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This morning my usual Saturday morning snooze was foiled by Katrina's nose. She has enough of a stuffy nose to disrupt her sleep, and hence, mine. This morning I must have sucked a thimbleful of snot out of her nose.
So I took her to the Y and snuck in a quick workout, including an indulgent 6 minutes on a regular stationary bike. It's risky for my fragile sacro-iliac joint, but all the treadmills were taken. I'd forgotten how much I like cycling! Then some treadmill time, which reminded me how much I don't like that. It's boring. Odd that I don't find swimming and stationary cycling boring, but treadmill is? I suspect an MP3 player would solve that.
I made it to Gabriel's gymnastics class just in time to see him get stamps on his hands at the end. But, I was surprised to hear from Kristi and Stacey that Gabriel is pretty good at it. That could be because he's been doing it for a while and is older than most of the kids in his class (even though he's still among the smallest), but maybe he's really taken to it. He was never much of a climber and was slow to learn coordinated things, but once he does learn, he learns well if he likes it. I was thinking of putting him in something else (he's very inconsistent when I ask him what he wants to do), but maybe we'll try more gymnastics. His skinny short build might be perfect for that.
After gymnastics, we took the boys, and Katrina, to the little playground outside the building. It was cold today! 45 degrees here is not only unusual, but feels colder than I remember 45 degrees feeling back East. So we didn't stay long, but I did try to get some pictures, and ran around with the boys a little.
To my delight, I discovered a payoff from my treadmill torture: trotting across a field doesn't knock me flat anymore. Even before my miserable pregnancy, I pretty much never ran, except for the occasional parental sprint to apprehend a wayward child. Indeed, our adult lives rarely call for any gait faster than a walk unless you're about to miss an airplane connection. But what a shame, I loved running as a kid. Now, I'd be lucky to stick out half a mile without collapsing, and that much only thanks to the treadmill work, but at least I can outrun the boys again!
Later in the afternoon, I took Katrina and Gabriel to Logitech Ice Arena in San Jose, to get myself some ice skates at their Pro Shop. I'd never been there before, and was delighted to find two ice rinks and the place swarming with girls' hockey teams. Katrina was fussy and didn't allow much time shopping for skates in the Pro Shop there, but I did manage to quickly try on a pair. It turns out that when you buy skates, they have to sharpen the blades, and this took a long time.
Enough time that we got to watch a junior-high-school girls' team start a game. I was blown away and so impressed -- these girls were good! They were great skaters and looked every bit as aggressive and confident as a San Jose Shark. I'd forgotten how exciting it is to watch hockey in person. Interestingly, the little girls seemed to be sharper and faster skaters than the older (high school?) girls in the other rink. You go girls! I was glad Gabriel's first live hockey experience was to see all girls (in fact I didn't see a single male hockey player among the teems of teams there). And fussy-fuss Katrina loved watching the hockey games!
Outside, there was a team of 11-year-old (or so) girls warming up in the parking lot with some pushup and stretching exercises, chanting, "Quarter pounder, french fries, milk shakes and big slurp soda..." My goodness, I had no idea the junk food culture was that deeply ingrained! (Though I confess that I find baked goods to be an excellent motivator.)
Katrina had a hard time hanging on to naps today, and as a result, wasn't as smiley and joyful as usual. Let's hope for some joy tonight, in the form of deep long dreams of skating.
1/13/07
I did get one photo yesterday: Julian playing with his Architectural Blocks, on the couch. I found the symmetry in his work intriguing -- shouldn't a 3-year-old be making random weird things?
It's taken forever, but I finally finished putting together Katrina's new Exersaucer.
With some help from Gabriel, that is: he cut open the myriad of plastic bags for all the toys, then helped install them. I like having projects to do with him, and he loves it.
It helped that I'd had a long nap this morning, guiltily foregoing an aerobics class at the Y. But I've been building a sleep debt, and I was curious to see what Katrina would do if left to her own devices. The answer: sleep, for about two hours. Her awake times are now about 2 hours long, with about 4-5 "naps" during the day. Nighttime, on the other hand, we've been going a bit backward: her longest stretches are at most 4 hours, and she's started to wake up for reasons other than nursing. The last two nights, it's been for giant spitups, so I can't hold that against her.
Katrina's on the young side for an Exersaucer, but she's holding herself up well enough that it was worth trying for a few minutes.
Immediately the downside became obvious: the boys! She's still floppy enough that external motion of the saucer can jostle her excessively, and excessive jostling is exactly what older brothers are about. I had to institute a no-touch rule immediately, mostly for Julian, but he's far more likely to follow that rule if Gabriel has to also.
Still, she liked it! Like Gabriel as a baby (and unlike Julian), she's very welcoming to new situations. She especially liked being able to see Gabriel so close up.
