Surviving or Thriving

I asked a coworker, casually, how she was doing at lunch the other day. She said she was surviving, so I said, "Just surviving?" to which she responded, "Nope, I'm thriving!"

I love the positive attitude in that, and I often wish I could harness the positivity.

Some days, though, there's a problem with my head. I can't seem to be the person I hope to be -- and often, even if I can get there from an outsider's view, I can't get there from my own perspective.

Yep, I guess it's another cryptic blog day. In a nutshell, though, I'm sure I'm thriving - but some days, I feel like I'm barely surviving.

Love: Positive attitudes.
Do: Work on more holiday stuff?
Hope: My "surviving" moves on to "thriving" very soon!

Kiddo's Routine

Kiddo does well with routine, and he'll be happy to return to his "daycare" routine tomorrow! He'll play with his little buddy who just turned one, and he'll have his picture taken by his teacher, as usual. These are a few pictures that capture how kiddo spends his day!

Meanwhile, it's back to work for me!

Although it was a pretty low key Thanksgiving break for us, the tree is up (and decorated). I got to play games with one of my new toys, courtesy of Black Friday sales. We saw good friends, and ate some good food. And now, it's back to routine. Looking forward to the next month, and the Holiday Spirit!

Love: Holidays and long weekends!
Hope: The routine goes smoothly tomorrow! It will be tough getting out of bed!
Do: Make my way to bed a bit early. Goodnight!

Green Friday?

Perhaps "Black" Friday should be renamed "green" Friday because of all the money people spend!

I love shopping. Love it. I love mornings. I love people watching. So, I ask, what about black Friday is NOT to love? As I headed out my door around 3:37am (to hit Target before they opened at 4am), I wondered if perhaps this would be the year I found out.

Instead, this is what I found:
* Not very many people were, like me, interested in the Wii Fit - easy Score!
* Some people will cut in line. And even when security is told, security will often do nothing about it.
* Some people truly are in the holiday spirit. See my "Thanks" below.
* Crowds can be awesome. You know, it's funny that some people really dislike "shopping" crowds. I am not among "those" people, however the crowds that occur somewhere like, for example, a concert are the crowds that make me start feeling a bit claustrophobic!
* Shopping is awesome. (Oh wait, maybe I already knew that.)
* Shopping centers with lots of places close by (for example, Kohls and Target) can be interesting.

Thanks: To the guy at home depot who offered to return my cart for me, even though I was in the very first row of cars parked in front of the store!
Love: SHOPPING! I guess maybe that's one of the reasons I named my blog as such?
Hope: I am not "shopped out" by Christmas!
Do: Need to start figuring out who I need to buy for, still!

Thanksgiving

For today's post, I thought I'd show - in pictures - the many things that I am thankful for! Unfortunately, all of my friends have never posed in a big group for a picture. And if I were to take a picture of all the food I am thankful for, the camera wouldn't be big enough. And there's my job that I love, my good health (how do you take a picture of that? I did run 5 miles this morning - pushing a stroller for all but the last quarter mile. How cool is that?).

There's so much more I am thankful for - but too little space on this blog to post it all.

Love: Holidays!
Hope: Everyone enjoys their holiday, wherever they are!
Do: Get to go eat turkey. Yay!

Holiday Chaos

As we approach the chaos that is the holidays, I am finding myself swept in. Swept into eating, swept into shopping, and swept into obsessing about eating, obsessing about shopping, and obsessing about obsessing!

Where do I go to see the best black friday ads? Where, if anywhere, do I want to go shopping? Do I go for the 3am, 4am, and 5am stores separately? Do I sleep in and take my chances? Do I really want/need anything that requires me to be out at that time in the morning?

As for eating, I will have my 2nd opportunity to "enjoy" thanksgiving as tomorrow approaches- with Kiddo's daycare.

Today was about going to the doctor and allergy testing (it is very painful having to watch a nurse draw blood from your child, in case you aren't aware and/or haven't had that experience).

I digress. Where was I? Shopping, yes.

Speaking of shopping, there's a catalog company that was at one time selling this awesomely cool mitten-like socks. I was not smart enough to order them when I saw them, and now they are gone - poof! And I am bummed. Very bummed, indeed.

And on to Starbucks. For some reason, although "starbucks" sounded like a good title for the blog at the time, it doesn't seem to be something that is all that bloggable that I can bring in to my occasional post. So I'm bringing it in today just in passing to make sure I cover it. I guess that's just something else I'm obsessing about?

