NOT seeing Santa Clause

Paul and Jack Fossum and Xander and I went into Lafayette last week to see Santa Clause and his reindeer.  We headed over to see the reindeer and Xander though they were pretty interesting.  He spent quite some time trying to figure them out.  We had a long talk about the fact that they were not dogs, he initially thinks that all animals on 4 legs are dogs.  The line to see Santa was long, so the boys ran around and played for a little while.  There was a great porch that was incredibly fun to climb up and down, and up and down, and up and down, and up....  There were even christmas lights on the porch rail which were fascinating.  You could see the wheels turning in the kids heads, "If I could only unwrap this, boy could I have fun...".   After some play time, the santa line had shortened quite a bit and we tried to get the kids to wait in line to sit with Santa.  Not happening.  They were interested in running around and playing, not standing in line to sit in some scary guys lap.  Oh well, they had a great time, which is the important part.  Maybe Santa will be cool next year.

Maya's Room is Done!

Erin and I both pulled some late nights painting, but Maya's room is now complete, along with most of the furniture and decorations.  We are absolutely thrilled with how it turned out.  Erin did a marvelous job painting the tree.  I hope that our little girl will feel safe and secure sleeping in the "shade" of its branches.

Now that our guest room is now our little girl's room, we are starting to wonder if we need to finish part of the basement to have a guest room again.  Oh, how the projects never end.

The art of doing nothing

As I sit and write this,  I am watching my incredibly energetic toddler explore, open, close, tunnel under and through every piece of furniture in the CB house while toting, tossing, pushing buttons on, fixing and stacking every toy we either brought or was left here- the house is an utter mess.  And he is happy, and therefore so am I.  Earlier today we took him out to play in the snow, but he didn't like getting his hands covered in snow, didn't like his ill-fitting boots, and vacillated between loving and hating sledding.  He did, however, really enjoy pulling the sled behind him while walking on the mostly snow-cleared road, and visiting with the neighbor's dog.  Oh yes, and the "hot" chocolate milk was a hit.

Jake, meanwhile, is out for a "short run" straight up the mountain.   Earlier today he spent a little time online figuring out "what to do" on this Thanksgiving weekend in CB if we're not skiing.  We've made plans for tomorrow to go up to the children's play area/museum with Xander, and maybe a stroll around town to get me some "exercise."

Me? I'm the only one in the family who is embracing the art of doing nothing- which is what we agreed was the goal of these vacation days.  It's just that I'm much better at it than Jake, a thing for which I am feeling pretty proud!  I am still in my pajamas.  I have refused to do homework yesterday or today. (I will probably do some tomorrow).  I have cooked, but only easy stuff.  Lunch today was crackers and cheese.  I am 7 chapters into a NOVEL and I'm listening to country music. 

And now that I've shared these few amused paragraphs, it is time to discover chapter 8.

-Erin

Turkey Day!

Xander, ready to take on this turkey single forked!    Xander, enjoying the "fruits" of his apple-pie labors. 

Xander, well, just being Xander!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so many blessings in our lives it is hard to know where to begin listing them, but here is a picture worth a thousand words.  Xander helping me bake the apple pie for thanksgiving in Crested Butte, with Jake looking and laughing on.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Finding a happy story

Xander finally really likes books!  Not all the time, and it usually helps if his babydoll or blanket or monkey are around, but we are really enjoying finally being able to read to him again and have him "read" to us and tell us about the pictures. 

(Oh, and yes, I really am looking "rather pregnant", although this photo does make me look even larger- hard to believe I weighed almost 10 lbs more at this point with Xander!)

My pelvis/hips are doing *so* much better thanks to some acupuncture and chiropractic care.  That, and "resting" which for a Mom of a toddler means a little more sitting and a lot less play time outside or going for walks.  I'll be able to start up again this week, gently.  That is good news because I have felt a lot of stress lately, and I need my outlets!  Since I couldn't partake in my usual stress relievers, I decided that Jake and I should start in on painting Maya's room and it is coming along really well.  2 walls are a super subtle purple (almost white) and 2 are a bold plum.  On top of the plum walls we are painting a tree (2, really) that will shelter Maya while she sleeps.  Here are a few photos of the work in progress, showing the background tree, which got done today and the plum walls.  The background tree turned out so well I almost don't want to paint over it with the white tree, but I still will, and this one will be almost hidden.

