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2007/10/31 pigging out on candyAh, Halloween. I bought too much candy - although there are tons of kids out, we're on a cul-de-sac and people aren't bothering to come down the street for the few houses that are here. So, I'm helping myself to the candy for now. I know I shouldn't, but I have no willpower (if you really want the truth). Luckily Halloween is only a once a year event! That said, it does seem to signal the start of endless holiday eating from now until the first of the year...
Claire brought the girls over for dinner before we went out for candy (John was out of town on business but met up with us later on). I made stuffed shells - yum! I haven't made them in years, and man, they were good. Anna's loss that she wouldn't even try them - silly girl! Even Kate liked them. I won't take it personally; Anna doesn't try much that she's not familiar with, I don't think. Anyway, after dinner Claire got the girls into their full costumes, and we got Kate ready. I borrowed an adorable chicken costume, and Kate was so cute in it! Unfortunately she's had a rough few nights with a lot of waking, so she had little patience for being dressed up and dragged around. We didn't even make it out of the cul-de-sac before Jay turned around to bring her home to bed, way before bedtime. Poor kiddo. It's too bad because I know she would have loved to see all the other kids all dressed up.
So, Claire, the girls, and I did the trick or treating, and it was so cute to see the two of them out there. They're just so sweet! By the time we finished up they were both tired and getting cold, so it was no problem to call it quits. There are still kids out in the neighborhood and the doorbell rings ever so often, but for the most part I think the night is over. 2007/10/29 after all these yearsI've never done the cook-dinner-every-night thing. After college I went right to grad school, and given the choice between staying late in lab or going home for dinner, I almost always chose the lab (a choice that was made easier by having a husband that always chose to stay late at work as well). As a result, I never got in the groove of eating dinner every night. I know that sounds ludicrous, but really, often my 'dinner' in lab was a bowl of oatmeal. So my expectation to eat dinner every night is pretty low, and the idea of cooking every night...the reality of that lifestyle just hasn't really taken hold with me. Sure, over the last year I've had spurts of regular cooking, but there are a lot of nights where I just look at Jay and say, I have no ideas for dinner, and we just wing it. It's not that I don't like cooking, I just think it's boring and the planning involved is too much for me to get my head wrapped around somehow. Well, the time has come to overhaul my behavior. As they say, having kids changes everything. Not only is it in Kate's best interest for me to cook dinner, but the kid is now refusing to eat the 'simple' foods that she's been thriving on for the last few months. Cheese? Won't pass her lips. Bread? Unless it's a cracker or a pretzel, it's not happening. She loves fruit (in particular, grapes!), and she eats yogurt everyday because she's working on eating with a spoon - I think anything in a bowl with a spoon would be eaten, she loves that whole process so much - but really, she's not eating much of anything, and her diet hardly qualifies as balanced. It's been stressing me out.
So, this morning I spent a couple of hours cooking. I've been with Jay for 10 years, and for all that time Pat has been coaxing me to make her spaghetti sauce and meatballs (both are excellent). Today, I finally gave it a try with great success. I also made a zucchini 'lasagna' that my mom makes (something I know Kate loves). Both foods were a huge hit. Kate loves spaghetti, and Pat had sent us back to VA with a thing of sauce in August, so Kate has developed a love of it. For dinner tonight she had whole wheat pasta, meatballs, and sauce - and she totally chowed down. Jay and I were eating the zucchini lasagna, and there was Kate, acting like a dog begging for food. *lol* So she ate a bunch of my serving, and I was encouraged that she'll be happy to eat that as well. So, onward and forward with my domestic life, I guess.
 I've added some new photos to the album...
