Happy Birthday, Tai

12-27-06: 5 lbs 10 oz
12-27-07: 20-something lbs


12-27-06: "waaaaaaahhhhh"
12-27-07: "mama," "dada," "uh-oh"


12-27-06: sleep, sleep, sleep
12-27-07: sleep, eat, walk, play, sign, talk

Jingle Hell

Dashing down the Pike,
Headed to the 'rents.
Kathy said, "oh crap!"
We forgot all the presents!

So around we turned
And headed back home, west.
Snatched up all the gifts
Our moods were not the best!

Oh! Tai woke up! Tai woke up!
He fussed all the way east.
He was hungry and grumpy,
Not to say the least!

Oh! Tai woke up! Tai woke up!
Nothing calmed him down.
Then of course, he dozed off,
Just as we rolled into town.

Tai's Weekend

As the calendar year comes to an end, so does the first year of Tai's life. We spent the weekend with friends and Tai managed to squeeze in several new "firsts" before turning one.

First eggplant pizza
First real trip into Boston (Logan doesn't count)
First Celtics game
***First time sitting in the LAST row, right under the luxury boxes
***First (and last?) time nursing near loud, drunk sports fans
***First time staying up WAY past bedtime
First blueberry blintzes
First time falling so hard he bit his tongue and bled
First time seeing, and being amazed by, a lit Christmas tree

Merry Christmas!

Bad Mom Story

Yesterday I desperately needed change for a $20 so that Tai and I could run a devious Christmas Errand on our way home from work/daycare. When no co-worker could change a $20 for me (doesn't anyone carry cash anymore?) someone suggested I pop by a local cafe and get myself a hot steamy treat, and the necessary change. I thought that sounded like an excellent plan.

After picking Tai up at "school" we headed straight to the cafe. Tai has been there a couple times for mommy-and-baby lunches (ah, maternity leave...the good old days) so he's familiar with the scene. With Tai on my hip I ordered my latte to go. As we waited by the counter for my coffee, Tai looked around the room at all the people enjoying lunch and made the sign for "eat. "

I pretended I did not see it.

Coming straight from work, I did not have the diaper bag with me, so I had no snacks for him. Not a single raisin or Cheerio. Nothing. And I was not about to buy him an $8 sandwich and make a big production out of sitting down and eating. (In my defense, he'd already had lunch at daycare). So I pretended not to notice that he was signing "eat" and staring hungrily at other people's plates.

When my latte was ready, I grabbed it and we headed out the door toward the car. Boy, did that piss him off! He doesn't speak English yet, so his protests were all in "baby" but I'm pretty sure they would have translated to something along the lines of, "What the hell? I thought you were taking me out to lunch?!"

Once we got back in the car, he settled down, but I think held a grudge for an hour or so.

I've Been Blocked

I just tried to email an elementary school, as part of my job, and their spam filter blocked my email and sent it back to me. The spam filter was, however, nice enough to tell me why I was being blocked. It was because my email contained the word "Cialis." In case you don't know, Cialis is a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction. If you don't know what erectile dysfunction is I'm not going to explain it here.


Yes, my email to an elementary school did indeed contain the string "cialis". Because the email started with "Dear Principals and Reading Specialists". Wow, that's a hard-core spam filter. They put me in my place.

Benefits of Motherhood

There are so many wonderful things about being a mother I could not possibly list them all here. They include the indescribable feeling you get when your baby looks at you and smiles and the warm fuzziness generated by watching your baby sleep peacefully. Not to mention the fact that you get to play with toys as an adult and not be seen as a freak.

But perhaps best of all is that I now have a ready-made legitimate excuse that gets me out of any social obligation. Specifically, I am unable to attend this year's Office Holiday Party because it's on a Friday afternoon and I'm home with the baby on Friday afternoons. Family members are not invited to the festivities, so I can't even bring him along. Aw, shucks. I'll miss out on eating lasagna off a paper plate while standing around a crowded living room as well as the never-ending 40 person Yankee Swap. There goes my chance to walk away with a wonderful gift valued at $7.50.

Luckily, they usually make an effort to set aside Holiday Bonuses for those who cannot attend the party, so I should still get mine. I wonder what it will be this year? It's always some item with the company's name on it. Sometimes a t-shirt, or a pad of post-its. Last year it was a rape-whistle/flashlight/keychain combo. Very useful.

Job Interview Tips

If I could give folks out there just ONE piece of advice when going for a job interview it would be this: show up.

This past Saturday we were supposed to be interviewing a potential new dog walker (ours will be doing a semester in India starting later this month). Anyway, we set the interview for 10am Saturday morning and she never showed. And I have not received a call or an email from her with an overly detailed excuse either. Nothing.

Needless to say, she did not get the job. If I'm trusting you with my dog's bladder, not to mention a key to my house, you need to be able to be somewhere when you say you will. Is that too much to ask?

My Denim Identity

The only pair of jeans that fit my current body have recently sprung a giant hole in one knee. And since it is no longer 1992, I can't quite pull off that look. (At least, not without my plaid flannel shirts and Chuck Taylor high tops.)

So last night I ventured out to Old Navy in search of replacement jeans. It was not an easy task. These days, in addition to finding the right size, you also have to figure out what "jean type" you are. Determining your Denim Identity at Old Navy is a lot like figuring out your Starbucks order (are you a grande non-fat half-caf mocha? or a tall half-fat all-caf latte?)

Where Old Navy jeans are concerned, you first have to determine whether you are a Sweetheart, a Flirt, or a Diva. Apparently, Sweethearts like their jeans to sit just below the belly button, Diva's like them so low that their ass crack shows, and Flirts are somewhere in between. Once you have chosen the appropriate sluttiness factor, you have to choose your:

Length--short, regular, or long
Leg style -- boot cut, skinny leg, wide leg, straight leg, or flare
Wash -- light or dark

It was an evening of self-discovery. After two trips to the dressing room and 10 pairs of jeans pulled on and off my body, I now know that I am a Sweetheart, regular, boot-leg, dark wash, thank you very much.

Vacation: Part IV

It's Tough to be Three

Our vacation concluded with a four-day visit at the home of Minh's sister, brother-in-law, and three year old niece, Scuppy. During our stay there, Tai got lots of good quality time with his aunt and uncle as well as his grandparents and he got to meet his great-grandmother for the first time.

Apparently Scuppy and her mom had spent the previous week getting ready for our visit -- baby proofing the house, setting up the pack-n-play, and locating and washing all of Scuppy's old baby toys. She was very excited about the prospect of her baby cousin coming to live at her house for a few days.

Until we got there.

The first 90 minutes or so were great. Scuppy was so excited to see us and she and Tai were fascinated with each other. And then Tai had the nerve to start touching her stuff. Scuppy became very possessive of her things and frustrated at Tai's inability to understand essential English phrases such as: "Stop touching me," "You can't play with that," and the ever-popular "Don't crawl there."

The poor thing. She's three and (thus far) an only child. I understand that it's hard to have your world disrupted by a little crawly-grabby-drooly guy. All the adults in the house expended much effort talking to Scuppy about Tai and babies and about sharing. We'd never let Scuppy know, but Minh and I found it pretty funny the way she scowled at him. To the left is a picture of her patented Furrowed Brow that she employed whenever Tai got too close.

It was really too bad she had such a hard time, because all Tai wanted to do was be near her. Credit goes to Scuppy, though, for owning her issues and admitting them publicly. Tai was playing in the yard with some plastic cups and then Scuppy decided she wanted to play with them. Instead of battling her, we let her have the cups and moved Tai over to a very low swing that he could hold on to and swing back and forth. Suddenly, Scuppy announced that she wanted to use that swing. I asked her if she really wanted to use it, or only because Tai was using it and she proudly stated, "Only because Tai is using it."

