little feet, big sky

"Q-tips: the ultimate beauty tool" funny, I thought that was Spanx. #thingswenevertellmen

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:22:22 -0700

via tweetie

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Seaming Spice's pink sweater. #knit

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:51:06 -0700

via tweetie

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weekend

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:03:01 -0700

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Random homelife

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sidecar

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:16:47 -0700

And the finished product... :-)

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crib flub

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:07:32 -0700

Grr.. I'm taking the crib apart to chage it to the toddler bed configuration (go, go, gadget IKEA bed!) and I took the wrong side down first. *sigh* Now another ten minutes to put it back and another ten minutes to take the right side down and continue. Bleah. Time for a rum & coke break!

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floating

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:02:08 -0700

I went surfing again earlier this week. It was amazing. *dreamy sigh* I managed to stand up pretty regularly, so I'm over the hurdle of "what if I never get the hang of this". I have the hang of it, from here it's all practice and getting in the water every chance I get. Oh, and learning how to spot & catch the wave itself. :-)

Our instructor, Taylor, would point one out and tell us to start paddling and at the last minute, would give an extra shove for some speed. I tried a couple of times on my own to catch one, but now I know why they call it "catching" a wave! It's kinda confusing because you sit in the line up (the calmer spot of water out past the breaking waves) and wait until you see the right kind of wave approaching. The next bits are still a bit hazy for me. As far as I understand, you turn around, lie down and paddle like the bejeezus until you feel the wave start to lift the back of your board. Then it's a mix of timing, skill, grace and luck as you pop up to a crouch and ride it out. SO far, I can catch it with a push and can stand for at least a few seconds. I still need to figure out how to catch it on my own, and how to turn. Yeah. Turning is kinda important.

Already clearing my schedule to get in some time next week!! *jumps up and down in excitement* Better than Disneyland, cheaper than therapy. ;-P

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omg, I'm going surfing today!!! :-D

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:43:13 -0700

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"You've Got to Hide Your Breast Away:" The Nursing Debate - DktrShe - Open Salon

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:17:46 -0700

http://open.salon.com/blog/dktrshe/2009/09/18/youve_got_to_hide_your_breast_away_the_nursing_debate_1

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Don't eat canned food if you are pregnant.

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:06:34 -0700

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says "We don't want to tell people not to eat canned beans or tomatoes," said CSPI nutritionist David Schardt. "But at the same time, it makes sense for all parents, and especially pregnant and nursing women, to minimize the exposure of their kids' developing bodies and brains to BPA."

via treehugger.com

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motherhood moment: wondering how 3 loads of clean laundry ended up in the baby's crib.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:47:30 -0700

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am sick today, like cough-cough, back to bed sick. bleah.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:31:57 -0700

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ravelry: vahnee's magma baby blanket

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:11:52 -0700

via ravelry.com

Making a version of this for the spouse-unit's cousin's new baby, this time in Muench Big Baby in Blue Jeans. It's been so long that I actually had to look up my own pattern on Ravelry. Doh.

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When Do You Know When to Wean? | Momversation

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:02:48 -0700

via momversation.com

Awesome vid on weaning your breastfed baby - er, toddler. :-)

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Evening walk

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:05:05 -0700

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Love in the 21st Century

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:13:19 -0700

“Never a cover, always a party” is the motto of San Francisco’s holiest of meat markets, the Holy Cow. It is a sacred mating ground where you’ll find the shortest of skirts and the tightest of shirts, not only on women but also on men. It calls itself an over 21... »

via loveinthe21stcentury.net

A fascinating new blog exploring modern day romance. :-)

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Random Saturday

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:55:00 -0700

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i'm dreaming of... time

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:10:02 -0700

It's been back to work for me this week, and I feel the guilty mother for admitting that... I like it more than being a stay-at-home mom. *sigh*

I've said it since the spouse-unit went back to work right after Spice was born: that I thought working nine-to-five (or eleven-am-to-two-am, in our tech startup roles) was way easier than being ever-patient, spoon-full-of-sugar parent all day. One year later, and it's pretty much the same. Older baby with new tricks, but it's the same old workload for the same zero pay. Maybe it's the fact that at work I may actually get a "thanks for that" (if I'm lucky), while at home I tend to just get variations on screams. At work, I get a lunch break, bathroom breaks, moments to walk around and just stare into space to get my brain back in order, while at home, I'm lucky to get time to scarf a banana down on the run. Forget thinking.

I love Spice. In fact, I love our shiny new threesome family so much that we're thinking of the next one already. But while I'm ready to be fat and tired and have sleepless nights all over again, I'm not really ready for the lack of ME time that comes with it. I've been enjoying work this week so much. I came home this afternoon and volunteered to drive the babysitter home just so that I didn't have to spent active time with Spice at home while she went through the afternoon fussies. Popped her in the car seat, armed her with a few carrot sticks and a business card to play with, and just drove. *sigh* It was good, really. Then I had to come home, and now I'm spastic and twitching until the spouse-unit comes home and I get to hand her off to him to bathe her.

