Butterflies

This weekend I watched as Hattie observed a butterfly flittering about our backyard. It gave me pause as I remembered a day when I was pregnant with her...
I was at a medical office taking a 3 hour long glucose test. There was a lot of sitting and waiting involved, so I watched out the window as people came and went from the office building. I gazed out at a feeble old man inching his way towards the front door of the building when he stopped in his tracks. I assumed he was catching his breath or possibly had remembered something left in his car. But then a smile came over his face as he stood and watched a small butterfly moving about in the bushes. He grinned as the butterfly finally flew up and away. It struck me as such a simple and beautifully pure scene. Instantly tears came to my eyes and still do when I think of him. When my days begin to get hectic and threaten to move past without pause, I will try and remember how little it takes to stop and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. Have a beautiful week.

My Own Personal Yogi

Here are some of the pics of Hattie I promised. The bath time ones are self-explanatory. The next is one I like to call “Downward Dog” (its a yoga move, for you non-yoga people out there). She gets some really good rear end height most of the time. This particular one she was on her way down. Rest assured her form is really good. Any yogi would be proud.
She is not technically crawling yet, but she can scoot with the best of ‘em. She’ll make laps around our family room going in reverse and rolling. Brian’s prediction is within 2 weeks she’ll be crawling and not stuck in reverse anymore. While this is very exciting and a big milestone, I don’t know if I am ready. We still have so much baby-proofing to do. Outlets must be covered, plants moved, cabinets rearranged, and a hundred baby gates installed. Plus, that means in a couple weeks the chase is on. She’ll be into everything. We will be viewing our house in a whole new light.
Besides scooting, HP is babbling, cooing, ‘sssss’ing, and giving fish faces. She puckers and sucks til she gives this big ‘pop’ at the end. It’s pretty cute. Still only has the 2 teeth, or 'headlights' as Grandpa calls them. She is smiling and laughing more than ever before, too. I love, love, love that she is such a happy baby. Makes my job soooo much easier. She is also doing this cool thing with her hands where she will take a toy and flip it over in one hand, pass it to the other, flip it, pass it to the other, flip it. She is such a talented girl…

Hair Inspiration

I chopped all my hair off last weekend. It’s short and feels good. And I am having a good hair day today, which always helps. I didn’t have many (any) of those with my long hair. Since so much of it fell out after I had Hattie, I had all these weird short hairs that made my hair look frizzy all the time. It was flyaway city. So, here’s the picture I took to Gina (friend and stylist). Ah Meg, you are always my hair inspiration…

Of course I still look nothing like her, but I am not a 6 foot tall skinny blond with my own team of hair people spending hours to make it look ‘perfectly messy’. Gina did a great job. Now if I can just get it to stop growing so I don’t have to go back in a week I’ll be a happy girl.

Speaking of hair, I will have to post a pic of HP. Her hair is still only growing upwards. It totally defies the law of gravity. It is so soft, downy like a duck, and it makes me smile every time I see her. Well, of course I'd be smiling at her anyhow but the hair helps. I promise to post some new pics soon.

They work!

