My week has gotten off to a rocky start, although the second half is certainly looking up. On Monday I was very shocked and saddened by the shootings at Virginia Tech. Although I am usually aware and empathetic to things like this in the news, this event hit me very hard for some reason. I know that I am extremely hormonal from the pregnancy, and that has something to do with my heightened emotions, but what kept running through my mind is "How do you explain this sort of thing to a child?" My focus has shifted from Jake and myself being the center of my universe to Mason, and the fact that we are bringing someone into a world that at times defies logic and explanation. I know we have a few years before we'll have to answer the hard questions, but it has really given me pause the past few days.
As if Monday was not emotionally draining enough, Tuesday was worse. On Tuesday I lost my job with Albertsons. I was laid off due to a restructure that caught us all by surprise. I am still a bit stunned by the whole turn of events. I was a total wreck for 24 hours and then we went to the doctor and he said that my blood pressure was high, my heart rate was high and I had lost weight and that if I didn't calm down I could have this baby right away. I knew that my stress was affecting Mason, but hearing it from the doctor made me try even harder to get a handle on things. I don't want Mason to be stressed or feel that he is stressing me out, so I have a much brighter outlook today. I also know that everything will work out just the way it should, and more than likely better than it was. I do have to praise Jake for his amazing patience and his knack for always saying the right thing at the right time. I woke him up at least 5 times Tuesday night crying and he was up with me every time calming down until I fell asleep again. He's going to be such a good dad!
So now it's Thursday and I feel much better about things, haven't cried in almost 24 hours, and I am looking so forward to having a baby! I certainly have time on my hands to get things ready for him!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
A Lovely Shower
My dear friends Sunny and Dana hosted a baby shower for me the weekend before last. Everyone told us to wait until after the shower to buy anything for the baby because we would receive a lot of the essentials we would need. Well that was an understatement! We have the most generous friends and family and now have a fully stocked nursery just waiting for baby Mason to grace its presence. It was so great to have my grandma there and the whole affair was very classy. We didn't play any cheesy games at all and the food was to die for! I thank Sunny and Dana from the bottom of my heart for being such great friends.
In other baby news, we took our childbirthing classes a couple of weekends ago. I sat there enthralled with the information that was being presented as Jake was thumbing through the manual we were given. He says "Yeah, I learned all this in 8th grade Health". What? I don't recall my health class going into much detail about childbirth, and I probably wasn't listening anyway. Anyway, I got a lot of useful information out of the classes and now I am fully educated and ready to have a baby. Hopefully we won't have to have a C-section though as we both decided that we would rather have lunch at Johnny Carino's than sit through that portion of class.
Here are some pics from the shower...
A Diaper Cake Made By Dana
Dana, Sunny and Donna (who lent us her house)
Look how comfortable that baby is with me!
Me and My Grandma Wood
Me and My Mother
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Someplace New!
Last week I had to go to Spokane, Washington for some meetings. I had never been to Spokane and was excited to see a new city. It seemed as though everyone I encountered had been there and about 80% of people who had spent any time there said it was not very nice. The words "dump" and "dive" were used. Needless to say my expectations were low. Perhaps that is why I was so pleasantly surprised. I really liked Spokane! It has a whole bunch of trees, doesn't seem too big and the best part is the downtown area. It has a huge river and falls running down the middle of it and as a dam enthusiest I could hardly control my excitement. I also learned that the Grand Coulee dam, which is the largest concrete structure in the United States, is just a short drive away! Fantastic!
Speaking of driving, my only option for vehicles was a minivan, which I never really warmed up to. I don't see the allure. Anyway, for some reason my internal compass has been thrown off (I blame the baby) and I was constantly lost. I mean, there is only one freeway but for some reason I got my east and west all mixed up. This is not normal for me and I didn't like it one bit. I was trying to get back to my hotel, and the next thing I knew I was in Coeur d' Alene (is this the most difficult city in the country to spell?). For those of you not aware, this city is in Idaho, 40 miles from Spokane. I had to call Jake because I used to make fun of him when he would zone out on the way home from LA and end up in Mexico. Anyway, lucky for me I had nowhere to be and I had never seen Coeur d' Alene, which happens to be very beautiful. So it was kind of a two for one.
Spokane is definitely a place I would like to revisit with Jake. It appeared to be a very lovely city with plenty to do. Although when I returned and told my secretary about it she said "oh, so the hundreds of meth addicts hanging out downtown didn't bother you?" Um, either I missed them entirely or I was not actually in Spokane, which is a real possibility.
