Go Giants!

It's a WONDERFUL time to be an SF Giant's fan...woo hoo! And Zoey is proud to be the owner of her very own Lucy Seal that we got from the Build-A-Bear workshop at A&T park in June. She loves her toy! Too cute.

The Joy of Reading with Zoey

I L-O-V-E children's books. I always have, and I always will. The creativity, the imagination, the possibility, the innocence, the beautiful art and the simplicity of the stories = wonderful, endless hours of reading fun and literary pleasure.

When I was a little girl my mom used to walk us down to the Manteca Library, pulling us along in our little Radio Flier red wooden wagon. I was always ecstatic for these weekly outings, and I could barely contain my excitement as we approached the familiar, welcoming brick building and Library Park. I would rush inside and become immersed in and captivated by a beautiful world of pictures, words, imagination and opportunity. The hardest part for me, however, was that fact that mom would only allow us to check out 10 books at a time. Only 10?! Really mom? Dang it - what a difficult decision making process for a bookworm little girl like I was. But luckily I knew that the selections I had to leave behind that particular week would be waiting for me on the following visit.

Reading to our children is not only a wonderful way to encourage their language development, but it also presents a fantastic opportunity for family bonding. Just as I recall countless positive memories involving books and snuggle time in my mom and dad's lap, I hope to recreate the same type of special, intimate memories for Zoey. We read to her everyday - before each nap and bedtime as a way to "wind down", and also at any opportunity where she shows an interest in books. Granted she still often enjoys eating the books more than listening to the stories at this point, but she is quickly getting better about siting still as we read to her, patting the books with excitement and engaging in the tactile experience of reading page by page. She loves books, almost as much as I do I think. Hopefully she'll become a little bookworm herself, just like her mommy.

Out of the darkness......

I literally feel like I've just emerged from a tortuous, evil black cloud of death and doom. Seriously, that's how sick I was. I don't want to over-exaggerate and say that I felt like I was going to die, but honestly.....I almost did. Or at least I felt like I just wanted to end all the pain and summering, all of the nausea and wrenching torture my body was going through. But thankfully I lived through it, and starting last Sunday I slowly felt the seeds of health and wellness beginning to re-sow themselves within my broken body.

It's quite interesting how sinking down to a personal "rock bottom" forces you to look nowhere else but up - out of the pit of despair into something, anything more positive and hopeful than your current state. And ironically, I now feel happier, more grateful, more optimistic about my life than I have in months. Yes, we all face our own personal challenges throughout everyday life, and the outside world continues to stack external roadblocks and restraints on our shoulders. Whether it be financial or economical burdens, health issues, relationship challenges, career stressors, work-life balance issues....life is not always a walk in the park for the majority of adult human beings.

However, I feel like this illness gave me an opportunity to develop a refreshed, renewed worldview, a clearer, more optimist viewpoint on my life and my existence. I realized that honestly, I don't have it that bad after all. And to be frank, I am a pretty lucky woman at that. I have an amazing family, a challenging and interesting job with a supportive employer, a pool of wonderful friends and colleagues who support me everyday, a home to call my own and a roof over my head, food to nourish my body, and a beautiful healthy baby girl and a rock-star husband who give me unconditional love everyday of my life.

So at this point I will even venture to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU nasty virus/bacteria/germy ickiness that infected my body! Thank you for helping me to wake up, to break out of my funk, and to develop a more positive mindset and a healthier attitude.

Thank you for allowing me to realize how happy, and how lucky, I truly am.

Our Labor Day Weekend

As I walk the road to renewed health, I luckily started to feel better enough to enjoy both Sunday and Monday of my Labor Day weekend - thank goodness! It was a wonderful holiday weekend - filled with a visit from Grandma Backes, lots of Zoey laughter, sunshine, homemade pico de gallo and cheeseburgers, REST, and happiness. : )

How time flies....

My baby girl is almost 11 months old - where does the time go?! I seriously can't believe we're already planning her 1st birthday party - wow! I was nostalgically looking at old photos today from Zoey's first few months of life and while it does seem like this past year whizzed by, it also feels like an eternity ago that I had a newborn baby as little as Zoey was. She was just 5 lbs, 12 oz when we brought her home from the hospital (she was born 3.5 weeks early), and now I'd venture to guess she's pushing 23-24 lbs! It is so hard to remember her being so small....my little preemie peanut. : ) Here are a couple pictures of Zoey on her first few days home from the hospital last October 2009, and a couple recent pics of her at 10.5 months. How much she has changed!

So sick....

I've been sooo sick this past week, which explains my lack of posting (if you were wondering). David and I both have acute bronchitis, but I've also come down with a nasty stomach bug that's either a severe reaction to the codeine cough syrup I took on Tuesday night (although I only took it once so don't know why I'd still feel a reaction now), or the nausea and vomiting is just another symptom of this nasty virus that I have. Ugh. I honestly don't think I've ever been this sick in my adult life. I haven't been able to keep down much besides Gatorade and saltine crackers the past 4 days, I've been struggling with a pounding headache (probably from dehydration), and I've been kept up at night with coughing fits and stomach pains. It's been rough, I'm not gonna lie. Thankfully David is a ROCK STAR husband and father, and he's totally stepped up to take care of Zoey and I and all the necessary household chores and errands. I am a very lucky woman to have such a great man in my life. Today I am feeling much better than I have since Tuesday, so hopefully that's a sign that I'm on the upward swing.

Even though being sick really sucks, I'm trying to remain as positive as possible and find some humor in the situation. For instance, I was thinking of all the "perks" of being so sick....such as 1) that I'm forced to simply STOP, rest, and take care of myself first, something that's hard to find time for as a working mother, 2) Hey, this virus is a great diet to help me get back to my pre-baby weight!, and 3) at least we're saving money on our grocery bill since I haven't eating anything in the last 4 days!

Of course though, I can't wait to be back to my healthy self. This experience has reminded be that I can NEVER take my health for granted, and that I must listen to my body and not try to be super-mom all the time. And also not to sweat the small stuff, because being this sick really puts things into perspective, and reminds me what really matters. So at the very least I've learned some lessons from this horrible illness.

Suspicious feline behavior

I've been home sick the past couple of days with a bad case of bronchitis, and an unfortunate reaction to my cough syrup with codeine - ick. And since I'm at home when I'd normally be at work, I have the fortunate opportunity to regulate on my crazy cats and their spastic behavior. I always wonder what they do all day when we're gone....sleep in the sun? fight with each other? invite over their alley cat friends for a crazy party? sneak into our closets and play dress up? Who knows really....

But this morning I heard a bit of a raucous coming from our master bathroom, and although I didn't catch any bad behavior in the act, these two looked quite suspicious. I've got my eye on you kitties!