Big Boy Bed, Day 2

Since the rest of this post is boring, I thought I'd start off with some cute pictures. Guess who finally learned to smile for the camera and say cheese? He'll even take his pacifier out of his mouth!



Check out the cute outfit. He wore this today to our friend's baby's baptism.


And this would have been a great picture if I had gotten the lighting right.


So onto the good stuff!

Last night didn't go too badly. William woke up at 1:15 a.m. and got out of bed. But as soon as I went into his room, he got back in his bed. I sat at the end of the bed again and waited for him to fall asleep. It took him about 15-20 minutes. Then he woke up again at 5:15 a.m., but he wouldn't go back to sleep after that. I tried laying down in the bed with him, but he just wanted to play, and then he wanted some chocolate milk, and then he wanted to go down to the basement. So I ended up finishing laundry and folding clothes at 6:15 a.m. What a way to start the day, huh?

Because he woke up so early this morning, he fell asleep in the car at 9:45 a.m., on the way to our friend's baby's baptism. He was really good during the church service though, and had a good time playing at our friend's house after the service. He fell asleep in the car on the way back around 2:45, so when we got home, I moved him to his bed to finish his nap. He woke up but went back to sleep when he saw that I was laying down on the bed, too. I think if I had tried to leave, he would not have been happy.

So tonight was basically a repeat of last night, except Ed tried putting him down instead of me. That didn't go over too well, so I went up to relieve him and sat at the end of the bed. William played and played, sang all his songs, banged his feet on the wall and the safety rail, tried to do a few somersaults, and finally fell asleep after 50 minutes. So that's a whole 25 fewer minutes than it took last night! Progress, right? I've had my moments of regret when I think about how easy it was just two nights ago to put him to sleep. A few stories, a minute or two of rocking, and then into his crib where he'd promptly lay down and go to sleep. *Sigh.* But I know it's better to be going through this transition now, rather than closer to when the baby gets here. For now, it just reminds me of all those nights I nursed him to sleep and had to wait forever before I could put him in his crib. What goes around comes around, right?

Big Boy Bed

Today we moved the crib out of William's room and put the twin-sized box spring and mattress in there. We got a bed rail for the bed, and completed baby-proofing the room. William watched all the preparations with great interest and seemed pretty excited about the bed. He jumped on it, and laughed and put his head on the pillow. After dinner, we did our normal routine--took a bath, put on PJs, brushed teeth, and then sat in the rocking chair to read stories. As we read stories, though, I could see William eyeball the bed with an apprehensive look. After stories, I turned out the light and rocked with him in the chair for a few minutes, and then went to put him in the bed. That was a definite no-go.

I rocked with him in the chair for a few more minutes, and then tried putting him back in the bed. Still a no-go. So I lay down in the bed beside him. This seemed to make him happy, but then he started playing. I tried to ignore him, but then he started playing with me. So then I tried to leave the room, but he freaked out. And I couldn't just leave him in his room freaking out, so I held him for a few minutes and lay back down in the bed with him. After a few minutes, I sat up at the end of the bed while he goofed around and explored his new surroundings. He checked out the safety rail, banged his feet against the wall, tossed and turned with his blankets and pillow, etc. etc. He finally drifted off to sleep at 8:45, one hour and fifteen minutes after I turned the light off. I guess that's not too bad. Hopefully he'll get used to his new bed pretty quickly, and we won't have to stay in the room with him. I know that's a bad habit to start, but my instincts told me to give him some time to get adjusted.

We'll see how tonight goes. I think nap time will be even harder tomorrow. But it feels good to have finally taken this step. I've been dreading it, and although the jury is still out as to how it will go, just biting the bullet and doing it makes it seem like it's not that big of a deal after all. Stay tuned!

Motivation

When it comes to all the "stuff" that needs to get done day-in and day-out, I'm hopelessly unmotivated to do any of it. I make lists and set goals and try to think in terms of small, accomplishable tasks, but after William goes to sleep and the dishes get cleaned up, all I really want to do is crawl into bed and watch TV or read and talk to Ed. I hardly even want to blog anymore! And I certainly don't want to download bank statements, or organize pictures, or clean off my desk, or do a load of laundry, or back up my files, or iron, or organize closets, or catch up on e-mails, or sort through baby clothes and toys, or search for furniture and decorating ideas, or go through recipes and menu plan, or do any of the other dozens of things that always seem to need to get done. I know how to do all of these things. So it's not a matter of not knowing where to begin, or how to approach a project, or how best to organize. It's simply a matter of, I don't feel like doing any of it! I'm just plain 'ole lazy. And being pregnant is not an excuse. I've always been this way. I come by it naturally, though. My mom's motto has always been, "Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" As she always says, "That mess isn't going anywhere."

I do get some motivation from Ed, who doesn't have a lazy bone in his body. He reaches a point where he can't stand to look at a mess or a pile or an unpacked suitcase anymore, and then I'm spurned into action. And I do prefer neat and tidy to messy and unorganized, so I appreciate this quality in Ed more than I probably appear to (based on my penchant for messiness!). But I need to find motivation within myself. Or at least some kind of happy medium. Tonight I made myself spend 30 minutes downloading my bank statements and entering them into Quicken. I didn't get a whole lot done, but it's a start. Maybe I need to approach my tasks in 30-minute increments and see where that gets me. I can be lazy for the rest of the night if I spend 30 minutes accomplishing something. It's a start, right?

I certainly hope that William inherits Ed's work ethic and neatness gene. Although I have no problem letting William make big messes and don't get uptight when chaos seems to reign, I also try to emphasize the clean-up, and we don't move on to a new activity until we've cleaned up from the present one. And I try to make sure that William is present for the clean-up, even if he doesn't always help. Although I'm a slob at heart, this is not how I want to be remembered! So far, William is really good about cleaning up. He gladly throws trash away in the garbage cans, and he's adept with the Swiffer Vac. So all is not lost. I guess wanting to instill in your children a certain value or mindset is pretty good motivation. It will have to do for now, anyway!

How the Boys Fared

Since yesterday's post was all about my girls' weekend, today's post will be all about the boys' weekend. Apparently, they were both great and hardly missed me at all! On Friday, Ed took William to Chuck E. Cheese. William enjoyed ski ball the most. After William's nap, they went to Ed's parents house for the rest of the weekend. Traffic was horrible and Ed turned on the DVD player. William watched Toy Story from beginning to end, and Ed said he didn't make a peep the whole time. Should I be very worried? First of all, that he had the attention span to watch the entire movie. And second of all, about how many of his brain cells may have died while he stared at a video screen for that long? Guess I'll have to stock up the van with a few more movies!

Anyway, they spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, with nothing more eventful than a trip to a toy store. They got back late Sunday afternoon and William went to sleep at his normal time, which is how I found him when I got home at 9:45 that night. I peeked in on him but he didn't stir, so I had to wait until morning to see him. And when he woke up and I went in to get him, he just snuggled up to me and went back to sleep. It was like I had never been gone! We spent the day together on Monday and today, it was back to the grind. He was very happy to see his friends at daycare this morning, and was apparently quite energetic all day.

