Isn't He the Cutest?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

We’re in the Outer Banks for the week. My cousin gets married on Saturday in Duck, NC. Molly Ann is such a great baby and did well for the long drive down. Jesse, too. The house we’ve rented is very nice and spacious and very close to the water.

We didn’t do much on Monday because it was rainy and cold most of the day. Beau and I did take the kids to a little shopping area to buy a kite for Jesse and Beau to fly while we’re here. And then my parents watched the kids so that Beau and I could have a short date - we went to see Wolverine, which was entertaining (I give it 3 stars out of 5). There were only 6 other people in the theater with us.

Yesterday we went to Kitty Hawk to check out the Wright Brothers Monument and Museum. I think we might have enjoyed that a bit more if Jesse hadn’t been as whiny as he was - he was off kilter most of the day. Although he provided the day’s comedy later in the afternoon.

Today seems to be a lazy day so far. We may go play mini golf and bumper cars with the kids after lunch.

Tomorrow the ladies go for a spa morning and then I think we’re all headed to Roanoke Island to shop and whatever else is down there.

Friday may be a trip to the aquarium and Saturday will be quiet since that’s the day of the wedding.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

West Virginia: We went to visit Beau’s friends the other day. It was a lovely day and perfect for spending on a secluded mountain farm. Jesse enjoyed his time playing with L&M’s grandkids and seeing cows and the “big fat dog.” I enjoyed girl chat. Beau enjoyed shooting up clay pigeons with his buddy. Molly got held by a lot of people who appreciated her snuggly cuteness.

The Stairs of Doom: It was while at the farm that Jesse had a slight mishap with what I call The Stairs of Doom. L&M’s farm house is a work in progress. The ground floor, which is more like a basement although it is above ground, is what you’d expect in a basement with a concrete floor. They have hardwood steps leading up to the main floor, but there is no side rail (yet) or banister. Until they had grandchildren, there was an open area at the top from their kitchen where a wall has since been added. Unfortunately the width from wall to wall at the top is just slightly off for the gate they have - it’s too wide for the gate to be tight enough to keep a child from knocking it down if they lean on it. To my mother’s eyes, those stairs are scary business and I keep a vigilant eye on Jesse when he’s near them.

He did well all day. He’s good on our stairs, to the point that we rarely put the gates up anymore - we really only use the gates to keep him corralled in the living room when we are occupied in the kitchen and/or upstairs and don’t want him underfoot. Knowing that L&M’s gate wasn’t as secure as Jesse would expect, I preferred that the gate stay down since he has a healthy respect for the stairs. And as I said, he did well all day.

Until ... It was about 30 minutes before we were planning to leave when it happened. My worst nightmare.

Jesse was playing with this rolling dog; pulling it behind him and watching it follow. He started to the hall area near those stairs and I could see that he was leaning in the direction. Just as I was calling out to him to watch the stairs he disappeared from view and I heard the thunks as he tumbled down. Four adults immediately leaped up, but I was holding Molly Ann and couldn’t get up fast enough.

I was sitting across from L, who saw the whole thing. He said that Jesse went down on his butt backwards, sitting upright until he went out of his view. M got there just as he started to turn and then roll sideways down the last third of the steps. She said he never hit his head once that she could see. Beau got to him just as he started to cry, which was almost immediately upon landing at the bottom. The other two adults were L&M’s daughter and son-in-law - I’m not sure where they ended up, although I think one of them was holding their 2 year old. I handed Molly Ann to L and went to see for myself, Beau got back to the top with Jesse as I got there and we took him to the bedroom to check him over. Amazingly, there wasn’t a mark on him that we could see and he had already started to stop crying. Later, we noticed a red mark on his upper back and the day after he had a small bruise on one elbow and on the outer sides of his feet (he had no shoes on and we figure they banged on the steps as he went down on his butt). Beau said he fell on his backside at the park today and seemed in a bit of pain, which isn’t surprising since he went down hardwood steps on his rear for a while.

Once we realized he was OK, I started to cry in relief. And then I had this thought that it was probably good for me that it happened - my fear was realized and he came out of it OK. I’m curious how paranoid I’ll be about those stairs the next time we visit, though.

The New Stroller: We bought a new stroller today, courtesy of Beau’s parents. We opted for a sit and stand type of double stroller. The truth is that since Beau is the primary parent, he won’t use the stroller as much as I might. He doesn’t prowl the mall, but he will find it handy when he does run errands with both kids. We got a good bargain on it with a 20% coupon. Beau took it on a test walk with the kids this afternoon and he seemed happy with it. Jesse likes his jump seat and Molly Ann’s carseat fits well. The nice thing about it, too, is that it isn’t too much bigger than the single stroller we have - it’s slightly longer, but it is narrower.

