In other words, the Baby Weight Loss Program has begun!
I haven't officiated a game since November of 2007. Why? Because I was 8 months pregnant with Elektra when the season started! I took my test anyway to stay current much to the surprise and amusement of my fellow officials (read: waddled in... waddled out...).
So the start of this season is exciting and nerve wracking for me. I'm excited to get back into the world of field hockey, to get outside, and be physically active again. But I've been wondering if I can keep up, physically and mentally.
I had a couple of scrimmage games on turf on Saturday. Turf makes for a very fast game, so I got to see how out of shape I am (not too bad, actually!). Turf also makes the fouls more subtle. I'm happy that I got most of them right, thought I can certainly use some improvement, particularly on my open field (between the 25's) skills. I'm very happy with my circle play, though, needing less tweaks than other parts of my game.
One of the refs that I've known for years was giving me pointers on my positioning which were great; I was working less hard by the end of the day, so that was good! She asked me how I was feeling and my answer was, "Physically - fine. Mentally - in a fog." She was surprised by this answer, and I continued, "I'm not actively processing what I see. I'm just going on instinct." To this, she answered, "It's the beginning of the season, and this is why we have practice games!" So glad that I'm not the only one. Hopefully, I'll work through the Mommy Fog sooner rather than later!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
As the Farve turns
Good grief Brett, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!! Either retire or remain active.
Brett Favre unretired from the NFL by signing a contract with the Minnesota Vikings this week. This was after months of speculation, another declaration from Favre he was staying retired because his shoulder couldn't handle it, and more speculation that his declaration was all a farce (which clearly it was).
Don't get me wrong. I love watching Brett Favre play. At 39, is he pressing his luck physically? Sure he is. And after his last outing with the Jets, where the beginning half of the season was messy because he hadn't learned how to expertly execute the playbook and the end of the season, he looked like he was trying to force the ball into doing his will, I'm not convinced this is such a good idea.
However, I've been reading that the Vikings playbook is effectively the one he had in Green Bay so this transition won't be nearly as difficult.
Ok, but he missed preseason. Again. I swear it feels like his retirement is a way to skip pre-season.
One more thing to note, though, is that Favre wanted to go to Minnesota after Green Bay and Green Bay refused to comply with the request. I don't blame Green Bay's brass for that; why would you want your star quarterback who knows your offense and defense like the back of his hand to go to your rival and in-conference competitor that you will have to see a minimum of twice a year? So did he use continual retirement to get to the Vikings since Green Bay wouldn't deal him directly? It's not an inplausable theory.
Either way, though, I'm done with the Favre retirment. I celebrated his career when he retired the first time. His career with the Packers was the career to celebrate, and I look forward to when he's inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame as a Packer.
He has to STAY retired for that to happen though!!!
Brett Favre unretired from the NFL by signing a contract with the Minnesota Vikings this week. This was after months of speculation, another declaration from Favre he was staying retired because his shoulder couldn't handle it, and more speculation that his declaration was all a farce (which clearly it was).
Don't get me wrong. I love watching Brett Favre play. At 39, is he pressing his luck physically? Sure he is. And after his last outing with the Jets, where the beginning half of the season was messy because he hadn't learned how to expertly execute the playbook and the end of the season, he looked like he was trying to force the ball into doing his will, I'm not convinced this is such a good idea.
However, I've been reading that the Vikings playbook is effectively the one he had in Green Bay so this transition won't be nearly as difficult.
Ok, but he missed preseason. Again. I swear it feels like his retirement is a way to skip pre-season.
One more thing to note, though, is that Favre wanted to go to Minnesota after Green Bay and Green Bay refused to comply with the request. I don't blame Green Bay's brass for that; why would you want your star quarterback who knows your offense and defense like the back of his hand to go to your rival and in-conference competitor that you will have to see a minimum of twice a year? So did he use continual retirement to get to the Vikings since Green Bay wouldn't deal him directly? It's not an inplausable theory.
Either way, though, I'm done with the Favre retirment. I celebrated his career when he retired the first time. His career with the Packers was the career to celebrate, and I look forward to when he's inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame as a Packer.
He has to STAY retired for that to happen though!!!
Who says there are no politics in cheerleading??
