I just wanna stay in shape and kick some a$$

I've been sitting on the fence for months now about going back to Kung Fu. I really liked the health benefits of it, and the accomplishment of attaining a new belt, but the massive amounts of material were bogging my brain down. It takes a huge commitment to learn all of the katas and forms in kung fu, and I just don't have the time to dedicate to it. And because I've been away for so long (2 years or so), I'd have to re-learn all of the material. Granted it might come to me faster than the first time around. But something was stopping me from taking the plunge.
On Tuesday I opened the front door and a flyer fluttered into the house. I picked it up and read it. It was advertising a new martial arts studio 2 minutes from my house. I picked up the phone. Sean spent a good 15 minutes talking to me about what the classes teach and asking me what my goals are. I told him I wanna stay in shape and kick some ass. At that moment I realized what's been holding me back on returning to kung fu. I didn't want to memorize katas, I just want to get a great work out and in the process learn some self defense moves to take down even a 200lb man if necessary. Sean assured me that the mixed martial arts (MMA) class was the thing for me.
So last night I tried a class for free. We started with the usual warm up, then got right into the material. The instructor, Rob, asked me what my background was in. I never told Rob I had done any martial arts before but he picked up on it. There was an uneven number of people in the class so one of the other instructors held the bag for me as we went through the different exercises, and he gave me awesome feedback correcting my form as we went along. It felt so good to punch and kick again and it was surprising how much my body remembered. I was able to put a lot of power into my kicks and with a little correction, was able to actually move him off the spot he was standing. I left the class feeling really good.
SO I signed up for mixed martial arts. I'm gonna give it 3 months and see how I feel about it, then possibly move to Brazilian Jujitsu. It looked fun. I stayed and observed a bit of the class last night. Lots of grappling and wrestling. Right up my ally.

Stepping stones

This weekend Trent and I worked on a little creative project. We made a stepping stone with an imprint of Trent's left foot and right hand. You can see from the imprint that he was a little confused as to his role and rather than placing his hand neatly onto the cement and leaving a nice impression, he stuck his fist in and grabbed. It looks more like a paw print than a hand print, but I think it makes it all the more cool.

We plan to make one each year and put them in the front or back yard.

The weather here has been awesome and Trent and I spent a lot of time outside. We went for a walk on Saturday while daddy played soccer, then on Sunday we ate lunch on the patio at Mama Fu's, then we hung out outside with daddy while he changed the oil on the Subie, and socialized with the neighbours who were also out tending to their front yards. Afterwards we went for a long walk again so daddy could finish up the oil change. We stopped at the park in our neighbourhood and Trent played on the swing for a few minutes. That was his first time on a park swing and he seemed to like it.

All you germs out there better listen up!

Dear Cooties,

I don't understand why you insist on seeking me out when I've expressly asked you to leave me alone. I have no interest in your minuscule little lives and furthermore I go out of my way to avoid contact with you. Yet you persist.

I find this behaviour to be sycophantic and pathetic. Just because my family and I frequent the places you like to hang out, like daycare, restaurants, and even the office, does not mean I'm issuing an open invitation for you to latch onto me and take me down. I have not invited you into my home, yet you insist on invading it anyway. Where are your manners?

So here it ends, Cooties. I am armed with a variety of chemicals to take your asses out! I will not quit until I rid you from every hard surface I come into contact with. Moreover, I am taking pro-biotics so if you do make it into my person, you will be overrun by my badass immune system, and if that fails me, then you will be subjected to medications beyond your wildest nightmares. This is war, you little bastards. You hear me??

Soccer mom?

This weekend's photo shoot indicates that I am only a mini van and window sticker away from being a soccer mom!
But you know what? I want to be a soccer mom! Whatever! pick your jaw up off the floor. One of the hottest and most fun women I know is a soccer mom. Sheeit! I ain't ashamed.

Here are some pictures:

Milestones

Trent's hit a new milestone recently. He's been eating solid foods now for about 6 weeks. Well, by solid I really mean pureed goo. It's been a learning experience for all of us. He's developed some preferences, for example, he really likes bananas, and we've found that if we alternate banana with bites of carrots, squash, sweet potato, and green beans he'll happily eat all of his veggies. Though he's not a huge fan of peas, which makes me sad because I love peas. Last weekend he got to taste pizza crust for the first time. He mostly just sucked on it and enjoyed the sensation of being included in the adult festivities. Two evenings ago he tried his very first "solid" food. Some banana (what else?) flavoured puffs from Gerber. They melt in your mouth so there's no hazard of him choking on it. The first one he ate he got this look on his face like "Woah! what the heck was that? that's weird!" then he eagerly opened his mouth for another one... then.... same face. Then we sprinkled a few on his tray and let him feed himself. That was interesting, and it took everything I had not to help him by putting them in his mouth, and he managed to get one in his mouth all by himself! what a big boy! The rest ended up on the floor.
Last night at dinner, Trent enjoyed sucking on a big chunk of bread while we ate dinner. It was rather messy, and due to the colour of the bread, it wasn't a very appetizing sight, but I really enjoyed him being a part of our Valentine's dinner. Dinner with the two most important people in my life. What could be better than that?