I read several reviews of it before we decided on this particular one. One reviewer said her front wheels wouldn’t turn at all. So when we looked at the floor model in the store, I mentioned that to Beau. He took a look at the wheels and noticed that they have individual locks on each one. If that mother never noticed those locks then she would never be able to turn the stroller! Another reviewer complained that it was impossible to stow anything in the basket, but another reviewer suggested unsnapping the basket on one of the sides to stow stuff. I checked that idea out and she’s right - you can easily get large items into that basket by unsnapping it. Another reviewer noted that the kid on the jump seat wouldn’t be able to nap if on a long outing. We debated the need for that option and thought that if we do take a day trip to a park or something that we would most likely be together and I could wear Molly Ann so that Jesse could sit in the front seat to nap. Once she’s too big to wear, then we probably won’t be using the stroller much anyway.

The Beach: We leave for our week at the Outer Banks with the R-clan (my parents and the Cooties) on Sunday. The girls have a spa day planned. I think the boys will take the kids to the aquarium on that day. Each couple will get a date night during the week. And we cap off the week with my cousin’s fabulous wedding. I’m excited about the week away.

Friday, May 01, 2009

People have asked how similar or different Jesse and Molly Ann are as infants. Here are comparable pictures of the kids at roughly the same age, about 1 month old.

First, Jesse:

Now, Molly Ann:

The biggest difference is the hair - he had none and what he had was much lighter; she has a ton of dark brown hair that shows no signs of falling out at all. They both have the same hairline, though, and their swirls (cowlicks) are in the same direction. They both have sweet noses. Her lips may be a bit fuller. they both had dark blue eyes at the start - Jesse’s eyes are now green, so I expect that Molly Ann’s will be green as well.

What do you think?

1. My new favorite show is Pitchmen. Have you seen it? I have a whole new appreciation for Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan. Sully is awesome and I think I’d buy anything he pitches. Mays is hilarious.

2. We head to the beach in about two weeks. I’m getting excited for the vacation, not so much because of all the fun things we’ll do, but for the time away with my family. And I’m looking forward to my cousin’s wedding at the end of our week away. Figuring out what to take for Molly Ann is a bit daunting, though. At least the feeding part is easy since she’s still on The Food Source™. Jesse is easier now that he’s in a regular bed and pretty much eating regular food.

3. The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still is awful. Thanks, Uncle Bill, for the warning. We watched it the other night while the President did his presser. Of the two options, the bad movie was probably better and less angry-making. That said, the plot change for modern times retelling that I expected was present. Annoying and amusing all at once. 1.5 stars out of 5. The effects were cool enough to garner the star.

4. New Molly Ann and Jesse pictures:

I love this picture of my family.

I was impressed with how the camera caught the action of the water in this shot.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Just a quick Jesse story from this morning…

Beau and I both woke up at about 2:30am. I went to the bathroom (I think he did, too) and then he headed to the sofa downstairs to try to sleep while I got back into bed. I lay there for about an hour with my mind churning on the things to do at work, so I got up to write stuff down and ultimately went down to the computer to do some personal work things, as I said in my earlier post.

I came back up at about 6:30am to start getting ready for work, waking up Beau on the way. As I headed up the stairs I thought I heard Jesse making wake up noises in his room. When I got to the top, he called out for Daddy. Before I went to let him out of his room, I went into our room and immediately saw an open packet of Saltine crackers laid out on the recliner seat along with the in-ear thermometer - things laid on the end table next to the chair that hadn’t been put away after our family illness. I was stumped for a minute, because Jesse was behind the closed door in his room.

So I went to his door, opened it, and asked, “What’s up, Buddy?” He was bright-eyed (moreso than when we usually open the door first thing in the morning) and immediately said, “Crackers?” I laughed and called down to Beau to come to see what he was missing.

Turns out that Jesse has somehow gotten out of his room (we have one of those doorknob covers on the inside of his door to keep him locked in), gotten to the crackers and started to snack, and then went back into his room and closed the door. Because I was in the basement I couldn’t hear him. Beau clearly didn’t hear him while he was still asleep on the main floor.

By the time Beau made his way upstairs, Jesse was settled on the floor with the Saltines, munching happily. Too funny. And now we need to figure out what do to about our Houdini - we might need to put a high latch or chain on the front door to keep him in and other safety things that we haven’t thought about yet.

Adventures in parenthood.

Monday, February 16, 2009

This is a reminder note to myself - I need to post about the potty training poop incident from the weekend.

[UPDATE 2/17]: Posted. That Is Not the Proper Place over at WC.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The following is today’s whine. You’ve been warned. But there’s good stuff at the end, so skip ahead if you want to spare yourself of the complaints.

I feel puffy today.

