May 14 2009

working moms working late

9:23 pm. I’m on the bus headed for home now – I had to work late tonight and so in Lindsey’s short life this is the first bedtime of hers I missed.

The first bedtime of Matthew’s I missed was around the same time. I had to work late, telling new students about living on campus and why they should live on campus. I remember talking to Josh that night, who gave Matthew a bottle and the both of them cried together before he fell asleep (Matthew, not Josh).

Tonight was similar. I talked to people about living on campus and why they should live on campus and Lindsey and Josh both cried (did you cry, Josh? I sure would have!) until she finally fell asleep. Even now, Matthew had a hard time settling in but thankfully did so without tears.

99% of every day of my adult, motherhood life I know I made and make the right decision for me to go into the office every day. My work for the most part brings me joy even during the most stressful times. But it’s these random days when I wish I had a different balance and could dictate how much of my day I spent with other people’s children.

It’s not all bad though. Josh tells me every day that the kids love me. I always tell him back that I can somewhat believe it from Matthew now because he’s more expressive these days but honestly, it’s hard for me to see Lindsey treating me anything other than “warm food source.” But today, knowing that she noticed and disliked my absence at bedtime, even if she gave Josh a run for his money, makes me believe in the power of her love just a little bit more.

May 10 2009

mother’s day

Happy Mother’s Day one and all! If you are a mother or a grandmother, if you are waiting to become a mother or wish you were a mother, happy day. I was spoiled today by my little family – I got to sleep in (until 8, but that’s good for me!), Josh made me a quesadilla for breakfast, I got some alone and quiet time as well as my favorite Indian food for lunch from the farmer’s market, and my favorite activity of the day – a trip to Frog Park, on the border of Rockridge and Temescal in Oakland.

Lindsey

Apr 20 2009

Lindsey

Top 10 Things Found in Lindsey’s “Neck”

10. My hair (oh, the shedding!)
9. Ava’s hair
8. My milk
7. The same milk a day later
6. Crumbs of food (she’s not eating solids but her brother sure is)
5. Osama bin Laden
4. WMD
3. Dick Cheney’s conscience
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup
1. Neck? My daughter has no neck!

Mar 21 2009

Chinese New Year

We didn’t have our traditional Chinese New Year dinner this year since Lindsey was so freshly born that the idea of making food for anyone was enough to make me want to rip my hair out. So we postponed it until this weekend, right before Josh’s birthday on Monday. Here’s what’s on the agenda. Bring tupperware!

Chicken Shanghai
Tea-smoked duck
Mushu pork
Shrimp with soy sauce
Lion’s Head Meatballs
Honey-fried cashews
Crispy Pomfret
Beef with Sa Tsa Chang
Chinese Broccoli
Chili-Lemon Octopus
Scallion Pancakes
*Dumplings
Sesame Noodles
Tea Eggs and Roasted Pork
Thousand Year Eggs & Tofu
Roasted Pork, Shrimp and Shiitake Mushroom Sweet Rice Stuffing

I am making everything from the * down. Josh started some of his dishes on Friday and let me just say, I was THISCLOSE to eating everything in sight when I got home from work on Friday. Yum.

Feb 18 2009

our neck of the woods

First, a video compilation of three videos I took of Matthew getting his groove on. Lately he’s been inviting me to dance as well – it’s great fun! Until he asks you to pick him up and then your back hates you.

We are all doing well here. It’s been raining, which is nice because we sorely need it, but not nice because it kind of limits what we can do. I think I have wimped out on weather a lot since moving out here – I used to not get ticked until there was a big old snowstorm, but nowadays, toting an umbrella around makes me a tad bit miffed. Can anyone say “spoiled”?

Anyway, the kiddos are great. Matthew is in speech therapy and is doing well. He’s also sick – bronchiolitis – and sounds like he’s been smoking for 20 years. Otherwise, he’s good. We’ve gotten a referral for an ENT evaluation to see if maybe he needs tubes in his ears since he’s got chronic fluid there. Ick. Hopefully if we can remedy the fluid in his ears he will pick up on his language.

Lindsey is doing well. In a little bit I am going to get her ready for bed. This is the Baby Who Sleeps – we can put her down, awake and swaddled, and she will fall asleep on her own. She naps two great naps a day and sleeps from 7ish pm until 6ish am, with a few wake-ups in between but even so, just having a schedule in place makes me feel like a whole new person!

Josh and I went out last week on a Date (shh, don’t tell my husband) – Josh’s grandmother and cousins came over to babysit while we snuck out and caught the movie “Doubt” which was great, and then all of us went out to dinner, which was Korean barbecue, also great. It was nice to go see a movie, if only so I didn’t spend the entire time talking about the baby.

And that’s about it. I ordered some new fabric so at some point this week I need to sit down and start making stuff and get my sewing groove back. I’ve been trying to take a picture a day in 2009 and am pretty successful thus far! We’ll see how things pan out.