Finally

Finally, the images I sent from my phone showed up in my email inbox.

First, a photo from lunch on Monday. Not a bad shot given that we were inside a Cracker Barrel.
You can't see the colors very well. But here, finally, is a picture of my Dulaan contribution for 2007. (Don't worry, I didn't ship Heather off with the hats and mittens. :-)

Focused on Harry

I'm feeling the way I did the first time I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I don't want to put it down. The first time I read it was when R and I were in St. Lucia for our 2nd Anniversary. There were several times (and I think one whole afternoon), when I stayed on my beach chair to read while R enjoyed the water. Although, actually, I don't think the reading prevented me from going out in the water...but it probably meant that I got less knitting done on that trip than I would have otherwise. (That, and the fact that I brought wool projects with me - what was I thinking bringing wool yarn to the carribbean?!?)

Anyway, this time around, I obviously can't sit for hours on end and read. But I am using every available opportunity to read a few more pages. On the bus. While Heather eats. While pumping (kind of annoying, but possible). And before bed while letting the fan me off enough that I can fall asleep.

I was torn this morning when I missed the express bus. I was sad that I will have to stay a little later and miss the express bus home...but happy when I realized that I'd get some extra reading time in.

And, I saw a trailer for HP5 last night while watching my DVR recording of Ugly Betty from last week. I backed up and watched it in slow motion. There were several locations that I couldn't specifically map to scenes in my brain - so I think the designers on this movie have a very different interpretation of the inside of the Ministry of Magic than what J.K. Rowling's descriptions put in my brain. (Not a complaint, just an observation)

I was happy to see that Fred and George's exit from school appears to be in the movie, but I got the impression that Umbridge's exit might be different. I was also happy to see that Lupin will definitely be in this one (other than being a member of the Order, he doesn't have a pivotal role in the book).

I also realized as I was watching the trailer that even though the movies have had some affect on the "movie" that plays in my head as I read, that the original characters I envisioned are still mostly intact. Especially Harry. I can't describe it exactly. The Harry in my brain is similar to Daniel Radcliffe...but still somehow different. In fact, the location that I have the most trouble with is Hagrid's house. It is smaller and simpler in the movies than in the book, and I have trouble resolving that sometimes while reading because I picture the house from the movies.

Okay. Enough rambling for now.

Foggy and Fried

A list, because that's all I can handle.

1 - I've had a few blog posts floating around in my head, but I've lacked the concentration to actually commit them onto the screen.

2 - My Dulaan box is finally in the mail. The picture I wanted to post last week was of my 10 knitted items and Heather. The photos never arrived in my inbox. I've tried sending one of them again, and R has moved the photos from my phone to the server...so hopefully you'll see it before too long.

3 - I don't think there is going to be much knitting content here for a bit. It's too hot to work on my pair of wool socks. Also, I have three friends who are pregnant, I know of two who are trying and three are in the process of adopting. And I believe that all of them read this blog. :-) So there will be no photos of any baby knitting until presents have been given. Which is too bad because I've nearly finished the first item...but you will all have to wait a bit. (It is possible that I will knit something for Heather in between all of these presents, and if I do you'll definitely see it!)

4 - It would be nice if people would read. I sent an email to a sales rep - letting her know that I would be in the office all day, but that I generally step away from my desk at 10, 1 and 4 for about 20 minutes. She replied a few minutes later that she'd be here at 1pm sharp to see me. Yes, you read that right. Clearly she didn't.

5 - We visited family and friends in Ohio over the weekend. It was lovely to see everybody and everyone who came to my shower was very generous

6 - Heather has slept through the night for the past three nights. Although the last two she has been very difficult, and impossible to get into her crib before 11 or 11:30. When you consider that my alarm goes off at 5:45, you quickly realize that I'm not getting caught up on sleep. So I continue to feel like I'm operating in a fog, just like I have for the past few weeks. When I see friends, I know I have things to ask them...but the questions escape me. And I just really feel like I'm awful at making conversation right now. Hopefully Heather has surpassed her need to wake up and practice rolling overnight, and somehow I can catch up on sleep enough to feel human again.

