Adventures of a Maude in Training

Still sick. Bleah. Despite that, I got to the baby store with S. today and bought him a potty chair. Not expecting him to be really trained anytime all that soon, but he is showing many signs of readiness to start working on it, so a baby potty we bought. S. fell asleep in the car afterwards so I parked at the park and started working on the crocheted goldfish I am making for him. I had a hell of a time getting started as I didn't understand how the very beginning of the pattern was supposed to work, but I finally figured it out and it worked and I am just about done with the body--I need to fill it before I can finish it. I've never made a stuffed toy before and it is fun. A nice break from the the hats. Managed to make quinoa stew for dinner and it was good even if I was missing the zucchini and coriander it calls for. I just used extra carrots and chili powder. I knew I had run out of some spice or another when we were shopping on Saturday, but I couldn't remember which one. Apparently it was coriander. Ah well...

So, not too much achieved today, but a few small things. I'd really like to feel better and I'd love for S.'s poor nose to stop running. More work to do tonight and cleaning and laundry. Shower and bath for me and S. now.

As we were leaving for the farm today I thought that perhaps I should bring my camera. Then I thought, nah, there aren't that many animals there right now, we weren't going to be there for too long, and mostly I didn't feel carrying it around.

Of course, about ten minutes into our farm exploration we happened upon the peacocks and peahens that roam the land freely. Nothing new there. What was new was one of the peacocks had all his tail feathers fanned straight up around him. It was incredibly gorgeous. It was also quite amusing to watch him just slowly turn himself around over and over again for the other birds to see. The feathers were so heavy he actually had a difficult time keeping his balance while turning. He reminded me of a burlesque dancer doing an elaborate fan dance with super-sized fans. It was quite amazing to watch.

And, yeah, should have brought the damn camera.

Good day today which was nice after a few crummy ones. S.'s first molar cut through his gum a couple of days ago and anyone with children knows how much fun that is. But, he seemed to be feeling a bit better today so that made things more pleasant for all of us.

We got up, had breakfast, went to Little Gym where S. decided he was shy, but was still happy to climb on things and play with the balls and bubbles. After a diaper change and nursing we took a quick trip to pick up a medical release form, took a drive to Baby's R Us to pick up a few items, then back home for lunch and a too-short nap for S. In between all that was a flurry of Big Moves email and stress, but the stress is resolved and it seems we worked out what needed to get worked out. Then a walk to enjoy some of the sunshine we were blessed with today, as well as some wicked wind, then swim class. S. loved swimming today which was great and fun for both of us. The past couple of sessions he has been meh, but today was pure joy. He was kicking like a fiend and demonstrated that he is now strong enough to pull himself out of the water at the wall without use of the stairs. Yay! After swimming catzen came over and brought falafel for dinner. It was really nice to have a night off from cooking. S. enjoyed his scrambled eggs ptor made him and of course enjoyed the pita bread from the falafel restaurant. S. had a good time playing with Uncle catzen, but as usual, did not want to disengage to go to bed. Now, we are just cleaning up and settling down for bed. I need a real shower (not the half-assed rinse-off I get post-swimming with S.) and need to go to bed.

That was my day. Tomorrow we have music in the morning then I don't know what, then dance for me in the evening. Friday my mom visits and Saturday is rehearsal. Somewhere in there I need to do more Big Moves work, including finishing the dance I've been working on. I just want it to be done so I can start working on the other things I need to choreograph.

There are other things going on here too. Money stress is just one of them (rent just got raised--not much and it is the first increase in 3.5 years, but still...). Our medical bills have been killer this year. And that is with insurance.

I also still have lots in my head to write about, but again, I haven't been able to focus well enough to do it.

Shower, then bed.

Everyone here is still sick to some degree. ptor is the sickest. He is really miserable. S. is doing OK but still has some serious yuck going on. I'm getting better but am still congested and not 100%.

Saturday I had rehearsal but no board meeting as we canceled due to one member being seriously delayed while traveling back to the Bay Area from out of state as a result of the storms here. My drive to Berkeley was not the most fun. Visibility was very poor and the rain got very heavy at a few points. I had to drive about 40 mph a good chunk of the way up 880 and thankfully the other drivers were doing the same. There was only one major accident where a large delivery truck had apparently spun out and crashed into the guardrail and was blocking the left hand lanes. Rehearsal was good, though I confirmed again that creating choreography at 2am doesn't result in my being able to retain or teach that choreography all that well. Not my preferred creation path, but I've been sick and haven't been focused on dance. Regardless, I did manage to teach some new material. I have a lot of work to do before next week.

