Well, we're anxiously awaiting baby #2. I think it was a lot easier teaching full-time while being in this position. You're uncomfortable; you can't sleep well; you have a desperate urge to get a million things done. All of these things make for a perfect storm of paper grading or lesson planning, but you can only clean so many rooms so many times, bake so many loaves of zucchini bread, organize so many closets and drawers, put together so many photo albums, before you start to realize nearly all you're doing is a huge exercise in futility. Case in point: I walked into our bedroom today and was thoroughly annoyed that our shelves have a new layer of dust and cat hair on them. Didn't I just clean them?! Now I know what a bona fide neat freak feels like--I'm glad I don't usually fit that description. If I did, I don't think I would ever be in a good mood again.
To distract myself from this disorder called "nesting," I thought I would blog a little about some favorite sayings of Logan's, since they're hard to record and I don't want to forget them. Here's a top-five list of favorite Logan words/phrases:
5. "Oh no!"
He always says this with a legitimate worried tone in his voice, which makes you concerned at first...until you realize he's saying "Oh no!" about something completely innocuous. Today we parked in front of a kids' resale shop in downtown DeKalb, and Logan said, while pointing to the storefront window, "Oh no! Baby in there!" I turned my head, expecting to see an abandoned child crying in the closed store. No, it was a creepy life-sized doll behind the glass, modeling some hand-me-down clothes.
4. "Little tiny dinosaur poop."
I once jokingly referred to a ginormous deuce of Logan's as a dinosaur poop, and now, no matter what the size, it is classified as some form a of dinosaur dropping. The little, tiny version is, understandably, the opposite of his "BIG dinosaur poop!" I'm not sure why he says "little" and "tiny" together, but it's a cute way of emphasizing a plain truth.
3. "Tasty!"
When Logan gets a bite of something good, lately he lets you know about it by cracking a huge smile and saying "Tasty!"
2. "Zucchini"
Of course he would learn this word this summer, as I'm shredding and baking the squash like mad. Logan loves zucchini bread, but won't have anything to do with it in any other form.
1. "No, Daddy-O! Go away. Daddy-O mean!"
I clumped all of these together because, hey, they all apply to Eric's doing something Logan doesn't like. Logan's kind of partial to mommy putting him to bed, but the other night, Eric put him to bed. Logan protested with the "Go away." Mommy countered with "Logan mean!"
Daddy is Home...well, sorta.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Nesting
Carly, and myself to some degree, are nesting. Nesting at a furious pace. Yesterday we organized drawers, cleaned out closets, wiped and sprayed down mini-blinds, washed windows, vacuumed, refolded linens, organized tupperware, and an assortment of other nesting related activities. And when I say "we" I mean mostly Carly. Anyway, if I was a betting man I'd say that our new arrival is coming soon. I guess a day or so before I was born my Mom began cleaning house furiously too. We are looking forward to baby Auden entering this world. Auden Henry Hill is the finalist for a name we think. Even though the family on both sides received this name with less than enthusiasm, Carly and I and Logan still really like the ring of it. Auden isn't that weird and unusual sounding, is it?
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
4th of No Fireworks!
We're back online, everybody! Our internet service has been down for about a week now, but lovely Verizon finally came out and fixed our service. It's interesting how the lack of an online connection can make you feel totally trapped. Really, I can't remember how many things I wanted to Google while the internet was down. Alas, those bits of knowledge are lost forever, since I can't even remember I wanted to acquire them in the first place.
While on our brief respite from blogging, we had a fabulous time in North Carolina. Logan loved the beach and had lots of fun with the fam. A particularly funny moment from the trip was when Sue and Steve brought out some glow sticks, Jesse turned on some electronica, and Logan did some crazy dancing, rave style. He shouted, "One, two, three!" and then started dancing and spinning around in circles, whipping the glow sticks around.
Our trip to DC wasn't nearly as kid-friendly, but it was nice to have a break from the long train rides it took to get from NC to DeKalb. We saw the monuments, the National Aquarium (a "rip-off," according to Eric and Logan), the zoo, and the Holocaust Museum. A particularly embarrassing moment from our DC trip was at the Holocaust Museum--Logan was getting antsy, so we let him out of his stroller for a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep up with him so well, and he started climbing on a wooden bunk I figured was a reproduction, a display to show what the bunks looked like in the concentration camps. I said, "Eric, get him! He's climbing on a display!" But when I turned a corner, I saw the sign: "Please do not touch. Actual bunk from Auschwitz." Ever seen those Southwest commercials that show a person undergoing a completely humiliating experience and end with the tag line, "Ever want to get away?" Yeah, that was me...X 100. I would have gladly walked into the men's bathroom instead of being in that museum at that moment.
