my list of things to do: a monday mission by the little mister

On Mondays, Mommy talks about something called Monday Missions. Sometimes she talks to me about what she's going to write. I try to help, but she usually goes with one of her ideas. Today she told me she was supposed to write a list of things she wants to do next year. She used a bigger word, reso-something, but it was too much for me. She said she was just stuck, and didn't know what to write...so when she went into the kitchen to grab a snack I decided to help. So here's...

My List of Things To Do Next Year

1. Teach Mommy and Daddy to understand what I say.
This is the biggest one, I think. I talk all the time, but they just don't get it!

2. Find a faster way to move around.
Rolling is good, but it's slow, and I don't always get exactly where I want to go. And moving forward would be nice.

3. Eat. A lot.
I like to eat. Right now I eat rice cereal, avocado, plums, sweet potatoes, pears, and yellow squash. I like it all. I want more!

4. Read more books.

Books are fun! There are lots of colors, and sometimes, when I'm tired of looking at the pictures, I chew on the books. Yum! I also like it when Mommy reads to me. She makes me laugh, and I like her funny voices.

5. Catch those cats!
I like the cats, they are soft and fuzzy, and I like it when they jump and play and chase each other. But they move so fast!

There are lots more things I want to do, but it's very hard to type with my little fingers. This blog thing is kind of fun, though..I might sneak on here more often!!

* * * * * * * * *

This post has been brought to you by the Little Mister, and also by Monday Missions. Hop over to Painted Maypole to read more New Year's Resolutions!

if a picture is worth a thousand words....

...here's a 2000 word post for you. ;)

I know I've been posting a lot of pictures lately. But these two...I couldn't resist. And I couldn't wait for Wednesday. :)

Update on me: I'm feeling much, much better. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I got to hold my baby today!! Just for a few moments at a time, but it was good for me. My arms were feeling awfully empty...

friday five

five fun pictures from this holiday week

1 - playing with Mommy Christmas morning

2 - worn out after another round of opening presents...

3 - talking with Sarah-bellum...she didn't fuss when he grabbed her ear, and she didn't even leave when he let go!

4 - playing with the new "Tickle Me" Cookie Monster

5 - rolling and rolling...stuck under a box, and tearing apart his mat :)

Yes...I took the easy way out with this post. I'm just tired. Still healing. But I wanted to post something to let you know that I am getting better! :)

(almost) wordless wednesday

We had no snow, but there was a strange frost to give us our white Christmas.

There were presents to open...

...but the paper was the best.

merry christmas to you!

Merry Christmas!!

(I'm sure glad we had a nice picture taken last week!!)

merry christmas to me [insert eye roll here]

I've been absent for a few days. Why? Because Friday morning I ended up in the er, and Sunday morning I had my gall bladder taken out.

Oh, what fun it is to ride on a gurney to surgery!

I've been having back pain, sometimes mirrored in my chest, since the Little Mister was born in June. At first I figured I just pulled something during delivery, and that it would go away. It didn't go away...but it only happened once or twice a month and only lasted an hour or two, so I didn't worry too much. In late November it started getting worse--once or twice a week. I saw a doctor in early December, but because it was during the day and not during a night attack the doctor could only guess at the problem. Turns out her diagnosis (muscle spasms) was quite wrong. But I can't fault her--when she examined me I didn't have any symptoms!

Anyway, Friday morning at 1:00 am I woke up to another attack. Only this one didn't go away. Around 8:00 the Sergeant took me to the clinic, and they promptly sent us to the er. They did some tests and found a very irritated gall bladder. They admitted me to the hospital for some rest and antibiotics (and no food!!) and removed the offensive organ early Sunday morning. Most patients don't have to stay at the hospital for more than a few hours after surgery, but I was part of the minority; my pain was out of control, so I had to stay. *sigh*

Perhaps the hardest part was being away from the Little Mister for so long. He visited Saturday afternoon, but I couldn't cuddle him. Couldn't even hold him. Now (Monday) I'm home, home for his first Christmas!, but I still can't hold him or feed him or anything. Thankfully the Sergeant is on leave this week, so I can recover without worrying about the baby. Our trip to Switzerland is off...but such is life.

