A new season

 The weather finally turned.  The rains came and cleared all the smoke that had settled in and eliminated our ability to enjoy fall evenings on the deck.

It rained and rained and then rained some more, the plants are happy and the trees took a while to pop into their fall glory, but as I look out my office window I see the reds, greens, yellows and oranges of fall.  It dropped to 34 last night, so I expect the trees that are holding onto to their green leaves will give up the ghost soon.

Last week marked one month since we lost Jason's dad, and six years since my dad passed.  Soon those milestones won't be intertwined, but in this moment they are.  The shock of John's passing hasn't lifted much.  There is less to do regarding the passing and the work has shifted to ensuring that Susie is comfortable, the finances are organized and that she's doing well emotionally.

Christmas is looming like an unwanted visit from someone that you like but aren't in the mood to see.  I'm looking forward to all the trimmings and making the house festive with sounds and smells.  But, just as when my dad died, putting up the stockings will be hard.  Now there are two that are missing and while one is fresher than the other, the impact is the same.  

After Halloween this year, I organized the storage boxes and cleaned out a bunch of stuff that we no longer use, and I hope to have the energy to do it with the Christmas items as well.   I know there are a lot of things in those tubs that we simply do not use or have never used.   Maybe if I can organize it better, then I can have a special place for the grandpa stockings.  

We had a fun Halloween, the weather cleared up for the night and we set out a table on the driveway and took our party outside.  Lucy and Sophie had a grand time collecting candy from the neighbors.  Jason & Zack enjoyed their walkabout.  They pretend to escort the gals, but in reality, they are having a nice chat, a walking adult beverage and chatting with the other neighbors who have patio parties as well.  The gals are no longer in need of a parent during Halloween, but if they'll let the dads go - the dads will go.

Halloween was Monday, and Tuesday morning I drove over to Yakima to be with mom as she headed to a scary doctor's appointment.  Well, it was "just" an MRI, but I was happy to be able to take her.  I was also able to stand in for Jason and reconnect all of mom's electronic devices to her new Wi-Fi, and clean up her password manager.  

Healthwise, she has a couple things going on, one of which sounds like cancer, but our Internet Dr. degree is not on the same level as the actual doctor, who informed her yesterday that our research was very wrong.  So, good!  The other issue will be significant but isn't life threatening.  Dealing with it will be a short-term pain in the ass (or intestines) and should result in her feeling better in the long run. When that procedure is scheduled, I'll pop back over and hang out as long as she and I can stand it.  

This week in the life of the family three is a doozy.  Today and yesterday, Jason had to go into the office, which now is unusual and puts a kink in our daily activities.  I'm thankful for the time alone in the house but miss his noises.  Today, when the power blinked off for a minute, I had to reset all the clocks on my own.  I mean...whine.

I'm getting my hair done this afternoon, so Lucy will come home to an empty house - which brings up mom guilt.  But the kid is almost 12 and as long as they know someone is on the way, they are fine with being alone.

Tomorrow, is Lucy's first middle school band concert.  It could be great, or it could be excruciating.  To be honest, even though the 6th grade band has only been playing since September I have a lot of faith in their progress.  Lucy was practicing last night - like they do every day and it sounded wonderful.  

Thursday night is my book group and I have finished the main book, but the book of short stories is probably not going to happen between now and then.

Friday we'll work a half day and then head to Monroe to participate in the rehearsal dinner for Cousin Rachel - who is getting married on Saturday.  We have been looking forward to this for ages.  I really love a wedding and this one has all the promises of a wonderful event. 

I'm sure it will be bittersweet for Susie as she and John made it a priority to attend the weddings of everyone in the family.  Not having John with us physically will be sad, but I know in my heart that he will be in that room.  He won't miss it. 

We get a bit of a break, and then it's Thanksgiving.  We'll be in Monroe again for dinner and the next day we have an appointment for John's internment at the cemetery on Friday.  I'm hopeful for decent weather and a small gathering of folks.  I'll research before then if it's allowed or appropriate to have anything prepared to say.    The official catholic service only allowed for 1 speaker and those remarks had to be less than 10 minutes.  Not very personal in my opinion.  Don't get me wrong, it was a lovely service, but not personal.

