oh, henry.

I generally think both my children are pretty dang fantastic.  Today Henry did two things that just blew Timon and me away completely. 

He and Maria were fighting over a book and Timon came in and told them that they needed to share, and then said, “Geez, I’m gonna cut the book in half if you can’t share.”  Henry piped up and said “Just like the wise King Solomon did!” and then proceeded to tell us the entire story, using the exact words, from 1 Kings Chapter 3 of the two women that each claimed the baby as her own and Solomon decided to determine which was the real mother by threatening to cut the baby in half.  (If you aren’t familiar with this story, it’s a doozy.  It’s one of those things that makes the Bible so hard for some people to believe.)  We asked him if he learned that in Sunday School and he said no, he had read it in his Bible.  Well, then. 

Later, as I was enjoying a Christmas party with the women’s group from church, Timon asked the kids to wash their hands for dinner.  Apparently there was some mischief in the bathroom, resulting in Maria falling from the stool by the sink and getting a black eye along with a fairly serious cut on her chin.  As Timon was attending to Maria, Henry was very emotional and kept repeating, “That’s my sister!  I don’t want her hurt! That’s my sister!”  *sob* 

That’s why the picture below means so much to me.  That’s why it was worth every single miserable second waiting to conceive Maria.  That’s yet another reason why my heart aches for Amy and her parents.  I love you, Peter and Greta and Katherine and Phil and Amy B. and Courtney and Lee.

xxx

My favorite part of Christmas as a young person was always going to my grandparents’ house on Christmas Eve.  Now, my grandfather died when I was six, so I don’t have too many memories of him.  But the house is so amazing and full of meaning for me – My sister, cousin Ben, and I really enjoyed introducing Henry to some of those things this past summer (the laundry chute, the pantry with the sliding door where we played elevator, the coffee table that looks like a spaceship… anyway.  Here is a partial list of what is typically present on Christmas Eve at Gram’s:

• chicken soup on the stove
• plastic cups with Peanuts characters on them (these are still in use after about 30 years – we watched, horrified, one time as a newish family member started to throw one out in the yellow garbage can)
• giant shrimp cocktail tray on the kitchen table
• rolls and cookies made by Anna, MaryLiz, and others
• Hershey’s kisses
• snake skins (real, found in Gram’s basement) strung on the tree *shudder*
• The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (in English AND Latin) on the living room table
• sausage made by either my dad or Uncle Richard, sometimes both
• stuffed Mr. & Mrs. Claus, standing watch by the stairs so no snooping kids will wander up to look for presents
• MaryLiz’s chocolate peanut butter balls
• a large box of Russell Stover’s chocolates on the table, picked over and the gross ones left behind
• lots of singing
• many, many laughs

I miss it, a lot.  I’m committing here and now to spend Christmas Eve 2011 enjoying all of the above.  It will be Gram’s 88th Christmas on this earth.

And with that…

xxix

THANK HEAVENS.  You all helped me out a lot with the questions you’ve left for me.  I’ll combine my mother’s and Barb’s tomorrow, and today I’ll answer Mr./Mrs. Anonymous’ question about the funniest thing that ever happened to me.

The problem with answering this question is that typically, “funny” is a relative and situational state of being, and as such doesn’t translate very well to re-telling.  But one story immediately came to mind and every time Timon and I remember it, we laugh our heads off – but at the time, the only laughter to come from us was of mortifying embarrassment. 

About a week before we got married, we were sitting around my parents’ dining room table with a few guests after dinner.  We don’t recall why it came up, but the subject turned to uvulas, that dangling teardrop-shaped part of your throat.  Timon chose to speak up, but he misspoke and said vulva instead of uvula.  One might imagine how hilarious the assembled family found this remark, but poor Timon was so embarrassed that he was practically choking on his own uvula.  I have a large (and some might say intimidating) family to get to know.  This wasn’t an auspicious moment for my soon-to-be husband.

