Haiku Friday #12: Definitely Winter

It is official:
Winter has come and all the
Kids are sick this week

Yesterday we were
Supposed to have ten total;
Three were at home sick,

Two more went home by
Lunchtime, and that made for an
Easy day, but I'm

Afraid I'll get sick
Too; don't want to pass it to
My husband and son.

Not a great day yesterday -- it started out fine, since we were down to seven kids when the day started (we have three teachers in each classroom at any given time for the 12 to 24 month age group).

But I had morning diapers, and every kid save one pooped by 9:30 AM. One of which had really messy diarrhea. We had to change her whole outfit -- it was everywhere. A few hours later, she threw up all over herself, the floor, and my fellow teachers (I escaped it because I was changing another diaper at the time). Her parents were called but we didn't know when she'd be picked up, or by whom. She threw up again at the lunch table. Her mom ended up being the one to come for her, shortly after the second incident.

While this was going on, another girl in our class was developing a fever of about 101 degrees. She didn't get picked up until after I left for my lunch break at 1:15; all the kids were already asleep by then. Meanwhile, another (perfectly healthy) child had five poopy diapers before naptime. Not diarrhea, just a lot of poop.

So it was quite the morning. The afternoon was decidedly quieter -- all the kids slept longer than usual, since there were fewer of them to wake each other up when they stirred. Our 7 AM to 3 PM teacher left early, as did I. Unfortunately, the kids who get picked up later (around 6) weren't the ones who were out (please don't misunderstand me here -- I don't want any of the kids to be sick, but I felt bad for the teachers that were there until closing time).

I washed my hands and used sanitizer all day -- I do not need to get sick. If I got sick, I would either be stuck at home with a healthy, active baby toddler, or I'd pass the germs to the boy and his daddy, in which case when I got home from work on Monday I'd be healthy but stuck with a sick husband and son. And you know how dramatic boys are when they're sick.

Better go get a good-luck charm to hang on my front door to ward off all the germs. . . .


For more Haiku, visit A Mommy Story.

Weekend

Yeah, I know -- it's Tuesday, but I felt like this was a cool enough weekend to write about. Sunday night I was busy writing the PBN post (at the last minute, as usual), and yesterday I didn't have time to write a well-thought-out post, so I just put up the meme. Sorry folks, my life outside this blog is pretty busy.

Anyway, Friday was my son's actual birth-day. As a special birthday treat, my husband brought him to the center just before lunch, where we we were having a school assembly for Shabbat with Marc, the musician who performs every Friday. This week, parents were invited to come for the assembly as well, so I thought it might be fun for my son to come. Not to mention, Clifford the Big Red Dog was the special guest. That night, we went over to my mom's house for pizza, cake, and presents from her, my dad, and my sister. Oh, and my sister taught the baby to say, "Ho, ho, ho!"

Saturday dawned bright and snowy. I was running late, but I was even more so because of the weather. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one. I got ready for the day, picked up the cake, and headed over to my parents' church. We had the party in the basement, where the kids have Sunday school every week. My mom bought some mylar balloons and I put up crepe paper. My dad helped me move the tables and chairs and set up tablecloths, the food table, and the gift table.

Almost everyone was late. But things slowly got moving, and we had a pretty typical party: food, cake and ice cream, gifts, mingling. We went to Giant Eagle for the cake, and it was a pretty decent price, and fantastic white cake (I like theirs better than others, and better than their chocolate: the white cake is almond-flavored). Plus, when you purchase a birthday cake for a child's first birthday there, they give you a free "smash cake", a 5-inch confection just for sinking a baby's face into. I have to say though (and this may be typical of any place you purchase birthday cakes from), we didn't get the plastic Winnie the Pooh toy. They wanted an additional $8 for it, but at least they told us about it when we ordered it, and gave us the option of not buying it.

Adam didn't seem to care for the cake too much -- but he loved the icing. Ice cream too, although I don't know which he liked better, since my mom was feeding him while I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. My sister and I then cleaned him off, which took some doing, since we weren't at home where we could just plop him in the tub.

