Mamatoto

I hosted my mamatoto group this week. It is a mother's group based on the concepts of attachment parenting. I have to admit that I picked it based on the fact that it meets on Tuesdays, my day off. Can you tell which one of these babies is not like the other ones?


That's right, mine, the screaming pink one. Dan and I are definitely not the classic attachment parents - for one, I'm not nursing, for another, Nory doesn't sleep with us, and third, I am a working mom... if you know anything about attachment parenting you will quickly understand why our kid is a bit of a misfit. But the moms are really nice and seem to like us anyway, and I really enjoy being able to hang out with other moms and babies.

$22 in the camera fund

Here is what dan was willing to do to put the $22 from a haircut into the camera fund instead.




And here we are at the beach last weekend (pre-haircut). The sunset lighting was lovely.

More babies!

Congratulations to my dear friend Christine on her new little girl, Moira. Christine must be busy with a toddler and a new baby! It is good to have friends going ahead of me so I can spy out the "two baby" landscape and see if it is a possibility for us... someday.

As promised, here are the photos we took for grandma Sue's birthday. I wonder how many holidays it will take before grandma gets tired of getting framed pictures of our kid!

Ashes, Weddings, and Baby

Yep. Another forest fire. This one, the La Brea fire, is not burning in Santa Barbara, but rather near Santa Maria, our neighbor to the north. However, the smoke and ash has made its merry way down to our little city, nestling in like a long lost friend, creating a beautiful orange glow and spreading a soft layer of ash on everything you see. It seemed imprudent to try to run in the stuff, so I've been staying indoors as much as possible. Yesterday I met some friends for coffee and Nory's stroller (and head) were sprinkled with ash by the time I got there! Can we read the signs? Could this possibly be God's way of telling us: "Southern California: stay out!!!"

Okay, a bit overly dramatic, perhaps...

Meanwhile, Dan and I spent Thursday morning photographing our first wedding! We are definitely not professionals, but we did manage to get some great shots. It was really fun. If anyone out there wants some free wedding pictures, keep us in mind - but remember, you get what you pay for!





And the baby. I've started getting very mild complaints that we haven't posted baby pictures in a few weeks. Well, we took some really fun baby pictures for my mom's birthday (Grandma Sue), and I was waiting until she got them before publishing them. I thought we would see her in August some time but it didn't work out, so I finally gave up and put them in the mail. Hopefully she will get them next week and then I will post them on my blog, but meanwhile here is a preview. Dan and I had a blast during this photoshoot!

Why going back to work after having a baby is the worst thing ever

Warning: a somewhat depressing blog post, don't feel obligated to read!

This was my first week back at work, and it was the worst thing ever.

Why I didn't think it would be so bad: I am only back 1/2 time right now, 20 hours a week. Not only that, but I am returning to a job that I actually really love, working with great people! We have an excellent sweedish nanny, and Nory seems to do just fine while she's away from me.

Why it actually is terrible: Not only am I missing out on 2 and a half days with Nory, but when she comes home in the evenings and on my days "off" I am just one mad rush of mommy: laundry-dishes-grocery shopping-laundry-dog to vet-make dinner-feed baby-laundry. I didn't have a chance to give her a bath or read her a book all week. I had been meaning to cut her nails since last Sunday and just got to it today. Not to mention, any exercise routine I had been hoping to achieve has been tossed straight out the window! I'm exhausted beyond exhaustion.

Solution: Well it doesn't look like I am going to get to quit working any time soon (if ever, go go gadget academic career), and I actually really like my job so I don't really mind having to work. What I need is for someone to do my chores for me - any volunteers? While I wait for someone to step up, I think I'll have to dump all the activities that I've been doing just for me - mom's group, running, and sleeping.

Not a good long term plan? Anyone out there have any other ideas? Or does it just magically get easier with time?

She's still so worth it!

Happy Birthdays!

Happy birthday wishes blown your way, to Grandma Sue (in Portland?) and Uncle Dan in Thailand. Looking forward to celebrating with you all belatedly!

In less celebratory news, I have returned to work today. Nory left this morning with the nanny giggling and smiling as I stood on the front porch in tears. Hopefully it will get easier... for me, that is. I have no pictures to post because Dan's computer (on which all photos are organized and stored) is in the process of being reformatted to host its new and improved 500Gb harddrive - that's an additional 300ish Gb of photo space!

Back to work... I'm already down to only 889 unread emails! Starting from 1500 or so this morning, that's not too bad.