Love and War in Texas

Family pictures

2011-10-11T20:49:00.002-05:00

Work is ridiculous right now, but my sister-in-law made time for our whole family (Erich's side) to get together and take pictures. Emily Melson is magical with our kids and took some absolutely incredible pictures of our little ones.

Take a peek, let us know what you think. I love them, but then again, I'm their mom. :)

Last (wo)man standing

2011-10-05T20:08:00.002-05:00

We just finished a fantastic weekend. We visited family, went to a party, just generally hung around with the four of us... It was great. Until Sunday night. At some point during the weekend two of the four of us contracted some kind of nasty stomach bug. Apparently it's going around. E and N were down, no doubt, but B and I were holding strong. I was Lysoling everything.

I thought after Monday we were in the clear. Maybe, you know, because I wasn't sick yet and B seemed fine. Tuesday afternoon we got a call from N & B's school that B was running a fever and lethargic. He didn't have the same symptoms as E and N, so E took him to the pediatrician. Apparently one of his tubes got plugged up, so he had an ear infecction. Oh, and pinkeye. Because that makes sense.

So now instead of one nasty stomach bug at my house, we also have some kind of cold that can cause extreme congestion (leading to ear infections in little ones) as well as pinkeye. Things come in threes, right?

Our kitchen counter is covered with medicine, Sprite, Pedialite, and breathing treatments. Oh, and Lysol. We cannot have enough Lysol.

I'm really glad I can get my flu shot tomorrow.

PS - Nothing says love like hugging your toddler who has thrown up on himself. Even though I had peeled all his clothes off I still had to take a shower. This is because he threw up again - on me this time. These are things I never experienced before being a parent. The weird part? It's super duper yucky, but you just do it. They're your kids, and you do anything. Now I know how my mom was always able to just grab the nasty thing (what was it?!?) in the sink, throw it away, and wash her hands like nothing happened. I think it gets built into your genes when you become a mom.

Old MacDonald

2011-09-20T21:14:00.003-05:00

This is a combine, not a tractor. I don't really know the difference, but N would say it's important.

One of the fields near E's grandpa's house had been plowed over and the boys thought it was a GIANT sandbox.

This barn is over 100 years old. I just think it's really neat looking.

This past weekend, we drove to a tiny place near Poplar Bluff, MO to visit E's grandpa. This is slightly more than 500 miles of driving. Our children are both under 30 months old (but thankfully, both over the age of 1). According to our Garmin, this whole trip should have taken approximately 7.5 hours, or if you listen to Google about 8.5 hours. It took us approximately 10 hours each way. I think I've blocked most of it out in a kind of post-traumatic stress self-preservation thing, but I can remember that it wasn't the most terrible drive ever. My left shoulder may disagree from the hours and hours spent with my arm holding hands with the tiny people in the backseat, but overall it went much better than we could have hoped.

The actual visit part was really nice, although too short. We visited the weekend of the big harvest festival in the town E's grandpa lives in, so there was lots of interesting stuff to watch. This is a super-big-deal to the town, as there are approximately 500 residents and the harvest is a big big BIG deal. I honestly don't know anything about farming, but I know all about eating, and I know that a harvest means food and food makes me happy, so I'm all about celebrating that. We got to see a parade, look at bunnies and ducks, and listen to live gospel music. We also got to spend plenty of time traipsing around E's grandpa's farm, looking at everything, but most importantly the tractors. And combines. And bulldozers. And whatever. The large farm equipment was a HUGE hit with the little guys.

Other that the drive (recall I've blocked it from my memory), the only other irksome part of the trip were the small towns that served as breakpoints on our drive. Now in the big D (ehem, suburbs of said big D), we've all embraced the modern father. This is not so in the small farming communities that we visited. How do I know this? Every stop we had our kiddos needed potty breaks. B still needs diaper changes, on full-up changing tables. Can E do it this time? Nope. Why? There is no changing table. Not once did we stop in some location where there was a changing table in the men's room. Needless to say, I did the lion's share of diaper changes this weekend.

I think I deserve a night off. Good think I'm going to that musical on Thursday!

Tadpoles and minnows

2011-09-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

This picture of B has nothing to do with this post, I really just think it's adorable. On to the real matter...

This guy:

This guy loves swimming. Loves it. He is like a little fish. Or, according to the swim school he's enrolled in, he's a minnow. At least he was. Now he's ready to move up to the FROGS! Given that frogs are supposed to be at minimum 30 months old and he is only 28 months old, I feel like he's a little swimming prodigy. While my logical side says that this isn't true, give me a break. I'm his mom and get to be really proud of him.

Good job N!

PS - B is in the tadpoles class and loves it as well, but hasn't really perfected the art of "monkey walking" or "gliding" so he's still going to remain in his class for the time being. That's okay with all of us.

PPS - What's the deal with the levels? Tadpole -> minnow -> frog -> seahorse -> starfish -> seal -> shark -> stingray
Makes no sense zoologically, but at least they have cute logos.

Remembering

2011-09-11T19:47:00.001-05:00

Ten years ago today, I was a junior in college working towards my engineering degree. My husband and I were just starting to flirt/date/whatever, my family was (and still is) wonderful and the support system of friends at school was phenomenal. In my little private university world, my biggest concern was getting my engineering design homework done in time to go out on the weekend and figuring out if I would run before or after visiting Mabee hall.

My worldview, along with the worldview of every American, changed on this day ten years ago. Our country suffered a terrible attack on our way of life, and everyone was forever changed by it. There are certain moments that are defining in a person's life. I remember people talking about how they would never forget where they were or exactly what they were doing when President Kennedy was assassinated. I never really understood it, until September 11, 2001. I will never forget that moment, standing half-dressed after a morning run in my dorm room in McLean hall getting ready to meet E for breakfast before class. I was watching the today show, and remember wondering what movie they were talking about how the special effects were phenomenal. After I realized that it really was happening, I hurried down to E's room, where we watched in horror as a second plane hit the second tower. The entire campus, like the entire country, was paralyzed by the shock of it all.

Ten years later, I can promise you I will never forget that moment. And ten years later, I still try to remember to be grateful for every moment I'm given. I'm grateful for the country I live in, the freedoms I celebrate, and the faith I'm able to practice. I appreciate more the fact that I am able to read what I want, marry who I want, and move freely through society. Until that moment ten years ago, I very well took all of that for granted.

Prayers and remembrances for all we lost ten years ago, and one more prayer of thanks for the life I'm so privileged to get to live.

Bedtime stories

2011-09-08T20:18:00.000-05:00

N has about a billion books. Okay, maybe not that many, but certainly a lot. Enough that we don't have to read the same story every night, or even the same story in the same week... Every night we read two different books to N, and it is very possible we could go an entire month without reading the same one twice.

That said, this is the conversation we have every night after his pjs are on and we're prepping for storytime:
---
Me: Whatcha wanna read tonight buddy?

N: The dino book.

Me: What about this book?

N: shakes head furiously No, the dino book. Not that dino book. The other dino book. How do dinos eat their food.

Me: sigh Okay. What other book? Ferdinad? This book about the guy with all the spots?

N: looking at me like I'm crazy No. I want the animal book with the zoo.

Me: You're sure you don't want Ferdinand? Holding up "The Story of Ferdinand".

N: Sheer panic No no no no nononono. Looks me straight in the eyes so he's sure I'm hearing and understanding him. The ANIMAL BOOK.

Me: Okay okay, the animal book. Proceed to read both books without looking at any pages because I've memorized every word at this point.

N: I love this book.
--
This conversation happens nightly, but there are probably five books on the rotation:

"How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?" - good, teach him to try new foods.
"Wild About Books" - good, everyone should love reading AND zoos
"The Little Red Hen" - capitolism at it's best. You don't help, so you don't eat.
"The Pokey Little Puppy" - I hate this book. What is the POINT?
"What Do You Do With A Tail Like This" - educational, but not much of a story.

Replace "Me" with "E" above, and pick any two of the above books and you've got our nightly routine with N. If anyone needs any toddler books besides those list above, we have a ton. I'm partial to "I Love You Stinky Face", even if N isn't.

A philosophical exercise

2011-08-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

Yoga:

1: (capitalized) a Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation

2: a system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and well-being

---

Before we had kids, I was a runner. Not a marathoner or anything, but I ran. Every day, like a religion, I tied up my running shoes and hit the pavement, treadmill, whatever. After I ran, I would do sit ups and lift weights like my life depended on it. I was in pretty good shape, but despite all this running, lifting, sitting up, I felt like there was something lacking.

These days I still find time to run occasionally, but not nearly as often as before kids. But I've discovered something else. A friend of mine teaches yoga and she invited me to a class. (Check her out here: http://mikoyoga.com/ She's amazing.) Before her classes my only exposure to yoga had been a semester-long class I took my senior year of college with a bunch of friends. I was no yogi, by any means.

Since her class, I've been stronger, fitter, and more at peace than I have ever been. Not only is yoga an exercise, it's this type of mental relief that I haven't found anywhere else. I can't wait until our retreat in a few weeks. The retreat is going to be awesome!

Plus getting these compliments on my arms isn't bad either.

Work is, work.

2011-08-09T21:03:00.000-05:00

Person I work with: I'm just not really sure we need to do that test.

Me: But if we don't do that test, how do we know it works?

Person I work with: I'm pretty sure it's a fluke. It should work fine.

Me: Wait, I thought you just said this case you're looking at doesn't work at all.

Person I work with: I'm thinking it's okay.

Me: How, exactly?

Person I work with: I'm just thinking it's a fluke.

Me: ...

Person I work with: I see what you're saying, but I think it's a fluke.

Me: ...

Person I work with: So we should run some more tests then?

Me: Um, yeah. More tests.

Looking back...

2011-08-04T21:12:00.001-05:00

Just an hour or so after B was born - 12 August 2010...

N and B in late May (because I've become increasingly terrible at uploading pictures and am honestly too lazy/tired to go get the camera and do it right now.)

At this point one year ago I was very pregnant. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'm pretty sure that at 8.5 months along there was no mistaking what I was baking. I decided that I'd capitolize on my company's pretty awesome maternity leave policy, so even though my official due date wasn't until August 22nd, I decided to take the last two weeks before my due date as maternity leave. That means that one year ago at this point I was prepping for my last day or work before B was born.

There's no doubting what I did with my free time that I was off - I was nesting. I did more in the time leading up to B's birth than I do in many months normally. I cleaned everything. I rearranged everything. I washed all clothing in our house. I gutted a closet and even considered painting a room. (E put the kibosh on painting, but I totally would have done it, if not for him.) The day I went into labor, I planted a crape myrtle in our front garden. All the crazy cleaning and reorganizing and tree planting caused me to go into labor 11 days early. So 10 days before it was supposed to happen, B was in our lives.

I will never forget the feeling of absolute love and adoration I felt for both of our sons from the moment I saw their little faces. I know this doesn't happen instantly for all parents. But for me, the love I felt for B was instantaneous, pure, and whole.

I don't talk about it much, but this past year has been the most beautiful, wonderful, and hardest of our entire lives. E wouldn't talk about it either, but I'm sure he'd agree with me.

Approximately 24 hours after B was born, they discovered a "problem". When the first words the nurse says to you when she comes in is, "Now, I think you should sit down, but know that everything will be okay.", you know that everything isn't the way it's supposed to be. At that point, we learned that B had some issues that were going to require surgery to take care of. I had no idea what that meant. I was 24 hours post-partum. I was all alone. E had gone to get N to introduce him to his new little brother. My family was not there. All alone, I sat in a hospital room one day after giving birth and listened to a nurse tell me that they had called for an ambulance to transport my 1-day-old son to Children's Medical Center of Dallas' NICU.

The next few days were a whirlwind of medical staff, tests, waiting, praying, waiting, praying, crying, waiting, waiting, waiting... Finally, after 1 surgical procedure and entirely too many days, we got to take B home. Neither of us had slept much and up until a few days before I had no idea what an ostomy bag was, but I knew that somehow, someway, there was a reason for what was happening and that everything would be okay. I cannot possibly thank the family and friends who supported us in that time (and all the other times) enough.

The next few weeks were normal, then B got an infection. We were back at Children's for antibiotics and rest. He turned out to be fine, but it was scary anyway. At 8 weeks old he endured yet another surgery. Finally, at 4 months old, he had his final surgery. After a painful recovery period in the hospital, we were able to go home.

Now we have two of the most beautiful (ehem, handsome!) little boys I've ever seen. N is crazy as ever, but right now I'm talking about B. Everyone expected him to have issues, be behind in development, potentially develop other problems.

He didn't. In fact, he's exceeded everyone's expectations. He was rolling over by 4.5 months. Sitting at 6 months, right on schedule. Crawling by 7 months. Took his first steps at 9.5 months. Now, at 11.5 months, he walks all the time (no more crawling for him!), has a few words, and is very opinionated. He loves his big brother, our dog, and his mom and dad. He's happy. He's healthy. He's all I could ever have hoped for.