File this under the One-More-Reason-Not-To-Have-A-Facebook-Account folder.
The TechDirt blog I read brought an article to my attention that stated with the following sentence:
Pause.
WHAT?
This just raises so many questions I almost don't know where to start. I'll just touch on two things.
First, why would a teacher believe (s)he has the power to demand but then actually follow through with that belief to actually demand a password to a personal Facebook account? If Facebook is blocked on the school's network, then the kids can't get to it using school property and thus, the kids only access it using personal equipment (computer at home, cell phone, etc). So whatever the kids are doing on Facebook cannot be in violation of any school rule because it's outside of school. So the teacher has no juristiction over activities on Facebook and in my not so humble opinion, abused his/her position of authority.
Second, why didn't the school's administration, upon reading personal messages, read the ISSUES in the emails not the WORDS in the emails?? Bullying is a big issue in middle and high school age kids. Tackle that problem, and the rest resolves itself. So as a parent, I would want the school's administration to support someone who stands up to a bully using words (not fists or any other violent method!), not punish the person because she used inappropriate language. Inappropriate language is a fact of life and as long as it's not on campus, then who cares??
Oh wait, that's because there are politics in cheerleading. Surprise!! There's a reason why there is a stereotype that there are politics in cheerleading, and this just proves that stereotype yet again!!
This article also underscores the firm belief that Steve and I have, as parents, that we need to teach our kids not only about physical security/safety (don't talk to strangers, etc), but also electronic security. Don't give your password out. The Internet immortalizes anything you post. Etc.
I wish I could say my parents had it easy raising us, but they just faced different challenges.
The TechDirt blog I read brought an article to my attention that stated with the following sentence:
A Mississippi high school student is suing her school district after a teacher logged into the student's social networking account and distributed information that embarrassed her and led to her removal from the team.
Pause.
WHAT?
This just raises so many questions I almost don't know where to start. I'll just touch on two things.
First, why would a teacher believe (s)he has the power to demand but then actually follow through with that belief to actually demand a password to a personal Facebook account? If Facebook is blocked on the school's network, then the kids can't get to it using school property and thus, the kids only access it using personal equipment (computer at home, cell phone, etc). So whatever the kids are doing on Facebook cannot be in violation of any school rule because it's outside of school. So the teacher has no juristiction over activities on Facebook and in my not so humble opinion, abused his/her position of authority.
Second, why didn't the school's administration, upon reading personal messages, read the ISSUES in the emails not the WORDS in the emails?? Bullying is a big issue in middle and high school age kids. Tackle that problem, and the rest resolves itself. So as a parent, I would want the school's administration to support someone who stands up to a bully using words (not fists or any other violent method!), not punish the person because she used inappropriate language. Inappropriate language is a fact of life and as long as it's not on campus, then who cares??
Oh wait, that's because there are politics in cheerleading. Surprise!! There's a reason why there is a stereotype that there are politics in cheerleading, and this just proves that stereotype yet again!!
This article also underscores the firm belief that Steve and I have, as parents, that we need to teach our kids not only about physical security/safety (don't talk to strangers, etc), but also electronic security. Don't give your password out. The Internet immortalizes anything you post. Etc.
I wish I could say my parents had it easy raising us, but they just faced different challenges.
Another example of the way Customer Service should be
Zappos.com is known for it's extraordinary customer service. TechDirt alerted me to an article that someone posted of his test of Zappos' customer service, demonstrating why online customer service should not be overlooked.
An exerpt to get you started:
An exerpt to get you started:
You are now chatting with JonathanThat last line of Jonathan's had me rolling on the floor laughing with tears in my eyes. I kept reading, and found that just because, Zappos chose to upgrade shipping this item to the customer at no extra charge. That the customer service rep has that power is a testiment to Zappos, I think! That story is enough to convince to at least consider shopping there!!
Jonathan: Hello Timmy. How can I help you?
Timmy: do you know how wide the G-Shock Atomic Solar – AWG101 SKU #7403774 is?
Timmy: i mean, how big a wrist it would fit?
Timmy: Timmy has a big fat wrist
Timmy: Timmy need watch grande
Jonathan: I’ll see what I can find out for Timmy.
