I Think I Need Sub-Headings Today

Gosh, there's just so much material to work with right now, I really do think I'll experiment with some sub-categories.

MOTHER'S DAY RE-CAP
So, I had a great second Mother's Day. Easton and Jason were such gentleman and made me feel really special yesterday. E wanted to be the first to wish me a happy mother's day so he woke up at 1 am crying. Then again at 3. Great. At least he slept till 9 am to make up for it. Or did he make up for it? We were counting on going out to an early breakfast to try to beat some of the crowds. No such luck with him sleeping so late. We waited at least half an hour but I suppose it could have been worse. My breakfast was delish as I'd hoped. Mmmmm, gotta love IHOP.

Then it was back home where I had some gifts waiting for me. A new bread box! Yay, my counter is so less cluttered without packages of bread, rolls, and bananas falling off the toaster. Then, I also got the zoo membership I'd requested. Woo hoo! Eastie and I are planning to go tomorrow. Wasn't that a great gift? What a great year-long mother-son thing, huh? Glad I thought of it Ha ha ha. I also got a really touching letter from the love of my life. He is currently "off" cards. He has a way with words so it's better coming from him anyway. It totally made me tear up. It was really sweet...glad I married that guy.

After present time I decided I wanted to finally plant my container gardens so we headed outside where the boys played, Jason called his own mom, and I got my hands in the dirt. Easton joined me eventually for some fun in the soil. What a mess! But fun.

Nap time was supposed to be next. I nursed E and he was quite drowsy but then out of nowhere he threw up!!! It was an easy clean up so I still layed him down but he didn't want to sleep anymore. Not good. He ended up yakking again all over which required a bed and wardrobe change and then a bubble bath for destinkifying purposes. Eew. Finally he went to sleep for a good nap. Poor guy, I don't know if he was sick again/still or if it was something else.

Dinner was from the crock pot. I made my own Mother's Day dinner. J would have made it if I would have asked but it's really no biggie. I also made chocoloate chip cookies for myself for dessert. We had originally talked about an ice cream outing again but with E's questionable stomach we decided not to risk the rich creamy ice cream. Instead he got bites of cookie, minus the chocolate...you know 'cause that's "safer" right? We're silly.

Before long it was off to bed yet again for The E. What a great Mother's Day! Here's a collage from the day's events. You'll notice I'm wearing my new favorite shirt again. It's kind of fancy so it makes me feel special...is it sad that a shirt can make me feel that way?


But wait, there's more...

MEMORABLE MOMMY MOMENTS
Okay, just a few Easton anecdotes:
- yesterday he was so sweet and came over to me saying, "Mah, Mama, mah." "Mah" is what he currently calls a kiss (it's the sound he makes). So he came over and initiated kisses! It melted my heart!

- also yesterday we were about to go down the stairs but Easton had a book with him, he got down on all fours to go down the stairs like he does but quickly thought better of it and went to put his book away on the shelf in his room! He didn't just leave it there...he put it away where it goes! Hallelujah, is he my son or what? Happy Mother's Day to me, my toddler put something away! On his own!!

- the other day Easton was eating a graham cracker in the living room. All of a sudden he wasn't eating it anymore. I asked him, "Where did you put your cracker?" To which he responded by opening up the lid of his farm and showing me the cracker inside. Goofball! But I was SO pleased that he understood.

- last night we watched the "Mama" montage Jason made for me last year. Easton started singing along!!! He's never "sung" before! But he made some singing sounds and would sometimes sing "mama" at the parts where it said "mama". We were so tickled. It was great! Gosh we sure love that guy!

MY LITTLE GENIUS
He continues to impress me with his smarts. Today he was signing nearly complete sentences, people! It was another chocolate chip muffin morning (in my defense I do put flax in them to make them nominally "healthier"). Well anyway, after a few bites Easton shook his head "no" to the muffin then signed "fish". Since I'm looking forward to the day when he can tell me what he's willing to eat I jumped on the chance and got up to get the bag of Goldfish. He did his excited nod when he saw I understood and proceeded to gobble up some Goldfish. When there were no more on his tray he signed to me, "All gone. Eat. More." I was aghast! He never speaks that completely. This is crazy! Although, eventually he started throwing them so at that point I took them away and told him in my best Supernanny voice that "throwing food is not acceptable". I sure told him. Goober.

