And baby makes three (or five...or seven)

Getting Dizzy

2007-03-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been way too long since I've posted, so to get the mojo working again, I thought I'd start out with a little video of ano bustin' a move:

Where's Ano?

2006-10-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

And you thought kennels were only for dogs...

Coming out of the dark...

2006-10-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

I think this blog outage has gone on long enough, don't you think? It's not that things have been boring as of late, it's just that this project I've been working on has been all-consuming. I'll get to that in a second, but first, ano has had some serious milestones:
-- Walking. Serious walking. Like around the house, without holding on to anything. Watch out world, ano is coming!
-- Teeth. Two so far, with three more on the way on the top. After *months* of predictions, they have finally started to break through. This whole teething thing is completely overrated.

Anyway, as for the project, it's now ready to be released to the public. My sister and I have started a business called funanigans. We're producing a family get-together game, specifically targeting gift exchanges for this holiday season. Check it out! If you're in Portland, we'll be at the NW Women's Show this weekend. Next weekend we'll be at the Tacoma Holiday Food and Gift Festival.

Definitely his mother's son...

2006-08-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! :)

Lots of things going on!

2006-08-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Man, it's been a while since I've blogged. I couldn't let it go on any longer, but once again, too many things to write about, so I'm resorting to a handy-dandy-list:

Ano is crawalking like a crazy baby now. There's just no stopping him. The Safe Zone™ is still holding up, thank god. Once he learns how to climb, it's all over, I fear.
We took a road trip to visit my parents in Idaho last weekend. Fun was had by all, in spite of the 7 hour drive to get there.
Ano's 9 month doctor's appointment is this week! WTF - 9 months already!?! Unbelievable! I am almost the mom of a 1-year-old. Wow.
Now I get to the real reason for the blog blackout. My sister and I are working on a new project that has been consuming all of my free time (literally). I'm not ready to say publicly what it is yet. Be patient, grasshopper; we're almost ready to release it.

We haven't been taking as many pictures lately - tsk, tsk - but here's a cute one of the little guy:

Earth seizure

2006-08-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Oscar sleeps with us at night. We like to say it's because we want to know if he has a seizure (a valid reason, right?) and that's mostly correct, but we also know that he would not have it any other way, epilepsy or not. Can anyone say spoiled doggy?

Anyway, early this morning, I awoke to the bed trembling. I immediately yelled "seizure!" and tried to wake eno up. Meanwhile, I looked down at Oscar, who was quietly sleeping at the bottom of the bed. I was completley confused (not uncommon for me when awoken unexpectedly). So I looked around the room. Cat? Check -on the chair. Baby? Asleep next to me (for the moment). Hubby? *soundly* sleeping as well. WTF?

Turns out it was an earthquake - 3.8 in magnitude. Not huge, but certainly big enough to remind all of that we live in an earthquake zone.

Thanks, Mother Nature, for ruining a really good baby-sleep night. The earthquake woke up him and he stayed awake for an hour or so. Good news though -- that was the only time he woke up last night. Somehow, I'm still exhausted.

Happy Anniversary!

2006-08-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary, eno. Here's to another wonderful, fun-filled and crazy 3 years!

To all the naysayers...

2006-08-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

If you're an avid reader of this blog (hi mom), you'll remember how I've been filled with anxiety about working at home and watching the baby at the same time. I was always worried about the next stage in his development (rolling over, standing, and the previously-unknown crawalking stage) and how it would impact my ability to do both jobs at the same time. And people I talked to about it didn't assuage my fears at all. They'd say things like "Oh, do you work at home still? Just wait 'til he starts rolling over..." or "Wait until he starts crawling..." or "Wait until he starts crawalking." (Oh wait, no one ever said that last one.)

Well, as it turns out, at least at this juncture, things have gotten a little bit easier in some ways. Sure, his mobility changed EVERYTHING, but change isn't always bad. Now, after creating the Safe Zone™, he'll play independently for long periods of time (under my watchful eye of course). I can work and watch him...even feed him while IMing and answering emails, even writing code. Not a bad deal, so far.

I'm still worried about what adjustments we'll have to make as each stage comes and goes, but I'm starting to become more confident that we'll be able to find a way to make it work. So far so good, right?

[Completely unrelated side-note: references to "mobility" remind me of those Scooter Store commercials on during the Price is Right. (If you have limited mobility...) What? No, I don't watch TV during the day...I'm way to busy working/momming for that. (cough)]

The Green Zone

2006-07-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since lil a started crawalking, we've had to make some adjustments around this place. First and foremost, babyproofing ensued. I never wanted to be one of those parents - you know, the ones that care about safety so much that their house becomes void of all things non-child in nature. The ones who bolt their bookshelf to the wall 'cause it just might topple over on an unsuspecting toddler. Now where's the fun in that?

Anyway, I'm one of them now. We've completely baby-proofed one room in the house and named it the Safe Zone. It's completely barricaded off -- to get in or out you have to either go over a gate, and ottoman or move a pack n play. This makes it a total pain if you are in the kitchen and have to go the bathroom. (Go over one ottoman and then a gate..) But the good thing is that lil a can play as much as he wants in the Safe Zone and I don't have to worry too much.

Hopefully we don't have any emergency and have to run from our bedroom to the garage or something. We'd have to leap two gates and the ottoman to do that. And you know how great I am at running down the steps. :) As long as there are no lemon bars involved, I think I'll be ok.

Oh no. He's mobile now.

2006-07-11T12:53:00.001-07:00

That's right - last night he finally figured out how to crawl. Check it out:

Yes, that's eno making yeti-sounds towards the beginning of the video. And, that *is* a dog rope he's going after. Yum.

[If the video doesn't work, download it directly:
crawling.WMV]

On driving with crying babies...

2006-07-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the whole baby-makes-three family went up to visit my sister and her little one. While we were up there, we decided to go visit my sister's husband at work. He had just started his job (he works in sales) and we thought we could sneak in and watch him in action.

