Kovixen

Peter got out a tomato for the BLTs we were having for lunch. He puts it on the counter, then turns his back to get something out of the fridge. When he turns again, the tomato is gone. Andy had taken it off the counter and taken a huge bite out of it. It was so funny, we gave it to him for the rest of lunch, and he ate about half of it. Just like an apple.

I forgot to post yesrterday. Oops. Oh well, I knew I wouldn't make it through the entire month because I will be on vacation and have very limited computer time (that I plan to use almost exclusively on work), but I still wish I could have made it until then. The reason I didn't was because I had a horrible night sleep and pulled a muscle in my back that was very painful. I just got thrown off and was barely functioning all day. And no, it had nothing at all to do with Mom's Night Out being the night before. I only had one drink that night. I swear. I also left with a new nickname. Any night when that happens is a good night. Stevie anyone?

I now have two Christmas presents to buy besides Peters. That's right. And the Christmas cards are ordered and coming in tomorrow, my packing list for vacation is written out, as is my to do list for before our trip. I am almost done blogging for one blog through the rest of the month, and the other has all my entries started for the upcoming two weeks after this one, which is already done. See how prepared I am? It's like a sickness really. But after two breakdowns this year, I now feel like I can get through the holidays with relatively little pain. And I don't have to deal with any crowds!

I am hoping to send out an email, but if anyone wants to see me when I'm up in the NE, let me know!

Peter changed Andy's diaper after lunch today (3rd poopy one of the day so far), and then he went downstairs to leave for work while we stayed upstairs. I sat at the top of the stairs behind the gate with Andy on my lap repeatedly saying goodbye in different ways, making sure to say the word Daddy each time. It's a word that Andy has sort of said in the past, so I try to encourage it. And then he said it, perfectly clear for the first time. Da-dy. It was amazing and wonderful and I loved it. Peter heard too, I was so happy about that. While Andy is normal and healthy, he's been on the later side of talking (and everything else), so this was quite exciting.

This evening at dinner, Peter finished early and went to finish mowing the lawn for the last time this year. Andy could see him doing it through the windows, and he kept saying "Mom mom mom." He knows I'm the mommy, but he didn't want to make eye contact while saying it. And he was really separating the words, it wasn't "mamamamamamma" like he's done. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. I could hear him saying it for years to come in that beautiful sweet little voice, and I actually started to cry. I guess this made him uncomfortable though, as he changed to G's and started the "Got ga ga got" words instead.

Have I mentioned I love him? I just can't contain it, I want to scream it every chance I get. I want to talk about him all the time. Because he is perfect and the best baby ever. Today is his 19 month birthday. Happy birthday to the most handsome and sweet person to ever exist!

Last night I had a meeting inside the loop in a place I'd never been before. Driving home, I took a new route and ended up on the same road that I first came in on when we moved here. Back then it was my first time in the area, and it was an exciting yet creepy feeling seeing the place that I would live and raise Andy for the first time. Last night, it was cozy and familiar and felt totally right. I loved that feeling. We made a good decision moving here, we are happy, we are thriving. It was such a hard decision to make, but we are making a great life for ourselves down here. The culture can be a little weird now and then, but there are so many more normal people down here than I was expecting. The weather is great, driving and getting around is so much easier, the neighborhoods are safe and all have nice yards, schools are good, people are friendly. It felt really great knowing that what was once scary is now no longer.

In Andy news, he suddenly hates to go to bed. Daddy will tell him he's on the last book, and we know he understands this. Yet when the last book is done and it's time to say goodnight to Mommy, he starts crying. If we put him in the crib, he's okay. But he wants more books. He is obsessed with reading. At a consignment fair I recently picked up a box of 26 mini board books, one for each letter. He loves these books like they are his life. And his other books get carried around the house with him from room to room. He is too cute for words, I just lovelovelove him.

Holidays cards were ordered yesterday, and I also have ordered about 90% of my gifts this year. I am starting to be able to breath again! A friend may be hosting a holiday card writing party too, so that will be the perfect way to get them all addressed, organized, and sent! No more crying fits for me hopefully!

