It's Wednesday

Nicole and I are working on new colors - fuchsia, silver (shiny grey), gold (shiny yellow), pearl (shiny white), and turquoise. We do "color hunts" around the house looking for new colors- our kitchen is painted turquoise, the cabinet pulls are silver and the door handles are gold. She doesn't seem to realize we look at the same objects each hunt (or she's pretending not to). Today she correctly and unprompted (!) told me that her cup was fuchsia- hooray! It's sinking in!

Jim expressed to me last night all of his frustrations about work. After he's been so supportive of me on this front I want to fully return the favor to the level he did. I'm trying and hope he knows how encouraging I am/want to be.

I'm sharing my office now at work with my boss. It was my offer to let him move in and functionally/physically it only made logical sense. This is the first time in my entire professional career that I don't have my own office. Know what? For the same reasons that I wanted a roommate in college I really like having a roommate at work. It's working out great.

Chris's biting is getting significantly better- it's so nice to be able to fully enjoy his slobbery kisses without being on-guard for the potential chomp.

Going out on a limb

I watched a Biography channel special on Cher



the other night (don't ask how I got all wrapped up into that)




and something struck me as they flashed the images of her through the years...



She reminded me of someone....

Life in these parts....

Things have been very very busy professionally lately so I'm behind in posting some stuff....

Here's the recent kitchen investment we made- granite countertops.

BEFORE

AFTER

yeah, that was like 3 weeks ago now....





We also started the process of building a wall. I decided I wanted to go with natural stone in lieu of concrete blocks which made this project 1) more expensive and 2) more time consuming as each rock needs to be individually placed and leveled. However, Jim (with Jason's initial guidance and sweat) has done a BEAUTIFUL job. He's done with the whole front yard and will be starting on the backyard as early as this weekend perhaps.

You're looking at 8 tons of natural stone!

Work in progress... he's done now but we haven't gotten a picture due to the rain this weekend.

Finally, we had an uninterrupted FAMILY weekend. No plans, no parties, no nothing but us four hanging out. Chris had a cough that left him gagging/gasping for air that had us a bit worried so we took him to the doctor on Saturday. Jim thinks that Chris has been sick his entire life and I understand why he thinks so. Kid's had pink eye, croup, ear infections galore, acute sinus infections, and now, according to the pediatrician, acid reflux. Not sure I totally agree with this diagnosis but don't feel medically intelligent enough to argue. So, he's back on some amoxicillin derivative and now Xantax.

Nicole has been in an especially imaginative mood lately. Dress-up was part of our Saturday night. She told me I was the prince and we danced and twirled in her bedroom. After I'd had my turn being the prince, it was Daddy's turn. The "poofing" part caught me off-guard at first....

Looking forward to a slower-paced week all the way around. My class ends on Thursday, our bowling league is only 1 more session and we had out to NYC mid-month for a much-needed mini-vacation.

Chris - 10 month update

Chris turned 10 months old last week. I'd say he's not in the happiest part of his life for a few reasons -

1) he's teething which means he's biting on EVERYTHING and when he bites on people he gets a stern "Chris, no biting" that makes him frown or outright cry. It's really painful though and a habit I can't let him continue. He has gotten to the point that after he kisses me (dozens of times a day) whether he bites my cheek or not he immediately shakes his head 'no' after.

2) He wants everything Nicole has and I'm sure you can guess how well that goes over. He hears lots of "No, Chris!"'s with her running away from him.

3) He can't make up his mind if he wants to be held and cuddled or down and crawling. So we're in a constant flux of him moving and then pulling on me and whining to get picked up. 30 seconds later he changes his mind again.

His daycare was excited to tell me how smart he is though. "He's figured out how to get the toys he wants! He crawls over to the kid who has a toy, pulls their hair until they cry and then when they let go he takes the toy out of their lap." Great.... so glad he's clever like that. :P

He is totally on solid food now and, like his sister, he's not a picky eater. He eats whatever we eat for dinner - nothing special and no babyfood except for cereal or organic yogurt for breakfast. We've also exposed him to all the major allergens - egg, shrimp, crab, wheat, and milk (via yogurt)-with no issues.

