Nearly Wordless Wednesday

As promised, here are some more photos from my nephew TJ's 2nd birthday party at The Little Gym:
It's my party and I will take my ball and go if I want to.

In fact, if I want two, I'm gonna take two.  Because I am two.
(And, my, that's a lot of bubbles.)

Slam dunk assist from Dad

Wait a minute, Dad - isn't this party for the kids?
(Seriously, my brother-in-law had more fun than some of the kids, I think.)

It's not a birthday party without cake and singing!

Thanks for the great party, Mommy!
(P.S. I think you should get that bouncy thing for Daddy's next birthday, too.)

7 Quick Tuesday Takes - really trying edition

The point of "7 Quick Tuesday Takes" is that they be just that - quick.  Being naturally verbose, I never seem to quite hit that mark.  But we try again.

1 - Is it weird that I like to look at my baby registry on Babies R Us and imagine using all the things?  I honestly don't think I looked at my bridal registry this much, but I could look at the baby stuff every day.  (Um, okay, I do look at it every day.)

2 - Current dislike: People who tell me "Oh, you just wait!" when I say I'm tired/busy/always out of time/whatever.  Yes, people, I know life gets harder when you have a kid.  I'm not a friggin' moron - but that does not devalue how tired or swamped I might be right now.  (I'll add that I hear this most from stay-at-home-moms who don't work or go to school.  I know they work VERY hard and it's incredibly exhausting work, but there's also got to be understanding for the fact that going to work every day and taking grad classes plus managing a new puppy and being tired is a lot.)

3 - Still on my lime kick.  Bought lime ice pops this weekend.  Mmm.  I sit and smell one for a solid minute before I even taste it.

4 - Junk food might be addictive.  Duh.  I learned this AGES ago.  Our bodies were built to stock up when we "find" fatty foods because they'd have been rare when we were hunter/gatherers.  Now they're everywhere and we're not equipped to have them all the time.  Doesn't seem like rocket science to me.

5 - After spending a zillion thousands of dollars on my car last week, I got in it yesterday morning and the check engine light came on and the car shuddered all the way to work. *sigh*  A coil had shorted out.  It was replaced and I didn't pay for it.  At this point, I'm debating biking to work.  Too bad my commute is entirely on the highway (and NJ is so not bike friendly).  I told the guy at the dealership I was getting tired of seeing him.  He responded, "Yeah, I have that effect on women."  Cute. :)

6 - We got no work done on clearing out the office-to-be-nursery this weekend.  Oops.  It's close to cleared out, but we really need to get cracking.  Just have to sort through things and move/store them otherwise our son will have a desk chair for a changing table and guitar parts as rattles.

7 - This weekend was my nephew's "kids" birthday party at the local Little Gym.  I learned: I could never work there; I admire the people who do; watching kids play is exhausting; and two year olds aren't great at waiting their turns.  I said it's like outsourcing your kid's birthday party - I think it's fantastic.  Everyone (kids and adults) had a great time.  Here's my nephew, TJ, catching some air on the bouncy thing:

I love that you can actually see space between his feet and the bouncy thing.  And speaking of feet, look at those chubby little feet of his.  I love them!

More photos to follow tomorrow... (I said I was keeping this "quick," right?)

Two years already, and still wonderful

If there's one person my son will have to thank for the possibility of his existence (well, other than his father and I), it's my nephew TJ, who turns two years old today.

I always said I would be fine not ever having kids.  I would make do if I did have kids, but I never thought I'd feel like I missed out on something if I didn't.  But TJ changed all that for me.

In TJ's birthday post last year, I wrote that the hubby and I planned to try for kids in "a couple of years."  So much for that plan!  That was already a huge step for me.  The amount to which TJ has made me comfortable with babies, and now toddlers, is immeasurable.

A lot more has changed in the past year.  If I remember correctly, TJ knew around 40-50 words on his first birthday and was speaking in two word sentences.  "TJ eat."  Now he speaks in long sentences, makes requests, and understands reasoning.  A year ago, he was a fairly steady walker.  Now he runs and jumps, goes up and down the stairs with no assistance, and will be starting out on a tricycle this spring.  They skipped him a "grade" at daycare because he already knows everything the group he was in was working on.  If you ask him who's having a baby: "Aunt Candy."  "What's she having?" "A baby boy."

sauce face and olive fingers, mmmm

This morning my sister asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he said, "M&Ms! But only for my birthday!"  He told the lady at Dunkin Donuts it was his birthday.  He waved at a NJ Transit bus and said, "Biiiig bus!  My birthday today!"

And, of course, four months ago he became a big brother.

It wasn't easy initially.  When my sister would pick up Brooke, TJ would run to the other room, fling himself on the floor and yell, "MY MOMMY!"  But after a few weeks, that changed.  When my sister took Brooke with them to daycare, if another kid went near Brooke, TJ would walk over and say, "Not your sister, MY sister."  If that kid didn't get the hint and touched Brooke, TJ would step between them and say, "MY SISTER!"

So, yes, Brooke will not be dating until she's 30 if TJ has anything to say about it.  We'll work on that.

Mr. Wonderful, it's been a wonderful, amazing year watching you continue to grow up.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings and I can't wait to introduce you to your new little cousin and watch you all grow up together.

Last year: March 19th, a year

7 Quick Tuesday Takes - 1st day of school edition

1. As the title suggests, today is my first day of classes for the spring semester.  I am taking two courses: 1 - Time and Learning, and 2 - Teaching English in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts.  I am super excited for both of these courses.  The Time and Learning one is basically a study of time as a concept and, also, how it affects learning.  It's an "experimental" course so it's going to be graded pass/fail only.  I just found that out last week so I have to make sure that's okay with my degree program; the professor said he'll give a letter grade to those who specifically require one.  Considering this is going to be a pretty busy semester and I'll be about to give birth when it ends, having one of my classes be pass/fail sounds heavenly so I'm hoping it's okay.

2. I mentioned previously that my 30 M.A. transfer credits were approved; now I'm just waiting for them to appear on my online transcript, which I'm assuming will take a while.  But, I looked through the degree requirements, and this credit transfer means that after this semester, I only have 5 more classes plus my final graduate paper to do!  Instant home stretch!  Then it's onto the doctoral program, hopefully.

3. Also, it is the first day of school and I'm already behind on the reading.  Argh.  Seems like both of the classes are front-heavy with the readings; the first 7-8 weeks of class will have a lot of reading, but the final 6+ weeks will be focused on work.  Works for me; I just have to figure out how to get that reading done before tonight (or at least mostly done).

4. I know Maggie Mason says that no one cares what you had for lunch, but I'm going to share my lunch plans anyway because I am super excited to have an egg salad sandwich for lunch.  Egg salad is one of those things I absolutely love but rarely have because I can't eat the deli-made ones (too much full-fat mayo, makes my tummy upset) and I'm too lazy to make it myself.  Yes, I am so lazy that I can't boil eggs and then peel and mush them.  But last night, I did!  (Prompted by the fact that the date on the egg carton was tomorrow's and the date on the mayo is coming up, too.)  So far I have yet to ever make egg salad that compares to my mom's but we've all got to have goals, right?

5. For the people that say having a puppy is not like having a baby, I do understand where you're coming from.  However, I have to say - there are some similarities.  As we prepare to move Buster into our home full-time, my mind is flooded with questions about who gets up when to take him out, who will feed him when, come home at lunch time to let him out, make time to play with him, how will I find time to get my schoolwork done (since Buster is still working on being housebroken, he requires a lot of watching), how to make sure Oreo still feels loved and not overly traumatized by the addition of Buster to the home . . . the list goes on and on (I won't even mention all the thinking I do about who cleans the floors).

But, just like a baby, they are so cute that you just can't help yourself:

Another photo by my friend Kate, taken on Sunday

This face doesn't look too traumatized, right?  I think it looks like it says, "Hrmph *grumble* hrmph."

I did manage the minor-but-feels-major miracle of getting them to eat side-by-side Sunday evening.  It was a true moment of triumph and a good reassurance that all will be well . . . eventually.

6. I'm currently wearing a striped top and argyle socks.  That matches, right?

7. And one more photo from Sunday to bring a little joy today.  This is TJ showing Pop-Pop how he can jump up and down:

Yes, he's jumping while holding a lollipop.  No, he did not poke an eye out.  Yes, he's wearing work boots.  They're the only shoes he'll agree to wear, so why bother even trying to force him into something else?

But look at that face?  He is just joy personified.

Happy jumpy Tuesday to all :)

I feel fiiiiiiiiine! (x 40)

Yesterday was my niece Brooke's baptism and, appropriately enough, I think she looked like an angel:

Could she be any more precious??

And, to boot, she behaves like an angel.  She did not make a peep the whole day.  My sister said she sometimes scrunches her face up like she's going to cry and then she rethinks it and is fine (I saw her do this once yesterday at lunch, and that was it).  It's amazing what a contrast she is to TJ, who has never hesitated to let you know exactly how he's feeling every moment of the day.

Although, appearance-wise, I am continually struck by how much they look alike.  (Okay, okay, I know - they're siblings - but they just look SO much alike and genetics is utterly fascinating to me.)  This is TJ at his baptism a year and a half ago:

At the same age (both about 3 months in each photo), they look like twins to me. And, just for good measure, this is TJ now (well, yesterday) with my dad:

That picture makes me melt.  TJ loves his Pop-Pop, who loves him back even more.  We're having a bit of tough times in my family right now - nothing I can really ever write about here (which, for me, makes it even harder because this is where I come to process things a lot of the time) - but TJ is the constant shining light of joy in all of our lives.

Okay . . . *wipes tears* So anyway...

As I look at TJ and Brooke and they so clearly look like the other kids in our family, I can't help but wonder what our child will look like.

The hubby, me, and Brooke
(And, no, I don't know what that face is I'm making; I'm probably talking.  I'm always talking.)

Naturally, the talk of the day yesterday was babies.  Brooke wasn't the only baby in attendance and there were a lot of other kids around, mostly under the age of six.  This was also the first time I've seen a lot of family friends since I've been pregnant (I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't get to see friends that often) so there was a lot of "How are you feeling?"

A LOT of "How are you feeling?" Like, I think every single person in attendance asked me that.  Before I was pregnant, I don't think I realized that that's "the thing" to ask pregnant women, but I suppose it is.

So it was a lot of, "I feel great!  No, really, great!  Yeah, never any morning sickness.  No, not really many aches or pains.  Yeah, basically my nose is kind of stuffy - so, yeah, I feel great!" I kind of felt bad about it after a while, like people were looking for something worse.  Especially when they'd say, "Well, it is still early, you have a while to go" and I'd say, "Yeah, four months to go!"  And their face would blink a smidge and they'd say, "Four months?  Really?  Wow, that went fast!" and then, inevitably, they'd look down to my stomach.

Seriously?  I had to laugh about it and am even chuckling about it right now.  (Ah, yes, a good blog post brings both tears and laughter.)  And, I am happy to announce that I had my first "uninvited tummy touching" yesterday!  We showed up to church and my aunt promptly put her hand on my belly and asked - you guessed it - how I was feeling.  The funny thing is I didn't even realize it at the time and, in truth, it didn't bother me!  I always, always thought I'd be one of those, "Please do NOT touch me" pregnant women because I'm not a very touchy-feely person at all - but now that it happened, it didn't even faze me.  So, go figure, yet another prediction I had about my own pregnancy that ended up being completely and utterly wrong.  I clearly have no idea what I'm talking about.

One of R.E.M.'s most famous songs is, of course, "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I feel fine)."  When they perform this in concert, Stipe really yells the "And I feel fine" part at the second and third choruses... so, of course, so do I (because, at R.E.M. concerts I sing along as if I think I'm auditioning for co-lead singer).  Once I yelled it so loudly and with such force that I almost passed out because I totally winded myself.  I think I actually expelled 97% of the air that was in my lungs.  But, after a few seconds - wait for it - I felt fine.  (Har, har.)

So when someone asks me how I feel, that's what I think of now.  I FEEL FIIIIIIIIIINE!  Let's hope it stays that way.

Note: all photos by my friend Kate, who is basically our official family photographer