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Summer Daze
07.15.08 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Summer DazeFirstly, an update on the kids. We had a Dr. visit a few weeks back where the bambinis were measured and weighed. Guinevere weighed in at 44 pounds and 43.75 inches (3 feet 7.75 inches). She rests around the 70th percentile for both height and weight. Jude weighed in at 14.5 pounds and 27.75 inches (2 feet 3.75 inches). He is at the 60th percentile for weight and 97th for height! We knew we had some good height genes but this is amazing! It will probably all change, but now we had the answer to why he seemed to be eating. All. The. Time. We’ve got a big boy! We celebrated by getting the portraits made again. We’ve got some cute kids here…
Jude is also starting to hit a variety of milestones, or just showing cute baby behaviors. The biggie is rolling over from back to tummy. His first one was on July 9th. He is also now interested in toys, he likes to stuff them into his mount, along with his knuckles, blankets and burp cloths. Well. let’s just say that anything he gets in his hand is promptly stuffed into his mouth. He also appears to have quite the sense of humor. He giggles, chortles, and chuckles his way through just about any scenario. We think he is going to be quite the jokester. Jude loves the walks we take daily. He is alert and awake as we go, drinking in this amazing new world. At the end of the walk he is either tired and overstimulated or wanting more. Either way, he cries and crashes right after. Despite hats and sleeves, even he is getting a bit of a tan. It’s weird to see such a little baby who is tan!
Speaking of walking, I have had a return of plantar fasciitis. I had it once in my early 20’s and it took a few years to heal it properly and make it go away. It is a nasty combination of symptoms. All together it involves the sensation of walking with a small pebble in the center of my heel while pain radiates outward around the perimeter of the heel. from the ‘pebble’ there is a pain that shoots upward straight though the center of my calf and up the back of my heel. Ouch. The method of healing is time, massage, ice and rest. With Bradley’s deft fingers, i have been able to continue walking, though some days the symptoms are a little too intense for a walk. Annoying.
At the beginning of the summer we had plans to go and see much. As gas prices have risen and the local weather has been nice, we have kind of hunkered down here for July, skipping Seaside and other planned camping adventures. Instead we have bought a big pool, a smaller version of those pools with an inflated ring on top. It has been a fun purchase. I have reserved a big pile of summer reading at the library and can often be found laying on the bed next to my sleeping son reading. It has been blissful. I am making some serious headway Thanks to the suggestions of critics picks in a few magazines, I have found some interesting reading that perhaps I would not have gotten to. We’ve also seen our fair share of movies. In the past two weeks we saw Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, and Speed Racer. I loved Wall-E, Skipped Sped Racer, and thought KFP was cute. Gigi loved them all, of course. So, we are making up for staying local. We do have a busy August though, with the family reunion, my math class, and the Portland Zine convention, then a return to school. It will go fast. It always does.
I got to spend last Sunday floating down a river for 3.5 hours with old college friends in Ellensburg. It was lovely. Splashy, hot, the boat was leaking and sinking, sunburnt, totally happy. So fun. I am already looking forward to next year when we do it again. I don’t care how sore my arms were that night!
Fourth of July was fun. Uneventful, but fun. We went to the local show where Jude watched the fireworks happily (we thought) for about two minutes, then decided he DID NOT LIKE THEM and began to scream! Bradley hightailed it to the trees where he tried to sooth the boy. It was a long show and eventually he settled down. In time for it to be over. Poor boy, I guess he didn’t know what to make of the noise and all of those mysterious sparks!
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Disneyland 5
06.29.08 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Disneyland 5Yes! We’re back!
