Documentary Time

So, I must admit, my "documentary" of yesterday might feel a little long but sometimes that's how documentaries are, right? After all, it covered our WHOLE snow day. And the song is boring, it wouldn't let me load the version I wanted. Boo! Here's my new fancy way to watch:

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

Easton must've thought yesterday was great because as we were rocking at bedtime he wouldn't stop telling me all about it, over and over: shower, spit...treats...noodles, trees (broccoli), milk, rhino (he comes to "visit" if E's eating well)...very cute.

And, for some explanations: Easton doesn't like finger painting so we use brushes. I try to get him to do his fingers (as you can see in the pic) but I think we've taught him to be neat and clean so he doesn't like it. Oh well. Also, as we're getting ready for our shower he's crying in the second pic because he got frustrated when he couldn't get the footies of his jammies off his feet. He tried again and got it.

Here's a couple of pics that get lost in the montage since they're vertical...shuffling about in my slippers:

Little stud with a towel 'round his waist:

And, switching to his very old robe (I bought it the day we found out I was pregnant with Easton):

I'm just glad his bits and pieces aren't dangling out the bottom so I can share that picture with you (it was a close one). :)

Let's see...this morning Easton slept in until at least 8:30 so it was tight getting to Kindermusik at 9. It was the sub again so it was okay, we didn't miss much in the first few minutes. Easton wore his mittens (and matching hat) for the first time today...willingly! But it's a cold one, folks: -3 when Jason left at 7:30 and up to a whopping 14 when Easton and I drove to Kindermusik. Brrrrr! Once we got there they had a set of quadruplets in class today. Holy cow! I cannot even imagine--they're 14 months old. Mom and Grandma both had to come to class and the teacher took one of 'em to lend a hand. My goodness! All girls, too. Boy do I feel bad for that Daddy once puberty hits. Zoinks!

What else? Last day of swimming is tonight--the plan is for both of us to mess around in the pool with E. And tonight there is quite the television conflict: Scrubs returns but at the same time as Grey's Anatomy. Oh no! I'm pretty sure they re-run the episode of Grey's tomorrow night too. I'll have to double check and then set it up to TiVo as I CANNOT miss either :) J doesn't care because he gets Survivor TiVo'd no matter what.

And, I see I got a comment from aj yesterday...thanks! Now I have ~aj~ (Andrea) and then A.J. as in Aunt Jessica. Good thing I'm so super sharp and can keep them both straight hee hee! Hope ~aj~ came up with some activites for their snow day...animal safari was a fun one too.

Okay, I really think that's all from me. My video should say most everything and then some...

Snowed In

Okay so the snow's not that bad where we're literally stuck here, however, Jason took the "snowmobile" to work today and we are carless...can't put E in the truck so good, especially since the carseat's in the other car. We're making the most of it, though. Jason will have to stop for a couple of dinner ingredients on the way home (things I can't get at Wal-Mart) in exchange for taking the 4WD today. He's just lucky I renewed our library materials online last night so he didn't have to return those too.

Back to yesterday, after E's nap (I let him be for a bit after he woke and he wasn't too cranky when he got up...yay!). Anyway, after the nap we headed to the tire place to get our flat fixed. It's the same place we got our oil changes the other weekend. They said they needed 25-30 so Easton and I walked in the freezing cold to the grocery store and bought him his vitamins (Wal-Mart didn't have his kind) and we picked out a Christmas present for Blitz. Then we walked back. It had started snowing. Easton's such a trooper, though. Our car was ready when we got there and we didn't owe them a cent. Love how they do that! Plus, one of the older men working gave Easton this new little stuffed animal "Little O" but Easton just calls him "O" right now.



Then we got a call from Jason that he left work a little late and traffic was slow going thanks to the snow so we met him at swimming lessons. He wasn't too late, actually, but it was his night to swim with Easton. While Jason changed I brought Easton to the pool and his teacher asked him if he wanted to swim with her while he waited for Daddy. Easton nodded and walked over to the edge and jumped right in to her. Good boy! Then Daddy came and they had lots of fun. There were all of 3 kids in the class last night, including Easton. I guess no one loves the idea of going out in snowy weather? Anyway, Thursday is our last class and the plan is for both of us to get in the pool with him. They're meeting in the larger, colder pool though...Eek!

Easton saw me following him up the stairs with the camera and he wanted to pose. He kept turning around and saying "cheese" unprompted. So, I snapped this:


So, today Easton and I started off the day by him asking to go in our bed and watching our library video. So we did. Then we headed downstairs for our breakfast: oatmeal. We did some laundry, painted pictures, watched an episode of Sesame Street and then I asked Easton if he wanted to take a shower. So we did. He thought that was a blast as usual. His favorite part was when we'd fill our mouths up with water and spit it out on the shower walls. He'd laugh hysterically. I've got some other ideas in mind for this afternoon and of course I've been taking tons of pics so tomorrow (when our snow day is over) I'm sure I'll share them in some form or another.

