Guitar time

Cannonball....

Sick boys

I came back from my trip to 3 sickos (yes, Tim is stick too). Coughing, stuffy noses, irritability, but the worst is the not being able to sleep through the night. For the past two nights that I have been home we have been woken up with sick kiddies. Then you get the fun middle of the night routine to do: give them some water, take them to the restroom, take them downstairs for a little medicine, some honey for their throats, some saline for their noses, some blue ball suction, and then try to get them back to bed. It seems as the only way I can get them back into bed is letting them co-sleep together. They share blankets and give each other hugs and kisses and then fall asleep. The hard part is getting the parents to fall back to sleep especially when you have to be up at 5:30 to go to LA or take a 6 am t-con. To top it off P got kicked out of preschool with a fever yesterday and now he has to stay home with me (since Tim is in LA) for 24 hrs before returning. I think these days are the hardest for a working parent. Somehow I have to take care of the child and also try to take t-cons, write reports, e-mails, and make my billables and deadlines. I also have to wrestle with the guilt of essentially parking the sick boy in front of Scooby Doo all day. I guess we all do what we have to do.

Poor Adam was so upset that he had to go to school by himself today. He pouted, cried, and stated how he is not going to go to school over and over. It was a very trying morning.

Tasted the good life

Somehow I lucked out on my latest business trip and was bumped up to first class on my nonstop, round trip flight from San Diego to Newark. I had only flown first class once before from SF to Vancouver for my honeymoon, so needlessly I was very excited for my trip. Ahh, it was the way business people should travel. Meals, drinks, comfy chairs, and the service. I enjoyed the tablecloths and the "my pleasure" response to my thank yous. The only problem was that I had pre-ordered (due to my work profile) a vegetarian meal (as they really don't have a pescatarian option). They hand you a menu with dining choices when you settle in to your seats. As I was looking over the menu, I had my mouth water at the tasty fish/shell fish dishes and even contemplated the whole wheat pasta with the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. Then when it came time to order, I was nicely told that I had a special meal set aside for me. To my disappointment, it was the low fat/vegan meal option. While everyone was dining on crusted halibut with sauteed asparagus and shallots or beef tenderloin with garlic potatoes and gravy, I was devouring my grilled tomato and steamed veggies with brown rice and a vegan cookie. Granted, It was probably much healthier for me. However, I did manage to get served the non-vegan ice-cream dessert with the works. MMMMmmm. Being in first class, I didn't even mind that we had to sit at the terminal an extra 1.5 hours before pushing back late last night.


When I was gone, Tim saw AJ taking a pitcher into the bathroom and filing it up with water. Then he went outside and watered my flowers. He said that will make mommy so happy. What a sweetie.

Beach Bums

This is why we love San Diego. Adam loves boogie boarding. PJ rather use it as a skim board. Fun days at Del Mar.

Lesson Learned

I will never run 4.5 miles again in a thong.

Fashion Police

So I decided to wear a black t-shirt type top to work today with beige docker pants. I was putting AJ into the truck to go to school and he says:
"Why are you wearing that shirt? It is not a stay home day. This shirt is not a work shirt."

How does he know these things?

Curiously Strong

Our boys have interesting tastes. They love Altoids. Typically they throw 3 (it used to be 2) in their mouths, chew, and take big mouth inhales. They tell us it tastes "spicy". Well, Tim caught the boys this morning pillaging his Altoids container. (Silence usually means trouble.) They had already eaten their fill, but Adam managed to procure 3 additional Altoids. Adam was discussing what he would do with the Altoids when he got to school. He told Patrick that there will be one for himself, one for Patrick and one for Carlito. Patrick told him that Carlito hit him last week so he shouldn't get one. They discussed this during the whole ride to school and decided on another friend who deserved it more. Their negotiation skills kill me.

Fun with Mommy in the Park

I want to be a cowboy

So Tim tells the boys I went to Washington, DC for work. We get a note from the school today:
Monday- Teacher: "Where's Mommy?"
Boys: "She went to DC to do laundry"
Wednesday-Teacher: " I heard Mommy is back"
Boys: "Yeah she is done doing laundry"

Don't you love 3 year old ears. They asked me if all my DC laundry was done this morning. So silly.

What more can they take away?

Seriously, can flying get much worse? Not only are you forced like cattle on a plane for 5 hours (and I still have to transfer planes), stare at ads on your tray table, and watch commercials on TV, but now they no longer provide you with beverages. Not even water. Oh you can purchase a small bottle of water for $2! I guess you are getting a deal because if you purchase water at the terminal you have to pay $2.89.

