October 30, 2005
Tasty toothpaste - $8 Anthropologie
This toothpaste is yummy. I am excited about brushing my teeth lately because of it. No, it does not do all of that whitening stuff, but it does break up the flavor monotony.
* This is gonna be good
Posted by jenredstar at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2005
How Many People Does it Take to Give Miles a Bath? Answer: 4
Yesterday, Miles had his very first bath at home ever. Oh lordy lordy! This was a special bath, eventful even. Leonard (who is visiting on his way up to San Francisco) and I arrived at Lara's house at 10am. Miles was happily sleeping while Lara & Robert prepared the bathing area, also known as the kitchen. The scene was set, baby tub in place, towels, non-soapy soap, washcloths, everything.
We decided to disrobe him, while in the kitchen so that we could move him to the bath quickly. So we carefully place him in the dry tub on a nice towel, so its soft for his little bum. Robert and Lara are taking turns holding his hands and legs, so he does not scratch his face with his tiny sharp nails. Robert carefully adds a little water to the tub, starting with his feet only. Then, he poops. Just a little, but it is enough that we know we obviously have to change the towel and clean out the tub and try again.
So we take him out, and put a diaper underneath his bum but were still cleaning him off when suddenly... Lara says, "uh oh... he's not done". Just as I looked over, he SHOT OUT A STREAM of PROJECTILE POOP! It all happened in slow motion, brown liquid flying three feet through the air, Lara lunging backwards to almost avoid it. An outcry from me, Robert and Leonard who was busy filming the whole thing in Hi-def. HA! Yes, Miles we already have hefty blackmail material on you. You'd better be nice to mommy and daddy (& Leonard too).
Perhaps he wasn't ready for a bath.
I quickly said, "OKAY! We need to get a diaper on him fast, and make sure this passes completely (so-to-speak) before we put him in that tub." Sure enough, once I get the diaper on him and start walking into the other room, another fart/poop emerges from his bum. HA! Another tragedy diverted! We knew we had to wait this one out. After another 10 minutes or so, it seemed safe to go back in the water, literally. So again, Miles is brought to the kitchen and disrobed. So far, we've gone through two outfits, two diapers, and two big towels.
Second try, we take the diaper off again, and as we carefully clean him off to prepare for bath time, he PEES ALL OVER the same floor we just cleaned the poop off of! No joke. This kid is all about the bodily functions (and sleeping and eating - and that is about it right now). So once we replace yet another towel we get him in to the tub.
He does not seem terribly comfortable and there is a lot of crying that begins now. Lara seems like she is about to burst. Robert is calm, and laughing at the situation. They are both frantically trying to bathe him as fast as possible. They also have to remove the bandage from the circumcision that was preformed the day before. EEEK!!
So I go get the pacifier, they don't want to get into the habit of using that to keep him calm. Perhaps only for those, "special occasions" will they bring it out. Once the kid stops wailing, things get easier and he seems to take the whole process rather well. Lara bravely removes the bandage as Miles whimpers only mildly.
Finally, he's done, we dry him off and quickly put a diaper on him because of course, we've learned a lot today. First lesson, NEVER take the diaper off the kid for very long for he is liable to poop and pee all over everything. Second lesson, if you ever do have to remove the diaper for a period of time, calculate the possible trajectory of aforementioned bodily fluids, and make sure to stay out of that region all together.
After Miles is dry, he is happy and cute and we get to play with his clean hair and admire him again. His first bath was not the easiest one he will have, I am sure of that. I do hope he grows to like them, just like his Auntie Jenny. There are lots more photos in the flickr gallery of bath time, and the nursery I helped design too!
Posted by jenredstar at 8:11 PM | Comments (1)
October 25, 2005
One week old
Dear Miles,
You are one week old today! Congratulations! Your mommy and daddy are terribly proud of you, always talking to you, and about you to others. They admire your fine features and your dashing good looks.
They compare you to what "normal kids" are doing and how you're likely superior. Its all in a day of parenting for them. You're clearly a cut above the rest. If only measured by the love you are showered with, I'm sure you are going to turn out perfectly.
You like to have your hands up near your face a lot. When I am changing your clothes you seem to always dislike it when I have to pull your arms into new clothes. I think you're prefer if we stop messing with your body all together (unless we're cuddling you - you love that). When we feed you, you fart a lot and it makes us all giggle.
