Sunday Afternoon With Max

Here's a minute or so of Max from this afternoon. I thought he looked so cute in his church clothes, I got the camera out. He's so sweet!

My Favorite Things About Max

I only have a quick minute to post, but I wanted to make a list of some of the things I love about Max right now. Lord knows I complain about some of the not-so-lovely things enough! He's almost 19 months old.

I love:

• that he's getting a sense of humor and that he makes himself laugh when he sees himself in the mirror with a funny hat or sunglasses on.
• when he holds my hand.
• when he sees Dada and gets excited and says, "Dada!" breathlessly.
• listening to him talk. He's never been much of a babbler, so now that he is it's fun to hear his voice.
• watching him blow bubbles in the bath tub and then look up at me with pride that he can do that.
• going down the slide with him at the playground.
• when he waves at and attempts to communicate with things like bugs, animals and stuffed animals.
• when he stands next to another child and wants a hug - he stands and leans toward them wanting them to wrap their arms around him.
• watching him try to fit in various objects -diaper box, wire basket from under the kitchen sink, the water table, trying to lay on a step.
• the way he signs "I love you" which looks like a cross between the actual ASL "I love you" and the Star Trek sign.
• hearing him "sing" and watching him sign, "more" the second the singing stops when we're at church on Tuesday nights.

I'm a Baby Robot

Here's Max's favorite toy of the moment - his empty diaper box. I could spend tons of money on the latest developmental, "must-have" toy and an empty box would still be his favorite. Am I right, people?

Debt Solutions - Funny!

I will be back soon with some Max videos, but until then, here's a funny SNL skit that is very appropriate in this financial climate: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

Puppy Takes a Bath

Max's lovey is a Ty-brand stuffed puppy named, surprisingly, Puppy. Max is getting more and more attached to Puppy and last night Pup made his way into the bathroom for bath time. I didn't think anything of it, but in the middle of the bath, Max started asking for Puppy. I explained 10 ways from Sunday why Puppy couldn't get in the bath. I even propped him up on the back of the toilet and showed Max how Puppy was watching him take a bath. No dice. He still wanted Puppy in the tub. I decided, "What the heck! It's just water." So I gave him Puppy in the tub. He was thrilled as he dunked him, "fed" him water from his pouring cup and even washed him with his shampoo. I was hoping maybe he'd realize why putting Puppy in the bath wasn't such a good idea, but also realized that at this age, he probably wouldn't make the connection. After the bath and when the rest of the bedtime routine was completed and Max was in his crib, he asked for Puppy. I just smiled and handed him his cold and wet best friend. He pushed him away and gave me a strange look. I explained that Puppy was wet because he's not supposed to go in the tub and that's why Mommy didn't want him to go in. I told him that Puppy would come back to bed with him later, but he had to go get dry first. I seriously doubt that my little "natural consequences" lesson had any impact on Max, but we'll see when he gets in the tub tonight! At any rate, Puppy definitely needed a bath!

Lookee What I Got! (or BEST HUSBAND EVER!)

Is this not the most romantic thing you've ever seen?? Yes, it is. Beautiful new weights that start at 5 lbs and go to 52.5 lbs in 2.5 lbs increments. Why are these romantic? Because my super-awesome husband listened to me! And he researched! And he went and got them! And he was so excited to give them to me that he couldn't wait another second, and surely not until Valentine's Day, which was the plan. So today I got my Valentine's gift. I have been lusting after these since I started ChaLEAN Extreme (below) 3.5 weeks ago. So far, my 3,5,8 and 10 lb dumbbells have been fine, but starting next week we go into a new phase and it's time to kick it up a notch. So I have been sifting through ads on Craigslist, going to sporting goods stores and just trying to figure out how I could get some heavier weights and not break the bank, because, honey, these would've broken the bank! BUT, because I have such a wonderful husband, he found some that didn't! I almost cried when I saw them. He said the last time he saw me get teary about a gift was when he proposed 4 years ago today! I'm a lucky girl.