It has been a wonderful whirlwind, my friends. I ended school, locked my classroom door, packed my suitcase and got on a plane. Mind you, this took a few days. but it already feels like the school year ended months ago. Going to California so soon after school was out was a great way to jumpstart summer, and the weather upon return didn’t hurt either. It’s 80 degrees today! I am loving it
So first, the trip. We flew down on Sunday the 22nd on Virgin. I would totally recommend that airline. It is pretty posh. Each seat has its own touchscreen where you can watch TV, movies, music videos, play video games and order food from. We brought our DS’s, books, and coloring stuff to entertain and it was totally unnecessary. I watched two shows I had never seen before, Top Chef on the way down and My Life on the D List on the way back. Totally shows I wouldn’t usually watch, but airplanes are the place for trash TV, magazines and all the guilty pleasures that take your mind off of sitting on a plane for hours on end. So they were perfect! Jude slept like a little angel both ways, which was nice for us and those sitting around us. It could have been really ugly as it was demonstrated to us by another baby on the return flight home.
We arrived on Sunday to sweltering 115 degree weather. We, however, were impervious to such weather and entered Disneyland with a skip to our step in time to catch the Parade of Dreams. The other visitors were not skipping much. They left the park afterwards en masse looking melted and droopy leaving short lines and small crowds. We headed over to the Tiki Room, which proved to be a favorite of Jude’s, and onto Pirates of the Carribbean, Winnie the Pooh, and Splash Mountain. It was a great start to a great week. We hit our stride pretty early, and by Wednesday we were pretty much done. The crowds were manageable and we were able to see a lot and do a lot in a short period of time. We continued to have fun though, of course, and upon leaving on Friday night, Guinevere and I were both tearful. This has been a pretty unique year for us. We were able to hit Disneyland three times spending 21 days in the park. That is pretty amazing. Needless to say, we are going to take a little break from Disneyland for a year or two. Who knows where we’ll go next year…
A few highlights:
*Gigi got a private meeting with Princess Aurora. Only three kids each day are given the honor.
*Tiki Room with Jude. He loved the singing birds and flowers.
*Meeting Cruella DeVille. Guinevere HATES her and was horrified that I wanted her autograph.
‘Auntie Cruella’ taunted her from a distance.
*The new Pixar Parade is AMAZING!
*Guinevere’s joy for her new dolls: Princess Leia and Padme. She loved them so much she was
hesitant to stop playing and leave the hotel room.
*Riding California Screaming. An EXCELLENT roller coaster.
*Guinevere’s newfound love for Pirates of the Carribbean and Thunder Mountain Railroad. We rode
them both MANY MANY times. Her excited screams were precious. Yes, ‘precious’ and ‘screams’
are both used in the same sentence here…
*Guinevere can really and truly swim now, without floaties!
*We traded for some really nice pins this time, each of us even found our dream pins. Lucky us…
*Indiana’s show and clue hunt was really fun.A Few Lowlights
*Small World was closed leaving a big hole. It is one of the few rides that Jude would have
enjoyed.
*The massive weight gain by both Bradley and I brought on by multiple trips to Red Robin and
other high fat dining experiences. We both gained a fiver. We are back on the diet and exercise
regime today, trying to knock those bad boys back away. Hopefully they are not too ‘sticky’.
*It got crowded, like really crowded by the week’s end. And the people were rude too. Like,
they would just stop right in front of you or walk right in front of you. Talk about road rage!
*There was a mistake made before we left that my benefits would end while on vacation.
Someone forgot to file some paperwork so the beginning of our trip was a little bit stressful.
Everything is fine now and I’m still insured, PHEW!While in the magical world of Disney, Jude decided he was done nursing. Thus, I was a bit uncomfortable at times during the trip. I would try to get him to latch and it would just tick him off more. He doesn’t usually scream, and nursing made him scream. Loud. Not a very ‘Disney’ experience. I did not bring my pump, so it was a bit of a predicament. Last night I hit the pump and the supply is really low now. Hopefully I can get it back up, but we may just be finished. Time will tell.
Finally, a wonderful bit of news, my good friend Beth is getting married! Yeah! We looked at dresses before I left and she found ‘the’ dress and ‘the’ bridesmaid dresses all at David’s Bridal. Everything is falling into place so easily… Totally meant to be. Yay Beth! October 4th will be a wonderful day…
Enjoy the heat!
