365: 201

For as much as I love The Hubs, we have very different tastes in music and movies (luckily we have found a couple fo shows we both like!). But we can always agree on animated movies and tonight we cuddled up to watch WALL-E after Monkey went to sleep. The advances in animation amaze me and I couldn't believe how expressive two main characters who only said one or two words could be. It was a great movie and after seeing it, I have this song stuck in my head...

365: 200

Happy Thanksgiving!

and 200th post :)!!

I had worked Wednesday night so I got to come home and see Monkey and The Hubs before they headed off to a family get together. I slept like a rock (The Hubs hung up some blankets to make the room extra dark for me, sunlight being one of the down points of sleeping during the day!) and got to spend some time with the boys before I had to go back to work.
I ended up using a standard size pillow more often than the Boppy pillow when feeding Monkey. My friend Sara, the sewing/cooking/overall Martha Stewart clone that she is, made me a couple of pillow cases that were much more fun and snuggly than the ones we had been using. As you see, they were met with great approval :).

365: 199

Since I had to work Wednesday and Thursday night, I picked Monkey up early from daycare. When I showed up he was still napping so I left and ran some errands and came back...and he was still sleeping! I woke him up and after a while he finally opened his eyes and looked at me like "What are you doing here right now?!" and proceeded to be a fantastic mood for the rest of the day :). We went home, cooked a big pot of chili to share at work, made some cheesecakes and some chocolate and sprinkle covered pretzels, and pulled all of the bibs and hand towels out of the drawers and threw them on the floor:

365: 198

Oh glorious iPod shuffle, because of you I am a singing, dancing, cleaning machine! Since I had to work the Holiday and Monkey was feeling better and off to daycare, I spent today cleaning, hanging pictures, and gathering stuff to take to the post office and Goodwill...all while singing loud and off key :). While dropping stuff off at Goodwill, I stepped in to take a look around and found this:

Yes, ladies and gentleman, that would be a code cart designed for children to PLAY with! I can see the scene unfolding now, Cabbage Patch Kid is flatlining so Buzz Lightyear calls the code, Rainbow Bright intubates and GI Joe gives chest compressions! Who looked at this prototype and thought "What a great idea!"? My friend wondered if maybe the reason it was at Goodwill is because some poor child was so traumatized by the inability to bring back Barbie that she had to give it away.

365: 197

Thanks goodness for webcams, Skype, and computer technology, I love being able to see my family in Indiana "face to face" :). I love being able to see my parents living room, give my opinion on my sister's outfit, and show them how good Monkey is walking :).

My sister showed me this hilarious site called www.failblog.org, and I think I have found my first submission for it:

DESSERT NAME FAIL

(Yes, you can find Spotted Dick right by the pie filling in the grocery store...sounds more like something you should take an antibiotic for :).

365: 196

As seen on my way to work:A Inn? That isn't very creative, could you be more specific, like the folks over at the RedR In?

365: 195

To liven up meal times we've been experimenting with spoons and bowls...which basically means Monkey gets to eat with no shirt on and I get to mop a little more than usual (and find piece of food stuck to things within a 20 foot radius). As you can see, we haven't quite mastered the bowl. My inlaws came up to watch Monkey while The Hubs and I did some of his Christmas shopping. I love being a mom, but it is amazing when you go out, just the two of you, and appreciate the little things you used to take for granted when you were dating. Plus all that hand holding and time to talk revitalizes the little crush I have on the Hubs :).

365: 194

Some things I have learned as a first time Mom:

1. The good parking space is no longer the one closest to the door...it's the one closest to the cart return bin.
2. No matter what educational, light up toys you buy for your child, they will inevitably get the most joy from items such as cups, spoons, and toothbrushes (or in this case, baby monitors):

3. Sleep becomes a precious, sought after luxury, especially in times of teething. If someone says "Hey dear, would you like to take a nap for a little while?" do not waste time with things like taking off your shoes. Just run for the bed and get to sleep as fast as you can. You might also want to hide under some pillows, your loved one might not be able to find you which equals more sleep :)!