A Snowy Day

We are experiencing our first real snow fall of the season. Here are some pictures from this morning! Max loved being out in the snow and didn't even seem to mind that much when he did a couple face plants. He protested mightily when it was time to come back inside.

New Year's & The Cruise, Part I

Hello! I've gotten so engrossed in my Beachbody stuff that I've been spending a lot of time on that. So forgive me! Also, with the advent of Facebook I find myself adding pictures there and updating that quite a bit, so I feel like everyone knows everything going on with us through that avenue.

Back to the cruise.... We had a wonderful time after an insane New Year's Week leading up to the trip. The weekend after Christmas, Matt & I were sick. Tuesday, 12/30 was when Max got his chunky thigh caught in the slats in his crib and we couldn't get it out, so Matt had to use his hand saw to release his leg. Ironically, the brand of saw was "Fat Max". New Year's was low key with my friend Nadine and her 9 year-old son, Tyler, coming over for some board games and Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve. Thursday, New Year's Day, Max started getting sick and that night I noticed his breathing was labored. I thought I was being crazy, so I didn't call about it til the next day - won't do that again! Matt also hit his foot into the island in our kitchen and we thought he broke his toe. Friday we found out he had broken his foot! When I called Max's pediatrician Friday morning, they told me to come in right away when I described what I saw - his little belly going in and out quickly and his ribs showing too. They had me give him two nebulizer treatments and a steroid. His blood oxygen levels seemed to be falling, so we almost got admitted to the hospital, but they started improving, so they sent us home with our very own nebulizer, instructions to use it every couple hours and to come back the next day for a follow up. Saturday morning (less than 24 hours before our flight!!), my mother-in-law and I went back to the doctor's. That ended with us being sent to the hospital for chest X-Rays to check for pneumonia and bronchitis. After a tense couple hours, Max got the all clear and we were FINALLY able to start thinking about packing for the much anticipated cruise. Whew! We desperately needed a vacation after the craziness of the Christmas season and then the previous week.

We woke at 3:45 a.m. and were out the door by 4:20 a.m. Everyone was sleepy, but excited. We made it out of D.C. at 7 a.m. and then our plane had to wait to land so we ended up missing our connecting flight in Atlanta. Did you know the Atlanta airport is the busiest airport in the world? Neither did I until I walked in and it became quite obvious as we tried to pick our way through the throng of people and figure out when we could get another flight. Thanks to Matt's broken foot we got some priority treatment, and I think that helped us be the first ones to get available seats on the next flight. So FINALLY, an hour or two later we were on our way to Florida! When we made to Ft. Lauderdale and took the Royal Caribbean bus to the port, it was as if the heavens opened and the angels sang when we saw the ship...."AHHHHHH" (that was angels singing).

We were on Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas, currently the largest cruise ship in the world. It was massive. I'm not sure how many floors it had, but there were something like 17 bars, the Promenade with stores on either side cabins that overlooked it and where parades were held several times during the week. We made it to our room, which had a balcony. We had a balcony on our honeymoon cruise and highly recommend it. If you can choose anything to splurge on when cruising, choose a balcony. We got free room service for breakfast every morning (you should always tip the room service delivery person...which leads me to an aside. Just bring plenty of ones when you cruise and when in doubt, just hand a couple to whomever you see. Cruising can be very economical, but we grew weary of the constant request for tips - there's the standard tips for the cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, head waited, etc. then when you get off the boat and do an excursion it's, "Don't forget your driver!", "Don't forget the bathroom attendant!" "Don't forget the kayak guy", etc., etc.....) Back to breakfast on the balcony - it was heaven! There's nothing like drinking coffee, eating danishes and fruit and basking in the sun and watching the blue water flow passed you.

