Fat Tuesday? Try Slightly Pudgy Tuesday.

Where's the Love?
Tuesday I had a meeting in Logan. On the way home I thought to myself, “Why don’t I stop by and surprise my parents? They’ve always been good to me and I know they’d be excited to see me. I haven’t seen them in almost 2 weeks. Wow! I bet they’ll be happy I dropped by.” Well, I was wrong. My Dad was surprised to see me, but then I could tell he was slightly saddened when I didn’t have the kids or Jeremy with me. We had a good talk about what he’s been up to and even a little about politics. Then my mom came home. She saw my car outside so she knew I was there. She walked in and had this huge smile on her face (just like I imagined she would). I quickly announced to her that it was just me and the kids couldn’t come. I don’t think she believed me since she still kind of looked around for signs of Henry and Reese. (Henners loves to hide and jump out to surprise people). I think it took about 90 seconds for it to set in that it was just me and only me. The look of disappointment on her face was obvious. I know my parents love me, but they definitely like their grandchildren better.

2gether 4ever
Henry and Meesha are no longer in a “cold war” holding pattern. They have officially called a truce and now love each other. It’s taken a long two years, but finally, Meesha has come around. Now, every morning, when Meesha hears Henry come in our room to watch cartoons she jumps up and comes right to him to be loved. When he sleeps at night, we have to open his door a crack so she can come and go as she pleases in his room. I often catch them napping together too. Meesha loves Henry so much that she should marry him already.

Clothes Horse
Back when Reesie was only 6 weeks or so, I noticed a strange phenomena. She would smile and get really excited when she looked at her closet. I thought that maybe we had a clothes horse on our hands. I know now, with complete certainty that, yes, definitely, we have a clothes horse. Recently, I ordered a bunch of spring clothes on line for Reesie and when they arrived I held them up for her to see. She smiled and did her little girlie "coo" when I held up all the brightly colored clothes. She’s gonna be trouble when she’s old enough to demand designer duds. She's totally worth it.

We’re Still Not Rich
So, Jeremy and I had a day date Saturday (the 9th). Grandma Jo and Grandpa Brent watched the kiddies while Jeremy and I drove to Idaho, did a little car trip, sight seeing and bought a powerball lottery ticket. We did a little shopping, caught a movie and then had an early dinner (Maddox in the house, Whoot! Whoot!). The next day Jeremy asked me to check the lottery numbers online. While I was checking I noticed that he was holding the ticket angled just enough that I could see the numbers. So when I started reading off the numbers “online” I really read the numbers off the ticket. He was getting pretty excited as I neared the end of the first row of numbers since the numbers I gave him matched our picks exactly. When I finally let him in on the joke, he wasn’t too happy. I think he actually thought we won. He wasn’t too devastated since no one had one yet. He now looks forward to his Wednesday trip to Colorado to pick up another chance at the big time. We’ll let you all know if we strike it rich.


Leud Fireman
Sunday, we could hear Henners downstairs in his playroom making a ruckus. A few minutes later, a fireman and a pirate wearing no pants arrived.

Work and Doughnuts
Friday, I had to go into work for a few hours. Jeremy and I had a plan all set in place. I would drop the kids at work, he would then take the kids to the Sportsman Expo at the Salt Palace for a few hours. I would meet up with them a few hours later.

Henry, on the other hand, had another plan. His plan went something like this: I will get in the car with Mom and Reesie. Halfway to Salt Lake I will ask my Mom for a doughnut since every time I go to work with her there are doughnuts there. While we drive thru the doughnut joint, I will flirt with the window worker and snag a free doughnut. I will then get chocolate all over my face and when asked about it, I will deny it. Then, once inside Dad’s office, I will run and shout loudly for my Dad. I hope that it causes my Mom a little bit of embarrassment. When it comes time to leave, I will let Dad get me and Reesie almost to the truck before I insist we go back inside to give Mom a hug. Once that is done, we will head to the Sportsman Expo. I will insist that while Dad pushes Reese in her stroller that he give me a piggy back, forcing him to handle the stroller with one hand. I will find a woman selling biscotti and buy one. I will then declare it “yucky” and spit it out immediately. I will “ohhhh” and “ahhhh” over all the animal displays while asking constantly “Where’s my Momma?” When we finally do meet up with Mom to do some shopping, I will run around and hide. For some reason, I will also take off my shoes. Once you get me in the car, I will play with Reese for a few minutes and fall asleep before we get home.

