Vacation in Virginia

We're about halfway through our trip. :-(

The flights: We flew from San Jose to Boston to Richmond.  We (Bertie and I, Aaron stayed home) had a red eye to Boston.  Bertie did pretty well, he slept most of the flight.  Follow passengers commented on how well he did.  (Our flight was only 2/3 full, so the middle seat in our row was empty).  He was awake when we got to Boston.  I changed him, and there was a little playground right by the bathroom, so he got to play for a few minutes.  He loved looking out the windows at the planes and trucks. The flight to Richmond was really empty, there were maybe 20 people in a 96 seat plane.  We had a lot of room, which was good, because he would not sit still.

Sleep: Mr Bertram has not been sleeping very well.  He's having separation anxiety about sleeping in an unfirmilar place.  I've been waiting in the room while he falls asleep, which seems to help.  He's been napping in the car, or on one of us (me, my sister, nana or papa).  This morning my sister came and took Bertie at 7am, so I could sleep.  (Happy mothers day!)

What we've been up to: Lots of visiting, and just hanging out.  We went to see Nanny, aunt Debbie, uncle Martin, (cousin) Abigail, and her hubby Nick.  We're going to see the other Pace's tomorrow.  Rebecca stayed at my mom's house all week so we could hang out.  We've been having a lot of fun.  My mom bought a paddle pool for Bertie, he's used it almost every day.  He loves it!  Today Rebecca and I went to Duck Donuts.  All the donuts are made to order: meaning the fry them when you order, and do the toppings right them.  I got Bertie a plain glazed, and I had maple bacon. O.M.G.  It was the BEST donut I've ever had!  After that we went to her apartment to use the pool.  It wasn't super hot, and the pool was a little cool.  But Bertie had so much fun.  He is a water baby.

Boy and the boy napping

Bubbles and the paddle pool.

Fun at the pool

So happy

Sitting in his own seat, like a big boy.

Watching the planes and trucks

Duck Donuts!

Misc stuff

What's for dinner this week?
Grilled tuna sandwiches (Monday)
Monte Cristo sandwiches
Frozen pizza (Tuesday)
Bacon and mushroom quiche (tonight)
Baby Back Ribs
Home made banana cake with chocolate buttercream frosting (so good!)

What happened last Saturday?
That was an annoying day.  Aaron went to help his dad work on the brakes for Aaron's truck (which his dad is borrowing).  It should have taken maybe 3 hours, but they worked on it all day, and didn't finish.  That meant I had Bertie on my own all day, so I was a little irritated.  Bertie and I walked to an open house nearby, the outside was unimpressive, but the inside was nice.  But this is the second house I've seen recently with no bathtubs!  I would never buy a house without a tub.  (Also, I just like going to open houses, we're not buying (ever, because we can't afford it)).  After that I left Bertie with his grandma for a couple hours and took a nap.

What's Bertram up to lately?
This kid is into everything!  And is hurting himself a lot.  One day last week he ran over his fingers playing in the dishwasher, had his fingers slammed in the toilet seat, slipped crawling out of the bathroom and bumped his head, then bonked his head in his crib.  He says cracker (for all food, including crackers), dada, and uh oh.  He's working on cat, dog, sticker and truck.  He'll wave bye-bye.  He can (and does) now crawl correctly.  He is pulling up on everything, cruising, and starting to balance just a little.  He likes looking at books, especially if there is a picture of a sun or moon.  He hasn't had much in the way of new food.  But he had spinach for the first time in a while, and he spat it out.  He also did that with mashed potatoes.  But he likes tuna, beets, onions, broccoli and other foods with "loud" flavours. He'll do simple commands: wave, clap, kick, pat, come here.  He loves opening and closing doors, drawers and cabinets, turning on and off the light switch, and playing with trucks (or anything with wheels).

Work

I went to work this morning.  The schedule looked weird.  I found out one of the PTs was laid off.  He was the newest one, not too long out of school.  I feel bad.  Then I checked my email and saw my boss wanted to meet with me later in the morning.  So I assumed I might be getting laid off too.  I wasn't, but my hours were cut.  I was (only) working 12, now I'm only working 8.  Down from MWF to WF.  I texted Aaron to let him know.  He said are you sad or happy?  I said "I feel unaffected".  I really do.  I'm a little sad that I'm somewhat disposable, but I suppose that's true of nearly all jobs.  But I was secretly thinking not too long ago that I wouldn't mind working less.  It came at a good time though.  My job was essentially paying for our (me and Bertie) insurance.  And with Aaron's new job, our (the whole family) insurance is essentially free (under $40 a month).  So the money from my job is kind of a bonus.  Plus Aaron's pay will increase in August, so it's fine.

