The view from up here…

Tonight Ted asked me if I could remember not having a baby. Seriously? Hell YEAH, I can remember. It was a lot easier and waaaaay more relaxing. Of course I didn’t really appreciate it at the time. I mourn the loss of that pre-parenthood world often. Then I look at her amazing little face and I forget all about that. Yeah, it’s hard, but it’s totally worth it.

He claims he can hardly recall life before her. He says it seems like she’s been here forever. Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one I guess. I think the past two years have flown by at an alarming rate and I recall very vividly when we were scared to take the leap into this new life.  Funny how our two experiences as parents can be so similar in so many ways, yet the view can be so different.

Different perspectives aside, the view from up here is pretty good.

Like so many others before her, yet totally unique.

Sometimes it’s tough to come up with a really great post. I like to be either sentimental and touching, or really weird funny. Life is pretty good right now. It’s somewhat stressful too. Mostly in good ways. There are things I want to write about, but can’t just yet. No, I am not pregnant. I just have a few things in flux. Things I want to keep close to the chest for a while. Good things.

What I’d like to say today is that my daughter is the bomb, ya’ll. She’s funny and smart and sometimes a tad naughty, but mostly she’s just as she should be. KC is going to be 2 very soon. This is so unbelievable to me, but I will save all my thoughts about that until we are closer to the day. You can be sure I will post about the party and whether I’ll be baking a cake myself again this year and basically blathering on about how “my baby is growing up”! Sniff, sniff.

In the meantime, here are some things she is doing lately that just make me grin, giggle and sigh with pride:

• She likes to sit with me on the couch while she drinks milk and watches cartoons. Sometimes she pats the couch and says, “Sit here.”
• When she wants us to follow her somewhere, she will look back and say, “Come on.” as she motions to us with her tiny hand.
• Since our vacation she’s become very aware of planes. We get a lot overhead since we live near an airport. She loves to look for them behind the big, old oak trees that cover the sky in our yard. She yells out, “Airplane! There it is!” then if it goes behind some branches she’ll confirm, “Airplane. Gone.”
• She dances when she hears music. I need to capture the “monster stomp” or the “Frankenstein” as Ted calls it. She kind of shifts from one foot to the other, back and forth, while bending her knees a little. Hard to explain, but very cute.
• When she wants to go outside (which is constantly) she says, “Shoes on.” Then she usually goes to find a pair of hers. Lately, however, she’s taken to also grabbing a pair of mine and bringing them over to set down right by my feet. Sometimes she even tries to put them on me. The other day she brough me one pair, but it was a pair I didn’t want to wear. I tested her a little by saying, “Not those. Get the ones under the table. Out there.” I pointed out toward the living room. I’ll be damned if she didn’t go retrieve them right away. Now we just have to start trying this with beer. Just kidding. Kind of.

All these things I speak of here on this blog and the numerous other things she does every day are not really that amazing I suppose. Plenty of babies came before her and dazzled their parents in exactly the same ways. It’s been going on since humans first appeared I’m sure. However, that doesn’t matter. When it’s your child it’s as if no other human has ever been so cute, so smart, so funny. It’s really cool.

As long as their are proud parents to yammer on about their kids, there will be unsuspecting strangers/friends/blog readers who get to hear it all over again. And again. Thanks for reading/listening!

Massaging the Numbers

So, last week I didn’t exactly weigh-in like I was supposed to. I guessed what my weight must be given that I was on vacation and didn’t work out. Well, aside from doing a lot of walking. I assumed that I was holding at 151. I assumed wrong. I weighed myself at the gym yesterday and I am way back up to 154.5. Gulp. Guess I really did fall off the wagon these past couple of weeks. Right into a big bucket of ice cream with chocolate syrup and chocolate chips on top.

You know what they say about assume. It makes for a smaller ass on u and me. However, it also makes for a shocker when you finally get on the scale.

I’m back at the gym this week though, and all the good ice cream is gone from my freezer. For now. (I just can’t have that stuff around ya’ll.) I am also trying to substitute bagels and low-fat cream cheese for the usual 6-8 cookies I have at work every morning. (What? They’re the reduced fat kind. Back off.) I should really try fruit and yogurt instead, but for some reason I just can’t do it in the morning. I CRAVE CARBS. The muffin/donut/cookie kind in particular.