Tamara
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Summer Plans
06.01.08 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Summer Plans
It has been a while since I’ve written. Long enough that those little things I’ve been storing away in my mind to write about are evaporating. I’ll try my best to catch up.First, the kids. Jude is still fat and tall. I am ever amazed when we encounter other babies of the same age that they are so little still. Our boy started out shorter than the baby frontpack we have. He would ride in it with his head below the top, unable to see out. Not we is tall enough that his head sticks out and he can see the world. He is now interested in books, though gets tired of all the stimulation easily. Bradley spends about an hour every day reading with him. Jude is definitely a lot more sensitive than Gigi was. She was a very easy baby who loved her swing and cried little. Jude likes his mobile and arms. The rest of the equipment is not interesting to him. As I write this, he is laying in his crib smiling and cooing at his mobile. He just loves the silly thing! He seems to rapidly go from being content and happy to full on crying rages quickly. Sometimes it is the usual: diaper, tired, burp, or hungry, but other times he is just crying for who knows what reason. The boy is a bit of a puzzle sometimes. That said, he is also quite an easy smiler. Once the burp is out, diaper changed or tummy is full, he immediately begins to flirt with you. He is very sweet, and I have to say quite cute. We are biased though…
Gigi is good. She is flying through paper lately with her drawings upon drawings of girls in dresses. She and Bradley will sit at the drafting table together and work on their projects. Bradley on his graphic journal and Gigi on her books of dresses. Her tenacity amazes me. She sits for times well over an hour just drawing. She is ready for summer, like the rest of us. She is really ready for vacations. Last year we went to a reunion in Idaho at my Grandpa Tassie’s place and she had the best time. Last week she received a package in the mail from her cousins in Utah and with that reminder of Kylie & Credence she is now incredibly excited for another adventure to an Idaho reunion. We are also going to Disneyland again on the 22nd of June so she is really excited about that too. Preschool will be over th week after next. Now the weather just needs to take the hint so she can splash in her pool. Last night she said two funny things (at least). One, she walked in on Bradley cutting his hair and asked, “What on earth are those?” They were the attachments for the clippers, but it was her usage of an old lady expression of ‘what on earth.’ It came at a moment when I needed a laugh and it got me. The other thing she did was to run in her room and holler out, “I paid for it!!” She was talking about the dress that she purchased from the boutique that she apparently has in her room. She came out in her dress after using her cash register to ring it up and handed Bradley a wad of imaginary cash. Oh to be four… Oh! And guess who gets to be a flower girl this summer? Upon hearing that my friend Hannah is getting married this summer, Guinevere asked if she had a flower girl yet (motive?). I told Hannah the story and they didn’t have one so guess who gets to be in a wedding!?? She is quite excited.
Yep, the forecast this summer is for business. We’ve got trips to Disneyland, Seaside, Portland, Chelan and Idaho all in the works. We decided to save some time by flying into Spokane and renting a car to get to the reunion. Flights were only $58 a seat so it turns out that we are only spending a little more than we would have spent on gas and will save a whole day each way. My parents are going to haul our camping stuff for us, so we are pretty excited about that trip.
Bradley and I are as well as can be expected. One of us is up every morning at about 5:30, which is tiring. And we are still up and down all night with Jude. We are both tired from the lack of good sleep combined with living our lives during the day. It’s not like we’re super duper exhausted. It is mostly that we don’t ever get that good stretch of sleep so we just never feel totally recharged or well rested. It will come again, I know. But it seems a long way off yet.
