It's Alive!

So remember my recent post about my Canon Digital SD450 LDC screen getting shattered? Well it is now in full working order! Just call me Handy Mandie from now on :-)

The instructions I used can be found here: http://www.andyozment.com/guides/broken_lcd_cracked_screen_canon
These instructions were spot on and extremely helpful. Without them I probably would have made many mistakes and it likely would have taken many times longer. So thanks, Andy Ozment, for explaining this so well!
One small amendment to Andy's instructions:
In step 6, you actually can remove the tripod mount. I found that there were 2 small screws holding it in place on the SD450, and I undid those and the tripod mount came right out. I highly recommend doing this rather than threading paper through with the old ribbon cable. (I did try that method and broke the paper, which then caused me to look for other options).
Here are some pictures of the process...

Camera with the case removed







Camera with the LCD removed, but still attached by the ribbon cable. The white area is the LCD backlight.






This image shows a piece of paper taped to the ribbon cable so you can pull the new cable through with it. I suggest if you use this method that you use something stronger than paper, like string, instead.




This is the new LCD screen in place after it's been connected to the circuit board.






And this picture is evidence that it works! YAY!







Of course, I couldn't stop at just fixing the camera. I also wanted to understand how this happened since clearly the glass surrounding the LCD was not actually broken. So I decomposed the LCD screen layer by layer till I found the source of the crack :-)
The screen is made up of two layers of glass. One thicker outer glass, then a paper thin layer of glass, presumably with the transistors embedded into it, which is overlayed by two sheets of flexible polarizing material, with the liquid crystal between the two. The paper thin glass to which the polarizing material was attached was shattered. I still have no concrete proof that it was sound that broke the screen. But it's looking more likely.

Baby Einstein

I don't put much stock into other people's comments about their kids being geniuses, or smart, or gifted. I think every parent would like to think that their kid is special, smarter than other kids of the same age, etc. So I am posting this not to say my Trent is a genius, but just to say I'm proud of him for working so hard on his communication skills.

At school yesterday his teacher told me that they took out a sign language book, and Trent knew far more signs than anyone else in his class (even though he's the youngest).

His sign language vocabulary is quite impressive, I must admit. He's also mimicking things we say, so now's the time to "mind your Ps and Qs" so to speak. He has a toy owl (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa's trip to Ireland) and he is very fond of it because he actually can say it's name. "Ow-el". He points to it, or holds it out to show me and says "Ow-el" very clearly. And the other day I asked him what an owl was, and he signed and said bird!

Way to go Trent! we're so proud of you.

Election 08

I can't let the presidential election results go uncommented... And I don't like to talk about politics. My views on politics are similar to my views on religion. Private. Nobody's business but mine. And if you want to shove your ideals down my throat or persecute me for mine on either subject, I'm likely to tell you to f*** off.

As a person who doesn't have the right to vote in this country, which I might add, is by choice -- I am quite eligable to become a citizen, and I have my reason for not becoming such, which far outweigh any benefit I might gain from doing so -- the most PC thing I can think to say is this:

Thank you America :-)

Get yer kit off, Jason?

Ok, I'm a huge fan of Jason Statham. I'll watch anything he's in because he usually does awesome action movies where he plays a complete and utter badass, and while he's not the best looking man on the planet, he exudes manly sexiness. I watched "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" last night. Well, I attempted to watch it, let's put it that way. About an hour into it I declared it a complete snooze-fest. I've come to expect a certain level of gratuitous shirtlessness and greased-uppedness from Jason, based on his past films, but this movie had no such thing. At least not in the first hour. Where's the hook, man? how are you gonna keep us womenfolk watching if you dunna take yer kit off? Sure there were some fight scenes in which he was a badass, but again... shirt. Hear me, Hollywood. It's what the ladies want.

Suede rocked my LCD screen to pieces!

Check out these images of my LCD screen on my Canon SD450:



The interesting thing to note here is that the actual glass is unaffected. It's simply the LCD that is shattered. There's clearly an impact point, which would lead you to believe that something hit it. But I'm 99% sure that nothing hit it. I have no evidence to support this theory, and I've tried Googling it, but no hits, but I think that the sound produced by the band cracked my LCD! Ok, it's a far-fetched idea, but bear with me here. I mean sound waves can actually break glass. A little background on why I think this:

So the girls and I were at the cave party. Suede was playing (side note: Awesome party, very creative costumes). We went to dance and Barbie and I put our purses on top of the speaker. The camera was in my purse, which was never dropped or put in harm's way. I had taken a photo only moments before we went to dance and all was well. The next time I took the camera out, which was a few moments after retrieving my purse from the speaker (where it had stayed the whole time I was dancing), the LCD screen looked like that!

So the camera is toast. It still takes pictures, but I can't access any of the menu functions like this so we're stuck on Automatic. First instinct is to write it off and buy a new one, but the geek in me wants to take it apart and fix it, bionic man style. I blame my dad for this trait - when I was a kid, I'd always find him in the garage with the back off of a TV or the guts of a VCR hanging out, and I'd watch as he fixed it. Is it strange that I feel a little excited at the prospect of taking something apart? Anyway, I'm gonna order a new LCD and install it myself. What do I have to lose? If I pay someone to repair it, that would cost more than just buying a new camera. And if I destroy the camera, well ok, I'm out $60 and I no longer have a tiny camera that doesn't fully function and we're back to buying a new camera.

We have the technology. We can rebuild it. Wish me luck!

End of week 1

Today marks the first week in my new job. I've been busy all week and my email inbox is extremely active. I've got about 10 pages of handwritten notes and a todo list as far as the eye can see. And aside from the fact that I have a burning knot in my left shoulder, I'm actually not stressed. Or maybe I am and I'm in denial.

I hope the pace of this week isn't an indication of how life will be from now on. I'm hoping it's a learning curve and a matter of getting processes in place, and then thing will slow down. I've managed to get to the gym only once this week and haven't had time to even go for a run. Not good. The silver lining, if you can call it that, is that I'm far too busy to eat. Every day this week I've sent the boys off and got straight the laptop, and around 10:30 my stomach has complained that it's hungry and I've fed it something to shut it up, like a banana, or a small bowl of cereal. Then by 3pm I've realized that I've missed lunch, so I grab a large handfull of peanut M&Ms (curse you Costco for having a 5lb bag of them!). Then, realizing it's too late to eat otherwise I'll mess up everyone else's dinner schedule, I suffer through till dinner time.

Hopefully when things settle down I'll be able to get back into a healthy routine. Hey, at least I'm not bored at work!

Trent "Awesome" Bauman

The "A" is for "Awesome".
Today I'm going to bore you by bragging about my kid. I always got so annoyed by those parents who felt it necessary to share every little detail of their kid's development with me. Like "little Jimmy drank out of a big boy cup today!". I never quite got the significance of those tiny accomplishments, passing them off as "big fricking deal, my cat can do that". Having lived with Trent now for almost 16 months, I can really appreciate this type of cheer leading for your kid. Aside from the wailing episode from the recent haircut, Trent is the most amazing, sweet kid I've ever met. Ok, granted, I'm biased, but every day I'm just blown away by something he does.

Recently he has been so cooperative when he's getting dressed/undressed. He used to struggle and fight but now he actually assists.
He is now really good at eating with a fork/spoon. Almost always gets the food into his mouth. When he comes home from school, he immediately goes over to his chair and indicates that he'd like you to help him get in it.
He can drink from a regular cup now without spilling it all down the front of him, and he will put the cup down without knocking it over. While I always thought this was no big deal, it actually is because so many times he's tipped the cup too far and ended up wearing the contents. They also go through a throwing phase with cups, where when they're done, they just let go or toss it. You can't do that with a regular cup.
Then there's all the words he's saying - he's repeating a lot of the things we say. He's using his sign language consistently, and he's sounding out the letters of the alphabet when I use the flash cards with him. It's so cute when he hears Brian in a different room, and he says "dada!" and does the sign, then goes to find him.
Over the weekend he actually took a nap without fighting me, largely thanks to Grandma, who simply put him in his crib and walked away. He doesn't try to push Grandma's buttons like he does me. But following her lead the next day I put him down for his nap and walked away. Presto! the kid rolled over and slept!
The last several nights he's signed that he's tired and gestured to get into his crib! Usually, when we put him in his crib, he'd have a little fuss for a few seconds, but now he's just rolling over, hugging his night-night bear, and going to sleep.

Every day I'm so impressed by how smart he is. Lately he's been learning to put the shapes into the shape sorter. He consistently goes for the circle or square and knows which holes they go through. The other shapes he's working on, and with just a little pointing from me, he wrestles them into the right holes. He's also doing really well with the stacking cups. He now builds towers all on his own using the cups in the right size order, and then he nests them, experimenting with the different sizes till the right one fits. He seems to have a very logical mind, which I think he must get from Brian. For that I'm very thankful.

Every evening after dinner, we go up to his play room and spend an hour playing before bed. And every evening he does something that makes me so proud of him, whether it's sorting blocks, building towers, gathering toys and putting them away in their bins, or simply curling up on my lap for a story. I sure do love my little guy. He's so cool right now that I want to freeze time and keep him like this forever. But I know even cooler times are ahead.

Brian and I can totally see now why people have more than one kid. Not that we have any plans for more right now, so you can all let out that breath you just sucked in and held for a split second longer than normal breathing ;-) I'm just saying that with how awesome Trent is these days, we wouldn't be opposed to having another one just like him. And the liklihood of having another one just like him is quite remote... so that's just a silly pipe dream.

