"It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!"

I know--such a cheesy title, but I couldn't help it. We had the best weekend and it put me in such a great mood. Tired--but great. We had a play date with William's two best buddies, we made sugar cookies, got the Christmas tree, got the Christmas decorations out and decorated, and spent lots of quality family time together. So far, my plan of a stress-free Christmas, to be enjoyed and celebrated, is going swimmingly!

William hasn't been eating a whole lot lately, but I'm attributing it to his teething, and just trying to make sure he has some balance of protein, whole carbs, calcium, vitamins C, D, and A, and iron.In William's world, it seems he's learning new words and phrases every day. His bottom two canines have cut through, and his top ones or working their way in. He's been a fruit fiend of late--especially grapefruit and tangerines. Today I bought a box of clementines at the grocery store and he ate two for his afternoon snack. He also loves blueberries, bananas, grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, and strawberries. I think it's pretty obvious that he has a pretty strong sweet tooth. He'll hardly touch milk in a sippy unless it's chocolate, he only drinks water if he has to (preferring juice), and he'd be perfectly happy eating fruit for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He I'm sure he'll get what he needs as long as I offer him the right choices.

So, without further ado, it's picture and video time! First, the tree
With the flash:


Without the flash, so you can see the lights (it's blurry, but much prettier this way):


And next, the mantel:


And now, the piece de la resistance:

And finally, some video. William helped me roll out the cookie dough and cut out shapes. Well, more like, he insisted on doing it himself, so I gave him some scrap dough and let him have at it. He was so entertained! He discovered that he could eat the cookie dough and enjoyed it quite a bit.



And just for good measure, I came across this video of William exactly one year ago today. Quite a contrast, huh?



So that's our news. It's nice to have energy again. I think I'm finally in the second trimester, feeling-pretty-good phase. Our 20-week sonogram is on Dec. 10, but I'm pretty sure we're going to opt not to find out the sex of the baby. I have been feeling him or her move, though! It's just been the last few days, but it's still pretty exciting. Maybe I'll post belly pics in my next entry. So stay tuned!

Trying Not to Over-do It

At this time of the year, I always get some grand ideas about what all I'm going to accomplish, from gift shopping to home decorating to baking to crafts. Just before Thanksgiving, I start thinking that if I start now, I'll have five full weekends to do everything that I want--who needs more time than that? And yet somehow, those weekends quickly get accounted for, and shopping happens on-line, if at all, and the homemade plates of cookies and treats that I was going to make for neighbors and everyone in the office turns into one platter of homemade cookies to take to the office (forget the neighbors!), and then to store-bought cookies in a box. The gifts that I had planned to "make" for people never get made. And my home-decorating ends up being a hodge-podge of Christmas crap and ideas that stay mostly in my head.

This year will likely be no different. Except for the fact that now that I have a kid and one on the way, I want to make sure that no matter what I accomplish or don't accomplish, that we actually enjoy the holidays and have fun doing whatever it is that we decide to do, whether that's making cookies, or decorating the house, or making homemade ornaments, or just simply spending time with family and friends, or lazing about the house getting absolutely nothing done. I think we've clearly established that I'm not the most organized, efficient, "get things done" kind of person. So I'm aiming low this year and will do what I can. And who cares about the rest.

So with that said, I'm going downstairs to make the dough for sugar cookies, which I may or may not roll out into cookies this weekend. If not this weekend, maybe next weekend. And I may or may not look for the garland to hang up on the fireplace mantel. And I may or may not try to add lights to that garland. Either way, I'll be happy with what I can accomplish. I just need to keep reminding myself of that each time I try to go over the long list in my head of what I "need" to get done this weekend or the following weekend, or the weekend after that. So that's my goal. Wish me luck!

Blogging Sabbatical

I've taken an unintended blogging sabbatical, and the longer I'm away, the harder it is to get back into the "habit" of blogging. With Mom visiting, and the holidays approaching, I've been busy, to say the least. I've been spending my computer time uploading holiday CDs onto my iPod, uploading pictures and trying to create holiday gifts, and of course, Internet shopping. Add visiting with my mom, real-world shopping, and gardening to all of that, and I've been left with little time or energy to blog. Mom left today, though, the flower beds have been planted and mulched, holiday CDs are on the iPod, and I've made progress with shopping and pictures, so it's time for an update on the Hahn Household.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and counted so many blessings. William enjoyed all of the attention and managed to entertain a houseful of guests, despite his recent bout of "Mommy-itis" (where it's terribly painful to be any further than two steps away from Mommy's side, and preferably in Mommy's arms). On Friday, we went Bowling with Ed's cousins on his dad's side, and all of their kids. There were nine second cousins in all, and William had a blast! He loved bowling, and after the game, we went back to one of the cousin's house where William got to play with a ton of new and interesting toys. He was way more laid back and easy-going than his 20-month old cousin, which made Ed and me look like great parents. (Well, not really. It just made William look like an easy kid! But this is my blog, so I can interpret it however I want!) Here's an action shot of him in his bowling shoes.

And here's a shot of all the cousins. This was a tough picture to get!


The rest of the weekend was filled with shopping, gardening, putting together William's new tricycle from Baba, and keeping William out of trouble. Baba bought William lots of new toys. So far his favorites are the Hot Wheels trucks and helicopter. And he's still enjoying those potatoes. His latest game is throwing them up onto the counter. Here's a video:



In other exciting William news, he's starting to string words together into phrases. He'll say, "water all gone," for example, or "Daddy outside." If he wants me to do something, he'll grab my hand and say, "walk." He talks A LOT, but I still only understand about 10 percent of what he says. He says "I love you" when I say it to him, which melts my heart. In really big news, two nights ago, he went to sleep without his before-bed bottle, and slept all night! I've been reluctant to try to take away the bottle because, A) I was worried he'd wake up hungry during the night, and B) I was worried he wouldn't drink enough milk without the bottle. B may still be an issue, but he didn't even miss it before bed and didn't wake up hungry. Tonight he didn't have it either, so we'll see if he wakes up. Last night could have been a fluke. At any rate, he hasn't been eating much lately, so I don't want to try to take away the morning bottle yet. But give us another month, and we may be bottle-free for a few short months!

As for my pregnancy, things are going well. I'm definitely feeling better and not so exhausted. I've gained 10 pounds so far, so obviously no problems in the eating department! I'm 18 weeks this week, so time is really flying. It's funny how you're so focused on your pregnancy and your body with your first baby, but you don't give it much thought when it's your second (or third or fourth or fifth). Not that I don't give the baby much thought--but it's the pregnancy itself that just doesn't consume you like the first one does. As for the baby, I think about him or her all the time and imagine what she/he will be like. I think of how I want this baby to be different from William (I hope he or she SLEEPS!!!!), and I how I hope he or she is the same. Will the infant stage be just as hard? Will I be a better mom this time around? Will William become a monster when we bring the baby home? Or will I be pleasantly surprised like I usually am when it comes to William? Time will tell, I guess.

I guess that's enough for one night. If I plan to get back into the habit of blogging, I better ease myself in. Good think I opted out of participating in NaBloPoMo! Maybe next year!

Holy Appetite!

William ate TWO entire hot dogs for dinner and a whole string cheese serving, and that was after eating half an apple on the way home, and half a grapefruit when we got home. (Guess he has a bit of Florida in him after all! The boy loves grapefruit!) Too bad I didn't make something a little more healthy. Of course, that may be the point. Maybe he's just not into healthy these days.

