Pictures & Updates

Here are some recent pics of the kiddos!

As you can see, Pumpkin looks more like his Daddy every day, and Giggles...well...I LIKE to think that she's my own little clone. A little pineapple, as it were. And she does look a little like a leafy crown in this picture, doesn't she?

Unfortunately, Giggles also inherited my tendency to grow hair and nails really fast. I'm constantly having to trim her sharp, little scissorhands, and her hair has grown SOOOOO long that we're thinking it might be time for a cut! (Here she is when her hair was still a bit shorter.)

Otherwise, she's moving right along the infant phases. She rolled over on her own for the first time last night, and she's been showing more and more interest in the food we eat. She's also absolutely fascinated by Sunshine (the dog) and loves to pull his ears (see left) and grab his "fur" (his skin really since he's, y'know, kinda hairless, LOL). For his part, Sunshine seems happy enough to sit with Giggles every chance he gets. He never bites her, but he has gotten more bold with her. The other day, I turned around to find him LICKING her face! Ack! She's been kissed by a dog! GET SOME IODINE!GET SOME HOT WATER!

Pumpkin is also doing great. He seems to be enjoying school more this semester (go ahead, put a dagger through my heart). Today, I left Giggles with a friend and joined Pumpkin for his classroom Valentine's Day party. We had a lot of fun, and he seemed very happy to have some one-on-one time with me (or he could've just been happy b/c of all the candy he got from his friends, hehe). He's still totally into trains and loves visiting the Colorado Railroad Museum with his dad. Here's a picture of him alongside his "favorite" train at the museum. Look closely or you might miss him!

He doesn't know this yet, but on Saturday, I'm taking him to a Skippyjon Jones book event at the library. I've even invited some of his friends to join us. I hope they make it. Those of you who keep up with this blog probably remember that he's been a big Skippy fan for *years.* Here he is at age 2 with his 1st Skippyjon book--so cute!

In related news, nights are much better at home these days. Giggles has been sleeping in her crib and through the night for a while now. Pumpkin has also finally returned to his own room, and he seems to be doing just fine too. Ever since our discussion about pupils, he doesn't even want us to leave his night light on anymore so that he can *see* in the dark. Even Sunshine is doing much better at night! He's been sleeping with Pumpkin, and he had a couple of accidents in the beginning, but he's kept *clean* for a couple of weeks now. It appears that the only one not sleeping through the night now is me! I get up at least once every night to check on the kids. There've been a few nights that I've left my room and gone to sleep in Giggles' room just to be closer to the two of them. I think I just miss being near them. Like they say, be careful what you wish for, it sometimes has a way of biting you in the ass, haha.

Well, as much fun as this post has been to write, it's time for me to "shut it." Here are a few more pics for y'all to enjoy.

Hello, God? It's me, Pine

Yeah, I'm thinking more and more of the big "guy." As a good friend of mine (a "believer") once told me, the fact that I'm constantly trying to convince myself there's nothing out there only serves to prove that I really "believe." I guess I wouldn't have to bother convincing myself if I didn't. This is like Philosophy class! You could go nuts trying to sort it out in your head. Yep, she liked her mind games.

I think she was onto something though. I was raised a Catholic, and my family was very involved in the church when my sibs and I were kids. We knew our priest well, and he knew us. We knew other church families, went to church functions, attended CCD classes, played at the church rec center, even baptized our dogs (that was a special thing they did for kids to enjoy, lol). I remember going to church as a fun thing...something to look forward to. I honestly don't know what happened.

Somewhere along the way, I either lost interest or lost faith (if I ever really had it in the first place). My first year at college, I sought out and joined a group called the Atheist and Agnostic Society. You laugh, but that's what they called themselves.) That was right about the time the movie The Last Temptation of Christ came out, and we were so excited to thumb our noses at organized religion that we organized a group to go see the movie the day it opened and even crossed protest lines to get there.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the Church is no longer able to laugh at itself. Father Morgan (that was our childhood priest) was the best. He wasn't afraid to make us laugh during his sermons, and he'd often include a prayer for his favorite football team at the end of mass. He really made mass/church enjoyable. None of the priests I've met or listened to since then have measured up. Now, sure, one's faith should not depend on one's priest, but hell, the priest is such an important figure in the Catholic Church that he should have some influence, don't you think?

