Happy Birthday to me and other important halloween traditions

A couple of days ago I turned 25.  People ask if it feels any different and I say, I still feel like I'm 21.  The years seem to have blended together since then.  Probably the only thing that makes me feel old is how difficult working out is for me anymore.  I have aches and pains in places that never hurt before and I blame my years of bouncing around on a cheerleading mat and running around the football field with a bass drum strapped to me.  But other than that, I'm doing good.  Tommy made me dinner and we did a little birthday shoppin.  And how can I not be happy with Tommy and Zach around?

I also got this in the mail for my birthday!  I'm so happy. :) What did Obama do for your birthday?! (Okay okay, that's pretty unfair.  This just HAPPENED to come in on my birthday.  There was no coordination on the Mitt Romney camp anywhere. But still, go Mitt!)

This year Tommy and I decided we would definitely dress up for Halloween.  we haven't the last two years and with a child we decided to get into the Halloween spirit.  In some ways our costumes were an epic event and in others they were an epic fail.  It took us forever to find a costume that I was willing to do that would take about $5 to do and less than 5 minutes to put together.  I'm not exactly crafty and so resist anything that requires thinking outside the box.  Zach's costume was easy and he's been wearing it for over a month as pajamas.  

Our little skeleton (His pj's glow in the dark!)

Now, when it came to Tommy's and my costume, we finally decided on Sam Sparks and Flint Lockwood from probably our favorite kids movie "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs".   Now I think we did an awesome job of recreating the characters, I even bought a scrunchy! And for Tommy we made 'spray on shoes!' and we got Steve put together (the monkey) with a head band and monkey thought translater (if you don't know by that sentence alone why we love this movie, then you'll never understand us) So that's the epic event part of it.

 

The fail part was that not a single person asked us who we were.  So then we just felt stupid.  We were so excited about our costumes only to see it fall apart (wa wa).  This may have deterred us from dressing up next year, but we'll see.  I'm sure a lot of people assumed we were nerds (which is funny if you've seen the movie) but I don't think I took it far enough if I was just a nerd.  I mean what's a nerd doing dressing in bright colors and purple skinny jeans and flats? Also, what's Tommy as a nerd doing with a monkey with a headband on and sparkly shoes? Okay, I'm done with that rant. 

Also, we spent a lot of money on Halloween candy this year.  $15! And our child didn't even go trick or treating.  We are definitely going to have a new plan of attack next year.  First, buy the crappy candy that no one wants (I didn't want to be that family and I was hoping for left overs.  And who wants crappy left over candy that will sit in your cupboard for 4 months before you finally toss it?) And then buy the good candy that's on sale Nov. 1.  Also, our doorbell rang 3 times.  3 measly times!  Granted, that meant we got to eat a whole bowl full of candy (the good kind).  But I guess that's the price you pay when you live next to the best neighborhood in town for trick or treating and not in it.   Also, Zach didn't get to wear his costume on Halloween because the awesome mother that I am, I forgot to do the laundry that contained his costume.   So this was Zach waiting for trick or treaters (who never came).  He seemed okay with it because he got to stay up a half hour later in case people were still ringing the doorbell until 8:00 (they didn't)

Books, Books, Books

In the last year I have read a lot but I have not read to many books.  That's because probably about half of my reading time this year was committed to two books. I wish to offer my book reviews for the following books that I have read.  Feel free to call me a narcissist for thinking my opinion on these books matter :)

1.  "Team  of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  If you only
read one book in your life I highly recommend you making this book that one.  (That's saying something coming from the biggest Harry Potter fan EVER).  I have always loved Abraham Lincoln.  This book puts into words why that's the case.  Lincoln basically took the men who ran for the Republican Presidential ticket and placed them in his cabinet because he saw that these men represented the differing voices within the hodge podge that made up the Republican party at the time.  This book shows the true character of this man and has helped to shape my view of what kind of man should be in the White House.