Seedy But Delicious
Our favorite Mexican Restaurant in our hood is called Mi Rancho. It’s delightful and really authentic food. However, it is located in the parking lot of a run down motel that rents by the week, day and I think, hour. It’s near a truck stop so I imagine that’s why it has such rental agreements. We kind of chuckle whenever we go there at the motel surrounding the restaurant. Typically, the motel is empty, but on Sunday it was full. Fun fact: they serve a dish in a HUGE bowl, almost as big as the mixing kind. This dish is a spicy stew with fish, shrimp, crab legs, whole chilies and other ingredients. I think it’s called Mocahete, but we call it El Chupacabra.

Snow, Superbowl, Sushi and Other Things

Walkie-Talkie
Henry thinks the monitors that we have around the house to listen to Reesie in her room while she sleeps are live walkie-talkies. If he happens to hear her stir he will run up to the monitor (which only picks up sound) and whisper in it so softly “Be fine Reesie” or “Reese, what you need? You want your milk?” If he hears us in her room talking to her, he either tries to talk to us through the monitors or he claims he heard a ghost in Reese’s room. Inevitably, he wants to come in and look at her sleeping. Awww, he’s so protective over his little sister.

Superbowl = Supersnow
Over the Superbowl weekend, of course, like everyone else, we were dumped on by several feet of snow. I for one love it. But then again, I for one don’t have to shovel it either. I am fascinated that everyone around me is ready for this stuff to go away. Winter is only 1 month old, folks! I love, love, love it! We’ve already got Henry into some winter sports, four-wheeling, sledding, snowmobiling and snowshoeing. When he’s old enough, he’ll be skiing or boarding if he likes too. I can’t wait for Reesie to get a little older so she can be outside in the white stuff as well.

We spent Superbowl Sunday eating chips and dip, watching the game and most importantly the commercials! Reese played and sat on our laps most of the time. She watched Henry run back and forth playing with his cars and got a kick out of him jumping around. She loves to just sit and watch him. She definitely knows the sound of his voice and will try to find him once she’s heard him. And for those of you that know Henry, even a little bit, you know that you don’t have to strain very hard at all to hear him.


Funny Bunny
Again, I present my fetish for snapping shots of Reese with her shirt on her head. She must think I’m crazy.

I Feel Bad for Bill Gates’ Kids
At work, they switched the entire marketing staff from PCs to Macs. They tried it once before, but I turned it down. It was too stressful at the time and we had too many hiccups in the system. Well, not any longer, baby! This week is our first week in the Mac based world, and I really do love it! I typically do everything to avoid any type of change, but this time, change is good. We’re using iMacs (the new ones with the CPU built right into the monitor). Can I just tell you that the monitors we are working off of are 24”!!

However, the other day, I had a sad thought. When everyone around them is buzzing about their ipods, imacs and iphones and other technology, Bill Gates’ kids can’t relate because there most certainly is a ban on them in the Gates home. You know that all their friends have an ipod, but have to keep them hidden when they hang out. I’ve been to Seattle where the Gates family lives. I’ve seen all the commuters wearing the identifiable iphone white ear pieces. How uncomfortable is it to watch TV at the Gates house with all the eye catching ipod commercials? Do they change the channel or just sit there in silence? Jeremy assured me that Bill and Melinda Gates with their billions of dollars are going to be just fine. He told me to use my pity somewhere else. I think he may be right.

Shoe-she and Breakfast Ham
Saturday the family went out for sushi, or shoe-she and Henry calls it. We actually coaxed him to try a piece this time! He ate all the rice off of the outside and downed some Miso soup with tofu. (He thought it was chicken soup and told me it was “licious”, his word for delicious). Jeremy and I must eat at the sushi joint way too often. When we walk in, they immediately seat us in the corner in a large booth that we’ve requested a few times. Henry loves to draw and watch television while Reese coos at the large red and white lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Prior to sushi (which we've been eating every weekend lately) the four of us had a big breakfast. Well, actually, Reesie had a bottle, Henry pieced on a little bit of bacon and pancakes, so I guess Jeremy and I had a big breakfast. We did have sort of our own little "dinner theater" though. Henry danced and sang for the rest of us while we ate.

