Halabys Go Upstate

The Crazy Month of August

2010-08-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

Just so nobody can say I didn't post for a month, here's a cheat! My sister wrote an adorable blog post (complete with pictures) about the weekend she came to visit. So here it is for now. I'll catch up once I finish my book (hopefully before my deadline!) in a week or so. By the way, I turned 30 this month! Woohoo!

Oh, and quick details from Maddie's 6-month checkup: 13 lbs, 14 oz (11th percentile) and 26.5 inches long (77th percentile). Quinn's 3-year: 33 lbs. (69th percentile) and 37 inches (40th percentile). The doctor calls him Chatty Cathy. Maddie is sitting up by herself now and scooting all over the place. We're getting closer to potty trained. Not there yet, but closer. That's all for now, folks. Love, Us.

Congratulations Are in Order

2010-08-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

I would just like to brag on my brother-in-law for a moment. Today he received results from his last test, meaning he has earned his GED!! I am so proud of you, Wade, both for all your hard work and for giving the glory to God. And I am proud of my sister for supporting him through the process and helping him to prepare.

In other news, Miss Maddie is teething up a storm and proving that her lungs are as strong as her legs. That makes this very interesting when Quinn jumps up every 15 minutes and says, "I gotta go potty! I gotta go potty!" However, he did wake up this morning with a dry diaper, so I'd say that's progress. We're moving ahead. And we still have a week and a half before he turns three!

We just got back last week from a week-long vacation to Orlando. We are so cheap. Last year we went to Sesame Place at this same time to take advantage of the free admission for kids under 2. This year we went to Disney and Sea World just before Quinn turned 3, at which point Disney tickets would have been $70! So we put up with 100 degree heat and 100% humidity to save a few bucks. We spent a few hours with my grandmother, who took an immediate liking to Maddie, and the feeling was mutual. We spent a lot of time with my mom, who was willing to drive to Orlando a couple of times to see us. Jalal and I even went out for the evening while Mom watched the kids. We went around to a few different restaurants and had a drink and an appetizer at each bar, starting with sake and sushi. Yum. Our day at Disney was a blast. Disney does a great job of keeping guests cool despite the heat. Quinn got to meet some of his favorite people.

We waited until almost 1:00 a.m. to see Mickey and Minnie. Still not sure that was worth it. Because Quinn got his mouse ears when we went to Disneyland two years ago, we had to get Maddie a pair. Check this girl out.

Could you eat her up? She was such a doll and even had fun on the Tea Cups! Quinn is a mad man, though, and I nearly got sick we were spinning so fast. A couple days later, we got to see "the big giant whale" at SeaWorld, despite the fact that thunderstorms shut down a fair number of the shows. Trish and Wade came down and hung out with us for the weekend, which of course made my heart happy. Even my cousin Sara came and had dinner with us in Orlando. It was a great trip, but we were certainly glad to be home. Love, Us.

I Lost My Underwear!

2010-08-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

No, not me. Quinn woke up from a nap today and came to the top of the stairs. "Mama, can I please come downstairs?!" "Yes." "Oh, Ok. Thank you. Oh, wait! I lost my underwear!" Haha! We've obviously been potty-training around here. We had a huge fight before that nap about underwear versus a diaper. I told him I didn't think he was ready to wear underwear for a nap yet, but if could prove he could stay dry through a nap, he could try tomorrow. He was so upset, and he kept crying "my underwear!!" Finally he agreed and went to bed. (FYI, he was not dry when he woke up.) I think we're getting there. Love, Us.

He Didn't Learn THAT From Me

2010-07-20T20:30:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I love my son. He is the funniest, most outgoing, smartest boy I have ever known. I left him home with Jalal this morning while I took Maddie with me to Bible study. The dear boy was evidently pretty upset when he realized I wasn't there. He didn't cry but he did keep asking if they could come find me. So I guess that made him a little more affectionate and appreciative of Mama today. At lunch and dinner, he insisted on sitting next to me, which is rare. He doesn't sit still when he eats, and having someone try to squeeze their head underneath my bottom and say "I'm stuck!" with ketchup smeared all over their face and hands isn't my idea of a good time. Go figure. So anyway, we tried to take the poor kid to the playground early this evening. It was too hot, though. I mean, it was 95 degrees out, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the playground equipment was all "too hot" to the touch. Poor kid. He asked if he could sit next to me on a bench and drink water instead. So we took him to a bounce house. He had a blast, of course. Made some friends, cried when we had to leave. The usual. (Speaking of friends, he saw a little boy in the mall the other day, said a few words to him as we passed, then turned around and called "see you later! I love you!" as we walked away. Hmmm.) Anyway, we went to Jason's for dinner and decided to get him the salad bar for dinner. Jalal piled his plate with shredded cheese, a cornbread mini muffin, cherry tomatoes, peas, baby carrots, cucumbers, and pasta salad. Let's just say he wasn't crazy about the pasta salad. When he realized he had almost the entire cast of VeggieTales on his plate, he was super excited. Bob the tomato? Squish in his mouth. Larry? Chomped on him a while. French peas? Scooped 'em up with a spoon along with some cheese. But Laura Carrot? You were his great love tonight. In fact, when he finished, Jalal surprised him with ice cream. He took one small bite and could not eat it. It was too cold. I tried to get him to try some of the chocolate mousse (my favorite part of the salad bar!), but it looked too much like ice cream. So what did we do? Like any good parents, after begging him to try his dessert, we asked what he wanted. "Should I get it for him?" Jalal asked me. "Sure, why not." So Quinn enjoyed himself a heaping bowl of carrots and cherry tomatoes for dessert. I'm talking six or so tomatoes and probably a dozen baby carrots. Who are you? "There's no way you came from my loins." I'm not complaining, just confused. Oh, and he's getting really good at reading. He read the sign (all by himself) that said, "Good Food." I'm getting to the point where I'm not even impressed anymore. After he read the label on his sister's cereal box the other day (Beech-Nut), I just shrug like it's old hat. I just love that kid. Oh, and on a totally different subject, my small group was praying at the end of a meeting the other day and I heard him say to Maddie, "Close your eyes!" Tee hee. Love, Us.

Mopping Up Puddles

2010-07-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I was so ready to say how much I HATE potty training when Quinn maybe, just maybe, seems to have gotten the hang of it. We spent all day today (while we were both awake and at home) keeping Quinn naked from the waist down. When I did try to put underwear on him, he peed on the floor. One other time he peed on his chair at the dining room table, but he also managed to do it right a few times, including "number 2"!! We've hit plenty of other milestones recently, too. Maddie rode in her stroller sitting up (not in her carseat) for the first time yesterday. She seemed pretty happy with it. She's also rolling over now, mostly from the back to front. She "talks" a lot more now, much louder, too. She eats rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas (not a fan), pears, and squash. She's a very neat eater, too, not nearly as messy as Quinn was. Thanks to the solid food, she seems to be putting on a bit of weight. She is still not fitting into her size 0-3 month pants, for the most part. But she's outgrowing her pajamas and rompers in that size because she's the longest baby in the world.

Quinn buttoned his pajama shirt last night, which was a big step for him since we haven't been practicing that at all. He pretty much knows his right from his left, and he's really good at singing "Jesus Loves Me." He loves to help with the laundry, which is great for practicing his color sorting, and is especially helpful when Miss Maddie is screaming her head off and won't let me put her down. Everybody thinks she is such an angel, but that girl has a set of lungs you wouldn't believe. She has got to be teething, and she better cut her first tooth earlier than Quinn did, or I will go stark raving mad in the next 6 months. Well, I know that is a sad excuse for catching up, but it will have to do for now. My paychecks have been on a ridiculous delay lately so I am trying to work really hard to finish my current book ahead of deadline. Plus we are planning a trip to Florida to visit family and hit Disney before Quinn turns 3 and costs a fortune. Gotta go now. Love, Us.

The Power of the Media

2010-07-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Quinn cracks me up (when he isn't busy making me want to strangle him). Tonight, we were coloring together and I colored a chimney (the kind that runs all the way down the side of the house). I said, "Do you know what that is? That's called a chimney." He replied, "Huh. Looks like a wall." Smart aleck. Then he looks up at the TV, on which was a Progressive commercial, and says, "Need car insurance?" Hah! What a great kid. The other day, he tried to drink a cup of water that had been sitting in the car, and Jalal told him that was probably warm. He said, "I need a real drink. Daddy, you need a real drink?" Oh boy, does he. Mommy too sometimes. Well, just wanted to write those down before I forget. Love, Us.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-30T19:34:00.001-07:00

Brought to You by the Letter P

2010-06-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Yikes! I realized that I better post once this month before June is over! Sorry kids. If anyone has any complaints about me being out of touch, you may contact me about what time you'd like to come over and play with Quinn, feed Maddie, wash dishes, iron shirts, vacuum up peas from under the table, and edit a book in British English while I blog and post photos. Takers? Hah! I thought not. Seriously, though. Sorry about that.

So, where are all of you moms who swore that all I had to do was put Quinn in underwear for a few hours to potty train him? Supposedly, one little accident is all it takes to get them rushing for the potty, right? Three puddles later, and I'm doing an extra load of laundry and the potty (sitting right in the living room so as not to interrupt the activities too much)is empty. Hmmm. That doesn't seem to be working. I'm not sure I have ever envied you people with wood floors more than I did today. At my Bible study this morning, someone came to get me and said Quinn needed to use the potty but the girls watching the kids weren't sure what to do with him. I laughed and said, "OK, but I'm just going to go in there and ask if he wants to sit on the potty, and he's going to say no." I'm not psychic, but I was spot on with that one. He's pretty adept at peeing in the bathtub, though! Guess we'll give it another shot tomorrow. Good night. Love, Us.

Reading Rainbow

2010-05-31T07:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I wish I was feeling better today because this is Jalal's only day off this week and it would be wonderful to celebrate the holiday. But I started feeling crummy when I woke up yesterday and today is a little bit worse. Jalal didn't even get home until 5 o'clock this morning, so he isn't up yet (as of 10 a.m.). I'm just trying to take advantage and rest while I can. Rest--hah! Like that's possible with two kids under 3. Quinn woke up at the crack of dawn, and even though I'd cracked his door and left the TV downstairs on PBS, he still came in and bugged me, a few times. I guess the channel froze at some point, so he got bored watching a still image of "Arthur." I finally had to get up around 7 something and head downstairs, get everyone's diapers changed, and feed them breakfast. Maddie is fussing in her swing as I speak. However, there was a bright spot to my morning. Dear Quinn and I were about to read his "Finding Nemo" book when I asked him to read instead. I picked a word or two off of each page, and he sounded them out all by himself! I was so proud! Let's see if I can remember the words he read: Dad, off, in, on, but, met, back... That might be all of them. Isn't that awesome? I can't believe how smart he is. Well, I think we're actually going to get out of the house for a bit today. Later. Love, Us.

Five-Question Friday

2010-05-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Joining in a little blog hop tonight because I feel like I ought to post but I'm too tired to think of what to write myself. It's called blog cheating. This one is hosted by Mama M. at My Little Life.

1. Is there something you've always wanted to try but just can't muster up the courage to actually do yet?

Hmmm...I have been trying to muster up the nerve to attempt some of Bakerella's cake pops. Maybe these? I have done a fair number of batches of the yummy chocolate cake balls, but decorating beyond simple lumps is daunting. Especially when hers are so freakin' awesome! I would love to pull these off for a friend's baby shower or Quinn's next birthday.

2. If you had $100 handed to you in cash without your significant other knowing about it, what would you spend it on?

Probably books. Or cookie dough (not all of it, obviously!). Maybe some adorable clothes for my adorable kids, though he certainly has done that often enough that I shouldn't hide it from him!

3. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment as a child?

The swings. I love the power of pumping your legs and going so high that you defy gravity for a moment and slam back down onto the swing. When my sister and I were little, we had a rickety old swingset in the backyard and the poles came up out of the sand every time you swung too high.

4. Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?

Depends on the day. I actually like to combine eggs, bacon, and french toast. That's my ideal breakfast.

5. Are you a Neat Freak or a Messy Bessy?

I admit, I'm pretty messy. But I do try. It's just overwhelming with two little kids, a job, and a hubby who works 95 hours a week. When I worked in an office, I was obsessive about organization and keeping my cubicle neat. But it was only 4 feet square, so it was manageable.

Well, that's all folks! Gotta get the baby to bed. Happy Memorial Day weekend, and God bless all the soldiers, past and present, who leave their families to protect ours. I've been loving PW's photos about coming home. Check 'em out here. Love, Us.

Manners

2010-05-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

I have tried hard to teach my son manners. He says please, thank you, excuse me, you're welcome, I'm sorry, "are you ok?", etc. Granted, he's just 2, so sometimes he doesn't know the appropriate way to behave in some situations. So what was Mrs. Nosy's excuse? We stopped by Tuesday Morning this evening to get a birthday present for a party we're going to on Sunday. We had spent the whole afternoon with friends downtown at the Children's Fountain and feeding the ducks. So I wanted this to be a quick stop. I already knew pretty much what I wanted to get. I loaded both kids into the stroller to make it as easy as possible. I had to strap Quinn down within the first five minutes because he was swinging and hanging on the handle of the stroller. Not only was he about to flip his sister over, if he broke our expensive stroller, I would take it out of his allowance until it's paid for. Anyway, we made it to the toy aisle with only mild annoyance (mine) and him saying "I have that?" about 19 times. We stopped at the puzzles and I flipped through them, looking for the perfect birthday present. Incidentally, I was also keeping my eyes open for something Quinn might like. But I wasn't going to get him anything after he started crying about the ABC puzzle. He wanted it bad. Don't think I'm a terrible, heartless mother who doesn't want her kid to learn his ABCs. He is OBSESSED with his letters. He knows them all, knows the sounds they make, can spell a few words, including his name, etc. He can sing about three versions of the alphabet song (current fave is Alphapig's from SuperWhy), and he can sing the alphabet by the sounds the letters make as fast as by the letters themselves. He owns about 25 alphabet books. And he is great at puzzles. I buy him puzzles all the time. But he's worked his way up to doing 48-piece puzzles. I was not about to buy him a 26-piece ABC puzzle that he could put together in about 4.8 seconds. Now, there was a "sweet" older lady there who stopped us and asked how old Maddie was. We chatted about the kids and her grandkids, and she talked to Quinn about being a big brother. He asked her if he could have the ABC puzzle. Stop here. Think. What would you do? Would you:
A) Say something like, "Oh honey, I'm sure you have lots of puzzles at home. You don't need a silly old ABC puzzle."
B) Segue. Say "Do you know your ABCs? Aren't you a smart boy."
C) Bend down and find a few ABC puzzles and say, "What about this one? I bet you could put this one together. What about these number puzzles? Your mom could get you one of these, too." Hand the ABC puzzle to Quinn and say, "That looks like a great puzzle." Walk away pleased with yourself for making the little crying boy happy.

Hmmm. I'll let you figure out which version we experienced. Sweet Granny screwed me bad. I waited until she walked away and then told Quinn we were not getting the ABC puzzle. I attempted to distract him with talk of other things and began moving quickly toward the cash registers. He began shrieking at top volume. I mean, screaming hysterically at the top of his lungs. I acted on my first instinct and clamped my hand over his mouth. Let me just say, that did not help. He screamed louder and I just tried to calm him down by whispering in his ear. He got better but it was still a good idea to move ourselves quickly to the front of the store. We checked out with very little fuss and only a little whimpering. But I will never forgive sweet Granny and I ask this of each of you. Please do not take sides with a child against his mother, ESPECIALLY if you are a complete stranger. It would have been bad enough if it were Quinn's grandmother doing it, but I just wanted to say "How DARE you?" This rule applies to those of you who want to give my child candy or snacks or anything of the sort. Asking Mom's permission after you offer something to a 2-year-old doesn't count as good manners. So say "please may I offer your child something you may not want him to have" BEFORE you say "would you like [fill in the blank]?" Thank you.

When They Are 3, They Lie!

2010-05-25T15:09:00.001-07:00

The finger-pointing has begun. For the first time, but probably not the last, Quinn blamed Maddie for something he did. We were all lying down on her play mat encouraging Maddie to reach out and grasp her hanging toys. I noticed a stinky smell and said, "Does someone need a new diaper?" Quinn said, "No." I said, "Quinn, did you go to the bathroom?" "No, that's Maddie." Well, without being too vulgar, I can tell the difference. This was not Maddie. But I had to give him some credit for shifting blame, I guess. It reminds me of a trip to the mall we took a couple months ago. I was waiting with Maddie and the stroller while Quinn and Jalal rode the "moving stairs" a few times. This sweet older lady stopped to admire the sleeping baby. She said something like "God bless you." I said, well, I also have a two-year-old on the escalator. She said, "Oh, I used to teach Sunday school to 2- and 3-year-olds. The 2-year-olds are sweet, but when they are 3, they lie!" I have to admit, I busted out laughing a little. I was sure she was right, and now I am seeing it first-hand. Below, he is not lying, but he is reading to her. He knows "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by heart, and he loves to read to Maddie.

The next picture is of Quinn giving Maddie a bottle for the first time last night. How sweet is that? He practiced on his baby doll the other day, so I thought he was ready. Doesn't he look devious in that one?

Do you ever get so caught up in the little details that you miss the big picture? I don't mean on a daily basis with big stuff like life or anything, though I do that sometimes. I mean, for instance, today I had both kids sleeping at once, the living room was vacuumed, and the dishwasher was running. I was waiting on a job to come through, so I had no work, and I was caught up on blogs and facebook and junk like that. I decided to attend to the single most overdue cleaning project in my house: my bathroom sink and countertops. The tub and toilet get cleaned fairly regularly, but there is so much junk piled up on the countertops that it is a daunting task. But I dug in. Now I should have just unloaded the stuff, wiped it down, and moved on to other things, like putting away laundry or taking out the trash. But I got involved in the minutiae (love that word). I ended up scrubbing the gap between the back of the sink and the wall with an old toothbrush, which I then used on the ring around the drain. After the whole area was clean, I wiped off the stuff like soap pump and deodorant and replaced them, putting all the non-essentials in their proper place. (How very Donna Reid of me.) Another example: Sometimes when I really need to be getting ready to leave the house, I became (just a tad) obsessed with cleaning the hair out of my hairbrush. I can't stop until it's really really clean. Don't ask me why.

Well, I'm going to sign off now because I should have started dinner a half hour ago. And it's bath night, which HAS to be done by 8 p.m. because I am NOT missing the live finale of Biggest Loser. I have my priorities. I will close with a couple of Maddie pics because I owe you from her 3-month birthday. Love, Us.

"You Make My Heart Super Happy"

2010-05-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't get the reference, the title of today's post is from Ni-Hao, Kai-lan," a Nick Jr. show about a little Chinese girl and her animal friends. Quinn has spent the last 30 minutes pointedly NOT finishing his milk or dinner but instead singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the top of his lungs and asking for more "Jesus songs." It made me think about all the things in my life right now that make my heart happy, even when so many things don't. I could complain about my husband having to work six long days a week and not being around much. I could complain about how hard it is to get all of my work done while taking care of two small kids. I could complain about the fact that Quinn has absolutely no interest whatsoever in potty training but insists on showing me his backside every time he goes to the bathroom. But you know what? When Maddie gives me a big silly grin for no reason at all or Quinn pats my hair and tells me he loves me, all of that fades away. The fact is Maddie is a great baby. She sleeps through the night already and is a pretty calm baby whenever we're out in public. Quinn is a great kid, too, despite his temper tantrums. He still takes a nap (about 2 hours) most days of the week. He goes to bed without a fight almost every single night. He usually eats his vegetables before anything else. He says things like "That's the rules!" and loves on his baby sister. Tonight he was "helping" me cut coupons when I came across an ad for Baskin Robbins. He said, "Ooh, cake! I love cake. Mama, you say, 'Me, too'." I laughed so hard! Because, really, I love cake more than probably any other person on earth. Especially ice cream cake. I wish I had some right now. There is some really good ice cream in the freezer, but it's Jalal's and I can't eat it. He would say it was okay, but really I would never hear the end of it. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much a lose-lose situation for me. If ice cream lasts more than a week or so without me eating it, he says, "I can't believe we still have ice cream." Anyway, my point is that my kids make my heart super happy. Anyone who meets them falls in love with them. Well, I'm going to try really hard to get to bed early tonight. I've been up long past midnight every night this week, and catching some show last night on the History Channel about aliens being responsible for inseminating Noah's mother and then wiping out the "inferior" humans with the flood made me realize that it's not worth staying up late! Weird. So, goodnight. Love, Us.

Maddie's 3 Months Old!

2010-05-20T07:16:00.001-07:00

Good morning! I woke up today with a few different things: a sore throat, for which I am drinking hot tea and hoping is not a sign of worse things to come; a prayer in my mind for my cousin (well, cousin's wife), Mary, who even at this moment is supposed to be in surgery; a plan to blow through some overdue housework first thing in the morning to catch up while I have no editing work to do; and a reminder to myself that Maddie is 3 months old today. I will have to take some special pictures today. I tried to find a recent one on the camera but after 10 minutes of deleting pictures of knees, fingers, foreheads, the ceiling, etc. (guess who got a hold of the camera?), I gave up. If anyone doesn't read my sister's blog, you should link over to it here and see the pics and video she posted of the kids while she and Wade were here a few weeks ago. Maddie is starting to put on some weight--slowly. She was only 9 lbs., 11 oz. at her 2-month appointment, in the 17th percentile. So we were having a tough time with clothes. She's long enough that she's almost too big for 3-month clothes, but her waist is so tiny that pants and shorts and even diaper covers fall off her. My mom sent us a couple of boxes of hand-me-downs from a friend of hers, and it was a jackpot! Tons of rompers in her size! Cute stuff, too. Rompers are perfect because there are no waistbands and most are shorts, so the length isn't an issue either. That makes it a lot easier to dress her. She is smiling a lot and cooing, but she's so vain. She will look at you like she's a little pissed off until you tell her she's pretty, and then her face lights up in a huge smile. Then you can see her one dimple and she'll start to talk. This morning, she was hanging out in her swing while I was making breakfast. I kept hearing this high-pitched shriek, which I thought was Quinn, but it was actually her. She also kept trying to roll over in her swing, but she just ended up slumped over. Going to have to watch that one! I'll put her at one end of her crib to sleep and in the morning she's at the other end with her feet sticking out of the slats. She's still a great sleeper, usually going for 8 hours at night without a peep! I don't know what we ever did to deserve two adorable children who are great sleepers. On the other hand, Quinn is trying to give up his afternoon nap. Guess who is not ready for that? Uh, me, in case you were wondering. I've had many different kinds of afternoons this week. One day, he took a 2 1/2 hour nap without a fuss. One day, he screamed and cried and pulled my hair and fought his nap so bad that he didn't get any rest at all. One day, he took a "rest" lying on our bed watching "Finding Nemo." That's the day he fell asleep sitting up in a cart at Babies 'R Us. He woke up after 15 minutes screaming and hysterical for a while. That shows me he is not quite ready for that either. I guess we'll keep working on it. We have a big playdate today with some other moms and kids, and I hope I can get him down for a little while so that will go better. Not only is he in a better mood when he naps, but he is safer. He gets really clumsy when he's tired. And he's such a boy that he doesn't need any more bruises and bumps and scrapes.

