Day 47

November 11, 2010

Only a few days from Jacob's birthday. Weird being in a new place for it. I'd love to be back in Boulder celebrating with all our friends. It makes me sad to not have a bigger celebration for us, and him although he doesn't really know what it all means yet. I'm inviting some other moms and the neighbours and we'll just see what it's like. Hopefully not too awkward :)

Much better day today although I did feel like having some wine around 1:30!! Do I think this is a problem? No, because I didn't actually have a drink. It's just that it always seems like 5 o' clock here because of the clouds or the time change or a combination. It just seems like a good idea to pass the time. But don't worry - I'm not going to become a stay-at-home wino. Not yet.

Talked to my friend Michelle today during Jacob's nap. She's laid up on bed rest back in Boulder. Definitely makes me feel like I have little to complain about when I talk to her who's just waiting day by day to get farther along in her pregnancy and give her baby better and better chances of being healthy when he's born. My life is not bad. I have it really easy compared to most people in this world, I daresay.

Jacob and I looked at some pictures today of our "old friends". How I miss them. He does talk about them still sometimes. He saw a little sand turtle of mine and said, "Windy" which is his word for Cindy, our next door neighbour in Boulder. She'd let him have a little sand turtle before we left. I told him, "Cindy gave you one of these too, didn't she?" "Yes". So we found it together. And we talked about our "old house". He saw himself out in the yard and definitely seemed to recognize it. I know that won't last forever which makes me sad in ways. But it is less sad for him also. 

Played in the garage for a bit. That's what we do here when it's kind of rainy out but we still want to get outside. Interesting. Jacob rode his bike a bit. 
Fraser came home a little early and we went to look at a new ipod. His old one (six years old makes it look like a dinosaur compared to what they have these days) has gone bonkers on us. Won't respond to the touch and seems to shuffle through songs very quickly without playing any of them. Riiiight. Jacob was in his glory being able to push buttons in the store and touch screens that moved. It'll be hard to use it ourselves without him wanting to help.

Finally, played some Yahtzee tonight with Fraser. My first roll, I get a Yahtzee!! I got three Yahtzees in this game - I think that's a record for me! It was awesome. If only I could pull that off when playing with the rest of the family. How I love my husband, though. He keeps playing this game with me even though he, most oftentimes, loses. Lucky for me really because this is just a thoughtless game that's easy to play when you're already tired. When we play games that take more thought (chess, Scrabble, Monopoly), he kicks my butt. 

Day 46

November 10, 2010

Struggling this morning again. Don't know what my deal is. Not raining this morning but started out pretty grey. I think it's supposed to get clear later. Sigh. 

Went to Fred Meyer (kind of like a Walmart with way too many things to look at and buy) to try and get Jacob some rain boots. Of course, they had two pair in his size, neither of which he wanted. He walked around in a polka-dot pair for awhile but they were too big. I'm not buying him boots he won't wear. On the way to the checkout, we found another rack with boots and there were the polka dot boots in his size! He'd decided he didn't want them now. Excellent. I love going to the store and not getting what we came for. Grr.... at least we were out of the house. 

Had to have some quiet time when we got home. We both had to chill out. Jacob was eating his apple and crying because he wanted the apple to be put back on. He wanted the apple to be whole again. I explained that once you eat it you can't put it back together. Lots of tears. I was at the end of my rope. We had to take a time out together. Much better after that. 

Good nap by Jacob. Good time for me to regroup. Afternoon was much better today. It was sunny. We went to the park. Came home and made some dinner together. Now if only I could find this part of me at 5:30 in the morning...

Day 45

November 9, 2010

Today the rain makes me want to: 
sleep
drink tea
scream
go shopping
eat
go crazy!

Really hard to motivate this morning. Jacob up at 5:30. Grey and rainy. I just want to go to Pottery Barn and walk around looking at all the holiday cheer and cozy blankets and furniture. Their advertising is working on me! We went to a toy store this morning instead. Not the best idea, but it had things for Jacob to do. Must get more creative if we're going to be here through the winter. 