Okay, he also says "diaper" now. It's taken me a couple days to be sure. It started when I asked him, "did you have a poo poo?" and he answered with "duh duh" and headed towards upstairs (for changing). We usually call diapers "didys" around here and that's what I think he's saying. It sounds remarkably similar to what he calls animals. But, he's proven that he knows "diaper" now. We bought a new pack at Wal-Mart today and he said it then too. I'm telling you, peeps, he's a smart one. At least we think he is which is really all that matters.

In the mornings (or afternoons if we're feeling lazy) I can tell him, "Let's go get dressed" and he'll head to his room and open the closet. Usually he goes for the dirty clothes basket in there...what does that seem to say about me as a parent? Yikes! :) Really he just likes to play with it (you've seen the pictures before) while I pick out his outfit. But, anyway...I just love how he understands pretty much whatever you tell him these days. Even if he can't really communicate back.

But, oh wait, he can: this whole signing biz is better than I thought it would be. Now that he's actually doing it, that is. He is a signing maniac. He has sort of invented his own signs for "all gone/all done" and "drink" which is different than milk, mind you. But, still...we can communicate with him on a whole new level which is the whole point but, like, a week ago (or whatever) we didn't have this ability. A ton of parents sign with their kids now but I hope it catches on even more. We need to learn some new signs to keep up. This is where we go to learn them: http://www.commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm It's ASL like we "require" and there is a friggin' ton of signs. I think I'm going to learn some fruit signs next, because he calls them all "banana". Sometimes he tells me "nana" when he's hungry but he doesn't want a banana, he wants apple. Hopefully he can learn some way of differentiating. Whoa, big word for me. Well, anyways...I really think this is all for today. It's all for now anyway. I'm hooked on this whole blogging thing. I've got the blogging bug.

I'm about to change the video on the sidebar...the Easton one, not the Rainbox one. The next one will be from 5/17 of last year. It's his silly shrieking one when I "hide" the toy. The picture is from today (5/15) last year. He's pretty much always been able to bear his weight on his legs so we propped him up standing in his crib. Enjoy...

Happy Mother's Day!

Most of the visitors to my little blog are moms themselves so I just want to wish all of you a

It's my second Mother's Day and my boys are taking me out to breakfast. IHOP. I picked. They were willing to take me somewhere "fancier" but I love their cheese blintzes with strawberries. Yummy yummerson. I'd pick IHOP breakfast any day and since it's "my" day they have to oblige, right?

For Mother's Day I am hoping for a zoo membership and also for Jason to snap a winning photo of me and my little one today. Stay tuned...And again, a very happy day to all the mothers! I'm honored to be one of you.

Mommy's Eve

Well, I think Easton's tummy bug is gone. He slept 12 hours straight through last night (woo hoo!) and woke up completely happy and seemed back to his usual self. He even ate normally today (for E). Whew!

So, because we were all healthy (minus E's sporadic cough) Jason wanted to do something today. He said, "Isn't it 'free day' somewhere?" Why, yes...every Saturday is free at the art museum. And off we went. Little did we know how lame it was going to be. Floors 2-7 were closed till October because they're building another building. So, the only thing on Level 1 was an "exhibit" about the new building plans, models, blueprints, and other boring things. Ick (if you ask me anyway). Next, we headed down to the basement and they had a tiny kids area where we helped Easton color a disc to spin on a top. He liked the coloring and got marker all on his hands. He also liked the spinny top. That was about all there was to do. Seriously. Boresville. *snore*

Because the musuem was so dull and we had already forked a whole $1.50 into the meter we thought we'd stop by the enormous Denver Public Library. My goodness that place was huge, but again...not much to do...not that we expected to find loads of fun at a library, it was just something to do. Moving on, we thought we'd let Easton play outside at this park (where they held the March of Dimes walk) but, without all the organized activity going on that park is just plain sketchy with some iffy people. Needless to say, we didn't even let him out of the stroller and simply cruised on past to the car.