The really great thing about the weekend, though, was that tonight, after I gave William a bath and got him dressed in his PJs and brushed his teeth, I turned him over to Ed for his stories and bed routine, and William didn't protest one bit. It has been a struggle lately to get him to let anyone other than me take care of him, and with the new baby coming, we were getting worried about this. But having Daddy take care of him all weekend seems to have done wonders. I think we'll have to be vigilant, though, about not falling back into the habit of me doing most of the hands-on care for William. But I also think that maybe things won't be as hard as I'm anticipating. This weekend, we're planning on transitioning William to the bed. We're just going to take things as they come and see how it goes. There's really no other way, is there?

Girls' Weekend '08

This was the 7th year that I have gotten together for a weekend with my 3 best friends. We've known each other for at least 25 years, and some of us for even longer. They are the most wonderful friends a person could ever ask for, and I am so glad that we have carved out one weekend every year that is just for us. It's a chance to reconnect, to learn from each other, to laugh like nobody's business, to eat and shop and play cards and eat (did I mention that already?).

In years past, we have picked a location near each of us to share the burden of travel. The first year was a condo on the beach in St. Augustine. Then we did New York City. Then the girls came to Washington, DC. We went to Atlanta, and then the Florida Keys, and for the past two years, we've stayed at ME's condo on the beach in Jacksonville. We plan to continue to return to the condo on the beach, although I'm sure we'll shake things up every few years or so and try somewhere different. We decided that since what we mostly do is sit around and talk and eat, a tourist destination with too many distractions was not always a good fit. The beach, however, is always a good fit!
After spending 48 hours with these women, I come away wanting to be more like them in many ways. MJ is so smart and insightful. She has the best sense of humor and is so appreciative of the people around her. TF is so on top of everything. She gets things done with an efficiency that is beyond amazing. She is also the least defensive person I know, quick to laugh at herself and open to any new ideas. ME is the most passionate, fearless person I know, and the most determined. When challenged, she does not back down. She has a huge heart and wants to take care of everyone around her, which makes everyone around her feel loved and special. I am so lucky to have them as friends.

There is absolutely a novel waiting to be written about our friendships and how we've evolved over time. We all have husbands and children now--though it has taken us 12 years to all get on this same page. I don't think any of us are where we all thought we'd be when we graduated from high school. But our journeys have been amazing and so very different. And yet, every year and every milestone brings us closer together. I can hardly wait to see what the next 25 years brings! Hopefully more moments and pictures like this:

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are my valentine's gifts from Ed and William:


Have I mentioned how much I love my husband? I'm off to get some hot tea to go with my chocolate!

(Hopefully I'll be back on Monday with a recap from Girls' Weekend '08, and an update on how William and Ed did while I was gone. Have a great weekend!

Commuting Nightmare

What a night! It took William and me over two hours to get home today. Sleet and freezing rain that started falling around 3:00 p.m. caused a ton of accidents, which caused the closure of the main route that takes us home every day. So we chose an alternate route that took us two hours. William was such a trooper, though. For the first hour, he just did his usual looking around, chatting, pointing out trucks and airplanes and diggers and whatever else struck his fancy. We listened to the news a little, and to his Barney CD. Around 6:00 p.m., when we had been in the car for an hour and 15 minutes, I pulled out the portable DVD player and started Toy Story. He's seen a little bit of it before, but he watched it for the rest of the ride home! At 6:45, I figured he must be starving. We were finally really close to home, so we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. Ed met us there (his commute wasn't nearly as bad, although it wasn't pretty either), and William had a great time watching the older kids who had come from a karate class. Apparently, he wasn't starving. Watching other kids was way more interesting than eating. He did decide, however, that mommy's sweet tea was much better than his milk. Ah well. What are you gonna do?

So we finally got home at 7:30 and we went straight upstairs to change our clothes and get ready for bed. It amazes me that he can go with the flow so easily, in spite of the fact that we have the same routine almost every night. He hardly ever goes without his bath. And yet, it's no big deal the very few times that we skip it. We are soooo lucky, I think. And I realize, too, that it might not always be this way. The one thing that kept running through my head on our ride home was, what if this happens and I have two kids in the car, and one is a baby who is hungry and wants to nurse and hates the car? Then what will I do? The DVD player was a bit of a life saver, so I'll be sure to keep that with me at all times, along with a movie or two.

Anyway, I also wanted to report that I've started feeling the Braxton Hicks contractions. Definitely a sign that we're getting closer! It's time to start getting the baby's room ready, I think. And after next week, we may go ahead and see if we can transition William to a bed. We'll see how easy-going he is then! I'm really apprehensive about taking the plunge and making the switch. But we should at least try. Worst-case scenario, we put him back in his crib and get another one for the baby. And it will probably be a good 8 weeks before the baby even sleeps in the crib anyway. Well, something to look forward to, I guess.

For now, I'm heading to bed to read my new issue of Simple & Delicious, and to watch the news so I can hear about everyone else's commuting nightmares!

Weekend Report

It's the end of another good but nothing-to-write-home-about weekend. My cousin's boys spent the night last night (they're 12 and 8) and William had fun hanging out with the big kids. They brought their Wii and William watched them and Ed play Guitar Hero and a few other games. We ate pizza for dinner and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and I think William was sad to see them leave.

I had my doctor's appointment on Saturday morning and it went really well! I didn't get scolded for my weight gain, and everything looks really good, so I don't have to go back until three weeks (rather than two). I was happy that I had gained less than 4 pounds this months. And my glucose tolerance came back with no problems. My level was 86, and they aren't concerned unless it's above 135. Whew! At the rate that I've been eating sweets, I was a little worried. After my appointment, I went to Target and then to Motherhood Maternity and bought a bathing suit, a dress, a pair of jeans, four t-shirts, and a tank-camisole. I spent more money than I should have, but I haven't shopped for myself in soooo long and I had to get the bathing suit and jeans. And I know I will get lots of use out of the t-shirts, too.

In William's world, he's now singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and he knows the alphabet song, but gets a little tripped up at "L-M-N-O-P" and tends to skip that part. He is also getting to be quite the show-off around new people. He plays shy, but then gets all silly. It's pretty cute. Today we went to a party with Ed's musician friends. They had a little jam session in the basement, so Ed took William down to listen. He said that William sat in a chair and just watched them all with no expression whatsoever. He sat perfectly still and watched them all play. He must have been down there for at least 30-45 minutes. For a child who likes to move around a lot, I think it's pretty funny. I guess he really liked it. I wonder if he'll be musically talented like his dad. I wonder if he'll want to play an instrument? Ed says he can play anything except drums. I'm totally down with that rule!

So that's it for another boring weekend report. I have lots to do this week to get ready for Girls' Weekend. I can't wait to go, but I'm missing the boys already. I'm sure they'll do great, though. Hopefully I'll have time to blog once or twice before the weekend.

I Met Another Blogger Mom!

