Voyages in Parenthood

Last post of the year - wooo hooo! First off, Congratulations to my friend Colleen - her baby boy, Waylon, was born last Thursday. She grows them big - both her babies were over 10 lbs! God bless her! This last weekend of the year brought the first real good fight between my stubborn daughter and her Mother (who, Leda found out, is just as stubborn, if not more!) After breakfast on Saturday morning, Leda dropped her milk (sippy cup) on the floor, on purpose and got down from the table to walk away. I told her to pick up the cup and take it to the kitchen and she flat-out refused. So, for the next half hour or so, the child and I stared each other down in a war of wills - she was sat down on the floor next to the cup and told that she couldn't move until she took the cup to the kitchen. There was much screaming. And kicking. All from the child. This time out stuff is rough! But we held firm and the child finally put the cup away. The rest of the weekend consisted of going to a party...

No, I didn't drink too much, just didn't get a whole bunch of sleep! Christmas eve consisted of shopping for Christmas dinner in the morning, straightening up in the early afternoon and delivering gift baskets to the neighbors before heading off to Aunt Rachel's for Christmas Eve dinner with her, Calean and Tristan, Uncle Wayne and Dylan and GrandDad and Fay. It was a lovely dinner and then the kids got to open their gifts. We didn't stay too late because we had to get home to finish up some Christmas stuff and put Leda off to bed. Daddy put together the tricycle from Grandpa and Nana and then off to bed we went. Around 6 in the morning (it was a little before) Leda woke me up with her coughing. She's got this cough that has been lingering from her cold she'd had earlier in December. I went in to give her some water and noticed she was really hot...turns out to be a 101.4 temp. Oh Joy! She didn't complain of feeling badly except that her head hurt, so a litt...

To all you out there, here's hoping you have a very merry one. We are looking forward to the carnage tomorrow morning!

Due to the circumstances surrounding this football season (mainly, the Eagles sucking dirt - except for that feel good win over the Cowgirls), I decided to join my husband and root for his Browns. I mean, they were in a pretty darn good race to get a playoff spot. I might have football until February after all! Well, maybe not! Apparently the Browns tanked yesterday and lost the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot. Ouch! So, guess it will go down to the last weekend of the season after all. The big question is, will we get the Brown's game on here in Philly? We actually had two Brown's games this year already, kinda thinking our luck has run out. Dude, I'm rooting for the Browns. I think that explains everything, don't you?

Not exactly in that order. What a weekend we had. Since the first two weekends of December were busy for us and most of us weren't home those two weekends, this past weekend was the getting ready for Christmas weekend. Better late than never! What we usually do over the course of two or three weeks during the Holiday season we had to cram into one weekend, plus baking 5 batches of cookies - a new family tradition I decided we need to add so that Leda and I could do something together. So our weekend started on Saturday morning by getting up and getting dressed and getting out of the house by 8:30 or so to get out to the Christmas Tree farm early so we could get a tree, get it home and start cleaning the house and preparing it for the Holiday. Oh, and we invited the Durhams and Aunt Karen over for dinner. Crazy us! It was cold! Not as cold as previous years, but cold enough. Thank goodness we found a tree pretty quickly (albeit, not one of my favorite trees, but it will do!), becaus...

If you are in the Northeast, panic! There's a winter storm coming! Oh, the horror!!! Okay, so the poor Midwest is coated in ice and it is horrible and I really hope we don't get that kind of storm here, but come on, why do the local channels have to make it sound like the end of the world is coming? You'd think we'd be snowed in for days and days and we had better stock up on that milk and bread (by the way, why, oh why, do we always stock up on milk and bread? Why not more important things like snack foods and beer? I mean, if the world is coming to an end, I'd rather have a beer and some Pringles instead of milk and bread!) and be prepared for power outages and not being able to contact anyone for days! We are expecting 1-3 inches, maybe. Maybe a little slush to the south. Probably more of a mix bag of precip. Usually means it is going to be an ugly day, no one will be able to get anywhere fast, but the end of life as we know it, nah! Now, the storm we might get o...

Yes. I have become one of THOSE parents. You know the ones I speak of. You know because you have at one time or another avoided this type of parent at parties. You have, I know. Because I am pretty sure I used to avoid this type of parent before I gave birth. I apologize to the poor woman who got stuck having a conversation with me at the party on Saturday, because she had to listen to nothing but how my daughter was doing with potty training. All the highlights, too! The poop, the pee, the messes, oh it was lovely. I woke up Sunday morning and just cringed as I remembered this conversation and I promised myself I would apologize to poor Nancy as soon as I see her again. That is if she doesn't totally avoid eye contact with me so as to avoid any more talk of my child's bodily functions. So, I share with the rest of you! Don't you feel special? I knew you did! Leda has been doing wonderfully. She's really good at using the potty when she's at day care, but that's...

