of the cleanse days on work days. I was pretty sleepy and cranky and when I went to a conference room for a meeting during lunch on the second cleanse day, a guy had a box of steaming, freshly made French fries that smelled amazing. That was torturous. And to top off the end of the first day, I had a meeting at 9 PM that went until 10:30 that was very contentious. Brian said he heard me yelling all the way down the hallway. I think the hardest thing about the cleanse was giving up coffee, feeling sleepy during the day and not being able to really do much about that and feeling mentally dull. The last two cleanse days were really hard and I was extremely cranky on that last day. I had all these grandiose plans of eating all this food the next day but when it came down to it, I didn’t. I’m glad I did it. I lost 1 ½ to 2 inches off my stomach and a few pounds but mostly I am excited about having energy throughout the day without drinking coffee and being able to do things with the kids after work. The other really odd thing that happened is I got a lot more flexible in Pilates. I wasn’t expecting that.

Friday night Brian had a friend in town from Seattle (he schmoozes alumni to get them to contribute money to the University of Washington business school) and he spent the night. Burrito (a nickname for Brian’s fraternity brother and now pediatric ICU doctor) came over as well. I like to grill the guys on their love lives and was able to pump a lot of good information from them but then got really sleepy and had to go to bed (I was still doing the cleanse). The next day we went to Makutu’s Island which is a big indoor play area for the kids. I think it’s geared for kids a little older than Jack and Ty but we still had a lot of fun. Brian and I got a big workout because we had to follow them around throughout the whole playground. I was really sweating. Sunday was the Superbowl but I didn’t have time to watch it. I had to get the boys ready for bed and then I headed out to the Orpheum to see “Legends” with Joan Collins and Linda Evans. The show was funny—I enjoyed it. This was followed by a hideous week of work. But Brian and I made time to go to Postino’s for lunch on Friday (we almost never eat out for lunch, never with each other and instead, eat at our desks while slaving away so this was a big treat).

Friday night we did our trip to the mall after work. Jen joined us at Wildflower and told us her single stories which are always entertaining. She did confirm a question that I had in one of my earlier blogs: A leopard does NOT really change his spots. She joined our normal routine of going to the book store. I read Jack books and then I went to get tea and Jen read Jack a few books. I was entertained by the storytelling until Jack kicked over my big cup of hot tea right there in the bookstore. I helped the store employee clean it up. I felt bad but the employee was grateful that I confessed to my mess—I guess usually people just leave with a huge mess sitting there. After a few more books, we left to find Brian and Ty and found them at the play area outside the book store. Jen got to experience the stress of watching 2 kids in that play area—it’s a constant effort to keep both kids in your field of vision. Jack and I were still wide awake so Brian and Ty went home and we went for ice cream cones. It was almost 9 PM (Jack’s bed time is 8 PM!) so we left but stumbled into Hallmark where they had all these cards that played music and quotes from movies. We had a good laugh over those cards and finally we went home. It was fun. On Saturday I met Jill M and Connor at the train park with Jack. The boys played together OK—not great. But I got some good social time with Jill M. Last night Brian and I went to Lisa’s husband’s birthday party. It was a fun party with margaritas and Mexican food but I was in an introverted mood and mingling seemed like work. I hate it when I feel blah like that. Jill and Joe B were there but otherwise we didn’t know anyone. This morning I met Missie for brunch and then we went to Nordstrom Rack. I tried on a bunch of nicer tops for going out and they all look a million times better with my new chest. Right now it’s raining and we have all the windows open. The weather has been really amazing lately.

Oh, Brian got a new car. His Rav4 was over 10 years old and I really wanted something with upgraded safety features for the kids. We were pretty sure we wanted an Acura and the MDX seemed like a good idea because it had the third row seat so we could actually take one car when have two visitors. I struggle with the gas mileage and being a good citizen about that but the truth is that we have very short commutes and his 10 year old car only had 60K miles on it. Brian was looking at used to 2006 Acura MDX’s but I encouraged him to look at the 2007 and get exactly what he wanted in a car. I think it’s worth it when you keep your cars for 10 years so we found the car we wanted and they had the exact configuration and color on the lot and so we bought it. We didn’t trade in the Rav4 and I was anxious about selling the car, just because it can be a pain in the butt, but a couple days after putting an ad into some auto-trader web site, a woman came to see the car and bought it. So that was that.

January!

2007-01-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Kathleen had her baby, Mia Evangeline, early this month. Her labor and delivery with her first daughter, Kate, had been very easy so she was expecting a comparable labor and delivery. She had to be induced and then there were many events, some that in hindsight seemed avoidable, that led up to C-section. Kathleen was not prepared for that. I can see going in for your first delivery knowing a C-section was a possibility but for your second… I know for mine I expected one just like the first, and it was. Kathleen was very upset about it and said it was a lot more difficult than a vaginal birth. Jill and I went to the hospital to visit Kathleen on the Saturday after she was born and she was her usual feisty self. Mia is cute with a full head of black hair. Jeanette was already there (Jeanette, in her late 30’s, is expecting her first baby). Tracy showed up a few minutes later so we ended up having a little party in Kathleen’s hospital room.

The next day I met my friend Missie for brunch at the mall. She is breastfeeding and so she was wearing a bra without much support (underwire causes clogged ducts). I introduced her to the no-underwire bras at Victoria’s Secret that I love. I discovered them while I was breastfeeding Ty and wore them after I weaned him and now post surgery. I am anti-underwire and believe you should be able to get ample support without wires with a well constructed, structured bra. Missie looked fantastic in the new bra. She poked and prodded my new breasts in the Banana Republic dressing room, something I have gotten used to lately (being poked and prodded!) I asked her what she was going to tell her husband about them when she got home. She said, I’m going to tell him to start saving his money!

The next Friday I dropped off dinner for Kathleen. She was doing well but had found out her incision was infected. Poor Kathleen! On Saturday I reluctantly went to a home show of food products but was pleasantly surprised by their beer bread and dips, so I bought several boxes. I hope the book club likes them because I will probably just bring beer bread for the next few months. Brian, Jack and Ty loved it too. That night I went to a white elephant party—a party where you brought your worst Christmas present. I really didn’t have any terrible presents but I do have too many bath and lotion products that have been given to me over the years. There was a gold clock, a cardinal bath set with soap dispenser and tiny decorative towel, and a hideous ceramic holder that had NUTS emblazoned on the side. I came home with a horrible bath set (brand called “Dirty Girl”) with a scent so horrible I wonder if it could be used in lieu of bug spray.

Work has become very stressful and difficult. I tend to think about it a lot at home and on the weekend. I hate that. This is one of my new year’s resolutions… to get back to compartmentalizing work and stress at work. Life is too short otherwise. But after a terrible week, it was Annette G’s birthday on Friday night. The girls went to Roy’s for martinis for about an hour and half and the guys were supposed to meet up with us after that. Annette introduced to me to her sister and friends as Kelly—“she just got a boob job”. Good thing it wasn’t a huge secret. I got rave reviews for my new cleavage and got poked and prodded again. Lots of pictures were taken but I haven’t seen any of them yet. If I get some sent to me, I will be sure to post them. The guys met up with us and around 9:30 went to a very crowded piano bar where Annette was pulled on stage. She didn’t seem too embarrassed that they were giving her a hard time. Some of the group went to Denny’s afterwards but we went home because I was exhausted. I woke up with a hangover the next day and after taking Advil and a short morning nap, I managed to get to Connor’s 3rd birthday party. The kids had a good time and I felt a ton better after eating. On Sunday, Kathleen’s sister, Andrea, came over to check me out (and do some poking and prodding). She had a lift and augmentation scheduled with Dr. Spies on Tuesday and so wanted to finalize on the size she wanted to be. Andrea is a triathlete and very tiny but had one child, then triplets and then another child. Obviously she is very strong and resilient woman. I can’t wait to see her results.

I went back to exercising this week. I did a couple minutes on the ROM one day and 3 minutes the other day. This just about killed me. I did Pilates twice. One of the Pilates classes is at work and when I showed up, my fellow classmates (who I have been exercising with for years) said, Oh, I haven’t see you in a while. Since we have seen each other naked for several years, I ‘fessed up to the surgery. I think they were surprised initially but then started asking me a ton of questions and saying what they wanted done. I’m pretty sore after the two classes after not doing it for 5 weeks but it feels good to be back into exercising.

This week I met up with a work friend from out of town, Eric. He was my HR rep years ago and we became friends. I’ve met his wife a few times—once they came here together for a vacation and other times I have seen her on a business trip. He would like his wife to get some enhancement surgery but knows that as a man and faithful husband, you just can’t bring this up. He admired the post-surgery results and declared Brian “a lucky man”. But mostly I got a chance to bitch about work and since he works with my senior management, he can understand.

On Friday I had another post-op with Dr. Spies. I ran into a friend in the waiting room who wants to get an upper and lower eyelid lift. She said she was definitely going to schedule with him. I think she will look fantastic. She is only in her early 40’s and so looks much older because of her eyes. Dr. Spies’ assistant started to tease me because I had referred Andrea who had her surgery earlier this week and then Jill B and my other friend had their consultations that day. Dr. Spies said, How do you know all these people? I said, I know a lot of people who want their post-baby tune-ups. He said he really appreciated the referrals. Everything is looking good and I go back in 6 months. Dr. Spies and his office are really great. He is very personable. Jill sounds like she is scheduling her surgery for April. Friday night I went to the YMCA for a family night with Brian, Jack and Ty. They had chili and games for the kids. I left early to go to book club. Kathleen was drinking again and was in good spirits despite the fact that after everything she has been through, now her incision opened up and they have to pack it daily. What a nightmare. With three women pregnant (2 for the first time), conversations center around pregnancy and breastfeeding a lot. We have all shared the same ob/gyn and now the same plastic surgeon. Tracy was doing a cleanse and so had low energy and was not drinking so she wasn’t her usual self. I am going to start the cleanse that Brian did on Monday starting with a precleanse this weekend to make sure I am not going to go through caffeine withdrawal too badly.

Before and After

2007-01-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here is me before:

Here is me "after":

Sorry I am not up to posting photos of myself completely naked!

2 Weeks Later

2007-01-05T11:10:00.001-07:00

I took the whole week after Christmas off from work to continue my recovery. Our nanny took the day off on the Tuesday after Christmas and I assured Brian that could handle caring for Ty without him. What a big mistake. I think I really set myself back on my recovery by lifting my 27 pound 18 month old all day. I was in so much pain by the end of the day! On Wednesday we had our nanny which was a huge relief. I had to get out of the house so I called Yvonne and she met me for lunch. It’s funny because I don’t remember any pain during lunch but we were talking so much and having a good time that it was a good distraction. Afterwards, we walked around the mall and looked at some Victoria’s Secret bras but I didn’t feel like trying anything on yet. That night, Brian and I took the kids back to the mall for Rubio’s and then Jack and I hung out at the book store while Ty played in the kids’ area.

I had my second post-op on Friday. They took off the surgical tape and removed any leftover stitches. I was still pretty uncomfortable with the pain but the doctor confirmed that all the aches and pains were normal. He said I could start taking ibuprofen. He told me to start rubbing Vitamin E on the incisions at 3 weeks post op and then the massage 4 weeks post op. Afterwards, I met Jill M for lunch at Olive and Ivy, a new restaurant by Scottsdale Fashion Square. I had a very interesting dish with a very nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Afterwards I went to Victoria’s Secret where I was measured as a 35 which meant I could wear a 36C/34D. I went with the 36C since I wanted the band to be wider. The place was crazy and it took me 20 minutes of standing in line to pay for the bras. There were so many pre-teens there buying underwear, I couldn’t believe it. I think if you’re a pre-teen, maybe even a teen-ager, you should be getting your underwear at Target. Of course, a lot of them had Coach purses but we are talking about Scottsdale. Friday evening we went back to the mall to eat at CPK and hang out.

On Saturday Yvonne came over with Colton to watch the kids for a while and Brian and I went out to a nice restaurant called Roaring Fork. I actually wore a shirt that showed some cleavage so Brian liked that. Even when I had cleavage (pre-kids) I never showed it. I guess I am modest. Maybe that will change, maybe not. We had a bunch of appetizers and a bottle of petite syrah. For New Year’s Eve, Deb and Joe, Ger and Ter, and Mike and Katherine came over for a really nice dinner and later in the evening, they all went to a bar to hear a band. I didn’t really want to go out, plus we didn’t have a baby-sitter, so it worked out well.

We went to the zoo on New Year’s Day and that was a nice trip for the boys. Then back to work on Tuesday. I wondered if everyone would be looking at my chest but a lot of people still aren’t back to work and I only really noticed one person kind of do a double take when I came into a conference room. I am not sure how noticeable the change is to people. I don’t think I would notice since I typically am not looking at people’s chests at work. Only when you have seen people in swim suits and skimpier things would you really notice, or if they were completely flat chested and went to a DD.

I am now 2 weeks and 3 days past my surgery date. Right now I feel like I have two rocks wedged under my pectoral muscles. It really doesn’t feel that good and oftentimes feels quite badly. I slept poorly because of the pain a couple nights ago and so I took a Valium and slept much better. Then last night I took an Advil PM and that helped a lot too. I think I will keep up with the Advil PM until I am through the pain since I think sleep heals us faster than anything. So far I am very happy with the results. They look like I am wearing a push up bra when I am not but I do not have a shelf on my chest so they are not too high, too big or high profile. I think the doctor gave me a really good size and I am thankful he took a chance by going higher than we discussed (375 cc & 415 cc versus 325/350). I think sometimes they look too big but post-kids I had gotten used to being flat chested. It’s all relative. I am eager to get through my recovery and feel 100%. So far, I haven’t had any regrets and I would do it again and would definitely use the same doctor.

1 Week Later

2006-12-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

The past week has been hard—nothing more than what I expected but still hard. Getting implants is a lot like being engorged only you can’t get relief through a breast pump. I went from feeling like I had heavy objects on my chest to odd aches and pains on the sides of my breasts to now under my armpits. And then my stitches are a little sore. Yesterday Brian went to work and Jack went to school and I thought I could handle Ty all day by myself. I was lifting him a lot and got very sore by the end of the day. I think this set me back a few days. Fortunately we have the nanny today who can do all the lifting with Ty and I can take the pain meds. I took Ty to the after-Christmas sales at the mall for about an hour—I always try to buy those stupid round candles at Pottery Barn for the reindeer candle. 12 candles are normally $20. How ridiculous is that? I stopped at Victoria’s Secret and the girl measured me at a 36 C. I was happy with the “C” reading although I think that is also a 34D. Hmmm… it’s still early.

On Christmas Eve I ventured out of the house for the first time to attend Jill’s open house. This was 6 days after my surgery. I thought I looked really big in a couple tops but then decided I should wear a top that I always wore with my silicone inserts (chicken cutlets) and that looked good. They were still quite a bit swollen though. It was good to do some socializing because recuperation is a bit isolating, even though I did enjoy getting a lot of rest in the beginning. Christmas was just the four of us which I didn’t mind at all. We did a leisurely Christmas morning and I wanted to take our time opening the presents. I hate doing a frenzy of opening presents and it’s over in 10 minutes. The boys loved all their presents. Brian got me a gift certificate to Victoria’s Secret since I will need all new bras. Overall it was a good Christmas but I look forward to next year when I am not recuperating from surgery!

Post Op

2006-12-22T17:25:00.001-07:00

Monday was the big day of my surgery. I couldn’t eat 8 hours beforehand so I made sure to get up at 6 AM to drink coffee and eat some eggs. I really wasn’t too nervous all morning and I made sure to do a lot of wrestling, hugging and playing with Jack and Ty, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to for a while. Around noon Brian and I left for Paradise Valley, the Mecca of plastic surgery in the area. We had to arrive 1 ½ hours beforehand. First I had to fill out paperwork. Then I had to take a pregnancy test. Given that I hadn’t had any water since 6 AM, I was able to squeeze out three drops but apparently that was sufficient to confirm that I was not with child. I explained to the pre-op nurse that I needed all the help I could get to avoid a pukefest after coming out the general anesthesia. I threw up for 48 hour straight after getting my wisdom teeth removed and ended up laying on the floor of the restroom of an urgent care for several hours until they gave me a shot of Tigin and Demerol. Plus I was sick like that through my pregnancies. So they agreed to pull out all the stops to try to avoid me getting that sick. I also asked if they could do the IV in the private room with Brian there because I’m a big wimp about that too. The nurse said most likely not but I would need to talk to the anesthesiologist. We waited a while longer in the room and I heard the doctor in the hallway on the phone. When he came in I asked him if he was lifting weights. He said No and that he was wearing scrubs with sleeves (these are references to Dr. 90210—Dr. Rey who lifts weights before each procedure and wears sleeveless scrubs to show his biceps). He said, “Full C, right?” and I grimaced. It was what I said wanted—everyone told me to push the limit because EVERYONE wants to be bigger than what they originally asked for. He drew on me and I made one last plea for him to make me look normal and natural. I really didn’t have any more questions so he left and we waited a while longer. I was starving to death and couldn’t stop thinking about In-and-Out Burgers with milkshakes. Finally the anesthesiologist came in and he agreed to do the IV there. I asked him for a feeding tube and could they put a milkshake in there? He thought that was funny. We made fun of his glove that had the finger cut out. I mean, why wear the glove in the first place? But he had me laughing so much (even before the drugs!) that my most feared part of the whole thing (the IV) was such a non-issue. He asked if I wanted a little something extra to relax—that it was like a couple drinks. I asked if it was like 2 Coors light or 2 Guinness’s. He said 2 shots of vodka so I went for it. Next thing I know I’m wheeled into the operating room and the doctor says, “1000 cc’s right?” and then I say, “Don’t forget about my Brazilian Butt Lift”. And then I’m waking up to a nurse giving me ice chips.

Of course my first question is, how big? See the doctor and I agreed that he would start with 325 cc’s and he would overfill them from there. She said, 375 cc’s and 415 cc’s. I’m sure my eyes bugged out of my head. Apparently the doctor told Brian that when I was lying on the table, it was clear I had absolutely zero breast tissue left and so they had to compensate for that. He didn’t think I would have been happy with the 325’s. He is probably right. That is why there should be three names for this procedure instead of two: Breast Augmentation (you’re just small going bigger), Breast Reconstruction (your breast tissue, skin, some muscle, etc was removed because of cancer) and then Breast Replenishment (your breast tissue was viciously pushed aside for the more aggressive mammary glands to feed your children and withered away never to return again).

I would have to equate the feeling and recuperation very similar to anyone who has gone through an extreme post-partum engorgement (like myself) where I was about a size E, very swollen, very painful and feeling like I’m being crushed by two heavy bowling balls on my chest. The upside to the breast augmentation is being knocked out by narcotics and not having to get up with a newborn. On the other hand, a breast pump doesn’t do much to alleviate the pressure of an implant. The scariness of their appearance is also like when I was engorged with milk, although I would say I was actually bigger when engorged, or maybe they were more like perfect giant shiny orbs. With the augmentation, my pecs are pushing the implant upward and the breast is swollen so from the side it looks like the nose of a Charlie Brown character. This is all normal and I hope it drops before I go to work.

I did throw up a few times which took a while to get the pain meds up to the appropriate level but I got some sublingual Zofran and that helped a lot. Mostly I have been alternating between the pain meds and valium and sleeping a lot. I’m bored but too tired to go out anywhere and too afraid of Christmas shoppers. Mostly I want to pick up my boys and give them big hugs. I think that’s the hardest part of the recuperation of all! I hope all my readers have a great holiday with their families.

Getting Ready for the Big Day

2006-12-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I went to the Orpheum to see a Broadway musical called “Man of La Mancha”. It was a story based on Don Quixote and it was pretty decent. I got to do a little socializing with Tami and Cindy (Cindy was visiting Tami from San Francisco). It’s always interesting to hear Cindy’s dating stories (she had just gotten back from 10 days in Paris with her boyfriend—hard to not feel envious of that).

The week started with a cold that I’m pretty sure I got from Ty. Brian had a dinner with his staff so I missed Pilates that night. Then Jack threw up Wednesday night and I stayed home with him the next day and missed Pilates then. So that kind of sucked. We spent most of the week preparing for our annual Christmas party. I made Brian do a project plan last year because he would leave a lot to the last minute and then would get really stressed out. This year he made a lot of things ahead of time and so while Saturday was really busy, he was very prepared by the time the party started. Brian makes all of the fancy finger foods from scratch himself. He loves doing it every year and really takes pride in it. I made the brownie bites from scratch and put the frosting on but that was it. My job is to make sure the house is clean and to keep the boys out the way and out of the kitchen.

On Friday I had my pre-op for my surgery. I had done a lot of research—looking at photos for what I wanted. I printed them out on good photo paper. The doctor was impressed by that. The big discussion in the pre-op is definitely on the size. I told him my biggest fear was being too big and he said that a lot of women say that. He promised that he would make me look natural and normal. He is going to start with a 325 cc implant and go up from them (they can overfill them). I love this doctor—he has the perfect bedside manner and is very well reputed. My surgery is one week away and I am starting to feel more excited than nervous.
Friday night was the book club Christmas party where we do a white elephant style gift exchange with nice gifts. Last year Tracy stole my gift of four red wine glasses. This year, there was a lot more stealing going on. Someone wanted to take their own gift and Pam said that they couldn’t. Then when Kathleen wanted to steal the gift that she brought, I said she could, that she was 9 months pregnant and if she wanted to steal her own gift, then fine by me. That caused a bit of an uproar. Lisa tried to pawn off a Michael McDonald Christmas CD as part of her gift but I guilted her into taking it out. Who wants that? Frankly I think if people were allowed to steal their own gift, that people would bring better gifts. I have enough lotions and bath stuff, thank you very much. I was the last number and then Tracy was #1 which meant that she could exchange with anyone as long as the gift hadn’t been stolen more than 2 times. All of the good gifts with the exception of one had already been stolen twice so I stole that one (a box of ornaments from China) – largely because I wanted them but what made it extra delicious is that Tracy wanted them and now she couldn’t get them. Tee hee. So now we’re even after last year. Now I can’t wait for 2007 to see what happens then. The funny thing is that I didn’t need wine glasses last year and Tracy did. Now this year Tracy didn’t need ornaments but I did.

On Saturday Brian took Jack to T-ball where Jack was swinging the bat around and accidentally hit a kid in the neck. I was glad Brian was there and not me. Then I took Jack and Ty to Jill M’s house to let Brian get stuff done. Jack and Connor played OK together. Connor was having some issues sharing his stuff. Both kids went down for their nap when we got home and I went to Target for some stuff for the party. That was a big mistake. Target was very crowded and I got grumpy trying to find anything. Nothing was where it should be and I think for just about every thing I needed, I took the very last one (thin black socks, light bulb, wreath hanger, round candles…). It took me like 2 hours to get through the store because it was so hard to find things and it was so crowded. I left my cart at the end of the aisle to check on something and was back within a minute and my cart was gone! There was another cart there with a bunch of stuff in it and I figured someone would realize their mistake within a minute but after 10 minutes, no cart. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. Who would take my cart? And it took me 2 hours to find that crap… and I took the last one of most of the things in that cart. So I went out looking for my cart. After going through several aisles, I saw my cart with about three additional things in it. It looked abandoned and I’m pretty sure that when the person realized that it wasn’t their cart, they just decided that they were in no condition to be shopping and left. I pitched the extraneous things from cart and went on my way.
Thankfully Deb and Joe and Annette and Tracy came a little early to the party to help with the final prep work. Brian created a wonderful spread of food and the company was excellent. I found out my friend Ann used the same doctor I selected for my surgery. His nurse is one of her best friends. I spent a lot of time demonstrating the ROM Machine to various guests. Some tried it, even Jeanette who is 5 or 6 months pregnant and was wearing high heeled boots. Lisa passed off her Michael McDonald Christmas CD as a hostess gift. This was funny to me. I had a really good time at the party and didn’t stress too much about the fact that I couldn’t spend a lot of time with each guest.

The next day we spent time cleaning up the house. I had an appointment with an aesthetician that a friend recommended. As part of my post-baby makeover, I want to continue to improve my skin. I still struggle with blemishes and I would like to put that behind me. We were just going to do a consult but we ended up doing a facial and some microdermabrasion which I liked. She pretty much said my skin issues were systemic and to see a special doctor in Tucson for balancing out my hormones. I am interested but this doctor is in a private practice and doesn’t deal with insurance companies and likes to take 12 – 15 vials of blood for analysis (that is 1/3 of a pint). I am the woman who refused to take the 3 hour gestational diabetes test to avoid three blood draws in three hours. The thought of them drawing that much blood makes me woozy to even think about.

Not too much to report about the work week other than I exercised and did Pilates very faithfully, knowing that I will not be able to exercise for about a month after my surgery. On Friday Brian’s mom flew in for the weekend and his sister flew late at night to surprise his mom. We went out to dinner a couple times and Brian and I were able to have a date to the mall to get some nice shirts for Brian. Brian’s mom and sister don’t know about my surgery. I am afraid they will be judgmental about it. When they were here, Brian answered the phone with the speakerphone when my friend, Mary Beth, from Boston called and she said, Hi I'm calling to talk to Kelly before she has "her thing". I grabbed the phone and went to the bedroom but of course Brian's mom and sister asked if everything was OK. Brian said... oh yeah... it's just girl talk. Then he came into the bedroom and said, You have to figure out something to tell my mom and sister. I said, No I don't. You do... I didn't answer the phone on speaker in front of them! Fortunately they were very close to going to the airport so they didn't ask me anything. I can’t imagine trying to keep this a big secret from everyone. I don't have the energy to keep secrets like that.

So today is the big day. 2:30. I had my last meal at 6 AM. I know I will get more and more nervous as the day goes on but for now, I feel kind of numb.

Festivus

2006-12-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Most people who know me know that I didn't celebrate Christmas for the first 30 years of my life. My parents still don't celebrate it, my sister Nicki probably started celebrating it 7 - 8 years ago and my other sister Krisy and her husband have elected to celebrate Festivus. This is the holiday made up by Seinfield.

“Many people, influenced or inspired by Seinfeld, now celebrate the holiday, in varying degrees of seriousness. Some do it religiously; others do it with good tidings in their respect to Seinfeld.”

So here are the photos of how they decorated their yard (yes, this is for real). I can't wait to hear what all the neighbors say.

The Christmas Frenzy

2006-12-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

It's been weeks since my last confession, I mean, blog post. I think I left off around early November. Some of the more notable events in November: Dinner with the Jill & Joe and Kids at Casa Blanca, a Mexican restaurant in Jill's part of town. Conversation with kids around is always a little challenging but we had a great time and the kids were pretty good actually. It helped that the restaurant was very kid friendly. It was very crowded when we left--since it's really the only place to eat within a 10 mile radius. OK, I'm exaggerating slightly but we are talking about south Chandler here. We went to a work skating party on Sunday and I tried to teach Jack how to skate. He didn't like it too much and I tried to help him skate but it was like dragging a dead weight around. So that didn't last. This skating rink allows you to push strollers so Ty got a lot of spins around. The kids liked playing the arcade games too.

We spent most of the next week preparing for our trip to Raleigh, North Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I took a couple hours to attend a jewelry show at Tracy's house where I bought some earrings and ring. Otherwise, I packed and packed and packed. On Friday around 4 PM, we headed off to the airport. Brian always drops me off at the curb with the kids, the stroller and 5 bags to check. I find this a little stressful since it's not possible for me to move all this stuff through a line. That's why I use the sky caps. Well, I gave the sky cap our three boarding passes that we printed out the night before and I mentioned Ty was a lap child.

Skycap: That child is not under 2.
Kelly: What?
SC: That is not a lap child.
Kelly: What do you mean? HE IS ONLY 16 MONTHS!!
SC: Do you have a birth certificate?
Kelly: No!
SC: What about an immunization record?
Kelly: No, I didn't bring anything--HE IS ONLY 16 MONTHS!
SC: Grumble...grumble Well, I'll let this go... but if the FAA found out... here put his birthdate here.
I proceed to write 6-24-03 (the year Jack was born) because I was so frazzled. Then say... oh, wait! and change the date... and the sky cap rolls his eyes again.

We had a four hour non-stop flight to Raleigh which wasn't great (because of Ty not wanting to actually since on our laps) but we made it. We spent the night at my sister's house and then left the next day for Myrtle Beach with the whole clan: my sister, husband and their 3 kids, my other sister, husband and their 2 kids and my mom and dad. We rented a 7 bedroom, 6 1/2 bathroom condo with a full game room (pool table, fuse ball, air hockey, pin ball, and a golf arcade game). The house also had 2 high quality big screen TV's plus TV's in every room. It was a really nice place and about a half minute walk from the beach, just across the street. The kids loved playing with each other and liked playing on the beach and feeding bread to the seagulls. The men were always playing pin ball or the golf arcade game or were actually out golfing. The women liked the outlet mall--they had all the good stores and we spent the a whole day there on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I bought a ton of stuff! We went back the day after Thanksgiving which was a big mistake because the lines were so long so we came back late in the evening when the people had thinned out. Overall it was a really nice time and I ate tons of sugar (but all homemade food) and we didn't eat out once because there was always a homemade meal (my mom and two sisters are great cooks!)

The trip home was awful (5 hours) and Ty was very restless, hadn't had a good nap, etc. Then the batteries in the DVD player died 2 hours in the trip so Jack was restless. There's really not much more to say about it other than I need to figure out a way to have an out of body experience during times like that. We always try to come back from our trips on a Saturday so that we have Sunday to get back into reality so Sunday we went to the zoo to check out the sting rays. It turned out to be an incredibly beautiful day and it wasn't that crowded so we stayed for several hours and had a great time.

