After The Holidays

I finally downloaded my Christmas pictures! We had a great Christmas, I'm starting to feel better (but still cannot hear out of my right ear and now I have a nice ringing echo in there). Patrick loved every minute of it. We spent Christmas morning at home, Patrick was very pleased with his haul from Santa, especially his Mickey Mouse Club House. We went to my grandmother's for a Christmas brunch and Santa made a surprise appearance! Patrick got to run around and be silly with his cousins and got even more new toys. We then had a lovely and tasty Christmas dinner with at my Mom's. I got a new lens for my camera so I've been enjoying playing with it (even though I have yet to really venture out beyond auto mode on my camera, wish I remembered more from those photography classes almost 20 years ago). We hope everyone had a lovely day!

Patrick on Christmas morning


With Great Grandma Mildred and his cousins


Saying "hi" to Santa


My Christmas Buche De Noel



And since Tom had the week off we decided to play today and took Patrick to the zoo. It was a beautiful day, especially for the city. Patrick continues to favor the little steam train over the animals.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
(A Visit from St. Nicholas)
by Clement Clarke Moore

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled, his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Countdown

Just one day to go until Christmas (well, Christmas Eve!). I am still as sick as can be. The intense pain in my ear is gone but there is still a dull aching pain, my ear is still plugged up completely and I think I may have coughed up a lung. My last day of antibiotics is tomorrow. I am thinking I will end up back at the doctor right after Christmas. I am still waiting on 2 boxes, which obviously are not going to arrive in time for Christmas. Since one of them is for a 5 year old I need to get one more present tomorrow. I also need to make a pan of my Christmas potatoes for Christmas Eve, a french toast casserole for Christmas morning, and a Buche De Noel cake for Christmas dinner. This evening Patrick suggested going to the toy store so he could get a doctor kit and make me feel better (he got the idea from an episode of Charlie and Lola). Is that the sweetest thing ever?

And I forgot to post about this earlier, last week Patrick had his Holiday Sing at pre-school. He did really well, but seemed a bit annoyed to have me on his turf. He didn't really want to hang out with mom, he wanted to run around with his friends and play. After the very rough start he had at school it was nice to see him having such a great time!

Take The Pain Away

Yesterday I had two doctor appointments, including another ultrasound and this baby is definitely a girl (two ultrasound techs and a radiologist declaring it makes it so, right?). Everything looks good and baby is healthy, so that was the good news. However, yesterday evening I developed a severe pain in my ear, and of course the pain hadn't been there when I was at the doctor's office. It finally go so bad I was threatening to stick an ice pick in my ear to make it stop. So Tom sent me off to the emergency room where I was found to have a raging ear infection (and a bonus upper respiratory infection). Since I'm pregnant, they took me in right away, even though it had nothing to do with the baby. I'm now on a course of antibiotics but they couldn't give me anything for the pain other than an ear drop that is supposed to help (it doesn't). The doctor said it takes 2-48 hours for the antibiotics to kick in and the pain to subside. I am completely miserable right now, my ear is throbbing in pain, I can't hear out of it, and there is a constant ringing in it. Now I understand why little kids get so miserable with ear infections, it hurts! I would rank it right up there with being in labor.

Patrick knows I haven't been feeling well. He's been so sweet in offering up suggestions to help me. First he offered me some imaginary soup to make me feel better. Then he gave me a kiss on my owie. And finally he suggested we try a band aid, that should make me feel better. Awwwww :)

Shop Around

This afternoon we took Patrick to the dollar store to do some Christmas shopping. We put together a list of people he needed to buy for and set him loose to pick something special out for each person on his own. The results were completely hilarious, I can't wait for him to give out his presents on Christmas!

December Snow

Patrick has been quite a handful lately, but also loads of fun. He makes me laugh every day. Today he kept looking outside and saying "Hey Mom! It's snowing!". Of course it wasn't. It did rain this morning but his claims of snow had nothing to do with the rain. He would excitedly run to the window to show me the "snow". He will also randomly blurt out "Happy holidays Mama!". How politically correct of him! And he's learning some Christmas carols, current favorites include Jingle Bells and Holly Jolly Christmas (a song I came to loathe after working one too many holiday seasons in retail). On Thursday Patrick has his holiday program at preschool, I can't wait to see it!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

We had an extremely busy weekend, full of all sort of Christmas activities. On Saturday we got our tree, decorated the tree and the house, made Christmas cookies and went to a neighborhood cookie exchange. Today my cousin Danielle had a gingerbread house making party and afterwards we did a little shopping. Tom and I are exhausted, but Patrick seems to be running on a sugar high. He had a blast playing with his cousins, and even speculated on what Santa might bring each of them. He's a little obsessed with the whole Santa thing, he will happily sit in front of the fireplace waiting for Santa to arrive, and has announced that Santa will be bringing him "toys and a cake". Last year at Target I picked up a toddler sized Santa outfit when the Christmas stuff was marked down 75%. Patrick insisted on wearing it to the cookie exchange on Saturday night. He was quite the little charmer in it even though he must have been roasting. I can't wait for Christmas!

