Things to remember

Aside from being a safe place to vent, this blog is meant to be a record of sorts of all the little things that occur in these early years. All those little things that you are bound to forget, but that I don't want to. So more for myself than for anything, here are the things I want to remember about the mister as he is right now:

-He does the most hilarious little dance whenever music comes on, from his toys, tv or the radio. He bends his knees, sticks his bum out, and holds his hands out from his sides and bounces. I am trying to get a video of it, it's priceless.

-At night, before he goes to bed I rock back and forth with him for a few minutes listening to his musical crib turtle. While I do this MR holds his arms around my neck and plays with the little hairs that are there. He started doing this when I got my haircut, reason enough to keep it short.

-He loves lights, and thinks it's one of the world's most wondrous miracles to flip a switch and make a bulb turn on. He acts very proud of himself and will look around for other people to celebrate his accomplishment with him.

-He makes an indescribable noise when he is babbling and talking to himself as he plays sometimes. He must do something with his tongue, but it sounds like a little bird warbling.

-MR thinks that my parents dog exists in every new room he enters. When we go to a new house or sometimes even a store he will clap his hands and call for 'Wuddy' (Rusty). This boy loves dogs.

-The toothbrush is his favorite item in the whole wide world, his kingdom for a toothbrush. When he sees us brushing our teeth he wants to join in, and will pretend to put toothpaste on his own brush (even though the cap is closed). He spends half his bathtime with his little toothbrush in hand, assuming he isn't still trying to brush his own teeth.

-He likes salsa, a boy after his own father's heart. BL loves all things spicy. You would think he was only going through the chip dipping process to mimic us, but he follows through and sucks the salsa off of the chip. He also double dips, fortunately we all love him enough to forgive him for this.

There's more of course, but these are just the little bits and pieces of who my boy is right now that make him lovable beyond belief.

Foiled again

So we don't have the keys. Yet. We should (ah, so many should's) have the keys this Tuesday. The hold up is all in the seller's lazy ass bank (Greenpoint Mortgage- you suck). They have been sitting on the papers until the very last moment, and conveniently a holiday weekend. So when we should have been using this long weekend to our advantage, you know-the painting, we are left twiddling our thumbs instead. Well, more like baby chasing and barbecuing, but still.

Meh, I have tried to resign myself to these hold-ups. Ultimately there is nothing we can do to change things or make them move faster, and being frustrated only leaves me upset and unresolved. So we have just been trying to take things in stride and do as much in advance as possible so that we can spring into action as soon as they hand over those keys. Finally.

Anyways, this weekend has not been a total loss. We did make it over to the house today to take measurements in preparation for painting and to make sure our appliances will fit. I am dreaming of buy these, so I need to make sure there is room for my lovelies. Is it sad that I am so excited over laundry appliances? In another world, probably.

We also had a little get together with BL's family to welcome his dad home from the hospital. He seems to be in good spirits and managing the pain pretty well. Now it is just a matter of waiting to make sure no signs of infection spring up and getting him rested and healed.

The house, soon to be home

Uncle Z playing the role of a swing

Baby v.s. Watermelon

Guess who won?

Tell me I'm not the only one who has to hang their child upside down to get a half decent picture with them smiling in the right direction

It's true

We finally closed, we signed the papers yesterday and we should have the keys in our hands tomorrow. I say should because the sellers bank has been super slow about processing the paperwork, so I am not going to get overly hopeful. But, if they do manage to get us the keys on time like reasonable business people then we will be taking full advantage of this long weekend to get started painting. I know the excitement over this will wear thin soon after painting a room or two, but right now I am beyond thrilled to get things pulled together.

We have a lot of stuff that needs to get done before the house is livable, number one on the list being carpet replacement. Things are set up for that next week, and then another week will pass before they come back with our nice, new clean carpet. We will fill that time with painting, painting...and more painting. It's a five bedroom house, we have a lot of rooms to paint.

On a separate note, FIL's surgery went wonderfully. They *hopefully* found what they believe was the source of all his recurrent infections, a little hole in his intestine. So when they went back in to hook things back up they took care of that too. He should be in the hospital for at least the next two days and then he should be out and about. Bag free. It's big news around here. We are just so relieved that things went well and that so far he seems to be recovering well from it all. We forgot just how stressful surgery can be.