One more reason I love Timon so much is that he has not only survived the initial years as a member of my extended family, but I can honestly say he holds more than his own with them.  Our generation of married descendants of Dorothy and Carmine seem to have chosen fairly well.

xvii

Almost every year I decorate our house for Christmas on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Well, yesterday my sister-in-law Amy and I went over to church to help decorate over there and then it was raining in the afternoon, so the outdoor lights did not get put up as usual.  I put them up today instead, along with the stockings.  My mom made all our stockings, mine is close to 33 years old.  Timon’s is the biggest, probably because she loves him best.  <grin>

Will someone please leave a list of questions you want answered in the comments, so I’ll have some things to post on the 29th and 30th?  A special guest post is coming tomorrow, but I’ve run out of ideas.

xxvi

Scenes from Thanksgiving:

xxiii

I went to renew my drivers license today.  I made the observation that the parking lot of the Tax Collector’s office would be a gold mine for identity thieves, since new regulations require you to bring along every conceivable personal identity document.  I brought my passport (if I hadn’t had one, I would have needed my birth certificate), my social security card, my W2 and voter registration (to prove my address – most people who don’t live in a church-owned home could bring utilities), and my marriage certificate.  I don’t want to give identity thieves ideas or anything, but if they were to hold up people in the parking lot at gunpoint, they’d make off with an entire life’s information on the spot.  Perhaps most importantly, my new picture looks great!  I’m so much more pleased with it than I was with the old one, in which I resembled Michelle Duggar a bit too much. 

The in-laws have arrived, Auntie Amy has arrived, and preparations have begun.  I bought our biggest turkey ever (20lbs!) and can’t wait to get that thing in the brine and into the oven around 11 on Thursday morning.

Summer 2010 Trip #3

Yes, we’ve been on three trips this summer.  My sister-in-law got married in June in Alabama, my cousin got married in July in Connecticut, and last week we went to south Georgia for a meet-up with Timon’s parents. 

We went to a state park that’s just barely over the state line that was on a lake.  The cottages there are great – AC, full kitchen, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Also: satellite tv, which we barely used but was handy in checking baseball scores each evening and on one rainy afternoon Henry got to watch All Dogs Go To Heaven. 

 
The kids were fantastic in the car on the way up.  We’ve been blessed with good car travelers.  And now that I’ve typed those words, we will PAY DEARLY on our next road-trip.  We cooked a lot of good food while we were there, which, when you have absolutely nothing else to do other than read a book or go swimming with your kids, isn’t the chore it seems to be at home.  And THE BEST PART OF IT ALL was that there was a (cue angels singing) DISHWASHER!!!  Perhaps you’ve always had a dishwasher and this means very little to you.  But I’ve lived without a dishwasher in my home since I moved out of my first apartment in 2001.  And seeing as how the cottage was on a lake, with a screened-in porch, and was bigger than my own home, the dishwasher pretty much put it over the top to where I very nearly refused to leave. 

Maria enjoyed cutting wooden fruit and helping Mimi in the kitchen, first supervising the shrimp deveining, and then snapping beans in half.

 
 

Henry loved fishing with his daddy, taking solemn self portraits, and snuggling with Maggie the dog.  [He really, really wants us to get a dog.] 

 

   
I’m ready to go back.  Who wants to join me?

meh, I’m not really into this movie.

Timon just put on Green Zone, with Matt Damon.  Now, I LOVE Matt Damon, but it’s all a little shooty and yelly for me.  So, I figure I’ll do a little post.  Look at me, acting like I actually still blog anymore.  (Well, to be fair, I have faithfully updated the photo blog every day this year, and that takes a lot out of me.)

Timon: He has just gotten a new show in the theatre.  He is (thankfully) still bearded and just today did an awesome job mopping all the floors in the house.  When the kids and I were in Connecticut last weekend, he mailed us a card that said he missed us.  Now, come on.  That’s pretty fantastic!  We just celebrated 9 years of marriage on the 7th.

Me:  I survived traveling with both children once more on the airplane to Connecticut.  They were far better behaved than the couple who got on last and were forced to sit apart (open seating).  I wanted to shove a bag of peanuts down his throat, and then tape the airsick bag over her mouth, but I couldn’t use my left arm since she dropped what felt like a sack of 25 rolls of quarters on me as she was stowing her junk in the overhead bin.  This was after we departed an hour late.  Anyhoo, my life is essentially the same as usual.

Henry:  This kid can read all day long, particularly if you stick a Garfield comic book in his hand.  Quotation of the week: “Talking cats are funny!”  He had the best time of his life on vacation with his cousins.  It was so awesome to see him enjoying their rowdy company.  He loves summer vacation.  He kept me company in the lazy river at our local waterpark last week.  He likes waterslides and pancakes.  Another quotation for you: “In this circumstance, I would like some milk.”

