T is for Thanksgiving

...and turkey, tots, tags, and tired. It was a Mayse Thanksgiving year, so we headed down to Kings Mountain Thursday morning. Everyone was there, including the three dogs. We ate our holiday meal for lunch, then tried to sleep off our turkey. Seth did his usual "I don't sleep in Kings Mountain" routine, so Nathan entertained him so I could get a one hour nap in. Then Marie, Granddad, and I took the three big boys to the playground. Seth walked the whole first hole of the golf course on the way back, trying to be as big as his cousins.

My day started Friday at about 3:52 am. Marie, Elise, and I went Black Friday shopping in Gastonia. First stop was ToysRUs, followed by Target, Best Buy, and Kohls. The lines were ridiculous, but one of us would get a place in line while the others shopped, so it wasn't too bad. Plus, we didn't have any kids with us, and we got some great deals. The citation below was on Marie's car when we were leaving Kohls...we had an oversized item in the back of her van, and a box of Krispy Kreme in the passenger's seat...this police officer was making her job a little more fun, but maybe their presence out and about did prevent some vehicular break-ins. We were home by 10am, but naptime didn't come quick enough that day. Seth had a restless night Friday, and since the Johnstons headed home after supper, we camped out in Marie's room.

Saturday morning we headed back for Case's birthday party at the Little Gym. Seth is used to the Little Gym being a free-for-all, and the teenagers who ran the party were trying to get the kids to play structured games, so there were times that the two-year-olds would not comply. We use a blanket as a parachute at Kindermusic, so Seth was all about participating when they cracked out the big parachute towards the end of the party.

Elise and Chad had a wedding here in town, so we had houseguests last night. Seth was very excited when he realized they were at his house. Last night he had another horrible night of sleep, and our day started at 4am. Luckily he was interested in Shrek3, so I could nap on the futon with him. Chad and Elise left mid-morning, and we ran to KMart and got garland for the banister. It has flashing colored lights, and Seth has done a great job naming all the colors. The rest of the decorations will go up next weekend; Nathan just couldn't resist buying his first decor for the house. I just woke up from a nap and found both my boys asleep on the couch, so I guess at some point Seth decided he wasn't napping in his bed. Great. I'm back to work tomorrow and Tuesday, so hopefully this sleep problem works itself out tonight, or Wednesday won't get here fast enough!

Who needs presents...

....when you're finding all sorts of fun baby stuff showing up at your house? Today Seth wanted to get out the turtle playmat. Ironically, he hated it when it was developmentally appropriate (see above), but he's having a blast playing with it this morning. He has even figured out how to make it vibrate, which never worked the first go-round. It looks like come spring there will be pictures of him sharing mat time with sister. Note Seth's quirk of the week: in the morning he likes to put on a pair of pants, then leave his pj top on until it's time to go somewhere.

Scanning the sports page

Tonight I got about a 3.2 minute dinner break at work, so when the dust settled around 10pm, I went out for a snack. Today's paper was in the break room, which is a rare thing on a weekday. I picked up the sports page, and read an article about the Deacs playing NC Central in basketball last night. NC Central's last game was against North Dakota State University. First of all, why the heck is NC Central travelling that far for a game? My dad is an alumnus of the University of North Dakota, so I was raised boo-to-NDSU (sorry Ryan). I'm sure almost everyone has seen the movie "Fargo" at this point. Anyways, Central's coach is quoted in the article as saying, "The only reason I would ever go back to North Dakota is because I maybe had to smack a buffalo on his nose. Other than that, I'm not going back. You talk about cold." I just looked at their roster, they have one player from Iowa, the rest are from south of the Mason-Dixon line, poor guys, they probably don't even own proper winter attire. Minnesota cousins, did you see it has been 70 degrees here this week?

Product Endorsement

If you ever find yourself in need of a good carpet cleaner, go invest in a Bissell Spot Bot. Trena gave us one as a housewarming present. We haven't used it a lot yet, but it was a lifesaver last night. Marie and I took the boys for a chaotic day of shopping at Concord Mills. Seth was CRANKY when we got home minutes before Nathan did. Ten minutes later Nathan was stretching on the living room floor and I carried in our purchases and noticed BLUE CRAYON all over both cushions of the loveseat. Have I mentioned that I have been a cranky pregnant woman lately? I didn't take it well. The stain cleaner that came with the furniture did nothing. I cracked out the Spot Bot, and it did an awesome job of taking up the crayon. The cushions look so good we're planning to do the rest of the furniture this weekend. Unless Seth was really sneaky, my best guess is that he did it while I was in the shower yesterday morning. He has never used crayon on anything other than paper before. I'm pretty sure he won't try that one again any time soon.

We've added some new pj's to the dresser...this one has been very appropriate lately...

Marie and I got some great deals at Concord Mills...Seth HAD to have this hat at the Gap outlet, I ended up finding a coat and mittens to go with it. He did a fashion show of his selections last night....

Who needs sleep?

no, you're never gonna get it
who needs sleep?
tell me what's that for?

