The Bounce

Potty Trained!!!!

2010-03-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

You know, I have always had doubts about our ability to potty-train Matt. I knew all the "right" things to do, the "right" signs and everything; but couldn't shake the reoccurring thought of "how can I potty train Matt if I couldn't even potty train my dog?"
Doubts no more! Thanks to preschool, I can finally announce that Matt is potty trained! And it happened the instant he decided it was going to happen. Monday he went to preschool in a diaper and for the first time, kept it dry all day and went exclusively in the potty. We got him underwear and he went pee in the potty all the way until bedtime. He wore underwear all day tuesday, no accidents. And today, no accidents! He will go on a suggestion, but most importantly, he will get up and go whenever he wants to, without telling us/asking us! Yup. He just stops playing/eating, goes to the potty, wipes and flushes and comes back and resumes the activity.
I know he will have accidents, of course! And that's ok. But the most important thing is:

NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! EVER!!!!! (at least for Matt).

There's no looking back, no more going back to diapers. Yay!!!!

Preschool!

2010-02-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

Today was Matt's first day of preschool! He absolutely LOVED it! He didn't even give Sean and I a backwards glance as he ran in. And he cried when it was time to leave. He was in a very good mood but didn't want to be photographed so the shots are not as "perfect" as they could be.

Here's him on the way. He was chattering nonstop about how much he wants to go to preschool and how happy he is.

Walking with speed toward the door...

"Come on, come on! Hurry hurry! We're here!"

Right before we left. As you can see he is just racked with separation anxiety.

His preschool!
When we went to pick him up they were still eating so we were able to get this candid shot of him through a viewing window. He didn't eat much of his casserole so I am guessing they put meat in it. It's ok, we gave him his normal honey and peanut butter sandwich at home.

Afterward he took a nap. It was later than his normal nap, but this will always be his normal naptime now. It went from 10:30-12:30ish to 12:30-2:30. We played with his dump truck outside

And had a lazy dinner. This is him striking a dinner pose:

They do potty training at the center, so tonight we officially started a more structured potty training regimen. We always ask if he'd like to go, but we did a few things to make it easier and with more sense of accomplishment for him. First off I removed the baby gate blocking the bathroom and got another Clevercat litter box so the dogs couldn't "go to the beach" as we call it. We are starting to use pull-ups, so now he can walk into the bathroom anytime he wants, undress himself and use the potty. We are also now using the ubiquitous potty chart.

He is extremely excited about the chart. Much more than I expected, actually. He went potty immediately after I put it up to get a gold star, then tried about 5 more times in a row and couldn't go. On the left are bad drawings of his prizes for every week. 1st week if he gets 5 stars a day he gets ice cream, the second is Starbucks, the third is chuck-e-cheeses, then a picnic and lastly the zoo!
So we will see how this all works out. I know in the end no matter what he will be a smart and potty-trained little boy, but the journey is still exciting. Look for a blog soon with all the cool pictures I found on my memory card of the trip to Idywilld with Joey, Matt and I!

Santa!

2009-12-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

This will be quick--but I think Matt finally gets the concept of Santa! (3 Christmas movies later). He is excited to meet him and tell him what he wants. We will be going to the mall later.
Sean is at drill today, and he is going to finally check out! His time is up--6 years have passed! Not much more to say on that front really. I think he is pretty happy he is going to be out, and no more possibility of deployment!
Meanwhile, Matt and I are enjoying a day to ourselves. We were going to go hiking in the Santa Rosa Plateau and see the vernal pools, but I woke up with a sore throat and runny nose, and Matt woke up coughing. It will be cold up in the plateau so probably not the best idea (I am very disappointed--thanks badly-timed cold!)
So, that's where Santa comes in. Might as well get it out of the way, and maybe do a little non-Matt gift shopping while there.
We have also decided to do a small celebration on Matt's birthday, but do a real party around January 10th. We don't have any $ for a good party this month thanks to the giving season, and the only day we'd have it on is currently taken by another (surprise) bday party for another person. The date/time/place will be set after Sean gets back and we find out if he has to go back to drill next month to finish checking out.
Speaking of checking out...we will probably relax at the library a bit today too.
Gotta go! Time to start the big day!

Happy Halloween and Extra Hour!

2009-11-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

We had a very fun Halloween! Matt was so good trick or treating! He went up to the houses by himself and said "Trick or treat!" and "Thank you!". Everyone thought he was so cute in his garden gnome costume and he got lots of candy and compliments. He absolutely refused to go anywhere near the "scary" houses, which is a change from last year when he didn't care. One time he reached into a candy bowl and it was one of those trick ones that makes the figurine inside attack your hand. He was pretty upset and that was the end of trick-or-treating. It kind of reminds me of the time a man dressed as a lifeless scarecrow jumped out at Andy and scared him so badly he didn't go trick or treating for a long time.
Anyway, now the real battle is the candy at home. Being the age he is he will do a hunger strike for candy if he thinks there's any way he'll get it in lieu of a meal.
We also went to Disneyland on Thursday which was fun. It was all Halloween themed--and the haunted mansion and the fireworks were the best. Matt had a lot of fun meeting Tigger and Pooh. Pictures will come later; I don't feel like digging out my camera right now.
Nothing much has changed around here. I'm still grooming dogs and Sean is still delivering pizzas! At least we have a well groomed and well fed household!
Well, it's time to go get ready for work. Just a little update--sorry it's not more frequent! Check out my twitter for more current happenings.
Oh yes, and Daylight Savings rocks in the fall!

Sweet!

2009-09-18T11:47:00.001-07:00

So I have been on a cooking binge lately. Just a combo of being bored, pretty much broke and too hot to go do anything outside. Plus it makes Matt sooo happy to "help" me, and it is very cute.
Still the same old stuff going on here, nothing to update. Oh, I made turnips last night (sliced them and lightly fried them in olive oil and rosemary), and they were really yummy! So that's one new thing--I like turnips. Oh, the fast-paced life!

Here's Mr. Perfect decorating some sugar cookies with an icing writer his Grammy sent him :-)

Learning from the master..

See Mom? See my cookie??

SEE MOM??!

I made these 2 nights ago. Know what they are? Sean didn't.

They're cupcakes!!! Yellow cake on top and deviled food cake in the middle. Topped with only the finest icing mustard, ketchup and lettuce! They were fun to make, although now I have all these middle parts of cupcake I don't know what to do with.

Matt was sick on Wednesday. He laid around for most of the day on the couch. He is all better now though!

In fact he was so much better he went bowling for the 1st time yesterday :-)

He had so much fun! He had to use the ramp though because he was unceremoniously dropping it on the ground hard instead of placing it and rolling it.

And he insisted on carrying his ball by himself!

Look at it go! Wheee!!

Gotta go now--Sean just fixed the kia brakes and I am taking it for a test drive :-)

Boredom leads to wonderful things

2009-09-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been much to report lately. Just been working a lot, and stuck indoors because of the heat wave. Matt is becoming a good swimmer due to all the time at the pool. Even though there's nothing big to report, I figured it was time for some audio/visual updates!

Here's Matt fingerpainting. Here he is trying to make an imprint of his hand-you can see it where the papers meet.

Here he is trying out his new skates! He loves them! Been too hot for them lately, but for a few days there he was getting really good.

Yesterday it was a particularly dreary day. It was really humid with flash flood warnings and thunder and lightning. It didn't actually rain exactly where we were, but it rained in other parts of the town. We were so bored, so we gathered up some boxes and set up a bowling alley. Matt loved it--but I'll let you see for yourself.

Today is looking like it will be a better day. Sean left for a job fair in San Diego, so it's just Matt and I all day! While I was cleaning he kept telling me he was drawing a car, and I finally went to look. Usually it's scribbles with not much form, but to my surprise he was deliberately drawing! Not sure when that switch flipped on, but here he is drawing a car!

Yes, I know it's abstract, but he is off to a good start! He can also build cars, tanks and airplanes out of legos. He seems to have a very good idea of how things fit together in 3d modeling. We have a toy I got as a gift from my friend's daughter a few years back. It is a bunch of hexagonal nuts on a magnetic base. You can model them into whatever, but of course their magnetic attraction disappears when they are off the base. Matt thinks that's awesome. He surprised me by building a dinosaur, without help. He very carefully made the body, the head, the arms and the legs-all in the correct places. It's one thing to stack a few rectangular blocks and call it a car (or cross two for an airplane), and another thing to model a creature. He definitely has a natural aptitude for that type of stuff so I am eager to see if it develops into anything significant!
Right now, however, it is time for his nap. I hope you enjoy the pictures and video!

Same old stuff

2009-08-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sean came home on monday, but besides that nothing much new is happening. We went to the beach and really made out with seashells. Matt wants to give one to his friend Kaelyn, who we're seeing today. How cute! No more pictures right now, but just figured I'd update. No luck on the house search yet!

Well That's Just Beachy!

2009-07-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Matt and I had an awesome time at the beach yesterday! We collected seashells,
walked the pier, played in the surf,
looked at crabs in the rocks we were climbing, played in the sand
and had ice cream. Matt keeps talking about it! We may go back next week with the dogs.

Here's a video of him being super cute!

Ugh I sound so naggy but it was only because I wanted him to show off for the camera--we really did have a nice relaxing time.

Oh Matt...

2009-07-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Gee he really does fit in with the Holloway side sometimes. Apparently his new thing is to wake up quietly (so we don't wake up) and go to his window (that faces the walkway). He then bangs on it and yells "LET ME OUT!!!!!!" to all the passerby.
Sigh...

Baby Book

2009-07-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Just dug out Matt's baby book, and am going to complete it as much as possible tonight. It goes through his 5th year, so I can only do so much :-P I am also revamping and updating my Picasa, so check it out! It may take me a while to upload and organize, so if it looks the same right now, don't despair!
My life has very much stabilized, so that's why there aren't many posts and pictures lately. It's way too hot to do many outdoor activities besides swimming. Matt is getting used to the water--he still won't swim but LOVES going underwater. Him and I go under together and I can see him looking back at me and grinning. So weird! He holds his breath well, but I don't let him do it more than a second because it freaks me out a little. Of course he says "Again! Again!"

He also seems to have a crush on Kai-Lan, a character from a kid's show called "Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan"

He runs up to the tv and gives her a kiss, and just about had a stroke when he saw a Kai-Lan doll in Target yesterday. I talked him down from the $15 doll to a $7 playset, and Mai ate Kai-Lan the very next day. A twist of irony there as a common racist stereotype is that Asians like to eat dog...and my dog eats Asians. How odd.
Anyway! I imagine Matt was not very thrilled to see his girlfriend eaten, but I was at work, so I don't know. Kai-Lan's friend Tolee survived with a few severe bites and missing an ear.

Tomorrow or Thursday we are going to take Matt bowling for the first time, and I will make sure to take my camera. I am still mad at myself for forgetting the camera on 4th of July! Speaking of Independence Day...
Matt LOVED the 4th! He got his face painted for the first time (he wanted stars, and got a moon, stars and a rocket). He sat very still for it. He absolutely loved the food, all the kids running around, and of course the fireworks! He really liked the fireworks. He also liked my friend Kim's 1 year old, named Vivian. As soon as he saw her he started giggling and spinning around and falling down. He would look at her, smile and laugh, spin and fall. Repeat. He really likes girls! He gets all silly. It also helps that I think she looks a little like Kai-Lan.
Well, that's about it for now. I think Picasa bit off a bit more than it can chew with my...gulp...3,395 photos to upload! But it's worth it! I can print out "real" pictures from Picasa (and pick them up at Walgreens), have a backup in case my computer acts weird, and also to let you all get to know Matt a little better! I hope everyone's holiday went awesome and I will post later! Off to filling out the baby book!

Humdrum....

2009-06-30T06:11:00.000-07:00

Not much going on over here. Going to try to find a house to rent next month because our lease is up at the end of August. Sean got offered an interview for a job from an old buddy at Plasticsurgery.com and then we found out Sean lost his phone. We looked high and low for it, but no luck. It sucks because my phone is actually broken and I was planning on replacing it but looks like it's broken phone land for me still! He thinks he put it on the roof of the car yesterday and drove away.
I am trying to diet! Never done it before because I always felt being vegetarian was plenty of food sacrifice for me. But its just gotten ridiculous. My eating habits were all weird and were contributing to me being about the same weight I was 9 months pregnant--scary! For instance I would eat nothing until 12 or so, then eat a huuuge lunch, then snack/eat small things from about 8-11. Instead now I eat a good breakfast, drink a shake thingie for lunch and eat a light dinner, then don't eat after 6. It's definitely hard, but not as hard as I thought it would be. I know the key is to do something not too drastic, something I can keep up with indefinitely. And exercise of course is a key component.
Sooo..told you there's not much going on except boring day to day stuff. I am enjoying my morning before Matt wakes up.
Ahh..the magic words. I hear him now. Gotta run!

My Birthday, Seaworld and the Zoo!

2009-06-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

But before we get started on an undeniably cute picture-fest, I have something to say! I got bit in the face by a dog yesterday (a lab mix) and it hurts really bad! Luckily he was old and his teeth were dull so I just have a yucky bruise. But since hopefully everyone feels sorry for me I decided the only thing that would make me feel better is to post these flattering pictures of people I love! Hopefully it'll brighten your day too.

Oh ok I feel sorta bad so here's one of me too.

Right after I got all 4 wisdom teeth pulled--fun!

Anyway--First I will start with my birthday! Sean and I went to Knott's Berry Farm! Sadly Sean hurt his back on the first ride we went on (Ghostrider, a wooden roller coaster), and had to sit out the heavy-duty coasters for the rest of the day. The day was still wonderful though--we had an awesome time and I had the best birthday I'd had for years!

Here's one of the only pictures we took. We got an "official" picture, but it's not digital.

Here's Matt at Seaworld at the tide pool. He liked it a lot! I think the manta rays sorta creeped him out though.

These guys creeped ME out. They're mooray eels, and they just stare...and stare...

A ha! Dad's distracted--finally! What's in here? Something expensive? My toddler senses are tingling...

Last week, I took Matt to the zoo. We had a lot of fun! I like our mommy-son days--gotta enjoy them while they last!

Matt and a hippo. The hippo is also adept at posing as you may be able to see.

There was this peacock wandering around the elephant exhibit, and Matt was very interested. He hasn't seen many birds up close and took this opportunity to get close and personal (under my careful supervision of course).
But just when he was getting too close, with a big WOOSH the bird opened it's feathers and turned toward Matt.

He did not like that. At all. But no one was hurt and I was able to get some stunning pictures!

Matt races the cheetah. Ready...set...banana! Gotcha!

Also, it's spring...sorta..and all the ducklings were out!

Matt liked looking at the ducklings a lot. I think they remind him of Ming Ming from Wonder Pets (one of his favorite shows)

Cute!
Anyway, it's time for his nap! We are taking it easy today because tomorrow is Sean's birthday and we're going to Disneyland!