I love him more than I can possibly say. And I love every one of you who has walked this journey with us. It has been a long road, and there are many many years ahead of us. I'm just so thankful for the loving friends and family who have gone above and beyond in so many ways.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I love this guy.

Keeping up with the Joneses

2011-07-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

This is my house. I really love it. When we came on a house hunting trip from Denver in 2008, we saw 30-odd houses on the first day of house hunting. I became convinced that we would never find what I wanted. Everything was too small or laid out weird or too far away from work or... You get the idea.

Our realtor added this house at the last minute as it had just come onto the market. We were the first people to see it. One look at the porch and I was pretty much sold. E wanted us to go inside first, so I aquiesed and visited the interior before actively committing. (Does jumping up and down on the sidewalk before walking in saying "I LOVE IT!" count as committing?) Anyway, there were a few minor things we wanted to change about the place, but overall it was perfect for us and for our planned (and now very real) two children. We made an offer (along with 3 couples who saw the house after us), ended up winning (yay!), and now live here.

As with any house, ours had issues that we didn't immediately identify in our half-hour walk through. Perhaps the most prominent and oustanding of these are our neighbors to the right. When you're looking at our house, as you are in the photo above, our master bathroom is on the ground floor on the right hand side. See the big window? There's another one like that on the side of the house. Those are over our master bath spa tub (used approximately 3 times). Directly adjacent to those windows but technically on our next-door-negihbor's property is our neighbor's front porch.

Our neighbors are very nice people. They are very friendly and have never been anything but super duper nice to us. I honestly really like them and they're very easy to talk to. But not easy enough apparently, because there are some things I'd really like to ask them to stop doing, but have not found the cojones to bring up in our conversations at the mailbox.

Our neighbors like to make excellent use of their very nice porch. Who can blame them? It's really nice. They sit on it a lot. And they are smokers, it seems. And drinkers. I have no qualms with smokers and drinkers. I personally really don't like smoke. It gives me a headache and makes my eyes water, but if you want to do it, knock yourself (or your lungs) out. That said, please don't toss your cigarette butts into the yard. They're often landing our our side of the yard and it looks trashy. Plus I'm rightfully concerned you're going to catch something on fire. We're in a drought you know.

I don't want to sound like a nagging Nancy, and I'm cool with your drinking. It's whatever. But do you mind please keeping your empties on your porch? Or better yet, toss them in the recycling bin. Seriously. I'll even give you one to keep out there on your awesome porch to put them in. I'm not a huge fan of finding beer cans blown into my garden. I'm not a particularly good gardener anyway, and somehow I feel like the debris is making it worse.

One final request... If you're going to have a knock-down drag-out fight with your husband/daughter/son/whomever, can I recommend you do it inside your house? Seriously, my bathroom window backs up directly to your porch. If you're yelling at each other on your porch, I'm totally pulling a Mrs. Kravitz on you and standing in my bathtub peeking through the blinds to see what the heck is going on. You can't blame a girl for that.

I can't figure these people out. And I lack the cojones to talk to them about it.

No helmet!

2011-06-28T21:34:00.001-05:00

For weeks now my tiny tyrant has been talking about bicycles. "That my bicycle. I want bicycle. Me ride bicycle..." You get the idea.

(For the record, the tiny tyrant is N. B is lovingly referred to as the diapered dictator.)

E and I get a fabulous idea to get N a starter bike. We went to the bike shop for a completely unrelated matter and asked the bike experts there what was the best plan. Trike? Training wheels? How do we do this people?

The experts at the bike shop actually recommended something called a balance bike. Go on, Google it. You'll learn about a bazillion brands and things regarding learning to balance over learning to pedal yadda yadda yadda. We went here after extensive research and ordered an awesome green balance bike for N. We also went out and purchased him a Cars helmet (complete with Lightning McQueen) and a bell. He is S-T-O-K-E-D.

The bike gets here when we're away for the weekend and is waiting for us when we get back. E brings the box inside and the following conversation ensues:

---
N: A BIKE! That MY bike.

E: Yep buddy, this is YOUR bike!

N: My bike! I open.

E: Let me put it together bud.

N: Tears, hysterics

E: Chill out bud! Can you help Mommy and B unpack? You're an awesome helper!

Me: Directing dirty look at E because we (in private) refer to N as the anti-helper.

N: I help Mommy and B!

Minutes pass with me putting things away and N and B immediately taking them back out of their assigned places again while E puts together this bike. Seriously. Like maybe 5 minutes. It didn't take long.

E: Hey N! I'm all done! Check this out!

N: MY BIIIIIIIKEEEEEEE!

E: Yay! Your bike! Let's put your helmet on so you can ride it!

N: Yay! I ride it! Put helmet on!

E: Puts the helmet on N's head and fastens the strap under his chin.

N: Climbs on bike and grabs his helmet. Helmet OFF.

E: We wear helmets when we ride our bikes buddy. Remember how Mommy and Daddy wear helmets?

N: No. Off.

E: In his best dad-is-sad-about-this-voice If we take off your helmet you can't ride your bike.

N: I get off. No helmet. No ride bike.

E: Looks at me.

Me: Shrugs (I'm no help whatsoever.)
---

N proceeds to get off his bike and has summarialy refused to get on again due to the helmet restriction. I grew up riding bikes everywhere and not once did my parents enforce some kind of helmet rule (not throwing you under the bus Mom and Dad, but let's face it, my cranium wasn't protected). I am very VERY tempted to forsake the helmet to get him to exercise the use of this $100 PUSH BIKE we got him for NO REASON OTHER THAN WE LOVE HIM.

Helmet = mandatory safety precaution. I will not lose this battle of wills with a two year old. This pains me. Parenting sucks sometimes.

Time travel

2011-06-17T12:04:00.002-05:00

I love living near a lake. Even though we don't get out on the lake much anymore, the mere presence of the lake makes me happy inside. I drive two miles across the lake at least twice every work day. This drive is over a bridge that is surrounded by nothing but water, just a little above the actual water level.

For a moment or two during the drive, I'm no longer 30, driving to or from my job and responsibilities, but instead I am 7. I'm in a 1970's era green SeaRay and my dad has just told me to keep my tips up. My brother and I have just learned how to waterski, and my family is spending as much time as possible on Lake Travis, every weekend if we can make it happen. At least that's how I remember it. After we finish skiing my dad will drive us around the lake in the boat and we might even have hamburgers at the floating resturant at the marina if we're lucky.

It's just a moment, but every day I'm reminded of it. And every day that little trip back in time reminds me to happy to be right where I am in the present.

I hope I leave my kiddos with a similar memory to hang onto. Happy father's day Daddy!

Second child?

2011-04-25T20:24:00.000-05:00

With N:
It's 10 minutes until his next feeding. We need to get things prepped - stat!

With B:
Woah, no wonder he's mad - his bottle was due 15 minutes ago!

--

With N:
What, you think it's weird that we brought a pack-n-play, high chair, bouncy seat, playmat, monitor, seven changes of clothes, a box of 80 diapers, an entire tub of formula, 8 containers of food, and enough toys to entertain an entire orphanage for an overnight trip? That's totally normal.

With B:
Hey buddy, doesn't this empty plastic tub look awesome? I thought so too! Cool!

--

With N:
He need his dinner at exactly 6:15 pm, followed immediately by a bottle, immediately after that you have to undress him ON TOP OF the bed before putting him in a tepid bath of warm-ish water for exactly 13 minutes before reading him exactly two stories and saying one prayer before putting him in bed at no later than 7:05 pm. Got it?

With B:
Well, he'll definitely need a bath before he goes to sleep tonight. Sure. We can do it after he eats. No problem. He's pretty flexible, this guy.

--

With N:
There is absolutely no way we can give him that. He isn't scheduled to try eating that before he's 9 months old.

With B:
Dude, are you eating GRASS? Spit that out!

--

With N:
I love you more than you can possibly know, little man.

With B:
I love you more than you can possibly know, little man.

--

Some things aren't negotiable.

Litte foodies?

2011-04-11T20:11:00.003-05:00

Before kiddos, E and I were sorta gourmands. We took cooking classes together - even when we were in Italy. We could tell you if creamed corn incorporated the use of truffle oil. We tried anything and everything. I remember one ill-fated attempt at braciola that ended with us throwing away enough food to feed 8 people. More often than not though, our test dishes turned into delicious staples and we ended up loving them. Cooking together was a fun, interesting way to spend time together and very conducive to talking. Plus, what's not to love about a date where you spend the whole time actually TALKING to each other? Oh, and there's the added bonus of wine. Any recipe that calls for wine just begs to have the rest of the bottle taken care of. So there you go. Foodies. At least wannabes.

Fast forward a few years and here we are. Two kids, not much time, and lots and lots of things to do. We still love food and wine, but our time to enjoy it is vastly decreased. We've devised a system in which we cook the next night's dinner after the boys go to bed. This results in us eating lots and lots of casseroles with side salads. Bo-ring. But Sunday afternoon during naptime we've started making interesting and exciting dishes again. It makes both of us happy. Also, we're trying to raise little epicures. We love food - so should they.

Apparently our best attempts at getting N to love fancy dishes are ill-fated. No matter what we put in front of him these days, he meets with the following responses - "No.", "Cheeseburger!", "Pizza", and/or the ever popular "Cracker!". Right. Instead of this thing we spent an hour preparing, we'll give you some Ritz crackers. It's frustrating. But I suppose normal, given he's almost 2. Nothing like hearing a request for cheeseburgers at 7 am and seeing a toddler dissolve into tears because we won't provide the requested cheeseburgers and tell him that "he can eat his pancakes" to make you frustrated with food.

So we were excited to find that caching things as his favorite dishes works wonders. He'll eat almost anything if you can throw in a label he likes. For instance, when we served him eggplant Parmesan, he refused to eat it. We took the plate away, brought it back without changing a thing, and told him it was "eggplant pizza". He ate ALL of it and requested more. Do we feed bad about this?

No.

PS - A few meals after the "Cheeseburgers!" request we actually made him cheeseburgers because - hey - he planted the seed and it sounded pretty dang tasty. He proceeded to eat the bun and pick all the cheese off of the meat. At least he was happy.

Water time!

2011-04-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

We've really REALLY been loving all the nice weather. I'm too tired to post anything witty, but hey LOOK - cute kids!

N loves this watering can.

Clearly.

All my guys.

Zoee was loving all the outside time.

N watering the plants.

Check out B's mad standing skills.

He's loving it.

They have so much fun together.

N likes to blow bubbles and B thinks it is hilarious.

For R - check out our stonework and tin roof.

Defining moments

2011-04-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

At work today...

Me: I'm documenting this particular thing, and I would like you to tell me if it will mean more to you like this or like that.

Other person: Er, well, that seems like a lot of work.

Me: Yes, I believe it will be, which is why I'd like you to tell me the format that would mean the most to you, as your team will be the people using it and I don't want to do something that would require a lot of rework.

Other person: Could you maybe just make some examples of each possible way it would be? That'd be better than a definition.

Me: Staring blankly.

Other person: You know, just show the way things will be?

Me: Shakes head to clear glazed over look. Um, I suppose I could do that, but it would be hundreds upon hundreds of iterations. I think it would be easier to just define what it is than to make up a bunch of examples.

Other person: Sure, sure. Could you also have some examples?

Me: Staring, mouth agape. Right. I'll see what I can do.

Starbucks?

2011-03-29T21:26:00.003-05:00

I have a special love for caffeine. I wish I didn't. But I cannot deny my deep, DEEP appreciation for caffeinated beverages. Coffee, soda (especially diet soda - complete with its terrible terrible chemicals), tea... It doesn't matter. I love these beverages from the bottom of my little overcaffeinated heart. However, this is becoming a problem. How did I realize this, you might ask? It was the moment when I realized that I had approximately $5.17 in cash, was in the drive-through line at Starbucks on the way to work, and was feeling particularly frugal and wanting to spend no more money than I had in cash. Oh, and I was starving. STARVING. I don't care that it was 6:14 am. I'd been up for over an hour and I was ready to break the fast. Regardless, I decided that I really wanted a nonfat caramel macchiato in as large a size as possible (venti). What's not to love about caramel and coffee and milk all mixed together in frothy goodness? I also really really want a butter crossoint. I know that a butter crossoint is not good for me. Well, it's full of butter and carbs and well, that's it really. No protien. No substance. Delicious, however, and the perfect compliment to a giant cup of steamy caramel-y coffee. I quickly realize the whatever money I have (which I promise is around $5.17 but I cannot be entirely exact on that amount) is not going to cover the largest coffee possible AND the crossoint I want to eat for breakfast. At this point, normal people may opt to choose a smaller size of coffee and/or use a plastic card to procure their wares. Me, however, I've set my mind to paying in cash. And I've also set my mind on this giant GIANT cup of coffee. (Please disregard the cup of coffee my Keurig made for me at approximately 5:17 am - it no longer counts.) I want this crossoint. WANT. STARVING. Stomach *growls*. I rationalize with myself that I cannot get coffee (*good coffee*) at work and I have things to eat at my desk (almonds, cans of soup, tuna fish). I abandon my breakfast plan so I can still get the giant coffee and pay in cash. To all my coworkers who suffered through the smell of smokehouse almonds at 6:45 am - I'm sorry. My caffeine needs overruled my desire for pastry. That is why I was eating aromatic (*stinky*) almonds at the crack of dawn. I hope you all can understand.

