Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Meme stolen shamelessly

I stole this from tysgirl, yep I am a big thief.

1. My uncle once caught me: throwing a rock through a window. I still believe that it wasn't me though.

2. Never in my life have I been: talked into doing drugs

3. When I was five: I was shy and afraid everyone would find out how stupid I was.

4. High school was: A very long time ago

5. I will never forget: The love my Dad had for me.

6. Once I met: Cuba Gooding Jr. He said I was cute, I will always love him for that.

7. There’s this boy I know: That is napping peacefully in his pack and play

8. Once, at a bar: I gave a guy the name and phone number of a girl I was mad at saying I was her so he would call her house and bug her all the time.

9. By noon: I am ready for a nap and so is the boy.

10. Last night I: rocked the boy and sang to him as he screamed in pain from the molars that are ripping through his gums.

11. If only I had: a big yard that the boy could play in.

12. Next time I go to church: someone is probably getting married.

13. What worries me most is: that I am not making good choices for E.

14. When I turn my head left: I see the kitchen

15. When I turn my head right: I see Elijah now awake and sitting on the couch.

16. You know I’m lying when: I say that I love how everyone else in the free world drives.

17. What I miss most about the Eighties: the carefreeness of being a kid.

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare: I would be insane.

19. By this time next year: I will probably be pregnant again.

20. A better name for me would be: bitch

21. I have a hard time: answering this question

22. If I ever go back to school: I would have to really want it.

23. You know I like you if: I tease you shamelessly

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank: all the little people who made this award possible.

25. Take my advice: Live with joy.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Being a Grown Up

Today we spent the day going to birthday parties for a 1 year old and a 3 year old. We had lots of fun and it was neat to spend the day with lots of friends. Somewhere during the day I realized that I am indeed a grown up. Parties mean a different thing now them they did in the past and it got me thinking of the things in my life that tell me I am indeed a grown up. I thought I would make a list and put it up here.

First though I want to tell a story but I don't know how to fit it in to the rest of the post so it will oddly sit here for now I guess. When Brad and I got back from our honeymoon we stayed at my parents house for a few more days before we returned home. On night my Dad and I were sitting on the patio talking. He asked me what I thought of married life so far. I said "It feels a bit like we are playing house, saying my husband this or that, it just doesn't feel quite real. It all seems too exciting or playful to be real." My Dad looked at me and said something I think I will never forget "Karin a really good marriage will always at times feel like that way, that is how you know it is worth working at." It struck me as so odd that he too still felt like a kid playing make believe that wasn't ready to grow up. I also saw how much he loved my Mom. Anyway I am not really sure how it fits the rest of the post but it is something I was thinking about.

What I know as a grown up I didn't know as a kid:

1. I know what it is to choose love and not just love someone because they are family. I don't think before I met Brad that I really understood what it was to truly love someone for who they are.

2. I know what it is like to lose someone that you love so much that it is like losing apart of yourself. I also know that a time doesn't make you stop missing them.

3. I know what it is to take pride in the accomplishments of someone that isn't me not just be happy for them.

4. Giving is better than receiving. The look on the face of the receiver is way more gratifying than any gift I have ever been given.

5. Words do hurt, often leaving scars much more damaging than sticks or stones could ever cause.

6. To every choice there is a consequence and often the price isn't worth it.

7. It is the small things every day that you really remember and not the big event days that you make such a big deal of.

8. True friends like you for who you are and not what you can do for them.

9. Anything worth having takes work.

10. Liking yourself is more important than people liking you.

11. Driving somewhere pretty is an adventure and doesn't need a destination to be fun.

12. Having a sibling is the best gift to receive, they understand things that no one else will ever comprehend about you.

13. The unconditional love and trust of a child is magical and should not be taken for granted.

14. Seeing a parent in pain is far worse than any pain I have ever felt.

15. Someone knowing what is important to you and fighting for it for you, without you ever saying a word, will take your breath away.

16. Laying in bed together as a family in the morning having tickle fights is often the best part of the day.

17. Every day starts new and you have a chance to do everything better than you did before.

18. Sometimes the right choice hurts to much to face right now.

19. Relationships take a lot of nurturing to survive. If you don't take care of them they fade away.

20.I was and am very lucky to have the family I had and now to have the family I have made.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Accomplishments

So this weekend Elijah worked very hard to do this. It won't be long until I am chasing this boy all around.



Now so you don't think this came without a lot of failure we have a Montage of falls that occurred inbetween successes.



This is a light hearted fun post. Stay tuned for later in the week for a rant about past events that have come back to the light. Shouldn't say any more until things flush out a bit more. Don't worry though we are doing great.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Screw you NBC and Yahoo


Screw you NBC and Yahoo
Originally uploaded by kareeyore.