The less ME time I get away from her, the less patience I have with her -- and the less I'm capable of being genuinely joyful to be around her.

I tried getting time to myself before, but I think I went about it wrong. I would go to Starbuck's or something to work, or I would "treat" myself to getting my hair or nails done. But those were things that needed to be done anyway. No, I realized today while I was driving around that, gas-guzzling aside, that driving somewhere is calming to me, as is hanging out with friends without the baby, or just vegging and watching something, or working on something fun online. The last two are things I will still need to leave the house for, unless I can figure out to get the baby & spouse-unit out of the house. Sadly, if I try to do my own stuff at home while she's there, I just get sucked in, whether it's her actively crying to me, or just the spouse-unit asking for a diaper.

But I'm determined to get some space for myself. Somehow. The spouse-unit gets his at night when I've put her (and myself) to bed, either to catch up on work in the quiet, or watch a movie, or play PS3. He gets that when I go out with her on the weekends to run errands, etc., something that he almost never does. Yet. *wink* I'm nudging him to take up a toddler music class with her or something. Here's to ME time sleeping in on Saturday mornings! :-)

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There's something funny about the baby playing with my basal thermometer, but I'm not awake enough to know what it is yet.

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:09:51 -0700

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hitting the ground running

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:35:09 -0700

I should totally be sleeping now, but I think my brain's still fired up from getting back to work yesterday. It's like the downhill part of a roller-coaster: hard to stop. I even gave in and started watching "NYC Prep" via iTunes and it's junky, but terribly addicting. (They're all little monsters, er, teens, but if I had to pick one to like, it would probably be Jessie.)

The spouse-unit is busy as ever, but doing a swell job of manning the grill for a few mor weeks. Spice has grown (surprise, surprise) quite a bit taller and is almost walking. My family in Malaysia loved her, and traveling with her was pretty good, almost easy. But it's been a crazy summer of travels, so it's nice to be home in SoCal. Aside from the terrifying fires, of course.

Just a quick note to touch base; smile, be merry and enjoy the last rays of summer!

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live from kajang

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:56:00 -0700

Malaysia. Wow, it's been two years since I was here last, but as usual, it feel as if I've never really left.

My mother has two brothers, a sister and six cousins, almost all who live here, and all of them married with at least two kids. That makes for some very large family dinners and some massive events. Since the spouse-unit and I are often a little isolated from family in the US, it's an awesome feeling to drop right into such warm and welcoming family here.

My cousin was married a week ago in a huge wedding with two receptions. We rested for a day before heading out to Coconut Grove, my aunt's quiet beachfront retreat along the South China sea, for a few days. Then we came back to Kajang and took off the next day for Fraser's Hill, a local mountain resort town. (Where I saw my first leech - eeew.) A few days there, and back in Kajang now and the spouse-unit just arrived yesterday. Not sure what the upcoming plans are, but we're thinking of visiting a friend in Singapore for a few days before going to Tioman Island and Coconut Grove next week.

Spice is doing really well here, and loving all the attention from my numerous cousins here. (No shortage of babysittters!) The Kaboost and baby chair harness are working out great for an improvised high chair here at my grandmother's house. The one caution is that she's started to push against the table, which could rock the chair to fall backwards with her strapped in; I have her sitting so the chair is backed against the wall, so she can't tip it.

I've also been cloth diapering here, which has worked out amazingly well. I brought about a dozen Cotton Babies insert socks, five Thirsties wraps, and half as many of the Bum Genius microfiber inserts. Turns out the wraps and socks work great and line dry fast in in the hot humid weather here, but the microfiber inserts take all day to dry. So when I realized I was also running a little short on inserts, I picked up a local package of ten flats. Wow! I just fold them to fit the socks, and when washing, they're dry in like an hour!! Totally wish I'd tried them before. I might just be a convert from prefolds to flats now. :-)

Other than that, it's been hanging around with my wild and funny cousins from all over the world, and taking down recipes from my grandmother in the kitchen. One of the pictures below is of her making kolkutta, a rice flour dumpling with a sweet coconut/cardamom/brown sugar filling. I've been using Evernote to take the recipe down, and using our tiny HD Flip & a Gorillapod to film her as she's cooking. Technology is so very awesome.

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little feet, big sky

"Q-tips: the ultimate beauty tool" funny, I thought that was Spanx. #thingswenevertellmen

Seaming Spice's pink sweater. #knit

weekend

sidecar

crib flub

floating

omg, I'm going surfing today!!! :-D

"You've Got to Hide Your Breast Away:" The Nursing Debate - DktrShe - Open Salon

Don't eat canned food if you are pregnant.

motherhood moment: wondering how 3 loads of clean laundry ended up in the baby's crib.

am sick today, like cough-cough, *back to bed* sick. bleah.

ravelry: vahnee's magma baby blanket

When Do You Know When to Wean? | Momversation

Evening walk

Love in the 21st Century

Random Saturday

i'm dreaming of... time

There's something funny about the baby playing with my basal thermometer, but I'm not awake enough to know what it is yet.

hitting the ground running

live from kajang

am sick today, like cough-cough, back to bed sick. bleah.