Barnes and Noble. Not Free. That's the Library. Ooops.

We spent an enjoyable hour or two at B&N the other night. Well enjoyable except that I stood in the worst line ever (worst because people were slow and surly and a little smelly-- a really bad combination) at the fake Starbucks counter for decaf and then wound up with a cup of cold coffee that I couldn't do anything about because I couldn't stand to stand in that line again.

That minor issue aside, we all had a blast reading books and buying books (yeah-- we're going to the library from now on, or at least once in awhile because the library doesn't serve coffee, cold or otherwise, but it is right next to the best pie dealer in town. Ha! Pie dealer! I can't decide if that would be funnier if it were like a drug dealer with pies, or a car dealership selling pies. Probably cars. Like, could I take a test drive? Finance my pie? Would my fudge bottom taste better with a moon roof? Not MY fudge bottom-- that's gross-- I would never say that-- who does say that, really? I mean pie that's chocolate on the bottom layer and-- never mind. This has gotten very odd and tangential. Although the drug dealer with pies? Also funny. Could I freebase pie, maybe? Snort it? Smoke it? ).

The point is, we should borrow books every now and again. Also, at the library, we would not have had to leave with this backpack. This Disney backpack. And I have serious Disney issues, people. How does Disney treat women in their films, I ask you? NOT WELL. I mean, you have all the dead moms (Bambi's, Ariel's, Cinderella's, etc) and all the evil jealous wicked stepmoms (Snow White's, Cinderella's, etc), but then there are the moms you may not even notice as being awful role models until you read between the lines. Mrs. Incredible, who gives up her superpowers to vacuum while her husband reads the newspaper-- what decade is this people?-- and tells her kids they have to contain their greatness if they want to fit in with society. And this doesn't scratch the surface of the class issues in the Incredibles (like entitlements versus government handouts, for example, and the issue of who is entitled and who is a dependent). But yeah. Another tangent for another day

Keep in mind, he doesn't even know who the hell Mickey Mouse is- he just likes it because it has a handle and wheels. Soon he will buy peripherals for his laptop and start lugging this thing everywhere he goes. Which? Not very far.

But seriously, really cute, huh? And he was so sad when he thought he might have to leave it at the store. Yep. Nothing like rewarding those tears. I'm sure that won't come back to bite us on the ass, huh? Oh, and you should hear him say "Back pack." A-dorable.


Also, Harry likes pie, too. I had a major pregnant moment the other night, and Ben went to the aforementioned pie dealer and scored 3 sweet pieces -- I gave Harry a forkful of peanut butter pie (the best food in the world), and he was suspicious at first, but soon, he licked the fork. Then his eyes lit up, and he sucked the rest down in a heartbeat, saying "Mmmmm, pie. Mo pie.... done...mo pie...mmmm."

Lucy!

Congratulations to Jen and Maurice who had the cutest little baby girl, Lucy Karen, on Monday. We got to see her today, and she was so warm and adorable and pink.

Here she is with her Uncle Ben

And me-- don't I kind of look like I want to eat her? I guess this was amplified by the fact that I was rubbing my hands together (hand sanitizer, you know) moments before she was placed in my arms.

And with both of us. We are soooo excited to be having a new baby of our own in a a little less than a hundred days. Before we saw Lucy, we were excited/scared shitless. Now we're just excited because, as I mentioned, she was so pink and lovely. Also she sleeps a lot-- like 4 hours in a row, something Harry didn't do till he was like 6 months old or something like that. So, if McLovin could be a sleeper, that'd be rad. But, yeah, you're right, We're probably not that lucky. I didn't think so either.

Here's whole cute family, including big brother Max

Harry always acts up in the group photos...

Harry and Max coloring

Harry and his grandma coloring-- clearly, these people do not have same fear of Harry+crayons and markers=ing heinous mess that I do

Here I am sorting through all of Harry's old teeny clothes that his grandparents let us store at their place-- because we swore up and down that it was going to be a really long time before we had another baby. Ha! Surprise!

Harry riding in this super cool car his grandparents have-- it's kind of like the old Pole Position game at the arcade...I need to find one like it because it totally says "big brother" to me! And I used to really like that game.

