Every day I see more of my kids' personalities and imaginations shine through.
The other day Toby was talking about things he did with his little brother. I wondered where he got the idea that he had a little brother. I asked him about how he got a brother and he replied "The Tooth Fairy poofed him." Apparently his impression of the Tooth Fairy is a little bit bigger than we intended to communicate.
And any time I need to calm Norah down or occupy her for a few minutes the never-fail solution is to give her my purse, and specifically my wallet. The thing she gets the fastest: my credit card. Hmmm... I think we'll be shopping together in no time!
No word yet on the "lost" bag. We put in a claim on Friday for $1600 worth of stuff. I claimed $225 for the signed 1st edition of Eclipse. It's probably worth less than a generically signed 1st edition (mine was personalized), but it's still worth way more than the $20 I paid for it 18 months ago.
Addition: While I was typing this BJ walked around the corner into the living room where the kids were playing and I hear this exchange: "Hey Toby, what happened here? Is this naughty?" and Toby's reply: "Norah did it." Which is probably in some part true (she was getting into my purse) but it was just pretty funny that Toby immediately jumped to "Norah did it." What do we have to look forward to in the years to come?
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
My Lost (or Stolen) Bag
The highlight from a day of travel with two kids (and one sick hubby): arriving in Hartford 40 minutes early.
The low point: having one of our bags go missing.
This is the first time in ages that an airline has lost a bag of ours. And the last time it happened the bag just missed the flight and was returned to us the next day (remember how many problems the DIA baggage system had in the beginning?). I've gotten careless with the airlines. This is even worse than the last time my luggage was lost because I think my bag might have been stolen.
I was waiting at the carousel with Toby and Norah while BJ went to get the car. Three of our bags came off the belt within a minute of BJ leaving, and I thought I saw the fourth bag, a black duffel bag, round the corner. So I called BJ back to come help with the bags. But in the mean time the duffel never passed by.
You know that sickening feeling when you start to recognize all the bags on the carousel and no new ones are coming out? That happened for several rounds and then the belt stopped. No black duffel bag. We went to baggage services and had to start a claim for a lost bag. When the lady heard my story that I thought I saw the bag on the belt but it never got to our end she said "Gee, I hope no one took it by mistake." That was comforting. They were no help. Now we're waiting here on pins and needles waiting for a phone call that our bag has been found -- or returned.
The bag that was lost contained all of our toiletries, some clothes (from each of us), books, and even my breast pump. What an invasion of privacy if this stupid bag was, in fact, stolen. And a loss of hundreds of dollars at least. I'm sad to say I even packed a few pieces of jewelry into my toiletry bag (my favorite watch, and two favorite necklaces). Another sad thing that's lost: my Stephenie Meyer signed copy of Eclipse. Can you imagine a new thieving scam set up in airport baggage claims? I'm picturing someone nonchalantly picking up a bag off the belt and walking off to the nearest pawn shop. Pawing anything that looks worthwhile and dumping the rest in the trash.
Should I be so hasty to judge fellow Americans? I just wonder how long it takes someone to realize they have the wrong luggage, and once they realize they've taken the wrong bag will they return it? The longer it takes for the airlines to call us the less hope I have that the bag will be found.
The low point: having one of our bags go missing.
This is the first time in ages that an airline has lost a bag of ours. And the last time it happened the bag just missed the flight and was returned to us the next day (remember how many problems the DIA baggage system had in the beginning?). I've gotten careless with the airlines. This is even worse than the last time my luggage was lost because I think my bag might have been stolen.
I was waiting at the carousel with Toby and Norah while BJ went to get the car. Three of our bags came off the belt within a minute of BJ leaving, and I thought I saw the fourth bag, a black duffel bag, round the corner. So I called BJ back to come help with the bags. But in the mean time the duffel never passed by.
You know that sickening feeling when you start to recognize all the bags on the carousel and no new ones are coming out? That happened for several rounds and then the belt stopped. No black duffel bag. We went to baggage services and had to start a claim for a lost bag. When the lady heard my story that I thought I saw the bag on the belt but it never got to our end she said "Gee, I hope no one took it by mistake." That was comforting. They were no help. Now we're waiting here on pins and needles waiting for a phone call that our bag has been found -- or returned.
The bag that was lost contained all of our toiletries, some clothes (from each of us), books, and even my breast pump. What an invasion of privacy if this stupid bag was, in fact, stolen. And a loss of hundreds of dollars at least. I'm sad to say I even packed a few pieces of jewelry into my toiletry bag (my favorite watch, and two favorite necklaces). Another sad thing that's lost: my Stephenie Meyer signed copy of Eclipse. Can you imagine a new thieving scam set up in airport baggage claims? I'm picturing someone nonchalantly picking up a bag off the belt and walking off to the nearest pawn shop. Pawing anything that looks worthwhile and dumping the rest in the trash.