So. I'm not sure how much I'll be posting (or reading other blogs) this week. I'm still extremely sore, and healing is top priority. I won't disappear forever, though!

Merry Christmas!!

wordless wednesday: first look

you know you just might need a tiny bit of time to yourself when...

...you crawl into bed, worn out by a long day of cuddles, bottles, tickles, diapers, giggles, and smiles. You close your eyes, longing for sleep, when suddenly you hear a voice (your own voice!) whispering:

In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of--

The cow jumping over the moon

And there were three little bears sitting on chairs

And two little kittens
And a pair of mittens

And a little toyhouse
And a young mouse ...

-Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown

And that's not all. You hear the entire book, over and over again. And see the pictures. And no matter what you do, you cannot shut it off.

Would it stop if you could hide that pair of mittens? Or convince the kittens to attack the mouse? And those three little bears sitting on chairs: one could use the comb, one could use the brush, and one could eat the bowl full of mush.

Perhaps making Goodnight Moon part of the bedtime routine wasn't the best idea.

Or maybe you're just going crazy.

a sad, sad list: a monday mission

I didn't want to post this Monday Mission. Today's mission is to write a holiday list...and I knew right away what I should write. But it is horribly embarrassing. I am ashamed to even think it. So I've waited until the very last moment, almost literally. Right now it is 11:42 pm. Procrastinator to the finish....

My Holiday To Do List

• Finish making Christmas cards. (Yes, you read that correctly. On December 17 I have not even finished making my cards.)
• Type and print inserts for Christmas cards.
  
• Address Christmas cards.
• Mail Christmas cards, hopefully before December 25.
• Make cookies as gifts for the neighbors.
• Deliver gifts to neighbors.
• Make handprint ornaments for the grandparents and great-grandparents.
• Mail handprint ornaments to the grandparents and great-grandparents. These will most surely be late. (But that's okay, because the Christmas boxes will be late too. Those have actually been mailed...the Sergeant took them to the post office this afternoon.)
• Figure out what we're doing for Christmas. In September we made tentative plans to visit Switzerland...but I haven't heard from our would-be hostess since then. Guess I should try a little harder to get in touch with her.
• Not exactly related to Christmas, but...Take the Little Mister's six month pictures. I took a bunch on December 7, but none of them are really "right"...so I must try again.

*sigh*

Family and friends back home have said, "Oh, but you have a new baby, and your husband has been gone...don't worry about it!" Seriously, though, I could have gotten at least some of this done!

But hey, I did get the Christmas tree put up.

last night's conversation

A tiny bit of backstory: the Sergeant snores. A lot. Loudly. The good news is that usually if I can get him to lay on his stomach, the snoring stops. It's just getting there that's the trick...

Loud snores erupt from the Sergeant as soon as I crawl into bed next to him.

me: You're snoring.

the Sergeant: Mmm-hmm.

More snores.

me: You're snoring.

the Sergeant: Mmm-hmm.

More snores.

me: [getting frustrated] You're snoring!

the Sergeant: Mmm-hmm.

me: [suddenly overcome by a fit of giggles] Well, at least you're admitting it! When you're awake you always say "I don't snore!"

the Sergeant: Mmm-hmm.

me: [still giggling] You're snoring. Are you going to do something about it?

the Sergeant: [mumbling] I did.

me: You did. Really. How about rolling onto your stomach so I can get some sleep?

the Sergeant: [still mumbling, but adamant this time] I did!

The Sergeant is still flat on his back.