I’ve got cankles. My hands are swollen and my face feels all puffed up - especially my lips. I’m not having a hard time talking, but I can tell that my lips feel fuller than normal.

And I’m wearing the lost pair of maternity jeans that happen to be a wee bit more snug than is comfortable - we found them in a bag in the baby’s closet. How they ended up there is a mystery. They’re not as bad as the torture jeans I was wearing before, but they’re not as comfy as the Salvation Army jeans we found recently either. That pair are in the laundry and I mourn for them today.

I’m also really tired and achy today.

In good news:

I have my diabetes class today. I received an email with info (and forms, tra-la). The sample menus sent were encouraging - looks like the changes we made were nearly perfect. The only glitch is the one small glass of orange juice that I drink with breakfast - I’m not supposed to drink fruit juices, although I am allowed to eat fruit later in the day. I’m not a fruit eater, so that will be a challenge that I’ll take up with the dietician. But otherwise, the changes we’ve made have been good ones and there were suggestions on there that will help with variety, too.

Jesse is becoming more affectionate - when I ask him for hugs and kisses, he will run to me to be picked up and will press his little lips to mine. So sweet. And I love when he and Daddy send me off to work. Jesse starts waving bye-bye while still inside and blows kisses to me when I get to my car.

In other Jesse news - he’s definitely knows all of the alphabet now. It’s amazing to watch him line up the alphabet frig magnets in a row and identify each letter as he moves them. Also, yesterday morning he was working on an alphabet puzzle with Daddy. Beau would hand him a letter and Jesse would say what it was before placing it in the correct empty slot.

There have been a couple instances when we wondered if he was reading something. On the way to church there was a car ahead of us with a personalized license plate that included the word “David.” Both Beau and I thought we heard Jesse say, “David,” but then he said something else that sounded similar and we started to second guess it. The other time was when Beau spelled out “done” with the frig magnets and we clearly heard Jesse say, “don-nuh” as if he was sounding out the letters. But again, we second guessed it later. I know that Beau has been reading through a phonics book to see how to teach it to Jesse later, but I’m not sure he’s actually started sounding out letters with him yet. Otherwise we have no clue how he would know how to read those words. But we think he’ll pick up reading pretty quickly given how fast he learned his alphabet.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

There’s a lull in the frozen precipitation. I think the snow part is done - we ended up with about 3” total. Next up comes the ice, which should be fun. Here are the few pictures I was able to get before the camera batteries died. And I was freezing out there - none of my coats will button around my belly, so I was wearing a flimsy barn coat with just the top button hooked. That isn’t very effective. Fortunately, we have great cold weather gear for Jesse, courtesy of Marmie. The first picture shows him in his snow bibs and you can see his boots (from Christmas) peaking beneath the pants. Then he’s got his coat and mittens on. He’s still figuring out the thumbs in mittens and actually calls the mittens, “thumbs” because we spend so much time talking about and working on getting his thumbs in their proper place. At one point, while Beau was making our interesting 4-ball snowman, Jesse started to walk down the hill and all of a sudden face planted into the snow. It was funny to see and he fared pretty well - only took in a bit of snow in the face. The final picture is taken from the deck in the backyard. Jesse and Beau were going to try to sled down the hill back there using a pizza pan. It worked pretty well, but the pictures weren’t that good. But I like this one of Jesse peeking around the cable box back there. They’re still out there - Beau was shoveling the deck when I came downstairs. I think Jesse was still playing in the yard below. I haven’t heard them come back in yet.

And ice later.

This is why I’m working at home today and tomorrow.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM EST WEDNESDAY.

A WAVE OF LOW PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO BRING SNOW AND SLEET TO THE AREA TODAY. A BRIEF LULL IN THE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON… BEFORE A SECOND STRONGER LOW PRESSURE WAVE WILL BRING A WINTRY MIX OF PRECIPITATION TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. PRECIPITATION WILL BE MAINLY IN THE FORM OF SNOW AND SLEET THIS EVENING… BUT A CHANGE OVER TO FREEZING RAIN AND RAIN IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT AS WARMER AIR IS DRAWN INTO THE SYSTEM. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN IN THE LOWER 30S WEDNESDAY ALLOWING FOR THE RAIN TO FREEZE ON SOME SURFACES.

TOTAL SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT WILL BE 2 TO 4 INCHES AND TOTAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS FOR TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING WILL BE ONE TO TWO TENTHS OF AN INCH.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW… SLEET… AND FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES… AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

I figure we have at least 2” so far from my check out the kitchen window a little while ago when I went in search of some tea.

We plan to take Jesse out after his nap. Pictures to follow of His Cuteness in his snow gear.

