Dodger Is Grounded

I have a free two minutes at work, so I thought I would share the tale of my *fun* morning. Why do I have a few minutes? Because I finished some discovery responses - my goal? To serve them at say, oh, 4:59 today in order to completely ruin opposing counsel's weekend, just like he screwed up my week (well, namely, the day I was supposed to spend at home having fun with Rhys today - grrr).

I woke this morning at 5:30. Why, you ask, would I wake up that early if I don't have to be at work until 9? Because Dodger, who I took out at midnight, barked to go out. And worse than that, he went INTO RHYS' ROOM and barked. The nerve that dog has is astounding. Noooo, it wasn't enough to bug me (and btw, I did get up the first time he barked. But I had to put in my contacts, which took a minute. Note to self: get Lasik asap). And in that minute, he woke up the baby. Cardinal sin.

I'm not sure how to ground the dog - I mean, I could not take him for a walk, but that seems cruel, and in the end would probably punish me because he'd be that much more hyper. I think I have decided that he will not receive ANY of the fun halloween dog treats I planned on making until tomorrow.

Luckily, Rhys went back to sleep, albeit in my bed, but hey, that was cute. He pulled the huge king comforter over himself (the kid loves blankets) and actually arranged the pillow behind him, which I found adorable. Then he had great fun touching my face, and exploring my chin and cheeks. Of course, that made me melt!

We got up a little later, made lunches, had breakfast, dressed, and were even out the door on time. I would have had a chance at redeeming the morning, until I took the wrong bus. I submit that this was not entirely my fault. I got to the Transbay Terminal right as the bus was letting people on. So I ran for it (carrying a computer bag, purse, Rhys' bag, and Rhys himself, in heels, thank you very much) and made it, and even had my $1.50 in my pocket ready to go. The bus, the number of which I did not look at (foreshadowing, anyone?) was parked in the spot the #38 ALWAYS leaves from. There is no other bus (until today) that leaves from that spot. I've been taking it since May - the #38 is the only one that is allowed in that spot. So I confidently ran up to it and got on. It made all the normal stops...until we were suddenly passing Old Navy on Market Street. I wondered: do we always pass Old Navy? Have I missed this in the past 6 months? How is it we continually pass one of my favorite stores and I never got off to shop?! This is when I started looking around the inside of the bus for soem sign of what effing bus I am actually on.

So we are continuing down Market, and I console myself with the fact that we are at least going the right direction, but a little out of our way. I figure out where to get off, and in the end, it was only about 3 blocks out of my way. No big deal...except for the aforementioned pile of crap I am carrying - in heels And, it was 3 blocks through the Tenderloin. So, three blocks of "hey baby" later (p.s. does that EVER work? No. And, since when is carrying a 17 month old sexy? Its not. So please stop being mysoginistic derogatory assholes in front of my kid, thanks), we finally make it to Rhys' day care. He cried when I left (which is like, awww, thanks for loving me so much you cry when I leave, but also, please don't cry because you are going to have a fun great day sweetie!).

Caught the correct bus to work - but then the coffee shop was out of my favorite blackberry raspberry scone. Grr. Had to get the cranberry blueberry one instead. Which was actually ok, but I adore blackberries. =) But, its halfway through the day, and then I get to take Rhys to the harvest festival tomorrow (this is like Christmas to me!) so I am way excited! Happy Friday everyone.

In Her Shoes

Rhys has a new fascination with...shoes! He has taken to going into our closet, taking out EVERY pair, and putting them on. Then, he clop clop clops around the house, while Hallie and I laugh uncontrollably. Its so cute! And, Rhys has determined that this is only an activity appropriate for IN the house. So, when we go out, he has taken to wearing his black dress shoes...with EVERYTHING! We *think* its because he mostly sees us wear dress shoes, and since he is in such a phase of imitating, those are the closest thing he has to the same thing.





Also, in the way of random updates that don't have a picture to go with them...

*Rhys now says "Dodger" and "hi" regularly (as in, when he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he does is look out of his crib and go "Dodger?", which comes out as "Dod-Ja?" Good to know where we rank in this household, right?!

*As I'm sure everyone is aware, Rhys LOVES cell phones. But now, when I am talking to Hallie, or she is talking to me, Rhys will take the phone, and say "hi mama" into it. Well, if that isn't the best thing in the world, I don't know what is!!

*Rhys loves pumpkin anything- a fact for which I am incredibly grateful. Since autumn has officially hit, I am most excited about all of the baking possibilities. Rhys has dutifully eaten everything with pumpkin in it - which, most recently was my pumpkin bread. He also ate pumpkin pasta (sooooo good) so I am happy that he is loving autumn as much as I am!

