A Time of Thanks

We are now in the Tri-City area of Eastern Washington to visit the other half of Jon's family. We flew into Portland late Monday night - had a rough time on the flight and by the time we got into our hotel, all three of us were exhausted and a little fussy. I'm glad we decided to spend the night in Portland rather than jumping into a car for Jon's mom's house after the flight (a 3.5 hour drive).

Tuesday we spent all day walking around downtown Portland - it rained on and off all day and our big accomplishment was finding just the right gloves for Jon and me - it was freezing! But, we enjoyed the time outside exploring the city nonetheless. :) We arrived into Richland late Tuesday evening in time for dinner and then bed - whew!

We've been visiting with family and eating to our hearts' content (good bye diet!) and thoroughly enjoying the time away from home. Of course, Logan is the center of attention and is absolutely LOVING it. I'm not sure how he's going to handle the change once we get home and Mommy and Daddy can't dote on him 24x7 like his grandparents and aunts are doing. ;-)

I'm thankful for a wonderful first year with our beautiful baby boy. I'm thankful I have such a loving and supportive life partner, friend, lover and husband. I'm thankful for our gorgeous new house that we were able to purchase right before Logan arrived. I'm thankful that Jon and I are both blessed with amazing jobs that allow us the flexibility to travel, see friends and family, take care of Logan and live the happy lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to. I'm thankful for our friends who help us through the good times and bad, who share their tips on babycare so we might not run into the same mistakes when it's our turn and of course, who babysit our furry babies when we are away, even if they may be a bit hard to handle at times. ;-) I'm thankful for the huge network of family that we have at our fingertips - who all adore Logan to pieces and help watch him from time to time so that Jon and I are still able to have a date or two on our own, to help us keep sane amidst the daily chaos that we live.

Thanks to all who have made our past year so treasurable - we wish you as great, or greater, Thanksgiving!

Relaxin' in Texas

I was scrambling at the last minute yesterday to get to my flight on time. Let's just say I should have been at the airport at 1pm, yet I was in the shower at 12:30pm.... I begged the airport guy to let me on the plane, telling him I didn't even care if my luggage made it, I just had to be on that plane! :)

I guess it worked since he smiled and let me through. *whew*

I also ran into a really nasty rude woman on the plane, but decided to keep my trap shut and ignore her. The guy next to me wasn't as thoughtful and blurted out a few choice words to her, which had her literally in tears, all before take off. Good times!

When I arrived late last night, Jon had wonderfully big news to tell. Logan had taken two steps toward Nolan ("Papa") all on his own!! We are so excited and I can't wait to see the walking action with my own two eyes. :)

We're doing nothing but eating tons of ridiculously decadent southern food and relaxing (I just got back from an out-of-this-world MUCH NEEDED massage).

Life is good when you're on vacation and stressful work is a thousand miles away.

Silent Night

I dropped Jon and Logan off at the airport this morning. I went in with them to help Jon carry all the crap. Or rather, I carried Logan and the diaper bag while Jon had the bulk of the big stuff on his back.

At the security line, I had to transfer Logan over to Jon. I helped strap the Ergo Carrier onto Jon and load Logan up. During the transfer, Logan kept looking at me - his expression said it all - Mom, why are you handing me over to Dad? Where are you going?

It's okay kiddo - you're going to have a great time flying to Texas with Daddy and then I will see you soon, tomorrow night.

Was I saying that to assure Logan everything would be all right? or to assure myself? :)

Once Jon was loaded up and ready to go, we kissed good-bye and he took off toward the security gate. Jon's back was to me, but as I watched them walk away, I suddenly saw Logan's little face with inquiring eyes poke out, over Jon's shoulder. He was leaning far to one side so he could keep his eyes on me (I wish I had taken a pic, it was so precious).

I waved good bye, walking closer to the railings so he could still see me - and, the poor little guy kept his eyes on me the entire time while Jon checked on through.

I sure am going to miss my guys tonight.

On the other hand, I'll finally get an uninterrupted night's sleep. WOO!!

For Adults Only

Last Saturday we had a really nice dinner at Roy's in Pebble Beach with three other couples, sans babies. And, even tho I had plenty on my mind, Jon and I still got all dressed up and enjoyed the downtime together.

Proof that we DO still do things alone once in awhile....


(Thanks to my parents for babysitting all evening!)

