Halloween Success

All told, things went pretty well tonight. Atticus refused to put on his costume, but agreed to wear his hat and his hoodie while trick-or-treating. So -- we just claimed that he was dressed up as a brooding teenager. :)

Atticus was lucky enough to go door to door with our neighbor from across the street, Zoe. Her mom, Summer, is awesome... That sounds a bit funny to say out loud, but making friends as an adult is TOUGH! So anyways... Wren dressed up as a pumpkin and rode in the wagon for the majority of our walk. It took Atticus about one house to figure out what was going on, and then he totally got it and was off like a shot following Zoe from house to house. Summer stayed in the street with the wagon and Wren and I would follow the kids to the door. I would gently prod Atticus to say "Trick Or Treat" -- which came out every time as "TREAT!!". Good thing he's cute! I would then tell him to say "Thank You" and he would do the sign for thank you. Funny, but even though he's repeating a ton of words and starting to string together little sentences -- he won't say the words "thank you" or "please" -- he'll only sign those. No clue why!

He had a blast - and other than right before we got home when he took off running down the middle of the street and scared the living daylights out of me because he wouldn't stop - the night was a success. He scarfed down two dum-dum suckers when we got home and went to bed with a bright blue tongue (and still calling out to Zoe).

And next year... dude, we're going to be in NEW OLEANS for Halloween. How freaking awesome is that going to be? The kids will be old enough so that no one is nursing... and the plan right now is to have the Grandparents come visit and watch the kiddos while the Morlans come visit us and all the adults get to go out for some vampiric goodness and otherwise general debauchery! Woot!!

Atti Come

This is Atticus's favorite saying right now. We were explaining to him this morning that Dadu is going to go on an airplane and will be gone for a few days. His response... "Atti come."

If I ask Atti to wait at the bottom of the stairs while I run up to grab a diaper, a toy, a jacket, etc -- his response, "Atti come." In the morning, I ask if he'd like to stay home or go to school... you guessed it, "Atti come."

He's figuring out that he can give commands and that we'll usually try to indulge him -- it's pretty fun watching him figure it all out.

Growth Spurt

Seriously, Wren has been asleep this entire day. She went down last night at 7 PM, woke once to nurse and then slept again until 8 am. Then... she went down for her first nap at 10:30 AM pretty much on schedule -- but she slept until 2:15 PM. A bath with the nanny, a little more playing and whammy - asleep again at 3:45 PM.

Maybe it's the wonky tornado-y weather? Maybe it's a growth spurt? Maybe she's just worn out from watching her brother run around like a mad man yesterday?

The only other thing to note -- and I have to write it down here so that I remember to put it in the scrapbook is that Wren has started sticking her tongue out. So cute -- she looks just like Atti did when he figured it out. I'm going to have to snap a photo so I can do a side by side comparison! Hee hee.

Klutz

In case there was any doubt... Atticus is my son. He has the "klutz" gene. Poor guy gets going so fast his feet can't keep up. Yesterday, since he woke up at the unheard of hour of 6AM, we had plenty of time to play before heading out to school. He and I were traipsing around the basement being silly when he stubbed the crud out of his toe (just like Mom!). An hour later, he was still limping -- so we gave him some Tylenol before school and a Pooh Bear bandaid and all seemed better. He did use some big boy words though -- hurt, pain, band-aid, toe.. I didn't know he knew the word "pain"!!

Poor guy. He's also a shoe-in to run into the counter, the kitchen table, the island, something... at least once a day. And he wonders why I get nervous when on the stairs he pushes me away and says "No hand Mommy". Yikes.

Surprisingly - he's only bonked into Wren once. I'm sure I should knock on wood for even writing that...

I probably should also keep directions to the closest hospital in the car -- I have a feeling we'll need it sooner or later!

Step Away From the Amex

Oy. I'm going to be in T-R-O-U-B-L-E when this month's statement comes in... but who can resist such deals? Atticus should now be set with Thomas stuff for the holidays, and Wren will have a really cute room once we decide which room is going to be hers!! (Granted, I still need to get her a crib -- but what's one more purchase among friends??)

