Geek in Heels - Page 70

Oct 19, 2011 • In Aerin, Baby, Claire, Motherhood, Personal, Pregnancy

An Ear Infection, and 38 Weeks

Our Claire Bear has an ear infection. 🙁

She woke up several times last night, which we had attributed to teething, and this morning flat-out refused to eat. Then, she woke up from her morning nap with a fever and proceeded to just cry and cry.

Coincidentally, Claire’s 1-year pediatrician visit was scheduled for later today. I called the doctor’s office and they told us to bring her in right away.

Our pediatrician prescribed us some amoxicillin, advised us to administer ibuprofen if the fevers persist, and told us not to worry too much.

(image source)

Thanks to the ibuprofen, Claire’s fever is now down and she is starting to smile again. But she still refuses to eat, and although we’ve put her down for a nap so that she can get some rest, she is fussing in her crib. (We cannot hold her or carry her to sleep because she has not been able to do that since we sleep-trained her at 4.5 months.)

This is the first time that Claire has been sick. I know that I should feel lucky that our daughter has not fallen ill for the entire first year of her life, and that I shouldn’t worry too much since ear infections are one of the most common illnesses among babies. But I can’t help but be overly concerned — I have been reading up on ear infections as soon as we returned from the doctor’s office — and I have even shed a few tears, just thinking about the pain and discomfort that my daughter must be going through.

If any parents can chime in on what has helped with your children’s ear infections, I would greatly appreciate it!

Now, onto BebeDeux…

I can’t believe that there are only two weeks left until BebeDeux’s due date! There isn’t too much to write in terms of an update — I am still feeling very uncomfortable — and while at this point of the pregnancy with Claire, I couldn’t wait for her to come out, I am hoping that BebeDeux stays in there for as long as possible because I’m still scared sh*tless about becoming a mother to two children who are just 13 months apart.

I had my weekly OB visit yesterday, and it was a memorable one because my doctor asked if I would mind if a medical resident joined us for the exam. I agreed, and as the doc began the ultrasound (I get one every visit because our OB practice has a small ultrasound machine on premises), he began a little lecture:

This patient presents a special case because she was diagnosed with acute appendicitis during her second trimester and had to have an appendectomy as a result. Can you tell me what to look out for with appendicitis in pregnancy?

Additionally, the doc would point out specific things on the ultrasound, ask further questions, and so forth…heck, even I learned quite a few things!

And the entire time, I couldn’t help but be extremely fascinated, because it felt exactly like I was a patient on one of my favorite medical shows, like “Scrubs” or “Grey’s Anatomy”!

(image source)

Once again the doctors couldn’t find anything to be concerned about — I have tested negative for all possible infections and complications, my blood pressure remains normal and steady, there still remains plenty of amniotic fluid, and BebeDeux remains head-down and rear-facing.

I asked the doctor if second children usually tend to be larger than the first, because that’s what everyone’s been telling me, and he said that this is another widely-believed myth. He took BebeDeux’s measurements and estimated that she will probably weigh in the 6-7 lb range, just as Claire was at birth (she was 6 lbs 7 oz).

He offered to do an internal exam to see if I am dilated or effaced at all, but I refused. Remembering my experience with Claire — I was still only 1cm dilated and 30% effaced just 12 hours before going into labor — I know that these numbers really can’t predict much about when the baby will arrive!

One last thing about the exam: when I told the doctor that I am hoping for a 11/1/11 birthday but how J wants me to go over my due date so that BebeDeux can come on 11/11/11, he laughed and said that if I do go a week over my due date, he will schedule me to be induced on 11/11!

How to Find Kentucky on the Map

When I was in 3rd grade, I became the first person in my class to memorize all the states and their capitals in alphabetical order. I was also the first to correctly identify each state on a map of the United States.

Sadly, that was the peak of my geographical knowledge.

I can now only correctly identify perhaps half of the states on a U.S. map. (I imagine I will have a lot of catching-up to do before my kids start school. After all, we can’t have a mommy who knows less than her grade-school aged children, can we? ;-)) And it is always those pesky middle states that give me the most trouble…

Fortunately for me, today I stumbled upon something that will help me forever remember where Kentucky is on the map:

In related news, now my 38-weeks-pregnant self is majorly craving KFC.