We know you're healthy because of all of these simple things that you do. When you're lying in your basonette and you open your eyes and quietly move your arms about, I know you'd like to be picked up and held for awhile. You like to be burped with your face near my neck, it seems to calm you when you have some skin on skin contact.
You are already good at lifting your head up, but usually only when you are resting against my shoulder. Sometimes you squirm in my arms because you need a diaper changing, or you are hungry. You make little worried faces sometimes, that remind me of your dad and how he sometimes has worried eyes. Its super cute when you get all red-faced and wimper to yourself just before you get fed.
You are contstanly swaddled, held and wearing a little hat. Sometimes these hats get in the way, your arms constantly up by your face means that you push them off sometimes. I remember seeing the 3D ultrasound with your face, and you had your hands covering your face then too! You are super cute, and you are loved. Happy one week birthday Miles.
Love, Aunt Jenny
Posted by jenredstar at 12:54 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2005
Day 5
Since I wrote last, miles has gained almost a pound! He eats and poops like crazy and that is definitely a good thing. I had a fun weekend hanging out with good friends, and making some new ones also.
Friday was Lara and Robert's five-year anniversary! Congratulations to the happy and well blessed couple. Since Lara is essentially still on bed rest, I opted to help them celebrate by serving them a nice dinner in bed. Mom shopped for the dinner and champagne while I made the mix CD and brought the candles. They were pleased with the effort, and I hope that it gave them a chance to relax and enjoy their anniversary amid the chaos of adjusting to their new addition.
Saturday I woke up very late and went over to Lara's for about four hours before heading down to Los Angeles. My friend Leonard (& Ryan's former co-worker from USC) threw a party to celebrate with his creative partners Andy and Gordon at the Broadway bar downtown. Their success with upcoming.org has them moving up to San Francisco this week!
I drove down for what I would call a "quickie" Los Angeles visit, because there will be more coming. I stayed downtown until 11:00 then headed over to Matt's house for some ritualistic SNL in support of our friend Bill Hader. Needless to say, Bill is really kicking ass on SNL (perhaps I am biased) he seems to be the best thing they have going... next to Fred of course. Gotta love Fred, I've known him for eleven years now and it is truly a "trip" to see him and Bill on TV together. It is a small world after all.
Sunday Morning Jason, Matt and I went out to breakfast. It was really nice to hang out with them again. Its just been awhile and they are my closest friends to come out of my time in Los Angeles. Ha... except for Ryan of course! Ryan was such a favorite I had to keep him! I get to see Ryan next week and I'm very excited.
This evening, I spent time with Robert, Lara and Miles. Robert brought over some really amazing old family photos that we were looking at on the couch. His whole family is so beautiful. Robert's family came to the USA when he was seven years old and most of the photos were from before then. There is almost no possible way that Miles will not be the most attractive young man on the planet with such amazing genes at work!
Since Lara is basically on bed rest, I'll mostly be spending my days and nights with her. I will try and take some more pictures of Miles tomorrow for those of you who are coming to get a look at him. Its so late so I'm off to bed... after I finish watching Pippi Longstocking "Pippi Goes on Board".
Posted by jenredstar at 2:44 AM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
Day two
Miles came home today!
He was alert and I swear he is getting cuter every day. Tomorrow is Lara and Robert's 5th anniversary! Congratulations all around for the happy family. Tomorrow evening, I will be the first baby sitter while they have some time to celebrate.
Today was filled with running errands and preparing the house for their arrival. Lara changed Miles's diaper for the first time and even had a two hour nap!
A note for those coming here to view photos:
In order for you to view photos on this site you just have to click on any image to go to a larger version. If you want to download the original (very large) size all you have to do is join flickr. It is free to join and I love using it, also they won't send you spam. With a membership, you can sign in and see all available sizes for the posted photos by clicking on a icon above the photo that says "all sizes" then just select the one you want, and choose, "download this image"
I have posted over 34 images and there is more coming daily. Love to you all.
Posted by jenredstar at 12:23 AM | Comments (1)
October 19, 2005
Aunt Jenny spent the day at the hospital
Miles is one day old.
He is fantastic and I got to hold him for a long time today. Tiny baby, so cute and little, making the sweetest little gurgling noises. He is a beautiful little boy. I can't wait to watch him grow, but at the same time I hope it does not happen too fast. Today we started the afternoon with some lunch from the Sojourner and then we toasted to the new baby. I brought the special bottle of Cristal (courtesy of the Vogels) that we had been saving for a special occasion. Grandpa Secord made a nice toast to the proud parents.