He continues to battle ear infections even with the tubes. He was tugging again last night and we're watching him to see if he needs to go back to the doctor again to have it checked out.

We love him a lot and hope that he moves from being happy 80% of the time back to 99% of the time once these teeth come in and ears settle down.

Cleaning House

Cleaning House - well, there are several former bloggers who aren't very diligent about maintaining their sites so this morning I cleaned up my blogroll (list of blogs I read to the left). I don't feel guilty yet (until someone complains/gets their feelings hurt- if you do just tell me so I can put it back up!). I did stumble on someone's blog I used to follow but even she hasn't posted in a while so I didn't "re-instate" her.

My Bad Habits

1. Accomplishing something: I have a somewhat overwhelming urge to be productive. My most recent near-obsession is checking my email at red lights. I can't stand to just sit there. Even when I'm watching DVR I get satisfaction of knocking a show off the list.

2. Biting my chapped lips: I can't not do it. I am probably making the situation worse, I know. I bit my cheek last night and I can't stop messing with that either....

3. Calling people right away with news: Jim obviously gets the brunt of this. Here's an example - I got Chris's ear drop prescription at the pharmacy. There was no generic so OUR cost was like $33. It literally took me zipping my purse so I didn't call to tell him. "You'll be home in 6 minutes and can tell him then! It's not important anyway!" I had to keep reminding myself or I would have been on the phone right away.

4. Feeling like I DESERVE sweets: I rationalize in my head that I do good things like be productive at work, pack my lunch, not eat any at work so I deserve a big scoop of cookie dough at home.... [Un]fortunately this happens every day.

5. Checking people's blogs who are private/remote: It's because they don't update in my blogroll! I have to remember to read Tom's, Martha's, Lisa's, etc. and it drives me crazy because I just plain forget it won't update on the side so when I look I'm always like "eh, nothing new with Tom" when there was! ACK!

6. Making sexual innuendos at work: Somehow this happens all the time. I think it's because I work with all men but the subject comes up constantly it seems. Not about what any of us do, per se, but just the concept. Like if I take a late lunch with the kids one of the guys will tease "you're in a good mood, did you have a quickie over lunch?" and I'll be inclined to answer something like "Yeah, in the park near his work. It was awesome."

For Carole

Tonight was in the mid-sixties so we spent some time playing with chalk outside. Nicole is learning to draw actual pictures. Here's a rainbow:

I won't post the picture of Chris trying to eat the chalk because that might imply some bad parenting (or at least slow reflexes) on my part. ha ha.



Last night my aunt and uncle's dog died. I took the opportunity to explain to Nicole why she won't see Jasper anymore and that Jasper is in Heaven playing with Jesus but that makes Aunt Mary feel sad because she misses him. That drew out an explanation of the fact that Heaven is above us and God watches us.


Here's Nic taking said lessons and applying them to her favorite thing to draw - smile faces.

We made Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom a "feel better" card too. I think it'll make Aunt Mary cry though. :(

Tonight's art lesson was trees- "one big stick and swirlies at the top". I think that even without knowing in advance what it was you could guess "tree". 2-year old level tree of course, but still, not too bad.

Yes, I'm still alive...

Been so busy with work (ugh) that I have had no time to blog or read other's blogs. I'm beat by the time I get home so I'm way behind.

Chris

• Crawling as of last Monday- he's gotten pretty fast
• Wants whatever Nicole has, regardless of what it is
• Got ANOTHER ear infection last Thursday- sees the surgeon for a follow-up appointment on Friday

Nicole

• wraps a blanket around her and over her head an announces "I'm Jesus". Where does she get this stuff?
• is in a huge running phase. She wants to run EVERYWHERE we go and never seems to tire
• Is big into her "marker book" - a book that has an associated dry-erase pen she uses to trace letters, match pictures, etc. She's got the numbers 1, 9 and 10 down pretty well as far as writing (notice a theme in the shapes she can draw?). She's also very big into drawing "smile faces" - either two dots or two lines for eyes and a U for a smile. Strangely all things that require multiple parts (like the number ten or the smile) start from the right and go left. I mean that she'll make the 0 first and then the 1 when she writes 10.