Darn, so we came on back up to our neck of the woods and stopped for a Mother's Day Eve lunch at a place called Tokyo Joe's. I had really been wanting to try it. It was okay just nothing special--unfortunately. The idea was good, just not the execution. Too bad...I was wanting something mighty delish. I'm looking forward to my special Mother's Day meal out tomorrow even more now.

Our afternoon and evening was same ol' same ol'. E took a nap. We had dinner. The boys played fun games. I did some laundry. Oh, but Easton was cute playing "Baby Net" with Jason. After they stopped E got all the "equipment" back out to play again and got in position. Jason gave in and E did this (click it for video). He's also pretty cute in this video taking a dive into the pile of pillows.

Just as a side note, Jason was leaving to go mow the lawn this morning and asked Easton for a kiss. Easton got up off the floor and gave his daddy the request smooch. It was too sweet. I love when he's willing to give kisses. I asked for one after that and he just blew me one. Still cute...I love being a mama!

Sick Again?!?!

Oy, do I feel like a horrible mother tonight. All day I was complaining about Easton's behavior...now it looks like he might not have been feeling well. Poor guy. This morning I noticed the burp cloth he cuddles when he sleeps was all moist and nasty. I didn't know when he'd thrown up other than between when I put him down last night and when he got up this morning. No big deal though, occasionally he still has reflux issues. I thought nothing of it.

Then, he had two mushy poos today (sorry, TMI right?). Anyway, while the mushiness is fairly unusual for The E, that alone didn't make me think anything yet either. Ummm, duh Kristin...add his behavior today on top of all that, the part about him waking up whining twice during his nap, and the fact that he wouldn't eat much at all--well, a good mother might have noticed something was up then. Nope, not me. It took me until he yakked all over me at bedtime tonight for me to finally figure it out. Bad, bad mommy.

I feel awful because E probably feels awful. We had just gotten him all ready for bed, Jason was about to leave for practice and I was settling in the rocking chair with Easton for a few quiet pre-bed minutes. Then, ...yuck. I was SOOOOOOO glad Jason hadn't left yet. Easton and I were both a mess. J got E cleaned up, I got me cleaned up, started the wash and brought Easton the glass of water J requested for him. I need a shower now but I'm just trying to stomach the stench of myself until I'm sure E is asleep. I would hate for him to need me when I was unavailable.

I don't know how he's potentially sick again. He's always been rather healthy and I like to think it's 'cause I'm such a germophobe. We've had to relax a ton now that Easton is mobile and independent. I guess that's how he picked up his cough (which he still has) and now this. I suppose whatever he's got right now could be a result of the cough/cold or perhaps a food "poisioning" issue (very doubtful though). Man, I hope it ends soon...he can't stand to lose any weight. Plus, being sick just plain sucks. For all of us.

Well, onto happier notes. Our ice cream date was a success. I didn't realize how many of my favorite flavors have nuts in them until I tried to pick one for us to share today. We still aren't giving Easton nuts. Anyway, I decided on mint chocolate chip since he loves York Peppermint Patties as much as I do. It was a hit! Last time he had ice cream he thought it was too cold, not this time. We sat outside and ate. He sat in his own chair like a big boy and I offered him licks of ice cream cone. He kept signing "more". Click here for video.

This signing business is really pretty cool. I'm glad we've restarted it all again because he's really caught on now. He is SO proud that he's able to tell us something like "milk" and we understand and respond. He signed "fish" today when I showed him the sign and asked if he wanted a goldfish cracker. Then he'd keep doing it for more. Yay!

So, anyway, after the ice cream I decided to take him back to the park from yesterday since we were being happy friends again. We had fun of course. Here's more video.

I'm just so bummed I missed that he might be sick. I feel awful and smell awful. I guess I should go shower off all the chocolate milk puke. Blech. Good night!

This is Feeling "Long" Again

First things first, it appears Easton is having an "off" day today. It pains me to admit it, but I think he is happier without me around right now. He didn't want to get out of his crib this morning. Fine. I gave him a couple of books and came back after a few minutes. Then, he threw fits all through "breakfast". I put that in quotes because he really didn't eat anything. So, we moved on to the living room to play and he kept up with the 'tude so I gave up and tried putting him down for a nap. Apparently he didn't want that either so I just let him play upstairs here on his own while I also did my own thing. We checked in with each other occasionally and he was much much happier that way. Leaving him on his own like that for the amount of time I did makes me feel rather guilty but he did much better so I guess it was okay? He'd come visit me from time to time and we'd watch a clip on the computer or I'd poke my head in on him if I hadn't seen him in a few minutes. It worked out okay I s'pose. Right now he's down for his real nap and I sure hope he wakes up out of this funk.

