Santa came!

Santa came! Santa came!



...and he brought Gage a potty, and his own vaccuum, and some movies, and a pull toy...and a ride-on toy with a firefighter theme...


..and he brought Gage some trucks, and more peek-a-blocks, and a Thomas the train beginner train set...

First thing Gage checked out...the train.


He was sooooo excited.


Checking out his blocks...


He then had to line up his vaccuum with Mommy's vaccuum...


...and try out his new potty...a "Throne of His Own"...


...and he played with the puppets that GrandDaddy Al got for him...


Of course, there was dancing. This was Gage dancing to one of his new Wiggles CDs that we played through the DVD player...


Atomic Christmas aftermath...


...and of course, he can't forget his old toys...the phone & the popper.


Playing with his vaccuum after his morning nap...


Destructo-baby is awake. King-Kong-Gage shows up in Thomas the Train-land, and takes part of the track!


Lunch at Sports City Cafe...


Gage said, "Hi." to all the waitresses as they passed by...

Do you see how far away she is? She had already passed by, and he almost missed his moment to flirt!

Christmas Eve...

Took Baby Gage to Memma's house for Christmas Eve...



Gage got the classic pull-phone.
"Hello?"


"Yeah! I love my Carl books!"


And...he got a Fisher Price Circus Set. It's over 40 years old.
It's AWESOME!



Why, yes, he IS trying to climb inside!

I just LOVE this picture of Gage! He was eating turkey with Memma at the table. Oh, he's sooooo sweet!


"At Memma's house, I can do anything! Like....stand in the chair!"


"...And, go up & down the stairs a bajillion times!"


"..and then I got sleepy. It was such a busy day..."




"...and I took Mario's Christmas blanket."


"...and I was soooooo tired."


"and then, I was loaded up in the car, and taken home!"

12/23/6

Allen & Gage opening gifts at my house...
pardon Gage's wet shirt...leaky sippy cup! (actually, it was my fault...I didn't have the lid screwed on quite right...)





...can you tell that Allen did not want his picture taken??

...Getting Ready for Christmas...

(Where Gage's stocking goes...but, if we put it up before Christmas, he just pulls it right back down!)


One of the Christmas stockings I purchased while on my trip to Egypt...

12/21/06

"Yippy! Mommy didn't go to work today! Let's watch The Wiggles!!!"

It's Christmas Time...with SWers!

Had our departmental Christmas party tonight.
Good times....good times!


"Mas Margaritas Por Favor!"

I got carded for alcohol, as usual. But, this time, the waiter, I kid you not, turned to my boss & asked if I was old enough to drink. She said yes, as I was digging for my ID (which of course, I never put back into my wallet after shopping this past weekend...) & then he said, "Ma'am, I just have to ask. I know she's here with you and all..." So, I guess he thought she was my mother. Oh, it was funny.

And...a coworker who is pregnant with twins...well, everyone thinks she is so sweet & innocent. It's all just a front. Once you get to know her, she's just as hateful as me & her sense of humor is just as twisted. Anyway....the waiter asked when she was due. With a straight face (which I could NEVER pull off), she said, "what do you mean?" And he said, "I can see that you are pregnant. When is the baby due?" ....to which she replied, "Who's pregnant? Me? YOU THINK I LOOK PREGNANT???!!!" Oh, our poor waiter wanted to DIE! Then she started laughing...heck, we were all laughing, and she started joking with him. Oh, great fun.

Sunday Morning Dance Club...

"I'm Bringing Sexy Back!"


So...it was Sunday morning. Baby Gage & I were up...he got raspberries on his jammies, so those were off. Diaper & socks...until he saw his new brown "shuz" & simply HAD to wear them. So, diaper, socks, and shuz...he was ready for "mu" "mu" "mu" (um....that's "music").

First, he brought sexy back. In the picture above...you so just had to be there...but he had his little tooshie dipped, and he was swinging his rear left to right. Oh, it was so cute!!!
(Mama teaches him all the club moves...)

After that, it was mellow music...a little Jack Johnson while Mommy did the dishes...and of course, snapped a few more pictures...



