This is Us!

Three Months

2011-09-28T21:21:00.012-06:00

Tobin is 3 months old today. Wow! How time flies. We had a really great summer full of transition, relaxation, friends and family that has now turned into Autumn which is also planned to the hilt.

Early August we made a trip to Vegas to meet Alison who has relocated to Denver for her dream job. We decided to turn it into a mini-vacation and hang out for a couple days before she arrived. We saw my Aunt Chrissy and got to meet up for dinner with a friend of Kev's. We caravan-ed back and realized she has the "road trip driving" attention span of a 5 week old. Tobin needed to stop every 2-3 hours and so did "Auntie Alison."Jameson ready for the pool!

Hanging out with Aunt Chrissy

Alison, Jameson and Kevin waiting for the Bellagio fountain show to begin

Waiting for the fountains

Kevin went to Vienna for two weeks, so I loaded up Jameson and Tobin and headed to Portland. We had so much fun hanging with Omi, Papa Joe and Uncle Andrew. We saw lots of friends, introduced Tobin to everyone including the fam in Seattle and I chopped about 14 inches of hair off. Jameson is still asking when we can go back!

It's always the best to hang out with long-time friends. Just thinking about how long I've known these girls makes me feel 30!

Game day in the Shawcroft household

Jameson and Indiana (my friend Amber's little girl) completely hit it off.

Jameson thought Uncle Andrew was hysterical and can everyone see why I sometimes call Jameson "Andrew?"

The hair pre-chop

The hair post-chop, yes for Locks of Love.

My friend Kelsey's little guy, Tyler. Jameson and Tyler were due a week apart and we have had pictures of them as they have grown from babies to little boys!

And now we have new ones to compare, although Isaac is about 7 months older than Tobin.

And now the Seattle Pics:

Tobin hanging out with Aunt Helen

Lisa, Lisa Lisa...ALWAYS fun times with Lisa around!

The pick-up baseball game Jameson had the boys playing.

Christina teaching Jameson the art of Whipped Cream.

Making the whipped cream is a tradition in the Shawcroft household and the beater has now been passed on to a new generation.

Uncle Bob, Tobin, Dad, Aunt Helen

Checking out Christina and Eric's new house!

Looks like Papa Joe and Tobin needed a quick snooze on the couch.

Riding the Ferry to Uncle Ken and Aunt Tanya's place. Jameson thought it was SO cool!

Me and my big 3.5 year old!

Kevin and I got back on the same day. He started school two days later and Wednesday evening we had the Korbel "gala dinner" and the guest speaker was the secretary general of the UN. It was pretty surreal to then see him on TV the next day!

Getting all spiffed up for the dinner was a lot of fun!

Kevin and Jameson went to a football game, the first for Jameson. We thought he would last until half-time. Nope, he was going to stay the whole game to see the Broncos win. When I asked him what his favorite part of the game was, he answered "Winning."

We had a nice 10 day break at home then it was off to San Diego for the study abroad fair at Point Loma and to visit Tim (read: invade his oh-so-awesome downtown apartment!) Cristy, and all sorts of friends. We even attended a ten-year reunion with half my group who studied abroad in Vienna, the fall of 2001.

Jameson loved spending time with Uncle Tim and Cristy!

Jameson with the mother of all fish sticks!

Tim, thanks for reminding us to take a family pic!

These boys loved Cristy...and that BIG TV as Jameson has mentioned EVERY DAY!

Tim had to get in on the cuddle action!

Just for fun another comparison shot of the two boys at roughly the same age.

Tobin at 3 months old

Jameson at 3 months old

I think they are brothers! and apparently both like watching sports on television!

Next Adventure: Oklahoma! to visit Nana, Papa Emory and great-grandparents Archer.

Back to blogging

2011-07-27T11:21:00.023-06:00

Yes, I've taken a long (much longer than anticipated) break from blogging. However, there is a lot to update, so I suppose now is as good as any day to start.

December...
Was an exciting month for our family. We had lots of visitors, I turned 30, Jameson was very excited about Christmas (and still asks when it is happening again), and we announced that we were pregnant with our second child.

In early December my mom and sister came out to visit

Jameson was very excited for Christmas this year

He couldn't even stand still

I turned the big 3-0!

...and got to celebrate with my lovely ladies!

Christmas Morning

Auntie Alison came to visit for New Years

January...
Was a very chill (weather-wise, and event-wise) month, as it usually is following the holiday craze. We stayed inside and had lots of play dates because it was so cold outside! Jameson and I did get some relief from the cold when we took a trip to San Diego for the PLNU study abroad fair. We got to see my brother, Tim, and his girlfriend, Cristy and we stayed with our friend's LeAnn and Zach. It was a lot of fun! We also found out we were going to be blessed with our 2nd boy, which is what Jameson was saying all along. When we got back Auntie Alison was here for a first interview at a school in Denver.

Jameson and Shayna playing in the snow

Grace and Jameson playing with the doctor kit

Playing at a playground by LeAnn and Zach's home

February...
After Jameson's hospital stay (in November) we decided we needed a family vacation. We decided that Disney World would be a great place to take our "Celebrate Life" trip (both his life and our pregnancy). We absolutely loved it, even though the weather wasn't terribly cooperative. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was such a fun place to stay, waking up to animals outside our hotel room was very exciting!

Our seasoned travelers

Like the sign says...

Animal Kingdom

The Teacups

Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride was so fun!

We love Disney World!

Baby belly

March...

Jameson had his golden birthday by turning 3 on March 3. In my opinion it was a REALLY golden birthday because he turned 3 on 3/3. :-) Like Christmas he was very excited for his birthday and for the first time really understood what it meant.

The table that greeted him when he woke up

Helping to make his birthday breakfast: Pancakes

Already becoming quite the chef!

Jameson got a bike for his birthday

and a child's table and chair set

Birthday pic with Daddy (aka Kev, which is what Jameson calls him!)

April...
Was another easy-going month. We began to plant our garden and make summer plans. We found a wonderful midwife who would deliver our little boy, and began planning our homebirth. We found our weekly breakfast place called Snooze's (thanks to Beth and Julio). Took a trip to the zoo with cousins and had lots of fun.

Grace and Jameson posing in front of Jamie's tulips

Jameson and me at the Zoo

The angry peacock, but look at his cool tail feathers!

Riding the carousel with Eden

Getting bigger!

May...
For me the most memorable event in May was Jameson got a hair cut. A VERY short haircut and he wasn't happy about it. It has kept him much cooler this summer but he keeps telling me he "wants his crazy hair back." We also had a rockin' pizza/dance party with our buddies. We found out Alison (my bestie, aka Auntie Alison to Jameson) was going to be moving to Denver and got her dream job at an awesome charter school as the new "Literacy Specialist." Yay, Alison!!!

THE haircut

Bridget chopping pineapple for pizza night

Landon rolling out his dough

The crazy dance party

Julio teaching Zach some moves

June...
Due date month is here, although not until the end of the month! Kevin finished up his quarter at DU, then it was just getting ready for baby boy who was still unnamed. We took Jameson to his first baseball game which he loved and "our rockies" (Jameson's name for them) won. Yay!!! I began getting chiropractic work and in week 39 I started acupuncture to bring this baby boy out! I REALLY didn't want another 11 pound baby, the recovery was a long one with Jameson. Our goal was 9.5 pounds. My mom arrived June 19th to help out with Jameson in the hopes that this baby would arrive by July 4th when she had to head back to Portland!

GO ROCKIES!!!!

Ready to have a baby any time. (June 15th)

We got our wish and Tobin Joseph arrived a day after his due date, weighing in at 9 lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long. The birth was incredible and couldn't have gone better!

Proud Daddy Kev holding Tobin

Jameson meeting Tobin for the first time

Jameson wanted me to hold Tobin immediately, I had to ask my oldest boy for a hug!

Not too sure what he thinks about the loud, bright world (sorry its blurry,we didn't use a flash)

July...
A month on and Tobin is a wonderful baby. He sleeps well, eats well and doesn't cry much. Although, he has learned that if he wants something he better be loud, we joke he goes from 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds. Kevin's birthday is the 31st so we are excited to celebrate him in a few days. Jameson has adjusted to being a big brother and tells everyone he sees that he has a baby brother named baby Tobin. It's been a fun transition, although I will admit to being more tired than I imagined! I am lucky Kevin is a great cook, and I don't have to worry about having meals on the table since he does it. My neighborhood friends have been so helpful, taking Jameson when he, or I, need a break from each other or just a change of pace! Since Kevin is on summer break, that has been great, since he has been around so much! Hopefully, now that everyone is updated I can be better about blogging. Whew! Now, I'm really tired!

My favorite books from childhood

2010-11-19T19:37:00.002-07:00

I love reading. I always have, and as a child and teen I probably read a book or two a week. If I liked the book I read it in a day. Here are just a few of my favorites that I can remember off the top of my head. If I found a book that I really enjoyed I would read everything the author had written, so while I didn't write all of their books down I will mention it.

I received "A Little Princess" for Christmas (or my Birthday, it all blends together) in 4th Grade. I loved the book, I loved the pictures. I love the story! Also, "The Secret Garden" is another favorite.

In 5th grade I had a teacher that really challenged my quality of reading. I had never had a teacher push me to read "literature." Ms. Solberg did that for me, and I have to admit, its because of her that my love of reading flourished mightily. When I would finish one book she had another waiting in the wings. Katherine Paterson is still one of my favorite authors to this day, as you can see below I have two more selections by her.

"The Great Gilly Hopkins" is about a young girl who has been bounced around in the foster care system, how this poor child acts and reacts. When she ends up in a home that she thinks she'll hate she actually comes to love the foster mom and the other kids there.

"Lyddie" about a young girl who works in a factory in the early 1900's (late 1800's?)

"The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" is one of my all-time favorite and most read books. I absolutely love this book, even though I haven't read it for years and years. I still have my well-worn copy sitting in our guest room and I try to get visitors to pick it up and read.

"Year of the Black Pony"

My 4th grade teacher read us some fabulous books that were not nearly as well-known as what some other teachers read aloud. While I don't remember every book she read that year I do remember this one "Year of the Black Pony." It was the first book she read to us. She had a mural up in the reading corner that her son (or husband?) had painted. Each book she would put up a different mural. The second book she read to us was called "Half-breed" and is also a book worth mentioning.

"Homecoming"
Cynthia Voigt is another favorite author of mine and this is the book that began it for me. If you adults haven't read "Homecoming" I highly recommend it. This is a book I read in 5th grade and I remember thinking how long it was, but I was so sad when it was over because I no longer were a part of this family. Luckily, I found out she wrote 7 books based on this family and the series goes on for a number of years in the character's lives.

WORLD WAR II Phase

"The Devil in Vienna"

"The Devil's Arithmetic"

"The Upstairs Room"

"Number the Stars"

"Summer of my German Soldier"

I definitely went through a World War II phase and I am pretty positive I read every single book out there dealing with this topic. I literally couldn't get enough. It was such a tragic time in history and reading about how one survived was always inspiring to me, even if it was fiction.

"The Witch of Blackbird Pond"
I have always loved historical fiction and this is one of those books that wasn't nearly long enough for my liking. I really love big, thick books that I can dive into, but I loved the story very much, so I forgive it's relatively short length.

"Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry"
Another great book, that opened my eyes to the injustice of the world. I did read the other two books about the same family. "The Road to Memphis" and "Let the Circle be Unbroken" and I enjoyed those as well.

"Island of the Blue Dolphins"
A random award winner book that was in our bookshelf at home. I loved this story and the sequel called "Zia."

"Hatchet"

My 6th grade teacher read this aloud to us and I was enthralled with the story. Later on when I worked in a group foster home I read it aloud to some of our kids (10-18). Everyone loves a good story being read to them. I also went on and read many other books by him, and can't wait until Jameson is old enough to read him some of these "boy" books. I am always on the lookout for good boy books.

Those are a few of my favorites from childhood. Did you enjoy reading as a child? What were your favorite books?

Blog motivation

2010-11-18T21:12:00.002-07:00

Getting my blog mojo back after our difficult week has been very hard. Much of the time my brain is still a muddle, so coming up with some creative blog topics is apparently outside my realm at the moment. Also, since I don't sit down with the computer (for any length of time) until after Jameson goes to bed, I find I am so tired! Jameson on the other hand has been crazy for the past two days. I believe he has some serious joie de vivre. It is slightly exhausting, but I am thankful for it. Maybe, its just me, but I have been trying to convince him he needs a nap. He still seems wiped out and whenever he is in my arms he gives me signs that he IS tired. We are all sorts of exhausted, Kevin fell asleep watching the Office tonight at 8:00 pm! This post is quickly becoming one in which I talk about how tired we are all, which does seem to be the case.

Kevin leaves for Vienna on Monday, which is coming up so fast. He isn't looking forward to being gone for three weeks, and we aren't looking forward to him being away. While he is away, my mom is coming out to help celebrate a couple of big birthdays for us, my 3-0 and she's about 30 years ahead of me. I am very excited for that, it will be nice to have her around, and Jameson will love having someone to constantly play cars with him. We are already planning some fun things.

I am looking forward to the Christmas season, making some new traditions with Jameson and breaking out some of the old ones. (Cinnamon Ornaments?) This year he is so much more aware of the little things, that I can't wait to see what he takes away from this Christmas!

After this very pathetic blog post I will attempt to come up with some more interesting topics for future posts!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T21:19:00.004-07:00

2010-11-16T21:46:00.003-07:00

I know these aren't the best photos, since I took them at night with my phone, but I am so excited about our new dresser and bedside tables!! We have literally been living out of suitcases since the end of July when I donated our bedroom furniture that Kevin's Aunt and Uncle had passed onto us. What is even better is that we got to use all those points that had been accumulating on our credit card over the years to "buy" giftcards. This picture doesn't do the dresser justice, but it is beautiful and well-made and already brimming full of clothes! We still need some sort of mirror to go above the dresser and I am excited to find one I love! For now, I am just SO happy that our room is put back together and Kevin won't be asking me every morning where his socks or his jeans are hiding. The dresser is actually bigger than it looks in this picture, its a nice wide dresser, the only thing is that the drawers aren't quite deep enough for my liking, but I will make do!

As for the bedside tables! I have been waiting for bedside tables pretty much since we got married! I have had substitutes, my latest substitute was a TV tray that held my books, waterbottle, phone, remote controls, but it was really wobbly! I am so thrilled to have a drawer I can put things in, like a journal, pens, etc. Below the drawer I have a shelf where I can stack even more books!! Anyone who knows me knows I love books. At this moment, I have four sitting on the table, now I need to pick some back-up books to go on the shelf! Kevin also loves to read before bed, so he usually has a stack of books on his side too, and I think he was just as excited about the bedside tables as I was! We also rearranged the room, so we'll see how we end up liking it, but I think it was time for change!

Broncos game

2010-11-15T21:16:00.002-07:00

Weeks ago Kevin and I had made plans to go to the Broncos vs. Chiefs game because we share a season pass with a friend. After this long week we weren't sure we still wanted to go. I had come down with a raging cold I caught from Jameson, basically it was the croup cold that doesn't become croup in adults. We have been catching up on sleep and processing all that we had been through, and we just weren't sure it was a great idea. Saturday I had begun to feel better, and since we had both been looking forward to the game we decided to go.

Jameson went to our friend's house across the street. Their daughter is 5-years-old and loves Jameson because he does exactly what she wants, most of the time. He loves her because she is older, she has the same chill personality, oh and she is SO cute! Kevin and I rode the light rail into downtown, then went on the "sports walk" to the stadium with a multitude of other Broncos fans.

It was a great football game, the Broncos really showed up and played! I am not a huge football fan and even I could follow the action! It was a beautiful day to watch football, crisp and sunny. We indulged in bratwursts, gluten-free beer (Kevin), hot chocolate and a giant pretzel (for me!) It was nice to be out together, not thinking about our crazy week.

By the time we got home at 6:00, Jameson was wiped out from playing so hard and he went straight to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't get one picture of us at the football game! You will just have to trust me on how much fun we had!

The PICU stay

2010-11-14T20:50:00.002-07:00

Thank you for your kind words and comments in regards to my last post. It really and truly was the scariest (hours long) moment of my life. It happened so fast and was so serious even the doctors thought it must be something besides croup. They sent out blood-work and respiratory viral panels that tested for all sorts of different viruses and bacterias.

I managed to sleep a bit between the hours of 3:30 and 5:00, but the new shift began at 5:00 and so the nurses came in to check on him, read his chart and introduce themselves to me. At this point he was out of the woods, but the processing had just began for me. I had a hard time closing my eyes because I saw the trauma unit, or if I opened my eyes I saw my baby not moving with tubes all over. Not being able to hold him was absolutely painful.

When Kevin got back at 7:30 I remarked to him that I had never gone this long without holding him. That Monday was a lot of processing for both of us. We both would cry at the drop of a hat.

By Monday afternoon, he was already beginning to breathe over the tube. The doctor made the decision to keep him under for at least another day, to ensure that the swelling had gone down. They didn't want to take the tube out only to have to re-intubate him because he was having trouble. Monday night on into Tuesday morning it became apparent that the swelling had gone down so much that the "title volume" on his respiratory machine was not getting the numbers the respiratory therapist wanted to be seeing. This was actually a good thing, it meant that he was breathing over the tube, and not a lot of his air was going through the tube, this also meant the tube would be coming out earlier than planned. Yay!

They began the process of weaning him off the sedatives around Midnight Tuesday morning. He would wake up once an hour or so, and I would jump off my bed and get him to calm down, stop fighting the tube, close his eyes and he would fall back asleep. I had sent Kevin home again to get some good sleep, and ended up calling him back into the hospital around 2:00 am. By 6:00 am with the new shift on, and more people in the hospital, they were ready to extubate him. The doctor wanted to him to wake up on his own before they took the tube out. They needed him to be able to fight aggressively to breathe.

He did fight, and the tube came out. He turned to me, and said "Carry You." Which is how he asks me to pick him up. The nurses were like, yes, hold him. He reached out his arms to me and I got to hold my baby for the first time in 32 hours. I was crying, and so thankful that I was getting to hold him close to me. I gave him his breathing treatments and he fell asleep in my arms. About three hours later the nurse asked if I wanted to put him down in bed and get some rest. We put him into bed and I fell asleep on the couch.

Later on, after he woke up, he ended up pulling out both of his IV's. Luckily the doctor said we didn't need to put them back as long as we could get lots of fluids down him. They brought in a new big bed (instead of a crib), so that I could sleep in bed with him. We ordered lunch to the room, then all of us fell asleep for a solid two hours. It was definitely the best Kevin and I had slept since the weekend. After we woke up and spent some time hanging out with a very angry, clingy, not feeling great Jameson, Kevin had to go home to work on his lectures for the next day. Jameson spent the rest of the day sleeping off and on. The nurse was afraid he wouldn't sleep that night, but really we had no trouble.

All the doctors and nurses were shocked at his rate of recovery, from how quickly the swelling receded to how fast he began breathing on his own. He was definitely a fighter. They began to talk about releasing him the next day. This was great news! Jameson and I slept like babies that night, him curled into me.