The rain was pretty heavy here all day and night yesterday. ptor said he heard and felt major thunder yesterday afternoon--S. somehow slept through all of it (he was napping with ptor at the time--the thunder woke ptor up but not S.). The weather cleared somewhat today and we took the opportunity to get out and get the replacement weather stripping we needed to fix the threshold of our front door. We also went to Trader Joe's which was an absolute madhouse. We did manage to at least get the grocery shopping done even if it was a touch hectic. I was crabby because TJ's was again out of diced canned tomatoes. Grr. They had everything else we needed, including a boatload of organic bananas, which was a relief.

Speaking of bananas, do you know how much damned produce we go through in a week? (hint: a lot) S. is only 16 months old and I have already had to step up our grocery purchases quite a bit. And he's still breastfeeding full time so I don't even have to buy cow's milk for him yet. Gods help us when he gets older. He seems to have inherited uncle Michael's metabolism through osmosis or something. I know we also go through more groceries than we did pre-baby (when I still worked outside the house full time) as S. and I eat three meals a day at home (ptor eats 1-2 at home and three at home on the weekends) and I cook all those meals. Sometimes I marvel at the sheer volume of onions we chew through in a week...and canned tomatoes and bread and rice and apples and bananas and oranges and beans and quinoa and potatoes....you get the picture.

Speaking of S. and food, he is so my child when it comes to his food preferences. He will eat just about anything if it involves tomatoes and chili powder and/or cumin. Seriously. He has also shown a strong love for oranges, kiwi fruit, avocados (plain or as guacamole) and bread. Oh, and few things give him more pleasure than refried beans, rice and tortillas. Enchiladas and tamales are two of his favorite foods. And he loves him a mean vegetable stew (he even says "stew"). The other night I was talking to my mom on the phone about the enchiladas I had made the night before and S. started signing "eat". He understood we were talking about one of his favorite things to eat! He does, however, love broccoli and sweet potatoes, two things I do not care for. ptor likes them though, so there's some of daddy there too.

OK, way past time for bed.

porcinea shared this last week. I think it is is brilliant. Probably funniest, and saddest, to those of us who were/are tech workers in the Silicon Valley, especially those of us who survived the late 90's here.

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o

I was at the endodontist today (getting a root canal--yuk!) and he was prepping for the procedure and pulls out a dental dam. Now, of course, I recognized the item. He was explaining the procedure and held up the dam and said "You may remember these from when you were a kid..." and I almost lost it right there because all I could think to say, but didn't, was "No, but I certainly remember them from various sexual encounters."

I should note that the dam he used during the procedure was of the mint variety. Mmm...mint latex...smells like sex to me!

Busy.

We've just been busy. I hardly get any time in front of the computer anymore, and the time I do get is stolen from sleep time (like now). S. is almost one and things are crazy around here. I'm in two shows this weekend: http://www.animalmasquerade.com and am frantically trying to finish my costume.

Random tidbits:

--We went to Oklahoma in July to visit Peter's family after our trip to Portland, OR in June.
--My wrist is healing well though I still cannot put much weight on it. Scar tissue hurts. The scar itself itches.
--We kind of sorta have a garden. I have no time to tend it though.
--There is lots going on in the news I wish I could sit and write about. The bridge disaster horrifies me.
--Soon, I am going to sit down and write a deconstruction of the crazy fat-phobic television programming I come across during the day (and night).
--I also wish to do a page-by-page desconstruction of the piece of garbage "Parenting" magazine that keeps showing up at my house (no, I didn't order it--they send it for free--someone sold them my name).
--I am not liking the Mercury News' business section redesign. It mostly sucks. And what the fuck is up with the sudden appearance in said section of random ads for "Japanese Women"? Ew. Very mail-order. Very creepy. Clearly they did not think their audience was people like me.
--I enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer". Not as much as I liked "Poisonwood Bible", but I still rather enjoyed it. Julia Alvarez's "Yo!" was fantastic. Oh, and Armisted Maupin's "Michael Tolliver Lives" was downright wonderful. I love Maupin and always loved the character of Michael so it was great to read this new book set in very current times. As always, Maupin gets everything right about the times and San Francisco. catzen was very kind and loaned me the book even before he had read it (and he has a signed copy!).
--Harlie likes honeydew. And cantaloupe. Random.
--Saturday marks the three year anniversay of my grandmother's death. ::sigh::

OK, I really need to get in bed and get some rest.

Lots going on here. We wrapped up the show Saturday night and it went well. The dancers were wonderful and while I wish we had had more people in the audience we had a decent crowd each night and they were appreciative. However, never again will I endeavor to run a show like that (in the city, no less) with a six week old. Too much. I am so burnt. I was frantic before the show trying to get everything done, then I had to be in the city for 5-6 hours each night for four nights, plus I had to drive there from here, which with traffic and rain took over an hour and half. ptor had to take off work early Wed-Friday in order to be home in time to be on Daddy duty and he got no break from work until I got home at midnight. It was rough, but we got through it. I am pleased that I managed to have enough pumped breastmilk for ptor to feed S. while I was gone and we didn't have to go the formula route. I need a break, but I still have to settle finances this week which is time-consuming and stess-inducing.