So, in an effort to be ecofriendly and efficient, we all piled in my sister's Rav4. I was the designated person to sit in between the two carseats in the back seat where there was just was barely enough room for this post-partum ass. I had to sort of sit under the lips of the carseat base. Yeah, pretty comfy.

On the way up there, both babies slept or played. No crying. It was glorious.

On the way back, things got a little hairy. It all started when my own angel was very sick of being in his carseat. No big deal, I can handle ONE baby crying. Do it all the time -- I'm a pro.

So I pulled a few toys out and tried to entertain him. That's when I heard it...a little muffled cry from the carseat to my right. I was in denial. Little N NEVER cries; I must've heard a bird outside the car.

Then I heard it again.

And it got louder.

And it was at that moment that I realized I was totally unprepared for the job ahead.

Both babies were unsettled and unhappy and we were a very long way from home.

So I tried it all. I sang, I shook an innumerable amount of toys. I even threw my hands in the air like I didn't care. Nothing worked.

Even the losers in the front seat (love ya honey) pitched in after about 20 minutes of laughing at my own series of unfortunate events.

During the melee, I remembered that I had a bunch of toys in the diaper bag in the cargo area right behind me. So I reached back with my GoGoGadget arms and pulled out what turned out to be the motherload. A long strand of toys I pulled out, all connected by a bunch of those rings that have proven to be so useful lately.

I thought I had done it. But sadly, the babies wanted nothing to do with the newfound treasure trove of toys. They took one look at it them and started crying harder.

Little N eventually went to sleep on her own. Know what eventually calmed ano down? The unending ring tones on my cell phone. Gotta love technology.

And look at these little angels. It's like nothing ever happened:

Thank you for the hat, Nanna

2006-06-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

I'm adding new pics to flickr as well.

S L E E P

2006-06-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

I've been majorly sleep deprived lately. Lil a has decided that he will only sleep for 2 hours at a time at most. More often it's 45 mins to an hour.

I already have this problem that if something happens when I'm asleep, I usually can't remember that it occurred. I get so startled when I'm awoken that my heart races a million miles an hour (ok, I'm exaggerating...200 MPH) and I get all messed up in the head.

So, a few nights ago, lil a was crying and refusing to sleep. Eno had suggested that he take the little one downstairs...apparently World Cup soccer lulls him right to sleep. (We all know Eno just wanted to watch soccer.) I objected and said that he was probably hungry and proceeded to feed him. He fell asleep and so did I. At least that's the story I told my mom the next day.

Eno called the next day and asked me how the baby slept last night (he usually sleeps through the night feedings/crying). I mentioned how he fell right to sleep after I fed him. He said,

"No, I mean, after I took him downstairs."

"That wasn't last night. You didn't take him downstairs."

"Yes, I did."

"No you didn't. He fell right asleep after he ate."

"No he didn't. You don't remember?!?" (hysterically laughing now)

"No way. If you did, tell me what you watched on TV"

"We watched Battle in the River: Hippos vs Rhinos. The Hippos won."

Wow. That's some compelling evidence.

What's grosser than gross?

2006-06-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

Looking down and seeing your angelic little baby gnawing on a dog toy.

'Nuff said.

Pooptastic

2006-06-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has children or knows anyone who has children will spend and inordinate amount of time talking about poop. That's just the way it is. Amazingly however, you can find yourself poop-talking in the most inappropriate places without realizing or sensing the inappropriateness, like during dinner at a nice restaurant on your one night out without the baby. "Lil a pooped this morning, you should've seen it....What? Yes, I'll have the caviar."

Anyway, I am writing about poop, if you haven't figured that out yet. More specifically, I am writing about the 5 times lil a pooped on Sunday. 5 times!!! That's 5 poopy diapers in one day, more than he'd normally have in a week. Of course, he had gone...wait, lemme check the TrixieTracker...3 days with nary a pooplet.

You see, it seemed like every time lil a had a poopy diaper, I was the only one around to take care of the mess. Seriously, it would happen nanoseconds after eno left for work, or 10 minutes before the nanny shows up. I think my wonderful son sensed my frustration because eno cleaned each and every one of them.

Anyway, I learned something about solid foods. I was under the impression that most fruits are very high in fiber, especially apples. For that reason I would be sure that one of his meals was apples -- the other could be something else. Well, it turns out that apples and bananas (his other staple) actually cause...um...firming, if you know what I mean. Wholesome Baby Food explains it all and suggests pears as an alternative. Last night, he had his first meal of pears, with some diluted prune juice on the side.

Lucky baby.

Data mining my baby

2006-06-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

I'm anal. I hate that when someone asks me if lil a slept through the night, I usually can't remember, and if I do remember, I really don't remember how long he slept or when he got up to eat. Same goes for when someone asked me when I last changed his diaper or fed him. It drives me crazy.

I've tried keeping a log but I never keep it up and I could never decide on a format. Enter trixietracker.com. It allows you to enter all sorts of data about your little one, including diapers, naps, nursing, meals.

I had read about this on a few different websites, but I didn't sign up until today. So far, I love it. It's making me a little OCD about things though...now I want to make sure the data is accurate up to the minute (for sleep or nursing) or oz (for feeding).

This could get out of control. :)

Waffle: 1989 - 2006

2006-06-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

We got Waffle when I was about 11 or 12. At the time, we lived in Oxford, PA, a very small town in the heart of Amish country. My neighbor had a cat named Pancake so, in order to keep with the theme, we named our new kitten Waffle.

She was a quirky cat, as most cats are. When I moved away to college many years later, she eventually made the trip with me. She was often found lying in the sink, waiting for me to turn on the faucet so she could lap up some fresh water.

All night, she'd be up and about, knocking things off the dresser and waking you up. If you had your hand hanging off the bed, she rub up against it in the morning. She was a good cat.