This is typical. Of course, he'd tell you that he doesn't snore and he doesn't talk in his sleep. But I'd be willing to put money on the fact that he recalls absolutely none of this conversation. *giggle* I eventually got him to roll over by poking him in the side every time he snored. And sometime after that I fell asleep. And the Little Mister didn't even wake me up in the middle of the night!

friday five

Five "Things" I Want For Christmas

1. The time to take a bubble bath, complete with a book to read and perhaps a glass of wine.
2. A date with the Sergeant (I want him to take me bowling; we haven't been "out" together since before the Little Mister was born).
3. A sunny day. It doesn't have to be warm. Just sunny.
4. Some time on the couch with the Sergeant and the Little Mister, just hanging out together, with no tv, no internet, and no phone calls. Lots of smiles and laughter and cuddling.
5. A day without a headache.
   

a memory

A little over four years ago the Sergeant and I met our sweet little niece for the first time. We lived in California when she was born and didn't move back to Michigan until she was about two and a half months old. This was just before we started the seemingly endless (and seemingly hopeless) task of trying to have a baby, and I was smitten by the little one. I think the Sergeant was, too.

On the drive home we were chatting about babies (well, I was chatting, the Sergeant was mostly listening, adding his two cents every now and then...) and I mentioned something about breastfeeding.

The Sergeant got very quiet, opened his mouth to speak a few times, and finally said, in a very careful tone, "Are you going to be able to breastfeed?"

I was confused. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

Even more carefully this time, "Well...you're not...very...big."*

I sputtered a bit, then burst into laughter.

Finally I calmed down enough to explain to him that "size doesn't matter," that "I'm not producing milk now, but I'll make plenty of milk if we have a baby," and "I'll get bigger then."

The Sergeant was a little embarrassed and worried that he'd insulted me, which I assured him he hadn't. And then I laughed some more, because it really was funny.**


That story always makes me laugh. But something reminded me of it yesterday, and I laughed, and then I realized that I was wrong. I didn't make plenty of milk. I know it has nothing to do with my breast size, just some strangeness that made me unable to nurse for longer than three months. But still...without knowing it, in a sideways sort of way, I guess the Sergeant was right.

I don't feel guilty about not nursing anymore. I did for a long time, (when I wrote this post a month ago I was still feeling guilty) but looking at the Little Mister's bright eyes and smiling face I know I did the right thing when I gave him formula. I still feel a little sad sometimes, but I think that's normal, and okay. And when I see the excitement all over his chubby little face when I feed him plums or avocado, I know I don't have to worry about food anymore.


*He was not being rude, nor was he exaggerating. Pre-pregnancy I was quite small. "Nearly A." Since the Little Mister I'm a slightly happier "B." Happier not because of bigger breasts, I don't care a scrap about that. Happier because bra shopping is a lot easier when you're looking for size B instead of size "nearly A." :)

**To my dear, sweet Sergeant: I'm not making fun of you. Really. To me it was a silly question because I'd spent quite a bit of time with pregnant women and nursing mothers. Plus, being a woman, I knew a bit about how my body works, at least in theory. To you it was a serious question, because you don't go out of your way to have deep question-and-answer periods about breastfeeding. Well, you didn't until I got pregnant, anyway. :) I love you...

wordless wednesday: after a bath, version 3.0

not pictured: dripping wet clothes, face, and hair, and a rather nasty cat bite (thanks a bunch, Sarah...)

on baby nicknames

Okay. I do call my son by his given name (well, usually a shortened version of his given name). All the time. But I also call him, among other things, Little Mister, Princeling, Sweetling, Silly, and (regrettably)....Stinky.

When the Little Mister was a newborn, he had gas that could clear a room. It was toxic. So I called him Stinky. I always laughed when I said it, it was never "Wow, kid. You stink. Get away," it as more like "You're my stinky boy, even though you're stinky I love you bunches." He's way past his bad gas phase...but the nickname somehow stuck. At first I only called him Stinky when he had a dirty diaper, but now I use it all the time. I always say it with a laugh and a smile, with love in my heart, but I'm starting to think maybe I should try to stop calling him Stinky. Is he going to go to school and get the idea his mom thinks he's a smelly kid? Am I scarring him for life? Or should I wait until he's walking and talking and asking a million questions a minute to worry about things like this?

The joys of being a new mom...