Wednesday morning at 5:45 am Jameson woke up crying that he wanted to go home. "Doh hoooooome." I convinced him to go back to sleep, but every time he woke up he said he wanted to go home. The doctor showed up at 9:30 and talked with us, told us that to their surprise this was just an acute case of the croup. There was no other virus that showed up. In his opinion, we were free to go home after the discharge papers were signed. Whoo-hoo!

I called Kevin who was teaching from 8:00-10:00 at the University. He had a break from 10:00-12:00, so he drove down and picked us up and we were home at 10:30. It was such a great feeling having him home! It had felt like the longest few days of our lives!

A week later he is nearly 100%. His cough is almost gone, and he is up playing around like he was before the croup. I can definitely say, that he was tired those first few days home and just wanted to veg in front of the TV (we let him), but now all he wants to do is "pway cars, pway football, pway basketball, pway tennis." So I feel confident my little guy is back, however, he is clingy, and doesn't like to be far from me and Kevin and we have had no problem pulling him into our bed each night when we sleep to keep a close eye on his breathing.

Life can change in an instant, we found that out all too well, but it definitely helps re-prioritize what matters, which is each other. There is no limit to the amount of money we would pay to have him healthy, it never even crossed our minds. We were so well taken care of in the hospital, from the minute we stepped in to the minute we stepped out, the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, even the housekeeping staff were all amazing. I don't think I will ever be able to express my gratitude for their part in helping to heal my son.

Sunday, a week ago, seems like ages ago, and I am very happy to put it behind us and just enjoy my boys!

Excuse my absence

2010-11-13T20:54:00.002-07:00

Please excuse me absence from NaBloPoMo. It was one crazy week. As many of my "facebook" friends know we brought Jameson to the ER Sunday night for the croup. Actually, right after I pressed "publish post" on my Sunday's blog he woke up in severe respiratory distress. He had what is called "Stridor" (when the hole between the collarbone is sucking in) and caving in of his ribecage, almost all the way back to his spine. It happened very fast, and was (and still is very scary). I immediately called Kevin upstairs to tell him we needed to go to the ER, we bundled Jameson up and we were out the door in about five minutes. It was a ten minute drive to the hospital and Jameson was very calm even though he was having a difficult time breathing. We assumed he would need a nebulizer treatment with steroids to help calm his breathing and bring the swelling down. We assumed it would be a 3-5 hour hospital stay in the ER. I guess its good we didn't know it was going to be much longer, or we might not have been so calm.

Upon arrival we were immediately, and I do mean IMMEDIATELY, escorted back to triage where we immediately were taken to the pediatric doc in the ER. They got a breathing treatment started and took his information. We began to grasp how worried they were when the ER doc said she would not be leaving our side. They asked if he was sick before croup: Not really, a fever on Wednesday night that broke early Thursday. Is he sick often: No never, maybe had one cold his entire life. Is this his first time with croup: Yes.

After a second breathing treatment and no change with a dropping blood-oxygen rate they decided to move us to the Trauma Room. As we entered the trauma room, which was filled with doctors, nurses and assistants, the Peds. doc told us we would have to sedate him with a paralytic drug (ie put him under) intubate him and he would be in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). What?!?!?! How did this get so serious? My son was just up, moving around today, talking, helping his dad put together his treadmill. They said it was the "A" of the acronym (ABC?) and it stood for airway, which I actually knew and it surprised her enough to ask how I knew it. Umm, shouldn't everyone know that after they have a first-aid or CPR class? No, I guess I randomly store medical facts in my brain.

By this time Jameson was almost finished with his third breathing treatment and had grown very listless, and its when the doctors really started to get worried. He was already undressed down to his "training" pants and socks. They told me they were going to get an IV going, did I want to stay and hold him? Yes, I didn't want to let him go. Its when my tears started falling. I couldn't help it, and its when I saw worry in my son's eyes that Mommy might not be able to help him. They quickly gave him the IV (bless the amazing nurse who hit a vein the first time), almost immediately he was out, but it was still the hardest thing I had to do handing him over to the doctors. (I am crying even as I write this).

The Peds. doctor, Summer Smith, is an amazing woman and told us we could stay if we so chose. We chose to stay, no way was I leaving that room. Kevin and I were both incredibly calm, whether it was shock or we just knew the doctors had a job to do. She "assigned" someone to sit with us and explain what was happening every step of the way. They had heart monitors on him, blood pressure, oxygen monitors, and there were about 15 people surrounding him and another 5 running around getting stuff as it was being called for. The intubation process was a long one. His airway was so swollen that they couldn't get a tube past it to give him oxygen. They began decreasing the tube size, and again, and again. If his oxygen levels got too low they "bagged" him, in other words pumped oxygen into him, which made his stomach get distended. Then, in order to get the air out of his tummy they put an NG ( tiny tube through the nose) to suck the air out.

At this point, (possibly 3o minutes into the intubation process) everyone was getting nervous, the doc was shaking, the guy watching the vitals began calling anesthesiologists, or the adult trauma doctor, pretty much anyone who could come in and try to intubate this 2.5 year old with a swollen airway. The adult trauma doctor was available and very calm, and had not been involved in the situation from the beginning. As they began to prepare to intubate him again his vitals began dropping, quickly. I watched that monitor go lower and lower and my heart began racing. Surely, they could see what was happening, right? Then I saw all the lines go flat. Just like on the TV shows the monitor started beeping. Then I heard, "He needs an epi-push (epinepherine in the IV to the heart), begin chest compressions now."

I remember looking at my baby and thinking how hard she was pushing on his chest, it was almost going flat against the table, and thinking, how the heck did we get here, this is the healthiest kid I know, would he have been ok if we didn't bring him in, is he worse off now? I could leave this place without my baby, what was the last thing I said to him, this isn't supposed to be like this... So many things were going through my mind that I can't even explain. Luckily, the doctors were (are) amazing and his heart began again and they got his oxygen levels up. What a welcome relief to see those monitors come to life, again. The adult trauma doc took his turn at the intubation, after the second try he was successful, and immediately his oxygen levels went up to nearly 100%. The tube size they had to use was meant for a newborn because his airway was so swollen.

After he was stabilized, he was x-rayed and then they moved us up to the PICU. He was doing fine, and all the doctors told us he was going to be great, even with the difficulty intubating him, but it was very scary to see him hooked up to tubes, and monitors. I can definitely go a lifetime without seeing my child like that again. Once up in the PICU we were told he would be under anywhere from two days to a week. Again, we were shocked and confused, this was a boy who just two days ago was running around with his friends in the green-space across from our house. After he was set-up in the PICU, the doctors checked on him and the ER doc came up to see how we were doing, exhaustion set in for us both. Around 2:30 am I told Kevin to go home and take care of the dogs and get some sleep. I lay down on the couch that the nurses helped me set up like a bed. I couldn't sleep because I had terrible dreams every time I closed my eyes and I was replaying every little thing that happened. He was out of the woods and was doing much better than when we brought him in, even though he didn't look it. I didn't know when he would be coming home, but at least I knew he WAS coming home.

Just writing that has taken it out of me tonight. I will finish the rest of our story tomorrow.

Favorite Health Books

2010-11-07T20:05:00.002-07:00

Since Jameson is still feeling pretty crummy, this will be another short blog. I have had my nose buried in books trying to help him for the past 24+ hours. Unfortunately, croup is one of those illnesses that you just have to ride out, which is what we are trying to do. Here are my three favorite books for helping me figure out how to treat Jameson.

Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child- By Janet Zand, ND., LAc., Robert Rountree, M.D., and Rachel Walton, MSN, CRNP

This book is a collaborative effort between different kinds of medicines (Conventional and Homeopathic). Divided into three sections: Elements of Health Care, Common Childhood Health Problems and Therapies and Procedures. It explains everything, and I love it. By far this is my go-to medical guide. My mom and I also give this as presents to new moms.

My next book that tops the list is:

The Children's Hospital Guide to Your Child's Health and Development

As the cover implies this book covers it all, and I am always happy to look through it and see what it says. I think every home where children are present should have a book like this around.

And since not much can be done for Croup I also used my homeopathic guide.

Homeopathic Medicine for Children and Infants- By Dana Ullman, M.P.H.

While this book was less helpful this time, mainly because it didn't have a "croup" section, it was still useful. It always has good descriptions of each herb, how its to be given. Since I don't know much about homeopathy, and I am still learning, I find this book a real asset to my library. It's divided into three sections: 1) Why Homeopathy makes sense. 2) How to Use Homeopathic Medicine 3) Common ailments of Children. It has a description of each of the herbs that is about two pages long. Common name, latin name, Overview, General Characteristics (of the child), Keynote Symptoms, Modalities, and Primary Indicated Conditions. When I am trying to treat something simple I often find myself lost in this book because its so interesting to read.

Croup

2010-11-06T20:17:00.002-06:00

Tonight Jameson came down with the croup. Maybe its because I am personally very familiar with this particular ailment, but it didn't surprise me. I began hearing the tell-tale "seal bark" this morning and tried my best to get him to relax, just play quietly, he had another agenda though. Early this afternoon he was running around upstairs as I was picking up his play area, just RUNNING like a mad man.

This afternoon we dropped books off at the library and I began to see him wilt. In his car seat I thought he would fall asleep on the 5 minute drive. Then he wasn't interested in anything at the library, so we checked out a few books and headed to the market to pick up some cough syrup and elderberry syrup (helps the cough and immune system). However, neither of these things are good for the croup, so I think I was hoping it wouldn't come to fruition.

On our way home Jameson told me he was tired, and he could barely keep his eyes open. I put him upstairs in his chair turned on Nick Jr. and went to go make him some homemade chicken broth with some veggies and a slice of whole wheat toast. Luckily he ate all the toast, ate his broth and got a few spoonfuls of veggies. He drank some apple juice and water, so at least I know he has some nutrients in him.

Then I put him to bed, and he fell asleep quickly, but had that awful raspy breathing sound, and he didn't want to cough because it hurt. Twenty minutes later he was up crying and croup coughing, not able to catch his breath. So I picked him up, had Kev light some candles in the bathroom so we didn't have to turn the overhead (bright!) lights on. Turned the shower on as high & hot as it would go, and let the bathroom fill up with steam. Jameson was so upset, and couldn't really figure out what was going on. Coughing hurt so he would try to avoid it, only to have it burst out. The steam worked because he fell asleep and his breathing sounded better, but then when I adjusted him it started another coughing fit. I flipped the shower back on to steam up the room again. He fell asleep again and I put him in bed. Hopefully, he will get some rest before it starts again. I anticipate at least one or two more episodes tonight. I am cleaning off the guest room bed (its where I pile my clean laundry) so that he and I can sleep in a bigger bed. Not that I don't love squishing in with him on his twin-size bed.

Poor guy. I hate when my guys get sick. We have been very lucky and Jameson is rarely sick. He had a 12-hour flu this summer and I don't even remember the last time he was sick before that. OK, I hear my little seal barking. Send good, healthy wishes our way.

Gettin' Older

2010-11-05T20:25:00.007-06:00

One thing is certain, Jameson has grown up so much since the beginning of summer. He went from being a toddler to a "big boy." I look, but I really don't see baby in him. It has definitely been bittersweet, but I love the little man he is becoming. Kevin and I often talk about how "it was just yesterday that he was born, right?" Below are two pictures, one taken at the beginning of summer and one taken at Halloween (duh). I see those pictures and I am stunned at how much older he looks, but maybe that's just me! Maybe its that I have an accompaniment of his chatter on a daily basis or I watch him take the milk carton out of the fridge and attempt to pour it himself to prove to me how old he is getting.

**His language exploded this summer, as I knew it would. He went from not saying much at all, to saying sentences in a matter of days.

**He seems to grow like a weed. Apparently sunlight and fresh air is good for growing children.

**He made friends in the neighborhood and likes to play with them everyday.

**He got really good at riding his trike and scooter.

**He is SO polite, saying "please" "thank you" and "your welcome" all the time.

**His feet grew 3 sizes this summer! Yes, his summer sandals were a size 8 and now he is closer to an 11. Yes, my child has HUGE feet, he gets that from me.

**Pants are way too short but don't stay up around the waist. What's a mom to do? Make her son wear high-waters or a cinched waist? I vote the cinched waist, but they still end up riding low, even with a belt.

**While his feet grew he only gained 2 lbs so he weighs barely 30 lbs. He burns off all his energy playing.

**As I have mentioned he loves matchbox cars and plays "pretend" with them all the time.

**He is a crazy monkey, climbing, hanging and swinging from everything:

**He is still my snuggle bug and tells me "I love you SOOO much!" on a regular basis.

**He still loves to watch the garbage man collect the trashcan.

**He points out every bus, school bus, mail truck, box truck (UPS) and any truck when we are out on the road.

**He does not take naps and hasn't since April, but he goes to sleep promptly at 7:00 pm, often a few minutes before.

**As of a couple weeks ago he is fully potty-trained. We still use "trainers" at night because he is a heavy wetter.

**He carries at least two of our old cell phones with him, and is constantly saying :"Phone ringing!" then he has a great conversation with whomever is on the other line.

**Apparently has a green thumb:

**He says the funniest things right before he falls asleep. My niece, Elia said I should start writing them down, but I haven't yet. One that sticks out to me was when he said "Brocc-O-lee and Cah-wots." He loves his veggies, and I guess they made an appearance in his dream.

**He is very caring. He scratches me back and gives me a hug if I hurt myself (like stub my toe) and asks if I want a bad-aid (band-aid) and peas (which is what we use as an ice pack).

**He loves helping Kevin or me cook.

**He eats peanut butter out of the jar. He LOVES peanut butter. He asks for "Pea-buh and 'poon" (peanut butter and a spoon)for breakfast everyday.

**He loves to laugh and I think he will have a belly-laugh like Kevin.

**He loves his doggies. He is very responsible and whenever he goes out in the backyard he wants to scoop poop. We call him the "poop patrol" because he is very thorough!!

Such concentration

**As I have mentioned he wakes up saying, "Sunny Day, Sunny Day" in a sing-songy voice over and over again. If I am not eager to get up he gets right in my face and says: "Momma, its a SUNNY DAY!" Who could resist a wake-up call like that?

**We love our son so very much, he is such a joy to be around. I can't say that I have seen a lot of "2-year-old" moments from him. If he is having one we tell him to take a "Deep Breath." Which he does very well. The other day I was frustrated and talking loudly, and Jameson looked at me and said "Mommy, deep breath!"

I could go on and on about him, but I have 24 more days of blogging, so I suppose I can spread out the bragging!

Friends

2010-11-04T19:22:00.003-06:00

One of the best things I did for myself this past summer was to sit outside with Jameson until I became friends with the ladies on my street. I was determined. I have lived in this very same house since 2006, and while I knew everyone's names, said hi every once in awhile and even shared a laugh or two, we were far from friends. I was lonely and miserable without girlfriends.

I am one that has always had a group of girlfriends, to which I am still very close. I made friends easily in Boulder the first year I lived in Colorado because I was in classes, but once we moved to Littleton life was crazy. We were living in Vienna more often than we weren't. Then we had a baby (in Portland), after that Jameson and I were in Vienna for 9 months the year he was born. We traveled even when we were in Colorado, and no one in the neighborhood knew when we were coming or going. To top it off, we put our house up on the market, so I definitely wasn't someone to become friends with, since I would be leaving!

But this summer, we were NOT traveling (much), our house was NOT on the market, Jameson was old enough to be playing ball or riding his bike and was interested in meeting other kids. Slowly but surely, the moms started talking, the kids started playing and friendship was formed. Let me tell you, life is so much happier with friends! Everyday Jameson wants to see his friends. He even asks daily to take care of the neighbor dog because we dog-sat her for a weekend.

Life is much happier when you can knock on a friend's door to drop off your kid to get some grocery shopping done (alone) or when you volunteer to take her kid(s) knowing that eventually it will come back to you.

Just last week, we had a game party to raise some money for one of the little guys in the neighborhood with an unknown illness so that they could travel to the National Institute of Health, joined another couple for a spontaneous dinner out, had a Chili cook-off and went trick-or-treating with the group on Halloween. On any given day I see most of the four other woman and their kids. We text, we email and call each other as well as knocking on each others' doors. On sunny days, a soccer ball is brought out or bikes are ridden up and down the street while the moms chat.

We aren't all the same ages, our kids are different ages, and have different personalities. We raise our kids differently in different religions with different values, but we are fine to disagree or offer/ask advice to/of one another. We are moms all of us, and its the similarities that bind us.

I am so glad I took the time to get to know them. They have made life here in Colorado much easier. At first it was so exciting I came in everyday from our daily chats and would exclaim to Kevin: "I have friends!" Now I miss them when I go a day or two and haven't had a good conversation with them.

While I wish I could take my friends from all over and move them right next to me, I know that is an impossibility. I have to settle for the phone and yearly visits with my closest girlfriends, but life is definitely better since I have friends near-by!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T21:43:00.003-06:00

My baby has a fever tonight. It came on quickly at dinner. So I am playing nurse-mom to him. Luckily, it seems to be nothing serious. He said his teeth hurt, so I am thinking his last molar is working its way through. However, because it might be a long night I am just going to post two pictures that were taken recently that I really love.

Jameo with his Daddy...

and with his Mommy

What happened to my blog?

2010-11-02T20:40:00.005-06:00

There are many reasons I stopped blogging regularly. For me, I didn't find it a satisfying way of spending my "me-time." I felt like I was neglecting things I should do or wanted to be doing. It wasn't blogging on its own, it was my computer time in general. I love reading blogs, checking email, and then I would get lost looking up some interesting factoid and then 2 or 3 hours later I would wonder when the time had disappeared. Around the same time Jameson became much more interested in it. If the computer was out, he wanted to play with it, so I made a rule for myself that I wouldn't get out the computer when he was awake. Its a good rule and I like it, but I have gotten more lax about it lately. I found that the computer was taking precious time from my family. Both Kevin and I are computer geeks, and feel it is perfectly acceptable to have the laptop glued to our laps all evening, while watching TV. Instead of talking in the evenings, he would be working and I would be hanging out on the computer.

I decided I wanted to experience life not just write about it, hence my break from the computer began. I wanted to read more books, watch less TV, sew more, paint, and de-clutter my full house. I am not an organized person by nature, so I am learning things that are helping me to become one, and I have learned we all need less stuff! I have succeeded in some of these areas, especially during the summer, but lately I have been on the computer much more than I have wanted to be, been reading less, and not getting things accomplished that leave me feeling satisfied at the end of the day. I want to be the mom that plays with her kid. If its a sunny day, I want to take my son outside for a walk. To Jameson, everyday is a sunny day, as this is how he wakes us up each morning "Sunny day, sunny day!" Recently its evolved, to "Its a beautiful, sunny day!" I want to take that enthusiasm for life and live it.

Jameson looking oh-so-contemplative

When Jameson is playing cars, I want to play with him, or be close enough that I can hear his wonderful world of imagination. Each of his cars is a person in his life. There is the Momma car (I am a purple sports car) the Daddy car (a blue range rover), Nana and Poppa (Nana being a yellow car with a black stripe and Poppa being a neon jeep), Omi and Papa (Omi is a Red race car and Papa is any van that is in his collection). He has his Uncles and Aunties, and his friends, each of whom have a car. He plays with his cars like I played with my dolls when I was little. They have conversations, sing songs, play together, and occasionally "crash" and get hurt. It is the highlight of my day to catch him mid-imaginary play. I have to stand back and just listen or it breaks his daydreams.

