Where has the year gone?

I feel like we were just ringing in the new year at J and Athena's wedding, and here we are saying bye to the summer! I turned 30 in February, we bought a house in April, weaned Isaac from the boob, and congratulated Mark on a HUGE promotion that same month. My niece was born, we moved my dad to Campbell, I chopped my hair against Mark's will (although he LOVES it now), and in the middle of it all, I committed to a pregnancy pack to start working on baby number 2. Did I mention Mark got promoted, so we are both traveling for work now, and this fall I'm headed to Anchorage and Chicago (the same week)? Good times!

Let's get back to that baby number two mention. Athena and I go way back - back to 2003 – the same year she hired me at Ernst & Young. We’ve laughed together, cried together, even traveled to Italy together. Hell, she even helped me figure out the most advantageous seating arrangements for our single friends at our wedding reception, which led to the introduction of her soul mate...yes, the same J and Athena I mentioned a minute ago.

They have a beautiful little girl named Kayla who is a year older than Isaac - almost to the day. And frankly, Ms. Kayla is one of the reasons Mark and I ventured into baby making season in 2009. I couldn’t think of a better friend to head down this path with again. And, I will leave it at that for now...

The Sweetest Thing...

Bath time was complete, jammies were on, and 8 p.m. had just rolled around – Isaac knew it was time for bed. His tiny hand reached for mine – holding it tight as he led the way to the rocking chair in his room.

“Are you ready for bed?” I asked, as he shook his head yes. “Then let’s go tell papa good night.” How precious to see him rush out to the living room, mouth wide open (he’s still learning the proper way to kiss) to plant a sloppy one on his daddy. No time for hugs, he was ready for nighty-night, aka some booby.

We’ve decided 18 months is it, so in three months, he will officially be cut off. BUT, until then I’m going to relish every night I have left to gaze down at my beautiful son knowing I’m providing him a level of comfort only mommy can.

I’m so far behind with my blog and sharing all of Isaac’s milestones this past year, that I now have enough content in my head to write a novel (which I WILL accomplish eventually – it’s at the top of my bucket list!). Corporate Mommyhood is BUSYhood, which is my best excuse for letting almost 4 months lapse since my last substantive entry.

Isaac is (literally) on the run now – from sun up, to sun down; the bottle’s been gone for almost a month; and he’s sleeping close to 10 hours each night. The sound of Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa is music to our ears and being able to witness his amazing mind hard at work is priceless. Life is good and God is great!

I wouldn’t go as far as saying things are easy, but they are certainly reaching a point that we are beginning to ask ourselves, “could we be ready for number 2?” Only God and time will tell...

What a year...Part 1

What a year it's been! I've already been called out by a few of you about how lame I am to have started a blog and then fall off the wagon just a few months in. Well, let me tell you...the past few months have been nuts! BUT - I've been keeping a journal of my silly stories that I plan to share with you - one, by one.

TGIF! This is just a teaser for what's to come in the coming weeks. Let's just say Isaac is now mobile, has 12 teeth, and is the love of so many people's lives...especially his mom and dad.

I promise to be back next week with a couple of juicy entries, but for now, you'll just have to be happy with the pictures of my whittle bubba!

Flying solo

I did it...I survived my first overnight trip without my boys! Another first in the books. I hadn’t been up to visit my Seattle office since having Isaac last year, so I was well overdue for a visit. I’d held off booking this trip for a number of reasons, scheduling conflicts with my Seattle based attorneys, too many projects going on in NorCal, but the topper was ensuring I had enough milk in the freezer for me to do an overnight trip solo. My preference would have been to bring Isaac with me, but plane tickets were outrageous, and it just wasn’t feasible to fly my mom and him up with me. So, when Isaac hit the 6 month mark and we introduced solids, my milk storage began to instantly improve, and it was time for me to head north.

My flight left at 7 a.m. Thursday morning, and I was back on a plane home the next afternoon. Mark and Isaac dropped me off at the airport, and yes, I did cry. Once I was in the terminal it was easier to hold the tears back; maybe it had something to do with the baby blanket I brought along. I managed to get a few looks – even in San Francisco, where weird is a way of life – walking around SFO with my laptop, a small suitcase, and a blue baby blanker. LOL.

The trip was short and sweet, and just enough time to make my rounds in the office, show off pictures of my little stud, enjoy lunch with an attorney (at Mario Batali’s Dad’s restaurant – yum!), and then spend the evening with a dear friend, her fiancé and his two daughters. Spending the night at Tania’s house definitely made the trip much easier. We had a lovely dinner, drank lots of great wine (probably way too much – hello lady, you can’t drink like you used to!), and played Wii with the kids who were on summer break. Lesson learned – I am far too old to be up that late on a work night!