I had to give him some cold medicine today. He's not eating (still) but he's also not drinking much. His fever isn't too bad (99.5) but if he's not drinking then it's making him too miserable and his body needs the fluids to help get better, I think. A couple of times this morning he would simply start crying like he was in pain and cling to me. I don't know what's hurting him but I do know that he was more than ready for his nap. He followed me around his room as I got it nap-ready, clutching his burp cloth until it was time to rock. He fell asleep instantly once we started rocking. Poor fella.

I guess that's where I'll leave off today...you can look forward to plenty o' photos tomorrow. Adios!

What a Morning!

To start, Easton woke up (not till 8:05!) with a crusty snot 'stache and a bit of a cough. Another cold. And his voice is hoarse even though he's not coughing much. He sounds so cute though. My little froggie. Then he was kind of cranky and wanted to hang out upstairs for the first hour he was awake. This was him:


Finally I get him to come down for some breakfast. I asked if he wanted to make a bagel with me. He did. He said, "Hepp ooo?" (help you). Cute. But, he didn't want to eat it...that boy has been on a hunger strike for too long now. He does do milk pretty well, though. During breakfast he shredded his napkin so he could put the little bits in his ears again. Afterwards I had him pick them up and throw them in the trash. Whilst he was under the table his p.j.'s picked up a gross wad of Blitz fur. I plucked it off and handed it to him to throw away. Then I made the mistake of calling it "Blitz fuzz" and all he heard was "Blitz" and he freaked out throwing the hair wad on the floor and fleeing to me for safety from the shrunken Blitz. He was quite concerned so we had to find the real Blitz and show that he was okay but E is still not liking the furball in the trash. He's still afraid of "bread" from the bread machine thing the other day too, folks. Toddlers!

Anyway, we got ourselves out of the house and into the car to head to Gymsters. We were 10 minutes late thanks to mile after mile of orange cones from stupid non-existant construction. It was awful. Plus on the way there I called Jason complaining about, "We really need to get the alignment checked out...this thing is pulling like crazy." I was all bummed about the construction, being late, and the new car being broken. Gymsters was fine and I got over being frustrated till I got out to the parking lot: FLAT TIRE! No wonder it was veering to the right so hard all the way there. Whoops! I called Jason and my knight in shining armor came to my rescue!!! It was very sweet of him as we weren't exactly close by but he didn't want his 6 months pregnant wife with a toddler in tow changing the flat in 35 degree weather. Awwwww, my hero! Instead Easton and I went back inside to My Gym where they have "free play" and we played for awhile till Jason got there, then we watched him change the tire. I'm fairly independent (well, I can be) and I've changed plenty o' tires in my day...but this was more complicated than I think I could happily handle. With it being a newer car and all I didn't know where everything was, blah blah blah. Just happy Jason came to our aid. There was a big ol' screw in my tire so we'll be off to get it fixed after Eassie Doodle's nap. Glad the car's not really broken...that would've made me mad.

We sent Jason on his way and we headed home ourselves where E is getting his beauty rest. It recently occured to me that his 2nd birthday is just over a month away! Wow! And, we have done nothing to get him into a new big boy room by then. Oops. So, now we're browsing bedding and all that again in order to make a quick decision. We don't imagine it'll be an easy transition but we do want it to happen in a birthday-ish time frame. Plus having his old crib/room available should we need it...you know... He's growing up. Exciting but sad too.

Anyway, with all that going on I should really do some more online shopping here while I have the time. Hope your day has been better than mine.

Break's Over

So the lovely 4 day stretch with Jason home is now over and all 3 of us are having to get used to it all again. Blah. Easton was moody this morning and asked for J a bit. Blitz was crazy and woke Easton up--not helping his mood. It is always nice to have him around (Jason, not Blitz). I think J's missing us too. How could he not? :)

Easton took another insanely long 3 hour nap yesterday so Jason watched large amounts of football while I worked on a holiday "project". But, E's still in his Mr. Cranky Pants phase when he wakes from naps. It can get rough for about a half an hour.

Yesterday's nap was without a shirt. Some days its the pants...some days its the shirt. He ended up being shirtless all day. Anyway, back to him being a little rough around the edges after naps. Don't know why that is, it's relatively new. In the mornings he's usually good to go. Except yesterday...he woke up and I went to get him (he wasn't calling for me yet, though) and I peeked my head in at him and he politely told me "No" and shook his head. Okay, that's fine. I went to grab some milk, hit the potty, that sort of thing...tried again. Again he told me no (but nicely). So, I went to hang out with Jason on the bed and eventually J got up to get E and Easton let him. I'm fine with that, though. Oy, it's the naps that are getting to me. I might have to just leave him in there for a few so he can finish waking up fully or something. Whatever it takes to get the crankies out of his li'l system.

