Decorating

With the perfect tree freshly cut from the farm, we were ready to adorn it with decorations. Our Christmas decorations are a completely eclectic mix of some my parents passed on to me (cookie dough ornaments from the late 70s\early 80s), some I bought very cheaply when a poor college students, ornaments that were gifts and a few that Mike and I have collected together. It's always fun to pull them out and go on a trip down memory lane.

Last year, Dylan being only 5 months old when we decorated our tree, he was a part of it only because he was attached to me (literally...in a front pack). This year was so much fun because we were able to explain to him what was going on (of course, he probably didn't understand all of it), he was interested in what was going on and was a voluntary participant in the event.

Mike pulled out the ornaments, unwrapped them and I put them on the tree and handed Dylan some that were extremely child friendly for him to put on the tree by himself (okay, well some with a little assistance). Family fun and team work. Even the cats were in the room and we had them get involved.

Oliver (Yes, he hated us for a while after this)

Luci

Dylan Decorating the Tree

All of "his" ornaments got clustered in one spot

My Special Ornament

(This was a birthday present to me from Dylan.)

The Final Product!

This being the first year Dylan was mobile with a tree around, we were a bit worried about how it would go. We took the basic precautions of not putting anything fragile down low and then waited to see if we what else we might have to do to keep baby and tree safe from each other. Surprising, Dylan has done really wonderful with it. Other than picking off the ornaments he put on the tree (and then trying to put them back on again), the two have lived in harmony with each other.

Every day, Dylan helps us plug in the tree and we always take some time to study and talk about some of the ornaments. He is an expert in pointing out Santa's ("Ho, ho, ho") and snowmen ("no no") on the tree and everywhere we go. Other words he knows or has learned that relate to ornaments we have are star, ball, baby, choo choo and tree. Today he also learned elf and attempted to say nutcracker. It didn't come out sounding anything like that but that was definitely what he was referring too. Who knew holidays were such great teaching tools?!?!

Christmas Tree Farm

Last weekend was our official Christmas holiday kick off weekend. We had big family plans for the weekend. On Saturday, Mike and I were going to Mike's sister's annual Christmas party and Sunday we were going with Mike's parents to a Christmas tree farm to find our family's tree. Because of the time line and the locations, we decided to have a big slumber party at my in-law's house. Maureen's kids (Mike's sister), Emily and Patrick, were staying over as well so it would be a full house.

Everything started off as planned. We went over to Mike's parents, had a great time eating dinner with them and Dylan happily waved us off to the party. And, as we do every year, Mike and I had a great time at Maureen's Christmas party. When we got back to Mike's house is when plans got totally derailed. Dylan was lightly stirring when one of the new kittens knocked something over with a bang. That woke him right up and he starting wailing. With the little one not calming well, Mike and I realized that if we stayed none of the 3 of us would be getting any sleep and we'd likely start waking the rest of the house at some point. We made the decision to head home. It was close to midnight and we were all in our pj's. So, we gathered what possessions we would need for the night, wrapped up in blankets and headed to the car.

It ended up being a great decision. Once we got home, Dylan went to bed easily and slept in so that Mike and I actually got a somewhat decent night's sleep. All of us refreshed, we got started later in the morning and went back to Nana and Bumpa's to pick up with the rest of our plans. Next on the agenda - a trip just across the border to NH to a Christmas tree farm.

Somewhere back in the recesses of my mind (and I'll have to consult with my parents about this), I seem to remember doing this as a family in my younger years. But, as Mike can confirm, my memory is crap so this felt like my first time with this type of experience.

The 6 of us packed up in one car (Mike, Nana, Bumpa, cousin Emily, Dylan and myself) and made the 45 minute trip up. Once there, we paid, received a saw in exchange for our money and drove down the road a little ways. We parked and set out to find the perfect tree!

In the Christmas Spirit!

Which tree will be ours?

Dylan had an absolute blast walking around the fields with all of us and, as usual, a great time with his cousin, Emily. She did a great job being in charge of him while my in laws, Mike and myself were doing the difficult job of searching through the farm for the tree that would come home with us.