Wierd Baby

2009-06-10T11:44:00.001-07:00

So, I guess Matt just started a new phase. After 2 years of wanting to sleep in his own bed in his own room with no exceptions ever, he has decided he wants to sleep with us. He woke up at 4 this morning and slept in our bed until 8. It was nice, since he's older (last time we co-slept he was 4 months old), he can share covers and doesn't move as much. He also woke me up by giving me a big, gentle hug and a tender kiss and said "morning mom". So I'm not complaining, it was sooo cute! And he is now sleeping in our bed because he refused to nap in his room. But it's so weird. Why would he all of a sudden want to sleep with us? Any ideas?

Rainy Day

2009-06-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

I've pretty much given up on this blog--I stopped having things to really write about and wasn't really doing anything fun or interesting. But, I feel like it's time for an update!
There's so much and so little to report...Hmm...
Matt's talking a whole bunch now, his vocabulary is huge! He is making the tenuous leap from phrases to sentences which is taking a long time but he's almost there! He finally talks on the phone (at least to me), so next time I call maybe you can talk to Matt! His talking skills are right on target for his age and gender(almost 2 1/2 now!), although it seems like everyone else's toddlers talk a lot more! What he lacks in language skills he makes up for by far in comprehension. He can name most shapes and colors now and follow any command that's within his ability. And he wants to! He puts his dishes away without asking, can get me a specific item of clothing if I describe it, and many other cool things. I am learning more about his emerging personality--what used to be directionless energy is now forming itself into a purpose. He wants to be busy all the time and wants to help all the time. In turn I try to keep him busy with activities and trips. He is now very affectionate (yay years of forced affection is paying off!) and says sorry, please and thank you regularly. Anyway!
In March I got a settlement check from Petsmart and used it to buy a disneyland pass, so Matt had his 1st Disneyland trip on March 23rd.

Here's him looking apprehensive near the entrance. I didn't get any "iconic" Disneyland shots because he was running around too much.

Here's Matt doing something at Tarzan's tree house, or as I like to call it, the stair ride. You go up several fights of stairs, look at faux survival gear, then go back down the stairs on the opposite side into a play place for kids.

Don't I just fit in? Because you know I'm sweet as honey! Maybe honey with a few bees left in...

Here he is at the end of the night. He didn't take a nap that day...not that you can tell...

We had a great Easter. Here's some pictures and videos! (Hey, gotta make up for lost posts!)

Matt helping to dye the eggs...

Matt watches intently to make sure nothing happens to the precious eggs.

Scrunchie face!!!

Easter morning. Looks like someone awakened the green eyed monster...both of them!

Matt looks for eggs--and a rare shot of all 3 of us in a picture!

Easter Morning

And Matt having a blast hunting for the candy filled eggs.

Dana came to visit us in late January, so here's some pictures of us! For those who don't know, she's my best friend from Monterey and also Matt's aunt!

There's always one...

Yay for tilting head pictures!

And just a couple random pictures. Matt likes holding our pet snake named Jaena. He understands he has to be gentle and move very slowly.

We went to the Renfaire April 18th, but didn't really get many pictures, so here's the best one.
His Grammy Jean made Matt's outfit--you can't see but it has a gold lion embroidered on the front.

I think that about covers the things I have pictures for! I will hopefully be going to Knotts Berry Farm for my birthday, and Disneyland for Sean's. Been saving up for it! Joey is living with us again because we just weren't making it by ourselves. The kia is finally fixed and has been running for about 2 months now. We're looking at renting a house when our lease is up, something we couldn't do last year for financial reasons.
Sean is now back to working at Pizza Hut, after months of job searching for a "real" job with no luck. I am currently trying to get him a position at PetSmart. If he's going to work retail, he might as well do it in a fun laid back company that pays well!
Right now we're having a thunder and lightning storm, and I am enjoying the noises. I didn't realize we were due for one, so Matt and I got dressed this morning and went to the park. This park features a nice tall...metal...climbing structure! Sadly for him we had to leave right after we got there. I told him I don't like fried baby and he seemed to understand (ok, well he didn't struggle when we left so I take that as acquiescence).
Going to go enjoy the rest of Matt's nap now while I can. Yes, he still naps and it's wonderful!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Got us talking last night about what our goals for this year are, and we came to the conclusion that if we're going to be poor and working retail that we should at least do it for a good cause. Sean is thinking of going back to school and getting his bachelors, which I am all for. Heck, we're already so deep in debt that there's no way to pay it back, and these days a bachelors seems to be a basic requirement. That way Sean can earn money working at Pizza Hut and from the G.I. bill, all while working toward a better goal. My college is out of the question--I don't get the G.I. bill and I make far more working at PetSmart than I could through any federal funding. Basically if Sean goes to college, the family benefits; and if I go, the family is done for! Plus I am not sure I want to go to college for a specific career like Sean. I'd rather go to study what I am interested in and if it leads to a job, great.
Well anyway, Matt is destroying the house, so I gotta go! (We took down Christmas decorations last night so the house was finally neat and clean--until Matt woke up.)

Matt's 2nd Birthday Party!!! And Other Things!

2008-12-22T21:23:00.001-08:00

Matt had his first and last 2nd birthday party on thursday (the 18th). It was lots of fun! Since Sean and I both had the day off, before the actual party we decided to go up the mountain to see the snow.

It hadn't snowed since the day before, and I had gone up there before without chains when it was actually snowing. So, we didn't think it was going to be a problem. However as fate would have it, chains were required halfway up, and right before the snow started. We were pretty disappointed, but decided to pull over and admire the scenery for a while before heading back.

Ahh...the desert in winter.

Ta DA!!!!!
As Matt was running around, I noticed just a bit behind the embankment (which you can see behind them in the picture above), there was a smattering of snow in the shade. We trudged though the undergrowth and little streams until we came to it. Lo and behold, it actually connected to a nearby hiking path!
As things would have it, it turned into an impromptu hiking trip, which Matt totally loved! And, he even got to play in the snow!

Here we are on top of a big boulder. He wanted to climb it himself, but since I prefer my babies not dropped off a mountain top, I decided to help.

Anyway, after that was the real party. Here's some pics of him opening up some gifts!

He had to learn to unwrap-practice for Christmas!

Wow Mom, a cube. Thanks.

Hmm...am I 2 or 10?

Hyiiaaah! That one was Nino! Unngh! That was Mai! Yeah! I like this being rewarded for being aggressive game!!! Yeah!!!

Toward the end. The poor baby was all worn out. And Matt was pretty tired too.

One last stop to gaze at the giant rodent child god (hmm...both look cute, are small and destructive, and hard to get rid of humanely...) Just kidding!

Here was story time tonight, with Arthas, Matt and I. Matt loves Arthas very much. Not sure the feeling is mutual.

On a completely different note....we are getting our carpets cleaned tomorrow. Not that we need it or anything. Thank you Mai, and your little toddler minion, bane of clean carpets everywhere!!
And on a very unrelated note, Arthas poops in the sink. No, I don't know why. He will go in litter box if the guest bathroom door is shut. Strange kitty. Fits in perfectly.

Matt's Birthday Party!

2008-12-18T12:11:00.001-08:00

We are having a small birthday party for Matt tonight. Not many people can go so it's just family and close friends :-)
Also I want to let everyone know that YES you are getting Christmas/holiday cards :-) They may be late because they will contain pictures but the pictures won't be ready until tomorrow afternoon. Since I work tomorrow afternoon, the cards won't go out until saturday.
By the way, I made the traditional holiday sugar cookies last night.

Tradition is to frost them pink, but Sean wanted different colors. So I made red, green, and pink frosting. But it got too late, so I am going to finish frosting the round ones pink tonight.

Matthew is having a very difficult time having those cookies in eyesight. The look on his face is pure agony. Poor guy. I promised him one after lunch, but that just sent him into a maddening rage, which I did take video of. I do feel like that would be going just too far though to publish his rage online for others to chuckle at. Not that it wasn't too far at all that I videotaped it.

He seems intruiged to see videos of his tantrums, like he can't believe the fuss he's making. Of course that doesn't stop him, but is funny to see him watch himself.

Anyway I will post later with pictures from UpChuk E Cheese. The only place we can take him that is cheap and he enjoys. Have a good day everyone!

We're Suckers

2008-12-10T18:49:00.001-08:00

Yep. Big fat suckers. Oh and did I mention dumb? Yes.
It's true.
And I'm sorry. We said we never would and we did anyway. We got another cat.

We named him Arthas and Matt LOVES him. He is ultra gentle and docile. Lets Matt do anything to him, and is great with the other animals. He is about 4-5 months old, and not too vocal, though he purrs a lot.

Him and his brother were in a cardboard box in the middle of the street and almost got ran over. Some good samaritan swerved and barely missed them, and picked them up and dropped them off at PetSmart. I didn't know all that, but one of my friends showed me them. They were in the recieving area in a big wire kennel. His brother was sort of hyper and more typical, but Arthas came right up to me and started purring and rubbing against me, and fell asleep with me petting him. He rolled onto his back while I did his nails, and was just the best kitty ever. Sean and I both agreed to take him home, cleaned him up,

and he fit right in. He totally just captivated our hearts.

This is what he does every night. He loves Sean.

When Sean has to get up, he passes sleeping kitty to me (just like a newborn) and I hold him.

The whole time he sleeps like a rock. If he wakes up (like above), he falls back asleep, purring loudly. Very trusting.

Nino tolerates him, but is pretty jealous. Poor cat! We show him love too, but he gets bitter and stalks off to glare at us from under the table.
Anyway, onto other news. Sean started at Pizza Hut again, to make ends meet until he can get a better job. I decorated for Christmas:

And Matt loves the look! Here's Matt helping Dad clean his keyboard.

And a random pic of Matt in the bath!

Nothing better than random pictures!
Anyway, that's about it. I know the posts are few and far between these days, but I've been working more and there hasn't been much to report. But I'll keep taking cute pics!
(oh and a side note to mom--he doesn't shed yet and shouldn't be when you're here. So no allergy worries!)

Another New One?

2008-11-19T09:25:00.001-08:00

Really quick: I got a new phone! It's the Palm Centro!

And no, I didn't go out and buy it--it's Joey's "old" phone that he upgraded. It is in perfect condition and I love it! Super cool. The only thing that sucks is the games are ridiculously expensive. $15 for tetris? $20 for bejeweled? (Just to download). No thanks! I guess I will practice my Sudoku (the one game it came with). I have pics to post up later--but gotta go take care of the baby!

Pretzels...yum!

2008-11-12T12:21:00.001-08:00

So, last night I tried my hand at making pretzels! It was a lot of work because they have two different bake cycles and a boiling step, but they turned out wonderfully!

We don't have any coarse salt, so I used cinnamon and sugar and they were a big hit. The only downside is some sugar that spilled on the sheet caramelized and formed a dark layer under some of them, so next time I'll be more careful.
Here's a random picture of Matt in the corner.

He gets mad when I take pictures of him in the corner and use it in humorous blog posts. Weird kid.
Last week we went to the park as a family and had lots of fun. We took Mai, and she was very happy.

Lately she hasn't gone anywhere but the vet, so this was a nice change of pace for her. I may take her again today. Ebony was just glad to be part of things.

*woof* take my good side, *woof*
And here's Matt, ever looking like the victim of domestic violence.

He actually fell and hit his cheek on the corner of the coffee table, but somehow it made a nasty black eye that took over a week to go away. It gets really old after a week answering everyone's questions about it. I finally decided to tell everyone that was where his monocle usually goes.
No word from interviewer yet, although I am not sure Sean has checked today. He is over at his Mom's fixing up the Kia.
Okay, going to go eat some pretzels! Hope everyone has a good day!!!

Quickly...

2008-11-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Just an update. Sean went to the interview yesterday and he did amazing. They are thinking of putting him in charge of a whole warehouse as an IT manager. The boss was impressed that he has actually been in the work force (I guess he's only interviewed students from ITT Tech so far). Now he is going to interview with the district manager soon--hopefully next week. I am so excited! I can't completely trust how well Sean actually did because maybe his opinion is a little inflated, but the fact that he has a 2nd interview with the district manager bodes well.
So I'm keeping my fingers crossed (it makes typing difficult).

Trick or Post!

2008-11-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, here is the "big" post I've been meaning to post for a long time! So, this will span for a big period of time-just be prepared!
Here's Matt with his "girlfriend" Kaelyn.

Aren't they cute? Look at those smooth moves! They like each other but are still learning the fine points of sharing nicely.

Here's me with them. In case you're wondering, she is almost exactly one month younger than Matt.
We threw her mom, Jody, a suprise baby shower. She's expecting her second one in a couple weeks, and was sad because she thought no one was throwing her a shower. So we suprised her on Oct. 21st and she was super happy! I made her a diaper cake, which was two packs of tightly rolled diapers stacked like a cake with the gifts inside. I am not very crafty, and was very suprised how nice it came out!

Here's the front...

And the back! Those are shirts, by the way, one for Kaelyn and one for her little sister.

Here's Matt playing at his Great-Aunt Karen's house. He had a blast and was so cute I just had to take a video too.

Moving along to Halloween...those are our pumpkins! I had to carve them all this year because someone (no names!) didn't want to help! So that's why someones pumpkin looks stupid. Matt is the pukey one, and I'm laughing because I am such a nice mom.

As you know, Matt dressed up like Tigger for Halloween. He was wonderful for the face makeup, but couldn't stop picking at it! So...that's why Tigger's stripes aren't so Tiggeriffic.

Look Kaelyn, pretty hot light! Let me show you what happens when we touch it!
(Crispy Tigger!)

And the whole candy-hogging gang!

And we're off! To see the...lizard?

They didn't understand why they were going up to several strange houses and not going in at first, but candy is a strong motivator and they learned quickly. After trick-or-treating with Kaelyn, we broke off and I went with Matt and Kim (the littler blonde girl). We went to several neighborhoods and Matt would not let go of his bucket for anything. It was super heavy and filled to the top, but he kept marching on. Kim had me hold hers because hers was "too heavy", and Matt's was twice that. We had lots of fun and he had a lot of admirers. Can't wait until next year!

Of course on Tuesday, we voted. The polling place was at our apartment complex this year, so we didn't have to go far. Matt cheated the system and voted twice (hence the two stickers). He voted "yes" on prop. M: Extended rights to all kids named Matthew for unlimited viewing of the movie "Cars" and the right to consume massive loads of candy for every meal.

Apparantly, there is no prop. M as I was led to believe and his ballot wasn't counted. We are suing for discrimination.

Whooops, before I forget! Sean interviewed with the job recruiter for the job and took the test on SQL and had a great interview and a high (and higher than the other applicants) score. Tomorrow he does the interview with the company. Wish him luck!

Trudging Along...

2008-10-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts! There hasn't been much to post about. I'm working, Sean's staying at home, and Matt is getting cuter and cuter.