And to keep the cute rolling, here's the kiddo playing with a car my grandpa made for me when I was little. MR *hearts* cars and all things that go vroom vroom. It's pretty fun to see him with this toy that my little hands once played with.

Wordless Wednesday: Closed

Drunken sailor

True he's not the real thing, but he sometimes runs like a boozy seafarer. Just a couple of pictures I took with my phone while we were out at the park this weekend. MR seems to gravitate towards the toys he can manipulate and spin when we go to playground. That and the swings, but it's a bit more difficult to catch a good action shot with a camera phone, it's capabilities only extend so far.

Tomorrow may, or may not, be the big day. We have received some conflicting news from the title company as to whether or not we will officially become homeowners tomorrow. The person we spoke with said yes, but the paperwork says maybe not for another five business days. Not so good. We are hoping to get the carpets ripped out later this week, so they need to get their behinds in gear by the 27th. Just saying.

Also, please keep my father in law in your thoughts as he will be going in on Tuesday for his *knock on wood* final surgery. He will be admitted for some pre-op procedures tomorrow and then Tuesday they will go back in and reattach some pretty vital plumbing which has been re-routed for about the last six months. If all goes well this will be the last step towards being completely in remission. So happy thoughts please.

My first!

Check it out! My first award! Thanks to Meredith over here. Hers was one of the first blogs I started reading when I got into all of this, so it's definitely nice to get some bloggy love from her direction. Definitely go check her out, her Little Elvis is just a little bit older than my MR- and such a cutie!

To keep the warm fuzzies going I am going to pass this one on to a couple of people, be sure to stop by and say hello to them:

*Carrie over at Life in the Soupbowl. Her little Keifer is about the same age as the mister and always seems to be right on par with his milestones. She is also gearing up for a try at number two and could definitely use your good thoughts and support.

*Kristine at Mommy, Daddy and The Sweet Peas. Her little boy Parker just turned two months and her little girl Graycen is getting close to two years. She's doing a great job as a new mommy of two and deserves some congratulations.

Wordless Wednesday: Ours in 5,4,3...

Closing in five days *hopefully*

Blog stew

So lots-o-stuff on the agenda tonight, we have been up to quite a bit around here. First off, and most exciting, we have found a house! Hooray! Here's the kiddo in what (as of the 25th) should be our new kitchen.

We put in our offer about a week ago, and after some back and forth they accepted! We have already taken care of the inspection, and thanks to it being a pretty new home (2003) things are all a go. The biggest issue with the place is that it will need to be entirely re-carpeted. It was a foreclosure, thanks economy, and the previous tenants seem to have taken the news hard. At least I hope that is when they decided to let the animals start using the floor as their own personal toilet. If they lived like that before, then ewww. So we are getting all new carpets for the place. So assuming everything goes to plan and our tentative schedule sticks we will close on the 25th and finish moving in by early September. Yay!

In other news, the kiddo has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Finally. He should have been in a month ago, but since moving back here to Vancouver and having to set up and appointment with a new physician- it just took a little bit longer than one would have hoped. Funny thing is this new doctor is in fact an old doctor, he was BL's pediatrician when he was a little boy. Pretty full circle. Hopefully everything goes well, and we will see just how big our boy is now.

On a random note, our child now says squirrel. It sounds more like qwirl, but this has to be the most random word he has learned so far. It's crazy how he picks up words and sounds now. Tonight in the bath tub I was singing him a silly song and he started trying to sing it back to me, in his own words of course, but the tune was there. He has also gotten a lot better, and consistent, and pointing out his body parts and following through with basic commands. He's becoming quite precocious.

To finish it all off, some more water play photos. Nana and Grandpa got him a water table toy for him to play with over at their house. Little do they know that he would rather play with the hose.

Wordless Wednesday: Exactly two years ago today...

