Friday, December 31, 2010

Goodbye 2010

Well.... so much for blogging over my holiday break.  Here it is, 9:30 on New Year's Eve and I haven't bothered to take the time to post about our Christmas adventures and 2010 is about to wrap up in 2.5 hours.  I did, however, get the Christmas pictures up on Flickr.  See, take a look over there ----> Yep, on the side bar.  Christmas pictures!  I know, I know, not very informative.
I really should write a longer post about all of our wonderful Christmas adventures.  Needless to say, it was a busy couple of days that included multiple trips to Kat's and a visit with my parents and lots and lots of wrapping paper.  The boy child got lots and lots and lots of things.  Some things he'll play with for quite some time to come, others will not, but it all depends on his mood.  I, personally, appreciate all of them.  It still amazes me how many people want to show how much they love my son by buying him things.

Anyhow, tonight is the last night of 2010.  I won't lie, I'll be glad to see this year end.  Maybe not in the same way as I was glad to see 2007 end, but glad none the less.
There have been lots of ups and downs and while the ups have been very high ups, the downs have been equally far down this year.  There has been no such thing as just cruising right along this year.

It started off on a fairly good note.  Boo was 19 months old and happy and everything was great.  Then, by the spring we saw our first challenges.  Yes, around February or so is when the whole drama with the old apartment started and it didn't wrap up until August or there abouts.  I'm so glad that chapter is closed forever and ever.

We had plenty of adventures of the good kind this year.  We went to Knoebles a couple of times including for Zoe's birthday, and the beach and even went camping once or twice.  We definitely had our fun this year, even if a lot of time it was on a pretty thin budget.

We had plenty of great people in our lives as well, including some new ones that we only just got to know this past year, but have become a large part of our life.  There was lots of time spent with Kat and Zoe, Andy, Scott and the newest members of our "little" clan, Steph and her two kids.  Without friends, life would be pretty poor.  Their life has been a super roller coaster and I wish them the best for the coming year.

Boo has grown so much and just exploded verbally and physically in his abilities.  He's growing by leaps and bounds with every breath.  For that I am so very thankful.  It really is amazing to think that he only turned two this June, and that it's been two years already!  There may be days when he drives me to wits end, but I remind myself that at this age, it's his job.  There was all that bath trouble that started in the spring.  (And it's still there, but at least we can usually get through a bath with no screaming... no sitting, but no screaming either.... I'll take what I can get.)  (There are too many Boo related posts for me to choose my favorites to link....)

Wok has had it's own adventures this year.  Some good, some bad, many just every day and stressful at the time.

Well, that's about all I have to say about this year.
I hope that next year is even better with the ups, and not so tough with the downs.  It looks like it'll be starting off on a good note though.  Tomorrow afternoon, the boys and I, along with my mom will be meeting up with Michelle and her aunt Eileen in Baltimore.  Michelle's been home from Canada since the 23rd and we're finally able to get together for the afternoon.  It's not much time, but it's something.  I'll take what I can get.  We've really got to try and get to Canada before she leaves in June for her next posting.  Who knows where that will be, but more than likely somewhere much harder and much less friendly for us to go to.

I'm going to wrap this up here and be a party pooper and go to bed.  Yes, it took me a half hour to put this together, but it was fun.  Here's to more posting and less white space next year.

Peace to all and may your years wrap up on a good note, and the year to come be full and wonderful.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve and Other Stories

Well, here it is Christmas Eve and I haven't touched this blog in a week.  I'm sorry about that guys.  I could blame it on the season and the like, but it's just been that I haven't had the motivation to write.
I must say, however, that I'm really feeling the joy of the season right now.  No, I haven't had too many rum and cokes... I haven't had any since our party last Friday.  No, I'm just seeing the true joy that people I know are getting by giving and I'm getting really excited to see the smiles on my nieces and nephews faces when they open what we got them.  That, and I'm truly blessed with wonderful neighbors.  Last week, Frank from downstairs came up, knocked on our door and presented me with a beautiful poinsettia.  I've managed not to kill it like I've almost done with the one at work.  Then, this morning Gak opens our front door and there's a pair of packages sitting there.  Both of them are from Mrs. Alverta from #4.  She gave everyone in the building cute little tins of homemade fudge (yummy, but it has nuts, so that's good for me!).  She also had a present and a card for Boo.  It was so sweet!  She got him three coloring books, including a Winnie the Pooh and a Sesame street one.

