Family Outing

PJO's reward for working last weekend was Thursday off. He also hadn't realized that Veteran's Day was a firm holiday, so we suddenly had a four day weekend. We decided to do a quick trip to Sea World since we have season passes.

We went to the Dolphin show and Shamu, fed the sea lions, saw the sharks, polar bears and penguins, and played in the sesame street play area. Ellie mostly hung out in the Ergo or slept in the stroller.

Just when I think that I never want my babies to grow out of babyhood, I go places like this and think about how much fun family vacations might be in 5-10 years when we don't have to deal with strollers, naps or height restrictions.

Sunday we crossed off one item from our LA bucket list and finally took Timmy to the Griffith Observatory. He (obviously) didn't care that much about the display on the big bang theory or touching pieces of the Moon, but he did have a great time "looking for Martian Mickey."

Two very fun and very free activities with my whole family in one weekend...I'm a lucky girl.


Sesame Street Play Area:



Researching sea life on the boppy after sea world:



Walking through the Shark encounter:



Feeding sea lions:



Dolphin show:


Shamu:



Nap Time:



How I spent much of my day:

Family Bliss

Restored and refreshed, we're all back from our trip to the Mexican Riviera. I had the best time being with my two boys for a solid week where our biggest chore everyday was getting dressed up for dinner. PJO and I were able to really enjoy being with Timmy and watching him explore and admire everything around him.

Timmy made friends with much of the staff on the ship. For some reason, he really loved running in the hallway outside our cabin, so he would squeal with delight every time we opened the door. Upon hearing that (loud) sound, all the suite attendants would pop their heads out of the rooms they were cleaning and say "Hi, Timmy" with a big smile.

PJO and I took advantage of the cruise babysitting service a few times (2 hour blocks each time), which let us sit out by the pool with drinks, go out for some wine tasting and play at the arcade. It was just enough time to fully relax and enjoy our trip toddler-free without giving up the family aspect of the vacation.

At night, Timmy slept on the pull-out couch in our room and we would often enjoy a drink and conversation on the balcony, somewhat drowned out by the sound of the waves below us. The night of our anniversary, we sailed from Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta. Once Timmy had fallen asleep, we shared a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries while looking out on an amazing lightening storm over the ocean.

While there were several shore excursions I would have loved to do, many were not toddler friendly (swimming with the dolphins, scuba diving, zip lining), so we ended up picking pretty low-key things to do in each place...hanging out at the beach in Cabo, at a resort on the beach in Puerto Vallarta. My favorite was "Salsa, Salsa, Margarita" in Mazatlan. At a beautiful hotel on the beach, we learned how to make several types of margaritas, guacamole and six kinds of salsa. Then we learned how to salsa dance. After the lessons, we lounged at the pool and beach and watched fat American tourists zip down the water slide. Eating guacamole and drinking margaritas were pretty much my only goals for my time in Mexico and I certainly accomplished them.

It was also nice to practice my Spanish a little bit. I haven't really spoken or listened to the language since I lived in Madrid 6 years ago (!), but I was amazed at how much came right back to me when I was trying to ask directions or negotiate for souvenirs.







I guess I'm happy to be back home and getting back to real life. I swore that I would detox from alcohol a bit when I returned from vacation, but then it just so happened that all of my favorite seasonal beer (pumpkin!) was fully stocked at the grocery store. And a 6 pack of Harvest Moon was $8.99 while a 12 pack was only $10.99, so of course it only made sense to buy the 12 pack. At least winter seasonal ale is usually disgusting.

Vacation from Technology

In a few hours, PJO, Timmy and I are driving down to board our Mexico-bound cruise ship. A few hours after that, my phone will be turned off and I won't check my email or facebook for a week! PJO doesn't think I can actually go that long, but of course that only strengthens my resolve to abstain from my internet pleasures.

It will be nice to be off the grid for a while and give my eyes a reprieve from the blinding glare of a computer. More than that, I'm looking forward to uninterrupted family time, drinks brought to me by the pool, meals with no clean-up or preparation involved and (especially) the murder mystery dinner I'm going to tonight. I think Timmy will have fun too, mostly because we'll be on a BOAT!

See you all in a week.

I think in timelines

We've been busy...Here's what we've done and what we're planning on doing.

We celebrated the fourth of July at the beach.





I (mostly single-handedly) entertained my in-laws this month. This included a trip to Disneyland. It was fun and I was surprised at how much there was to do for even a kid Timmy's age.



