After pictures...

I have acquired a new camera through the wonderful world of lost and found. I knew someone at the hotel who once got a laptop. My favorite story is when someone found a bag of cash of like 42,000 dollars sitting in the hotel lobby. They turned it in to security. No one claimed it because the police thought it might have been evidence from a drug deal gone sour...well sure enough 45 days later... the evidence went to some sort of probate court, the IRS got a hold of it and the lucky finder got about 26,000 of it! GEESH, talk about lucky. Anyway, because I don't have a downloader thingy, I can't put the pictures on the computer yet. My work now is busy with crappy work- like filing, and cleaning and packing stuff because we are getting new carpet... which gets me two days off! WHOOOOHOO.

The real reason I wanted to write this blog is because I wanted everyone to know that I am thinking of all you guys! With the mini-peaves, the husband, work, my family and household obligations, juggling the inlaws and my parents, I have no time for my friends and cousters. I have bags of things I need to get delivered- fro showers and and such just sitting at my house.

So bear with me...

I will pop up some day. You will be surprised. =)

Okay, I borrowed , my bros' downloader thingy.

here we are at night zoo, which is great because we have annual passes... it's so fun because you can go to the zoo all year round and the Wild Animal Park. One of the tortoises recently died... sad. Here's papa and MP acting goofy.

We have a laptop down... I repeat...

My laptop is down, and I am sooo busy with work. It should be dying down here soon so I can post the five gagillion pictures of Mini Peaves. She is growing so fast i can't keep up with the pictures and putting them on the computer... I don;t have time to breathe. love yew all. will catch up soon.
here are some pics of us downtown...to tide everyone over.

Papa's Day!

I will be posting pictures for this soon. Promise.
As you may or may not know, the old man refuses to be called "Daddy" because of all the horrible obscene things he has heard. The phrase "Who's your Daddy?" has corrupted his mind and he never wants to hear it uttered from our child's lips. Which I think is hysterical. Anyway, apparently he had the BEST.DAY.EVER. It all started with an early awakening to VG's donuts, where according to Papa, the best F'ing plain cake donuts are made. He opened his card from MiniPeaves where he wept uncontrollably at her beautiful message (GAY). He also got Pan's Labyrinth, a framed picture of MiniPeaves for his desk, and a bunch of Papa like stuff- like WD-40, Gorrilla Glue and a brush for his brand new BBQ that was brought over by the grandparents. He got the Weber BBQ of all BBQ's. We went to Ralph's and bought a couple steaks and vegetables to grill. Our night closed with dinner at our favorite friends from the UK, in which Tom lovingly called, a D.I.L.F. gathering. Poker, beer and two screaming two year olds and Mini Peaves slathered on top with some chicken wings, pizza bites and chocolate cake. MMMMMM. I won't tell you what happened when Mini Peaves went to bed, but let's just say it was the best day ever for Papa.

My Jujube Bag and OCD

For those of you who know me, know I can get pretty OCD about some things and not give a flying fuck about other things. Like take for instance, I have to have proper pffice supplies in my purse at all times. I can't leave the house knowing there isn't white out in my purse. Yah, I know! Well, when I was pregnant my obsession and form or nesting was not cleaning stuff, but organizing and washing and folding mini-peaves' clothes. It was maddening, I would stay up, and fold her tiny clothes over and over again until I was satisfied. i even layed out her clothes for her first week, which a few hours later, I messed up and started all over again. Anyway, my nuttiness has been taken up a notch with all of MP's things. I have I believe, through some trial (not a lot of error) constructed the contents of the perfect baby bag.

First, let me tell you a little about the bag.
Magnetic flap closure, so velcro and zippers don't wake the baby
Adjustable shoulder strap, Back slip pocket for easy to reach stuff,
Mesh zip pocket under flap with a long attached key ring, cell phone pocket, and other mommy stuff,
Two insulated bottle pockets, Coordinating Memory Foam changing pad and zip pouch for diapers.
Teflon®-coated nylon; machine washable anti microbial material.







Here is the contents of the bag... which I have never "not needed" in there: Of course, stuff may vary depending on age of the baby and duration of outing.

