Every time I look at Bryan's site, I see the awful photo of Zach he's posted on there. So I'm posting a better one, one that actually looks like him to show that we have a cute baby, not a horrifically ugly one.

It's pouring here today. Unlike Seattle, where it merely drizzles on you just enough to be vexing, in San Diego, it rains. It's the kind of day where no one can figure out how to drive, there are a lot more accidents than usual and if I were working right now, 80 percent of my patients would have called to cancel because they didn't want to be out driving.

Not that I blame them - there have been over 100 accidents since 6 this morning, and it's only 1:45 pm.

I'd been planning to run out and (hopefully) pretty much finish up my Christmas shopping, but the joys of having to haul the stroller in and out of the trunk in the rain convinced me to put it off for a few days, or to at least wait until Bryan gets home and can stay with Zach. Bailey's cranky about the whole situation - Miss Prissy Paws needs to pee, and will only do so in the grass, but doesn't like to get her paws wet.

Overall, it's a good day to make a pot of coffee (check), wrap Christmas gifts (check), and curl up with the baby (check as soon as I'm done writing this).

It was cold this morning - mid 50s (be quiet all you hardy midwesterners and east coasters) - when I went to the grocery store for donuts. I was all bundled up, except for my flip flops. I'm really gonna be sad when we move somewhere and it's cold all the time - I've gotten used to being able to wear flip flops pretty much everywhere, and they're such a good, quick footwear choice when you need something.

I just made my first Black Friday purchase, thanks to the wonderful folks at BestBuy.com, who opened up their online store at midnight CST. Thanks to them, I won't be freezing my bazongas off at 4am, standing in line outside the store, waiting for it to open. If only all my shopping was going to be this easy! Thanks, Best Buy!

Zach is definitely our baby. Despite the fact that he doesn't necessarily look like either one of us, he loves hockey. True, we did start him early, taking him to Anaheim for the playoffs while he was still in the womb, and we have had him watching Wild games since the season started.

When we put a hockey game on the tv, he's transfixed, no matter what he's doing. It doesn't matter whether he's in the bouncy seat, on the couch, in his swing or being held, he turns to watch the game. Right now I have on the Canucks/Oilers game and he's laying on the couch, watching and cooing. The other night when the Wild played the Canucks, he giggled every single time the Canucks scored and the horn sounded. (Hmm, he better not be a Canucks fan!) It's really funny how fascinated he is by the game - he doesn't react this way to any other tv shows. He doesn't care who's playing, as long as there's a game on, he's happy. I'm thinking about DVR-ing a game to throw on during fussy times. He loves his hockey.

Definitely our kid.

From today's Star-Tribune:

Incidentally, an Internet campaign has begun to, believe it or not, send Boogaard to the All-Star Game in Atlanta (www.vote4boogey.com).

Asked if he knew of it, Boogaard said, "No, but that's awesome."

The link will take you to the Vote For Boogey website, which will in turn take you to the NHL's online balloting. You'll have to put him in as a write-in for the Western Conference, but if you have a minute, please click over there and cast your vote. You can vote once a day. I think it'd be cool to see him at the All-Star game. Not really sure what they'd do with him, but what the heck!

Last night's Wild game in Vancouver was ugly. Not just the poor play by the Wild, or the 6-2 loss, but there were an awful lot of liberties being taken by the players. To quote Rodney Dangerfield, "I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out." Ohlund's slash on Koivu was absolutely sickening. Koivu had thrown an elbow at him, but a two handed slash on the back of the knee is wrong. Gaborik and Kesler were going at it all night. It was a physical game in the worst sense. The teams will meet again Wednesday in the Twin Cities, let's just hope it's a cleaner game - doubt it, though.

There are more Santa Anas predicted for next week, starting on Tuesday and lasting until Friday. They're saying these could be as bad as the ones that caused the firestorm last month, so it looks like I'll be packing my bags again, just in case. They're saying we could have smoke and ash in the air Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully Bryan will be in, but his schedule's been so unpredictable lately it's hard to say. It may turn out to be a very good thing that Bailey's invited to Thanksgiving at Jasmine and John's along with Bryan, Zachary and I.

