Birthday Girl

Aloha from Ohio! We're here visiting family and I am finally getting around to posting pictures from Ceci's birthday party. I'm sorry they are so tardy and I'm sorry for my long absence. Unless no one noticed, in that case I'm not sorry. I toyed with the idea of stopping the blog. But that leaves me no outlet for my verbal diarrhea. So here I am. Behold the birthday party!

Guests came over.

Some of them followed my precise instructions "Costumes are encouraged but not necessary". Others ignored these instructions. Some will be punished for their lack of flare. 

The clown pinata I acquired at the Mexican supermarket! 

Ceci's birthday cake!

This was my favorite part of the party. 

The pinata was ugly enough to make children cry. 

Ceci got an obscene amount of gifts. 

Happy family. 

This Moment

This moment. A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A single, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Places To Go, People To See.

Here's a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to California last week. We had a rocking good time visiting with family and friends and eating tacos and more tacos. I also succeeded in forcing Matthew and Ceci to relive my childhood with me at Tilden Park and Children's Fairyland. Neither are grand as I remembered, but it was fun nonetheless. 

Big Island Friends

Aloha friends. I had a great Hawaii post planned out, but it went into the crapper. When I was looking through my pictures of the Big Island, I realized that almost all of my photos were of my friend and her daughter. I love them so dearly, but I'm kind of shocked that I spent two days following them around with a camera and forgot to take any photos of the lava, the palm trees, the turtles, or the beach. I guess being my friend is like being stalked by paparazzi. And unfortunately, I'm not going to share those pictures because not everyone wants photos of their kid on the world wide web (shocking, I know). So, here's more photos of us-

Beach 69 North of Kona.

I love this photo. I'm praying this doesn't come back to haunt her in 20 years. Cecigate.

Lunch at Don the Beachcomber

We are a family.

Leaving The Resort And Liking It

Well friends, if you doubted that I could really stretch a seven day trip into four separate blog posts, doubt no longer! This post is episode three and I have one more in me.

Here is my Dad, Matthew, and Ceci in the Bjorn at Waimea Bay. The water looks a bit dangerous, no? That's because it is. I couldn't believe how many people were swimming despite all the signs advising people to stay out of the water. This bay has some of the largest surf anywhere in the world in the winter, and it hosts the famous Eddie Aikau surf competition. I rarely read biographies but I'm reading his. It's awesome. 

Waikiki Beach 

Honolulu has some of the best '60's mod architecture I've ever seen. And yes, you heard me,

I said '60's mod architecture. That's stuff White People Like. 

Diamond Head from the bar at the Sheraton. We drove into Honolulu to visit with Matthew's childhood friend Chris. Driving to Honolulu from our resort took 1.5 hours. It was less than 25 miles. Honolulu traffic reminds me of California. 

More funky Honolulu hotels. 

Baby's fartface. We were attacked by some crazily aggressive pigeons at this food court.

To be continued on the Big Island...

Strange Days

Aloha friends. As you can see, Ceci had a play date with her BFF this week. The play date mainly consisted of them staring at one another and smacking their gums. Matthew reported that at one point Ceci attacked her BFF, as she is wont to do, in a fit of diaper-changing jealously. No babies were injured in said incident.
I didn't witness any of this cuteness because I spent the week orienting at Shiny New Job. I am exhausted. I am also intimidated. The Mean Little Voice that lives in my head has been on a steady purr all week long. Mean Little Voice likes to whisper gems like:
"You're not smart enough to do this",
and
"Your new boss will see that right away".
I've already considered going back to my old job if I get fired on Monday.
Of course I realize that Mean Little Voice lies. And I know that MLV is my fear of failure rattling the bars of its cage yet again. The history I share with MLV goes back decades. In the past MLV has gotten me all worked up, and then I DO fail because I listened to MLV and found a way to wiggle out of trying anything at all. Because if I don't try, no one can say I failed, right?
It's sick, I know. I intend on spending the weekend over preparing for Monday and telling MLV to shut the fuck up. It's the new me.
In other news, we had a quickie spring snow in Bellingham.

Ick. If you can't tell from the photo, it was a wet, heavy snow. It was a slushy mess that thankfully melted away within 24 hours. At this time of year, snow is just so unwelcome. I'm at the point where if I don't see some sunshine soon I'm going to go Yellow Wallpaper in this house. I've been scratching myself for days in what must be a sign of endless-winter induced psychosis. 

Also, the cat seems to have some sort of head injury. She has a large bloody wound on her skull and is wandering around looking a bit dazed. Why I didn't get pet insurance for this cat I'll never know. She is the most accident prone creature I have ever known. 

Postpartum Buzz

Friends, I have so much to tell you and I don't even know where to begin. First off, here is an excellent part of my weekend I forgot to share-

It's true people, that is some fancy shit. Because I have highfalutin tastes in my imbibing, LL and I picked out this fabulous wine to drink once we were not knocked up. I slobbered over this bottle for months, and five months postpartum we finally got around to it. LL gets very little sleep these days, so it was somewhat miraculous she stayed awake for our entire happy hour wine session with Sam. We had wine, cheese, meats, wine, pate, and birthday cake! It was a dream come true.