Outside!

2011-03-12T19:29:00.011-06:00

N and B love it outside. Since it's been nice, that's where we've been. We're also too pooped to be witty, so here are some pictures of beautiful children.

B is watching N play with Zoee.

N is getting pretty good at throwing the ball for Zoee. Also note my lime tree - still alive (and producing, mind you!)

Action shot!

Lacrosse in his future? Maybe!

Snacktime outside is WAY better than snacktime inside.

Zoee loves our newfound outside-ness too.

B is very smiley these days.

Undoctored photo. He just is that beautiful.

Sidewalk chalk is awesome!

Boxes are also awesome.

That is all I've got. Now to sit down.

Babies and denim

2011-03-06T19:46:00.003-06:00

Love love love these overalls on the boys...

N at 5.5 months...

B at 6.5 months...

Adorable.

How it flies

2011-03-02T19:55:00.002-06:00

On Monday a friend returned a book to me - Milk Memos. When I went back to work after N was born, my sister-in-law sent me this book in the mail. It's all about nursing moms and how some hate it, some love it, and some are generally indifferent to nursing/pumping at work, and at the time I read it - a lifesaver to me for having to leave my little man to go back to work. I keenly remember the feeling of leaving him for the first time to go do work. That ache isn't something easily forgotten.

Now it's almost two years later and he's a walking talking dynamo with an adorable little brother. So much has changed in the past two years, but I'll never forget that feeling. My heart ached for her when she handed me the book back.

There are some things that you can't explain. The way you don't care that your kid with the flu just wiped snot all over your shirt and coughed into your face... The way a spilled cup of milk all over the kitchen counter (accidentally) is just all in a day's work... The way those little smiles and bright eyes make you feel like the greatest mom on the planet...

Yep, it's all worth it.

Snowmageddon

2011-02-02T19:33:00.002-06:00

Today is day 2 of what we're calling snowmageddon. We've had a terrible ice/snow/sleet/freeze storm (along with a bunch of other states around the country) and we've been trapped inside our house for two days. I will caveat with the gratefulness that we have a nice warm house with food and water and electricity and gas - so we aren't suffering all that much. But we are feeling a twinge of cabin fever. Pair that with weird schedules because we can't go to work given the kids' daycare is closed and the fact that we're all a little tired, and you get some punchy people.

Tonight I made dumplings from a friend's recipe (yum!) along with steamed broccoli and cauliflower for dinner. (And a delicious concoction of rice cereal for the almost 6 month old who refuses to eat what the rest of us are eating. I'm looking at you B.) Anyway, apparently N thinks dumplings are the best thing since sliced bread, so he's working on his second (very large) bowl, while E and I were eating at a more human-pace. You know, where you can actually talk to each other instead of just saying "More please" with your mouth full. I'm trying to take N's enthusiastic eating as a complement while talking to my husband.

E: What'd you season these vegetables with?

A: Just kosher salt. Why?

E: I'm remembering that I just really don't like cauliflower.

A: Looks at him quizzically.

E: I just wanted to make sure you didn't season the vegetables with horrible or something.

A: Right, because in between the salt and the onion powder I keep shakers of "horrible", "awful", and "I can't believe you're going to make me eat this".

E: I know, so I was just making sure.

A: Laughs

E: Laughs

N: Laughs because mom and dad are laughing and spits dumplings all over the table in the process Uh oh. More please!

Before and after

2011-01-28T20:50:00.003-06:00

Things change when you have kids. People tell you this. All your friends who have kids already will tell you how much things change. "Sure, sure, " you say. You can theoretically understand that there are now little people entirely dependant on you from everything from spiritual guidance to shelter to food to entertainment to education to ... You get the idea. You think you get it. But you don't. Case in point - I give you exhibits "weekend"...

---

Friday night, 9 pm, pre-kids... You will find us either all dressed up sitting at a fancy dinner at a swankified restaurant about to start on a second bottle of overpriced but delicious wine OR hanging out with friends over drinks OR loudly playing music and attempting to be brilliant Wii masters without killing the dog.

Friday night, 9 pm, post-kids... We are paying our taxes. Bo-ring. We are also thinking about turning in soon. After all, it's super late. Should we have a second glass of wine? Probably not, after all, we may have some downtime, but we're still on call.

---

Saturday daytime, pre-kids... Sleeping in. Hiking in the mountains. Exploring a new part of the city we've never visited before. Trying to understand the new art exhibit at the museum. Playing sports on a team of adults. Taking the dog to the dog park.

Saturday daytime, post-kids... Getting up earlier than you would on a weekday. Hiking up and down the stairs. Exploring new avenues in potty training. Trying to understand an angry toddler. Playing blocks and cars. Taking the kids to the park to just get out of the house.

---

Sunday evening, pre-kids... Talking to family. Preparing a leisurely dinner together. Relaxing in front of a good book. Taking time to talk to each other. Really understanding how the week will look.

Sunday evening, post-kids... Talking to family about how stressed you are. Preparing meals for the entire week so that you don't have to cook in the few hours between getting home and bedtime. Relaxing... HA! Taking time to prepare all the kids' junk for taking to school. Having NO IDEA what the week ahead looks like.

---

I wouldn't trade it. But I do miss the sleeping in.

Unconventional

2011-01-25T20:22:00.006-06:00

What do you mean I'm wearing a WOMAN'S SOCK? They told me pink was very "now"...

Yel-woah. Yel-woah. YEL-WOAH! (Apparently the best color EVER. Period.)

N rocking some spikey hair in the shower.

Seriously Dad, I think you should consider the combover - it's an awesome look. Check out my hair. Ka-chow!

Half a decade

2011-01-21T06:51:00.003-06:00

A lot can happen in five years...

Two people saying yes
One reception
One honeymoon
One tiny apartment in a scary part of Aurora, CO
Two jobs
Weekly happy hours and weekend trips
One slightly larger townhome in a less scary part of Aurora, CO
One European vacation
Countless mountain trips
Numerous weddings of friends and family
Endless visits to Chatfield State Park and Reservoir dog park
One dinner club per month
One major moving decision
One new city to explore
Two new jobs
One new home
Countless home renovations
One major family decision
One beautiful baby boy
Endless hours learning and executing being parents
One more major family decision
One additional beautiful baby boy
Three baby surgeries, four baby hospitalizations
First baby boy now precocious toddler with endless vocabulary and Myna-bird like skills at mimickry
Second baby boy healthy and happy and slightly cheeky with a special affinity for rolling
Boundless joy at the life ahead of us

It's been a busy five years. Happy anniversary sweetheart. I love you more than you know.

Embarrasing?

2011-01-17T20:43:00.002-06:00

An exchange this week after I finish squatting in an office (currently unused) to pump breastmilk instead of hiking across the campus for the nursing mother's rooms...

---

Me: Exiting a currently unoccupied office carrying breastpump in thinly disguised bag supposed to make people think I'm carrying a shoulder bag but everyone knows better.

Senior technical engineer (male): What are you doing in there?

Me: Er...

Senior technical engineer (who I highly respect): That's not your office.

Me: Uh...

Senior techical engineer (who I aspire to be like): Looks at my "shoulder bag"

Me: Ah...

Senior technical engineer (now mortified): Nevermind, I get it. I get it. They ought to give all nursing mothers offices with doors. Looks at floor. Good work in that meeting earlier. I'vegottogobye.

Me: Oh...

---

There's something especially mortifying about pumping breastmilk at work. I know it's amazing for my baby and nature's perfect food and all that. Plus you get an automatic 10-15 minute break where you can try to relax and not think about work (ha). Not to mention it's a great diet - weight seems to fade away when you're feeding someone else. (My mom even called me "bony" the other day - and not in a good way!) Despite all of this, I find pumping at work to be one of the worst parts - nay, the absolute worst part - about being a nursing mom. B is reaching the 6 month mark, so we're starting to stop breastfeeding, and I know when the day comes that he eats only from a bottle I may tear up. My last baby, his last nursing, will likely make me cry, just a little. Regardless... Pumping is horrible. And the above example is just one reason.

I still can't believe my baby is almost 6 months old.

*Sigh*

Time is passing too quickly and too slowly all at once. Is that possible?

Winter cleaning

2011-01-03T16:22:00.003-06:00

I'm a bit of a purger. Not so much as some people, but I really really hate to have stuff we aren't using. There's something about having clutter that makes me kind of itchy. I just like things to be simple-ish, and having a bunch of stuff we don't need doesn't qualify as simple to me.

After B's recent surgery we found ourselves in the throes of holiday madness, but in all of this we had about a week of time at home just for B (and us) to recover. I decided this was a perfect opportunity to purge ourselves of things we didn't need and get a head start on spring cleaning.

E and I tackled a cabinet in our playroom that was stuffed to the gills with extraneous electronics. Seriously. Lots and lots of electronics that haven't been hooked up in years. After pulling everything out, we found that we had the following: one Wii, one Xbox360, TWO Nintendos (the original), one Sega Genesis, three sets of headphones, two wires that we didn't know what they went to, a set of speakers, a VCR, a ridiculous number of CDs we no longer listen to, an ungodly number of DVDs we don't watch, and a small subset of VHS tapes (many duplicated on DVD).

After purging all of the VHS tapes, the Sega, the wire, the speakers, a good number of the DVDs, we were left with a dilemma. Should we keep ANY of this stuff?

We agreed the Wii and the Xbox360 could stay. Those are relatively modern technology that we'd LIKE to play, if only we had time, hooked them up, and decided to use our free time for that. The Nintendos and VCR, however, proved to be a point of contention.

Me: Let's donate the VCR and Nintendos to charity.

E: You can't BUY a Nintendo anymore!

Me: Sure you can - on eBay.

E: Looks at me as if I'm crazy. But we've already got it here now!

Me: Do we really need TWO 8-bit gaming systems that aren't hooked up?

E: What if one breaks and I want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?

Me: Do you want to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out?

E: I MIGHT! Fine, what if I get all the Nintendo stuff into this box and put it in the closet for safekeeping? I think the boys might like it when they get bigger.

Me: Realizing he's got me with the boys argument. Okeydoke. We can at least donate the VCR.

E: What if we want to watch a VHS tape?

Me: We don't OWN VHS tapes anymore - we're donating them all. If we wanted to watch any of those movies we could stream them on Netflix. I don't even know where to get a VHS tape anymore.

E: What if my dad gives us a set of old home movies on VHS and we want to watch them?

Me: Your dad has old VHS home movies?

E: He MIGHT!

Me: Seriously, we need to just get rid of this thing.

E: Fine. Pouts.

I look away to sort other miscellaneous junk.

E: I'm going to put this box in the closet. Grabs VHR and throws it on the box and scurries away to the storage closet.

Me: *Sigh*

E: You'll thank me later!

N points things out

2010-12-05T12:58:00.002-06:00

I can't believe he's this big already...

Nose?

2010-11-15T10:22:00.004-06:00

This is E again. We had a very interesting experience a couple weeks ago and we thought I should share.

We had a sad event in our lives, my grandmother passed away. On short notice, we loaded up the boys and headed up to MO. This was no easy task and the normal 8 hour drive took a bit more than 11 and a half. As any red blooded American male can tell you, dawdling around on a road trip is a sin second only to missing the Superbowl. It was a stressful drive to say none the less.

We got there and payed our respects. We reconnected with a lot of family that we haven't seen in a while. And of course, N was there to lighten the somber mood with his cheery innocence. He and his granddad are great pals and they spent a good deal of time down in the breakfast area of the hotel. He made friends with the other guests, people who were just walking by, and the staff. His biggest accomplishment was finding his nose and anyone else's that he was close enough to point at. He was a huge hit.

Unfortunately N was battling some seasonal head mucous that generated a pretty bad cough and we needed to get back to TX so we could administer some breathing treatments. So after the second day we drive back (late at night so the boys are sleeping) get home about 1AM and everyone crashes. N wakes up, he's getting his treatments and is feeling much better. B is still a pretty good traveler right now and was pretty much unfazed by all of this. A and B go off to visit some of her friends while N and I stay at home most of the day so he can "rest." Resting for a toddler means sitting still for about 10 seconds longer than normal. But he kept getting his treatments and was sounding much better by the end of the day.