I'm trying to decide what to get him for his birthday. I know I want to get him more play stuff for his kitchen but this is overwhelmingly difficult once you start looking online at all the oodles of choices. Do I make a cheap decision and get the chintzy, China-made bucket of 101 pieces or do I get fewer, more  quality pieces for more (or the same) amount of money? Do I make a moral decision and buy something not made in China? Do I buy wooden or plastic? Do I buy from the local toy store or Toys R' Us? Whoa. I'm really driving myself crazy with too many choices. He's not going to care at all. I could get so much stuff for him, though. This imagination stage is so fun. I'm thinking of going to Toys R' Us this afternoon which is probably the worst idea ever. I just want to be able to make a decision once I get there.

Random Jacob story: Yesterday he had a little spoon and was "licking off some food". I asked him what he was eating. Pause. "Ice cream," he says. Funny because he's never had ice cream. Then I ask what kind of ice cream: "Chocolate."

This pm. Decided that Toys R' Us today was not a good plan. Went to Karen's instead. Much better. Definitely have to find other things to do around here when the weather is crappy.

Day 44

November 7, 2010

Monday. Again. This day, it just keeps coming around. Hmm.

Jacob has been crabby this morning. He has a little cold and keeps putting his whole hand in his mouth. Not sure if more teeth are coming in. The kid still has eight to go. Bummer, though. Hard for me too. Not much I can do to help him sometimes. I get stuck between hanging with him and doing the things he wants to do versus getting anything at all accomplished. Some days I just feel like being able to get through one thing on my list completely. 

Much better afternoon although with the time change, it definitely had a dragging feel right around old 4:30/new 3:30. Getting dark early is a total bummer. 

Jacob and I took a digger, though. He was riding his bike down a steep driveway while I was running next to him trying to avert the inevitable fall. I had a hold of him when the bike tipped but was too tangled up in him and the bike then to extricate myself. We both ended up on the ground. He only ended up with some scraped fingers but it took some of the fun out of that activity for the moment. I had a skinned knee (it's been ages!) and a hole in my favourite pair of jeans!!!!! NOOOOOO!!! That was really the worst part of it for me. 

We went to the local library after that mishap. Small but nice. Good kids section. Jacob and I read a bunch of books. Good times.

I went to a pilates class this evening. Now, I've always seen these classes going on and heard great things but they're discouragingly expensive so I've never tried them. This week is the once a year pilates open house at our gym where you can go and try a half hour class for free as well as get discounts on the class prices. Even then I thought, I'll just take a couple free sessions and maybe get some lessons sometime in the future. Right. Half hour and I was sold. Super fun. Feels totally effective. And addictive. You're on these machines that slide and move; they look like torture devises. When the trainer was telling us what to do I was thinking, how is that going to work? Then I'd do it and sure enough, it would but in a totally different way than I'd expected. Parts of the machine were moving in ways that I didn't foresee and sometimes I couldn't tell which part of me was doing the moving until I looked in a mirror. Great! So, I signed up. Three private lessons and then group class for two months. I'm stoked. I think it'll be a great jump start for me. I've been feeling a bit plateaud with my working out and not pleased with parts of my body. I think this is just what I need. It's like changing to tele skiing after alpining for years. Just a shift can make things much more fun. We'll see if I still feel this way after a few 55 minute sessions.

And Fraser got to hang out with Jacob this evening and put him to bed. Good for all of us although something that remains hard for us. Jacob and Daddy bonding time without Mom. We're going to be working more on that because Jacob is not growing out of this Mommy phase easily. I need the break and they need the time together. 

Day 43

November 6, 2010

Our friend James came into town late last night. He's in town for a conference and came for the weekend to hang out with Fraser. I was excited for Fraser to get some good friend time in. Watching football, hanging out, drinking beer, bbqing with a friend. All things that make this place feel a little more like a home.

 Very rainy day today. Relaxing day at home. Out to dinner at Yuki sushi (I think) in the northwest section of downtown. Tasty. Jacob did actually some of his food although most of it ended up in his miso soup.

