This morning I saw some old friends I have not seen since before I was pregnant. "She is planning get-togethers before noon?!", you are thinking. Not you guys! No, I'm talking about some old friends at the back of the closet-my jeans! And today I am celebrating finally fitting in to them! :) Despite having a huge appetite all the time and going to the gym only 1 or 2 times a week instead of the suggested 3, I have somehow managed to reconfigure the fat in my body so that less of it is around my abdomen, and now they fit!! You have no idea how exited
I am about this. I'm not ready to go on a shopping spree yet (my wallet's on a diet as well) but at least I'm not rotating the same 5 outfits endlessly.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Lauren's Song
(Caution, barfing ahead if you don't think babies are adorable and wouldn't sing to one!)
Here is Lauren's Song. She looks at us anticipating until we get to the word "rose" and then she breaks out into a big grin and giggle. =)
Teeny tiny toes
Little button nose
Everywhere she goes
Everybody knows
She's pretty as a ROSE
Pretty as a rose in bloom
Lauren makes the cars go zoom
Lifts the people's doom and gloom
She's got...
(repeat)
Here is Lauren's Song. She looks at us anticipating until we get to the word "rose" and then she breaks out into a big grin and giggle. =)
Teeny tiny toes
Little button nose
Everywhere she goes
Everybody knows
She's pretty as a ROSE
Pretty as a rose in bloom
Lauren makes the cars go zoom
Lifts the people's doom and gloom
She's got...
(repeat)
Friday, June 09, 2006
Bye-Bye Sanny G
Wah! Last night we took a walk to downtown Culver City and San Gennaro was closed! It was a complete shock to us. We were just there a few weeks ago and had no clue that the end was near. They have another location in Brentwood, which is still open, but they lost their lease in the Culver City location. I called the Brentwood location to get the
scoop and they said their last day was on May 15th. We were just there on something like May 10th!
It was my favorite restaurant for awhile because they have a huge
menu, I could walk there easily, and the ambiance was nice. They had
live music and big wine list and great apple martinis. They also had
2 for 1 pizza on Monday nights, which was usually decent and once in
awhile was absolutely scrumptious (depending on the chef that night).
We hadn't been there for awhile, other than the recent visit, because
they had a "B" in the window. (Out of towners-instead of closing
restaurants for health violations, around here they grade restaurants
and post signs in the window with "A", "B" or "C". Since they didn't
have an "A", that meant they had rats or roaches or some other
violation that gives me the creeps thinking about so I avoid those
restaurants whenever possible.)
The Brentwood location has the same menu (and an "A" in the window!)
but a completely different ambiance and no live entertainment (that I
know of). It's also 5 miles away, not 5 seconds away. I guess we
will go there if we're at the Barrington dog park sometime in winter
when we can leave Jake in the car, but probably not very much other
than that. The parking situation there is bad. It's just not the
same as having a neighborhood hangout nearby.
There are a BUNCH of other new restaurants in downtown Culver City
though. A new one, Ugo, just opened up days ago. We tried to go but
there was a 20 minute wait, so we just got Greek food instead at
Daphne's. Harrison Ford's son Ben opened up Ford's Filling Station,
which we haven't tried yet. Ryan attempted to go for lunch on a
weekend but they weren't open then. There are SO many restaurants
within walking distance of us. I love it! It reminds me of being in
Rome, especially because they all seem to have sidewalk dining. I
can't imagine moving to another part of the city where I couldn't walk
to all of these restaurants, shops, art galleries and businesses. Not
to mention Trader Joe's! I love that my bank and my gym are so close
and that when I was on maternity leave I didn't have to get in my car
very much to do errands.
scoop and they said their last day was on May 15th. We were just there on something like May 10th!
It was my favorite restaurant for awhile because they have a huge
menu, I could walk there easily, and the ambiance was nice. They had
live music and big wine list and great apple martinis. They also had
2 for 1 pizza on Monday nights, which was usually decent and once in
awhile was absolutely scrumptious (depending on the chef that night).
