I'm Thankful

As is usual with holidays, the past four days have just flown, and I'm now eyeballing another Monday. But the weekend was a splendid break. I got to spend oodles of time with the muffin and BabyDaddy, along with both sides of our family. Highlights of the long weekend:

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - You know that I usually don't wax all sentimental in my blogs, but this is an exception. Curled up next to BabyDaddy and Lil' C in our favorite PJs, (we all had on our matchy-matchy flannels),and hearing the muffin chant "GOB-BLE! GOB-BLE!" as Tom the turkey headed down 5th Avenue was just about as good as it gets. I actually got teary when James Taylor sang "America the Beautiful". Seriously teary! It didn't help that Lil' C got up and was swaying and trying to "sing" along - God love him, all he needed was a little lighter to hold up!

Eating Granny's turkey (or not).
We had our first TDay meal with the in-laws. There was so much food spread out, you could just look at it and get full. We all sat down to eat, said the blessing and started loading up. The muffin is a bit of a picky eater - by picky, I mean nothing other than pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and PB&Js - but we thought he might enjoy some of Granny's home cooking. The first spoonful went in to Lil' C's mouth -- and then came right back out. My poor mother in law kept asking him, "Is Granny's food that bad?", as he proceeded to scrape off his tongue with his napkin. Oh well. I guess pizza isn't so bad after all.

Reading time.
I love to read, and thank the stars, my son does too. Some of my favorite times this past weekend have been sitting on the couch with Lil' C and 'reading' together - he perusing his picture books, and me with my novel. Whenever he gets tired of me paying attention to my book, he will find my bookmark, shove it in place, and say, "The End Mommy, Kay? Play wif me!"

The joy (and the pain) of Santa Claus.
So we've been pumping Lil' C up about Santa Claus like crazy. We decided to go to the mall today to shop a bit, and then thought we'd swing by and get the yearly picture with Santa. Lil' C was psyched. "Who are we going see today muffin"? "SAAAANTA CWAUSE!!!!" I was more excited that he was! We stood in line for about 15 minutes or so - he was still doing great. "Can you see him baby? There he is in that big green chair!" "Santa, Mommy! Santa!" He chirped. We got up to the front, and just as BabyDaddy was handing him over to Santa, I saw his little fingers dig into the back of BD's shirt. That's when I knew it was over. The screams that came from that little boy turned heads on the opposite side of the corridor. It sounded like we were pulling his finger nails out. God bless Santa - he really was a peach. BD ended up sitting on Santa's lap with Lil' C. So we have a picture of a ruddy-cheeked Santa, BabyDaddy, and squirming as far away as possible, a very perturbed looking Lil' C. A fast way to lose twenty bucks, I'll tell you.

Snuggle Time with BabyDaddy **ahem** I mean snuggle time with the FAMILY.
Lil' C has become a bit possessive of me lately. It's like he has this little internal radar system that beeps when BabyDaddy and I are in any way close. When we hug, he squeezes himself in between us, squealing happily, "Sam-wich! Sam-wich!" When we hold hands, he plugs himself right in the middle. We were watching TV earlier and BD had his arm around me. The muffin climbed up the arm of the couch, snaked down the back, and slid down the center. "Es OK - Here I am!" We just had to giggle.

Putting up our tree.
Don't give me smack about it either. I force myself to wait until after Thanksgiving. That's my mark - after that, all bets are off. I would have it up in November if I could! Regardless, it's up now - BD got everything down from the attic and we spent the afternoon hanging our favorite ornaments. Lil' C has been all right with it so far - he loves looking at the picture ornaments, and when we turned off the lights and turned on the tree, we even got a "Wow - COOL!", so I'd say that makes it a success.

I'm very sad that the weekend is over, but very happy that I have such a great family to spend it with.

I love these darn things!

Some completely fabulous, (and somewhat altered to protect the innocent), facts about ME! ME! MEeeeeee!



1. What time did you get up this morning?
5:45 in the AM

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds are a gal’s best friend! (Not that I freakin’ have any – diamonds I mean. I do have friends!)

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Gawd – probably The Dark Knight??