Afterwards, I showed Lara a slideshow of some of the best images taken before and after the birth of Miles. We all got a little teary as The Album Leaf soundtrack perfectly presented the photos I had taken the day before. I feel so happy to be a part of this experience for Lara and Robert.
The bonds that exist between Lara and I feel stronger than they ever have, while my appreciation of Robert is growing daily. I love them both very much and I'm so pleased that I know I will only be seeing more of them, and Miles as the years go by. They are so lucky to have found eachother. Thank god they moved back to Santa Barbara! More details tomorrow.
Posted by jenredstar at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Please welcome, Miles Secord Mislang
6 lbs 5oz
20.5 inches
Born at 7:30 pm on October 18th
Mother and baby are doing just perfectly. Delivery was, as Lara put it, "a piece of cake". She wasn't joking either.
Its been a long day, so I'm off to bed. More photos and stories to follow.
Posted by jenredstar at 11:55 PM | Comments (2)
October 17, 2005
labor 2
Okay, on second thought. Perhaps it might still be awhile.
They are still about 10 minutes apart and its been a few hours.
So, we'll see what happens.
Hopefully everyone can get some sleep tonght.
Posted by jenredstar at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
Labor
Contractions 10 minutes apart! Can't be long now.
Posted by jenredstar at 5:45 PM | Comments (1)
Holy crap! She is in labor!
Stay tuned.
Lara just called at 3:15pm and said that she was officially in labor and dialated at 4cm! So far her contractions are about 15 minutes apart and so we're all getting ready to head down to the hospital. I'm bringing my camera, video camera and ryan's laptop. Some movies, bottled water, ice pack for my ankle, emergen"c" packets, and a xanax. Haha... I'm bouncing off the walls.
So instead of the expected Scorpio, they'll be having a Libra. This is interesting because just the other day, my friend Ben (who is an astrologer) reminded me that I have four major planets (and a moon) in Libra... so I'm a super libra. Whatever that means. My sun sign is Capricorn. I'm sure everyone is dying to know this. Pah! I take astrology with a grain of salt, and yet it somehow seems to pretty right on a lot of the time.
I'll keep coming back here with more information as it becomes available. Unfortunately, they do not have wireless at the hospital (as far as I know). So I can probably report again later tonight.
Posted by jenredstar at 4:14 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2005
Ankle, oh ankle how do I love thee? Let me count the ways
I did not get too much sleep last night, as one could imagine. I had an early morning followed by a total of 4-5 times of getting out of bed! Mostly for more ice, water, food, or the bathroom. I watched Arrested Development, talked on the phone to Jason for hours, got frustrated with my gimp status. My mom is taking good care of me. She stocked the fridge with easy to transport and eat salads from Trader Joes and bottled water for my bed side. Getting to the kitchen makes me work up a sweat. Crutches are not as easy as they were when I was a wee tot.
I did get in and out of the bath tub on my own, which I was somewhat impressed by. Baby steps I guess. I miss Ryan a lot today. Terry is staying for a sleep over and I'm enjoying my post bath glow.
The coming weeks are going to be exciting. I'll be seeing friends, Liz is coming up from San Diego, Leonard will be passing through, and Jason promises to pop up at some time as well. Then on the 24th or 25th Lara will go into labor and deliver this baby we're all excited about. It will be a special time. Then one week later Ryan will arrive and oh what a joyous time that will be.
I do hope I am walking comfortably by then. Nighty night.
Posted by jenredstar at 1:19 AM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2005
Never Boring
Today was great. Found out that Lara is going to be induced into labor in a week and a half... so it gives us all plenty of time to prepare! Yay! So exciting. Baby is coming.
I hung out with old friends today, Ben for the afternoon and Aspen and Terry for the evening. The short story is: I'm suck in bed, literally crippled by the bulging ankle I am sporting now, after twisting it while decending my second flight of dark black stairs in a club we went to tonight. The stairs were not lit and I thought I had reached the last one, but oh yes, there was still one more to go. So I went down slowly and gracefully (haha), and Terry offered me a hand up... but I didn't take it. I said, "oh no, I'm not going anywhere for a minute. I hurt myself."
