I’ve been pretty uninspired to write anything lately. I don’t know why. We’ve had a lot going on and it seems that the more that happens, the less I feel like writing.
I just got back from a three day business trip to Washington DC. It was a whirlwind and I’m not sure completely worth my time. I missed Roger and Kaelyn like crazy, as I always do when I’m away from them. I finally got home at midnight last night and was never so happy to be sleeping in my bed next to my husband. It truly felt like I had been gone a lifetime. Kaelyn cut another tooth while I was gone and seems to have grown another inch!
This last week since being back from our family vacation has been extremely busy for all of us, but we still managed to spend time doing the things we enjoyed. The biggest thing that happened is that we found a renter for our other house, which is a huge relief. It seemed like forever, but it was only empty for three weeks. I can handle that! We were busy making sure the house was ready and our renters moved in a couple of days ago. I had wanted to go to Apple Hill last weekend to visit the pumpkin patch, walk around and enjoy the fall weather. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time. Instead, we stayed home while I made some homemade noodles and chicken soup. Vickie spent the day with us on Sunday and made over 100 chocolate chip cookies. To my surprise, there were still some left when I got home last night…not what I expected nor what I needed!
Kaelyn is also pretty much back to normal. She listens to us again and doesn’t whine and complain as much as she did when we first returned from our trip. So, it seems that it takes an average of one day of “retraining” to undo the damage of each day of spending time with grandparents. That will be good to know for future visits!
I’m really looking forward to this holiday season…it will be busy, but so much fun at the same time. Halloween is already this weekend. Kaelyn will be Strawberry Shortcake and is wearing a handmade dress and hat that Klara made for her for her birthday. I can’t wait to get the pictures of her. With her red curly hair, she will look like the cutest little doll! We should have good weather too…which is nice.
We’re still trying to decide what to do for Thanksgiving. We have been invited to spend the holiday with Vickie’s family, but really want to spend time at home and I love cooking the meal. We just don’t know who we’d invite to join us, if anyone…although we would like it to be more than just us.
Other than that, I don’t have much to say….like I said, I’m just not feeling very inspired….
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Our Vacation and the Haunted Hoochie
We got back from our “vacation” yesterday afternoon and are all trying to get back to our normal routines. It’s hard for all of us. I’m back at work and that somewhat has me on a normal schedule, but work is anything but normal right now. There’s just so much going on…a last minute trip to DC next week, right after I took a week off…not great timing. Roger has a lot of work to catch up on too, and don’t even get me started on Kaelyn! I now know why the word is called “spoiled”. Our relatives ruined our child…but more on that later.
We spent last week in Florida and Ohio visiting both sides of the family. There were so many people who hadn’t met Kaelyn yet, and we really didn’t want to wait too much longer to have her meet them. I started out both trips (Florida and then Ohio), thinking it would be nice to live near family again. There are so many advantages to it…the time for them to bond with Kae, spending holidays together without traveling, being close enough to visit without having to take time off work, etc. But, by the time we got back on a plane Saturday morning, Roger and I were cemented in our opinion that Sacramento is right where we want to be. With all the advantages of being near family, the distance is also…well, healthy. First, it’s impossible for us to live near all our family since they are split between Florida/Alabama, Ohio, and Greece. To pick one set to be near is torture and no matter what we decide, we would still have to travel somewhere to see someone. It’s much nicer to say, “We live here. Near no one” than to choose and have to deal with the consequences of what the other families would think and feel.
Secondly, our families spoiled Kae rotten! Sure, if they saw her more often, they probably wouldn’t be so bad, but still…
Every time Kae made a sound, someone was there to pick her up, give her a cookie or a cracker, or do whatever they could to make her smile again. And while I think the love and consolation of a crying baby is good, the truth is Kaelyn is a faker. She’s one year old. She’s testing us. She recently learned the meaning of “no” and while she listens to Roger and me when we say it, she will whine about it…to get us to give in. We don’t. But my mom totally does. She’s also teething (managed to cut two more teeth while we were away) and sometimes that pain will make her cranky. Roger and I try to distract her with teething rings or carrots to make her feel better. We give her medicine only if she absolutely needs it…and so far has only been that bad once. Sometimes she cries out while she’s sleeping. Only once, maybe twice, and she does this in her sleep. We have learned after that initial cry to wait. Most of the time, she doesn’t make another sound and is fast asleep when we check on her. I think this is from the pain of teething, or maybe she’s dreaming, but the fact remains, she cries and we wait to see if it’s “real” before doing anything. Our families were the complete opposite. If she so much as breathed heavily, someone was in there picking her up (waking her up) and giving her something to eat, drink or play with. Not good.
