Off to the Sunshine State

I am off to Florida bright and early tomorrow. I might have to set two alarms without a fussing baby to urge me along.


T is now safely in Boston after a loooooong day of traveling. I hope my trip will be easy and problem-free. But, does that ever really happen?


Talk to you next week.


--MM

Nightmare trip

Poor T is experiencing a nightmare getting Q to Boston. I feel so bad for them.

To backtrack a little, I felt more dread than I expected in seeing them off. I was just so sad for some reason, even though it is just for a few days. I can not fathom the parents who go off to war for a year or more. I just can not wrap my mind around it.

I took T and Q to the airport last night before 7:00 His first flight was delayed more than three hours. So, we came back to work, and T returned several hours later. That was just the beginning of 23 hours of travelling. He had to stand in line for hours with a squirmy Q and ask flight attendants to hold him. He had to change airlines as well and fly into Providence instead. To top it off, his luggage is still on Delta somewhere between Vegas and Boston. A nightmare!

I just heard from him that he is on the East Coast. His mom was going to buy some diapers and outfits to tide them over, and I am guessing both will be in for long naps.

Our house feels awfully empty with just me and the cats. I am glad I have them at least. Since I am lacking my living alarm clock, I woke up at 8:12 a.m. for my 8:00 a.m. nail appointment. Oops! I made it there in an impressive 14 minutes, full of apologies. To add to my embarrassment, I forgot my wallet! My wonderful nail technician (whom I have been going to for years), refused to let me go home and get my checkbook and actually gave me cash to get a coffee. I don't think that is exactly how the transaction is supposed to go, but I like it! She is so wonderful.

On a very depressing note, a 13-month-old drowned in a pool yesterday in our area. A two-year-old drowned last week. It makes me physically ill. I hate pools in backyards. I will never have one.

--MM

Playing in the Spray

Q is sleeping after an exhausting morning at the spray park. I went to my second meetup today. It gets easier every time. I am so glad I went the first time.

Q liked feeling the spray and getting his little toes wet. I tried not to compare him to the other 13-month-olds toddling around on their own. He is just moving at his own pace.

On a drastically different subject, I watched a special last night on swingers. That concept might be a little more appealing if more of the swingers were actually attractive.


--MM

Separate vacations

T and I are preparing for separate vacations this week. I have missed many of my friends' weddings recently. I had one approaching and assumed I would have to miss it too because of the time and expense of travelling across the country. When T announced he was in friend's wedding the same weekend and was taking Q, I changed my plans. So, now we are travelling separately. T and Q leave tomorrow night on a red-eye for Boston. Sounds like it will be an adventure. I leave Friday morning for a wedding in Florida.

I am so excited to see my college friends and watch one of them get married, indulge in drinks with little umbrellas, and bask in the Florida sun. But, I am so sad to leave the tiny man. This will be the first time we will be apart for any length of time. I am not used to going more than five hours without seeing him. It kind of tugs at me a little to think about it. Thankfully, we will have cell phone contact for a few babbling conversations and maybe a few emailed pictures of toothless grins. I will miss him though.

I do think T is more worried about me being free and unattached at a beach resort. That will be quite lovely, won't it?

--MM

Meetin' moms

That crazy tongue. I tell you. It is always hanging out.

So, my throat is feeling pretty decent today. I am cutting back on the ibuprofen, because it was starting to hurt my belly. It's a catch-22. My tonsils are looking a little less gross, so hopefully I am almost over this ickiness.

I went to my first Meetup today. It is for moms in the area. Most seems to be stay-at-home or work-at-home, but since I work later in the day, I can make a lot of the events.

About ten moms and their kids met at a park that has a little spray area and an arts and crafts event. I had to hurry after yoga to get both of us ready and pack lunches. I can be an outgoing person at times, but generally I am pretty shy at things like this. I tend to just sit by myself and hope people come over to me. But, I worked hard at going up to other people, and I was glad I did. Q was scared of the spray park at first, but then got his little feet wet. He enjoyed swinging and ate a bit of his lunch before crawling over to another kid's snack and polishing it off. That was a little embarrassing, but the mom didn't seem to mind.

The gathering made a little twinge in me wish I didn't have to pack Q up and take him to daycare and then head to work for a nine-hour day. But, I try not to pay attention to that twinge.

I was glad I went out of my comfort zone and met some fun moms. The first time is the hardest, and we have a lot of fun events on the calendar.