Anyhow, I was able to wrap up one of my two big projects completely before the end of the week and I'm pretty sure I'm done the other, just waiting on confirmation from the customer.  Thursday was a bit of a bust in some ways because no one was around for me to get in touch with to do work at the sites.  Oh well.  I got some things done and managed to stay out of trouble for the most part.  I hope to have several emails waiting for me when I get back on the 4th telling me to close things.

This weekend is going to be jam packed full of fun.  Gak actually had today off and got a 3-day weekend!  We did a little bit of last minute shopping to add to a few gifts and ate lunch at our new favorite pizza joint around the corner.  Now the boy is napping (should be up soon).  Gak and I managed to get a little game time in and I just wrapped up making a double batch of chili to take over to Kat's tonight.  Tonight is the usual open house at Kat's when everyone gathers and we get to give the kids their gifts from the aunts and uncles.  So much fun.  Tomorrow we're opening presents here, and after lunch heading down to Amma and PopPop's for more presents and dinner.  Sunday is recovery day and laundry/grocery day.

I'm off work for the next week, which should be fun as I've got a few ideas of things to do.  I'm really looking forward to the 1st though.  We're hopefully getting together with Michelle!!  She's home from Canada until the 3rd, so that'll be fun.  Hopefully her aunt Eileen will be there too, which will be great as I haven't seen her in too long and I miss her.

Anyhow, I'm going to try and get a little more EQII time in before the boy child wakes up.

Peace to all and may your holidays be merry and bright.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Better

Thanks to those who commented publicly or privately about my last post.  I'm sorry I haven't written before now, but it was a hectic, crazy weekend, as they tend to be around here.
I'm feeling a bit better about the whole "thing" situation.  I've been able to make peace with the fact that there are people in my son's life who will spoil him not only with their love but with physical representations of their love.  I truly understand that to some people I know, more is better and they must be the "cool" aunt or uncle who gets the kids the bestest (and biggest) gifts.  I'm safe and secure in my knowledge that my nieces and nephews and son all love me no matter what I give them on Christmas.  (Although, we'll see with Ant this year, his gift isn't cool on purpose...)
I'm also somewhat vindicated with the train Gak and I got our son vs. the one he got from Santa at the kids bowling party.  You see, that one is definitely an "eyes only" kind of train.  The track is easy for him to pull apart, but not put together.  Nor is it exactly easy to get the train cars together and on the track.  Not for clumsy toddler hands at any rate.  (And Poppa hands tend to have difficulty as well it seems...)  It's also not a "drive it myself across the carpet" kind of train.  It does make a lot of noise if you have the sound turned on and it goes around it's track nicely. I've got pictures of him opening it on the camera, I just haven't had a chance to get them onto the computer and uploaded yet.  It really is huge.  There are two sections of track that I didn't use and it still makes a pretty big oval around the table our tree sits on.  It will be really neat next year or the year after when he understands the concept of it not being such a hands-on kind of train.  You see, I've decided that this will be a "Christmas only" train.  It'll get set up around the tree when it goes up, and packed away when the rest of the Christmas decorations go back to the basement.  This is a good compromise I believe.  And like I said, in a year or two it'll be more fun for him when he can use his imaginations without having to use his hands at the same time.
So, yes, right now the little wooden train is much more in tune with what my boy-o wants and needs.  He needs something he can physically manipulate himself (without fear of breakage or too much frustration on his part) and can use his more than ample imagination going places, picking up and dropping off passengers and cargo.  I still have no idea where we're going to keep that one set up, but we'll figure something out.