Via Reddit.

So This is What They Look Like on the Inside…

Yesterday, we discovered 2 new teeth in Claire’s mouth — one on either side of her top front teeth — making for a grand total of 6 teeth at the age of 12 months.

(So far, all of her teeth have come in pairs. Is this normal?)

The best part? She did not exhibit any signs of teething prior to our discovering these new pearly whites. If you can recall, the first four were hellish: waking up 5-6x per night, constant whining and crying, extreme clinginess, and so forth.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the norm for the rest of her teeth!

And, to celebrate, I will share with you a picture of a child’s skull before losing their baby teeth:

(image source)

Completely horrifying yet strangely fascinating at the same time, wouldn’t you say? 😀

ONA’s Roma Camera Insert Bag Review and Giveaway!

Sorry, this giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced here shortly!

Late last year, the web was abuzz with the introduction of a laptop + DSLR bag that was not only functional and well-made, but beautiful as well: the ONA Union Street Bag.

I knew it would be perfect for my fashion-conscious husband, who commutes to work with a laptop and likes to bring along his DSLR wherever he can.

I immediately placed myself on the waiting list — the bag had became sold out as soon as the blogosphere began to buzz about it — and gifted it to J as his birthday present earlier this year.

We both love the Union Street bag. J gets compliments on it all the time, and I could definitely distinguish ONA’s high craftsmanship and quality of materials compared to other camera bags.

So when ONA recently contacted me to see if I would be interested in reviewing their new Roma Camera Insert and Bag Organizer, I couldn’t be more ecstatic!

As with most amateur photographers with a DSLR on their hands, I tend to stick with one or two lenses and do not carry around much accessories. And because I prefer my DSLR to my phone camera or my 4-year-old point-and-shoot (which now only gets used once every few months), I like to bring it out when I go out…

…the problem being, of course, that I don’t like to carry around a separate camera bag.

In order to get around this problem I usually wrap my camera in a scarf and just place it in my purse, which any idiot can tell you is not the smartest thing to do.

Enter the Roma Camera Insert and Bag Organizer.

The Roma is constructed of the same durable waxed canvas exterior (dubbed Waxwear) with leather details, just like the Union Street.

The interior is well-padded, and comes with an adjustable divider:

As you can seen, I had no problem whatsoever fitting my DSLR into the Roma (pictured here is a Canon Rebel T1i with the 17-55mm f/2.8 lens, which measures about 5″ long):

Here I have added my going-out essentials to the Roma: a wallet, cell phone, some makeup, and sunglasses. As you can see, the five exterior pockets — in addition to the extra room leftover on the inside — allow for plenty of space!

Lastly, a picture of the Roma inside my medium-sized purse — it fits perfectly, and I still have some room to spare!

I can’t say enough how much I love the Roma, and it seriously could not have arrived at a more perfect time, because I had been seriously thinking about purchasing an insert to protect my DSLR. 🙂

Now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for…

ONA has very graciously offered to give to one of my readers a
Roma Camera Insert and Bag Organizer!

This giveaway will allow for four methods of entry rather than my usual three, so please pay attention to the rules…

Each reader is eligible for up to four entries via the following methods (each method will grant a separate entry):

Leave a comment to this post answering the following question: how do you usually travel with your camera?
If you haven’t done so already, go to the Geek in Heels Facebook Page and “Like” the page. Then click on the ONA’s Roma Camera Insert Giveaway link (located right under the profile picture, or just use this link) to enter the sweepstakes.
“Like” the ONA Facebook Page, and leave a separate comment to this post saying you’ve done so.
Follow both @geekinheels and @onabags on Twitter and tweet exactly the following: I just entered for a chance to win the @onabags Roma camera insert via @geekinheels and you can too! http://bit.ly/pT6KCw

You can increase your chances of winning by using all four methods of entry. There is only one entry allowed per person, per method — for a total possible number of four entries — and any additional entries will be promptly deleted. (Yes, I have ways of checking this. And yes, this will only cause me to get annoyed at you.)