All for now, I'll share more later

365: 193

In typical Kansas style, yesterday Monkey and I went to the park in sweatshirts to swing on the swings in the nice 67 degree weather...and today it's 38 degrees outside! Today Monkey finally got to wear his new winter coat (which he despises) and new hat (which he loves). He also took a good 6-7 steps on his own...walking is in our near future!

365: 192

Oprah has a new segment going with Peter Walsh from Clean Sweep about getting your house clean and organized...both things I could use a little help with :). For 2 days you could get a code for a free photobook from Snapfish.com and I have been trying to get mine done before the November 22nd deadline. Although I will never give up scrapbooking, this is definately pretty awesome :)!

365: 191

Tonight was a pretty emotional night at work for and although I can't elaborate here, I will say that it is something that has had a profound effect on me. I watched someone go through what is undoubtedly one of my biggest fears. But in that tragedy and sorrow, I was able to see beauty. I was able to see professionals do their job with compassion and able to see an inner strength in a parent that even she didn't know she had. I was able to see resiliency and hope and I feel so grateful that I was able to take something from this and change my life with it. Hug your kids, parents, and friends a little closer, tell them how much they matter to you. Remember that life is too short for negativity and shortcomings, that is time that could be spent sitting in awe of the blessings that surround you. At least that is what I am going to try to do from now on...

365: 190

Several of the girls I work with do knitting and crochet and I am shocked at how a couple of balls of yarn can turn in to scarfs and blankets during one little lunch hour. My friend Abby made me this scarf in like 0.265 seconds :)!

365: 189

All those tiny black specks are birds...hundred if not thousands of them and they were amazingly loud! It reminded me of one of my favorite cartoon shorts of all time, "For the Birds." (For those of you who own Monster's Inc, it is the short before the movie). I snapped these pictures as I was filling up my car and I was not the only one standing there in awe of the massive bird congregation :).

365: 188

Monkey's eye yuckiness had spread to his other eye by morning so needless to say we weren't able to do family pictures. He spent most of the day toddling around with his eyes closed or watering, poor kid! Luckily it was a good day for snuggling up with all things snuggly, including his daddy :).

I have been super paranoid about not laying Monkey down with anything (nurses see and hear a lot of one in a million stories, it makes us paranoid parents!), but have finally been giving him a lovey at night and his blanket during nap times. I want to be cautious but I don't want to be one of those parents wrapping their kids in bubble wrap before sending them out into the world either :).

365: 187

Monkey's day started off well enough, a little gunk all over his face from his cold but other wise pretty good. As the day went on, his right eye kept getting squinchier (spell check is telling me that isn't a real word...) and more matted. By tonight his poor little eye was about swollen shut...which isn't very conducive to our family pictures tomorrow. We've put some prescription eye drops in him and are hoping for the best.Here is a view of the the sky's belly button we caught on the way home. I love when the sun shines through the clouds and makes that ethereal effect where you can almost hear the "ahhhhhhh" of movie track angels singing :).

365: 186

We had a socially filled day, starting with a playdate at our favorite indoor playground with some friends of mine from work and their kiddos (playground for the kids, shopping for the moms...everyone is happy!). After a nap and a bath, we took a mini road trip to meet our new friend Kyle and his mom Jamie. Monkey had a great time trying to feed Kyle table food and tickle his toes while Jamie and I caught up :).

365: 185

A couple of pics of the amazing sunset Monkey and I caught on our way home from the park. In typical Kansas style, we've had everything from jacket weather (75 degrees) to coat and hat weather (50 degrees). We are trying to get as much park/swing time as we can before it gets too cold :).I have also been listening to the song Beautiful Life by Fisher, if you watch TLC you mght recognize it as the new promo music they use for their Monday line up :). The video is a little cheesy, but the lyrics are great. The Lovely Years is worth checking out too :).

365: 184

Monkey's teachers at daycare asked us to make a poster of friends and family to have in their classroom so they can start learning relationships and names. I love knowing that Monkey gets to see his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins every day :).

365: 183

It's never a dull day around here! The Hubs stopped by the walk-in clinic at work and got a diagnosis of strep throat and sent home. I went to pick up Monkey from Daycare and found out his poor little noggin had a rough day. First he tried to climb out a window of a playhouse on the playground and got a nice little scrape on his head. Then he got bit...again! This is the third time, always on the same cheek and from what I can tell it's a different child each time. I am beginning to wonder if maybe his daycare is a Baby Fight Club :)? Hopefully the kiddos quit trying to snack on him soon.

