A new little turtle!

We got an itty bitty 9 week ultrasound picture from Tim and Tiff this week. Tim was Nathan's little brother in the fraternity, and Tiff was my Rosebuddy in the sorority. It is very rare to have a Pi Kapp/DZ marriage. I can think of five in our era. Anyways, Tim and I hit it off right away, and I was thrilled when he met Tiff a year later. Seth's very first wedding was theirs when he was five weeks old. I already know part of what this baby is getting...Tim is from Virginia and a HUGE VT fan, I'll head to the Deacon Store to help Tiff balance it out...
...and of course, at least one turtle!

Posing

Jessica had requested another belly picture...this is us at 33 weeks... Seth wanted his picture taken too...this is how he posed...(please note the Tyrone gardening gloves)

Whenever I cut his hair shorter, I think he looks more like Nathan. By the way, Nathan and I have a bet going about what color this girl's hair is going to be. Nathan thinks she's blonde. I think she's a brunette. (Of course there's a good chance she could be bald, too.)

Seth is chattering our ears off. Today the word of the day was "recycle". I think I heard it 752 times while we were at the grocery store (where we recycled some plastic bags). We are in big trouble because we didn't go back to Chik-fil-a today, but I have promised we would go with Daddy one day next week. Seth has the memory of an elephant right now. We might have to make good on that promise Monday so we can check it off the list!

My early weekend

I have to work this weekend, so I guess the past two days pass for a weekend. Yesterday Seth and I did a mall run/Case playdate combo. Very fun. I was exhausted after a very busy Tuesday with an early wake-up call, but Seth kept the day fun. Last night he woke up at 11 with presumably a bad dream. Fifteen minutes later he was howling again. I threw him on the guest bed with me and never heard from him again until 7am, we slept so hard we didn't even hear Nathan leave.

Seth started the day with a new phrase "read book mom". So how could I resist? We made a Target run, and afterwards he wanted to EAT. We went to Chik-fil-a, he ate a hearty lunch, and then we went to the play area. SOMEBODY is now officially a big boy. He can now make it all the way to the top and go down the slide. He came down proud as a peacock. We didn't have anything else to do, so I let him play for an hour. He even got to the point that he was helping another little guy make it through, seeing as he was now the expert. The boy started crying at the top and Seth patted him and said "it's okay". It was almost a scene when I decided we should head home for naptime, but I told him he could tell Daddy all about it later.

Our friends' boy, Jake, had major heart surgery today in Boston. Please send some thoughts/prayers their way. I have his website on my links column. Also new, Confessions of a CF Husband. I don't know this family personally, but they have an amazing story going on right here in NC (the mom is in ICU awaiting a double lung transplant and the baby is a preemie in the NICU, both are patients at Duke). I had been keeping tabs on their blog all week, hoping for the best. I am so thankful my blog consists of mundane things like running errands!

In other news, we have informed our immediate family of Plan A for the baby's arrival. No, I'm not going to post it here...most people have unscheduled deliveries, so why would I give you several weeks' notice for ours? Please note that I did type Plan A...I am going to try to always remember that she's going to come when she wants to come, which may not be the day we have it scheduled for!

the latest sleepwear trend

Ideally, you need a blue bucket hat, but in a pinch, any old hat will do...

Seth was keeping my side of the bed warm when I got home from work last night. I carried him upstairs and he asked for a hat as soon as I put him in his bed. He's been sleeping with hats on the past few days, not sure why. Makes for some bad hair days, though!

the name game

So Seth's vocabulary is improving every day, here are his versions of things:

• "gram"=grandma
• "E"=Lisa OR Elise
• Michael sounds like it should or uncle, depending on how he says it
• I am no longer "mom", I am "mop"
• Nathan is either "Nee", "Nay", "dad", or "daddy"
• counting goes like this "2-2-3-2-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12"
• he can usually tell you the next letter of the alphabet, but his favorite is MNOP

The cookieman game from Christmas continues (evidently he's living in a tree in our front yard). Everything is "Seth do"....he is asserting his independence in a BIG way. Last night we watched the UNC/Clemson basketball game and Seth was fascinated with the orange "CLUE!"s that were all over the court. Everytime he saw one, he told us, and every once in awhile he'd decide it should go into his "notebook" (a la Blues Clues).

We've got some beautiful (high 60s) weather today, I think we'll go outside and look for the cookieman once Seth gets up from his nap....

Dress shopping!