I made some baked potato soup yesterday for dinner. It was good but my oh my...not sure it's worth all the effort. Then, Jason had a craving for chocolate chip cookies. So I made some of those. Yum.

Here's just a couple of shots of E playing last night. He loves to wear J's hats and it's too cute to me how he puts them on himself. He prefers backwards a lot of the time:

Here he is telling me what a pig says:


Oh, and here is a part of the bedtime routine every night:

After picking up the toys he runs back to the rug to do a somersault or two. Then we head upstairs. We're a strange bunch.

Today we went down to visit Gramoo at her school and to bring her some of our baked potato soup. She and Auntie Lauren can enjoy it for dinner sometime this week.

Easton liked all the toys "Guh bah" got out for him. She even had him tell the kids "Go!" to get their game started. He liked that. He was still telling me about it before his nap. Anyway, here he is in her equipment room:

See that Easton brand bat on the floor?:

He didn't want to pose with it. There was too much else to explore.

This afternoon we're going to Wal-Mart...sweet and sour meatballs for dinner tonight. And tomorrow it's back to Gymsters and swimming and such after the week off for Thanksgiving. We didn't get out to the mall over the weekend to get ornaments but oh well. Next weekend I hope. Instead I'll share some festive pictures from last year for you real quick. Someone on a message board I'm on was wanting to see everyone's pictures from last year so since they're in my account I'll share with you too. Just to get you in a holiday mood. How nice of me. :)

Good Sleeping

Whoa...Easton's nap yesterday was 3+ hours!! Crazy. I think Jason was able to watch his entire LSU game (they won!) without having to entertain me or the little one. Nice. He even went to bed at his regular ol' bedtime and slept till 8:40 this morning! So, that probably means today's nap will be a not-so-impressive half hour. Oh well.

I think Easton might be working on his 2 year molars. He's been sticking his fingers in the sides of his mouth occasionally. He's not one to do that anymore...thank goodness we're way past the put-everything-in-your-mouth phase. He's not been an "early teether" in the past but maybe one of those 4 toofers is starting to work it's way out? It'll be harder to tell with them being so far back there now. We lucked out in the teething department with this kiddo so I hope these molars don't give him too much grief.

Thanks to McLaughlin and Auntie Jesh for the comments on yesterday's blog. I am feeling better about it today. Time and public venting can do a lot for one's mood. Your sweet comments helped even more as they're exactly what I was needing to hear. Even if they're big fat lies. :) Thanks for taking the time to humor me. I always love blog comments and those ones made me even happier.

We got some cute shots of Easton jumping on the guest bed yesterday:

Blurry but we like his happy face:

Catching some serious air:


This morning we had a pancake breakfast and then Jason's been working on his brakes. Easton and I were just chilling around the house. He refused to eat anything before his nap but he did okay with his pancake at breakfast. As I was rocking him before his nap (he's being slightly better the last few times) he head butted my chin. Ouch for me. I even yelled, "Owwww!" but that scared him and made him cry. My bad. I felt horrible for my outburst but dudes, it hurt. I'm surprised it didn't hurt him too. I think he calmed down pretty quickly and then he went to sleep like a little angel. I still feel bad for scaring him. I gotta work on not yelling so loud when I'm injured. It always scares him.

After naptime we've got an errand or two to get out of the way. Still not sure what tomorrow holds. Or if I'll even blog. Guess we'll have to wait and see...

Let It Go Already

First things first...here is our little Thanksgiving stud:

I know you're thinking, "hey, he's wearing something other than p.j.'s or sweatpants". Yes, he looks like a little man in his cords. And check out his little dress shoes. Tee hee! Paired with these socks:

Only after the ear fun we put them on his feet. Daddy likes to put socks on his own ears as we get E dressed for bed. Very fun.

Easton was soooooo great all day yesterday. We were super thankful for that. He was great at dinner despite having to sit in his booster chair for a very long time. He was cute and charming and entertaining if I do say so myself. I just love that kid. He's always a little apprehensive when we first arrive at my grandma's but he warmed up quickly.

Anyway, you wanna know what I wasn't thankful for (warning: here I go on another rant)...I wasn't thankful for the, "Your belly's as big as it was at Christmas last time." Niiiiiiiice people--real friggin' nice. Okay, so that means that here at 26 weeks my belly is as big as it was at 31 weeks before!?!? What a great way to burst a pregnant hormonal woman's bubble. Lovely. Let me just tell you right now, comments like those are not something I get over quickly. I dwelled on it for a bit right afterwards pointing out how untrue I thought it was (not to mention kinda rude--who wants to hear how huge they are ever?) but I let it go for dinner and it wasn't until we were driving home and then again AT home that I brought it all up again looking for some reassurance or something. I even made Jason take pictures of me so I could compare them to 31 weeks last time. Guess what...I AM smaller than I was then. My belly is higher than it was last pregnancy but I'm roughly the same size as I was at this point before. Told you. Even so, I just don't know that that's something you say to someone. I have a hard time separating ME from BABY right now (hence me not liking belly pats from strangers...they're touching me!).