The real treat came after a few minutes: Katrina put her hand on one of the toys and moved it. This is really the first time I've seen her attempt to manipulate something with her hands, and she did so with the typical visual disconnection of a 3-month-old. Still, there's no doubt that she was experimenting with using her hands.(Later, she was sitting on Dave's lap as he held a take-out menu, and her hand feebly batted the menu juuust enough times that it was clear it wasn't entirely random. My baby is growing up!)
I got up to get something from the kitchen, and Gabriel faithfully watched her, wiping her mouth with great concern every time she drooled. Aww. His tenderness and deep concern for her are truly touching.Here's a crummy camera video with a brief (don't blink!) capture of Katrina using her hands.
I'm never sure if these videos will work. They appear black at first, and I put the embedding code in again and again, and finally it works. It might just be a matter of waiting for Google video to process it, or perhaps I hit something just right. I don't know. This time, I'm not waiting, so apologies if the video box looks black.
1/12/07
Dave and I took an ice-skating class tonight! Since we needed Peggy anyway to put all 3 kids to bed, I somehow talked Dave into taking the class with me. He's in a different group, but we're on the ice at the same time. I was so excited to skate again, and it was so fun! We went to dinner at Benihana afterward.
As usual, Peggy had no trouble at all with all 3 kids. I didn't find time to pump today, so I left Katrina with formula. But Peggy said she hated it! I gotta get pumping. I hate pumping! But it's worth it to skate.
1/11/07
The boys both got Lincoln Log sets for Christmas this year, one from Uncle Ronan, and another from the Doudna grandparents. This toy is a huge hit, and has quickly ascended to among their favorites. And mine, since it provides hours of daily construction entertainment.
Gabriel has to follow the instructions precisely and build exactly, and I do mean exactly, what is in the drawings in the instructions. (In this photo, he built the "homestead" exactly as it is in the drawing, but facing away from the camera, unfortunately.)
Julian is a little more creative, or less bound to The Right Way, and happily stacks them however he likes. Unless Gabriel sees it that is. Gabriel sometimes hops with frustration that Julian isn't doing it right and will even go so far as to take apart Julian's work. I don't think he's being malicious; he just can't stand seeing things done "wrong"! But they both love making things with the logs and spend a lot of time doing so.
Good thing for the Lincoln Logs today. I couldn't let the boys play out back this afternoon, since it became a carpenter's workshop, with wood, sawdust and plugged-in power tools spread all over the patio. I hated having to pull them indoors, for their sake and for mine. I called to them from the deck to come in, but Gabriel refused, and then roped his sheeplike brother in: "Come on, Julian, just keep playing." This made me so mad! I ran to get my shoes and had to leave Katrina screaming to go out and reprimand Gabriel for his defiance and then drag him inside (Julian followed).
You'd think I could ask the carpenter to work somewhere else, but I don't want to slow down the workers' progress in any way. Every day I get twice as tired as the day before of being under construction (an exponential progression!), of finding new dust on everything, of having men come into the house at 8am when I'm still in my skivvies. I just about blew my top tonight when Julian was taking a leak before bath, and lifting the toilet lid resulted in dust-covered fingers, and then dust on his little....well, you know. I couldn't even set their toothbrushes down on the sink counter, or open the toothpaste tube, or turn on the water, or turn on the light switch, without getting dust on my hands. It's everywhere! At least the work today was on final-punchlist items, though the painters still have a few days left.
Katrina has turned into one vocal baby! Lots of adorable -- and now loud -- sounds from her. Sometimes it sounds like she's watching a fireworks display with all the oohs and aahhs. She's having a grand time with her latest discovery, her hands, though so far they're the only thing she's figured out to put in her mouth.
Dave had to work late tonight, so I got to put all three kids to bed myself tonight. It was a lot easier when Katrina was younger! I did the entire process of getting the boys undressed, bathed, pajama'd, brushed, and read to, while holding her. She really, really needed her own bath and bedtime too, but I couldn't do the boys and the girl at the same time. That's going to be a recurring theme in our lives, I think!
1/10/07
Today I rebelled against my new Y habit. I needed to get some things done!
So I deposited a check at Schwab...a simple errand, right? No! I parked illegally right in front of the door, ran inside to grab an envelope, drove circles around the parking lot until Katrina was calm, stopped and filled out the envelope, drove more circles until she was calm again, then parked illegally again to zip in there and drop off the envelope...whew!
Then I took Julian and Katrina to the Ice Center in Cupertino to sign up for ice-skating classes (!). Starts Thursday! And Dave is taking the class with me!!!!
We still had some time, so I met up with my Las Madres group at a park with huge open fields of grass, to find all the kids sitting in a line watching a construction crew work on a play area. (Left to right: Erin, twins Kate & Allison (all three sisters), Julian, Gavin, Gina and Andrew.)
Then Julian and Andrew played together with a ball. I got their attention by holding the ball, then tossing it to them, catching the ball midair once (with the camera, that is). It was so sweet to see Julian and Andrew play together; they're getting to know each other and seemed to have a lot of fun (that's cutie-pie Kate in the background).
But the highlight of my day came in the form of inspiration by example.
