Quick Bits

I just grabbed Henry out of his bed. Nora had heard him waking up, and she went in there to greet him. He was completely happy when I got there, and when I picked him up, he made a hilarious giggle/shudder of excitement. I had never heard that before. So stinking funny!

Henry's stats from his nine month doctor appointment are in! Here they are:
29 inches in length
19 pounds, 10 ounces
48 centimeter circumference on his noggin

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Nora got to play with some kittens at my parents' farm this past weekend. Just after she woke up from her nap today, she went downstairs and got very quiet. Naturally, this creeped me out, so I went to see what she was doing. I came into the kitchen to find her pretending that her big Mickey Mouse was a "mother" and the two Beanie Baby dogs that she has were "babies."

She saw me standing there, and she was holding one of her "baby" dogs ever-so-carefully. She said, "Do you want to hold him, Mommy? Hold him straight, be gentle, and don't squish him!"

Maybe this is where she got that idea? :)

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Willi's and my fifth wedding anniversary is this week (the 11th), and we were emailing back and forth today to plan out when we want to go to our favorite watering hole. He told me something that you really can't make up (which actually has nothing to do with our anniversary or our planning), and I felt that I should share it with the world.

"By the way, the Thursday Artist Portrait is a double feature tomorrow. Steely Dan and Bruce Springsteen."

(The radio station they listen to at work is a Chicago classic rock station, and they feature specific artists on Thursdays. Sometimes, it can be bad. Really, really bad.)

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There is more to share about life, but it's going to have to wait until I have either more sleep or more time. One of those would work. I don't need both, really. Maybe tomorrow?

Lake Michigan, Creepy Skies, Kittens, and Nana and Granddad

I shared a lot more of these photos on Facebook,
but I'll highlight the decent ones right here for you.

One More Nora Quote

"I say, 'NO!'"

She says that one in disagreement as well. I was reminded of it just moments ago as I was trying to get her to take a nap.

Nora Quotes and Facts

• "Oh. My. Goodness."
• "Say!" (She got that from Green Eggs and Ham.)
  
• When she throws a tantrum, I have taken to asking her where her composure is. She always responds with, "I can't find it! It's probably on the floor! I can't reach it!"
• She constantly asks for "the feel good song!" (That's "Feel Good, Inc." by Gorlliaz. She stinking loves it.)
• She also asks for "Kate" by Ben Folds Five. Often.
• Somehow, she remembered that one of our neighbors' names is "Dolores," and she said it to Dolores the other day. She said all of the syllables, too.
• She has an obsession with "mommy," "daddy," and "baby" things, and everything (bottles, stuffed animals, etc.) can be made to be a "mommy," a "daddy" or a "baby."
  
• She likes to wake up Henry, and she tries to make it "okay" by saying, "Henry's a-wakin' up!"
• "I don't like it, Momma!" (This is usually in regard to just about every other song that I might play that isn't the song she asked for at that moment.)
• She's started waking in the night and sleeping next to the door. Sometimes, we can hear this happen, but a lot of times, we miss it.
• After we picked strawberries yesterday, she told the people on the wagon with us, "I picked some strawberries!" (She mostly just treated the field as a buffet—which was fine with me, but she did actually put some in the bag I had.)
  
• Nora and Henry have actually begun to play together a little bit. This is pretty neat.
• "I can't do it!" (It's sad, but she actually says this a lot.)
• "I'm stuck!"
• "Can . . . I . . . have . . . some . . . milk, please?"
• She has suddenly started to pretend to be a dog or a cat, and I have to treat her as such.
• She has a weird obsession with shoes. She wants all of her stuffed animals and toys to fit into her shoes (like, she wants them to look like they are wearing her shoes), and she gets really, really upset when they don't fit (and none of them ever fit).
• She genuinely seems to like Henry, and she tries to cheer him up if he sounds sad.

Ugh. Nora has a soap/bath obsession as well, and while I was typing out this list, she managed to get soap all over herself and the bath area in the bathroom. It makes me crazy. I almost gave her a bath to clean her up, but then I realized I'd be rewarding her for that behavior (I have told her many times that she is not to play with the soap). So, I just wiped her off with a wash cloth. I stash most of the soap (my shampoo especially) out of her reach, but that girl knows how to climb to get things. I also recognize that I can't always hide things out of her reach, and she needs to understand that she can't play with soap all the time (when we go to other places, I can't expect people to hide their soaps, either). Plus, there's only so much I can hide out of her reach with the space I have available. She's a soap nut, man. It's really weird.

Time to go! I clearly need to be paying more attention.

9 Whole Months

This little guy is 9 months old already.





















He's my army-crawlin', squealin', scissor-pinchin', non-sleepin', stinkin' sweet machine.

Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!

Hey, It's Okay . . .

It's that time again. I'll give my prudent shout-outs to the appropriate places.

Here we go!

. . . to be the queen of hanging the wash out on the line just in time for it to get all cloudy and ominous-looking. (No . . . not really.)

. . . to not understand why the people in Walmart's service department decided not to inform me when my car was done this morning.

. . . to take the time to write this little gem in Walmart's Company Feedback online due to some displeasure:

I'm not completely furious (because I do my best to be understanding), but I am rather bothered by two things involving the Walmart Tire and Service Department. (I have become quite familiar with that department in both the Michigan City and La Porte locations in the last two weeks due to getting new tires and having an issue with one of the new tires.)

1.) There should be a sign designating where customers should park when they arrive. I parked where a person would typically park at, for example, a Jiffy Lube—behind a garage door. I got rather rude/irritated responses from the gentlemen employees (from both La Porte and Michigan City's Tire and Lube Departments) because I was clearly an idiot for not automatically understanding that I should not park there. If it's irritating when people do that (and I'm willing to bet that it is), and if it happens often, for goodness' sake, put up a sign.

2.) I thought this was policy over there, but at the La Porte store, I did not get a call over the intercom when my car was done. I was in there for an extra twenty minutes (with a cranky toddler and an 8-month-old baby), and I would've appreciated knowing the exact moment that my car was finished so I could bolt for the door. I understand you guys want people to continue shopping (cha-ching), but I'll tell you that I wasn't there to shop. I was there to get my tire issue fixed. I'd love to tell you that I didn't buy anything out of spite, but that wouldn't be wholly accurate. (No, I did not buy anything, but it was truly because I was not there to shop.)

P.S. Please don't feel the need to call me and apologize or anything. These are just suggestions from a sleep-deprived, busy mother of two wee ones.

That is all. Thank you.

. . . to be  startled by the fact that your 2.5 year old daughter knows all the names of the Handy Manny characters (even though she skipped a couple of the names on the video you took of her).

. . . to recognize that your recent popularity is completely dependent on your kids—not on your sheer awesomeness, merit, entertainment, or likability.

Waiting at Walmart

We were waiting for Walmart's Tire and Lube department to fix our tire issue (one of our new tires was leaking). So, we hung out in the toys. Nora told me the names of all the Handy Manny characters, and it startled me a bit.