Some friends described it as a “night off” and I guess it was, but honestly, even though I had a ton of fun, there is no place on earth I would have rather been that night than at home with my boys. There is something about motherhood that really does change something inside you. Maybe it’s being introduced to a level of unconditional love that is indescribable, and completely unknown until you have a child of your own.

My reunion with Isaac on Friday was priceless. Yes, I’m silly to have really thought he would have forgotten who I was after just one night away, but God does that boy know momma’s scent. He was on the boob so much last weekend, when Monday rolled around, I swear I was back to producing like I was when he was two months old. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but he definitely made me feel like he NEEDS his momma.

I’ll be heading to Portland in a few weeks; same scenario, only one night away, and Isaac, Mark and grandma will be staying home. I definitely feel like I’m back in the swing of things with work, and my travel schedule is getting into a consistent routine, too. This fall I have a week-long trip that starts in Seattle and ends in Portland – that one Isaac and Mark will definitely be with me…and maybe we’ll even make it a road trip and see Nan and Grandpa while we’re in town.

Hello 6 month old – meet your new friend Mr. Solid

Our goal was to go 6 months of exclusively feeding Isaac breast milk – and woohoo...we made it! It was quite amazing to see him develop into this healthy and strong little boy, solely on breast milk, but we were ready to introduce him to “big boy” food. We started with the typical rice cereal, and then moved on to some of the green veggies – like green beans. So you’re asking yourself, how’d he do? Well, warm green beans puréed with a smidge of water – not too bad. Sure we got the occasional face – you know the look, “ hmmm, I’m not too sure about this, but hey, I’m hungry, so I’ll eat it.” Day 2 of green beans, not so much. Maybe the fact I tried to serve them cold had something to do with it...oops, on my part – rookie mistake, but I’ve since learned a few tricks!

Veggie introduction number 2 was squash – another one of those I’ll eat it cause I’m hungry looks, but we managed to get those down for a couple of days. Then I thought, let’s try sweet potatoes. He’s bound to like them, their sweet for God’s sake. Boy was I wrong – he wanted nothing to do with them, at least at first.

Here we were a few weeks into solids...poo taking a WHOLE new form – literally, and we figured OK, let’s try some fruit. Bananas were a huge hit, and homemade apple sauce was another fan favorite, so I decided it was time to Google a few recipes and see what suggestions were out there. And then I found it – a baby mousse to die for, well, not really, but Isaac sure loved it! Three simple ingredients: bananas, avocado and a little breast milk – wahla, gourmet baby food! I was so proud of the concoction; I was having everyone try it (full ingredients disclosed). It wasn’t until later in the day that it dawned on me the slight weirdness of people other than Isaac sampling a creation that included my own bodily fluids, but hey – they were supporting my efforts by serving as the tasting committee. Talk about a committed family! We have since reintroduced sweet potatoes, and he is in fact a fan. Carrots are another one of his favorites, and now that we’ve passed the hump of trying foods one at a time to check for allergies, I’m mixing together all sorts of combinations.

The best part has been being able to make his baby food on the weekends, and storing it in the freezer in these nifty freezer trays – a.k.a overpriced ice cube trays with a cover, but hey – they work, and I get to make his food, not to mention the simplicity of quantity control...three cubes, a little warm water, 3-4 tablespoons of oatmeal and bon appetit!

With the 8 month mark right around the corner, we’ve begun to experiment with a new food group – meat protein. Last week’s milestone was creating a baby version of our dinner – Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. I cooked our meal as usual, but before seasoning the meat, I cut off a couple pieces of the chicken breast, cooked those through, then boiled a few pieces of pasta, threw in a couple pieces of broccoli, removed everything from the heat and tossed it all in my nifty bullet blender with a splash of breast milk; blended everything for 20 seconds and tahdah – dinner as a family.

I’m not opposed to store bought baby food, but shoot, with the bullet blender as a new staple in the Devlin household, it’s pretty darn easy to make Isaac’s food at home. And honestly, maybe some of my motivation comes from fulfilling the piece of guilt that floats around inside of me from time to time because I’m not a stay at home mom. Either way – it works, and I love knowing EXACTLY what my son is eating.

Family loss can bring family joy

It’s been three weeks since we said goodbye to Grandpa Joe (GJ), but I’ve been so buried with work that I haven’t had a chance to write about it, or anything else for that matter. Fortunately we (my mom, sister, husband, and my little guy) were able to say goodbye to him in person last month. We just had no idea he was going to heaven so soon after that trip.

