Tea time

If I were an adolescent boy, I wouldn't be able to make myself a cup of tea in this office without giggling.

Stash tea's Mellow Moments?

Morning Thunder?

African Red Bush?


Seriously. Who is naming tea these days?

According to that guy

Last night on my way home from Whole Foods, a guy getting out of a pickup truck with his buddy stopped short upon seeing me walking towards him along the sidewalk.

"Now THAT" he shouted, pointing at me, "is a WOMAN! Baby in one hand, six pack of beer in the other."

Signs the sleep deprivation may be getting to me

I woke up extra early to go to work this morning and when I went to put my contacts in I discovered they were already in, or should I say, still in.

I finished getting ready and went to the garage to get my bike. As I was putting on my gloves I felt something in one of the fingers. It was my wedding ring, which had been there since I got home the day before and somehow neither Eric nor I had noticed in the several hours we were awake that I wasn't wearing my wedding ring. I guess this is the danger of such a comfortable fit.

It may be worth mentioning that the reason I came in to work extra early is because I forgot to bring essential equipment for my breast pump home from work. Shouldn't have been a big problem but Emerson has a cold and has been too congested to nurse. Long failed-nose-clearing-and-pump-part-borrowing story short, I have never been so eager upon waking up at 4am to get up and come into the office.

At least I remembered all my clothes today. Last week after teaching yoga in the morning it became clear that I would be wearing my sports bra all day. Let me tell you: sports bra under work blouse is a look whose time has come.

Things we're learning

Emerson has learned that if he crawls under the side table next to the couch and tries to stand up, he can lift the table up over his head and maybe even knock it over.

I've learned that if, as Emerson is cruising around the kitchen, he puts both hands on the oven door handle and then hangs all his weight on it, the oven door will open and throw him onto the hard tile kitchen floor.

Emerson has learned that if he stands up on his tip toes and leans way over the edge of the bathtub, he can get past the tipping point and dive into the tub face first.

I've learned that baby-proofing is a journey, not a destination.

Who's the boss

For our internet service at home, we've recently switched from the devil we know (Comcast) to the devil we don't (Astound).

Installation was scheduled for between 10am and noon and I was pleasantly surprised when the Astound guy showed up at 10:05am.

"Hey boss," he addressed me. "How can I get up on the roof?"

I informed him our roof was not accessible (we've looked into it as a potential beehive locale) but he still wanted to see if he could make it work with a ladder. It soon became clear that this was a terrible idea that would almost certainly result in death, so he decided he had to call the cherry picker.

"Hey, boss, the truck can come at 11:30. OK with you boss?" he asked.

I said that was fine with me.

At 4pm when it was time to take Emerson to the doctor, we still hadn't heard from or seen the cable guy, but as I headed out there he was.

"Boss," he said. "We're almost done."

I left Eric behind to be the boss for the rest of the installation.

Sunny January Saturday

Yesterday we did a big hike down Route 1 just past Pacifica. It is a hike that is best done this time of year, when the poison oak that overgrows the trail most of the year has receded and the fog is unlikely to spoil the views.

Driving down there's an excellent view of Linda Mar beach, a popular surfing spot. Not surprisingly for a beautiful day with good waves, the water looked like a salmon farm: more flesh than water. Though in this particular salmon farm all the salmon are wearing wetsuits. And surfing. Yes, this simile has gotten a little weird. My point is: there were a LOT of surfers in the water.

The hike we did is an 8 mile round trip, with a flat meandering-along-the-coast section followed by a steep vertical climb of about 2,000 feet to the top of a mountain whose name I have already forgotten. The good news is that the reward for all that climbing is one of the most spectacular views: a 360 panorama that includes the ocean, the bay, Mount Tam, Mount Diablo and everything in between, like Oakland. It was a clear day and we could see it all.

We were so excited about it that we completely forgot to take a picture. Maybe next time.

Chez LePew

Last night Eric and I went to dinner with Sarah and Rob (and without Emerson and Scout). It was very exciting to get out for dinner and have some adult conversation.

I won't tell you where we went because I will tell you that I am pretty sure someone tipped a port-a-potty over somewhere inside the restaurant. And didn't clean it up.

When we first walked in, we thought maybe it was just a very potent lingering fart, mixed with bad perfume. But it didn't dissipate. We sniffed around the waiting area looking for fresh air but there was none to be found. And it was there at our table when we were seated. Just floating in the air, harassing our nostrils. And this is a nice restaurant! If you were to picture us at an elegantly set wooden table inside of a port-a-potty (one of the larger handicapped ones, perhaps), this is the equivalent of the sensory experience of the evening, just without the flies.