7 - It's hot and humid. And it isn't cooling off much overnight. It's so hot I didn't even consider that I needed to bring an extra layer to work with me to counteract the A/C at work.

8 - I feel like it's been too long since I've been in touch with my friends and I owe email to a number of people.

9 - I started Harry Potter #6 last weekend for my second reading. It is a sadder read this time, knowing how it is going to end.

10 - I'm anxious for the Harry Potter movie coming out next month. R and I plan to ask someone to babysit. It will be our second "date" since Heather's birth. :-)

Impatience

I wanted to try a little experiment. I used my phone last night to take a few photos that I would like to post to the blog. This way, I can send them to my email account and post them whenever I have a few free minutes at work instead of trying to squeeze the blog posting in at home in the evening. Since the main reason to post is for the pictures, and not a ton of text, it should only take a few minutes while I inhale my lunch or a mid-morning snack.

So when I grabbed my yogurt, I thought I'd take a quick mental break and post my pictures. Well, my yogurt is eaten and I'm still waiting for the photos to show up in my inbox.

*tap, tap, tap*

I guess if they show up by lunchtime you'll get to see them today.

P.S. For anyone who is going to scold me and tell me I should be doing this at home in the evening...I'll just let you know that I've barely had time to eat dinner and go to the bathroom in the evening, and when I do get more time than that there are dishes and laundry to be done. And, if I could get Heather to bed before 10:30, I would be going to bed earlier, too...cause I'm POOPED!

Freedom

I realize that there are a couple of improvements in my life that I haven't written about yet. The more recent, is my freedom from motrin. I haven't taken any in several days. I'm not totally pain free, but I only feel significant twinges now and then. And this is the news even though I've mostly been too busy to stretch over the past week. I was noticably sore after my day long marathon of meetings in Bradford, PA on Monday, but I think (hope) this painful post-partum chapter is over.

The other bit of freedom is my diet. I've slowly added back into my diet the foods that I thought might be bothering Heather early on. Nothing seems to be bothering her anymore, so I'm no longer factoring that into my diet. I even had my first glass of wine a couple of weeks ago. The ability to order whatever I want to eat, and not have to consider my nausea, the baby inside me or Heather's stomach is quite the weight that has been lifted!

It's been a busy week. My trip for work went well, but I don't think it helped my supply any to go longer stretches without pumping or pump so irregularly. But I managed to pump some extra today (and plan to tomorrow), and I'm sure that will get me back on track.

It's possible that I've stated this before, but it bears repeating. The fact that I'm still nursing makes being back at work harder. There is the obvious time needed for pumping, but it is also the fact that I nurse her before I leave and want to get home in time to nurse her for her fifth feeding of the day (assuming she eats all three bottles at daycare). So whenever I need to go in late (like Friday because of Heather's pediatrician appointment), I still want to leave on time and then I have hours to make up. Not that I want to go to work on the weekend... Luckily, at the moment, I have some reading I can do at home, but this isn't always the case. I'm not trying to complain, really. I'm glad that I'm still able to breastfeed Heather. It's just one more layer of stress and trying to keep everyone happy. :-)

Lastly, about Heather's 4 month appointment. Everything looked good. She weighed in at 12 lb, 14 oz and her length is 24", with 40 cm head circumference. Her weight is 25th percentile and her height is 35th percentile. She seems to have met all of the milestones that he was concerned about. And he recommended waiting on starting cereal and solids until 6 months. She doesn't need the extra food, especially since she is still pretty small. Frankly, I'm relieved. I really don't want to add anything else to our plates right now. :-)

Let me add...

I'm still totally aware of how lucky we are. One week of bad sleep after 2 months of good, nearly normal sleep isn't bad at all in the world of having an infant. And keeping up with other moms, we're equally (or more) lucky that we haven't had to deal with reflux or colic or ear infections, etc.

I have a little more perspective this afternoon. It seems that a work problem was causing me more anxiety than I realized, and not only worsened my mood but was also probably the reason I slept so poorly last night while Heather was sleeping. That issue has been resolved and the world is less gloomy. :-)

Yes, I'm still here

...but I'm not in a very good mood.