2007/10/28 what a weird morningI'm not sure what's going on in my house right now. Claire and I took the day off from working out, and I woke up at 8:00! It's nice to sleep in, but my first thought was, what the heck? Kate was still sleeping! At 8:15 I got out of bed, brushed my teeth and made some noise in our room. By the time I got into her room she was up and talking to her animals. I don't know why she slept so late; she was in her bed at 7:15 and didn't make a peep all night. Maybe the couple of nights of waking really made her tired. Or maybe the last three days of sleeping in (2 days at 7:45, today at 8:15) are related to a growth spurt or something. I don't know, but that sure was strange to wake up so late and know that she was still in bed. Then I talk to Jay (who fell asleep in the recliner in the basement). He'd gone out to his car this morning for some reason and the battery was dead. What? He only drives it every couple of days, so something like an interior light being on could kill the battery in that timeframe. We're not sure why it's dead, but it is. We own one set of jumper cables that have always been able to jump other cars but have never worked for the Camry. So, he gave it the old college try just to be sure, and now he's out getting a new set that will hopefully work on his car. Normally this wouldn't be all that urgent, but today we actually need both cars, so hopefully the new set works the first time. So, the dead car was another strange way to start Sunday morning. Because Kate got up so late her nap has started really late. This is a big pain because there's a whole plan for later that is going to be screwed up now. I have soccer at 11:30, and Jay really wants to go watch football with Carl, so he wants to be in Arlington at 1. So he needs to leave town around 12:15...the plan has been that he'd bring Kate to my game around 12, hang out for a few minutes to make sure she's settled and allow me time to get out of the game, and then take off for Arlington. By that time my game will be half over, and we always have a lot of subs, so there's lots of babysitters. Besides, we have enough women that I only play half of the game, so I'll be on the sideline a lot anyway. But now I don't know how it's all going to go. She's going to sleep until 11:45 and then will need to eat lunch, so there's no way he's going to get on the road at 12:15. I guess he'll move as quickly as possible and bring her to me when he can. Hopefully he can get to Arlington close to 1 - he hasn't seen Carl or done anything by himself in a long time, so it would be nice if he could do what he wants today. (Well, he always does what he wants on Sundays, but normally he's at home.) Ooh, I think Jay is back. I should go help him get his car functioning - if this doesn't work he'll have to wait until I get home from soccer to leave for Arlington... 2007/10/27 finally, no rainWe're in a severe drought, so we really need rain, but when it's been months since you've had it a few constant days of rain is soooo unpleasant. It just stopped for the first time since Wednesday, and it rained some on Tuesday. Thursday morning I thought Claire and I were pretty lucky; when I went outside before she came over for our walk it wasn't raining. We set off and it was sprinkling...about halfway through our first circuit it really started to come down. We got pretty much soaked. We often walk on the weekend mornings, but this morning it was pouring, so we stayed here and did FitTV instead. Anyway, like I said, it's great that we've gotten so much rain - nice long soaking rains are what the ground needed - but it's nice to look outside and not see it coming down. Every time Kate sees her tricycle (when she's getting in and out of the car) she dives for it, and I have to keep telling her that it's raining so we can't go out in the circle to play. Maybe today she'll get outside.
I went back to sleep after Claire left this morning and didn't get up until 9 - I was so tired! Thursday night Kate woke up at 1am and was just up and happy. After listening to a few minutes of babbling I went in to get her back down, and she didn't fall back asleep for real until 2 (I got about 30min of sleep in that hour). So that totally disrupted my night of sleep. Last night she was just not doing well. She woke up crying at 9:45 and Jay went upstairs. He couldn't figure out anything that might be wrong, so he held her for a minute and put her back down. She slept until about 10:30, when I was going to bed. I went in and was in there until 11. At first she was cute and pointing, talking, etc, but she was just so tired resting on my shoulder. I put her down and she was quiet, so I went and got ready for bed. I come out of the bathroom and hear her crying very loudly. *sigh* So I go back in and check her diaper (which I knew wasn't the problem, but sometimes you just have to check) and realized that she was probably too warm. Her hands and neck weren't hot, so I had eliminated this possibility, but once I felt her core I had a feeling this was the problem. I put her into lighter pjs (still long sleeves and pants), rocked her for a few minutes, and back to bed. At 12:30 she woke up crying again. *sigh* This time, she's freezing. Her hands and feet are little ice cubes, so back into the fleece pjs. It was about 20min before she was back asleep because she freaked out when I laid her down to change her pjs. After that she slept through the night - and late, until 7:45. Ay. Hopefully tonight we'll get the pjs right the first time and avoid all the chaos.