Here's Patrick in his Santa suit in front of the tree


Patrick with his cousins


Patrick's gingerbread house




My gingerbread house

Pretty In Pink

It's a girl!

And a funny little story, when the ultrasound tech was doing the scan, she said "and I see three lines right there" so I said "Oh my gosh, a girl!" and I went on and on about how now we need to decide on a name and blah blah blah about how I had a dream last night that it was a boy and clearly my intuition was off blah blah blah. Tom must not have been paying attention because 10 minute later as we were getting up to leave he said "Wow, imagine two little boys in the house!". The tech and I looked at each other like and "what the heck?". I said "Tom, it's a girl". He assumed 3 lines was boy bits, not girl bits and now I have confirmation that he really does not listen to me!

Boys & Girls

Do you think this baby is a boy or a girl?
	boy
	girl
pollcode.com free polls

Just curious as to what everyone thinks. The big ultrasound is Thursday morning!

Superstar

Patrick has started getting very picky about his clothes (much to my dismay, especially since he seems to have no sense of style, ha ha ha!). On Saturday Tom let him pick out his clothes, which resulted in the outfit below...



Patrick accessorized with a scarf (mine, but he has decided to claim it as his own), rain boots, a santa hat, and 8 hair elastics on his arm. Yikes.

We also spent the last few days trying to teach Patrick a little bit about the nativity. My mom bought him a beautiful book and an advent calendar that has little magnetized pieces each day that form a nativity scene. Patrick has really enjoyed playing with it. Tonight he was playing with it and decided to make baby Jesus fly, and as he was flying the little magnet through the air he was saying "Jesus! Jesus! Ho Ho Ho!". I knew teaching him about Christmas was going to be a little confusing!

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Name Game

Patrick has decided that this baby is a girl (the big ultrasound isn't until December 7th). Today we were quizzing him on what we thought we should name the baby. His choices? Witch, followed by Butteryfly and Baby Mama. Um.....okay.....

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

sThis year has been a lot of fun because Patrick understands things like birthdays, parties and holidays. So I've been anxious to intriduce Christmas to him but totally unsure of how to do it. Any suggestions? I'm not sure a visit to Santa is the right place to start :)

But since I mentioned Santa, I have been having fun shopping for Patrick for Christmas. Since he can't read yet I'll let you all in on what he is getting!

Fisher Price Digital Camera


Play-Doh Activity Center


Cool construction jammies


Mack truck playset from Cars


And for his stocking I found a bunch of cute stuff in the $1 Spot at Target and also got him a Curious George DVD


And some diecast cars from Cars (which are a pain to find, I've been to every local Target looking for these!)

Obsessive Compulsive

Over the last few weeks I've started to notice a few things about Patrick. He likes order. When given a small bag of Halloween Skittles, he poured it out on the table and sorted them by color before eating. When he colors in coloring books he tries to stay within the lines (even though no one has ever told him to). It makes me immensly pleased. Tom says I am sick and need to be stopped. I can't help it, it's a sickness!

Freedom

Happy election day! (well, happier for some than others! ;)

It amazes me how much the pendulum swings every so often. It will be interesting to see how everything works out in the senate. Democracy can be exciting! Even Patrick got into the spirit today, proudly wearing my "I voted" sticker.

And speaking of democracy, if you haven't yet seen it, I highly recommend watching Hacking Democracy on HBO. It's a documentary about the electronic voting process and some serious flaws in the system that allow for hacking and vote manipulation. Very scary, no matter which way you vote. If you don't have HBO we have it on Tivo, come on over and watch :)

Happy Halloween

Patrick was too cute today in every possible way. He started out his bid day at preschool where all 3 of the Tuesday classes sang a little concert of Halloween songs and had a costume parade. Patrick sat with his class and was so good, he didn't sing so much as he goofed around and giggled, occasionally making the hand gestures that went with the songs. They pumped him full of cookies and juice and sent him home for the day where we carved pumpkins and got ready for the real fun. Last year Patrick loved opening the door for trick or treaters and this year not only did he open the door but he handed out the candy. I bought Play-Doh for the smaller kids and Patrick would yell out "You want more Play-Doh? Did you get candy? How you doing kids? Happy Halloween! Trick or treat! You're welcome! You want more Play-Doh? We got more Play-Doh!". He had us cracking up all night. We took him to a few neighbors to trick or treat and he quickly caught on to the idea that knocking on a door meant candy! So it was a great day. Patrick crashed in bed and will hopefully sleep well tonight.