*Rhys thinks that jumping up and down is hysterical. Seriously...if he's crying about something, all it takes is one good jump, and he giggles like crazy. He can't do it yet, but sure thinks its funny when I do it. Of course, it could have less to do with the jumping and more to do with the fact that I look like a dork when I am doing it, but I like to think its because he likes jumping.

*Rhys has started doing baby yoga! Ok, this is kind of because his mommy is doing yoga, and on a recent trip to the bookstore saw a book about baby yoga and bought it. But before you laugh at me, hear this: it has a bunch of different poses aimed at one purpose, such as happy baby, good morning, playtime, and good night. So we did the good night poses and he slept for TWELVE hours. And, since we've been doing them, and doing them every night, he consistently sleeps from 8pm until 6 am. So, laugh all you want, but Hallie and I have now officially gotten rid of the bags under our eyes. :-) And, Rhys totally did downward dog the other day, and even though it was kinda by accident, it was still counted as him doing yoga on his own.

* Rhys is spending Thanksgiving in San Francisco, and will be participating in the Turkey Run at Ocean Beach on Thanksgiving Day! Anyone who reads this blog is of course welcome to visit, and cheer on our little guy. And, for anyone who would like to participate from afar, we have to choose a costume for him. So...pilgrim? Indian (yes, I know its not PC, but its how its listed on the website)? Turkey? Other festive costume? Suggestions are welcome!!

And finally...the blog may or may not get updated this weekend. Hallie is going to a conference at Lake Tahoe (rough life, huh?) and is leaving Rhys, Dodger and I alone for four days. So the odds of me having enough time to upload pics and blog are slim. Plus, if and when I have a free minute, I have to put laundry as a priority over the blog...or I could blog and just go buy new stuff that's clean. Hmmmmm. I'll have to think about this! Rhys will be participating in the zoo costume walk this weekend, and I'm taking him to the harvest festival, so there will be plenty of autumn (aka the best season) pictorials next week!!

Rhys Visits Nebraska

This past weekend Rhys was lucky enough to see tons of family! We traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska where his mommies watched the Cornhuskers go down in flames. We are pretty sure Rhys' first phrase will be "fire Coach Callahan!" Well, it will be if he's been listening to his mom Hallie for the past 3 weeks. Rhys was lucky enough to see Grammy Diane, Pap Gary, Grandpa Cliff, Grandma Marilyn, Aunt Natalie, Cousins Joelly and Camille, Nick, Jessica, Kelly and Ruthie! It was a great time, with fabulous food (thanks Diane and Cliff!!!) and lots of laughs. Rhys would also like to note that he now has an NFL team to cheer for: Go Steelers!



Rhys, Grammy Diane and Grandpa Cliff hang out



Rhys and Grammy Diane share some special time with the Phonics Leapfrog from Kelly



Rhys and Curious George - or, more accurately, Curious Rhys and Curious George!



Ok, I know I'm his mom and all, but seriously - could the kid BE any cuter?



The Foster/Anderson/Figari/Foster-Figari bunch. What - like your family tree is so easy to map out?!

P.S. Did everyone notice how I learned to do captions right under the picture they belong to? This is a big day indeed!

Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day, where bloggers are encouraged to discuss one issue: the environment. So we thought we would share some of the green living Rhys practices on a daily basis.

*Rhys uses cloth diapers at home.

Sure, they are a little more of a pain in the ass, and yes, we have to do a couple extra loads of laundry a week, but it does dramatically lessen the impact Rhys has on the environment. For example, between birth and age 2 1/2, a baby will use 6,000 disposable diapers. By contrast, during that same period, Rhys will only use at most 6 dozen cloth diapers, using about 30 pounds of cotton to manufacture. Sure, we use disposable diapers when we travel, but by using cloth at home, we are saving resources and landfill space. Oh, and Rhys does not have as many diaper rashes when we use cloth versus when we travel and use disposable. Although this does reduce how much we can pull out the Buttpaste that Nick and Jessica bought him, which always makes for a fun laugh!

*Rhys ate homemade baby food (when he still ate baby food)

Nothing like boiling an entire pot full of apples to make homemade apple sauce! Rhys never really dug the manufactured baby food (and was DEFINITELY not a fan of rice cereal!), which was just as well because that gave us the idea to experiment at home to come up with foods he liked. Basically, any type of fruit, pureed, was what Rhys desired. So we put our oven and our pots to use to make his food, and experimented with all kinds of spices along the way. Plus, we found some awesome baby food ideas online - who ever heard of a chutney sauce for babies?! The best tip: make a bunch of baby food at once, and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then just pop them out and warm up as many as you need for your little guy's serving. Genius!

