She Does Look Like Me!

My brother Zong just got back from a whirlwind trip to Asia including an extended visit to family in Taiwan. While he was there, he was thoughtful enough to get some pictures from "back when" including the one below of me circa 1978. This is the first picture (or moment, really), that I was like "omigosh, maybe Claire DOES look like me!". Of course, I'm sleeping, but what the heck. The sprawled position, the foot propped up (Whoops. I guess that crazy foot of hers is from my side after all) ... I actually did a double-take. I tried to find a recent picture of Claire sleeping since it's more obvious now but couldn't find one, however here's one from last year that's sort of similar. And if it's not, don't tell me and burst my bubble! :D

Me, circa 1978. Check out that wire crib!

Claire @ 7-ish months

Girls Trip - Miami, FL

One of my most favorite traditions is my girls trip in which some of my best gal pals and I head to a destination for some R&R. Last weekend, I headed to Miami, FL with Debbie and Syndee. I quickly discovered that Miami is an incredible city. Even stepping off the plane put me in a different world with lots of languages surrounding me, luggage wrapping (which I haven't seen since flying internationally), and lots of beautiful people.

Ready to hit the beach

Miami Beach itself has a totally different vibe than anywhere I've ever been. If you stroll down Ocean Drive at night, you'll pass 20 or 30 tiny hotels that each boast a huge porch and lobbby ... and a tiny check-in desk. The lobbies are actually bars and the porches and sidewalks restaurants -- this is EVERY hotel! So you feel as though you're going from party to party as you go down the street. People watching is incredble as you see families (babies out at 12:30 at night), hoochies, rich people, etc all mingling together. I've also never been to anywhere before where there were so many tall, skinny people showing so much leg. I never really thought of myself as a leg girl, but there were certainly a lot of them to look at in Miami!

Too bad it was so humid when we took this picture

The restaurant scene is something else, as well. We went out to eat both nights around midnight, and you would not have known that it wasn't a normal 8pm seating time. People filled the streets, the tables were full, and getting seated was as normal then as it was 4 hours prior and 4 hours later (lots of places stopped seating -- not serving, though -- between 2am and 4am). In the morning, it was a totally different Miami than the nighttime. This is when the families come out (while all the party-ers slept, I guess) and shop or go to the beach. I think the best way to enjoy the city would be to take up the siesta ... eat, sleep, party, sleep, play, sleep. My kind of place!

Fried seafood recommended by Guy on the Food channel.

Fried lobster, fried oyesters, fried fish, fried roe, and tres leches ... Yum!

We spent the weekend shopping on Lincoln Road and Collins, resting by the ocean and in our room, and eating Italian, fried seafood, sushi (cooked for me, of course), tapas, etc. We were able to hit the beach for a little while and went to the Vizcaya museum, but the main thing was that I was able to spend some time with the girls that keep me sane and gave me time to recharge and remember who I am and what I'm grateful for ... two things I tend to forget when I get caught up in the day-to-day grind. One of the things I'm especially grateful for is that James is okay with these weekend jaunts because I hope to never give them up!

It would have been a more accurate picture if it showed me hugging my girls fiercely never wanting to let go. That's how I felt!

In other travel news, I got back from a business trip in Portland the day before I left for Miami. It was 105 in Portland! I was so glad that we chose to go to Miami for my Girls Trip instead of Seattle - where we were originally headed - because I would have been quite disappointed to pay upwards of $600 to fly to the PNW to find it over a hundred degrees all weekend! It's a never-before-seen hot spell there that I'm glad I didn't stick around for much longer than the 3 days for my work. Pee-Nut should be getting frequent flyer miles for all this traveling!

Baby Pee - 16-Week Appt

Just got back from Dr. Jaffee's for my 16-week appointment, and everything looks good. I haven't gained any weight yet (not sure if it's the lack of appetite or chasing around the toddler, but I'll take it) and my blood pressure is nice and low. Baby's heartbeat is strong and steady (150 bpm), and everything seems on track size-wise (based on the size of my uterus, I think). I was happy to tell her, yes, I've felt the baby flutter (last Friday) and look forward to feeling Baby move even more. Next symptoms I should be expecting between now and my next visit is round ligament pain, which I've already been having if I cough while laying on my side.

