yule log

I did it! My very first Daring Bakers challenge and I finished (just in time too!)


(The picture is awful, but it's the best I can do right now. When baby demands my attentions, I must obey. He's currently clawing my hands as I type.)

Anyhow, my alterations to the recipe were:
-creme de cacao instead of the rum
-I ran out of granulated sugar after the 1st 1/4 cup (I know!) so I subbed brown sugar, cutting the amount down by about 1/4 total.
-cocoa powder in all the components
-stemless mushrooms (my stems just went funny looking, so I went with a lichen type arrangement.)
-The buttercream finally thickened up, but I had to whip it like a meringue. No curdling though! hurray! I also melted the butter before adding it. Worked out very well for me.

I had fun doing this, and I think I'll do it again, but we'll see what the relatives think on the 25th. :)

best day ever?

Soooo E. has started teething, just in time for finals week! Yay! Yesterday he screamed and cried and whined ALL. DAY. LONG. He slept for 10 minutes at a time. 3 times. Yup, 1/2 hour of sleep total. He finally slept for two hours only because I was holding him the entire time. This on top of him suddenly deciding to switch to a once-every-hour feeding schedule. At night too.

The diaper-change thingy we have fell off the wall, and tore the hook out with it. So I had everything you could ever need for a clean bottom all over my hallway. I also have a big hole in my wall. Or rather, the University's wall. We'll need to spackle the hell out of that one.

The crib broke. I discovered, after taking the thing apart and blocking my hallway even more, that we had to do some serious metal-bending to get it back together again.

I smashed my knee into the doorframe and may have fractured it, but I can't get it checked out for another couple of days. In the meantime anything involving use of my leg or any part thereof is extremely painful.

I have two final papers due today and tomorrow.

At least E. finally fell asleep. Gaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Happy Hannukah, y'all!

I know, it's the third night and all, but why not! Chabad Student Club put together a fun party for tonight; they had an ice menorah and snow machine, latkes and sufganiyot. Unfortunately it started raining this afternoon and is still going strong, so we had to move inside. So no snow. Oh well! Would have been nice, but it was still fun. We lasted through one play of Adam Sandler's Chanukah Song, the actual lighitng and a plate of food before we called it a night. I was making latkes but I totally screwed up the recipe somehow, so Cam stepped in and rescued them. He is making one tasty pile of latkes! Have a great night!

three months old

the last week!

Heading into the last week of classes, and I am very happy! I'm working on getting my final papers done this week, so I can turn them all in Thurs/Fri and be DONE. My morphology paper might take a little longer though, as all I have is a topic and no actual research. Oops!

This weekend was a bit packed. I found out on Friday that the sorority Inductions were going to be pretty rushed; Emily had reserved the Women's Center from 5pm on, so they could have the dinner, then presentations then Inductions, as always. The week before she is told that they can't actually get in until 5:30. Then that DAY they tell her that they have to be out of there by 7. What?! So I offered our apartment for the ceremony, so they had the dinner and presentations as planned, then the sisters headed over and set up, then Emily brought over the pledges. I have no idea how it went, as E decided he NEEDED me last night. Poor baby. He was uncomfortable (teething) so he missed his afternoon nap and pretty much pitched a screaming fit from 7-10. He did sleep until 5:30am though, so a mixed blessing to be sure :).

Kat also came over yesterday, so I can draft new pattern pieces for the back of her dress, as it is WAY too low, and I'll be getting started on that as soon as I'm done with my papers. Alright, time to get to work!

day 30 -done

It seems especially fitting that today, being Shabbat, is the last day of this every-day-posting attempt. I'm pretty proud of myself, and while I will go back in and post pictures later I'm glad that I didn't notpost just because I didn't have something perfect put together.
I'm working on a pair of pants for E and putting a modesty stitch in a dress for tonight, and we are going to have a great Shabbat. We're all set for Chanukkah AND finals. It's going to be a good couple of weeks. :)

day 29 - almost there!

One more day until the end of NaBloPoMo; while making sure I post something every day has been good for my self-discipline, I'm still pretty relieved! I doubt I'll post every day, as I'm trying some other new things out, but I will try to keep some sort of schedule. At least once a week! I have so many projects I want to do in December though, and E is getting more and more mobile and vocal, so he's going to be taking more time (and we'll be able to enjoy it more as well!)
Now for some Pushing Daisies.

day 28 - speeding up

I realised today that next week is our LAST week of classes (for the quarter, not the year). Whooot! So I'm finishing up papers, getting some projects going, and planning my break out. I think I may make a Gingerbread house this year; it would be fun to try! I finally got a paper cutter, to speed up all the paper projects I do, and it's AWESOME. I finally finished trimming a pile of flash cards I've had waiting, and it was about time. I'm looking forward to December and my planned-out-meals idea; we'll see how it works! Until Saturday though we are using what we have, and that means Happy Pizzas! Our favorite right now is the cheese pizza (we usually use Freschetta) with a lot of feta, one caramelised onion, a little olive oil and some oregano. So Good! I think next time I may add something a little hot though, as it was a little bland for me. :)

Here's just a random pic I took while making dinner of Cam carrying E by the backs of his overalls; they were having fun.

(Honest; E just always looks worried about something. He gets overwhelmed with joy.)

Sorry the pictures are getting so bad; I think the light meter in the camera is giving out. Oh well; it lasted a good while for a hand-me-down. (I got it after my mom left it to fry in the car; it only shuts off if you remove the battery!) I do have another one, I just have to replace the batteries. I wonder where I put it?

day 27 - bleh

Today was just one long bleh. E is in a mostly cranky mood, I'm exhausted, I haven't been able to get anything done, and we found out we won't be going to SF next year. Ugh. I'm going to have a beer.