Harry and his gradparents-- we had a whirlwind trip, but as you can see, it was a blast. We had a high of zero today (yeah, I was depressed about that, too), so we wanted to make sure to drive in the light, which, just doesn't last very long.

I guess we kept the car a bit too warm for Harry's liking because I turned around to find him sans socks. Oh yeah! And he totally calls Lucy "Sucy--" how cute is that?

Room Makeover: Stage 2

On Sunday at like 10 am, we were all hanging out in Harry's room. Ben and I were using Harry's huge stuffed dog for a pillow and lounging on the floor complaining that the coffee we chugged with our donuts must have been decaf because we were ready for a nap. Harry was happily dragging things from his toy closet, playing with them for 2.5 seconds, and then flinging them aside, so he could scamper back into the toy closet to drag out more things.

Apropos of literally nothing, Ben sat up, fished his Cubs hat out of Harry's toy box and said, "I think I'll go get some paint and put some color on these walls today."

We passed a pleasant ten or fifteen minutes holding paint cards up to the wall and deciding between 20 or so shades of blue, and Harry gathered up each card we rejected and propped it up against his fire truck bed, copying the way we stepped away from the wall and studied the color with or heads cocked and our eyes narrowed.

Ben was like totally beyond thrilled to find out it was Menards Days, and he bought bunch of crap we don't know how to use because it was on sale, like caulk and this newfangled device called a caulk gun, along with paint and rollers and brushes, and pans and tarps-- the same stuff we buy every time we paint because we think these things are probably disposable. Are they, does anybody know?

Then he moved all of Harry's furniture into the center of the room, threw some plastic over it, and spent the next 2-4 hours taping the room while I hung out with Harry and cleaned the house, popping my head in every now and then to say helpful things like "You really haven't started painting yet?" and "Really? You're still taping?" When he finally did start painting around the trim, I offered more helpful advice like, "Yikes. You don't have to rush," and "That sure does look uneven. Maybe you should slow down."

Harry was flummoxed when he realized most of his toys (and all of his clothes and most of his diapers because we never think of things like that) were tarped off. He also thought it was strange and unsettling that his bed was pushed up next to ours. He spent most of the day watching PBS Kids and wringing his hands. He wore his jammies all day and never napped. Around 5:30, he fell asleep in his dinner, which included french fries from the pervious night because that's the kind of cook I am (and yeah, I seem to also be someone who saves leftover fries-- and they were baked in the oven and trans fat free). Since he was still in his jammies, I figured, what the hell, changed him into an overnight dinner, and tucked him into our bed, where he remained fast asleep until 7:00 the next morning, when he woke up still clutching a fry in his fist and asked for a bath and a bup.

I helped Ben paint the closet, which is why the closet is so streaky (according to Ben) and why my pajamas and socks and occasionally the carpet have blue spots on them.

So, here's the end result (still no bedding or anything for the walls. This is coming soon. We actually do have a few things for the walls, one of which is a canvas we found that was already painted with baby #2's name-- random, huh?)

Blue, huh?

Harry and I took a trip to Build-A-Bear, where we stuffed the smaller bear for the baby and got a fire fighter outfit for Harry's bear, fka President Harrison Bearison. We had so much fun that I think we'll have Harry's 2nd birthday there because I am totally missing out on the American Girl experience, so my boys are going to stuff teddy bears for as long as I can make them think it's cool.

This hat is from Harry's Grandpa Dennis, who used to be a firefighter. Both Harry and Ben try it on every chance they get, but sadly I have no pictures of Ben in it.

Harry, as you can see, is a big fan.



We played with all the crayons and markers Harry got for Chrismukkah, and Tadoodles make a big mess!

Especially on Harry's hands

Then Harry rode around on his basketball hoop, so I guess he likes his new digs. Every time he goes into his room, he says "Blue," and nods his head. He's also started going behind his crib to poop, (and the other night, after getting undressed and before getting in the tub, he peed on the leg of his crub and then came to get us saying Uh-oh, peepee, uh-oh) so I think we'll be talking more about the potty around here. Fun times. Ya'll know how much I love public bathrooms. Can't wait to use them with someone who's not tall enough to wash his hands and is not above licking weird things.

