The iPad!!

I think the first words out of my mouth when I first heard about the iPad were 'That is so stupid. Who would ever want a giant iphone???'. Well, I am eating my words now because we got one and I love it!

After reading and listening to many people talk about the iPad, Paul thought it might be pretty cool. I was slowly coming around, but we really didn't have a need. That is until the wireless card on my laptop overheated to its death and we discovered it would cost around $400 to fix. We also learned that Compaqs often have this problem and shorty after the wireless card dies, the motherboard dies. It's almost 4 years old, so I guess it's time. Anyway, we decided this was the perfect excuse to buy the iPad, and Paul even went to the mall at 8pm last Thursday only to discover they were sold out. He called the next morning and the store had recieved a shipment, so he headed over to pick it up and we were proud owners of a 16 gig iPad by noon.

I must admit it's pretty cool - much cooler than I thought. Here's WHAT I LIKE:
1. Quick on/off - it's turns on in a second and off in a second. The laptop took several minutes to boot up, so if I wanted to look something up quickly, it wasn't going to happen in less than 5 minutes.
2. Long battery life - enough said. I've never had a laptop with a battery that actually worked.
3. APPS!!! - The apps are really cool, although I really haven't fully explored them. Paul has been finding all kinds of cool things. So far, I have a calendar and calorie counting app. Paul has found much more interesting things like a magazine reader (download issues of mags you like), Pandora (which I really like), weatherbug, ABC (to watch shows), Chipotle ordering, and several others.
4. Portability - it's so easy to carry around. If I want to look up a recipe, an actor on imdb, check my e-mail, facebook, etc. I can do it quickly (see #1) and anywhere I want (bathroom, kitchen, outside, baby's room, etc.). And, it's so light and small, I can easily check things anywhere while doing other things like feeding a baby, walking around, cooking, talking on the phone etc. YOu just can't do that with a laptop.
5. Screen quality - it's very sharp and clear. Great for TV shows and pictures.

THINGS I DON'T LIKE AS MUCH:
1. Internet is limited - there are some features on the internet that don't work as well. For example, I can't chat with online friends on facebook. We have a desktop, so it doesn't really matter that much.
2. You can't print - there is no print feature, so I can't print anything from the web. Hopefully they will fix that in the future.
3. You can't do 2 things at once - Windows is really great for that. For example, I can't listen to Pandora and do anything else online like facebook or searching for things.
4. The Keyboard - it's pretty good, but I'm old fashioned, I guess, and I like my keyboard for fast typing. I can type pretty well with the touch screen keyboard, but it wouldn't (in my opinion) be so great for doing something like writing a blog. To its credit, it is big and pretty accurate when touching it.
5. USB - there is no USB port, so I can't do things like upload photos from a camera or install any other kind of software. But, I don't really think it's supposed to fully replace regular computers.

The iPad serves a particular purpose, for us at least. We used the laptop mostly for using the internet and checking/writing e-mails. So, for that, it is great. If we are watching a movie and want to know who that familiar actor is, we can turn it on and look up imdb.com in a matter of seconds. I can quickly check e-mails, facebook, weather, airplane status, recipes, etc. from anywhere in the house very, very easily. We still have our desktop for word processing, photo storing and editing, document storing, etc. We can take it on the road and use it easily anywhere there is wireless. So, overall we love it so far! I give it a 'B' because I think there are some things that can be improved, but hopefully that will come with time.

We are OUTNUMBERED!!!

Our parents are gone, and now it's just Paul and me vs. three kids. We were extremely lucky to have near constant help for an entire month after Zoe was born, but the honeymoon is over. And, reality smacked us hard in the face the first morning after my parents left. A newborn spends a fair amount of time awake at night needing to eat. As a result, this leaves Mom and Dad extremely tired, exhausted and zombie-like come morning. When the baby last eats at 5am and parents finally fall back asleep around 6am, it's near impossible to open one's eyes when 2 energetic toddlers come racing into the bedroom at 7am wanting pop-tarts and Dora the Explorer. So, morning 1 without Grandparents to feed and entertain energetic toddlers was ugly. Paul gave them food, turned on the TV and returned to bed for hopefully a little more sleep. But, NO. The pop-tarts were scarfed, the kids now wanted cereal, Dora ended, and they decided it would be the perfect time to antagonize each other by taking the other's monster truck or doll and running around the house. Ugh. Time to get up and face the day.

Well, we made it through that day and the five days since, and each day is a little easier. The kids returned to daycare, and were a little upset about it the first day back, but have since returned to their normal selves. They do much better on a their normal school schedule - they enjoy their friends and activities at school, especially when the alternative is a tired Mommy and crying baby at home.

Zoe is doing great so far. She is very different from Sophia already. She sleeps 3-4 hours at a time at night, and loves to be held and carried around in the bjorn. I am still breastfeeding, but have been supplementing with formula, especially when we are out and about and I can't easily feed her. She was having a hard time with the initial formula I tried, so I tried another kind for fussiness, and finally we hit the jackpot with soy formula. She never vomited (thankfully!!), but would just cry for an hour or 2 after feeding her and seemed constipated. It's extremely difficult to have a baby who just cries and can't be comforted. I feel for every mother with a colicky baby. She's happy and Thomas & Sophia are sweet and gentle with her. They push her on the swing, give her kisses and yell at me to feed her when she cries (You've got to feed her, Mommy!!!).

I am slowly recovering and feel better each day. I"m still sore and am not supposed to lift anything or do anything strenuous for another week, which is difficult, but I can definitely tell when I've done too much. My 6 week appointment is next week, so hopefully I"ll get the OK to start working out again. I'd really like to fit back into some of my clothes so I don't have to buy new stuff for when I go back to work in May.

We are surviving, and are really glad to know that this will be our last go-around with a newborn. Our eyes are heavy, our house is messy, but we know it won't be forever. We are outnumbered - someone always wants something, needs something, is having a crisis or needs a diaper change and between the 2 of us we are just barely keeping everyone satisfied. I"m sure we will eventually find a good balance, especially as the kids get more independent, but until then we are taking it a day at a time. And, above all, we are ecstatic to have the three most beautiful children anyone can ask for, even if it's leaving us a little googly eyed and delirious!