So where were we . . .

Okay, so long time no blog. Where was I you ask? Well, I've been around... staying home mostly... you know, since I just had me baby...

YES! You read it right, we finally had Mayumi!

Last July 16, 2006, at about 1:36 pm, we finally got to meet our daughter, Mayumi Audris. She was a hairy little thing (she had back hair and ear hair), weighing in at 7.2 ounces. Was it kismet? To be perfectly honest, hardly. She was as bewildered as were. She was as wary and cautious of us as we were of her. I don't think babies are born to like their parents immediately. We definitely had to work on getting to know each other better. I was told that there will be 90 days of madness following the birth of your first child. I took faith in that and lo and behold, things do get better. We are almost over the 90 day hump and Mayumi seems more settled wiht her environment.

Was she a cryer? I hate that question. All babies cry. She cried but we worked through it. Does she sleep through the night? Not yet but I have adjusted to her sleeping schedule so I am saner during the day than I was a month ago. Mayumi is almost 3 months old now and and is currently figuring out to use her hands. It's so funny to see her try to guide her hand to her mouth and miss (is that mean?). She looks like she's giving herself a little punch. She is an awesome little person and makes for great entertainement (24 hout baby TV!)

Nothing creative in the works so far. I have been able to finish the back of a sweater that I've been working on. I have learned the amazing skill of knitting while breastfeeding the little one. This is the furthest I've ever come to actually completing a sweater so I have high hopes of having it done before the weather gets cold.

Hopefully, I can blog regularly now. I am trying to master the art of typing with one hand.

Diana

Simple, yummy things.

I've almost forgotten how good simple foods taste. By simple, I mean food that doesn't require one hour of preparation and a dozen ingredients. John grilled me this burger for lunch on the fourth and it's probably the best burger I've ever had. I found it amazing that it didn't have any seasoning in the meat although it did have some curious ingredients like spinach and oats, yet it was still very tasty (very meaty). The best thing about this burger is I didn't feel the heavy, grease induced sleepiness that I usually get after eating pub burgers. I also discovered my new favorite veggie, the sweet potato. John served the burger with a sweet potato "torpedo" which was a microwaved sweet potato topped with pecans and whipped butter. It was deee-lish and it only took 8 minutes!

John said he found the recipe for the meal in Men's Health, the man mag. I think the recipes in magazines geared towards women are a lot more complicated than those found in magazines for men, but I'm sure they are equally good. It's just that I think they want to give men a higher chance at success with simpler recipes.

Filipino cuisine, which I was raised on, involved so much prep time. The foods almost always has a sauce or soup base and that took a lot of time and ingredients. I mean it's delicious but I really don't want to be spending 2 hours in the kitchen simmering in the heat of the stove and the weather, for all three meals of the day. John and I had this interesting conversation about what the best thing America has ever come up with. He says it's Superman, my first thought was grilled hamburgers (It's not my definitive answer but it was the first thing I thought of).

I'm looking forward to a lot of meals like this especially since the little one is well on her way (about 2 weeks left) and we wouldn't have much time for elaborate dinners or dining in and taking out. Also, John gets 3 weeks off and he is the appointed cook for that time. Maybe we start with the meals but I think simplification will be a theme we will be exploring frequently in all aspects of home life, especially with a new "housemate" on the way.

Diana

XS. Before ending this post, I was handed a popsicle that appears to be a frozen banana, dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. Yum-O!

Pain Management

So half of this week was spent dealing with pain. Since I am prego at the moment, any sort of pain medication was out of the question. I found out that the best I could do was Tylenol at this point, which I didn't find out that I could take till after 2 days of excruciating toothache. Yup, me not going to the dentist "because I'm pregnant" is total bull and is biting me in the ass.

Toothache was one thing, then there was the heat. It was about a hundred degrees in the beginning of the week and I felt like a steamy dimsum bun. My legs and hands started to swell (so no knitting or crochet done during this week) and when I say swell, I mean, there's my leg then there's my feet, no ankles.

I had to be creative with dealing with the pain because of the lack of meds. It was pretty interesting because I learned all this "pain management" techniques at my childbirth classes so I decided to try those out with my toothache pains. I tried breathing deeply and relaxing more when the pain got more intense. I turned off all music and laid down quietly trying to "visualize" a happy memory (this was from the class). So did it work? Yeeeaah.... but after a good hour and a half and it only worked because I was so exhausted from trying to manage my pain that I went down for a nap. I know that I must sound like a complete wuss because this is just toothache we're talking about and I'm going to have to deal with something the size of a watermelon, pushing itself out of my body. Toothache, childbirth... yup not in the same pain category. But my friends, this tooth pain was somethin' else. I will give the dentist a call (!).

There was pretty much nothing I could do for my feet or hands. They are just going to puff whenever they want to. I was told to soak my feet in cold water when it swells and so I am doing that. It's nice actually because it keeps me cool too.

Anyway, I have a lot of work to catch up on. The little girl in the pic needs some clothes and I have other creatures that needs photographed. Off I go.

Diana