On Thursday and Friday, I got to meet Seren, Sam, and Megan, from In Pursuit of Balance. How cool is that? They came to DC for a conference Megan attended, so on Thursday morning, Sam and Seren met William and me at my office building, and I led them on a wild goose chase that was supposed to be a tour of the Capitol but ended up being a visit to my office and then a walk to where I park so that I could retrieve my ID from car. And by then, it was too late to go back to the Capitol, so they got to see William's daycare as we dropped William off for the day. Probably not how Sam intended to spend his morning, but I loved seeing Seren IRL, and she and William played shy and gave each other a lot of furtive glances and sqwawked a bit as we walked down the street, but that was about it. Seren greatly impressed me with her counting skills, however.

On Friday, Megan met me for lunch and I had the best hour getting to know her and chatting about work and kids and how we got to be where we are now. I wish we had had the rest of the day to hang out. I felt the same way when I met Laura from Laura's Mommy Journal. There's so much we "know" about each other from our blogging, and yet I would love the opportunity to spend a whole weekend with these women (and so many other blogging moms!) to pick their brains and share experiences and soak up everything that I admire about them. Just like she comes across in her blog, Megan was so intelligent and quick to laugh and such an interesting person.

I so hope that I get another chance to hang out with Laura and Megan in the not-too-distant future. And that I get to meet other blogger moms along the way!

Belly Shots--28 weeks

I guess I have to get this one out of the way. Here's another crappy picture of my belly. Since all my other pictures are less than spectacular, I thought I'd stick with the look, rather than trying to get Ed to take a picture of me. It's better for comparison this way! And since we're talking comparison,

28 weeks:

23 weeks:
18 weeks:

Wow--I got big in a hurry. How much bigger can I get? Yikes.

I'm off to bed, and to watch the election results. It looks like good voter turnout, which is pretty exciting. It's pretty sad, though, that less than 50% of people will probably vote, and yet it's still considered great turnout. Oh well!

Weekend Report

It's Monday morning and since I didn't make the time to blog last night, I thought I'd steal a few moments this morning to do so, even though I don't have all that much to blog about.

Our weekend was good, and I actually got a few things accomplished. I went through William's clothes and found a few bags of long-sleeve shirts in 24 mo. and 2T sizes, which is awesome because he has outgrown the 18 mo. shirts. (18 mo. pants still fit him just fine, though. In fact, the 2T pants are way too big.) So I put away a bunch of clothes and re-sorted some others. Thank God for Ed's sister and her two boys. They are 5 and 3 and their hand-me-downs are awesome!!! I rarely have to go shopping for William. And since I really don't like shopping (and never have money to shop anyway), it all works out!

I also cleaned our bathroom, did laundry, and cleaned our whole kitchen table--chairs and legs and all. And I did most of this while keeping William entertained, which is no small feat. Fortunately, he's at that age where he can keep himself relatively occupied for long stretches of time. But he still needs lots of checking in on, and some diversion from time to time.

In William's world, he's talking more and more every day. He's putting lots of thoughts together, but not quite coming up with verbs yet. So he'll say, "Daddy shower," or "Bus, people, work" or "school, Michael" (which means he's going to play with Michael). It's funny that most of the time, I know what he's trying to say.

He's also completely done with bottles now. (Not sure if I've noted that anywhere.) I haven't even put them all away yet, so he sees them every day. But he really couldn't care less about them now. He still wakes up in the night about half the time, but he just wants me to hold him for a minute and then I put him back in his crib and he goes right back to sleep. I guess I could make the effort to get him to go back to sleep on his own, but he's so inconsistent about it, and half the time, he sleeps all night just fine. And no sooner will I go through the effort of letting him cry then he will probably get sick and then I'll get up with him again and we'll have to start all over. For now, I feel like the situation is fine and completely tolerable.

He's been eating well lately, which is nice for a change. Not a ton, mind you. But enough variety to make me happy. Last night I made roast beef and baked potatoes and we all had dinner together and ate the same thing! (Although I made peas for William and Ed and I ate spinach salad.) He's been on a bagel kick at breakfast, and he still loves him some fruit.

He's back to crying every morning when I drop him off at daycare, but it isn't too bad. It's more like fussing for effect, and he's fine once I'm gone. He still prefers me over Ed when we're home, but he loves playing with Ed, and Ed is so good with him. Ed engages him so much when they're playing. He asks William to count and say the alphabet and identify colors and shapes and repeat words. I hate to admit that I forget to do these things when I play with William. But Ed is always taking opportunities to teach things to William. I love watching and listening to them spend time together.

As for me, I'm getting bigger every day. I still feel pretty good, although my digestive tract is still out of whack. (And I'll leave it at that.) Maybe it's because I'm eating so damn much! LOL! I think I'm almost 28 weeks now. I have to get my glucose tolerance test this week. Not sure how I'm going to work that one out with William. Do I go to a lab on my way to work and bring William with me? Or take William to daycare and go to a lab downtown by myself? Or get Ed to stay home in the morning with William while I go get the test done by my house? Option 3 sounds like the best to me. But it all depends on Ed's schedule. Anyway, just 12 weeks to go. I'm getting excited to meet this baby. We still don't have a boy's name. I guess we need to get on that.

So that's it for now. I'll try to remember to take belly pictures tonight. I wish I had taken belly pictures with William so I can compare. I don't remember being this big this early. But who cares? I'm going to try to do my exercise video again. I haven't done it in two weeks. So maybe that will help. My most exciting news is that in 10 days, I'll be getting on a plane and heading to Florida for my girls' weekend! I can't wait to see my friends and relax and gab. And William will get a whole weekend of daddy! (Although daddy will likely spend the weekend at his parents, so William will enjoy that, too.) Hopefully, we'll all have a great weekend.

Getting All Politicky

It's no big secret that I lean to the left politically-speaking. I tend to not talk politics in my blog, maybe because I'm surrounded by politics all day long. At any rate, I have felt really torn this election cycle--not sure who to hang my star on when it comes to presidential candidates. That it will be a Democrat is a given. But which one? I will admit, though, that the prospect of John McCain as president does not fill me with as much fear and foreboding as a President Romney or President Huckabee does. Part of what makes me most angry about Republican and conservative rhetoric is the hypocrisy of their "family values" rhetoric. (I'm not at all saying that hypocrisy does not run rampant in both parties, so if you lean to the right, don't get all bunched up--yet!) It's all about legislating morality as opposed to actually proposing and supporting and passing legislation that might actually make life better for actual families. How about maternity/paternity leave? Affordable and quality childcare? Healthcare? I can appreciate fundamental arguments about what government is responsible for and what it isn't responsible for. I can find some truth in the arguments of a true, fiscal conservative. But don't you dare refuse to pass a higher minimum wage act, or vote against funding healthcare for children, and then turn around and tell me that the government should decide who I can or can not marry, or that I should have to observe prayer, or that the government can listen to my phone calls for the sake of national security.

Anyway, I digress. Liz at Mom101 wrote a wonderful post about what she discovered after really digging into the candidates' positions and platforms. To me, it's very telling, and reflects my distaste for social conservatism. So go visit! What are you waiting for?

