Nostromo

Nostromo, our cat, passed away early this morning. For those who don't know, he has been in our family for 15-16 years. We got him as a small kitty, and he has survived through severe cases of feline leukemia, bad skin problems, head trauma, and more recently, kidney failure and a possible thyroid problem. Through all that he was always cheerful, always up for a good purr/petting session. He was the only cat that would put up with me when I was a kid, every other one hated me and would scratch, bite or run away.
Here are some pictures I have of him--sorry for the glowing eyes. His green eyes reflected light very well!



He is missed very much! But we know he is in a better place, being fed kitty treats by doggie slaves and being cuddled with night and day.

Broom, Broom!!

So, Matt has found his new love--cars! Sean and I were going through some old boxes last night, and Matt was of course, "helping". Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but he found an old toy car of Sean's, a scale model of a Porsche. He said: "Broom broom!!!!!!!!!!" and he was hooked. He calls it his Broom broom, and did not let go. He made me put him to bed with it last night. As cute as that is, it had lots of small parts, so I got a replacement broom broom today, and here he is right before falling asleep, tightly clutching the car.

And here is a video taken today while Matt was at his Grammy's house. Witness--one of the only videos with Matt AND Daddy!!! And yes, that's his old broom broom (the Porsche), in the pool. No, he's not obsessed...not at all...

Well, gotta go grab the hour of spare time before bed! Enjoy the cute video! (thank you for taking it Gram...hehe!)

HAPPY 200TH POST!!!

Hard to believe that this is my 200th post--and I've been keeping this blog since I was 16 weeks pregnant with Matt, and now he has grown into a handsome, smart (and sometimes compassionate) little boy. To think, not long ago he was just a funny feeling in my tummy :-)
Anyway, just posting to announce a new and pathetic low:
Tonight, I ironed my placemats....
Things can only get worse from here!

Low Key Day

Today I woke up feeling sick. I have had a cold for a couple days, but I felt better yesterday and thought it was over. Nope! I woke up feeling pretty yucky--all phlegmy with a headache and feeling dizzy. To top it off, I had lost my voice! I could whisper very softly, but whenever I raised my voice just pathetic sounding partial words and squeaks came out. Matt thought that was just the funniest thing ever!

Here's a picture I snapped of him this morning while I was laying on the couch trying to feel better. He was just all happy and full of energy this morning, and I felt bad that I didn't have the energy to interact with him much better. I drank some green tea (hence the teapot in the background) and some Walborne (generic Airborne). I heard somewhere that taking Airborne has now been proven to do absolutely nothing to shorten your cold and it's pretty much a waste of money. Honestly though, I think it helps me get better faster, and all those vitamins and minerals plus a healthy dose of placebo effect can't hurt.

This is Matt doing one of his favorite things right now--rolling the truck over the coffee table and knocking off everything in his way. I can tell when it's time to take him outside to run off some energy when it goes from gentle rolling with cute "brooom..brrroooom" sounds (see above) to violent shoving of the truck and loud piercing screeches....

Like this!! Crazy toddler attack!!!!
So, this is him outside, in the morning. My voice had come back by then but was still iffy and I wasn't feeling great still, so I did what every parent does when the kid has too much energy--let them loose on the outside world! Here's a video of him busying himself outside. If you listen closely you might hear him talking, but probably not. He said a few things, which I am pretty sure the mike did not pick up. I swear, he talks!

Let me list some of his consistant words/phrases: "it's hot", "what is that?", bubbles (buu buus), banana (na na), Mai, Nino, tree (tee), shoes (shoos), socks (soc), truck (tuk), car (caaa!), bird (burr), nice (ni-ece), mom/mama, pacifier (ci, ci), balloon (ba-ooon), light, yum, no, yeah, outside (side!), diaper (die), mouth (mou), teeth (tee!), milk (malk), juice (juu), eye (aii), nose (no), foot (foo), shirt (shi), pants (paa), cat (ca!!), dog, (dag!), lizard (lizzy! or zarrd) chair (cha), slide (side). bowl (bawl), and ball. When he wants something that you are eating he makes a very cute "mmmmmmm" noise. Those are all I can think of right now, but he understands so much. He will go get and purposely hunt for his matching shoes when I tell him to go get his shoes, he tells me he is getting his shoes and that we are going outside. He understands a lot more than he can talk, but he is definitely hitting that language "explosion"!! Can't wait until he can really talk. I will try to get some on video, but the presence of a camera makes his vocal chords shut down.
Right now he is supposed to be napping, but that's not happening! Guess I better go get him and take him to the park like I promised. I feel a lot better now :-)

