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waiting.... waiting....
today i have my surgeon's appointment at 1115.... andrew and mary catherine have gone - so now i'm on my own. i haven't had this much baby/responsibility free time in a while. what to do? hmm... perhaps a nap? nah - too hard to wake up from. perchance a long bath? oooh, now you're talking. off to bubble in the tubble, i think. [am dreading this appt and very nervous about it - sorry for the pathetic excuse of a post]
latest mc art
to crawl or not to crawl - that is the question...
we're thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to crawling - but so far, she's only going backwards!
venti, wet, xtra hot mocha - which i have to drink in the next 6 minutes as i have an ultrasound today that requires i starve 6 hours beforehand. the ultrasound is to verify that i have, of all things, gallstones. if, indeed, they find them - then under the knife i go to have my gallbladder out. needless to say, i really don't feel like having that done. i wonder how having surgery will affect breastfeeding and i'd be gutted to be away from mary catherine while in the hospital. but gallstones are painful - so it would be nice to know that i wouldn't have to suffer.. by the way - gallstones when you're breastfeeding and not able to take major pain killers is really horrible. oh, you feel like someone's ripping your stomach out? here, have a tylenol/paracetemol. it's been unpleasant, to say the least.
speaking of breastfeeding. mary catherine is nine months today and for about the past two months people have started to ask me when we're going to stop breastfeeding. do people ask bottle feeders when they're going to stop bottle feeding? as you might know, i pump twice a day here at work. a co-worker (female, even) a few weeks ago saw me washing my pump parts and said 'oh god, how long do you have to do that for?' i calmly told her that i don't have to breastfeed my child, it's something i choose to do and tried to explain to her that the nutrional benefits of breastfeeding don't magically turn off when the child reaches 6 months.
i've noticed that when people ask me how long i'm going to breastfeed, they always bring up a friend or relative that 'fed hers for 6 months'.. and while that is an accomplishment, it's almost like there is this universal idea that 6 months is plenty of time to feed breastmilk. it's weird. and sad. whenever people ask, and most do (hard not to when you see a squirming, non docile older child nursing, i guess?) i try and explain that mary catherine and i will stop nursing at an agreeable time.. drives me crazy.
we're back.
we just got back from 5 days in northumberland at andrew's parents' new house... it was LOVELY. 360 degrees of air, sky and space. a darn sight better than the clutter of london. makes me sad to be back in the saddle here at work, that's for sure. anyway - will write more in a bit.. just getting back on my feet again.
a few snaps from the weekend - more to come.
   
mc night vision
taken last night... oooh - technology.
so annoyed.
i just read this article that i saw on aimee's site - and i must admit it's the first thing i've ever read that i immediately penned an irate response to. how can someone insist that nursing women breastfeed in a public bathroom? do you eat your dinner in a toilet? i think not. then why should your child.
i hate that people seem to forget that breasts are for more than selling beer and cars. furious. angry. sad. i'll let you know if i hear back from her. if you read this article and feel it's out of line - i'm sure ms erbe would love to hear from you too.
what did you have today?
oh woe is me... well more like woe is them. doesn't starbucks know to not eff with a woman who's running low on energy and is desperate for a little early morning somethin' somethin'? for $&#@ sake - if i ask for wet make the damn thing wet. i hate a half cup of foam when i've just shucked out £2.59 for a big mother coffee. ugh! so i told the guy to make my venti, skinny, xtra hot, wet mocha again. i felt mean.
last night i went to a going away dinner for my friend josephine. she, her husband and cute daughter myra are moving back to singapore. myra and mary catherine are a mere three days apart in age. i'm totally bummed that they're moving. the weird thing about jo, engbeng and myra is that andrew and i see them randomly on weekends. it seems like no matter where we are - there they are. i'm really going to miss that.
sarah and i were going to venture to the tesco afterwards for a little late night shopping, as i've gotta pick stuff up for our forthcoming trip to northumberland ... but it was too late by the time we finished gabbing like little old ladies in the parking lot. sarah says she'll join me tonight - i hope she does.. otherwise, it'll just be me - roaming the aisles of the tesco in search of organic whole wheat pasta and sweet potatoes.