Tuesday I got a health check. My employer has this program where you sign up for a health check and they give you $25. Then if you meet with a counselor about your results you get another $25. What have you got to lose? I got my test done on Tuesday, which may have been a mistake given what I had eaten the whole week beforehand. Within 2 days I had all my results (glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, body fat, BMI, blood pressure, etc). After 5 - 7 years of not having a cholesterol test (my logic was that I would not change anything with my diet or my exercise), I found out my results were quite good. I attribute this to the exercise more than my diet. Not that my diet is really bad. I don't like processed food and rarely eat fast food but I eat 2 eggs a day and will never stop eating cheese. Everything else was really good--also mostly attributed to exercise.

Ty got pretty sick this week--a fever, runny nose, and his breathing was labored and rapid. I started to think we should take him to the ER since he got really sick as a baby and spent the week in the ICU intubated because of a respiratory virus. We paged his doctor at 10 PM and we decided that breathing treatments would be the right thing to do so we got a prescription for albuterol. Fortunately we had a nebulizer from the first incident. He's been getting better slowly but he is clearly miserable and grumpy.

On Thursday evening I went to a parenting seminar by Dr. Sal Severe. He wrote the book "How to Behave So That Your Children Will..." and had a second book "...So Your Preschooler Will, Too". He was really, really good and I learned several new ideas and techniques. I bought his book too. I've been using a few things on Jack since then and have already seen some improvements. A lot of parents there asked questions about their kids and I learned something. That Jack's behavior is completely normal and that there are lot of kids that are more difficult than him. There were several parents with children with severe anger management issues (like a 6 year old who kicks holes in the drywall) and there was a case study where the anger came from something that seemed kind of small initially so I don't think any of us are exempt from that happening. But his concepts are very sound: set expectations, not being permissive or giving in, being consistent, and above all: be positive and don't show anger, even when your kids are being bad.

Friday night we went to cookie and beer exchange at Annette's house. We only knew Annette, Tracy and Shannon (and their spouses). The rest were neighbors we hadn't met before. I met a lot of new people and we had a good time. Shannon took her turn at being three sheets to the wind and had a great time--Tracy and I agreed that we didn't have time for a hangover the next day so we took it easy on the alcohol.

On Saturday Brian took Jack to T-ball and then I took Jack to Winter Wonderland, this little indoor festival that my work gives every year for the kids. Jack loved doing the crafts (he loves glue and glitter) and then we stood in line for 45 minutes to get a balloon animal. I can't stand doing that--what we do for kids. I rushed home because Deb was picking me up to go to high tea at the Phoenician with a couple more friends, Ger and Katherine. This is one of my favorite things ever. We had 8 different kinds of yummy sandwiches with the crusts cut off and then scones with clotted cream and lemon curd and then all the little pastries. Plus the tea and champagne. I really wanted a nap afterwards. We had a really good time talking and catching up. When I got home, Brian had picked up the tree so spent the evening getting the tree set up and giving the boys baths. This morning we decorated the tree and Jack loved that. Today's to do list: clean up the house, do laundry and print out photos of breasts to show the plastic surgeon!

YOU'RE GOING DOWN BUSTER

2006-11-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Some weeks I really look forward to the weekend and some weekends I really look forward to the week. This depends on how work is going and how much the kids are driving me crazy. Work is wearing me out so I’m looking forward to the weekend.

The weekend before Halloween we went to a 1 year old birthday party. Sometimes it’s the small things… they had homemade refried beans (made in a crock pot) and homemade guacamole so I was in heaven. The host even packed up some of the beans to go for me which I ate the next day with my scrambled eggs. Yum.

We carved pumpkins on Sunday and then Monday evening I went to Tami’s house for pumpkin carving. I socialized more than anything else. Halloween was awesome. Jack and Ty were super cute as Tigger and a bear. I took Ty to a few houses but he didn’t really get it and wanted me to carry him. I dropped Ty off with Brian and took Jack to a lot of houses. Jack loves trick-or-treating. The first few houses he asked for suckers and I had to tell him that you don’t get to request a certain kind of candy at the houses. Then after he got the candy he would say “thank you” and then things like “See you Sunday!” which was funny since he wouldn’t see most of these neighbors until we are trick-or-treating next year. I got a chance to do a lot of socializing throughout the neighborhood. After his bucket got full, we went back home and gave out candy and beer. We always give out candy to the kids and beer to the adults. People call us the people who give out beer on Halloween. That makes Brian happy. Jack got to eat two things of candy and the rest of it went into the pantry and he hasn’t asked for it since then. This means that Brian and I have been eating little Almond Joy’s and Milky Way’s for the past two weeks. Just what we need.

On Friday night Brian and I got a sitter and we went to one of my favorite restaurants called La Stalla. We got a bottle of wine, salads and of course my favorite veal dish with mozzarella and prosciutto. For dessert we ordered a chocolate soufflé. It was a really nice meal. Brian and I spent most of Saturday trying to figure out the election and what health insurance to get next year. There are several good options that we have. I am working on a spreadsheet that goes through several cost scenarios based on a best case year or worst case year (if we’re all in a big accident and all in the ICU). It’s kind of morbid to do stuff like that but with some of these plans, we could save about $2000/year.

I found out a neighbor sells Gold Canyon candles and so she brought over her suitcase full of samples and I smelled all of them. I gave her my order for a few new scents. For dinner we went to ZTejas house where they have one of the best desserts you can buy at a restaurant—their Ancho Chili Pie which is like a chocolate pie. After dinner we went to Cost Plus and had a good time there with the boys.

On Sunday Jill M came over with Connor and Luke and the boys played together for a while. I left to go to Kathleen’s baby shower. This was a very elegant shower. The house was over 7000+ square feet and very charming because it was older and wasn’t cavernous like some big houses. The weather was perfect and we had lunch outside on the patio. We had croissants and chicken salad which is my #1 comfort food. The company was also great since it was mostly my book club. You can’t go wrong with that crowd. And we all got a little gift bag to take with us. Very nice. We have three pregnant women in the book club so we will have a few more showers coming up.

Brian and I talked about the election on Sunday and Monday night. There were so many propositions that it took a lot of work to understand them and figure out what to do. Lots of them were hard on smokers and illegal immigrants. Neither are a protected minority in this country. I filled out the sample ballot and set my alarm for 5:45 AM. I rolled out of bed, threw on some sweats and headed down to the polls. There was a line out the door and everyone was dressed for work. After 10 minutes someone mentioned that there were two lines—and fortunately I belonged in the shorter line. I sat in some pews to fill out my ballot (the polling place was a church). I accidentally double voted for one judge and tried to pass off my ballot because really I didn’t care but they made me fill out another one. ARGH. After work I did Pilates and then met Sarah and Mike for happy hour where we had a heated discussion about the propositions and various other things. Mike and I really like to argue and Sarah was concerned that Mike and I were mad at each other but we do this every time and walk away not thinking anything of it. I had a really crappy day at work on Wednesday. For the first time in 10 years, I hung up on a phone call with some other people because they were insulting me, my boss and my organization. I was furious. I was working from home and so I went to play with Ty for a while to calm down. I told my nanny what I had done and she was surprised but I assured her you don’t get fired for doing things like that where I work. I talked to my boss about it and he was furious and he told his boss. So I had to explain it a few times to some people today. I’m waiting for the guy who insulted me (by the way, I was right and he was wrong—confirmed by his boss and about 12 other people) to apologize but I have heard nothing. When are people going to realize that you don’t make me mad? Ha ha.

So of course, to make myself feel better I decided that I had to go to Nordstrom’s for their women’s sale and so we went to Wildflower for dinner and Brian took the kids to Pottery Barn Kids while I did a little shopping. I didn’t buy anything but it did make me feel better.

Thursday night was my volleyball tournament. Brian brought Jack and Ty out to cheer us on which was nice. It made me laugh to hear Jack yell, “Side out, MAMA!” and “YOU”RE GOING DOWN BUSTER!” We lost our first match so we consoled ourselves over a beer afterwards.

That's Nuts

2006-10-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Work has clearly gotten in the way of my blogging. I haven’t been this busy since before I left to have my first baby, Jack, in 2003. I still remember slaving over a presentation at 10 PM for a 7 AM meeting the next morning. My water broke at 5 AM and I spent the next two hours frantically sending out emails trying to transition my work because I was expecting to work for another week or two. Obviously I didn’t give the presentation at 7 AM—I was checking into the hospital.

Brian left for the Grand Canyon on Wednesday October 11. This was a four day trip to hike across the Grand Canyon (south rim to north rim), rest a day, and then hike back (north rim to south rim), thus called Rim2Rim2Rim. Personally I think this is nuts but Brian seems to really love doing it and he’s really good at it. The only downside of this trip is having to take care of the kids by myself for those days. On Wednesday night I went to a parent social/meeting at the YMCA with both kids. It was difficult to get food with both kids hanging on me but we got through it and we took a survey and had a meeting while the teachers watched the kids. On Thursday after work, Jill B, The Saint, came over with her three kids and brought a homemade pizza. Unfortunately the pizza pan didn’t fit in the convection oven so we had to put it on the bottom rack and it burned the bottom of the crust. Oh, well. After Jill left, Yvonne, Colton and Gianna came over to baby-sit while I went to play volleyball. Ty was already in bed but Jack started to get really clingy and cried as I was leaving and for a while after I left. I felt bad about that.

On Friday I met Jill M for lunch. Things have been just as busy for her as for me but it was great to get connected. She and her husband travel a lot more than Brian and I do but they found a great nanny so that is a huge relief. After work I took the kids to the mall and met Yvonne, Colton and Gianna there. It’s great to have other people with you when you are at the mall. For example, I got dinner for the kids and sat down and Jack announced that he needed to go the restroom. I momentarily panicked at the thought of leaving a table full of food in a food court while I spent the next 10 minutes schlepping both kids to the restroom. Fortunately at that time Gianna came up and asked if I needed any help so she was able to take Jack to the restroom. The kids loved playing in the play area in front of the book store and then going to the book store. Gianna and Colton, who are both 12, have a great time laughing at my kids, and Jack and Ty love them so it all works out.

I hung out with the boys on Saturday and then Sarah came over and we all went to the mall. This time we ate and then went to Pottery Barn Kids. Sarah helped me bathe the kids and then Brian came home. It was great to have him home.

On Sunday morning I met the girls for breakfast. Pam officially got engaged and we got to hear about Jeanette’s trip to China and of course, lots of talk about the joys of pregnancies (Jeanette and Nancy). Pam seems a little horrified about the whole pregnancy thing. Her day will come soon enough. I think those of us who are experienced mothers like to talk about all the not so good stuff just because it terrifies the new mothers so it’s like a sport. Tee hee. I hung out with Brian and the boys for a while and then went out for a little shopping. Found some tall boots that I’ve been looking for and then went to a specialty jean shop. Yes, this is definitely more expensive than shopping around for the perfect pair of jeans but at these places, you can tell them to find you the perfect pair of jeans, park yourself in the dressing room and then they pretty much bring you every single pair of jeans until you find the right one. My requirement is that they are not too low rise which actually eliminates a ton of jeans. I can’t believe how low rise most of the jeans are. It’s not that I want Mom Jeans. I’m thinking just a couple inches higher than what they have out there would be good. So I found a great pair of jeans within 30 minutes.

On Monday I went to the dermatologist for a skin check. I keep reading you should have these periodically especially if you had at least 3 really bad burns at a child. I had maybe 20 – 30 bad burns as a child and then tried to tan as a teen-ager. I pretty much stopped that in my early 20’s and almost always wear a hat if I am outdoors for a long period of time. After checking my skin she said it didn’t look like I had that much sun exposure so that was good news. We talked about some of my skin problems and she said she didn’t think I had acne but some other kind of bacterial infection so she gave me a prescription for antibiotics. I was skeptical but I am willing to try it.

Since I was already playing hooky from work, I decided to head to Costco where they were doing flu shots. I have gotten flu shots for maybe 12 – 14 years straight with the exception of the year where there wasn’t enough to go around (because the demand for flu shots in the prior years was so low) and then suddenly everyone wanted one and that created this mass hysteria. Now that year I thought that I deserved one just because I had been a faithful friend of the flu shot for over a decade. But I wasn’t going to stand in line for 5 hours to get one. I waited about 10 minutes at Costco. Sometimes when I get a flu shot I feel like I have the flu in one arm but that is as bad as it gets. But I woke up at 3 AM feeling really hot and then freezing and I felt nauseous. I think the puke feeling was from the antibiotic but the other symptoms were awfully flu-like. The next day I felt like a truck had run over me and my whole body ached. That’s the first time I had that reaction after getting a flu shot but it only lasted a day.

On Thursday I hosted an all day meeting at work where people flew in from different cities and so I hosted a dinner out. Going to dinner out with a bunch of co-workers can be really bad if everyone talks about work or somewhat interesting if people don’t talk about work. Fortunately the non-work talk was more prevalent which made me feel better about ditching my volleyball game that night. On Friday night Brian and I got a baby-sitter to go to a retirement party at Rustler’s Rooste. The guy retiring was Brian’s boss about 10 years ago and most of the people at the party were employees of this software group. What a bunch of nerds. I could see and hear people talking to each other about work. Blech. Fortunately, there were a few people who were as interested in the open bar as I was and definitely didn’t want to talk work stuff. So I had a good time.

I felt really lousy on Saturday… like premenstrual crampy and tired. I went to get my hair cut and my stylist’s assistant kept asking if I was OK. I felt like I was in a fog. Jack, not my son, has been cutting my hair for 10 years. Not once in all that time has someone else cut my hair. My hair is super straight, fine and thin. I have hated my hair my whole life, especially in the 80s when you had to have really big hair. I had fry my hair with these horrible perms to make it as big as was required back then and they always looked horrible. But Jack seems to be able to cut my hair so that I don’t hate it and in fact, for most of the last 10 years, I have actually liked it. Jack likes to stay with the times and pushes his clients to be a bit more modern. Because of this, most of the time I tell him to do whatever he wants. I give him boundary conditions. Like when I am pregnant, I say, I need a hair cut that doesn’t get messed up when I take a nap. My main boundary conditions are: no bangs and my hairline in the back cannot show. So he cut about 4 inches off. It looks much healthier and thicker now and I am very happy. It takes half the time to dry in the morning.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Missie’s daughter’s birthday party at My Gym. That is a neat little set up for a birthday party and definitely minimal work for the hostess. This is good for Missie since she is 9 months pregnant. Jack had a great time doing a running leap into a big vat of plastic germ covered balls. Because I wasn’t feeling that great. I didn’t feel overly social, and I wondered if that is what an introvert feels like. Like it felt kind of exhausting to talk to anyone. What a crappy feeling. Brian let me sleep in the next morning and I felt back to normal.

We got chastised by the preschool for sending nuts with Jack’s lunch every day. I really have no idea why we have this sudden explosion of nut allergies. I’m really upset that you can’t get peanuts on an airplane anymore and instead you get a lousy bag of pretzels. How can anyone live without nuts? My family is really into them and Jack loves them and even Ty has already had some cashews. We are nut snobs too. You know those mixed nuts cans where it says “less than 50%” peanuts? Well, I can tell you that they are 49.9% peanuts because when my family eats those, there is half a can of peanuts left and all the good nuts have been picked out. Brian sent a bag of mixed nuts to school with Jack and it came back with all the peanuts left in the bag. I was actually proud.

I’m not going to bother talking about work and how screwed up I think everything is there. Fortunately, I got to let off some steam playing volleyball Thursday night and going out afterwards for a beer. Then on Friday night the Book Club Party Van picked me up to go out to Marion’s who lives 30 minutes away from the rest of us. We have lots of preggos in the book club right now so that provides some good designated drivers. No one drank too much but we still had a great time. I’m embarrassed to say that even I didn’t read the book this time. Fortunately I have already read the next book club book so I have time to finish this one.

I still have a job

2006-10-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it through the lay offs at work. I can't believe the number of people who actually wanted to get laid off. I am not sure what that means. I mean, do they have something better lined up or do they hate their jobs? I still like what I do although I still have issues with someone at work and I think management is having a really hard time getting their act together in terms of getting clear roles for people and what they are supposed to be doing.

I left off with the somewhat outrageous Friday evening with Tracy/BJ and Annette/Todd. On Saturday Brian took Jack to the Diamondbacks game because it was one of the last ones with Gonzo. They had a great time watching the game and eating peanuts. When the boys are older, I can definitely see us buying season passes because we all love baseball. Saturday night I went to Nello's to visit with a friend who used to live here and now lives in Folsom. There were several people there and so I only got to talk to Alan for a few minutes. That was really disappointing. Alan, Mike and I used to play on the same volleyball team and we would go out and drink beer and play trivia at this dive bar. We wouldn't hesitate to go before the volleyball game if it was a late game. It didn't really change the level of play. Those were some good times.

Brian hiked Camelback on Sunday morning in his preparation to hike Rim to Rim to Rim. A lot of people love hiking but it's just not my thing. I hiked Havasupi a few years ago (10 or 12 miles one way with a 35 lbs pack) and decided that I just didn't like it. To be good at it, you have to train. To train, you need to use your spare time. I have other things to do with my spare time like having lunch with friends, doing Pilates, playing volleyball, playing with my kids, socializing... plus Brian is a natural hiker. He hikes faster than anyone else I know and so I would be hiking on my own and be several hours behind him. Like I said, I would rather be socializing than hiking alone for 10 hours. So when Brian got back from hiking Camelback, I went to brunch with Missie. And we did a little shopping. She is about 1 month from her due date.

I took Jack to his swimming lesson on Tuesday and the regular instructor was not there. The substitute instructor "Jason" was a very hot guy in his early 20's. He was great with the kids and it was fun for me to watch him with the kids. Ha ha. Unfortunately the regular instructor showed up on Thursday. On Wednesday we met Tracy and BJ and their kids at a park to help their daughter Hunter with her volleyball. I did some drills with her and then Brian did. The kids had a great time running around and playing on the playground. The weather is finally cooling off so the evenings are very nice.

We had a women's conference at work on Thursday. I am not sure what I think about these conferences where a bunch of women get together and we hear things about career development and mentoring and networking. I hate the way "networking" is a verb and I don't like events where you are just supposed to "network". I think of a network as a noun. It's something that you build through activities like working with other people, or playing volleyball or doing Pilates at a gym or meeting new people at a happy hour. Just to throw a bunch of people together and say "go network" is lame. Just my opinion. I didn't meet any new people at this conference but ran into a ton of people from my past, so that was fun.

The weekend was really laid back. Brian and I attempted to get caught up on a bunch of chores that have been sitting for weeks. Our $50 water bill has been around $112 for the past two months. That's a lot of extra showers and loads of laundry. Most likely it's a pool leak but we are not sure. Our neighborhood had a garage sale so we walked around and mostly socialized. We bought some kids stuff like games and puzzles.

My sister Krisy had her baby on Sunday. His name is Reid Alexander. Congratulations Kris-Kris and Paw-Paw!

Slacker

2006-09-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Last week a friend of ours, Mo, from New Mexico called and said that she had reserved four condos in Sedona through her time share and that the people she was going with bailed on her so did we want to go? It's hard to pass up a free condo in Sedona for the weekend so decided to take her up on it. After that, she decided to go up there with her two kids after all (her husband had to work over the weekend). So we left around 3:30 PM on Friday which really sucked because the traffic on the 101 and up through Anthem was really bad. I would hate to live where there are only two lanes in and out and everyone driving to the city for their job. I would rather live in a 1000 sq ft apartment with a 10 minute commute than a 3000 sq ft house with an hour long commute. Jack must have inherited my sister's car sickness because he threw up on the way up there. He has done this the past 5 roadtrips now. We are having to keep a towel in the car. We got up there and the condo was great and Mo was already there with her two kids and friends. We had a nice evening chatting and drinking beer. Some other friends rolled in little later in the evening. The next day we walked around downtown Sedona and I got a chance to hit the outlet mall a little later. Jack and Ty enjoyed hanging out with Mo's kids, Kate and Ryan. The next morning we had breakfast and then on the way home went hiking with the kids. Jack really liked hiking. The traffic back wasn't quite as bad thankfully.

On Tuesday I had lunch with Tracy and got a chance to vent about work. I am working with the most horrible woman of my entire career. If I root cause her behavior, I would say she is one of the most insecure people I have ever run across. Put insecurity coupled with a super high perception of herself, the desire to control everything and a warped sense of reality and it's a recipe for disaster. I love what I am doing right now but I have to really think about if it's worth it to put up with someone like that. People with major personality disorders do not change and if they manage to do so, it would take 20 years, not 2 months. It's been very stressful. On Friday she pretty much declared herself in charge of everything that I do. I don't think you can just appoint yourself as the boss of someone else. ARGH.

Friday night Annette and Todd and BJ and Tracy came over. Annette and Tracy left a bottle of wine at our house before the book club pool party so we had them over to finally drink it plus some other bottles. The evening consisted of interesting events like Todd trying to get a moth off the ceiling with a piece of bread and Annette wearing my microscopic bikini from Brazil to get into the hot tub. (You think you've seen small bikinis before--cut that down by a 1/2). It was fun.

Oh, re: my weight loss from the last post. I actually think Pilates has a lot to do with it. I highly recommend trying it 2x/week!!

Quick Note

2006-09-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

A quick hello to my faithful readers. I have been very swamped at work and so I spend any free moments slaving over my work laptop. Of course, after a couple weeks I might have all the free time in the world to blog since we are having another round of lay offs.

We had book club on Friday night and it was great to visit with everyone. I have to say, and I will use a superlative like Kim always does, that we have the best book club ever. Everyone is fun and super cool. Sometimes it's laid back and sometimes it's wild. We almost never talk about the book. Anyway, Friday was more laid back but it was still great. Tracy and Shannon had to leave early because Tracy's son was in the emergency room with a cut. He had to get three stitches.

The only other thing to note is, and don't hate me, unplanned weight loss. I am now 7 lbs less than my "normal" weight. I would like to think it's the ROM and the Pilates and eating right but when it just melts off, it's kind of suspicious. I did a thyroid test and the doctor said it was "low normal"... meaning the normal range of something is like .3 - 2 and I am .2. I guess we will see if this keeps happening. I would be happy if it just stopped here. I started adding cheese to my eggs in the morning and indulged in a milkshake from In-and-Out Burger yesterday. I just don't have a big appetite right now.

Home Alone

2006-09-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, time has gotten away from me. We didn’t go anywhere over Labor Day weekend which was fine with me. I got a chance to do another round of serious clothes shopping. I got quite a few things that should set me up well for fall and winter and a couple of nice tops that I can wear to work or out. I went to Nordstrom Rack and then to Off Saks 5th Ave and other places in Arizona Mills. On Sunday afternoon, Pam and Murray (Murphy), Nancy and Robert, and Jill and Joe came over. We had a nice dinner and the kids actually got along. It was very cute to see all five kids sitting at the little kids’ table, even 14 month old Tatum and Ty. On Labor Day, I took Brian and the kids back to Arizona Mills to do some shopping for them. I like the stores at that mall but to go with the family to just hang out and relax, that is not the place. They have all these money thirsty little rides for the kids throughout the mall that Jack wanted to ride. That was a huge pain.

By Tuesday I was completely out of my funk from the past two weeks. I am not sure what caused it and I guess it will come around again at some point in my life but by Tuesday I was pretty happy to be a mom and was back to enjoying my kids. The naturopath had giving me some pills to help with my pituitary that didn’t seem to help too much so I stopped taking them a while ago and I took them Tuesday morning. I felt fantastic all day Tuesday and had a lot of energy. I didn’t take them Wednesday and felt like crap and then took them on Thursday and felt good. Maybe they are working now. So I am making sure to take them every morning now. I met a guy friend from work who was visiting from Folsom for a drink at 98 South. He is my second and final ‘boyfriend’. Ha ha. He was all stressed out about work and even took a couple phone calls from work, one that he had to take outside the restaurant because it was confidential. It was slightly annoying but really I didn’t care because he paid for my delicious $13 glass of wine.

Sometime mid-week, I got word that Jeanette from book club was pregnant. Jeanette is not married and is probably not even in a committed relationship (this is always questionable) so this pregnancy should be scandalous. But given that I think being a mom is definitely something a woman should experience if she wants to and is able, given our biological limitations at a certain age, sometimes you have to go for it without the committed relationship. Jeanette is 38 and given the gaggle of experienced mom friends at her disposal is embarking on this adventure enthusiastically. I say go for it. And I finally found someone who could use my “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and “Girlfriends Guide…” books that I will never need again.

I was dreading the weekend because Brian was going to a memorial service in Portland over the weekend which meant I was on my own with the kids. I suppose my stay-at-home mom friends would laugh at my fear of being alone with the kids for a weekend but this is stamina that you have to work at building. Yvonne came over around 8:30 AM on Saturday to watch Ty while I took Jack to soccer. Brian headed out to the airport. Soccer went OK—Jack mostly did what he was told but there were a few times he would come running over to me and resist participating. I had a good time with the kids for the rest of the day. I got a baby-sitter so that I could go to dinner with Annette and Tracy. Thank God I arranged that because it felt fantastic to go out to a nice dinner, have a great bottle of wine and good conversation. We went to Angel Sweet afterwards and then to Basha’s because we all had to pee. On Sunday I had arranged to have my friend Sarah come over after work but she canceled because she had to work the full day. It was a grueling day mostly because Ty, who is 14 months old, is a smart and devious little boy. Up until just a few days ago, I would tell Jack that Ty was just a baby and he didn’t know any better. Well, Ty definitely knows better. He spent the whole day climbing on stools, office chairs, tables, dressers and other assorted furniture. He even carried a chair over to the office chair so he could climb on it. What a Stinker. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him for a second. But we made it to bed time and I finally got to sit down and watch some TV. Then back to the grind.

Consult #3

2006-09-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Late Thursday night Brian's mom, Paulette, flew in from the Portland area for Jack's birthday. Friday, Brian took the day off and Paulette, Jack and Brian went to the zoo. I worked and got my hair cut. Jack, the guy who cut my hair, gave me bangs and I kind of freaked out. I have a bad association with bangs. "But you sweep them to the side!" he protested. I have been fighting them to stay over to the side since then. We all went to the mall and Paulette took Jack into Build a Bear for the very first time. Jack absolutely loved it and created his puppy named "Buster". Buster is now a prominent member of our household, getting pushed around in the shopping cart that Tracy gave Jack for his birthday.

On Saturday we mostly got ready for Jack's birthday party. We had the party outdoors at a small local splash pad and everyone seemed to have a good time. Jack was a little too intent on 1) eating his cupcakes and 2) playing his CD's. Jack is obsessed with playing his CD's right now. I pretty much hear nothing but Toddler Tunes although he will occasionally play some classical music and if I'm lucky, some lounge or swing music, which he calls "Mamma Songs".

I took my time running errands on Sunday knowing that Gramma was home helping Brian with the kiddos. It's awesome to have Gramma around to get a break.

My mood has been off lately as I've been fantasizing about my prior life of no obligations: no husband, no kids. I know this is my emotional side talking because I really don't think the single life is that glamorous either. But I think trying to get pregnant for a year and a half and then being pregnant and breastfeeding for the following 4 years has take it's toll on me and I want to be Kelly again, not a wife, a mother or an employee.

I went to Jeanette's after work for her purse party and got two purses but then rushed home to take care of the boys since Brian was heading to a baseball game. My mood coupled with Jack being in the prime of his whining phase was not good. I tend to have a lot of patience with the boys but I spent a lot of time yelling that night.

I explained the situation to Yvonne the next day and she said that my feelings were normal and that I just needed to drink more. I probably do. What she is really saying is to relax and take some time for myself. :-)

So I went to happy hour the next day with some people from work and then to Pilates and didn't feel guilty about seeing Jack for only an hour before he went to bed. It's probably better to spend less time with a patient mother than more time with a mother who is frustrated and yelling.

On Wednesday I went to my 3rd and final surgical consult. This time Brian went with me. I was probably harboring some resentment that he prioritized work over going to the first two consults with me and so I was actually annoyed that he was going to this one (geez sometimes it's confusing to be a woman!) but in the end I was actually glad that he went with me. The doctors were like the three bears: one was too this and the other was too that and the third one was just right. His approach, the time spent with me, and his bedside manner seemed perfect for me and Brian really liked him. I wanted to think more about it though so I didn't schedule anything.

On Thursday night, after spending some time with the boys and still being in my funk, I met up with my friend Mike for what we call a "Bitch Session". These have been going on for years and years. The frequency has diminished during the childbearing years but I realized that I need to up the frequency. There really is no replacement for a male friend who is not your husband. Now you know I have a rule where male friends before you're married are "grandfathered" meaning it is not inappropriate to hang out with them after you're married. I don't have any advice for getting male friends after you're married and wouldn't advise it. The thing about male friends is that you can say whatever outrageous thing is on your mind and they tend to not judge you and they don't relay anything you say to anyone else. They are just not wired to do this like women are. So I got a chance to unload all these feelings and have someone listen and not worry about editing myself. I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and somewhat back to normal, although still tired. I am suspicious of my thyroid again, which can result in personality changes and various other symptoms that don't seem physical so I got a blood test on Friday to rule it out. I am down 3 lbs from normal weight and as much as I would like to attribute to the ROM, I have to rule out my thyroid going berserk again.

On Friday I wanted to take that step to book my surgery but couldn't seem to do it. My biggest fear is looking like a freak even though that probably won't be the case. I called Tracy for some moral support and a half hour later, had the surgery scheduled in December, when I know I can take time off work and the volleyball league will be in hiatus. I will form a committee where we will scour the internet for the perfect breasts for me so that the surgeon has a good photo. I recruited Yvonne for the committee because she has seen me as a B, C, D, DD, and E twice over (through pregnancies and engorgements and the nice breastfeeding stage) and probably has a good sense of what looked best on me.