Yesterday I took Bertie to get his one year pictures done (only a month late, more on that later).  I went to Picture People at the mall.  My experience was terrible.  Here is a copy of the letter I'll be mailing tomorrow:

To the manager,

I wanted to inform you of an unfortunately disappointing  experience I had at your store.  

On Monday, 30 March I went in, in the afternoon, to make an appointment for the next day.  I was helped by Carl.  He was nice, helpful, and seemed interested in the pictures for my son's first birthday, and had some helpful suggestions for outfits or props to bring from home.  

I came in the next day (31 March) for my son's appointment, and was helped by Vanessa and Michelle initially.  They had to get all my information again, despite having provided it the previous day.  Michelle was my photographer.  Things started out ok.  She didn't really have a lot of suggestions for positioning him.  She was not good at getting his attention, or having him look the right way.  I will concede that  my son was not his normal happy self that day, but he was not overly uncooperative, especially at the beginning of the shoot.  As the session went on, his patience ran out.  She didn't suggest we take a break, or do anything that might make him happier.  I knew there wouldn't be a lot of workable images at the end.  

Towards the end, it became obvious that my son wanted to nurse, I told him I would nurse him once we were finished.  At the end of the shoot Michelle said “We have a bathroom if you want to nurse him”. I ignored this.  Once we were all packed up, and she was going to edit the images, she again said “The bathroom is just down the hall, so you can nurse him.” At this point I said “I don't feed my son in the bathroom.” It seems like your store should have enough babies/nursing mothers come in that your employees should be aware that suggesting that a mother feed her baby in the bathroom is gross, and insulting.  Not to mention California Civil Code 43.3 the right to breastfeed in any location, public or private.  

We waited for our images to be finished.  Vanessa called me over to look at the images. As I mentioned, I knew there wouldn't be a lot of usable images, but I was surprised that there were only 17.  And the majority of these were not anything I would choose for a professional picture.  Most of the close up shots that were really cute had the top, or side of the head cut off.  A few of the full shots that were good clearly showed the plastic “wood” flooring pealing up.  Vanessa didn't say anything and seemed really bored to be there.

I was apprehensive about getting my son's pictures from Picture People to begin with, and apparently for good reason.  I won't be returning to your store, or chain, and will definitely dissuade others from going there.

Yeah, it was terrible. Fortunately, I only spent $20,

Originally, we had pictures scheduled with Abby, a girl I know from church. (I say girl, but she's probably just a couple years younger than me). We were scheduled mid-March, but then Bertie and Aaron were sick. So we moved to the next Saturday. But then the baby they were adopting came five weeks early, so she and her hubby had to rush out to Ohio. She just updated her facebook today, the birth mom changed her mind. When I read that, my gut sank. I'm heartbroken for them. They were involved from the very beginning. I went down to tell Dennis, since he knew about the adoption. I was telling him, and he reacted as anyone would. At that moment Janet walked up and asked what happened. (She's never met Abby, and doesn't know her). I told her, and she started crying. (For those who don't know, Aaron was adopted at birth. Janet and Dennis are his parents. He didn't meet his bio-mom until he was 24). This, of course, made me cry. There's nothing you can say, or do. It's human nature to want to help, but this is a helpless situation.

On to better things.

Aside from the terrible news above, today was a pretty good day. I had an early start. Bertie woke up at 3, I let him fuss for 15 or 20 minutes (he was more whining than anything else). Then I went in, changed him, nursed him, and laid him back down. I couldn't go back to sleep. I got up a little after 4. I left for work at 6. Work was normal. When I got home, Bertie was sleeping, but woke up as soon as I went in the house. He was sleeping on the floor. His eyes snapped open, he looked at me, and crawled right over. He also crawled up the stairs twice! That's the first time he's done that. We went to Safeway and got Seltzer water (I'm nearly 2 weeks diet coke free!). Then I decided we would go to Red Lobster for lunch, I had a gift card. I got 1.5 lbs of crab legs. Bertram is usually a bottomless pit, so I assumed he'd eat a lot. He did eat two biscuits, but only a little crab. So we'll have lunch tomorrow. I thought he was tired (I know I was), so we went home. I laid down with him, and then put him in his bed. He didn't sleep. We then went for a nice walk. When we got back, I laid him down again. I got dinner started. I made a Mexican casserole. He still didn't sleep, so I drew and bath, and we both got in. Aaron came home, we got dried and dressed, and ate dinner. Aaron didn't like it, I thought it was good. We walked the dogs. And Bertie went to bed. I'll be doing that same soon.