I should say that it was not all bad. They did indeed have some stretches of quality time together (see picture, right). This was excellent practice for Scuppy, though, because in March 2008 she will be getting a baby brother. Luckily, he won't be born crawling and grabbing at her things, so she'll have several months to warm up to him.

Vacation: Part III

Ten Things I learned while in California:

1. Californians do not wear pantyhose to weddings. Not even the women.

2. Everyone in California owns a dog. I think it's a state law or something.

3. California is not the best place to order a Philly cheese steak. (Not sure why I didn't just know that one intuitively. )

4. A little hair gel goes a long way.

5. Enormous plates of cheese during the cocktail hour of a wedding are incredibly baby-friendly.

6. I can, in fact, take part in a wedding ceremony without swearing on the altar. I didn't even mess up the reading.

7. Pandas really are that cute in person and hippos and polar bears are surprisingly graceful swimmers.

8. The plain old ducks and pigeons that live at the zoo are more interesting to Tai than the peacocks and flamingos.

9. The "Brockton Villa" in La Jolla is really nothing like Brockton, Massachusetts at all. It's MUCH nicer.

10. Never mind the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, and other attractions....all Tai really needs to be happy is a patch of grass to crawl on and some seagulls to watch.

Vacation: Part II

Everybody Loves Milk.


The night before we headed to the San Diego Zoo, we used our dying laptop and the shaky internet connection in our villa to check out the live panda cam. What did we see? A mommy panda nursing her cub. Then the two of them fell asleep all snuggled up together. It was ridiculously adorable and got me even more excited for our trip to the zoo.


The next day, while touring the zoo, we happened upon a family of Red River Hogs having lunch. Well, the babies were having lunch--they were nursing. You can see in the picture below the underside of the mom's chin is on the right. She's laying on her side nursing the three babies.



About an hour later, while we were visiting the African elephants, we saw this:





It might be hard to see, but that momma elephant has a baby standing just behind her front left leg, nursing.














At the end of the day, as he headed out to the parking lot, Minh spied another exotic creature feeding its young.

This little guy must have gotten hungry watching all those other animals drink their milk. And none of those mothers even had the decency to cover up!


















Just after Minh snapped it's photo, the baby wild animal popped up with a very satiated, "milk-drunk" look on it's face.

Vacation: Part I

Travelling across the country with an infant is every bit as fun as it looks.


We are now "those people." You know, the ones you see in the airport and think "why don't they just stay home?" The ones you HATE to be stuck behind in line. We descended upon Logan Airport with 4 suitcases, a car seat wrapped in a black trash bag, two carry-ons, and a stroller. Oh, and a baby who did not want to be in the stroller. With the help of my parents, we navigated the hour-long line to check bags and get boarding passes. (Jet Blue's computers were all down, so there was no self-check-in and they were giving out hand-written boarding passes.)

Once that hurtle was conquered, we glided through security relatively unencumbered. With the stroller folded up on the x-ray belt, I carried Tai through the metal detector, after passing up two opportunities to make breast milk jokes to the TSA folks. I can't tell you how hard it was to restrain myself when they said, "If you have any liquids for the baby you need to take them out."

This was our first time flying Jet Blue. We mostly chose them because of the insanely cheap direct flight from Boston to San Diego. But the fact that there is a mini-TV in front of each person didn't hurt either. They even have a Google Maps channel that shows you your current air speed, elevation, and location on a map of the US, so that every now and then you can flip to that station and think, "Oh god, we've only come as far as Indiana?"

We figured the TV might help keep Tai calm and quite during the flight. But he was actually not all that interested in it. He was much happier peeking between the seats at the people behind us and giggling at them. Once he fell asleep, though, I found the mini-TV very useful. Or, at least, I thought it would be useful. There I was, 37,000 feet in the air, belted into my seat with Tai sleeping deeply on my full bladder, at 9pm EST on a Thursday. Time for Grey's Anatomy. But wait, Jet Blue offers 37 channels of digital cable and not a single ABC affiliate! It was like some little-known level of hell, sitting there having to pee and knowing that Grey's was on and I was unable to tune in.

Tai was a trooper. He slept for about 1/3 of the flight and only really got stir-crazy for the last 20 minutes or so. And even though we landed in San Diego at 9pm (midnight, EST) and then had to get our bags, shuttle to the car rental place, and wait for our car for about 45 minutes, he held it together.

With the exception of potato chips on the flight, Minh and I had not eaten since about 1pm EST. originally, I thought we'd stop and get something to eat on the way to the condo, but by the time we got our rental car it was so late and Tai was so tired, that we just went straight there and went to bed. Of course, Tai woke us up at 4am the next day, ready to go. We fed him some baby food and played with him, and the proceeded to wait a very long time for restaurants to open. There was no food in the condo and the tap water tasted like dirt. It was a painful 4 hours--I almost broke down and ate a jar of baby food. Needless to say, we were waiting outside the door of a local greasy spoon when they opened at 8am.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Purple Nurples

I have thrush. For those of you who don't know, thrush is a yeast infection of the booby. It's awesomely painful when Tai nurses.

In addition to a 10-day course of Diflucan, everyone who knows anything about thrush recommends gentian violet as a topical treatment. So, that's what I wanted to get. I called a local CVS and was thrilled to find they had one bottle left (apparently the stuff is kind of hard to come by, even in the hippy-dippy valley). Later that afternoon I was amazed at how....well, violet...the gentian violet is. Tai's been going to school each morning looking like a goth high schooler wearing deep purple lipstick. All he needs to complete the look is a black onesie and a book of poetry under his arm.

I am also stained deep purple...though not on my lips :)

Update

Well, the San Diego fire is even worse than I realized when I first posted. I talked to Charlie (the San Diego groom-to-be) yesterday and he described all the smoke and ash in the air and how it feels very Katrina-esque there. And he's not even IN San Diego yet.

The bride's family, as well as Minh's California family, are all safe and sound, though some have been relocated from their homes.

Charlie assured me that the fires are not in downtown San Diego, where the wedding will take place on Nov 3rd. He's confident the wedding is still on, but is waiting a bit before making any final decisions. So, we're sitting tight hoping that mother nature sends some rain their way...

San Diego's on Fire!

We're flying to San Diego a week from Thursday and, unfortunately, SD county is currently ablaze. People are being evacuated and losing their homes. And my friends must be terribly worried that this will ruin their wedding plans (and to think, I was all stressed out over a little rain on my wedding day).

Even worse, the Wild Animal Park is closed. And this is after we purchased three-park-passes from Costco to get us into the Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and Sea World. Perhaps I am destined to never get my day at the Zoo? At least Sea World should still be open despite the fires, since it's underwater.

You Know You Live in The Valley When....

...you accidentally step into someone else's black Dansko clogs and wear them home without noticing.

You see, in order to go into Tai's "classroom" at "school" you have to take off your shoes. They like to keep the floor very clean, what with all the babies crawling around. So last Friday I apparently slipped out of my brown clogs and went in to pick up my boy. After chatting with his teachers and another mother for about 15 minutes, I left the room and stepped into the other mother's black clogs and went on my way.

I didn't realize what I had done until Sunday morning when I noticed that our shoe shelf at home contained two pairs of black clogs.....and no brown ones. I instantly knew what I had done. Luckily, the other mother was good natured about it (and willing to wear my brown clogs home Friday afternoon). She emailed me yesterday wondering if perhaps I knew where her shoes were spending the weekend.

Apparently, I need some more distinctive shoes....

New Life in the Neighborhood

Two of our neighbors have just adopted new pets. One one side of us is Jerry, the 8 week old grey tiger kitten. And across the street is Miles, the 8 week old German Short-haired Pointer. They are both adorable and we are taking full advantage of every opportunity to play with them both. Buttons has met Miles and it seems like they will be good friends. Miles enjoys chew toys and rough-housing. I think he'll be interested in chasing Buttons around before too long, which will just delight her to no end. Tai has met both Jerry and Miles, and is particularly taken with Jerry. Jerry enjoys chasing after kitty toys and coming to a halt so quickly that his whole body flips over. He's also into snuggling on his mom's lap.


