I am only blogging on Facebook now, so if you want to read my entries, you have to be my friend there. (I like that I know exactly who is reading me stuff there.) If you're on Facebook, you can email me. I'm not against WDC friends switching over to become Facebook friends. I have a couple there already. If you aren't on Facebook...well, not sure what to tell you... CHUBS!
 

In the beginning of last week my tabby cat that's been with me since college was really sick. I seriously thought he was going to die. And it didn't help on Monday when I took him to the Banfield vet hospital that they told us it would be at least $1000 to fix him – no negotiations at all. I left and we got a second opinion. The second vet helped us out for $200. They didn't run as many blood tests and operations that Banfield was recommending, but what they did worked and kitty is fine now.

What got me about all of this was how unwilling Banfield was to work with us at all. They wouldn't just do a couple things to help Syler feel better. To do anything, we had to agree to all the recommended procedures. It was such a scam! That kind of attitude will not win them business in this economy for sure.

After the initial drama on Monday, I left this to my husband because I had to go to Pensacola on business. It was a little bizarre since I hadn't been there in five years...not since OCS and Corry Station. It was very much the same. Very much so. Except now I was better off and not trying to “find myself.” I think being older made the town even slummier in my eyes...and in extension my own history of how I got there a little more troubling. Glad it all turned out for the best, but it seemed like I was so close to being doomed to fail.

All that being said, our training went well with the Navy folks, and it was actually kind of cool to hang out with some Navy officers again. They were all super nice, and seeing that I just got out a year and a half ago and I was the same age as many of them, we all hit it off very well. I came home Thursday night.

On top of the kitty problem and the introspective travels, Jack was sick with some kind of mild stomach flu. However, the pediatrician misdiagnosed him as having a soy allergy since he got sick after drinking his milk. On Friday I took the day off to stay with him and take him to the allergist again who retested him for soy – no problem there. However, confirmation has been received that he's got a fish allergy. Well, to some fish – not trout, tuna, and salmon. (Tempting fate, we tested this out tonight by serving him salmon which he loved. No reaction. *thumbsup*) The allergist probably just said the milk was too rich for his stomach.

Jack continues to eat well despite the stomach bug and the allergies. Lincoln continues to eat poorly due to his teething. Jack has been making up songs lately which he likes to sing really loud in the car while kind of doing some sort of head-banging thing. Very funny!

Lincoln has been carrying around his black bear he got at Christmastime everywhere along with his blankie. Good thing he's pretty good on his feet now because the blankie still trails behind him and the bear is almost as big as he is. It's a lot to carry for a little guy, but he manages somehow.

After all this it was nice to have a relaxing weekend doing nothing much. Still pretty cold. Today has been a wet cold, like any minute it will dump a bunch of snow on us. In fact, we are supposed to get some this week. I wish it would because my husband would like it, and I feel like he hasn't quite gotten the credit he deserves for being so awesome taking care of sick cat and sick kid while I was away.
 

It's been really cold lately....like in the teens. I kept the boys inside yesterday because I didn't want to be outside myself. Today it warmed up a little bit into the thirties, so I bundled them up and took them out. The beaver pond was frozen solid, and the boys had fun slipping around. They've been in a pretty good mood this last few days, so it made for a good time.

I found a way to break a fit for Jack is to give him “Happy Medicine.” This is really just a squeeze of honey in a medicine cup. Then I tell him to jump up and down to activate the happy times. Worked today! Hehe course he knew it was honey because he asked for more “honey bear” afterwards.

The Ravens didn't win tonight, but the Cardinals did. Crazy! Obviously, I can't root for the Steelers, so I guess it's up to the Cardinals. LOL Yeah, for what that's worth.

My old tabby cat seems to be sick. He's been sitting in his litter box all day. He had a couple accidents yesterday outside the litter box, which never happens for him. I'm kind of concerned for him, so I'm going to bite the bullet and take him to the vet tomorrow if he doesn't appear to be any better. Ya know, if it's not us or the kids getting sick, it's got to be something. Winter's not over yet!
 

Lincoln has had a case of toddleritis...with a side of teething. He's had a fit at dinner the last two nights, refusing to eat and then being upset about it because he's hungry. Poor guy! So it's been a challenge, but once I calm him down and get him to eat something (even if it's a little applesauce) he seems to be alright. Jack, on the other hand, has been a great eater. All he needs to know is that he gets a cookie if he eats all of his dinner. He's all about that! LOL

Link may not be eating well, but he is definitely getting some words in. He's not as into the binkie as Jack was, so he seems to be on top of learning to talk thing. His latest is trying to say “It's cold outside.” This kind of sounds like “ih ko ow si” in Linkish. Hehe... And he definitely knows “mama” because that's what he says over and over when he wants something. Heh typical, right?

