He's here

My new nephew Henry Cloy was born this Friday. He is 9lbs 9oz of healthy, adorable boy. Congratulations Sarah and Bill! He is a lucky kid.

I watched a lot of movies when the stomach flu went through our house

I love netflix instant play! It kept me sane this weekend.

Movies I loved
Sunshine Cleaning
Good Dick

Movies I liked but were depressing
Turtles can fly
Frozen River

Movies I wanted to like but didn't really
Rachel Getting Married
Nick and Norah's Infinite Play List

A movie that was weird and I fell asleep during
Loverboy

I'm not sure why I am sharing this but one of my New Year's resolutions (That I made at 8:00 p.m. because I was to ill to stay up any later) is to blog more.

All I want for Christmas is nothing

It has been quite a busy couple of months for us. Sean and I finally tied the knot (that's right, you can respect me now-we are no longer living in sin), Kelan turned 2 (2!), and we took our house off of the market.

I write this at the risk of making you gag, but the truth is, I can't think of one gift that I'm really hoping for on Christmas this year. I feel fulfilled.

Merry Christmas!

The good part

Everyone knows that it is an amazing feeling to rock a newborn to sleep and that nothing smells better than a baby fresh out of a bath. It goes without saying that as a parent, every age has nuances that you will miss someday. It goes without saying, but I said it anyway because I don't want you to think I'm a bad mom when I say that I am totally getting to the good part.

You know, the part where you can really start to enjoy the fruits of your labor (pun absolutely intended). Like how you spent hours talking to a baby who just looked at you with a blank face, or that smile that even you knew was patronizing and you imagined your baby thinking "oh that's so sweet, she's talking to me. I'll just smile to make her feel better because she really is spending a lot of time, and she might as well be speaking German." You kept reading 'Goodnight Moon' to a three month old even though you felt a little silly, because you just knew that someday he would be stalling at bedtime saying "Moon book again mommy?" Well that day has come, and I am in parenting heaven.

I imagine that it has a little something to do with having been raised by a teacher and lover of the communication arts, but I can not get enough of this kid's vocabulary. I love that he can tell me what he wants (it really saves me a lot of time in wrong guesses). I love that he asks me questions, and tells me about the things he finds exciting (usually bugs and puddles, but I'll take it), and I especially love hearing "good morning!" when I get him out of bed.

Stay at home parenting is a job without performance reviews (well unless you count your significant other waking you up to say he has no clean socks and adds oh-so-cutely "you're fired") and I am a person that thrives on seeing my hard work come to fruition. So yes, I know that it is about the journey, but once in awhile it's nice to hear "Thank you mommy." Sometimes it's just what I needed to hear.

This is why I procreated. OK , this and a couple of other reasons.

I fell in love with the Yoda costume the second I laid eyes on it, it was just to cute and weird to pass up.

Kelan last year on Halloween

He enjoyed helping give candy away almost as much as he enjoyed walking up to houses and saying "bye" instead of "trick or treat"

Seriously, it is going to be a sad day for me when he picks out his own costume, but it will be nice when he decides to hoard his candy- those peanut butter cups keep calling my name.

He's going to be an awesome big brother

Well it looks like someone's ready for baby number two- Sean and I, not so much. Sorry kid, it's going to be awhile.

The life lessons just keep coming

"Vacation" is another word that takes on an entirely different definition once you have a child. Before you have kids, vacation means "a relaxing trip away from home." After you have kids, vacation means "A nerve-wracking car/plane ride to yet another place where you will have to make sure your child doesn't seriously injure himself, others, or property. Oh, and if he does happen to mistake that decorative ostrich egg for a ball, promptly super glue it back together and pray that the owner never finds out."

So yeah, this year there was a little less reading by the water and a little more making sure kid doesn't drown in said water, but it was fun nonetheless. At least with a kid there are more photo ops.