6.5.16 - Skype

5.31.16 - May joy statuses

5.27.16 - Victory

Today I went to a baby shower that had chocolate raspberry cake with fondant icing...and all I had was a Diet Coke.

5.26.16 - Limericks

5.22.16 - Online friends

Today a FB friend of mine posted this:

Right after she posted it a lot of the people she tagged commented, reminiscing about back when we all first "met" and talking about what was going on in their personal lives at the time and how it helped to have so many online friends to talk to.

My personal life was not especially difficult at the time but I still think that experience--constantly debating and thereby becoming good friends with so many people online--really shaped all of my 20s. 

1. I learned a whole lot about certain political topics--way, way more than I would've known had I not debated them.

2. I learned about how my ideological opponents can be actually really lovely people who I get along with fine.

3. I made friendships that have lasted longer than almost any of the friendships I've made IRL have lasted. 

Moreover they are friendships that aren't affected when any of us move or graduate or change jobs, because the online nature of the friendships stays the same. That stability is really nice and probably a major reason these friendships have lasted so long.

Anyway, it was heartwarming and kind of delightful to watch everyone happily commenting under that status. Good friends.

5.21.16 - Gordon Ramsay vs Julia Child

I know I've already included these guys before, probably more than once, but I just love Epic Rap Battles. I listened to the above rap on repeat for probably over 30 mins today while I was working. 

5.19.16 - No calorie counting.

Even though losing weight is one of my joys, taking a day off to eat whatever I like is another. 

First, today after lab I met up with Jack at Pieology for a lunch date. I had to park a couple blocks away, but that was fine because it was nice weather for a walk. I happened to have my flip flops in my backpack so I changed out of my shoed into flip flops and took a stroll to Pieology. When I got there Jack was already in line. At first I thought it was a mistake for us to come during the lunch rush, but it didn't really matter because we just chatted while we waited in line anyway, and we still ended up getting to sit at the tall seats by the windows, which I like.

I got whole wheat dough, pesto, mozarrella and ricotta, olives and double pineapples, and sausage and chicken. That's what I always get. And I always love it. I don't remember what all Jack got except that it included a lot of meat.  And we always order just one fountain drink and keep refilling it. The whole date is pretty cheap.

So we sat at the counter watching people walk by and talking about what we're learning in our respective industries right now and about our plans for the summer and the rest of the year. It was good to spend some focused, unhurried time together. It was also good to eat my entire pizza, mmm.

After lunch we went our separate ways again - him to work, me to Davis to take care of a few errands.

Pic Jack took of me on the walk back to the cars.

I haven't been in Davis on a weekday in a long time. As soon as I got to the FSC I popped into Chris's office and he was so happy to see me. It was nice. I took some candy from his candy jar and we talked about what's been going on with me and Jack and then we talked politics. I made him laugh several times, which is always a great feeling. We both had to go after awhile.

I went over to Davis and chatted on the phone with Sarah while walking from downtown Davis to my thesis chair's office to get a form. It was probably a good 20 or 30 minute walk and a nice chat with her. Then I went back to the FSC, met up with Erin, and we walked to Safeway to get food for Debbie's retirement potluck. We bought some fruit and whipped cream and headed back.

I'm so glad I wasn't trying to calorie count because the potluck was amazing. Lots of fancy cheeses and crackers, lots of baked goods, egg rolls, SUSHI, pasta salad, pink Moscato, ambrosia, oh man. I'm hungry again now just thinking about it.

I chatted a bit with Jeff, some other students, and Chris, again, for awhile. I got to see Julianna, although she seemed pretty busy. I also got to chat quite a bit with Erin, Ryan, and Saxon, and we were making each other laugh at lot at certain points. Erin and Ryan told me about how they both, as children, had accidentally stabbed themselves with pencils and got graphite stuck in their skin. Weirdos. Erin had me laughing really hard with the photobombs she was doing when I took pics of the potluck. I brought Jack a plate of the food when I finally did go home.

Later, at the very end of the night, I topped off my calorie-counting-free day with a PBJ before bed. Worth.

5.18.16 -Coffee table peek a boo

Tonight before bed, Clara played peek a boo with me in the different cubbies of the coffee table (her idea). She was grinning hugely and giggling each time I'd "find" her peeking spot. She even jumped in surprise a few times as I'd pop my head over and say "Hi!!" It was delightful.