Kae may complain a little bit when I first put her down for a nap or at bedtime, but normally, after she voices her initial frustration, she lies there quietly and is asleep by the time the second song on the music CD I play for her is over. After we got back yesterday, she threw a mini tantrum when I put her down for the night. For the last week, that bought her more time to play. Now, I feel like I have to re-train her.
For all the complaining I’m doing, I do love our families and love how much they love and adore Kae. I think it’s great for her to have people in her life that will spoil her and I want her to be excited about these trips in the future. And while I’ll spend the next few days/week getting her back on our routine, I’m truly happy that she got time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She loved the attention and they loved her. This is why I think it would be good to be near them again…and the result of her “spoiling” is why I’m happy that we are a little further away most of time.
Overall, the trip was really good. We left early on Saturday morning, spend a four hour layover in Dallas, which wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds, and was in Florida in time for dinner. Kaelyn got to meet my Grandmother for the first time, we visited my Dad’s farm and ate A LOT of food! We left for Ohio Wednesday afternoon, got there extremely late and welcomed sleep when it finally came to us. We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, followed by the Haunted Hoochie (the world’s best haunts). We had another birthday party for Kaelyn on Saturday, and visited many many friends and family of Roger. It was a great time. We had little sleep in Ohio and when we got home all we wanted was to relax. We were in bed by 8pm!
In one week, we had a total of 6 flights. Kaelyn was good on all but two of them. And those were the two in between Dallas and Columbus. For some reason, she wouldn’t sleep on this leg and that was pretty miserable, but overall, she did great. The plane put her to sleep and when she was awake, she was in a good mood. Her ears didn’t seem to bother her that much. She tugged on them a little during the decent, but luckily for all of us, seemed to equalize them easily. Funny enough, I’ve been pretty congested lately and my ears killed me on the decent. I haven’t felt that bad since I was a little kid…but if I had to choose between me and Kaelyn to be in pain, I would pick me any day.
Only one flight was delayed and that happened to be the very last one. We boarded on time, Kaelyn took her bottle, and was nearly asleep when we were told the plane was being taken out of service and we had to de-board. We were told that they wouldn’t be giving us the stroller back and we had to change concourses (coincidentally, the same gate we had arrived at earlier that day). Luckily, we ran into good friends of ours at the airport, that were also on our flight. Thank God they were there! There was no way we could have carried Kaelyn, our two roller suitcases, her diaper bag, our drinks, and jackets without the stroller, without them. (And yes, we did do the entire trip with only carry-on’s…American Airlines charges $25 to check a bag and I just couldn’t bring myself to pay that fee.)
Being home is nice. Our bed, our couch, our routine, our rules. Fall seems to have shown up while we were away too. We left with weather in the upper 90’s and returned to highs in the low 70’s and a little bit of rain. I’m welcoming the changing of the season. The crispness of fall, the comfort foods, and the holidays. Halloween is just around the corner. I can’t believe it…
We spent last week in Florida and Ohio visiting both sides of the family. There were so many people who hadn’t met Kaelyn yet, and we really didn’t want to wait too much longer to have her meet them. I started out both trips (Florida and then Ohio), thinking it would be nice to live near family again. There are so many advantages to it…the time for them to bond with Kae, spending holidays together without traveling, being close enough to visit without having to take time off work, etc. But, by the time we got back on a plane Saturday morning, Roger and I were cemented in our opinion that Sacramento is right where we want to be. With all the advantages of being near family, the distance is also…well, healthy. First, it’s impossible for us to live near all our family since they are split between Florida/Alabama, Ohio, and Greece. To pick one set to be near is torture and no matter what we decide, we would still have to travel somewhere to see someone. It’s much nicer to say, “We live here. Near no one” than to choose and have to deal with the consequences of what the other families would think and feel.
Secondly, our families spoiled Kae rotten! Sure, if they saw her more often, they probably wouldn’t be so bad, but still…
Every time Kae made a sound, someone was there to pick her up, give her a cookie or a cracker, or do whatever they could to make her smile again. And while I think the love and consolation of a crying baby is good, the truth is Kaelyn is a faker. She’s one year old. She’s testing us. She recently learned the meaning of “no” and while she listens to Roger and me when we say it, she will whine about it…to get us to give in. We don’t. But my mom totally does. She’s also teething (managed to cut two more teeth while we were away) and sometimes that pain will make her cranky. Roger and I try to distract her with teething rings or carrots to make her feel better. We give her medicine only if she absolutely needs it…and so far has only been that bad once. Sometimes she cries out while she’s sleeping. Only once, maybe twice, and she does this in her sleep. We have learned after that initial cry to wait. Most of the time, she doesn’t make another sound and is fast asleep when we check on her. I think this is from the pain of teething, or maybe she’s dreaming, but the fact remains, she cries and we wait to see if it’s “real” before doing anything. Our families were the complete opposite. If she so much as breathed heavily, someone was in there picking her up (waking her up) and giving her something to eat, drink or play with. Not good.
