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.