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Fat Baby Friday

Apr 27th, 2012
by gazelle.
4 comments

Today was Alvie’s 2 week doctor appointment. He weighed 9.8 lbs – which is 1.8 lbs over birth weight, and 2 lbs more than he weighed two weeks ago. He is an eating champ! And it turns out that these boobs are not just for show! Go us!

Check out my chubby baby – he’s got the cutest little fat rolls on his arms and legs.

Tomorrow morning, we are headed out for our first big trip. I hate flying with a fiery passion, and knowing that I have to do it while also toting an infant makes me nervous. At least the architect will be with us tomorrow – flying back we’ll be on our own. I really need to perfect my Moby Wrapping by then.

I definitely need to pack, too – which should be interesting. I hope I don’t forget something important. Like the baby – or the car seat. Or my cell phone charger. :)

 

Also – how did everyone in Mystic Falls suddenly learn the Charleston? Do most teenagers just know that dance? Did I go to a bad school? And how come Damon didn’t take off his shirt even once last night? I totes have a Vampire Diaries addiction…probably partially because of this:

I usually go for the blond vamps, but I make an exception for Damon.

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Mar 15th, 2012
by gazelle.
3 comments

1. I am reading a book on leadership, and came across this passage:

Umm – so except for this book, everything else I’ve read has been smutty vampire or werewolf paranormal romance. I am not at my most intellectual right now. And I’m pretty sure the values they teach are loyalty (to your pack and/or sire), the value of a good sword, and that you should always kill someone to make an example out of them to discourage others from coming after you. This is not necessarily the message I’d like to impart to my team.

 

2. A couple of weeks ago, after (yet another stellar swim! I love swimming! Last night I swam 1800 yds – i.e. more than a mile!), the Ambitious One (my awesome swim partner) brought me a wee little birthday cake! It was so adorable! And tasty!

 

3. I also received in the mail the official signed approval sheet for my capstone project!

Yes – you may call me Master, if you wish.

 

Happy Thursday, y’all!

Birthday Weekend Retrospective

Feb 27th, 2012
by gazelle.
7 comments

How did I do with my birthday 35 things? Let’s take a look:

  1. Eat pancakes for breakfast
  2. Delicious dinner
  3. Cake!
  4. Yoga
  5. Take a nap
  6. Walk (possibly 35 minutes!)
  7. Put on pants (this will be a harder one)
  8. Watch a few episodes of Vampire Diaries
  9. Play a little Dragon Age
  10. Take a nap
  11. Read some trashy vampire novels
  12. Cuddle with the cats
  13. Hang out with the architect
  14. Do some laundry
  15. Take a nap
  16. Make cupcakes
  17. Install the carseat
  18. Make a pillow fort
  19. Watch the Academy Awards (this may or may not happen)
  20. Take a nap
  21. Recline on the couch
  22. Drive out to the gorge for nature looking & lunch
  23. Another yoga session
  24. Sniff some gin longingly
  25. Take a nap
  26. Sip a Double Mountain IRA
  27. Listen to 35 of the 69 love songs
  28. Soak up some vitamin D
  29. Grilled Cheese Food Cart!
  30. Take a nap
  31. Purchase the bathroom accessories so the bathroom can finally be finished!
  32. Hydrate!
  33. Have some ice cream (perhaps in Blizzard form!)
  34. Have fun, stay relaxed, and be happy
  35. Take a nap

Surprisingly, there was no cake this weekend. I didn’t feel like making myself any cake, and no other cakes appeared to me. However, I know I get a cupcake on Wednesday, so it’s okay! I feel pretty good about my weekend. It was very relaxing, and it was nice doing very little. We didn’t get the careseat installed, but we did get the crib put together & the changing table mounted to the wall. I’m not really into decorating or anything, so I’m not making Alvie’s room some kind of wonderful nursery showcase. It’ll be a nursery/guest room for the next few years, and he’s a tiny baby & most likely doesn’t care what I do to the walls. When he gets old enough to have an opinion, hopefully we’ll be in a house where he can have his own room & we can decorate it however he wants. But for now, it’s staying espresso, sage & red. It’s also staying a little cramped.

The only pictures I took this weekend show off items 12 and 22. I got the cutest baby robe (it’s a shark! and it says “let the fin begin”), and since I don’t yet have a baby, I got Darwin to model it for me. He was THRILLED! I was going to try to get his arms (front legs?) in the arm-holes, but that was further than he was willing to let it go. I wish I had a docile cat like Jen’s (scroll down to the last picture – trust me, it’s worth it)!

Lola & Darwin watching Vampire Diaries with me

 

the drive home from Hood River

 

Darwin-shark! (doesn't he look excited?)

 

Happy week!

Three (3!) Things Thursday – Most Excellent News Edition

Feb 16th, 2012
by gazelle.
10 comments

Super late 3 things today!  It’s been a busy day at the circle K. Or whatevers.

ANYWAYS -

1. I know I’ve been saying this for the last two weeks, but now it’s true! I am 100% done with school! WOO! My capstone has been handed in, and unless the nice things that were said to me via email from the Capstone advisor/program academic director were completely misleading, I think I’m going to get a passing grade (the terminal project is a pass/fail). Which means I graduate! WOO!  Party in August! You’re all invited to have cake & punch with me!