--MM

Misdiagnosis

So it wasn't a tonsil stone. My self-diagnosing did not turn out to be correct. However, following the infallible online medical advice, I attempted to dislodge my "tonsil stone" on Thursday night. T held the flashlight while I jabbed at it with a thermometer. My tonsil started bleeding, and it was quite painful. Oops.

I had a fever that night and was very sore and uncomfortable. I ended up sleeping on the floor. The next day,I slept in a bit, and then went to one of those walk-in medical places. I had to wait for awhile with Q. Then T came to pick him up and take him to daycare.

It turns out I have tonsillitis. Unfortunately, it seems to be caused by a virus, so I can't take antibiotics or anything to knock it out. I just have to wait for my immune system to tackle it. It certainly seems to be taking its time. I am taking ibuprofen every three hours. She offered me some steroids, but said they could make me aggressive, depressed, or really mess with my sleep. I passed.

Both tonsils are now white-spotted, gross-looking, and extremely sore. It hurts to swallow anything. I have a wedding next weekend, so I am hoping my sickness is out of my body by them. It's no fun being sick.

--MM

Gray hairs and cat food

I got my hair done today for the first time in awhile. I have been trying to grow it out a bit, so I have been waiting. I think collarbone-length would be nice. I love the feeling of getting a hair cut and color. My highlights had grown out an inch or two. They are not very dramatic, so it is not a horrible striped effect. I do have lots of gray hairs growing in though. I got my first one in high school, so it is old news, but they are definitely getting more numerous. Considering I had an ulcer in third grade, I suppose it is not surprising gray hairs weren't far behind. They don't bother me much. I plan to dye my hair for a long, long time. I figure you can't dye bald, so I should consider myself lucky.

In other news, Q seems to like cat food. T says Q rolled his way over to the cat bowl this morning and immediately stuck some of the bits in his mouth! T scraped them out quickly. Later in the day, I also witnessed Q painstakinly scoot his way over to the cat bowl to grab pellets. I think if we just litterbox train him, this could be a good thing!

The left side of my throat has been hurting terribly, and my gland is a bit swollen. After a bit of examination in the mirror, I see that my left tonsil is white. I have a habit of diagnosing myself on the Internet and now believe I have a tonsil stone. It sounds pretty gross, but is apparently harmless. I guess I will seek the opinion of an actual doctor if it keeps hurting.

--MM

Ridiculous cleanliness

Our home is incredibly clean right now. It is insane. I have never cleaned anything that well, nor will I ever. I don't even want to walk across the perfectly vacuumed carpet. It is a thing of beauty.

Needless to say, we are quite happy with our housekeeper. She, her daughter, and a helper worked for three hours scrubbing every nook and cranny. This is the deep-cleaning. They will come back every two weeks to maintain. It is just such a wonderful feeling not to have cleaning hanging over our heads this weekend. I can't describe it!

It is a pretty big indulgence, I must admit, but so far I am enjoying indulging.

--MM

My baby daddy

That just sounds so natural when I say it. We had a lovely Father's Day, in my opinion. I made T an omelet with spinach, sun-dried tomato, pesto, and goat cheese. Mine turned out a bit better than his actually, because I made it second. He also enjoyed a mimosa, coffee, and toast.

I spread out his presents. First, he got a coupon book from Q and the cats offering prizes like " a snaggle-toothed smile" and "a Sunday to sleep in." Then from his beautiful wife, he got two bags of coffee (we are connoisseurs) and a bag of biscotti.

We laid on the couch for awhile and rested, and then I gave him a card announcing he had an appointment for a massage in half an hour. I can be a pretty good wife when I want to be! It was a 90-minute massage no less! I forced him to give me a foot rub that night to repay my kindness.

On Saturday, after my aerobics and yoga classes, we went to a winery with a friend from work and her husband. It was so lovely. After tasting, we bought a bottle and sat out in the sun. It was just blissful. I couldn't be happier than when I am sipping wine and catching some rays. Q rolled around in the grass and met the winery's resident dog.

It was a nice weekend.

Tomorrow our cleaning woman comes for the first time. I will be gone when she gets there, but will arrive when she is about half-way finished. That could be awkward.

On a side note, that picture at the top is of T and Q at another winery. Somehow I had the wrong focus setting on, but it created a cool effect. Do you think we go to too many wineries? Nah. Impossible.

--MM

Cleaning House

We hired a housekeeper today. I am very excited about it. She and her crew will start with a very deep clean next Wednesday and then will come every other Wednesday. This doesn't mean we will throw out our vacuum (though I'd love to), but it will certainly save us some time. I am so happy about it.

