Squirrel Bait

So for those who don’t know I am a big believer in the fact that my sorority is for life. Many women when they join a sorority in college it is just for 4 years, and some don’t stay active the entire time they are in school and deactivate. For me that was never an option. Alpha Delta Pi showed me that it was for life. Wherever I have lived since graduating I have been a member of an alum association and now I am the finance advisor for the UC Berkeley chapter. So you get the idea, I love adpi.

Now you may be wondering why I am going off about this. A few years ago I bought a ring on ebay. The ring has the adpi badge on it. Now you can tell that the woman who owned this like me believed adpi was for life. The badge is so warn and some of the stones around it are missing. These features made me fall in love with the ring (it also helped to put it in my price range). When I got this ring it was way too small for me. I could kind of wear it on my pinky, well for my birthday the hubby went and got the ring sized for me. He also added a special touch to make it mine. Inside he had them engrave “With Pride.” Now for those who know adpi, Alphie the Lion is our mascot, so the idea of a pride is important. And, I know that its last owner wore it with pride and I hope to continue.

Ok… So I know I have been horrible about updating so I thought I would now.  About 2 weeks ago I ended up with a plugged milk duct.  Yes, I really am still breastfeeding and yes my daughter is 10 and a half months old.  And yes I do work full time.  This does mean that I am pumping at work (UGG!).  But anyways, back to the original story. So I have been very lucky and haven’t really had any problems with engorgement or blocked ducts.  Well that weekend was different.  I was all backed up and ended up with a sore on my nipple from it.  Luckily the block did pass.  Well the sore was not wanting to heal well.  By the end of the week I noticed my breast was getting sore again.  Well by Sunday I ended up with a fever (which got up to over 101.3), aches, chills, very swollen breast that was bright red, and pain.  Oh and I was very tired.  Well monday morning I went into see the doctor and just as I thought I had a breast infection.  All the symptoms I listed are pretty much it in a nut shell.  So she prescribed 10 days worth of antibiotics, taking them 4 times a day.  Blah.  She also said that if in a week I was still having problems to contact her again.  Well today was a week, and unfortunately I was still having some pain.  I still had some blockages that weren’t wanting to pass, but also I was getting other pain after feedings and pumping.  So I went back in this morning.  She examined my breast and has found what she thinks is a cyst.  The problem is that with aspiration it can just come back but with surgical removal there can be damage to the milk ducts.  And well just leaving it may leave me with more breast infections and general just more pain.  Well now I am scheduled for an ultrasound of my breast on Thursday and those results the doctor is going to talk with a breast surgeon about and we shall see what happens.  On a nice note, the blockages have finally cleared, as of this afternoon.  Now hopefully they will stay away for a bit.  This might actually let me heal some.

I made this list a while back.  It is things that I want to do with Tara.  Some of them are for when she is older, but some we have been able to already do/go to.  Those with X’s in front of them we have already done.

