Gametes In Love

Would you like some time off from school/your job? Have you missed some cuddle time with your toddler? Has it been awhile since you’ve bonded with the porcelain god? Well, then come on down to Crazy Jumpers and rent a bounce house for your child’s next party event.

I jest. But it is true. Every single time a child at G’s daycare celebrates a birthday, and the parents rent a bounce-house, it feels like the plague spreads through the school 2-3 days later. Every.single.effin.time. Last Thursday I saw a bouncer deflated as I was picking G up. I joked saying “Gee, I wonder what bug we’ll fall victim to this time?” Well, this event’s party favor? The stomach flu.

S came down with it yesterday and he was miserable. I’m falling victim to it today, and I am hoping… no… praying, that the boys (especially S2) don’t go through this next. We think G might have had it a few days back, and gotten off with the, ughmn, rear-end effects, but not with the pukies. I am at least thankful that S is stronger today and can handle him while it’s my turn to lick wounds in bed. Having us both be bathroom confined with two kids has to be impossible. I gotta tell you, this whole “In sickness and in health” part of wedding vows has a whole different meaning when you add kids to the mix.

The part that sucks is that G doesn’t even like bounce houses. He’s scared of them. The closest he’s come to being in one is at the opening, while no one else is inside. Yet, once his friends get sick and drool over all the toys, he comes down with it too. And as much as the teachers do a great job sanitizing, by then it’s just too late.

Yes, I know this is a side effect of daycare, and normally I can roll with the punches. Today I’m just pissy because 1) the parents got sick too; 2) I have an infant that I can’t do anything for if he gets it; 3) my family is visiting and I worry about passing it onto them, and 4) did I mention it’s Christmas Eve?

Merry Christmas y’all. I hope someone leaves some Gatorade under the tree.

I suppose this will be the last year that I won’t be interrogated about Santa by the kids. I still stand by my goal to not lie about Santa being a jolly elf that delivers presents one night a year. At the same time, I’m trying to be sensitive to my friend’s desire to “perpetuate the Santa magic” and not have G and S2 be the ones to ruin Santa for them. I’ve spent some time this year getting my story straight on 1) Who is Santa?, 2) Is he real? and 3) Why does he hang out at the mall?

Here’s what I have for now. Length and detail of below story may vary to match the attention span of asking child.

A long time ago, in Greece, there lived a man whose name was Nicholas. Nicholas came from a very wealthy family. He was very kind and caring, and he liked to help people.
In the same town Nicholas lived in, there also lived another man who was really, really poor. Nicholas, secretly gave him money to help his family out. Over time, Nicholas’ deeds turned him into a saint in the eyes of people. Many began to call him Saint Nicholas (Saint Nick). Because of different languages, other people call him Santa Claus, or Santa, for short. What Nicholas did, was so special, and so nice, that every year, around Christmas, people dress up as Santa Claus and give gifts. Nicholas’ spirit of generosity and kindness is alive and the gifts we receive on Christmas day are through that spirit.

There is, of course, a problem with my Santa plan. S, for example, is so fatigued of two-year old tantrums, that he would very much like to instill the fear of Santa (or more specifically the fear of not getting any loot on Christmas day). All so that he could milk out a few weeks of good behavior. I kind of think that if G knows it’s us that are getting him said gifts, then it would behoove him to be nice to us. Plus, at this point, I don’t really think he cares much for gifts, so Santa or no Santa the tantrums will continue.

Anyway, that’s my Santa tale. Let’s see how it holds up.

Meanwhile, today, we took the boys on their Santa deliveries. This will likely be the last year I pick for G. I’m hoping next year he’ll decide what he wants to donate. This year, however, on G’s behalf Toys for Tots is receiving a Melissa & Doug fruit crate. He received this for his birthday this year and has loved it. I’m hoping that another child will enjoy this set as much as G has. I was actually a little worried how today’s drop-off would go. I pulled out the unopened toy to show to G side by side to his set. I was worried that if I pulled it out at the Fire Dept. he’d freak out and think we were giving away his set. So now, here there were, side by side, two fruit crates, and G insisted that both were his and that “My need it!” (aka he needed) the second, new set. But it went well. G dropped off S2’s donations in the bin, and then dumped the fruit crate in there too without any protest.