Speaking of driving, my only option for vehicles was a minivan, which I never really warmed up to. I don't see the allure. Anyway, for some reason my internal compass has been thrown off (I blame the baby) and I was constantly lost. I mean, there is only one freeway but for some reason I got my east and west all mixed up. This is not normal for me and I didn't like it one bit. I was trying to get back to my hotel, and the next thing I knew I was in Coeur d' Alene (is this the most difficult city in the country to spell?). For those of you not aware, this city is in Idaho, 40 miles from Spokane. I had to call Jake because I used to make fun of him when he would zone out on the way home from LA and end up in Mexico. Anyway, lucky for me I had nowhere to be and I had never seen Coeur d' Alene, which happens to be very beautiful. So it was kind of a two for one.
Spokane is definitely a place I would like to revisit with Jake. It appeared to be a very lovely city with plenty to do. Although when I returned and told my secretary about it she said "oh, so the hundreds of meth addicts hanging out downtown didn't bother you?" Um, either I missed them entirely or I was not actually in Spokane, which is a real possibility.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Jake's thoughts on being a Dad:
Poop filled diapers will be gross
Knowing he works will be pleasing
Urinating on himself, me, the changing table and anything else in range will be gross
~Recognizing that he is so helplessly out of control that even the basics are too difficult for him
~Knowing that I am charged with his safekeeping and knowing that I will be there to teach him all the basics throughout the rest of his life
Drooling on everything and anything will be gross
~What can I say, it is just gross
Dripping snot 24 hours a day will be gross
~Ditto
Watching everything on the floor eventually find its way in Mason’s mouth will be gross
~Watching his curiosity lead to exploration and eventually lead to learning could give me no more joy
Cleaning a scabby umbilical stump will be gross
~One of the many scars of life that I will help to heal
Hearing my newborn child screaming at max volume will be hard
~Hearing my son take a breath for the first time and cry will be my crowning achievement in my life
I don’t know you yet Mason but I know I will love you and everything about you. I will see you soon but it won’t be soon enough.
Dad
As promised here is the long awaited belly picture!!!
Knowing he works will be pleasing
Urinating on himself, me, the changing table and anything else in range will be gross
~Recognizing that he is so helplessly out of control that even the basics are too difficult for him
~Knowing that I am charged with his safekeeping and knowing that I will be there to teach him all the basics throughout the rest of his life
Drooling on everything and anything will be gross
~What can I say, it is just gross
Dripping snot 24 hours a day will be gross
~Ditto
Watching everything on the floor eventually find its way in Mason’s mouth will be gross
~Watching his curiosity lead to exploration and eventually lead to learning could give me no more joy
Cleaning a scabby umbilical stump will be gross
~One of the many scars of life that I will help to heal
Hearing my newborn child screaming at max volume will be hard
~Hearing my son take a breath for the first time and cry will be my crowning achievement in my life
I don’t know you yet Mason but I know I will love you and everything about you. I will see you soon but it won’t be soon enough.
Dad
As promised here is the long awaited belly picture!!!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
The 2 Month Countdown
On Saturday we will be 2 months from Mason's due date, but who's really counting? A couple of weeks ago I was nearly on bed rest because of a pinched nerve and overall back pain. After 5 straight days of chiropractor and an extremely painful massage, I started to feel better and now I am just going to the chiropractor once a week and getting an extremely painful massage once a week. Things are definitely looking up. You never know how great you've got it until you don't have it so great anymore.
With the weather being so warm and pleasant we are looking forward to our summer of baby love! Jake started painting the nursery and this weekend we will put up a wallpaper border and the crib. I think it is also time to take some belly pics as I am now very obviously pregnant. This has been manifested to me several times in the past week, most notably when I went to register for baby items at Target and Babies R Us. Other mothers will say "is this your first?" and then give me more advice on everything from the actual birthing process to what kind of high chair I should buy. So far I don't mind it at all because everyone on the planet knows more about children than I do. Plus I know all I have to say is "no, this is actually our ninth, can you believe it?" to stop the advice.
Last Friday was the 4th anniversary of our first date, which took place at the Olive Garden on Sports Arena Boulevard in San Diego. We have eaten at the Olive Garden every year since and though we eat there often, it's always different on March 2 because we talk about that first date and how far we have come since then. Good times.
This weekend we will post nursery and belly pics for all to see!