As for where I stand regarding Barack v. Hillary, let me just say this. I'm a little worried about the baggage that Hillary would bring to the White House. How much of her agenda will be trying to accomplish unfinished business? After going through Cheney/Rumsfeld Act I, take 2, I'm just not sure if Hillary's past is an asset, or a strike. On the other hand, I'm not sure how "tested" Barrack is, and how effective he could be. A lot would have to do with who he chooses as his advisers and in his cabinet, I know. And I'm not saying that experience is everything. But since so many people are comparing him to Kennedy, quite honestly, Kennedy wasn't accomplishing a whole heck of a lot as president when his life was cut short. Sure--he offered hope and the prospect of change, which is a whole heck of a lot. But how will he work with Congress? How will he lead in foreign policy? Clearly, I have a lot more reading and listening to do.

So I'm right back where we started--still undecided. But either way, I'm excited that things have been so interesting--that there have been a lot of candidates and no clear front-runner. In a way, that might not be so good--as there isn't clear support for one. But Americans have been closely divided for a while, and it seems the norm now. I'll be eagerly awaiting the returns on Tuesday, that's for sure. And hoping, just a little bit, that things stay interesting, and that a clear winner will not emerge--not quite yet anyway.

Picture Update

haven't posted pictures in a while, so thought I'd post a few recent ones. William's hair is really coming in now. Sometimes it looks light--almost reddish. And then other times, it looks really dark. You can definitely see it in these pictures.

These were taken the week before last, when he was home sick for most of the week. I gave him a few bowls and measuring cups, some dried rice and pasta, and let him have at it.


Here's a video of the same thing:



Here's a picture of William and me . You can clearly see that I'm gaining a lot of weight!


And finally, William with goofy-looking face and hair:

The State of the Hahns 2008

It's that time of the year again! I've been thinking about this post a lot lately, although it comes at a pretty boring time in the Hahn household. (If living with a toddler can ever be described as "boring," which it isn't really to us, but my blog entries sure make it seem that way!)

Anyway, how do you sum up the state of your family? How do you describe where you've been and where you're going? What did we accomplish this past year, and what do we hope to accomplish in the coming year? I've been thinking about it in terms of certain words that I use to describe us.

So first of all, the state of the Hahns is blessed. We are soooooo fortunate to have our health, to have never faced anything worse than wheezing when it comes to William's health, to be financially secure, to have jobs that we like, to have supportive families, to have the ability to conceive so easily, to have friends, to have each other, and laughter in our lives. We have worked hard to be where we are, and yet, all of these things have come to us easily, without a lot of angst or worry. Many of these things can change with a moment's notice, so our challenge for the upcoming year is to appreciate these blessings, and to not take it all for granted, which is so easy to do.

The state of the Hahns is also amused. Every day we laugh out loud at William's antics. We often laughed together before William came along, and we still laugh together often when it's just us. But there's something about the shared joy we experience when William makes us laugh. It brings us closer, and tightens the bond between us. Whether it's a dramatic, anguish-filled face in response to a reprimand, or a spontaneous dance and accompanying grin brought about by ice cream or an Oreo cookie, our life is so much the richer for the laughter that William brings out in us.

The state of the Hahns is routine--gloriously, predictably, comfortably routine. Our weekend activities change, of course, and we can, and sometimes do, step outside the box and shake things up a bit. But for the most part, we have mastered the day-in and day-out functioning that is required of two working parents with a toddler. There is definitely room for improvement--we haven't quite mastered the ability to keep our house clean on a routine schedule--but I know that will come with time. (And more money to hire a cleaning service!) And as things change, we adjust accordingly. It's just so nice and comforting to know what to expect, but at the same time, to be able to say, "it's okay to do things differently for one night, because tomorrow, we'll be back to our routine."

The state of the Hahns is content. In this past year, we have figured out so much about how to operate as a family, how to ask each other for help, how to support each other, and how to find joy in the most mundane of everyday activities. A sense of contentment that is hard to describe and articulate has settled over us. This does not mean we have not had our moments of disagreement and exasperation. This does not mean we do not hope for more contentment in our future. But we have learned that it is possible, even at the height of frustration and bitterness, to feel content, and to know that the tough moments and the discontent really are fleeting. We know we're in it for the long haul, and the long haul looks pretty darn good.

The state of the Hahns is both confident and anxious in anticipation of our new arrival. Is it possible to be both? We're confident because we've done it before. For the most part, we know what to expect. We're prepared (sort of) and can't wait to meet our newest family member. However--even though we've done this before, we've never done it with a toddler who is very attached to his mommy! And we have no way of predicting what the new baby will be like. Will he/she be laid back? Demanding? Colicky? Will he/she sleep? It's definitely a crap shoot. And how will William react? Will the terrible twos rear their ugly head just when we bring the baby home? Or will he surprise us (as he usually does) and rise to the occasion, loving his new role as big brother? And how will our routine and contentment be thrown off by this new addition to our family? How will the logistics work with two? So we are anxious facing all of these unanswered questions, but confident that we will figure it all out with time, patience, and a lot of help from our families and friends.

So where do we hope to go in the coming year? This is a question I'm not really prepared to answer, in light of all the unknowns that the upcoming year will bring. But more of the same sounds very appealing to me. I'm not setting the bar too high, and simply want to see where life takes us. This past year brought us a new house, a pregnancy, and a baby who turned into a toddler. It will be hard to top a year like that, but I have a feeling that the love and joy will only expand as our family grows, despite the challenges that we will inevitably face. Life is great, and I'm pretty sure it will only get better from here.

Catching Up

Wow--time flies when your kid is sick and you have house guests. So to catch you all up, William didn't quite make it through daycare on Wednesday. He woke up from his nap after about an hour and a half with a low-grade temp, so they called me to pick him up. We went home early and on Thursday, he stayed home all day with Ed. He had a good day and didn't have a temperature all day, so back to daycare we went on Friday. I finally got to my desk a little before 9:00 a.m. and got a call at 9:30 a.m. that William was coughing a lot and had thrown up. Oh great. So home we went. Fortunately, the throw-up episode was brought on by the coughing and not a virus. And the coughing did not turn into wheezing, and there was no more fever.

And that was good because Friday night, my mom and brother came for a visit. We didn't do much of anything while they were here, but William enjoyed entertaining them, and they enjoyed playing with him. On Saturday morning we went to Target and my mom bought William a big set of construction vehicles. Actually, the vehicles are small (think match box, but a little bigger), but it was a big set, with lots of different kinds of trucks, and William has been having a blast with them. On Saturday night, we ventured out to dinner and William actually did pretty well, although he ate hardly anything. On Sunday, we spent the day at Ed's parents. Can I just say that I'm soooo lucky that my mom and MIL get along and that I have pleasant in-laws? Anyway, we stayed for lunch and dinner and then my mom and brother left on Monday morning.

Whew! So far this week, William is doing great, although his nose got runny again. I'm hoping it's not another cold. Regardless, we made it through the last one with no wheezing, so I'm thankful for that. He's also slept through the night two nights in a row now, and no morning (or wee-hours-of-the-morning) bottle, so my plan is to be done with bottles entirely for him, even if he wakes up in the wee hours of the morning.