Should I be so hasty to judge fellow Americans? I just wonder how long it takes someone to realize they have the wrong luggage, and once they realize they've taken the wrong bag will they return it? The longer it takes for the airlines to call us the less hope I have that the bag will be found.
Monday, January 12, 2009
My Friends
I love and miss my friends.
Yesterday and Saturday was a whirlwind trip through the Springs. We felt loved, appreciated, and missed. While we were en route to our fourth get-together of the day we prepped Toby on who we were going to see next and he said "I get to see all my friends." It hurt my heart because we really haven't made friends yet in CT--for him or for us.
Our friends are fantastic and we couldn't be doing what we're doing in CT without the love and support of our friends and family.
Yesterday and Saturday was a whirlwind trip through the Springs. We felt loved, appreciated, and missed. While we were en route to our fourth get-together of the day we prepped Toby on who we were going to see next and he said "I get to see all my friends." It hurt my heart because we really haven't made friends yet in CT--for him or for us.
Our friends are fantastic and we couldn't be doing what we're doing in CT without the love and support of our friends and family.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
My Winter Weather Report
Here's the funny thing about New England weather that many people may not know: the winter storms get names just like hurricanes. We just had winter storm "Aaron" come through on Friday and it dumped about 5 inches of snow in a few hours. Now winter storm "Brooke" is pelting our area with...rain. Ugh. I've decided that there is little worse than topping a beautiful snow storm with rain. Now everything is just slushy and gray.
But Toby and BJ did get to play out in the snow yesterday. Toby had fun, despite the cold that seeped through every layer of clothing he had on.
But Toby and BJ did get to play out in the snow yesterday. Toby had fun, despite the cold that seeped through every layer of clothing he had on.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
My Sense of Humor
There are a few things that make me laugh out loud.
My son usually takes the cake with that one. Tonight, it's his stupid Elmo flashlight that is quite humorous. Or, more specifically, the fact that it's 9:42 and I've resorted to unscrewing the light bulb in his lamp in order for him to stay in bed and go to sleep. So he's turned on his Elmo flashlight in order to read his books. Every 30 seconds or so I hear "ha ha ha aha ha" in Elmo-voice, which means he's turned on his flashlight (it automatically turns off after 30 seconds).
It reminds me of the major emergency we had here a few weeks ago when Toby blew out a socket by sticking a penny in it. After the fire went out (yeah, there was a night light in the other socket and that burned up nicely) we had to replace the whole outlet. Four thirty in the afternoon (in the winter) is not a good time to have the electricity off in order to replace a light socket only to discover that the only flashlight you own is programmed to laugh like Elmo every time you need to turn it on. Not so funny at the time, but hilarious now.
LOL Cats (see link at right) is another thing that I found that makes me laugh out loud. Take silly pictures of cats and write out captions as if the cats were speaking. Just plain funny, whether you're a cat person or not. Check out the site any time you need a laugh. They also have a "totally looks like..." category where you can see how two random famous people totally look alike. It's hard to explain but well worth your time to get a good laugh in. And it's free!
My son usually takes the cake with that one. Tonight, it's his stupid Elmo flashlight that is quite humorous. Or, more specifically, the fact that it's 9:42 and I've resorted to unscrewing the light bulb in his lamp in order for him to stay in bed and go to sleep. So he's turned on his Elmo flashlight in order to read his books. Every 30 seconds or so I hear "ha ha ha aha ha" in Elmo-voice, which means he's turned on his flashlight (it automatically turns off after 30 seconds).
It reminds me of the major emergency we had here a few weeks ago when Toby blew out a socket by sticking a penny in it. After the fire went out (yeah, there was a night light in the other socket and that burned up nicely) we had to replace the whole outlet. Four thirty in the afternoon (in the winter) is not a good time to have the electricity off in order to replace a light socket only to discover that the only flashlight you own is programmed to laugh like Elmo every time you need to turn it on. Not so funny at the time, but hilarious now.