Anyway, we made it out of DC with our dignity, if not our sanity, intact, and we had a decent time on the train ride home. Traveling by train is not so bad after all--we got breakfast, lunch, and dinner free, and we were able to sit in an observation car to take in the countryside. The people were really nice--we especially liked the head man of the dining car, who was from Kingston, Jamaica. His lovely accent announced that, if we had a 6:00 reservation, we should "come to the diner to be greeted and seated." And our cute waitress was a favorite as well. I bribed Logan with a present (a wrapped Hot Wheels) for being good at meal time, so every time the woman would talk to him, he would yell, "Present!" to let her know he would be getting a present soon.
Our "room" was really more of a closet. It was two seats facing each other, a little tray that folded out from the wall, and a twin bed that folded down from the wall as well. The two seats reclined to make a twin-sized bed, and that's where Logan and I "slept" on the way to DC and back. Eric slept on the top bunk, and if you know Eric's tendency to sleep walk, you'd understand why I was especially glad to see they had these little straps installed to prevent one from rolling out of bed. Logan, however, was not so lucky. On the way back, the ride was especially bumpy. At times I feared we would derail. Of course, the ride wasn't any smoother at night. Logan, sound asleep, was wakened, understandably, by the huge bang and abrupt shift of the car on the track. "Wha's dat?" he said groggily. Next thing, I know, I heard another thud, which was the sound of Logan's head smacking the door of our "room." He had fallen out of bed. Poor kiddo. Fortunately, he bounced back (though not literally) pretty well, and even managed to fall back asleep after the episode.
We were home to celebrate the 4th of July, so we went to Hopkins Park to hear the Muny band and watch the fireworks. This was Logan's third fireworks show--he slept through his first, was awed by his second...this one, however, terrified him. As soon as the show began, he started screaming at the top of his lungs, while burying his face in our shirts. Eric really wanted to see the show, so he covered Logan's ears and tried to walk around with him to calm him down. I heard a shrill noise, which I though was a whistling firework--no, it was my terrified son. "Wanna go home!" was all he would say. So, we gave up, walked back to the car, and tried watching the show for a few minutes from the car, which dampened the sound pretty well. We asked Logan if he thought the fireworks were pretty, because at that point he was actually looking at them. "NO pretty!" he said, with a definitive shaking of his head. "No more fireworks! No like fireworks!" We're hoping for a better showing next year. That, or Grammy Renee, who is also afraid of fireworks, will have the privilege of babysitting him for the evening.
The time has been flying by since the 4th, and we're in nesting mode, trying to finish up those little projects we've been meaning to get to for a while now. The new baby should be around pretty soon, and let me tell you, those chores have become so much more enjoyable with the minor case of sciatica I've been dealing with for the past week or so. This baby had better be good-natured to make up for all those kicks and weird shifts he's putting me through now. I sometimes wonder if I'm on the set of Alien or something with this little one. Well, until baby #2 makes his debut, we'll enjoy swimming lessons (starting tomorrow), barbecuing, and sleeping through the night while we can!
While on our brief respite from blogging, we had a fabulous time in North Carolina. Logan loved the beach and had lots of fun with the fam. A particularly funny moment from the trip was when Sue and Steve brought out some glow sticks, Jesse turned on some electronica, and Logan did some crazy dancing, rave style. He shouted, "One, two, three!" and then started dancing and spinning around in circles, whipping the glow sticks around.
Our trip to DC wasn't nearly as kid-friendly, but it was nice to have a break from the long train rides it took to get from NC to DeKalb. We saw the monuments, the National Aquarium (a "rip-off," according to Eric and Logan), the zoo, and the Holocaust Museum. A particularly embarrassing moment from our DC trip was at the Holocaust Museum--Logan was getting antsy, so we let him out of his stroller for a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep up with him so well, and he started climbing on a wooden bunk I figured was a reproduction, a display to show what the bunks looked like in the concentration camps. I said, "Eric, get him! He's climbing on a display!" But when I turned a corner, I saw the sign: "Please do not touch. Actual bunk from Auschwitz." Ever seen those Southwest commercials that show a person undergoing a completely humiliating experience and end with the tag line, "Ever want to get away?" Yeah, that was me...X 100. I would have gladly walked into the men's bathroom instead of being in that museum at that moment.