Not much else to report. William and I went to Barnes and Noble on Monday and encountered a screaming-bratty kid. He was about William's age, maybe older, and he was determined to hog all the trains on the train table. He had an absolute fit when another kid started playing with trains that were on the other side of the table. William just stared and stared at him. I asked him if he wanted to go look at trucks book and without looking up, he shook his head and said, "No." It was like a bad wreck that you couldn't turn away from. I was a little sympathetic towards the kid's father, until a little later, when the brat grabbed a train out of another kid's hand, and the father didn't do anything. That's just unacceptable, in my book. William is soooo not aggressive like that when it comes to kids he doesn't know or a setting he's not familiar with. Now put him in daycare with all his friends, however, and it's another story. But he definitely needs a lot of time to feel comfortable.

So that's it for an update. I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. So far it's great. I'll try to give a better review when I finish!

Almost, but Not Quite

For the most part, William is acting like his normal self, but he's not quite over this bug. I stayed home with him yesterday, and even though he had a low fever for most of the day, I took him to daycare today because he's been sleeping well, acting fine, and eating and drinking. He woke up from his nap today, though, with a slight fever, so home we went. Ed will stay home with him tomorrow. I felt really bad because when I picked him up, he looked awful. His nose is pretty goopy now, and his eyes looked a little red and puffy, and his cheeks were flushed and dry. Despite how he looked, though, when we got home he was ready to play. He did have a bit more attitude this afternoon than normal, though. Not sure if I should attribute it to him being sick, or just the onset of a new and lovely phase. Time will tell. He was a bit more stubborn, a bit more defiant, and a bit more dramatic.

Anyway, I've been wanting to blog about my professional self--or lack thereof since having William--but that may have to wait until I have more energy. I've just been thinking a lot lately about where I want to be professionally (if anywhere), and how I can refocus on my job/career. I don't have any intention of getting a different job, or changing careers or anything. But I have felt the itch lately to be better at what I do. It's been soooo easy to coast in my job since I've had William. That's partly because I have an accommodating boss who doesn't ride my ass. But it's also the nature of my job. The demands ebb and flow and I can easily put things off. Maybe it's dumb to be thinking of re-focusing now, 3 months before I have baby #2 and my 12-week maternity leave. But I'm hoping that when I come back from that leave, it won't take me as long to get back into it. I could continue in the track I'm currently on, where basically, I have a job, it pays the bills, offers us financial security, but that's about it. But what I want is to feel proud of my work, to strive for some kind of accomplishment, to work really hard and have it pay off. That sounds so dumb--as in, "duh--isn't that what everyone wants/does?" But that has not been my reality for the last 20 months. So we'll see what I can do in the next 3 months.

I guess I had the energy to blog a bit about this topic after all!

Sick, Again

I had a feeling that William's marathon naps this weekend probably meant that he was getting sick. Sure enough, he woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning with a barky cough, and feeling very hot. I didn't have a working thermometer, though, so I gave him a bottle and he went back to bed with no protest. He was still hot when he woke up at 6:45, so I stayed home with him. He was in a surprisingly good mood all day, though. We went to Target to get an ear thermometer in the morning and he was so laid back and easy going. He didn't protest being in the cart once, and didn't want to get out at all. And the thermometer confirmed his fever. It hovered around 100 most of the day, but after his nap, it was 103.9! We'll see how he does tonight. I'm guessing he has a mild form of croup, and hopefully it will stay mild.

So that's our news. Hopefully he'll get over this quickly.

Weekend Report

We had a great, low-key weekend. On Friday night, I got to meet Laura (from Laura's Mommy Journal) IRL! She was just how she "appears" on her blog--funny, smart, friendly, and sooo well-adjusted!--and I had a great evening with her and her two friends. They got to meet William and then the girls got to go out to eat. What could be better?

On Saturday, I had my 24-week doctor's appointment. I have already gained 20 pounds. Yikes! I definitely need to lay off the sweets. But it's sooooo hard. I'm definitely craving sugar much more this go around than I did the last time. No fun. We'll see how I do this week. I gained about 40 total with William, which is a lot, but not completely over the top. Still, I'd like to gain no more than that this time, and even less would be better! (Although that seems somewhat impossible at this point!) Other than my weight gain, everything looks good with the baby. He or she is a kicking, moving fool, though. It seems there is movement all the time!

As for William, we had a good weekend doing a bunch of nothing. Yesterday was pretty nice out, so William and I spent a long time outside and ventured to the playground behind our house. He found two trucks that someone had left behind and had a blast playing with those and climbing on the jungle gyms. We even rode the swings together, which he normally isn't interested in. Today we mostly played with toys and read books. Ed taught him about Goldbug in the Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. Goldbug is on every page, so you have to find him. I didn't think William would be into such a concept, but he really likes looking for Goldbug! He's also been playing a lot with the fridge phonics magnets and knows a few letters now. And he can count to 6, although I don't think he really understands the concept of counting. Still, it's progress, right? He's 20 months old today, which makes him that much closer to the big 2! What happened to my baby? I'm loving this stage of his life though, when he's learning things so quickly, and you can literally see the wheels turning in his little head.

So that's all for now. I didn't pull the camera out this weekend, but maybe I'll get some pictures this week. My mom and possibly my brother are coming to visit this weekend, so that will definitely be an opportunity for pictures. I'll be back before then, though!

Hodge Podge

William has taken to flirting with the women slugs who ride with us on our commute to and from work. The last two or three days, he's been strangely quiet in the car--as in, hardly uttering a peep the entire ride. But he'll stare at the passengers, and try to make googly eyes with the women. And he'll laugh and play peek-a-boo if they play along. As soon as the passengers get out of the car, he'll start talking to me, and pointing out everything on the road. It's pretty funny. I wonder how long it will last, though.

Favorite books: William loves Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go right now. He also loves The Little Engine that Could, and he has a few other truck books that he loves. One is a big book of rescue vehicles. And by big, I mean large format and really big pictures. Another one has pages that fold out, and has one page of rescue vehicles, and one page of flying vehicles, and one page of trains and one page of boats. (He's really not into boats, though.) Anyway, he likes the page with the Space Shuttle on it. We need to take him to the Air and Space Museum. Finally, he's been bringing me a Winnie-the-Pooh book that is actually for his Little Leaps electronic book. But we read the book by itself.

Cooking: I made chicken tenders with Panko bread crumbs tonight and they were sooooo awesome. If you haven't tried Panko yet, go get some now. (I'm probably the last person on Earth who hasn't tried Panko!) I baked half the tenders and fried/sauteed the other half, and they both turned out super crispy and good. Yum yum yum!

Baby: I'm getting pretty close to only having 3 months before this baby arrives. That freaks me out a little. Three months does not seem like a long time. We don't even have a boy named picked out yet. (Anyone want to play name the baby?) And I don't have a plan set in stone for what to do with William when it's time to go have this baby. There are different vague scenarios, but we need to get this taken care of! And I want to re-do William's room and transition him to a bed. And get him completely off the bottle. Or do I? *Sigh*

That's enough for tonight. More randomness to come, no doubt!

My Day with William

Ed went squirrel hunting with friends today (don't even ask--and no, he didn't bring home any squirrel for me to cook. That was not an option!) so William and I had the day to ourselves. We went to the Container Store and then to Barnes and Noble to play with the trains and read books about trucks, and then to McDonald's for lunch, and then home for a good long nap.