...and, perhaps I should have started this post by typing about Saturday...but we can back-track, I guess.
Gage was running in the bedroom, and a drawer to the dresser was open. He fell & hit his right eyebrow on the top of the drawer (note the small cut in the above picture...) and hit his right cheek on the bottom of the drawer. The bruise just started to show on Sunday. It's really faint, but this Mamasita certainly noticed it!

Okay...back to Sunday.
Had to move the carbon monoxide detector. It does NOT matter where we put it...Baby Gage just wants it!


"What??? I'm just going to check the battery back-up!"

And after Dance Club USA, and checking on the carbon monoxide detector, he added his fireman hat to his almost non-existent outfit.
And got into the fridge...

Notice, that's Coke he's reaching for. Not because I let him drink Coke...but because I once made the mistake of letting him play with the 2 liter bottles when I brought them home from the store. Now, every time he sees one, he wants to take it to the living room, shake it up, and roll it around...

And what lovely treat did my child find in the fridge?
A packet of soy sauce....

He had fun playing with that for a while...
It's amazing what he finds amusing...

Forget toys...give this one a carbon monoxide detector, packet of soy sauce, old telephone, paper of any kind, a 2 liter bottle of coke, and an empty water bottle. He'd be set!!!

Fun stuff for kids...

www.pokkadots.com

Wooden sushi set!


Chalk-a-doodle placemats...


"Mommy Hugs" book...

Grades...

My grades STILL are not posted.
Ugh. I want my grades!!!!

Husband 1.0

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance --

Particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed, Desperate
-------------------------------------------

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, While Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.

Please enter the command: "http: I Thought You Loved Me.HTML" and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck, Tech Support

Happy Tuesday...

Well, I think I got the holiday newsletter done....

Note to Ginger: email me your address!

What else?
We had a luncheon today that I set up. On my last employee evaluation, I could not come up with a single way that I "exceed expectations" in the arena of Ethics. I mean, I'm expected to behave in an ethical manner, and with regard to my work---I do that consistently. But....I set up a luncheon for us to get an Ethics CEU there at the hospital. That's going to be one way that I "exceed expectations" for my annual eval in 2007.
We need 3 of those a year....if I set up 2 more (w/ permission from my boss, of course)...then I can see to it that all of the SWers (provided they all attend) meet their Ethics CEU obligations.
Okay...if you are reading this, I guess that stuff can be kind of boring...

What else?
Took Baby Gage to Sam's Club last night.
We didn't buy anything. The only thing we really needed was shampoo, and the lines were WWWWAAAAAAYYYY to long to stand in for just one item. So not worth it, you know? Looked around though.

Baby Gage did NOT want to wake up this morning. He was seeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy. And, he fell back asleep in the car on the way to Memaw's house this morning.

Looks like I'll be getting together with Susan & Megan on the 17th for some shopping & dinner!

Got the Christmas tree put up...only have SOME of the ornaments on it, and no garland (I have this lovely eclectic beaded garland that I love...multi-colored glass beads, all different shapes & sizes...I love it). I'm just afraid that if Gage pulled the tree down or broke some of my ornaments that I'd be sad. Of course, if he pulled the tree down & got hurt--that would be worse! But, my ornaments...I've collected them from all over the world & for many years. I have old, old ornaments that my Pop & Gammy gave me from the Christmas trees when my dad was a little boy.
You can't replace those. So, for now, they will remain packed away.
I do however proudly display my Garfield & Snoopy plastic ornaments that I got from 2 different boxes of Russell Stover candies.
:) Oh, and the Christmas ornament of Hawaiian flip-flops that I got on my last trip to Hawaii.
There are certainly more on there, but not a whole ton. The tree actually looks pretty bare. White lights, silver star, and about 30 random ornaments.
I should go buy some plastic ball ornaments or something.
I mean---this tree was cut down to fulfill it's destiny of being somebody's Christmas tree. I should do it justice by going all out!

...yeah, we'll see....

That's all for today.
Peace Out!

5-point restraints for kids...

I watched this video that was created illustrating the importance of 5 point harnesses in child safety seats...

It's on youtube.com...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ


...this is my first attempt at linking something...so if it doesn't work, you can type in the address!

"Um, Hi, is this Poison Control?"