I think it's the "second baby syndrome" but the appointments seem to be freakishly short. Not because Dr. Jaffee isn't taking care of me, because she is, but because I don't have questions or concerns. I just go in there, get her caught up on any random things (ie the week of vomiting last month), and then we do the routine things before I'm outta there. 15 minutes tops. With Claire, I remember coming with lists in hand filled with question after question. Definitely a lot less anxiety this time around.

Next appointment is Tuesday, Aug 18th since both Dr. Jaffee and I will be out of town four weeks from today when my appointment shoud have been. The exciting thing is that, at the next appointment, we find out if it's a boy or girl!

People ask which one we want, and honestly it doesn't matter. A girl would be nice so that we can re-use everything we already have ... plus I know how to raise a girl! But then a boy would be nice for the balance, the lack of competition, and so James can have someone do "boy" things while I'm off doing "girl" things. Either way, I'm just wanted a happy, healthy baby!

The Fourth Madness (Floods and Phantom Fever)

What a crazy Fourth of July weekend. There were the good things: all four grandparents in town, lots of yummy food, an extra day off work ... and then the bad: leak in the wall, torn up carpet, and Claire's phantom fever coming back.

The leak is one of those dumb builder stories, really. Apparently when the builders were putting in the picture frame moulding in our formal living room, they nailed one of the sections to a copper pipe in the wall, so we've been slowly leaking water for a year and a half. On Friday, I guess the water finally corroded the nail/pipe enough that it started spewing water, thus soaking the drywall and the floor. The builder agreed to take care of it (after all, it WAS their fault), but we did have the headache of having to turn off our water to the whole house, plus Claire's playroom has been disbanded and scattered throughout the house! Next week, they're going to send someone out to clean the carpet, replace the pad, clean the insides of the wall, replace the drywall, texture, paint, and re-mould.





On the phantom fever, a week before the 4th weekend, Claire woke up with a fever so I stayed home with her. The fever ran through all of Friday, all of Saturday, and into Sunday morning, during which Claire was cranky, clingy, and all-around grumpy. Plus, it caused us to miss StrollerFit (now that I'm feeling well enough to go again!), swimming, AND Evan's birthday party! Not to mention the fact that it never even manifested into anything ... just a fever that hovered between 99 and 101 for 48 hours.

So, this Friday (yes, exactly one week later) it happened again! Claire woke with a fever, but luckily both James and I had the day off from work so that I didn't have to try and work around meetings and such. Of course, we canceled our plans to attend the Castle Hills parade, BBQ, and fireworks and nursed the baby all day. Luckily, that night, the fireworks happened to be set off practically in our front lawn, so we were able to enjoy that after the sun went down.

The fever burned between 99 and 101-ish (underarm, which means it was probably even higher) from Friday morning through Saturday, so finally we decided to take her to the Acute Kids to see if there was anything obvious that should be addressed. I would have hated to have her in pain for something dumb like an ear infection or strep even if she wasn't showing symptoms.

Acute Kids -- which I LOVE, btw -- said that her ears, nose, and throat all looked great. They did think that perhaps the reason the fever didn't go down is because we might not be dosing Claire enough. Since Claire wasn't yet 2 or 24 lbs, it said "ask your doctor", so I'd been doing 0.8 of the Infant Tylenol since that's what the doctor had prescribed before during the well-baby visits. The Acute Kids doctor suggested we try 1 tsp of Tylenol alternating with 1 tsp of Motrin every three hours. Other than that, there was nothing obviously wrong with Claire and to watch her to make sure it didn't escalate. The doc did ask if Claire was a daycare baby because she had seen a few cases of daycare babies coming in with no other symptoms. *shrug* She also said that it probably wasn't teething because teething wouldn't result in a fever higher than a 101 which Claire was when we went into Acute Kids.

We started that regimine on Saturday afternoon and continued it through Sunday night. Not sure how well it was working, though, because the fever at one point overnight was 103 (she was glowing heat from her whole body) and then finally extinguished after one last 4am dose Monday in the wee hours of the morning.

