Mia's Birthday Party Photos

Guild Lunch

Guild Lunch, originally uploaded by Yogini Jen.

Here we are at our weekly WoW guild lunch. There are actually a lot more people than you can see. There is a second row of tables in the sun. We were also 30 minutes late because Mia took a hour and a half long nap! We know the cardinal rule of parenting: NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY. We had some delicious adult time while she was napping.

In this picture, Tom is saying that 0/21/40 destruction is the best Warlock raiding spec once you reach the hit cap of 202. Of course for PvP, he argues, sl/sl = win. Mia disagrees, asserting that affliction is the best spec due the devastating combination of DoTs and high mobility.

Happy Birthday, Mia!

Today was a pretty low key birthday. The real celebrating will occur on
Saturday when we'll be having Mia's first birthday party. We're all
super excited.

She started off the day with a little cereal.


Then we did some laundry.


Later we hung out with Ravyn and Sufyan for a little while. Afterwards, Nana and Papa came over and took us to dinner at Central Market.


After dinner, Papa helped Mia with the slide.

At home we had some snuggle time with Daddy and then it was bedtime. It was a good day.

Canada. oh, canada. ugh, canada...

Today, on Mia's first birthday, I found out for certain that Apple is sending me off to Canada for almost a week... 4 days? Maybe 5 days.  From the morning of the 21st to the late evening of the 24th or early morning of the 25th.   Now I have to create from scratch 4 training sessions each 3 hours long... wee.  ><   /sadface

When Apple approached me about this project, the projected timeframe was the 1st week of April.  Schedules, deadlines, and other messes slipped and now it's the week before the week of my wedding.  I'm sure the timing could be worse, but not by much.

So! If you're in Austin (or even if you're not), take some time and drop my lovely wife-to-be a line.  I don't want Jennifer to get lonely while I'm off serving the Corporate Masters, and being mommy is hard when daddy isn't around.  And sometimes even when daddy is around.

At least I get to be in town for Mia's birthday! and her party!  For that, I am happy, and very excited.

One year ago

I'm trying to remember exactly what was happening at this time one year ago. I was at the birthing center. I was in labor. When I had arrived in the afternoon the midwife told me that I should be having my baby by midnight. At 11 o'clock I wasn't even close. It's amazing how quickly I have forgotten the details. I remember that it took a long time.

I have several theories as to why it took so long. They all might be true. One of them is that I didn't really believe that I was having a baby. I just couldn't picture it. I never had imagined myself pregnant. I had imagined myself becoming a mother but I never imagined giving birth to a baby. I just couldn't visualize it. Yeah, I was huge and I'd seen the ultrasounds. I felt the kicking. It wasn't rational.

There were two midwives attending my birth. I felt like they were watching me waiting for something to happen. I was watching them waiting for something to happen. I hadn't realized that I was going to have to make it happen.

I don't know if I could have done it on my own. After the first two midwives had given up on me and the two older, more experienced midwives arrived, took control of the situation and finally made something happen, I was shocked to discover that there actually was a baby. Shocked. I stared at her in utter disbelief. That beautiful being came from me? Is that possible?

And I fell in love for the first time in my life. Instantly. My entire world in one seven pound, ten ounce bundle. Suddenly, everything was different.

Laundry Day

photo.jpg, originally uploaded by Yogini Jen.

Tom's dryer is electric and our new place only has gas hook ups. We decided that instead of buying a new dryer, that we're going to experiment with hanging up our laundry on clothes lines.

My observations so far:

I can't let laundry pile up since I can only hang three loads at a time.

It's time consuming. Oddly, I don't mind it very much. I fall into a rhythm and it becomes meditative.

Permanent press doesn't work without dryer. I'm going to have to start ironing my clothes. I'm going to have to buy an iron.

It makes me feel really green. We're saving energy!

The clothes dry surprisingly fast. I can't wait to see how quickly they dry when it's 110 degrees outside.

It forces me to pay attention to what I'm wearing. I have to handle each piece of clothing. I realize that I buy a lot more clothing manufactured overseas than I care to admit, previously, even to myself. I make an effort to buy American-made clothes. Yeah, Dov Charney may be (allegedly) a letch, but at least his clothes didn't come from a sweatshop. Too bad I'm too old for Dickies.

It reminds me of an expression my friend Liz P. uses: Amish Chic. I may not hand knit my baby's clothes, but I wash them in Mrs. Meyers and hang them on a clothes line!

Identify this object and it's yours.

Identify this object and it's yours., originally uploaded by Yogini Jen.

This was in our storage shed when we moved in. We have no idea what it is.

WTF?

WTF?, originally uploaded by Yogini Jen.