Monday I went to see “Slumdog Millionaire” which I thought was awesome!! And the soundtrack is great too. It's one of those things where you walk away and say, damn, I feel better after seeing that movie.

That's definitely what I said when I went to drop my kids of Tuesday morning, and they had a fire alarm right when I was signing Lincoln in. The loud alarm freaked him out, and the ladies were rushing around and pulled him away from me. That makes him scream louder. I'm directed to go out the front door “because it's not a real fire.” So I do and feel bad I didn't really get to say goodbye. Did I mention it was 25 degrees outside? At least he had his jacket.

Is it a good thing that my toddler is prepared to be ripped out of my arms in the event that bombs are falling out of the sky? Well...at least he's not an orphan slumdog on the streets of Mumbai.

So there's that.
 

Boys continue to be boys. At work my team is all guys except me, and they love to talk trash about each other for stupid silly things. They spent 30 minutes yesterday teasing Ben about how he got roped into going to some Winter Festival party by his wife. An hour was spent trying to determine which NCAA conference had the most championships. (This determination started with football but quickly devolved into random sports like volleyball and water polo.)

At home it's not that much different. Jack and Lincoln seem to be taking part in the toddler version. At school the teachers say they are best friends and are always looking for each other in the halls and on the playground. At home they play together well until there's a fight over a toy and someone has a fit. For the most part I can tell they have a lot of fun together. Bath time and bed time are definite giggle fests.

The Ravens are not only in the playoffs but beat Miami handily. There has been much rejoicing! I know they can beat Tennessee this weekend too! Now whether they can finish the whole game or not...well, that's a different story. But it's definitely winnable!
 

We're not the kind of people who party on New Year's Eve. To me the celebration is throughout December, and this final day is one of reflection and resolution. We spend yesterday evening watching “Tropic Thunder,” which was pretty funny. I had no idea what it was about going in and so was pleasantly surprised.

Today was spent cleaning, straightening, putting away Christmas decorations, and fixing finances. During all of this my husband and I figured out a way to incorporate our New Year's resolutions into an attribute system similar to RPG's.

The attributes we picked are:
Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution and Charisma.

Strength: Well, this is pretty obvious. I told myself that I wasn't going to bother with the whole “losing weight” resolution. I do want to challenge myself to keep working out since we've been doing good for a while. I figure if I can manage to do something each day, even if it's a couple push up reps, I would be all right.

Agility: So traditionally this means speed and flexibility. I'm not into focusing a whole year on becoming a faster runner or anything, but I thought it would be nice to become more flexible mentally. I think I get stressed out too easily. I'm hoping if I can focus once a week on meditation and destressing, I will become a more agile thinker and worker.

Dexterity: We got a guitar from my mother-in-law for Christmas, so I'm going to attempt to learn. I have zero clue how to play other than one hand goes on the frets and one strums the strings. Yeah, it's a pretty big learning curve. But maybe if I could get started on the basics, I would be on my way to fulfilling this dexterity resolution since I know for sure it will take lots of that.

Intelligence: This is generally used to describe the way you use the knowledge you have. This resolution is all about getting my novel finished by April. Nuff said there.

Wisdom: This one is about adding knowledge. I have decided to try to learn more about money. I'm really not good with money, so I figure I would start with my $50 fun money and try to keep track it as much as possible.

Constitution: This attribute refers to your overall well-being, and my husband has decided to try to eat vegetarian once a week. I think mine will be to expand on the garden that I did last year. Obviously, if we're growing and eating our own food it will benefit our constitution as well as the land's.

Charisma: This was a hard one for the both of us. I read it as helping or interacting with people. I decided to add another writing one to the list by doing one query a month. I figure it requires plenty of charisma to get your point across and try to sell your article idea to a publisher.

I debated adding one called Luck to it. Hehe... This would be my resolution to transfer from being a contractor to a government civilian. I feel like there's a lot of luck involved with that because so much has to happen beforehand, and when you trust the government to handle your paperwork, you never know what will happen.
 