First, some background: Dave got me a Beatles Love CD for Christmas, which is Beatles music remixed for a Cirque de Soleil show in Las Vegas. We talked about how if we didn't have kids, we'd got to Vegas for a weekend and see the show, what fun that'd be. I LOVE Cirque de Soleil and I LOVE the Beatles. But, that's impossible. We can't go to Vegas by ourselves for a weekend!
Or can we? I was floored when Kristi told me today that she and her husband did exactly that -- they went to Vegas for two days, without their THREE kids, and saw the Beatles Cirque de Soleil show!!! I couldn't believe it! Kristi was the first of our mom friends who had 3 kids (thanks to twins), so she's sort of a trailblazer. It can be done!! Especially if you have a reliable nanny you've known for years and who can take care of the kids overnight. Wow! Katrina's too young to consider that now, but in a year...? We're there!
Yesterday I took all 3 kids to The Smiling Frog, a wonderful used kids' clothing store right in Sunnyvale, and scored some great long-sleeved Gymboree shirts for the boys. Buying used clothes teaches you a lot about quality: these are heavy, strong, but still soft and look great after a lot of washings. And it's so nice to see Julian in a shirt that's not just a little too small for him, and not in a years-old hand-me-down.
Jeans are another story...two pairs of size 3 jeans I got for Julian turn out to be too big for him, and one of those is even too big for Gabriel. So if a used size 3 jeans falls off Gabriel, you can only imagine how the new size 4 jeans I just bought for him worked....forget it! Gabriel wore a new pair today, and they were just enormous -- falling off him, and cuffed twice. Didn't I try them on him at the store?! I did! And I still can't get it right! Julian's no heavyweight either. This problem gets worse every year, as they get taller and relatively skinnier. It won't be a problem for Katrina, since so far every store I see has 10 times more girl clothes than boy clothes. But I'll probably still get most of her clothes at the Smiling Frog, which is far more equitable toward boys than most clothing stores. If I buy her clothes at all that is. So far, hand-me-downs from friends and family for girl clothes demonstrate same favor as stores do.
Dust, dust and more dust. I am SO tired of construction! I never knew painters generated so much dust, but when they sand drywall, you get this fine stuff that flies around and settles on everything: doorknobs, drawer handles, the washer/dryer, dresser and table tops, light switches....even the walls are dusty and the boys' shirts always have smears of dust on them from going up and down the stairs. I've already spent a fair amount of time painstakingly wiping dust from the shutter louvers in the boys' room, and have hours ahead of me.
Though it's a daunting task, I get some consolation from spending time upstairs and trying to get it under control. Slowly, I'm moving the boys' things into their room, and preparing our room to be livable (such as wiping the ubiquitous dust out of our medicine cabinet and setting up the shelves). Slowly I'm trying to reclaim the upper half of our lives, literally.
Tomorrow, back to the Y!
1/9/07
Neither our DSL nor cable Internet works consistently or reliably at all now. On top of it, I'm getting so many spam bounces (from spamees who've been spammed by someone forging nebcom.com as a return address) that downloading email keeps timing out. What a pain!
Our stairwell is still a construction project: dirty, dusty, covered in tape and paper. The main painter contractor arrived today to check it out, and told me he thought that since there was still some carpentry to do, he'd have his guy wait until it was done to finish the hallway. NOOOOO!!!!!! We can't order carpet, install our stained-glass window, or clean thoroughly and really live up there when we have to pass through the construction zone every time we go upstairs! He said OK, he'll have his guy work tomorrow. He hasn't been here the past two days, so I will be very bummed if he doesn't show up tomorrow. We have to make progress on this, I am really getting depressed about it.
At least children were really good today, thanks in part to a nice long Julian nap. Gabriel was in a good cooperative mood, and typical of Gabriel, when he sets his mind to something, he does it with intensity and focus, including being great.
Katrina has been making all sorts of adorable new noises, and loud ones! I caught a little of it today, not the best example though since she got distracted by her own hands.
(More problems -- I can't get the embedding to work right. Here's a link:)
Katrina talks and then gets distracted by her hands
She reminds me of Gabriel at 3 months old, lying under a tree and shouting and yipping at it. But the similarity ends there -- I also remember doing our taxes with Gabriel sitting on my lap at 2-1/2 months old. No way would I attempt that with Miss Wiggles!
1/8/07
This Sunday's grand outing was to check out Chuck E Cheese for Gabriel's birthday party. I felt a twang as we drove past a lovely park to go inside a dark, crowded, noisy place. What are we -- and apparently the rest of Cupertino -- doing here? First answer: looking for parking.
Once we got in, the first two rides we tried, the boys were afraid of (chickens!). The first three games we tried were broken, and two stole our tokens before we realized it. We found one that worked and that wasn't swarmed by kids, but it was just a dumb fishing video game, not nearly as interesting or challenging as what they've both mastered on boohbah.com.
I hunted down a rare employee in a striped shirt to complain to about the broken games, and he was able to fix one that involved driving a little truck on a road. That kept Gabriel busy for a while.