You had a baby

Tom sent this to me earlier today. It reminded me of my friend Liz's cat Henry and this picture.

Powerleveling, FTW!

So for the next few weeks I probably won't be blogging quite as often. I have a lot going on right now.

1. Tom and I recently moved in together and we are very busy unpacking
2. Mia's first birthday party is next Saturday
3. I'm looking for a job
4. We're getting married in less than three weeks
5. I have less than three weeks to get Shuniya up to level 70!

Lately, in the time that I usually designate for blogging I've been furiously questing with Evita or occasionally Lykaea because it would be mildly embarrassing to Tom, as Guild Master, to marry someone whose main is a (at the time of the writing) level 46. Oh the shame.

Back when Tom and I were just friends (secretly pining for each other) we used to play Diablo II together. I'd played a little WoW in the past but just started playing again with brand new characters once Tom and I started dating. I asked him what character would be most helpful to him. He thought for a few seconds, his eyes lit up and he said, "A Holy Paladin!"

So, if you don't see me blogging as often, that's my latest excuse. We're too busy spreading death and destruction.

Mommy in Bluebonnets

Mommy in Bluebonnets, originally uploaded by Yogini Jen.

Taking pictures of babies and kids in the bluebonnets is a tradition here in Texas. Here I am posing for my first bluebonnet picture at around nine months.

Mia in Bluebonnets

Mia in Bluebonnets, originally uploaded by cecily7.

Yesterday Mia and I met with Cecily for Mia's first bluebonnet portrait. We had so much fun playing in the flowers that I didn't even realize that we had stayed past Mia's bedtime. I had a very cranky baby on my hands when I got home. I think Tom is still a little pissed at me because of how long it took to get her to go to sleep.

But look at these pictures! It was so worth it. I've been looking at them constantly all day. Cecily calls them Mommy crack. She's right. I'm addicted.

This is a little dress Nana and Papa brought home from Oaxaca. Something about it reminds me of The Legend of the Bluebonnet, one of my favorite books when I was a little girl.

Check out more of the bluebonnet pictures here.

Happy Baby

Happy Baby, originally uploaded by Yogini Jen.

Mia (covered with rice)

Thanks, Cecily!

I'm asking for trouble

I have been blessed so far with a remarkably easy baby. I have never deigned to give advice to parents of colicky or challenging babies. I don't take any credit for it. I don't think it's due to any superior parenting abilities on my part. I'm still a big fan of attachment parenting so if I were to take credit for any of her easy-going demeanor, that would be what I would attribute it to. But if at some point in the future we have another one, I'm certainly not expecting it to be this easy again. If it is, that's just bonus.

I was expecting the worst. I was studying for the bar exam when I was pregnant. When I was finally finished with the bar exam, I funneled that energy into reading infant books. I read a lot of baby books. Right before Mia was born I read a book written by an Austin writer who had a baby with severe food allergies. Talk about a challenging baby. Another book I read said that for the first week, just try to survive. For the first month, don't think you'll be able to do anything but take care of the baby. So, before she was born, I was expecting a newborn baby to be just about the hardest shit ever.

But it was surprisingly not hard. Not nearly as hard as, say, finals first semester in law school or taking the bar exam. Those were much harder. I'd have another baby before I'd take the California bar. Please, Tom, please don't ever make me move to California. Please don't make me take another bar exam. Please. I'm begging you.

In the beginning, I kept telling visitors, I don't want to jinx myself, but this is way easier than I was expecting. She never cries.

Now during those first few months, my life was hard. Being a single mom to a newborn baby was very hard. So, if it's pissing anyone off for me to talk about how easy my newborn was, just keep that in mind. If you want to compare griefs, I've got some big ones for you. Did I mention it was hard? But even that had a purpose. Since I did it alone for the first five months, I'm intensely grateful for Tom's help. But this is a blog post for another day. Back to my story...

The waking up to nurse every two hours was no big deal. I've never been a good sleeper. I wake up about that often anyway. It was actually nice to have something to do. I was so sad when she started to sleep three or four hours. I would wake up and watch her sleep. Nighttime has always been a lonely time for me. Having someone who needs me in the middle of the night feels good. I'll miss it when she doesn't need her nighttime snack anymore.

Nursing. Super easy. She was born. I put her up to the boob. She latched on. They've been best buds ever since. I would tell people who asked why I didn't give her bottles that I am way too lazy to make a bottle. (True) Maybe that's why she's being such a troublemaker at the boob now. Things even out.

