Here Comes Trouble...

New Babies!

Today we visited our friends J&H and their twin sons J&H (huh, I didn't realize that until now, cute.) Isabel got to "play" with her new buddies a little before they were whisked off to dreamland. Baby J&H are so cute and so alert now. They are smiling socially and I love seeing babies grin. 

Isabel is standing on her own now and can push her little scooter car around. It makes me laugh so hard I almost pee my pants, seeing her push that thing. She gets this very intense look on her face and does her little geek laugh.

Elliot was finally born yesterday afternoon and she is a darling baby. Curly reddish hair, 8.8 lbs and 21 inches. So cute. I especially love this picture of her little piggies.

E did an amazing job getting that little girl to come out. I know it was a long, hard labor and in the end so worth it to see this little munchkin enter the world. Welcome baby girl! 

Morning.

It is Saturday morning and I am the only one up. Well, I heard a thump upstairs a little while ago which means that Isabel threw her binkie overboard. So she's up, but not UP. For now, it is just me, my coffee, my phone and the computer. Kind of nice.

I've been waiting for the last 12 hours for a call from the hospital- one of my best friends is in labor right now. I was being all emotional and thinking about how much kids change your life. There are some positives and negatives to every situation and having kids is definitely one of them. But thinking about how amazing a new life is, often times brings tears to my eyes (ok, especially when I'm hormonal and when it is someone close to you). I'll save you all the sappy "Babies are so amazing" chatter- but the bottomline is that I am truly and utterly amazed at the miracle of life. 

Here I wait. Ready to jet off to the hospital at the drop of a hat, I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the divine Miss E and can't wait to be her Auntie!

The Meatloaf Cupcake

I wish I could take credit for this little gem of an idea. Meatloaf cupcakes. But alas, I got the idea from the Meatloaf Bakery (yes there is such a place) and thought about how genius this is. Who doesn't love cupcakes? And if you have picky kids and you tell them they are having cupcakes for dinner? I am sorry, but that is HEAVEN to me. All you need is meatloaf in muffin tins, some mashed veg of some kind, a piping bag and tip and VOILA! Meat heaven.

There is something on your face...

Rockin' the ear protection...

Isabel Lately

She'll be 11 months next week, can you believe it?

Yogurt Face!

Allergic to Peas?

Has anyone out there ever seen any allergic reactions to peas in their kids? A couple of times that I have given Iz cooked peas she's broken out in a rash around her mouth. Tonight she even broke out in little hives around her hands. So for now, we'll avoid the peas. I'm trying to give her other foods that she can feed to herself. So far she LOVES cheese, Cheerios, rice and cooked veggies.

Yesterday we took her to Tokyo (sushi restaurant) and she had tofu for the first time. I wasn't sure what she would think of it, and seeing her reaction to peas- I was a little nervous about the tofu. So far so good. Today we even tried a little bit of plain yogurt. She ate a few bites, so hopefully she'll warm up to it more as we try it again.

I love being able to feed her food that hasn't been pureed within an inch of it's life- however now it makes for a very messy and often times fussy meal time.

Thursday.

I'm so tired right now I can't come up with anything creative as a title. So Thursday it is.

Today was our final exam on our install and our team scored 96 out of 100. Most of the points that were taken off were due to "shiners" and loose coax cables. Stupid stuff that was a result of us not being too careful at the end. It is hard being on a team of 3 sometimes, because instead of bouncing ideas off one other person, you have two to deal with. It wasn't terrible, just sometimes makes the work go slower. (Shiners, btw are when you have the copper part of the wire exposed under the sheath or casing. Not a good thing to have since moisture can get in there and cause a potential short in the wiring. See? I guess I am learning something useful. Watch out, I'm armed with information, this makes me more dangerous than I already am!!)

I had dinner with some family friends this evening (and yesterday!) and it was so nice of them to have me over. Not to mention they fed me yummy food which beats eating take out by yourself any day.

I think the hardest thing about being here is saying good night to Isabel each night on the phone. She makes little noises when she is talking to me "uhhhhh!!!" and "maaaaaaaa" and I wonder if she knows it is me on the other end. Normally Jeremy and I take turns putting her down each night and I've missed out on that this week. I'll have to give Jeremy "Get Out of Jail Free" cards next week as he's certainly deserved it taking care of her all week long. Not to mention the fabulous Grandma's who've helped HIM out too!

Thanks Grandmas! We love you and all you do for us... we couldn't do it without you.

Ladder Day

Today we learned all about ladders and how to climb them safely. It probably would have been best for me to keep my mouth shut during this course as I proceeded to tell my teammates that I don't usually use ladders, just chairs to get to what I want. Most often, I fall off the chairs and on to the floor. They then suggested I don my hardhat.