Seeing cousins together is very cute, especially when they hug and kiss:


I went with my brothers and Timmy to the Midwest for my cousin's wedding. I think my aunts, uncles and cousins are exceptionally fun and I love reunions. There are 19 cousins on my mom's side, and now that many of us are married, we make quite a crowd wherever we are. We also visited Chicago for the first time and really enjoyed it.







We planned an end-of-summer vacation...Cruising down to Mexico at the end of August, and we'll celebrate our anniversary in Mazatlan! I decided that this means I need to get in shape, so I finally broke the seal on my 30 Day Shred DVD. I have pretty much been keeping up with that, but my nasty habit of finding/seeking out cookies has sort of been sabotaging my body slimming plan.

Timmy's daycare is officially set up. He will start going a few days a week the first week of September. I imagine starting daycare will be for him much like starting work will be for me: exciting, thrilling and tragic all at the same time. I am still very excited to start my job, but now that I have only 1 month left of staying home with him full time, I just find myself wishing that I was only going to be working part-time. I'm going to miss hanging out with him so much, and I'm going to miss being the person that knows him better than anyone else in the world. Maybe once my student loans are paid off. Sigh.

Now you're pretty much caught up on my boring life. And given the rate of my posting, you won't hear from me again until I am a working woman.

Vacation

I just booked my first vacation without PJO since before we were married. My cousin is getting married back in Iowa this summer and it's going to be a fun family reunion. Unfortunately, PJO won't be able to take any time off work since he just switched jobs in April. So, Timmy, myself and my two younger brothers will be traveling to the Midwest for six days at the end of July.

The wedding is in the small town on the Mississippi river where my mom grew up, a dark hole of aviation really. The nearest major airport is 3 hours away. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to have a little vacation with my brothers, so we are flying in and out of Chicago. I've never spent any time in the city and I don't think my brothers have either. We arrive there on my baby brother's birthday, so we'll be taking him to dinner, museums and enjoying some sightseeing.

The thought of spending nearly a week alone with Timmy and without the comforts of home nearby is somewhat intimidating. But I'm sure PJO will enjoy playing video games and being a bachelor so much that he'll jump at the chance to give me some baby-free time at the end of it all.

Time to be Young and Crazy

Yesterday was PJO's 29th birthday. We celebrated by taking a trip up to the local mountains for some snowboarding. My mom watched Timmy and we got a full day of falling on our asses and playing in the (fake) snow together.

There were 3 runs and 2 lifts open, but we stayed exclusively on the easiest trail(which unfortunately for us was not the bunny slope). It had been about a decade since either of us had gone skiing or snowboarding, so it took a while to feel comfortable standing.





When we got home, we fought through exhaustion and stayed up until 11pm (!) to watch the season finale of Mad Men.

All in all, a great day. I'm sore today and already planning for our next trip to the slopes.

PJO always says his birthday is the start of holiday season, so I couldn't be more excited for the coming weeks. This will be our fourth time hosting Thanksgiving this year. After that, it's acceptable to listen to Christmas music and decorate a tree and bake Christmas cookies and buy presents... Oh, and plan for my baby's FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Modifying expectations

Apparently my low expectations weren't low enough. The very first day of the month, we ate lunch out. Granted, it was In-n-Out, so it was under $10. But. it. was. the. first. day! How easily I succumb to laziness.

Since then we have operated within our food budget constraints (the only constraint being no eating out). I realized that maybe limiting eating out to once a week would be a better start for us than complete elimination. PJO's 29th birthday is Sunday and I get bar results two weeks from Friday. If I pass that test, you better believe I am celebrating with a delicious meal on the town. (If I don't pass, I sure as hell won't be cooking that night anyway).

The meals we made this week will all last more than one day. First I made chicken tamales, slightly changing this recipe. I think they're delicious and they freeze well, plus they're super easy to make. There were enough for 4 meals, so I froze half.

Today we made really simple pulled pork sandwiches and roasted red chard. Prep time for both was about 30 minutes, but we let the pork cook all day. Oh how I love my Le Creuset Dutch Oven!

We also bought sausage on sale and will make pasta with sausage and broccoli in a few days. We like to make our own sauce because it tastes so much better, but I don't think it saves us money at all.

Lunches are either left overs or PB&J sandwiches and fruit. Breakfast has incorporated a lot of eggs lately because we got a good deal on an 18 pack and need to use them up. (I should say breakfast and lunch for Timmy and I; PJO gets his meals for free at work, lucky duck)

We tried to cut out beer but failed miserably. A 12-pack of Pacifico is chilling in our fridge as I type.

So there it is...our little status report only 4 days into November. I hope we can become accustomed to cooking at home more. Once you get in the habit, it's really not so bad.