I am busy wrapping up the remainder of the year. I have two and a half weeks left with my students. We are busy with our end of the year projects, assessments, and I am trying to get my report cards all finished. I am also trying to do an end of the year poetry show and get my room ready for summer. Timing is everything and doing something too soon, like packing up the library, can be a mistake. So I feel like I am waiting until the last minute to do things, but I think I’m okay. This is the first year I don’t have to move to a new classroom so I think my timing feels like it should be different even though I am fine. Yeah! Here’s to staying in the same room! That is going to save me a lot of time this summer, not having to go in early to unpack and settle in!
Our anniversary is this Thursday. We will be nine this year, which seems amazing. When we first got married, ten years seemed so far away, and yet here we are, almost a decade later, and it went by in a flash. We are going to the Doubletree in Seattle for the night. We are taking the kids to swim, order pizza, and watch pay-per-view in our room on Saturday Night. Love it.
I think that is it. Jude is back asleep and I am going to try to catch a few more winks this morning.
Tamara
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Memorial Day
05.20.08 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Memorial DayIt has been a while and I thought I should write a quick post before everything slips away.Jude is well. At his well baby check-up on Monday (his two month birthday) he weighed in at 11.5 pounds and measured 24 inches. I knew he had grown, but four inches in a month?!? That was pretty amazing. He has also started to look a little less like an old man and more like a really cute really fat baby. I love it! His little dark eyes catch mine and I am just in love. His temperament is still a little needy, but as a last child I am okay with that. He wants to be held all the time except at night. Then he wants his space. Bradley wears him in the sling quite often to do, well, everything. His back aches, but it is worth it to create that sense of security our boy needs.
As for sleep, we still aren’t getting enough though it is better. He generally falls asleep at about 7:30 and sleeps until about 1:00 or 2:00, then we are on the two hour cycle for the rest of the morning until about 4:00 when he just plain wakes up to flirt. And his flirtiness is so cute that we can’t ignore it. We have to wake up to respond to his smiles and coos. Yeah, we’re goners. Awake at 4:AM each morning to coo back at our baby. I guess it is our own fault we are so tired!
Speaking of tired, I started work last Monday. All has gone well. I was getting really cranky at home with nothing to do except recover from surgeries. I was tired of that and was beginning to really affect the atmosphere of our home for the worse. We are all much happier when mommy works. Guinevere told me that she missed me but was glad to have Daddy time again. I guess that is a good lesson. I love my job and it is a good fit for me. It has been really nice to be back with my students, thought they have gotten a bit lazy about listening and following directions. They are too comfortable and are ready for the end of the year I guess. So sad, but real life waits for no man. I wonder what is in store for me for next year. I am teaching a 3/4 split which should really make life interesting for me!
It is difficult to believe that summer is upon us. Already the calendar is filling with different trips to take and activities to participate in. We are headed to Disneyland as soon as school is out, have a family reunion in Idaho in August, a wedding, a zine convention in Portland, and a trip to Seaside Oregon planned. A busy and satisfying summer. I am looking forward to the warm weather and outdoor fun. Guinevere has already been enjoying splashing here and there, but a lake trip would do her good.
My weight loss goal was 10 pounds before Disneyland. I though I would be able to get back into the swing of things again with dieting, but now with the gallbladder out I have rediscovered cheese and peanut butter. And I have a serious carb addiction. I am having a really hard time reigning it all in. I lost a little last week, but this is going to be more difficult than I had anticipated to break the habits that I so quickly formed in two short weeks. Or perhaps I am just craving that stuff because I haven’t had fat for so long and have been relying on carbs for all of my energy source. At any rate, I am frustrated. I am keeping my calories around 1800-2000 which just won’t cut the mustard when I want to lose the tenner. I lost three pounds last week, I think. Our digital scale kind of jumps around sometimes, and while I think I lost three, sometimes it says four or two or nothing. I am splitting it down the middle and saying three, but we’ll see next week where I’m at when my Monday club again shares numbers for our weigh-in. Argh!