I started off both pregnancies at the exact same weight. At this point in E's pregnancy I had a net gain of 9 pounds (though I lost 10 from morning sickness), this time it's 8 (having lost just 2 at first). I can still fit into my regular jeans (couldn't at this point last time). Why you gotta go around saying how huge I'm looking? I had just taken off my coat. :( I much prefer the people who like to say, "Wow! You look great for ___ weeks." Even if they're lying right to my face. Much nicer that way. Even if I don't look "great" to everyone I'm literally not the same size as I was at 31 weeks so why go there?

Blame it on pregnancy hormones or what have you but I still think that kind of stuff is mean and I hope I never say or have said it to anyone. Pooey. Now that I've vented a little more hopefully I can start getting over it and letting it go. My feelings were hurt and those are sometimes slow to heal. There. I'm done.

Back to Easton...well, we didn't get him to bed until 9ish last night and that was with skipping the bath. He didn't fall asleep in the car but went right to bed at home. However, that kid is seemingly stuck at his 7:30 (give or take 15 minutes) wake-up time and it held true this morning. Jason and I didn't go to bed until after midnight as we watched Survivor and then I watched Grey's Anatomy and then I made him listen to me dwell on the aforementioned "comment" from dinner. So, we're tired. All of us. Easton should really learn to sleep in if he's gone to bed late. Oh well. He was nice and cuddly as we took it easy after breakfast:



He went right down for his nap too--just in time for J's LSU game. I don't think we have any big plans this afternoon. I want to go out shopping sometime this weekend, just to get out there and feel festive. Maybe we'll pick out this year's Christmas ornaments. We'll wait and see what the rest of the weekend holds. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As you can see we finished our Thanksgiving craft finally. I actually finished it awhile ago but never got around to taking any pictures till today. Anyway, this is our clay pot turkey. Festive, no?

We are having a great Thanksgiving so far. It has really been a special family morning and Easton has been in a great mood. He finally started saying "green" today. Like those 3 letters of the alphabet he would simply refuse to say green at all. Sometimes, if you'd ask him what color something was and it happened to be green he'd find something else of a different color and tell you that. We were very pleased he would finally do it today, even if it does just sound like "guh".

Also, appropriately enough...he learned how to catch his football today! Click here for video. He's been able to catch his beach ball forever now but that's big and light and semi-floats. Not the football. Granted, you have to hit him in just the right spot but leave it to Quarterback Daddy and we've got a little wide receiver on our hands. The first time he did it Jason was sure it was a fluke so I came to watch just in case and he did it again and again, so we got the video. Yay!

Anyway, while the boys tossed the pigskin I made some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Mmmmm.

We lounged around after breakfast playing and making calls to family. Easton helped tidy up the crumbs:


Now he's napping but wanted to show off how he can reach this one light switch. Because of the stairs it's the only one our little shrimp can reach, but he does...and often.

He also enjoys pulling up stools or toys to the other switches in the house to "help" out with those. Greeeeeat.

Back to yesterday for a minute, just for these pics of him after his nap. If it's warm he often naps sans pants.



Oh no! If he leaned his head down in that last shot he could have easily fallen out of his crib. Let's hope he doesn't learn that trick before we move him to his big boy bed at 2.

Jason was in desperate need of a haircut last night...the whole family is having issues with unruly locks these days. Anyway, he went to get his haircut while Eastie and I did the routine. He had a very fun bath. He loves water being poured on his head:

And in this one I told him to "smile" again...


Jason came back looking a lot more "ruly" and a lot less like Rudy Giuliani. :) Next weekend it should be my turn for a trim...

Anyway, I think I'll end this here as many of my "fans" will probably not be checking in for awhile due to the holiday and I don't want them having to catch up on too much. You know me, always looking out for the fans. Hope everyone is enjoying or enjoyed their Thanksgivings!