And here I am two hours later, four Advil and a pain pill later I'm still in pain and unable to walk. I've never twisted my ankle this badly before. I think maybe I've twisted it a little, to the point where it was uncomfortable to walk on, but this is something new all together. Its been awhile since I was physically incapacitated like this. Perhaps it will be like a fun exercise in being still! I give myself three days of limping around, tops. I have little paitence for this kind of thing. Lucky me that today was the day that the ethernet hubs arrived for to spread the internet through the elecrtical outlets. So I'm typing this in bed. So if I fall and can't get up, I can send out a mass email for help. Ha!
I hope this heals soon. I have lots to do. Hopefully Lara can come over so we can be on bed rest together. Funny isn't it? Yeah, I didn't think so either.
I wish Ryan was here.
I think I need a hug.
Posted by jenredstar at 3:06 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
Emma is Dead! Long Live Emma!
Our sweet little raton had to go to sleep forever today. She was only about one and a half years old. She was buried in a small plot in the front yard of my family home in Santa Barbara. Laid to rest with her little hutch she slept in every night, a bananna (her favorite food) and a sprig of mint. She will be missed, by Ryan, Jenny, Jade and Teresa most of all. We love you Emma. May you eternally be getting super chubby on banannas up in rat heaven, you deserve it.
Posted by jenredstar at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)
Photo posting
I am still uploading photos from the roadtrip Ryan and I went on this summer from Los angeles to Plymouth, MA. Ryan posted the first half to flickr and I am posting the second half. So far we're all the way up to ohio! Woo-hoo!
Posted by jenredstar at 2:14 AM | Comments (1)
October 11, 2005
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
What a fantastic album this is, truly good for almost every occasion. Definitely some of the best driving music I've heard in recent years. One of the things I love about their sound is that you can really discern the layers of sound, drums, bass and guitar all go in such clear and complimentary directions I find myself rocking out to the drums in one moment then on to the bass in the next. Perhaps that is what a good mix does. Though, it seems I have gone through thinking at least 3 songs were my absolute favorite, at different times... This is what I like best today.
Favorites (in order):
Positive Tension
Like Eating Glass
Banquet
Pioneers
So here we are
Price of gasoline
Just buy it.
Posted by jenredstar at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Whoring out to The Dream Wizard 101
Ryan is the best guy ever. I woke at 7am out of a terrible dream and called him immediately (it was 10am in Plymouth). He is so generous, he offered to send me his Dream Wizard to help fix things up. To which I replied, "What? you're whoring me out to your dream wizard!!??" Well, since the dream wizard teleports, within an hour I got back to sleep and had only good dreams until 11:30am. Dear god, I haven't slept that late since I was on east coast time. Again, I called him up upon waking up just to say thank you.
Emma has an appointment at the rat vet tomorrow morning, so she'll have to wait until then to get checked out. I hope she is okay, but it looks pretty bad to me. Poor sweet Emma.
p.s. VH1's "my super sweet 16" has got to be evidence of the end of days. That show is frightening.
Posted by jenredstar at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)
October 9, 2005
Hello Interweb
Here I am, finally. With the help of my fantastic web guru/fiancé Ryan, I Jenny have my very own place to call internet home. See, I've been so busy lately that I need a place like this to keep it all organized.
Currently I am:
- engaged to be married
- staying in Santa Barbara until Thanksgiving (Ryan and I moved out to Plymouth MA, via road trip in August)
- waiting/preparing for my sister Lara & her husband Robert to have their first baby due Oct 30
- cooking up a storm (will share recipes too!)
- decorating a nursery
- hanging out with good friends
- cuddling my golden retriever
- taking long hot baths
- reading the entire Harry Potter series
- starting my own jewelry studio
- taking photos
- missing Ryan who is back home in Plymouth for another 3 weeks!
- planning future travel to europe
- trying to learn how to knit little hats and booties
- finishing up the six feet under series on Netflix
This is a terribly exciting time.
Today was busy. I awoke at 9:30 (much later than I had hoped) because I needed to take our sick rat Emma to the vet. Got to the vets at about 10am with my friend Jade. Jade is my friend Teresa's 10-year-old daughter who has been kindly rat sitting Emma while I was away over the past two months. As Jade and I waited in the vets office for over an hour, we encountered two dogs who ate a box of decon rat poison after one of them chewed (to the point of bloody gums) the iron fence off of its hinges to get inside the shed where the rat poison was. A loud and uncomfortable cat who wasn't using his back legs anymore after his owner fell while carrying him.