The past week has involved:
- Getting up extra early for work related reasons
- Getting to bed late for work related reasons
- Not being able to sleep well for no clear reason
- Heather waking up over night - sometimes to eat and sometimes for unclear reasons that may or may not include being congested, being hot, wanting to practice rolling over, wanting to be with us to make up for time in daycare, being on a wacky sleep schedule because of her first week in daycare

I'd say I've been averaging about 5 hours a night, and I have too much to do at work to consider taking a day off.

I don't want to be a depressing blogger, so I'm probably going to stay away until I get some more sleep and my mood improves. The good news is that my leg continues to feel better, Heather has been very smiley and happy lately (when she's not crying at 3am) and my Dulaan items are done and ready to be shipped.

Lost a room, gained a room

The storage room I was using for pumping was a gift from the building owners when the storage room that we rent had some flooding. I guess our rented storage room is okay now, because the building owners took the free room away as of this morning.

So I went home last night assuming I was going to have to pump in our non-locking interior finish library today.

The building manager came to my rescue and is allowing me to use a small unrented office where she has some desks and chairs stored. The nice thing is that I get to hang onto the key full time since this isn't a room anyone else in our office uses (at least until my coworker comes back from maternity leave).

*****************

I haven't really mentioned the fact that Heather started at daycare on Monday. She seems to be doing fine, and even though Monday seemed like an EXTREMELY long day to me, I'm doing fine now, too. :-) It's hard not talking to her teachers on a daily basis, but R and I have come up with a few strategies that will allow me to get there from time to time. And I totally trust him to let me know what's going on...but it's just a bit difficult not being part of the process myself.

*****************

And on one more random note, my leg pain seems to be improving. I skipped the motrin yesterday morning before my doctor's appointment, and I was surprised at how good my leg felt. It's still not totally back to normal, but there seems to be some definite improvement, despite the fact that no one really knows what is causing the pain. ;-) My uneducated guess is that my attempts to undo the turmoil that was causing my back pain from the pregnancy changed my spine/posture/walk/muscles too drastically and too quickly, which through something else out of whack. Hopefully once this pain issue is resolved I will have my body back (with the exception of my boobs, of course)!

We have rollover!

I never knew that a baby rolling from her tummy to her back would make me so happy. :-)

She's clearly been trying to roll over while on her back, but she just doesn't have the momentum for it yet. So I decided to put her on her tummy last night and within 10 minutes she rolled over. And, smart girl, she waited until her daddy was in the room so we both got to see it!

She did it a second time, so we got the video camera out and got the third and fourth rolls on tape. ;-)

My First Meme

As far as I know, I've never been tagged for a meme before...so Lisa is the first. (Lucky for her that I am finally caught up on my blog reading, at least for those people that I know IRL.)

So, seven interesting things about me. I know I have readers who have known me for decades and some that have only known me for a couple of years. I'll try to make this interesting for most of you.

1 - I grew up an avid reader. I remember frequent visits to the library, especially over the summer, and bring home stacks of books to read. Every time I signed up for a "frequent reader" program I'd always need multiple forms to write down all the titles I read. I remember having multiple books in progress at once when I was in high school. And then I went to college. There was no time to read during the semester and too much that I *had* to read that I didn't really want to read when I had free time anyway. Since college I've only felt like an avid reader again a couple of times. One was while I was in Spain and had tons of time on my hands (and missed English) and I also noticed it while reading the Harry Potter books and Wicked. I think it's a combination of not knowing what to read and not wanting reading to cut into my knitting time. :-)

2 - I play the cello. I haven't played a lot since I graduated from high school, unfortunately. But before that I played *a lot*. Barely a day went by that I didn't have a rehearsal, a private lesson or take the time to practice. Despite my abilities I never felt like professional musician material, although I am (or was) a great asset to an orchestra's cello section. I didn't have an orchestra to play with in college and haven't played a lot since. I've pulled the cello out from time to time for a little practice. I'd love to play with an orchestra again someday. The group effort was one of the best parts about playing music for me.