Then we opened gifts, which I think may have frustrated him. We helped him out to move it along, and every time he got a good look at a toy and decided to try to play with it through the packaging, my husband would whisk it away. He got a few clothing items, but mostly toys, which was actually a good thing. We had kind of a lack of age-appropriate toys here at home, even though Grandma's house was stocked with a toy basket full of goodies.

A little conversation later, and most all the guests started helping to clean up and leaving. My in-laws came back to our place to hang out just a little longer since they spent about 3 1/2 hours driving here and about 2 hours actually at the party. Shortly after they left I fell asleep on the living room floor, watching Adam play with his new toys.

Sunday my parents cut down their Christmas tree and we went over to help them decorate it. The baby really liked the ornaments, and got mad when we wouldn't let him touch the glass ones. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Anyone else have a good weekend? Bad weekend? Any feelings about the weekend at all?

Sweetheart Tag

From my high school friend's blog.

She posted a picture of hers, so here's mine

Here's how it works: Each person answers questions about their sweethearts. At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them comments, letting them know they have been tagged.


1. What is your husband's name? Brandon John Keller
2. How long have you guys been married? 18 months (548 days)
3. How long did you date? We dated for 2 years and 10 months (or 8... see below) before we got engaged, and got married 2 1/2 months later
4. How old is he? 26
5. Who is taller? Brandon
6. Who can sing best? I could answer that if he ever sang for me... I'll have to say me since I don't know.
7. Who is smarter? I say him. He says me. We're probably evenly matched.
8. Who does laundry? Me
9. Who pays the bills? Me
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. I've always slept on the right side of the bed, even when I lived with my parents.
11. Who mows the lawn? When we have a house, we'll probably split it. Except the push mower. He can do that. I'll ride, thanks.
12. Who cooks dinner? Him. He always knows how to spice a dish to make it better. I cook a kick-ass breakfast, though.
13. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Usually him.
14. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first. I didn't kiss him back until 2 months later, after we had broken up and gotten back together.
15. Who wears the pants? Me! No, not always. I sometimes give him a turn.

If you read my blog, consider yourself tagged. :) It's not required, but it could be fun. Oh, and if you're not married, feel free to delete questions about marriage and change the words so it applies to you and your significant other. You don't have to be a Mrs. to have a sweetheart!

Wanna Play Again?

Tradition! The holidays are full of it, and my family is no exception. In fact, my dad is probably more a proponent of it than most fathers. He merrily sings the opening song from Fiddler on the Roof and does a little dance any time we ask why he does, well, pretty much anything around the holidays.

We had many holiday parties with both sides of my family when I was younger. Most of the ones my parents hosted were for my dad's side, although my mom's family occasionally came over. But my mom tried to avoid that so she wouldn't have to stress out about my irresponsible cousins and their rambunctious children.

Most of the family events with my dad's family that I can remember at our house were summer cookout holidays, because my in-town aunt usually did Christmas. But even at the handful of fall/winter holidays that we hosted, dinner (and in the case of Christmas, presents!) was always followed by games.

Every family holiday gathering ended with my dad, my aunts, and my grandpa playing Cribbage. And attempting to explain it to my sister and me as kids. Every holiday my dad would try to explain it, we'd mostly understand, and until the next holiday we'd forget it again. To this day the only thing I remember is how to keep score.

It's been almost nine years since my grandfather died. I haven't seen anyone in my family take out the Cribbage set yet. Now our only playful tradition is working jigsaw puzzles during Christmas break.

My mom is a retired teacher and part-time tutor, so she always had a good, long Christmas break that coincided with mine while I was in school. We all loved puzzles, my mom probably the most of all, although I love it just about as much as she does now. My dad would get each of us (my mom, sister, and me) at least one puzzle, sometimes two, and all three of us would spend Christmas day in our pajamas, folding card table in the family room in front of the TV, and work puzzles all day while watching our favorite Christmas movies.

Now that I have my own family, we're still establishing our traditions. My son received more toys than anything else for his first birthday, so I'll bet at least some of ours will be centered around playing!


