Oh my goodness, we're actually planning a vacation!

Craig and I are cruising toward our 10th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe. While we're not taking a cruise to some exotic location, getting a hut in the South Pacific, or jetting off to Europe, we did want to do something special to mark this occasion. After much discussion, narrowing down of locations, and debating what we wanted out of this trip... we have settled on a destination!

Charleston, South Carolina here we come!

We're going next month... what I need is suggestions on places to eat and where to stay. We'll probably use Priceline or Hotwire, but I'm open to specific suggestion or suggestions of what part of the area would be good. Also... any thoughts on whether we ought to rent a car? I'm thinking we should.

Very excited!!!!

T-Ball Time!

I've crossed a new bridge in parenting... I'm now a sports parent! Alex started t-ball last week. The kids on his team are 4 and 5 years old. He's the second shortest kid on his team... comes by that honestly as neither Craig nor myself are all that tall. At this age, it's all about learning the skills and rules. No outs. Everyone bats every inning. They only take one base at a time. Games only last an hour. He did have an advantage over the other kids... he's had a tee since last summer and he's gotten pretty good at hitting. I'm proud to say he was the first kid up to bat in his game. He smacked the ball really hard on his first swing, and would have had an in-the-park homerun had the no-run rule not been enforced. Yes, I'm bragging. He had a blast and so did we... even the wee one!

Strawberry Time!

My strawberries have gone nuts again this year, thanks to tons of rain and heat. Unfortunately all that rain has led to much of the crop rotting on the ground before I could pick it. I will probably be able to get one batch of jam out of this year's crop.

My struggle with strawberries is... I'm the only one in the family who really likes them. So I start to get burned out on eating them after a bit. The jam was a big hit last year... I made two batches of freezer jam. We're still eating on it and my mom is always happy to take some.

This year, I was determined to get Alex to try strawberries. Alex, being distinctly my child, is a picky eater. I gave my mother fits growing up, refusing to eat so many things it would take weeks to list it all here. I have outgrown this picky-ness quite well, I think. Alex is coming around. I insisted that he stop saying "I hate that!" about foods he hasn't tried. Instead, he's supposed to say "I've never tried that." It's actually working, and I've gotten him to try a few new foods over the past month or so. I figured we'd give strawberries a shot since I knew we'd have a lot of them.

He wanted to help me pick the strawberries and I told him he could, but he would have to eat a strawberry. He said, "I won't eat a strawberry, but I would try a strawberry smoothie."

Alright! I have an entire smoothie cookbook. And I only make healthy smoothies, so I was THRILLED!

Tonight was the night. He pronounced the smoothie "So delicious!"

Here's the recipe:

2-3 cups whole strawberries
1 banana
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 to 1/2 cup plain low-fat or fat free yogurt
Ice if desired

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Makes about 3 good sized smoothies.

The Wait is Over

I saw "Sex and the City 2" yesterday! I made up my mind that I was going to see it opening weekend because I completely missed the first one in theaters. I have loved this series since the beginning. The clothes, the fashion, the friends... oh, and the hot guys they dated! I have seen every episode at least twice. In fact, I own seasons 1-5. (I'm so obsessed that I have the first season on VHS, and want to get it on DVD.) I still need to get both parts of season 6 so I can have the whole series. I ended up going with a girl from work. We had a great time. I wanted to dress up, but we were going to the 1130 AM show on Sunday, so that might have been a bit much. I did, however, make sure to wear my most fabulous shoes.I went in to the movie with very low expectations. The first one was good fun. The reviews for this one have been mostly bad. My thoughts?

It was way too long, to begin with. At 2 hours 20 minutes, it was just too much. Story wise, I like the more serious problems the ladies faced (challenges of motherhood, putting sparkle back in your relationship, etc), I thought the trip to Abu Dhabi was just a bit too out there. Fabulous to look at and it was a fun romp, but just out of left field.

Edited to add: How could I forget... my other beef was that all the men except Big were basically accessories. We didn't see nearly enough of Harry, Steve, Stanford, Anthony, and even Smith. I do admit, Aiden was gorgeous as always, but each of those guys was on screen for less than 10 minutes! You mean to tell me Miranda and Charlotte wouldn't have had to discuss the "drop everything and go to Abu Dhabi" trip??

I did enjoy the conversation between Charlotte and Miranda about motherhood. That was very real... I know I could relate. Especially when Charlotte said "It's really hard. And I have help? How do women do it without help." Then they raised their drinks and said "To them." I loved that scene!

I'm glad I went. I hope if they do a third, they find a way to get the movie somewhere between the first and the second content wise. I'm interested to hear from other fans of the show. What did you think? Or are you even going to see it?

Catching up, Again

So Adam is nearly 6 months old. He's been very busy since my last update.




So far he's:
- Sleeping through the night . YES!





- Sort of rolling over back to front. he did it once, but mostly gets to his side and then just lays there.

- Started solid foods. Rice cereal and bananas so far. Hoping to add a veggie this weekend, then keep adding one of each over the next few weeks.

- Laughing hysterically at his big brother. It's so cute. Adam's face just lights up when Alex is around.

Mom the Mediator

Add mediator to my list of responsibilities as a mom.

No, Alex and Adam aren't having fights yet. Alex is still enamored of his little brother and I hope to keep things that way for awhile.

This mediation session was for Alex and....


wait for it...


Lou, the sock monkey.

Apparently Alex and Lou the sock monkey have not been getting along.

For over a week, Lou was face down on the floor in a corner of Alex's room.

I never know the rhyme or reason for the placement of certain stuffed toys in Alex's bedroom.
I figure there is some sort of heirarchy, but I don't plan to try to figure it out.

Last night, I picked Lou up and tried to put him back on Alex's bed.

"No, Mom. He's in trouble."

"Why?"

"He's not very nice to me. He's not my friend anymore."

"What happened."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Do you need me to have a talk with Lou?"

So I sat Mr. Lou Sock Monkey on my lap, and talked to him. Lou felt very bad about being mean to Alex. He even cried a little.

Lou managed to apologize to Alex, and after a few high fives and hugs, Lou was back in his coveted spot. Right next to Alex under the covers, his little sock monkey face peeking out.

Apparently the talk worked. It's been a week now since the chat and Alex reported to me last night that I didn't need to have any more talks with Lou because he was being good.

Success!

Hitting My Stride...

I feel like I'm finally hitting my stride in a number of ways.

Work is going great. Despite an interesting few weeks with a new manager, the work part of it is going really well. I'm excited about the projects I've been assigned to and really looking forward to how we're going to top ourselves as a team, because we had a great year last year.

Adam has slept through the night for the past week. Hopefully not cursing it. Alex has been doing pretty well too. Both boys had trips to the doctor last week. Alex had a sinus infection that was so bad it was causing him headaches and stomachaches. And I took Adam in on Friday with the tell-tale signs of pink eye and the very beginnings of an ear infection. So they are both on antibiotics and well on the mend.

It was a gorgeous day here today, so I laced up my shoes and went for a run. It's the first time I've run outside in over a year. I've been running at the Y when I can, usually while Alex has swimming. I'm hoping to get in some sort of decent condition so I can hit a few 5Ks this summer. I'm not there yet. So we'll see how it goes. It really felt good.

I hope the weather stays nice... it's been awfully cold the last week. But I'm hoping that we've turned the corner to spring. And I hope that both the weather and I can stay on the sunny path for awhile!