2.  Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo.  This has been on my to read book list for as long as I can remember.  Motivated by the up and coming movie release of the musical version of the story with the lovely Hugh Jackman, I finally buckled down and read the darn thing.  Let me tell you, that book is a BEAST to get through, 1200 pages of teeny tiny print.  It took me about 4 months to finally read.  I hate books with sad endings.  But this book, for some reason there was something beautiful about the way it ended.  I had to go listen to some happy music to keep myself from crying (couldn't let Tommy catch me crying from another book, he still laughs about how the Hunger Games affected me).  I don't LOVE the ending when I think about it, but for some reason I would hate the book had it ended any other way.  I'm strangely at peace with the whole thing.  Any book that moves me to emotion, even with all the long drawn out explanations that were totally unnecessary, is impressive to me.  I will be honest, I may have started skipping over the 12 page descriptions of Paris's revolution that happened ten years after the setting of the book (why that was in there I still don't really get), or the whole chapter about the history of Paris's sewer system.  I really don't care about the evolution of the transportation of poop in ANY city.  Nothing will ever change my mind about it.  So if you decide to ever take on that book, I don't blame you if you were to do the same.

3. "Blind Side" by Michael Lewis.  I just finished this book and I loved it for two reasons.  One, reading about economics is the worst.  Reading about it through an example of how it works is awesome and makes me appreciate the importance of economics and how it plays into almost every decision we make.  Two, I'm so tired of hearing people complain about how Christian morality is ancient history, racism is an ever prevalent evil that all whites embrace and practice, and rich people are all about bettering themselves with no thought or care for the welfare of others and this book destroys all of those claims.  It's such a positive and inspirational story. A rich, christian, white family helps to provide a home and life for a child who had literally nothing, with no other thought than it was the right thing to do.  I love Michael Ohers' character.  One of his family members said about him that "Michael held no ill will towards anyone." He clearly had had a rough childhood and yet he blamed no one.  I love that the book includes all the people (Black, white, poor, middle class, rich) in his life who fought to make his life better for him, even when he couldn't see the possibilities for himself. It's such a positive message in a world full of cynicism. There are people who care. 

4. Matched" By Allie Condie.  I normally never leave a book unfinished.  But this one I just found myself dreading having to continue it.  It's a disutopia book, which I have only liked one of the 5 that I have read (Hunger games of course) so that might be part of the problem.  I kept thinking, "I can finish this and then it will all be over" but knowing there are 2 other books I'd have to push through I decided to call it quits.  It's not a bad story.  It's just kind of slow moving and I found the main character not weak, but not strong.  I love Katniss's strength in the hunger games.  One reason I don't like disutopia books is the main character's development is very slow and very gradual and it takes forever for them to get the courage to do something.  (Also, the fact that they all end bad with no hope for the future is quite the deterrent for me).  This isn't an awful book, I just found myself not caring one way or the other what happened.  Maybe I just needed to keep reading.



5. "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis.  This is about how certain countries' cultural influences affect their money spending decisions that led up to the financial crisis.  It's a short book and pretty funny entertaining but make sure you have a finance genius near by to ask a billion questions.  I had a conversation with someone at the begin of the chapter on Iceland because I got 2 pages in and didn't comprehend half of what I read. And then I had another conversation with someone else at the end of the Iceland chapter.  I started the second conversation with, "Okay so I'm reading this book and just got finished with what happened with Iceland.  So it's not that I don't know what happened to Iceland...but...well no, what happened to Iceland?" But I've been trying to figure out in Lamen's terms what happened in 2008, since 2008.  So it's time to get started.  Plus, I've found Michael Lewis to be a really good writer

Some Observations

So this political season has been super enjoyable for me to watch and participate in.  The last election I knew McCain didn't have much of a shot and I really didn't feel he was the right man for the job.  But this year is much different.  It's brought up some interested side culture issues that I have found pretty interesting and I'd like to remark about that.  Don't worry, this doesn't have anything to do with either candidate.  This won't be negative about either political party.  Feel free to proceed without caution.

First off, I have read, heard, and spoken to a lot of people who are offended by people's opinions and emotions regarding this election.  My opinion, anything bigotrous (not a real word), racist, sexist, personal attacks, or anything otherwise hateful is inexcusable no matter what you may think and you're an ignorant jerk who has no place in any conversation.  Other than that, the fact that people can have and express their opinions freely is part of what make this country great!! Hello... in other countries people to this day can be punished in many colorful forms and fashions if they express their opinions (China, North Korea, anyone?)  We should be proud of this fact, not make people feel bad about having an opinion.