This is all happening just a few days after I stepped outside to visit with some neighbors and realized that we have three little boys in the neighborhood, each only six months apart. Tai is the youngest and the oldest will turn 2 at the end of next month. And the two young couples who have adopted the pets are each at different stages in the popular cat-then-dog-then-baby plan. So it looks like we'll have even more babies around before too long. Pheasant Lane is just bursting with new life! I love it!

Life's Little Pleasures

The other night I dreamed that Minh and I won a year's supply of chocolate milk and Chicken McNuggets. It was the best dream I've had in a long time.

The Shit Hit the Fan...

...of course, by"the fan" I really mean my feet.


The other night Minh was out returning a piece of rented equipment to Home Depot (yes, we rented more heavy machinery...more on that in a future post, if you're good) and I was bathing and putting Tai to bed by myself. No big deal--I often handle bath and bedtime by myself. Usually the only tricky part is wrestling a squirming Tai into his PJs without (1) letting him climb down off the changing table, (2) zipping his wriggly skin into his PJs, or (3) cursing at him. I can usually manage to avoid pitfall numbers 1 and 2. Let's leave it at that.


So, fully aware of the green beans and baby carrots boiling on the stove, I plopped Tai down in the bathtub and we proceeded to have a delightful time splashing, playing, and washing. This is always the best part of the day for both of us. But just as the fun was ending and the last drops of water drained from the tub, Tai pooped. Excellent. He's pooped in the tub before, but I always had backup. This time I was on my own. But really, since the tub was already empty this was pretty easily fixed. I plucked him from the wreckage and left the poop there to be dealt with later. Mentally reminding myself to check on the beans and carrots as soon as Tai was in his crib, I carried a dripping wet, and rather poopy baby to the changing table. Once his ass was wiped and diapered I dried him off and forced him into his pajamas.


OK, now I just had to nurse him, put him to bed, and go check on those beans and carrots. Oh, and THEN go clean the poop out of the tub. I had everything under control.


But actually, Tai was the one in control. He has instituted a new regime of Refusing to Go to Bed. Despite the smell of poop saturating his room, I nursed him to sleep. But as I lowered him into the crib he snapped awake and started screaming his head off. We returned to the glider and nursed and rocked some more, still marveling that the poop could smell so strongly that the odor was wafting across the hall, under his closed door, and into his room. A few minutes later, when I walked near the crib with him in my arms, he started screaming again. OK, back to the glider for more rocking with a pacifier and Emmit, Tai's favorite stuffed animal. We rocked and rocked and rocked. He was not falling asleep.


Suddenly I smelled another odor, layered over the smell of poop. It was the smell of...well, of burning. "Oh shit," I thought, all the water must have evaporated from that pot and I was about to burn the house down. Like it or not, I put Tai in his crib and ran to the stove to find that the beans and carrots were now black and becoming one with the bottom of the pot.


Just as I was heroically saving us from a house fire (that would have been my fault) Minh arrived home tired, sore, sweaty, and dirty after a long day of manual labor. He came in to find the house smelled like fire, the baby was SCREAMING in his crib and his wife's feet were smeared with baby poop. Apparently, some poop fell out from between my son's ass cheeks and landed on the top of my foot and then I crossed my feet at the ankles while nursing Tai and rubbed it all over both my feet (no wonder it smelled so bad in his room!)


Good husband that he is, Minh cleaned up the poop in the bathtub while I washed my feet and then went back in to nurse Tai some more (when in doubt, give 'em milk, right?) Tai finally went to bed, the house is still standing, and poop washes off. So, in the end, all was well. Whew!

No Turning Back

Once you've put three coats of dark red paint on your bathroom walls, there really is no changing your mind, even if you are not in love with it. So, here it is. Despite my concerns that it would look too patriotic, we did end up using "magic spell" blue to soften the transition between the red walls and the white ceiling. Minh painted some crown moulding and put that up. It looks a little patriotic. But like I said, no turning back now.

So, it's a conversation piece. Some folks will love it, some will hate it. Minh and Tai and I will live with it. It's actually pretty cute and fun, which works well since it's "Tai's bathroom". But the next time I start talking about painting something, someone needs to (gently) remind me of the following:

* I get really excited about painting projects

* I have little patience for all the prep and clean-up associated with painting

* I'm not a very neat and careful painter (this is especially noticeable when painting a very dark color, as I now know)

* I don't actually like executing my grand painting schemes (can't I just be the idea person?)

Somehow, in between painting projects, I always forget all the miserable parts and only remember the fun of coming up with the idea and the satisfaction of the end product. I block out all the miserable in-between stuff. Maybe it's like childbirth. They say that if women actually remembered all the pain (and not just the happy end-result) no one would have more than one kid. I guess I should keep that in mind for the future too :)

Number 1 and Number 2

Our cats have two litter boxes for some strange reason that I cannot remember. What fascinates me is that they seem to have both agreed on a system of exclusively peeing in the box on the right and pooping in the box on the left. Who says animals don't communicate with each other?

The Perfect Storm

This weekend Tai was suffering from all of the following, simultaneously:

an ear infection
a high fever
a runny nose
constipation
oh, and he's cutting his top teeth as well.

But we had plans for the weekend. So we packed up our sick kid, the Tylenol, the teething tablets, and the Amoxicillin and headed east to visit some friends. Tai actually did quite well. He had a great time visiting his buddy Aaron and playing with all of Aaron's toys.

The high fever actually did not show up until we we already at Aaron's house. (I'd just like to point out that there are actually some cases in which I would have cancelled my plans and kept Tai home. He did not have a fever when we headed east). But that night, at 3am, he woke up on fire. His temp was over 102 and we were in an unfamiliar house, far from home. Poor thing. Minh and I dosed Tai with the Tylenol and then I put Tai in the wrap and paced the house until he fell back asleep around 4:30am.

The next morning he was feeling better so we decided to take him out for his very first Dim Sum -- Tai enjoyed some shrimp and pork along with his baby cereal puffs. Then we said goodbye to Aaron and brought Tai to a high end mall where we can barely afford to window shop. The only reason we set foot in that place was to visit a friend who works in a pricey baby boutique. He was feeling feverish again and getting grumpy, so naturally we decided to torture and humiliate him by making him try on a Halloween costume. I knew he'd only stand for trying on ONE costume, so we had to choose wisely.

This Halloween, Tai will greet the trick-or-treaters who ring our doorbell dressed as a Kangaroo.

Snooze?

This morning my alarm was due to go off at 6:00am, but Tai went off at 5:50. Why don't babies have snooze buttons?

The Price of Love?

I love my pets. But how much should you really pay for your pet's medical treatment? This question is on my mind at the moment. Not only are my friends paying alot of money to get their dog radiation treatment for her cancer, but Nibbles is currently having some health issues that we are trying to investigate.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Arrow's treatment is unnecessary or frivolous or anything like that. I'm certain I would do the same for Buttons. I mean, come on....I'm the person who paid thousands of dollars to have a bezoar removed from my cat's intestines only to have him die of heart failure 18 months later. And let's not forget about the huge sum of money we paid to have Nibbles' penis removed in order to save his life (despite the fact that, given the choice, I'm sure most males would choose death over penis removal).

Anyway, Nibbles is hungry all the time and losing weight, which our vet was certain was either caused by a thyroid problem or diabetes. Of course, blood and urine tests proved her wrong--it's neither of those things. Which means it could be something much worse. Possibly. Another blood test simply confirmed that things are slightly off and that could be a sign of cancer or more bladder stones. Or it may be nothing at all.