Only one new thing to report: Sean has a job lead! Yay! He contacted ITT tech, (who got him his last job), and the career advisor sent his resume to a job recruiter, who sent it on to a company. They liked it a lot and he was supposed to have his interview with the recruiter and the company today, but ended up just interviewing with the recruiter (who really liked him). If hired, he will be a database administrator to a warehousing company in Rialto, which is closer than his last job. They made him take a test on the stuff he'd be doing (something called Sequol), and he got an 88%. The average is 60%, and the recruiter was excited. Hopefully he will get called in for the real interview soon, and he will have a job! BTW, database administrator pay is pretty good--supposed to be $20 an hour or $40,000/yr. Of course they might not hire him at that, but anything helps! And I could go back to part time--yay!

But I've got to try not to get my hopes up. Just hard because the last interview led to him being offered the job on the spot--and it could happen again!

Anyway I have pics and all that good stuff, and I'll post them later. Right now I have to not let napping time go to waste and take a shower.

Bad News!

2008-10-11T11:37:00.001-07:00

I don't have much time, but I just want to update everyone on what happened. Yesterday, Sean got laid off, along with 1/3 of his company.
I am going back to full time status as soon as possible, which will not be until the second week of November.
Of course Sean is doing everything he can to find a job. He is filing for unemployment on monday (online application didn't work, because they asked if he had been in the military and when he said "yes", they wanted discharge papers and of course he hasn't been discharged yet).
We're going to seize this opportunity to get Medi-Cal and food stamps (free food, yay) and to spend quality family time we didn't have before.
Gotta run though--late to work!!

Pointless Poll

2008-10-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I made a poll making everyone think they had a say in his costume decision. Turns out, my friend Jody has a perfect condition Tigger costume which is super adorable (and free!); plus, Matt loves it! I'll post pictures of him in it soon--gotta get to yucky cleaning!

Oh as a side note--I've lost my voice! I feel better, but no voice! Makes talking to Matt much more adventurous. He got mad at me this morning when he was throwing a temper tantrum over something little and I told him I didn't negotiate with terrorists (I hadn't had caffeine yet).

Well...let's just say I think he has different foreign policy views!

On another side note--maybe Tigger qualifies as a fairy. (thereby validating the poll)

A Lesson In Being A Mom

2008-10-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Something amazing happened today! Well, it probably won't be amazing to any parent reading this, but I got taught a good lesson from Prince Matt himself.

We had just gotten home from a long day. I've been sick for a few days, and today was the first day of real work and I was exhausted. Matt was all day at the daycare, and that always wears him out. We had to swing by work because I forgot something, and then we made a pit stop at Toys R Us (didn't buy anything, they were out of stock of the table and chair set I---Matt---wanted). Anyway, by the time we got home and walked the dogs, it had been a pretty tiring day. As soon as I sat down to rest, Matt started whining and went to his normal seat at the table, indicating he wanted to eat. So, being the really wonderful mom I am, I made him some happy face 10-layer lasagna from scratch, along with an elaborate tasty-looking outdoor scene made from veggies all while cleaning my kitchen and dancing with Matt.

Ok..I made him a peanut butter sandwich. Hey--he'd eaten well all day! Anyway, they're his favorite right now, good source of protien, and easy.

Well right away as soon as he saw the sandwich he began to scream. He screamed when I put him in the chair and he tried to throw it across the room. He pointed to my water, I gave it to him and he tried to throw it. He screamed when I took them away. When I put them back. And so on. Then Dad came home and that made everything worse (more audience!). He didn't want to eat it on our laps or walking around. Finally we ask him what he wants and he goes to the fridge and picks out yogurt. Fine--so we give him yogurt and he seems happy. A couple spoonfuls in, however, he decides he is done and starts screaming louder than before and threw himself on the floor and banged his head on the floor several times. I was appalled--I'd seen him act like this before but this time I felt really bad for him. He obviously wanted something and he couldn't express it and he was frustrated--though I think his body and his mind wanted different things.

We tried holding him, letting him go--nothing. More screaming and throwing fits. Sean said shower? And I told him no, Matt didn't want a shower. Sean got mad because that always cheers him up and I didn't want to. Not that I didn't want to, but I just KNEW it was something else. I knew he needed to be shown that he was loved and understood, and not just keep offering things up until he took something. Sean left (he had to go somewhere), and I took Matt into his room, shut the door, and rocked him in his chair, even as he was screaming. I didn't say anything and suddenly! He relaxed, gave one big shuddering sigh, and looked up into my eyes and didn't break contact for a whole minute! (remember, this is the kid with the attention span of a fly). He then started smiling, and turned around and hugged me and rested his head. After about 20 minutes of that (and eventually some talking and a few books), I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, and I asked him if he wanted to eat his sandwich and he went to the door.

He sat down and ate his sandwich perfectly, and did everything I told him happily (throw away the rest, put your plate away, go get me a diaper, get undressed). Just an amazing turnaround. No fussing for anything (so unusual near bedtime), and when it was time for bed I hugged him again, told him to get into bed, and he went. Laid down, no crying, let me tuck him in and leave.

So my lesson was: Sometimes even though I'm really tired and have had a bad day, and it would be so nice to give him an easy fix, he just needs mom even if he doesn't say it. And only mom--no dogs, phones, tvs or anything. It was so refreshing and made everything better. Yay!

Sick Baby!

2008-10-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Matt is sick. He didn't eat dinner Wednesday night, which I didn't think much of, because sometimes he is a fussy eater. I tried to make him eat, but he wouldn't. Oh well, I thought, he'll be so hungry tomorrow he'll gobble breakfast down. Well yesterday he didn't want breakfast. I tried his favorite cereal--no response. Then an hour later I tried to feed him his favorite oatmeal. He looked happy when I made it, but only ate one bite then pushed it away. Soon after, he was walking around and came up to me and suddenly vomited everywhere! Poor guy! I cleaned him up and cuddled with him, and he slept for a long time. I called the doctor and she said not to worry and to give him pedialyte. So I did, and he drank it down. He didn't eat dinner either and he hasn't eaten much today. So, (he's waking up, gotta type fast!), Sean took today off, and got out of drill this weekend so he can be with Matt while I work. Sean still has to go in tonight, but I got off early. Poor little guy! Wish him luck!

Seaworld!

2008-09-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, Matt, Jana and I went to Seaworld (and I got a pass so we can go for the rest of the year). Jana paid--thank you Jana! It was so amazing!!! I was so used to zoo-type experiences, where Matt would be interested slightly, but mostly a passive observer. This was so different!
Matt loved everything! First off, were the killer whales. He was laughing and pressing his face against the glass. Mind you, this is the kid who is scared of finger-sized lizards. But two-ton killer whales? No prob!

Also, Seaworld is small enough to where he can walk everywhere. (He really got worn out, because he was so happy and excited he ran everywhere). After the whales we were off to the starfish. He liked them, but did not enjoy the cold water. Here's him touching one briefly, before deciding that braving the cold water wasn't worth it.

Seaworld also has this place called the "Bay of Play". It is a huge section designed specifically for toddlers. We went on his first ride, and he didn't like it much.

They also have a big free-play area,

a water play area, and a big climbing place for the slightly older toddlers/kids. He sat still for both the Shamu show and the dolphin show, and seemed really interested. We sat in the splash zone and he didn't particularly enjoy being doused with cold salt-water. But it was hot outside, so he got over it fast.
Here's him near the outdoor penguin exhibit.

The indoor one was really cool, but I didn't get any good pictures because we were on a moving walkway.
Here's the walrus:

He was a lot more amazing than I thought he'd be up close. Matt loved him, but every time he was near, there were a billion people.

So Matt entertained himself by running crazily up and down the ramp and stairs.

Here's a video of him in the Arctic Circle exhibit. Notice in the cave how he runs out really fast when he hears the roaring! He did not like that one bit!

And lastly, one more video. Sorry for the yucky quality of these ones, the lighting was really strange in the exhibit.

Anyway to sum up--Matt LOVED every part of the trip! He did not get fussy once and kept being super interested in everything. He really liked the penguins--I think he has some of his Grammy penguin blood surfacing! We will definitely be going again soon, possibly the week after next. Until next time...enjoy!
Oh and on a completely unrelated note: Heroes premiers tomorrow night! I am so excited!!!
Sorry, one more thing...I found this on the internet and this is EXACTLY what Matt does with Jana!!!
This could be Matt
He'll scream and throw a fit if he thinks I am there, but as soon as Auntie Jana goes in and tells him to go to sleep, he does. That little....hmm...

The Last Supper

2008-09-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight I have to wonder--what would I like for my last dinner if I were a dog? Hamburgers? Freshly hunted bird? Kitty roca? Tonight Mai will dine...for the last time!!! Bwahahaha!
Whoops...I realize that I haven't updated this blog in a while. So I will fill you in.
After the passing of Nostromo, I directed my attention to my other animals and their health problems. I noticed that Mai was having trouble holding her urine, and was showing signs of a UTI. She would squat for a long time and not pee anything--pee uncontrollably, pee only a drop, etc. So I took her into the vet for a check up and they performed a urinalysis. It came up positive for a pretty bad infection, but there was more. The vet said they had detected struvite crystals which she said could indicate bladder stones (and if she had those, the infections would keep coming back), and she recommended an x-ray and a urine culture to make sure. The culture would also confirm exactly which antibiotic would kill the infection. I told her I couldn't afford it, and she sent Mai home with a general antibiotic. After the 10 days on it, she had only gotten worse, to the point of peeing blood and eventually having to wear a diaper.
So, I called and got her in for the x-ray and culture. The culture was sent off, and I got a call about the x-ray. They wouldn't tell me over the phone, so I headed down to the vet, expecting the worst.
First off they told me what a strong little dog she is. She was obviously in incredible pain, and she didn't make a sound when peeing/being examined. Then I saw the x-ray. She indeed had a bladder stone--one as big as her bladder! It is about as big as a small egg, which for a 12 pound dog is pretty atrocious. They said for her, it causes lots of pain as it rubs against other organs (causing the bloody urine), and making her feel like she has to "go" all the time. The vet said that it has been there for a while and probably been the cause of her potty problems.
So, to the treatment. The vet said that until the culture came back, he couldn't be sure what type of chemicals were in her body and what could be causing the buildup. He said most stones require surgery (which I got the estimate for--it would be $890)--but one type of stone can respond to a food diet that can dissolve it. That would be a struvite stone, and he said he was cautiously optimistic that it might be a struvite stone due to the struvite crystals in her urine. However, we wouldn't know until the culture was back.
So for a week, I stressed and stressed, watching Mai get slowly worse and worse. She now wears a diaper exclusively. I wondered how I could afford the surgery--there was no way. But there was also no way I was going to let my little girl suffer either.
And today I got the call! The culture confirmed that it is most likely a struvite stone, and also the infection is responsive to every antibiotic they tested against it so the vet was able to prescribe the cheapest. She will probably have to be on antibiotics the rest of her life, because bladder stones are caused by a series of "sub-clinical" UTIs, though she could cut down to a lesser dosage once the stone disappears. So, onto the food therapy.
If I follow an extremely super strict diet of ONLY the prescription food and the antibiotics, her stone could dissolve. However, she cannot get any other food at all. No table scraps, treats, grass, etc. This is going to be hard with a toddler who loves to feed her his leftovers, but it's worth it.
So, tonight is her last meal before the new diet. I'm leaning toward a beggin strip burger...

Nostromo

2008-08-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

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!!

2008-08-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-08-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

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!

The Sickness is contagious!

2008-07-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

What a way to start off the week! Monday, Matt threw up everywhere in my car and by the time I had picked him up from daycare had had 3 watery yellow diarrhea diapers. Jana's kids had the same thing so I did what her dr. told her to do. He said to give lots of pedialyte, and keep them on a "BRAT" diet: Bananas, white Rice, Applesauce and Toast. It worked for Matt and then later that night, Sean got sick! He was violently ill, up all night with constant puking/diarrhea as I lay in bed wondering when it would hit me. It didn't hit me until last night, when I got a sudden wave of nausea and chills. I was able to ward it off, though and I am okay. I did have plenty of warning so I had been sticking to simple foods and liquids along with preemptive immodium and pepto-bismol. Now they are both better. Was supposed to go to the zoo today but decided to wait. Guess it'll be another boring day! Might turn in some outgrown clothing into salvation army--we'll see! Not much else going on--hence the lack of posting. I will try to take some pics and video of him talking though. Hope everyone is feeling better than us!

I was wrong!!!!

2008-07-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

It's a boy!!! Atticus David Shimkin born on July 18th at 1:05 am, weighing 6 lbs, 15 oz and 19 inches long! Matt and I have a new cousin. Yay!

Happy Birthday Maybe Baby!!!!

2008-07-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Hillary is going into labor today and is going to give birth soon to her little baby! Saying maybe about the birthday because we don't know how long she'll be in labor. Will post when she has him/her. I am taking my bet now--it's a girl! Been thinking it's a girl the whole time. I may be wrong--I think everyone is having a girl (but everyone who's been pregnant around me has had a girl). Updates will be coming shortly!

Allergies????

2008-07-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

I think Matt and I are allergic to something in the air. Our eyes are burning up and our noses are running! So lame...I've never had allergies before!!! No new news items to report right now. Life is good! Except for allergies. And the upstairs neighbor who sounds like he is knocking down all his furniture and jumping up and down. Can't wait to move!!

Finally Part-Time/Dog Drama

2008-07-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

So, I know this week I am part time, which I thought meant that I would get everything I needed to get done done, and have lots of free time for blogging. WRONG! Just been busy busy.
First, let me start out with Monday, my last day of work before my days off. I was getting ready, Matt was sleeping, and everything was going normally and well. Suddenly I hear a noise at my door and the dogs go crazy. I open it and, lo and behold, it's a stray german shepard.
On one note, this is the second shepard who has just strolled up to my door and waited there for me to come take care of him and find him a home. What, really, are the odds? So of course I took him in, gave him food and water and called work to find out if anyone wanted him.
I do not believe he belonged to a family for several reasons. #1, I walked around the apartment complex asking people about him and everyone said he had been wandering around for days and no one knew who he belonged to. (Big dogs aren't allowed in the apartments). #2, he was not neutered...which isn't an absolute, but he was not 100% purebred and usually caring owners neuter their big dogs, hoping to make them more docile/friendly etc. Not all the time, but mostly.
#3, he was covered in fly bites. All around his eyes and ears. That means he has been outside for a long, long time. Some were scabbed over and bitten again. His ears were extremely dirty.
So, with all that info, and armed with the unfortunate knowledge that if I took him to the shelter (he wasn't micro-chipped by the way), it would pretty much be a death sentence for a full grown, somewhat too big black shepard. But he was such a sweetheart. Wonderful with Matt (didn't let them get too close just in case, but Matt was throwing a huge fit because I wouldn't let him touch the dog and the dog was paying no attention), and very mellow. When I was driving him to work (I found him a home), he fell asleep with me rubbing behind his ears and his head almost in my lap. He stayed in the kennel all day without a peep, good-naturedly tolerated the bath (it was obvious he had never had one by the way he reacted), and waited to be taken to his new home. Seriously, these dogs KNOW I feel pity for them. They just do.

