Ho ho ho

We are going to take Mary to see Santa this weekend. I see the potential for so much to go wrong:

1. She will lose her patience (the impatient gene x 2) standing in line
2. She will be scared of the old guy with the beard
3. We are going to end up with a picture of Mary crying or I will have to be sitting on Santa's lap too - not exactly the picture I had in mind.

I need to get serious about Christmas shopping as usual I am wracking my brain trying to figure out what to get everyone. I have had some great ideas in the past (like the red Kitchen Aid mixer for Melba & Ed) but they are few and far between.

I have no idea what to tell Jim when he asks me what I want. I thought about letting him buy me new earrings (every year he asks "do you want jewelry") but it seems like such a waste there isn't anything wrong with the ones I have now. I thought about getting a new watch but then again I hate wearing watches the one he bought me in 1992 would probably still work I just don't wear it. Maybe I should just ask him for a gun safe and make him happy!

p.s. Dad do you think the writer's strike applies to you or have you realized how boring my life is and have nothing to say?

Step away from the sugar

Everywhere I go in the office there is candy and goodies! How am I supposed to lose weight with snickers at the front desk and brownies in the kitchen?

I have an extra 45 minutes to try and entertain Mary tonight because Jim is taking a later flight. His original one got delayed until 8:30 so he is taking one out of Dulles and sitting in a middle seat! I looked for a Santa around here but the closest mall around here was on the news last night for purse snatchings that is all I need while I am dealing with a stroller and a diaper bag.

Oh bummer I just realized I am not going to get home for the beginning of Grey's Anatomy oh the sacrifices I make to be the airport shuttle! Never mind its a rerun.

Smarter than the average bear

So a few posts back when I was talking about the family pictures and Jim said get what you want by the way I know what you can get me for Christmas... Well by making his new rifle a "gift" it has now turned into my problem! Remington only manufactures it on a special order basis and it takes 4-6 months to manufacture so he is "wondering" if anyone else just happens to have it from someone else special ordering it and not picking it up. Because guess what he doesn't want to wait 4-6 months!

I wish I would have told him my new camera was "a gift" and let him do all the leg work and research where to get it!

Decorating for Christmas

Oh what to do. Courtney has already started on the outside but I am dreading doing the inside since I have no idea how I am going to keep my very busy little boogie away from everything. She has no concept of "no" or "you can look at it but don't touch" she thinks its hilarious if she bangs on the front of the TV I rush over there and tell her "no no" and then she laughs or claps her hands. Short of putting the tree in the play pen I have no real solution.

I am also kind of bummed about Christmas all together, no one was here last year. I thought Melba and Ed were coming this year but it sounds like they are not. Our little family doesn't really fill up the house as much as I would like but then I get crazy when we have a full house because I feel like there is so much to do. I have the perfect solution I need the entire family here again like Mary's birthday then I have my sister's (both sister's don't get your panties in a wad Theresa) help!

Gobble gobble gobble

It was great to see everyone at Aunt Dorothy’s for Thanksgiving; the only thing that would have made it better was if Mary would actually let someone other than me hold her! She cried a little this morning when I dropped her off but after being home for 4 days I kind of expected it.
Not much going on with us this weekend, it rained pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday, Jim is still trying to get well from Mary’s cold, Glenn flew in for the weekend, Courtney is planning the outside Christmas decorations and I started writing the Christmas letter.

Proofs are in

Well as expected the family pictures weren't great but they are a picture in time right? As usual this darn Blog program errors out so here are the links:

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I am not sure which one of these three I like better or what size to get. Jim said "get whatever you want I don't care if you spend $1,000". Then quickly followed that up with "I know what I want for Christmas or my birthday or both" he wants some kind of rifle and scope - I couldn't tell you what kind.

Gymboree has another new line out today "Cupcake Cutie" and its Gymbucks time again. I just looked at their stock price wondering if I had somehow influenced it since Mary was born and I noticed it is near the 52 week low. Now if Jim were smart he would buy Gymboree stock! Unfortuntely my need for Gymboree is short lived, Mary will start wearing uniforms when she moves to from Infant 3 to Toddler Club (probably in the Spring) and will only wear real clothes on Friday's.

A big old pile of "shiftwork"

I am not a big Kenny Chesney's fan like Courtney but that song plays in my head throughout the day. I am covered up in "shiftwork" here at the office and can't seem to get through it. That being said I am taking the five minutes to write the blog.

