driving cars and eating with plastic spoons

i'm quickly getting sick of driving my car the ten miles to and from work. i took the I-70 home the other night and realized that i drove farther and it took longer than taking colfax and rolling through d-town. but overall, i'm tired of driving, stuck in a car, no fresh air, poor drivers who don't pay attention to lights, other cars or themselves. get me my bike. but i have a choice. and i've chosen to drive the car. i could spend an extra hour every day taking the bus and riding the bike home (the cost comes out to be the same... paying for a bus ticket one way each day vs. a tank of gas and how many miles i get per gallon); or, i could spend that extra hour with my family. and i chose my family. i have time, no rush. the bike and the outdoors are always available.

on another note, i'm compiling quite the collection of plasticware. i've been packing the lunch for work every day and for some reason can't seem to pack myself a fork or spoon to take with me. luckily the corporation i work for has plasticware available for us to use. instead of throwing each spoon and fork in the trash, i bring them home to be washed and used at some later date... i'm sure we'll have some party or something where these will come into use.

falling asleep to face to face

last night after some yummy yums and a diaper change, i slowly bounced and rocked aiden to sleep listening to the sounds of face to face. it was fantastic.

home studio and breakfast at the walnut cafe

kb home studio

p and i took a drive to the kb home studio to start browsing for options for the house. we have a huge list of items that we can either go with the standard option, or upgrade for a fee. i was a bit disappointed with the size of the place, but i guess they really don't need that much room for everything they have. we were also disappointed with the standard options. we thought that the std ops would be at least liveable, but after purusing the studio, everything was cheaper than cheap... not even up to the standards we have at the apartment we're renting... and this for a home purchase. we've decided to upgrade the things that matter the most... and then worry about the smaller things later.

earlier in the day, p, a, and i went out to breakfast at our favorite place- the walnut cafe at colfax and logan. it was the first time since the birth that we got out of the house together aside from heading to the pediatric dr's office... and without grandparents. it was quite nice. took aiden in the stroller, which he like quite a bit, the rocking put him to sleep. and as his timing is key, once the food arrived, aiden started to wake up. just a few cries, then a long one. he was hungry again. this time, though, p got through about half of the meal. at home, it was always just when dinner was served, that aiden would be hungry and let the world know.

zoe

i was dl'ing photos from the digicam and came across this gem i took no more than two days before having to put her to sleep. on two occasions she snuck into the coat closet when someone left the door open. on the first occasion, we didn't hear a peep out of her and then as we opened the door to grab our coats, she lept out. this time, apparently she felt she was in there too long and didn't think anyone was going to open the door, so she started to paw at the underside of the door. of course, thinking this really cute, i took a photo before opening the door for her.

rabbit ears

p's parents were in for the week to greet their tenth grandson and it just so happened that it was superbowl weekend and mr. murray was interested in watching the game. so i pulled out the rabbit ears from the upstairs closet to see if we would be able to get any channels on the idiot box. low and behold, we get fox, mtv2 and espn plus, of all channels. so now three channels to waste time with... except, is watching the simpsons really wasting tim?

chinese new year

today marks the chinese new year. probably the worst one i've had in some time, although, i really can't remember. my parents were always the ones to remind me. this year, i looked it up since p and i were expecting - we were hoping for a child born the year of the monkey, which we got.
however, today i had to put my cat of 8 yrs to sleep. over the last few days we notice a decline in her eating, drinking and she was having trouble in the litter box. on tuesday 020805, p notice that she was stumbling down the steps that she normally has no problems negotiating. so after calling me and me making some phone calls, p took her to the vet in the afternoon. two x-rays and some urine/blood work later, we found out that zoe had abnormal kidneys, about half the size of a normal cat. there was pretty much nothing to do for her, so p brought her back home and we spent some qt time with her knowing we'd be putting her to sleep in the morning. i don't think i got to bed until 130am, partly keeping p&a company for a was sleeping for 1.5 hrs at a time, then waking for food and burping; but mostly because i knew what i'd be doing when i woke in the morning.
so in the morning, i called the vet and set up an appointment. after sitting in the room for what felt like an eternity, the dr came in and explained what the procedure was and that it was completely painless - just an induced sleep. minutes later, zoe was put to rest.

zoe kuo: adopted from the longmont humane society in 1997, RIP 02.09.05 - denver, colorado.

grandparents

so my grandparents left yesterday after a week of getting to know their first grandchild. it was quite the experience. they actually stayed with us at our loft in d/t denver. wasn't too crowded, i don't think, but i was gone for a good part of the week having to come to work. it was fun to see my mom so happy carrying aiden around the place singing to him and talking to him in chinese. my dad was especially funny for the first evening all he wanted to do was to meet his grandson. everything else could wait, getting luggage from the car and eating. the funniest thing was that he was scared to hold him. it took him a good twenty-four hours before he felt comfortable handling the little guy; and even then, it was having aiden on his upper legs while he was sitting on the couch. too funny. but, after about four days, he became an expert and was telling my brother how to hold the newborn. pretty good week, i'd say, with some fantastic home cooked chinese food to boot. surprisingly i didn't take too many photos. i took a few of my dad holding aiden, but i think i completely forgot to take photos of my mom... i'll have to check and then i'll post what i have.
now p's parents are in the house, but they are staying in a hotel. this is number ten for them, but just as excited as the first, i do believe.