Foresight is 20/20?

I seem to be developing some psychic powers this week...

First, there were the "cutless" folders. I was organizing some things on my desk, so I grabbed a few folders from this box of "CutLess Folders". I thought to myself, "do people really get paper cuts from folders often enough that there is a need for 'cutless' ones?" only a few minutes before I got a really deep paper cut from one of them on my pinky finger. (Not so "cutless"!)

Then, there was the clothes rack fiasco. See, we have this clothes rack in our room. The purpose of it is quite different than the actual use. The purpose is to make putting away our clean clothes easier- put the basket on the bed, grab a hanger off the rack, and hang the clothes. When you're all done hanging the clothes you then put the pieces into the appropriate closets (Jason and I each have our own).

Well, the actual usage generally ends up being as a "third closet." Most of the time our clothes just stay on that rack instead of being put away. To keep it out of our way we generally have it pushed against the wall, so clothes only hang on one side of it. This seems like a "well, duh" situation. Heavy clothes on one side of a rack? It's obviously going to tip over. And honestly, yes, it's fallen over a few times, but it's generally only after one of us has swiftly grabbed a garment off a hanger, allowing the rack to sway. Otherwise it's pretty steady.

Clothes on both sides! What a concept!

But for some reason on Thursday morning as I carefully grabbed an article of clothing off the rack, I chuckled to myself as I thought, "I really should be cautious with this thing in the mornings. I can't imagine how Jason would feel waking up to this thing falling on top of him! I would probably think the house was caving in or an elephant decided to sit on me!" The very next morning it happened. Despite my carefulness, the entire thing came crashing down on sleeping Jason. Thankfully he was very graceful about it, getting up to help me pick everything up without a complaint.

All of this brings us to the final event this week that I'm not exactly proud to tell. After a diaper change I set Drew on the floor and he immediately crawled off to the springy door stop that he loves to play with (I remember being in awe, as a child, over the awesome "sproooiinnggg" sounds those things make!). I figured while he was entertained I would quickly wash my hands in the bathroom that is literally 5 steps away. With one foot out of the door in case I needed to run and grab him, I quickly washed my hands while thinking, "what would I do if Drew shut himself in his room? I wouldn't know whether it was safe to open the door or not! What if he was in the way and I whacked him? Or worse, what if his fingers were in the hinges?" As I thought this I heard "shunk" as the door closed.

I insta-panicked and screamed "BABE!" to Jason, just as Drew began to wail. I then gathered my thoughts as I slowly and carefully opened the door to find Drew sitting a safe distance away, unharmed except for the sudden shock of finding himself alone in his room with his mother screaming on the other side of the door.

Thankfully all turned out well, this time. But, as usual, this was a good learning experience. I did decide to make a trip to Babies R Us today, though, to pick up a few items I was in need of...

A gadget to prevent doors from closing or pinching baby fingers!

Straps to keep these sliding doors closed, also preventing pinched fingers

Corner cushions (I know, my furniture is dusty)

Crib rail protector for my little beaver

Mmmmm, works well!

In any case, I think I will just be keeping my thoughts to myself, thank you very much, before I cause anything else to happen.

Like this bookshelf falling over because it's not yet anchored to the wall...

Yeah, no worries, we're getting that fixed today!

P.S. My mom is in the hospital in Dubai right now after having a last-minute appendectomy. Please send your thoughts and prayers her way. She is doing well after the surgery, but we want her to continue to recover quickly as her and my dad prepare to fly back home later this week!

Drew at Dali

I am still home because of snow! Woohoo! And, even better, it looks like we won't have to make up these days! Four of them at least (which is what we're at right now). We'll see what happens if it stretches on past that...

So, this past weekend I took Drew to the Dali exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. I didn't take him because I thought it would be an enriching experience for him (he's 6 months old...) but because I wanted to go, and after a long week of "back to work" I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my baby.

It didn't take very long to realize that taking Drew to the museum was a bad idea.

First, it was the last weekend that the exhibit was here in Atlanta (I know... I'm a procrastinator through and through) so it was packed! Trying to push a stroller through huge crowds was not fun! There was a lot of "excuse me"s and "oops! Sorry! I didn't mean to get your ankle!"s...

Then, Drew apparently decided we were paying way too much attention to the artwork, and not to him, so he thought it would be fun to make his high-pitched squeaking noises. Remember this?



Those lungs have gotten even stronger since then...

