Yay! Traveling with a Toddler!

Lily Ruth and I took a trip this past week. We flew to Wisconsin to see Kittyn and her daughter. They crossed the pond for a visit, and we all decided that there were more kid-friendly options in Madison (where Kittyn grew up - and where her parents still reside) than there are here... also, we were hoping for (and got!) a break from the heat.

Lily is now a traveling pro. The first leg of our three-legged flight was full, so I had to contain my baby pretty tightly. Luckily for us, she was still pretty tired from waking up four full hours before she normally does, so she was content. The second leg was mostly empty, so we spread out and got acquainted with our surroundings:



She happily played with her toys, watched The Wiggles and Elmo on my laptop and talked to every passenger in a 2 row radius. She fell asleep just before we landed for a quick stop in Kansas City and slept through that break and the final leg of our trip.

Arriving in Wisconsin was a delight. Small, quiet airport. Favorite Kittyn waiting for us. Beautiful SEVENTY (not 100) degree day... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. We had some lunch then went to the playground. In the middle of the afternoon! I think it would be impossible to impress on you how amazing it was to be outside and comfortable. I can hardly wait for November... that's right - November. That's when it will cool off here...

Our first full day there involved a trip to the zoo, yummy lunch out and new shoes for Lily Ruth on a whim (and on sale :-P). Then there was the accidental 2 1/2 hour nap. I laid down with my baby girl in order to calm her down for her nap, and woke up to evening sun streaming through the windows. Wow. Talk about relaxed!

Wait, let me back up. The zoo in Madison is wonderful. Even with a good portion of it closed for renovation, we still had a great time. They have a fantastic children's play area. Maddie threw herself into the fray immediately. Lily Ruth was cautiously optimistic, but wanted my hand in hers. We climbed the stairs of the play structure and watched bigger kids adventurously climb, run and slide. She decided that we could go down the big slide together, so we did. Then she wanted to go back up, and indicated that she wanted to slide again. I got Kittyn to wait for her at the bottom, and sent her down. Then, um, this happened...


Yep, that's Lily Ruth stuck gecko-style in a giant slide. Giving Mama the 'you had BETTER get me out of here' glare. Kittyn had to climb up and dislodge her. It was hilarious.

The next day was our trip to the Madison Children's Museum. That place is AMAZING. They just re-opened in a brand new building. The photos in the link look like they were taken before the exhibits were finished. The space looks much different, and absolutely blew us away. It was packed in there, so I didn't take many pictures - I was too busy watching out for my baby in the throng of childhood that surged around us :-) I did get a few...

stacking translucent magnet blocks on a light board:


a bit giddy about the sandbox:


and 'I know I'm not supposed to put crayons in my mouth - what are you gonna do about it?':

and a few of the structure itself...

rooftop retreat with grass, gardens, chickens and glass overlook of the state capitol:


amazing mosaic pillar in the art area:


incredible mosaic floor in the toddler area:


Don't even get me started on how awesome it was in there. I'd never stop talking. Oi, then there was the snack we had at the Bean Sprouts Cafe in the lobby... oh, the injustice of living in this non-kid-friendly town!

This was such a lovely trip! From the gracious accommodations at Chez Luttig to the fantastic activities to the made to order weather. YAY! I could go on and on, but you won't find it as awesomely interesting as I do... so I'll leave you with this view of Lily Ruth LOVING herself some swing time:


SO, when are you going to come over? We really should visit more...

Online Watermelon Madness

This story actually begins many moons ago. When the earth was still cooling... and Daddy Don was still in law school. We're talking more than 10 years ago, people :-P

Mama was just Rachel. Kittyn wasn't yet Kittyn - just Robyn. Daddy was in school and worked, so he wasn't around much (but he was missed). Mama and Kittyn had (and still have) a great friend named Poodle (or as his mama refers to him - Sig) who liked them so much that he dragged them all over San Diego encouraging them to ingest alarming quantities of alcohol.

In the way that these happen, a list was made of things that were liked. In the way that these things progress, several things were taken OFF the list of things that were liked, and put onto a list of 'things that are OFF the list'. This second list was deemed important enough to write directly onto the wall in permanent marker. Here is the fabled 'off the list' in it's earliest days:


Note that Kittyn is tan, buff, red-eyed and adamant. That's how we used to roll :-)

The list grew, shrank, grew and was eventually painted over when the condo was sold, but the legend of the list lives on in oft-told story among those who were there... this brings us to present day...