Yesterday our playgroup had a Halloween party, Patrick was a complete mad man in the bounce house. Here he is with his friend Skye (dressed as Uniqua from the Backyardigans).

Pumpkin Patch

On Friday afternoon we took Patrick to the pumpkin patch. He's been rather excited by all things Halloween this year and loved seeing all the farm animals and pumpkins. We picked out two pumpkins, hopefully we will actually get around to carving them before Halloween! We also went to a Halloween party this weekend, Patrick had such a great time that he cried when we left and keeps asking to go back. On Tuesday Patrick's preschool class is having a Halloween recital and party, I am completely giddy about it and will be bringing both the video camera and the digital camera. I've turned into one of "those" parents, oops!

Fair Share

A conversation I had with Patrick this week in the car...

Patrick: I want to drive.
Me: Sweetie you are too little to drive, Mommy will drive.
Patrick: I want to drive! I big boy!
Me: Sorry, not going to happen.
Patrick: You need to share. It's my turn.
(followed by pouts when he didn't get his way)

Nice to know he really is listening when I am constantly reminding him that he needs to share and take turns. Not so nice to know it can be used against me.

Big News

Baby W, The Sequel, is currently under production and set to premiere in late April!

Home Sweet Home

We got home late last week, we were all a little tired of all things Mickey Mouse and were glad to be home. Patrick was very excited that the journey home included rides on not just one, but two airplanes! Patrick has been talking about Disney World non-stop since we got home. He will happily tell you about all the characters her met (he seemed to favor Minnie Mouse, but also enjoyed meeting "Fuzz Lightyear") and all the rides he went on. His favorite ride was Small World, if I never ride on it again it will be OK. Patrick also loved the teacups, Dumbo, and the little "roller toaster" in Toon Town.

Patrick has just been really cute lately. He is very good at saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes. The other day he sneezed and said "God bless me!". He's also decided to refer to Tom as his "best friend Daddy". I have no idea where he learned about best friends but it is just too cute and melts Tom's heart (and maybe makes Mommy just a smidge jealous). Patrick is so verbal now, it's fun to be able to carry on conversations with him and ask him question and get real responses. Tomorrow he starts back at school so there may be a little disruption in his life. He's been surprising me lately with his adaptability so I may be worrying about nothing.

I took 1200 pictures during our trip and I still need to download a bunch and go through them but I will post more later this week. What did people do before digital cameras? :)

Vacation

Hey Hey, It's JoJo's Circus

Greetings from Walt Disney World!

Travelers

On Friday we leave for vacation, we're going to visit the big cheese (Mickey Mouse) at Disneyworld. It involves an entire day on an airplane and 3 airports. I am very much not looking forward to this. The last time we flew with Patrick was just about a year ago and I do not have pleasant memories of that day. Cross your fingers for us! We had planned to be at Disneyworld for a week, but we ended up extending our trip when Tom decided to attend a conference in Orlando a week after our vacation. Since Patrick and I would already be down there we decided to stay the second week with Tom and explore around Orlando. I think Patrick is excited about the trip, he keeps asking to ride Dumbo and see "Mickey Mouse's Castle". I have a sneaking suspicion that his favorite thing will be the parades in the parks. The boy loves a good parade. Hopefully I will be able to update the blog with pictures while we are gone. I know I have been slacking in the picture department.

In other news, Patrick is doing better each day at school. Tomorrow he has his class picture taken. How cute is that? Tom's taking bets on whether or not I will be able to dress Patrick in a button down shirt and a sweater tomorrow morning. Patrick would probably prefer to go to school in his jammies. Tom and I had the chance to tour Bing Nursery School at Stanford today after having been on the wait list for the last 2+ years. The school looks pretty amazing, and they have a very open schedule which allows children to move around as they please which I think would be great for Patrick. The one thing that stinks is that they don't send out acceptance letters until August, which is a good 6-7 months after other preschools in the area. So we will likely re-enroll Patrick in his current school for next year, hope he gets into Bing, and lose out on enrollment and a month of tuition costs for school #1. Navigating the preschool system here kind of stinks.