10:45 PM - N wakes us up and sounds horrible. So bad in fact that I take him to the ER in his PJs. We get there and they do all kinds of things including taking some chest x-rays. He is very freaked out and tired and will not let me put him down. He wants to sleep and it's hard to hold a 27 pounder in your lap so I climb into the hospital bed with him. The doctors keep coming in and out running tests and telling me what they've found out. It turns out he had some chunks of crud in his lungs which they tell me is pre-pneumonia. I'm informed a good dose of antibiotics and an oral streroid will set him straight in no time (and it does). At around 1 AM, they're done poking him but we can't leave yet so I raise up the little rails on both sides of the bed, turn out the lights, and lay down with N on my chest. He's very happy and comfortable.

I'm exhausted after a stressful past few days and nights. I'm still a little concerned about my boy but he seems good for now. I close my eyes and let quit of our dark room surround me. Then quite unexpectantly I feel this little finger go up my left nostril and N asks me a one word question. "Nose?"

I smile, remove his finger out of my nose, and say, "Good job buddy. Nose. Now go to sleep." He quickly zonks out as only a toddler can. I realize everything is going to be all right before I catch a few winks prior to coming home.

Family photo op

2010-11-14T20:16:00.000-06:00

Months in the making

2010-11-01T20:03:00.010-05:00

We've been busy. One baby surgery + one return to work + one mother-in-law staying with us during the week + two boys + one dog + house + yard + family + friends = not enough hours in the week.

Regardless - here are some pictures of us recently.

B testing out the exersaucer!

N coloring...

We wanted to picture them together in matching shirts... It took some work. B yawns...

Smiley...

Wiggly...

Holding hands!

N's first boo-boo requiring a band-aid. He wouldn't leave it alone though - hence the tape. Notice the blood on his head. Also his doing. For such a tiny cut, we had a huge mess to deal with.

Halloween came and went. B was a very adorable bat!

N was a super cute giraffe!

Pulling through

2010-09-27T18:33:00.002-05:00

Today we had a big big day. It was a BIG day. B had his second surgery, known as a pull through (but having a fancy pants medical name too), today in his path to correct his birth defect. Turns out it was a huge success. We left B with the very capable surgical team at 7:30 am and weren't able to reconnect with him until about 3 pm. Seven and a half hours pass before we get to be with him again. Seven and a half hours of him being under the knife. It was... Terrifying. Thankfully our family came to sit with us in the waiting room and to help with N. I know they don't feel like they did much, but having people to talk to and knowing that N was in good hands was more than they know.

B did fantastic. His prognosis coming out of surgery is wonderful. Right now he's resting, kinda doped up and looking as beautiful as the day he was born. I can't wait until we can come home. Some number of weeks after this we'll have a third (and final, fingers crossed) surgery to be done with all this.

Thank you to everyone, again. We appreciate the prayers and good thoughts and well wishes. There's still a lot for us to get through, but you know what - I know we're going to get through it just fine. We'll pull through. (Haha.)

A few weeks of changes

2010-09-18T12:21:00.002-05:00

Okay, so it's been a while since my last post. We've had kind of a big couple of weeks. Between getting used to living with two kiddos (a chore in itself), dealing with B's stuff, and regular life, we've had a lot to deal with. We're all getting on and everything is going as well as we could hope. N is getting used to having a little guy share the attention, and B is one of the happiest babies I've ever met. Now we've just got to get him all fixed up and we'll be on track.

On Tuesday B had a procedure done to help us understand what needs to happen in his next surgery. On Wednesday night we noticed he was running a low fever. But any fever for a baby his age is a big deal, so on Thursday morning I took him into his pediatrician. She agreed that he was running a fever, and she also agreed that it didn't seem like there was anything obviously wrong with him - no ear infection, no runny nose, eating fine, good attitude, etc. Because of all this, and because any fever in a little guy is serious, she sent us back to Children's Medical Center for further testing. They drew blood, took urine, and did a lumbar puncture to get tests done. Many many many hours later, it all comes down to a urinary tract infection (most likely) that was probably due to the manipulations done in his procedure on Tuesday. He's been on IV antibiotics since Thursday night, and is due for his last dose tonight. He can only get them once a day and needed at least three doses, which translated to many nights in the hospital for us. Boooo!

The good news is that as long as everything remains as it is RIGHT NOW until 3 or 4 pm today, we can switch to oral antibiotics and go home today instead of tomorrow. We'll see. I'm taking time during B's nap to write this. E and N have been up a couple of times so that I can see the other guys in my life. It's been important, because I love them too. I have to stay here with B, because, as E puts it, I'm the chuck wagon for the little guy. It is painful to be away from N so much though, especially when all I'm doing the majority of the day is sitting cooped up in this room w...a...i...t...i...n...g. B doesn't seem to care too much, but N really misses me. I miss him too, which results in inappropriate (or appropriate, depending on how you look at it) crying jags when talking to doctors about the length of our stay here. Fortunately most of them understand that I do have a newborn and a family to care for and that makes this hard.

Once again, thank God for insurance.

In good news, we've got a date scheduled for B's second surgery, and as long as this little stay in the hospital doesn't change anything, we should get that taken care of prior to me being off of maternity leave. We'll find out more about that on Monday. It all looks positive though, and his surgeon is really happy with how things look for surgery. It's really up to the anesthesiologist if they'll do it - but we're hopeful they won't make us change.

A friend of mine put it well - if you aren't in a crisis, you can be sure you're headed towards one. The Lord has a way of making you appreciate what you have. You don't always understand just how lucky you are until you're going through something like this - and even when you're going through something like this. I know we have a lot going on and don't want to downplay how hard it has been for us, but I have learned by all we've been through just how much harder things could be. Thank the Lord that we're healthy, together, happy, and that everything with B can be and will be resolved in the next few months. We have the Lord and each other, and that's all we need to get through this.

I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of our family through all this. The outpouring of support and love from friends and family has been overwhelming and wonderful. We really appreciate all if it, and are so glad we can count on so many people and know how much we're loved.

B and N

2010-08-27T21:19:00.002-05:00

They're definitely brothers...

B - day 12.

N - day 12.

Both boys at home

2010-08-20T10:03:00.005-05:00

N and B finally got to meet. It was pretty exciting. N is having a little bit of jealousy, but that is pretty much to be expected. Here are some pictures of my little guys...

B playing on his playmat... Trust me, he was looking around.

I should search, because we have a picture of me and N doing almost this same thing his first week home.

N enjoying cinnamon toast for breakfast. Everything looked better for him in the morning. (We don't normally feed him Cheetos either - those are for his "end of summer" party at school.)

Here's B testing out the swing while N eats breakfast. He looks relatively comfortable, I think.

Home at last

2010-08-19T14:18:00.004-05:00

We've had a whirlwind couple of days. As you all probably know from E's previous post, our new little guy arrived on August 12, and everything looked fantastic with him. He was eating well, sleeping well, and generally looked like your regular guy (super handsome, of course).

On the early morning of August 13th, he still hadn't produced any stool yet, so they went to stimulate him to do it (read - take his temperature rectally). At that point they realized that something was a little bit off with our little man. He has something that is referred to as imperferate anus. Read about it on Wiki, I'll spare the details here. Because of this particular defect, they had to stop all feeds and hook him up to an IV. He was transported to Children's Medical Center of Dallas where they performed an emergency colostomy to enable him to pass stool. Needless to say, both E and I were stunned, terrified, insert-proper-adjective-here scared for B. This isn't something that can be seen in an ultrasound or any testing while they're in utero, so this was a complete shock to us. Plus, abdominal surgery on your child who is one day old is not exactly the thing you're expecting when you go into labor. He was in the NICU at Children's until yesterday afternoon, when we were discharged (hence the delay in posting).

B made it through surgery just fine, and now is wearing a colostomy bag on his side for a while. He'll undergo two more surgical procedures. The first will create an anus for him and connect all of his bowels properly so that he can go to the bathroom normally, but will leave the colostomy in place. This is so he can have an opportunity to heal before he starts pooping regularly. He'll then undergo a third surgery to remove the colostomy and reconnect everthing. This whole process will take about six months, give or take, depending on how he's doing and growing.

In addition to this, they did a number of tests at the hospital to check for things in the VACTERL association of birth defects (read at your own risk, it sounds WAY scarier on Wikipedia than what he's got going on). Essentially there are seven defects that are associated with each other, but a child with one may have some of the others, all of the others, or none of the others. They aren't really sure. But just in case, they checked him out for all of them. B exhibits a oddity in his kidneys - they both function totally normally, but instead of being on the left and right side of his back, they're both on the right. I'm thinking this gives him superpowers later in life if anyone tries to kidney punch him on the left. It was a relief to find out that even though they show an oddity, they are working perfectly, so it's just an interesting thing to know. In addition to that, one of his lumbar vertebre is shaped like a sacral vertebre, or something like this. This is something else the doctors are so not worried about, but because he shows it and the kidney thing in addition to the imperforate anus, he technically shows three of the seven characteristics of VACTERL, so he technically has this association. However, after his additional surgeries none of this should be a problem.

It's been pretty amazing how many people have reached out to us as either being related to someone who had this, knowing someone who had this, or had this themselves. It was an amazing relief to talk to a friend of ours who confided to us that she was born with this defect and we never knew it. She made us KNOW that B can have a perfectly normal life. We've just got to get through the next few months.

The good news for us is that after the next two surgeries, B should be like any other little boy. Right now he's wearing his bag, but it's not too terrible to deal with. We're really lucky in that his daycare is willing to work with us on this - so hopefully we won't have too many issues there. We were really concerned with how everything would work with me going back to work, but it sure sounds like they're going to be okay working with us on this - especially given that it's temporary.

B is otherwise a healthy little man. He's a week old today, and he looks fantastic. When he's dressed you can't even tell that he's any different than any other baby. His big brother is interested in him. I'm not sure that N really knows what to think, but he doesn't seem entirely opposed to the idea of having a little guy join our brood.

Please keep us in your prayers as we go through this. It's going to be a tough couple of months, but look at that guy? How can you not love that little face. He's perfect.

Impatience is a virtue ... but only if you're small

2010-08-12T21:14:00.009-05:00

Hello again blogging world, this is E. A is taking a moment and relaxing after a busy day. As is the long standing custom, I write a special blog on the day of our son's arrival into the world. Yes that's right, B has arrived and is currently doing a very good impression of a Qdoba burrito on display since he is swaddled snugly in a blanket and is currently residing behind a sneeze proof piece of plastic.

First of all, here are the important details. It was the magical time of 8:14 AM when our little man joined the air breathing population on this hot hot day of August 12. He's 7 lbs and 1 oz of large headed German/Italian offspring. He measured out at 19.5 inches and has a beautiful head of baby hair. We don't know if he's going to keep all this hair like his brother did, but hopefully he does.

Now it's time for me to relate how the events came to be. For the past couple of weeks, A had been going to the baby doctor and getting checked out on Wednesdays. I've been attending since they could say at any moment, "Get thee to the hospital!" to A. Of course I would have no choice but tag along and be useless like the last time. For further details of the "last time" see my past post exactly 15 months ago.

So we're in the Dr.'s office and A is being examined and they have good news - A has started dilating. Not much but we were told it was enough to signify that something is about to happen in about 1.5 weeks or less. Really? A's due date is in 1.5 weeks and you're telling us that something is going to happen in less than or equal to 1.5 weeks. Wow! It's like we got one of those magic cards out of Zoltar from the movie "Big." It has to be true. They can predict the future! Honestly people. We just payed money for someone to tell me that the inevitable event that has a very predictable deadline is going to happen at most by the ... deadline. Again, wow.

After this stunningly brilliant observation we wrap up the appointment and I trot off back to work so that I can get a few more hours in. A is doing great and I have nothing to worry about. She's been taking the week off because the new work policy allows her to take up to 4 weeks prior to the due date off. She went for 2 weeks prior because it made more sense to her. In her "down" time she, planted a tree, mulched the flower beds, reorganized the kitchen, reorganized a tv cabinet, got her car detailed (it was very dirty and had a few hundred cheerios rolling around in it), ran a dozen other small errands, worked out daily, trimmed the hedges, filled out a mountain of paperwork to go on baby leave, and several other things that I can't remember. She did all this in 3 days.

I get home in time to help A finish up dinner with N and put him to bed. I notice A is having some discomfort so I ask her what's wrong. She says "just cramping." I'm a dude, I don't get cramps down there, and if you read the blog from 15 months ago you will realize that A was induced when N was born so we didn't have the prior experience of knowing what these cramps meant. I'm currently guessing Braxton Hicks, but I asked if they were coming at regular intervals. A didn't know. As part of my job as baby daddy, I am supposed to be the keeper of the watch and note any patterns that might emerge from "cramps" that would indicate the inevitable event given a 1.5 week deadline might actually be occurring now. 21 minutes later we realize that these "cramps" are coming at 7 minute intervals. We start gathering our things to go, I call my mother who lives over an hour away to come watch our son while we go to the hospital. Another few minutes go by and the "cramps," or as other women of the world call them CONTRACTIONS, are still coming at about 6-7 minutes apart. Now A goes to the restroom and I hear something bone chilling. "I'm bleeding - quite a bit."