Timmy: awesome. and can we please continue to talk about Timmy in the 3rd person? Timmy likes to boost Timmy’s ego by talking about Timmy that way
Jonathan: Jonathan would be happy to neglect the use of pronouns for the duration of this conversation.
Timmy: Jonathan and Timmy shall get along just fine
Friday, August 14, 2009
Naxx 10 SUCCESS!
Last night, Steve and I participated in a 10 man raid of Naxxramas with our guildmates in World of Warcraft. I was the main tank ("Nice landing strip." "We like to think of it as a throw rug.") and Steve was on his holy pally healing. Since I was main tank and because we were starting an hour late, I decided that I would take us through this dungeon at a clip.
An hour and 15 minutes later, we had blown through both the Aracnid and Plague Quarers of Naxx. I had successfully lived through tanking the Safety Dance (the two tanks and Steve were the only 3 left alive at the end of that! LOL) which was a first for me (the tanking part), and we were on our way to downing Patchwerk in the Construct Quarter.
At the 2 hour mark, we'd successfully completed the Construct Quarter, too. And we had one shot every boss up to that point, too. One person had to log, so we filled the spot and continued going.
The Military Quarter was a cinch until The Four Horsemen, and even that only really required creativity, flexibility, and awareness (i.e. battle rez the warlock!). In fact, that flexibility and awareness saved us when we were surprised that a Shade decided to crash our party while fighting Gothik the Harvester (wow that instance is BU-UGGED since the content patch!).
The bell tolled midnight, and the 4 Quarters of Naxxramas were dead... quiet. We had effectively blown through Naxx in 3 hours, one shotting all bosses. We zoned out of the Military Quarter and found ourselves in the Frostwyrm lair, the home of Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad. Sapph is the KT's gigantic frost wyrm guardian and KT is, well, the guardian of Naxx. As a guild, we'd only been here once. The excited yet nervous energy was evident among the party.
"On your pull, Soph." With that cue, I growled the fiercest bear-growl I have, and charged at this skeletal dragon 400 times my size. And the bigger they are, the harder they fall because down he went after a 5 minute fight.
There was no way we weren't going to try our hand at KT, no matter how late it was, having gotten this far with no wipes. We were going to Press Our Luck.
After a quick explanation of the fight, I led the charge into KT's throne room. Phase 1 was wasn't too complicated. Phase 2 has its challenges, though, one of which being that you must be at least 10 yards away from every one of party members. This is hardest on melee types, especially if you have a lot of them because KT's hit box just isn't that big.
We got KT down to just over 50% when Steve's character - my dedicated healer as the main tank - died. This was ok as there were two other healers who could keep me and raid full of health. However, when KT's health fell to 50%, adds came out to wreak havoc on the party. At that point, a healer has to dedicate themselves to the offtank while the offtank keeps the adds busy and away from the party while the rest of party finished off KT. Now Steve's character's death could become a problem because now the one healer had to keep 7 people alive, including me, and I would be taking the bulk of the damage.
Decision time. Time to battle resurrect Steve's character. Prep first: apply my Valor Medal of the FIrst War (dodge) trinket + Barkskin + select Steve's character. Take a deep breath and.... cast Rebirth. This pulls me out of bear form into my very vulnerable and squishy caster form. Luckily, the Rebirth is a VERY fast cast, and I could quickly switch back into bear form without taking much damage. AWESOME!! I got my dedicated healer back, healed myself with my herbalism synergy skill, and we were back in business....
The achievement for killing KT popped up on the screen and the group was ELATED! We took a picture of all of us sitting on KT's throne as proof of his demise, and gleefully commented that our guild/raid leader was going to be irritated that we killed Sapph and KT without him.
We finished Naxx 10 in 3 hours and 15 minutes, one shotting all bosses (i.e. no wipes). Typically, it takes an hour per Quarter + half an hour to an hour for Sapph and KT. We crushed that typical timeline! We showed KT, and all of his minions, who's boss!
Finally, a night NOT full of fail. Grats to the Sek Sea Pirates!
An hour and 15 minutes later, we had blown through both the Aracnid and Plague Quarers of Naxx. I had successfully lived through tanking the Safety Dance (the two tanks and Steve were the only 3 left alive at the end of that! LOL) which was a first for me (the tanking part), and we were on our way to downing Patchwerk in the Construct Quarter.