I must say one of the highlights of the trip for me was that Sue/Nana offered to care for Max almost exclusively all week. We had rooms next to each other with adjoining balconies so Max could run around naked from one room to the other in all his glory. He loved it and I loved the ability to do my own thing for much of the time and be with Max the rest of the time. Nana took Max to Fisher-Price play time from 9-9:45 and I usually went too. Most of the time it was just Max and another one or two kids. It was nice for him to have time to play. After that, Nana would usually take him to the baby section of the H2O Zone. He'd play and splash for a bit, then it was back to the room for a nap. The rest of his and Nana's day sort of followed that pattern the whole week: wake, eat, play, swim, nap, lather, rinse, repeat. At night Nana often stayed with Max so we could all go do our own things (casino, trivia, games, etc.), but a couple nights I went to a show with Sue. Wednesday night, we got a babysitter and all went to the ice show. YES - this ship had an ice rink! Amazing.

Originally, I had planned to have a sitter after Max was in bed for two nights and then once when he was awake during dinner time. I was pretty uncomfortable with how the ship did the whole babysitter thing. I thought they had people on board specifically for babysitting. Guests had to pay cash to their sitters and I soon found out that the sitters were crew who were off duty and just wanted some extra money. The woman they sent to our room was very reserved and nice and even had a 9 year old daughter in her home country, but after the first night I had a crazy mom moment. I was trying to go to sleep after the ice show and I suddenly had a very vivid image of the sitter throwing Max over the balcony into the deep blue sea. I couldn't go to sleep after that for a while. I still get a sick feeling remembering that image. I kept telling myself that I was being crazy and that wouldn't happen, but I couldn't shake the feeling the next day, so I shared it with Matt and he said that I had to go with my gut and if I wasn't comfortable, to cancel her. I didn't want to hurt her feelings because I knew she needed the money and I thought that, most likely, everything would be okay. Then I had to listen to my inner Oprah (sorry Oprah haters!). : ) Oprah always says to listen to your intuition, don't ignore it and wave it away and tell yourself you're crazy. So, I decided that I should cancel for the next two nights. I figured, this ship is huge, I've never seen this woman before, I'll never see her again. I even left some money for her at the front desk so she wouldn't lose the money she was counting on for that night. Wouldn't you know that I ran into her later that day, right before she was supposed to come to our cabin and babysit??? It figures! I asked if she knew I had cancelled and she didn't know yet. I felt terrible! BUT, I still feel that her hurt feelings were of no consequence to me if it meant my son being safe. It sounds so obvious to me as I write it, but I'm a people pleaser and it's hard to think of anyone being upset with me. So Max didn't get thrown overboard and we still managed to have an evening of fun the last night by each taking 30 minutes to stay with him while the others went out. So everyone got two hours of free time and only 30 minutes of Max sitting time.

We had a fabulous week and even went on a couple of excursions in Costa Maya and Cozumel. We had to cancel our Landrover Jungle excursion because it involved walking in caves and Matt couldn't do that with his broken foot, so in Belize we only tendered ashore - a scary experience in it's own right: small boat, longer ride than I was expecting and the feeling that my baby could fall in the ocean at any moment as we were very close to the water and we weren't wearing life preservers. We just stayed in the tourism village and peered out of the bars that were blocking the residents from coming in. It was a very poor area. The funniest thing in Belize were some of the gift shop items that said "Belize" on them. They had things like wooden spoons for cooking that someone had taken a sharpie and written "Belize" on or a tacky life preserver wall clock or shot glass with it written on there in Sharpie. It was mainly one shop that did that, but it was hilarious. I came home and wrote "Belize" on one of the wooden spoons I already have and now I have a Belizian souvenir! Matt said he was getting ideas for a whole line of "Manassas, VA" souvenirs! The tender back to our ship was a little larger and more stable, so I wasn't nervous.

The next two days were so fun that I am going to save a whole post just for them. For now, I am going to leave it at this and give you a break from reading! I think it's obvious this was the trip of a life time. Thanks Nana & Pappy for taking us!!!

I'm BAAAACK!!

We had a fabulous vacation. I'll go into more detail later, but for now, here are a couple pictures from my favorite excursion - Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab National Park in Cozumel, Mexico. If you want to see more pics, go here.

We're Outta Here!