speaking of baby food and women i like - i've created a new online community for parents. that makes it sound a bit formal - it's not really. more like a place to get to know other people with babies from around the world. i think pooling resources is a great idea - and i really hope this works. it's open to anyone - flip me an email and i'll send you an invite. the name was thought of by anthea, as we were having a discussion on how to fake making exquisite baby food for not much dosh. hence, cheat eats.
aiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
i have a headache. ouch.
i am so chuffed!
my friend anthea just rang... and wouldn't you just know it, she's pregnant! her son, angus, is three weeks older than mary catherine.. i'm absolutely floored. well, floored and so pleased for them! i can't stop smiling, really. a silly little grin is just sitting on my face. i must admit i felt a twinge of envy when she told me and the news sunk in.
yay - a blessed addition. :)
i laughed til i peed.
read today's joy of tech it's about we them that blog.
cheese rating
makes my heart go thump.
ahhh.. monday
venti, wet, xtra hot, mocha .. the usual for a usual monday. i was without coffee all weekend.. i hate that. what did you have today?
here's a picture i took with my phone [sony ericsson t610] two weeks ago on the hottest day...ever. we were at canary wharf and mary catherine was chowing down on a rice cake. i love having a phone with a camera in it - it really allows me to get snaps of things in situations where i might not want/be able to whip out the 'real' camera.
 this weekend i got a bluetooth headset for my mobile phone.. i think it is totally geekily awesome.. i like that i can just say who i want to call and it happens, right in my ear without having to take my phone out of my bag.
cheese ratings:
sony ericsson T610:  3/4
sony ericsson bluetooth headset hbh-60: 4/4
1. How much time do you spend online each day?
well, being a total nerd my entire day is pretty much spent online.. and i usually hop on and do some reading in the evenings when the baby's gone to bed. so uh - i guess my answer is a LOT. good news is that i'm virtually unplugged on weekends.
2. What is your browser homepage set to?
BBCi
3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
I use trillian while at work and Fire at home to manage my contacts on AIM, MSN, and Yahoo. My screen names are on the left should you ever need me.
4. Where was your first webpage located?
it was (and still is!) piggybacked onto A's companies site... one of these days, I'd love to own elizabethdunne.com - feel free to buy it for me here I'll, of course, love you forever.
5. How long have you had your current website?
Over two years now.. my how virtual time flies!
just for sarah
venti, xtra hot, wet mocha with no cream..
what did YOU have today?
jest fer yoo
tunes added ... enjoy.
cheese rating:
a few years ago i never knew what this stuff was...
our ftp thing has been down today - hence no posts, no nothing. i want my money back.
cheese rating:
the eyes have it..
happy to know that the baby's eyes are finally on the mend. loads less goo is pouring forth and she seems to be in much better spirits. my friend kate comes into town on thursday - she'll be with us for 12 days. i hope the weather is better for her than it is now. i can now officially say that i was there on the UK's hottest day ...... ever. at least i spent that day indoors at the wharf sipping a mocha with friends.
our flat is hot. like africa hot. but we treated ourselves to a new bin ... it's a brabantia. we're not posh - we just pretend to be.
the [overdue] friday five
1. What's the last place you traveled to, outside your own home state/country?
The last place I travelled to was Atlanta, Georgia - which is where my parents live. Since I live overseas, it seems that most of my holidays are spent going home. Which is perfectly fine with me. I think Andrew would like to eventually be able to see a bit more of the States, but he understands my need to see my family. He's a good guy, that Andrew.
2. What's the most bizarre/unusual thing that's ever happened to you while traveling?
I came to London for the first time when I was 18.. which is the legal drinking age in this country (vs 21 in the US). My friend Chuck and I had our picture taken with a parrot under the bridge near the Tower of London. It was really weird and ranks right up there as far as bizarre experiences goes.
3. If you could take off to anywhere, money and time being no object, where would you go?
I think I'd like to cruise around the world. Cruise ships are like floating restaurants with beds upstairs - and I can't think of a better, slow way to see things.
4. Do you prefer traveling by plane, train or car?
I prefer traveling by plane - but I think because I travel on planes so often that I treat them a bit like the bus, really. I get very annoyed with people who think flying is a luxury and that the staff on planes are their personal servants.