So whoever says you gain an hour of sleep when the time changes didn't have kids. Not only did Seth nap late that day, he stayed up late that night, got up early, and has continued the cycle. Friday he did take a huge nap to catch up, but all that did was power him up for round two. Yesterday he didn't fall asleep before the baby-sitter got here. She was a new one with the sitting service, and I think Seth walked all over her. Seth fell asleep at 4:30. When I called home at 7:30, he was still asleep. When I got home, I changed his diaper and put on pajama pants, and he gave me a kiss. My wake-up call came at 3:15 this morning. Gone are the days when I could just put a video in and snuggle back to sleep on the couch. The kid wanted to work on vocab. Then puzzles. Then potty training. (Yes, he wanted to pee pee in the potty at 5:15.) Nathan relieved me at 5:30, so I did get another two hours of sleep after that. I'm hoping this will turn into a normal naptime today and get us back on schedule. He has one of his regular sitters, that should help too. But if you have any spare energy this evening, send it my way, I'll be needing it at work!

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

I'm currently in that in-between awkward phase where most of my maternity pants are sliding down, and the tops just don't look quite right yet. I was really frustrated with it Tuesday morning and opted to wear Nathan's Minnesota hoodie with a pair of jeans. Seth and I went to Hallmark, and then the library. The owner of the Hallmark came up to me and asked if there was any meaning to my sweatshirt. Turns out he is from Zumbrota. (I have linked a map for the non-Minnesota folks so you can see the significance of this.) The thing is, the man has been in North Carolina over 60 years, he has one of the thickest western NC accents I've heard in a while. And he kept talking...and talking...and talking. And Seth kept making the sledders play over and over and over again. Who tries to keep a 2-year-old in a store longer than necessary? Flash forward twenty minutes to the library. We were checking out books and a woman approaches me. Turns out she has a grandson who is just two and not talking too much. Grandma wasn't concerned, but I think she wanted to be able to talk about Seth to reassure her daughter. I know I have moments when I can talk your ear off, but I'm not somebody who normally strikes up in-depth conversations with strangers while running errands. It was weird.

This morning Seth got his flu shot. We are convinced he had a wacky reaction to it last year, but my pediatrician thinks it was coincidental, so I let him get it this year. I got mine at work last week and didn't even have a sore arm afterwards, so I hope his will be the same way. He was not happy about having a shot, but his favorite nurse gave him a pen afterwards along with the usual sticker. We spent the rest of the morning shopping with friends, so I think that helped to take his mind off of it, although if you ask him what happened to his leg, he'll say "shot." There is a new assistant at the office who acted like she wasn't going to let me weigh Seth, so I had to inform her that yes she was going to let me (he stands on the big boy digital one now, it's not like I was messing up the infant scale...and no I wasn't ugly about it, but I knew the nurses would say I could)...wearing clothes and crocs, Seth was 26.8 lbs, so even if you subtract half a pound for clothes, it would put him greater than 15th percentile, although you wouldn't be able to tell we're up in the percentages, he still looks like a string bean!

Seth has been really into his music the past couple weeks...I'm going to try to get video of him singing...you can barely understand him, but it's cute!

Breakfast with Curious George

Seth and I had very special breakfast plans this morning...it even required pre-mailed tickets! The Children's Museum sponsored a breakfast with Curious George. I went in with very low expectations and was so glad that Seth enjoyed it (Mommy thinks Curious George could use an update, but the kids didn't seem to mind). Seth waited patiently in line to give the lady his ticket. There were two craft stations, one to glue together a construction paper monkey (glue stick...a new skill), and the other to color a wooden monkey magnet. Again Seth waited patiently in line to meet George, but he was not interested in hugs or sitting for a picture (you may see me again in the Santa picture in a few weeks if today was any indication of how that will go). Don't worry, George did get a couple high-fives. The director of the museum read "Curious George Makes Pancakes" and they had the illustrations projected on a screen. Seth sat silently through that. We went through a buffet-style line to get our pancakes and fruit. Pancakes were a little on the crunchy side, but they came with Seth's two favorite condiments, butter and syrup, so Seth didn't mind (and I just needed to eat so I wasn't being picky). We had a ball, and I would definitely do it again the next time it's offered. We did not stay to play at the museum, but they are having a family night Friday afternoon, so we're thinking that might be a good time to introduce Daddy to the Children's Museum.

Boo! (Halloween 2007)

Here are the cute nephews, ready for a night of trick-or-treating in Newton:

We kicked off Halloween right after naptime, with quick visits to both Daddy and Mommy's work. Seth was working the phones at Triad and working the Purell dispensers at Baptist. The guys' after-work routine is to watch the Backyardigans before having dinner. This episode featured three of the characters as ghosts. Seth and Nathan made a huge game where one would say "boo" and the other would be/say "scared." The trick-or-treaters started arriving around 7, and we turned out the lights at about 8:45. We had a lot of middle schoolers, and I can't say any of the costumes were fantastic, but they sure thought Seth was cute, and Seth got REALLY good at giving out candy.