OK, Claire is going to be here soon; we're going shopping for new things for her bathroom remodel. Fun! 2007/10/25 Windows Live plugWindows Live Events shipped a little over a week ago, and Jay gave a lot of press interviews regarding the new service. He posted an entry about the service and asked that I publicize it among our mom's group. So, those of you that are here, go check out his entry.  2007/10/23 being productiveIt's my new goal. I need to stop letting my days just pass me by! Yesterday Jay took the day off from work and we raked our yard. 12 lawn and leaf bags full of leaves! I just sent my resume to a woman on my soccer team that just happens to work at a local medical device company that has an opening I'm interested in. Maybe having a connection will pay off, even though I don't really know her all that well. I did a lot of work on Saturday. There's always more to do, though, and I need to start working it into my evenings. Not a pleasant proposition, but I really don't want to be giving up Saturdays on a regular basis. Sunday ended up being a fun day and the productive things I did were much more fun than job hunting! They were more of the sitting-on-my-want-to-do-list-for-too-long things. I went to the craft fair, too, and it was ok. I got a few things, but in general I wasn't all that impressed. Even so it was nice to have the afternoon to myself while doing something pleasant. I was talking to my mom the other day about how tied down I'm feeling with Kate. She naps from 8:30-10 and then 12:30-2:30, and in between the naps she needs lunch, and it's only after her second nap that I really feel like I can do anything substantial with her. My mom was saying that her attitude had always been that the morning nap was ditchable - if we were tired enough, we'd sleep wherever we were - but she made sure that we were home for the afternoon nap. I was feeling pretty gung-ho about taking on this philosophy, but then it occurred to me that her morning nap isn't at a great time. Claire and I work out, and then I can take a shower (as long as Jay doesn't beg to go back to bed like he did this morning, lol). So say we could leave the house around 8 - where are we going to go at 8am besides Target or the grocery store? Besides, that's just when she's starting to get cranky in preparation for her nap, so starting a trip then doesn't seem like a very fun idea. I don't know, I may give it a try just to find out what happens, but for now I'll be stuck at home most of the day. *sigh* OK, I have to get the squirt from her nap. I'm determined to do a few things this afternoon after she has a snack! 2007/10/20 heheheJay and I are looking at pics from last year when Kate was born, and I came across this photo of Mike holding Kate for the first time. He's going to be more comfortable with newborns soon enough!
yay! she's here!Little baby Stella finally made her appearance an hour ago - after putting her mom through 38 1/2 hours of labor! Oh my! Poor, poor Melinda. I hope she and Mike are able to get some sleep tonight; the night Kate was born the little dear refused to sleep so neither did I. I think the hospital they're at has a nursery, though, so maybe they'll get a break. Jay and I were seriously starting to fret, so what a relief it was to get the call from Mike. I can't wait to see pictures of her - apparently she looks like mom  - and meet her eventually. What a fantastic thing it is to know that good friends are experiencing so much happiness right now...anxious...Melinda is in labor and unfortunately has been for the last 24+ hours. I feel so bad for her! Jay and I kept waking up overnight to check for any messages from Mike with good news, but none came in. The last we heard (via Twitter) was that the end is near...I can't wait to see pics of their little girl and find out what they're naming her! It's just so exciting, welcoming a new baby to the world. I was talking to my mom this morning, and she was saying that once you've been through labor you view others going through it in a completely different light, and I have to agree with her. When Carmen was in labor (in '05), I was excited about it for her, but that was pretty much it. With Melinda I've been more worried and concerned, and I definitely think that's a result of personal experience - knowing about the pain and everything else. I'll be glad to hear that all went well when it's all over. My thoughts are definitely unfocused and distracted today...I can't wait to hear Jay come running downstairs saying that the baby was born!