In 1998, she was lovingly adopted by my best friend Lorelle when Eno and I went to Spain for the summer. They bonded while we were gone and Lorelle graciously agreed to keep her, since our new apartment wouldn't allow pets. (For years we've had an ongoing joke about whether I abandoned her or Lorelle stole her.)

There she lived for many happy years. Lorelle took the best care of her, even added a few kitty friends for her to play with.

A few weeks ago, Eno and I went to visit. Waffle was still doing well, but getting noticeably older and weaker. She was much smaller than I remember.

Last week, she got very ill and was no longer able to eat or play. Lorelle took her to the vet and they decided it was time.

Rest in peace, Waffleopolis. I hope there's a giant sink with a never-ending faucet drip with your name on it.

Long time...

2006-06-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

You know that friend. The one you email or chat with everyday. You tell them everything and you know everything about them. Then something happens, you go on vacation, change jobs, whatever, and you don't talk everyday. Maybe a week goes by. Then, when you come up for some air and think about talking to them, you realize you have too much to say and you don't know where to start. It's a vicious cycle. You don't call then 3 weeks or 3 months pass. Then there's way too much to say. It goes on and on.

That's what happened with my blog. I got really busy, didn't post as much, and now too much has happened and I don't know where to start. Sigh.

I'm all about lists (but you already know that don't you), so here's a rundown of all the crap that's been going on:

-- lil a had his 6 month doctor's appointment. He's 18 lbs, 14 oz and 27.5 inches long. The doc said that his weight gain has dropped off a little (he's still in the 75 percentile though), so she wanted us to up his solid intake to twice a day.

-- We upped his solid intake as ordered, which caused poor lil a to ... uh ... have a strain a bit, if you know what I mean.

-- Teething ensues, we think.

-- We gave in and bought an exersaucer for the little one. He loves it, of course. As you might suspect, given my history with strollers, I'm not a big fan of the new big piece of plastic that takes up my entire living room. But as my friend Beth says, they were invented for a reason. True dat.

-- Eno's parents are moving...to Texas. Yeah, right by Bush's ranch. They don't like my kind down in those parts. I'll need a passport and visa to go visit, I think.

-- Nanny update: still love her to death and trying to figure out how to afford her more often. A plan may be in the works to have her here Mondays and Fridays for a few hours. That would be glorious.

Jinx

2006-06-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

I don't want to jinx myself, but we've had two relatively good nights of sleep in a row. By "relatively good" I mean only nursing twice (amazing!) and only soothing once or twice. I think I got 4 hours of continuous sleep for the first time in weeks.

This is very surprising because I'm pretty sure lil a is getting teeth. He's been incredibly fussy, crying for no reason (it seems), and the tylenol that we gave him last night seemed to make him feel better. I suspected that we'd have crappy sleep until the elusive tooth emerges, but thank god I was wrong!

Teething sucks (or does it bite?)

6 month photos

2006-05-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

Since lil a turned 6 months old a week ago, we wanted to get some more pictures of him taken. He's changed so much since he was 3 months old (the last time we got pics taken). Last time, we went to Flash Digital Portraits in the Vancouver Mall. The pictures turned out great but I was disappointed in a few things, including the fact that we could not purchase a CD of the pictures. And we paid well over $120 for 3 5x7s and a montage.

Anyway, this time we thought we'd try somewhere else. My sister and the VWs both had pics done at Kiddie Kandids in Babies R Us and were very happy with the results. So yesterday we tried them out.

I couldn't be happier with the results. We were helped right away, and within about 5 minutes of arriving they were already getting the first picture all set up. The photographer was very fast and every picture she took looked great. The best part was that we were able to purchase a CD of every shot. All this was under $80!

You can see the rest of the pictures on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ernmeg/tags/6mo/

Fred Meyer - Family Friendly?

2006-05-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Fred Meyer has had some problems recently with their family-friendly image. Just a few weeks ago, a local mother was asked to cover up while nursing her baby at the Gateway Fred Meyer because some other customers were offended. I stopped shopping there during that debacle to show support for that mama and the right to nurse your baby wherever and whenever he is hungry.

Anyway, that situation resolved itself in a positive way, and I started shopping there again. So, last night, I noticed they have a "Family Friendly" checkout aisle. That seems like such a good idea. I figure the line must be clear of any impulse buys, candy, and magazines. Well, apparently their definition only includes the magazines, so the line still has little trinkets and candy bars at a kid's eye level.

I'm glad to see that there are no magazines in the checkout but if you ask me this is a feeble attempt at best. If it were truly family friendly, it would be free of anything that harmful to children (i.e. candy) or things that cause parents additional angst at the checkout line.

Hot, hot, hot

2006-05-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

You might think that I'm referring to the early summer weather we've been having around here lately, but you'd be wrong. We woke up this morning and discovered that we had no hot water in the house. Eno had to leave for work so he couldn't look into it for very long. Neither of us is very handy so I figured I might have just a much luck as he would.

So, I started reading online and discovered that the pilot light might be out on the water heater. Lo and behold, I could see no light in there! Yay - problem diagnosed.

Now, I'm TERRIFIED of messing with anything related to the Natural Gas that comes into the house. If one of the dogs farts, I'm convinced there's a gas leak. So, the idea of re-lighting the pilot light on the water heater was daunting to say the least. I was just not going to do it.

However, you have to realize that I haven't showered since Wednesday. That's right folks, Wednesday was the last time I cleaned myself of the oil, dirt, and spit up that is showered on me throughout the day. That smell is me (not a gas leak). As you can now understand, getting hot water today was a priority.

Enter Thomas, our resident handyman-friend. If it's broken, he can fix it and make it work better all using only a Phillips screwdriver and some duct tape. Eno asked him to call me to see if he could help.

We confirmed that the pilot light was indeed out and he said all I had to do was follow the instructions on the heater to light it. Um yeah. I could just read the headlines now, "YOUNG MOTHER BLOWS UP HOUSE; EPILEPTIC DOG SURVIVES BLAST". But, with his encouragement, I proceeded.