In just 6 hours we will be waking at 3:45 a.m. to get in gear to go to the airport. We're headed to Florida and then Royal Carribean's Independence of the Seas to Cozumel, Costa Maya and Belize. Can't wait to share lots of pictures and stories when we return. Until then, be safe and happy!

Christmas!!

Max modeling his favorite fashion accessory - Grandpa Allen's glasses. Stylin'. Note the Max jammies!!

Christmas was wonderful. It seems as if it's lasted an entire week, which is fun. I wonder if this is how it will be every year? Aunt Sara came Monday night and we couldn't resist and opened a few gifts with her. She had to leave Tuesday, so Max opened the rest of his gifts from her, most notably his Elmo Live! If the Roomba freaked me out, Elmo Live is a close second. Max loves it and likes to hang out with Elmo and put his fingers in Elmo's mouth.

Wednesday was nuts with Matt's church schedule. I went to two of the three services. Christmas was a long, but fun day. We celebrated with Nana & Pappy in the morning, then my dad and Josh came over for Max to open his gifts after his nap, then we all headed to Katie's for a pot luck at dinner time. By the time we got home at 8, my plan to "Party like it's 1999" with Nana and Pappy was out the window and I was asleep by 8:30. The next couple days involved Matt and I taking turns being sick while alternately spending time with family.

My 85-year-old grandmother flew into town on Friday and we did Christmas at my dad's house Saturday. It was a fun and full day of three little kids and six big kids opening tons of presents.

Sunday and Monday was time for MORE togetherness as I took Max to my dad's to hang out with my Grandma and then back to Manassas to see Nana and Pappy who are back in town (after returning to PA for a couple days to pack for their next adventures). Nana and Pappy will fly to California early tomorrow morning, Grandma will fly back to Indianapolis and we will rest up for the rest of the week before leaving on our long anticipated cruise next Sunday!

Oh, here are some things Max got for Christmas - Among other things..... Elmo Live, a ball popper push toy, a broom, a play house, shopping cart, clothes, play doh, books, books, books. One of his favorite toys was a toothbrush holder. Who knew??

Heaven!

I finally broke down and spent our life savings on a baby carrier. Well, not our life savings, but a lot! And.... it was totally worth it! I had tried two different slings and one of the super-duper fancy Bjorns and all of them strained my neck and shoulder after a while. Also, Max never seemed into them. He has been so clingy lately that I decided that maybe he just really needs more Mommy than I can give him by carrying him and picking him up sporadically. I mean, I can't fix dinner with a 28 lbs monkey holding on to my legs for dear life now, can I? I suppose I could just make him learn to hang out on his own, but my intuition is telling me he just needs his mommy at this point. So, enter the Ergo! I had read about it, but was hoping I wouldn't need to have a carrier by this age. It seems that I need one even more now than before. It's really easy to put on and Max looked like he was going to fall asleep when I was carrying him around on my back (it took two of us to get him in that position!). The best part is that we are going on vacation with Matt's family in 2 weeks and have two long travel days to look forward to. This thing will make it so much easier to get through the airport and I hope he will even fall asleep in it on our return trip - the 16-hours-with-no-crib-in-sight-day. Thanks to West Coast Max Arthur's mom for sharing this with me months ago!!!

P.S. Though these aren't cheap, the site I linked to above has a few used, but in good condition ones, they sell. That's what I bought and mine looks brand new. You might even be able to get them cheaper somewhere else, but this site offered a 90 day money back guarantee. What's there to lose?

And now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Okay, so I just realized it's been almost a week and I haven't even posted about our most perfect Christmas tree getting-and-putting-up-experience ever in life, la la la! So here it is: Friday night was Take 1 - go out for a quick bite to eat and get a tree - didn't work, it was dark at 6:30 p.m. (duh!), Max was over-tired and crying and wanting to play in traffic and it just wasn't the homespun Christmas image I had in my head earlier that day, so home we went. The next day we went to a local Christmas tree farm and took a short hay ride to the trees (or forest as I tried to get Max to believe). We could've picked a tree out immediately because they all looked pretty much the same, but that would've made for some short memory making. So we took our time picking the perfect tree. It was freezing cold and overcast and very festive. When we found THE tree, Matt triumphantly cut it down while Max looked on, perplexed. I must mention that I need to get The Boy out into the elements more often. He was genuinely distressed at being put down on the, gasp!, grass. It was as if his dainty feet had never felt such rugged terrain. He simply did not know what to do. Eventually he got used to it, thank goodness.