Sweeny Todd

This morning, as I sent my boys off to school and work, I couldn't help taking a time out to snap a few quick shots of Trent.
Last night he went through the trauma of a haircut. He hates having his hair cut and it takes two of us to hold him down as he wriggles and struggles, screaming like we're trying to actually cut his head off or something.
I use clippers, which is part of the problem. He doesn't like the sound of them. Grandma had a good suggestion - she said maybe I should let him hold them for a while and get used to the sound. But, alas!, it didn't work out so well. He immediately cried as soon as I turned them on. Even when I stopped using them, and set about him with the scissors he freaked out because he was being held against his will. Tossing his head around. You have to be really careful with a pair of scissors around a writhing 15 month old, it's kind of like trying to shave a cat.
I've tried other methods of cutting his hair, such as waiting for him to fall asleep in his buggy, and then giving him a stealth haircut. But it's hard to do and I can never get the back properly. Again, the though of duct taping him to a chair crossed my mind, but that'd make me a bad mother and CPS would be knocking on my door if they caught wind of it.

But the end result is always worth the agony. Just take a look a this handsome fella I woke up to this morning!

1st day on the new job

Monday was my first day on my new job. My day flew by but I couldn't tell you what I did with the time, really. I've spent the past 7 years working, for the most part, with the same set of developers, and essentially on the same product, although the product (well just call it XPD) has morphed and changed over the years. So I've had a very narrow view of the world for a long time. Living and breathing XPD, not having the time to raise my head up and take a look around me to see what else goes on. And now suddenly I find myself up in the clouds looking down at the bigger picture. It's still not the big picture in the grand scheme of things, but it's definitely a bigger picture than I'm used to.
I found it interesting, refreshing, actually, to think of something other than XPD. It's not without it's bad points, though. As with all change, with it comes the feeling like big dumb ass because I don't know anything yet, and I don't even know what it is I don't know so I can't ask good questions. But I know this is temporary and I am going to rock this job. I just have to figure out how to divide that bigger picture into manageable chunks.

Weekend fun

Trent and I ran 8 miles with Uncle Mike on Saturday. That was my first time to run 8 miles since my last marathon, I think... We both felt great, though (Mike and I). Trent seemed to enjoy the scenery around Brushy Creek Park as well. When we arrived home, Grandma and Grandpapparazi were here! Brian and Grandpa spent the entire weekend trying to fix a broken sprinkler in our back yard, meanwhile Grandma and I entertained Trent.
Trent is learning so fast these days, it's amazing to watch. Some of the things he does leads me to believe he's got a very logical and analytical mind. We spent a lot of time building towers, sorting shapes, climbing up and down stairs, etc.
On Saturday night I got a reprieve from the routine to go shake my bum at Cool River with my favourite band, spending the majority of the evening dancing up front with my "partner in crime", Michelle. I've mentioned this before that the people watching at Cool River is stellar. This night was no exception. I hate the place, but I love it, and for the same reason. Weird!
On Sunday I got a hankerin' (that's the Texan in me coming out) for ribs and in the interest of time, we opted to satisfy my hankerin' with a trip to Rudy's. Not the best place for ribs (y'all remember the Salt Lick, right?), but good enough.
Normally I wouldn't bore people with the details of Trent's nightly routine, but this warrants a mention. Last night after his bath, Trent actually asked to be put in his crib. He signed that he was tired, then he walked up to the crib, put both hands on the bars and tried to climb up. When I picked him up and put him in he rolled right over with this night-night bear, and went to sleep. What a good boy! Brian and I came down stairs and were like "did that just happen?".

Random post

This week's been pretty fun. On Thursday night I finally introduced a new set of my girl friends to Suede at Cedar Street. Renee was skeptical because she's not a fan of cover bands, but it was so much fun for me to see the look on her face as they rocked out. I think she was sold by the time they got to Van Halen. The other two, Veronica and Mara, joined us up front for the obligatory booty shaking.
On Friday evening Brian, Trent and I were planning a family dinner at County Line, but Aunt Tara offered to take Trent for the evening so Brian and I could have a date. Of course we took her up on the offer and went out for dinner, just the two of us. We had such a great time talking and being just us. It's surprising how you don't realize how little time you're making for one another when you are so busy raising a kid. It's also surprising to realize how relaxing it is to have dinner sans kid.

So far this weekend, Trent and I have ran 14 miles over 2 days. We thought about doing the IBM 10K but it was too early in the morning and I was feeling slightly lazy. Several of our friends ran it, though, and I can't wait to hear how it went for them.

One more week till new job starts. I'm sooooo ready for the change. I will miss working with my old team, though. I've been working with this group of developers for 7 years. I guess you could say I have a 7 year itch. I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that I'll be giving up my technical skills to do my new job. It doesn't take long to get rusty in this industry, so I need to be ok with that. Part of me thinks I could still keep up with the technology. Maybe I can. Or maybe I just need to deal with the fact that I'll be aquiring new skills and focusing on my soft skills. Anyway, it's a good, scary change. I needed to shake things up a bit.

New Job

OK. Now that it's been announced, I can share a limited amount of details on what my new job is. Of course, I never reveal which company I work with, or mention any co-workers or manager names in my blog, so if you want more details than this, you can contact me directly.

I'm staying with my current company, and I am even staying within my current division. I'm going to be a Program Manager. I'll be reporting to a 2nd line manager in my organization now, and will be managing a program that identifies the need for technical articles, finds writers willing to write the content, and connect them with the appropriate delivery formats and vehicles for that type of documentation. That's an over simplified version.

I have a mixture of feelings about the new role. I'm ready for a change and I feel like it's long overdue, but of course I've been in my comfort zone for so long now that it's a scary change. It's also a very visible role, and being an introvert (gasp! it's true), this is the part I'm struggling with the most. I can't let fear keep me in my comfort zone, though, so here we are.

BFF weekend

This weekend was filled with the company of many of my BFFs (Best Friend Forever). I'm so lucky to have so many people in my life who qualify for that title. And I'm not sure if I've shared this news... my oldest BFFs (as in those I've known the longest, not that they're necessarily old) are working on moving to the USA! How fricking exciting is that? Mel has accepted a job in California and is working on passing all the tests now. It could be less than 2 years!
So this weekend was a long weekend for us. I took off Monday to hang with my sweet Trent. On Saturday we all went over to Mike & Tara's for the Texas / OU game. I actually wore burnt orange --not because I like football. Let's get that right out of the way-- but because I feel a sense of loyalty to my home town's team. Yeah, you read it right. My home town. Austin. I can be considered a Texan, even an Austinite. And because I feel a sense of loyalty to the school and team that my husband loves. Anyway, needless to say I couldn't tell you what happened in the game, nor could I tell you the score. But I did enjoy hanging out with great friends. Trent got to hang out with his best buddy, Maverick. They just love each other. He would throw the ball over the upstairs balcony and Mav would run down the stairs to fetch it. I bet Maverick was sooo tired that evening.

On Sunday Trent and I got to go running with Aunt RockStar (Andrea) around Brushy Creek trail, where we discovered a really cool sand pit that Trent and I will re-visit when we have more time. It was covered with a big canopy and there were tons of buckets and spades strewn about for kids to play with. We did a respectable 5.5 miles. On Sunday afternoon we went over to Aunt Barbie and Uncle Scott's to hang out with Cousin Jett, where Aunt and Uncle Bebe and Cousin Aria met us. It was our first time to all hang out with the kids. Trent was a perfect little boy, playing with his buddy, Radar, and trying to be gentle (but not succeeding) at petting Jett. Uncle Bebe entertained us a little with Uncle Scott's guitar, and Trent sat mesmorized on the floor with me.

On Monday, Trent and I spent the day together for the most part. We walked on Town Lake with Aunt Barbie and Jett, then had lunch at Magnolia Cafe. Then we played all day, and Trent went for a run with Daddy some time before dinner. He's such a cool kid, these days. I wish I could just stop time and keep him like this forever!

15 month milestones

I can't recall if I mentioned that Trent has "graduated" to the toddler class at daycare. He's fitting in really well and seems to be having a blast. Unlike the infant class, in the toddler class their days are more structured. We really like his teacher, Ms. Mandy, and feel confident that Trent's getting the best care possible.

Lately, though, he's been coming home and running to me wanting to be picked up. Which I do, because I miss him during the day and I'm so happy to see his smiling face come through the door. However, as soon as I put him down he throws a massive tantrum! Twice now I've had to give him a time out. I've found that time outs are effective if combined with a stern voice and some finger wagging, but it's so heart breaking to have to do that and see his little face looking up at me sniffling and trying to be a good boy and stop throwing a fit. I think he's testing boundaries right now and once he discovers how far he can push us he'll move on to other tactics of manipulating us. I'm sure he doesn't understand me when I say "Mummy does not respond to screaming, so you'll have to figure out how to communicate in another way". But it makes me feel better that I said it.

We had our 15 month Dr. visit yesterday. He's doing very well on all his milestones and has grown to 31 inches tall and 23lbs. That puts him right around the 50th percentile. The snotty nose and congestion he's been suffering lately is viral, which is actually good news because it's not allergies, and it's helping him build his immunity. He had 3 shots yesterday, including a flu shot, and was such a big boy about it!

Mail Goggles

Oh man! I've needed this in the past, and I know some people who need it now if they could adapt it to work on text messages from your phone :-)

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-stop-sending-mail-you-later.html

Fun with cousin Aria

eeeeeeeeee!