Our water heater apparently is slightly ghetto in that it does not have its own igniter. It requires that you light a match to light the gas (and blow up the house, in my mind). After getting the only lighter in the house, and with complete trepidation, I pushed the button and ignited the pilot light. With each move, I waited to hear the roar of a giant fireball beginning to ravish our house.

But...

All I heard was silence. No fireball. No gassy smell. House still in tact. After an hour or so, we even had hot water. Woot!

I still haven't showered though.

Shh! It's a secret!

2006-05-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

Niyah, Did you know that my daddy dreams of Mech Warriors?

Baby Cheer!

2006-05-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

My husband is really talented. Since lil a was born, he's coined several new phrases, including the ubiquitous lippy.

The latest addition to his vocabulary arsenal is best demonstrated by this picture:

Baby Cheer!

He eats!

2006-05-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Note: The ghetto spoon in the video has since been replaced with a more baby appropriate spoon.

[If the video doesn't work, download it directly:
http://megan.cosmicpixel.com/eating.WMV]

Everyday Food for a Week

2006-05-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

We have a dinner problem in the household. Mostly, it involves what we are going to eat for dinner that night and whether we have any of the necessary ingredients in the house. Unfortunately, we usually only start the dinner discussion after Eno gets home from work and by that time we are both already too hungry to wait for one of us to make something. Not to mention our pantry is filled with dog treats and dried pasta. Not exactly the fixings for a gourmet meal.

We've tried several different methods in the past to combat this issue. My favorite includes "Dinner Dictator". Each week we'd switch off on taking on the DD role. Like our illustrious President, that person was the decider. The DD was to figure out and prepare each night for that week. Sounds great, but it never worked. Unlike other deciders, we just don't have that dictator spirit in us.

Which brings me to this week. I picked up the latest issue of Everyday Food and it had a special "All in One Bag" feature. The premise is that they give you a shopping list that you could presumably fit in one bag (took us 3 or 4) and you can prepare a week's worth of dinner with the ingredients. It cost us about $50 for the groceries, and we were able to use some of the produce delivered last week from og2u. It is designed to feed 4, so I we were able to get a few lunches out of it too.

We actually completed the whole week of food! I love the fact that I didn't have to think about dinner except to read the recipe. The food was pretty good -- not stuff that I'd think to make, really, like the Thai-style Steak Salad. Tuesday night's Mustard-crusted Turkey Breast was to die for; I'm making it again tonight.

Now, if I only had this plan every week...

Back from Lala Land

2006-05-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

I'm Going To Squash You!
Originally uploaded by planephotoman.

Last week, the whole baby-makes-three family took a trip to Los Angeles so I could attend a technical conference down there. It was our first trip via airplane since lil a was born.

Getting to the airport and through security was not a problem, just a hassle as I couldn't wear lil a in my sling. We got to the gate in plenty of time. Much to my surprise, as we were waiting for our flight, my boss arrived at the same gate. Not only was she on the same flight, but she was seated directly in front of us! Nervewracking to say the least.

Lil a was pretty good on the flight down there; he didn't cry too much. But when he wasn't crying he was shrieking with glee (right in the ear of my boss). Luckily she was a good sport about it.

The way back was so much better. He slept almost the entire way. We were seated in the last row of the plane, which ended up being a great place to be since I only had to worry about him disturbing the people in front of us.

We sat next to Mira Sorvino's nanny on the way home. Apparently Ms. Sorvino was in Portland visiting some friends. I invited them over, but they never called. Hmprh. :)

2nd Rollover Video

2006-04-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's not quite as significant as the first time he rolled over, but I think the 2nd time is pretty cool too. Enjoy!

[If the video doesn't work, download it directly:
http://megan.cosmicpixel.com/2nd_rollover_ever.WMV]

BREAKING NEWS: HE ROLLS!

2006-04-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

By Mama M
baby makes three staff reporter

Vancouver, WA, - lil a completed what so many almost-five-month-old babies attempt: a successful rollover maneuver. It's a risky move and as any baby can tell you it involves skill, concentration and a little luck.

He's made several attempts over the last few weeks, all ending in a frustrating rollback. Foot-eating ensued and he grew more and more determined.

Today seemed just like any other day. Maybe it was the complete blow-out that occurred before his successful rollover. Perhaps the bath was perfumed with inspiration. We may never know. What we do know is that he put his feet in his mouth, picked up those tree-trunk legs, swung them around and landed on his belly -- with a what-the-hell-did-I-just-do look on his face.

Ah, sweet victory. What's the next stop for this champion? We'll have to wait and see...all this hard work has earned him a long, quiet nap.

Orgasmic Organic

2006-04-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

~~I'm thinking about signing up~~ Today, I signed up for Organic to You, a Portland-based service that will deliver fresh, organic produce to your house on a regular basis. The best think is that you can pay-as-you-go, which is usually unavailable with other programs like this.

Maybe this will force us to try new recipes and get more produce in our diets. They even have a Baby Add-on that includes baby-friendly foods like bananas, sweet potatoes, etc.

They even deliver to Suburbia. Ooh, this will really get my neighbors going

Mama, you so crazeeee

2006-04-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

I always feel like somebody's watching meeeee

2006-04-19T07:50:00.001-07:00

As you know, we live in Suburbia, that iconic place where the sun is always shining and children are out safely playing happily together in the cul-de-sac. Yeah. That's where we live. Apparently in this version of hell, neighbors watch out for neighbors, you know, like in Mayberry.

We used to live in the city. I had no idea who my neighbors were and was very happy that way. I knew the bum on the corner of 6th and Pike on a deeper level than I knew the lady (or was it a guy?) that lived right down the hall from me.