Consult #2

2006-08-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

On Monday I arranged to meet Liz, a friend from work who just moved to the east coast, at the bookstore at 8:30. I waited for 45 minutes and after buying four books, I went home. It wasn’t so bad getting stuck in a bookstore while waiting for someone--I think it will be my future BKM. Liz was stressed at being told that we would no longer support 100% remote workers and that she would have to quit or move back here. My other friend, Kim, is in the same situation. It really does suck but I hope they find something that they are really passionate about. I suppose that I could get cut in this next round. I don’t think they will cut me but you never know. And if they do, I would do program management in a different industry. Something more interesting than the semiconductor industry.

On Tuesday I did Pilates at the Y. Pilates is my new love and I am able to do it 2x/week—once at the Y (Tues) and once at work (Thurs). The unfortunate thing about the Tuesday class is that it is from 6:30 – 7:30 and it comes with guilt for not spending that time with the kids.

I got to hook up with Liz for about an hour on Thursday night and then headed to my volleyball tournament. We ranked third in the league and that is really good for us. We have a four person team with three women and let’s be honest here, it hard for a team with three women to kill the ball with every play like a 6’ 5” male player. It was a single elimination tournament and we lost the first match so that was that. We have had such fun playing together the last 2 – 3 seasons that we are going for it again. We have a good time and laugh a lot, and we still play pretty well.

On Friday, I was playing on the floor with Ty and wrestling a little bit. His hand reached out towards my nose and I thought he was just going to grab my nose but instead he stuck his little razor sharp finger up my nose which hurt like hell and the next thing I know, I have a nosebleed. What a Stinker! My nose hurt for hours afterwards. We went to the mall on Friday night which was probably a mistake because I had a really bad sinus headache, plus a cold and my nose really hurt on top of that. We did the normal: eat dinner, go to the book store and Pottery Barn Kids. We went home and I was in so much pain with my headache, that I lay down on the floor of Jack’s room and didn’t push him to get dressed. He got a pillow down from his bed and a blanket and “tucked” me in. He gave me his doggie and then got a chair and put it outside the door of his room. He turned off the light and closed the door and sat down on the chair (like I do sometimes). I thought it was really cute. Unfortunately I saw his feet disappear under the door and I had to figure out what he was up to. He was determined to put me in bed, so I decided that I should go to bed (at 8:30) and so Brian ended up putting Jack in bed. I like it that Jack was so concerned about me.

I woke up 11 hours later feeling 100% better than the night before and my cold seemed to have disappeared. Brian took Jack to soccer and I hung out with Ty. During the kids’ naps I ran some errands for Jack’s birthday which is August 26. Later in the day, Sarah came over and we went swimming, had dinner, put the kids to bed and then watched the movie “Center Stage” or something like that. It was OK. Kind of cheesy but there was dancing in it so I liked it.

Sunday was a big day. Brian hiked Camelback and left around 6 AM so I had to get up with the kids. At noon, I met Annette G at the mall for a focused shopping trip. I’ve been down to about one outfit that I felt good in and because I liked Annette’s clothes and we have similar builds, and she is practically a professional shopper, I asked her to help me find some clothes. I used to love shopping and would spend hours doing it but now I hate it. Nothing seems to fit and I don’t have time or the desire to shop. When I got the mall, Annette had already pulled some clothes for me. So for the next four hours straight, I tried on clothes. I have to give Annette credit—I think she only tried on one shirt. She was very focused on getting clothes for me, picking the right thing, finding the right colors, pushing me to try new things and she expedited everything by hanging up the clothes after I tried them on. After 3 hours, I weakly said that I was hungry, and Annette whipped a South Beach protein bar out of her purse and we split it, enabling us to continue on for another hour. Now that’s a professional. Afterwards I felt like I had run a marathon, but I had many tops and one bottom and a potential other bottom. Definitely a worthwhile trip. If I had gone by myself, I would have been sitting in Starbucks after 30 minutes. The next step is to go through my closet and see what can be purged and what can be saved. Being pregnant and breastfeeding over the past four years has resulted in clothes that don’t fit and a lot of outdated clothes. Also, I think I will look for another pair of jeans.

Work has been very intense lately and we are really busy. But I made time on Tuesday to go to my second consult. Now I think I said before that most of the people I know have only done one consult and went with that doctor. Being the engineer that I am, I felt like I had to get three consults to find the best doctor for me, even though these doctors charge for consults now. This consult was like night and day from the first one. The first one I waited 2 hours to see the doctor, and he told me I needed a lift and recommended 275 to 300 cc’s. He didn’t do any measurements and didn’t take a photo and didn’t have me look at any photos and didn’t have me try the implant in my bra to see what I liked. In the second consult, the guy came in immediately, and to the chagrin of his assistant, I didn’t even have my robe on. He says, Take off your shirt. Well he was going to look at my breasts anyway… who cares if he sees me take my shirt off? This would be like the ob/gyn coming into the room saying, Take your pants off. I guess it sounds bad, even though the end result is the same—he sees your cha cha either way. Back to the plastic surgeon… Then he does all these measurements and leaves. The assistant says he is doing his “analysis”. He comes back in and we look at pictures, talk about what size, try some in my bra, etc. He says, Absolutely no lift, 330 cc’s would be conservative to average and it is $4K less than the other guy. He would also do the incision under the breast, which is my preference because I am concerned about nerve damage. So at this point, I am very happy that I have a third consultation to see what he says. I’m finding this a big confusing.

Tuesday night I went to Jill’s to pick up my jewelry and visited for a while. I like these spontaneous kinds of visits where I pick up the phone and call someone, in this case Jill at around 8:30 PM.

K: Hey what are doing?
J: Putting the kids to bed
K: Is this a good time to come over?
J: Yes but I’ll warn you, I’m not wearing a bra.
K: That’s OK, I’ve already seen your boobs.
J: Ha! See you in a few minutes.

On Thursday night I went to Tami’s house for her “Sex and the City” party. She served cosmos (which I did not touch) and we watched some of people’s favorite episodes. This was a lot of fun and I would like to get the complete set myself.

A Night Out on the Town

2006-08-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning I picked up Annette H from the airport. I arrived late because I underestimated just how bad the rush hour traffic was on the 101 and 202. I am thankful that I have a very short commute to work. The airport was amazingly calm considering the heightened security. We went to Einstein Bagels for breakfast then headed back to the house for a massage. Annette gave me massages while I was pregnant with Ty and she is so good I begged her to give me a massage when she came down here. It felt great. Tracy came over for a massage too and when they were done, she took Annette to Jill’s, who I have decided is a Matriarch. Now there are two definitions of matriarch: n 1: a female head of a family or tribe [syn: materfamilias] 2: a feisty older woman with a big bosom (as drawn in cartoons). I actually don’t think Jill would be offended by the second definition with the exception of the word “older” and would actually be pleased by the “big bosom” part, but alas I was thinking of the first definition. Her house seems to be a home base for traveling souls.

I had my yearly ob/gyn appointment at noon and waited an hour and a half to see the doctor. I think that’s the downside of seeing an ob/gyn versus a general practitioner… the doctors are off delivering babies while you’re sitting in the exam room wearing a flimsy robe. I love this doctor so I forgave him when he came into the room. He never rushes which is why he is easy to forgive for running behind. These appointments used to be about birth control and then they turned into having babies and now the topic: mammograms and osteoporosis. I felt really old.

At 5:30, Jill and Annette picked me up to take me to Annette G’s for Tracy’s non-surprise party. Tracy turned 36 and we decided to celebrate with a stretch Hummer for the evening. I was a little apprehensive about this evening because I knew we were going to be out until 1 AM and our kids get up as early at 5 AM but I decided that life shouldn’t stop just because you have kids.

Brian joined us in the limo and 13 of us headed to Sugar Daddies where the most memorable moment was a woman challenging Tracy to an arm wrestling match. Now, I haven’t been to a bar or club in a long time but in my day, we weren’t into arm wrestling. Tracy held her own despite being a bit inebriated and then Jeanette crushed another challenger.
Here is Annette coming back into the limo from her short visit with the driver.
Our next stop was a bar called E4 or Environments or something like that. I didn’t really get the place. They had rooms for fire, water, oxygen and earth. This is where Jill accused Shannon of putting eyeliner on her lips and Shannon insisted that it was lip liner, even though it was a blue-grey color. Fortunately, no fight ensued.
We moved on to Barcelona which was supposed to be for 30something people but I saw, no kidding, a man who was like 80 years old. That didn’t deter us from having fun even though the dance floor was 130 degrees and completely packed. I hit the wall about midnight and was ready to go to bed. Fortunately, we were at the front of the limo and told the limo driver to go to our house first so I was in bed by 1 AM. Ty woke up every 5 – 10 minutes from 3 AM to 5:30 AM and finally went to sleep but Jack then woke up for good. So I didn’t get to sleep much at all.

On Saturday I spent the day with the boys and we went to the mall. They had closed the gate at Barnes and Noble because a mother lost her child. I must be PMSing because just thinking about that made me want to cry. I stopped by Jill’s for a jewelry party before rushing home to get to the Benefit Show that my work puts on. We’ve gone every year for 10 years and don’t miss it. It’s for a good cause and I used to perform in it before having kids. This year, there was a lot of dancing, so I liked that a lot.

Brian usually gets up with the kids but I felt like spending more time with the boys so I got up with them (Jack woke up at 5:00). I met the girls (6 of us) at Wildflower for breakfast and I think at some point, we may be banned from eating there because of all the jocularity and noise that comes from our table. So sue us. We will have several interesting months of Nancy going through her first pregnancy and Pam getting engaged and married.

I took Jack back to the mall later in the day for some 1:1 time. We went to Rubio’s and the GAP and then to Barnes and Noble where we listened to CD’s, read some books and shared a cupcake. I love going to the bookstore with Jack because we always have so much fun and I have to drag him out of there because he loves it so much. Brian and I watched the movie “Man on Fire” which I thought was really good and is worth checking out.

A Week at the Beach

2006-08-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

I think my last blog entry was July 22! I am a little behind on posting because I took the week off last week to go to La Jolla, CA. We rented a beach house with another couple who also have two boys. Their boys are 2 ½ and 2 months. It was a great week. I didn’t check my email once and didn’t think about work at all. The only big activity we did was Sea World which was fun but a bit challenging with the boys’ nap schedules. We were reminded of the repercussions of skipping naps. You can get through the day, yes, but then your toddler will wake up at 3 AM and not want to go back to sleep. So for the rest of the week, we mostly just went to the beach and hung out, or the playground, or wandered around downtown La Jolla. Now spending the week with another couple, especially with kids involved, is always a little scary the first time. We quickly realized that we weren’t going to be able to everything together because the nap schedules were completely different but we managed to synch up a few times for some trips to the beach and playground and then we were entertained watching the boys play in the grassy backyard of the house after dinner and before bedtime. Overall, it was a great trip and I would love to do it again next year and even stay for 2 weeks! Heck, 3 months would be nice.

The week before the trip I was driving the boys to swimming lessons and the car started to jerk. I knew immediately something was up with the transmission. Fortunately I had noticed a couple weird things the day before and had a 7:30 AM appointment with Acura to check out the car. I managed to get to swimming lessons and back driving in 1st and 2nd gear. Well, it did turn out to be the transmission and even though the car is not still under warranty, Acura said the transmission was (they must have had problems with these) and so we got a brand new Acura TL courtesy vehicle to drive to San Diego. That was really nice. It had XM satellite radio so we could listen to something other than the two Mexican radio stations when we were driving through Yuma. Now of course, my car seems kind of ghetto but I need to get over that because if any car is replaced, it would be Brian’s 1997 Rav4. I hate that car but I only drive it once every 3 months or so and always under duress.

On car trips: we learned that Ty does not nap in the car like 99.9% of all other toddlers. We also learned that Jack gets car sick as demonstrated by the big puke on the way there and one on the way back.

Well, that’s all I have time for right now. I’m still catching up from being off work for so long.

What

2006-07-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

The people who created the “Tuesday Night Book Club” TV show that was canceled after two boring episodes got the wrong book club. We had our First Annual Pool Party Book Club that probably rivaled a Girls Gone Wild video. For this blog entry, I will have say that what happens at book club, stays with book club—but more so because I don’t remember a lot of it so I don’t have much to tell. I do know that it was probably a bad idea to have a drink or two before leaving the house with Tracy and Annette. And I know that the husbands had to get involved to haul us home—special thanks to Tracy and Jill’s husbands for that. Kim’s delighted exclamation sums it up well, “What has happened to the book club since I left?” I wonder what Jill’s neighbors thought about the shenanigans. Well, I had a great time. Thanks for letting me join the swim team, Jill! (Keep the comments PG).

I spent all of Saturday snoozing and recuperating and went to bed by 8:30 on Saturday night. On Sunday I watched my favorite movie, "The Thomas Crowne Affair". It always makes me feel better. I love the way the main character, Catherine Banning is so strong, but Thomas Crowne knows how to deal with her.

Weekend Ramblings

2006-07-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

This week my company laid off a bunch of people. They laid off managers so I wasn’t worried. Brian is a manager and he is OK. There will be more cutbacks in the next couple of months. I’m not really worried. Even if I am laid off, I am not worried. I would get another job somewhere as a project manager. I think… could I stay home with my kids? My grandmother, who was born in the early 20’s in Austria, had my mom at the age of 18. At that time she lived in southern California. She was a beauty and was feisty and independent. By the time she passed away, she had been married 7 times. It seems she went through the first few husbands rather quickly and managed to have two kids per husband for 4 out of the first 5. Yes, she had 8 kids. I am not sure of the exact year, probably in the 50’s, she became a welder and that was her profession until her death at the age of 74. When I asked her how she became a welder, she said she always wanted to be able to support her kids herself and knew she couldn’t do it as a waitress. See this way, she could kick the men out of her life and continue to support her family. A few of the husbands she said she got rid of because she didn’t like the way they treated her kids. She was quite progressive for the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and so on (although she ended up with an abuser in the 70’s but that’s a whole other story). I inherited a few of my grandmother’s traits including the desire to be independent… particularly financially. This line of thinking is completely independent of the longevity of my marriage or Brian’s willingness and/or ability to support our family. That’s not relevant to me but is normally the biggest factor in families deciding that one parent should stay home. I feel a little like a freak in that way. Now working part-time would be the best case scenario of all, and I hope to do that when Jack goes to kindergarten.

We were scolded by Jack’s preschool director for putting him in pull-ups. Brian was a little put off by this but I was glad for it because sometimes we need a push. Jack goes on the potty 100% of the time without being prompted or asked when he is bottomless which is why most people are greeted with a naked boy when they come to our house. When he wears underwear, all bets are off. So this weekend we sucked it up and have only been using underwear, even though we have gone out for hours at a time. I am so proud of Jack—he is doing great and is telling us that he needs to go and he has only had a couple accidents.

I am still going through my post-partum self-loathing phase. I went to the Nordstrom Anniversary sale and tried on lots to clothes and bought nothing. Is it just me or does every single top out there accentuate belly fat? I made myself feel better by buying clothes for Jack and Ty. I used to wonder why my sister would buy so many clothes for her kids but none for her self and this is why.

We went to Tatum’s birthday party which was quite the extravaganza. There was a pina colada machine and lots of yummy food. Kim was there on her holiday from China so it was great to catch up, even though we had to talk in the pool with a bunch of kids splashing and playing all around us. Annette tried to talk me out of plastic surgery and we had a debate on who had the worst post-partum look—a debate that will have to be resolved by flashing each other, something that Tracy was strongly encouraging us to accomplish before the night was over. Annette has a perfectly flat stomach which I am jealous of—otherwise we have similar builds. Pam was there with her soon to be fiancé Murray who blessed us with his in tune rendition of “Sweet Caroline” on the Karaoke machine. Nancy and Robert were there. Nancy is awesome is that she will do things here and there with the kids. For example, Jack said he wanted more lemonade and she took him over to the lemonade and showed him how dispense it. A few minutes later I saw him walk over there and help himself which was very cute. Robert was laid back and funny as usual. The kids had a great time and Brian looked after the kids while I got a chance to gab. I had to stop mid-sentence the four times that Jack announced that he had to go potty. A mad dash to the toilet would follow and we always made it, so I was really proud of Jack. Brian volunteered to take the boys home so I could stay and socialize, so I did for a while and Robert and Nancy took me home. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to chat with the hostess much but that is the downside of being the hostess… you get to say “hi” to everyone but not have a conversation of any length. Great party, Jill!

Consult #1

2006-07-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

We had such a busy weekend. I am happier when we are really busy! Brian and Jack went to soccer on Saturday morning and then we spent the rest of the day getting ready for a small good-bye party for our dear friends, Pete and Ann. They are moving to North Carolina. We have been great friends with Pete and Ann since I met Brian in 1998. We've been through many great parties: my notorious 30th birthday party where we all drank tequila out of a sippy bowl, the birth of the Beer Wench, the public spectacle of Rubbermaid, weddings (and making obscene models of body parts out of food--Berly knows what I'm talking about there) and finally having kids. It's been hard to get together as much with the kids but the friendship still endures. We will miss them terribly. Pete and Ann came over with their kids, plus we had a couple other families there. The house was chaos with 7 kids but we had a great time. I am not sure what people do without swimming pools in their backyard. They come in handy when you have a bunch of kids over.

By the time everyone left and Jack was put to bed, it was 9 PM. My mom's club was doing mom's night out and had started at 7 PM so I took a chance that they would still be out and I met up with them at the ice cream shop by the Ahwatukee 24 theaters. We noticed everyone at the coffee shop next door smoking their hookahs. I don't really get this but I also have never successfully smoked a cigarette so maybe I missing out on something.

On Sunday I met the girls for breakfast. I can't think of anything more luxurious than meeting a bunch of girlfriends for breakfast. I just love that. Lots of fun chitchat. In the afternoon we went to Jill and Gert's. The food and company was great. Jack was so-so. He peed on the floor and then proceeded to throw himself (and the residual pee) on their nice ottoman. He really embarrasses me sometimes. Fortunately, Jill and Gert have a boy who is 5 months younger than Jack and a newborn so they have seen a lot. I now believe that the 3's may be worse for boys than the 2's. At least that is the way it's looking with Jack. Ugh. I always said I couldn't spank him but we are threatening him with spankings some now. I realize parents do this because the child is too defiant at that moment to do anything and you have to get their attention somehow. I find this very distressing because hitting my child is not something that I really want to do.

OK, so I had my first consult with doctor #1 yesterday. They had a cancellation so I went by myself because Brian had to take Ty to the doctor. My appointment was at 2:30 PM and I got there 15 minutes early to fill out the forms. There is also a $75 fee for a consult with this particular doctor. Yikes. I sat in the waiting room until 3:30 PM. I then went into the exam room and waited until 4 PM to see the physician's assistant. Then the doctor finally came in around 4:15. It will be interesting to see how the other consults go because nothing ticks me off more than waiting 2 hours to see a doctor. I see an endocrinologist and there are very few endocrinologists in the valley. It takes months to get into see these doctors and since you HAVE to see an endocrinologist, you know you may have to wait a while at the doctor's office. Sometimes you wait a long time to see your ob/gyn because they are off delivering babies during the day. But for an elective procedure that a ton of doctors perform and charge a lot of money for--I think the consults should be on time. ESPECIALLY IF THEY CHARGING FOR THE CONSULTS. So I was really grumpy. But I liked the doctor OK. So then they tell me that I really need a lift. I really, really didn't think that I would need one so that made me even grumpier. It's an extra $2000 plus it requires an incision that I would rather not have. And then they gave me the cost estimate. Let's just say that the $4K that they say it costs (not including the lift), is actually only the surgeon's fees. Don't forget about the surgery center, anesthesia and implant warranty, plus a myriad of other things. So I left in a pretty foul mood because I was faced with southbound 101 traffic at 4:40. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I'm really questioning as to whether this is something that I really want to do....

Searches that Find My Blog

2006-07-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have embedded code in my blog that shows me how people find my blog. The #1 hit is still "range of motion machine". I see hits from all over the world on that one. Michael Thurmond's 6 Day Body Makeover gets a few hits every now and then.

But some people out there are really dirty and it's kind of shocking what gets them to my blog. Here are a few:

"missie nude"
"random hook-up" -- have I used the word "hook-up" in here???
and finally, the most disgusting of all:
"mothers who like their naked sons blog"

Let the games begin!

2006-07-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

I've been debating if I want to publicize this on my blog but I have talked about my extreme makeover plans in the past so I guess I will talk openly about this. I've been compiling a list of things that I want to do, all starting with the weaning of my child. Well, that happened in May and I really thought I would want to address my problem skin with a nice dose of the controversial Accutane. You cannot have elective surgery for at least one year after taking Accutane so that put any consideration of plastic surgery out in late 2007 sometime, and so I thought I would assess the post-baby damage then. Well, it's now a little over a month after weaning Ty and my body is now more of a concern than the pimples on my face. So I scheduled three consults with plastic surgeons for a breast augmentation. I think there are three classifications for breast augmentations: getting something that you never had, getting something that you once had but is now gone, and making something that you always had better. I fall into the middle category which means that if I never had kids, I wouldn't be wanting or needing any surgery because I assume I would still have some firm breast tissue. Right now I have skin that was stretched to a DD or E when my milk came in, and now have the breast tissue of an A or less. So now I have saggy skin like someone who has lost a lot of weight. Not a pretty sight. I have seen before and after photos of the people who are getting something they never had. I can understand the people who are completely flat chested wanting something. I don't understand the average sized woman wanting an augmentation but don't judge them for that. Then for all my friends who are well endowed--they seem to want to make something better from what they have, especially if they have had kids. Plastic surgery used to be shrouded in secrecy but I don't mind talking about it because I know that 90% of my friends would like to get something done (mostly because of what kids have done to their bodies).

My husband is very supportive (of course). I am scared about a lot of things. My biggest and probably most irrational fear is that something will go terribly wrong and I will die on the operating table and leave my children without a mother. And for what? It would seem so silly under those circumstances. But the chances are that this won't happen. I am also afraid of puking my guts out for days after being under anesthesia, like I did after getting my wisdom teeth out. I remember laying on the floor in the bathroom of an urgent care after puking non-stop for 48 hours, finally getting some relief from a shot of Tigin and Demorral. I'm afraid of the post-op pain. I'm afraid of picking the wrong size--there were times I thought I looked like a cow while pregnant. I'm afraid that doing push ups will feel weird. Fortunately, I have lots of time to think about what I want to do. I have consults over the next three months so I will keep you posted.

I get comments posted from people who are looking for feedback on the Range of Motion machine. We got the ROM machine in January of 2006. Brian has used the machine every single day with the exception of maybe four days. He didn't exercise at all before then although he has natural endurance that enables him to hike the rim to rim to rim of the Grand Canyon with minimal training. Since using the ROM, Brian has muscles that I have never seen before (in his upper body) and he looks great. I average using the ROM 5 - 6 times/week. This machine is hands down a great muscular workout and Brian and I are both very toned. I have a harder time quantifying the cardio/fat burning benefits--I don't think the machine makes you into a super athlete if you are sedentary now. But it's a great workout and it's very efficient at giving you the great workout. If I wanted to lose more weight faster, I would probably walk or run in addition to doing the machine. But for sustaining, it's great. 4 minutes is all you need. And there really is no excuse to not do it every day. Who doesn't have 4 minutes? It is hard, especially the leg portion. I really thought that I could do anything for 4 minutes but it's the toughest 4 minutes of your life.

Jack and Ty started their Infant Swimming Resource classes which are the swimming lessons where kids learn to get to the side of pool if they fall in. It's every single day for 10 minutes a day for 5 - 6 weeks. It's hard to watch your child so scared and crying but they have their faces in the water and are doing face floats the very first day. Pretty amazing what you can do when you appeal to survival instincts.

I saw "The Devil Wears Prada" with Jill and Tracy from book club. I had read the book a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. The movie was pretty good although I'm not a big fan of Anne Hathaway. We had some friends over for July 4th. Jack had a royal meltdown so it was really embarrassing. He has been quite good for the month of June after a horrible month in May. If anyone has advice on what to do when your child says "NO!" to everything to say, let me know.

Some Random Thoughts

2006-07-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a dream that I met my soul mate. Yes, Brian is my soul mate but you know how dreams are. I mean, I met the most amazing man on the planet. He was intelligent beyond words and really funny and was totally into me. I even made plans to get a divorce because this guy was so perfect and amazing. When I woke up, I realized who the guy was. It was the short order cook in the cafeteria at work! This is funny to me because mostly our exchange is:

K: Two scrambled eggs please.
Cook: OK.
K: Thanks.

Dreams are so bizarre. I made the mistake of telling Brian and he is already calling the guy my boyfriend.

So on Friday morning I notice I have a voice mail on my cell phone left at 6:10 PM the night before. I checked the missed calls log but there was no incoming call, so maybe I was out of range. The reception was kind of bad but here is the message that was left on my cell phone voice mail:

Uhhh, Mary? I just wanted to let you know that it's OK if you want to hook up with my husband. Just a night of fun, no strings attached. His name is David [I hear a guy in the background urging this person on]. I'm not sure if I'm going to [watch? participate? --It cut out here] because I'm straight. Well, give us a call and let us know if that works for you.

OK, that is more bizarre than my dream.

So then on Friday around 3 PM, I get this call from "restricted".

Hi Mary... it's David.
K: You have the wrong number?
David: Is this [my number but two numbers are transposed]
K: No.

If I had been thinking I would asked what was going on and who this Mary slut was.

I'd heard references to a movie called "Napoleon Dynamite" before so I recorded it from HBO. This movie represents humor of my family. Very dry. I couldn't stop watching it. It was like a train wreck. I definitely recommend it for JennDawg W. who shares my very odd sense of humor.

Diet Works!

2006-06-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I was on the Michael Thurmond 6 Day Body Makeover diet which consisted of eating meat six times a day, a difficult feat for an herbivore like myself. I followed it precisely until Thursday where I substituted one of the meat meals for a protein drink which isn’t really a bad thing but MT really wants the animal protein to build muscles. By Friday I had completely lost my appetite and skipped a meal which isn’t a good thing because that causes your metabolism to slow down. So technically I quit the diet a few hours early by eating some gorgonzola cheese and two scrambled eggs on Friday night. Miraculously, I woke up Sunday morning (not Saturday morning) to a significantly reduced muffin top. Pretty amazing I would say. It was worth the suffering. I’m going to try to keep going with more protein in small meals throughout the day.

Since this was the first diet I had ever been on in my whole life (other than my restricted eating during the time I refused to take the 3 hour gestational diabetes test when I was pregnant with Ty—whole other story), I was not used to handling lunches out with people. I got to work on Monday and realized that I had lunch scheduled with a co-worker I see about once a quarter. Fortunately, she was OK eating in the cafeteria so I could eat the lunch that I brought from home. Tiffany isn’t a close friend but is my contemporary at work (same grade level, similar type job, similar type skills, and similar type personality), so it’s good to compare notes with her every so often. We talked about our dreams to work for a company that more suited our interests. She is more interested in non-profits and for myself, I think something in the health care side of things. We will see what the lay offs bring.

On Tuesday night I went to Pilates at the YMCA. I’ve always suspected that Pilates is a great exercise for me and now I am getting addicted to it. I love doing it. The class at work on Thursdays is great and two co-workers-friends went with me. After doing the Pilates class on Thursday and then playing an hour’s worth of grueling four-man volleyball outdoors and then doing the ROM, I was really beat on Thursday. On Friday I had a pot luck at work where I didn’t eat anything because of my diet. No one noticed. Or at least, they didn’t say anything. I then when to hear our diversity leader talk about results from women’s survey they did here. They would like to get to parity with the female employees here—we are below parity in several areas. Having worked here for 10 years, I never really had a problem being the minority but I would say it gets a little more difficult as you getting into the higher grade levels and for me personally, after having kids and not being able to or wanting to work all night long. I used to not mind doing this because the work is interesting and challenging but now I want to spend more time with my kids. On Friday night, Jack and I made blueberry muffins for Ty’s 1st birthday. I didn’t want to make a cake because I didn’t want Ty to have all the sugar, plus I didn’t want the cake around because I would eat it all myself. We sang Happy Birthday and opened his presents. It was very low key but perfect for us.

On Saturday morning, Yvonne and Colton came over with their overnight bags to stay with Jack and Ty until the next day. For a Father’s Day present, I got Brian an overnight stay at the Camelback Inn and two Swedish massages. We have never spent the night away from the kids so we were very excited. We went to lunch at Postino’s where I broke my diet with a great Cabernet and some bruschetta. We went to the resort and spent the afternoon at the pool relaxing followed by a great dinner. After a full night of uninterrupted sleep, we got up and went to the spa where we had a light breakfast and spent an hour in the relaxation room before our massages. After massages we had a snack and then hung out at the spa pool. It was time to check out around noon so we checked out and went to the Nordstrom Café for lunch and bought some jeans for Brian. I was eager to get home and see the boys by then. Yvonne and Colton didn’t have much trouble with the boys. Ty is going through his stranger anxiety phase right now and cried a lot when we left. When he realized it might be a while before I came back, he clung onto Yvonne like a koala hangs onto a tree (he hooks his arm tightly around your arm). We went to the mall late in the afternoon with the boys because I wanted to try out our new Sit N Stand stroller. I’d been eyeing these strollers since before Ty was born and my sister saw them for sale at Target so I went to get one. Jack can stand on the running board or sit on the jump seat on the back of the stroller so he can come and go as he pleases. I really like it. Jack welcomed me back home by waking up 5 times last night. It will be a long day today!

