Cunning

For various childcare reasons, I worked from home today.  What I spied today:  I put Emma down for a nap in her big girl bed (a twin mattress on the floor, as recommended by our doctor, who thinks toddler beds are unnecessary and just another extra piece of furniture).  I went to the living room to do some work, and then hear some racket from Emma's bedroom.  I get up to peer down the hallway and see Emma framed in the doorway, carrying a bucket of wooden blocks.  She sees me, and I say "What are you doing, Emma?  You should be taking a nap."   She immediately drops the bucket and disappears from the doorway.   I hear some pitter patter of feet.   I walk into her room, and there she is on her bed, pretending to be asleep, sucking her thumb.  I stood over her bed for a little while, and she opened just one eye, saw me there, and then closed it quickly.  She obviously dropped her toys, jumped into bed, and thought she could trick me into thinking that she had been there the whole time, and not playing with toys during naptime.  Hilarious, but also distubring in her early display of cunning!  This is just the beginning of it all...

Our Weekend Project

Here's the result of our weekend project:

Before:

After:

I am pleased with the way it came out.  I took  inspiration from a Land of Nod catalog, but wasn't willing to pay so much!  We had to go to several places to find stuff that was similar and had the same overall feel.  We junked and donated a lot of stuff, shopped, painted, organized and put together furniture.  We are still waiting for the dresser and the bed for which I managed to find matching pink and gray Victorian style quilted bedding.  We will probably frame some pictures that we took around San Francisco to hang on the currently bare walls.  It took me and husband, with help from my mom, from Friday night to Sunday night to get everything together.  But,  given that we started from zero, I think we did a good job.

Emma already loves her new room - she wants to sit at the little play table all the time, and she was so upset when we had to kick her out while we painted and while we let the room air out.  Tonight, she was drawing and playing with puzzles at the table until bedtime.

It's Come to This, AGAIN

So here I am again, 7+ months pregnant, haven't been able to leave my desk yet (it is 9:20PM), haven't eaten anything all day except for a smoothie and 1/2 piece of toast this morning, and about to blubber openly in my office.  It won't really matter if I do, though, because everyone else has left the office but me.   I have a crazy client calling me at the office, on my cell and at home.   I have another one for whom I have been abandoned by the people who matter and I am left to deliver bad news and is now sending snarky grams to me.  And I still have about 2-3 hours of stuff left ahead of me.  And after I just had to work straight starting on Sunday from about 5 PM to Monday 3:30 PM (that's right, almost 24 hours).  I am feeling pretty sorry for myself at the moment.  Thought I would share, and take the time to whine on my personal blog because it sure as hell doesn't seem like anyone at work cares or is going to care.  And then go get something to eat out of the vending machine...

On the other hand, my baby Emma is the cutiest ever.

A Sad State of Affairs

So, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, and we (or rather, I) was expostulating on the fact that our generation has totally undervalued the life skill of cooking.   Even if you don't believe in self-sufficiency, there are the added benefits of knowing exactly what goes into your meal (so many pre-packaged or restaurant meals have added unnecessary salt and/or fat), waste reduction (from less packaging being thrown away), and simple cost savings!


Now, I am not talking about becoming the next Julia Child or mastering the art of French cooking, etc. but I am talking about how  many people I know cannot put together a simple meal for themselves or for their families.  They rely on pre-packaged, pre-delivered or take-out food.   I know that with today's busy schedules (Lord knows that I understand the busy schedule!), there will always be a place for take out, or meal delivery services, and frozen foods, but honestly, I think that there is something to be said about learning to be self-sufficient and knowing how to hardboil an egg.   I told my friend that I will never forget how one time, when I was living abroad in an apartment complex for students, an American woman came down the hallway, tentatively knocked on my door and asked me how to hardboil an egg, as in, did she have to crack the egg first, or do you put the whole egg, shell and all into the water?  I said to my friend, that I couldn't believe how someone could think an egg could come out solid and peeled, prior to hardboiling it. 

And then, today, just to rub in her point that we don't need to learn how to do such basic chores like cooking or laundry anymore, that everything can be outsourced, my friend sent me this picture from the grocery store: 

Do you see that, people?  Pre-cooked, already peeled, pre-packaged hardboiled eggs.  Does this mean I have to stand corrected?  I do note, that the price of the 4 cooked eggs, is not that much less than buying a dozen, cage free, eggs.

Surprise!

It's been a long time since my last post.  Things have been really, really hectic around here for a few reasons.  For one thing, on the work front, my project that I worked on for a whole freaking year FINALLY wrapped up and closed in early February.  I couldn't believe it when it happened.  It felt surreal and also very anticlimactic at the same time.  I had a really large role in this project and this one is for the books.  I can't tell you how many times this project made me cry.  This project made me work until dawn so many, many, many nights, and the client and other people on the project were notoriously ornery people.  But, I definitely learned a lot and it made me a stronger corporate peon for sure. 

Then, in even bigger news (which we've kept pretty quiet around here), we are expecting baby #2!  This baby is a surprise baby.  Husband and I were thinking we would like to have a second, but perhaps not so soon after Emma.  Oh well, that decision was taken care of for us. 

We already know that surprise baby is a baby boy. It will be nice to have one of each, a boy and a girl (although, I guess we will have to face new challenges with raising a boy vs. a girl).   He is scheduled to make his entrance into the world in early July.  Everything looks good so far for surprise baby. 

I have to tell you that this pregnancy has been different and a lot harder, actually.  I remember with Emma that once the first trimester passed, things got a lot easier.  But with surprise baby, there was a lot of nausea, headaches and tiredness way past the first trimester, and all these symptoms still appear occasionally even though I am at week 19.  It also wasn't easy working those long nights until 3 AM on the above mentioned project while trying to fight all these symptoms!  I just hope that the rest of the pregnancy goes a little better than these first few months. 

I wonder how Emma will do with her new sibling.  She is such a ham.  She just loves being the center of attention.  She has actually picked up a really bad habit of pinching and biting me if I don't pay attention to her when she wants me to.  Those little fingernails and teeth are sharp, and her pinches and bites can be very painful.  We are trying to break of these bad habits, but it is an ongoing process.  Once again, I am so grateful that my mother is here with us.  I really don't know how we would be able to balance Emma, our jobs, and baby #2 without her here. 

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2010!  Welcome 2011!  Wishing everyone a great new year!

Merry Christmas!