Last night, William discovered that the gate lying flat on the floor is a lot of fun. First he walked over it several times. Then he got some trucks and rolled the trucks over the gate. Then he got his ride-on car and his push walker toy and ran those over the gate. Apparently, it's very entertaining, because he did it all again tonight. Last night he also discovered the bag of potatoes that I keep in one of the cabinets. He proceeded to take all the potatoes out of the bag and carry them to the fireplace hearth, one by one. That was pretty fun, but then he decided to see what would happen if he started throwing the potatoes. Mom quickly put all the potatoes away, so I guess that answered that question. Tonight he decided it was hysterical to spit drool wads onto the sofa and carpet, and then spread them around. Actually, the hysterical part was when Mom said, "William! Don't do that!" Funny stuff, I tell you. At least he's easily entertained!

So there's a glimpse into our evening activities. Always something new and fun going on in the Hahn household. Stay tuned for more!

Happy 18-month Birthday!

Dear William,

Today, you turned 18 months old. You're one and a half! Almost old enough to stop counting your age in months. Wow--where has the time gone? You are such an amazing little boy and you bring your dad and me such joy. You are learning new things by leaps and bounds these days, and I love to watch the wheels spin in that precious little head of yours. You are so observant, always paying attention to the world around you. You are a little cautious by nature, preferring to watch from the sidelines before jumping in with both feet. Once you're comfortable, though, look out! You love to make people laugh, and to laugh yourself. And you're so tough! You hardly ever cry when you hurt yourself, and if you do, it's only for a minute.

You love trucks and buses and motorcycles and trains and helicopters and airplanes. You point them out when we're driving, or playing outside. And you even point them out when we're inside and you hear them. You love books and listen to the stories very intently. Some things scare you at first, like the dinosaur that roars in "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" and the wild things in "Where the Wild Things Are." But after we've read them a few times, you like them and eagerly anticipate their arrival in the pages. You are often content to sit and read books by yourself, too. You love to push your trucks and ride-on toy around the kitchen, family room, and breakfast room. You sometimes go so fast that you crash into the wall, which you think is funny, but it always scares me. You also love to draw with pencils and pens and will do so happily for quite some time. You're pretty content to amuse yourself, as long as I'm close by. And you often stop for a hug, or to check out what I'm doing.

I love it when you wake up in the morning because believe or it not--I actually miss you while you're sleeping. I love your hugs, and the way you sometimes hold my cheeks and smush your face into mine. I feel your love so fiercely in those moments, and want to hold onto that forever. And even though you are a mama's boy through and through, no one makes you laugh like your daddy. In the mornings when I bring you to our bed, the first thing you do is lie on top of daddy and make sure he's awake. And when he comes home from work, it sends you into a fit of giggles and silliness. There's nothing better than seeing you give Daddy a hug. Or listening to you and Daddy play together. Or watching you help Daddy in the back yard.

You definitely assert your independence from time to time, and you clearly let us know when you're not happy. But so far, you get over things very quickly and you seem to be okay with the fact that your Dad and me are in charge. We are thankful for this, although we know it might change any day. We are excited for you to become a big brother, and although your world will change more than your could probably imagine, I think you will take it in stride, and will love having a friend and playmate eventually. It will be hard to share mommy at first, but like always, you will adapt quickly.

We hope that we are giving you everything you need to be a happy, confident, thoughtful, and industrious little boy. We know that we have made mistakes along the way, and probably will in the future, too, but we are so lucky that you are so easygoing and forgiving. We can't wait to see what the next 18 months, and 18 years and more, will bring. And in the meantime, we will treasure every moment that we get to spend with you.

Here are some pictures to remind us of your journey.

On the day you were born:


Six months old:


One year old:


18 months old:


We love you William. And we're so proud of you.

P.S. At your 18-month checkup, you weighed 22.5 lbs, measured 31 inches tall, and your head is 18 and 3/4 inches around. You're still a little guy, but growing just fine!

"Help, Please"

It's a great moment when something you've been "teaching" your child sinks in. I've been telling William to say, "Help, please" when he wants something he can't reach, or to open something, or anytime he's getting frustrated. I'm so tired of all the grunting/pointing/whining. So Saturday morning, he wanted to open the locked kitchen cabinet and he magically said, "Help, please!" I nearly fell off my chair! And he said it again later when he wanted to get in the chair to bang on the computer keys. And now he's either saying or signing "please" without me prompting it. Amazing! It seems like he's been learning and absorbing by leaps and bounds in the last week. Lots of new words and comprehension. I really really love this age. I love watching him play and interact with people. And he's still listening to me and hasn't started throwing monster fits yet. So all is fantastic in the Hahn household right now.

This weekend we went to a wedding in Delaware. Actually, Ed and I were in the wedding (his cousin's wedding), so William got shuffled around to lots of different caregivers. And he was wonderful! On the 2-hour drive to Delaware, he slept for most of the way. He was great at the hotel, and then ate dinner with Ed's parents and sister while we went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. They put him to sleep in his pack-n-play and said he went right to sleep. And then he didn't wake up until 5:00 a.m., and then got in bed with us and slept until 7:00 a.m. And then on Sunday, he was with Ed in the morning while I got my makeup done, and then he hung out with his grandfather while Ed and I had to do pictures, and then he had a babysitter who he had never met before during the wedding, and she said he was great. What a trooper! The wedding was over by 7:00, so we got him in his jammies, visited with family for a little while, and then hit the road around 8:30 p.m. for the trip back to Virginia. He fell asleep at 9:00 in the car, and then went right back to sleep in his crib when we got home at 10:30, and slept until 6:00 a.m. this morning. He was pretty tired from everything, though, because today, he took his nap at 10:30 a.m. and slept for 3 hours. (I did, too!) He was such a trooper, though, and it made everything so easy. I was feeling pretty anxious about how everything would go, but I needn't have worried. Here's a picture of Ed and me at the reception. We didn't bring our camera, but someone else sent us a few pictures:

So that was our weekend. It was nice to hang out at home today. And it will be nice to have a short week. I can't believe Thanksgiving is already the week after this. My mom is coming to visit this weekend and will stay through Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to her and William spending time together. And the fact that she'll be making my yard look great is an added bonus.( Right now we're going for the Goth look with the dead inpatients still in the pots out front. ) It will be a little stressful on Ed to have her here for that long, but she hasn't seen William in so long. And we won't see her at Christmas, either. So he'll just have to live with it. Besides, an extra set of hands might be a welcome relief for all of us.

Friday Guest Blog

Wow--I've gone a whole week without posting. I guess I've gotten out of the habit of sitting down to my computer after William's gone to bed and we've cleaned up from dinner and the day. That's okay, though. There's really not all that much I have to say these days, and I can only oooh and aahh over William so much. I never get tired of him, which amazes me. (Not saying that I won't ever get tired of him--just hasn't happened yet!) He is cutting his canines, however, so I should mention that. His bottom right one poked through, and he hasn't even been very fussy. Maybe the night waking last week was because of his teeth, though? Anyway, he's also saying "motorcycle" now, except it sounds like he's saying, "marker."

Anyway, on to the guest blog. Leslie Morgan Steiner has a daily column/blog in the on-line Washington Post called On Balance, which focuses on how people balance work/family/personal life stuff. Much of the time, it ends up being about parenting and today's topic is especially relevant, so I thought I'd share. I especially liked one of Leslie's follow-up comments.

Marathon Moms

by Leslie Morgan Steiner

Okay, I'm flabbergasted: The winner of this past Sunday's New York City marathon had a baby in January? I'm particularly impressed because I could not possibly have run a marathon 10 months after having a baby. Okay, I couldn't have run one at any point in my life before I had a baby, either. And Katie Holmes ran it, too, less than two years after having Suri and after training a mere three months? Whatever...