Speaking of S2. He donated Gum Drop pacifiers. Being a whole 6w old doesn’t really give me a great depth of “toys” he enjoys, so the pacis it was. S2 slept on the job, but I didn’t expect any different from him on this trip.

I’m excited and happy about how today went! I’m really hopeful that in a few years, G and S2 will be really excited about gift drop-offs too and also picking out the toys they want to gift to needy families.

Here’s this year’s video of our drop-off. It’s jittery and you stare at G’s feet awhile, I know, but it’s not easy to hold a toddler and a camera and walk at the same time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q0pl6UDMVU]

Now that S2 is out and about it’s time to crown the winner of the Storm Predictors baby pool. The winner is S’ cousin, Tracy. Tracy, check your email 🙂

Now… if you’re curious to the final answers to each question, here goes:

1. Mamma’s total weight gain: 31.4lb
2. Storm’s date of birth: 11/1/2010
3. Storm’s time of birth: 1:18pm
4. Storm’s weight: 6lb 9.6oz (hospital rounded to 10oz)
5. Storm’s height: 18″
6. Storm’s amount of hair: Just a wee bit of fuzz

Congrats, Tracy!

If you played and you want to know how close you got, post a comment below and I’ll let you know your ranking order.

When I first started Gametes In Love my purpose was to share my thoughts and experiences on the way to parenthood with family and friends. Mostly so that I didn’t have to repeat myself 10 times over. It turned into me sharing my thoughts. Later it became a record of stories: some funny, some sad. But I’m also realizing that this blog has another purpose: a way for our sons to get to know ME (and S), my internal voice, my sense of humor, and what I believe.

So in honor of this upcoming election season, I thought that I’ll dedicate this post to my political beliefs. I’m not asking anyone to agree with me, or debate me here. I’m just sharing what I think and what guides my voting decisions.

1. I believe that every person should have access to the best education possible. If they so desire, an undergraduate degree should be accessible to anyone who wants it, for free. Education should not be a for-profit business.

2. I believe that love is blind. Whether one finds their soul-mate within the same or opposite gender shouldn’t matter. Their love and respect towards each other should be celebrated and encouraged. We should support any union where two consenting individuals are willing to put each other ahead of themselves and their personal needs.

3. I believe that access to health-care is a basic right and not a privilege. Every person: infant, student, senior citizen should have access to affordable (or free), dignified, and satisfactory treatment for preventative, prescriptive and emergency care. One should not have to decide between life-improving medication and paying for food. On that note, like education, health-care should not be a for-profit business.

4. I believe that guns have no place in the possession of anyone outside of law enforcement. If you want to hunt, fine. Get a bow, arrow, knife, and/or a big rock and go nuts.

5. I believe that reproductive rights should be a personal choice. I am wholeheartedly pro-choice, and pro-affordable contraception. However, since being assigned an “infertility” label, I’m not so sure how pro-abortion I fall any more.

6. I believe in equal rights to access to employment, pay, education, social services, and ethical and judicial treatment for any person. This is blind to gender, age, religious preference, or immigration status.

7. I don’t know how I feel about the death penalty. I’m very schizophrenic when it comes to this topic.

8. I believe that we should look at the long term environmental impacts of our actions. Choosing the easy way now in terms of convenience and personal & corporate profit, while leaving the ecological bill for the next generation is irresponsible.

9. I believe that taxes kind of suck. No, I don’t like only seeing 1/2 of what I make come home. But I do like seeing my hospital staffed, police officers responding to cries for help, and my kid well educated. I also believe in proportional taxation based on income, with exclusions at the lowest levels, and caps at the highest.