We hadn't been there for awhile, other than the recent visit, because
they had a "B" in the window. (Out of towners-instead of closing
restaurants for health violations, around here they grade restaurants
and post signs in the window with "A", "B" or "C". Since they didn't
have an "A", that meant they had rats or roaches or some other
violation that gives me the creeps thinking about so I avoid those
restaurants whenever possible.)
The Brentwood location has the same menu (and an "A" in the window!)
but a completely different ambiance and no live entertainment (that I
know of). It's also 5 miles away, not 5 seconds away. I guess we
will go there if we're at the Barrington dog park sometime in winter
when we can leave Jake in the car, but probably not very much other
than that. The parking situation there is bad. It's just not the
same as having a neighborhood hangout nearby.
There are a BUNCH of other new restaurants in downtown Culver City
though. A new one, Ugo, just opened up days ago. We tried to go but
there was a 20 minute wait, so we just got Greek food instead at
Daphne's. Harrison Ford's son Ben opened up Ford's Filling Station,
which we haven't tried yet. Ryan attempted to go for lunch on a
weekend but they weren't open then. There are SO many restaurants
within walking distance of us. I love it! It reminds me of being in
Rome, especially because they all seem to have sidewalk dining. I
can't imagine moving to another part of the city where I couldn't walk
to all of these restaurants, shops, art galleries and businesses. Not
to mention Trader Joe's! I love that my bank and my gym are so close
and that when I was on maternity leave I didn't have to get in my car
very much to do errands.
"The Crap"
I call The Gap, "The Crap" now because of how their clothes wear out.
In mid-April I went to the Gap Outlet to get some elastic-waisted
clothes (not willing to buy post-maternity clothes in plus sizes to
only wear for a few weeks!). I forgot my anti-Gap stance (bad
sweatshop exploiters) in my delight at seeing the cheap prices. You
get what you pay for. Now less than 2 months later, the clothes are
absolutely falling apart. The black pants have faded to a brownish
gray color, the elastic on the skirt is so stretched that I could get
pregnant again and wear them until the due date (in fact it is too big
to wear without the danger of mooning someone!) and all the clothes
are pilling.
The weird thing is, we've received Baby Gap gifts as gifts for Lauren
and they're holding up just fine. Maybe it's the gentle washing with baby
detergent. They look very cute and are practically designed. As Ryan
says "Made BY and FOR babies!". I can only hope they are less
sweat-shop-tastic now than in my college days, because I like their
kids' clothes. But forget about their adult stuff. The CRAP!
In mid-April I went to the Gap Outlet to get some elastic-waisted
clothes (not willing to buy post-maternity clothes in plus sizes to
only wear for a few weeks!). I forgot my anti-Gap stance (bad
sweatshop exploiters) in my delight at seeing the cheap prices. You
get what you pay for. Now less than 2 months later, the clothes are
absolutely falling apart. The black pants have faded to a brownish
gray color, the elastic on the skirt is so stretched that I could get
pregnant again and wear them until the due date (in fact it is too big
to wear without the danger of mooning someone!) and all the clothes
are pilling.
The weird thing is, we've received Baby Gap gifts as gifts for Lauren
and they're holding up just fine. Maybe it's the gentle washing with baby
detergent. They look very cute and are practically designed. As Ryan
says "Made BY and FOR babies!". I can only hope they are less
sweat-shop-tastic now than in my college days, because I like their
kids' clothes. But forget about their adult stuff. The CRAP!
Big Little Girl
The little girl is not so little. At her doctor's appointment on
Monday, she weighed 14 pounds and was just shy of 24 inches long.
This is "off the charts" for 2 months. The weight is fine in
proportion to her height and head size. The doctor was pleased with
her growth. Some of her size 3 month clothing is too small for her
already! I have her in some 6 month things. But then again there are
a few newborn things that still fit. Just depends on the sizing.
