I love you way, way much Mommy

Yesterday young T and I had one of the most troubled days in our young relationship. If I said "black" he said "white." If I asked him to come over to get lotioned, he ran the opposite direction. If I asked him to nap, he banged a giant penguin into his night stand. If I asked him to go potty, he smirked at me as he stood on top of the toilet and watched the urine run down his jeans. On top of it all, F was especially fussy yesterday morning. It was one of those days where it was all I could do to hold it together until Ry got home (which he did, early, and bearing brisket. I love my husband).

Today was better. It was mostly better because Ry took him to his very first dentist appointment this morning, and I got an hour of peace and quiet. T has also been a much better listener today. When it was time for his nap, we went into his room, snuggled together on his bed and read about Scuppers, the Sailor Dog. Then, as I was leaving, he hopped up and said "I need to give you lots of kisses!" Oh, OK. And as I was closing the door behind me, "I love you way, way much Mommy!"

Losing most of a tooth

Two days before Christmas I had my first cavity filled. I have to admit to being pretty nervous about the whole adventure. When I went in, the dentist decided that since the cavity was so shallow, she would just numb the gums around my tooth, instead of numbing the whole nerve. Then she started drilling. The smell of a tooth being drilled is one I'll never forget. As she kept drilling, I started to feel my blood pressure dropping and my vision blacking out. Luckily for me, I didn't actually pass out. That would have been embarrassing. She kept drilling, and drilling ... and drilling. Apparently, the cavity was much deeper than she thought.

She paused and asked if I wanted to see. Seriously? I'd love to! It looked like a tooth cup. I don't know why I expected something other than a tooth with a big hole in it, but I guess I did. Anyway, as she finally got down to the end of the decay, I started to feel it a little bit. She finally did get finished up and filled the tooth with the filling material. For the past week, I have felt like I had something in my teeth, but no pain or other issues. When I look in my mouth, I can't even see the filling. Cavity: filled.

Coming soon: The Christmas round up

I'll get a post up pretty soon about our super fun and busy Christmas. For now, here's a picture of T jamming out in front of our stockings.

Sacrifices happily made

• Crazy vacations: Oh well. The kids will be out of the house while we're still young.
• Two piece bathing suits: I'm getting to the age where a bikini gets a little creepy looking anyway.
• Sleep: It's only a few months. And I'm actually fairly well rested.
• Date nights: We still get out occasionally. The boys are in bed by 8:30 at night. That's sort of like a date.
• Perfect teeth: A cavity isn't so bad. Who makes it to 30 without a cavity anyway?
• Dairy: Wait, what? What do you mean dairy makes you gassy and uncomfortable? Are you sure? I'm not sure you understand my relationship with cheese ... or ice cream. Let me try this one little slice of cheddar. Oh, yeah, you're serious about that. Sigh .... at least it's only a year.

A snow day from 4 perspectives

Yesterday was Snowmageddon 2009. The way the weather channel was carrying on, you would think we were going to be buried for days. As it turns out, we got about a foot of snow over the better part of 24 hours. It certainly took some digging out, but panic was not called for. Today, we had to dig ourselves out of our house. Since F was awake, I decided to put him in his snowsuit and toss him in the sling while I played with T and helped Ry. Of course, once I got him stuffed into the snowsuit, he promptly fell asleep. I figured that taking him out would wake him.
So this is how he slept for the next 2 hours. Who needs blankets anyway?
Ry's snow day mostly consisted of a crap ton of shoveling.
Although at the end, he did get to help make part of a snowman that T promptly destroyed.
T also got snow-suited up. He wanted to get outside sooo badly, but couldn't get the patio door open. Hahahaha. It's like we planned it.
We did eventually make it outside. T cleaned off his car while I worked on the grown up vehicles.
He also made his very first snow angel. There's nothing like a 2 year old in a snow drift to make you appreciate the little things.
Like this. How, exactly does snow do this? Peanut, you're a science gal, how does this happen?
Or this? I mean seriously, it defies gravity!

We had a really delightful day, enjoying the snow the way only children know how. Sadly, the snow meant that my sis got stuck in Vegas for 2 days. At least it's not a bad place to be stuck. She'll finally make it in Tuesday evening. I'm crossing my fingers that my dad and stepmom make it in without too much drama tomorrow. At least we'll have a white Christmas!

Funnest Christmas Tree Hunt Ever!

Well, maybe not ever. Certainly the funnest since I've been a grown up. We waited for the boys' Tantie to be with us before going to pick out and decorate our tree. Of course, the day after she arrived dawned rainy and cold. I wasn't waiting another day to get a tree though, especially since we might not have another daylight opportunity until the following weekend.
We all bundled up (even F) and hit a local nursery turned tree lot. Most of the trees were too big for our little living room, but we finally found the perfect tree.
T, of course, found lots of "trees." He kept finding more and more and we had to convince him that trees had to stay outside so we could go in and pay for our tree.
Look Mommy! I found another tree!

OMG SNOW!!!!

I guess it's winter. There is a "possibly historic" (courtesy of the weather channel) snow storm headed our direction. Our little area of NJ is predicted to get 8-12 inches, although we're right on the edge of the 12+ zone. Since Ry's sister was visiting with us all week, I hadn't been to the grocery store yet. We braved the grocer this evening so we have some food to get through the weekend. Holy crap, I've never seen the Acme that full. Nearly every lane was open and lines were 3-4 carts deep. It was like a little par-tay. Everyone was in a great mood. People actually made eye contact and chatted with each other. There's nothing like a mini natural disaster to bring out the humanity in Jerseyans.