Like I said, this weekend was hectic and busy.  Friday was my company's Christmas Lunch.  It was held at the "sports bar" just across the highway from the complex our office is in.  We all had a great time.  We had the "Casino Night" again.  It really was a lot of fun.  The prizes were all liked.  I really wanted to win one of the two Kindles we had, but I'm really happy that Julie got one, she wanted it so very badly.  (I still can't really decide between a Kindle and a Nook, both have good things going for them, but I figured if I won one, it would make up my mind for me... and I don't really need one as I don't travel any more and don't get much reading time anyhow.)  I did win a door prize though.  Unfortunately, it was the one prize that I really didn't want.  Mostly because I can't use it.  You see, it was a set of three cordless phones.  They're really nice phones, but we don't have a land-line any more.  (We weren't using it other than to get an occasional call from a couple of friends but mostly calls from political campaigns and telemarketers; we weren't even remembering to use it for outgoing calls... so we canceled it when we moved and had to go to Comcast for our Internet connection...)  Luckily I was able to get the receipt and was able to take it back to Staples for store credit.  It was a nice chunk of change too!  Now to figure out what to do with it, something fun.
Saturday was a doubly hectic day.  We didn't do laundry in the morning but came back to the house for a bit after dropping Gak off at work.  We then headed over to watch Zoe and Billy bowl.  Boo really does look forward to hanging out with his cousins while they bowl.  Not to mention all the other kids that are there that think he's all that and a cookie on top.  (Although, there was one adult there who I've never seen there before and I wanted to strangle.... but that's a totally different story...)  It was their Christmas party (since this coming Saturday is Christmas), which means that it was Rock-n-Bowl.  Boo didn't seem to mind this year.  He also successfully coned a couple of kids out of cookies and peanut butter cups and some other goodies.  Oh well, it's the holidays.  He doesn't get junk every day, so a splurge now and then isn't a bad thing.  But, we had to scoot out of there a bit before Billy finished up so we could get to our own party at the other Earl Bowl.  Unfortunately, Boo didn't snooze in the car like I hoped and had been totally overstimulated at the first bowling.  He was really good until part way through the bowling.  Then he just wanted to go home and melted down a bit.  I managed to convince him to stay and have some juice and not cry while Santa was handing out the presents.  Like I said, he was very excited about it, which made me smile.
Sunday morning I went and did laundry finally and Boo and Poppa went on an adventure to the Q-mart.  We then had lunch at McDonald's (another rarity) and Boo gave me a Solstice gift.  He and Poppa found a great little tree of life pendant for the necklace that Gak got me for Hanukkah.  It's very pretty and just the rite size. Then after nap time we head over to Kat's.  I had made up a batch of one of my brother's chilli recipes, and it went over quite well.  We all hung out, made cookies and decorated stockings, which is a tradition of Steph's.  It was a good time.  Kat had also found the backpack carrier that she'd used with Zoe.  We even managed to convince Boo to get in it and the kids and I took a nice long walk to the far end of the block and back (just shy of a mile).  Boo enjoyed himself.  The straps could use a bit more padding, but overall it's a good fit.  Hopefully he'll like to go orienteering with me this spring with it, or maybe we can all go hiking up in the mountains this summer.  (I miss hiking...)

Anyhow, today was yet another day at work.  I'm actually getting somewhere with some of the tickets I've got, but it's still a little bit of too much to do, not enough time and where's my focus?

I've got to wrap this up and head to bed.  Another long day ahead of me tomorrow.  But it's another 4-day week and then I've got just over a week downtime.  (I'm so not looking forward to the going back after being off... but that's another story.)

Peace to all and may your weekends be good, and your presents from the heart.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Gift Guilt

Today isn’t a happy day. I’m feeling pretty darn out of sorts actually.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One reason I don’t think I’m going to touch on here or now, as it’s probably not appropriate. Or, maybe it’s that it could turn into a very long rant that I may (probably) will regret later, so it’s best not to even touch it here.

Anyhow, one of the things that has me feeling out of sorts is actually part of the whole reason that I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas on the planet. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts of the pageantry and the displays and the joy of the season that I really, truly like. But the whole material part of it really bothers and upsets me. More so the older I get, and the older Boo gets.

Normally I can just gloss over this aspect of the holiday, content in the exchanging of gifts with family and the children in my life. It gets harder though as Boo gets older. Not because he keeps asking for thing after thing, because he doesn’t. I’m not even sure he understands all the hooplah or who Santa is or anything about the holiday as we just don’t “do it up” at home. No, it’s the well meaning gifts from friends and comments from strangers. Yes, my son gives you a blank stare when you ask him if he’s been to see Santa, or what he’s asked Santa for or what he wants for Christmas. He doesn’t understand or “get it” because, well, like I said, we haven’t brought him up to speed on this holiday. Partially because he is only 2.5 after all and mostly because both Gak and I are very unreligious and are trying to figure out in our own way how to explain this holiday season and let Boo understand all the excitement but understand that religion just doesn’t play a huge role in his parents’ lives, but we’re more than happy for people who’ve made it a large part of theirs.