I'd like to believe. I mean "really" believe. My own problem has always been that I'm unable to turn my brain off and blindly follow what they want me to believe. I just can't do that, and there are SO MANY things I don't agree with. Gays, abortion...hell, birth control! Birth Control!! Seriously, Catholic Church? In this day and age? That's just plain ridiculous. Hmm...perhaps I'd better brush up and make sure they're still against birth control before I rant any further. Might be they actually changed their stance....but not likely.

I want my kids to believe in something, and I've taken the first steps towards raising them Catholic. But, I also want them to think for themselves and be compassionate towards their fellow humans regardless of who, how, or why they are they way they are. I could rant all day about the church, but we're going to be late for our lunch date. And, just like that, I turn all "this" off. Click.

I Love Chicken (Biscuits)

Big news! Giggles had her first *solid* food! And no, your eyes are not deceiving you.

Yesterday, Giggles and I went to visit some friends at their home, and we took some breakfast Chick-n-Minis with us. I was holding Giggles in my lap while attempting to eat said Chick-n-Mini, and I noticed that she kept reaching for my biscuit. Just 2 days prior, I was drinking a soda while holding her, and she kept reaching for my glass so, this time, I thought..."hmmm, maybe she really is interested." I held the biscuit in front of her, and she licked it! I guess she liked the taste because she gave it a few more licks then grabbed it with her little hand. It was so cute!

I took a teeny tiny little chunk of my biscuit and placed it on her tongue, and she swallowed it--just like that! No gagging or anything! I gave her another couple of microscopic pieces (seriously, they could've been measured in microns, hehe). She ate all the pieces I gave her without any problem and would probably have gone for more, but I decided to end it there and just gave her a bottle instead. Keep in mind that although she's tasted various toys, cloths, and probably even the dog, she hadn't ingested anything up to this point except her milk, prescribed drugs, and yes, probably even a couple of dog or cat hairs, haha. So, hooray for Giggles! What's that? Rice cereal? Pshaw!

Mad Eyes

While putting Pumpkin to bed the other night, we had a brief *lesson* on eye anatomy. It all got started because I was explaining to him that some words have more than one meaning. And, I don't know why we were talking about that...I think because he wanted to know what a "fan" was...as in "railfan."

Anyway, I mentioned that pupil was another word with several meanings, and that led us to talking about our eyes and how we can see in the dark and also keep bright light from hurting our eyes. Even though it was late and way past his bedtime, Pumpkin was so into our impromptu lesson that I let him do a little science experiment. I faced the night light and had him look into my eyes while simultaneously switching the night light back on. Et voila! Pupil contraction in action! Pumpkin thought that was the most awesome thing he'd ever seen. (Btw, "awesome" is his current word so everything is awesome anyway...but this one rang of the truth! I swear!). Anyway, he was so amazed by how our eyes work that every night now, he wants to turn all the lights off and tell me everything he can see in his room in the dark. Part of me suspects that he's just trying to extend his bedtime, but it's actually very cute seeing him so excited about something like this. Only problem is that I inadvertently interchanged *pupil* for *iris." Oops!


Actually, I only realized my mistake because I told him that I wasn't sure what the name was for one of those parts, and I promised to look it up and teach it to him tomorrow. Guess I have some more 'splaining to do.

Albert Einstein was a Dummy?

No, obviously, he wasn't, but there was some doubt about his intelligence when he was a child.

By now, many of you are aware of our search for a new school for Pumpkin. He has been attending Ricks School for Gifted Children, but I'm extremely undecided about whether he ought to continue there or enroll elsewhere. For starters, Pumpkin does not want to return to Ricks. He's told me so on at least two separate occasions. Also, well, there's the tuition, which seems outrageously expensive to me for a preschool. I mean, it's more like tuition for a year of college...community college anyway...or possibly even a year of grad school...part-time...at in-state residence rates.