The Adults

• Bought 8 tons of rock to make a natural stone retaining wall around the deck (project starts Sunday)
• Bought the first 3 cubic tons of mulch to spread - ahhhh work
• Jim's first softball game of the season is Wednesday
• Karen is VERY eager to have this semester of school over and done with
• work for both of us is crazy busy
• patio furniture decisions will be made by Sunday of this week. THANK GOD. a 15 month process finally finished!
• We grilled at our new house for the first time this weekend! wahoo for spring and the new grill!
• Karen THOROUGHLY enjoyed Martha's wedding on Saturday for a MULTITUDE of reasons. Mart- you looked beautiful! hope Hawaii is fabulous!

Political Views

I took a 10-question political test and here are the results:

LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend our civil liberties.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Big Weekend!

This weekend was full of excitement! Jim was off all day and I had a half day on Friday so we ran errands, looked for patio furniture, and got a Costco membership ($209 was our first trip- yikes!). We spent time cleaning up in preparation for our big weekend of hosting.

First, on Saturday, the Bostons from NC came for dinner and chatting. It is amazing how big their son Alex has gotten since the last time we saw them.

Sunday morning we got up, ate French toast and looked around for what The Bunny brought. Nicole, with a little suggestion finally found both her and Chris's baskets hiding in the tent.

Nicole got new sunglasses, nail polish, candy, stickers & princess socks.

Chris got some eggs with Cheerios in them, a pirate book, some NumNum crackers & a toy

We kept checking in with my parents and brother on Lindsay's progress. Her water broke the night before and she was in labor all night. We ultimately decided to go to Church and visit her at the hospital after (she hadn't had the baby by the time we left). Here we are on our way:

When we got to the hospital Lauren Elizabeth was getting a bath so we had to wait a little bit to meet her. She was worth the wait though. :)

When we got home we ate lunch and the kids went down for a nap so we could clean up for Easter (we were hosting dinner). Here are the kiddos in their Easter outfits:

Chris is so close to crawling. He technically did move in crawling fashion last night at the party but didn't go very far. I'm sure today he'll have lots of practice at the open play area at daycare. :)

Weekend of 3/26/10

This weekend we took it easy with the kids as a precaution with their tubes. We didn't travel to Troy (as I really wanted to) or go to Spencerville for Jim's family Easter (first holiday we've ever missed). We didn't do an Easter Egg Hunt for the first time - too cold and wet and didn't want to take ill kids out in it.

We did do some things though:

1) tried the Hot and Ready $5 large pizza from our local Little Ceaser's. It was "okay". Certainly a good value at $5 but we'd pay more for better quality pizza if we had the time to wait for it.

2) I stopped nursing Chris for a variety of reasons: a) he's an avid biter. So bad, in fact, that when Nicole was playing pretend with her dolls she scolded her angel for biting; b) he was taking an 8oz bottle consistently and in March moved to drinking anywhere between 1-8oz per meal. While this change probably marked an end to a growth spurt this fluctuation was physically a difficult for my production to keep up with; c) he gets very distracted now. Even if I take him to a quiet place that's just us he would break away every few seconds to look around. Oftentimes teeth were involved in breaking off.

I feel guilty though.... Nicole got another month (10 months) compared to him.... part of me thinks I should tough it out with the biting.... Chris hasn't tried to nurse since we stopped on Friday so I'm taking it that he's fine with it. I'm only in a little discomfort as my body's adjusting. I'm reminding myself I achieved my 6 month goal and then some. Jim's supportive either way and listened patiently while I lamented a bit last night.

3) I attended a bridal shower for my second cousin and a baby shower for my neighbor. I determined that fondant icing is not good to eat but is pretty to look at.

4) patio furniture shopping is in full swing. So far I've ruled out Furniture Fair, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Sam's. Costco hasn't gotten their full inventory in yet so I'll need to go back. Target, Lowes, Watson's, Menards, Garden Ridge, and the Frontgate outlet are next on the "to shop" list. If I can find the time I'd like to go to Pottery Barn and Patio & Hearth too.