I have a new job :-)

A girly weekend

It's been a weekend packed with girly fun. Brian and Trent spent the weekend in Houston, which gave me a much needed break. A big thanks to Grandma for taking care of Trent all weekend :-)

My weekend consisted of shopping, sleeping late and taking up the entire bed (aah! such a luxury), cuddling on the couch with the cats and the remote control, a clean house, slumber party at Renee's complete with pedicures, tie dye, pole dancing, playing on the playscape and swings, and my favourite thing... Tequila!, downtown, Suede, shaking my arse, best friends, and Katz's.

And to round off my blissful weekend of freedom, I'm going to enjoy this great weather, put my iPod on, and go for a long run.

My new niece

While I was gone, a new family member entered the world. Little Ms. Jett Ann Joplin, born on September 14, weighing in at 7lbs 6oz, and 20 inches tall. I was so sad to not be there to greet her on her first day in the world, but so very happy to come home to her. And what a cutie pie! She looks exactly like Barbie. Exactly. Heart shaped face, dimples, big beautiful eyes, perfectly arched eyebrows, dark fuzzy hair. She even has Barbie's fingernails.

I'm so proud to call her my niece and I just love, love, love the little cutie already! When we went to visit, I didn't put her down the whole time we were there, except for a couple of minutes when I let Brian hold her.

Europe 08 trip highlights - Espania

Day 7 - Arrival in Spain
Our flight from Zurich to Malaga was broken up by a layover in Madrid. The airport in Madrid is quite dirty and, frankly, their security is a complete joke. We let Trent run around the airport and blow off some steam. At one point he found a toy car in a vending machine, and being the sweet boy he is, he went over to another kid, quite a bit older than him, and tried to play with him. The kid snatched the car away from Trent and took off leaving Trent screaming his head off. The kid's mother was on her phone and completely uninterested. Trent was screaming right in front of her and interrupting her conversation. Normally I'd pick him up and pacify him, but under the circumstances, I figured I needed to make a point. To her. So I let him scream and I said "It's ok Trent, maybe that was HIS toy. You can't keep it if it belongs to someone else". The woman gave the evil eye, but did nothing. I picked up my screaming kid and left feeling disgusted. The flight to Malaga was uneventful and Trent, as is becoming quite usual, was a complete angel, watching his "baby". He started associating the sign for baby with his DVD player during this trip, and so whenever he wanted to watch it, he would sign baby. Sooo cute.

We took a quick cab ride from the Malaga airport to the hotel. It was a nice hotel and on arrival we were offered a choice of orange juice or champagne. I took champagne, of course. Not two minutes after checking in, mum and dad appeared! Oh it was sooooo great to see them! Mum and dad had already hooked us up with a great room with a view, and had already set up the high chair for Trent in the dining room.
We took our bags up to the room and got settled in, then headed down for dinner. We went what they call "half-board" for this trip, which means that your breakfast and dinner are included. The dinner buffet was really good. I got Trent a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce, his favourite, and he devoured it in the usual manner, grabbing with his hands and smearing it all over his face in the process of shoving it into his mouth. People around us were highly amused. All the waiters and waitresses, and the hotel managers made a huge fuss over Trent. He just lapped it all up.

After dinner we went for a walk along the promenade and Trent fell asleep in his stoller.

Day 8 - First day in Spain
Breakfast was fabulous. A buffet of practically everything you could possibly want. You could choose from a full-English, to a continental, to just cereal or yogurt. There were so many types of breads and pastries, and the coffee was sooooo good. I don't even drink coffee but I did in Spain :-)
We spent the morning by the pool. Trent seemed to enjoy just sitting on the edge but had little desire to actually get in. Mum told me that their had been a scantily-clad water aerobics instructor the day before, and that he had a nice bum. He showed up again today and I goaded mum into doing the water aerobics with me. She was a good sport. Eventually, more people joined in. Such trend setters, we are.

We ate lunch at the poolside cafe, then let Trent take a nap. Later that day we headed down to the beach to let Trent run around. He really loved playing in the sand with Grandad. Mum and I took him down to the water's edge and he wasn't very enthusiastic about getting wet, so we let him be. A little later, Grandad brought him down to the sea and he slowly got brave and started to play in the surf. All he needed was his Grandad. Awh.

Dinner was awesome again. We learned from the previous night's experience that we should put a napkin over the table cloth in front of Trent. He practially ruined the one from last night. During dinner you could see people all throughout the restaurant commenting on Trent and how he used sign language to communicate with us. He signed milk, then when he was finished with his pasta he signed for more. We discovered that he really loves creme caramel (Flan to you Americans).
After dinner we went for a walk along the promenade again. This time we let Trent walk all over the place. He had so much fun. Every time he saw a dog he would get excited, sign the word dog, and make a bee-line for it. The dog owners were all so sweet and always stopped to let him pet their dog. So many people stopped to comment on how cute Trent is and ask how old he is.

Day 9 - 10 mile walk, anyone?
Today after breakfast we decided to take a leasurely stroll to the next town via the promenade. It turned out to be about a 10 mile walk, round-trip. We walked all the way to Benalmedina where we ate lunch at the marina, then we made the 5 mile walk back to Torremolinos. After a brief rest on our room we went down to the beach and spent the remainder of the time playing in the sand and running in and out of the surf with Trent.
We cleaned up and headed down for dinner at our usual time, and then out of our customary stroll along the promenade. We were now developing a routine. While we didn't do a whole bunch of exloring or sightseeing on this portion of our holiday, I was so happy to be just relaxing and spending time with my parents. I wanted to stay for so much longer than the time we had.
Day 10 - hanging around the pool and fun on the beach
This morning we booked an excursion to Africa for Saturday. It's such a shame to be so close and to not actually set foot on another continent. Mum, Dad, and I had been before, 24 years ago to be exact! YIKES! so it was time to go back for a visit. After that we took a walk and found a place to eat some lunch. Mum and I had Paella. I'd been dying to try it. I wasn't disappointed, either. After lunch we headed down to the pool for a while and mum did her marathon of 80 laps while we all hung out under the parasols and Trent napped. Then we had a coffee and headed out to the beach where Trent and I played in the surf and built sandcastles again. Brian, for the most part, just napped whenever we were on the beach. I guess he's not really a beach person.

As is our routine now, we ate dinner and went for a stroll. The hotel did provide entertainment in the evenings, but it wasn't very good. Trent would walk onto the empty dance floor and steal the show. At one point he walked in, danced on the dance floor to the lady singing. She got a huge kick out if it, and then when he was done, he started to clap and walk around, it looked so much like he was asking the crowd for applause that they all started clapping. In the middle of the song. How funny!

Day 11 - Train to Fuengirola
Today we decided to find the train and head out to another town along the coast. We thought we had an idea of where the train station was and headed in that general direction. We got lost. No worries, though, we had a map and were able to eventually find our way to the train station. It took us about 2 hours to find it.
The ride to Fuengirola was about 20-30 minutes with all the stops inbetween. When we arrived we made our way to the sea front and walked along till we found a suitable place to have lunch. All of the beach front towns on the Costa del Sol look the same. Fuengirola looked like Benalmedina, which looked like Torremolinos. There's not a whole lot to do but walk the prom, lay on the beach, eat, drink, and shop for souveniers. So after having our fill of that, we made our way back on the train. Trent is such a great traveler. During all of our journeys he was a model baby. Barely ever complained, and told us what he needed using signs so we were able to ensure all his needs were met and avoid tantrums.
After we arrived back in Torremolinos we made our way back to the hotel, wich was much quicker since we now knew where we were going.
We returned to the beach for an afternoon of playing with Trent in the sand. How he loves the beach. He and Nana would walk along the water's edge and Trent would find pebbles and throw them into the sea. He looked like he was having a blast. I know Nana and Grandad thoroughly enjoyed playing with him. Trent really took to his Grandad. He would go and snuggle up to him to play and build sand castles. Awh. I was in heaven. All the people I love most in the world all together having fun. What more could I want?

We rounded off the day with dinner and a quick walk and off to bed early because tomorrow would be a very long day!

Day 12 - Africa, baby!
Up at 5:30! ACK! This is supposed to be a holiday. Why the hell am I getting up at this ungodly hour?? because we're going to another continent! That's worth getting up for! Ok, so it's only Tangier, the very northern tip of Africa, but it's still Africa and it counts. Our main motivation for taking this trip was for Brian. Mum, Dad, and I, as I've mentioned have been to Tangier 24 years ago. We were curious to see the changes that had been made since we went, though.
The coach (glorified bus) picked us up at 6:30am and we made several other stops along the way. Our guide, Michelle, was wonderful. She was so very friendly and we were amazed at how easily she switched from one language to another. She spoke 4 languages: French (her native language), Spanish, English, and German. All fluently. Amazing. Michelle really liked Trent and played with him whenever she wasn't adressing the group. People in Europe are so friendly.

We took the fast ferry from Algeciras to Tangier. The fast ferry is a hoverfoil and it really did go fast. A regular ferry left a good 20 minutes before we did and we passed it in no time flat! After about an hour on the ferry we arrived in Tangier. The approach to Tangier was cool. You could see so many Moroccan-style houses cascading down the hillside. It looked like they were practically built on top of each other. When we got off the ferry, we were immediately swarmed by men wanting to help carry bags, etc. One man tried to take Trent and his buggy from me to help me up the stairs. I damn near broke his arm wrenching it off of the buggy. Nobody is treating my kid like a piece of luggage. I'll carry him my damn self thank you very much!