::edit::I did manage to revamp Cam's bag though; he carries this little bag with him to work and uses it to hold his lunch and whatever else he takes with him or buys there. I decided to give it a flat-ish bottom and a pocket for his phone/keys/whatever. He's happy with it! :)

Before

After (filled with a Triscuit box)

The pocket (hooray Triscuits! He buys them at work)


I also figured out that E is probably starting to cut a tooth; he got a little bit of a rash and has been predictably cranky in the evenings. We'll just wait and see.

day 26 - pictures!

I finally got around to downloading and sorting out pictures from my camera. I'm trying to keep a folder for each month of E's pictures, so when it comes time to have them printed and put them in his album I won't be wondering when I took them. I'll also be able to add some photos to this month's posts, finally! I found a lot of cute photos I had forgotten about, and I few I was worried I had lost. Leonard also downloaded the photos he took in the hospital, so now we have some photos from his first day! My family has tons as well, but I doubt I'll ever get my hands on them (as a family we're a little too scatterbrained and commitment-phobic to actually make an offer/promise and then go through with it on a consistent basis. bad habit, I know). Oh! But I need to get to class now!

day 25 - going back

Well, I'm trying to get motivated to finish the quarter here. I have two reading & response quizzes for morphology and one day of readings for History, both due tomorrow. I've fallen behind on my Parshah class, so I really need to catch up, and I REALLY need to study for Japanese. I'm also itching to sew, ANYTHING, I have had so little time to actually make anything that I'm going a little crazy, and now all I want to do is sit down and make things. oh, and take a nice, long nap. I have to finish my work first! Only 2 weeks to go (actually, a little less) :)

day 24-going out

Today E and I went Downtown! It's the first time I've gone anywhere off campus on the bus with him, and we did really well! I had to pick up my last history book; unfortunately, when I got there the Literary Guillotine was closed for the weekend. It makes sense, as the owner probably went away for Thanksgiving, but it was a bit of a disappointment. We went to Palace Arts and I got a calendar for next year (I buy a big desk calendar every year and put it on the wall). Then we stopped in at Santa Cruz Bookshop; they didn't have the book. Went down to Paper Vision, my favorite store, and browsed a little. I found out that we DO have a Baby Gap downtown, and luckily I had the gift cards people have given us, so E has some much-needed new clothes. Hopefully these will last a little longer, as he's grown out of all his 0-3 month and most of his 3-6 month clothes, so I've started buying 6-9 and 6-12. Barnes and Noble didn't have the book either, so I finished up at Bloom, got some Giovanni shampoo and conditioners for us and then we went home! E was great the whole time; started to fuss a little on the bus, so if I hadn't stopped in the other two bookstores I'm sure he would have been perfectly happy the whole time. Then he slept from noon till 4! Amazing! I'm working on some overalls for him, then hopefully some shirts as well. I'm trying to color-coordinate for him, as he grows out of long-sleeved onesies first, then pants, then short-sleeved shirts, so if I can mix-n-match a bunch of different sizes his wardrobe won't need replacing quite as often (hopefully!) I dream of someday knitting a sweater; maybe if I start now I'll have one ready for him at one year? We'll see!

day 23 - Thanksgiving recap

Yesterday was fantastic! Alex and Adam came by early, around noon. They played with E and watched Hoodwinked and generally enjoyed themselves :) My parents and Kat showed up a little before 2; Alex and Adam had to leave around 2:30 and then Leonard showed up with the table and a turkey. We had such a good time! Everyone ate too much, everyone got leftovers (we bought Gladware containers for the occasion) then sat around having cider and pie (Kat made them from scratch; they were SO GOOD. Everyone left by 6, which was good because E was so wound up that he was going to explode if he had anymore excitement. We are definitely doing this again next year.

day 22 - yumm

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

day 21 - preparing for thanksgiving

Well, we are almost set here. Leonard is bringing a larger table so we can accommodate everyone, Alex and Adam are also coming for a bit (yay!) and everyone is bringing something. Well, I hope. I first suggested the whole thing to my mom.

conversation #1
Me: well, would you like to come have Thanksgiving dinner over here?
Mom: That would be great! Yeah! I can bring a salad! Oh, and corn! Oh, and a pie!
Me: Oh, pie would be good! Pumpkin?
Mom: Pumpkin? sure!

conversation #2
Mom: Do you need us to bring anything? A table maybe?
Me: No, just what you're bringing already is fine.
Mom: Salad and corn, right?
Me: Right. Are you also bringing pie?
Mom: Pie? Katrina is making a pie for someone, she can make another one. What kind to you want?
Me: Pumpkin!
Mom: Pumpkin? Ok.

(I called Kat to make sure she knows about the new arrangement, what with her making the pie and all.)

Kat: What kind of pie do you want?
Me: Um, pumpkin.
Kat: OK.

conversation #3
Mom: So, do you need anything for tomorrow?
Me: No, I think we're all set.
Mom: Do you have potatoes?
Me: Yes. (I've told her from the beginning I was making mashed potatoes.)
Mom: Do you have mashed potatoes?
Me: Yes, mashed potatoes.
Mom: Do you need anything else?
Me: Just what you're bringing.
Mom: I have a bag of frozen veggies. I thought I could bring that, and we can warm it up.
Me: Sure. That sounds good.
Mom: Do you need anything else?
Me: Are you still bringing the salad and the corn?
Mom: Salad? Yeah, I can bring salad. You want me to bring that? With the frozen veggies?
Me: Yes, please. *smacks forehead*

My dad is bringing chairs, so even if they show up without any food, at least they'll have a place to sit. Oy! It'll be a fun day at least ;)

day 20 - all's good here

the three of us went to the store today, or rather, three stores. We had fun and bought too much, but we still bought less than Cam would have bought on his own so WIN for us. Grocery shopping is like an addiction for us, seriously.
I've been planning out the meals for December; I figure if I can get into a system over break I'll be able to carry it through during the quarter and then maybe we'll stop eating pizza whenever we're too tired to think (we've eaten a lot of pizza the past few months). We did go ahead and but onions and feta to top our next pizza with though. You know, just in case.
I need to get to bed now; E will be up in less than 4 hours demanding FOOD FEED ME NOW, WOMAN! AAUUGGGHHH I AM STARVING TO DEEAAATH! At least he's sleeping more than 4 hours at a time at night. aaah, sweet, sweet slumber. I had forgotten what REM sleep was like. I'm also realising I wasn't missing much; I've been having some weird dreams. I guess 7 months of insomnia left me with a lot to process!