Oh, they canceled the Tuesday Night Book Club TV show. I'm not too disappointed because it didn't seem like it was going to be very interesting. My book club is way more interesting than a TV show ever could be.

Sick of Meat

2006-06-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Brian was gone for three nights last week which made my life very challenging. I can’t remember if I said this before and I’m too lazy to look it up but I am doing Pilates twice a week now. I missed the Tuesday night class because Brian was gone but I did the noon class on Thursday and wasn’t sore the next day for the very first time. My abdominal muscles are getting stronger but you can’t tell because of the layer of fat on top of my abdomen. Our nanny stayed a little late on Thursday so that I could play volleyball. Otherwise, I didn’t do too much other than take care of the kids and chores, followed by collapsing on the couch at 9:30 PM.

I did get a chance to have lunch with Jill (who had a baby mere days ago) and Liz (whol just moved to the east coast and was back here to deal with the house). Liz moved to the east coast to be closer to family and her parents signed up to take care of her 3 year old and 1 year old while she works part-time. She says it’s an adjustment because you go from paying a professional to not paying family members and to some extent, you get what you pay for but I am sure there is no question as to whether her parents love those kids.

We did our usual dinner out at the mall on Friday. This is now our routine… leave work just a little early so we can beat the crowds at the mall and then walk around the mall with the kids. Jack just loves the bookstore and Pottery Barn Kids. I like people watching… it gets really interesting on a Friday night. There are lots of Goth kids that hang out at the mall which seems a little strange. Malls are so mainstream and kids that dress to get attention are trying to not look like the mainstream. It doesn’t make sense to me.

On Saturday I got my hair cut. My hair was the longest it’s been in 20 years. For some reason I’ve been able to keep it longer than normal and it’s not flat and stringy. But it was starting to get flat so I got it cut. I got my favorite turkey salad at the News Café at Kierland Commons beforehand. I don’t know why I like turkey salad so much. After getting my hair cut I checked out this 1 cent sale at a children’s boutique. Buy one get one for 1 cent. But one T-shirt was like $50. I guess some people will spend that kind of money on kids’ clothes.

On Sunday, Father’s Day, Brian hiked Camelback which is one of his favorite things to do. This is nuts to me. I cannot comprehend something so physically exhausting is a “favorite” activity.

We both started the Michael Thurmond’s 6 Day Body Makeover diet. Brian had promised to do this with me after I weaned Ty. I am trying to get rid of the layer of fat that sits on my abdomen, one of the remnants of my two pregnancies. I can’t say that I am hungry doing it but because I have to eat meat for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and snack (6 times a day) it’s a little tough for me (generally not a big meat eater). I am more dissatisfied than hungry because I could really use some oil or fat right now. A donut would be excellent. A chunk of blue cheese would be amazing. But I have followed the diet to the letter with the exception of one grape that Jack insisted that I eat. The idea of the diet is really charge up your metabolism to burn fat. I will report out on the results at the end of the week. Menu:

Breakfast – pile of beef + ground turkey
Snack – Chicken on lettuce (no dressing of course)
Lunch – Chicken, rice and beans and vegetables
Snack – Beef and strawberries
Dinner – Chicken, rice and beans and vegetables
Snack – Chicken and berries (I can’t just eat the berries—I have to eat the protein with the berries!)

So I Think I Can Dance

2006-06-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

We are having my company’s version of a layoff right now with more to come. This is always kind of scary especially when it’s not performance based but based on the role you currently have. If they are doing performance based cutbacks then that shouldn’t be a surprise to you but you never know what roles they are going to cut. Lately I’ve been interested in diversity or women’s initiative type program management jobs but these are the “fluffier” roles and tend to be cut first. I’ve always tried to stick to the roles that aren’t very specialized. Right now I’m a program/project manager. We will see.

Monday night I went to the final dance class of the series (cha-cha and swing). This was a 2-hour class that was combined with the Level 1 class (I am in Level 2). Taking a group dance class is always a gamble because it’s hard for a group class to match your current level unless you are a beginner. The Level 2 class was boring for me because I didn’t really learn anything new and I had to dance with beginner dancers. I don’t mind teaching some but I don’t want to pay money to walk the guys through the dance moves. Well, I thought Level 2 was pretty bad… combined with Level 1… it really sucked. Towards the end, the couples wanted to stick together which left 2 guys for 4 women to share and Mandy and I had to share a guy who was horrible. He held us too close which pitched us forward and I could go on and on with all the things that were wrong. I finally decided that it was Mandy’s turn to dance with him and then disappeared so she couldn’t find me to rescue her, which was cruel but required for self-preservation. After class, we commiserated and I was laughing so much I started crying. The class was going to field trip at a local club “Graham Central Station” and Mandy and I both agreed that our idea of fun did not constitute going to a club and dancing with some really bad dancers who were twice our ages. The teacher pulled me aside and asked if I would take her class again in the fall and assured me that she had a guy who was really good signed up to take the class but I don’t know if that’s good enough. I told Mandy that I wanted to dance with hot young guy, especially if I was going to be paying for lessons. So if I take lessons again, they will most likely be private. They are more expensive but I can learn a lot more in one hour with a really good male lead than I ever could in a group class.

I’m more advanced than the average person with ballroom, Latin and swing dancing but have a huge inferiority complex dancing with people who practice all the time and have been doing it for years so I am stuck in a dancing limbo… if I took private dance lessons, then I could gain the confidence to dance with some really good dancers and enjoy it… and not worry the whole time that they think I’m a bad dancer.

Right now I love the show “So You Think I Can Dance”. I was only able to watch bits and pieces of last year’s version because of conflicts but there is one show from last season that has been clogging up an hour of our TiVo for about a year. It has a 2 minute samba on it that I absolutely love. Fortunately Brian understands my love of dancing and does not push me to delete that show, even though we lost the Alias series finale from the lack of space.

In the interest of getting rid of my post-baby tummy bulge, I decided to up my Pilates regimen to 2x/week. Pilates is weird in that you are not sore from the class until 24 hours later and taking two classes a week with one day in between means that you do the second class with everything being sore. But I persevered through the class. I am also doing the ROM about 5 times a week and will probably do 6 times a week since my dance class is over. And finally I have increased my protein consumption during the day drinking protein shakes. If my stomach doesn’t decrease in size in the next two weeks, I will have to start walking a few times a week. As a very last resort, I will diet. I have never been on a diet in my whole life and the thought of depriving myself of anything makes me want to eat all these things that I wouldn’t even normally eat. Which is why it’s a last resort. Just talking about dieting makes me want to run to the vending machine to get a candy bar which I almost never eat anyway. That is how my brain works.

I got my car detailed for the first time ever and it’s just awesome. My car is 6 years old and I still love it and now it looks brand new. $125 is much cheaper than buying a new $30,000 car. We went to two birthday parties on Sunday. It was Jagger’s birthday at Chuck E Cheese and I took Jack while Brian went to the other birthday party with Ty. This worked out well because the other birthday party was for an adult and they don’t have kids and their house is a nightmare for parents because of all the nice breakable things at a toddler level. Jack had a great time at Chuck E Cheese although I made the mistake of giving him some HiC with water in it. He thought that was the best thing ever and didn’t eat anything else other than a cup cake. This is what happens when you deprive your children of sugar on a regular basis. They are slaves to it when they are around it. But he was really good and had a great time (Thanks Tracy and Jagger!). After we left the party we met up with Brian and Ty at the other party. I spent the next hour having sporadic conversations with the adults punctuating every other word with “No Jack!” or “Don’t touch that, Jack” or “No, I don’t want to go outside/inside with you.” I had a good time in the short time I was there. Unfortunately my stay ended with…

Kelly: What’s that? [Pointing to small brown glob on the floor, thinking it was a raisin or prune]
Joe: Poop. [Casually handing me a napkin]
Kelly: Sh*t. [Grabbing Jack and dragging him into the bathroom and using 25 wipes to clean up the horrific mess]

Jack never does this at home. Only at other people’s homes. In fact, the last time it was at Jill B’s house!
Finally I want to say that Jack officially does nothing I say unless it is coupled with threats of time out, taking toys away or just walking out of the room. This just drives me nuts because our lives would be so easy if he just did what we said!

Kids Cramp Your Style

2006-06-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jill M on the birth of her baby Luke Ryan on June 4, 2006! I got the opportunity to see Luke a few hours old. He was cute but the foremost thought on my mind was thank God I will never having to go through that again. I cringed when the nurse asked Jill how long she breastfed the baby so they could log it. That always stressed me out because the formula nazi’s seemed to be looking for proof that I wasn’t feeding my child adequately. This was more of a problem with Jack and not so much with Ty so maybe things are better now.

I’ve been very restless lately. I have been struggling to figure out why and a few friends have made suggestions that have been interesting and complex. I think the answer is actually quite simple. I went from having 1 – 3 social or sports engagements every night of the week and weekends packed with activity to a life that has a fraction of this level of activity. Almost all of my activity time has been replaced with child care and child centric activities. Having two kids under the age of three (coupled with miserable pregnancies) hasn’t lent much time to actually dwell on this reality so I think it’s just now manifesting itself. Assuming this is true, I have a couple options:

- Accept this as reality and get over it
- Do more stuff
- A combination of the above

Right now I’m leaning towards a combination. The “do more stuff” has its limitations because of all the “mother’s guilt” that comes from working but I can use the time after the kids go to bed and Jack is now at the age where we can spend hours out together doing something fun. Weaning Ty has also been liberating, just as much mentally as physically. I’ve pretty much spent the last four years pregnant/breastfeeding/pregnant/breastfeeding and now I am done and it’s very exciting.

In fact, I celebrated this milestone by going to Los Dos Molinos on Saturday with a group of 20 people that we used to go to Mexico with twice a year to play volleyball. After two margaritas, I was technically classified as intoxicated and announced it was the best time I had had in a long time. Brian clarified that it was only time I have been intoxicated in the past 5 years. It just felt great to go out and have fun like that. After 8 glasses of water and 2 Advils, I managed to wake up with a minimal hangover. While I had a ton of fun, I do not think I can physically handle binge drinking more than once every 2 – 3 years.

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Jack and I met Tracy and Jagger at the splash park close to our house. Two hours flew by and the kids seemed to like the water. I can see us going back there a lot because it’s so close to the house and it’s a great place to go when it’s hot. On Sunday, we went to the zoo and rented one of those four person bicycles. It wasn’t as fun as it could have been because Ty got sunscreen in his eyes and cried a lot. Sarah came over for dinner and we had a good time playing with the kids and catching up. On Memorial Day, Brian took Jack back to the zoo and they had a great time together.

Yesterday, I went to my monthly brunch with Missie. After brunch we went looking for shorts for me. A friend had a pair I liked and I asked where she got them and she said Abercrombie & Fitch. I had never been into that store and had avoided it because the music seemed very loud. Missie used to work there when she was in high school and she said that they play that music to disorient the customers. I was definitely disoriented and felt very silly yelling at Missie and the cashier to be heard over the blasting dance music. I did find the pair of shorts I was looking for and paid full price to get the hell out of there. I was measured for a bra at Victoria’s Secret and the news wasn’t too depressing but there is still time to go down in size even further. I really like the IPEX no underwire kind they are selling but I am very anti-underwire. We then went looking for maternity clothes for Missie. I always hated shopping for maternity clothes and it still brought back bad memories although I was secretly gleeful that I would never have to spend money on clothes that would have a 3 month useful life.

And finally congratulations to Kathleen on her pregnancy and subsequent shot gun marriage. :-)

My Busy Week

2006-05-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Grey's Anatomy Was Horrible

2006-05-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or did Grey’s Anatomy suck last night? If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading because this will contain spoilers. First of all, Grey’s is my favorite show on TV. So maybe my high expectations ruined it for me. I was a little skeptical after Sunday night with all the drama with Izzie. On Monday night when I was watching the two hour finale, I kept hitting the TiVo play button to see how much time was left. I had had enough after about 45 minutes.

The whole thing with Izzie and Denny was over the top. It was so melodramatic that it got to the point where I didn’t care if Denny died and I thought she should be fired immediately. If she is not fired next season, I will be disgusted. I had liked the storyline up to the point where Izzie completely lost her mind. And if I were Denny, I would have dumped her for coming up with such an irrational unethical scheme.

I didn’t like Christina getting soft.
I didn’t like Steve getting soft (saying Denny was not Denny anymore and coming to Izzie’s rescue at the end)
The prom was stupid.
I didn’t need to see 5 minutes of putting a dog down.
I am now sympathetic to Addison and think she can do better and should move on
Meredith and McDreamy getting together last night was yucky with Addison and the vet in the other room. I don’t really like them together anymore.
Meredith is pathetic and too scrawny and it’s a little hard for me to believe that these guys are fawning all over her.

Pink Eye and Mother's Day

2006-05-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Am I the only mother who really wants alone time on Mother’s Day? Seems like on Mother’s Day I should want to spend every waking moment enjoying being a mother but the truth is that sometimes it can be hard work and what I really want to do is sit down and watch Veronica Mars or read the paper or go shopping at Stein Mart by myself. In the past two weeks, the reality of having two boys has set in. I don’t know what it’s like to have two girls but I’m guessing that boys tend to be more physical. This means I get kicked, poked, bludgeoned, smacked, and accosted all in the name of love and affection. They want to touch me and be close to me, which I like, but their nature is a little rough. Even Ty, who is only 10 months old, likes lunge at me with full force while giggling and laughing. It’s tempting to turn the third car garage into a room with padded walls and floors where the kids can go throw themselves around with wild abandon. Or perhaps it can be the room where they can put me when I go crazy.

I am happily in the process of weaning Ty. I feel like I should be mourning this but instead I am excited at the thought of being hydrated again. This week I will only feed him in the morning and at night without pumping or feeding him during the day. He has been too distracted to eat on a few occasions so I think the time is right for both of us. I feel some guilt in that I will be cutting him short by about 1 month. I’m sure I will get over it.

Someone asked for an update on the ROM machine which by the way, still brings a lot of people to my blog through internet searches. We have had the machine for about 4 months now and clearly it provides incredible results with building muscles for men and toning for women. Brian’s upper body has changed quite drastically and I tease him for flexing his muscles around the house (which he never did before in all the years that I have known him). He looks really, really good. As a previous long distance runner and avid hiker (he can hike the south rim of the Grand Canyon to the North rim and back again!) his lower body hasn’t changed as much. For me my arms are toned and so are my legs and butt. My stomach is still flabby but the real test will be the 2 – 3 months after weaning Ty to see if there is hope there. What I haven’t been able to test out is my cardio and endurance. The best test would be a hike up Camelback Mountain or something like that. So far it’s been a great investment. The best reason to buy something like this is that you have no excuse to not use it when it only takes 4 minutes. Our nanny started to use it last week and it used it every day. It will be interesting to see her results over time.

I wanted to take a moment to write about my number one pet peeve. Maybe I wrote about this before but it’s something that I cannot stand: People cutting their fingernails in public places. It’s the clipping sound that drives me bonkers. You would not believe how many people at work clip their nails at their desks which in a cubicle environment makes me a victim of their misplaced hygiene regimen a couple times a week. I am really good at blocking out other phone conversations but I can hear the drawer open, the hand reaching into the drawer for those clippers and then the 5 minute manicure that follows, and finally the drawer opening and closing. I cannot work during the time the nails are being clipped. I believe in a lot of cases, it is a nervous habit. And I can understand one or two clips when a nail is broken, but to do all 10 is just wrong. DO IT IN THE BATHROOM AT HOME. I don’t give myself bikini waxes in my cube or pluck my eyebrows. Why is it OK to clip your nails? I went to the endocrinologist and in the waiting room, a woman clipped all 10 of her fingernails right there! CLUELESS. And where exactly did those fingernail clippings end up? All over the chair and floor. Disgusting.

This week my sister, Krisy, found out she was having a baby boy. She already has two daughters. She should be prepared to be a punching bag but overall I love having boys so I am excited for her.

I got pink eye this week. What really sucks is that I didn’t get it from my kids! I don’t know where it came from but it came on with a vengeance on Thursday. Fortunately I had antibiotic drops from before and got to start that ASAP. It’s looking better now.

We had book club on Friday night. Tracy and I were the only ones who read the book other than the host. This is beginning to be a trend. So we talked about the book for about a minute. I wonder if this book club should become a movie club instead where we see a movie and then talk about that. Not that we need something particular to talk about—that never seems to be an issue. And now we are planning more happy hour meetings and even a girl’s night out to a club. So we could just be the Moms-With-2 – 4 Kids Party Club. Although the title would have to also include our resident single members who bring us tales of their exciting single lives.

I did have a great Saturday with the boys. We went to the mall and while Brian ran some errands, I spent an hour and half at Pottery Barn Kids. I wonder what the salespeople think about me plopping down in a comfortable chair and letting Jack play with all their toys. Jack and Ty were phenomenally well behaved and I got to sit and relax while they played. I got to see what Jack liked to play with the best and so I bought that before we left (a toy microwave). We ate at Wildflower after that and then everyone took naps when we got home. We had Saigon Po for dinner which if you haven’t eaten there… you must. Where else can you get your dinner for $5? I think it’s great Vietnamese food and Jack even ate the shrimp and rice noodles.

Brian made me eggs benedict for breakfast which was tasty. Now he is at Costco with the boys giving me a break. I feel a nap coming on…

New School and Nanny

2006-05-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

After two months of worrying about Jack starting a new school, all went well this week. His new school at the YMCA is going well. They have all the toys out all the time, the rooms are very homey with wood floors and rugs, and the teachers are really nice. Brian couldn’t get Jack to say good-bye when he dropped him off the first day because Jack was so into gluing his glitter on his paper. I was really worried about sending Jack to a school that just opened but they seem to be working out the kinks pretty quickly. It’s nice to pick Jack up and he is not in a big room with 40 other kids (at the end of the day at our old day care, they put all the kids in one room to wait for the parents—I will say that Jack always seemed to be having fun with the older kids in the room or had managed to be sitting on a teacher’s lap). Instead he is snuggled up to the teacher on the couch reading a book or sitting at the table drawing. But the new school only has 25 kids total and it’s not up to capacity yet so Jack is getting a lot of attention.

The nanny also went well this week. The nanny, Holly, has a daughter Gracie who comes with her. Gracie is almost 2 years old. Brian and I spent some time writing out expectations and Holly did great with them. One day she did the kids’ laundry and put it away and ran the dishwasher and unloaded it. She takes out the trash and always leaves the kitchen spotless and picks up the kids’ toys. I worked from home twice during the week. I was worried about doing that but working in the office with the door shut seems to work fine. I like seeing Ty throughout the day. Holly also babysat for us Saturday night because she is trying to make some extra money. That was nice for us because Jack knows her really well and didn’t see to care that we were leaving him.

I guess I missed writing about last weekend’s activities, so I have two weekends to catch up on. On the last Friday in April, we had some new neighbors over. The guy, Stan, works with me and Brian and he moved into our neighborhood. Stan and his wife have a 6 year old daughter and a 4 year old son who is autistic. Stan and Pam are very dedicated to their son and are learning techniques to help their son integrate into the world a little better. Pam is pregnant with their third child and I don’t know how she does it. It takes a lot of time, dedication and energy with kids to begin with and then on top of that… well, it’s a lot. She doesn’t believe in immunizations which to me is interesting because my parents never had us immunized. This never presented a problem until I was a junior in high school and contracted the measles. I looked like the Elephant Man—it swelled up my head. It’s hard for me to decide if the measles was the worst illness I ever had or if it was mononucleosis when I was 19 (quote from the doctor: I’ve never seen such a high level of the virus in anyone’s blood before!!) but the measles was bad enough for me to drive myself to the health department and ask them to immunize me. Well, there really isn’t a standard process for immunizing adults and they were a little baffled at what to do. So they gave me a German measles shot. That’s it. So when I read about a mumps outbreak in the mid-west, I’m a little nervous. Of course, I went to the Far East six times before someone mentioned that I should be immunized. So I went to some clinic and got a Hep A shot and maybe even polio but I never did the boosters or follow up injections. I’m kind of in vaccination limbo. After living through this, I decided that I would immunize my children. But now I have a friend who is going to space out her MMR shots for her daughter and I read about how a lot of kids in Britain are not getting their shots because of fear of what the shots do (which obviously isn’t anything new because my mother felt the same way in the 1960’s!) It’s all very confusing.

I met my friend Sarah at IKEA for their $1.99 breakfast on Saturday. I bought a new office chair and a few other things. I am so grateful that we have an IKEA here. On Sunday we spent all day getting ready for Jack’s new school and for the nanny. She showed up at 7 AM on Monday and we went through everything. Because I knew her from Jack’s school and felt really comfortable with her, I didn’t have any problems worrying about Ty throughout the day.
I met Jill B for lunch at Abuello’s on Tuesday. There is something decadent about meeting a friend for lunch during the week without the kids. I feel like I’m really getting away with something. On Wednesday I worked from home with the nanny in the house. I was worried about the noise level mostly but fortunately it went fine with the door shut. This is Liz’s last week here before she moves to the east coast so I had lunch with her on Wednesday. It’s so unusual for me to go to lunch at all, let alone 2 times in one week. But I was able to say good-bye to yet another friend who is moving away. So then on Friday a couple co-workers asked if I wanted to each lunch out with them and I thought, Why not? Four of us met at the Cheesecake Factory and talked shop.

The naturopath called me back on Friday and we talked about why I am so tired. She thinks my adrenal system is in overload, so she is going to send me some stuff to sort that out.

Jill M (now 8 months pregnant) and her son Connor came over to play with Jack on Saturday morning. I hope everyone is used to seeing my son run around with his pants off but that is the only way he will go on the potty without being prompted. Even underwear doesn’t prevent him from having accidents. But bottomless, he jumps up and runs to the potty. So Connor played with our naked Jack. Holly came over Saturday night and Brian and I went to Fleming’s, a well respected steak house. It is a chain like Ruth Chris’s and I’m always skeptical of chains. However, the steaks were excellent and I got the beef Wellington, one of my all time favorite meals. They had a big wine selection too. It was quite expensive though. Cinco de Mayo is the anniversary of when we first met in 1998 so we were celebrating. We met a big Cinco de Mayo party in Queen Creek.

On Sunday, our friend Mindy came over for dinner. She was amused by watching us interact with two very active boys. After she left and the chores were done, I watched both Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I like both of those shows but The Office is quickly becoming one my favorite shows. It makes me laugh out loud. This week I will start the weaning process. I expect it will take about a month which will put me a couple weeks shy of my goal of 1 year but that’s pretty darn close. I’m ready to quit because I think it’s contributing to my being tired a lot. And I’m tired of being tired!

Are you a bank robber?

2006-04-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

I was super tired this week so I was relieved when I got in to see the endocrinologist. But then he told me that there was nothing wrong me. Everything was normal and that I was even closer to being hyperthyroid than hypothyroid. I said, “Why don’t I have all the energy I had when I was hyperthyroid before?” He said, “I don’t know.” And that was that. I pressed a little bit further about checking my pituitary or adrenal glands or something. He relented and wrote out a blood test prescription but I know he did it only because I was pushing. At this point, the information is probably not useful to him but more so to my naturopath. So I will go see her to see what is going on. I am thankful for doctors who do not solely rely on a number from a blood test.

Yesterday I worked from home and Brian called me and said, “I’m going to the hospital.” I thought he was going to tell me that Ty had to go to the hospital but he then said he was in an ambulance and they were heading to the hospital. WHAT? Brian had chest pains for about 2 – 3 hours and finally mentioned it to someone at work and they are really safety conscious—so they called the ambulance. Brian was embarrassed by the whole thing but I’m glad he did it because I think we were too slow to react with Jack when he had jaundice and I decided then that we should not be conservative with our health in the future. This turned out to be good advice when Ty got a fever when he was 6 days old—I rushed him to the ER at 3 AM and he was in the ICU on a respirator for a week. That was the absolutely worst week of my entire life. Now normally I would feel panicked about getting a call like this from Brian and I was worried but there was a part of me that couldn’t believe that someone who can hike from the South Rim to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and back again has a heart problem. So I met him down at the hospital and he was talking to the doctor. They did some tests but couldn’t find anything. He will need to follow up with his primary care doctor. So it’s inconclusive… maybe stress, maybe too much coffee, maybe muscular… but probably not his heart. The funny thing is that the doctor asked him how often he exercised (every day) and for how long (4 minutes) thanks to the ROM machine. He wrote down the URL to check it out for himself!

I mentioned before that we were changing Jack’s day care/preschool. It is brand new and starts May 1. They had an open house on Tuesday night so I took Jack there. The rooms have wood floors and lamps and are very homey. All the toys and activities are laid out all the time. Jack had a great time drawing and painting and didn’t move when I told him I was going into the other room to talk to his teacher. I met all the teachers and they seem really great. I got a good vibe from the place so that made me very happy. And then I couldn’t drag Jack out of there! He didn’t want to leave. So I am hoping that this will be a fairly easy transition although I know he will miss his friends.

We were outside on Saturday for a birthday party and Ty was wearing pants and I kept him in the shade. The next day I noticed one of his legs was sunburned, like a bright red. I felt like a horrible mom that I would let him get sunburned although it didn’t make sense that he got sunburned because he was wearing pants and wasn’t in direct sunlight. After several days it didn’t get better. And he started to get spots and even a little blister on his lips. By then I was worried and had myself convinced that he had hand, foot and mouth disease. After reading about his symptoms in a book, Brian announced that Ty had shingles. I thought that was funny because I thought only older people got that and only after they had the chicken pox. What was on his face seemed like it was caused by the excessive drooling from teething but it didn’t explain the weird burn on his lower leg. I was ready to take him to the doctor on Wednesday when I noticed he was crawling on one leg and bringing the other leg forward. The leg he was crawling on was the leg that was all red! A ha! That explained everything. He was a little chafed on that leg from crawling. What a relief.

Here is a short email from my brother. I don’t know about you but this kind of thing doesn’t seem to happen to me very often. “On my way to work I got pulled over by the sheriffs department because I matched the description of a robber, white male, black helmet with clear shield. They even had the victim drive by to ID me and she said it wasn't me. I was only 10 minutes late to work and had called my supervisor and told him I would be late and he laughed.”

Nanny

2006-04-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

We hired a nanny for Ty. We weren’t looking for one and were prepared to do drop offs at two different schools when Jack starts at the Y on May 1. Then Jack’s preschool teacher mentioned to me that she wanted to be a nanny. I told her that I had friends who were looking for a nanny and I would pass on her name. Then as I was leaving and driving home, I thought, why would I pass on her name? Why don’t we get a nanny? The two best teachers (patient, loving, and kind) in the school are in the 2 year old room and she is one of them. So we had her over Friday night and proposed a contract and she agreed so she will start on May 1. She agreed to do housework and will bring her 2 year old daughter with her. I am excited but nervous too. I think it will be a little strange to have someone else in my house all day. But it will definitely decrease our stress level! All of this change has eliminated all concerns I have of moving Jack to a new school. I know if that doesn’t work out, I can leave Jack home with the nanny and then look for a part-time preschool which would now be an option.

We had a good Easter weekend. We took the boys to get their pictures taken at Portrait Innovations Saturday morning. I always seem to pick the worst possible time like when Ty is teething and Jack has a runny nose.

But I love that place because they take a lot of photos and there always seems to be a couple good photos, even when you think there couldn’t possibly be a good one. Ty was very crabby and cried most of the time but we still got some good photos. I’m the worst at getting pictures taken. We’re lucky if we go 2x/year.

We went to 1st Birthday Party on Saturday afternoon and did an Easter egg hunt. The kids loved that. Jack ate a lot of shrimp (one of his favorite foods) and then talked incessantly about the “happy birthday cake”. You can tell we deprive him of sugary carbs since he is obsessed with the cake at birthday parties. On Easter we did another Easter egg hunt with real hard boiled eggs and then had Easter baskets for the boys. Jack loved that too. We went to the Nelson’s for an early dinner. The kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline. Jack became fascinated by the Barbie boom box and so the Nelson’s loaned that to us for the week. Brian frantically worked to complete our taxes. He thought we were going to owe a ton but made an error and then said we would be getting back a ton, but then realized he made another error and finally settled on us owing a fairly small amount. So that was a relief.

I sent Brian in my place to my dance class this week. He likes the swing more than I do and probably needs the lessons more. I’m sure the class was confused when he showed up! I figured what he spends an hour learning, he can show me in 2 minutes.

I went to Oregon for work for two days this week. I hope this is the last time I travel before I wean Ty (2 months left). I had a clogged duct by the second day and it was so swollen you could see it through my shirt!

We went to another birthday party on Saturday at a great little park for kids called Encanto Amusement Park or Enchanted Island or something like that. The kids had a great time. Jack and Ty were exhausted but did not take naps when they got home! Jack was getting really drowsy by 6 PM but then Yvonne and her son Colton and their friend Gianna came over around 6:30 to baby-sit and Jack got energized. He is so tickled when Colton (11 years old) is around. Colton didn’t like the way Jack was running around bottomless (it’s the only way he goes potty on his own), so we had to put a pull-up on Jack. They baby-sat so Jill, Gert, Brian and I could take our friends, Liz and Inigo out for a going-away dinner. As I said before, most of our friends seem to move away, which is sad but the fact of life around here. I am hoping some will move back. Ahem. You know who you are!