Whatever. My point is that I've been looking around at other schools trying to find one that's a good fit for Pumpkin, but so far, I haven't had much luck. The thing is that I'm not altogether certain that Pumpkin NEEDS to be in a special school, but I'm also not altogether certain that he doesn't. If I knew with absolute certainty that he did, then I would find a way to come up with the tuition no matter what. But I just really don't know.

Today, I was reading up on a school called Community School for the Gifted. It's slightly more affordable than Ricks, plus I have the option of only sending him for 3 days instead of 5 (which I'm totally against, btw, but which is what Ricks has him in for next year). One of the items I was reading was an article about the special needs of gifted children, etc. Apparently, gifted children have a different way of learning, and they often do poorly in regular classrooms because of it. This, in turn, leads them to drop out of high school at the same rates as the lowest 2% of the general population (the other side of the special needs spectrum), which is something I mentioned in a previous post (I just hadn't heard yet about the different ways of learning).

Among the characteristics of giftedness are: an obsessive need to understand, perfectionism, and a need for logical analysis...among others. And although I can see the entire list of characteristics in Pumpkin, I still have trouble believing that he may truly be *gifted.* When he pesters me with questions about why, where, when, etc, I literally yell at him to please stop. (Hey, at least I say please.) All of this pondering only brings me back to square one. I have an appointment to tour a Catholic school this afternoon. I'll keep y'all posted.

Books Books and More Books

I just noticed how behind I was on my reading list. Well, it's updated now. I'm currently reading the Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. It's an interesting depiction of dementia and also of the siege of Leningrad of which I admit I know next to nothing. As I read these books about life during war, I just can't quite picture it. I mean, I can imagine it, but I somehow can't conceive of living that way. Air raids, sirens, packed in with hundreds of other families. I can barely conceive what it would've been like for us had we still been living in Seabrook when Hurricane Ike hit. No power or clean water for weeks with a baby and a small child at home...but in our own home at least. So picture me...boiling water to prepare formula for Giggles. Personally, I'm drawing a blank.

I actually had to put the book aside last night to finish reading the book for my mom's book club. We met tonight on what just happened to be the coldest night we've had all week. Per my weather bug, it's 5-degrees outside. Yikes!

Well, the kids are asleep, and I already forgot what I was going to say so I'll just say goodnight. Now, I'm off to continue reading Madonnas of Leningrad.

Pumpkin's Birthday Bash

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We originally meant to hold Pumpkin's birthday party on his birthday, but preparing for Giggles' baptism took more time than I'd figured on so we had to postpone the party. Even so, we rushed around madly to pull it off in time.

I found a very good price on a bounce castle for Pumpkin's party but completely forgot to order a cake so my dad had to run to the bakery bright & early on the day of the party to place the order for me. Whoops! The night before the party, we left QT playing with his cousins, dropped Giggles off with Grandma Toni for some one-on-one Grandma time, and we took a much needed break by going out to...you guessed it, Salsa's. Oh well.

On party day, with cake crisis averted, the Mans headed to Sam's to pick up food & drinks for the party, I ran to Target and the party store for the last few items I still needed, and QT & his mom stayed home with Giggles. Meanwhile, next door, the *girls* and Pumpkin got started with the decorations...in between playing on the bounce house of course.

The party was a blast! Our theme was Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones. Our pinata was a huge, multicolored dinosaur straight out of the book, and for dinner, we enjoyed dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets! We had various activities for the kids including a fossil dig in my mom's backyard. Mom wasn't too happy about that, haha.

We kinda forgot that time moves differently back home. We started the party at 3:30, but we had guests arriving up until 6 or so. It's just the way things are done back home. No biggie. The party was still fun. We just didn't get to take many pictures of the late arrivals. Also, for you Coloradoans reading this blog, this should really help explain a lot about me (us). :)

Giggles Baptism

Here's the picture of Giggles from the invitations to her baptism. It was taken about a week before we left for home right after she turned 3 months old.