At the 2 hour mark, we'd successfully completed the Construct Quarter, too. And we had one shot every boss up to that point, too. One person had to log, so we filled the spot and continued going.
The Military Quarter was a cinch until The Four Horsemen, and even that only really required creativity, flexibility, and awareness (i.e. battle rez the warlock!). In fact, that flexibility and awareness saved us when we were surprised that a Shade decided to crash our party while fighting Gothik the Harvester (wow that instance is BU-UGGED since the content patch!).
The bell tolled midnight, and the 4 Quarters of Naxxramas were dead... quiet. We had effectively blown through Naxx in 3 hours, one shotting all bosses. We zoned out of the Military Quarter and found ourselves in the Frostwyrm lair, the home of Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad. Sapph is the KT's gigantic frost wyrm guardian and KT is, well, the guardian of Naxx. As a guild, we'd only been here once. The excited yet nervous energy was evident among the party.
"On your pull, Soph." With that cue, I growled the fiercest bear-growl I have, and charged at this skeletal dragon 400 times my size. And the bigger they are, the harder they fall because down he went after a 5 minute fight.
There was no way we weren't going to try our hand at KT, no matter how late it was, having gotten this far with no wipes. We were going to Press Our Luck.
After a quick explanation of the fight, I led the charge into KT's throne room. Phase 1 was wasn't too complicated. Phase 2 has its challenges, though, one of which being that you must be at least 10 yards away from every one of party members. This is hardest on melee types, especially if you have a lot of them because KT's hit box just isn't that big.
We got KT down to just over 50% when Steve's character - my dedicated healer as the main tank - died. This was ok as there were two other healers who could keep me and raid full of health. However, when KT's health fell to 50%, adds came out to wreak havoc on the party. At that point, a healer has to dedicate themselves to the offtank while the offtank keeps the adds busy and away from the party while the rest of party finished off KT. Now Steve's character's death could become a problem because now the one healer had to keep 7 people alive, including me, and I would be taking the bulk of the damage.
Decision time. Time to battle resurrect Steve's character. Prep first: apply my Valor Medal of the FIrst War (dodge) trinket + Barkskin + select Steve's character. Take a deep breath and.... cast Rebirth. This pulls me out of bear form into my very vulnerable and squishy caster form. Luckily, the Rebirth is a VERY fast cast, and I could quickly switch back into bear form without taking much damage. AWESOME!! I got my dedicated healer back, healed myself with my herbalism synergy skill, and we were back in business....
The achievement for killing KT popped up on the screen and the group was ELATED! We took a picture of all of us sitting on KT's throne as proof of his demise, and gleefully commented that our guild/raid leader was going to be irritated that we killed Sapph and KT without him.
We finished Naxx 10 in 3 hours and 15 minutes, one shotting all bosses (i.e. no wipes). Typically, it takes an hour per Quarter + half an hour to an hour for Sapph and KT. We crushed that typical timeline! We showed KT, and all of his minions, who's boss!
Finally, a night NOT full of fail. Grats to the Sek Sea Pirates!
The controversial signing of Michael Vick
Last week, Michael Vick signed a deal to play with the Philadelphia Eagles.
PETA, of course, is making a huge deal out of it because you know, if PETA can make a huge deal out of President Obama killing a fly (did anyone ever tell PETA that flies carry germs and diseases?), then a convicted dog fighter will get a whole mess of attention from PETA. To be fair, though, outside of the PETA sphere of influence, many rabid (pun intended) dog lovers are upset by Vick's signing, too.
But the fact is that Vick served his prison time; he has served his debt to society, according to our laws. Therefore, if he has served his debt to society, why are people still so outraged? In a country that "prides" itself on forgiveness, this doesn't sound very forgiving. In fact, Vick was sentenced by a judge who wanted to make a statement and as such, Vick likely got a harsher sentence than someone not of his fame might have. Whether the 2 year prison sentence was long enough is a debate for another day, though I seem to remember reading polls at the time that people felt that the sentence was long enough.
Naysers have said things like: Vick is famous and that his signing makes it seem like just because you're famous, you can do some heinous crime and still get back into the NFL and make big bucks. This is not a good role model for our kids!