Some people are offended to the point of ignoring facebook, television, twitter, etc.  So what you're saying is, posts like, "It's sunny out", "Got my hair cut today", or "It's definitely a Monday" are a better use of your time?


There are others who have taken the point of bragging about NOT participating in politics.  They won't vote, they won't watch debates, blah blah blah.  Again, being able to participate in politics is what makes this country great! To brag about not taking part in a political process that men and women have fought and died for to make possible is, I'm sorry to use an ugly word, ignorance at its highest form.  I honestly would rather someone vote for the candidate opposite of me than not vote at all.  (I believe a balance in all things is important)  Fair elections is what helped set the United States apart from other countries.  Let's not be that person.

All said and done, I hope we all take advantage of the opportunity to vote and participate in the political process because when 20 years from now, knowing what some high school friend you haven't talked to in years did on their Monday morning one day will not exactly have had any effect on you whatsoever.  But a president's policies from 20 years ago will.

 

10 Months! Double Digits...

Happy 10 Months to Zach!

 How we got so lucky with this cute kid I'll never know.  Here are some of the highlights:

• He loves grilled cheese sandwiches, fries, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, and Italian wedding soup.
• Cheerios make Zach happier than anything else
• Standing is a way of life to him.  Crawling gets him from point a to b.  But standing is where it's at.
• Rolling balls back and forth is fun for Zach
• Cars, trucks, and trains are becoming more and more entertaining each day.  We went to visit teach the other day and he loved pushing the fire truck around the room
• Zach loves to be chased.  He gets all excited and squeals with delight
• He cries when he sees daddy leave and is super excited when daddy comes through the door
• Sitting and playing with books is an aggressive hobby of his
• He has TWO teeth now!
• He can say 'da-da' and 'ma ma'.  Dada is said when his dad is not around or he hears him on a video, ma ma is said when he wants something and I'm not responding to his cries.  
• Zach can get off the couch now.

Sometimes I wish I were as accomplished in my month to month progress as this kid.  Things I have accomplished in the last month: I tried 6 new recipes and I found a book sale where we got 52 kids books for $12.40!! That was actually pretty awesome.  I'm also working out again and have thus far lost 3 pounds. 

Tommy is hard at work with school and his church responsibilities.  We're coming to accept the fact that doing homework 9-5 isn't realistic and it's more like 9-9 or 10 most days.  But at least he's able to study at home and he takes time to spend with Zach each day.  We're pretty content these days and I'm glad for the routine.

But back to Zach because he's the big deal is this family.  We went down to Chicago to spend time with my family (it seems like we're always there these days huh?)  Here's the documentation:

BRADY AND ZACH PLAYING

ZACH PLAYING THE BULLY

ZACH IN MY FAV. OUTFIT OF HIS AND WITH NANA

SISTERS AND COUSINS!

HOW DOES THIS NOT MAKE YOU SMILE?

BRADY!

DELAINIE!

Happy Nine Months!

This kid is 9 months old (two days ago), who knew?! And for his 9 month birthday he got to take a trip to the doctor and get told he has an ear infection (his first one).  But this did mean he lucked out of getting shots, so lucky Zach.  He is a ball of joy and we LOVE him.  There's not much to say except:

• Zach knows how to crawl up the stairs
• Zach fell down one step and bonked his head (he survived, although his parents are still a little emotionally scarred)
• He still has NO teeth
• He has taken care of his parents while they've been sick (did I mention I got a cold this week on top of everything else?)
• He loves playing with micro machines which is awesome because it means I can buy him one every once in a while and not feel guilty about spending a measly dollar.
• He loves his baths
• Zach eats finger foods, some more willingly than others.  But he is an amazing eater
• He knows how to wave, give hi-fives, open cupboards, and loves using his walker