In other news, we ventured out yesterday and brought ourselves in to this century by buying a digital video camera--a low-end one, but way better than the old crufty 8mm one we currently have. Now we can take video of S. to send to ptor's family and my sister, who now lives almost as far east in the US as one could get.

As for cheese, I am currently without. In an attempt to fix S.'s colic and reflux problems I am on a dairy elimiation diet which sucks tacks through a bendy straw. Not only do I love cheese, I am also a vegetarian--my food choices are now quite limited (I am sure some veagns would disagree, but I am not a vegan and don't want to be. I like cheese). We are desperate for sleep and a baby who is not in pain, so it is well worth it. Things have improved with S., though we are unsure if it is the increased Zantac or my lack of dairy. Next week we will re-introduce dairy to my diet and see if things get worse or stay the same.

{posting interrupted by baby feeding, baby crankiness, trip to Trader Joe's and ensuing car unloading.)

Other stuff is going on here, mainly not so great health crap that continues for members of my birth family. ::sigh::

In my health news, I had my six week post-partum appointment last Wednesday and my doctor thought my incision was healing fine (which it is, it just hurts) and I was cleared for exercise. Of course she informed me that it was "time" to do the things I "need to do, like dieting and exercise." Um, yeah. I didn't mention dieting. I am not dieting. I am not trying to lose weight, nor do I even have any "baby weight" to lose as it is all gone already (I don't diet and didn't diet post-birth, I just lost weight). On the second mention of dieting ptor announced "We are anti-diet" at which she got somewhat flustered. Good. And what the hell is all this bullshit about dieting when I am exclusively breastfeeding? Dieting is one of the worst things I could be doing right now. Oh yeah, I forgot--I'm fat, therefore my normative state is to be dieting, no matter what. Gah. So annoyed and cranky. And don't even get me started on the breastfeeding book they gave me (from the American Academy of Pediatrics)--when addressing the extra calories breastfeeding women need they say "Don't worry. Those extra calories go to your baby's thighs, not yours!" Bleah. It sucks how much there is about weight loss in almost every breastfeeding publication I've seen. It is tiring and tiresome.

I am also annoyed at the idyllic picture of breastfeeding and infant care such publications present--it is all supposed to be precious and sweet and more fulfulling that anything else in our lives, ever. It's not. At least for me. It is frustrating and tiring and tedious at times. I love S., but breastfeeding has been rough on me and my body and I am not going to pretend otherwise. My body hurts from holding him and feeding him and carrying him and sitting so damned much.

OK, time to feed him again so I must go.

Just a quick entry to let you all know we are still here and still waiting for Baby Fly to make an appearance. I've been really, really run down as I only sleep a couple hours at a time (late pregnancy pain and stuff) and shortly I am going to take a bath and go to bed. Poor ptor got very sick today with some sort of virus which has caused wicked vertigo among other things. The doctor prescribed some anti-dizzy medication and that has helped.

It has been a long day.

The garden in doing well and I am anxiously awaiting the ripening of my tomatoes. I tend to plant late so I have late harvests which works well in this climate as we often have heat well through October.

Rocco visited Harlie through the back door again today. He was also hunkered down watching the birds feed, but every time he moves his bell jingles on his collar and the birds scatter until he leaves. He is a funny cat. Harlie has been super-clingy and cuddly. We love our little fur-baby. Today, however, she was very frustrated that ptor wouldn't play with her.

If there is news of Baby Fly that we are unable to post (as in we are in the hospital) catzen will post it in baby_fly and catzen_announce (the latter catzen created when I had sinus surgery).

I am wiped out and diffuse. Yesterday was far too eventuful (you can read all about it on baby_fly if you are so inclined. Hopefully there will be no more hospital visits until Baby Fly is on zir way out.

Just piddling around today, not doing much (I am under orders to bascially not do much). We should water the plants in a bit and go out for a while--I am sick of being in the house. We are going to go see Who Killed the Electric Car? later this evening. Not sure if much else will happen today. Maybe some serious paper organization. Yeach. I hate paper. And laundry. Oh, and I really need to work on Baby Fly's afghan.

catzen was wide awake here quite early this morning and I saw him and klwalton off to the Ferry Farmer's Market. That was just not an adventure I was up for today, though it sounds fun. ptor caught up on major sleep which was good. Harlie is busy with all important cat business like grooming, chasing paper balls and watching her birds.

Ok, maybe some lunch and an outing.