I contend the opposite. The fact that Vick was convicted of a crime, spent two years in jail, and has not been fully reinstated by the NFL is showing kids that if you commit a crime, you will pay consequences for it! You might not get your job back. Vick's salary is contingent on his playing *games* and currently, the NFL is not allowing him to play *games*. No big bucks there. AND, if Vick becomes an anti-dog fighting spokesperson, his fame would serve the cause very well.
The ethical part of this is interesting to me, but I obviously lean toward the "he's done his time, so let him re-join society and make a living and pay taxes like the rest of us". So I'm done with that part of the saga.
What I am finding more intriguing is that an NFL team was willing to take on the Public Relations nightmare known as Michael Vick especially since Vick didn't pan out to be that good a quarterback as predicted by his being the #1 draft pick back in the day.
NFL stadiums where the Eagles will play are going to see PETA protestors. I'm sure there will be derrogatory signs held by fans in the stands. There is no shortage of dog lovers in an NFL fan base, and I am sure there are plenty who are really upset that a convincted dog fighter get to make millions again playing in the NFL. And Eagles fans are not fair weather birds... they are hardcore and vocal. This signing had the potential to alienate a large chunk of their fan base and bring a whole lot of bad press to the Eagles organization.
So why do the Eagles feel the Vick signing won't hurt them? Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com wrote an excellent article explaining why the Eagles can weather signing someone as controversial as Vick. It comes down to 5 major factors that takes a ton of the risk out of signing Vick, according to Mortensen:
Philly has all of those things, and not one of those things is more important than the other. It's a win-win situation, though the win for Vick is far more than the win for the Eagles.
I will be watching the Eagles this season to see how Vick developes and matures under McNabb's guidance.
And I will be watching to see how well our prison system rehabilitated a convicted dog fighter.
PETA, of course, is making a huge deal out of it because you know, if PETA can make a huge deal out of President Obama killing a fly (did anyone ever tell PETA that flies carry germs and diseases?), then a convicted dog fighter will get a whole mess of attention from PETA. To be fair, though, outside of the PETA sphere of influence, many rabid (pun intended) dog lovers are upset by Vick's signing, too.
But the fact is that Vick served his prison time; he has served his debt to society, according to our laws. Therefore, if he has served his debt to society, why are people still so outraged? In a country that "prides" itself on forgiveness, this doesn't sound very forgiving. In fact, Vick was sentenced by a judge who wanted to make a statement and as such, Vick likely got a harsher sentence than someone not of his fame might have. Whether the 2 year prison sentence was long enough is a debate for another day, though I seem to remember reading polls at the time that people felt that the sentence was long enough.
Naysers have said things like: Vick is famous and that his signing makes it seem like just because you're famous, you can do some heinous crime and still get back into the NFL and make big bucks. This is not a good role model for our kids!
I contend the opposite. The fact that Vick was convicted of a crime, spent two years in jail, and has not been fully reinstated by the NFL is showing kids that if you commit a crime, you will pay consequences for it! You might not get your job back. Vick's salary is contingent on his playing *games* and currently, the NFL is not allowing him to play *games*. No big bucks there. AND, if Vick becomes an anti-dog fighting spokesperson, his fame would serve the cause very well.
The ethical part of this is interesting to me, but I obviously lean toward the "he's done his time, so let him re-join society and make a living and pay taxes like the rest of us". So I'm done with that part of the saga.
What I am finding more intriguing is that an NFL team was willing to take on the Public Relations nightmare known as Michael Vick especially since Vick didn't pan out to be that good a quarterback as predicted by his being the #1 draft pick back in the day.
NFL stadiums where the Eagles will play are going to see PETA protestors. I'm sure there will be derrogatory signs held by fans in the stands. There is no shortage of dog lovers in an NFL fan base, and I am sure there are plenty who are really upset that a convincted dog fighter get to make millions again playing in the NFL. And Eagles fans are not fair weather birds... they are hardcore and vocal. This signing had the potential to alienate a large chunk of their fan base and bring a whole lot of bad press to the Eagles organization.
So why do the Eagles feel the Vick signing won't hurt them? Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com wrote an excellent article explaining why the Eagles can weather signing someone as controversial as Vick. It comes down to 5 major factors that takes a ton of the risk out of signing Vick, according to Mortensen:
It had to be a team with a strong owner. A strong organization. A strong head
coach. A passionate fan base. And, yes, an established, stable quarterback.