X-Shoreline Lake in Mt. View http://www.shorelinelake.com/ You can rent peddle boats when the kids get older
-Brown Bag and Twilight Music Series in Palo Altohttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/recreation/news/details.asp?NewsID=481&TargetID=7
X-Baylands and Duck Pond in Palo Alto
X-Jr. Museum and Zoo in Palo Alto http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/activities_and_recreation/attractions/junior_museum/default.asp
-Foothills Park in Palo Altohttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/parks_and_open_space/preserves_and_open_spaces/foothills_park.aspYou do need a Palo Alto resident to get in, but it is great fun for hiking, picnics and fishing
-Gamble Gardens in Palo Alto http://www.gamblegarden.org/
-Palo Alto Art Center www.cityofpaloalto.org/artcenter Does a yearly exhibit of local children’s work that is fun to see
-NASA Ames Research Center Exploration Center in Mt. Viewhttp://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/exploration.html
-Winter Lodge in Palo Alto http://www.winterlodge.com/ the first permanent outdoor ice rink west of the Sierras
-Palo Alto Children’s Libraryhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/lib/news/details.asp?NewsID=410&TargetID=170 Oldest freestanding children’s library in the country
-Palo Alto Children’s Theaterhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/activities_and_recreation/attractions/childrens_theatre.aspputs on some really fun shows
-Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills http://www.hiddenvilla.org/ is a farm and wilderness
-Children’s Fairyland in Oakland http://www.fairyland.org/ an amusement park based on children’s fairy tales that helped inspire Disneyland
-Coyote Point Rec Area and Museum in San Mateohttp://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/parks/menuitem.f13bead76123ee4482439054d17332a0/?vgnextoid=563bc8909231e110VgnVCM1000001d37230aRCRD&cpsextcurrchannel=1and http://www.coyoteptmuseum.org/
-Chabot’s Space and Science Center in Oaklandhttp://www.chabotspace.org/
-Central Park in San Mateo http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/index.aspx?NID=718 has a wonderful Japanese tea garden and a mini train for kids to ride on
-Exploratorium in SF http://www.exploratorium.edu/
-California Academy of Science in SF http://www.calacademy.org/
-SF and Oakland Zoos http://www.sfzoo.org/ andhttp://www.oaklandzoo.org/
-Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeleyhttp://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/

Ok… So most people who read this probably know that I am tall, and for those who don’t, I am just shy of 6 ft tall.  This has always made life a bit interesting.  I like being tall, but the world is not really designed for tall people.  My current frustration of this has been umbrella strollers.  Now I love the stroller we have.  It is our bugaboo.  You can go back and read all about my adventures of trying to pick out a stroller.  There are multiple entries about trying to pick a stroller and then our final choice.  Oh and then there was the adventure of them sending up the wrong stroller (the nicer one then we picked out but didn’t send all the parts).  But anyways, I love the stroller.  I even wrote a review about it on a website and won an exersaucer because they liked my review so much.  So yes, it has been great, but it isn’t a little stroller.  I have wanted a smaller stroller has a second stroller for those times where I don’t want to bring our full stroller with us.  Also, when there isn’t room to bring the big stroller it would be handy too.  Now next week I am headed with Tara to Arizona for a wedding (yippy), and realized this is my first time flying with her alone.  Sam realized I could probably use a stroller for this trip, and that our bugaboo would probably be too large for me by myself (it gets checked in its own travel bag cause it isn’t handy to check at the gate).  For those who remember, I did try to win a smaller stroller, but did not (I came in third and felt very loved by how many people voted for me).   Anyways, so we went off shopping.  Now I had done some research on umbrella strollers in the past and found the largest complaint was that they were too short.  This leads back to my comment on me being 6 ft tall.  So we headed to Babies R Us to look at our options.  After much comparison we found that really and trully, the Maclaren umbrella strollers are much taller then every other one we tried.  I tried

one that was close, but I kept kicking the wheels when I walked with it.  Luckily there was a discontinued color that was on sale.  So we finally did purchase a Maclaren stroller.  It is the volo, and was the cheapest price I have ever seen a Maclaren stroller for.  We actually got the last one other then the floor models.  So yes, for all you tall people out there just go straight to the Maclarens.  Find one on sale (they are expensive), cause they are really your only option if you don’t want to be leaning over a bunch of kicking the wheels all the time.  On another nice note, unlike other umbrella stroller this stroller goes up to 55 lbs (others we saw went up to 33lbs which Tara should be by her second birthday).  Having the extra high weight limit will hopefully come in handy when making family trips later on.  Anyways, that is my suggestion to all you tall people out there.

So I just thought I would share this, I am teaching myself how to crochet. I have known how to knit for a long time. My grandmother it the one who taught me. But I am starting to find things mat I can’t knit, that need to be crocheted. So I am teaching myself. This is a process, but once I make something worth showing off I will share.

OK, so I watched “Julie and Julia” with my family tonight. Really good movie by the way, but that isn’t the point of this entry. The movie is about a woman who takes on the task of cooking all of Julia Child’s recipes in her cookbook “Mastering the Art Of French Cooking” in 0ne year and blogging about it. This has made me realize how little direction my blog has. Now I don’t know what I want to do with it yet, but I think I need a direction, a theme, for my blog. If you have any ideas for me feel free to share, and once I have an idea you all will be the first to know.