I make the executive decision to not wait for the official baby sitter to show up. Instead I grab A's phone and dial our wonderful neighbor up to come and baby sit for a few minutes. Our neighbor, S, stepped up to the plate and graciously offered to watch N so we could take off sooner. Needless to say, we were off. During the pregnancy I had but a few small jobs assigned to me: 1. keep the daily ice cream supply flowing to the pregnant woman, 2. time contractions, 3. haul booty to the hospital. I usually don't drive in a hurried fashion, but I was now. I may have run a red light or two on this journey, but they didn't have cameras on them so I guess we'll never know.

We get checked in, assigned to a room at around 9PM, and A finally gets checked out. Luckily the "quite a bit" of blood she noticed was just due to the fact that she had dilated very quickly and was now in good old fashioned, natural, non-induced labor. I'm personally relieved and glad to know both A and the baby are doing OK. A then asks for the magical cocktail known from far and wide as the epidural. We hear "no problem, you'll get one in about 30 minutes." The legal drug dealer was currently involved in another operation and had to stay there until it was over in case of any problems.

I start chatting to A about random things to help her focus on something other than her pain. We make phone calls, do some texting, and she grimaces with every contraction. A long 2 hours go by. A asks again for the epidural. Again, "30 minutes" was the response. 40 minutes later the nurse comes in and offers A a different painkiller to help her before the epidural can be administered. Whatever they gave A had a few side effects that weren't desirable. I found myself with a new job this time as official spit bucket holder. It's not as glamorous as you'd think. I would much rather be spewing inept prognosis of "you'll have your baby by your due date." 20 minutes later, A gets her epidural. She was 9 cm dilated by this time. Another cm and it would be time to stop mucking around with needles and start pushing out babies. I'm not pleased right now, but A seems to be very happy and relaxed so I just drop the subject of my wife sitting around and suffering for 3 hours.

Now, last time A pushed for over 3 hours. She made quite a name for herself among the nurses at the hospital as well she should have. If you can imagine going to the gym and performing some kind of weight lifting maneuver that strained every fiber of your being and then doing that lift every 2 minutes for 3 hours, then that's what she did. My wife is kind of a legend around here. Two nurses that were on shift 15 months ago came by to see the amazing pregnant woman again. Given the past issue of having to actively push for such a long time and since she and the baby were doing fine, A was allowed to labor down and let nature take it's course. This meant we got to catch some sleep and wake up in the morning and then get the show on the road. So I slept and A dozed for a few hours.

When it was time, to start pushing we stupidly asked "how long will this take?" "30 minutes" was again the response. It took about 40 and I was happy that I didn't have to punch the Dr. that told us 30 square in the face because we both like her. I wanted to go get my eldest son N and bring him down to see his mom and little brother B after everyone was all cleaned up, but not if they were going to be moving us from one room to the other. I wanted to stay and help A out with that. At 2PM I asked how long that would take and again was told "30 minutes." I decided to wait until after the move. 3.5 hours later we were moved and it was too late to go get my boy and bring him over because it was getting on to bed time for him.

I am currently presented with quite a paradox. I could either go find the individuals who can't give me an honest estimate of time and kick them in the pancreas or find Stephen Hawking and explain to him that at this hospital there is a non linearity in time that must be studied which would lead to tremendous advances in the understanding of the universe. Both will probably lead me to some sort of detention either in a jail cell or insane asylum.

Instead I choose to leave you now and go to sleep. But not before I post some pictures of our new lad.

Captain Adherent and me

2010-08-05T19:48:00.003-05:00

After three weeks I'm now finding it within myself to write about something that happened recently. Why did it take so long, you might ask? Because it has taken me this long to decide to swallow my pride and admit that when it comes to traffic violations in this family, it's me. It's always me. It's always been me. And I suppose, I'm finding, that it will always be me.

Now I will admit, I have not always been the best driver. I wasn't. I drove too fast. I swerved around like an old drunk man in my lane. I texted while driving. I ate a hamburger while talking on the phone and changing lanes in downtown traffic while speeding and trying to balance a open can of soda between my legs. I did not drive while drinking, but pretty much anything that you can legally do in the car even though it isn't a good idea - I did all that. I can't ever remember applying makeup in the car, but that probably happened too.

Fast forward to college when my now-husband and I start dating. Apparently at first he always volunteered to drive not because he was chivolrous, as I thought, but instead because he feared for our lives when I was driving. Because he was still trying to woo me (his word, not mine), it took him nearly two years to muster the courage to say anything. After a few years of me being frustrated with his unrequested advice and his being frustrated with my unwillingness to learn, I can fully admit that I am now a much better driver. I use my blinkers. I no longer go more than 5 miles over the speed limit. I try my very best to be courteous at all times. (And I'll admit that this all happened prior to our children.)

So why then, is it ALWAYS me who gets traffic violations? I KNOW I've been in the car with him when he's sped just a little more than he was supposed to or cut someone off or generally done something unfriendly behind the wheel. Not often, but it happens. Despite this, if there's a ticket coming for something - it's got MY name on it.

So imagine my surprise three weeks ago to get the mail out of the mailbox and find an envelope addressed to my husband from the "City of Rowlett Red Light Camera Enforcement Division". Could it be, I wondered smugly to myself, that the king of all road rules has violated the rule of not running a red light - in an intersection with a CAMERA? I am feeling a little full of myself and a bit more pleased about this than I really probably should. Not because it was HIM, but for ONCE, it WASN'T ME!

I leave the envolope innocously on the counter until he gets home from work. As we're going through the mail he gets a concerned look on his face and I know he can see me watching him open this envelope - ALMOST with a little glee. I know he's annoyed with himself and probably super upset to have broken his years and years of clean driving record.

Until we see the picture. That's MY car. At 5:03 pm. At THAT particular intersection. On THAT day. There's no way there was ANYONE in the car but...

ME.

Dammit.

Turns out if you've got two names on the car and they live at the same place, if you run a red light they just send it to the first name on the list. Doesn't matter who it was.

Except it's ALWAYS me.

Again - dammit.

Biking and swimming

2010-08-02T19:42:00.004-05:00

My guys lead an active lifestyle, even if it is 104 degrees outside!

A true Texan

2010-07-24T21:44:00.006-05:00

We've had a very stereotypical weekend for Texans so far. After a bit of horseback riding...

We had a dinner of BBQ ribs, mashed potatos, and green peas.

Mmmmmm, BBQ...

After all that action it's necessary to wash it down with a big cup of milk.

Milk makes for a good skin treatment too.

It's been a good weekend tater.

Too sexy for my shirt

2010-07-19T19:31:00.005-05:00

I'm forever posting pictures of my kiddo being adorable - smiling, laughing, generally happy and content. Well, all this is true. He is generally happy and content. But for those of you who never think we have our share of parenting challenges - here is a recent picture of N throwing a tantrum after being told he wasn't allowed to do something. Note the furrowed eyebrows.

It wasn't all grumpiness that night though. He was modeling the new diapers his Gigi got for him. They're the Huggies Jeans Diapers. We're a Pampers family, but I've got to give Huggies credit, these are pretty dang cute.

He's even got pockets!

We've entered the phase where he prefers being naked to clothed. He is especially interested in his belly - belly button in particular. Could it be because our bellies look remarkably similar right now? Maybe.

Who can blame him?

2010-07-13T19:45:00.003-05:00

Today when I picked up N from school, they sent home something called a "Biter Report". As you might think, this is a report that they send home with children who bite. The report has the name of the biter, the date/time of the "incident", the classroom that it happened in, the situation that caused the "incident", and the steps they took to correct the situation.

So we get one of these reports today. It's upsetting. I'm concerned, naturally, that I'm going to have biter of the classroom on my hands. That is, until I talk to N's teacher and actually read the description of the situation. Verbatim, the report says this (well, with the exception of putting his whole name instead of just "N"):

N was eating lunch when a friend was sticking her finger in his mouth so he bit down on their finger.

Seriously? I'm getting a report because N bit someone who put their hand inside his mouth? I asked his teacher if this was something we needed to be concerned about - him being the biter and all - and apparently it's not really something to be concerned about. Apparently half of his class got biter reports today.

E pointed out that if you climb in the lion's cage at the zoo and the lion eats you, the lion doesn't get a biter report. I countered with the fact that typically the lion gets put down in that situation.

We figure that it's worth teaching him not to bite - even when provoked. The last thing I need is to have a toddler who has to get put down due to eating a classmate.

Look at this guy - he's adorable.

Splash time!

2010-07-08T20:07:00.013-05:00

N is a water baby. He pretty much LOVES the water. Here are some pictures of him playing in his water table. Of all the toys, he favors the penguin.

B's room

2010-07-01T20:33:00.005-05:00

We finally finished B's room. He's all decked out in different modes of transportation. We're pretty happy with the way his room turned out. Check it out!

C's first birthday

2010-06-28T19:38:00.007-05:00

This past weekend my nephew C celebrated his first birthday. We drove down to Pearland to celebrate with the family. It was really fun to see everyone and the boys had a great time.

Check out the awesome cake J made for C. She's super talented. (For reference, see the cake she made N for his birthday!)

Here C and N are trying out one of C's presents - a Lightning McQueen ride-on toy. C is a great cousin and let N have a try.

Can you tell which toddler is which from behind? They're so alike, they could be twins. (N is in the blue shorts, if that helps.)

C took N to the park to check out the venue for the party as a preview. Here they are in the wagon checking things out.

The whole thing just wore our little man out. He was zonked out the entire way home. We had a blast - thanks for having us to my brother and his family! We're so happy for you C!

A taste of things to come?

2010-06-28T19:25:00.005-05:00

N: *Bam bam bam* (The sound a Tonka truck makes when being pounded into a window by a 13.5 month old boy)

E to N: "No N. We don't bang trucks into the window. Here, drive the truck on the floor instead." picks up toddler, puts him on the fancy-schmancy rug with roads all over it for car-driving purposes

N: Stands up, looks pointedly at both parents pointedly, toddles to the window, raises his arm, raises an eyebrow.

*Bam bam bam*

A to N: Takes truck away and sets it on the floor. Picks up toddler and sets him in front of truck "No buddy. Trucks are for driving on the floor. See how much fun Daddy is having driving that truck?"

N: Rolls out bottom lip, tears welling in eyes

E to N: "See N? This is so fun!"

N: Begins hysterics. (Seriously. You'd think we'd have taken his lifeblood or something. He was crying so hard I thought he might throw up.)

E to A: "Well, if he cries so hard he passes out, at least we know he'll keep breathing."

N, noticing truck: "Bah bah!" Picks up truck and runs it on the floor as if nothing had happened.

----------------------------------
Someone tell me this is not necessarily a sign of things to come with the "Terrible Twos". Is this a preview? Is he testing us? Should I write all these stories down as ammunition for when he's almost 30 and has a baby of his own to deal with so no one forgets this happened?

Big guy

2010-06-24T20:00:00.003-05:00

I know, I know. I've been MIA. You've got to give me a little bit of a break. I've got one very active toddler, one husband, one dog, one GIANT belly (contents = new baby), one job, and assorted other "ones" to deal with. Somehow, someway, I've let the blogging go by the wayside. I promise to try to do better.

To make amends, here's a latest and greatest picture of the little man. He's chowing down on his all-time favorite food, bananas (bahbah - though no one else would know it means banana, we do). He's changed a LOT since his 1st birthday. He's walking now and he has an assortment of words he can say (Mama, Dada, doggie, hi, bye, uh-oh, a variant of thank you, and baby). It's really fun watching him change - I can't believe a year ago at this time we were sitting on the couch, probably nursing, watching reruns of I Love Lucy. It's crazy!

This weekend we're headed to H-town for our nephew C's 1st birthday party. I can't wait to see that guy again (and the rest of the family too). It's going to be super fun. Hopefully I'll stick to the plan and update the blog with pictures when we get back.

Just like in the Grinch

2010-06-12T19:37:00.002-05:00

It's been two years, I finally decided to update the blog background. We're feeling bright and summery, so I moved to something like that.

This morning we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with some very good friends of ours. We all went swimming and then headed to lunch. All this excitement was apparently more than N is used to, because his regular afternoon nap wasn't the typical 1.5-2 hours, but was 3 hours long. He headed to bed early too.

One of the best things about getting to hang out with our friends is getting to talk to my friend E. Given I'm expecting our second, it's nice to talk to her about what it's like to go from one kiddo to two. There's so much to learn. It's always reassuring to hear from her and to know that there's plenty of space in my heart for two kids.

Apparently it's like in the Grinch. Your heart just grows with every kiddo. This is very very good to know. I can't wait to meet Barrett. I'm hoping he and N become the best of friends.

Austin trip

2010-06-02T20:38:00.002-05:00

For Memorial day, we packed up the whole family and headed to Austin to visit my Grammy. My dad and stepmother came up as well and we spent the whole weekend visiting and seeing people. It was really fun. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack the camera so all the pictures of us at the Austin Zoo, N swimming, and all the people we saw are on my dad's camera. Hopefully he'll send some soon so I can post a couple.