After our indoor training on the wimpy ladders, we were ushered outside to manhandle the 28 footers and put them up next to the building. I was proud of myself, I managed to shimy my butt up the ladder without looking down. Getting down was not as easy as getting up- since I kept thinking my feet were not planted firmly. I think the worst part about those big ladders were how much give they had- they shook with each rung you climbed. Fabulous.

Tomorrow is our test for our start to finish install. Hopefully I won't poke anyone with the voltage detector or take out a chunk of skin when I am capping the ends of coax cables. Such a fabulous life I lead- don't you wish you were me right now?

I am missing Isabel and J like crazy- only two more days until I fly home! Yippie! Ho-tel living is getting to me and I do miss having more than two pairs of jeans to wear. Oh! Did I mention that San Diego has a West Elm store? DROOL. I swear, sometimes I kinda wish we lived here!

Act 1- Scene 1

Instructor: Here we'll be able to do a Balun install and take the VDSL line and hook it up through your coax cable.

Me: Um. Yeah. Um, what is this?

Instructor: Well, clearly you have to take your JSDU and make sure it syncs. Make sure your tip and ring are on the right wires, white and green and make sure your ANI bed of nails don't touch.

Me: Um. Yeah. Um, what is this?

Instructor: (Now sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher because I don't understand a damn word of what is being said or shown on the fabulous slides)

Me: Um. Yeah....

AND SCENE!

Training Day

Today was day one of training. I learned all about VRAD and F1 and F2 connectors and this that and blah blah blah. A lot to take in for someone who doesn't consider herself technically able. Granted, I love knowing how things work, but in all honesty- most of this sounds like a foreign language to me. It is crazy to think that after one week of training they think they can send us out into the field- I don't really think you want me hooking up your cable.

I managed to get in a workout today after training and I know tomorrow I will regret the lunges that I did after I ran. I have a feeling that bending and squatting tomorrow will be quite painful. Hopefully I'll be able to do some work at waist level, hooking up all those wires and stuff.

The good news is that we won't be climbing any telephone poles in training- nor will I have to in the field. Such a relief to hear since I pretty much would break my neck. I do have to wear this awesome hard hat and even more fabulous safety glasses. We have to wear safety glasses in class whenever we are around tools and they are a weird kind of plastic that messes with my eyes and makes me want to barf after a while. Same kind of feeling you get when you wear glasses that aren't your prescription.

Other than that, nothing fun to report. I did get in trouble a couple of times from laughing in class. I couldn't help it, the voltage detector that they give us looks very suspicious and apparently vibrates when high voltage is present. I'm sorry, but if you saw the thing- you would know EXACTLY why I was laughing. And I wasn't the only one in the room who was cracking up!

I know, I'm so mature. :)

San Diego!

Today I flew out of snowy Seattle and landed in sunny San Diego. I start my "training" tomorrow on installing cable for the company I work for. Now, don't think I've gone nutso on you have decided to change careers. No- I'm REQUIRED to do this training to fill in for workers in case we have a strike in the next month. It is a long story- but the bottom line is that I have some kickass "work boots" required for climbing ladders and am spending the week in San Diego. Yes, there are worse places I could be.

So far, so good. Today Beth's good friend Linda came and took me out to lunch and drove me around San Diego. It was a beautiful day and it was SO NICE of her to drag my butt around town. We even rode a carousel today. What I love about walking around San Diego is that everyone was out today with their kids, dogs, families... it was just so nice to be outside like that. I wish Seattle was like that more than 3 months out of the year.

OMG. I am watching old SNL commercials on the ho-tel TV and it is the commercial about Robot Insurance. I think I am going to pee my pants. "Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel."

Week 1

It has only been one week since I started back with Weight Watchers and even though I only made it to the gym twice this week, the biggest improvement I've seen is my eating habits. Instead of cookies all day long, I save a one or two cookies for an afternoon snack or for dessert. Instead of eating all the teriyaki chicken and rice, I eat half for dinner and save the rest for lunch the next day. Slowing down has helped a lot- I find that if I take a break from my food, I don't really need to eat the rest 5 minutes later because I am already full. Amazing that a few changes can make a big difference. 

Just that has helped me drop 2 pounds over the course of the week. I'm sure some of that is water weight, but it is good to see that number drop on the scale.

Today I had a good but exhausting workout. I had limited time at the gym, so I made sure I packed in as much as I could. My favorite thing to do at the gym is the eliptical, and one of the machines there has this awesome "weight loss" setting which takes you on intervals. I love gearing myself up for the hard parts, I crank up some Beyonce or Lady GaGa and go nuts. The only thing I hate at the gym is some of the gym-goers. I am of the belief that if you go to the gym, you should go to work hard. If not, go home. I hate hate hate it when people talk on their cell phones or just waste time on the machines. The other day I saw a lady working out in her Crocs. Now I'm not trying to judge anyone- but seriously. Crocs? To me, if you don't have proper footwear, you're going to hurt yourself.