We got on a new bus and took a tour of downtown Tangier, stopping briefly for a camel ride. Then we headed to the Casbah where we would tour around the narrow, labrynth-like streets and soak in the culture. Inside the Casbah we were treated to a snake charmer show and I got to hold the snake... Afterwards we went for lunch at a local restaurant and treated to a traditional meal. The meal was actually quite good, and I imagine it contained more food in that one meal than most of these people ate in several days. So spoiled we are. During the meal there was a band playing traditional African music and the band members saw fit to entertain Trent doing peek-a-boo with thier instruments. Funny how peek-a-boo is so universal.

After lunch we went to the local market where we could buy souvineirs and chachkas. Brian and I aren't really souvineir people so we just enjoyed taking it all in. In the market place, children as young as 7 or 8 were pedalling goods. Prices started around 20 euros and very quickly dropped down to 5 euros the longer you said no. Everywhere you went someone was waving some unneeded item in your face. It was actually quite stressful. I don't like to be harassed like that. It must be successful, though, or they wouldn't do it. Nobody likes constant rejection and I imagine it can wear a person down. Interestingly, there were no women pedalling goods in this manner. In fact you scarecely even saw a female unless you peeked into a doorway into one of the many tiny sweat shops where they were busy working on sewing machines or other equipment to bang out these chachkas and nick-nacks.
Not much has changed in Tangier in 24 years. My memory of my original trip is somewhat hazy now, and I do recall the terrain being a little more rough. Perhaps they've improved their roads with cobblestone streets now, or perhaps we were in a different area of town the last time. Who knows. What I didn't see this time, though, was people upright begging. This time they were selling things. Although one child did say to my mum "you give me your loose change? just for me?" She would have if she had any, I am certain.
We got to see a demonstration of Moroccan rugs, which was very interesting, and the man presenting was cracking Brian and me up (unintentionally) with the way he spoke and his choice of words. The rugs were beautiful and all hand made. But it's completely impractical to buy one there when they are so readily available at home. Next we visited an apothecary (pharmacist) who demonstrated all of the homeopathic remedies they carry. Trent took a nap for this so I skipped the demo and hung out with our tour guide and mum.
Trent just rolled with everything the whole day. He was such a star! On our way back to Spain we had a small delay with the ferry and Trent made friends with some children in the terminal.

Back on the ferry, we all took turns chasing Trent around. We let him run around to his heart's content since he had been strapped into his stroller for many hours today. I chased him in and out of the empty seats and he was cracking up. So many people on the boat stopped to talk to him in all different languages. Upon arrival back on Spanish soil, we got back onto our bus and made our way back to the hotel. Trent passed out on his Nana. Such a good boy!

Day 13 - Relaxing day at the beach & a parade
Today (Sunday) we thought we would take a stroll into downtown Torremolinos. We stopped at a cafe and had a beer while Trent ran around in the plaza, then we went in search of somewhere to eat. We accidentally stumbled across a festival/parade. We don't know exactly what it was, but there were a lot of tractors and farm-type equipment, and people riding on wagons. Everyone in the parade was dressed in traditional spanish attire. Shot glasses could be purchased and as the parade passed by, people with large watering cans full of sangria would pour you a shot and also pour sangria down your throat!
After having our fill of the parade, we made our way back to the promenade in search of a lunch spot, picking up a couple of souvineirs for people at home along the way. After a frustrating search for a place with a high-chair (most places did not have them) we had to settle on a place that didn't have one, and pretty much tied Trent to a regular chair with a belt. Hey, it works. It might have looked a little barbaric, but it worked really well. So always wear a belt :-)
This being our final day in Spain, we had to round it out by giving Trent his, now much loved, time on the beach. And of course he had a blast. Running in and out of the waves, smashing my sand sculptures, and digging for pebbles to throw in the sea.

As is our routine now, we had dinner and went for a walk along the promenade. Of course, stopping to pet every dog that passed by until Trent got tired and passed out in his buggy on the way back to the hotel. I was wishing we could stay longer, and Brian was ready to go home.

Day 14 - NY here we come!
Lucky for us that our flight didn't leave Malaga until 2:40pm today, so we were able to spend time having breakfast together, and mum and dad took Trent for a walk while Brian and I finished packing. Then we checked out of the hotel, said our goodbyes, and headed one step closer to home. New York City.
The flight over was uneventful. Trent watched his DVD player, ate and took naps, and we arrived safely in NYC around 5pm that evening (which was around midnight to our body clocks). Unfortunately, there was a problem with our hotel reservation and I had to call Viji (0ur awesome travel agent) to fix it. Which she did. So after about an hour delay we were able to check into our hotel. Surprisingly, when we got there, the front desk was kissing our butts. I assumed it was because of Viji. Turns out that by some weird twist of fate, there was another person with our last name checking in that day, and he was a Hilton rewards member. It was HIS butt they thought they were kissing, and it was HIS room they gave us. They had lost our reservation, and even though Viji called to sort it out, they still didn't get it right! They woke me up at midnight to tell me that there was a problem with our room.
Having been on a trans-atlantic flight and was dog-tired, I wasn't feeling very friendly and as politely as I could, told the manager that this would have to wait until the morning. She finally backed off. But for the remainder of our stay, the front desk staff were incredibly rude to us!

Day 15 - Homeward bound
Having a few hours to blow in New York, we decided we would take the train down to Manhattan, have lunch in Central Park and let Trent run around since he'd be spending 4 hours strapped into an aeroplane again. We took the sky train, then the subway, and walked a few blocks to the park. Trent had a blast chasing the birds and petting dogs. Unfortunately he took a spill on a ramp and hit his head, resulting in a nice lump, bruise, and graze. It didn't seem to phase him much, though. Our little tough guy.

Finally, it was time to make the last leg of the journey. Home sweet home. And how glad we were when the plane's wheels touched down on Texas soil. There's no place like home :-)

Not the face!

Brian came home last night with a very nice lump and bruise on his gorgeous face. Right on the cheekbone under his right eye. It looked pretty grusome last night, but he iced it down and this morning it's not looking bad at all. Shame really, it was kinda hot ;-)

How did he get it... well, that's a story only Brian can tell. I wouldn't want to steal his spotlight.

the ancient art of reading tea bags?

Ok, don't freak out, but I saw something pretty spectacular in my morning tea today. I know that for centuries, psychics the world over have used tea leaves to read people's fortunes. This morning, as I was making my morning cuppa, a face appeared to me in the tea bag. Perhaps I've just discovered a new medium for post death communications with the living? Could it be Jesus? Elvis, maybe? my dead grandmother? What does it mean???

Here's a picture. Please note that I have adjusted the lighting using software to make it more visible, but I have not altered the image otherwise. Who do you think it is?

Regardless of what it means, it was a delicious cup of tea!

Glad to be home

I'm working on a trip report from our recent holiday - it's taking longer than anticipated because a) I have a lot to talk about, b) I am busy catching up at work, c) I'm a starter but not a finnisher, so it's half done, and d) I'd rather spend time playing with Trent.

But rest assured it's coming.

I went to the gym for the first time in several weeks yesterday. It felt so good to work out. Unfortunately, when I got done I got to the car and the security system malfunctioned and immobilized the car. I guess the anti-theft system works a little too well. I had to run home from the gym and today, a whole 24 hrs later, the car still won't engage. Stupid alarm. The silver lining is that I got an extra few miles of cardio in. But now poor Brian has to figure out how to get the car to start or we have to tow it somewhere to get it looked at. BAH!

Europe 08 trip highlights - Switzerland

I'm very glad to be back home after what can only be described as a very cool, interesting, and surprising holiday in Europe. Normally when I travel I keep a hand-written journal, but since this time I was traveling with a baby, I assumed I wouldn't have time for that, and I was right. So let's see if I remember all the key things I wanted to remember about this trip. I think perhaps breaking it up into days might help me. So here goes:

Day 1 - Travel day
We got up EARLY, after no sleep at all for me. I can't sleep before a trip. I think most people suffer from this. You know the one where your brain won't let you sleep because your alarm might fail and you'll miss your flight. We got Trent up around 5am. I put him to bed the night before in the shirt he was going to travel in so that I wouldn't have to wake him. I did a stealth nappy change and put trousers on him, then put him in his car seat, but the act of picking him up woke him. He was super mellow about it, though. Just sleepily sat in his car seat and looked out the window. Then we took a bus from the parking area to the terminal. We thought he'd go back to sleep but he never did, which was kind of ideal really since we wanted him sleepy for the plane ride.
We played in the airport and let Trent walk all over the place to tire him out. Then when we boarded the plane, he politely went to sleep for most of the flight to Atlanta. In Atlanta we had a few hours before our next flight so we ate lunch at Chillis and again let Trent walk all around exploring and playing. In Atlanta, we plugged his DVD player into a wall outlet (so as to not drain the battery) and he was happy as can be.
On the long flight to Zurich, Trent had his own seat so we were able to use the CARES harness, which worked like magic to get him settled. Because he'd worn himself out at the airport, he was very accommodating and sat quietly playing or watching his DVD until he fell asleep pretty much for the remainder of the flight. Since this was an overnight flight that worked out quite well. One thing to note about the CARES harness - if the seats on the plane are vinyl (which they are on Delta), then you need to put something on the seat to stop the kid from sliding and strangling himself on the harness buckle. Some of the non-slip pads you put under rugs or in drawers works well.