Now we've covered Starbucks, Shopping, and Socks. And Eating.

I like posting after kiddo goes to bed. And now, I, too, shall join him in the sleeping world.

Love: Blogging to clear my head.
Hope: Tomorrow is fun! It sounds promising, and I will likely have a shorter day at work!
Thanks: For my four-leggers. I love them.
Do: Let those four-leggers outside!

It takes one...

... to know one.

You see, in case you were unaware, DH and I are both math nerds. When we first started dating, he told me his birthday was two days before pi day (which I had never heard of, but is, of course, 3/14 since pi is 3.14159... but I digress, already). He also sent me a "Power of 2" song - which is basically a mathematical love song. There's also a song with an actuary in it that was in a musical (but there I go, another digression already).

The point of this post, however, is 1 billion seconds. My DH reaches that milestone at some point tomorrow, and I purchased one billion grains of sand for him to mark the occasion (and also 'attempted' a surprise party, but spoiled the surprise by accidentally copying him on an email... oops!)

So, do you need to know when your one-billion (or 1.5 billion, or some other) second birthday? A quick google search will do the trick - but I used the timeanddate.com calendar (and probably another one) when figuring this out. I obsessed over it, also. I've had Monday 11/22 on my calendar for ages, with thoughts of different things to do.

So you may be wondering, how much sand is 1 billion grains? Approximately 430 pounds - but since sand only comes in 50# bags, DH got more than a billion. But I did not count them. And yes, the sand has a dual purpose: Kiddo needs a sand box!

This week is short and a bit crazy - but I enjoy all the food associated with Thanksgiving! I also look forward to some quality time with my boys!

Thanks: For the fabulous weather today! And for naptime. I've needed some extra sleep this weekend!
Hope: The holiday brings good cheer to those, like us, who will be unable to spend it with family.
Do: Get to bed early. Maybe then I'll feel like I can sleep in?
Love: My DH, and that we share a common nerdiness about numbers.

Half & Half

By half & half, I don't mean the stuff you put in coffee. Nope, today's blog (likely 'again') is about walking!

I believe we have reached the half & half point - that point where about 1/2 of mobility comes from crawling, still, but about half is walking! Yes, as of this week, kiddo has decided that two feet ARE good for something!

It's really fun to see him "toddle" around. He only starts over after falling down once in a while, but he can actually make it across about half of any room, and it's definitely fun to watch!

I also thought my daycare report on Friday was interesting. The "relief" teacher that is in there after about 3pm said, "No crying from Mark today!" Of course, he'd only been there about 1 1/2 hours, but at least - perhaps - the afternoon tears may be starting to go away!

Love: Watching kiddo learn- anything!
Thanks: for my health. It's not as great as it was 2 years ago, perhaps, but I've been lucky to not have anything major happen in quite some time (knock wood)!
Do: Need to get a bit more cleaning in this afternoon - and maybe some icecream!
Hope: We have a fun evening!

Inner Child

As you've probably noticed, I try to keep my "work" life out of my blog. Of course, work is where I spend the majority of my "awake" hours in a day, so sometimes that's hard. But usually, I can separate the two. Of course, some stories are too good to pass up. For example, as I walked out of my office today and was experiencing the pure joy of fallen leaves and wanting to kick them around, I mentioned to a coworker that I just wanted to play! She said it must be my inner child, and that hers died a long time ago. I couldn't help but feeling a little sad about that! Everyone should have an inner-child that they release once in a while. I guess my inner-child refuses to grow up, let alone die! Perhaps my inner child is released too often? Nah.. that couldn't be it!

As for "Rebecca's Rules of Blogging" - It seems like the same "work" rules should apply to daycare, and I should keep that out of my blog, too. But for some reason - I have trouble applying the rule to daycare. I guess because that's one of my main sources of smiles in a day. Perhaps it's related to my compulsive inner-child that refuses to back away!

As I was picking up Mark from daycare, I saw his infant teacher. Our conversation, paraphrased, went something like this:

Me: I miss going to the infant room!
Ms. P: There's a way to remedy that.
Me: Oh, I can visit whenever I'd like?
Ms. P: That's not what I was thinking.
Me: Hmmm??
Ms. P: You could always have another!