Raise your hands if you are unhappy about the writers strike! I have no idea what the issues are or who is right or wrong, but if my television watching is going to be disturbed, I'm not a happy camper. And if my movie watching is going to be disturbed, I'm seriously put out. I'm hoping this doesn't last long, but what am I supposed to do if the strike does go the distance? Read a book? Browse the web? Maybe get a little extra work in? Ugh. All horrible options. I may just have to actually start watching repeats. What is next, watching commercials too???

In other news, our trip up north is finally coming together. Preparations for selling the Jetta are working out we think (we've had lots of title problems, but Peter's taken the reigns with that issue), we have worked out all our hotels except for on the drives which we will do last minute (Boston was the hard one as we never thought about hotels when we lived there), and I even have a bit of a schedule for when we are in RI (still have to work one out for Boston). It'll be a long and tiring trip, but I think it's also going to be a ton of fun. I cannot wait to see everyone! And to show off the greatest creature on earth, who I think is finally old enough to be able to handle such a trip.

My junior year of college, I had a presentation that was totally freaking me out because the material was way over my head and I was scared to present in front of everyone who understood this deep weird material. I could barely breath beforehand, and everyone in the room knew how terrified I was. I got up there, read my notes, did the presentation, and then the professor started asking me complex questions and to compare the person I was doing the presentation on to other people's presentations. I was so overwhelmed and flustered, I couldn't read my notes or overheads. I threw up my hands, said I don't know, and I have never been so embarrassed in my life. Until now of course. I just lead a conference call that was a comedy of errors, and I have no idea what I said or what others said or what happened on it. But I am thoroughly embarrassed and am considering getting into bed and never leaving. Nov 6 will go down as one of the worst evenings I have had. And there is no wine in the house to comfort me.

I mentioned that we went to the zoo on Saturday. I took a lot of pictures that didn't come out very well, saw a lot of animals who were kind enough to show their faces (probably because the weather was quite comfortable) in between their snores, and walked about 8 miles because the park does not go in a circle. The ride started out ominously because we saw first a dead cat on the side of the road, then a dead cow in a field on the side of the road. Creepy.

But once we got there, things went beautifully. Our friends Dawn and Brian found our car and parked right next to us about a minute after we got there. Their new baby and Andy were as happy as could be, naps weren't an issue, and we were able to see the entire park and a ton of animals including bears, gorillas, rhinos, baboons, lions, and more. Andy seemed to like the fish the best. He was easily distracted by leaves and other kids.

Andy also took his first carousel ride and loved it. I think he's going to be a fan of rollercoasters like his mother!

When Peter said that today's game vs the Colts was the "game of the century," he really meant it. There hasn't been a match up like this in decades. Which means the pressure is on. And pressure is one thing I cannot stand, in case you haven't noticed. Whenever things get stressful in football, the room gets very very quiet. Andy luckily hasn't noticed this yet, so he's continuing to play with his toys, oblivious to the Colts currently running the ball down the field. Or throwing the ball? I'm not paying attention, I cannot deal with this stress. What I do know is that I am strongly considering leaving the room and watching something else in the bedroom so I can pretend that no game is going on right now. There are only a few weeks between the Superbowl and spring training every February, but I really think that those few days are the most stress free of the year. Or they would be if it wasn't rush season.

Andy just turned the tv off on Peter. I think he must feel the same way I do.

Yesterday's jury duty situation got a lot worse before it got better. Many other things went wrong, and after many tears and words I will not use on this blog and a fight or two, it got faxed. Not by our fax machine. But at least it got there. And now I'm also sending it via the mail, so I am crossing my fingers that no other issues arise from this.

