Stir crazy

I am trapped! My car won't start. Do you want to know why? Because it is so flippin cold that the battery won't hold a charge. I rushed to get out the door to go house hunting w/ a tottler in tow in temps that are not close to double digits unless it is negative. I'm not talking about at night...in the middle of the day with the sun shining it is so cold that the snow that got tracked in on the landing has not melted. If we go out side our fingers get slow and stiff w/ in seconds. I had to try to connect the "jump pack" to my car and I couldn't use my gloves because...well I guess I could but I don't work well with gloves. Now I am stuck here on this frozen joke of a city that names there businesses after imaginary monsters (hodag properties, hodag lanes, hodag blah blah blah) and high fashion is an oversized hoodie! I live on a road I could probably ice skate on. Two miles of blind turn after blind turn on ice. "Oh gee" Trevor says "it sure is pretty here" Big whoopie do! It's pretty in southern California, it's pretty in Florida, it's really pretty in Arizona. Do I really want to put down roots on this ice burg? I hate being cold! I hate not being able to go grocery shopping but I bet Trev will still want a home cooked meal tonight even if I couldn't go gro...ok enough trashing Trev he just drove home to rescue me!

Cuddle Puddle

We made it to Michigan. After a long day of traveling yesterday we are here :oD! Caden did great both in the car and then on the plane. He just wouldn't sit still. I'm glad that Mesaba (the airline my mom works for) make the employee fly w/ their buddy. That meant that my mom was with me. I'll post pictures of Caden in the tunnel @ the Detroit airport later.

Last night I stayed w/ my sister in her king size bed w/ all three of her dogs! Emmy cuddled up to me and layed her head on my shoulder, Sidney was by my feet and Piaza cuddled w/ Jessie but had her nose on my elbow. I had to go change Caden's diaper @ 5am and when I came back they all started barking at me. At 6:30 i thought Caden was awake so I went in his room and he was sleeping and I woke him up (oops). I just stayed on the bed in his room so the dogs wouldn't bark at me again.

Lots of exciting things to come I'm sure. I miss Trevor though. TREVOR if you read my blog I MISS YOU. I would rather cuddle w/ you than Emmy...your less hairy and don't lick yourself.

Baby? Puppy?

Caden either calls himself baby or puppy (but he also calls his puppy "puppy"). So here are two videos that demonstrate the difficulties of understanding a 16 month old.

There are certain words that just mean alot of different things. "Baba" means bottle, up up & bye bye.

Yesterday Caden & I went to story time at the library. That was fun and we got some books to take home too. I tried something this morning that I've been meaning to do for a long time. That is including Caden in on my "quite time." I managed to read about 12 verses in Mark (some out loud) before I gave up. The library books helped.

Sunday we had Gary, Sue, Megan & Brook over for lunch and they stayed until dinner (I love it when that happens). That was a ton of fun. We played Life and there was more than just me getting after Trevor for his slightly annoying game playing ways...that was nice :oD. They wouldn't let Trev read the squares ahead of him and try to spin a certain number to land on the one he wants to. Sue won. She was a doctor. Gary got Caden up from his nap and Caden cuddled w/ him for a while. It was cute.

The bad news in my adventure w/ Caden is that he has diaper rash. I have to cut out citrus again. Too bad he loves it. Note to parents w/ kids in diapers: Bordeaux's Butt Paste is the best. It clears up the rash just as well or better than anything on the market (that I've found anyway) but the bonus is that it spreads easy (nice on tender skin) and it wipes off your hands easy (nice when you have to finish putting on the diaper). I think I get some for Alyssa as part of a shower gift.

BY THE WAY: I changed the settings so anyone can comment, not just those w/ a google account. So comment away!

I'm OLD!!

Last night Trev and I were talking about right after Caden was born. They took Caden away from me b/c of meconium (his first poo) in the amniotic fluid. They had to suction out his lungs. I couldn't get up b/c of the epidural. So anyway, Trev went over to Caden and (this is the part I have never heard before last night) petted his head b/c it was the out of the way of the nurses and blocked light from his eyes. At was then that Trev bonded w/ Caden and it really sunk in that he was our to love and take care of (tears welling up here). He still likes he head petted.

I took the "real age" test to see if I'm killing myself slowly or not (http://www.realage.com/). Well I guess I am b/c it says my real age is 28! I don't smoke or drink. My family history is good...my BMI is dandy! But since I don't exercise weekly (they didn't ask monthly so I had to put 0 for weekly) and I drive a little fast I'm tacking years on to my life! Oh and they only ask if I eat fish...I said no, but they didn't ask about any other sources of omega-3s. I take a flax seed oil pill every day. The stress of the move has aged me apparently but my "...social support network (family, friends, religious and group participation) however is excellent." So thank you every one for not bumping my "real age" in to the thirties. On that note...I did some yoga today and made some whole wheat/lowfat phyllo dough to put on my pot pie for dinner (w/ red meat for the second time this week so just start digging my grave now).

Caden is getting better at knowing body parts. He knows how to locate and say nose, ears, belly, belly button (tho he doesn't say it often) and kneeeeee. He helped me w/ my phyllo dough today. I gave him a little ball of dough and he got a kick out of that. At lunch today when I opened my eyes from giving thanks, Caden was holding his hands babbling. Trev and I hold hands while we give thanks so he was imitating us. So I grabbed his hand and held it while I gave another quick prayer...he babbled along w/ me. :oD

We (I) sing a song together to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin". Walking walking hop hop hop run run run run run run run run run run run run turn a round (clap) turn a round (clap). Of course we do this while going around the ottoman and so far he'll do the running and the turning around w/ me. One time he turned right in to the mirror that we have leaning against the wall. He saw himself and said "BABY" and gave himself a kiss. That kept him occupied for a while.

