Oh, Dear! It's Almost 2010!

That sounds like science fiction, doesn't it? The year 2010? It's hard to believe another year has gone by. We've had a lot of firsts and big anniversaries this year: first anniversary of the deaths of Louella (dear mother-in-law) and Red (adored father), first pregnancy with a baby girl, celebrating 10 years together (me and Jalal), joining our first church together, first official job as a freelance editor outside of my old company, first Thanksgiving with instant mashed potatoes . . . obviously some good, some bad. We've really enjoyed watching Quinn grow up so much this year. He is quite the little man now. It seems he is always picking up new phrases, some of which are clearly copying us, and some of which have no known origin. Recently I've heard, "Oh no, not again!," "Oh, dear" (not the expression I'm most likely to use), and "Oh my." Is it strange that my 2-year-old boy sounds like a little old Victorian lady? He also tells us, "Mama, Dada, you're funny!" Today we stopped at the restroom of the BiLo before we went grocery shopping (hey, pregnant, remember?). While we were in there, someone made an announcement over the intercom. Startled, Quinn looked up and said, "Where did that come from?!" I laughed and told him it was a loudspeaker. He said, "Oh, like a speakerphone!"

And whoever thought I would spend a New Year's Eve playing Candy Land with my son? Not only does he love to play games now, he beat me pretty bad! And thanks to his games, he learned the word "Discard!" Jalal has to work tonight, like every other New Year's Eve in recent memory, so after the Candy Land master goes to bed, I will console myself with a bubbly glass of sparkling grape juice. Woo hoo! Living it up. While there won't be a raucous good time here tonight (though I'll admit I had to look up the spelling of "raucous"), there will be much happiness and contentment with our place in this life and this world. Well, for me there will. I can't promise anything for Jalal because he has to work all night and he just got screwed over royally by an employee today. But despite all the troubles we might have and the fact that life is nowhere near perfect, we have more love than any family deserves and more blessings than we are even able to count. I'm sure the coming year will be as crazy as science fiction for us, as we learn to add another child (and a girl nonetheless) to our crazy family. I wonder where we'll be this time next year. I suspect that no matter where we are, life won't really be that much different. Though with any luck, I'll be drinking hard liquor to welcome in 2011!! Happy New Year to all. May you be blessed and have the clarity to recognize your blessings and the wisdom to thank the God who sent them to you. Love, Us.

New Year's Greetings from Quinn the Amish Pirate

Good Broccoli Night

I know I haven't given the whole lowdown on our Christmas around here, but it might have to wait. I've been busy trying to enjoy it rather than blog it. Oh, and working. And cleaning. And emptying out the soon-to-be nursery. And panicking about Maddie's due date just EIGHT WEEKS AWAY!!! Agh! Anyway, I thought I'd just update here with a few things Quinn has said lately that crack me up (though sometimes not at the time).

A couple days before Christmas, I was trying to get some last-minute shopping done for stocking stuffers. Jalal had taken the last four days in a row off, and he took Quinn shopping with him every single day. No problems. He reported that Quinn was a complete angel the entire time. I stayed home and frantically tried to meet deadline on my job. Anyway, so Jalal had gone back to work and I thought I'd take Quinn to hit Marshall's and Ross with me. I was super nice to him that day, taking him to the playground that morning with Sarah and Maureen and getting him a good nap. I made it through the first 10 minutes with only minor whining, even letting him walk along with the cart instead of sitting in it until he was ready. Then he pretty much wound down into full-scale temper tantrum. It was not one of those "I'm not getting what I want" tantrums, though. It was more like an "I don't feel good and I don't want to be here and I can't have mom thinking she can just take me somewhere and I'll behave" kind of tantrum. It was the kind where I actually picked him up and held him (though he is just over the 30-pound weight limit I'm supposed to not lift) and begged him to tell me what was wrong. It ended with me dumping the stuff I'd picked up already onto a shelf and rushing him out the store still in my arms. I say "rushing" but by the time I reached the parking lot, I had slowed down considerably as a result of the severe pain in my lower back. Now remember that I'm "slightly" hormonal lately, so by the time we reached the car, I was crying as hard as Quinn was. While I tried to calm down enough that my glasses would stop fogging up and I could drive home, Quinn started asking if he could watch Bob and Larry (VeggieTales). I was so frustrated that I couldn't get in half an hour of shopping that I pretty much cried all the way home. Quinn kept asking me, "Mama, you happy? You happy crying?" Um, no.

So, we are going through phases of no eating again. I call it the cheese and bread diet. No shortage of starch here. He hadn't eaten veggies in a few days, but I kept trying. Last night, I made him a cheeseburger and broccoli. At first, he ate the bread (big surprise). He tried to get to the cheese, but it was too melted to the meat. Then he finally ate some of the burger. Just when I was about to give up hope, I tried bribery. I told him if he ate two tiny pieces of broccoli, he could have dessert. He said, "How bout COOKIES!" Sure, cookies, I told him. About five minutes later, when I had said "Oh well, maybe tomorrow," he picked up a large piece of broccoli and proceeded to shove it all in his mouth, finishing the entire portion in about 12 seconds. Needless to say, he got his cookie, along with a second helping of broccoli (he asked for it!). I said that was a good dinner and I was proud of him. He said, "Yeah, Mama. Good broccoli night!" I'll say.