For the complete list of rules, go to this link.

The giveaway begins as soon as this entry is published — October 17, 2011 @ 12:00pm EDT — and will run until October 21, 2011 @ 11:59pm EDT. The winner will be announced here on October 22 and will also be notified by email (so please use a valid email when entering so that I can contact you if you win!) or via a Twititer DM.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

(Now, it’s time to save up for ONA’s Brooklyn! :-))

Defying the Halloween Birthday

How much does psychology come into play when it comes to the day a woman gives birth?

As it turns out, more than what you might expect.

Using 11-years’ worth of U.S. birth certificate data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, Yale researchers have found that there are higher instances of birth on Valentine’s Day, a holiday traditionally linked with positive symbolism, while Halloween — a holiday which traditionally conveys negative symbolism — has lowered birth rates.

Take a look at the following graphs, provided by Try Nerdy:

While the overall increased likelihood of giving birth on Valentine’s Day jumps by 5%, a whopping 11.3% decrease in births was seen on Halloween across these years!

Although I know quite a few women who say that they would love to have a Halloween baby, I personally am keeping my fingers crossed that BebeDeux (whose due date is November 3) will not be born on this holiday — not due to the negative connotations, but because I prefer not to have my child share her birthday with a major holiday.

I have stated over and over again that I’m hoping for a November 1 birthday so that her birthdate will be binary: 11-1-11! (J wants her to stay in there longer because he wants a 11-11-11 birthday, born at 11:11:11!)

I also have another ulterior motive for wanting a November birthday: my mother’s birthday is October 27, and my sister’s is October 28. Additionally, my cousin’s twins were born on Halloween (contrary to the data above)…and I would prefer that BebeDeux does not share a birthday with another member of the family, or even a birthday month with four family members. That being said, I admit that an October 29 birthday wouldn’t be too bad, as my mother, my sister, and my second daughter would have birthdays right next to each other’s.

I know that there are a million circumstances beyond my control, but if the hormonal mechanisms responsible for determining birth timing are affected by psychological factors as the study suggests, I believe that my chances of my getting a preferred birthday for BebeDeux are better than I thought!

Besides, I can remember just last year, wishing and hoping for a September birthday for Claire (her due date was October 3)…and she was born 4 days early, on the last day of September. 🙂

If you have children, would you say any psychological factors affected their birthdays?

Music Typewriter

I love typewriters.

I have studied music since the age of 5.

So how can I not fall in love with this Keaton Music Typewriter, which allows the user to type musical notes on blank sheet music?

According to musicprintinghistory.org:

The Keaton Music Typewriter was first patented in 1936 (14 keys) by Robert H. Keaton from San Francisco, California. Another patent was taken out in 1953 (33 keys) which included improvements to the machine. The machine types on a sheet of paper lying flat under the typing mechanism. There are several Keaton music typewriters thought to be in existence in museums and private collections. It was marketed in the 1950s and sold for around $225. The typewriter made it easier for publishers, educators, and other musicians to produce music copies in quantity. Composers, however, preferred to write the music out by hand.

Too bad there are currently less than a dozen known to exist.

The good news is, if you have the money to spare, you can pick one up on Etsy for the low price of $6,000!

Via Neatorama.

Wedding Invites & Favors of the Year [Super Mario FTW!]

I know I used to blog for a wedding community, but it’s been more than 3.5 years since my wedding and frankly, the subject just doesn’t interest me much anymore.

BUT.

Once in a while I come across pictures from certain weddings and I can’t help but think, ‘DANG! Why didn’t we think of that? If only we were getting married again…’

(FYI, J and I have no intention whatsoever of renewing our vows. The first time around was stressful enough.)

Esther and Ryan’s wedding is one prime example. Notsomuch the wedding itself (which I’m sure was awesome too), but the handmade invitations and the favors.

And can you guess why I love their invites and favors so much?

