it was my fault

I was secretly feeling NorCal superiority over the wildfire-prone southern part of the state.
And then we had an earthquake tonight.

So I guess I need to apologize for being a jerk before my house falls down.

Sorry.

Baby Tuesday

I feel a little guilty that Baby R isn't represented at all in this week's edition of B.T. Especially since he started crawling this past week.
It's really more like slithering than crawling.
But, I can set him down in one location on the carpet, go make a bottle for him, come back and he has moved himself to another area of the room.

Alas, I didn't realize all we had were cow pictures for this week until just now.
He was present for the cow exhibition but Grandma T was walking around with him trying to soothe him whie we ooed and awed at Cloe the Clover Cow. He didn't think much of the cows(s) thus he wasn't photographed.







Can you tell I tried to dress her farm-chic?
They set up the cows right in front of our local Whole Foods.
She got up really close to the big brown one until it turned and looked straight at her and snuffled. After that she kept a safe viewing distance.
She was really really excited about meeting them and since then from time to time she'll ask about the cows.


"Papa" T. took this video at the cow-a-rama/bunga. I'm in this flick too.




Look I quilted!
Not really. I think for one to "quilt" you have to do stuff without a machine and do what I believe is called "measuring." I made this for some friends of ours that are expecting a boy in about a month. They're dog lovers, and mom-to-be is half-Chinese so I thought they would appreciate the "Bow Wow Chow Mein" fabric that was left over after I made Baby R's crib bumper. If you can't tell, it depicts dogs eating Chinese food :) and then on the reverse side it's chocolate brown velveteen.

mmm donut

Look I made a DVD cover for my friends!
Isn't it cute?!
Everybody cross your fingers and hope they win the competition!

(I know, the bottom of the spine is blank, I know, I know)

bay city roller

Please, may someone get that reference in the title.

It's Saturday night, Kevin's out at a man-baby-shower-poker-night, my babies are in bed and I just wasted the last hour and a half clicking around on Myspace and Facebook.

Oh internet, you're like a loser friend that I'm too passive aggressive to shake.

ooh tumeric

When I cook, I generally use organic ingredients but when I bake I use regular food coloring. And I thought, hmm I wonder if there's natural food coloring...

And there is!

Baby Tuesday

UPDATE: I saw freckles on Baby C's cheeks this morning! Woo! Just like me.

Baby C and I walked in the AIDS walk on Sunday, she was such a good sport.

Hey! Look at all those cool shirts! Those are my shirts! Yippee!
I tried to be more enthusiastic about raising money to help those living with AIDS in silicon valley, but honestly, the sea of my blue shirts made my day.


These pumpkin ones are the pics that didn't make it on last week's B.T. due to technical difficulties. They chronicle the carving of Baby C's first jack-o-lantern. I plan to make a little children's book out of them, just for her...unless someone wants a copy?


Here's me making a chicken face, trying to show that we're modeling the pumpkin after Ernie, the most famous pumpkin-colored muppet.



Rewind to the pumpkin patch. Baby R was making goomba faces. Fugitaboutit deez punkins 'ere.


I sprinkled fairy dust on them before I snapped this shot.


There he is, the finished product. I didn't spray him with bleach to preserve it, like I was supposed to, so Ernie is already in the green-waste bin. However! See below!...


I painted her an Abby Kababby pumpkin, and I don't think she misses Ernie one bit.


This comic makes more sense if you've read this one first.


He's got toofies!
I was filling in blanks in his baby book and it called for a photo and report of his first tooth. So we had to take this one for his file.

ooga chaka

This is what the Tonga Room in the basement of the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel used to look like about 50 years ago.


And here's what it looked like by the time I (and Sandi and Aurora) got there.
It was very cool and worth the years of waiting.

I doubt Sinatra and Martin enjoyed the "thunderstorms" (yes, rain fell from the "sky") or the live smooth Polynesian renditions of soft rock favorites from the floating boat stage.

Next time we have a ladies night out, I wanna go to the Beauty Bar!

I liked it

It's kinda entertaining.

a real cow? I'm so there!

We will be going to meet the cow (except not in san ramon, and not on that day, it's next week near our house).

I grew up in Texas, and I never cease to get excited about livestock.

baby butt update

(Proceed with caution, this story isn't all that entertaining)

Last night the babies' butts were as raw as if they had slid down a rope without their diapers, so I called the dermatologist's office again and said "can I come in today?"
She scheduled me for 3:15, it was all she had open, so I took it.
"3:15, right in prime napping time, this is gonna get nutz," I thought to myself.