I will say that after we got home on Monday we headed to our local pool. I know what you're all thinking. Aren't you preggers? Right? Like 29 weeks or something?

Yes, I totally am. And yes, I pulled on my swimsuit and headed to the pool with E and N. We all swam - me included. It's too hot to not swim. And it turns out that being pregnant doesn't really change the way a bikini fits. It does however, change the way a bikini looks. Don't expect pictures of that anytime soon.

Brave new world

2010-05-22T20:45:00.002-05:00

Since N was born, E and I have really made it a point to maintain having dates with each other. Partially relationship-preserving, partially sanity-saving, and partially a way to accomplish errands that might not otherwise happen, we've really relished our time together. There have been a few nights that we've managed to convince family to watch our little man so that we could head out to dinner or a movie, or heaven forbid, both. For the most part, however, these dates happen on Friday afternoons. See, E and I both work half days on Fridays (typically), but we pay for the entire week of daycare. N is used to spending a whole day at daycare, and we trust these people with him, so rather than rushing to pick him up on Friday afternoons we try to catch lunch together and do something interesting.

These Friday afternoon dates are fantastic. I'd say that we get a good two or three in out of every four weeks, which isn't half bad. However, those elusive nighttime dates where we've managed to convince a family member to come all the way to Rockwall (!) and watch N have been few and far between. Why, you ask, did we not hire someone? I mean, family is wonderful, but couldn't we just hire someone to come out and watch him?

Sure. Of course. But WHO? It's not like we'd trust just ANYONE with our little man. I mean, he's our little guy - the most loved of all children in the entire world (at least, as far as we're concerned). Who exactly was qualified to watch him while we were away? It's not like any old schlub off the street was going to be able to do this. This is our SON we're talking about here.

Turns out one of the teachers in N's class does babysitting on the side. Why we didn't know this before now, I'm not really sure. But here's the thing - she watched him nearly every day for a year, and he LOVES her. We're pretty sure she's qualified. And she's also willing to come out to our house and have us pay her to watch our adorable little man, because guess what? She loves him too. Who wouldn't? He's awesome.

So tonight was the first night we hired someone to come over and watch N while we went out on a date. We went out to sushi (cooked only, calm down preggo food police) and then headed in to Rockwall for the Founder's Day Festival. Little did we know that Robert Earl Keen was performing! So we got to have dinner and watch a concert all while our little guy rested peacefully under the care of someone we trusted. It was fantastic.

E wants to put her on retainer. I don't think it's a bad idea.

Happy 1st (just a few days early)

2010-05-09T18:59:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday little man. We love you.

F & C visit!

2010-05-06T19:40:00.001-05:00

Our friends F & C stopped by for a visit last weekend. It was quick, but we were so happy to see them - all the way from Denver! They're the first of our Denver friends to meet N. He sure liked them! Makes sense - given they're some of our favorite people ever!

Alphagator!

2010-04-28T19:42:00.003-05:00

My friend D has started selling things from Uppercase Living. Check out her website if you're interested. I'm super excited about the things we purchased. We got a chalkboard for N to play with outside his room, a quote that we put in his bathroom, and an alphagator for his playroom. I especially love the alphagator - check him out!

Spring in Texas

2010-04-25T13:06:00.007-05:00

It's springtime in Texas, and we've made the most of the beautiful weekend we just experienced. Yesterday we took N to the Fort Worth zoo and wandered around for hours. He really liked it, but I think he liked looking at the people more than the animals. Everyone had a blast.

Today we took him to the bluebonnet fields just on the outskirts of town for pictures. In Texas every spring tons and tons of wildflowers bloom on the sides of the highways thanks to Lady Bird Johnson. Well, and the weather that is conducive to flower growing. Here are some pictures of us in the wildflowers. Please excuse the squinting - N refuses to wear sunglasses, even though he's got them.

Our new addition

2010-04-21T19:45:00.003-05:00

I remember a time (pre-baby) that blog posts were witty and sharp, full of interesting and exciting observations about my otherwise regular life. Then the baby was born, and the blog quickly turned to more pictures than observations. Now we're expecting our second kiddo, and I can only speculate what life is going to be like after baby numero dos arrives. Maybe all words will stop entirely and you'll have to figure out what's going on in our lives via pictorial interpretation. Regardless, that all remains to be seen.

What doesn't remain to be seen - baby #2's sex! We found out today. Our second kiddo is...

A BOY!

That's right - I'm about to be overrun by testosterone. When we head to the movies later in life, cars and explosions will always win out over romantic comedies. Sports will win over shopping.

I'm partial to cars and explosions. I really like sports.

Needless to say, E and I are excited about this. N and his future little brother will have SO MUCH FUN together. I will be honest, there was a part of me that wanted a little girl. I kind of expected to be disappointed if it wasn't a little girl. But when our doctor turned to us and said, "It's a boy!", disappointment is not the feeling I had. I was elated, exactly the way I felt when we found out what N was.

I can't wait to meet this little man. I hope he's ready to be loved more than he can even imagine.

Facelift!

2010-04-15T19:54:00.006-05:00

When E and I moved into our house, one of the first things we wanted to do was paint the walls. Bring a little life to the place. However, after thinking it over, we found ourselves paralyzed at the thought of painting the living room ourselves. 22 foot ceilings! How in the world were we supposed to handle that? Scaffolding? This all sounded too complicated. Then we thought about potentially hiring people to do this job for us, but given we didn't have any glowing recommendations, we didn't really know where to begin. Well, we got distracted somehow (had a baby) and sort of forgot about the whole thing. Fast forward a year, and we remembered. We finally sought out recommendations. We hired people to paint our tall ceilings. They did in two days what would have taken us potentially months and months. And we L-O-V-E it. It's fantastic. Here are pictures of our recent home facelift.

Now here's a random picture of N because apparently at this point in my life no post is complete without him. Check out the fantastic use of sippy cup. He's getting good!

N & C playtime

2010-04-12T19:50:00.009-05:00

This weekend N insisted that we go south to visit his cousin. He was right - it had been since Christmas that we'd seen my nephew, so we decided to make the trip. We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law, and the rest of the family came up to visit. We had a great time, and it was so fabulous to see everyone. Here are some pictures of the boys playing together.

Three generations! My son, my brother, and my dad...

E's helping C fly here.

This is relatively new. N has started mixing elephant walk into his regular crawl. Everyone keeps telling me that it's a sign of walking to come, but we'll just have to see.

Neither of them can walk yet, but they spent all weekend trying. Look how happy N is to see C coming!

They spent the whole weekend pushing that stool around the kitchen. It was super noisy, but they were having such a good time that it was hard to want to take it away.

Here they are sharing snacktime.

Easter 2010!

2010-04-04T19:18:00.009-05:00

We had our first egg hunt this weekend! It was actually more like an egg pickup, since they weren't particularly hidden or anything, but I think N enjoyed it and it was really nice to get outside.

Here N and I are getting ready to head out on Easter morning.

E and N ready for Easter celebrations.

N's happy about Easter!

On another note, Easter marks 20 weeks into our pregnancy for baby numero dos. Because this baby is super shy and wouldn't show us the goods at our last visit, we still don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. Our next opportunity isn't until the 21st of this month, so we get to keep everyone in suspense until then. But because it was requested, here's a picture of the baby bump on Easter. After all, this baby is part of the family too.

Building forts!

2010-04-02T19:43:00.002-05:00

E has started building forts for N to crawl around through. We weren't sure he would be interested yet, but he loves it. Clearly!

Plans versus reality

2010-03-26T21:35:00.002-05:00

Today's plan:
* Get up, enjoy leisurely breakfast with family.
* Drop N off at daycare and head to a half day of work.
* Enjoy lunch with the hubby while speculating about new baby's gender.
* Attend sonogram appointment to find out baby's gender.
* Go buy new baby cute coming home from hospital clothes.
* Pick up wonderful happy smiling son, N.
* Enjoy the beautiful day outside together at the park.
* Dinner as a family.
* N goes to bed, head out with some girlfriends.
* Come home and spend time with the wonderful hubby.
* Bedtime for me!

Today's actuality
* Get up, try to get N to take a bottle but he doesn't want it - no fever and still good mood though. Maybe because of hiccups?
* Drop N off at daycare with the warning that he wouldn't eat for us, but is happy otherwise. Head to work.
* Get in car to go to lunch, have message from N's school about baby with potential stomach bug. No fever, so still okay to have lunch, though now both of us worry.
* Finish lunch and receive call from N's school that he's, yes, actually really sick. Head straight to N's school to pick him up.
* Impromptu visit to the pediatrician. Make sure son isn't dehydrated. Swear to doctor that even though N has just eaten 3 oz of formula sitting in her office that he hasn't eaten ANYTHING else all day. Swear.
* Head to sonogram appointment - this time with N. N behaves fantastically the whole time we're in the waiting room.
* Go into actual sonogram appointment. Commence tired baby whining/crying. New baby looks fabulous. All parts of new baby. All parts except the ones that tell us if the new baby is a boy baby or girl baby. Legs firmly crossed. No uncrossing in sight. Leave without knowledge of baby gender, but with now sleeping baby and knowledge of a healthy one on the way.
* Put now sleeping baby in car and head home, skip all shopping.
* E gets emergency call from work. Skip park as family in favor of E going to work and A & N walking the dog around the neighborhood.
* Feed N half a bottle instead of dinner as family.
* Still go out with girls upon husband's insistence. Have very good time recounting weird day, also experience sympathetic words at not being able to know baby's gender yet. Text husband repeatedly to make sure sick baby is fine. And also that he is fine.
* Head home, eat ice cream and blog while watching TV with husband.
* Head to bed.

Not exactly what we expected. However, N will be fine. Someday we'll figure out the new baby's gender. Ice cream is delicious and my husband loves me. Overall, not such a terrible day afterall.

It's nice outside!

2010-03-14T20:23:00.004-05:00

Learning to walk is hard

2010-03-08T19:33:00.000-06:00

At least he's still in a good mood. I might not be if I hit my head hard enough to make a bruise like this. Makes us feel like fantastic parents, but apparently all kiddos go through a number of head bruises like this when they're learning to walk. I can only hope that's true and not a story everyone keeps telling me.

Sitting at the big table

2010-03-02T19:29:00.005-06:00

As of late, N has been eating pretty much whatever we do. Don't get me wrong - he's still eating plenty of baby foods too, but it's been recommended that we let him try pretty much whatever we're having. He seems to like it, but what he doesn't like is sitting away from us in his high chair.

Now, we're making a serious effort here to eat together as a family. I say serious effort, because pre-N all meals were eaten either standing around the sink, sitting on the couch watching TV, or at a resturant where someone else did all the hard work. None of these scenarios really work for the little man, so we've been trying, really trying, to all sit down together and eat - including grace and everything. It's very VERY hard for me and E, but we're doing it for the kiddo.

All that said, N really likes to be near us while we're eating. We bought him a new chair that attaches to the table so that he can sit at the same level with us and be near enough to be dangerous during dinner. (Keep your condiments out of baby reach, is all I'm saying.) Regardless, he LOVES this new chair and sitting at the big table, so here are some pictures of it.

N's ball pit

2010-02-28T19:47:00.003-06:00

We found a ball pit (similar to what you'd find at Chuck E. Cheese) that you could have in your own home recently. We figured N would love it, so we brought it on home. As expected, he couldn't get enough. Sorry for the blurry pictures - he wouldn't sit still long enough to capture a good one. Oh, and he's got a tooth now! I tried to capture it in the second picture, but he's too fast for me.

N's new room

2010-02-21T19:20:00.007-06:00

We recently upgraded N to a big guy room. The new baby will move into his old room, as his old room is approximately four steps closer to the stairs. That may not seem like a big deal, but when the new baby is waking up every four or five hours and N is sleeping soundly through the night I figured four or five steps every few hours would matter to me. Anyway, my friend L has been asking to see pictures of the new digs, so here you go - N's new room. We really like it (even if we still need curtains or something).

Random weekend happenings

2010-02-14T12:08:00.006-06:00

Who would believe we'd get this much snow?

E and N took a short jaunt to take pictures in it. We didn't particularly stock up on baby snow suits, so the amount of time we spent playing in the snow was kind of limited.

N has realized that he can see himself in various reflective surfaces in our house, and being that he is narcissistic this is the best thing ever. He crawls around until he finds himself then proceeds to gaze at his beautiful face for longer than I would have thought possible. I can't say that I disagree with his assessment of handsomeness. I would think he'd be more modest though.

In an effort to slowly transition to table food, we've started giving N whatever we're having. Of all the things he's tried so far, his absolute favorites are yogurt, Honey Nut Cheerios, and meatballs (as in "spaghetti and"). Here he is having breakfast of yogurt and Cheerios. He knows it's going to be a good day.

Heaviest single day snowfall in Dallas history!

