I love Fall . . . so where are you Fall? And of course, life with baby E

Even though the weather here is trying to trick us into believing it's not Fall yet, I am hoping it will catch up with my mentality soon. I am DONE with summer, done with being hot and sweaty inside my house. Done watching my poor infant son sweat his tiny balls off in a diaper and no clothes. Done trying to escape the heat. Even my tomato and zuccini plants realize that summer is close coming to an end. We haven't had a zuccini on the vine in a few weeks. Maybe even a month. And after our last crop of tomatoes, those too are dwindling. So, come on weather! Change already!

One of the reasons I love Fall-- college football season. That's the first indicator of Fall for me. Yay Bears!! I remain cautiously optimistic after last season's disappointing end. But I have renewed hope and a new little bear to share the fun with, yay!

I am also looking forward to soup season. While I love barbequeing, with E, we barely have time to get the grill up and running in between feedings. Whereas with soups, I can make them on my feeding breaks and we can enjoy them for at least 2-3 days with no effort. Perfect!

As for an E update: He is doing wonderfully! Although he had a VERY VERY VERY difficult Sunday (he was circumcised, a decision I still regret and probably always will). He didn't exactly love getting his Hep-B shot on Tuesday morning either. But it paled in comparison to the excruciating pain he (and therefore I) experienced on Sunday.

E has gained over 2 lbs since birth, he's now 6 lbs 14.5 oz (almost 7 lbs!) As my Dad says, now he can hold him without fearing he'll "break" him :-) We are finally getting into a more comfortable routine too. Now, when M goes on overnights, I don't freak and worry how I'll get through the next 24 hours on my own. Sure, I get less sleep because I'm doing every feeding. But I can manage that and even throw in a couple other things--the grocery store, our walk on the Bayshore Trail, a doctor's appointment, errands in downtown.

See, when you have a newborn, your life becomes all about the "chunks." By that I mean the 3-hour chunks from the start of one feeding to the start of another. After he actually finishes eating, burping and goes down for the count, I'm really left with 2 hours with which to accomplish a "thing." This thing is typically: sleep, eat or do something outside the house that can be accomplished in 1 hour or less.

Right now, I'm eating my breakfast (12noon is my first meal of the day if I choose to nap after the morning feeding) and blogging. If I'm lucky I'll get to that next load of laundry and tidy up the house, maybe even do some online banking before the next feeding in an hour. After the next feeding I'm hoping to get to TJ's and get a nap in. We'll see about that one. After the late afternoon feeding, M will be home and I'm going to race to the gym for the first time since my water broke. (i hope!!) And so on.

Such is life with a newborn. It's amazing how many things I once thought were "must do's" fall to the wayside now that my life is all about the chunks. It really does re-adjust your perspective :-)

Happy short week to everyone who's working!

Here are some recent shots from E's first trip to the beach last weekend:

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!

Enjoying the sunset with Dad

Hey Cal, your mom called . . .

Dear Cal Football,

It's official. You suck. I love Cal Football, so it pains me to say it. But seriously. I have watched you perform hot and cold for the last 10 years, but this year is especially terrible because as many of you know, you are the best talent in the Pac-10. So why, god why, do you f-in suck so bad? My god! Today's game against Washington is tragic. Pathetic. Heartbreaking. What is with all the turnovers, mistakes, penalties?!

Are you trying to get Tedford fired? Do you have a vendetta against him? Cuz damn, you're doing everything you can to make sure that's gonna happen after today's loss and (predictably) Big Game against Stanford.

Thank god many of you are leaving after this year. Maybe what we need is fresh blood and hopefully a football team that doesn't go mental and lose their shit every f-in game when things start going south.

Sincerely,
Heartbroken and Pissed

Classic Cal Football

So we won't find out what it feels like to be a fan of *any other top 25 team* this year. This year is, yet again, a Classic Cal Football season. I hate that we're so cliche. Damn boys, you have all the talent, the fan base, etc... what happened?

Well, the good news is that at least Big Game tickets will be cheaper now. And it may actually be a well-matched game. Yup. That's how far we've slipped down the Pac-10 ladder. And our schedule isn't going to be any easier... Arizona State, USC.... now I'm just crossing my fingers that we take home the Axe this year. DAMN.

Ouch, it stings.. more than a little bit

You know what I'm talking about if you saw/listened to the Cal game today. When I heard the commentators call FINAL, I could hear CG moaning, groaning and swearing like a drunk sailor at our downtrodden Golden Bears. WTF was Riley thinking?!!!