Speaking of Quinn, I realized that if I don't start logging some of this stuff, I'll forget. He's such a great kid most of the time. He's wicked smart and very funny. Here are some of the funny things he says:
Peaner jeller (peanut butter and jelly, though he's starting to say this correctly, which actually makes me sad, because this is really cute)
Leave Quinn alone! (this is said in anger when he's in a bad mood or being disciplined, when it is really inappropriate to laugh at him. But the first time he said it [yelled it, actually], I had to walk outside so he wouldn't see me laughing my head off.).
Me too. Me three. Me one. Etc. (often he'll say "me too" and then tell me to say "me three" and so on.)
I go to Mickey's House!! (we're discussing a trip to Disney World this year, so this is a favorite, but it comes out of nowhere like when he wakes up from a nap.)
We're having a birthday party tomorrow! (One time, we had a party for Jalal and Uncle Wade. This is now said almost every day. He also tells me "Happy Mother's Day" about every few days. So sweet and not right.)
(Counting) One through twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen, twenty! He thinks 13 and 14 sound the same, so he only says 14. We always just thought he was superstitious.)
Watch out! Grandma's coming! (I swear I don't know where he gets this, but sometimes if someone is walking down the stairs, he says this.)
Hi Monica. (This just started. He's calling Maddie "Monica" sometimes, watching me to see my reaction. Monica is a little girl at our church, but she's a year old. Weirdo.)
Aw, so cute! Look at those ears! (He says this about Maddie mostly, but once to Jalal, which was really funny. It's from "The Tale of Despereaux.")
That's all I can think of right now. And Maddie's crying, so I better go. Hope you all have enjoyed this little glimpse into our life. Love, Us.

Frustration

2010-05-13T11:08:00.001-07:00

I want to say in advance that I know I'm being irrational here. I just need to vent. I put Quinn down for a nap an hour and a half ago. He refuses to sleep. I have tried everything I can think of. We are supposed to meet some new people at the playground at 3:30 today, but at this rate, I don't see how we can go. He is upstairs screaming right now. I feel like he's doing this to me on purpose. (See first sentence.) I really really need to make some more friends, and I was really excited about today. We had a great morning, a good lunch, and I thought he would go down for his nap just fine--the same way he does EVERY SINGLE DAY!! But no, the one day that I really need to do work (I'm about 40 pages behind on my current job) and get out, and he refuses to cooperate. I tried letting him sleep downstairs on the couch where I was working. I told him we are going out to play as soon as he takes a nap. I tried begging, pleading, threatening, and ignoring him, hoping he would eventually get so tired he'd fall asleep. Nothing. The last time I went upstairs, it was because he was yelling and banging on stuff. The child has dark circles under his eyes, for crying out loud. I crouched down next to him to talk and when I dropped my head in frustration, he reached over and ripped out a chunk of my hair! WTH?!? I am so angry right now that I cannot go back upstairs no matter what or I will say or do something I'll regret. God help me, I need a day (or week) away from that child.

Show Us Your Life

2010-05-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today I am doing a brief post to link to Kelly's Korner, who is doing a "Show Us Your Life" on baby names.

My darling son, born in August 2007, is named Quinn Jalal. My husband picked out Quinn from a name book (not a baby name book), and we knew it was perfect. Jalal is my husband's first name, so we followed the Lebanese tradition of using the dad's first name for the first-born son's middle name.

Just 2 and a half months ago, my darling girl was born. She is such a little skinny minnie. We had a much harder time picking out names this time, but we ended up with Madigan Ruth. Again, Maddie's first name is from a name book, but her middle name is the middle name of her grandmother, Louella, my mother-in-law, who passed away a year before we found out we were pregnant with her. I think she would be proud of her namesake.

So it seems we have an Irish thing ending in "N" going on for first names and a family thing for middle names. We like names that are unique but still easy to say and spell. We have a name picked out for another boy, should that happen someday, but of course we could change our minds before then. If we don't, it will fit the mold: Gryphon Lang. Lang is for Langston, my maiden name, after my dad, Red, who passed away when Quinn turned two. So there you go. Our kids' names. Love, Us.

The Concept of Time

2010-04-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, the clock struck 5:00.
Quinn: It's nine o'clock!
Me: No, it's five o'clock.
Quinn: Oh, it's seven o'clock.
Me: No, it's five o'clock.
Quinn: No, it's seven o'clock.
Me: Okay, it's seven o'clock.
Quinn: No, it's five o'clock.

That's just a day in the life of a mother of a 2-year-old. Oh, and don't buy into all that parenting advice that says to give them two choices to make them feel like they have control. When we give him a choice between, say, two pairs of pajamas or two kinds of fruit, he picks one. Then he changes his mind and picks the other, which I then give to him. At that point, he freaks out and wants both of them. Yeah, giving a little bit of control to a toddler is not necessarily a good thing.

Toddlers are also notoriously inconsistent. Most of my mom friends agree that all two-year-olds ought to be qualified as bipolar. They can turn from hysterically happy to spastically miserable in two seconds flat--for absolutely no reason at all. We took Quinn to the playground today. He was so excited to get out of the car and run up to the playground. He freezes at the blue bridge, which he insists on walking over first and last thing there. He then turns so sad and begs Jalal to pick him up. At the stinking playground!! Who does that? We have to manipulate, threaten, tease, and coddle him to get him to cheer up and play. Weirdo.

Speaking of inconsistent, Quinn has been eating lettuce lately like it's going out of style. I mean, one night I gave him a small bowl of lettuce with dinner, and he asked for seconds--and thirds, and fourths! He's eating salads every day, and he ate almost the whole bowl of lettuce last night as we were having tacos. Today at lunch, I made him a turkey sandwich and put some lettuce on it. He picked off the lettuce and ate the rest. I asked him if he was going to eat his lettuce. "No." "Why not?" I asked. "I don't like lettuce." Oh. Well, I should have figured that out I guess. Tried again with a salad at dinner. He picked out all the pieces of shredded carrot but did not eat the lettuce. Not a fluke. Oh, and another funny story. I made him his turkey sandwich and served him some peas and pasta. While I was making lunch for Jalal, I heard him say, "Mmm, turkey is good." "Oh, have you tried your sandwich?" "Nope!" Okay, then. It's really no wonder that I can't wait for bedtime every day. It takes a lot of energy to be Quinn's mama. Well, I have to go be Maddie's mama now. Love, Us.

Crummy Day

2010-04-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Jalal spent part of the morning dealing with some very frustrating work issues.

We spent most of the afternoon on the phone with insurance companies and doctors' offices.

While Jalal made dinner and I fed Maddie, the doorbell rings. It's two little kids from the neighborhood to tell us that they've broken Quinn's bike. After stealing it from our front porch, they broke the pedal off and threw it into the sewer. Can't find parents; don't know where they live.

A few minutes later, Quinn drops a wine glass on the floor and shatters it. I sweep it up.

While eating dinner, Maddie starts to cry in her swing. I go to give her paci back to her and notice that she has completely overflowed her diaper, all over her clothes and her brand-new swing. I take her, Jalal takes the swing. We clean it up while Quinn finishes dinner and continues to ask, "Mama, what's happening?"

Jalal goes into the kitchen to get a washcloth for the swing straps, the ones that won't come out of the frame, and steps on a piece of glass. I spend the next 10 minutes unsuccessfully digging into his heel trying to find the glass shard.

Um, yeah, we're going to hope tomorrow is a better day. Can't get a whole lot worse. Love, Us.

A Conversation with Quinn

2010-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Quinn: Mama, you doing laundry?
Mama: Yes, I'm putting Maddie's clothes away.
Quinn: I help laundry.
Mama: Ok, why don't you go into your room and get me any dirty laundry off the floor.
Quinn: Ok, I do it! [runs into his room and returns with a shirt] Here's laundry!
Mama: Is there any more?
Quinn: Yes, I get another one.
Mama: Ok. [Closes the door behind him, which is child-proofed from the outside.]
Quinn: Mama, you open the door? [I do.] I got another one!
[Repeat sequence three times until all laundry is off his floor.]
Quinn: All done laundry.
[Maddie starts to cry from downstairs. Quinn leaves the room and starts to close the door.]
Mama: Where are you going now?
Quinn: Going downstairs to calm down Baby Maddie.
Mama: Oh, okay. Thanks.
[running down the hall] Quinn: Good job doing laundry, Mama!
Mama: Thanks, Quinn.
Quinn: Bye-bye, Mama!
Mama: Bye-bye, Quinn!
Quinn: See you real soon, Mama!
Mama: See you real soon.

Miscellaneous Life

2010-04-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

So I am finally able to catch you all up on the comings, goings, and doings of the Halaby clan. It's been a while so I apologize if things are a little haphazard. Seems my editorial finesse is elsewhere, perhaps hiding behind the bags under my eyes. Lots of room there, ya know. I hope I'll make it up to you by sharing lots of pictures!

Last Saturday was a big day. Maddie turned six weeks old and Jalal and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Since he had to work that night, we had to wait to actually celebrate until last night. We got a babysitter and went out to dinner. It was nice, especially the bottle of Cabernet. I haven't had a single drink in probably close to a year, so that was wonderful! I don't know if it was the wine or the relief from being out with my husband at dinner and not having to replace anyone's pacifier or ask for the 17th time if someone would please drink his milk. We really had a nice time, only we didn't have time to make it to a movie and we didn't know what else to do, so we just drove around a while and then came home early. We joked about getting a hotel room and just sleeping for a couple of hours, but it was cheaper to just go home and go to bed early. Hah! What a couple of dorks we are.

Maddie is smiling now, and it's adorable. She gives this big gummy grin and her dimple shows, and it just makes my heart melt. It's hard to catch on camera since it's just me trying to make her smile and take the picture at the same time, but here's what I've gotten so far.

Quinn is such a beast now. He has so much energy that he just literally runs around the house slamming into things at random. Whenever I get mad and fed up and tell him to stop doing something, he throws himself on the ground so hard that he ends up hurting himself. Does it make me a bad mom that I don't feel sorry for him one bit at that point?

Ok, to back up to what I've missed. We had our Easter Egg-stravaganza at the Bridge the week before Easter. Quinn had a blast, decorating cookies, coloring pictures, and finding eggs, of course. I love my church. We all feel so at home there. I have friends there who come up to me and say, "Quinn's a little stinky, so I'm going to take him to change him. Where is your diaper bag?" Isn't that crazy? It's amazing that it really doesn't take long to feel like they are family. My pastor's wife, Chris, is awesome. She works at her kids' school, so she had spring break last week. Midweek, she emailed me and emphatically insisted that I take her up on her offer to watch the kids while I go out and do something. I finally agreed and had almost two hours to run not-so-kid-friendly errands, like the Cartridge World, because of course I ran out of ink just as I received my first job after Maddie's birth. I also hit Hallmark because can you imagine me struggling with Maddie while Quinn ran up and down the aisles "reading" cards? Especially now that he knows some of them play music, I can't control him in there. Anyway, so Chris made it through most of his stack of puzzles while Maddie slept the whole time in her swing. It was so great of her to do that.

Speaking of puzzles, Quinn is amazing at them. He mastered his 12 and 20 piece puzzles months ago, but he would do them over and over again. When Trish came up for Maddie's birth, she brought this 48-piece construction scene puzzle from Melissa & Doug, a company I LOVE! I told her it was way too difficult. But it was just a few weeks later that I had to go out and find more of them because he was putting it together so well. I found two more just like it at Ross, a fish one and a dinosaur one. Here we are less than 5 weeks from his first attempt at the first one and now he can put them all together just about as quick as I can. It's crazy!!

We made it to the mall to visit the Easter bunny again this year. It started to look a little iffy with Quinn beginning a minor freak-out, and all I could think of was the Santa Claus fiasco last Christmas. I hate paying more than $20 to have pictures of my kid screaming on the lap of a stranger dressed up like a character. But when we told him he had to show his little sister how it's done and that he could ask the Easter bunny for a "special treat," he changed his tune. They turned out pretty cute. Here are the ones Jalal took.

Easter was really nice. We got a few pics of the kids all dressed up. Miss Maddie looked absolutely adorable in her Easter dress, and Quinn, of course, was quite the handsome little man. After church, we had a lovely traditional Easter dinner. For the first time since we met, Jalal made his mom's baked ham recipe, and I loved it! Those Hawaiians really know what they're doing with that ham and pineapple combo. Mmm mmm starts with M, as Quinn would say. Here are the little lovelies.

Somewhere in there in the last few weeks, we went to a circus in Spartanburg. To be honest, it was a little ghetto. Well, it was sort of half-ghetto/half-redneck. Hope I'm not offending anyone, but we were all abused by the urchins sitting behind and beside us. They were horrible. One little girl even reached over and grabbed a handful of our popcorn!! Seriously? Does anyone teach their children manners anymore? Do you think they have the decency to be ashamed? (The parents, I mean.) Anyway, Quinn had a good time, and he even rode an elephant. I think the next time we'll spend the extra money and go see Barnum and Bailey instead.

Well, I was flattered when I got an email from my contact at Cambria Press two weeks ago asking if I was ready to come back to work for them. I suppose that's a good sign, right? I just finished my first project for them, and wouldn't you know it was in Chinese. It was a good book, actually, but it was literally in Chinese. Well, some of it was. I have now done books that were partly written in Chinese, French, Herati (an Afghan dialect), and math. Yes, that's a language, and one I don't speak. But as stressful as it is watching the dishes and the laundry and the diapers pile up while I work frantically toward a deadline, I am so happy to have work. And I do like this job, so I am glad they like me, too.

Whew! That was a lot. I'm sure there is stuff I've missed, but it's probably minutiae. Like Quinn making Maddie scream when he throws her "teddy bear" (GloWorm) at her and hits her. Or how all of Maddie's pants are about 2 inches too big in the waist and fall off her. Or how we tried to take Quinn to a movie today to see "How to Train a Dragon." How even though we'd just eaten lunch, we had to feed Quinn peanut butter crackers, yogurt-covered raisins, Reese's Pieces, and a lollipop just to make it through the movie. (Don't judge us!) We also have had a couple of play dates with Maureen and Sarah and even met a couple of new moms. So we are making new friends, which is great. Oh, and whoever taught Quinn to say "are we there yet?" can bite me. Okay, time to go to bed. I'm exhausted! You probably are, too, after slogging through this post, which feels huge to me. That'll teach me to wait this long before writing! Love, Us.

Happy Spring!

2010-03-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

I didn't even know it was the first day of spring today until I turned on the Today Show. And I wouldn't have turned on the Today Show unless Miss Maddie decided she needed to eat again just an hour and a half after her first breakfast. It's completely appropriate that it is spring now, since the weather here has been GORGEOUS! Plus it explains the manic cleaning I've been doing for the past three days: spring cleaning. That makes more sense than what I thought it was: post-baby nesting. I tell you, when Mama puts on her yellow rubber gloves, watch out! I cleaned the downstairs bathroom top to bottom, even the baseboards and the toilet brush holder. Then it was on to the kitchen, prompted by the fact that Quinn had shaken loose a bunch of my canisters that then fell back behind the lazy susan pantry thing. That took emptying the shelves, Quinn holding a flashlight, and me using a pair of long tongs to reach everything. I couldn't believe how many boxes of scalloped potatoes we had that expired in 2008. Whoops! Clearly we did not do much spring cleaning last year. I still have a long way to go, but I should be able to finish the kitchen today and move on to the upstairs bathrooms. That all depends on the cooperation of my children, of course. So far, Maddie has been extremely needy this morning, which wasn't much fun after a night of less sleep than usual. I guess I should be happy that we made it a full four weeks since Maddie was born without Jalal having to stay overnight at the hotel. Well, technically it was just two weeks since he went back to work. If it weren't for the income and the daily phone calls, I might start to feel like a single parent!! (Just kidding, not downplaying how tough it is for true single parents.)

So that brings me to the fact that Madigan is now four weeks old (give or take a few hours). Her doctor's appointment yesterday went well. She is 8 lbs, 9 oz. (30th percentile) and 21.5 inches long (61st percentile). Everything else was great. It was one day shy of when she could get her second Hep B shot, so we'll have to hold off on that. Quinn got a lollipop for behaving well, which he tried to share with Maddie. I told him Maddie couldn't have candy yet, and he asked, "why not?" I told him it was because she didn't have teeth yet and that we would just have to give him all the lollipops until then. He said, "Good idea, Mama! Good idea!" I thought he would like that. ; )

Here are a few pictures taken of Quinn and Miss Maddie lately. Hope this makes some of you happy (namely Trish and Mom!). Love, Us.

Quinn's special St. Patrick's Day breakfast: green milk, green eggs, and shamrock-shaped toast.

Pictures

2010-03-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

Maddie will be three weeks old tomorrow. She is generally a good baby, requiring very little soothing other than to be held. She is starting to get a bit more demanding though, especially late in the evenings. Tonight, for instance, she is practically inconsolable unless I am holding her, which means I am practically inconsolable without a large bag of M&Ms. I am looking forward to early next week, when we are planning to introduce a bottle, so I can maybe get a stretch of sleep of more than three hours at a time. Quinn is a great big brother, but I need to start getting him out more because he is driving me crazy jumping around and running through the house and literally bouncing off the furniture. Every so often, he just forgets where Maddie is and lands a little too close to her head after a flip or something. I have to admit, though, that I am sick of answering his two favorite questions: Mama, what are we doing next? and What is baby Maddie doing? Usually he asks the former six times in a row; the latter is usually met with the answer, "Not much of anything, honey." My wonderful friends from church are providing a few meals, so I think we'll have enough chicken casseroles to last a while, which is actually a good thing, since I can cook maybe one chicken dish to every five beef dishes. I was worried about getting burnt out on my own ground beef meals, but not this week! Well, I know that isn't much of an update, but there really isn't that much going on. I think I'm going to have to feed this squalling baby and then put us both to bed. Good night! Love, Us.

Better Late Than Never

2010-03-10T16:22:00.000-08:00

I know I should have done this 2 weeks and 4 days ago, but give me a break! I had a baby! Here are the details: Madigan Ruth Halaby was born at 1:44 p.m. on Saturday, February 20, 2010. She weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 21 inches long. She was born with dark blue eyes and long dark hair (well, long in back anyway; it was sort of a mullet) with blond streaks. She prompted all sorts of comments about her size. The doctor pulled her out and held her up by her feet, saying, "I should charge by the pound!" The nurse measuring her tried desperately to fit Maddie's footprints onto the baby book page--barely. Trish and Jalal were there to help me bring her into the world, thank God for them. The laboring didn't go exactly as planned or hoped, but the end result was perfect. [Warning: Detailed labor story will follow. If you are not interested in this information, skip to the next paragraph.] We started the Pitocin at 7 a.m. that morning. After having fantastic nurses the day before and overnight, the nurse with us during labor was, well, lacking. She seemed like she could care less about my pain, and just kept knocking the dosage on the Pitocin higher and higher. Jalal and Trish helped me fight for getting out of bed and at least sitting on a birthing ball or changing position. I started the day at 3 cm dilated. After hours of laboring, I was hurting pretty bad. I could not catch my breath between contractions, and the monitor wasn't picking them up, so I didn't know when they were going to hit. Jalal and I had worked out a safe word for pain medication, so he didn't give in too easily. I really wanted to go without an epidural, and considering we did it with Quinn, I thought it was possible again. At around noon or so, I finally decided I had had enough, which was actually our safe word. He suggested we find out how far dilated I was at that point, thinking that I would be disappointed if I requested an epidural at 7 or 8 cm (he was right). So we asked Nurse Could Care Less to check me again. She did, and said I was at 4 cm. After 5 hours, about 3 of which were spent in a lot of severe discomfort, and I had only progressed one centimeter! At that point, I was ready to be out of pain and able to rest. So I ordered an epidural. Unfortunately, while my legs got nice and heavy, I still had pretty significant pain from my contractions. After another dose of the epidural medicine, the "hot spot" got a little smaller, but I still had painful contractions in the center of my abdomen. I kept thinking, Come on! If I'm going to give in and get an epidural, I at least want to feel no pain, right? I felt like such a baby because I was still complaining about the pain, and I could swear that the contractions were as bad at four centimeters as when I was in transition with Quinn. The nurse decided to check me again, and she said, "Oh, well, that explains the pain. You're at 10 cm." This was about an hour after I was at 4 cm. Yeah, I'd say that explains the pain. I had to hold on a while longer until they could get the doctor in there, and then I had to push twice. Within 20 minutes, Maddie was born!

So while it didn't go as planned, and it hurt a whole lot to get from 3 to 4 cm, going from 4 to 10 was pretty fast, and I didn't have the "burning ring of fire" that I had pushing Quinn out. I wasn't quite as delirious this time around, so it was a very different experience immediately after the birth. I will post more soon about the last couple of weeks, but I wanted to get the basics out before I got too many complaints. Love, Us (all four of us!!).

Going to the Hospital and...Gonna Have a Baby!

2010-02-20T02:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it would appear today is a beautiful day to bring a baby into the world. Yep, Jalal and I are at the hospital. We checked in yesterday for observation after tests showed low amniotic fluid. So we've had a lovely date night in the hospital getting prepared for a morning induction. Despite the fact that I was the one given a sleeping pill, I have been up for some time now. Jalal peacefully sleeps on. As he should, since I'm going to need him a lot today. Everything surrounding this situation has come together. Mom is here, despite having to wait at the airport while we were stuck at the doc's office having tests, watching Quinn. Trish arrived late last night and will be coming up to the hospital in the next hour or so. All we have to do now is wait for the doctor and do what needs to be done. I'm so anxious to meet my first daughter. She's going to be amazing--at least, if her brother is any indication. Well, I'm not sure I'll sleep anymore, but I'm going to at least try to get some rest. I'm sure you'll hear more from us later today. This should be better than the last time. When Quinn was born, at 3:00 a.m., I attempted to send my first ever text message at 10:00 that night. I was delirious and confused and not very capable. But look at me now! By text, by email, by phone, by blog, or by Facebook, the world shall know about the arrival of my darling Madigan Ruth Halaby. And hopefully all without the slightest freaking out by one worn-out Mama. Hope your day is not as exciting as mine will be! Lots of love, Us.

Tough Choices--Oh, and Brownies

2010-02-16T19:22:00.000-08:00

Warning! This blog may tend to ramble a good bit, considering how long it's been since I posted and how much is going on in our lives. What? Stuff going on? Have I mentioned that today I am 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant? If it hadn't been for a strong conviction that Maddie and I weren't ready and a tough decision to do what was right for us, she would probably be here right now! That's right. We almost scheduled an induction for today. Our options for inducing were today and Thursday the 25th. There are so many "good" reasons to induce, from Jalal's time off and scheduling convenience, to having my mom here both to watch Quinn while we're in the hospital and to be here when the baby comes home, to knowing that Trish would be here for the birth, to not having to worry about going into labor when Jalal was stuck at work 40 minutes away and the roads were icy (we actually had almost 3 inches of snow Friday night and ice again yesterday morning). It would take a lot to counteract all those "pros." But the single biggest "con" was that I wasn't all that excited about checking into the hospital at 5 a.m. and getting hooked up to all the crap and machines and, my least favorite, the Pitocin. I hate Pitocin. I was on it for about 5 hours with Quinn, and it was no fun. Well, I guess it was a little fun in hindsight for Trish and Jalal (and probably the nurses) to laugh at all the things I said and did. ("I'm sorry I pushed!!" is still a big joke around here.) But I was so looking forward to avoiding it this time around if at all possible. I was (and still am) convinced that a second labor will be easier and shorter and totally doable without pain meds--as long as I don't have to have Pitocin. That's my goal, and my plan. Hopefully Maddie will come on her own in the next 8 days and we can avoid all that mess altogether. Another issue is that yesterday was my deadline for editing a 500-page economics book. I finally finished it after a sprint to the end at about 7:00 last night. If I had to then get up before dawn to be at the hospital, my mood last night would not have been relieved. As it was, I have been feeling great today! Catching up on my QT with Q-ball, going to the bounce house today and then playing an exciting game of Candy Land, taking a long nap without setting an alarm, painting my fingernails and reuniting with Facebook, which Jalal had parental blocked me from for the past week so I would get my edit done. Granted, I still have a lot to do, from baby laundry and writing thank-you cards, to paying the hospital bill in advance (seriously?) and charging the camera battery, to cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming the stairs (yes, it really needs to be done even though I am 9 1/2 months pregnant--blame the hormones). And of course, there's the Olympics to watch. Can't forget that. I guess what it comes down to is that I finally (agonizingly) made the decision that I felt was right for me, even if it means Trish and Mom can't be here and even if it messes up everyone else's schedule and even if it happens in the middle of the night. So be it. So there.