Here we are with her Godparents, the Mans, at the baptism.

Co-Captain's Log: Day 14

Stardate 04012009
 
By the 2nd to last day of a roughly 2200-mile road trip with your spouse, 2 small kids, a dog, and a truckload of Christmas, birthday, and baptism supplies/gifts, you start to feel a little on edge perhaps even, dare I say, desperate. Desperate along the lines of...."gee, this small windblown nowhere town sure seems friendly. Maybe we should just settle down here. Oh, and look, there's a Dairy Queen!"

Anyway, after spending Christmas Eve with my family, we spent the next two days visiting QT's parents. We even found time to attend a friend's 40th bday party...a party which my parents crashed after midnight just as QT & I were preparing to leave. My mom joined the birthday *boy* in downing a few shots of the finest te-kill-ya before they finally agreed to go home with us. We attempted to take my dad's keys away from him, but in the end, we were too tired to argue so we just let them go (and yes, they made it safely).

The next couple of days were spent getting ready for one party or another. First up was Giggles' baptism, which went well enough. She was gifted with a bunch of cute clothes, which I totally wasn't expecting (the gifts, I mean). Then came Pumpkin's birthday, which we essentially celebrated twice. Once on his actual bday then again the day after with a birthday bash.

On Pumpkin's birthday, we took him and *the girls* (his cousins) to the mall where we rode the bi-level carousel, ate some chocolate from the Rocky Mountain Choc Factory, ate McD's (ugh), ending at the mall's indoor playground.

I'll post about his birthday party separately. The day after the party was New Year's Eve. On a whim, my sisters and I decided to keep the bounce castle for another day and organized a small family shindig to ring in the new year together replete with SingStar Abba version!

We were supposed to begin our return journey the next day, but we hadn't even started packing so QT & I decided, what the heck, let's hang out for one more day. We finally left on Day 12 of our trip. We didn't finish packing until late morning, and coupled with my *vow* to end each day's driving at a more decent hour, we only made it to San Angelo, where we once again enjoyed our Texas-shaped waffles for breakfast. The next day, we headed out as bright and early as possible...given that QT & Pumpkin took us on a short detour through the San Angelo Rail Museum. We drove for about 6 hours and bunked in Amarillo before heading out again the next day. By this time, we were definitely feeling the cold.

*************
I've been working on this post on/off for most of the day in between feeding Giggles, changing diapers, listening to Pumpkin chatter, and staring blankly out the window. I'm tired and starting to feel a bit sick from the motion of the truck and reading the laptop screen so I believe that it's a good time to log off. G'nite!

Lots o' Pics

This is what Pumpkin loved most about the hotel where we stayed on the way home.















2nd block: Christmas with our family













3rd block: Celebrating Pumpkin's special day with his cousins

Co-Captain's Log: Day 6

Stardate 27122008

On the last day of our trip, my computer suddenly stopped responding. No lights, no sounds, no life. I tried it again today to see if perhaps different lighting or a different setting might somehow help make a difference, but nothing helped.

So I find myself, once again, offline until further notice. I'm blogging from QT's laptop right now, but I'm unable to transfer pics from my camera to his computer without the proper cord (which is in the kitchen drawer where it's usually kept back in our house in Colorado) so this is the extent of it for now.

The good news is that we just had our desktop repaired so I won't be completely unplugged once we get back home; however, as I usually log on using my laptop while sitting on the sofa feeding Giggles, it will be difficult to figure out a way to log on from the desktop. Once we get back home, I plan to connect my laptop to its docking station to see if I can see anything that way. Because if it is just the screen that's dead, I can backup whatever new pics and files I'd added to the laptop since it came back from the shop before I chuck the whole goddamn contraption straight into the garbage. Coz that's what it is...a piece of refuse! A piece of puuuuutresence! Rubbish! Filth! Slime! Muck! Boo! Boo!

(I will try to post some pictures soon though. There's lots going on around here!)