2010-02-11T20:46:00.004-06:00

We're experiencing the heaviest snow Dallas has ever seen. People in Dallas don't deal well with snow, much less six to ten inches of it. This morning, I kid you not, I saw a man who had wiped a tiny peephole in front of his driver's side and left his remaining windows covered with snow/ice. I spent ten minutes of my commute trying to avoid him and all his scary driving. Regardless, it's really pretty and we're having fun with it.

Baby part deux

2010-02-09T19:49:00.007-06:00

Arriving August 21, 2010.

We can't wait. Especially N.

After tubes...

2010-02-07T10:48:00.003-06:00

We all made it through tubes. It was stressful, more for me than anyone else, but we made it. N is doing pretty well. He's been running a low grade fever since the whole procedure - but apparently that's super normal and should end after a bit. Something else we've noticed? He seems like he can hear better, which makes for a more delicate sleeping situation. However, he's doing just fine and here are some pictures to prove it.

We got him a box - here he is playing in it.

He loves this box!

Here he is trying to fill E's shoes. He's got a bit of growing to do, but he enjoyed trying.

Tubes

2010-02-04T19:40:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow my tiny tiny baby is going to get tubes. I know that he's not such a tiny tiny baby anymore. And I know that tubes are perhaps the most routine of childhood surgeries. And I know that this team of doctors does hundreds of these a month and it's really no big deal and I shouldn't worry at all.

But that doesn't stop me from worrying. The anesthesiologist just called to talk to me about tomorrow's procedure. He told me all kinds of important things like how long N will be out and exactly what kinds of things are going to happen. I heard "We're going to take your baby from you and knock him out and poke little holes in his ears with sharp pointy things then stick plastic stuff in the holes and then we'll toss him back to you."

I know this is crazy. I know N probably won't know the difference and in the end this is really the best thing because we're all tired of ear infections.

But that doesn't stop me from worrying.

Proof is in the super shaky video

2010-02-02T20:08:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I promised proof of little man crawling. Here it is, although I'll preface with saying that this is super shaky and Zoee kept trying to steal the scene. Regardless, here's our little guy - on the move.

N tries to crawl

2010-01-27T20:02:00.002-06:00

So E has seen him do it, I've seen him do it, even Zoee has seen him do it. The one who hasn't seen him do it? The camcorder. We keep trying, but he's very elusive. Here's a video of him faking me out and playing with a burp cloth instead. Eventually, there will be one of him crawling.

Amazing photographer friend + cutest baby of all time = BEST PHOTOS EVER

2010-01-25T19:58:00.003-06:00

Recently we had our friend M take pictures of us and our little man. Because she's incredible as a photographer and as a person, N took to her instantly and was a champ during his photo shoot. Plus, it helps that N is about the cutest little man I've ever met in my life, so he tries to make it easy to get good shots of him. All this to say we've got some amazing pictures coming. I wish I knew how we were going to pick a subset of all the photos!

To see for yourself, go to www.monikamichelle.com and choose "Proofing" down at the bottom right hand corner. After choosing that, the password to see our pictures is "N8than". Enjoy! (We did! Thanks M, we love them.)

N tries the swings!

2010-01-17T15:04:00.004-06:00

It was a beautiful day here today - so we decided to take N to the park and test out the baby swings. He wasn't sure what to make of them at first - but he seemed to really have a good time after he got used to it. Plus, there were a bazillion other kids at the park today for him to watch. He really likes watching kids. E says it's because he recognizes his own kind.

A change in plans

2010-01-15T15:35:00.003-06:00

Hard to argue with a guy who is always in a good mood.

Today was supposed to be relatively run of the mill. E and I were going to head to work, take off about lunchtime, have a little lunch date and maybe catch a movie, then pick up the little man and hang out with him all afternoon.

Unfortunately, we actually went to work, got called by N's school, picked N up early, headed to the pediatrician (again), headed to the hospital for baby chest X-rays (a first), and then headed to the pharmacy to pick up breathing treatments. Fortunately for us N has RSV - not pneumonia. Also fortunately for us - N is an amazing patient and pretty much goes with the flow. A generally good attitude about everything.

Did I mention we're still finishing up antibiotics for his 5th ear infection? And that we're going to the ENT on Tuesday to discuss tubes for the little guy?

I'm telling you - thank goodness for insurance.

We're in trouble now...

2010-01-10T17:01:00.004-06:00

We're in serious trouble...

We go from this...

To this...

To this!

Let the babyproofing continue!

Jillian and Bob would have a heart attack

2010-01-05T19:52:00.003-06:00

Since we had N, E and I have had to change our extracurriculars a bit. No longer to we just head out to do whatever on any given weeknight all willy-nilly. Since N goes to sleep at about 7 pm, we've got to pretty much stick around the house. We've improvised.

Today we're watching the new season of The Biggest Loser.

And also we're eating Papa John's. Lots of Papa Johns.

And some ice cream.

Jillian would have my head.

Christmas in photos

2009-12-31T09:05:00.014-06:00

We've been having a fabulous holiday. It's been really fun, and here are some photos to sum it up...
N and I went outside during the "snowstorm" and tried to take a picture with all the flakes. Unfortunately all you can take away from this is that it was windy and cold. No visible snow. I promise it was falling. Nothing like Colorado, but hey, this is Dallas. Snow is snow.

Here we are Christmas morning in our Christmas pjs. E felt like this was a tad on the ridiculous side, but at some point we'll have this picture as ammo. Plus, look how cute we are all Christmas-ed up.

Here's N after all the present opening. I mostly love this picture because his eyes are just so dang blue.

After all was said and done, he tended to play with the toys he already had more than anything else. Here he is chewing on something he's had since before he was born. I wish I would have known - we could have wrapped things from around the house! Just kidding...

He did get a new ride on toy that he likes a lot. He doesn't understand how to work it yet, but he really likes sitting on it.

"Whaddya mean I'm going too fast, Dad?"

N preparing for New Year's Eve. He's ready to party!

This is E's favorite picture from the season. See Zoee hiding behind the ottoman? See N, trying to blend in with his camo pants? I think they're practicing for some kind of black op.

Happy New Year everyone!

An experiment

2009-12-23T19:35:00.002-06:00

Yesterday for dinner N had oatmeal with pear and pineapple, green beans, and water. (Plus a bottle - don't freak out baby feeding Nazis. He just gets his bottle after all his solids are done. During dinner he drinks water from a sippy cup.) He ate everything and seemed to enjoy all of it.

Why is this important?

Today for dinner N had oatmeal with mango, green beans, and water. (Again, plus the bottle.) He did not, however, eat and enjoy everything. Yesterday, every bite was followed by a smile, a coo, or some sort of baby babble. It didn't matter. Whatever we stuck in there was perfectly delicious.

Today, not so much. Oatmeal with mango - totally delicious. Green beans - like acid. His response to green beans - Geez, are we trying to kill me or something? What's with the putting deadly things in my mouth like that? Can't you see I'm going to die if you feed me one more bite of the deadly green beans?

Only in baby land this translates to hysterical crying. I seriously thought he was in some kind of dire pain for the first five minutes of dinner until E realized what was going on. We tried an experiment after getting the little guy to chill out for a second.

We alternated bites of cereal and bites of green beans in varying orders and sequences. He quite certainly melted into hysterics with each bite of green beans, and was totally fine with everything else we offered him.

This may all be normal. Some kids don't like green beans. The real question is why he loved them yesterday?

The kid's fickle.

Christmas in Fairfield

2009-12-15T20:20:00.013-06:00

I'll admit that I've been a delinquent blogger lately, but I've got a good excuse. It's the holidays. I'm preoccupied. But we are having fun and here's a photographic montage of our last week or so...

N and C playing friendly together. They're sharing toys in front of the Christmas trees. Basic skills already!

Look at his amazing blue eyes!

Here are N and C hanging out in their MamaQ's lap. They really do seem to like each other a lot.

Look at those smiles. Someone was making them laugh.

Here are N and I opening presents. He didn't really know what to make of all of this, but he did like the new toys.

Here he is ripping (ha!) into a package. He did pretty well, despite needing assistance with the whole process.

Perhaps his favorite new toy is the classic stacking rings. If I knew he was going to love something that cost $5 and didn't light up or make any noise I could have saved a lot of money. E pointed out that these toys must be classics for a reason.

Here is E hanging out with N playing with the rings. He is really a big fan.

Finally, N has started eating teething biscuits as of late. Zoee is extremely jealous of his getting biscuits and not her. Here they are staring each other down. Eventually N gave the leftover cookie to Zoee, but not before dissolving most of in his mouth and getting it most everywhere. Good times had by all.

School picture day

2009-12-02T19:38:00.003-06:00

As I have been the subject of countless horrible school photos (fourth grade, I never want to see you again, same for you seventh), I was very happy to find that my son hasn't carried this gene on. He's apparently an amazing photo subject. Simply pull out the camera and he's posing with a magazine-worthy smile. That whole baby model deal is sounding better and better...

Because he's my kiddo and because I can, I purchased the picture package sold at his school. (They've got a curriculum, even if the most advanced parts of it include learning to sit up on your own and having someone help you smear paint on paper.) The picture package included digital prints, so I'm showing them off to the world. Here's my handsome little man.

It's Christmastime now!

2009-11-29T13:36:00.008-06:00

We just finished a fantastic Thanksgiving week down in Houston with the family. We had a wonderful time with everyone, but after we got home we realized that all of the Thanksgiving pictures aren't on our camera. I'll post some of those whenever I can convince someone to send me some. In lieu of those pictures, here are some of my family preparing for Christmas.

N LOVES our Christmas tree. He's a wonderful Santa, but it's hard to get him to pay attention.

N loves hanging out in E's chair with him. Here they are chilling out.

When he can hang out in the buff he tries to. He's not just pulling socks these days - he tries to take it all off. I'm concerned I've got a streaker on my hands. A naked baby at the very least.

Here's our tree. It's all set up at the bottom of our stairs. I think it looks pretty good for a first iteration. Special thanks go to J for helping me pick out ornaments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-24T08:43:00.002-06:00

Six months!

2009-11-17T19:56:00.008-06:00

How is N six months old already? Check out his latest moves... He's a sitter now! (And apparently really happy about it. Disco moves.)
Sometimes I think he's shocked that he's capable of doing this.

To celebrate his six month birthday, he went to bed as usual and E and I shared a glass of wine. (With baby monitor.)

He's also starting to learn the sippy cup procedure. He's terrifically bad at it, but he likes to play with the cup nonetheless. He gets some out of it - but he's not overly thrilled with the juice/water mixture. (3/4 water, 1/4 juice - we call it wuice.) I figure he'll get into it as he gets better with the cup.

Last, Promised Land Dairy has released their holiday flavors. I've never tasted milk so fantastic. It's like a milkshake, but it's 2%! On top of that - cinnamon vanilla! Come on, it's like heaven.

Can I get a witness?

2009-11-16T19:24:00.002-06:00

911 operator: 911, what is your emergency?

Me: Um, I just witnessed a car accident. On Forest Lane near Garland High School.

911 operator: Were you in the accident, ma'am?

Me: Er, no. I just saw this one car change lanes into this other car. Do I need to go back? I left the scene.

911 operator: No ma'am. It would be helpful if you could tell me what happened though.

Me: Well, the tan car swerved into the black SUV. You're sure I don't have to go back or something? I don't really want to - I'm running late.

911 operator: No, really, you're fine. Just give me your name and telephone number so the insurance companies can contact you if necessary.

Me: Okay. Here they are. And really, I'm not going to get a ticket or something?

911 operator: You're sure you weren't actually IN the accident?

Me: Oh yes, I just saw the whole thing.

911 operator: You're fine. Really. Thanks for calling.

Me: Right. Uh, yeah. No problem.

Baby bellies - a new delicacy

2009-11-10T21:03:00.002-06:00

I've recently found the best way to make N laugh. It requires chowing down on his belly, but he LOOOVES it. See the above.

Things I never expected to do

2009-11-09T20:00:00.002-06:00

Last week I had to head to DC for work. It was the first time I'd left N at home overnight without me. I was terrified. I think the whole thing was much more traumatic for me than for E or N. Or Zoee, for that matter. How could my little man really survive without me for a week? Seriously? He doesn't need me overnight?

E pointed out that he sleeps overnight. Really. For like 10-11 hours. (I know, we're super lucky.) I guess he really doesn't need me to sit around waiting for him to wake up, so really the worry was unmerited. He didn't forget me either and E had a good time with all the male bonding. It was good for all of us.

What I never expected to do was flash pictures of my child at random strangers. I was sitting at the Jet Rock cafe in terminal C of Washington Reagan airport when the woman next to me asked how my burger was. I told her it was tasty, and the next thing I knew she and I were commiserating over a beer about our children, breastfeeding on business travel, and how weird it is to be able to just sit and have a meal without any demands on you, even if it is in the airport terminal. By the time we finished our burgers I knew that her name was Pam, she had two kiddos, she worked construction, and she was from Pueblo, CO. She had seen six pictures of N, learned about my plans for breastfeeding, and knew that my husband was doing a great job with our kiddo.