Ugh. Keep your fingers crossed that the forecast will change and the Santa Ana warnings will be called off. This kind of stress isn't good for my blood pressure.

I'm completely shocked and awed by how much poop Zach can make. He hadn't pooped for a couple of days, but I wasn't really worried because he did this before, shortly after the wild fires. I called the pediatrician who told me it's normal to have up to seven poops in one day and only one poop in seven days. When he finally did poop, it was an extra big one, and then we were back to normal.

During an approximately 10-15 minute phone conversation with my sister in law today, Zach pooped enough to overflow his diaper, get a remarkable amount on his outfit and even get some on the bouncy seat. When I got him on the changing table and opened things up to take a look, it was so bad I didn't even know where to start. Wow. I'll just say I'm glad we use the puppy housetraining "wee-wee pads" on the changing table, so that I could gather up the whole mess and throw it out. I debated about including the outfit, the devastation was that complete.

Thanks to a cocktail of Zout and Spray 'n Wash, the bouncy seat and outfit are in the dryer and are poop free.

Wow.

Zach and I went down to Chula Vista today to have lunch with my friend and co-worker Christine. It was a good excuse to get out of my sweatpants and out of the house.

Leaving the house with a small child is an ordeal. There's no such thing as grabbing shoes and keys and heading out anymore. In order to meet Christine in Chula around noon, we needed to leave by about 11. Which meant I needed to feed Zach around 10:30, which meant I needed to get in the shower no later than 10, which meant I needed to pump no later than 8:30, which meant... you get the idea.

Anyway, Christine and I had a relaxing lunch at the Olive Garden and she filled me in on what had been going on while I've been out. After lunch, I headed north and decided to make a stop at MCAS Miramar (the Marine base near us) to scope out a few goodies that will be going on sale Saturday. They're doing a "Celebration Sale," presumably to celebrate the end of their grand re-opening (after renovations) hoopla. They'll have really good deals on cosmetics and Coach purses (among other things), the same discounts they'll be offering the day after Thanksgiving. I'm thinking that things may be a little less crazy on Saturday, and hopefully fewer people will know about the sale, since I only found it by accident.

Anyway, predictably, Zach got hungry about 10 minutes after I got into the exchange. That left me with two options: 1) Look at the stuff I wanted to look at while wheeling around a screamy baby or 2) Feed the baby. I cleverly neglected to bring a bottle with me when I left the house, which meant I'd have to whip out the feedbags (breasts) somewhere. I'd parked in BFE and it was 90 degrees, so the car wasn't the most appealing option, so I scooted into the Women's room and snagged the handicapped stall. I was perched on the toilet, feeding him, hearing people come in and out when I realized that Zachary makes happy little grunty noises when he eats. I immediately felt like an idiot - I'd been in the stall for better than five minutes and there's grunting noises coming from there! People would think I was trying to take a giant poop!

It got even worse when Zach quieted down briefly and then a lady went into the stall next to me and she started grunting! Zach, recognizing a kindred spirit, started grunting again, leaving me to fret that she'd think I was making fun of her!

Oh, the joys of having a baby.

Zach is finally doing social (as opposed to accidental or gas-related) smiles. When he wakes up to eat, his brow furrows for a minute, as if he's trying to place you, then he gives a big smile. Same thing if he's taken a snooze in his crib or bouncy seat, or if you've gone off to do something and come back a few minutes later. It's really cute, and a lot more rewarding to be recognized with a smile.

For you non-Minnesotans and/or Derek Boogaard fans, here's a look at his new Hockey Giant commercial. Pretty funny, eh?

No, we didn't take him to see the Wild. They're not back in town until December (Hint: Honey, guess what would make a great early Christmas present? Thanks to Crystal, we've got some Wild gear we can put Zach in). I took Zach to watch Bryan's inline hockey game last night. It was an early game - although it doesn't feel like it after the clocks changed and it gets dark early now - so it seemed like a good opportunity. We had to bundle him up because it's turned chilly here. Zach slept the whole time, but Bryan scored two goals, and I know Zach was proud.

