Coming of Age

My co-worker just came in. He is letting his hair start to grey naturally (something he'd previously taken effort to cover up in the past) and for the first time his temples are all salt and pepper. I told him I liked his hair. Then I really looked at him.

I was caught off gaurd by a sudden, "wow, ___'s kind of attractive."

Promptly followed by "Did I just think ___'s attractive?"


I'm offically stating that physically "my type" is a middle-aged guy (30+). This is something some of my other girl friends might already have recognized in themselves but I'm typing this still in sort of a self-wonderment haze. What's kind of funny is that ___ noticed that I was in the middle of some sort of revelation and asked "Are you checking me out? You've got some devlish little smile on your face." Geesh.

Now, I know that a few months ago I blogged about super-hot Taylor Lautner but the more thought I give to the subject I'd rather spend a candlelit dinner with a half-naked 30-40 something. ;)

I don't even feel "old" admitting this. I do recognize this as some kind of weird official acceptance that I'm middle aged too above and beyond just the number of years I've lived.

Chris - 7 month update

Chris turned 7 months on Saturday and continues to be a happy, healthy baby. Some things he can do:

1) in the last week he's started clicking his tongue which is funny to watch since he over-exaggerates the motion and smiles right after

2) he gives kisses - he's done this for about 2 months but in this last month he's gotten the suction down so he leaves your cheek extra slobbery. He seems to only kiss women though....

3) he's out of the baby tub and takes "regular" baths with Nicole. He especially likes splashing.

4) He claps

5) While on his stomach he'll push himself up on his arms like a walrus - good first control towards crawling, but he hasn't gotten the knack of getting his knees under him except while sleeping

He's a real momma's boy and I L-O-V-E it. When I come home from teaching and he first sees me his whole body wiggles with excitement and he beams as he reaches for me. Melts my heart.

He wears all 9 and 12-month clothes now. He's tried several solid foods (more new ones to come in the next 2 weeks include nectarine, lima beans, peaches, & pears) and by far his favorite is black beans and oatmeal; he leans in so fast and furious for the next bite that sometimes the spoon goes too far in and he gags!

He's getting his two front top teeth now and has been waking up mid-night in pain lately. Update: His third one came in this morning - top left center!

2009 Recap

Year 5 of recapping the previous year....


Age: 30
Weight: 147 - this means i have 8 lbs. to get back to my pre-Chris weight
Height: still 5-6
Hair: Blonde and getting LONGER


NYE Activities: absolutely nothing. I think we ticked people off in past years with declining NYE invitations and therefore didn't get invited anywhere by anyone. That was a bit of an ego bruise but overall staying at home with Jim was not a dissapointment.


Best Of...
Movie: New Moon was probably my favorite for the hype and my low expectations based on Twilight the movie

Song: I'm in a Sideways kick by Dierks Bently. Oddly, when I YouTubed it to watch the video I discovered i apparently like a lot of his music per the suggestions YouTube sent at the end of the song.

Friend of the year: I know it's probably cheesy but Jim gets the title this year. Having a second kid, parenting the first in a way that makes me proud, being patient with my career changes, the expert managment of our household finances even in bad economic times, keeping me abreast of news when I don't make time to stay current, and having random philisophical conversations that keep my mind working put him over the top this year. Oh, he's got nice arms too.



Most fun thing of 2009: Having Chris

Most disappointing thing of 2009: Honestly, probably the same thing as 2008- the paycut that I took and the nagging feeling that I could be making more someplace else and *probably* be as happy...

Most impressive: beyond the daily wonders that are my kids, I'd say how much I like my new job. I'm really glad I moved over to the new department, I like my co-workers, and I like my daily responsibilities.



Looking to 2010...
Most Anticipated Thing: All the milestones Chris will be hitting in rapid-fire. Nicole getting potty-trained.

Most nervous About: losing touch with my friends, especially my kid-less friends, as family becomes more and more important and time-consuming in my own life.

Goals: to become a very good cake decorator. To make our house landscaping something envy-worthy. To get back to my pre-baby weight and just maybe put effort (working out) into doing it.

Resolution: To take all of my vacation days and put them to good use. Good use = taking the kids/family to places they haven't been to do things they haven't done (craft class for Nicole, music/play class for Chris, Michigan for the family, etc.)

The Institution of Marriage

Here is an excerpt from a recent Cincinnati Enquirer article about marriage license trends:

Last year, 4,537 couples applied for a marriage license in Southwest Ohio's most populous county. That's the fewest since 1957, when 4,467 couples sought to tie the knot, according to figures provided by Probate Court.

The trend is also evident in other southwestern Ohio counties.

In Butler County, the 2,041 marriage license applications in 2009 were the fewest since 1970. Clermont County processed 1,115 marriage applications last year, the fewest in 21 years, and likely longer. (The county's Probate Court could provide numbers only back to 1988.)

In Warren County, 1,140 couples applied for a marriage license last year, the highest numbers since at least 1993. (The county's Probate Court could not provide earlier figures.) That does not necessarily mean Warren is bucking the marriage trend. Indeed, the county's population has almost doubled since 1990, but marriage applications have remained relatively flat.