*sigh*

my sweet stinky boy :)

meet my kitties: a monday mission

In December of 2002 we got two little kittens. The Sergeant and I were both working full time, so we got two, from the same litter, so they could keep each other company while we were gone during the days. We had just finished reading The Lord of the Rings together (I read them out loud to him), so we named the girls Arwen and Éowyn.

Arwen and Éowyn

In the summer of 2003, friends of ours got married. As a wedding present, we got them a kitten. (Don't worry, we knew they wanted a cat.) The Sergeant was so excited to have a kitten in the house (even though our cats were only about 7 months old!) that he wanted to keep her. I told him no, that we could get another cat in the fall, after we moved.

A few days later I was at the vet's office when I saw a tiny little ball of fur. She was in a cage that said "I need a home!" I called the Sergeant and said, "Can I get a kitten?" He hasn't let me live that down yet.

She was tiny, malnourished, weaned too early. I bottle fed her for a few weeks, until she started chewing through the nipples. She's the sweetest little thing...but if you don't pay attention to her when she wants you to...well...

Sarah-bellum (cerebellum)
...we named her after a part of the brain so she'd have one ;)

We love our kitties. They sure have their own personalities!! Amazingly, they've been great with the Little Mister. They don't much care for the crying, but other than that they almost get along. Things might change when he's mobile, though...!

Arwen

Princess Éowyn.
I call her princess after the princess and the pea...if there is a pile of blankets, she's on top of it. :)

the Little Mister and Sarah

Today's Monday Mission was to use Photoshop to enhance a post. Unfortunately, when both our computers crashed within days and we had to get a new one, we lost Photoshop (and we can't find the disc). All I had to play with was paint. But it was fun! :)

random bits of randomness

Last night...

...the Sergeant came home! His unit came home early, and we are very thankful. He and the Little Mister have been making each other laugh all day. It's so fun to watch them together!

And this is the end of being "in the field." Now he'll be home (well, he has to go to work, but he'll be home at night) until they deploy. Which I couldn't tell you when even if I knew (which I don't), but it will likely be sometime in 2008. But we're just thankful for the time we have, and especially that we'll all be together for Christmas.


Comments on Comments

My Wordless Wednesday post a few days ago has 24 comments...the most I've ever gotten. But that's actually not what made me want to comment...it was the comments themselves. While I wasn't terribly surprised by the what-a-cutie comments (I love them, though!! Because he is a cutie!!), I was surprised (and a bit amused) that posting cute baby pictures may cause other women to ovulate, or have their ovaries twinge, or to frighten their husbands. The Sergeant was amused as well...I think he sympathizes with Beck's backing away husband. :) (What's really scary is that I saw a tiny-and-new baby at the Globetrotters game Thursday night and had similar thoughts. Let's wait awhile, I think the Sergeant would say. Emphatically.)


My Cat has Fleas!

Do animals get fleas in the winter? I mean, don't they (the fleas, not the animals) die when the weather turns cold? What I really can't figure out, though, is how she got them, since all three of our cats stay inside all the time. Ick! But I saw one crawling on Éowyn's neck today, so that means I get to give all three cats baths tomorrow. It's too bad I don't have Painted Maypole's fancy pulley system for bathing multiple cats...

my sweet Éowyn

happy half-birthday, little one

Yesterday the Little Mister hit a milestone: he turned six months old! I know every mother in the history of the world has said this at one point or another, but I truly cannot believe how fast time has gone by. We hoped and prayed for a baby for years, then spent 8+ months of a difficult pregnancy worrying about the little one growing inside me....and now he's laughing and chattering at everything he sees, rolling over and over to get where he wants to go, almost (almost!) sitting up on his own, and eating solid foods. He's trying to sign (I'm teaching him mommy, daddy, bath, and eat, for now); I don't think it will be long before he accomplishes that too. Every time he smiles at me my heart melts. I truly am blessed beyond measure.

To celebrate we were in for a treat: the Harlem Globetrotters came to our base! I'd never seen them before, but I love basketball, and I'd been wishing for the opportunity to see them for a very long time. So my neighbor and I took the kids for an evening of fun. The Little Mister had a great time. He smiled and laughed and looked around with wide eyes...and he even tried to clap with the crowd! Precious.