7-10 diapers
3-5 feedings worth of formula
disposable bottle
1 disposable bottle nipple
about 6-10 disposable bottle liners
bottle of water
washcloth
pack of wipes
disposable changing pad in addition to the bag's changing pad
one plastic bag for dirty clothes
blue, scented bags for dirty diapers
2 bibs
1 burp cloth
2 small toys
1 onesie
2 changes of clothing
1 small baby powder
1 receiving blanket
1 snuggly blanket (for night time outings)
1 small diaper rash cream
1 small tube of vasiline or aquaphor
1 bottle of antibacterial hand stuff
1 small bottle of water babies sunscreen
2 pairs of socks
1 sun hat
1 beanie

If one thing is out of whack, I get all twitchy like and start having seizures. It isn't pretty.

Betrayed.

That's what I did. I betrayed my only daughter. Before you go freaking out about it, Miss Mini Peaves got her first set of shots in her more alert world. Basically jabs where she's aware enough to remember. It happened on Tuesday at 10am. We had a wonderful 2 month check-up where I was told (pat on the back) that my baby was perfect and I was doing everything right...(knock on wood). Then Alice, the nurse came in and had her tray of needles to help protect Miss Mini Peaves against such things as Hepatitis and Tetanus...Alice said, just talk to her closely and continue having her gurgle and smile the way she is now. I looked deep in Mini Peaves as Alice proceeded to stick her with three needles, two on one leg and one on another. On the initial injection, Mini Peaves' look of pure joy turned to that of surprise, pain then of betrayal as she screamed a scream that would make Jamie Lee Curtis hide in shame. I held the baby because they hurt me more than they hurt her, and she clung onto me inconsolable for about five minutes. I tried putting the soothie in her mouth, but her bottom lip was fashioned into a pout so large, I couldn't get anything in there! The rest of the night was sad more than anything, with her first angry and frustrated at her sore legs, and then just sad because of the crappy day she had. I felt like a betrayer, a judas if you will. Then, at 3am, between the sniffly, feverish sleep she was having, Mini Peaves opened her eyes and gave me the biggest, purest, happiest smile you have ever seen. She was tired and had a little fever, but she still loves me. Ahhhh. All is right in the world.

Happy Birthday Lil Momma!!

Li'l Momma had a Curious George Birthday party... even a CG Pinata that was hanging from a tree... let's just say it didn't look good. But other than that there was yummy food, family and Mini Peaves got to meet her future best friends! Papa was being silly as usual and was playing in the moonbounce! Leelai's little sister is coming soon as you can see from the pregnant lady in the picture... we had a great time! Thanks so much Li'l Momma, and go easy with the syringe on the dog!

Babylegs!!

Here are some babylegs pics...










I discovered these in some mommy-magazine at my OBGYN's, and I couldn't get them out of my head. If you like em... they are on www.babylegs.net. They are SUPER handy when I need to change mini-peaves and also really cute. The first pic above reminds me of an old man who falls asleep in front of the TV.

Back to work...

I went to work for the first time yesterday and I was devastated. I didn't want to kiss mini-peaves see you later and as the car approached my building, I kept some sort of animal in my throat. But Papa helped with his normal "it'll be okay" voice and I kept it together. When I got there, someone had mini-peaves on their screen saver and they had hugs and a slice of chocolate cake waiting for me. I felt very welcome and I missed everyone dearly, so it helped ease the transition. I was very happy to see some of the graduating House Advisor's, (or Resident Advisors to the non Muir College folk) since it is their last week or two. It was the usual bantor of hilarious insults, phony complaints from Keiko, stressed out college kids locked out of their rooms during finals, the easy-going aura of Jamie, and Justin's hilarity. The Residential Life Office at Muir College feels like a house with maybe 40 kids in the family and no parents. About halfway through my shift I got my usual Res Life Headache of mixed up food... I had eaten watermelon, chocolate cake, some smarties, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and butter pretzels. There is a free food rule at res Life, so there are always meetings, luncheons and events and people just come by and drop off food. Who can pass that up? Only problem is, it's always mixed up... there's no order to the kinds of food... so you end up eating what I just ate. Here are some of the things a fly on the wall would hear at Res Life...
"Did you just take a bite from that watermelon and put it back?"
"Where are the shirts?"
"I'm locked out of my room."
"We really need to finish that."
"What's up your butt?"
"Mmmmm, cake."
"Are you happy now that he is a level 70?"
"Who the HELL covered my box in tape?"
"That is a COOL fish stapler."
"Duck hunt went well."
"You people drive me insane."
"I carried a watermelon."