...

Reasons for the decline, the report said, include people delaying their first marriage until they are older; the growth of unmarried cohabitation; a small decrease in the tendency of divorced people to remarry; and an increase in lifelong singes, although the actual won't be known until the lives of young and middle-aged adults run their course.

Since 1960, the number of cohabiting couples has increased more than 15-fold from 439,000 to 6.8 million the report said.


As a person who previously co-habitated I can attest to the fact that living together is barely different than being married. Co-habiting is also so prevalent with the famous and economically smart (shared expenses = cheaper than single living) that I'm not surprised to see the "15-fold" jump.

A point the article didn't make that I think also contributes to the low marriage application rate is the fact that for some it's not financially advantageous to get married. Unfortunately (I say "unfortunately" because people taking advantage of the system unnecessarily frustrates me; for the record I am supportive of people getting help to make themselves better, I have very little support for people who could afford to be self-sufficient and aren't) we know several people who are using government assistance for food stamps, tuition, etc. that they would otherwise lose if they got married, hence why they specifically don't tie the knot. In fact, we had friends who wanted to get re-married but "couldn't afford to" because the government paid her so much on a monthly basis for her "single mother" status so they just lived together [again] all the while wearing their old wedding rings & acting like like they did before when they were married.

.

While these numbers don't surprise me and the reasons hypothesized seem reasonable, I have to admit it makes me sad. It's the old-fashioned person in me who values the institution of marriage and thinks that the legal commitment, at least for me, made things more "official", even though, as I said, emotionally, financially, and physically there was no difference versus living together.

Getting Dressed

This past season I spent a lot of time purging my closet. I got rid of "clubbing" tops - the sexy ones I haven't worn in years, pants that were too big and too small, shoes that never fit quite right to be considered comfortable but looked perfect with 1-2 outfits.


I don't miss any of it.


This morning an article on Yahoo! News caught my eye about the new things for 2010 that I "should" have in my closet. Here's one trend that I stopped at:

I get it. the socks (especially the pink ones) are kinda cute and certainly trendy. SJP wore things like this on SATC all the time. I don't think that I could ever pull this off though.

First off, where would I wear an outfit like this to? Second my heels aren't meant to be worn with foot-covernings as thick as socks and therefore I think they'd fit pretty tight. Third, I live in Ohio and think 90% of the population would look at me like I got dressed in the dark.

I won't even bother commenting on the whole "someone my age shouldn't wear...". I will say that while I'm always a fan of shorts, especially the frequently trendy tailored ones, my legs do not look like the models' above so the style on me wouldn't have quite the same effect as it does for 6 foot beanpole them.

Sticking to a closet full of staples is boring but reliable....

Around the house

This weekend was CRAZY busy. Bright and early my dad and I headed over to Michaels for our first class of cake decorating. We both got lessons for Christmas. We learned how to make buttercream icing and how to properly ice a cake. On saturday we start dots, shells and writing.

Jim's family came down from Spencerville for Christmas on Saturday afternoon which meant that I spent hours cooking and entertaining. All my food finished at the same time which, in my opinion, is 1/2 the battle of good cooking. We had chicken & dumplings and beef strogonoff as the main dishes - both of which I think turned out pretty good.

All 11 of them spent the night in order that they could join us for Chris's Baptism on Sunday morning. Unfortunately Nicole ran a fever the night before and started puking right after she got up. She stayed at home while we all headed to Church.

Chris did great- very cooperative and happy. Mom's Christening outfit fit him really nicely and we got lots of compliments from folks. Here he is with Jim and I and his Godparents, Lindsay and Mike:

On Sunday Jenna asked me to be in her wedding party - I was honored and said yes!

Chris's wheezing was pretty bad all weekend so I took him to the doctor on Monday. He has acute bronchialitis but since he didn't respond to the breathing treatment he's just got to tough it out. He did get a prescription to fight the double ear infection.

Believe it or not other than the wheezing he has been acting so normal I might not have gotten him an appointment at all. While at the doctor he clapped for her which impressed the doctor - "he's an early clapper" she mentioned. "How early?" I asked. "Well, most kids clap for the first time around 9-10 months". Go Chris!

Here's my sick kid on Monday night:

Nicole's been eating a lot less since the bug got her on Sunday. She's back to her normal personality though and the diarrhea is subsiding....

A fun side note... Jim and I use coupons. Jim wanted to know how much we were saving so all of 2009 he kept a running excel chart of our grocery spending and coupon usage. We didn't count sale prices as savings because everyone gets those prices.

• Not counting the prescription incentives we saved $551.90 by using coupons which constituted 11.9% of our total grocery bill.
• If you do count our prescription dollars (that we get by filling or refilling at a particular pharmacy) we saved $897.16 or 19.4% of our total grocery bill.

KICK ASS! so worth the effort!