If we had any doubt that this was the year Leda figured out this whole Christmas thing, last night put it to rest. I mean, she figured out this Santa dude. Sorta. She really wanted to meet him, that was for sure. Not sure if she understands the whole "asking him for stuff" thing, but she did pretty good asking him for stuff. And, she may not TOTALLY understand the Christmas thing - birth of Christ, one day of year that we exchange gifts with everyone we love, etc. - but she sure understands that at some point this month, she's gonna get some stuff and she's making sure that she doesn't leave anything off that list of hers! Last night we went to Target to do a little shopping, we had to buy a birthday present for Miss Paige who turned 4 yesterday and who is having a birthday party tonight. And I had to buy the yearly supply of Christmas wrapping, bows, tags, cards, etc.! This year, I was smart, I bought a container to put all that stuff into so I can find it for ne...

Not that I usually care, but seriously, I had to give a big Hell Yeah to Jennifer Love-Hewitt for fighting back against the Media Machine that calls her fat. Or any other actress fat. And, yes, I barely know who she is, but man, is she right! I mean, really, does it really matter that she has a little cellulite and maybe a little belly? I mean, who doesn't? Okay, okay, there are some who don't, but one day, even those might find some bulges in places there were no bulges before. We really need to stop worshipping the size 0 actresses and models of the world as the end all and be all of beauty. Time to let little girls know that it is okay to not be "perfect" but to be healthy and active. Good for you Ms. Hewitt! (However, I will be refraining from putting this body in a bikini. The world's not ready for THAT!)

Leda is now old enough to watch and get the old Christmas shows that are on TV this time of year. She doesn't quite understand the commercials - that'll be another year or so! So last night I let her stay up late with me (late - she got to stay up until 9, instead of going to bed at 8!) to watch Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer . She liked it. It has been awhile since I had actually watched the show. I loved it. I told her tonight she could stay up and watch Santa Claus is Coming to Town with me, but she decided to be bad for me, with Daddy gone for a few days, she's working on how far she can push Mommy. Well, she pushed me far enough that I am sitting here watching it by myself! Oh well. We'll probably stay up on Friday night and watch Frosty. I have a feeling we might be in trouble come January. The kid, she'll probably want more Christmas! I don't think she's going to understand "waiting until next year!"

We went to see Santa tonight. Leda has asked to go see Santa for about two or so weeks now, ever since I made a big deal about Santa at the end of the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving. I decided that going on a Monday night, after dinner, early in the month was probably going to be our best bet to avoiding a long line (and the subsequent meltdown that might ensue when you make a two and a half year old stand in a two and a half hour long line!) So after dinner we piled into the car and off to the Mall we went. Terrifying. I hate Malls at Christmas. No, really. I hate Malls just about any time of the year, but ESPECIALLY at Christmas. The only time I will go Christmas shopping at a Mall is early on a Sunday morning - it is always the quietest time to go shopping. I can't stand the crowds - and, if I am not done by noon (when it starts to get crowded), the rest of the shopping is done online! Anyway, I digress....so, we get to the Mall and luckily, it is not busy. We get to Santa an...

Brock and I headed off to New York City on Saturday morning, after safely dropping the kid off at our neighbor's house for the weekend. She wasn't too happy about it, but Connor turned on Mickey Mouse Club and it was like we had suddenly disappeared. So off to NYC we went, hoping we could get there, check in at the hotel and get to Todai for lunch at 1pm. As we were driving up the NJ Turnpike, we saw a notice that the Lincoln Tunnel had major delays, so a last minute change in plans, we were going to go through the Holland. Problem with that was we needed to get from lower Manhattan on the West Side to Midtown on the East side! On a Saturday. During the Shopping season. We got through the tunnel by 11:30 and it took us another 45 minutes before we were at the hotel. Gotta love NYC! Anyway, we got there in plenty of time to valet park the car, check in and run our bags up to the room before meeting the Shier's for a taxi cab ride to Todai. On Thursday, Brock and I decided th...

It's the holidays so Friday night in a small town means a holiday parade! First we had a little dinner. And Leda played with her new toy from Aunt Claire (which is SO cute - I really was going to be going out to get this myself - I am so happy I don't have to now! Thanks Claire!) Leda played this thing over and over and over again (Yeah, Thanks, Claire!) and danced and hugged it! It was so cute, I dug out the video camera (now, if we can figure out how to get the DVD play to record the VCR, I'll post it! ;-) We headed downtown to watch the "holiday" parade. We got the scoop from our neighbor, who is a Kiwanis member (Kiwanis sponsored the parade) and member of the church within Brock and I got married (not IN the church, the pastor came to our house and married us in the back yard), that the church was "sneaking in" a manger scene, complete with a pregnant Mary, her husband Joseph and the three wise men. So we were prepared. What we weren't so prepar...