day 19 - getting ready

So, after realising that we can't take a bus to go out for Thanksgiving dinner, and renting a car for the occasion would just be silly, we decided to invite our parents to join us. The family reunion is canceled and my Dad doesn't want to do any cooking, so it's perfect! My parents are bringing a salad and corn, Kat is bringing pie, and Leonard is bringing the turkey. I'm making more mashed potatoes, stuffing, and my green beans (which I invented a few nights ago):

toss 1 can green beans into a frying pan, add 1/4 stick butter. Slice up one onion and add. Cover and allow to simmer until onions are clear and begin to caramelize. I added two fish filets, placing them on top to cook. Serve over rice. YUM.

I'll probably get carried away and decide to make more things, but either way I'm really happy about this! Now I just have to clear our table.

day 18 - harvest feast

E and I went to the harvest feast today, armed with a huge bowl of mashed potatoes (inspired by Pioneer Woman's recipe) and it actually turned out really well. I was invited by Chessa to sit with her family, another couple and their friend, and we had a good time. I'm not much of a conversationalist in person, but I think they forgave me :) E was very well-behaved the whole time, and wound up dropping off after about an hour so we headed home. I realised as we headed up, admiring the slow change to fall I'm seeing around here, that next year at this time I will be strolling through Golden Gate Park with him. I'm looking forward to our move more and more, and it's been a big motivator in saving up for the increased expenses we'll have. We can do it!

day 17 - so nice

Today was a good day! I got a little bit of cleaning done, but mostly I just played with E. I do mean played with him; I haven't had much of a chance to just spend as much time as I want being silly with him, and we both enjoyed it a lot. :) Leonard came over tonight, bought us dinner (Chinese food! YUM) and just spent time with his grandson. E was a little off, but Leonard enjoyed playing with him anyhow. Days like this make me really look forward to graduating, when I will be able to just spend all this time playing, instead of worrying about a deadline or a class time.

day 16 - responsible?

So now that I've decided to heck with going to my next class (I only have 2 classes, yeesh) because E finally fell asleep I'm going to get myself all ready for Shabbat. I even found a recipe I want to try, but it involves heavy cream and since I don't want to get E into a zipcar just to buy heavy cream I guess I'll just make my fish & potato salad instead. It's really easy:

take a nice filet and marinade in teriyaki sauce for a while. However long you want. I add garlic powder sometimes. Pour your salad greens in a bowl and set aside (we use the bagged stuff, because I never get through a head of lettuce before it goes bad. yuck)
Slice up an onion and some potatoes. Caramelize the onions in butter, then pour over the salad. Toss potatoes and the fish into the pan and cook until done. I add salt and pepper to this, sometimes some parsley, maybe some cayenne. Stir around, shredding the fish, then dump onto your salad. Mix thoroughly and top with dressing (Cam likes Ranch, so that's what we use.) YUM.

E is awake.

day 15 - furniture!

Hooray! Our new furniture is here! It's SO comfortable; I just didn't realise how deep the pieces are, so it feels like we have less room than we did with the massive sofa bed even though there is actually more floor space. The guys who drove it up (from LA!) made it at 6pm, and they still had a delivery in Carmel that they had to make before 8, so we wished them luck. I hope they don't have to drive all the way back to LA tonight, that would be awful!
I'm cooking up some pasta and finishing up my essay, but I have to relinquish the computer for a little bit while Cam finishes affixing the keyboard tray (finally!) Time for Pushing Daisies! (I love Tivo!)

day 14 - writing

Today was pretty nice; the weather has warmed up again so that it feels like late summer, which I don't particularly like, but at least we aren't using the heater! I volunteered to make mashed potatoes for the community harvest dinner that FSH has instead of Thanksgiving, with its 'negative connotations'(yeah, ok, whatever). I figure it will be a good chance to meet some other parents. Hooray for networking! I'm staying home tomorrow because, in addition to the history paper I have due on Friday that I REALLY need to get started on, our furniture is arriving! The only problem is every online map source tells people to turn right to get to our place instead of left; that's a problem, since turning right gets you lost in the colleges. Fun times! I'm so excited!
Cam's dad sold his house and moved to a *slightly* smaller place. Good for him, getting out from under debt. He runs his own business, and when clients don't pay he doesn't have a backup, so he sold his house to get out from under the mortgage and worry. I think that's a much better way to live. We need to make plans to go see him; we're also still figuring out what we are doing for Thanksgiving. Maybe a restaurant? :)

day 13 - insurance

So I think our insurance issues are finally done with. I received another bill for the delivery, this one from the OB and since they only billed Blue Cross I called them up to see if they also bill MediCal. The lady said yes and took my info to do it. I hope they do cover it, since my coverage is for all OB care throughout pregnancy and 2 months post-partum, but those two months ended back on the 4th, so we'll see! We can cover the bill if we have to, but that money would be much better used toward my saving-for-SF-rents fund.

day 12 - winding down

E is in a HORRIBLE mood, because he's decompressing from the weekend. As much fun as he had, he is a homebody and after a while he just needs to get away from all the new and exciting out there. Since we came home about 2 days after he reached his limit (he was good the entire trip) it's taking him a while to readjust. Poor thing. Poor me. It's been a long afternoon.
I did manage to make up some bookmarks for gifts, and made some Bit cards for E; just colors so far. Hooray for productivity!