A big up yours is going out to NBC for their "Live" coverage of the Olympics. I turn on my computer to check my email while I watch the Olympics and every night through no fault of my own I am told the results of the big events of the Olympics. This would be one thing if NBC admitted to those of us on the West Coast that the coverage was not live but they don't. Continuously they say Live how is that possible if yahoo already has the results. Further I see no reason for the coverage to not be live here. I don't enjoy staying up until all hours of the night for events that could have and should have aired 3 hours earlier.

Anyway it is now 10:06pm PST and they are just now going to the swimming events that they are showing us "LIVE" So anyway SCREW YOU NBC I HOPE YOU GET A FLAMING CASE OF JOCK ITCH!

Now Yahoo SCREW YOU TOO you have no business posting the results before it airs nation wide.

(OK I shall get of my soapbox now)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Heavy hearted

I am not sure if the news I received today would have hit me as hard before I had Elijah but I know that now as a parent this completely broke my heart. There is a little boy who lives in our complex that we have known for years. Our neighbors before they move away son was this boys best friend. This boy was often behind our house and around so we knew him pretty well. He was a bit of a wild child and trouble seemed to follow him although he had a good heart and tried to do the right things. He just wasn't supervised well and was often left on his own. One Halloween he came to our door with his hand bandaged because he had tried to make himself a milk shake and lost several fingers on the blades of the blender. He was a happy kid though and from what we could tell his parents loved him wholly and were doing the best they knew how. I don't know how else to describe it other than that. Earlier this month the boys father took him on a road trip. The boy was asleep in the backseat and the father was driving and apparently fell asleep at the wheel and got in an accident and overturned the car. The little boy only 11 years old died instantly.

This poor little boy never really had a chance to live. I have been thinking about the choices we make in our lives and how they effect us. I am sure all of us at one time or another have driven when we were a little too tired just to make it a little further or to arrive a little earlier. Maybe we couldn't afford a hotel room, or maybe we were almost home, whatever the reason we continue to drive and never think about what could happen. I am sure that this father will for the rest of his life regret not stopping and resting. He can never undue that decision and has to live forever with a stupid choice he made. I am writing this here to hopefully remind everyone to think carefully about the decisions you make especially ones that put others at risk. A hotel room is a lot cheaper than a funeral.

Even though this was just a kid in the neighborhood that we knew and not one that we were very close too, I am so sad by this. I guess it is always sad when a child dies but when you know them it is so much worse.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

How Mac won my heart forever

Last night as I was playing with my computer it froze up and then died. It would only get a white screen and I knew that wasn't good. So we made an appointment at a Apple store today and went to see what was wrong. It was probably one of the worse things that can happen to a computer complete hard drive failure. So they would have to replace the hard drive. Now normally this news would have reduced me to tears, all the pictures I have taken of E are solely on this computer, but you see this computer is backed up. Apple in their wisdom created a thing called time capsule that would back up your hard drive every day as long as it is hooked to an external hard drive. They make this even easier by selling a wireless router with a hard drive called the airport extreme time capsule. We have this so my computer is completely backed up. So they changed out the hard drive and we came home with my lap top. Brad hooked it up to the time capsule and two hours later my lap top was handed back to me as if nothing ever had happened. Even the wallpaper was how I left it. When I came to sign in here it had even replaced my cookies. What a relief to not have to remember all my sites and passwords and try to get everything back. While it sucks that my hard drive crashed it was all covered under warranty and so all this experience cost us was 5 bucks for parking near the Apple store. After this I have decided I will never go back to a pc again, it just isn't nearly as easy.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Stuff and other Stuff

Do you ever think I should post something but can't think of anything to post. So when that is how you feel how do you title the post? Today E is 8 months old. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He is crawling all over the place and he pulls himself up to stand, well sort of he really only does that if he can pull on me, but he is still doing it on his own. If you happen to go by his website there is a new video of him on his little scooter. He is such a little cutie, not that I am biased at all.

Tonight Brad and I are going to the premiere of Kung Fu Panda at Mann's Chinese Theatre. I am excited to get to go and see the movie without the baby with us. I am not sure if the stars will be there or not but it is still a big deal. This is one of the perks Brad gets working for Dreamw*rks now. He didn't work on the movie but he is working on some future movies. He is very excited to show E movies he worked on that E will love. Brad brought home a Po doll and E is in love with it and drags it all around the room. Anyway if I see Brangelina I will post all about it tomorrow.