Once again I am waiting for the pictures to go up on the website from the photo shoot with Hopey last weekend. I sure hope some are good, between Mary, Hopey and the fire ants it was rather stressful.

We sent a ham to Aunt Dorothy's for Thanksgiving but I still feel like I need to "make" something so I am hoping Courtney will watch Mary while I whip up a couple of pans of brownies.

Another exciting weekend!

Sorry for the lack of blog on Friday I was pretty busy at the office and feeling somewhat uninspired.

On Saturday morning we had yet another round of family pictures this time just us and Hopey and Hopey did not like the photographer or his wife and barked and lunged after them the entire time. They were afraid of her and asked if we let Mary near her? Speaking of Mary she got bit by fire ants again probably no less than 20 times and never even cried. The last shot I sat in a fire ant bed with her on my lap and they got her more than they got me.

Jim is still trying to recover from the cold Mary the carrier monkey gave us - as I have said before its a good thing she is cute because I think she may be deadly.

Glenn didn't come down this weekend because he is flying in Wednesday but Courtney did have the phone attached to her ear a good part of the weekend.

The pics are up!

Now the same dilemma what to get and what size?? Not much else is going on around here we have our last photo shoot for a while Saturday morning with Hopey we are hoping to get our family Christmas card picture from that and a picture to hang in the family room of all of us. It will be interesting to see if there are any where Mary and Hopey are both looking at the camera.

I will pick up the other picture from the shoot with my family this weekend so I will hopefully get them sent out Monday. I can't believe its been over a month since Mary's birthday where does the time go?

Waiting...

I have been waiting all day for the email saying the pictures were ready for us to look at. Here it is 4:10 on Wednesday still no pictures, come on how long can it take to upload them?? I am trying to be patient and I know all the checking in the world is not going to change the outcome but I still can't help myself and hit the send/receive button every time I go into Outlook. Maybe Mary gets the impatient gene from both of us?

I talked to Jim's Aunt Dorothy this afternoon it sounds like the entire family will be there for Thanksgiving. It reminds me of my first Thanksgiving with Jim's family and how we have kind of come full circle. There must have been 50 people crammed into Grandma & Grandpa Smalling's little house but there was plenty of food, room and genuine hospitality to go around.

That was the wonderful thing about Jim's grandparents no matter how little they had there was always plenty to share with others whether it was food, time or love - there was always plenty. When we decided to have another baby I had a feeling we would have a girl and knew who she should be named after, Grandma Smalling. So now 22 years later we will all be together at Aunt Dorothy's and although Grandma is gone she lives on through our little Mary.

Happy Mary

Mary woke up happy and stayed that way while I got ready AND didn't cry when I left her at daycare. Maybe she didn't want to be in the car for six hours again today and was happy to see me go. Today so far has been pretty normal (knock on wood) other than Jim telling me he was feeling much worse.

My 7 hour commute!

I left the house this morning at 6:15 to take Jim to the airport looking forward to my stop at Starbucks after dropping Mary off at daycare. Unfortunately I showed the rash on her belly to her teacher. She said it had to be shown to the nurse who then said I needed a doctor's note that it wasn't contagious. Now keep in mind there are kids with RSV, bronchitis and croup in Mary's class not to mention the nasty stomach flu she already had and they are worried about a little rash?? I said OK and got back in the car with her for a 90 minute drive back to Wylie so I could wait for the Dr to open and get an 11:00 appt.

Let me just say Mary is past the days of sitting on my lap quietly. She was running around like an idiot getting into everything you don’t want your kid to touch, wall sockets, fake plants etc. Finally they put me in a room with her (I needed a padded room at that point) and she is playing with the Doctor's chair trying to use the stool to climb up on the table basically climbing the walls. The doctor comes in and she freaks out doesn't want him looking in her ears her mouth listening to her lungs she was berserk! The rash is not contagious - not sure what it is maybe eczema? But she does have a sinus and ear infection - great! Did I mention she has given the entire family a horrible cold? So we get in the car again, drive to the area around my office, pick up lunch for Mary and I to bring with us. Go to daycare they decide she can’t go into her class because they already had lunch and are napping so I take her to Infant 2 so she can infect a whole new class with her germs. I dropped off her prescription at the pharmacy then finally roll into the office at 1:00. You may be saying why did you bother coming in - let me tell you this is the only place there is any peace in my life. Between the one year old who thinks she is going through the terrible twos and the pack of wolves I need some quiet!