That’s all I will share for now. I have a lot more opinions than this on various topics, but I’ll stop here for now. Anyway, off to do more research on candidates/propositions for next week.

Following my cord blood donation rant, I continued making calls and asking around for organizations that accept cord blood. And I found some!!!!

There are 2 organizations that will accept cord blood out of state: LifebankUSA (which focuses on clinical research), and Cryo Bank International (which places collected cord blood on a national transplant registry).

Sadly, LifebankUSA cannot accept a donation from me. Turns out that my Eastern European residency in the 1980s may have exposed me to mad-cow disease contaminated meats. While my brain doesn’t feel particularly swiss-cheesey (pregnancy and mommy brain excluded), this was a sad blow to be honest. It’s one thing to be rejected for something that I was personally in control of (say getting a tattoo recently, or sharing needles), but when it’s something that was not my choice, it hurt. Our conversation lasted all but 10 minutes once we began discussing my origins. On the bonus side I didn’t have to fill out 14 pages worth of forms 🙂

However, Cryo Bank International doesn’t have this problem. I asked them to confirm, and the donation coordinator said I looked good, and pending three wet signatures from my doc (I had forms faxed over from them) my paperwork should be final and they’ll send me a donation kit.

Kinda cool!

I AM a little disappointed that my OB’s office charges for the collection of cord blood when used for donation purposes. $200 ain’t cheap, yo! The moms that directed me to these 2 organizations said that their OBs did not charge, so I was kind of expecting Dr. M wouldn’t either. Given how awesome she and her office is on everything else, this was just a surprise. However, our very own (version of) Suzie Orman confirmed that any money I spend on the collection of cord blood can be considered a donation for tax purposes, even though it’s not being paid directly to the donation organization.

So… as of right now, all systems are a go. This does add a bit more complexity to the “todo” list when I go into labor, and then the hours post-recovery, but it’s important to me and I’m glad we get a chance to do it.

I would still prefer to donate to clinical research, and if I get a call from Genentec I’d be thrilled, but I’m glad that there’s a plan.

Woot!

I really want to donate the cord blood from Storm’s delivery. I don’t want to bank it for our use, and I hate the idea of it going to waste (when stem-cells are supposedly in such high demand), so I would really like to donate it. Stem cells collected from cord blood can be used for research. There is ongoing research using stem cells for treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Cerebral Palsy, Diabetes…

Except identifying a place that will take it has become a royal pain in the rear.

My hospital does not participate in a donation program.
There is only 1 hospital in our area that does, and they do not accept donations from non-patients.
I contacted Stanford to see if they have any ongoing research projects that would want it, and came up with a big fat 0.
Children’s Hospital of Oakland will only accept cord blood from siblings of children already requiring a transplant.
StemCyte only works with hospitals who have a donation program due to FDA regulations.
I’ve left messages for LifebankUSA and Joanne Pang Foundation. I’m also trying to get a hold of SaneronCCEL, but their answering machine has me on an endless loop.
I’m also trying a contact at Genentec, and hoping they might have programs that would be interested.

WHY is this so hard? As far as I’m concerned clinics doing this research should be knocking down OB office doors and asking for fliers to be made available to interested parents. I shouldn’t have to hunt down these organizations. I want to help. It shouldn’t be this hard!

For a short period of time we are a one car family.

My little Civic got driven away this morning by a new owner. While this was a transition we were expecting, it didn’t exactly happen on our time-line.

On Monday my “check engine” light came on. Since we already were planning on taking it in for it’s next mileage milestone service the following day, in it went.  Interestingly enough, that night I had a dream that the service department would say that fixing it would cost too much, and the car, for all intents and purposes was done. My dream was right. Just to assess the actual problem was going to be a $700. On the low end of their suspicious of what was wrong with it, I would walk out with a bill of anywhere from $1700-$2500. And that was before the service check I needed anyway. On a car that was worth maybe $4,000, spending more than half of it’s value on repairs seemed unreasonable. Especially since we knew we wanted to sell it, to make room for our next mobile in the next 2 months anyway.

