A fall wonderland

We spent one night at a hotel in the mountains the day after Christmas. Our friends wanted to ski, and we were along for the company and the getaway. There wasn't enough snow to ski, and I don't know why anyone was surprised since it hasn't rained much or even been that cold. It still feels more like fall where we live than winter. Sure there is snow in the mountains, but I walked around in it without a jacket on for awhile because it was so nice outside. Joshua was eager to crawl in the snow when he saw it. He doesn't have waterproof clothing, so we just put him on a flat rock. Sure enough, as soon as he tried to put his hands out to crawl, he realized he didn't really want to do that. He did, however, really enjoy sledding with David.

Are you in there?

One of Joshua's favorite daily distractions is our back balcony. He loves to watch the chickens and crawl around. He also recently realized that he could find me in the kitchen through the window. According to David, Joshua probably thinks that I "live" in there. It might be true because he looks for me through the window even when I am not in the kitchen. He doesn't believe that I am not in there until he sees me pop my head out of the door of our bedroom.

Daddy knows best!

We debated a lot about how to do Christmas this year given our plans for the coming months. We decided that even though we only have a few months, it would be worth it to invest in some toys for Joshua to enjoy during those months. David found a "push-toy" for Joshua, and I thought it was a little expensive for right now. We went ahead and got it, and I am certainly glad that we did! Joshua got a few things, and he plays with all of them, but he has not touched much of anything since he "opened" his push-toy. The only problem is that he goes from one end of the house to the other end of the house and then fusses because he has not quite figured out steering.

Sweep it under the rug

If you know much about David, you know we have lots of blank cds and dvds lying around. We also have lots of homemade mix cds strewn about. Joshua has taken an interest in these shiny discs, and his current favorite game is to slide them under our rugs. We have all tile floors, so we have area rugs in every room. You walk across the threshold to the area between the two bedrooms, and you feel some lumps under the carpet, courtesy of our son. He also enjoys pushing the laundry basket around these days. This morning, I rolled up the rug in the entryway so he could roam freely, and I found no less than 10 cds and a couple of plastic covers hiding beneath it! Who knows what we will find when we completely pull up all of the carpets!

First Haircut!

We finally broke down and cut Joshua's hair about 3 weeks ago. I am just now mentioning it, and there are no accompanying pictures because it was not a tremendous experience... on several levels! I thought it would be great to cut his hair in the bathtubso that we could clean up the mess easier, his hair would already be wet, and he could happily play with his toys as usual. Well, it was a nice thought! Joshua was interested in the scissors when we first brought them out, but he was terrified of the "snipping" sound in his ear. An inexperienced Mom plus a screaming 14 month-old does NOT equal a nice haircut! I pretty much butchered his sweet little curls and still regret it! David tried to correct it a little the next day, and it was an improvement, but I think we would both say the haircut was premature. Now we can only hope that those precious curls will grow back!

Disasters in the kitchen: parts 1 & 2

And I REALLY hope there is no part 3!! I wasn't even going to mention my disaster a couple of days ago because, well, I am very pregnant, very tired, and apparently very emotional... and I didn't think I was ready to laugh about it yet... or for quite awhile. However, when I had another disaster just two days later, I really had no choice but to go insane or laugh; and I am sure David and Joshua are glad that I decided to attempt the laughter.



Part 1: We have had a difficult month for electricity and a difficult week for household maintenance. Monday we had our sink repaired because the pipe just kind of came off the sink. The plumber also helped us clean out our sobia pipes... which means that I spent Tuesday morning pushing soot around on the balcony for quite some time. Tuesday night, I prepared dinner and put it in the oven. To make a long story short, the food just wasn't cooking. We ended up throwing it all away. I was kind of traumatized... pretty dramatic, but I was so sad that we weren't eating a decent meal despite my time and effort... and that we were wasting so much food!! (And, I have to admit, this prego tummy was looking forward to eating that particular meal, and nothing really sounded good after I smelled it cooking!)



Part 2: I started to make chicken and biscuits for dinner. First, I didn't cut the chicken the right way to make little biscuit sandwiches. No worries, my sweet husband assured me, he didn't want to make sandwiches anyway. I put the chicken in the oven, set about making biscuits, and got them in the oven. Timers are set, running a little late, but not too late to sit down with Joshua. 10 minutes later, I check the oven. Gas appliances are finicky, and I usually have to adjust the temperature several times. I thought, "Huh, those biscuits look kind of funny. I must have put in a little too mich butter. Well, maybe, but the problem was that the oven was not on. I mean, it HAD been on, but the gas bottle had "expired." We scrambled around a bit, and David changed the gas bottle in time to salvage the meal. We ate our chicken and biscuits in shifts when they were done; the chicken was a little less crispy and the biscuits were more like pancakes that we ate with a fork. It felt a little more victorious than dumping a roasting pan full of chicken into the trashcan!

Nesting... of a different variety

I am two weeks away from a full-term pregnancy! This reality has truly been hitting me over the past week or so, and I have officially gone into "nesting mode." The trouble is, how do you nest in a home you will keep for only a few more months? When you don't want to buy anything extra because you already don't know how you are going to pack what you already have? The first thing I did was make lists. It is a small thing, but it helped me feel more prepared. Today we got down all of Baby Sister's new clothes so that we could wash them. It might seem a bit early since the due date is a month away, but it has been taking a day or more to get a load of laundry done with our electricity cuts lately! The picture is of Joshua helping me sort colors to wash clothes. As I prepare to sleep tonight, we have diapers about the size of my hand and one load of almost-dry preciously petite pink clothes, and I feel like I can say we are ready enough for Little Sister whenever she decides to join us! (And please, Baby Girl, don't wait until you are too big to wear those itty bitty diapers and newborn-sized clothes!)

One more minute!

Joshua loves bath time. Even when it is 60 or below in the house, and David and I would love to avoid even changing clothes, Joshua is happy to play in the water. He usually throws a small fit when it is time to get out. A couple of weeks ago, I started giving him a one minute warning. It seemed to help him be calm about ending the bath, although I am not sure how he understood! When David started giving him the warning, he showed him "one" with his finger. Now, when we say "One more minute!" Joshua holds up his finger to acknowledge it. It is so fun to watch him learn to interact in different ways!

Kitchen help

'Tis the season to be in the kitchen, if you ask me. Joshua used to play happily in the kitchen while I cooked or baked, but he recently realized that some interesting things are happening above his eye level. As I stand at the counter, he hangs on my pant leg or pulls on the counter to his tiptoes in a desperate effort to witness these exciting events. It doesn't take long before he grows impatient and simply whines. One of my new strategies is to do what I can on the floor so that he can watch. Joshua does pretty well with keeping his hands to himself because he is so happy to be able to see what I am doing.