For whatever reason, people tend to modify spending habits only when it's absolutely necessary. I'm not at the point yet where I have to spend less, but I want to do what is best for my family instead of what is easiest for me. Because our top priorities are paying off student loans and saving for a house, the plan is to spend as little as possible while still enjoying our life while we have the time to. I would much rather eat at home and spend the money we save on fun family activities. So, the first reward for the food sacrifice? This weekend PJO and I are going skiing for his birthday. The first time we are together without Timmy...ever, I think!!!

I'll Take Manhattan

Remember about this time last year when I was considering tagging along on one of PJO's business trips for a final pre-baby vacation? And then I flew 6 weeks before Timmy arrived and had the best trip to NYC I had taken in years?

I get to go again this week! PJO is flying out tonight on a red eye and Timmy and I will follow very early Tuesday morning. It will be my first time flying alone with a baby and it will be Timmy's 3rd cross-country trip. But I'm not too nervous. He's a dream on airplanes and I'm only alone with him one way.

Counting down the minutes until I can show Timmy my favorite spots in Manhattan, take him running in Central Park, meet friends for coffee and enjoy the very best time of the year in New York. I'm going to wear sweaters and scarfs and Timmy has a set of baby hat and matching mittens that I was so excited to purchase from Target. It's going to be a fantastic trip!

The First Thing I'm Going to Do

Timmy finally had a tooth poke through his gums yesterday. I think there are a few more bottom teeth on their way soon.



The first thing I thought about, naturally (?) was when I should start weaning him. He will now drink straight formula from his sippy cup without too much protest, so I know that if I really wanted to, I could transition him to that. After the great advice I received from all of you out there, I decided to just basically stop pumping, and I give him formula a couple of times a week, nursing the rest.

My new plan is to just continue this pattern until Timmy turns 1 or so, and then just slow down on the nursing, hopefully stopping within a few months altogether. Of course, if the little stinker bites down at any point, formula immediately!


Anyway, I decided the first thing I'm going to do once Timmy is completely weaned and my boobs are my own again is take a weekend trip away. Sans pump. Sans baby. Maybe I'll bring PJO along ;)

Leaving On a Jet Plane

Timmy and the cats helped me pack today



We have a 7:10AM flight tomorrow to New Jersey to visit PJO'S family. I'm kind of stressed about the prospect of Timmy on a crowded plane for 6 hours, but hopefully he'll be good.

I'll be on internet hiatus until next Tuesday...wish us luck!

The Big Apple ... and lots of other food

PJO and I got back from NYC last night, and it was a GREAT trip! I'm so glad I listened to all of you and not my doctor.
I flew out Wednesday. My flight was early and fairly empty. Not only did I have a bulkhead aisle seat, the middle seat was empty, so I was able to outline almost the whole trip. When I got to New York, it was a beautiful, clear night. That amazing skyline view of the city from the NJ entrance to the Lincoln tunnel looked even more beautiful than normal. PJO and I felt like kids on a school trip, it was so fun to be together in the city with no real obligations and a few days to enjoy.
Thursday we went out to breakfast (for some delicious bagels) and then later got lunch at my very favorite salad place.



I did work the rest of the afternoon. Thursday night, we went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Dos Caminos, and then met up with some of PJO's cousins at a bar on the upper east side to watch the Patriots-Jets game.

Friday I met up with a friend for lunch, then went up to Columbia to meet another friend for coffee. That was the first time I had been back in... well, I don't even know how long. It looked just the way it always did, but it still surprises me how pretty it is. The Christmas lights on the trees lining college walk were already up, but I wasn't there at dark to see if they're already lit.







After coffee, I made my way down to the village, where PJO's family has a store (which his grandfather established after coming over from Italy). We enjoyed the best cannolis and hot chocolate at Rocco's pastry shop and caught up with PJO's brother. Then we said hello to his uncles working at the store. We capped the night off with a delicious Italian dinner with our friends (who are expecting a boy about 2 weeks after us). We walked home to our hotel on a beautiful, clear and mild night.

Saturday we met friends for brunch in the meatpacking district before heading to NJ to see PJO's family. We had fun playing with our niece and nephews and chatting with his family over a huge meal ("our mini-Christmas dinner" since we won't be back there this year). Our flight back to LA was delayed and not nearly as comfortable as the flight to NY, but overall it was not bad at all.

I thoroughly enjoyed my last pre-baby trip. At the same time, I'm glad I won't be traveling again for a while. We have a lot of stuff to do before we're ready for a baby to be here, which is slightly worrisome because I only have 8 more days of class and then 4 final exams and a paper.