I had a bit of a busy morning. I had a manicure/pedicure at 8 a.m. ( I know....poor busy me), then a meeting at noon, I ran around doing some errands with a drowsy Q, and then into work at 2:30.

It was our boss's last day today. It was pretty strange. He is the one who hired and promoted me, so it is strange to see him go. We shared an awkward handshake. He is not exactly the hugging type. It remains to be seen who will take his place. It makes me uneasy. Change is an unsettling thing.

I joined a mom's meetup group for my area. I haven't been able to attend anything yet, because I think most of the moms are stay-at-home and have different schedules than me. I might teach them all a yoga class though some time. That would be fun.

We have some good stuff planned for this weekend. I won't divulge all of it since prying father's eyes could be reading this, but it should be enjoyable.

Q was a grump tonight, because he didn't get his requisite naps this morning. He was sleeping in the car, and I had to quickly run into one store. I wished I could just leave him in there! 20 years ago that would not have been unheard of. I could see him from the cash register! But, no the law and society require me to lift his tired, little body out and haul him in with me. Poor thing. He fell asleep on me briefly tonight at work in this tired, warm, sweaty little heap. It was delightful.

--MM

Oops!

I had five hours of television waiting for me last night on Tivo. I didn't even make a dent. Why are shows all super long in the summer? I had two hours of "So You Think You Can Dance?," two hours of "Last Comic Standing," and 75 minutes of "Top Chef." That is a lot of reality television to squeeze in!

I only made it through "So You Think You Can Dance?" and a bit of "Top Chef," when I fell asleep on the couch. I had an odd dream involving myself naked and a thigh exercise machine (it was being advertised on the blaring TV as I snoozed on the couch). T was quite curious about this dream when I told him about it later. Anyway, I awoke with a start at 7:41 a.m. I quickly rushed upstairs, changed, and brushed my teeth so I could get out the door by 7:50 for an 8:00 a.m. nail appointment. Only then did I realize it was actually tomorrow. Oops! It was a nice feeling going back to bed, though I wish I hadn't even gotten up.

I gave Q a bath this morning. He loves kicking his little frog legs in the water and making a huge splash. I only managed to squeeze in a 15 minute run on the treadmill, but I figure that's better than nothing.

We have a housekeeper coming to give us an estimate tomorrow. Merry Maids was very expensive, but if this private company is cheaper, we might start doing that twice a month. Since we both work full time, and I also work a few extra part-time hours teaching yoga and aerobics, cleaning is so painful on the weekends. It would be nice to spend more time together, but I still love a clean house. We'll see. She called me "Yennifer" on the phone. That made me smile.

--MM

Scratching my eyes out

I am literally seconds away from scratching my eyes out. They are driving me batty. My allergies are particularly irritating today, and my eyes are incredibly itchy. I think it is worse when I run outside, which I did this morning. I have already rubbed most of my eye makeup off, which I will have to go reapply soon. I have been putting gallons of eye drops in to no avail. I just took my contacts out, and am now blindly squinting at the screen. I have the sight of an earthworm. Maybe worse.

On the upside, I have an appointment scheduled for next month for a Lasik consultation. You

can't get the surgery when you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Even after you finish nursing, they must wait several months so the hormonal effect on your vision goes back to normal. I wear semi-rigid gas permeable lenses, so I will have to switch to soft for a few weeks and then just wear glasses the last week or so before they fix me. They want your eyeballs back to their normal state so they fix them accurately. I absolutely can't wait. I have worn glasses since I was about 4 and contacts since I was 13.

Two thoughts today. First, I never thought I would feel this way, but I miss nursing. It was something that bonded Q and me. Something that made him reach for me and cry when I walked away. It was a nice, sweet, healthy, loving thing between mother and child. Now, I am just one of the tall people who walks around his house and answers his whims. So sad. Not that I miss pumping at work, but there is something that tugs at me.

Second, sometimes it drives me crazy that I don't actually enjoy Q and motherhood enough. Much of the time I am just surviving. I pop Q in his high chair, urge him to eat quickly, bathe him in speed mode, change his diaper in a flash, wrestle to dress him, run out the door with him tucked under one arm. I feel like I am always rushing and not stopping to actually enjoy him enough. I feel like his babyhood is slipping away. I get frustrated about it.