So we headed back to wait for the tractor, although we were so close to the checkout area we could've easily made it there on our own. It wouldn't be very Christmasy to just walk to the checkout place when you could take a hay ride now, would it? When we got to the checkout, I helped myself to some complimentary hot cider which was just delicious. In the meantime (digression coming), a guy that was working there asked me if I used to teach at Hylton HS. Well, yes I did. It was then that I recongnized him - one of the first students I ever had! I had him in 9th & 10th grade and I remember the day he came to me his senior year to tell me he was dropping out. I pleaded with him not to and tried to get him to see that he could do it, he was so close to finishing. He just hung his head and said he'd made up his mind. I had thought of him several times over the years and wondered what ever became of him. I was particularly worried because the group of kids I had in class with him didn't fare so well. One is currently in jail for murder and another I ran into when visiting a friend of mine who was a drug counselor at a residential treatment facility for teens. So of course I worried about this student. Anyway, it just made the day even better to hear that he is now 26 (Yes!! How old do I feel?? I think I was 23 when I was his teacher.), married, has a 19 month old son, got his GED and works for the government. So that was just awesome.

Okay, back to the Christmas tree story. We went home and put the tree up and it started snowing! Yes, it was snowing and we had Christmas music playing and Max was amazed and filled with wonder at the lights and it was just perfect. Friday night when my plans failed I abandoned hope of having a meaningful tree experience. I couldn't have orchestrated Saturday the way it happened if I had planned it for weeks. What a great way to start out the season!

Turbo Sarah

Check out my new adventure! I have been doing Beachbody workouts since 2005 and have always raved about them, so the opportunity became available to be able to sell the products and actually make a little money. I figured, why not get paid for something I'm already doing??? Hence, my new blog: http://www.turbosarah.blogspot.com/ Turbo Jam is my very favorite workout, so that's where the blog address came from. I don't claim to be a trainer or a nutritionist. I'm just someone who has been struggling with weight and eating issues for as long as I can remember, so I've tried lots of diets and workout programs. I can say with certainty that anyone who actually tries a Beachbody program and follows the eating plan will get great results. It won't be overnight and there are no magic pills, but their products work. AND, you can come blog with me for accountability and encouragement. Come join me!!!



P.S. Of course I will still be blogging here too!!!

Daddy Day Care

Hello, this is Matt. Sarah's husband. Sarah is working this afternoon and I am home watching Max, a reversal of typical roles much like the ancient Roman tradition of Saturnalia. True to form, I have comandeered Sarah's blog and am making my own post about some of the fun things I got to experience with Max today.

Max just had a major language explosion over lunch! Apparantly, Sarah says he's been trying to say the word "banana" for a while. Now, it's probably helpful for you to have some background info about me. I unashamedly look at mealtime not merely as a nutritional experience but as an educational one as well. Much like Pavlov used food as a tool to explore the intracasies of classical conditioning, so I strive to follow in his footsteps to impart knowledge to my progeny at mealtimes. Today, this consisted of me looking at Max while making funny faces and saying: "Banana. Ba - na - na. Banana. Can you say 'Banana?'" all the while waving a piece of said fruit in my hand. It's all very complicated psychology, so I won't go any deeper into it here.

Well, today we struck gold! After a few failed attempts at getting Max to say "banana" (and recieving telepathic messages from him mainly including the phrase: "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?") I turned away to prepare the rest of his highly nutritious and educational lunch experience. With my back turned (and no more banana coming his way) Max screamed to get my attention: "NA BA!"

I swirled back around 180 degrees to see him, barely pausing to grab another piece of banana at about degree #62, and I resumed the educational modus explained above. Max then proceeded to try several different ways to say "banana." They included:

Ba na!