With the weather being so warm and pleasant we are looking forward to our summer of baby love! Jake started painting the nursery and this weekend we will put up a wallpaper border and the crib. I think it is also time to take some belly pics as I am now very obviously pregnant. This has been manifested to me several times in the past week, most notably when I went to register for baby items at Target and Babies R Us. Other mothers will say "is this your first?" and then give me more advice on everything from the actual birthing process to what kind of high chair I should buy. So far I don't mind it at all because everyone on the planet knows more about children than I do. Plus I know all I have to say is "no, this is actually our ninth, can you believe it?" to stop the advice.
Last Friday was the 4th anniversary of our first date, which took place at the Olive Garden on Sports Arena Boulevard in San Diego. We have eaten at the Olive Garden every year since and though we eat there often, it's always different on March 2 because we talk about that first date and how far we have come since then. Good times.
This weekend we will post nursery and belly pics for all to see!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
A Lesson Learned
Suffice it to say we are extremely busy people. Several people have been reminding us that we haven't blogged and we hear your cries! I was in Oregon every day last week, but on 3 separate trips. Had I known I would have to be there all week I would have just stayed there, as opposed to flying home in between. From my travels last week I learned a valuable lesson, and perhaps taught one.
I wanted desparately to make the last flight out of Portland on Friday night so I didn't have to spend half of my weekend away from home. I was in Eugene in meetings and had to drive 2 hours to get to the airport. I made the decision to not gas up my rental car and just turn it in. It cost me $74 to rent a car for 2 full days, but the fact that I failed to fill the car cost $127. I was more than a little shocked. I mean, I knew it would be something ridiculous but I had no idea it would be that much. To make matters worse, there was already a half a tank of gas and my flight ended up being delayed for an hour.
On to story two. While in Portland I decided to go to Pizza Hut for lunch. It was late afternoon so I was the only person in the restaurant after what appeared to be a lunch rush since every table was dirty. While I was sitting at my table reading the newspaper, the two servers started to clean off the tables. They are on opposite sides of the restaurant but having a conversation, I am sitting somewhere in between. They are both 19 years old. One says to the other "Why did you decide to move here again?" Other says "Because Boise is the most horrible place on Earth". Of course my ears perk up a bit and I hear the following tidbits over the next 20 minutes:
"Everyone from Boise thinks they are better than everyone else and they are so rude"
"Boise is stuck in the 50's, there is never anything exciting going on"
"Seriously, the people there are from hell"
and my personal favorite...
"I just had to get away to some place that was more friendly to pot smokers"
Now, this young lady easily elaborated for a full 5 minutes about how horrible every single person in Boise is and told other young lady that she would be hard pressed to find more rude people in any other city in the world (I love the exaggerations of teenagers). The other girl says "Wow, remind me to never visit Boise in my life, it sounds horrible!"
After listening to this my entire meal and laughing to myself I went up to the counter to pay. I paid with a credit card and lucky for me, the girl who hates all things from Boise asks to see my ID. As she sees the IDAHO in big blue letters I see the color drain from her face. And when she sees that I am from Boise, the look on her face can only be described as priceless. For some reason she starts stuttering and punching the wrong numbers on the credit card machine and looking for her little friend. She prints the receipt and gives it to me to sign. I add a $10 tip for a $6 bill and hand it back to her. She says "Don't you mean a dollar?" and I said "No, actually I meant ten dollars, maybe this will make you think twice before saying that every person from Boise is from hell". I was super nice, not irritated at all. She just looked at me and said "Thank you so much, I am sooooo sorry!"
I had to go to the bathroom before I left and I heard her tell the other girl the story. After her initial shock and "What are the chances? There was one person in the restaurant!" exclamation, the girl told her what I said about thinking twice about people from Boise. She replied "Oh my gosh, you better! That's 10 freaking bucks!"
So I hope that when my nameless friend at the Pizza Hut in Gresham, Oregon starts to rant about Boise, a city I had no idea I had grown so attached to until a random teenager started dissing on it, she will remember me and how I bought her off with $10 and a smile.
I wanted desparately to make the last flight out of Portland on Friday night so I didn't have to spend half of my weekend away from home. I was in Eugene in meetings and had to drive 2 hours to get to the airport. I made the decision to not gas up my rental car and just turn it in. It cost me $74 to rent a car for 2 full days, but the fact that I failed to fill the car cost $127. I was more than a little shocked. I mean, I knew it would be something ridiculous but I had no idea it would be that much. To make matters worse, there was already a half a tank of gas and my flight ended up being delayed for an hour.