--MM

Mayhem

It has been a crazy day. It didn't start out that way. The morning was calm. Q was wonderful and slept in so his mama could too. I actually fell asleep on the couch last night with my makeup on, contacts in, and teeth unbrushed. That is not good considering I ate 7,000 Icebreakers Sours yesterday, as I mentioned before. My teeth were achy this morning. I hate that! I did feel nice and refreshed though from getting a full night's sleep.

The mayhem erupted at work. We were all tapping happily away at our computers around 3:30, when the power went out. And stayed out. That is a huge problem when you work at a television station. We all sort of sat around looking at each other for while. It turned out a semi towing an RV clipped a power line knocking it down into the road not far from our station.

Everything was back on line about an hour after the accident, and we were scrambling to get our newscast on the air at 5:00.

Then as we were still recovering from that madness, a giant fire broke outat 5:30. The six-alarm fire destroyed an entire strip mall. We were watching the tall flames and column of black smoke from the roof of our building. We will have two people live at the scene for tonight's 11:00 newscast.

Crazy, crazy day. My adrenaline is still surging.

--MM

Sometimes I am not very smart

Sometimes. First of all, a co-worker introduced me to those delightful things to the left. They are lovely tart little bits. She had been sharing with me here and there. Then, I made the mistake of buying my own pack yesterday. I can be incredibly driven when it comes to some things, but when it comes to irresistible things like Cheetos and Icebreakers Sours, I have no self control. I ate all of them, and now my mouth, teeth, and belly hurt. T just does not understand. It is like I have no control of my hand. It keeps reaching down into my work bag drawing out the little, yellow disk full of sour sweetness.

Also, what do you do when your baby is rolling and nearly mobile when you are in the shower? I can leave him to his own devices when I am folding laundry or putting on makeup or that sort of thing, because it is easy to quickly rescue him. When I am in the shower, however, I worry that I won't hear him get into trouble. Today he rolled/army crawled all the way into the bathroom, jammed the door against the shower, so I could barely get out, and then dumped the trash. Sometimes I think he is plotting against me. He also got his hand stuck in a cat toy, twice. Any advice?

--MM

Cat house

He is often mistaken for a girl, so I got him this to make it clear. I think he looks more boy-like as he gets older, but without fail, even if he is dressed in head-to-toe blue, someone asks about our little girl. We'll see if this results in gender issues later on.

We have FOUR cats in our house right now. FOUR! We are taking care of two cats for a co-worker till tomorrow afternoon, because he is not allowed to have them, and his landlords are inspecting Monday. One of our cats has a history of freaking out and attacking T, so we were a little nervous that feline impostors would provoke her, but so far things are going well. We kept them captive in the spare room for a day, but now the door is open and cats are intermingling. Besides a few hisses, the cat house is calm.

I lost my cell phone about a week ago. I think I left it at the gym. No one has called T on it trying to return it, so I think I can safely assume it has been stolen. We don't have a home phone, so it has been a little unnerving. It is actually pretty dangerous, because if I had an emergency with Q, I'd have to run to the neighbor's house to call 911. Not the best idea. So, we went to get a new phone this weekend. I now have a shiny, brand new red Blackberry. It is excellent.

T showed me a meet up group for young moms in our area. I signed up but am nervous to go. It seems like Internet dating for friends. It's actually really a great idea, but I am nervous still. Those sorts of things bring out the shyness in me.

I am about halfway through the first season of "Lost" on DVD. Now I understand what everyone has been buzzing about! It's creepy though. But good creepy.

I just got back from a run at 10:45 p.m. In my true weekend fashion, I put things off and then am trying to squeeze them in at the last moment. I saw many cats out prowling, and it was nice and cool and refreshing. Procrastinating isn't always the worst thing.

--MM

Bright green room

My mom leaves tomorrow morning. She has been very busy painting for us. Our living room is now a vibrant margarita green. I think it looks so neat. T seems a bit skeptical. It makes our white couches really stand out. It's definitely unique, but then those white or beige rooms always bored me.

Our small bathroom downstairs is now sort of a watermelon reddish-coral. It looks so bright, fresh, and juicy almost in our house now, if that makes sense. We still have several rooms to paint, but she helped us get a great start.

I broke down and nursed a few times yesterday. It was just too painful. I felt so sore and swollen, I figured I might as well nurse a few times here and there for a bit longer. I am probably just postponing the inevitable discomfort, but the longer he gets wholesome breast milk the better I guess.