"Yes, it is."
"Well, I have a little one, and he got into this vaporizer stuff."
"How old is he?"
"14 1/2 months."
"What are in the ingredients?"
"Well, it says 'active ingredient: camphor...' but the bottle reads, 'keep out of the reach of children. If swallowed, contact poison control.'"
"Oh, they'll put that label on anything!"
"I'm sorry?"
"Well, if he had more than a teaspoon, it may cause seizures. Did he have more than a teaspoon?"
"No. He stuck his finger into this little well thing on top of the humidifier, and I guess there was still some of this liquid vaporizer stuff in there. He must have licked his finger."
"Oh, he'll be fine. It's just a mouth irritant, and may cause vomitting. If he's going to throw up, he'll do it within the next hour. If he doesn't throw up by then, he's probably not going to."
"Okay, well, thank you."
"You're welcome."

Yes, that's the conversation I had last night with the lady from poison control.
I guess you kind of know the story now: we have a humidifier in Gage's room. It has a well thing on top where you can put liquid vaporizer stuff. The well part is removable, but I forgot to take it off the top of the humidifier. And, he had never messed with it before...but last night, as I was putting snowman ornaments on his tree in his room, he wasn't even 2 feet from me---he looked up at me with his tongue out, his mouth wide open, and was just hacking and spitting everywhere. He was holding his little hands out with his fingers all apart, so I got the impression that whatever was in his mouth was also on his hands. The well on this humidifier holds maybe an eigth of a teaspoon of the vaporizer stuff. The well part was still on the humidifier, so I know he didn't take it off & DRINK the liquid. Oh, it just sucked, and happened so fast, and you can't imagine the guilt you feel when this happens. I look at the situation and think "accidents happen...kids get into all kinds of stuff...." you know all the cliches. But then I think---what if it had been something fatal? What if it had been drano or something? (...actually, I don't think we even own Drano...) It's just so scary. And everyone gave me props for being so calm about the whole thing. I called, got the number to poison control, spoke with poison control, and then assured everyone that we were all okay. I just didnt want to freak out (b/c Damon was already freaking out!) & I didn't want to freak Gage out.
So, he got to brush his teeth about 3 times after that...and got water in a sippy to drink.


I give these stickers out at work for parents to have at their house...you know, responsible parenting.
Tell me why I had NONE of these at home. I had to call the hospital to get the number to poison control....Ugh. so irresponsible!


I don't know what the deal has been about this weekend---but Gage just seems to be looking at our house with a whole new set of eyes; a set of mischevious-tear-it-up-pull-it-out-seek-out-danger eyes!

We tried to baby proof our house. We were covering outlets before Gage was even born!
But...babies see things that you don't always see...
...or think about...

Like the carbon monoxide detector. It plugs in. We had in in a socket in the hallway...tucked out of the way, I thought.

So, Saturday, I was blow drying my hair, and I hear a big loud beep...I thought (you know, I had the blow-dryer going). I venture out of the bathroom into the hallway. Gage has unplugged the carbon monoxide detector.
"No, NO!" I told him, and put the carbon monoxide detector in the living room on top of the TV cabinet. Told Damon that he unplugged it & that we'd have to find it a new home. Then...went back to blow drying.

Damon came around the corner into the hallway...Gage was sitting on the floor like a little frog, sucking on the electrical outlet.

Damon FREAKED OUT, got onto Gage, and I tell you...you would have thought he would NEVER go back to an outlet from the way he was crying and carrying on after getting into trouble.
Um...not 2 minutes later he was in the bathroom & trying to unplug my hair dryer.
D: "No, Gage!"
Gage pulled his hand away...
...then put it back.
D: "NO! That's danger."
Gage pulled his hand away...
...Damon left the room...
...then Gage looked up at me, and slowly put his hand back up there.
As I started to tell him "No!", he grabbed the dryer, unplugged it, and threw the plug in part on the floor. All of this with the most mischevious grin... So, I had to swat his little hand, & tell him "No, No! That's dangerous."

I just hate disciplining him. I know he has to learn boundaries & be protected from dangerous things. And clearly, the hand swatting thing & telling him "No!" is not a deterrent.

...he's such a boy.

Friday....

Well, on Friday, after work, Mark & Jana came into town. They had a happy hour here locally with a bunch of old friends. They stayed with us all weekend & are leaving today. We didn't go to the happy hour...