I’m also feeling very out-shined when it comes to the gifts. I know it doesn’t really matter because he’s 2.5 and won’t remember or care about this Christmas. I know it’s just a small, insecure, feeling financially pinched and anti-materialistic part of me being ugly and selfish. But it is casting a huge shadow over my joy of the season. I know our friends (only slightly more than acquaintances really) mean well and truly do it out of a love for and a joy of our son. But, it still hurts. Yes, there, I said it. It hurts.

A pair of friends of ours got Boo a book reader thing with three books and a cartridge, 3 story books and a bunch of other things. Even with the great deals they got, I think they’ve spent more on Boo than we have! (We’ve only spent about $50, and may only spend another $10 or $20 more at most.) Then there’s work. Our kids' Christmas party is Saturday. Corporate is really cool and gives each kid a present (if the parents work at the corporate office) or send a $25 gift certificate to ToysRUs to those of us in office not at corporate. Well, we’ve been throwing a bowling party for the kids the last 2 years and given small gifts from the funds of the activities committee. This year, the committee told us parents they were going to use those certificates to fund the gift purchases, which is great. The problem isn’t so much what the gift buyer spent on my son, but the size. It’s HUGE. It’s trains and is going to make our “big” gift look tiny and silly beside it. I’m really upset. (I know what was purchased because my friend was the shopper and I’m also on the committee and helped wrap the gifts yesterday.) I can’t bring myself to tell my friend that I want to exchange it for something else, because, well… I did say Boo was into trains when he went around asking for ideas. (I also said coloring and books and I think I mentioned Sesame Street too…)

I’m also upset in general because he’s getting so many things from people when his Poppa and I can only come up with 2 or 3 things that we want to get our boy. Partially it’s because we don’t have room for more things. And part of it is that he still enjoys about 90% of the toys he already has, so there aren’t any obvious “needs” to fill with new toys or things. And part of it is that we realize that this won’t be a big event in his memory, only ours. He really doesn’t care about getting gifts at this age, and I’d like to try and keep it that way for as long as I can. I see too many kids, even at his age, always begging for things and expecting things and being greedy little brats at this time of year. I’ll admit, I went through that too, circling just about everything that even slightly caught my eye in the ToysRUs or Sears catalogues we’d get in November. But I’m pretty sure I always did it realizing I’d never get it all and that it was purely wishful thinking and daydreaming. I would love if Boo could be the same way; dream big, ask for the world, but realize that it probably won’t happen that way.
Anyhow, I’ve rambled and ranted and raved long enough. Am I any happier about the situation, no. Do I feel any better, not really. But apparently I needed to get this off my chest. I have to get back to work and focus on what I’m doing. I haven’t done that nearly enough this year, and it shows and it upsets and angers me.


Peace to all and may your hearts be merry and your gift giving reasonable.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cookie Monster Weekend

Ok, so a little late than never.  This weekend was a ton of fun.  I got to spend a lot of time with Mel Bell and Rachel too and all kinds of other good things.
As usual, the weekend started out on a hectic note.  After work Friday I had to go pick up Boo, go about 45 minutes or so to pick up Mel Bell, come back, hit the Chick-fil-a drive through, pick up Gak and head to Zoe's Christmas concert, all between 4 and 7.  Considering I work about a half hour from Boo's day care (and I got out a few minutes late) and that there was over 2 hours driving in that 3 hour time span, yeah, it was close.
Anyhow, I manage to get everyone picked up and fed and over to Zoe's school by 7.  This year they are having 2 concerts, the elementary age kids and then the Jr/Sr high kids, so it was nice and short.  It was a nice little program and Boo did very well sitting through it quietly.  After the concert we all troop over to the diner because we're the only ones who ate.  Of course, my son decides to eat again and we have a snack.
Saturday I drop Gak off at work and do a quick grocery run while Mel plays with Boo.  When I get home the kids get dressed and we go into "the dungeon" and bring up the Christmas stuff.  By that point it's time for us to head over to bowling to meet up with everyone for brunch.  (Yes, this was a busy weekend, why?)  When Rachel saw us coming in the door, you'd have thought it was more like 12 years not 12 hours since she's seen Mel.  Anyhow, after brunch I head home with Mel and Rachel and Boo.  I try and convince Boo to take a nap, but he's having none of it because two of his cousins are here.  Anyhow, the girls and I got the tree up and decorated while Boo was playing in his room.  We even got some cookies started.