So we made some calls, and posted it on Craigslist “just in case”, as-is. Shockingly we had a bunch of interest right away, and this morning it found itself a new owner, who will fix it up and use it.

This little Civic was my first “big girl” car. I chose, negotiated and paid it off all on my own. Well, S was there for the negotiating bit, but I guess I was enough of a hard-ass, he didn’t really need to chime in much. The down-payment for that car came from me selling an engagement ring. Yes, I was engaged prior to S. Obviously (and looking back, thankfully) things didn’t work out, and I was left with a beautiful ring that I couldn’t wear. So, one day, I had an epiphany and decided I needed to put the ring to more useful purposes: i.e. drive me around 🙂 It sold (my very first eBay transaction ever), and along with some other savings was converted into a comfortable, sexy, screams-of-independence-and-maturity black 2001 Honda Civic. (I always did want to take a photo of me on the hood of my new car and send it to my ex, saying “Thanx!” I never did though)

So I guess that’s it for that chapter of my car driving history. Next up? The monster mobile. We haven’t officially called it, but we’re likely getting a Honda Pilot. I hate the mileage and how ginormous it is, but we could really use a third row, and no small vehicles give you that option.

Vroom, vroom!

So we’ve got a little spider situation going on at work. Actually, let me take this back. We have a BIG spider situation going on at work. Those suckers are HONKIN’ huge. I’d take a photo of one for you with my hand in it for scale comparison, but I’m seriously creeped out by these guys. Their bodies are the size of a dime. They’re black (not Black Widow, thank goodness) and just generally yucky-looking.

They’ve gotten quite happy with our campus grounds. I think they’re having a convention since there is one on EVERY.BUSH.AND.TREE (and we have a lot of trees and bushes).

So today I had enough and filed a request to our maintenance team. Here goes:

Dear Facilities Team,
Can you please help resolve the spider situation we have going on outside of building E? I’m specifically referring to the sidewalks between E and A/D buildings. Have you SEEN those spiders? They’re not hard to miss as every tree and bush has a spiderweb big enough to capture a sheep and the spider is hanging out in the middle of it.

The spiders especially enjoy connecting their webs between the trees on one side of the side-walk, to the light posts on the other side of the side-walk. I think they’re getting ready to feast on the Yahoo!s.

I’m especially anxious because of these critters. I’m 7 months pregnant, and am a little creeped out by the idea of being bitten. While it would be cool for my unborn child to have super-powers, I’d prefer a Superman vs. a Spiderman.

Anyway, can you please get rid of the spiders?

Thank you!

So I should be spider free by next week, right?

Update: OK, one of my colleagues took a photo of one:

This is a day in my life… in pictures. It’s been a reeeeaaaallly long time since I’ve done one of these: years before Gametes In Love was even a twinkle in my eye, but a friend this week inspired me to do it again. I didn’t pick a special day. As a matter of fact, I’m giving you a good ‘ole glimpse of a run of the mill week-day. If you think I’m boring, keep it to yourself ;p

6:24 . It begins. Well, really my alarm goes off at 6:00, and normally I’m up, but today I snoozed.

6:28 . I’m greeted by a hungry feline every day. He’s very loving in the morning, but becomes pretty belligerent if his growling belly isn’t addressed ASAP.

6:40 . While Neko eats, I get G’s breakfast ready. He gets his milk handed to him first thing. It’s like coffee — he can’t function without it. It actually helps me get him ready, because while he slurps down, I get him changed and dressed.
P.S. this is the only “baby” bottle he gets all day. I’ve tried sippies for his wake-up milk, but they leak all over the place, and I need quick sanity in the AM, not milk spills.

6:55 . Time to wake up the monkey. He’s not a morning person.

Really not a morning person.

Really, REALLY not a morning person.

But once he’s up I get to work. PS. Please observe the Al Bundy hands in the pants.

7:06 . Do you see a toddler anywhere? I didn’t think so. We have now entered into the “chase me while I run around & hide” portion of our program. For the record, being 25w pregnant with achy joints does not make for a fast moving mommy. G knows this and takes full advantage.