Unknown Helper

This is going to be pretty quick because I have to wake matt up soon and get ready to drop him off at daycare. I'll post more (with pics) tomorrow or the day after.
Just wanted to say that Matt is a lot more helpful then I give him credit for. For a long time, every time I have been unloading the dishwasher, he has been touching the dishes, grabbing things, and generally getting scolded for doing that while making me go as fast as possible to get it over with. Yesterday I finally gave up and, guess what he did? He grabbed a plate and very nicely handed it to me to put away. The entire time, I let him help me and he was just sooo happy and proud of himself, and it was a nice bonding time.
I have been starting to let him help, by putting his dishes in the sink, or sometimes putting his toys away. It's just always a nice surprise when you think he is going to do something destructive, and he does something nice instead (without prompting!)
Ok, I've gotta run! Got 15 min to get myself, Matt and car ready to go (have to switch seats and pack day bag for Matt). Bye!

NEWS FLASH: MATT IS CUTE!

Sorry for the lack of posting! I can't count how many times I've said that but I really am sorry. A lot of things have been happening that have been occupying my time. Firstly, our lease expires at the end of this month, and we got a letter saying we could renew for the same rate by the 10th or give our notice by the 10th. We have been trying very hard to find a house to rent, but we can't afford any more than we're paying now which limits our choices. We found several promising ones, but the #1 issue was money. We don't get our deposit back from the apartments until 3 weeks after we turn in the keys, and in order to move anywhere we need the deposit up front. Besides wondering where to get a couple thousand, each one we looked at/applied to either was already rented or we did not get a reply back. So, now that it is 3 days away, we have decided we probably will stay in the apartments for yet another year. Money has been very tight so probably going to take out a loan from Navy Federal to put into savings because it is now gone. Was counting on the deposit money--but we don't get that now that we're staying! We have had a lot of expenses, like the kia breaking down and daycare this month that has made it pretty hard to get by. This month will be better! So anyway, in a nutshell, I have been pretty stressed out and busy and that is why my posting is lacking. Now that things are settled, posting should resume on a semi-normal schedule.
So, Matt has shown us that he is a big boy and we thought he was ready to sleep in....

A BIG BOY BED!!!!!

Isn't he cute?
So he slept in it fine for naps and it took a little adjusting to at night, but we finally hit upon a routine after a couple of nights that worked pretty well (low monotone recitals of Moby Dick, anyone?) and now he is sleeping in it wonderfully. He had trouble adjusting to the fact that he could get up and play with his toys anytime he wanted. It has been wonderful for me. He seems to sleep longer, and in the morning sometimes he will wake up early, quietly play with his toys and go back to sleep.

Matt has also been getting more expressive about his needs and wants. He doesn't say complete words yet, but I will ask him if he wants milk or juice, and after thinking about it he will choose whatever he craves. This time it was "malk!"

He carries it to me...

And he drinks it with dinner! Oh, he also is using a fork/spoon pretty well now too. But nothing can compare to hands still.

This morning I made whole wheat oatmeal and currant scones. He LOVED them! Him and I just hung out drinking milk, eating scones and talking.

Well, I was talking and Matt was...trying. Still very adorable.
We are also introducing him to the potty. He tells us when he has to go by looking very disturbed and pulling at his diaper and going "doe", "doe" (his word for diaper). He will gladly sit on the potty, but will NOT go on it. I know it's early, but I'd like him familiar with it for when the real training starts. Every time he tells me he has to go, I put him on his potty. One day it'll click :-)
Anyway I think that is all for now. Need to take a shower while Matt is sleeping!