So, it's Valentine's Day today!  I write from Charlottesville, Virginia where I had the pleasure of shlepping around the University of Virginia in snow and freezing rain all day yesterday.  Actually, if it wasn't for the weather, it was an awesome trip.  The campus is gorgeous and the students/faculty very friendly.  Seems like Thomas Jefferson wasn't wasting his time.

 

Anyway, due to some flight issues with United (or "Divided" as i like to refer to them), I've been forced to add an extra day here in Charlottesville.  Which is a bit of a bummer on Valentine's Day.  Spending time alone in a strange place kind of reinforces the whole - your significant others are 3000 miles away piece.  I mean, as much it really shouldn't take a special day set aside to celebrate with flowers and chocolates, but it's been established, and I feel no reason not to partake.

 

However, if there was ever a silver lining - I happen to be stranded at a wonderful place, The Boar's Head Inn (www.boarsheadinn.com ) .  In fact, on my way to the "Sport Club" to work out this morning, I was even serenaded by a four member Barbershop Quartet.  Of course, I didn't have my cell phone or treo to take a photo, but I have to say, it was lovely!

 

Fingers crossed that I will be on my way home tonight.  There's a much longer interesting tale of how screwed up the whole flight thing is with United, but I'll spare everyone the traditional rant. 

In the last month, I've been blessed with two opportunities to go to the movies with my husband.  For many people, this may not seem like a very big deal, but for us, it was huge.  On both occasions, our families volunteered to watch Cooper so that we could have some time alone.  While at home in California, we could arrange for a babysitter and then go to the movies, but the cost of that evening becomes so exorbitant that finding a movie that can justify that is fairly impossible. 

We saw two movies - both based on true stories and both incredible tear jerkers.  The first was "We Are Marshall" about the renewal of the football program after the very historic tragic plane crash.  As a theatrical experience, it was only okay but it was very meaningful and of course, forces you to appreciate the life you are currently living.  The second movie was "The Pursuit of Happyness" - based on the true rags to riches story of Chris Gardner.  I have been reading his book and the movie is only about one chapter of the book - so much has happened in this man's life, that I'm certain they tried their best to showcase in a short period of time how amazing this man's spirit truly is.  This movie has stuck with me for days - and in fact, I was sobbing in the theater through most of it.

 

"The Pursuit of Happyness" as a movie is highly depressing.  Even though I knew that a happy ending follows the credits, I couldn't help but be pulled into the emotional roller coaster.  First, as a mother of a son, the idea of having to survive on the streets with Cooper is just overwhelmingly scary and painful to even ponder.  Second, having witnessed some fairly extreme poverty and financial struggles with my mom in my own early years, I think there are some harsh memories coming to the surface. 

Although I am a fairly happy positive person about my life and my future, the combination of these two movies really forces me to truly be thankful for all that I have and have been given.  Life is full of opportunities and blessings. 

In 2007, I will post more than two blog entries.  Not really a blog, but will somehow try to share with those who are searching some form of rambling thought.  Perhaps it's just my inner circle of friends, but since I can proudly proclaim having kept a personal journal from the second grade until about 2001, I should be able to document more of my life for the public more than twice in one year. 

 

I've been reading a few people's "spaces" or "facebook blogs" recently.  Most of them are people that I know from various jobs.  Many of them I recruited to one company or the other.  The strangest thing about reading their blogs is I generally know all of the other people they're referencing - and not just know peripherally - in many cases, I know them very well (probably recruited them too), and that seems weird.  It seems a little too personal. 

 

Part of reading these blogs makes me wonder how people now perceive me differently since I added the "mom" title to my life.  It's my most significant "title' to date, but yet it changes so many other things outside of the various cliched moments.  For some reason, the "mom" part of my life has taken over - even at work and I don't know if I was prepared for it.  Most people don't talk about it.  I do have a sweatshirt that was custom made for me that says "Coop's Mom" and it's weird as well.  Perhaps it's so strange because of the fact that most of my professional life is thinking about and working with people who are so much younger than me in either age of life experience.  So, in one sense, I've been acting in a "mom" sort of role for a while, but only now does that mean something so much deeper.

 

Anyway, the "mom" part of life has the time right now to type this up because I'm on vacation from work this week (or PTO as it's referred) - although the "mom" job is not always a vacation.  It just has a different type of reward system.  Of course, as I type this, I'm feeling guilty for not doing all of the other "real" work I should be doing.  From where does that guilt come - and why do I have it?  I mean, I'm "allowed to not work" and yet, I feel bad for not working because I know there is so much to do.  Hmmm... what causes this and how can I get rid of it?  :-)

 

Shopped at a great store in Savannah this week - www.jamesgunnonline.com - really loved it again this year!