Oh Well

School is finally going well! Patrick made it through the day on Tuesday with minimal tears and made it to the end of the day, whoo hoo!

In other news, has everyone seen all the hype regarding the new Elmo TMX doll? It's the 10th anniversary edition of Tickle Me Elmo. Patrick has the original TME thanks to a generous hand me down from his cousin Michael, and he thinks it is hilarious. So I pulled up some video footage of the new Elmo TMX to show Patrick and see what he though. Patrick watched the video of Elmo laughing and rolling around and seemed very concerned. He said "Mama, why is Elmo crying?". Ha ha! I tried to explain that Elmo was laughing but Patrick seemed suspicious and was worried about Elmo all day. Guess I won't be running out and getting in line to buy him one for Christmas.

The School Boy

Things are looking up on the preschool front! On Tuesday I left Patrick for an hour, his teachers said he did well while I was gone, but when I picked him up he pretty much lost it. He wouldn't stop crying and had a gigantic tantrum in the sandbox. When I decided he had enough and took him to leave a little early, he had a second melt down about leaving. Sometimes I cannot figure that kid out. Today the plan was to leave him for the full 2.75 hours. He cried when I dropped him off this morning, and I was expecting a call to come pick him up early but he made it all the way until 11, his teachers asked me to pick him up a little early because they worried the whole pick up process with all the other moms might agitate him a little. When I picked him up he was sitting in the lap of one of his teachers and was sniffling a little bit but he was OK. He was happy to see me, said his goodbyes, and was happy to leave. So I considered it a HUGE step forward and I'm certain he'll adapt very soon (of course we leave for vacation next weekend so that may throw him off a little). After school we went out for a celebratory pizza lunch and met up with some friends where Patrick seemed happy and content. It was a good day!

It's Not So Bad

Preschool is not going well. At all. Patrick is suffering from major separation anxiety, even though I have yet to actually separate from him yet. Last Thursday he cried and cried and we were actually asked to leave because he would not calm down (even though I was with him the entire time). Tomorrow is the first day we will leave him at school, Tom is going to do the drop off with me in an effort to ease Patrick in (since he knows Daddy goes to work and always comes back). I am totally dreading it. In preparation we've been reading a lot of I Love You All Day Long, where I generously add in the word "school" when reading it aloud.

I am dreading tomorrow.

Shark Attack

This afternoon we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to check out the new baby great white shark. Patrick was way more interested in his favorite jellyfish than the new shark (which apparently doesn't like camera flashes, thus the slightly blurry picture below). Monterey was super busy, but we still had a great day.













Patrick goes back to preschool tomorrow so I am hoping we have a better reaction. He hasn't wanted to talk about it all weekend, and when I told him tonight that he had school tomorrow morning he responded with "No more school!". Sigh...

School Days

Patrick had preschool orientation this morning, it went fairly well (but could have been better). As soon as we pulled up Patrick asked to go home, not a good start. He took a long time to warm up and get interested in playing. At one point the kids were served a snack and all of the parents went inside for a little meeting. When we got out 30 minutes later Patrick was crying and being held by one of the teachers, he was the only kid who had a melt down. It makes me sad but I know school will help him get over his separation anxiety. After school we went out to lunch with some friends. Patrick and Calvin decided it would be a good idea to run after each other in circles, which was fun until there was a small collision. I often find myself wondering what is going on in that boy's head!

Long Time Gone

Oops, I haven't been a very good blogger. Patrick doesn't sit still for more than 2 seconds so I don't have any pictures to share. We haven't gone anywhere exciting or done anything particularly interesting, just normal stuff like trips to the mall, Target and the grocery store.

The big news around here is that Patrick starts preschool on Thursday. We've been talking about it and he says "I love going to school" but I really don't think he has any concept of what it is. I'll be attending with him for the first two weeks and I am really hoping he gets over his separation anxiety quickly. Patrick's friend Connor will be in his class so that should help. Tune back in on Thursday to hear how it went!

I Love

Patrick has started saying he loves things, which is cracking us up. Just today, he proclaimed his love for the following...

"I love cheese!"
"I love the car wash!" (even though he cried there)
"I love fish!" (watching, not eating)
"I love chinchillas!"
"I love green Play-Doh!"
"I love milk!"

Life

I haven't had much time to update this blog recently, life just seems to be keeping us busy. Here are a few pictures from the last week or so. We went to the San Francisco Zoo and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Plus see how Patrick can fit in dad's guitar case!