2008 February « Two Mommies and a Shmoo

wi-fi coffee break

February 27, 2008 at 12:36 am (family (like it or not), vacation)

I hit a St*rbucks to get some skinny chai tea latte along with some wi-fi instead of my grandparents’ dial up AO-smell service for a few minutes.

The trip started off with a bang, this is definitely the tough stretch.

My grandfather is really not doing well. He is back on medication for the Park*nson’s but he’s pretty much immobile. And my 81-yr-old grandmother is his primary caretaker. She looks tired and has aged at least 5 yrs in the last 1.5 years.

We were sitting around the table most of the afternoon listening to my grandmother talk about my grandfather’s chattiness in the middle of the night. He’s always been the quiet type, but I guess he’s particularly talkative in the middle of the night.

The night before last he was getting agitated with her that she didn’t see the man who was rummaging through their closet stepping on their jackets. Last night, after about 20 minutes of him pestering her with questions about her name (they’ve been married 62 yrs), his name, his nickname, her siblings’ names, how to spell them all, etc. she finally told him she was tired and needed to sleep. His response was “well, I’m tired of this bullshit too.” LOL. At least we can laugh about it right now.

They used to be very active vibrant people and even since my last trip out here in July 2006, they have both declined.

My father is here with me and he is not incredibly patient, so we have tee times to play golf every day Monday through Wednesday of this week. I feel a little guilty being gone for 5-6 hours each day but my grandmother is tough to persuade to let us help her at all.

I had such a f%$*ing blast in SLC. There is so much material from that part of the trip. Every single one of the Utah bloggers is just awesome! I really wish I could have brought Lois and the boy for this whole trip. She’s already planning her vacation for the end of March to Florida.

I really miss the boy. Really miss my wife. I know I’m lame, but after pretty much spending 3 years of law school 3 states away from each other, we haven’t spent too much time apart. I have definitely never spent more than a few days away from my wife in the past 5 yrs and have never spent more than one night without Andrew.

This weekend, CT had more snow than we’ve had all winter long (sorry I missed it, not). Lois, Aunt Laura and Suz took the boys out into the snow on Sunday and snapped some pictures. I wish I could have been there.

Here’s a slideshow of the experience, which was Andrew’s first time in snow. Are these boys the two cutest boys ever?!?!?

Hope all of my blogland friends are doing well. I think this is a great trip for me. I’m working on a post about some things that have been swirling around in my head.

9 Comments

leaving SLC

February 24, 2008 at 7:11 pm (vacation)

I can’t believe I’m leaving! What a BLAST the last four days have been!!!

The SLC part of the trip flew by and everyone here is as amazingly wonderful as I knew they would be!

I have so much more to post about the adventures, but I have to get to the airport. If I can get online this week, I will post about it.

Hopefully, someone can share the pictures from yesterday (K??)

Now, we all have to start a campaign to get Lois and the boy out here for a trip this summer!

6 Comments

the eagle has landed

February 22, 2008 at 8:04 am (video)

I have arrived in the great state of Utah. This is so awesome!

Poor Lois is at home with the boy. I’m sure she’s probably cursing me out right now.

Just wanted to share a video or two because I miss the boy.

So what if the kid can’t talk, he can write. He’s so smart, he’s already working on his first novel…

And there’s nothing like a little poopin’ caught on tape.

9 Comments

excitement

February 19, 2008 at 6:48 pm (Job, vacation)

I’ll be in SLC in less than 60 hours! Wahoo!!

I am absolutely panicked and swamped at work before I leave, but somehow I’ll pull it all together.

There may be some great work news on the horizon. Our firm “farms out” some attorneys from time to time to do in-house counsel work for corporate clients.

This afternoon, I have an off-site meeting at a corporate headquarters that is looking for a few mornings a week for a couple of months. This would be great exposure for me, plus it will get me away from my boss a little bit!

I really hope this works out!

14 Comments

weekend in pictures

February 19, 2008 at 3:09 am (pictures)

I know what crayons are for Mommy

I can’t believe we both fit in here Momma

Thanks for my new suction bowl. It works really well.