I have an endocrinologist appointment on Tuesday. Can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

Test Results

2006-04-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

My heart sank when I heard the blood test results over the phone. I was listening to one of those recordings. The doctor started out by saying that the test results were within normal range. For people who know about thyroid disorders, that's the T3, T4 and TSH results. That is not what I wanted to hear. However, I did test positive for thyroid antibodies. What does this mean? "Usually, it indicates that your thyroid is in the process of autoimmune failure. Not failed yet, and not failed enough to register in the standard TSH thyroid test, but in the process of failing." So they are sending my results to my endocrinologist. Apparently there are only 6 endocrinologists in the whole valley which makes it really hard to get in. OK, I'm being sarcastic but it takes 3 months to get an appointment if you're a new patient. But I'm not a new patient so hopefully I can get in. If I'm hypothyroid, then I get to eat whatever I want and when I gain weight, I can tell pepole I have a gland problem. Ha!

I was... ahem... lucky to have hyperthyroidism after Jack. Now I think I am faced with this: about half of all cases of Graves' disease [hyperthyroidsim], the person makes a full recovery. But in some cases, the disease destroys so much thyroid tissue that the gland can't produce enough thyroid hormone. As a result, hypothyroidism sets in.

Hey, Jill... a sausage butt means that the jeans compress your butt from the top and bottom and create one ugly squashed unibutt.

Costco Buy

2006-04-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

I went to Costco tonight to get the usual stuff and noticed that they had a big pile of Seven jeans for a little over $80. This may sound like a lot to people who don't know about these jeans but actually it is quite cheap! I bought a pair but they make my butt look like a sausage while being too big in the waist so I'm not keeping them. Tracy, I thought you could get some and wear them as cropped pants. :-) Thanks for lunch and gyros in the sun. I needed it.

Google Searches and My Blog

2006-04-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

I’ve been super tired lately and a little down and very irritable, and so I’m starting to think that I might be hypothyroid. I was hypERthyroid after giving birth to Jack. I thought breastfeeding really was responsible for getting me to 15 lbs less than my pre-pregnancy weight at four months post-partum. Of course, there were the heart palpitations and extreme jitteriness and I was burning up when it was cold outside. But I thought all of those were post-partum things as well. My doctor warned me that my thyroid could eventually “burn itself out”. So that is why I am suspicious. I got tested a couple times after Ty was born and everything was normal. I’m going to see the doctor tomorrow and she will probably get me a blood test. If I’ve not hypothyroid, not sure what my next step will be.

I have a little bit of code in my blog that allows me to see how many times people looked at my blog every day. Obviously I can’t see who looks at my blog, but what I didn’t realize until about a week ago was that I can see how people got to my page. Most people (my family and friends) go straight to the URL that they have book marked. But I was surprised at how many people got to my blog through a Google search. And that it shows me what they did a search on. Here are some examples:

Range of motion machine, ROM, other variations … people seem to search this a lot
Michael Thurmond sample diet
Black bra white shirts
Microinequity
Nude wife … how did this take them to my page!!
Spider veins
Cuddling and coddling

I find it rather surprising that my Blog is on the third page of a Google search for the ROM. I guess I thought I was being more anonymous than that.

I signed up for cha-cha and swing dancing lessons at Y. This was supposed to be the intermediate class but I was bored. It’s always a gamble to sign up for a group class. I had the most fun dancing with an 80 year old man. He knew the swing and so we didn’t do what the teacher told us to do which was to repeat the basic step over and over for an hour.

This weekend we were again restricted by our kids’ nap schedules. Brian took Jack to the zoo while Ty napped and then Jack came home and napped and then Ty napped when Jack woke up. I’ve been super tired even though Ty is sleeping through the night, so I napped twice on Saturday and once on Sunday! I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open. I hope the doctor can find something.

Oh, we did watch “Crash” on Saturday night. I thought this movie was very, very good. And I’m really picky about movies. Sarah recommended it when it first came out. Sarah is really good about telling me which movies I will like since I am so picky.

People Watching Is Fun

2006-04-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Brian, who works at the same company that I work at, moved into my building the other day. When we met, we worked for completely different organizations. Through the years, we have gotten closer and closer and now we are in the same organization. We even work together some. I know some people would have difficulty working with their spouse but it’s not too bad. We started carpooling together which makes it easier to do drop offs and pick ups at day care. Because our group had an outing to a spring training game, we went together and it was almost like a date since we didn’t have the kids and got a lot of adult interaction. That was awesome. We had beers and ate cheeseburgers and chatted with our co-workers on a beautiful 78 degree day. It doesn’t get any better than that.

We had a laid back weekend. We watched “Walk the Line” which is the biographical movie of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Brian asked why I wanted to watch it and I said that liked watching biographical movies of country singers. He looked at me incredulously and asked which other ones I had seen. For some reason I really like “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “Sweet Dreams” (Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline respectively). It just seems that country singers have the lives that make interesting movies I guess. They get married at 13 and their husbands always cheat on them. We also watched “March of the Penguins” which I was very afraid of at first because I don’t like seeing animals dying and you know all nature movies show that. There was some of that but mostly it was funny and very cute. They are just adorable and it is fascinating how they adapt to their environment and what they do to survive.

It’s difficult for us to leave the house on the weekends. I think I have woken Jack or Ty up from a nap maybe twice in their lives. We just never wake them up when they are sleeping. Right now Ty is sleeping from about 8:30 – 10:30, maybe 11 and then Jack goes down for his nap at 11:30 and then when Jack wakes up, Ty goes down for his second nap. So we pretty much cannot leave the house until 4 PM and then Ty is ready to go to sleep by 6 – 6:30 PM. We planned on going to the Tempe Art Festival on Saturday but it doesn’t make sense to go at 4 PM so we went to the YMCA and joined in the anticipation of moving Jack there. He liked the playground a lot. After that, we went to downtown Chandler and tried out the Mexican restaurant El Zocalo's for the first time, even though we have been walking by there for years. They sat us on the patio and after we got settled, we noticed a bride and groom walk in and we watched them get married. Now this patio isn’t that big. If I had a wedding at a restaurant, I would want the whole patio for myself and my guests and would not appreciate a grubby family with a preschooler and a baby sitting right there. But I guess that they didn’t specify that in the contract. So we sat there and ate our chips and watched them get married. While this was going on, some guy stood up in the middle of all the people eating and power smoked a cigarette. Even though we were outside, there was smoke going around everywhere. When he finished smoking, he tripped on something and crashed into someone’s table creating a huge spectacle and then he stumbled out of the patio and back into the restaurant. He was clearly altered in some way. So the food was decent and the entertainment was top notch when it comes to people watching.

On Sunday we did make it to the Tempe Art Festival. I don’t know why I think I will be able to leisurely look at all the booths when Jack is asking to eat every 10 minutes and Ty is crying because he is teething. We were exhausted after 2 ½ hours of this and Jack, Ty and I took a nap as soon as we got home. Yvonne came by to pick up my Ethan Allen sofa that no longer looks OK in our living. We bought this chair and ottoman that would fit Paul Bunyan (am I dating myself by referring to Paul Bunyan?) So the chair made the sofa look really scrawny and we had to buy the matching sofa. The old sofa is a beautiful, nice sofa so I was thrilled that Yvonne wanted it. I went to see “Blast” as part of the Orpheum series that I have. It was a combination of brass and percussion instruments (which is the part I liked) but then there were segments with men and women jumping around and doing thing with flags like a flag team at high school. I thought this part was really lame. This Orpheum series is over for the 2005 – 2006 year. The 2006 – 2007 year starts in December.

NO UNDERWIRE BRAS

2006-03-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

I hate underwire bras. They are so uncomfortable and they make up about 95% of the bras on the market. I think they are a cop out. I’m sure it takes more thought and engineering to make a well structured bra without wires. Think about it. Underwire bras just have wire and fabric draped over them. Someone once told me that it’s mostly gay men who design bras these days. I don’t know if it’s true or not but personally I would rather have a heterosexual man design a bra than a gay man. At least they would have some experience with breasts.

I’m on this subject because with the return of my period after 1 ½ years came exactly 7 pimples, a reduced bra size and a reduced muffin top. Some good and some bad in there. I’ll start with the reduced bra size. I’m still breastfeeding but around the 8th month, I go through a substantial decrease in size. It’s disconcerting to suddenly have your muffin top exceed your cup size so I frantically looked through my massive collection of bras from A’s to DD’s to find one that actually fit and gave me a boost. An underwire one fit and seemed to balance me out so I wore that this week for a couple days. Until I got a clogged duct. Damn underwire. So I am back to looking droopy in a poorly constructed non-underwire bra.

I want to take this moment to mention white bras. I don’t understand them. What do you wear a white bra with? If you said white, that is the wrong answer. You can see white bras under white shirts. You’re supposed to wear a nude colored bra under a white shirt. If you have a white bra, just throw it away. I don’t really know why they even make them. But when you’re looking for a nude or black bra, they never have your size. But they will have your size in a useless white bra.

I went into Victoria’s Secret because they have this new IPEX no underwire bra. They had 20+ sales associates in the store and THREE DRESSING ROOMS. Huh? There was a huge line and I stood in line for about 15 seconds before giving the bra back to one of the many sales associates. I don’t have the patience for that when it’s a big negotiation to go shopping on the weekend. I’m all for communal dressing rooms and wish more stores had them. People are way more concerned about their own bodies than yours.

So 7 pimples. Part of my extreme makeover plan is to go on Accutane. The health nuts out there will freak out at that because Accutane is a really nasty drug. Mostly because of what it can do to an unborn fetus but I am done having kids so that is not a concern. There are other concerns in taking it and I’m trying some naturopathic remedies to get my skin under control but I am not confident. I find it ridiculous to have to the skin problems I have at my age. But the good news is the muffin top is decreasing in size. I have been using the ROM machine religiously but mostly I think it’s just the timing of things and getting my period.

The ROM machine is going well. It’s very hard to come up with an excuse as to why I shouldn’t do it every single day since it’s only four minutes. It’s an impressive machine because it detects your strength level and will increase resistance during your workout. This means that personal trainers and out of shape 70 year olds can use the machine. I admit that after about 2 minutes on the back portion I want to quit but I also think it would be lame to quit after 2 minutes so I always finish.

The thing that is most pressing on my mind right now is Jack’s preschool/day care. I think people make too big of a deal about preschool but Jack is really in day care, not preschool, so he is there about 9 hours a day/5 days a week. This is a big difference from 3 hours a day/2 days a week. Brian and I decided that we will switch Jack to the YMCA preschool/day care. The thought of this makes me want to throw up. But when I toured this new preschool opening in April, I realized that it was closer to the lifestyle that Brian and I lead. For example, at his current day care, they serve 2 snacks and a lunch every day. They serve pop tarts and pepperoni pizza pockets and other crap like that. I don’t like Jack having processed food so we send him with a bunch of food every day. The Y teaches healthy eating habits. The Y will also have the kids in the school go to swimming lessons, dance lessons and tumbling during the day because they have those teachers available to them. Brian and I like the physical aspect that they will provide. But I hate the thought of taking Jack from a day care that we have been very happy with overall and from his little buddy Jackson. I asked Brian what it would take to stop me from obsessing about this and he said it would have to be that Jack has been in his new school for a while and that he is happy. So I will grouse around for a few more weeks until this happens.

Brian’s aunt, uncle and cousin came to visit from Alaska. Because our house is a bit chaotic, they stayed in a hotel but we got to see them a couple times. They are very nice people and we hope to visit them again in Alaska in 2007 (we went in 2004 and spent the week on the Kenai river).

I traveled to Santa Clara for two days this week. I hate traveling for work because I hate being away from my boys. I also hate the logistics of pumping which you know about if you’ve read any of my blogs. I won’t bore you with the problems I ran into this time around. People say, why don’t you quit? But I can’t because there are so many respiratory and stomach illnesses going around, I have to do what I can to protect my child. When it hits 100 degree, then I can consider stopping.

Book club was Friday night and we decided that we would try meeting in a restaurant. I’m not sure if that was a good idea because over the weeks, more and more people started dropping out and of course most drop out at the last minute so of the 12 of us, only 6 ended up going to the restaurant. It didn’t stop us from having a good time though. Only Tracy and I read the book. No surprise there.

On Saturday we went to the zoo. It was very crowded and quite hot. But we still had a good time. After the kids went to bed, I drove up to Scottsdale to a Pampered Chef party, mostly to socialize. I spent more time driving up there and back than I did socializing but it was totally worth it. The party was put on by my long time guy friend Mike and his wife Karen. I would say that Mike is one of my best friends even though we don’t see each other that often any more. I used to go to happy hour with him about once a month for what we call a “Bitch Session”. Some people might think it’s strange that I go out alone with him, especially since we are both married but if you are good friends with a guy before you are married, and you marry someone else, then it’s OK to keep that friendship because if that friend were right for you, you would have married him instead. Now meeting someone after you’re married and going out alone with that person is a big no-no because the same logic doesn’t apply. Missie didn’t know Mike before she married. However, through the transitive property of being friends with me, it’s OK.

A Long One

2006-03-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

Jack has been really clingy lately with a lot of crying and whining. This isn’t normal for him and he threw up on Sunday so Brian took him to the doctor on Tuesday. No fever, no ear infection… he did go to bed really early on Tuesday. I hate to say that I hope he is sick but I need an explanation for this kind of behavior. Because he doesn’t have an obvious physical sign of being sick, I wonder if the extra attention and cuddling and coddling is making him act this way. Or is he really not feeling well? In which case I should be providing comfort. Sigh…

My place of work has negotiated with the Y to provide a preschool for 2 – 5 year olds based on the Reggio Emilia teaching methodology. This teaching methodology is similar to a Montessori or something along those lines. Does Reggio Emilia and Montessori really make a difference for a child? Do they do better in public schools? Worse in public schools? Right now Jack is at a daycare/preschool where he has been since he was 4 months old. He is best friends with the owner’s son and several of the kids in his class he has known since he was a baby. They have a traditional approach to preschool. Is this good enough? Because I would be devastated to take him away from his best buddy. But am I doing what is best for my child? I never went to preschool and I learned to socialize in kindergarten and to read in first grade. Somehow I managed to take college level calculus, English and biology in high school, even without a Montessori education or regular preschool education. But things have changed I think. I hear people talking about how their kids had to learn to read before going to kindergarten. I actually believe that being a child should not be all about learning. It should also be about having fun because you know how play time goes away as you get older until you retire. And I know they learn when they are playing. I’d love to hear what other people think about this.

Brian’s mom, Paulette, came into town last Thursday. She came here to help her boyfriend, Ron, with his booth at the big sports show. Ron has the fishing guide business and condos on the Kenai River in Alaska. They try to book people at these sport shows. Paulette stayed with us Thursday night. That was nice because it was the night that our volleyball teams were playing against each other. I am competitive so of course I wanted to beat Brian’s team. We won the first game and then lost the second two. But he didn’t gloat too much so it wasn’t too bad. The next morning I stayed home from work for a couple hours so that Paulette could spend a little extra time with the grandkids. After dropping the kids off, I went to work where I had a 5 hour meeting where Brian was an attendee. Over time, Brian and I have been working closer and closer together. I don’t really have a problem working with him because we are on the same page with a lot of things but what I don’t like about it is that I see him as a co-worker when we are working together and that just feels blah to me. I mean, being a father has squeezed the time that he is my “husband” and now co-worker is dominating as well. I’m not sure if that makes sense. He is also moving into my building which is a rather small building. I’m not worried about this as I am oftentimes on the phone all day and don’t make it out my cubicle, plus I work from home twice a week.

Ty had goopy eyes for a few days and every time he has had this in the past (without a red eye) the doctor has said he didn’t have pink eye and therefore, shouldn’t go on the antibiotics. She says that snot comes out of the nose and sometimes the eyes and that is why we have crusties in the morning sometimes. He definitely has a cold but they are not strict about colds at day care because they are so prevalent. Since Ty’s eye wasn’t red, I didn’t take him to the doctor but one of the women at Ty’s day care would make comments every single morning to Brian about how Ty’s eye was goopy. We call this a “microinequity” here where I work. She is sending a message with these comments like: Why haven’t you taken your son to the doctor? Why are you bringing your child here when he has pink eye? I dropped him off and she said her daughter (also in the infant room) had a similar thing. She said her doctor said it wasn’t pink eye but then showed me these eye drops. Erythromycin. An antibiotic. I said, She doesn’t have pink eye and you’re giving her antibiotics? It’s not going to do anything. This is the same woman who suggested that we use the nebulizer on Ty when he had a head cold. I think that is for their lungs, not a head cold. So after 3 – 4 days of this, I want to get her off our backs, so I make an appointment for Ty on Friday afternoon. When I was picking him up to take him to the doctor, the woman said, “Oh, his eyes weren’t goopy at all today.” GREAT. So I take him to the doctor and sure enough, no pink eye. Just a cold and of course, antibiotics won’t do a darn thing. At the least I got some ear wax removal done for my $15 co-pay.

On Friday night, we ate at Pei Wei and then got some ice cream. On Saturday it rained after about 150 days of no rain. It was quite nice. I really wish I could have slept all day. Brian took Jack to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Saturday night, Brian went out to see one of his favorite bands “The Peacemakers”. I’m at the point where I don’t like being in a big crowd getting my eardrums destroyed so I chose not to go. On Sunday Brian’s sister joined up with us (she had also been part of the sports show) and we went to the Ostrich Festival. It was mucky out there and the rides were expensive and Jack wasn’t feeling well and it was cold (Ty’s hands were like blocks of ice), so I can’t say we had a good time. Maybe next year.

Tuesday I voted in the Chandler election for mayor and city council members. I met one of the women running for city council outside the polling place which I thought was a nice touch. If she cared enough to get up early and stand outside the polling place and introduce herself, then she gets extra credit in my book. I think I might enjoy getting into city politics one day, just because I like problem solving and it would probably be similar to my current job (only about city stuff versus the supply chain), but I hate the thought of pleading and begging people to vote for me. It just doesn’t suit me.

The book we are reading for book club is called “The Birth of Venus”. This book was a little hard to get into and I have to say that there are many new vocabulary words for me in there but the story is interesting and I’m now in the obsessive-compulsive portion of the book… meaning I try to read it at the dinner table, while playing with the kids, I pump about 5 minutes longer than normal to keep reading and I stay up late, even though I am really tired!

I am going to close by saying how grateful I am for Costco. People make fun of us because of everything we get at Costco but I went yesterday during lunch and got beautiful fresh mangos, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, clementines, and apples. The mangos and apples were pre-cut and so a little more expensive than normal but overall such great produce for a fraction of the cost that you would pay elsewhere. I was also able to buy organic brown eggs (no antibiotics/cages) and organic milk. And the book selection is so awesome… and you pay a fraction of the price that you would pay at a regular book store. I just love that store.

Mamma Mia!

2006-03-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

I’m very late on this blog entry! I’ve been fighting a cold for 12 days now. I just don’t remember colds lasting as long as the colds I’ve gotten in the past two years. I had five, yes five 2-week-long colds last year when I was pregnant with Ty and that was MISERABLE because of all of the extra mucous production from being pregnant. This year, despite all the germs in the house with the kids, I’ve managed to avoid a real cold until now. One of my biggest pet peeves are hearing people (these tend to be older men) snorting because of phlegm in the back of their throat. Have you ever sat next to someone in a meeting or on an airplane when they are doing this? It makes me want to throw up. Now here I am doing it. Blech.

Last weekend Brian started the Michael Thurmond 6-day body makeover diet. Michael Thurmond is the guy I like from the Extreme Makeover show because he seems to know a lot of about muscles, fitness, losing weight, and diet and approaches it holistically. He promises you will drop one size and kick-start your metabolism. Here is a sample menu for the day:

Breakfast – beef with some egg whites
Mid-morning snack – Chicken
Lunch – Beef with some greens
Mid-afternoon snack – Chicken
Dinner – Beef or Chicken with a handful of blueberries and a ½ cup of rice
After dinner snack – Chicken

I enjoy some meat every now and then but there is no way I could choke down this much meat in 6 days. At first I thought I would try this with Brian but by Sunday night, I was starving and promptly ate a tomato and mozzarella salad. Technically you’re not supposed to do the diet if you’re breastfeeding so thankfully I had an excuse to fall of the wagon in a few hours. Brian stuck with it and ended up losing 5 lbs! Amazing. He said he will do it with me after I wean Ty. I decided that I needed to eat more protein throughout the day so I have two protein shakes with me here at work to have as a mid-morning snack and mid-afternoon snack.

Jack started his terrible two’s with a vengeance last weekend. It is not so much tantrums as it is downright defiance. He says “no” to everything we tell him to do which equates to lots of warnings for a time-out (Supernanny always says give them one warning and the next time they do it, it’s a time-out). We are extremely consistent with following through with the threat so a lot of times, the threat alone works. However, more and more he ends up in time-out. I think he is constantly testing us to see if we are going to follow through. I read somewhere that time-outs shouldn’t be a form of punishment, just a vehicle to move your child away from the circumstance and that if your child perceives that it’s punishment then you should sit there with them! I think that’s a load of crap. It’s partly to remove them from the circumstance but I don’t want it to be fun. I don’t think sitting in a corner for 2 minutes and not liking it is going to damage their little psyches.

Brian and I had our 6th anniversary on February 26. We went to a great little French restaurant called Coup de Tartes which is a BYOB place. This means you can bring your wine and focus on spending your money on food. It was delicious and was interesting to see how people brought their wine in (most had little wine bags) and what they were drinking. It only has 12 tables so you have to make reservations to get a table. Ann baby-sat for us and seemed to have a good time playing with Jack. And he seemed OK that someone he didn’t know was going to be putting him to bed.

I started playing volleyball again. I joined the work league and played my first game on Thursday night. Because Brian’s game overlapped with mine, we had to get a baby-sitter and used a new neighborhood girl who lives across the street. I didn’t get a chance to warm up and my back started seizing on me. I continued to play, ignoring the pain. We won both of our games and I started playing a third but was worried about my back getting worse so I stopped playing. I did get in to see the chiropractor on Friday and he was able to work it out a little bit. It’s still sore in some place. I feel old.

On Friday night I went to the House of Tricks (restaurant) with my mom’s club. This is my mom’s club that I joined when I had Jack and although I don’t get to see the moms very often, we always have a great time when we meet out for dinner. We sat outside and the orange blossoms smelled really good. We were laughing so much the other customers were staring at us. It was 10:30 when we finally left! On Saturday I went to register Jack and Ty for Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) swimming lessons. These are special lessons where you take your child every day for 5 – 6 weeks and they get a 10 minute private lesson. They are very focused on survival swimming—floating on their backs, then on their tummies, and then on their backs again to breathe. Jack quickly learned these skills last year and now he needs a refresher for 2 – 3 weeks. They teach kids as young as 6 – 8 months so I am taking Ty as well. They start June 19. Because of the limited spots and because I needed very specific spots after work, I stood in line for 2 hours! And I got the very last spots after 5 PM so I’m glad I stood in line but it felt kind of silly to do that. What we do as parents! I remember standing in line overnight in college to get a parking space in a coveted garage and the man in front of me was standing there for his college aged daughter. Now that’s ridiculous.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Joe and Jill’s house for dinner. Jill made delicious chicken and mango crepes. The kids all seemed to get along even though they were different ages. Ty and Jill’s daughter Tatum were especially cute hanging out together. Jack managed to crap in his pants and it went all the way up the back. So we had to borrow a shirt and have him run around in his pull up. Fortunately people with kids don’t seem very fazed by these mishaps. We ended up staying later than anticipated (1 hour past Ty’s bed-time!) because we were having such a good time.
Ty and his girlfriend, Tatum
Ty and Tatum in a compromising position

On Sunday I had brunch with Missie. We go to the same place at the same time on Sundays about every month. After eating our regular brunch meals at the Cheesecake Factory, we went through the mall and I got free makeup samples from Origins and $23 worth of hand soap from Bath and Body Works for $10 so I felt like my cavewoman gathering instincts were satisfied. We could have stayed there for hours but I started feeling too guilty for leaving Brian home with the boys since I had so many activities this weekend. I topped off the weekend by seeing “Mamma Mia” at Gammage. That is my all-time favorite Broadway musical and I highly recommend it. Everyone leaves happy and singing. That’s what Broadway musicals should be all about.

NO I AM NOT PREGNANT

2006-02-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Some of you have already heard me gripe about this but this week someone at work asked me if I was pregnant. Now this is fourth or fifth time someone has asked me that after going back to work in October when Ty was 3 ½ months old. I am not exaggerating. The first two times (in October and November) were embarrassing but at least I could say my child was 3 – 4 months old. The other times have been more recently and Ty turned 8 months today and if you use the logic – nine months to put on the weight and nine months to take it off, then I have exactly one month to get in shape. But how am I supposed to go from looking pregnant to not looking pregnant in one month? I admit that I look about 3 – 4 months pregnant when I slouch. My stomach is stretched out and there is a layer of fat there. My arms and legs and hips are all normal. I understand that having a pouch and being normal everywhere else makes me look a little pregnant. I am concerned that I will have that nice layer of fat there until I am done breastfeeding which will be in about 4 months. I don’t know if I can go through another 4 months of people asking me if I am pregnant. I even worked from home on Thursday and Friday because I didn’t feel like trying to find clothes that didn’t make me look pregnant. OK, well the truth is that I have a cold and I normally work from home on Fridays but it was a huge relief to not have to put on anything other than sweats.

But forget about the facts of whether I look pregnant or not… the real issue is:

WHAT IS UP WITH PEOPLE ASKING IF I AM PREGNANT? I thought everyone knew that you don’t ask that question. You can ask other people and hope they don’t relay the question but you just don’t ask that question. Why are they asking me? Is it their business? Would they ask someone, “Why are you so fat?” No, of course not. But it’s OK to ask “Is the reason you’re fat because you’re pregnant?”

A New Pair of Jeans

2006-02-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

I’m still getting headaches every day which I have been attributing to dehydration, even though I only drink water throughout the day with the exception of a couple cups of coffee in the morning. I’m starting to wonder if I should take a trip to the doctor to see if they can figure out what is going on. How many gallons of water would it take for me to not have these headaches? What if it’s not dehydration?

I went to a show called “Defending the Caveman” at the Orpheum last Sunday night with my “theater group”. This particular show was almost like watching a stand-up comic… it’s a one man show and was on Broadway for a long time. It compared men and women to the way they were during the caveman times and it was quite funny. I actually gained some insight. When Brian goes golfing with his friends or my sister’s husbands for 4+ hours, I always ask him what they talked about. He says, Nothing. I don’t believe him because how can you spend that much time with other people and talk about nothing??? Obviously they talked about something very juicy and he is withholding information from me. Well, it turns out that he was not withholding information from me and that they literally didn’t talk about anything other than “nice shot” and “where’s the beer cart?” Women, on the other hand, would know all the intimate details of one another after about 30 minutes. Well, there you go. Another mystery solved.

I spent the week driving around in a Pontiac G6 while Progressive worked on my car since I had a lot of damage from the car accident last week. I have to say they were an excellent insurance company to work with. They made everything very easy on me and were very nice. Even though I had the kids with me and they were hungry and dirty, I am so glad that I decided to stay until I got a police report in my hands. I have heard horror stories from people who exchanged insurance information but didn’t get a police report and the stories change and then you can’t get the other person’s insurance company to pay. So make note of that, no matter how tempting it is to leave. Unless it’s your fault. Ha ha.

We had book club on Friday night. There were only five of us but I actually liked that better because it was easier to hear everyone and talk to everyone. We read “My Sister’s Keeper” which is a decent read and I would recommend it. Of course, we had the same juicy conversations and spent very little time talking about the book. What else did you expect?

On Saturday I decided to go to Scottsdale Denim Company for a pair of jeans. Let me first start off by saying that I believe you never have to pay full price for anything. I used to spend 8 hours a day at the mall or Last Chance or the outlets to find a great bargain. The truth is that to never pay full price for anything and to find something decent AND to find something that actually fits a post-partum body requires a tremendous amount of time that I don’t have. If I’m lucky, I can shop for a couple hours a month. Well, I realized that none of my jeans were fitting me well and I was getting frustrated so I decided to see what these expensive jeans are all about. You know the jeans that all the movie stars wear. I personally tend to pay $20 – 30 for a pair of jeans, typically at Old Navy and sometimes I grab a pair at Costco. They have a very small selection and no dressing rooms so you can imagine the trial and error involved there. Well, now I have a ton of jeans that fit me so-so to poor. So I decided to go to one of those places where you tell them your size and the people who work there bring you tons of pairs of jeans to try on until you find the best one. This kind of service comes with a price but if you read my ROM entry, you will know that I look for any opportunity to buy time. Most of the jeans were too low-rise for me. I’m all for lower rise jeans but many of these are very low. We finally found a pair of jeans with a little bit higher rise (but no where close to a mom jean!) and a really nice slight stretch. All of those jeans I had heard of “7 for All Mankind” and “Citizens for Humanity” and “True Religion” made my rear end look like a sausage. I ended up with “Joe’s Jeans”. I paid several times more for these jeans than Old Navy jeans or the latest Costco special but I really love them and feel good in them and they are amazingly comfortable. I guess now that I know what brand/style works for me, I can search for the best deal on them with all my free time. Ha! The good news is that my quest to find jeans took all of 30 minutes, not including the drive time to Scottsdale and back. That rocks.

I met up with Brian and the boys at the mall afterwards and even managed to buy a pair of sandals. That felt really good too.