The girls had a bit of a flour fight, but it's all OK as they kept the mess in the kitchen and even managed to clean it all up (well, almost all) on their own.  They even "helped" each other clean up a bit too.  It was good fun.
(This was actually from last week, but Boo helped with more sprinkles this week and with some mixing too...)

Anyhow, we made four different kinds of cookies that day.  Boo eventually did take a nap after I'd gone and picked up Poppa from work.
I took Rachel home after dinner and then Mel called her step-mom to see if she could walk over for a few.  (She lives about one block away, especially if you go out our back door to her back door...)  So, she took some cookies over and they hung out for a few hours.  It was nice that she was able to get some time over there too.  CC and George (Mel and Ant's dad) may not have been married or together long before George passed, but she really does care about Mel and Ant and they both like her.
Sunday was a bit more calm, as we didn't have a Rachel over.  Well, somewhat calm.  It was a gray and icky day but I had a boy who was full over extra energy.  Around noon we all trek over to the grocery store to pick Gak up some lunches for work (he had to open yesterday and will be going in at 10 from now until Christmas) and then over to Burger King to grab lunch, mostly so Boo could run around the play area. It's days like Sunday that I wish we had a yard.  Oh well.  And how come my buckets of energy boy will run circles around the apartment, but when you take him to a play area, just sorta stands there and doesn't want to climb or anything like he does all over the furniture?  Oh well, we did get him a bit more worn out than he was though.
After lunch we came home and Boo actually did nap for us.  Probably because there wasn't the excitement of two cousins being here and all the chaos of two teen-aged girls.  Mel and I baked some more cookies and waited for Joan to pick her up.  Yes, I like baking cookies, why?  Anyhow, Mel went home a little after 2 and the Boo-boy slept in a bit longer too.

Of course, that wasn't the end of my weekend as I try and use up the last bits of my vacation time and still have enough time at work to get everything done that needs doing before the end of the year.  I both love and hate having the week between Christmas and New Year's off.  I love having the time, but I hate that it shortens my time to get all the end of year work that comes in done.
Anyhow, since Gak had to work all day yesterday, we drop him off as Boo and I head down to Phoenixville to go swimming with Amma.  Yesterday was her swim class's Christmas breakfast and we were invited of course.  Anyhow, we got there a little after 8 and Boo had a blast!  He even let Erin put a bubble on his back and he went to her for a while.  Most of the time he spent with Amma playing while I worked out a bit.  It was a relaxing change from my high intensity class on Tuesday nights.  I'm going to miss it when this session ends, but I'm really tired of fighting with swim team and the water is just not comfortable (although it's been better the last few weeks and Mom's pool is just too warm...)  After swimming we went to breakfast and it was quite enjoyable.  Boo did very well and ate almost all of his pancake and about 2/3 of Amma's fruit cup.  (My boy does love fruit!)  We then headed to the book store to pick up one last present and then to Amma and PopPop's so the boy could have a play date with PopPop.  Unfortunately, PopPop isn't feeling too well, as he's got a kidney stone.  We did have a nice visit until Boo got to that silly tired stage.  I convinced him to get his jacket on and we went home.  He passed out before we even hit the Turnpike.  We got home and he woke up long enough for me to take him upstairs to our apartment.  Once inside he stripped his jacket as he stumbled to his bed and crawled right in.  He slept another hour or so.

Anyhow, I have an awake boy.  I've got to get both of us ready for the day as I'm dropping Boo off at daycare on my way to work since Gak has to be in at 10.  (This is one of those times a second car would be nice....)