Stopping for a pose

Ready to Help Dad

Riding the Cart with Emily

Tom and Betsy found their tree then helped us find ours. With our high ceilings and placement of the tree in the corner this year, we were looking for tall, not too wide, but with good branches to hold lots of ornaments. Finally, we decided on one and Mike, Dylan and Tom had some team work to cut it down.

Dylan, and the little helper he likes to be, just had to help wheel it back to the car.

There was just a moment when Mike had to steer over some stumps that Dylan was forced to let go of the cart. The face below shows you how he felt about that!

The Pout

It was a good way back to the car so Emily decided to entertain us with her gymnastic skills. She's an awesome little gymnast and Dylan just thinks all of her tricks are hilarious. He was belly laughing at her....it was very cute!

Wheeling it in to get it wrapped up

Two Beautiful Trees Loaded and Ready To Go

Since Emily had done such a great job with Dylan, we gave her the lunch pick. So, on the way back to the highway, we stopped at a Burger King (I was a good sport too since I'm really not a fast food gal) and we had a fun lunch together before heading back. After dropping everyone off, we headed home to trim the tree!

George's New Home

Last week, I dusted off my poor, ignored tools and put them to good use. While I don't claim to be any kind of master craftswoman, I do enjoy creating something tangible and useful with my hands. Mix that with my enjoyment of home decorating and coming up with solutions to problems, well, naturally that leads to building stuff for my house.

The current problem at hand was my inventive table I made several years ago to house our tortoise's cage. His name is George and he's been with Mike and I since early in our relationship. Obviously he's a part of the family and deserves a great roost. His address was a nice wide shelf with legs made of plumbing pieces that sat above the radiator in our living room. While this tall, narrow table made a great home for him with only adults living in the house, it was a little too wobbly with a toddler occasionally grabbing and shaking a leg. Since I didn't want George's big, heavy, glass atrium to land on top of Dylan's head, a new home was necessary.

Before - George's Place

I've never been a huge fan of radiator covers (preferring the more industrial\traditional look of the radiator) but to make the space usable and safe for Dylan, that was the obvious choice. I took some time researching some design ideas and spent a lot of time planning out the construction. Since my house has some craftsman influenced style and I like to play up that architectural look, I chose to make a slatted style cover. With my design and measurements in hand, the family headed to Home Depot last Sunday.

Dylan fell asleep so Mike stayed with him in the car while I checked out the lumber selection and did some figuring of what I wanted and how much of it I would need. An hour later, we were loading it up on top of the car and Dylan had gotten in a nice nap. To give me some time to start the work, the boys headed off to the grocery store. While they were gone, I was able to make all the cuts I needed. During Dylan's afternoon nap, I got most of it assembled, got a little more done with his "help" after he woke up (he basically walked all over it while I was trying to screw in my mending brackets) and finished the last of it after he went to bed.

The rest of the week was spent sanding and staining. By Saturday morning, I was ready for installation. The boys helped me (and Dylan learned a new word "drill") and in no time our new radiator cover\George's new home was ready for it's occupant.

The New Radiator Cover

A Closer Look

Since George's atrium is much deeper than the radiator cover needed to be, I brought back the top of his old table, set it on top and it was done!

After - George Is Home!

It wasn't a complicated project at all once I actually got started on it. The planning process was the toughest part. I'm very happy with the result. However, this was just my warm up project. Next I'm doing a radiator cover with flanking shelves, to look like a built in piece, in our sun room\playroom so we have a good storage spot for Dylan's growing book collection. I bought some of the lumber yesterday and will start construction this week. Likely the project will not be done before our Christmas travel\party commitments but I hope to have that finished project to show off early in the new year!

17 Months

Yep, it's that time again. The 6th day of the month and it's time to wish my toddler (not a baby anymore) another happy month of life. As usual, he's changing and developing like crazy and it's hard to keep up with all the differences on even a month to month basis. I'll try to hit all the highlights but it's inevitable that I'll miss something!

His vocabulary is increasing on an average of 2-3 words per day which I find absolutely amazing. He's able to communicate his needs so well that it's making our jobs to figure out what's needed so easy. Mastering this stage of life as child and parents will, I'm sure, lead to new challenges in the near future (I hear terrible 2's starts around 18 months usually) but for now, we're leading pretty peaceful, easy going, fun lives together. Some of my favorite new words that he says - Oliver (our oldest cat), open, airplane (sounds more like a derivation of dada but it's definitely what he's referencing), baby, drill and lawn mower. Yep, definitely his mom's son because he has a huge interest in machines and power tools. Here's a quick clip of him in one of his favorite places, the garage, checking out the scenery.