I have a six week old that sleeps for 3-4 hour stretches at night, but is mostly wide awake during the day. Now, I'll agree it's a good thing that he's sleeping at night. We've kind of got a routine going (although I shouldn't say that too loudly, because from what I hear, as soon as you get a baby into a routine they decide to change it up) that involves a feeding around 8:30 pm, a 9:30 bedtime (not early enough for Mom and Dad!), a feeding around 1:30 am, another feeding around 4:30 or 5 am, and then a quick nap until about 7. From 7 am to 8:30 pm, I'm lucky if he sleeps for an hour. This provides a wonderful opportunity for interaction, but not much time for things like showering, laundry or cleaning.

Zach is finally doing social smiles, particularly in the morning, which helps. The whole baby thing is maybe-a-little-less-rewarding when their three modes are eat, sleep and poop. Eat, sleep, poop and smile make me a little less bitter about the fact that I'm averaging six (interrupted) hours of sleep a night and no naps during the day.

I'm wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans today.

Hallelujah!

I was stuck wearing maternity pants with a huge elastic waistband from July through October. Although the baby came out at the end of September, it takes a while for all the stuff that expanded (and I'm not just talking fat here, folks, I'm talking uterus and other guts) over nine months to shrink back down. Technically, I could get into my jeans two weeks after delivery, but it wasn't a pretty sight.

Today, however, they're at a stage where they're okay to wear out in public and I'm delighted with the novelty of a zipper and button, even if it does mean it takes an extra minute to get them on and off to go to the bathroom!

They're still forecasting Santa Anas for the next 36 hours, so tonight I packed up a bunch of things and loaded the car. Bryan's underway and if we have to evacuate, I'll be the only adult. It takes five minutes just to get Zach buckled into his car seat and to get him and Bailey loaded into the car, so if we had to leave in a hurry, I'd rather do it with a packed car than not. I'm debating about going to fill my gas tank. Zach's having fussy time, but maybe a short car ride would settle him down.

I guess I'm as prepared as I can be if we have to leave again.

Like most folks, we didn't give a lot of thought about how we'd handle a natural disaster. In California, most of us are primarily worried about earthquakes; a wildfire in our neighborhood never even crossed my mind. We're probably better prepared for an earthquake - we have a disaster kit in the backyard (because if you keep it in your house and your house collapses because of the quake, you're screwed) that's stocked with things like a tent, blankets, canned food, can opener, tarps, dog food, an extra leash, water, etc. There are probably other things that could go in there, and one of these days if Zach ever naps for longer than a half hour stretch, I need to go through it and swap out the dog food for stuff that's not stale and take stock of what we've got to figure out what we need.

Our disaster kit operates on the principle that we'd need to fend for ourselves for three days, and would probably shelter in place - or close to it. Evacuating because of the fires became a whole different ballgame.

Therefore, I've complied a list of suggestions (because of my oh-so-vast experience) that pretty much anyone should consider. We're proof that disasters can happen quickly, and that they may arrive in a different form than you'd planned on.

• Gather up all your important papers and put them in a safe place. This could be a safe deposit box at your bank, a lock box at home, or even just a file box. We keep ours in a box, and it was easy to grab the box and throw it in the car. This meant we had things like passports, insurance policies, car paperwork, etc. all in one place.
  
• File all those papers that you've been meaning to put in a safe place - today. Even though we do keep our paperwork in a box, there were still other papers lying around that we were meaning to file, but hadn't gotten around to it yet.
  
• Have an evacuation plan for you and your family. Designate a friend or family member out of your geographical area to be your contact. If cell phones aren't working and your spouse or kids are not with you when you evacuate, you and they can contact your out of area person and let them know you're safe. Cell phones are great, but for various reasons, cell service may not be available in an emergency, so you can't rely on it as your only method of contact. Bryan and I had walkie talkies that I had the presence of mind to throw in the cars before we left and they turned out to be invaluable. Rather than deal with having to dial the cell and push lots of buttons, we walkie talkied each other to discuss our evacuation route and changes in plans (Aaack! The baby needs to be fed, here's where to meet me! The route we planned to use is blocked off, here's Plan B!).
  