I'll grit my teeth and stick it out for his birthday party, but this sort of place is not my thing, and I'll be looking for alternatives next year! (Oh yeah, who's the party for again?!)
I tried my wonderful new train cake pan again, this time carefully following the instructions on how to prepare the pan (though I don't have "Wondra" flour), and using a cake recipe that came with the pan. My train cake still looks nothing like the picture on the box, but it's a big improvement over my first attempt!
Katrina is now clasping her hands, looking down at them (crosseyed), and then very carefully putting them in her mouth as she watches. Right on time for a 3-month-old. How do babies know when to start doing stuff like that? Who gives them the schedule? It's amazing.
She and her brothers are interacting more and more now. They make faces at her, and she responds with little yips and howls and huge smiles. They can't get enough of her. There actually are times now that I ask Gabriel to go over and entertain her, a task he eagerly tackles! Julian, I never ask, as he needs a lot more supervision, but much of the time I think he's being too rough, she just smiles at him. It's so interesting how babies attract little kids. Toddlers in the Y's childwatch also seem completely delighted when they look at Katrina and she beams at them.
I've been hoping for weeks to get a photo of all five of us, and today I found a short window when everyone was awake and in a decent mood. But that was only the first obstacle. Once I have everyone outside and the camera set up, then I have to get Gabriel to join us, mostly by pretending I don't want to strangle him for refusing to cooperate, and then cheerily taking pictures without him. Finally, he joined us.
Then I had the problem that the sun was moving and rapidly depleting my shady spot, and sure enough, someone always managed to get bright sun on their face. But moving the sun seems almost an easier problem than getting Dave to look natural in photos. And I'm not so photogenic either. Finally, the camera was too close and not everyone was in focus.
But at least I have it documented that all five of us were in the same place at the same time at least once so far this year!
1/7/07
Finally, I remembered to get my camera ready during Katrina's bath. There are two reasons I have to have the camera ahead of time: one, obviously I can't leave her alone in the bath for a second, but two, the tub I bathe her in is so huge that I have to get in with her! When we move upstairs, it'll be easier to sit aside the tub for her bath.
Tonight she was very calm in the bath, and she always enjoys it now.
When we move upstairs....agh, is this ever going to happen?! The bedrooms are now all ready, though there are still details to finish, such as the electrical trim-out, and knobs on the little storage area doors.
The boys' room is "Breezy Blue," and Katrina's room is "Such a Peach."
I spent some time dusting and mopping the kids' rooms today, and have been thinking about how to decorate those rooms. Yes, decorate! Not just throw random furniture in, but maybe even put something nice and kid-cute on the walls!
Still, here's what the stairwell leading up there looks like: a paint project. The painter has been diligently preparing the stairwell and hall for 3 days now. He does a fantastic job, but I'm not sure we need fantastic. We're not really fantastic people.
This afternoon, I took Katrina and Gabriel to Kohl's, a department store I thought was like Target, but was really more like a Mervyn's. It didn't have any kid storage furniture, but on the way out, I walked by the boy's section, and to my amazement, found one pair of size "4 slim" jeans! And other size 4s!
I had Gabriel stand in the boys' section in his underpants while I madly grabbed jeans off shelves and slipped him into them. In the end, I found four brand-new pairs of jeans that actually fit him (though two will still need taking in) and are long enough. An absolute miracle! It is so hard to find jeans for Gabriel. Julian's are all too short for him too, but now Gabriel can afford some hand-me downs.
I won't be going back there anytime soon though. I was reminded why I hate shopping when I had to wait on a slow line for one of two cashiers for the whole store, watching employees stroll by and glance impassively at the agitated line of customers. Gabriel was very, very good though, and I was actually glad when he piped up in his innocent kid voice, "What are we waiting for, Mom?" That's what I'd like to know, kid!
Tomorrow, I hope to move Katrina's crib and changing table into her room!!
1/6/07
You'd think on such an important day that I'd have photos...I don't! Katrina is 3 months old today. Age agrees with her, she gets cuter and more fun every day.
It was an easy day. Gabriel and Julian were in preschool/preK this morning, and I took Katrina to the Y so I could take an aerobics class. The boys were easy and well-behaved all afternoon, and Julian took a nice nap. No major disasters during dinner either.
I got an email inquiry from a headhunter that got me thinking again about my future return to my career. I've been targeting Fall of this year to return to work full-time, and to work on finding a way to work independently and flexibly by the time Katrina is in 1st grade, so I can spend summers with the kids. But does that make any sense? Will I even want to go back then, when I'll have a 1-year-old toddler? Is it more important to be with her now, or when she's older?Then there's the boys. I'll want to spend fun time with all the kids when they're off in the summers: travelling, camping...but does that mean Gabriel has to wait until Katrina is 5 for this fun adventurous available mom to emerge? He'll be pushing 10 by then.I don't know how to think about this. I want to work. I want to do things with my kids. I want both. I want everything. I want it all.