It also seems that his super sleeping streak is over. Darn. I know all good things must come to an end, but it was nice while it lasted. Yesterday he woke up early, then only took a short nap. Oh well. After his nap though, we took him to this really neat-o park near our house (we had to drive there, though). He even wore a hat!! He took it off and threw it a couple of times but he wore it almost the whole time! And we still had fun! Of course I took many pictures and videos and made one of my "famous" montages. Click here to see it. On the way home he was so worn out he fell asleep right in the middle of doing this (that was a link to click). We heard him doing it back in his carseat and he stopped so suddenly that we peeked in the mirror and he was asleep! His little finger was still on his lip! We woke him up thinking if he was that tired we'd put him down for a real nap when we got home. Nope, even though he had such a short nap earlier he wanted nothing to do with a second one. Too bad. But his mood was fine till bedtime.

But, I was exhausted towards the end of the day myself. Worked out well for me because Jason offered to make dinner! It was the mexican pizza on a Boboli crust I was planning on making but it was nice to not have to do a durn thing but eat it.

Easton gobbled it up too. He loves taco flavored meat. He'll beg for bites of our burritos and stuff. Hey, if the kid wants meat we're more than happy to oblige. That pizza was SO good. I ate half of it by myself last night. And had some beer too. Yum-O! Oh, that reminds me. I discovered a new "chick beer". Jason and I tried to think of something clever to call beer for gals but failed miserably: "broads brew" and "ladies lager" were our only real attempts. So, anyway, it is a very light beer with a honey raspberry flavor. It is Spanish Peaks Black Dog Honey Raspberry. I bought myself a little six pack of it. I'm glad it was good.

Finally we have nice weather on a Friday but Easton and I aren't able to take advantage yet. We're waiting on a UPS delivery of a big speaker cabinet for J's bass. So far it's not here. I hope it comes by the time E wakes up. I'd love to be able to take him outside somewhere if he's still being a mini-punk this afternoon. It'll probably come while I'm in the shower. Such is life, ya know?

Well, I'm looking forward to the weekend. J's got new band practice tonight and tomorrow night. Then of course Sunday is my second Mother's Day...yay for me!

UPDATE
Okay, E's being a little bit of a poo head still. He woke up whining twice during his nap but went back to sleep after a few minutes. Grrr. Hate days like this. Maybe he's getting it out of his system so he can be Super All Day on Mother's Day. Wishful thinking never hurt anyone.

My real reason(s) for updating were that I forgot to mention Easton has a new word. "Up". Jason told me he was saying it yesterday but I never heard. Then he said it to me a few times today. It just sounds like "Uh" and it's accompanied by the arm motion for "up" too. Woo hoo!

So, the other reason is the new "feature" in my sidebar. It was Jason's lovely idea. Sort of what Easton was doing/looking like at this time last year. Right now it's a cute picture from exactly one year ago today. Pre-toofers and all. If you click on it, it's a short video of him rolling over. He could roll over way before we finally got a video but oh well. The video is from May 9th...the day he turned 4 months old.

Alrighty then, now that I've got all that straightened up I think Easton and I are going to go out for ice cream. Maybe he'll be my friend if I can bribe him with a yummy treat. Oh, J's speaker came...the doorbell rang not 2 minutes after Easton woke up. Whew...we're free!

This Has the Potential to Be Long...

Okay, so much to say today. Well, to start have you noticed I changed my music video? It is a Jason Setzer original performed by his former band, Rainbox. Fancy, huh? The quality isn't great, I know, and they have the camera on the bass player during J's solo. Oh well. I'm glad to have it.