Okay, that day was odd, but went well. Unfortunately, later that night, my friend Jana called to say her oldest (and may I say most beloved) dog had escaped and she couldn't find her. Her and her girls were walking around calling her to no avail. She was heartbroken but resolved to be strong and deal with it in the morning. Then I get a call in the morning that her youngest puppy is on the brink of death and she doesn't know why. She said when she woke up, he was great. Jumping around, barking, wagging his tail. When she came back from dropping her kids off at school, he was laying on his side, completely limp and hardly breathing, He was having seziures and wouldn't open his mouth to take food or water. He was in a clean kennel by himself with food and water. She has no idea what happened.
So I came over to try to help and together we managed to pry his jaws open and syringe-feed him some pedialyte (the vet ok'd this) and high-calorie gel (nutri-cal). After a while he began to stir, swallow, and start to look better and more aware. It took a few hours but we nursed him back from the edge and he was doing well.
And I went outside to begin putting "lost dog" posters up, and there was already a sign up saying "Found" Brown and white dog". I called and they had her! So, all in all, the day ended well but it was so hectic and scary at times that by the time I got home I didn't want to do anything.
And today, Joey and I are going to the "Aquatic Center" with Matt, which is a small local water-park with a well-developed kids area. That will be fun but again, it will tire us out. Luckily...I have tomorrow!!!!!
Well, I think I have rambled on enough. I will post soon about what we all did on 4th of July.

Part Time!!

2008-06-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

I am going part time in a week and I am so excited!!! Finally! I am going to have tuesdays, wednesdays and thursdays off now. Three days in a row, each week. It's like a mini vacation! And from there, if Sean keeps rising up in the ranks at work, I can cut down to three days and finally be at work less than I'm at home.
And tomorrow, (my first day off since I got back), I will officially start the search for a place to live! I really hope we get into a house. So sick of apartments!
Well, I just thought I'd post a little update. Don't have much going on right now, but that's all going to change soon, I'm sure. I'll post later if anything exciting happens!

The Best/Worst Day Ever

2008-06-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a weird day. We flew back to California yesterday, and it was a good day because we arrived safe and sound and so did Sean. I am very thankful for that and it's because of that that I can't dub it the unluckiest day ever. But, here is a list of what happened yesterday that sucked!
Woke Matt up super early.
They changed the gate of my connecting flight and I had to run across O'Hare and almost missed my flight.
When I told Sean "San Diego" he misinterpreted it as "Ontario" and he went to the wrong airport to pick me up.
(a note: I got my Aunt Karen to pick me up since she lives close by and that was a blessing in disguise because I hadn't seen her in a while plus she had some extra food items to give away so we lucked out!)
Sean met us at Karen's and while he was waiting for us, someone called the cops on him to report a suspicious person. (Karen was able to convince the cop that Sean wasn't that suspicious)
We drove out of our way a bit to go get the car and go to Jana's to pick up the animals.
On the way to Jana's, Matt puked everywhere.
After getting a change of clothing out from the car, I stepped the wrong way on her lawn and twisted my ankle pretty bad.
Picked up animals and they were super gross and dirty (no ones fault there, they were outside and they like to roll around in the dirt) and they stunk up the cars.
We were finally on our way home when we waited in traffic forever, and it turned out they were doing construction and blocking off a six lane expressway that goes straight home. We go onto a side street and travel along it for a while until it dead ends.
We go the long way home, after backtracking.
I look at my phone and discover that somehow the front screen LCD broke completely.
Sean gets rear-ended.

And this doesn't directly affect us, but after we settle in we get the news that Jana's mom had a stroke. We are all wishing she gets better. She is stable and doing okay now.

Oh, and this was technically this morning but I am counting it anyway: Matt woke up at 3:3o thinking it was 6:30...yuck.

Anyway, that was the best worst day ever. Hopefully work goes ok today. Heck, even if it doesn't, I am comforted because I go part time in two weeks! Yay!

Haha

2008-06-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sean is going to kill me. I just found this site. Best thing ever. Let's just say he is getting an urgent call from the future...

Interesting

2008-06-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

I was reading Brenda's blog, and she mentioned a thing called Wordle, in which you take a bunch of text and makes a "cloud" from it, with the most repeated words big, and the least very small. So I put in my most recent posts and this is what I got:

I like the many variations of Matt I have in there. Time was a surprising big one, as was the (apparently) many mentions of myself. Ally didn't know Ally mentioned Ally that much by name, but Ally guesses Ally does! Hehe...

Also, Hillary's surprise baby shower was today, and I do have some pictures!

Here's the mother-to-be with her great-nephew.

And here is Matt making a strange face...not sure how this is baby-shower related, but it's cute.

The shower was really nice. Hillary was surprised, she genuinely thought we were going to brunch. She did surmise that there would be one at some point, but she didn't know where or when. We played the typical party games and chatted about babies--typical shower stuff. Matt behaved ok under the circumstances.

Here he is, trying to be the center of attention. He has a light-up duck in his hand (ducks were the theme). He managed to find and gather every single duck there. By day's end he was pretty duckered out. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Sometimes it isn't always a great match with 37 1/2 week along pregnant women and really fussy squirmy toddlers.
After the shower, I headed over to a local Cambridge park which Matt loved.

They had a separate toddler section and everything (yes, besides the trash can). It had a bunch of donated toys, a safer playground and sandbox, and even benches that rocked back and forth, I'm guessing for moms with small babies. It was nice. I really like the big city and the strong feeling of community. I like that everything is within walking distance and the abundant public transportation. I want to live here or someplace similar someday, but not sure Sean would go for it. Plus to get a GOOD inner-city experience, you have to have more money than we have now. Someday!
Well, I go back to Brenda's tomorrow, which will be nice. And we fly back wednesday! I do not want to go back home, to all my responsibilities and my job, but it will be nice to see Sean again. I miss him, and I am sure Matt does too. Sean is having an awful time at his training. 122 degrees with no a/c today. He's miserable. Enough of that though! I am going to say goodnight. Goodnight!

My Un-Adventurous Adventures In New England: Part 5

2008-06-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

I had lots of time to post, but unfortunately my Grammy Schafer does not have internet and I didn't have an opportunity to go someplace with wi-fi. Now I am at my Aunt Hillary/Uncle Brian's place and they have internet. Yay! So, continuing on with the adventures...
We left Brenda's house on tuesday and traveled to New Hampshire to go visit some grandparents! First, we stopped by Grammy Dawn's to say hi. She hasn't seen Matt since he was 6 months old, and she liked him lots! Here is a cute picture of them:

We played with her dogs a bit and Matt ran around. We saw the guest house, which is close to being finished. It is so nice! Before long though, it was time to be on our way to Somersworth to go visit Grammy Schafer.

Here's Matt and his cousin Andrew sharing some secret toddler attack plan.

"Now, like we planned. Take the mower and run!"
We had a really fun time. We went to York beach in Maine and that was really fun. Matt loved the beach, of course.

"Aren't I handsome?"

He loves running! Too much. We had to make him stay still...somehow.

Believe it or not, Parent's Magazine actually says that burying your toddler is a widely-used and acceptable method to make them shut up and stay still. Well...it made him stay still.
Next we went to the Nubble lighthouse, which was closeby.

It was super windy! And cold. Actually I just glanced at my Forecast Fox sidebar and it says tomorrow in Hemet it will be 111 degrees. Today in 29 Palms according to Sean it is 122 degrees. Here it's about...80. Wow. Anyway!
Last but not least, here is a beautiful shot I got from near Nubble.

That is so nice, I may make it as my background for my laptop. Ah...pretty. And I have to go back to this:

I guess it is beautiful...if you're a cactus!
Well, I'd better get back to visiting! Hope you enjoyed the post!

OSV

2008-06-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Or, Old Sturbridge Village!

A sign, to prove I was here. See? See? I MUST have gone to take a picture of the SIGN!

It was pretty interesting to see all the old historic buildings. Some were replicas, but many were moved here from other parts of New England. This was one, a Quaker meeting-house.

That is just really gross. Ew.

Here's everyone playing Ye Olde Hasbro Checkers. Matt won!

Here's a beautiful circa-1800's garden. Things have sure changed...

A room!

And a Matthew!

They luckily had a Olde Playground, which Matt enjoyed. I love how no matter where you take kids, it's always going to be the genaric food and playgrounds they like best...of course he is too young to fake any interest in anything else. :-)

This looks like the other garden, but it's all herbs. This actually was pretty interesting because I got to find out what they used them all for. There is an astounding range of medicines hidden in there.

On the way out, Matt decided to tear the place down! But it didn't work. Sturbridge is here to stay!

On the way back we stopped here. It's exactly what it seems like from the sign. A family resturaunt centered around books. You get to take three home free! I took two, but they are in the car so I can't tell you the titles. One is "Bury Him Among Kings", but I don't remember the author.
All in all, I omitted a lot of boring (to you guys) pictures, but it was a really fun day! The next post may not be for a few days because we are heading off today to visit my grandparents! Grammy Dawn and Grammy Schafer. I will post later with many more pictures and adventures of "Matt Invades New England".

Big One

2008-06-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a big post! I might even split it into two different ones. This is what I get for being lazy about posting! Basically we have been going places and doing exciting things and I have been taking pictures!
Yes, I am going to split it into two posts. This one is going to be about our trip into Historic Hartford!

Here is the capital of Hartford! Yay! This is the only good picture I got so I guess I won't have to put you through a billion shots of the same thing.

Here's Matt on the trip. He had a good time for the most part. He wanted to dive in the "DANGER DO NOT GO PAST THIS SIGN" lake, but I wouldn't let him, so that made him mad. But he forgot about it when we put him on the carousel!

He was mostly confused, but seemed to be having a good time. Here we are before it started. I decided to start him off on a stationary horse. Next time we'll go on a fun one. Besides going places, we've just been hanging out at home.

Here is coffee from a local place here that I like. Good coffee and bagels. Dunkin Donuts is a given, but it's always nice to find another place that's good.

On sunday we went into Boston and picked up the car that Hillary and Brian very generously offered for me to use on the trip. It's a Honda Civic Hybrid, which is AWESOME! We filled it up right before leaving, and got completely lost on the way home (missed an exit) and drove almost to New York. We knew when we saw the "ALBANY: 111 MILES" sign go to "ALBANY: 55 MILES" that we were probably off track. Anyway we went hundreds of miles, along with the trip to Sturbridge, and it's only gone down half a tank :-). I love it! Bet I can make it today from here to my two stops in New Hampshire on that same tank. The best part: it fills up with 10 gallons! Ok...enough of that. Onto more important things!

Here's Matt making strange faces as he eats.

Matt enjoys playing in the back, near the strip of woods. It's a perfect environment to introduce him to hiking. There is a trail that goes through it that's very short, probably a hundred meters or so, but it is rocky and uphill, and he loves climbing it. Hopefully he will continue to love it so we can go hiking together when he's older! (crossing fingers)

He has also (almost) mastered the art of climbing down stairs, which is a relief because those can be pretty dangerous to someone his size.
Well, that's enough for now. The next post will be about our trip yesterday to Old Sturbridge Village!

First Round!

2008-06-14T07:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to go do something exciting, new and refreshing. Something you can ONLY do in Connecticut.
...Go to the beach!!!

Matt had a great time! He was a little cautious at first, because this is his first time at the beach when he could actually walk and play in the surf.

Trying to get him to walk in on his own.
Guess he knew better! He wanted Mom to help.

In no time at all, though, he was playing and having a great time.

Look Mom! I bet I can walk into the Atlantic all by myself!

No I can't.

After all that, we headed off to wander around New London, and came upon Fort Trumbull.

Well, we HAD to stop there, because as you know, I have a lizard named Trumble at home and we had to see his ancestry. I am figuring his family had to change the spelling of their name due to an immigration discrimination issue sometime last century.
Then we gazed at the beautiful scenery:

Beautiful New England shipyard...

The Mystic River...

And ME!!!

Needless to say, after a long day, Matt promptly passed out in the car. That was fun! Today, we are going to explore historic Hartford. More pictures to come!

We Made It!

2008-06-11T06:43:00.000-07:00

Matt and I made it here to Hartford, Connecticut safely and soundly. Matthew especially loudly...
Anyway I will be calling everyone soon and working out a visitation schedule. Today is just going to be a rest and recuperation day, mostly for Matthew. He really was not happy when he saw the sun streaming in through the windows at what he thought was 3:30 am.
Okay, well neither was I, but that's what coffee is for!
Well, that's all for now. I will call everyone (including you, mom) soon, and let everyone know what's happening!

Here's Isis! If anyone remembers, she used to be my cat, then Brenda and I did a cat swap. Amazingly, Nostromo is getting skinnier at my place and Isis is...well...getting fluffier and fluffier here.

New England building. This is the local grocery store.

And another typical New England thing. Just enough mowed grass to get by, and a wall of thick forest right beyond. This is in the middle of a city and the forest still penetrates. Very nice.
Okay, NOW I am done posting. Talk to you all later!

Birthdays and Stuff

2008-06-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

My birthday was fun. Sean made me breakfast in bed and got me coffee, and I spent the morning relaxing. We went to go get ice cream then headed over to my friend Jana's house where she was setting up our birthday party! That was super fun and Matt also had a good time playing on the slip and slide with her two girls and another little boy. Of course he didn't play on it exactly right, but oh well.
So there's just three days left until the trip and NOTHING is done! Laundry is a big mess and so is the house. I doubt Sean would clean the house for me AND put away laundry, but it would help so much. I do have a packing list though, so that will help when the time comes.
Oh yes and my awesome friend Lorenza is coming over Monday to take Matt somewhere so I can clean and pack fast without him. Yay!
And to top it off, Sean got out my luggage and my big one was broken so I will have to buy another suitcase before I go. Oh well, not a big deal--it's not like I am packing anyway!
I am dreading the flight but really looking forward to the trip (if that makes any sense). It's always nice to be around a lot of family. :-)
Okay, guess that is enough ranting for now. Gotta go get ready for work!

Matt's New Hair!

2008-06-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Argh that kid is so weird! If you don't remember, let me refresh your memory of how he was last time. He had to be held down and was screaming and thrashing for the entire cut. The time before that, he was an angel. And the first time, he was AWFUL. So, following the pattern, he was WONDERFUL today. He sat in the chair by himself and couldn't care less what was happening. The stylist got to take his time and make the haircut perfect. I guess this means next time he is going to be awful. Anyway, here are a couple pictures.

Here's Matt with Uncle Joey after his haircut.

Doesn't he look tough?

Okay well, that's enough posting for now. I will post tomorrow because IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! YAY!!!

My new hair!

2008-06-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

I got my hair cut yesterday and finally got around to taking some Myspace-quality pictures of it. I love it! Yay! Bangs rock.