Recently, I was getting ready to clean out the fridge when Kittyn called. We were visiting as I realized that I might need to store some stuff in the second fridge in the garage during the process. Well, the damn second fridge is always full of stuff like empty beer boxes because we usually only have one hand free (the other is holding the door to the house), so 'we' (Daddy) tend to leave trash in there taking up all of the room.

I began to pull cardboard out and stack it for recycling. I reached the back of the bottom shelf, and found a box that was stuck to the shelf. I tugged, swore, tugged again. It came free with a sticky, nasty noise. I realized that said box contained quart-sized zipper bags that were full of (the remnants of) watermelon. Not just any nasty aged watermelon, but watermelon that I sliced and bagged THE WEEK THAT LILY RUTH WAS BORN. That's right - over a year ago. At that time, somebody told me that watermelon can start contractions if your body is ready for labor, so I had gone out and purchased a gigantic watermelon and commenced eating.

I only made it through about half of that sucker before I realized that my body wasn't ready, and I was tired of really intense Braxton-Hicks contractions that took me nowhere on the labor progress scale.

The box was shoved to the back and forgotten. Until cleaning day. I was grossed out, pissed off at myself and embarrassed. I still managed to admit my shameful secret to (I thought) my best friend. She was grossed out too, and made me hang up to finish the job so that she could not be accused of helping me procrastinate any longer.

Then she jumped on Facebook and updated her status to 'may never eat another slice of watermelon'. Then her mom asked why, and she said 'ask Rachel'. After that, it was ON. Silliness flew between Kittyn's wall & my wall. We spent the rest of the day giddy with the fun of an on-line 'war'. We even recruited Kittyn's Mom, New Friend Sarah and Poodle to play!

Here is a transcript. The names have been changed to suit my whimsical nature - there are no innocents:

- From Kittyn's 'wall'
Kittyn: Not sure she can ever eat watermelon again.
Kittyn's Mom: a few too many slices?
Kittyn: Ask Rachel.......
Kittyn's Mom: OK : )
Mama Rachel: dammit, Davies - that was a CONFIDENTIAL exchange between (previous) best friends. You're on my list! :-)
Kittyn: You take that back right now!!
Mama Rachel: make me. the list is being magic-markered onto my wall as we speak...
Kittyn: I am making my own 'list' right now - it is ON!
Mama Rachel: bring it, little girl.
Kittyn: Oh I will bring it Doyle - Revenge is a dish best served cold - kind of like watermelon!

from my 'wall'
Kittyn's Mom: What's up with Robyn & watermelon??
Kittyn: You tell her Mrs. Doyle!
Mama Rachel: Do I know?
Mama Rachel: Oh. Dammit, Robyn! Leslie, I am TERRIBLE at cleaning out the fridge. That goes quadruple for the extra fridge in the garage... that's all I will say in a public forum. Robyn, zip your lips.
Kittyn: Zipped- but the truth will set you free!
Kittyn's Mom: Are you telling me that you don't age watermelon and use a straw? Damn! There goes the fruit course tonight. ><
Mama Rachel: well, it was aged... whiskered even...
Kittyn: ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-ya didn't mention whiskers!
Kittyn: If you shaved the whiskers and wove them together could it be a watermerkin?
Mama Rachel: omg, that is BEYOND genius!

Since I had threatened a list, proof was needed. I posted this picture and got the following responses:


Kittyn: Seriously and watermelon doesn't rank number 1?!?!?! ;-P
New Friend Sarah: He he he very expressive, but I would have gotten a lot farther then TWO! Give us MORE!
Poodle: I am so glad that Mandy Moore is now over 18 and she can be ON the list
Mama Rachel: Did I mention that this is my list of things that are OFF my list?
Poodle: No . . . you did NOT!
New Friend Sarah: YAY this says ON my list not OFF my list
Poodle: Also, if you really had an "off the list" list, you would have written directly on the wall or door.
Mama Rachel: Look, I just fixed then painted that wall recently. I am too lazy to create a situation where I'd have to re-do it. You know what's going on the list? Smart-ass Californians :-P Oh, and Don for accidentally insinuating that I'm fat then apologizing real fast.
Mama Rachel: Sarah, many moons ago (in a land far from here) Sig had a list magic-markered on his wall. It's a long, wonderful story. Robyn is spilling my 'secrets' in public today, so she's on my list of things that are off my list... apparently she has a list too, but I've seen no proof.
Kittyn: Try my blog betch ;p
Kittyn: Really Sig - can Mandy Moore ever come off the Off List?
Poodle: Robyn, you are right. Mandy Moore (and Toni Braxton) really is an "off the list" hall of famer.
Poodle: . . . why is Robyn off the list?
Kittyn: Ask her about the watermelon - she'll tell you why I'm off the list!
Kittyn: And Doyle - really sorry for airing your dirty watermelon in public.
Mama Rachel: you are not the least bit sorry. don't make this any worse for yourself...
Poodle: . . . well?
Mama Rachel: perhaps we should just say that some of us know how to have horrible moments, and some of us are good at blabbing those moments to the entire interwebs.
Kittyn: God grant me the serenity to accept the fruit I cannot find; the courage to throw away the fruit I can and the wisdom to know when to clean the fridge.
Poodle: I am certain the story must be hilarious and I would love to be in on the fun.
Mama Rachel: Robyn says I can't tell you. She's mean.
Mama Rachel: and bossier than me.
Poodle: In her post from seven hours ago she says I should ask you and you will tell me.
Mama Rachel: YAY! No take-backs on permissions, Davies! If only it were funnier... I'll call ya...