Maria:  She has 3 new obsessions: Her cousin Julia, her cousin Emmett, and nail files.  She talks a LOT, and is very silly.  She helped me tell Henry to go to his room yesterday.  She answers her own question of where Julia is by saying “House.  Mama.”, meaning Julia is at her house with her Mama.  Any baby is Emmett now.  She likes to put her hands in shallow water and let her legs float up behind her.  Pirate’s Booty is her favorite food, with grapes as a close second.

(at my Gram’s house, in her yard on the sledding/rolling hill)

today

7:01am    Eyes snap open, look at the clock.  Stretch, get out of bed, go to the bathroom, and head to the kids’ room.

7:05am    Rub Henry’s back and tell him good morning.  He does his typical rolling over onto his stomach in an attempt to stay in bed.  Maria is stirring, and I pick her up to realize the front of her pjs are wet from diaper wicking out the top.  I groan since our washer is broken, and this is just another pee soaked item to stink up the house until I get a chance to do laundry.

7:10-8:00am  Get Maria and Henry breakfast, set out their clothes, shower, and get dressed.  I shove down a grapefruit (too sour) while sitting at the table with Timon.

8:15am    Out the door with both kids.

8:20am    Drop Henry at school.

8:28am    Drop Maria at her caregiver’s house. 

8:35am    Meet Timon back at the church to give him ice for his work cooler.

8:40am-12:35pm    Settle in the office for the morning.  Clear out emails (and ok, Google Reader, too) (ok, and update my FB status, too), decide what the plan is for youth tomorrow night, pick praise band songs for the week and send the email to the band.

12:40pm  Walk home for lunch, realize just how bad the pollen has gotten (REALLY BAD, FYI). 

1:30pm    More work, this time reading some work materials.  Also deal with drama-filled work emails.

2:40pm    Realize the diapers MUST be washed today, laundromat is the choice at the moment.  Gather up those, plus another load to wash while I’m there.

2:43pm    Leave with laundry in back of car to get Henry from school, run into praise band member, discuss drama.

2:51pm    Get in car line, pick up Henry.  Go to Walgreens, pick up prescription for Henry, get cash to use at laundromat.

3:15-3:45pm   Arrive at Maria’s caregivers.  Henry is ushered into the kitchen for a massive snack, since they like to spoil our children (in the nicest possible way).  Chat for a while.  Leave with large hunk of cake in hand for tonight’s dessert.

4:00pm  Get to laundromat, obtain quarters, start diapers in one machine, clothes in another.  $1.75 for cold wash, $2.00 for warm or hot!  Pray that the necessary part for our washer arrives PRONTO, since who can afford the laundromat?!?

4:10-5:00pm  Observe older man who might just be folding laundry for the very first time, judging by his skill at it.  Feel sad because perhaps his wife has recently become unable to do the laundry after a lifetime of taking care of her husband.  Chase children around in futile effort to contain them at the laundromat.  Finally remember the stroller is in the car, get stroller, put Maria in stroller for Henry to push around the aisles.  Learn that despite my long-standing assertion that removing diaper inserts prior to washing is unnecessary, apparently some will not come out in the laundromat washer.  Discover this after both wash cycles have completed and we’re getting ready to leave.  Decide they’ll get fully clean next time.

5:15pm    Get home, see Timon is already home, am thankful for the help bringing everything (including large hunk of cake) in the house.  See he’s already done the breakfast dishes and thank him as profusely as is possible with the level of fatigue I experience.  Put diapers in the dryer, which currently works.

5:20-6:40pm   Prepare, eat, and clean up from taco night dinner.  Get Maria dressed and diapered for bed, not planning to put her straight to bed at 7 but she comes out of her room saying “nigh nigh” to her daddy, and walks back over to her bed.  Refuse to look a gift horse in the mouth, and put her to bed.

7:00pm   Post to the photoblog.  Watch the Rays’ lineup get introduced.  Watch the beginning of the game while typing about my day.

7:36pm  Type these words.

A look into the future:
7:50pm   Consume part of large hunk of cake.

9:00pm   Change channel to LOST, during commercials rotate between Rays game and UCONN women’s basketball attempting to win the NCAA championship (they’ve got pretty good odds). 