Snowing Thursday

1. Know what's annoying - getting off work at 1 but not being able to do anything with the extra time. We got off because road conditions were getting bad with snow. But I still need to work from home and even if I didn't the road conditions are too bad to go anywhere. I want to use my LNY 30% off coupon and today's the last day!!! ugh!

2. I know i haven't mentioned it before but i love Craigslist. i like the entire idea of it economically, socially, and conceptually. Here Nicole is showing off a purchase I made last month - what will be Chris's Halloween costume in 2011 (how's that for planning ahead?). I saw it online from a mom who's kid was supposed to be a dragon this year and then freaked out and refused to put it on. I got it for just $8 and Nicole likes to play in it now.

3. Since I'm home and have some down time between projects i checked my blog and kept hitting "next blog" just to see what the world is up to. Not sure if Blogger did some kind of profiling but the 6 clicks I made were written by women just like me - all us, english-speaking moms with kid(s) under 4. hmmmmm One chick had this really annoying background music. I'm glad none of my friends have that.

4. I just like this picture so i'm posting it.

5. As you probably know, Nicole goes through spells where different things are her favorite song (Ice Ice Baby, Beth, etc.). Right now she's in a "I love Rock-n-Roll" phase. I clearly need to expose her to a little more "Sideways" and "Hey, Soul Sister" if we're going to listen to tracks on repeat....

What's going on here

1. Chris bit me yesterday to the point that I was bleeding. HOLY CRAP. Problem is that the kid still needs to eat which is now painful on a new wound. Further, any further nibbling (unintentional on his part, he's still getting used to his teeth) is in the EXACT SAME SPOT. Oh my God.

2. I'm finished with my school prep for this year (syllabus, schedule, project, 3 guest speakers all confirmed, etc.). I have 25 students and this is, so far, my lowest enrollment in any of my classes ever. Part of my ego is wondering if I'm getting bad press even though my reviews are always very good. Part of me is happy that fewer students = less work.

3. Nicole's hair is getting wacky. I think I need to start using conditioner in it because it's FRIZZY in the back. I'm also going to pick up a spray bottle and try to get her to sit long enough to have it styled.

4. My brother is getting married. As I hear more details and give my opinion/suggestions I realize more and more that there are things that I'd change about my own wedding. Not that I didn't like my wedding but hindsight and attending more formal events helps clarify what the true potential could have been.

5. I had a nightmare last night about a serial killer that was after me. He put his previous victim's head in the trunk of my car. The last nightmare I had was months and months ago and it was about an anaconda trying to eat me.

Yearly Financial Planning

This might seem strange but I am a planner so maybe not....

Jim and I have decided where the kids are going to go to High School (pending any major changes in the next 12-14 years):
Nicole: McAuley
Chris: St. Xavier

Jim really likes the academics of Summit Country Day but I think Karen C's courses are skewing his admiration of the school as a whole. Further, the tuition rates are "a bit" <insert sarcasm> high now, muchless a decade + from now.

This was a semi-important decision for us to make now because it lead to us opening a Coverdell account for each.

Strangely, we do not have a kindergarden or grade school selected yet. Our religious denomination (Methodist) is a little tricky when it comes to private grade schools which are often Catholic in nature...

Between these new accounts and the 529 accounts we have already started for their college we're banking pretty heavy on their education. We think they're a good investment though.

Christmas 2009 Recap

Christmas at the Eutsler household was a good one. The festivities started out with my brother Greg's engagement (congrats again!) followed by two nights of family, gorging on good food, and opening what seemed to be an endless amount of gifts.

Nicole wanted two things for Christmas - a purple, Dora backpack and a bathing suit. Fortunately for her she got both. :)




On Christmas Day Nicole changed her clothes 5 times - from her original outfit to princess dress-up clothes, to PJs to her bathing suit back to PJs.

My mother did LOTS of sewing for the kids this year. She made the raincoat you see above, spent 200 hours cross stitching a baby blanket for Chris, made doll diaper bags for the girls as well as crayon carriers. (side note that she's in progress of making Chris's baptismal clothing as well!)

Dad bought Ryann and Nicole jump ropes which were also big hits as you can see (Note Nicole is jumping in high heeled princess shoes!):

I got cake decorating lessons, clothes, socks, jewelry, and a new reading lamp for the bedroom amongst other things. One of THE BEST things I received was from my brother Greg- a binder of all my blogs 2007-present, printed out and in protective sleeves in a nice binder. I get paranoid that blogger will go away some day and I'll have lost years worth of journaling. This was FANTASTIC especially since the time period brought so many life changes to us (2 kids, new house, etc.).

Chris was a good sport through all the festivities as well. I was disappointed to find that most of the 9 month clothes he received fit perfectly and 2/3 onesies and all the pants (all 9mo) that Lindsay/Mike/Ryann got him needed to be exchanged for 12 month size. WHY IS MY 6MONTH OLD WEARING 12MONTH CLOTHES!? I want him to stay LITTLE!

The toys he got were great as he's able to roll trucks on the floor and hug stuffed animals.

All in all, a great Christmas! One more with Jim's side of the family next Saturday.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!