It was a little weird, but at least it took my mind off the torturous hours until I could actually get home. And hey, if I ever make it to Pueblo I know I could look her up and get shown around.

Super Sick

2009-11-01T16:45:00.002-06:00

This is E. I just wanted to put a non cute post up because ... well because I can. Clostridium Perfringens, A.K.A the "Buffet Germ." It struck A and me. Friday evening and let me tell you that food poisoning is something horrible. I haven't been that sick since I was 10. If I had to equate this to a similar feeling it was like I went out and drank heavily for 5 days straight but didn't get to have any of the fun and all of the bad after effects happened over the coarse of 6 hours. The next morning felt a lot like the scenario I just described as well, but that's getting me too far out of my timeline.

A and I had a nice date on Friday. I had been working a lot and finally had caught a break in my schedule. Besides, who wouldn't want to go out and have lunch with a beautiful woman while our childcare needs were being taken care of by paid professionals? So out to lunch and around town we went. 6 PM came around and I had to lie down while A took care of feeding N. 8 PM came around and I had to go talk to the comode. A was feeling pretty good at around 7:45 and decided to have a turkey sandwhich; the smell of said sandwhich drove my stomach over the brink.

My sweet, sweet wife was trying to take care of me, but I thought I had the flu or something contagious so I kept shooing her away so that there would be one unsick adult capable of taking care of Mr. N. 9 PM rolled around and A found out that a turkey sandwhich wasn't such a good idea. We were a sad and pathetic couple. Luckily we have 2 bathrooms on the first floor of our house. This was very fortunate indeed. At around 2 AM we both started feeling better. By better I mean we were all out of fluids to expel and no longer felt like we had to do a 5 yard dash to the bathroom every 30 minutes. If the 3 AM mark had rolled around I think I would have had to play the "Grandma come get my baby because I'm too sick to change a diaper let alone hold my head up for 15 seconds" trump card. But no such card play was needed.

N was fine and not traumatized by our neglect in any fashion. He slept like a baby throughout our entire episode. A and I managed to keep our sense of humor through the night as well. Several jokes were made and we even had a "Whose trip to the bathroom was the worst" contest at one point. The judges declared it a tie.

The next day was Halloween and Nonna, Pops, and Gigi came to see N in his outfit. We pawned off as much N duty as possible on them. They were happy to do it and we were happy to allow them the opportunity.

Besides the grandparents taking care of N the next day, I have to say the next best thing to have happen is that our diets are going AWESOME. I lost like 5 pounds in one day!!!

N's first Halloween

2009-11-01T11:47:00.004-06:00

This weekend we celebrated Halloween with the family. Pops and Gigi came up and Nonna came down. We all had a good time - especially N. He LOVES flirting with people, so getting out and having a ton of people ooh and ahh over his cute monkey suit was right up his alley. Here he is at Rockwall's Scare on the Square grinning his little head off.
There's only so much he can handle before he needs a nap though. He took a break from trick or treating for a little nap.

We had a good time. It was great to see the parents and N loved all the attention. Successful first Halloween!

Too cute for words

2009-10-25T15:41:00.001-05:00

Just couldn't resist... The cutest thing ever. To date anyway.

N buffs up

2009-10-25T11:26:00.005-05:00

It's been getting chilly in the Big D lately, and we weren't entirely prepared. We didn't have an appropriate hat for N - so he borrowed one of E's for a while.
Needless to say, it was a tad on the large size.

We purchased him a hat of his own, which I totally think is way cuter. Maybe overkill, given it's whole deerstalker ear flap formation, but I couldn't pass up the super cute pompom on the top. I think he's annoyed with the whole thing, but he's learning to love it.

Finally, he's been training for all the running he plans on doing soon in his jumparoo. He LOVES the jumparoo. Who knew? The best part of the video is the last five seconds or so. He REALLY gets into it.

Rolling prowess

2009-10-18T20:30:00.002-05:00

Here's proof that N can go from his back to his belly and then from his belly to his back all on his own. It takes a bit because he kept flirting with the camera and not focusing on what he was doing. He does it though - good work N!

Dear BOA

2009-10-18T11:52:00.002-05:00

Dear Bank of America,

When a retailer reports that they've had hundreds of credit card numbers stolen and that mine is among them, I appreciate your proactive measures to prevent it's misuse. Specifically preventing anyone else from using it. But not EVERYONE from using it. Namely me. I need to use it.

Or at the very least tell me you're cancelling it and that my new cards are on the way. Don't let me go to the SuperTarget with my napping baby to buy groceries/diapers/toliet paper for the first time in four weeks, spend an hour wandering around picking up everything we need (and a good amount we don't need) and then trying to use my card (which you have thoughtfully cancelled for me) and having it be declined. Should SuperTarget hold on to all of my things? I have no idea why you won't let me use my card, BOA. I leave, without any of the numerous things I need (and don't need). And now my baby is awake too. How I am supposed to go back and get all of those things now, BOA?

I appreciate your fruad department making me wait 30 minutes to talk to them (32 minutes, to be exact, according to my cell phone) before you tell me how helpful you've been. But honestly, couldn't you have called? Emailed? Posted it on my online statement so when I paid my card off yesterday (before I went shopping, may I point out) I could have known it was cancelled?

BOA, you've been wonderful to us most all the time. I just really was pretty embarrassed telling the Target checkout lady that, no, I didn't happen to have another card on me. I've got a diaper and some wipes, does that help? A change of clothes for a 5 month old? Maybe my driver's license? I've got a diaper bag and two cards lady! (In retrospect, this was maybe poor planning on my part, but I honestly didn't think I needed anything else.) I hope we can be friends again soon. And thanks for letting me use my card until the new ones get here. It means my baby doesn't have to go around sans diaper for the next three days. Now I just have to wait until afternoon nap time to try and venture out again. Should I go back to the same Target? At least I know where everything I want is located.

Love,
me

There's a reason...

2009-10-15T20:34:00.002-05:00

There's a reason that God made there be two parents and one baby... This is hard work for just one parent.

Both N and I will be happy when E gets back from his "business" trip in Anaheim. Sure, business. I'm guessing he's out riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain.

Okay, he's actually out there presenting all sorts of scientific and inspirational stuff. He's brilliant and sharing that with all kinds of people. And not really going to Disneyland. But I totally would if I were out there with him. Man, it would be great to go to Disneyland, especially now that we've got a son to justify doing some of the things that are considered "just for kids".

Come home E, we miss you!

N gets a boost

2009-10-13T20:19:00.007-05:00

N is getting more and more interactive. His five month birthday was yesterday, and in honor of that, here are some pictures of him. He's super duper handsome. Just look at those baby blues. I think they're defintely going to stay blue. I've swooned a little just now. Good thing I'm already married. Well, and we're related, so I'm pretty sure that's illegal and all. All I'm saying is he's handsome. Geez.
He's started making this new face - all the time. I don't know if his bottom lip is especially tasty or something, but he tastes it all the time. E decided to try it with him.

N loves his Exersaucer. He really likes to spin around and look at all the different toys. Check him out, playing. Okay, so he's still a little short, so we gave him a boost with a book about animals. He likes to read the book and to stand on it too. It's perfect for this purpose, but he can't wear socks while standing here. His feet just slip off, so we let him go barefoot.

If he looks shocked it's because I won't stop flashing the camera in his face. I stopped after this and we played with his toys. He really likes that one in the front where he can spin the wheels around and make noise. Noise is awesome.

N's baptism

2009-10-04T13:48:00.010-05:00

This weekend the whole family (and some friends) came in for N's baptism. It was kind of a big production, complete with little white tuxedo and everything. It's not quite a wedding, but when you're only two feet tall and can't quite walk yet, you don't really need a dancing reception after. A party at home works just fine. Anyway, here N is getting some pointers from E on how to handle being in front of the whole church. I think he was taking it pretty seriously, understanding the whole scope of what he was taking on and all that.

Here's N getting ready to be baptized - E is doing a good job of holding him. Check out his godparents (my brother and E's sister) in the background.

Like a wedding, you do all the family pictures after. Here's me and E with N and both sets of my parents (MamaQ and Grumps and Pops and Gigi). Check out N's fantastic white tux. He was a real ladies man. The only guy getting baptized with four little ladies - he was definitely flirting with everyone, which seemed a little inappropriate given the importance of the whole event, but what can you say to a five (almost) month old?

Here we are again with E's parents (Nana and Granddad).

Here we are with the godparents...

Here's a picture with my dad, my brother, and my Grammy. Somehow my sister-in-law, N's cousin C, and my sister managed to avoid all these pictures, though I'm not entirely sure how.

After all this church-y-ness, we headed back to my house where the boys promptly went to bed and the rest of us threw a party in their honor. My dad grilled shrimp, E made fantastic potato tortes, there was more dessert than any reasonable person could handle, and everyone had fun. Then, like the good exhausted new parents we are, the whole thing wound do so that we could be in bed by 10 pm. We still can live it up, just not quite as late as we used to...

A cuckoo clock?

2009-10-01T20:19:00.002-05:00

See me, sitting in my office, door locked, pumping breastmilk and working away. (Remember, my pump makes a pheew whump noise?) Very busy. Very efficient. Bottles balanced on my knees, crouched over the keyboard, hiding behind my locked door. Thinking this isn't all that bad, actually, because I'm getting a lot done and not getting interrupted.

*ring ring*

---
A: Hello? pheew whump

Coworker: Hey! I'm at an offsite but here's some info you needed

A: Oh thanks. That's super helpful! I'm gld that you called! pheew whump

Coworker: Do you have a cuckoo clock in your office?

A: No, why? pheew whump

Coworker: Do you hear that noise? It sounds like a cuckoo clock going off. Maybe it's the connection.

A: Er, yeah, probably just the connection. pheew whump

---
Pumping at work is an adventure.

Our little monkey

2009-09-28T19:52:00.008-05:00

So this past weekend we had some birthday celebrations... They involved sushi, a wine party, and generally a bunch of things I wasn't allowed to do while I was pregnant. I had some delicious cupcakes (see below) and the best gift EVER from my loving hubby. He handed me a couple of earplugs, turned off the baby monitor, and tucked me in before marching out to sleep on the couch and listen for baby nighttime needs. A night of full uninterrupted sleep... Something I never thought I was going to be so desparate for. It was amazing. He must truly love me.
My little man had a birthday gift for me too, albiet a little belated. Not to jinx it, but last night he slept from 7 pm until 5:15 am all on his own. No parental involvement whatsoever. I hope this continues - but who knows.

In other news, we're all ready for Halloween here. Our little guy is going to properly represent as a little monkey. I think he's about as adorable as they come in his little outfit, but you be the judge. He's even got a banana. Which he really does chew on. Yum. Cloth banana.

Interesting - N is about the same size as his stuffed monkey. They look eerily similar when he's all suited up.

Even E agrees that this is a fabulous costume - and he's not typically all that into costumes and whatnot. But check out that face. He's awesome! (Also note that he's a tiny clone of E. E is super handsome, so that's totally fine with me.)

Tah-dah!

2009-09-20T14:27:00.002-05:00

Immediately after this I walked out of the room to get ready to leave. E swears that he rolled back the other way (for real, without help) while I was out of the room. We'll have to get a video of that later - this one alone took weeks to capture!

N does cereal!

2009-09-19T14:48:00.002-05:00

Yum!

After N's four month checkup they cleared us to try rice cereal. The little man can't totally decide what he thinks of it, but at least he's a pretty willing participant. Here's one of our first attempts at filling him with what looks to me like dry ground up cardboard mixed in lots of milk. I'm quite sure I wouldn't love it, so who can blame him? I'm pretty sure he'll like it better when he gets to try more interesting things - like peaches, avocados, and bananas. These were apparently favorites of mine, so maybe he'll feel the same way.

I'm still trying to get a video of him rolling over. He can be rolling and rolling, but as soon as the video comes out he stops doing much of anything and stares at the camera. He's a ham, what can I say?

Baby care stats

2009-09-19T11:54:00.003-05:00

Duration of parenthood = approximately 4 months (or 13 months, depending on if you count the pregnancy or not)
Baby colds contracted = 2 for A, 0 for E, 3 for N
Breastfeeding problems dealt with = 2 for A, N/A for E, 0 for N
Diapers changed = approximately 5 million (divided evenly between A and E, 0 for N)
Ear infections = 1 for N (0 for A and E)
Toes discovered = 10 for N (0 for A and E - we already knew where they were)
Smiles bestowed = Enough to make us fall in love a billion times

And the latest and greatest...

Pinkeye problems = 1 for A, 0 for E and N

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Pinkeye? Really? I thought I had at least until first grade to wait for this. But nope. Apparently a kid in N's school has pinkeye, and through the magic of breastmilk protection he's immune somehow. But he's like a carrier monkey. Brought it on home and poked it right in my little eye. Now I can't spy much of anything with it, short of puffy eyelids and reddish sclera. Good thing I like this little guy. Also good that I've already experienced the chicken pox.