day 11 - wedding and hanging out

The wedding was pretty cute; they had it at the Grand Island Mansion up in Walnut Grove. Pretty place, good food, but MAN I should not have worn my heels. I was fine until we were walking across the parking lot to leave (in the rain!) and suddenly my feet just did not want to work anymore. it was a fun time though; we spent most of it with Jacob, and E was an angel the entire time. Vikki danced with him once, which made her really happy, and we Cam's great aunt and uncle from Mexico City. My mom came with us, and it turns out they knew *of* him in Tijuana because the family was pretty prominent. fun coincidence!
Cam headed back on the train so he could get to work this morning, so E and I spent our first night without him. We both slept fine, but I know Cam was pretty lonely. We had a blast hanging out here though; Ellen is great, so are the kids. I've missed visiting, and we will have to do it more often. We went to Chilis, where my soup and salad finally showed up, sans chips, after everyone else was almost done eating. The manage wound up comping my meal, which is good because, come on, soup and salad? Not difficult. It was very tasty though, so I'm going to try to recreate the soup (cheesy mashed potato) sometime. Speaking of delicious, Ellen made us Enchilada Soup, and I want more NOW. She gave us the recipe but it got tucked in with E and has vanished so I need to email her for that.
Dad wound up driving E and I back this evening; it was a nice drive. Lots of bossa nova :)

day 10 - wedding

The wedding was fun; I'm still in Sacramento and Cam went home on the train so he could open tomorrow (ugh). E is crying, gotta go!

day 9 - heading out

Well, we are getting ready to go here. My Dad is picking us up at 1 ("1 sharp! Will you be ready? Are you sure? You'll be ready? What if I come earlier?") and we are heading on up to Sacramento. Thankfully we are staying with the Mehrs tonight. I've known them since Freidrich was born, and he's, I think, 13 now (wow!) but I haven't seen them in YEARS. Very sad. I've been trying to reconnect with old friends recently, especially when there were stupid reasons to lose touch. With the Mehrs it was partially me being oversensitive, and partially them believing everything they were told by a certain someone who was a touch overdramatic (I made her life *hell*. uh-huh, right). My best friend recently went through an angry divorce, and seems to have written me off. I don't know why, but I have spent months trying to get in touch with her with no reply, so I'm just going to have to let it go and move on. Thankfully I do have one other long-term friend who is Great and I did get to chat with her a couple of weeks ago; hopefulyl I'll be able to make a trip to see her, but she's in Portland now at Seminary, so that will take a little more planning. :)
Anyhow, better finish packing before E wakes up.

day 8 - the weekend beckons

I'm on the computer, avoiding holding my son (only so Cam can hold him! and so I can, oh, eat a meal) and I am really happy because I am not going to class again until Wednesday. Whoot! I have to go get us packed up for tomorrow, but that's easy. We're heading up to Sacramento tomorrow afternoon, and heading back Saturday night (Cam has work on Sunday), so my weekend will actually be Monday and Tuesday. Still, it'll be two whole days off! yay!

day 7 - sewing

I managed to do some mending for D.L. today; a pair of pants, a sweater, and a skirt. Thanks to my grandmother's huge stash of thread I was able to perfectly match the fabric or the thread on each piece, which was fun for me. Then Cam dropped it off and took off before she could pay :). (We're sneaky like that.)

I'm getting almost a week off after tomorrow; I'm not going to classes Thursday, and thanks to the Monday holiday I won't be in class again until the 14th. Hooray!

I'm so excited that our new furniture is coming next week; I'm getting obsessed counting down the days! (Our room won't look like this though; we aren't so much into the animal prints)

day 6! Fabric and Ikea

Kat came and picked me up today; we went SHOPPING. With the baby and everything! Fantastic, because last time Cam and I went to Ikea E did beautifully until right before we were heading downstairs to actually get the bed frame, and proceeded to melt down for almost the entire (1 hour) drive home. hooooo. fun times.

Anyhow!
I am making Kat's dress for her reception in January (She's Grand Love in IORG, I am SO PROUD) so we went to San Jose to visit Fabrics-R-Us. She found some really gorgeous fabric, but she forgot to bring her pattern so she'll be coming back next week so I can measure her and get started. I'm also going to be a hostess at the reception, so I get to write a speech as well. Exciting! After we got out of there I suggested we hop back on the freeway and head up to Ikea, so we did. Lunch, a bottle for E (I am so thankful for my medela! It's so awesome to literally be able to feed him, give myself a rest and not flash anyone.) and a little shopping for us. We picked up some items to make a gift for Alex, as it was her birthday today, and I think it turned out really well. I didn't get a picture, but I made something similar for myself. I also got a torch-style floor lamp to replace the halogen one we got for free, because that thing just SUCKS the electricity.
It was a great day overall; DL dropped off a couple things for me to fix, and I'm going to get started packing for our trip this weekend (so I don't manage to forget something crucial, like, oh, DIAPERS. I've done it before.)

day 5

I got back the first of 3 papers for my history class. In the comments, the person who graded it gave my grammar a 'poor'. Excuse me? My grammar has NEVER been poor. My mother was somewhat obsessed with making sure we avoid being stigmatized through the use of improper grammar, so we always tested in the 'So Gifted they may as well have Invented the English Language' levels. Don't tell me my grammar was POOR.

Yes, I will be contesting that grade.

Now I'm going to go stare at my son and try not to obsess over how little time I actually get with him as a baby and that soon I'll be old and he'll be having his own babies...I could go on, but I shouldn't. So I won't.

day 3-whoops, I mean 4

I accomplished nothing today! Nothing! Ok, well, I did actually get dressed, but that's because my mom said she and Dad might stop by this afternoon. They didn't, but that's ok.
E. managed to crawl 2 feet or so today. On his back. I don't really know what to make of that. Oh, I did manage to read most of the blog Boobs, Injuries and Dr. Pepper. I wouldn't really call her safe for work. Or small children. Or anyone who dislikes foul mouths and vulgarity. But she is hilarious! I need to get my reading done for tomorrow now. *sigh*
Oh yeah, we're going to my mil's (4th) wedding this weekend; my mom is coming too. Should be interesting!

two months old

day 3

E. is getting better with 'tummy time'. He'll just lay there and hold up his head to look around, usually for about 5 minutes. Then he starts trying to move around, gets frustrated (although that part is taking longer, thankfully) and then finally just shrieks a couple times so I'll pick him up. We do this in the crib, as it's a lot easier for me to put him down and pick him up from there, and because my floors right now are truly filthy. Maybe during the break I'll get back to having a clean house. yeah, right.