See how pretty my hair is?

Yay hair!

Anyway, here's a picture of something I meant to post a while back. Do you have any guesses as to what it is?

Well, I didn't, and still don't. All I know is: I moved the fridge to get some of Matt's toys and that was stuck behind it.
It looks like a really old rotted peach with mold on it. Really grossed me out and I finally got up the courage to grab it with a pair of tongs and a cooking spoon and toss it outside. Guess I was afraid it was going to burst or something. Sometimes my imagination gets a hold of me too easily, I guess. I had images of a big black widow colony waiting in there to burst out at the first sign on human contact and once I got that in my head I couldn't get rid of it.
Anyway, that's all for now. Going out to lunch with Joey today for an early birthday celebration, and getting Matt's hair cut again. Look, this is the only style I can do now with it!

Mowhawk Matt! Cutest baby ever!

Bang(s)! You're Dead!

2008-06-03T10:38:00.001-07:00

So today I am getting my hair cut again, and I am going to go for bangs this time! I haven't had bangs since 6th/7th grade. I know my 7th grade I had begun growing them out, and they have been an equal part of my hair ever since.
But now their follicular status is getting cut! I hope it looks good. Probably going to go for this type of style:

Okay, I know, the lady is sorta weird looking, but I like her hair. Plus my stylist rocks so she can make it work. I am super nervous...but excited! And no, I am not going platinum blonde. Not my thing :-P
Well I will post more later. I am getting all excited about my birthday and my trip back east! Yay!!! Oh and yes, I will post pictures.

Driving, Goldendoodles and Achilles Tendons

2008-05-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

So, today I remembered the fallen veterans by grooming. Not a typical remembrance, but it works! So, since I felt like it, I took some pictures!

This is the drive to work. Exciting, huh?

This is one of my request clients, Luke. He is a goldendoodle--a golden retriever/standard poodle mix. That is a very popular mix right now, along with labradoodles (labrador retrievers and standard poodles). This is him before his bath, brush and haircut.

Still before. Taking a picture was difficult. He is still kind of a puppy (16 months), so he is in constant motion!

And this is him after! I left the hair an inch all over, which took an hour long bath/blowdry and another hour and a half to brush and cut.

Isn't he handsome? He is a very good boy.

Anyway, somehow on my lunch (Sean brought Matt down to visit), I really hurt my achilles tendon (the tendon on the back of the foot above the heel). Really, really sucks. It hurts unbelievably bad. I can hardly walk and it is super painful. It goes all the way up my leg. :-( Hope it heals as fast as the pain came on! Soo lame...
Anyway, that is all for now! I am going to hobble over to the kitchen and eat something.

A Working Tv...for me?

2008-05-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, we finally traded in our hand-me-down big screen tv for another hand-me-down big screen tv of the same variety. They are alike in most ways except one--our new one has a perfect picture...RIGHT WHEN YOU TURN IT ON!
WOW!
Let me tell you how ridiculous it had gotten with our other one.
It needed at least 3-4 days of being completely off before operation. During that time if you turned it on, the picture would jump and distort so violently it would make you sick. It wouldn't ever warm up.
After the 3-4 day waiting period, however, you could turn it on and it would warm up within two hours. Then we'd get a good 20-30 minutes of good viewing time, and the picture would begin to jump violently again. Then begins the cycle of waiting another 3-4 days. Fun!
My friend Jana's uncle took it, presumably to fix it and use/sell it. He can go right ahead! We paid $100 for a 52 inch big screen RCA tv that works perfectly fine for now. Everything is hooked up, and it's so nice not to have a big space waster in the living room now.
Anyway, everything else is going good. Looking forward to my birthday and my vacation. Yay!

Toddlers Are Wierd.

2008-05-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Today he woke up from him afternoon nap in an awful mood. Nothing would calm him down. Drugged him up, but still nothing. Still on an angry tirade. screaming, rolling around on the floor, hitting things (hitting himself which was actually sort of funny, because the pain really made him mad) ... (I know, I'm terrible). Etc, screaming like we were strangling him, the whole works.
Finally after about 10 minutes we decide to completely ignore him. Sean leaves the room. Matt stops crying in about 2 min (after screaming louder and throwing himself around more dramatically in an attempt to get my attention), takes a deep breath, grabs his sippy cup with milk, climbs up to the couch and snuggles with me, totally quiet. And gives me a kiss.
.....
ohh...kay...
Oh and he was fine from then on.

Matt Plays In The Tornado...er...Rain

2008-05-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post, to say that today was really weird! It started off normally, sorta overcast and normal temperature, and progressed to rain, hail, thunder, lightning and...TORNADOES!
Yes, tornadoes in Southern Cali...and no, it's not the Day After Tomorrow. Unless it is the 22nd...hmm...through some strange time twist...maybe it is!

Here it is! It touched down less than 20 miles away. It tore up railroad tracks and flipped over an oil tanker on the highway. Amazingly, only one building was struck (see above).
I think that company said they are giving all their employees paid time off while it is repaired or something...? I don't know.
Anyway, I am sure the people in Kansas think that's baby stuff, but we literally never get tornadoes here. If we do (which I have heard of), they don't touch down!
Paired with a very unusual rain/thunderstorm in May, and it's some freaky stuff! So of course, I just had to go outside and take pictures of Matthew in the rain.

Matt is cute in the rain...and my font is weird and huge for some reason! Great!

Water...from the sky? I can finally get wet some other way than dumping the doggie water bowl all over me when mommy isn't looking...

The troubled clouds.."okay, so this IS Wichita, right dude? ...Um....let me check...ARGH I HATE YOU TOM TOM!!!"

lala....I am a wet baby...but I am drinking hot chocolate so it's okay.

Rain, I command you to halt!

This is Matt running around in the rain. Nothing amazing...okay except for one part. Let's just say...don't blink!

Goodnight everyone! Don't let the tornadoes bite!

Airlines Are Cheap Bastards

2008-05-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Sooo...in preparation for my trip back east I decided to confirm some things so I could plan ahead. I am flying on two different airlines, one to Hartford and one back. On both of their websites, they say that the first checked bag is free, the second is $25, and the third one is $100. That sorta freaked me out because I was planning on checking three bags. A piece of luggage, the pack and play and the carseat. So I wondered if the carseat counted as a personal assistance device (which are free to check), and called. US Air said yes, they are free, and United said no. I think the US Air rep was confused and thought Matt had his own seat. But maybe I can argue that in the airport and get it free. But either way I am now looking at $125 each way!!! Yikes!!! So, the carseat isn't optional, but the pack and play sort of is. I figure if I can find one back east for Matt to sleep in then that will certainly be cheaper than $100 extra each way. I can do $25. Not 100! That is so evil and ridiculous.
Anyway, just was frustrated and had to vent. Found some on Craigslist back there, so hope is there. Heck, it would be cheaper to buy one off the shelf there! Or send it via mail! Lame airlines...

Laptop!

2008-05-17T19:09:00.001-07:00

This is my second post on a laptop, and the first on MY laptop! I love it! Okay, well I love it now that all the bloatware has been un-installed. And I will love it even more when it has more ram. It is so nice to post wherever I want to! And to be able to watch Matt and do necessary computer stuff. Yay! Now I just have to concentrate on not dropping it or spilling any drinks on it. Better concentrate REALLY hard because I have a bad feeling I will. Or Matt. Or both.
Anyway, not much other news to report. Should expect more posts because now it is a little easier to post. Have a good day, everyone!

Early Birthday Present!

2008-05-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yay! Sean ordered my birthday present!!! I've wanted one for a long, long time...

A brain! Yay!

And he also got me a laptop!!! Finally! I have wanted one for a really long time, and this one can replace my current computer. It was the right price and everything. He also ordered 4 extra gigs of ram so that Vista could run properly (properly for Vista, which isn't saying much).
I am so excited!
Now I have a hope of making it to the east coast in a saner state of mind. Since Matt doesn't watch TV very often (not because we are excellent parents but because our living room tv is broken), hopefully if I put some hypnotizing brain melting toddler-aimed dvd on he will be happy and distracted for a bit so we can relax. Ah...to be able to surf the web AND watch tv...to be able to take my computer anywhere I go!
To have a cd rom drive that works...
Ah...
Oh and it comes with a carrying case...yay!
I know it isn't the biggest screen, but it doesn't have to be. It only has to be big enough to be visible at close range. Anyway, I have to go to bed soon. Just wanted to gloat about my present!

Matt and the "Other" Baby

2008-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

I finally found the connector cord! Yay! I have lots of pictures I have been meaning to post, but never could (and that's part of the reason I haven't really been posting). Now I can! I am going to start with some shots of the baby shower that I promised but couldn't deliver a while before:

Matt pumps up to go with a Rockstar energy drink.

Three of my friends: (from the left) Tina, Kim, and Annie. Kim is the pregnant one :-)

Matt plays with a cute little girl who really seemed to love having someone littler than her to boss around.

Those energy drink crashes are horrible! He was so tired and fussy he had to take a bath with his pacifier (he doesn't get it during the day usually), AND his balloon. (see the red around his eyes?)

Sort of off the subject, but this is Nostromo's newest sleeping spot.

Well, anyway, that was a fun day. For us, that was. Matt got really fussy towards the end. Anyway, I have been watching my friend Lorenza's baby, as I mentioned before, so here are some pictures. He is 7 months old, but only 8 lbs, so he is newborn size. Read on for the shocking side-by-side comparison!

Here he is about to fall asleep on my bed last time I watched him. He is so cute!

Smile!

Matt loves the baby.

"Jeez, you're so little!"...."Oh my god, you're Gigantasor!"

And, the infamous side-by-side comparison!!!! Matt used to be that little! I can't believe it! SO ridiculous. How fast they grow!
Well, now the two are napping, so I am going to be productive and relax! I took a walk to Target today with both of them, Robert (the baby) in the baby sling and Matt in the stroller. Fun, but tiring in the sun.
Alright, hope you enjoyed the post! Be sure to check out my new poll!

Free Time

2008-05-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Just had a bit of free time between Matt's nap and a shower and thought I would post again. The connector cord is still MIA which is pretty lame.
I worked on Mother's Day yesterday, which kinda sucked, but I made good money so I guess I can count that as my present. Also, I logged on to my Sprint account today and it looks like I have a credit. Yay! I haven't been able to afford to pay my whole bill recently, so I have been just paying $50 once in a while without looking at the total, and apparently I overpaid. So I got some stuff I wouldn't normally, like a few song ringers and a call tone (you know the one that is really irritating and plays instead of a ringer when you call?). I got a song called 1985 by Bowling For Soup in honor of my impending birthday. Tried to get one that wouldn't make everyone in a crappy mood by the time I picked up the phone.
In other news, Brenda got the tickets for my trip back east, and it's official! I am going to visit ALL my family (which is the joy of going for two weeks), and finally maybe get some relaxation time in between! I guess I will have to rent my own car so I can easily facilitate trips between the two sides of the family. Hmm...I am really trying to think of a way to NOT rent a car so I can have some free money for the trip. Well, car or no car, everyone is getting a visit and the itinerary will be planned soon and I will let everyone know what's going on! I am excited for the trip and REALLY REALLY dreading the flight.
Poor Matt, it's not his fault he's a toddler. I love the one part of flying with him--he is an amazing people repellent. It is a guarantee the seat next to him will be the last to fill up.
Anyway, lots more time to worry about that later. Today is my last day of work before my days off. Yay! I always look forward to today.
Off to my shower!

Time Flies

2008-05-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

...When you're not posting! I am really sorry, I have just been busy as usual and haven't been online much. Nothing much is going on out of the ordinary except that Sean is working (and he loves it, by the way), and that means things are a little more stretched around here time-wise. He did get offered the full-time position, so he will become full time after his AT (his mandatory two-week training) in June. I am taking my vacation during that time, then when he goes full-time, I will be able to go part time, which will be wonderful. And that means...school! Yay! That's going to be really hard. Since we will both we working and dealing with childcare, I will probably start out with only one or two classes a week. Then when Sean is able to completely support the family and I can quit work altogether, then I will be able to go full time in school and get it done faster. Probably just going to take out student loans--we are up to our necks in debt from Sean's school already and be paying that forever, so what's more? It'll all be worth it in the end, hopefully.
Other than that, everything else is going well. I'm working on Mother's Day and Sean will be at drill, so it's definitely going to be a no-celebration day. Maybe I'll get a "Happy Mother's Day" bite from a dog. :-P My mom did send me a package, so I can't wait to open that. I sent her something too, but I can't afford much (Sean has only gotten paid once and we still had to draw massively out of savings to make rent plus we are paying for childcare). Hope she likes it anyway! One thing that is helping with childcare is my friend Lorenza. She has a really cute baby that I am starting to watch for her, and she watches Matt if I need her on her days off. It's nice, and it gives me a taste of what it's like to have a very young baby and a toddler (not too fun). But Matt LOVES the baby. He stares, and baby stares back, and they both smile and it's really cute. Today I am going to take both of them on a nice walk. Baby in the sling and Matt in the stroller. I would post pics but I can't find the connector cord to the camera and I don't know where our external hard drive is. Those darn external drives. Give them an inch of cord and they take a mile!
Well, you can guarantee more posts once I become part-time, I promise! Things will be less hectic. Well--we are moving in August into a house (hopefully), and then I can see which colleges are around and pick one.
Well, if I find the cord, I will post pics of Matt and the baby later! Bye!

Off To Work

2008-04-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

I do have lots to post, including pics from a recent baby shower and a very insecure Matthew. But right now I am about to head out the door to work and thought I would just post for a bit and say hi! Hi!

Wondertastic News!

2008-04-08T08:56:00.001-07:00

Sean got a job!!!! Yay!!! He went in for the interview yesterday and got hired on the spot. Apparently it's the "real deal"--no Cutco stuff. He will be working for a plastic surgery company in Rancho Cucamonga, maintaining this website, search engine optimization on that website, and other super cool job skills. He works with a couple other people, and he'll have lots of help and hopefully a promotion to full time is close at hand.
I am now especially planning on taking my vacation and going back east from about June 10th-24th. After going part time, I lose all my vacation time (and benefits). So if I didn't take it, that's two weeks paid vacation I missed out on. It'll be enough time to go visit everyone on both sides of the family.
I'll tell them I am going part time after I get back. Sneaky, but oh well.
The pay isn't awesome, but the experience will be! Plus I will be full time for a while yet, so we should be ok financially. The interviewer pretty much offered Sean the full time position, but stopped himself and said that he'd just see how part time went first. When he goes full time, I can go part time. In August we will probably move somewhere closer, probably Lake Elsinore or somewhere close. I just learned how to link with words, how cool am I? The real question is, what took me so long?
Okay, I'll stop.

Matt's First Painting!

2008-04-04T12:07:00.001-07:00

This will be a short post, just wanted to post and say that Matt did his first painting this morning!