I'm spending the rest of the day working on my job search. I have a bunch to do, and I debated leaving the house, but there's no need when we have so much room. So I've settled in in the basement at the card table, and I don't plan on venturing upstairs very much. Part of that is because Kate seems to be going through some slight separation anxiety issues, so she can get pretty worked up when I leave the room. She hasn't seen me since she got up from her nap, and I'd like to keep it that way for now. In any case, I'm putting my nose to the grindstone today. If I do well today I'll reward myself tomorrow after soccer by going to a local craft fair. I really want to go but there are lots of other things that are more important than my attendance there! OK, with that, I'm off to the hunt! 2007/10/10 on to more interesting thingsKate had her 12 month check up yesterday, and it went very well. We saw a different doctor in the practice this time, and she was very nice. She also said only nice things about Kate, so that definitely won her some points in my mind. *lol* Kate is now 21lb 8oz (50%) and 29" (50%); her head is also 50%, so she's just average from head to toe. The doctor kept shaking her head saying, to look at her you'd think she was 80 or 90%, but she's only 50%...It was pretty funny. I guess chubby is average! I think her round face is a little deceptive, though; her body is starting to get slimmer, but you just don't really notice that with her huge round cheeks. She's so cute.
 So the check up was fine, no issues. The doc said that there aren't any other teeth close to cutting through, so I guess we'll just continue with the two that she has. They've really started pushing up in the last few days to the point where they are very visible now. Cute, cute. She got two shots - the flu and Hib vaccines. They also checked her for anemia (no problems there). Needless to say she was one very unhappy baby when all that got going. She was already desperate for a nap (her naps have shifted a bit earlier which meant that the appt ended up being too close to her second one), and she was just horrified when the nurse held down her leg...oh poor baby. After the shots I picked her up and she started to calm down, only to have her toe pricked and squeezed! I think she was just stunned. I felt so bad...and there will be more shots in 3 months...Anyway, the appointment went well, and Kate slept great when we got home.Kate is doing all sorts of fun things these days. She's been able to stand unassisted for a couple of weeks but just kind of stopped doing it early last week (she also stopped walking behind her push walker). Yesterday, out of nowhere, the kid spent a huge amount of time just standing in the middle of the floor, and she did a great job walking. I guess she just needed a break! *lol* She just stood and stood and stood...it was hysterical, and of course Pat was thrilled to see it. She's also gotten very verbal in the last two weeks. She's been saying 'mommy' (may-me), 'daddy' (day-ee), and 'kitty' (ka-ee), but this weekend she said 'Anna' and she's just talking all the time. She's also starting to pick up some baby signs! I've been casually working on it with her, and this morning she did 'eat' (hand to mouth) in response to me and she has done 'birdy' (flapping arms) multiple times when we see birds in a book. She's not interested in the cat sign since she already says kitty, but we're going to really be working on some of the other ones now that she's done a couple. We taught her to wave a while ago, but she never really did it. In the last week she's mastered it - mostly waving with both hands at once - to the point where if you say 'bye' just randomly she'll start waving. It's very cute. It's amazing to watch her learn at this age because she's really getting to be such a little person with a complete personality. She watches 'Blue's Clues' everyday, and she just loves that show. She gave both Pat and I the evil eye on Sunday when we tried to get her attention during it (at different times), and on either Friday or Saturday she was clearly annoyed that my mom, Pat, and I were talking while she was watching her show. *lol* In general she's still pretty easygoing, and she has a great sense of humor about things. Everything is funny to this kid. She loves music and loves to dance to it, and she loves flipping through her books on her own. She's just turning into a kid in front of our eyes. It's so fun!
OK, that's all for now. I just wanted to ramble about my darling.  oh brotherThe county health department is sending someone over to the house in a little bit to verify Cory's vaccination records. Luckily he just got up to date in May before we loaded him onto the plane; we actually don't do annual vaccines for them since they're indoor cats. A vet told us that was ok years ago, so it's pretty amazing that he actually is going to pass this little test. I guess they'll check back with me in 10 days to make sure that he's still healthy - he doesn't have rabies, ok?!? I guess it's good that they do this (the clinic told us on Sunday that they'd have to report it to the county), but I'm a little freaked out by the idea of the health dept being in my house. My mom has to deal with health dept inspections at work, and I know darn well that if this guy saw something that he didn't like that was totally unrelated to the cat incident I'd still be in trouble. I'm not really concerned, obviously, but I did do a quick clean up just in case his eyes wander...
I'm healing pretty well. The scratches on my left hand are doing well; I had one across the inside of my pinkie that was giving me trouble, but now it's better. My right hand is not nearly as swollen as it was, and I can make a loose fist now - it's good to have the ability to grip things again. My ring and pinky fingers are totally fine, they move without any pain at all. My middle and index fingers can close to my palm, but it hurts a bit to do that. I think it's just the swelling around the tendons on the back of my hand. The wounds themselves are looking great. The smaller one is almost completely closed up, and even the bigger one is making great progress toward healing. I don't have them covered up right now in case the county guy wants to see them, but they've been covered ever since 'the incident.'
