Monday, July 28, 2008
After a long 12-week break, I have returned to work. People ask if I'm happy to be back, and I tilt my head to the side and raise an eyebrow to them. Seems like a rather silly question... Would you rather be back at work? Or home all day playing with your little one? Even changing diapers is a good alternative to the daily grind of a job. However, I did miss the some moments here at work -- the coffee break with teammates, and the quick hallway chit-chats.flickr
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The last week and a half was a whirlwind. I had every intention of blogging as the trip happened, but there was hardly any time to sleep, let alone blog...The morning after our arrival in LA, we made our way to Vegas to do sightseeing, a buffet and a show. It was stifling by the time we arrived, so I knew it would be difficult for the little one to be out in the heat. As much as possible, she remained indoors with me (she was a great excuse to not walk around in the heat) whilst the boys took in the sights and Cirque Du Soliel. Amazingly, there are many mothers who do bring their infants to Sin City. They lined the shopping areas of the hotels along with me and I found myself dreading the toddler walking phase. How would I be able to keep track of her in a crowd?
Surprisingly, the little'un did well during this leg of the trip. There was no crying fits and she kept on a great schedule. In fact, when we drove back to LA that evening, she slept the longest stretch yet! 12 hours! Unfortunately, she hasn't done it since.
If you need a pick-me-up story to give you faith in the world, check THIS OUT. It certainly helped me today.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Her first ever flight was on the Virgin America direct flight from Seattle to LAX. Because we booked so late, we could only get two exit row seats and a middle seat. I sat in a middle seat with her on by lap while the boys got the leg room.Earlier in the day at the aquarium, I had gotten a great tip from a mom about babies flying. She told me that if I feed her during take off and landing, I could stave off her crying as her ears popped from the altitude change. It worked!
A kind lady offered her window seat to me in the flight, but I realized at 30,000 feet, I'd have to get up to change her... But Virgin has the best feature in their plane. You can text chat through the personal screens to another passenger seat. Because D and his dad were a couple if rows away, I didnt have to yell over two people just to ask him to change her.
Overall, she did well on her first plane journey! One short minute of crying during the descent and that was it. Whew!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Pictures aren't showing up when I email them. Trip pictures will be posted on my flickr roll on the right.Saturday, July 12, 2008
In one of the most beautiful Seattle days, the Aquarium pier is one of the best places to be. And for the first time in my many visits, the octopus was moving!I caved. But it was only seafood. Sigh, this is going to be a hard week...
Friday, July 11, 2008
For weeks I weighed the pros and cons of telling D about his dad's surprise visit I had arranged. On one hand was the surprise arrival - think TV show type drop-in of a relative that you know hardly ever happen in real life. On the other, D had always told me that if his family ever came to visit, he wanted to show them all these things. The dilemma was, he never elaborated on what those things were. And asking, even in the most cunning guise, would raise suspicion.In the end, I came to a compromise. I told D about two weeks ago to give him just enough time to plan the week's events, but at least he wouldn't have to wait so long. And I wouldn't disappoint either with my planning skills.
I borrowed a video camera from a colleague to capture the events D planned for everyone. And there's a lot of them...I worry his dad will need a vacation from his vacation! We'll see...
It all kicks off tonight when he arrives. Tomorrow's first event: Salty's Brunch at 9 am. This will be the first true test of my vegetarian life. Wish me luck.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
There's always been this part of my house that was meant for people to hang their coats and dump their stuff on as they get in the house. But I have never found the right items to use. Well, that's not completely true. I've found them, but I just didn't want to pay $600 for it. This weekend, I finally caved in and went in search of a bench and a mirror/coat rack to fill the empty space with.I tried the usual places- Target, Fred Meyer, etc... but eventually I found it on Craigslist. The bench has storage was $40 and JUST fit in the area! The mirror was $25. Since the mirror was originally white, I spray painted it black to match (well, as close as I could get it) the bench. Hanging it was an interesting adventure, as I am terrible at using a level, but with a little readjustment with D, installation didn't take longer than 10 minutes. Now, I hope it holds up!