All by himself! This one is titled: "Toddler's Mood Before Naptime"

Here's him making the final touches.
And as always, here's a video!

Anyway, nothing else to report. Everything is normal here! Will probably post again soon, I have some really cute pictures to put up.

Matt...Is...Human? Impossible!

2008-04-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, not much going on here still, everything is normal, etc. So what this means for the blog is:
MASSIVE MATTHEW MANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whenever I don't have any news to report, or have nothing to talk about, it's always nice to have a living conversation piece to draw inspiration from.
This conversation piece has had the light bulb in his head turn on, and now he has full grasp that things do have names. It really was almost like the scene in The Miracle Worker, when his eyes lit up and he began excitedly pointing at things and naming them (in his own baby-talk way).

Here he is, playing with his cousin Evelyn

And him and the infamous wagon (whose cupholders don't work, by the way!)

See? Taught him how to use chopsticks before a fork. It's all the rage according to Neurotic Parent Weekly.

Matt "helps" Sean with cleaning blinds. I wonder how long it will be until I feel comfortable dropping the quotation marks from the word "help"? Probably a long, long time!

Me and Matt at a park. I can climb higher than him--yay!

Matt goes to get his haircut.

He just loves it!!!! No crying at all! In fact, he took the clippers from the guy and began doing it himself!
(april fools)

In a distorted space-time continuum, the ball is three times the size of Matt, Matt is a flower and the fountain is a symbolic reference to the universe.
(at least, that's what Matt said)
And lastly, here is Matt this morning.
Just thought I would take a video of him going about his daily discoveries of the world. As corny as this is, it really is amazing to watch. Also amazing is how much of a daddy's boy he is! Watch his face light up when he sees Sean!

Blah

2008-03-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today is a blah day. Don't feel too good, been drinking the generic Walgreens version of Airborne, "Wal-borne". Sounds like some sort of redneck disease spread by spending too much time at Wal-Mart.
Just paid registration for the Corolla. That poor car needs to be gently laid to rest by being driven off a cliff. Can't wait until Sean gets a job--then we're getting a better car! Been looking at things on Craigslist--nice cheap tvs, homes for rent within our price-range...made me really wish the lease was up now instead of August!
Well, not much else to report really. House is a mess and I'm hungry and really don't feel like cleaning the kitchen just to dirty it up again.
Matt has officially learned to climb, and that's all he does. He hasn't climbed on anything dangerous yet, but it's coming! Sean and I are letting him figure out how to get down by himself, so he learns both ways. It is working well, he can slide neatly and safely off our bed/couch. He has also been playing with the idea of climbing out of the crib. I have a feeling that if we waited long enough in the morning, he would climb out.
Went to the park yesterday and Matt was playing with a two-year old boy whom he was bigger than! He was running around and climbing like a pro and talking and Matt was just staring, bewildered (which is part of the reason I take him to the park--he needs socialization!). Poor Matt--he is so big, but so little at the same time. I make a point of telling anyone who asks his real age and to accentuate the fact that he's only a very young toddler.
He is so cute though. He loves to imitate the older kids, and he is starting to say "hi" reliably now. We ran around and chased each other and he climbed all over the equipment and went down the slide. Still iffy on the swing though, he will only tolerate it for a few seconds. Maybe I'll drink some more Wal-borne sickness and go again today.
Oh by the way, thanks again for the Netflix suggestions. I am slowly but surely plowing through the movies. Doesn't help that our main tv is now officially broken (it takes 3+ hours to "warm up"), so once we switch the dvd player my viewing should go a lot faster. That poor, geriatric tv. Turned it on at 7:00 last night, and the picture didn't stop violently jumping and being line-y until just after 10. This morning, turned it on just before 8 and finally turned it off at 11:30 when the picture was no better than it was.
Calling Dr. Tvorkian!!!

Yay for tax returns!

2008-03-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Got our tax return and paid off some debt and got some desperately needed grooming tools. I have been using my bosses stuff and that can only lead to me breaking her stuff, which can only lead to no good.
The next door neighbors gave us their wagon that their kids grew out of. It is a two-seater and the seat back fold down to make a flat surface so it can be used as a regular wagon. Also has cupholders--(what's a wagon without cupholders?). Heck, here's an official picture.

Oo..red and spiffy. Matt LOVES it. He loves pushing it around and riding in it. Haven't tried the cupholders yet. They better work or I'll have a few things to say to my neighbor! How dare she give me a wagon without working cupholders! Then I will throw it through her front window.
Anyway, not much else happening here. My brother is getting discharged from the Marine Corps due to some unsatisfactory psychiatric evaluation. Come on people. Really? Days of tests before getting cleared to go and no one bothered to make sure he could mentally handle it? No they just sent him far away from home with false hopes and made him go through hell before they bothered to check. Shame on his recruiter!!!
Sorry, it makes me mad. Almost as mad as dysfunctional cupholders.
Well have a good day everyone! Will post soon with cute pictures of Matt in super cute clothing my Aunt Hillary sent him and the wagon.

Newer and Hopefully Better

2008-03-18T17:11:00.001-07:00

Just got my new phone! It is sooo cooool!!! Maybe I will marry it...

Simpson Park (again?!)

2008-03-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

So we did go to Simpson Park again today, and we all had lots of fun and I even forgot about my mouth for a while (until I looked at the pictures). I promise to not always post pictures of the same stuff every time we go, but I did get some good ones.

Here's Matt drinking some pomegranate Jamba Juice.
Interesting story, matter of fact. When he was all done with it, Sean put Matt's smoothie in the side pocket of the diaper bag. While I was carrying it, it broke and spilled all over my pants (see picture below)

and more importantly, my phone. It worked for a while then completely went crazy and conked out. When I got home I managed (after cleaning it with rubbing alcohol) to get the contacts list off of it, but just barely. Luckily, I have phone insurance, and even luckier, they were out of stock for my "old" phone, the Katana II and so they are sending me a Katana Deluxe (the new super-awesome version). Yay! Unfortunately that means going without a phone for a couple days, but oh well.
Other than all that we had a good time. We hiked for a while,

Mai ran around off-leash having a total blast,

And when we were all done, Matt fell asleep cutely in the backseat.

So it was a balancing day. Woke up with incredible pain and a cheek that looked like part of a fatsuit, had fun at Simpson Park, broke my phone, found out I was getting a better one, and after that everything was normal.
Oh also, I am regretting to report that I think Matthew is starting to climb. Watch out!!!!
Well, goodnight everyone!

Good-Bye, Wisdom

2008-03-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Now I am officially un-wise. They took all my wisdom teeth out yesterday, and knocked me out cold with laughing gas and something called sodium chloride. They said everything went well, and I sure hope it did! My right side is totally fine, but my left side is all swollen up and yucky. The left side of my tongue is also numb--hopefully that goes away!

Here I am in all my sexy glory.

America's Next Top Model, watch out! This is my patented "Sulky Yet Sexy" look.

My bleeding stopped quickly yesterday and I think I'll heal well. Have lots of nice pain medication to help me through :-)

We may go back to Simpson Park today, depending on how I feel. I am still a little out of it, but since I am fine physically, it should be okay.
Anyway, not much else going on now. On a mini-vacation until Wednesday, so that's not too bad :-)
I'll post later if anything changes. Have a good un-swollen day everyone!

Simpson Park And Newfoundlands

2008-03-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since for a new post (insert same excuse here). While I have not been posting though, Matt and I have been having lots of fun! And taking lots of pictures. First off, I got three more fillings done this saturday, and am eagerly waiting to get my teeth pulled next saturday (haha). Saturdays haven't been very nice recently. On saturday, before my sister-in-law Trish came over to watch Matt, I took him outside, and it was a beautiful day.

Here's him looking to the nice clear sky (not to rub it in your face or anything, New Englanders)

He got tired and sat down.

Spring is really here! Here's some beautiful blossoms. Plum, I think.
So, after my fillings and lunch, Trish showed me a beautiful part of Hemet (I know, impossible right?) It's called Simpson Park! It's up in some foothills on the outskirts of the city and has lots of covered picnic areas and hiking trails, plus a beautiful view.

Here is part of the beautiful view. The other part is houses and roads and a beautiful valley completely taken over by industry. As amazing as that is, this is better :-)

Here's Trish and Matt. See him copping a feel? Bad Matt :-P

Here he is thoughtfully sorting our water bottles.

More pretty view.

Wow, this is pretty high up. Hey mom, you know I love you, right?

Mai having an awesome time off-leash exploring.
Anyway, after that, we were all happy and tired and went home and relaxed the rest of the day. On sunday, I had to bring Matt to a baby-sitter for the first time and he did really well. (The "babysitter" is the mom of someone named Heather who worked with us for a while, she had her little boy, Jonny around the same time Jody and I had our kids). Here's a picture I got while at work of Heather's son Jonny feeding Matt.

Cute!

Yesterday was a very hectic day. Above is a dog called a Newfoundland (named Jewel), who I washed and brushed forever yesterday. She is such a good girl!

So if you were wondering if I really do what I say I do, here's picture proof! And ignore all other evidence!

After a long busy day at work we went to a local eatery called Juan's to relax. Here's Sean and Matt being extra cute!

Anyway, that was my weekend! Next weekend will have lots of pictures too, but they'll probably be of me looking like a chipmunk doped up on pain meds and Matt whacking me with toys as I lay on the couch. Oh well. Have a good day everyone! Time to head to work!

Full and Content

2008-03-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

My Netflix queue is! Thank you so much! All the movies look great. Keep the suggestions coming please! May go to the beach tomorrow, and if so, there'll be lots of pictures!

Netflix Queue

2008-03-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

My queue on Netflix is running low, and I was wondering if I could have some suggestions for some good movies to order. I'm not a big movie buff, and I'm lost in a sea of titles! Help!

Sill There..

2008-03-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well thanks for all your support! Anyway, I went to the dentist, and they took a billion x-rays, and told me I would have to wait until the 15th to get them pulled. They are pulling all 4 at once and I'll be under IV sedation. I can't wait-my teeth hurt so badly! Apparently I have a lot of cavities, ten to be exact. They filled three on Wednesday, and will fill the rest this coming Saturday. I also got fitted with a night guard for my teeth grinding problem. Other than that though, I have pretty healthy teeth and good gums (yay!). Sean on the other hand has bad gum disease and they had to inject antibiotic capsules into his gums in order to kill it. He has to have a root canal and several cavities filled. . Money money money! But it's worth it!
Anyway, I finally felt like it was time to stop being lazy and to post some pics!

First of all, a while back after my mom left, I made yummy apple crisp! I think I'll make it again soon!

Here's Sean about to wash Matthew. Gentle cycle please!

And here's Matt looking really happy because he's destroyed Sean's CD collection!

Here's a pillow Matt's Grammy Jean made him. Cool, huh?

And here's the star of the day looking adorable as always.

Matt is sick...can you tell? (By the way, it's spaghetti-O's, not puke)

When Matt is tired, he likes to lay on the cat until I notice and put him to bed.

Anyway! Hope you all liked the pictures! Not much else to report in the way of news. Poor..rotton teeth..adorable son...yep. Think I've got it all covered! I'll be posting again soon!

Wisdom Teeth? More like...UN-Wisdom teeth!!!!!

2008-02-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

What is wise about wisdom teeth? Not much! Unless their goal is to make me miserable. Then they are pretty wise. Pretty skilled too.
For the last couple days, my lower right wisdom tooth has been really, really hurting. The pain is so bad, I'M starting to use orajel and Tylenol. I now have a renewed appreciation for Matthew's situation.
I am going to the dentist tomorrow, then probably going to go see an oral surgeon to get at least that one removed, and probably the other bottom one too. I am going to try to convince them to remove the top two, but they may not since they are not even out yet and aren't an "emergency" like the one that's hurting. But it would be so nice if they would take them all out at once.
So needless to say, I'm eating a lot of yummy stuff because I am probably going to be on a soft food diet for a few days. Pizza, anyone?
Besides that not much is going on. I am taking two sick days, then I have my normal days off on Friday and Saturday, so I get a mini extremely painful vacation. Yay?
Going to go finish watching American Idol now. Yay?

Wish me luck, I'm nervous!!!!

Finally, the Taxman is satisfied!

2008-02-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

I finally called H&R Block Taxcut customer service, and I got a helpful person who got me to the point where I could print and mail my returns myself. I printed them (and get this--they weren't even corrupted!), reviewed them (big refund amount at bottom...check!), signed them, attached my paltry wage and earnings statements, and mailed them. Yay! Now I will just sit back and wait for that nice, fat refund. Sean is still sick, but he went to the doctor yesterday and got some antibiotics and cough syrup. First opportunity I've had to test out my PetFart insurance, and it's pretty good! $15 for an office visit, prescription insurance, and even a fancy credit card to put the charges onto, which is linked to a consumer spending account. Yay! We need to go to the dentist next, so hopefully that will be awesome too. Free preventative care, and (I think) a fixed, low co-pay for things like fillings and stuff. We'll go to the one my friend Jana likes. I want to take Matt in too, just to see when those stupid stubborn molars will come out (and maybe to help them along too). Of course I can't afford that until Matt's state insurance gets approved. Then that kid is going to have all the dentist/doctor appointments he can stand.
ANYWAY.
Not much else is going on. I am going to try to relax today (which will be hard since sickly Sean hasn't been doing many chores). Got some exciting news from my brother, but I'm not telling unless he says it's okay.
Well, hope everyone has a good, tax-free day!

Anti-Baby 2000

2008-02-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

I got my IUD in today--yay! It was relatively painless (really), and fast. No pregnancy scares now! Anyway, not much else to report. Sean is really sick. He has a bad cold, though he's getting better. Just hoping he doesn't pass it on to Matthew or I! Work has slowed down this week and I can resume searching for a college to attend. Had put it off for a while because it was crazy busy at work and I was so tired I was going to bed early and not even going online (as I am sure you can tell by the lack of posts).
Speaking of college and money...TAX CUT FREE FILE WHATEVER IT IS SUCKS!!!!!!! They are sooooo lame!
They tell me I can e-file.
So I e-file.
Then it's rejected because there's an error with one of the entries in a w-2. Okay.
Gives you a choice to fix error or print and mail yourself.
Click on "fix error'
Takes you to bank direct deposit info.
Enter info.
Tells you to retain a copy for your records but does not give you access to the tax file.
Signs you out..."have a nice day"
Go back.
Click on "print and mail"
Takes you to bank info.
Signs you out.
Then I get smart and before clicking on any "errors", go to a .pdf file listed in small letters on my personalized homepage.
Tells me to print out the taxes and the instructions on what to mail will print also.
I think I am really clever.
I print them.
And they come out super distorted with a big "DO NOT FILE" warning on them.
Thanks assholes.
Sooo...I paid money (because even though they clearly stated the amount of money I had to make under to qualify for free file, and the amount I made is far below, they still made me pay!)...for a failed e-file and a useless .pdf file!
Great!
Now I have to spend forever on my day off on the phone with them. Excellent.
I'm not bitter or anything, of course.
Anyway, Matt's up! Gotta go!