Lookin Good ... Feelin Good!

Today has been great so far! The day started with an appointment with my doctor, who I love.
I finagled my way into a room with an ultrasound machine (with the help of my nurse/accomplice) and told the doctor how my last appointment made me so nervous about having a huge baby, so she gave me what I wanted. She measured Uno's head, belly and femur and they all registered right around 30 weeks, so that was a relief! She doesn't bother with the measuring tape, which I kind of like because how accurate can that really be? AND seriously, when is it ever going to be fun to have your belly measured?! Also, we saw his boy parts really clearly again, so I don't have to worry about painting the nursery blue!
I also finally confirmed that I passed the glucose test (I just assume no news is good news with this office). Blood pressure and everything were great. Apparently Uno and I had a growth spurt too, because I've gained 17 pounds! I'm a little nervous at how much more weight I can gain in 10 weeks, but mostly because I don't know where it's all going to go! My lungs get punched and kicked non-stop and my belly is huge.
I asked her about the trip to NY as well. She repeated that she didn't like the idea, but she said she wouldn't tell me to NOT go, just that she won't encourage it. Her reasoning seems to be that women in the 3rd trimester should limit air travel to necessary trips (like weddings and funerals I guess), and that it seems like whenever women travel late in their pregnancy, something goes wrong.
This pretty much made up my mind ... I'm GOING! With no absolute ban, I'll take advantage of the opportunity. Plus, if I walk around and drink water, I think I'll be fine.
I think it might have been a sign because flights were magically priced lower today all of the sudden. I've been checking about twice a day for the past two weeks. On Wednesday, the fares had inexplicably jumped $80, but this morning it was down to the original low prices... (in case you're wondering, $298 for non-stop from LAX). Once I bought my tickets, I called customer service, and they put me in a bulkhead, aisle seat! Amazing.
Since I'm a pregnant woman, I will no doubt be paranoid about my health while I travel, but I made sure that my insurance covers me in New York and I bought the travel insurance (which covers unexpected complications with a pregnancy)... so I feel good about it. And besides, I'm going to a major metropolis with good hospitals and lots of friends and family if anything does go wrong.
So now I will be going to the doctor every 2 weeks, which is kind of exciting because I really like going. They also told me when I was scheduling appointments that I get an ultrasound at 36 weeks as well! I guess that's the last one if all goes well.
Oh, and we decided to deliver at St. Johns. I think it will be good, but mostly I'm just glad to have turned that all in and be done with it. It's funny because I had one of those 0h-my-god-I've-been-living-in-los-angeles-way-too-long moments when I realized $12 for valet parking at the hospital seems like a negative to most people, but it sounds like a great deal to me! You know those stereotypes where the snobby, obnoxious LA girl says she only goes places that have valet? Apparently I'm one of them.
My doctor today gave me a few recommendations for pediatricians, so I'll start calling them soon. And PJO and I will work on finding a class or two to take. I know we at least want to take an infant safety/CPR class, but I'm not sure about a childbirth class or breastfeeding class. I think the former might just scare me and the latter might be unnecessary until after Uno is born. We'll see.
So today was good because my hope for a normally-sized baby was renewed today and I got tickets to NY!

One Last Rendezvous?

I considered our trip to Hawaii in August a "babymoon." Our last hurrah. Then, our friends decided to get married November 1st (i.e. in a few weeks) in Santa Fe, New Mexico so that was going to be our last getaway. Now there is a chance we could squeeze one more trip in there before Uno makes his grand entrance...

PJO just booked another business trip to London and New York. He is leaving on a Saturday night to head to London, then going to New York that Tuesday night. I would fly out on Wednesday, and spend a few days with him in the city at the paid-for hotel, then see his family in NJ before flying back to California on Sunday. I could meet friends for lunch, go out with him at night and relax in a city I love visiting! The best part is that, with the market tanking and oil prices dropping, flights are getting really cheap. Plus, mid-November can be a really beautiful time of the year to visit NYC.

The catch is that I would be flying back to CA a day or two into my 34th week of pregnancy. I'm definitely not objective/rational enough to decide for myself whether this would be a good idea to travel 6 hours on a plane 6 weeks before my due date, so I posed the question to my doctor and now I'm asking the internets. (I'm still waiting to hear from the doctor...)

So far, I have had a completely uneventful pregnancy.

(excuse me while I go knock on wood...)