This far, we've spent a couple hundred on tests that tell us nothing. The vet, of course, prescribed more tests. A chest x-ray ($110) and then, if that comes back clear, an abdominal ultrasound ($250). So, do we get the tests? I know this is not thousands of dollars, but what if the x-ray finds a big tumor? Then what do we do? If we aren't going to spring for expensive treatment, then why even get the x-ray? Very logical, right?

Of course, part of me feels like a horrible person for considering just letting him live and lose more weight and, possibly die soon. But part of me knows that, at this point in our lives we can't be spending our savings on a 9 year old cat. Anyway, I'm not really seeking advice, though you can offer it if you like. This is just what's on my mind these days.

Daredevil

After putting a new medicine cabinet in our guest bathroom, I decided...."hey, let's re-paint the walls!" As you may know, I periodically get really excited (and ambitious) when it comes to painting projects. And then while in the midst of the project I think "this is a pain in the ass....I'm not painting any more rooms ever." But then, here I am again.

So this weekend I convinced Minh to let me paint the bathroom red. Well, not strictly red. It's called daredevil and it's a deep, pink-ish-purple-ish red. It's intended to play off the colors in the shower curtain and a painting we have up in the bathroom. If you want to see it, you can use the "color smart" tool here and search for daredevil.

So last night we put in the first coat. Woah. It's really.......red. And putting dark color on over light walls is tricky (alot like painting your toenails red). It's not covering all that well yet so it's looking streaky and weird. We may need three coats before we decide whether this was a great idea or a disaster.

We also bought some "magic spell" blue and are thinking about a horizontal stripe all the way around the top, like a border. Yes, more stripes. And this time it was Minh's idea, I swear. He thought the presence of the blue might soften the harshness of the red. Though we now realize that putting stripe up near the ceiling may just draw your eye to the no-so-clean transition between the red walls and the white ceiling. Oops. At this point, we may or may not go through with the blue stripe. I guess we'll just wait and see how the red looks after one or two more coats.

What have I gotten us into this time?.....

Hello! What's This?

Tonight, while in the bathtub, Tai found his penis and strummed it like a guitar.*



*I must give credit for this phrasing to Minh. It is an amusingly accurates description of Tai's behavior.

Tai and His Tree

As promised (ages ago) here's a picture of Tai and his Placenta Tree. It might be kind of hard to see, but the tree is a Japanese Maple (look for the dark red leaves against the green ferns in the background). Right now, the tree is only about 2-3 feet tall with a skinny little trunk. Tai has no idea yet that it is "his" tree. But he was thoroughly interested in playing with the mulch all around it.

Surviving South Hadley

Last night we attended yet another cookout at our neighbors' house. I swear, these people have a party every couple weeks. Anyway, we were pleased to be invited over for food, drink, and conversation with a broad spectrum of folks. Including Dawn the Dinosaur.

About 15 minutes after we arrived we realized that Dawn was not going to be the hottest celebrity at the party. Dan The Man was there. Sure, he's a retired astronaut and all that. But more importantly, he was on Survivor. And he lives in South Hadley.

I restrained myself from saying anything to Dan about his stint on Survivor, as I'm certain he's sick of hearing all that. (Even though I secretly wanted to hear all about his experience and perhaps even ask for his autograph.) We chatted briefly about what a calm, good-natured baby Tai is and how lucky we are to have scored such a good little boy. And that was it.

We'll be sure to continue to attend our neighbors' parties in the future, because you never know who you are going to meet!

Tai Likes to Laugh

One Hot Tomato!

After years of missing out on all the fun, we finally made it to a nearby farm's annual tomato festival. The big draw, for us, is the chance to taste about 30 different types of tomatoes, including several heirloom varieties. Of course, the year we decide to join in the fun it happens to be 98 degrees out, with 75% humidity. Ugh.

Approximately 10 minutes after we arrived, Tai got hot and grumpy in the stroller. We let him take his sun hat off and we saw that he was rapidly breaking out in heat rash. But who's gonna let a little rash get in the way of tomato tasting? So we pressed on.

Half way through the tomato tasting tent, I noticed a bead of sweat running down Tai's nose. I'd never seen a baby sweat like that before! Now I started getting anxious about Tai's health. Surely, this was one of those days where people under 2 and over 80 are supposed to stay inside. I was worried enough to get pissed off at the folks in front of us who were taking far too long at each plate of tomatoes, but not worried enough to actually leave the tomato tent and get my baby home.

By the time we finished tasting all those delicious tomatoes, Tai's hair was so soaked with sweat that he looked like he had just taken a bath. We walked back through the barn to the front of the farm, where a nice breeze was blowing, and let Tai suck on some cantaloupe samples. That lifted his spirits just enough to make me stop worrying that he was about to die of heat stroke.

Dedicated parents that we are, we then headed home (after about 20 total minutes at the festival). Even though we longed to bring some striped germans or some sungolds home with us, we decided not to subject Tai to waiting the 30 minutes it would have taken us to wait in line to purchase tomatoes.

My brilliant husband suggested we let Tai ride home in just his diaper, and that's when we noticed that the heat rash was all over his chest and back too. Poor kid. Suffering in the name of tomatoes. But after a tepid bath and lots of time playing in the Central AC, he's now in a much better mood.

Potter Update

Half-way through #3 and still in the dark about any and all plot details of #7. Thanks to all who are restraining themselves for my benefit. I think the worst of the media storm is over now and I am in the clear.

The Saga Continues....

Minh ran into our Neighborhood Biologist yesterday and she had a funny little story to tell him about our friend the Gray Hot Tub Frog. She and her kids walked about 50 yards into the woods behind their house and let him go near a stream. The next day he was on the window of their house, looking in. Apparently, he is just starved for human companionship. So, they once again marched 50 yards into the woods and let him go by the same stream. And as of yesterday they had not seen him again.

That's because he was making his way back to our hot tub.

Yup, that's right. Early this morning Minh went to get in the tub and there sat our little friend, right on the edge of the tub. Now, I suppose it could just be another Gray Hot Tub Frog--they do all look alike. Maybe the word is out that we have a nice warm spot for froggies to hang out. But since we never saw one in all the time we've lived her until last week, I'm inclined to believe that it's the same little guy. Though I marvel at the fact that he made it all the way back here...having to cross at least one street to do it.

Now he's in a tupperware container on my bathroom vanity, waiting to be relocated once again. We may just have to drive him across state lines to be sure we're rid of him.

South Hadley Wildlife Refuge

Apparently our yard is a well known safe haven for amphibians. A couple weeks ago, Minh happened upon a toad living in the giant pile of mulch that had been sitting in our driveway for weeks. His first instinct, of course, was to run and get the camera. So we have a nice photo of the rare species....Toadius Mulchius.

Although Toadius Mulchius really enjoyed living deep inside the pile of mulch, he was easily relocated. He happily jumped out of the wheelbarrow and hopped off into our woods, never to be seen again.

The next little visitor, however, was not so keen on being evicted. Just a few days after our encounter with TM, we met our next little friend (pictured below).












Don't be fooled, he looks somewhat like a Gray Tree Frog, but this one is actually a Gray Hot Tub Frog. I found him just as I was about to climb into the tub. He had crawled up between the tub and the cover and was just hanging out on the edge of the tub--I nearly put my hand right on him as I prepared to climb in. Minh's first instinct? Get the camera. His second instinct? Use a yard stick to shoo the frog away so we could use the hot tub without fear of him hopping in to join us.

After shooing the frog away and using the tub, Minh diligently looked this little guy up on line and discovered that it's pretty common for hot tub owners to have "problems" with gray tree frogs. Apparently, they are drawn to the warmth. But if they actually hop into the water they die. Yuck.

The next day.....he was back. Minh shooed him off the tub and then the little guy jumped off the deck and down to the lawn again. The next day....he was back. We decided to try to catch him and then relocate him to the woods. Minh donned gardening gloves and grabbed his trusty yard stick. I was tasked with holding the tupperwear container while Minh encouraged the frog to jump in. No such luck....he was off the deck and in the lawn again.

The next day....he was back AGAIN. This time I was busy with the baby, but Minh managed to catch the frog all by himself. Determined to keep him away from our tub, Minh called the Neighborhood Biologist on the next street over and asked if she or her young kids would be interested is seeing the frog and then releasing him into their woods, far away from our hot tub. She was indeed interested.

Minh arrived at her house, gloves still on and tupperware lid firmly in place. He cautiously lifted the corner of the lid as he said to her, "Be careful, I hope he doesn't jump at you" just as she reached in bare-handed and scooped the little guy up. Like I said, she's a Biologist.

Hot Tub Frog is now living happily (we think) somewhere in the woods one block over from our house. If he manages to make it all the way back to our tub, we may just keep him.

EEK!

A while back, I noted that we were paying our dog walker a larger hourly wage than our child-care provider. Somehow that seemed a little...off. So we've rectified the situation. Not by slashing our oh-so-valued dog walker's wages, and not by giving our hard-working home-based child care provider a raise. No, no, those simple solutions were not for us. Instead, we opted to enroll Tai in the Extraordinarily Expensive Childcare Center (EECC for short....pronounced "EEK!").

We signed up for EECC's waiting list when I was about 4 months pregnant and were told at the time that they might have a spot, come Fall 2007. That seemed a thousand years away. But then time flies when you are raising a baby and suddenly it was June and they were calling to ask if we wanted a half-time spot that starts the week before Labor Day. Part of me wishes they had never called. Let me explain why:

It's fewer hours of care (20 instead of 27).
It's double the hourly rate.
***BUT***
It's on the way to work.
It's a much nicer, bigger playspace.
It's a center, not someone's living room...which is preferable to me in some intangible way.
The "teachers" are the sweetest women ever.
The incoming "cohort" of infants is very diverse, including several mixed-race children.

So, it was a very difficult decision. Mainly because we are unsure whether this place is worth the money. Yes, it's clearly better than our current situation, but does it really warrant twice the money for fewer hours? In the end, we went for it, trying not to burn any bridges behind us in case we have to go crawling back to our home daycare provider at some point.

Tai starts "school" on August 27th. It really does feel like school. The women who work in the infant room are referred to as "teachers". And I think I've even heard the word "curriculum" thrown around. For those of you who received Minh's holiday letter last December (in which he detailed my pregnancy from conception to third trimester gassiness) should note that EECC is indeed the very place he made fun for taking themselves too seriously. And here we are. Brainwashed again.

Once we enrolled and paid the deposit, EECC encouraged us to bring Tai in for visits over the summer so he could get to know the teachers and become familiar with the space. Last week had a chance to play there and sit on the lap of one of the teachers and watch another baby eat her snack. AND...the infant room "teachers" are even coming to our house on the 20th to get to know Tai better and see him in his home environment. Oh crap, that means I have to clean the house. And we should probably hide all the non-organic baby food and dress him in a hemp onesie.

For the record, our plan is to spend ridiculous amounts of money on EECC through pre-school and then enroll Tai in good old-fashioned (and free!) public school for kindergarten. Part of me worries, though, that by the time Tai is 5 The Crunchies will have complete control over my brain and I will be writing a big fat check to the Montessori School without knowing what I am doing. Someone please stop me from doing that. Thanks.

Masquerading as a Hippy

Of course you all know by now that I'm always trying to find a balance between my Inner Hippy and my Other Half, without swinging too far one way or the other. Especially when it comes to Tai. On one hand, there is the Pioneer Valley Crunchy way of life that dictates you do the "very best" for your child, even if it means only buying organic, grain-fed, free-range chicken at $20/lb. On the other hand we have the "TV is the ultimate baby-sitter and a little high fructose corn syrup never hurt anyone" mentality. I do believe I fall somewhere in the middle:

Diapers? Disposable.

Baby food? Store-bought.

High Fructose Corn Syrup? Hell no.

TV? Not yet.

Tai will, of course, eat whatever chicken they happen to sell at Costco.

Yes, we shop at Costco. And Stop & Shop, and Big Y. While The Crunchies are picking their own green beans at the local CSA farm, we are plucking our produce off the shelves of the local supermarket. I never even stop at local farm stands for corn or strawberries anymore. It's really terrible of me.

This week though, we were given a rare look into the inner sanctum of The Crunchies. Our very kind and generous neighbors (who read this blog so I have to say nice things about them) let us take one week of their farm share while they are on vacation. So this past Monday, Minh, Tai and I ventured to the farm for the very first time. What an experience--you could actually smell the Hippies. We felt completely out of our element; I've never felt less crunchy. Upon seeing the crowded room with folks running here and there gathering up their organic vegetables, Minh's brain completely shut down. He busied himself with pushing the stroller around and made it clear I was on my own with the produce. Luckily our wonderful neighbors (who really are very nice, I'm not just saying that) had given us some pointers ahead of time. So I was able to figure out what to do and not look like too much of a Newbie.

We made it home with our organic veggies and promptly began eating them. That night we had a very tasty salad made up of many different types of greens we'd never had before. But being an organic farm, they do not use any chemicals to keep the bugs off the veggies. Our greens had so many bug holes in them they looked like lace. Nothing like the beautiful, hole-free, chemical-laden greens I am so used to getting at Big Y. The salad was tasty and we don't think either of us ingested any bugs.

Now we just have to figure out what to do with Swiss Chard and Beets.

My Day at the Zoo

If you've ever held still long enough, I've probably told you the story of how my parents flew to San Diego when my nephew was born and left me behind. I was six. And yes I did get to spend the week with my grandmother which, as everyone knows, was delightful. Grandmothers do all sorts of things with kids that mothers don't allow or don't have the energy to do (like playing "hairdresser" for hours on end).

But that didn't stop me from being bitter. I wanted to go to sunny San Diego and go to the zoo. but my parents, in their infinite wisdom decided to make the trip sans child. And although they brought me back lots of presents, including a San Diego Zoo clipboard, lots of stickers, and a pair of Joe Cool scissors, I still would have rather gone on the trip.

Now my time has come.

My friend Charlie has been considerate enough to choose San Diego as the venue for his wedding (no doubt having my lifelong desire to see the zoo in mind when he made that decision). So this November Minh, Tai and I will be taking a family vacation to Southern California. We're stretching it into a pretty long vacation that will include visiting Minh's sister and grandmother. And we'll do some general sight seeing and I will finally get my day at the zoo. Oh, and I guess we'll go to the wedding while we're there.

Actually, we're in the wedding. Well, Minh and I are. Tai will still be a tad young for the role of ring bearer. But Minh and I are honored to have been asked to do a reading during the wedding ceremony. The title of the poem we've been asked to read is Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog. Presumably, Minh and I know a little something about love and a tad bit about owning a dog as well. Hopefully I won't mess up and swear on the altar like last time we were in a wedding....

Fuzzy Lunch

About once a year a couple co-workers and I drive to a local animal shelter during our lunch break to play with itty bitty kitties waiting to be adopted. Today was our annual trip and lemme tell you there is no better way to spend lunch hour than snuggling little fuzz balls.

I fell in love with a short-haired grey tabby named Chester. And I think he liked me too. At least, that's the impression I got when he licked my neck and then nibbled on my earring. I nearly melted.

Somehow I managed to keep my wallet in my purse and not adopt anyone. Chester was a member of a litter of five, three of whom were already spoken for. But Chester and his sister Ash were still in need of a loving home. And, the shelter is running a two kittens "fur" the price of one special this month....so I could have taken them both home! But I reminded myself that I already have a houseful. Too bad, as Tai would have squealed with delight at the sight of these two fluffy little ones.