But here in Suburbia, the neighbors are getting a little nosey. Each time I talk to them, they feel the need to comment on something that's going on at our house -- "What are you guys having done to your lawn?" Fertilization lady. That's all. The best part is when our (Latina) nanny took lil a out for a walk, the neighborhood moms apparently didn't know she speaks English, because they began talking very loud about her, asking each other who in the world could she be. And then, when my lovely nanny was getting ready to leave, one of them tried to speak to her in Spanish. When she answered "WHAT?!" they kindly told her in English that is was OK to back her car up.

Yeah. Later that day, I ran into them and was asked if that lady was family or not. She very well could be, but sorry folks, she's not. And how is that their business anyway?

I'm thinking of doing weird things on purpose, just to add some drama to their days. They apparently need it. Don't be surprised if my next post describes how I erected a shrine in my front lawn and how I changed my house number to 666. Anything to keep them interested.

Target

2006-04-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Eno and I were in Target Saturday (I typed yesterday, but yesterday was Sunday and Easter and apparently everything closes on Easter, even Target. Who knew?). When I walked passed the junior section, filled to the brim with bikinis, I said to Eno,

"Does that bathing suit come in the form of a burqa? I'll take it then."

Too bad the answer was no.

Mama M Does the Beavers

2006-04-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Portland Beavers, that is.

I was asked to sing the National Anthem twice this week at the Portland Beavers baseball game. The Beavers are the AAA team for the San Diego Padres, so it's not major league, but it's still loads of fun for me. This video is from Tuesday's performance. There were over 2,000 kids there, so it was a decent crowd for a day game.

[Note: Those of you lovely readers (all 3 of you) who actually know me will know that I don't necessarily go around advertising that I sing. In fact, for the past three years or so, Carlos has been hiding a video of me singing at a WWU football game. (Thank you Carlos!) But, hell, I have my own blog now, so I figured I can post whatever I want. Ha!]

The video isn't that great and since it's such a large file, I'm not sure how this will work. As Randy Jackson would say, it was a bit "pitchy" in parts, but overall it was OK.

BTW, it's my life dream to sing at a Seattle Mariner's game -- anyone know someone who works for that organization? :)

Dog and lil a

2006-04-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

lil a has started grabbing at things lately, and as you can tell from this pic, it doesn't matter if that thing is a baby toy or Lucy.

Thanks to auntie b for taking such a great pic.

Nanny time - 2 weeks in

2006-04-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

So this week was the 2nd week that the nanny came to our little abode. Last week, Nanny Louise asked how it was going, and if I would've answered completely differently had I responded before this week's session.

To be honest, the first day she came was sort of weird. She was fantastic, but things were a little crazy here. Eno's brother was visiting and it seemed like people kept coming to door. The thing was, I wasn't particularly busy with work tasks, so it was strange that I wasn't holding lil a all day. We also had a little adjustment in the agreed-upon rate that I was paying, which was unexpected.

I was interested to see how the 2nd session went. It was wonderful. I worked upstairs in my office, which I haven't done for like 6 months at least. Nanny and lil a played all day -- and even got some light housecleaning done. I couldn't believe it when I heard her vacuuming. Turns out she was holding lil a AND vacuuming. Talk about multitasking.

Rollover - Part 3

2006-04-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

Eno thinks this counts -- but we all know it doesn't quite make the cut. He gets pretty close though!

[[If the video doesn't work, download it directly:
http://megan.cosmicpixel.com/rollover3.WMV]

Rollover - Part 2

2006-04-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

In this one, he gets serious.

[[If the video doesn't work, download it directly:
http://megan.cosmicpixel.com/rollover2.WMV]

He almost rolls over - Part 1

2006-04-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

In this first video, it's like lil a is teasing me. "Look ma, I might just roll over. Ooh! Tricked you didn't I?"

[If the video doesn't work, download it directly:
http://megan.cosmicpixel.com/rollover1.WMV]

Pumping in the girl's room

2006-04-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was the first time since he was born that I was away from lil a all day. Eno stayed home and, along with his little brother, took care of the babe. Since I was gone all day, I had to pump. [Warning if talk of breast pumps, milk and fashionable shoes makes you squeamish, stop reading now.]

I already had all the gear I need -- I bought the Medela Pump in Style a long time ago. I've used it at home to build up my stash and in the car while traveling to Idaho, but never in a public place and especially never while I was with work people, most of whom are 60-year-old men.

The meetings I went to took place at the brand-new Salem Conference Center. I emailed them earlier this week to see if they had any facilities for nursing moms. Unfortunately, the most they could offer me was a chair in the women's bathroom or the use of one of their administrative conference rooms. I could only imagine the strange look I would get if someone walked in on me in their conference room, so I decided to just plan on using the women's restroom (sans extra chair).

At around 10 am, I decided it was probably time to do the deed, so I marched off the bathroom with my "laptop" (People actually thought this was a laptop..thank god I work in IT).

Here's where the fancy shoes come in. I wore very distinctive, stylish shoes (if I do say so myself), and people kept commenting how cute they are. Normally that would be great, but when you have to stand in a bathroom stall for 15 minutes with a very strange whirring sound emitting from said stall, let me tell you, you'd much rather be wearing nondescript, unidentifiable shoes. Not to mention since you can't sit down, heels would probably not be your first choice.

The best part was that once I got setup and the pump started going, anytime I moved from side to side, the toilet would flush. As if it's not enough to have the pump sound going...intermittent flushing just topped it all off.

All in all, everything went fine. I had to pump 3 times throughout the day and I pumped basically the same amount as lil a ate while I was gone, so my stash wasn't depleted. While a bathroom isn't the best place for food prep, it worked well enough and I made it through the day.

Miracle baby learns to walk, crawl in same day

2006-03-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

Sure time flies, but not quite as fast as it did in the dream I had Wednesday night. Lil a was in the bassinet of his pack and play sleeping. I looked away and he lifted himself out of the pack and play and fell on the floor. As I ran over to him, yelling to eno about his fall, he looked back at me with a glisten in his eye and started crawling away. After crawling for a while, he got up and started running.