Kae may complain a little bit when I first put her down for a nap or at bedtime, but normally, after she voices her initial frustration, she lies there quietly and is asleep by the time the second song on the music CD I play for her is over. After we got back yesterday, she threw a mini tantrum when I put her down for the night. For the last week, that bought her more time to play. Now, I feel like I have to re-train her.
For all the complaining I’m doing, I do love our families and love how much they love and adore Kae. I think it’s great for her to have people in her life that will spoil her and I want her to be excited about these trips in the future. And while I’ll spend the next few days/week getting her back on our routine, I’m truly happy that she got time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She loved the attention and they loved her. This is why I think it would be good to be near them again…and the result of her “spoiling” is why I’m happy that we are a little further away most of time.
Overall, the trip was really good. We left early on Saturday morning, spend a four hour layover in Dallas, which wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds, and was in Florida in time for dinner. Kaelyn got to meet my Grandmother for the first time, we visited my Dad’s farm and ate A LOT of food! We left for Ohio Wednesday afternoon, got there extremely late and welcomed sleep when it finally came to us. We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, followed by the Haunted Hoochie (the world’s best haunts). We had another birthday party for Kaelyn on Saturday, and visited many many friends and family of Roger. It was a great time. We had little sleep in Ohio and when we got home all we wanted was to relax. We were in bed by 8pm!
In one week, we had a total of 6 flights. Kaelyn was good on all but two of them. And those were the two in between Dallas and Columbus. For some reason, she wouldn’t sleep on this leg and that was pretty miserable, but overall, she did great. The plane put her to sleep and when she was awake, she was in a good mood. Her ears didn’t seem to bother her that much. She tugged on them a little during the decent, but luckily for all of us, seemed to equalize them easily. Funny enough, I’ve been pretty congested lately and my ears killed me on the decent. I haven’t felt that bad since I was a little kid…but if I had to choose between me and Kaelyn to be in pain, I would pick me any day.
Only one flight was delayed and that happened to be the very last one. We boarded on time, Kaelyn took her bottle, and was nearly asleep when we were told the plane was being taken out of service and we had to de-board. We were told that they wouldn’t be giving us the stroller back and we had to change concourses (coincidentally, the same gate we had arrived at earlier that day). Luckily, we ran into good friends of ours at the airport, that were also on our flight. Thank God they were there! There was no way we could have carried Kaelyn, our two roller suitcases, her diaper bag, our drinks, and jackets without the stroller, without them. (And yes, we did do the entire trip with only carry-on’s…American Airlines charges $25 to check a bag and I just couldn’t bring myself to pay that fee.)
Being home is nice. Our bed, our couch, our routine, our rules. Fall seems to have shown up while we were away too. We left with weather in the upper 90’s and returned to highs in the low 70’s and a little bit of rain. I’m welcoming the changing of the season. The crispness of fall, the comfort foods, and the holidays. Halloween is just around the corner. I can’t believe it…
Monday, October 4, 2010
New Toys
I have never been quick to jump on the technology bandwagon. I didn't have a DVD player for years after DVDs were pretty much the only thing you could rent or buy and the only reason why I finally switched over is because my VCR broke and I won a new DVD player at a Christmas party I attended. I've never had a iPod, iPhone, or i-anything. I'm not even sure what an MP3 is. The TV I had when I got married was archaic. Before Roger brought in the flat screens, I happily watched TV on a 29" box tv I bought while I was in college.
When I was in the AF, I was given a palm pilot (I think). When I left the AF, I opened my desk drawer and gave it to my replacement...brand new, still in the box.
Cell phones are just another thing that I'm not fast on. I didn't even own one until I was in Japan, and then only got it because Stacy did and I went with her to pick it up. It only made phone calls. I started texting regularly about two years ago. Roger and I signed up for a family plan and we got phones with full keyboards. Before then, I refused to write anything with numbers on a phone...and I mean, seriously, texts seem like a step back from actually talking to someone and hearing their voices live!
Anyway, it's safe to say that I'm a little behind the power curve when it comes to technology.