One of my favorite people, Joe, had nominated me for an award a few weeks ago, which I missed because I was gone, and got me all choked up. ALL had questions about mini-peaves. Here are some pics from the past year...

Do Not Put Your Baby in the Microwave

Apparently, that's dangerous. I know that is a tasteless joke considering someone just did that recently. But, I was trying to get a lttle Filipino lunch in the other day and I heated up some Nilaga in the microwave, and a hunk of the meat exploded in there! I was cleaning out the bits and they had gotten all rubbery and strange. Hmmmmm. And it made me think of that sicko that did that. After having my mini-peaves, I can't IMAGINE conflicting that kind of harm on your child or any child, not that I did before that...

I just realized how unreadable my past posts had been, so I had to go back to edit them, because I have officially gone a little bonkers. I was nuts before, but I think no amount of weed you smoke or mushrooms you consume doesn't equate to the brain frying of motherhood. No wonder our mothers are insane! If it isn't the sleep deprivation... and it's not lack of sleep, it's more the lack of long blocks of sleep. I am pretty sure they use this as a form of torture in more uncivilized countries. It's the getting up every 2 or 3 hours for feeding, burping, changing, and when she is sleeping a long time, what's this morbid habit of just checking to see if the baby is alive? What the hell is that about? I feel like part of some kind of weird sociological experiment. Also the love you feel for the little bean... it's maddening. I am pretty sure this carries on to when they are adults too. Oy.

But, in all honesty, those of you that know me, know I LOVE this sort of fun, self-torture. Wasn't it I that came up with the idea of sleeping indian style in the crash preparedness position? I lost my train of thought because she just woke up and did the wiggly thing and I had to change her. So, in the meantime... look at these pictures and tell me you don't want to eat her up.

















Anyway, I just wanted to say that the first few weeks of newborn baby dom -not so bad! I think it's because we lucked out on minipeaves being such an easy girl. (Remind me NOT to say that about her in a few years.) She gets cranky when she's hungry or uncomfortable and I think she is still busy trying to sort us out. And the last few weeks she has had maybe 85% of those days where she only wakes up at 4am. So, longer blocks of sleep are happening.

The purpose of my blog was to initially tell you guys I am starting work again today. Waaah. I am pretty sad about it, but Mama gots to make some cash! Also, a bunch of my beloved HA's are graduating and I wanted to at least be there for their last week. On that note, I hope I can improve this blog, and have time to post pics etc. This weekend we are going to Li'l Momma's 3rd Birthday, so there should be TONS of pictures because she is meeting her future best friends there.

Places

As you know, I am a great advocator of travel. We will be taking MP everywhere we go... she is only 7 weeks old, but here is where she has been... pretty much every store: CVS, Rite Aid, Vons, Ralph's, Target, 4 or 5 malls. She has also been to the Zoo, Birch Aquarium, Papa's work, Seaport Village, Mama's Work, Lola's work, San Clemente, and our big trip was Salt Lake City, Utah for Uncle Eban's wedding. It was cool, MP had been to more states than I had at 7 weeks old! We touched 5 of them on our road trip there. We also plan on some future trips to Scotland and the Philippines to see her Great-Lola and Lolo.

The Utah trip was cool. We love road trips. The whole purpose of the 16 hour drive was to join in the celebration of Papa's best friend, Uncle Eban's, wedding. Uncle Eban has a different religion than we do, so since we do not belong to the Church of LDS, we couldn't go in during the Sealing ceremony. We didn't mind in the least, but I can't tell you how many people criticized us for even accepting to gom but we wouldn't have missed it for the world. It's not like we got a giant iron fence slammed in our face like pregnant nuns! One thing I want Mini Peaves to learn is that there is wonderful diversity in the world and that means opening your heart to lots of different options, and as long as you keep your mind open so many things will nicely surprise you. The wedding was beautiful, Auntie Mary and Uncle Eban looked so happy! During the Sealing itself, me and Mini-Peaves and Papa (when he wasn't taking pictures with the wedding party) waited in this huge waiting room with squishy chairs and big windows. The Sealing wasn't long at all, and Uncle Eban and his family made us feel welcome and appreciated. The rehearsal luncheon was actually at Brigham Young's house. (Whoa. Mini-Peaves, I changed your diaper in Brigham Young's house!)

Congrats to Uncle Eban and his new family! Maybe we will have faux-cousins soon!!

















here are some more pictures of us in different places...