Co-Captain's Log: Day 2

Stardate 23122008

We've been driving for what feels like an eternity yet it feels like we're no closer to our destination than when we started. Before we left, I told the captain to expect this, but I don't think that even I'd really expected this. Nothing to do now but ride it out, I suppose. I wish a giant bird would just swoop out of the sky, pluck our vehicle off the ground, and fly us the rest of the way...because then we'd get all the benefits of air travel without the hassle...well, without bathrooms too but since we'd arrive in fairly short order, we could just *hold* it.

The reason our trip is taking this long is probably obvious to all who know us. It's the wee ones needing their exercise, potty breaks, sustenance, etc. Then, of course, there's the getting everyone BACK in the truck. That's easily another 15-20 minutes right there. Nevertheless, I'm feeling pretty good right now. It's quiet in the truck, our wireless Internet is finally working again, and I can still feel my butt. All reasons to celebrate in my book.

Actually, the kids and dog (and even QT) are all behaving remarkably well on this trip. I expected nothing less from Pumpkin and his dog, but I wasn't sure how Giggles would handle this road trip given her history of histrionics on our daily 30-minute drive to/from Pumpkin's school. The problems only occur when we stop for the night, and everyone's wide awake because they've slept all the way there. LOL

Now, it's time for me to begin my nightly ritual of searching for suitable lodging for 2 adults, 2 kids, and a dog. It's not as easy as it sounds when you're out in the boonies...not unless you want to stay at a place called the Sleep Tite 9 or something along those lines. ;)

Check out these highs!

10-Day Forecast for our destination:

High/Low (°F)

Mon Dec 22 AM Showers 47°/40°
Tue Dec 23 AM Clouds / PM Sun 70°/58°
Wed Dec 24 Partly Cloudy 79°/55°
Thu Dec 25 Partly Cloudy 76°/59°
Fri Dec 26 Partly Cloudy 81°/61°
Sat Dec 27 Mostly Sunny 79°/49°
Sun Dec 28 Mostly Sunny 72°/49°
Mon Dec 29 Sunny 71°/48°
Tue Dec 30 Sunny 71°/48°

Last Updated Dec 22 12:09 a.m. CT

Woo-hoo! We may even play outside in the sprinklers just because we can! Earlier this evening, I took my car for a wash, and it was so cold outside that my side-view mirrors iced over as the car exited the wash. Iced...over! WTH? I am really looking forward to the nice, happy, warm weather we'll have in Texas.

I think what I'm happiest about is not having to deal with the hassle of finding and/or carrying jackets, blankets, car seat covers, boots, gloves, and on and on. I can deal with the cold, but good lord, give me a break from all the accoutrements. They're a pain. And the snow. Snow's a pain.

I thought, for sure, that I'd be going batty by now from being stuck indoors because of the snow. I am going batty, but it isn't from the snow, hehe. Uh...is it even Winter yet? Well, whatever. "Winter" hasn't been too bad so far. Sure, it's been cold, but it hasn't really snowed much and that's made all the difference. So, even though we have to wear tons of gear, at least we're not wet or tracking slush into the house. I think, also, that perhaps we're all finally getting used to the cold. Even Sunshine goes out now without his little roller-derby jacket. (yes, he's a sight)

BTW, you'd think that being married to a medium-cheese in a company that manufactures all sorts of chemical products, it'd be pretty easy for me to get my hands on some mag chloride for our driveway. Well, it isn't. Apparently, the stuff is manufactured somewhere out in the boonies, and it would take longer than I really feel like waiting to get one measly bag out here. At least that's what I was told. Instead, I just went out and bought a jug of the snow-melting stuff from Target. I'd never used it before. It's fun!

Anyway, Texas, here we come!

Fall 2008 EEC Culmination

On Wednesday, Pumpkin's class had their "culmination," which is basically a school program in which they recite little poems and sing and dance a bit to show us what they've been learning this semester. The topic this semester was food--where it comes from, what it's about, how to count it, measure it, textures, etc...so their culmination was also about food.