2. Because I don’t (typically) work on Fridays, and Monday is a holiday, I have a 4-day weekend coming up. Although I won’t be traveling to Los Angeles as I’d originally planned (my midwives have grounded me, due to stress-related issues, apparently not realizing that Mexican food in Los Angeles is almost enough to repair the stress that flying causes…whatever), I still have FOUR WHOLE DAYS off. In a row. AND, since next weekend is my birthday, and I’ve been working 50 hour weeks for the last 5 weeks (a note: I get paid to work 36 hour weeks), I am taking a vacation day next Thursday, so I will have another FOUR WHOLE DAYS off. In a row. And next week? I will only work two days. YAY! Vacation! Sleeping! Time off!

And – most awesomely -

3. The architect – I think I’ve mentioned him once or twice before? Well, you may remember that my architect was laid off from his architecture position in late 2008. And then was mostly unemployed for awhile, due to the fact that all the architects in the world (scientific survey conducted by me thinking about the architects I know) were also laid off, and there was no money for the building industry, etc., etc. He did get employment in the summer of 2010, but it wasn’t so much architecture. It was a job. And it paid in actual money, which is good. BUT – it was not architecture. Well, I am extraordinarily pleased to announce that starting next Monday, the architect will, once again, be architecting. His commute will be cut in half. He salary will be a bit higher. But mostly importantly, he will be, again, doing the job that he loves. I couldn’t be more happy for him.

2012 has really been kicking me in the teeth, but this is a reminder that for every devastatingly bad thing that happens, there are good things to help balance it all out.

February 2012 Goals

Jan 31st, 2012
by gazelle.
1 comment

Can you believe that today is the last day of January? 2012 is already 1/12 over! This month was not the way I typically like to start the year, and I think you’ll see that the number of stressors in my life negatively impacted my goal achieving for the month. I am okay with that, because if I weren’t okay with that, then I would be more stressed out, and that helps no one.

So – what was I going to do this month?

January 2012 Goals

  1. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July! – FAIL! But I really do need to get on this ASAP. July is only 5 months away, and I don’t think the cats are going to be adequate caregivers. We’re on a waiting list, but the earliest that would start would be September.
  2. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room. – FAIL! Dammit. But – we got a carseat! And baby laundry detergent. As soon as I have a place to keep the clothes, I will be washing and folding and storing.
  3. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die” – FAIL! This is going to have to wait until I’m done w/ school, but since that’s nearly here…
  4. Minimize work/school stress through the gratuitous use of meditation (oops – typed medication the first time; not the same thing), yoga, and other exercise. – FAIL!

January 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity. – FAIL! I got about 11.5 hours, which all things considered is okay, I guess. Between the pelvic pain and the additional stress in my life, I’m just pleased that I didn’t quit EVERYTHING 3 weeks ago!
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes – SUCCESS!  Finally – something I actually did! I logged 5 yoga classes & 1 home practice. Yay!
  3. Average one swim/week – FAIL! I only swam twice in January. BUT – my last swim was so awesome, and I’m swimming again tomorrow. So, yay?
  4. Average one bike/week – FAIL! I am finding it very difficult to bike at all anymore, so didn’t log any bike time this month. My knees hit my belly. I need to go back to the fitness center and use the recumbent bike again – that seems a little better.
  5. One walk with the architect every weekend – FAIL! See aforementioned pelvic injury.

 

Well – that doesn’t look good, does it?

BUT – I did have some successes that I need to mention.

  1. I got through my big, stressful work project, sanity intact
  2. I survived the month, sanity intact
  3. Ummm…my sanity is still intact?

Honestly – January was not good to me. Between the giant, enormously stressful work project, finishing up grad school, my dad’s cancer diagnosis, the tree falling on the architect’s truck, and oh, yeah – last Saturday night our furnace stopped working (so happy we don’t live in a SUPER cold place), this was a rough month. Add to that being fairly pregnant, and you have a recipe for crazy, I think.

It’s hard for me to gauge how well I handled all this, as I’m not sure how well I should be handling it all. Sometimes I think I’m okay, and sometimes I think that I could really be doing much better. I have decided that since I still feel fairly sane, that maybe I’m either (a) handling it okay, or (b) repressing and on my way to a huge breakdown at some unknown point in the future. Could go either way, I suppose.

 

ANYWAY – onward and upward…if my February goals look familiar, that’s because they are.

February 2012 Goals

  1. Finish grad school! YAY!
  2. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July!
  3. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room.
  4. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die”
  5. Finalize baby prep lists

February 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity (total tallied below: 15.5 hours)
  2. Six yoga classes, minimum (estimated time: 7.5 hours)
  3. Five swims, minimum (estimated time: 3.75 hours)
  4. Two 15-minute upper body weights sessions/week (estimated time: 2.25 hours)
  5. Four visits to the fitness center for 30 minutes of cardio (estimated time: 2 hours)

I know that the key for me is exercise, and I don’t think this is overly ambitious. However, I do reserve the right to listen to my body and step back if necessary. It’s going to be a busy month. I am 31 weeks pregnant & will end February at 35.5 weeks pregnant. I have no idea what I’ll be able to do by then. I’m hoping that I can continue to move – at least a little – because I know that will make everything go easier.

So (don’t feel compelled to look at this; it’s my own personal crazy) my training plan for February 2012: Feb 2012 Plan

Happy end of the month!

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