Fiona pictures

The Baby is Here!!!!

Fiona Bridgette Kidd was born Friday, January 14th at 6.49 am! She was born here at our house, a successful home birth and water birth! (BTW, I thought the water was supposed to work wonders and make you feel significantly less pain .... uh, not so, my friends, not so. Still incredibly painful, but that's another story for another post). Okay, so the labor was 6 hours start to finish! Quite intense. The midwife and the assistant didn't make it till 6 am, and she was born 50 minutes later! Scary.

I'm truly, truly thankful to God that everything worked out perfectly. I read my body's signals enough to know when it was time to call them; they made it on time; I was able to deliver safely and vaginally with no issues. There were no life-threatening issues to either of us. The boys slept through everything and didn't wake up till about 40 minutes after she was born, just as the midwife was done stitching me up. Talk about excelling timing! Fiona is perfectly formed with no visible abnormalities. I'm SO thankful that she is here safely and alive and perfect. What a blessing!!!! And she's a girl too for sure! Nursing is going well, and I'm feeling as well as can be expected ... you other mothers know what I mean. It's been a good day!

You can see a short video of Fiona and me and the boys on my facebook page. Another day, we'll get some pictures up.

Glamour shots ... I mean maternity pictures

It's funny, but I feel very beautiful now. At the beginning of the pregnancy, my belly was all on the sides, and I just looked fat, not pregnant. Now my belly is all in front, and has a lovely shape, and I feel so good. I'm really enjoying the way I look right now. And it's nice to feel firm and tight around the middle, not squishy and doughy. Once this baby comes out, I'll look like the Pillsbury doughboy again, so I'm trying to really enjoy it now while it lasts.

Here are my glamour shots and a few of the fam:

The Huntington Gardens

The Huntington Library and Gardens is located in Pasadena, CA. I don't know if anyone even goes there for the library, but the gardens are INCREDIBLE. It was one of the most picturesque places I've ever seen. There are about twenty different gardens, including lily ponds, bamboo clusters, a statue garden, and an Australian garden. We only saw a few of them because the place is so enormous. Here's a taste of some of the areas we walked through.

1. The cactus garden:

2. The Japanese Gardens. Now I don't really believe in Zen, nor do I even know what exactly that means, but look at the next two pictures and tell me you don't feel Zen.

Also in the Japanese Garden are some impressive koi ponds. My children nearly fell into the water about fifteen times.

3. The Chinese Garden.

Again with the Zen! Look at this peaceful place. I feel relaxed just looking at the picture.

And who is this marvelous-looking creature? I must meet her.
4. The Rose Garden.

INFORMATION FOR GOING TO THE GARDENS: Don't ever pay full price; I think it's $15 a person or something. Once a month, they have a free day. You have to have tickets for free day, but the tickets are free, and you can order them online or by phone one month before the free day. You have to be online or on the phone EXACTLY at 9 am on the day they give away tickets. Then you simply show up with your free tickets and have a great time. Every person (including infants) needs a ticket for free day. You can order up to 5 tickets for free day. Check here to see information for getting tickets for the next free day.

I recommend every SoCal resident go at least once before you leave California! Thanks, Jackie (queen of all SoCal excursions!), for the information about free day.

"End of year tipping" ... are you kidding me?

This is an article I copied from Yahoo that was published for US News and World Report. Skim it and tell me if you are as flabbergasted as I am! Sorry, friends, I most certainly AM NOT going to tip my mailman $20.

The New Rules for End-of-Year Tipping

Kimberly Palmer, On Tuesday November 30, 2010, 12:12 pm EST

Few rituals are more awkward than end-of-year tipping. How much do you give your trainer at the gym? What about your regular postal worker or newspaper delivery service? Or parking lot attendants? The list of potential recipients is probably longer than your holiday shopping list, but the decision about how much to spend can be much more stressful because there's so much uncertainty over how much, and who, to tip.

Here's a guide to making sure that you tip well but not wastefully--and that you still have a happy trainer, newspaper delivery person, and parking lot attendant in the new year.

Postal workers: Postal workers cannot receive any more than $20 in cash, which is an appropriate tip during the holidays, says Judith Bowman, founder of Protocol Consultants International. You can also give more personal gifts, such as baked goods or a gift certificate (under $20 in value, of course).

Personal caregivers, such as daycare teachers: Cash gifts are definitely appreciated and, in some cases, expected. Consider joining up with other parents to give each teacher $100 to $300. Think of it more as a holiday gift than a tip.

Doormen of residential buildings: Plan on giving each worker at least $20 and sometimes closer to $100, depending on the type of building and its traditions. Ask long-time residents or the building manager if you're unsure. Throughout the year, if the doorman provides extra service, such as bringing up your groceries, then tip between $5 and $10 per trip.

Cleaning service provider: Give the value of one visit. If you usually pay $100 per week, then give at least an extra $100 around the holidays.

Regular hairstylist, trainer, aesthetician, and other service providers: Similar to the cleaning service recommendation, consider giving a tip equal to the value of one visit. This guideline only applies to people you see regularly (more than once a month). Otherwise, a 20 percent tip per visit without an additional holiday boost is standard.

[For more money-saving tips, visit the U.S. News Alpha Consumer blog.]

Newspaper delivery person: A gift of between $10 and $20 or more in an envelope will help show your appreciation for all those cold and rainy mornings you can pick up your paper without getting dressed.