Also the other night she brought me Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and she ended up turning to the last page with the ABC's on it, so I would sing it to her. Every time I was done singing she'd make this cooing noise like she was trying to sing too, then she'd grab my hand to piont at the letters to start over. I probably sang her the ABC's 6-7 times just to hear that coo at the end.

5.13.16 - Wedding ring fits.

I've been doing calorie counting bets with both Dad and Kat K., and as of today I've lost enough weight that my wedding ring fits again for the first time since probably the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy, if not earlier. I think I only got to wear it for a couple months after we got married and haven't been able to wear it since. So not only am I happy to be losing weight, I'm particularly happy to be able to wear my ring again. I feel so official. It's been making me happy thinking about it all day!

5.8.16 - Mother's Day

This Mother's Day has been wonderful, pretty much all because of Jack.

I still get up at 6am every day to pump. So he got up at 5:30am to make me breakfast, and it was finished just before I finished pumping, perfect timing. Clara gave us the gift of sleeping in, so Jack and I got to sit together at the table and enjoy cheesy eggs, real bacon, tomato slices and biscuits and orange juice. AND a tiny plate of Symphony bar pieces with toffee chips.

I think we were both pretty tired, and I thought about how a lot of people would expect to sit and find something to talk about. But all I really wanted to do was finish the House episode I had been watching while pumping, and he said he was fine with that. It's kind of fun watching House with him now because since he started nursing school he knows a lot more about the different things they're talking about.

After we finished breakfast Clara was still asleep, so we went back to bed and got a little more sleep ourselves. Later when we did get up, Jack cleaned the apartment, even vaccuuming, and he also took point on most Clara care, like changing diapers. I thought about trying to do more thesis work or paid work, but I decided to treat myself and just spend the day relaxing and working on scrapbooking, which has been really enjoyable. Mostly I had House still playing in the background. I haven't binged watched Netflix in a long time, so that's been fun too.

At some point we Skyped with all of Jack's family, who were all at the Jackson house for Mother's Day. At first Clara was sleepy and quiet, but after while she perked up and started talking a lot and using hand gestures, which they all loved to watch. Dave kept trying to talk back to her in her own langauge--emphatic babble--and then joking about her thinking "Only we [babies] can say that!" etc. It was pretty funny. We had a good visit with them.

Clara went down for a long nap and Jack decided to take a nap too, so I enjoyed some quiet time to myself in my clean apartment just scrapbooking, and it was great. At some point later Jack went into our bedroom to make a phone call, which I didn't even notice until he came out and asked "Did you hear that??" "No." "Good!" Sometime later Jack watched her so I could take a nap too.

Then, in the evening, he cleaned up my whole car and left to pick up some sort of suprise dinner. He came back with a *whole bunch* of sushi. It was delicious.

5.6.16 - Clara "reading" to herself

This made me so happy I couldn't stop grinning the whole time I was filming, and I even almost teared up I felt so proud. What a little smartie!

5.3.16 - So anyway Joys

4.30.16 - April joy statuses

The Piano Guys

Was really enjoying these guys while working today. Especially enjoyed there Star Wars medley, and covers of 1000 years and Without You.

4.20.16 - Internship

I really enjoy my internship at the crime lab. We have ID badges that we scan to get into the parking lot and into the lab itself. Every morning when I scan to get access I feel glad to be a part of the lab, even if only as an intern.

I’d already applied for two different full time positions and had two interviews for one of those before getting the internship position, so I’d already had a taste of unsuccessfully trying to “get in” to the lab. Now I’m here and I’m getting to know the analysts, and it’s great. First of all I am seeing more and more what the job entails and feeling more confident all the time that I could handle this job well. Second I get to know the analysts beyond their job positions and see them as regular people I could be friends with. Being in the lab makes the whole idea of becoming a DNA analyst seem that much more attainable, both in terms of what the job actually requires and in terms of how, if others can do it, I can do it.

I also like the project I’m working on for my internship. For now it’s mostly data entry, which is simple enough, but what I’m analyzing is interesting and it’s also helping me learn more about Excel, which I really enjoy. Makes me want to make Excel tables for everything.

And it’s nice to have somewhere I need to be that’s out of the apartment. I overall enjoy the work I do for Charter, but when that was my only job I spent basically all of my time either in the apartment or at Starbucks, and that can get tedious. Now my day is nicely split between being at lab and doing Charter work, such that I don’t have enough time to get really tired of either one of the jobs. 

