The importance of being idle

Last week, we went to the Oasis concert at the WaMu Theater. Oasis doesn't play often in the United States (the only other show they've done in the US since 2006 was in Pittsburgh last January), so we were really excited that they chose to play in Seattle. Especially because Chris loves Oasis. It's almost worth the ticket price just to watch Chris go crazy during the show.

We went with a great group: Ben & Carrie, Matt & Lori, Aran & Kerstin, and Brett & Emily. Carrie got everyone into the VIP area before the show, and they had a great time enjoying pre-show adult beverages and taking fun pictures in the photo booth (see below). I, being the mama, was at home putting the little guy to bed and hanging out until our last-minute-babysitting-savior (aka Z's fairy godmother) Margaret came over. (On an non-concert-related note, Margaret had the very appropriate honor of being the last person to use "her" room -- the next day, we moved the bed out of the guest bedroom and turned it into a playroom for Zachary.)

I made it downtown before the show started and met up with everyone as they headed in to find our seats. We had a great time in our amazing seats (thanks to Matt for getting the tickets so early!). Oasis put on a fantastic show and it was fun to see them in a relatively small venue -- it felt like a college show. Chris almost cried with joy and he got a new Oasis t-shirt that he'll likely be wearing every day for the next 3 months. The night was a wild success.

Here are some pictures from the night, plus a short video to show you just how excited Chris was.

Congrats to Meg and Joe!

Happy happy wedding day to the new Mr and Mrs!

Another year wiser...?

Happy birthday, Margaret!

T&T get hitched

We are in the midst of wedding season! We were triple-booked the first weekend of August, so unfortunately we missed Dave & Ashley and Jeff & Stefany's weddings. But we were able to make it to Texas for Tiffany & Trevor's wedding last weekend!

I've known Tiffany and Trevor for a long time. Tiff and I were good friends back in the mid-80's (we met when I was in 8th grade and she was in 9th grade), and I have lots of great memories of running around Ulm with her and her brother Todd (who is my age). Trevor moved to Ulm a couple years later, when he, Todd and I were in 10th grade. Trevor and Tiffany dated for about 6 months back then, but then Tiffany & Todd moved to Hawaii. Trevor stayed in Ulm until the middle of our senior year, when he moved to Texas.

Anyway, fast forward 10 years. I was living in Seattle, Trevor was in Texas, and Tiff & Todd were in Portland, OR. Trevor and I found one another online and were catching up via email and IM, and Tiff and I reconnected as well. I put Tiff and Trevor back in touch with each other, and the rest is history. At the time, I joked, "If you ever get married, I'd better be in the wedding."

Fast forward another 10 years (to last weekend). Tiff and Trevor get married. And true to her word, Tiffany asked me to be in the wedding.

We had a really good time at the wedding. They were married in a cute little church in Fashing, which appeared to us to be precisely in the middle of nowhere. The ceremony was lovely, and it was so nice to meet Tiff & Trevor's friends and family and see their parents, who I haven't seen in over 20 years. Todd was there with his wife and two little girls, and Tiff's youngest brother Troy was there, looking very grown up. (He must be about 30 now, so I guess that counts as grown up. I don't think we could stuff him into a cardboard box and threaten to mail him to Hawaii now, like we did when he was 8.)

We headed to New Braunfels for the reception, and enjoyed a riverside dinner and celebration. Unfortunately, we had to head back to our hotel after the speeches and bouquet/garter tosses. Zachary was quickly losing steam and starting the loud and ceaseless droning sound he makes when he's tired. Even though we had to leave a bit early, we really enjoyed the whole day! And we were disappointed to miss the newlyweds make their get-away...via decorated tubes on the river. Sweet.

Here are a couple pictures from the event, and I've posted the complete set on flickr.




Pictures: Tiffany & Trevor's wedding

Who knew my hair could do this?

I sure didn't.

