Happy to Be at Monster Jam

Edison at the monster truck event

The Medium is the Message

Make your own church sign here.
Support Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance in limiting marriage to breeders here.

Relax

I've just had my first 5 day week at work since I went on maternity leave. I made it through but this whole weekend I've been bothered by gallstone problems. I know these are partially related to stress so it must be affecting me even though I mentally feel fine. Being more of a left brain thinker I think I assume that once you know something is related to stress the symptoms should go away. That is rather naive and I need to do some more work on controlling stress. Getting back to exercising and yoga will help it's just a matter of finding the time!

This pumping at work thing is a lot of effort and it's hard to leave little Miss V and Boyo everyday. What's worse is getting back to a work environment where I have to try to position myself politically when my head is not fully back in the game.

We did get a nice break in northern Minnesota staying at the family cabin. Here is a picture of some of the lichen that grows on the rocks up there. I fit right in with my crazy uncles who take pictures of tree bark and spiders.

My Music

I'm still loving Last.fm. The easiest way to listen to music at work plus I get to generate fun lists like this, my top ten artists for last week:

Responsibilities

Life is so much different than it was in my 20's. Two children and 4 animals later my life is full of adult responsibilities. Motopop came with two cats. The one pictured has adopted me as 'her' person and the other cat now tolerates me.

We are going away over the holidays and have to find a cat sitter for the first time. Previously we've only had to have someone check on the food and water but now one of our cats needs a pill every day for a thyroid condition. I have a hard time imagining anyone outside this house getting close enough to her to even try to give her a pill.

I wouldn't trade my life now for the footloose 20's. I will be happy when the kids are old enough to entertain themselves a little bit more. From what I hear we have about two years to go before it gets any easier.

8 Weeks

Miss V is now 8 weeks old and I have one more week before I have to go back to work :(

It has been extra nice spending more time with Boyo. I know I would have a hard time being at home full time but for some reason it's easier to imagine now even though having an infant and a 1 1/2 old running around is completely hectic.

We got a new camera when Miss V was born and I just discovered the digital macro setting. Such amazing detail. One of the most fascinating things about newborns is their eyes. Miss V's and Boyo's started out a flat dark blue and then the beautiful detail of the iris develops gradually from the pupil.

Home- New Arrivals

I am at home with my new baby girl (Miss V) and puppy (Miss B) sitting on my front step in the sun. There's been a week of rain with a few last beautiful days before the winter bears down on us. A lot has changed in the last few months and it's hard to cover in my short intermittent posts. Miss V was born a week ago and we got the puppy in July. Boyo is adjusting well but is throwing a few extra tantrums and learning that you can't poke your fingers in the baby's eyes.

Boyo seems like a giant now even though he was a full 2 lbs lighter than Miss V when he was born and still hovers at the third percentile for weight. It's hard to fathom that he was smaller than her.

Miss V was born without any of the worries that we had with Boyo. No high blood pressure for me, no complications, and she latched on right away. We even got to have the water birth that we planned. Boyo came much too quickly for us to even fill up the tub and he had to be hooked up to a monitor so the water birth was out with him. My recovery this time has been much easier. I'm guessing a few hours in warm water helps. I'll report back if Miss V seems like a calmer baby because of the gentler entrance into the world. So far, so good.