Orion went to the dentist today for the first time ever and it went way, WAY better than I ever anticipated.
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It’s official: I’m a terrible blogger. Despite my best intentions and promises to post more regularly, here we are again, days later, and not much to show for it. I actually don’t feel too badly about it though, because I’m out there living my real life, while my blog, Facebook, Twitter and the rest of my cyber world gathers dust.
We went to three parties over the weekend and today we went to the LA Zoo. I didn’t take a single photo and I wasn’t blogging in my head once while we were out and about. I simply lived in the moment and enjoyed myself.
I’ll get back to regularly scheduled blogging eventually, but for now, I’m enjoying real life. And there’s no way I’m apologizing for that.
Real life looks a little something like this
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Surely I’m going to jinx us by announcing this to the entire Internet, but for the past month or so, I have been able to put Orion to bed awake and he’s been falling asleep on his own. No more nursing, rocking, shushing, whathaveyou for an hour straight. Just 10 minutes or so of nursing and cuddling, then we say goodnight, I lay him down and walk out the door. That’s it. Life has just gotten exponentially easier. And it only took about two years. (Gulp.)
Here’s hoping I didn’t ruin it by broadcasting to the world.
And for a dose of cuteness, here’s a cute screen cap of him cuddling with his doll, Lars, a few nights ago.
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Maybe it’s the raging pregnancy hormones, but I’m feeling extra Christmasy this year.
In our 10 years together, Erik and I had never gotten an “official” Christmas tree; the years we bothered to decorate at all, we used a little potted pine that had lived with me through college. (And has since died. RIP Norfolk Island Pine #1.) This year seemed like the right time to take the plunge and get a real live tree (although since it’s been cut I guess it’s technically dying, right?). I had been collecting ornaments from all our travels and was excited for Orion to help decorate the tree.
Orion was beyond thrilled to take part, but it turns out he is much better at taking ornaments off rather than hanging them. It’s a constant battle to keep him from totally mugging our cute little pine, and after trying to reason with him (and failing), we’ve decided that it looks perfectly lovely with only its top half adorned.
Between the cat and the toddler, I’m hoping this bad boy survives the next few weeks.
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I know, I know… I kind of suck because I’m here one day and gone the next. Let me make it up to you with some pics of our recent Thanksgiving voyage to Puerto Vallarta. I promise we’ll be around more from now on. (Well, until our next trip, anyway, which is in four weeks…)
Iguana gawking
Hungry waiting
Sandy beaching. (Not bad, eh?)
Relaxing
Ocean frolicking
Rock climbing
Balcony sunset-ing
Blanca Blue dining
Gaby’s lunching
Malecon strolling
Sand sculpturing
Posing
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We are going to be stepping out until after Thanksgiving. I’ll return with tales of our Mexican adventures! Feliz Thanksgiving!
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Funny what a difference a few years can make.
A couple weeks ago we took a mini vacation to New Orleans. Erik was there to attend a conference and Orion and I joined him later in the week just for fun.
Erik and I used to live in the New Orleans area from 2000 to 2002 — officially the longest two years of my life. I absolutely hated living there at the time. It was a weird time in my life — I had recently finished college and moved to Phoenix where I met Erik, with whom I ended up moving to Louisiana just a few short months later. I was rootless and directionless, unsure of this new relationship I dove into and more than a little depressed. I also thought Louisiana was incredibly backwards, sexist, racist and a lot of other “-ists,” plus it was hotter than Hades. And the mosquitoes. My god, the mosquitoes.
We lived just outside New Orleans in a house on stilts over the bayou in a swampy suburban town called Slidell. I worked as a temp in New Orleans my first year there so I got to know the city pretty well as I was bouncing from office job to office job, drifting down its storied streets like a plastic bag caught in the wind.
For years I thought I’d never want to go back, but since Hurricane Katrina, and after a few years of older-and-hopefully-wiser perspective, I was dying to go back and see the place I once reluctantly called home.
Orion arrived in New Orleans ready to party!
Off to bed, youngster. (I KID, I kid. This was totally his idea, by the way.)
BP has its oily fingerprints all over this city.
Being a good boy for lunch at one of our old favorites, Bayona, in the French Quarter.
Braving the freakishly chilly weather (that we came totally unprepared for) in the courtyard at Bayona.
St. Louis Cemetery — a NOLA must-see if you’re into creepy cool stuff.
Jackson Square. I didn’t take a lot of French Quarter and Garden District photos, even though they’re the “highlights” of the city, simply because I already have albums full of shots just like that.
Performance art in the French Quarter. These guys are seriously amazing.
We used to live in this house. Near the bottom of the pic, past the parking area, you can catch a glimpse of Salt Bayou, where we used to spend evenings and weekends out on our boat.
