faboo mama

I don’t think I’ve done a single update on YearlyKos on this blog. This thing is going to be huge! I’m the Event Director for the event and I’m very impressed by the list of speakers and panelists we have lined up for this thing. The current batch of volunteers are taking their jobs seriously and absolutely rock, though it seems I’m very much underutilizing my volunteers. Gotta change that. Things are pretty hectic from my side since I’m handling so much, and then there’s real life.

Details

YearlyKos will be at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, June 8 - 11, 2006. We have rooms blocked off for $98/night which is a great rate for a weekend in Vegas during the summer. You have until May 15th to take advantage of that rate, so book soon. You can also get discounts on flights from and car rental discounts from Avis. Pretty sweet, huh?

There’s still time and space for you to become a sponsor or exhibitor, though you must hurry because the deadline is looming and I think the rates go up for stragglers. Should be cool, we have some publishers and even ePluribusMedia will be just a few of the exhibitors.

The speakers and workshop panelist though are huge. Sen. Harry Reid is our keynote, Ambassador Joe Wilson, Dr. P. Z. Myers, Dan Froomkin, Rep. Brad Miller and many more will be discussing media, economics and other topics regarding our world.

Now some of you want to go, but can’t make it. That doesn’t mean you can’t participate.

If you want to donate there are several ways to do so beyond PayPal. We have the Trollhouse Cookbook with some yummy recipes and a Science Friday eBook that was put together with some amazing speed.

Anyway, so that’s that. I hope to see you there. I’m definitely excited about meeting all the bloggers I’ve come to know over the years, meeting politicians and media personalities. Join us!

So, I’m avoiding reading dumb or boring diaries on DailyKos when I finally notice the ads on the page. I see this:

Funny enough to make me click on it (hint, if you click on the image above, you’ll go to the page). Think of the kittens.

Have you seen a happier baby? Our Mr. Monster is 5 months old! We are so in love with this happy go-with-the-flow baby! Right now, he’s all about the smiles. He makes noises to get our attention and when we look at him, he beams like nobody’s business. The one thing that amazes us is his grasp of cause and effect. He uses many of the same toys Ilia uses and actually likes to play with them. Ilia was more concerned about how they worked and taking shortcuts to get the effect. Alton is content to stomp, kick and bat at anything within his reach. We’ve had some setbacks though. He was rolling all over the place by 2 months and now he’ll barely rollover. He just rolls to this side and that, not really trying to get all the way over. Lucky for us, he actually likes tummy time, so there’s not a lot of tears like with Miss Ilia. We haven’t reached the stage where he wants to be held all the time, so that gives us a lot more time to actually work.

So some stats: He’s almost 29 inches long and about 19lbs. Pretty hefty. He’s wearing 9 - 12 mos. clothes, though he still fits his 6 mos. shoes. He’s sick so we feel pretty bad for the little man. We all got sick at the beginning of April and are slowly getting over it. Since he can’t get the phlegm out, it’s a little sad for him, but like his sister, he’s still a trooper even with a cold.

We went to the zoo last weekend and when he was awake, he seemed to like it. We’re going back this Saturday. Hopefully, he’ll stay awake a little longer.

Orignally posted at MotherTalkers on March 28th.

First off, if you’re going to YearlyKos, you’ll definitely be delighted. All of us board members who attended had such wonderful meetings and the trip definitely reaffirmed our enthusiam in this daunting project as well as drained our pocketbooks (as volunteers we paid for the whole trip ourselves and I spent a lot more than I had planned). Meeting face to face allowed us to get more things done than via email or on a conference call too, so that was really nice.

More importantly, this was my first trip away from the family. Let me tell you, it was very, very nice. So nice, I’m thinking of doing this at least twice a year. I talked to them several times a day and even set up my webcam.

My plane left at 7:00am and SuperShuttle picked me up at 4:45am. I thought I’d be leaving everyone sleeping. For one reason or another, the whole family was awake to see me off. I was kinda of glad I got to see them one last time. Especially since every time I fly, I’m convinced it’s my last day on earth. I did almost cancel, because Ilia was burning up hot, I was convinced she had a temperature. I gave her some Motrin and put her back to bed.

Friday morning, my plane landed at 8:05am and I was at the hotel by 8:35am. I called home to make sure my husband had taken Ilia to school, but he heard me say, “She has a fever, don’t take her to school”, when I said, “If she has a fever, don’t take her to school”. Apparently, she was just hot because the heat was up in her room and she had a huge comforter on her. At any rate, I had a very good meeting with the father of one of our volunteers who owns a business across from the Riviera. By noon, I was back at the hotel and ready to sleep. First, thing’s first, I went to the bathroom. Can I tell you how absolutely delighted I was to be able to go to the bathroom without an audience. No little girl running in, “Mama, whatcha doin’?” No husband barging in to chat. It was pure heaven. I called my husband who had work for me, then I was out to more meetings. I got back to the hotel around 5:30pm and after doing some work, set up the webcam. I got them on the webcam around 7pm and it was great to see them. Alton seemed really confused about hearing my voice but not seeing me. Ilia acted like she was on TV and sang and danced for me. Enough of that, I was tired.

The next day was more of the same; meetings, meetings, phone calls to the family, meetings, webcam, meetings and one last phone call. By this time, I was feeling very okay about not being home. I didn’t feel like ‘mama’ or someone’s wife (which was totally okay with this absolutey grotesque guy who decided to hit on me in the casino) and was just me. My roommates went to bed around midnight and I couldn’t sleep (too early for me), so I went down to the casino and walked about the Strip for a bit. The joys of not having my husband come up to me every 30 minutes complaining about how the slot machines are against him was more than I could stand. I called him at 1:45am to let him know that he’s no longer going to Vegas with me. Ever. I believe his response was “Bite me.” Whatever.