Today

Today was Tuesday, so I didn't have to work.

I had planned to sleep in, which I guess, technically, I did; since I slept later than 5.  But I would have liked to sleep til 9, but the dog woke me, which woke Bertie.  So we woke up around 8, but didn't get going til 8:30.  We got up, I had cereal, Bertie had pancakes and cherrios.  He had major bedhead this morning. We played a little, but he went down for an early nap.

I started cleaning, and folded laundry.  But Baby B only slept for about 45 minutes.  I was almost done cleaning when we awoke.  I cuddled him for a couple minutes, and then took him down the street to see his grandma so I could finish.  I, then, finished the counters and swept the kitchen and living room.  While sweeping the living room, I found some ants, then I had to spray.  I got dressed and got Bertie.  Then he and I had lunch.  He had strawberries and cheese.  I had a salad and some cottage cheese.

I got Bertie dressed and he and I went for a bike ride.  He loves his new bike seat.  We rode to Kirk Park, he played in the swings, because that's his favourite.  He was getting tired, so we rode back home.  I started the tub, while getting him undressed, then getting myself undressed. It had been a while since I'd bathed with him.  He loves bath time. Nursed a lot in the tub.  Then I put him back to bed again.  It was about 2pm.

I did a little more laundry, and mostly just relaxed.  I watched some daytime tv.  We were scheduled to meet Aaron's mom, dad and aunt at the Cheesecake Factory at 5:30.  I was planning on going there early, so Bertie and I could walk.  But he actually took a really good nap: 2.25 hours!  And he would have slept longer, but I had to wake him. because...

Last Wednesday Aaron's car wouldn't start at work.  I picked him up, and his car was towed to our mechanic.  We borrowed my dad's spare car (dad said keep it indefinitely (aka until he needs in again)) and told the mechanic that he didn't have to hurry, so he didn't (which was fine).  I think his car was done yesterday, but we weren't able to get over there.  Aaron called me and asked if I could go pay for the car.  So...

Bertie work up at 4:15ish (after I prodded him a little, since it was getting late).  We headed to the mechanic, which took a few minutes.  Then we had to go across town, and I decided to take the freeway (which could have been a bad idea, but since I had baby with me we took the carpool lane.

We got to the restaurant around 5:20.  We got a table.  Aaron met us there.  Then the others came.  We had nice a time.  Bertie ate a lot (as usual). Our server was awesome, and brought Bertie his own appetizer plate with small pieces of bread and sliced banana.    We also ordered Bertie his own food.  Sometimes we share with him, but Aaron got a burger, and I got french dip, so it's hard to share that with a baby.  He had grilled chicken and mashed potatoes.  Aaron and I got a piece of cheesecake to go (smores, my choice), because his mom made a pie.  (We'll eat our cake tomorrow).

When we came home, we went for our nightly dog walk.  Bertie got to bed around 8.  I watched Hell's Kitchen, and Aaron went to pick up his car.  And here I am!

Blah blah blah

We finished our taxes and got money back.  Yay!  It's going to be used to pay off my $900 crown and my $481 Humira.  But I got a couple fun things too: a bike seat and helmet for Bertie.  And I'm going to buy myself a new pair of running shoes, since it's been a while.

I really need to get back into exercising again.  I've just been getting my steps in everyday.  It's hard to work in exercise around Bertram's schedule.  He doesn't always nap, and when he does, it's not for a set amount of time.  The only thing I could do would be get up early on Tuesday and Thursday, and I'm not likely to do that.

And now Bertie is awake.  That was quick

And then...

My sister pointed out that I hadn't blogged in over a month.  I've been thinking about blogging, I just never got to it.

Everybody came to visit. Mom was here for two week, Boy and Nate came for a week.  I love when everyone is here. Bertie's birthday was great, he got a lot of gifts.  I made him a no sugar added smash cake.  We did some tourist-y stuff while everyone was here; San Francisco, Santa Cruz.

I had a Crohns flare-up for a bit, since I had to space out my un-affordable Humira.  But it seems to be mostly better now.

I'll do a more complete blog soon.  I need my day by day journal, I can't remember all the things I wanted to touch on.