Secular Confessions

[demigraf]

Super fun, kate! I love doing things on my own, like going to museums or exploring a new part of town by myself. I used to go into bars on my own quite a bit too. Before I got the nerve to go into a bar alone, though, my old roommate, Amy (the grumpy friend I love in San Diego), and I went into a bar and pretended not to know each other just to see what it felt like to go into one alone.

Then, one night, I had a bad blind date that ended at 9pm on a Friday night. I didn't want to go home, so I went into a bar and sat there trying to call friends to come out and join me. The bartender struck up a conversation with me, then he introduced me to some of the regulars, kept me plied with alcohol all night. I ended up having the best time with the people I met and wound up making out with a guy in the parking lot. After that point, the bouncer hugged me every time I walked in the door. That started the ball rolling for me with finding "my bar" in a town. I drank a bit more back then. After I got together with DH, that was the end of it all.

Chrissy, I sort of can't wait until Bodhi is old enough to give me some serious sass. Your daughters sound like they're pretty good at it. LOL.

Ash, Wyoming has a single area code?

I'm very close to New Bedford ;) We lived there before we moved to this house. Unfortunately we never really ventured downtown but I know there are some good places to eat down there--what did you read about it? It can be kind of hard to navigate--lots of one ways streets and stuff.

The article was from this month's Readymade - a magazine geared towards crafters & creative DIYer types. It talked about the rise and fall of New Bedford as a whaling town with old stone buildings, and how it's got a great arts scene now. The restaurants sound yummy.

I went to the zoo website and it looks fun. We love zoos. I hope it's ok that I'll have DH with me. Talk more about it soon. We don't fly out there until Tues.

[The10Eels]

Ash, Wyoming has a single area code?

Yup, Wyoming and Alaska both. I get confused sometimes since they are only one number off too..

[daylilies]

It's fine if you bring your husband!
It's a small zoo, but it has a little train and carousel Josh likes to ride and the tickets are only a couple bucks each-the carousel is free for adults if you stand up.
Your bar adventures sound fun. I kind of wish I'd had that kind of phase in my life, but I didn't realize I like to party until too late ;)

[missychrissy]

Chrissy, I sort of can't wait until Bodhi is old enough to give me some serious sass. Your daughters sound like they're pretty good at it. LOL.

Are they ever! Every day it's something and now Conner is in on the act too.

Your bar adventures sound fun. I kind of wish I'd had that kind of phase in my life, but I didn't realize I like to party until too late ;)

Me too. When I was in my 20's I never wanted to go out. I was probably right, though, because knowing me and Rich we would have had serious fights. I like to dance and sometimes I get the attention of other men that think they can join me. Now Rich is ok with it. He just laughs and says 'yep, my wife is hot' but back then he would have come out on the dance floor and punched someone. So, it's probably a good thing we didn't go out.

[3andMe]

Ash, Wyoming has a single area code?

It was really weird moving here from Wyoming, where there was one area code for the entire state, and then I first moved to Walnut Creek and then I would just drive 10 minutes through the tunnel and be at my sister's house which was an entire area code away. It seemed so foreign.

[daylilies]

Oh gosh..I don't even know how many area codes Massachusetts has.

[missychrissy]

According to Google, NY has 14.

[missychrissy]

It looks like Massachusetts has 9

[daylilies]

Oh okay, I thought it was more.

[Cosmosmom]

WI has six. Used to be five but they added one to all of northeast WI (big chunk of WI but not as populated). So now I have to dial the area code everytime I call anywhere, even within town.

[Cosmosmom]

I confess.....I have some major water retention going on today. Holy Cow! Didn't think that I ate that much salty stuff yesterday but must have and combine that with PMS....not good.

[missychrissy]

Oh okay, I thought it was more.

Well I could be wrong...I just picked two Google sites and they happened to agree.

I kinda do that when I'm stuck at work too...I Google the issue and if I find a number of pages that offer the same solution, I go with it.

[daylilies]

Yeah, that's usually how I work too.
Sorry about the bloating Jennifer!
I've fallen off the wagon with good eating and exercise since I came back from the cruise. I guess without a deadline in sight, it's harder to stick to it.

[missychrissy]

I'm so forgetful today that I'm pissing myself off.

And I wonder if there's something wrong with me. It was over 85 in our house last night but when I sat in the recliner, directly under the ceiling fan, I had to have a blanket on. The breeze that the fan was stirring up was making me feel cold...and it wasn't even on high. I'm not sick or anything. I'm always like that. I hate to feel the fan...but ironically the wind in my car when I ride topless doesn't bother me.

[demigraf]

Ugh, I'm really off the wagon right now ever since my Orange Hunger Monster arrived last week. To make matters worse, I know I'm going to eat even more carelessly when I'm visiting with the in-laws. They tend to eat less healthily than we do in our house, and they always seem to have plenty of food around.

I mentioned before that we're staying with one of my BIL's, the one whose wife was cheating on him for years with a Saddam look-alike. I like this BIL a lot. He's really outgoing, fun and my DH looks up to him so much. He sometimes gives us a really condescending attitude towards our secularism, though. He shakes his head and kind of smiles at us, like we're kids who deep down know his god exists, but are choosing not to believe in it. I guess that's one way that non-belief makes sense to believers.