Something that is bugging me right now is the stupid Marriott. Jalal took Thursday and Friday off this week to prepare in case Maddie came as those are his last two days of his work week. Now it turns out he has to go in to work at 6 a.m. on Thursday to suspend someone and for a couple of hours on Friday because the general manager is doing an audit of his departments. That sucks!! My mom is flying in this Friday just after our very last OB appointment, and I was so hoping maybe Jalal and I could get away just the two of us for a little bit, maybe for lunch or a movie. Guess not. Oh well. I'm sure we'll get back to our biannual date nights in a year or so. :(

Last Friday afternoon, we got some snow, real snow! The last wintry weather we had in Greenville was all slush, so it was great to see the fluffy snowflakes falling fast and furious from about 3:15 until around midnight. We went outside twice to play in it, and Quinn discovered just how fun it is to throw snowballs at Mama and Dada. We could barely get him back in the house and had to bribe him with hot chocolate. We had a really great time, made a couple of small snowmen, and even took some pictures of the baby bump (pretty bumpy at this point), which are so overdue and which I will post at some point when I find the camera (I think it's still in the pocket of the coat I was wearing that night). I can't believe we got almost three inches in that short time, and that it was all melted off my car by about 3:00 the next afternoon. We did go through a ton of firewood, though, and now have just about half a dozen logs left from our whole truckload. Let's hope winter is close to over now!

Last night I was so happy to be done with my job for a while that I decided to make brownies at 9:00. When they finished, they smelled so good, and all I wanted was a warm, fresh brownie and a glass of cold milk. I pulled out my trusty plastic knife that I use only for brownies and went to work cutting them almost fresh out of the oven. I got through the first two slices and then the knife pulled up a corner of one of the brownies. I pulled it out to see why, and saw that the tip of the knife was bent into a hook shape. Guess the brownies were still a little too warm. Whoops. Now I have to find another brownie knife. Hah!

So it's crazy to me how different this pregnancy has been than the first one. I started off with Quinn almost 30 pounds lighter, I was working out pretty regularly before and during that pregnancy (dragon boating, walking hardcore, weights, belly dancing), and I worked full-time, so I didn't have constant access to a kitchen full of food (at least, not my own). This time, I am starting heavier, working out less (did I mention I have a 2-year-old?), and I spend most of my time at home, where Jalal reliably buys ice cream and snack foods whenever they are on sale (um, every week!). So how is it possible that I feel so much better this time? I still weigh less than when I delivered Quinn, and barring some crazy binge sessions in the next week, I can't possibly gain enough to pass that number (and no, you don't need to know what that number is). I am surprisingly not miserable. I do waddle, of course, but I can keep a decent pace up walking for a while. I don't groan EVERY time I have to stand up. And most importantly, I don't have cankles!!! This is huge for me, since with Quinn I had to rely exclusively on flip flops (which I hated), and even then they left upside-down V indents in my hugely swollen feet. I was so grumpy and miserable one week before Quinn's birth that I almost refused to go out for my birthday. My sister and Jalal and a couple girls from work had to drag me out for lunch and ice cream cake. Ice cream cake!! I almost turned down ice cream cake, if that tells you how dire the situation was. It makes me pretty happy that I'm not just wishing this to be over.

Well, I think that's all the rambling I have for tonight. Hope y'all managed to stay awake for that. If not, no worries. Have a brownie. I think I will. Night. Love, Us.

Sick and Tired

2010-02-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

Oh what a week! Last Saturday was supposed to be my baby shower, but we got nasty sleet and ice the day before and the day of, so it was postponed until today. Earlier this week, Quinn came down with a fever and was miserable for three days. He managed to make me miserable, too. He was either listless and drooling on the couch (about 20% of the time) or screaming and angry (80%), which included lots of "mine!" and "No, Quinn do it!" He did not sleep well, which means of course that Mama and Dada did not sleep well. When he got over that, we all felt better. Then, last night, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. with serious contractions. I didn't want to wake up Jalal until I knew they were for real, so I eventually just came downstairs and tried to relax. After about three hours, they went away, but I couldn't for the life of me fall back to sleep until about 7:30, which means I got a whopping 45 minutes of sleep before the boys came downstairs. Still, I was so looking forward to the baby shower that I wasn't too worried about how tired I was. I managed to get Quinn down for a little over an hour's nap before we went over to Kim's. Everything was so pretty, especially the cake, which was pink and brown and had a baby with a cute little naked bottom on the top. Well, just as we were getting into the second game, Quinn comes out of the playroom and says his head hurt. He said he didn't hit it or bump it, so that was weird. He cuddled on my lap kind of whiny for a while, and then he started crying. Before you know it, he had thrown up all over himself, me, the big upholstered chair we were in, and I'm sure anything else within 5 feet. The poor kid. Everybody was so sweet and helpful, but I just lost it. I guess with all the crazy preggo hormones and hardly any sleep and of course the puke, I got a bit overwhelmed. A couple of women helped clean up Quinn and change his clothes, while Maureen cleaned me up. I insisted that Quinn and I at least move to the tile floor of the kitchen on a wooden chair with a trash can and a towel under us. So we were prepared when he got sick again. Quinn wouldn't go to anyone else, and he was actually downright rude, which bugged me. He's not like that often, but anyone who came near us was met with a nasty "Get out the way." Which means "leave me alone" or "don't touch me." As if him throwing up wasn't embarrassing enough. After making Sarah open up some of the presents for us because I was otherwise occupied, I made the call to just pack up and leave. It was too much to ask Quinn to hang out there when he clearly was miserable. Someone at least had the bright idea to pull out a crib pad from the presents and wrap it around him in the car so he wouldn't make a mess if he got sick again. Ali even followed us home to help me get Quinn into the house. After another round of sickness and a couple hours of sleeping on the couch (both of us), Quinn was feeling good enough to eat a bunch of cheerios and a banana and a half. He was in a great mood until it was time for bed (at 10, since he hadn't woken up until 8:30). Then he pitched a mega-fit until I had to carry him up the stairs, which did a number on my back, let me tell you. Now I'm totally ready for bed myself, and though I desperately need to catch up on my work, I don't really think that staying up past midnight to do it is a good idea. Well, that's enough about my crummy week. Oh, and the baby! We're at 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Talk about the end of the line! We're so close now I can taste it! Wish us luck and I will try to keep y'all up to date on the preggo progress. Love, Us.

M is for Mmmm

2010-01-22T14:30:00.001-08:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, let me tell you. We spent a couple of days in Charleston, I survived the first two migraines of this pregnancy, I fought valiently against what seemed like a hopeless work deadline, Quinn threw up four times in one afternoon (only one time in the toilet), and he's decided that he refuses to sleep like he's always done. Yeah, that about covers it. His sleep habits are all out of whack, and I'm not sure why. We had been using a doorknob cover on the inside of his door so he couldn't come out until we were ready for him in the mornings, but for naps, he would sleep fine with the door left open a crack. When he got sick last week, I took off the cover so he could come get me if he got sick again. I guess he liked his taste of freedom. He did fine without it the first couple of days. For the past 4 or 5 days, though, he has been getting up and coming downstairs instead of sleeping. So I told him I had to put back on the doorknob cover. Well, that has added a new element to the nap and bedtime mix: screaming. It has been a struggle to balance leaving his door open with the risk of 40 minutes or more of screaming and crying when we close it. ("Take it off!!") I don't think it's nightmares because he never gets to sleep, and once he does, he's fine. He's already got a couple of his molars, but again, he's not cranky or anything until we close his door, so I don't think that's to blame. I think he just doesn't want his doorknob cover and likes to be able to come and go when it pleases him. Last night was horrible. We fought about staying in bed for over an hour, then he got up screaming at just after midnight, finally came to bed with me (oh, fun), then started getting really squirmy when Jalal got home at 4. I went downstairs to sleep, he followed me, I sent him back upstairs, and he bothered Jalal for the next couple hours. Now Jalal is exhausted, and he has to work all night. I finally grabbed a little nap this afternoon, but now I feel hungover. I hope he gets over this before Maddie comes, or that whole sleeping for two hours at a time with a new baby thing is going to be extra complicated by this little problem.

On a positive note, Quinn is still stinking adorable when he's not driving me up the wall (we're at maybe a 30%/70% mix of cute to "I'm about to lock you in the closet"). Today, the drycleaners gave Quinn a lollipop. He was so happy. She even opened it for him. As we drove away, he tasted it and said, "Mmm, tastes like chocolate milk!" (It was a chocolate Tootsie Roll pop.) Just because it's cute, here's the rest of what he said over the next couple of minutes: M says Mmm, mmm, mmm! Chocolate lollipop. Tastes like chocolate milk! D says De-licious!
Hah! Isn't that great? He cracks me up. He also still sounds like a little old lady half the time. "Oh, dear!" and "It's not quite right" are two of his favorites right now. Anyway, I better go now. It's almost dinner time! Pot roast with extra onions. Yummy! Love, Us.

Everybody's A Critic--Or The Strong-Willed Child

2010-01-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

We have a stubborn child. Don't know where he gets that from. I swear (with all the self-awareness I can muster) that I am not that stubborn. Jalal's pretty easygoing, too. So somehow we got a stubborn as a mule kid. Today, when he got up from a nap, I had every good intention of taking him outside to play. We've got sidewalk chalk on the brain right now, and Jalal even drew him a hopscotch court this morning, so I though some drawing and jumping might be in order. Well, he starts off by asking to watch Bob and Larry (VeggieTales movie, for those of you not familiar). I said, wouldn't you rather go outside and play? No, he wants to watch the blueberry (Madame Blueberry). Fine. I take it to put it in the DVD player, and he rushes to take it away from me, saying, "NO!" Fine. (Teeth clenched on that "fine.") Then I say, let's change your diaper and go outside for a little while.
"No, my diaper."
"I know, honey, but we aren't going outside in a dirty diaper."
(Going over to the window and hiding against the wall) "My stinky bobby [b.m.]."
"Well, yeah, I'm not going to claim that one. You can help me change your diaper, okay?"
"No, mys." ("Mys" [m-eye-s] is his word for "Mine")
"Fine, but we aren't going out or watching a movie until we change your diaper."
Captain Distractable wimpers into the window blinds for a while and then finds Lincoln Logs. (Notice the liberal use of the word "Fine." Sometimes I mix it up a little with "whatever" or "I really don't care," but you can tell the gist is the same.)

The other day, Quinn got himself a little worked up before his nap and was having a hard time going to sleep. He was all kinds of hysterical, and I offered to sit down next to his bed for a little while until he calmed down. We haven't had to sit with him in months to get him to sleep, but he was really upset. I started stroking his forehead and singing along with his music. He immediately turned to me and said, "No singing, Mama." Jeez! So I stop singing. Then he starts tugging at his diaper and says he needs a new one. I grab a new diaper and start to change him. He freaks out and tries to grab it. He says, "My diaper. Quinn do it." I told him if he wanted to be so stinking independent, he could go in the potty! I fought him for a minute, tried to let him help, but it wasn't good enough. I finally just changed his diaper against his will. By then, he was screaming his head off again, and I was so frustrated that I couldn't sit there and calm him down. So I just told him to go to sleep and shut his door. He eventually wound down and cried himself to sleep. Did I mention that he was stubborn? Good grief. Anyway, I know I usually offer some cute, funny stuff to balance out the crazy-mama ranting, but I just don't have it in my right now! Maybe tomorrow. Love, Us.

The Ego-stroking Issue

2010-01-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

I'm super excited. I just finished eating dinner, which I made. Those of you who know me well know that my "cooking" is usually a craps shoot at best, even if I follow a recipe. Well, tonight, I threw caution to the wind and created a meal from scratch, using my fridge contents as inspiration, and even producing (gasp) a sauce!! Not only did it not suck, but I thought it was pretty good. I'm so stinkin' proud of myself. Granted, my pasta was a little sticky, and the steamed broccoli was a little cold because I am terrible at timing the different elements of a meal, but the hard part turned out great.

Since I'm patting myself on the back, I might as well mention that we've clearly identified Quinn's "love language." Now I don't know too much about the 5 Love Languages, but I have a dear friend (LC) who read the book years ago and always talks about them. I do know that one of the languages is verbal affirmation (or something similar). My dear son has turned verbal affirmation into his true calling, and he boosts his frazzled mother's self-esteem nearly every day with this. I asked him the other day if I could take a nap while he watched a movie. He agreed (and only woke me up once to ask if he could eat a lollipop). When the movie was over, he stroked my head and said, "Good job sleeping Mama!" The next day, I came out of the shower to Quinn saying, "Good job in shower Mama!" Gee, thanks. I've been working on that one for about 25 years. He also clearly doesn't understand what a birthday is. After a not particularly impressive dinner the other day, he said, "This is the best dirtday (birthday) ever!" Huh?

So Maddie's room is coming together nicely. We've been maximizing Jalal's time off and buying the last couple of pieces of furniture we need. Now Quinn has a new dresser, and Maddie has his changing table and a new bookcase. The wonderful women at my church are throwing me a baby shower later this month, so we're trying to hold off on buying anything else. I am just putting clothes away and stocking the changing table with all of the sample diapers we have (I think I've gotten at least a dozen!!) and stuff like that. It's getting so close! She's due 6 weeks from tomorrow. I can't believe it. My doctor's appointment on Friday went great. All my tests look good, and my blood pressure is great (unlike when I was pregnant with Quinn). The downside to all the good news is that it seems we won't get another ultrasound as long as she keeps measuring right on track. Boo. Well, I have to go give a bath to one stinky little boy. Night! Love, Us.

The Mundane and the Sublime

2010-01-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

So I was making dinner tonight and remembered this funny story I wanted to write about that happened a day or two before New Year's. Jalal and I went grocery shopping at Bloom. (I can't decide if I was happy about how nicely Quinn behaved or if I was pissed off because he is NEVER that good when I take him grocery shopping. But I digress.) Anyway, we were tooling through the produce section when this older black women walked right around us to a younger black woman a few feet away. She proceeded to ask this stranger if she thought the collard greens the older woman has chosen looked good or not. The younger woman admitted that she had no idea, and Jalal just started laughing to himself. Now I suppose the older woman assumed that we don't eat a lot of collards (true), but we just found it ironic that she had a choice between another black person (who was clearly ignorant about collards) and a professionally trained chef and restaurant manager who could have easily told her if she had chosen the best greens, as well as probably how to prepare them.

The other morning I had a fairly dramatic revelation about the collision between the mundane and the sublime. Now, when I say fairly dramatic, that might be a bit of an overstatement. I mean, my sense of judgment may have been a bit skewed considering it was 2 a.m. I was awake at that time for God knows what reason, but I had terrible heartburn. So I had to go find some extra pillows in the linen closet and prop myself up to a sitting position. And then I got stuck eating all the green (lime) Tums because I had been avoiding them for so long that they were about all that was left in the bottle and I didn't want to turn on the light to find a better flavor. So here I am, wondering why on earth I can't seem to get any sleep just when I need it the most, and Maddie starts squirming and kicking. My first reaction was to wish she would calm down so I could get back to sleep sometime soon. But then I started thinking about how amazing it was that this actual person was inside me, wiggling around and kicking and hiccuping and only 5 pounds! She's completely alive and completely dependent on me for everything. I can't wait to find out what she's like on the outside, but if my experience with Quinn is any indication, she's already showing her personality in there. For instance, despite the pink satin slippers she already owns that are just 2 inches long, she seems to be more Ralph Macchio than Anna Pavlova. There's only 7 weeks left until her due date, and though we are not ready for her yet, I'm so excited to meet her face to face. No matter how little sleep I get because of her, that, my friends, is truly sublime. Love, Us.

Oh, Dear! It's Almost 2010!

2009-12-31T16:21:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-28T18:14:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

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.

Melting My Heart

2009-11-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is going to be a quick blog post because I REALLY need to get back to work, but I just had to share what just happened. Quinn brought his plate from lunch (yes, he ate a late lunch today) over to me in the kitchen. I knelt down to wipe his hands and face. I washed one hand, and as I was washing the other, he reached up and stroked my hair. He smiled at me and said, "you're beautiful, Mama." This is a 2-year-old!! I came very close to crying, but held back. I just said, "Aw, thank you Quinn. That is very sweet." What a darling boy I have.

Also, I've been meaning to write about this for a week. For those of you who may judge me for taking Quinn to Snip-Its, a fancy kid's salon, and paying $20 plus tip for a toddler haircut, I would like to present Quinn's recent haircut, provided by an unnamed discount haircuttery, as justification. Not only was he twitchy around the scissors and the buzzer, he almost started crying during the haircut and was only settled by a "pollipop," which was totally covered in hair a few minutes later. Even after all that, his bangs look awful. The top is still too long, and one side of his bangs are so much longer than the rest that I've been tempted to cut them myself. If it weren't for the unfortunate time that my mom cut my bangs at a 60 degree angle, I might actually pick up the scissors. As it is, we've settled for extra mousse, creative brushing, and just plain not giving a hoot. SO glad we saved 10 bucks. Well, that's all for now. Love, Us.

Why Not?

2009-11-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

What a crazy week it's been! I got a new freelance job a few weeks ago, but I waited a while before I received any actual work from them. Then, when it came, it came in a big rush! My first project was a 300-plus page book about minorities in Africa. It is extremely interesting and reminds me of my African lit classes in college. But the company wanted me to return 20-30 pages at a time for review, often overnight! I was trying to get used to their style and more academic writing, and I was stressed. The reviewing went well, though, and now I have until the 16th to finish the rest of the book (probably 8 chapters and a 40-page bibliography). I've learned more about endnotes in the past week than in my entire editing career!

In the meantime, Quinn had a blast at my church harvest festival, and he was the cutest cowboy ever. He played all the games, only ate one piece of candy, and learned the proper way to eat a hot dog from his father. (No, we didn't slice it into tiny, choke-proof pieces. Let it go.) Unfortunately, the next day he came down with a fever at a baby shower and was completely listless all day, which happened to be Halloween. So he didn't get to go trick-or-treating for the second year in a row! I didn't think he would even notice, he was so out of it, but when the first kids came to the door, he came over and said (so pitifully), "Quinn trick-or-treat!" Poor baby. Jalal helped by bringing home a Mickey Mouse Pez dispenser. The next morning, we went upstairs to get ready when we heard a little voice downstairs say "Trick-or-Treat" and then the sounds of little hands trying to open a Fun Size bag of M&Ms. Hmmm. We busted out laughing. It was so cute. Now he rings the doorbell every time he goes outside. Great.

His newest phrase is "Why not?" He came out with that the first time at dinner the other day, when I told him he couldn't play with "packets" (sugar packets, he likes to shake them). I nearly choked and couldn't answer. Jalal had to tell him that it was dinner time and not play time with a straight face. A few days later we had a long conversation that went something like this:
Quinn: Where Dada?
Me: In the dressing room, trying on some pants.
Quinn: Hiding wall?
Me: Yes, he's hiding behind that wall.
Quinn: Open door.
Me: No, we don't open the door to the dressing room.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Because people need privacy in there.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Because they are taking off their clothes.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Because it's not polite.
Quinn: Why not?
Me: Just because!!

I would like to state for the record (and that ongoing Mother of the Year application) that I have not yet said, "Because I said so!!"

On another funny note, we were driving to church this morning, and a leaf was stuck in my windshield wiper. It was flapping away, and Quinn said, "Mama, leaf go faster!" I said, "Yes, it's going fast because we are going fast" (this was at all of about 30 miles an hour). He said, "Slow down, Mama! Slow down!" Jeez, kid! I have such a little conscience now. In his quest to be polite, he sneezed the other day and expected Jalal to bless him. When Jalal didn't, Quinn said, "Bless you Quinn!" looking pointedly at Jalal.

This other child of ours is pretty controlling already herself. I woke up the other night at around 3:00 a.m. or so, when Jalal came home from work. He was pretty worked up so we talked for a little while. Well, then I couldn't go back to sleep. All of a sudden, I was starving! Finally, after letting my mind wander all over the place, I just got up and went downstairs. I fixed myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with an Oatmeal Creme Pie and a glass of milk. After that, Maddie and I both felt better and went back to bed. Well, I had thought Jalal was asleep when I left, but he said, "Where'd you go?" I said, "I had to eat lunch." He laughed and said, "That's what I figured." Does he know me or what? My sister thinks it's funny that I called it lunch, but really, what does it sound like? Not breakfast. The child wants what she wants and all I can do is try to comply. (If I don't, I end up snacking on Tums more often than not.) Well, I have a lot of work to finish, and I'm not going to waste anymore of Quinn's naptime talking to the two of you. Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-10-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I never remember it's Monday until I read MckMama's Not Me Monday blog carnival. For more hilarious stories of things we would NEVER do, not in a million years, check it out and read her and others' blogs.

I did not literally yell/curse at my child today when he specifically disobeyed me and tried to crawl through my legs while I was draining grease from ground beef in a heavy, 8-qt. sauce pot. I did not burn my arm so bad that I yelled "Dammit Quinn! I told you not to come near me when I've got hot food in my hands!!" (There goes the Mother of the Year award I was up for.)

I do not wet my pants at least twice a day, every time I sneeze. It is not so common that recently, when I sneezed and didn't wet myself, I exclaimed proudly about that fact to Jalal.

I did not have to reorganize the refrigerator to fit in a giant orange jug for collecting 24 hours' worth of my pee before my doctor's appointment tomorrow. This is not the third time I've had to do this (once with Quinn and once already with Maddie), and I did not practically roll my eyes at the lab tech who tried to kindly explain the whole procedure to me AGAIN (same girl as the last time; guess she sees a lot of pee jugs).

I did not spend 10 precious minutes with a cranky toddler at the grocery store trying to pick out snack size candy for a church harvest festival. I did not have to weigh the merits of the sale versus the coupon, all the while trying to figure out if "peanut-free candy" meant candy with no nuts in it or candy that was not processed in a facility containing peanuts.

I did not have to laugh hysterically today when Quinn (who just learned "Red stop/Green go!") said "two green gos" at a stoplight and it sounded just like "2 Gringos." I did not laugh even harder when Quinn noticed me laughing and said, "Mama, I funny."

I did not frantically spread three sheets of newspaper around Quinn's chair for our first attempt at eating spaghetti at our new dining room table. I also did not contemplate trying to force a bib on him for the first time in months. I did not settle for tucking a paper towel into his shirt collar.

On a different note: Jalal did not tell Quinn he couldn't have chocolate milk until he finished his breakfast the other day. He did not say, "Daddy gets to drink chocolate milk because he ate his breakfast," all the while knowing that the chocolate milk WAS his breakfast!

I hope there's nothing in your recent past that you wouldn't admit to on the Internet, forgetting that someday a future employer is going to discover this and decide he/she does not want to hire someone who publicly discusses wetting her pants! Love, Us.

The Purple Leaves of Autumn

2009-10-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so beautiful here lately that we are anxiously awaiting a chance to go up to Asheville and see the fall foliage. It's been a tradition since we moved here (if you count one time so far as tradition). This year, we are also going to go apple picking. And tomorrow is the day!! Yay! Jalal has the day off, so off we go! The one kink in our plan is that, as of last week, the section of the Blue Ridge Parkway we like to take was closed because of some landslide or something (probably not that dramatic). Ah well. I was brushing Quinn's teeth tonight and trying to get him psyched about the trip. I said we were going to see leaves of all different colors, green, red, orange, yellow ... Quinn said "purple?" Yes, Quinn, maybe even purple leaves. Quinn says, "Purple leaves. And yellow flowers." Sure, kiddo. Whatever.

In other news, we finally broke down and bought a dining room table and chairs. We already have a very nice dining room table, but we've never had chairs, so the table basically holds all kinds of kitchenware and foodstuffs. We found a great set at a discount/unfinished furniture store here, retail $800, our price only $280!! It was brand new and matches our other furniture. I'm really hoping that this will help us get Quinn's mealtime behavior under control. I think it will be good for all of us to eat at the table like a family, without the TV on. We'll see how things go.