I can't remember when I last laughed so hard and so long. Those guys are hysterical!! They are also incredibly talented. Even the little tiny point guard (5'8"...only four inches taller than me!) could dunk...and make it look effortless.

After the game there was an autograph session. I didn't bring anything special for autographs, didn't even think of it, and we didn't get a program when we came in (they were out!). So...I asked the players to autograph the baby! Okay, they didn't really sign the baby, but they signed his sleeper. Every one I talked to laughed and talked to the Little Mister. Some even posed for photos. By the time we left, there wasn't much blank space left on the sleeper's sleeves. What a neat keepsake he'll have! (Too bad it was one of my favorite sleepers, and now he can't wear it anymore...*sigh*...oh well.)

And now some fun pictures...

wordless wednesday: after a bath

a monday mission...in a roundabout sort of way

Today's Monday Mission is to write a post in the form of a high school note, like one you'd pass in class. My friends and I did a lot of note passing, but we also wrote notes to each other in our journals (as in "give me your journal so I can write to you, I'll give it back to you fourth hour.") I thought I should do some research for my post: this morning I pulled out my old journals.

What a trip!! I did quite a bit of laughing, and even got a bit teary at times. I mostly skipped over things that I wrote, focusing on the notes from my friends, but every once in awhile I remembered a specific date and had to revisit an event.

It was too much to keep to myself. So..here are some glimpses of my high school days.

(note: for today's purposes, I'm using our dwarf nicknames. I realized one Christmas that we all had personality traits that matched up to one of the seven dwarfs, so I'm using those names. I was Dopey by default...all the others were taken, and I didn't really fit any of the dwarfs. My friends might tell you it actually worked out perfectly...but I disagree. Also...Rose Daughter is one of the dwarfs below...but I won't tell which one. ;)

While I was reading today, I realized that most of the time we didn't actually say much of anything...we just found a fun way to say nothing at all:

A note from Happy, gotta love the mirror writing.

A note from Sleepy, in the code she and I created and we all used. Believe it or not, I can still read that without the key. And if you happen to break the (very simple) code, she addressed it to me using yet another nickname, not my real name. ;)

A note from Sneezy using as many colors as possible.

Another note from Sleepy, using what she called "modern King James" language.

Every once in awhile the notes were serious...

A note from Sleepy.

...but most of the time they were just plain silly.

A poem by Bashful, recorded and illustrated by Happy.

A note from Bashful. For a long time instead of saying "anyway" we said "anycows".

A note from another friend, not a dwarf. I had to include it because of the circled "bug guts".

A note from Sneezy. I remember that story she was writing, it was for our typing class. (Note: "Shelly" is another nickname, not at all related to her real name.)

And so, here is a note I wrote today. It's not about current events, it's about something I remember happening (with embellishments, of course) my senior year. To my friend Sneezy...

things i have (and haven't) done

The wind is trying to break the windows of our apartment, or tear the balcony right off the building. I can feel it pushing through the cracks around the door and hear it whipping around the building. Even though the cold air is getting into the house, evenings like this make me so thankful for a house to protect my family and me.

And because the Little Mister is sleeping and I don't feel like doing anything that calls for being on my feet or straining my brain, I'm going to do a meme I "stole" from Alejna at Collecting Tokens. It's a list of 150 things, and the rules say to bold the ones you've done. It's an odd list, and like Alejna I wonder where it came from, but it's kind of fun...

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched and iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper [My first thought was "this is a big deal?!" But then I realized that my little brother, who is 25 years old, has never in his life changed a diaper. Not even his nephew's diaper. I can't wait 'til he has kids.]
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse [only of the moon, not of the sun]
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn't care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theatre
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an "expert"
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date [the Sergeant actually kissed me before our first date!]
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children [working on it...]
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey [I read The Odyssey...but never finished The Iliad.]
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head [I shaved my husband's head...]
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

If I counted right, I've done 58 out of 150 things. What about you?