A picture of LL, our husbands, and I on the very night I was impregnated. It's true. I think it was the heels.  

Also, I have one more day of work at Sucky Job. You would not believe the workplace drama that has unfolded in my last week. Both of the doctors I work with left town this week, so they called in a locum tenens. This locum doctor is also known as Dr. Pervy-Pants. Holy crap he is a dirty old man. The theme of the week is perverts for sure. One more day friends. God give me the strength to leave my sharp tongue and weaponry at home tomorrow and on Monday I will start a brand new job. 

Christmas Baby

Here's Ceci working my Christmas bib from the 70's. It's just a little too big, but I can tell she feels sassy in it. Her Grandparents are heading up in the car as I type, having driven 900 miles or so from California with their two cats in the car.
Tomorrow we're going to bake pistachio cookies as gifts. We've been trying to get this done for weeks but nothing seems to get done around here unless it involves sleeping, eating, or pooping. I'm thrilled to have my parents here for the next month so I can get back into some semblance of a regular routine as well as have some help with Ceci when I go back to work next week. I'm not sure I will even remember how to do my job.
Anyway, it will be our first Christmas with baby. Hopefully it's laid back and full of good food, cheesy Christmas movies, family and friends.
Lots of love to you.
Emily

How to Take Care of a Baby

I'm still learning how to be a Mom, and it's tricky. I've made some mistakes this week and I feel a bit stupid. Here's the deal- it's the holidays, and we've gotten a lot of party invitations. I'm determined to take Ceci to a few parties because she is cute, dammit. I like showing her off.
Thursday night we took her to a friend's dinner party and things did not go well. Upon our arrival Ceci was mobbed by a herd of squealing women and she flipped out. There was lots of screaming. We ended up hiding in an upstairs bedroom and nursing for a few hours. I could hear the loud talking and music coming up through the floor and I questioned my judgement. Why do I torture my daughter when all she wants to do is stay home with a boob in her mouth?
Sunday night we dragged her out again to a three-year-old's birthday party at the bowling alley. That was okay for a while, but after about twenty minutes of pins crashing, toddlers yelling, and Guns n' Roses blaring Ceci started to melt down again.
Luckily, there was a Mom there who is a million times smarter than I am and she lent us these-

Which led to this-

Joy!

We were able to stay a little longer and I ordered a pair of these earmuffs as soon as we got home. As soon as they arrive we're taking her to see Slayer. She's going to love it. 

Birthday Cake Roundup

I'm brainstorming this weekend on the subject of birthday cakes. Wednesday is Matthew's 37th birthday and I need a delicious cake recipe, not too difficult or time consuming to make, but still fancy enough for a special occasion. I'm considering a chocolate stout cake from smitten kitchen, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. 

Here's some memorable birthday cakes from years past-

Flourless chocolate cake and the first birthday Matthew and I spent together as a couple.

Not sure what type of cake this was, but it was my cousin Tyler's birthday. I think it might just have been "sugar flavored". It was disgusting but he loved it. Note the sugar ants crawling up the side. 

Caramel cheesecake for Sam's birthday. 

Tiramisu cake for a friend's birthday. This cake was delicious but it took all day to make. 

Chocolate and yellow cake for my 34th birthday. 

And of course I have to throw in a cute picture of Ceci because she is one month old today! Happy birthday Ceci, you are the moon and the stars. 

Everyday Heroes

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has sent me messages of support this week. It turns out that the mold growing in our house is most likely just an ordinary outbreak of mildew or mold or whatever, but not the "Black Mold" that eats babies and erases minds forever (I just made that last part up).
But especially, a big thank you to my lovely husband Matthew.

Matthew has spent the last three days cleaning the bedroom from top to bottom with bleach and fungicide, as well as emptying out the closet and washing every single article of clothing. He's done the majority of this all on his own since I've been camped out at a friend's house to avoid inhaling the chemicals.  

My other hero is Sam. 

Wonderful Sam lent us her house while she is at a wedding in California, which has not only enabled me to avoid the chemicals in our house, but has allowed me to fulfill my fantasy of bathing in her beautiful claw foot tub with the skylight overhead. 

So the saga of fungi vs. family continues, but it's been tolerable. Really, it's almost a blessing in disguise because our house has never been so clean, and what better time to do a deep cleaning than before baby arrives? Also, I learned a valuable lesson about ventilation in old houses. We've kept our bedroom door shut for years because our cat is an asshole and pissed on our bed when we first brought her home. Turns out airflow is important, and the perpetually closed door has most likely contributed to the fungal invasion. 

Lastly, I've grown to almost sympathise with fungi. Why wouldn't the outside want to come in? It's nasty outside. And after all, I'm an inside creature that likes to go out. I especially enjoy "camping" and "sleeping outside in the shrubbery" after a few cocktails and the fungi of the world has shared it's space with me in the past. So who am I to begrudge fungi for looking for some hospitality?