On to story two. While in Portland I decided to go to Pizza Hut for lunch. It was late afternoon so I was the only person in the restaurant after what appeared to be a lunch rush since every table was dirty. While I was sitting at my table reading the newspaper, the two servers started to clean off the tables. They are on opposite sides of the restaurant but having a conversation, I am sitting somewhere in between. They are both 19 years old. One says to the other "Why did you decide to move here again?" Other says "Because Boise is the most horrible place on Earth". Of course my ears perk up a bit and I hear the following tidbits over the next 20 minutes:
"Everyone from Boise thinks they are better than everyone else and they are so rude"
"Boise is stuck in the 50's, there is never anything exciting going on"
"Seriously, the people there are from hell"
and my personal favorite...
"I just had to get away to some place that was more friendly to pot smokers"
Now, this young lady easily elaborated for a full 5 minutes about how horrible every single person in Boise is and told other young lady that she would be hard pressed to find more rude people in any other city in the world (I love the exaggerations of teenagers). The other girl says "Wow, remind me to never visit Boise in my life, it sounds horrible!"
After listening to this my entire meal and laughing to myself I went up to the counter to pay. I paid with a credit card and lucky for me, the girl who hates all things from Boise asks to see my ID. As she sees the IDAHO in big blue letters I see the color drain from her face. And when she sees that I am from Boise, the look on her face can only be described as priceless. For some reason she starts stuttering and punching the wrong numbers on the credit card machine and looking for her little friend. She prints the receipt and gives it to me to sign. I add a $10 tip for a $6 bill and hand it back to her. She says "Don't you mean a dollar?" and I said "No, actually I meant ten dollars, maybe this will make you think twice before saying that every person from Boise is from hell". I was super nice, not irritated at all. She just looked at me and said "Thank you so much, I am sooooo sorry!"
I had to go to the bathroom before I left and I heard her tell the other girl the story. After her initial shock and "What are the chances? There was one person in the restaurant!" exclamation, the girl told her what I said about thinking twice about people from Boise. She replied "Oh my gosh, you better! That's 10 freaking bucks!"
So I hope that when my nameless friend at the Pizza Hut in Gresham, Oregon starts to rant about Boise, a city I had no idea I had grown so attached to until a random teenager started dissing on it, she will remember me and how I bought her off with $10 and a smile.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Weekend Update
There really isn't a whole lot shakin' in our neck of the woods. It has become painfully obvious that I am pregnant. I have this horrible pain in my ribs, which I am told is the inflammation of the cartilage between my ribs. The doctor says it is very common during pregnancy. Normal course of action would be an anti-inflammatory, but because of my altered state I am left with nothing but a heating pad, which does absolutely nothing. I was feeling concerned yesterday because it was so bad I could hardly move or breathe so Jake googled it and found about 100 posts from pregnant women with exactly the same problem. I was relieved and actually feel a little better today.
On Saturday we got up and did some cleaning, which is something we do every Saturday. I love it (there is something so satisfying about cleaning), Jake not so much, but he plays along. After cleaning we decided to reward ourselves with dinner and a movie. We went to see Casino Royale, which was good for a Bond flick, but so long! Then we went to Red Lobster for dinner and Baskin Robbins for dessert. We should probably do this sort of thing more often as I suppose we will not be so free in the near future. During the loud parts of the movie, Mason was moving around in a frenzy and I envisioned him covering his little ears. I decided then and there that a movie is no place for a baby, for several reasons.
Yesterday was uneventful, I laid on the couch all day and Jake did some homework. I declared that I was officially annoyed with being pregnant and after I sent Jake to the grocery store alone he declared that he too was officially annoyed with me being pregnant. I do appreciate his willingness to go to the store and I tried to look the other way when he brought home a $4 gallon of milk.
On Saturday we got up and did some cleaning, which is something we do every Saturday. I love it (there is something so satisfying about cleaning), Jake not so much, but he plays along. After cleaning we decided to reward ourselves with dinner and a movie. We went to see Casino Royale, which was good for a Bond flick, but so long! Then we went to Red Lobster for dinner and Baskin Robbins for dessert. We should probably do this sort of thing more often as I suppose we will not be so free in the near future. During the loud parts of the movie, Mason was moving around in a frenzy and I envisioned him covering his little ears. I decided then and there that a movie is no place for a baby, for several reasons.
Yesterday was uneventful, I laid on the couch all day and Jake did some homework. I declared that I was officially annoyed with being pregnant and after I sent Jake to the grocery store alone he declared that he too was officially annoyed with me being pregnant. I do appreciate his willingness to go to the store and I tried to look the other way when he brought home a $4 gallon of milk.
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