School is still going fantastically well; my morphology class is borderline interesting but the class dynamic is really good. My history class is usually entertaining, and the prof. has given us amnesty on two quizzes so far; one because the Red Sox won and the second because he was too busy grant writing to get the reading list up in time. I with I could post a link to the lectures, as they are in podcast form, but they're password protected so too bad. He really is hilarious though.

The sorority still seems in a headlong rush toward implosion, but we'll see. I don't know how I became the person everyone comes to just to vent about what's happening, but it is an entertaining role :) Jessamyn is getting married and Sarah Rose is throwing her a party in January, so if the girls can keep it going until then maybe we can all get together and actually enjoy ourselves again. Either way, congrats Jessamyn!

That's it for today! I'm waiting for Bradley to put up the family photos he took of us; I'm sure they'll be great.

day 2

::edit:: so, I feel like an idiot. I posted this yesterday but to a sewing community instead of my blog. In my defense, E. chose the moment I got set to publish to start screaming, so I was a little distracted. Still a bit embarrassing though. :)

Today's insight: I really dislike the revamped theme song for the new season of Law & Order: CI. It just sounds bad.

Yesterday E. stayed up 12 hours straight. It was insane, for all 3 of us. I think he's back to normal now though.

The end.

nablopomo

Let's see if I can actually post something every day. Well, of course I can post something every day, just not necessarily something interesting every day.

E. is 2 months old now, which is just insane to me. I'm feeling a little guilty because I had no idea that at 2 months he should be trying to crawl. That is, he tries to crawl up me when he's on my chest, and he likes to stand whenever possible, but actually putting him on the floor and expecting him to move around I thought was a little further down the road. Oops. He HATES being on his stomach now, although we're on day three of tummy time and he will actually try to move now before dissolving into frustrated screams. (He managed to crawl 1 foot today! whooot!) He also refuses to use his arms, which will either make for some really entertaining crawling or force early walking. I blame being wrapped up like a mummy for the first 7 days of his life as the cause for his lamentable upper body strength, but we're trying to undo that damage as best we can.

Handing out candy on Halloween sucks just as much as an adult as it did when I was a kid. (I only went trick-or-treating twice as a kid, so we were on candy duty a lot.) While I don't plan to give out candy anymore, I'm not just going to sit at home and keeps the lights off. We're trying to decide how celebrating or not celebrating fits in to our beliefs and how we want to raise E; it's kind of a grey area for both of us.

one month old

look who's here!

E. was born September 4th, weighed 7lbs.12oz., 14" head, 20" long; a big, beautiful baby boy! This pic is him at one week old, the day he was finally released from the hospital. He had to spend 5 days in the NICU after they caught that he had an infection the day before we were due to be discharged :( That was hard, but he has been strong and healthy the whole way through, and we've just been enjoying being together since. Love!

Back in!

It's been a busy few weeks; I managed to forget how to log in to Blogger, had a baby, and spent nearly a week with him in the NICU! I'll post more (with pictures!) later, but it's time to go check on him now :)

waiting

Still waiting. I am now at 42 weeks + 1 day. I vacillate between wanting this baby the hell out and being secure that it will come when it is ready. I haven't done much other than nap and obsess; all I really want to do is read blogs and eat, so my goal for the day is to get a little more cleaned up around here and get back to studying, which I haven't done in a few days. I did switch some desks around and freecycle the old one, so that's a bit more room around here, and I've claimed the former computer desk for my sewing, which is nice. I've put all my ribbons in an old cassette rack I've had for a while (the other was repurposed into a kitchen rack), and I also wound some bobbins. enthralling, I know! I do like the way the spools look near the end though. :)

lunar eclipse

Last night was a lunar eclipse, which I did not know but saw anyhow (hooray for insomnia!). I wondered why the moon was suddenly orange and then that sliver of intense brightness just kept growing, although at the time I just chalked it up to the cloud cover. I am very thankful I got to see it, although it would have been even COOLER if the baby had decided to come then. Can you imagine? Not just 'you were born on a full moon' but 'you were born on a lunar eclipse!'. Maybe this kiddo just doesn't want a big fuss. :) I found this image, which is very close to what I saw, online. I wish I had gone and grabbed my camera, but oh well.

Ooh a Date

Yesterday Cam took the day off (finally! He works 40 hours a week plus is in school over full time for summer classes) and he took me out to see Stardust and have lunch. Stardust was really, really good. It wasn't what I expected, and it took a while afterward to realise just how much I liked it, but the comic timing was perfect for relieving the romantic (or cheesy) tension. Michelle Pfeiffer was fantastic, and hilarious, and I think I really like her. My favorites, probably because they really were the source of the much-needed random comedic quips, were the brothers. So, so funny. Sienna Miller was pretty delightfully bratty, although isn't that the sort of character she always seems to play? Claire Danes was good, in the Claire Danes always acts in exactly the same way wort of thing, but it was very fitting for this role. Anyhoooo, excellent movie, I recommend it, and we may actually buy it. Although I'm not really down with folks sealing their love with sex. It was a little incongruous to me, given the time period and characters, but hey, two incidents in a feature film is pretty good for a Hollywood film. :)

Afterward we went to Thai Noodle House, which is tiny and very, very good. Cam's manager recommended it, and I am glad he did. We went midafternoon, so I don't think we got a good idea of the normal patron flow, but the owner/waiter was very, very nice, and sweet, and so very excited about my belly. He only got up the nerve to ask about it when we were leaving though. :) We had the deep-fried spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce, Pad Thai, and I had coconut ice cream. It was very, very good, although the egg was a little overwhelming for me (I'm a little weird when it comes to eggs generally, so no surprise there) and there was so much we wound up having to take most of it home, so we also had Pad Thai for dinner and Cam's having the remainder for lunch. Really good. I think I will try topping ice cream with peanuts and honey sometime soon; that was a really nice flavor combo. Alright, I'm out!

gorgeous

Everybody (who has seen them) knows my sisters are gorgeous. Now they can also know that our friend Bradley is one fantastic photographer. Go Bradley! I think I'll hire him to take pictures of le bebe. If it is ever born. Here are my 3 favorites (A. is wearing a wig in the first one, although she really is a brunette, and they both are in the second one. K. is naturally blonde, which makes people ask if the three of us are really related.)