Eeeeek. I'm just a sucker for the marketing of the "Daily Deals". :-)

Wren - 5 months

Look at how stinking cute she is! :-)

Paci's FOUND

Woo hoo! We have located the mystery pacifiers in a pharmacy in Tel Aviv. I repeat, we have found the pacifiers!

This couldn't have come at a better time, because the "last" paci is getting pretty darn icky.

South Africa?

Ok... I swear I'm going to bed, but how weird is this? I clicked over to my blog stats and I can see what countries people are accessing my blog from. Surprise, surprise - number one is the US. I sort of expected Israel to be second -- having a BFF living there, but nope. Second place is South Africa!

Hello SA visitors. Nice to meet you. I'd love to come visit you.... no really. You're on my bucket list. :)

Rambling

Sometimes... this blog is a strange collection of the randomness running through my mind at odd hours. That's really what this entry is about. I was just thinking that it's really a bummer that we have this great house and that I have some cool Halloween decorations and that it's a total downer that I have NO CLUE where the decorations are located. I do know where my little candy dishes are -- and I could put those out, but where in the world are my fun little black spider tea-lite candle holder thingies? Hmmmm. I think they're probably hiding in the same box that has all my Swiffer clothes and dusters. Such strange things to be missing. And nail polish. I can't bloody find my nail polish. Exactly where did THAT go? (Hopefully no where it can break/spill!)

We had all these plans for digging though old boxes and clearing out crap while we unpacked. That has sort of kind of happened, but there are still SO many boxes of crap that need to be sorted into keep, donate, sell and trash... Another day I suppose. For now, I'll be glad that my headache has finally abated and I'll pack it in for the night.

Tomorrow afternoon - there are a million and one things to do. Lunch with the neighbor - that'll be the highlight, followed by errands, errands and some more errands. I'm a little nervous about my bud Jana coming over to scrapbook on Saturday. She's going to think I'm a totally unorganized space cadet. That's not far from the truth -- but I want to show her my good side ya know? :-) I know she'll still love me even if my stash is a jumbled disaster, but I've got big plans for my albums and a little dose of organization would do me good! If only I could figure out a way to have 24 hours of alone time - no kids, no tv, no IM, no internet... Eh, who am I kidding? If that really happened, I'd probably sleep for 23 of the 24 hours. The last hour would be spent soaking in a big bubble bath. :) Ok... this really is rambling now.

Till tomorrow...

Crud.

Yesterday as I picked up Atticus from daycare he didn't want to leave because he was busy playing with the play kitchen in the classroom. He loves the little kitchen. He used to love playing at Eleanora's house with her kitchen too. I mentioned to his teacher that I really need to look for a kitchen for him for the holidays.

Fast forward to 3 minutes ago when I log onto my Google homepage. There it is on kids.woot.com a freaking awesome retro red play kitchen for sale. It's $80 - so I flip over to the comments to see if it's a good deal and worth it. It looks like... I read through the comments - almost all positive. The kids love it, it's a good price, etc. I think - OK... it's a big purchase, but it's a gender neutral color and both kids will love it until we get up to Manhattan. I flip back over to the home page and the bloody thing has sold out.

Sigh. Is it Monday again? Am I living in an episode of Groundhog Day? I guess I'm off to scour Craigslist for a play kitchen. I'm sure it won't be as retro cool as the red one, or new... but maybe it'll be less than $80.

Yawn.

I seem to be yawning a lot lately. There used to be a time when I could function on 6 hours of sleep a day. I know this to be true. Alas, it's not longer the case. 10pm rolls around and I find myself yawning like mad!

Things have gotten slightly better this week (all things considered). I'm really looking forward to this weekend. My oldest friend is coming to see me and we're going to sequester ourselves in my office and scrapbook! I know, I'm such a dork - but what can I say? It's been several years since I've seen Jana -- so just seeing her will be good fun, but add in some crafty goodness and the day is complete! I do however need to call in some reinforcements for Greg. I think he's in a state of denial that our day is THIS weekend.

Yvonne - if you're reading this - I need to call you anyways, but... how about you and Grace come over on Saturday? Wink, wink?

Ok... back to uploading some photos so that I have something to work with on Saturday. I really am excited. Yay for paper and photos and adhesive and ribbons and stamps and all that other fun craft stuff!