Maddie is kicking even more lately. I love that feeling! It seems like Maddie has just as much strength as her big brother. Well, I have to finish an edit tonight before I try to take most of a day off tomorrow. Happy Fall everyone! Love, Us.

Not Me Monday

2009-10-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Join me and MckMama and her many followers as we proudly deny doing anything that would embarrass us or our families.

This week, I did not stand on a playground in the rain when it was 50 degrees outside so Quinn could play for 20 minutes. I know better than to think that 20 minutes on a playground is ever enough for him, and I would rather head straight home than fight him to get him back in the car when I had had enough of cold and rain.

I did not have to give in to my husband and wear his fleece sweatshirt when it got cold. I am totally prepared to be pregnant in the fall (WINTER!) after literally planning it this way to avoid another pregnant August. I did not then complain about the mall being insufferably hot and not being able to take off the sweatshirt because my tank underneath came nowhere CLOSE to covering the belly band of my jeans.

I did not skip church on the day I was supposed to work the nursery because I had a terrible sore throat. I take care of myself and was in no way concerned about symptoms that were starting to point to swine flu, because I AM NOT PARANOID!

I did not almost support my husband in his desire to buy a baby onesie as a gift for a coworker that said "I love my Daddy [in small letters] even if he is an @$$hole" from Spencer's. I have more class than that!!

I did not have to expose most of Greenville to a screeching, red-faced, grunting child shrieking "BOBBY DIAPER MICKEY MOUSE" (translation: I'm trying to poop in my Mickey Mouse diaper") for about three days in a row this weekend. This did not include Kmart (because I don't shop at Kmart), two restaurants, the mall, Costco, and anywhere else you could imagine. My kid has NO trouble going to the bathroom.

I did not tell my 2-year-old "Fine, whatever" at least 6 times in the past week. I'm a responsible parent who doesn't talk to her child like that.

I did not encourage my sister and brother-in-law to have "good sex" on their 1st anniversary cruise in front of the child who had just finished repeating every other word I said.

There you go. As you can tell, I had a GREAT week being a responsible, classy parent and wife. Love, Us.

Okay, We'll Try It

2009-10-17T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yuck. I have a bad sore throat and just don't feel well. As some of you may know, I have a tendency toward the dramatic, so I'm trying to play this down a bit. After reading all these horror stories about pregnant women getting the swine flu (one I read yesterday, the mom had to be put in a coma for a couple months after giving birth!), I keep reminding myself that you can just get a cold or something, too, these days. Don't worry, though. Jalal is being a little extra protective to compensate. I've gotten my seasonal flu shot and will get the H1N1 shot when it is ready, too.

Quinn is not helping. I mean, he's being okay, but driving his choo-choo train along my arms and over my head is not so restful. Neither is running his hands through my hair (only soothing until he gets stuck). But he has been really adorable lately sometimes. His new phrase is "Okay, we'll try it." I like the attitude there. It just makes him sound so mature and grown-up. And he's really sweet about asking "Mama otay?" if he thinks I'm hurt or something. His desperate need for lots of running around seems to be increasing if that's at all possible. I try to get him out and let him run around and play every day, but the weather lately hasn't been cooperating. On the one hand, the temp has dropped and it is WONDERFUL to be in the 50s or 60s. On the other hand, it is raining quite often, and there is only so much mall and Monkey Joe's I can take before I'm praying for summer again (gasp! Did I say that?). Anyway, it's tough to get him out when I don't feel good, but it's better than repeatedly reminding him we DON'T JUMP ON THE COUCH!! Well, I am going to try to get some rest. I may call in reinforcements later. You know, Nemo and Monsters, Inc. Maybe Bolt if things get bad.
Love, Us.

I Get It!

2009-10-09T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here's how my morning is going:

Quinn: [Kicks soccer ball across the room] Where's soccer ball?

Me: I don't know. Where is it?

Quinn: There. Over there. I get it!

Me: Okay, you get it.

Repeat. And again. Sometimes it changes slightly. Occasionally when I say "Where is it?," he says "It's hiding." But the gist of the game has remained the same for quite a while now.

Could I Possibly Be Doing Something Right?

2009-10-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

It seems impossible, but our gradual weaning of parental presence at bedtime might have been successful. For three nights now, Quinn has not cried or gotten up after we closed the door at night. This is huge! It's taken us months to get to this point. Last night was not really a success story, however. Quinn did not nap yesterday, unless you count falling asleep in the car on the way to lunch. The decision to wake him up might have been a mistake. He started acting up pretty bad later in the evening, but we had agreed to go to a small group meeting with some people from our church at seven. So I finally decided to pop a couple Tylenol, force him into his socks and shoes, and throw him in the car with his blanket. After 20 minutes of "NO," he finally settled down and played with the other kids there. However, it was a pretty late night, and we didn't get out of there until almost 10 p.m. Of course, despite his rambunctious behavior at the Beattys' house, he passed out almost as soon as we got in the car.

It was no problem to get him changed and into bed without waking him. After a trip back downstairs to collect his "arsenal" of bed buddies, I thought the night was over. I was so wrong. An hour and a half later, Quinn wakes up screaming. I expected to find him banging on the door, or at least sitting up in bed. Instead, he was still lying down under the covers, with his eyes closed. Oh, and screaming. Did I mention that? Though I hadn't seen one before, I just knew this was a night terror. I've read about them because whenever I mention that he has been waking up crying at night, they say that it might be night terrors. Let me just say that you can wonder if you've experienced a night terror until you do, and then you know for a fact that that's what it is. I had read not to wake up a child having a night terror, so I just sat next to him, shushed him, and tried to comfort him quietly. He was tossing and turning, crying, and screaming "No" over and over. Break my heart! I managed to hold it together until he started screaming "Mama! Mama!" I started crying and talking to him, telling him I was there, everything was okay. Finally I ran downstairs and searched "night terrors" on the Internet. It said absolutely not to wake them, to not even talk to them or touch them. Just stay with them and make sure they don't hurt themselves. The article I read said they can take up to a half an hour to end, and Quinn's was pretty close to that. Finally, he settled down to a whimper and then fell back into a deep sleep. I was heart-broken listening to that and not being able to help. Evidently they are more common when kids are sleep-deprived, so I'm guessing the lack of nap combined with staying up late contributed. Hopefully that won't happen again. I don't know if I can take it! Well, it's late, and you've heard our drama for the past day or so. Let me just leave you with the news that Maddie is kicking up a storm and making me so happy every time I feel her. Can't wait to see her in next week's ultrasound. Love, Us.

Hello Fall!

2009-10-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

The weather is absolutely gorgeous here! I am loving the sunshine with the cool wind. Wish it were like this all summer, too. So it's October, right? That means great things for me: Halloween, Thanksgiving, then Christmas!! My favorite time of year. The only real downside to today is that I had to pay rent. Oh well, at least we have a place to live for another month. ; )

So now here comes the pregnancy hunger. After getting through the first 19 weeks and only gaining a pound (yay!), now I want to eat EVERYTHING! Leftover pizza goes with leftover mashed potatoes, right? Stupid Costco had a stupid coupon for a stupid pumpkin pie, too. The day before yesterday, I ate a reasonable size bowl of tomato soup, accompanied by a HUGE slab of bread slathered in butter. I kept reading the nutrition facts on the butter and assuring myself it was pretty healthy because it was Smart Balance. Hah! I must be stopped. Well, gotta go. Haven't eaten any pumpkin pie yet today! Love, Us.

P-I-N-K!!!!

2009-09-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's a girl!! Little Maddie cooperated today with the ultrasound tech and showed us her girly parts!! Unfortunately, she didn't cooperate for much more than that. We got 2 pics of the "girl parts," but I don't think anyone else would see anything. No profile pics or anything. Since we couldn't get many good looks at the important stuff, the doctor has sent us to another doctor with more advanced equipment. So hopefully next week we'll have "sharable" pictures of Baby Maddie. In the meantime, we took a little trip to the outlets to buy some baby girl stuff. It was killing me! And now, for less than $50, I'm satisfied. For now. ; )

Love, Us.

Dum dah dum dum...dum dah dum dum dum!!

2009-09-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hope you got the tune. The excitement is at record levels around the Halaby household, as tomorrow is the day we find out if the baby is a boy or a girl! That is assuming the baby cooperates with the sonographer. I had a dream the other night that I was pregnant with a boy, but I'm not placing a ton of faith in that because I was also sharing a hospital bed (not room, bed) with someone I went to high school with and who was injured during some military maneuver after ice skating. So you see, it didn't make a ton of sense all around. Anyway, after some debate about letting Quinn come with us to see the pictures of the baby, we decided to share him with Maureen and Sarah for the morning because it was going to take a while at the doctor. It's a good thing we did that because we got a recorded message the other night that no children under 18 were allowed in the doctor's office now since the concerns are so high about H1N1. I guess it's supposed to be much worse for pregnant women, and they still don't have a vaccine available. I'm planning to get my seasonal flu shot tomorrow at the doctor, so that's one less worry. I panicked a little this morning when I woke up with a sore threat and stuffy nose and feeling feverish. Even though I have felt feverish all day, the thermometer tells me I have no fever. Now, if thermometers expire after say, 11 years or so, someone should tell me that. If 96.8 really means 101.8, I should know that, dontcha think? So I didn't make it to Bible study this morning, mostly because of the throbbing head. Quinn and I have pretty much taken it easy all day, napping and hanging out watching movies. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. On the bright side, I had tomato soup and a bread bowl (from Panera courtesy of the Bridge church!) for lunch, and it was very nice. I got my hopes up that Jalal was going to make chili but we didn't have canned tomatoes (boo!).

Quinn is cracking me up lately with the things he says and does. He adds "and" to everything, making his list of things he must sleep with "blanket and dragon and monkey (ooh ooh ahh ahh, his words, not mine) and frog and pillow." Sheesh! It has taken this long to get online access to the pictures we took at Picture People in his cowboy. I must say, they are stinking adorable. I don't think I can share a link on here but I can send it to anyone who emails me personally. I will also try to get a few scanned in from our hard copies to post.

Here's another milestone: Last night, for the first time since we transitioned to the toddler bed, Quinn did not scream, cry, or get out of bed when we closed the door. No sitting with him, no talking through the door, just the routine, the "night night" and "I love you," and we were done. Woo hoo! Tonight, there was a minute of crying but then nothing. This would be a great help to our nighttime routine.

So since I still haven't found a new job yet, I'm going to cut this short and move on to working on the only paying work I have right now. You never know when it's gone, so I'll take advantage of it. I'll be sure to post tomorrow on PINK or BLUE! Love, Us.

Sprinkly Saturday

2009-09-19T19:16:00.001-07:00

It's been raining a lot lately. The bad news: We have to accommodate with inside exercise. Yesterday was Monkey Joe's. God help me. I spent half the time trying to make sure Quinn didn't get jumped on by 10-year-old Catholic schoolgirls and the other half telling him I wasn't going to give him "pennies" for the arcade games.

Today, Maureen and I attempted to keep the kids up until 12 so we could take them to a party store for an Elmo visit. Quinn fell asleep on the way, but thankfully he perked right up when he saw Sarah. Though it took us about 10 minutes to get them warmed up enough to get near Elmo, soon they were hugging him all over. I told Maureen that Quinn would likely fall asleep on the way home, and boy, did I jinx myself there. He would NOT nap. Not until Jalal got home and we headed to a consignment sale did he fall asleep.

The best part about the rain lately has been frog hunting. There are dozens of tiny baby frogs hopping all over our front yard, and every time we go outside, we chase them around. I caught one for Quinn today and let him hold it, and now he keeps talking about our "froggy hands." I'll try to get a picture of that soon.

Last week, we took Quinn to Picture People to get his cowboy pictures made. Let me just say he was a hit! I thought all was lost when he started running around in circles until his eyes literally rolled back in his head and he fell over. But the photographer salvaged it. Then we had to sign a model release so they could dedicate a display wall to his photos. We spent more than we should have but less than we could have. I'll try to get a link posted as soon as I get one so everyone can enjoy the adorableness that is my child. Locals can check out the left wall of the Picture People in the mall to see the newest celebrity.

Well, this baby is kicking up a storm already. We have only another week and a half before we find out whether it's a she or a he. I can't wait! I keep seeing all this adorable baby stuff but I can't buy boy or girl stuff. It's killing me! On the bright side, I've managed a few days of just a little queasiness where I haven't had to take my pills. Maybe we're finally heading into the downslide on morning sickness. On the downside, my hips are killing me and my back is starting to ache. I haven't gained any weight so far, which I was a little worried about these past few weeks, but the doctor's okay with that, so so am I. I'll try to keep baby updates as often as I can, but I don't want this to become a litany of preggo complaints. So feel free to shut me up if I get annoying!

P.S. RIP Patrick Swayze. I love "Roadhouse"!

Oh, What a Night!

2009-09-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

It wasn't late December and it was not a very special time for me. But last night certainly qualifies as "what a night." About 1:30 in the morning, I woke up with really bad stomach cramps. After trying to deal with it for a while, I woke Jalal and told him we needed to call the doctor's office. The nurse on call suggested we go ahead and head to the emergency room. If ever there were a time I wished we still lived in Charleston and had 30-some friends willing to help us in the middle of the night, it was this morning. But that's not our situation here yet, so we packed up Quinn and headed to St. Francis ER. After checking in and doing the preliminary tests, we were informed of their new rule (as of two days ago) that no children were allowed back into the emergency room (thanks swine flu). Jalal tried to call Maureen, but she was getting her first night of uninterrupted sleep in many weeks and didn't hear her phone. So poor Jalal was stuck in the waiting room with Quinn, who, by the way, decided that 2:00 a.m. was a perfectly normal time to get up and act like it was morning already (read: did not sleep or rest at all). I had no idea he wasn't even getting basic information about how I was doing (they were not busy, so I assumed the nurses would have let him know SOMETHING!). I was doing much better after they gave me a narcotic (well, after the initial effects--dizziness, heaviness, hysterical crying--wore off). The pain went away and I was stuck just waiting and wondering. I did have it a little easier than Jalal, since I didn't have Quinn to deal with, and since I got to hear that the baby's heartbeat was strong shortly after all the blood was drawn and tests were run. What a relief! I was so worried that something was wrong with the baby. After a couple of hours, I got the all-clear. The doctor said it was probably uterine spasms associated with the ligaments stretching. Now I trust that there was nothing else wrong, but I've felt ligaments stretching and man, was this worse! Maybe these were bigger ligaments. Who knows? Anyway, by 5 a.m., we were heading home. Jalal had left a message for my sister shortly after I went back, so I called again to tell her all was okay. Didn't want her to wake up and freak out at his message. Well, that didn't work. She only saw that she'd missed a call at 3:30, assumed the worst, listened to his message and then frantically called me to find out what happened. She was so upset, and I had only been asleep for about an hour, so I was just bleary. Anyway, after a couple more hours of sleep (or close to it), Quinn woke up raring to go. Poor Jalal had to go to work for 14 hours today while I tried to "stay off my feet." Hah! So, all is well for now. Let's hope tomorrow goes more smoothly, though we do have to handle another 2-year-old birthday party. Yikes! Love, Us.

Birthday Pictures

2009-09-05T15:03:00.001-07:00

Okay, I was "politely" reminded by my sister the other day that I had not shared many pictures from Quinn's birthday party. It was really bright that day, so I'm afraid a few of them didn't come out great. Here goes nothing.

Quinn and Sarah playing cowboy.

Yummy cake!

Isn't Christian adorable?

I know the layout didn't come out that great, but forgive me. I'm not so good at stuff like that.
But here's a video of the birthday song and Quinn blowing out the candles.

Love, Us.

Yay Babymoon!

2009-09-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, a "babymoon" is the new term for a pre-baby getaway. It turns out that Jalal and I haven't even left Quinn overnight before, so we decided to jump at the chance to go away for a night while we could. The Depeche Mode concert in Atlanta on Tuesday gave us the perfect opportunity. Jalal found a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, so it was bound to be a great night! (Sorry, they don't offer Friends and Family Rates at this location, but we got a great deal!) My friend Maureen was going to babysit Quinn but then she bailed on me (through no fault of her own). Jalal manipulated his authority at Marriott to get one of his employees off so she could watch him. She's sat for him a few times before, so we were comfortable with that. We got out of town around noon on Tuesday, checked into our SA-WEET! hotel room (on the top floor), and lounged on the beautiful 6-inch-thick pillowtop bed. Turns out they feature Bulgari toiletries, and believe you me, I took advantage of every single one. I even wore the shower cap in the shower while getting ready for the concert. Then of course, the body wash and lotion provided a lovely fragrance, and the bathrobe and slippers kept me cozy while I dressed.

We had passed a place called Twist around the corner from the hotel that said "sushi and tapas." How could we resist? After feeling uber-out of place walking through the mall of high-end shops like Gucci and Ferragamo, we were blown away by the food at Twist. Let me see if I can remember what we ate: mussels (Jalal), chicken empanada, calamari, buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomato salad, Philly roll, and for the second "course," a truffled egg salad sandwich and some fantastic sushi roll with mango and tuna around tuna tataki, which I was not supposed to eat (boo), but I cheated and ate a small piece. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone. I want to go back.

After an early dinner, we headed to the concert. It was at an outdoor amphitheater, which could have been dicey, but the weather was superb. The breeze was perfect at a time when it could have gotten hot from all the crowds. The people there, by the way, were about the most eclectic mix I've ever seen. Young goth folks, old goth folks, old preppy folks, old hippie folks, young trendy folks, a cowboy...weird. But after a lukewarm opening act by some guys, one of whom was named Bjorn (evidently they are huge in Europe), Depeche Mode came out and rocked my world. They were so good, and I knew more of the songs than I expected. I guess 10 years of indoctrination will do that to a girl. Anyway, after much screaming and clapping, they came out for their first of two encores, and began with our song, "Somebody." It was so romantic.

After the concert, we were pretty hungry (hey, it had been almost 5 hours since dinner!), and since it was nearly midnight, our options were limited. So we stopped at a gas station for Twix ice cream bars and donuts. Mmmm. I'm not a donut fan normally, but I'm blaming the baby for that one. Thanks, baby! Turns out, Ritz-Carlton does turn-down service. Whoops. Shouldn't have left my underwear on the bed! It was great though! Chocolates, water and glass on the side table, fresh towels, and the drapes pulled. Lovely way to come "home." It was so heavenly that I'm almost ashamed to admit we slept until 10 a.m.! For those of you with toddlers, you know what a guilty (and impossible) pleasure this is. We finally dragged outselbes out of bed and packed up every "Ritz-Carlton" labeled object that we didn't think we'd get charged for: stationery, water bottles, pens, notepads, mouthwash. We stopped at Fatburger for lunch. Never had that before, but it was yummy! Then we headed home. [Sigh.] It was wonderful. I missed Quinn, but not that much! Hah! Well, that's the story of the babymoon. Love, Us.

10 Signs a Child Watches Too Much TV

2009-08-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

10. Child can identify all of Handy Manny's tools by name, except Filipe.
9. Child sang "Na na na na...Elmo World" when we pulled into the church parking lot today.
8. Child does a frenetic version of the Hot Dog dance on command, now accompanied by a (in hindsight) poorly chosen musical birthday card by his mother. (Doh!)
7. When child is presented with a stuffed Larry the Cucumber (of VeggieTales), child often requests "TB Larry!"
6. Child's mother changes the channel from Sid the Science Kid to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Child freaks and says, "Sid! No Mickey Mouse. Sid, please Mama?"
5. Child is given a magnetic art easel by child's favorite aunt. Child puts up magnetic letters one by one, after screaming out what letters they are, and jumps up and down saying, "Puzzle!!" (see #4 for clarification)
4. Child begins to ask for Wheel of Fortune ("Wheel of Chichen") after around 5:30 each night.
3. Mother has seriously considered taping Wheel of Fortune to use in behavioral emergencies, such as Sunday night at 7:00 when Wheel does not come on TV.
2. Child thinks ladybugs are called "Oso bugs," thanks to Special Agent Oso's ladybug camera.
And the number one sign that child watches too much TV is:
1. Child's father has the morning Disney Channel lineup memorized from 7:00 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.

The Shape of Things to Come

2009-08-24T20:24:00.001-07:00

Forecast: Big and round.
Set calendar to February 22nd, 2010.
Taking bets: Pink or blue?

Not My Child Monday, 2-Year-Old Edition

2009-08-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here I am picking back up with Not Me! Monday--with a twist. Since I'm SO perfect that I have nothing to say for a Not Me! Monday, I decided to share some of my darling child's antics. Note that said child is 2 years old now, and I am not guilty of hyperbole when I say that he has been possessed by a demon.

My dear son did not begin screaming like a banshee when my beloved Aunt Linda walked in the door to visit on Friday. He loves her, and despite refusing to say "aunt" while chanting happily "Uncles!" the last time we saw her, he would never make her feel so bad, especially when she brought him cookies as a shameless (and effective) bribe.

My beloved angel did not wake up at 4 a.m. on his birthday morning and keep me awake on his floor for an hour before I gave up and went back to my own bed. If he did, he wouldn't then start chattering to his daddy about "Dirt-day Quinn!" while my dear hubby just tried to go the bathroom in peace.

My child did not fall asleep 10 minutes before the start of his birthday party on Saturday. He is an impeccably polite host and would not crash at such an inopportune time.

My sweet baby did not spend all day at the party fussing about "bobby" so much that I had to explain (again) to everyone that he's having some bowel issues (yes, still). He did not then tear around like a ridiculously happy tasmanian devil after he got home and finally relieved himself.

My darling dear boy did not demand the right to "walk walking" in the mall with me and Grandma. If he had, he most certainly would not have stopped a few dozen feet into the mall and grab his crotch, saying "Tight!" He did not then shift his "stuff" around and say "Better" with clear relief. WTH?

Well, if any of you have children that would NEVER embarrass you in public, please share these little episodes. There's only so much chocolate I can consume to make me feel better about myself--and my child. Love, Us.

Quinn's Dirt-day!

2009-08-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite a week. My sweet baby, Quinn, is now 2 years old. How is that possible? We were very blessed to have so many friends join us for his birthday, especially people from out of town. My mom came into town Thursday; Aunt Linda came on Friday; and the Connellys drove up from Charleston that night, too. Aunt Linda spent Friday evening teaching Quinn how to "do" his birthday: singing "Happy Birthday," blowing out candles, saying "thank you," and opening presents. It worked, but one of the side effects was that he got up at 4 a.m. on Saturday, too excited to sleep. I spent an hour trying to get him to go back to sleep, but he wasn't having it. After he woke up Jalal, too, he said to him, "Soccer ball dirt-day Quinn!" The soccer ball was his practice present the night before. "Dirt-day" is what he calls a birthday. So none of us got much sleep that night.

The party went off really well. The weather was wonderful, none of the kids melted down, the balloons and stick horses were a big hit, and the cake was adorable and delicious (chocolate with strawberry filling).

Quinn did pretty well opening a few presents. At one point, he even handed a gift to Sarah to open while he took a breather with a juice box. Now that's teamwork. All three of the 2-year-olds (Quinn, Sarah, and Christan) sat together politely while we sang "Happy Birthday." Quinn even spent a little time playing with Caleb, Leah's 7-month-old.

The evening rounded out with dinner with our out-of-towners. Jalal made an incredible Cajun meal of pork, risotto, broccoli, salad, and bread. Mmmm...yummy! Quinn was in rare form showing off, and he charmed the heck out of Barry, especially when he walked past Quinn in his highchair and Quinn said, "Hi, Uncle B!" After a great night with old friends and family, they left and Quinn decided to have his biggest freakout EVER!! I mean it. He was absolutely hysterical. Jalal finally calmed him down with a treat of cookies, which he refused to eat until Jalal also had a treat. We're going to have to talk to the doctor about that.