(BTW for all [MOM] who thought that she would NEVER fit in size
newborn and would be born huge, you were WRONG, she was doing just
fine in that size for the first 6 weeks)
She got her first shots. There were 3 of them, but one was 3 shots in
one. For polio, hepatitus B, tetanus?? and I forgot the rest. But
she CRIED loudly and furiously. She did NOT like it one bit. Before
the shots, the funny part was when the doctor asked us if she smiled
yet. We told her yes, and sure enough Lauren did smile when the
doctor was looking away writing on her clipboard. As soon as she
looked up, Lauren stopped.
Per the doctor's advice, we are supposed to be washing her gums with a
wet washcloth after she eats, and putting her to bed in her own
basinette, not with us, and while she is awake, so that she learns to
put herself to sleep. The obvious problem with this is the CRYING
factor. Is this Ferber-izing? I don't know. All I know is I tried
it on Monday night and the crying and fussing were too much. I kept
getting up to put her pacifier back in her mouth and rub her back, and
I think this was defeating the purpose, but I couldn't NOT do it. I
determined *I* would never get to sleep and this would not make me a
nice person at work the next day, so I decided to try it again on the
weekend. According to our doctor, before 4 months is a critical
window of development for infant sleep patterns and we need to make
sure she can "self-soothe" and not depend on us for that, which will
establish lifelong habits and help her development. What do you
think? Comment please...
Monday, she weighed 14 pounds and was just shy of 24 inches long.
This is "off the charts" for 2 months. The weight is fine in
proportion to her height and head size. The doctor was pleased with
her growth. Some of her size 3 month clothing is too small for her
already! I have her in some 6 month things. But then again there are
a few newborn things that still fit. Just depends on the sizing.
(BTW for all [MOM] who thought that she would NEVER fit in size
newborn and would be born huge, you were WRONG, she was doing just
fine in that size for the first 6 weeks)
She got her first shots. There were 3 of them, but one was 3 shots in
one. For polio, hepatitus B, tetanus?? and I forgot the rest. But
she CRIED loudly and furiously. She did NOT like it one bit. Before
the shots, the funny part was when the doctor asked us if she smiled
yet. We told her yes, and sure enough Lauren did smile when the
doctor was looking away writing on her clipboard. As soon as she
looked up, Lauren stopped.
Per the doctor's advice, we are supposed to be washing her gums with a
wet washcloth after she eats, and putting her to bed in her own
basinette, not with us, and while she is awake, so that she learns to
put herself to sleep. The obvious problem with this is the CRYING
factor. Is this Ferber-izing? I don't know. All I know is I tried
it on Monday night and the crying and fussing were too much. I kept
getting up to put her pacifier back in her mouth and rub her back, and
I think this was defeating the purpose, but I couldn't NOT do it. I
determined *I* would never get to sleep and this would not make me a
nice person at work the next day, so I decided to try it again on the
weekend. According to our doctor, before 4 months is a critical
window of development for infant sleep patterns and we need to make
sure she can "self-soothe" and not depend on us for that, which will
establish lifelong habits and help her development. What do you
think? Comment please...
Thursday, June 08, 2006
RIP Tony the Dog
Back in December, Ryan and I rescued a dog from the East Valley
shelter. He was a big black lab/shepherd mix who reminded us of
Nippy. He was eager, friendly, and kind of spazzy with happy energy.
We were volunteering for the animal shelter at a rescue event to get
dogs adopted. I was of course, very pregnant so I couldn't manage big
dogs. I got to handle a series of little dogs who got adopted. Ryan
got Tony all day. Big dogs are not as adoptable and sadly, neither
are black dogs. At the end of the day, only a few dogs were left and
Tony was one of them. It broke our hearts to see him shoved back into
the cage in the LAAS truck. We couldn't let him be put to sleep, so
Ryan kept calling the shelter to check on him. I put ads on
craigslist describing him so people would get interested. It didn't
work, and after a week or so, when he was up for euthanasia, Ryan took
an afternoon off, drove up to the Valley and saved his life.