But wait, wait -- there are a few things I've done since having a baby that have surprised me. I wrote a book between the hours of 9 p.m. to midnight every night, after working a full day at my job and wrangling my three young kids through dinner, baths, stories and into bed. I have put in a day's work and taken care of my kids -- good care -- after getting less than an hour's sleep at night. And I took up a grueling new exercise, power vinyasa yoga, which I practice three to four times a week for 90 minutes in a room heated to 93 degrees. None of my prized accomplishments are as hard as running, much less winning, a marathon. But they aren't things I thought I could do before I had kids.

What about you? Motherhood is heroic enough by itself, in my opinion. But have you done something post-parenthood that you never thought you'd be able to accomplish? What about your abilities, once you had children, has surprised and/or impressed you? Has parenthood inspired you to reach new or different personal or professional goals?

A lot of people posted comments that since the woman is a professional runner, and since Katie Holmes had both the time and the means to train in such a short period of time, it really wasn't such a huge accomplishment. So Leslie followed up with this comment:

"I don't care that Paula Radcliffe is a professional, and totally amazing, runner. Or that Katie Holmes is a rich actress. I am STILL incredibly impressed that they ran (and that Paula won) the marathon so soon after having kids. I think they -- and the other mom runners -- deserve a completely free-and-clear no caveats CONGRATULATIONS.

I feel exactly the same way for all moms who return to their jobs. And for all moms who don't return to their jobs, and tackle the new job of being a stay-at-home mom. Bravo, bravo, bravo.

We don't congratulate moms enough in this country. We act like, well, it's natural to be a mom, so who needs a medal for it? But it's big stuff, motherhood. And we're all better off recognizing how big it is."

The last paragraph is the best. Motherhood is definitely "big stuff." We give ourselves completely to these little beings, and yet we still manage to perform as wives, employees, friends, daughters, sisters, and volunteers. Most of us manage to not go absolutely insane (which is a big accomplishment in and of itself!). As for the question, "Have you done something post-parenthood that you never thought you'd be able to accomplish?" I would have to say not yet, but I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm proud of myself anyway. I'm proud of my ability to function on so little sleep. I'm proud that I've made new friends and even maintained those friendships. I'm proud of this blog. And for now, I just want to get through baby number 2 without losing my mind, and I'll be proud of that, too. Then I can tackle professional goals, house redecorating, craft projects, being more thoughtful (more on this later), and other such aspirations. In the meantime, how would you answer Leslie's questions? In thinking of many of you, I could list a lot of your accomplishments that I am amazed by and proud of for you. But I'd rather read your own list!

So kudos to all of you moms (and dads!). We do amazing work, even if it's just the everyday stuff like getting dinner on the table, getting the house cleaned before going to bed, reading 5 books to your child before bed because you love it that he loves to read, and you're happy spending the extra 10 minutes with him, staying up late to spend quality time with your husband, putting in a full day at work and feeling like you were actually productive. All of this stuff counts, so pat yourselves on the back!

15 Weeks

I think I can finally say that I'm feeling much much better these days. I'm still pretty tired, but that complete exhaustion seems to have abated somewhat. Thank goodness! I actually ironed yesterday, which is the first time since I got pregnant! Of course, it helped that Ed took William to his sister's house so I could have some uninterrupted time to get things done.

Anyway, I'm 15 weeks pregnant now, and definitely starting to show (and getting bigger just about everywhere). Here's a crappy picture. Ed's downstairs and I'm too lazy to go get him to take a decent one.


Even my boobs are getting bigger (yay!). My friend MJ sent me some AWESOME maternity clothes, although I'm bummed that a lot of them will likely end up not fitting. She is much smaller than me (everywhere EXCEPT the boobs), and I know (based on past experience) that my butt will end up expanding quite a bit over the next 6 months. However, she sent me a LOT of stuff, and there are a few items that I'm already in love with. In fact, over the weekend, I wore her olive green khaki Gap pants. They just fit me now (as do the Old Navy paisley topped khakis), and I bet in another 2-3 weeks, they'll be too small. (And I'm pretty sure the awesome Gap black full panel flare pants will be too small, too.) At any rate, I'll be keeping her apprised of what I'm wearing (and loving) as I go along. I am sooooo lucky to have such generous friends. During my last pregnancy, it was my friends Mistie and Stacey who lent me maternity clothes. I wore lots of Mistie's stuff (Stacey is tall and thin, so most of her stuff didn't fit me either) and would have been lost without it.

In other news, William seems to be picking up new words every day. He says milk now, and water (wa-wa), and this morning he said airplane. He climbed up onto one of our kitchen chairs today all by himself and proceeded to flip through the newspaper on the kitchen table. He's also very much into writing with pens or pencils. I let him have a mechanical pencil with no lead, and he "writes" on pieces of paper and envelopes and whatnot. He seems to be doing well on the Singulair, so knock on wood that it will keep him well. We both finally seem to be over the colds we've been enjoying for over 2 weeks now. Thank goodness!

On Saturday night, Ed's sister and brother-in-law babysat for William so Ed and I could go to a wedding reception. They had to do the whole dinner-bath-bedtime routine, and apparently, William did great. He ate for them, had fun in the bath, drank his bottle, read books, and went right to sleep when they put him in his crib. It's always a relief to hear that things go well when you're not there!

So that's about it. Life is good. William makes me laugh and feel proud every single day, and I'm getting excited about the prospect of another one. I'm getting excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas, too. I'm thinking of having Ed's family to our house on Christmas Day for Christmas dinner. Am I crazy? I just don't want to have to go anywhere on Christmas Day. I want to be able to lounge around in our pajamas and enjoy the gifts and Christmas carols and playing with toys. Ed's aunt usually has everyone over for Christmas Eve anyway. (And did I mention that Ed's family is Jewish, btw? Yeah--don't even ask.) Just a thought. I don't even think it would be that many people. Maybe just Ed's parents, his sister and BIL, and maybe his grandparents. Maybe his other aunt. Well, now I'm just thinking out loud. I"ll close by adding this video using Blogger's video feature, which I haven't tried before. It's kind of long, so I hope it works and that it doesn't stall your PC! Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures of William from his Halloween party at daycare. Hopefully I'll get more tonight of him trick-or-treating. (BTW--I'm still taking crappy pictures. Grrrrrr. These, however, were taken by another mom, fortunately! Tonight I'll have Ed do the picture-taking.)

William is the firefighter, btw.


Edited to add pictures from tonight! I took the pictures, however, so I only have one good shot:



And here he is in action:


He enjoyed trick-or-treating and got good at holding his pumpkin out for candy. When he came home, he helped pass candy out to other kids and got to eat a tootsie roll and suck on a tootsie roll lollipop. Fortunately for us, he went right to sleep, and only about 45 minutes past his regular bedtime. We'll see if I pay for it tonight, though!

Fashionista? How About Fashion Disaster?

Let me start by saying that I truly, deeply, earnestly want to be a stylish person. I want to wear trendy yet classic clothes (is there such a thing?). I want to have a fabulous hairstyle and matching accessories and makeup that is understated, yet flattering. But alas, that is not me. And it never has been me. I'm the type of person who warms up to a new and trendy style just as it's going out of style. I could get the perfect haircut, but I'd never be able to style my hair myself. (And I DO NOT have the kind of hair that you can just wash and let it air dry. Trust me--it doesn't work. I also do not have the kind of hair that I can put in a pony tail or pull back in a hair clip. It sucks, but that's my hair.) I have some jewelry, but forget to wear it about 90% of the time. And when it comes down to it, I never have enough money to spend on fun stuff like funky jewelry or shoes. I hardly ever wear lipstick because even if I put it on in the morning, it's gone an hour later. And I never remember to reapply. And Ed hates lipstick anyway. I do manage to put on powder, blush, eyeliner, and mascara in the morning. But it doesn't really seem to do much good. I never look like I'm wearing makeup. But I hate the way I look when I get "made up," so it's kind of a "lose-lose" situation.