In other news, Logan has been consistently waking up about 3am every night for the past few days, which has really been wreaking havoc on our lives (Jon has been a real trooper and handling most of the night calls since my work hours have been keeping me up both early and late).

We're pretty sure he's teething, since we see some more white underneath his swollen little gums, poor kid. Hopefully the teeth will break thru before Jon and Logan's flight tomorrow, otherwise Jon is definitely going to have his hands full! :(

Stress

I try to hide my stress as much as possible, but sometimes there is so much going on, that I can't quite keep my head above water.

This last week, and the following couple of weeks, I'll be sputtering water, sucking air, and basically just trying to survive.

What does this mean? Short quick blog posts, if any at all.

This last week, I traveled to Sacramento for the Professional Business Women of California's Annual Conference. Great speakers, good presentations (which I hope to tell you about later when I can), but boy was I distracted. Just 5 minutes before hopping in the car to take off for 2 days, my boss asks, pleads and begs me to create a project plan for a multi-million dollar deal we are trying to win.

Sure, I can work on that for you. I'll be gone the next couple of days, but I can start meeting with team members when I get back into the office on Friday and we can start hashing out the plan over the next couple of weeks. When do you need it by?

Tuesday morning. NEXT Tuesday morning.

And oh by the way, can you attend and present, since the client will be visiting onsite that day and will want to meet you? (why? because apparently in our proposal I've been named as the potential PM, on an engagement I know nothing about)

WTF.

I mean, WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Putting together a "quick" project plan for a huge deal is time consuming when that is ALL you have to do.

But when you are gone for two days at a business conference, and then working your tail off to smooth over last minute fires for a (different) client launch scheduled next Wednesday morning (that is also a multi-million dollar deal and has ALL executive management watching my every move), then creating a project plan out of thin air, on an engagement you really know nothing about, because remember you just heard about this opportunity 5 minutes before hopping in the car Wednesday night, is pretty much damn near impossible.

And, as much as I have become pretty skilled at masking my stress levels, my heart definitely has been beating faster all weekend long as I work against the clock. My mind has been racing 100 miles faster than it usually does. Visualizing all I need to get done, while I rock my baby to sleep, praying this night he will actually sleep through the night and give us some peace and quiet.

Peace and quiet I need so I can clear my head and get some work done.

My PT shakes her finger at me any time she hears about my work life intruding into my home life. Any time she sees the stress levels rising higher than they normally do for a Silicon Valley go-getter. I wonder what she will say tomorrow after I tell her this recent development of events? I know my back has been hurting more because of it, that's for sure. I feel like I already need another vacation! ;-)

Speaking of, Jon and Logan leave on Thursday for our Thanksgiving travels, and I leave Friday afternoon to catch up with them. We'll be visiting Jon's parents in Texas and Washington over the holidays - and the break couldn't come at a better time.

Let's just hope I can keep it together until then.

On pins and needles

You know you're desperate when you pay a kooky old hippie a handful of cash to stick a bunch of needles into your body, hoping that these needles will actually relieve the chronic pain and inflammation you're experiencing.

At least, that's what the acupuncturist sold me on yesterday afternoon.

I haven't decided 100% yet, if I'm going to see an acupuncturist full time for my foot and back injuries. But, I decided to give it a try yesterday and see what I thought.

It's definitely strange to wrap my head around the different philosophy of eastern vs. western medicine. Cold is bad for your body (it sucks you dry), whereas hot is good (creates better blood flow and circulation). Which is, of course, opposite of what my PT has been training me to do (ice pack 1-2x a day, every day!).

The procedure itself was pretty easy and painless. I had maybe 12-15 needles stuck in my lower back, hips and down my legs. I felt maybe 1-2 of them (a teeeeeny tiny pinch). After that, he messed with a few of them in my back, I'm not sure exactly what he was doing, but I'm assuming twisting or driving them in deeper for a better effect. He kept asking me "do you feel that?" and I kept saying nope, nope, not yet, nope. Until WHOOSH. I got really light headed and tingly.

So, he stopped and said that was enough for the day - and left me to rest under heat lamps for a good 30-45 min.

I was a little anxious through the entire procedure, so I couldn't relax or let myself go completely. That, complicated with the fact that I was face down in a massage table, with a stupid head cold where I could NOT breathe one bit, meant I didn't drift off to sleep like I (and my acupuncturist I'm sure) expected. :)

After the "rest time" was up - he came back in, removed all the needles, and rubbed a eucalyptic type of oil on my back to really "spread" the treatment down my back and through my body.