Garbage collectors: This thankless job often gets overlooked at tipping time, but consider giving each worker at least $20. If you leave extra garbage any time throughout the year, then leave an additional $10 to $20 for their effort.

Skycaps, porters, and hotel doormen you meet along your holiday travels: The skycap at the airport typically gets $2 to $3 per bag, says Bowman. If you are running late and they are of particular assistance, then add $1 to $2 per bag. A flat $20 goes a long way in saying "thank you." When in doubt, always tip up. As for doormen at hotels, tip anywhere from $2 to $5. For housekeeping services, tip $1 to $2 per night. There is usually a hotel-provided envelope that you can use for this purpose.

People to skip: Here's some good news for your budget. There's no need to tip the owner of an establishment (such as a hair salon), salaried staff (such as salespeople), full-service gas attendants, furniture delivery people (charges are included), or a flower delivery person, says Bowman.

Final word of advice: Tipping 10 to 15 percent is old-school, says Bowman. The new standard is 20 percent and up. And if you're a regular customer at a restaurant, you might want to consider leaving more to guarantee you get good service on each visit. After all, says Bowman, the literal translation of "to tip" is "to ensure promptness."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/The-New-Rules-for-EndofYear-usnews-1978037488.html?x=0

Christmas early

First of all, I have to say that I'm very flustered by Blogspot. I wrote a post a week ago with a yummy recipe, and I remember pushing "publish post," but when I checked my blog yesterday, it had completely disappeared and wasn't even anywhere to be found under "edit posts" or "drafts." Weird, huh? Well, I'm not spending another 20 minutes writing that recipe again, but here goes a tirade on how early marketers begin Christmas:

Every year, I never fail to be annoyed with how early it begins. It's as soon as Halloween is over; most stores seem to completely skip over Thanksgiving. They go straight from Halloween decorations to Christmas decorations. I started seeing tv ads for "the perfect Christmas gift" and "K-Mart lawaway" a few days after Halloween. Or was it before Halloween was even over? And now the light rock radio station has already started playing Christmas music! It's not even a month before Christmas, and Thanksgiving is not till next week! It's like Thanksgiving is something to get overwith, if not skip it altogether.

It's obnoxious to me that companies have turned Christmas into a consumerist buy-fest. They've made it all about buying and getting ahead on that long Christmas shopping list and not stressing because you can now get that expensive-looking gift for 33% off. I HATE the consumerist aspect of Christmas because I know that for stores and businesses, it's all about making money.

Now, don't get me wrong. The day after Thanksgiving, I get out my Christmas tree, put up the Christmas wreath, and start listening to Christmas music. And I even enjoy being at the mall around Christmas: seeing the bustle, smelling the Christmasy scents, seeing the decorations, and generally loving the atmosphere. I LOVE Christmas. And I love to buy things for Christmas from those businesses.

But the difference is that Christmas means so much to me because of the celebration of Jesus' birth, whose life and existence on earth as a man gives my life its meaning. I enjoy giving presents to others because it's a way I show love to people I care about, a way to pass on Christ's love and his gift to me. For me, there is deep spiritual meaning in Christmas and in buying presents. For the marketers, there is no meaning apart from a bigger paycheck.

It makes me sad to think about the emptiness of that.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh here. I'd love to hear your opinions about the business side of Christmas. Do they start it too early? Is it okay for people to want to skip over Thanksgiving (whose purpose is to focus on thanking God for all of our blessings) in order to get on to a more exciting holiday that has been consumerized? Do you think Christmas has been over-consumerized?

existing mom-brain + pregnant-brain = no brain

Pregnancy has made me so stupid. I forget to call people back; I don't give dinner a thought till 5:30 p.m.; I can't remember my own children's birthdays without really having to think about it. Here are only two examples of my recent absentmindedness (there are many more, but I've forgotten them all).

1. Sunglasses. I had a great pair ($10 from H&M) that I had for about a month. Then they somehow got lost. I have NO IDEA where, seriously, NO IDEA. I bought another pair for $12 at the pharmacy and had them about 5 days when we went to Disneyland. I took them off at the Buzz Lightyear ride and laid them next to me on the seat. And, you guessed it, I got off the ride and left them there. Luckily, when I went back half an hour later, they'd been found and I got them back. Whew.

2. Gift cards. This one is so embarrassing. This is the pinnacle of my stupidity. Last Saturday was Verano's Welcome Day, and I had to go out with other h.a.'s beforehand to solicit donations from local businesses to give away as prizes at Welcome Day. On the day, I entered all of our names into the drawing for prizes. Ethan won a prize to a gelatto place: two T-shirts and two $5 gift cards for gelatto. I was so excited! The T-shirts were rolled up with a piece of paper wrapped around them and the gift cards attached to the paper. At home, I took the papers off the shirts to show Ethan what the shirts looked like. Later, I walked by the table and saw the upside down papers on there. I thought Why did I leave that trash there on the table? I'm throwing it away. And I did. And Chad took out the recycling. Later that evening, I said, "Where are those gift cards anyway? ... OH MY GOSH! What have I done?"

I felt so upset that my amazing husband actually climbed into the recycle dumpster with a flashlight for nearly half an hour to look for them. No luck. I still can't believe I did something so stupid. There's nothing worse than throwing away money. I almost feel sick to my stomach thinking I did that.

So, now here's YOUR job. Please share with me the most absent-minded thing you did during pregnancy, or since being a mom, so that I will feel better about myself. I really need it. Thanks.