So anyway, what made me think of this today is that I'm wearing 12-year-old pleated pants today that have a pin-size hole in the front, and the lining is basically shredded around the crotch and seat area. Pants are the single-most difficult clothing item for me to find. I have a very odd shape and going shopping for pants seriously depresses me. And so I don't. (Not to mention the fact that I have NO MONEY to shop for anything right now.) The current flat-front and low-ride styles look horrible on me. I have very wide hips and medium-to-larger size thighs and butt, but a flat stomach (although that is quickly changing) and small waist. I am also somewhere in between petite and regular, which makes it even more challenging. Anyway, that's why I'm wearing 12-year-old pleated pants. I don't have anything else that works right now. And of course, now is not the time to be buying new clothes anyway, what with the pregnancy and all.

The most scary part of all of this, though, is that I'm beginning to remind myself of my mom. With five kids, my mom NEVER shopped for herself and she was still wearing her polyester '70s outfits well into the '80s and probably even early '90s. (She thought--and still thinks--that polyester was the greatest invention ever. It could be washed and dried at home and didn't need ironing. What could be better than that? She has a point!) She also stopped getting her hair styled at some point and started wearing scarves on her head when she had to go out and was too lazy to take a shower and wash and dry her hair. (I don't think she ever owned a hair dryer.) And she never wore makeup. I used to wish she would be more stylish, like my friends' parents. (Don't get me wrong--my mom was a fabulous mom in all the ways that count. Her style was just a little, um, embarrassing.) I also bought her Oil of Olay face lotion one year (or maybe a couple of years) in the hopes that it would help her look younger! (Most of my friends' moms were several years younger than mine.) At any rate, I'M BECOMING MY MOM!!!

So I'm pledging right now, this minute, that I will never wear a scarf on my head (unless I get cancer and have to have chemo and go bald), and I will make every effort to not be completely, hopelessly, shamefully out of style. I can't promise trendy and hip, but I think I'll officially retire the pleated pants with the pinhole and shredded lining. That's a good first step, right?

Weekend Report

Monday already? How did that happen? And how on Earth is October almost over? Yikes.

We had a pretty good weekend, although I'll play the broken record again and say that I didn't accomplish all my "goals" for the weekend. But such is life. The best part of the weekend (besides getting to spend lots of time William!) was that Ed fixed my computer! Yay! It just needed a new power supply unit, and Ed replaced it himself. Needless to say, I was thrilled that there wasn't anything wrong with the hard drive. I did not, however, make the time to download pictures yet, or to backup all our pictures like I know I need to. But I will--eventually.

William and I are both still suffering from colds--lots of nasal congestion and still some lingering coughing. William goes for his follow-up doctor's appointment this afternoon, so we'll see what kind of daily regimen they'll put him on to prevent the wheezing. I'm thinking I might have a sinus infection, but I'm waffling about going to the doctor myself. It will probably go away on its own, and I need to save all the sick leave I have because I'm blowing through it at an alarming rate. At any rate, hopefully we are both on the tail end of sickness--at least for now.

William has picked up lots of new words and has started repeating things that I say. It's pretty cute. There are a lot of words that he's been saying for a while, but I forget to write them down. He can say cheese, cracker, keys, cookie, bird, paci, bottle (ba-ba), cup, shoes, truck, clock, Clark, bus, helicopter (which comes out "helicop"), balloon, more, ball, bubble, no, lawn mower (which comes out "da-doo"), and I'm sure lots more that I'm forgetting. He can make sounds for dog, cat, cow, sheep, monkey, fire truck, duck, and pig. He signs "please" now, when I remind him, although his version of the sign is to rub his hand or hands on his stomach. Works for me!

Pregnancy-wise, things are going okay. I'm definitely getting bigger around the waist, and hating this stage when your regular pants are too small but maternity clothes are still way too big. My wardrobe is God-awful, but I just can't care about that at the moment. I'm not as sick, fortunately, and my doctor prescribed heartburn drugs, which makes a big difference. If I could just shake this cold and get my energy back, I'd be in great shape! I've made it to 14 weeks, so that's progress!

So that's it for this installment of the Weekend Report. My goal tonight is to download pictures, so wish me luck (and energy!).

Life is Overwhelming Me at the Moment

Every day that passes and I don't blog just means more and more stuff I want to blog about. Not to mention all of the pictures I still haven't downloaded from my camera because we still haven't even tried to get my computer fixed. But lately, getting William fed, bathed, and in bed, and then feeding myself, is about all that I can handle. And Ed usually takes care of half of those things, so there you have it. Every night, I try to choose one thing that needs to be done that I will do, and about half the time, whatever it is doesn't happen. Nothing has gotten ironed in months, there's stuff growing in the toilet in William's bathroom and the downstairs bathroom, the tumbleweeds of dust and cat hair on the stairs are threatening to eat William, and the load of William's clothes in the dryer (at least they got washed and then dried) has been in the dryer since Sunday, and I keep running downstairs to grab pairs of pajamas and socks out of the dryer.

Before you ask, Ed has been doing more than his fair share. Not only does he maintain the outside of the house entirely on his own, he also takes out the trash, vacuums (at least once a week), cleans up the kitchen (he almost always wipes down the kitchen counters and has this knack for putting everything away), cleans up William's toys, pays all of our bills, maintains our cars, grills, gives William a bath about 3/4ths of the time, and takes care of dinner if I don't. And I'm sure there are lots of things I'm forgetting. He doesn't complain that I haven't ironed in ages, and he'll do the laundry if I ask or if he has nothing clean left to wear.

Anyway, this is not what I wanted to blog about. What I should be blogging about is our weekend, which William spent at his grandparents with his 2 cousins (well, not the whole weekend--just Saturday night and Sunday morning), and about William's new tooth (his upper left molar), and his new words (na-nee, for banana, and ba-ba, for bottle, which he should have said a long time ago, and yes--he still gets a bottle before bed and when he wakes up and I'm not that worried about it or in a hurry to end the habit, although we'll probably start working on it in the not-too-distant future), and the fact that he caught yet another cold and had yet another wheezing episode and had his first ER visit yesterday.

So where should I start--weekend? Words? Teeth? Oh--maybe you're most curious about the ER. Well, Ed stayed home with him and took him to the doctor, where they gave him a nebulizer treatment, but he didn't respond well enough to it, and the doctor wanted to rule out pneumonia, so they sent him to the ER. So poor Ed got to spend most of the day with William in the ER. Ed said he was pretty good throughout the visit, but he got really upset when they connected the little sticker monitor to his toe. Apparently, he didn't like the wire. And then he cried during the nebulizer treatment. He was fine during the chest x-ray, though, and then fell asleep for a while, and then they finally got to leave in the afternoon. Poor guy! He's better now, but it looks like he will have to go on a daily preventative treatment--either Pulmicort or Singulair. We go back to the doctor on Monday for follow-up, so we'll learn more then.

I also haven't been blogging because I've had a really bad head cold (which I passed on to William, which led to his wheezing, unfortunately) and maybe that's why I've been so overwhelmed by life. Add a head cold to a pregnant 35 year old with a toddler, and you're bound to get disaster. Isn't it amazing, though, that even in the depths of sickness, exhaustion, irritability, and inactivity, one little smile, one funny expression, one sweet hug, one new word, can make you forget all about what ails you. Listening to Ed give William his bath, hearing their giggles and William's squeals of delight, watching William hug Ed goodnight--these are the moments that make me so happy, and make me look forward to adding another bundle of craziness to the mix. My ironing may never get done, but we'll be just fine!

Good Excuse?