Anyway, we made it out of DC with our dignity, if not our sanity, intact, and we had a decent time on the train ride home. Traveling by train is not so bad after all--we got breakfast, lunch, and dinner free, and we were able to sit in an observation car to take in the countryside. The people were really nice--we especially liked the head man of the dining car, who was from Kingston, Jamaica. His lovely accent announced that, if we had a 6:00 reservation, we should "come to the diner to be greeted and seated." And our cute waitress was a favorite as well. I bribed Logan with a present (a wrapped Hot Wheels) for being good at meal time, so every time the woman would talk to him, he would yell, "Present!" to let her know he would be getting a present soon.
Our "room" was really more of a closet. It was two seats facing each other, a little tray that folded out from the wall, and a twin bed that folded down from the wall as well. The two seats reclined to make a twin-sized bed, and that's where Logan and I "slept" on the way to DC and back. Eric slept on the top bunk, and if you know Eric's tendency to sleep walk, you'd understand why I was especially glad to see they had these little straps installed to prevent one from rolling out of bed. Logan, however, was not so lucky. On the way back, the ride was especially bumpy. At times I feared we would derail. Of course, the ride wasn't any smoother at night. Logan, sound asleep, was wakened, understandably, by the huge bang and abrupt shift of the car on the track. "Wha's dat?" he said groggily. Next thing, I know, I heard another thud, which was the sound of Logan's head smacking the door of our "room." He had fallen out of bed. Poor kiddo. Fortunately, he bounced back (though not literally) pretty well, and even managed to fall back asleep after the episode.
We were home to celebrate the 4th of July, so we went to Hopkins Park to hear the Muny band and watch the fireworks. This was Logan's third fireworks show--he slept through his first, was awed by his second...this one, however, terrified him. As soon as the show began, he started screaming at the top of his lungs, while burying his face in our shirts. Eric really wanted to see the show, so he covered Logan's ears and tried to walk around with him to calm him down. I heard a shrill noise, which I though was a whistling firework--no, it was my terrified son. "Wanna go home!" was all he would say. So, we gave up, walked back to the car, and tried watching the show for a few minutes from the car, which dampened the sound pretty well. We asked Logan if he thought the fireworks were pretty, because at that point he was actually looking at them. "NO pretty!" he said, with a definitive shaking of his head. "No more fireworks! No like fireworks!" We're hoping for a better showing next year. That, or Grammy Renee, who is also afraid of fireworks, will have the privilege of babysitting him for the evening.
The time has been flying by since the 4th, and we're in nesting mode, trying to finish up those little projects we've been meaning to get to for a while now. The new baby should be around pretty soon, and let me tell you, those chores have become so much more enjoyable with the minor case of sciatica I've been dealing with for the past week or so. This baby had better be good-natured to make up for all those kicks and weird shifts he's putting me through now. I sometimes wonder if I'm on the set of Alien or something with this little one. Well, until baby #2 makes his debut, we'll enjoy swimming lessons (starting tomorrow), barbecuing, and sleeping through the night while we can!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Happy Birthday, Dear Daddy-O
Well, yesterday was Eric's birthday, and it was an eventful one, to say the least. I had made plans to meet a friend for breakfast, but I got up in time to make Eric breakfast. Turns out, all he wanted was the cupcakes I bought from Sweet Dreams, a delightful little bakery with the most heavenly cupcakes on earth. So I served up some coffee (milk for Logan) and two cupcakes with a candle in each (because Logan had to blow out a candle, too) to my boys and went out to walk to the diner in downtown DeKalb.
As I walked down our driveway, though, I was stunned to see a gigantic branch had fallen from the locust tree in our parkway into our front yard. Now I've been getting up pretty frequently through the night, thanks to the four-pound bundle of joy sitting on my bladder, and I didn't hear a storm at all, and I certainly didn't hear the crack of the tree branch. Anyhow, I told Eric about it, just for entertainment's sake, and by the time I had gotten back from breakfast with my friend, he had cleared the whole mess up. What a way to spend your birthday, right? And I had to laugh because when I arrived home, Logan started picking up twigs and putting them on the pile, "just to make himself look good," Eric said, because he only did a lot of spectating and riding his bike while daddy did all of the work.