Because we have sort of baby proofed the living room the cat's are having problems. We put a gate up to keep E from falling down the stairs that we close when he is up and playing. The problem is the cat's won't jump over it to get to the other side where the litter box is. We forgot to open the gate back up the other night and so Z pooped in the middle of the floor in Brad's bathroom and peed on the floor of my bathroom. We cleaned it up and then yesterday during the day she pooped in Brad's bathroom again. If this happens again I will have to shut her in the basement during the day while E is up playing because we are not turning upstairs into a giant litter box. Nor do we want E to be the one to find one of Z's little presents. Let me be clear though both cat's can jump over the gate and crawl under the gate just won't do it. I don't know why.

It is pool season so here is some pool pictures of the boy. I got a waterproof case for the camera so hopefully we will get some cute underwater pictures soon.
Turtle Rowing
Tuckered

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Two Years Ago...


I married my best friend. We have packed a lot into these two years and everyday I know I love him a little more. I feel so lucky to have married a man who is so perfect for me. I can't imagine getting through this last year without him and his support. Two years ago today our marriage began and I think now that it was a very symbolic beginning. You see we had planned an outdoor wedding at my parents house and well when the wedding was scheduled to start it was not just raining it was a down pour with thunder and lightening. We ended up moving the ceremony into the house in the family room on the stairs between the kitchen and family room and had guest on all sides of us. It wasn't what I dreamed of when I pictured my wedding but it was still wonderful. Now I realize that it is how marriage is, you will never be living the perfect dream but with some work and flexibility it can still be wonderful. When the wedding was over and it was time for the reception we decided to just go for it and we headed outside. By then the major part of the storm had passed and it had minor showers for the rest of the night. We danced, ate, drank and had the time of our lives. It was something unpredictable but in the end it was right. Thanks Greenday for providing the perfect song to fit the day!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Proud to Be Californian

So today the California Supreme Court reversed the ban on gay marriage. This is kind of confusing as it doesn't make gay marriage legal but it is heading that way. While we already have domestic partnerships here it is still not the same as legalized marriage. It is still so strange that people are fighting against this saying it belittles the sanctity of marriage. I don't get it to me they uphold it. The 50% plus divorce rate is what is ruining the sanctity. I don't want this to be to political or a place for religious debates but to me I am proud to be from a state that as a whole is taking a giant step forward. I look forward to a future when my friends and neighbors are afforded the same rights and privileges that I have always had. Ok I am jumping off my soapbox now I don't want to get a nosebleed.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

The Yucks

My Beautiful baby boy has the Yucks.
E playing
He is coughing and coughing and sneezing and he can't sleep. He wants to cuddle with Mommy nonstop but then wants to wiggle and play at the same time. I hate seeing him not feel well. I know that this is only a minor thing but still I hate that there is nothing I can do for him. Besides that I am exhausted from getting no break from him all day.

We are back from Napa and our trip went well. We are in the process of scanning all the slides my Dad took of us growing up. Most of the pictures my Dad took when we were little were on slides and because of this I have never seen most of them. It was really neat to see old pictures and remember my childhood. Anyway here are a couple of pictures of me from my childhood. If you look at them you will maybe understand me a little more. The one of me at three is pretty much exactly how I was growing up.
Me as a baby
Me at 3

Friday, May 02, 2008

Anniversary

So I am a little bit MIA right now. Please bear with me as this is a very hard week for my family. It was a year ago today that I experienced the worst day of my life. It has been the longest year of my life and the shortest at the same time. I am in Napa now spending the day with family. I am sure the weekend will be spent with booze and dominoes and probably disparaging remarks about our heritage will be made. So pardon my absence I shall return in a couple of days.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Right Turn Ahead

This weekend we went to the Poppy Preserve in Lancaster CA to see the wild golden poppies. Now in my minds eye I thought there would be a plethora of of poppies and it would be beautiful but nothing truly prepared me for the sight. We loaded up the car and packed all the camera gear into the back of the car went and got raped at the gas station. Brad programmed the address into the gps and we had her (gypsy) tell us where to go. Now we often refer to days like this as going on a photo safari but it has never really been much of a safari before. We got off the freeway and headed up the small road to the poppy reserve. As we got closer we started to see splashes of color along the road and grew excited. Then we got to an old rusty farm and we had to stop and take pictures but it was mutually decided that we would continue on and see the reserve and then stop at the farm on the way home. So we continued up the hill. We were now at breath taking gold fields and sure enough Gypsy told us to turn right. Now this was a narrow barely paved road that looked ominous. There was old discarded furniture and Lord knows what else along the side of the road. I asked Brad if I should continue on the road because it just seemed wrong. He showed me that we were in the green area of the reserve according to Gypsy and this is where she told us to drive. so onward I drove thankful for my little SUV. Within minutes the paved road ended and we were on a quarry of dirt roads. We were driving right through the middle of the poppies (on dirt roads) and the view was incredible.