So, while I was absent from the blogging world, I was very present in my life. I got a lot stuff done, but I still have a lot more to do. I am hoping that this month I can figure out the balance between keeping my friends and family informed of our lives via the blog, but also feel like I am getting "me-time" and the tasks done that I need to get done.

NaBloPoMo

2010-11-01T21:50:00.004-06:00

November is the National Blog Posting Month. It was enjoyable last year, and I figured it would be a good time to revive the old blog. So, here it goes.

Our pic taken at the end of the night.

Yesterday was Halloween. It was Jameson's first time dressing up and trick-or-treating. My requirement was that he could say "Trick or Treat" and not be too shy to walk up to the doors. He had so much fun. He went as a cowboy with three friends. I was surprised how long he lasted (about 2 hours!) and he walked the whole neighborhood. He was so polite saying "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" at each and every house. Made me very proud to be the mother of such a polite boy. The moms (and one dad) laughed the whole way. The weather was pretty perfect, and Kevin said it was the nicest Halloween he had ever seen. Normally, its snowing or freezing and the kids are bundled up in parkas being driven from house to house.

Cowboy Jameson ready to go.

The Awesome Foursome.

Teeny little munchkins not even as tall as the door handle.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

2010-07-31T01:32:00.000-06:00

Today is Kevin's Birthday. Thirty-six years to be exact, but who's counting?

I don't think I take time enough to extol the virtues of the man I love. He is my soul-mate, my true love and before I knew him I would argue with people that these things did not exist. I felt that anyone could be happy in marriage if they just tried hard enough. Now that is not to say we don't "work" on our relationship, but it certainly makes it easier to want to do the work. Here is a list I have been compiling for awhile. Some are silly and sublime and some are serious, but each and every one makes me feel grateful beyond doubt that he is mine. I love you!! Happy Birthday!! Here's to a great year ahead of us.

1) He is my best friend and he can make me laugh like no one else on this Earth.

2) We never stop having fun together.

3) He cooks us dinner (nearly) every night. He loves cooking and he is a fantastic cook!

4) He cleans up the kitchen (nearly) every night.

5) He makes us breakfast (nearly) every morning (You see a theme here?)

6) He promised to be my heater at night years ago, but still lets me keep my ridiculously hot down comforter on the bed.

7) He works very hard to keep us taken care of so that I never ever worry.

8) He is really good at saying "sorry" (Me, not so much).

9) He surprises me with really amazing, thoughtful gifts (like Tim and Faith concert tickets and a new computer).

10) He sings our "good night" song to Jameson each night complete with funny voices and actions.

11) He often tells me how much he loves me and how much he appreciates what I do for him.

12) He puts up with me watching awful reality TV shows, although I am coming around to his way of thinking (Oh, Jon and Kate...).

13) We plan on traveling the world together. I would go anywhere with him because he makes me feel safe.

14) That we still "got it" (ie incredible chemistry that sends tingles down my spine.)

15) He loves his little dogs at least as much as I do and probably more.

16) He changed his mind about (not) having kids when we decided to get married because he wanted me to be the mother of his children (although I think the word he used was dynasty).

17) He is really good at playing with Jameson, cars, ball sports of any kind and...even tea parties complete with a "prost" (cheers!) which is Jameson's favorite part.

18) That he is a daydreamer like I am, but he is really good at making those dreams a reality.

19) He reads really LONG non-fiction books to keep his brain working and then tells me I would really enjoy such-and-such book. Which is true, but I don't have the mental energy to read such time-consuming books.

20) He is SO great with our finances and has taught me to be a better person with my money and spending habits. (I am a work-in-progress though).

21) He loves "romantic comedies" as much as I do, but would never admit it. If you don't believe me ask Alison who has watched movies with us and finds it just as charming. Hee hee.

22) He wants to live on a farm and be self-reliant too; which is only a problem when we realize we are slugs and farming is A LOT of work.

23) He does incredible things for me like driving an extra 1000 miles just so I can spend a night in Pasadena with my best friend for her 30th birthday party before heading to Oregon.

24) I love having "discussions" with him, it keeps me on my toes. I still learn a lot from him during these discussions.

25) Watching him evolve as a daddy has been one of the sexiest things I could ever imagine. (Yes, sexy...darn sexy!)

26) I know every story he is about to tell within a sentence or two and have probably heard them two or more times. I love his charisma.

27) We have the same ideas on raising kids.

28) With a look we know what the other one is thinking.

29) We can be doing nothing or something really exciting and we still enjoy each others company.

30) We usually have one fight a year, and ooh its a doozy, but we make up and it is like nothing happened the next morning.

31) There are still things I don't know about him and every once in a while I am surprised by a new fact about my incredible husband.

32) He has the absolute best laugh of anyone I have ever known. EVER. If I am upstairs or across the room at a party I can hear him laughing and it never fails to make me smile.

33) I love his generous spirit. He is a giver, even if he knows it won't be reciprocated. He can't help it, he likes to keep people happy.

34) He is so handsome in that Danish viking way, a heritage he is very proud to call his own.

35) Getting a hug from him is the most wonderful feeling in the world: safe, secure, happy, in love, warm, and tingly all at once. Nothing like my barrel-chested husband wrapping his arms around me!

36) He is constantly striving to be a better man, to have a more positive outlook, to love our family, to listen more carefully and to pick his words consciously. I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. I appreciate how much effort he puts into making and keeping us happy. I know its not always easy, but he makes it look simple.

Happy Birthday Kev!! We love you!!!

Dandelion Wishes

2010-06-03T21:17:00.005-06:00

"I wish, I wish..."

Jameson calls dandelions "Wishing Fow-ers" and he picks them (and wishes on them) where ever we go. I am sure our neighbors love us! He is two in all its glory, (2 years 3 months today!) and most of the time I love it, however, other times (like today) are intense. I fully admit 2 is one of my favorite toddler years, am I on my own with that one? I love that he is talking more, his personality is emerging, but he is still my baby. When I ask him if he is a big boy, he says no, and then gives me a big cuddle. However, the flipside of that answer is that he doesn't want to wear "big kid undies" and prefers his "dia-der." We are working on being "potty trained" by the end of the summer. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Me and my little guy, what a cutie!

Apparently, I have been absent from the blogging world for some time now, as Kevin told me this morning my last post was February 07th. He has been telling me I need to blog for a few months. So, I gotta start somewhere, yeah? My excuse is that when we got back from Vienna I had a list of tasks and goals I wanted to get accomplished and the computer is one big distraction for me, also it just wasn't satisfying my need for "me time." Jameson also is obsessed with the computer, particularly the "photo booth" application which he calls "CHEEEEEEESE." Anytime I get out my computer he runs up to me and requests to "CHEEEEEEESE." So, I no longer get out the computer when he is around, unless I am distracting him with it.

One of his very own photobooth creations

We have had lots of fun over these past few months. Most of it has just been hanging out at the house, library or park, but we really enjoy that slow pace. We visited my family and lots of friends in Portland while Kevin took a trip back to Vienna. Kevin taught another quarter at the University of Denver, and it was a crazy one! We are very happy that summer has officially arrived. We planted our veggie garden full of lots of things we haven't attempted to grow before, so we shall see what works and what doesn't. The winter was long, both here and in Vienna, but FINALLY it seems like summer weather is here to stay. Jameson could stay outside from sun up to sundown, so we have been out and about a lot.

"Ow-siiide?" is a refrain I hear all day long.

"Jameson language" is finally beginning to take shape and we understand a lot of what he says. He calls himself "JJs" so I have begun calling him that too and he calls Kevin "Daddiss." He has troubles with "K's, L's, R's and in true German fashion V's (think, "willage" or "wegetables"). He recognizes letters and numbers like I can't believe. He will scream out a number and I will inevitably find it on some billboard or road sign. He loves matching things, two of anything and he tells me "It match!" He still loves his dogs and has taken to telling them, "NO "back-ing" over and over again. He says "soh-weee" (sorry) a lot, and I am not sure he knows what it means. He has gotten great at saying "pease and t'you." Yesterday he surprised me and said "X'cuse me" to Lulu, after we got home from a store-run and I had told him to say "excuse me" when he bumped into someone. He is a sponge and a master imitator, it is nuts to watch how quickly he absorbs stuff.

Tuesdays are by far his favorite mornings because that is garbage day. He gets SO excited to see the "Fruck" and yes this causes me much embarrassment when he shouts out his glee over seeing the "Fruck." We work very hard on the "t-t-t" sound, but when the excitement overtakes him its back to being a "fruck" (at its best, you can imagine the worst). In typical boy fashion he loves everything that goes: Cars, Trains, Planes, Scooters, Motorcycles and Bikes. We got him a Radio Flyer tricycle this last weekend. He absolutely adores it. It's the last thing he says before he goes to bed and one of the first things when he awakes. He was having a hard time pedaling the first day, but I think he dreamed about it, because in the morning he could totally pedal! And I have to say that I love the dorky helmet I make him wear when he rides his trike!

If you can't tell I think my son is pretty darn precious. We have been having so much fun lately and I love it. I will get better at posting more regularly, but until then have a great week!

Rocky Mountain Home

2010-02-07T06:09:00.003-07:00

Yay! We are back! We made it back to Denver the evening of February 1st, and were very happy to put down our luggage, kiss our doggies and sleep in our big comfy bed. I anticipated that I would get much more done than I actually have managed to get done, jet-lag is no fun. Here are some good things and bad things about being back stateside.

Wake-up!
Jameson has decided that a wake-up time between 4:30 and 5:15am every morning is a brilliant time to rise and shine. I disagree, but dare I say am getting used to it? There is a lot that can get done in those witching hours. The upside to the early wake-up is a 6:15 bedtime. Too bad I am too tired after he goes down to do anything productive. Perhaps as the jet-lag begins to subside his normal 7:15 wake-up will return.

Traveling
Jameson loved all the traveling. The whole time we were on the train from Vienna to Munich he was saying "chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-woo-woo." When he saw another train he would squeal in excitment, jump up and down and make sure that we also saw the train. He was a rockstar traveler on the plane, he was so happy to be on a plane, he had been ready since early morning rolling his backpack all over the hotel room. When we got to our seats he fluffed his pillow, took his blanket out of the plastic, sat down with his pillow behind him, his blanket on his lap and he attempted to buckle his seatbelt. I was laughing so hard. He looked so serious, and he was so excited to get seated. The only thing is that he chose the aisle seat. I let him sit there for a bit then moved him to the middle. He only slept for an hour of the 10 hour flight, but he didn't make a peep. Ok he made one peep, or rather angry squeal when he was two hours late for a nap and had barely eaten anything since breakfast, dinner was being served and I tried to get him to sit in his seat he let out a shriek that pierced my ears, but it last for 5 seconds and then he sat and ate his dinner. Have I mentioned how much I love my kid? For take-off he did his "Little Einstein" routine (i.e. "Pat, pat, pat" while patting his lap then "raise your hands above your head and shake your whole body" or something to that extent, it makes their rocketship take off) and he had to make sure Kevin and I did it too. You bet we did. He did great through customs in Chicago and then literally passed out on the plane to Denver, considering it was after midnight in Vienna I can't say I blame him! We were very happy to be home though with our travels behind us!

Sickies
The downside of traveling is the germs, the coughs, the flu that gets passed all around the airplane, and my boys were not immune to it. We were all coming down with a slight cold when we left Vienna, but with the stress of travel, staying up all night and trying to re-adjust to the time Jameson came down with a fever on Thursday night. I admit this was the longest illness he has ever had. He slept horribly and was restless all Thursday night, I was pretty sure he had a fever, but I didn't take his temp. I took it Friday morning and it was 102.1, not terrible, but certainly not comfortable. He was all things that go along with a fever: lethargic, hot, cold, uncomfortable, no appetite, and just wanted to be in my arms ALL day. That was just fine by me, but a little exhausting. He slept off and on all day and woke up about 8:30 pm. I knew he felt better when he immediately went to play his piano since he hadn't touched his toys all day. Kevin came down with the flu, body aches, headaches and a general yuckiness. The boys stayed in bed all Friday and both felt much better by Friday evening. Crossing my fingers that I don't get it next.

Big Kitchen
I love our kitchen with lots of counter space, and every utensil or machine we could possibly need. I wish we had a gas stove-top, but our electric range does the trick. The downside to all those utensils, machines and pots is the mess it makes when we cook. We had to stock up on all the basics since our fridge and pantry were empty empty empty. Groceries are SO expensive here, the same bag of groceries in Vienna that cost us 30 euros max. cost us closer to 80 dollars here. In the supermarket in Vienna it is incredibly easy to find organic items, and they are not that much more expensive maybe 10 cents to 1 euro more. One thing we were SO happy to have in our hands again was Udi's bread. Kevin missed the sliced bread and we have already gone through a loaf and a half. Toast, sandwiches, grilled cheese, yum!

Library
So happy to have my library back!! I had requested a number of books in the week before we left and they were waiting for me to pick up when we arrived home! Our outing on Tuesday was to the library. Jameson remembered all the toys they have in the toy area, and we checked out lots of books for him and ME. Happiness is the library!

Finally, my doggies
I love my dogs, love them in all their kookiness, and I miss them when we are gone. Jameson and Kevin missed them too. The first day or two Jameson wanted all three dogs with him at all times, in bed, his room, upstairs, downstairs. If we were playing in his room and only two of the three were there he would end up calling the third, usually Lu: "Woo-woo... Woo-woo..." I would hear him calling from all over the house. Leopold is "Bo-bo" and Lexi is "Yixi." Now he is having no problem disciplining them with the spray bottle for barking, and telling them to "Doh" (go) when they are sitting under the table waiting for spillage. When Leopold or Lexi come up to kiss him he says: "Ewwwww, nein, nein, nein." (nein=no in german). The dogs have learned to listen to him and follow him to the pantry because he feeds them kibbles one by one.

Changes
A few changes have taken place for us over the last month. After a lot of deliberation we decided to give up our apartment in Vienna. This caused a flurry of activity during the month of January and stressed me out beyond belief. It is the right decision for us, and it doesn't mean we won't be back in Vienna, just that we don't have a place to call home there. We have been trying to shorten our time in Vienna as the time change is very hard on Jameson, its rough on our dogs and Kevin and I don't like being apart for as long as was sometimes necessary. Its funny how much "clutter" can accumulate when we had a place to store it.

Also, we made the decision not to go to Costa Rica for our friend's wedding. This was a much harder decision. Overall, I am very happy that we aren't getting on another plane tomorrow for two weeks of traveling and feel like we got given an extra month that I wasn't expecting. We will go and visit the newlyweds sometime within the next year when our lives are a bit more settled.

We are so happy to be home, and I have a feeling once the laundry is done and the house is rearranged and cleaned how we prefer we will be even happier. We have lots of little projects on the books for 2010, and I am excited to get them going. Happy to be back in the same general timezone.

Animal Sounds

2010-01-02T08:48:00.004-07:00

Here is a post to keep you satisfied until I get the mental energy to write up about our great Christmas and New Year. Jameson and I were just playing around with the photo booth, and he loves to see himself on video. I think its a fun one.

The unfairness of my birthday (for my siblings)

2009-12-24T06:51:00.005-07:00

To my parents credit I have always loved when I was born, I never felt slighted at all. I thought it was very exciting that my birthday coincided with the day Santa happened to pop down our chimney and leave loads of presents under the Christmas tree. It was one of the reasons it took me so long NOT to believe in Santa Claus, I really feared it would ruin the birthday magic.

However, for my siblings the date of my birth was very inconvenient, at best. Just when the anticipation of Christmas was nearly too much there was one major hurdle for all my siblings to overcome: watching me open MY presents when they had so many under the tree. To irritate me they only referred to Christmas Eve as Christmas Eve, never mentioning my birthday. They also managed to convince our parents that they should get to open, at least, one present. This charge was led by my older sister, who by Christmas Eve knew all of her presents because she had unwrapped and re-wrapped them all, so she headed to the best present. She still can't stand to be surprised on Christmas and her husband has to go to great lengths so that she is surprised. One of my younger brothers', Tim was just grumpy, so anything he could do to irritate me on my birthday was fun for him. (Ya know, how a younger brother is supposed to act) and Andrew my youngest brother would go along with the majority, which never happened to play out in my favor, I might add. When everyone else was celebrating exciting things having to do with Christmas Eve, my siblings were forced to sing Happy Birthday and spend many Christmas Eve dinners at the only restaurants open: Chinese restaurants, Thai Restaurants and Indian restaurants. Is it a coincidence that these happen to be some of my favorite international cuisines? In our house, tradition states that the birthday kid gets to pick the restaurant, and needless to say my options were limited.

I apologize for unfairly getting more presents due to the timing of my birth and therefore having new toys to play with a whole twelve hours before you guys! I apologize for having an extra stocking that the hospital bundled me up in due to the timing of my birth. Sorry that I made my entrance into the world nine days late, and not listening when Mom told me that I was to "stay put" until after Christmas. And...I apologize for enjoying all the teasing that I put you guys through because I gleefully got to open presents, and eat my cake, and not let you guys open any presents (except for pajamas), and I made you guys wait to truly enjoy Christmas until my birthday was over...on Christmas day. And sorry for tattling on you guys to mom and dad when you referred to Christmas Eve as "Christmas Eve" instead of my birthday. I also apologize for threatening to write "Happy Birthday" on your Christmas present if you even thought of doubling up my present as a Birthday/Christmas present. I wanted TWO presents, thank you very much! So, thanks for putting up with me, your Christmas eve sibling or as they refer to me in German a "Christkind" ("Christ child" that definitely would have inflated my ego!)

So, to Tracy, Tim and Andrew- I love you guys with my heart and soul. You are free to celebrate Christmas Eve as you so choose this year! Tracy, you can open the biggest, bestest present (which won't surprise you in the least), Tim, please refer to the day as "Christmas Eve" ALL DAY LONG and Andrew...follow in Tracy and Tim's lead and do a little of both. I wish I was there to remind you all that it was MY birthday and not Christmas yet. Miss you and love you!!

Bookworm

2009-12-23T07:26:00.004-07:00

He loves his books. He loves being surrounded by his books. He loves stacking them. He loves organizing them in the bookshelf. Do we have a future reader on our hands? I hope so!!

Jameson cannot wait for Kevin to wake up in the mornings, so most days he runs into our room with a book in hand requesting Kevin to read it. I just love this pic of my boys. Doesn't Kevin look a wee bit sleepy?