See -- he is a genius.

Solid, Solid as a Rock

2006-03-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

On the Healthy children blog at webmd, Dr. P talks about when to start solid foods. This is a topic that we've been talking about lately since lil a is getting up there now (4 months already!). In all honestly, I'm not really looking forward to starting solid foods. Sure, it will be loads of fun (and loads of laundry!), but I'm loving the convenience of breastfeeding. Lil a and I can be up and outta here in minutes flat and if I forget something, at least as long as he's with me he always has food!

Since I plan on breastfeeding for the first year, I totally feel like lagging on this one. I think at 6 months we'll start introducing some foods and take it from there. I'm really interested in finding recipes so I can make some of his first foods and not have to buy a bunch of baby food from the grocery store. Any good book recommendations out there?

I guess I'm going to be one of those mothers that laments each passing developmental stage. Surprise, Surprise.

Road Trip - Update

2006-03-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it. We drove to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, making only one stop during the 6 hour drive. Yes, go ahead. Bask in our amazingness.

Ok. Now that we're done with that, here are some tips/tricks I've discovered:

Have a bottle ready, just in case. lil a is exclusively breastfed, but right after the trip got started and he fell asleep, I pumped some and stored it in a cooler. We used it when lil a got fussy and we were no where near an appropriate place to stop (like all of Eastern Washington).
Choose clothes wisely. Pick comfortable clothes for baby that make changing the diaper in cramped quarters easier. I had to change lil a on my lap -- unfortunately there isn't anything that could make that easier, unless you have some Vapoorize. Also, make sure the outfit isn't too warm. You'll keep the car's temperature warm, so you won't need to have him all bundled up while inside it. (We learned this the hard way...)
Pack the night before. We got the car mostly all packed up the night before we left. (3 humans and 2 dogs requires lots of stuff, apparently.) This made for a calm morning the next day. It still took us an hour to get out the door, but at least we weren't rushing.

All in all it was a very successful trip. The wedding was beautiful and lil a got to meet lots of his extended family for the first time. As you can see, he was happy about that:

Stop - Nanny Time!

2006-03-27T08:27:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy few weeks here at the baby-makes-three household. One of the biggest developments has been that we hired a nanny to come to the house once a week and help with lil a. She currently works with a friend of ours two days a week and was willing to take up one more day a week to help us out.

As I've described before, I work at home full time. The idea is that the nanny will come the same day each week. This way, I can tell work that Tuesday is the day that I'm available to come in at a whim.

So, she starts tomorrow. Of course, it turns out that literally all my scheduled work appointments are on days other than Tuesdays. Now I'm wondering if this arrangement really makes sense.

Also, everyone keeps telling me that I need to do a background check. I was looking into mybackgroundcheck.com as an option. Basically, she can login and fill out all her information and it will email her the results. Otherwise I'll have to collect all the pertinent information from her and get her to sign a release so I can perform the check. It seems kind of complicated.

I guess we'll just play it by ear for right now. I plan on being home with her for the first few weeks to see how she interacts with lil a. I've even considered rigging up a nanny cam when I'm gone for the first time.

lil a just pooped on my hand

2006-03-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, not directly on my hand. *That* would be gross. But, you might be impressed to know that my little one has the such skill that he can poop through is diaper, a onesie and a pair of fleece pants. My hand was on top of the pants (bad luck). He got the boppy too.

He gives a whole new meaning to Thunder from Down Under.

Now he can see color!

2006-03-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Since lil a was born, eno has been obsessed with how far and with what detail lil a can see things. I don't think that he exactly remembers the actual milestones though, because I swear he's always saying "He can see in color now!" and "I think he can see me from here." It's so cute.

It's even better when it's two new dads talking about it over dinner. While the new mom and I are discussing breastfeeding, our ginormous boobs and the corresponding issues we face when trying to run on the treadmill, they are like "Do you think he can see me?" and "Yeah, he can totally see in color now."

Ah, the things you can ponder when your boobs aren't the size of watermelons.

Road Trip

2006-03-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

Thursday, the whole clan is driving to Idaho for my brother's wedding. That's right...all of us, baby and dogs included, are going on a 7-hour trip across the Northwest. I say 7 hours now, but we're really thinking 12. That way, if it actually takes 12 because we have to stop for the dogs to pee, then five minutes later for the baby to eat, (repeat), we'll be ready.

The car is going to be completely full. I hope there's room for me to sit. I'll be squeezed in the back next to lil A, with dogs breathing down my neck for most of the trip.

Fun.

Snow Haiku

2006-03-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

It's snowing again.
In Portland. It's March. Correct?
Will summer come soon?

Strollerphobia, take two

2006-03-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

My mom bought lil a a stroller to celebrate his blessing. Yes, people, that's right. A stroller. If you've read up on this blog, you know my strong feelings about strollers, however irrational and impractical those feelings may be. In fact, over they weekend, had you been a fly on the wall you may have even overheard me say how strollers "represent everything that is wrong with the world." Ahem.

But.

I have to admit something.

I don't hate it. I might actually like it.

She bought the stroller frame that goes with our car seat. So it's not very big and cumbersome. We can only use it as long as lil a is in his infant car seat, which might only be a few more months, but by that time, we will be able to figure what features we are looking for in a new one.

Now, I still stand by my guns that some strollers represent all that is evil in the world. Just not this one.

Blessing

2006-03-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, we had a blessing ceremony for lil a and his cousin lil n. We joined in the traditional Cambodian ceremony that was scheduled for lil n. The day was truly wonderful

The blessing started with the saign ceremony, which is the same ritual that is done every year to commomemorate Chinese New Year as well. Basically, everyone pours tea and liquor for the ancestors and prays for the babies and the family.

After the saign, everyone ties perfumed strings around the babies and the parents' wrists, symbolizing the tying together of the family.