Well, at least I know what I want. That's a start.
1/5/07
Rain foiled a long-awaited reunion with Rancho San Antonio this morning, where we used to hike regularly. So I invited Betsy, who'd suggested the hike, to be my guest at the Y again, as a good rainy-day alternative. I lasted a whole 20 minutes on the treadmill as a result, with a good 12 minutes of actual running!
While at the Y, I got some baby-face photos, including of Dylan, Betsy's 7-week-old boy. I just loved his big eyes peering around from the big field of yellow blanket.
Plus Katrina in quite the funny face!
But overall I hate carseat photos, since there's always an obnoxious warning label in the background, and the shoulder straps are ugly too. Hence the creative cropping on Dylan's photos. Actually, I like the result. Those eyes...
At home after picking up Gabriel, Julian insisted on riding his bike in the backyard, despite the wet ground and rain.
"No pictures, Mommy!" Julian's very into telling me not to do things. Don't call him "Precious" (OK I can see that), don't call him "Imp," no kisses, no hugs, don't say that, Mommy...!
Katrina sucks her hands all the time now...she's growing up so fast! One way in which she reminds me more of Julian than Gabriel as a baby is the sounds she makes and the way she interacts. If we'd had Julian first, we'd have assumed that's just the way babies talk, but since we had Gabriel first, we noticed a marked difference in the way Julian made and responded to sounds. I predict no speech delay with Katrina.
I took a little camera-video of Katrina sucking her hands, and ended up getting a few cute baby sounds too. I must remind myself that while this is endlessly fascinating to me, it's really quite dull to anyone who doesn't have a 3-month-old baby, including me when she's older! But for now, I can't get enough of her.
This video, I posted to Google Video instead of YouTube, in the hopes it wouldn't mash the picture, but it does. I just hope it works at all!
Our carpenter installed our bifold doors covering the laundry area today, the last of the big carpentry jobs, yay! But...the doors are the wrong style! We'd ordered style number 6529, but they arrived as 6528, and look completely wrong. I don't need setbacks like this when we're so close! The kids' rooms are ready to put furniture into, finally, though they still need electrical trim-out.
Gabriel...unbelievable. I'm not even sure I saw him this afternoon. After getting Julian down for a nap, I took care of some things in the office, took a short nap myself, then had a snack, back to the office....usually, Gabriel comes and talks to me from time to time, but not today. He found Julian's new coloring book and practically finished it (poor Julian!), then assaulted a Lincoln Log project with his fierce focus. He doesn't even call for me ("I'm DONE!") to wipe him anymore; he takes care of it all himself and always washes his hands.
All he plays with are building-block toys, nothing electronic or battery-powered: trains, lincoln logs, coloring books, puzzles, blocks. I wouldn't have expected so much entertainment from such basic toys even from him, but he continues to surprise me. I wouldn't mind at all playing with him more, but I am glad he so enjoys his quiet afternoons at home. They're short-lived.
1/4/07
This morning Gabriel and Julian went to pre-K and preschool, respectively. Which means I had the morning free with just Katrina...and the cleaners and the painter.
So, I took baby out and went to the Los Gatos hospital to return a breast pump I'd bought there. It was so odd walking through the halls and seeing the doors of the rooms where all my babies were born. It looks so ordinary, so antiseptic; yet it's where lives change and marvelous and amazing things start.
Then I met my friend Sara to borrow her pump instead. We had a nice chat sitting outside in the sun on a crisp day, outside a Starbucks near her workplace. A little dip into the real world.
Katrina was oddly fussy today, crying more than usual. She's still a pretty unsoothable baby -- if she's crying, she means it! Most of the usual tricks to calm a crying baby don't work well with her, though taking her outside can hold her off for a little while. I think she was tired and just couldn't hold on to a nap.
I'm also thinking it's time to start weaning her -- and me -- from the pacifier as a way to get to sleep. Last night she got very squirmy around 5:30am, 20 minutes after nursing, and I ended up giving her the pacifier, but she kept spitting it out. Same thing today when trying to get her to take a nap. I'd rather she learn to fall asleep without the aid of something that can so easily fall out.
Like her hands, perhaps? She's starting to put her hands in her mouth, but that just seems to animate her, and that's the last thing she needs to get to sleep. She's wiggly enough!
Our DSL is installed and working, but falls far short of delivering the 3-6 Mbits/sec promised, as I expected. Plus I've spent hours and hours trying to get Eudora to send a username/password correctly for SMTP authentication, to send mail. I finally got it to work, and posted my solution to a Eudora user forum, but it could be to no avail since we might instead put our efforts back to figuring out why our cable connection keeps hanging up. Internet access is no longer for fun anymore, it's a lifeline!