I had to leave the house at 2:30PM to get there at 3PM because we were new patients. It would be another 2.5 hours before anyone ate or had their diaper changed* again.
As I was pulling them out of the car, I realized that, though I had brought extra diapers and wipes, I hadn't brought any snacks or toys/activities.

The deck was now officially stacked against me.

The very accommodating receptionist had mentioned something yesterday about the doctor going on vacation for 5 weeks very soon. And when I saw the waiting room, I could tell that people were all rushing in for their botox, collagen injections and cellulite treatments before his long sabbatical.
Most of these people were not baby-friendly or, "part of the Club." I felt like Ellie Mae and her hound dogs walking into Mr. Dreysdale's Beverly Hills Bank.

On top of that, we had to wait over an hour to be put in a room and another 20 mins while in the room.
They staged a full revolt.
Lots and lots and lots of crying.
Baby C's butt was almost all better, but Baby R's was tragically raw. Despite my inner voice screaming "go! run! take your babies and get out of this place!" I stuck it out for my little shmoopie boy.

I made an airplane out of a botox** advertisement.
I blew up an exam glove into a balloon-udder.
They would not be soothed.

Finally the doctor came in, and at least he was worth the wait. He dispelled the eczema diagnosis, and said the problem was erosional diaper rash due to too much alkaline stuff in the diet (they have sensitive little booties).
He prescribed some stuff (which I was thankful for, because I feared that I would have endured two hours of mega stress only to hear "use diaper cream, goodbye.")

Upon exiting he commented that he understands the problems I have, he raised 11 children. That's the kind of guy I trust when it comes to diaper rash.

Once we were home and peace was restored, I looked up the Alkaline vs. Acidic foods and yes, it all made sense.
(I knew about grapes and pineapple, but I didn't realize the kiwis and pears were no-no's.)

Also, he suggested when I do use paper diapers, I should stick to my chlorine free ones. (And despite what some might think, cloth diapers aren't the culprit.)
And when I bathe them, I should use the most mildest mildest soap I can find. Because many baby soaps are formulated like "detergents" meaning strong enough to clean skin without rubbing with a sponge.

Anyway, the potty training agenda has been stepped up. Because when Baby C's potty trained, she can eat grapes with a side of raisins and a pineapple grape cocktail, and it won't matter anymore.
But poor Baby R's gonna be eating alot of Cream of Wheat and prunes for the next 18 months.


*Actually Baby R pooped 30 minutes into our stint in the waiting room, which meant I had to change his diaper in the bathroom, on the floor, while Baby C crawled around on her hands and knees and picked up every nasty thing she could find on the floor of the bathroom.

**ok, it wasn't botox, it was something else. I learned that there are many many products for people who want "wrinkle correction."...correction, like God made a mistake and we aren't supposed to have wrinkles, ever.

only 11 hours to go

Both of my babies have terrible diaper rashes and it's making me a wreck.
After going to the pediatrician 3 times for Baby C's weird rash over the past 2 years, which they have labeled eczema, I finally made an appointment with a dermatologist.
Baby R is crying right now because his butt hurts.
It's so sad.
Baby C is sleeping soundly but everytime I change her she screams like I'm branding her with a hot iron.

We only have to make it 11 more hours and then I have a fairy tale hope that he will hand me a magic potion to make it all go away.

Kevin's on call too--- which sucks!

Needless to say the kitchen is a mess and I did not cook dinner tonight, and my hair is dirty and I have mascara under my eyes.

Baby Tuesday...in progress

There are way too many photos this week.
Or, at least there *will be* when blogger lets me post them all (uploading tool crapped out)
It's kinda out of control.
But since I couldn't offload them onto the server, I couldn't edit them down. ( I know that seems to not make sense, but it's true.)
So here we go, like a slideshow of your Aunt Gladys's trip to Niagara Falls...


We went to our local pumpkin "patch." And by "patch" I mean empty parking lots filled with pumpkins and inflatable jump houses.
In a few years we'll go to the real pumpkin patches around here, but for now, she thought the parking lot was great.
I don't think I need to tell you that she wanted nothing to do with the jump houses.









I may have stoked the fire of the pumpkin fever by reading her Biscuit's Halloween book one too many times. She knew exactly what to do. And when it comes time to trick o treat, I bet she won't miss a beat.


In Rome, they have a mother wolf and her suckling Romulus and Remus.
In Sockswithsandalsland, they have suckling bears.


