It's offical

My mom has cancer in her bones. It took doctors 6 months to figure out what we already thought it was by the power of deduction and reading on the internet. Just one more mark against doctors in the US and another reason I don't trust them. She has been suffering with no name to her pain for almost a full year now.

So after Thanksgiving she starts Chemo and we go from there. As she says the good news is she will finally be loosing that extra 100 lbs she has been carrying around and we will be making a few trips out to California. The doctor that she is working with told her that some blood count number (to tell you have cancer) is the highest he has ever seen, but with a bone marrow transplant and possibly some stem cells she should be okay after they are able to kill off the cancer.

Just when I was happy that this ride called 2008 was going to be over....a ride called 2009 is looking even more challenging.

Feeling skinny--er

I am officially down to 134 lbs. My size 4's fit. I am happy. About 7 more pounds and my 2's should fit. I am very excited. My husband even said, "What is this you loose a few pounds and suddenly you have energy?" I seriously thought loosing weight would be harder this time around, I love to be wrong :)

My goal is to be squeezing into those 2's for the new year. With Gibo's help I should be able to do it.

Worse than poop

Baba has this big waiting room chairs that he got for free 3 years ago and he loves them. I hate them. They are our dinning room chairs. When we moved they got covered in plastic. Baba put Zuzu's chair on top of the plastic (as in 4/6 chairs were still covered in moving plastic.) Her chair is on there in such a way that he threaded it through holes he poked in the plastic.

Most of this week our apartment smelled like something died. 2 days ago I figured out it was her chair. So yesterday I vacuumed the sides to see if I could get anything out. It still stunk.

This morning after breakfast while baba was still upstairs I said screw his precious chair (and cover) I am taking the booster & plastic off.

I seriously started gagging. Ever smell a rotting animal...the stinkiest smell you can imagine...that was this. A brown puddle of milk with floating chunks and a ring around the edge of the booster chair.

I seriously contemplated throwing the chair away. I held my breath and hosed it down in the sink. Then I soaked it in the sink, then scrubbed with soap. Then sprayed down with anti-bacterial cleaner then rinsed again.

I think it will be okay now. Did I mention I hate Baba's chairs.....

2 adults, 2 kids, 1.5 beds

We had guests over the weekend that were 80 years old. So We gave our guests Zuzu's room so they could be close to the bathroom and minimize the stair climbing.

We have a queen bed and a crib attached to the side. Zuzu would get ready and go to bed first in our bed. Then Gibo would fall asleep and we put him in the crib next to the bed. Then we would sleep like that until Gibo would wake up hungry. Then I put Gibo in my spot, move Zuzu to the crib, then move Gibo over to the middle and nurse him back to sleep. If my husband and I both sleep on our sides or almost on the very edge of the bed we can fit all four of us. The problem becomes Zuzu's tossing and turning and bumping her brother.

So it can be done, and I am sure there are people all over the globe that sleep four people to a bed everynight. I do admit, I love snuggling with both my kids, but Zuzu did miss her room.

Through all of this we started a new routine of putting both kids to sleep at 7:30/8pm so that we could have 2 hours every night to ourselves.

For the first time in over three years....

my toe nails have paint. I use to always paint them and well for the last 3 years I haven't made it a priority. So now it is 11:30pm and I am finally doing it :)

Interesting enough it was almost 3 years ago today that I found out I was pregnant with Zuzu. What a journey the last 3 years have been....

Oh and I lost another pound

PLEASE teach my husband to drive!

We have owned our for 5 or so weeks now. So far my husband has slammed into the curb with it 2 times. The second time was today about 3 hours after I talked to him and said take it easy because your driving sucks. Be easy and smooth....smooth = good driving. I got no problem if he wants to drive like crap...that is fine just be willing to let me drive then and quit the macho BS.

Our gender roles are messed up. Honestly he is a better cooker and cleaner than I am, and I am a better fixer of things non-computer as well as I know my way around a garage and how to mow a lawn (he has never mowed a lawn.) Is he willing to admit it, No! I am? Yes!