I confess... deep breath ... this morning was Bodhi's last time breastfeeding. It's a bittersweet day for me. I feel really uncomfortable talking about it. To some people, I breastfed for too long. And I feel disapproval from others for stopping now. It's a really personal choice and all I have to say is that the time felt right. I had a difficult time finding resources online with advice for weaning children at Bodhi's age. I am definitely going to share my experiences with the parenting boards so other moms in my position will have at least one story to think about. Anyway, I'm feeling a little sad at the loss of the nursing relationship with B. We've cut down to one session a day in the morning, and Bodhi and I have been talking about weaning for the last week. I have been telling him stories about a baby named Maxwell who was too little to talk, eat, walk, play with friends, and DEFINITELY couldn't play with trains. And in my stories Maxwell grows up and happily "graduates" to not nursing anymore. Bodhi can define what it means to wean now. I made a cake for him with Sesame Street characters that says in candy letters "An Extra Special Big Day For Bodhi". I brought the cake to his preschool, and his teachers are going to have the children celebrate with Bodhi. Tomorrow morning, when he wakes up, I'm expecting him to protest a bit. We're gonna have him dressed so he's almost ready go out and play right away, and we'll head straight to the park. All weekend, we're doing fun things like going to the fair (Lydia, is there any chance you want to join us at the San Mateo County Fair?), seeing friends who know to mention one positive thing about the change. And I'll soon have one week with him while we're on vacation to be by his side, so he gets lots more of my time during the transition.

MAYBE I'll continue to pump and store. The way I see it, since we spend loads on getting good nutrition anyway, my milk is this incredible nutritional resource that would cost a lot at Whole Foods Market. I happen to make it for free. So I'm a little reluctant to give that up altogether for the economics alone.

On a final happy note, as I was reviewing finances w/ DH this morning, I found a good chunk of money in one of my bank accounts this morning. A few weeks ago, I deposited the rent check from one of our tenants down south into that account when I'd meant to put it in another one. I wasn't paying close enough attention, and thought I'd just spent the money too quickly. It's such a relief to know I'd made that stupid mistake; at least it wasn't that our costs were so out of control, we were just bleeding money out of that account.

[3andMe]

Myles, let me check with dh about what he wants to do this weekend. He just got back from his week out of town, and I know he's been wanting to spend some time with the twins before he goes to Japan. Soren and I might be free, though. What time are you going?

[missychrissy]

Oh Myles..I can't even describe how reading about weaning Bodhi made me feel. When I read you made him a cake to celebrate, it touched me so deep I had tears. to you both. I'm confident you've selected the best time for both of you.

[demigraf]

Thanks, Chrissy. I got teary reading how you got teary.

Lydia, I PM'd you earlier today. I can be pretty flexible with what time I go to the fair. I am meeting one couple tomorrow afternoon, so I know I'll definitely be there at that time. However there's so much to do at the fair, I have a feeling I'll be going on both days, and would make a point of going at a time you'd be there if I know you're going. I'll PM you my # just in case you no longer have it, and you can text or call me or just PM me back.

[daylilies]

Hugs Myles. You did a great job.

[The10Eels]

Awww Myles! I saw WTG for breastfeeding this long! And if the time was right for you, it was right. Boo to anyone who makes you feel bad for ANYTHING about your nursing relationship!

The cake idea is so sweet. <3

[The10Eels]

I confess both girls fell asleep for nap, at different times, to different versions of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Thank you, Pandora, for the lullabies.

[daylilies]

Very sweet

[AmeriBrit]

We're back from our vacation to the US; I'll try to catch up on all the pages I've missed reading the past 2 1/2 weeks soon but just wanted to check in here and say hey to everyone....did I miss any big news in here while I was away?

[The10Eels]

We're back from our vacation to the US; I'll try to catch up on all the pages I've missed reading the past 2 1/2 weeks soon but just wanted to check in here and say hey to everyone....did I miss any big news in here while I was away?

I got a BFP....













J/K *Runs and Hides*

[daylilies]

Brat

[AmeriBrit]

LOL...y'all crack me up...I'm off to bed now..will try to catch up this weekend!

[The10Eels]

Oh, I did forget to mention that I pawned my wedding ring from B... I really didn't care what I got for it, just as long as I was able to make that final closure.

I left one ring lighter, and $135 richer

[daylilies]

Yay for closure

[demigraf]

Good for you, Ashley!

Welcome back, AmeriAsh. Hope the catching up on us goes smoothly.

This is a photo of the cake I made for Bodhi (well, I bought the cake and decorated it):



I hope he and all the kiddies enjoyed it.

[Bridget]

Myles, you're such a sweet mommy. I hope all goes well with the weaning. I know what you mean about wanting to make breastmilk forever. There were so many times between Kai and Sawyer that i'd wished I'd saved some.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say I am jealous that you guys are having meet ups.

Tomorrow is one year since my mom died.
Feels like yesterday. And a million years ago.