3 - You all may or may not believe it, but I'm impatient. I think I'm pretty good at hiding it and/or holding myself back and not allowing my impatient tendencies to show themselves. And there are certainly efforts in which I have quite a bit of patience - taking care of Heather, teaching someone else a skill, painting. But as soon as there is a deadline hanging over my head or any kind of time limit, I have little patience for someone doing something slower than I would do it. I also have a few strong internal desire to finish people's sentences when they are speaking slowly. When I was a tour guide in college, I really had to fight to keep from finishing my partners statements.

4 - I love show tunes. I'm not going to try to hide it. I know many people think my love is strange or undesirable...but it is what it is. It stems from my love of theater and it is the music that makes me melt. Most of my favorite songs are from shows I've seen, although there are certainly exceptions. In pretty much every case I at least know the story even if I haven't seen the show. Understanding the story is the key to the beauty of the music, in my opinion. I can listen to slower songs while I exercise because I know the story behind them and they give a little extra oomph to my step.

Hmmm...this is harder than I thought...

5 - I studied abroad in Spain for a semester in college. I couldn't find a group to go with, so I sort of made my own program through SUNY Albany. Through them I was able to enroll at UPV in Valencia and take architecture classes. I was the only person I knew at the time to go to a foreign country totally alone. It was completely scary and one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was also one of the best and biggest character-building things I've ever done. Because I did it I know I can do anything I set my mind to. I had a little breakdown when I had been there for a couple of months without meeting any other American students. But after a coupling of outings with my new found friends from Oklahoma and finding a couple of students from my university (that no one told me were there), I was just fine.

6 - I have packrat in my blood, but I love getting rid of things. I understand the great feeling of relief that comes from releasing things that you don't need, but I also have the desire to "be prepared" for anything. I hate getting rid of things that could be useful in the future or that I could fix to suit my needs. But I'm slowly realizing that I just don't have the time to do everything I "could" do and I need to start letting go of more stuff.

What can I say? I am a strange and complex creature. :-) My husband makes fun of how full my room is and yet he has a quarter of the guest room taken up with his "archives".

7 - I dislike coupons. I know this may seem silly. I understand the value of coupons and the benefits, but I really just see them as time. On a regular basis, I'm not willing to spend time in order to save money. I love saving money when I buy things on sale, but I won't go to three different stores to find what I want at the best price. (I might consider making a few phone calls, but that's about it). When I buy things on sale, it is because the store I visited when I needed something happened to have the item marked down. If I use a coupon, it's because I happen to have it in my purse and I remember to use it. (For example, I've used a few diaper coupons recently because they fell out of diaper packages and I remembered to stick them in my purse and redeem them). Unless I get really bored or really strapped for cash at some point in the future (maybe in retirement?), I don't ever see myself cutting coupons from the Sunday paper. I also really like shopping at Whole Foods - I feel like I get good value for our money and good quality food. And I'm not going to give up that quality in order to save money on our grocery bill.

That was harder than I thought, but it was a nice break between tasks today...since Heather's first day at daycare went very slowly for me!

Let's see - I tag Amanda, Annie, Jen, Cara, Melissa, Katie F and Katie L to do this next! (I'll add the links later)

Another little update

The hard thing about going back to work is not doing the work or taking care of Heather. I'm still good at both of those things. The hard part is trying to get *anything* else done.

I knit on the bus. I read or watch TV while Heather eats. I eat while she sleeps or hangs out on the playmat. And during the week I generally have about an hour to get things done from when Heather goes to sleep until I do...and really it should be less than that because I'd love to go to bed before 11:15! I'm relieved that there is very little TV to watch anymore and that I've finished Order of the Phoenix, but there are still some things to get accomplished that I haven't found time for (thank you notes, hand washing sweaters, working on my messy room, finishing the painting in Heather's room, etc)

We've managed to stay caught up on laundry, but that is mostly because I only have 6 nursing bras...so doing laundry each week is essential. And we've been caught up on dishes lately, but that is because my mom is staying with us and the trend is likely to end when she leaves.

I've complete 1 1/2 more hats since my last post. They need to be mailed early next week, so I want to spend whatever free time I have this weekend trying to get more done. I'm not going to make my goal of 15 items, but I might be able to make it to 10.