When I tried to tell Quinn about going to church on Christmas Eve and singing songs for baby Jesus, he started right away on "Rock a Bye Baby." Not a bad guess, but not quite. Before we went to bed that night, I read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke, and though he sat on his stepstool and tried to pay attention, it really was very annoying as he tried to "read" along with me. That's his new thing, trying to predict what I'm going to say and speaking along with me. Fun. He then made Jalal's reading of "The Night Before Christmas" last for about 20 minutes because he had to narrate everything happening on every single page of the book. That kid really never shuts up! He certainly inherited a lot of Langston in that respect. The other day, he had a long conversation with himself in the backseat on the way home from church. He even imitated bits of a conversation that we had with him about 3 weeks ago about jet trails looking like "two sides of a triangle" (his observation), after which Jalal or I laughed and said, "It sure does." He copies the laugh and all. Creepy.

When we opened presents on Christmas morning, he got a lot of boxes. Every time he peeled back the paper, he said, "A box! . . . about Mickey Mouse!" (or whatever he saw on the box). He opened the box to a game of Memory and said, "A box about two dragons!" It was terribly cute.

Well, that's all I'm going to write about tonight. Just a teaser. Hopefully more soon. Merry fourth day of Christmas! Love, Us.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Wow, has it really been since November 10 that I've written? That sucks. I'll try to be better. The holidays and a vacation and a lot of work have gotten in the way. I won't make this a total recap because that would be exhausting, but I'll touch on a couple of recent events.

First of all, I would like to say "hah" to all those Chinese folks whose kids can eat rice with chopsticks. Last night, Quinn managed to eat rice with a single toothpick. Strange child, I know. But at least I got him to eat rice! It was only the second time he's gladly eaten it. The first was last week in Tallahassee when he ate basmati rice at an Indian restaurant (which was fantastic!). Last night, he ate brown rice, so at least he's getting some whole grains. He used to eat tons of whole grains, but then he turned 2.

Speaking of Tallahassee, our trip was great, but too short. Quinn charmed his Auntie Trish and Uncle Wade, of course, and was in turn spoiled rotten. Big surprise. Here's a link to the pictures Trish took. Quinn sang along to Uncle Wade and Daddy playing Guitar Hero, and then he told them, "You guys rock!" He also behaved like a little punk at most of his meals, too busy showing off and messing around for his "audience." Every time we left Trish and Wade, he would ask, "Where Uncle Wade and Auntie Trish goes? Find it anywhere?" That's his new thing. "Find it anywhere?" And he puts his hands palm up out to the side and cocks his head. It's hysterical. He also spent a lot of time singing his songs: the ABC song; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; You Are My Sunshine; and the theme song to "Wonder Pets." He also helped Uncle Wade get eggs out of the chicken coop, mimicked the rooster crowing (wish I had that on video), and "rode" Uncle Wade's motorcycle.

The day after we got back, we had to take our first baby class at the hospital, which was actually a tour and orientation of the OB floor. It was interesting to find out what they offer: baby Lojack (an alarm system that shuts down the floor if the baby gets too close to elevators or stairwells), massages for new mommies, and mom and baby rooms (for post-delivery) that are about four times as big as the one we were in with Quinn. Woo Hoo! I don't know if we'll take a Lamaze refresher course or their class called "Meet the Doulas." We'll see if we can fit them in.

Tonight is the manager Christmas party for the Marriott, so I'm trying to get ready for that as well. I found some fairly low-heeled shoes that I can fit my swollen feet into, but it was quite amusing even to me how contorted I had to get to paint my own toenails. I still need to put together some sparkly bling to distract from the fact that I'm wearing boring old maternity clothes and nothing fancy. Time to meet the bigwigs and their wives. (Not trying to be sexist, but it just so happens all of the bigwigs are male there.) Too bad I'll have to be sober. Oh well, I'm getting used to it now. But as the temps dip into the low 30s, I sure am craving a hot buttered chocolate (thanks Kaminsky's for turning me onto the blissful combo of hot chocolote and butterscotch schnapps).

I had to see a male OB yesterday instead of my female doctor. We have to struggle to find someone to watch Quinn just so Jalal can join me at some of my appointments (thank you, H1N1 scare), and when we get there, the receptionist says the doctor is doing an emergency C-section but we can come back in an hour. WTH? I know it happens, and I don't blame them, but this is really frustrating. I had to reschedule last month because we were running 10 minutes late, so that meant turning around and driving from Greenville back to Simpsonville again to pick up Quinn. Then I still had to go by myself. It's so frustrating. Anyway, I asked if I could just see someone else, and so I met one of the male docs. He was nice, and I figure you never know who'll be delivering the baby, so best meet them ahead of time.

Anyway, I better get back to work and nail polish. Duty calls! Love, Us.