Ok.. So I seem to be on a posting roll.  I guess this is what happens when I don’t post for a while.  Anyways, so Tara has been teething a bunch lately.  Up to now she had 3 teeth on the top and 3 on the bottom (they came in on opposite sides, it is very cute).  Anyways, so it feels like today the 4th bottom one has finally cut.  The 4th top on is really close, there is a funny shape to her gum where it is trying to come in.  The interesting part is that her first set of molars are also really close.  I can run my finger along her gums and really feel them.  As a result she keeps chewing and rubbing her pacifier on her back gums.  She is only 9 months old, but I don’t think these teeth are too far away.  I just wish that she would stop teething so much.

Now to clarify she is actually 2 days shy of 9 months.  Christmas day she will be 9 months old.  Oh I can’t wait till her first christmas day.  Actually I really can’t wait for tomorrow.  My mom works at a women’s clothing store and they have a Christmas Eve party at the store.  I was brought up going to this party.  I have watched other kids grow up at this party.  Last year I came to this party very pregnant (and i had just moved back to CA that day).  So anyways, this year I get to bring Tara.  Now many of the people at the party see her on a regular basis, but there are others that I usually only see at this party.  So I am really excited.  Hopefully her mouth won’t be bugging her too much and she will be in a happy mood.

So it has hit me that in my update post of yesterday I left out a very key event that happened this past month.  Tara got sick.  And by sick I mean sick.  So the morning of Dec 10th Tara woke up with a 102.7 degree fever.  I of course got her into the doctor as soon as I could (her appointment was 20 minutes after I called).  Anyways, so she got in and between the high fever and the runny nose, they had to assume it was the flu.  Now she had her 2 doses of seasonal shots way earlier, but had only had her H1N1 vaccine a few days before.  This meant that they had to assume that her body had not built and immunity and that this was H1N1.  So she was put on Tamiflu and sent home to rest.  Well when we got home we gave her her first dose and she nursed.  Well about 20 minutes later she started coughing and ended up projectile vomiting everything in her tummy.  She actually vomited 3 separate times.  Now she later took her doses just fine, so this was probably cause of all the drainage mixed with the medicine that upset her tummy (yes we did call the doctor to double check).  Anyways, so she spent about 24 hours straight in my arms in her glider sleeping and nursing.  After the 24 hours she was doing much better.  I think at about 36 hours her fever had entirely broken (it was down to a low grade fever in less the 24).  So we were lucky, but oh it was an experience.  But she is much much better now, and I can say that yes I have experienced baby projectile vomit.  All I can say is oh my.

Anyways, I shall stop talking about projectile vomit and maybe head towards bed (I know it is 9:30, but Tara is down therefore I am supposed to sleep).

Ok… For those who don’t know I am making Tara’s baby food.  It is so easy to do, and it tastes much better then the jar stuff…  Well I make most of her food.  I tried making her rice cereal and it just never came out right.  So I do buy her baby cereals (rice and oatmeal).  I also buy yogurt, cause I just don’t want to deal with making it… Anyways, so I thought I would post an up to date list of all the foods that she has tried.

Vegetables:

• Sweet Potato
• Carrots
• Butternut Squash
• Peas
• Summer Squash
• Asparagus
• Broccoli (She did not like broccoli at all)

Fruits:

• Apples
• Pears
• Avocados (yes these are fruits)
• Bananas
• Apricots

Grains:

• Rice
• Oatmeal

Dairy:

• Yogurt
• Cheese

Meat/Protein

• Turkey (which she really didn’t like so I need to try again)

So, she has had a pretty big variety so far, but I am really looking forward to expanding it more.  In the fridge right now that I need to still make up are green beans with mint, cauliflower, and zucchini (which is pretty much the same as summer squash).  I am also trying to introduce seasoning.  Specifically I have been putting cinnamon in with her apples and pears.  Also, the plan is to put mint in with her green beans.