Our biggest challenge (well mostly Mike since he's at home with him the most) is that Dylan still wants to be held a lot. Of course it's nice in some ways (I realize snuggling days won't last forever) but since he's getting bigger, it's tough on the arms and backs. However, when Dylan comes up, grabs your legs, looks up at you with that sweet face and says "Up, please" (yes, he's learning his manners too), it's really impossible to refuse him and not pick him up. Hey, I don't blame him. It's pretty cool to see the world from a higher viewpoint than you're used to. It's why I still torture myself wearing super high heels from time to time!

Well, I guess we do have one other small challenge. Dylan really loves taking baths. That's obviously not the problem. The issue is that he still takes baths in his baby bath tub....the one that sits above the kitchen sink. It's a much bigger size than the traditionally thought of baby tub but still, he's not going to fit into it until he's 10 so we do eventually need him to take a "tubby" in our regular bath tub. My easy going, scared of nothing child turns into a different little boy when we try to put him in our regular tub. He won't have any of it. We tried putting his baby bath tub in it. Nope. Didn't work. Putting his baby tub on our bathroom floor. Nuh-uh...not having it. We tried storing the tub in the bathroom for a while so he'd get used to seeing in there. He would sit in it without water, play in it, take his toys in and out....the second we put water in it he would cling to us for life rather than get in. So, back to the kitchen it was. We'll try again in a couple of weeks. Eventually, he will make the transfer to a big boy tub.

Punk Rock Baby Enjoying His Tubby

He's also discovering the fun of playing games. We taught him "what a ghost says" for Halloween and he just loves scaring us with his "boo!" Acting scared of his adorable little boo will keep him giggling for quite some time. He's also learned to play hide and go seek. He still a ways away from winning any hiding contests but it's cool that he gets the concept. One of his two hiding places has become a favorite play spot - under the dining room table. He'll often slip under there for many minutes at a time (you know 2-4 minutes...an eternity for a child this age) and just hang out. He may not know it yet, but he's going to love playing "fort."

In addition to all of his mental developments, his changing physically too. Not only is the height increasing but his dexterity too. One of the big examples of that is eating with a fork and a spoon. He's been practicing with them for a while but now he's really proficient and prefers to eat his meals with them and only asks for our help on occasion. Dylan's also discovered the joy of spinning around. He's not yet to the around and around until he's dizzy point but I'm sure he'll find the fun in that very soon.

My sweet boy is learning to be affectionate upon request. He'll give us kisses and hugs. The hugs have been there for a while but the kisses are new. What cracks me up and baffles me is that they are (as with most kids) a big, slobbery, open mouth heading toward your face. Where do they get that? I don't see other people kissing that way (at least not in public nor on the tv he would see)! In any case, Mike and I tend to try and aim for either the top or bottom of his lips for our kiss and hope that eventually the mouth will close for his kisses. It's funny because if I ask for a kiss from Dylan and Mike is with us (or vice versa), he has to give kisses to both of us. Too cute.

Now, I realize true potty training is a ways off but we have officially hit step 1 of the process (or I guess #2 in this case) - Dylan has become aware of when he is pooping. Yet another one of his new words is "poop" and he says it sometimes before and other times just after he's done that deed. That's a big thing for a little dude to realize. My kid knows when he poops....I couldn't be more proud!!

So, that's your monthly Dylan update. We had a great time at a super cool park this weekend and I took some good shots. Here are just a couple of my cute little guy!

LOVES the swing!

My Happy Little Guy - 17 Months

No News November

Ah, what a great month! After all the excitement\busyness\hectic\crazy events in October, my goal for our family was to have a laid back month. We pretty much achieved that! Oh sure, we did a few things during the month, but our pace seemed to be a lot more leisurely. It was great!

