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?”

Dreading and Sledding

More Sledding
On Sunday, the 13th the fam decided to go sledding again, but this time up on our cousin’s property. Reesie went to Grandma Lauri’s and Grandpa Wayne’s for some one on one alone (read: spoiled) time while we hit the hill for a few hours. Sledding was fun for us although Henry wondered out loud many times why Reesie couldn't be there with us. In the end, he decided on his own that she was to scared to sled.

Henners got a kick out of riding up the hill on a snowmobile for valet service with Uncle Jake and Derrek. Towards the bottom of the hill it got slow enough that when we would sled down with him, we could jump off and let him continue alone. He thought that was pretty cool. He kept saying that he was like Cody from Surf’s Up (CG Animated movies about a penguin that surfs). Henry’s sled is reminiscent of a surf board so, to borrow a term, he was pretty stoked.

Most of the time I hiked up and down the hill to get a little bit of a work out. Toward the end of the day, Uncle Derrek took us up to the top in the Snow Cat. Henry was beside himself with happiness. He called it a snow tractor snd he grinned the whole way up the hill. To give you an idea of how big the hill we climbed and subsequently sled down was – the final run took us 7 minutes to get to the bottom of the hill!!


Losin’It
Okay, I’m doing it and making it official by writing about it and sending it into internet space for people to read. I’m going to try to lose a little holiday weight (circa 1999) (finally) and get healthier this year. My writing this down will hopefully keep me honest and focused! I’ve been doing my cardio and light weights and eating healthier so we’ll see how this goes. A guy at work even introduced me to this kale shake that I make for the mornings. It sounds dreadful, but I have to say, it’s actually quite good. I even find myself craving them. Jeremy drinks them sometimes too! The shake consists of an apple, a banana, water, ice, kale leaves, spinach leaves and fresh mint. I won’t lie, it’s kind of chunky and bright green, but it’s so good for you and keeps me full until (and kind of during) lunch!

Back to Work
Monday I started back to work again. Bummer. So far, my first week was delightful, though. The marketing staff was so happy to be back together that we ate lunch out 3 days during the week! Yikes! I must blame myself for the third day out though. I arrived at work at 8:00 am craving Indian food and demanding that our staff go out with me. Luckily, they did and I didn’t have to go it alone.

I definitely forgot how working three days outside the home makes my two days at home just fly by! Other observations about work?

The fluorescent lights at work are giving me a headache.
Everyone walks really fast at work.
My eyes need to be retrained for the computer monitor.
I’m not used to hearing long, intense conversations…all at once.
I missed all my friends dearly and am so happy to see them again.
I’ve forgotten almost all useful knowledge about how to be quick at my job.I actually kind of missed my job. Wow! Who saw that coming?

2007 is Dunzo

New Years
Wow, that seems like ages ago, doesn’t it? I’ll give you all the sweet and low down in a shortened version. We ate. We played games. We went sledding. We watched football. We ate again. Whew! I have to say, I don’t really like New Years all that much. It signals the end of the holiday season and that, my friends, blows. We usually try to plan some fun activities for the latter half of the winter like sledding and snowshoeing and ski trips to keep our spirits up.

I've posted proof of our funtivities on New Years Eve and New Years Day below. On "the eve" we went sledding with our neighbors (Henry's girlfriend is Michelle). It was so nice and warm. Reese hung out at the bottom of the hill with us while the boys played. That evening we played games (Henry and I cheated...typical).


Uncle Donald
I’ve been trying to keep track as best I can of all the funny things Henners has been saying lately. His little vocabulary is growing so rapidly and it’s fun to keep track of his progress. So everyone, I bring you insights into Henry’s vocabulary….

Uncle Donald = Old Mac Donald as in “Old Mac Donald had a farm…”
“You mean at me?” = Can be used two ways. 1) Rough translation, “Are you mad at me?” or 2) “You’re mean to me”
Gock-toll-tee = Guacamole
Jerfer = Jennifer
Jermee = Jeremy
Quarter = Porter, his best friend at school
Cressen = Preston, his other friend at school
Ballyball = any sport played with a ball with the exception of football
Crash-‘em = Football
My pewter = Computer
Mad ass car = Madagascar the movie
Pacrik = Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants
Fizzy juice = Orange soda
Baff = Bath
Moosum = Museum
Guck = Duck

Wardrobe Malfunction
There really isn't a story here. I just like to snap pictures of the kids with their shirts on their heads. I have a bunch of Henners when he was small. They look so cute and innocent. Here's the latest of Reese's "wardrobe malfunctions".