Our problem #2: I don't like the way he french kisses (no passion) and he doesn't like the way I do (probably too much passion. This has been bothering me a lot lately.

Our problem #3: He is always at his sisters beck and call and rarely at mine. Sure I am not anywhere as needy or confused about day to day function in society, but when I say help please he should at least try to respond in a semi-quick fashion. (This is an ongoing problem...can you tell.)

Weight Loss Conclusion

Well I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but I did well enough. I had to slow down and back off to keep G's weight up. Diet and exercise are not good for chubby babies.

I hope to loose another 10 lbs by the end of the year, then I will be content until G is a year old....or so I think.

Economics

It is not like me to use this blog to post about real world politics, but believe it or not I am an educated woman and spend my fair share taking econ. classes, it was my minor.

Everyday I wake up listening NPR and everyday I hear something that makes me think "WHAT THE F**K ARE THEY DOING????" I am sorry but this nation is ran by a bunch of morons.

First- How is it that each state with in the U.S has to balance it's budget and make huge cut backs while we blow trillions on a war for oil and Israelies. (Follow something besides your local news and fox and follow the BBC or something half way decent and let me know when the light bulb comes back on.)

Second- So let me get this straight, we give AIG money, they take a vacation, come back & say they need more money and now we give them a loan?? Do I look like your sugar daddy or your b1tch???

Third- We loan GM $25B, they spend $3B in internet advertising. Dear GM we know who you are, your cars suck and/or are over priced, that's why we don't buy them. Why don't you invest that money in figuring out a way to get the engines to go 100,000 miles without leaking oil all over the place? I mean 100 years using a combustion engine, this isn't like rocket science.

Fouth- We have the Boeing machinests on strike. I understand you are under valued but your neighbor just lost his job 2 months ago and is getting forclosed on next week (see for yourself). There comes a time when you have to feed your family and keep a roof over their head and tell the union to go F themselves.

Now for the Biggie...
How about we raise the interest rate to give our dollar value again and then people will be interested in keeping their money in the banks (since it would actually earn money.) Then we could switch to complete Islamic banking home loans over the next 6 months.
If companies get burned in the process it was probably their own faults, in time other better ran companies will take their place anyway.


Islamic banking:
Say you want a $100,000 house, but you only have enough to cover your closing costs and put $10,000 down. So you need a loan for 90% of your house. Three blocks over a house just like your's rents for $1000 a month.

Given this info., the people that loaned you the money own 90% of the house that you live in. So every month you pay them 90% of $1000, or $900 rent. Then you need to pay down your home loan, so you pay them another $835 a month, so that every month you own more of your home and you pay less rent. So then if you paid $10,000 in the first year, not counting rent (plus your orginal down) you now own 20% of your home, and your rent has been adjusted every month and now you are paying $800 a month rent.

If at the end of the first year you have to sell your house at a loss the loss is split. So say the $100,000 house is now only worth $50,000. The split is an 80/20 (since those are the owned percentages) so buyer would only get $10,000 back out of the sale and bank only gets $40,000 from the sale (plus the rent them.)


I have the strongest feeling everything they are doing right now is only making things worse long term.

Made my own wrap

G wasn't very happy in the ergo like Z use to be, so I had some green cotton knit laying around and make my own wrap out of that. It seems a little more comfortable but he still hates it.

That was 2-3 weeks ago. Now we are back to the ergo and he is such a big boy he sits in it normally. With Z we didn't do that until 6 months.

Each child is obviously different, I knew it but I guess I didn't realize how true it could be.

Cherios and high chair toy down!!

Z was just laying on the ground and all of a sudden she starts peeing like a boy. It starts shooting up in the air, she peed in the bowl of cherios she was munching on and this little toy that fits inside the tray of her fisher price booster seat (that I just got out for her brother this morning) and of course on the carpet.