I'm not sure if it worked, but it smelled good. ;-)

So, the jury is still out. I'm pretty open to different medicines and approaches to regaining my health, since I'm tired of dealing with the constant aches and pains and quite honestly...

I am desperate.

11 months old

Every minute, hour, day and month that passes by with Logan in our lives, I find such joy in getting to know our son. Today, Logan turned 11 months old - and in just one short month he'll have been with us a full year. WOW.













I have caught myself a few times now, already saying things like "when he was little", as if he's no longer a little baby. But, he doesn't feel little to us anymore! We're definitely transitioning into toddler-dom I think. He's extremely active with quite a personality (and such a flirt to all the women). He's also very loud and impatient, reminding me of his Daddy. ;-)

He is a fast little guy - cruising around the furniture like a pro and when that's not quite fast enough, he'll plop down on the floor, crawl cheetah-fast right over to you, and then pull himself up again so he's near you. He hasn't yet walked on his own, but he's doing plenty of it assisted with either his walker toy or pushing kid-height stuff (like his toy box or the ottoman) in front of him.

I can see he really wants to walk - every time we are near "bigger" kids (who are already walking or running) he is keenly interested in watching them play, leaning way out to one side of my arms, looking over my shoulder, studying their every move. And, on several occasions, we've caught him testing his own balance by standing and letting go of things, usually when he's next to me, which my dad thinks is because he feels safer and more confident when he's with me. We'll see. He may be running around the house before we know it.

In general, Logan is a fairly good natured little guy. However, it feels like he's been out of sorts more than usual this past month. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of adjusting back to preschool after our big family vacation, topped with the growing pains of new teeth coming in. His 5th tooth poked through over the last month and the gums around his others are pretty swollen as well. Often times we now find him gnawing on his own fingers. At least he knows how to self soothe?

Another leap into toddler-dom may just be all the new foods we are feeding Logan. No more is the easy brainless world of pick a baby jar off the shelf and spoon it into our son's mouth. Oh no. Now I have to think about what to make for him; breakfast, lunch and dinner. He's eating "real" food - pasta, steamed veggies, sandwiches, mac n' cheese, you name it. It's definitely made meals more challenging for me, but I'm so glad to see his growing interest in food!

Just the other day, Jon walked in the door with Logan chatting away as happy as ever. But, what was different were the sounds and syllables he was making. We hadn't heard him "talk" these words before! The closest thing I can relate it to would be "doggydoggydoggydoggy". ;-) He doesn't yet associate the sounds with any real meaning, that we can tell, but it's definitely apparent he's building his vocabulary day by day. It's also a red flag to us that we need to point out new things we see and do more often, describing them so he can hear, mimic and learn.

Logan celebrates in many ways. He celebrated when Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, by sleeping soundly through the night. He celebrated when Daddy bought him a baby kilt (of the McDonald clan), by crawling all over the living room rug, collecting as much dog fur on it as possible. And he celebrates the end of each meal, by sharing his leftovers with the dogs, laughing as they lick every last morsel of food off his chubby little fingers.

Speaking of sharing, Logan is learning there is more to life than just himself. He's learning to share! Now, no matter what he finds or picks up to inspect, he MUST offer it to me or Jon as well. If it's his food, he'll put it in our mouths, if it's a toy, he places it in our laps. We of course, return the favor and "share" the item back, which he is so tickled about. In fact, sometimes, perhaps when he is impatient and can't wait for the game of give and take to run its course, he offers to share a toy, but then quickly takes it back before I get a chance to say thank you and take it. Of course, our smart little cookie knows exactly what he's doing - waiting for the surprised confused look on my face with a HUGE grin on his. And that's when I tell him to stop being an Indian giver.

In California, though recommended, apparently Logan's car seat is not required to be rear facing (I had been holding out until he reached age 1, because I thought that was the requirement before we could turn his seat around). So, we recently turned him forward facing so that his little legs and feet wouldn't continue to smoosh up and get cramped against the seat backs of our car.

It's a little weird driving around town now, seeing him RIGHT THERE, staring back at me. But, it's also a lot more fun to talk to him about his day as we drive home from school. Logan seems to like the change too - he's now able to kick his feet more freely and babble loudly direct in my ear, to make sure I'm listening to his stories.

Don't worry kiddo, I'm always listening.