Case of the Mondays

Wow. Some days, it's just not worth getting out of bed. Today might just be that day.

Let's start with the good news. Wren is 5 months old today and healthy and generally quite happy.

Now on to the rest of my day thus far...

Cat missing the litter box

Strong willed 2 year old

Forgetful husband

Distracted mommy

So, while trying to calm a screaming infant, clean up cat pee, find SOMETHING Atticus would eat for breakfast, get the napmat out of the dryer, put shoes on a flailing toddler... MacKenzie arrives to watch Wren. Yay! Help!

I wrangle Atticus (who is now wearing shoes) along with Tigger, some cheddar bunnies, his cell phone (one of Greg's old phones), woobie and the napmat all to the car. I calm Atticus back down because I pushed the button to open the garage door instead of letting him do it - squash him and all the "things" into the car, adjust the seat and the mirror and head off to daycare only 10 minutes behind schedule.

I carefully watch in the side view mirror as I back up to make sure I clear the garage wall. I'm just about to put the car into first gear to head out when CRUNCH. In my totally distracted state, I never looked back into my rearview and totally forgot about MacKenzie's car in the driveway. After a choice four letter word we're hoping Atticus doesn't repeat - I leapt out of the car and immediately went to look at Kenzie's car. Nothing. No sign of anything. Oh hallelujah - I mean, I was only going zero miles an hour, right? Then I look at my bumper. It looks like it got kicked in the corner by a 2000 pound elephant. Seriously.

It's not been 4 hours and I'm still a little sick to my stomach. I know it's just a car. I know it's an accident. I know no one was hurt. But Greg is going to have a canary when he finds out. I'm a little worried. I've already talked to insurance and I'm about to call the repair place.... but I swear ever since the day I met Greg, I've had the worst luck with cars. Oy.

This sucks.

And Wren has either some gassy issue and/or some teeth about to make their debut because she's been screeching for the past 3.5 hours. Today is not my day.

Boo-Ya

Apparently We've Been Booed.

It's a cute idea and a fun way to pay it forward. The neighbor who "booed" us apparently knows that we have a newborn and a toddler -- our bag of goodies included a sippy cup decorated with candy corn for Atticus and a Baby's First Halloween bib for Wren along with a fun jack-o-lantern bag filled with chocolates and goodies. This of course then begs the question -- who would ring the doorbell at 9:30 pm of a family with a 4 month old and a 2 year old?

We don't have a peep-hole in this door, so when the doorbell rang the first time, we ignored it thinking -- who in their right mind would ring the doorbell at 9:30pm on a Tuesday night? Then it rang again, so we went to the door... no one was there, but we did find the Boo package.

I'll have to get to the store soon to pick up supplies to keep the chain going. Granted... I've only met a few of the neighbors - but this does seem like fun and good hearted fun is hard to come by these days!

Listening Ears

When I arrived at school today to pick up Atticus, Miss Nicole informed me that they'd had a bit of a rough day... Atticus didn't want to use his listening ears today. He actually received two time outs at school. He hadn't had one yet -- so two in one day was a shocker. Apparently, he was determined to open and slam shut the door to the classroom. While that alone isn't great - just image a room full of two year olds all trying to "stop" the door --- EEEK! I don't want to get a phone call that Atti has slammed the door on some poor little one's fingers!!

After the time out for the door -- Atticus had another brilliant idea. Pulling the lever to sound the fire alarm. Oy vey! I really am the mother of "that child". You know the one you see at the mall/grocery store/park that's kicking, screaming, arching backwards and throwing a general tizzy fit. The one that's got that Dennis the Menace look in his eye as he's doing something he KNOWS he shouldn't be doing....

Sentences

By golly, I think something has clicked. In the past few days, Atticus has begun stringing two words together. We've now heard several two word phrases in his vocabulary. Of course, Greg and I get all excited and give tons of praise -- and he smiles sheepishly.

Sigh. Just when I was ready to return him for a different model over the weekend, he turns on the charm...

The best "sentence" yet... "Love You". I've now gotten that two nights in a row at bed time.