10:00pm  Change channel to USA, watch Vincent D'Nofrio’s last episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.  During commercials rotate between basketball and Rays (if they’re still playing).

11:00pm  BED, no matter who the heck is still playing whatever.

playground

a list

• I would like to see some Olympic events (winter or summer, it doesn't matter) in person sometime in my life, preferably before I'm in a wheelchair or in The Home.
  
  
• I wish I could just do things that need to be done.  I'm so, so lazy.  Anything I don't HAVE to do doesn't get done, it seems.  I really hate this about myself.
  
  
• I am thrilled at how long our weather has stayed cool.  It will make the warm days (who am I kidding... the HOT-AS-HADES days) that are coming be a little less annoying.  My bones feel cooled off.
  
  
• Henry's getting his hair trimmed today for the first time since August.  After he came home SCALPED from his last haircut, I decided to take over the haircutting arrangements for him.  He wants to look like Leeland: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  He's off to a good start.  But it is getting really shaggy and it's time for some cleaning up.
  
• 
  
  My week with my sister, niece, cousin, and nephew (I'm just going to go ahead and refer to him that way, regardless of it's correctness.  It's more reflective of our relationship than calling him my first cousin, once removed.) was SO wonderful.  It cements my resolve to one day build a compound where we can all live together.
  
  
  

catching up

• 
  
  This morning, Timon brought me towels warm from the dryer for me to use after my shower.  I think I would like this to happen every day of my life.  It was truly luxurious.  I imagine that it’s how people who buy things from the Sky Mall catalog must live.
  
  
• 
  
  Speaking of Sky Mall, my sister and cousin and their sweet babies are coming to visit us next Monday!  I’m so, so happy about this.  The thought of their arrival is almost all that is sustaining me through this week.  That, and warm towels. 
  
  
• 
  
  I realize I didn’t make a clear connection between Sky Mall and my sister and cousin coming to visit just now.  Allow me to explain - You see, usually whenever one of us travels to see the others, we peruse the Sky Mall catalog on the plane, and fold down the corners of pages featuring items we think the others will particularly enjoy.  And by “enjoy”, I mean “find totally ridiculous.”  That little publication never lets us down.  What, you don’t do this when you’re traveling?  Boy, are you missing out.
  
  
• 
  
  The Olympics are KILLING.ME.SOFTLY.WITH.THE.TIRED.  All you people with DVR don’t know how lucky you have it.  I either must stay up thanks to Bob Costas and his teasing me with the major events kept to the very END OF THE BROADCAST, that’s midnight, people; or miss the action entirely and catch up on results the next day via the internets.  Internets aren’t as fun when it comes to the Olympics.  Bob Costas, you are a mean, mean man, with your inexplicably dark hair that used to be blond.  Am I right, dear readers reader?  Am I RIGHT?!
  
  
• 
  
  Speaking of raven-haired Bob, we turned on the tv at 8pm, like faithful little lemmings following Bob to the edge of the CLIFF OF MIDNIGHT (v. v. tired) and saw this:
  
  
  
  I have no words.  Except to say I could use fewer features about polar bears and instead, could you please move the pairs figure skating finals up about an hour, Bob Costas?

where I would like to spend some more time

thirtieth

Nothing I could write about today could rival the amazing birth story of the amazing and wonderful Emmett, son of Amy & Mike. I'm so proud of all three of them. And seriously, even if you don't want to read it, at least click over to see how stinkin' cute he is in his Christmas jammies.

And thus concludes NaBloPoMo 2009! Phew!

eighteenth

It's been kind of a DAY around Casa de SICKO, what with Maria getting pink eye, an ear infection, and mild bronchiolitis over the last couple of days. We've had to juggle trading her care off between the two of us as she obviously hasn't been well enough for daycare. She'll have to hang with me again tomorrow and we'll see how that goes while I'm at work.