We only had one afternoon show today, which was lovely. It almost feels like a half day. I took a two-hour dinner break, and we went to a pizza-Italian place and ate outside. I had a bit of Q's yummy grilled cheese and some ravioli. Q ate a tiny bit of his dinner and then dropped pieces of food on the floor and grinned and nearby tables. Such a ham.

--MM

Re: moms

Moms have a funny effect on us don't they? Here I am, a married mother myself, in my late 20's. I haven't lived at home since I was 18, yet, when my mom comes to town, we regress to the old mother-daughter relationship. I still kind of hope she will make me dinner and ask me how I am feeling. I feel myself whine a little bit more and revert into my 16-year-old self.

Still, I also resist her urge to go maintain control. She is an interior designer, and I love her expertise at suggesting the best paint colors and furniture. I found myself annoyed though when I returned home tonight to find my living room furniture rearranged. I intend to put it back after she leaves to retain control. She has also been questioning whether I feed Q enough. Is that not the classic mom-ism? I don't think he is danger of starving. No need to call DHS.

I find she still has the power to greatly influence my self-esteem. This weekend, I felt her examining the side of my face. "You're getting those sun spots much worse now, aren't you?" Hey thanks mom. Now I feel like a dappled beast. But, if she tells me I look pretty, I feel like I won a coveted prize.

Yet, lest you think I don't appreciate the loving parents I have, I know how lucky I am. My mom, and dad for that matter, have given my financial and emotional support my entire life. The encouraged me to go to whichever college I wanted to, helped me move across the country more than once, and often volunteer to fly me and T home.

It's just funny the power a mom can have even when you are far out of the nest. I love my parents and am so glad to have them. I also am glad to live an airplane flight away.

--MM

It's not easy to drug yourself

But I managed to this weekend. For some reason, I have been having horrific allergies this year. I didn't ever even think I had allergies, until I moved to a valley, and now they are horrid. I have been taking generic Claritin and that seems to do the trick for the most part. My parents were in town this weekend, and we spent a lot of time outdoors. By the end of Saturday evening, I was on the verge of scratching my eyes out just to stop the incessant itching and stinging. So, we stopped at a store, and I got a contact case, eye drops, and a different kind of allergy medicine. I took it with no problems that night, but when I took two pills the next morning, I drugged myself. I could barely keep my eyes open. We went to brunch, and I just sat there in a catatonic state. I had to go home and sleep for a few hours while T and my parents went to a cheese factory. Only then did I check the box to discover it would cause "marked drowsiness." Oops. I am back on my non-drowsy generic Claritin, and am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning.

It's always a fun time when my parents come in. They don't do anything halfway, so we order two bottles of wine, a few appetizers, big meals, and dessert. I had to take an extra long run last night, so I wouldn't feel disgusting after a weekend of indulgence.

We went to a winery on Sunday, and of course got the big tasting and a wine and cheese plate. T and I also signed up for this farm share program. Every week for 18 weeks, you get fresh, local produce, plus chocolate, bread and wine. It wasn't cheap, but I think it will be worth it.

My mom has paint samples posted up all over the house. She is an interior designer and is helping us paint. I am eyeing a bright lime-greenish-yellow for the living room. She and T are not sold. I just hate the dull beige-type colors. I like a bright, fun room.

Q is spending the day with his grandma today instead of at daycare. She delights him by setting up blocks and letting him knock them down. It's the little things.

--MM

Work/Home Clash

I took this picture last weekend when we were eating Mexican food. Q likes Mexican just like his mama.

T and I work together, which generally works pretty well for us. We haven't always worked together. We have always worked in the same industry, and when we moved here we started to work at the same place.

As I said, it generally works well. We only overlap five hours at work and genuinely share the same passion for our work and understand the other's struggles and annoyances. Sometimes however, it tends to take over our lives. While other people leave their job and go home to their family life, T's and mine is intertwined. We talk about work at home and home at work. T brings Q into work in the evening, and Q has spent a few long nights in the newsroom with his parents. I get work calls in the morning when I am trying to have time with Q, and T and I often do work-related things on the weekend.

It was all driving me a little batty this morning. I was scheduling my day to pick up my mom from the airport in early afternoon. Then I got a call from work telling me I was going to have extra responsibilities today. I also had to make other work calls to set up an interview for later in the day. T ended up picking up my mom for me, so I could actually have a little personal time to run on the treadmill and feed Q.

It was making me mad! I give enough of myself to work. It shouldn't take over my life. Good thing it is the weekend.

--MM