Typical Toddler Today

It seems the non-toddler Easton usually is is on vacation today. Oh well. We have waaaaaaaaaay more good days than bad days 'round here. And then there's the "regular" days which outnumber them all. Well, today he woke up fine and we hung out a bit, had some breakfast, and got dressed. Then it was off to Circle Time. We got there a little early and returned our old stuff (Easton's favorite part is dropping things in the return slot) and then we browsed for some new stuff. Then we headed over to the "story steps" where they hold Circle Time. It is a square shape. I sat on one side and today Easton decided to sit on another side. Fine by me. He's big and independent and he patted along with the song and such like always. Well, then the story started and the little guy decided, as usual, that he didn't want to sit still for a story so he got up to run around. I snagged him by the sleeve and he hollered and laid on the floor briefly. Great. So, I gave him the usual distractions: cell phone, sunglasses...and he made it through the story. Then it was time to make "vegetable soup" and the librarian had a felt board with felt veggies and then a big pot. The kids all got to take turns picking out which felt vegetable they wanted to add. Easton went second. Then he wanted to go again and again and just would not listen about other people getting a turn too. Very unusual for him--especially in public like that. He threw a fit so I scooped him up out of there and we left. Mommy wasn't playing. However, we still had to check out our new books and I held him on my hip whilst we did that. He was good and looked a little sad to be missing out on the rousing chorus of "This is the way we stir the soup, stir the soup, stir the soup..." Too bad, so sad. Circle Time is now on hiatus until after the first of the year. What!?!? Maybe by then though he'll be a little more mature and willing to sit and behave. Usually he behaves with some coaxing. Not today.

Instead we left to go look for more Christmas clothes options. Nothing we liked at Old Navy so we hit up Kohl's. He was being good and holding hands walking next to me. As we passed the lingerie department he'd pause to squeeze several bra cups and say "mama". But, he stopped when I asked him to. Good boy...for a bit. Then he wanted to run amok in the kid's department pointing out all the character pajamas. So, I played along with that for a bit and then told him we needed to look for clothes. I picked him up and he kept shouting, "Walk! Walk! Ahhhhhh!" So, we had to leave there eventually too.

With all that this morning I decided I needed to stop for an ice cream to bring home. So I did. And I ate it after my lunch like a good mommy-to-be. Easton's having his nap. I hope he wakes up as the "wise beyond his years" child I'd been enjoying lately.

I need to do some Thanksgiving cooking tonight. I volunteered to bring the vegetable to the gathering at my Grandma's tomorrow. Special Green Beans. Yum. Then, since I was feeling like a nice wife I asked Jason if there was a special dish he might want since he wasn't getting to go home for the holidays this year and he said "no" till I mentioned "Maybe some spinach Madeline?" and then that's what he wanted. So I'll be attempting that for the first time tonight too.

Good thing I'm not in charge of bringing bread this year. Once the bread machine started doing it's thing yesterday Easton got quite scared. I tried holding him and showing him that the noises were okay and such but he wanted no where near it and kept saying "LOUD!" (it's not that loud). He was afraid of it a couple of months back too. I used the noise to get him to get out of the house for more shopping with me. Worked like a charm.

At dinner last night after swimming he was so focused on the bread machine still. He kept turning around to look at it on the counter and saying, "bread". This morning at breakfast...same thing! He will not let it go but he seems much less afraid and even looked inside the machine at the crumbs.

I'm sorry I have no pictures today. I recently received a couple of compliments on the blog via a message board I participate on (totally made my day!). One of their favorites was "all the sweet pictures of Easton". But, today I'm sad to say I have no pics for you. I'm sure we'll take lots with Daddy home with us the next 4 days. Woo hooo!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone!

Well hello again. Easton's nap yesterday ended up being a lovely 2 and a half hours. I wish I could predict when he'd do things like that. Then I'd be more able to squeeze a nap in for myself. Or maybe digi-scrapping. Oh well. After his nap we headed to The Mart as planned. It was crazy-busy like you'd expect 3 days before Turkey Day. I think the crowds and hecticness (is that a word?) got to both Easton and I as we weren't in our best spirits. Part of my mood surely had to come from my pants. Yes, I said my pants. I would've liked to have taken them off right there in Wal-Mart. Stupid mom pants. I had to bust out my maternity jeans simply because my other jeans were still hanging up to dry in the laundry room. A decision I regretted early on. Those danged maternity pants just will NOT stay up and I'm walking around with one hand holding up my pants and the other pushing the cart. Aaarrrrgh! So annoying! Hopefully when my belly is bigger they'll have more to grab on to? A girl can dream...

Anyway, when we got home it was late and time for me to start dinner. So I did. Only I forgot that rice takes a long time to steam. So I didn't start it on time and all of my dinner time line was thrown off. Easton ate some other stuff (not like he ever wants to have what we're having anyway) and we put him to bed before we sat down to our chili rice in front of "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" special.

E is going to bed so well again these days but it makes me kinda sad. I've always tried to relish each stage and not rush him to grow up. I know how quickly time passes. Well, he's wanting me to rock him pre-bed less and less these days. It's always been part of our routine and now he just acts goofy or uncomfortable and fidgety until I lay him in his bed. Then he's out. Sometimes he'll even ask, "Bed?" :( He's growing up and that means we're losing some of our precious (to me) cuddle time. One day he'll be big and hairy with a deep voice and he couldn't fit on my lap even if he wanted to. I gotta try to make the most of it while there's still time.

Anyhoo...as I've mentioned before, Easton LOVES to watch "monies" of himself on the computer. He's so independent that I'll often find him trying to turn them on himself:

He did the same thing at my mom's the other night--climbing up into the computer chair and clicking away at the mouse and keyboard. Goober.