I haven't really given proper treatment to the month of December. Not sure why, but it seems like I have been busy. Christmas will do that to you of course. Let me just say this, though, I do love the gift-giving and the carol-singing and the pot-luck-at-work craziness. I get just enough of time to recover from NaNo before the Holiday season starts.

My 29th birthday was on the 12th of course, and that kind of kicked it off for me. I have been kind of bummed about work this last month, so I was thrilled when all my co-workers really celebrated with me. And then I came home and my husband got me flowers and cheesecake and a radio scanner.

Just for the record, it wasn't the co-workers that had me bummed, just my position. I want to change things, but have no power to. That is very frustrating for someone like me. I've been talking with a couple people about becoming a government civilian, but I'm not holding my breath. Booz let me down when they forced me into a pure-cryptology position instead of technical writing. I don't really think I'll be that much happier working for the Agency. At least I would have more control of my destiny...and more vacation days. Can't say “no” to that!

The same co-workers really pulled together when Tony and I decided to do an Adopt a Family. I had never done anything like that before. It was pretty cool because I got to shop for people and then actually deliver the gifts to their house. I was a little shy about the latter, but it was good to see how other people live – in this case, a run down single family off of the Arundel Coast. They were very grateful as the year had been very hard for them – the husband had been injured and unable to work.

Christmas for us was the complete opposite, my kids not wanting for new clothes or new toys. They got all manner of toys and an entire 50s diner set, which “Santa Claus” set up for them. Christmas morning they came downstairs with eyes wide. We had none of the toys out the night before, so Jack was very much like “Woah!”

Chris and I got each other matching Ravens #5 jerseys. Go Flacco! It's cool that they're in the playoffs because I get to wear it at least one more time. Chris also got me a travel book for Taiwan, and a newly updated Chrono Trigger game. He knows me so well! My gift to him of gourmet cajun rub and spicy BBQ sauce was a hit as well. And since my Mom came up we got to watch her ogle over her new iPodnano. Very good pick if I say so myself!
 

I spoke with my friend Olivia today about marriage. She and her boyfriend are considering it, but she has been put off a bit by him asking her about a pre-nup. It took me aback. I didn't think normal people like us got pre-nup. That was what rich people did, Hollywood people right?

This reminded me of an article I read about Byonce “Sasha Fierce” Knowles in my Elle magazine. I'm not one to follow Hollywood gossip, so I didn't know she is married to the rapper Jay-Z. The article discusses how when she's in a bad mood, she or him will spend the night in a hotel, how sometimes they don't share houses or rooms or beds. What the hell kind of marriage is that? Aren't they 10 years apart in age? Sounds like a business deal, not a marriage.

I mean, for all the fuss people make over gay marriage, at least they sleep in the same bed!

Olivia asked me if Chris ever asked about getting a pre-nup, and I told her that there would be no point as we had nothing before getting married. Besides, we both thought splitting estates like that was an insincere way to begin a marriage. We're not the type of people who understand why people need to have separate banking accounts. There's no bizarre wrangling over the check when we go out to eat. It all comes out of the same pot.

But then...I guess not everyone is like us.

But then...we're doing pretty good at 3 years. Better than my last marriage which wouldn't be saying much. Hehe...but I still say it because otherwise I might forget. 3 years on December 18th. For our anniversary I gave him the option to NOT take me out to eat, which he appreciated. And he gave me a date with my hairdresser to get my hair fancified. Red. Well...auburn...and layered. It's different, not the blah brown anymore.

I had a dream the other night that we adopted a 2-year-old black girl from inner-city Baltimore. I shared it with Chris which made us think. We wouldn't be against adoption, but the legalities and cost seem kind of a pain in the ass, especially as we can make our own babies. Certainly made for an interesting dream.
 

Having conversations with Jack has gotten really interesting. I had one a week or so ago about how he wants to learn the guitar, not the violin or the piano. And then he told me that Lincoln wants to play the guitar too but since it's Jack's guitar he has to learn the piano. Hehehe... And then yesterday when we came home he went on a monster hunt which turned into a bear hunt, just to make sure the house was safe for us. What a hero!

Lincoln is trying to talk a lot more too. He nods his head yes and no which is a big help when trying to get questions answered. He's getting better at animal noises too. His caregivers at daycare have been really working on his verbal skills and you can totally tell. He's also regained an interest in books. For a while he didn't really sit still for them, but he has favorites now that he wants to read over and over just like Jack.