We didn't realize what the culmination entailed until the day before it was to happen so QT was unable to attend since he'd already scheduled a meeting for that morning. Bella and I were there; however, and I took a few short videos for QT. I also meant to post them on youtube to show everyone back home, but as it turns out, the finished product that our DVDR camcorder provides us is not transferable to anything online. Argh! As QT will attest, nothing gets under my skin like electronic/computer issues that I can't resolve....or rather, that take more time to resolve than I'm willing to give, haha. So, I've been sitting here for 2 days trying out all sorts of programs, dealing with stupid Windows error messages, and cursing these blasted machines the whole time trying to figure out a way to make this work. I mean, there HAS to be a way, right? If we could put a man on the moon....blah blah blah.

Nope. Wrong.

I thought I'd finally found a method, but when I tried previewing it just now, all I got was audio and now it's stuck on uploading so we'll see if it actually publishes video as well. I mean, we'll see if it publishes anything.

Ok, now, I'm really ticked off. I've wasted 3 days trying to figure this thing out, and it's just not going anywhere. My problem is that I can't seem to stop. I want to give up, but as soon as I have a minute, I'm back here again trying yet another approach...all to no avail. Well, I finally went el-cheapo route and just recorded it off of the tv screen (see below). It looks dark and crappy, but I'm afraid that's as good as it's gonna get online. :(

Colorado Christmas and Baby Belly Laughs

With 9 days to go before Christmas and only 5 days to go before we undertake yet another 20+ hour roadtrip, we've been busily taking advantage of all the Christmas-y events going on around town as well as whatever other fun stuff we find to do.

First off, we had fun in the snow!



We also attended a muzic class and spent a morning at the Hammonds Candies Candy Cane Festival with our friends. And, no, I don't actually believe that my daughter is getting anything out of a music class at her age, haha, though I did attach a little rattle to her wrist in case she felt like getting her groove on. ;)



The weather that day was so nice and predicted to get so bad the next day that we went straight from the Candy Cane Festival to the Colorado Railroad Museum to ride the Santa Express.

This is not the Santa Express. This is the Little Spike at the Candy Cane Festival. I have pictures from the Railroad Museum, of course, but since Pumpkin didn't want to visit with Santa, and since the trains haven't changed in the past couple of months, I won't post pictures from that outing this time. ;)

Instead, I'll move ahead to our playgroup's Family Christmas Party!! It was bitterly cold out the day of our party, and the heater at the community center was not working, but we still had a lot of fun. In between eating re-frozen food and warming up by the fireplace, we enjoyed the company of our friends, good food, and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, who stopped by to bring books for all the playgroup kiddies. Here's Giggles enjoying a laugh with Santa.
















Here's Pumpkin chatting with Santa. Pumpkin has not wanted to talk to Santa at all this year though we've bumped into the Big Guy several times here and there. The funny thing is that he believes in Santa; he just apparently doesn't feel Santa is all that relevant. LOL. Pumpkin claims he doesn't have to ask Santa for gifts because he will be getting gifts from his Grandma(s) and his parents! Well, as we all know, resistance is futile. Not when Santa is standing right in front of you AND reportedly has a present for you inside his big red bag! So, Pumpkin finally deigned to talk to Santa...but he refused to tell Santa that his favorite things are trains and instead told Santa that he likes blocks or cars or something like that. Ohhh-kay then.

Here's a picture of the kids waiting for Santa to distribute their gifts, and there's Pumpkin happily showing off his. When he unwrapped his gift and discovered that Santa had brought him his very own copy of Skippy Jon Jones and the Big Bones, he turned to me with a big grin and said "this is what I always wanted!" Awwww! {melt}

I'd been feeling a bit bad about constantly pushing Santa in Pumpkin's face, but that somehow seemed to make it better. Anyway, here's QT reading Pumpkin's new book to a tiny little rapt audience of tiny little people.

And, below is a picture of some of the moms in our group. Y'all have "heard" me talk about them before, I'm sure. These wonderful ladies have been my lifeline while I'm so far away from all my family and old friends. Knowing them has been great fun, and it's also truly been something to watch Pumpkin and his little friends basically "grow up" together.