That said, she is more challenging now than she has ever been. She still isn't a frequent crier, but she wants things. She wants the iPhone, the car keys, daddy's expensive MacBook. She lets us know how frustrated she is when she can't have them. She's highly mobile now so she requires constant supervision. Everything goes in her mouth. Open mouth, insert world. I walk into any room and instinctively scan for choking hazards. She gets bored more easily. Eating at restaurants is becoming more challenging. She won't let me feed her purees anymore except for banana and cereal. She wants to feed herself but she throws food. We have to give her one tiny piece of food at a time so she doesn't throw it all on the floor then cry because it's all gone.

But at the same time, she's more fun than she's ever been. Her face lights up when she sees me. She wants to show me things. She points at things then looks at me and smiles. She's experimenting with words. She's tries so hard to communicate with us. Sometimes I feel like a tour guide to a little alien. I'll be reading her a book and in the book there will be something she's never seen before, like a turtle so I'll explain what a turtle is. Then I'll take her to central market and show her the turtles. When we go on walks we talk about the things we see. "We call this a cactus. See these sharp points? We don't touch those because they hurt. One time when I was a little girl..."

I even take secret pleasure from her temper tantrums. I love that she is asserting herself. I love how expressive she is, how passionate she is. My psychologist friend is highly disapproving of this, but I can't help but laugh when she starts to throw a fit. It's just so darn adorable. But mostly I love it because more so than ever I know that she is fully her own person with her own wants, her own needs and her own agenda. She's already so strong. I can't help but beam. I am so proud of my fiery little redhead.

I spy daddy's wallet...

I spy daddy's wallet
Originally uploaded by Yogini Jen

I love this picture.

I tend to take my wallet out and leave it on a table when I get home (or, in this case, Papa and Nana's house.)

I can't recall what I was doing at that moment, but I was busy elsewhere when Mia cruised on over to the end table and spied Daddy's Tasty Leather Wallet.

When I came back, Jennifer and Nana were laughing at how she had taken out the ATM, CC, and money from the wallet. I was warned this was only the first steps...

Movin' on up!

"No crawling and boobing" indeed.  When Mia gets really squirmy, Jennifer and I form the "Mommy & Daddy Sandwich".  Mia is between us, latched onto the boob, and I snuggle my body up against her so that she can't do her Yoga-Arch and Complain routine.  Sometimes I gently place a hand on her hips and another on her shoulder, to reassure and reduce her instinct to wiggle.  Lately I've also been using my rocking-to-sleep chant of "It's sleepy-time, it's sleepytime..." (wait two beats, then repeat.)

Strangely, Mia hasn't been falling asleep at the boob much anymore.  Sometimes she gets all wiggly, sometimes she just pushes away and says "dada dadadddaadadadaaaa".  I take that as my cue to sweep her up into my arms, sneak into the nursery, and do the rocking-to-sleep dance.  In the last few weeks I think she's fallen asleep at the boob twice? three times?  I remember fondly when the Mommy & Daddy Sandwich would put her out in 8 minutes or less.  Now it's 8 minutes or more of rocking.  Which at least is good for me.  Sometimes I can really work up a sweat.  I'm sure it's good for my hips, at least.  I hope that we can get a rocker/glider before Apple sends me away on business for a few days.

I've been up late the last few nights moving the remainder of my stuff from the Compound (my old house) to the Sunshine House (our new place! So exciting!) and I'm happy to be done and done and done with all of that.  I have way more stuff then I had anticipated.  A part of me wishes I had just moved out the electronic stuff and set the place ablaze.  Think: more funeral pyre, less arson.  I'm sure AFD would have understood.

oh, Hi blog!  Long time lurker, occasional commenter, and now contributor!  I've been reading Jennifer's blogs (and their various incarnations) since we met, ten years ago.

I have about a thousand adorable pictures on my iPhone that I need to load into Flickr so that I can blog those moments.  That will happen one day.  And by that I mean, hopefully before the wedding.

Boob wrestling

She latches on then begins to kick her legs. She braces her fists against my chest and pushes away as hard as she can. She locks her arms. As she pushes away she increases the suction and bears down with her teeth stretching the breast to its limit. I wrap my arms around her and pull her close to my body. She kicks harder and pounds her fists against me. Her efforts thwarted she releases from the breast and lets out a pitiful wail of betrayal. She looks up at me with big sad eyes and relaxes into my arms. She latches on again, sucks contentedly for a few gulps, her body still relaxed, gazing into my eyes. I begin to relax. Sensing this she quickly pushes her hands against my chest, locks her arms and arches her back while sucking hard. I put my hand on the back of her head and push her head towards my body. She shakes her head and kicks her legs. Then relaxes. Repeat ad nauseam.

Breast feeding has turned into a wrestling match. Anyone else having this experience?