Just got back from my next day follow up from surgery. I am 20/15 with both eyes (yes folks, that is better than perfect!). Who would've thought I could claim 'better than perfect' on anything in my life??? Amazing. When I woke this morning and looked out at the fence in our backyard I noted how detailed it looked - better than it did with my glasses on. I was right - I can practically see through walls today. Alright not really, but I am soooo elated. Everything seems brighter, crisper and more beautiful. I have a fresh start with my new eyes. It is absolutely spectacular.
The surgery went off without a hitch. I must say it is a strange, freaky, surreal ordeal. I am not a squeamish person and actually like going to the doctor because I find it endlessly fascinating. My inner science geek comes out. But I could've
done without the procedure yesterday. Yes it was pretty painless and quick, but the whole thing was totally nerve-wracking. I'll detail the whole thing below for those interested....
Upon arrival, you receive a Valium. I am not sure if that was to take the edge off of the anticipation of the surgery or the monster check you have to write them. But at this point I was excited and not really nervous. They then gave me some numbing drops and marked the center of my eye. Not my eye; my eyeBALL. With a marker! That was the first crazy thing. I was then taken into the surgical suite and laid down flat on my back. One eye was taped shut. The other had the clockwork orange clamp put on it and a suction cup pressed onto my eyeball. The room went black. It sort of pushes down and creates a lot of pressure, not on your eyeball, but on your socket. An Intralase laser puts 'bubbles' in a circle around your eye. I picture it like a perforation. This is how they know exactly where to cut the flap (Intralase is new technology - much more accurate). They repeated that on the other eye. Next they slid me over to the laser to make the flap - it is quick. The doc then takes these tiny needle-looking things and pulls back the flap and everything goes blurry. I wondered just how freaky I must've looked at that point with clamps on and the front of my eyeball hanging down. Ew.
Next, you go under one more laser. You concentrate on looking into a light until your pupils dilate enough and the laser comes on and vaporizes part your cornea. This was the most nerve-wracking part....What if I freak out and look away from the light? What if it burns down too much of my eye? Am I still looking in the right direction (the light was disappearing for me). It only lasts a few seconds (thank God) and that's it. (BTW- the laser somehow anticipates your eye movements and follows suit.) The doc 'flaps' you back down and uses a tiny squeegee-looking thing to smooth the flap into place. They give you another Valium and you are on your way. I napped for a couple hours and with every passing hour my vision became clearer and my eyes less sensitive.
Today, still less than 24 hours afterwards, I can see better than before. I have a little 'grittiness' and fogginess in my eyes and that's it. It is an absolutely mind-blowing technology and I am so thankful to have been able to do it.
Totally worth not taking a big trip this year. I am free.
My doctor told me that the Intralase laser is the one used on the Top Gun pilots, so I am calling them today to see when I get to fly my jet.

Peepers

Tomorrow is the day I am getting my eyes fixed. Hooray! I am very excited. I figured out I have relied on these --insert curse word here-- for 21 years. I anticipate a huge feeling of relief and freedom come tomorrow. Although last night I did have a dream that a different doctor who wouldn’t talk to me was going to do my surgery. I kept trying to tell my mom it was a ‘bait and switch’ but could only get out ‘meet and greet’. She didn’t know what I was talking about, obviously, so I convinced her we had to run away. So I guess I am a little more anxious about it than I thought. From what I’ve read it is a very low risk procedure with no real down time. I’ve been instructed to take a nap when I get home and stay out of the pool for a couple weeks. Despite my dream, I am confident in my choice of doctors. He is incredibly nice, competent and one of the best in the area. I feel safe going to him, so wish me luck! And if you need me this weekend, you'll find me at the mall shopping for sunglasses and getting a new haircut.

Teeth, Donuts and Diets

Hello blog world, it’s been awhile. Things have been slightly hectic around the home front lately. HP has a cold (again)…I think she’s teething. And last night the stomach flu fairy visited Brian. So, we’ve been having all kinds of fun at our house!
Other than those goodies, I don’t have too much to write about. Some weeks I could write a book - others, not a word. Such is life, I guess. I have lost 2 pounds, so I guess that’s something. Not the 20 I was hoping to lose the first day and be done, but what are you gonna do? The diet is going okay for me; it’s more of an improvement on my eating than a diet per se. So I imagine the loss will be pretty slow. I did pass up free donuts one morning and free bagels the next. That’s really good for me. Free goodies are hard to pass up! My cavewoman gatherer instinct kicks in and I want to hoard free food for future use when I see it- grunting, and knocking others out of the way to get to it. Especially when it is chocolate cream-filled goodness. Mmmm, donuts. I mean, mmmm, rice cakes.

Let's get physical

This is “d” day 2007. I am officially “dieting”. Yuck. I am normally not a dieter at all (as my size 12 jeans will tell you). I think the last diet I was on was a cabbage soup diet in college. That lasted about 5 days before I was ready to throw any cabbage I spotted against the nearest wall. This is a long time coming, though. While I am back at my pre-pregnancy weight, the body does not match the number. I have lost so much muscle mass and am lumpy in places that shouldn’t be lumpy. My exercise schedule has been less than, well, existent lately. So starting today I am pushing proteins, getting active and drinking tea instead of coffee (my coffee has an equal ratio of coffee: sugar: creamer). I looked briefly into the new Alli diet pills they are pushing in ads. That is until I read the very first side effect, “gas with oily discharge”. Ew. I think I can do 10-20 lbs. myself without any sort of oily discharge issues, thank you. Now if I can just get this Rocky song out of my head…

G-pa and the kids

I love this pic of Grandpa and the kids. Too bad Nicko is blocked out...he was Hattie's only hope to not look pasty with all the brown kids!