 Here are some great videos:
video #1 - While I was sick, Tommy taught Zach how to talk with his tongue.  It is now his favorite
video #2 - Zach got stuck in a laundry basket
video #3 - Zach playing with his daddy's micro machines

 

Sick

Who doesn't love modern medicine

So this is the first time Tommy and I have really dealt with being sick since Zach was born.  Sure there's been a cold here or there.  But nothing like the last three weeks have been. It all started with the Sunday night before Tommy started school.  Tommy woke me up a couple of times with weird stories or questions like:
T: Who's hitting you?
C: What?
T: Is is Gerard Butler?
C: Yep
T: No, he's an actor

and also:
T: I was an actor on stage.  I was the antagonist and I got to fight with swords!
C: Okay

I wake up the next morning and find evidences of him being up during the night.  I asked him about it and he said, "oh yeah I had a fever of 103.5 and I was taking care of it". WHAT?! Apparently Tommy didn't think that might be an appropriate time to wake your wife up and let her know of your condition. Those questions and stories turned out to be a result of Tommy's hallucinogenic state brought on by such a high fever. Unfortunately for Tommy it was the first day of school and his fever seemed under control so he headed off to school at 1:30.  I dropped Tommy off because he was in no condition to be riding his bike.  I kept feeling like I should check my phone that was still in the car but lazy person that I am I felt my book was more important (Zach was sleeping, so let's take advantage here).  20 minutes later I finally went to the car to get it and saw 2 missed calls from Tommy, one of them being at 1:35.  Odd.

Turns out Tommy's class really had started at 12:30.  So he was off to a great start with grad school.  That night his fever went up to 103 again.  This time I was allowed to be up with him.  So Tuesday he went to the doctor and got diagnosed with walking pneumonia and was highly contagious until Thursday.  He got his meds and a doctor's note to stay home from school.  GREAT start to his academic career. So first week of grad school was an epic fail.  I was actually really impressed with how well I held up with every thing.  I even got the whole house cleaned and decontaminated. I was looking forward to him being back to normal but then I realized that now he had to play catch up  and once he had finished his medication  he got exhausted pretty easily.

So week two I basically was back to the same routine.  I really had a blast with Zach though.  We went to the library and I got me the Percy Jackson series and when he would play I read to him out loud.  We got on with our lives and Tommy really started feeling himself again.  We were looking forward to a good weekend.  We even planned out our Saturday to get all the cleaning, homework, and fun time in.  Well come Friday night I started feeling like my breathing was a little heavy.  Oh no. Yep, I got sick too. I was just really congested in the lungs but no real fever until Monday night and even then it only hit 101.  We couldn't get an appt. until Friday (awesome...)  And then on Tuesday night, I guess the season finale of Dance Moms was too much for me because I started to lose my voice on top of everything.  BTW, LOOOOOOVED that season finale, yay Chloe!! So awesome husband that he is, Tommy did some finagling and found an appt. for me yesterday and we got me some medicine. 

So after that Tommy left me to take care of Zach while he went off to class, no biggy I've been doing this all week anyways.  But within a half hour of me starting my medicine, I got super sick to my stomach.  I threw Zach over my shoulder, ran upstairs and set him up in his bouncer and set myself up at the toilet.  I've never moved that fast while being sick.  We called the doctor and they got us a new prescription.  So we all trudged back to the pharmacy at Walmart later that day and I went out in my sick glory:  black t shirt, blue striped pajama pants, no bra, and my leopard slip on flats (first easy pair I saw).  Clearly I was staying in the car.  After 20 minutes of waiting in the car for Tommy I realized I had his phone with me and decided to go see if something was the matter.

It took the biggest swallowing of pride to step out of that car, knowing too well that I could probably end up on the People at Walmart website.  At least I had my child to carry in front of me to hide the fact I had no bra on.  Tommy was just waiting for them to finish filling the prescription but it turned out to be a good idea anyways because they needed my signature.