Anyway, amidst the delightful weekend of celebration and sugar, I also had the very trying anniversary of my dad's passing 1 year ago Friday. I hate that Quinn's birthday will always be so tied up with his death, especially when Quinn reminds me so much of my dad. Even my Aunt Linda (Dad's sister) remarks on how much Quinn looks like Dad when he was little. My sister wrote a really touching post on her blog about Dad, but I guess I am just trying to process things internally. I don't know.

So on a lighter note, Quinn's language skills are progressing at an alarming rate. In just a couple of weeks, he has gone from 3 or 4 words at a time to entire sentences! And he is so polite! Thank you, please, sorry--he never fails to know the appropriate time to use his polite words, even when he is upset or crying. He sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at the top of his lungs and almost word for word. He likes to sweep the floor (I got him a broom for his birthday) and cheers anything in sight--drinks, forks, belly buttons (yes, that was weird). When my mom got off the plane the other day, he popped up with a perfectly clear "Hi Grandma!" She wanted to be "Grammy," which he pronounced as "Gree-gree" (awww!) until just the other day. Then she showed up and it was "grandma." Go figure.

My birthday was a week ago, and it was delightful. Very low-key, but I got to spend the whole day with my wonderful family and I didn't have to do any dishes!! Yay! Here's to 29 and fabulous. Anyway, I know I'm overdue for a vacation post, and it's coming. I promise. In a week I won't have a job and I'll have all the spare time in the world! Ha! (Insert panicked nervous laughter here.) Just to give you a preview, there are a few pics on the left side of the page. Enjoy! Love, Us.

Bounce Bounce JUMP!

2009-08-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all. I had planned to update everyone on our excellent vacation ("yay-cation" as Quinn calls it), but I lost 5 days of work, so I don't have time to spend 4 hours blogging. I will post about it soon though, I promise. To keep you excited, know that there were many hats involved, stalagmites, a pony ride, and many, many Goldfish.

Today, we took a time out from work and went to Monkey Joe's to jump, bounce, and slide. In case you are wondering, jumping is when you jump up and down on your feet; bouncing is when you jump up and land on your butt. Who knew? I hope that curbed his desire to jump for a while because I'm sick of him jumping on me.

Anyway, I better get back to work and take advantage of the little time I have while Quinn sleeps. Stay tuned for the adventures of the Halabys' road trip. Love, Us.

Fun Game--No Fun Game

2009-08-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

This is great fun. Quinn pulls a crayon out of the box and thrusts it at me. I tell him what color it is and he says no. As in, "Blue." "No blue." "White." "No white." "Magenta." "No Genten." Yay! This is after he freaked out wanting the crayons and I said he could have them and he freaked out AGAIN: NO COLORS! For crying out loud! Ah, to be two and have the freedom to act like a nightmare for no good reason and then come kissing and hugging on your mama.

This morning, Quinn started playing around with my cell phone. He grabs it, flips it open and takes it over to his Pooh chair. He starts pushing buttons and Jalal says, "What are you doing? Don't call China." Quinn holds the phone to his ear and says, "China? Hello?" We both cracked up. Jalal said, "There you go. Put that in your Sunday Silly Stories." What? He reads my blog? ; )

Our transition to a toddler bed is really trying our patience. There have only been a couple of nights that he has slept through the night. One of us has had to stay in his room with him until he falls asleep, for every nap and at night. It is getting so old. We leave in two days for our vacation. This ought to be interesting. On the plus side, when we stay in a hotel, we always sleep in the same room, so maybe all will be well.

I made breakfast for dinner tonight. Pancakes with a booster of flaxmeal and scrambled eggs with cheese. They were pretty good, if I do say so myself. I threw a couple of pieces of broccoli and cauliflower on Quinn's plate because he's been eating so poorly lately. I thought it was a lost cause, but he ate the cauliflower right away. Hmm. Since when does he not eat green vegetables? He's had entire meals that consisted solely of broccoli! Maureen thinks Quinn and Sarah have traded places because Sarah is sleeping well, eating well, and behaving great. I just want my kid back. Granted, he can still be so sweet and funny. He loves giving big smoochie kisses (when he feels like it), and when he starts, he doesn't stop. But most of this evening I've felt like that stereotypical new mom who just wants to yell, "Why are you crying?!" Maybe the change of scenery on our vacation will do us good. Well, I should go get started on packing. I have to have everything done by tomorrow at 7 p.m. because I have to go bowling with my new league. It's much different than the last league I was on. For one thing, our team is just Maureen and me. The alley doesn't have smoking, so it much easier to breathe there. And even though it starts two hours later, it only finishes one hour later because of the smaller teams (most have three people). So, I'll post again soon. Promise. Love, Us.

Broken Child

2009-07-21T17:52:00.001-07:00

My child is broken. Not for the first time, he awoke tonight after half an hour of sleep (or at least got up half an hour after being put down) and started screaming bloody murder. I don't know what to do about him! He has always been such a good sleeper. We had one day last week where he didn't nap. At all. All day. I nearly walked away and didn't come back. Why is he suddenly fighting it so much? I've tried rocking him to sleep but he pops up as soon as I put him down. I've tried letting him sleep with me in our bed. I've tried sitting with him in his room while he falls asleep. No luck. Grrr!
On the other hand, he did stay perfectly silent and pretty well-behaved this afternoon watching a movie while I took a nap. At one point I heard him whisper, "Shh! Duckies!" But I really don't know what the heck he was talking about.
Our new time-out chair has been working pretty well this week. The first day I thought we were screwed because he kept crawling into it and sitting there even when he wasn't in trouble. But it seems like that got old and he doesn't like it so much anymore. And he will now go over and sit there himself when we tell him to instead of us having to put him in it. Just today I told him if he didn't stop doing something, he would have to sit in time-out. He didn't wait, he just walked right over and sat down in the chair! Hopefully this will help curb the behavior problems we've been having. I'll keep you posted on our lastest exploits! For now, I better eat some dinner in case I don't get a chance to do anything else tonight because I'm busy begging Quinn to sleep. Love, Us.

Now We're Even

2009-07-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I went to get Quinn up from his nap. For a few more weeks at least, he's staying in his crib. Sometimes he is in a bad mood when he wakes up from a nap and refuses to let me get him out right away. This happened today, and as I usually do, I stepped out for a minute to give him time to miss me. I just went outside his door to the linen closet to grab a fresh crib sheet. (I just bathed him on Thursday, but boy does he stink!) He immediately started crying when I went out of his sight-line, so I popped my head back in and said, "It's okay, Mama's right here." Well, I guess he didn't expect me to be so close by because it startled him badly. He jumped and cried even harder, and he was more than ready to have me pick him up at that point. Of course, I apologized. I really didn't mean to scare him.

After a bath (did I mention stinky boy?), he was watching "Wheel of Fortune" downstairs when I went upstairs to get something. I didn't think he'd even realize I was gone, but he came running around the corner just as I hit the bottom landing. I jumped so far and said something I probably wouldn't want him to repeat at church tomorrow. I guess it's only fair!
Love, Us.

Apologies, Groveling, and Minutiae

2009-07-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

I apologize that is has been so long since I've posted, but if you'll take a look at the top of the page, you'll see that I have been very busy nursing my Karen Kingsbury obsession. Finally I have finished the Baxter Family Drama, and what a drama it was! I did love it though, so I'm not complaining. But I realize that you, dear readers, were the ones who suffered. You poor things. Can you ever forgive me? You've probably had to pacify your funny Quinn story needs with silly YouTube videos of cats. Sorry. But now back to your regularly scheduled programming. On the subject of readers, I have now crossed the popularity threshold into two followers!! Only one of which is my sister! Yay! Thank you, 2nd follower. You've made my week. Although I have to say, I'm so glad I'm not as popular as MckMama. Give me 600 comments a day, and I promise you I will NOT read them all! Unless they each contain a pledge of $2 to allow me to forgo that silly thing I call a job.

Anyway, since I'm not at risk for massive worldwide popularity anytime soon, let us commence with the tales of my darling boy. He is quickly becoming the two-year-old I hoped he'd never be. He says "no" all the time, throws his food and drink at least one meal a day, steals crackers whenever Jalal leaves them in his reach, refuses to give me a hug and kiss at least twice a day, and has now begun jumping off the arm of the couch and climbing up the back of the couch. It is only a matter of time before he cracks his stinkin' head open. On the bright side, how do I complain about a sweet angel who loves to cuddle (when he's not trying in vain to have a BM), read books with me, play with my hair, and ask for broccoli for breakfast EVERY MORNING! He also holds hands with his friend Sarah and puts the books at the library and at church away even when he isn't asked to help. Putting away his toys at home is an entirely different story. I desperately need to vacuum, but just moving all his toys and books is so daunting!

Part of the excuse for not posting earlier this week, and failing to maintain Silly Stories Sunday and Not Me! Monday, was that Jalal had three days off in a row, thanks to a holiday for the 4th of July (not on the 4th of July, of course, since once a year on our country's patriotic holiday, Jalal is forced to entertain hundreds of beautiful young women vying for our state's highest honor [???], Miss South Carolina.) I actually think it's kind of cool that he personally knew the winner this year, the younger sister of one of his former employees. Crazy. So during the first part of the week, we went on a massive hunt for a suitable and available birthday party site. Turns out we waited just a little too long, so we didn't get to reserve our first choice, and many places were just too big and too expensive. We finally found a great park on the north side of town with a small pavilion we could rent. There is a toddler playground that is pretty nice and then a big kids playground that makes me wish I were 12 years old. It is freakin' awesome! If we still live here in a few years, we are going there to play all the time! So now that that is settled, we sent out Evites (to tech-savvy folk) and paper invites (to Nani and Grammy and so on). Now we'll see who can come! If it ends up being just Maureen and Sarah and us, so be it! Well, Quinn is awake and singing "Elmo's World" in his crib, so I had better go get him and fix him some lunch. Maybe he'll eat something besides broccoli. Love, Us.

P.S. He's also chanting "soccer ball, soccer ball, soccer ball" and saying "thank-you welcome bye!" What a trip!

Hungrios?

2009-06-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

I tend to be a little lax about constant monitoring of Quinn when I'm trying to finish an edit. Nothing shows this better than the events of this afternoon. I guess I had forgotten to lock the lazy Susan pantry because Quinn starts bringing me items from there into the living room. First it was the salt, then fettucine, then two packets of oatmeal, then bulghur wheat. I didn't worry too much about this. I did pop into the kitchen at one point to see where he was putting them when he took them back in there. Turns out he was building a tower of boxes next to the fridge. It got pretty high. I was impressed. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when the tower collapsed. The rigatoni box popped open and released a few pieces of pasta onto the floor. I got the boxes all packed away and the lazy Susan locked up first of all. Then I told Quinn to put the pasta in the trash, which he did. I guess maybe he palmed a piece or found another later because when I came back into the living room a few minutes later, he was chewing on a mouthful of something. He obediently spit all the soggy pasta pieces into a napkin for me, no worse for the wear. Guess he should have eaten his sandwich at lunch, huh?
Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

No freakin' way! This is my 100th post! Can I get Emeril Lagasse to come cook for me like he did for Jon & Kate Plus 8's 100th episode? Better yet, can I get my hubby to come home and cook for me instead of working? Okay, enough chit-chat. It's Not Me! Monday, the day of the week where I get to DENY all my shameful deeds. Maybe I'm not the worst mommy in the world, but sometimes I think I'm in the running! Just kidding. I didn't DO any of these things!

I did not discover Quinn playing in the toilet this week, swishing around a baggie filled with trial sizes of diaper cream and hand sanitizer. Not only do I ALWAYS keep a close eye on my dear child, but if I did catch him at something like that, I wouldn't freak out. I would calmly explain that we don't play in the toilet.

I did not have to discreetly dispose of our frog. This was not the third living creature that has traveled from the acquarium to the toilet. I have not completely given up any hope of pretty semi-tropical fish, nor do I think we're going to have to continue to restock the giant acquarium with more starter fish.

I am not newly obsessed with the show "Dance Your Ass Off." I don't compare myself with them and think that I am such a better booty dancer than any of those black girls.

I did not go to the grocery store THREE times in THREE days. That is a total waste of my precious time and completely unnecessary, since I'm a totally put-together mom who never forgets items and always plans ahead for meals.

I am not barely getting in my Not Me! Monday post less than an hour before midnight. I am so well organized that I do have to squeeze "important" things like blogging into my "I'm so freakin' tired my eyes are scratchy and I can barely hold my head up" nighttime schedule.

Well, those are the things I did NOT do this week. Can't wait to see what next week brings! Love, Us.

It Could Have Been a Great Day

2009-06-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

Jalal had the day off, and I didn't have Bible Study today, which means I had the day off, too. Trish had given us a couple of coupons for Cheesecake Factory, which we love but don't live anywhere near. So we literally drove to Buckhead in Atlanta for lunch. Our plans were to stop in Commerce at the outlets on our way home. First of all, our server at CF was not very friendly. She treated us like crap, I think because of Quinn, who by the way did not cry at all and barely fussed. He spent a lot of time playing peekaboo, blowing kisses to a fly buzzing around us, and saying, "Cheeseburger Fries!" in a super chipper voice. She let both mine and Jalal's teas sit empty for a lot longer than is acceptable. She was just not a good server. So Jalal tipped accordingly, which is still not that bad for most people. On the bright side, our food was awesome, and a piece of cheesecake layered with chocolate cake was a nice (completely unnecessary) ending.
Jalal was interrupted during our meal a couple of times. First the background. Jalal's bar and restaurant have both gotten fantastic ratings lately and are ranked pretty high up in the company standings. He decided (and his bosses agreed) that they deserved a treat. So they've planned a whitewater rafting trip. Because there were enough banquet folk agreeing to fill in for them, Jalal didn't have to call in corporate reinforcements. These interruptions started when the banquet captain decides she doesn't want to work tomorrow night. Yeah, tomorrow. Talk about last-minute! So she doesn't even call Jalal to tell him; she just tells one of her supervisors that she is trading the shift with another bartender, who doesn't even know the computer system! It's just a little ridiculous that people will come out and OFFER to do something and then change their mind when it's too late to get anyone else in to do it. The second interruption was the news that the supervisor closing tonight was throwing up. So, here we are in Atlanta at noon and Jalal has to figure out how to get to Spartanburg to work that evening. Another girl agreed to stay late, we spent about an hour rushing through the outlets, and then I ironed while Jalal shaved and dressed. He had just enough time to swing by the dry cleaners to pick up his suitcoats. Of course, since he was off today, we took them ALL to the DC this morning, dropping them off at 9:30, plenty of time before the 10:00, same day deadline. Since they didn't close until 7, and Jalal made it at 6:45, he was feeling pretty good. Until he pulled up and the employee turned off the lights and said, sorry man, we're closed. Jalal was livid, to say the least. He said, no, it's not seven, please go back inside and get me my suits. But the computer is shut down! Then start it back up. The guy does go inside and start up the computer, asked Jalal his phone number, and looked up the order. Then he informs Jalal that his clothes aren't cleaned; he only tagged them at 3:30. Hmmm. Can you imagine the emotion going on inside Jalal? I can. He gave the guy a piece of his mind about the fact that his clothes were supposed to be done by 5:00, that he was on his way to work at that moment, and that he needed them to keep their end of the bargain. After saying that we'll be taking our business elsewhere, he told the guy he wanted his clothes back. So the man hands him his bag of coats. Jalal says, "are they all here?" The man says, "Of course." So Jalal opens the bag to find one coat missing and a pair of pants that did not belong to him. Seriously? Well, he can't go to work without a jacket, even on his night off, so he had to wear one of the dirty ones. I can't tell you how ticked off he was. What a stinking day! It was supposed to be so much fun! Oh, and I didn't finish my edit until 11:30, on the road, and we couldn't find a single place to steal wi-fi from, so that didn't get returned to my boss until after close of business. Crummy all around. Thank God there was cheesecake! Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-06-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not slack off yesterday and not post a "Sunday Silly Stories" post. Because I am always diligent and know how much you look forward to me writing. Ha!

I did not look at my watch three times during the sermon at church, which was good and even funny, but really long and rambling.

Quinn DID NOT literally pee on the floor at Walmart yesterday. I ALWAYS check his diaper after church, so that wasn't the issue. I noticed his pants were damp after lunch, but I let Jalal convince me it was probably water or drool. When I realized at Walmart how wet he was, I took him immediately to the bathroom at the front, only to find it closed for cleaning. Do I rush back to the bathroom at the back of the store? No, I catch up with Jalal, who stops to look at cell phone cases on the way. In the electronics aisle, Quinn, sitting in the cart, looks at me and says, "Bobby." Oh, really, honey? Is that what's running down your leg onto the floor? And thank God I had a cloth diaper in his bag to mop it up with. Of course, I had a backup outfit. I would never push my poor child through Walmart with no pants on. Not Me! I have never felt like such a redneck. Whoops! Guess that'll teach me.

I did not take a picture of Quinn's no-no, when he stole a bite of chocolate cake as I was making cake balls last week, all the while trying to keep a straight face and say, "No! That is a naughty thing to do."

So, yesterday was Father's Day. We had a very nice day. Cards to wake up to, a digital picture frame, and a specially made Boston Cream Pie from Strossner's. Jalal almost messed up all my plans by coming home after three hours at work because he'd hurt his back. So I had to convince him to stay home while I went out to Target (and Strossner's) and then had to sneak the cake and the present in from the car and hide them both while he's lying on the floor in the living room. In all, it was successful, though. Well, that's enough for today. Love, Us.

Sweetest Bedtime Ever

2009-06-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

This is short, but I just had to share. I just put Quinn to bed, and he's been a little sick with a cold, so we've had our ups and downs this week. But after he cried for some unknown reason while I was dressing him, he settled down for a book and cuddle. Then, as I was turning out the light, he pointed to the clock and said, "Eight!" I asked if he wanted to count one more time before bed, and he said, "One, two, three, four, five, six, W, X, Y!" Hmmm. So close. I don't know how to get him to say "Seven" and not "Sevel-you" or "W." I just laughed and hugged him and told him how great he is. What a sweet way to end the night.
Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-06-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I DID NOT put my sweet angel down to bed super early last night so I would have some extra time to myself. If I did, I would not first read a chapter of my book while he played in the bubble bath by himself (I was sitting right there, so don't call DSS!).

I did not stay up until almost midnight last night trying to finish an edit because I DID NOT create a schedule for the whole week to keep me on track with all three of my jobs this week. That would be incredibly anal and Type A, which is my sister and maybe my husband, Not Me!

My husband and I do not (truthfully) tell people that Quinn learned all his letters from "Wheel of Fortune." Good parents don't let their kids watch "Wheel of Fortune" every night since they were babies.

I did not drive 15 minutes away to go to the "good" playground ("good" because it has big swings for parents and I'm NOT lazy) only to pack it up and leave after it started raining 10 minutes later.

I did not reward myself for half an hour on the exercise bike by eating a third of a pint of B&J pumpkin cheesecake ice cream--out of the container!

I did not subject the whole Mauldin Public Library, including 40 innocent children, to me in shorts today--just to get some "use" out of my shaved legs! Not me!

Love, Us.

Sunday, No Stories

2009-06-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I don't really have the energy for a long post tonight. I tried to post a video but for some reason it always fails. Does anyone know how to post a video on a blog? Anyway, this is a busy busy week for me, so I may be out of commission for a bit. I hope that's okay.
Love, Us.

The Most Pitiful Boy in the World

2009-06-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Currently, the owner of that title is lying on the floor in front of me, crying over and over, "Pretzels? Please?" I've told him he can have pretzels if he sits in his highchair (they were already part of his lunch, so I'm not giving in). You'd think I was the worst mother in the world. He woke up asking for milk, and I brought him some when I went to get him. See? I'm nice!

On a more pleasant note, Quinn is starting to speak in more complete "sentences," like "Mama car," "Daddy car," and today, "all gone milk." Jalal's been working on him saying "my," like "my shoes." He's had a hard time with that, but when I got him up from his nap just now, he screwed up his face (he looks like he's concentrating so hard) and said, "My diedit (diaper)." I was so proud of him!

Maureen and her family (mom, dad, and little brother) all watched Quinn last night so Jalal and I could go on a date. It was great. We saw "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and ate at Saskatoon, a wild game restaurant. (In case you were curious, I had a sampler of lamb, duck, and beef, not crazy wild. Jalal finally decided on buffalo ribeye over the kangaroo, since they get kangaroo in more often than the buffalo ribeye.) Their wine list was good, too. We had to decide between two of our faves: Erath pinot noir and J. Lohr Twelve Oaks cabernet (J. Lohr won). All was delicious, and the movie was very funny. Matt McConoughey (sp?) lives up to his reputation again, though he looked a bit over-tan and rugged this film. We drove through a crazy fast storm on our way to the movie. I expected the cow from Twister to fly by any minute. Seriously, we saw a trash can, a baby carriage (empty, in front of a Goodwill), and a billboard (just the paper part) fly past us. A giant American flag was ripped halfway off the pole, and most of Haywood Road was without power after a power pole broke in half! I couldn't get close enough for a picture of that, but it was crazy! Our date must have been meant to be because the restaurant was just one building away from where the pole snapped and therefore kept electricity. When we went to pick up Quinn, he was not at all interested in leaving with us, saying "NO!" and clinging to Maureen when I tried to take him. Sheez kid! He did eventually come with us, obviously, but I guess that means he had a good time. Except randomly on the way home, he started to say "cheeseburger and fries." Hmmm.

Well, I have to have to have to finish my edit before end of day today. Tomorrow we go to Athens for our friends' daughter's 2nd birthday. And next week, I make my catering debut with cake balls at Maureen's sister's rehearsal dinner. Wish me luck!
Love, Us.

How Does Your Mind Work?

2009-06-09T18:18:00.001-07:00

I often think of this question in relation to Quinn. For instance, he woke up this afternoon from his nap, and I didn't get him up right away. I usually let him wake up fully to minimize the drama when I go in there. I listened to him on the monitor for a while. The first thing he does is start singing, "Elmo's World." After that, he moves on to saying "shower" over and over. He's lately obsessed with showers and wants to take one all the time. Instead I took him to the pool. Next best thing, right? It was the perfect day for it, pretty warm but not blazing hot. The pool was cold but not frigid. Quinn would have gladly stayed a couple more hours, but when the sun hid behind the clouds, I was ready to head home. But we did meet a nice family there. Maybe we'll run into them again. The mother was really sweet and gave me some pointers about teaching Quinn to swim. Their 3-year-old girl loved Quinn and dragged him around with her.

I have to admit, I've been really ~~lazy~~ unmotivated about work the past two days. I just want to sit around and read for pleasure, or watch Quinn kick a soccer ball. Unfortunately, that doesn't pay the rent! I guess I better get my butt in gear, huh? I'm halfway through my Praxis project, so I'm right on schedule for that, but after Quinn's medical "issue" Friday and my being less than diligent the past two days, I'm kind of behind with my other work. I guess I better step it up. Thursday Jalal is off, and we are having a date night, going to an early movie and then dinner at Saskatoon, a wild game restaurant we've been wanting to try since we moved here. Quinn is going to spend the evening with Maureen and Sarah. Well, this certainly isn't helping me get my work done, so toodle-oo! Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-06-08T13:37:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I DID NOT drop and then pick up a piece of bacon from the floor and shrug, thinking it was dry so it probably didn’t pick up anything much. That would be disgusting.

I have not gone to McDonald’s so often that Quinn yells out “fries” when he sees those golden arches. However, even if I did go that often, I would be proud to admit that he still wants apples (“appits”) and doesn’t even ask for one of my fries, which is good, I mean, if I had any. And, again, if I did go, I would at least pride myself on the fact that he has never repeated a Happy Meal toy. That’s a good sign, right?

I do not regularly let Quinn forgo pants sometime after around 3:00 on most days, when I’m too lazy to put his pants back on after a diaper change. He’s not a baby anymore, so I always make sure he’s impeccably dressed.