Hot Chocolate, how I love thee

2009-12-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Enough said

Our future graffiti artist

2009-12-20T12:15:00.001-07:00

You might have to click on the picture to appreciate this masterpiece that greeted me when I woke up yesterday morning, but I was happy the medium of art he chose to create this beautiful picture was in pencil. Contrary to my belief, pencil was not much easier to remove then, say, pen, especially on the slick paint. Crayons would have been an even better medium for him to use when graffiti-ing my door. After much scrubbing with a washcloth, so as not to remove the paint Jameson (and I) got it pretty well clean. Too bad the cleaning part was a lot of fun to him. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of this in the near future as he knows he is ONLY supposed to color on paper. However, the temptation is great, as it is to all children, for him to see how it looks on walls, tables, doors, you name it. How can I manage to foster his creative streak without allowing him to color all over my house?

O Tannenbaum

2009-12-19T14:13:00.003-07:00

Kevin suggested last week that we get a Christmas tree and I was really surprised, but excited, considering both of us can be a bit scrooge-y we must be missing our families. I even purchased a classic Christmas album from iTunes. I was about two seconds from getting the Amy Grant complete Christmas Collection. Oh, how I love Amy Grant's Christmas songs! Jameson has been dancing to those old classic voices, and I love having the songs playing in the background. Jameson is quite the gentleman when it comes to dancing. If I am sitting on the sofa watching him he comes over extends his hand for me to dance with him. I kneel down and he "slow dances" with me, swaying as only a man can. Love it. His favorite song to slow dance to is Silver Bells.

We got our Christmas tree on Tuesday and it sat on our coffee table since then. We did manage to take the netting off it, but we were quite lazy about decorating it. We finally put the lights up yesterday and after purchasing a couple strand of beads we added the ornaments today. Although I think we actually need garland, because the tree is so fat the beads get lost. I like our little Christmas tree. It is VERY round! It definitely looks rounder here then it did on the street corner! I have to admit it feels a lot more like Christmas around our place now, especially with the snow falling all day long! We have had our fair-share of hot chocolate (Jameo's favorite)and eggnog coffee (Kevin's and my favorite, especially sprinkled with nutmeg) today.

Only a half-smile for me today

Jameson definitely thinks it is very cool having this tree sitting on our table. This afternoon I walked into the family room and saw him "singing" to the lights on the tree. He was holding one in his hand, just singing away. It was too cute. Although I did remark to Kevin, this is the kind of stuff I did as a kid. I was such a space-y kid, always in my own world making up songs, and having conversations with non-existent characters just to hear the sound of my voice in many different accents.

Not very happy, probably because we told him a million times NOT to touch the Christmas tree!

Cinnamon Spice Ornaments

2009-12-16T06:07:00.008-07:00

Since having Jameson I have been excited to start traditions in our family that will carry him throughout his life. He is finally old enough where he is noticing the lights, the goodies, all the toys in the stores, and he enjoys helping me "cook." I found a project that look easy enough that even we could do it: Cinnamon Spice Ornaments. Simple! 1 cup ground cinnamon, 3/4 cup applesauce, mix until a dough consistency forms, roll out, use your cookie-cutters to make shapes, bake at 150 F for a couple hours until dry.

Simple enough. My first sign that this was not going to go as planned should have been when I was unable to find cookie cutters. What!?! They have tiny linzer cookie presses, but no cookie cutters. Fine, we will free-form them. It will be art.

We had a great time! Jameson loved mixing the dough, adding the cinnamon, rolling it out and patting it down. I formed hearts, Christmas trees, kind of sad looking stars, a candy cane, a wreath, an ornament and then I got the genius idea to trace his hand and cut that out. A keepsake from Christmas 2009 that smells yummy. I had visions of Jameson measuring his hand against it for years to come, just like I used to do each year when our handmade ornaments came out of the box.

I baked them, and the house smelled like a cinnamon stick! While we baked them we headed down to the Christkindlmarkt at Schoenbrunn Palace for an hour. Whew! It was FREEZING cold, but we got hot chocolate to warm us up. Jameson got to run around with the big Christmas tree lighting his way, and I got to look at all the Christmas decorations.

When we got home I took out the ornaments only to realize that the majority of our ornaments were much too thin and broke while I tried to pick them up. Bummer! I managed to save a few and strung them with yarn. I was most happy about the hand, it came out perfectly. With his initials JDA and 2009 engraved in the palm. Happy sigh.

Cut to this morning. It had all the makings of a beautiful winter day. Big snowflakes were falling outside while we ate breakfast. I had plans to make some eggnog and sugar cookies so we could PROPERLY decorate our Christmas tree tonight. While getting out my eggnog making supplies: Eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg...don't all good eats begin with these things? Jameson kept opening our freezer door. It is just his height and has a weak seal, so he loves opening it and just standing there. (I see him as a teenager standing in front of the fridge in my mind's eye.) As I was moving the cookie sheet of our cinnamon spice ornaments out to the family room to finish their drying I tried to close the door with my other hand while telling Jameson not to open it again. Yes, even at the moment I knew I was attempting one too many things with my "steel-willed child." He braced himself against the door pushing back on me, and I tripped and the cookie sheet went flying. My precious baby's hand hit the floor first. Is it bad to admit that I yanked Jameson out of the freezer and closed the door and told him too loudly not to open it again? While mourning over his cinnamon spice hand, I forgot his chubby little REAL hands are much more precious, especially since he was patting my back as I was picking up the pieces. His hand is either giving me "the bird" or telling me to "hang loose." I think I prefer the "hang loose" version, especially since we have a few changes on the horizon that are stressing our family out a little.

Happy Birthday Omi!!!

2009-12-05T10:59:00.005-07:00

I know its not a recent one, but its one of my favorites, and YOU look the same!! (Definitely not a year and a half older!) We love you!!

Happy birthday Momma! We love you! Wish we were there to help you celebrate!! Just think, this time next year we will be in the Alps celebrating those big "0" numbers. I hope you have a great day!!! We miss you!!

A video of Jameson "making" a cake for you! I thought I might be able to get "itsy-bitsy-spider out of him too, but no such luck!

Love you lots,

Jameson, Aimee (and Kevin too!)

Successfully sleeping (at the moment)

2009-12-01T15:49:00.003-07:00

It feels really weird not to be blogging today, hence the reason I am sitting here writing this blog. All evening, I have been itching to blog, not for any particular reason, and I kept reminding myself that I didn't need to blog.

Today we had a very successful "sleep" day. I set my alarm for 7:15 am, snoozed it until 7:30 when I woke Jameson up or rather Kevin's presence did, have I mentioned how much Jameson loves his dad? He went down for a nap at 11:45 am and slept until 1:15. This evening he went down about 8:00pm. Its almost midnight and he has yet to walk out and greet me. Crossing my fingers. One day down, hopefully one night will soon be over.

Wishing everyone a happy and stress-free December!!

Final November Blog

2009-11-30T14:23:00.004-07:00

So, the month is up and I actually made it. I wrote something for everyday this month. Sometimes it was incredibly short, like when I blogged from my iphone at Dulles Airport during our layover to Europe and others were, ahem, a little long-winded, but I found it wasn't nearly as difficult as I anticipated. Life had a way of creating blogging opportunities, or was it the other way around? Possibly a bit of both. Overall, it was a really fun experience, and I think the grandparents appreciated it the most! Living far away from our families is by far the hardest thing we do! This past month gave me back my "zeal" for blogging, and now that we are here in Vienna I am going to try to continue a fairly consistent blogging regime.

One of the things daily blogging made me appreciate were: comments. Thank you to those who did take the time to comment, emails or offering your own stories, I love stories! For the blogs that I read (and they are many) I do try to come up with a comment to leave for the writer. There are those times that I am a lazy reader though and fail to leave a comment. I think from now on I will be better at commenting. The "Google reader" which gives me a run-down of the blogs I read all in one spot has made it to easy to peruse the new entries and not ever visit the person's actual website therefore not leaving a comment.

Also, I appreciate those writers who have the courage to write about some controversial topics. As my friends and family know I am pretty "hippy dippy" in regards to a lot of areas of life, but would have a hard time writing about those issues for fear of offending someone or "being told off." Because I am so passionate and I have done lots and lots of research and am comfortable with my choices its hard for me to keep my mouth shut, therefore I avoid those topics all-together. So, to you out there, who do talk about the tough stuff, my admiration is great! Granted this blog is about our family and for those who cannot be near to feel a little closer, but still...an occasional heated discussion is always fun!

Jameson is STILL jet-lagged and the sleep deprivation is getting to him (and me). My mellow mellow son is melting down at the slightest thing. Bathes: Check, Dinner: Check, Pajamas: Check, Shoes: Check, Dad leaving: Check, Diaper change: Check, Not being allowed to eat ice cream for dinner: Check, Not following him to the family room when I am eating dinner: Check, Turning off a light: Check. Really, that was my night tonight and it went on and on. So, as I write Jameson is sleeping in his diaper (it wasn't worth the fight) and didn't get to sleep until 9:45pm because he was having a meltdown from when Kevin left at 8:00pm. He finally zonked out, and hopefully he will sleep through the night. My boy needs his sleep. His naps have gone by the wayside in our adjustment period which is a very bad thing, and I know as soon as I can get him waking up in the morning at a decent time, down for a nap at the perfect time bedtime will surely follow.

A frequent sight in our household recently

A little dramatics never hurt, right?

I am reading "The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" By Elizabeth Pantley. This is the ONLY sleep book that I feel understands our needs, which is funny because I wasn't a fan of her first book targeted at babies. She has a WHOLE chapter devoted to night nursings/wakings, and since its up to preschool the assumption is that the child is in a "Big Kid" bed, which Jameson has been for months now. Jameson has always been on a strict sleep schedule, and the boy was an incredible sleeper his first 5 months of life...then we came to Vienna and he has been waking up twice a night ever since. Believe it or not most of the time it doesn't bother me. For the most part he is easy to get back down (nursing for a few minutes) but as we begin the end of our nursing relationship he will need to find other ways to get back to sleep. She has a lot of great suggestions and as a long-term nurser herself she understands that relationship and I have begun incorporating the suggestions into our routine.

On a completely unrelated-to-sleep-note, my great eater turned picky eater when we arrived back in the states has returned to his former great eater self (tonight being the major exception). All I keep thinking: is food really THAT bad in the states? Scary.

Bring on December!!

A Day at the Zoo

2009-11-29T14:43:00.001-07:00

Today was a nice enough day to head down to the zoo. We live one short strassenbahn ride away from it. Jameson and I went often last year, and I think we will be going a lot this year too. The zoo is on the Summer Palace grounds called Schoenbrunn Palace. We actually have a great view of it walking down our street. The zoo is over 250 years old! I cannot even imagine what it must have been like 250 years ago! The Hapburgs (the ruling dynasty of the Austrian Empire) were animal fanatics, and hunters (are they one and the same?) They have a ton of stuffed animals from safaris in the Natural history museum and apparently they kept a lot of live animals as well.

While it is a small zoo, there are all the important animals to see: Lions, Tigers, Elephants, Pandas, Monkeys, Bears, with some added bonuses along the way. Jameson was in a bit of a funk throughout our trip. He only wanted to chase the pigeons and ravens on the grounds. Polar Bear? What Polar Bear, give me a pigeon. The craziest and coolest thing is how close you can get to the animals because the enclosures are so small and RIGHT there. We had a tiger inches from us as he strolled by the glass window. Wow, that tail was HUGE and those paws... That made Jameson a little nervous when I tried to put him down to take a picture of the incredible sight. Perhaps he will get braver as we go more often. It being the end of November there weren't a lot of people at the zoo, but more than I was expecting.

Schoenbrunn grounds are very awesome. There are hiking trails, a Christkindlmarkt (christmas market), restaurants, theaters, fountains, a hedge maze, The Palmenhaus which is this massive greenhouse that is built in the art noveau style. We had such a fun time hanging out, and I hadn't realized that Kevin had never been to that side of Schoenbrunn. We will definitely be making a return trip soon!

In front of the Cheetah enclosure

Being pulled by Dad in the (free) wagon.

He hopped out of the wagon SO fast, he could not wait to take his picture with the Elephant!

Shaking the sillies out in the garden

2009-11-28T15:03:00.002-07:00

As predicted we had a very easy going day today. We had planned on going to the zoo, but due to rain I decided not to go. However, by this afternoon Jameson was a crazy dude. Running around, jumping up and down, turning circles and falling all over. These are all symptoms of cabin fever in our house. So, I put a coat on him and we headed out back where he got to run and chase his wiggles away.

Since I have mentioned the back garden numerous times I decided to post a picture of Jameson frolicking through the it. It is such a great area and I am sure we will be out there a lot this year.

At the moment I have a little boy who is over cuddling with his Daddy because he has woken up three times since 8:30. I think its time I tried to put him down again. I was really hoping we were through the jet lag!! No such luck!

Time to breathe

2009-11-27T14:43:00.008-07:00

Since landing on Monday, we haven't had much time to recover. We hit the ground running. With Thanksgiving Day to prepare, there was a lot to do. Today Kevin took a few of the students on a brewery tour and then this evening we had a "Ganslessen" (Goose dinner) with the wonderful teachers from our German language school. Through it all Jameson has been a trooper, more than a trooper, he has been awesome. Last night, we didn't get home until 11 pm and he was still in a great, happy mood if not a little hyper (perhaps the full piece of pumpkin pie?)

Today we went to a park, then bought some groceries. After that we came home and played in the back garden. He took a good nap, we loaded him up and went to a beautiful heuriger (wine restaurant) in the vineyards above Vienna for our Ganslessen. Jameson made a couple of friends, one was a little girl named Lea who was about one, and then he was following a boy of about five and a girl of around seven all around the room. You know your baby is getting old when they are playing "peek-a-boo" with the younger one, and looking at you as if to say, "isn't this a cute little baby?" I love watching Jameson with kids younger than he because he is so gentle and so kind. He walked with Lea and played with her and kissed her on the cheek. He even let her grab his nose and his hair. (I think she was jealous as he has a head full of hair and she had very little). He would put his hands on his knees to bend down and talk to her, and it made me laugh. He is even great at sharing his toys, or in this case his crayons and pad of paper. I am hoping his attitude regarding babies means he will be a good future older brother.

Jameson coloring at our Ganslessen

I am pretty happy that we are done with our "duties" for awhile. We need to get Jameson back on his schedule. His normal bedtime is 7:00pm. Between jet-lag and holiday parties we haven't come close to that. I am hoping that his 7:00 o'clock bedtime won't come as such a shock tomorrow night. The problem is that 7:00pm here is 11:00 am in Denver, which is his nap-time. I realized this when he woke up two nights in a row at about 10:00pm ready to play until 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning (so that translates to 6:30 or 7:00pm Denver time). I am really hoping that the two "off" days will help him adjust to the time here, because I am worked! This round of jet-leg has been the worse yet, because he can get out of bed, walk around, go play, whereas before Kevin and I would sit him between us on the bed and sleep around him while he entertained himself until he got sleepy. I won't say we are out of the woods yet, but it does look promising!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were thinking of all of our family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

We cooked and baked

We ate our meal (and dessert)

Now, with full bellies and thankful hearts we sleep and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Pie Baking

2009-11-25T14:48:00.003-07:00

Baking pumpkin pies with my very jet-laggin' boy at 10:30pm. Need I say more? Sorry for the recurring theme in my posts lately, I am sure this theme will continue for a few more days. Hopefully not beyond that though. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone tomorrow! We always have a great feast with our students here in Vienna. Now, while I wait for the first pumpkin pie to bake I am onto the cranberries.

Jet-lag is a cruel and unusual punishment for a 20-month-old.

2009-11-24T11:21:00.003-07:00

Yes, truly a cruel and unusual punishment. Kevin and I went to bed at midnight fully expecting a wide awake boy at around 3:00 am. Sure enough, 2:30 we hear him walking around the foyer trying to find us. I brought him out to the family room, and he was absolutely thrilled to be awake. He immediately began playing with his "new" toys. It took me a good fifteen minutes to even wake-up, but 2:30 am is a little early for me to begin drinking coffee. Then he wanted me to read some books, in German no less. Ummm, he scratched that idea when I yawned through the first page.

Luckily, he entertained himself quite well. Then I turned on the slingbox (connected to our Denver tv through the internet) so he could watch a tv show "On Demand." After that he still wasn't tired, so I asked him if he was hungry (a common reason I wake up when I am jet-lagged. He said yes, so I got him some cheese crackers. At 4:15 when he was tired, but awake I moved us to his bedroom where I turned on his portable DVD with the "Little Einsteins." He watched a couple episodes while I fell asleep. After his episodes were over he woke me up and passed me his DVD. It must have been 5:00am, but I didn't check the time.

At around 7:00am he tried to wake up. TRIED is the word. He absolutely could not open his eyes. I was watching him, he literally could not peel his eyes open and it was frustrating to him. Apparently, the two of us ended up sleeping until nearly 11:00am when Kevin came in to wake us up.

We got some grocery shopping done, and then I brought Jameson back to the house to see if he would take a late nap. No way. He was so hyper he was running around the apartment jumping up and down (sorry people below us) and squealing. I had one more shopping run to make so I brought him along to get him outside. He ran up our hill, so happy to be outside. In the store he was running circles around me while I held his hand. People were look at me with pity because of my crazy kid. Ha ha.

When we got home I put the groceries away and brought him down to the garden behind our apartment house. He explored the garden, picking up leaves and throwing them, checking out every bush, and every tree. Then he decided he wanted to run races from wall to wall. Fine by me. When he came in, he was much more sane. He ate dinner, took a bath and proceeded to crash quicker than I could believe. Here's to hoping that he sleeps through the night.

My Amazing Traveler

2009-11-23T12:34:00.003-07:00

We left the house at 6am Denver time. We arrived at the Denver airport and got on our flight to DC. Jameson had some books, toys and a blank notebook with crayons. We also carried a portable DVD player with a few "Little Einsteins" DVDs. We had three hours in the DC airport. When we arrived in our concourse, it was empty, I mean REALLY empty. We got to our gate which happened to be right across from my favorite sandwich place, Potbelly Stove Sandwiches (or something to that extent). Jameson then proceeded to run up and down the "C" concourse for the next two hours, got tired and sat with his dad. I was hoping we would catch the lull and that he would fall asleep sleep pretty quickly. I was right. He fell asleep almost as soon as we were in the air, and I got to watch a whole movie (The Time Travelers Wife) and eat dinner without a child pestering me. About 5 minutes before the lights went off he woke up. He was awake the whole time the lights were off. Right around the time I was hitting my wall and we were a couple hours from Munich he fell asleep again, through breakfast so I got a mini nap as well.

Getting ready for the first take-off of the day. He was SO excited! To him being in a plane is like being in an episode of the Little Einsteins.

Feeling like a "Big Boy" in his own seat.

On our flight to Munich, waiting for Take-Off, intently coloring.

Getting very sleepy!

And he's gone.

Upon arrival in Munich we walked to the baggage claim, where our bags greeted us right as we walked out (I love when that happens) and we headed to the train ticket booth. I love that I greeted the young woman in German and she responded all in German! She put us on a train to Vienna via the East Munich train station and Salzburg. We assumed it would be something like that. We were on a very slow, late train to Salzburg. Luckily the conductor asked us where we were going, then told us to get off in Freilassing to catch the train we needed into Vienna. She said it was a much easier transfer. It was right across the track, and we would not have made it in Salzburg. We found out the train originated at the Munich Main station. Those computers, grrr. We could have just gone to the Munich train station where we would have had 30 minutes to grab a bite before sitting on a train and not worrying about a transfer. Oh well, it ended up working out. Jameson fell asleep hard on the train to Wien, and was zonked the whole time. I also hit my wall and Kevin passed me his Mamut fleece to lay my head on because my head kept doing that funny up/down nod/flop. Vienna was absolutely beautiful today!! It was so nice to be home.

