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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Sick sucks

This is what a baby with an ear infection (right ear only, thank goodness) and a sinus infection looks like at the end of the day, after struggling against coughs, sniffles and congestion to get only a few minutes of sleep each day.

He never had a fever spike that I saw, and he never pulled at his ear.  But since he was sick for about four weeks with a cold, then better for one week, then sick again, Daddy decided to call the doc. 

Thank goodness he did, because now we have some antibiotics to help Shorty fight his infections, and hopefully he (and we) will be able to get a good, comfortable night's sleep before too much longer.

He shows his exhaustion and despondency so pitifully in his gloomy, sparkle-less eyes, and they look like sad little puppy dog eyes.

Thank goodness for patient and understanding grandparents and great-grandparents, who coddled him through his discomfort and inspired Daddy to call the doc, because something just wasn't right about this cold.

Looks like we might have one more long night ahead of us before the wonder-drugs kick in, but like I told Daddy earlier today: one year ago, every night was a long night, and we survived all of those. 

So we'll dig deep into our energy and patience reserves again tonight to comfort and rock through the wee hours of the morning, eagerly awaiting that silver lining to appear in the form of the sparkle returned to Junior's peepers.

Monday, September 27, 2010

weekend videos

Junior's first college gameday of the 2010 season, complete with his own bowl of goldfish snacks.


And the result of an encounter with the neighbor's friendly black lab, who did nothing but wag his tongue and pant at Shorty Sunday morning.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fall, Mmmmm.

Despite the fact that autumn is kicking off with two straight days of temperatures creeping to the 90's, fall is officially here.

And in our household, the season is unofficially welcomed each year with a cooking frenzy.  An empassioned frenzy, that is, whereby the impending change of season suddenly and strongly inspires me to search out and experiment with a bunch of new recipes ALL. RIGHT. NOW. 

Last year it was homemade soups.  This year?  Crock-pot recipes involving chicken.  As in four new recipes, all in the crock pot this week, and requiring an emergency trip to Costco for MORE CHICKEN!

Why? Because when culinary inspiration strikes me, it does so with the force of a sledgehammer, and I thought it best to run right out to the store immediately to buy ingredients for all four new recipes at once. So not only did I fill the work refrigerator with a bag of groceries that must have confused any late-day snack seekers for its collection of completely incongruous produce, but I also pressured myself into way more cooking in a week than I'm used to, so as not to waste the fresh stuff.

So any guesses as to what happens when fresh flat-leaf parsley, lemons, limes, cilantro, peppers, green onions, rosemary, yams, ginger and shallots combine with peanuts, coconut, artichokes, mango chutney, capers, chunky salsa, Jamaican jerk spice, parmesan cheese, Marsala wine, soy sauce, calamata olives, coffee and dark rum?

You end up with four new dishes: one mediterannean, one asian, one caribbean and one Indian. 
 
And a hubby who appreciates the effort (after all, he's getting a respite from his evening dinner prep routine), but goes a little crazy all day smelling slow-cooked chicken a bazillion different ways.
 
And a wife/mama who may become so exhausted of chopping, grating, mixing and blending that she may not cook again for another month.  But then again, I anticipated that this year, and for just that reason I'm making big batches so I have portions to freeze for easy, go-to dinner defrosts in coming weeks.
 
So far, I'm still having fun with my annual impulse cook-a-thon.  Maybe not so much, come Sunday, when we'll round out the week of record cooking with a pork-n-kraut feast for eight.  But for now, yay for new recipes!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Picture Pages

Daycare and the first couple of fall layouts...

Friday, September 17, 2010

Growing, Learning, Testing

You know how everyone says that as kids get older, each stage is just so much more fun than the last? Well, until they become pre-teens, when they turn into miserable, rotten hormonal monsters and make life suck again?

They’re right.

Now let’s just tell it like it is and say the early days – oh, round about months one through three – largely blew. There were bright moments every now and again – a belly button that popped off, smiling, laughing – but most of it was a sleep deprived haze of it’s-sure-as-hell-gotta-get-better-than-this-or-everyone-would-be-an-only-child. So I expected the second half of the first year to be better than the first six months. And it was, infinitely. But then I didn’t think it could get much more fun than watching Shorty mimmick sounds and actions. And I knew watching him learn to crawl and start to take off all over the place was an apex. But then he became a boy’s boy and wanted to play with nothing but trucks, and that was tops. And then he started taking his first tentative steps and, wel, you get the picture.

And this boy just keeps on learning, keeps on impressing. Still no “official” first words, but his vocabulary and communication are growing exponentially. Da da is pretty clear for Pops (but Mama and Dada don’t count as first words). Blue Blankie “ba bas” can now be distinguished from boobie “bo bos” (which most times are accompanied by the most adorable jab at my chest with a pointer finger, to one side or the other, depending on where we are in a nursing session and whether or not he’s decided it’s time to change sides), and “ma” coordinated with a toss of the arm towards his sippy clearly means milk. We’ve also got “na na” (banana) “go go” (goldfish crackers) and “shesh” (cheese).