I'd need more cabinets

As you know, since Zachary's been eating solids I've been making his food. I started out with just purees, but now I'm adding some chunkier foods as he's getting better at chewing/gumming. In addition to the smooth purees, he's eating brown rice, barley, oatmeal and lentils quite well. He's not so great at finger foods yet (the transition from fingers to mouth is a bit inconsistent), but he's managed stewed blueberries, "oh" cereal, bits of tofu and some cantaloupe.

Anyway, when I make his food, I make a big batch and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then I transfer the cubes to plastic containers and mix and match cubes for each meal. I mix some of them together (sweet potato, chicken and barley) and serve others on their own (peas, peaches, zucchini). I also defrost fruit cubes and add them to his oatmeal.

This system works really well when we're at home. The problem comes when we travel, because the frozen cubes don't travel well. Not only are they difficult to transport, but I need a microwave/stove/hot water to heat them for meals. Thus, I use store-bought baby food for traveling.

I just got enough jars of baby food for the first three days of our upcoming trip to Texas. That's 18 jars, since he eats 5-6oz of food at a time (one 4oz jar + one 2.5oz jar per meal). 18 little glass jars! 18 glass jars we have to pack in our luggage, six of which need to be in our carry-on bag so we can feed him en route. I felt silly and a bit wasteful buying so many individual jars at the store. I can't imagine doing this for all of his meals, every day. Where would I put all of those little jars? And who would help me carry them home from the store?

Here are a couple baby food pictures. The first shows my freezer, with about 20 days worth of frozen food cubes (plus about the same in frozen milk, just in case we need it). The second shows my pile of 3 days worth of baby food jars.

I'm still a PMP

I thought that I left my project management tasks behind when I quit my job, but apparently I haven't. With a little guy who fits 3 naps (which he will only take in a crib), 3 solid meals, 5 nursings and a bath into a 12 hour day, it can be tough to do anything else. Normally this isn't too much of an issue, other than the fact that I can't do anything during the day unless I can squeeze it into the 45 minute slot I have between lunch and nap #3. But we are now in the season of weddings. A wedding that takes place locally isn't too difficult, but a wedding in Texas, in which I am a bridesmaid, is a bit more challenging.

To give you an idea of what we will be juggling this weekend, here is a snapshot of our schedule the day of the wedding. I didn't make the schedule with the intention of sticking to it (after all, a baby will do what a baby will do), but rather to make sure that it's even logistically possible to get in everything we need to do. And it is. Barely.

There are three columns in addition to the time column. The column labeled "Wedding" shows the wedding events that I need to attend. "Zachary" shows his normal schedule at home. "Combined" shows my attempt to mesh the other two columns. It will be tight, Chris will be doing a lot of driving around, and Zachary will miss a nap and go to bed late (which could be VERY trying for anyone within earshot of him), but hopefully it will work out reasonably well.

We have four more weddings after this one, and we're still trying to figure out those logistics...


Legend: yellow = wedding activity; green = driving; peach = sleep; blue = eat

Flattery will get you everywhere

As I was taking a walk with Zachary and Cowboy this morning, an older lady commented on our little group. She said, "What a lovely family. It makes me happy to see a young woman these days who's chosen to stay home to raise her child." I thanked her and couldn't wipe the grin off my face as I walked home. She thinks I'm young!

Sizing me up

Another little quirk of being a nursing mom: I can't fit into my bikini top until after I nurse Z. And then I have ~3 hours before I need another size adjustment.

And Chris wonders why I've refused to buy any new clothes since I was pregnant. Your guess is as good as mine as to what shape and size I'll be once everything settles down! And I do mean down.

People have asked me how long it took to lose the pregnancy weight. To be honest, I didn't really notice because I wasn't paying as much attention to my weight as I was to my shape. I hit my pre-pregnancy weight awhile ago, but I'm not back to my pre-pregnancy shape by any means (and I'm not talking about being "in shape"; I'm talking about my actual volumetric shape). I weigh the same as I did before, but somehow I take up more room...