Today was the day rumored to be 73 degrees. Well, it's not. I was hoping to make it to the zoo if it ever warmed up this morning but it hadn't gotten above 50 so we made other plans. First, we lingered over breakfast. I must've been annoying Easton or something because he began shoving wadded up napkin in his ears:


So far he doesn't stick things up his nose. Can't wait for those emergency room visits, eh?

So, this morning instead of zooing I made some stuffed peppers and stuck 'em in the Crock Pot for tonight's dinner. I only put half the batch in the pot and froze the other half. Genius! I love dishes I can do that with. Cooking with a toddler is not always feasible, you know? We do okay most of the time, though. Anyway, after the peppers were started I had Easton help me throw a batch of bread mix in the bread machine. We've got the timer all set and both the peppers and Italian herb bread should be done when we get home from swimming tonight. Mmmmm. Domestic goddess--that's me. :)

Later I tried a potential Christmas outfit on Easton (so you can't see the pics yet...sorry!) and I asked him if he wanted to "pose like this"? and I demonstrated a dashing hands-on-hips stance. He had something else in mind and started to say, "Pose" with his arms crossed across his chest instead. Much better, I agreed. He heard me recounting the story to Jason via cell phone and from the back seat of the car I heard him saying, "Pose" and repeating his move. Cuteness.

I stuck him back in his regular clothes and finally snapped a picture of him doing this:

Our little monkey does that kind of stuff all the time. Off our bed, in between the couches, at Gymsters...Monkey, I tell ya.

He's now down for his nap and I think we'll be heading out shopping this afternoon for other potential Christmas attire and he needs some shoes. However, shopping can be dangerous as I never know what I might find I need to have. Never for me, though. I hate shopping for me. And with that, my friends, I'll bid you a fond farewell.

A Re-Cap with Sub-Headings

It seems I'm getting into the habit of taking Sundays off from blogging, eh? Kinda nice, though. For me anyway. Well, getting back into everything...

DATE NIGHT
We dropped Easton off at Gramoo's Saturday afternoon and headed to Cinema Grill as planned for our movie and meal. We saw "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams. Yes, it just came out but is already out of regular theaters. Therefore we had low expectations and so were somewhat surprised that it was better than we thought. My food was worse. Ugh...the waiter dude must have slipped some Visine into my root beer or something as I was stuck in the bathroom for part of the flick. Yowsa. Actually, sitting there in my movie seat I honestly thought I might be having contractions. I never really had contractions with Easton (well, I had them apparently when I was hooked up to the monitors but none that I really could feel...anyhoo...). I'd have a horrible cramp for a minute, then I'd get a break, then I'd cramp again...I decided I've got to just head to el baño and see what's up. Well, not long afterwards I learned it was indeed not contractions (whew!), just abdominal cramps and I sent Jason an "I'm gonna be awhile" text message from my perch. Eek! No fun but it was very short lived. At least I had that going for me. And the toilet seat covers. Thankful for those too.

Easton did great with his Gramoo and Auntie Lauren. She has the longest sectional couch you've probably ever seen and that was one of his favorite things apparently: running the length of the couch. It did look fun. He also shared some new words: 'puter being one of them. My mom told me she'd say, "Where's Lauren?" and he'd say, "puter" (computer). I was surprised as that was a new one for him. Yay! He also said, "Thomas" as in Thomas the Train and "Jamba!" as in the traditional Swahili greeting that he heard on a Dora the Explorer commercial. Fancy.

We hung out after the movie for a bit at my mom's and then took E home for bed. Jason had an angry tummy that night too but luckily not like I had. His went away with sleep. Yay!

FOOTBALL DAY
Sunday was same ol' same ol' around here...Saints football in the a.m. and Broncos in the p.m. Actually the Broncos played at night. Jason and I spent much of the morning in the kitchen alternately chopping veggies for his quesadillas and my pico de gallo. SOOOOO much prep for something that takes all of 10 minutes to eat...don't you hate that? They were super delish though and we were too full for our dinner. Oh well. To top it all off, both of our teams ended up losing yesterday too. Boo!

After Easton woke up from his nap Jason decided to take him to the nearby park. Just the two of them. I went in to E's room and Jason had E looking so cute that I could not stop laughing. I think I gave both my guys a complex from all the laughing I was doing. There wasn't much in the way of clean clothes in E's closet and I'm usually the one that dresses E or at least bosses Jason around as to what to dress him in. This time it was alllllllll J's choosing and E was in some cute navy cords that he's never worn before and a little preppy Henley shirt with a vest over the top and a hat that Easton wanted to wear. Too cute, I tell you. The pants had big back pockets giving the illusion that Easton actually has a rear end. He looked adorable and told me, "Swing swing" as that's what they were heading to the park to do.