Before embarking on our day's adventures, I had to take a shower, so while I was in the bathroom, William occupied himself by taking the 500 Q-tips that were nicely stored in their container and stuffing them inside all of my shoes instead. There were still lots of Q-tips left, though, so the rest seemed to fit nicely in the floor vent. He wasn't crying and banging on the door while I showered, though, so I'm not complaining. I salvaged what Q-tips I could and threw the rest away. Some messes and waste are totally worth it!

So onto the day's adventures. After a quick trip to Container Store, we settled in at Barnes and Noble. William is so funny with other kids. There were two younger kids already at the train table when we got there. They were right about one, and just walking. William just watched them cautiously for a while and didn't play at the table until they wandered away. When another toddler about his age showed up, William again stepped back and cautiously watched the other child. When an older girl came to the table, (she was probably 5 years old) William watched her, but then started following her around the table with his trains. He clearly wants to be like the big kids. At daycare, where he's familiar with the other kids, he's not quite so demure and quiet. But I guess it takes him a good long while to warm up. At least I know he's not a bully! (At least not until he's good and warmed up.)

So after trains, we went to the truck section and read almost every book on trucks that we could find. Note to self: William is not quite ready for pop-up books. Thought I was going to have to buy a book for a minute there. Luckily it was the "view" copy and was already beat up to begin with! After trucks, we looked around at a few more books that caught William's interest, and then headed back to the car. Outside the Barnes and Noble, though, William spotted a little playground, so we made a slight detour and played on the playground for 15 minutes or so. He went down the "side" (slide) several times, and then we finally made it to the car, and onto McDonalds.

We got home around 1:00 and after cleaning up toys and reading a few more books, William finally went to sleep around 1:45 and didn't wake up until 4:15. I should have been "productive" during this time, but I decided to take a nap, too. God knows I need to sleep when I can! Post-nap was the usual playing, reading, cleaning up, doing a little laundry. At the end of this day, it struck me that William was really more like a companion today, and less of a "baby," for lack of a better word. We had conversations (or close to it), he made decisions about what we were doing, we negotiated. He's getting to be this little, independent person now. It's neat to watch it all unfold, and scary to think about how much influence Ed and I have, and don't have, over that blossoming personality.

Overall, it was a really great day, though. I hope we can have lots of "dates" like this as William grows older, and our family grows.

William to English Dictionary

William talks all the time. He clearly knows what he is saying, and I'm an idiot because I only understand about 10 percent of it. So here's what I've been able to interpret so far. (And this will be a work-in-progress. I"ll have to keep coming back to add to it because I know I can't remember too much right now.)

hel-i-cop = helicopter
mo-kul = motorcycle
peese = please or peas, depending on the context
hode it = hold me
skoo bus = school bus
hot shockie = chocolate milk
seem = steam (he also calls smoke steam)
biwds = birds (it's hard to write the pronunciation in English; I think I need umlauts)
fiwr = humidifier (again--hard to write the pronunciation; clearly has an issue with r's, although he can say truck and Clark with no problem)
aht = light
shoo-a = squirrel
bot = bottle
passa = pasta
I lub ooo = I love you (he only says this when I prompt him, but it makes me melt nonetheless!)
mise = mine (this means both "mine," but also means, "I want to play with that," and I've only heard him say it at daycare
bi truck = fire truck
off = off or on, either way
bi (?) = fan (I think he's saying "bi"--it's hard to tell, but clearly not even close to "fan")

That's all I can think of for now. Next I"ll be working on getting him on video when he's talking. I love how earnest he is when he tells me things. And then he gives me a priceless look that says, "Mom, I know you don't understand me, but it's not even worth it to repeat myself." He's so stinkin' cute!

Fostering Independence

William's clingyness of late has me worried for our future. The new baby is coming in four months, and I have a feeling William is going to be none too pleased to see Mommy catering to a new person. He has also been showing a bit more attitude lately--insisting on his way a bit more, throwing fits a bit more often (although I still can't complain because his "fits" are very short-lived), expressing his anger or frustration by hitting me. I think I handle these situations pretty well, but when he tests my patience and I'm sleep deprived and a hormonal wreck, will I fly off the handle? Will I break down in tears?

So we've started working on getting William to be a little more independent, and we've been trying to talk a lot more about emotions. We've been getting him to climb up and down the stairs on his own. Ed is going to do bath and bedtime much more often. We talk about feeling angry, sad, frustrated, and happy. He's learning how to put his coat on and take it off by himself. It's all baby steps, to be sure, but I really hope it will help us when the new baby gets here. It's bittersweet, though, to be sure. He's growing up so quickly. And he's learning so much in such a short amount of time. It's so hard to balance wanting to provide comfort and security with fostering independence and teaching him empathy and respect. This parenting stuff really doesn't get any easier, does it?

Tonight I did my exercise video when we got home from work, and although William tried desperately to sabotage the workout (by turning off the TV and trying to hand me books to read), I held firm and continued the workout and encouraged him to "dance" with me, or play with other toys. Fortunately, the workout is only 20 minutes, and overall, he did really well. We'll see if I can keep it up.

Finally for tonight, I have belly pictures. Here I am on Nov. 26, which was 18 weeks (gotta love Clark in the background!):


And here I am today, at 23 weeks:


I have gained much more during this pregnancy than the last, I think. I'm certainly eating a lot more. Maybe it's a girl? At any rate, not looking forward to stepping on that scale at my next appointment. But such is life! I'm working on eating better, and have been drinking lots more water, so that's a start. As for the baby, I've been feeling him or her move a lot, which is in many ways reassuring. I think William was pretty active, too, but I wasn't ever sure if it was him, or just gas. I guess now I know!

Happy New Year!

Wow--another year has come and gone, and what a year it's been! A full entire year of being a mom, and a working mom at that! We ended 2007 on a pretty good note. We had four full days to unwind, relax, get a few things done here and there, and get ready for the year ahead. It was so nice to have no obligations for once. We went out to dinner with Ed's family on Saturday night to celebrate his grandfather's birthday. The rest of the time, we stayed home and played with toys, played outside, read lots of books, and took good naps. I managed to disassemble the Christmas decorations, so our house is back to normal. All is right with the world, and I'm ready to tackle 2008!

As for New Year's Eve, after we put William to bed, Ed and I had fondue for dinner and played Monopoly. The fondue was excellent, I got spanked in Monopoly, and we were asleep by 10:30. I could celebrate New Year's Eve like that for the rest of my life!

As for 2008, I have lots of resolutions, none of which I'll keep, I'm sure. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. For starters, I'm putting on weight like crazy right now, so I'm going to try to use my Denise Austin Fit and Firm pregnancy workout DVD. I've also got to cut back a bit on the sweets. I'm eating way more during this pregnancy than I did with William. Second, I'll keep working on the menu planning/grocery budgeting thing. And of course, I'll try to stop biting my nails. Come the end of April, though, all bets are off. My only goal at that point will be survival and making sure that both of my children stay alive!

So Happy 2008! And also, Happy Birthday to my good friend LJ!