Some of you already know this (all five of my readers), but part of the reason why I haven't been blogging so much is that I'm sooooo stinkin' tired all the time and have no energy. Why, you may ask? Because we're expecting! (A baby, if you didn't figure that out.) I made it to 12 weeks, so we're officially sharing the news. Did I mention how tired I've been?

Because I'm "advanced maternal age" (at the ripe old age of 35), I opted to have a sonogram at 12 weeks to check for Downs Syndrome and several other chromosomal abnormalities (like trisomy 18 and 13). The sonogram was soooo cool. The baby was moving around so much, stretching its legs and crossing them, and raising its arms up. The technician got a great 3-D picture of the baby with its arms up.


Yes--it looks like a freaky alien, but that's our freaky little alien. The 3-D images were so cool. I didn't have that with William, so it was pretty neat. I will have another sonogram at 20 weeks for anatomy, but I think Ed and I have opted not to find out the sex. So we will have another little surprise!

So that's our news. Due date is April 27. That will make William and the new baby right at 2 years apart. I'm fully prepared for it to suck at first--and to be wonderful--as all of you parents can understand and appreciate. I imagine William will have a rough time at first, but I also think he will adjust pretty quickly. He is such a mama's boy, so sharing me will be hard. But I can't wait to watch them grow together and play together. We have a 3-year-old next door neighbor who William adores. He follows Matt around like a puppy dog and tries to imitate everything Matt does and laughs and laughs. It's so cute, and I imagine the new baby will follow William around in the same way. I guess the best part about this pregnancy (because so far, the physical part of this pregnancy has sucked!) is all the speculation. We have a ways to go, though.

Hopefully, now that I'm coming out of the first trimester, I will get some energy back, and will be up to posting more. In the meantime, stay tuned for the exploits of William!

Weekend Report (Belated)

We had a great weekend and it was over way too quickly. William loved the pumpkin patch--especially the hay. I got some good pictures, but haven't been able to upload them yet. (We still haven't taken my computer to get it fixed.) He loved the hay ride and jumping off of bales of hay into piles of hay. He also loved going down the big slides with Daddy, and seeing all of the animals. And at the end of the day, we got free apples as we left, and William ate an entire apple by himself. He just grabbed it and bit into it and kept on munching! It was pretty cute.

Prior to our pumpkin patch outing, however, William fell on the bed and hit his forehead on the window sill. He got a little cut that was deep enough to warrant missing music class and going to the doctor's office instead. The doctor cleaned it up and put stereostrips on it. It didn't bleed too much, and he didn't even cry too much, so we were lucky.

We spent Sunday at home, doing laundry, cleaning, and playing. It's nice to have a day free of obligations and plans, to just get things done at home. Of course, there's never time to do all the things that need doing, but we did enough.

William's sleeping has not improved, so we have moved forward with CIO. On Sunday night, it was pretty rough. He cried for 10 minutes, I went in and returned his pacifier and blankets (which he throws out of the crib) and left, then he cried for about 13 minutes, and I went in and returned the pacifier and blankets and left again, and then he cried for a few more minutes, threw out the blankets, but then put the pacifier in his mouth and went to sleep. But then he woke up again an hour later. That time, though, I only had to go in once. And last night, he woke up at midnight and cried for 10 minutes and went back to sleep (without his blankets but with his pacifier), and then woke up at 3-something and I went in and returned the blankets and pacifier and left and he started to cry but then went to sleep. So I'm hoping tonight will be even better.

He also did well in the toddler room yesterday--his first full day. He cried when I left him there, but that's par for the course with him. The teachers said he did well throughout the day and napped just fine. He's also been much better in the car this week, both on the way to work and on the way home. It's so hard to remember when you're in the thick of tough phase that it truly is JUST A PHASE.

One . . . Two . . . Three! (Or Just "Two . . . Three!")

Wow--not having my computer has really turned me into a slacker when it comes to blogging. I could have sworn I posted somewhere between Monday and today.

Anyway, we've had an okay week. William spent a lot of time with the toddlers this week, and Monday is his first full day there. He's doing pretty well, but they definitely wear him out. He comes home cranky now, which is definitely not fun. His new favorite activity is to play in the parked car. Yes--I'm THAT MOM who lets her child play in the car. No--I don't give him the keys. Yes--I'm in the car with him. It brings him such pleasure after a long day, and it's all he wants to do. So I indulge him. So sue me.

He's also counting "one . . . two . . . three!" Except he skips the "one" and goes straight to "two . . . three!" It's really cute. And he does it at random times, so it always catches me off guard. He must have gotten it from the playground at school. He loves to go down the slide now by himself, and they must count down or something.

In other William news, his top right molar has completely come in, so now he has 3 molars and all 8 incisors. The top molar didn't seem to bother him too much, fortunately. Hoping the same will go for the top left one. His sleeping habits are not so great again. It's been taking him a lot longer to fall asleep, so for a few days, he cried and cried when we put him down to sleep. He also woke up a lot and cried and cried then, too. Last night he went to sleep with no problems, but he woke up at 3:00 and couldn't seem to get back to sleep. I finally gave in and slept on the guest room bed with him. I'm hoping that a full week in the toddler room will wear him out enough that he'll go back to sleeping all night. Otherwise, we'll have to go back to letting him cry, which is so completely emotionally exhausting to me.

Our weather has finally turned cool and fall-like, and William looks adorable in jeans and fleece and long-sleeve shirts. We're going to a big pumpkin patch/fall festival tomorrow and I'm so excited. I'm hoping that William will really enjoy it. There are slides and a petting zoo with all kinds of animals and hayrides. And of course, pumpkins! I can't post pictures because I can't download them to my computer at home, but instead, I'll include a picture of William at last year's pumpkin patch.


That bald little head just cracks me up! Hopefully we'll get some great pictures at this year's festival. And maybe we'll even get my computer fixed so I can post them!

Weekend Report

William had a good time with his grandparents, and Grandma said he was very good, but when I went to pick him up on Sunday, he had a stuffy nose and was coughing. By Sunday afternoon, he was wheezing. Last night, he threw up several times (which is a common side effect from wheezing--the diaphragm pushes down on the stomach) and was up and down all night, which means I only got a few hours of sleep--and none of it consolidated. Fortunately, we had today off, so we went to the doctor this morning and got a prescription for a steroid. That combined with nebulizer treatments seemed to help a lot. He slept from around 11:00 a.m. until about 2:45, and by this evening, he was hardly wheezing at all. He ate a little bit for dinner (after eating nothing all day) and went down at his usual time. Fingers crossed that he'll sleep all night and we can go to work/daycare tomorrow. The biggest disappointment was that we couldn't get together with our friends who were in town from Utah. Such timing, I tell you.

So, this cold/flu season is not off to a good start at all. His wheezing seems to be coming on super quick--almost as soon as he gets cold symptoms. We go back to the doctor on Wednesday for follow up, so I'll be asking lots of questions about how, if possible, to prevent it from happening all the time. I hope the answer isn't daily nebulizing with pulmacort. I've known several people who've gone through that. What a pain!

So that's it for our weekend. Ed and I had a good time at the wedding. I slept in until 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. Yes--that was the best I could do. But since I went to sleep at 10:30 p.m. the night before, I can't complain. Sorry for the boring post, but it helps to keep a record of how often William is sick. (Which is waaayy too often!)