Philly has all of those things, and not one of those things is more important than the other. It's a win-win situation, though the win for Vick is far more than the win for the Eagles.
I will be watching the Eagles this season to see how Vick developes and matures under McNabb's guidance.
And I will be watching to see how well our prison system rehabilitated a convicted dog fighter.
Wrightsville Beach 2009
Holy moley what a crazy week I've had, and thus late on the blog. Better late than never, I suppose?
The annual family vacation began July 31 this year and once again, we went to Wrightsville Beach, NC. We stayed in the same house we've been in the last 6-7 (more?) years now. The house - despite some fixes - is not in outstanding shape, but oh well. For example, the oven is unpredictable, so there is no baking to be had. That's mostly ok as we tended to use the stove more often, but still. I missed out on making my now infamous "Rustic" Carrot Cake and burnt Vanilla Butternut Pound Cake.
The drive down was easy. Elektra was a dream child and DJ did great for an active toddler. We only stopped twice, once for breakfast at a Panera for half an hour, and once for lunch (Wendy's) and gas for 45 minutes. We left the house at 8:35AM, and we arrived at the beach house at 4:30PM. I think we made awesome time. The kids napped in the afternoon for an hour and a half, and that helped, too.
While I unpacked, Steve took DJ to the pool with his older cousins. DJ and Spiro played with the watering can, showering each other much to their delight.
Once again, the week went by too quickly, and we had to come home. Our trip home was even easier than our trip down, and we were home by 4PM. My brother and his family didn't leave Baltimore for Minneapolis until the next afternoon, so I took DJ to see them in the morning. He had a good time playing with his cousins!
The annual family vacation began July 31 this year and once again, we went to Wrightsville Beach, NC. We stayed in the same house we've been in the last 6-7 (more?) years now. The house - despite some fixes - is not in outstanding shape, but oh well. For example, the oven is unpredictable, so there is no baking to be had. That's mostly ok as we tended to use the stove more often, but still. I missed out on making my now infamous "Rustic" Carrot Cake and burnt Vanilla Butternut Pound Cake.
The drive down was easy. Elektra was a dream child and DJ did great for an active toddler. We only stopped twice, once for breakfast at a Panera for half an hour, and once for lunch (Wendy's) and gas for 45 minutes. We left the house at 8:35AM, and we arrived at the beach house at 4:30PM. I think we made awesome time. The kids napped in the afternoon for an hour and a half, and that helped, too.
While I unpacked, Steve took DJ to the pool with his older cousins. DJ and Spiro played with the watering can, showering each other much to their delight.
DJ and Spiro having fun with the watering can!
Unfortunately, my immediate family was on a different food schedule than everyone else and no one had gone to get groceries yet, so Steve and I packed the kids into the car and took our first run to Chick-Fil-A. We got home, put the kids to bed, ate dinner, and finally got to relax.
The kids slept in pack-n-plays (thanks for letting us borrow the second one, Eleanor!) in our room with us. They sleep like rocks, so we could sneak in later to go to bed. However, they don't sleep late. Oh yes, 6AM came early EVERY day. This is why it's not "vacation", it's a "trip". Ok, so maybe it's a vacation from our paid-job responsibilities but that's about it!! And of course, when one child gets up, the other child wakes up. To the kids' credit, though, they entertained each other for about 15-20 minutes, but they weren't quiet about it so it's not like we got another 15 minutes of sleep! It was hilarious to listen to them talk to each other, watch them jump up and down (watching heads bob up and down from above/ the pack-n-play edge), and one morning, DJ sang. Despite being awakened early and wanting to continue sleeping, it was really cute and gratifying to watch them. Eventually, one child would insist on being done with being in the pack-n-play (usually Elektra) and we'd start our day.
Once again, because the house is 4 floors tall, the stairs are prominent. This year, however, DJ could navigate them by himself without any full-attention supervision, really. What we didn't expect, however, is that Elektra wanted to take a shot at them. So, like the fearless girl she is, she did.
Elektra climbing the stairs!
