It's My Due Date, and I'll Cry if I Want To

To all the mothers who have their babies early:

You don't really know what it's like to be pregnant. Sorry.

Now, I think I'll go make myself some hot cocoa and watch a Christmas movie with CJ.

Sign of OCD?

He gets it from his dad, I swear


Someone should probably tell him that's not where empty wrappers go anyway.

Pure Bliss.

For three reasons, really.

1) I just got back in sweats and a sweatshirt after being in "real" clothes. I made it until lunchtime, ok.

2) We fixed our water/ice maker on our fridge after being out of order for a year. This was the real reason I bought this house, so moving here has finally paid off.

3) Just got a netflix in the mail today. It looks like Date Night has come a little early this week. Hope Christian won't mind if I stay in my sweats.

This is Kermit.

I think it's good to have family traditions for every holiday. Or at least the really big holidays like Halloween and Flag Day. Our family tradition is for Christian to get sick and for cj and me to have dinner at my in-laws. True to tradition, Christian insisted on getting the Swine Flu this year. Poor guy.

We still had fun and cj went trick or treating at one house, his cousins. One mini butterfinger was enough for that kid. I unwrapped it, handed it to him, and no exaggeration I looked back three seconds later and the candy bar was gone. Just a little bit of chocolate drool sliding down his chin and a big grin. Nice.

As expected, cj refused to wear his Kermit hat. No surprise there. I think I tricked him into wearing it for twenty seconds at one point, but without any camera footage. Oh well. Next year.

The Best Thing I've Taught My Son

Besides folding his arm during prayers is that yogurt is ice cream. You should see how excited he gets when I grab a Yoplait from the fridge. He starts chanting--"ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM!" It's the best.

I think I'll start telling him that the library is Disneyland.

Seriously, The Best

When I was pregnant with cj, I watched my sister Daisy's kids for two weeks. Besides a trip to the ER and a few crying sessions in the closet, it was a great experience for me. The best part definitely was sweet little Maggie (sorry Parly, Clayre, Kate). She was 18 months and so cute. I honestly got homesick for her when we went back home. I remember Daisy telling me that it would be hard having a baby after seeing how cute a toddler is.

I hate to admit this, and I don't very often, but Daisy was right. Sure, I didn't realize it when cj was born. He was sort of cute in a newborn, helpless way. He even got cuter as time went on, and I'm sure there were a couple times around the year mark that I actually convinced myself that he was cute. But now we have finally hit the best age: 18 months. Seriously. Here's why:

• Still slurps his milk out of his cereal bowl even though he knows what a spoon is for
• Says, "Hi guys" when he walks into a room, "Oh shoot" when he drops something and "Ew stinky" when you smell his feet (and yes, they really do stink)
• Knows the names of all his stuffed animals and says hi to them: Larry, Gertie, George, Fred, Alligator
• Is old enough to go to nursery--enough said
• Is too young to be embarrassed by his parents
• Is too young to talk back
  
• Takes a three + hour nap
• Runs in place really all the time and says "Whoa.....fast!!!!"
• Sings the Dora songs and wears a backpack around the house
• Is always working on projects, useful things, like loading the dishwasher, moving everything out of the bathroom drawers, taking all the clothes out of my dresser, taking all the books off the shelves, and getting peanut butter and other sticky stuff on my white bedspread

He's been a pretty decent kid. I'm glad to have him around.

Train Rides, Caramel Apples, and Raffle Tickets

I tell you one thing, Apple Days is really starting to grow on me. Maybe because I was, to put it nicely, not asked to be part of the Cutest Baby Contest Committee this year. But something about train rides, a performance by River Heights' own Jumprope Team, and cotton candy just feels right. CJ loved the whole thing, especially eating candy from the parade for lunch and a bag of Doritos for dinner. Although he would've been content to sit in the sand volleyball pit the entire night, we forked out the big bucks for a couple of train rides and a few pushes on the park swing.

And the famous raffle tickets? We didn't fare quite as well this year, probably because we didn't buy any raffle tickets. But Isaac did great. Again. Five bucks on raffle tickets goes a long way in River Heights. He didn't win the bike this year, but he did come away with $20 to the local Bridal Boutique and a few other equally useful prizes. We're already looking forward to next year.

Here's the footage from the train ride. Excuse the annoying mom yelling in the background. I think she was near tears. She was excited, ok, it's her first kid and it's his first train ride.