 After the internment we will turn the Christmas season up to 11.

A funeral, a party, calamity, and a breather

 

flowers for the urn

It took a bit to work out when to have the service for John, but the day finally came and a modest amount of family and new friends gathered for a service at St. Anthony's in Renton.  Then, virtually everyone came back to our house for a gathering.

Thankfully, the air cleared up a bit and we were able to use the deck as well as the main floor for the event.  We served a casual lunch and thankfully didn't have too much left over. 

It was lovely having a house full of people, visiting with the extended family was very nice and I thought Susie did great.  

Everyone stayed a few hours, and we had our house back around 3, a quick clean up and Jason and I melted into the couch around 4:30.  Sweet Lucy seemed eager to spend time with us and was very chatty until it was bed time. Jason might have been in the mood for some quiet time, but we know that this kid won't always want to hang out, so we listened to stories, watched them practice their clarinet, and helped with homework.  

All in all, it really worked out well and felt like a fitting goodbye to John.  It was dignified, and still fun. The inurnment for the urn hasn't been scheduled, so he's still with us.  

The family sent an incredible flower arrangement for the church, so he's hanging out in our main room.  

CALAMITY

Jas & I took Wednesday off to prepare for the service and after party.  The required trip to Costco was on the agenda, as well as prepping the house for the well-timed housekeepers.  He and I went to breakfast while the housekeepers were in the house, then came back to move the tables around, set up the deck and clear space for the incoming sandwiches and party food for the next day.

I was at the sink washing my hands or something and the entire nozzle of the sprayer broke off in my hand which caused a HUGE mess. Water was everywhere, the cupboards, my face, shirt, and the floor.  Ok, add a faucet to the Costco list.  Thankfully, replacing the faucet didn't take too long but it certainly wasn't on the list of things Jason wanted to do before the funeral for his dad.

  

because we needed a project

During the post funeral party there was some chaos going on.   It seems that when you have a house full of people, everything else happens at the same time.  Thursday is trash pickup day, but we were thankful that it was just compost and that was taken care of before we left for the service, but during the party not only did the lawn guys come but the monthly visit from the pest control guy as well.  

Additionally, we learned a very unfortunate lesson.   Small, diapered kids with lots of energy will slide down the stairs on their bum regardless of the state of a diaper.   A "full" diaper cannot withstand the bum slide and pooh will squish up and out the top of said diaper and leave a trail of residue or "resipooh."   Cousin Anton showed his deep family connection and not only jumped into action to clean the stairs, but did so in a way that made the Stanley Steamer people look like hacks.   Our stairs haven't been this clean in quite a while. 

something fun

Lastly, here's Lucy's Halloween costume.  Isn't it fantastic?  

Christmas 2020

 Well, that was a different Christmas.  We enjoyed the break and it feels like we had a vacation.

We did lots of post Christmas organizing, including my office, which at the moment feels spacious and tidy.  

Visiting with our families over the Internet is certainly not the same as being in person, but we managed to make it a festive time. Jason was very proud of his prime rib and I thought we produced a great dinner. 

As per usual, we had too many gifts, but at least we did our part to stimulate the economy.  

Favorite gift... bamboo sheets!  

Elfie is Covid ready

Zooming with Grandma Susie & Papa

Jason gets gifts

Happy Christmas

Visiting with Grandma G!

Bunnies

2012 - in review, it's not all about the baby.

It seems like time just flies by... Summer turns into fall and we do up the house for Halloween, then Thanksgiving is followed by a whole month of Christmas activities.  We take a deep breath in early January to really clean the house, but pause to celebrate Jason's birthday at month end. Valentine's day gets a nice nod, mostly good cards and a great dinner, and now we celebrate Lucy's birthday on March 1st.    Early spring is my least favorite time of year, the weather isn't great, it's wet, Jason gets a nasty case of seasonal allergies and is a mess for months.  Somewhere in May there is a glorious weekend and all the Northwesterners wig out and proclaim to the world how wonderful it is to live here.   Then it is gloomy until the 5th of July when summer really arrives.  Soon, it is fall and time to dig out the pumpkins again.