Friday morning we had a last-minute playdate with Case, meaning since I worked that afternoon, our house was nowhere near ready for company (or our fridge). While I was at work, Mom, Dad, Lisa, and Michael came over. Seth was very excited to have so many people to play with. My parents helped us with a home improvement project yesterday morning, then Mom and Lisa headed to a dress shop. I joined them a little over an hour later. By that time, Lisa had narrowed down her dress selection down to the final two. Then we started looking at bridesmaids' dresses. Lisa had to model those too, I wasn't much help. Luckily, measurements aren't due until April, so by then I'll have a better idea of what size to get.

We told Michael this is what her dress looks like (you didn't think I'd post the real thing, did you?)


Mom and Dad headed home yesterday afternoon, but Lisa and Michael just left a little while ago. Seth is talking a lot more, Dad said he could tell a difference just in the past week. And all you non-Wake fans, never fear, the Deacon is not the only thing he is fanatical about. Last night he had to point out every apple at Applebees! Seth was up from 3-5:30 this morning, and I still haven't figured out why. We ended up sleeping in the guest room for the remainder of the morning. He wanted nothing to do with me all day, since he had Lisa and Michael there. I have been fighting the crud for well over a week now, it's starting to feel like a sinus infection, and I keep getting a twitch in my left eye. I broke down and took a half dose of Tylenol with Benadryl last night, but it did nothing (which is probably a good thing or someone else would have had to dealt with Seth). Tonight I'm going to test out a full dose, if that doesn't provide some relief, I'll be cracking out the list of safe medications. You know I hate to take them, but it's time to get better!

Have you seen the Deac?

If you can't find him, just put Seth on the case. Last night we were given tickets to the Wake Forest-Presbyterian (Blue Hose) basketball game. We made it a family affair, figuring it wouldn't be a high turn-out game, so Seth would do okay. He made it his job to spot every Deacon in the Coliseum, and then would inform us whenever someone new walked in with a Deac on their clothes. The boy has eagle eyes! He ate his way through the game too...a whole corn dog, as much ice cream as he could get his parents to share, and popcorn in the second half to keep his little hands busy.

Evidently Presbyterian has just gone Division I, but we used to play them at LR. Seth and I took a potty break when the score was something like 22-6. We came back and it was almost tied up! Luckily they got it together in the second half and were able to win. It would have been an embarassing loss!

Last weekend of 2007

Friday was a very busy day, seeing as we squeezed in two doctor's appointments prior to lunch. Not that grand of a feat, but both places are notorious for having long waits. I got a good report card and go back mid-January. Seth threw me a curveball and had a double ear infection with the early stages of pink eye. No fever, no loss of appetite, I was shocked. He fell asleep on the ride home, and I dropped off his prescriptions and went to pick them up when Nathan got home. He has done a great job taking the oral med. The eye drops are another story. I'm used to giving eye drops to premies. This bucking broncho is something else all together. It's a big fight, but Seth is usually quick to forgive afterwards.

Saturday my parents came over to check out Seth's new toys (the picture above is of the latest hit, Play-doh), and Nathan and I went to Charlotte to watch the Deacs win the Meineke Car Care Bowl. We had a great time...the last few Panthers games we've gone to have been duds, so it was fun to go to such an energetic game.

Sunday we took down our crunchy Christmas tree while Seth was napping. Unfortunately, he woke up as I was boxing up the ornaments, so I had help, with one ornament casualty as a result (luckily not a family favorite). This way, he got to say good-bye to all his favorite ornaments until next year. He wanted so bad to go with Nathan into the attic but had to settle with helping carry stuff to the ladder.

I was a very tired girl after all this activity and was worried last night that the crud was coming my way. I felt better today, although I am very tired after having had a very easy night at work. Just wanted to get this one last post in before we said hello to 2008 (or at least I will, my boys are going to sleep right through it).

Christmas 2007, Part 2

Minutes after my last post, Seth was in the dining room, taking in what was under the tree...it took us about an hour to open what we had here, since Seth had to test out everything as he opened it, and when he did take a break, he wanted to help us with our presents. I made breakfast and then we packed up and headed to Cary. We opened presents late Tuesday afternoon, and then Santa came to Cary Wednesday morning! I think Seth may go into present-withdrawal. Nathan and Seth created a game of trying to find the gingerbread man (aka "cookie") in my parents' backyard...Colette wanted to check it out, too! Everyone had help opening up their presents... Testing out his SitNSpin from Lisa and Michael...Although we don't really watch Sesame Street, Seth knows all of the characters, and he LOVES his Sesame Street CD. I just knew my Super Grover was up in the attic. I struck gold and found him, along with Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar. They are some sorry-lookin' stuffed animals these days, but Seth had a very good time playing with them. Here he is tucking them all in for "night-night" with the bench and Curious George blanket that the Cary Santa brought him.
We came back this morning and Seth immediately took a nap, with shoes and without Cow and Floppy (so you KNOW he was tired!). It's just been too much excitement. That stuffy nose he's been carrying around is (I think) turning into a sinus infection. So tomorrow morning with be spent at an OB appt for me and a pediatrician visit for Seth. Then I will need to wash off the germs before I head into work!