Jacob really wanted to ride the train so we hopped on the trolley that goes around an area of downtown. Fraser and James went off to have some guy time. Jacob and I only rode for a couple stops and then came back to the car. But it gave him a little fix. That boy likes public transit!

Day 42

November 5, 2010

Target. Christmas is here already apparently. Amazing. It's really no wonder that people get depressed after this holiday. There's a two month build up for one single day. I love this time of year but really, do we have to start right after Halloween?

PT this afternoon. It's been great for the body. Everything feels much better when you take care of it properly. Surprise, surprise. Too bad most of us don't make enough time to take care of ourselves properly. 

My neighbour/friend Karen stopped by this afternoon with two of her kids. That was great. They all played really well. Jacob had some moments when he had a hard time sharing but really, it was pretty low maintenance. Which meant Karen and I could talk. Super. It was really nice that she came over to my house, too. I actually had some wine and snacks for the kids. Made me feel like a real hostess. Nice. And a bit weird. I'm usually the one at others' homes. More nice than weird, though. I like it.

Day 41: Collins Sanctuary Nature Trail

November 4, 2010

Another gorgeous day. Supposedly the last one for another 10 days so... we went for a nature hike this morning. Driving over the Tualitan Mountains (I think) when we go from our house to town, I always see these trails. And the forest is just gorgeous: valleys, ravines, streams, tall old fir trees, moss. I've been wanting to check them out but not necessarily in the pouring rain. 

Bee-UTE-ee-ful!! Lush, green, moss covered everything. Leaves on the ground, old wooden bridges to cross, the gentle sounds of water falling downhill over smooth, moss-covered stones. Whoa. Jacob wanted to ride in the Ergo, which made my job easier and got me some exercise. He loved looking down into the streams and talking about the moss. He really wanted to see a moose, he told me. I think he gets that from his book. I told him we might have to go up in the mountains more to see a moose but that we could look for deer. 

We saw some "teeny, teeny mush rooms". Also, a couple new birds for me: a varied thrush and a winter wren. The thrush is really pretty with a dark blue back and head but with an orange belly and throat. Really cool. The wren is pretty much an LBB - little brown bird. BUT, it was just teeny and the cutest little brown bird I've ever seen.

Like I said, moss everywhere.

And ferns. Maidenhair ferns all over. On the ground, in the trees. Really nice.

Finally Jacob wanted to get down. We were looking at deer tracks and he wanted a better look. He also wanted to touch some of the moss. Of course, like any toddler, he also wanted to run, not walk, down a lot of the path. That's fine when you're on a flatish path, but this path was curved, wet, muddy, downhill and with a steep valley off to one side in many parts. Needless to say, the running stressed me out a bit. He eventually took a little spill, got a bit of leaf in his mouth and held my hand from then on. Experience is the best teacher. 

Thankfully, he didn't land on one of these when he fell! Hahaha.... Slugs are groady (grodey?). Not fast like snakes or eight-legged like spiders but startling in their own fat, slimy, sluggish way. Yeack! And of course, they're everywhere out here. I picked up a piece of recylcing at our house the other day that had missed the bin and sure enough, a little slug inside. I dropped that thing faster than if it had burned me.

We both loved looking up at the beautiful canopy. This whole trail system was near the Audubon Society's offices. At least some of their offices. And a little store and discovery center. Really nice area. It smelled so good. Apparently this area is next to Forest Park, the largest forested city park in the U.S. Neato. We'll be sure to take more trips on the other trails.

Also, finally got the starter fixed on my old hunk-a-junk car. At least Fraser won't have to push start it now. That's one thing. We've decided to try and keep using it to avoid car payments. In a year, it's a possibility that we might think about buying so, we'd like to have as much money saved as possible. Even though it will dreamy one day to have a car where all the parts work like they should. 

Tons of neighbour kids out this afternoon playing in the leaves. Jacob ended up having a glorious time in the middle of a leaf fight. Adorable. Sadly, I did not have the camera. Damn. I love cute kid, leaf pictures. Maybe we'll have another sunny day when he can play in the leaves. We'll see...