WE ARE HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL! And have been since November 5th. There we go. The record is set straight for any who may have missed it, or have been confused. Tommy just loves his little sister. He gives her hugs and cuddles and lots of kisses. He pats her to help comfort her when she's crying, or he'll bring her blanket and pacifier. He helps me burp her and is always willing to run and fetch a diaper for me if I ask. He loves playing with her when she's down on the floor with him. He's even gone so far as to bring his computer keyboard and popcorn vacuum toy over to show her how to use them. He's enjoyed the discovery that she has body parts like him, namely: ears, eyes, mouth, tongue, hands and toes. He plays little piggies with her toes and thinks it's just fantastic.
Exciting things in our lives:
Shad's birthday was November 17 and he is now a quarter century old. Gee whiz, can ya smell that? Yep, it's an old fart:) He got Small World, a Days of Wonder game. Ruth and Levi each got him an expansion to the game. We got the other two expansions with an Amazon gift card and thus have the complete set. We've been enjoying playing the game often and thinking of new races and abilities to create for the "create-your-own" tiles.
We have mice. Not quite so thrilling, and generally not something you wanna publicize to the world, but given that it appears as though it will continue to be part of our lives, why not share? It started with just one in the summer that was caught on a sticky trap left by the previous owners behind the oven. We were playing games with the missionaries one afternoon and were caught off guard by frantic squeeking, so we located and disposed of the source. A few weeks ago, we discovered that there was one hanging out on our kitchen counters, and that he came up from underneath the burners on the stove. So I made it a point to keep the burner covers on and have a can on top of them, so as to keep my counters safe. Unfortunately, we forget periodically. We came home one evening and found a mouse on the counter, so my first thought was to cut off his escape by putting down the forgotten burner cover. That didn't work because then he jumped off the counter and ran into the living room. Lovely. He was caught in a trap a couple mornings later. A couple nights ago I came up to make popcorn and there was a mouse on the counter. He ran into my tool chest of plastic drawers and I trapped him there. With Shad's help, we threw the creature into a cardboard box and I hammered him with my meat tenderizer (through the box) in the garage. Joy. Yesterday afternoon Shad saw a smaller mouse in our living room and we tag teamed chasing and catching it, giving him the same execution as the other mouse. And just now after I put Tommy to bed I heard scrambling feet in the wall of the hall upstairs. Seriously? I'm getting better at protecting my counters so I don't have to disinfect and sanitize them every couple of days.
On a more pleasant note, Shad got a promotion at work! This is something that's kind of been in the works for a month. First we were waiting for the position to be created, then he applied, then interviewed and then finally Thursday almost at the end of the work day, they told him he got the position. He'll be working in quality assurance, which means several things: first, that he doesn't have to stand in one place for 10 hours; second, that he doesn't have to wear the safety glasses that press in tightly on his temples and give him headaches; third, that I can't stop thinking that my husband will be working in "quabity assuance." For those of you who don't understand the reference, watch this youtube clip from The Office. For those of you who DO understand the reference, watch the clip anyway because Creed is hilarious and we all know it.
Because Shad got said promotion, we went out to dinner to celebrate. I told him I wanted us to dress nice for it. So as we're getting ready in the bathroom and Shad is fixing his hair, Tommy wanted to have his hair fixed, too. I figured that if Tommy was going to have his hair fixed, that he oughta get dressed up too. And if he was going to get dressed up, then Katie had to, too. And if we were all going to be dressed up and looking nice at the same time, we needed to take some family pictures. It was fun. Tommy ended up having to have his hair done twice because as he was getting dressed, he decided he didn't want his hair fixed anymore, so he reached up and tousled it up.
Tommy is still addicted to Mulan. He watches it almost daily. About a month ago he started making the sound effects of hocking a loogie. My mom was the one who attributed this to the scene in Mulan where she's trying to pass herself off as a guy to get into the army, and she attempts to spit. We think it's charming. Okay, maybe not charming, but it's hilarious.
I taught Tommy how to clean the inside of the toilet a couple days ago. I figured that if he likes playing with the brush anyway, he might as well learn to use it correctly and help me with the cleaning. And for those of you (like Lori) who think I'm poisoning my child with cleaning chemicals, I use homemade cleaners with water, vinegar and baking soda. Really, truly, it almost makes cleaning enjoyable. Dad, remember years ago when you told us about a poster at work that said, "If 3 out of 4 people suffer from diarrhea, does that mean the 4th one enjoys it?" And then you gave a demonstration as to how you imagine that 4th person might act in the anticipation of their diarrhea? Well cleaning is ALMOST like that for me now. Not quite, but almost.
Tommy had his first snow experience today. He thought it was soo funny when Shad would throw snowballs and they'd shatter on the ground. He enjoyed running his fingers through it, as well as running his feet through it. At one point I'm not sure if he sat down or fell down, but he couldn't really get back up because he didn't want to press his hands in, due to the cold. It took us a couple minutes to realize that that's why he wasn't getting back up and the poor boy's pants were pretty wet and cold after that. He didn't complain though.
Shad came up with a new term for the baby "milk comma" that babies get after eating. He calls it "lactoasted." We laugh at that all the time:)
Alright, I'm gonna shut up now and conclude with the pictures from this week.
Cleaning the toilet.
How German does this boy look?
Loving his Katie.
Spitting.
Tommy was done with pictures at this point.
Stuck in the snow.
