New Tricks

These are my favorite posts: the ones where I get to share, and remember, all of the crazy stuff my kids do and say.  Here are a few.

- Jacob is still short on words, but he likes to go " Bah bah bah bah bah!!" in a high-pitched voice, almost a squeal.  He did it the other day and Jordan turned to me and said "that's his Princess voice."

- I was sitting back on my knees/lower legs playing with the kids.  When I got up, I kind of moaned and groaned because my legs had gotten stiff sitting like that.  Jordan tells me "Mama, you're getting so old!"  is this concerned-sounding voice.  Nice.

- Jordan likes Post-It notes.  Basically, she likes any sort of paper product with a sticky back.  She put a blank blue Post-It on her bedroom door yesterday.  I asked her what it was for.  She pauses, and says "It says Jacob is allowed in my room because I love him so much."  My first thought was awww....how sweet!!  My second thought was, did she just come up with a nice, new "Mom-approved" answer on the spot??

- Speaking of Aawwww!!!  Jacob likes to lay the side of his down on anything soft and cuddly.  When he does this, he expects you to say Aawww!!!  And of course we do.  He'll keep doing it until he gets bored with the game.

- Jacob keeps getting colds, and they congest his chest.  When he coughs, or gets choked on his food,  I always pat/bang him on the back.  Now when he coughs, he starts hitting himself on the side of his neck.

Those are the highlights. I'm sure there are more that have already escaped my memory.  Thank goodness for the blog!

Turkey Day Post-Mortem

Ha ha, a phrase from my former life....  So, what died???  Plenty of things; here's the tally:

- the turkey, of course.  it was delicious.  as was the sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, roasted butternut squash with fried pancetta, salad, gravy, rolls and pies.  I cheated and bought a frozen pumpkin pie; I think that's allowed (since I don't even like pumpkin pie).

- my downward trend on the scale.  sharp uptick this week, I'm sure.  Lucky for me, the battery on thing died, and it takes a funky watch battery, so, no scale!  Woo Hoo!!

- Albuquerque's warm-ish spell.  we woke up to some snow, and the high was 35.  Burrr!! 

- Texas' hopes for a crappy bowl game.  You win some, you lose some...  This year we lost A LOT.

All in all it was an awesome day.  I got to spend it cooking and eating, watching movies with Jordan, hanging out with my family.  We have much to be thankful for: we are well fed, well loved, and well in health.  Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!! 

Some Random Thoughts

Here's the random garbage cluttering up my usually honed, nimble mind (ha!!)

- I have no menu plan for Thanksgiving.  It's just the 4 of us, but I'm a self-proclaimed cook, and I should at least have a PLAN.  I also have no plan for dinner Saturday night, when brand new dinner guests are coming over. 

- The sweet potato casserole recipe I do have for Thanksgiving is one I cannot possibly make.  It serves "four", but calls for a POUND of butter.  Speaking of pounds....the chef that wrote this recipe is probably pushing 400.

- The smell of a self-cleaning oven hitting its stride is awful.  I should have started this task before dinner, when I severely over indulged on cornbread.  And an open bottle of Malbec.

- Marie Callendar's complete cornbread mix, available at Costco, is amazing stuff.  I may have found a new crack bread.  Sister Shubert's was my previous crack bread.

- Speaking of Costco, I cut myself off from it midway through the month.  My monthly Costco tally is concerning.  This is stressing me out.  If I let this stretch out for too long, my next trip is going to cost me $200, and I will come home with 2 things I need and 10 things I "sampled".

See?  Random garbage.

Faster than the Speed of Light!

I'm proud of my husband for holding his tongue today when somebody said something incredibly stupid to him.  Actually, I think what the guy said just came out wrong, but it sounded funny. 