So that's when I began to write out the story. And here we are. You've managed to waste perfectly good time reading my nonsense. Again :-) It's just that it felt so good to be that silly. Kittyn & I used to behave like that all of the time. It kept us sane through years of crappy jobs. I miss it.

Happy Birthday, My Beautiful One

I started this post an entire month ago but in my Mastitis-induced stupor, I forgot about it. Well, I found it again, and finished it off. Better late than never, right?

Lily Ruth, I wanted to catalog some of your accomplishments to date. Kind of like a baby book, but without the book since I haven't been able to keep up with one... surprise, surprise :-P... So here are some of the things that you can already do at 1 year old!

- you sign 'more', 'eat/food' and 'all done/finished'
- you say 'daa' for Daddy, 'mama', 'tikka' for kitty and tickle, 'go', 'hello', 'okay', 'cat', 'shuh' for shoes, 'cup' and 'hello'
- you're not just walking, you're CLIMBING!


- you can get down off of high furniture by turning around and sliding off feet first
- you take baths by yourself - closely supervised by Mama and in 2 inches of water


- you chase Keely around saying 'ca-T' very loudly and poking her in the face


- you're gentle enough with Bing that he allows you to pet him (but not Frank, he still swats at you)


- you eat lots of different foods all by yourself (including cherries - you don't eat the pit or the stem!)



- you sit on the kitchen floor and play with plastic dishes and utensils while I cook.
- you stir my coffee for me after I add the cream
- you are learning how to throw balls so that you and the doggie can chase them


- you can not just take out, but put small items back into into larger items (i.e.: stacking cups, stuff from my purse)
- you dance whenever I put music on, and sometimes in public


- you clap when people sing, and can even keep a beat if it's slow enough
- you play hide-and-seek with Mama - I hide, you find me :-)
- you sleep in your own bed for naps and most of the night (that's a VERY new and VERY appreciated development)

Every day is an adventure with you, Baby Girl! I can't wait to see what this year brings. Let's find out together, shall we?

This was written for you by your Auntie Robyn on the day that you arrived. I think that it sums it all up so beautifully!

Her appearance marks a day so sweet when
both creators hold her close
and welcome her into a world of awe
both of their own and hers

When two become three
and three become infinite
everything is beautiful.

Love,
Auntie Robyn

I'm THAT girl again

When Kittyn & I met, we were just young 'uns living and working in Sunny SoCal. I had only been married for 2 years and out of Texas for 1 at that point, so everything seemed new, exciting, challenging and/or scary to me. Adjusting to life in California had been tough fro me. Add in that I had recently gone through the WORST professional experience of my entire life (nothing has surpassed it to date), and you get a soft shelled, scared, young pup. Then I started working at the Boathouse. I was determined to go about things differently this time. I had a new job in a beautiful location, and I REALLY wanted this to be a turning point in my life. One where I took charge, showed myself to my best advantage, and really enjoyed my job.

To that end, I set about making friends with the girl that had been put in charge of showing me the ropes. Unbeknownst to me, this was an uphill battle. This poor girl had been working upwards of 70 hours a week doing her own job and what was to become my job (office manager, restaurant day manager, banquet supervisor). She had not been doing so out of the goodness of her own heart. In fact, she wanted the job. I'm not sure if she was even aware that they had been interviewing for the position because she had been working so hard to keep that place afloat.

You may have guessed that the overworked wretch in question is my own dear Kittyn, but at the time she was just the caustic, cranky, underfed girl who grudgingly showed me what might be expected of me while she chain smoked. I don't know what it was that I saw in her at the time, because she was doing her darndest to show me her worst side... it would be fair to say that she disliked me intensely... but I wanted nothing more than to be her friend.

