Monkey See, Monkey Do

Our little monkey Nathan is quite the imitator these days. Shake your head, he will shake his too. Say a word or sentence, he will often try to copy the sounds, or at least the length and tone of what you just said. Scratch your head and he will sometimes do that. Walk down the stairs and - HEY! Yeah, he tried that today. We were upstairs and he was busy playing with the clock radio (he knows which button to push to turn on the music so he can dance). The next instant he was by the stairs and poised to walk down them like a big person does. Little does he realize his little legs aren't quite long enough yet. He took a tumble. All the way down. I ran to him too late but Leo got there just in time to catch him at the bottom. Had he hit the ground . . . I don't even want to think about it. Leo heard me screaming and came running. Poor thing was shaken up - literally - but otherwise perfectly fine. Kids are resilient. Thank GOD! This on top of having a nasty little cold that has been making Nathan cough and whine (oh yay, more whining) and sniffle. Poor baby. I'm hoping tomorrow starts a new day with a fresh start of better health and no tumbles! Later in the day I was getting the paper and decided to get a scratch off. I figured if we were lucky enough to escape harm on the stairs I had better check my luck with a scratch off ticket. I won $10.

Perhaps luck will stay with us this week as well. We will need it as we have a busy time ahead. We have finalized plans and we are definitely moving! I've had a hard time letting myself get excited for the move since it seemed like such a stretch that we would even get this house. But it's happening. Many boxes have been packed and even my rose bushes have been unearthed so I can take them with us. We close on this house Thursday and can get into the other house starting that day. We will move in the big stuff Sunday and be out of here by this time next week. We close on the other house on the 10th. The time between closings isn't ideal but since the new one is empty now we can get in and get comfy soon. Yay!

And that's pretty much what is taking over our minds at this point. The lists of things to do are long and many. We really had no idea this would happen now instead of a year from now. All for the best though. This looks like it's going to be a great house and we can't wait to make it ours!

Open & Close

So really, you probably want to know what's going on with Nathan, not my gutters and windows. Well, a lot actually. He is quite the toddler now. Temper tantrums and all. I told you I knew it was coming - it's just a surprise when it actually does. The falling to the ground, throwing back of the head, whining and crying as if the end of the world is upon us. Yes, this is a regular occurrence more and more. But all that aside, Nate is mostly a happy baby. He has learned to pull open drawers - low heavy ones with files in them; taller and smaller ones with candles in them. Ones with video cameras and nail files and lotions and books! A whole new world is out there in those drawers! And doors - he just loves to open and close things. So now he will go into a room, turn around and close the door. So when I go looking for him when he so masterfully escapes I can't just look down a hallway. I have to go open the doors too. As long as he can't reach the locks . . .

Nathan also LOVES to be outside. He will bring me his sandals so we can put them on and go outside. When Grandma Jo was here a few weeks ago we went outside with her in the evenings to water the flowers. He has since been carrying the water can around trying to take care of the flowers.

He also just loves water (even the water in the toilet bowl - Ick!). Baths are a favorite time for him and when we do go out and water with the hose he likes to stick his hands out and feel the sprinkles. We must get a sprinkler this summer! For his birthday, Nonni and Poppi Stan got him a big pirate-ship-looking thing for playing with water. I can't wait to set it up and play. Hopefully soon and on the deck at the new place . . . ?

Lots of other stuff going on that I'll add in another post soon. In the meantime I have to go chase Nathan as he opens and closes his way through the house!

One Thing Leads to Another

I know I am delinquent on posting when someone says "Hey! What's the deal?!" I'll tell you the deal. It all starts with one little task. . .

Since we have been in house-selling mode for months now, I am constantly cleaning, fixing and improving where I can. I planted some new flowers a little while back and put these two nice planters on either side of the front door. The clay/ dirt in the pots ran all over the place and stained the sidewalk red. Ick! To remedy the stain (that we just power washed, by the way) I borrowed our neighbors power washer again. So I do that in no time. Then, I tackled the corner of the house that was looking a little green. That was easy. Well, since we have the power washer and it's all set up, why not do the back patio? Okey dokey. Looks great. But man, while I was out there I noticed the gutters need some attention. We clean out the gutters and run some water through them. While I'm up there on the ladder I notice there's a lot of dirt on the side of the house. I bet a quick spray will help. Ah yes, much better. Ooops. The windows sure are spotty now. Guess I'll wash the outside. Oh, the dirt is on the inside. Oh, the bottom half needs cleaning too. Shoot, look at that pollen collecting in the sill. Crap, I've made a mess all over the floor. Shit - this place is a MESS!