... why didn't I think of that? and why is it that this topic seems to be coming up repeatedly over the last few days? Maybe it's just me. After all, along with the inner child, I have several other personalities that like to come out once in a while. There's the obsessive me. There's the me that worries too much. There's the "oblivious" me that pays no attention at all. There's the random me. There's the busy-busy-busy-go-go-go me that can't slow down to breathe. Once in a while, there's the calm me that enjoys just sitting in a quiet room, sometimes with nothing to do at all. Perhaps I shouldn't admit to being multi-personalitied. But wait. If you know me well enough to be reading my blog, you probably already knew most of that about me.

Love: Kiddo's daily sheets. I get a picture of kiddo in daycare nearly every day, and I love it!
Hope: My multiple personalities calm down a little for the evening.
Do: Learn to use our relatively new leaf blower so I can "kick around" the leaves that came down in a recent storm!
Thanks: For the inner-child in all of us - no matter how close to "death" or far past that child may be!

Key-Doh-Key-Doh

One of my nicknames for Kiddo is pronounced key-doh, key-doh. Kind of like kiddo-kiddo, but with the emPHAsis on the wrong syLABble. At least, that's what my choir teacher used to always say, and for some reason, the pronunciation stuck.

What else do I pronounce odd? Maybe I've posted my funny nicknames for things before.

Like maters and taters. (for tomatoes and potatoes). Or Wah-ca, wah-ca (for avacado).

Wish I had a more interesting post for today, but there you have it!

Love: making funny words out of normal words.
Hope: Key-Doh-Key-Doh learns my funny words, and maybe comes up with some of his own one day!
Do: Chores today - laundry, dishes, trash, etc..
Thanks: For family!

Allergies

I think this is the week (or month) of allergies in our house.

Kiddo will be tested soon, and DH will also likely be tested soon.

For some reason, I've had the word "esophageal" in my head. I can't even spell it, but the syllables (ess-off-oh-gee-al) keep running through my head.

I still don't like hospitals.

I do like my sleep. Why is it Kiddo decides his nap is over just about the time I get around to lying down?

Rented some Red-box movies for the evening.

Random thoughts because it's that kind of day. Peas out!

Love: Sleep.
Hope: I get some soon!
Do: Watch the "baby" movie with my "baby" after snacktime!
Thanks: To all those nurses and doctors out there that make people better. I would not survive in that particular profession, so I am very thankful for those that can and do!

Fire!

Driving to pick up kiddo from daycare, there was a car literally on fire in the opposite direction. I saw flames, and the fireman with the hose putting the fire out.

It was a crazy couple of minutes - but somehow, it was one of those situations where my mind just began to wonder.

My father passed away in a fire, and for some reason, I've thought a lot about him recently. Going through pictures yesterday, I found one and was showing him to Mark. It's sad that kiddo will never know his grandpa.

I think the crazy male daycare instructor must also somehow make me think of dad. His birthday is (would have been) in October. Many reasons... maybe he's looking upon us and trying to tell us something. I wish I knew.

Love: My daddy.
Hope: I remember and tell kiddo stories about my dad as he gets older. Maybe I'll tell him a story instead of reading a story for the next bedtime.
Do: Need to stop spending so much dang time on the computer!
Thanks: To good friends! Just for being my friend.

Food

Sometimes, I feel like I am on weird food routines.

For example, dinner tonight consisted of brussel sprouts, tomato/basil/mozarella salad, and about half a bowl of cereal with soy milk (since we are out of regular milk, and I've been making kiddo drink soy at home).

Weird.

The other thing that I can't get enough of this time of year? Candy and junk food. It's addictive. I've been eating sugar instead of breakfast, even though I know it's bad for me.

And then, watching Kiddo's favorite show before putting him down, has the song "Party in my tummy" running through my head. Yummy, yummy.

Thanks: to coworkers who help me get rid of my candy (by eating it for me)!
Hope: I don't wind up gaining weight. I've still got about 20 pounds I'd prefer to lose!
Do: Eat my veggies. and bring fruit to work. Oooh... and get an apple or orange from the kitchen for a snack to avoid eating any more sugary stuff tonight!
Love: to eat. Anything. I'm just thankful - for the moment - that I only have 20-30 lbs to lose and am not a "biggest loser contestant" in the making.

Unsettling...

I showed up at daycare today, as usual, to pick up kiddo. After I walked into his room, he wasn't there. There was also a strange man in the room whom I had never met before.

So, when I said something about, "where's my kid?", I was asked, in return, "is your kid particular about things?"... and then the story began.