Break Up Songs!

List includes:

--Gives You Hell, All American Rejects

--Love Me Dead, Ludo
--Momma Sed, Puscifier
--Lollipop, Mika 
--She Hates Me, Puddle of Mudd
--Why Don't You Get A Job?, Offspring
--We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Taylor Swift
--Somebody That I Used To Know, Gotye

--257 Weeks, Nine Days (this applies only with a very loose interpretation of the lyrics, but it's very energetic)
--Ain't It Funny, Ja Rule
--Alfie, Lily Allen (she's singing about her brother but I've seen relationships like this)
--Barely Breathing, Duncan Sheik
--Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall
--Fairytale, Sara Bareilles
--Here's A Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares, Travis Tritt
--I Saw The Sign, Ace of Bass
--Kiss This, Aaron Tippin
--Knock Em Out, Lily Allen
--Leavin', Jesse McCartney
--Little Black Backpack, Stroke 9
--Love Song, Sara Bareilles
--Never There, Cake
--Run Around Sue, Dion
--Shadow Boxer, Fiona Apple
--Smile, Lily Allen
--String of Pearls, Jimmie's Chicken Shack
--Vegas, Sara Bareilles
--What Goes Around Comes Around, Justin Timberlake
--What's My Age Again?, Blink 182
--Irreplaceable, Beyonce
--You Don't Know Me, Ben Folds
--Settle Down, Kimbra
--You Don't Know, Reel Big Fish
--Hate You, Reel Big Fish
--Where In The Hell Did You Go With My Toothbrush?, Reverend Horton Heat
--Take Me Or Leave Me, RENT
--50 Ways To Say Goodbye, Train
--If You're Gonna Straighten Up, Travis Tritt
--Love Yourself, Justin Bieber
--Forget You, Cee Lo Green

4.16.16 - Clara update

Now over 13 months, Clara is more interactive all the time. She's started making this goofy face, this cheesy smile, at me sometimes, and I love it.

She tends to do it more when we are looking in the bathroom mirror together.

She's taking a few steps at a time several times a day now. I'd forgotten to tell the nanny this had started, so when Clara suddenly started walking at the nanny's house nanny was very surprised/excited. She's sent me a few videos of it since, so cute. Clara doesn't bend her knees quite enough yet, so she hobbles on her straight legs until they're too far apart and then she falls over. She doesn't seem to mind though, she's clearly very proud.

She babble plenty but she's just starting to have recognizable speech patterns. Sometimes it's pretty clear she's trying to imitate the specific words we're saying. So far her most consistent pattern is saying "doh!" every time we say "no." She's also said "doh" when I repeat the teddy bear's name: BoBo.

It really is amazing both to realize how much she already understands and how much you can interact with someone so little, and to see her understanding increase and our opportunities to connect increase alongside it. I enjoy it so much every time she imitates my facial expressions or words, and while it's bittersweet continually seeing how she's not as little as she used to be, it's so much fun watching her grow.

Last night Jack was very tired and was going to go to bed early and I was going to get Clara ready for bed. Jack was already in bed, though still awake, winding down. I went into our room to get my own pajamas, and Clara quickly knee-walked in after me and, with great effort, pulled herself onto the bed. (Oh, that's another thing she can do now--she clutches the bedsheet with her tiny fists, lays her big hed flat on the surface, and grunts a lot as she slowly pulls herself up to the mattress.) She seemed excited to play with Daddy so instead of taking her in the nursery to get ready, I took off her day clothes while she was crawling all over Jack. Then for several minutes, just in a diaper, she just kept crawling over his chest and stomach, knee walking around his legs, and just flopping all over him, all while babbling away. She had a lot to say but didn't seem to care whether we were listening or responding. She was in her own world climbing Dad Mountain. Fun Friday night.

4.13.16 - Anniversary actual day

We already celebrated in full last weekend, but on the actual day of we had a mini celebration. We already had an unopened bottle of Merlot, and Jack went and bought Reese's, sea salt caramel ice cream, and salt and pepper kettle chips (for me) and jalapeno kettle chips (for him).

Then we set up the pilot episode of Turn on the desktop computer and just lounged around watching it and eating junk food. I'm already on the second season and really enjoying it, enough so that I don't mind rewatching the first season with Jack.