When I was opening our front door I looked at Jameson and asked if he remembered this place and he said "JA!" (pronounced YAH!) I wish I got it on tape, because it was a mixture of elation and joy I assume about being some place other than a plane or a train, but there was so much memory in his voice and it was also like a "Duh! Of course I remember this place." He ran all around our apartment and headed straight for his toys. He pulled them all out and started playing with them. We all took an afternoon nap and had trouble waking up this evening for dinner. Jameson was done! A car horn woke him up and he was not happy. After 24 hours of traveling and not one bit of complaint from him I didn't mind. He had a mini-meltdown that lasted ten minutes, then my bribe of chocolate worked. It evened out his blood sugar, then he was interested in eating the sausage and french fries. After dinner he took a warm bath, cuddled a bit and was ready to go back to bed. Which is where he is now and where I am on my way.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts. Our traveling day went off without a hitch and I was so impressed with my 20-month-old. He never fails to blow us away with how easy he is to travel with, and how unflappable he manages to be, even under little sleep and barely any food. Sometimes I don't know how we got so lucky to get such an amazing boy in our lives.

Leaving on a jet plane...

2009-11-22T13:23:00.003-07:00

We are sitting at Dulles airport waiting to board our flight to Munich. So far Jameson has been awesome! Thanks to Scott and Erika for taking us to the airport at 6am. If you see an airplane flying in the sky think of us arriving safe and sound in Munich!! Sorry this is so short! Does it still count for my daily blog?? Hopefully, I will be back to blogging by you Monday afternoon once we are settled.

Last minute details

2009-11-21T21:49:00.002-07:00

Today was a lot of running around and getting stuff done. More than I imagined, as usual. However, we did get to spend a great evening with Scott, Erika, Elia, Eden and Soren.

My sleepless son struck again, and lets just say that as of 11:15 he was still awake walking around. Luckily, he is in bed now, sleeping for another few hours.

Wish us luck.

New Pics

2009-11-20T22:21:00.007-07:00

Doesn't everyone love when they plug in the camera to their computer and up pop all these pictures you a) didn't know you had or b) totally forgot about in the hustle and bustle of life? Well, that just happened to me. Yippee!! Before I hit the hay I am going to post them, but since it was an incredibly long day, I am going to bed before 11pm. I did manage to get all of our packing done last night, but I was up until nearly 2am trying to get everything arranged and re-arranged.

Way back at the end of September we took a trip down to Oklahoma City to visit with Mom and Dad Archer as well as a couple of study abroad fairs. It was such a great trip, and we did a lot of fun things, but the camera never made it back into my hands until today.

My awesome little traveler. He loves packing his bag and being on the go.

Feeding the ducks (and geese) with Nana

Playing with Poppa

While in Oklahoma we also went to Sayre to visit Kevin's Grandparents Archer. Kevin is SO lucky. He still has three living grandparents. It is such a special experience each time Jameson gets to meet his great-grandparents, we try to document these visits so that even if he doesn't have the memories he has the photographs and the stories.

The four "boys."

Grandpa and Grandma Archer

Our family pic. Jameson's new pose is to cuddle in and say "Cheese!" Unfortunately, it doesn't make for a great photograph of him lately.

Today we went to visit Kevin's Grandpa Bailey. He lives about an hour and a half away. I wish we could have stayed a bit longer, but we had errands to run and some of Grandpa's friends were in a play. Its always so nice to see him and he seems to enjoy us too.

Jameson was squirming, if you can't tell.

Like I said, Kevin is so lucky to have grandparents, and by default I get them now too!

OK my bed is calling. Tomorrow is going to start early.

Vienna countdown: 2 days. We leave at O-dark-hundred on Sunday morning, so I shouldn't even count it!

Packing

2009-11-19T22:13:00.003-07:00

This is what I have been doing all week. I have been washing, drying, folding, collecting and putting items in our guest room. Tonight I wanted to get it all packed, and my son decided tonight was the night it was going to take him two hours to go to bed. How do they always know when you are anxious for them to fall asleep? So long Grey's. So long Private Practice, luckily I have you DVR'd. With a few article exceptions that are a) still drying b) still in the wash pile or c) still in the undecided pile, this is what the three of us will be wearing for the next two and half months. What you cannot see in this picture are the two turkey roasting pans we are bringing over, the four bags of stuffing and two large cans of pumpkin, but those items are in the room too. Also you cannot see our carry-on pile, but know that it is large and growing. With anticipation of what may or may not entertain a 20-month-old I am packing all sorts of goodies. Now I have to keep the dogs out of the room or they will begin to freak out (more than usual). Don't you wish you could be here to help out? Lucky me. Back to packing. Vienna Countdown: 3 Days....with two incredibly busy days tomorrow and Saturday. Wish us luck!

I love my husband!!!

2009-11-18T21:45:00.005-07:00

Today my awesome husband surprised me with this beautiful machine pictured below. I have been pining (and possibly whining) for one since they re-introduced the 13". Beautiful. Some of you may remember my computer completely failed last spring. Luckily it was the power connector and not the hard-drive so we were able to save all the information. My so very tech-saavy brother-in-law popped my hard-drive in a new compute and voila a new old computer. I still pined and pined. Apparently my message was heard loud and clear and that is one of the mizillion reasons I love my husband. Thanks babe!!! I love you!!

Vienna countdown: 4 days!

Our Crazy Dogs

2009-11-17T21:15:00.006-07:00

As we are getting ready to leave for Vienna (yikes, 5 days...) I am writing a guide for our dog/house-sitter and I get to realize, our dogs are nuts! Kevin and I have three dogs. I brought one into the relationship: Lulu and he brought one: Lexi. Technically we own one together, Leopold, but he claims he was forced into it. My argument says his name is on the ownership certificate, therefore Leopold is his dog too. Really it doesn't matter, because no matter which dog which is misbehaving or annoying either of us we make the bold statement: "S/he is YOUR dog!" or "Those are YOUR dogs!" Still we love them, and we hate leaving them every year. This certainly does not help their neurotic tendencies any.

For example, Leopold obviously knows something is up, he will not leave my side. If I sit he wants to be not just sitting with me, but on me, kissing me and having me reassure him what a good dog he is now. When Jameson and I are playing on the floor Leopold wants to be right next to me, in the way of the trains or puzzle, whatever we are doing. It is driving me batty.

Here is an excerpt of quirks for our wonderful dog-sitter:

Leopold- (Never Leo) The male, black and tan Cavalier King Charles spaniel. 5 years old. He is the “Leader of the Pack.” He can be a jerk to the girls occasionally. He is shy around new people and still gets scared by fast movement. He is very protective of the girls especially Lexi (see below). He sleeps under the bed, but will occasionally get up on the bed to cuddle in the middle of the night. Be careful he is an underwear stealer; he will chew on a pair of underwear rendering them trash. His hobby is watching out the window (any window) and barking at passing people, cars, bikes, birds, cats or bunnies. This hobby of his makes us nutty. Don’t hesitate to spray him with the spray bottle if he goes crazy. He is also the dog most easily trained. He is eager to please and once he trusts you, he will be your liege following you everywhere. He is a toy hoard and a food bastard. Leopold is a wonderful dog for the most part, however he won’t hesitate to run out an open door, so you need to be careful, as Cavaliers are very stupid about cars. Leopold is also a “fence fighter.” We have a pit-bull next door on the left side looking into the backyard and a chow-mix behind us. Needless to say, either of these dogs would kick Leopold’s butt in a fight. We absolutely DO NOT let him fence fight. As soon as we hear the ruckus we have to run out and carry him inside. If you notice Leopold shedding a lot (like an obscene amount) it is because he gets stressed when we leave town or if he feels a change is on the horizon. We add 1 or 2 Tablespoons fish oil (or olive oil) to his feed. It is nothing to worry about, except you will need to vacuum more frequently.

Lexi-The little, white/red (Blenheim) Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. 6.5 years old. The only way to describe Lexi is neurotic. She freaks out about everything. She will pick up on a subtle clue that you will be leaving for the day (shoes, keys, putting a sweatshirt on, or hey, even getting out of bed may set her off). She is also afflicted with OCD. She will lick like crazy! Herself, you, the other dogs anything she can wrap her little tongue around. She is the worst underwear stealer and WILL demolish a pair of underwear or sometimes socks in a matter of seconds. We call her the scavenger. Her hobby is eating/chewing up anything edible or not. Think q-tips, tissues, underwear, socks, paper, plastic or wooden toys…and the list goes on. Just be careful what ends up on the floor at any given time. Lexi is also the most needy. If you sit down she will want to be in your lap, she is the best cuddle-er. She snores ridiculously loudly for a 12-pound dog. She also has “episodes.” She hyperventilates and can’t catch her breath when she gets too excited or stressed out. Usually she will calm down after a few minutes, but it sometimes helps if you pick her up and pet her. She will sleep on the bed with you and she is the best 107° heater on a cold night. She is a bed hog and very difficult to move in the middle of the night. We jokingly refer to her as “sticky paws” as she has some serious kung-fu-like moves to stay rooted to her spot. She will insist that you pick her up and place her on the bed like the princess that she is, and then in the morning she will request oh-so-kindly that you place her on the floor (Not really it sounds more like a monkey screech).

Lulubelle- (Lulu, unless she is in trouble) Big red/white dog, 6.5 years old. The Matriarch, the old maid, the grumpy lady. She was the cutest, sweetest little puppy, but somewhere along the path of unrequited motherhood and having to share her home with two dumb dogs (her words, not mine) she has gotten grumpy. She lives to eat and sleep. She will let you know when its dinner time every night at 4:30 or 5:00 pm by nosing her bowl all around the kitchen. She won't go upstairs until the last person decides its bed time and even then you will often have to wake her out of a deep sleep. Most likely she will glare at you. She is very independent and not nearly as neurotic as the other dogs, but she has her moments. She is persistent and when she wants something she will bark and bark and bark. If you leave the pantry door open she will rummage through the food bag eating her fill. You will most likely have to force her out the door in the morning to go potty as she is not a morning-dog. She is happy to sleep the morning away. You will also have to force her out the door at night, as she is not a night-dog. If she just stands on the patio looking at you, that is fine, just let her back in, it is not a battle you will win. She must have a water bowl in the bedroom at night. That is the one reason she will wake you up. If the bowl is full she will take a drink and go back to sleep. Her hobby is watching TV. She can pick out an animal on TV from across the room and she will bark until it leaves the screen. If you feel like entertainment, watch a movie with dogs in it, Lulu will bark at the TV and Leopold thinks its at the front door. It will last about 5 minutes before you decide enough is enough. She may choose to sleep on a pillow next to your head, but lately she has only been sleeping under the bed. If she gets cold, she will hop up on the bed nosing her way under the covers, she expects you to lift up the covers so she can burrow to the end. Out of all the dogs she is by far the most demanding, but also in a way, easier because she doesn't require as much cuddling and attention.

Even with all their quirks I love our dogs and our lives wouldn't be the same without them. The fact is that they sleep about 18 to 20 hours/day so they aren't actually a lot of work. Jameson thinks they are the best friends ever. At times, I believe, he even thinks he is a dog. His newest thing is to "kiss" like the dogs and he proceeds to lick and slurp our cheeks and says "woof." He often crawls around on all fours, "head butting" the dogs like they do to each other and has even tried their dog kibble on occasion when he is throwing them a handful. Good thing we use the good stuff. He loves that Lulu naps with him, and Lexi is always up for a cuddle. Leopold, well, he is just fun to chase around and make nervous. I will miss my doggies for the few months we are gone, I just got used to having them around again.

German Pancakes

2009-11-16T22:38:00.003-07:00

I love cooking, so does my husband. He is the gourmet chef and I am the homecookin' chef. He has a knack for knowing how much of this or how much of that to add, I follow a recipe. Over the years I have learned a lot from him, I have learned to cook stuff I might never have attempted and I do it without a recipe. Whoa! And it tastes good too. Occasionally I like to surprise him though and cook something for him.

The other morning I woke up and felt like eating a German Pancake. A what? you say. A german pancake. It is super easy and super yummy. The only issue that I can tell is its difficult to cook more than one at a time in a small oven and the cook time is 18 minutes or so.

The recipe of course, uses gluten-free flour, but feel free to use regular flour.

The recipe courtesy of Bob's Red Mill Flour, but its pretty standard one.
1/4 GF flour
1/2 C. Milk
1 Tbsp. Butter
3 Eggs

Pre-heat the oven to 425 Farenheit. Add the Milk and Eggs to the Blender and mix. Then add the flour, mix again. Melt the butter in a 9-inch pie pan in warm oven. (We have exactly one, hence the reason it takes so long to make breakfast). Add the mixture to the pan and cook for 18 minutes or until puffy and golden brown. Traditionally its serve with applesauce and powdered sugar. It tastes crepe like but without the difficulty of flipping the crepe. This recipe claims to make four pancakes but I only got three, we definitely could have used the 4th. In the future I would double the recipe. It was a really fast and easy breakfast and Kevin loved them.

Not As Successful Sunday

2009-11-15T21:30:00.002-07:00

We definitely had more than one accident today. I would say for every successful pee we had there was a not-so-successful one. The morning began with an accident and I think it went back and forth all day. It was snowy outside so Jameson wanted to follow Kevin out to shovel the back patio, even as I was zipping up his snowsuit I thought to myself this is an "accident" waiting to happen. Sure enough when he came in ten minutes later his long johns were wet.

He seemed really tired today and not really into the "fun" of potty training anymore, apparently it had lost it luster. It didn't help that he had more accidents today than yesterday when he had almost all successful pees. In following the ideas in the "Potty Boot Camp," I made a big deal about how Mommy was sad when he peed in his underwear and walked him back and forth to the potty after an accident. It backfired, in my opinion. He got stubborn, angry and didn't even want to attempt to sit on his potty. I ditched those ideas and just worked on keeping the potty experience a positive one. Heavy on the praise and silly dances, light or non-existent on the negative messages. After each accident I would ask him what happened? Then I would say something like: Oh, its no fun to have wet pants, lets go sit on the toilet and see if you can pee again. That seemed to work much better. Also another suggestion that didn't have the intended effect was making him "clean up" his underwear, carpet/floor, rinsing off in the bathtub and throwing his underwear in the washing machine. No matter how "unfun" I tried to make it, Jameson LOVES cleaning up, he LOVES helping to clean, and he LOVES taking a bath where he gets to do all the work this was not a bad thing in his eyes. Even when he peed in the toilet he would take his underwear off to "clean" in the sink.

After a rough morning, and barely a nap in the afternoon, he was stir-crazy and tired. We would march into the bathroom he would pee and jump up to flush the pee and clean out the bowl only to pee at the sink. I realized he was jumping up as soon as the first tinkle hit the bowl, so I kept having to tell him. "More, can you make more pee?" Each time he could "make" more pee. I was tired and wondering if I shouldn't just throw diapers on him, but he seems to "get it" it just might take a few more days for him to initiate the process. He still only wants to wear underwear and throws the diaper across the room if I present that as an option.

On a happier note he did manage to poop in the toilet late this afternoon. He was VERY proud of himself and got two chocolates, a crazy mom AND a crazy dad shouting "Yay!"

So, while I don't feel today was as successful as yesterday I would still call today a success. He could tell me if he had to pee or poop when I asked, while he didn't always get the toilet he is becoming aware of those functions. I broke out on my own and am going to work with a hodge-podge of suggestions from the book.

I can tell you what book I do NOT suggest. "Potty Train in Three Days" by Louis Kleint, M.A., Ed. There was no depth whatsoever to her suggestions throughout the book. Beside that, in the question/answer section of the book, in response to a question about bed-wetting, she makes the claim that bed-wetting is the fault of the child and a parent should deem this behavior "unacceptable." Therefore no excuses or sympathy is warranted for the offending child. While I agree that diapering a child at night can send a confusing message, I think each parent has to weigh the situation and child. I know that Jameson is a HEAVY wetter. I change him once in the middle of the night or he would wake up soaked through every morning.

Beyond that she recounts a story from a mother whose eldest child wet the bed until he/she was 12 and the mother feared her other child would be the same. The author states "To believe such things, or to speak this in the child's hearing, merely reinforces the negative behavior and gives both of you an excuse to avoid proper potty training." She constantly refers to bed-wetting as a "behavior" issue as in "realize this is not necessary or acceptable behavior." Wow, talk about antiquated theory. She is obviously from the generation that believes a bed-wetter is a lazy child who would rather pee in their bed then get up to use the toilet. Actually, studies have shown that bed-wetters have pituitary issues. The brain doesn't signal their bladder/kidneys to stop producing urine. Bed-wetters don't wake up and weigh the option of going or not going to the toilet, it simply is not an option. On top of that, it is an entirely humiliating experience, they certainly don't need to be punished by parents each morning. As if a child would choose to sleep in wet sheets and pajamas each night, choose not to sleep over at friend's houses and fear summer camp. Most of the time the persistent bed-wetting stops at puberty (not because they realize they should use the toilet) but because as their hormones arrive in droves it kick-starts the missing pituitary message. To think a parent might have no idea about this issue and punish a child for the persistent bed-wetting is enough to make me see red.

Moving on...Only one more week until we leave for Vienna. Yikes!

A Very Successful Saturday

2009-11-14T21:05:00.004-07:00

Jameson has been fighting diapers recently. REALLY fighting them, and he really isn't much of a fighter. The hysterics that would ensue during a diaper change were a little ridiculous. I couldn't imagine that he was ready to make the switch, but we have been preparing for a few months now. We bought a potty chair in June and it has sat in front of the tv, in his bedroom, in our bedroom and the pot part of it has been used as a bucket in the bathtub. All the while it just sat there totally unused for its purpose. He was getting used to it, getting to know the toilet. Ha ha.

Fast forward to this week. I received my research material (aka potty training books). I picked up a few pairs of training pants in anticipation of the day he might be ready. Also they happen to be cheaper here than in Vienna.

After a battle today I decided, what the heck, we would try the underpants, if he got tired of them or it wasn't working I would fight the battle later. I decided to use the "The Potty Boot Camp" By Dr. Suzanne Riffel. Mainly because it was a quick easy read and it seemed like I could follow her suggestions. We had already done the prep work, so we moved on to the the first lesson.