A small lock of hair is cut from each baby by the grandparents. This is a sort of cleansing ritual. Later, we will release the hair into the ocean or a river.

Monks came later to bless the babies. After they arrived, the chanted in Sanskrit and blessed the babies with perfumed water.

As a part of the blessing, the babies were present with some serious bling:

More Lippy-isms

2006-03-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Now that the word lippy has become part of our everyday vocabulary, we've come up with a few variations that have been especially useful:

lipify: v. to apply to lippy to the baby, as in "Someone better lipify lil a so he'll stop crying."

lippy duty: n. the job of ensuring the lippy is properly applied when needed, as in "You are on lippy duty tonight. I'm too tired."

lippy overboard!: common expression heard when a lippy is ejected from the mouth of the baby.

Happy Friday

2006-03-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

[If the video doesn't work, download it directly from http://megan.cosmicpixel.com/laugh3.WMV]

Moving on up

2006-03-02T12:56:00.000-08:00

As you already know, I birthed the The Incredible Growing Baby. As he lives up to his name, we've had to find diapers that will also keep up. He was wearing Huggies size 1-2 (the big box from Costco). So when he started growing out of those, we figured we needed to buy the next size up (3). Uh no. Those are HUGE and just don't fit him at all. (And now we have like 200 of them in the closet.) We ended up switching brands and going with the Pampers Snugglers size 2. Apparently, we're not the only ones with this problem. Jess over at sweetest boy actually did a test of size three diapers and reviewed them all. Great information!

Love the Bumbo!

2006-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

Our friends Kaddin and Michael got lil a Bumbo baby seat when he was born. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of it. But now that he can reliably hold his head up, I *love* it. It's made out of a soft, sturdy but sort of squishy plastic and it conforms to his body. He really seems to love it too. Last week, we even took it with us to a restaurant and when he got fussy in his car seat (which happens fairly quickly these days), we set him in the Bumbo in between us. He totally sat it and looked around, completely satisfied -- every parent's dream when you are out in public.

Here are some more pics:

What am I, a hot potato?

2006-03-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it seems like we are perpetually playing a game of hot potato in this house, except instead of being out if you are caught with the hot potato, you are the hero, rewarded with the opportunity to actually get a little sleep. (I'm so tired right now, I wrote "speel" instead of sleep. Sigh.)

Last night, for example, Lil a woke up at 1 am for no apparent reason. He didn't want to eat, be walked, lay down...nothing. So we took turns trying to figure out what was going on (cue the hot potato music. Set the timer for an hour). Eno walked him around, I tried feeding him, Eno bounced him, I tried feeding him (again, this time sitting up), Eno rocked him, I rocked him. Finally, the little hot potato fell asleep. I won!

I'm convinced that it isn't that I was more skilled at rocking him, or that he just wanted his mom. (God knows he didn't want his mom when she was trying to feed him!) I'm pretty sure it's just luck.

Lippy in the sky with diamonds

2006-03-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

Right after lil a was born, my husband coined a new and important word for a pacifier: lippy. He insists it's a more accurate and descriptive than the more commonly used binky, and I agree. He's been very effective with the viral marketing of this word, no less than 3 families now use it (maybe more now!)

That's right. You heard it here first. Let's not have this spiral out of control like that whole "truthiness" debacle.

Lippy. That's today's Wørd.

Mama says don't speak in the 3rd person

2006-02-27T13:48:00.000-08:00

Somewhere on this road to/through motherhood, I picked up the most annoying habit. So annoying, it even annoys me, but I can't seem to stop it. This mama has been speaking about herself in the third person. See? It's annoying.

I don't know how it came about, but I'm sure lil a will know who I am, even without me mentioning my own name to him every time I do something. "Mama needs to clean her hands." "Mama needs to wipe off the boogers you just sneezed at her." It goes on and on. The worst part is when I accidentally do it when talking to other adults. Yeah, I need to get out more.

That being said, there are some advantageous sides of the whole 3rd person thing. "I think daddy needs to change your bum!" works wonders in this house.

Neck Cleaning

2006-02-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

My baby is a chubby little monkey. He's got rolls of fat coming off him, presumably protecting him from the dangerous life of the baby-makes-three family. (Someone must've known he was in a for quite a ride.) This has resulted in the creation of a quite a few chin rolls, which can trap anything and everything that gets in the way. (I've heard rumors that the missing WMDs might be there...Osama...is that you in there?) The sucky thing is that when stuff gets trapped there, it's really hard to clean it out. If you don't get it clean though, it gets all red and even smelly (I've heard. My child smells like lilacs on a warm spring day. Always.)

Anyway, we were having our weekly breakfast with the VW family and papa VW had such a great tip. If you lift the baby above you, airplane style, the chin rolls are exposed and you can clean them out! This is a two person job, unless you can lift your baby and wipe at the same time (what a feat!).

Turkeys

2006-02-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

Me: "What are you doing?!?!"

Eno: "I was trying to scare the turkeys."

Me: "Well, you just scared your wife."

Eno: "Then it worked."

Manhands

2006-02-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

I have manhands, apparently. I never knew it until we went to get lil a's 3 month pictures taken. You see, I was not prepared to be in any of the pictures. This post-partum belly is not prepared to be in ANY picture, let alone a professional one taken with someone as adorable as lil a. Anyway, when we got there the photographer asked if we wanted to be in any of the pictures. I laughed and said no. Later, she asked if it was OK if my hands were in a picture or two. I looked down at my mangy hands and thought, how bad can it really be?

The hubby has a special place in his heart for hand-pictures. When we got married, all he could talk about was getting the picture of our hands over the marriage certificate. We never did get that picture and I was not about to take this hand-picture opportunity away from him now.

So I knelt down and held my son's lovely little hand in my claw. Here's the result:

Might be hard to see -- here's a closer picture:

Maybe I don't have manhands; I have gorilla hands.

Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth!