Christmas 2007, Part 1

It's Christmas morning, and my boys are still asleep, so I thought I'd get what's happened so far down before it becomes a ridiculously long post after the festivities are over. I had to work this past weekend, so the boys left Friday afternoon for a weekend of celebrating in Kings Mountain. Nathan and his dad went to the Bobcats game, and Seth had a date with his Grandma. Saturday the Johnstons joined them, and they did Christmas Sunday morning.

I thoroughly enjoyed having my boys home for Christmas Eve. We had a lazy day yesterday, we spent most of the morning playing Dr. Seth with his new Sesame Street doctor kit from Aunt Elise and Uncle Chad. Yesterday evening was the 5pm Children's Christmas Eve service. We have never been able to go to church here during the holidays, either I work, we're out of town, or we're sick. Seth is too much a creature of habit. The hallway was dark, but Seth wanted to go to the nursery. We went to show him it was closed, and low and behold, the attendant (who he loves) was there. MELTDOWN when we tried to leave. I think he would have been okay if he'd seen all the kids in church, but we couldn't get him near the narthex. So we dropped him off, and I went and picked him up about 10 minutes into the service, and he did fine after that. It was a play, and a family with a new little one played the Holy Family. Bet you didn't know this...baby Jesus had a bink, and it was a green soothie just like we use at the hospital! Ha!

We teased Seth all the way home about whether he should be able to open presents last night (and yes, felt like our parents in the process) and Seth ran upstairs pointing to his chest yelling "MINE!" and went straight for his big present from us. The rest of the evening was some-assembly-required, with Nathan putting together the train table, and me trying to do the accessories and the track. All with a little boy anxiously watching our progress. After two hours he had the train up and running, and it took a LONG time to convince him he should go to bed. I'm kind of surprised he has actually slept in this morning (but on that note, he's getting up...)

Ten years from now, we'll be humiliating our children...

Last night Nathan went to the Wake game with coworkers, and when he got home, I had just started watching VH1's Greatest 100 of the 90's, starting with number 59 or something like that. Nathan and I are only six weeks apart, so really, our teenage (and therefore music-heavy) years spanned that entire decade. Wow, it's a huge difference from 1991 to 1999. For me, the music falls into three distinct categories: Kellogg days, Cary High, and L-R. We had a GREAT time laying in bed singing along to the music, either in appreciation or parody. And we realized we are going to embarrass the heck out of our kids someday, because if we still remember the words to this stuff now, we're probably not going to forget them. Ha!

Update: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was number one...of course it was, it always is on countdowns like that. Reminds me of eighth grade homeroom...in Rochester, our version of grunge was stealing our dad's flannels from the prior year, ha! (maybe I can find a picture of that...)

Holiday Pictures, 2007

Last week I took Seth to Portrait Innovations for holiday pictures. We did not take a lot of pictures, as Seth had had a crazy, restless night the night before, but I did get two good ones. Today Seth is officially two and a half. I'm sure by next year he'll be keeping track of that for us.

Into the third...

...trimester, that is. Somehow we are doing a good job of keeping track of what week it is, but other than that, pregnancy doesn't come up a whole lot in conversation at home (and no, she doesn't have a name yet). Up until recently I didn't even really feel pregnant, I would kind of get a shock when I looked in the bathroom mirror. Little girl is definitely not breech this week, I am feeling all sorts of kicks and flips that I never felt with Seth. And two nights ago I realized I needed to alter how I get out of bed for those late night potty breaks. I am way more stuffy this time, too, but that may have more to do with time of year than anything else. Nathan had me start wearing BreatheRight strips last week, and it is amazing how much better I feel in the morning...amazing what a little extra O2 will do for a person!

I really enjoyed my long stretch off of work last week, and didn't mind when it was time to go back on Monday. Saturday we went to play with the cousins for a little while. Seth is borrowing Evan's old convertible crib, so we brought that back with us. By 8:30 Sunday morning, Seth had a new bed and the crib is now in the baby's room. It looks so strange having pink sheets!!! Seth loves his new bed, he knows the crib is for baby. Her room is also being used for temporary holiday storage, so we'll do more once all the Christmas stuff goes back in the attic.