Anyway, the next day, we took cupcakes to Pumpkin's school to celebrate his birthday since school will be out when his birthday actually rolls around. One of our playgroup mommies custom made these cupcakes for Pumpkin per his specifications. He ordered red and blue cupcakes with sprinkles and 1 pink cupcake for his teacher, Miss Shelly, who was going to be celebrating her birthday that same day.

Oh, and before I forget, Giggles had her first big belly laugh yesterday while we were visiting some friends. She was watching Pumpkin and his friend "O" goofing off and laughing like lunatics, and she suddenly joined in! It was the cutest thing, but I was so startled that I completely forgot to take out my camera. Here's a picture I took of her this morning. Getting ready for the baptism and working on those invitations. (BTW, that's one of Pumpkin's baby outfits she's wearing ;) And finally, one last picture of Pumpkin all tuckered out on the RTD Light Rail...coming back from a jaunt downtown to visit his daddy.

My Favorite Things

Just like I have an official favorite airport concourse, I now also have a favorite mall. It's the Colorado Mills mall in Lakewood, CO. And, no, it's not because of the stores because, in truth, I'm not really the *shopping* type so I hardly pay attention to the stores. The reason I love it is because they have a new drop-in childcare facility called Antsy Pants that Pumpkin just loved! He could hardly wait while I filled out the paperwork, and he even asked to stay longer when I returned to pick him up 2 hours later. Best of all, because it's new, Antsy Pants is/was running a BOGO free 1st hour promotion so I only paid $16 for THREE hours of state-licensed childcare....snacks included! As the Wiggles would say, Whoop-de-doo! Of course, I still had Bella with me so my supposed 3 hours of "me" time were really more like 1 hour 45 minutes of actual "free" time, lol, but boy, those 105 minutes were really nice.

Pumpkin was very sad when we finally left the mall, and he's asked to return to Antsy Pants tomorrow. This mall is probably about an hour away from our house, but it may be worth my time to drive all the way out there if Pumpkin will consent to stay. Heck, I may use my free time to browse the book store and maybe even read a book! A really short book.

P&B

It's weird wild wacky Pumpkin Tuesday! Here are some current pics of my favorite boy and his favorite dog.


And, here are a couple more pictures of BG. Check out the weird, wild, wacky hair on that girl!

I was finally able to get some live footage of BG smiling and cooing at us earlier today. She seems to especially enjoy watching her brother.







And, just for grins, here's a picture we took of Sunshine's own personal potty spot. Whenever it snows, we don our coats and boots and go outside to make a nice clean spot just like this one. ;)

Giggles

Pumpkin has a new nickname for his baby sister...Giggles. How cute is that? As I sit here this morning in my underwear feeding Giggles with one arm, typing with the other, and with Sunshine sitting on my legs, I wonder...how did I come to this?

Well, I'll tell you. I went out this morning to clear a spot on the grass on which Sunshine could go potty. I didn't realize how deep the snowdrifts in the backyard were so I sank right in getting my pants and socks covered in snow. If it were already midday, I wouldn't care, but gosh-darn-it-all, it's barely morning and I had only been wearing my clothes for about 15 minutes when they got wet. So I threw them in the dryer. And so I sit here in my underwear while they dry.

Elsewhere this morning, my parents are meeting with Father Davis at their local Catholic Church to find out if he's going to grant us a personal baptism for Giggles. For you non-Catholics, here's a quick lesson in Catholic baptisms. Usually, they're held on certain days of the month and everyone has to get them done at the same time. Since we'd be coming in from about 18 hours away (actual driving time only), we cannot make it to their last scheduled baptism this month so we're asking for a special ceremony for Giggles for the last weekend of the month. We'd like to get this done back home since that's where all our family is. Plus, that's where the godparents live. So, we're waiting to find out.

Oops, gotta run. It's almost time to pick Pumpkin up from school. Laters!