LOL Cats (see link at right) is another thing that I found that makes me laugh out loud. Take silly pictures of cats and write out captions as if the cats were speaking. Just plain funny, whether you're a cat person or not. Check out the site any time you need a laugh. They also have a "totally looks like..." category where you can see how two random famous people totally look alike. It's hard to explain but well worth your time to get a good laugh in. And it's free!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
My New Christmas Tradition (Santa Arrives by Tugboat)
Santa Claus arrives by Tugboat in Mystic on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So we bundled up and met our cousins and families in downtown Mystic for the event. It was such a neat time to feel like we belonged to a community. Toby had a lot of fun playing with his cousin Elizabeth (they have a love-hate relationship). Norah just stayed snuggled up in the backpack and watched everyone. Toby thought the tugboat whistle was really loud. I don't even know if you can see Santa on the boat, but he's on the front waving. (And the story at our house is that Santa works for Jesus.)
My 50th Post
I was going to title this something like "My First Connecticut Snow" or something goofy, but then I saw that I've done 49 posts, so I thought that I'd just make this a combination of randomness and get away with a generic title.
We woke up to snow on the ground. Finally! It took long enough for snow to arrive. It all melted away in about 2 hours, but at least the barren trees looked pretty for our drive to church.
We tried out the Anglican church again. Completely disorganized. Toby and Norah seemed to be the only kids in the nursery, being staffed by 3 high schoolers who looked like they had just rolled out of bed 5 minutes ago. We didn't even sign them in or anything. We remembered from our last visit to this church that all the parents go get their kids for communion. So when I went back to pick up the kids it was still just Toby and Norah and the 3 workers. Toby was eating a snack so I had to wait while he finished. The high schoolers didn't say a thing other than "They were fine." When we were walking back to the sanctuary I noticed Toby was walking funny. I look down and his jeans are totally soaked! He had an accident (he said he hid behind a chair) and didn't tell anyone and they didn't notice. They even fed him a snack while he was soaking wet! We got him changed and sat through the rest of service. Afterwards he took me back to the room to show me where he hid to pee. There was a little wet spot on the carpet but there were no towels within a hundred yards of this room (how weird). So we just left and I can't bring myself to feel too badly about leaving a pee spot on their rug. There were 3 kids in there! How did they not notice my kid had an accident?
Yesterday morning Norah got up earlier than Toby so we were snuggling in the quiet. This breaks the silence: "Hello? Is anybody awake?" (Toby yelling from his bed). He yelled this about 5 times before I went in to see why he wasn't coming out. He was just laying in his bed -- he had leaked through his Pull-Up all over his sheets and he wanted someone to change them.
Potty training is such a special time....
Norah has her 9 month check-up on Tuesday. Hopefully her pediatrician will be able to give me some guidance as to why she's not sleeping through the night anymore. Yesterday Norah started cruising--she pulled up to the coffee table and caught sight of Toby's slice of bread. She then walked all the way around the table to grab the bread and stuff it in her mouth. So maybe she's not sleeping well because she's not getting enough to eat or because she's growing and moving all the time during the day.
We woke up to snow on the ground. Finally! It took long enough for snow to arrive. It all melted away in about 2 hours, but at least the barren trees looked pretty for our drive to church.
We tried out the Anglican church again. Completely disorganized. Toby and Norah seemed to be the only kids in the nursery, being staffed by 3 high schoolers who looked like they had just rolled out of bed 5 minutes ago. We didn't even sign them in or anything. We remembered from our last visit to this church that all the parents go get their kids for communion. So when I went back to pick up the kids it was still just Toby and Norah and the 3 workers. Toby was eating a snack so I had to wait while he finished. The high schoolers didn't say a thing other than "They were fine." When we were walking back to the sanctuary I noticed Toby was walking funny. I look down and his jeans are totally soaked! He had an accident (he said he hid behind a chair) and didn't tell anyone and they didn't notice. They even fed him a snack while he was soaking wet! We got him changed and sat through the rest of service. Afterwards he took me back to the room to show me where he hid to pee. There was a little wet spot on the carpet but there were no towels within a hundred yards of this room (how weird). So we just left and I can't bring myself to feel too badly about leaving a pee spot on their rug. There were 3 kids in there! How did they not notice my kid had an accident?
Yesterday morning Norah got up earlier than Toby so we were snuggling in the quiet. This breaks the silence: "Hello? Is anybody awake?" (Toby yelling from his bed). He yelled this about 5 times before I went in to see why he wasn't coming out. He was just laying in his bed -- he had leaked through his Pull-Up all over his sheets and he wanted someone to change them.
Potty training is such a special time....
Norah has her 9 month check-up on Tuesday. Hopefully her pediatrician will be able to give me some guidance as to why she's not sleeping through the night anymore. Yesterday Norah started cruising--she pulled up to the coffee table and caught sight of Toby's slice of bread. She then walked all the way around the table to grab the bread and stuff it in her mouth. So maybe she's not sleeping well because she's not getting enough to eat or because she's growing and moving all the time during the day.
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