Our view from the front of the house. Lots and lots of swamp land.
This was right down the street from our old house. Hurricane Katrina hit this area hard. Not much left here.
This boardwalk over the swamp has certainly seen better days. The end of it is crooked and being eaten the muck. Swamp life is not easy on structures or people.
I do miss these trees.
When the purser on our flight back home to California announced, “Now you know what it means to miss New Orleans,” I actually knew what he was talking about. I’m not embarrassed to admit I had a little tear in my eye for this place that had left a profound mark on me after all.
(I’m still glad I don’t live there anymore though.)
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Like pretty much all parents, I’m always bragging about what a smart cookie my kid is. I really believe it to be true though — Orion’s incredibly intuitive and he understands everything we tell him. (He’s also genuinely kind, gentle, compassionate and giving, but I’ll brag about those traits some other time.) We’ve been talking about how he’s going to have a sibling soon, and I’m constantly telling him what a great big brother he is going to be. He’s been going with us to my OBGYN appointments and has seen a couple ultrasounds already. Whenever we’re out and about and we see a new little baby, he takes a definite, noticeable interest. Even though he’s only 21 months old, the kid knows what’s up.
He’s taken a newly intense liking to his little buddy (my childhood Cabbage Patch Kid), Lars. He and Lars sleep together, and sometimes eat and play together. The other day he wanted Lars to go for a car ride with him, and he went to great lengths to make sure Lars was comfortable and safely secured for the journey.
Fastening Lars in. How do you work this latchy thing again?
A few minor adjustments… by the face, but who cares?
All buckled in and ready to go!
Double checking to make sure Lars is ready to roll. What else might he need? TOYS, of course!
A few more playthings for Lars and now we’re ready.
That should be enough.
All set. Let’s go, mama!
Orion needed help with Lars’ car seat buckles, but he did everything else himself, including setting Lars in his seat, showering him with toys and sitting beside him and buckling his own seatbelt. This kid could end up being a huge help to me!
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Hooray for finally letting the cat out of the bag! I’m officially 11.5 weeks pregnant, thanksforasking. The only thing worse than being pregnant, exhausted and ridiculously queasy is not being able to bitch openly about it. Sorry, Internets, I just wasn’t ready to tell you until this moment. Now that I’m closing the door on the first trimester, I’m slowly but surely starting to feel better and ready to spill the beans.
First trimester hormones are… how do you say… a bitch. The past five weeks have been rough, to put it mildly. I’ve been 100 times more nauseous this time around than I ever was with Orion, and being paralyzed with nausea and trying to keep a toddler entertained is no easy feat.
The nausea is finally subsiding—thank god—and I’m able to actually eat a meal again. For weeks just the thought alone of food was enough to turn me into a sweaty, stomach-crampy mess. The worst part was that the only food I could tolerate was junk food—like chips and nutritionally devoid garbage like that. (Albeit the health-ified Whole Foods-variety of chips, but still…) I don’t usually EVER eat that kind of stuff, so it was really weird that that was the only thing I wanted. All I can say is thank god for prenatal vitamins, because I don’t think I ate a single vegetable for about two or three weeks in a row.
And seriously, who ordered the pizza face? My mug has been raped and pillaged by acne for weeks now. And it’s not only my face… it’s even on my scalp and the back of my neck. When I was pregnant with Orion I had an itchy rash all over my back and upper arms that lasted about a month. I thought it was annoying at the time, but I would much rather have that than the cruel joke that is my face right now. I’m very much looking forward to that second trimester glow. Seriously. Any day now. I’m waiting for you, glow.
Other than the above-mentioned nuisances and the occasional random mood swings and weep fests, I’m doing great. All my checkups have been good so far and I’m looking forward to once again rubbing my torpedo belly, feeling little feet kicking, and all that good stuff that comes along with the territory.
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Hi everybody!
Orion here. Do you like my t-shirt? It’s true… I’m going to be a big brother as of May 2011! I’m pretty excited about it. My mama keeps telling me what a great big brother I’m going to be. Wouldn’t you say I look like totally awesome big bro material judging by this photo?
Speaking of mama, she’s sorry she hasn’t been keeping up with the blog very well lately. She’s been exhausted and nauseous 24/7, but starting to feel better now that she’s entering the second trimester. Expect to hear more from her soon, including some fun giveaways! (You could win some personalized Blossie Designs threads like the shirt I’m wearing, as well as some other cool stuff. Stay tuned!)
We’ve also been doing some traveling, and mama will post pics of that soon, too. Oh, and if you’re excited by our news, please vote for us on topbabyblogs.com by clicking here.
See you soon!
Love,
Orion
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