After naptime is snack! Snack went well, as usual. It doesn't matter who feeds him, he's happy to eat! After snack, there was a tour of the daycare by a new prospective family. When a female teacher walked into the room with the family, the crying began. The male teacher, whom Kiddo has had only 2 or 3 times now, could not get kiddo calmed down. 20 minutes later, once the female teacher was done giving the tour to the prospective family, Kiddo was still very unhappy. Mommy was later than usual, and the time change is making things out of the normal. Plus, there was something at lunch today that kiddo was possibly allergic to (although we haven't "officially" done allergy testing yet). So - kiddo was being held and carried around by the female "relief" teacher, and the daycare was at peace again.

As the female teacher noted (correctly), Kiddo now has a care-taker hierarchy. Parents are definitely at the top, with female primary caregivers second, other female caregivers third, other friends & family fourth (we hope) and anyone else at the bottom. Unfortunately, for today, that included the male teacher (who noted that he has 5 kids and 6 grandkids - so the stranger anxiety is not a new experience for him!)

Poor kid. Bad day.

Love: That mommy at least makes the care-taker hierarchy!
Hope: Tomorrow is a better day. They are making soup, since it is nutrition week!
Do: Hope kiddo learns that male caretakers are really ok!
Thanks: Today, thanks goes to DH. Just because.

And in afterthought - I think my kid IS particular about things. In fact, as I was in the car on the way home, I recalled recently where my DH said something to the effect of, "Have you noticed that Kiddo has a temper?"

That's my boy. Personality definitely comes out when they are little!!

Rules

We know that daycare has rules. For example, each child has a "spot" for their mat, and that is where they go for naptime.

Today, however, kiddo taught us the first daycare rule that we were NOT aware of. What rule? Well, to get the pacifier, you must first lie down. :)

Like it or not, my kiddo is still a paci-man. He loves them. I was cleaning the bottles out of the kitchen, and collected a pile of 5 or so. He sat and tried them, one after another, until he found his favorite one. He also likes putting them in cups for the sounds that they make. I used one to lure him into walking across the kitchen.

And then later this evening, as it was getting close to bedtime, I had a pacifier and he kept putting his head on the pillow. It was really cute- and the first time where I distinctly believe that he was teaching us the rules of daycare!

I am glad that he goes to bed (relatively easily, thankfully!) without a pacifier. Taking them away for naptime won't be so bad when we finally do it- I hope!

Love: That kiddo taught US a new rule!
Hope: We learn more from kiddo every day!
Do: Enjoy what's rest of the weekend!
Thanks: Today's thanks is to daycare, for making sure kiddo has to follow the rules!

Travel Ups and Downs

There are many ups and downs about travel! Today (and last night), I'm in Boca Raton, FL where I will get to visit NCCI for the first time!

Here are the good elements:
Just being in a new place
Seeing old friends and new faces
Stimulation
Doing new things


And the bad:
Being out of your routine
No pets.
Being herded like cattle through Airports, rental car counters, etc
Missing family
Hotels

This post seemed more interesting (to me, at least) when I began to write it. Now that it's written, not so much. Of course, one person did tell me once that they like it when I "talk to myself" in my posts, which is what I'm doing now, I suppose. So maybe at least this short paragraph will be entertaining? And if not, well, you didn't waste more than 3 or 4 minutes of your day reading!


Love: Traveling!
Hope: I learn something new at today's meeting!
Do: Get a little extra work done, since I've got an hour or so free!
Thanks*: Today, I'm going to thank the woman who will never read this blog, but sat next to me on a flight, for giving me her old magazines. She was very thoughtful, and now I have reading material for my way home! Although, I also should thank DH for graciously allowing me to travel on occasion!

*New for the month of november - and possibly longer - we'll see!

Sleep is good.

My cute little giraffe was not himself today.

A little out of the ordinary, I decided to change clothes after work and take Mark on a run around the lake. Two miles- what could go wrong, eh?

I got about half way around, and the fussing was ridiculous! He was screaming like he has rarely ever done in public, and throwing himself around with a major temper. I have no idea what was causing his craziness. I about wanted to cry myself. I'm not sure if it is good or bad that this was a heavily populated trail. About the time this tantrum started, these two lovely ladies offered their help. For the entire mile back to my car, they pushed the stroller. The offered to carry him. They sang him songs. The also offered numerous pieces of mother's wisdom/advice. Rachel and Samar. I think they kept me from busting into tears of frustration.

Hope: Kiddo is back to himself tomorrow.
Do: Send thoughts of thanks to the two strangers on the trail.
Love: "ordinary" days.