The details of our initial bonding are fodder for another story. One that I would love for you to hear from her. What I'm trying to get to tonight, was phase II of our friendship - our shared love of Hazelnut coffee. Let me amend that - I didn't really like coffee of any kind, but I had been drinking it on occasion for the caffeine... and Hazelnut smelled good... and I REALLY wanted her to like me SO, at a time when we had trouble paying our rent, I bought us matching GIANT cups and flavored coffee. I then began to drink coffee daily.

Those familiar with foodservice equipment will already know that you cannot make partial pots of coffee in a restaurant. It's a whole pot, or nothing. So every morning, we would brew up a pot and spend waaaaay too much time preparing each cup just the way we liked it. Sometimes with things like whipped cream or ice cream or vodka. Alright fine - not really vodka. That was a one time deal. But we did spend an inordinate amount of time at the coffee maker. Especially since I needed lots of sugar, cream and anything else I could find in order to make coffee palatable.

After a while, a pattern makes itself clear... not to me, but to Kittyn. Apparently, I was physically unable to finish a cup of coffee. No matter what size we made for ourselves be it coffee cup, water glass or giant Rachel Mug, I always left around a quarter of the serving unfinished. Even after she pointed it out, I couldn't seem to finish my beverage. This was a source of amusement between us (and others) for years.

Sometime after fate forced us to part ways, I managed to teach myself to finish a cup of coffee. I began to pride myself on this 'skill'. In fact, I began to inhale coffee in a hurried manner. Once I learned to finish my coffee, I realized that I liked coffee - even unflavored coffee. Once I realized that I liked coffee, I allowed myself to purchase commercially brewed coffee, and my Starbucks habit was formed. I even began to use coffee as a reward for things like 'showing up to work on time' and 'not throttling that idiot back there'. By the time Lily Ruth started gestating, I would regularly stop at my neighborhood Starbucks on my walks with my dog as my reward for going on a walk. I usually finished my cup before I got more than a quarter mile from the store.

This continued through my pregnancy (decaf only, though) and past her birth (back up at half-caff). But in the past few weeks, I've noticed an old pattern re-emerging and I am back to leaving at least a quarter of my beverage unconsumed. Granted, these days it's not because I'm not enjoying my drink. Instead, it seems to be due to a combination of absentmindedness/split attention and the fact that I need both hands to keep my busy daughter from barreling head first into danger. Regardless of the cause, I'm taking it as a sign from the universe that I need some time with Kittyn. From the amount of coffee currently being wasted, I would say that she had better hurry up and come over here else I shall have to pack up the baby and start hitchhiking my way to England. At the very least, we should share a cup by phone - don't you think?

Read This

You all know how much I love my Kittyn, do you not? Well, here is an excellent for you to love her just as much as me.

Please read her Chicken Run Post, and laugh your butt off.

I am still recovering from the laughing fit I just had, so I'll have to post Easter Lily pics tomorrow.

Dear So & So... take 7

Ta-DA! Friday! Dear So & So Day! Got some letters of your own? Type 'em out & link up with Kat over at 3 Bedroom Bungalow.

Dear Fledgeling Lawn,

Hang in there. The first couple of days are the hardest. You'll be rooted soon. In the mean time, don't worry, the neighbors who slow down aren't laughing, they're just surprised to see that we're actually putting effort into you. Until now, the yard looked like the house was vacant - they're just surprised to see your little plugged self.

Lookin' Good!
Mr & Mrs Dirty Knees/Blistered Hands

☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀☀

Dear Baby Daughter,

Tomorrow's Easter Egg Hunt is just for fun. There is no pressure for you to actually seek and/or find any eggs on your own. Your whole job is to wear the dress that your Daddy bought for you, and to have a good time. Grandpa may take some pictures, but that is all.

Please don't eat too many leaves or sticks,
Mama

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Dear Creepy Ginger Cats,

Are you serious? Every morning at 6? Right outside my bedroom window? Also, what's with the new guys? Is all of this their fault? You guys are VERY lucky that the little old lady who claims to hate you still feeds you. She may be loopy, but she seems to have a soft spot for your creepy asses.

Knock it off.
Sleepy in San Antone

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊

Dear Kittyn,

I miss you. PLEASE use all of your money to come and visit me. What's a little financial ruin between friends? I would use all of mine, but you're much more successful than me, and all of my money would only get me to maybe Dallas.

I adore you,
Puppy



** my favorite parts of that picture are as follows - 1) my cast-off shoes in the upper corner 2) my face pressed really deeply into the pillow 3) my bag from Massage School sitting right next to us stuffed with extra sheets 4) the fact that Matt was the only one awake to take this even though it was 12:05 on January 1st (2006)**

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

Happy Friday!