Potter Blackout

So....the final Harry Potter book is out and I have not read it yet. In fact, I probably won't get to it for a month or so. I've decided to re-read the previous 6 first, so they are fresh in my mind. I'm a pretty slow reader to begin with and now that work, sleep, and Tai take up about 93% of my days, I have little time to devote to novels. So it may take me a while to get through those 2,000-ish pages.

But unlike those nine-year-olds who buy the book when it goes on sale at midnight and finish it by sunrise, I have no problem delaying my own gratification. The book will be just as good when I get around to reading it. The only problem is avoiding any *spoilers* between now and then. I would be horrified if I learned then ending before reading it myself.

Luckily my co-workers who are reading it know better than to say anything about it to me. So, if I can manage to stay away from Potter fan websites and loud-mouthed middle-schoolers for the next month or so, I should be OK. Wish me luck.

The Longest Day

We took Tai camping this past "weekend". Actually, we were only gone from the house for 25 hours. But it felt like a week.

Unfortunately, Tai did not enjoy himself as much as we thought he would. He was not exactly miserable and I wouldn't say that the trip was a disaster, but the jury is still out on whether we'll go on our 3-night Labor Day trip to the Berkshires. Tai was just a little crankier than usual and never quite pleased with his current situation (be it the ergo, his camp chair, or one of our laps, he always seemed to want to be elsewhere). It was difficult not to have his exersaucer for him to play in, or even a soft place for him to roll around on the ground.

And he was not terribly keen on sleeping between us on the air mattress, in 50-degree weather. I can't imagine why not. Actually, we think that Tai's fussiness during this trip might have been teething-related. His bottom chompers have arrived, so we assume the top ones are getting ready to make their appearance as well. So maybe that issue will have taken care of itself by early September and he'll be in a better mood for the next trip. I guess we'll see.

That said, the trip was indeed quite fun (albeit thoroughly exhausting). We took a lovely hike on Saturday morning, during which Tai got to sleep and Buttons got to run, sniff, and swim. Later that afternoon, while Minh and Buttons took a snooze in the tent Tai and I hit the beach and took a little dip. Tai enjoyed his first-ever cantaloupe and was a big fan of watching the campfire burn. Maybe we'll make a camper out of him yet! (click here for more pictures).

It was encouraging to see that nearly everyone at the campground had kids with them, though none as young as Tai. It seems like camping with a toddler must be lots of fun. The family at the site next to ours had a couple of young kids, one of whom was named Ty. All day and night we listened to the dad say his son's name and each time it made us flinch, like he was talking to our son. Of course, the ridiculous nickname that dad had for his son, "Ty-Guy" is nothing compared to the clever nickname we have for our baby ("Tai-Guy").

Where Have All The Thongs Gone?

The other day I was folding laundry on our bed, while Minh was laying on it watching TV (no judgement here, that's just how it went down). Anyway, I flung an item that was too small to fold onto the bed right near Minh and he picked it up with a sly little grin on his face and said something to the effect of "hey, hey, what's this?" (thinking it was a pair of red thong underwear).

Imagine his disappointment when, upon closer inspection, he realized that it was not a thong, but a red terry cloth bib with a giraffe and a penguin printed on it and the phrase "Let's be friends." Things sure have changed around here.

Roar!

Last night Minh and Tai and I attended a birthday party for a friend, at which we chatted with many friends of this friend. That's what you do at a party, right? Make small talk, eat some yummy food, and go home. Nothing terribly eventful.

But we have just now learned that one of the women we talked with is (was?) the basis for the Dawn the Dinosaur character in Dilbert. How this did not come up during our conversation last night is beyond me. If I were a cartoon dinosaur, I'd want the world to know. Roar.

Summer Stupidity

Last summer I was picking grass out of the herb garden, mistaking it for chives, and we blamed it on the pregnancy. Well, this summer I've done something equally stupid but have no fetus on which to blame it.

Our across-the-street neighbors have been away for months and were at first sub-letting their house. But now the sub-letters are gone and Minh and I have been tasked with merely keeping an eye on the place. They stopped their mail and they have no pets to feed or plants to water. So the job is an easy one...just make sure the place does not get robbed or burn down to the ground.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a package sitting on their doorstep, so I dutifully brought it inside, left it on the table, and locked the house back up. End of story, right? That's what I thought.

Meanwhile, Minh was anxiously checking the mailbox each day for his replacement cell phone (his was busted) and getting more and more pissed off each day that it did not arrive. (You already know where this is going, don't you?) After tracking the package online and seeing that it was marked as "delivered" he called up DHL to complain. DHL explained to him that they had indeed delivered it, and had left it outside the front door. When he told them that it was not there, they asked him to actually go outside and look around.

DHL said that they sometimes try to leave packages in inconspicuous places. So there he was, cordless phone to his ear, searching among the daylillies for his package when the light bulb went off over his head. His ditsy wife had locked his new cell phone in the neighbors house. He grabbed their house key, went inside and found that the package inside was clearly addressed to us, not them. Oops.

Of course, DHL had delivered it to the wrong house. But then I held it in my hands and didn't even notice my own name on the outside of the box. Something must happen to me in the summer. Let's blame the humidity for making my brain sweat. If only we lived in the Southwest where it's a dry heat....

Mix-n-Match, and a Little Flash

Bathing suit shopping is never fun. Anyone who says differently is lying. But I figured today was the perfect day for me to run out and get a new one for two very good reasons:

(1) It's after July 4th, so Old Navy should be selling swimsuits for next to nothing, to make room for corduroys and sweaters.
(2) Tai and I have a mamas-n-babies playdate at a local swimming hole on Monday, during which other people will actually have to see me in my bathing suit. This is a problem because my current bathing suit was purchased for my pre-pregnancy body. That body is gone. The pregnancy weight is off, but things are all shifted around and now my boobs are too big for the top and my ass cheeks hang out the back.

So today after work, I decided to run a bunch of errands. After I popped into one store unsuccessfully seeking waterproofing spray for our new tent, I decided to quickly run into Old Navy for a new bathing suit. But in today's mix-n-match society that proved impossible. They don't actually sell two-piece swimsuits anymore....they sell separate tops and bottoms to be mixed and matched. And that's great because you can get two different sizes for top and bottom. But it's not so great this time of year when the suits have been all picked over. Not only were the prices not marked down, but almost none of the tops and bottoms matched each other...and certainly none that did match were available in my sizes. All I could seem to find were small and extra small tops and XL bottoms, none of which was going to work for me. (So...are there lots of women running around out there with big boobs and small bottoms? I thought I was the only one....)

During the 15 minutes I spent pawing through the racks, I found a few very cute tops, in my size....and then matching bottoms in XL. The one or two bottoms I found that looked like they might fit had no matching tops left anywhere in sight. And I don't even mean strictly "matching"--I would have gladly paired a plain purple top with the multicolor-striped bottoms. But no, even that was not meant to be. I started out being selective, looking at the sizes only on the cute suits. But soon I grew desperate, nearly talking myself into trying on the ones with macrame straps or faux wood beads. I stopped just short of even looking at the sizes on the shiny silver suits that looked like they were made of tinfoil. I never even made it into the dressing room.

Leaving Old Navy, I felt defeated and started to wonder whether I am too old and mom-ish to even be shopping there...and for a skimpy two-piece bathing suit, no less. Wondering whether I could even pull a suit like that off, I decided to check out my profile in the window as I walked by. Looking pretty good in a shirt that artfully hides my squishy tummy and sporting my Skinny Jeans, I started to think, "Yeah, I may be a mom, but I still look good. I'm not an old fart one-piece-swimsuit-with-the-attached-skirt mom yet." Feeling better, I turned to head into EMS (still in search of the waterproofing spray) and looked at myself head-on in that window. That's when I noticed that the button on my shirt right between my boobs was undone...no doubt from my last pumping session at work. Oh, how very not cool. Oh, how not young and sexy and with-it at all. Oh, how very fuddy-duddy-scatterbrained-mom-ish.