The Road less travelled

For Dad

Brad was so excited that we were really off roading our SUV but still we were searching for the entrance to the preserve. We finally got right up to the area that is the preserve and realized that we would have to go back to the main road and go down a bit more to get to the real entrance. We got there and parked and started out to get the boy his midday meal. We fed the boy and had him bundled up tight and started to push the stroller to the trails. It was so cold and windy though that it was really uncomfortable and I began to worry that it wasn't safe for the baby. We both decided that perhaps hiking the trails wasn't the best plan. So we loaded back into the car and moved all the camera equipment to the front seat with Brad and went back to the dirt roads to continue our safari. We drove up the hill as far as we could and would stop from time to time for pictures. I had to get at least one picture of Elijah in the middle of the poppy fields so I got him out of the car and woke him up and sat him in the poppies. He didn't enjoy that part of the day as much as we did.

Elijah at the Poppy Preserve

I don't much care for this wind

So we finished up and headed down the hill. We stopped at the farm and got some great pictures. We took turns going in to take pictures while the other stayed in the car with the boy. I went first and so when I came back I took pictures of Brad taking pictures from the drivers seat.

Brad and the tractor

SO we finished the day off driving through the back roads back to civilization and had dinner at Claim Jumper. It was a great day and we hope that we will make it a tradition that E and whoever else comes along will enjoy as part of their childhood. I know that I look back on the adventures like this my parents drag us on (sometimes while we screamed, pouted, and fought in the backseat of the car) as some of my favorite memories and I hope that we can create that for our family. I hope that they find the adventure in the little things and are able to always see the beauty. Most of all I hope they learn that sometimes the adventure is all in the getting there.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Things that make you say Duh

The other day while surfing the net I glanced at what was at that moment the top news story. The story was that scientists have predicted that there will be a big earthquake in California. Now being a Californian this is something I am always aware of and if we can now predict them it will help our sanity a lot. So I click on the article only to find that they say we are going to have a 6 or higher earthquake in the next 30 years they are 99.97% sure. Really I am 35 years old and there have been at least 3 earthquakes that are above that I remember so telling me some time in the next 30 years there will be another really isn't shocker. Please don't bother me with this nonsense until you can give me more precise details.

My mom has made it home from her European trip. She had a great time and is probably still sitting at her computer sifting through photos of her adventures. Hell I may even have to set her up on flickr so she can share some of these pictures.

Lastly I am going to do a shameless product plug for no apparent reason. We have a Ceiva picture frame and love love love it. It is a digital picture frame that can be updated over the internet. It uses a dial up connection to download pictures and add it to your frame. No computer knowledge is needed. We have them for Brad's grandma and grandpa both in nursing homes. They love that they get new pictures of the baby from across the country daily (or whenever we send them) Anyway the frames have become so popular in our family that everyone has one except my oldest brother. My Mom every time I talk to her comments on the frame and then says "I need to get one for A" Anyway I have no affiliation with the company nor am I receiving anything for saying this but if you have people that are nagging that they want pictures this is a great way to always have fresh pictures displayed.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Dope and the Pope

So I was trying to watch the news yesterday and it was being interrupted by the Pope celebration at the white house. At the end of the Pope's Speech the President stood and turned to the Pope and said "stay here there will be one more song" The tone in which the president said it seemed some what condescending, like you are talking to a senile old fool. Then they both sat in the chairs and waited for the song. There was a long pause of weird silence while the song did not in fact start. I started to giggle look yet again it is Our Dope with their Pope. The song did eventually start but I couldn't help but wonder if the choir was scrambling to sing something anything there because they weren't suppose to sing something but the President said there was a song so they had to sing something. Then the more I sat there the madder I started to get. How much of our tax dollars were going to pay for this religious leader to be in our country and visit our leaders. Excuse me but don't we have a separation of church and state. Do we roll out the carpet and allow all other religious leaders private counsel with the Dope, no. I have never seen such elaborate ceremony for a world leader either so arguing that he runs a nation doesn't hold water with me either. I am sorry but we are at war and our dollar is very weak we do not have the extra money to be carelessly tossing at a religious group. I am sorry but any other religion that wants to have their leader come to the US or their state or wherever is responsible to foot the bill of what that will cost. Including travel and security. It just rubs my nerves to see this visit and think about the money we are wasting.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Changes are going on!