• Talk about what to take - ahead of time. I did the packing, Bryan did the loading. As a result, I packed the family photo album that goes back to my great-great grandmother and Stanley, the stuffed animal I've had since I was 3, along with the essentials. I had no idea what to pack for Bryan other than the essentials until we talked about things we wished we'd packed. If Bryan had been underway (a very real possibility), I really would have had no idea which sentimental things should have been grabbed. At least now I know. Talk to your family members or roommates about what they'd want you to try to take in an emergency.
  
• Get prepared early. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised by the following fact, while those of you who don't know me will wonder what kind of freak I am, but here's a secret: I made a list of what to take when evacuating the night before we got evacuated. It wasn't comprehensive since it had generalities like "medications, clothing, dog stuff, photos, electronics, baby stuff," but at least when we had to grab stuff quickly, I could make sure we had the essential things. I also started packing when it looked like it was more possible than not that we would be evacuated, which turned out to be a good thing because the mayor announced that our area was being cleared out about half an hour after I started packing. Our reverse 911 call didn't come for another hour and a half, around 7:30 am, but our next door neighbor received his at 4:30 am. The folks who waited until the police were going door to door escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs. Since more Santa Anas are being forecasted for this weekend, I'm going to pack up a few things and gather the other important stuff into one area in case Bryan is at work and I have to get myself, a one month old and a dog out of the house ASAP.
  
• Know your neighbors and don't assume they know there's a problem. As I mentioned, our next door neighbor got the evacuation order nearly three hours before we did. When Bryan saw him outside around 5:30, he assumed we'd gotten the call and knew about the evac, too. Our neighbor across the street called us around 5:15 to say her friend a few blocks away had gotten the order and she wanted to make sure we knew about it. Luckily I was already up after feeding Zach at 3:30, but if we didn't have a baby, we'd probably still have been asleep. Our other next door neighbor left for work at the same time we evacuated, but he had no idea that anything was going on. His family got the reverse 911 call about 7:40 and that was the first they'd heard of it. We felt terrible that we didn't call them, but we just assumed they knew, since we saw him leaving. Also, have alternate methods of contacting your neighbors, other than their landlines. We had a few phone numbers (which I cleverly left on the fridge) for neighbors' cell phones, but not a way to contact everyone. Once we did get back into the neighborhood, we called the folks that we could to let them know that their houses were still standing.
  
• Make sure you have (appropriate) insurance, and make an inventory. Now. Luckily we had renter's insurance, but a lot of homeowners are discovering that they were underinsured. At least once a year, take a look at your possessions and make sure your insurance would be sufficient to replace them if necessary. Another area where we dropped the ball in favor of oh-yeah-we-need-to-do-that-one-of-these-days is making an inventory. For about two minutes before evacuating, I was shooting video of our stuff, like the tvs, furniture, etc. A list that includes serial numbers would be preferable, and that will be one of our to-do tasks for this weekend. Shoot some video, starting with a shot of today's newspaper to establish the date and then go around and film what you've got. Or take still photos, and make a list. These will help you if, God forbid, you've got to work with your insurance agent to replace lost or damaged items. At least by shooting the video, I figured the insurance folks couldn't say "Oh, sure you had a 46 inch TV. We'll be happy to replace that." Give a copy of your inventory and photos/video to a family member, and put one in your "safe place" - your file box or safe deposit box.
  
• Think about your pet. Make sure you have a plan for your pet. San Diego County has some great info, as does the Red Cross on how to create an emergency plan for your pet. Don't leave your pet behind - many Red Cross shelters accepted pets with leashes or carriers during our wildfires, although I understand that's not their usual policy. Many hotels and motels will relax their pet policies during a disaster, but make sure you know which ones are pet friendly in advance, if possible. If you need to get out of your home for your safety, your pet needs to go, too.
• Get prepared. Go to the American Red Cross site or check out San Diego County's emergency homepage for tips on Disaster Preparedness and Family Disaster Plans. Don't put it off - we're living proof that things can happen quickly, and although I feel like we did a better-than-average job of being prepared, this showed us there's a lot more we need to do.