There is a lot more to our year than that - this was a big one:

Snow storms
A 1st birthday for a certain kid
Someone learned how to walk
New words are entering our vocabulary all the time
Camping
Trips to Denver
Both grandmas had hand issues and casts
It was election year, so we got to watch lots and lots of super uplifting tv ads.
I did some laundry, and then I did it again.
We spent a lot of energy on our kitchen and love the outcome.
Jas & I went to Maui and had a wonderful time.
We dined in the back yard during our short but lovely summer.
I did some more laundry.
I did NOT stain the fence... next year for sure.


Blah blah blah... where are the funny, sarcastic posts of yore?  I am extremely happy and the areas that I'm not so thrilled about don't seem ok to blog about on a continual basis.  I'm still struggling with the loss of my friend but my walls are up and other than polite invitations to larger events I'm not of the mind to extend the olive branch.  A colleague of mine was saying how her 10 year old daughter is going through big dramas at school.  "Betsy's" best friend broke up with her and it played out like a boyfriend/girlfriend break up.  "Mom" was expressing how silly it all felt, but that it resulted in days of histrionics until they "got back together".   I can see where kids - young girls especially would act out the break up process with flair.  I can also empathize that when you're the one who gets dumped it hurts.

I feel a little like "Betsy" in that this loss of friendship has been like a breakup, but without the benefit of a big dramatic fight.  I'm aware that the fact that we haven't spoken in person or made any attempts to sit down are by my choice and I obviously must be ok with that or I would do something about it.  I do wonder from time to time if she even cares.  And then I wonder, why does it matter if she cares?  Girls are complicated beings even at 44.

I suppose the reason I'm STILL talking about this is that I miss her.  But missing someone and willing to spend time with someone who thinks so little of you are two different things.  I'm insecure about a lot of things, but not so much that I'll take any form of friendship that I can wick off someone.

Insecurity is a funny thing - it feeds on itself.  When the 'breakup' thing starts swirling in my head I start making a list of my faults and there are a few, and then I move onto the people whom I really cared about who no longer are in my life.  The one thing they all have in common - me and they are no longer here, so clearly the issue must be me.

I KNOW, I KNOW...lives change and people move on, it is not a sign that there is something terribly wrong with ME, but when you only look at it from the perspective of those who choose not to participate in my life anymore it's hard to not focus on my part of that equation.

The truly deep dark secret about all this is that I worry that someday my most important person, Mr. TP gal will find reason to leave as well.  This is totally and completely irrational. Similarly when he runs an errand and takes longer coming home than you would expect I start worrying about car wrecks and other dreadful things.  We put a lot of purposeful effort into our little union - we both want to be here and even during those times when we're too busy or tired to connect we acknowledge it.  The Oprah Inner Dialog tells me to turn those feelings of 'fear' into action to continue to put effort into our marriage and to silence the insecurity gremlins.

OID also says to make a list of one thing each day for which you are grateful.  I'm pretty sure I won't be posting one each day for the entire year (as you say 'whew') but today, I'm grateful for those warm snuggle moments in the morning when Lucy joins us before we get out of bed and start our day.  She gets cozy while she wakes up and likes to be 'in the nook'.  She will take my arm and tug it into place so she's got a good 'mommy hug' and that is a wonderful thing.  It is not so nice when she pushes Jason's hand away because he's moving in on her territory.  That poor little girl is in for a hard lesson when she finally figures out that he was here first and he is staying and we're going to eventually ask HER to move out of the house.   He says that when I'm gone for work she is equally loving and cuddly with him, but it's clear that he's #2 on the cuddle hierarchy.

Thanks for dropping by.

Christmas Morning

Love!

Have a holly jolly christmas

For Georgia

Santa Pictures

NOT HAPPY!!!

We're thinking of taking Lucy to get her picture with Santa. Unlike the cute Easter picture I fear it won't turn out well:

Get us the f*ck out of here!

Moooommmmmiiieeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Questionable Parenting

I still feel like this blogging thing is a nice creative outlet.  However when I am inspired to share my deep and meaningful inner thoughts I tend to find myself knee deep in crayons, apple sauce or life safety issues for a toddler.

