To Hell With The Dell

Wondering why I haven't been blogging a lot lately? Well, for once I have a really good excuse. Our Dell laptop is having issues AGAIN and needs to be repaired for the third time in just over a year. Is that RIDUCULOUS or what? Our space bar only works when it wants to so most of my typing lookslikethis unless I smack the space bar several times between each word. And that is BEYOND ANNOYING. My train of thought gets completely interrupted before I can even finish a sentence. Soooooo, our lemon of a laptop will be packed up and shipped back to Dell for awhile and my blogging will be spotty at best. But don't give up on me... I will be back with more coffee house stories and Rory adventures as soon as I can type like a normal person again and not look like I've turned my laptop into a drum set.

Until then, I will leave you with this adorable picture of my son, the handsome devil...

My Son May Be Scarred Psychologically From This Later But....

I just had to post this picture!



Does he look stoked or what?

Ten Month Newsletter

Dear Rory,
Yesterday you turned ten months old and I’m pretty shocked that I now have a child whose age is in DOUBLE DIGITS. I mean, in just two short months you’ll be A WHOLE YEAR OLD, and I’m not sure I’m ready to handle that just yet.

This past month has been a whirlwind of activity for you. The most exciting achievement of course is the fact that you began crawling, and now it’s like we suddenly have a completely different child with a whole new set of challenges. The house has become a playground for you and you’re into absolutely EVERYTHING. If I’m in the bathroom, you’re in the bathroom yanking miles of toilet paper off the roll. If I’m in the kitchen, you’re in the kitchen knocking over the garbage can. If I’m trying to get dressed, you are right there in the closet with me, gleefully pulling clothes down off their hangers. Ah yes, people, now that our little man is mobile, the fun at our house never stops.

Of course, crawling also brings with it the added responsibility of baby-proofing the house. Who ever designed the things to supposedly make our house “safer” for our child obviously never had to deal with the likes of you! Our DVD player has been under attack ever since you figured out that you could push the buttons and make a cool clicking noise – over and over again. So we bought this handy little plastic shield at Babies R Us to put over the buttons. You went right over to the DVD player after we had attached the shield, and your Dad and I stood by thinking to ourselves, “The fun is over, buddy” and we went about our business. But within two minutes, a distinct clicking sound could be heard from the other room and there you were, pushing the buttons and smiling, with the shield off and tossed to the side. You looked up at us with this gleem in your eye and it's like you was saying, “Ha, people, is THIS the best you can do?”

To add to the excitement in our household the past few weeks, we have also been dealing with a bout of the baby runs. Son, you have produced more poopy diapers than I ever thought you could be capable of, and oh what a joy it has been changing them! We have been up to our ears in shit around here, and I mean that quite literally. As a matter of fact, last Wednesday at the Ventura Mall, I went to change your diaper, not realizing yet that you had the runs, so I had no idea what I was in for. I went to pull your pants off quickly like I always do because it makes you laugh, and as I flicked them off, poop went flying EVERYWHERE. And by everywhere I mean all over you, all over my hair, all over my clothes and all over the bathroom walls. It took me a second to realize what had happened, and then naturally, I was totally and completely grossed out. I ended up having to give both of us a makeshift sponge bath in the bathroom sink using paper towels and hand soap from the dispenser. Luckily, I had a full change of clothes for you, but as for myself, well, I wasn’t wearing anything under my sweatshirt, so I had to walk through the mall and then drive home covered in crap. Ah, the joys of motherhood - they are truly endless.

But honestly, Rory, the joys of being your mother ARE endless. Even if you are covered in poop and crawling up the walls. I love watching you discover new things every day and your adorable smile lights up my life. I can’t wait to see what adventures we’ll have next.

Love,
Mama

Chrismakkuh 2005

For those of you who may not know it, we are an interfaith family. I am Jewish and my husband is Christian, which makes this time of year very interesting in our household, especially now that we have a child. Usually Hannukah and Christmas are at different times during December so we can celebrate them separately, but in an odd twist of fate, this year they ended up being at exactly the same time. So how does one go about celebrating both holidays at once? Very creatively.

Here's how it went: We had a tree to decorate (or what my father referred to as the "non-denominational holiday shrub"), lights on our house (only white lights though - not red or green), and presents wrapped in non-holiday specific snowflake paper. But we also had stockings hung by the fireplace, and a menorah on the mantle. Confusing? Perhaps. But isn't it kind of amazing that we're able to blend the best of both holidays traditions together? Eggnog with latkes, Christmas cookies with chocolate coins, Christmas lights with Hanukkah candles? How awesome is that?

Happy Chrismakkuh!

Nine Month Newsletter

I had this written almost a month ago but never got a chance to post it.
Better late than never!

Dear Rory –
Today you turn 9 months old, which basically means that you’ve now spent as much time in the outside world as you did in my tummy. Hmmm, crazy thought.

The list of things that you have learned to do in the last month is a long one, especially in the last week or so. It’s almost as if you looked at the calendar and said, “Hey, I’m turning 9 months pretty soon here so I better start playing catch up!” and all of a sudden you’re busting out with all of these new things that you can do.

Here’s the latest list:

- Waving goodbye. Okay, so maybe you’re really just imitating us, but you seem to do it on cue and it makes your dad and I puff up with pride.

- Eating Puffs (kinda like little Cherrios, but they dissolve faster in the mouth and come in a ton of yummy flavors). It’s taken you quite some time to get used to eating anything more solid than mush, but we’ve been working on it and now not only are you downing Puffs like a pro, you’re picking them up all by yourself. As a matter of fact, you love eating them SO much that even if you’re totally engrossed in something else, as soon as I put a Puff down in front of you, you instantly drop whatever you’re doing, grab the Puff, and shove it in your mouth at warp speed. No baby should be able to move that fast.

- Sitting up by yourself. I realize that you’ve been sitting up for awhile now, but we always had to put you in that position. Now when we lay you down, if you don’t want to stay there, you just pop yourself back up to sitting position - and boy, doesn’t that make nap times just that much more fun!

- Clapping. You just started doing this the other day accompanied by a sound that I swear sounds just like “Hurray.” You’re so enthralled with this new accomplishment of yours that you’re applauding yourself all the time now (unless you’re shoving a Puff in your mouth, of course!). But it’s so darn cute, that we could care less.

- Making the “Crinkle Face”. One day you, out of the blue, you started crinkling your little nose up and snorting. Where you got this from, I have no idea, but damn, it’s adorable!

Still no definitive crawling at this point, but you’re definitely getting there. You seem pretty content with rolling around the room, but I can tell you really want to get up and start moving. I’m in no hurry, though, kiddo, so you just take your sweet time. I want to enjoy these last few weeks of you being my baby before you turn into a toddler…

Happy 9th month, Rory Bear.

Love,
Mama