Ok I only have a minute because I really should be going to bed but if you notice my blog has gone through a bit a a face lift tonight. I have updated my links and added some features like a new slideshow. I hope that I have linked all the regulars that still come around these parts and have a site to link to. If I missed you drop me a comment and I will add you post haste. I had been extremely lazy and everything around here was grossly out of date so I hope this more accurately represents me now. Well it is bed time so I need to go. I will try to fit a post into my schedule tomorrow but I wouldn't hold my breath if I was you.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

My weekend in Pictures

We were going to go to a chocolate expo today at the Queen Mary as my birthday weekend day of fun. It was a great plan but then last night they cancelled the event? What were we to do, you can't promise a birthday girl a day of chocolate and then take it back wars have started over less. So Brad came up with a plan, he would create a special day of chocolate just for me. So we loaded up the boy.

We are going on an adventure

And headed out the door. we went to visit this friendly little man:

Beard Papa

and ordered this:

Strawberry Eclair

Yummy. Practically heaven. Then we were leaving there and we had a minor mishap with a bad parker. He sraped the whole rear side of my car with his car. No big deal really though there was no body damage and a simple paint job should fix it all up. So we continued on our way to the first shop.

The Look

They had a coffee vodka chocolate that could get you drunk in no time. We bought some chocolate covered pomegrante from here and again were on our way. We then walked to the next spot which was ok but not really noteworthy. So we got back in the car and tried to go to the next place. There was no parking and after a couple of attempts we decided that we could skip them. So downtown we went. We found these:

The Look

The most unique flavors were a korean garlic truffle that Brad tried and a basil dark chocolate truffle that we both tried. They were surprisingly good and we left there happy on chocolately bliss. We also learned that these chocolates are sold at a wine bar in our little downtown area just a couple of blocks from home. By now we were over due for lunch and the boy needed to be fed and I needed something a little healthier. We stopped at California Chicken Cafe and had salads while the boy nursed and then dined on sweet potatoes, and then a prune apple combo. It sounds gross to me but he liked it so we will leave it alone. We got back on the road and headed to the next place where we found this:

The Look

This was probably our favorite over all chocolate place of the day. They had unique flavor combos and were very friendly. Our favorite was a Sea salt honey peanut butter chocolate truffle. Yummy! We ended up ordering chocolate covered matzah from them that I will pick up Friday and try to resist trying everything in the store while I am there. We then got in the car and went to one more chocolate place before heading home tired and chocolatey. The place was ok but not quite up to the caliber of the other places we went to though out the day. Brad and I thought we were tired but apparently our adventure tuckered the boy out as well. He nursed and then played for a little but then whined for a nap. I layed him down in his pack and play and he went off to dream land. I expected him to wake up by 8 to have his last nursing and solid foods of the day. At 9:30 I decided to wake him up. I looked in at the pack in play and he looked as if he had been on a bender. We did take pictures but they are still on the camera. I picked him up and he pouted and fought to stay asleep with all his might but eventually he woke up and we were able to feed him. We gave him his dinner and let him play so hopefully he got retired enough to sleep through the night. Only time will tell. All in all it was a great adventure and we had a lot of chocolate.


******all pictures in this post are courtesy of Brad Herman, I did not shoot even one of them so should not be given any artistic credit. I will take credit for boy cuteness though as I did create him. ******

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Another Year Older

Today is my 35th birthday. I am feeling old. Not because I am bothered by a number on the calendar but because the day was or is so unremarkable. I remember days gone by when the day was so exciting and held so much promise but today was just whatever. So anyway I figured as long as I am here throwing a whatever party I would make a list of things that are irritating because as my husband will tell you I live to criticize others.

*If you are only planning to drive the speed limit or less why are you taking up space in the carpool lane?

*Do not slow to a near stop to merge onto the freeway, merge at freeway speeds or else you are risking your life and the lives of the cars behind you that have to slow to your speed.

*If there is no stop sign when you enter the parking lot but the other 3 sides have one, you have the right of way so use it.

*When I am out in public with the boy and he is asleep it is not the time to continue to peer in or touch him or talk to him. If he is asleep in public it is a rare thing and if you wake him I am likely to punch you.

*If you call a house and hear a baby crying or screaming it is probably a bad time, when they tell you specifically it is a bad time hang up they aren't listening to you anymore anyway.

*Stop telling me about celebs in trouble I don't care.

*Stop asking if I would like help to my car with the groceries, seriously if I can't make it to the car with the cart you already supplied me how an I going to get the groceries to the house from the car?