Kisses are now given on command almost all the time, instead of sporadically or as his mood inspired. And in the past week he’s learned a new trick d’amour: bear hugs. Daddy taught this one, and it was a lesson well learned, because I’ve never seen a better bear-hugger in my life. Arms thrown out wide, then wrapped tightly around the neck of his beloved target.

Someone at school must have taught him the concept of circle, because suddenly he started crawling or spinning in a circle when ever anyone says “circle”.

And he LOVES to play tag. Whether I’m chasing him or he’s chasing me, giggle fits ensue in abundance.

His fine motor skills are slowly but surely improving, too. Whereas a month ago he’d rather throw his stacking cups than sit with them, now he’s fascinated with how they fit together. Same with plastic containers with lids. He likes to open the containers, fill them with toys, then close them back up. Still not entirely keen on the shape sorting toys, but he’s made attempts a few times.

Oh, and lesson learned: you know those puzzles with multiple pieces of different shapes and animals – the ones that teach colors and have pictures of the puzzle pieces in the spots where the pieces fit? Yeah, they’re serious when they say those toys are intended for ages 2 and up. Hopefully our pieces won’t all be lost by the time he takes interest in our puzzles beyond chewing the pictures off the wood.

And although we haven’t had a weight check in some time (not since I went back to work full-time and stopped going to our Thursday group), we know this kid is growing. Over the past couple of weeks it became abundantly clear that it’s time to retire all the 18-month clothes (cute vanity tee-shirts suddenly creeped up and became belly shirts with indistinguishable messages), so thank goodness I stacked up on pants and long-sleeves in the 24-month range last spring at Just Like New Kids. Oh, and we also have our first pair of functional, fitting shoes! Grabbed a pair of Dawgs (think Crocs, but cheaper) on clearance this week for $2, and he loves them. A little tough at first to smoosh his fat foot in there, but the length of his 5/6 rubber clogs is perfect. And Grammy, who returned from a month at the lake earlier this week, says it’s clear how much taller Cayden has gotten. She says he’s getting a little leaner, but his cottage-cheese ass still belies any hope of slenderness.

Seriously, though, he better become a more confident walker soon. Because it’s torture to take him places where the walk is too short for the Ergo but just long enough to kill my back. Drop-off at daycare, for example, where I’m teetering on heels to balance a 30+ pound kid and diaper bag full of goodies across a parking lot, through the secure entry and down the hall to his room.

And with his growing and learning has come boundary testing. And tantrums. Which are sometimes annoying, but mostly just plain funny, because it’s true, unrivaled entertainment to see a watch a kid object to something with limited communications skills, yet limitless ambition and fervor.

But if limit testing in the form of nipple biting (he did it last night for the first time in forever) is any indication of how this kid will handle discipline, I’m hoping it won’t be too hard. A stern “no biting” and finger pointed for emphasis melted him into a puddle of tears a fraction of a second after he was detached. I think he’s got a bit of a sensitive side, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Oh, and speaking of biting, we haven’t seen anymore daycare bites since the third week of school. Knock on wood, problem seems to have been solved, although I’ve only left my sensitive boy one morning since that third week where he didn’t curl his lip and start crying as soon as I left his side. Tough to do that, but all his report cards indicate the rest of his day is “cheerful”, he “laughs like crazy” all the time and truly enjoys all the activities they have for the tots. Feeling pretty good about this school, despite the sad drop-offs.

Cayden is one year, one-and-a-half-months old, and this has got to be the best stage of baby/toddlerhood. Until tomorrow, that is.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Chicken Catch Up

Guess who likes lollipops ... a lot.
And who is not so much a fan of lemon wedges...
But who certainly loves him some Dora and Fresh Beat Band, only every now and again.  Well, unless Daddy is babysitting, then when Nick Jr. is on pretty much regularly.



A quick breather...

...between weekends spent celebrating with friends.  Gorgeous wedding this past weekend in Connecticut, right on the Long Island Sound. 


Beautiful bride, beaming groom and two -- count 'em, TWO -- receptions, one right after the other. 

And that after a night of having the groom -- a college friend who just oozes big personality, Italian pride and serious loyalty to friendships -- all to ourselves for some great catching up and anticipation of the big day.

Such good times with people we see too rarely.
 

Holy Graphic Tees, Batman!
We missed our boy, but he spent some much-needed time with Grandma before her second knee replacement this week.  And as silly as it sounds, he actually changed in the two days we were away from him.  A little bit stronger, or at least more daring, in the wobble-walking department, and his seriously-is-this-nasty-green-snotty-nose-thing-that-keeps-him-up-at-night-two-month-cold seems to *maybe* have broken for good.  Knocking on all the wood I can find.