November is done now, and I finished NaNoWriMo. I didn't finish my book, but I'm getting closer. I have slowed down work on it, but not stopped completely. On the job front it's slowed down a little there too, which has been nice. I didn't go to work today because I'm fighting a sinus infection and I needed to get some extra rest per doctor's orders. Besides, I got pink eye and I look pretty contagious.

I felt like I was somewhat constructive, though, because I spent the afternoon applying for all sorts of new jobs. Not that I hate my job, but I'm unsatisfied in some respects. It's hard to say what. I don't like the position I have been put in as a government contractor doing a job I think should be done by a government civilian. I get frustrated with the management in my company because they don't care about the mission, they just care about the money. I guess I'm just not like that. Maybe it would be different if it was me getting the big bonuses at the end of the year, but it's not. Plus the only way to get ahead within the company is to kiss ass and I'm not like that either. So there's really no chance for me to fulfill a leadership role, and that's a bummer. Just think I might be happier somewhere else and frankly I have a lot of skills other places are looking for so why the hell not take a look-see at what I can find.

December...I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping although I don't know what I'm going to get my husband. Have a few ideas, but I'm going to wait until I find the perfect gift. We put up the Christmas tree last night at the request of Jack who has Christmas fever. He sings jingle bells all the time, and carried around a plush Santa and a singing Christmas chicken everywhere. Both of the boys were googly eyed when the tree lit up. It was fun!
 

Wow, it's been a while since I've stopped by which is totally my bad but also the fault of NaNoWriMo. A lot has happened in just a little week and a half span. It seems like we were back at work only a day after Veteran's Day and then I got a call from daycare telling me "It's not an emergency, but Jack was twitching and they had to call the ambulance." I would like to know what they call an emergency. And you would be surprised how many things you can think of when someone tells you your child is twitching. Well, it turns out it was just a really high fever. 105.5!! But it was mostly because he had playing so hard with a high fever. They were able to get him back down to 101 with some cold compresses.

So that was strep throat. Jack had that end of last week through the weekend, and then Lincoln got a stomach bug and passed it on to me. Chris got pink eye. Uncle TJ who is visiting it seems to have caught the strep throat too! It's been crazy here! Finally, everyone but TJ seemed to be on the mend by yesterday. Phew!

On top of that work has been crazy busy as well. I mean, like insane! I can't even begin to start with the whole thing, so you'll just have to take my word for it. And then I come home and throw another 2000 words into my novel and then collapse. I guess that's why I haven't stopped by to update my blog. Or answer emails or any of that jazz. Fortunately, I'm at 45k words for my novel, and once I hit 50k things will slow up a bit. I mean, I still have to finish the novel because it's longer than 50k, but at least I'll be able to allow myself some more time off from it. Great literary success, that's what I'm going for!

Speaking of success, I was discussing that with a friend of mine today. You know what movie totally ruined me forever? Romancing the Stone! Ya know, at the end of that movie she gets carried away on that awesome boat with her lover. Yeah, pretty much best ending ever! That would be my definition of success. Writing the rest of my life away from my own private beach. Now that's what I'm talking about! I start thinking about that around this time of year. Well, usually a little later in the year, but this November is freakishly cold. We had snow showers today and it was just really depressing to me. Some people get all excited, and I'm just like, meh, where's my hot spot in the sand?
 

Just because I am a Veteran doesn't mean I get the day off, but I took it anyway because my kids and husband were off. I wanted to give him a break since he's been great about staying home and watching Link while I work and/or NaNoWrite. Link's been sick again. I swear, he's having a bad fall or something. But today he seemed to be better. I hope he's on the mend...again. Jack must be a rockstar or something because other than an ear infection, he hasn't been sick much at all the last year.

Lincoln has been really good about trying to communicate better. He points to things he wants, and he can shake his head yes or no. He still doesn't say much as far as real words go, but neither did Jack at his age. I think he could say more if he wanted to. He definitely understands what we're saying. If I ask him to do something, he's pretty good about following direction. Of course, Jack tries this too being the older brother and (I guess) naturally bossy, but Lincoln usually does the opposite of what he's asking with a big smile on his face. Hehe...

I took Jack to the movie theater today to see Madagascar 2. This was the first time I tried to take Jack to a movie, and it went okay. We didn't quite make it to the end of the movie, but he got a kick about seeing the animals. In the end, though, he didn't understand the point of sitting still for an hour and a half. In fact, he stood up for most of the movie. Hehe... So towards the end he just turned look at me and said, "I want to go home and play with toys now." Alrighty then. At least he was pretty well-behaved and the dark theater didn't faze him at all.