Progress

After a challenging Saturday, Atticus has been pulling out the charm for me the past 48 hours. This is good because on Saturday, I was ready to return him for a different model.

Tonight, we had a verbal breakthrough of sorts. At dinner, Atti was asking for "more". We asked more what and he replied "milk". I repeated, "more milk" and he said it after me "more milk". Together. One sentence. No pause. This was exciting stuff for our house.

And then tonight as I was giving him a hug and saying goodnight, I swear I heard a mumble/jumbled "love you".

Awwwww, my heart melted a little.

"The Andersons"

We ventured out this afternoon to "The Andersons". What a strange and fascinating store. It's like a mix of Home Depot, Garden Ridge, Petsmart, HEB and a little Trader Joe's just for good measure. The produce section of the store backs up to the washing machines and other large appliances. You can get men's workboots, a parakeet, a sofa and a hunk of smoked gouda all in one trip. It's bizarre. And fascinating.

We left with some store brand sesame sticks, some banana nut muffins, a hot/cold freezer bag for my trunk, a few bottles of wine (they have the best selection in town), and some parmesan cheese. Atticus really wanted some Legos, but we were able to make it out of the store toy-free.

Yes, I'm Spoiled

There are little perks that come with owning a luxury car. Supposedly getting a complimentary loaner car when one's car is in the shop is one of said perks. This is apparently not known here in Ohio. Greg's check engine light came on and he was able to hook up some foo foo cable and determine what the issue was before calling the dealership. So -- he arranges to bring in the car (which is thankfully under warranty) -- and he asks for a loaner car for the day. "A what?" asks the service coordinator. Sigh... this is a joint Audi/Mercedes dealership for pete's sake!!!

So, we had to drop the car off tonight - leaving the keys in the night time drop box so that hopefully the car will be done in one day. Ugh. Fingers crossed that the car is ready by tomorrow evening. One of Greg's coworkers has offered to drive him to the dealership after work if all is ready.

At least there is an Audi dealership here. There isn't an Infiniti dealer which means I'm going to have to plead with the local Nissan dealership here to see if they'll honor my pre-paid maintenance plan on my car when I'm due for my next oil change.

Welcome to the land of American cars ONLY. I'm still convinced we're going to get egged for not having at least one American car...

Paci Emergency

Calling all friends, family members, random internet readers....

We're on the hunt for the pacifiers that we found last year in Tel Aviv. The only identifying feature is that a couple from the totally inexpensive 5 pack say Gumex Pure Latex on the round circular portion that sits outside the mouth.

Internet sleuthing has turned up that Gumex is an large Indian company that produces and manufactures rubber and latex -- but I can't find these silly pacifiers anywhere! Help! If you're at a grocery store, convenience store, baby mega-store, etc -- can you take a quick look see and try to find a package of these?

Thomas Obsessed

Ok... it's me, not Atticus. Maybe I always wanted a train set and I just never knew it? Not sure - but whatever the case may be, I'm a little Thomas the Tank Engine obsessed at the moment. Kid's Woot has had several things on sale lately -- so I've picked up a few pieced for Atticus. Right now, he only has this set up, but he seems to really enjoy the "choo choos". There are a few more pieces still in boxes (crane and barrel company) and I just ordered this (all from woot - so never fear, I didn't pay the prices listed) but in advance of the holiday season, I'm sending out feelers to all of you not in Toledo... If/when you think about it -- could you check your local Craigslist for Thomas deals? We need more wooden track pieces at the moment, but any of the talking trains are also a bonus. I'm going to keep an eye out here for a train table, but I figure the trains/track can be sent if you score any fantastic deals.

Hello Fall Weather

It's definitely football weather around here. (Maybe not Longhorn football weather - oy vey, what a game!) We actually had to turn the heat on here in Mayberry last night. It's the first weekend in October! I was hoping for a little more sunshine today. Once the kids wake up, we're off to the park to help celebrate Grace's 8th birthday. 8 years old. Eeeek. I'm sure if I'm wondering how she got to be 8, her mom is doing the same! Where does the time go?

I am feeling the crafty itch the past couple days, so hopefully this turn towards cool weather will be the inspiration for a rash of new projects. I'll keep you posted.