If he's not better, at least he's responding to the $40 cool mist humidifier recommended by Doc Baker's nurse.  Unfortunately, her other suggestion -- resurrecting the infant boogie sucker -- just won't fly with this boy, who would much rather suck on the end of the boogie sucker or heave it across the room than have it jammed up his nose.

Anyway, this weekend we look forward to tailgating and watching a Nittany Lion win in Happy Valley with an odd, yet completely exciting mish-mash of friends.  We thought it would just be six of us: Brian and I; Bill, his fraternity brother from Millersville who now lives at Penn State, and his yet-to-be-met girlfriend; and Brad and Katie, one of Brian's high school pals and his long-time girlfriend.  But then we realized that THREE of Brian's cousins may be around for the tailgate.  And as icing on the cake, my long-missed new Mama girlfriend Erin will be there, and I can't wait to catch up with her on how three-month old Nora is doing and how her much dreaded first week back at work was.

Again, knock on wood, it looks like a beautiful forecast on the weather front and on the catching-up-with-friends front.

And this weekend the Chicken will spend some sleepover time with Grammy and Dude, who missed him terribly after a long getaway at the cottage in Canada.

This, I think is as close to the perfect balance as we could get: hard days at the office that challenge and reward me more professionally than I expected in accepting this position, tempered with a record number of back-to-back, things-to-do weekends that celebrate friendships and family and relegate cleaning and chores to the back burner.  And surprisingly, I'm ok with that.

So long as the things-to-do weekends aren't hosted at my house, where people would discover and witness the dust bunnies, week-old dried out macaroni and not-quite-sure-what-that-stickyness-is sticky kitchen floors.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Now that's the way to spend a long weekend

breaking in the new grill just in time, to enjoy some barbeque chicken and burgers before the sand runs out on summer ... temperate weather that set the stage perfectly for a long weekend of evenings spent excitedly anticipating fall ... kicking off college football with family, although admittedly Mama saw very, very few Nittany Lions plays, as Cayden just isn't old enough to appreciate college football over distractions like steps and brick mantles and swivel chairs and pizza crusts ... hearty, full-flavored craft beer, which, now that sweltering heat doesn't demand ice-cold, watery light beer, can be truly enjoyed ... a stroll to the park for some playtime on the swings and to climb on the jungle gym (for the first time) with Mama and Daddy ... quality, it's-been-way-too-long time spent with good friends, laughing about the past, contemplating the present, dreaming about the future and drinking too much wine ...
watching a little boy idolize a bigger little boy, and smiling with every piece of me to see that bigger little boy preciously share his treasured toys with the little, little boy ... celebrating family and sharing all the joys, fears and challenges of life, from before infancy to old age: pregnancy bloat and whacked out emotions, childbirth, first toddling steps, teaching gradeschoolers, disliking teenage boyfriends, loving pets, moving off to college, finding jobs, keeping jobs, struggling to make ends meet, struggling to find the right answers in caring for loved ones and trying to laugh all along the way ... finally putting the finishing touches on the beach vacation video, so that DVDs of the first year can start burning ... celebrating a birthday with a trip to the zoo and more deck-grilling and catching up ... and falling into bed exhausted, but completely fulfilled from a weekend so full of life, so full of love, we couldn't have crammed much more in if we tried.

Oh, and want to know the best part of temperatures trending down?  Ten chubby piggy-toes peeking out of warm-up pants.  Athletic grey warm-up pants with white stripes that were splurged upon simply because they look exactly like Daddy's, and  this Mama can't wait to get a picture of her boys together, outfitted the same.

I love, love, love me some summer, but I'm ready for mums and apple festivals and football tailgates and homemade pumpkin-orange soup and crunchy leaves.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Mr. Mobile

First, the prelude...


And then, the big show.  (Caveat) Please disregard: the messy room (Cayden just unloaded his toy cradle and the comforter over top...Mama's unflattering decolletage/bosom in an old, stretched out nursing tank...Daddy's inappropriate commentary (suddenly, "in-a-pwohp-wee-uht" is a regular part of our vocabulary; maybe Daddy should grow up, or maybe he should stay just the way he is: the jury's still out)...a little Miss Jackson (Together Again) in the background -- remember that radio station I mentioned before? Yeah, Cayden still rocks it.

Daddy acquiesces

Only because the flowers over the weenus made him laugh out loud.

Aaaaaaaand, the elephantitis buns...


And this one is just for daddy.

Not much, but it's something

Busy, but busy is good.  Work is challenging, but also quite gratifying in overcoming those challenges.

So even though the pics were already posted, this is about all I have for an update.  A couple more scrap pages.  Hopefully more to come this weekend.