teeth and stuff

Gerald now has four teeth.

Yesterday I was sure it was only three, but there are most definitely two teeth on top. This explains why he hasn't been sleeping very well (he ends up in our bed EVERY night), or napping very well, general crabbiness, and his new binky-addiction.

Swimming class is going well, he's having a lot of fun in the water, and so am I! I signed up for some aerobics classes at the Y this session - yesterday we tried the day care out again. He did great, played in the baby section and then watched the big kids. I think being away from him for an hour was good for me. Mon and Wed are tough - J bowls those nights and it's really hard not to resent him (just a little) for being able to come home, change his clothes and leave right away, and then not return until after Gerald has gone to bed. Don't get me wrong, I love staying home and being with Gerald, but when the day has been challenging....

Tomorrow is trick-or-treat for us. I made Gerald a Frankenstein's Monster costume - it turned out pretty cute!

anxiety

I'll confess, I'm anxious for this election to hurry up and get over with. I really don't care about the 5 daily phone calls I receive from both parties - caller id and silenced ringers help with that (sorry if I've missed your calls!); nor the political adds, I just FF through them anyway. No I just want to know who will win. I need to know how my life is going to change.

Let's face it, there will be sweeping changes no matter who is elected, I'm just predicting that my family will end up on the low side of the teeter-totter if one candidate is elected, and if the other is elected we should (hopefully) remain on the some-what high side. Waiting is just no fun :(

At least I have Cake Wrecks!

not his fault

Yesterday Gerald figured out how to climb out of the bumbo; he also mastered opening the bi-fold closet doors.

This morning he's been practicing lowering my desk chair while I am sitting in it.

Our little engineer can't be blamed, his gene-pool is skewed. :)

oh no you didn't

Yesterday was baby swim class (no pictures - the camera is dead, arrgh). There is one little girl that we always talk to, but I didn't know what her name was (her mom is sort of out there).

Her name is Hermione.

*oh you have got to be kidding me*

what?

Freshly picked from today's public record:

Deputies responded to a domestic call at a Strong Avenue residence at 3:14 a.m. Thursday, after a man got upset that his girlfriend had given the last pickle to her son. No arrests were made.

A pig was reported running loose near the intersection of Ohio 186 and Hancock County 131 at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, but had disappeared by the time officers arrived.

the haps

We've been busy...

*trip to Muskegon to visit with J's family and go to a baby shower, Gerald is not a very good rider after 2 hours... sort of turns the car ride into hell.
*swimming classes! Next week J is coming with to take pictures - it will be the only time a picture of me in my bathing suit will appear on the blog...EVER.
*we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch on Wed, but it rained :( so we just went to play group instead.
*last night I drove up to Ann Arbor to attend a baking class at Zingermann's. It was awesome! I would highly recommend a class there. I took the class with my mom, we learned how to make German pretzels, and we used lye! I made a dozen pretzels and brought them home; we had some for breakfast and some for dinner and I took a few over to the neighbor's because she watched Gerald this morning while I had a dentist appointment. I learned a few interesting things - we used leaf lard, which was new to me. It's the lard that surrounds the pig's liver (or maybe it was kidney?), and it is a liquid at room temperature. It is also the purest lard in the pig. And we also had a great discussion on the different flours available, and another about yeast. So fun, so informative, so yummy!

help

how do i put my twitter on here? i'm dealing with a snotty little nose, my brain is not functioning.

first taste (?) of chocolate

I cleaned the floor yesterday - I swear I did. But I also made brownies, which of course create crumbs, because using a plate would delay brownie-eating by four milliseconds. I'm not sure if he actually got the crumbs into his mouth - but this is what he did to his pajamas:

It's not all bad - at least the chocolate was Ghiradelli :)

go to sleep

seriously dude, you need to sleep.

JJ NOT sleeping

public docket

Two shopping carts have been stolen from Great Scot, 301 W. Main Cross St., since Monday.

*Seriously, the person who reports the public docket in this town must have the world's most interesting job :)

just for mel

Jazz Hands

party time!

We're having a party!!!!

Tech plays Findlay in Findlay this year, so we figure it's the perfect excuse to invite everyone out for a night of fun!