Driving Me Crazy

William is doing this whiny, pointing thing in the car that is driving me crazy. I have a center console between the driver and front passenger seats where I keep books, toys, a sippy cup with water, and various other odds and ends. William has started pointing to things on the console and then saying, "Uh-uh-uh," as if he wants something from the console. But whatever I pick up to try to give him, he then shakes his head and says "no," and gets all upset. He's just yanking my chain! I've been telling him to use his words, because mommy doesn't understand. I've been trying to hand him everything under the sun. (Well, at least within arms reach in the minivan.) And I've been ignoring him, too. And yet, it continues. What the heck does he want???? (Other than to get out of the carseat.) It seriously makes me mad. I want to turn around and yell, "Cut it out!!!" But I can't really do that with the slugs in the car. The slugs also try desperately to appease him, bless their hearts, by handing him all sorts of objects, which he usually rejects, and by reading to him, which he usually ignores. The whole, "Uh-uh-uh" thing is not going to cut it. He better get some words fast! Lol.

Speaking of William (ha ha), he's having a sleepover at his grandparents on Saturday night. Ed and I have a wedding to go to, so we're taking advantage of the opportunity and will get to sleep in on Sunday morning. Can't wait! Although as usual, I will miss him, and hate having that much less time with him over the weekend. But we have Monday off, too, and it's good for him to spend one-on-one time with his grandparents. So it's a win-win for everyone.

Hopefully, we'll also take the computer in this weekend to get fixed so I can blog from home again!

Uh-oh! Don't Panic.

My home computer will not turn on. At all. And I'm trying not to panic. Because I haven't backed up my digital pictures in months and months. Or my Quicken bank account info. Or anything on my computer, for that matter. And yes--it's on my list of 100 things to do in 100 days that I HAVEN'T BEEN DOING!!!! Is this karma? My brother thinks that it's probably just a power supply issue, and the mother board could possibly be shot, but that the hard drive is probably fine. The worst case scenario might be that we have to get a new computer (if the mother board is shot) but I'd still be able to get the info from my hard drive. Gee-darn. Let's just hope he is right. And yes--when I get it back, the first thing I'll be doing is BACKING UP MY PHOTOS!!!! (Sorry for abusing the capital letters.)

So, because I have no computer at home, no blogging at home. This might be the start of yet another bad habit--blogging at work. Like I don't do enough goofing off at work already. Yikes.

Not much else to report. William is "talking" up a storm these days, babbling incessantly. He's learning new words every day, and is so earnest when he "talks," it's hard not to laugh. He's doing great in the sleep department--although there are still days he wakes at 4:30 a.m., but I can usually get him right back to sleep. More and more often, he's sleeping until 5:30 or 6:00 or even 6:30. He's eating pretty well, too. He's really into throwing things these days, and he loves to throw things over the gate in front of the basement stairs. He laughs hysterically as objects bounce down the stairs and hit the walls. A few days ago, it was all the tupperware. Yesterday it was potatoes. I drew the line of the 5 qt. saucepan, however.

Our third music class went well over the weekend. William warmed up much quicker and seemed to enjoy it. He still wanted me to hold him during the songs when we all got up and danced. But for the most part, he was engaged in what everyone was doing. He also sat in the car at the front of the grocery cart during our weekend shopping trip and enjoyed that until the end, when he started to get antsy.

So that's our update. William will start transitioning to the toddler room at his daycare next week. It will be great for him to be with older kids again, and to have new toys and more outside time. And even better, it's about $150 less a month! Hopefully, he'll transition well.

Fall TV is Sucking Me In!

I'd like to say that I have some really great reason for not posting much this week. Like, I've been super productive, plowing through ironing, organizing the digital pictures, planning menus and cooking in advance. Or, I've been going to sleep at 8:00 every night and getting 8-9 hours of sleep every night. But no--I've just been watching TV. I've been watching the Ken Burns documentary on WWII, and The Biggest Loser, and Private Practice, and shows whose titles I don't even know. I've been watching so much TV that I've been getting TV headaches. And we're only halfway through the week people. The GOOD shows haven't even started, like Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Desperate Housewives. Man--I have to say I'm a little ashamed. But I'll cut myself some slack. After another week or two, I'll miss and episode of something for some reason, and then I won't bother anymore. I'll probably still watch Desperate Housewives, but I may even get tired of that. And even if I wasn't watching TV, we all know that I probably wouldn't be all that productive anyway.

I will say that having become a mom, I cry at the drop of a hat when watching anything on TV that has anything to do with mothers and children. I bawled during the Biggest Loser when the challenge winners got to call home and talk to their kids. And I bawled during the WWII Documentary when a woman was reading the last letter she had written to her brother before he died. And I absolutely sobbed last night during Private Practice when the psychiatrist and pediatrician were talking to the woman about her son who had fatal brain cancer. Oh my goodness--is this how I'll be for the rest of my life now? Maybe I've been getting headaches from crying so much, as opposed to too much TV.

Okay, gotta run. My Name is Earl is on soon!

Weekend Report

It's time for the weekend report. Things are much improved since my last post. William is better--no more wheezing--and despite his cold, he's still been sleeping pretty well. He's now stuck with nasty boogers oozing out of his nose, but he takes the nose-wiping very well, considering.

Yesterday we attended our second music class. He spent the first half of the class clinging to me and pointing to the door, hoping we would leave. But then the teacher got out the bin of musical instruments, and that got William very interested. He actually walked over to the pile and picked up a few instruments and even danced a little and laughed and smiled. I was very relieved. I was worried that the $200 we spent on the class would end up a big waste of money, but hopefully, he'll warm up to it more and more. He's definitely a cautious child by nature. And he doesn't particularly like loud noises (unless he's making them), so sometimes, I think he gets overwhelmed.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was uneventful but fun. This morning at the grocery store, William discovered the shopping carts with the cars on the front of them. I've never used one for him before, but as we were returning our cart after unloading the groceries, he saw one and wanted to get in it. I let him, and then he didn't want to get out. I had no idea he would love it so much. Later in the day, Ed and I went to Giant to get some batteries, and we pushed William around in the car cart. He loved it. So next Sunday, we'll be getting the car cart for sure. I remember when I first started bringing William to the grocery store, and thinking that it would be so long before he was big enough to ride in those shopping carts. And here we are.

It's amazing to think about how much he can do now and how much he knows. He can climb up and down the stairs now without help. He likes to be a daredevil and stand up on his ride-on scooter. He "talks" to us all the time, and quite earnestly. He uses intonations and looks at our faces expectantly. He follows commands. He uses a spoon and fork (about half the time). He loves books (especially books about trucks) and loves to read. Basically, all the things that 16-month-old is supposed to do. Every day he just gets cuter and cuter. It's challenging for sure, but what a joy!

Feeling Down

I had to leave work early today because William's daycare called to tell me they thought he was wheezing. I took him to the doctor and they confirmed it. So now he has to have a nebulizer treatment every 3-4 hours, and the doctor also prescribed a steroid. This just sucks. To make things worse, he also threw up 4 times today, although I think it was because of all the mucous--his gag reflex, rather than a virus. But needless to say, we'll be staying home tomorrow. Unfortunately, he did not react well to the nebulizer this go around. In the past, he's been great about it, just sitting quietly and breathing in the medicine. This time, he wanted nothing to do with it and kept pushing it away and crying. I might have to break out the Baby Einstein dvd tomorrow to see if that will help. It might be a rough day.

I'm feeling down because I'm worried that this is the beginning of a long winter for us, and that he'll end up being diagnosed with asthma. And I'm feeling guilty because he's a daycare baby, and I'm thinking that he'd be better off if I stayed home. And in general, it just sucks to see your child sick, so I'm sad. Let's just hope that he gets over this quickly. I guess now we have a good reason for missing the family dinner on Yom Kippur.

Matzah Ball Soup

Although Ed is Jewish, he has no interest in practicing Judaism, or passing along Jewish traditions to our children. (I am not religious, either, so this works well for us.) William's exposure to his Jewish heritage will come from Ed's family, and the family gatherings that occur loosely based on Jewish holidays, such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur, which include some of the traditional Jewish meals that are served on said holidays, such as brisket, kugel, and matzah ball soup. (I say loosely because these gatherings may or may not occur on the actual holidays.) At any rate, I don't think we have to worry about William completely losing touch with his Jewish heritage. It turns out that William loves matzah ball soup!