I did not taunt my child with a cup of milk to get him to go upstairs, holding it a couple steps ahead of him like he was a horse and it was a carrot. That’s just manipulative.

I did not help dislocate my child’s elbow on Friday trying to hold onto his hand while he swung around me like a deranged monkey. Just about an hour before that, I did not accidentally knuckle punch him in the temple, swinging my arm around to catch an endcap of toothpaste containers before he swept them onto the floor and catching his head in the process. My poor baby!

I did not have to edit my post from yesterday because I said Quinn's new puppy had a peace T-shirt when he really has "guitars rock" pajamas. I pay way more attention to the things I purchase than that.

Here's hoping that next week I have nothing to deny! Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories

2009-06-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

So I really intended to blog more often this week than just Sunday and Monday, but other things just always seem to take precedence. We've had some interesting things this week. First and foremost, I had to take Quinn to the doctor's office Friday because he dislocated his elbow. I ran some errands that morning and had plans to meet Maureen and Sarah at Stevi B's for a cheap lunch. Quinn was doing pretty well all morning until we had to wait an extra 20 minutes for Maureen because one of her work supervisors went postal on her. I walked him around the dollar store to kill time and he started to tantrum as we were leaving. He dropped to the floor and started pitching a little fit. I swooped him up and carried him next door to take him to the bathroom. We went up to the front of the restaurant to wait. I held onto his hand to keep him from running crazy since he had gone from tantrum mode to silly mode. He swung around and dropped to the floor, still holding my hand. The next thing I know, he's crying and saying "hurt, hurt" while hilding his right arm. I thought he had just strained his shoulder or something, but he wouldn't stop saying that his arm hurt. Even more telling than that was that he ate lunch entirely with his left arm and wouldn't lift his right arm even to hold his drink. I called the doctor's office as soon as I got to the car, but they couldn't see him until 2:30, almost 2 hours later. I just started home, hoping he would be able to take a nap first at least. Well, he fell asleep in the car just before I got home, so I turned around and drove to the doctor's office. I didn't want to hurt him worse by trying to carry him inside and then taking him back out, so I just parked in the shade, rolled down the windows, and read a book (thank God I hit the library that morning!) until it was time for the appointment. Poor thing woke up once and immediately said, "Hurt" in the most pitiful voice before falling back asleep. When I took him inside, he was sopping wet from sweat and miserable every time he moved his arm. The doctor said his injury is called "nursemaid's elbow" and very common. He manipulated his elbow and said he felt it pop back in. He said it would probably be good as new in 2 minutes. I held Quinn while he cried and refused the doctor's offer of a lollipop. But, sure enough, two minutes later, he reached out with his right arm and popped that lollipop in his mouth. For the first time in an hour and a half, he said something other than "hurt." He looks up at me and says, "Hi Mama!" From then on, I couldn't tell there was anything ever wrong with him. Crazy! I've been assured by numerous other moms who've done this that I'm not in the running for worst mom of the year award. It's still hard not to feel crummy about it.

I wouldn't say this was to make up for that situation, but today Quinn got his first Build-A-Bear, a puppy he named "Bryce." Well, he just wanted to call him "Puppy," but I let him type some of his favorite letters on the computer to fill out the Birth Certificate. He came up with "BBRYDWE" or something like that. We "adjusted" it to the next closest name we could figure. As great as Quinn is at his letters, "BBRYDWE" is pretty hard to pronounce. He loves his puppy Bryce and got him a pair of electric guitar pajamas. It's a rite of passage now it seems for a kid to go to Build-A-Bear. So, now without further ado, here are a couple of silly stories.

Quinn has started to add “O’s” to his words unnecessarily. Hungry becomes hungry-o, cookie becomes cookie-o, happy becomes happio, yogurt (yogi) becomes yogi-o, etc. It is very funny to me. I knew I shouldn't have given him Cheerios the other day. Now I'll stick with the Kix. We've done more cereal than anything lately since our toaster broke. We got it for our wedding, and if I'm not mistaken, toasters have gotten a lot more expensive in the past four years. Geez! Looks like we might downsize to a two-slice toaster. Then we'll get back to toast, bagels, and frozen waffles. Speaking of which, I made breakfast for dinner the other night, which I loved when I was a kid. I swear I made the best pancakes I remember ever having. I wanted to make "MckPancakes," a super healthy recipe posted by MckMama, but I didn't have bananas. I had all the other crunchy granola ingredients, like flaxseed oil, flax meal, almond butter, etc. but no bananas. So I just dropped in a spoonful of flax meal in the pancake batter. I loved them, and I'm trying to sneak some healthy ingredients in foods as often as I can. Anyone with ideas (not drastic, I don't want to freak out Jalal), please let me know! (Boy that was quite a tangent, wasn't it?)

I get the hiccups really bad sometimes, so bad that it hurts a lot. Unfortunately, it sounds really loud, almost like I’m burping. Well, the last couple of times I’ve had them, Quinn has been around and thinks it’s funny. Now he’s started making fun of me. He thinks it’s hysterical; I don’t think it’s quite so funny. Even days after I get a bout of hiccups, he still walks around making fun of me.

OK, well, gotta go. Hope y'all are enjoying the Tonys, too! See you tomorrow for Not Me! Monday. Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-06-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. I myself have been a perfectly perfect mom in every way.

There were a lot of things I didn't do this week! For one thing, I did not put my silver hoop earrings on Quinn just to see how pretty he looked. But if I had to NOT do it again, I wouldn't tell Jalal about it and then never hear the end of it. Good grief!

I did not take video of Quinn going to the bathroom while standing in the living room (in his diaper of course) just because it was so funny how he says "Squeeeze!" while doing it.

I did not try to get Quinn to go barge in on my sister and brother-in-law in their room so I could go back to sleep for a little while.

I did not pout just a little when I lost (by a lot) EVERY SINGLE game of cards we played this weekend. I did not make a bunch of jokes about my lameness to cover up my poor sportsmanship.

I did not stay up so late every single night for a week that my eyes constantly feel like they are covered in Elmer's glue!

I did not share snarky comments with my sister about how going to a water park makes us feel so much better about our bodies because there are so many HUGE people wearing tiny and/or inappropriate bathing suits.

I did not abandon my family to prepare dinner alone while Trish and I stopped by the pool on the way home from the water park, just to enjoy water deeper than 3 feet, 6 inches. I did not feel mad when said dinner was still waiting for me to help prepare when we got home. And then I did not send my husband out to get basil for my tomato pie because I had forgotten to pick it up earlier in the week.

I did not allow Quinn to eat ice cream in his stroller without a bib at the hot air balloon festival last week, resulting in the image below. If I had, I would certainly have washed and spot-treated the shirt immediately upon our arrival at home. It would not still be sitting on the washer waiting for a load of Quinn's clothes. Not Me!

So what have you not done this week? Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories

2009-05-31T20:39:00.000-07:00

Good evening, dear readers. I have to admit this is only a tiny sampling of the many silly stories we've experienced this week, but my sister and brother-in-law have been here the past couple of days. Along with my job(s), housework, email communique, and sleep, my blogging has suffered. Maybe next week I'll hit y'all with an expanded version of everything Trish can remember from this weekend--or I'll pull a Wacky Wednesday post out of my hat.

I was reading a bedtime story to Quinn the other night after just discussing with Trish how we’ve gotten out of that habit (I know, I know, bad mom). He picked a book that my mom gave him that was the story of Genesis. We got to the part where God creates the day, and Quinn reaches over, closes the book, and says “Amen.” I guess that means we’re done.

I was making dinner the other night and obviously Quinn really wanted to be close to me because he wouldn’t leave the kitchen. I gave him a wooden spoon to beat on his bowl and instead he pretends to eat something out of the bowl with it. I suggested he feed George (his stuffed Curious George, thanks Aunt Linda!). So he set George in his folding Mickey Mouse chair and started to pretend to feed him with this long wooden spoon. He even made “Yum Yum” sounds. It was so cute! Once George was full, they both lay down on the kitchen floor flat on their backs. Weirdo.

We have recently started to allow Quinn access to the kitchen more and more. We’ve put locks on the fridge, oven, and lazy Susan cabinet, so that helps. I’m being very careful to keep the handles turned inward on pots and pans and warn him that the oven is hot (even when it isn’t, y’know?). The other day, he came in while I was cooking and got near the oven. I said, “Don’t touch, that’s hot.” He said, “Hot,” and then leaned over and started blowing on the oven door. Hah! We’ve always taught him to blow on his food if it’s too hot, so he was making the connection. It just cracks me up that he would try to cool down the whole oven by blowing on it.

In other kitchen escapades, I was chopping veggies for dinner one night. I didn't have any appliances on, so I wasn't paying much attention to Quinn. He started saying "hot, hot, hot." Immediately I panicked a bit, wondering what he could have gotten a hold of. I turn around to see this:

A hat. Duh.

In other news, Quinn is loving having his aunt and uncle here. He asks for "Uncles" all the time and would rather be holding Trish's hand than mine. But he won't call her Trish (even though that's who he talks to when he pretends to talk on the phone, even handing the phone with "Trish" on it to the actual Trish). He has started calling her either "me" or "mine." Hmmm. When I say, "Is that Trish?" he says, "Trish?" Then he looks at her and say, "Oh, Mine." What? Why?

Okay, time for bed. Love, Us.

Dying Dalmation Fish and the Plus Side of Pregnancy

2009-05-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Alas, our second dalmation fish is foundering in the tank. The first one, the one that was mostly black, took a field trip to the "bobby" last week. Now the mostly white one is floating vertically and with its gills all puffed out. I keep asking Jalal if there is anything we can do, but he says no. They could have been old or sick when we got them, and they are called starter fish because they have to survive (or not) the harshest aquarium environment. It's just so sad to see it struggling. Good thing we didn't name them (except for Mickey). Even though fish aren't my thing, I've come to like the little guys, especially since I'm caring for them way more than I expected (silly me for not seeing that coming). I say "good morning fishies" with Quinn and "night-night," and I feed them at least once a day.

In other news, I'm a little over halfway through "Slumdog Millionaire" and loving it. I adore Indian movies, though admittedly this is no traditional Bollywood film. I probably could have made it all the way through during Quinn's nap, but I paused for some other household chores, like a shower (you're welcome), checking the mail, and vacuuming (long overdue). I'm also working on cleaning out our guest room a bit. I can't believe I brought so much junk up from Charleston. One of these days (months) soon, we're going to move Quinn into a toddler bed and probably turn the guest bedroom into the nursery for future kids. Not that we are expecting any, so don't get your hopes up. One day but not yet. I shudder to think how I would feel if my next first trimester is anything like it was with Quinn. On the plus side, I wouldn't have to feign a sudden love for Saltines at work to hide morning sickness and I could probably pull off daily afternoon naps. On the other hand, it makes me tired just thinking about chasing around a toddler and having him bounce around on my tummy like I'm his personal horsey. For that reason alone, I'm tempted to wait until Quinn's in kindergarten or we can afford to hire a maid service. Okay, enough pondering pregnancy. I'm sure we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I guess I've been thinking about babies a lot lately because so many people are having them around me, at church, friends on Facebook, friends of friends. I should really enjoy only having only one ~~little monster~~ bundle of joy right now! Have a good day! Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories and Not Me! Monday...on Tuesday

2009-05-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Today will be a little combo of Not Me! Monday and Sunday Silly Stories because I took the weekend off. I mean, I hardly worked at all (on my paying job anyway). Jalal had two days off too, and we got a lot done. He even got a nap in. How nice for him. (Where is my sarcastic font when I need it? Wait, who am I kidding? You guys could probably figure out that I was being sarcastic, right?)

Okay, so Quinn wakes us up at the crack of dawn. He won't settle down and quietly watch TV in our bed, despite his repeated and loud shushing (of himself?), so I made him go downstairs with me and refused to turn the TV on. When I went to fix him breakfast (after he got into the Goldfish crackers at 7:05), he tried to open the fridge as usual. Have I ever mentioned that he likes to stand there in front of the open fridge and say "Ummm..."? He does. Cracks me up. But yesterday we installed fridge and oven locks. Hah. I, a compassionate mother, DID NOT laugh hysterically when he almost fell on his butt trying to yank the fridge open.

I DID NOT feel a little bit complimented when Quinn reached up and stroked my butt at the hot air balloon festival while saying, "Niiice." That's right, buddy. It IS nice.

I DID NOT say to myself, as I was pulling the ice cream out of the freezer after not working out three days in a row, "Half the fat means I can eat twice as much, right?" Or, when Jalal brought home little Snickers ice cream bars, say, "At least they are small and not full-size, that'll help portion control," only to think, "God, these things are bite-size. I might need to eat two" when I actually pulled one out of the freezer. Not me.

I DID NOT put my silver hoop earrings on Quinn's ears and then take pictures of him. If I had, I probably shouldn't have said anything to Jalal about it and then gotten into a real argument about sexism. Whoops! Who knew something so innocent (?) could lead to that?

We stopped by Chik-Fil-A (God bless you, Truett Cathy) on our way to get Quinn's hair cut this morning. Quinn had already eaten, so it was a good time to get chicken biscuits. I got a small iced tea along with my biscuit. Quinn started begging for water, which I didn't have handy, so I offered him a sip of my tea, which I NEVER do (seriously, that's the truth, not one of the Not Me items). He took a sip and when I asked for it back, he said, "Nuh-no!" hugging the cup to his chest and fending me off with the other hand. He looked like those guys in the Heisman pictures! He seriously would not give it back to me until we parked and Jalal pried it from his hands. I guess he likes tea. At least it isn't sweet tea, so it's just a little caffeine. He did still act like a good boy at Snip-Its, unlike every other kid there. What a bunch of screaming kids! Good grief. Going to places with lots of other children always makes me and Jalal feel better about Quinn.

You know, every week I say I'm going to write stuff down for Sunday and Monday posts, and then I don't and can't remember all the funny stuff that happened all week. So you, dear readers, all three of you, get gypped. Sorry. I promise I'll try better next week. Love, Us.

Baby Shakespeare

2009-05-18T11:01:00.001-07:00

Okay, so he's not writing poetry yet, but I really have to take a moment to brag on my boy. We're sitting here in the middle of about three different arguments at once: you need to eat your lunch, don't throw your milk on the floor, and you're just going to have to poop in your diaper because I can't help you "bobby" any more than I already have (yes, that again). Then he grabs for a board book about Mickey Mouse and says "Mickeys"! He's said it a few times before, but this was pretty clearly stated. Then--and this part I'm not bragging about--he says it over and over again. You know how your kids will say something so many times you just say "Okay, enough already!"? Well, after 28 "Mickeys" in the span of about 16 seconds, that's when i said it. But then he redeems himself. He points to a coupon I have sitting on the couch and says "O." Oh, what? I say. "O" he repeats, pointing to the word "off." Didn't know he knew that one, so I say "Alright, gimme a high five!" "Nah-no." Fine. Then he points to the settings on his high chair and says "Five" over and over again. Sure enough, that's a 5. I thought he only knew 5 as all the fingers on my hand held out. Another high-five denied. I guess while I'm freakin' out proud, he's just like, "Whatever, Mom." So in terms of letters he can identify and say almost all the time, we've got A, B, C, D, H, I, O, and Y. Random. So that's why I want to get him into a 2-year-old pre-K program in August. I have gotten some advice that he will pick up more bad habits and illness than he will new skills (at least, the ones we want him to learn). Does anyone have any experience with early pre-K programs or Mother's Morning Out groups? By the way, I'm convinced that he knows his letters not because of nightly storytime (which we skip more oftent than not) but because of his early on devotion to Wheel of Fortune. Who says TV rots your brain? Now, if I could just get him to stop saying "I is." Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-05-17T20:37:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

One of my friends from Charleston sent me this awesome link to a YouTube video of really talented beatboxers performing at a Google office. I was showing it to Jalal while Quinn was in the room, and of course he was interested. I DID NOT, however, try to teach Quinn to beatbox into his plastic echoing microphone. That would just encourage copious amounts of spit in his toy, and that's gross.

I DID NOT allow my child to brush the hair on my legs this morning with his Pooh brush because, well, at least he's got the concept right.

I DID NOT get fed up and say, "Fine, poop in your diaper then" after Quinn had asked to go potty for the fifth time in 10 minutes and then said "All done" the second his little hiney touched the seat.

I DID NOT give Quinn animal crackers from home as dessert for his kid's meal while I ate the two Oreos that came with it--because I care about his healthy eating habits!!

All of these things I would NEVER do--NOT ME!

Sunday Silly Stories

2009-05-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

Cutting it close this week. It's just 54 minutes until Sunday Silly Stories becomes Not Me! Monday. I really need to start writing things down as the week goes on. I know things fall through the cracks of my Swiss cheese memory.

First of all, yesterday was a milestone. Quinn mastered his Sit 'N Spin. What a blast from the past, huh? Only I'm pretty sure the ones we had as kids didn't blast irritating "Simon Says" music and games at top volume with spasm-inducing beats. I think I'm going to have to "lose" the batteries in that one soon. I remember when all I had to do was turn a toy off. Now Quinn's too smart for that.

Quinn has been enjoying our new fish. We have five of them. Quinn loved the bubbles and playing peekaboo in the mirrored back with himself even before the fish came in. He now spends at least 15 minutes a day on his step stool watching the fish and the bubbles, saying things like, "Hi bubbles. Nice. Fish!" I tried to video him talking to the fish, but as soon as he saw the camera, he says, "Cheese!" over and over again until I gave up. Ham.

I've been leaving the gate down to the kitchen lately. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, I should be very flattered indeed. His favorite thing is to open the fridge, stand there looking at stuff, and say "Uuummmm." Like he's deciding what to eat or something. Tonight he pulled out a couple of leftovers and brought them to Jalal on the couch, even though I told him I was making dinner already. Turns out he wanted fish and corn. After I gave him what was left of his fancy cookie from his Uncle Bruce the other day, he keeps trying to find another container with cookies in it. And it's really cute how he says, "Coo-kwey." He brought me an entire bucket of strawberries on his arm the other day. We've got to get a refrigerator lock.

I got a new cookbook for a belated Mother's Day gift (is that better than a vacuum cleaner?). It's a Rachel Ray book of meals for kids. So tonight I made the first meal out of it: pita pizzas with spinach, broccoli, and pesto. I added chicken, too, so today wasn't a total vegetarian day. Jalal and I both thought they were freakin' great. All Quinn wanted to eat was the "crackers," the mini wheat pitas. So he dumped all that expensive pesto and time-consuming chopped toppings onto his plate and ate the pitas. Ah well, he needed more fiber anyway.

Okay, it's late and I need to get to sleep before I give in to my late night hunger and start snacking. Hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of the silly life we lead here in beautiful Greenville. Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories

2009-05-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

We had a very good vacation, and most of it can be encapsulated in some of the silly stories I'll share here.

On Sunday morning, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast before church. We got Quinn a cheese omelet and a pancake. I tried to balance out some of the crap I've been eating and chose a Harvest Grain and Nut pancake with blueberries, topped with bananas. Well, of course Quinn wanted the bananas, so I shared those with him. Then he saw my pancake and started freaking out, asking for a "cookie." Yeah, he thought the blueberries were chocolate chips. So I had to give him my pancake, which he ate happily, continuing to point out his "cookie." I got a few bites of cheese omelet. Yay.

Quinn woke up at 3:00 a.m. one morning and Jalal brought him into bed with us. When he awoke again at 6:00, I told him he had to be quiet because Daddy was still sleeping. I said he could watch TV. He said, "TV!" (not unusual at all, I'm afraid), but then he remembered to say "Peas!" (please). How could I resist?

Another time he was hanging out in bed with us and Jalal had fallen asleep. He had just started snoring when Quinn began to fake snore, which he does to pretend sleep.

I was trying to teach him to say "Aunt" and "Uncle" on our way into Florence. He started out saying them both just fine, but then I asked him who we were going to see. He said, "Uncle." I said, "And?" "Uncle!" "What about Aunt?" "Nope." That's pretty much how it went from then on. Every time we would say "Aunt," he would say "Nope." Aunt Linda wasn't too crazy about that, especially when Uncle Bruce tried to get Quinn to call her "Turkey." Bad move. I swear my kid is such a little smart aleck. Where on earth did he get that from? (Shut up, Trish.)

We stopped for lunch one day at a sub shop. Since Quinn wasn't eating anything anyway, I guess he had plenty of time to be cute. At one point, the shop's phone rang. Quinn pops his head up and asks, "Trish?" Haha! Jalal and I just cracked up. The next time the phone rang, he said, "Hello?" which sounds like "Heh-row?"

Turns out, Quinn is a water baby, just like the rest of the Halabys. Within just a few minutes in the pool, he was blowing bubbles underwater and holding his breath. He would count to three and then say "Go!" before jumping out of Jalal's or my arms into the water. I spent a lot of pool time in the hot tub. When Quinn wanted to go in, too, we told him it was hot. So he started to call the hot tub "hot bubbles." It was pretty funny.

Okay, I'm sure there are more, but that's all I remember right now. I guess I should start writing them down as the week goes on, huh? Greedy readers. Oh, and happy mother's day to all of you moms, mommies, mamas, and mothers. I've been called all but mother by my kid this week alone. I love when he yells "Mo-om" across the playground. Hope your day was nice. Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-04-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

Short one this week. Most of the Not Me! stuff I've done is too bad to print, even in denial form.
I did NOT tell my sweet 19-month-old child to "Grow up!" when he began to throw things out of his crib. Jalal did NOT laugh at me and tell me how ridiculous that was to say, and I DID laugh along and NOT take myself too seriously. (I was NOT, however, fighting a cold at the time and will NOT claim feeling crappy was my excuse.)
I did NOT get irrationally mad at Quinn for telling me sixteen times that he had to go potty, only to say "All done" as soon as he sat down. I did NOT put my head in and my hands and almost cry after the fourth time as he ran around the living room without a diaper. Because I was NOT going to be one of THOSE moms.
I did NOT think terribly mean and catty thoughts about the drunk, trashy women at the bar when I went out with Maureen. I did NOT congratulate myself on the fact that I wasn't the one wearing a black T-shirt with a sequined black miniskirt and white strappy hooker heels.
I did NOT seriously consider buying Maureen a birthday dessert, knowing she would share it with me and I could therefore quiet my chocolate craving while "doing good."
I was NOT disgusted at the idea of cuddling and comforting my crying child Saturday night when he was sick and unhappy and couldn't sleep, merely because our A/C was broken and it was 88 degrees and he had a fever. I did NOT try to push him over to his Daddy's side of the bed so I could sleep. (In my defense, Jalal did NOT gleefully admit to doing the same thing to me the next day.)

(I would link this to MckMama's blog as usual, but she is still with Stellan in the Boston Children's Hospital. So you're either going to have to live with just mine or search for other people's Not Me! Mondays on your own.)

Love, Us.