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Grey’s Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Fringe

5.What do you usually have for breakfast?
Lots of Coffee

6.What is your middle name?
NOT ALLOWED FOR RELEASE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

7.What food do you dislike?
Shrimp

8.What is your favorite CD at the moment?
The Wiggles Soundtrack – Hey –it’s what in my car right now okay? I don’t listen to CD’s normally. Just the radio…

9.What kind of car do you drive?
’03 Toyota

10.Favorite sandwich?
Tomato and Miracle Whip

11.What characteristic do you despise?
Know-it-alls, (Which is ironic, because I consider myself to act like one sometimes – maybe I just hate to compete with another know-it-all…)

12. Favorite item of clothing?
My hubby’s flannel pajama pants – we fight over them a lot. After that, my college Hoodie

13.If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Somewhere on the East Coast

14.Favorite brand of clothing?
Whatever is on sale at Kohls

15.Where would you retire to?
Where my family is from in God's Country

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
Twenty-freakin-first baby! (Not really, I ended up in the ER by 11pm, so it really wasn’t that great, but it was sure as heck memorable, even if for all the wrong reasons…)

17.Favorite sport to watch?
I hate sports. But if I had to pick, I kinda like that extreme fighting stuff now – is that a sport? You can thank Ames and J. for that.

18. Furthest place you are sending this?
Kalamazoo, MI. (Nah-I've just always wanted to use that location in conversation.)

19. Person you expect to send it back first?
I'm sure it will be quite the competition...

20. When is your birthday?
NOT ALLOWED FOR RELEASE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

21.Are you a morning person or a night person?
Morning

22. What is your shoe size?
6 ½ -- I've got "little person" feet

23.Pets?
Some fun house puppies and lots of fish!

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
I JUST FOUND OUT I’M PREGNANT AGAIN!



---Not really, but everyone else around here is, so I thought I’d give it a shot…

25.What did you want to be when you were little?
An actress. Or a doctor. Or a lawyer.

26.How are you today?
Sleepy – what are those chemicals that are in turkey that make you want to pass out?? I can’t remember, I think it’s something with a T…..

27. What is your favorite candy?
Watermelon Jolly Ranchers

28. What is your favorite flower?
Stargazer Lillies, fall colored roses, gerber daisies…

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
Christmas!!

30. What's your full name?
NOT ALLOWED FOR RELEASE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

31. What are you listening to right now?
Little Drummer Boy on the radio!!

32. What was the last thing you ate?
Lord, too much. We had our office potluck today!

33. Do you wish on stars?
When I see a shooting one!

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Yellow, or maybe green, or blue? If they had a rainbow one, that would be me, because I’m so stinking indecisive

35. How is the weather right now?
Chilly-willy

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today?
My good-for-nothing baby daddy

37. Favorite soft drink?
Not much of a soft-drink person. I’ve been in the mood for Pepsi lately, but I also like Cherry Coke.

38. Favorite restaurant?
Olive Garden

39. Real hair color?
Doodie Brown.

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Teddy Ruxbin or my Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker

41. Summer or winter?
Winter all the way!

42. Hugs or kisses
Hugs mostly

43. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate

44. Coffee or tea?
COFFEE – The more the better!

45. Do you want your friends to email you back?
Yes

46. When was the last time you cried?
This morning – a friend got some really great news!!!

47. What is under your bed?
Heck – I don’t ever look under there. I’m too scared!

48. What did you do last night?
Played on the Internet, complained about the laundry, made some hot apple cider, looked at the laundry, tweezed my eyebrows, decided to wait until tomorrow for the laundry.

49. What are you afraid of ?
Being alone

50. Salty or sweet?
Both

51. How many keys on your key ring?
I don’t know – who counts their freaking keys?!

52.How many years at your current job?
Too long already!

53.Favorite day of the week?
Sunday

54.How many towns have you lived in?
3

55.Do you make friends easily?
Only because I bully people into it, but usually it’s not too bad. You ARE my friend right? RIGHT?! Mm-kay. Thought so.

**You totally feel like you know me right?

Tinkle, Tinkle, Widdle TAAAaarrrrr...

So it's been a couple of weeks -- a couple of insanely crazy weeks I might add. I'll try to give you the backwards chronological highlights:

#1) The video above is of my little performer - for the first time, ladies and gentlemen, "Tinkle Tinkle, Widdle Tar"! (As interpreted by Lil' C/the next Chris Daughtry - he was born to rock!) He can't sing the song without bustin' out on some drums. Please be aware, I use the term "drums" very lightly. This term can be interchanged with highlighters, Pixie Sticks, carrots, or even, (on a bad day), unused pregnancy tests found under the bathroom counter. I do try to keep him out of my bathroom vanity, just so you know, only God knows what's in the dark corners of that thing. But seriously, what can I say, the boy loves to drum!

#2) My fave lil' Diva had a lovely birthday party at a local children's museum this past weekend. BD, Lil C and I all had a delightful time, and I shot up a quick thank you to my higher power when I ended up on the other side of the room from the kid that puked. (No offense Ames, but I'm glad I wasn't close to him!)