NaNo is going very well. I'm ALMOST halfway to my monthly goal. I'm at about 22,000 words out of 50,000. I think this novel is actually going to be 75,000 words to really get to the end. It would be great if I could get to the end by the end of the month, but not sure if I'm moving quite THAT fast. We'll see what happens Thanksgiving weekend. *thumbup*

Now that hubby is a government civilian, I keep thinking of doing that myself. I am getting tired of the contractor deal. Uncle Booz is getting on my nerves. My boss doesn't seem to understand me, while the civilian I work under is great and very supportive. I should probably just get over it. I mean, it's just a job anyway. I go to work and it pays for me to keep writing. What can I say? Can't argue with that.
 

http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/title/?th&emc=th

For me, a lot of the issues of this election were eclipsed by the feeling of complete disappointment in previous generations. The generation personified by Bush and McCain seemed to come out of the Vietnam era but hadn't learned any of the lessons of it. Rich people who didn't care a wit about whether people were getting kicked out of people's houses or couldn't afford basic health care.

My vote felt like a teenaged rebellion against "the other Americans." The Americans that for some reason thought they knew what was best for me, but then proceeded to get us into this ridiculous mess. I can only hope we don't do the same for our children and grandchildren, but who knows. When you're at the top, it's hard to see the ants crawling beneath your shoes.
 

I took the day off today "to vote and stuff" as I told my boss. After my 40 minute wait at the polls, let the stuff commence. Stuff is really code for NaNoWriMo as my coworkers understood. Four days in and I'm happy to say that I'm right on schedule for getting it done. I am in love with my story. It's got a lot of people behind it, and that makes me excited to show them what I can do. My concept is essentially about people trying to affect the outcome of football games by jamming coach/player communications. This includes a lot of scenes with football and spy gadgets, both of which get many from my guy friends. The only problem I have is writing about football without sounding like such a girl. The up-side to that is I can justify many hours of watching NFL games - ya know, cause it's research. (This did not help the Redskins win last night. Bummer!)

As of right now the Word Count is: 6271. Not too bad. I'm hoping to get another 3000 words this afternoon which would put me a day ahead of schedule.

Jack has decided to call us "Mom and Dad." So that's new and a little weird because he sounds like a baby teenager especially when he's disagreeing with us. This isn't an entirely accurate comparison since it's very possible he will come up with way more offensive ways to refer to us once he's a teenager. But yeah, he came home one day last week and was just trying it out on us to see if we would respond, and he must have been satisfied because he uses more often than not now. And then there was Sunday morning when I came downstairs and he said "Good morning Becky!" I was like...uh negative, little man! I am not having the creepy antisocial kid who calls his parents by their first names. *shivers*

Still Mama to my Mama's boy Lincoln. He's been in a great mood lately. Full of energy! It's great when he isn't teething or sick. We get our Buddha baby back and he's like the chillin villain we all know and love. Chillin cause he just rolls with it. Villain cause he is a little trouble-maker trying to get his brother mad and laughing about it. And don't forget to feed him. He's ready for snacks anytime anywhere. I have caught him a couple times trying to climb the shelves of the pantry to get to a snack he wants. His morning routine includes breakfast before daycare even though they feed the kids a small breakfast there too. He is just a bear if he doesn't get something before 0800 now, so what can I say? Feed him. And Jack's on-board with that too since cereal is his favorite food now, and any chance to get that kid to eat something is golden. We do what we can.

Halloween was great fun! The boys loved getting dressed up and going for a walk after dark. Jack was all about ringing the doorbell. The only problem was he wanted to go inside everyone's house. Um...not part of the deal, kid! Hopefully, next year that detail will get ironed out. Hehe... They made out really well for only doing our one little street. A lot of the candy has nuts in them which is a no-go, but there were plenty that Jack could have. Even a little milk chocolate seemed to be okay. I think his eczema flared up a bit, but not bad at all. Plus he's been able to eat baked goods that have been made with eggs and milk, so I'm hoping that the rumors are true - he could really grow out of these annoying food allergies!!

Ok, love to stay and chat but have to get back to the novel! Ciao
 

Just within the last month, Jack seems to have crossed some sort of verbal treshold. All of a sudden he is counting much better. He actually says the numbers in order now 90% of the time, and he gets colors right too. Usually, when he's pointing stuff out now, it's blue car, green bus, orange pumpkins, etc. Not only that, he can tell us how he feels. "I'm happy," he says. Sometimes when Link's crying he'll say "Lincoln's sad."