A woman who came in to walk her dog who seems to live at the office after what had to be a terrible car accident that left him with at least one broken leg and hardly any fur over his tired old body. And a woman who had decided to put her sixteen-year-old cat to sleep. She said, "You know, sometimes I wonder if I can even think of still having more pets when it is so hard to watch them go. It just hurts so much." I replied, "Yes, its true they do not live as long as we'd all like them to. But I know it’s worth it. When I think of how much love they had, and what a good life they had with me. I know no matter how much it hurts to let them go. I'll always go back for more of those connections, they are just too special to miss out on."
It was still only 11am. Once the vet saw Emma, he suggested that it wasn't too much of an emergency because she was still eating and acting like her normal self. I'll be taking her in to a specialist tomorrow.
While Emma napped securely inside her comfy towel filled carrier Jade and I stopped into the sojourner for brunch. One chicken tostada and some rice and avocado later I dropped off Jade at home and headed back to my parents home to load up my car with Lara's baby shower gifts and painting supplies.
The next few hours were spend painting the bottom half of the room a nice light cafe brown (which will compliment the "handsome blue" top half). Lara informed me, that her doctors’ appointment that I thought was on Tuesday was in fact tomorrow. This being the appointment where we find out if they would like to induce labor early, or keep her on bed rest for another few weeks. So all the things I had planned to do before the due date suddenly might have to be done before tomorrow. Though we try not to expect the most complicated scenario, we certainly have to prepare for it.
Tired and ready for a nap, I headed back to the parents home with a long "to do" list handed down from Lara who can not do anything but lie on a couch until the doctor tells her otherwise. Mom and I sit down to divide up the list at 6:30pm. We both suddenly feel the weight of the possible complication of tomorrow and realize that we really can't waste any shopping hours. After an unsuccessful trip to both Ross, Robinsons and a drive by of Sears we head out to the local Kmart. Neither of us is excited about this. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm remembering how impressed I was by their baby section. So after only 1.5 hours we spend almost $500 on various necessities including a sewing machine for mom, baby thermometer, breast milk storage bags, and a modern area rug for baby’s room (to name a few).
Feeling rather accomplished and proud of our selves. I saunter out of Kmart and say to mom "Well, I won't say I told you so! You were shitting on Kmart before we got here and now look at us." She agrees and we load up the car. Driving home at 9:30pm, we feel relieved with less stuff to do the next day. We even called Lara to give her to good news, that her list is all taken care of except for the crib bumper.
She is pleased and says, "Thanks you guys, you done good." Very tired now, and happy to be home we start emptying the car and mom instantly asks, "Where is the sewing machine?"
Two minutes later we are racing down the highway back towards Kmart, knowing full well that the hundred-dollar sewing machine the clerk carefully placed in the bottom of the cart was likely gone already. Mom on the phone with the manager, me going over 100mph in her satisfyingly sporty BMW. We arrive 15 minutes after leaving and its gone, all the carts are inside the store. The manager says, "no problem, we'll give you another one" Mom is nearly dumbfounded. Not only did they supply us with almost all of our baby needs, but now their customer service policy is getting us out of a sorry jam that was completely our fault?? This leaves mom a bit shell-shocked. I have modestly mixed feelings about it all. Its so good that we didn't suffer at the hands of our own sleepy forgetfulness but I know... that no small business selling us a sewing machine would have been able to afford to give us another one. Thus, is this one more customer swayed by the corporate safety net of expendable losses to keep the customer loyal?
Driving home, from Kmart again, but this time with a sewing machine mom says, "wow, I know I'm dwelling on this but this all happened so fast its just overwhelming. I think I've just have enough excitement for one evening" Just then, we round the corner at las positas and see the cars stopped in the intersection, people standing over a motionless body. She spoke too soon.
While calling the police on the cell phone to report the accident, the fire truck pulls up and we head home. Hoping the bicyclist who was hit by the car would be okay.
So now, at 1:10 am after the hot bath, Harry Potter,
cuddling the golden, chatting with Ryan,
and my first official post I am definitely ready for bed.
Goodnight*
Posted by jenredstar at 1:10 AM | Comments (1)