To be fair, Riley will be an asset to us once he [1] makes it through this season and next summer and [2] gets his head around what he just did to our season. Our unbelievable, gorgeous season. Thank god we're not the only BCS-worthy, one-loss team this season. However we are one of just a few who have lost to an unranked team.

Remember previously mentioned Duck husband? Even HE feels bad for our beloved Bears. (of course the Ducks absolutely creamed Washington State) That's saying alot. One, that he really loves me, so much that he can commiserate with our absolutely miserable showing today. (truly bad, Nate, I never thought I would miss you so much.. Especially your first season. I swore you sucked eggs). Two, that we really performed badly today.

'Nuf said. I'm going to a movie to forget my sorrows... already drowning them with some lovely Zin from Easton. (wintermute! cheers!)

Roll on you Bears... next week you better come out ON FIRE against UCLA. First of all, they are FAKE BEARS who have copied our colors, schools and now our football program. Second of all, you better come out JUST F'IN PISSED.

Not to be redundant, but DAMN it's good to be a Cal fan!

Again, I hate to repeat the jubilation of Wintermute's post but DAMN! It's good to be a Cal fan. This year we will legimately, and rightfully, earn BCS respect for many good reasons. One of them is because we are in a damn good conference. When the (formerly) #9 team in the Pac-10 takes down the (formerly) #1 team in the COUNTRY, you know you're in a tough conference. Fuck the SEC. I'm not even going to pardon my language. We have Cal, Oregon, USC, Arizona State and surprising comeback kids like Stanford and Oregon State (and even the inconsistent UCLA Bruins). So f-you if you don't think the Pac-10 is real college ball. It is and we're gonna prove it this year.

That is all.

except....GO BEARS!!

Can you say #3?!

Ok, I should preface this by saying that I'm not a sports junkie. I don't know much about stats for any popular sport, I probably can't tell you much about most of the players on my favorite team, but like my love of wine, I do know that I love me some Cal Bears Football. And this was an unbelievable weekend to be a Bears fan. After a nailbiting game on Saturday with the Oregon Ducks (M is a Duck fan, through and through), the Bears staked their claim to the #2 spot in the Pac-10 and the #3 spot in the country!!! (according to the latest AP Poll). http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3043603
I could not be more thrilled!

Sadly this comes as a blow to the Ducks, one of whom is my hubby, so the game yesterday was pretty intense. But a funny story too... see we were to attend a wedding in Sonoma yesterday afternoon that started at 5pm. As you probably know, the game wasn't over until almost 5pm. So, while we watched the game, we got ready for the wedding on commercial breaks, yelling to each other when to come back to the family room because the game was back on. M was frantically packing for his trip Sunday morning (5am no less), doing dishes, ironing his shirt for the wedding; while I was running around with one shoe on/off, curling my hair, trying to do makeup and not burn myself between runs back to the TV. Yup, this is how we roll.

We finally got the Tivo up to the "LiveTV" part and were able to then jump in the car, which M had already programmed to 810am, and drive up to Sonoma. I don't remember much about the drive except being scared that M was driving. That was perhaps a bad judgment call on my part. But we made it alive... and with about 10 minutes to spare before the ceremony started. But poor M had to compose himself, and I did have to remind him to cheer up a bit. It was a wedding for the love of (insert spiritual icon of choice)! Although that did not stop us, or anyone else at the wedding, from lamenting or celebrating the outcome of the Cal-Oregon game, as well as the Florida game (a lot of East Coasters in attendance). I seriously gave one of our servers a high-five when he revealed that he was a Cal fan too and had to miss the last part of the game to get the winery ready for this wedding.

I was talking to W this afternoon about how her fiancee handled the outcome. W is also in a Duck-Bear household, so we often comiserate about how our boys are handling things. Similarly, V was less than thrilled. He has now vowed to "have nothing to do with those Bears," which could be a problem since us girls want to attend some games together! :-)

Wintermute promises to grow up next weekend. I, on the other hand, do not. The Bears deserve bragging rights this year! Wintermute is right, we may be notorious for complaining that we don't get respect in the BCS polls. (which we don't!) So it's no surprise when I say that, true to form, I believe we (the Bears and the Pac-10) will finally get some respect this Fall.

Roll on you Bears......