Bummer little Jube

I went to the dentist today for a routine exam and cleaning. I got scared by Dr. Evil the last time I went and hadn't been for well over a year. I like the new dentist a lot, although no one will ever hold a place in my heart like my childhood dentist. This was a man that reminded me of no one so much as Mr. Rogers.

Anyhow, the news is mostly good. She thinks I have beautiful teeth and could tell that I flossed (I always wondered). Sadly, she also told me that I have a wee little cavity. At first she thought I just had something in my teeth. Unfortunately, when she poked her little stick in the middle, it stuck. I made it to 30 without a single cavity. Sad. Two days before Christmas I'm going to go get my first drilling. I'm scared. Someone hold me.

Christmases past: Part the third

Not all Christmas memories are good memories.

When I was very young, we spent every Christmas with my paternal grandfather and his wife. I'm guessing I was 7 or 8 the year I got a crazy stomach virus. I remember being so miserable and wishing I could go have fun with all my cousins. My mom kept bring me my sister's "baby" juice and crackers. Seriously, is there anything worse than being sick on Christmas?

Grateful

It's the evenings like this one that remind me of how blessed I am. This one was nothing special. Ry came home from work, I made leftover dinner, we ate and gave the boys baths. T was in the tub while I gave F a bath for what will be one of the last times in the bathroom sink. Ry was sitting on the floor, playing with T when he grabbed the camera, because, he said, this was such a neat perspective.
And it is. Seriously, how cute is our baby in a bowl? But that's not really what this post is about.

Then I read the blog of a friend of Ry's from high school. You may remember that her (then) youngest child had complications early in his life that resulted in his total hearing loss. Since then, she's been separated from her husband and had a beautiful, 32 week little girl. I don't know how she finds the strength to get through each day.

Every time I say a little prayer for her family, I also say a little prayer of thankfulness. No matter how frenzied my days are, no matter how much I stress about getting through nursing school in the fall, no matter how much my son makes me crazy some days, I'm thankful. Above all, I'm thankful that these are the things that I get to worry about each day. I have two beautiful, healthy boys. I have a husband who not only gives baths, but pauses to notice a unique perspective on the mundane. I have a life filled with crazy joy. And that my friends, is why I'm grateful.

Christmases past: Part the second

My second memory of Christmases past is from the first Christmas Ry and I were married. We lived in a beautiful loft apartment with hardwood floors and a 15+ foot ceiling. We went out and got the biggest Christmas tree we could find since we figured we would never live in a place with that kind of ceiling again. As it turns out, we were right. This tree was well over 7 feet high. As you can see, it barely reached over our balcony windows. After Christmas was over, we chucked the thing over the balcony.

It was the first year I felt like a real grown up. We hosted Christmas for the first time, had our first Christmas tree and finally lived in a real, grown up apartment without roommates or anything. It was a carefree time of our lives. I will forever look back on that Christmas as the first of my adult life, even though I was already 25.

My favorite Karate Kid

These are T's new and most favorite-est pajamas. My mom made them for him. If you can't tell, the fabric is made of many tiny sock monkeys. After the first day he wore them, he has wanted to wear them non-stop.

Already?

Yesterday F turned one month old. I can't believe he's already that old. I've already had a few "not a newborn anymore" moments (umbilical cord fell off, outgrew a few newborn outfits). Here are a few pictures to commemorate the big event. Look at our little butterball! We aren't exactly sure how big he is right now, but our best guess is 9 and a quarter or so. I just can't handle the cuteness of the little fat cheeks. It's not really obvious in this picture, but he's losing his hair from the top down. Right now he looks a bit like a jowly monk.

This picture is pretty illustrative of the look F gives his big brother. He's not so sure about this big, clumsy boy who just wants to kiss and hug him. Unfortunately, T hasn't quite mastered the gentle hug. He's trying.

T also likes to mimic F when he's crying. It's adorable and maddening all at once. Here they're crying to each other.

Christmases past

My sister is taking December to write about some of her favorite Christmases past. I think this is a really swell idea and I'm going to steal it. Her story about the annual Christmas Tree Hunt is also one of my favorite Christmas memories. We're going to try and find a similar experience here when our kids are a little older (for now, it's the Home Depot Christmas Tree Lot).

Two of my favorite Christmases were the ones we spent at ski resorts. They kind of blend together in my head, so I'm going to talk about them as if it were one big trip. We stayed at Snowshoe Mountain for one trip and Killington for the other. I still maintain that Snowshoe is one of the all-time best family/kids mountains. We ended up at Killington because the original resort we were planning on in New York had no snow. We drove north until we found snow.

Part of the reason I enjoyed the trips so much is that they combined two of my favorite things: travel and skiing. It seemed illicit somehow to be skiing during Christmas. Most of my friends were at home, having the same family Christmas every year, while we were off having a real vacation.

The resorts always looked so festive, with big fireplaces, decorations everywhere and feet upon feet of snow. It was usually pretty crowded, but the year we went to Snowshoe there was a blizzard. No one could get on or off the mountain. I'll never forget skiing in a blizzard with my Dad or standing at the top of the mountain the next morning, looking at a perfect run filled with fresh powder. It was some of the best skiing I've ever done.

Perhaps the best part about these trips was getting to spend intense time with my family while still having something to do. We got to spend evenings cozied up in the room, playing games or watching TV and the days out in the fresh air. We got lots of family time without making each other (too) crazy. They were fun times and a unique Christmas experience I hope to replicate with my kids someday soon.