Day 2 - Arrival in Zurich and dinner at Chez Dupre
We arrived in Zurich as scheduled and Benoit was there to meet us as we came out of customs. Ben so kindly traveled to Zurich on the train to meet us and accompany us back so that he could help with luggage and to ensure we get the right ticket, etc. Then, Nadia met us at the station in Fribourg with their car, and she took all our luggage to the hotel while Ben, Brian, Trent and I all walked from the station to the hotel (about 1KM). Fribourg is a very small place. We checked in and Trent took a nap while Ben and Brian returned to the train station to greet Brian's parents who were arriving from their trip to Amsterdam and Lucerne.
That evening Ben picked us all up in a car he had hired that seated all of us, including a baby seat for Trent! What a thoughtful guy! We made our way to Ben's parents' house, which was just a few KM away from the centre of Fribourg. There we met Ben's parents and Nadia's parents. Ben's mum made a fantastic dinner with several courses, made with vegetables fresh from their garden. Neither Ben nor Nadia's parents spoke any English, so when I was able, I translated and conversed with them. Nadia's dad, Jean-Paul was so great with Trent. He and Trent seemed to really like each other - they played with blocks and played peek-a-boo and Nadia's mum was so very sweet, even in a different language. Ben's parents were just so warm and friendly that the language barrier seemed so nonexistent. We had so much fun that evening, gesturing, speaking in broken French and English, and laughing when we finally did understand what the other was saying. That was one of my favourite evenings of the trip.

Day 3 - Trip to Gruyere's Medieval Town
Ben and Nadia picked us up bright and early after breakfast in the big car, and we drove about 20 minutes to Gruyere, the origins of the cheese. We first went to the Gruyeres Castle, which was built in the 13th century. The castle was small, but impressive in it's construction, especially given the date it was constructed. We had fun roaming the rooms and took in the multi-media experience that educated us on the area and the castle. In the darkened room, Trent very respectfully took a nap so as to not disturb anybody. What a good boy! After the tour of the castle, we ate a fantastic lunch of Fondue at a restaurant just outside the castle. After lunch we took a tour of the cheese factory where they make the Gruyere cheese that you buy in the grocery stores today (that is if you don't settle for a bad immitation, and believe me, after tasting this, you shouldn't).
After the cheese factory, we spent some time relaxing in the Swiss Chocolate store where we bought a whole variety of chocolate and shared it between the 7 of us. This was Trent's first time to taste chocolate. At first he didn't like it, but he went back and tried it again and before long we had to cut him off! Afterwards, we all went back to Ben and Nadia's and hung out on the balcony drinking wine and chatting, while Trent played with all of Nadia's stuffed animals and tried to terrorize their rabbit, Merlin.

Day 4 - Discovering Fribourg
Today we all slept in late, which was such a treat. Though we did manage to miss breakfast. As we were making our way to the hotel where Brian's parents were staying, which was about 1km away, we bumped into them in the town centre. Then as we were standing there outside this bakery, an american guy came over to us and said "Hey, are you guys from Texas?" and I was for one second quite mortified that it could be so obvious. Then he identified himself as the Todd, the guy from Vermont, that was also attending Ben & Nadia's wedding. He was having a coffee with Pascal, one of Ben's brothers, and Pascal's 2.5 year old son Edgar. What a small town this is! We hung out for a while chatting with Pascal and Tood, then we all met up with Ben and Nadia for lunch, except for Pascal and Edgar who went to the doctor because Edgar was a little bit unwell and he was to be the ring-bearer in the wedding so they wanted to be sure he would be ok.
After lunch Ben and Nadia went to take care of some final wedding prep, Todd headed for a coffee shop, and we (the Baumans) went back to Brian's parent's hotel to give Trent some play time. We drank some wine and watched the news about hurricane Ike. After that we went walking around Fribourg to find the church where Ben and Nadia were to be married, just so we knew where to go on Saturday. On the way back, we stopped off at a little bar for a beer. That evening, we had dinner in a highly recommended fondue restaurant. We had goat cheese fondue, herb grueyre fondue, and a really cool beef dish that cooks in front of you in a pan over a flame on the table. After dinner we went back to Brian's parents' hotel room and let Trent play a while longer, then we walked back to our hotel as Trent fell peacefully to sleep on the way.

Day 5 - The wedding
The weather took a turn today from relatively cool and a bit overcast, to rather cold and drizzly. We slept late again and of course missed breakfast, so we took a stroll over to the bakery I had spotted near the Train station when we first alighted the train in Fribourg. Mmmm, freshly baked pastries. There's nothing better than that. We took them back to our hotel room and spent the morning playing with Trent.
Brian's parents came to our hotel around 2 or so and we took a cab over to the church. The wedding was beautiful. The church was so old and quaint. We could really see why they chose this place. The church was packed with so many family and friends, it seemed like the whole town was there. Ben later told us that the choir, who were up in the balcony and out of my line of sight, was comprised completely of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Although I couldn't understand what they were singing, since it was all in French, they were amazing. The depth of the harmonies was breathtaking and despite the fact that the wedding was quite long, I found myself hoping they'd sing again. And they did. I can't recall how many songs, but definitely more than 5.
Nadia looked so beautiful in her dress, and I loved her dress. So funky and so very French. I can't do it justice to describe it, so I'll have to rely on pointing to pictures when Ben sends them to us.
After the ceremony we all left the church and went outside and the bride and groom took pictures with everybody. There was one really cool shot in particular with the whole group assembled on the little bridge over the Sarine river, with old Fribourg on the hills in the background. I can't wait to see how that one came out!
After pictures, we Ben's parents drove Brian, Trent, and me to the next phase of the wedding celebrations, which was an aperatif at the youth centre of the Church near Ben's parents' house. Here we all drank wine/beer, ate appetizers, and socialized. We mingled with many people, and Ben introduced us to his boss and wife who were from England. Trent played with the other children, chasing balloons together and laughing and I discovered that there's no language barrier when you're a child. It was so cute!
During this portion of the evening, postcards adressed to Ben and Nadia were given out, and people wrote down a gift and some advice on them. Then we tied them to a balloon and as we were all leaving, we all let them go at the same time. Whoever finds the postcard is asked to mail them back to Ben and Nadia. Those that get returned to them will owe Ben and Nadia the gift that they wrote on the card :-) what a cool idea!
Ben's parents drove us over to the restaurant that was hosting the wedding dinner. The Hotel Schiff am See in Morat. You can see France across the lake from here. It was such a nice place. The dinner was amazing. Four courses of what can only be described as gourmet cuisine. The dessert buffet was to die for! The festivities lasted well into the wee hours and Trent did an amazing job of rolling with everything we threw at him. The hotel staff were so kind and got Trent his own little plate. They didn't have to do that and we were so grateful and very impressed. Around midnight, the little guy passed out and fortunately, Ben and Nadia, being the wonderful hosts they are, had reserved a room right next to the party, where people with children could go and take care of their needs. Trent and I spent the last 2 hours in there. Trent passed out, and me just laying next to him relaxing. During our time there a couple of other mums came through to change a baby or to breastfeed. Around 2am Ben's parents took us back to our hotel, which was quite out of their way. They are so very sweet.

Day 6 - Dinner with Ben and Nadia
Today, for the most part, we did our own thing and Brian's parents left for Ireland. We did a little sight seeing around town, took Trent to the park where he played and chased dogs. Then we bought a baguette and some cheese and ate lunch in our hotel room while playing with Trent. Trent did something remarkable today. As Brian and I were lying down hoping to take a nap, and we'd spread out a blanket on the floor for Trent to play on... and after a while of playing, he got up, picked up his blankie, laid back down with the blanket over him and went to sleep!!! I know this doesn't sound like a big deal to you... but to us it was completely priceless. So we all took a nap.
That evening we made our way over to Ben and Nadia's house, consulting a map and relying on Brian's memory... we eventually found it. We sat around, chatted, and ate Pizza. Trent did a little more terrorizing of the rabbit. After dinner we took a leisurely stroll back to our hotel and Trent passed out on the way.

Day 7 - Departing Switzerland and going to Espania!
This is the day I've been looking forward to most of all. Visions of my parents greeting us in the hotel lobby as we arrived danced in my head all night long. So much so, that I wasn't able to get much sleep. Lucky for us, though, because I had thought our flight left at 2:30, but at 6:30am I had a bad feeling, so I got up and checked our itinerary. Sure enough, we were to depart at 12:30! ACK!!! We had arranged to meet Ben at 9am and go to the train station to get the 10:08 to Zurich. Change of plan! "Brian, you need to get up! I've made a mistake and the flight leaves 2 hours earlier than I thought!" Lucky for us that we had 2.5 hours before our designated meeting time with Ben and plenty of time to catch the 8:04 to Zurich. We called Ben, then called a taxi.
Ben and Nadia met us at the train station and helped us buy our tickets. Then we were off. A quick goodbye to our fantastic hosts.