Ok I could go on but I really should wake up the boy and feed him before it is too late. See ya!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Always Something There to Remind Me

Parenthood

We went to a new Dr. on Monday and had Elijah's 6 month check up. What a world of difference this Dr. made. He made me at ease with the slow rate that E is gaining weight. He said that E is following a curve and that as long as he continues to gain along that curve we shouldn't worry. He said he would worry more about gaining too much weight to fast which is what I had been saying. Anyway the whole thing brought an interesting revelation to me. There are so many decisions you have to make about your child before you ever meet them and know what decision you should be making. It is kind of like studying for an anatomy test with chemistry notes, it is all still science but not the science you need to help you with the subject you need, no matter how good those notes are. I mean I did all the research on how to get a Dr and what questions to ask and for all that research the original Dr seemed ideal. We could not have scripted a better text book example of Dr offices and yet they were so wrong for us. The new Dr would have failed our test via research and so we would not have considered them but at the end of the day they listened to me and treated us like humans not cogs on a conveyer belt. The problem with this is that a lot of Doctors will only take babies at birth and then after that moment they don't take transfers. Now I think this is stupid and dangerous, come on you can't decide on the right Dr. for the next 18 years before you have met the kid that will be their patient. Anyway it isn't just that there are so many decisions you have to make before you ever have a kid and often you don't have all the information to make that decision at the time. A chase in point here is strollers, it seemed so simple you buy a car seat and then you buy a stroller from the same company so they click together. Which is fine in theory but then you think that is the way it has to be done but chances are that might not be the way you should go. What are you going to do with the stroller? Are you taking a stroller fitness class? Are you going to have more than 1 kid. The next thing you know you have several different strollers and you are switching them out depending on your days events. Really for me the stroller from the car seat company wasn't the right choice but I didn't know that then. All in all I feel like parenthood has made me revert back to that scared 5 year old that was too afraid to talk in class and prove how stupid I really am. I thought I had conquered those demons after I was held back in Kindergarten but here they are right in my face almost 30 years later. I swear I have never felt this small and insecure about every choice I make since I was that shaky first time kindergartener. So I can only hope that when Brad and I have a second I can feel the surge of confidence I had the second time I started Kindergarten. I knew I had been there before and that I knew things I didn't know the first time and a lot more than the other kid's in my class. Some how I doubt it, I think each kid will bring around different situations that make you feel small and scared and incapable. I think now that confident parents are either liars or are to naive to know that they should be scared. I am betting though that under it all we all feel like we are still playing at house and hoping that somehow everything will work out in the end. There are no right answers only thing I can do is try to make the best choices with whatever facts I have at the time even if that means throwing out all the research and advice that I have been given.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Blogiversary

So today was or is the third anniversary of starting this blog. It is funny to think of how different things are now then they were when I started this. It all started because Brad blogged and he pressured me into starting one too. I really thought it was something I would do a few times and drop it like it never happened. Now three years have past and I am still blogging and Brad isn't. I frequently make statements like my blog friend did this or did that. It is really strange how people you have never met become part of your family and are there for you through all kinds of lives trials. You have all been so good to me for the last 3 years and I can't imagine how I would have made it through the last year especially without you. Thank you all, I love you more than chocolate which is saying a lot.

Elijah still has not gained any weight. I made the Dr. do blood work and we will hopefully have some answers as to why he is not putting on any weight. She wants me to add formula to his diet but will not explain to me why formula would be better than my milk that has more calories. (I know this because I went out and had my milk tested) I have done research online and though she doesn't want me to start 1st foods until he is 6 months old other Dr.s say as early as 4 months. I feel more comfortable with giving him food to supplement so that is the route I am planning to go until a time she can show me that my milk is what is causing the problem. E loved the bananas today and so we will keep up with that for now. I am so frustrated with this right now so I need all of your good thoughts that E will start to gain weight at a reasonable rate and that nothing is seriously wrong.

Ok it is late and I need to get some sleep. I will be back as soon as I get the results from his blood work. I am not sure what I am hoping the answer is but I would really like an answer. I know he is happy and developmentally fine he is just skinny. He did grow 1/2 an inch since his last appointment so I guess that is something. But damn if I see 11 pounds 7 ounces one more time I am going to scream!

Monday, February 04, 2008

PSA's

I come today to perhaps save your life from an attack. You see as new parents of what I think is an adorable baby we worry about his safety. Now I think that I am actually a lot less paranoid then most new parents but there are lines that have to be drawn. I know my baby is very cute but that doesn't mean that you as a perfect stranger to me have permission to touch him, especially his hands, that he will be sticking in his mouth. Just don't do it it is never ok and will make me the parent very uncomfortable. Now if you are as bold as the person we ran into at dinner the other night you may get an ass kicking the likes of which you have never see before. Granted the boy was fussy and was ready to go home but what happened was just wrong. We were outside on the heated patio having dinner and I had the boy in the car seat in the stroller next to me. I turned for a second to take a bite of my dinner, when a women came up to the stroller and grabbed one of the boys toys and shook it at him and told him to stop fussing. She then dropped the toy and wandered off with out ever saying anything to me. Never ever reach into some ones stroller especially if they aren't looking at you to see you coming. My Mama bear instincts kicked in and I wanted to slap the lady. I quickly calmed them down but Brad was out of his seat and I had to grab him and force him back down. While I am not paranoid the simple fact is this women didn't know us and we didn't know her and it was not ok to touch my son or his things. He is in an oral phase and so we are careful with what he comes in contact with as germs spread very quickly when put in his mouth. Just as you shouldn't approach a persons dog without asking them first, a child deserve more care. Next time lady If you do that I will let my husband off the leash and allow him to rip you a new one.

