Week one back at work

This week has been rough.  Apparently, I was so focused on getting us personally ready to go back to work for me, school for Audrey and for Meredith to start day care; that I forgot about making sure our house was ready to support those efforts.  So Audrey ran out of clean undies by day two, milk was gone by day three and the one freezer meal I had made was eaten quickly. 

Luckily, my job has *not* been the stressful part.  Right now I am not on any projects, so I just go to the corporate office everyday and work on all the company requirements that used to make my life miserable (because I did them late at night on the last day they were due as I never had time for them during the workday).  Now, it gives me something to do.  It doesn't seem like as much of a pain to download, learn and understand random computer programs when that is your entire job instead of last-minute late-night adventure.  I have also been reconnecting with old colleagues, updating my resume, and looking through open positions to try to find something that fits.  Eventually, I need to actually be a profit earning employee.  Embedded into this mix has been losing my badge, reconfiguring my computer and all kinds of other little issues to make the days more interesting.

School for Audrey has been wonderful.  Audrey loves the magic of childhood.  She was excited to reconnect with her friends and she has already made some new friends who love princesses as much as she does.  Unbeknownst to me, she brought a miniature magic wand to school yesterday and 'the princess club' buried it in the school yard during recess for the fairies.  She also left something under her pillow last night for the night time fairies (like the tooth fairy) to get while she was sleeping.  If I would have known I would have put something there instead for her. :)

Daycare is going less well for Meredith.  She likes playing and she has been taking short naps at the appropriate times, but she isn't fond of drinking from a cup for her milk and she is luke warm on their food.  One of the other kids bit her arm the second day.  And she cries like crazy when she finally sees me at the end of her day - like all the built up frustration and anxiety of a long day all comes out at once.  To top it off, she is sick with a fever today, so I am home with her this afternoon.  Ryan stayed with her this morning, so I could go into the office.

This week felt crazy and frantic, like I have too many things to keep track of, and not enough brain power, sleep and organizing power on hand to do any of it well.  I backed into a parked trailer at Meredith's daycare and I keep physically dropping things (computers, phones, my badge, keys, etc).  It is as if I am both physically and metaphorically juggling more than I can handle.  I am sure it will all smooth out and calm down.  In fact, I can already feel myself thinking through household stuff in a different way (I froze two quarts of lentil soup after we ate some for dinner yesterday, so that I will have a few healthy dinners on hand).  Little things like that will start to add up and things will start to run more smoothly.  I have to keep reminding myself that it will just take some time and patience (and a few deep breaths) and soon things will feel more calm again.

New shoes

These are one pair of my new shoes for going back to work - comfy red patent leather. The other pair is nice and sensible black leather loafers (snake skin leather though - I had to add a little pizzaz).

Favorite blog reads

Lately I have only had Internet access via my phone and iPad. This has limited the number of blogs that I visit and without realizing it I found my favorites.

My all time favorite is: http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/?m=1. Down to earth is the title. It is written by a 64 year old australian woman who decided to leave the corporate world and simplify her life so that she could make her home her life. She writes enthusiastic and wise posts on just about anything and everything. Her blog has been so successful that she has now written a book (which I hope makes it stateside soon) and sometimes writes for magazines and does radio interviews.

My other favorite is: http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/. Poise gets cozie is written by a designer in Oregon. I love her style and I recently did a cross stitch sampler kit of hers and loved it. I love her photography too. She has just a wonderful aesthetic.

Garden adventures

Last year I really wanted to start a garden. So I built a 4x4 box and made a lovely concoction of soil (following the square foot method) and compost and planted every square of my nice little grid. It grew like mad. However, as a big pregnant lady I didn't have the energy to go out to harvest or weed or really anything that involved me spending any extra time out in the heat and humidity towards the end of summer.

This year I vowed to do better. So my neighbor and I went to some local gardening classes in February and March and planned and plotted our gardens. We even shared a seed order to a local nursery.

But then when Audrey and I went out to plant it started raining so we quickly sowed a few seeds rather haphazardly. I intended to write down what we had planted and where but instead...

This year my garden has been full of fun surprises. The squash turned out to be cucumbers. The lettuce is perhaps kale. Things are still growing like mad but I'm just not sure what they all are. I may have some carrots but that could be parsnips as well. I am quite sure that when I am a more experienced gardener I will laugh heartily at this garden of surprises.

Conflicted

I will be starting back to work in less than a month. Part of me is excited about that. I always enjoy work and I derive a sense of satisfaction and self from my job (no matter what it is).