The biggest highlight of the month was, of course, Thanksgiving. We spent it at Mike's parents' house with both of his sister's families, Aunt Kathy, cousin Gretchen and Gretchen's son, Derek. It was great to see everyone, get to spend a nice day together and eat all the great food that was contributed by all. Dylan, of course, had a great time playing with all of his cousins. Somehow we managed to not take one picture that day. Odd for us and disappointing. Oh well, at least we still have the memories.

Let's see, what else happened in November? I had the 2nd part of my vein procedure which was not fun and not pretty. I'll spare all the gruesome details but I will say that I found out it takes about 20 shots of Novocaine in my leg to not feel the full brunt of the shot anymore and that ripping a vein out causes some pretty ugly and long lasting bruising. But now it's all done, I'm a lot closer to fully healed and will hopefully be happy with the end result.

I also was wild and crazy one night and went to see a live band on a weeknight. I know, complete madness, huh? When I was in college, I babysat (all 4 years) the son of one of the band members. I always try to go see the show when they're touring in the area. Unfortunately, they are currently doing their farewell tour so I definitely had to make this show. We were unable to get a sitter and I was unable to find a buddy to go with me last minute so I went solo. It was actually great that way. I was able to talk to my friend before the show, during their intermission as well as after the show and then just enjoyed the music in between. Great fun. (Kind of sad that I'm writing about going out on 1 weeknight during the month but, hey, day to day life with a kid is pretty routine so out of the ordinary doesn't happen all that often).

Also exciting for us in November was the arrival of a baby gorilla at our Franklin Park Zoo. After 2 visits to the zoo to see the new baby, we got a great look at it (sex is still unknown) on Sunday.

Kiki and Her Baby

After our Thanksgiving fun, we spent some time taking the fall house decorations down and replacing them with Christmas decor. Dylan is a great helper and really enjoyed seeing all the new things in our house. We managed to get the lights up on the house and are now just awaiting our tree which we're going to get this weekend. Should be interesting to see what challenges we'll face with a toddler having a tree in his play space.

Speaking of Dylan's play space, we need some book storage. Given how our playroom is set up, it would be a great use of space to make a radiator cover with some flanking bookshelves. I got a custom piece priced and then decided to try and make it myself. As a "warm up" to that project, I've been working on making a cover for our living room radiator. Currently, there's a tall, narrow, wobbly table on top of it that holds our tortoise's cage. Dylan's been showing interest in wobbling it around which is obviously not too safe. So, I'm making that cover to protect Dylan from the heat of the radiator and the danger of falling cages. I'm really happy with how the project is progressing. Tonight I hope to start staining the piece and will likely have it installed by the weekend. Once I do that, I'll post some pictures of the final product and will then start on the playroom piece. It's been so long since I've had the occasion and time to play with my power tools so I've really been enjoying this process. Fun stuff!

Our November has been great. A good mix of mellow, fun, productive and family fun. It's great that we got this down month because with all the events involved in the holiday season, December will no doubt be a hectic month.

Counting the Points

So, I've been stewing this posting around in my little noggin' for a while and trying to figure out just what exactly I wanted to say about it. Sure enough, an article was posted today that prompted me to finally post it.

Here's the deal. I don't get Weight Watchers. Look, I know the system works for lots of people (some of my readership included) and I'm not knocking it. I completely understand how the support group can be appealing and helpful in the incredibly difficult journey to losing weight. The part of the program I've never gotten, and it's a pretty major part of the program, is the point system.

Here's what I don't get. The FDA requires certain information to be labeled on prepared foods sold in stores. At the very top of these labels is an important bit of information called calories (just after the serving size info). Next to the calories is a number. The number of calories in 1 serving. And while there are many diets and nutritional recommendations out there, I think most can agree that caloric intake is a very important part of any eating plan. Okay...with me so far? Here's where it gets weird to me. Here comes Weight Watchers, takes the calories already listed on a food and creates a new system with different numbers, which you have to look up and\or memorize, and banks millions upon millions of dollars from the American public a year for this system.

Again, I'm not knocking the system. In fact, I wish I had been the genius mastermind thinking up this new arbitrary system and charging people for information that's already, by law, available. If I had, I would not be going to work everyday, but rotating between one of my many, world wide vacation homes.