So, we're at the bike shop replacing Jamie's headlamp that he broke.  The sales guy asks him how fast he rides.  Jamie's like "not fast, just thru residential areas".  Jamie's looking for a cheap headlamp, bright enough that cars see him.  The guy starts explaining that if Jamie is "going faster than light" then he needs a stronger lamp, or else "the light will be behind you".  As soon as he says this, I look up at Jamie and watch him struggling not to comment.  He wins this inner struggle, and we have a good laugh about it afterwards.

Obviously we understand what the guy was trying to say.  At least, we hope he didn't mean that you could out-peddle light. 

Sleep

Why do kids decide all of a sudden they're not going to sleep?  Surely they're tired.  Jacob has had major issues with his midday nap for like the last two weeks.  He won't go down without a fight, then once he does fall asleep, we wakes up crying once or twice in the middle, is tired the rest of the day, and fights bedtime, too.  Jordan is good about going down, but she's been waking up with nightmares at around 11 pm or so, and has decided her day must start at 6 am.  The time change has made this all worse, but it started before then.  I hate to think that my kids are stressed out.  I know that's what ruins my sleep.  We have a quiet November planned; hopefully we all get back on track soon.

Jacob Turns One

How terrible is it that I haven't written a blog post about my baby's 1st Birthday?!?  It's the last time I'll ever throw a 1st Birthday party.  Maybe I'm stalling because it makes me a little sad...  But just a little.  So here are the highlights of Jacob turning one!

- We got to celebrate his Birthday with family and friends, and it was very relaxed.  Saturday evening we had a few families over that we're close to here, and Jacob had his Grandma, Nana, and Pa in town to love and hug on him.  Jordan helped me make his cake and cupcakes, which turned out super cute and were super easy to do.  No stressing over a Wilton cake pan this time!  No freakin' tiny stars to pipe over a pattern I can't see through the base coat.

- Jacob's Birthday seemed to last all weekend.  We did the party Saturday, presents and Halloween on Sunday, and then Monday was his real Birthday. 

- Jacob LOVE LOVE LOVES his toys.  He's got them all figured out, knows which buttons to push, how to turn them on, how to open and shut little compartments.  He's a toy boy.  ;-)

- Jacob must know he's one now and think it's time to step it up.  He's pulling up to his feet, pointing at everything to ask what it is and to go see it, and has almost completely given up the army crawl for a real crawl.  Oh, and he wants to eat everything in sight. He'll try anything.  He likes whole milk, learned to drink from a straw-type cup right away, and even wants to hold the cup by himself.  He's made all of these changes in the last week.  He's on a roll.

I'm thankful for his fall birthday, which means he'll be home with me an extra year.  But I know there will be many days that I wish he could just stay little.  He's just such a precious baby!

My Dad

My Dad never gets to come to visit us for free.  He's my handyman, photographer, and custom furniture builder.  This last visit was especially action-packed.  Here's what he got done in 10 days:

- Hung my new, gorgeous plantation shutters in my oh-so-out-of-square crappy builder windows.  The bedrooms have a COMPLETELY different look now.  And special thanks to my Uncle Pat for getting me awesome shutters at COST!!  I'm so happy with these.

- Delivered Jordan's armoire that he made.  It's a huge, solid mahogany work of art.  A matching nightstand is on its way, as well.

- Helped Jamie patch a leak in the roof.

- Fixed my laundry room door.  Oh, great day!  This door has not shut in over two years because the new tile we put in during the remodel was thicker, and the door couldn't clear it with the rug there.  And we have to have the rug.  So, now I can shut the door on my dumping grounds. The laundry room is always a mess.  And I have a feeling Spook will be sleeping in there this winter when it gets super cold.

- Manned the camera for our family photos.  We all went down to the Bosque to get Christmas card pictures in front of the yellow Cottonwoods.  Dad worked the camera and Mom held the diffuser.  And we had to really hustle.  It was the first day back to standard time, and I didn't time it just right. AND THEN, they took us out to dinner afterwards.

My parents rock.  I wish everyone's did, the world would be a happier place.  I promise we'll have a project-free Christmas visit.  And I hope I'm as helpful and generous when my own kids are grown.