...Gage was already in bed when they came in. Jana was 3 sheets to the wind! She started telling me about their day & all of the running around they'd done in preparations for her sister's graduation & graduation party. Anyway...it was so funny...she was drunk & said that they went to "Holly Lolly"...she meant to say, "Hobby Lobby".

Oh, good times.

Mark & Jana live in Atlanta (well, outside of Atlanta). Mark is Damon's best friend.
Jana just recently had to have a total hysterectomy. I'm not really going to go into all of the details...but apparently she was quite sick, and they did all they could to save her ovaries, but were unable to. Everything happened & they didnt get to save any eggs or anything (the ovaries were diseased & the eggs would not likely result in pregnancy if fertilized anyway, & if they did, they would not likely result in a viable fetus)... So, here's a young couple, no kids, & now, no ability to ever get pregnant or have a baby.

They wanted to wait on becoming parents for a few more years before this whole hysterectomy thing came about. Now, all of a sudden, it's all they can talk about: becoming parents. I get this. I understand that they didn't want kids for a while, so it was on the back burner...now all of a sudden, that ability is taken from you, and for me, it would just be all-consuming. It would be all that I could think about, dream about, talk about....I would live & breath to find a way to be a mommy. And, since adoption can sometimes take FOREVER, I understand the sense of urgency they must feel.

So, poor Jana is still grieving the loss of her ability to become pregnant, her ability to carry a child, and the child-birth experience.
I can imagine how she feels...but I have no idea how that actually feels.
I know what it feels like to fear never getting pregnant...but I dont know what it feels like to know that you'll never experience that.

I just couldn't imagine not carrying Baby Gage in my big fat pregnant belly. I couldn't imagine not nursing him. I just don't want to imagine it.

So, pray for Mark & Jana. They're going through a lot. They've made it over the physical recovery from surgery...but the emotional things they are going through...that's got to be so tough.

Mommy's Big Boy...

He's getting so big.
He's so big.
He has grown so fast.

I remember when he got his first tooth, and it was bittersweet. I was so excited that (1) it FINALLY popped through, and (2) we were entering a new phase...something new, you know? But, I was so sad that it was the end of his gummy-grin that I would NEVER see again (provided he's not in some accident where his teeth are all knocked out!)

Anyway...that's how I find myself feeling a lot these days. I'm so ready for him to talk in English & say things that I understand...but I'm going to miss the baby-babble.

He's just growing up so fast.
He's so big now. He says a few things. He's as strong as an ox! He can climb (not always a fun thing...) He walks. He run. He dances. He would get his own apple juice out of the fridge if he could reach the fridge door!

Time flies....

Ahhhh....Lyrics.

So, this morning's musical selections...
Nelly Furtado
Dr.Dre
& Enya
(what a mix, I know...)

The song of today (aside from the theme song to "Little Einsteins" which has been stuck in my head ALL DAY!). Anyway...the song for today, is....

"Anywhere Is" by Enya.
Love it. Love it. Love it.

I walk the maze of moments
but everywhere I turn to
begins a new beginning
but never finds a finish
I walk to the horizon
and there I find another
it all seems so surprising
and then I find that I know

You go there you're gone forever
I go there I'll lose my way
if we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is

The moon upon the ocean
is swept around in motion
but without ever knowing
the reason for its flowing
in motion on the ocean
the moon still keeps on moving
the waves still keep on waving
and I still keep on going

You go there you're gone forever
I go there I'll lose my way
if we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is

I wonder if the stars sign
the life that is to be mine
and would they let their light shine
enough for me to follow
I look up to the heavens
but night has clouded over
no spark of constellation
no Vela no Orion

The shells upon the warm sands
have taken from their own lands
the echo of their story
but all I hear are low sounds
as pillow words are weaving
and willow waves are leaving
but should I be believing
Then I am only dreaming

You go there you're gone forever
I go there I'll lose my way
if we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is

To leave the thread of all time
and let it make a dark line
in hopes that I can still find
the way back to the moment
I took the turn and turned to
begin a new beginning
still looking for the answer
I cannot find the finish
It's either this or that way
it's one way or the other
it should be one direction
it could be on reflection
the turn I have just taken
the turn that I was making
I might be just beginning
I might be near the end.