So here I am, no new bathing suit. Just a word of warning....if you find yourself at Puffers Pond this coming Monday you may catch sight of far too much side-boob and ass cheek as I emerge from the water. Oh well, one good thing about mommy-hood is that I'm just to tired to care....much.

XXX

Vitamin Water has a new flavor out called XXX. I don't know what's in it and I don't care. It tastes like liquid Swedish Fish (and that's a good thing!)

SPLISH SPLASH!

The Boob Tube

No, not another breastfeeding entry. This time I'm talking about the television. Tai freakin' loves the TV. It must be pre-programmed in at birth, because we never plonk him down in front of the TV and we've never even shown him any of those Baby Einstein videos or anything. But somehow he just knows that TV is a source of mind-numbing entertainment. Anytime I walk into a room with him and the TV is on, he immediately starts "watching" it. It doesn't matter what's on either...C-SPAN, cartoons, or that Poltergeist Fuzz. It's all the same to him. He does some really amazing acrobatics that involve alot of neck-craning in order to get a glimpse of the tube (incidentally, it's an excellent way to catch sight of that elusive neck).

We do not anticipate being one of those families that never lets their child watch TV -- we will indeed one day pacify him with Dora or Peep or The Wiggles. But at this point, Tai is not allowed to watch TV. Anytime he's in the room, the TV gets turned off. Our TVs actually pretty much stay off until after he's in bed for the night.

Somehow I didn't really think about my son's love of the television when I decided to take him to a movie last week. The Amherst Cinema has just started offering baby-friendly matinees once a week. So a bunch of my mommy friends and I went to see The Namesake (very good by the way, I recommend it).

As some of you may recall, I actually took Tai to the movies once before. But he was only about 6 weeks old at that point, so his movie-going experience consisted of sleeping, nursing, a little more sleeping, and then nursing some more.


But this time he wanted to watch the movie! After watching him nearly broke his neck trying to see the screen, which was direclty behind him, I gave in and turned him around 180 degrees. He sat contentedly on my lap and stared up at that big screen (the world's largest television, he must have been thinking) for about 45 solid minutes. Then it was time to nurse and go to sleep, just like old times. Yes, it briefly occurred to me that I should not "let" him watch the movie....but that proved downright impossible. And, letting him watch the movie kept him so damn quiet and happy that I couldn't resist (now I see why some parents sit their kids in front of the tube all afternoon).*

Incidentally, not everyone in the theater had a baby with them. Because they just started having these baby matinees, the general public was unaware that this particular showing of The Namesake would be interrupted by crying, delightful squealing, audible pooping, and the slurping-smacking sounds of nursing. Unfortunately, my friend actually ended up leaving 15 minutes into the movie because her baby was crying and the old couple (who else goes to the movies in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon but retirees?) seated in front of her gave her dirty looks.

What's most ridiculous about the Dirty Look Givers is that they ended up being some of the loudest people in the theater. Mr. Giver must have been hard of hearing because Mrs. Giver kept having the explain to him what was going on on screen.




* In fact, a friend of ours has already discovered this secret weapon. When baby sitting yesterday, she dosed him with Cartoon Network to calm down a fussy spell. Really, she just did it because she's trying to secure her spot as Favorite "Auntie".

To Minh

How many times have I heard you tell Tai that you love him?

At least a thousand,

Perhaps even more.

Peeking around the doorway at your son and making him laugh--

You clearly enjoy fatherhood.

Five and a half months ago, you became a daddy

And never looked back.

The days of sleeping late were gone in an instant, but you've never been

Happier to wake up at 6am than you are when Tai is giggling in our bed.

Even in the early days, when life was overwhelming, you were always

Ready to change a diaper, swaddle a blanket, pat out a burp, and then change another diaper--

Smiling through the exhaustion.

Days have turned into months; the time is flying by.

And soon those months will turn into years--

Years that I look forward to spending with you by my side.

Happy FIRST Father's Day. I love you.

Be Careful With Whom You Make Friends....

...Especially if they happen to be a Lactation Consultant. Because you might just get talked into doing something like this:


http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2007/06/the_carnival_of_1.html


Yes, that's my husband, lending his quirky sense of humor and unique writing style to what can be a pretty sappy (milky?) subject.

Summer Fun

If anyone reads this before 8pm tonight, check out my new favorite show (while Grey's Anatomy and Family Guy are re-running all summer).

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/creature_comforts/

It's actually even funnier than it sounds like it would be. All the jokes are visual, so you can't really do anything else while you are watching (put the knitting down, Cate!)

Parent of the Year, I am Not

It's just a matter of simple math......


Baby swing set to high speed
+ Hard plastic baby spoon clutched in Tai's fist
---------------------------------------------------------
Baby's first black eye

It's All About Timing

Anyone knows that the key to comedy is timing. And nobody seems to know this better than Tai. His comedic instinct became apparent during our trip to Texas. Friday evening, our plane had not been off the ground 10 minutes when he took a nice big poop. Unaware of the presence of a changing table in the plane's bathroom (we found out about that much later) we opted to change him right there at our seat. Luckily we were in a row of three seats, one of which was empty. (If anyone out there needs a reason to breastfeed, this type of situation would have been MUCH more embarrassing with stinky formula-poop).

After Tai and I skipped out on the first of three (yes, three!) wedding ceremonies on Sunday, we caught up with Minh and his family in the hotel conference room for the second event of the day. Tai was dressed up in his little khaki pants and sweater-vest and spent a good 45 minutes being held, kissed, and photographed by everyone in Minh's extended family. Then we all took our seats so that the Vietnamese wedding ceremony could begin. And Tai took another big shit. So, back up to the hotel room we went. And by the time we came back down, the short-and-sweet ceremony was over. He and I were batting 0 for 2 with wedding ceremonies.

This morning he took his comedy to a whole new level. We were due to be taken to the airport by a car service at 7:15am. So I was giving Tai a "last call" on milk in the lobby at about 7:05 when it happened again. That unmistakable noise emanated from his bottom and that oh-so-satisfied look spread across his face. Off to the lobby bathroom we went. I laid him out on this fancy glass table (hey, that's what they get for not providing a changing table!) and opened is diaper and found....nothing. And I swear he laughed when he saw the look on my face. He hasn't fooled me like that in months. I have a good ear and can always tell a poop from a fart. He must have worked really hard to make this one sound authentic.

So I closed him back up and we headed to the airport. Two hours later, and 15 minutes after take-off, you guessed it. The real deal this time. Once again we were fortunate to not be sitting with anyone else and we changed him right there. Again, I was thankful for the nearly-odorless breast milk poo. An hour later when Minh went to pee, he noticed a large changing table suspended over the toilet in the lavatory. Oh well, now we know for next time.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PS - For the record, Tai was truly amazing during the whole trip. He was calm and quiet for almost all of the 6 hours he spent in airplanes. And he was in good spirits at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding(s), despite being kept up way past his bedtime. Several people actually had to ask us if he EVER cries. We're so proud of him.

Separate Vacations

Minh, Tai, and I will be spending Memorial Day Weekend in Texas. Not by choice, not really. We have a wedding to go to. Otherwise, Dallas would never have made it onto our list of must-see vacation spots. Alaska? yes. Australia? yes. Viet Nam? yes. Dallas? not a chance. But here we are, preparing to visit the state with which you don't mess, or so they say. Most unfortunate is that this trip to a red state will be forever immortalized in Tai's baby book under the heading "first plane trip." The poor kid has to take his first vacation to Bush's home state.