Christmas Recovery

Well, we made it! Christmas has come and gone, and we're all still here, in relatively good shape. I say relatively because William caught a pretty wicked cold, which I think he has now shared with me. He started wheezing again on Friday, so I nebulized him Friday and Saturday, and by Saturday evening, the wheezing was gone, but his nose got good and goopy and he has a pretty productive cough. His nose is still super goopy, but otherwise, he's doing pretty well. (Besides having an intense case of clingyness. I could hardly be three steps away from him throughout this holiday without him pitching a fit.) He's back on the Singulair, now, since that seemed to really make a difference before. He'll stay on it until at least May.

So now that we got that out of the way (I keep track of all William's illnesses with this blog!), I can report on Christmas. William had three days packed full of family and festivities and getting thrown off-schedule, but he was quite the trooper. On Christmas Eve, we went to Ed's aunt and uncle's house for their traditional party, and William enjoyed going up and down the various steps in the house. Their living room and family room are one step down, and then the sun room is another step down. They also have a back staircase and a front staircase. So after he practiced going up and down the one-step levels without holding onto anything, he worked on climbing up one staircase, and then climbing down the other. Needless to say, I got quite a workout myself.

We didn't leave the party until 9:30, so William was completely off schedule that night, and combined with his cold and general clingyness, he had a pretty bad night, which means I got hardly any sleep at all, which means that by the time Christmas morning rolled around, and the daunting task of doing the final preparations for entertaining 21 people at our house finally hit me, I was a bit of a basket case. I won't go into it, but suffice it to say there was crying going on, and it wasn't all William! Despite this little, tiny setback, though, it was wonderful to see William play with the toys that Santa left for him. The first thing he saw was wooden train set--a figure eight with a four-car train. He could have played with it all morning, but we finally convinced him to also check out the shopping cart and pretend food that Santa gave him. This was a big hit, too, and after opening a few more wrapped gifts, he was clearly done with presents and just wanted to play. He got tired around mid-morning, but rallied when his cousins came over and gave him a Hess truck with two motorcycles in the back. They also got him a ride-on truck, and both gifts were huge hits. After his cousins left, he napped until Ed's whole family came over in the late-afternoon. He spent the evening alternating between clinging to me, and playing with toys and showing off for everyone. We finally got him down for the night at 8:30. I was exhausted, but Ed and I started watching Transformers and as stupid as the movie is, I had to watch the whole thing. So needless to say, I'm beat!

We really had a great Christmas, though, and were spoiled by all the gifts we received. Today was rainy and gross outside, so this afternoon, we headed over to Barnes and Noble to put a dent in a gift card we received. William had a great time playing with the train table and Ed and I took turns browsing the store and picking out books. It was the first time in three days that I had more than 20 minutes to myself, without being clung to or dragged around by William. Ahhhh--sweetness. I know it's a phase, and I do try to treasure his neediness while it lasts, but good Lord--talk about testing someone's patience! At any rate, hopefully, our somewhat normal schedule today helped settle him down a bit. I go back to work tomorrow, and we'll see whether or not he'll go to daycare. He might end up staying home with Ed. Is it terrible to admit I'm almost looking forward to the "me" time I'll get at work tomorrow?

Unfortunately, I was too overwhelmed with the business of entertaining to take pictures yesterday. We got video of William in the morning playing with his Santa toys, but that's about it. Today, however, I got some good pictures of William playing with this all-time classic toy--an empty box.


So that's our Christmas recap. I'm kind of looking forward to the new year. I'm feeling the urge to buckle down and get organized. And of course, looking forward to bringing baby #2 into the world. I'm also aiming to get more into the routine of blogging again. We'll see if I can follow through! Hope every had a wonderful holiday, too, and that you all feel as blessed as I do!

Much Too Busy to Post

Things are going well, but I'm just too busy for a proper post. Ed has had a lot of holiday parties for work, plus some errand-running after work, which means I've been doing evenings solo quite a bit. It always makes me appreciate him when we're together. Although he might argue that I don't seem appreciative. But I am! At any rate, I'm picking up holiday cards tonight (finally!) and mailing them tomorrow. I've been emailing pictures to Ed's sister for their grandfather's birthday gift--a digital picture frame. Which is also, incidentally, what we're getting Ed's parents for Christmas. I ordered stamps with William and his cousins' picture on them for Ed's mom and grandfather's birthday. (Ed's mom's birthday is Dec. 24 and his grandfather is Dec. 26.) And now I've got to focus all of my attention on last-minute gift buying (stocking stuffers and odds and ends), and the fact that we're hosting Christmas dinner at our house for 23 people.

Yes--that's right--23 people. I wasn't feeling stressed about until I mentioned it on my mom's message board and everyone seems to be freaking out for me. When I started thinking about it, I started realizing that yes, 23 people in my house, for dinner, is quite an undertaking. Still, I'm determined not to stress about it. Or rather, to stress as little as possible. Ed's grandparents are bringing a ham. His aunt and sister will bring appetizers. My cousin will bring chairs and a salad. Ed's parents and cousin will bring dessert. Ed's aunt and uncle will bring leftovers from their Christmas Eve holiday spread. And I'll provide biscuits for the ham, baked ziti, garlic rolls, and salad. I might or might not make a holiday dessert that my mom always made. No problem, right? It will be crowded and chaotic, no doubt, but it will all work out.

Am I absolutely insane? Wait . . . don't answer that. At any rate, there are definitely things that I wanted to do that won't be getting done now. Like making Christmas cookies, for one thing. And there was a craft project I wanted to attempt that won't get done. And there were a few people I had wanted to get gifts for, but that won't happen now, either. But that's all okay. No one will really be the worse for wear--least of all me! I just need to stay really focused for the next couple of nights and this weekend, and then ENJOY Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our family. So that's my plan. Wish me luck!

Guess What We Did Today?

Yes--we braved the dreaded mall to get a picture of William with Santa. It was soooo worth it, though. I thought for sure that William would cry the minute we handed him off to Santa. But he was way too interested in the Barney and Elmo dolls that the photographer used to elicit smiles from the kids. They worked! The best part is this is the same Santa that William posed with last year. He's worked this specific mall for something like 17 years. So for comparison, here's last year's picture:


This year's picture is dark because it's actually a picture of a picture. We opted to not pay for the CD picture, and I can't get my scanner to work. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out.

And William even enjoyed the mall and all the people and decorations. He was so engrossed with everything that he didn't protest being in the stroller. Of course, Ed and I didn't ramble. We headed straight for our destination, got the picture taken, and then headed straight back the way we came. We did decide to eat at TGI Friday's before we left, though, but William was great there, too. So the whole afternoon was a success!

Speaking of successes--the cake balls were delicious. And the ones dipped in the semi-sweet chocolate chips with shortening set just fine, with no melting. Still think I'll try paraffin wax for the next ones, though.

Cake Balls

I'm in a giddy mood, so my title just sounds funny to me. Makes me giggle. ANYWAY . . .

I made cake balls tonight! (Giggle, giggle) For those of you who don't know what they are, the basic recipe is to bake one cake, any flavor (the box kind), let it cool a bit, then crumble it into a bowl and mix with one can of frosting, any flavor. Form this mixture into bite-size balls, dip in chocolate coating (or white chocolate), and voila! Cake Balls! (I actually formed the balls and then put them in a ziplock in the freezer and let them come to room temp. before dipping them.)