Love my ball pit. Thanks D, Y, A, M, B and little M!

Playing piano with Cousin N

I will feed myself!

8 Comments

a long one

February 15, 2008 at 2:47 pm (a mobile meatball, milestones, vacation)

WORK

I haven’t been a good blogger or blog friend lately. My laptop at home is almost completely conked.

Lots of goings on at work. My BFF at work gave her notice. We’ve been talking about it for months, so I knew all along. But I’m still sad. She’s going to be working the same hours and making about 3x as much money. People always make more money when they leave here, but it’s not “about the money” that sparks you to leave, it’s feeling “underappreciated” – maybe the two do go hand in hand.

I’m working on trying to get some of her client work and also getting my work completed (or at least ball out of my court) before I leave for my SLC/So. Cal. trip (6 days away)

The trip is sneaking up on me. I need to pull stuff from the attic this weekend to be prepared for SLC weather and So.Cal. weather, including both ski stuff and golf attire.

I’m very excited about the trip! At least the SLC part will be more of a “vacation”! And I can’t wait to throw a few cold ones back with the group out there!

THE BOY’S HEALTH

The boy had his 12 month well visit on Tuesday. We love our pediatrician. Remember how Lois picks doctors based on their looks. Andrew has a super cute doctor.

She was happy with all of his progress, but she was worried about his speech. He doesn’t say mama or dada or baba. He definitely babbles a great deal, but we can’t tell if he ever says anything intentionally. We think he’s said “car” or “dog” on more than one occasion, but we are not sure.

She mentioned this program for him to get a speech therapist. After talking to other people, it would be very hard to get him in there based on that being his only need. But we are getting info from people to really work on him with it.

As for everything else, he was just fine.

His stats = 23 lbs 13 ounces and 29 inches long

SHOES

As for the shoes, Nurse J. called me after my big shoe post and read from one of her textbooks. Apparently, either shoes or R*beez are fine. The preference for shoes from a pediatric standpoint appears to be more geared towards protecting their feet from ouchies than for support. And yes, barefoot or R*beez help them feel the ground with their feet.

We are still happy with our decision to get the shoes because he’s already walked outside and because they are so damn cute.

Plus, he’s really doing well in them!

I don’t know why my living room is so dark on video. I need to work on that.

MY VALENTINE

We don’t do anything for Valentine’s Day. First of all, Lois hates the idea of “wasting” money on boxes of chocolates we don’t need or flowers we will just kill.

So I got her a card from Andrew with a “coopon” for a night to herself while Andrew stays home and watches me. And I gave her a coupon for a “weekend getaway with or without the boy with no expiration date.” She gave me a card from Andrew (same card – great minds think alike), a musical rose that Andrew loved and a Take 5 bar.

While I’m not into the whole holiday part of V-day, I will take this opportunity to tell the world how wonderful my wife is.

I am definitely not the easiest person in the world. She is so low maintenance and she puts up with all of my crap. She is the world’s best mother and does everything for Andrew and I.

I look at her sometimes and wonder how I got so lucky. What the hell does she possibly see in me?!?!

She is beautiful, sexy and wonderful in every way. She just sucks people in with her genuine charm and modest smile. I am eternally grateful for everything she does and everything she is.

I absolutely adore everything about her! My wife, my love, my Valentine.

I hate that I will be spending 9 days away from her. Sigh.

11 Comments

will you be mine?

February 14, 2008 at 12:52 pm (holidays)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Comments

the great shoe debate

February 12, 2008 at 2:53 am (a mobile meatball)

Andrew has been in Ro*beez and now that he’s walking everywhere, we thought he needed something with soles. Other shoes we have for him have such hard soles, he can’t walk in them at all. Plus, he doesn’t seem to have a cookie cutter size foot that fits nicely into regular shoes.Many of our friends have told us that he really should have shoes with some support and the way to go is to get him a pair of classic “cruisers”.

However, other people have tried to convince us that Ro*beez are better and we don’t need “cruisers.”