The idea is to spend a few days at home, ditch the diapers for good and permanently move to the underwears. I gave him the option of wearing a diaper or putting on the underwear, but I told him, if he chose the underwear he would have to go "pee" and "poop" in his potty. He nodded his head. The hardest part was actually getting him to "make" pee for the first time. Sitting on the potty for five minutes was hard (my child is active) but I set him up with "The Little Einsteins" on an iPod and he was very content. We read books, and it was during "Barnyard Dance" that he peed. (Yet another reason to love the book!) He had one accident before he had actually peed in the toilet and it was my fault, I knew he should "try" to go because it had been a while, but he was enjoying washing his hands (read warm running water doesn't mix with a potty training child). He stayed dry through his nap and for the rest of the day. After the first time he peed in the potty he totally got it. After that it happened very quickly. A minute or less he was on, he was off. He wanted a high five and knuckles. His favorite part is flushing the stuff down the toilet then washing the bowl out to put back into his potty chair. I am so proud of him tonight I could burst. He is 20-months-old! Even if we totally go backwards tomorrow, I am STILL proud of him! I could tell that he was pretty darn proud of himself too. At bedtime he acted like such a "big boy."

Jameson with his loyal subjects.

Notice the large water bottle, as the book advised I got him fruit juice, and all he wanted was water.

Now the book of choice today was "Everyone Poops" By Taro Gomi. He would say "boop" on every page, but he loves the page which has a Giraffe, a Lion, A Gorilla, a Crane and a little boy eating. He goes through all of the animal sounds, then turns the page and says "boop!" I love it. That is what we are taking on tomorrow, wish me luck.

Flashback Friday

2009-11-13T22:42:00.003-07:00

I am nearly at the middle of the month and definitely feeling a lack of blogging ideas today so I am borrowing an idea from high school and now blog friend Bridget and telling a story from the past. This is from my first trip to Vienna in 2001. Little did I realize I would continue to go back again and again for years to come. Oh, how I wish I paid better attention in my high school German classes!!

The week of Thanksgiving my parents came to visit me. My mom arrived a couple of days before Thanksgiving and helped prepare quite the feast which included two solid days of cooking. My dad met us in Salzburg, but not before my mom and I had managed to do the Sound of Music tour, bummer for him. We had a lovely weekend in Salzburg and headed back to Vienna for the rest of their stay. I was so happy to have them with me. I have always liked my parents and was thrilled when they made the trip reservations. I really enjoyed showing them around Vienna. All of the students were feeling a bit "parentless" around this time of year and for most of us it had been our first holidays away from home. I remember my mom gave out many many "mom-hugs."

My parents wanted to do something special for my friends and take them out to dinner. Most of the students were thrilled at the prospect of a free meal. Who wouldn't be? We headed downtown and our map-guru had come across a cool looking restaurant called 1516. We had never been, but it looked pretty good. We headed upstairs to find a booth. Come to find out this restaurant served beer in pitchers. It must be the only place where beer was served in pitchers in Vienna. When my dad asked how many pitchers we would need he was met with an, "ummmm, welll, uhhhhh...."

I suppose I should preface that I attended a Nazarene University. For those of you who don't know what that means; they are a socially conservative Christian church and one of their tenets is the avoidance of alcohol. Actually, it was "illegal" for us to drink alcohol. We had one "strike" with consequences and then on our second "strike" we were kicked to the curb. Needless to say we got very good at "not" drinking or at least not talking about it. I grew up in a home where alcohol was not an evil thing and there was often wine around the house (not for the consumption of minors, mind you, but for my parents).

Once my friends had gotten over the shock that my dad had asked if they wanted beer and more than that, he was willing to pay for it they readily took him up on his offer. Every single student commented to me how cool it was that I could tell my parents I drank. I remember just laughing with my parents and friends all evening. It was a fun night as we rehashed the term for my parents over great food that included a cheeseburger!

A few of us posing for a picture with my parents.
*I am aware the date on the photo says 10/27, but it was probably 11/27.

Actually, Kevin and I still go there to eat occasionally, and I cannot help but mention and laugh over the night my parents took my friends out and paid for their beer and food.

So much to do, so little time

2009-11-12T22:11:00.007-07:00

I say that every year about now. Nine days until take-off. Wow! On one hand it feels like we just got back from Vienna, but on the other I think of everything we have done since May 1, how much Jameson has grown and it feels like forever ago. Believe it or not it is really hard for us to pack up and leave for Vienna every year. I find myself dragging my feet, putting off what needs to be done only to stress the last few days we are in town. To help me get excited I like to look at pictures from past years. So, in no particular order here are some of the reasons I am so excited to be back in the city of my heart.

Best meal ever, definitely NOT gluten-free...Sorry Kev!

If you look very closely up the street you can see our bright gold apartment building!

I love Christmastime in Vienna

See...how could you not love that?

The National Library

Vienna is the city of Coffee Houses

The Rathaus (townhall)

Public Transportation

The very cool parks everywhere

Love you

2009-11-11T21:27:00.003-07:00

This is what I say to Jameson possibly hundreds of times a day. I recently told Kevin that it was one phrase I couldn't wait to hear from the mouth of my babe. Well, I heard it today, but it was directed at the dogs. Not exactly the scenario I had imagined in my head all those months. I made him repeat it, and it was still directed toward the dogs. It may have even been Lulu's name (he says wu-wu for Lulu) but I am pretty sure this was a "wuh wu." So, being me, I said, "Jameson can you say: 'Love you Momma?'" and he did. He said it. "Wuh wu, Ma" with a big hug around the neck. Ahhhh, heart melted. I had to yell down the stairs to Kevin who was sitting in his office and ask if he heard it, for the record's sake. Even writing about it makes me feel warm and loved.

I was really lucky today. I got many precious moments today. Kevin gets home from teaching Wednesdays at 6:15 or so, and as soon as Jameson hears the garage he is up in a flash running towards the door. He absolutely cannot wait to greet his Daddy. I love it. It never gets old. Hears the garage, sprints to the door so that he can say "hi" and grab his hand to follow him to the nearest ball.

Part of Jameson's bedtime ritual is saying good night and giving kisses to the dogs and Kevin. If there are other people visiting they also get kisses and good nights. Jameson was in Kevin's arms when I asked Kev if he wanted to read the stories tonight. He had just gotten home from lecturing which is pretty exhausting so he gave me this: "Not tonight, I'm tired look." Jameson was having none of this, he obviously, heard and understood this conversation. When Kevin tried to hand him back to me to take up the stairs, Jameson wrapped his arms around Kevin's neck. We asked if he wanted Daddy to read his stories and he very enthusiastically said yes (or something like an affirmation). So we all trooped upstairs where Jameson began piling books next to Kevin on the bed. I soon noticed he had handed Kevin all his German language books. I started laughing (he never wants ME to read those books). Now, don't get me wrong Kevin speaks German, but he gets self-conscious in front of me, because I laugh at him. So I am a mean wife, but it sounds so cute. Apparently Jameson shares in my joy of teasing Kevin about his accent. What can I say my son has my sense of humor. He loved having his dad read to him, German accent and all. He had a smile that went ear to ear. During "Barnyard Dance" he made him read the first page over and over, just so he could stomp his feet and clap his hands. After one book was finished he would bring another and another. I definitely think this is a ritual that should be continued.

I love my precious moments with my boys. I love watching Jameson and Kevin interact. Just this morning Jameson went over to Kevin's side of the bed and began having a conversation with him that was obviously hysterical, because he kept cracking himself up. We can't for the life of us understand him, but we love that we are getting closer and closer to the day we will be able to understand him. Kevin just kept nodding and laughing back which made Jameson laugh even harder.

I am so lucky to have such awesome boys in my life. Everyday reminds me how much I love them. I love that Jameson has so much Kevin in him, because it helps me imagine what Kevin was like as a little guy. I could go on and on but I won't.

A Perfect Fall Day

2009-11-10T22:05:00.003-07:00

Today Jameson and I dropped Kevin off at class and then went to Bruegger's Bagels. Jameson had a plain buttered bagel and I got to have my ultimate favorite: An everything bagel with Bacon Scallion spread. Mmmm....

After a fun breakfast where Jameson met a new friend and they proceeded to laugh at each other's funny faces we headed to an area called Cherry Creek, we had some errands to run. I love this particular area of Denver. It is urban chic. Awesome restaurants, cool stores, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, and everything is within walking distance. We got there about 9:30 and none of the stores opened until 10:00 so we strolled our way all around, looking into windows, greeting everyone on the street. Just enjoying the sunshine and unusually warm, but crisp day. When we got to Nordy's (I love that store) I immediately found Jameson some shoes (the boy has HUGE feet: 8.5). I was looking for waterproof shoes in an 8.5 that he could wear with everything, jeans, chinos, nicer pants. He only gets one pair of shoes in Vienna. Ha ha. Well, not only did I find the perfect pair but they were on SALE. Whoo hooo. Love that half-yearly sale! They look like a nice hiking boot by Sperry, and they are gore-tex. Awesome. Then I picked up some make-up for me, and then I found some great deals at Baby Gap too. Jameson was even a great shopper this morning. Note to self: go shop in the mornings. Normally he has had enough after one store. We hit up all the stores we needed to and then headed back to DU (University of Denver) to pick up Kevin. Then to top off our nice morning we had lunch at Chipotle which is one of the easy gluten-free restaurants where Kevin can eat.

Overall, it was a great day, and I got to cross more stuff off my list. Now if only I could find a cute, waterproof shoe that I can wear with any sort of outfit. Any suggestions?

A no nap kind of day

2009-11-09T22:14:00.003-07:00

Jameson did not sleep today, at all. This is not normal for him. The boy needs his sleep and for the most part he doesn't ever fight it. Today was just one of those days he was going to fight it. Its hard for me when he doesn't sleep because I really like my hour to do what I want or need to do. Instead I end up wrestling with a 20-month-old trying to convince him to lay down and close his eyes.

Today he wanted the dogs to sleep with him in his bed, which is normally just fine, but today it was a distraction. He wanted to cuddle with Lexi and "pretend" to sleep. He does a very funny impression of snoring. He can't get the snort, but he breathes really heavy and this is how he mimics sleep. All that to say, it was a LONG day. No nap days are no fun, more than that he is exhausted by the time its bedtime and this evening was no exception. Meltdowns from 2:30pm on. He was very upset when I took his pants off to change his diaper, then he didn't want a new diaper put on. These weren't tantrum tears, they were just tears of pure exhaustion and frustration. He doesn't cry often so I feel so badly when he does have these days. To top the no nap day he is teething big time (still!) and when he is teething he doesn't eat much. So that means he was hungry on AND tired, never a good combo. Since putting him down at 7pm he has already been up once. Something about his blanket, since the blanket got tossed down the stairs I am guessing he was tangled up in it. He was very angry with his blanket. Hopefully tomorrow will be a happy nap day.

This is Jameson pretending to sleep while he cuddles with an overjoyed Lexi.

An update to my sewing post. I did manage to fix my issue. Having some alone time this afternoon I was able to focus on the machine and re-thread it all. It worked and I made Jameson's pants. My new issue is that I hate crotches. I cannot go up one leg and down the other without screwing it up. I sewed the pants. Yippeee! I am sure Jameson is very happy he doesn't live in an era where his mom has to sew his clothes. It is a very easy pattern and now that I know what I am doing it will happen quicker in the future. He has a really long inseam though and even Kevin's "tall" shirts are barely tall enough if I use the side seam.

No Sew, no go

2009-11-08T20:17:00.006-07:00

I found a great easy pattern of play pants for Jameson made out of Kevin's old t-shirts. I cut out the pattern. I pinned the pattern. And I cannot for the life of me get the dang thread through the machine for me to begin sewing. OK, that is not entirely true. I got the thread THROUGH the machine, but something is obviously not right because every time I test it on my sample piece of fabric it gets all tangled, then the thread coming from the bobbin won't move. I have to take the whole thing apart and begin again. Ugh! I am too new to sewing to even have any clue as to where to start to fix this issue (and I am sure it is a simple one). Alison tried to help via text message, but it may as well be in a foreign language. I know that as soon as I can figure out the problem it will take 2.5 minutes to sew the pants. It is times like these when I need my crafty friends living close by, you know who you are! Let me just say that one of my oldest friends, Jenn got me through 7th grade Home Ec. when we were sewing wind sox, my schwiegerschwester (aka sis-in-law) Erika rocks the sewing machine, as does my Mom-in-law. Where are you girls?

I wish I were innately crafty, I am not. While its something I aspire to be, it always seems to allude me. I love knitting...the knit stitch over and over. My efforts to learn other stitches so I can possibly make something more exciting than a scarf have failed greatly. I want to learn how to sew, but I am being foiled by the machine. How hard do you think these pants would be to sew by hand? Hee hee. The one scrapbook I have attempted looks so sad I can't bear to look at it. I cannot cut a straight line, and I always make those jaggy cuts on top of it. I can't even color well, granted I can stay in the lines but I push the crayon too hard and it just doesn't look pretty. My mom was the best "colorer." When I was growing up, I loved watching her color.

My first (and only) scarf

Until I feel ready to take on the sewing machine again, I will take comfort in the fact that I made a really good pot roast today. I can cook, following a recipe is much simpler than following the sewing pattern directions or even the sewing machine directions. Now I will go eat a bowl of ice cream and catch up on Gossip Girl to drown out my sewing sorrows.

Toys

2009-11-07T13:55:00.004-07:00

My philosophy on toys is fairly simple: I am anti-battery. As a babysitter in the dawning of the "interactive" toys I watched as children's imaginations slowly slipped away because there was no need for it. Pushing a button to hear a song or sound requires no thought and, in my belief teaches nothing. I want my children to grow up thinking a box can be way more fun than the gift that came in it. That socks can be puppets, and mud can be pies. I want them to think of fun creative things to do with toilet paper rolls and paper bags. I want them to know how to entertain themselves. I want our home to be filled with musical instruments of all kinds. The toys that we do have I want to last from child to child and perhaps even my grandchildren. I think we are off to a good start. It helps that we are in Vienna 1/2 the year so our toy supply is limited, and it also helps that Jameson is only 20 months old and doesn't see toy commercials. I am sure this philosophy will get much more difficult to maintain once Jameson is older, in school and going to friend's houses.

This is our playroom/loft area. It is probably one of my favorite rooms in our house. When we first bought our house I had no idea what I would use it for, but I quickly fell in love with its warm cozy feel and I am up there way more than I ever expected.

A comfy chair is a must for all the reading we do and I was lucky enough to pick up a matching pair with an ottoman at a consignment store for $100 each and the ottoman came with it. They are really well-made and while I want to re-upholster them I don't mind the current fabric.

One of my favorite pieces in the room is our little Schoenhut piano. Jameson sits and plays it everyday. I found this piano when Jameson was just a little baby and couldn't wait until the day I could buy it. I love hearing the tinkly little sound when he is playing, it makes me all sorts of happy.
Eventually, I want it to be even more child-play friendly. I want an activity table that is always supplied with paper, pencils, and art supplies. I also want display bookshelves because I love books of all kinds! Another love is music. We love to listen to music while we play. Our favorites are: Elizabeth Mitchell, Lisa Loeb and Frances England, all of which you can buy on iTunes.

I love looking through websites that have my same philosophy on toys. One website I really enjoy is called "The Magic Cabin" and it has some really fun looking toys. Another helpful website for cool toys is Mothering Magazine. There is a resource page with a ton of websites. I love having a kid because I get to look at all the exciting toys again!!

P.S. I am attempting NaBloPoMo which stands for National Blog Posting Month. All that means is I am going to write a blog a day for the month of November. I am hoping that leaving for Vienna doesn't interfere with this. That is the reason not all of these posts are related to Jameson like they normally are for all our family and friends that are far away. I will try and get pictures of the boy posted on a fairly regular basis though!

Motherhood Fulfilled

2009-11-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest the transition to motherhood was a very easy one for me, there was no longing for what I was "missing," no wishing I had done this or done that, and I fully expected our life to change, for the better, but definitely different. For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a mom. My oldest friend, Kelly and I even have pictures from when we were about 2 1/2 years old with pretend pregnant bellies. I have always loved babies and children and I love learning about every phase and stage. To me, many things regarding children were simply innate. As soon as I was old enough I attended the Red Cross baby-sitting course and began babysitting for the ladies who lived behind us.

When I was 12 I started babysitting regularly for a family who would become like a 2nd family to me. At the time their eldest was 2 1/2 and their youngest was 8 months old. Two children were added to the fam and this is where I gained my newborn experience. The oldest is now a freshman in college!! I feel so lucky that Janelle had so much faith in my abilities and wonder if I could give a young girl that same chance she gave me to hone my mothering technique.

A great fear of mine was always that I wouldn't get the chance to be a mom, that fear was put to rest officially in July of 2007. I was well into the throws of morning sickness, I had seen the little tadpole on the screen and requested a blood test to measure my hormone levels. (Apparently they were excellent, hence the morning sickness). It didn't become real to me until September when I officially knew it was a little boy, Jameson would be his name. While I had that gut feeling "it" would be a boy I always imagined I would have a girl first, like in my own family. Also, Kevin's side of the family was having a generation of girls, so we assumed it would be a "she." I was in Vienna, Kevin was in the states. When my doctor turned on the screen she made an "ah-ha" sound and I asked: "Is it a boy?"

She told me to slow down she wasn't even close to that part of the ultrasound yet. A few minutes later she would reveal that she was ONE THOUSAND percent certain I was having a boy. Later on in my other ultrasounds they were never able to tell me because of his position.

He was due February 19th and that date came and went as many of you know. We did everything to bring on labor. What eventually worked for me was a couple rounds of accupuncture. After a very long labor beginning Saturday evening, March 1st and finally ending on Monday morning March 3 I finally got to meet my "dream come true." I was officially a mom, and it felt so surreal, like even though I had just gone through this very long labor I was just babysitting. I certainly didn't feel utterly changed. I knew I would die for this little baby, but I didn't really know him yet, I knew I loved him, but I wasn't IN love with him. Considering how long my labor was, I was very surprised he didn't look a lot more beat up. I was fully expecting a flat head and bruises. He had a shock of black hair and an orangey-red squished up face, but from the minute he was born he was VERY alert, all my midwives commented on that fact. He nursed fabulously and has never stopped. He rarely cried and still never does. People spend a week with us and never hear him cry. He was always the happiest of babies. Of all the babies I have babysat he was by far the easiest baby I had ever met. He made my transition very easy. He slept well, nursed well, rarely made a fuss and I fell in love. He grew into an active little guy and my job got a bit more exhausting, but he is so fun its worth the exhaustion!

Kevin and I have sacrificed a bit of our old selves but we both agree that we were ready for it, we wouldn't change it for the world. We certainly don't know what we would do without Jameson in our lives. Each phase Jameson is in is my newest favorite, because I don't realize it gets better and better. As his personality emerges I fall more in love with my son and feel more and more lucky that he is mine. I cannot wait until he is chattering up a storm and I really get to know what is going on in his head.

Going Gluten-free

2009-11-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

We get to blame Kevin for our new dietary restriction, but honestly its been a welcome relief rather then a hassle. Anyone who has eaten with Kevin knows that there were a list of foods that we thought upset his stomach everything from french fries to gravies to white wine. We always thought it was what Americans "put into" their food, since we had less trouble when we were in Europe. We never knew what might set him off and if it was a bad bout of stomach troubles he had a difficult time getting his stomach to return to normal which meant EVERYTHING set him off. For this reason, a f ewyears ago, we chose to go organic or natural and keep things as close to its source as possible, but even still there would be things that bothered him. After much research I came to the conclusion that Kevin may be intolerant to gluten. It took some convincing and showing him the symptoms but we finally made the leap after indulging in some gluten-y foods over our "going gluten-free" conversation. This particular meal made him really sick and convinced him that it might be something to try.