5. What's the next place on your list to visit?
The next visit anywhere will be back to Atlanta over Christmas and New Years. I've just asked for the time off and am hoping it's approved.
good monday morning...
so our usual gentle, sweet and wonderful mary catherine has been replaced by a very needy and screaming mary catherine who has a cold to such an extent that green goo is coming out of her eyes.. (did you know that the nose, ear, throat and eyes are all connected?) i feel so badly for her because it's obvious that she's not well.
i'm thinking that we might see some teeth soon - at 8.5 months it's about time we finally see those suckers coming through. we've only been teething for 4 months. so we've sent her to nursery today - but i feel guilty doing so. i sort of want to cozy up with her somewhere and just nurse her constantly and somehow make it all better.
anyway - happy monday.
venti, xtra hot, wet mocha.. i deserved it.
image courtesy of ameda breastpumps..
there she is.. the happy pumping full time working mother. note how clean her outfit is - no baby snot there, no sirree. ha! like this woman is really a working, pumping mom!
where are the bags under her eyes? where are the milk stains on her shirt? where are her boobs that leak as if they have a mind of their own? why doesn't she have the look of a woman exposing herself to her filing cabinets all the while hoping and praying that no one decides to knock on her door because they need something? where are the wads of paper towels that i seem to have stuffed in every nook and cranny of the desk to catch any wayawrd tell-tale droplets of milk?
no, this is not a woman who's preparing to feed her mechanical baby. no way. no how.
(can you guess where i'm going now?)
NONE. nada. zip. zilch. zero. and i'm a cranky girl because of it.
yesterday was sarah's birthday - so happy birthday sarah! we went to theirs last night for a birthday take away. it was tasty, but left me wondering where did the time in my life go where a birthday was an excuse to par-tay until the sun came up? to be honest, i prefer not having the excuse. i liked just sitting around with the baby and friends. little things make me happy. i haven't always been like that.
today is my last day in the orifice.. erm, office for the week. gotta love flex time. although, i feel incredibly guilty taking the time off. but i do it anyway - because my time with mary catherine makes me forget that i don't see her during the week as much as i'd like. that someone else loves her when i'm not around. i like the nursery she's in - very much. and that helps heaps.
i'm muggy today. and a bit blah. i hope it's just lack of caffeine and not a bit of the sads.
venti wet xtra hot mocha in a paper cup. duh.
oh - the air conditioning has been fixed here at work. life is grand. of course, i wore a short sleeved polo-type shirt which isn't exactly professional looking. but i was preparing to sweat. thank gosh i'm not. i deplore sweat.
i'm on hold trying to book the spa experience that andrew gave me for my birthday last year when i was verrrrry pregnant. guess he thought i was in need of pampering. he was right. i need some large woman named anoushka to beat on me for an hour, then rub me with sea salt from some dark dank ocean and then scrub it off me with a broom and cold water. is that too much to ask?
my friend sarah has agreed to accompany me. a whole day of girlie fun, leaving mc and her son patrick with the husbands. fun!
it's freaking hot in here..
long story short - the fusebox that supplies our office with electricity died a horrible smoking death yesterday (and again this morning) thanks to the hot temps in london. so we've borrowed power, thanks to a million extension cords, but there is no air conditioning.
it's hot in here. positively tropical - like being in the jungle. not that i've ever been in the jungle, but it's £$%@ hot! makes me cranky - my hair is really fried and i think even my ankles are sweating. i just got back from running my hands under the cold tap for 5 minutes in the loo.
help. check this out.
never knew how much i loved thee...
this morning we awoke to nothing but the baby's cries and the alarm. no meows. no angry scratching of our feet. no blind climbing in our bedroom. no black cat. no fwed. he was there when andrew got up to comfort mary catherine back to sleep at 4am. but come 5:45 - gone.