We had a nice meal and a lot of fun, stench notwithstanding.

Gone veggie

I remember quite clearly the October day a little over 10 years ago now when I declared that I was vegan. I had to wait until I had finished the buttermilk pancakes I was eating to officially make the declaration, and I remember every single bite of pancake I ate that morning, holding each one in my mouth for an extra long time. When they were gone, I was a vegan and it would be three years before any animal product would pass my lips again.*

Since my first mouthful of forbidden cheese in late 2003, I have been on the slippery slope back through vegetarianism (eating delicious delicious cheese, then eggs, then more milk products), to fish, and while pregnant I even dabbled in actual meat (including when I lost a bet with Eric which required me to eat a steak). At this rate, I will be a cannibal soon.

So you can imagine my surprise when Eric told me that his new year's resolution for 2011 was to eat vegetarian.

Apparently, through no (intentional) influence of mine, Eric has taken to heart the plight of an overpopulated planet that in coming years will struggle and likely fail to provide 9 billion people will the meat-rich American diet that they all want. What's he going to do about it? Give up meat. Even though he loves it. A lot. I think it is admirable and I plan to be supportive, though I have been clear that this doesn't mean I can't have the occasional slice of bacon or lamb burger should the situation call for it.

The only exception to this rule is that he can eat meat or fish that he catches himself.

Guess who just decided he wants a fishing pole for Valentine's Day?


*With the notable exception of alligator meat but that's a story for another time.

This must be a rite of passage in Mexico

We went for a great hike today and picked up burritos for dinner on the way home. We started at Mariachi's, my favorite burrito place in the whole world for the past ten years. I am truly sad to tell you that THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR DOORS FOREVER. The sign posted in the window didn't say why they are permanently closed, just that they are. I wept.*

Once I had recovered my composure, I walked down the block to another excellent taqueria and got us burritos to take home for dinner.

To be honest, Emerson has been a bit of a snob so far when it comes to baby food. Mushed up boiled carrots and peas are not his thing. He's not interested in pureed winter squash - but some freshly homemade sage parmesan butternut squash soup is right up his alley. Last week at a restaurant with friends Emerson happily ate a healthy portion of Eric's lasagna and I'm not sure I would be exaggerating to say that tonight Emerson ate about a third of my burrito. He was kind of begging so I gave him a taste. He LOVED it. He is my son.

I have a feeling some of you out there will be horrified. But if you think about it, a burrito is actually a great food for babies: everything in it is either pureed (refried beans, guacamole, sour cream, salsa) or in very small pieces (rice, diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro, shredded cheese). And Emerson's little teeth have no problem with the soft tortilla shell.

Baby burrito has taken on a whole new meaning.

*Not really. But seriously - this is a huge bummer!

Poor neglected blog

Oh dear. It has been almost a month since I was here last. That's no good at all.

Let me bring you up to speed...

A friend who noticed Emerson enjoying Eric's guitar quite a bit brought him a little toy guitar with plastic strings. Somewhat unexpectedly, it has a little wind-up knob on the back which when turned will play "Hey Jude" for a little while, but never long enough to get to the "na na na naaaaa" part).

We watched a terrible/awesome movie called Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. I really enjoyed it but still can't figure out if it actually made sense. We've also been watching a lot of SVU on Netflix Watch Now. I can usually predict the plot twist about halfway through which makes Eric a little nuts. Inevitably, at the end of the show I find myself shaking my head and thinking, "Who are the twisted and brilliant people dreaming these stories up?"

We spent a week vacationing in lovely but a bit rainy Kauai and then another week stay-cating in lovely but a bit rainy San Francisco. Mexico may allow 6-month pregnant women on jet skis but Kauai doesn't, and in fact no babies under 2 years are allowed on the boats. So we got a lot of use out of the room, the pool, the beach and the rental car. We ate "puka" dogs (puka means "hole" in Hawaiian and refers to how they make a hot-dog shaped hole in the hotdog bun rather than slitting it like we mainlanders) and did some good tag-team snorkeling, as well as some tag-team relaxing. From the beach we saw humpback whales jumping straight up out of the water. Crazy whales.

Eric turned 31. Emerson turned 9 months old, and has now been 'out' as long as he was 'in'.

I am now managing two projects at work - a full-time project load to be sure. My head is exploding on a regular basis and I need to write lots of things down before I forget them. The good news is I have great people on my teams and secretly I really like getting to be an adult for several hours a day (and sometimes more).

One of my new year's resolutions is to blog at least once a week, and I even got a free app on my iphone which will help me track my progress against all my goals, so you can see that I am now guaranteed to succeed.