When (semi) good pictures go (painfully) bad

We just got back from a fantastically relaxing beach trip with my family.  Maya had fun playing with her cousins, and the extra adults around meant that we had 3 cameras out and about for spontaneous photoshoots.  On the last night we were there, my dad used my camera and took the following series of photos.

(Right before we took these I said to Dave "I'll be in the stupid pictures, but I'm not using them on the blog or framing them or anything---this shirt is too billowy and unflattering, and my hair is all beachy and wind-tangled.  (grumble)"   But then . . . well, you'll see . . . so I'm swallowing my pride and sharing them anyway . . .)

Dana: Cheese!

Dave: Cheese!

Maya: Cheese!

Dana: Cheese!

Dave: Cheese!

Maya: Cheese!

Dana: Cheese!

Dave: Cheese!

Maya: Guys, this is kind of getting old.

 Dana: Cheese!

Dave: Cheese!

Maya:  Seriously.  I'm getting really bored.  Can we do something else?

Dana: (sigh) Cheese (sigh)

Dave: Cheese!

Maya: Really . . .anything else.  There must be something else to do up here.

Dana: Cheese!

 Dave: Cheese!

Maya: Hey!  Mommy, I'm over your head!  I think I can even reach your hair!

Dana: Chee---Hey, is something on my head?

Dave: Cheese!

Maya: I CAN REACH YOUR HAIR!!!!!! 

Dana: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Dave: Pictures are so relaxing . . .

Maya: Gotcha!  (cackling)  I told you guys I was bored!  Take that!

Dana:  Ayyyyyyyyyy!!!  My hair!  I need to save the hair I have left!

Dave: I wonder what we'll do tomorrow.  I hope we go back to the beach.  I should open my eyes but I'm just too relaxed.

Maya: Hair is like a handle for your head.  This is SO FUN! 

Dana: Seriously, I have tears in my eyes.  Someone get this child to release me.

Dave: Wait.  What's going on here?  Dana, stop making that face.  We're supposed to be taking pictures.

Maya: I'm not letting go.  Ever.

(Giveaway coming sometime between now and Monday.  It's not a big prize, but it's something fun---one of Maya's favorite things.)

Lessons learned on vacation

We spent a long weekend visiting family and learned several important lessons:

1.  Maya learned that if Daddy says "Sure, you can drive" it likely means we're just sitting in the car and not moving (but it's still pretty fun).

2.  I learned that if I need to rinse out the milk bottle and Dave says "Dude, just roll down the window and dump it out.  It won't fly back up at the car." he is being sarcastic.  Very sarcastic.

That says "extensive splatter".  A phrase typically reserved for crime scenes somehow fits our vacation photos.  Also, milk + 90 degree heat = a delicious smelling car.

3.  Dave learned that Maya's got jokes.  You think he would already have learned that, but I guess not.  This was the first time ever that he played his favorite kid joke on her (if you know him in real life, you've probably seen this one in action) . . . and she showed him.  "Fool me once, shame on you . . . fool me twice, there will be payback."

She's got beauty, brains *and* jokes . . .

Maya is really funny.  She loves making us laugh, and quickly realizes what cracks us up . . . even when we try to hold it together.

That's the only intro you need.




With that sort of physical commitment (and total disregard for her personal safety when a joke it on the line) she may just be the next Chris Farley.

Just a typical Friday night

It's Friday night, and Maya is tucked in snugly in her crib.  After Dave & I have dinner we're just getting a few random things done.  Parker's dog food container is empty so Dave heads onto the terrace to refill it from our giant green tupperware dog food tub.  About half a second later he reappears in the living room looking shocked.

Me:  What?

Dave:  You're not going to believe this.  I pulled out the tub (we keep it in the bottom shelf of this industrial shelving thing, filled with random pet supplies) and I swear, a bird flew out and went right between my legs! 

Me:  Flew out from where?

Dave: I don't know!  Somewhere!  How could I know where!?!?

Me: What kind of bird?

Dave: Are you kidding?!  A bird just flew out of nowhere and went right between my legs!!!  You think I know what type of bird it was?!?!?!?!

Me (standing up and walking outside): There's been a pigeon cooing out here on and off all week.  I bet there's a nest.

So we're both outside, looking for a nest.  Baby pigeons happen to be the weirdest looking birds ever (I raised some of them when I worked/lived at a wildlife hospital years ago) so I was kind of psyched that we might have some.  But they're noisy critters and despite rattling things around, we couldn't hear anything. 

I shrugged and turned to go back inside.  Dave bent over to get the dog food and said "There are eggs!"  So I went to get the camera.  I told him to do a dramatic reenactment of the moment the bird flew out.

No, dude.  That's "the fish was this big!".  Try again.

Whoa!  A bird!?!

The dog food tub.  Can you see the eggs?

They were wayyyy back under the tarp!

While we were outside checking it out, Mama Pigeon flew back over and landed on the terrace below.  She was checking us out.

This was how it all went back together.

Dave insists that this weird stuff only happens to because I live here.  Animals are just drawn in :)  (This makes more sense if you know that I was a zoology major, a science teacher, and a general animal behavior nerd.)

Happy Easter and where I won't be on 5/11

Happy Easter!

We actually made it out to NJ to relax/celebrate with my family, which was great.  Maya coughed through the night but never had any struggling-to-breathe attacks, so we packed the nebulizer and medications and headed out.  When her breathing started to act up and we realized that we would have to cut our visit short my mom rushed to get lunch/dinner out early so that we could eat with the family before we left, my dad broke out their air conditioner and fired it up so that we could cool & dehumidify a room to ease her breathing, and my sister & brother-in-law cut up their big cake early so that we could take a chunk to-go.  My family is pretty great :)

A few pictures (we packed meds, but not a camera, so these are from my cell phone):

Easter egg hunting with a Christmas gift bag (small and easy to carry without tripping over, of course)

After we got home I opened some mail.  It turns out that one of Maya's upcoming appointments has been rescheduled, and the office mailed me a new appointment card and this note:

In case you can't read that, it says:

"The doctor will be out on 5/11. 

I have to cancel your appointment on 5/11. 

Here is your new date. 

Don't come on 5/11. 

Thanks."

So . . . wait. 

Does that mean that we're still on for 5/11?

I guess that this proves that the patient/receptionist relationship is a tricky 2 way street.  I go out of my way to be courteous and pleasant when interacting with doctor's office personnel, but there are definitely times when I get off the phone and mumble, roll my eyes, and think "Honestly, people!  This shouldn't be so hard!"   Clearly, the office folks deal with their fair share of seemingly incompentent people.  I almost feel bad for the woman who sent me this note---I can almost hear her internal dialogue as she wrote my note:

The doctor will be out on 5/11.                               

Wait.  Is that unclear?  Would she know that if the doctor's not here, she shouldn't come?

I have to cancel your appointment on 5/11.
Ok, that's clear.  And the underlining is a nice touch.

Here is your new date.
So, I cancelled, I gave her the new date . . . anything else?  What if she still thinks she should come . . .  (sigh)

Don't come on 5/11.
She'll get the point now.  Hold on, that's clear, but not so friendly.  Need something nicer to end with . . .

Thanks.
Perfect.