My friend, Sarah Meyer, has some digital paper-come-fabric up in a contest. If you want to read all the particulars, go to her blog which will direct you to the contest. And really, I'd have picked her design even if I didn't know her because it's the best looking one!!
And if you're into digital scrapbooking, the kit that this pattern came from has got to be my favorite one of hers. She's got the kit on a special sale right now, too!
Go! Vote!
Here's what it looked like on our front walkway Monday morning after a full night of rain and below-freezing temperatures. I took this from the front window because by the time I took the picture, our power had been out for about 30 minutes and I was looking for something positive. We did have a "special" breakfast picnic in the living room (because there was more light in there) and we read lots of books to X-man.
After 3 hours of no power (poor X-man just didn't understand why the Christmas tree wasn't on...he didn't really understand the concept of "broken" and there was no way I was going to explain electricity!) we decided to go to our friends' house in a neighboring city.
We ended up spending the night there.
Our power did finally come back on Tuesday at 6:00 pm, so we had dinner with our friends and then went back home. While we were very grateful for the warm house and comfy beds at our friends' place, we all were happy to get back to our own beds. X-man even giggled when we put him down in his crib!
There are still those in our area without power and the news is saying that it could be 10 days before power is completely restored to all the homes that lost power (at one count, it was 600,000 homes in the whole state!).
Tonight we're supposed to get hit with 4-6 inches of snow, but no ice.
And I have an OB appointment tomorrow...hope they have power and the roads aren't too bad!
TC, X-man and I all loaded up the car last Thursday and headed to my hometown which is also where our alma mater is. We don't usually get to town (it's a 4.5 hour drive) until Friday night, but since TC's 10 Year Reunion dinner was Friday night, he took two days off work and we got to go early!
I had my 21 week check up on Monday. It took longer to drive there then I spent in the offic (that includes the waiting room...since as soon as I signed in, they took me back).
Everything was good. I gained 5 pounds since my last visit a month ago which puts my total weight gain at 8 pounds. This time in my last pregnancy, I had gained 11 pounds since the previous appointment but had only gained half a pound up to that point. So I'm still in line with what I did last time weight-wise. And the baby's heartbeat was fine as was my blood pressure. In fact, TC was way impressed that my blood pressure was better than his (he gave blood that morning...good boy!).
I guess it's a good thing, though, that I totally forgot to go down the ice cream aisle at the store on Monday and get my weekly two pints of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food! Wonder if that had anything to do with the 5 pounds?
As for the stealth teeth, X-man has 'em. He's been really fussy since last week. And on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week he ran a fever. I was pretty sure it was due to teeth since I could see what looked like a giant tooth in the back on the bottom trying to come through. Well, yesterday I could see that the gums had broken there and a little tiny point was trying to come out. And then X-man giggled and I saw the top of his mouth. There, on either side in the back were two points that had already made their way through. Who knew! So, these stealth teeth are probably bicuspids which means there is quite a bit more tooth below the surface that needs to make an appearance. We'll all tough it out!
And I think these teeth are making X-man's tummy not so happy. He doesn't generally have very solid poopy diapers (he'll love that comment when he's 15) but the last few have been super runny! In fact, the nursery at church on Sunday came and got us after the service (before we went to Sunday School) because he had had two very runny diapers in the hour and a half he was there. I think they were tired of changing diapers.
Anyway, it's almost time for Homecoming and we'll be going! We haven't missed one yet, but it helps that my parents still live there so we always have a place to stay. And since it's TC's 10 year reunion, we'll get to see lots of friends that hadn't been to homecoming in a while! Ala Cumba!
Saturday evening, we headed out to our local community college for their annual Labor Day Arts Festival. Now, I really enjoy looking at art...especially the handmade stuff like was at this festival. But, the majority of it is Native American art and that doesn't really blow up my skirt.
We were going out there to meet up with ASH, her parents, her sister and her sister's fiance. And I wanted to see the fireworks (and I'll always eat fair food!!!). The headliner that night (on the outdoor stage) was the Bellamy Brothers (you know..."If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me..."). I thought that X-man would enjoy being outside and the music and the fireworks.
He really was a good boy while we were out there. We got there around 6:30 and I got a turkey leg (big surprise), X-man had a foot-long corndog (but of course, didn't eat it all...it was good though, a nice crispy sweet cornbread crust) and TC had a bratwurst with sauerkraut.