Okay, that’s it. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend. I hope I get the chance for some sleep…
Tamara
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I Smell Like a Pancake
05.06.08 | Permalink | | Comments Off on I Smell Like a PancakeJude is seven weeks old. My, how time flies. I was sitting there today looking at him. He seems so big to me already, long and getting fatter every day. The newborn phase is so short. His body is lengthening. I’m not sure if he is actually growing that much, or just uncurling like a fern frond. He just seems so much bigger all of the sudden. Perhaps it is just my perception, but it is sad to be saying goodbye to that newborn baby I was holding for such a short time. Poof.
He is getting more fun by the day though. He is fascinated with the world around him, in particular he likes to study artwork we have hanging on the walls, mirrors included. There is one chair in our living room and when you sit in it he can’t tear his eyes away from the lamp on the table next to it. Sometimes it is such a distraction that I can’t nurse him there because he is craning his neck so far in the wrong direction! When he wakes up, he loves to be placed under his mobile where he coos and smiles at the animals and shapes hanging there. It is like a baby drug, an endless source of entertainment for our boy!
I started on fenugreek this week. Today will be day four and I’ve already seen an increase of about an ounce in each breast for each feeding/pumping session. That is good news since it seemed like my milk supply was already getting smaller. Apparently I am supposed to keep taking it until I am at the level of production that I need and then I can stop taking it. So far we are supplementing Jude’s diet with about six to eight ounces of formula a day so I figure I just need to increase by another ounce or so and I’ll be good. As long as he is draining each breast at each feeding I won’t be making too much. And because I seem to have the opposite problem, I don’t think there can be too much breast milk! I tried to increase the supply by extra feedings/pumpings, but it didn’t work. So fenugreek to the rescue. I smell like a giant pancake, but that is okay by me!
Last Thursday, 5/1/08, I had my gallbladder surgery. It went well, it was laproscopic day surgery. I entered the hospital at 11:00 AM and was home by 6:00PM. There has been nothing too notable about the surgery, a little pain, a little sore, a lot tired. The first day I spent in bed with Jude. All day. It was great. Then I decided to kind of get back to normal. It has been going pretty well. My pain is diminishing by the hour it seems. I am just getting so tired. Sleeping in until 9:30 and falling asleep at 8:00. I guess with night feedings and surgery I am really asking a lot of my body. The best part has been the return to a somewhat normal diet. The morning after surgery I ate a PB&J sandwich. It was really good. Then the next day it was pizza. Mmm. It has been a long time! Now I need to rein it all in again to continue the weight loss. I can’t exercise quite yet but can and need to diet still. I bought a bunch of clothes that are on the smaller end. They fit, but were bought with the idea that I am on a downward trend so are a little on the tighter side still. A few more pounds and I’ll be golden.
This week marks my final week at home with the family. On Friday I will return to work for the final six weeks of school before summer break. While I am looking forward to returning to work, I must admit that the thought of it has cast a dark shadow over the remainder of the week. I am bored here at home, but am lamenting my loss of being able to observe my growing family all the time.
It will be good to get back though. Guinevere and I are driving each other nuts lately. She has become incredibly needy and controlling of my time lately. I just feel like I can’t do enough for her. At the end of the day she tallies up what has not happened for her rather than seeing all of the things that we’ve gone out of our way to do for her. Any moment I am not holding Jude (and even those when I am holding him) she is demanding that I spend with her. Mostly I’m fine with that, there are just some times though when i don’t want a lap/bath/bed buddy. She has become jealous of any time that anybody gets to spend with me and questions constantly why that person gets to do something with me (Bradley included). Our dear daughter has also began to test us lately. If we ask her to do something she is now asking why, complaining about it, or doing it so slowly. I know that it is all normal that she behave like this, especially with the introduction of a sibling, and I know that in the grand scheme we still have an amazing kid, but I need a break from her constant needs and I think that work will be a good place to get that break.
That’s it. Perhaps now I can get back to sleep. I woke at about 2:30 and now at 3:40 perhaps sleep is on the horizon.
Enjoy Mother’s Day!
Tamara