2006-02-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

We run a small circus here in our house. Well, not a cute, bring-the-kids-for-a-fun-day-out circus. Mostly we have just the circus freaks -- the sideshow. Here are the main players:

The Amazing Escapo
This feline can break out of any room, closet or cage. He has been known to open doors by hanging on the handle and then pulling them open. Last night, he was stuck in a closet and we awoke to the startling sounds of his escape attempt.

The Spectacular Canine Garbage Disposal
He may be cute, but he can eat you out of house and home - literally. In the past, he has pushed over garbage cans at least 3 times his size, only to eat the entire remants of the previous night's buffalo wings. Yes, he ate all the bones and lived to tell. Lately, he's taken to eating laundry again -- particularly the socks and the crotch of pants. Sadly, this causes the SCGD to have bad tummy aches and even aggrevates his epilepsy. Luckily he is so committed to his craft you can be guaranteed to see more of this shocking behavior.

The Ringmaster
Like the ringmaster at a circus, this girl runs the show. She rounds up all the other freaks in the house and forces them to do her will. She's been known to pin down Escapo and chew on his ear. Even he can't escape that.

The incredible growing baby
You can almost watch him grow out of his clothing.

Upcoming Travel

2006-02-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

Me, the hubby and the little one are going to be heading to LA in April. I have to go to a conference for work; since I'm still nursing the rest of the family is coming along as well. I've been searching for information on travelling with an infant. Here are some of the sites I've found so far:

Transportation Security Administration - info on taking an infant through security checkpoints

CS Mott Children's Hospital - good information on air and car travel.

Parenthood.com - good general info on air travel.

Since lil a is still so small, I don't think we're going to get him his own seat. The flight is about 2.5 hours, so hopefully he will be ok.

Why my baby is like Jack Bauer

2006-02-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

An unlikely comparison, yes, but lil a is more like Bauer than you might expect. For one, he had no problem using torture when necessary. Take for instance last night: he skillfully used bloodcurdling screams to get me and his father to behave as he wished. I'm waiting for him to pull out a device for Chinese Water Torture.

Like Bauer, just when you think you've got him cornered, he pulls a fast one on you. It seems that every time we think we have him figured out, he changes his routine. He's been on a pretty set schedule (he set it himself, just as Bauer would), but just as we've gotten comfortable with it, he switches it up. No more sleeping from 10 pm to 2 am. Last night, he decided to get up at 11:30, 2:30, 5 and 6. Who knows what today will bring - it might be the longest day of my life too.

Finally, you never see him take a bathroom break. (Maybe Jack is sporting Pampers too!)

And baby makes three (or five...or seven)

2006-02-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

It's time to explain the title of this blog. You see, in our house, we have me, my husband, Lil' A, two dogs and two cats. So on any given day, depending on how the dogs are behaving, and whether the cats are running around like a pack of cheetahs, it feels like I'm home with 5 children. One of the dogs, Lucy, is a puppy, so at times I definitely have my hands full.

Strollerphobia

2006-02-21T10:51:00.000-08:00

I was reading over on bloggingbaby about a new stroller that just came out. I guess it allows an older child to ride standing up, while the younger kid is in the normal stroller position.

This sounds pretty cool, but I have to confess something: I have strollerphobia. For some reason, those things just scream uncool to me, however useful they may be. I guess, in my head, they really scream "YOU ARE SO OLD, LIVING IN SUBURBIA. WHERE'S THE MINIVAN I SHOULD BE RIDING IN?" The hubby and I have vowed to not even purchase one until the babe is too heavy to be worn in a sling or in the Bjorn.

We borrowed a stroller from my friends for a day and I still feel the same way. That thing was a beast. I'll admit it was convenient when we were shopping, but it still felt weird to be using it.

Of course, we were blessed with the baby that's gained a pound a week (that's right -- a whole freakin' pound), so the days we can still carry him are getting numbered.

Nanny? Babysitter?

2006-02-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a great job that pays well and I get to work from home. While I realize how incredibly fortunate I am, this situation does present its own set of issues. For one, I get extreme cabin-fever after a week with no meetings or out-of-home excursions. The other, more pressing issue is that there are times when I need to go into the office. That means I need to find someone to watch Lil' A while I'm gone.

Let me set this up for you: we moved to the 'Couv about 4 years ago. We have no family here. My parents live 6 hours away (driving) as do my hubby's. Since Lil' A was born, my mom has been here a lot, but starting in March, I think we'll see her a lot less.

I'm totally worried about what I'm supposed to do if I have to go in for a few hours. For now, our only plan is to have Eno take time away from work while I run in. It's true, many times I can bring the baby with me, especially if it's an informal meeting, or if I just have to drop something off. But I'm just waiting for the time that my boss asks me to come in on short-notice...what will I do then?

I've tried to find someone to come to the house for a day or two a week to help out. That could be the day I set as the time I can come in -- other times are just not possible. But I've been unsuccessful so far in the search. I wonder what other work-at-home moms do?

3 Month Pictures

2006-02-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

Sunday Lil' A turned 3 months old, so we took him to the mall to get some pictures taken. The whole experience was great until we went back to look at the proofs. It turns out that even though the camera they used to take the pics was digital and you review the proofs on a computer, they will not allow you to purchase digital images of the pics. The pictures themselves turned out fantastic, but I left mad. While I did order some actual prints, I also want the images so I can email them around.

Argh. For his 6 months pics, we're going somewhere else.

Swedish Fish

2006-02-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

Lil' A seems to have an aversion to any food of the red, gummy variety. It seems that each time I eat Swedish Fish or now, even Twizzlers, I earn not only utter satisfaction, but also a screaming baby who just can't seem to get settled.

It seems odd that this could actually be the problem, but I swear anytime I eat said gummy delectables, this happens. Last night, we actually moved the rocking chair from the nursery to our bedroom so that I could more comfortably rock him to sleep (read: while watching TV).

At least he doesn't seem to mind most of my other favorite things, like lumpia.