After we got all cleaned up from dinner, we found a nice spot on the ground in the shade and put our quilt down. X-man LOVED it!! He ran around the quilt and stayed on the quilt, which amazed me. TC asked me if I had thought to bring any toys. Dang! I didn't. But I looked through the diaper bag and found:
Anyone who knows me knows that I like all kinds of music. My favorite piece is Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Musorgsky (yes, it's classical). But my all-time favorite artist is Garth Brooks. Pretty much all of his songs (except for his newer ones) have some kind of meaning to me. Friends in Low Places always reminds me of a guy I liked in high school (and Mrs. Pitter Patter, it wasn't DWS...I'll tell you who it was if you're really curious). That song was playing at our band party and he was singing it to me and I remember being all gushy...but not too gushy because I'm a goody two shoes and my parents were somewhere just around the corner (they were really fun band parents). The River, while not totally ruined for me, always makes me think of this guy (Pitter Patter and Eyeball, I can't remember...was it Clay?) that said, "If you think about it, this song is really about a penis." I was in college and we were at the Longhorn bar and I think that was the only night of my life that I actually enjoyed a beer (I really can't stand the stuff)...it was a very, very, very cold Red Dog on tap.
Ok, back to my son.
So, his vocabulary isn't getting much bigger and lots of what he says sounds like a variation of "da da" or "da dee." Which is really cute, by the way.
I'm always trying to come up with fun little songs to sing to him because he loves to just lay on my chest with his head on my shoulder while I sing to him. The other day I started singing the "Da Da Da" song. Those are the only words I remembered though. Remember that song from the Volkswagon commercial? TC was way impressed that I remembered the song, the car company and the premise of the commercial (though I never picked up that the two guys might be gay!).
I decided that I was going to buy the song on iTunes for X-man. I ended up buying a whole CD (Candy Classics Sing Along) that has some great 60s and 70s songs (Hooked on a Feeling (Oooga Chaka Song); Sugar, Sugar; I Think I Love You; Do Wah Diddy Diddy; etc.) and the "Da Da Da" song.
After I got it all downloaded, I played the song on the computer (and I had the visualizer on for added interest) and X-man grinned from ear to ear as soon as the song started. It was all techno sounding and when they started saying "da da da" he would say it right after. It was hilarious! And the rest of the CD was just as enjoyable. There was one song that was sung by some little kids and it was kinda annoying until I noticed that X-man was dancing to it! What a ham!
So, now I've got a great CD to play in the car that I can sing along to and X-man loves just as well! Maybe he'll have a wide variety of musical interests like me!
My sister pointed out this belt (from Chico's...love that store!) to me at Christmas. I really liked it and she said it would go with the fun jacket she gave me. Well, for $72 it was a little too steep for me. I kept going back periodically to see if it had gone on sale and then forgot about it.
Yesterday sis told me that it was finally on sale; and for $25 and change. I was very excited and remembered that I had a $10 off coupon that Chico's had given me on my birthday. Plus, since I'm a member of their frequent buyer program I get free shipping and 5% off online purchases. After the sale and coupon and discounts, the belt cost me $15 and change!
Yahoodles!
We're still here and did not blow away in the tornado. We do have some friends from college that live down the road whose neighborhood got hit, but their house is fine.
It was a little iffy there for a few minutes when I could clearly see the intersection here by the house on the news as a "warning area." Since TC wasn't home yet, I called the neighbor over and he checked out our makeshift storm area...it's the bathroom vanity area on in the middle of the house. And that's where X-man and I will go next time we hear those dang tornado sirens go off!!
That's what I get for living in Tornado Alley.
Earlier this week we had some friends come up and visit from Amarillo. They both went to high school with TC (and with ^starshine and her hubby). Their boys (6 years and 4 years old) are on Spring Break this week so they decided to come up and see us...mostly because we have a rockin' cool zoo here.
We had a great time! They came up on Sunday evening and stayed through Tuesday evening. Made my internal calendar all messed up because people usually visit over a weekend, but that's ok.
X-man loved playing with the boys. When he wasn't crawling as fast as his little booty would take him, he was sitting on the floor just watching them run around. And he loved their cars. They played so well together and when one of the boys would take a toy away from X-man, he just shrugged it off and played with another toy. The boys' mom did tell then that it wasn't nice to take toys from someone smaller and they happily handed the toy back over, but I was just glad that X-man didn't have a meltdown when it happened!
We went to the zoo on Monday and we had a great time (although I would have loved for TC to have gone, too...he had to work). The weather was beautiful and a new exhibit had just opened that had animals that were indigenous to our state. Really cool! I think the boys liked the bats the best! Of course, we all liked Mr. Gorilla. 