Where I feel I have been a bit behind is introducing finger foods.  Now we tried a few weeks ago giving her little pieces of cheese and chereos.  Now the cheese she just didn’t really want to put in her mouth (odd since everything else seems to go there).  The chereos she didn’t like cause she had to chew them too much.  So yeah.  I am going to hopefully try some more finger foods here soon.

Now for those interested I have been using a few sources for making baby food.  I may have mentioned them before, but I thought I would share them again.  The book “Cooking for Baby,” and the websites wholesomebabyfood.com and homemade-baby-food-recipes.com.

Anyways, this is really an update for me so I can see how she is doing, but also for those who might be interested in making their own baby food.  To anyone who wants to, it isn’t hard, and you can freeze pretty much everything.

Wow, I have been horrible about posting.  This is kind of sad… But anyways, in the last month things have happened… Yep… it is crazy like that… Ok, in reality, we took Tara to go see Santa Claus…  I was very happy to find that Tiny Tots (the company that I use for my diaper service) was having Santa at their store and that you reserved a time.  The idea of taking Tara to a mall Santa and having to wait in line was not something I was looking forward to… Having my nice appointment made this easy, and it mean that Tara wasn’t sitting there getting cranky while waiting.  I still think the best part of the trip, we did actually get a picture of her where she is smiling.

In other news, Tara has decided she really doesn’t like crawling.  She does it when she has to, but instead would much rather pull herself up and try to walk.  Well because of this her crawling really isn’t that great.  So I thought why not take her to one of those Gymboree type classes… Well there is a place called My Gym that is nearby and I signed her up for a trial class.  I thought that maybe seeing some other babies crawling around might help.  Also, they nicely have Saturday classes.  Well I went and all the other kids in that class were already walking. Oh well, she will just walk early.  But I did decide I really liked the class.  It was fun and again, they actually have Saturday classes.  So we are thinking we will put her in the class come the new year.

Other then that, not a whole lot going on other then getting ready for Christmas here at the end of the week, and well work.  Yeah that whole work thing.  Anyways, better get back to it.

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday weekend.  I love 4 day weekends.  They are long enough that I really feel like I have a break.  3 day holiday weekends just aren’t enough.  The holiday usually takes over a day and just doesn’t make it feel like a day off.  Of course Thursday was Tara’s first Thanksgiving.  It was fun.  My mom cooked for everyone (everyone being my folks, Sam’s mom, his brother Jack, Sam and I).  Tara has her own dinner that I brought with, since she didn’t like turkey last time I tried giving it to her.  It was a good yummy meal.  The only hard part is that Tara did not nap all afternoon.

Hmm, what else to share since I haven’t updated in a while.  Oh yes, since I do love free things (see my last post if you didn’t already know that), I was able to order 100 free photo christmas cards.  Yep, 100.  Through the site seehere.com and the coupons freebies4mom-1109 and newbaby I was able to make 2 separate orders for 50 free cards each.  I think they came out really cute, especially for being free… Now I just need to actually address them all and get them out.  Big Sigh.  Oh and for those interested the freebies4mom code is good through tomorrow, but you now can only choose a 4×6 card and have to pay shipping I think.  The coupon was so popular seehere.com had to do something to make up for it.

What else… I really don’t know… I guess I just felt the need to make an update.  Crazy isn’t it.

On another note that isn’t as happy… If you are part of the mommy blogging world you most likely know this, but one of the mommy bloggers out there has recently suffered from 2 strokes.  This mommy has been there for her own daughter’s struggle through cancer…  Now the family has this to deal with and it happened not too much before thanksgiving.  So please keep them in your prayers, and you can read the husbands updates as to how she and the family is doing at www.hope4peyton.org

Now, I am going to give my own daughter an extra hug when she wakes me up in the middle of the night, cause I can.  I don’t want to miss any of those chances, even if I am up at 2am.  Now sadly at 8pm I am thinking of getting into bed. I don’t plan on going to sleep yet, but you never know.