Whilst they were away I got to cleaning. I actually got a lot done in the 45 minutes they were out of the house. It's different than when they're just sitting in the living room. I liked it.

Apparently when it was time to leave the park, Easton threw a small fit and flung himself on the ground. Jason said he walked away to where Easton couldn't see him anymore and rather than freaking out that he was "alone" Easton calmed down and continued to simply lay on his back playing with his vest zipper. Jason guessed E would have laid there a good 10 minutes if he would've let him. Okay, that's a little scary...he's a little too independent. He probably could've found his way home when he was ready :)

TODAY
This morning Easton was up bright and early again--before 7 but he's been fine. We had our 25 week OB appointment and an ultrasound today. The highlights? Well, first was the ultrasound and Easton got a little scared. He got scared from Backyardigans yesterday too when one of them wore a sheet to be a ghost. How does he know that's scary? How? Anyway, the images of "baby brother" on the monitor are also a little ghostly and alien-like so he cuddled up with Daddy. He was sitting on J's lap in the ultrasound room and when he got scared he simply turned himself around so he was straddling J and put his little head on Dada's chest. Awwww. We let him know it was okay and that "brother" doesn't really look like that. He is very sweet.

What else? Well, it is still a boy and he's now measuring 1 week and 5 days ahead of the due date. So, certainly not having any growth restriction thus far. Yay! At the ultrasound he was also properly vertex (head down) but he's got room to flip still (and he does).

The actual part with the doctor was kind of lame as always. She asked if we had questions and mine were, "What do we do before 30 weeks if something happens? Where would I go/get sent?" and so we got the likely answers to those. Then I asked, "When will we schedule my C-section?" and the answer to that was maybe on my next visit or two. Yay! I want to have a goal date to at least shoot for. And I don't want to get stuck with a lame day--we want the Friday 8 days before we're due.

She measured my uterus (25, which is where we're at) and said everything looked good. She didn't listen to the heartbeat as we had just heard and seen it in the ultrasound (144). I've gained 3 pounds since my last visit which means a net gain of 8 pounds this pregnancy so far--not too bad. And a gain of just 3 pounds means I'm not retaining any water from swelling yet. Yay! My BP was still nice and low at 100/70 (not sure how accurate she was being though...you know how hurried they can be sometimes). My first bout with swelling started right around this point last time (at 26 weeks, really)... We had flown into New Orleans, driven up to Baton Rouge, drove back to N.O. the next day to sit at the Broncos/Saints game, then drove all the way over to The Alabamaws house in, you guessed it, Alabama. We noticed the swelling in my legs that night--I think being so very sedentary for 2 days had something to do with it as well as the change to "Southern cuisine" (salty!!) but we'll never really know just what started things. Anyway, no signs of any swelling yet at all.

Sometime before my next appointment I have to go in for my gestational diabetes test and also to have some blood work done to check for anemia--both typical tests for this stage in a pregnancy.

After Easton wakes up from his nap we've got to head out for some groceries. I want to get everything before it gets too too crazy with Thanksgiving peeps. Sadly both Gymsters and Kindermusik are cancelled this week for the holiday but we still have swimming tomorrow night and Circle Time on Wednesday. We'll have to find other things to get us out of the house. It's supposed to be a wacky 73 degrees here tomorrow! See ya!

"Hap B Day 'Gette!"

That's what Easton got to say to his G-Ma on the phone today. He won't say "G-Ma" though so we had to go with 'Gette. Anyway, a very happy birthday to her!

So, yesterday afternoon Easton was acting all cranky and warm. I first knew something was amiss when he wouldn't eat his free cookie from the grocery store. He nibbled at it a bit then gave it to me telling me "all done". Hmmmm...he usually eats those despite not eating much else in this world. I took his temp and it was 101.2 without adding the degree they tell me to for taking it in his armpit. *Sigh* I'm thinking he might be one of the 5-10% of individuals that get a fever after the flu shot. Right now the temp and the crankies were his only symptoms and he seems fine today. I never repeated his temp though so I'm not sure if it's gone. He doesn't seem sick so I don't see the point in checking right now.

I had another bright idea from my toddler book yesterday:

A fort! It said, "On sheet stripping day let 'em make a fort since the sheets are already off the bed and needing a wash" (or something to that effect). Good idea! Easton did not think it was as fun as I had hoped. Maybe it was the fever? Doubtful.

It was fun for me...sort of. Jason got to clean it up! Ha ha!

At dinner Easton did really well working on his noodles. We had spaghetti and he was determined to do it with a fork but it is quite difficult for a little guy. He kept at it though and we were proud of him. He was proud of himself too. I think he's starting to overuse the "I did it!" He says it when he didn't even do anything sometimes. Or when he did something easy. Oh well. Self-confidence is important in a child.