My boy, the carb lover

This past week Xander was being really fussy over breakfast- he didn't want any of his usual favorites, but then he asked for "box" while I was pouring my own cheerios.  He was really quite insisten!  "Box, box!  Box? box!"  So I gave him the box of Cheerios and he was in seventh heaven all morning.

This weekend Erin got a hankerin' for bagels and Xander got his very own.  He didn't like the cut one with cream cheese, but gnawed on a whole bagel happily.

I wish I could learn this fast

In the last few weeks, Xander has gotten so good at communicating, I decided to make a list of words he knows, understands and can say pretty clearly - not just in mimicry but on his own volition, in order to get a message accross to us:

Mama, Mommy, Daddy, Dee-der, Baby
Leah, Jack, Alex, Dayna, Doctor, Gran, Gran-ma
Hello, Hi, Bye-bye, Night-night
Yes, Yeah, No, Nah, No-No, Uh-oh
More, Please, Up, Down, Fix, Broke, Help, Wash, All done
Circle, Oval, Triangle, Square, Plus
Puzzel, Shapes, Ball, Bang, Bounce, Boom, Monkey, Bo (life size doll), Pooh, Piglet Pillow, Book, Bath, Outside, Stick, Slide, Weee, Elmo
Feed, Dog, Doggie, Woo-Woo, Bone, Bunny, Duck, Quack Quack
Truck, Car, Choo-choo, Br-r-r-r-m
Eyes, Toes
Broom
Draw
Pants, Shirt, Socks, Shoes, Jacket, Hat
Food, Snack, Grapes, Banana, Juice, Milk, Cheese, Cracker, Fish, Couscous, Water, O's, Pizza
Yucky, Yummy, Cheers
Hot

-Erin

No Boston for YOU!

There will be no Boston Marathon for me next year.  When I qualified last year, the race had already filled in record time (two months) and I wasn't able to get in.  This year, I figured I'd be certain I got in and sign up the evening that registration opened.  No such luck, the race filled in 8 hours!  By the time I got online, it was already full.

So, now what to do.  I think I'll end up running a marathon in January or February.  It needs to be before Maya comes, but late enough that I can get some training in.  I'm feeling slow right now.  There is no way that I'll run a sub 3 hour marathon that soon, but it will give me something to train for.  Maybe I'll go for my goal time later next year.

-Jake

Horseradish, shape puzzels, and vocal exercises

Not a whole lot to update our faithful readers on in the last week.  Erin has been laid low and lower for the last several weeks with a combination of hip flexor pain, pubic synthysis pain, and a pretty rough headache from what turns out to be a deep sinus infection.  Sleep has been spotty and too short as a result, which certainly hasn't helped our heroine much.  Nor has Xander's new-found joy with the range and decible power of his voice, used frequently to display happiness, frustration, and everything in between.

Luckily, things definitely are looking up.  Erin has made it past the first round of final exams as of this weekend, and her new round of classes should be a little easier for her, topic-wise (statistics and macro-econ).   Antibiotics and an acupuncturist have really helped Erin feel better, and hopefully this will mean more exercise and time in the pool for Erin.  We've bought several new toys for Xander to play with and capture his attention and imagination.  One of his favorite things now is to play with wooden 2-D puzzles and the 3-D shape sorting puzzel that Gran gave him many months ago- he's getting quite good at identifying shapes by name and visually.

In other Xander news his vocabulary continues to just skyrocket and he is using more and more simple sentences.  He is getting pickier about what clothes he wants to wear, and what he wants to eat.  He'll still eat just about anything we put in front of him, but not anything all the time, and he certainly has favorites.   We had to overcome a minor obsession with juice, cheese is the rage. milk has become  less popular, and it turns out the kid loves horseradish sauce, and will happily eat it straight!

In Maya news, she continues to be incredibly active and we can now watch Erin's stomach shift and bounce.  She's pretty strong for a little girl who is approximately 1.2 pounds!  We've decided on how we want to decorate her room, and have already purchased used furniture and new bedding.  We'll start on paint sometime before Christmas.  We're starting to get pretty excited, but we still have 4 months to go!