Claire went to school on Monday, and they said she was okay. On Tuesday when I picked her up (having been fever-free for two days now), I noticed her torso was a little mottled. Not a rash, exactly, just kind of speckled, but nothing else was wrong. Of course, tons of things ran through my head (ie "is she getting enough oxygen?! Maybe she's air-starved!"), and James did a very good Google to find Roseola. Of course, we quickly self-diagnosed and called it true. :) All of the symptoms were the certainly the same.

The sites that we read said that Roseola is contagious prior to any symptoms actually appearing (a fever, in our case), so there's no reason not to send her to school. The mottled thing lasted another day or so, during which the school noted that Claire was exceptionally quiet and didn't want to play with other kids (she would actually make it a point to play by herself). Thursday I picked her up, and she was a lot better, and this morning (Friday, 7/10), she seems back to her normal self. Whew!

And Then There Were 2

Okay, maybe I should say "1.3" with "2" coming sometime late this year or early next year. James and I finally decided to settle the "will we or won't we" debate by finding out (surprise!) that we will. My official due date is Jan 3, 2010 but Claire was about 2 weeks early, so I'm hoping #2 will be, too. It would be great to sock it to the IRS. ;)

With Claire, I found out I was pregnant with our Sweet Pee on Father's Day 2007. With this Pee-Nut, I found out just before Mother's Day this year. I have to say that James and I went through various emotional stages -- think shock, denial -- before settling on excitement and happiness.

I laugh as I finish this posting because I had originally written this:

So far, the pregnancy hasn't been too bad. I'm proud to say that, although I've had morning sickness pretty much the whole first trimester ("morning" sickness is such a misnomer!), I have yet to actually throw up. Oddly enough, I've had a lot of heartburn, but it's nothing Tums can't knock out.

Yeah. No sooner than I had typed that little ditty, I ended up with my head in the toilet for about a week. Those of you with delicate stomachs, I'd stop reading now. It started on Monday, 6/22 with me being nauseated from the moment I woke up. The rolling continued as I drove to work and finally manifested as I drove past freshly cut grass right by the parking garage. Luckily, I had a bag of animal crackers right beside me ... needless to say, those were thrown out, and I will never look at animal crackers the same.

Fast forward 2 hours by which time I had spent the entire morning in the women's restroom (well, trying to leave but immediately having to turn back around) and apologizing curses to anyone that walked in. And so ended my indecision on when to tell folks at my office. I let my boss and secretary know and headed home. Hey, if I'm going to spend that much time hugging a toilet, it might as well be mine! The rest of the week wasn't much better with me mostly eating a couple of crackers and other bland, starchy foods.

But, one week after it started, it stopped. I woke up Monday morning and, after slowly cracking one eye opened, realized I felt fine! Woo-hoo! Not wanting to jinx it, I gave it another day before declaring victory. Now hopefully I can enjoy the next few weeks ... until I start complaining during the last trimester again. :)

So, that's that! Guess Claire's not going to be an only child after all. No decisions have been made yet; I figure we'll find out if it's a boy or girl first (mid-August) and then start deciding things ... or just play it by ear. I mean, we're pros by now, right? ;)

Girl Time

I was lucky enough to go the Rascal Flatts concert with Corrie, and I had an absolute blast. It's not often I get to spend quality time (ie not wrangling a toddler at a restaurant begging her to sit down or having to watch the clock so that I'm not gone for too long) with one of my best girlfriends, so it was a real treat to enjoy a leisurely dinner, lounge in the grass on a blanket during a surprisingly cool summer evening, listen to a good concert (Darius Rucker ... yes, HOOTIE! ... was the opening act ... very exciting), and chit chat for hours about nothing and everything.


To all my girlfriends (you know who you are), you're the best. You make me laugh, you keep me sane, and you assure me that I'm not alone. Plus, I'm glad all of you are forgiving and willing to still love me even though I don't see you often or call you enough. I can guarantee that you're in my thoughts and, whenever we are together, I always feel as though we pick up as though we've never been apart.

Why God Made Moms

I'm a little bit drowing right now, and Kim was nice enough to point out that I haven't kept up my blog (actually, I wrote something and never published, so I threw that one up there just now, too), so here's a quick funny that Haley sent. Enjoy!

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house
3. To help us out when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3 Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic; they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3 I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.