My New Obsession

I love Jeopardy. I never took much of an interest in the show before because I never knew ANY answers. Or questions. However you want to look at it. But I've grown older, wiser, and better at guessing, and I can get a good 10 on any given night. 10 out of 60 or so, but still... I especially love the food categories. I own them. I'm still no pro though - the other night the final Jeopardy clue was about a country singer. I guessed Johnny Cash. The answer was Hank Williams Sr. Alex said "I hope no one said 'Johnny Cash'" and they all had a good chuckle. Adam thought this was HI-LARIOUS.

Also HI-LARIOUS? Jerry Seinfeld. Adam and I went on a long, long, long overdue date Friday night and went to see Jerry Seinfeld in Charlotte. I really don't like the show Seinfeld, but I figured the guy had to be funny in stand up. And he did not disappoint! Dave Schiff opened for him, and he was hilarious as well. I don't know that he was funnier, but his jokes were written as if he set up a hidden camera in our house and then wrote an entire routine based on our relationship. It hit so close to home that we were in hysterics the whole time.

We spent the rest of the weekend with my old roommate Leslie and her husband Nick, and met Ashley and Jeff for lunch on Saturday. I showed remarkable will power at Janie and Jack (while John Dickson had his SECOND meltdown in the store because I would not buy him shoes... we are 2 for 2 on that front). That kid loves him some Janie and Jack shoes. And then we met Adam's parents for dinner in Concord Mills where John Dickson rode the carousel three times. His first word the next morning was "neigh". Then "Elmo", as he wanted to get another peek at the Elmo cake I made him - a practice cake for his birthday. I CANT BAKE. But I refuse to be the mom who cant make her kid a birthday cake. And so Leslie taught me some tricks and it turned out nicely, if I do say so myself. Two. He is going to be two. We rounded out the weekend with breakfast with Jess - All in all, a good weekend.

John Dickson was exhausted when we got home on Sunday, but he refused to nap. He was so tired, in fact, that when I put him down last night and went back to check on him, I was able to put a diaper on him and zip him up without waking him. The kid knows how to remove duct tape, unzip his pjs and take his diaper off without removing the pjs. What are we going to do with him?!?!?

As usual - completely random

It's still January and I have broken 2 of my New Years resolutions - Post more pictures, and not break resolutions. Oh well, I still have flossing I guess.

I've been asked for a pregnancy update, so I will make a top 10 list, in no particular order, so as not to sound like I have a long string of random pregnancy related thoughts.

1. I have felt completely normal for about 3 weeks now, queasy wise. Thank goodness.
2. I am exhausted. And I cant figure out if it is pregnant related or work related. Or both. I have been getting to work at 6:30 most mornings and working late some nights or working at home other nights, or I am asleep by 8 pm. If I make it that far.
3. I'm getting nice and chubby, but don't look pregnant. I have an internal conflict of wanting to look pregnant because I never have anything to wear and maternity clothes will expand my wardrobe, and not wanting to look pregnant because right now I sleep really well. On my stomach.
4. We are supposed to find out in 6 weeks what we are having. I am lobbying for 2-3 so that we can do that before Adam moves. Oh yeah, Adam is moving. More on that later. John Dickson and I will follow eventually.
5. I get asked A LOT what I think we are having. I have absolutely no idea, just like I had no idea with the first one. Sometimes when I talk about the baby I refer to it as "he" and other times its "she". And no, its definitely not twins!
6. We got to hear the heart beat for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to take FOREVER to find it, and as soon as the doctor did find it, I laughed and he lost it again.
7. We are undecided on a middle name for a girl - I'm pushing for Madelyn Claire or Madelyn Harper, but my husband is the WORST when it comes to agreeing on names. He likes nothing and offers no other suggestions. I hope none of you ever have to name children with him. And I sincerely, sincerely mean that.
8. Our boy name is, I think, offially, Henry Hollen. You can like it or not. We'd call him Henry.
9. There is no number 9.
10. John Dickson found my old cabbage patch kid doll, Mary, and so I let him keep her. He calls her "baby." I rationalize this as good practice :-)

And in other news...

My first baby...

The black furry one...

I wish I had a great picture to insert here...

Is 5 years old today. Happy birthday Bear! This makes me seriously depressed. Seriously. As a favor to me, I hope he will live forever.

Which brings me to a random point:

No one understands why I am not in love with Ellie. I do love her, and she is a VERY sweet dog, and is VERY VERY good with John Dickson. But she is dirty. Our walls are orange, our back door windows are covered in mud, our freshly mopped kitchen is always ruined with muddy footprints, and at 100.6 lbs the mess is very difficult to control. I thought this was the problem, but I realized the other day what the real problem is. She has completely changed the way that Bear is a part of our family. Bear use to be inside 99% of the time. He slept in the bed, he went on car rides all the time, he went on almost every trip with us. He was MY dog before Adam and I got engaged. Now, because Ellie has to be outside during the daytime, so does Bear. Ellie hates car rides with a passion, but she gets really jealous and distraught if you take Bear without her. So Bear doesn't go. And Ellie takes up our entire bed, has no respect for personal space, and, there's the problem of her muddy fur and feet (she's our dog who digs and rolls in the mud and naps in the rain, voluntarily). So for a couple of years, Bear slept in the living room. We finally compromised and Bear is back in our room. He chooses to sleep on the floor, but he is by my side all night... at least he still knows he is mine. And that is my totally random rant.