I'm rambling out a post as a means of emptying my head before starting a new task. 234 drawings went to the printer today and contractors pick them up tomorrow to start the bidding process. It's both a relief (this job was supposed to go out to bid while I was on maternity leave - the delay was not our fault) and the beginning of a whole new set of challenges. How will the bids compare to the budget? How many phases will they build now? What questions will the contractors ask? When will they actually start construction?

And for those who were wondering about my leg - it still hurts. My appointment has been postponed to next week. The stretches feel better and my leg feels better in the morning. But I still need the Motrin, especially at work with all of the sitting.

A few things...

I don't have the energy for a proper post (whatever that is). It has been a tiring week. I didn't get to bed anywhere near early enough before getting up at 4am for my flight to Charlotte on Wednesday. And I haven't had any time for extra sleep later in the week. The 3-day weekend will be thoroughly enjoyed!

In case you were wondering, an electric breast pump is nearly guaranteed to cause a call for a bag check. In Pittsburgh, it was scanned with some kind of ion test. In Charlotte, it was recognized once it was opened.

There is no doubt that my appetite is back. I could eat constantly while at work and I'm still hungry when I get home. Care must now be taken to not overdo it, after a year of being able to eat whatever I felt like eating without concern.

The stretches I've been doing have caused some improvement in my leg pain, but I'm still living on motrin and walking like an elderly woman whenever I get up from an hour or two of sitting. The pain is less in the morning (pre-motrin), but it is still there and still annoying. Hopefully my doctor will have some more suggestions at my appointment on Wednesday.

I've completed almost two Dulaan hats this week. We'll see what else I can get done this weekend.

First Daycare visit, etc.

Tomorrow, Mom and I are taking Heather for her first visit to daycare. I'm feeling excited and anxious about it. We visited daycares in September and at the time we went to the one we chose, they were undergoing renovations. So I have only vague memories of the teachers in the infant room (I know I liked them, but I wouldn't recognize any of them if I passed them on the street) and I haven't actually seen the new infant room. I'm mostly anxious because I hope we can convince Heather to take a nap while we're there, which is the biggest "test" she needs to pass before her first full day there alone. (I'm not worried about whether the teachers will be able to feed her or get along with her - she's pretty easy going around people.)

In the good news category, my leg seems to feel better than yesterday. It's no where near back to normal, but yesterday morning it was particularly awful. I was hoping that it was because Saturday night was my first real stretching session (it's so hard to find time!), and I thought maybe it was just extra soreness from that. I still haven't managed to do any yoga or pilates, but I did stretch again last night. We'll see if that is enough (although I'd still like to sneak in a little yoga).

On the knitting front, the trekking socks are progressing. I also realized that I have just a couple of weeks until the Dulaan box needs to be shipped and I'm way behind my goal. Next time I can knit at home, I plan to start a couple of hats for the bus and hopefully for my business trip on Wednesday. I could get a couple of hats done while sitting in the airport, the planes and the car.

It feels like there is a lot to do in the next two weeks. Some of it is because of the preparation to send Heather to daycare and the things I want to accomplish while my mom is here to help/visit/etc. And I think some of it is just coincedence. So far June does not seem like it will be as busy and it hope it stays that way. I still haven't finished the mural in Heather's room. :-)

It's been a week and a half since I've posted new pictures to the gallery. I'll try to get back to it soon...in the mean time here is one of my favorite tummy time photos...

Random Thought Friday

1 - Pumping stinks
Okay, it's not really *that* bad, but it has definitely been the most stressful part of returning to work. Nursing is so much simpler. No bottles or parts to wash, no bottle transfers, no worries about quantity or freshness. But that said, I'm very happy that the technology exists that enables me to continue to give Heather breast milk even now that I'm back at work. I will be happy when I can pump twice a day instead of three times. I miss my lunch break.

2 - Trekking socks
I keep meaning to take pictures and haven't yet, but my current pair are going well. I'm doing a pattern (currently forget the name) from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I'm doing them toe-up instead of cuff down, so I'm basically doing my usual "recipe" with the addition of the cable pattern on the top of the foot and the leg. I'm doing both socks at the same time on 2 sets of dpns and from each end of the skein. I have to untangle the two ends from time to time, but it is working well. I decided to try a short row heel again. Last time it took me 5-6 attempts after reading multiple directions. This time I had the very clear directions in the current issue of IK, and I got a beautiful heel on the first try! The IK directions will become part of my standard toe-up sock recipe from now on!