Funny Stories

2009-04-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, my plan tonight is just to jot down a few quick stories that I've been meaning to share about Quinn. No, they are not necessarily in chronological order, so just bear with me.
Quinn has had a nickname for Elmo since the very beginning of his hard-core speaking life. It's "Momo." Lots of other things have been called "Momo" at times, including Jesus (red robe) and Veggie Tales movies (cartoons). So last week, Jalal and I got Quinn a few pairs of $1 socks at the front of Target. One pair had Elmo on them. As we were checking out, our cashier was talking to Quinn and said her favorite character was Elmo. I asked Quinn, "What do you call Elmo?" He said, clear as day, "Elmo." I can't remember the last time I felt so stupid in public. I said, "What about Momo?" Again, he said, "Elmo." Ok, fine. Smart aleck. Ironically, he hasn't said Elmo since then. Only Momo. Does anyone else ever feel like your kid tries to make you look stupid? I get that often. I can't wait til he brings home his science homework and asks me to help him. Good thing I have very little pride anymore.
Today we were in Bed, Bath, and Beyond, trying to spend a gift card and failing miserably. Quinn was so cranky that we let him out of the cart and walked alongside Jalal. At one point, he started walking across an aisle and said, again clear as day, "One, two, three, GO!" I know he knows the word "two" pretty well because every time I say, "You can have one cookie," he says "Two?" But I've never heard him count like that. It was so freakin' cute.
It wasn't too much later that he started running his free hand along everything he passed. We told him he had to put his other hand, the hand not holding Daddy's hand, into his pocket. Well, it took him a minute to figure out how to do that, but once he did, he kept it in there until we would stop and look at something or he wanted to sit in a beach chair. Then he would put his hand back in his pocket as we walked. It was so stinkin' adorable.
Yesterday we went to a baby shower for a girl from my church. I was so happy to have had an excuse to buy cute little girl clothes. Anyway, Quinn took a while to warm up to people, but he eventually started running around the kitchen and dining room with the other kids. Now note that he has always called me "Mama." But he overheard an older little girl, maybe 4 or 5, called out for her "Mommy." All of a sudden, I hear Quinn from the other room yell "Mommy!" I went in and said, "What did you call me?" He said, "Mommy!" I told him you don't call me Mommy, you call me Mama. He said, "Mama!" That's right. It kind of stuck, though, and now every now and then he'll call me "Mommy." Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I could swear he's making fun of me whenever he does. Is it wrong to be so suspicious of such a young child? Yeah, probably. Okay, that's all I can remember for now. Hope you have enjoyed this version of "Sunday Silly Stories." Love, Us.

It's Snot Funny

2009-04-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I posted, but I have had the lamest immune system lately. I had just gotten over my really bad cough when I came down with another cold. I felt so much better yesterday, but today has been pretty phlegmy--and Quinn's nose has been running all day, so I'm now guilty of getting him sick. I try so hard not to get him sick, like making him kiss me on the cheek instead of the mouth and not letting him drink from my cup (I actually try to prevent that all the time, I'm just more diligent when I'm sick).
Anyway, I have been pretty busy. I turned in my work for my new job last Friday, a full week early. Yay! And I went out to a bar last night with Maureen for her birthday. I'm glad I did because none of her other friends showed up. I didn't stay out late, but I did have a pretty good time. One woman (wearing ALL WHITE) stopped me on my way back to our table and told me over and over again how beautiful I was and asked if anyone had ever told me that. She held me captive for about three minutes and it was just a leetle uncomfortable. Oh well, guess I can always use a self-esteem boost, right? And I remembered how much I love the taste of Malibu and pineapple juice. Mmmm.
Today was the joint birthday party for Owen and Emma, two of Quinn's friends. It was crazy, with 10 kids running around at once (actually, one of them was just 2 months old, so he wasn't doing a whole lot of running). Quinn was a wreck, totally out of character. He kept tripping or hurting himself and then crying hysterically for a while. He was such a mess. But he had no trouble eating his cake and ice cream.
Well, it's late now and I think I'm going to try to get some sleep. I know this was a short post, but I'll be back again soon. Love, Us.

Pour Some Sugar on Me

2009-04-14T17:31:00.001-07:00

I really should be working because I am getting farther and farther behind, but I can't resist talking about my adorable child. We had a wonderful Easter, even though Jalal had to work and couldn't go to church. But Quinn looked perfect in his Easter outfit. We went outside and took pictures in front of the house, which is what Trish and I did when we were kids in our Easter dresses (I wonder if I can find pictures of the year I had a perm fro and we both got bright floral, off the shoulder dresses).

Quinn has been doing so well with his language skills lately. He has started saying "Up" instead of "Ut," though I still have to prompt him sometimes. He says "door" now (and he can open them!) and "horse" and all these words I never heard him say before. This morning, Jalal and I were hanging out with him in bed and reading his Eric Carle alphabet book. As soon as he grabbed the book, Jalal asked him to point to the "A," then "B," then "C." And he got them all right! My jaw just dropped. I said, "Were you working on that last night, Jalal?" He said, no, not since the previous morning. Holy crap! Is that normal? Now, even when he doesn't get the letters right, he still seems to recognize that they are letters. At the mall play area today (it was raining), he stopped and pointed to the letters on the floor and said "E" and "B" (though not necessarily correctly). I'm so impressed with him.

And he's going through the attachment object phase. He loves his blankets ("banktet" or something like that), but the other day when I got him up from a nap, he asked for his blanket while I was changing his diaper (another new word, and he goes to get a new one whenever he's wet). I gave him his Winnie the Pooh blanket because it is comparitively small. He said, very sharply, "Nuhnoh!" and I had to get him his Wendy Bellissimo blanket (at least the kid has good taste). Now he wants to carry that blanket downstairs with him when he wakes up.

Last night, I had bowling and Jalal stayed home with Quinn. I had given Jalal a couple of his favorite sweets for Easter, like Peeps and chocolate marshmallow eggs, which come in a real egg carton. Quinn has had more sugar in the past weekend than in his whole life combined, between sugar cookies, jelly beans, his first Jello (that was funny), part of a Peep, and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. Anyway, Jalal told me he had to go out to get something from his car at one point, at the same time a coworker called his cell. So he closed the gate and told Quinn to stay put, that he's be right back. When he came back in, Quinn was sitting on the couch with the marshmallow egg carton open on his lap, chest and face covered in chocolate. He saw Jalal and looked up with a look on his face that said, "Oh, no, busted." He quickly swallowed what was left in his mouth and Jalal figured out that he had eated two whole eggs. What have we done? He used to say no to desserts or sweet things. Now he's a monster!

Bowling last night was incredible. We wiped the floor with our opposition. I posted a sad 81, then made up for it with a 153 and then a 178! My personal best! Even more impressive than that was Ceal's final game. The girl whose average is 100 shot a 183! It was so amazing that I was shaking at the end and couldn't sit down. Let's hope that shoots us to the top of the league! Go Gutter Gals!

So I heard about this hysterical blog today from my sister. For those of you who don't really care to read about anybody's kids but mine, this is totally different. It's a guy in Oregon who adopted three baby chicks. He named them Noodle Soup (Noodie), Salad Sandwich (Sally), and Pot Pie (Potty). Every day, he takes model-style pics of the girls, and it is so funny. It's super short, so it won't take long, but you will get such a kick out of it. It's http://3chixaday.blogspot.com/. So that's enough for tonight. I'm going to get on the bike and put in a decent workout. Night-night. Love, Us.

Winnie the Poop

2009-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

No, that is not a typo. We had our Easter egg hunt (or "Eggstravaganza" as everyone here insists on calling them) at church this morning. It was reall a lot of fun. They had all kinds of crafts for the kids inside before the actual hunt. Quinn decorated a sugar cookie with icing and sprinkles and then ate all the icing and sprinkles before finishing the rest of the cookie. He played with a couple other kids his age, chasing and trying to blow bubbles. He stuck a bunch of foam stickers all over a foam egg. And he tried to collect every single crayon out of the container without actually coloring his picture at all. But by far the funniest thing about the day was when he pointed to one of the nice ladies organizing the event and said "Poop!" Those of you who keep up know that "Poop" isn't our word for potty (that's "Bobby"), but evidently he has picked up on the word "poop" as we'll made (some) potty training progress. No, she was wearing a lovely shirt embroidered with all of the Winnie the Pooh characters. So poor Quinn, in his ever growing vocabulary, has confused Pooh and Poop. It could happen to anyone. Luckily he did choose that moment to use his inside voice, so nobody but me heard it. Saved me from having to tactfully explain that Quinn was not being rude.

Quinn did pretty well collecting Easter eggs, too, along with the other 19-month-olds (there's about 3 other boys his age at church!). Then, after collecting about 5 eggs each, the boys took turns on the slide. At one point, Quinn decided he had so much fun with the Easter egg hunt that he wanted to do it in reverse. So he took the eggs out of his bucket one by one and put them on the ground. Oh, and did I mention his shirt? His shirt says, "The Easter Bunny made me do it." Hah!

After a nap, Quinn helped me decorate our own sugar cookies. No icing, just sprinkles (do I look stupid?). He was very helpful. He would sprinkle some on the cookies (unbaked), then pick them off and eat them. Try as I might, I couldn't get him to focus on decorating alone. I even made sure he had just had a big lunch. Then the plan was to let (help) him put Easter stickers all over the eggs I dyed yesterday. But I couldn't get the stickers to stick, so I just let him move the eggs back and forth from the tupperware to the napkin on the table a few times. He really enjoyed that. I'm not sure he would have enjoyed doing it the right way any more. Well, that's been our Easter festivities so far. I have Quinn's Easter basket all loaded and ready to go for the morning with no candy! I think I'm going to fill a few plastic eggs with some jelly beans tonight, but that will be the extent of it. I'm surprised he isn't bouncing off the walls as it is with the two sugar cookies, sprinkles, and two large jelly beans he has eaten today. Well, I'm going to get going. I skipped Quinn's bath last night so that he would be clean for church tomorrow. In case I can't check in tomorrow, happy Easter everyone! (I really want to watch "The Passion of the Christ" again for this Easter. I probably should have planned ahead and ordered it from Netflix a few days ago. Oh, well, maybe some of you will watch it and remember what Easter is all about. I mean, besides marshmallow eggs and putting bunny ears on innocent little boys.) Love, Us.

Gutter Gals "Strike" Again

2009-04-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hah! I'm pretty proud of that title. Bowling last night was fun, though for the second week in a row, it was just three of us. We played our friend Bryon's team, which is always a lot of fun. We won two of the three games, but they got more total points, so we didn't move up to first place. Before last night we were in fifth place, which is misleading. The top two teams both had 48 points, and the next three (including us) each had 46, so you could say we were tied for third. If the teams ahead of or tied with us didn't do as well, last night, we'll move up. But Bryon's team was already ahead of us. Anyway, it would be really nice to win and get some money. After all, I have Kenny Chesney tickets to pay for! I didn't do as well as I would have liked, though. I got a 107, 115, and 115. All over my average of 106.

At least it was a night away from the beast. I swear, something has gotten into him. He was a little better yesterday and a lot better today--until Jalal left for work. He won't eat, he is starting to hit (only me, though, hmmmm), he freaks out and throws things when he gets mad, and he bit me yesterday in the grocery store. Is this just the Terrible Twos? I hate blaming this kind of behavior on a phenomenon like that, but none of the other explanations seem to cover everything: teething, getting over a cold, growth spurt, possession (I made that last one up). Well, I guess we'll just keep trying to teach him how to behave properly and hope he doesn't shrink too much before he gets his appetite back. I had better get going so I can get some work done and maybe call my mom before the Biggest Loser comes on. Happy Easter week! Love, Us.

I'm Being Read!

2009-04-05T20:08:00.001-07:00

It's late and I need to get to sleep after another long day of cranky baby. I was so close to wringing his little neck today. Thank you God for patience. But I just wanted to say that I have my first (that I know of) reader who is not a personal friend. Crazy! I guess that's a sign that something of our lives is universally appealing (can it be called universal if it's just one person?). Anyway, that lemon cake I made yesterday rocked. No kidding. My husband, who doesn't particularly like sweets at all, at two pieces last night! I stopped at one and had to brush my teeth to get rid of the sugar sheen. Mmmm. Sugar. Well, must go sleep now. Have a lot of work to catch up on tomorrow before I rock the house at bowling. Fingers crossed! Love, Us.

Cough, Cough, Snot

2009-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

My child is a nightmare today. I don't know what is wrong with him, but if this is the terrible twos, I want out! He's fussy and cranky, won't eat but wants food, throws stuff all over the room, throws a tantrum if I turn off the TV, and can't even enjoy a trip to the playground. I would argue that he's been sick, which he has. I came down with a cold/fever while in Daytona (told you that place is toxic), and he caught it a couple days later. But he was almost 100% percent better yesterday. Basically, he was feverish and had no appetite for three days. Now the fever is gone, the appetite is not back yet, and he's coughing and sneezing and snotty. So I can't really take him out anywhere. We were supposed to go to some Despereaux Easter event at the mall this morning with Maureen and Sarah, but Sarah was up all night getting her canine teeth in, so we were going to go alone. By the time 9:00 rolled around, I said forget it. In the span of two hours, he was such a pain that I did not want to go anywhere with him. Unfortunately, I didn't want to stay here with him either. So he's down for a second nap today, which he usually doesn't do anymore. But I guess he needed it because he has been passed out silently for almost two hours! I took the time to make a cake out of my Kraft Food magazine. It's a lemon cake, and though it doesn't look as nice as the picture, I'm hoping it tastes good. I tried to make it this morning but realized we didn't have any round cake pans. Who the heck doesn't have round cake pans? When I called Jalal, he said, "Well, I don't bake, so I guess it's possible." So I went to Ross and got two round cake pans for $3.50. I also got a Dr. Suess video for Quinn (I never thought I would be so sick of Veggietales) and a cute tank top for him. I also made dinner already, though Jalal won't be home for another two hours. I plan to have Quinn fed and bathed and ready for bed by the time Jalal gets home from work. We are trying to spend more time together.
Yesterday was our anniversary (four years married and almost ten together!), and it was very nice. He sent me flowers (though he said the arrangement looked nothing like the one he ordered online), and I got a babysitter and took him to dinner. We went to City Range, one of our favorite nicer restaurants, and had prime rib. Mmmm. Then we saw Duplicity, the new movie with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen or Owen Clive or some British guy. It was fun because it had an unexpected ending, not something that happens often nowadays in my opinion.
For those of you who are still waiting to hear how Daytona went, it was crummy. I mean, it was great to see Trish (why can't she live next door for crying out loud!) and Mom, and we got to have a little picnic with my aunt and uncles, Nani (my grandmother), and two of my cousins, along with my cousin's baby, Caden, who seriously vies for my vote as cutest boy ever (okay, maybe cutest blond boy ever). But the house, the reason we went down there and spent hundreds of dollars at an inconvenient time, that was not good. Not good at all. Let's just say that I will not be going back there. Mom needs to put her big-girl panties on and deal with it. I am not a cleaning service! There, that's enough of that.
This morning, one of the things I did accomplish (or rather, my friends accomplished) was getting tickets to see Kenny Chesney next month. He's going to be here with Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert, and though they aren't my favorite country performers, we scored fantastic seats and I know we're going to have a blast. All the girls from my bowling team will be there. And after last week's bowling performance, we deserve it! Ceal and Alissa both had to pre-bowl, but we ended up winning all eight of our points. That should move us up in the standings next week!
Well, the beast stirs, so I'm going to take a deep breath, another shot (just kidding), and go get him. Pray he's in a better mood. And we're still praying for Stellan, who's been in the hospital for 13 days now. He's doing better but he's still a long way from healed. More soon. Love, Us.

Leaving . . . on a Jet Plane

2009-03-26T18:54:00.001-07:00

I have a decent sized headache. I blame the children. I had three tonight. Did I say I wanted more babies? I thought so. My friend Karen had a job interview this evening, so I watched Owen (nearly 5) and Emma (nearly 4) for a couple of hours. Woo, am I tired. And tomorrow we leave for Daytona, Quinn and I. I think we are just about packed, carry-ons and suitcases, except for the last-minute stuff, like toothpaste and toothbrush and sippy cup and dragon lovey. I guess we're ready! Now I should probably practice my deep breathing and mental relaxation so I don't freak out around my mom. Any available prayers for calm would be appreciated!
Quinn got his hair cut today. He was looking pretty shaggy. I thought after the first cut, we would switch to someplace that doesn't charge an arm and a leg and feed my child animal crackers throughout the visit. But thanks to some bad experiences with Great Clips, we're sticking with what works. Most of those bad experiences are my husband's. But since his coworkers actually teased him yesterday about a cut, and since twice GC has refused to charge him for his haircut, I back down on this one. I'm not the one with two "crowns" after all. They are. Hey, at least he got a yellow bouncy ball! Woo hoo!
So the prayer vigil is still on for Stellan. I'm constantly updated MckMama's Twitter page (but don't assume that means I have the slightest idea what Twitter actually is) since she doesn't have much access to her blog. I ask you all (all four of you!) to pray for Stellan and his family. They have a lot of peace about what God is doing, even while they pray for another miracle, but more prayers are welcome and needed. Now, I need to get going and finish my last edit for the week. I probably only have three more commercial breaks before Private Practice is over and I have to wake the sleeping chainsaw and send us both to bed. Hmm, maybe I can fit in some dessert. I think I saw ice cream in the freezer! By the way, I won't be back online to update until probably Monday since I'm leaving the laptop at home. Love, Us.

Praying for Stellan

2009-03-25T04:12:00.000-07:00

MckMama's little baby Stellan is sick again, with the same kind of heart issues as he had when he was in utero. Please join me in praying for Stellan and his family. You can find details here and also read his story from the beginning, but I don't recommend starting at 9 p.m. and reading straight through until 2 a.m. Bad idea. We'll update later about how we've all been (pretty good). Love, Us.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

2009-03-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Jalal had to work today, so Quinn and I went to church by ourselves. He was kind of tired before we even left, and he was not in a great mood. He started crying when we got to the nursery. Poor kid. Usually he is ready to run away from us and go play. A couple of weeks ago, he ran in as happy as could be and then freaked out. Jalal had to take him outside to calm him down. It was so out of the blue and unlike him that I wasn't really sure what to do. Today he just took a little distraction before he was fine.

During the sermon, one of the musicians, the violin player, came and sat down next to me. It was really nice since I was sitting alone. After I picked up Quinn from the nursery, I went back in the sanctuary and introduced myself. It was nice to meet another person face to face. I'm getting there! Maybe I'll start going to the women's Bible study or something soon. (Oh, and I always peek in the window trying to see Quinn before he sees me. He saw me right away today and ran across the room pointing and yelling "Mama!" The adults in there thought it was so funny. There's no need for nametags with that kind of reaction!

Yesterday was Supermom day. I haven't gotten that much stuff done in one day ever (or at least as long as I can remember). I emptied the dishwasher, filled the dishwasher, washed all the pots and pans, baked cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip!, and no I haven't eaten them all yet), vacuumed the whole downstairs, did two loads of laundry, finished an edit, ironed 6 shirts and a pair of pants, and took a 30-minute walk with Maureen, after which we let the kids play. Woohoo!

Oh, and saving the best news for last, I got a job! Another freelance job that I can do from home. It's with an educational media company proofreading flashcards. It's way more intense than I expected when I applied, but I already got work from them! I'm currently edited flashcards about business and marketing for the Praxis II. Here's to taking exactly a year to find something to do other than Arcadia! Man, when people said freelancing was hard to break into, they weren't kidding. All the more reason to be grateful that I've been able to stay home with Quinn for the past year. I have to go on a recycling run now. Love, Us.

Wanted: One Jedi Master

2009-03-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

I am in need of a master, someone from whom I can learn the necessary tools to get along in the crazy life of mine. Specifically, right now I need somebody to teach me how to seem respectful and loving and kind toward my husband while I'm really performing some master Jedi mind-tricks on him to get him to do exactly what I want. Is there an online course perhaps? Maybe something where I can get a few credits toward a master's in manipulation?

I don't know if I have talked about the chore list before, but it's a list of all the regular daily, weekly, and monthly chores that need to be performed for the house to not fall down around our ears or bury us in our own clutter, though it doesn't even address things like cleaning off the coffee table or going through junk mail. Anyway, we made it together after the seventh breakdown (mine) in less than a year as a result of someone's lack of any significant contributions around the house (his). He picked the one daily chore he wanted, washing pots and pans, two weekly chores, and one monthly. The only one he has kept up with is the weekly grocery shopping. He even said, after he picked out his chores, "But that still leaves you doing almost everything. I should do more." Ahem. Well, yes, that is true, but I suggested we start small and work our way up. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't expect the chores to be 50/50. I work at home, and only part-time (let's ignore for a moment the fact that Quinn is a full-time++ job all by himself), so it is natural I do more around the house. MORE, not ALL.

One of my biggest issues was when he would fall asleep on the couch at 8:30 while I worked, then wake up at 11:00 and come into the kitchen, where I was washing all of the dishes, and ask [in super sleepy, "I don't really want an honest answer to this question" voice] "What can I do to help?" Hmmm. You, my love, are an accomplished man who runs not one, but three, distinct food-service operations with aplomb, lived alone long before I came along, were raised by a single mother, and have a WHOLE brain in your head. And you have to ask me almost every night what you can do to help. So, when the chore list debuted, and he asked me to post it on the fridge, I said, now you don't have to ask me what you can do! It's all there in black and white and dry-erase-board gray! So, imagine my (carefully controlled) rage last night when I remembered I had to move the laundry over to the dryer right before I decided to go to bed at 11:30 (he fell asleep on the couch around 9:30), and he leaned into the kitchen to ask [gasp] "What can I do to help?" Oh, no he didn't. Thank you Lord for trying to teach me patience and character. Seriously, but now can we move on? What other virtues can we work on that don't make me turn into a raging, spitting, hateful, ugly person? And how about that online course?

Love, Me.

My First Video Post (Let's See if This Works)

2009-03-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

I had to take this video after Quinn came up to me asking if he could wear his hat. I'm sure you will agree that he is a very cute and very smart boy. And his daddy and I spend way too much time teaching him funny things to do (see Not Me! Monday post). Enjoy! Love, Us.

Update: It didn't work. It looked like it worked but I guess it didn't. Sorry!

I Think We're Paci Free

2009-03-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

I was just looking back at my blog and realized that it has been two weeks since Quinn had a pacifier at night. And that means it has probably been about 10 days with no paci at all!! Holy moly! I can't believe it was just that easy. Now don't get me wrong. These past few days, when he wakes up from a nap, he cries hysterically for another 20 minutes or so, and I want to shove a paci in his mouth so bad I can taste it. But I didn't. I comfort him, I distract him, I set him up like a king on the couch with his blanket and a Veggie Tales movie. No paci. Part of the process that has made it easier I think is that we haven't been going out much. Not out to eat, which is our biggest challenge with the paci, and not out to shop much. I can handle him losing it and showing his butt on the playground or at Karen's house. But I hate when he pitches a fit in a restaurant. I think we're saving money, too. I mean, theoretically, if you eat at home and don't go out to eat, you save money, right? Well, yes, if you don't buy Oreo Cakesters, Klondike bars, Karamel Sutra B&J ice cream, and cheese danish. I would be so embarrassed to admit that those things are in my house right now--IF I HAD BOUGHT THEM! I neither purchased nor asked for any of these items. But I'm not doing the grocery shopping anymore. In one sense, that makes me very happy. But who stays home all day and has to give in to, I mean resist, the temptation to snack on these very items? Not Jalal. Me. (I guess I really didn't need to spell that out for you, did I?)

So Sarah and Maureen are going with us tomorrow to Mother Goose on the Loose, and then we're going to have a picnic lunch if the weather stays nice. I can't wait! Well, I didn't have any work to do today until almost 5:00, so I have to make up for lost time. I did, however, apply for two jobs today off Craigslist. Let's see how it goes. Good night. Love, Us.

St. Patty's Day

2009-03-17T05:17:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. We don't have much going on today. Yesterday, Sarah was supposed to come over and play with Quinn while Maureen had to do some stuff, but then her plans changed and Sarah didn't come over. I was pretty disappointed. I even bought sidewalk chalk and planned to go outside. It wouldn't have worked anyway because it rained all day. We are all going to the library tomorrow for storytime, so that should be fun. Or crazy, or both!

Bowling last night was a bust. We won our final game but only by three points. Every single one of us sucked. I don't think any of us improved our averages at all. Although Ceal and Alissa pulled out some crazy strikes and spares at the end to save us. We need to get our acts together for next week. I went out Saturday night to bowl with Maureen, Karen, and Bryon (a guy from another team). We had a good time but I didn't do anything special. It was hard to bowl well when no one else paid attention to taking turns. There was absolutely no bowling etiquette there. And if I were the woman playing on the lane next to us, I would have plenty to say for Not Me! Monday, like "I did not take my 10-month-old baby out bowling with me, my pubescent husband, my cigarette-smoking mom, and her butch girlfriend until after midnight. And if I didn't, I wouldn't have let my child sip soda out of my cup." Seriously? I'm by no means a perfect or even great mom, but that's just messed up.