Cory cowered for the rest of Sunday and wouldn't come anywhere near me, but by Monday afternoon he was pretty much back to normal. He still seems a little skittish, but he's out and around so it's not too bad. Jay took a picture of my hands while we were at the clinic on Sunday. My hand hadn't gotten too swollen at that point, but maybe you can tell the difference between my right and left hands... 2007/10/8 a wonderful weekend (with one exception) Kate is one! OMG, how did that happen?? We had such a fun weekend celebrating with family, and I think Kate had a blast with so many visitors and fun new things to see and do. We celebrated her birthday a day early, on Saturday, because my mom needed to leave first thing Sunday morning. I spent the morning decorating and getting everything organized, and Claire and her family came over with my mom for lunch. We had a nice lunch and then went ahead to the party. Unfortunately I was too busy in the morning to get any pics of the decorations, and once everyone was here it was a little chaotic,, so...no pics of her sign and balloons. Oh well. I also didn't get a picture of Kate by herself in her birthday dress and hat! Sheesh! That I may have to re-create - the dress was perfect! Claire took pictures during the cupcake/singing phase, and I've posted an album with those pictures and the ones from the previous bday celebration with my dad. (I also added a lot of pictures to the end of her twelfth month album.) Anyway, the party was great, and Kate got some wonderful presents that she just loves. In particular, she got small Big Bird and Grover stuffed animals, and she's bringing them everywhere she goes now - too cute! Claire got this cool Fisher-Price house thing that Kate is just infatuated with; it may be her favorite toy ever. I'll post pics of her playing with her new stuff; yesterday our camera batteries were both dead...So yesterday, Kate's actual birthday, was very quiet - mostly, that is. Claire and I worked out in the morning, and then Jay, Pat, Duane, and I hung out and played with Kate for the rest of the day. We watched some football and some baseball and had a nice day overall. The 'one exception' that I was referring to in my title came in the early afternoon. Cory loves to eat curling ribbon, so whenever there are balloons around we have issues. I had put them out of his reach overnight Saturday, but I didn't think about it yesterday during the day. While we were all in the basement, apparently he was chowing down in the family room. I came upstairs to go settle Kate down (she wouldn't take her nap), and I see Cory walking through the living room with a pink ribbon coming out of his mouth and trailing a balloon behind him. Shit! Who knows how much ribbon is down in his gut?! So, he sees me eyeing him and gets panicky. He's only a couple of feet away from me, and I think he figured that hiding upstairs was his safest bet, so he bolted between me and the wall (the side of the staircase). I grabbed him by the base of his tail, which of course I knew he wouldn't like, but what the hell, and that jerked him to a stop. He absolutely freaked out. I pinned him down, which stopped his claws from shredding me, but then he brought out the big guns and bit the back of my hand. Cleo was nearby for all of this, and once he started freaking out she started to beat the crap out of him. There was yowling, hissing, biting - it was chaos. Cleo, my defender.  After all was said and done I had a scratched up left hand and a bitten right hand. The punctures seemed kind of deep, so Jay took me to an urgent care clinic. They cleaned it up and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic. My bitten hand is really swollen and sore (I can't really bend my fingers), but it does look better today than it did yesterday. Sheesh, on Kate's birthday and all! On the plus side, I'm not able to do a whole lot of stuff around the house since I can't get my hands wet with the bandages and I can't grip anything (my left hand has a cut across my palm and I can't bend my fingers on my right hand). So I'm leading a life of luxury, watching everyone else do the work for once.  