This morning both our vehicles were in need of oil changes. We took them in bright and early and then headed to the grocery store that sits in the same strip mall/parking lot as the oil changers. Easton held both of our hands and we walked there and got some doughnuts and a water for Easton--Starbucks for J and I. Then, like a big bunch of losers we actually sat in the grocery store's little area with tables behind their Starbucks counter and ate our breakfast. Easton sat in a big boy chair and he did SOOOOO well. We were so pleased. After we were done with our breakfast looking like sad homeless people we moseyed on through the store letting Easton point out produce and then animals in the pet care aisle. The pet care aisle had brown pawprints stuck to the floor and Easton kept calling them "a clue!" which, if you've ever seen "Blue's Clues", is pretty cute. Blue (the dog) puts her pawprint on 3 "clues" and you have to figure out what she's trying to tell you. Fun.

Later we took Easton in for his first pro haircut (see...I told you it'd be soon). We took him to one of those fancy "4 kids" places where you can watch movies and sit in cars. Well, he didn't get to sit in a car but they did pop in a Blue's Clues vid for him. Here he is getting his cape put on. They had Daddy do it so he wouldn't be too scared:

Just a little off the top:

Buzzing the back:

He cleaned up real nice. Actually he did really really well the whole time. He did cry for a bit when she was buzzing around his ears but it's noisy and scary. He stopped as soon as she stopped and luckily she did that part at the very very end. Some kids there were carrying on like you wouldn't believe. One mom was sitting there crying while her son and husband attempted a cut. Geesh, lady...get a grip!...it wasn't even the kids first hair cut or anything. Jason and I both agreed we could NEVER work somewhere like that. Easton's hair-doer said sometimes the kids will hit them and stuff and the parents don't do a thing! What!?!? Those tantrumy kids were the ones that got to sit in the cars while Eastie got a dumb ol' chair. They put him in an empty car at the end to take his picture, though. Uh, thanks? In the end they gave us a blurry Polaroid of him sitting in the car in a card with some of his locks of hair. Pretty sweet. He got a lollipop and we were on our merry way.

It was no big deal but it was quite crowded and I'm not too sure if it was worth the cost. That's one reason we went, though...to see if we should continue buzzing him at home or to take him to those kinds of joints.

This afternoon Easton is going to Gramoo's house for a couple of hours and Jason and I get to have a date...it's been awhile. We're going to this place called Cinema Grill where you can watch a 2nd run movie and eat all at the same time. The food's not fantastic or anything but it's kind of fun. Mostly we're just looking for the time together.

I'm sure I'll update again soon! Toodles!

Our Safari

Easton's nap yesterday ended up being a mere 45 minutes. So, I brought him into my bed and we watched a DVD we got at the library. Then he was rearing to go so what did we do?


A stuffed animal safari complete with TP roll binoculars! Before you go, "Wow! What an awesome idea she had!" I have to admit its from the toddler book in my side bar. I found some fun tips and ideas in there. Anyway, no matter whose ideas they were we had fun and played for quite a long time. Easton would wait in the hall while I hid and re-hid the "amohs". Good times...here's more:
Wanting the dog to use the binocs too:

Seeking out more hidden animals while wrangling a wild duck:

Standing above the rescued animals:

Chillin' in between safaris:

Unfortunate safari hat hair:


I even made a couple of fairly long videos from the hunt. Probably only family wants to watch these as they're quite lengthy. Click here and here.

After all that fun we waited for Daddy to come home and then it was off to swimming. Easton and Daddy worked on paddling as their skill du jour. We fed Easton some dinnery snacks and then got him ready for bed. As I rocked him he went through his evening in rewind for me. He told me: Jesus, Amen (we had just prayed, yes). Then he said, "Raisin, cracker, 'ummus, milk" (his dinner) and then he said, "Splash splash, Dada" (swimming lessons). How fun...love his little memory. And I love that he wanted to talk about his day. Sort of.

Jason and I waited till E was down before we had our Crock Potted din din in front of Survivor. J thinks we should make our solo meals a weekly thing. We'll see. I get pretty hungry. :)

This morning he and I made "muh das". That means muffins. And of course they were in festive muffin cups: autumn leaves.



And ate them with silly burp cloths on Easton's head.


My little ham.

We also started working on a Thanksgiving craft but it is more involved than I would have thought. So, we didn't finish it yet. But I did want to share this picture of Easton's toe:

That is still what his toe looks like after his September 26th block injury. Geesh. I think it looked better back then.

He went down soooo well for his nap. He was nice and cuddly and not silly while we rocked but he seemed unable to get comfy--someone's big ol' belly in the way, perhaps? Anyway, I put him down and he conked right out. Good boy. I'm hoping for more than yesterday's 45 minutes. I still need to shower and then we'll head out to return a book at the library, hit the grocery store for more pico de gallo ingredients (J's making quesadillas this weekend MMMM!), and we might try to finish up our craft. That'll do it for now so ta ta!