2008_12_30 Tuesday

Jonathan woke up earlier than usual, but not by a lot. Of course, he yelled out for Opa, Oma, Raj, Shannon, Tino, and daddy, before settling for me. He also had a lovely case of the green boogies, so we had to bail out of our morning playgroup (which ended up inside, so that was ok) and a sing-a-long at the library with Erin and Jake. I tried to keep him really hydrated with juice, clementines, and grapes. He seems to be fine otherwise, and by the afternoon, the green had turned to clear, so I'm hoping that it was a one-day boogie.

We had one plumber come by this afternoon to check out our water issues. Need two more plumbers, and hope this one will give me an estimate by Friday. Tino finished the dining room! It looks amazing. The living room and foyer need one more coat each, which he'll do tomorrow. The den is still a works in progress since the plumber's recommendations will impact Tino's work/progress.

I managed to write nearly all of my (and Jonathan's) thank you notes today. We'll walk those to the mailbox tomorrow.

We're expecting a VA friend and his girlfriend tomorrow. They're coming up to be in Times Square for New Years. More power to 'em; won't catch me there!!! The local area has a First Night, although the plumber said the wx is supposed to be really unpleasant. Better talk to Opa.

2008_12_29 Monday

Gesh, it's been almost a full week since I've updated this, and so much has happened!

Wednesday: we visited Julia and Amanda (and Pio) in the morning. Joe came home early, so we got to see him too. The kiddies played and then we had lunch. We had to motor after that. Shannon and Raj's flight was delayed by a long shot. Oma and Opa actually beat us home since we picked up Dave at the train station. Weather wasn't great, so I didn't want him walking home. We put up and decorated the Christmas tree, finally! We all made and ate dinner; then they finally called from Newark. So, the whole party did make it, just not quite at the times we had expected. We--Jonathan--did open one gift: an incredible rocking chair my uncle made for him. amazing.

Thursday: Christmas day was truly wonderful. Steve/Vicky and gang stopped by on their way south. It was so nice to have the family together. Jonathan really got into opening gifts. It was just so nice to spend time together. We made dinner and hung out. Unfortunately, Dave came back down with the food poisoning problem, making us think that it wasn't actually food poisoning but rather a stomach bug of some sort.

Friday: Dad, Shannon, Raj, and I went to Lowe's to pick up our gift from them and to check out radiators, insulation, etc. a wild and crazy day!

Saturday: What a pleasant surprise that Holly, Kate, and Grandpapa came for the day, to celebrate mom's birthday early. We had a great time mingling with them and telling stories.

Sunday: stinky day: everyone left really early. We had to get S/P back to Newark...and their plane actually took off on time. a miracle. Mom and dad headed out around the same time. That sucked. But, we packed up the car and headed south for the day and got to spend a good amount of time with Grandma Cathy, Grandpa Bob, and Keriann, and Jen/Chad and gang came by in the afternoon. It was really nice to see them; I'm not sure Keri had met Jonathan before! It was a long, but well worth it, day.

Monday: so, here we are again. Dave's back at work again. The house is quiet, although Tino is here working. Jonathan slept until about 11:30, although I definitely heard him a couple of times before he was really up. And, he immediately asked for Opa, Oma, Raj, and Tino. He was disappointed that the first three were unavailable. I've connected with three plumbers to get estimates on some jobs here. My new fridge was delivered!! Poor guys really had to work to get it in the house. Jonathan is napping again. He's pooped, and we need to get him back on track!!

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2008_12_22 Tuesday

Oh Boy! The Hardwick parents were struck by a nasty case of food poisoning. Dave was less affected than I was. I was in baaaad shape: could hardly sit up right, couldn't stomach the smell of food, and was achy and pins/needles everywhere. Poor Jonathan really got screwed yesterday with being confined. We think it must have been the rice and pork that I made, although it could have also been from cold cuts over the weekend. Dave decided against going to wrestling practice last night to give me time to rest.

Jonathan decided to get up around midnight last night. But, by then I was feeling much better. And, today, I'm feeling good. Gesh, I hope it's out of my system by now.

We managed to get to the recycling center this morning. We've accumulated probably a month and a half's worth of recycling since we've missed the pick-up dates for the last 2+ times. So, that was a good thing to get done. Patrick's  parents just came by to pick up gifts (which I brough up from VA). Now, once Jonathan wakes up, we'll hit Target and the grocery store one last time and be ready for everyone tomorrow!! yipppeee!!

2008_12_21 Sunday

The morning was a bit rushed today. Once we all got up, we jumped into the car, ate on the road, and headed to PA for Izzy's birthday party at Bouncetown. It was about 1 3/4 hr drive, which was longer than I had anticipated, so we got there as the party was well underway. Jonathan and Dave got to climb around on the equipment for a little bit while I mingled with the family at took some photos (up shortly). Then, we had the party part with pizza and cupcakes. We headed back home around 2:15, so we arrived just after 4. I took a short nap while the boys played. Then, it was dinner time, bath time, and bed time (for all of us!). We didn't forget Advent; he saw a small package and kept saying "truck," when it was really a bath frog (he's starting to "ribbit"). We watched some TV and called it a night.

2008_12_20 Saturday

We woke up to about a half-foot of ice-covered snow this morning. All the trees, even those without leaves/needles, are weighed down. It's very peaceful looking.

As I was changing his diaper and getting him dressed, he started singing "The Wheels on the Bus"! Of course, he didn't have the words, but he did have the melody...pretty much. That was pretty cool.

We hiked into town to the diner. Jonathan was bundled up in his snowsuit. He looks pretty silly, but it's warm and comfortable for him. It took awhile to unlayer once we got to our table! The coolest thing happened there too: we sat directly under a clock, so Jonathan pointed it out as a ball. Once he understood that it was a clock, he found two others in the diner and pointed to them, saying "clock"! how cool. 

He's going down for a nap in a few minutes. I swung by Sears to pick up his pictures from almost two weeks ago. The mall was insane, and parking was a disaster. And, we've got a holiday party at one of Dave's high school buddy's homes tonight. They apparently got 10+ inches of snow last night.

The party was really nice. It was all families (Tara/Brian, Debi/Bryan, Joey/Lauren, and Liz/Marc), so the kiddies got to mingle too. If you can believe, Jonathan stayed up until 11pm! He did great, exploring the balls on their Christmas tree and playing with all the toys. I drove us home (arrived around 12:30). We were all pooped. Boy, I think we all could have slept for a day!

2008_12_19 Friday

Guess who woke up with Dave this morning at 6am? not me...well, I did too, but it was Jonathan! So, our day got going sort of early today. We snuggled for about an hour, and then I put him back down and got a couple more minutes of shut-eye. That must have been his morning wakeful time, as he slept until after 11am. We missed our library storytime today! Somehow having breakfast at 11:30 felt strange. I, however, got a ton of freelancing done! 

It started snowing...hard...around 8, and Tino called at 9 to say it was too dangerous for him to come (hmmm). He claims he can be done by Tuesday. I don't believe him. It's stopped now, but we're under about 3-4 inches of dust. It looks pretty out there, so we may go for a walk into town later. 

After 'breakfast,' I cleaned up Tino's tarps, etc, vacuumed the dining room up, and we dumped Jonathan's bin of 'tuuuuuuuck' out to play. Now I really wish I had the basement plan finished since we could leave his toys down there. Oh well. The dining room works well for now.

Have a plumber scheduled for an estimate on Monday to snip the pipes in the den. Because of that, we'll have to postpone finishing the den until 2009. boo hiss. was really hoping to have it done for Christmas. Still need to find two more quotes, but the mom's group has a couple of recs. Also leaned on them (and the utl company) for advice on 'weatherizing/winterizing' this old house. I went around this AM with a candle to see if the outlets are leaky, but didn't see any flame movement (and realized that most of the outlets are on internal walls). Considering sealing windows/doors and insulating the attic (maybe via a blower?).

We ventured out in the snow tonight to pick up Dave from the train station. That was not smart on my part. I knew the temps were fine, but I expected the roads and sidewalks to be prestine (eventhough ours are not). Oh what a fool I was. Pushing the stroller with J2 packed in like a snowman was a stupid move. But, I did mail our Blockbuster movie back. By the time I got to the post office, the freezing rain started! So, I called Dave and told him that he'd probably catch up with us since we needed to head home. His train was late, so we beat him back. I had to have Jonathan walk up our driveway b/c the stroller had no traction at all (and I carried it to the garage). Bottom line: it was nice to be outside, although strollers don't work in snow.

2008_12_18 Thursday

Today we participated in a really neat event through the mom's group. We went to the local old folks' home and played for about an hour. The residents all sat in a circle and the kiddies (and moms) played in the middle. They seemed to really enjoy watching all the little kids play. And, Jonathan was a true ham after he warmed up. He was waving and blowing kisses to all the ladies; they ate it up. He offered up his sippy cup to one of the men. I got so many questions about his red hair, it made me laugh. We were only there for about 45 minutes, but it seemed to fly by. And, gosh, what a feel-good thing to do...especially so close to the holidays. I think I'll try to do this event each month going forward. It seemed to make the residents' day to see all the youngsters and interact with them and the moms.

We met up with Iris and Finn in the afternoon. She's a riot. She forgot her wallet, so I paid for her mail to Europe. The boys played at a local playground, but their ramps were still pretty frozen so Jonathan had a tough time maneuvering. Plus, the equipment is intended for slightly older, so there are parts he can fall out of. It was really nice to see Iris though. And, Finn is so sweet with Jonathan, sharing and watching out for him. love it.