Cloud Cathedral

I woke up this morning and there was a cute baby next to me!

On May 21′st we held our baby shower at Picante restaurant in Berkeley.

The 21′st had been advertised all over the world as the day that the religious event, the rapture, would occur.

Not only did the end not come but fantastic Mexican food and even better company were enjoyed all around.

I enjoyed chicken mole tamales and seeing friends that I hadn’t seen in quite a while. Fox and Adriana flew up from Orange County to stay with us for the shower. Tony came with her daughter and Diane came with her two children and their cousin. Those three insisted on working on homework the whole time to set a good example for our as of yet unborn

child. Tims sister, Meghan, came with our brother-in-law Keith and my sister, Angela, came bringing so many gifts that they couldn’t fit on a single chair (we are pretty sure she’s super duper excited for the arrival)! Tim’s friend from work, Alan came with his intelligent and well behaved son.

We really appreciated everyone making the trip for the event; it wasn’t local for anyone there! Also, all of the gifts were so thoughtful. Diane thought to get us onesies in 0-3 and 6 months, Fox also thought to get us onesies in the six month size, those are the only ones we have : ). Meghan pretty much outfitted our child first aid kit with all of the choices that we would have made for ourself and Alan matched his gifted onesies with the spoons and bowl that he gifted us with. Thanks everyone for being so thoughtful and for just being there. We had a great time and you have really helped us to be prepared!

Well, it’s no secret that since peek-a-boo has begun to grow in my belly I’ve been getting stronger and stronger. Although the inspiration for my hard work is to pump oxygen rich blood faster through his little body to boost development of his Central Nervous System I am certainly reaping the benefits. I practice an hour of a prenatal yoga program every other day. Some days, if I am away from home, I will stretch my exercise to the third day but never more than that as it is easiest on my body to simply put the hour in every other day.

Benefits I’ve noticed

Less pain all over; back, legs, neck, less pain from bloating and stagnation. Baby is very active, as he must move to make himself more comfortable every time I do, he is having a great workout as well.

Program of Choice

Summer Sanders’ Prenatal Workout. This program combines, aerobics, cardio and yoga to dynamically strengthen and tone the pregnant body. There are three programs designed for the three trimesters. As Summer goes through them with the watcher she is in fact seven months pregnant! This is a good thing to remember when I feel sorry for myself at only 5 months. Summers dry humor makes it easier to get through the video on days when my body complains about just getting out of bed.

Adjustments to Program

This program features a move called “labor lunge”. The proposed purpose of the labor lunge is to release tension from the thighs, create dynamic strength there and also to move the baby into the proper position. The program already features extensive lunges that strengthen both the front and the inner thighs. Also, there are no records that labor lunges assist in correct positioning for baby. The exercise did not shorten its creators labor time from a typical 20 hours. There is evidence, however, that certain belly dancing moves assist in speeding along natural child birth by putting the baby into a labor ready position. The two that I alternate between while Summer performs labor lunges are (gently) figure 8s and hip circles.

Necessary Tools

DVD which may be bought at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Sanders-Prenatal-Workout

Yoga Mat (Really necessary for this work out)

Resistance Band I bought this one (also from Amazon) and it is exactly what I need http://www.amazon.com/SPRI-ES501R-Xertube-Resistance-Attachment

This February 11th my sister came to the big 3-0. Her milestone birthday reminded me of how wonderful it is to be out of the confusion and helplessness of childhood. Hurrah to growing into adults, into greater self-awareness and into clearer vision. You couldn’t pay me to go back!

Although part of me wanted to do something grand like skipping off to Germany for a coffee and a walk through cobbled streets we enjoyed ourselves quite well. We met in Rockridge where we discovered a gem of a cafe; Cafe Zoe. I had never enjoyed a Northern California cup so much! Their froth art was beautiful, a heart for her and a leaf on my decaf, and the foam lasted all the way down. The chocolate filled croissants were generously sprinkled with powdered sugar so no complaints there and the atmosphere was casually quiet.

Next we headed to our appointment at Galaxy Nail Spa. We enjoyed a bubbly foot bath, arm and leg oil massages followed by cleaning and lotioning, and well performed manicures and pedicures. As Angela and I don’t get to catch up very often we had inappropriately big life stuff to fill each other in on. The salonists must have thought we were their most depressing customers.

Afterward, we laughed at the idea of eating somewhere other than Zachary’s and then headed straight in to Za heaven. We ordered the deep dish spinach and tomato. I would have taken a picture of the delectable beauty but I was busy eating. The pizzas at Zachary’s takes half an hour but post mani/pedi ladies are the most relaxed for the wait.

All together it was a great day. Relaxing, rejuvenating and fun. Sometimes we stress ourselves out to try to have a super memorable time but when I look back on the moments in my life where I have been the happiest it has not been when I was under the stress of traveling or pulling an event off well it has been when I let myself enjoy life itself and certainly that seems an appropriate sentiment for such a landmark birthday.

“It’s a boy!”

This is the only thing I could get out of my mouth when we saw the ultrasound on Saturday, and saw the physical evidence that our baby was male. I was totally shocked. Our baby is real in there, wiggling all around, cuddling with his Mama.

I understand so much more about parents that I see now. I used to see parents whose kids did something bad, or wanted another treat, and they’d give this cute smile and then they would get it. “Bah!” I’d say, “obviously they don’t have strong ideals on parenting.” But now I totally get it. While we were watching the little guy on the ultrasound, every time he’d move an arm or leg, I’d just about melt out my toes. He is so frigging cute.

It’s a good thing babies are babies for so long. Hopefully I’ll have a decent tolerance to his cuteness by the time he could leverage it against me. (And not in an evil genius kind of way, I’m sure. And, as a former kid myself, and “doing what you gotta do” to get that bonus cookie at dessert time, I empathize.)

So, yes we are super happy. And feeling a little overwhelmed at times.

I was taking out the moving boxes, front door ajar, when I noticed this praying mantis, the size of my longest finger, sitting right outside our door. . . I think I’ll take the boxes out later. You’ve one this round mantis!

She’s still outside. I guess we’ll have to work around each other. She keeps her eye on me, never letting me out of her sight. Very suspicious.

Not worth seeing; depressing in fact. An endless parade of cheap morals and people I wouldn’t want to know. Characters who are cynical in a way that is meant to be fashionable but as it is presented comes across as a lazy stereotype of modern unmarrieds. The characters should be ashamed of the situations they create, instead they enter into them without any sort of graveness or shame, not any hint that they realize they are behaving awfully.

Since when did romantic comedies equal cheating on partners, settling for a convenient relationship because true love is a myth and main characters who act dishonorably then help others to do the same?  This movie was awful and depressing. A very loose theme of “Be true to Love” showed up at the very end after the characters had already woven themselves into a tangled mess of bad decisions and that theme appeared only to move the sorry plot into its final dishonorable maneuver.

-Tara

This is really more of a reaction to the movie then a review.  I don’t like how romantic comedies allow people to act however they wish in the name of “true love”.  It’s okay to leave someone at the altar, because hey!  It’s  true love now.  There is a point in a relationship when you realize if you don’t like the person as much as you should, and a person of good character will bow out.  This movie reinforces the idea that you can grab a pointless relationship to hold you over until “true love” is there, whether or not you end up hurting others.  In short, I didn’t like this movie.

-Tim

We are pretty much done packing. This coming Saturday the 13th we say goodbye to Berkeley and hello to Lafayette! We are most excited about our new apartments close proximity to the beautiful Lafayette library and the pedestrian friendly centrality that we lucked out on.