Summary of Switzerland
We really enjoyed our stay. Fribourg and the surrounding area is gorgeous. We wished we had more time to go to Zurmatt or some place in the Alps, but the things we did get to see were beautiful and I can totally see why people live here. The people in Switzerland are so friendly. We loved our hotel. The De La Rose, part of the Best Western chain, but you wouldn't think so. It was nothing like an American hotel - very European, and in an old historic building. We felt completely safe walking around in Fribourg. Even at night. There was a park by the hotel that Bri's parents stayed in (and a strip club next door) and that was the only area of town we found to be a bit dodgy, but even that wasn't so bad that you wouldn't walk through it at night. Transplant that park and the people who frequent it to any city in the US, though, and wild horses wouldn't drag me through it, day or night. There's a reason why nobody's at war with the Swiss :-)

Goodbye Sasquatch, hello Europe

ok, this is my final post before we leave for our much anticipated trip. Over the last week I've made the transition from freaking out a little about taking a toddler on a plane for 10 hours, to being actually excited about the trip. Good news, Benoit is coming to meet us in Zurich and will ride the train to Fribourg with us. That will take some of the stress out of trying to find your way around a foreign land. I'm quite looking forward to exercising my newly polished French language skills with Ben and Nadia. Hopefully I will do ok.

Today I opted to take a vacation day. It wasn't part of my original plan, but I realized I needed to have a somewhat relaxing, work free day prior to the trip just for my mental well-being. So we spent the weekend prepping the house and doing last minute shopping. On Saturday, Aunt Tara took Trent for a few hours and Brian and I busied ourselves with cleaning up the house. I hate to come home from a trip to a messy house. Brian, being a huge slob, doesn't mind it, but he's been humoring me by completing his honey-do list with no complaints.

I found the time during my busy weekend to get one last Suede show in. Michelle and I met up at Cuba Libre for drinks and appetizers, then made our way over to Cedar St. a little after 11. We closed out the night there and as always, had such a blast dancing and oogling the eye candy on the stage. Usually at Cedar St. you don't get many stupid drunk people, but that night I had to threaten a very drunk guy with bodily injury if he touched my arse one more time while I was dancing. Lucky for him he got the message. He and his friend later apologized to me. Ok, I was a little feisty that night.

On Sunday we spent some time at the outlet malls picking up the final things we would need for our trip, then ate lunch at Chilli's. The remainder of Sunday was spent playing and hanging out with Trent, then dinner at my favourite sushi place, Sushi Sake, with Mike, Tara, and Austin for Mike's birthday. I feel like all of my friends are catching up to me now. I might still be the old lady in the group, but at least I don't feel like it! Oh, you'll all be happy to know that I slayed the sasquatch last night in a fury of hot wax and tweezers. RIP sasquatch.

Today Trent is spending the day at daycare while Brian and I pack. I'm taking a break right now and having my second cup of tea of the morning. Today is definitely a 2 cup morning. I was sleeping so hard this morning and when I woke up I felt so groggy. The fog is lifting though. I'm feeling a bit sloth-like, though because I haven't ran or been to the gym in many days. Just not enough time. I'm going to try to get a run in this evening, which will likely be the last time I work out for 2 weeks. Hopefully I won't be smuggling any extra arse back to the US in my trousers when we come back ;-)

I taked to mum and dad on the webcam yesterday, and they are very excited to see us in only one week! They'll be waiting in the hotel reception when we arrive in Spain. I can barely stand to wait! The only bummer is that it will all be over too quickly, but mum and I will remedy that by planning our next trip almost as soon as we get back! We're thinking Mexico next year.

The rest of my day is looking quite leasurely and right now I feel a sense of calm. Barbie has exactly 16 hours to push that baby out before I have to leave for the airport, otherwise I'm requesting that she (the baby) politely waits for my return ;-)
All kidding aside, I'm extremely disappointed that I won't get to meet my new niece when she's born, and that I can't be there to be moral support and bouncer for Barbie while she's doing her thing. But I know she's in good hands. The good news is that I'll have something to look forward to when I get back. I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait to meet the little bugger. I hope she has Barbie's dimples :-)

You ladies be good while I'm gone. I love you (smooooooooooooooooch!)

~Amanda out

you are what you eat

If we are what we eat, then today I am utter crap!

Here's what I've eaten so far:

• Pomegranate Danactive
• Fruit & Grain Bar
• Starbuck's grande non-fat chai latte
• Snickers bar
• Bag of jalepeno crisps

And it's only 1:30. This evening I intend to eat pizza and drink wine. I guess I shouldn't feel bad because I don't eat this much crap usually. In fact, ever, really. Today was just unusual. And today is my final day before.... HOLIDAY! YAY! I guess I'm just preparing my taste buds for airline/airport food :-)

It's the final countdown!

Ok, for those of you old enough to remember the rock anthem by one hit wonder "Europe", the devil in me hopes that song gets stuck in your head for a bit.

What I'm referring to, of course, is the countdown to our trip. After reviewing my progress on languages, for French, I can say I am at least at an intermediate level. For German, which I haven't been brushing up on, I'm still a beginner, and for Spanish, I am very much a beginner. But hey, it's progress. I highly recommend the podcasts on the www.radiolingua.com web sites if you're looking to learn a new language. They will definitely get you started.

This week I'm putting all the checks and balances into place at work. Prepping people for my absence, writing a list of things that should be done while I'm away, and where to find everything they will need. My goal is to have everything wrapped up by the time I finish tomorrow so that I can spend my weekend and one day next week focusing on things at home. On the home front, keys have been issued, instructions written, and there will be a human presence every day to love on the cats and fish. Sweet! A big thanks to Jen and Mike, and our wonderful neighbour Jim for all their help.

Today I met with our awesome travel agent, Viji Krishna, at Tramex Travel. I honestly don't know what I'd do without her. She's very detailed, and extremely sweet. She even told me to call her at 6am at home on the day we fly if we run into any issues. Note to self: When I get back, I will send her a thank you gift.

I have so much left to do and I can't quite get my head around it! Luckily for us, Aunt Tara so kindly offered to take Trent for a while on Saturday so we could focus on what we need to get done.

And in all this madness, tomorrow I am making time to get a pedicure. Over the weekend I am making time to remedy the sasquatch issue that Brian's been a bit freaked out about lately - yes, my hairy legs have actually started to freak him out. Note to self: check to see if you still have wax and strips :-)

Eeeeeeeee! I need a massage!

5 party weekend and a shy half...

This weekend was jam-packed with fun. You know it's a good weekend when all your days have blended into one big one, and you can't remember half of what you did. There were many, many parties this weekend. Some of which I was able to attend, and others I had to regrettably forgo. I would have liked a time machine this weekend, that way I could have attended all of them, and perhaps even repeat some of the highlights. Aside from socializing, I did quite a lot of moving my body this weekend. On Sunday I did a grand total of 12.5 miles. Just shy of a half-marathon... ok, it sounds impressive when I say it like that. Truthfully, though, I only ran 7.2 of those miles. Trent and I did our usual Sunday morning run, then later in the day, Brian suggested that we walk to Home Depot. We needed to go there to get some keys made, and it's just over 2.5 miles from us, so that made for a good walk there and back. We saved money on gas, did something good for the environment, and burned a few extra calories.
Sunday night was an absolute blast and Michelle and I are still smiling about it. Monday morning came too soon for me. As I told Joe on Sunday night "my alarm clock has no snooze button". And after a few brief, but enjoyable, hours of sleep, Trent was up and ready to play! We spent some time at the pool on Monday morning, followed by running some errands, which included a trip to the Learning Toy Store, and then we attended one last party to cap off the weekend. We feel so lucky that our friends have welcomed Trent into their lives and are so happy to see him at parties. Of course, he's in his "fun" phase right now, where he's still cute, and very funny to watch as he discovers his world. Another reason why I would like a time machine. I'd freeze time so he could be this age for just a little while longer.

Only one more week until we leave for Switzerland! So much to do, so little time. Why am I spending time blogging??? because it's distracting me from the mountain of work that piling up that I just simply don't want to do! I have a case of the idontwannas!

Confessions of a neurotic mother

Since becoming a mother, my mind is doing this awful thing to me. It goes to the darkest of places in the blink of an eye. Seemingly normal every day scenarios I find myself in cause my mind to drift to possible things that could happen, and then manifest into bad things happening, which then manifest into what I would do in that situation to protect Trent, and then my stomach gets in knots and I either feel physically sick or I actually feel a little angry. I think I've become a worrier!!! I never used to be.

Yesterday my train of thought went like this:

My ring sure is sparkly... Hmmm, maybe I should put it in the safe deposit box during our trip in case I lose it.... but what if something happens? nobody will be able to get it from the safe... what would happen to it if I die? who would get it? not some crooked rescue worker ripping it off my cold dead finger... I'd want Trent to have it... what if the plane crashes? ...OMG! Trent's so young and has so much life to live! (visual of plane crashing and me trying to protect him) what could I do to help him get out of it alive? (nausea). STOP IT! You're being crazy!

See what I mean? that's just one very mild example. Obviously I have some anxiety issues. Specifically around Trent's wellbeing. I wonder if every parent feels like this or if I'm unusually neurotic. I struggle every day to keep a balance and not be over protective. Every morning when Trent gets in the car, in the very back of my mind there's a tiny fleeting thought that wonders if that's the last time I'll see him. How horrible is that?? And I kiss him and tell him how much I love him many, many times before he can get into the car. Every time I buckle him in, I make sure the top buckle is as far up as possible so he wouldn't get ejected from his car seat in the event of a crash. And every morning I check to see if Brian's logged in so my mind can rest easy that they're both ok.

Jeez. I need some Valium or something.