The sad thing is that it's nearly impossible for me to pick Kate up unless I grasp her with my forearms. Ay...2007/10/3 so ridiculousMe, that is. Kate and I went to Macy's to return one of the dresses and exchange the one that we decided to keep (it had a few snags in it). Of course while we're there I can't help but see the clothes that are available at this store - a different one than I was at on Monday. We stumbled across the most darling dress, and I thought, I can't believe this. I tried it on her, right there in her stroller, and it was an immediate confirmation - this is the dress! It's more party-like than the other ones and it's short sleeved, to boot, so she will be able to wear it all day. It is so darn cute! I was glad that I did have both dresses with me to return, although I briefly contemplated keeping the one we had been planning on keeping; she doesn't have any winter dresses, and it was very cute. I decided against keeping it, though. This new dress is so cute! We're heading back to Picture People sometime this month to take advantage of the birthday coupon they sent (hopefully that session will go better!), and this will be super cute. It's also perfect for our session with our photographer in December (we're making a trip back to Seattle for multiple reasons). I'm finally sure that we have the right dress - who knew it was going to be such an ordeal to find a cute dress for her! I guess the issue is the pressure of it being her first birthday dress and all. Anyway, she's going to be so cute this weekend! revving upMy dad and Linda were in town this past weekend to visit and celebrate Kate's birthday, and this weekend Pat, Duane, and my mom will be in town for the actual event. My mom is driving down Thursday night (she's staying with Claire) and will leave first thing Sunday morning; Pat and Duane are driving down on Friday and will be leaving a week from today (Wednesday). Everyone is excited about it - us and the grandparents. Kate's birthday is Sunday - can you believe it?!?!? - but we'll celebrate on Saturday since my mom has to head out early Sunday morning. Kate and I went to the party store the other day to get decorations; we got hats, a banner, plates, napkins, and a tablecloth (all pink, of course). I've also been scouring stores for birthday dresses. I mentioned that I had bought an adorable one already, and while it is so cute, Kate doesn't look that great in it. It's got a lot of white, and that just doesn't do that much for her. So I ended up buying four dresses, and Jay and I picked the best one yesterday. It's lavender, one of Kate's colors, and it's very cute. Unfortunately it's supposed to be hot this weekend again, so she might be a little toasty in her long sleeves and tights...she'll wear the outfit for the party and pictures, if nothing else. So, I think we have the birthday celebration under control. I'll make a cake on Friday morning, I guess.
So this morning I did some yardwork, and now I'm assessing what else there is to do in preparation for the visitors. The arrival of my mom always sends me into a cleaning frenzy, and since Pat and Duane are staying here I'm feeling extra self concious. I will say, however, that my house is really pretty clean all the time - having a crawling child just necessitates that you pay attention to these things! It's definitely one of the ways that Kate has changed me for the better.
Anyway I'm sure that I'll be cleaning tonight and a lot of tomorrow to make things extra sparkly clean.Monday night I took a trip out to Tyson's Corner to go to the fabulous mall. I had to get Kate's bday present, and of course I was still on the dress hunt for her party. I left my house around 6 and was home ~9:45. It was such a fun trip! I felt so normal and like my old self just wandering through the stores and buying things here and there. Ah, shopping. There's a Crate and Barrel across the street from the mall, and as I was leaving the mall parking lot at 8:45 I was moaning that I didn't have enough time to go into C&B, so I decided to drive by just to double check their hours. They were open until 9:30, and I did a little happy dance. It was the perfect end to my evening out. I love being in C&B, and it's been waaaayyy too long since I just wandered around in one. I realize now that I got so spoiled in Seattle with the shopping that's available there. There are tons of great stores, and I never lived very far away from them, so popping into a nice store just to see what was there was never a big deal. That isn't the case here, unfortunately, and I think my trip Monday night made me realize how much I really do enjoy shopping. I've never had a 'problem' with it, but I just enjoy perusing and imagining what I could do if I had all the money in the world. Anyway, Monday night was wonderful, and it made me wonder if being closer to 'real' shopping shouldn't be something we consider when we buy a house next year...
OK, that's enough from me for now. I'm off to prep for visitors... 2007/10/1 2 - 4 - 6- 8!Jay bought Kate a Seattle Seahawks cheerleader outfit last year for Christmas, and yesterday we pulled it out (the irony, of course, is that we are no longer in Seattle...). She was so cute in it! These pics aren't great, but you get the idea - I'll get better ones the next time she has it on (probably next Sunday, and the next Sunday, and the next Sunday...)
She's even doing a little cheerleader clap in the second one. She's soooo cute! |
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