The title of this post says it all (duh). And get this — not only are they Super Mario-themed, they are designed after the original Super Mario Bros on the NES.

Feast your eyes on these, my fellow geeks…

The front of the “cartridge” is intricately detailed and well-thought-out: the “Tanouye” used in place of the Nintendo logo is the bride’s maiden name; the “Watkins” in the Official Watkins Seal is the groom’s last name; and 10-08-11 is the date the couple set for the wedding. Additionally, 10-08 was decided because it was a wordplay on the bride’s last name.

Once you open the invitation you are further delighted by little details…

The three “block” inserts, when turned over, consist of: (1) the directions, (2) registry information, and (3) the RSVP card:

The inside of the invitation:

Even the back of the invitation stays true to the original NES cartridge, with some changes to the wording:

Don’t you just LOVE it?!!!

Now, on to the wedding day favors which were laid out for each guest…

When you first open up the box, you are greeted with an adorable card:

The back of the card thanks the guest in 4 different languages, each representing the different ethnic groups represented by the the bride (½ Japanese, ½ Korean) and the groom (½ Caucasian ½ Mexican):

A second card kindly reminds the guest of which dish they had requested for the reception:

This is what you see if you chose the beef dish:

And this is what you see if you chose the vegetarian dish:

At the bottom of the box is a small pouch:

And it is filled with none other than gold coins! (Filled with chocolate candy, I presume.)

Wasn’t that just about the cutest wedding favor you’ve ever seen? I soooo wish I were a guest at this wedding!

And just because the seating chart was also too awesome not to share:

See more details at Larry T Quach’s Art Blog, who helped design and create these masterpieces!

Via Reddit.

Purposely Distancing Myself from My Daughter

With less than 3 weeks to go before my due date with BebeDeux, I have been slowly making preparations for our new life as a family of 4.

The hardest part of this transition has had to do with Claire. Because for the past couple of weeks, I have been purposely spending less and less time with my firstborn.

I know that she is in good hands with J’s parents. And while I wouldn’t be lying if I were to say that I have been enjoying getting some extra rest, it is becoming more and more apparent with each passing day that Claire has grown less attached to me.

I may even go as far as to say that I am no longer her favorite person.

For the first time in her life, she will stretch her arms out to others when I am holding her. For the first time in her life, she does not cry when someone takes her from me. And for the first time in her life, she no longer cries when I leave the room.

I am happy that Claire is growing more independent. I tell myself that this is for her own good, so that the transition to having a younger sibling at such a young age — they will only be 13 months apart! — will not be so traumatic for her.

But I can’t help but be a bit sad at the same time.

I hope that one day, she will read these words and understand that I only have the best intentions for her.

The Difference Between Pixar and Dreamworks Animated Films

For what it’s worth, I still say the best film of the ones that are listed here is Shrek. What about you?

Via Geek Tyrant.

When Toilet Paper is Not an Option

Admit it. We’ve all been there. Doing a #2 in a public/semi-public restroom, only to realize that — oh crap (literally) — there’s no toilet paper!

What do you do?

This is precisely the reason I try my best to have a pack of tissues in my bag at all times. But on the few occasions I didn’t, I have waited until the bathroom was empty, loosely pulled up my lower pieces of clothing so that nothing was touching my skin, waddled over to the next stall and helped myself to some toilet paper from there.

I have never asked a stranger to pass me some toilet paper (although I have been asked several times over the years).

But what if it’s a one-person bathroom? And there are no other stalls? And for once, you are wishing the restaurant/office/store/etc is not trying to be eco-friendly by installing hand dryers with no paper towels in sight?

THEN what do you do?

This was actually a question posed by a then-popular Korean drama called 내 이름은 김삼순 (“My Name is Kim Sam Soon,” or “My Lovely Sam Soon”) which aired in 2005. I remember catching a few episodes back then, and re-discovered it on Hulu just recently. (Did you even know there’s a Korean drama section on Hulu? I didn’t!)

According to the main character, Sam Soon, how one reacts in this situation depends on his/her bloodtype (like Japan, Korea is big on blood typing):