Sunday, our last full day there we meet with the local YearlyKos volunteers. One of our group left and a few others had meetings. I had the whole day free, as I was supposed to see my best friend, but she’s having a very hard time of things now and couldn’t make it to see me. I went to the casino and gambled, walked down the Strip again and had a little fun. I didn’t make a single phone call home the whole day. My husband called me around 8pm, after we had had dinner asking me if I had forgotten they existed. Ha! No, I was finally getting comfortable and my anxiety was gone. I spoke to the kids a little bit, took a pic for them on my mobile and hung up. My husband was a little miffed I wasn’t at the hotel because he just bought a new webcam and wanted to use it. Too bad, sucker! I was on the Strip!!!

So Monday morning, I had yet another contact cancel on me (that’s apparently very common in Vegas), but didn’t have anyone to fill his space so I did some work, checked out of the hotel and went to the airport for one last meeting. The thought of flying was filling me with dread, so I called the house one last time (you know, before my plane crashed into the Strip) and my husband actually had the nerve to act like, I was bothering him. At that point, I realized that we both survived this weekend and will survive more. I’m actually thinking of leaving him and the kids here while I’m attending YK.

Originally posted at MotherTalkers on March 22nd.

This is a big one for me. I’m going to Vegas on Friday to do some YearlyKos stuff. The last time I went to Vegas for YK stuff was in Jan. and even though I had planned on going for 2 days by myself, it turned into a 5 day family extravaganza. Picture me, the spouse and 2 kids in a suite at the MGM. Me and DH fighting over who gets to use the laptop since his work pays and YK doesn’t (it’s called volunteering sweetie!).

Trying to squeeze in some fun in a hotel that’s not kid friendly was also a chore. I remember taking Ilia down to the lion “habitat” at 3am just so she could sleep. The lion habitat is like a mile away from the bank of elevators to the hotel rooms, so it wasn’t even fun. Explaining to a 2 year old that she has to stay between the lines on the carpet, and no, mommy isn’t going to let her play a game was a daily experience.

When the opportunity to meet the YK board members and get some final walkthroughs done arose, I was a little wary of toting the family along. Then I thought, “Why do they have to come with me?” It was liberating. Just having that idea. I haven’t gone on a trip without my husband since I went to Kansas City 2 days after I met him. Sure, I drove to Vegas a couple of months after we bought the MINI Cooper, but he met me in Vegas that night. I haven’t left the kids for more than a few hours ever. This was going to be new.

The chance to be me–not a wife or mommy on vacation. I feel like I’ve been given a Calgon weekend! I’m itching to be in Vegas, to be able to get work done without fighting my kid to wear her tennis shoes and not her flip-flops. The idea of leaving a hotel room without begging my husband to wake up (it’s 1pm for goodness sakes!) so we can eat is sooooooo appealing. I get to interract with other adults. I get to eat a meal without sharing it. I won’t have to watch Blue’s Clues. Most importantly, I’ll be able to go to the bathroom without an audience.

Then there’s the family’s reaction: My husband wants me gone (so he can play with his new big TV without me complaining about the wires and cables everywhere). He has devised a plan to only eat sushi every night for dinner while I’m gone, so he and Ilia can go crazy. My kids actually have no idea what’s going on. I told Ilia she has to listen to Daddy while I’m gone and she laughs and says, “No way! Okay, mama. I will.” I’ve bought a mic for the laptop so that I can still read Ilia her bedtime storie and give her long distance nanas (we have to dance before she gets tucked in).

On the surface, we’re prepared. Then the doubts creep in. Watching DH get exasperated because of “crying in stereo” is worrying. I admit to being nervous of him being by himself here with the kids. When I go out to take pictures, and get a phone call “When are you coming home? The babies are driving me crazy and I can’t get any work done!”, that doesn’t exactly instill confidence. And yet, he’s wonderful with them 99% of the time. I feel like my nervousness is focusing on the negative. There’s also the fact that he’s not the most punctual person. I just know that Ilia will be dropped off at school around noon and will be picked up at 8pm once he remembers. I’ve taken the liberty of setting up reminders on all his electronic equipment to go off every 10 min. to remind him to pick her up.

I know I can’t be the only woman who feels this way. I’m in the uneviable position of having no one nearby I can count on to help DH. No family, no friends who are reliable or useful at any rate. It’s DH and the kids. I’m positive all will be fine. I’m right. Right?

I’m sick again, as is the whole family and for some reason, the only cold medicine available from Tylenol is this disgusting “Cool Burst” crap. I tried it in December in liquid form (ugh) and again not too long ago. I’m fed up and let Tylenol know how I felt:

For the love of God, pull that Cool Burst stuff off the shelves. Whether in liquid or pill form, this had got to be the most vilest of the vile medicines available OTC. When I was sick in Dec. My husband bought the Coo Burst cough medicine. Now, if I wanted to drink mouthwash, I would. I want medicine. I’m sick again (2 kids will do it) and 4 minutes ago, I just popped in the Cool Bust Cold/Severe Congestion tablets. Can you say heartburn? Because that’s what it feels like every time I take these things. Who that that was a great idea? “I know! We’ll take their minds off the congestion by giving them heartburn!” I hope that person didn’t get a raise.

No one’s saying it’s my most productive letter to a company, but I feel a little better.