Peace to all and may your weekends be full and fun.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Midweek Catchup

Well, I seem to be heading right back to where I was with posting.  I looked at my blog today and thought "hmmm, I haven't updated since Monday, I really should... but..."  So, I decided to just click the "new post" button and see what happens.
This week at work hasn't been too bad.  I've actually been quite productive all things considered.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, it's been two big projects that have been keeping me busy.  I really, really, really want to get both of them done this week, but that'll require a good bit of cooperation from the customers and a good bit of luck on my part.  Thankfully, things seem to be going somewhat smoothly with both of them, there are a few minor roadblocks yet with the one and the need for a map for part of the trail on the other, but we're mostly there I think.
Tuesday was especially good, as it was Donald's birthday and a large group went out for lunch.  I totally overate, but it was so yummy and worth it.  Of course, the entire afternoon almost was taken up with 3 meetings, of varying importance and usefulness.  But, that's the life of working.
I am looking forward to this weekend.  Mel Bell is coming to visit.  It's also Zoe's Christmas program at school Friday evening.  Depending on when and how Mel's getting down here, we're hopefully going to go see it.  It's usually not too bad, and Boo usually does OK with it.  There isn't a whole lot on the plate for the weekend.  We may do some cookie and other goody making if Mel is up for it.  I know Boo will want to help.  I'm not sure where the cooking bug has come from, but I will encourage it.  At worst, he'll be able to make his own lunches and dinners at best (or maybe worst again depending on who you ask) he'll make a career or a hobby out of it.  Hopefully it'll get him to try some new things.  That would be a nice bonus.

I've also got all my fingers and toes crossed and am praying to all that his holy that Rae and Kami will be getting some very good news soon.  They're in the middle of IVF and hopefully, hopefully, today was the day they were going to implant.  I so want this to be successful.  I so want my cousin and her wife to be able to have a family of their own, to join those of us on this wonderful ride called parenthood.Trust me, even with the wild ups and the downs and whinies, I wouldn't get off this ride for anything.  It's changed my life completely, but I can't even imagine my life, our life, without Boo.  It seems so much more full and vibrant and fun.
So, right now I'm wishing for all the luck in the world for Rae and Kami.

Anyhow, just wanted to let everyone know that our little corner of the universe keeps humming along.

Peace to all and may your weeks be good and there be happy news in your future.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Weekend

Well, it's been a while since I've managed this, so how about a weekend update?  Yes, I know it's Monday, but I had a vacation today, so technically this is the end of my weekend.
Overall it was a pretty good weekend.  It was quite busy and full, but not in a bad or stressful way.
Saturday was a pretty typical Saturday in many ways.  We dropped Gak off at work.  Boo and I did laundry.  We went to the bowling alley to watch the kids finish up bowling.  Rachel and Billy are back from their trip to Florida.  You'd have thought Rachel hadn't seen Boo in a month the way she all but tackled him and grabbed him as soon as we walked in the door.  Boo was pretty happy to see her too.  We hung out for a bit, did lunch at the dinner and then we went home so Boo could take a nap.  After nap it was time to pick up Gak from work.  We then went up to Center Valley to go to the bookstore.  Yes, I broke my mall avoidance, but it's not really a mall and it was between the busy family afternoon and the dinner and a movie crowd, so it wasn't too bad.  We got a great new book for Boo for Hanukkah and wandered around a bit.  Then we stopped and picked up pizza on our way over to Kat's.  Kat and Scott went up to NYC to catch a show with Steve, Shelby and some others.  Steph and Andy were going to Andy's work Christmas party.  Grammy was off work, but was mostly just doing her own thing in the back of the house while Rachel watched Zoe and Billy in the rest of the house.  Rach didn't mind if we left Boo with her, so we took the opportunity to go have dinner at Friday's and do a little shopping ourselves.
Sunday was another busy day.  We took it easy in the first part of the morning, but then headed down to Ikea on our way to Amma and PopPop's house.  What was going to be a $20 lamp replacement run (I still half think I should take the one with the broken switch that's less than a year old back with the receipt of the new identical one....) turned into an $80 trip.  There was only 1 or two splurge items on the list, so I don't feel too bad about it.  After that we went to the Complete Strategist.  It's the gaming store where Jon and I bought our Magic the Gathering cards and stuff like that at when we were in high school.  They've moved slightly (I think, either that or I'm  confusing two different stores in my memory...) to a different shop in the same center.  Gak was able to pick up some stuff he needed and I mostly kept Boo from looking at everything with his fingers instead of his eyes.  Then it was on to Amma and PopPop's.  We had a nice little visit.  Gak got a nap.  Boo had a few minutes of "quiet lay-down time" as I call it when I put him down for a nap... especially if he doesn't want one.  He never did nap, but he was quiet for a little bit.