365: 182

One very happy, messy Monkey trying spaghetti for the first time! I worked all weekend and poor Hubs got to deal with the fact that Monkey has not quite adjusted to daylight savings time yet and is up for the day at 5 a.m. :).

365: 181

If you have not had the pleasure of seeing My Big Redneck Wedding on CMT, you are truly missing something special! Where else can you hear the lovely tale of a man popping the question by peeing "Will you marry me?" on a dirt road or hear the mother of the bride say "You're going to marry your brother whether you like it or not." The commentary by Tom Arnold makes it even better :).

This lovely couple decided to tie the knot (for the third time each) at the Redneck Games in Georgia. He got her a motorcycle for her wedding present, she got him plastic boobs mounted on a plaque that dance...so romantic! You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you're guaranteed to feel much better about yourself by the end :).

365: 180

I took full advantage of Monkey's morning nap and made up some cards on Shutterfly to send out for his birthday to thank our friends and family for their love and support during Monkey's first year. Had I known he would only nap for 30 minutes in the afternoon and I wouldn't get a nap before heading to work tonight, I probably should have slept this morning! Oh well, we spent the rest of the afternoon making my favorite Apple Butter Cookies. I had e-mailed my mom and asked her for the recipe and when I got the reply, I was looking at a picture of the original recipe in my Grandmother's handwriting :).

365: 179

It is amazing to me that despite the number of amazing kids toys out there these days (say it with me, "We didn't have stuff like that when I was a kid!"), Monkey is so easily fascinated by such inexpensive things such as the hand dryer at the mall:

(Love the feeling of the wind through your hair!)
And every day things like spoons, toothbrushes and cups:

We may save a lot of money on his Christmas shopping this year :)

365: 178

How amazing to witness part of history, no matter which way you voted :). I think asking someone who they voted for is a lot like discussing religion, most people have pretty concrete ideas on the subject and it tends to be personal. No matter which way you voted, I am just grateful I have the opportunity to do it. I though McCain's concession speech was gracious, reminding his supporters to back the new president because it is what is best for the country. I think both candidates had big ideas for the future of this country, it will be interesting to see what the next 4 years bring.

365: 177

Despite the fact that I really wanted to go home after a long night at work, I headed over to vote. It was only about a 40 minute wait but well worth it to do something people before me worked so hard to make possible for me...

I stopped and got the mail on my way in and got a wonderful surprise from my friend Jamie! I opened up the padded mailer and saw this:

In it were pictures of her bachelorette party, a birthday party we'd gone to, and some random fun times in college. It was like a little time capsule had found its way to my mailbox :). It was great to see friends I haven't seen in years and even more wonderful that she would go to all that trouble for me...what a great buddy :).

365: 176

Now that Daylight savings is here, it's dark when I leave for work and I get to see all the lights of downtown on my way to work! I borrowed this picture from another blogger, I have yet to work up the courage to pull over on the shoulder and try to snap a picture :).

365: 175

Ahh, lazy Sunday are great, just pick up the house and play and nap...and that went for all three of us. We did go out to the store and luckily there is always something there to entertain Monkey:
(Go State...even if they are having a bad season!)
Plus Monkey spent some time walking up and down the driveway (with help) and climbing up stairs (without help). But the real fun of the evening came when I got showered and ready to go to work and luckily checked the calender before I left...and saw that I wasn't scheduled tonight! It's almost as good as a day off :).

365: 174

After months of saving, hours of looking, and much debating, The Hubs and I finally found a desk we both liked for the basement. Yes, it is a bit of a monster (it came in about 500,000 pieces and took us 4 hours to put together!) but I love that it has a table that I can use for scrapbooking and that Monkey can use for homework some day...

Plus we had to take the basement back from the cats one day, it's been two years since we've moved in and I think they were beginning to think that basement was all theirs...they'd get all huffy when we'd come down to do laundry like "Could you have at least called before just showing up around here??"