What started with a simple task ended up as a 90 minute cleaning spree. It's almost 3pm. Maybe I should shower today . . .

So if you're wondering what the heck I'm doing, now you know! Anyone want a nice clean house?!

Easter Eggs

Over the weekend, our neighborhood hosted a cute little Easter Egg Hunt for the kids in the neighborhood. Within our little jungle gym area they set out dozens of eggs for the 3 and under group to collect. Nathan wanted to just look at the other kids. He's such an observer. We did finally get him to pick up a colorful plastic egg and he managed to open it up to find a cute little prize. Then he was happy to continue to chase cute little girls around and put eggs into other baskets. What a giver! We may have picked up a couple eggs ourselves - we wanted to see what was inside. We now have half a dozen plastic eggs in every corner of the house. When we clean up for our next showing it will be an egg hunt all over again.

We are still anxiously awaiting for fate to reveal what will happen with the house. Can you tell it's all we think about these days?! I'm trying not to obsess - this is difficult to do!

In the meantime, our next visitors are sure to help take our minds off the house stuff. Dad and Jo will be here this weekend. We will celebrate Nathan's birthday again on Saturday, Easter and perhaps acknowledge our anniversary as well. After all, it is tradition we do something special Easter Weekend!

Nathan's Birth Day

A year ago today, I was lounging on our little red couch, eating carrot cheesecake from our Last Supper at the Cheesecake Factory. We were enjoying the last Sunday without a kid. The last night before we met Nathan. The last night before our lives changed forever. For the better!

And now I see what my parents have been doing all these years. How important it was to call as early as possible to wish me a happy birthday. Because all day they were probably reliving the day I was born. There are so many things I get now.

For Nathan's special day we'll . . . well, I don't know what we'll do. We're having a small, casual pizza and cupcake party in the evening but I haven't thought about the day. I guess I should enjoy getting away without too much fanfare while he's unaware. But I want to do something special. It is, afterall, as much for the mother as it is for the baby, isn't it?! Maybe I'll get a pedicure then get him a gift. That's fair, right?

Lately our little almost-one-year-old has really become a toddler in my eyes. If you ask Leo, Nathan hopped on the train to toddler town weeks ago. But as his mother I wasn't sure I would see past him being an infant. But true toddler he is. You can, obviously, see it in the way he walks. He's a pro now and is practically running he's so fast. But you can also see it in the way he plays and makes faces and looks at us. He imitates, he hums, he gets impatient when he's hungry, he gets moody when he's tired. He laughs when he pleases us and sometimes when he doesn't - because he knows it! He won't let us eat anything without him having a taste too. He doesn't like when things get taken away from him. He whines a lot more than I would like. But he's so silly and he loves to play peek-a-boo and wave at everyone (on his own terms of course) and has the cutest little grin. So many little things about Nathan have been blossoming before my eyes I am amazed to step back to see I really do have a toddler!

As you can see, I am very much in love with our little guy. Even with the whining. BUT Mommy did need a break this past weekend and Gigi and Grandpa Ed were there to take over. Nathan went over there for an overnight as he did great as usual. I got a ton of stuff done. I really don't remember being this productive before him. Cleaning the house, inside and out, cleaning the car, even enjoying some sun (it was gorgeous out!), reading a book, watching a movie later and getting takeout sushi. Wow. It was a good and full, and even relaxing, 24 hours. Did I miss the booger? Yes. But it's much easier when I have stuff to do. Good thing Nathan is so well-behaved with others. As long as he continues to do overnights with no problem I will take the whining if I have to.

Bread & Eggs

Today is not Nathan's birthday. But a year ago today we sure were hoping it would be. Actually, we were hoping for a birthday any day before . . . well . . . the 23rd. But the 23rd it was. I still believe he was waiting to become his true sign - an Aries. Time will tell if his traits are true to the stars.