Boo helped make the latkes and I helped Mom fry them up.  It was great to light the candles.  Boo got two books from Gak and I, a book from his PopPop and a nice little Duplo set from Amma.  Such a big difference between now and six months ago at his birthday.  Back in June he still wasn't sure about this whole present opening thing, but last night he really got into it.  It was great to watch, and I'm sure Christmas will be a lot of fun too.

Today I had a doctor's appointment with my OBGYN for a follow-up pap.  Such fun.  We talked very briefly about the miscarriage from last month.  He said he really doesn't think there's any genetic problems as a whole that's messing things up, since we were able to have Boo without any problems and he's healthy.  He says if we want to keep doing what we were doing, that's fine or if I want some contraception to let him know.  Gak and I have talked a bit, but haven't really decided where we want to go from here.  There are good things about both decisions.

Anyhow, after my morning adventures, it was home to pick up the boys and take them to lunch.  We then dropped Gak off at work and Boo and I ran a couple of errands, including the grocery store.  By the time we got home it was nap time for a boy.
Can I tell you that my boy really likes to "help" me cook?  More and more he's been asking to help, and been doing a fine job of it too.  So, this afternoon we made some sugar cookies.  I just used a pouch mix, but I jazzed them up a bit by adding a little mint extract, just enough to give them some flavor, not enough to be strongly mint.  Anyhow, he helped me mix up the egg, but whined "I can't!" when it came time to mix in the soft (half melted) butter.  I have no idea where he picked up "I can't!" from, but it's getting old.  Anyhow, he helped me off and on mix the dough the rest of the way.  I actually rolled them out this time and used a glass as a cookie cutter.  Boo did a very good job applying sprinkles after I showed him how.  He was quite proud of his task.  I even let him eat one almost fresh out of the oven, and he loved that.
We played for a bit, and after the cookies were really nice and cool, I asked if he thought we should take them to Poppa to share with the guys tonight.  He thought that was a great idea.  So, on went the shoes and the jackets again and I bagged up the cookies.  Gak was quite happily surprised to see us and the cookies.  We hung out until closing, mostly so I could get a chance to say hi to Ed, as I don't get a chance to see him much since Boo and I don't go over for Warhammer on Monday nights.  (Hence why Ed picks Gak up to take him...)

So, it's been a busy but good weekend.  I've got a metric ton and a half of work to do this week, and I'm not really looking forward to it.  I am looking forward to the weekend though.  Mel Bell will be coming to visit.  I'm not sure exactly which days or for how long, but it'll be fun.  The only things we've really got planned is to get the tree up, probably make some goodies to put in packages that are being sent out and well, that's about it.

Anyhow, I hear my book calling my name.  I'm going to wrap it up here and call it a night.
Peace to all and may your weekends be full of fun and family.

Saturday, December 04, 2010

30 Month Update

Ok. Ok.  So after doing so well for November, I slid a bit so far this month.  Oops.  Anyhow, I thought I'd give you a run down of Boo's doctor appointment on Thursday.  It went well.  He's 36.5" tall and 28.8 lb.  This puts him a smidge over the 50% mark for height and a bit under for weight, but overall following his own growth curve.  So, no, he's not really huge.  Joey, who is 6 weeks older than him is heavier by a good couple pounds I'm guessing and is probably an inch or so taller. Overall his health is good.   Developmentally he's right on target (or possibly a bit advanced in some areas, whatever that means at this age.)
Anyhow, we've started him on a multi-vitamin with flouride in it since our water doesn't have any.  His doctor has been after me to do that since he was 1.  I'd pretty much refused up until now, but even though he loves fruit, his diet is iffy at best, so... a multi-vitamin probably wouldn't hurt.  Also, he's been started on iron drops.
This has me a bit peeved though.  Not that he needs iron drops, but that this wasn't done last year.  Anyhow, I think you may (or may not) remember me mentioning that at his blood check at 1 year his iron was low.  We tried getting him to eat higher iron foods (of course, shortly after this is when he gave up beef and almost all protein sources...)  Then he had his blood checked again in November before his 18-month appointment.  At that appointment I can't remember if it was mentioned or if we were told it was OK.  Anyhow, at Thursday's appointment Dr. C starts talking about his blood draw from November and I'm baffled.  Until I see the sheet says 2009 on it.  Anyhow, he says at that point his iron was still low and that he wants to put him on iron drops for a month and do another draw.  He didn't want to do a draw now because he was sure his iron would still be low.  *sigh*  So, like I said, why wasn't he put on drops last year?  I didn't argue, but we haven't been great about getting them in him, we've only gotten them done once a day since Thursday instead of three times like Dr. C wants.  So, we'll see.  I get the feeling I'll be trying to get iron in my boy for quite some time... I'm half tempted to ditch the flouride vitamins when this prescription runs out and just get a multi with iron for him over the counter.  Well, we'll burn that bridge when we get there.  (Don't get me wrong, I like Dr. C and Dr. M, but some days... I just wonder.  I'm just glad I have an overall healthy kiddo.)
Boo still doesn't like doctor appointments though.  He used to not mind as an infant, but since about 12 months... not so happy about them.  He's fine in the waiting room and looking at the fish tank, but as soon as we get into the exam rooms, forget it.  I was hoping now that his vocabulary is better, he'd just whine that he didn't want to be there, but nope, it was crying and screaming again, but with a few words thrown in for good measure.  He did just fine though and calmed pretty quickly afterwards.