We then sent emails to everyone we knew, and put him on petfinder through Karma Rescue (where we got Jake).
I also put fliers up in my building. Meanwhile, we took him home and
got him used to being in a kennel while we were at work (Karma Rescue
nicely loaned us one), taught Jake that it was okay for another dog to
be in the house, that Jake was still the "baby", and trained him to
sit. I think he already knew "sit" a long time ago, but he'd
forgotten. We bought him his own dog bed and toys. We got him
groomed and took him to the vet for a cut he had on his ear. We gave
him medicine and added vitamin supplements to his dog food and tried
to put some meat on his skinny bones. Mostly, though, we showed him
love and gave him lots of petties.
We interviewed 3 potential families and found the best one, then drove
him out to El Monte to his new home where he had a big house with a
yard and a pool and best of all, 2 little girls who were so excited to
have him that they would fight over who got to walk him. We were so
happy for him. The mother of the family is someone who works in a lab
upstairs from my office. She'd seen a flier I posted in the elevator.
From time to time I would see her around the building and she'd give
me updates on Tony, now renamed Sammy. They had a fence constructed
around the property, they bought him a new toy, etc. There were Sammy
stories.
Sadly, when I ran into her this week, the Sammy story did not have a
happy ending. Apparantly, in March he got out of the fence and ran
away. The girls chased after him and called him. When he turned
around to come to them, he got hit by a car, crossing the road. The
car didn't even stop. He died twenty minutes later.
I feel so terribly sad for the two girls who had to watch their
beloved pet die. We went to an incredible amount of effort for this
dog, and I don't regret any of it. We would do it all over again in a
second, and we probably will rescue other dogs in the future.
Although his death was tragic, I still feel it is not as tragic as if
he had died from a needle, alone in the back room of the shelter, as
hundreds of thousands of dogs do every year in Los Angeles.
Rest in peace, Tony.
shelter. He was a big black lab/shepherd mix who reminded us of
Nippy. He was eager, friendly, and kind of spazzy with happy energy.
We were volunteering for the animal shelter at a rescue event to get
dogs adopted. I was of course, very pregnant so I couldn't manage big
dogs. I got to handle a series of little dogs who got adopted. Ryan
got Tony all day. Big dogs are not as adoptable and sadly, neither
are black dogs. At the end of the day, only a few dogs were left and
Tony was one of them. It broke our hearts to see him shoved back into
the cage in the LAAS truck. We couldn't let him be put to sleep, so
Ryan kept calling the shelter to check on him. I put ads on
craigslist describing him so people would get interested. It didn't
work, and after a week or so, when he was up for euthanasia, Ryan took
an afternoon off, drove up to the Valley and saved his life.
We then sent emails to everyone we knew, and put him on petfinder through Karma Rescue (where we got Jake).
I also put fliers up in my building. Meanwhile, we took him home and
got him used to being in a kennel while we were at work (Karma Rescue
nicely loaned us one), taught Jake that it was okay for another dog to
be in the house, that Jake was still the "baby", and trained him to
sit. I think he already knew "sit" a long time ago, but he'd
forgotten. We bought him his own dog bed and toys. We got him
groomed and took him to the vet for a cut he had on his ear. We gave
him medicine and added vitamin supplements to his dog food and tried
to put some meat on his skinny bones. Mostly, though, we showed him
love and gave him lots of petties.
We interviewed 3 potential families and found the best one, then drove
him out to El Monte to his new home where he had a big house with a
yard and a pool and best of all, 2 little girls who were so excited to
have him that they would fight over who got to walk him. We were so
happy for him. The mother of the family is someone who works in a lab
upstairs from my office. She'd seen a flier I posted in the elevator.