As that was likely not the sound track most people wanted to listen to while viewing Dali's works of art, I decided to take him out of the stroller and carry him. And that's when he really started having fun. First, he grabbed a woman's purse. Then he tried to pet anyone's arms and shoulders that were within reach. Then, best of all, I was looking closely at a painting thinking Stacey was next to me only to hear "oh!"... I turned to find a stranger's face right next to mine. Drew had grabbed the cords to her audio tour that was hanging around her neck, and had put them in his mouth!

I think it will be a little while before we try the "cultural experience" thing again...

Wordy Wednesday: Oops

So I was just about finished with this incredibly wordy post when it occurred to me that today is Wednesday! Oops! It would be just like me to have way too much to say on the day I'm not supposed to say anything at all. Oh well, here's a very "Wordy Wednesday" for ya' (originally titled "Of Christmas and December and wintry things)!




December is officially here and with it brings the start of the Christmas season! I, like just about everyone else (except my husband), LOVE Christmas, and it is so exciting to be coming into it this year with one extra smiley face to enjoy it with. I can't wait to start some of our own little family traditions, starting with holiday decorating of course!

Mommy is so silly!

Oooo, what's this?

Can I put the star on top, mom?

Actually, maybe I'll just grab a few more of these shiny things...

I may have gotten a little carried away by the Christmas spirit and started decorating the baby...

In any case the weather is getting cooler and it really is starting to feel like winter. Over the Thanksgiving holidays Jason and I had a fun, wintery date night. I knew my parents would love to spend some quality time with Drew, so we sent him up to the lakehouse for an evening and Jason and I had the night to ourselves. We found ourselves ice skating in Centennial Olympic Park- an outdoor ice rink in downtown Atlanta (with plenty of devices to keep that ice frozen!). I, being Canadian and all, love ice skating (though I do it so infrequently that I often need a good bit of time to warm up). Jason, however, despite his 10 years growing up in Wisconsin, does not ice skate. Nor does he roller blade or roller skate. Just as I used to tremble at the idea of trying to move whilst having my feet strapped together on one board (snowboarding), Jason hates the idea of moving his feet separately (except for walking, of course). He grew up skateboarding and in recent years has become quite skilled at snowboarding. For the sake of a fun evening and a happy wife, however, he sucked it up and put on some blades...

Do my feet still work?

Let me tell you a little story about snowboarding. My sister and I, boyfriends in tow, went out to Seattle one winter to visit our Aunt Sue and to do some skiing. Jason had never skied nor snowboarded before. Being a skateboarder at heart he decided snowboarding was the way to go. He took a few lessons and we hit the slopes. After getting off one lift we turned the wrong way and approached a slope. As we came to the crest of a hill we suddenly looked down to realize we were about to head down a black diamond- yikes! We realized we had turned slightly too far left, so we tried to quickly turn right and cut across a soft patch of snow to get to the slope we were originally aiming for. Well, that little patch of snow was a patch that was not often skied and was soft and fluffy. Not having enough speed at this point, we instantly sank. I can't even tell you how long we spent trying to dig ourselves out, moving ourselves only an inch or two at a time, before my sister and Michael came skiing by. Seeing us and thinking they'd come say hi, they skied right into the snow trap too. After easily a good 30 minutes of wading and digging the four of us finally freed ourselves, but Jason vowed he never wanted to see snow again. Several years later and now Jason's the one who insists we go snowboarding every winter. Ha!

So I was not overly surprised that, after spending the first 20 minutes or so whining and complaining about skating, he suddenly started to get the hang of things. And only a little bit after that he was talking about taking up hockey!

Jason is just the personality-type that doesn't give up (sometimes I call it stubborn). He said, "if I'm not falling, I'm not trying hard enough" (though he never actually did fall). Maybe I could learn a little from him...

I do have to say that there is something so endearing about watching a guy fumble around on ice skates. I could not get the silly smirk off my face as he teetered and tottered around on the ice. I guess it's something about seeing guys, who are usually so confident and sure of themselves, suddenly awkward and childish. Heehee!

Happy December!

Wiggle Worm

In other words, how to drive your mom crazy! 

I couldn't even finish buttoning up Drew's PJs because he was wiggling all over the place.  I decided to just let him wiggle and see what would happen...

Darn! She finally got me in my PJs!

You KNOW he's a sleeper when

It was too perfect that this happened this afternoon after this morning's post about Drew's sleeping habits...

I had moved the mobile out of the way (it can swing off to either side) but heard it pop back into place.  I looked to find Drew still just sleeping away as the one toy kept bonking his head.  Please don't judge me for getting a video before rescuing him, but it was just too funny! (And it obviously wasn't hurting him.)