Go see more!

Finally Did Something

Now that I've had an etsy shop for over a year I finally put some things in it; my happy hair clips. I wanted to put some linkable pictures here but Flickr has me very, very confused now. I can't find the tools that allowed me to post other photo sets before. hmmmmm. So I made my own version; it doesn't take you anywhere though. :)

oh bento my bento

Actually, Cam's bento. Usually I pack him the leftovers; if we don't have leftovers he gets sandwiches (delicious, filling, superb sandwiches!) and no cute little box. (He still gets the cute little bag though.) Anyhow, today's lunch is: leftover Lazy Spaghetti Carbonara (parmesan and 'bacon' are in the separate container, to avoid sogginess), carrot sticks, ranch dressing for dipping, and a peppermint patty. Delicious.



Lazy Spaghetti Carbonara

Make plain spaghetti. Drain.
Stir in 1 egg (if it is a large pot of spaghetti, maybe 2 eggs), evenly coating all the noodles.
Sprinkle in some herbs (parsley, oregano, garlic, whatever), salt and pepper to taste.
Top with parmesan/romano and bacon bits (I use the tofu bits; I am addicted to them and eat them plain.) and serve. Oh so tasty.

I like to make enough to have leftovers for a couple meals, so I add the bacon bits to the individual plates, otherwise they get soggy in the leftovers and are somewhat less scrumptious, especially after reheating. Sometimes I hold off on the cheese as well; if you like slightly melted parmesan on your reheated leftovers though be my guest, it is quite tasty.

Note to the WORLD

Things to not ask/say to pregnant women:

-"So, have you had the baby yet?" If you are calling with the intent of asking this question, hang up the phone. Just do it. Especially if it is less than 2 weeks past her due date. ESPECIALLY if you have been told you will get an email/phone call/both when the baby does arrive. You are not the only person asking this question. It is annoying. Don't. Do. It. Not even by email. DON'T.

-"Wow, you look like you are about to pop!" How am I supposed to respond to this? Thanks? Yes? Any day now? (My personal favorite, which I have used, is "What, you think I'm fat?")

-"You're probably so ready, aren't you?" Yes. Yes I am. Helping to remind me of the fact that I am still pregnant does not really brighten my day. Again, you are not the only person to ask this. Today.

-"Can I come to the birth?" Er...unless you have been solicited to show up, you are not wanted. It's nothing personal, it's just not everyone wants to be selling tickets to the big show. That's a lot of pressure. Do not put these women in the awkward situation of having to say no to you. Although with some of us, all bets are off, as you have just turned yourself into a handy target for all our unexplained and hormone-driven sarcastic rage.

-"Can I come visit?/Why don't you want to go hang out?" Well, sometimes, if you catch me at the right time, I would LOVE a visitor. The rest of the time, please, just respect the fact that this is called a nesting period for a reason. I don't feel up to or want to entertain you or listen to your drama. I love you, dearly, but there comes a point where emotionally I can't handle anymore craziness than what is already inside my head (and furiously kicking my ribcage) and adding you and your needs to it isn't something that is going to end well. trust me. Wait till after the baby is born. Stop with the guilt-tripping. Visit someone else, who is more in a state of mind to be nice. (and conscious. Guests = no nap for me. see? bad.)

-"OMG my so-and-so's birth/pregnancy/etc was so awful/scary/dangerous because..." Shut up. Seriously. This is not nice to do to someone who is pregnant. stop it.


- Anything that could be construed in any way as negative, i.e. guilt-inducing, questioning any decisions/ judgement calls whatsoever, even if it is a joke. If what is about to come out of your mouth is not laden with praise, rethink it. Otherwise, be prepared to suffer the consequences. In my case, those consequences are anger, followed by guilt, depression and sobbing. Usually for about 10 minutes straight. Plus we are out of ice cream, and nutella just isn't cutting it anymore.

Do know that I, and I'm assuming most pregnant women, actually understand that you ask these things because you love and care for us. Sorry. Rationality was kicked out a while ago to make room for a squirmy thing that is eating all our food and seriously confusing our hormones. Plus I really want a nap and a hot dog. and I've had an easy pregnancy. Those ladies who had morning sickness/diabetes/etc. deserve roses. Buy them some. Have them delivered. Don't call to make sure they got them and fish for a thank you. They loved them. They're just asleep right now.