A low maintenance day

Today was a very good day. While it started off earlier than we'd have liked, Brian and I have been pleasantly surprised by how cool and relaxed Trent has been today. We started off with a delicious breakfast of home made strawberry and banana pancakes, then spent the morning just hanging out, playing, and watching sign language DVDs. Brian made lunch for us all, which was a rare treat. He made traditional American grilled cheese sandwiches, which Trent devoured, then in a rare moment of cooperation, he (Trent, not Brian) took a nap without any fuss whatsoever! Woa! who are you and what have you done with my kid??

After an hour long nap, he woke up refreshed and in a great mood and he ate a quick snack, then we headed off to Emma Long park where we attended a wedding reception for two friends who Brian went to high school with. Obviously, a non-traditional wedding reception, but I have to say, these are the best kind. Informal, fun, no fuss, no foof. The bride and groom were relaxed and happy, the food, home made burgers, flipped by the groom himself on the grill, was delicious, and we all had fun floating in Lake Austin. Trent was so chilled out the whole time. Just so content to be around the crowd, drinking water from his sippy and sharing food with mummy and daddy, and dazzling everyone around him with his mad sign language skills. He enjoyed floating in the lake with everyone and giggled as I spun him around in his baby float. He seemed to enjoy the waves caused by all the boats going by. Several people brought their dogs to the reception and Trent had a great time petting them all. He just loves dogs. I think most likely because they don't run away from him like the cats do. No, we do not have any plans to get a dog. After another dip in the lake, the bride and groom served up four delicious cakes, two of which I shared with Trent. We left the park around 8pm, just about time for Trent to go to bed. And on the way home, our good little boy passed right out in his car seat, and didn't even wake up when I took him out of the car and up the stairs to bed.

Awh. Days like this are so rewarding. Brian and I both commented on how much easier than usual our day had gone, largely because Trent was so accommodating. You can't take days like this for granted.

Brian's gone over to a friend's house for some Rock Band now, which gives me some much appreciated alone time. I plan to do a little research and watch some mindless TV before passing out.

Is that a carrot in your spagetti or are you just happy to see me?

So thanks to my brother in law's wonderful girlfriend, I have this book called Deceptively Delicious. It was a birthday present. It's a cook book. You probably don't know this about me, but I can't follow a recipe even if my life depended on it. But I have found this book to be very useful. It gives me ideas for things to make, and teaches me how to "smuggle" vegetables into dishes without being detected. So I don't follow the recipes exactly, I always put my own twist on it, but the basic principal is really good, and it inspires me to concoct my own creations. The gist of it is this... you buy a bunch of fresh veggies, steam them, and then shove them in the food processor (individually, not all mixed together) to make purees. You can then freeze these in 1 or 1/2 cup quantities (depending on your needs) and use them in recipes. Here are some of the things I've smuggled veggies into of late:

Garlic and blue cheese mashed potatoes (with cauliflower)
Spaghetti and turkey meat balls (with carrots)
Penne pasta with Italian sausage and feta (with zuchini and squash) - my own concoction

The first two, Brian could not detect the veggies. In the third one he said "something is off". But he ate it, so mission accomplished.

The reason for this culinary trickery is threefold:
Firstly, I want Trent to eat vegetables, and a lot of times he does, but I want them in every meal, and sometimes if I serve him veggies he will push them aside in favour of the carbs and meat on his plate.
Secondly I like veggies, and I want more of them in my diet, and I don't like fruit much, so I am trying to compensate for that by adding more vegies.
And thirdly, and perhaps the most controversial reason, is that Brian doesn't get enough servings of fruit or veggies in a typical day because he chooses to eat crap. And I can get him to eat maybe a tablespoon of overt vegetables in a sitting, but that simply isn't good enough.

This strategy is not without it's down side, though. The book should come with a warning sticker that says "Warning: May cause husband to behave like you're trying to kill him if he discovers your evil plan to make him healthier".

Save the drama for your mama, babe. I'm trying to do a nice thing for you here, even if you don't see it that way.

Baby babble, or words?

Trent's been 'talking' a lot lately. At school recently, they reported that he said "bubble". He was chasing bubbles at the time. He's also saying "banana", although it sounds like "na-naanaa" when he says it. At first I was skeptical and passed it off as him just making sounds... he's said "na na na" before. But when I say "banana" his face lights up and he heads for his high chair, because banana is his favourite food, and now he consistently repeats it.

He's using sign language very consistently now. He signs "milk" all the time, even when he's getting water. Which is fine. He's signing "eat" when we ask him if he's hungry, and he's signing either "more" or "please" when he wants more of something. He's signing "thank you" a lot more lately, which still looks like him blowing a kiss and is accompanied by the "Bwaaah!" sound. When we play his sign language DVD, he's rooted to the spot and he tries to copy what the kids on the telly are doing. Sooo cute.

Yesterday, he walked all the way to the car by himself (well, I was there, but not helping him) and this morning he walked all the way from the car to his classroom. I find that I can get him to do anything as long as he can hold the car keys.

Trent likes to sing, or rather, he likes it when you sing to him. He likes "if you're happy and you know it", and he claps his hands in excitement when you do it. And he likes Itsy Bitsy Spider (or Incy Wincy Spider for us Brits), and tries to do the finger movements along with you.

And on last blogworthy thing. He's now sitting in my lap for short periods of time when I read him a story. He's not necessarily still, but it's progress.

Ok... one more thing.... When I picked him up from daycare yesterday, his teacher told me he was really smart.

Awh.... me = proud mum.

adventures in slow motion

This weekend I experienced what I can only describe as moving in slow motion. More likely what happened is I moved so fast that the world around me appeared to slow down.

Why?

Imagine, if you can, a 13 month old kid who has just learned to walk and is very excited about exploring his new found skill. Now combine that with a careless oversight on my part. I took Trent into his room to pick out some clothes for the day, and in about 3 seconds flat after I took my eyes off him, he was standing near the top of the stairs. Realizing it was way to quiet for him to be right near me (which he usually is), I immediately ran across the landing. This is when time slowed down...

I dropped whatever was in my hand, uttered the words "No! NO! NOOO! BRIANNNN!" and as my heart rate reached maximum BPM, I saw in slow motion Trent take a step forward... then slowly he made a full head over heels rotation in the air, hit his nose on a step, bounced, and was caught by Brian who was luckily coming up the stairs with a stack of nappies. Meanwhile my feet left the ground and damn near never touched until I was at the top step, staring down in disbelief at Brian's mad ninja skills. He'd managed to catch Trent before he hit the bottom of the first landing (and the wall, most likely) and not drop the stack of nappies.

Trent howled for a few seconds, then went about his business as though nothing had happened. Me... well it took a little longer for me to recover. Time travel is rough on your mental state.

The moral of this story... always, always, always close the damn baby gate. Because once they start walking, they're fast as all hell and try as you might to break the laws of physics, time and gravity are constant.

Mama Mia!

I have a few minutes while my plug-in builds, so I wanted to write a brief blurb regarding the movie Mama Mia. Having not seen it on Broadway, which I would have loved, I have to say I was very entertained by the movie. Though Merryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan won't be winning any Grammies for their singing abilities, they actually did a fairly decent job. I was expecting the movie to be way cheesier than it was. It was a total girl movie, though. I can't imagine for a second that any guy would appreciate it. But for a girl it's got some very key things that we like:

ABBA
Pierce Brosnan
The beautiful backdrop of a Greek island
Very cute boys
Pierce Brosnan half naked
Very fun older women who we hope to be like some day
Colin Firth
Pierce Brosnan in a wet white shirt
Romance
Did I mention that Pierce Brosnan was in it?
A happy ending
And last but not least, Pierce Brosnan

The closing sequence was pretty funny and the men show up in ridiculous costumes worthy of the next halloween. Certainly not what you'd expect James Bond to wear, but I guess even Bond has to go under cover from time to time ;-)

Thanks to Jen for going with me. Brian thanks you too, because now we don't have to rent it on Netflix.

Nice sweater, dude!

Ok... remember how I was feeling a little hairy? and my husband, who normally wouldn't notice something about me even if I shaved my head and tattood a pair of eyes on the back of it, noticed my mustache? well... today I randomly clicked a link from my blog. I had seen this link before. I had never clicked it, but today for some reason I did. It was the "Next Blog" link at the top of the page... and here's what I got! (brace yourself, it ain't pretty):

AGH! MY EYES!!!

Oh the things you see on the internet!

TMI

*disclaimer: For those of you who don't speak "text", TMI = Too Much Information. Fair warning that this blog covers topics some people don't care to know about.

Two things on my mind today:
Sasquatch, sometimes referred to as Big Foot...
That's what I've been feeling like lately. I'm in an awkward phase with regard to hair. I have less than a month till my holiday, and I plan to remove unwanted hair via waxing a few days before we leave. Waxing requires that hair is of a certain length to be effective. Which is right about where I am now. However, if I wax now, it's going to be too short to wax again before my trip. So I'm kind of hairy and scary right now. I'm only talking about legs, eyebrows and mustache, so get your mind out of the gutter. I am not Brazilian. I mentioned this dilemma to Brian yesterday and he actually told me he had noticed my mustache! LOL! lovely. I'm also in an awkward phase with the hair on my head. It's come to my attention recently that I have more than a few gray hairs. Enough to warrant actually colouring it, not for fun anymore, but to actually camouflage. I want it to be freshly done before I go on holiday, however, it's currently at the point where I look like I need to wear a broom skirt and shop bra-less at Whole Foods. You know what I'm talking about if you live in Austin and have ever gone to Whole Foods.
Those who know me must know that I'm exercising some amazing self restraint by not immediately remedying these issues. And if any of you point out my gray hairs or mustache I'll kick your arse!