The best of all is the singing. It seems like he's always singing a song. Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABCs, Row Row the Boat, Old McDonald...or sometimes he just makes up his own songs. Very cool!

So yeah, I have to remember 2 years, 4 months. It really seems like he came to a new level. I wonder if it will be similar for Lincoln.

Link has been doing good. Teething and cranky at times, but still fine. He's saying a good many words too and getting a lot steadier on his feet. He is practicing going up and down steps now. I remember Jack doing the same thing.

Unfortunately, this last month has been really bad for colds and coughs and bugs. It seems like we keep passing the same crud back and forth from each others. Just as Link was starting to feel better, Jack started to get sick, and then Chris and I were feeling blah. Now that we're getting better, it seems that it made a full circle and Link's coughing again. *sigh* Guess it's the season for it.

It's been kind of busy for activities lately. Last weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch for hay rides, petting zoo, and pumpkins. The boys had fun. Friday I had a work get-together that involved a scavenger hunt. My team won first prize - a $50 gas card. Very cool! And then yesterday my writing group hosted a NaNoWriMo kick-off party which was a lot of fun. We had like 30 people show up too. Write-ins this next month should be good fun if we keep having that kind of turn-out.

Speaking of NaNo, I'm so ready this year. I am at the starting gate ready to go. I have the first three chapters at least in my head ready to be put to paper. Saturday couldn't get here fast enough. My brother-in-law TJ is also coming on Saturday for a visit. He must be going for uncle-of-the-year. He's awesome with the boys, and it'll be cool to have some extra help keeping them busy while I kick the beginning of this novel out of my head.

Good times ahead indeed!
 

This week has been busy at work. I got a call Wednesday night to come help with a "technical writing emergency." Of course, a technical writing emergency is never a real emergency. It's usually when some big-wig wants something drafted in a short amount of time. This is not life or death, but an elaborate dance of ass-kissing. In this case, the head of one of the office's I work for wants five research papers abstracted and summarized into two pages by this coming Tuesday. I was originally going to take Monday off since it's a federal holiday and the offices will be spooky quiet, but as I'm only through two of these papers, I'm definitely going to be working to finish up.

Lately Jack has been very good. He's gone in the potty a couple times, which is very exciting. He is very content to sit with his blocks or markers and play quietly. Just as fun for him is a run around the lake. Of course, we have yet to make it ALL the way around the lake, but he's building his running speed and stamina slowly but surely. He seems to be fascinated by different kinds of monsters. Not sure how or when this idea formed in his head that we're plagued by monsters everywhere, but it's very seasonally timed with Halloween coming up. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to be afraid of monsters. He just acknowledges that they are there - in the sink for instance when the disposal runs.

I took him to the allergist on Friday for a check-up. We determined that he should be retested a year from now since by age three children can outgrow many food allergies. We're hoping that's the case, but right now he's still very much allergic to eggs and milk. And we've noticed on more than one occasion a sensitivity to citrus.

Lincoln has battling a series of back-to-back colds which don't always keep him home from school, but make it hard for him to truly enjoy playing like he usually does. All of these colds invariably settle in his lungs and make him wheeze. It's a little disconcerting to listen to, and we've resigned ourselves to the fact that he may develop asthma or hay fever later since wheezy colds have been linked to that. That said, he continues to grow and learn. He's saying almost-words that make sense in context. He's enjoying books a lot more now. I am planning to take the boys to the library today, so they can pick out some new books.

Speaking of books...I have been longing to read a genuinely amazing book. Lately, it's been a string of so-so reading. I'm almost done with The Conjurer's Bird, a sleepy little mystery about...well... this bird: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2007/february/news_10423.html. And when I say sleepy I mean if I have to read another chapter about the main characters searching through archives, I'm going to give up. I'm also halfway through Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart, a very intense fantasy novel. There's a lot of physical intrigue and exotic sex scenes, both of which make demands on my patience. It's a 1000 pages long, so I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit getting as far as I have. I haven't been sold on reading the next five of her books yet, but then again I'm only halfway.