However, a bigger part of me feels a sense of gloom over leaving Meredith in someone else's care. It was easier with Audrey because she was twice as old and I left her in the care of her aunt first and then her dad.

I know Meredith will do well away from me. She is a happy curious baby who will love having others to play with and crawl over. I am just not so sure I will do well away from her. :)

Happy birthday project

My wonderful sister Claire sent me the coolest birthday present - a Lego model set to make my own Volkswagen van!

There are 160 pages of instructions and over 1300 pieces. I am amazed at the detail already. I just finished the engine. Here is my progress so far.

Thrifting

Today the girls and I went to a new thrift store in the area. I am trying to be a super frugal person and so I think I should shop primarily at thrift stores for clothes and other household things. However, in general I don't really like them. They are too much of a treasure hunt for my tastes. Same thing with places like tj maxx. It just seems like more work than it is worth.

Strangely I love antique stores and shows. I am trying to figure out the difference. I think it is the clothing aspect. I like looking at furniture and decorations and what not but not so much clothes or shoes.

Speaking of clothes... There are some things that I think should not be purchased second hand - under garments in general but thongs in particular. This store had a whole aisle of thongs - one side for women the other side for men. The thought of it still gives me the heebie jeebies, I wish I had taken a picture. As my mom would say different strokes for different folks...

Cooking skills

I am fortunate. My mom taught me how to cook. It was just something she included me in for as long as I can remember. It is one of those life skills that has served me well. While I am preparing food or reading through recipes I remember instances of making those foods together or watching her cook them. (thanks mom).

There have been others who taught me a lot too. Mary taught me how to make quiche. She used to make it in France all the time. Recently Margaret gave me a jar of herbs de Provence and I remembered Mary telling me how she used it in quiche all the time.

Quiche with herbs de Provence is now one of my go to meals when I have leftover bits of meats cheeses and veggies. (tonight we are having sausage and spinach quiche)

Even with all the wonderful culinary teachers in my life I am always learning and trying new things. Tonight I made the pie crust which I don't usually do. Lately I've been baking our bread and that has been fun to learn about yeast. I have also been brewing my own kombucha. Which is quite good and easy once you get it going. And that is my personal conclusion for most homemade foods. While they may seem intimidating at first, soon they are quite easy. And they taste amazing.

Mommy necklace

I just ordered this necklace to help with my fidgety feeder. I appreciate a good pinch or a wack in the face as much as anyone but every few hours by my sweet baby girl while she is eating is a little much. Hopefully this necklace will do the trick to help distract her. It is double wrapped in the photo but I used it single wrapped while feeding her just minutes ago. She loved the necklace and was rubbing her eyes with it.

Expired

Yesterday I went to put some holiday placemats away in my black hutch. It was a tight squeeze so I looked to see what was behind the holiday linens. It was an entire food storage kit sealed in #10 cans that we have had for 10 years. The expiration dates were years since past. I threw them all out and wondered about the rest of my pantry.

I cleaned that out today. The oldest thing I threw out (condensed milk) expired in 1999. That means I moved it from college with me. I only make one thing with condensed milk - fudge. And I only make fudge every few years. Which explains the two other expired cans that I also threw out.

Note to self: I do not need to store condensed milk. I can purchase it as needed. :)

Cloth Diapering

My sister Elena asked me about my cloth diaper system. As anyone who actually uses cloth diapers knows, it truly is a system - and it is constantly changing. Since I wanted to post write my thoughts on the various cloth diapers anyway, I will answer her question with this post.

With Audrey, I used fuzzibunz perfect size diapers. They work really well - they kept her dry and fit well. We never had blowouts and we rarely had leaks, when we did, it was our fault for leaving the diaper on too long. However, I *really* do not like the pockets for every diaper use - where you have to stuff an absorbent layer into the diaper and then pull it out to wash it. (I do still think they are good for night time, to be able to add an extra layer of absorbency and let the baby sleep dry all night long.)

Before Meredith was born, I decided that I was willing to do a two piece system (old school diaper and a cover) rather than stuffing. I went to the local diaper store (I am so glad we have one nearby), Abby's Lane (highly recommend using them online too - free shipping, fast processing, discounts/promos with email newsletter, points towards anything with every order), to see what my options were. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are lots of options and that the covers now have snaps (or velcro (called aplex?)) and pins are not really needed. I bought a couple of newborn sized covers (which never fit my newborn who weighed over 10 lbs at birth) and a few hemp/cotton prefold diapers (think old school but better fabric) and considered myself ready. We ended up using disposables for her first few weeks instead because the newborn size did not fit her and the fuzzibunz we had did not accommodate her umbilical cord.