He's eaten it three nights in a row now. And he also ate the carrots and chicken included in the soup. (Not just the matzah balls!) I have new hope for chicken and dumplings and chicken noodle soup, now! And this also means that I must learn to make matzah balls!

In other news, William had a runny nose today, so I guess that means he's caught a cold. Darn it. I was hoping we could go two months in a row without being sick. (He did develop a bit of a cough several weeks ago, but I'm not sure if that was a virus or allergies.) I hope it's a mild one. It's depressing to think that the cold and flu season is quickly approaching. I'm also hoping it doesn't sabotage his good sleeping habits of late. Knock on wood!

Disappointment and the Weekend Report

Ed and I finally ordered a new rug for our family room, which arrived today. And I don't like it. We ordered it from Overstock.com, so we were taking a chance by not seeing it in person. What a bummer. I don't know how much it will cost to ship it back, but now we have to figure out if it will be worth it. We should have known better than to order a rug with monkeys on it. Yep--monkeys. We thought it would be whimsical. Instead, it's just borderline ridiculous. Actually, what I don't like about it is the color. It's a pale yellow, and I thought it was more of a beigeish yellow. Oh well. Ed said we should live with it for a few days before making a decision. In the meantime, I'll be checking with UPS to check their shipping rates.

In other news, we had a great weekend with William. My friend from New York brought her 3-year-old son Jack to visit on Thursday night, so we took Friday off and hung out with them all day. We didn't do much of anything except play outside. When school got out, we went to the playground and it was packed with older kids. William had a great time. He went down the slide a bunch and enjoyed it. In the past, he's always been a bit hesitant about the slide. But this time, he grinned ear to ear. He also loved seeing all the big kids. I met a few moms that live nearby, too, so that was nice. They said that our street gets tons of trick-or-treaters, so that's something to look forward to! William also loved Jack and enjoyed being around a big kid for a few days.

On Saturday, William and I went to our first music class. He did pretty well, although he mostly wanted me to hold him. There were times when he seemed to enjoy it. Hopefully he'll get used to it and get really into it. He's definitely cautious when it comes to new situations and new people. But he's also curious, which is good.

In other news, William has been sleeping through the night, until past 6:00 a.m.! This is very exciting, although now that I've actually written it out loud, I'm sure I've doomed myself to weeks of sleepless nights. He's also saying "helicopter" now, although it comes out as "helicop." I thought this was a relatively new thing, but Ed informed me tonight that he taught William to say helicopter when he stayed with William for the week in August. Go figure.

So that's about it. I went to the dermatologist today and luckily, I seem to be skin cancer free. That was a relief. It's good to get stuff like that out of the way.

And finally, I do have a menu plan for this week. So here it is:

Monday: Chicken foil packets on the grill
These were really good, and I totally made them up! I cut up chicken breast and sprinkled the pieces with lemon pepper seasoning. Then I added asparagus, zucchini, and squash, some crushed garlic, Italian seasonings, and some Kosher salt. I wrapped them up in aluminum foil and Ed cooked them on the grill. They were fantastic!

Tuesday: Ed has a gig, so it's just William and me. I might eat beans and rice, or something else that Ed won't eat.

Wednesday: Chicken soft tacos
This is something we used to make all the time when I lived in a group house of 5 girls--when I first moved to DC. We cut up chicken and cook it in taco seasoning. Meanwhile, make Spanish rice. Then you can choose whatever taco toppings you want. Spread some rice and chicken in a soft taco tortilla, and add toppings. We'll have lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream. We also like avocados, green onions, and refried beans sometimes.

Thursday: Lasagna
My lasagna is a little different than most recipes because I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. For the sauce, I just doctor up jar sauce. Nothing too fancy.

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Yom Kippur--Ed is breaking fast with his family and it looks like I'll be home with William because we can't find a babysitter. I'm not too disappointed, truth be told!

In the Hot Seat

My friend Laura--the one with twin boys the same age as William, God bless her!--put herself in the hot seat a few weeks back, inviting her readers to ask her any questions they wanted. Well, now she has a few questions for me.

1. How did you meet Ed?
We met in the fall of 2001 when we were both working at Barnes and Noble. I was working there part time, and he had decided not to go to law school but wasn't quite sure what he was going to do, yet. He worked in the music section, and one evening when we were closing, and all the employees were standing around waiting for the manager, Ed and I started talking. He said he was a jazz musician, which immediately piqued my interest. And he also told me he had gone to Chapel Hill, so I assumed he was pretty smart. For the next several weeks, I would go flirt with him in the music department whenever we worked the same shifts. And then we went on our first date in December. And I guess the rest is history!

2. How will you feel if people start calling William, "Billy"?
Yeah--hopefully that won't happen. Although I could live with Bill. And I guess "Billy" is preferable to "Willie." But maybe not. I think if he ends up with a nick name, it will most likely be Will. So to answer your question, I think I will cringe if people call him "Billy"!

3. Do you get to meet a lot of senators in your job or are you more behind the scenes?
I, personally, don't get to meet lots of senators, but my boss does. Most of them know him by name, and they request personal meetings with him and sometimes even tours, so that they can get "up to speed" with the history of the Senate. I have probably spoken to more former senators than current. But I often pass senators in the hallways or on the subway to the Capitol. It's not all that glamorous, though. I'm mostly behind-the-scenes.

4. What is the #1 thing you would do the same if you had another child?
This is a really tough question! I can think of lots and lots of things I want to do differently, but what would I do the same? I guess the #1 thing is that I will definitely breastfeed again. But coming in at #2 will be keeping an open mind when it comes to things like pacifiers, co-sleeping, nursing, etc.

[ETA--2 more questions from Laura!]

5. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
I love answering this one, because it's sort of different from what people normally do. Ed and I went to a dude ranch in Colorado for our honeymoon! It was great. We had our own cabin, and went horseback riding every day, and did some fishing, and Ed got to shoot skeet and pistols and do archery. (I would have but I had injured my hand the day before, so I couldn't hold the gun.) And we herded cattle and Ed even got to castrate a few calves. He was a real cowboy! At any rate, we had a really good time and it's definitely something we want to do again as a family when the kid/s get older.

6. Are you happy with the move to Burke and the new house?
This one is easy--YES! I love our house and our yard and our neighborhood. Even though we have a longer commute now, it has been worth it. I think it will be a great area for William to grow up in, and it is wonderful having a house! The only tough part has been trying to get settled. There's so much we want to do, and most of that involves buying stuff, and we just don't have the expendable cash right now. But we'll get there eventually!

So if anyone else has any questions, ask them in my comments section! And thanks for showing some interest, Laura!

Notes on William

Just wanted to make a note of a few things William has been doing lately.

First of all, he went down the stairs by himself--going backwards and being very careful. I've known that he knows how to go down stairs backwards. But I just wasn't sure if he would. Whenever I'm close by, he tends to go down kamikaze style--feet first like he's perfectly capable of walking down the stairs just like you and me. It's nice to know that he has some since of self preservation! Still, I'm not getting rid of the gates any time soon.

Also, he's saying "wow" now, and it's really cute. He loves trucks and he has a book that has pictures of all kinds of different trucks. Sometimes he'll study the book and point at a truck and say, "Wow!" It's too funny to hear your child use descriptive words like that appropriately.

He also started saying "bus," although it sounds more like, "butts." For a long time, he called buses "trucks," so this is definite progress.