We decided to take the boy to Str*de R*te to get him fitted and buy him a pair of walking shoes. I knew he needed to be sized because his Fr*d Fl*ntstone feet (very high instep, short, fat feet) are not the average size. He is a 4 extra wide. I guess he needs a solid base to carry that little beefcake body around.

Lois and I both liked a certain pair but the only pair they had in his size had a small tear in the tongue. They were trying to convince us to buy the boring pair but Lois stood her ground and said she wanted the one with the colored eyelets and dinosaurs. The salesperson told us she had to damage them out and couldn’t give us a discount.

As they were being damaged out and Lois and I were arguing about how I thought the boring shoes were fine and Lois wasn’t spending $43 on something she didn’t like, the manager looked over and said, “well, I can give them to you for half price.” I’m sure our salesperson was not happy to be overruled.

Lois looked at me with a sly smile and said “we’ll take them!”
(I worked retail for many years, including selling athletic shoes through law school and we could never sell anything damaged for a discount)

Lois was very proud of herself but Andrew was not happy about these annoying things we put on his feet. The salesperson told us to be patient, he’d be walking in them in a few days. A few hours later, he was almost totally back to his walking self.

So, the question I pose to my loyal readers is this…and be honest

What do you think is best for little guys starting to walk?

A. Ro*beez because they are soft and allow the infant to really feet the floor
B. Shoes because they need the support
C. Neither
D. Both
E. You have no idea

Here they are!

And here is a visual of how well he seems to be adjusting to them

- – -

*updated to add…

The pediatrician gave us two thumbs up this morning for the shoes we bought Andrew and we got a “yes” from my BFF pediatric nurse J as prefering those. It’s preference, I guess. We’re letting him walk around the house barefooted or with socks, but most people in the medical field that we talk to still like the support factor of the shoes.

The problem that we have with the Robeez is fit. The 6-12 month size fits his foot lengthwise but they are tight, especially in the ankle. The 12-18 month size is just too big and he has a hard time walking because he drags and steps on his toes.

17 Comments

weekend bash

February 11, 2008 at 4:26 am (celebrations)

The birthday celebrations seemed to encompass our entire weekend.

The mommies are ex. haust. ed. It might take us a few days to be somewhat normal again.

On Thursday night, we found out that we had someone looking at the house on Friday. Getting food and party supplies together for a 1 yr old’s birthday party doesn’t mix well with trying to sell a house.

Friday night, we did a small celebration on the boy’s actual birthday with his Mema, Pop=Pop, Aunt Laura, Aunt Suz and BFF K@den. Lois and I were up until close to midnight cooking (ok – Lois was cooking) for the party. Up on Sat, running around before the party started at noon. Why didn’t it occur to us when we planned the party that all of these kids usually nap at noon????

The party was a success even though it snowed the entire time for the first time in FOREVER (which snow was gone by 6 pm that night). The boy crashed afterwards and when he got his second wind at 9 pm, he and I took a ride to join Momma and Aunt Laura at a poker game. We didn’t go to bed until after midnight.

Sunday was church, social event post-church with other families of infants (we now have a toddler), and getting home in time to get a voicemail about another realtor wanting to show the house (it ended up being 3 different showings in 3 days – fx)

To get out of the house, we took Andrew to the awesome mall near us to get him sized for shoes (btw – I want to have a talk about toddler shoes but I’ll save that for tomorrow) followed up by dinner at Mema and Pop-pops, then cooking more (Lois again) for a church meeting I am attending tomorrow.

Enough of the banter. Here’s a quick visual overview of the birthday celebrations.

Sir Andrew handled everything very well. We were pleasantly surprised!

BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG SHOUT OUT, THANK YOU, EVERYTHING TO ANDREW’S AUNT LAURA FOR NOT ONLY BEING THE BEST AUNT AND GODMOMMY EVER, BUT FOR LETTING US TAKE OVER HER HOUSE ON SAT. AND FOR ANDREW’S COOL ASS WORK BOOTS! YOU ROCK AUNT LAURA!