3 - Heather
What can I say? She's adorable and seems to be adjusting well to being watched by babysitters during the day. It sounds like she's accepting the bottle okay and napping pretty well. She still fusses before sleep, but sometimes less than others, and she seems to be giving in more easily as long as she doesn't get overtired. I'm anxious to see how she'll do at daycare. We have our first visit there next Tuesday and she'll make a couple more with R and my mom before she starts in June.

4 - Pain
The back pain I had is under control and/or gone. I haven't even had the beginnings of a flare up since the night before we had the carpets cleaned in April. Not sure if it is because the issue has resolved itself or if my new pain is just preventing me from doing enough to aggravate the back pain. ;-)

The new pain is in my hamstring and in my behind, all on the right side. It usually feels like the muscles are contracted and don't want to extend. Occasionally it hurts just to stand, but usually it is sitting and bending down/over that are the biggest issues. My current guidance from the doctor is Motrin, walking and yoga/Pilates stretching. I haven't done the yoga/Pilates yet. I plan to check out the offerings on Comcast On Demand this weekend. Then I'll decide if I need to buy a video or if the free options are enough.

I have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks. If the stretching doesn't solve the problem I will be anxious to find out what else they can do. I don't really like living on Motrin and since I spend most of my workday sitting there is little I can do to improve how I feel from 8:30-5:30.

5 - DVR
Despite my love for the DVR, it really annoyed me last night. It taped the LAST MINUTE of Ugly Betty, and that was it! So all I got to see what the cliffhanger at the end of the show. I'm really hoping that abc.com has the episode up by tonight so I can find out what the crying is about. I was also looking forward to seeing Kristen Chenoweth.

6 - Food and Weight
I'm no longer censoring my diet at all and my previous appetite seems to be back. I slowly added chocolate, dairy and citrus back into my diet and it didn't seem to bother Heather at all. Add in the fact that I tend to eat more at work just sitting all day, and I feel like I need to be more conscious of what I'm eating again. I'd really like to take advantage of the fact that I'm burning extra calories everyday through lactation, so I don't want to be taking in more than I need. It's nice to be able to lose weight without exercise (other than walking) and I really think that once I get back down to a better weight I can do a better job of keeping myself there this time.

According to the BMI chart in the doctor's office, I'm about 5 pounds over the cusp between "overweight" and "obese". And I'm about 35 pounds over the upper end of the "normal" range. Clearly, I would prefer to be overweight instead of obese, and based on that chart I haven't been in the normal range since about 6th grade (sad but true - although I was in the lower end of the overweight category for a long time).

I'm really writing about this for my own benefit. Understanding the numbers provides me with some motivation. I'm not planning on any extreme changes, because I think I eat pretty well in general. I just don't want to overdo it on chocolate and ice cream and custard all summer.

7 - Travel
Next week I'm taking a day trip for work to Davidson, NC. My first project in the office (almost 8 years ago) was a student center/theater at Davidson College, and I've never been there in person. We're primarily going down to talk about another project we're doing on campus. But I'm very excited to finally see my "first building".

8 - Harry
I'm really enjoying Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (again). I bet I would be done already if I was still on maternity leave. For now, I have to settle for reading while Heather eats and sometimes a little bit before bed. I may get through #6 faster since there won't be anything on TV in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I will continue to be a regular reader when I finish this series or if I will devote my reading time to my backlog of magazines for a while. I enjoy reading, but it hasn't been the same kind of passion that it was for me when I was in school. I guess if Harry can bring that back it's a good thing.

Pretty random, isn't it? I've been working on this post on and off all day, so I guess I might as well post it. I'm sure I'll think of a few more things as soon as I do. :-)

You know you're a geek when...