I think for the entire first episode Clara was up and about with us, just hanging out in the living room. She wasn't paying hardly any attention to the show, though, and just looking at her board books and examining her toys. Soon she got sleepy so I went through her bed time routine while Jack kept watching (since I've already seen the first season).

After I put her to bed, at one point some really epic thing happened in the show and Jack got excited and yelled "This is sick!"...which woke Clara up. So I went in and sat with her but she was back down in just a minute. Then, as if as an anniversary gift to us, she stayed asleep all night for the first time in a week and a half or so. So that was fantastic. 

Jack and I watched the full 2nd episode before going to bed. It was reminiscent of our pre-child days when we used to watch several episodes of a show together while working on our laptops or just hanging out. Very enjoyable.

4.13.16 - Mom's visit

Mom came out for a spring visit to see us (especially Clara). She was very helpful. She watched Clara not only every weekday she was here, but also all afternoon and evening on the Saturday she was here so Jack and I could go down to San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary.

Because Mom babysat they got a lot of one-on-one time together, which I think is good for both of them.  She helped Clara practice balancing by holding Clara’s hands while she bounced up and down on our bed. She also held just one of Clara’s hands and helped her walk all over the place. By the time Mom left Clara was taking 2-4 steps by herself at least once daily but usually more than that.

Jack and I were pretty busy for most of the visit, but it was still nice to get to visit with Mom when I got home from lab in between Charter work and stuff. One night she bought us all In & Out (her first time having it). Another night she took us to an Italian restaurant in downtown Sacramento, where we had some really delicious pizza and I ordered an Angry Orchard in my newfound effort to like beer because it would make Jack so happy. (Not sure if Angry Orchard counts as beer, but it was not bad.)

The whole visit had really nice weather. Mom took Clara on walks outside a few times. One time Mom, Clara, and I all went to the park where Clara knee-walked through the grass and explored the playground (once the “big” 3- to 6-year olds had vacated). 

On the last evening Mom was in town we walked Clara around the apartment complex—not in her stroller, just holding onto Mom’s hand and practicing toddling around. Mom held her near some of the big tress and she examined the bark and the leaves moving in the breeze. At one point she was looking up at a very tall tree and said, twice, what sounded distinctly like “Whoaaaa.” She was also pretty happy about touching all the mailboxes and various bushes. It was a sweet and peaceful time.

Also throughout the visit I couldn’t help but notice (again) how Mom laughs so easily at all my jokes. It makes me laugh too. She makes me feel hilarious. Also funny is how once she starts laughing hard enough she starts wheezing, which reminds us both of Everett making fun of her wheezing, which is funny in itself. That happened several times.

JaMa photobooth.

On her last full day in town, I decided not to bother with Charter work and just spend the afternoon with her and Clara instead. We went to Ross and I picked up a few things for the apartment (including, at long last, a welcome mat). We went to Once Upon a Child and Mom got Clara a bunch of sleeveless tops for impending summer. Mom seems to really like getting Clara clothes and always seems happy when she sees Clara wearing the clothes Mom bought for her. Fortunately Mom and I have similar taste in what is cute on Clara, so that works out well.

For example, I love this summer shirt Mom got Clara for her birthday.

Jack was working that entire afternoon and evening, so Mom and I had a lot of one-on-one visiting time. Later in the evening after I got Clara down for bed, I went and picked up some Panda Express and Mom and I ate at the dining room and had really good talks about past relationships and how awesome Jack is and who knows what else. I’m glad we Skype so often throughout the year when we’re long distance, but it’s still hard to replace in person talks because there isn’t the technical disruption. I was glad we fit in some quality time despite a busy visit.

The next afternoon I drove her to the airport and we brought Clara with us. Mom sat in the back with her to spend more time with her before leaving. Parting ways isn’t nearly as hard now, as adults (and in a world with Skype, Facebook, and free long-distance phone calls) as it was when I was younger, but I still thought bittersweetly about how many times my family has said goodbye at airports.

We decided to park and walk in. It was really nice weather still. We stood with Mom while she checked in and went up the escalators with her to the train area (after which only ticketed passengers can go). Mom said goodbye to Clara very sweetly. Clara was mostly distracted by all the people and other things to look at. And then Mom got on a train and we went back down the escalators. <3 Hopefully Clara will go out with Jack this summer so they can have another visit in June.

4.12.16 - Mom's laughs