D is for ...

dreams : plans, ambitions, aspirations, what-have-you. Just having these gives us direction, keeps depression from sinking in. It's the ones I've met who don't have any purpose, even one for the day, that are so unhappy with their lives. As for the other kind, well, mine are pretty odd. A few things I know about my dreams: First, I do dream in color, occasionally, because it contrasts with the rest of the dream which is usually not in color. My first recollection of this is a forest scene, replaying over and over with trees and a stream, and 3 dancing red lobsters floating in midair. They were in color. Second, I can read in my dreams, sometimes; again, there is a big contrast and frustration when I cannot read whatever it is in my dream versus when I can read. The stuff that I read though is usually not that interesting. The last time I 'read' something it was some sort of pancake for dieters. odd. Third, I dream about my birth. It's just a sensation of increasing and descending pressure, and all I 'see' is black and white until the end, when it all gets white and the pressure and discomfort ends. Exciting, I know. I also know I'm not the only one who remembers there birth, so it's not all that amazing. interesting though :).

dogs : I like them. We had a Great Dane when I was a baby, until it overwhelmed my mom to the point she gave him away to a nice couple she met. I plan to someday have a big dog myself, only I plan to have a big yard first. That way it won't be inside where it can eat my cushions + rug + screen door like Rodney did. Or chase cats through the house (that was the final straw. Especially as my mom tackled him to stop him and he just carried her through the house instead.)

decisions : I generally avoid them, unless I absolutely have to make them or there really is only one good one. If you give me 2+ equally good options though, I will stall as long as possible. Maybe I just like to keep my options open :)

dusting : I really like dusting. A lot. No, I was not a particularly neat child, and I'm not a particularly neat adult. I just like making things clean.



driving : I'm not really a fan, but I prefer being the driver when I am in a car. I also believe I have every right to be totally freaked out by your driving, and it would be great if you would stop getting all huffy about it and instead tried not tailgating at 70+ mph. I think your insurance may thank you also. everybody wins!

dolls : I have a strange relationship with dolls. I like them, but kind of as a commentary on people rather than to play with. I never played with dolls properly as a child either. I would either set them up nicely and never touch them or else use them as weapons/melt them/launch them off platforms/into ceiling fans/etc. Yet people kept buying me dolls. Didn't they see what I was doing to them? So strange. Oh well, I had fun.

C is for...

cats : I love cats. I am also wildly allergic to them. I am also wildly allergic to Corpus Christi, Texas, but what can you do? Anyhow; one of the times we lived in said city I 'adopted' a cat : hid it in my room, where my mom found it while vacuuming because she opened the closet door and it ran out and puked under my bed. Poor thing. I am proud to say that it had a litter box and good food, which I paid for myself, so I was a pretty good owner, even if it was a covert operation. Since living in California cats have adopted us, and my parents finally just gave up and let us name and care for them. We get pretty attached to our little strays now. My 'baby', Aishabella, I actually found as an abandoned 4-week-old. She died at about 1 1/2, we don't know why, but I suspect it's from whatever it was that caused her mother to abandon her and not the other 3 kittens. Either way, I loved that cat. She was nuts, couldn't see in the dark, was extremely clumsy, growled like a dog at strangers, would wait at the window until I came home, got stuck in trees and would get out by just throwing herself at the ground, and liked to catch and eat flies and rain. I miss her.

curls : I really like having curly hair. Of course I usually manage to butcher it, and the curls are only cute when I'm not going anywhere. Going into public makes my hair do really odd, mostly unattractive things unless I straighten or severely restrict its movements. Oh well. My dad has awesome hair; he had a blonde afro in his teens and early twenties; it was magnificent. Unfortunately he doesn't take care of it, otherwise all those tiny little curls would look so cool. I hope my kids get curls, even the boys. Is that mean of me? probably.

crafts : I love making things. I love watching other people make things. It's all about the...

creative process : which is just another way that we

communicate : which is what I am studying and one of the things I find incredibly fascinating. How we choose to convey information, why, how its interpreted, why, etc. etc. etc. I love this stuff.

conclusions : are my weakness in writing. I dislike weak conclusions, yet I am just so bad at writing them myself. I always feel like I'm wrapping things up into too neat a package, a sort of smug little 'ta-da', and I really don't like that. I think it may also be due to my obsession with patterns, as nothing is truly isolated, and to claim something is concluded is to completely ignore the larger framework and even the interior connections going on, in my view.

B is for

- Books : I love books. I have been reading since I was 2 1/2, and I MUST READ. I don't care what it is, if there is nothing worthwhile to read I will read pamphlets, badly-written novels, ingredients labels, whatever. When I was 6 the babysitter freaked out because she found me reading the encyclopedia (I got as far as volume E before my parents got home.) I had just run out of anything else to read in the house, so it was that or start reading the contents of the medicine cabinet, and books are a lot less noisy. Nowadays I can stockpile good things to read, which is a blessing as I really despise bad writing (even though I will read it. angrily). This may be why I actually enjoyed being an English tutor. It's definitely why I don't understand how anyone gets into college not being able to write a decent paragraph, much less an essay. How does this happen?

- Babies : I love babies. They are pretty awesome, all potential and curiosity and unabashed confusion. I think they're cute too, but it's their personalities that hook me.

- Beauty : I'm a highly visual person. This may be the easy-to-distract way my brain is wired, but I just love looking at things. Noses fascinate me. Pieces of people, in general, fascinate me. More than looking at the whole person, I'll find one or two details that make me just love the way that person looks, so to me everyone truly is beautiful, someway. I also love having beautiful things in my home, and I think my aversion to clutter is because I get overloaded by having so much to look at all at once. Too much to me is not beautiful anymore.

- Beer : I really really REALLY like beer. Maybe because my Dad gave it to me growing up for heartburn (it works!). I miss drinking beer. Soon, soon, I know. I have some friends in Sacramento who occasionally brew their own beer, and it is mighty good. I should go visit them sometime.

- Baking : I love baking. this is strange because my method of cooking is 'throw everything in a pot and cook on High'. I don't measure very carefully, I add and omit whatever I feel like, and the stuff that comes out is still, generally, not only edible but quite tasty. For baking though I am precise, and I love the feeling of the process. Perhaps it's because the actual 'cooking' portion I don't have to stand there and watch, so I can be more patient with the assembly portion.

-Blogs : I enjoy blogs; all sorts of blogs. I love learning about people, even if it's only the small parts that they are willing to share and not the entire person, because it still is a glimpse into what makes us people. I read far too many blogs though; I think I'm at over 100 (thank you to whichever blogger mentioned bloglines, it is awesome!).