On Sunday evening as the boys were winding down getting ready for bed, we watched a Veggie Tales video...Larry Boy and the Bad Apple. It was really cute and I even laughed at some of it. We haven't quite gotten into children's programming here because X-man doesn't really watch TV. I have it on during the day for noise, but he doesn't just sit and watch. Anyway, in this video, the Bad Apple was Temptation (appropriate, right?) and I just about fell out of my chair when Larry Boy's butler (an asparagus...I can't remember his name...Andrew maybe?) told Larry Boy that in order to be a good, strong super hero, he had to "eschew chocolate." I guess that it was just such a big word that it struck me as funny. And then at the end there was a rock band made up of 3 ears of corn (yes, I got the reference). The band's name was Shux. At least they try to make some of these videos somewhat interesting for adults.
Monday night we watched Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed, which wasn't quite as funny as there was no eschewing of anything (I guess, though, that the moral was to eschew spreading rumors) but it was a cute story.
We really enjoyed the visit and hope that we can get to Amarillo sometime (and maybe meet up with ^starshine and her family) for another get-together!
Ugh.
X-man has RSV which has probably given him bronchiolitis. Thankfully the doctor sounded pretty calm about the whole thing so I don't think we're breathing treatment bound just yet. In addition to the lovely wheeze he's got in his lungs, both ear tubes are blocked and there's an infection in both of 'em.
I've got an oral antibiotic and ear drop antibiotics and we have to do the flushing the ear thing again. Nice.
Oh, and last night, I was up every hour in a little "intestinal distress" and then I finally threw up at 4:00. I hate throwing up...and there wasn't anyone here to give me hugs. (Oh, yea, TC's in California until Thursday)
I'm going to see if Mrs. H. can come visit us at lunch today. Maybe she'll bring me some Sprite.
**Warning**
Extra long post dealing mostly with baby's first Christmas follows!
Whew! What a weekend!
TC was off on Friday (and doesn't have to go back to work until January 2nd...there are several government holidays that they don't get so they can get a whole week at Christmas!) and his parents got here that afternoon. We had a great time visiting and had to gasp at the number of gifts they unloaded. But then we remembered that there were going to be six adults (the 15 year old counts as an adult, right?) and X-man. So, we guessed that wasn't too bad. We had asked them to not go crazy with the gifts for X-man...for what it was worth.
After TC's parents unloaded the car, they said that they had something from ^starshine. I had special asked for an ornament from her for X-man's first Christmas ornament because I thought a handmade one (even from someone else's hand) would be way better than one from the store.
She asked me what design I wanted and I had a pretty good idea. When I was growing up, my sister and I had the same favorite ornament. It's a 1976 Hallmark Spinning Santa ornament. It's cheapo plastic that looks like old cracked wood and the santa in the middle spins around. I wanted to find one on the 'bay and buy it, but for the beginning bid prices, I decided against that. I did send ^starshine a link to a picture and she said she would replicate it as best she could.
I couldn't find a picture of it so you could compare the two, but maybe my sis will tell you what a fabulous job she did...
Of course, this doesn't look exactly like the ornament of my childhood. I think that it might even be better than that one. I cried when I opened it because I know how much heart ^starshine puts into her art and the fact that she had made something so special for X-man based on something that I found so special was quite touching.
Friday night TC's sister and niece got here (and brought another trunk full of presents) and after they rested a bit (X-man was already asleep) we had birthday cake to celebrate several birthdays: TC's dad was that day, TC's is Thursday and mine was at the beginning of December.
TC got a Trivial Pursuit: Totally 80's game so we played that before we went to bed. It was really hard! Much harder than I was thinking it was going to be.
Saturday was just loafing around the house. TC and his dad did run to County Line to pick up our dinner that we'd be having on Christmas. And TC's niece and I baked cookies for Santa. X-man helped by chewing on one of his spoons while we baked.
Sunday we went to church and that added some drama to the day. TC and I had to be there early since the jazz band was playing so we decided to take X-man's breakfast (fruit and oatmeal) to church with us and TC's parents would feed X-man and then take him to the nursery.
Only mamma forgot to actually put the breakfast baggie in the diaper bag. X-man had a meltdown in the nursery because he was hungry (they didn't think to try the bottle since it was 9:00 and he usually doesn't take a bottle until 10:30 or 11:00). They paged TC and since X-man was fussing, he was snotty. The head of the nursery assumed he had a cold and said he couldn't stay there. So, X-man got to sit in church with TC's family and he did a really good job. Thankfully he didn't seemed too traumatized so I stopped worrying about causing him so much stress.
