Musical

Musical
Originally uploaded by vczdavis

Friday,

Today was a super fun day. Daddy took Holly to Daycare for Mom this morning, which was a lot of help. She had to catch up on work and pack her office and go to meetings. But after a hard day's work she picked up little Holly and they went off to swim class, which was lots and lots of fun. We had not been for a few weeks, and Holly had not had a nap for about 3 hours when we arrived so she was getting a little sleepy. She was quiet and a bit cautious in the water, focused and super cuddly, wanting to hug momma and lie on her shoulder. But by the end of class she had warmed up and was having a lot of fun, she liked it when I threw her into the air, not just raising her up, but actually letting go, which I did only once, as I was trying not to over-stimulate her, but that was when I got the biggest smile and laugh, during the "Mighty Duke of York" song.

She also loves the part of the "Wheels on the Bus" song, when we sing, "the parents on the bus say I love you," and then kiss the babies. She smiles every time. I think she is understanding that a kiss is a form of affection, for example, yesterday when I picked her up, she threw her arms out for me to take her then grabbed my head and hair and opened her mouth and planted it on my cheek and nose. I totally think she was giving me a kiss.

Today when I picked her up I was sad, as most of the babies were asleep, but Holly and Sasha were playing with one of the teachers. Holly was lying on the big cushion, and had a soft spider toy in her hands that she was exploring, and the teacher was on the floor, leaning on the pillow next to her talking and singing to her, with Sasha in her lap, and the three were having a great time. Her teacher told me she heard that we were leaving and that she was very sad and that Holly was one of the sweetest babies she ever has had.

She made me promise that we would come and visit, and said, many parents say they will, but you really have to. She also said she wanted to see Holly when she learns to walk, and all in all, they were disappointed to see her go, but understood that Mommy wanted to be home with her.

After swim class Holly was wiped out, and fell asleep, So I drove to the pet store, she woke as we were going inside the store, so we looked at the birds and fish and baby turtles, and got some food for Mack, a very large red-eared slider turtle, that we are babysitting, that belongs to Tanta Kat who is currently in the Peace Corps. Holly really likes to look at Mack, but also likes the sound of his water filter, which is like a constant fountain.

The we went to the Supermarket, I am trying to save money since I won't be working anymore, and although i spend about $120 on staple foods, I saved another 44$ which was 27% I was excited about that. The only item that I got that was not on sale was coffee for Joel, and that's something you just can't take away from such a good dad / hubby.

I am not sure how to act now that I won't be working, I am used to either having enough money to buy whatever I want and not thinking about it, or to being poor and not able to buy anything. I am not sure what middle ground is, and I am not sure where in the spectrum we will be. So I went and got us Panda Express as a treat for Joel, so he would not have to cook, this was 18$ Now for that much, I could get a bag of frozen chicken, pasta, rice, sauce, and have meals for 3 days. But it is also like cheap fast food, and not like when we normally go out to eat and spend $50 so I didn't know if I should get take out, if I should feel guilty, or what. Joel of course thought it was a great idea, but I am the one who does the finances. I think it will be ok, I am just a lot more mindful of not waisting any money now, which is a new thing.

I have to be careful though, we don't want to give the impression that we can't afford anything because we can still afford things, but we should be spending on only what we need, not everything we want. The difference is our income now covers the bills nothing more, nothing less, so there is no more disposable income, to randomly buy stuff, except our savings. since that doesn't get replenished every two weeks like before, we need to be sure that we need something before we get it.

Its a balancing act, and I am finding my legs a bit wobbly still.

That said, I am going to join in with two friends and purchase a family pass to the Oakland zoo. it allows for 3 adults and 4 kids, so each mom will get one parent pass, and each kid will get one, and one has 2. It ends up being only 33$ each and we can go anytime we want for an entire year. it is also free parking when you have the membership. This is exciting. I have also been researching the SF Zoo, Free day 1 time a month, and the SF Moma, so there is a lot we can do on a dime.

Once we return from Virgina we plan on going to the zoo, and they are having a big Halloween event on the 25th, so that should be fun also. Joel loves the Oakland zoo, but obviously won't have time to go as often as me and Holly, so when he wants to, we still can, and he can just pay for him. This weekend we plan on going to my office and cleaning it out, I have a lot of art and other personal items there that I need to box up and bring home.

Tonight Joel and Holly played in her room, because Mommy wanted to watch a TV show that Daddy didn't like. They had a lot of fun playing with her piano. She doesn't quite get how it works, and knows when you bang on it it makes noise and this makes her happy, and she does bang on it with two arms, but she doesn't quite get that it's the keys you have to hit, so sometimes she misses and then is sad when it didn't make a sound. But she will get it I am sure.

More later... Mom is going to try to get to bed before 1am. PS I plan to go back and add some more pictures to these posts when i get them off my Camera. I haven't done so yet, because I am waiting to transfer all my files from my work laptop, to my new dell xps, which BTW I love and is pink :-)