*Ha, you thought I had news- didn't you?Nope, sorry, this was old news

Diez y seis

Today my little bug is sixteen months old, and he is a little boy. There still lingers the look of a baby, but even that is starting to fade. He runs and plays like a little boy, he certainly squeals like one. He understands how to play basic games, he likes to race after a ball to beat you to it. I always let him win. He continues to be his own little independent self, sometimes to his and/or our detriment. He runs into everything now, sometimes at high speed. He loves to get in and out of chairs, he especially likes to get into the recliner and lean back like a big boy. He also can...

-Point to his toes, nose, hair, mouth and bellybutton. Sometimes his mouth.

-Say hi, bye, daddy, doggy, birdie, tweet, all done, more, car, truck, chair, water(wa wa), juice, blue, yellow, backpack (thanks Dora), Rusty (the dog's name), shoes, and Pa

-Dance to music, and by dance I mean bounce up and down. Sometimes a little stomping around.

Unfortunately he can also be a little pill who asserts himself more and more frequently. He must be growing up, funny how that happens. Happy sixteen months big boy!

Relay for life

We took part in our local Relay for Life today, something that I have done before but of course this was the first time since BL's dad's diagnosis. It actually has been roughly a full year since his initial diagnosis. There have been some pretty rough points since then, some very rough points, it seems impossible that it has been such a short period of time since that first day when we found out.

It was important for us that the mister be involved in this. During so much of this, our own encounter with cancer, he has been too small and uninvolved to understand what has gone on. He is still too little to really understand it all, but one day I hope to be able to show him these pictures and tell him about how great a help he was to all of us during this frequently dark time.

He was his usual charming self, saying hi to all the people going bye and even mistakenly greeting an older gentleman as 'Pa'. He has started calling my dad this. He also really enjoyed becoming acquainted with our friend Kristen's dog Vito. MR loves dogs, and he especially loves dog kisses. He kept kneeling down to hug Vito and putting his face in front of the dog's, hoping for some licks.

I think we managed to kind of distract ourselves from the full weight of the event until the survivor's lap. As we watched this group come past our part of the track I scanned through the group, landing on the face of one young woman wearing a headscarf and obviously still deep in the throes of her own battle. Then we saw the little girl, not more than four, on her dad's shoulders wearing her survivor's shirt. Quite often in my father-in-law's journey he has reminded us of how fortunate he actually is, in comparison to some of his other companions in the chemo room. He sees mothers in there, and children. People who have not lived to see their own children grow, or perhaps even finished their own childhood. I had to take a deep breath and regain my composure before rejoining the rest of our group, silently thankful for my own healthy boy. And thankful too that though it has been only a year my father-in-law is cancer free, done with his last round of chemo, and only weeks away from his last surgery. It's an ongoing process, but atleast we are over this hill.

Wordless Wednesday: Bad driver

Fortunately he has fifteen more years to work out the details of proper driving dynamics

Best six dollars ever

So amidst all this house-stress I can atleast still look forward to all this when I come home from a long day-o-work. Six dollars on sale from chez Tar-gey, best use of that amount of money ever...

Zoo boo

We made it back to the zoo today, and by we I mean the MR, my mom and me. Poor BL has contracted the cold that mister just finished having, so he was in no shape for trotting around the Portland Zoo. This was doubly sad because they have a dinosaur exhibit running currently, our main reason for going, and BL had to miss out on the male bonding that apparently comes with large, scaly carnivores.

The fun thing about the zoo this time around was that MR definitely took in the animals, he was very aware that they were there and really enjoyed seeing things like the the sea lions and big, slow-moving fishies in their tanks.

The not so fun thing was the same concept but seen in different light, the kind if light that shines on big, scary animatronic dinosaurs that roar. MR was terrified of the dinos. This was both sad and humorous at the same time. Sad because the poor little bug had his legs clenched around me like a vise, and he kept looking around in fright even after we had walked out of the exhibit but could still hear the T-rex roar. The funny part, well perhaps not ha-ha, but it was really just cute and interesting to see my child express fear. We are so used to seeing him be fearless that it was strange to see this new emotion play out.

Fortunately there were plenty of non-roaring attractions around to ensure that MR had a generally good time. He was a very good boy and even got a couple of stuffed dinos out of the deal, so I guess they couldn't have been all that bad.

*P.S. Possible news on the homefront in the next two days, think good thoughts for us!