Later:

I took the "real age" test that just focused on food (very detailed) and I am 23.2 years :oD I may of been a bit optimistic on it though...maybe I should keep a food journal...I probably won't knowing me...I'm gonna go upstairs and have some low fat yogurt w/ muesli!

Later still:

The phyllo dough didn't quite turn out but wasn't a flop either. I don't think I got the dough thin enough...maybe I should try w/ white flour to get the hang of it.

Cubby Cheeks

I don't have a new picture today so here is a old one. The was taken about a year ago. Caden was at his chubbiest stage ever!

Oy! Holidays are over so it back to just me & Caden at home. Not that I'm complaining. This is a privilege. I heard some where that a having burden can be a privilege. That's a stay at home mom for ya! I needed to go to town today and by time I got around to taking a shower Caden was awake. So the only way to get ready and take care of Caden is to take him w/ me every where. So we took a shower together than brushed our teeth together. We did our hair together (not really needed for Caden but it makes him feel that he gets to do what mommy does). Even swiped his under arms w/ the deodorant (with the cap on) and put some chap stick on him lips (he tried to lick it).

We met Trevor for lunch and the best Pastie shop ever. The owners share my belief that pasties are a great vehicle for all kinds of flavors...not just beef, potato and rutabaga (tho they had those too). Trev got a bacon cheese burger and I got a chicken,potato, peas and carrots w/ whole wheat crust. They sell them frozen too. I got a southwest chicken that I'm looking forward too. http://www.ilovepasties.com/ You can have them shipped nation wide in the winter and to the some areas year round...if you are hankering for a pastie.

Since lunch was so quick Trev stayed in the car while I ran in to Golden Harvest (natural food store that has the best bakery in it ever). I got a oat/flax loaf that was still warm. This is the BEST bread...yes even better than Grandma's home made bread. The texture and taste are perfect and they use all whole wheat flour. At $3 a loaf it's not worth it to make at home. Then to Aldi's. Caden drove the car (sat in the driver seat in the PARKED car) w/ Trevor while I went in. According to Trev they went to Mexico and back. This was so nice to do a quick shopping trip w/o Caden but not sacrifice family time on Saturday's.

I still had to do another errand w/ Caden so I still had to do some chasing. The worst tho is by time I get home he is CRANKY and I have to unload the car and him. I decided to let him run around outside while I carried things in. He picked up some snow with his bare hands and then looked at me with tears welling up in his eyes and his hands out in front of him as if to say "my hands are cold and I don't know why." So I dropped my bags and scooped him up. Then I made the mistake of trying to get the last load of groceries while carrying him. Things started to slip and a frozen pizza box corner hit him in his face. Well now I had to get him ready for his nap while he was sobbing. Get the coat and boots off (never mind by boots...too urgent...so snow is all over the place), scramble around for a blankie to calm him down, make a bottle, change his diaper and clothes (they got wet). Had to take the bottle away while I put a new shirt on and the crying starts up again. Finally I get him in bed and he is staring at his hands...I realize they are still cold so I try to rub them but I guess they were too cold for that and it hurt. So I hold them in my hands a blow hot breath on them...that made him giggle and hyped him up. I walked out and he started wailing. Trev gave him some tea over lunch w/o realizing it had caffeine in it so I was worried he wouldn't go to sleep but he settled down and I came down here to write this and relax after the mad dash.

My goal today is to get the dishes done. Our dishes system needs some tweaking! We take turns doing dishes. If one of us doesn't feel like doing them...fine...but then you have to do them the next day when there is twice as many (kind of incentive to get them done when there isn't many) Well...I do the dishes then it is Trevor's turn. They don't get done for a couple of days and i think "fine...if he wants to procrastinate he'll have to do more dishes." (we are both so stubborn) So on day 3 or 4 he says "Are the dishes piling up b/c it's my turn" Oops...he didn't even know it was his turn. The first time this happened I helped him w/ the dishes so it would go by faster. Then it was my turn again...seems a little unfair but oh well. I'm feeling bad now b/c I didn't learn my lesson and inform him that it was his turn and now they are a big pile again so I rented a DVD and am going to set up our DVD player on the window sill and take his turn for him. That's the only way I can do them w/o going crazy when we get this behind. So now it's me procrastinating.

Puppy Slippers

These are Caden's new puppy slippers. Trev put them on Mary (15 months) who is much smaller than Caden (we put there feet together and her feet are about 1 1/2 shorter than Caden's) She looked so cute w/ her stripped tights on and than puppy slippers. She's a new walker so the tottle with the big (looking) feet was adorable. She loved them so much that she slept in them.

We invited ourselves to Ruth & Rowe's for New Year's eve and I'm glad we did. It was so much fun! I bought alcohol free sparkling wine (bubbly as Ruth called it) and the kids got a kick out of the cork POP! Ruth made a nice dinner. Both babies went down really early (5:45) and Emily (3 years) requested to go to bed I think around 8 or 9. Only Jake (5 years) tried to stay up...most to watch the adults get goofy playing Phase 10. He made it to about 10pm. It was the longest Phase 10 game I've ever played. Even if we weren't planning on staying up until midnight the game took so long we would of anyway. Lot's of laughs. Trevor teased me that there was Vitamin Mean in my drink because of my ruthless use of the skip card and my refusal to use it on myself (no one else was). Phase 4, 5 & 6 are where you have to get a run of 7 than 8 than 9. When I made it to Phase 7 I said "I'm glad I'm done with the runs." Big laughs there and many many jokes to follow as we got giddier. I asked if we could stay the night because it was late and Caden was asleep. They are so welcoming.