It looks like they just sat down at their laptops to do some graphic design or edit video.
The lightboxes were way less fun than the paint, so they didn't last long at the tidy activity table.


I'm apt to make a Picasso parallel here but I won't. I know, it's just blue paint.



From left to right: Baby C, Gurinder, Lykke, and cousin Baby S.
(names of international babies fabricated to protect the innocent.)


Here are the little cousins in the toddler water area. Note Junior's wagon-o-nap. He can be so accommodating sometimes.

yes I did

Holiday Chicken Salad never looked so good, before it met my tomato roses.

3rd person story- still incredible

A fellow grouper in our Wednesday night small group had the following prayer request for a co-worker of hers:

(paraphrased of course)

K: My friend is getting married this weekend and her husband just lost his job and then last Saturday they took their dog to the dog park and it bit off his ring finger.

Us, aghast and incredulous: What?! Bit off?! Did they sew it back on?!

K: No, it's just a stub. Well, it's still in bandages, but the doctor offered to unwrap it, put his wedding band on and then rewrap it for the ceremony.

Inconceivable.
And my feelings about dog parks are forever altered.

an old marble, a penny, a bamboo computer

Here are some things I found today:

Iron and Wine
lovely music
next month I think I'll buy their album

Bamboo computer
Why not?...well shipping from the UK, okay that's a downer.
But I'd choose it over plastic any day.

Podswap.com
This could come in handy when the cracker crumbs in the bottom of my purse finally clog and kill my iPod shuffle.

почему sputnik?

I detest the light fixture in our dining room. It says "the landlord says we can't put nail holes in the wall" and ramen noodles.
I, er we want to replace it with a "sputnik" light.

But apparently my taste is too rich for me.

Because any sputnik, or variation thereof is hundreds of dollars!

It's very frustrating for a cheapskate like me.

So my shopping friends, keep yours eyes out for a thrifty priced sputnik.

go [spiffy t shirt] team

Woo! Look at this proof.
It feels like proof that I am an adult.
These babies will be delivered on Monday morning so that Team Beautiful Day can march match-edly through the streets of San Jose for the AIDS Walk next weekend.
Go me.

Baby Tuesday now 20% more Baby R!

What is she like 5 years old?


She was ecstatic about her garage sale log cabin Mommy scored for her. You wouldn't know it because as soon as I bring out the camera, she tries to ignore me. At least Auntie Sandi is paying attention.


Cousin S is sharing in the fun for four days. Baby C will be so very sad when she leaves. She loves her Cousin S.
We hadn't even blown up the air mattress but they could sense the impending excitement.



I carried him with me to the donut shop earlier that mornign dressed like this, a teddy bear. And four separate men there said "osito, mira, osito."
And I said "Si! Mi osito!"
Then I accidentally left the box of donuts on top of the car, which then slid off at about 35MPH.
It was early enough in the morning to rescue them from the middle of the road, without the threat of heavy traffic. "Osito" waited in the car.

I have superior oblique myokymia

My left eyelid won't stop twitching!

It's been about a month of this business.

The teething and work overload are going to force me to have teflon inserted into my occular nerve*!

Here are some things I have said yes to, a.k.a. possible eye twitch sources:

1. "Can you make 8 birdhouses?'
2. "Do you have time to create some graphics and DVD covers by next week?"
3. "Would you decorate 16 KFC buckets?"
4. "When can I reschedule you for an orthodontic review?"
5. "Can you help us renovate The Food Basket building?"
6. "Would you please wash/save all your baby food jars for a project we're doing?"
7. "Can you come up with a new logo for ____?"
8. "Will you be in charge of making sure all 300 AIDS walk shirts are printed and delivered in 2 weeks?"

breakfast lunch dinner, dishes, laundry, diapers, bottles, walk dogs-- TWITCH!

When my hair starts falling out, then maybe I'll change my ways.

One thing brings me solace though, and that's spooning hamsters.

*No one had better comment thinking I'm serious about the teflon.

Baby Tuesday

I know I'm gonna get boo'd for only having two photos this week. Sorry people.


Poor little pork chop is still using his sister's flowery crib bumper. Hopefully next week I'll finish sewing his "bow wow chow mein" bumper. At least it's a real crib and it doesn't fall apart.
He's got one tooth and one to go, until then, nary a full night's sleep.


I'm impressed that she can walk in my 3 inch heels, even while wearing kitten-feet jammies, and carrying her blankie.
Is it me, or does she have ice skater hair?

If you look closely, you can spot a wild bean dog in the background wearing his no-pee-miniskirt.