Sunday night we got to go to the Christmas Eve service at our church. TC and I have been going there for 8 years and had never been to a Christmas Eve service. We were always at his parents' house our my parents' house. And it was our pastor's last Sunday before he retires. It was a really special night.
Monday morning was the opening of presents and boy were there presents...
That fun walker/ride toy is for X-man from Santa.
X-man and TC's niece ended up with the most loot. I think my favorite gift of X-man's is this great squishy firetruck. The engine noises and sirens are not annoying at all, and actually pretty quiet.
X-man's favorite toy is the lid from a gift from ASH's mom. He's been licking that cardboard lid since "he" opened the present.
He wasn't much into opening the presents, but if we could get some paper torn for him, he'd pull the paper off to eat it. Nice.
Monday night, ASH and her sister came over to visit. We enjoyed visiting with them and X-man even played with them for a little bit. ASH brought us an awesome present...Cranium Pop 5. This game is great! I've never played any of the Cranium games, but I'm assuming it's pretty similar in the "how to play" as the other ones. It's a pictionary-meets-charades-meets-sculpting kind of game. I was laughing so hard I was crying when TC used the purple playdoh to sculpt a fanny pack. He thought it was bad that he was sculpting a butt, I thought it was bad that I guessed it was a butt!
And then I had to go and guess that TC was charading "I have no pecs on my chest." It was supposed to be "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus."
Everyone went home this morning and now the house is quiet and our living room is overrun with toys. From where I'm sitting I see the firetruck, a drum, a top, a bug pull toy, and phone pull toy and a Thomas the Train book.
He did learn to pull up to his feet in the last two days. He's getting really good at it, too! And he's started saying "neh neh neh neh" which just cracks me up!
I think X-man enjoyed his first Christmas and next weekend he gets to spend his first New Year's with my parents. And in just a short time after that will be X-man's first birthday.
Am I ready for that?
I got this idea from Mama C-Ta and she tells where she got the idea.
Basically, instead of a What-Happpened-In-2006 post (which can get out of hand really fast!), this is the first sentence from the first post of the month. Very interesting if you ask me!
January - Um...is that an allusion to the Beastie Boys?
February - Yesterday on my way home from work, I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a few things and decided that I'd get some more hard candies for my hospital bag since I raided the lemon drops.
March - Our internet connection comes and goes and that really frustrates me.
April - Well, I went a little crazy at SuperCuts yesterday.
May - Well, X-man is the epitome of efficiency.
June - No, that wasn't one of the words in last night's spelling bee, but it sure is fun to say, isn't it?
July - Hey girl! We need your girls for a baby-proofing session!
August - My sister and parents were here for the weekend.
September - I just had the most delicious chicken salad sandwich ever!
October - I was sitting in orchestra at church yesterday and as I was putting up, I heard someone call my name.
November - I met the Diva-Me last night.
December - Yahoo for my birthday and leftover cake!!
If you are so inclined, you can read the actual post by clicking on the month link. If you decide to do this, too, leave me a link in the comments!
Yahoo for my birthday and leftover cake!!
My parents came for the weekend and we had a great time! Even though my birthday was on Saturday, I went ahead and made a cake on Friday. That way we could eat more cake!
It wasn't a fancy one...just a box mix and some powdered sugar/butter icing. And hey, the cake is just there to hold the icing! I still have some cake in the fridge and you can bet I'll be having a piece after X-man goes to bed tonight!
Saturday was lots of shopping. I got a pair of size 0.5 jeans...ok, they came from Chico's that has wierd sizing numbers (I think the largest they go to is size 3), but that's fun to think I'm wearing a size half. We also got some sweatshirts as a Christmas gift for TC. They're nice! Mom and Dad picked up two really cute sweaters and a pair of navy pants for X-man. They've just been chomping at the bit to buy him clothes, but they're afraid to get something the wrong size. Instead they've been getting him books...which is just fine by me!
And speaking of X-man, he gave me a cute birthday present...he learned how to clap with two open hands! He'd been clapping with one open hand and a fist. But he's so cute with the clapping. TC says that it looks like a drum major clap. Once a drum major, always a drum major!
Last night after I put X-man to bed and after we'd eaten another round of cake and ice cream, TC pulled out all the Christmas decorations. Our Christmas tree is up now! I just love going through the ornaments and talking about where each one came from. And this time, I got to tell my parents about all of them! I'm sure they were just thrilled. Our tree is amusingly devoid of ornaments on the bottom, except two little cloth ornaments my parents brought for X-man. He's going to love the tree when he finally notices it!