My Momma

I just came across a sad blog post from someone whose husband attacked her in a drunken rage one night. She ended up calling the police and getting an Emergency Order of Protection for her and her child. The really sad part for me was finding out that neither her parents nor her sister have bothered to come to her aid, not even to aid her emotionally. Her sister's husband is a good friend of her own husband's so he's gone to stay with them while the EOP is in effect. For Thanksgiving, her own sister turned her away so that things wouldn't get uncomfortable (I'm assuming). Meanwhile, her parents were on vacation and could apparently not be bothered to return to be with her. This was a woman who'd been choked and beaten by her own husband!!

Wow. I have always known that I'm fortunate to have the family I have, but I'm still surprised at how lousy some families can treat one of their own.

About 8 years ago, I had a miscarriage. It was my first pregnancy, and it was neither planned nor welcomed by either my husband or me. It was a shock, then, to realize how shocked I was when I lost it. In retrospect, I think I must've felt guilty because I had not wanted the baby. Whatever the reason, within hours of hearing about my miscarriage, my mom was on her way to be with me (we lived about 6 hours apart at the time). What I remember most clearly, even now, about the day she arrived was how she held me in her arms and stroked my hair while I cried. In fact, I teared up again thinking about it just now. (Can I still claim rampant hormones if I'm 3 months post-partum...or am I just a big wuss?)

A couple of years ago, we'd already moved to Denver, and I hurt my back. I could barely walk and couldn't lift a thing including my 2 y/o son, but I was managing so-so...for the first week or so. One fine day, I had a bad reaction to a muscle relaxant and ended up calling my mom in tears. I swear, she was on the next plane to Denver...or at least it seemed that way to me. She and my Dad own a couple of restaurants (as you know), but she ignored her work for a whole week just to come and take care of me (& Pumpkin, I guess). She even gathered up her courage and drove me to the doctor's office one day...on icy roads no less! (You should know that my mom lives in a very hot climate where it NEVER...EVER snows.)

You'd be even more amazed if you knew what kind of upbringing my mom had, and the odds she had to beat to even get this far. (Let's just say her parents could have been a little kinder.)

Sure, my life growing up wasn't all roses, and my mom wasn't perfect...and still isn't, but she's always been there for me when it's mattered most...and that's mattered most of all. Today, I look to my mom as a shining example of the kind of mother I try to be for my own child(ren). When Pumpkin is hurt or sad, I think back to when I was little to what my mom did to make me feel better, and I try to emulate that...like the way she stroked my arm or caressed my face.

Fortunately, my mom knows how much I love her because I often tell her. Even QT understands how I feel because I often tell him that when I "grow up," I want to be just like my mom, hehe. I'll gladly say it again anyway:

I love you, Mom. You're the best!

Thanksgiving Day

We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving day. We started the day out with some of our playgroup friends and rounded out the evening with our next-door neighbors. All I have to say is that I'm glad we know such good cooks because both our lunch and dinner meals were EXCELLENT! Thanks for a wonderful day, friends. :)

Sitting at the table with Pumpkin are his friends Nate and Paige. That's me in the other picture standing with my mommy friends Heather, Lailah, Nikki, Kristi, and Katie (seated with BG).




Our neighbors:

(left) Calvin with BG and (right) Pumpkin and Alex playing with the piano.



The following Saturday, my guys traveled to Golden to attend the Colorado Railroad Museum's Thanksgiving Goose Fest. Long story short for you non-railfans, many years ago, the Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS) was running out of money so they created these Frankenstein vehicles from excess car and train parts that enabled them to continue operations at a fraction of the cost of running steam trains. RGS ultimately built 7 of these "motors, which are now known as the "Galloping Geese," and 6 of those are still around today mostly in museums, etc. This weekend, CRM was going to be running its entire fleet of Geese for the first time ever, and the guys...well, they just had to be there for this historic occasion.



Just for kicks, here's another picture of BG. She's already reaching for things, and she seems to get a kick out of these car seat toys (batting at them and smiling at them).



Almost forgot! The weekend before Thanksgiving, we took Pumpkin to Boondocks for a round of mini golf in their Winter Wonderland of Lights. Now, there's a dedicated golfer!