That night we had our first gluten-free meal and it was a typical meal that we have on any other day. Within twenty-four hours of going gluten-free his stomach was free of pain and cramping. It was the quickest turn around I have ever seen. Literally, we didn't believe it and kept thinking it was mere coincidence. We kept waiting for something to upset his stomach. Nothing did. A week passed and then almost two and it was the longest he had gone without a stomach ache in SEVENTEEN years! Needless to say we were convinced that we were on to something.

Around the same time he left for Vienna, he was about to tour the Balkans with our students and was worried that it would be difficult to stay gluten-free. We packed some Lära Bars and told him to stop by the grocery store the morning of their departure and pick up apples and oranges. It worked, he only got a litte sick on the road once and he got the sickest when he went to our favorite pub and wimped out of telling our friend, Rainer that he had gone gluten-free. Rainer brought him a "special" meal called Bayern Schnitzel. (a schnitzel is a breaded filet of meat deep fried yummy-ness). He felt ok that evening but the next day he was definitely feeling ill. Since being back from Vienna we have stayed gluten-free and he still has had no stomach issues. Restaurants are more difficult but because "gluten-free" is the fad diet of the moment we have found that many places have gluten-free menus.

Cooking gluten-free hasn't been difficult for dinner. We never had rolls as a side, we used few sauces that weren't homemade and we tried to eat whole foods. Unfortunately, our favorite delivery was Chinese food. We have had to abstain from it until we figure out what might be gluten-free (very little I am guessing). Breakfast also hasn't been terribly difficult. No more toast and english muffins, sausage, pancakes or french toast. We are pretty lucky in Denver to have a couple of great options for gluten-free bread called Udi's. The bread is SO good you wouldn't even know it has no gluten. Also, while most sausage contains gluten our favorite sausage doesn't, its called Boulder Sausage. Between Udi's, Boulder Sausage we get toasts, sandwiches and Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour we haven't really missed the gluten. It has been a bit of an experiment to bake with the gluten-free flour. So far we have made: Pizza Crust, Banana Berry Bread, corn bread, and pie crust for my very homemade pumpkin pie (it came from actual pumpkins, not a can!) Once we got the xantham gum everything has cooked better, our pizza crust was a first attempt, I could probably do it better a month and a half in to our new diet.

More than that, even though I am not going gluten-free for my health I have noticed my stomach feels much better too. A side effect that we weren't expecting was weight loss and loss of inches. In the first few days we were each losing a pound (or more in Kevin's case) simply by removing the gluten from our meals. For Kevin, the extra padding around his middle has been greatly reduced and getting smaller everyday. He now feels full and satiated after each meal. (A common symptom is the inability to ever get full because the body is not absorbing the vitamins and minerals.) He no longer snacks between meals and late at night (which may account for the weight loss too!) He even looks healthier.

Overall this has been a great change for our family. Jameson and I are only mostly gluten-free. We occasionally indulge: crackers, cookies and a few other things, but Kevin doesn't begrudge us gluten because he feels so much better without it in his system. It will be interesting staying gluten-free in Vienna the land of breaded meat, pastries and beer, but I will keep you all posted.

Books

2009-11-04T09:30:00.002-07:00

I love reading. I hope I am able to pass that on to Jameson and any other kids we may have, eventually. One of the hardest things about having a kid is that I don't have nearly as much time as I used to have. When I do have time I often don't have the mental energy to read. This is very upsetting to me, because reading was always my break from the world. There are so many books out there I want to read, but I can barely read one book in a month. I used to read a book a day. I go to the library and check out five books at a time and if I am lucky I will finish one before I have to return them, and this is so sad to me! Recently the books that I have been able to finish have to do with kids and they aren't fiction. Here are a few of the books I am reading or have read in the past month or two.

"Nurture Shock" by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman- This is a fun easy read that is divided into sections, meaning I could pick it up read a section and put it back down and not worry about it for a few days. I really enjoyed this book, especially the research that went into it and the ideas. I am familiar with a lot of what they talked about but here are the sections of the book.
1) The inverse power of praise
2) The Lost hour (as in an hour less sleep and its ramifications)
3) Why white parents don't talk about race
4) Why kids lie
5) The search for intelligent life in kindergarten
6) The sibling effect
7) The science of teen rebellion
8) Can self-control be taught?
9) Plays well with others
10) Why Hannah talks and Alyssa doesn't
Conclusion) Myth of the supertrait
Its not exactly a parenting book, but it is applicable to parents. I found a lot of what was said useful and interesting. Some of their research confirmed my ideas, such as lack of sleep in children today cause many problems. Overall I recommend this book, it was well worth my time and mental energy exertion.

"The Creative Family" By Amanda Blake Soule- A waldorf-esqe book with lots of ideas about how to come together as a family and well, be creative. There are projects for children of all ages throughout the book. Also, there is a small resource guide at the end of the book. I really like the idea of my family being together in the evenings for parlor games, or creating art or doing a project together instead of being huddled around the TV. This is the kind of book that makes me want to throw out my TV, and break out my paints, or knitting. I have a vivid imagination (always have) and I can picture the loft in our house as being our creative space. I like the ideas she gives on keeping art supplies accessible, but also making sure they are good quality. I always wanted "real" art supplies when I was younger, but it wasn't until I was an adult that I got to put a brush to canvas. I really enjoy the quotes she picked out at the beginning of each chapter. Also, she does her own photography and the pictures are very fun to look at throughout the book. It makes me want to find a cabin in the rural Maine countryside, preferably by a lake where I can raise my kids. Which leads me to my next book...

"The Backyard Homestead" edited by Carleen Madigan- My go-to guide for all things veggie, fruit, nut or farm animal. I dream that one day we will have a big lot where I can grow our food. Yes, I want chickens and vegetables and fruit. When we live on our farm I want a cow, sheep and a goat or two. This is a Storey compilation. The Storey publishing company has many of these guides. The Backyard Homestead tells me how I can harvest a years worth of food on 1/4 acre. That includes: 1,400 eggs, 50 pounds of wheat, 60 pounds of fruit, 2,000 pounds of vegetables, 280 pounds of pork and 75 pounds of nuts. It also tells me how to make cheese, yogurt, wines and vinegar, herb teas, jams, jellies and nut butters, beer, noodles, breads and sausage. Basically, I can look through this book everyday and find something new and interesting to read and learn how to do.

"Naturally Healthy Babies and Children" by Aviva Jill Romm- I love this book. I flip through it all the time and it helps me figure out how to treat a sniffle, bruise or runny nose. It takes a fairly complex subject: Homeopathy and makes it accessible for everyone.

"Green Cleaning" By Margaret Briggs and Vivian Head- I don't like using chemicals. This book has all the recipes to clean anything you can imagine with Vinegar, Lemons, Salt and Baking Soda. My cleaning supply bill just got a lot cheaper! From Costco my giant vinegar cost <$5 as did my 12 pound bag of baking soda and massive salt containers. My two big bottles of lemon juice cost about $7. I love how clean the lemon juice gets the grout, and baking soda cleans sinks and bathtubs better than any scrub I have used. Better still there is no chemical smell that makes me lightheaded. I keep a spray bottle of 4 parts water to one part vinegar with a few sprigs of lavender and a drop or two of the the lavender oil and use it everywhere. Mirrors, counters, stovetop, floors, etc. The vinegar smell is strong at first, but when it dries I am only left with the lavender smell. I add vinegar to all laundry loads, not only does it get rid of any smells, but it also acts as a fabric softener and static cling remover. I can even use baking soda fully in place of our laundry soap. I am excited to begin reading "Skeletons at the feast" By Chris Bojahlian- its a book situated in post world war II Germany. It is about a small group of people who are attempting to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from the Russian front to the Rhine to reach the British and American lines.

Jameson has his favorite books too! At the moment he loves and makes me read at least once daily "Ten Little Fish" By Audrey Wood Illustrated by Bruce Wood. On each page Jameson has a motion or says something about what happens as each fish goes his/her own way. I love it.

"Barnyard Dance" By Sandra Boynton- A fun rhyming book that I can't help but create a tune to go with it. Jameson just laughs at me.

So dark so early

2009-11-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last night as I was putting our dinner on the table I noticed how completely dark it was outside. I noticed this because the moon was so full and so pretty...and so far up in the sky and I thought to myself how the heck did we get to November so fast? It feels like yesterday that I was putting Jameson down and it was light as day. The early nights make me really tired in the evening.

In three weeks we leave for Vienna, and I am really excited, but at the same time it marks the passing of another Thanksgiving, another year and I definitely don't feel that I am another year older. Once we are in Vienna it seems the rest of the year speeds by us. Jameson and I will be there until the end of April with a "vacation" back to the states for the month of February. This year we are going to Costa Rica for two weeks for our friend's wedding festivities. This will be both, Jameson's and my first trip down to Latin America (beyond the Mexican border towns). I am thrilled, and I think it will be so much fun. Yippee for more passport stamps (it will be Jameson's 13th or is it 14th country?)

Recently we got to spend some time with family up in the mountains. Jameson's Nana and Poppa Archer were in town and it had been too long since we had seen everybody. Here are some cute pics.

Jameson and Edie got to spend some special time with their Nana and Poppa

None of them were too excited for a group shot and Soren (baby) was asleep which made it more difficult.

No no no

2009-11-02T09:30:00.001-07:00

Jameson's new favorite word. He loves this word. When we do puzzles together he intentionally puts the pieces in the wrong spot just so he can say, "no no no" when I ask him if that's the correct place. He says it in this high pitch little voice and I love it. We took this video yesterday morning and it makes me laugh. He loves seeing videos of himself and flipping through pictures on my iPhone so we have been taking more videos, then he watches them and laughs at himself.

Snow fun

2009-11-01T20:58:00.005-07:00

It snowed A LOT this past week. Jameson, as I have mentioned before, is an outside boy. It doesn't seem to matter if it is cold, windy and snowy he wants to be outside. We were lucky because his Nana and Poppa got snowed in with us for the week and Jameson had so much fun playing with them. They were great sports (literally since he had them playing ball for hours at a time).

The first day of snow about 10 inches

Loving his special time with Nana and Poppa

"I can't put my arms down..."

So happy

He would have stayed outside all day, too bad it was freezing cold!

This was the second snow day about 24 inches

He kept his hat on in the hopes we would let him go back outside

Finally on the 3rd day of snow and a crazy boy with cabin fever it warmed up enough for us to play outside for a good amount of time. This is what he spent his time doing:

Fall-ing behind

2009-10-16T21:24:00.009-06:00

The Autumn has been busy for all of us. Kevin was in Vienna for three weeks starting the program. Two days after he got home Jameson and I headed to San Diego for a few days to attend a study abroad fair at Point Loma. Jameson was a trooper. He had so much fun speaking in classes, and convincing students to study abroad in Vienna. At the end of the day he was wiped, when we went up to the lounge outside the caf to charge my phone Jameson sat on the sofa in front of CNN and the next time I turned around he was out cold. Apparently if the couches are comfortable enough for exhausted college kids, they are comfy enough for my 18-month-old.

We stayed with my brother, Tim and finally got to meet Cristy, his beautiful girlfriend. I am so glad I got to meet her after hearing such wonderful things about her. It was a short trip, but so nice to see some old friends, eat Santana's and show Jameson the ocean (he wasn't sure about it!).

After coming home we had a quiet week, and then headed to Oklahoma City to visit Nana and Poppa Archer. While there we also visited SNU for their study abroad fair. Jameson had SO much fun with his Nana and Poppa. He would wake up early knocking on their door. They even took him the zoo. The stories they told when they came home were so fun to hear. I was excited that they got to hang out for five days, and I know Jameson just soaked up the attention. He certainly didn't seem to miss Mom and Dad!

We were home for a few days and Kevin left to Vienna for a ten-day trip to take our students to Budapest and Sarajevo. Jameson definitely misses his daddy when he is gone. The first few days he always comes down the stairs around 9pm to look for Kevin. This time it was a bit of a rough transition since he had the addition of 8 teeth coming in all at once, and since Kevin was on the road our communication has been limited. Luckily Kevin will be home on Sunday, and we are GREATLY looking forward to his arrival! It has helped the time go fast since my friend Bethany got stranded in Denver (conveniently!). I am glad that we were able to help her out, and Jameson thought she was a great ball player. This is his mark for a good friend, how well can they throw or kick the ball and for how long. Ha ha. Even if you aren't athletic (uh-hem, like me) his charm will have you throwing or kicking the ball for hours. I have seen great improvement in my skills. I think I am ready to hit the co-ed softball leagues next year.

Today Jameson had his 18-month appointment, yes he is 19-months, but the doc is busy with swine flu. He is 35+ inches tall in the 96% and weighs 25.7 lbs for the 40%. He is tall and skinny, like his dad was as a child. If only I could keep those pants up around his waist! He is very active and as I have mentioned loves sports. He kicks, throws, and runs constantly. He has a gardening glove that he hands people to be goalie or catch the baseballs. It makes me laugh, but he is very determined that if you play with him you must wear the glove. I tell people if you want to be his friend play ball with him. He is very independent, and doesn't mind at all me leaving him in the childcare center at the gym, and he has already managed to charm the ladies there.

He is very helpful, every morning he helps me grind coffee beans, and fix my latte. He likes to sweep the floors and If I run the faucet for dishes he pushes a chair over to "help." I have decided to encourage this behavior even if it makes the task longer.

...And Kevin thinks I load the dishwasher poorly!

He is a watchdog over the dogs, and he always lets me know if Lexi is chewing some scrap of paper, Leopold is barking at the cars or Lulu is whining for food. He loves to corral the dogs into their pen and give them their treats. When we leave, he makes sure to wave to them and make kissy faces, telling them to "shhhh." Watching my child imitate me and my actions is eye-opening and very comical. Apparently I "grrrrrr" a lot, especially at the dogs or if Jameson is doing something I don't appreciate (read, dumping the dog dish or throwing his toys down the stairs!) Jameson "grrrrrs" a lot too, especially when I catch him doing something he knows he isn't supposed to do. He takes care of the "disciplining" by have a pre-"grrrrrr" for me. I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

He loves his "doddies" (not to be confused with Daddy) and calls them each by their name now "Wuwu," "Wex," and "Wee-poh." He is thrilled when they listen to him and he mercilessly bribes them with treats to do his bidding. Its no wonder Lulu and Lexi have gained weight. He has favorites on different days and he makes sure they all know who is his favorite of the day. He claps for them, "whistles" and pats them when they are good and says "no no no" and "grrrrrr" when they are bad. I am impressed that the dogs are so gentle with him, apparently the bribes are working.

We had our first snow last weekend and it was COLD! A mere 18 degrees during the morning hours. Jameson is a child that cannot be kept indoors for long, so we bundled up and took his soccer ball outside to play. Luckily my sister had handed me down a really good snow jacket, and it fit perfectly! I think we managed to be outside for a little over thirty minutes both Saturday and Sunday before his hands turned so bright red that I was worried they would fall off. He was not happy about coming inside and threw a lovely tantrum to let me know. I have to say, he slept well for his naps!

Speaking of tantrums, I can tell Jameson is becoming two. With all the bad reputation that being two has, I must admit I do love the age. Its an age of passion, discovery and curiosity. Jameson has a strong, but sweet will, I am looking forward to see how this will serve him during these "terrible" times.

The end of summer?!?!?

2009-08-21T19:28:00.013-06:00

The end of summer is upon us, and I was not a good blogger. I would like to say it was because we were so busy having fun that I simply didn't have the time, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Yes, we had a blast, but my darling son goes to bed between 7 and 8 every night, so technically I had loads of time. However, I don't think I had the mental wherewithal. We went to Portland during the month of June where we took lots of pictures, and then when we arrived home we had a new nephew waiting for us so we took lots of pictures there. One of my best friends and Auntie to Jameson, Alison, came and visited us, and we took a few pics, but other than that the cameras have stayed on the shelves. Kevin leaves for Vienna in two days to begin a new program with a whole new group of ducklings. Jameson and I will be staying in Denver. I am torn about this, because I hate being left out of the start of a new program, this is only the 2nd group I haven't begun out of 11 programs, being pregnant with Jameson was the other, but I know this is the best choice for us. On top of all that, I am uber-jealous that Kevin will be eating schnitzel and drinking beer with Reiner and Martin in three or four short days! So, as our summer draws to a close here are a few highlights

Portland Trip 2009

Hanging out with my fam at Eagle Crest for a week. How many rounds of golf did Kevin play?

Jameson had so much fun with his cousins.

Ten Year High School Reunion

Friendship. I have been friends with these girls for nearly 20 years(give or take a year) and they are the best! Even though the 10 year reunion was a bust I am so glad I went. I wish I could be there for the birth of Katie and Heather's little boys ANY day now! Jameson is waiting.

The Caggle of Cavaliers

Being reunited with our puppies has been fun. Jameson and the dogs get along really well most of the time, except when he tries his hand at "disciplining them. He also likes to cuddle with them, and they are not fans.

Up the Mountain

Getting a chance to hang out up the mountain with our new nephew Soren, our darling nieces, Elia and Eden, Mom and Dad Archer and Scott and Erika. The cousins all get along so well, its so fun to watch.

Auntie Al's trip

Auntie Alison and Jameson cuddling on the couch. He loved her SO much he wouldn't go into her room when he woke up in the middle of the night!

Reconnecting with Old Friends and making new ones

I don't have a picture of his mom and dad, but recently we have reconnected with some old friends. Their little guy, Ethan is 8.5 months younger than Jameson. Here are the boys working on Jameson's motorcycle, I can almost imagine them in 16 years doing the same thing.

Jameson's new Motorcyle

The Sandboat
The first thing Jameson wants to do in the morning: "ootshide."

The patio
We can finally enjoy our outside space! And trust me, we do!

The Death of UTA
A massive hailstorm ripped through our area and took with it my car, UTA. Not literally, but the hail did damage her beyond her value, so they totaled her. She was a good car until the end, and I have lots of good memories from college and beyond so it was a sad day when they towed her away. Lucky us! Now we just have to find a new car.

Bring on the New School Year!

My favorite Boys

2009-06-20T00:10:00.000-06:00

On the Road with Kevin, Aimee and Jameson

2009-06-19T22:54:00.008-06:00

We got on the road around 10 am on June 6th. We knew we didn't have far to go as we wanted to stop in Vail for lunch. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Vail there was some sort of biking/kayaking competition going on, so we continued our trip and decided to lunch in Glenwood Springs. We found a darling deli that had one of the best reuben sandwiches I have ever eaten!

I wish I had a better picture of Jameson's "set-up" but trust me, he was one happy kid. Endless Backyardigans and Little Einsteins, the one problem with the DVD mount was when Jameson got bored he tried to rest his feet on it. Needless to say, it wasn't built to have a little kid kicking it around, so the DVD player ended up sitting on the console anyway.