It's just been a DAY altogether. Some changes are afoot at work (not bad ones, just some new added duties) and are coming sooner than expected, so that's consumed a lot of my thinking today, whenever my mind hasn't been occupied with concern for the four of us and how on earth we're going to keep things from going berserk with all the SICK SICK SICK. I tweeted earlier that I'd really appreciate it if Farah or Amy would go ahead and have their babies so that we could have some good news. The request still stands, for as far as I know neither of them have been NICE ENOUGH TO OBLIGE. How rude. :o)

eleventh

Last night my family was given a gift. It's hard to put it into words, but I'll try.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably know that my cousin Greg died in 2006. This wasn't a guy with nothing going for him. He had plans - big ones. One of them was to do a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, all 2,175 miles of it, with his friend, Aggie (seen here holding Greg's photo). Last night I got to see a show on the National Geographic Channel on the AT, and at the end, the summit, was Aggie, known by her trail name Moon Shadow (given to her by Greg as they planned and dreamed about the journey). She carried some of Greg's ashes on her trip, sprinkling them along the trail as she walked.

I knew she might be on the show, but it was getting late and at 8:55 I had just about given up. But then I gasped, "That's Aggie!" and burst into tears - because she looked so healthy and happy and fulfilled. Because Greg should have been there with her. Because he WAS there with her. Because they made it, the whole way.

a girl needs her friends

Maria got to visit with two of her best buds this weekend – her cousin Julia and her pal Abby came to visit and brought their mothers along with them. Poor Timon and Henry were a smidge outnumbered but they survived. We had lots of fun and the babies (ages 13, 9, and 6 months) were hilarious as they interacted.

We hit the beach – Abby ate a lot of sand, Maria wanted to take off down the beach, and Julia did some sand face plants. Henry loved being able to run & splash.

We did a little photo shoot in the backyard which Maria wanted little to do with.

We also went to the zoo and saw all their babies, but I’ll save that for tomorrow. Including them now just might make your head explode with cuteness.

life here

We’re getting ready for the move to kindergarten… the school supply list is mostly checked off, we’ve been reading books about kindergarten, etc.  I’m 100% sure that I’m 100% more worked up about it all than Henry is but attempts are daily made to keep that under control.  BUT MAH FIRST BAYBEEEEE!!!!!!  Ack!

Henry and Timon went to a ballgame on Sunday.  As such he skipped naptime and so when we were calling him for dinner and received no response we found him on his bed like this:

Good thing there’s rest time in kindergarten – I’m not sure he is ready to give up that down time yet!  And Maria continues to be her charming self – her hair is growing and looks less shocking in the back but just as cute.  It seems hardly possible that we’re swiftly coming upon her first birthday!  The celebration for that will be low-key but wonderful – my parents will be coming down and it’s Labor Day weekend so we’ll have extra time to visit and observe these amazing children.

travels

We returned Saturday evening from our annual trip to the North Woods... I wasn't able to go last year... you know, because of this and everything. So needless to say, I was so happy to be escaping the heat, resting from my labors, eating food I didn't have to cook, having someone else make my bed, reading a few books, observing my children and husband enjoy themselves, seeing in-law family members I haven't seen in 2 years, etc. The week goes by so fast I can hardly believe it. Timon turned 31 years old, Maria turned 11 months old, Henry jumped off the dock, I got within 20 feet of 5 loons and an otter.

(I recommend clicking on each collage and viewing them that way. Also, if anyone wants any of the individual shots within the collages, let me know and I'll send you a high resolution file.)

matriculated

Today, just 2 hours ago, Henry had his preschool graduation. I’ll just pause for a moment, to gather myself. You may need a minute for yourselves.


We looked at the program. Naturally, Henry was a star – the first solo performance was him as “Wee Willie Winkie.” We also made sure Maria was tanked up and ready to behave herself. I told her not to act out and draw attention from her brother. This was HIS DAY.

Ok, I started crying the second the kids started walking through the door. After settling down, I got up and did what every good parent does at such an occasion – taking pictures. After the preliminaries, Henry got up and got dressed for his big star turn. He was so, so good.

After all the other children did their nursery rhymes, they sang “I Believe I Can Fly,” which seriously cracks me up. Sorry. It was cute and fine and I’m just cynical. Then they all got their diplomas, and of course there was a lovely sea green pole right in the way – but you’ll get the idea.

There was some of Henry’s artwork on the wall, and he describes it thus: “That’s a picture of a snail, and it’s raining. There’s some grass. And there’s a flower next to it, growing.”

And then we took our turn with the cap and gown for the official graduate photo. We also sweet-talked some nice mom into taking a family photo, which turned out quite well.