Mr.Modano....

So, I heard on the radio this morning that he's engaged.
That's fine.
He couldn't wait around FOREVER for me. I understand.
I mean, we first met years ago...
and a little over 3 years ago we had our wonderful encounter at The Green Room.

I understand, Mike. You had to move on. I don't blame you.

...now, having said all that...it's only fitting that I attend his bachelor party. After all, he was at my last night out...

:)
(teeheeheee...I think I'm so funny! And if you don't...that's okay. Because my mom thinks I'm funny too.)

New Words!

We have some new words, people!

Over the weekend, these two words passed my child's beautiful lips!

1. "Cheese".
Gage took my hand while I was seated on the floor in the living room. "cheese. cheese." He pulled me up, led me to the kitchen, pointed to the fridge. "cheese. cheese." I opened the door. He positioned himself just so, and pointed up to the compartment where we keep the cheese slices. "cheese. cheese. cheese." I took a slice out, unwrapped it, and handed it to him. As he was holding the cheese square with both hands, he took a bite & ran off.

2. "Shuz."
As in, "shoes." He led me to his bedroom, "shuz.shuz.shuz." He took a pair of shoes & handed them to me. I put them on his feet, and he ran to the front door. "bye bye."
He associates shoes with going "bye bye", or going outside.
...or does he want to run away?

DONE!

So, that's me at about 10 o'clock last night with my completed final for my class tonight. I knocked it down from being well over 20 pages to 17 pages. Go me!!! I so don't even want to GO to class tonight.

Yesterday afternoon....Jolene, my friend who is pregnant with twins...um, went into labor. It's early. It's way early. It's way tooooo early. I mean, she's far enough along that they COULD potentially save the babies, but they'd be in the NICU for a LONG time and would face a wide variety of disabling diagnoses, or potentially fatal complications. So, it's just not good.
On top of that---he parents & sister live out of town. And her husband, just happens to be out of the country on a business trip. Imagine the timing.

So, right after work I left and went up to the hospital. Bless her heart. I just couldn't let her be all alone through this!

It's early yet, so I have not checked on her this morning, but when I left last night, the contractions had not stopped, but they were further apart and less intense that they had been. No dilation, and bag of waters is intact. Good!

So, pray for Jolene & the girls.
Pray for her husband too...yes, he had a business trip that he went on...but she's going to have this to hold over his head for the rest of their lives! "You were off in the Bahamas on a business trip while I went into labor!" He's going to be like putty in her hands!

:)

I'll keep ya posted!

Sunday...

Sunday...woke up. Played with Baby Gage.
When he went down for his nap, I went to work on my final project again. This required a little more in-depth detail about the Adult Learning Theory, so I couldn't work on it from home.

After about 3 hours spent on that...I returned to the house. Picked up my son, and took him to Northpark.

Mike & I were at Northpark with Baby Gage. You know, Mike Modano and I.



He had this whole autograph signing thing. I had this whole shopping thing.
I was busy with Gage, and he was busy with his fans---you guys know how his fans can be...

So anyway...he signed autographs while Gage & I shopped.

...okay, okay...so we didn't exactly GO to Northpark together...but we were there at the same time. And I didn't exactly SEE him there b/c I was not about to wait in line for his autograph. I'd say I got a little more than an autograph in the past (ladies, ladies...let's just think about the bach'ette party. I may have been lit, but I didn't forget!)

Okay...I'll stop now.
Mike Modano was there signing autographs.
I was there walking around with my child & did a little shopping.

Saturday...

So, on Saturday I worked on my final for my Tuesday night class while Baby Gage took his nap.
Daddy put Christmas lights on the exterior of the house.

Then...Saturday afternoon...a game of "kick the ball through all of the leaves" took place in the front yard.

Saturday night...forget the toys...Gage had a fun game of "stack the cans/containers from the bottom shelf in the pantry."

He made the "Leaning Tower Of Pantry Stuff"....


He then took the nuts off the top, and added more cans.


And then...he went back to the pantry for more...


Fun, fun, fun.
So, to all who attended his birthday party & brought him toys...thanks. In the future, he'd like his own pantry, stocked with cans & jars of things.
:)