*Rhys shops at his local farmer's market

Each Saturday Rhys hops in his stroller and takes his canvas bag to the Ferry Building, where local farmers sell all kinds of grapes, berries, grapes, peaches, grapes, pears, grapes, apples, and oh yes, did I mention grapes? Rhys likes to hold out his hands for the free samples, which they are only to happy to give him. (Read: a "free" sample to Rhys, who, if he likes it, instantly demands more, means his mommies just got roped into buying a whole pound of whatever he just ate! But hey, it supports local farmers, and is certainly healthy for Rhys. =) And, his mommies would much rather buy him a pound of grapes than a pound of junior mints...mostly because his mommies want those junior mints for themselves!! =)

*Rhys takes the bus home from daycare

Ok, so this is not so much a factor of being green as a factor of one of his mommies being inept behind the wheel of a car when she as to park it in a non-90 degree angle kind of way. See previous post for complete details. But still, he's riding the bus every day. To Jessica: Yay public transit!!!

So these are just a few of the everyday things that Rhys does to be an environmentally responsible citizen, shared with all as part of Blog Action Day. In addition, Rhys would like to share that he found out last night that in general airlines do not recycle the massive number of cans and bottles used on each flight, because "it would just be too hard." (Actual quote). Rhys would also like to share that he heard an entire diatribe from his mom Brandi about the fact that it does not take more effort to schlep a bag of trash to a bin than to take a bag of coke cans to the blue bin right next to it. But, for the record, Midwest Express does make the effort to recycle, so at least the people in Nebraska can cheer!!

Turtlenecks and Watches

Rhys' new favorite accessory - watches. He is currently sporting a very fashionable Scooby-Doo model, where you have to flip Scooby's head up to see the time. Tres chic!

Grapes

Rhys LOVES grapes - they are absolutely his favorite thing to eat. So now we have a huge bowl of grapes on the bottom shelf of the fridge, and he just opens the door and helps himself to a little snack!

More Hawaii

Ok, so we took tons of pictures, and I guess this is the modern day version of inviting all your friends over to watch a slide show. =) But seriously - how cute is Rhys in his towel?! Its actually a hand towel from the hotel - he was so proud walking around in it!

Cheers!

Ok, so this new trick that Rhys learned is either entirely genetic (ahem! Guinness fan?), learned from the professor at Beer School, or a combination of the two.

Last night, as Hallie and I were laying in bed downing shots of ginger ale and gatorade (see previous post where Rhys got sick, and extend it to entire family. Ugh), we also gave Rhys a bottle of milk. So we are sitting there watching crappy Sunday night TV, and I am about to take a sip of my drink when Rhys holds up his bottle, taps it against my glass, and then starts to chug. Hallie and I look at each other, not really believing what we *think* we just saw, and then Rhys takes his bottle, taps it against Hallie's glass, and takes another sip of milk. Cheers!

This continued for about 10 minutes, with Rhys alternately tapping glasses, giggling, taking a sip, and repeating. Of course Hallie and I dissolved with laughter immediately, and proceeded to encourage this new trick - can you imagine how fun this kid is going to be at parties?!

Hawaii

In August we all visited the Kona coast of Hawaii - Rhys had a ball! He loved the beach, and sat right at the edge of the water with his shovel and pail. Everytime a wave would come up, it would just barely get the bottoms of his feet wet, and he would giggle each time. We also went to see the volcano and the waterfalls, where Rhys had fun but eventually looked pretty pooped after walking all day, and actually resigned himself to actually sitting in his little backpack. We saw tons of sea turtles off the coast - one of the things that Kona is famous for. We had one of the best vacations we've ever had, and found out that Rhys loves all types of water - the pool, the ocean, or the bathub!

Graduation

We ALL celebrated when Brandi finally finished law school - Rhys put on his best suit for the occasion, and later turned his nose up at the "appetizers" provided by the school. Needless to say, we went out for lunch instead, where Rhys found some mashed potatoes he liked!

Rhys' California Trip

In April, we visited San Francisco to look at apartments. Rhys of course saw his best friend Mira, and enjoyed the sunshine in the park!

Rhys Packs His Suitcase

Rhys is about 11 months here, and decided that the suitcase was roomier than the coach seats provided on the airplane. Does anyone disagree? =)

Things nobody tells you...

So, Friday - relaxing, right? A day to maybe swing by happy hour, catch a movie, maybe get some delicious take out. Or not.