Man, being really healthy is not easy. I’m so glad that my daughter seems to really enjoy lots of fruits and vegetables. She’s barely two so that could change very soon. However, I hope she’s lucky enough to crave that stuff instead of the sweet, cakey stuff like me. On the other hand, she also really likes chips and dip (mostly the dip part) and ice cream and bacon…mmmmm…bacon.

Oops. Drool on the keyboard.

Movie Time

Bust out the popcorn and the Junior Mints. It’s time for some videos! I don’t post many videos. The truth is, most of the videos we capture are pretty boring. KC standing around about 30 seconds AFTER she did something cute/funny and now we are just hoping we can coax her to do it again. Not so much.

These two videos were taken in Minnesota. We were sitting eating a hot dog and ice cream lunch from Dairy Queen. They will probably be interesting to…oh…I don’t know…no one. Well, except maybe to GG. KC actually mentions “GG and Gramps” in video #2. Other than that, it’s just her being cute and laughing with Daddy. She mentions “poopie” at the end of both, which is sort of funny. If you are into that kind of thing.

Exercise? I am not familiar with this term.

So remember how I was all gung-ho about exercise and stuff? Oh, right! Exercise! It’s been a while. I fell off the wagon shortly before vacation and am still sitting on the trail looking dazed and confused. (Just between you and me, I think Cookie Monster pushed me off. He’s a mean bastard since he became a vegetarian or whatever.)

I am still taking part in the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans challenge. Although the challenge going on now is almost done. My weight is holding steady at 151 lbs. No real loss for this challenge. As a matter of fact I was down to 150 at one point and then went right back up. That’s ok though. I’ll blame it on my long vacation.

I made one positive step today. I signed up for the Navy 5 Miler on Sept. 20th. Now let’s just see if I can keep in running shape without benefit of a team and coaches. I have a copy of Women’s Running on my desk. Damn, those chicks in the photos with their cute shorts and their slick pony tails make you think it must be so easy to run out the door and feel fabulous! You could almost just stare at those photos and read all the articles and PLAN to go running and that alone would give you some feeling of accomplishment. Almost. But, not quite. At some point you have to grab your shoes and go.

Quick! Somebody catch that monkey.

KC has burst full throttle into a new stage of development. It seemed to coincide with our vacation, but in reality, I’m sure it crept up slowly like all other stages and we just didn’t notice it until we were hundreds of miles from home. She’s almost 2 and it shows. She gets a little crazy sometimes. Not necessarily BAD crazy, just crazy. She likes to explore everything. People are always saying, “That’s such a good sign! Curiosity is great!” I agree. I do. However, it’s kind of hard to deal with sometimes.

Case in point. I took her to my office on Friday for a visit. She had not been there since she was about 3 months old. She was totally adorable and entertaining. Not shy at all. She bolted around the office like a little monkey on speed. I had to run around after her and make sure she didn’t touch or take everything she liked. My officemates are great people. Everyone seemed to enjoy seeing her and she even scored a cute stuffed animal from one of my friends.

I had planned to take her to lunch along with two of my co-workers, but I had to beg off. She was clearly full of energy and I just knew sitting in a restaurant wasn’t going to work for her. Ted and I discovered this on vacation more than once. I have just accepted it now. For a little while we will avoid eating in restaurants with her. Drive thru McDonald’s taken somewhere that she can run. That’s a better plan! So that’s what I did.

My friends were understanding. I think I really looked the part of the worn out Mom when I arrived. It was a hot day and carrying her across hot parking lots, up stairs and basically just trying to keep her from jumping off furniture and running randomly down hallways had taken it’s toll. We not only visited my office, but had just come from an appointment at Children’s ENT department prior to that.* It was time for lunch and a nap. For both of us.

I joked with one co-worker that taking her places sometimes makes me feel like I am Jack Hannah and I am visiting the Tonight Show with the worlds’s craziest monkey. It’s not the first time I’ve made the joke that I feel more like her “handler” than her mom. She’s a handful, our little girl. She’s awesome and she’s funny and she’s so smart. I love it. It’s just tough following that little monkey around in places unfamiliar. I wouldn’t want her to hurt herself. Or poop in someone’s shoe.

Not the most flattering photo of either of us, but you get the point.