Buttons, on the other hand, will be vacationing on beautiful Cape Cod this weekend with her dear friend Arrow. What with the R-I-D-E in the C-A-R and the long walks on the beach and ample opportunities to swim, she's going to have the time of her life. I just hope she behaves herself.


The kitties, homebodies that they are, will be holding down the fort in South Hadley and will be tended to by a feline-loving neighbor. For them, vacation is not about going somewhere exotic. It's about having the house all to themselves and being over-fed by the cat sitter.


We will all reunite next week and exchange vacation stories. I'm already looking forward to it.

A Rare Sighting

Once in a while, when the moon and the stars are aligned just right, and the chins and the cheeks are positioned just so, you can catch a fleeting glimpse of Tai's neck. I know it exists, for I saw it tonight.

Has Anyone Seen My Nipple?

Oh, that's right, lots of people have.

As I mentioned, last week Minh and Tai and I were the featured guests at a breastfeeding class. Despite being up past his bedtime and having to "perform" in front of an audience, Tai did a great job. All the women in the class gathered 'round to watch Tai demonstrate the proper way to latch on. For some reason, the men in the class hung back. Not sure why--maybe Minh shot them a quick "don't look at my wife's nipple" glare :)

We had fun answering their questions about giving birth, breastfeeding, pumping, etc. I think it was useful for them. And it was fun to see all those pregnant bellies and have everyone's face light up when we walked in with Tai.

We plan to do it again at the end of the month.

Beautiful Bulbs

Pictures cannot do it justice. I, of course, cannot get a picture of all 1200 bulbs. They, of course, did not bloom all at once. The crocuses are gone and even some of the daffodils have already passed. That said, here are a few pics to give you an idea of what it looks like around here:

First, here is our mailbox garden. There are supposed to be red tulips as well, but they did not do so well this year.

Next, the front of the house. The garden to the left of the door already existed but we added new bulbs. All the flowers to the right of the door are new this year.

Finally, the back woods. This is really hard to capture with the camera, but we have about 8 different clumps of daffodils scattered along our woodland path. (If you click on the pictures you can make them bigger to see the flowers better).

The Bar Has Been Set

Since Mother's Day comes before Father's Day, the pressure was on Minh to "set the bar" for gift-giving. I made it pretty clear that I expected some type of acknowledgement, but that he could decide whether to keep it simple (just a card) or do something fancier.

He, of course, spent the past few weeks making sure my expectations were nice and low. Each mention of Mother's Day was met with jokes like "oh, is that coming up?" and "do I have to get you something?" Funny, funny man.

When I woke up Sunday morning and found a card and small, gift-wrapped box on the kitchen counter I was immediately moved to tears. It didn't matter what was in the box....just that he did something. The card was perfect--a funny one, not all flowery and poetic. And his note inside was obviously written with thought and care. But imagine my complete and utter surprise when I discovered that the gift box contained channel-set diamond hoop earrings. Holy crap!

The day itself was really wonderful. Tai and I walked around Smith College while Minh did about an hour of work. Then we all went out to lunch and stopped for coffee and a cookie (and some milk for Tai) on the way home. It was really fun spending time as a family of three outside of the house and not at Costco.

The bar has indeed been set quite high. Now I have about a month to figure out how to reciprocate. I have only two ideas thus far -- one that costs MUCH less than my earrings and one that costs MUCH more. The much more one ain't gonna happen, I'll tell you that. I know it's not all about price and it's the thought that counts and all that crap, but Minh really did put alot of thought (and money!) into this gift so now the pressure's on to come up with something that he'll enjoy as much as I enjoyed my card, gift, and family outing.

Lessons Learned From Last Night's Dinner

1. Simmering cauliflower smells a lot like rotting garbage. Thankfully, it tastes better than it smells.

2. It is indeed possible to cook chicken over low heat in a crock-pot, with liquids, and still have it come out as dry and crumbly as wood shavings.

3. At this point in our lives, we'll eat pretty much anything.

All Things Hippy-Dippy

For those of you who don't know, the confluence of two factors in our lives has caused us to become all Pioneer Valley Hippy-Dippy. Specifically, Minh's new-found love of gardening and our recent foray into the sub-culture of natural childbirth worked together to make us decide to save, and plant, Tai's placenta.

Last night we purchased The Placenta Tree. It's a variety of Japanese Maple that will eventually be 6-10 feet tall. Right now it's only about 3 feet tall and very adorable in a Charlie-Brown-Christmas-Tree kind of way.

The placenta, of course, has been residing in our freezer since December. Our intention is to bury the placenta in the yard and then plant Tai's tree just next to it. The sentimentality behind it is that the placenta nourished Tai for 9 months and now it will nourish the tree. And that this one tree in our yard will always be "Tai's tree" and we can watch it grow as he grows. It doesn't hurt, either, that I've always wanted a Japanese Maple and that Minh is always searching for rich sources of Nitrogen for his garden :)

We're not quite ready to plant it yet, but we should be getting to that in the next month or so. Until then, the tree will live in its bucket, on the spot where it will eventually go (kind of like putting the goldfish in the bowl, but keeping it in the plastic bag for a while). The placenta will remain in the freezer until the big day. I'll post a picture of the tree once it's in the ground.

In other hippy-dippy news, we've somehow made friends with a local Lactation Consultant (yup, that's her job. She pretty much does what you'd imagine a Lactation Consultant would do, including teach breastfeeding classes at the hospital). Anyway, she has asked Minh and Tai and I to come to her next class to answer questions about breastfeeding and also give a live demo (assuming Tai is hungry). I'm pretty excited about it!! Breastfeeding (especially at first) is not as easy as you might think and I'm looking forward to sharing my experience with folks and giving them tips to help them succeed. I'm such a dork.

PS -- Coming Soon....pictures of bulbs in bloom!

Saturday night, around 3:30am, I stepped in a pile of cat vomit. Barefoot, of course. Squish.

Just wanted everyone to know that.

Tai-Pod

Our ipod (Poddles) was only about 3 years old when she died, tragically, last weekend. But in "ipod years" that is ancient, since they now come with color screens and play videos and all sorts of fancy shit. Still, our monochrome 20GB Poddles served us well until the day she died.

It was an accidental death, of course. At least that's what I'm told. I'm told this by the man who was hoping she would die (so he could get a fancy new one). The story I was given was that he accidentally left her sitting on the mailbox after doing yard work all day. And then he accidentally turned on the sprinklers. And then he accidentally forgot about poor Poddles for 10 solid minutes, by which time she was soaked.

Ipods and water don't mix.

Having owned Poddles for a few years, we've become dependent on her. So of course we needed to run right out and get a replacement. Poor Tai was lost without her. Bedtime just isn't the same without Transitions.

So yesterday, after 5 long days of mourning, Minh came home with our new little bundle of joy, Tai-Pod. He's slimmer than Poddles was and he has a color screen that can play videos. He holds 30GB. And he's black. We love him already.

What Stumps?

Last weekend, Minh took the next step in his continuing "war on trees." He and a neighbor of ours spent the whole day grinding tree stumps down to hide all evidence of the mass tree murder that took place last fall. Minh claims it has something to do with making the yard more usable and being able to plant flowers.

But really it was just an excuse to rent and use yet another giant tool -- The Stump Grinder. This tool is essentially a spinning disk with giant teeth that whittles the tree stumps down to nothing. Here it is in action.

It sounds easier than it was, though. I think it took them a good 30 minutes of serious manual labor to get each stump below ground level. And I think they did about 15 or 20 stumps between the two yards. It was a long day. Despite being alot of hard work that left the guys sore for days, this process actually seemed to work quite well.

Now you see a tree stump.....................















............................Now you don't!