I was especially excited to open the box of ornaments from ^starshine. Last year she made us some ornaments and they were even more beautiful than I remembered them! She made a snowman santa for TC, a cute snowman for me, a Christmas tree and even a little pebble for X-man, who was the "little pebble" at the time. Man, she's a talented lady. My mom was uber-impressed with them also. I've already ordered an ornament from her to do X-man's first Christmas ornament. Yahoo!
Now for a few pictures. I'll have plenty this month because I've decided that I really need to get scrapping, but for some reason, I can't think of a thing to do with X-man's baby pictures. So, I'm going to take a picture every day in December and do a book of December.
This was the view from my front door on Friday morning:
And after commenting to TC that I'd love to get some firewood and actually have a fire in the fireplace, he came home with some firelogs (not really a roaring fire, but it did the trick!). This was a great birthday present!
Here's the tree all decorated. I don't know if you can see them, but X-man's little cloth ornaments are hanging right on the bottom.
Thanksgiving was great!
We spent the holiday in good 'ole Texas with TC's family. And inspite of the occasional "one-up" sessions, I had a really good time.
Everyone loved on X-man. But he wasn't the only tiny cutie there. Another cousin-family brought their 5 year old and 5 month old. X-man didn't seem to mind when I played with the 5 year old. But that boy got his diaper all in a wad when he saw me playing with the 5 month old! I've got a jealous one who apparently doesn't want to share his mamma.
TC and I did get to spend an evening sans-son with ^starshine and her husband, also sans-children. We ate a delicious dinner at a Japanese steakhouse and then went to a premier shaved ice place for dessert. Yea for adult conversation!
X-man ate like a hoss while at grandma and granddaddy's house. You'd think we didn't feed him! And he really enjoyed the dressing at Thanksgiving dinner. It's a lovely cornbread dressing and after all the cooking, it's the perfect texture for a little boy with no teeth.
The trip home wasn't too bad, but I'm not sure X-man liked traveling in the dark. Thankfully after we got home at 8:00 and bathed him and got him to bed, he slept all night (with just one little talking session at 4:30).
I was going to spend X-man's nap times today unpacking and doing laundry, but my part-time job needed me to prepare the budget for our organization. That's way outta my comfort zone, but I'll be ok. I ended up spending both naps (the second one was 2 1/2 hours!!!) on the laptop working. Makes the paycheck fatter, but doesn't help the laundry pile!
And then TC decided to go ahead and get our Christmas present...a flat-screen HDTV. It's all set up and fits perfectly in our entertainment center. Now we just have to get a new digital cable box that does HD. TC's taking a sick day tomorrow since he's got a dentist and eye doctor appointment so he can deal with that. He's sitting on the couch right now just reading through the instructions and playing with the settings. What a techie nerd! But I love him!!!
Now to prepare for this coming weekend when my parents will be here for my birthday! Yahoo!!!
Here's my latest finished baby blanket...
This gold star goes out to Pieces of Me for her fabulous napping advice!
For a while, X-man napped in his crib, but only for 15-20 minutes. Then something happened and he totally protested the crib for naps. At the end of July when my parents and sister visited, we figured out that X-man would take a nice nap on the floor in my living room. So, I started letting him nap there. And he'd sleep for about 30 minutes, sometimes as long as an hour.
Problem? The general tip-toeing I have to do in the living room while he's asleep. Always worried about if the phone's going to ring and wake him up; the typing on the keyboard is going to wake him up; someone rings the doorbell; etc.
So, yesterday, I asked my little buddy group for some tips on getting him to nap in his crib. Pieces of Me suggested letting him fall asleep on the floor and then moving him to his crib. So, for his afternoon nap I did that and he slept for 45 minutes in the crib!
And he's been in his crib now for 30 minutes ASLEEP!!!
I just can't believe it! I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to put him straight in his crib and not have the initial sleeping on the floor bit. However, I'd rather be worrying about fixing this issue than trying to get him to sleep at night. He does that great!
*star created by me, geometric brush by Katie Pertiet*
I got a text message from eyeball_715 last night that the baby arrived safe and sound just before midnight last night. PitterPatter had a long time with delivery, but everyone is healthy...and I hope resting! But you know how those nurses are. The baby's gotta eat every two hours!
Congratulations, guys! We are so excited and can't wait to meet the newest member of the family!
My bestest friend PitterPatter and her husband should be in the hospital right now getting ready to be induced tomorrow morning. By the way, Mr. Stubbed has a cutecutecute picture of PitterPatter on his blog with her cute little baby belly!
Anyway, hopefully by this time tomorrow, they'll be in full-on parent mode. I can't wait to get the call that their little boy is here!
