step aside -- you may be next.
One year ago: We attend a pool party at Mary's.
Two years ago: I watch the very silly 1600.
Three years ago: We attend San Diego ComicCon.
Four years ago: What is avant-garde?
Today's news question:How much does the United States spend on foreign aid every year? What percentage of the federal spending is that? What percentage of the foreign aid is "humanitarian and development" aid and what percentage is "national security" aid?
(Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.)
Darin got a little bummed out this weekend. It happens. He works very hard, he hits the wall. Yesterday, Monday morning, he lolled around in bed with Sophia for a very long time.
"I don't want to go to work," he said.
"So don't," I said. "Take a mental health day."
Diane: already signing the "Darin can't go to school today" notes.
He played Heroes of Might and Magic III until we went out to lunch with Brent (sans Sophia). Then we went to Glendale Galleria to buy the ever-lengthening Pookie some new pj's.
He had a rough day at work today, since he got a little behind taking a day off. We went out to lunch at the Daily Grill, where we discovered we have a whole new baby: she bends, she twists, she can get out of her car seat by herself. She became very upset when we ignored her for any period of time. This made eating lunch difficult. I became a little sad, because we may not be able to go out to have lunch with Pookie any more. Waaah.
We went home. Darin went back to work. I went to Starbucks for an hour, which I spent mostly talking to a couple about their one year old daughter. Yes, I know, if I want to finish my writing projects I have to focus.
At the end of the day, Darin stopped by my office.
"According to the Blizzard site, Diablo II for Mac is out."
"So call Inter-Act in Pasadena and find out if they have it."
They did. Stacks and stacks. So we loaded Sophia in the car and drove to Pasadena so that Darin could buy a copy of Diablo II. He already has a copy of Diablo II coming from Outpost tomorrow. He knows, though, that we're going to need two copies in this family. (Like I'm going to find time to play it. Sheesh.)
He came home, started it up, and discovered that it didn't work on his machine. Never one to let a little thing like that stop him, Darin hacked it and discovered Diablo II for Mac didn't work with a Cinema Display. So he came up with a patch and immediately started playing.
If he asks for a mental health day tomorrow, he gets one. But I'm going to be more suspicious as to why he wants it.
On Sunday was the long-awaited reunion of our Cedars-Sinai birth class. Long-awaited because the organizer did not get her act together and organize it. Okay, fine, so I was supposed to organize it. Oh well.
Five couples came, which was a good number. We had munchies and more importantly we had babies to show off. Five extremely cute babies. One of them, Andrew, had this serious look on his face all the time, like he was contemplating the Grand Unified Theory of the Universe or something.
I, of course, forgot my camera! We were already over the hill when I remembered it and I mentioned it to Darin. "Do you want to go back for it?" he asked. The thought of driving back over a twisty canyon road right after having done it once turned my stomach. "No," I said. Luckily, another couple had a digital camera and took some pictures, so maybe I can get pix from them.
A couple of the moms talked about getting together. I'm not the only one who needs to get together with others! Hurrah!
After the reunion we decided to go to Pasadena, and we couldn't figure out the best way to get there from Cedars, so we drove across town to the 110. Yes, there were probably many, many better ways. But we really haven't seen many of LA's neighborhoods, and what better way to do it is there? We ended up getting lost in downtown LA -- which, to my mind, is not somewhere you want to get lost -- but we righted ourselves and headed on out to Hotsville.
(We're having a Pasadena kind of week so far.)
Pasadena is very nice, except for one factor: it makes even the Valley look chilly. It gets hot out in Pasadena. And since it's gotten July-hot in Los Angeles as a whole, Pasadena was sweltering. We went to Inter-Act (which didn't have Diablo II for Mac yet) and then to Vroman's Bookstore. I bought three of the Harlan Coben books I hadn't yet read (except for Back Spin and Darkest Fear) and three new baby books, two of them in Spanish. I was tempted to get Buenos noches, Luna but stopped myself.
Dora reads to Sophia all the time and I figured getting a few books in Spanish was a good idea. I realize that Dora's presence is probably not enough to get Sophia speaking Spanish, but I like the idea of her starting to hear other languages early.
I have already read all the Harlan Coben books I bought, by the way. (And if you think that's easy with a 4-month-old, think again.) Not only are they extremely well-plotted -- I wonder how much he plans ahead of time -- but they're honest-to-goodness mysteries. You can, if you are paying attention, figure it out. Clues are given. I have noticed in many mysteries that they're not so much classical mysteries as a chronicling of a strange story being uncovered. I really enjoy Coben's mysteries because not only do I have to pay attention to the clues, there's a real good emotional punch at the end as well. I finished Fade Away and went, "Oh wow," because I had totally not seen that coming (although, as I've said, if I'd been paying closer attention...).
Then I found out he won the Edgar Award for it. Heh.
Well, nothing passes me by, you know.
If you do decide to pick up one of Coben's, you should do it in order: not only does his writing skill increase with each book, but the characters progress between book and you may find yourself wondering why X is doing such-and-so when something else happened in another book. They go: Deal Breaker, Drop Shot, Fade Away, Back Spin, One False Move, The Final Detail, and Darkest Fear.
Did I mention I thought the Fenugreek regimen was working?
Hahahahahaha.
This morning I nursed Sophia and then went upstairs to pump. (One big recommendation is that you pick one time of day to pump, to alert your body to make more milk at that time.)
Eight ounces. Up from two ounces in just a few days. I don't think I'll be having any problem storing milk for Sophia while I'm out of the house.
I wonder if this stuff works on non-lactating women. You get bigger breasts, that's for sure. They just hurt all the time.
At the birth class reunion I mentioned that I had had a problem with making too much milk, and another mom, who had had to supplement nursing with formula-feeding said, "You're lucky." Well, yes and no. Yes, it's better than having to use formula if you don't want to use formula.
But when you hyperlactate you're in pain. Real, honest-to-goodness pain. Your breasts turn hard. When the baby nurses on one side you have severe let-down on the other, so if you're not wearing a nursing pad your shirt gets drenched. Usually when the baby starts nursing, she chokes and coughs at the initial gush of milk, so she pulls off, spraying milk everywhere.
On the other hand, if you're a conscientious citizen you can make donations to milk banks.
Feeding Sophia when I'm not around is tricky business today. Yesterday she would not take the bottle at all and was howling in hunger for me to come save her. Today she used the sippy cup and drank a few ounces. She clearly drinks less than she would if she were nursing from me, but she's taking it.
Tomorrow is Wednesday night. We hope success with the sippy cup continues. Otherwise Darin's going to have another long night.
The only thing Darin hates about my nursing Sophia is the way I "moo" every so often. He thinks I'm putting myself down. "No, I'm not," I tell him. "After all, I'm a Moom now."
And now, this week's moment of Pookie Zen:
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
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