Junk in the tub!
Trent's gonna kill me some day for posting about this, but it was too funny to pass up. He located his junk while bathing the other day. He was highly amused by it for a good few minutes. Brian and I just let him get on with it and tried to contain our cracking up. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

New furniture

This past weekend we went to Ikea and picked up some cool new furniture... itty bitty furniture for our itty bitty human. We've been wondering what to do with our game room upstairs. It's basically just got a sectional in it. But we spend time up there playing with Trent and his toys have naturally gravitated to that space. SO what better use for it than an official children's play room?

We picked up a rug, a round kid's table, chair, and stool, a cool kid safe mirror, and some storage bins for toys. The room still needs some help to pull it all together, but Brian was such a good sport to go along with the current set of purchases, that I didn't want to push my luck ;-)

We use the rug as a focal point to sit and read. Trent's starting to sit on my lap as I read fairy tales to him. Last night he was just so cute and cuddly I had a hard time putting him to bed because I wanted to spend time with him while he was sleepy and chilled out. Last night's story was "The Frog Prince".

In milestones, Trent is officially on regular food now. We no longer use the processor to mush stuff up for him, I just now make everything bite sized for him and he eats it with his hands. He hasn't mastered the spoon yet. He holds it while he eats, but still grabs hand fulls of what ever's in his bowl and wrestles it into his mouth. Tonight was Lasagna. Oh my! what a mess. He's walking all over the place now, too, and is figuring out how to get down the stairs. He's also using signs a lot now. Over the weekend we had thought that Trent was tired because he was acting a little fussy, and he actually told us what it was with a sign... He was hungry! Hooray for sign language! It's funny to me how the smallest things he does are huge deals to me and Brian.

Tonight was bath night followed by Cinderella. He sat on my lap and listened as I read, then with eyes rolling, he obligingly went night-night. Once again I had a hard time tearing myself away from him because he was just sooooo cute. I sure do love the little snot face.

Clarification about previous post

Brian asked me last night if I was implying anything by my reference to frogs in my previous post. The answer is yes. I was implying something regarding past experiences. But most definitely not that Brian has turned into a frog. No, he's still my awesome prince, knight in shining armour, and very much my hero. So I just wanted to make that perfectly clear.

Fairy tales

Last night I didn't have a nightmare (that I can remember), but I did wake myself up laughing some time in the early morning. I can't remember what I was dreaming, but I do recall hearing laughing in my dream, then becoming aware of someone laughing in the room. It was kind of a "mutly" laugh. And then I woke up and realized that the laugh was coming from me. Which made me laugh some more. Brian never woke up.

In sleep related news (kind of), Brian and I picked up some cool books for Trent at Half Price Books. What a great place that is. We spent $10 and came home with 6 books. Unfortunately, two of the books stunk of cigarettes. That made us pity the poor kid who had to grow up in the house where those books came from. I'll try to Febreeze them to get the stench out, and maybe put them outside for a while. Anyway, the point is, that we picked up this really cool book of "bedtime" stories for Trent. All the old fairy tales were in it, like Cindarella, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, the Frog Prince, etc. We've (me) been reading them to Trent in the evenings. We had to laugh at Little Red Riding Hood, when the wolf ate her grandmother, then the woodmen came in and killed the wolf, then cut him open and the grandmother came out and was totally fine. I hadn't realized how gory these stories we grew up with are. Lots of death and tragedy. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean, these are the stories we grew up with, and we turned out ok. Are these fairy tales teaching our kids about death at an early age so they can handle it/expect it/process it? or is it just too soon to introduce that concept? I dunno.

I've purposefully been skipping the Hansel and Gretel story because if I recall the story correctly, their parents abandon them in the forest. What kind of message is that??? "gee Trent, you're eating a lot these days and we simply can't afford to feed you AND ourselves, so we're going to take you to the forest and leave you to fend for yourself. Maybe a pack of wolves will adopt and raise you" (which is what I suspect happened to my sisters based on how they behave ;-)).

And what about Puss in Boots? what a con man he is! He tricks a giant into changing into a mouse, eats him, then steals his castle! you can't trust cats. No matter how cute they are. Just yesterday Onyx tried to steal my sandwich while I wasn't looking.

Last night we read the Three Billy Goats Gruff. What a bunch of bad siblings those are. The small and medium size billy goats each sell their brother down the river to the troll, so they obviously can't be trusted, then the big goat drowns the troll who was simply trying to play the cards he was dealt by charging a toll to use his troll bridge. What else is a troll to do? it's not like he can just go and get a job. Besides, he lives under a bridge. You can't get a job unless you have a legitimate address. At least he wasn't just standing on the side of the highway with a sign "will scare small children for food".

One thing you can learn from fairy tales, though, that is a good life lesson... you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. Of course, you shouldn't take that too literally. What the fairy tales don't tell you, though, is that the frog theory works in reverse, too! What a shocker that is when it happens. You get this great guy, he's all perfect, then one day WHAM! frog.

Nightmares

I've had some really awful dreams lately. Last nights was by far the worst. I woke up so sad. First it involved Nikki, my sweet little kitty passing away, and Brian was trying to console me as I clung to her little urn, and I swear I could still hear her purring inside it! Then my nightmare turned it's focus to Trent. It was unimaginable, the grief felt so real. I woke up and immediately went to look at him. Of course, he was sleeping peacefully in his crib, looking all gorgeous and angelic.

WTF is going on in my head that is manifesting itself into dreams like this??? It's just torture.

viva espania!

As y'all know, we're traveling for the first time with Trent in September. I'm so excited about our trip and it's always occupying my thoughts these days. Thoughts about what to buy, what to pack, what to set up at home, what we need for Trent, what it's going to be like at our destinations. In Switzerland, walking through the quaint town with the beautiful vistas and views around us, trying to understand the language, eating SWISS CHOCOLATE in SWITZERLAND! Seeing Ben and Nadia get married, traveling on the train. And in Spain, visions of hanging out on the beach building sand castles with Trent and his Nana and Grandad, walking along the promenade, eating dinners with my parents, egging my dad on to indulge in desserts with sparklers in them with me (not that he'll need much egging, mind you). Just spending time with my most cherished people on the planet. Oh how I can't wait to go!
I usually don't get hung up in details. I'm usually a go with the flow, kinda laid back, person. This trip is different only because it involves a major unknown. Trent. So I am finding myself hung up on the details because I want this trip to be a success. And I measure success in the following terms:

1. We make it onto all of our flights


2. Our flights arrive safely in our destinations


3. Trent is cool and easy going throughout the journey


4. My nerves aren't frayed when we get there


5. We have FUN!

Without the "Trent factor", these things would all be of little concern, or even taken for granted. Item 1 in the list is easily achieved by arriving on time, and, well, for item 2, we don't have much influence over what the pilot does. With the "Trent factor" other success factors being met depends on a bit of planning and forethought. Take item 3 in the list above, for example. It's a simple goal, right? but dissect that into what's needed to achieve it and you have quite a list of things to do. For example:

• Trent won't sit on anyone's lap for more than 2 minutes. Given that...
  • we are trying to "train" him to sit on our laps for brief periods at a time. Not going so well.
  
  
  • order an infant bassinet, which the airline provides. It straps to the bulkhead. This hinges on the hope that Trent will sleep the whole time. Which is unlikely, plus it's awkward at meal times. It also hinges on the hope that the bulkhead seating is available for us.
  
  
  • back up in case above fails: hope for empty seat on the flight and find a way to get him to sit still in it. How?
    • ok, so we know that Trent is calm most of the time when he's in his car seat. So we need to create a similar environment for him on the plane. But we don't want to take his car seat. So enter CARES. Child Aviation Restraint System. I'm hoping that the harness will make Trent feel like he's in his car seat, and will cut down on temper tantrums. This all hinges on having the seat next to us available, though. The good thing about this is that it's small enough to fit in your purse, so no big deal to carry it on board even if you can't use it. It is, however, not cheap. I found a woman in Florida who will rent me hers for $20, though. What a great idea.
  
  
• Bring things to entertain the kid. Such as books, toys, and his favourite DVD, along with a portable DVD player. Now we're getting tricky because only the first 10 rows of coach has power outlets that don't need an adapter. So now I need to find out if we can reserve one of those rows so we can plug it in. Otherwise we have only 2.5 hours of power and a 9 hour flight. You do the math.

Now take item 4 - Keeping my nerves in tact. What could we do to encourage that to happen? well, maybe a tranquilizer dart for Trent, but that seems to be socially unacceptable. Some duct tape on his mouth might do the trick, but again, society has their opinions of what good parenting is... and that falls outside of acceptable parameters. So we can pack some Benadryl. I have tested this medication out for legitimate reasons on Trent, and he did well. So in a pinch, I think it will work. Then there's always wine (for me, not Trent - he has to wait until he's at least 2 and can handle his liquor (like his cousin Louise)). What about Brian's nerves? just give him a coke and some pizza and he's fine!
And finally, item 5, have fun. This one is probably the easiest one to achieve. Once we're in our destinations, this one should take care of itself.

So that's what's going through my head today. It might appear like worry to the untrained eye, but it's really not. It's just a proactive approach at managing circumstances that might cause me to have a stressful journey. That's all. And honestly, even to focus on the little details of this trip is kind of fun, because it keeps me anticipating and thinking about the end result, which is me spending time with my all the loves of my life - Brian, Trent, mum & dad, all at the same time, and in a fabulous place in the sun.