So I headed back to Abby's lane and found thirsties! I loved them. The diapers and the covers snap. The covers have gusseted legs that never blowout - so nice after having blowouts all the time with disposables. The diapers are so soft - a cotton velour on the outside and a soft micro fleece on the inside, are super absorbent, fit well, and they have this tunnel design that helps them dry quickly. Just awesome. However, having to snap both the diaper and the cover at every changing takes more time than my squirming baby will hold still for. I wished there was some sort of all in one option.

Lucky me, there are lots of all in one (AIO) diaper options. As Meredith started to grow out of her size 1 diapers at 3 months (that are supposed to last through 9 months, btw) I ordered two different AIOs to try - bumgenius freetime and grovia. The grovia is all cotton on the inside and that stays wet against the skin - I don't like that so much. The bumgenius freetime is awesome. It has the micro fleece against the skin, so it stays dry. It is possibly the perfect diaper. Thirsties just came out with an AIO of their own and I ordered one today. I have high hopes because I like the thirsties fit on Meredith better than the bumgenius fit (and they are cheaper than all the other AIOs on the market to boot!).

My system... I get a couple of thirsties wipes (love these guys) wet with water in the sink before I change Meredith. After I change her diaper, I put both the used diaper and wipe into a zip up bag (wet/dry type) that hangs on her changing table and put the new diaper on her - pretty standard stuff. I wash it all including the bag in hot water every morning. I never have to touch any messiness, I just turn the bag out into the washer and add 1 Tablespoon Rockin Green laundry soap. Then I do an additional hot rinse. I throw it all in the dryer and usually hang them (from a little octopus laundry dryer) until I use them, just to make sure every thing gets lots of air.

My system is always evolving with minor adjustments all the time. I plan to try homemade laundry soap rather than Rockin Green once I run out of it. I like the Rockin Green, but it is expensive. Also, I would like to line dry all of it - right now I do not have enough diapers to do that. I would also like to do the wash every other day, but again, that requires more diapers. I still like the diapers and cover system, and I use that to supplement the AIOs.

Finally

I did it! Almost three months after Meredith's birth and I finally went jogging for the first time. It felt awesome.

I have a new jogging stroller and I tried to use it last week but Meredith *hated* it do much that I had to turn around and bring her back. Today I went sans baby - just me and Audrey - because my mom is here for the holidays and was happy to watch her while I went. Also I got some great new gear that helped. I got a new pair of asics gel kayano 17 shoes, fancy compression socks and a muscle roller for afterwards. Those 3 things made a world of difference. Hopefully this is the first of many good runs to come.

Cool knitting project

Well I need a new project, like I need another hole in the head, so I am not starting this, but if I ever have a whole bunch of sock weight yarn around....

http://tinyowlknits.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/the-beekeepers-quilt/

What can I say, I love patchwork and I love hexagons and this is both in one - perfection!

Also, I am 36 and 1/2 weeks along...

32 weeks and counting...

I think we are past the point of no return, we are going to be surprised for this baby.

The pregnancy is moving along beautifully. Aside from it being hot and a bit miserable nearly every time I step outside, I feel good. I am eating well, drinking lots of water, milk and prenatal tea and trying to get lots of sleep.

I am going to have the baby at a birthcenter with midwives instead of at the hospital and I am super excited for that. I might even do a waterbirth, since each birth room has a huge and deep tub.

Also, we are planning on doing cloth diapers the whole time with this little one. And the cloth diapers these days are so cute. I am hesitant to get too gender specific just yet, but once I can, I am going to get some really cute covers. You can see my neutral favorites at: http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/31O8DXJU4ZZ3U

Oh, baby

I am due 8 September. Somewhere between 16 week and 20 is typical for a healthy baby ultra-sound check up. I was traveling then, so I went in at 21 weeks. The baby looked healthy, but was crossing his/her legs and was laying on its back, so the doctor could not see the spine. Three weeks later, I got my second chance to learn the sex. Today the baby had the umbilical cord between his/her legs, so again, the technician could not confirm boy or girl. "If I had to guess, I would say it is a girl," said the technician. Truly, not that helpful.