the living room window had been left open by mistake and it seems that our little housebound furry prisoner of love saw his chance for freedom and took it sometime after 4am. we were gutted. andrew roamed the canal, garage, park and neighbourhood for 20 minutes calling his name. i planned the 'have you seen this animal' signs in my head while feeding mary catherine a rather slapped together bowl of apple and raspberry muesli. i cried. i called my parents in the states to let them know that our insane, devilish yet loveable on his terms, cat had disappeared and was unlikely to return. i thought selfishly about finding another flat and how it would be now that we didn't have a liability known as 'cat'. i cried more and asked andrew to take away the food bowls that litter our tiny kitchen floor. i contemplated how long to leave the litter box out in hopes of a miracle. i shuddered at the thought of mary catherine no longer being able to stare at her favourite moving toy and wondered silently if i would be able to bear watching her look for him, knowing that he wasn't there.
just as i was getting up to get mary catherine ready for school - i heard a tiny meow coming from outside the patio doors in the living room. the prodigal puss had defied my estimation of his intelligence and made his way back home again. in some ways, i wonder why.. in other ways i know.
all in all - i'm glad he returned, grateful even. welcome home small black cat. welcome back.
great prices - great sadness
first of all - lemme tell you that for those of you living in the UK, british airways is having a fantastic sale. click here. travel must be between 1 november and 12 december.
secondly - lemme tell you that i'm very sad not to be taking advantage of said sale. it seems that andrew and i are of different opinions on whether or not mary catherine and i should be allowed to travel to the states without him. i can understand him to a point - i realise that to him it's not fair that she and i would get to go and have a good time. but the way i see it is that i have the holiday, the fares are cheap and i miss my family like crazy. i really don't think there should even be a debate on this.
am i being selfish?
today's coffee: venti SKINNY wet xtra hot mocha...
click here to check out the bbc london webcam.. it's hazy and humid today. gross.
ho hum
today we were going to go to bluewater but i just can't be bothered. it just feels wrong to go there on a sunday.
yesterday was oscar brodie bell's christening - it was lovely to be there surrounded by my mum & baby friends. of course - our section of the church was the loudest, but isn't that what we were there for? to celebrate the glory of bringing our children in contact with god? exactly. all in all a lovely day.
sarah's birthday is this week - andrew and i are keeping patrick for them on wednesday night so they can go out for a birthday wing ding (okay, probably only dinner) i am really looking forward to it. i love their little house and i covet their smeg fridge. is it wrong to covet? i know that one of the 10 commandments is that thou shalt not covet another man's ox - do smeg fridges count in that catagory? it's cute, big and beige. *sigh*
anyway - i think it's a canary wharf day today. i love going to waitrose on sundays and buying dinner. makes me really appreciate where we live.
today's starbucks: cutty sark, greenwich
today's coffee: venti wet mocha in a paper cup even though we were drinking in. i worry about how they clean their mugs - ever seen a dishwasher at starbucks? i think not.
mac weather girl
what do you think? should i add her to the page as a daily feature? i think it might be a bit too cutesy for me. you see - i'm not really a cutesy person. i have this love of lotion and shower gel, but that is as froo as i get. i like to think of my personal style as comfortable. i read a quote today [on my hair wax, if truth be told - inspiration is everywhere, friends] it said 'style is more important than fashion.' i like that. because lord only knows i'm not fashionable. but i would like to think that i do have my own style - maybe it's not the norm - but it is mine.
i do like pink things and glitter.. but only in theory, never in practice. well - almost never on the glitter front. sometimes i can't help it. okay - i've just talked myself out of keeping the stupid weather cartoon thing. her rainbow umbrella annoys me. however, she is carrying an old school ibook, so she gets snaps for that.
the friday five
1. What time do you wake up on weekday mornings?
we usually begin our days either: a.) when mary catherine wakes up or b.) by 05:45 - early, huh?
2. Do you sleep in on the weekends? How late?
nope - a and i have discovered the joy of starting early... if i'm not up and doing by 08:30 i feel like i've wasted a lot of time.
3. Aside from waking up, what is the first thing you do in the morning?
check to see if mary catherine is still asleep.
4. How long does it take to get ready for your day?
we get up at 05:45 and gone by 07:15. sounds leisurely, but there's lots that has to happen to get us our the door.
5. When possible, what is your favorite place to go for breakfast?
the waffle house.. but that's not really possible - now is it.
the town what where i lives
BBC - London Live Webcam
just for my friend kate [who's coming to visit in less than two weeks!] i thought you could use this to check the weather with regards to packing appropriate clothing!
new feature...
today's coffee: venti, wet, xtra hot mocha
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