What we can't figure out is why this incident was the only time she tried to climb the stairs the whole week. After that one time, she didn't do it again, and showed no interest. ::shrug::
We took the kids out to the beach, of course. Elektra loved it. She ate more sand than I'm sure I can recount, and tried to put everything in her mouth that she could find. She loved splashing her hands and feet in the ocean, and giggled every time a wave "crashed" on us. DJ, on the other hand, wanted NO part of the ocean. Zero, zip zilch, donut hole. I can only guess that the noise scared him, and that the water's movement really inimidated him. "Get out!" was all we heard from him if we were standing in the water , even if we were carrying him! It didn't take him too long to warm up to the giant sandbox, though! He had a good time pouring water and sand over Daddy! Unfortunately, I don't have beach pictures yet from my sister to post them.
The pool ended up being DJ's favorite activity, as long as his cousins weren't crowding his space. By the end of the week, he was comfortable in the water with us, though he wanted to hold his watering can as kind of like a talisman. But he had a good time watching Daddy scoop up diving rings and doing handstands! I do have pictures on my camera, but I haven't downloaded them yet!
The family only went out to dinner four nights, making our lives significantly easier!! The kids typically ate lunch early and had long naps in the afternoon in addition to Elektra's morning nap.
Steve and I got our share of WoW in, and we watched a DVD of our goddaughter, Alexandra, act her part as Ms. Hannigan in their 7th grade musical "Annie". She was awesome!! We also got to hear Sophia and Alexandra play the violin which was a musical treat!Once again, the week went by too quickly, and we had to come home. Our trip home was even easier than our trip down, and we were home by 4PM. My brother and his family didn't leave Baltimore for Minneapolis until the next afternoon, so I took DJ to see them in the morning. He had a good time playing with his cousins!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
There's a baby coming!
Dave, Steve's brother, is mass-texting (Steve and I got the same texts, so we can only assume others are included in his mass-texting) that he and his wife Nancy are at the hospital!
The first message appeared on my phone at 9:26AM EDT, which makes it 6:26AM PDT their time. She was already 6cm dilated with 2-minute apart contractions.
The next text I received at 10:24 AM EDT, said that Nancy was at 8cm dilated (2 more centimeters in less than an hour later!) and possibly too late for an epidural.
The only other text I've received was at 11:42 AM EDT. Nancy received an epidural (WAHOO!!! Epidural FTW!!) and is doing well, though only 8cm dilated still and 2 minute contractions.
My thoughts are that now that Nancy isn't fighting the labor pains, she can relax (maybe even nap!), and therefore dilate faster, and little Axel William will make his happily anticipated appearance very soon!!
We love you, Nanc, and hope that everything goes smoothly and that you have an easy recovery!
Life - as you know it - is over!!! Instead, happier days are ahead! :-)
The first message appeared on my phone at 9:26AM EDT, which makes it 6:26AM PDT their time. She was already 6cm dilated with 2-minute apart contractions.
The next text I received at 10:24 AM EDT, said that Nancy was at 8cm dilated (2 more centimeters in less than an hour later!) and possibly too late for an epidural.
The only other text I've received was at 11:42 AM EDT. Nancy received an epidural (WAHOO!!! Epidural FTW!!) and is doing well, though only 8cm dilated still and 2 minute contractions.
My thoughts are that now that Nancy isn't fighting the labor pains, she can relax (maybe even nap!), and therefore dilate faster, and little Axel William will make his happily anticipated appearance very soon!!
We love you, Nanc, and hope that everything goes smoothly and that you have an easy recovery!
Life - as you know it - is over!!! Instead, happier days are ahead! :-)
Tinsel E - 28 weeks
I went for my checkup with the orthodontist today. They took a panoramic x-ray which was going to show the doctor to where the roots of my teeth had moved since the braces were applied. There was one root that made the technician wonder if the doctor would do something about it because it was angled off to the side.
Sadly that was the most exciting part of my appointment. The doctor examined me, the technician tightened the wire on my bottom front four teeth, and said, "See you in 5 weeks!"
Apparently, in 5 weeks, I get a new wire. My treatment is progressing!
Sadly that was the most exciting part of my appointment. The doctor examined me, the technician tightened the wire on my bottom front four teeth, and said, "See you in 5 weeks!"
Apparently, in 5 weeks, I get a new wire. My treatment is progressing!
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