January Out

My First Cold
Well, in my last entry I wrote how the kids had both fallen sick, but were doing nicely. Since then, Reesie’s little cold worsened to point that she started spitting up due to all the mucus in her system. She still stayed a little trooper though. Jeremy was able to leave work early Thursday and get her looked at. The doc said she had a severe cold and would bounce back with antibiotics. Friday, I was home with her and I just held her all day. By Saturday, she was back to her old self and doing much, much better. Grandma Jo and Grandpa Brent even took Henry Saturday so that Jeremy and I could focus all our attention on little Reese. I’m happy to report that by Sunday she was back to being all smiles and was very happy to see the return of Henry. Do we bore her already?


I Can Do That
So, while Jeremy and I tended to Reese and Henry over the weekend, a strange thing happened. We watched and were obsessed with the Winter X Games. We’ve always watched the X Games, but I haven’t had the chance to just sit and actively watch them. Jeremy’s always been hooked on them. We Tivo’d every event. While we watched them, Henry would say, “I can do that,” just so matter-of-factly. During the snowmobile freestyle events where the riders do tricks and flips, Henry would insist that he could and has done that. Henry’s favorite event was the snowmobile events and the snowboarding freestyle events. Reese actually had a favorite event too. She likes the Ski X contests where the skiers just race down the hill side by side, each wearing a brightly colored jersey. She would “coo” and “ahhmmm” at the television at the bright colors in contrast with the white snow. (Perhaps we have a little snow bunny on our hands thanks to Tim?) Jeremy and I definitely liked the snowboarding half-pipe contests or anything where Shaun White was entered.

Ultimate Warrior
Many of you already know, but Jeremy has a strange affection for Ultimate Warrior on the G4 network. It’s a foreign program out of Japan where basically, men and women test their agility and strength on an adult sized playground set. Henry’s caught the program a couple of times and likes to watch it with Jeremy once in a while. Well, in the spirit of “I Can Do That”, Jeremy and I set up a small, mock obstacle course for Henry to weave in and out of to prove his “strength and agility”.

What was the course make-up you say? Well, thank you for asking. We used Reese’s activity mat for Henry to crawl through, a few lego towers for him to bob and weave in and out of, a soft play mat for him to jump over and finally the bean bag to jump into at the end of his challenge. Henry was so excited, but he only got through it a few times. Reese’s toys dangling from the activity mat distracted him almost every time and he would stop to play with them, thus foiling his attempt to finish. Eventually, he ended up just running across the floor and bounding into the bean bag. Reese had a great time watching all the commotion from our laps. She would just follow Henry intently and smile at him as he ran around to get her attention to watch him.

Wizards and Cough Medicine

Sickos
Yeppers, the kiddies are both sick. It started Friday. I noticed Henry and Reesie both had a little runny nose and slight cough. By Saturday night, both were not happy little campers. Poor Reesie just wanted to be held or propped up in her swing. Henry wanted baths constantly, to snuggle and to lounge in his bean bag. Sunday, Jeremy and I traded on and off between Reese and Henry running to comfort one of them or making a dash to the pharmacy for something. With all the humidifiers running in our house right about now, we could grow a tropical forest. It smells wonderful though! I’ve got some serious eucalyptus and lavender oils going for the wee ones.

I have to say though, both kids are troopers and neither is a complainer about when they don’t feel well. Henry’s great at taking his medicine, and Reese is happy to just be held. She does get very angry with me, however, whenever I suck all the mucus from her nose. She’s happy a few minutes later though when she breathes easier. She just loves to be cuddled and have her little head stroked while she lays there with us.



Oz Fest When Henry feels under the weather, for some reason he prefers to watch The Wizard of Oz, or as he calls it, “The Lizard of Oz with That One Robot”. I assume he is referring to the Tin Man in the movie. So the past few days, it’s been our own version of “Oz Fest” here.

When Henry and Jeremy returned from the doctor’s office Monday night (they went to pick up a prescription for Henry) I asked Henry what the Doctor said. He turned to me and said, dead serious, “No more monkey’s jumpin’ on the bed.” Ha! He’s hilarious! He then got out his play doctor’s kit and proceded to examine Jeremy and me. He asked if he could look at Reesie’s ears too, but I took him into her room and showed him that she was sleeping. He said, “Oh, okay. Let’s look at them tomorrow. Can we watch the Lizard of Oz now, Momma?”