Quinn and I watched the Elmo ("Momo") Potty Time video yesterday over lunch. Oh boy. I guess I need to commit a little more to the potty training thing. Maybe I'll have to break down and buy training pants. I guess I don't take him often enough to try, but it's such a pain taking a diaper off and on. It was kind of funny, though. The movie had some "adult" jokes, like "This episode is brought to you by the letter P and the number 2." Get it? And when Elmo asked Baby Bear if he was potty trained, he said, "Does a bear go potty in the woods?" Hah!

Well, I better go find us some green clothes in case we go out today. I didn't buy Quinn any special St. Patrick's Day clothes this year. I know, big surprise! I did get him an Easter shirt, so you'll see that soon enough. Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

2009-03-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, one of my favorite blogs is My Charming Kids, written by a woman who calls herself "MckMama." She is hysterical and such a great role model. (You can link to her blog at the top of my blog.) She does Not Me! Mondays every week where she discusses all the things that she would NEVER do because it would be so wrong. I decided to jump on the bandwagon, as have dozens and dozens of other people, and post my own. Here we go!

I did not go through all the elaborate technical steps to link my post to MckMama's blog just in the desperate hopes of winning one of her awesome giveaway prizes. I would never neglect my own work just to mess around online. Not me!

I did not just put Quinn down for a second nap today, even though he could probably have made it a few more hours, just to get some quiet time for myself. Even if I had done that, I would never try to convince myself that I just wanted Quinn to be well-rested for his evening with Daddy. Not me!

I did not repeatedly let Quinn run around with his onesies and rompers unbottoned around the crotch so it would be quicker to get him to the potty, if and when I decided to take him. I would never let me adorable boy run around looking like he was wearing a dress. Not me!

I did not eat an entire box of Girl Scout cookies last week in a single sitting within an hour of buying them outside of Walmart. Even if I had, I would certainly not make sure the box was hidden underneath other trash and neglect to tell my husband that "a few" boxes started as four. Not me!

My husband and I most certainly did not try to teach Quinn to gesture "Kiss my butt" this week. We do a lot of crazy things with him, but that is just wrong, and we would never do that. Imagine what people would think! Not me!

So, those are just a few of the things I absolutely did NOT do this week. If I had done these things, I would plan to start watching that new show "In the Motherhood" next week to help feel better about myself. Love, Us.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It's Champagne Thursday!

2009-03-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Not for me; that's just a shout-out to Caroline and Willie. I need to start a tradition like that. Maybe Wine Wednesday? Schnapps Saturday? Stiff drink Sundays? Actually today is kind of blah. The weather is turning colder and grayer again. I don't really want to go out because I don't want to spend any money. I don't have any work to do, so that's frustrating. It's just a blah day.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Quinn and I went to the Mother Goose on the Loose storytime at the public library. We went a few times over the summer and had a good time. I don't know why we stopped going. Quinn had a great time. He can actually do most of the stuff on his own now, like patting and clapping and stomping his feet. I think we'll try to keep going on a regular basis. Then, after a record short nap, we went over to meet Karen at the park. There were earthmovers everywhere and half the playground was torn up, so we went over to Karen's house instead. The kids played outside, and Quinn wore himself out. It was great.

Well, Quinn just woke up and I got a new edit, so let me go spring into action. Duty calls. Hopefully I can make more time later to write, but I'm planning to go to a Passover dinner demonstration at my church tonight, hosted by someone from Jews for Jesus. (I told my sister that and she laughed. When I asked why she laughed, she said it was because of the movie "In Her Shoes." I was so relieved because I have to hold it in myself everytime I hear "Jews for Jesus" for that same reason. At least I'm not alone!) Love, Us.

Spring Fever

2009-03-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

Now I'm generally a cold weather person. I love bundling up in front of a fire and feeling the brisk air in my lungs, not to mention I think scarves are a fabulous fashion accessory. But the weather we've had these past 5 days has been absolutely gorgeous! It's nearly 80, but it's so beautiful that I can't complain about that. I went to the park yesterday with Karen and her kids and another friend of hers. Karen went home to get some of those folding park chairs, and we just sat out in the wonderful spring day and enjoyed the fresh air. I even got to hold the other woman's new baby! He is only about a month old, and he was just the tiniest little thing ever. He was actually smaller than Quinn was when Quinn was born! They are all going again today, but Jalal's off and wants to go to Commerce, Georgia, to the outlets. I'm torn. We have a history of overspending at places like that and we need to be super careful about our money right now. But I do have to get Quinn some navy pants for Easter. I found his shirt at a consignment store. It's navy and yellow and white gingham (or plaid maybe?), and long sleeved and button-down. I want to get him one of those newsboy caps so badly to go with it. But Jalal just gave me "the look." You know, the one that says, "Really? You want to dress up my child like that? Wait for a girl and then do your worst."

So we had position night at bowling yesterday. We didn't bowl last week because of the snow, so we were all a little out of practice. Alissa couldn't come at the last minute, so we had to use her average score minus 10. That was an 80. Not good for position night! Most everybody didn't do so well, although Karen got a 190, just one pin away from her best ever. I was pretty happy with my scores: 108, 116, and a 155! Woohoo! That's an average of more than 20 points above my previous average. But it didn't matter. We lost all our points. [You get 2 points for each game your team wins and 2 points if you have a total win in pins for the night, for a possible total of 8 points.] We only lost the first game by 2 pins! Man. That's okay. We'll pick it up next week. We had a great time, though. The team we were playing was a lot of fun. That always helps, when you can interact with the other team well. It didn't hurt that it was Bryon's team. To give you a visual, his nickname is "Big Sexy." He's pretty crazy. And we've all agreed to go to the New Kids on the Block concert next week. We're going to have a blast. I need to remind Ceal to burn me a copy of her CDs. She bought one of their old CDs and their new one at the last concert she went to. Well, I better go get Quinn dressed for our day of shopping. Hope everyone is having as beautiful a day as we are. Love, Us.

From Snow to Seventy

2009-03-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

So on Monday it snowed 4 inches or so. Today it hit almost 70 degrees. Jalal didn't have to work until the afternoon, so we went to the playground with Quinn this morning. It was very windy though, like blow you over windy. It was crazy to see how busy it was. And the variety of moms in attendance was so funny to see as well. I mentioned how some kids were in jeans and sweatshirts and others were in these boutique gingham rompers with smocking and lacy dresses with tights and white shoes. Really? Jalal pointed out that this must be where the upper-class moms come because every woman there had a huge rock on her ring finger as well. Hmm...did we crash a party? I could care less. My child was sweet and well-behaved and said "Hi!" to the other kids. Plus, my hubby was there! I wish he and Quinn got to play together more often. Oh, and Quinn is doing this cute thing now where he has to tell everyone I'm his mama and Jalal is his dada. He informed the lady with the bread samples at Costco of this, and she said, "Really? That's your daddy? And there's your mommy? Great." I said, "As if you couldn't tell."

So we didn't get to bowl on Monday night because the weather was so bad. I don't know what we're going to do to make it up, but some of the girls want to go bowl tomorrow night. I really wish I could go, but I can't seem to find a babysitter. EVER. I have got to find a group of sitters to draw from, preferably with people who will call me back. Why is that difficult? I am also working on finding someone for St. Patrick's Day. My bowling team (have I mentioned that our name is the Gutter Gals?) has a plan to go to a concert: the New Kids on the Block! Wouldn't that be hysterical? But I'm dreading what will happen when I pay for a ticket and then can't find someone to watch Quinn. Oh well, guess I'll just keep a positive outlook and keep calling around. Wish me luck! Good night. Love, Us.

Growing Up and Letting Go

2009-03-05T17:45:00.000-08:00

I'm so proud of Quinn. He has gone two nights now without a pacifier. When we got back from Charleston the last time, we went back to only using it during naps, bedtime, and moments of extreme distress (mostly his, sometimes ours). When that went well, Jalal suggested we stop using it overnight and see how he did. To my surprise, he only cried for a couple of minutes each night. He's such a big boy. I told my sister about it today, and the poor thing burst into tears. She feels like she's missing so much of him growing up. I completely understand and I wish I knew what to do about it. We are planning a trip to Daytona later this month (I know, another freakin' trip!) to help Mom go through some of our old things as well as Dad's stuff. So hopefully that will help. I guess there's no use hoping we'll ever live too near each other. Wade refuses to leave Woodville, and I can't imagine Jalal ever finding a career path that leads to (or even through) Tallahassee. So instead we can just work toward one or the other of us becoming rich enough so we could afford monthly visits. Hmmm...lotto tickets anyone? Well, Jalal and I have to go look over our tax returns now. Yay! (insert sarcastic font here) Love, Us.

The Numbers

2009-03-04T09:43:00.001-08:00

For those of you who want the official numbers from Quinn's checkup, here they are. [Drumroll please. . . ] Weight: 25.81 lbs (50th %); Height: 32.5 in. (57th %); Head circumference: 18.5 in. (28th %).

I thought he had a huge head because it's tough as nails to get a shirt over that noggin, but the numbers don't back me up. Oh well. Also, we now have a dentist's appointment scheduled for the end of this month. Won't that be fun? (Where's a sarcastic font when you need it?) He gets to watch me first, which is a much better idea than him watching Jalal. I won't scare the pants off the kid. I don't mind the dentist. I actually liked going to my old dentist. Everyone was so nice and it usually didn't hurt, at least not as much as the monotony of my work cubicle did. Jalal has only been to the dentist once in the last 10 years and that was because a crown broke off. I shudder to think . . . Well, maybe he is smart to fear going to the dentist. We'll see because he is also going to the dentist soon! I have the power to make appointments for him and the power to make him go whether he likes it or not. (I think. I'll let you know how this one plays out.) By the way, I've marked off six items on my to-do list. And yes, I actually did all of them before I marked them off. Naysayers. All of you! More later. Love, Us.

It's a Two Skittles Day

2009-03-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't get the title of today's post, two Skittles is the reward Quinn gets for going number 2 in the potty. He did it! Now, if you've been reading, you know that we are sort of gearing up for potty training. I know it's early, but there's no harm in getting him used to the idea. He has started calling his little potty chair "Bobby." He's been saying "Bobby" for a while now and we have no clue what he means by it. He always says it very enthusiastically, like "Bob-EEE!" He sounds like a cartoon character. So when I started to say "potty," I guess he confused the two. Now he calls his potty Bobby. Cute, right? I admit we haven't been super consistent about it and I seem to be the only one who will suggest he try to go, so that's tough. This seems like it takes way more effort out of me than Quinn. One of the blogs I follow just had a post about potty training the other day because that mom has gotten two boys out of diapers by age 2 so far. Unfortunately, one of her techniques is to let them run around bare-bottomed while plying them with lemonade. NB: She has wood floors! I have carpet, and I'm not ready to let him run around peeing on the floor yet. Anyway, while I was on the exercise bike this morning (just four more minutes!!), he started grunting and going on. I said, "You're going to the bathroom right now, aren't you?" to get him to associate the feeling with the words. He runs over the gate at the hall and starts saying "Bobby, Bobby!" So I get down from the bike and take him to the bathroom. Now, he eats way too many bananas, so number 2 is not always effortless. He sat on Bobby for a while and then wanted to get up. I got him to sit on the toilet instead and after a few minutes, we had success! I let him flush and say bye-bye, then we had to wash his hands (better than usual because he actually put his hand in the toilet before flushing). He has his own soap now, too. Then he got two Skittles and lots of praise. When I finished getting everything and everyone cleaned up and put back together, I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 9:00. REALLY? I feel like it should be noon by now! I'm exhausted already. And my to-do list is staring at me right now. Other than running the dishwasher and doing most of my bike workout, NOTHING has been done. Jeez. Did I mention that Jalal had a day off yesterday? Hah!

Seriously though, some stuff did get done. We bought a new router so our wireless is back up. Don't assume that I'll blog more as a result, but I am trying. I have a couple loads of laundry to catch up on, plus I'm still behind on my work work (that's the paying gig) thanks to that really bad edit the weekend before last. I admit I didn't get much done on Monday because we had friends over. Some of you not on Facebook may not know this, but we got snow! I'm talking anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of the stuff! It started Sunday afternoon. We had a great time playing in it, but we didn't expect as much as we ended up getting. Starting about 8 p.m., Jalal's work phone went nuts and everyone called to say they would not be coming in to work the next morning because they couldn't drive two or three miles in the snow. Now granted, it was supposed to be pretty icy, but those people didn't think about how far Jalal would have to drive to get to work. The phone didn't stop after we went to bed, so neither of us got a good night's sleep. Crazy-suicidal as it was, Jalal did get up and leave for work at 4:00 in the morning. He took his time (hour and a half instead of 35 minutes), threw on his hazard lights whenever it got slippery, and tried to stay out of the way of all the stupid people (18-wheelers included) who didn't think they should slow down at all. He called I-85 the "85 Luge." Nobody could believe he made it to work, but what was he supposed to do? Almost everyone else called in, the restaurants were slammed because everyone was snowed in at the hotel, and even his own boss (who assured Jalal he could handle it) couldn't make it out of his own driveway. Some of his night crew did volunteer to be there, so they got through, but it was a crazy day. Yesterday, when the power went out (some 17,000 people were without in Spartanburg and Greenville Counties), people were yelling at the front desk because they couldn't blowdry their hair, and the whole reason they stayed at the hotel was that their power was out at home! Anyway, my friend Karen's power went out Sunday afternoon and I told her she and the kids were welcome to come over on Monday if it wasn't fixed. She took me up on it and grabbed Happy Meals for the kids and Quinn on her way. She and I ate the yummy chili that Jalal made the night before. Even though her kids are older, 3 and 4, they had a blast playing with Quinn's toys, and by the time they left, every single one of us was completely wiped out. Quinn loves Karen. He always tries to sit in her lap and cuddle with her whenever she's around. I think it's great. Gives me a break! So the snow is about half gone now, but it was so beautiful! I just kept taking pictures because I never thought it would snow like that here, especially not in March! And now it's supposed to be up to 70 degrees by Friday. Crazy! Well, I better jump into my to-do list now. The washing machines is calling to me "Use me!" and the dishwasher is whispering "Empty me." Darn talking appliances. Love, Us.

Doctor's Visit

2009-02-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

It seems it's time for a new nickname for Captain Distractable. I've been calling him this for weeks now, but when the doctor calls him "Chatty Cathy," you know there's something to it. We had Quinn's 18-month checkup this morning, and it went really well. I love our pediatrician. The whole office is great. We show up at the stroke of 9, our appointment time, sign in, get a form to fill out on how I think Quinn is progressing, and before I can even uncap the pen, they are calling his name! Fabulous! The doc asked if we had any concerns about language and I laughed. Quinn barely stopped talking the whole time we were there. He showed the doctor his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth, colored all over himself with the doctor's pen, and read a book while pointing out things he recognized. Geez! The doc said at his age, 10-20 words is normal. Let's see how many I can think of: Mama, Dada, ball, juice, shoes, hi, bye-bye, knees, nose, no, dog, car, yes (sounds German, "das"), baby, truck, two, milk, peas, please (sounds the same as "peas" but context is different), banana, corn, cheese, book, ear, eye, teeth. . . that's all I can think of right now. But there's also mow for cat, bok bok for chicken, moooo for cow, ooh ooh ahh ahh for monkey, and probably a couple more I'm forgetting. The doctor said he's very talkative for a boy his age and then stopped himself and said "for ANY kid his age, boy or girl." Hmmm, he does have a lot of Langston in him. We come by that pretty honestly. Poor kid, he also seems to have inherited the freckles from me and my dad. I found two on his leg the other day and one on his hand. Took me a few minutes of scrubbing before I realized they weren't coming off! Anyway, he's growing like a weed. I'll have to get the exact numbers, but he passed the 50th percentile in weight, I think about 26 pounds. (Feels like 30!) He had to get two shots and he barely cried at all. He even got a blue lollipop, which helped with the shots but drove me crazy trying to dress him and wipe up all the sticky blue slobber. Well, just wanted to check in while I had a couple minutes. Tonight is girls' night out: Carrabba's and the movie "He's Just Not That Into You." I can't wait! More later. Love, Us.

Long Awaited Catching Up

2009-02-25T14:21:00.000-08:00

Our wireless internet isn’t working, so I’m only online a few minutes a day. I apologize that I didn’t get back on here right away. We got a new washing machine yesterday! It was a great deal, a Kenmore 800 series for $399. It was brand-new but majorly marked down because it was blue and they had a surplus. So what? It’s nice to know our clothes are actually getting clean now. We also decided to get a little potty for Quinn. I know it’s a bit too soon to push him into toilet-training, but he did go in the real toilet a few days ago. I was giving him a bath the other night and he started making his “poopie” face. Trust me, this is not mother’s intuition. He gets all red in the face, holds his breath, and starts grunting. So rather than let him go in the bathtub, I picked him up and held him on the edge of the toilet seat until he went to the bathroom. He seemed perfectly comfortable with it, so I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get him thinking about potty-training. I’m not really sure about the best way of going about it, so any experienced advice is welcome. Wouldn’t it be great to have a 2-year-old boy who’s potty-trained?

Quinn has his 18-month checkup with the doctor on Friday. As usual, I can’t wait to see how much he weighs. I think he’ll be over the 50th percentile by now. That kid is getting huge! Every day now, we retire another outfit (18 months) that is too tight or short, more tight than short lately. Luckily, Jalal and I are the masters of economical shopping. We have a decent-sized spring wardrobe for him already that we haven’t paid much for. We haven’t paid more than $10 for any item, including shoes! We picked up most of it from the outlets in Charleston. Speaking of which, we’ve had two fun trips to Charleston, plus a road trip to Cincinnati, Louisville, and Gatlinburg.

Our first Charleston trip was for the wine expo. I did start to feel better, but not much. I couldn’t really enjoy the wines too much with a stuffy nose. I remember tasting a J Vineyards pinot noir, one of our personal favorites, and it tasted nothing like it should have. So right then I knew there was no point in drinking any more than it took to make me feel better. Oh well. Vicky and Barry came with us the expo while Aundrea and Erika, their girls, watched Quinn. They are so good with him. I wish they lived here so they could sit for him all the time! The next morning, we met for breakfast with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Bruce, who were coincidentally in town for a few days. It was great to see them since we hadn’t seen them since dad’s funeral. Plus, Aunt Linda had been very sick and I wanted to see for myself how she was doing. It stinks that we don’t get to see them as much since we left Charleston. I never see Uncle Bruce as happy as he is when he’s feeding something new to Quinn. Uncle Bruce is the reason Quinn dips everything in ketchup, including tomatoes (redundant) and Cheerios (gross). They gave him this stuffed Curious George, which he took on our road trip. It was very cute. Whenever he got tired, we’d give him George and he would hold him over his shoulder and pat on the bottom. Haha!

Our road trip was a lot of fun. We were expecting snow and cold, but we ended up with temps in the 60s most days. First we spent the weekend with Lauren (Auntie L.C.) in Cincinnati. It was so nice to see her again, and she adores Quinn. We went to the Children’s Museum there, which was fantastic. I wish we could’ve spent more time there, but Quinn has his limits. While he slept, we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. Even in winter, when a lot of the animals weren’t out, we had a great time. There was a snow leopard that actually meowed at me and Lauren! It was so close we could almost touch it (behind a cage, though, of course). Then it bit its own tail and sat there with the end of its tail in its mouth watching us. Lauren was so funny. She talked in her cat lady voice and asked if the “kitty” wanted a new mama to snuggle with. Nut. Then Lauren kept him for an evening so Jalal and I could go out. We went to Morton’s Steakhouse for an early Valentine’s Day dinner. It was wonderful! The works: valet parking, expensive bottle of red wine, tuna tartare that melted in our mouths, steaks cooked perfectly and bigger than your head, lyonnaise potatoes, asparagus grilled with balsamic vinegar, and the best soufflé in the world. They make this Grand Marnier soufflé with fresh Chantilly cream that is to die for. It must have come straight from the oven because it was huge! I can’t thank Lauren enough for that. When we got back to her place, it was after 10 p.m. and Quinn was still awake. He was crazy wound up and driving her poor cats up the wall. They were probably very happy to see him go. Then we went to Louisville and stayed with Mike and Crystal for a couple days. It was nice to see them for a happy reason instead of all the bad reasons or working reasons we’ve seen them lately. First they flew down to help us move to Greenville, then they came to California for Louella’s funeral, then they flew to Florida when my dad died. They are good people. Anyway, they have a cat, too, Bob, so Quinn was happy chasing the “mah” around (that’s what he says for “meow”). We went ice-skating together, and they had skates small enough to fit Quinn (actually we had to go up a size from the smallest). He went around for a few times in Jalal’s arms before Jalal tried to get him to skate on his own two feet. He didn’t seem to like that very much. There was a woman there who gave skating lessons and she took him around once or twice with me skating alongside them. He did a little better with that (maybe because she was more in control). Still not his favorite thing just yet but we’ll try again. Our last day of vacation we spent in Gatlinburg. We were hoping to try sledding or play in the snow, but there was no snow! The wind was too strong for us to even ride the gondolas to the top of the hill where Ober Gatlinburg was. So we went to this cute little Rainforest Zoo. Everything was low enough for Quinn’s eye level, so we let him run around and see the lemurs, frogs, alligators, birds, kangaroos, goats, snakes, and more. We (Jalal) broke down and bought him two stuffed animals (because he’s running a severe shortage on them, don’t ya know?). They were absolutely adorable, with HUGE eyes. I’ll see if I can post a picture so you get the idea. That night, we took Quinn to the Dixie Stampede. That brought back a lot of memories. First of all, Jalal and I had taken Louella there once in Myrtle Beach. Second, the preshow included some classic bluegrass music played live, and one of the songs was “I’ll Fly Away,” the song my dad’s friends played at his memorial service. Anyway, though Quinn only ate a couple of bites of biscuit and then Goldfish crackers, he did enjoy watching the horses and lights. Our hotel room was really nice in Gatlinburg, too. It was only a Fairfield, but it had a fireplace and a Jacuzzi tub in our room, as well as a great view over the river. The next day, we took the scenic route home through the mountains. I guess the winding roads and play of shadow and light got to Quinn because he threw up. Poor kid. We’re up in the mountains where it was pretty chilly and windy, and we strip him down by the side of the road and wipe him down with baby wipes. We made it home just fine, though, and with enough time to do a big load of laundry at the Laundromat.

Our recent trip to Charleston was for Isabel’s third birthday. As usual, we drove down on a Sunday and came back on Monday. I really didn’t want to go at first because we had only been home from our big trip for two days. But I’m glad we did. We always have such a wonderful time with Willie and Caroline, and Vicky and Barry. Quinn held his own at the party among all the three-year-olds, too. I heard a lot of people say he was a cool kid. Uh, yeah. I knew that. This was another late night that he stayed up playing, but he was a champ. It was also great to see the remodel of the Wests’ home, which was more like a whole new house. It is incredible! And now Jalal and I have something to go on when we design our dream home. I think we might have to start smaller though, like skipping the “chronotherapy” lights in the bathtub and the built-in automatic cappuccino machine. It’s a good place to start, though. And we got to see Chris and Kim, which was great. Chris didn’t believe me when I told him Quinn is fussy (read: prissy) about getting his hands dirty. Then Quinn got a couple pieces of glitter on his hand and kept going to Chris to get them off! I swear I didn’t put him up to that either. The next morning, we met my old friend Desma at the Children’s Museum, where she works, and we all played for a couple hours. All in all, it has been a good (crazy!) month. Now that we're caught up, let's move on. I am going to make dinner now, but I'll try to get on again soon to tell more about the mundane, funny, day-to-day stuff in our lives, like my bowling league and Quinn's favorite words. Preview: his current favorite numbers are 2 and 9 (though I'm pretty sure that one is "nein" or however you spell "no" in German). Love, Us.