I'm not complaining (much).  This parenting gig is pretty great.  She thinks I'm awesome and wants me to play with her all the time.  My heart melts when she grabs my hand or when we're talking with someone new (to her) and she hides in my legs.  I do recall when I was a kid how there was safety in those parental legs.

Lucy knows she's supposed to sit when she eats and she knows where the "jellies" are.  Jellies are fruit snacks made with fruit juice - essentially candy with the idea of fruit to make us parents feel better.  When we enter the kitchen she plops herself on the floor in front of the pantry door and sweetly asks 'jess pees' this translates to "May I please have a jelly snack; I'm quite hungry and you were put on this earth to meet my needs." Note her excellent use of the semi-colon, an art lost on most toddlers.

Last night I gave her the little bag of delightful treats and decided to sit with her while she ate them.  Yup, I'm the kind of mom who will plop herself on the floor.  It serves multiple purposes, it shows her that the floor is for all people and helps me find the dust bunnies that I can't see from my staggering height.  Ok, 5 foot 5 inches tall is not staggering per se, but it is hard to find all the dust bunnies from that altitude.

We were sitting on the floor with our backs resting against some cabinets. Her feet were stretched out in front of her as were mine.  As mine are a tiny bit longer than hers (see above noted paragraph) my feet were resting on the bottom rung of a nearby stool.  She and I were deep into a conversation about the merits of grape vs. cherry jellies when she started to skootch forward on her bum.  I was about to ask her where she was going when I figured it out.  She slid forward until she could prop her feet onto the foot rest where my feet were.

I know... trite parenting stuff.  GET A ROOM.  But wait, this is my room.  So I get to tell you (if you're still here) how it made me smile, but also made me take a mental note that this little jelly filled being is seriously paying attention to what is going on around her.  No more off color sarcastic jokes that "she doesn't understand".  The last thing I need is for her to make a "dirty sanchez" comment to the teachers at school.

It's kind of a silly story - we have an entire community of Fisher Price Little People. They are pretty cute and have come into our home on airplanes, trucks, buses and the Super Friends transportation system.   They are quite the ethnically diverse group and we have named each one and made an effort to keep the names in line with their heritage.  Lele is on her way to visit family in Hawaii, Jamal is the airplane pilot.  Pat is the androgynous tourist.   Madeline is the token disabled kid (glasses AND a wheelchair.)  Mr. Sanchez is the school crossing guard. It's a toss up as to whether he is Hispanic or Indian but Lucy cannot pronounce Gaurav or Chandramouli just yet, so Hispanic he shall be.   Well, last night Lucy took a diaper off one of her dolls and gently placed Mr. Sanchez (and a rather fresh Lego lady) into the diaper and we, the inappropriate parents, made a Dirty Sanchez joke.   I guess at this point you're either eye rolling at our horrid child rearing  skills or running to the Internet to look it up.  For the record knowledge of what a Dirty Sanchez is does not imply participation or acceptance of such activities for this household.   You may do what you like - but ick.

Madeline and Mr. Sanchez

"Dirty Sanchez"

Gosh and now that I've written Dirty Sanchez into my blog four times it will pop up whenever someone does a search for it.  What a boring shock that will be.

I would like to note that at no point was the DS phrase mentioned out loud in front of the child and we have always spoken of all the little people with the utmost respect.  Other than influencing the origins of their names they are all equal in our eyes.  I'm however ashamed to admit that pretty little Lego woman is a problem and we do find her in many compromising positions with her two Lego men friends.  If it keeps up we may have to send her to readjustment camp to focus on her morals, if she can't change her ways that little girl slut may have to move out.

On a more acceptable parental activity front. We put up our Christmas tree and took the strategy to install the tree (pre-lit) one day and put up soft kid-friendly ornaments the next and then fill it in with all of the other special items the following day.  She is naturally drawn to the tree, but after explaining that we look with our eyes and not our hands, and then a quick round one, round two of time outs for grabbing items on the tree she seems to appreciate that we're not messing around with our statement that she isn't to touch the tree.    We have left off the delicate antique glass ornaments this year and the candy canes are still up for debate.

That's where we are this week.  I'l check back in later and I'm sure there will be pictures of the kid in the future.