John Dickson calls Bear "Boo Boo". He says:

"Where Boo Boo? I nnnnknow. Bye bye"

That little man has been doing some crazy cute stuff lately, but I'll have to save that for another post. Just know that he has decided half brussels sprouts are turtles and plays with them as such. "Tur-tull" with heavy emphasis on the 2nd T.

Pee Pah

"Pee pah"
"Pee pah"
"Pee pah"

This is what Adam and I have been hearing for the past week or so. We have racked our brains and asked John Dickson a million times "Is pee pah (insert suggestion here)?" I finally asked his teacher yesterday... and there was no hesitation... "teapot"

John Dickson is learning "Im a little teapot". Must work on those T's :-)

21 Month Highlights

Our little boy is officially 7/8 of the way to 2 years old. Unbelievable. Here is a completely random assortment of 21 month achievements and/or laughable moments, in no particular order:

1. I would finally, after 21 long months that went by very fast, like to introduce myself and my husband: Mommy and Daddy. It warms our hearts like none other, and we are still eating up everytime we are called by our new names. Finally!!

2. John Dickson has started to refer to himself in the first person. I'm pretty impressed by this, because no one really talks to him in the first person. It's always "Mommy will get you milk" or "Daddy has to get something out of his truck" or whatever... I am at a complete loss for examples, but we do tell him "I love you". Well, when John Dickson is hungry he goes to his highchair and says "I eat. I eat." When he wants to sit on the kitchen counter (whch he does while I make dinner, and he actually eats many meals on the kitchen counter) he says "I sit. I sit." He also says this when he wants to get in our laps or sit at the kitchen table in a big chair like a big boy.

3. I got the bright idea to let Elmo drive the Prius one day, and ever since then... Elmo, and Bank, and sometimes one of Elmo's toys have to drive the car. I thought it was such an ingenious idea, until I realized it was here to stay. Oh well, at least if I get pulled I have a fuzzy red muppet to get me out of a ticket.

4. John Dickson has learned to take off his footed pjs. And his diaper. Duct tape or no duct tape. Oh, and he poops in his bed. Moving on.

5. Adam got this game for Christmas called Cabela's Big Game Hunter, and it came with a big orange gun. I let John Dickson pull the trigger while I aimed the gun, and together we shot many, many birds. John Dickson loves birds and we have to keep the blinds pulled so that he can bird watch in the warm house (what is up with the negative bajillion degree weather around here lately???). I don't think he understands the game. However, he loves to watch and points out the millions of birds, and then he says "shoot shoot". Then when the birds fall from the sky he says very sweet and innocently "bye bye". And a couple of times we have seen him come around the corner with the gun in his hands... he looks JUST LIKE Elmer Fudd. He walks like him, he holds the gun like him, he's short and stalky... and he just rounds the corner saying "bird bird". Too cute. And if you haven't picked up on this yet, everything John Dickson says is in multiples of 2, 3, 4...20. Daddy dear, I believe he's ready for that dove hunting.

6. John Dickson has colored on cabinets or walls a total of 3 times in month 21. The first time he drew on the wall we told him "no, no, no", and so he sat and watched Adam clean the wall (which, needed to be cleaned anyway thanks to Ellie) while saying "no, no, no" over and over again. I thought he had really gotten the message until...

That was actually the same mural, (see what I mean about the dirty wall?) but it did happen again...

7. John Dickson saw my friend Katy's brother in the backseat of a car, wearing a nice button down plaid shirt. John Dickson called him Daddy repeatedly. Signs that Adam wears too much plaid.

Until next time...

John Dickson's Fort

Remember that awesome tent/tunnel/teepee contraption John Dickson got for Christmas this year? Well, it just got more awesome. I pulled John Dickson's baby papasan chair out of the closet and put it in his tent, along with a fine selection of reading (although he only really wants to read "choo choo" (The Little Engine That Could)). The tent has transformed into John Dickson's fort and hideout (although we are always invited in his hideout), and he loves it! In fact, last night he took a little bowl of cauliflower in to eat in his chair after his 4 servings of baked beans and a huge plate of chicken. As you know, John Dickson is a vegetarian, minus medium rare steak and deli turkey, but he has a new love: Jack Daniels BBQ pulled chicken. Go figure.

Children's Museum

Update: You should really enlarge that first picture to get the determined expression on John Dickson's face, as well as his hair kind of flapping in the breeze that is him racing through the store. If you want to get the full effect, of course.

The week of Christmas, John Dickson and I went on a few adventures to get out of the house and let Adam get some quality post-surgery rest. One of those adventures took us right to the children's museum, which, thank goodness, has changed their free age from under 1 to under 2, which John Dickson will be for at least 6 more months. Shhhh. Anyway, John Dickson had a blast! His favorite part was easily the miniature Bilo where he loaded up his shopping cart and raced around the "market". He could have stayed there all day, but I had to constantly "restock" as he emptied the shelves, and so we only shopped for 20 or 30 minutes.














There were other exhibits that John Dickson liked, such as the construction zone, but his second favorite was most definitely Grandma Betty's Farm. He absolutely LOVED milking the cow. I couldnt get the video of that to upload, but here are a few pictures of him playing in the tree house.



















He planted and picked lots of carrots.














And he got a kick out of driving the truck ("tuuuck").