I forgot to mention that last week when I had no childcare, it actually worked out very well. I really liked not having pickup and dropoff deadlines and having to run the kids around everywhere. I'm sure it'd get old after a few weeks, but it was actually a nice break. I got them all out in the morning, thanks to the Y; and afternoons were relatively peaceful, thanks to Julian being very agreeable about naps. Even the boys together hasn't been as hard as it used to be; I'd say they're up to about 50% of the time playing well together, or not together. The other 50% of the time....grrr.
I also forgot to mention a miracle of miracles: my New Year's Day headache uncharacteristically fizzled! It started as a really serious one, but didn't last longer than a day. What good have I wrought upon this world to deserve such mercy?
AGAIN, no photos today!
1/3/07
Tonight we all went to Tuesday dinner, with success! We'd been nervous about taking all three kids, but tried it and it worked out fine. The boys were very well-behaved and tried all sorts of new food at the Thai restaurant we went to. Chicken satay with peanut sauce was a big hit.
Katrina needed a little attention; she was tired and I had to walk her around outside in the stroller until she fell asleep. Our friend Steve, who's also a Dad and is expecting #2 in June, held her for awhile, and noted also that she was in nonstop motion. Frankly she's not all that fun to hold when she's like that, which is 80% of the time, it's like trying to cuddle with a prizefighter!
Thanks to seeing someone else hold her, I witnessed two new things. One is clasping her hands together, and two is putting the clasped mass into her mouth, sort of. Gabriel did a lot of that as a baby, putting his hands together in his mouth as he laughed, but Julian did almost none of that. Once again, Katrina takes more after her older older brother, though Gabriel was nowhere near as wiggly. She's also started rubbing her eyes when she's tired. Grabbing things isn't far off! And no wonder, she is almost 3 months old.
Betsy met me at the Y this morning, and I ran on the treadmill briefly next to her. She lasted a lot longer than I did on the treadmill, but my target 6 minutes went by a lot faster having a friend to yak with. We ran into Heike too. The more friends I get going there, the more motivated I'll be to make it!
When I picked Julian up from Childwatch, I came across the most adorable scene. Julian and two little girls, both older than he is I think, were all huddled around a little alphabet puzzle. Julian was pointing to each letter and singing the ABC song, chatting with the girls, and they appeared to all be putting letters into place. It was very sweet. I think Julian wished I would just go away and not cut in on his action -- and it won't be the last time!
No photos today, how did that happen?!
1/2/07
Another holiday ruined by a tremendous headache. Yesterday I thought I had a mild headache from being tired, but now I think I had it backward: I was tired because I was about to get slammed with a mega-migraine. I spent the morning trying to rest every chance I could, and trying not to resent that I couldn't possibly get what I really needed: to sleep ALL morning with no interruptions.
After doing the bare minimum necessary to direct husband and feed children, I did manage a decent nap, until around 3pm, when my day started. Then I got dressed, had some breakfast, went for a short walk with Katrina, and started to feel slightly normal.
Today I decided Katrina was big enough to put on an outfit I've been eyeing for weeks. This was a gift from my friend Lacy, who is wonderfully creative with decorations, kids' entertainment, party ideas, and is a master scrapbooker as well. I never would have thought to get this, showing how limited my imagination is, yet it's perfect: very, very cute without being over-the-top girlie.
I'm glad I got these pictures before spitup forced me to change her clothes.
Dave commented this morning that girl clothes are a lot harder to put on!
Katrina was actually on the grumpy side today. Nowadays that means that her wake-nurse-play-cry-sleep cycles are just a little shorter, but she still has plenty of adorable time. Here's a typical moment with her being all smiley and sweet, and this is on a fussy day.
It's nice to see someone look so happy. It makes me and my nasty headaches feel a little better. I sure hope Katrina hasn't inherited my hormonal migraines.
1/1/2007
Somehow today I managed to convince Dave to try out the Y, using one of my Guest Passes. I got my main goals accomplished: a workout, showing him where I, and the kids, spend time these days, and even got Dave to do a little in the Fitness area. Just a little. He barely got out of breath on the recumbent bike, treadmill and rowing machine, later claiming that he doesn't sweat much unless it's hot. Or unless you don't actually work out!
The boys had a great time in the Childwatch as usual, though as usual they headed straight for the kid computer. I'm not sure if that means they get too much screen time or too little!
The big kids' room is pretty big, and is actually brighter and more cheerful than Gabriel's pre-K room.
Julian helped put Legos away when it was time to go.
I've just discovered that the Y has a photo club and a table tennis club associated with it. I'm not sure I'll be able to make use of these things, but these and numerous other resources make me very glad I joined. It's the closest thing to a community there is in Cupertino that I've found.
We got home around noon and I kicked right into big-breakfast mode. Betsy called and invited Gabriel over for a playdate, which we took her up on. Gabriel was very excited to go play with his pal Gina, and they spent time outdoors playing soccer and digging. Gina asked for, and got, a shovel for Christmas!