I also finally saw another movie in an actual movie theater - with previews - and popcorn - and pleasantries abound!  We had the in-laws babysit and we went to see "We Are Marshall" - loved it ... of course, it's about football and it has Matthew McHottie.

 

 

Yes, my life is now a complete cliche.  I got married, had a baby, and now have a hard time keeping in touch with the outside world.  As much as I'm not a GW fan, this was the first year I missed the State of the Union since elementary school.  Now I'm certain many people would say big deal, but it clicked with me.  Maybe this explains how so many people vote in the red states.  You just lose track of major events and have to vote for the person with the prettiest signs or how your preacher tells you.

 

Anyway, the Coopster is now a 3 month old and we're bonding.  For those of you who read this and are male or childless (or both), the first two months pretty much suck.  Now, it's actually kind of cute and we have a bit of a schedule going on for now - he smiles, laughs, coos, and of course, is already out performing in many ways.  He can hold his head up for long periods of time (very advanced), can sit up for a minute or two without help, and is at 90% of the growth chart for weight (this is a big deal).  He's now referred to fondly as "the Tank" - he goes from Yoda to Jabba the Hut (and this is an awesome thing in baby land) in 3 months.

 

I've managed to keep up with most of my email while out on maternity leave.  I didn't think I would be able to stay away but I really miss working.  I kind of feel a little guilty about missing work (I mean, shouldn't I just be dying to spend all day at home with my baby) but I think some of it has to do with the "expert issue" - meaning, up until the last few weeks, everything I did with the baby has been like working as a support engineer - you're just doing trial and error troubleshooting whenever he's crying - and despite all of the books/websites/experts - he's a one of a kind and you have to figure it out.  At work, I know what I'm doing (well most of the time) and feel confident in my decision-making and actions.  I am so much more respectful of stay at home moms & professional child care workers. 

 

Funny how you learn how family friendly (or not) certain places are - for instance, my current most unfamily friendly company is American Airlines - an airline that has bathrooms with no changing tables installed on the plane.  Now, I don't ask that every airline bathroom be equipped with the simple fold down table but I think one on each plane would be something simple to install.  I mean, hello ... so the choices are, babies lingering on 4 hour flights with stinky diapers filling the air with their odors; changing the baby in the middle of the aisle; or trying to figure out a way to change the baby on the bathroom floor (DISGUSTING) or with the toilet seat down while you're trying to keep the baby from rolling off.  Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, only somewhat baby friendly - they bring you a portable crib for your room, but then you can't really do much with the baby while there until they're out of diapers.  Super family friendly?  Westin Hotels, Red Robin restaurants, and BJs Warehouse Club that has parking spaces for parents with small children (I could never understand why some grocery stores have parking spots for pregnant women - as if walking your cart from the grocery store is that tough). 

 

We spent the holidays in Florida at our condo in Cocoa Beach and I love having a place at the beach.  We're in a great location but the best part is that we're by far the youngest residents in the building - meaning that we have built in security while we're gone :-).  These folks want to know everything and everybody.  The one big shock of the trip was how much real estate goes for in Orlando these days.  It's Orlando people.  We have thoughts of possibly moving there for the low cost of living, but come on ... some of those real estate prices are getting tinges of California.

 

Anyway, to continue my cliche life... I will attach some baby photos.  Yes, he's the Gerber baby.  Perfect and adorable.  He should be in commercials.  :-)

So, I haven't blogged in months ... all of a sudden between wrapping up work, going out on maternity leave, and oh, having a baby, I haven't really had a chance.  Drew is home sick today so I have a moment of free time as both he & Cooper are sleeping.

 

So, here is the brief update on life:

11/7/05 - two weeks late and after 32 hours of labor, 2.5 hours of pushing (both labor and pushing with no pain reliever that actually worked), and a c-section, Cooper John McCreary finally made his appearance to the world.  Other than the fact that we have a wonderful healthy son, pretty much everything that could go wrong, did!  We're in love.  He's beautiful. 

 

Today - survived one month with a newborn, Thanksgiving with Drew in Hong Kong for his brother's wedding, and Cooper's first cross-country adventure (San Francisco to Orlando via USAirways) ...

 

Anyway, we bought a condo in Cocoa Beach back in September so last week we were all in Orlando since Drew had to be there for work and started getting the place ready to go.  It's so strange having to furnish a place from scratch - it's been years since I've had to do that - and of course, you forget about all of the little things you always need to buy in order to live :-).  We're heading back there next week for a month - well, kind of a month if you count a week to NC in between.