First day of school

Today is the first day of school for many people. My kid is still in day care, but our day care is closely tied to the local school district and there was an air of excitement at DC this morning.    Over the long weekend they deep cleaned the classrooms, had the carpets spiffed up and I think some of the areas were even painted.

The first day of school is also "fly up" day and some familiar faces in Lucy's class were gone.  They had transitioned into the next class.  The empty cubbies were kind of sad, I'm sure they will fill up soon with the coats of younger kids.  Lucy now is one of the "older" kids in her room.

I thought that the drop off this morning would be difficult.  We just spent four solid days together and usually after the weekends she isn't too happy about being left behind.  However, once she let go of my hand she was happy.

Saturday marked the achievement of her one and a half birthday.  We celebrated in our usual manner, a trip to the pediatrician.  Lucy weighs in at 24 pounds and stands 33 inches tall.  She is trending tall and her weight is right on target for what they want to see.  Her eye teeth are coming in on the top, which explains disruptive sleep the last few nights.

As part of the development checklist, we were asked if Lucy had four words.  Certainly, she uses these words with frequency:

Mama
Dada
apple
thankyou (one word)
letsgo (one word)
up
cheese
bubbles
aaarrhhh (a growl that means dog)
uh oh
Words like grandma and papa pop up from time to time.

In sign language we have milk, water, all done, and more.   Then there's a whole host of babble sounds she makes when she's holding conversations.  It seems like we are getting new words every day, that's good because her frustration level is high when she needs/wants something but can't express it, and I can't figure it out.

 Thankfully, she does accept that sometimes the answer is no, or that we don't have any more of whatever item she is wanting.  Sure, she has her moments, but for the most part the brat factor is low.


We were busy all weekend, Marty & Lynne came and helped us install the new cabinets in the butler's pantry.  Sunday, after church while Lucy napped Jason and I moved the glassware into the new cabinet which resulted in rearranging a number of cupboards including the pantry.  Our incomplete kitchen is very organized at the moment.

Monday we invited cousin Jordan and her parents over for a play date.  As you can see the weather was perfect and Lucy took to the pool with the sand toys.   You may remember the pool from last year. - it had a crab head on it, but we cut it off this year.

We dined on red meat, salad and fresh bread in the back yard.  It was a nice way to end the holiday weekend.  Summer is over, but the weather will remain nice for a while, so the pool and the toys aren't packed away just yet.

We're supposed to hear today or tomorrow from the kitchen people about our tile re-do and when we can schedule the completion of our kitchen.  I'm not complaining, I like the black foam core backsplash.  It's quite attractive.

Happy 4th of July

Lucy & her dad at the park

Holding the 4th of July on a Wednesday kind of sucks for those of us who are hoarding our vacation time.

We didn't have anything spectacular planned so our day was mostly about hanging out.  We celebrated by feasting on all the American meats we could work into mealtimes.  Fresh bacon with our eggs and hash browns started our day.  I bought 'sale' bacon and it was fine, but I'm not a fan of thin bacon.  I want to have to gnaw at it.  However, unless something really flips off the deep end, all bacon is worthy of cooking and eating.

While Lucy took her 2 1/2 hour nap (yeah!!!!) Jas and I dined on a fabulous lunch of all-beef angus hot dogs.  I don't know if the angus part makes them any better for you, but every once in a while a good dog is an enjoyable meal.  Unlike the $1.50 dogs at Costco the homemade dog does not 'repeat' on me.  Thank you for a burp free afternoon.

Much much later in our day after Lucy retired to her cozy room to sleep through the fireworks Jason and I pulled out the grill and had burgers. 

The weather turned out to be stunning so we spent time outside playing.  We explored a nearby park that has a toddler sized climbing structure and slides as well as the big kid structure.  Our girl could have lived her whole life without seeing the toddler structure, as the call of the 5 foot high drops and twisty slides were too much for her to resist.  Thankfully they make these things big enough for a mommy to climb as well.  We were on hyper-life safety alert, but giving her clearance to explore.  She has her own way of doing things and it is clear that she does NOT want help with everything.  Sometimes, when you get too close she pulls away with a full body jerk.   I know it's all part of her growing up and I don't mind because she reaches for help when she needs it and I'm happy to be the steady hand she expects.