It's New Year's Eve. Dave reminded me that we had a bad New Year's Eve streak going for a while. In 1998, we were hit by a van in San Francisco (very minor, but annoying and time-consuming). In 1999, the stupid Y2K thing forced me to go into work. In 2000, I had the first temperature I'd gotten in years, and was then sick for a month. In 2001, we spent New Year's Eve mixing and pouring concrete in our basement, when I was 8 months pregnant. In 2002, I had a miscarriage that started around 8pm on New Year's Eve, and lasted all night and all New Year's Day.
But the streak was broken in 2003, when we had a wonderful new 6-day-old baby, and family visiting. This year, Dave and I will spend the evening finishing opening our Christmas gifts, with our three healthy, happy children tucked safely in bed.
I for one will be very happy to put 2006 behind us, and enter the new year with my physical ability restored, a completed new bedroom, and a beautiful vibrant new baby! May you all enter the new year surrounded by family and friends and good cheer.
12/31/06
I took Katrina to a scrapbook store that's closing and is having a huge sale today, managing to spend more money in one shot than I ever have. She was being very fussy, so I had no time to make decisions -- if something caught my eye, in my basket it went. Besides, everything was on major sale. Total damage: $104. A grumpy baby and 30% off will do that.
Later, I discovered my mistake: I had her in the Baby Bjorn facing inward. Silly me. Don't I know this baby after 12 weeks? Once I faced her out, she was fine, though I kept having to peer in her face to make sure, since as usual she was in constant motion and it was hard to tell if it was fun or fuss.
I'm doing a scrapbook page that will have a short list of adjectives that describe Katrina. I asked Dave to give me a word for her, and without hesitation, he said, "WIGGLY!" Of course, that's the first word I put down too!
Today I caught a piece of a travel show on KCSM (a local public TV station) that talked about a museum in France featuring the work of Matisse. When he was old and sick and in a wheelchair and could no longer paint, he still created art, in a new medium: paper cutting! He took colored paper and scissors and glued cutouts to other paper. Matisse -- an early scrapbooker? We're legit!
Yesterday Gabriel got his bike stuck in some dirt in the backyard, and loved that he could spin the pedals and not go anywhere.
I found him out there happily sitting on his bike and spinning the pedals around, as though he were in a genuine spinning class. You go boy!
I attempted some self-times with Katrina outside yesterday, but she was winding down at the time, and it's especially hard to find a place to set up a camera, even with a tripod, which I didn't use. The recycling bin had to do for these.
We finally opened some more gifts last night -- we're still not done! But we did come across these adorable and very useful Robeez from Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan, with little mermaids on them. Aww! They don't fit yet, but I couldn't resist trying them on anyway. Thanks guys!
While I was at it, I got some self-times with Katrina, this time just holding the camera facing us. No good shots again, though I think this expression on Katrina's face is pretty funny.
But I'm going to try more like that, this time when she's not, again, tired of being awake for the moment.
Speaking of gifts, Julian is doing great on his bicycle, riding it around our tiny backyard patio for a good half-hour today, turning it carefully, getting off and backing up when need be. He's so cute on it, with his round little helmet, and takes it pretty seriously and applies a fair amount of concentration to it. That's typical Julian; more cautious and reserved than his exuberant, but calculated, brother.
I remember now that I was dismayed that we wouldn't be able to all go bicycling together as a family when I got pregnant, at least not for a while. But then, seeing Julian today reminded me that little boys aren't going to wait around for their sister to ride a bicycle. One way or another, we're going to be doing all those things together. Baby will just have to go along for the ride.
12/30/06
Instead of blogging, I'm backing up my photos onto DVD.
A coworker pointed out years ago that it never makes sense to delete things before backing up, since you often lose things accidentally during the cleanup! Of course, this was in a Unix shell command-line context, in which when you delete something, it's really gone. Before there were Recycle Bins, or Trash, or icons, or windows...even before mice.
But I don't need to be reminded what a dinosaur I am. Still, I should pop a dime (?)in a pay phone (?) and dial (?) my old coworker, he'd be amused to hear that I was still disregarding his always-sound advice.
12/29/06
More 4am Happy Baby Fun Time today. Please, baby, save it for the daytime! It showed; Katrina was tired today and not as jubilant as she usually is.
It's such a pain being at home with the painters here. I have to keep the family room under control, I don't like to do workout videos with a strange man walking by at any time, I get in his way if I run upstairs to do laundry, Julian has to nap in the living room, it smells...argh! I took on the serious logistical challenge of making it to a noon Pilates class at the Y today, and still having some time before the class, and not going over the 90 minutes free Childwatch time you get. That meant putting kids in Childwatch at 11:35, so I could have 20 minutes before class, then get them out at 1:05 after the class. Getting them all somewhere at an exact time is a logistical tangle of making lunches, feeding baby, boys go pee, wash hands, get shoes and jackets, strap in the car...whew. But I did it!