When Jim complained last night he had to leave in the morning and travel 1000 miles away when he was sick I wanted to say sign me up! I would love to have a week away from this madness. I know I am complaining about my baby and it sounds horrible but it’s the hardest job I have ever had!

The "Bobless" Blog

All week comments from my Dad have been pretty scarce. As I (and others) have said the funniest part of my blog is Dad's comment. Which leaves me to wonder what is Papa up to? I will go with the theme from Mary's favorite book "Where is Baby's pumpkin" Is he busy at work? Is he remodeling the house again? Is he upgrading computers? Is he enjoying someone else's blog? Its hard to know.

I got "the" email again Gymboree is having their "Circle of Friends" sale I sometimes wonder if Gymboree has a better friend than me? GYMFRIEND is the code to use for you other addicts out there.

I took Mary to Mimi's Cafe again last night for dinner to kill time before I needed to pick up Jim from the airport. She is becoming quite the little ham waving to everyone, smiling and acting silly when people talk to her.

Mary was in a good mood this morning she gave out kisses to all of us before I took her to school and didn't cry when I left - maybe she is just tired of me?

Nothing really new with Courtney we are all still trying to recover from the plague that Mary brought home.

Fa la la la latte...

Normally I don't want to think about Christmas or want to see anything resembling Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. The notable exception is the eggnog latte at Starbucks which quite honestly is what I picture as part of heaven. Eggnog latte please - no weight gain!

I occasionally watch "Dancing with the Stars". My only comment is how in the world does Jane Seymour look that good at 56? I don't even look that good at 41! She even had twins 11 year ago at 44 - talk about Super Mom.

I am losing my voice which isn't all bad, I will be wishing I had lost my hearing at 9:00 when Carla gets in and comes in my office!

Another one bites the dust...

Make that another baby in Mary's class that is home today with bronchitis. Mary wouldn't eat dinner for Courtney last night just wanted to be held. Courtney said she acted like she was looking for me.

I got my hair cut and highlighted last night I think its a bit extreme, I think I will have her put a toner on it before pictures Saturday, its really light! Maybe I will probably wait until Jim gets home and see what his reaction is.

Mean baby germs

As you may have guessed Jim, Courtney and I all got what Mary had in a much bigger way. What's even better is there is a kid at daycare with RSV so that is what we will probably get next. Being the pro-active Mom I started Mary on breathing treatments since she sounded like she was going to hack out a lung Sunday night.

Courtney slept downstairs with me from about 1:00 a.m. in case I had to make an emergency bathroom visit and experience the full joy of sleeping with Mary. At least she wasn't getting kicked in the face like me!

I am absolutely exhausted but I am hoping the highlights I am getting tonight breathes new life into my tired old self!

So why did we get flu shots?

Mary woke up about 1:00 a.m. Friday night and proceeded to hurl all over our bed. So we did round one of changing the sheets only to do it twice more before we got up. She puked again at noon on Saturday in her highchair (lunch was definitely over) then the big D hit. That enough would have made for a crappy weekend (so to speak) then last night Courtney got it then Jim. Let me just say I have never heard anyone puke as loud as Courtney her stomach must be in her feet. But at least she was in a bathroom, Jim filled up the "Puke bucket" in bed no fewer than 10 times and guess who got to dump it and clean it out again for the next time. Needless to say I didn't get any sleep. As of right now it has not hit me but maybe God knows there is no one to dump my puke bucket! I did take a huge chance and eat Chinese food for lunch I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

The good news is I am typing the blog on the new computer slowly but surely I am making progress transfering everything over.

New computer is here!

Needless to say the blog will be short since I will need every spare second I have to set it up ! Actually not much going on here except me thinking about the donuts in the kitchen here at the office.

It was the best of times it was the worst of times

We survived Halloween! It had its good times and bad, Mary loved the little bit of candy I let her eat but not too excited about putting on her costume. She loved walking around to go trick or treating like the other kids but did not want to hold my hand or stay on the sidewalk. The pictures below should give you some idea of how the night went.


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She is becoming quite the little waver - she waved at all the kids we passed out candy to. Kind of a sad commentary on our block only about 6 of the houses had their lights on but I have never seen so many kids! I have always suspected people drop their kids off in our neighborhood to Trick or Treat. At first I kind of had an issue with that but Jim pointed out what was really wrong with parents wanting to take their kids to a safe place to trick or treat? Now something I do have an issue with is teenage kids that are not dressed up trick or treating. I told Courtney to give them candy I don't want them egging the cars later.