The game is Oct. 11 at noon. I'm thinking we'll have Bloody Marys and pickled eggs (B and B style) at 11, head to the game and then come back for Library Soup, chili, cornbread and beer :) I think our garage would really like to host some tippy cup, too :)

Bring the kids - Gerald is ready to make some new friends! We've got plenty of room, so feel free to stay the night, just bring a sleeping bag and pillow (or reserve a spot on the hide-a-bed, or one of our couches).

I'll be making an event page on facebook, so keep your eyes peeled for that - and be sure to invite all of your Tech friends to come down, too :)

public docket

In the news today:

Someone glued a garage door shut at 208 Baldwin Ave. on Tuesday or Wednesday.

lately

I've been really drawn to Swedish modern interiors like this (disregard the bedroom - it's atrocious). I think it's the clean lines, and the Marrimekko prints, and the use of color. There are two problems, though:
1. I don't want knock-offs from the big I; I want a real Tulip table, bring on the Saarinen chairs, maybe mix in some expensive wool rugs.
2. After spending more than my mortgage to furnish all of two rooms in the house I would realize I can't live that way - I need stuff, a few frills, some flounces - a few items with warmth.

It's a vicious cycle.

five years

Today is our fifth anniversary :)

I got flowers, I also requested something sparkly - so we'll see how that goes...

We got a babysitter. We're going to dinner, at a real restaurant with cloth napkins and a wine list and no illuminated beer signs. And then we are going to come home and put the baby to bed and then go to a movie. It makes me happy :)

fruits

Freshly picked from the Tree of Randomness:

* Last week we had a new HVAC system installed - furnace, a/c, all new ducting and a few new registers and returns. The dampers still need to be adjusted, but so far the new system seems a lot better than the old one :)

* We've settled on a nickname for the wee man. He shall be JJ - my dad likes to call him this, and he's sort of already become "Grandpa's Boy" so what the heck? I've decided to call him Gerald, just so he knows it is his real name, plus I figure when he grows up and gets a professional-type job he'll be comfortable with his grown up name. Now - if I could only convince the Taco to use his real name at the office...

* We went to the county fair on Sat. Last year we saw the Chicken King, this year I had a close encounter with the Goat Princess - she was even wearing a tiara. I have to admit, the tiara made me jealous, so jealous that I needed a silver fox (read - sugar flavored) sno-cone and a basket of fried vegetables. So good going down... the next day, ouch. We also looked at all of the animals. Note - steer clear of the poultry barn next year. Something spooked one of the chickens and it tried to fly away, we were showered with sawdust and chicken-shit. I almost cried. People stopped and stared as I tried to clean off G and his stroller with wipes.

* I'm ordering a new toy from W-S this week :) The Beaba baby food maker - and it's from France. We all know about my love for Euro-trash, so, in my book, this is just about the greatest thing ever.

* Remember long ago I wrote about new bedding for my room? Of course you do! The new bedding has been here for quite a while and looks loverly on my bed, but I needed a few more pillow cases, so I ordered them the other week while shipping was free. I ordered two, I paid for two, they sent me three - score! Guess who's going to have a cute matching pillow for her reading chair? This girl.

* There's a plastic Jimminy Cricket sitting on my desk - he makes me smile :)

big day

I declare today "Solid Food Day"

Mashed bananas for all!

Gerald did well, no screaming, and I'm pretty sure he swallowed at least some of the banana. We taped the whole process, of course, but I'll spare you - no one really needs to see 5 minutes of me shoveling banana into his mouth.


Gerald also rode the train today. Next to our neighborhood is a cute little train that the local historical soceity runs, J thought it would be fun to take G for a ride.

this week

Quick and dirty:

This week "we" were teething. It was a family experience. Gerald's bottom left-center (does that make sense?) tooth finally poked through today :)

J ran to Meijer to get me some ready-made margaritas because Momma needed a drink (and I happen to have a bag of limes in the fridge). When all you buy is margaritas and rimming salt guess what added bonus you get? A $2.00 off coupon for Pampers.

Because children and booze go hand in hand. Amen.

blarg, blarg, blarg

I've been neglecting you. Sorry. Life's been happening and I've been bad about documenting it - oh well, I think we'll all survive. Please accept this epic length, rambling, disjointed entry as some kind of peace offering.