What are your family traditions? Does your family play any board games, card games, role-playing games, video games, or any games at all? Blog about it at PBN to win some awesome video games from Electronic Arts. Hurry! Contest ends at midnight.

Haiku Friday #11: One Year

One year old today
I can barely believe it
He's getting so big

Last December fifth
At two thirty-five P. M.,
He made his entrance

Almost seven pounds
Nineteen and a quarter inch
He did not start small

Now he's much bigger:
Thirty inches and almost
Twenty-four whole pounds

No longer nursing
He drinks milk from a sippy cup
And eats table food

Still "army crawling"
He doesn't pull himself up
He's not walking yet.

But he waves hello
And goodbye, and points at things
He even says, "Hi!"

One year old today
My baby's growing so fast
What will two be like?

OMG, I can't believe it! It's my son's birthday today. I've been reminiscing for a few weeks about the events that happened 365 days ago. My little baby boy is more like a toddler now.

So much has changed lately! We're completely done with breastfeeding as of 2 weeks ago (yay!), he is sleeping all night in his crib now -- most nights for 11 hours! -- and he's pointing, waving, and experimenting with words, like "cat", "hi", and "buh-bye", and sounds like "meow", "rawr", and "hoo hoo hoo" (like a monkey -- that's his favorite).

He's drinking whole milk out of a sippy cup that he sometimes holds by himself, and eating table food. He loves Gerber Puffs, Cheerios, and cheese. He's a big boy. *sniff*

Happy birthday, baby!

Holiday Realities

Another Thanksgiving come and gone. I was thankful for the 24-hour break between feasts, especially with the added perk of helping an infant feed himself this year -- all I had to worry about last year was third-trimester heartburn.

But it was a great extended weekend, overall. We ended up not going to Mass on Thursday, as I was feeling sick and actually spent most of the day on the couch. Dinner wasn't until a little after 5 o'clock -- we had to wait for my sister's boyfriend. He was supposed to be there sooner, but he was hunting. Seriously? Nothing against hunting or anything, but we were all sitting down at the table, ready to start eating at least 10 minutes before he decided to grace us with his presence.

My son made everybody laugh, first by offering my husband some of his mashed potato-cranberry mess, and later when he had two pieces of turkey sticking out of his mouth and my grandmother said he looked like a walrus. My dad then responded by mimicking the Sesame Street character The Count: "One, two, turkey bits! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Friday morning we slept in and ended up leaving for Cincinnati around 11:30. The baby slept the whole way there. We spent the afternoon hanging out with my father-in-law, who was installing his new stereo system for his gigundus flat-screen, hi-def tv. My husband's grandmother cooked the dinner, which was wonderful, of course. She -- and her whole family -- is from New Orleans, and she used to teach culinary arts. I relish any opportunity to eat at her house. Cousin Jody entertained the two little ones (mine and his cousin Zoe) with a laser pointer while the adults had after-dinner drinks.

Saturday we spent with some friends we went to college with. They took us out to lunch and talked about her dad's refusal to pay for their modest wedding and his mom's insistence on including items such as lavish centerpieces for their reception. We caught up on local gossip. At six we went to Cousin Jared's engagement party. It was great -- everything I would have wanted, had it been mine. Well, maybe minus the kids. My son, his cousin, and my brother-in-law's daughter were all there and under the age of three (my brother-in-law's "daughter" is actually his girlfriend's daughter, whom he was caring for while she was at work). And there was a pregnant couple there -- but that's a bit different. Jared asked me if I had any advice for them. I said, "Be prepared for anything." I couldn't think of anything wiser or more eloquent at the time. I should have said, "Get a Pack 'N' Play." That thing would have saved us so much grief when we tried to put the baby down for naps in strange beds this weekend.

Sunday we watched Star Wars: Episode III and the Bengals game (yikes). My father-in-law sent us home with his grandmother's Christmas tree and our tray-table set that we apparently forgot to move out of his basement with all the moving we've done over the past few years.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Very festive and fun. The single worst part was going home with all the traffic and torrential rain to several piles of laundry. But we made it a bit better by listening to "The 12 Pains of Christmas".