The list was kind of fun. There are some things I hope to do someday (visit Ireland, visit all 50 states, go parasailing, go skydiving...), and reading the list made me remember some funny stories. Some sad ones too. Maybe I can blog some of them. :)

blog housekeeping

Just a quick note.

This afternoon I put up a blogroll, something I've been meaning to do for awhile. If you comment on my blog and I don't have you on the list, please leave a comment so I can add you! And if you're already on the list, please check the link and let me know if it's not right so I can fix it.

Enjoy your Sunday! The Little Mister and I did a little shopping earlier, but we're going to spend the rest of the day indoors...it's raining!!

december is here!!

As I have written before...

I don't like cold.

I don't like snow. (Unless it's on a ski slope, and I'm wearing very warm clothes.)

I don't like ice. (Unless it's a skating rink, ditto the warm clothes.)

But I do like December. Christmastime is magical! To me Christmas has always been about family, doing things like baking cookies together and hanging out around the sparkling tree before bed at night. About helping to decorate the church sanctuary with lights and candles and an Advent wreath. About laughing and smiling and just being together as a family. About my dad coming to me on Christmas Eve with all the presents he needs wrapped. About my brother coming to me on Christmas Eve saying "let's go shopping!" and then buying lots of fun stuff to fill our parents' stockings. About the joyful, candlelight, just-before-midnight Christmas Eve service. Christmas Eve, when we're putting the candles-in-milk jugs (there's a name for those candles, but I can't think of it now) outside around the church, is the only time I don't mind snow (other than on the aforementioned ski slopes).

And once December gets here, it's about anticipation.

I know Christmas is going to be different this year. It's just me, the Sergeant, and the Little Mister. I'm going to miss my family a lot (who will wrap Dad's gifts??! or go shopping with my brother??!) but I am overflowing with excitement at having Christmas with a child. I know the Little Mister won't be that in-tune with what's going on, but I still hope to have special times with him. And of course we'll take lots of pictures (I'll admit, I'm addicted to my camera) so when he's older he'll be able to see pictures of his very first Christmas. He already loves the tree!

friday five

Five Books* I Can Read Again And Again (And Again And Again...)

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry This is probably my very favorite book. It reminds me how beautiful the world is, and how much I appreciate the freedom to make choices.
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak I found this book at the library last summer, and when I was done I went out and bought a copy for myself. One of these days I'm going to write a post all about this book, I can't say enough about how amazing it is. The Giver has been my favorite book for years...but this one is vying for the title.
   
3. anything by Tamora Pierce I discovered her first books, The Song of the Lioness quartet, when I was in junior high, and I could not even try to count how many times I've read it since. It's about a young girl, Alanna, who disguises herself as a boy so she can become a knight. I wanted to be Alanna. Sometimes I still want to be Alanna. :)
4. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare You can look at my Shakespeare anthology and pick out where Romeo and Juliet falls by the worn pages. One of these days I'll buy a little paperback version. It seems counterproductive, but when I'm feeling sad I read this play and it makes me feel better. The best part is I can read it in just a few hours.
5. Spindle's End (and many others!) by Robin McKinley Rose Daughter named herself for one of McKinley's books; I like that one a lot, but Spindle's End is my favorite. It's Sleeping Beauty retold, and it's magical. I'm a sucker for fairy tales.
   

*or series of books, or plays...

note: This is not, by any means, and exhaustive list. It was actually very difficult to narrow it down to five! :)

gloomy

I had several ideas for a post for today. I have one partly written about my grandpa and the wonderful things he's made for me over the years, and I had a strange and funny dream the other night that I might write about. But I couldn't make myself write about something funny or magical today

Today is just gloomy.

I'm fairly certain the temperature never got above freezing. When I woke there was frost on the ground and ice on the cars and it stuck around all day. The sun never showed its face. And the fog...I thought about taking a picture out the window, but an entire frame of white-grey fog doesn't make for much of a photograph.