Our excursions have been more exciting than the reading by far. Last weekend we all went to the zoo, which proved to be a lot of fun for both the boys. Yesterday, I went to my friend Beth's wedding by myself. It was a Catholic wedding, beautiful, small, and heavy in ritual. They were using a historic chapel built in the 1800s. The reception was at an equally old mansion refurbished and reeking in elegance. When I was leaving to go home last night, I turned back to see it all lit up against the dark sky, and it was just gorgeous. It reminded me of those Jane Austen romances. Next weekend I'm planning to take the boys to the local farm for a hay ride and pumpkin search. That should be fun too.

Other than that, it's a lot of research and outlining in preparation for NaNoWriMo next month.
 

As I've mentioned before, Jack has really been into Dora and Diego, Nick Jr shows, which get recorded on a continuous basis in our house thanks to DVR. These new toddler shows really try to focus on interaction and learning, but I have always kind of doubted whether it really makes a difference. That’s until the other day when Go, Diego, Go had the pooping iguana episode!

Picture this…you need to get the strawberry seeds to the strawberry fields to save the strawberry festival. WHAT DO YOU DO?!?! (a) Put them in a bag and carry them to the field or (b) have your pet iguana eat them and poop them out when you get there. Now you and me…we might go with (a). But Diego? He’s a REAL animal expert and he goes with (b).

That’s right folks! Next thing I know my kids are learning about pooping iguanas. You know what, that’s exactly how seeds get spread around in nature, so maybe this program is really teaching something. Not to mention towards the end the iguana starts complaining to Diego about how bad she has to go to which he says to “hold it.” Maybe that could speak volumes to my son who still hasn’t mastered potty training. Hmm…

Fortunately, the actual pooping part at the end is not as graphic as I expected. My inner potty mouth was extremely amused!

 

Last week Lincoln was sick. I think there's a bunch of bugs floating around now that school has started for the older kids. Poor thing had it settle in his chest again. I was on edge all day Tuesday because it really sounded like he was having problems breathing. Even the doctor said he seemed to be working too hard and not coughing enough to help move the gunk out. Fortunately, the antibiotics he got worked like a charm, and he seemed back to his old self by Friday.

If that wasn't enough, our whole house seemed to be beset with fleas. Wednesday when I was staying home with Link, my old tabby cat Syler, came in and sat in my lap. And he was just covered with those suckers. I nearly threw up, it was so disgusting. Both the cats that stay inside received flea baths and flea treatments. And we got a carpet spray to get the buggers that nested. So after spraying the whole house and vacuuming like everyday, sometimes twice a day, the tide turned against the fleas on Saturday. Made for a nice relaxing weekend.

And ya know, my house is the cleanest it has been EVER!

It was raining all day Saturday, but yesterday was nice. We spent a significant amount of time outside. I took Jack over to the library where I explained about checking out books. He loved the kids area where they had blocks and toys and a rocking horse (!!!). I just sat and read a book I picked up. Already the library books have been great to have as a nice change at bedtime. We get tired of reading the same stuff over and over and over. Sometimes twice in a row.

I read it's the same with foods for toddlers...they want the same thing over and over. Maybe that's the issue with Jack. He has been really picky lately. And he was already a pretty picky eater. Sometimes it doesn't seem like he eats anything. No one knows how he's growing.

The funniest kid thing lately has been Jack's new heavy metal voice. He likes to start talking in this low raspy voice to be funny. It's funny!
 

Lincoln made it! He made it a year! Back in the day, of course, this would be a huge thing since infant disease took so many babies. Thanks to modern medicine and whatnot, the only thing we need to worry about is SIDS and choke hazards. Lincoln celebrated by refusing his cake but eating all of his spaghetti dinner.

He opened his gifts infuriatingly slow...for Jack's tastes...because he insisted on throwing away random scraps of paper as he went along. And really he was only mildly interested in new toys anyway. His big thrill was practicing going up and down the stairs.

It was unbelievably hot this weekend, which made me think of the beginning of summer (right after Jack's bday) when we had 100-degree heat indexes. Funny that the cusps of our summer are kids' birthdays. Seems very witchy to me!

The big excitement this weekend was my Mom coming up to celebrate Link's birthday with us. Jack was very excited! He asked for Grandma all day on Friday before she even got here. Last night Mom and I talked about making plans to visit my brother in Taiwan. I haven't been out of the country since going to the Middle East, and I would love to see Asia! Chris, being such a sweetheart, is all for it! I have a cousin studying in England too, and it would be fun to go there sometime in the next couple years too. Airfare is so expensive these days, but it would be worth it to have a truly memorable experience.