2008-02-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't been online for soo long! And therefore, I haven't been posting. There once was a time when I liked going on the computer, before I started getting angry messages about how poor I am in my e-mail. -sigh-
Anyway, I paid my bills--yay! Going to do the taxes soon with a service called "Free File" for po' folks. I had gone with Hit & Run Block for a couple years and I can't afford to pay the fees anymore. The first time it was 80 bucks, which wasn't too bad (but bad enough), and the second time it was 300!!!! Yes, thanks lady, you see we only make 25,000 a year for a 3-person family, but PLEASE go ahead and take as much as you like! (Sorry, not to sound bitter or anything).
On to other news. My mom came out and stayed for the weekend. It was nice to me, but not to Matthew, who acted like a territorial chained up dog when an unfamiliar person comes striding across the lawn just out of reach. Hopefully he'll be better next time.
I made yummy apple crisp with her, than used another recipe and made it again when she left. She gave me this awesome contraption that cores, slices and peels the apples. Yum!
Anyway...
I guess I can break the news.....
MATT SAID HIS FIRST WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!
He's been saying dad and mom, but those are a given. Those are automatic first words. But, on Tuesday morning, when I was at work, Matt woke up and Sean walked in and said "Good morning Matt. How are you?" and Matt pulled out his pacifier and said, "hello". Like it was nothing! Yay!!!
I know in a year or so I'll be wishing he'd be quiet already but now it is very exciting.
Also, in more good news, work is picking up and I am making a lot of money this week! So next week I am going to get an awesome check. Unfortunately that'll just make me break even, but if I keep up this rate things will be looking up!
Anyway, still have lots of things to do before the Matt wakes up. Have a good day everyone!

(Sorry, I can't find the camera or there'd be accompanying pictures. Next time, I promise!)

F-171, Unplugged! (live)

2008-02-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a pretty quick post because I am tired! Today I helped move Joey's stuff from one house to another, closer one. Upstairs, too. Just finished watching Lost, and it was so cool!
Anyway, haven't been online in a few days and haven't watched cable in a few days either.
Right in the middle of House, the tv flickers and goes black! We were very confused, checked the cables, and nothing happened. The internet was off also, so we assumed it was just another meticulously timed outage and went to bed. When we woke up, however, everything was still not working! We called Time To Rip You Off Cable and they pretended to care for a while while they figured out why magically we were the only apartment without cable and eventually decided to send someone out, the next day!
Anyway, turns out our cable was unplugged in the utility shed. Sucks! I wonder why that happened!
So I have some theories:
1. Kids got in there at 9:30 at night and pulled them for no good reason
2. A ghost did it, for some no good ghost reason
3. A butterfly flapped its wing in China
4. A herd of tiny elephants was running from a tiny mouse and one of them tripped over and disconnected the cable but then a considerate close elephant friend picked him up and they ran away.
5. Someone unplugged their fan in a different dimension that is layered on top of ours, specifically on top of the cable cord.

Well, going to go to seanpurvis.net now.
goodnight!

Bleach Fumes

2008-01-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

Bleach fumes are not good! But now my bathroom smells clean. It did smell like a giant kitty porta-potty. So now it is shiny and clean--yay! So not much going on, just going about daily life.
Grrr stupid picture transfer thing! It asked me if I wanted to save the same file twice, and I said of course not, and it deleted the super funny video of us throwing Mai's ball into the "lake" and watching her get totally soaked running from one end to the other looking for it.
Well, here are some pictures to keep everyone updated (and to prove that we really do exist!)

Here we are, at the park!

Here's Matt in the morning shortly after waking up.

Okay Mai, this side's mine and that side's yours!

Matt can slide by himself now! Woo hoo!

Okay...and turn that one clockwise three times, tap this one twice, and turn this one counter-clockwise...THERE! Countdown to magnetic pole reversal started!

Matt and Ebony ponder the mysterious Lake of Doom, and wonder if it lives up to its name.

Damn I am so mad about that video! It was hilarious! Oh well...just use your imaginations!

We Always Snow Where To Go To Have Some Fun

2008-01-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

So after my doctor's appointment today (I didn't get the iud, they need to wait until I am on my period...feel sorry for that doctor!), we decided that it was too dull in Hemet and we needed to escape! Of course there is no real escape in Hemet, but we tried. It's sort of like going to a different floor in the Hotel California. Anyway, so we went up to the very nearby mountains to...Idyllwild!

Matthew got sick on the way up (like mother like son I guess) and puked everywhere. So we stopped here for some fresh air (and a new outfit).

After we calmed him down, it was on the road again to the Idyllwild Country Park!

Here's him doing his latest fad face.

I want you! To take me to the park!

And at last, we arrive!

Matt was pretty bewildered by the snow. It was a lot of crying, then "wow, this is pretty cool", than fake crying, then putting snow in his mouth, then loving it, then playing with it, and having a good time.

Ooo...what's this???

It's his snow stick. He wasn't too confident about touching it, so he got a stick and poked it for a while.
Here, see for yourself! Here's us having fun in the snow!

Matt being very clingy to daddy, as usual!

So on the map/hiking guide they gave us, it showed a nice trail curving around the park, leading around an amphitheater, than making its way back to the beginning. So, we begin in earnest, loving the snow and walking in it (it wasn't too deep). So after about, oh, 50 yards, we come across this "amphitheater":

According to the pamphlet, this amphitheater is used for routine annual sacrifices during some Festival Of The Snow Gods. Not really quite sure what that means, but they have this really cool deliberately placed baby-sized stump in the middle. And now we know how it snows in Southern California. Like that, all the pieces fall into place and we realize the only thing we can do is sacrifice Matthew so the other children can continue to enjoy the snow.

He put up a bit of a fight, as I am sure they all do. If only they knew it was for the greater good.

Well, the gods never took him, guess they'd had enough sacrifices for the time being. Sorry Matt, you're going to have to help people in some other way! Guess there really is no easy way out!

Since I could, I threw snowballs at my car. It just sat there looking very sad.

And this is what Sean did in the meantime.

Matt fed himself some kix in the backseat as we began to drive back.

But he was so tired, he could barely stay awake for five minutes until he passed out.

Here is a beautiful shot of the snow-flecked trees and the mountains looming in the mist. It was much more beautiful in person, I assure you.

And here's me! On a rock! For no reason!

Down there, somewhere, is Hemet! I know, you wouldn't think so, with how nice it looks from here.

And to treat ourselves, we ate here (because I can get a grilled cheese with tomato, yum!).

So, there's our super-awesome day for everyone to enjoy! Hope it's half as fun for you as it was for us. :-) Goodnight!

Picture THIS!!!!

2008-01-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

So, it's late again, and almost bedtime! I was talking to Brenda for a long time about my going to college, my future as a writer (with a degree!), and many other motivating things. After looking briefly at the websites of some certain colleges, it's apparent this process is not something I can do when it's late and I'm tired. Like she said--it's easy to get accepted to a college if you have money, but if you want them to send you to their school for free, you have to work very very hard. Half the links on the UCSD site don't even work, so that's no help.
And on that note, I will actually get something done in that respect tomorrow, when I have oodles of time and don't have to wake up very early the next day.
Anyway, here are some cool pictures of some fun that we all had:

So Sean and I were playing some Guitar Hero; Sean was playing Through Fire And Flames on expert,

And I was struggling through Slow Ride on easy in extra slow practice mode,

And in barges Matt on our fun, as usual, demanding to play.

So, we let him! Turns out that if you look just blankly enough at the screen, the song plays itself!

After that tiring day of rocking with our...socks out, it was time for bed. Matt read Nino a bedtime story,

And I rocked him to sleep.

Here's Matthew putting on a show for us. Whenever he decides we look occupied, he likes to see if he can distract us with some classical drama monologues--with interpretive crying.

Et tu, Brute?

Well, that's enough for now. Going to sleep and get ready for another exciting day in the life of...me!

Matt Is A Vampire

2008-01-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

So he got his shots and his blood taken on Friday, and the kid just loooved it when they took his blood! They pricked his finger--no crying. Then they began to squeeze the blood into the tube and he started laughing and smiling! Great! That's not weird! Well, perhaps he will grow up to be a haematophiliac. Or a phlebotomist. Someone at work wants to do that. It's the official title for the person who takes your blood.
Anyway, he also got his four shots, and he certainly wasn't laughing then! But otherwise he is good. He is 23 lbs and 30 1/2 inches tall. Looking on the percentile chart, he is in the 25th-50th percentile for weight and up to the 75th percentile for height. Tall and skinny--what a revelation. I do have cute pictures but I am tired and don't feel like uploading them right now. I will though--I promise! Money has been extra tight lately since the energy bill almost doubled thanks to my dear husband and his GI bill got cut in half. He says he is "really" looking for a job now, so we should all hope he gets one.
On an extremely cool note, I got a note at work from corporate that I am so poor I qualify for the tax rebate being given to help boost the economy. I read about that-I should get a nice chunk. They are doing this because they figure the poor/ middle class will spend it as soon as they get it, therefore boosting the economy. A cheap, temporary fix, but I'm sure not complaining! I am not going to spend it though--just pay off some bills. Sprint, credit card and possibly the navy federal loan. Yay!
Okay, going to go to bed now. I'll post soon!

Matt's Going To See The Good Doctor...

2008-01-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

At 9:15, to get many, many shots, blood drawn, weighed, measured, examined and entered into the county fair. Poor kid is sleeping right now, he has no idea what is about to happen to him. I'll post the results after we get back!

Matt is cute...etc.

2008-01-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well, not much is going on except that Matt is super cute and we got a video of him having fun with our cat Nino--I have never seen him laugh so hard! I have also never seen Nino wish so fervently that he was dead.

In other news, my aunt Hillary is getting married to her awesome long-time boyfriend Brian, and she is also 3 months pregnant! I am very excited for her and know she is going to make the greatest mom!
I think she is having a girl for no other reason but that I have a reasonable chance of being right and if I am it would be super awesome hahaha!!!
Anyway, enjoy the video, and please take a look at Sean's blog. He updated it--finally! It's only been 4 months...
Goodnight everyone!

Drill Bits

2008-01-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

So Sean left for drill last night and it's just Matt and I. We had lots of fun at the park last night and he arrived home utterly exhausted from trekking back and forth across the soft wood shavings. I kept him up until 8:00 or so last night (which believe me is really difficult) in the hopes that he would sleep in and...YAY! He is sleeping in! He is usually up and running around at 6 am.
Tonight Joey is going to spend the night because tomorrow he is going to be watching Matt for a few hours while I work a half-shift at work. I was hoping to be able to do 4 or 5 dogs Sunday, but now someone booked me an express (where we do the dog straight through and do nothing else) at 8, when I was supposed to take 3 dogs! So now I had to mark off all my other appointments for a neurotic poodle lady and am only going to make $25 that day when I could have made $100! Lame!
Oh well, enough ranting.
Matt's 1-year check up is on the 18th, and I am looking forward to it! He really is 100% weaned. No more bottles at all! He also walks well, obeys commands, has great motor skills and talks a whole bunch (of gibberish). He is saying mama and dada distinctly and only pertaining to one of us now. He also says "ya" and "hi"! Yesterday when Sean walked in the room he said "hi dad". Could have been an accident, but I think he is at the age when such things aren't as accidental anymore.
I also have an appointment to get an IUD put in on the 25th. Then I won't have to remember to take stupid pills anymore and don't have to worry about getting pregnant unless I WANT to get pregnant. Not to say that if I did I wouldn't be happy, but it would be really nice to wait until I am done with college!!! At least the first 4 years!
Anyway, here are some pictures of Sean and Matt right before Sean left for drill:

Mmm...dog tags...

These are so cool dad!!!

Yay, we're cute!

Well, guess that'll be all for now. I think I might actually have time for a shower! Wow! Time to make coffee, drink it, post AND shower? He's spoiling me!
Have a good day everyone!!

"Tumbling" Down The Path To Toomanyanimals

2008-01-07T16:24:00.000-08:00

So, we have a new member of the family! No, not another kid! I got a companion for Trumble, my current lizard (a house gecko). Here's Trumble:

(He's camera shy)

And here is Tumble, our new lizard, a green anole!

Isn't he so proud and handsome?

I wanted to name him Bumble, so we'd have Trumble and Bumble, but Sean really wanted to name him Tumble instead. So, since I have named all of our animals, I thought it was only fair he could name this one (even if I think my idea is much better).
And I also got a cool background for their terrarium:

Had to get a dinosaur background, you know, to keep them humble. To keep Trumble and Tumble humble...heh...heh...
Anyway! Nothing else going on! Matt is still teething and still completely weaned. I have to go now though because he is getting VERY bored watching me type and keeps putting "gifts" in my lap. An old computer mouse, a hanger, a camera case...oh and an outlet cover and just now: A spoon? Wow...
So, I'll post at ya later!!!

Oh yes, he really IS green, he changes colors. So I guess he is a Sometimes Green Anole.

Rain--Finally!

2008-01-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yay! The three rain storms that were supposed to hit Thursday night FINALLY hit this morning! We really need the rain. Matt had tons of fun walking in it and stomping in puddles! It was raining too hard for pictures, so just take my word for it. Having another nice day today, and I believe that we have crossed a milestone! Matt didn't wake up once last night (although he sure did wake up bright and early), and he hasn't wanted a bottle in days. So I feel confident enough to do this:

And declare he is officially weaned! (okay, I just put them in storage but it's the symbolism that counts).
As was requested, here are some pictures of the new layout for my dining room, my new dining room table, and my "new" sleeper couch:

Now it looks much more open. Before, it was a struggle to seat four people. What a difference moving a few things around makes!

Here's the new-ish couch (with a cover). Now we have a guest bed, AND can finally use the coffee table.

There's Matt eating dinner in his new booster seat. Going to try to make family dinners at the table routine.

Random pic of Sean and Matt.
So yesterday, we got this big package in the mail, and upon opening it I find a bunch of awesome toys/clothes for Matt! The clothes are super cute, light brown corduroy pants and a cool outdoorsy t-ahirt, and some cute pj's. And he also got a dog he can "walk" and these:

Cool classic wooden blocks, his first set!

As you can see, he enjoys them very much. Bon appetit!

This is a cool ring stacker that I just recently realized looks like a lighthouse. He'll try to put the wooden rings on the pole, but will just throw them after one failed attempt. This kid has the patience of a fly.
Anyway, I just wanted to post quickly, because I do want to post more, and I enjoy it! Hope you do! Now I am going to go enjoy the rest of my super cool day off!