5 New Posts Below!!

Ha, month of January! I will conquer you! I just doubled my posts for the whole month! Ha!

So, keep scrolling down to read about the boringest details of my life! With pictures!

Narcissist, party of 1?

19 Month Stats

Sarah, you ask shouldn't that be 18 month stats? Don't kids see the pediatrician at 18 months? Yeah. They do. But like this blog, we've been a bit behind. Lots of rescheduling with Harry's doctor. So today, we saw the other doctor in his group, whom I totally like because she is s nice and funny and loves to chit chat. Harry's doc, on whom I have a huge crush (Ben knows-- he's cool with it. God I hope Harry's doctor doesn't read this blog. Not that he would but gosh that'd be embarrassing) is awesome, too, and will spend all day talking about research trends, but not so much on the homespun advice-- and there's a gender stereotype for ya, huh? (And this doctor totally was all about Harry knowing the Elmo's World song-- she asked him about it before he could even sing it because despite being a member of the American Academy of Pediatricians, she HAS small kids, and she KNOWS they watch the tube before they're 2, and to think, I was totally sweating it that Harry would bust me as a bad mom by singing Elmo's world or imitating Cookie Monster, and I'd have to say he learned it all from books! Books! And the Earth's Best organic cookie boxes!) Anywho, Harry was pronounced "delightfully healthy," and he wowed the doc and her resident with his mad talking skills and his ridiculous new trick of hiding by bending over and touching his head to the floor. Ben always pretends like Harry is invisible when he does this, so now he does this all the time and thinks he's really not seen by anyone.

All the extra bup he's been chugging is starting to show, as he was 25 pounds 5 ounces (a little above the 25th percentile) and 33 inches long (50th percentile). His head was 50th, too, meaning he's staying nicely on his growth curve, although his weight has never been higher than the 10-15th before, so that's cool.

Also cool? No more shots until he's 5! He was excited to hear this, as the HepA shot really pissed him off today.
Harry'd like to be a doctor someday, only for the awesome chair.

Sledding WITH a sled

Finally, right?

I worked ALL DAY on Saturday (poor me-- a whole day of work-- so not fair), and Ben took Harry sledding because yes, we sure did get more snow.

I would pretend like this post had a point other than to show you these funny pictures of Harry looking all sorts of crabby while he sleds, but it doesn't. So, here ya go:

Oh yeah-- he asks to wear "no pants" and "boops" everyday, so I imagine he was beyond excited to put these on.

Oh my! Our never photographed laundry room.

Love how Oompa-loompa-y he is in these clothes




He was wearing thumbless mimmens, so he had to go in early because he kept taking them off because people he is not a monkey, and his hands got too cold, poor kid.


Also because he totally bit it on the driveway. This picture warms my heart in ways you cannot imagine because it proves that I am not the only one of Harry's parents who will photograph first and help second.

A couple weeks ago

We went to see my parents-- which is why were were so totally stuck on the road for 9 freaking hours. Anyway, my dad's aunt passed away in November in Arizona, and he family came back to Pekin in January to bury her ashes near her husband and have a memorial service

Now I know that funerals are never a rocking good time, but this one was so nice. I guess that's what happens when you have a month to pan a memorial instead of a weekend or a couple of days. It made me think of this play that Ben and I did for duo in college (how lame do I sound when I say that, by the way). It was called _Cakewalk_ and was about Lillian Helman. I was Lillian, and I remember my first line was something like "When I die, I want a big jazz funeral," and the character talked a bit about how she wanted people to celebrate when she was dead. Well, this funeral wasn't jazzy at all, but it was a very sweet celebration of a life. Many of the granddaughters had a reading or a song, and all of the women wore red shoes with their funeral black, which was adorable because Aunt Marge always loved red shoes. Afterwards, everyone came over to my parents' house and sat around drinking wine and looking at boxes of old family photos, which was also a very sweet celebration.

Harry had a good time with his grandma and his Great Aunt Ginny
He also enjoyed wearing his Uncle Ben's tie while riding his bipe

So much so that he wanted Ben and me to share the experience


Then he hung out inside this plastic tub for awhile. Safe, huh?