Sunday was a great day for Nathan's teams...Nathan and I went to the Wake Forest basketball game versus Bucknell. I got pretty sad at the pre-game ritual, we were facing Skip's banner, and then they do a slideshow of Wake basketball over the past 100 years, I was very sad to see him on that. But the Deacs won, and we had great (free) seats. Wake Forest also played in the soccer championship that afternoon, and won for the first time ever (and my first Cary math teacher's son scored the winning goal!) We then found out the Panthers won a home game, AND Nathan won the playoff round of his fantasy football team and he'll be in the Super Bowl for that this weekend. (woo-woo)

Since the last time I wrote, Seth cut three of his four 2-year-old molars (finally!). He had a runny nose, and when he let me investigate, I was surprised to find the top two through. The bottom one popped through last weekend, still waiting for #4 to make its appearance. Two word phrases are going really well, Seth will sing up storm when in the mood, and I'm pretty sure he said a couple three word phrases tonight, including "I love you", but I want to be sure before I get too excited. His newest quirk is now Floppy Dog and Michael's cow get to pick out a book at naptime and bedtime, too...we usually read three books, so I guess the only real difference is that Floppy gets "That's not my puppy", Cow gets "Time for Bed" and then Seth picks out his book, and the whole process is a big (but cute) production.

Oh, his baby-sitters (they are sisters), gave him an Aquadoodle for Christmas and I'm sure he has already gotten their money's worth out of it. He spends long periods laying on the floor "coloring" without us having to worry about a mess! It is a great thing for 2-year-olds!

Bennett & Ethan's Party

Sunday the kiddy crew met at BounceU for Bennett and Ethan's combined 2nd birthday party. The boys are nine hours apart, so the mommies decided to combine the two parties. The kids had a blast having free reign of the inflatable equipment. Seth was a lot more independent than the first time I took him (which is a good thing, since I can no longer participate). I think we were all amazed that he climbed the wall to reach the two-story slide by himself. I think we all took home very tired children that night!

Too big for the binky

I never did document the end of an era, but Seth has been completely binky-less since a week to ten days before Thanksgiving. He just stopped asking for it. Cousin Will has a bink (different brand than Seth's), and I think that helped make him associate binks with babies, and we all know Seth thinks he is a big boy. So last night I'm hanging up clothes in my closet and Seth is playing with suitcases. He said, "Pooh!" and I turn around to find him holding a Pooh bink. (That was not one of the regulars...there's no telling how long it has been in that suitcase.) My eyes got as big as saucers, but I played it cool. I said, "Let's so upstairs to show Daddy what you found and then we'll put the bink in baby sister's room." Nathan was as surprised as I was. When he told Seth to go put it away for baby sister, Seth lifted up my shirt and stuck it in my pants! I guess he really does get that there is a baby in my belly. (WHEW!!!)

Gotta love NC weather...

The end of this week was cold, Seth got to test out his winter coat (and decided he really likes it, he's been wearing it in the house ever since). Thursday night we went to the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood, which was fun. Friday I had my holiday lunch out with my coworkers, and Seth got to stay home with daddy. It was 39 degrees when I left the house, and we found out that schools were on a 2-hour delay due to black ice. (Are you laughing, Minnesota cousins?) This weekend has been in the mid-60s, and the first half of next week is supposed to be in the 70s....not what you'd expect when you're in the double digits of December, but I'll take it!

Seth playing in the leaves Saturday (couldn't get the hat off of him yesterday, he even wore it during his nap):

28 weeks

You guys get this post thanks to Jessica, who told me to post a picture of my belly, since I didn't look pregnant enough in the hat picture. So here's my 28 week belly:

the accidental non-accident

Gotta put this in the archives...tonight Seth went poo-poo in the potty! I haven't pushed potty training, because he is a boy, and I've learned that he will do things only when he's good and ready. Most of the time he will go potty while waiting to get in the tub, and every once in awhile he will surprise us and ask to go during the day. Tonight he was playing in the tub when all of the sudden he jumped up and his eyes got really big. I went on instinct and threw him on his potty seat (good thing I did). He was so proud of himself afterwards, and of course Nathan and I made a really big deal out of it. Then, my parents happened to call, so he got to tell them about it too. I know it was probably a fluke, but you never know....