#3) Lil C is obsessed with BabyDaddy's hunting boots - Some of you have had the privilege of getting this story already, but for those of you who have not, Lil' C will not be away from the bloody things. He wears them around the house, he drives his hot wheels over them, they sit next to him at dinner, on the bathroom counter when he's in the tub, and he insists that they be tucked into bed with him too. Good Lord -- why couldn't he have chosen one of his 987 very suitable stuffed animals for his lovey? BabyDaddy is equal parts proud papa and annoyed hunter, because he hasn't been able to leave the house with them on in weeks.

#4) The Wiggles were fan-freaking-tastick! They could not have done a better job. We loved them! I don't think Lil' C realized what was going on at first, but my gosh, when the fog started coming around the stage and he saw the big red car drive out, I thought he was going to faint! He screamed and danced- it was worth every penny. We had really great seats right off the floor, and my favorite part was when the Wiggles came out into the audience - Jeff and Murray, (Lil' C's favorite) came up in our area to talk to all the kids. I don't think Lil' C quit spazzing until we were halfway out to our car after the show. Walking out of the arena, he kept waving his little hands at the stage saying, "Buh-bye Wiggles, I see you soon, kay?"

Don't pee on the rug!

Ah - the joys of potty training! We have started to travel down that long, LONG road. By the way, the lovely picture that you have the pleasure of viewing is of BabyDaddy during one of his favorite moments of the day, (even back then). I'm mad at him you see -- he's been puttering in his man cave again, doodling with glass eyes and stinky skins. (They really do smell terribly- BabyDaddy of course insists that I am imagining things. There is no smell!!!) Whatever. I've come to refer to it not-so-lovingly as "Hot Dead". I swear, he can be putting chrome rims on the lawn mower for all I usually know, but the second he starts bloody stuffing animals, I SWEAR I can smell it. "So, what hot-dead are you working on today?" I shout through the laundry room door to the garage. "IT DOESN'T SMELL! YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY SMELL ANYTHING!" His rantings are mercifully muffled by the dogs rolling around the crack in the door like maniacs. (Apparently Hot-Dead is something they like to roll in.) "Well, are you working on an animal or not?" I'm pretty persistent you know. I can distinctly picture him rolling his eyes as he lovingly airbrushes pretty pink ear centers into whatever Hot-Dead he's currently working on. "NO. I'M FIXING YOUR PICTURE FRAME OKAY?" "LIIIIIIAR!" I shout back. "LIE-ER Daddeeeee!" Lil C' usually concurs happily. This is usually a scene that's repeated about 4 times weekly.

But, how is it, I've gone completely off subject? The matter at hand is potty training, and the reason I have posted the not-so-flattering picture of BD. Oh yes, how silly of me. He made me angry because tonight was the one night that I had to do my homework. Lil' C has been in a weird bedtime phase ever since daylight savings time began, and so it's taken me a little longer to put him down than normal. I had asked BD to help me put him to bed so that I could get everything done. "Sure,"he says, "I'll just be in the garage for a minute," he says. Ugh. After turning on my tart burner, lighting three candles, snuffing out two matches, (I heard somewhere that the match snuffing deal would erase stinky things. Not so much.) I yelled to remind him of the time. "Yup! Be right in!" he says. MMMMMm-hhhmmmmm. Lil' C and I had bath time, looked at his flashcards, and read his bedtime story twice before I finally gave up and started putting him to bed. Another long process. By the time I finally got him down and had just sat down with my lap top, BD strolls in the door. The look I shot him made him walk right back out. So, I figured the least I could do was post the above picture. Take that! (Cyber vengeance is so much less taxing that actual physical violence, which is what I had contemplated first.) But -- back to the potty training. The Mom-In-Law has started working with him on potty training, which is completely fabulous, as he doesn't do squat for me. She's been trying to get him to go potty in his little chair for the past couple of weeks now, and he's making progress. One afternoon this week, when he got up from him nap, she noticed that his diaper was dry -- so she knew that he needed to pee. She took off his diaper and sat him on the chair in front of the t.v. Nada. So she gave him a Popsicle. Still no dice. Finally, exasperated, she walked back into the bedroom to get another diaper. She hears him clapping and cheering, so she hurries back to the living room, ready to praise him for using his potty. "Ya-ay me! Granny -- I Pee-Pee!!" He exclaims this proudly from the far corner of the room-- where he has just peed all over the end of her couch. :)