If you are still reading this, here are a few things that have been on my mind.  First, everyone told me that the first six weeks as a new mom really suck - they were so RIGHT!  Second, everyone told me that I would never understand how tired you are and what it feels like to be a mother until you have children of your own -again, they were RIGHT!  Third, all of a sudden, when having a child, your body has become the property of everyone else and their opinions.  Also, correct.  Between pregnancy and now carrying around a newborn, it seems that the "general public" feels the need to give me their opinions on what I should be or should not be doing.  The biggest area where this is true has to do with how you feed your child. 

 

Also, why didn't anyone really warn me that after you have the baby, you are still huge but not huge enough for most of your maternity clothes but way too big for your normal clothes.  I should have gone shopping for some in between clothes, because now I don't really have the opportunity and of course, between being physically exhausted and trying to take the best care of Cooper that I can, who has time to try on clothes??

 

Plus, can anyone explain why if people have babies everyday, all day, and we continue to populate the earth, that there is no consensus on how best to feed and put to sleep your child??  Cooper, being Colleen's son and all, has chosen to only sleep in his swing, the car, or in our bed.  Now, Drew and I never imagined having a baby co-sleep with us, but when you need to get your child to sleep and you yourself need sleep, you'll do whatever it takes - it's really the hospital's fault since they started him sleeping this way after he was born.

 

I've really enjoyed spending time with Cooper (so cute, such soft skin, and just amazing to conceptualize that he came from my body) but it is the hardest thing I've ever done - and I still can't believe people do this more than once (please, if I hear from one more person that you just "forget" I'm going to puke).  These are the same people who say that "breathing" during labor is helpful.

 

okay, gotta go, crying baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I'm becoming a once a month blogger.  Ack.  I didn't think the summer would become so busy and all of a sudden it's caught up to me.

 

Anyway, most relevant to my life would be the past two weekends.  In mid-July, I visited our Orlando office for a few days to catch up with the employees there and make plans for the academic year and during my maternity leave.   Drew decided to actually use some of that never-ending vacation (I'm so jealous) and come along.  We've been looking for a nice beach place to use as a 2nd home/vacation on the east coast of Florida near my family, so he was stuck playing real estate trooper.  I cannot believe how much those homes have gone up in price over the last couple of years.  I mean, it is near the beach, but hello, do hurricanes stop no one?  I love the beach myself - grew up going almost every weekend for my entire childhood, but at the same time, I'm from smalltown USA - there's no Gap, only one or two decent restaurants, and you have to drive like an hour to get anywhere of significance.  However, I guess that's appealing these days. 

 

Anyway, the poor guy looked at tons of condos, townhomes, small houses, in something like a 75 mile area and still really found nothing in our price range.  However, we both fell in love with one place we saw in New Symrna Beach, so maybe that will actually happen.  My idea of the beach house is to just have a place where we can vacation when we visit my family and meet up with our friends.  I have visions of hanging out with my friends and all of our growing families spending time on the beach, playing games, chilling out.  Not sure if we would use it as a rental property but as a loaner for our friends and family to use and to meet up with us.    My fingers are crossed.  If we did decide to do this, it will mean the end of my designer purse and shoe habit and we'll have to buckle up real tight.  However, I think it will be worth it.

 

The rest of the weekend was spent driving around properties and seeing my immediate family.  They all got a big kick out of my expanding belly.  Ha-ha.

 

This past weekend we had one of my closest friends, Stacey, and her husband D, down to visit.  I was so honored that they actually booked the trip together without even making it a business trip.  It was so sweet to have them both here and we had a lot of fun.  D is a little quiet like Drew and Stacey and I are both the chattiest people in the US, so that works out perfectly.  We mostly did local things near San Mateo but they seemed to enjoy themselves - plus they fixed the toilet that my friend Jenn broke a few months ago (just kidding, Jenn - it really just runs slow) and helped us hang a new lamp.  Drew and I have no household skills and D is just amazing.  Truly amazing.  The nicest part is that I'll see them again in Seattle this weekend!

 

For all of you interested, here's the Yoda update:  I'm about 28 weeks along and bursting out of lots of clothes.  It's now very obvious to all of the world that I'm pregnant.  I'm still working out and feeling good, but the lack of running has been hard for me to adjust to - I didn't realize how much muscle tone I would lose just by switching from running to walking, but I got a new trainer who is giving me lots of toning exercises as a pregnant lady.  The toughest thing she has me doing is any exercise that involves sitting on the floor and then having to get up.  Yoda is a pretty big load to carry around :-).

 

Later this week I'm heading to LA for a day in our office down there and then up to Seattle to meet up with Drew and Jenn is hosting a baby shower for Yoda.  I'm super excited to see everyone.

 

Ta-ta.

I forgot that we also went to Seattle for a weekend in May and got to visit with all of our friends up there who I miss desperately.  We visited with Heather & her baby Ian and Julie and her baby Daniel - and our friends the Heglands we're celebrating their 25 year anniversary. More photos included.