Not so sure of Santa in person

Seth has been BIG on holiday stories and programming. I took him to get his picture with Santa Wednesday, and it was all good until it was our turn. He wouldn't get anywhere near Santa. Wouldn't even let me be with him with Santa. We ended up putting him back in the stroller, you can't tell by the picture, but there was still a huge ruckus going on. Nathan met us for lunch, and Seth acted like seeing Santa was the greatest thing, like he hadn't pitched an enormous fit. Selective memory, I guess. I'm going to try to get holiday pictures this coming Wednesday. I only need one pose, hopefully Seth will cooperate for that!

We got "elfed"!

Check us out at the link below:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1222478297

My sensitive boy

Today we had to drop Colette off at the vet for her exam/vaccines. She always has to spend the day because when she was a puppy, she had a vaccine reaction that caused her to swell to the point her face looked like a pug! She gets a dose of Benadryl before we leave the house, and the vet's office calls when it is safe for us to pick her up. Colette cries as soon as you put her leash on, and Seth took it to heart. After dropping her off, he was in tears about his dog. We went to Chikfila playground in an effort to cheer him up...temporary fix. I had to call the vet immediately after naptime to see if it was okay to pick Colette up. Seth said,"YEA!" when we got in the parking lot, and ran in yelling "Colette! Colette! Colette!" This from the boy that for the last two weeks has been telling her to go to bed every time she comes in the same room.



On Monday Seth had me lay on his pillows in his room, he covered me with his quilt, and then "read" me "It's Time for Bed", which went something like this "mouse. nigh-night. cow. nigh-night. sheep. nigh-night." etc. etc. etc. Multiple times through the book he closed my eyes for me and kissed my cheek.

But his naughty side comes out every once in awhile. Sunday I could do nothing right. I was getting ready for work when he came out of my closet with a suitcase. I asked him if he was going somewhere, and he said "TRIP" as mean as he could muster. By the time I had my hair dry Nathan had convinced him to stay. We had not agreed earlier about staying in the truck after lunch, so maybe he thought if he brought a suitcase he could go somewhere. I dunno.

He is finally starting to get the hang of putting two words together. I've been working with him a lot since I think it's ridiculous that he can say the words separately. Yesterday I got him to say "please mom" consistently, and then put colors in front of nouns. Today he has done it spontaneously several times. More impressively, he knows that S is for Seth, M is for Mommy, and D is for Daddy (although he says "Nee" still) when shown the alphabet. We did those Tuesday, and he retained it. Tonight I showed him E for Evan, R for Ryan, and W for Will; we'll see if he remembers tomorrow.

O Clemmons tree, o Clemmons tree....

Saturday morning we went out and bought our first Clemmons Christmas tree. Seth did very good on the tree lot; he looked at all the trees, and made friends with the owner's old lab mix. Seth thought it was so funny that Nathan put the tree on top of the Xterra. Mommy and Daddy thought it was so NICE, because last year we had to take two cars for the tree selection process. Our dining room still has no furniture, so it became a great place to put a tree. We only have one working string of lights, so we decided this year we'd be heavy on the twinkle, light on the lights. Seth hung a couple ornaments by himself, and so far hasn't messed with the tree too much. He has been unpredictable around presents lately, so those will stay in a closet until closer to the holidays, otherwise I may be rewrapping gifts.

Coincidence?

I guess we'll have to see if I ever have a third pregnancy before we find out. Last week I attended the second southern tea-style party of my life. The first was for Elise's bridesmaid's luncheon, when I was 36+ weeks pregnant. I had never heard of such a thing prior to that. The premise is this: wear a hat, or one will be provided for you.

Last week was Brooke's baby shower, at Tara's house. Tara can plan a heck of a party, and she didn't want to host our "usual" shower. So she came up with the southern tea theme. It's a lot of fun once you get there, but I griped and complained as soon as I heard...what are the chances that each time I am invited to one of these things, I happen to be pregnant? Seth was thrilled to go to the "hat" party...all morning he kept wanting me to put my hat on. He actually wore two different hats throughout the course of the party, we came prepared. Here are a couple pictures from the shower, as well as my theme-inspired diaper cake...

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.

C is for Carving

This morning we carved our first pumpkin (or at least our first pumpkin as adults). We found a Cookie Monster pumpkin in Seth's Sesame Street Halloween coloring book, and Nathan used that for inspiration. This was mostly Daddy's project, although I did scrape some of the guts out. Seth was very excited about the end result. I'll try to get an illuminated shot on Wednesday.

We also did some home decorating today. We finally bought curtains for the living room, and came home with a painting as well. I will post pictures once the wrinkles fall out of the drapes. I can tell Nathan is feeeling better, he was on the move all day!

A lawyer in the family

Just wanted to let everyone know that we found out last night that Chad passed the bar exam...congratulations!!!