7:07 . Child spotted hiding in the master bathroom.

Of course, I’m immediately shut out.

7:12 . Wrangled down to the car, where Mr. G has decreed that he shall sit in front. Fat chance, buddy!

7:13 . Ensue toddler tantrum for not being allowed to roam free in the vehicle.

7:14 . Find comfort (for G) and sanity (for me) in Froggie.

7:26 . Now at school!

7:38 . Warm up breakfast. Today’s champion meal: sausage & waffles. I then run around the room dropping off diapers, and filling out the sign-in sheets.

7:42 . Meanwhile, G eats

7:55 . If it’s not a busy day at work and I don’t have meetings first thing in the morning, I hang out a bit while he plays.

8:01 . Then I sit in traffic. Those 24min of sleeping in felt good, but they mean quality time going slowly down the 101.

8:36 . Why hello, Office!

8:40 . Welcome to my diggs. I drop off my laptop, and start loading up my mail. Meanwhile, I go get breakfast.

8:52 . Since it’s a late day I get to hang at the cafeteria in my building. The main one across the street is SO much better, and you can get a bunch of yummies to order. Here, not so much. Oh, and in case you are curious, everything here IS in fact yellow and purple 🙂

9:08 . Today’s choice? Oatmeal and milk. I’ve gained a bit more weight in the last week than I’d like, so I’m trying to do a bit better.

9:09 . Any day that starts with less than 30 messages sent between me leaving work and walking-in is a good day. Sometimes I really wish I didn’t work with a bunch of people on the other side of the world.

10:25 . Today is an all-hands day. See? More purple!

They feed us donuts. I was good. None for me. Although Krispy Kreme still makes my mouth water.

11:20 . Back to the desk.

I get to write some emails.

Go to some meetings.

12:36 . Lunch-time.

Today’s pick.

1:20 . I spend the rest of my afternoon answering questions.

Writing some PRDs.

4:06 . It’s been a slow day, and I’ve got my stuff done. Sayonara!

4:50 . Back home, I’m greeted by a hungry kitty, yet again.

4:55 . I haven’t rinsed diapers in 2 days. I’ve been too tired to. Please remind me to never do that again. No amount of sleep is worth what I found in there.

5:16 . Stop by USPS to send off a package.

5:25 . Back to school to get the monkey. The kids were on the playground when I got there, but G was happy to go back to the room, since he really wanted me to join him in the buggy. I tried to explain that 1) my rear wouldn’t fit; 2) me sitting in there would flip the wagon and send him flying into the wall. He consented as long as he got water.

5:30 . Just like he doesn’t want to leave home in the morning, he doesn’t want to leave school in the afternoon. I’m now chasing him around the school office.

6:00 . Back home for dinner.

Tonight’s pick? Avocado & Blueberry/Pear/Purple Carrot smoothie. G really wanted to “dip it”, meaning he wanted to dip his “cado” in the “fi”.

7:09 . Playtime.

8:47 . Little man hit the sack at 8. Now it’s my turn, I get some computer & TV time. Night night!

S and I woke up Sunday morning only to walk downstairs and find a deer in our back yard. While yes, we live in the back of a canyon, and the deer typically graze on our bushes through our fence we have never been privileged to have one invite herself ONTO our property before.

I recall the previous owner of our home warning us to always keep our back gate locked, so the deer don’ t get in. This we have been doing, so I was surprised to see this little lady chowing down in my yard.

So here I am, kind of panicking because I don’t want the deer to freak out following breakfast, and trash around (in my already small yard) and break all our windows (in an attempt to escape).

However, as we both watched the deer through the living room window, she looked up, casually, and decided she was done and walked around the fence and got out. I guess our work-men had opened it after all.

So here is our guest. Ignore the random house parts all over the place. While the work on our house is in progress, our back yard is a mess.

Oh and G? Yeah, he slept through this all.