From time to time I would see her around the building and she'd give
me updates on Tony, now renamed Sammy. They had a fence constructed
around the property, they bought him a new toy, etc. There were Sammy
stories.
Sadly, when I ran into her this week, the Sammy story did not have a
happy ending. Apparantly, in March he got out of the fence and ran
away. The girls chased after him and called him. When he turned
around to come to them, he got hit by a car, crossing the road. The
car didn't even stop. He died twenty minutes later.
I feel so terribly sad for the two girls who had to watch their
beloved pet die. We went to an incredible amount of effort for this
dog, and I don't regret any of it. We would do it all over again in a
second, and we probably will rescue other dogs in the future.
Although his death was tragic, I still feel it is not as tragic as if
he had died from a needle, alone in the back room of the shelter, as
hundreds of thousands of dogs do every year in Los Angeles.
Rest in peace, Tony.
back at work
I haven't posted lately, but I am back at work. Yay! And keeping busy. :)
For some reason I cannot log in to blogger at work, and then when I
get home I want to spend every second with the little girl (and also
have housework, paperwork, phone calls to return, etc.) so I haven't
wanted to update there. When I did get a chance, blogger was down!
Finally today I realized I should just write what I want and email it
to myself, then post it at home later.
It was an adjustment, going back to work. Here is the routine from
the past few days: Wake up at around 6:30, feed Lauren, put her back
to sleep next to her Daddy, pump, disinfect the pump parts and set
them to dry, walk Jake (ok, sometimes I skip this and let Ryan do it),
feed Jake, shower, get ready, pack the pump parts, go to work. Do my
work, around 10:30, pump, then disinfect parts, etc. At 1:30 pump
again. At 5:30, get home, feed the little girl. (She takes a long
time to eat because there's not much for her at that point.) Make
dinner, go work out (every other day, if it's not in the morning,
which happens when I wake up before 6:00 a.m.), hang out with Ryan &
my dad, then go to sleep around 10:30.
It's weird (in a good way!) being back and not being pregnant, because
the entire time I've been in this job I've been pregnant. I feel like
I've been operating at half strength. It used to really bother me
that the parking lot was so far away from my office, and that I had to
wait for an elevator because I'd park on the 6th floor. Now, I just
take the stairs with my extra energy and don't mind.
Also, smells don't bother me as much as before. Now I can walk by the
stinky bathroom on the 1st floor and not gag. And better yet, I can
sprint up the stairs and use the 3rd floor one. :)
For some reason I cannot log in to blogger at work, and then when I
get home I want to spend every second with the little girl (and also
have housework, paperwork, phone calls to return, etc.) so I haven't
wanted to update there. When I did get a chance, blogger was down!
Finally today I realized I should just write what I want and email it
to myself, then post it at home later.
It was an adjustment, going back to work. Here is the routine from
the past few days: Wake up at around 6:30, feed Lauren, put her back
to sleep next to her Daddy, pump, disinfect the pump parts and set
them to dry, walk Jake (ok, sometimes I skip this and let Ryan do it),
feed Jake, shower, get ready, pack the pump parts, go to work. Do my
work, around 10:30, pump, then disinfect parts, etc. At 1:30 pump
again. At 5:30, get home, feed the little girl. (She takes a long
time to eat because there's not much for her at that point.) Make
dinner, go work out (every other day, if it's not in the morning,
which happens when I wake up before 6:00 a.m.), hang out with Ryan &
my dad, then go to sleep around 10:30.
It's weird (in a good way!) being back and not being pregnant, because
the entire time I've been in this job I've been pregnant. I feel like
I've been operating at half strength. It used to really bother me
that the parking lot was so far away from my office, and that I had to
wait for an elevator because I'd park on the 6th floor. Now, I just
take the stairs with my extra energy and don't mind.
Also, smells don't bother me as much as before. Now I can walk by the
stinky bathroom on the 1st floor and not gag. And better yet, I can
sprint up the stairs and use the 3rd floor one. :)
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