Frozen Day Randomness

Since we are 'stuck inside' - what with the likelihood of crazy drivers who assume that the possibility of ice = kamikaze behavior and all - and Lily Ruth's plans do not really include me so much as they include her toys and my slippers... I have to show you something, and then (in order to apologize for my shameless child photo posting) I'll tell you a story...



It's only about 4" tall, and I can't stop gazing adoringly at it... and, um, Lily Ruth thinks it's nose is a nipple... :-/ Have you ever seen anything so cute? Well, except (of course) for this:





And now, for the story! This is one of my favorite stories of my time in San Diego, and thinking about it made me smile, so YAY!

Kittyn & I were working in managerial & supervisory positions at a restaurant on Harbor Island in San Diego. To clarify, I was the opening manager 5 f-ing days each week in addition to my 2 other full-time positions for that joint... A nice enough place, but both of us were SEVERELY overworked, ridiculously under-appreciated, and under-compensated for said workload. The only thing that kept us going was our growing bond of friendship, flavored coffees, and the need for income in a very expensive town.

Bright and early one morning, I happened to mention to my new BFF that the owners of the restaurant had recently acquired several top-shelf vodkas for a new promotion. This was news to her, and seeing as how she would be working with me for the next few mornings, she would be unable to participate in the training / tasting sessions that would take place for the evening shifts. Then it occurs to us that we need to be able to describe said vodkas to the morning staff should they become interested in selling them to the lunch crowd... I may have also mentioned that we used to have pre-shift wine tastings at the Time Machine, and this was very helpful to me as a waitstaff member... I probably failed to mention that the Machine was a dinner-only restaurant, so pre-shift was 4pm...

Well, before you can say 'Bob's your uncle', we're at the bar shaking up 4 or 5 chilled shots of high-end vodka for each of us. I am unclear on who had what job, but Kittyn maintains that I was the shaker, and she was the 'lookout'. Well, regardless, whichever one of us was supposed to be watching for the restaurant owners (a.k.a. 'CatDog'), became so enthralled by these icy glasses of magic, that she FORGOT to be the lookout. And so it came to pass that the owners wander in to find their a.m. managerial staff pouring up a goodly amount of pricey, icy vodka into shot glasses at 7 in the morning. We start talking circles around our predicament, and managed to irritate them into retreating into their office to 'do paperwork' - whatever.

The vodka was consumed, but the magic was gone. We were left with the dirty feeling of a sneaky early morning drink without a Vegas soundtrack to justify it. At least we got to keep our jobs... ahhhhhhhh, good times!

You know, the CatDog was at lot better tempered than we gave it credit for... they even let us keep our jobs after the incident where we were sitting at their desks wearing their glasses & doing impressions of them... where do we get these damn ideas?

Look What I Found!!!

Thanks to Kittyn U K, and the fabulous post she made for my birthday, I went looking for, and subsequently found THIS!!!!



YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY for Vegas fun!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here we are... 2010... I am hoping that 'start as you mean to go on' does not apply this year... I rang in the new year with my husband and two of my favorite folks (Robyn & Matt), but I was SICK AS A DOOOOOOG. Today is better, so I'm just going to pretend that TODAY is January 1st!

Here's the other part of this whole new year 'thing'. I am now surrounded (actually and electronically) by people who are elevating me... let me explain... for the past several years, my life has taken me in some odd directions. All have been manageable. Some have been fantastic (BAAAAAABY!!!), but they have all combined to take me to a place where I have been a bit cut off. I closed myself down in order to continue functioning. WELL, I feel better now! So I'm ready to be MEEEEEEEEE again. I want to think about things other than myself. I want to see things outside my tiny world. I want to BE as interesting as I FEEL :-)

Toward that end, um, we gave ourselves LUSH hair masks and face packs today...



which looks suspiciously like what we were doing LAST year around this time...



which is AWESOME, because it means that despite living on separate sides of the world, my Kittyn and I have rung in two consecutive new years together!

oh, and there was THIS bit from NYE 4 years ago...



but now I'm just gratuitously posting photos of myself and Robyn...

- but seriously, I want to use my brain again. I think I might want to become a lactation consultant. I KNOW want to read things other than hysterically funny Christopher Moore books... so I'm going to start by, um, reading more blogs... and taking it from there... oh, and there's the new wii to consider... wii fit will make me a better person, right? - sigh - this whole 'Brand New Better Me' thing is a bit exhausting. I'm going to ponder it a bit and get back to you. In the mean time,



HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL!