Date

Mike and I are going out on the town this Friday night. It will be the second time that we have left Lucas at home with a sitter to venture out on our own and date again. This time, though, it will be a little different. He is older and wiser and perhaps may start having separation anxiety soon. This time, too, we are having the sitters feed and put him to bed rather than already having him asleep as we did the last time. It will be interesting to see how he does. I think that we will remain close to home in case it doesn't go smoothly. We are testing Lucas out to see if we can go to Mike's office Christmas party in a couple weeks leaving him with some friends.

TPed

My kid is going to be an excellent prankster. He has already gotten down the proper technique of quickly unrolling toilet paper. He climbed up to it in the bathroom yesterday and I watched as he proceeded to pull and spin the roll onto the floor. He was giddy with excitement. Today he continues to attempt to play with his wonderful new toy. But the mean mama that I am won't let him. I am a regular fun spoiler. Why can't Lucas like normal toys?

Klutz

That would be me lately! In the past week I have broken a bowl, a wine glass, and a cute Christmas mug just this morning. When I pulled out the never been used china for Thanksgiving, I noticed one chip and when I was putting it away there was another. With my record, I probably did that, too. It's just stuff, I keep telling myself and "chip happens." But I still feel like a clumsy idiot.

Pooped

Well, I survived hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey turned out delicious and to my knowledge no one got sick or died after eating it. AND I ate whatever I wanted as a special exception to my awful diet. Lucas has shown no signs of reaction (yet anyway). Yeah!

I have been exhausted from all of the precleaning, decorating, dishes before and after (we finally used the wedding china), cooking and all of my other day-to-day stuff. I also made a wicked turkey soup afterwards with the carcass (how gross does that sound?).

We even decorated our house for Christmas with the nativity set, tree and candles. The boy loves it, especially the tree that is all lit up and spinning, and full of yummy looking ornaments he wants to put in his mouth. The bottom foot of the tree is naked, though, so he can't grab one and pull it down.

Only 28 days until Christmas and 26 days until his first flight across the country! So much shopping, packing and preparing yet to do. I need a nap.

Up, Up and Away

Tonight, my little monkey son climbed up our entire staircase, about 20 stairs. He did this all by himself, with me in tow only to catch him if he fell. I think that he heard his dada upstairs and wanted to be with him. He was quick, too. It only took him a few minutes. He is going to be a handful, this one.

Photo Op

Well, we finally got our portrait done last night. Our appointment was at 6:15 and it wasn't until 7:30 or so that we were photographed. We had to wait over an hour in a sweltering room with a wiggly little boy. We sat, painfully watching another family get theirs taken, just wishing that their stinkin' baby would smile so that they would be done and get out of our way. Lucas did the same thing, though, when it was our turn. That was the hardest part...trying to hold a pose and not laugh or look at Lucas while the photographer was doing everything in her power to get him to grin. None of them turned out perfect. Either Mike looked drunk, I looked ugly, or Lucas wasn't looking or was half hidden behind his daddy. We picked the best one and moved on with our life. Maybe we will avoid going to the cheapest place next year. You get what you pay for.

Daily Grind

My son has a new favorite thing to do (besides wearing me out from chasing him all over the house including UP the stairs and slowly driving me crazy). He does something that is as bad as running nails down a chalk board. It makes me cringe just thinking about it.

The kid LOVES grinding his pearly whites-two on the bottom and one on top. What a horrific thing to do! I have insane tooth issues, so it is probably one of the worst things that he could do at this point. What if he ground them down to nubs and then hit a nerve ending? Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Was that a Ren & Stimpy episode or a nightmare of mine?

Picture Perfect

Yesterday we attempted to get a family portrait done at Olan Mills for our Christmas cards. It was a doomed attempt from the get go. I tried to make an appointment about 10 times, but everytime I called the studio the phone just rang and rang. It was infuriating to me. Just get freakin' voice mail people! I hate bad customer service. They have the best deal in town, though, so I just put up with it rather than find another photographer. Finally we decided to just go in and either get an immediate time slot if available or schedule it while there.

I'd been thinking about what we would wear to somewhat coordinate together all week. Unfortunately, when getting dressed we found most of the clothes chosen needed ironing (or washing). Anxious to go, we hoped that the stains and wrinkles wouldn't show up in the photo.

Right before we left, Lucas did a face plant from standing into a toy filled bucket. He only screamed for a few seconds until I comforted him, but he had an long, angry red mark on his cheek. It looked awful.

As we were loading into the car and Mike was grumbling about how bad the timing of the photo was. I lost it and started lauging like a lunatic. The picture may turn out terrible but what memories we would have. In the end, we had to schedule it for later next week. Maybe we'll all be healed, washed and unwrinkled by then. Probably not.

Shattered

Gone are the dreams of Lucas gracing the covers of the magazines and wearing a thong diaper for the Baby Abercrombie catalog.