Later that afternoon, a huge storm blew up--heavy winds and a little rain. Fortunately for us, no more branches came down, but there was quite a mess for the city to clean up after the storm had passed. All of downtown DeKalb had lost its power, so we couldn't go to the restaurant Eric had wanted to go to, but we went to the sushi place in Sycamore and had a lovely meal. Logan was an angel--he decided he finally liked miso soup, and he tried some of my avocado roll and tamago (egg) sushi; as always, he ate plenty of edamame.
When we returned home, our power was out, and it was getting dark, but we still hadn't begun to pack. So, we lit some candles, found the flashlights, and got our stuff together for our trip to NC. All in all, Eric had a pretty good day, methinks, despite the wreckage he had to clean up yesterday morning. Happy Birthday, Eric!
As I walked down our driveway, though, I was stunned to see a gigantic branch had fallen from the locust tree in our parkway into our front yard. Now I've been getting up pretty frequently through the night, thanks to the four-pound bundle of joy sitting on my bladder, and I didn't hear a storm at all, and I certainly didn't hear the crack of the tree branch. Anyhow, I told Eric about it, just for entertainment's sake, and by the time I had gotten back from breakfast with my friend, he had cleared the whole mess up. What a way to spend your birthday, right? And I had to laugh because when I arrived home, Logan started picking up twigs and putting them on the pile, "just to make himself look good," Eric said, because he only did a lot of spectating and riding his bike while daddy did all of the work.
Later that afternoon, a huge storm blew up--heavy winds and a little rain. Fortunately for us, no more branches came down, but there was quite a mess for the city to clean up after the storm had passed. All of downtown DeKalb had lost its power, so we couldn't go to the restaurant Eric had wanted to go to, but we went to the sushi place in Sycamore and had a lovely meal. Logan was an angel--he decided he finally liked miso soup, and he tried some of my avocado roll and tamago (egg) sushi; as always, he ate plenty of edamame.
When we returned home, our power was out, and it was getting dark, but we still hadn't begun to pack. So, we lit some candles, found the flashlights, and got our stuff together for our trip to NC. All in all, Eric had a pretty good day, methinks, despite the wreckage he had to clean up yesterday morning. Happy Birthday, Eric!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Daddy's Pride
Logan can pedal his mean ol' tricycle all by himself now. My boy is getting all grow'd up!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Weekend at Grammy's
This weekend we went down to visit the fam, and we had a really nice time. Logan showed his first signs of liking to travel when we left Saturday morning. After we had packed everything up but still had to get out of our PJs, Logan was running around the house proclaiming "I'm ready!"
My mom has bounced back pretty well from her hip surgery, and Logan had a blast playing with the puppies--Ginger was newly shorn, which was hilarious! We also learned a new game, Farkle. Funny name, but it's a pretty addictive dice game we had fun playing.
We went to my grandma's on Sunday, and Logan set off his first model rocket in the field. Eric, my dad, and Greg set up the rocket and Logan pushed the button to launch it. I hope Logan's fear of loud noises is only a phase because boy, did he freak out when that rocket took off. And more loud noises were to come...My brother took out his four-wheeler, then the tractor, both of which Logan abhorred. Soon enough, Eric and Greg tired of their gasoline-induced fun times, and we played inside for a while.
On Monday, we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Even though we saw only about 1/3 of the grounds, we had a great time in the children's garden and the koi pond. Logan climbed the rope ladders like a pro and had fun in the water park, and then fed the gigantic goldfish at the Japanese garden.
We were sad to go--the whole way home, Logan was saying "Wanna see grammy," Wanna see Papa George, Greggie." But we're looking forward to the next trip!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Logan Bear
Logan is showing his imagination today while practicing his role as a big brother. We were in the basement and amongst his toys, he plucked a cuddly little teddy bear, carried him upstairs, and proceeded to rock it like it was a baby. Next, he decided the bear had a poopy diaper, so I gave him a diaper to affix on the bear's bootie. Next, he wanted to take a little nap with the bear, so he had me put them both in his crib. Pretty soon, he had to change the bear's diaper again, and then placed him on the potty (this bear is pretty advanced, I guess), read him a book, and put him back to bed. I had to ask if he was going to name his bear baby, because he just kept calling him "bear," which seemed sort of generic. "Wogan Bear," he said with a smile. Pretty cute.
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