Speaking of Jason and music...this fancy pants band he's been playing with has asked him to join and he pretty much has. But, as a bass player! Now, Jason is musically gifted and can play a variety of instruments, I've just always known him as a guitar player. And an amazing one at that. Click here for a video montage of my talented man rocking a few guitar solos as proof. Anyway, I've never heard him play the bass in a band, just around the house. Apparently he fancies himself an even better bass player than guitar! I did not know that till the last few weeks. Impressive, huh? I guess he's got some nifty unusual style in addition to just plain talent. But, this band liked him and he's in. The "issues" we're having now are that this band has an upcoming tour. It's only a week, but still...a week without my J is LONG. Not to mention a week without a break (for me) from Big E. Argh! A week just seems too long to both of us. Now we're just trying to figure out what to do. The prospects are quite exciting, this band has a pretty large following, even if it is just local for now. I'm very proud of Jason and these opportunities he's earned.

So, on to other things in the Setzer fam. Well, after just one and a half viewings of the new signing DVD, Easton is correctly doing 3 of them. He's doing "milk" the right way now (he used to do his own version), he is also doing "more" and "eat". Yay oh yay! He also tried doing "cat" this morning. It's awesome. He's being SO fun today. It's Jason's day off and my boys just have a blast when they're together. It's the sweetest thing. Click here for some fun video from today.
So, these are my new eyebrows. I took them in for some spring cleaning this morning. The lady asked me if I wanted her to do my lip too. Feeling only slightly offended I said, "No thanks, being blonde and all..." To which she said, "You sure?" I still declined, even more offended. Once I got home Jason confirmed I made the right decision. Apparently my 'stache is not even noticable. Whew!

Oh and also to get me ready for summer.

The color is Electric Orchid. I just love the names they come up with for nail polish.

Okay, I think I'm all set for the day's blog...it wasn't as long as I thought it might be. Thanks for stopping by!

My Feet Feel Funny

Ha ha ha...Jason left the house this morning in his slippers! It wasn't till he went to hit the brakes at a stop light near our house that he noticed something "off" with his feet and he looked down and saw his bright purple LSU slippers still on his feet! He briefly contemplated wearing them for the day, but once he thought about the jewel color he turned around for home to put on some more acceptable footwear. Sure gave me a laugh this morning, though.

So, you may notice the new book in my sidebar. I admit, I judged a book by it's cover. It looked appealing at the grocery store so I wrote down the name and got it from the library. I really don't know much about it yet, I'm just glad to be done with that last book. I hurried up and finished it last night so I could return it at Circle Time today.

The munchkin bully was at Circle Time today too but we made sure to steer clear of him. The only other interesting thing at Circle Time was when the leader was reading a book about rabbits and raindrops to the kids and E saw a picture of a rabbit and shouted out "doggie". It was sort of funny because the other little rascals were being very quiet and good, and they probably use the right word for rabbit too. Oh well. He's younger than those kids.

We also got a great DVD while at the library this morning. We already watched some of it before naptime and Easton was much more interested in it than the dumb one we got from Netflix. This DVD has other little ones doing the signs and saying the words too. It's pretty cute. Plus they have a nice lady demonstrating the signs as well so you know what the proper "non-kid" version is. My mommy friend Erin told me about it and her 19 month old is apparently a great signer. It was important to us to do ASL signs with Easton. There are other books and vidoes out there that have some other sign "language" for use with your baby but we wanted ASL. Maybe with these videos he (and we) might pick up on some more signs. We can always hope. If not, then at least it's "educational" entertainment. We started signing with The E when he was 6 months old but he never really did any himself even though he knew what the signs meant (but he also knew what the spoken words meant too so what was the point?). Anyhoo, we sort of gave up on signing when he learned to speak or otherwise communicate all the words we had initially tried to teach him (mama, dada, ball, milk, eat, more, cat). Now I think we'll try again, I'm especially hoping he can learn to sign what he might be interested in eating. I'm getting tired of wasting food.

Speaking of food, I need to make myself some lunch and call my hubby back. Ta ta!