Perhaps some of you can explain the appeal to me and why counting points is easier than counting calories. Smaller numbers? In any case, I thought it was interesting that Weight Watchers is now (as described in this article) changing their number system to something more in line with current theories on food intake. Points will now be more of a nutrition\caloric combo than straight calories.

While this point adjustment is in line with my personal beliefs on creating a balanced, healthy diet (so I applaud it), it's also interesting to note other articles that have come out recently that are somewhat in opposition. The one that I am most intrigued by is the story of the professor who lost weight by the "Twinkies diet." In this article that describes his diet, he limits his caloric intake but subsists, primarily, on junk food. What's most fascinating about it all is not that he lost weight, but that even though he did not follow what our general knowledge of what a healthy diet is, other health indicators (cholesterol and triglyceride counts) improved.

What's the lesson in all of this? Well, I didn't really post these things as any kind of lesson. I'm certainly no expert when it comes to health and nutrition. However, I do know what I've learned from my life experiences. And in the weight loss and diet change life experiences, I do have more than a few under my belt (pun intended). I've learned that when you have too much weight, losing it is a good thing. I honestly feel the difference even in just a couple of pounds. And, even though I still want to eat foods that aren't the most nutritional dense (aka junk) from time to time, if I stick to eating better foods for me, I feel good because of those choices.

A Drive Down the Kanc

A big ol' rewind back to mid October when my parents were here visiting.

A part of what my parents love about coming to Boston in the fall (other than the obvious reason of getting to see my family) is seeing the awesome foliage we have here. In Texas, where the seasons aren't so distinct, you just don't have the mass color change we experience in New England. One of the best leaf peeping drives is only a couple of exits north on the highway from our condo in NH. So, we took a quick trip up to the granite state to drive on the popular Kancamangus Highway.

Unfortunately, the peak time to see foliage differs every year and it's tricky to time it right. Even though Boston is only seperated from the white mountains by about 100 miles, the times the two different regions see the peak of fall colors is several weeks apart. We were driving the Kanc on the 3rd week of October and during the first half of the drive (up to the highest point on the highway), most of the trees were already bare and ready for winter. Kind of a bummer. Fortunately, the consolation prize on the route was fantastic scenic views of the white mountains.

During the 2nd half of that stretch of highway, we started to see some more leaves still attached to the trees so my parents did get to do some leaf peeping after all. We also stopped to see some great natural sights just off the road. Dylan fell asleep during our ride so Mike stayed in the car with him while my parents and I got out to stretch our legs.

Our first stop was Sabbaday Falls. The easy path is just a half mile loop to a gorgeous flume and water fall.

Base of the Falls

Sabbaday Falls

Self Portrait - Dad, Mom and Me at Sabbaday Falls

Fall Foliage!

My Parents on the Wooded Path

After our stop at the falls, the three of us hopped back in the car for just a few minutes for the drive down to the Rocky Gorge on the Swift River.

Rocky Gorge

My Dad and Me at Rocky Gorge

Then it was back in the car again to go up to the road to yet another stop, Lower Falls. Just as we stopped the car and started to get out, little Sleeping Cuteness woke up. So, we were all able to enjoy the falls. Mike, Dylan and I hopped the rocks out into the river a little ways. Mike gave me a heart attack when he slipped on a rock with Dylan and stumbled a bit. Luckily, they got nothing more than a little water on their shoes, but it still freaked me out a bit. We were VERY careful getting back to the shore.

This was by far the busiest area we visited. There were lots of folks there enjoying the trees and the river. Dylan had a fun time walking on the bank (a good, safe distance away from the water) with a stick he found. Ah, to be so easily amused!

At Lower Falls

We Scaled the Big Rock at Lower Falls!

Another 10 minutes down the road is North Conway at the end of the Kancamangus. That town is known for its outlet malls and we spent a little time shopping around them. After a quick lunch, we headed back to our home in Boston. It was a quick trip to NH but a nice one.

Back at the house, we couldn't let Mimaw and Pipaw leave without Dylan modeling his Halloween costume for them.

The Happy Giraffe

The next day, my parents left for Dallas. A week always seems like so much time for a visit and it always goes by so quickly. Dylan had a great time with his Mimaw and Pipaw and can't wait to see them again and celebrate Christmas together.