Ramblings

I have been pretty busy. Potty training, sick babies, making good food for my husband to eat (Ramadan), going to parks, swimming lessons, teaching Z some preschool level skills.
Then music lessons are starting this week and family coming next week.

I am very much enjoying my new van. It brings a new level of freedom.
Where am I going to nurse my son, where am I going to change his diaper, and how am I going to keep an eye on my daughter while I do all that? Not to mention have have more than enough trunk space now I can start getting some craigslist deals since I now have the means to get items myself versus sending my husband out when ever he has the time. (I really want to to get G a jumperoo in the next couple of weeks.)

In other news the economy is really suffering. I see the pros and cons in this. Good because now those crazy housing prices are finally starting to adjust back down to normal levels, but bad because my husband is too scared of the economy to buy a house. Maybe the November election will bring some good change with the new year.

All in a days work....

throw-up in bed, blue paint in carpet, coffee table coasters soaked in urine (don't ask)....

Weight Loss Ticker

Finally....

I finally got my minivan. (I was supposed to get it before G was born.)

We were going to get the Odyssey but DH is a techy so he wanted some bells and whistles. He fell in love with this model a year ago when we rented one for a week.

We brought home mama's new baby....
A '08 Sienna XLE Limted with Dvd, leather, laser cruise, and bluetooth and some other fancy toys.





If you are bored here is an entertaining story....

We went to one dealer to get Costco pricing. We get their unload the kids and she says....I have the '08 at the other lot, let me get a car you can follow me. (Well at first she wate us to ride with her over...um hello two car seats lady....)
So we get to the other lot and unload the kids again.
"look as this beauty I drove over pre-owned '06 with 39K miles dvd, navigation, laser cruise...the works, only $31xxx."
The cars are all locked and they are all the '09. "I just wanted you to see them for color and feel them" (okay smoke much weed lady??) We tell her what we want, she says "that package doesn't exsist" I told her I just saw it last weekend. About 2-3 more times we tell her what we want and she continues to tell us that doesn't exists. Then she says we should go
She says let's go back, I can talk to my manager, and get some VIN to look up the costco pricing on.
We get back in our car the man & I are like this lady is crazy. We told her what we wanted, she said she had it in stock and all we wanted was a price. Now she is just wasting our time & she wants us to sit for 2 hours to get a price because she has to find the car by talking to her manager, searching the state, & typing in VINs....let's go. DH said let's just go and not say anything...if she asks we will say the kids were done. I told him, no I might be bringing our car their for service so we better just say thanks but no thanks.

Anyway we traveled to another dealer where we knew they had our car in stock & got it for about $1k more than the '06 the crazy lady showed us.

7 weeks

That is how long it took to loose 10lbs. I haven't had any junk food. When I crave it, I just try to squeeze into my pre-pregnancy clothes and that reminds me that I can do without.

At this rate I hope to start to fit in my old clothes in 2 more months.

Cashmere Cuddles Review

I had a chance to try out a carrier from Cashmere Cuddles for a few weeks. It is by far one of the most beautiful carriers I have seen and the pictures don't do them justice.

When I first tried this on I was overwhelmed and it wasn't as intuitive as the ergo. G was about 6 weeks at the time and had little head control so getting him in it was not easy. (You put it on and then put baby on shoulder like you are going to burp baby but a little higher than normal and then ease the baby down into the carrier.) G was not happy with his feet tucked inside and wasn't quite wide enough to sit in it like the picture (taken at 10 weeks when G was 16 lbs and 25.5" long.)




As you can see G doesn't have a lot of head control as this age but now Teri (the owner) has added the option of hoods that would help support little heads.

The carriers are very comfortable and light weight which is great on warm muggy days. There is also a matching tie to hold your child in closer to your body (not pictured.) Since this carrier lacks a lot of bulk it easily fits in any diaper bag and most purses. A huge plus over the ergo.