Because we have no nice friends offering to take pictures for our holiday cards this year (although feel free to come down here and take pictures for us Jeff, we'll buy you lunch :) ), we are having an issue with what to do. Peter really wants to try to take the pictures himself, even though he has not bought his super perfect yet very very expensive camera yet. I refuse to be in the card if this is the case, so we are going to try putting Andy outside in nice-ish clothes and hope that we get a good picture out of it. Peter has been told that we need holiday cards ordered and all set by the time we go up to RI for the holidays, so that is less than two weeks for it all to work out. If it doesn't, I'm buying some cute ones at B&N, and maybe we'll print a few pictures of Andy for the people we think would want one. That seems the easier option to me, but I know picture cards are important to Peter. Last year I ended up crying hysterically the day of picture taking because I was just too overwhelmed with life and baby, and after yesterday's ordeal, I need easy. Everything that is not family related is totally getting hard and stressful right now, so I can't handle anything else. So in that respect, it's probably good that most of the picture taking/holiday card responsibility is now not really on me.

We went to the zoo today, more later on that!

When I got the letter for jury duty last November, I freaked. I couldn't go to that with a baby that was nursing 6+ times a day. So I took the year long postponement, happy with the knowledge that I'd probably no longer be residing in the state of Massachusetts by the time my year came up. As fall approached, jury duty was in the back of my mind, but I ignored it because they can't make me travel over 800 miles to serve.

I received my letter, cursed the fact that I hadn't gotten a new license yet due to laziness, and proceeded to look into how I could get out of this. I called the number listed, but because I am not in state they won't complete the call. I go to the website, but it is down. However, they do have a form to download and an email to send it to. I fill it out, and email it to the address listed. And then it comes back to me undeliverable. Peter suggests I contact the courthouse. I google it, find a number, and call. The women who answers gives me a number to call. I call, get a very nice man named Glen who gives me the number to fax it to. I print out my form, and wait...the printer isn't working. Peter can't fix it from afar, and I can't find a fax document on this new evil Word I have anyway. So I call my mother to ask her to fax it for me. And she's not home.

So I am now sitting here freaking out. I know that this isn't a big deal in reality because I do live in NC, I bought a house to prove it. And I can do this later. But I am afraid that it'll get lost over the weekend, I'll be told that it never was received, or something equally annoying. This is how I'm spending Andy's nap time when what I really wanted to do was watch Ugly Betty. TGIF I guess.

Since I don't want to be that house, we bought the best Halloween candy out there without breaking the bank. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kats, Nestle Crunch, and more chocolate. I was so happy to be cool and giving out the stuff that kids want to eat. We didn't eat too much of it, and we had a large bowl full of candy to give out. However, it turns out my neighborhood is full of kids who must never leave the house as I've certainly never seen any of them before. We were slammed, and by 7:15, we had to turn people away as we hurried to turn off the lights. So I became the house that barely had any candy. And instead of giving out candy, I watched them walk past my window for well over an hour after we were done. I guess I should have prepared for this. It's been so long since I've lived in a neighborhood where people actually trick or treat in packs of 15 that I didn't prepare enough. And I should consider myself lucky for not getting egged by the kids who we turned away.

This morning as I drove back from dropping off Andy, there were all these women picking up the trash in the neighborhood too. No one had asked me to help, so I didn't. But I thought that was a lovely idea. People in the south care so much about appearances, and having a few Reeses wrappers (probably from my house) scattered along the road is too much for them. It's good for the environment, but I never would have been one to even think about organizing such an event.

Last night as I was longingly looking out my window wishing I could give out more candy, I saw a cop gallop by on a horse. I don't even know what to make out of that. A horse? Are we that far out in the boonies that horses are acceptable transportation for the police? Maybe 10 years ago when they bought the horse, we were so rural that the residents didn't have cars?

This is my first blog post for NaBloPoMo. Last year I failed in my attempt to blog every day, but this year I'm going to do my best. Why not try it out during my busiest month of the year? After all, blogging while having mini breakdowns every other day is a blast. I'll go into detail on that subject during one of those break downs I'm sure, but until then wish me luck! And send some candy my way too since I have none left over to shove into my mouth by the handful.