5) we bought the honey-glazed ham for Easter!

Friday Friday

Tubes went well yesterday. We had to be at the hospital at 6:15am but Children's is like the pinnacle of efficiency so we never had any down-time to read the books or watch videos on the laptop we lugged there and back. Both kids woke up grumpy from anesthesia, slept for 2+ hours once they got home, but were back to their normal selves by the afternoon. They both DETEST the ear drops we have to put in 3X/day (doctor told us they would sting). This means that we're dispensing doses of medicine 14 times a day to one kid or another for one ailment or another.

Jim and I are watching LIFE on Discovery - fantastic!

I watched Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC and one part of it almost made me gag. I'm not sure why watching other people's mental ailments intrigues me so..... I get wrapped up in Intervention too.

Jazzercise is sometimes killing me - I try to really push it and not slack so I'm a sweaty mess at the end of it. There are these ab things we have to do with leg bounces and then bicycles. OMG. I'll be sad when my Groupon ends mid-April but it's too expensive to keep up for just 1/week.

Nicole's big thing when she's upset is to tell me "that doesn't make me happy". It's funny to hear because she sounds all pathetic when she says it so I try really hard to not smile while she's clearly "traumatized" over my clothing suggestion, ear drop requirement, or turning off of Dora.

Chris - 9 month update

It's a month later already! WOW!

Most of Chris's developments have been physical in the last month. Here's some things he can do:

1) bop his mouth like an Indian
2) shake his head 'no'
3) give 5 and double 5
4) accurately use his pincer grasp
5) wave "bye"

Of course he does these things when he wants to, not when I ask him to show off to friends/family.

He's very nosey now that he fully grasps object permanence. He's constantly leaning out of my arms to grab at something.

He's so close (1 week away?) to crawling - he can get up on all fours and rock; he can push himself backwards or in a circle; but not actually move forward. It's a double-edged sword of wanting him to accomplish the milestone and dreading the added responsibility of a mobile child.

Nicole continues to love and dote on him. She fed him a sour cream and onion chip yesterday and proudly announced "Mommy, I shared with Chris!". Great....

Most fun purchase at the mother's sale

A new, in-box tent for $5.

The whole family (at times all four of us!) has been in this thing every day since I bought it Saturday morning.

4 Days since my last post- eh....

• How Nicole switches on a dime from full-blown tantrum to totally calm and pleasant is beyond me.
• I went to Jazzercise and really worked it. I was sweaty, drank a full bottle of water, and actually *gasp* felt refreshed at the end. What's happening with this working out thing is that I now feel guilty just doing it one day a week. I don't feel guilty while I'm sitting on the couch watching Cake Boss, I feel guilty when I'm at work thinking back about how I should be working out more.
• Both kids are cleared for tubes in their ears. Surgery is next Thursday.
• There's a mother's sale tomorrow at Lakota. It's at 7:30am. Are the deals worth getting on the road at 6:30am? hmmmmmmmmm
• A few nights ago I pulled out new clothes for Chris. My not-yet-9-month-old is comfortably wearing 18 month clothing now. *sigh*
• My neighbor is home from the hospital and I feel bad that I never went to see her while she was actually admitted.
• We bought granite for the kitchen! Next project: landscaping
• Chris is eating pureed spinach and it looks GROSS. He's gotten very good at dried puffs and Cheerios but still spits out any other solid food like scrambled eggs, pancake, etc.
• Today's Jim's last day of traing for his new job. LONG hours, lots more work than the last job, but so far so good.