On a different note I bring you the next PSA. If you go to Costco to buy a 50 inch flat panel tv take a car that can fit it. I can not tell you how entertaining it was for me to watch these two blond idiots try to get this tv into a little Honda Civic coup, not even the hatch back. It was never going to fit in the first place but in the second they had boxes of stuff in the car leaving little room anyway. Even funnier is if they were buying it today for the Superbowl, not sure if this was the case but still made me laugh. I will admit that Brad and I have on occasion tested the capacity of our vehicles but never have we that grossly over estimated the size of our cars.

So now that I may have saved you I will talk about my play group. It actually went very well and I was pleased with it. As it turns out one of the ladies grew up in the same town as me and her Mom still lives there as well. She graduated 2 years before me from the private high school. It was one of those what a small world moments. E was the oldest in the group but he didn't miss a chance to flirt with everyone else in the class. It was so cute as he tried to touch one of the other babies and stick his fingers in her mouth. He wore himself out though so now he is napping in his pack and play. I should get going though as I have other things I should be doing.

Friday, February 01, 2008

How a Toothbrush Saved my Life

So E fights going to sleep like a champ. He gets so tired but he doesn't want to miss anything. I guess this is something I have caused as I have a hard time turning of my brain and going to sleep without some sort of distraction. Well car rides and sometimes bed times can be very difficult when someone is so tired but won't go to sleep. A couple of weeks ago I read someone say that they put a cheap electric toothbrush in their carseat and it calms the baby. It just so happened that we had one in the house that my Mom uses when she stays with us. So I went and tried it to see if there was something there. It was like a gift from heaven! He is so calm in the car now, and when he gets really fussy at home we put the toothbrush in his crib and he calms right down. I now always have a toothbrush with me just in case. People will stop me and ask what that whirring is. I respond simply "his toothbrush" and leave it at that. I know people must think I am crazy, but on the contrary because of the toothbrush I am sane. So anyway if you walk by a women with a baby in a carseat buzzing just smile and think ahh she is keeping her sanity.

The other day E and I went out for a walk. We walked across the street and started down the sidewalk when we heard a crash behind us. I immediately turned to see what had happened. A women had crashed her car into the median so hard that she set off her airbags. I asked if she was ok and she got out of the car and said she needed help. She lifted her hand up and I could tell it was broken. I called for an ambulance and 2 other pedestrians helped her from the middle of the road to the sidewalk where I was. This street is probably the busiest street in Southern California so there were plenty of people around. Not one car stopped to help this lady. It is really strange to me because Brad and I are always so willing to help that others can not be bothered. I think it is a sad commentary of our times.

Our very good friends gave birth to a daughter Wednesday night. We have been teasing that she is E's girlfriend. We went to visit her at the hospital and E brought her a toy flower. It was very cute. The baby is so tiny born at a little over 6 pounds. We never knew E when he was that little so it was strange to see how tiny she is. I held her for a little bit and it was quite odd to hold half of E. They are coming home from the hospital today so we might be going over tonight to help them get dinner and adjust. I went by this morning and brought a care package for their dog as well as a sympathy card to her from our cats. They did the same for us when we came home. The poor dog is so thrown for a loop. SHe doesn't get what is going on and she just stood there with her tail between her legs. I never really thought about how hard this transition really is for pets but Zacchy is really only gotten back to herself in the last month. She still keeps a wide berth from E. It will be interesting to see what she does when E gets mobile and chases her tail. Anyway I hope that their dog does ok when they come home as her whole world has just changed. It has been a little chaotic for them because they followed Jewish superstition and did not set up the nursery until the baby was born. So her humans have been gone and people have brought all this stuff into her house. Poor girl.

On Monday I am going to my first play group. We will see how it goes. I am nervous about fitting in with a bunch of strangers. It is a group with children under 6 months so hopefully it will work out and we will have some socialization. It is always a bit strange meeting new people here in Los Angeles because sometimes it is full of very superficial people. I am so not the typical L.A. person. Anyway I will have to post later how it went. I am sure much like our prepared childbirth class* I will do something to completely embarrass myself.