Triathalete

Today I did my first triathalon ever!! And it was in the snow, which is not the normal way to do a tri and my cheeks are wind/frost bitten from it. This one started with a run and I was in the last wave, which meant we saw the fast people on their bikes before we even got to the starting line. The run was my easiest most enjoyable part. I happened to match up with another lady who had the same pace as me and we stuck together for the run. We weren't super chatty, but it was still nice. Then the transition area, quick drink of water, put on the helmet, grab the bike and run the bike to the bike start line where you are allowed to mount. The bike part was hard, the wind was so cold and going fast mad it colder. It was basically flat though, so it was easy enough. However, bike seats and my butt do not get along. I was sore (like bruised sore) right away, luckily it was cold, so that helped numb the pain in my butt. After that it was back to the transition area where you put your bike, helmet and strip down to your swim suit, put on your swim cap and goggles and run (in bare feet) to the pool. In this case the pavement was so cold, I really did run. Then it was a snaked pool where each lane is only one direction and when you get to the end of the lane, you go under the lane divide and go down the next lane. I expected the swim to be my easiest/most comfortable event. I swim several times a week in the mornings and the distance of 10 laps is my standard distance before I stop and get a drink and then do 10 more laps. So I really thought this was going to be fairly easy. What I didn't count on was that my legs were not really functioning very well. They were tired, so I didn't notice that I was hardly kicking. I had to stop a couple of times at the end of the lane to rest. At one rest, a coach who had just finished helping one woman out of the water early (she had muscle cramps and just couldn't finish) walked over and asked me how it was going. I said, it was going, I was just catching my breath. He said, make sure you use your legs, they will make it easier, I noticed you were not kicking much. I thanked him for the solid advice and finished the rest of the swim without much incident. When I climbed out of the pool and walked across the finish line, boy was I tired, but you could not wipe the smile off my face. I was so proud of myself. I just finished my first triathalon, I did it in the snow and I did it four months pregnant. I had a banana, a cup of water and a couple of mandarin oranges before I hit the shower. I got to the car and had a cup of maple yogurt and coconut water (great electrolytes, not gross like gatorade). Now I am tired, and my poor butt hurts when I sit down, but I am so damn happy I did it.

Composting

Since I set my garden resolution I have been diligently saving all fruit and vegetable scraps and putting them into my new composter. Hopefully it will work well for this year, but if not, it will no doubt be extremely useful for next year.

Ryan has been less enthusiastic about the garden goal since he realized it includes a bowl of rotting produce on the counter (his words not mine). I think he will come around when we actually start harvesting gardeny deliciousness.

Goal for 2011

I have one goal for 2011 - to have a garden. In my neighborhood, you are supposed to either have a fence or get your "landscaping" approved. I have been putting off the garden for years due to lack of a fence, but now, I have decided that I am just going to try it anyway. The worst that can happen is they tell me to get approval from my neighbors and/or tell me to get a fence.

Audrey and I have been talking about our plans and what we want to grow. I am going to do a raised bed for our first garden. I already know my backyard soil is bad and this way it will be fairly simple to put up some chicken wire around the garden to protect it from furry friends who may want to taste test the goods. It should be a fun project!

Kitchen Antics

Recently, we have been eating out less and less. I love it. We eat better and healthier. Also, I have been shopping more at Wegmans because I can get a whole bunch of different veggies. The result is, our grocery bill is fairly high, but we have been eating so well.

Right now we have soup in the crockpot - white bean, sausage and kale.

Also, I am trying my hand at homemade ginger ale. It takes about 2 weeks before it is ready. Hopefully in time for New Year's Day.

swimming goals

The other day I was reading some blogs/fitness articles about new swimmers and a how to do a swimming training schedule. I have never given much thought to improving my swimming endurance. I have just been thinking along the lines of learning how to breath on each side, do the stroke correctly, etc. Now I do not mean to imply that I have even mastered these basics - I am still learning for sure. But the articles that I read made me think that I should focus my morning swims on distance as well as skills so that I can build my endurance.

With that in mind I went to the pool this morning and did 11 laps (down and back) total (550 yds or meters (I'm not sure of the what the pool length is measured in)). So this will be my baseline. It took me the whole 30 minutes, but I do rest between laps. For the last lap, I didn't stop at all on the down and back doing the freestyle - that is a first for me!

For those who may be worried that they will unknowingly break some pool rules, they are actually pretty easy (common sense, not like bowling etiquette). Stay in your own lane (assuming you have a whole lane to yourself); if you do have to share - try to pick the lane that has someone of a similar skill level as you to share with; if you share a lane, stay on your side the whole time (not like a race track); don't talk to people - nobody talks when they swim and if they are resting, they are probably about to start up again; when you go for the ladder and have to cross others lanes, try to be as minimally disruptive as possible, as in try to cross while they are at the other end of the pool. Anyone else know of any other pool rules?