Our day began at 7:30, with a "crap! we overslept!" We quickly found clean clothes, showered, took the dog out, and even managed to get Rhys up and dressed in a half hour. A proud moment indeed....until we hit the car. As Hallie is driving, I turn around to play with Rhys a little bit, give him his bottle, and what happens? He pukes. Not one of those little urps that only people without kids get grossed out by. A full on puke. (To all of our friends - I'm sorry. That's just how graphic our lives have gotten!). So now we are both running late, and Hallie doesn't know this fun little tidbit. "Um....honey? Rhys just barfed. Do we have an extra set of clothes?" Long silence. You can guess what the answer was.

So I mercifully get dropped off at work, both happy at having escaped that particular mess, and feeling slightly guilty that I got to go have a bagel and coffee and write some boring brief rather than deal with it. I mentally note to buy Hallie some flowers - or Febreze. My guilty feelings were completely abated the moment I even got in the car to go pick Rhys up from daycare. First, there was traffic. Ok, minor annoyance, whatever. 5 extra minutes to listen to music that is NOT kid friendly. Then, I get to the street Rhys' daycare is on. For those of you not in San Francisco, his daycare is in the Tenderloin district - suffice it to say that an entire season of Cops could probably be filmed in this area in say, oh an 8 hour period (note: his actual daycare is fabulous, and the woman who takes care of him is sweet and caring. She just runs a daycare in a shitty neighborhood).

So I get there, and there is no parking, except for a couple teeny tiny spaces that of course require one to parallel park. I can't. Seriously - I delayed getting my California drivers license because I heard that 1 in 10 people get randomly selected to take the behind the wheel portion of the test, and I was terrified of having to parallel park. I understand the mechanics of it - I saw the episode where Greg teaches Marcia to park inbetween the trash cans. But, I can't do it. I suck at it. Fifteen minutes I spend circling the block, trying to find some space big enough for the damn SUV. And its not even like I have a big SUV. Its just that I can't park my damn medium sized SUV. At which point I start thinking that this is my penance for not taking the bus to pick Rhys up.

I *finally* find a spot, manage to swing myself in enough so that I won't get a ticket, and run, yes run, to Rhys' daycare in an effort to avoid completely pissing off the nice woman who runs it, since I am now ridiculously late picking him up. I get there, he is happy and smiling, and no sign of barf anywhere. Yes! I get him in the carseat, drive home with minimal traffic, and am so very happy that he does not look green. I open the car door to get him out....yep, you guessed it. Puke. Immediately. All over. And the best part? Hallie is off tutoring people for the SAT, and won't be home for 4 freaking hours. Cancel earlier note to self involving flowers. Keep the earlier mental note involving Febreze, and now extend it to me and my poor car.

I manage to extricate Rhys from the carseat, in what I must characterize as nothing short of a fabulous job on my part, since I managed to not get anything else covered in puke. Of course, the fact that he puked EVERYWHERE kind of negates this feat, but I'll pat myself on the back anyways. We get upstairs, take off the now disgusting jacket, and not two damn seconds later, Dodger is whining. Yes, I understand that he has been home for a couple of hours alone, but I've seen that dog hold it for way longer, and today he was just being ridiculous! All I needed was five minutes to situate the child, but now the other child needs my attention too. And, as previously mentioned, Hallie isn't home. Dammit. Bundle Rhys up in clean blanket, grab dog leash and baggies, race outside with dog...who proceeds to take FOREVER. I should have just left him out there with a freaking sports page and come back in 30 minutes. He sniffed all around like it was a place he'd never been before! Really Dodger? Today?!

Dodger finally finishes taking his sweet-ass time, we come back inside, and Rhys both urps and has a really fun diaper all at once - no, I will not go into details because I do at least have some semblance of the concept TMI. Suffice it to say, he went right into the bathub, which tonight he hated (this is the child who is known to play, yes, play in the bathtub for an hour, and who kicks and screams when you take him OUT). He gets out, dries off, I put him in his PJs, and he falls asleep. At 7. Way early. I'm torn between relief, and subsequent guilt at my relief. Of course, he wakes up just as Hallie gets home and dinner is ready. And he smiles and talks, and eats little goldfish crackers (and completely gives us a WTF look as we attempt to fill his bottle with Pedia-Lyte due to his lovely condition), and all of that is just enough to make both of us forget the complete grossness that has been our day.

And oh, did I mention? When I picked Rhys up, I found out that one of the other little boys was sick yesterday. Yep, you guessed it. He puked. Happy Friday.