*I don't think this class did much to prepare me for the childbirth I had

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

First 4 months


First 4 months
Originally uploaded by kareeyore.

So today I went to the doctor for Elijah's 4 month appointment. He has grow an inch and his head has grown but he weighs the exact same as he did at his 2 month appointment. I am so frustrated! I know he is eating and that he isn't fussy between meals so I don't know what else I should do. The Dr. suggested supplimenting with formula. I don't want to do that, we have fought too long and too hard to screw it up with formula. I would rather give him cereal but she wants me to wait until he is 6 months. I feel so torn, in my heart I think she is wrong and that formula is a bad idea for him. He is so healthy and hasn't even had a cold. He rolls from back to belly and belly to back and has for a month which is very advanced. He has strong legs and good muscles. The only thing they can say about him is he is small. Should I really be trying to get him to gain weight solely for the purpose of gaining weight when in all other aspects he is beyond great? The other thing is when I was a baby they kept a watch on me for not gaining enough weight and Brad's Mom said she went through the same thing as Brad. They fussed and fussed about our slow weight gain and now both of us now struggle with obesity. If that is the case would it be better to not force the issue and let him gain weight as he sees fit?

I have been thinking things over and I am really tired of taking the hard road on everything. Just once I would love to just have things go as they should. They say the universe gives you things to teach you. Man haven't I learned this lesson already? I know this may not make a lot of sense to some people reading this but it seems like nothing ever goes how I intend. Yes a lot of times the way it does go is fine but still I would love for something to go right.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Expert

I think we have all met someone at one time or another that is a complete expert in everything and always seems to have an answer or experienced what ever it is you are going through. We all also know that these people are soo annoying and have probably swore to ourselves that we would never be that person. I have found that the worse offenders are parents, and they think there way is the best way and look down their noses at others that think differently than them. I fear I am indeed becoming one of those people.

You see I went through a lot to breast feed E, and it would have a lot easier to just give him formula. I fought from the beginning that he would only receive my breast milk and I was surprised to find that I would have to fight even at the hospital. While all that we went through is a long story and really not the point here, it is the reason for my expertise. You see I have been going to a breast feeding support group since E was about 3 weeks old. Next week he will be 4 months old and we will graduate the group. Yesterday I went to say good by and to thank the lactation consultant for all her help through the last 4 months. Well she had jury duty and wasn't there and so another girl filled in to answer questions but she was not an expert. I found myself answering everyones questions and being the expert of the class. A sense of I have already conquered that came over me and I through out advice fast and furious. I guess I may have been obnoxious to others, or what I said could have been truly perceived as helpful. I don't know, I guess the question is do you know when you have crossed the line?

Today Brad called me and it seems that the wife of one of his coworkers, who just had a baby, is experiencing a lot of the same troubles as I did with the hospital and breast feeding. He gave them my number to call and talk to me so she has someone who has been there to help her to the other side. For her though it is worse than it was for me because they did force her to give her baby formula and it is now further complicating the issue. I want to be there to help but I also don't want to go to far. I hate how doctors don't support and help new mothers to breast feed when study after study shows that it is the best for the baby. Now I don't mean this as anything against people who choose not to breast feed but only that medical professionals should not try to force formula on people who want to try breast feeding. So because of this I have become very judgemental. I guess my fear is that I will come off as an ass if she ends the fight to breast feed.

Ahh gotta go someone is done with his nap.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Calgon Take Me Away

I am beat. Brad has come down with a super bug and is quarantined from me and the baby. That means it is me and E 24 hours a day and no time off for good behavior. Brad usually does the night routine and gets him to sleep for the night. For some reason when Brad puts him to bed he will sleep through the night but if I put him to bed he will wake up every 45 minutes. Needless to say it was a long night for me. Brad still has a fever today and will be contagious until at least tomorrow. I am only on the computer now while I have a few minutes with E napping. I don't dare try to do any of the other million chores I need to get done because as soon as I get busy with something E wakes up and demands me. Brad's parents came to town yesterday and will be here for a month. Since Brad is so contagious they can't come to the house so I am going to their hotel this evening to spend time with them and them with the baby. Please pray though that I have not already been exposed to whatever it is that Brad has because a Mom doesn't get the day off.

E is getting big and is learning fast. Don't forget to check out his site for regular updates and pictures of him. This blog isn't about him it is about me so I am trying to keep them kinda separate. However I don't have much to say so I guess that is why I haven't been posting here. Well I do have things I say I am going to post but by the time I have time to I have forgotten. So think of something brilliant and insightful and tell yourself that was what Karin was blogging about. Got to go the boss is waking.