We stopped for the night in Provo, UT, since we had already booked reservations it was no biggie, but in hind-sight we could have made it all the way to Twin Falls. Which is where we stopped on Sunday to visit our friends David and Lisa Heida. They graciously hosted us at their beautiful home, showed us Shoshone Falls and then cooked an amazing dinner. David can mix a very good drink and Jameson loved Lisa! She brought out all her toys she uses as a speech therapist, and Jameson was so happy to play. Good times were had by the Archer clan! It was great for Kevin and David to catch up over the past few years and reminisce a bit about the "old days." They even offered to host the Archer clan + our three cavaliers on our way back. Ha ha, we told them they didn't know what they were getting into, but their Basset hounds, Abby and Beau would make Leopold, Lulu and Lexi feel very welcome we are certain! Thanks again guys for such a fun day!

Jameson's set-up

The Shoshone Falls, the Niagara of the West.

Our amazing hosts: David, Lisa and their Bassets Abby and Beau

On Monday we headed towards Kennewick, WA to visit my sister, Tracy, BIL, Jeff and our two nephews Zach and Jake, who were really excited to see "baby" Jameson.

Jameson fell in love with their cat Macy

...and their dog Emma, the toys, the balls

...and their awesome backyard

They had a big waterslide that Jake slid down

and Zach slid down

Jameson felt it was a good time to mow the lawn.

I convinced him to give it a try

He tried

Then went back to mowing the lawn in his speedo, which reminds me of Kevin's back tenant from San Diego who also used to garden in a speedo. Hee hee.

The boy cousins: Jameson, Zach and Jake

Gardening

2009-05-27T21:40:00.002-06:00

Jameson is all about helping whether its cleaning, folding laundry or gardening.

The boy loves dirt, he was covered from head to toe when he was finished. If you look closely at this pic you can see his tongue sticking out in concentration as he digs. I love it.

Where did the baby in him go?

Mother's Day

2009-05-16T22:51:00.006-06:00

Kevin, Jameson and I were really lucky on mother's day because Kev's mom was staying with us. I was lucky, because that meant I got to sleep in and Nana Carol watched, wait, chased after Jameson while Kevin made my favorite breakfast to bring to me. I got to wake up to my darling little man opening my door, and my adorable big man bringing me a tray of breakfast. Jameson wasn't exactly sure why I didn't get out of bed and apparently he was trying to make a break for it. He climbed up on the bed and put his arm around me for my whole breakfast. It made me ever so thankful that I have these incredible guys in my life. To be uber-cheesy, they complete me and I love 'em for it!

Later on we headed up to Longmont to have an early dinner with Scott, Erika, Elia, Eden and yet-to-be-baby # 3, Erika's mom, Momma Carol, and Grandpa Bailey. It was so much fun to see the cousins together again. Elia of course was wonderful with Jameson and he was in awe of everything she did. Eden wasn't too sure of another kid her size running around, and she sure wasn't happy about sharing her toys! (she's nearly 2, so of course this is perfectly normal!)

The best cousins picture I could manage

Grandpa Bailey (Kevin's grandpa) is very special to us and Grandpa loves Franklin Jefferson Jameson. Jameo thought Grandpa was so fun, and really loved sitting in his lap. I am so happy that Grandpa decided to come celebrate the day with us!

Auntie Erika (cute baby belly!!) and Jameson played trains for a long time, and when she walked to the other side of the room for something, he was following her handing her pieces of the track. It made me laugh. If you play with Jameson he remembers what it is you played with and that is your designated play thing, be it stuffed animals, books, or a ball.
Jameson got to have another birthday party since the fam missed his first birthday. He enjoyed hearing "Happy Birthday" this time around much more so than the last.

My little guy doesn't like to get his face and hands dirty when he eats.

He loved the chocolate and sprinkles!

Jameson even got to open presents! Nana and Papa got him an awesome slide that he has mastered and a lawnmower to push around after his daddy. Erika made him an awesome blanket that has quickly become his snuggle blanket when we come downstairs in the mornings.

His new slide

My daredevil prefers going face first!

Picture day

2009-05-15T23:36:00.003-06:00

One of our last weekends in Europe we took a trip to Amsterdam with our student Siobhan. It was an incredibly beautiful city, I completely fell in love with the row houses on the canals. Everyone rode bikes everywhere, and those bikes had the coolest baby seats attached, I really wanted to buy one. It is a completely picturesque little city and I highly recommend it.

I bought Jameson some maracas to keep him occupied, and he sure loved them!

Our hotel was SO great. The hotel Estherea if anyone is interested. There was free coffee and hot chocolate around the clock, and it was awesome. Siobhan and I definitely indulged in that!

I love my boy!

These two photos we were just hanging out at the apartment.

Back Stateside

2009-05-14T22:01:00.004-06:00

I feel so out of touch. My computer stopped charging sometime in early to mid-April, and it was the longest time I have gone without home internet since my fam got AOL back in the early 90's! Luckily, I had an awesome student who would lug her computer over every few days and watch Jameson while I caught up with emails (and everyone else's blogs). I learned a really good lesson though, and it was how time sucking the computer is for me. I knew that in theory, but to get it proven to me so bluntly was an eye-opener. Needless to say it was a blessing in disguise as I got so much accomplished I was almost composed getting out the door the morning of our flight.
Jameson and I managed to make lemonade out of lemons.

I will be attempting to catch everyone up to speed over the course of the week, but I gotta post this or else it will take me another two weeks to write something else.

We LOVE being outside!

2009-04-11T03:05:00.007-06:00

I love this pic of him, he is such a cheeseball and it shows!

Just hanging out in the backyard feeling the grass between our toes

We went to Poetzleinsdorf park last weekend and had a blast. We got to play on the playground see the baby animals (lambs and goats) and then we went on a hike. While hiking we smelled the wild baerlauch (related to garlic) and saw a bunch of older women picking it. It smelled SO yummy!

Poetzleinsdorf where we got to play on the playground and look at the baby lambs

Sliding down the slide

Having fun on the swing

Loving the sandbox, just need some tools!

On Thursday we met some other mums at the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the animals were out and about. Jameson is really noticing all animals lately. So it was a very fun experience. We will definitely be going back there since we have an annual pass. It was a bit difficult to get pictures since he isn't really walking yet. I got a couple of pics the whole day, and that was it. Waiting for the penguins to be fed

Jameson and Sophia had fun playing in the dirt and rocks when they got bored watching the penguins.

I never realize how BIG Jameson is until I see him standing next to a kid. Granted Sophia is little, but she is almost a month older than him! Jame-o stood about a head taller than her!

The very cool basket swing at a nearby park. Jameson loves it! He crawls all around in it and says: "'ga" which I have interpreted to mean "again." I seem to be on the right track, because then he says "ja ja ja ja ja (ya ya ya ya ya)." Everyday we have gone and played outside since the weather has been in the 70's. Love it!

His very serious face. At this moment he was humming to himself and he takes his singing very seriously!

Precious Moments Installment 1

2009-03-29T15:47:00.005-06:00

It hasn't been easy in the last week since Kevin went back home, but we are making do. However, don't ask me about the change in Jameson's sleep habits since his dad left. Especially during the more trying of times, I like to take a few minutes and think of the precious moments of the day. So here are some of my precious moments over the past few days.

Precious moment #1 Thursday evening we came home from our playgroup, ate dinner and I was putting him to bed, cuddling with him in my bed to help him fall asleep. He was nearly asleep when he got the hiccups. At first we ignored it, but after 5 minutes of HUGE hiccups I heard him giggle, which made me giggle, and that led to us both giggling after every hiccup. It took a while to settle down, but it was worth it, because even in that moment I thought to myself, "this is a moment I want to remember: getting the giggles with my 12-month-old."

Precious Moment #2 Jameson is very into putting stuff on. For example he wants to put socks and shoes on his feet or my feet. The past few days he has been picking up my sweaters and putting them on his shoulders and occasionally he even makes it over his head. He is very proud of himself when he does this. On Saturday, he was "helping" me fold laundry. He took a pair of my undies and quickly put them over his head. He was really happy that he could do it, and that he made me laugh, so he started dancing with my underwear hanging around his neck. Really, it doesn't get more precious then that.
Precious Moment #3 The boy loves climbing into stuff. He found a new place to climb into on Saturday, and I got a picture.

Precious Moment #4 He loves giving his stuffed animals hugs and kisses. Sorry the pic is blurry, he was moving side-to-side in a big bear hug. If only I had the setting on video!

Precious Moment #5 He is standing all by himself with a book in his hand. The only times he stands or takes a few steps by himself are when he has stuff in his hands. I hadn't gotten it on film, so here ya go, he stands. Kinda.

Six Weeks and counting

2009-03-24T13:36:00.006-06:00

Jameo "hanging out" with his Daddy.

On Saturday Kevin left for Denver. The spring quarter began yesterday and he teaches, so he packed up and headed back home. This is by far the hardest part of the year for us, since adding a child it has gotten way harder. Kevin and I are lucky because we get the chance to spend all day with Jameson, unfortunately this has made parting that much more difficult. Jameson was asleep at 4:30 in the morning the day Kevin left, but as soon as he woke up he went looking for him, in bed, in his office, the family room, the bathroom and all day he continued his little searches peppering his crawling with "Da, Da-dee, Dada." It's pretty much all he says, and well, apparently his dad is REALLY cool, because he never ever says Momma, but Dada is what he says for everything. On top of Kevin leaving, he has three monster teeth coming in: two "eye" teeth on top and one "eye" tooth on the bottom so it hasn't helped his sleep at all, which in turn is making him a lot more upset during his waking hours.

Today when he decided napping was for the weak, he was looking at me saying (between making an elephant noise, don't ask me its new, and I found it utterly hilarious, but I couldn't laugh as I was trying to get him to go to sleep) he was saying to me: "Da, dada, da da da da da, da-dee." However, the inflection in his tone really said: "Dad wouldn't be making me sleep right now, Daddy would be playing with me. By the way, where is Dad? Haven't seen Daddy around in a few days. The dogs warned me of this, that you and Dad just disappear and they have no clue if you are ever coming back, I had begun to think those dogs were crazy, but now I am inclined to believe them. I better not fall asleep, what if you disappear too? Did I mention that Dad wouldn't make me take a nap?"

On Sunday we spoke on the phone to Kevin, and Jameson lit up. He was so excited, he totally recognized his voice and was just thrilled. Ever since then he picks up the phone ten times a day and says " 'i Da!" (hi dad) and then has a very funny "conversation" because he laughs a lot "Kevin style" throws his head back and chuckles. I have enjoyed watching my little boy have these conversations where he nods his head, laughs and talks a lot about "Da." Right before I took the video below, he was having the longest most engaging conversation, and it made me get the camera, I tried to get him to do it again to no avail. I did get a snippet of it though.

Enjoy the week. I am working on my Istanbul posts, overall, it was an AMAZING city. I loved it.

I didn't disappear, at least not for good

2009-03-20T14:37:00.005-06:00

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. I actually have a ton of blog fodder but my computer is dying a slow death. She has been dropped a number of times which has created a problem at the power source. In order for my girl to charge, I have to hold in the power cord "just so." My index and middle fingers are numbed and burned from trying to hold it in the exact position. If you don't believe me ask Kevin. It is difficult enough trying to type one-handed and hold the power cord AND write interesting tidbits, and I can't forget to mention the crazy 12-month-old. Until I manage to get updated I will post some pics.
***
Here is a quick preview of our awesome trip to Istanbul.

Birthday Boy

2009-03-05T15:49:00.011-07:00

He wasn't too sure of the cupcakes, it looked entirely too sugary for us to actually allow him to eat it. He kept looking at us for affirmation, which made us laugh.

Apparently he doesn't really like being the center of attention, unless its the center of mom and dad's attention. I am probably a very mean mom for posting this video, but I think its cute, and this is how he acts whenever our students come over and pay too much attention to him. He hasn't learned that they are laughing with him and not at him. He is a sensitive soul. Hopefully its just a phase.

One year ago..

2009-02-28T15:08:00.006-07:00

The last photo of me pregnant taken February 26th

Well, it was leap year so that throws it off a bit, but on this Saturday one year ago I began my two day labor of love.
Nearly two weeks beyond the latest of the three due dates I was given, I was near my breaking point. I had already called my midwives and broken down sobbing, I wanted to have this baby and I wanted my husband to be with me, if I had to be induced, c-sectioned, I wanted him by my side. It goes to show that when we plan, life has a way of intervening to change things up. We truly thought that our son would be born somewhere between February 11th-February 22nd. Kevin would be with me for a couple weeks post-delivery and then he had to go wrap things up in Vienna. His plan was to leave that first weekend in March, and here we were on the 28th of February and no baby in sight. I was beside myself. I had fully prepared to have the baby without him if Jameson decided to make an early entrance, but we had been sitting on our expanding-butts for three weeks. My midwife, Adele, said that she would call the hospital to see if they would schedule me for an induction the following day, February 29th. I just laughed through my tears, thinking to myself, of course this baby would be born on the 29th.

She called back an hour later saying they wanted me to be two weeks post due date which wouldn't be until March 04th, but had I tried accupuncture? No, but I had tried everything else, so I called up the birth center to get a recommendation and promptly called to make an appointment. They were amazing and told me to just come in and they would fit me in. The doctor was wonderful and warm, and his name was Dr. Zhou. He was an MD and a doctor of traditional Chinese Medicine. He looked at me and said, "Yes, the baby is very big and ready to come out, let's see what we can do."

He was a bit worried since my last ultrasound had been awhile ago. He wanted to make sure there wasn't a medical reason I hadn't delivered. He performed some light accupuncture that did start some soft contractions, but I scheduled an appointment for the next day too. After the "all clear" on the ultra sound and the tech said something to the effect of he is just comfortable in there, but he looks great. I headed back to the accupuncturist. This time he said to me, "OK, now I give you accupuncture like a strong chinese woman. This is a big baby, maybe 8 pounds 4 oz, time to come out Jameson." (He got the 4 oz right...but he was three pounds off). I received the accupuncture at noon on Saturday (March 1st) and leaving the office holding Kevin's hand I could feel the crazy energy running through my body, down my legs. It was going in the right direction, we wanted the energy moving downwards. When Dr. Zhou told me that over 80% of his patients who get accupuncture to induce labor go into labor that night I was skeptical, but by the time I left his office I knew that I would go into labor that night.

By 6pm I was having regular contractions that were growing stronger by the hour. At 11:oopm, Kevin and I went on a walk. It was a cold night, but perfectly clear. The energy was still moving through my legs, and I can't describe the feeling exactly, but it was like a hot, tingly feeling. I went to bed hoping and praying that these contractions wouldn't go away as they had in the past when I went to bed.

Exile Part Zwei

2009-02-27T14:04:00.015-07:00

Wow, time has gone much too quickly, and I realized I had yet to post the conclusion of our exile trip to Zagreb, Croatia. Unfortunately, it feels like a long time ago, and my attention is focused on our next trip to Istanbul, Turkey with the students, so I will make this post quick.
After walking around touring the inner city for the afternoon, we found a very cute coffee shop with some amazing home-baked goodness, including doughnuts.

A little aside on the doughnuts, this time of year before Lent is called faschingzeit (fasching "carnival" time). In Vienna, there is a ball somewhere nearly every night, but another exciting part of fasching is "Krapfenzeit" or "doughnut time." Kevin and I love these homemade goodies filled with a yummy vanilla cream or an apricot marmelade. We do our best to out-eat each other in regards to the krapfen, eating two or three on a good day with fresh brewed coffee. My favorite thing to do is get one fresh out of the fryer down at the EisTraüm (outdoor ice arena) and choose my filling and whether I want it powdered....mmmmm. The whole purpose of this yummy krapfen, is so the good Catholics have a sweet, easy thing to give up for Lent because after Ash Wednesday the krapfen nearly disappear until next year. (Kind of defeats the purpose, no?) I could dedicate a whole post to the Krapfen. Jameson now loves krapfen, and I will have a fun time explaining to folks back home if one of his first words is "krapfen!"

Taking a water break before naptime

And my new favorite shirt of his: Dad & Mum=ME (No denying that).

After our afternoon coffee and krapfen we walked back to the hotel and decided to incorporate an afternoon nap into our schedule. (The beauty of exile). After scouring the internet for a good restaurant on travel websites (not much info on Zagreb)we finally decided on one.
It got great write-ups and was relatively near the inner city, in an area that we were now familiar. The restaurant was called Ivica i Marica, and supposedly it was moderately priced, not too fancy, but great food. We walked in and it was MUCH nicer than we anticipated, and we looked at each other and our incredibly active 11-month-old son, and shrugged our shoulders. We were hungry, so we made peace with the idea that we might be "those people." When we arrived there were three other tables filled in our area, but no one very close to us. The waiter was great he brought us a cool high chair, that Jameson sat in for a bit while I tried to entertain him with his cup or spoon. We perused the menu and ultimately ordered on recommendation of the waiter for the regional specialties. Sometimes that can be a little dangerous, but the description of the food sounded amazing, so I wasn't worried. By the time our drinks arrived Jameson was getting antsy, and when he gets antsy, he is wiggly and talkative. I was doing everything I knew how to do to keep him from disrupting everyone's dinner, pulling out all the tricks. Right before our food arrived, the band that had been having drinks while they waited for other musicians to arrive began to play. The timing was amazing and my son sat open-mouth entranced by the beautiful stringed instruments. All through dinner he sat and watched and clapped and bopped his head. We went from being the scorn of the restaurant to all the other diners laughing and smiling at our boy. Phew! Disaster averted, this time. Oh and, in case you are wondering dinner was fantastic, I wish I had a pic, but I was too busy trying to keep Jameson entertained. The video below shows just a bit of Jameson dancing to the music. I look so frazzled, because I was frazzled!

The next day was more of the same, walking around, enjoying the weather, sun, food, oh, and how much nicer this city was than Prague.
We had requested a late check-out, so we went back to the hotel to put Jameson down for a nap before our 5.5 hour train ride home then headed to the train station. We find our train, and are surprised to find see that it goes through Hungary, instead of Slovenia, and there is no dining car and only "Big room seats" (sorry I literally translated that from german, not sure how one would describe it in English, open car?) rather than our little room we had on our ride there. The seats were not very comfortable, and my nearly year-old broken tailbone was definitely pretty sore. Jameson was exhausted but wouldn't sleep, and the arms between our chairs couldn't move so Jameson had no where to be except on my lap or in the carrier. Finally, at around 8pm he fell asleep exhausted. The train seemed to have some sort of mechanical issue because we were stopped in the middle of no where for an hour and a half. We made the best of it, and were all very excited to arrive home in Vienna before the U-bahn closed for the night.
The Longest, Slowest train ride home

Talking on the Phone

2009-02-18T23:37:00.003-07:00

When I see this photo I see a baby Kevin

I am still writing the 2nd half of our Croatia post, sorry I lost steam, but in the meantime here is a fun video. For whatever reason Jameson was in an incredibly talkative mood while on the phone last night with my mom, his Oma last night. I dont think she knows I got a video, so surprise Mom! She was on speaker, and you can just ignore my obnoxious voice at the end. I think he is learning how the phone "works." In any case I got a short video, and it makes me laugh when I see it. I see a recurring theme with my son, he makes me laugh, a lot.