My MIL came down Tuesday to visit. As with all MIL related events my emotions are mixed, but I am really happy that she came down to see Gerald - he's growing and changing everyday and I am sad that she isn't able to see him every week. I really do love her, but it's complicated, and I feel like I am sometimes hyper-critical of her. Being a daughter-in-law is just hard, and now that I have my own little man I'm realizing that one day I will be the MIL. Blahhh.

After lunch yesterday there was a knock on the door - guess who it was?
a) the mailman with a package
b) Patrick from next door looking for popsicles
c) Jehovah's Witness wanting to share the Scripture with me
d) political campaigner

If you guessed C you are correct! I was polite, I promise. I politely declined the literature he wanted me to take. I politely bit my tongue when he asked my religious views. And I politely kept my internal dialogue, internal (go me!) when I saw what he was wearing. I swear his outfit came right out of the 1974 Sears catalog. The pea green and orange paisley was almost too much. The comb-over was fabulous. I really wanted to take his picture, but I really wanted him to go away more. I'm sure you understand.

Gerald is now 5 months old. I can't believe it. I held my friend's two-week old yesterday, and I couldn't believe how big G is compared to him. G was 15 pounds at his last checkup - I'm guessing he's around 16 pounds now. Two weeks ago we moved him out of the pack-n-play in our room into his real crib in his cool jungle room. Apart from a few fussy nap times (I think he was just incredibly tired), he was completely unfazed by the whole thing. I had some issues, and cried the first night, the second night I moved him back into our room for a few hours - I really liked being able to hear him breath when I woke up during the night. But after a few nights of being able to get into bed without walking on eggshells I'm now really into him being in his own room. I also think he sleeps better, because he hasn't been waking up for a 3 AM feeding. It's like my mom says, "Motherhood is letting go." My baby is growing up so fast.

He's still a talker, constantly making noise and having conversations with us - he's very entertaining. I recently started putting him in the exersaucer - he loves it. Our exersaucer came to us as a hand-me-down from our neighbors, and I like it that way. It's basic, no toys attached. I think the new ones look like ADD machines; actually, that's how I feel about a lot of the baby toys I see. G has toys that "require" batteries, but we don't put them in. I just figure that if he gets bored and we do put the batteries in - he'll think he has all new toys :) He's still breastfed 100%, I don't think he's quite ready to try solids yet, and I'm not sold on rice cereal as the first thing he tries (I'm thinking banana, but still researching). He does sit in his high chair with us while we eat dinner, just so he can start to learn about what we do at the table - he's happy because we talk to him and he can see us and play with his toys.

Now on to me. I'm happy, I really enjoy being a mom, and I love staying home with G; I feel really lucky that I am able to stay at home instead of going to work. Which brings me to the subject of my degree, or lack of degree. At first it seemed so easy, take a few classes and transfer the credits up to Tech and that's it. It suddenly got more complicated, Tech has a residency clause, and at first my adviser made it sound like it wouldn't be that big of a deal, and then it suddenly became a huge obstacle. Honestly, I knew I wouldn't be starting classes this fall because I'm not ready to leave Gerald with anyone, so I'm just sending that idea to the back burner - again. I could transfer to another school, but I'm so close to being done that I will need to take extra credits to have enough credits to receive a degree from a different school; and transferring gets messy because of Tech's transition from quarters to semesters while I was there.

Then there's the money, mom and dad won't be paying (I wouldn't even ask them) and my educational trust fund is empty. I could totally justify a loan if having my degree meant my family's situation would change, but it won't - I'm not going to work, and I like the situation my family is in. It would be nice for Gerald to have two parents with degrees, that's what I had growing up even though my mom was at home with us, but it's not like I didn't go to college, or just went to a semester of community college - but it's hard to explain to people that you are 12 credits shy of a degree, and I feel like a liar every time I pretend I finished. Maybe I should just transfer all of my credits to BG and get a degree in interior design, if I'm going to spend the money I should get the degree in something I enjoy, right?

That's all I've got...for now.

Happy Thursday!

quiet

I have been avoiding my desk because when I type, something wobbles.

I just identified the mysterious wobble-er.

The silence is fantastic :)