*KC had a bunch of ear infections during about a 6 month period. It’s customary to get that checked by an ENT specialist. They saw nothing of concern…ears looked great, hearing is fine. No worries unless the infections kick back up again. Then we may take another visit. I had to have tubes in my ears as a kid. Remains to be seen if this will also happen with her.

Welcome to EXOTIC DULUTH!*

Every time anyone asked Ted where we were headed for vacation, he would say with a grin, “Exotic Duluth!” (Minnesota, that is.) Totally makes me laugh. I guess it’s funny because most people don’t think of Minnesota when they think of an exotic or exciting getaway. However, truth be told, northern MN is pretty spectacular in the summertime. I would know. I’ve been going there almost every summer since I was born.

So! Vacation came and went. I’ve been off the blog so long, I’m not even sure what to write. I guess I’ll start where I left off.

WE FLEW. ON AN AIRPLANE. WITH AN ALMOST TWO YEAR OLD. AND WE LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT.

Yes, my stomach was in knots on the flight out there. Yes, KC did get a tad rambunctious on the first leg of our flight out. However, after that, she was completely chill. She slept on the 2nd flight to Minneapolis from Chicago. We had a brief glimpse of hell in the terminal on our journey back home when KC decided to pick the waiting area just 20 minutes shy of boarding to morph into a complete freak. She ran around and screamed bloody murder whenever we tried to hold her or stop her. She even picked this time to take a crap in her ALREADY JUST CHANGED diaper. This resulted in me wrestling her on the floor of the bathroom stall to perform the quickest change ever due to the fact that the plane was boarding and had already called “Group 4″ by that time. Blaag@#$%aaalalalala&*%$#gahhh. (New word. Feel free to use it.)

Miraculously, she got it all out of her system and morphed back to the adorable child I actually gave birth to just as we got on the plane. She really seemed to dig the planes. I also think she “got it” when we pointed to them out on the tarmac and told her, “We are getting on a plane!”

Basically, any Fear of Flying I had disappeared. Also, may I take a moment to add that the portable DVD player is the most ingenious invention know to mankind. For real. My daughter watched TONS of videos while we were on this trip and – I MAKE NO APOLOGY FOR IT. NONE. (She watches lots at home too. I make only minor apologies for that.)

HOOKED UP!

Seriously though, we had a great trip. We got to do so many things and KC had so many firsts…first zoo visit…first aquarium…first time meeting some of our cousins…first time seeing the Gordon family cabin and first time seeing so many of the landmarks that I grew up seeing on vacations with my parents. It was really awesome. WE HAD FUN. All three of us.

The amazing views from our rental cabin didn’t hurt either. We were really excited about this place and it totally delivered. Worth every penny. (It’s called Breezy Point in case you are ever in Two Harbors.)

Pictured here: Exotic Two Harbors

We drove around a lot on this trip. From a Duluth hotel, to the Two Harbors cabin and on to another hotel near Minneapolis. All the driving and packing and visiting could have made for some crabby moods on all our parts, but that didn’t ever really happen. Of course we each had minor moments. Daddy got pretty irate at AVIS on the way home. (Some nonsense about it costing $136 because we got the car back an hour late. I’m not even totally sure. AVIS, you officially suck to us now.) KC had quite a few moments in restaurants as well. Apparently we don’t do well at restaurants anymore. Just in time for vacation! Sweet! No big deal though. There was always room service, full kitchenettes or family cooking for us in places where “a kid can be a kid”. The misbehaving stayed at a minimum and generally only came from those under two(ish)…

See? Very minimal. Daddy is really quite happy here.

I want to thank all our family (both Gordon AND Doran) who were so hospitable while we were there. You guys made it easier for us to relax. GG and Gramps even took KC for two separate nights while Daddy and Mommy got drunk had romantic time together. Other family members gave us much needed breaks while we visited them via cousins who were of babysitting age. (Hmm. Babysitters. It’s about time we found one of those here in VA.) Really the biggest negative from this trip is the horrific pile of laundry I am working my way through. I packed too much, yet managed to not have enough clothes. Figures.

*To those who came to this post hoping for travel/city info on either Duluth, MN or Duluth, GA, my deepest apologies for misleading you. If you read the whole thing anyway, thanks! You totally rock. Either that or you were just to dumb to stop reading and continue your info search elsewhere. If you scrolled to the bottom as soon as you saw the asterisk in the title you are obviously too smart for this blog. Go away.