Last year, not too long after Nathan's Birth Day, you may remember my first visit to the grocery store with child. Oy! I have since gotten the shopping thing with a kid down to an art now. At least I thought I did. Nathan has since gotten more and more anxious, fiesty and wiggly in the shopping cart. I often have to placate him with a balloon, cookie and bread samples, singing and dancing. If you are bored and want to be entertained someday - come grocery shopping with us! Anyway, this last trip was much of the same and so, bored and looking for something new to play with, Nathan's ever growing reach gets allowed his to reach back in the cart for a nice fresh loaf of bread. Sorry Leo. I hope you like funky-shaped PB&J sandwiches! He kept reaching and I was able to rescue whatever item he got. Until we were in line to pay. I was reaching for my wallet and he was reaching for the eggs. Yes, the eggs. He picked up the carton and the eggs opened up and fell into the cart. I was suddenly one of "those moms" yelling their kids names in the store. But, Nathan has Leo's luck on his side - not one of the eggs broke! I don't know how we got away with that one. Our cashier was laughing and so was I. But only because I didn't have to wipe yolk off my deformed bread.

In other events, this weekend wasn't what we thought it would be but it turned out ok. Brother Matt & Joey were supposed to fly in Saturday night to stay the week. Bad weather in NY foiled their plans. Booo . . . But Joey will be here tomorrow night. Yay! Poor NY'ers. We happen to have had a great weather weekend here. We took advantage of it Saturday and power washed the drive and walk ways in preparation for our Sunday Open House. It looks fantastic! Today we met Kerri, Rob and Logan at a park to enjoy some fresh air and get the boys together. Yes, there are pictures to come. They were cute together as always. Nathan loved the swings while Logan . . . well, he didn't seem to have an opinion either way. He was just chillin'.

This week is St. Patty's so I will be making some great food to celebrate and for Joey's visit. More cleaning to keep up the house and hopefully news on the new house/ moving front. Keep your fingers crossed! Pics and news to come soon . . .

Road Trip to MD

Last week, Nathan and I took an impromptu road trip up to Maryland. We have family that we miss dearly up there - I couldn't not go when Mom said she was going for Aunt Mary's birthday. Tuesday afternoon we headed up.

Nathan, of course, did great in the car. I swear I am always surprised at how good he is. I know he is a good baby but it's like I keep waiting for a bad kid to emerge. I hear about kids going from babies to toddlers and how they have a hard time and their angels turn to demons. And maybe it's coming. But for now, Nathan is a pleasure in most situations. He entertained himself with his toys, his shoes, then socks, then feet. He sang and talked and looked out the window, only complaining towards the end of our six hour ride when it was dark and we were all antsy and hungry.

Aunt Mary has a nice dinner waiting for us when we arrived. She had nice meals the whole time actually. She is an amazing cook and I think I found someone to recipe swap with. Uncle Lee was home too. We enjoyed catching up before a busy few days.

Wednesday I had to do some work but Gigi was on patrol. Thank goodness for Grandma's! Cousin Elaine planned to come up for lunch and to hang for a while. We determined we hadn't seen each other in over two years or something like that. SAD! How does time pass so quickly?! We had a nice time together over lunch. Cousin Lee came home too. Another long time, no see! Nathan got to meet more cousins and get aquainted. And just when thought we had seen it all, Cousin Jill walked in! She was in town for a conference and surprised us by coming home. Yay! We got to see the new engagement ring and talk about her 4/2/10 wedding. What a treat!

Thursday we ran some errands around town in Easton, MD, and Aunt Mary showed us an Amish Market. This place had beautiful handmade furniture and lots of wonderful food. There was a whole section of fresh spices cheap! We stocked up to replenish our old spices and it got me excited about cooking up some new dishes. I can't wait! Later that afternoon we went to Aunt Janes and Uncle Jimmy's. Elaine and Julie were there too and we had a great dinner. There was a high chair all set up for Nathan already, as well as a sippy cup and toys. Toys from when the kids were all growing up. Toys I used to play with. It was really neat to have that flash back. Funny how those things bring back memories.

Friday morning we were up and at 'em to get back to Raleigh. While we were gone we got news about the house. We had a buyer for ours and it fell through so our house is back on the market again. Boooo. But we are still working on the deal with the new one so maybe it's ok and will work out just right. So now we are back to keeping the house perfect in case we have to show. We were so loving being lazy bums for a few weeks!

This Saturday Matt and Joey come for a few days to hang with us on their spring break. Hopefully the weather will stay in the wonderful 60's that we've seen all week. Coming from upstate in college, it will be a nice change for both of them. I'm looking forward to cooking for them and having a nice week together.

Oh yes, and we have the 11 month picture much delayed. Only one more to complete the year. How did that happen? I'm not sure how we will celebrate the occasion. How does one commemorate the best year you've ever had?!