So this has been quite a fun past three weeks.  It could be worse, it could be better.  Zach has been the best part about these weeks.  He bring so much joy to us and he's so entertaining.  Tommy really has enjoyed his time with Zach while I've been banished to bed, which by the way I picked the worst time to get sick.  At first it was awesome because I just plowed through the Percy Jackson series and finished that bad boy in less than a week.  But this is the time in between summer and fall t.v. series and there is literally NOTHING on.  So I'm stuck in bed with nothing to do.  (Except write this post I guess.) Luckily Zach has not gotten sick yet but I pray it doesn't end that way.  Here are some super adorable pictures of Zach 

Loves the vacuum

Kind of looks like he just finished a really cool dance move

my emo picture

Expelliarmus!

He LOVES cheerios

And loves the blinds

Okay so one time Zach and I went shopping and he kept slipping on the shopping cart so I unbuckled him and this was the result. 

 

He rode like this for the rest of the shopping trip.  Don't worry concerned parents, I held onto him the whole time (except for when I was taking this picture, as my dad pointed out).  He rode around waving to people which was doubly awesome.

Lastly some videos: 

My apologies...

So I know it's been a while, but not much has been going on.  And when it has, I have been lazy and not taken any pictures.  We took another trip down to Chicago and all the grandkiddos got to be together.  Of course I forgot my camera. So for some really adorable photos/videos of that trip I will direct you here.  There are some pretty adorable pictures I must say.  Brady is sooo cute, I haven't seen him since he was a newborn so it was fun to get to know him and see his personality.  He loves these little videos that are kind of cute.  Here's my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbbKjDjMDok

Shellie also introduced me to a really cute song that takes you on a bear hunt.  It's an action song but the babies were mesmerized every time she did it.  So if you're having problems entertaining your child here's a great song: The Bear Hunt 

Delainie was super close to walking and I got her to take her first few steps by bribing her with my phone.  But she caught on real quick when we kept trying to bribe her and quit.  She did start walking this week though so YAY!

I realize I missed Zach's 8 month birthday post.  (Mother of the year right here) But Tommy's parents were coming in to town and we had a lot going on.  We had a blast with Tommy's parents.  They came to visit before they head off to their mission in San Fransisco/Oakland, CA (luckies)  Again, I didn't use the camera. 


Here are the updates on Zach:

•   We got Zach a walker and he LOVES it.  There's a video below but it's not his best attempt but still, I've got the evidence for those non believers out there.
• He loves trying out new sounds.  He has said ba and da and I think he's saying "maaaaaaa" when he's upset and pulling on my pant leg
• He loves hanging out in the kitchen with me.  
• He likes micro machine cars already.   The other day he played with them on the kitchen floor for about 10 minutes (that's like an hour in baby attention time).  It was really cute seeing him push them around on the floor
• Zach gets really excited when he is being carried up the stairs by one parent and being chased by the other
• He loves being laid on his back at the end of bath time because that's when he gets to splash and kick as hard as he can.  (Make sure and avoid the splash zone.  I think Zach imagines he is shamoo sometimes...)
• Zach loves eating and snacks.  I swear I am feeding him more now than when he was a newborn (can't wait for when he's a teenager?)
• Zach has now successfully fallen of the bed twice.  Each time he was being supervised by a different parent. Both parents have now learned their lesson (no babies on the bed)
• Zach LOVES cruising around and crawling and getting into stuff.  I love watching him explore his world.  Sometimes I don't get much done because he's just that entertaining chewing on that spatula or opening and shutting a door 10,000 times.  (Clearly, I have a low standards for entertainment)

My phone had stopped texting which was super fun for me.  I think that's part of the reason I haven't posted much as well.  No texting equals avoiding the phone because it's a bummer to see no texts from anyone so that means no picture taking. Also, Zach doesn't sit very well for photos anymore so that equals not using the camera as much because I get to frustrated because my baby doesn't understand the importance of capturing his cuteness on camera so that I can bore his future wife 20 + years down the road and be THAT mom.  So Sorry folks.  But I  did get a new phone yesterday so the picture begin again!  and I do have some awesome videos.

First video: I got the hiccups the other night and Zach that they were pretty entertaining
Second video: Zach walking.  He looks like he's got a bum leg which is only accentuated by his pjs which are a little long in the leg
Third video: Where Zach spends 80% of his time it seems