16 Months Old Today

Okay, this is probably just going to be a big ol' brag on my amazing son so that is your warning :) My book on development only goes through 12 months so I don't really know what he's "supposed" to be doing but I can tell you what he does do. I have an Amercian Academy of Pediatrics book that says what he should be able to do by the end of the second year. Well, we're not even halfway through the second year and he's been walking for almost 6 months now, he can walk backwards no problem, he can spin in a circle till he's dizzy, he can run (even if it's a little wonky looking), he can kick a ball, he can stand on tiptoe, he can throw a great tantrum, he can communicate somewhat, he's starting to use a spoon, can follow instructions (when he wants to), can climb just about anything that he's not too short for...okay, so he's developing just fine is my point. He surprises us with something new just about every day. We absolutely love who he is becoming.

The other day we made a list of all the words he can say (his own version of, anyway): ball, mail, mama, bye bye, night night, down, banana, doggie, juice, no no, uh oh, and all gone. Those words he'll use correctly and unprompted. He overgeneralizes a little now (it's common for this age, apparently) and he calls all animals (and babies) "doggie" and he uses "banana" for apples and grapes too. Just like he currently calls us both "mama". He used to say "dada" but stopped. There are a few other words he used to use just fine but for some reason he doesn't anymore: more, cat, bonk, and bam. Strange. Every once in awhile he'll throw in another word (like "jump" or "nose") but it's not one of his regular words. He has other ways of communicating like a few signs, or he makes sounds: a couple animal sounds, car/truck sounds, tongue clicking, "mmmmm" with a lip smack if he's hungry, or he'll saw "Awww" when he gives a hug or cuddles. Sometimes I can't believe how much we're able to communicate with each other these days.

Today at the store he said and waved "bye bye" to the people checking out ahead of us. And that was unprompted too. He's so darn cute! While we were driving in the car I heard him start laughing so I looked over at the car next to us and the woman was making silly faces for him. How fun! He's such a blast to have around most of the time.

I'm feeling like such a proud mama today if you couldn't tell. Here is another musical movie montage I made of him in his toybox yesterday. It's nothing fancy, sorry. Check him out at the very end being a big faker. It was too funny not to laugh. Big fake sad boy.

Mondays

After a weekend with Jason home, Mondays usually require a bit of an adjustment. Easton and I often like to have a special Monday breakfast to help with that. Today was no exception: chocolate chip muffins. Yummy! Then, we spent some time playing, making the bed, having a snack before it was naptime yet again. Once he wakes it'll be time for more playing, trying to get him to eat, trying to start whatever it is we're having for dinner...you know, life.

While Eastie is napping I was able to grab a quick shower and watch "Grey's Anatomy" on TiVo. I'm definitely liking it more. The 2 episode season finale starts next week. I wonder if they'll have re-runs this summer for me to catch up on?

Since I have nothing else to say today I'll wrap it up but leave you with my new little digi-scrapped page:

We had some fun this morning spinning around in the office chair. I tried to get him to spin the chair with me in it but he just wanted to sit on my lap to spin together instead. He'd put his little cheek on my chest and snuggle while we spun 'round and 'round. Love that little guy!

On My Own...Again

Well, the fancy pants band from last night invited Jason back to jam again tonight so he went. I did E's bedtime routine by myself this evening and he went right to sleep (whew!) so now I'm flying solo again. I wish I was feeling a little inspiration to digi-scrap but I'm not. I think I'll read my book. It's obviously not a real "page turner" otherwise I would have finished it long ago. It's finally getting a little better now that I'm over halfway through. I doubt I'll be continuing the series.

This afternoon we had our friends Samantha and Brian over for dinner. (Hi Sam!) That's E with his head up Samantha's pant leg. :) Easton really enjoyed them, they're going to be great parents someday. Samantha was even nice enough to put food on E's tray all through dinner. And he gobbled it up! He loves showing off for company, though. It was the first time E had met them, even though they live nearby we haven't seen one another for 2 years...right after J and I got engaged was the last time. It's sad, really. Not one of my girlfriends ever even saw me pregnant. Okay, so I was only pregnant for 7 months (and 4 days) but still...

Brian was sweet to play with Easton too, he also rescued him from a leg trapped in a stool...what a hero!

We had a nice weekend overall. I'm sad that it's over. It's been a busy weekend for us socially, compared to our normal weekends. I had fun but also miss some of our quieter family time and my time with J in the evenings. Oh well...it's an excuse for me to go to bed early tonight, right?