Other notables:

Jack has been spitting on things lately. I consider him past the age now where drooling is acceptable. And now it's gotten to where he likes to spray every one with spit. Also, trying to limit how much "Dora" he watches...mostly for our own sanity.

Chris is starting a job at the Agency on Monday. Same position, same work, same office even, just different job. He will be a government civilian now, instead of a contractor.

And then there's me...nothing new with me except I had a head cold last week. Mom did bring me some old boxes that I had left in her basement from forever ago. I found notes and old diary entries from middle school and high school. Man, reading that stuff was hilarious!! And seeing pictures of me back then! I'll tell you what...seeing me with short hair back then cured me of wanting to cut my hair for a long time!
 

Yesterday was the first day of gymnastics for Jack...or as Jack likes to say 'nastics. I had been toying with the idea of entering him in a tumbling class for a while. He loves to jump and climb, and I figured a class like that would give him some ideas as to how to move around. When my friend Adlin at work said she was signing her daughter up at a nice gym close by, I thought I should go ahead and do the same.

I was right. Jack loved it. After getting used to the new faces in his class and the new environment, he really got into it. And the rest of the day he was trying to somersaults that he had learned. So they worked on balance beam skills, jumping from left to right with your hands on the ground (beginner cart-wheels), trampoline, and hanging from the bar. And of course, there was plenty of fun in the foam pit and jungle gym. I was impressed by the program, and it was nice to see that there was only six in his class - 3 boys, 3 girls.

Lincoln has been really fussy this weekend because he's getting another tooth in. My sweet buddha baby has been quicker to cry now that the teething is coming on fast and furious. He has seven teeth now and will eat a lot of table foods. We haven't had to give him baby food in the last week. My new favorite thing for a quick meal is the mini-Lunchables which has the meat and cheese pre-cut into small chunks for toddlers.

Yesterday we got a ton of rain because Tropical Storm Hanna stopped by. We took the opportunity to take a rain walk. It was a hard-core rain walk because it was pouring. The boys loved it because they got to splash in on the puddles.

This is the first week of NFL, and we're trying to get Jack excited. I got him a Ravens jersey which he has been excited to wear all day. I'm not too enthusiastic about the Ravens's chances, but at this point everyone has a shot at the Super Bowl.
 

Maine is gorgeous! At least it was last week with 80-degree and sunny weather. Chris's grandpa has a lovely log cabin-style house right on the water, so the views were fantastic. There was a private beach that we took the kids to a couple times. Lincoln wasn't as into the sand and stuff, but Jack sure had a good time.

Grandpa W's house had a nice closed off porch, so it was easy to let the kids come in and out and not having to worry about them wandering off. They rented highchairs and a toddler bed, so we didn't have to haul up all our baby gear, just the playpen and stroller. Overall, it was much nicer to stay in an actual house than having to confine ourself to a hotel room.

The other nice thing about this vacation compared to the other trips we took was there was no schedule. We did a lot of sitting around, enjoying the sunshine, watchng the kids play and run around. We did things for sure, but we didn't try to squeeze too much stuff in one day.

Boothbay Harbor has some nice places for kids, even as little as mine were. There was the railway museum which was a minature set up of an old town that you can explore with a train that circles around it. Both the boys loved the train and feeding the goats. Jack also liked this huge building they had of old-fashioned cars. Then there was the little aquarium that they had. It was small, but perfect size for Jack who liked the tanks where you could touch sharks and starfish and stuff like that.

I got a chance to talk to Kathy, my step-mother-in-law, and Debbie, my step-grandmother-in-law. Both of which are like kindred spirits to me. We had a lot of time gabbing, and Kathy and I actually went to the town a few times to shop around.

There was yummy food. I actually tried my hand at cracking lobster, but I didn't get far. There was too much gook and whatnot coming out, and I was losing my appetite. So Chris disassembled it for me, and I ate the "good stuff." It was very good!

So the downside to Maine is it's like 10 hrs away by car. But fortunately, we didn't have a big problems with the kids on the road trip. I was anticipating a lot of fussing, but they were rock stars. I just put a toy box between their car seats and packed plenty of snacks, and they were just fine and dandy.

Link is such a big guy now. He walks all over the place, and even says a few words - up, hi, hello, uh oh, mama, dada, cat, Jack (sorta). Jack is doing a good job verbalizing what he wants too.

The vacation was so relaxing I finally was able to get that application in to the professional writing masters program that I have been wanting to start.