...a new mouse makes your day. :-)

As long as I've been with my current employer (almost 8 years), I've used the same mouse. Each time I get a computer or keyboard upgrade I keep my original mouse because it has a thumb button. And I use the thumb button when I draw on the computer in Microstation. The thumb button is crucial to my drafting speed. I don't even know how the mouse with the thumb button entered the office because no one else has one. But that was what was attached to my computer when I learned and I can't go back.

Well, my 8+ year old mouse hasn't been clicking well for a while. During my maternity leave, someone else used my desk and requested a new mouse because the one I had was substandard. When I returned, I reconnected my old mouse to the surprise of our office manager. I explained to him that despite the poor clicking capability, I needed my thumb button, and I'd rather have a bad click than no thumb button.

This morning I found a newer mouse with a thumb button on my desk. :-)

It was a little dirty and an old model. But I was able to download the driver I needed and now I have a mouse with a thumb button that can keep up with me again!

Bumbo

Heather really seems to enjoy it when we hold her up to stand on our laps, so we tried the bumbo seat this evening. Success! She got bored after about 10 minutes, but not before we took some cute photos. We'll have to take it outside this weekend so we can get some nice non-flash photos.

Glad I have a stash

Knitters, this post is not about what you think. ;-)

I'm not really convinced that I going to get as much milk today as I did the past three days of work. Usually the first pump of the day is nearly two servings and my later pumping bring in less. Today's results are less impressive. I'm not convinced I'm going to get three total servings. I've been trying to drink a lot of water, but I didn't have oatmeal this morning for breakfast. Maybe I should have some as an afternoon snack...

I'm not panicking yet. I have a good freezer stash, I can pump extra during the weekend, and it could just be a short-lived slump. But if I continue to have to spend 15 minutes pumping to get less than a serving, this is going to get old fast!

Vent over.

Demand it!

We need to convince Amy R. Singer to come to Pittsburgh for a workshop or book signing or *something*.

http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000213056-2

Harry

The one thing I keep forgetting to post is about my current reading. I decided last year that I wanted to reread the Harry Potter books, and my resolve was strengthened when they announced the publishing date of the last of the series. I find it interesting to be rereading them and seeing the similarities and differences between the books and movies. In general, I still think they've done a good job. There is nothing like reading the books, but the movies are entertaining reimaginings of the books.

During the pregnancy I read the first two and during maternity leave (mostly while Heather ate), I read #3 and #4. Goblet of Fire is my favorite of the first four, although I did find that I enjoyed reading Prisoner of Azkaban more than I remember the first time. I expect that this is because that is my favorite of the movies thus far. I was not disappointed by the movie for Goblet of Fire...but the book is so long and so rich with subplots that only a movie of epic length could have come close to doing the book justice.

And I admit that part of the reason I am rereading them is because I read #5 and #6 in very quick succession the first time and I feel like I've forgotten a lot of detail. In some ways, #6 is more clear in my mind than #5 since I read them back to back. So I want to prepare my brain for both the book and movie releases planned for this summer. Hopefully R and I can find a trustworthy babysitter by the time the movie comes out...

I'm about 3 chapters into Order of the Phoenix and so far it is even better than I remember.

The first 8 hours

So far I have survived my first day back at work. Leaving the house this morning was not too traumatic, probably because I was focused on getting out the door so I could get the express bus, which I ended up missing anyway.

I am missing Heather, but I am busy enough that the day is going fairly quickly so far. My two attempts at pumping have gone well. The only downside being the time it takes to pump plus the fact that I didn't get here until almost 9...so I think I'm going to be a little short on my 8 hours in order to get the last express bus...but I think I'd rather make that up next week than take a non-express bus that might not get me home until close to 7pm.

Must set alarm earlier next week and hopefully the time it takes to pump will get shorter, too.

I finished my socks on the way in this morning. So I will be reading the latest issue of IK on the way home and stash diving for my next project tonight or tomorrow. Except for buttons, I finished Heather's sweater, so I have nothing on the needles (other than an old sweater in progress that I haven't tried on since I was 6 months pregnant - might need to drag that out again). Not sure what is going to be next. But I do know that I haven't wanted to have many things in progress since Heather's birth. My brain just isn't so interested in multi-tasking that much right now.