We had been planning a June So.Cal trip for several months to visit an old college buddy who was in the states on vacation. GJ had been battling diabetes for as long as I could remember, but the past few years we've had a few BIG scares, so since we were planning to be in OC (where GJ lived), we knew it was important to see him – and introduce him to his Great Grandson.

I hadn’t been close to GJ in some time, but whenever I had the opportunity to spend time with him, his smile and laughter were contagious. He was always the happy go lucky grandpa. The only down side was that his relationship with family sometimes felt like – out of sight, out of mind. I know he loved all of us grandkids, and it was probably not intentional, but he wasn’t one to remember birthdays, or initiate a get-together, or even pick up the phone just to say hi. But I have to admit – as I got older, I was just as much to blame for the distance.

However, when we did all get together, we always had a great time. I can remember spending hours putting coins in his little slot machine - and sometimes he'd even let me keep the money if it hit the jackpot. We’d spend hours running around his backyard, and we can't forget the Mercedes...ironically I own one now, but when I was a little girl, I remember thinking I was the coolest thing to hit the San Fernando Valley - rolling around in the back seat of his car. He loved his El Pollo Loco and God did he have a sweet tooth. He was a stinker though – always using the grandkids as a way to fulfill that urge for sugar, asking us to bring him something he knew he shouldn't be eating, knowing we couldn't tell grandpa, "NO!"

His battle with diabetes had been ongoing for many years, and there were multiple occasions when we just weren’t sure he was going to make it...but he always did – that is until recently. I think the shock of him being gone was even harder to deal with because no matter how sick he would get, or how high is blood sugar was, he would always rebound...it was almost like he was invincible.

As surreal as it was to say bye to him, losing GJ did provide the family with a joyous day together on July 3. It was a day to celebrate his life and to get past, the past - a real opportunity to move forward as a family – and that is what all of us did.

We hadn’t planned to make the trip back south since we had been there only a few weeks prior, but I’m so glad we did. Isaac got to meet his great aunts, and uncles, second, third, fourth cousins – shoot, Mark even met some of the family he had never met before. We will miss you GJ, but can’t thank you enough for bringing the family together after so many years a part.

My First “Call” at Work – It was bound to happen eventually

I’ve been back to work for almost three months now and the extent of my interaction with my mom (a.k.a., Isaac’s nanny) is picture mail and the occasional text message checking on my boy’s eating habits for the day (still gotta make sure our frozen milk supply is solid!). Well, when my cell phone rang and the voice on the other end says, “there was a small incident,” my heart sank, and a flurry of emotions that I had never experienced poured over me. I instantly felt a rock in my gut that weighed more than I did 2 days before delivering Isaac – a feeling I would never wish upon my worst enemy.

“OMG, what’s wrong?” My mom's reply, "Isaac got stung by a little bee." Now, you’re probably thinking, OK, not great news, but not worth putting me in panic mode as though my son was just abducted, but for someone who is allergic to bee stings, and looks like they’ve been in a ring with Tyson post-sting – I was ready to lose it! My mom, God bless her heart, stayed calm (at least that was the tone coming through on the phone), and my expecting sister, who has been a “mom” for some years now, not to mention has ALWAYS been very maternal – way more than me, was there to help with the situation.

Here’s what happened...Grandma and Isaac were on a little stroll around the block with Auntie Tiffers. Isaac who loves walks (has since he was in the womb) belted out a whimper and not 2 seconds later a bee flies out from behind the wind guard of the stroller. Isaac, the stud that he is, whacked the thing away from his face – I only know this because Tiffany found the mini stinger on his chin and the actual sting mark was above his eyebrow. He obviously let that bee know who was boss! Grandma immediately called me to let me know what had happened, meanwhile they made a beeline (no pun intended) back to Tiffany’s house, so they could jump in the car and head straight to the doctor...

Well, actually Target, because by then I had already spoken to Isaac’s pediatrician’s office, and even though I am allergic to bee stings, chances are, Isaac isn’t, and all he needed was a dose of baby Benadryl, and a cold compress. Phew... the stinger was completely out of sight, the medicine kicked in immediately, and for the rest of the afternoon I received pictures of his cute little face and the shrinking red spot above his beautiful blue eye.

I’ll tell you though, it was the first day in a long time that I wanted to cry that I’m not a stay-at-home mom, and if you’ve followed my blog at all, you would know that I love my career, but not being able to help him in the situation, even as minor as a little sting, broke my heart. Needless to say, the past two nights I’ve been soaking in every bit of him from the moment I walk through the door after work – until he’s asleep in my arms (pre-transport to the crib).