Cashmere Cuddles now has an online video available by requests for those of you that are like me and sometimes feel "carrier stupid." Seeing them used in real life and video really helped me with using it.

After using it for a few weeks, I am not sure this is the right carrier for a newborn just because getting them in and out (especially) is really difficult (since you need 2 hands to lift them out and then you don't have a free hand to support their head.) I think this is a great carrier starting at 3-5 months with the leg gussets and for half the price of an ergo you can't go wrong.

If I still lived in California (where the weather stays warmer longer) I would probably have Cashmere Cuddles make me one with gussets and have her add a zipper or velcro pocket since I always need an extra pocket for my phone, wallet, and keys.

2 months and 1 week later

I am down to 142 lbs and at this stage I am content. Sure I wish I was already back down to 125 but any progress is good progress.

Scamming ...

So we moved in March out of state so I canceled the car policy (since CSAA only covers you while living in CA.) They said okay we will get the refund check out to you at the end of the month.

I got busy and called back in May, they said check is going out on May 31st. Had Gibo called end of June, some other lame excuse, called July they said oh we sent it to your old address but we will cancel that check & send to your new address. (A obvious lie because; all mail is automatically fwd here and it never showed, I changed my mailing address to the current one before canceling the policy so why would they have sent it to the old one????)
I call today 1st call I wait, she comes back says it the re-issued check was mailed on the 28th (July) and then CSAA drops the call. I immediatly call back go through the maze of "press 1 for..." and instead of picking up I get a Buzz buzz...yeah guess what that means. I call back again get a new person he says it was mailed on 28th again & repeats my current address back to me minus the apartment #. "Opps!"

I find this entertaining because the post office can still deliver because it doesn't take an IQ to match the last name which is written inside the box so if they had received it, it would have been delivered or returned to CSAA by now. All the other times the CSAA people repeated my mailing address correctly WITH the apartment #.

To make matters more entertaining I went through somethig very similar with my old OBs billing department. Our medical insurence use to cut us a check to pay for bills and I made the mistake of mentioning this and her voice perked up & she wanted to know how much. Didn't tell her, but that lead to a similar string of events & her wanting me to pay over the phone without recieving the bill.Did she think I was stupid???

Makes me wonder if billing departments are starting to try to scam people and how many people have become the latest prey.

Mmmmmm...good

I have to share, cause my dinner was that good (I was tempted to lick the plate.)



Chicken breast marinated in Annies Organic balsamic raspberry dressing(I think that is the brand) for a day. Cooked 350 till no longer pink.

Basmeti rice (cooked with chicken broth or knorr chicken bullion cube already dissolved in water.)

Veggies
Half a decent size onion coarsely chopped and lightly sauteed in a little bit of butter
Half a bag (I think about 5 oz) of frozen corn
Half a bag of frozen peas
Half a can of tomato paste
1/4 to 1/2 a cup of water
2-3 shakes of garlic powder
about 1/2 teaspoon of all spice (you want to be able to smell it a little even after you stirred it in)
salt & pepper to taste

Let simmer stirring occasionally. You want a nice thick pasta sauce consistency.

Serve veggies over rice.



You can substitute the peas & corn with almost any veggie. We always to this with okra (just cook the okra until it is breaking up, mushy, sticky before adding the tomato paste) and peas and carrots. I think my MIL even does it with spinage and it is delicious. You could also change the rice broth flavor if you were having it with beef.


.....and this is how we get picky eaters to eat veggies in our (extended) family. :)

NBL

A group of friends are doing a kind of contest like Biggest Looser. We are all weighing ourselves this weekend and then 12 weeks from now we will weigh ourselves again.

Right before I got pregnant with Zuzu I was 115lbs (I am short) in between the pregnancies I got down to 125 lbs. My goal before I have another child is to get down to 120lbs or make sure all my old clothes fit a little more on the comfortable side.

I ordered 6 minute blast for a workout DVD, I figure I should be able to squeeze that in 5 days a week. It should be arriving soon and I can't wait.