At our garage sale last weekend, I lost my cell phone. I'm pretty sure it was stolen, but I did give it to Kaelyn to play with just before it disappeared for good. I wasn't that heartbroken about it. The phone was starting to be a very big source of anger for me. Shutting off at random times, not holding a charge, dropping calls, etc. It had some features to allow me Internet access that I never used. I wanted a new one...a simple one that just made phone calls. That's it.
Saturday, after a full day of hanging out with Vickie (me an Kaelyn) and working on getting the rental cleaned up (Roger), we finally made a trip to Verizon to get me a replacement. Truthfully, I kind of enjoyed my week without a cell phone, but with the world revolving around them, it was inconvenient at times...so, a new cell phone it was.
Roger and I were both eligible for upgrades, so we decided to each get a new phone. I told the guy. "Calls only." He did his job. By the time we were done, our new phones (the Droid) has Internet access, apps (a new slang word for me), navigation, full keyboard text, touch screen, talks to me, and yes, even makes phone calls!
Yesterday, I downloaded applications that count my calories, WW points, give me weather updates all around the world, GPS navigation system, and a bar code reader (that was really fun to play with). We went shopping to buy some baby gates and a highchair for Kaelyn. I scanned the high chair to read instant reviews and get coupons. I checked my email, thought about updating the blog, and got turn by turn directions to get a different store than the one we normally go to. All from my phone! The only thing I didn't do was make a phone call.
I'm still not super excited about the latest and greatest technology, but I will admit that I love my new phone. I'm pretty sure once the novelty of it wears off for me, I won't use the features as much...will probably be back to just calling and texting, but it is fun to play with right now.
In other news, Kaelyn is very close to walking...she also decided that in the meantime, she will do a real crawl (before it was army crawls and rolls). She's super speedy and hard to keep up with.
Friday night, Roger and I went to Esther and Lester's wedding. It was beautiful....and sort of a date night for us since we didn't bring Kaelyn. She and Vickie and the dogs had a great time though...and so did we. It was wonderful, exhausting, and exciting all at the same time.
Here's to the start of another busy week!
When I was in the AF, I was given a palm pilot (I think). When I left the AF, I opened my desk drawer and gave it to my replacement...brand new, still in the box.
Cell phones are just another thing that I'm not fast on. I didn't even own one until I was in Japan, and then only got it because Stacy did and I went with her to pick it up. It only made phone calls. I started texting regularly about two years ago. Roger and I signed up for a family plan and we got phones with full keyboards. Before then, I refused to write anything with numbers on a phone...and I mean, seriously, texts seem like a step back from actually talking to someone and hearing their voices live!
Anyway, it's safe to say that I'm a little behind the power curve when it comes to technology.
At our garage sale last weekend, I lost my cell phone. I'm pretty sure it was stolen, but I did give it to Kaelyn to play with just before it disappeared for good. I wasn't that heartbroken about it. The phone was starting to be a very big source of anger for me. Shutting off at random times, not holding a charge, dropping calls, etc. It had some features to allow me Internet access that I never used. I wanted a new one...a simple one that just made phone calls. That's it.
Saturday, after a full day of hanging out with Vickie (me an Kaelyn) and working on getting the rental cleaned up (Roger), we finally made a trip to Verizon to get me a replacement. Truthfully, I kind of enjoyed my week without a cell phone, but with the world revolving around them, it was inconvenient at times...so, a new cell phone it was.
Roger and I were both eligible for upgrades, so we decided to each get a new phone. I told the guy. "Calls only." He did his job. By the time we were done, our new phones (the Droid) has Internet access, apps (a new slang word for me), navigation, full keyboard text, touch screen, talks to me, and yes, even makes phone calls!
Yesterday, I downloaded applications that count my calories, WW points, give me weather updates all around the world, GPS navigation system, and a bar code reader (that was really fun to play with). We went shopping to buy some baby gates and a highchair for Kaelyn. I scanned the high chair to read instant reviews and get coupons. I checked my email, thought about updating the blog, and got turn by turn directions to get a different store than the one we normally go to. All from my phone! The only thing I didn't do was make a phone call.
I'm still not super excited about the latest and greatest technology, but I will admit that I love my new phone. I'm pretty sure once the novelty of it wears off for me, I won't use the features as much...will probably be back to just calling and texting, but it is fun to play with right now.
In other news, Kaelyn is very close to walking...she also decided that in the meantime, she will do a real crawl (before it was army crawls and rolls). She's super speedy and hard to keep up with.
Friday night, Roger and I went to Esther and Lester's wedding. It was beautiful....and sort of a date night for us since we didn't bring Kaelyn. She and Vickie and the dogs had a great time though...and so did we. It was wonderful, exhausting, and exciting all at the same time.
Here's to the start of another busy week!
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