On Sunday I met Jill, Liz and Kim for lunch at Arcadia Farms. They went off to the Phoenician for massages and I went home because I can’t seem to get enough of Brian, Jack and Ty on the weekends, as crazy as that sounds. I just love spending time as a family. I ended up taking Jack to playground and socializing with some of the neighbors. On Sunday night I went to Tami’s house for girls’ game night. That was a lot of fun but I had to bail early (11 PM!) because I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

On Monday we had the day off work for President’s Day. Because day care was open, we took the boys in around 9 AM and I went to get my jeans hemmed and Brian got his tire fixed at Costco. Then we went to House of Tricks for a great lunch, sitting outside in the sun… just the two of us enjoying smoked salmon and turkey waldorf salad and a glass of wine. It was very luxurious. We almost never go out on dates! We browsed around Z Gallery and Costco Home and went to Starbucks. We picked up the boys around 3 PM and had a nice leisurely dinner. It was an awesome day. I wish we had these “free” days more often.

The Range of Motion Machine

2006-02-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

I said in my last post that I would tell you about the ROM machine. ROM stands for Range of Motion. This is the machine that claims to get you 30 – 45 minutes of cardio, 45 minutes of strength training and 15 minutes of stretching/calisthenics in 4 minutes. Yes, that’s right folks. FOUR MINUTES. I have to stay that I don’t know exactly how it works. But in seeing it and reading all the literature, Brian and I made the leap of faith to rent the machine for 30 days. This is not cheap… you have to really think you would want to buy it if you are going to rent it. 97% of the people who rent the machine, buy it.

We have been reluctant to tell people about it. Mostly because people think we’re crazy for believing this is possible and then to spend a lot of money on something that seems like snake oil… well, we felt that it might be best to keep it a secret. But it’s just too good to keep a secret. It’s really all about time. Brian and I are always looking for ways to buy back time. We pay to have our house cleaned. We pay to have someone clean our pool. We pay to have someone take care of our yard. Sometimes we do Dream Dinners to have someone make our meals for us. For years and years, I have spent about 1 ½ hours every weekday doing aerobics including drive time, getting dressed, doing the classed, showering and driving back. This equals about 7 ½ hours/week! The ROM machine allows me to buy back that time and to keep my exercising to 1 hour a week! I was contemplating going to a 32 hour work week which would be 1/5th of a pay cut. This extra time would be spent doing errands so I didn’t have to do them on the weekends. It’s been so nice to run errands during lunch and get things done that I normally wouldn’t get to do during the day.

The other thing about the ROM machine is that it makes the most efficient use of the time because it’s the perfect exercise. One day you do the front part of the machine and the next day you do the back half of the machine and then you alternate to give your muscles a rest. The front part of the machine exercises every muscle in your upper body including your abs. It’s like a rowing motion only the range of motion is much more exaggerated. In the process of using all the muscles and using the machine in a fluid motion, you get your cardio. The back part of the machine is like a stair stepper but again the range of motion is exaggerated. This has much more cardio benefits because you are using your biggest muscles. I have to pace the kitchen for 10 minutes afterwards to catch my breath.

So the question is: does it really work? We have had the machine for over three weeks now. If you are out of shape but not that much overweight, you are not able to judge your improvements by weight loss because of the muscle being built up in the process. I will say that my muffin top has decreased in size quite a bit although I still have a ways to go. I have more energy to play with my kids but I will say that I am very tired by 10 PM. My posture is better and my lower back hurts less. Overall I will say that I am very impressed with the machine and it allows us to put a huge priority on health for a very small time investment. My goal is to be healthy and fit for my kids for a long time and I have confidence that this machine will help me with that goal. How can you put a price on that?

Check out my later post to see how we like the ROM (it's awesome): http://kelsstinson.blogspot.com/2007/07/june-2007.html

We Are Always Sick

2006-02-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

We kept Ty home on Monday, February 6 to be on the safe side after his bout with RSV and pneumonia. This required some negotiation between me and Brian since we both had critical things going on at work. After the usual, “you think your job is more important than mine” conversation, we tagged teamed the day and got through it. I hate to say this but I can’t wait until Ty is Jack’s age when he won’t be hit so hard with all these illnesses. Jack’s nose seems to run all the time but he seems fine. I ran into an old friend and she has had two kids since I last saw her (and I’ve had two kids). She says her kids are always impeccably dressed in Ralph Lauren. I told her my kids look like street urchins. Which they do. Jack has taken to wiping his nose across his face with his sleeve. This leaves a gummy booger residue all over his face and it’s impossible to get off, like trying to get a price tag off an object. He screams when I try to get it off and it does seem to be chapped so I give up half the time. Ty doesn’t wear anything but sleepers. Never cute overalls or pants without snaps… I hate taking pants on and off when I change a diaper. My poor kids.

So back to this old friend. She was my neighbor the first 4 years I lived here. I will call her “Betty”. I would say we were friends but she was one of those “with friends like that, who needs enemies” friends. Betty would rip mutual friends to shreds when I was around and I was not too naïve to think that she wasn’t doing that to me when I wasn’t around. She told a friend of mine that both my boyfriend pre-Brian and Brian both hit on her. She did seem to have some magical powers over a lot of guys but I happen to know that Brian wasn’t fond of her. Over time, I found myself being very guarded around her to the point where I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want her to turn it around on me later. Despite all of this, we had some really fun times together. More so in the beginning than the end. When Brian and I got married and moved into this house in 2000, I stopped calling and emailing Betty. Then, at a homeowner’s association meeting, a neighbor came up to me and said we had a mutual friend in common. It was Betty. She said she would let me know the next time Betty came over to her house. She did and out of morbid curiosity, I went over there to see her. Betty did most of the talking, as usual, and she would tell stories of stuff that the two of us did that were really funny. We had a lot in common at the time (both single, same age, working, owning houses right next to each other, having guy problems, etc) and now we still have a lot in common (both married, 2 kids, like to work). But can a leopard change her spots? What makes people talk so viciously about someone who is their friend? And if someone is like that, will they always be like that? I’d like people’s opinions.

Sarah came by to visit one evening. It’s hard to socialize too much when I come home from work and have to eat and feed the boys and get them to bed but Sarah colored with Jack and they made strawberry shortcake together. It’s nice to have extra hands around the house in the evening when things are so hectic.

On Friday I left work a little early to meet Heather, Janine and their babies for lunch and a trip to the zoo. I took Ty with me and he seemed to enjoy the fresh air and staring at me, which is sometimes a little disconcerting but since it works for him, I go with it. Ty and I met Brian and Jack at Abeulo’s for dinner and we had a nice meal. Jack is still really into eating which makes restaurants a fairly painless experience as long as there is a variety of food. I gave Jack some grapefruit over the weekend and he thought that was pretty good. I’m amazed at the food he likes that I wouldn’t think a toddler would like: fish, olives, green and red peppers, grapefruit, lemons… I keep wondering when he is only going to want to eat Chicken Nuggets. I like to think I’m not one to brag about Jack other than his exquisite taste in food but tonight I was helping him with his Valentines for school tomorrow. I had him put a sticker on each of the valentines after I put his classmates’ names on the valentine. Jack then proceeded to “read” the name that was written on each of the valentines. I thought the first one was a fluke so I had him “read” a few more and he got about 80% of them right. I have to say that I was impressed. Now I have to believe he is just doing some pattern recognition here… I really don’t think he can read. But still, I was very impressed. I am his mom and I am impressed easily of course.

On Saturday I woke up feeling like I drank a bottle of tequila the night before. Splitting headache and nauseated. That lasted all day and into the night. I woke up Sunday and I was fine. Heather, who spent the afternoon at the zoo with me, sent me a note today and said she was throwing up all day Sunday and today. Guess hers is lasting a little bit longer. And Ty… well, he puked all over himself at day care around 3 PM. Nice. I can’t wait until it’s 115 degrees outside so the germs go into hibernation.

Next Blog entry: The ROM Machine

Another Quick One

2006-02-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ty is sick. Most likely he had RSV, the dreaded virus that puts many infants in the hospital. This turned into bronchiolitis and pneumonia, confirmed by a chest x-ray. This time he didn't have to go the hosptial, either because he was bigger and healthier or because we had a nebulizer (not sure if I spelled that right), the machine that allows us to give him breathing treatments. What really sucked is that he got his sickest when I was out of town on business for my first overnight trip since he was born. I hated taking an overnight trip... I hated being away from my boys and not being able to put them to bed at night and I hated all the logistics of pumping and making sure my breast milk stayed cold. My boss made a crack about the size of my suitcase for an overnight trip (which had one article of clothing and the rest of the suitcase had a breast pump, plenty of attachments, a cooler bag, and other items that could maintain my small dairy). I did enjoy a dinner out with co-workers without worrying about getting back home to relieve a baby-sitter and I guess I got a little more sleep than usual but I still felt tired.

I got home Friday night. On Saturday Yvonne and Colton came over to hang out and have dinner and on a whim, Brian and I went out for a couple hours while they watched the kids. We rarely have date nights so we went to Cost Plus to look around and then to a wine bar and then back home.

Sunday Brian went to a Superbowl party and took Jack and I kept Ty at home since he is still sick. Monday is another day of trying to figure out how to cover work commitments but still take care of Ty. Sigh. He is much better but I prefer to be conservative with his health.

Crazy Drivers

2006-02-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

Quick post: Tuesday I picked up the boys from day care and was driving home. I was about to make a right on red and had pulled forward to get a better look when BAM! I got hit on the back left side of the car. It was a woman who was behind me, also trying to make a right turn on red but I guess she wasn't looking in front of her. So the good news: no one was hurt and it wasn't my fault. The bad news was that it took over an hour for the police to come and do a report, which I need to file a claim with her insurance company. Jack and Ty were in the back seat fussing on and off. I am just thankful we weren't really hurt. The woman who hit me tried to blame it on someone who was riding her tail but the police didn't think that was justification for hitting me. She was pregnant and flustered and I can sympathize with her but that doesn't pay the bill to fix the car.

Sleeping Is a Drug for the Sleep Deprived

2006-01-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we spent all day cleaning out the one car garage. This room was a big storage area for things like my roller blades that I haven’t used since I met Brian 7 years ago and about 25 books on computer subjects like operating systems and programming languages. It’s not that I really want some of these things but it takes a long time to sort all this stuff. So we buckled down and got to business. While I would not call myself a pack rat, I do like to hang onto things that have emotional or sentimental value. For example, I found a cassette tape that my friends and I had made at the 10th anniversary showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in 1985. We were Rocky Horror virgins but didn’t want to look like virgins and ended up looking like the biggest virgins ever. Instead of toast to throw, we brought English muffins. Instead of newspaper to put on our heads during the raining scene we brought a big umbrella. I think we brought pasta or risotto instead of rice. The tape is pretty much us talking and of course hearing other people say things like “MUFFINS? Who’s throwing muffins? I don’t remember any muffins.” In the garage I strapped on my walkman and listened to the tape and cackled the whole time. The second cassette tape I found was my brother-in-law and my sisters doing a rendition of me on a camping trip in 1995 when I drank too much Black Velvet. The third cassette tape that I kept was one of a europop song that was on the radio 24 hours a day when I was in Ireland in 1996. I threw away all other cassette tapes including the original Madonna tape and a bunch of others that had songs from the radio taped on them. Remember doing that? We would call the radio and request a song and then hover by the radio with our tape player to tape the song so we didn’t have to actually purchase the tape. And then the DJ was always talking over the song. I also couldn’t rid of the various purchases I made in other countries like clay tea pots from Hong Kong and a jade statue from Malaysia. But for most of the stuff, knick knacks, computer books, etc… it was fairly easy to get rid of since it was just starting to look like clutter. I do reach a threshold where I can’t get rid of any more stuff but fortunately we were able to get just about everything on shelves.

This week was a really rough one at work. I don’t want to go into it and bore every one but I feel like I’m trying to walk uphill wearing concrete blocks tied to my ankle. Your management and co-workers can make your job easier for you or harder for you and right now it’s harder. It’s not something that they are intending but it sure makes my life more miserable.

I finished the second book by the author who wrote “The Devil Wears Prada”. It’s called “Everyone Worth Knowing”. I thought it was kind of boring at the beginning but got better towards the end. I’m looking forward to starting to read the book club book “My Sisters Keeper”.

On Wednesday I took my car to the dealership (Acura) to get my 60,000 mile tune up. They had work stations with wireless high speed internet, coffee, espresso machine, all kinds of drinks, cookies, and fruit. Plus phones to use. I’m thinking of working there instead of working from home two days a week.

I dropped off all of Ty’s 0 – 3 month clothes plus his baby bathtub at a place called “Maggie’s Place”. It’s a “house of hospitality” for homeless pregnant women, or women who need to get out their current homes for whatever reason. They can stay there until the baby is about 6 months old. The thought of selling Jack and Ty’s stuff doesn’t really appeal to me—I wanted to donate my stuff to a place where they would really need and appreciate it. The staff member who lives at the house with the women gave me a tour. The babies were really cute and I wanted to cry when I was there but I didn’t. I don’t know why I wanted to cry other than anything to do with babies and kids can make me cry. I think it’s a mother thing.

I was expecting Thursday and Friday to be really difficult because Brian was flying to Santa Clara on Thursday morning and coming back on Friday night. But Brian missed his flight Thursday morning. This is the jet that is owned by my company that seats about 38 people. He showed up too late and they gave his seat to someone who was waitlisted. I feel really stressed at the thought of missing a flight so I leave a little earlier than most people. For example, when I take the company plane, I leave 30 minutes before Brian does! But sometimes that line of thinking helps because I have never missed a flight. The good news is that I didn’t have to deal with the boys by myself on Thursday night. Brian flew out Friday morning and got back late Friday night so I had to deal with the boys by myself but that went fine. Ty is going to bed a little bit easier nowadays.

My friend Libby flew in from Austin on Friday night and our mutual friend Sarah picked her up at the airport since I was alone with the two kids. Libby and I met when we were 19 years old and were working at NCR as a co-op and intern. We worked in a male dominated environment—she was an electrical engineer and I was a computer scientist—and became fast friends. We lost touch when she went back to Clemson and stopped her co-op. We became friends again when she moved back to Columbia after getting her masters and I was getting a divorce. In fact, Libby testified on my behalf at my divorce proceedings because I was in Arizona at the time! So we have a lot of history together. We ate dinner, some chocolate cake, chatted and watched Dancing with the Stars. Libby spent the night with us and on Saturday, Libby and I went to Pane Bianco for tomato and mozzarella sandwiches. We sat outside and it really nice although it got a little chilly in the shade so we had coffee drinks from the coffee bar next door. We then met Brian and Jack at IKEA where we spent a couple hours walking around, talking and shopping. After IKEA, we spent the afternoon with the boys, sitting outside. Libby was teaching Jack how to use the pedals on his tricycle while I fed Ty. It’s so nice to have another set of hands in the house! After dinner, I gave the boys a bath and when I was getting Ty into his pajamas Libby washed Jack’s hair. I wish I could have a helper all the time. Saturday night we met up with Sarah and had sushi and went to Graham Central Station. This is a bar/club where they have four rooms: a karaoke room, 80’s room, hip-hop room and country room, although they didn’t always play country in the country section. This is where all the non-Scottsdale type people go. It was the weirdest cross-section of Phoenix I have ever seen. There were several couples in their 70’s, one of them was jamming on the 80’s dance floor. Lots of men in cowboy hats. The parking lot was completely full even before 10 PM. I couldn’t believe how crowded it was. I hung out until about 11 and then left Libby and Sarah and Gary there since they are single and don’t have a baby to wake up to at 4 AM. Libby and I met up with Sarah at IHOP with Ty in tow and had brunch. I left Libby with Sarah so they could have some alone time together and went home to spend time with my family. When I got home, Ty and Jack were asleep so laid down and it felt so good… like I was floating on air. I think sleeping is the best drug ever.

Father's of the 2000

2006-01-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

I think we women in the 2000’s are pretty lucky. I’ve been noticing men carrying babies in Snuggli’s and Baby Bjorns more and more over the past couple of years. Today, at the park, I noticed that almost all the kids were being led around or carried by their fathers. Now granted it is a Saturday but if we had our kids 30 years ago, we would raise our kids with little help from our husbands. I don’t think my father ever changed a diaper. Sure they played with us every now and then but mostly our moms took care of us. Brian is typically the one who changes the kids’ diapers when we go out. He doesn’t seem to mind and I know the kids hate the changing tables so I let him do it. How awesome is that?

Another thing I noticed is that my view on cooking is changing. Previously, I have pretty much avoided it completely, even though I have had two husbands (both are excellent cooks and therefore cooking skills are not necessary). But then kids came along and it made sense for me to be able to produce a meal every now and then. I still cook pretty basic things like meatloaf and spaghetti but the thing that has changed is that I like having a meal on the table for my family. I like the feeling that I am “taking care” of my boys (including Brian). Perhaps I am finally becoming domesticated after all these years.

I managed to take my class without too much stress about when and where to pump. It started at 9 AM so I was able to do the first pumping at home and we got a big enough break for lunch that I was able to come home and do it. And we got out a little early so that worked out. This class was grueling. It was about this really complicated software that we run our supply chain on. I’ve never really been someone who learns by sitting a class and even though we were practicing on the system, it was still difficult to pay attention.

Thursday night I sucked it up and went to a Project Management Institute meeting. See, I took that test to become a Project Management Professional and I got certified. To maintain my certification, I have to earn 60 PDU’s. These are units of stuff like attending presentations and training that indicate that I am staying current with the latest and greatest project management techniques. I have a Computer Science degree and worked as a programmer for years and then other various functions around software and hardware for years after that so I am very used to being around a lot of geeks. But what I didn’t realize is that there are not only computer geeks, there are Project Management geeks. These are people who are oddly excited about project management and eagerly share their views and opinions on the subject in a large room with a bunch of other people like them. AND OTHER PEOPLE SEEM TO BE INTERESTED. Now I think project management is pretty cool and definitely useful but I really don’t like going somewhere after working all day and talking about it some more. After listening to the speaker talk about trust and requirements and then hearing various people in the audience give their little tips and tricks from their workplace, I really couldn’t get out of there fast enough, even though I was supposed to “network”. I really hate that word. And I only got 1 PDU for this. I can’t do this 60 more times. I don’t think I can do it 1 more time.

Friday we went to eat at Z’Tejas where we like to order a bunch of their ½ price appetizers. Unfortunately they no longer have my favorite appetizer “crab cakes”. Saturday was a very busy day. We went to Connor’s birthday party at the train park where Jack and the other kids got to ride a train several times and ride a carousel. They had a great playground too. Brian, Jack and Ty took naps when we got home and I went down to the greenbelt to attend a Homeowner’s Association meeting. We had it outside and they had snacks and a big bouncy thing for the kids so there was a big attendance and we got to talk about the hoodlums in the neighborhood. I’m going to join a neighborhood watch group. We met a lot of people with 2 year old boys and also met a new potential baby-sitter. We ended up staying for 3 hours! This kind of day wears out the kids quite nicely which means they sleep really well. And that is where they are right now. Well, I think I’m going to catch up on some TV now.

Oh, I Forgot

2006-01-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was walking into work, I realized that I forgot my badge. So I went back out to my car as I approached my car, I stumbled and because I was hauling all this crap into work (laptop, purse, lunch, breast milk bottles, etc), I couldn't regain my balance and I went crashing down to the asphalt, hard. Of course, the very first thing I do, even before assessing my injuries, is look around to see if anyone witnessed this very ungraceful event. Of course, someone had and as they approached me, they asked me three times if I was OK. Even if I broke my leg, I probably would have told him I was fine just to make him go away. I picked myself up, got my badge and went into the building and straight to the cafeteria as normal to order my morning eggs. A guy I've never talked to before said, "You going after the grunge look?" I looked at him puzzled and then down to my jeans and there is a huge stain and a hole in the knee of my jeans. Crap. I walked around like that all day. I started to feel like I had been in a car accident. My neck hurt and my back hurt and of course my knee hurt. A manager wanted to have me file a safety report. At my work, if you injure yourself, you're supposed to file an incident report so that they can do root because on the issue that caused the accident and fix it. Since the incident was solely my clumsiness, I would hate for anyone to spend time root causing my incident!

Blah Blah Blah

2006-01-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

This was a super long week. On Tuesday I took Ty to his 6 month well-care visit. He weighed about 18 lbs and was 27” long. I’m not sure when long becomes tall. Maybe when the kid starts walking. I started reading “A Million Little Pieces” for book club. It’s a book about a guy’s stay in rehab at the age of 23. He was addicted to alcohol, crack, a bunch of other things and sniffed glue on top of that. He started getting drunk at the age of 10. You would think that he would have really slacker crackhead parents but he didn’t. They seemed rather normal. This struck some fear in me because I would like to believe that parents of drug addicts have done something really rotten to their kids to make them the way they are. I don’t want to spoil it if someone is going to read this book but they did find something odd that happened in his childhood that potentially is the cause of the extreme anger he has for his parents. I read this book for book club, which was on Friday night. I showed up an hour late (because I put the kids the bed before I go out) and I missed the 1 minute discussion on the book.

On Wednesday a friend had breast augmentation (I won’t put her name in case she doesn’t want that broadcast). Everything went well. I don’t see how anyone could fault a mother who breastfed 4 kids for wanting this done. On Wednesday night I had the opportunity to go a really nice steak restaurant in town, paid for by my boss, because we had a meeting with everyone on my team and he was buying dinner for everyone. But I already had plans to meet up with Jill M, Liz and Kim C who was visiting from Delaware. We had an excellent meal at the Havana Café. Their plantain chips with the black bean dip is excellent. On Friday I got an eye exam because I wasn’t seeing as well as I used to. I had LASIK in 2003 to correct my horrible 20/700 vision and have seen 20/20 since then, even with a slight astigmatism in my left eye. I only have a slight change in my vision… not even worth getting glasses but I wanted to get a pair of prescription sunglasses to make my vision a little crisper for driving. I picked out some Ray Bans and then got the new prescription put in my old glasses. It will be 2 weeks before I get the sunglasses. On Friday after work, Brian and I took the kids to California Pizza Kitchen. The kids were pretty good. I had to take Ty home to feed him and put him in bed. Afterwards I rushed to book club and showed up an hour late. The topic for the evening was about sex and breasts as usual which seems odd since it’s a bunch of women. It was rather entertaining.

Saturday morning I went to get my hair cut and then met up with Brian and the boys at the zoo. Brian has been going to zoo with the boys and meeting up with some guy friends and their kids. Jack has a really good time with the other kids. While we were there, we ran into Jackson and his parents. Jackson is Jack’s best friend from day care and his parents are the owners of our day care. Jack decided to abandon his other friends and happily held hands with Jackson as they walked through the zoo. It was very cute. Two year olds are definitely not homophobic. Saturday night I actually watched a movie, which is rare for me because they require a 2 hour investment and half the time I don’t think the movie is worth spending that much time watching. We watched “Million Dollar Baby” which I actually liked. On Sunday morning I visited my friend who had the breast augmentation. I thought they looked really good—very proportional for her. Late Sunday afternoon we went to Jill and Gert’s house for dinner to let the boys play. Liz and Inigo showed up with their kids. The kids had a good time playing. I didn’t get to watch Grey’s Anatomy or Desperate Housewives because “24” was on. “24” is Brian’s favorite show. Ty had a little bit of a fever so Brian and I had our normal lengthy discussion about who would stay home with him on Monday. This is probably the worst complication to deal with when there are two working parents. Brian had to run his staff meeting and that usually trumps whatever I have going on, but this time I was running a meeting from 10 – 3 and someone was flying to AZ to attend so I had to go to work. Ty still felt a little warm on Monday so Brian stayed home with him. Fortunately, Ty can be self-entertaining so Brian got some work done. Monday night I had a meeting with India and we watched the Golden Globes. Tomorrow I have a class in a hotel. This is problematic for me because of the pumping. I really don't want to pump in the restroom so I drove to the hotel and discussed my options with the sales director. It's stuff like this that makes breastfeeding so difficult for working moms! Last week I had two all day meetings with my boss and his staff. This time I told him I would be taking my breaks so he pretty much had me set the break times for the meeting. That was cool.

Pink Eye

2006-01-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure how I can sit here and write for this blog when I know we haven’t sent out of Christmas cards yet. I thought they could be Happy New Year cards but that has passed us by. I wonder if they make Martin Luther King cards? Well, maybe President’s Day.

Thursday morning I went to the dentist and arranged to get my zoom whitening done in July. They don’t like to do it when you’re breastfeeding and I thought I would do it right after my next cleaning. Teeth whitening is one component of my extreme makeover. Later on that day, I got the second laser treatment for my spider veins. It definitely hurts more than hair removal, even though it takes less time. I told that to the woman zapping me and she said, well you were numb for the hair removal. I said, No I wasn’t. I went to Affordable Laser for the hair removal and when they make it affordable, they mean a strip mall in a bad part of town with no numbing and if you’re lucky, you can get some aloe vera put on the area when you’re done. I have no regrets about doing that though as I now have hairless arm pits, a tidy bikini line and only have to shave my legs every week versus once a day. I could use a few more treatments on my legs but it’s so significantly reduced that I’m not sure that I really care. I was a little disappointed in the vein treatment after the first round but I didn’t realize it was a multiple treatment thing. But after the second treatment, I think I’ll have better results. I’m starting to think that my veins don’t really bother me that much after all. I wonder if self-tanner would cover the whole mess plus the few stray hairs I have on my legs?

Friday I worked most of the day but made a trip a Costco during lunch. This was a very oddly painful trip. It’s warm here so I was wearing my rubber flip flops and I was getting shocked on the cart and on the refrigerators about every 15 – 30 seconds. I was almost in tears by the end of the trip because it was getting painful. Never again will I wear those shoes to Costco. I wonder if my hair was sticking straight up.

I picked up Ty a little early from day care to get some quality Ty Time and there was a notice on the door at day care “PINK EYE” is going around. UGH. I walk into the infant room and lo and behold his eye is red. CRAP. You can’t bring your kid to day care unless they have been on eye antibiotics for 24 hours. I can’t get into the doctor at 4 PM on a Friday and there is no freaking way I’m going to sit in an urgent care with 200 other people with the flu. So I made an appointment for 7:30 AM on Monday and resolved to take the day off work on Monday.

Friday night I met the girls at Cyclo, a Vietnamese restaurant in Chandler. Kim, who moved to China a few months ago, flew over to attend her grandfather’s funeral. A sad reason to come out here but we were all happy to see her. I didn’t know that Cyclo was BYOB which is always nice because you aren’t paying 10x the retail cost for a bottle of wine like you normally do in a restaurant. Jeanette arrived late and informed us that she was late because one of the guys running for the mayor of Chandler asked her out on a date. Of course, I knew him because I’ve attended a couple of city council meetings, including the one where all the women were breastfeeding in the audience to protest some anti-breastfeeding laws. He is a very handsome man and is a very prominent bachelor in our town so we were all very proud of Jeanette and will probably vote for him just so we can say that our friend is dating the mayor. I did stop to think… what criteria exactly do you use when you vote for a mayor? I don’t think they declare themselves Democrat or Republican. Anyway, Kim wasn’t very happy with the way the people who are renting her house are taking care of it. Actually, they aren’t paying rent because they are taking care of the dogs. If I had that arrangement, I’d be bending over backward for the people who set me up with that but I guess some people are ingrates. (Sorry, Kim).

On Saturday we went to some friends’ house in Phoenix. They are moving to Austin, TX which is quite a nice town. My friend Libby lives there and works for Dell. It just doesn’t seem like it’s Texas there. The party was early enough so that we could take the kids and they had it catered by a Mexican restaurant. By 7:30 PM, Jack was overtired to the point of hyperactivity so it was time to go. On Sunday, Brian took Jack and Ty to the zoo to meet up with Gert and Connor while I went to brunch with Missie. Missie and I enjoyed our regular meal of eggs benedict at the Cheesecake Factory. Missie’s husband doesn’t understand how we can go to the same place every time we meet for brunch but when you only get to meet up every 1- 2 months, it’s like a new meal! We drooled over purses and watches at Coach and then went to Williams Sonoma for a single serve coffee demonstration and tasting. The coffee maker was $399 and used those pods that looked like half and half creamer containers. It was tasty but Brian drinks way too much coffee for that to be economical. He would go through 10 pods a day at least.

I got to spend some quality time with Jack the rest of the day. We kicked the ball outside in our fake grass. He kicks the ball better than me. Part of me was proud and the other part of me felt kind of pathetic. But maybe flip flops aren’t the best shoe to wear when you’re kicking the ball around. Ty and Jack took their very first bath together. It was so cute. Ty would splash and of course Jack thought that was funny and had to splash even bigger. When I’m getting Jack’s pajamas on, Brian comes running into the room and I’m thinking something horrible has happened to Ty and it turns out that Ty has a tooth! It’s a sharp little thing sticking out of the gum so that explains why he is a bit fussy these days. HE REALLY IS TEETHING.

Bright and early Monday morning, I took Ty to the doctor to check out his eye (which by the way, was not red all weekend… a little watery at times but not red). I made a huge mistake of going on the 202 to I-10 and spent 45 minutes fighting the horrible traffic that some people face every day. Of course, I had only allotted 25 minutes to get there because it only takes 15 minutes under normal conditions. Doctor says… doesn’t look like pink eye. Looks like part of his cold. Woooo hoooo! Drop Ty off at day care (workers are suspicious but I assure them doctor gave him the A-OK).

At work there is a new person in the mother’s room and she’s using my spot. See, there are 2 spots. One spot has the communal pump that I use and the other spot has a place for your own pump. She has her own pump but yet she is using the spot that has the communal pump. I feel a little territorial because I have logged about 325 hours in this room and I have squatting rights. We will have to see how this plays out.

