Happy Anniversary

I think I'm typing faster now than I used to.  Because I have to.  I just learned this week that the rest of the world has eliminated the double space after a period.  I learned it after realizing my double spaces weren't translating through HTML while editing my new site.  My world is rocked.  Almost as much as when I learned that there was no 3rd comma when typing a list.  I halfway do it the new way & halfway the old.  I wonder if I'll ever be able to stop double spacing. 

So my new website is going live as we speak.  My designer & I started working on it towards the middle of the summer.  Wow, it's been a long road full of lots of sleepless nights.  And money.  Even though I did most of the content (me & one of my employees that came in towards the end to help), it still cost the same amount as my original site.

Since last week I've seriously been considering changing my name.  I've been thinking about for over a year (pretty much since I started it), but it's been more on my mind lately with the new site coming out.  I want my blog to be respected among the foodie community as a source to find good restaurants, but who would want to go to CaterServe's food blog?  Ughh, not me.  I need a new name.  A perfect one. 

I need a new computer.  A new phone.  A headset.  A van.  New equipment.  A full time assistant.  A full time social media/marketing director.  I have the people, I just need the money to pay for them.  And I also need more time to spend with my son - I didn't take any pictures of him this weekend.  :(

It was our anniversary yesterday - we made it a year! 

We had an event that was a disaster (my first one yet).  And Isaiah's babysitter (Nana) couldn't keep him overnight.  We had to cancel our dinner reservations because of the disaster catering.  Then we had about 30 minutes to eat our anniversary dinner at another restaurant.  Then we had to drive to Sunnyvale to pick up Isaiah.  Happy Anniversary! 

But really we had some lovely moments surrounding the actual date, & it wouldn't be very like us if it weren't chaotic & unexpected so I think we're going to chalk this one up as a success. 

How Do You Mommies Work Too?

Wow, I am in awe of working mommies.  Especially those with more than one kiddo (sister - that's you!).  And especially especially those with no husband or family to help them.  And a triple especially to those who have their own businesses, whose work is never ending, even after the normal 8-5.  How how how do you do it? 

How do you work all day then pick up the kids, drive home in traffic, hang out with your kiddos, give them snacks, help them with homework, make sure they don't eat electrical wires, cook them dinner, make sure they don't get it all over the dining room, then clean all the food they still got all over the dining room, wash dishes, vacuum the floor that's needed vacuuming for days, wash, dry & fold everyone's clothes, make sure the older one washes his face, brushes his teeth, changes his clothes, change the little one's diapers & get him ready for bed, put them to sleep & then catch up on all your emails you missed while you were in Mommyland? 

Accidental Sleep Experiment

I haven't even looked at this blog since my last post, which I didn't realize until looking now was over two weeks ago.  We're pretty broke because of the thing I can't talk about, so I've been extra motivated to focus on building the business.  Let's just say I'm learning really fast & hard about the legal world.  Because of some drama over someone who isn't Isaiah.  Really sad stuff.  Number one lesson - always have lots of money saved up just in case.  Lots.

We just have to keep reminding ourselves that everything happens for a reason.

And in order to focus on work more, I accidentally discovered a new genious strategy. 

One evening, after picking up Isaiah & arriving home, I was exhausted.  After he ate & I ate & we played a little.  I passed out while putting him to sleep at about 7:30.  We slept for five hours.  It was amazing because it was unexpected nap exactly when I needed it.  I fed him & put him back to sleep.

Then I had to get all my work done.  So I was working & working until about 1am when I thought why don't I just stay up all night?  Because I had to be up around 6 anyway.  I would be exhausted if I tried to sleep & then wake up at 6, then I would probably hit snooze too many times, probably be rushed getting ready (I hat e that) and probably be late everywhere I had to be. 

It was wonderful.  I got so much done.  And I wasn't rushed to do anything.  I took Isaiah to the babysitter's early.  We were early (ok on time may be a better word for it) for work stuff. 

It was so wonderful that I wanted to ignore how exhausted I was while driving and how much extra coffee I had to drink to be 100%.  Then I think it started affecting my milk production.  I was getting more sleep than I would have otherwise, but I think the coffee the new schedule required was hurting too much.

Marcus hates it.  Because it's not normal.  Even though I try & convince him that I'm getting more quality sleep this way.  And I'm enjoying my son more.  When we get home I'm not trying to work while he wants to play.  The little time I have with him these days I'm getting to spend with him instead of trying to figure out new ways to keep him happy while I work. 

See, this is what Isaiah looks like when I'm not playing.  He's so sad.

I've toyed with it more.  I'm going to sleep early (between 8 & 10).  And getting up early (between 4 & 5).  I'm still getting that quality quiet time in the morning, still getting sleep, and still getting to play with my son on his time.  I love it.  Marcus doesn't, but he's sleeping when I wake up so he can't protest much. 

Now back to work.

Speaking of work, this is us at one of my restaurants, Dive, following a photo shoot of their food.  My designer is the best.

Seriously back to work.  And I know that I still have to tell the rest of the wedding story.  Next time.

Our Busy Day

6am.  The day began too early, at least early for us.  Last night I didn't get to bed until 1am.  It's another story, but we have a very inconsistent schedule.  And let's just say Isaiah isn't yet "sleeping through the night," a term that is still a mythical concept to me. 

I would have showered the night before, but I was too exhausted from a similarly early day.  So I showered, dried & fixed the hair, put on the makeup (2 of my least favorite things about being a girl), and fit a bagel & a cup of coffee in my belly before Isaiah woke up to eat. 

This particular day Marcus & I were both going to work the event to save some money, so we had to drop Isaiah off at his Nana's house, a place very far away from ours.  Since traffic is considerably unpredictable from Nana's to Uptown where we work, we took 2 cars just in case it was bad. 