I spent much of the day doing laundry and washing dishes. And bottles, washing bottles never ends! When I wasn't working and the Little Mister was sleeping I curled up on the couch and worked on a cross stitch I started for my little brother. I kept the curtains closed because looking outside was just too depressing.

I've suspected for a long time that I have at least a touch of seasonal affective disorder. I love rain, especially summer thunderstorms, but I tend to get down if the sun stays hidden for days and days. We've talked about getting a sun lamp, and we'll probably get one eventually. For now, though, I have to find the happiness in gloomy days. Like today.

I didn't want to go out at all (I'd rather drive in six inches of unplowed snow than thick, soupy fog!) but I decided that fun today was going to be a new food for the Little Mister. So around four thirty, when it was already dark, I bundled him up in his brand new snow suit (thanks, Crazy Grandma!) and headed out into the gloom.

So far the Little Mister has only had rice cereal, but since it's been a week with no reactions, I decided to try an avocado. Apparently avocado is good for brain development, or something like that. I looked online and it's a good "first food", and easy to prepare (no cooking, just scoop it out and toss it in a blender) so that's what we went looking for at the commissary. That and a Snapple for me. :)

The avocado was a success. He loved it! I cannot believe how much this child eats. It astonishes me! He's still getting most of his nutrition from formula (solids just once a day) but he knows when it's five thirty. He knows it's time to get into the high chair! When we get everything situated he opens his mouth wide and leans forward, ready for the spoon.


It's a lot of work (a bottle is so much easier!) but it's also a lot of fun feeding the Little Mister solids. Watching his face tonight when he tasted something new was priceless. I can't wait to try something new again...although I have to wait at least a week. :)

So...even though it was a gloomy day, I didn't let it get me down. We found the fun!

wordless wednesday: christmas wonder

**He rolled over and over, across the mat you see there, to get to the base of the tree!**

how to lose your last marble: a monday mission

My instructions for losing the last shred of sanity you might have left...

1. Wake up to the phone ringing at 4:00 am the day before Thanksgiving.
2. Drag yourself out of bed, wake and feed the baby, and get in the car to pick up your husband after he's been gone for four weeks, only to have him call back to say he has a ride and you can go back to bed.
3. Have a very l-o-n-g holiday weekend, and be sure to take several crazy-busy shopping trips, completely clean and rearrange (and mostly organize) your entire living room and dining room, cook Thanksgiving dinner, introduce your baby to solid food, and decorate for Christmas.
4. At the end of the sanity-breaking holiday weekend, volunteer to babysit your friend's two-and-a-half year old daughter starting at 5:00 Monday morning.
5. Wake up to the alarm going off at 4:56 Monday morning.
6. Starting around 6:00 am listen to aforementioned toddler saying, over and over, "we take [the Sergeant] to work," "he's going to the field, his clothes will be nasty" and "go for a ride in miss [dragonfly's] car in a little bit."
7. Repeat the previous step about 50 times.
8. At 6:45 bundle up the baby and the toddler against the snowy morning, and drive onto the base to drop the Sergeant off to go back to the field.
9. Listen to the toddler say "Mister [Sergeant] going to the field. His clothes are nasty." and "Mister [Sergeant] clean snow off Miss [dragonfly's] car." (note: "Mister" is sometimes pronounced "Miss" :)
10. Repeat and repeat and repeat the previous step.
    
11. Chase the toddler and the baby (who is thankfully not terribly mobile yet) around until 1:00 pm, when your friend picks up the toddler.
12. Praise God that the baby is sleeping and listen to the quiet while you wonder where your last marble went.

p.s. I'm not complaining. Really. I had a wonderful holiday. I'm just...exhausted. :)

Today's Monday Mission is to write a post in the form of directions. Monday Missions are fun...click to visit Painted Maypole and find links to more directions. She also posted the list of Missions for December!

the little mister is thankful for.....

SOLID FOOD!!!!

We did this for the first time today. He was a bit confused at first, and didn't know what to think, but by the end he was diggin' it. He ate the whole bowl!

Sorry for the deluge of pictures. He's just so darn cute!! :)