Begrudgingly, I went on the treadmill, with a doable goal of 5 minutes. A woman running next to me asked how often I run. "Twice a week?" she inquired. I said, "No, twice ever!" She asked how I like it, and I said, "I hate it! I'm only doing 5 minutes!" She laughed and said, "Me too! But it might be easier with someone to talk to!" and I told her, "Well that's not going to be me, 'cause I'm outta here in 3 minutes!" Actually, chatting with her extended it to 9 minutes, with 6 minutes of actual running. She may have something there about having someone to talk to.
Noon Pilates class...OK, but a little slow. As much fun as I'm having working out again, I know that ultimately, it will lead to the same thing: missing dance. At some point, I'll no longer be thrilled to get anything in at all. The tug of dance will increase; everything else is just a substitute.
As I was leaving the Childwatches with my little brood, I passed a woman putting jackets on her two little boys. She saw Katrina and smiled at me and said, "Oh! You got your girl!" I get this comment all the time, word for word: "...your girl." I'm amazed how people assume that we had a third to get a girl, though I shouldn't be, it's not that uncommon. They're usually surprised to hear me say I'd have been happy with another boy.
The woman I was talking to on the treadmill was one of the few who didn't say something about shopping together, but rather: "you'll be closer, you know, the mother-daughter thing," in the blunt honest sort of way that foreign-born people on the edge of English fluency speak. Our next-door neighbor is like that. I appreciate it.
I thought about her comment, the "mother-daughter" thing. I caught a bit of the ultimate mother-daughter movie, "Terms of Endearment" on TV while I was nursing, then playing with, Katrina yesterday afternoon. I loved that movie when I first saw it, ironically with my mother and sister, in New York. They didn't like it much, but I cried through the whole thing! Even though it doesn't seem as great to me now as when I first saw it, it still always makes me cry. And this time, I was seeing it not as a daughter, but as a mother, with my daughter. Just that realization by itself choked me up.
(Just like me, the mom in the movie had two boys and then a surprise girl. But then she gets cancer and dies. Actually, my favorite scenes are the ones between Shirley Maclaine and Jack Nicholson.)
We finally finished our gingerbread house today. After Christmas!
This is how it's supposed to look:
The reality:
I could blame the artistic mess on the boys, but really, I'm not much better! Lining the candies up on the peak of the roof was Gabriel's idea.
Gabriel joined me and Katrina for another experimental photo session today.
The best shots I got, one or both of them was out of focus. There were some real heartbreakers in there! But it was fun, and I'm encouraged. More to come.
I'm really getting fed up with this blogspot. Uploading photos is a real pain, very limited, and so often fails if I try to do more than one at a time. It takes way, way too much time. And the photos are my favorite part.
12/28/06
The morning bode very, very poorly.First, Katrina decided to have some Happy Baby Fun Time at 3:30am, something she hasn't done in weeks. Plus getting me up twice. So I was tired this morning.Next, the painters were here today. Which means, keeping the family room fairly cleaned up, and Julian has to nap in the living room, which at the moment is still filled with toys and gifts. Then we lost power for nearly 2 hours, due to a windstorm. Of course, I didn't know how long the power would be out, so I was glad I had a place to go (the Y). The power came back on at 12:00...12:00...12:00...12:00...just kidding. It came back on just as we were leaving.My survival strategy for this childcare-free week is to go to the Y every morning. I'm gladder I joined now than ever. I put all three kids in the Childwatch today, no charge for the first 90 minutes! And today was a big day, because Julian graduated to the big kids' Childwatch, by virtue of being 3 (and potty-trained).
I took a "yogalates" class, a combination of yoga and pilates, and I really liked it. Then I went to the fitness area and ran on the treadmill for -- get this -- FIVE WHOLE MINUTES. Yes, I'm that pathetic at running. Then a quick runthrough my arm weights, as I was quickly running out of time. I felt great having gotten exercise though. It's impossible to maintain my pregnancy habit of 6 days a week, but I'm sure going to shoot for it. Exercise is the absolute best thing for my mood and outlook, as well as headaches.
After the Y, I tried to go to Trader Joe's in Los Altos, but it was closed due to a power outage! Instead, we managed a grocery trip to PW (we were desperately low on milk), a struggle since the boys were rambunctious and Katrina was hungry and tired. But despite the windy and quasi-rainy conditions outdoors, we pulled it off. Actually, the wind made the boys pay attention and not screw around in the parking lots.
Katrina set a new record today: four outfits due to spitup soaking!
In fact, this interrupted a photo session. We were cranking nicely along with an attempt at photos of her semi-sitting:
Then the inevitable.
A wardrobe adjustment.
Oh never mind, I give up!
Gabriel spent the afternoon making a "tunnel" for his train track, out of Julian's Architectural Blocks. He even cleaned up the family room first, including tucking the couch's slipcover in! You can see how it's sort of pulled up in the photo. Then he excitedly pulled me into the family room to show off his handiwork.
He wanted me to take pictures of him jumping over his train track. The white train is his new Brio "passenger train" that Julian "gave" him for Christmas.
Another crummy camera video of Julian entertaining Katrina yesterday.
I can't wait to see what classes the Y has tomorrow morning!
12/27/06