One year ago today...

One year ago today, Brian gave me the greatest Valentine's day present ever. One year ago today, our offer got accepted on our new house! We moved into the house in April, while I was 6+ months pregnant. You might think it's a bad idea to move houses in the middle of pregnancy, but it actually makes perfect sense if you are planning to move in the near future anyway. I mean, why wait until the kid is here? you wouldn't be able to set up a cute nursery in the current house because you're gonna move anyway, so what's the point? plus, you'd have to not only pack your own stuff, but all the stuff your kid now needs. That's a lot of stuff. And looking back on the first few months with Trent, if we'd had to do that, it would have been damn near impossible to do it without someone taking Trent off our hands while we packed. Having a new house before the baby arrived enabled us to set up his room, decorate it, and settle into our house so that when he arrived it wouldn't be such a big upheaval. We were able to tweak and organize things to make our lives easier when the baby arrived. So there is some logic behind doing that. Brian was talking to a co-worker the other day who is in a similar situation. I'm glad he got to pass on the things we learned. And I really hope that their move goes as smoothly as ours did.

So we haven't quite been in the house for a year yet, and we've done a few minor modifications so far. One was the dining room floor, mostly out of necessity because we had a cat accident in there. Well, not so much of an accident as a miscommunication ;-) Anyway, the carpet is gone and a gorgeous wood floor lies in its place. The next big thing we tackled (and by "we" I really mean me, with a little help from Tiff) was removing the ugly green wallpaper from the bathroom, texturizing the walls and painting them a nice calming blue. I also made an enhancement to Trent's room which includes a roundabout and three roads converging, painted on his ceiling, and adorned with hot wheels stuck to the ceiling. Trent laughs every time he sees it. That makes it worth all the neck pain from painting it. I can't imagine how Michael Angelo felt... I wonder if he had a good masseuse. In addition to some aesthetic changes, we had some minor repairs to make. The biggest one being the ceiling in the game room from when the air conditioner leaked. The patch job looks like crap and needs to be redone, but we've been procrastinating on that and will probably continue to do so until we move out!
This year we have one major renovation planned. The back of the house needs a covered porch. I think it will make the back of the house look less "boxy". And it will also be nice to sit out there on some comfy wicker furniture and sip my wine while I supervise Trent playing on the trampoline ;-)
I also plan to plant a tree in the back yard to scatter my Ember's ashes under. I can't bear the thought of parting with his ashes yet, but I know that it's part of the healing process, and this will help me let go.

So here's to another happy Valentine's Day! We're celebrating with a family dinner at my favourite steak house this evening. And I might make Brian his favourite cake for dessert.

Life with Trent

Trent's now 7 months old. I can't believe how fast that's gone. Looking back over the past 7 months, the sleepless nights, the evenings of trying to figure out what's wrong with him and why he's screaming his head off are all but distant memories. I remember thinking during those times that this can't be my life. That surely this will get better, but it's so hard to imagine anything beyond that moment. Brian and I seemed to live hour-by-hour, waiting for the next challenge to throw itself at us. People who have kids told us that it would get better, easier, and harder all at the same time. And it has. It all comes down to experience. When Trent was brand new, Brian and I were unskilled, unprepared, and uneducated in parenting, as are most new parents. But as time passed we've become skilled in understanding what Trent's needs are based on his habits, his schedule, and the types of noises he is making. We are able to predict his needs and prepare for them before they arise. This has made all of our lives easier because now Trent doesn't need to cry to communicate his needs to us, resulting in a happier baby and happier parents. We now are able to resume our social life and take him along with us. This weekend was a perfect social weekend for us.
On Friday Trent went to daycare and I spent my day doing exactly what I wanted, including running to the gym, working out, and running back - an awesome way to get your cardio without having to run on those awful machines. I went to the outlet mall, then to Costco with Barbie, then prepared for an evening in with the girls. Trent hung out with us for a while and Aunt Andi gave him some food, then he politely went to sleep so that we could eat dinner.
On Saturday, Brian went to play soccer while Trent and I hung out at home. Then we all went out to the Chocolate festival at the culinary school where we met up with Nick and Kitty. Sadly, the chocolate was running out so instead we went to The Domain and I discovered Gelato! I can't believe I've never had it before. We sat outside of the little chocolate shop and were joined by some other friends, then we took a stroll through The Domain, basking in the gorgeous weather.
Saturday evening we met up with friends at Mandola's where we had freshly made pizza and I had yet more Gelato! Trent tried his first taste of pizza crust! he's just growing up so quickly. After dinner we went to the Draft House and sat in the beer garden where we were joined by Mike and Tara, then afterwards we headed back to Mandola's for dessert. Brian took his to go, though because Trent was due for a feeding and was being very patient and didn't fuss at all.
Sunday I got a run in on Town Lake, then Trent, Brian and I went to Michelle and Brian's baby shower in Lakeway. Trent was perfectly content as he got passed around the crowd and even took a 2 hour nap while we ate BBQ.
When we got home the three of us snuggled up on the couch and watched a documentary about the sun and Trent and I passed out.
We've learned that with a little preparation, we don't have to miss out on our social life. We just had to figure out a way for Trent to fit into it. And he's doing an amazing job. We're so proud of our little monkey.