Ba na ma!

Ba ma ma!

And, as you can see, we are clearly well on the way to learning our next important food word... "Bahama Mama."

He also decided to use this time to say "Da Da" (a rarity) and "Ma Ma" and remind me through his signs that he went swimming with Mommy and Daddy yesterday. Nice.

To digress for a moment, Max is sitting on my lap as I'm writing this... reaching for the keyboard. By observing the sheer force of his determination to contribute to this post, he obviously very strongly wants you all to know the following:

nbfbbbhhh n n b f n

Presumably, you will know what this means, as I, alas, do not.


One final note to all the moms and dads out there in TV land... while I readily admit that staying home with a child / children is excruciatingly hard work, it has been a major blessing to spend so much quality time with Max today... time that I hope no parent ever takes for granted.

Until next time, faithful viewers, this is Blaze Johnson, signing off....

Paula Deen Would Be Proud of Me

I often clip recipes that usually have way too much of everything I am trying to avoid: sugar, white flour, butter, etc. I put them in my jumbled recipe box thinking that at SOME point I will make them, but it just never happens. This year as I started going through my recipes I decided to make everything I'd clipped and had never stopped dieting long enough to enjoy, mind you, I have been trying to lose the same 15-20 lbs for the last year, so it's not as if I've been eating clean the whole time. I came up with 7 recipes and could hardly wait to get started. I shopped and made the first two items, The King's Champion Honey Cheese Ball (with Bacon!!) and Cranberry Dream Salad (heavy whipping cream, two boxes of cream cheese AND mayo!) Tuesday. Of course I had to sample the items to make sure they were Thanksgiving-day worthy. They were mmmm....mmmm...good. Wednesday I baked pumpkin cobbler (1 stick of butter), baked corn (1.5 sticks of butter), and sweet potato casserole (1 2/3 cups of butter & 2 cups of sugar). I didn't sample any of those, well maybe a bite of the baked corn, but that was because I wasn't sure I made it right. I still don't know if I made it right, but it was deee-licious. So by this point, almost every dish, pan and utensil I own was in the sink lounging around til I have a chance to wash them and I decided I couldn't wait one more minute to try to Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Bread that was meant for breakfast on Thanksgiving. Oh....my.....goodness.....it was sinfully good. Among the ingredients are 12 bacon strips, 2 cans of buttermilk biscuits, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese,Italian salad dressing mix and olive oil. Actually, that's ALL the ingredients. You may now rush to the nearest emergency room as your arteries may be clogging just by reading this. And FINALLY..... I just pulled the cranberry-orange pull apart bread out of the oven. It's smells so sweet and yeasty and orangey and cranberry-y. You can't go wrong with Parker House rolls dusted with vanilla pudding mix, sprinkled with dried cranberries and fresh orange juice, oh and drizzled with, what else? Butter!I feel downright June Cleaver-ish/Paula Deen-ish this week and it's a wonderful feeling. For some reason it makes me really feel like a mom/wife/grown-up. Maybe one reason is that for once I didn't pick recipes based on what other people would like and I made things purely for the joy of making them and eating them myself. Somehow I think people will enjoy them even more for this reason.Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! What did you make?

15 Months!

Max turned 15 months old yesterday! He had his check up today and is right on track with everything. He was 27 lbs. 3 oz. and 32 inches tall - up 1.5 inches since his 1 year check up. I knew his pants were getting shorter! His head circumference was in the 90th percentile! He was in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He is doing well with all his milestones (stacking blocks, taking his clothes off - who knew that was a good thing?? - trying to cook and clean like mommy) and he was a little ahead of the game with throwing and kicking a ball. He's still not talking much and has more signs (about 20) than spoken words, but his receptive language is excellent. It was really cute when he went over to Dr. Lu and did his little sign that he wanted a hug! Dr. Lu gave him a hug and then said, "Go give Mommy a hug!" and he did. So cute! Here are some of the things he's into right now:

• Dancing and listening to music - especially when Daddy puts a rap/hip hop song on and changes the words to baby-appropriate language.
• Being attached to Mommy at all times - especially when she is trying to do the dishes or make dinner.
• Sitting in his high chair and watching Mommy cook.
• Playing chase with Daddy
• Playing with cars and trucks - pushing them around
• Reading - Fave books - This is the Stable (a really cool book about Christmas - I love it too!), Trucks, Pat the Cat, We Like Kindergarten
• Singing - Five Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Little Cabin in the Woods
• Talking to Nana & Pappy on the webcam
• Wearing Grandpa's glasses
• Wearing hats
• Going to the nursery at church and playing with other kids

Some Things I Like (and a Few I Don't)

I was walking around the house this morning thinking how much I enjoy this or that and realized I should really write these things down because I'm sure at some point I'll look back at them and remember how these sometimes tiny little details just made my day. So here are a few things I like, and then a few I don't. **Matt,Max, family & friends are a given as far as "things I like" and this post would be far too long if I listed everything I like about them, so for the most part this is just about other mundane things in my life I like.**

Things I like:

• Thunderstorms
• Driving rain (as long as I'm home and not driving myself!)
• Freshly vacuumed carpet - esp. the lines you can see as evidence!
• Windows that keep cold air out and don't frost over on the inside
• Being the only one awake early in the morning
• How green the grass looks when it rains lightly - I imagine I'm in Ireland
• People who agree with me (not virtuous, yet true!)
• An empty laundry basket
• Being asked for advice
• My advice being taken
• Looking at fall leaves
• Looking at Christmas lights
• Singing Christmas carols
• A clean kitchen
• Clean bathrooms
• Holiday traditions
• A fridge full of healthy food and a week of planned menus
• New workout shoes
• Receiving a letter or package in the mail
• Cooking & baking - especially when I have all the ingredients on hand
• Puffs Plus with Lotion
• Recycling
• Receiving the local paper and Sunday Washington Post & having quiet time to read it
• Pedicures & massages
• New haircuts/colors/highlights
• Reuniting with high school choir friends for a surprise concert
• Fresh flowers in the house
• Rashmi's brown paper packages tied up with string

Things I don't like:

• Crunchy stuff on my feet (see previous post!)
• Poopy diapers - esp. those being worn by squirmy toddlers
• Toys with dying batteries that play music (make it stop!!!)
• Moving stuff to vacuum
• Readjusting car seat straps

What's on your lists??

You know it's time to sweep when.....

Crunchy stuff keeps sticking to your feet and upon glancing at all the nooks & crannies of the kitchen you realize you have enough "crunchy stuff" to fill a cereal bowl - it might even look like granola!! Yeah, so my floors are (relatively) clean now. Don't judge me! : )

Thinking of Adopting? Check This Out!

Oh my goodness, I have just been moved to tears. So, of course I had to share this with my faithful few followers. When Sarah Palin came on the scene a few months ago, much discussion centered on the fact that she had an infant born with Down Syndrome. In one of the articles written about her, a statistic was given that made me so sad and angry: 83% of women who learn they are having a child with DS choose to abort the baby. I was outraged about this figure and kept my mourning about it in the back of my mind. So in Sunday's Washington Post, I was thrilled to see an article on people who are specifically adopting children with Down Syndrome. In fact, there are about 200 people on a waiting list right now! I wish all the people who felt that having a child with DS is too much for them to handle would learn about this. I understand we are all at different places in our lives and feel we can handle different levels of stress and I could never assume to know what it's like to be put in the shoes of a parent learning his child isn't "perfect", but what if these women who choose to abort their babies with DS were made aware that there are families out there who would LOVE to have to chance to raise their baby? A statistic given in the article also stated that in the majority of cases, when a woman learns her baby has Down Syndrome, she is not often told that adoption is a very viable option.

If you or anyone you know has ever felt the call to adopt and think this is something that might interest you, please go to this website. You can see children currently awaiting families as well as donate money if you feel like it. If it moved you as much as me, let me know!