It was a drive-by conversation. And not so much a conversation as it was Leda informing me of her latest calamity... Leda says to me, as she is walking out of her room, "Mommy, I fell down the stairs." I respond, as she passes me, still walking, "Yeah? Are you okay? Leda says, matter-of-factly, practically in the next room, "I cried." I look to Brock and say, "I am so blogging this." It was cute - doesn't translate as well in print, but it was cute. We are off to eat dinner and go to the Holiday Parade. May be more posting later, with pictures!

(This posting every day is HARD! I'm beat! Technically, two posts left to go, tonight and tomorrow. Then I'm taking a break for the weekend! And maybe several days next week! ;-) I'm digging into Todd's suggested topics for tonight's post. New Years' resolutions. I used to resolve to quit smoking every year for the somewhere around 20 years I smoked. Every.Stinking.Year. It took some time, but I did finally quit in 2004. As 2005 was about to start, it was the first year I decided I wasn't going to make any resolutions because I had finally accomplished the one that had been dogging me for years. I didn't make one last year either. I think I had decided that I needed another year of no resolutions. This year, I'm thinking of resolving to lose some weight and/or get an exercise program going. I think if I try to put an exercise program together for myself, I will start to lose some of the extra weight I would like to get rid of. That's really the o...

I just put Best of War and More on my Wish List. Seriously. On my way out tonight to hang with the girls and drink some wine and eat some good food, I heard " Spill the Wine " - everytime I hear that song (and mind you, it's an oldie, I know, so it doesn't get played often), I think, I gotta get that album. Well, I figured maybe I could download the song - but NO, I have to buy an album to get the song (and it's not even the right album) so I found the album on Amazon and I put it on my wish list. When I get it, I can play "Spill the Wine" anytime I want. And "Why can't we be friends" and "Low Rider". Awesome! Brock's gonna hate it - I'll put it on a playlist with "You're so Vain!" Cool! Seriously, someone get it for me!

Colleen tagged me with this meme last week. Being that I probably am going to need some ideas to finish out the NaBloPoMo month, I figured, what the heck. Then I realized, I was going to have to come up five interesting things about me! Well, I don't know if these are interesting, and I didn't apply a theme to them (I'm just not that creative!), but here they are: 1. In my life, I've played five instruments. In order that I learned them, I've played violin, piano, flute, piccolo and I recently was learning to play guitar. Well, recently - I was learning when I was pregnant. I planned on picking it back up, but, well, I had the baby! I've been a bit busy. I guess I could say I know how to play six instruments - if the recorder counts. Anyway, I can read music and play some instruments (although when I picked up the guitar, it had been probably about 20 years since I had last read music - it took me a few minutes to figure it out again!) 2. If you want to know who...

I figured this might happen...Leda is thinking more about using the potty since our trip to Florida. I figured that if she saw Sami using the potty, she'd start to realize that she's big enough/old enough to use the potty, too. However, I am not sure if it is a novelty for her or if she really needs to go when she asks to go. Sometimes, she does, sometimes she doesn't. We probably need to stay on top of her - taking her to the potty every half hour or so, regardless, so she gets the idea. I've tried to talk to her about when she feels like she needs to go she needs to tell me or Daddy, but not sure yet if that is why she asks or not - because most of the time, she's got a wet pullup on! That's another thing - she really wants to wear pull-ups - I tried underwear on Sunday and she went the whole into early afternoon before she wet herself ("I leak, Mommy") She didn't seem to upset by wetting herself either, except that she wanted out of the wet clot...

Ugghhh...it's back to work after a weeks vacation! Boy did that suck! So, I am with little inspiration for a good post. Yes, I have been given ideas, and I hope to get to them before the end of the week, and I did get tagged with a meme , but I just don't have the wherewithal (Love that word!) to come up with anything intelligent that anyone would want to read! So, I thought I would post some of the most popular searches I have seen hitting the site in the past couple of months. Well, maybe not so popular, however there are a few that have been used more than once, by more than one person, in more than one country! They would be: Ferris Wheel searches: " how much to ride a ferris wheel " and " ride ferris wheel while pregnant " " his name was rico " - I've had probably about 10 or so hits in the past three months on this one - for what reason, I haven't a clue! " its gonna be a bright shiny day " - another one that I've seen s...

Okay, here it is, in all it's glory. Some of this is old news to some of you (as I emailed this list to a bunch of you family members in like OCTOBER because SOME of you needed to SHOP EARLY. You know who you are! And if you got something on this list, you know who you need to let know so that there are no duplicates! If not, let me know, I'll email you the email list!) Let's start with the easiest person in the household - Brock. Let's see, I know I must have his list somewhere around here...really, it must be here, I know I must have it, I've only asked for it a million and one times...seriously, where did I put that list?...Oh, That's Right! I HAVEN'T GOTTEN IT YET! Oh well, guess gold lamé thongs are in order this year (remind me to fill the rest of you in on that inside family secret/joke someday.) Okay, so let's go on to someone who made their list this year. Well, with much help from her lovely and wonderful mother - Leda: Leda has a Wish List at ...