I was reclining in the basement early this morning (my nights of sleep are difficult lately - I got out of bed shortly after 6am and headed for my recliner for a bit more rest) and got to listen to Jesse wake up this morning. We leave his blinds partially up at the bottom of his window to reduce his playing with them at bedtime. I’m positive I heard him say, “Hi, snowflake!” shortly after waking up. Too cute.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Dad took some great pictures at Jesse’s birthday dinner. I’ll post my favorite and then we move on to new things here on ye old blog.

We celebrated Jesse’s birthday after I got back from Phoenix. What was great was getting into the car at the airport on Friday to see a huge grin on Jesse’s face when he realized that it was Mom getting into the car.

“MOM!” he yelled, pointing at me.

“Hi, there!” I said back, reaching to grab his little hand.

Beau got in and asked, “Jesse, how old are you?”

There was a slight pause and Beau asked again. “Two!” Jesse said with his shy-proud smile. My baby is now a little boy. How’d that happen?

The following are recent pictures. I’ll post birthday pictures later - the CD my dad made (we forgot our camera, so he took all of the pictures on Saturday - thanks, Pop!) is upstairs.

Headbutting the cat.

Dissin’ Dad, who leaned down for a headbutt. Note the dismantled deadbolt lock and key in Jesse’s hand. His favorite toy for a while.

Snoozing on the way to West Virginia.

Marmie and Pop were generous enough to give Jesse a new desk for his birthday. It arrived yesterday and was assembled pretty quickly. Since we had spent the day working on rearranging the living-dining areas to create a play-school area for Jesse, this was perfect timing and it fits the space perfectly. Thanks, Marmie and Pop!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

I posted about Jesse’s first crush at WC, if anyone is interested.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Just a few of the cutest from Christmas 2008…

Peeking through the It’s a Wonderful Life village.

The enormous tree and miniature person.

Feeding daddy Jelly Bellys.

A huge grin while playing with Daddy.

You must wear your paper crown when enjoying a traditional British Christmas dinner. This was taken before Jesse managed to kick his chair backwards to scare the crapola out of everyone.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

So I was on my way out the door this morning and yelled up to Beau that I was leaving. He yelled back for me to wait so that I could see Jesse, who had just woken up. They came down the stairs and I got a great, warm grin from Jesse. He gave me a nice headbutt and a zerbert (at Beau’s prompting). Then Beau and I kissed and on a lark I asked Jesse for a kiss.

*hold on a sec, I’ve got something in my eye*

He leaned toward me and touched his lips to my puckered up lips.

I asked for a repeat and without hesitation he kissed me again.

I got my first kiss from my son this morning and my heart melted just a wee bit. It’s a great day.

Monday, December 22, 2008

1. So I’m loving my new haircut. I did color my hair on Saturday and it’s slightly darker than it was before. So in a couple-few weeks I’ll touch it up a bit with a lighter shade to make it the lighter blond that I prefer. What’s really odd is that my hair used to be super straight, but now seems to have gotten more wavy. The back, the part that is cut in shorter layers with the stacking, wants to curl up. The first time I tried to blow dry it down with a round brush, but one upper section stubbornly stayed curled up. Then this morning I didn’t even bother with that battle and only directed the longer front sections. I’m just amazed at how curly that back section is when left to its own devices - it all curls up without me having to coach it. Bizarre. Fortunately, it looks cute and I like it. I’m wondering if it’s pregnancy that has changed my hair to wavy/curly or if it is the addition of the wiry gray hairs? Anyone have an answer to that?

2. The family Christmas gathering on Saturday night was fun. My Dad’s family is pretty low key and slightly nutty so we usually have a fun time with them. Since the Cooties weren’t there, there were only two little ones - Jesse and my cousin’s daughter Natalie, who is 4 years old. She was very sweet to play with Jesse, who instantly glommed on to her (calling her “baby,” which was inexplicable and hilarious). The best gift that Jesse got from his Aunt N and Uncle J was an alphabet book block set that is in a case that had a handle. All day yesterday Jesse would carry that thing to one of us to play with - he’s a focused studier and he spent a lot of time with us studying the little books (each book features a single letter with pictures of items that start with that letter). He already knows several letters and we’re betting that after a week or so of playing with that set, he’ll know almost all of them. We’re wondering how early we can actually start to teach him phonics/reading.

3. I have a short work week this week - only working today and tomorrow - but I have a lot of work to do. Lots of bills to get paid before managers go on vacation next week. A new batch of prisoner medical invoices to get paid. The usual end of month closing of the books. And I have to take care of a task that my boss normally does - I was looking at the instructions this morning and I’m wondering how I’m going to actually do this. Muddle through, I guess.

4. I’d still like to send out some kind of Christmas card/letter. We never got anything out last year and so far we haven’t worked on anything for this year either. Obviously, it isn’t going to get to folks before Christmas, but I would like to get something in the mail before my trip to Arizona.