Weekend of 3/12/10

• DVRed and watched "Parenthood" - good show. Good acting. Will be watching in the future. It makes me want to have four kids so they can grow up and be friends like the characters are....
• Went to the aquarium yesterday with the kids and mom - fun times! Nicole slept for 4.5 hours straight upon returning home; Chris slept 4.
• We upped Chris to the full-size car seat yesterday because he'd outgrown the pumpkin seat. He looks so cute in his new seat. I'm not even sad that he's outgrown the baby seat. :) Points for the mom with emotions in check!
• Met Karen C.'s new beau on Friday. REALLY liked him. Even more, I liked how much he obviously likes her.
• Greg and Jenna told us about the very conservative priest they met with at the church they wanted to be married at. I'm STILL shaking my head at the interaction and I didn't even experience it first-hand. I FULLY understand and respect why the church is clinging tight to the morals they value. I DO NOT understand why ANYONE needs to be rude in expressing their opinion.
• Nicole and I taught Chris to shake his head "no" while Jim was judging the science fair on Saturday morning. He's so funny when he does it and I think he makes himself a bit dizzy because he shakes so quickly. This means in the last three weeks he's learned to wave, give 5 and shake his head. No crawling yet though...
• I was in baby food making mode this weekend too - carrots, sweet potatoes, mango, tomato, banana, avocado, black beans, peas and a new one for me - spinach. Pureed spinach looks DISGUSTING- it's green/almost black in color which is just totally weird to see as baby food. It's so healthy though.... Anyway, I tried it out on him yesterday for dinner and ... HE LIKES IT!
• Nicole is wearing overalls today. I just love overalls on kids.

Geez, people

I got up at 11pm last night to throw up. It was pretty random, painfully acidic, and after another half hour of generic nauseousness, totally over. In fact, if my throat wasn't' burning this morning as a result I'd wonder if I dreamed the whole thing.

EVERY man I've mentioned this to has the same conclusion: "maybe you're pregnant". The women don't say this. They ask if I feel okay today. All the guys though say that and then just stare at me with this coy smile.

For the record, I'm not pregnant.

Happenings

Watching

• Jim and I watched LOST yesterday on DVR. I have no idea where that show is going....
• I still have the Olympics on DVR but with each passing day I consider more strongly just deleting it.
• My co-worker offered to lend me The Exorcism of Emily Rose which Jim has watched and claimed was one of the scariest movies he's ever seen. As I have 0 desire to watch a movie that's scary in the least (my mind is creative enough on it's own in a house that's still settling and full of noises), this will never enter my "to watch" list.

Nicole-isms

• "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to"
• Negotiating. Especially when it comes to how many books to read at night. We're all about making deals too - she gets one last drink before bed, I close the bedroom door before she goes to sleep is a common one.
• Saying numbers and showing me how many fingers that constitutes
• Dancing crazy and announcing (correctly) "I'm making Chris smile!"
• Saying things with a southern accent - where is this coming from!?
• Coming to our room to sleep at 1am

My World

• I have my midterm this week at school - class is more than half over already! wow!
• That Matt Nathanson song "Come On Get Higher" is stuck in my head all the time
• So many of my good friends are suddenly in relationships it's making ME feel "butterfly-y" for them
• We went to the home and garden show downtown this weekend - projects we're considering include landscape lighting all around the house, large-scale landscaping & granite countertops. I guess this is why we work....

Wednesday morning

Went to the ENT specialist today. Both kids are getting tubes in their ears. Though it's classified as "surgery" and both will be knocked out, I'm not really concerned. Whole thing is about 2 minutes per ear so not that involved obviously.

Jim's new job has led to some interesting conversations that when I retold them they had my coworker laughing so hard he was crying this morning. :)

We are officially locked and loaded for vacation this year. This is where we're staying. My boss told me though that with tubes in their ears neither kid can go swimming.... uh....

Is anyone else's week going slow?

Last Night's Antics

Nicole, as I've mentioned before, changes classrooms 5 times to get different subjects. Sometimes she gets on kicks from one of the teachers and (this makes me happy) they're often from previous months of lessons versus what she's immediately learning now.

Lately Nicole's kick is continents (which she can point to on a map):

(In February they learned about the body (muscles, bones, brain), the letters L-O-V-E, fractions, animals from around the world, and art projects using hearts.)

Chris LOVES bath time because of all the splashing.

Not sure how it happened but this morning when I came to wake him up he'd somehow worked one of his arms out of his PJs.... yes, they were still zipped all the way up with the snap zipper flap still fastened....