People watching

Cool River is the perfect place for people watching. I don't normally frequent the place because the food is overpriced and average, at best, and people smoke nasty ass cigars in the bar there. Thursday evening, however, I made an appearance there to hang out with my girls, Barbie & Michelle and see Brian's band, Suede, play. When we arrived there was one booth front and center of the stage open, but it had a reserved sign on it. Not one to be deterred by a sign, I figured we'd sit there till someone told us to move, which they did. The manager was super nice about it and let us stay until their guest arrived. Barbie innocently told the waitress "oooh! I didn't know we could call and reserve a table in the bar!" the waitress replied "Welllll.... this guy spends a LOT of money". 'Nuff said. When the guy arrived we moved down to the pool hall where there was an open table and ordered appetizers. Meanwhile extremely curious as to what type of guy's ass cool river was kissing. I suppose we weren't surprised when a middle aged, overweight man sat at the booth. We were maybe a little surprised that he spent almost the entire evening alone, though. His evening was peppered with visits from the manager and the very attractive waitress, who we assumed were puckering up in an effort to part this rich fool and more of his money. And he was visited once or twice by one of the many "cougars" at the bar that night.
Thursday at Cool River is Ladies' Night. For some reason that place attracts a strange crowd. After appetizers we positioned ourselves off to the side of the stage with a primo view of the dance floor and prepared to be entertained. And boy were we! Middle-aged women gyrating in small groups, the occasional man in the mix dancing with his lady, and all the men lining the dance floor seemingly "shopping". Every now and then you'd see some lucky man get invited onto the dance floor to gyrate with the cougars. More interesting, though, was the scene at the front of the dance floor. Now Suede is a pretty good looking band. There's definitely a few pieces of eye candy on the stage and a couple of the guys work it for the ladies, touting their junk in tight pants or making eye contact and winking at the crowd. This night was no exception. We watched on with amusement as the women batted their eyelashes, tossed their hair, and shook their T and A, all the while trying to look nonchalant like they weren't tempting the band to look at them. One girl even indicated to her friend that she was going to take the singer home. We marveled at her confidence, but laughed our asses off because she had less chance than a snowball in hell. Just for our own amusement, though, we made our way to the front of the dance floor and did our own flirting with Brian and cracked up when the dirty looks flew in our direction.
Meanwhile, off the dance floor I observed the subtle changes in the crowd dynamics as the night drew to a close. The men looking more desperate. The women coming from the bathroom in freshly applied lipstick and smelling of mouth wash. Here and there you could see phone keypads being prodded as phone numbers were being exchanged, and perhaps an occasional lucky guy scored a hookup, but for the most part it seemed that the groups that arrived together left together.
This was Suede's first time to play Cool River. I hope they do more frequently.

What language do they speak in England?

I swear this is a legitimate question asked of me by my hair stylist this past week! Followed up by "is it German?"

Really.

Lucky for her she is an excellent hairdresser. In her defense she is from Central America, and English is her second language. After my initial shock (which I hope I did a good job of disguising) I didn't want her to feel stupid, after all, she did have a razor in her hand, so I told her that there are many languages spoken in the UK, including Welsh, Hindi, and Albanian, due to the influx of refugees from Kosovo in the not so distant past, but the official language of England was English (Duh!). And that in school we are also taught French, and some schools teach German and Spanish, too.

After thinking about it, I wondered if I could identify which counties spoke which language. For example, I have always assumed that in South and Central America, everyone spoke Spanish or Portuguese, but after Googling it, I found that they might also speak French, Dutch, or English as a first language. So I, too, am a little ignorant here.

But I thought for sure that England and English were so very obvious!