Snow in Phoenix

2006-01-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

On Friday Brian worked and I wanted to get a massage so we took the kids to day care for a while. I was able to get quite a few chores done and got everything off the Christmas tree so that Brian could get rid of it. He called the city to pick up the tree but they refused to take our address. The city of Chandler said that they just drive around looking for trees on certain days. This makes no sense at all. And is especially problematic for people like us who live in a gated community. I doubt the Chandler Christmas Tree Pick-Up Vehicle will just happen to be driving around our neighborhood. Needless to say, the tree was still in the road the next day. And the next day. And finally Brian just loaded it up into his car and got rid of it.

Saturday morning the zoo had a big pile of snow so we decided to go when they first opened to allow Jack to see snow for the first time. They open at 9 and despite our best intentions, we arrived at 9:40 and the place was an absolute zoo. Ha ha. I was able to maneuver my way to the middle of the snow mound with Jack and proceeded to be pelted every 2 seconds by snowballs. The place was frenzy of kids throwing snow in various forms from handfuls to giant spheres. I guess as a post-partum adult, I was a pretty large target. We left the zoo and the parking lot was completely full. I went and got a facial to finalize my post-traumatic stress Christmas pampering. Saturday night was New Year’s Eve and we had our friends Deb and Joe and Ger and Ter over for snacks, wine and games. Everyone showed up in their pajamas which has been our tradition for a few years. It’s awesome to just hang out in your jammies and be wonderfully comfortable. We played the 1990s Trivial Pursuit which I thought I would be good at but I was not. I knew that there was a cinnamon bun that was formed into the shape of Mother Theresa and I knew that Washington Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” but I don’t know anything about video games and we got a lot of those questions. Did you know that National Security Administration banned Ferbies from the NSA building because they were a national security threat? Brian actually got that question correct. But by midnight I was so ready to go to bed that I started to get a little crotchety. I just can’t stay up that late. Did anyone see Dick Clark? I had mixed emotions about seeing him on his New Year’s Rockin Eve show. Apparently he had a stroke and so his speech wasn’t the same and he just looked so different. I felt sorry for him but I’m pretty sure Dick Clark doesn’t want us to feel sorry for him. It’s just that he seemed so young just a few years ago. Made me think about my own mortality.

I got up by 6 AM on Sunday since Jack got up. Sunday was pretty lazy and I spent a lot of time doing things around the house while playing the VH1 show, “I Love the 1990’s”. I love those shows on VH1. I actually learned a few things that would have helped me on that Trivial Pursuit game. I’ll be ready for next time!

On Monday, Brian and I had the day off from work and we decided to have a date since we could take the kids to day care. We went to the restaurant, Postino, and had bruschetta and wine and sat outside because it was just a beautiful day. Then we went to Kierland Commons to walk around and do a little shopping. It felt just like it did before we had kids. But then by 3 PM I needed to pump so that was back to reality. But to have that time together was just awesome. We don’t do that enough.

After pumping, I went to visit my friend Chelle who had a baby four weeks ago. She was trying her second VBAC but her uterus ruptured so they had to do a C-section. About 2 weeks later they found a blood clot. She is fine now but what a scare. Her only symptom from the clot was a fever and that’s because some bacteria had gotten into her bloodstream. So it took a while for them to figure out she had a clot. Her baby was very cute and he was doing a lot of those baby stretches that they do when they are sleeping. Then I went to Annette’s house to say good-bye since they are moving to Colorado. It’s always sad to see people go.

Overall Ty is sleeping better but will wake up a couple times during the night and Brian (who has been on baby duty the last week) has a hard time getting him back to sleep. We’re both getting pretty tired!

Christmas Trip

2005-12-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

This holiday season had my left brain pitted against my right brain. My logical left brain is a bully and put my emotional right brain in its place.

It all started when I suggested to Brian that we get a Christmas tree in early December. Brian thought that was too early for a tree because one typically puts up the Christmas tree closer to Christmas. Because Brian said that we would need to take it down before our trip to Portland on December 21, my logical response was: why put up a tree at all? For one or two weeks? That’s crazy. So he acquiesced, and we got the tree a little early. I overheard him talking to his mom about getting the tree early and explaining why we got it early. Obviously the timing of getting the tree comes from traditions in his family. Kelly: Logical - 1. Brian: Emotional - 1

So then I am about to decorate the tree and I’m thinking… I’m going through all this work to then turn around and put all this crap away. And we do this year after year after year. As if we don’t have enough work to do around the house. So, I picked the best ornaments, a few balls and a strand of lights to put on the tree, a fraction of what is available to put on a tree. You know what? It looked just as good, if not better, to have quality and not quantity. Kelly: Logical – 2, Emotional – 0

Brian asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I want a ROM machine, that exercise machine that allows you to exercise in 4 minutes. Anything else? No, just a ROM machine. OK, let’s just skip the presents this year. Huge relief. I hate buying presents under pressure. Brian bought a Satellite radio for himself and I bought a $17 sound machine for myself. I did buy Brian a hot air popcorn popper. Kelly: Logical – 3, Emotional – 0

Brian was booking our trip to Portland. After the Thanksgiving trip fiasco, we paid the extra money for a non-stop flight. Prices would be much better if we returned on December 25, I said. Christmas Day is just a day. We can open presents on the 24th. (Kelly: Logical – 4, Emotional - 0) Out of the question, says Brian. (Brian: Logical – 0, Emotional – 2). It must be on Christmas Day. Need to stay for 8 days, says Brian. Have lots of friends to see and Mom and sister want to see the kids and they will do tons of baby-sitting while we go out every day and have a good time. (Brian: Logical – 0, Emotional – 3). 8 days is WAY too long, says Kelly. (Kelly: Logical – 5, Emotional – 0). Brian wins. You can’t argue emotion with logic.

The night before we leave, news from Portland: Brian’s mother is going to work 4 out of the 8 days and we may not have a car to use. Crap. Kelly: Logical – 5, Emotional 1 (outburst)

The airplane trip to Portland was quite uneventful, even without a seat for Ty. I guess anything is bearable for 2 ½ hours. Brian’s mom’s live-in boyfriend Ron, who really isn’t referred to as a boyfriend and the living together arrangement hasn’t really been discussed… he just happens to stay in her bedroom, picked us up in the biggest non-commercial diesel truck I’d ever seen, to be referred to as Big Red. This is our only potential vehicle for our time in Portland (well, Battle Ground, Washington to be exact) so Brian took mental notes on the way home from the airport because I told him he must drive this beast. We get back to his mom’s house which is exquisitely decorated in about a 1000 breakable knick-knacks which Jack thought was quite exciting. The next few hours were stressful as I ran around taking glass angels and ceramic candle holders away from him.

The rest of the time there was a big blur. Ty, who is our mellow child, was pretty much fussy the whole time and woke up every 5 to 30 minutes throughout each night. Was it gas? Teething? Ear infection? By Christmas Eve, I decided he should go to the doctor I didn’t want him to spend the night in the germy ER either so it was Monday before he saw a doctor. Sure enough, bilateral ear infection. His first. I was a little relieved to hear that he had an ear infection, just to explain why he was behaving the way he was. I would lose my mind if they said he was teething since that will go on for months and months.

I made my very first visit ever to Chuck E. Cheese. It was OK but it’s a harsh reality to realize that multiple international trips a year has been replaced by a big mouse and a bunch of arcade games. Jack thought the game was to put the tokens into the games, not to play the game. So he pitched a fit when I wouldn’t let him put all the tokens into one game. The good thing about Chuck E. Cheese is that no one gives you a second glance when your kid throws a temper tantrum.

It rained every single day. I saw the sun for about 2 minutes when we were driving around on the last day. With rain every day, that meant there wasn’t an opportunity to take Jack to a playground or the zoo or anything like that. We were pretty cooped up but managed to take a couple walks and to go to a couple malls. I watched the “40 Year Old Virgin” with my mother-in-law and Ron. That was weird. You don’t watch that movie with your mother or your father or your mother-in-law. I also saw “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” which wasn’t that great.

Of all the people that Brian was planning on seeing on this trip, only one couple came over and we ventured out to see one family. Of course, that family had grown kids so all the breakable Christmas decorations were available to be destroyed by the Drooling Snot-Nosed Toddler Monster.

On top of everything else, the bed I slept on was very soft with a divot in the middle which gave me a huge backache. You know those bad guest beds… they are bad and the owner doesn’t know that they are bad because why would they sleep in the guest room? And no one ever complains because it’s not polite. Well, I encourage everyone to sleep in their guest beds to see what they are subjecting their guests to.

On a positive note, Brian’s sister, Heather, was very good with Jack and Ty and spent quite a bit of time with them while she was there. Jack allowed her to clean his crusted snotty nose, which for me, requires elaborate wrestling moves to accomplish.

The trip was uneventful. Brian admitted that he made some bad decisions around the whole trip without my having to point it out. So I didn’t have to bring it up and say “I told you so.” We had talked about going back to Alaska in 2006 and I had been telling Brian that I only wanted to stay for a few days and not a week. Now he doesn’t want to go at all and I’m actually completely fine with that. In Alaska in the summertime, the sun never goes down which means the kids never sleep. And that is bad. We’re also not traveling for Christmas next year. I am very happy to be here in sunny Arizona where people are still wearing tank tops and flip flops. Logic wins this round.

Crying Baby

2005-12-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ty does not want to sleep again. We are doing the thing where we are going into his room every 5 minutes but not picking him up. He is screaming. Overall it’s been a pretty horrible week. Ty has not wanted to sleep for several nights before Wednesday. We had a bit of a reprieve Thurs - Sat but now he is doing the same thing as before. He goes from crying to just staring at me. I’m worried that he is such an extrovert that he needs someone in the room with him at all times or else he cries. Wednesday Brian flew to Seattle to spend the day with his sister for her birthday. This meant I had to get the kids to day care and handle them myself in the evening. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but we are very sleep deprived and Ty is being difficult. Sure enough, Ty started crying when I put him into bed. I decided it was time to let him “cry it out”. I went into the room every 5 minutes to soothe him and would leave. After over 2 hours, he was still going strong. So I got ready for bed, then went to his room, said “You win.” Picked him up, put him in bed with me and fed him. He promptly fell asleep until 5:30 AM. I hope this is a temporary thing. I can see why people just give up and let their kids sleep in their beds, just to get a good night sleep. He slept better the next few nights but he has been crying for over an hour now (Sunday night). Brian is traveling again on Monday so that will be another lovely evening for me. I will be sure to drink a couple shots of whiskey with dinner.

After spending 3 hours a night for 5 nights in a phone meeting, in addition to working my normal schedule, I took most of Friday off to spend some time with Ty. I got to visit Jill, Tatum and Landon at Jill's new house. It was spacious and had lots of storage which means she can now buy everything from Costco. They are going to use the space under the stairs for toys. I think it would make a nice wine cellar myself. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought myself a Christmas present... a sound machine for my room. I love the sound of rain or just about any kind of white noise while I am sleeping. It blocks out the TV when Brian stays up late watching it. I don't know why men have to turn the TV up so loud. Does anyone else have this problem? We have sound machines in Ty and Jack's room. This is how you keep your baby from waking up your 2 year old... you make your 2 year old think it's always raining at night, or that there is a big waterfall outside his window. My sister puts on crickets for her 3 year old but I would find that a little distracting.

We went to an outdoor going away party for Annette and her family on Friday night. Brian left work late on Friday and so we missed most of it that was going on during the daylight. Just about every single person at work leaves early on Fridays except for Brian. It was cold and dark by the time we got there. Jack chugged an apple juice and proceeded to puke. He never drinks full strength juice and so doesn't have self-control when it comes to drinking it and obviously doesn't have the stomach for it. We chatted with Annette and Jill and Tracy and their families. We are very sorry to see Annette and her family move to Colorado. :-(

Brian went to an eye doctor appointment and then wanted to spend 2 ½ hours giving blood (he gives the power reds). I was really tired so he stayed at home. I think it’s pretty altruistic of Brian to give blood the second he is eligible every 16 weeks but it’s also a burden on me sometimes since he does it on the weekend. We watched a movie Saturday night which was my first movie since seeing Star Wars at the theater. It was “Mean Girls” with Lindsey Lohan. It wasn’t bad. Sunday Yvonne came over and watched the boys for a couple hours so that Brian and I could be Brian and Kelly and not Dada and Mama. We went to eat and did a little shopping. It was quite luxurious.

I keep hearing people gripe about how people are trying to get rid of Christmas or making people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. I’m irritated at the people who are griping. I’m REALLY irritated at the people who are griping about Target not letting the Salvation Army person ring the bell in front of their store (I’m sorry. I find this extremely annoying and think that if someone has time to be spending in front of the store ringing a bell, they could be picking up trash off the highway or visiting sick people or volunteering in a soup kitchen.) And if Target doesn’t want to say Merry Christmas anywhere, let them. There is CLEARLY tons of Christmas stuff in the store. They are HARDLY trying to get rid of Christmas. Why would they? They make a lot of money off Christmas. As someone who did not celebrate Christmas for the first 30 years of her life, I do understand what it is like to not celebrate it, and simply dealing with all the frantic people trying to find gifts, the bad traffic and the crowded malls, and seeing all the displays and all the decorations is pretty much cramming it down people’s throats. Frankly I found this more irritating than people saying Merry Christmas to me. There, I got that off my chest. So in the event that I don’t get a chance to blog over the next week or so because of Christmas (because I now “celebrate” it because my husband is way into it and I think the tree in the house smells good) have a great time doing whatever you do when you get some time off work.

Some Photos

2005-12-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Fake grass photos!

Jack, Ty and his cousins at the beach (over Thanksgiving).

Fake Grass and Parties

2005-12-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

This week just flew by… it’s now Sunday night and I’m sitting in a three hour meeting with India. Well, people who work for my company in India. I have one of these meetings every night for five nights. I know, I know… you’re very envious of this little perk of my job. Ha! Well, it’s all part of my illustrious new program manager job which puts me in charge of an $8 million budget next year. I love saying that because usually as a program/project manager, I get people. But for some reason this time around, I get a BUDGET. Which is basically people plus money to spend on some hardware and software. It makes me sound important but it’s really doing the same old crap that I’ve always done which is pretty much bossing people around. I do like telling people what to do and try to do it at home sometimes but Brian calls me on it.

I did a horrible job of exercising last week. I had meetings that encroached on my noon-time aerobic classes so that fell by the wayside. I did manage to get out and walk a couple times last week but that was it. Now I really need that ROM machine. I’m having a really hard time spending more than 4 minutes exercising knowing that I don’t have to.

I really don’t want to offend any of my readers but I have to talk about another quirk I have. I am horrified when I see people (mostly at work) wearing tapered pants, pleated pants, too short pants, or high waisted jeans AKA “mom jeans”. Even clunky heels are getting a small gasp out of me at times although admittedly I haven’t completely purged all of my chunky heels from my closet. This has all come from watching that show on The Learning Channel (TLC) “What Not to Wear”. I have been brainwashed into wearing pointy toes and skinny heels (although I sometimes give in and wear my clogs or Tevas).

I went to our Big Book Club Holiday Party on Friday night. This time I didn’t read the book which turned out to be OK because it wasn’t even mentioned. I drank two Cosmos which is my favorite cocktail and ate some yummy food, chatted with a few people and then we started the gift exchange. The gift exchange is the kind where you draw a number, and you go in that order and you can either pick a new gift or steal from someone who already has a gift. The key to these gift exchanges is to never expect that you will get something you actually like. That way, you won’t be disappointed. In fact, you may even be pleased with the outcome. I mean, how often do you get something that you would actually buy for yourself? About .00001% of the time. I took some small tea light candles and a gift certificate to Starbucks. Now that is something that the average American will use. I managed to select a cool gift… red wine glasses. But they were stolen by the book club host, Tracy. I know Jill really wanted them though. Maybe Jill will end up getting them for Christmas since Tracy is her sister. So I picked another gift: a foot spa thing. Now this actually isn’t a bad gift but it takes up space in your house and I’m not sure how frequently I would use it. We’ll see. Tracy ended up being the only one who stole a gift and she was the hostess. I like giving her a hard time about that. It is true that Brian and I own about 50 wine glasses already…

Saturday morning we went to Jack’s school’s Christmas show which is always very cute. The little kids sing… well, the older kids sing and the younger kids stand up in front of all the adults looking terrified. But the adults all love that kind of thing. Jack was supposed to sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” but I never saw his lips move.

Later that morning, a couple guys showed up to install our fake grass. If you have read my blog from day 1, it was my first entry in August or September. It has taken that long to get our grass installed because of a misquote on the job, which is a long story I would rather not get into. I will say that it turned out really great looking and I will attempt to get some photos posted soon.

Saturday night we had our big Christmas party. We have had one every year since 1998. The first one in 1998 was a big drunk fest with a keg and 60+ people in a 1500 square foot house. The parties have changed quite a bit over the years. Now Brian makes a big huge delicious spread and we drink fine wines. Every year a few people drink a little too much but overimbibing is no longer an every weekend occurrence, since most of us have kids. It’s a night to let loose. I think we had about 40 people and the last people left about 12:30. Our recycling bin is full of wine and beer bottles. We didn’t get a baby-sitter because both kids theoretically should have been asleep by 7:30 PM which is the time the party started. Jack was in bed by 7:15 PM but Ty decided he wanted to party and stayed up until about 9:30 PM, the stinker. Fortunately, a couple guests were willing to hold him. I didn’t like spending 30+ minutes with him trying to get him to go to sleep and not spending time with the guests but oh, well. On Sunday, it was a little rough in the morning. I didn’t drink much at all but Ty was up several times during the night. We played in our new grass, I took Jack to the playground and then Jack and I went to get gelato and to the pet store.

Cabin Fever

2005-12-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was absolutely torturous without internet. I had decided to make no plans for the weekend since we have so much crap to do around the house. At least with email and the internet, you could lock yourself up in your house for weeks and still communicate with all your friends and family. So not only did we not do anything social with anyone, I couldn’t email or blog. And Cox couldn’t send someone out to help until Monday afternoon. I had horrible cabin fever by Sunday night. At least we got the tree up and decorated, and we got a new chair and ottoman and end table from Costco Home for our living room (to go with the fake fireplace from Costco). Yes, we buy everything from Costco. Brian also hung up the Christmas lights. It was worth the cabin fever to get everything done! Fortunately I had a very nice dinner with my mom’s group on Sunday night at a very good Italian restaurant in Ahwatukee. I had two glasses of wine, and split two entrees with someone else: shrimp stuffed ravioli in vodka sauce and a yummy eggplant dish. The waiter must have liked us because he gave use three desserts for free, plus we each got a very strong shot of some kind of lemon cocktail. It was awesome to not be pregnant so that I could enjoy the wine and not have heartburn for 12 hours after the Italian food.

I’m officially obsessed with something called the ROM machine. ROM stands for Range of Motion. This is an exercise machine. You spend 4 minutes a day exercising on this machine and it’s the equivalent of 30 – 45 minutes of cardio, 1 hour of strength training and 15 minute of stretching. Don’t believe it? I didn’t believe it at first. But I think there is something to it. So now when I am 35 minutes into doing aerobics, feeling a little bored, I think… I don’t have to be here. I could be done with this exercising stuff in 4 MINUTES IF I HAD THIS MACHINE. And it gets you in better shape than any other kind of exercise like running, walking, etc. Check it out: http://www.fastexercise.com/

OK, it’s almost 8 PM and it’s time for my walk. You can bet these walks will come to a screeching halt if I ever get my hands on the ROM!

Compression Socks Are Cool

2005-12-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

I realized my addiction to blogging when our internet was down from Friday to Monday afternoon and I couldn't post anything! Turns out our cable modem was fried. But we replaced it and we are back in business.

Written on Friday: I’m sitting here today in a pair of compression pantyhose. Compression socks aren’t foreign to me—I’ve taken 12 – 15 transpacific flights that take about 36 hours duration, most of that flying. If you’ve ever taken a flight like that and taken off your shoes, you know that sometimes you have to walk off the plane in your socks because you can’t get your shoes back on. All that sitting results in the blood pooling in your feet and your feet swell up to twice their normal size. Not pretty. So I do like to wear compression socks when I fly. This sounds crazy but they do make your feet and legs feel like a million bucks. I’m not so keen on the pantyhose type (versus trouser socks) but I got laser vein removal yesterday. The whole thing took less than 15 minutes and it hurt while they were doing it but like laser hair removal, it doesn’t hurt once they are done. Compression socks/pantyhose aren’t required but they said I would get better results if I wore them. I should know in about four weeks if I need another treatment. Thank God it’s winter.

This week was a major milestone for Jack. Over the summer, he went through a lot of changes and adjustments all within about a month. He got a new baby brother, he moved from a crib to his big boy bed, he start using the potty, we had him in ISR, the swimming lessons where you go every day 5 weeks for 10 minutes… so I let him keep sleeping with his pacifier (“binky”). He just loves his binky and only gets to use it at night when he is sleeping. He never tries to take Ty’s binky either. Well, Sunday night I noticed his binky looked a little cruddy and also noticed a little hole. I tore it a little bit more and showed Jack and told him his binky was broken. I asked him if he wanted to try it and he put it in his mouth and spit it out. I guess the big hole didn’t feel that good. I asked him if he wanted to throw it away or if I should throw it away and he wanted me to. And he went asleep without it. It’s now Friday and he slept every night without a binky. He’s asked for one a couple times but it’s been easy to placate him with various other objects. His binky really was his “lovey”. I really thought this was going to be a bigger battle but it seems that waiting for an opportune time was the right thing to do.

On another milestone note: I fed Ty a little rice cereal before Thanksgiving and we’ve been practicing a little since then. I tried sweet potatoes last night. He doesn’t really have the hang of eating just yet as most of the food comes out of his mouth on his tongue. I am really hoping that eating will help him to start sleeping through the night.

On Tuesday I went to my naturopath. A naturopath is a medical doctor who listens to your symptoms and determines what the underlying root cause is, and treats the root cause versus treating the symptoms like a regular MD. For example, I have hyperthyroid (Graves Disease) which as most of you know, resulted in drastic weight loss after Jack was born. The weight loss was really cool for a while especially since I could eat half of a chocolate cake in one sitting and still lose weight but then I completely lost my rear end and that wasn’t attractive. Of course, the heart palpitations were a little scary too. My regular MD put me on something called PTU that stunts the thyroid hormone production. The naturopath tries to figure out why the thyroid starting putting out too much hormone in the first place. They tend to give you weird drops and pellets to take. I believe there is a place for both kinds of medicine and they should be used in conjunction with one another. I went to see the naturopath to see what we could do to prevent my thyroid from going to berserk again because it was in remission during the pregnancy. This is because the endocrinologist wants me to do the radioactive iodine treatment to permanently kill my thyroid, making me hypothyroid and I will have to take synthetic hormones for the rest of my life. She thinks I am having more issues with my pituitary and gave me drops for that. She said it will give me more energy and help me concentrate better. The weird thing is that I have had more energy and you wouldn’t believe the “brilliant” work I have produced this week in record time. (Brilliant was Brian’s word—we sometimes have to work together). So maybe there is something to this pituitary thing.

So the next day I went to the endocrinologist and my thyroid is perfectly normal (the test in August showed that I was hyperthyroid). He thinks it will go out of control again at some point in my life but fortunately I only have to get tested every 6 months unless I start dropping weight in 5 lbs increments like I did before.

On Wednesday night after the kids were in bed, I met up a friend of mine from work who was visiting from Folsom. He was my HR rep several years ago when I was managing people. We bonded because I needed him more than the average manager—he called me a poop magnet because of the various people issues I was encountering. Sometimes I wonder if most other managers just have their heads in the sand most of the time. I guess some people would think it was strange that I would meet a man by myself at a bar without Brian but Brian’s HR rep reports to this guy and Brian knows him so he is cool with that. We like to talk shop about work and because he is a higher ranking HR rep, I can get sometimes get some juicy info out of him.

Thanksgiving

2005-11-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

Our flight to Raleigh, NC was the trip from hell. We sat on the runway in Phoenix for about an hour and a half while they fixed some problem with the instrument panel. I personally am used to ignoring red lights on my instrument panel as demonstrated by the “Brake Light” indicator that has been on for the past 2 years. (The brake lights ARE working for Pete’s sake.) But I guess they don’t like to ignore stuff like that on airplanes and then they like to do “paperwork” for a couple hours after fixing problems.

It’s bad enough to just sit in a confined area without the motion and noise from the plane to lull our kids to sleep but it’s even worse to find out your plane is landing while your connecting flight is taking off. We get off the plane in Minneapolis and are handed our new itinerary… our flight leaves at 6:50 AM the next morning and we have yet another stop over in Detroit. So here we are with two little kids and in lieu of luggage, we are handed two little boxes of toothbrushes and shaving cream. Brian pitched a huge fit but couldn’t get us out that night, couldn’t get a direct flight the next day, and couldn’t get our luggage. So we took our meal vouchers and had meal at the airport Chili’s and then boarded the van to the Day’s Inn with 8 other disgruntled passengers. Some were downright hostile about Northwest Airlines until they saw us with our two kids and then I think they felt like they really didn’t have anything to complain about.

When we were loaded in the van, Jack announced that he wanted “Jack Songs” which are toddler tunes that we play for him in the car. Toddler tunes seem to be like valium for toddlers as Jack immediate calms down when hears “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. Well, of course the van driver didn’t have Jack Songs so Brian announced that everyone on the van needed to sing “Wheels on the Bus”. Amazingly everyone joined in and we made it to the Days Inn without a meltdown from Jack or any of the other adults. I will note that if Toddler Tunes are valium for Jack, Baby Einstein videos are heroin. Whoever invented portable DVD players has kids… no doubt about that.

The night at the Days Inn was short and relatively uneventful although it sucks to have to wear the same underwear 2 days in a row. We managed to get Raleigh around noon the next day and guess what? No luggage. This really sucked because 1) we had my brother-in-law waiting by the curb to take us to Myrtle Beach (3+ hours away). 2) The airline had TONS of time to get our luggage on the right planes! The woman at the luggage service desk actually said that we should have packed more in our carry on. Brian had to restrain me from attacking the woman. We already had two car seats, two strollers, an enormous diaper bag, a big duffel bag, my purse, and Brian’s laptop. We physically couldn’t carry anything else. Brian even carried Jack’s car seat on his HEAD through the airports—he wore it like a big hat so he could push a stroller. And she thinks we should have taken more with us???

We finally agreed that my other brother-in-law, who also lives in Raleigh, would leave for Myrtle Beach the next day and we would have our luggage delivered to his house that evening. So we loaded into the van, met up with my sister and their two kids and made our way to the beach. We rented a beach house with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. This was perfect for us because we had 9 adults and 6 kids. It was right on the beach too which was awesome. Northwest said they would pay $50 for each person to get some essentials since we still didn't have our luggage. I decided that I needed an outfit that I could go out in public in as well as sleep in, in the event that we didn't get our luggage for a few more days. I decided that would be a warmup suit. So Brian and I headed to the local WalMart where I struggled to find a warm up suit in my size. I finally settled on a black one with blue velour trim. My sisters made fun of me but at least I was comfortable. I bought underwear, a sports bra, a pair of socks and Cetaphil. I was sporting a big zit on my chin from not having my normal skin care regime. I had to leave Brian at the WalMart because apparantly Jack was freaking out at home. I guess leaving him in a strange house with a bunch of crazy people after traveling for 36 hours wasn't a good idea.

The luggage didn't arrive that night. It didn't arrive in the morning. Brian spent a couple hours yelling at Northwest on Sunday morning (we left on Friday morning) since they said our luggage would be delivered last, not arriving to the house in Raleigh until that evening. After much negotiation with the airline, my brother-in-law finally showed up Sunday afternoon with the goods.

The week was spent playing cards, drinking, eating, playing on the beach, shopping, hanging out in a local bar. Jack was especially clingy... not sure what that was all about. Ty was really fussy to the point that Brian took him to Urgent Care to rule out an ear infection before the plane ride home. They said he was teething. But I still haven't felt any teeth. I hate the way teething is the universal excuse for fussy babies between 5 and 9 months. On Saturday we drove back to Raleigh and flew home with little excitement this time around. It sure is good to be home.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2005-11-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

We’re heading to Myrtle Beach to spend some time with my family. We rented a huge beach house so that we could all spend time together and the kids would have a lot to do. My sisters are actually from Raleigh and my parents from Columbia, SC so my sister asked a friend what there was to do in the area. We got word that there was a Baskin-Robbins and a Dunkin Donuts close by. Chocolate chip or mint chocolate chip ice cream from Baskin-Robbins and cake donuts from Dunkin Donuts are a couple of my biggest weaknesses. They happen to my mother’s biggest weaknesses along with blue cheese salad dressing. These also happen to my sister’s biggest weaknesses. Isn’t it funny how our favorite foods are hereditary? I just love bell peppers and know that a lot of people don’t like them. I remember seeing my grandmother eating one like an apple. I guess that’s where I got that from. And the way Jack eats berries. My father can eat blueberries all day long and I also have a borderline obsession with them. Jack is the same way. That’s when I started to think about genetic garbage. What determines what gets passed down? I understand about blue and brown eyes. That’s straightforward. But what about things like cankles? You know, those people who don’t have a defined ankle and their leg goes right into their foot like what Hillary Clinton has? I started thinking about the good, the bad and the ugly of my genes.

The Good:
- Symmetrical feet (although my right foot was ruined in 8th grade when Kim Stapleton kicked my foot when we were playing soccer)
- Skinny arms (was on my bad list 20 years ago since they looked like Grover arms)
- Big lips (was on my bad list 20 years ago because they were not in style and all the kids at school made fun of me. My father even said once, when I sunburned my lips, that I had burns on over 90% of my body)
- Fast growing fingernails
- Very logical brain

The Bad:
- Eyes (20/700 vision before LASIK) = Coke bottle glasses throughout puberty
- Scoliosis (curvature of the spine)
- Narrow feet (can’t wear Payless Shoes)
- An “apple” figure—weight gains around the belly (fine for when you’re pregnant “oh you gain weight only in your belly”. Uh huh. And it stays there.)