Isaiah & I went to Restaurant Depot to pick up a few things.  I was a little scared about this trip with a baby, but it turned out he loved riding on the huge cart.  And of course, he got a lot of attention from the ladies.  One of them asked me if he was my baby.

Then I dropped him off with Nana.  She says she loves it when she gets to take care of him.  In fact, she gets angry when I don't bring him over enough.  But I feel like she has a lot of work to do with her other grandchildren, so I don't like to ask her too often.

We dropped off Marcus's car and we were off to the event, produced in association with Lemon Bar (one day I probably should explain the business).  Everything went perfectly. 

I almost never do, but I even had time to pump.  A side note...  Pumping away from home is a pain in the ass.  Can someone please invent an easier way?  Since my job is mobile & not in an office somewhere, I usually pump in my car.  In the parking lot of a rich office building surrounded by rich business people walking to & from work during their lunch breaks.  I bought an electric cord car charger adaptor to make this feat possible.  For this reason, I really want to one day magically receive the new Medela Freestyle, battery operated and hands free!  My sister will need her breast pump back when her new little one comes along in December, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do then.

By the time we finished the event, cleaned & washed dishes, picked up some tasty cakeballs for Nana (payment for babysitting) from our favorite bakery Creme de la Cookie, and got all the way back to Nana's, it was time to leave to go pick up Isaiah's big brother (I was calling him A, but I think I just decided to call him BB for big brother).  His mother's house is on the completely opposite edge of Dallas.  The very edge of that edge.  It's so far.  And it's always prime traffic time when we go pick him up.  There was extra extra traffic on this day.  I had time to pump again.

Of course we were late.  Marcus, BB & Isaiah ate at their favorite Subway while I went shopping for some necessities.  Then we went to Main Event to play games.  Isaiah ate almost the whole time, after which he was fascinated with all of the bright lights & noise.

We dropped off BB, because the custody agreement is silly and Marcus has BB every Thursday for 2 hours, which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't live on the edge of the edge of Dallas.

We caught the last 10 minutes of Burlington to check out their crib bedding selection because for some reason I'm having the worse time ever finding some that we both can tolerate.  Why is everything zoo animals, teddy bears, & airplanes?  Someone please create a line of baby bedding that isn't so...  babyish.  And yes, Isaiah just got his crib.

Then the fun began.  Since he had just eaten, a lot, I pumped again on the way back to get Marcus's car.  Bad idea.  He started getting really fussy right after I finished pumping.  He fell back asleep, and I thought if we just dropped Marcus off really quickly, he would stay asleep.  Second bad idea.  I also had to pee badly, but I didn't want to stop because I didn't want to wake him up.  And third bad idea. 

I dropped Marcus off.  And well, all would have been well, except his car was right in the middle of Dallas night life, so traffic & people walking around was horrible.  So we never picked up the same driving momentum.  He started screaming.  I thought I just needed to get on the highway then he would go back to sleep.  Well it would have, but at that moment, there was some sort of wreck & the highway was backed up with traffic. 

So I had to pee quite badly.  I mean I was downing water earlier for my milk.  My baby was screaming.  I couldn't really reach him to put his pacifier back in.  And I couldn't stop because there were no open exits for awhile. 

I was starving because the last thing I had to eat was half of a cupcake from the bakery 7 hours earlier.  I was exhausted.  And those necessities I was buying earlier were because for some reason, I am a member of the club of privelaged mommies who start their periods right after giving birth.  But by this time half of the previously applied necessities had had enough.  It was bad.

The traffic finally eased up but by this time, Isaiah was so worked up, he didn't stop crying.  No matter how fast I drove. 

When we finally got home, the only parking space I could find was a block away. 

I had 3 huge bags to carry.  And my son.  Back across that block & up the stairs because the elevator was taking too long.  II had to all the bags down to dig through my purse to find the keys. 

I still had to pee.  And I still was incredibly uncomfortable because of the other thing.  So I sat Isaiah in his Bumbo in the bathroom so I could take care of business. 

Somehow, on the way from the car to his Bumbo, he got happy.  He smiled this huge smile, and I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. 

I guess the last part of the day wasn't so bad.

Worried About the Next Six Weeks

Isaiah is 6 weeks old!!! 

I have the go ahead to start exercising now, and I'm super excited because I'm feeling pretty not skinny these days. 

I also have the go ahead to have sex, BUT honestly I don't know if I'm ready for it.  This is quite unusual for me to say, because usually my sex drive is really really high, and I thought I would just be dying by now.  Six weeks is way longer than Marcus & I have ever gone without having sex.  But I'm feeling pretty emotionally vulnerable.  Fragile even.  I think I would be so happy if we could just cuddle. 

But even if I was ready, we probably wouldn't be able to find the time or the place.  Because let me tell you about what's going on...

We just picked up a new client that will be using us every weekday morning for the next six weeks.  We've never had anything that regular or often. 

We have several dinner events this month which is unusual.

I started my last eight week term on Monday, and it appears that it will be the most difficult yet.  We have been assigned teams, and I am stuck for the third time in the past two years, with the laziest asshole of a teammate. 

I haven't finished posting Isaiah's birth story yet!  I'm glad I posted a portion of it because I got distracted way more than I thought I would.

We have Marcus's five year old (I think I'll call him A from now on) for the month of July. 

And my mom went home today.  A quite sudden decision made during our recent weekend trip to Arkansas. 

Last week I was imagining my days without her, nursing & playing with Isaiah, & alternating between eating, sleeping & working while he slept.  I thought it would be difficult but possible.  Now I'm adding a five year old to that picture. 

I'm a little nervous about how we're going to handle it all. 

But we must.  And we will, splendidly I'm sure.  I hope. 

We can't have any problems with this cuteness in our house right?