But really, no problems and barely any uncomfortableness. My 11 hour flight from NY to HI was completely fine at 4.5 months (although granted this belly is a new addition since that flight). I'm sure everything will be fine if I go, but that nagging voice in my head is saying "what iiiiiiiif?!?!"
The airline's official policy is that pregnant women can fly at any time, although they need a doctor's note if it's within 7 days of their due date. omg, really?!
I do want to check my health insurance before booking tickets to make sure I would be covered if I am 3,000 miles away should anything happen.

So assuming I get the doctor's approval and health insurance covers me there, should I go? Or should I chalk this up to my first of many sacrifices made because of my child(ren)?

And is there any way I can get a doctor's note to get out of finals?! I'm pretty sure that law-school-finals-stress 2 weeks before my due date is much worse than traveling 6 weeks before!

Maternity Leave - Law School Style

Today, I spoke with the Academic Dean about how my current situation will affect my presence at school over the next few months. I didn't want to meet with anyone, but a girl who had a baby between semesters last year at my school recommended it. I'm sorry I took that advice.
The Academic dean is a woman, with four kids of her own. She started the conversation by telling me that her 4th child was born 6 weeks early, right in the middle of finals, and she had to change exam questions and talk to first-years from labor and delivery. Her first child was born 4 weeks early. So I assumed that I would at least have a sympathetic ear (and sympathy plus power is something I always want on my side).
But after telling me these stories (which I assume must have been told with the purpose of scaring me), she offered me nothing. I will have four finals this semester... as scheduled, there are two on the 8th of December, one on the 10th and one on the 11th. My due date is December 26th, so I would have a little over two weeks between finals and baby if everything goes according to plan. As a matter of course, if you have two finals on the same day, you're allowed to petition to move one of them to the next available day. Obviously, I don't want to move a final from the 8th to a later day, but she acted like it might be too much to ask to move that exam earlier. Ugh. Regardless, I wasn't seeking any "help" (unless I end up needing it) but I expected them to offer more.
This semester is not what worries me. I figure that the chances I'm more than two weeks early are not high ... if it happens, I can always push back finals or take them and not give a shit what my grades are. So no big deal. But starting classes next semester is another thing. Classes start January 12th. Even if I deliver on my due date, I have barely over 2 weeks before school starts. If I'm a week or so late, that's down to one week. Even assuming a perfectly fine labor and no complications, I think I would probably want more time than that to recover and bond with Uno before I have to go to school for stupid classes I don't care about anyway. I plan on taking at least 1, maybe 2, weeks off at the beginning unless I really feel ready to go back. The only problem is my school has an idiotic attendance policy. Professors are supposed to take attendance, and if you miss more than 6 hours of a 3-credit class during a semester, they can technically drop you. When I asked the dean what to do about all of this, she said "I wouldn't miss class." I wanted to scream at her. Shake her. Show her how insignificant her classes and academic policies are in my life. But instead, I just made a mental note to talk directly to professors when the time comes and never to seek her help again.

Yeah, so the plan for now is to try to not fail my finals and not have the baby before December 11th. Then, I will hope and pray that he decides to make his debut sometime shortly thereafter so I have plenty of time before going back to school. The 18 weeks of paid maternity leave at my future firm sounds pretty amazing right about now :(

Back and Happy

PJO and I returned very early this morning from Hawaii after a truly amazing vacation. While today has been a little rough (more about this later), it was so worth it. This is the first time I have looked at a computer screen in well over a week, so it is taking a while to catch up...

We started off the trip by going to NJ and telling PJO's parents that they will have another grandson in December (hopefully, rather than January). They were excited and we are starting to get used to being out in the open about being pregnant. Now we're starting to tell everyone, and I still get that nervous feeling right before I break the news to someone else.

Anyway, from New Jersey, we headed to Hawaii on a non-stop flight. First we stayed in Kona on the big island. Here is the sunrise view from our lanai:


While we were there, we drove around the whole island, seeing waterfalls, a volcano, beautiful beaches (including black sand) and more:












Then we flew to Kauai, my new favorite island. We stayed on the south shore in Poipu, and this was the view from our lanai (those are tennis courts in the foreground, between our condo and the beach):



Kauai is so lush, tropical and beautiful, I could have easily spent two more weeks there. The first day we explored beaches and waterfalls and towns.













The second day we took a catamaran tour of the Na Pali Coast. Besides the beautiful scenery, we got to see a lot of little dolphins, sea turtles and monk seals.















The last two days we spent in Waikiki on Oahu. This was beautiful too, but we mostly enjoyed the luxuries that go along with being in a hotel/resort: we ate nice meals, indulged in touristy activities and spa treatments.





It was the perfect vacation! We left wanting more, but it also feels good to be home.