Later in the afternoon we pulled out the sprinkler and Lucy happily ran in and out of the water until she was literally blue.  You know its a good day when you go from your swimsuit to your princess pajamas. 

We knew we were going to miss the fireworks and didn't really mind.  Lucy needs her beauty sleep.  However, we have a nearby neighbor who put on a show and It looked like the big fireworks to us.  I'm sure this guy spent well over $1000 on explosives, it was very impressive.  

We did get to watch a great show the night before at Emerald Downs.  My friend Lori hosts an event there for her clients.  She rents a private view room and sponsors a rather tasty buffet dinner.  We finagled an invitation to the event for Doug & Chelsey using the excuse that they are nice people, but it also turns out that Doug is now working with the spouse person of one of Lori's clients.  Small world.    Tuesday after work we carpooled to Auburn to hang out.  The event was nice, the boys enjoyed the horse racing.  I enjoyed their company and chatting it up with some of my former MegaBankers whom Lori and I know.

The Emerald Downs 3rd of July day is very well attended by non-party people too and the reason is they have a superb fireworks show.  Not only were we there, but Jason's cousin Teresa and two of her adult children and their special someones.  Heck it was a party.  Once the last race was over, and the buffet safely cleaned up we headed outside and met up with the family.    I love the fireworks in Long Beach but these were pretty great, and unlike shows where the fireworks have to be seen for miles away this show seemed to be kind of low and right over our heads.  They also did a remarkable job of using all of the center of the track.  Not only were there the fireworks in the air, but they periodically would create a wall of fireworks filling the space of the center arena.  The only negative was they had to play that damned Lee Greenwood song.   I know I'm supposed to well up with pride and shoot my guns in the air when I hear it: "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free."   Mostly, though it feels like propaganda.  I swell with national pride when I see families together, acts of kindness and stunning sarcasm that is executed flawlessly. Lee Greenwood kind of makes me want to stick daggers in my ears.

On that note, Happy Birthday America!

Easter Weekend

Loving the new swing at Grammys.

I love a long weekend!  We ventured over to Eastern Washington to visit with the grandparents.  Grammy Georgia hung a swing in the back yard and while tentative at fist, Lucy quickly decided it was a good thing. 

Hanging in the hammock

My loves

 We spent a good amount of time outside, which Lucy loves.  She wasn't too sure about the hammock, but we managed a cute photo, so for all anyone knows she thought it was great.

Lucy cemented her "un-invitation" to Maui by not sleeping well in our shared hotel room.  At one point, Jason forgot where he was and asked me if I turned her monitor up to full blast.  "No I didn't, she's in the same room with us."  Whoops.  She was up from 1:30 to 4:00 am.  The upside was that she slept the entire car ride home.  It was the ugly sleep too, her mouth was slack and she actually snored.   Thankfully, she perked up for some playtime, dinner and a bath, then slept like a champion that night.  Still, she made me feel even better about leaving her at home while we head to the tropics for a week.

Speaking of, the Denver grandparents arrive tomorrow evening, so we are in house cleaning mode.  Yes, we just had a house full of company, but that was a long weekend, it wasn't people living in our house and searching for things they need.  There's a different level of clean required for that.

I think Jason is worried because I have a large pile at the top of the stairs and it seems to be getting worse, but my strategy is to stage stuff in a common location and then dispose of it all at once.   The house looks horrible and then all at once, it looks put together.  That's my hope anyway.

Right now, the guest bed is covered in my Maui gear, shorts, tops, swim suits, dresses, and shoes... lots and lots of shoes.  Since our guests arrive tomorrow, tonight is "Pack Night".

Shades!

"hunting" for Easter eggs

She isn't looking, therefore it is mine!

This is a great day!!!

Opening Easter gifts.  The paper is amazing

Hoppy Easter

Holidays 2011 Recap

I do love the holidays and am sad to see them end.  The alarm this morning was a sad jolt back to reality.  Thankfully Miss Lucy slept until almost 7 which allowed both Jas and I to wake up slowly and ease back into the routine.