The Ugly:
- Thin hair
- Gray hair
- Freckles
- Zits
- Spider Veins!

Uhh, I think I could go on and on with The Bad and The Ugly list but I don’t want to scare people. What if we could pick the best thing from ourselves to pass on to our kids? I find myself praying that Jack doesn’t get my eyesight or my problem skin. Oh, well. Not worth worrying about what we can’t fix… just hope that technology can fix some of these things.

This week we have spent time getting ready for our trip but I did find time to visit with a friend who will be taking care of the cats when we are gone and then I went to Annette’s house with Jill and Tracy where we slammed two bottles of wine and yakked for a couple hours. While we did have this planned for about a week, I liked the way it was “come as you are”. I wore my comfortable nursing bra and had greasy hair. The girls didn’t seem to mind too much. I might wear my pajamas next time. Have a great Thanksgiving if I don’t get a chance to blog until my return.

Like Mother Like Son

2005-11-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me some photos that I hadn't seen before. I am posting them because they look just like Jack with a black wig. I'm in the high chair next to my sister Nicki.
Here I am again with my sister, my dad and my grandmother. This is Jack with a short black wig. These are even his legs.

I think I have a funny looking head in this photo.

Saturday we went to Reagan's first birthday party. Reagan is Missie and Andy's daughter. The party was a lot of fun and Missie's mother and sister from CT were there. Missie and I went out with her mother, Doris, once a few years ago. Her mother kept trying to drag us out to see strippers and talked about all the sex parties at home. I always wondered how Missie turned out so normal. Doris berated us for ending our evening out after three hours of solid drinking. I think she wanted to stay out all night. She seemed fairly normal at the birthday party although she seemed disappointed that there weren't a lot of happy hours going on. On Sunday I went to a Pampered Chef party. I already have just about everything from Pampered Chef because my bridal shower was all Pampered Chef. Still, I bought a few things and then went to Trader Joe's to purchase a ton of nuts, parmesan cheese and lip balm. These are all items that my family seems to think you can only buy at TJ's and not anywhere else. I will be packing all this stuff in my suitcase to take with me to South Carolina in addition to frozen uncooked tortilla's from Costco (another item you can't get in S.C.).

Jack dumped out a deck of cards on the floor and kept insisting that I pick them up. I asked him if he wanted to pick them up or go to Time Out. He said Time Out and walked over the corner. I hate it when he does that. He ended up staying there for about 20 minutes of 2 minute increments because he wouldn't pick up the cards. I was exhausted. Finally I just put him in bed because he was crying the whole time and was really tired. I thought we were going to have to go through that again when he wouldn't pick up his puzzle pieces later in the day but it only took one time out!

On Monday I got a consult about my spider veins. I thought I should get sclerotherapy so I saw the guy that does that, but he said I would be better off with one laser treatment. Brian says it's OK to spend the money so that will be the first step of my extreme makeover. I just need to schedule the appointment.

The Non Book Club

2005-11-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Julie from book club had a tummy tuck and breast reduction three weeks ago. She looked great at book club last night. I took an informal poll—of all the women who had babies, how many wanted some kind of plastic surgery? Of the 7 – 8 women who had kids, only one did not something done (this was not me). Tummy tucks, breast lifts/reductions/augmentations seem to top the list. Those with bigger breasts want them smaller… those with smaller breasts want them bigger. I guess we always want what we don’t have. Or want what we once had, in my case. I wonder if the book clubs of 20 years ago or even 10 or 5 years ago were so open about their desire for plastic surgery. Does this make us vain? I asked the one woman who didn’t want anything done. I think it’s more about wanting to feel good about ourselves.

We set a new record last night and talked about the book for about 30 seconds. I think this happens because there are so many things to catch up on. Kathleen proposed that we start meeting every 2 weeks because there is too much information to share if we only meet every 6 weeks. I think of Kim over there in China having to actually discuss the book. I wonder if they are talking about allegories and symbolism and all those other things we used to talk about in English classes in high school. I really don’t know why I always make sure the book is read before the meeting. I finished the book at 6:10 PM and book club started at 6:30 PM. We had a combined birthday party (for Lisa)/going away party (for Julie—going to Pittsburgh which we think is crazy… you don’t LEAVE Arizona right before the winter). Lisa is Puerto Rican and her mom made delicious Mexican food for us. We went through a lot of margarita mix. Well, not just the mix. Jill wanted to know why Kathleen wasn’t married. Kathleen lives with the father of her child in a committed relationship (this man is also about a decade her junior which we are all very impressed with). Kathleen said something like, Why don’t you ask me something less personal like how often we have sex? I thought that was funny. Jill asked why I was so quiet last night and the truth is: you really can’t get a word in edgewise with this group. But that’s OK because sometimes it’s more fun to listen. Especially to the stories that are told with this group.

My hair is falling out in clumps. I am bald around my forehead. This is a post-partum thing for me and is very sad because the only time I have really thick hair is when I am pregnant. But then 3 – 4 months later it all falls out. Brian doesn’t have much sympathy for me but I think there is a big difference between a woman losing her hair and a man losing his hair.

I appreciated all the comments regarding Brian’s vasectomy. I love comments from the blog readers. Brian appears to be good as new just 2 – 3 days later.

The past couple days I have started to feel that my life is controlling me versus me controlling my life. Work has really started to crank. I work on things that are ambiguous and require clarity to be driven from the ambiguity. Most people like to have something more specific to work on. I do OK with the ambiguity but it takes time to turn it into something that people can go off and do. I’ve been trying to have my Friday afternoons free so that I can spend a little extra time with my kids but yesterday I had meeting after meeting after meeting pop up on Friday afternoon. I resent that because in my mind, I thought I’d be spending time with Ty. I am also a little worried about the flight to the east coast on Friday. We did buy four seats versus having Ty as a lap child. 5 hours in a crowded plane and a baby on your lap does not make for a happy mom and dad. The reality of paying over a $1000 for airplane tickets from now on is a bit overwhelming—but well worth it to see family.

The Big Day: Mourning and Celebrating

2005-11-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the big day. Brian’s “procedure”. I didn’t ask him if it was OK to publicly talk about it, so don’t mention it to him.

I am surprised how emotional I feel about it. I didn’t think I would feel anything but immense relief to know that I will never be pregnant again. But I feel sadness because we are putting to sleep the very thing that gave me two beautiful boys. That’s the emotional side. Because everyone knows that more does not necessarily mean better.

Someone said to Brian, “Why don’t you make Kelly get fixed instead?” I went berserk when I heard this. Besides the fact that a tubal ligation is more invasive than a vasectomy (a 20 minute outpatient procedure), I was the one who was pregnant for 18 months, I was the one who squeezed two babies out of me, I was the one who had to recuperate on a boppy, I was the one who breastfed for a year and am on my way to do that again. I was the one who was deprived of alcohol and coffee and anything spicy for those 18 months of puking and heartburn and back pain and feet in my ribs. And I’m not the one who is fertile 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 60 years of my life! I would be interested to know why a woman would have a tubal ligation over the husband having a vasectomy, except in the case of doing the procedure during a C-section when everything is right there anyway. I suppose I did offer to do it in the event that something happened to me, and so Brian could meet a younger woman who wanted to have kids. I mean, if for whatever reason I got remarried, there is still no way I would ever have a another child. Men can have children until they are in their 70’s. Look at Strom Thurmond and Tony Randall. But Brian said he is done and so here we are. Today marks the end of our child bearing years. Amen.

I Rove You Mama

2005-11-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

Something is wrong. It’s a Sunday afternoon and all is quiet in the house. There is a mess all around me but yet I sit here writing my blog. If I close my eyes, does it all go away? I forgot to mention that last Sunday night I went to see “42nd Street” at the Orpheum. I have a series of tickets for Broadway shows with some other people. Brian and I don’t have tickets together because sometimes it’s hard to coordinate a babysitter and plus he doesn’t love these kinds of shows. I was worried that 42nd Street would be like “Oklahoma” because they are both older Broadway shows. Let’s face it. Sometimes the shows don’t stand the test of time. I really thought Oklahoma was torturous. And just when you think it’s over, it just goes on and on and on. Well, 42nd Street was a pleasant surprise. Lots of tap dancing too.

Friday I had lunch with Christine, Heather and her baby and Janine and her baby. Christine doesn’t have a baby and I felt bad that we talked about childbirth, breastfeeding and babies so much. Christine works for Brian so we did talk about work a little bit. After lunch I swung by Yvonne’s to check out her furniture from Costco Home because I want to finally decorate our living room. We bought one of those electric fireplaces for the living room to make it cozier. Now I want a nice overstuffed chair and ottoman. Now that I have two boys, I decided that mom needs a room all by herself that doesn’t have toys and crap everywhere. I picked up Ty after chatting with Yvonne for a few minutes and we headed to Walgreen’s to see if I could get a flu shot. I was going to get one at Costco for $18 but I called them on Thursday at 2:08 to see when they were doing their flu shots and they told me the last one ended 8 minutes ago. ARGH. So I did a search and discovered they were doing them at Walgreen’s on Friday close to my house. Cool. Then Friday morning I noticed the paper said on the front page in big letters “FLU SHOT SHORTAGE”. I envisioned a bus of old people from Sun Lakes heading to the Walgreen’s. Of course, I can’t compete with that. But what the hell—I’ll do a drive by to see how crazy it is. When I got there, there were three open parking spots so I parked and dragged Ty in with me. The line didn’t look too bad so I put Ty into a cart and we stood in line with a lot of interesting people. Like the guy who moved here from Italy 40 years ago and said he hasn’t been sick a day in his life since he’s been here. I asked his wife if that was true and she said yes. The secret? Garlic and vino. I think this is the same reason my dad almost never gets sick. I guess I need to eat more garlic. After standing in line for about 45 minutes, I got my shot, rushed home to feed Ty, and then drove to work to meet up with Brian.

Brian took Ty and I headed off to the chiropractor that I love but hadn’t seen in 6 years. He walked into the room dusting off the chart. I really like this chiropractor because he gives all areas a 15 minute rub down before doing the adjustment. I like the idea of warming up the area before doing all that cracking and popping. I have to say it FELT SO GOOD to have an adjustment after 6 years. My neck felt amazing. I left feeling quite giddy. By then Brian had picked up Ty and was driving aimlessly around. I didn’t ask him what he was doing at Elliot and Priest. What did we do before cell phones?? We agreed that we would meet at Valle Luna for dinner. Jack is 100% entertained with bean dip and salsa so we had a nice dinner. I managed to take a walk after the kids were in bed even though I desperately wanted to go to sleep.

I take my walks around the neighborhood and I feel really safe. We live in a gated community which I know isn’t that secure but it feels more so than a regular neighborhood. But now I’m realizing that if hoodlums live IN your neighborhood, a gate AROUND the community doesn’t work. There is one house that appears to be a magnet for teen-age boys who wear all black and have hair in their eyes. They are always hanging around outside. Oftentimes, their friend with a black car parks on the street and they congregate around the car. I’m not afraid of them but it’s just not what I like to picture for our neighborhood. “Hoodlum” seems like a dated word but it sure seems to fit these guys.

On Saturday I ran Jack down to the Mini Cuts place for kids’ haircuts. We were in and out in about 15 minutes. Then I met Sarah, my friend I’ve known since third grade, for lunch at Mimi’s. We had a good time talking and afterwards I dragged her to Costco Home to look for a cozy chair for my living room. I had Ty with me so it was good to have someone push the stroller while I sat on the different chairs. I was also looking for a rug to potentially put in the dining room. We don’t want to cover the floor but the chairs may scrape the floor… I’m not sure. After Costco Home, we went to IKEA to look at the rugs and had a $1 frozen yogurt. Sarah mentioned that I seemed really happy. I said I really am… mostly because I feel so blessed to have kids. Home and dinner and baths for everyone… watched one TV show, started another but I just fell asleep. Sunday I made a dinner for us this week, plus dinner for Tina, a mom in my mom’s group who had a baby about a week ago. Brian was out running errands and getting his hair cut while I was cooking and Jack has decided that he likes to help us cook, so he had his chair up at the stove. He drags his chair up to the middle island or the stove and “helps”. He’s really good about understanding what is hot and what shouldn’t be touched. Ty started screaming in the middle of everything so I put him in the Snuggli while I finished the baked ziti and started the brownies. That thing just about broke my back. How does anywhere wear those things? I got through making some brownies and knew that Jack would spend the next 30 minutes licking every single molecule of brownie batter off the bowl which would give me time to feed Ty. There are moments like this that make me wonder how women stay home every day and multitask to this level. Jack also helped me cut up a watermelon and put it into individual servings for his lunches. He is such a good helper. He wanted to eat the raw pasta so I let him and he ate a bunch.

Jack got to watch Baby Einstein twice today. The first time was for getting five rings (that five pees in the potty). Then he dragged me into the bathroom this evening to show me that he pooped in the potty which is an automatic 5 rings. This makes up for peeing in his underwear 7 other times today. No time for a walk… it’s already 9:45 and we haven’t watched Grey’s Anatomy yet. Might have to save it for tomorrow. Highlight of the weekend… Jack saying “I rove you, Mama”. He’s been saying “I love you.” But I the “mama” on the end is new and it makes me giddy inside.

Halloween Week

2005-11-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, it’s Thursday night already. Where did the time go? Let’s see… where did I leave off? Sunday… I met Missie at our usual Sunday morning spot: the Cheesecake Factory. That place is always crazy except for 10 AM on Sunday mornings. The weather was awesome so we sat outside. I see Missie probably once a month but we have one of those relationships were it doesn’t matter how much time has passed. We used to do happy hours fairly regularly until we had kids. I had Ty with me and he was a little fussy. I even breastfed him at the restaurant, knowing that my rights were protected by the city of Chandler. I had been feeling a little naughty while breastfeeding while all the city council crap was going on. We walked around the mall a little bit and then decided to go to DSW, one of the biggest discount shoe places around. It’s like shoe heaven. We each bought a pair. Missie couldn’t bring herself to buy a pair with a closed front AND back so she bought some closed toe mules. I bought a shoe with a closed toe and back but have yet to wear any closed toe shoes this year. One of the benefits of living in Phoenix I suppose… our tootsies are cramped only 2 months out of the year.

After I got home, Brian went out to get the stain for the concrete floor. This stuff was amazing. After he put it on, I couldn’t smell the cat pee on the concrete. Brian wants to get rid of the cats but I cannot do that. I’ve had them for almost 10 years now and they are my responsibility although thank God someone wrote somewhere that pregnant women shouldn’t scoop a litter box. I extrapolated that to mean breastfeeding women shouldn’t clean it either. Tee hee.

On Monday I went to Jack’s school to see the kids dress up for Halloween. The 2 year olds were all really cute. They kept asking me to take photos of them and then show them the photo on the camera. I could have stayed there for hours. They kept attacking me because I had something of interest to them: a digital camera.
After work, we got home and got Jack dressed up as Elmo and hit the streets. Brian took his place out front with his full size candy bars for the kids and beers for the adults. After growing up thinking that Halloween was satanic, this was the first time I have ever gone trick or treating. Fortunately, I had a 2 year-old with me so most people thought Jack was trick or treating.

I thought it was pretty awesome. There were gobs of kids in our neighborhood running around and Jack thought that was pretty cool. Everyone was saying, “HEY ELMO!” to Jack. I liked the way everyone was sitting in their driveways as well. I found a new potential baby-sitter and chatted with a few other people. It was all very neighborly. What an awesome holiday.

Back to the dining room floor… so the cats had peed on the baseboards as well as the floor so we were going to have to replace those to the tune of like $800. While I was sitting out front on Halloween, eating my M&M’s swiped from Jack’s candy loot and drinking a beer from Brian’s stash, I decided that the stain we used on the floor, which was white, could be used for the baseboards. This took 20 minutes to do and because we saved $800, I think I deserve to buy another Coach purse.

I worked from home on Wednesday and the flooring guys came over. I thought it was going to be a no-go because of a crack in the concrete (the floor wasn’t level) but they figured it out and now we have a beautiful wood floor.

Jack stayed up really late Monday night because it was Halloween. My theory is that now he thinks it’s super fun to stay up late every night. Tuesday night he really fought going to bed and last night he did it again. We had him in his room with a gate on the door so we decided to ignore his cries of protest and watch Alias. He comes out to the family room, matter of factly says “Hi.” And sits down on the sofa. How did he get out? Of course Brian said that I didn’t latch the gate properly because it was it was sitting by Jack’s door already latched. After putting him back in the room and gate up, Brian witnesses Jack reaching over the gate, effortlessly lifting the latch, and removing the gate. So much for that.

I’ve been having so much upper back pain from hunching over the breast pump and then this morning it was so bad that I had to make a call to a day spa close to work to see if they could give me a deep tissue massage. They got me in at 11:45 AM and she really dug into my back hard… but it hurt so good. Finally after days of horrible pain, I had a pain free afternoon. Brian worked late tonight so I had both boys by myself. Jack has taken to eating while standing on a chair at the center island in the kitchen. Brian won’t let Jack eat while standing there but I’m OK with it so I stood and ate while he ate. I managed to get both in bed without too much excitement and now here I am… Whew.

Week in Review

2005-10-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

This week I’ve had very little time for blogging and I’ve been very tired. But it didn’t really stop me from working out twice, playing volleyball and taking walks. Ty is still not sleeping through the night!

RIP: Our TiVO remote. It has fallen off the armrest of my chair so many times that finally broken into 16 pieces. This means I had to watch through the commercials because I was too lazy to get up and press the buttons on the actual TivO unit. I was thinking about teaching Jack how to use all the buttons which is like the old fashioned remote controls: using your kid to get up and change the channels.

I finally received my two “mothers” necklaces. Here they are. For this one, I got Jack 8-26-03 Ty 6-24-05. I showed them to Yvonne and she gave me the ultimate compliment: “You’re such a mom!” Melissa said she thought she’d never see the day I was like this. I admit that I was a workaholic until I had kids and probably was a little scary. :-) It wasn’t uncommon for both me and Brian to work until 7 or 8 PM at night most nights. Now I burn rubber getting out of the parking lot at 5 every night.

On Wednesday I was very tired all day and wondered how I was going to get through picking up the kids, eating dinner, feeding Ty, getting Jack ready for bed and then follow through on my commitment to do pumpkin carving at Tami’s house. Fortunately, Brian had dinner on the table when we got home and Jack said he wanted to go night-night halfway through his first book. I was thinking how much I wanted to go to sleep but I always follow through on my social commitments (with the exception of that time I was to meet Jill B for lunch and slept through it!) so I left the house at 8 PM with my pumpkin to headed to Tami’s. It was just three of us, Julie, Tami and me, but I had a really nice time and felt reenergized after doing some socializing. Julie and Tami are single and I find hearing about their lives an interesting diversion from kid talk. Julie is living in a townhouse downtown where there are shops on the first floor. The owners of the shops must live above the shops. How cool is that? I think that would be a great way to live if I were single or married with no kids in the near future.

Thursday night Brian and I went to dinner with the kids and Brian’s human resources rep from work. I got to talk to her about what she is doing about female retention where we work. We have a difficult time hanging onto “technical” women for various reasons. I’m going to join her task force to see what we can do about it. Mostly the issues are around the male dominated culture (and not very female friendly) which isn’t going to change any time soon. I have a few ideas that I need to flesh out that I will be proposing. This isn’t really part of my job but something I feel strongly about so I will pursue it. After dinner I played volleyball. The nights are just beautiful here and it’s awesome to play outdoors. Friday I got a chance to meet Ann and Emma for lunch. Emma disclosed that she may be moving to the east coast to be closer to her family. As I said before, it seems like everyone moves away from here to be closer to their families!

Saturday morning I slept in until 7:30. When I was single sleeping in meant sleeping until 11 AM. Now sleeping in is sleeping until 7:30. Ha! I went to get my hair cut which is at a place about 35 – 40 minutes away. I’ve been using the same guy to cut my hair for almost 10 years. After I got my hair cut, I met my friend Jill M for lunch and then she had to go and get her hair cut and colored (she is now using my guy). I got home and Brian was heading out to the ASU – U. of Washington football game with Burrito, nickname for his fraternity brother friend who is now a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) doctor. And single.

Jack was running around without his underwear and peed all over the couch. Then he emptied a nail polish size bottle of cuticle oil all over the chair in the family room. Then he peed at the dinner table (he wasn’t wearing his diaper). We made a fruit cobbler together but he didn’t last long enough to eat it. His normal bedtime is 7 PM but tonight he asked if he could go night-night at 6:20 PM. He is funny that way. Brian came home and both kids were asleep. Brad (the doctor) hung out for a while so I could grill him on his love life. He is quite eligible being a doctor and looking very young like Doogie Howser. We didn’t make it to Tami’s Halloween party. We are just so tired in the evenings!

On a very sad note, our friends who live in Pacific Beach, near San Diego, are moving to Seattle. We visit them frequently and stay with them. They live walking-distance to the beach and coffee shops and my favorite restaurant for breakfast. I hate the thought of staying in a hotel when we go there.

Good News in Chandler

2005-10-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

This summer in our great city of Chandler, a woman was breastfeeding at a public pool. She was covered up (keep in mind it's usually around 110 degrees during the day). Someone complained to a lifeguard and the lifeguard told the woman to feed her child in the restroom. That started a big hubbub and the city council then proposed to make an ordinance that said that women who breastfeed should be "appropriately covered" [whatever that means] but if someone complained, then they would be asked to go to a private location (like a restroom or 120 degree car) and if they refused, then they would be arrested. Needless to say, all the mothers in the city were infuriated. Breastfeeding is a protected right in like 38 states but not Arizona. So we got some good news in the past couple of days:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1027breastfeeding-ON.html

Chandler has become the second city in the nation to enact a breast-feeding law, making it legal in the city for a mother to nurse her child "anywhere a mother and child are allowed to be." The council on Thursday voted unanimously to approve the measure. Their decision met with cheers and a standing ovation from more than 50 mothers, most who were holding babies, who packed the room. The council also passed a resolution asking the state Legislature to follow their lead and exempt breast-feeding from indecent exposure laws. Although 35 states, excluding Arizona, have laws that permit public breast-feeding, Philadelphia is the only other city with one, City Attorney Michael House said. The push came from a group of nursing mothers after a Tempe resident was asked not to nurse her child beside a Chandler pool in June.

Wednesday I went to an all day staff meeting with my new boss. I’m not sure my new boss has a sense of humor. I can’t put my finger on it but something about him makes him unapproachable/difficult to relate to. I am going to reserve judgment… he may be acting a certain way because he is new and needs to establish himself in this group. If there is no levity in this group, then I will be unhappy. Anyway, the demographic in the room is men who have worked here for 15 – 20 years, with kids and stay-at-home wives. I am the only woman. My boss wanted to work straight through lunch and I said, “Can we have a 15 minute break?” He said, “Well, the food is right back there [in the back of the room]”. Then he said, “Oh, I know why you need a break…” I felt a combination of relief and horror that he came to realization that I needed to go pump but then he said in front of everyone…”Oh you want to go work out.” Errr… not exactly. He did concede to a break but he still has no clue what I needed to go do, even though I told him I was breastfeeding when he came on board a couple weeks ago. I think this is definitely one of the things that makes it hard for women to go back to work. People who haven't been through it before just can't relate.

Monday, October 24, 2005

2005-10-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Me and my boys. They are the most precious things to me in the world!

Today, Ty is four months old!

Ty woke up to eat at 3 AM and then again at 6 AM. When I came out to the kitchen, Jack was already eating his breakfast. He pointed at my shirt and said, “Purple”. I was wearing purple but have only been reviewing red, yellow, green and blue with him. So I was impressed by that.

My day started off well with a funny story from Yvonne. She went to the gym for the first time in a really long time and so she was working out pretty hard. She noticed that a couple guys were checking her out and that made her feel good. After about an hour or so of exercising on various pieces of equipment and doing crunches, she wondered why her sweat was pooling on her face. She reached up to her face and realized that she had her large, dark sunglasses on! She’s not sure why she didn’t a) notice this in the mirrors or b) notice it was really dark in the gym, but I thought that was the funniest thing I had heard in quite a while.

I had a good workout during lunch but did not wear my sunglasses. I think my pooch is getting bigger instead of smaller so I cranked it up a notch in aerobics today. We are fortunate to have excellent aerobic instructors at our work gym who are all employee volunteers. The one who teaches Mondays and Tuesdays is a 50 year old woman who looks like she is 30. She teaches at other gyms in the Valley. I was sucking some wind towards the end. This afternoon I found out that Melissa, who I have known for years, grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness. We got onto that subject because her child’s day care wasn’t going to have the kids come to school in their costumes because they didn’t want to offend anyone. I grew up in a church that was anti Halloween, Christmas, birthdays and so was she (although I wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness). It’s interesting to celebrate a holiday but have no memories or traditions of that holiday when you were a kid.

This past weekend was very busy. My friend Tina had installed some dark wood floors in her house and I thought they were very interesting. We decided that these floors would look great in our dining room. Our dining room has carpet that has been peed on by the cats several hundred times. Needless to say, it was really disgusting. When we got the go ahead from Tina’s husband that he could get the same wood and install it for us (he has a wood working business), Brian ripped out the carpet on Friday night. We’ve treated the area with those special enzymes that work on cat pee and I think the smell is out of the concrete but the baseboards may be hosed. We’ll see how it smells tonight. I’m very excited to have this wood floor as I think it will be great with the red walls.

On Saturday we went to the Intel Fall Festival that was run by the Intel Parents Network, an employee group that does special stuff for parents and kids. I’m the chair of that employee group but missed all the planning while I was on maternity leave. It was a nice event in the park and they had a lot of cute games for Jack. Late that afternoon, we went to IKEA to look around and have dinner. We have so much fun there… we spend a long time in the kids’ section letting Jack play.

On Sunday we went to Schnepf’s Farm which is out in the boonies—it’s a fall festival kind of thing that caters to families and kids (are you catching the theme of our weekend here?) Jack rode a carousel and a ride where the cars go up and down. He did the pumpkin launch and played in the kids’ area. We had chili and yummy corn on the cob. I spent the rest of Sunday doing about 7 loads of laundry and various other chores. I gave myself a pedicure for the first time in a long time and hated it so much that I briefly considered hanging up my volleyball career.

Brian made fish for dinner tonight which Jack ate heartily. He also ate tomatoes, cucumbers, and asparagus. He is such an awesome eater. I hope it continues. I ran to Nordstrom's to get a couple make-up items. The sales woman asked if I needed anything else and I said "a bag of cotton balls" in a joking way but I really did need some. She proceeded to dump a bunch of cotton pads in my bag. Now that's why I shop at Nordies. You can't beat the service!

Friday, October 21, 2005

2005-10-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Eating chocolate covered strawberries
The carousel at the Zoo-Note Jack's model pose
Jack and Ty looking nothing alike and yes, Jack does have matching PJ's.

This week had some significant milestones. Today Ty laughed out loud for the first time and Jack spoke his first grammatical sentence. Jack had a red mark on his head and I asked him what happened and he said, “Ty did it.” For some reason I have a feeling I will hear this sentence quite a lot in the next 16 years or so. Still it was really exciting to hear him say this, plus he appears to be picking up words at a much faster rate than before. I hope this isn’t a phase but he is not whining as much either. Maybe communicating is helping that.

This is the first week we made cookies together. We have made brownies before but not cookies. He liked the chocolate chips but refused to eat the batter. More for me. It’s just a matter of time before he figures out the batter is the best part. We also ate chocolate covered strawberries. After not letting Jack have any sugar for two years, it feels like I’ve gotten sugar happy but to Jack, plain yogurt, bananas and kiwi fruit are just as much of a treat. He is such a good eater.

Thursday night I played volleyball with three friends that I’ve played with on and off for about 9 years. I hadn’t seen Radney in about five years. We had such a good time catching up that I stayed out for an hour and a half, even though I was pretty tired and it was almost 10 PM by the time I got home. Playing sand volleyball does terrible things to my pedicure but as much as I like a nice pedicure, I would rather be playing sand volleyball. Perhaps it’s time for closed toe shoes. Anyway, it’s always fun to get together with people that you know from years past—they always bring up embarrassing stories like the way I got drunk at a Halloween party while dressed as Rubbermaid (French maid costume with condoms hanging on me). A few of my blog readers were there to witness my most public debacle as it seems every single person in Phoenix was there (1998).

I exchanged a couple emails with Camille who I met at work here and she moved back to Washington to be closer to her family. She has two kids also, and recently went back to work. I have to say that I really, really like going to work. Intel isn’t the right place for a lot of people but it so well suited for me. I don’t really like confronting people outside of work (I can’t even bring myself to tell the woman at the nail salon to stop cutting my cuticles off) but for some reason it comes easy to me at work because it’s expected and rewarded. The thing is that I feel guilty for wanting to work. We could live on Brian’s salary with a few cutbacks but I want to go to work and I think I will always work to some extent. But I feel like I should be saying something like, “I love my kids so much that I need to stay home with them and not have anyone else raise them.” Why doesn’t that feeling supersede my desire to work? For me, working turns the time that I spend with my kids into a drug… I get so much pleasure from the time spent with them that I feel intoxicated. Well, it’s something that I struggle with every single day. I guess there is a sweet spot for me as to how much I work versus how much time I spend with the kids. I just need to find it.

Up next: our saga with the artificial turf people and saying good-bye to the carpet that the cats have been peeing on for the past 6 years.