-Birth : I think birth is amazing, and that being part of that process is incredible. I also think that women giving birth should be able to feel just how incredible and powerful and simple the whole thing is, and to help with that process would be the best job EVER. I am going to be a midwife someday, somehow, and since I decided this when I was 14 and still remain committed to the idea I think I'm on the right track. (I decided on my current major when I was that age also, and so far it's going very well.)

A is for...

As several other bloggers have started doing a daily 'alphabet' post I decided to give it a go. I need something to do, after all!

-Anticipation : this past week has been nothing but anticipation. It's hard to focus on anything besides the fact that this baby could be born any minute and why hasn't it yet?! I wouldn't call myself truly impatient, but waiting, just waiting, makes me tense.

-Anxiety : There are a lot of worries, a lot of 'what ifs', when it comes to having a baby, and the ones you don't think of yourself other people are more than happy to supply for you! Thankfully I have had the bornfree ladies to help dispel any fears, and to demonstrate facing and dealing with things when they do go wrong (or even just 'not as well as hoped').

-Arnica : I firmly believe that everyone would be a lot happier if they knew about Arnica, both gel and capsules. Ah, blessed relief!

-Appetite : Being able to (and needing to) eat more has been quite an experience. I love to cook normally, but when its either overcome the fatigue and make something or else have yet another bowl of cereal the creative aspect becomes a little more crucial. Here are the last bits of lemon-blueberry bars I made, with a side of sharp cheddar cheese. So tasty.

waiting

Not a whole lot to report. I spent a week cleaning the apartment, only to completely destroy it again in the course of two days. Granted, I am sorting all my fabric (which is now in the living room) and the guest bed is actually usable now, but it's a little disheartening. Basically I'm doing whatever I can to get this baby to HURRY UP ALREADY because I hate not being able to walk right. I know, I've been lucky that I had no problems whatsoever until last week, but still, it's annoying. My legs are freaking out, and taking me with them. Anyhoo, just so this isn't a totally text post, my one-and-only pregnancy picture! Taken at the 9-month-mark, so it's about as big as I'm going to get.

nursery

We converted the 'office' 'nook' in our apartment into the nursery, rather than the front bedroom, because it is much more airy, there is better light, it is more convenient to our bedroom, and it is a lot less noisy (usually). I've managed a few photos, although with such a small space it was a little hard to get the shots I wanted. I think these get the general idea across. (Can you tell we're hoping for a girl?)

www.flickr.com

Tomorrow, perhaps

Well, I was all set to put up a post with pictures about the nursery (which is done! Except for a changing pad. hrmmm) or perhaps a flickr link about our trip to Florida last December for our first anniversary, or even a tribute to one of the several cherished feline friends my family has had over the years, but by the time I had found, sorted, and moved all my pictures around (most of which I had managed to lose in my computer) Cam was home and he gets the big computer. Plus, This Came Today:
So I think you know what I'll be doing with the rest of my evening. I'm sure I'll figure out Flickr tomorrow. If I can keep track of what day it is.

::edit:: Well, the Mr. has managed to claim the book before I could, which is fair since he does have to go to work tomorrow and I, well, can spend the entire day wallowing in bed. So I have figured out Flickr, and Bloglines, and added a whole bunch of stuff to my sidebar. Now I just want to figure out how to change the background, aside from color.

fast forward

Sometimes life just happens, and everything happens at once. I spent 8 years at community college figuring out what I wanted, working a few jobs, pretty much just sitting around. Suddenly it's as though I have jumped on the express train to grown-up land and it's a little overwhelming. As of September first, in the past two years I will have, in this order,:

Moved Out of the house into an Apartment and started paying all my own bills (including rent)
Finally decided on a major/career plan and Started at University (as a Junior. Being a Transfer is awesome.)
Joined a sorority (I'm not good at groups in general.)
Gotten married
Moved again, due to money issues, into an even better yet less expensive place
Bought a car
Learned all about Insurance (and paid for it)
Watched my debt top $20,000 (hurray for in-school deferment)
Passed the quarter-century mark
And, within a month, Am having a baby.

It's like there is some sort of cosmic checklist with every item being crossed off ASAP. Thinking about it this way is a bit scary. Plus all I really want right now is food. So I'm going to go make some palak paneer and maybe some corn bread and leave you with a picture of the last round of sushi I made. It was sooooo tasty.

Starting Fresh

Wow, it has been a long time! Almost a year, actually. It isn't as if nothing has been happening either; in fact quite a bit has. Yesterday, for example, we wound up at the hospital for 2 hours (everything is ok, no worries, family drama) and went to IKEA. To buy the perfect dresser/changing table for the baby's 'corner'. Behold, it is lovely, and I assembled it myself. So proud. It was surprisingly easy too (I know, IKEA, easy assembly, yadda yadda, but still, it was a bit daunting at first unboxing. Also very, very heavy).
Ah. So pristine. So simple. Now the crib looks a little ratty in comparison. Oh well.

Other things I have done just this week:
*Turned 25 (On Friday, and yes, it was awesome).
*Saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was very good. On My Birthday.
*Ate sushi at my favorite sushi restaurant ever, Ninja Sushi, I have never had better sushi anywhere. Also On My Birthday.
*Decoupaged a set of boxes, which may or may not get photographed before this time next year.
*Actually studied instead of freaking out about flunking out of school. Because seriously, me, flunk? Doesn't happen. I get good grades with an annoyingly small amount of effort. Usually. When I do have to study, watch out world, because that class is HARD. I will point and laugh when you take it later and are shocked at how difficult it is.
*Finally gained 5 pounds over my beginning-pregnancy weight, which is interesting in a "baby has been eating all my food and fat stores for 8 months and I've finally caught up as far as food consumption" sort of way. Also, I waddle now. As of yesterday. Although I think it may be the after-effects of driving and sitting for a total of 5 hours and then assembling a really heavy (but totally worth it) dresser instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour. 2 am was pushing it a little.
*Blogged. Wahoooo! Let's see if I can do it again.