Fancy Chart

2008-01-04T19:55:00.001-08:00

Okay, so here it is, because I am bored. The blue colored teeth are the ones he already has, the red colored teeth are the ones that are breaking the surface and causing intense pain right now, and the yellow ones are the ones I think he is getting right now, but am not sure. So there you go. Much easier than trying to explain it. I did find out something useful though. The reason I thought the back teeth he is getting weren't molars were because they seemed too close to the front of his mouth. Apparently babies only get 20 teeth (thank you, God), and there is a lot of room in the back of their mouth where teeth don't grow until they're much older.
So there you go, I hope you all can integrate this important information into your day somehow.

Case Solved!

2008-01-04T19:27:00.001-08:00

Soo...I found out why Matthew is so fussy! He's teething! I thought the nighttime wakings were somehow connected to weaning, but it seemed really odd to me he would start demanding bottles at night when he hasn't had any at night for 5 months now. The only bottles he's had have been during the day, and he hasn't even missed them.
I suspected he may be teething because I thought it was just about time he sprout some new teeth, but I couldn't look inside his mouth to see, and every time I put my finger in there he bites me--HARD. One bitten, twice shy and all that.
So finally he gave me a number of opportunities to look into his wide (screaming) mouth today and saw that the poor guy has 4 teeth that I can see coming in all at once. He has one more on each side of his top four teeth (making six in a row on top) that just have the tips poking through, then he has two more on top coming in somewhere in the middle of the other new teeth and the future molars. They were so far back in his little mouth it's hard to see. I THINK he has some coming in the same spaces on the bottom, but can't be sure. I am pretty sure he has the two more molar-ish teeth coming in on the bottom but can't be 100% sure. If so, that would make six teeth coming in at once and one fussy baby! I am guessing it is easy to ignore during the day with all the distractions, but at night when he wakes up (which is normal and usually can just fall right back asleep without any fuss at all), he just lays there by himself with his gums throbbing in pain.
I had been told over and over that the later teething isn't bad and they are used to it etc, etc, so I just didn't connect it. Since it coincided with weaning I just pinned it on that.
So, I guess I better stock up on the Orajel again! I will continue weaning because he really doesn't miss the bottle during the day, and although I've heard it's advisable to stop the weaning process during traumatic times like teething or moving, I figure why bother if it really doesn't matter to him? Best to get it all over with.
Anyway, just wanted to post that and let everyone know I have cracked the case of the Mysterious Night Awakenings, and everything will be all better :-)
I hope everyone sleeps extra hard for us tonight!

Weaning

2008-01-03T19:34:00.001-08:00

Soo....it's about that time of Matt's life to be weaned! To get the record straight, I think that each kid has their own weaning timeline, and some are ready at a year like the experts want, and some aren't ready until much later. A parent shouldn't force the kid to be weaned until they are ready. In Matt's case, he had been off night feedings for a while, for about 5 months, and has been down to about one bottle a day for a month. Since the almighty experts say a baby should be weaned at a year, we are starting to make it official since he is doing it himself. So we have started going days without it and he hardly misses it. Sometimes he gets fussy around those times (after his morning nap and in mid-afternoon), but if he gets a cup of milk and a snack he is fine. I thought everything was going well!
Until night fell....

Now, even though we take great pains to feed him a lot (which isn't hard because he is a little piggy), give him lots of milk and other fluids, and lots of attention and cuddle time during the day (which he hates), now he is starting to wake up at night and scream and cry and throw a huge fit for hours and hours on end. We try EVERYTHING short of giving him a bottle, but that's all he wants! But he is not getting any more at night because we don't need his "I'm hungry" clock to start going off regularly at midnight. Not sure what to do!
So I have come up with a plan. And since I need help, I turned to the most respected name in the business, Weaning Anonymous.

THE 12 SUGGESTED STEPS OF WEANING ANONYMOUS

1. We admit we are powerless over our addiction to the bottle--that our lives have become unmanagable.
2. Come to believe a power greater than us can restore us to sanity
3. Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Weaning Anon...hey! Not sure if that's right...
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of all the bottles.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another mom the exact nature of our feeding schedule
6. Are entirely ready to have Him remove all of these luxuries of sleep
7. Humbly ask Him for 5 more minutes of sleep
8. Make a list of all times we gave in, and become willing to make amends to them all.
9. Make direct amends to Him whenever possible, except when to do so would lead to the bottle.
10. Continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly swear it's the last time.
11. Seek through prayer and sleep to improve our conscious contact with Him, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will and forgetfulness that He ever drank from one.
12. Having had less awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to other bottle users, and to practice these principles in all our children.

Hope that helps! Otherwise, things have been good. Work isn't as slow as I thought it would be, and the apartment looks much nicer all rearranged. Now I am going to go relax and get ready for another Hard Days Night....

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I am so sorry I haven't been posting lately. I have been really busy and just relaxing when I have time.
Matthew's birthday and Christmas went really well. He got a bunch of cool toys, including classics like a xylophone and a tonka truck, mixed with some non-classics like a v-tech video-gamey learning thing and a tickle me elmo.

Here's Matt on his birthday, eating his birthday dinner. At Pizza Hut, yum!

Bad dog!!!!!

Shape sorting is for suckers!

Here are our stockings, from right: Mom's, Matt's, Sean's, mine and Joey's.

Our Christmas tree complete with not-so-sneaky kitty.

This was his first present Christmas morning-he loves it!

And here's Sean with his main present, an electric razor. As you can see, he needs it!

Here's my main present from my Mom, I put a whole bunch of cool pics on it :-)

Here's Sean and Matt later in the day. Sean's wearing the shirt I made him for Christmas.

And here's Jana with her gift to Matt! It's sort of the modern version of a rocking horse. It plays music and bounces. He doesn't like to sit on it though. Maybe one day he'll wisen up.

Mmmm..diet coke....
Today we went to a moving sale in the apartment complex and got a nice dining set for $45. The one I currently have consists of the family table that is pretty old and some random chairs. This one is much nicer, but I don't know what to do with the other table! Sean is telling me to throw it away but I feel pretty bad doing that to a table that's been in our family for generations. Not really many other options though. I'll get a picture of the new one up here soon.
Anyway, Matthew is up and we have some couches to move! We're getting Jana's sleeper couch and hopefully getting that green one outta here! The green one is breaking more and more every day, and is incredibly uncomfortable to sit on if you don't have the footrests up. And when the footrests are up, Matt crawls under them and scrapes his head. Since it was free I have no qualms with tossing it.
Okay, post later and Happy New Year! (and no, I do not have any resolutions yet).

christmas!

2007-12-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

So it's Christmas morning and I'm posting from Joey's new phone. Will post more later because this keyboard is really cramped. Everyone loved their gifts so far. going over to Sean's mom's in a bit. Matt was good until he got tired, but that was expected. Okay, hope everyone elses Christmas is going well! Merry Christmas!

Matt's 1st Birthday Party!

2007-12-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

I've been really tired/burned out lately and not feeling like blogging, but since we did have Matt's party this last saturday, I figured it wouldn't be fair to the people who didn't go if I didn't post some pictures.
We had lots of fun and he got a ton of awesome gifts. He got a lot of super cute clothing, some books, a push-along popper/mower, stacking rings, a piano/xylophone, light-up maracas, some dishes and of course, a cake.

Here is him and his Grammy Brenda, complete with party hat!

Him having TONS of fun on the ride :-P Can't you see how thrilled he is?

Here's him unwrapping some of his gifts.

Yay! Dishes! Food...mmmm....

Him with two toys he LOVES! He really likes the piano.
After we were done unwrapping gifts, it was cake time! This was not the time I expected him to have his expected meltdown, but it's pretty funny. Here, for your viewing enjoyment:

But don't worry about him. Here he is two minutes later:

Ooo, Intro To Fingerpainting...

Here's some of us, from the right: Sean, Matt, me, Jana, Stephanie, Josh (her husband), Jody and her 11-month old Kaelyn.

All in all it was very fun and he had a wonderful time. Brenda and Andy's visit went well and I miss them lots already! Hopefully I'll be able to wisely use my vacation next year to do plenty of family visits.
I hope everyone is having fun with the holidays, and I'd like to say I'll post soon but apparently that isn't as true as I'd like it to be, so I'll post as soon as I feel up to it! Enjoy the pictures!

Yay!

2007-12-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

Yay! I've finally finished the Christmas shopping! I got gifts I know everyone will love, and now I am all done two weeks beforehand! Just have to send out Aunt Hillary's box and everything will be good to go! Well, Sean hasn't shopped for me yet and he probably won't until Christmas Eve (if at all), but oh well. That's just how he is. He needs someone to yell at him to go shopping (that person was Joey last year), and I'm not going to bug him to shop for my gifts! Don't really need anything anyway. Anyway...I am super excited! Now I can spend my nights sipping tea and enjoying the brief seasonal "cold". Ah...
Oh by the way, those of whom I am sending stuff in the mail to, I did do the obligatory Christmas photos, so they're included. Since I am cheap and don't feel like paying a bunch of money to get professional pics done, I did them at home! Luckily Matthew is pretty photogenic.
Okay, going to go to sleep now!! Have a good night, everyone!

Christmas Is Evil

2007-12-08T16:11:00.001-08:00

Blah...haven't been posting because I've been distracted by shopping for Christmas and pretending like my credit card charges are being magically whisked away by the angels that decorate every store. Lalala...
No, it's not that bad, just stressful! But I am almost done. Just have Andy's and my brother-in-law's gift left. By the way, my awful address book program magically decided to forget I ever used it and entered a ton of addresses into it, so if these following people (or if you know) could send me their addresses, that would be wonderful :-):

Karen Miller
Dennis Schafer
Hillary Holloway
Dawn Holloway
Brenda Holloway
(jeez you Holloways!)

And anyone else I should be sending cards and stuff to. I don't need Brenda's or my mom's because they are coming to visit, and I know Grandma Schafer's by heart. Don't ask me why, but I do.
Oh and if anyone has any good "Secret Santa" ideas, let me know please because I am way too burned out too even TRY to think of innovative cheap gift ideas for a girl at work.
So...I am also going to be taking Matt's "good" Christmas photos soon, with my homemade portrait studio. Tablecloth...check. Tacks...check. Stool...check. Embarrassing old man sweater vest outfit for Matt...check. Excellent!
I also personalized some of the gifts for certain people...I hope they enjoy! They are drying on my bed now and I am hoping to God Sean doesn't come home soon.
Yes, I am rambling. But it will all be better on Christmas! (Not after, because then the bills come...eek!)
Ooo and I got these awesome shoes for Matthew! Aunt Hillary sent me an e-mail about them, and they are called Robeez. They are soft-soled leather shoes for walking babies and toddlers. They're much better than regular sneakers because they allow the kid to feel the ground with his feet but still be protected. Matt finds it very difficult to walk in sneakers. Now he is okay at it, but still trips over his own feet all the time if he is tired. (Which leads to crying, then temper tantrums, then slamming his face on the ground, twisting from my grasp, and eye rubbing). So since I can't afford the brand name ones right now, I got the generic ones from Target. Just one pair. But he loves them! And I do too. They got really dirty from the mud (yes, it rained!) and I just rinsed them off under soapy water and now they're all clean and almost dry.
So anyway, speaking of mud and water and extremely large puddles...
It also rained last weekend. And that was awesome! I loved driving through the puddles, and walking in the rain.
Alas, I forgot I did not have a normal durable car, but a Kia Rio Real Steal Deal.
Yes...the one that requires me to turn off the a/c (press my turbo button as I prefer to call it) if I need to accelerate. Or listen to the radio.
And I think it has driven through it's last puddle. On saturday, I had Sean and Matthew in the car, and there was a huge puddle looming ahead.
"Don't drive through that puddle, Ally." Said Sean.
"Why? I drove through a ton yesterday!" Drives through said puddle with glee.
Car has difficulty pushing through but succeeds.
Ten seconds later, the car makes a very strange noise (a sigh of defeat?) and begins to idle extremely rough and accelerates very slowly.
The check engine light flashes on...
And I laugh. Of course.
Turns out it's a misfiring cylinder caused by some sort of vacuum leak.
Guess I'll have to drag out the duct tape.
So I'll post later, hopefully sooner this time!
Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving, Christmas and Everything Inbetween

2007-11-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

So, our Thanksgiving was super awesome! My best friend Dana came down and her and Joey stayed from tuesday all the way until Sunday. We had quite a feast, and the Tofurky was actually not bad! It looked like some sort of loaf...kind of like the sausage-looking packages that ground beef can come in, only smaller. We made an apple pie, completely from scratch. I made the crust and it was soooo flaky and wonderful and delicious!!! She did my hair cool ways, we made vegan gingerbread cookies, and just basically had tons of fun!

Here's the pie. Didn't think to take a picture until it was half gone. :-P

Here's one of the hairstyles Dana put on me. 80's anyone?

And here we are with our respective gingerbread people.

And here are all the cookies we baked and frosted!

Joey, Dana and I all helped frost these. Dana's are the cute artistic ones, mine are the mediocre ones, and Joey's are the crazy ones. Interesting how those seem to reflect our personalities exactly...

And here's the tree! This picture was actually taken in pitch darkness. I love the flash on my camera!

Here's Aunt Dana with Matt! She loves him so much. But then again, who doesn't? Oh, yeah. Our neighbors. (just kidding!)

mmm...we're eating ourselves...

We're Charlie's Angels! Except Joey. He's a visiting member from Charlie's Gayngels.

And lastly, here we are on the day she left.
That was very sad, and I hope sometime soon I can take a trip up there! I'd probably have to leave Matt at home with Sean though, and that's what makes it hard. Anyway, Matt's crawling around getting into trouble, so I'll post later! Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was awesome!

Still Walking!

2007-11-18T19:50:00.000-08:00

Yep, he is still walking and getting better every day! He can walk across the room now, although he only does a few times a day. The point is, those first steps weren't a fluke! He is ready and willing to walk as soon as possible!
Yesterday we had a ton of fun! Since he is learning to walk, he is finally getting good use out of the toy my mom got him last time she was down. It's a car that transforms into a push-along thing for kids like Matt who are just gaining confidence to walk.
He told me he wanted to go outside by pathetically standing by the door and gazing out:

So we went outside, saw some tress, took some pictures and generally had a great time. Mostly, he played with his push-along toy. In fact, I have very cute video of him, BUT IT DOESN'T WANT ME TO UPLOAD IT GRRR!!! And I am tired, so I will try again tomorrow. Anyway, here are some cute other pictures.

Here's him having fun with the tree just outside our apartment:

Peekaboo!

And another tree near our apartment. He really liked the bark on this one. Woof woof!

And here's him playing with our neighbor's cat. He calls him "Ni Ni!" , I guess baby talk for Nino, our big queeny cat. He calls every cat Ni Ni. Very cute. Anyway, this is all I have time to post today, have to get up extra early tomorrow. But I don't care because I get wed, thurs, fri, and sat off in a row this week yay! And Dana is arriving tuesday morning! She wants to get a Tofurky for Thanksgiving but although I am sure it tastes fine, I looked it up and it already has stuffing in it! EWWW I hate stuffing so much! Oh well, guess I will be scooping that out! Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated on, you know, everything!