Our Christmas holiday was spent in Denver with Jason's parents.  It sucked not being with my own family but circumstances were going to make that not a reality even if we were here in Seattle.  We decided to take advantage of Lucy's mobility and lack of long term memory to take our party to Denver.   Next year we will be home and all relatives will be invited to join us.

Actually, we decided to throw a cocktail party on December 22nd.  Mark your calendars, we'll be dressing up and serving appetizers.  We'll be inviting family and friends, so don't make other plans. Christmas day next year will likely be just us, and both sets of parents.

To get to Denver a family must either fly or drive.  Since a driving vacation to Denver is a summer activity and one we won't put Lucy through until she's forward facing in the car so we can lull her to sleep with the on-board  DVD player, we flew.  Don't worry about that DVD thing though, she won't be watching Hannah Montana for 3 days straight, it will be PBS shows like Year in the life of a beaver pond, or Discovery Earth.   Flying with an infant is an adventure that I'm happy to have had a partner to share it with.   The airlines kindly let you hold an infant on your lap until they are 2 years old and it costs you nothing.  Well, nothing but personal space and worry for the people around you.

Lucy did very well on both flights.  The outbound flight she slept almost the entire way and on the return flight she was awake but mostly happy. We did ply her with Cheerios and other treats to keep her occupied, but I don't think we were wrong.

We decided a couple things though... unless the cost is horrific we'll be buying her a seat from now on and she's uninvited to our upcoming Maui vacation.  Thank you to Grandma Susie and Papa John for coming out and keeping our girl company, as she's a tad bit too young to stay alone.   I feel some guilt about leaving her behind but am also pretty excited about a week in Maui with my fella and no schedule to keep.   Instead of dinners on the lanai while the Peanut sleeps, now we can go out to dinner and maybe even a luau!  Walks on the beach at night and maybe even some skinny dipping.  Well neither of us are skinny, so technically it could be "tubby dipping" but you get the idea.

Ok, I hope that didn't give you a visual.  Let's get back to the holidays.  For the first time a trip to Denver did not include a neighborhood wide party to celebrate some nonsense like an engagement, pregnancy or birth and we were mostly free to do what we wanted. What we wanted to do was shop.  I mean, isn't that what people do who are limited to certain amounts of luggage and have yet to open the piles of presents under the tree?

I think the purchase of a big and fluffy bathrobe was entirely reasonable and the winter coat with the liner was super practical.  Heck, if I had to I was willing to wear all three on the plane.  I actually am in love with both items and found a way to make room.  We actually had almost 6 pounds of leeway with our bags (4 free bags of 50 pounds) so we had room for at least another pair of jeans or something equally important.

After all the shopping we also kept ourselves busy by frequenting our favorite breakfast and lunch joints.   Lucy doesn't do dinner out, so it's up early for eggs at Sam's #3.  We did get out twice for dinner.  Once with the family and an alternate grandma was brought in to sit with Lucy.  The other night, she was home with the real deals.  Both evenings were lovely, it is a bit strange to be out past 7pm in the evening.

While in Denver, Lucy attended her first Catholic Mass.  She did pretty well considering the late (for her) hour and the hot hot temperature in the room.   (We weren't early enough to be in the Churchy church part of the building.)   Papa John (not the pizza king) proudly paraded her through the room sharing his mild joy and adoration for our little girl.  She likes to see all the people so it was a great form of entertainment before all the talking began.

Lucy was somewhat unimpressed with the Christmas morning activities and had to take a nap between the stockings and the opening of the gifts.  She likes the paper, or to be more specific likes to eat the paper.   The new toys and all the beautiful outfits she got were not really her concern.

We were in Denver a week and it flew by very fast.  We arrived home Thursday and then enjoyed four full days of a home vacation.  We planned and prepped for a New Year's Eve celebration, de-Christmased and spend a day on the couch watching movies.

Today it was back to life day.  Lucy went to school at 7:30, I hit the gym for the first time in for ever and there is laundry production happening.  I'm logged on to work and have resolved the emergencies that did not occur while I was out and am making my long to do list to keep myself on track this year.

This long post is not really on the plan, but I needed to catch you up so I could get back to complaining about customer service or politics.

What's in the box?

Go go!

My new hat

Lucy & Mommy