Day 197

April 11, 2011

My friend Lauren from Boulder texted me this am asking to Skype. What a great help after a fairly bum weekend. It was nice to just talk and have her know me and Fraser and listen. I got to see her baby, Leah and she got to see Jacob. Not the last time I'll thank technology for giving us Skype. It's really the next best thing to being able to actually go over to her house and talk to her.

Brandin came over with her son, Preston, and Mael, one of the other mom's son. It was nice to have someone over to our place. I do have two different groups of friends: the moms group that is more Portland based and then the suburbs moms who are neighbours, gym members or book clubbers. Different people, all enjoyable.

Preston and Mael were also VERY good at sharing and hanging out. Jacob was interesting. He was a bit worried about his toys at times but also was more reserved than I'd expect. He wanted to be in my lap a lot kind of watching the boys. They would come over and give him a marble. I talked up the sharing a lot. How wonderful for him and for so much less stressful for me! 

Jacob fought nap time so when he asked Fraser to go to the park with him around 6:45 this evening, I said, go on! I got a half hour of quiet and they got some outdoor bonding time. The sun was shining nicely too which makes it even better.

Day 196

April 10, 2011

Went to cardio extreme this am before my pilates class. I might regret it tomorrow when I can't get out of bed or off the toilet seat without being in pain, but Jacob has a cough so I probably won't be going to the gym for some of these days and I had some stress to work off. 

Jacobisms:

Today he kept saying, "Zupa!". My dad said that one time while we were in Michigan and obviously it stuck. Jacob likes to said it loud and raise his hand up too, just like Grandpa did.

Yesterday he asked for applesauce. He takes a little taste off his spoon. Then another little one. He has this really concentrated look on his face. I can tell he's thinking something. Then he says, "Apples in there." I have to laugh. Yes, there are apples in there. I explain what actually makes applesauce. It was like a revelation to him, something that just clicked at that moment that applesauce has apples in it. Hilarious.

Day 195

April 9, 2011

Fraser's birthday. Jacob gave him a painting that he'd done. That was the highlight of the day.

Day 194

April 8, 2011

Sunny day. Jacob and I putzed about the house this am, trying to finish the "spring" cleaning I started a week ago. It'll be done sometime before summer, I'm pretty sure. We got outside to take a little bike ride. Jacob was riding, not me. I'll have to get my bike back up and running with the burley once the weather is more consistently nice.

It was so relaxing walking about this am. Quiet. No one about. Cool underneath the warm sunlight. Jacob led us up to another street where we came upon a young girl and her dad out playing. We got to chatting. He's originally from Boulder. Now, he's a stay at home dad to his two girls and brews his own beer. He offered me some from his kegerator that I happened to notice. Brilliant! He was nice. The girls, probably around 8 and 9, were great with Jacob, and he loved them too. And the beer was tasty. We talked of preschools, neighbours, bad driving. Good times. 

Jacob has also been into hopscotch these days. It all started with a chalk drawing. Now, that's all he talks about doing when we go outside. He goes off to the garden to find a rock, takes turns with me throwing it on the board and then jumps on the numbered squares. Today he noticed that one of the squares needed a little fixing in a corner. He went into the garage, came out with some chalk, noticed it was the wrong colour, went back to get the matching colour and then chalked over the corner that wasn't entirely connected. Hilarious!


Fraser mentioned the other day that we should start thinking about preschools. I'm not ready! My baby! I don't want him to be influenced by the world just yet. He's so wonderful and unself-concsious and perfectly happy being who he is. It's going to be so hard for me to watch him go through the learning of being aware of who he is, discerning what is true and what is not from what people tell him. At least, that's what I'm afraid of. I remember it being hard at times, so I'm projecting. I'm aware of that. We all have our paths. I'm aware of that too. He came into this world through me and Fraser to learn the things that he needs to. But watching some of those things as his mother could be really sucky for me. Or not, I guess. But most likely, there will be some hard times. It's my job to help him learn how to handle that. 

Oh, my baby. It makes me appreciate even more every single hug he gives me, every time he says he loves me, every time he uses my nipple (still) as a comfort object, all his laughs, his observations, his little voice squeaking out all sorts of thoughts. How amazing to watch a human being develop and to be such an intimate part of it. I am very thankful to Fraser for valuing my role as much as I do and for supporting it. It is like nothing else in the world.

Day 193

April 7, 2011

Went to Jacob's favourite place today - the museum!! OMSI today. We'll hit up the Children's Museum next week with some other moms. 

Made it to the gym. It's been a little hard to motivate. I want to go but getting Jacob into it and all has been a little bit harder. It's just too easy for me to use him as an excuse not to go. But, it has been feeling good when I've gone. Except my first pilates class last Sunday. I thought I was going to die on Monday. Maybe not die, but something pretty close. All my muscles hurt and in weird ways; it hurt to breathe, to expand my lungs. Not comfortable. I didn't feel that the class was overly difficult, either. I guess I was more fit before my three week vacation than I even knew.

Made some yummy chicken piccata tonight. A Cooking Light recipe. And some parmesan potatoes and zucchini from Giada de Laurentis. I'm working on getting back into the cooking swing too. Overall, I'd say I'm enjoying it although I do get into slumps when I just want someone to tell me what to make. I've recently gotten out a Jamie Oliver book from the library and a Barefoot Contessa book. I'm hoping to be inspired as well as learn more about the craft in general.

Day 192

April 6, 2011

Biggest thing today: Jacob and I went to have lunch with Fraser. I was thinking that it would be nice to do a regular lunch with Dadddy. 


It was definitely a step above NIST, that's for sure. Corporate, or course, is going to be a step above government usually. The cafeteria had tons of choices for lunch: specials, deli, grilled sandwiches, breakfast bar, taqueria, salad bar, dessert section. Now I know why Fraser prefers to eat there instead of making his own lunch. Hmm... gonna have to work on that one. 


It was very nice, though. We all had a nice time together. Good for Jacob (and me) to at least see Fraser in his place of employment occasionally. He spends so much time there; it's hard to even envision what one's husband does when he's in Fraser's line of work. Just being a physicist is enough to boggle my mind. 


Jacob and I also saw a muskrat on our walk back to our car. Jacob thought the word muskrat was absolutely hilarious.

Day 191: Budget - a call for help

April 5, 2011

Finance day! Whoohoo! Let's get fired up!! Yea!

Alright, I have to do something to psych myself up for the tediousness. I feel that if only I could get a reliable system down, it wouldn't be that difficult to keep up with. We do not have that system yet. I've accepted that monitoring money is just that - monitoring. Frequently. But the system for keeping track and planning cannot be so bleeping miserable. 

Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept of a budget. We've tried Excel spreadsheets, we've tried old fashioned paper and pencil, we're in the process of trying Quicken (not an intuitively easy program, if you ask me). It's the system, the way to keep track, that is so difficult.

So, I'm open for ideas. Who out there feels like they have control over their finances? I'd love to hear how you do it. One condition: it cannot take me the majority of my "free" time (nap times, evenings, weekends) to keep up with it. Please, send me a message or an email (jwink25@hotmail.com). I'm ready.