He's not using bottles any more at daycare. At home, he usually gets one in the morning when he wakes up, and before he goes to sleep. But this morning, we even skipped the morning bottle.
He's been doing really well with sleep, and more often than not now, sleeping through the night. This morning he finally slept past 6:00 a.m.! That was nice for a change. (Although I still got up at 5:45 a.m. to get ready for the day. It was just nice to not have him under my feet as I got dressed and blow dried my hair and put on my makeup.)

He runs now more often than he walks.

He follows directions really well and the daycare director said he'll be ready to move to the toddlers room soon. I think he'll be really happy there, once he gets used to the teachers.

That's about it. We're enjoying William more than ever and most days, I just want to drink him in and kiss him all over. It's all the little moments that happen throughout the day that make you so thankful that you had kids.

Menu Plan Monday

It's that time again! Here's this week's menu:

Sunday:
French Bread Pizzas

Monday: French Onion Beef Noodle Bake
Some kind of veggie, TBD

Tuesday: Pepsi Pork Roast (except I might use Root Beer)
Potatoes
Salad or some kind of veggie

Wednesday: Pork Roast Sandwiches on Hogie Rolls
French Fries

Thursday: Hamburgers/hot dogs on the grill
Potato salad

Friday: Dinner out?

A Blast at the Beach

We are home from our weekend at the beach and we had a wonderful time. As I suspected, William loved the ocean and the sand. He spent lots of time walking around, slyly observing people, and throwing sand. Two of his favorite things to do were to knock down any sand castles that Ed and I tried to build, and jump into any holes that we dug. He also enjoyed the birds and the telephone in our hotel room. He woke up a few times on Friday night but slept all night on Saturday night. And he graciously woke us up before 6:00 a.m. both mornings so that we could watch the sunrise together. How thoughtful!

So here's what you really want--pictures!

As soon as we got there on Friday afternoon, we headed to the beach.


Here he is with Ed, very excited to see the waves:


This is dinner Friday night.

Here he is eating a lemon for the first time:

The beach on Saturday. We stayed on the beach the whole day. William even napped under the umbrella for an hour and a half. I actually got to relax in the chair and read a book!

So here he is, exploring with daddy:

Here he is, busy with his shovel and pail. He wore the hat and shades for most of the day. We were shocked! We got tons of comments from people. It was pretty funny.


And one last shot, because it's too cute not to post:

So that's enough. Time for bed. And I did, in fact, come up with a menu for this week, so I'll post it tomorrow morning. It was a great weekend, but I'm glad we're home.

Successful Strategy

I'm feeling quite brilliant and smug because my strategy of sewing William's blanket to his crib rail worked! Last night he woke up at 4:30 a.m. and cried and whined and threw one blanket out of the crib and then tried to throw the other one--but it didn't go anywhere! It just hung over the side of the crib. So after pacing the crib a few times and jumping up and down and whining and crying some more, he stepped on one of the extra pacifiers I had left in the crib, bent down and picked it up and put it in his mouth, and then lost his balanced and fell down. Since he had his blanket and his pacifier, there was no reason for him not to go back to sleep, which he promptly did. He cried for a total of 9 minutes. I'm convinced that if he hadn't had the blanket and pacifier, he would have continued to cry. Of course, I have no way of really knowing if this is true, but work with me people. Feeling smug and brilliant when you're a relatively new mom is a wonderful thing! I guess we'll have to see what happens tonight to know for sure.

An Adjustment

Getting back into the routine after a long weekend, and in William's case, a long week, can be a little rough. Today seemed to go okay, though. For starters, William slept through the night last night, so that was good. We left the house at a relatively good time (not quite as early as I had hoped, but William decided to poop while I was eating my breakfast, so we had to go upstairs and change him before we left) and I wasn't too late to work. The drop-off was okay--not too many tears. I guess the worst part of William's day was that the teachers decided no more bottle for him. When he woke up from his nap, he was quite distressed, and even though he cried really hard for 20 minutes, they didn't give in. I feel pretty bad for him, and considering the fact that today was probably going to be hard on all of the kids since they've been out for a week, I probably would have said to let him have it. But they didn't ask me. And I know 20 minutes of crying won't really hurt him. Better them than me. Of course, as soon as I picked him up and he saw the bottle bag that I carry his bottles in, he immediately pointed to the fridge and wanted his bottle again. I made him wait until we got to the car. Nice, huh? I decided that for right now, I'm not too worried about the bottle battle. I think he'll figure out that he doesn't get one at daycare, and he does at home--in the morning when he wakes up, and at night before he goes to bed. It works for me! Tomorrow, I won't be bringing any bottles to daycare. Just sippy cups! Hopefully he'll understand that no bottle bag means no bottles.

After work, we had a good time playing outside. I tried to take some pictures, but he wasn't very cooperative. Here are a few:


Here he is on Daddy's workbench, sorting the screws and nails.


Just a few other notes that I want to remember. First of all, he says "more" now. And he says "Da-doo," which is a lawnmower. But it might also be other things--I haven't quite figured that out. He also loves our Victrola. We have a 1919 model, where you crank the handle, and it plays the old records, and you control the volume by opening or closing the doors in front of the speaker. Anyway, William wants us to play it every day. Today I played a few songs from "Oklahoma." He seems to enjoy Benny Goodman more.

So that's all for tonight. I hope he has a good night tonight, too. Oh yeah--I did end up sewing his blanket to the crib. I found a pacifier clip on a ribbon, sewed the ribbon to the blanket, wrapped the ribbon around the crib post and then hooked it over the pacifier clip, and then made sure there wasn't any slack in the ribbon. Of course, it didn't get tested last night, so we'll have to see what happens tonight. There are only a few stitches holding the ribbon to the blanket, so it might not hold too well. But it was worth a try!

Happy Labor Day

We've had a pretty good weekend, and I'm not looking forward to having to get ready for work tomorrow, and having to fight traffic again, and having to take William to daycare. I can only imagine how his morning is going to go. I feel the most sorry for the daycare teachers!

On Saturday, William's two buddies from daycare and their parents came over for a cook-out. The boys were so cute and were so excited to see each other. They had a great time running around, playing in the water table and the sand box, keeping their parents on their toes. William was so exhausted that he slept through the night. (Last night, however, he woke up at a little after 4:00 and cried for 15 minutes until I went in and retrieved his blankets and pacifier, which he's now throwing over the side of the crib when he wakes up. Great, huh?)

On Sunday afternoon, William and I went to the outlet mall to go shoe shopping. I found a pair of stride rites for $28.00. His foot measured a 5.5--a whole size bigger than his last pair. He looks so stinkin' cute and grown up in his new shoes. I'll get some pictures this afternoon when he wakes up from his nap.

Today we went to Home Depot with Daddy. Ed got a table saw a couple of weeks ago and it's his new favorite toy. He's decided that he needs to build a desk in our storage room in the basement so that he doesn't have to worry about making noise when he pays bills. I'm not really sure why paying bills is noisy, but whatever. So he got some supplies for the desk and he's happily piddling away in the garage. This afternoon we're going to Ed's cousin's for a little cookout.

So that's it--nothing too exciting. This is going to be a short week because next weekend, we're going to the beach! I'm excited and just hope the weather will cooperate. I hope William will love the ocean and the sand. It will be a short trip, but I'm really looking forward to it. In the meantime, I'm hoping this week won't be too terrible. And I'm a little at a loss as to what to do about sleeping. Instead of getting easier, this whole letting him cry thing is getting harder. The first couple of nights, he cried for only 5 minutes or less. And now he's only waking up once, which is good, and he's not getting a bottle, which is progress, but he's crying for longer and longer. I may have to resort to the extinction method. I'm also considering sewing one of his blankets to his crib rails so that he can't throw it over the side. We'll see!