I've been wanting to try these for a while, but I was a little intimidated by the chocolate coating part. Some people use almond bark or confectioners chocolate. Others use chocolate chips mixed with shortening or paraffin wax. Some people dip the balls with a spoon. Others use toothpicks.

I found chocolate and vanilla almond bark at Walmart and tried the chocolate with the ones I made tonight. It didn't really work out very well, so halfway through, I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with 2 tbsp. shortening, and that worked a lot better. The almond bark was too thick and it wasn't coating the cake balls very well. However, it did harden nicely at room temperature, whereas the chocolate-chip coating didn't "set" very well. I put those in the refrigerator, but I'm not sure how they'll travel tomorrow. I'm afraid they'll melt and get all stuck together in transit. Oh well. It was my first attempt so we'll see what happens. For the cake balls, I used a devil's food chocolate cake mixed with chocolate icing. And I topped half of the dipped cake balls with colored sprinkles, and the other half with crushed candy canes. I also have a spice cake mix that I plan to mix with cream cheese frosting, and dip in the vanilla almond bark. I need to come up with some way to thin out the almond bark, though.

So that's why I'm too tired for a decent post tonight. Not much new to talk about in William's world. He's been really into the Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. He mostly likes the pages with the construction trucks, regular trucks, fire trucks, and trains, but he also likes the page in the kitchen. And if I point things out, he'll sit through almost all the pages. Santa Claus definitely needs to bring him Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.

In my world, I'm 20 weeks pregnant today! Halfway there--woo-hoo! We had the sonogram yesterday and everything looks good. Maybe I'll have Ed take a 20-week shot of my belly. They estimated that the baby weighs 13 ounces now. They said that's a "good size" for this age, so I think I need to look that up. Maybe it's time to stop noshing on so many sweets! So anyway, that's all for tonight. I've been working on a William-to-English dictionary for one of my future posts, so stay tuned!

William's Really Big Day

Today was an exciting day for William. We went for a train ride on the local commuter train and got to see Santa Claus, and then tonight after dinner, the local fire station gave Santa and Mrs. Claus a ride around our neighborhood on their shiny red fire truck. Santa Claus, mind you, was incidental to the real thrill, which was riding on a train and hearing the whistle and seeing a fire truck with the lights flashing and hearing the siren and the horn honk. For the rest of the night, right up until I turned off his light and put him in his crib, William babbled incessantly about fire trucks and choo-choos. What a day! I wonder if he'll remember tomorrow?

Either the train ride and fire truck excitement completely wore him out, or he's getting sick, or having a growth spurt, but he took a three-hour nap this afternoon and was asleep tonight by 7:30 p.m. It's probably some combination of the three, but I'll take it. He did wake up at 5:30 this morning, so I imagine he was pretty wiped out by the time we got home from the train ride. I'm thinking he might be getting sick, though, because his eye is starting to look a little red and goopy, and his nose is runny. Not to mention the fact that he was super-clingy all afternoon and evening. We might be staying home on Monday if his eye seems to get worse, and it's only one eye. Still, I managed to get a lot done today, and for that I'm grateful. Tomorrow I get to spend the afternoon shopping with my girlfriend, so I'm grateful for that, too! This is definitely shaping up to be a fantastic holiday season. I'm sure as Christmas approaches, I will start feeling the stress, but so far, so good. And to top things off, on Tuesday, I"ll be 20 weeks pregnant--halfway there! Woo-hoo! Life is definitely good right now.

Dare I Say It OUT LOUD?

I'm a little hesitant to say this OUT LOUD, but we have had quite a breakthrough this week with the separation anxiety. William has cried when I leave him at daycare almost every single day for, hmmm, about 10 months now. But this week, he has not cried once. NOT ONCE!!! He gives me a kiss and a hug and then says "Bye" and goes off to play with his friends or toys or to dance, or to do whatever it is that 18-month-old kids do in daycare. I had resigned myself to this day never coming. I was pretty sure that I had somehow created an insecure, clingy mama's boy. And I've read the child development studies that say that children who have a very strong attachment to one or both of their parents are in the long run more secure and confident. But it's hard to believe that when your child freaks out every time you leave him at daycare. So this week has been very gratifying.

I know this does not mean that we won't have days when he won't want me to leave. That there won't be days when I end up spending 10 or 20 extra minutes in the room with him, helping him to get acclimated. And he still protests when I leave him with Daddy while I take a shower. (Something about me getting into that bathtub and closing the curtain with the water running just freaks him out! I have to close the bathroom door entirely and leave him on the other side.) But I think we've definitely gotten through this phase--at least for this week! Who knows what next week will bring?

Random Thoughts

I'm going to keep my blogger window open today and just post random thoughts as I think them. Starting with,

• I forgot to put on my rings today. I don't usually take them off, but I don't like wearing them when I put on lotion. And I finally bought the Palmer's Cocoa Butter lotion (except I got the kind that says for stretch marks, instead of the original, and I really don't like the way it smells, and it's not as rich as the original kind, although it says it has added ingredients specifically for stretch marks, but I'm not buying it, so it's back to the original for me), which I used during my last pregnancy and managed to not get any stretch marks, so even though I know it's more hereditary than anything, I don't want to push my luck and thought I'd better maintain the same routine. So anyway, when I put on lotion, I take my rings off. But this morning I forgot to put them back on, so now I feel naked.

• William doesn't eat many things that require a spoon. At daycare, I know he eats cereal with milk, but I can't get him to eat that at home. He doesn't really like one-pot meals, either, like stew or rice dishes. I'm thinking of this because I was thinking about making shepherd's pie for dinner with ground beef, but it's not something that William will eat. At least not yet. Maybe I just need to keep putting dishes like these in front of him. He eats that stuff at daycare.

• I'm really annoyed with my boss right now. He starts new projects and then they inevitably change course halfway through, but he neglects to tell anyone that we're changing directions or that it's no longer a priority, or that we just want to focus on one specific part. Overall, he's a really good boss--not demanding, not a micro-manager, not confrontational (which can be a bad thing, but not when you don't want to be confronted!)--so I shouldn't complain. But out of nowhere he'll just come up with some idea that we never talked about before, and he looks at me like I have two heads because I'm not on the same page as him. Ugh.
  

• Sometimes I think I'm eating really well, but then I'll come home and eat 4 chocolate chip cookies (okay--5!) and pick off of William's chicken nugget leftovers and then eat my own dinner and have a chocolate donut for dessert, and then I think, hmmmm, I might want to watch out for gestational diabetes. Better luck tomorrow, huh

• I really love The Biggest Loser. I have never been able to truly change my lifestyle, so I really admire those people who succeed.

• Rachel Ray sucks. Not only is she annoying, but has anyone ever actually succeeded in making her 30-minute meals in 30 minutes? It only works if everything is totally prepped ahead of time, and if you are an expert chopper. I'd like to take a knife skills class at Sur La Table.

• I have the cutest boy in the whole entire world. Seriously--I'm in love with my kid. What more can I say?
  

So there you have it--random thoughts for a day.