Anyhow, I'm off to catch some sleep if I can.  We're going down to Amma and PopPop's tomorrow to celebrate Hanukkah.  It will be nice.

Peace to all and may your checkups go well.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Hanukkah and Other Things

Happy Hanukkah to all my friends.  Tonight is the first night of the festival of lights.  Other than Thanksgiving, I think this is my favorite holiday.  Maybe it's because not everyone celebrates it.  Maybe it's because it still seems just a little bit more "pure" than Christmas and all the mass marketing and consumption of it.  Maybe it's because I love candles and watching them.  Maybe because it's something special I share with my Dad.  Maybe because the message at it's heart about faith in miracles and perseverance through dark times, and a rededication.  I think it has a bit to do with all of those things.
We won't be heading over to Mom and Dad's until Sunday to light the menorah (and for Gak to get latkes).  That's the only downside.  Or maybe that's the plus side of this holiday being 8 nights long.  Anyhow, between now and then I've got to go get my son a book, which is a traditional Hanukkah gift in my family.  (Probably because Dad did the Hanukkah shopping and he's as much a bookworm as I am and loves searching for just the right book for us.)  I really do hope to share this tradition with my son for a long, long time.  I may not be overly religious in any faith, or overly fond of rituals, but this is one that is special to me and has a power all of it's own.

In other, not quite related news, my one neighbor is very much a Christmas person and has decorated the foyer and the second floor common area quite extensively.  The two artificial trees downstairs have also been decorated, one of them lit, and almost all the doors sport a wreath or bow of some sort and there are all kinds of decorations out.  So, yes, the Christmas season is here.  All I can say is that at least just about everything is pretty tasteful, nothing too obnoxious.  (Gak may argue with me here, simply because of the quantity present...)  So, instead of waiting another week or so to put up my snowflake hanging that I originally made for Gram, I went ahead and put it up today.  (I refused to before today, because I can think of December as Winter, but November, even late November, is still fall in my mind...)

Today also happens to be Boo's half-birthday.  Yep, somehow my baby boy is now 30 months old, officially 2.5 years.  How did that happen?  He's been pretty good at being whiny lately, although if you tell him to knock it off, it's amazing how fast his regular voice returns, letting me know he wasn't really upset just trying to push.
He's very much a two-year-old, going on five.  He's growing in leaps and bounds and his curiosity is just about endless.  His language skills just explode every few days.  You can just about have a real conversation with him.  It's very amazing to watch him grow.
Tomorrow he has a doctor's checkup appointment.  I'm interested to see what his "official" height and weight is.  He's just about 30 lb and just about 3 feet tall by my guesses.  Hopefully it won't be quite such a teary experience as it has been the last several times we've gone.  Hopefully he'll start not minding the doctor's office again.  Well, he really likes the fish tank, but as soon as we head to the door out of the waiting room... the tears start.  We shall see.  I'm sure I'll have more to report tomorrow.

Anyhow, I think I'm going to go read a few pages myself before I go crash.  Either that or I'll play with some yarn.  I'm in the middle of two projects that I'm enjoying working on.

Peace to all and may the light of the season fill your lives and your hearts.