Even I can grow

Tonight I did something that I always wanted to do, but always chickened out in the end. I am in DC (Bethesda actually) and after checking into my hotel I took a walk through the neighborhood looking for some food for dinner. It was a beautiful night-70ish with no humidity! Typically, I usually find something where I can just get take out or even order room service. Not tonight! I found a cute restaurant (Red Tomato Cafe) on St. Elmo Ave. I entered the restaurant and asked for a table for one. I ate my dinner entree and had a glass of wine all by myself. It was actually much more enjoyable and less awkward than I had anticipated. Not to say I don't prefer dining with someone, but now I won't be so quick to dismiss dining solo.

Birthmark Blues

Patrick was born with a port wine stain (PWS) that covers the upper left half of his face- which makes it easy to tell the boys apart. He goes to the outpatient center at Children's to get laser surgery for its removal. It is kinda big ordeal for him as he is put under general anesthesia (usually with IV) due to the PWS being around his eye and wakes up looking beat up with bright red/purple dots where his now faded PWS is. He also gets scared when the doctors takes him away from me and they go on the "spaceship" (he gets to press the surgery double doors, hence the spaceship and gets a special mask). He has had so many laser treatments (I lost count at 10) since he was 6 months old that his birthmark is a light blush color.

It is about time to make for his hopefully last major laser session (next are supposedly just touch up time: Yea!) and I tell Patrick that I am going to call the hospital for his appointment. He is very excited to "get his birthmark" as he thinks the aftermath of laser treatment is the actual birthmark. He also likes the look of his face after treatment and I have caught him admiring himself in the mirror. He told me that it is beautiful. Also, now that he is older he enjoys getting the Popsicles and juice (a no-no in our house: bad bellies like their mom) from the kind nurses after he wakes. He brags about this to his brother who is insanely jealous and now wants a birthmark too. Well, Patrick made a deal with Adam this time on the way to pre-school.
A: I want a birthmark too, Pat.
P: Ok, Ad, you can go to the spaceship doctor and get a birthmark and drink juice and have Popsicles.
A: Yea! I will let you read my airplane book.
P: Lot of times?
A: Lot of times.
P: and I can wear the blue CARS shirt lot of times.
A: yes lot of times.

Then they held hands and were very pleasent the whole ride to school.

Too young for ghost stories

Our boys have been having trouble going to bed on time. We put them up there between 7:15- 7:30 and they seem to just play for hours. It wouldn't be so bad if they played nicely, but my boys seem to scream for us every 10 minutes. "Patrick threw his blanket at me".."Adam hit me" ... "That's cause you threw your blanket at me" ..."I am thirsty" ..."I got to go potty"... "I got to go poo poo" (we run on that one). None stop chatter. I think it is hard because it is still light out and warm in their rooms. Well, last night was especially hard and it didn't seem that they'd ever go to bed, so Tim decides to tell them a ghost story. We all sat on the ground around the night light and Tim told the story of a scary, crazy skunk. He even hit the floor for sound effects while I make skunk noises. (I made some weird screeching noise at least since I am not sure what noise a skunk makes). Well he finished his story which ended with a big tickle monster and him and me tickling the boys. The boys didn't make a sound. No usual laughter from the tickle and their bodies were ridged. Adam tells us "I want to go to bed". Patrick says, "I do too". They went to their beds, got under the covers, and there wasn't a peep out of them until morning.

Fired up

Last night I went out with the twin ladies, which was lovely. I need to flee the coup and get my lady conversation on every once in a while for my own sanity. It is my chance to have some wine and share life and twin related stories. Well, one of the stories got me all fired up. Apparently, during a playgroup one twin mother had the audacity to insult another mother about her decision to be an out of the home working mother claiming that her children suffer because of her "selfish" decision to work. Naturally, my working friend never returned to another playgroup.

As a working mother myself and also because I was raised by a working mother, I get infuriated at such accusations. A decision for a mother to work outside the home or not is a personal one and typically, this decision is not made lightheartedly. It is a complicated formula filled with different variables including that of personal traits, monetary factors, career expectations, goals, and guilt. It is disappointing to hear a women from this day and age be so ignorant and say such insulting remarks.

Personally, I think my children are better served having me as a working parent. I think I set an example for them that women can do anything that men can do and should be treated as an equal and respected in the workplace and life despite their family situation. I show my boys that as men and fathers they will be expected to be equal contributing members of the family and do their share to make the household run. They will understand that by having working parents they will have disappointments as a result of their parent’s responsibilities, but can be proud of their parent’s career accomplishments and how hard they work to try to balance both career and family. They will realize that “you can’t have it all” and life is not the 2 dimensional, glossy, perfect family images portrayed as ideal in the media. They will be OK with this because I will teach them that life is a challenge and dynamic filled with possibilities and choice and that their parents carefully made their choices and worked hard to deliver the best outcomes that they could.