The appointment went well, as far as he was concerned. He was well behaved and cute as usual. I was praying about it on the drive there and I heard a voice in my head saying, "Turn around and go home." Hmmmm, not a good sign. The voice could have been my own, yet I kept hearing it. I figured that there was no harm in checking it out, though. The "agency" seemed like a shady establishment as soon as we entered with cheap modern furniture, a loud animal print rug and blaring disco music. We met with the "producer" and she showed me all these business cards for children that they represent. In the end, I asked if there was any cost to the parents and she waved it off as only a few hundred dollars for the photos. A few hundred turned out to be almost $700 to over a thousand depending on the package that you chose. I am supposed to call her back today to see if they want Lucas. Whatever, we don't want them. Scam artists.

Early Bird

I am so not a morning person. Yet today I arose at the sick early time of 5 a.m. to run with my new partner, Tammy. We met at 5:30 for a 2 mile jog in the cold, misty, still pitch black, morning. I was home by 6 and crawled back into my flannel sheets (only slightly sweaty) for another hour and a half of snoozin'. Lucas really slept in this morning, but I didn't get to take full advantage of it. I do feel great, though, and we are doing it again on Thursday. Oh and for the record, Tammy, picked the time, not me. I wanted to do it in the evenings when our husbands were home to watch the kids (she has 3), but she is too tired by then. And I would prefer going a bit later in the a.m., but her husband leaves at 6:15 for work, so I'm stuck. It's that or run alone which was not really happening.

We passed another hardcore early runner on our way back to her place and I called out "Good Morning" in an entirely too chipper and overly loud voice for that time of day. Maybe I am a morning person after all.

Mom Prom

I have some fun plans coming up this weekend. My mom's group from church is having a "Mom Prom." Yes, it is the same group where Lucas got beat up a month or so ago. Anyway, the ladies are getting all dressed up and going out together for a night on the town without the kids or spouses. It will be nice to hang out with friends without children interrupting and clinging to us for a change. I don't know what that feels like anymore.

Baby Super Model

Tomorrow we have an appointment/interview with a child talent agency. They are seeking baby models for print ads for Baby Gap and Pottery Barn Kids. They liked his fireman photo for those of you that have seen it. Maybe Lucas will be the next child Zoolander. I keep having him practice his baby blue steel look and he almost has it down. Let's just hope that he is not in a fussy mood at the personality interview. So exciting!

Sorry Aunt Katie

Lucas is no longer a vegetarian. Today he had his first meat:chicken. It came out of a jar, was mixed with his favorite sweet potatoes and tasted...like chicken. Yummy!! I can't believe how quickly he is turning into a real boy. He is able to feed himself little snacks like cheerios, graham crackers and gerber fruit and veggie puffs. Tonight he grabbed a tortilla chip dipped in salsa off my plate and jammed it in his mouth. His hands are lightning quick. The thing was half chewed up by the time I was able to pry his jaws open and dig it out of his mouth. He didn't even seem fazed by the hot salsa. What a kid!

Friday I'm in Love

Tonight is our first date night since we instituted the weekly tradion recently. Mike and I have been out alone only once since Lucas was born 8 months ago. It's tough to do without shelling out big bucks for a baby sitter (and we are not sure that we are entirely trusting of any one besides other parents yet). How much do baby sitters charge now anyway? I was $5 per hour years ago.

We are not going out, but dating at home once Lucas goes to bed at 8 pm. Our typical date these days involves renting a DVD or turning on the T.V. There has got to be more to do than this but after almost 11 years together, we have run out of ideas/creativity. My friend suggested lighting candles, drinking wine and just talking. Now we are on to something. I just have to buy some candles and wine. Any other at home hot date ideas? And no, Mike, it can't include the freakin' computer or office;-).

Trick or Treat

This year, I had the idea to give out something different instead of our standard chocolate treats (since I couldn't enjoy the leftovers). Wendy's was selling coupon books for free Frosty's so we bought those instead. I was feeling pretty good about our cool goodies until Mike burst my bubble right before the first Trick or Treaters arrived. "You'll have to get the door and give them out. They're lame treats." "WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me before...?" Ding Dong. I was mortified and opened the door, my face flushed only to be staring at Darth Vader. "I apologize for the lame treats Mr. Vadar, but we just wanted to do something different this year." I did not even try to use any of my sales techniques. Darth reassured me that it was ok and seemed happy with the treat. In fact, everyone was quite thrilled. One group of high school boys said something about our house being the best one yet. So it was cool after all. Shew, here I thought that we were going to be egged.

My old friend

I almost gave up on you. After years spent together, I thought that I was over you and didn't need you in my life anymore. You made me feel guilty when I wasn't around you and started costing me too much money. And then I decided to give you one last try, went for a jog, and I'm hooked once again. At least for now.

The weather is great and I am trying to get back into running. I just can't seem to get motivated or into a routine without a partner. I may have solved the partner problem, though. I have a "date" with a new potential next Wednesday. She lives in the next neighborhood and is a mom of a little one Lucas' age. We'll see if it works out. She may even be interested in doing a full or half marathon. There still is hope for us yet. Now if I can only find some new shoes. My favorite kind, Mizuno Legends, are no longer being made. Curses. Even the shoe manufacturers are trying to keep us apart.

Blah, blah, blog

Well, here's the update:
Lucas is 8 months old today.
I am finally feeling better-no more fever and hardly any sore throat.
It is ok for me to have citrus again and I am trying eggs this week.
Oh and Uh Oh Oreos are ok for me to have!

Life is getting better!