BOO! Happy Halloween!!

Trip to Lubbock was good. Josh had such a great time playing at his grandma's house. We got into town about 6:30pm, in time for dinner at Furrs and putting up the pack and play. Saturday we spent the morning at Maxi Park playing, feeding ducks, and playing some more. I met with a fellow meetup.com mom's group organizer. Josh napped well then we went to the Corn Maze. The maze was fun but then I got dehydrated by the half-way point and needed to rest. We went on a hay ride and picked out a nice pumpkin for my mom to decorate. That night, after dinner and Josh's bedtime, mom and I decorated pumpkins and watched Poltergeist. Sunday we walked to a nearby park with mom's dogs (who nearly broke her back from tugging), gave up that idea and went back to Maxi Park. Sunday evening we had dinner at Raymond's who served up gumbo, blackened fish and chicken, and this yummy squash au gratin. I would have loved to stay and chat at length but Josh needed to go to sleep. Josh had fun at Raymond's. He learned to throw the dog's toy to play fetch. Every time the dog fetched the toy Josh laughed. I took josh to my mom's for bed and stayed up talking until late. Our trip back home was uneventful.

Josh was sooo excited to be home again with his dad. They played for two hours until Josh needed to sleep. I was hoping to get a back and shoulder massage from Rusty but he got paged and had to work. :-( Back to normal.

Today is overcast and chilly. We don't have any special plans for Halloween. Maybe I'll dress Josh up this evening to help answer the door for trick or treaters.

It’s a marathon blog!!

Josh is still sleeping- YES, seeping in at :9:40am. Wake him!? Yeck, no! I had breakfast, tea, watched my news, checked emails, made his breakfast, filled his milk & juice cups, got dressed… It’s amazing what all I can do in the small amount of time of peace.

I’m making preparations to go to Lubbock again this weekend with Josh, sans Rusty. He’s staying behind to work and relax on the weekend. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the house to himself initially but he’ll miss us! I’m going to try a daring act of driving the majority of the way in the daytime instead of after dark. I’m hoping he’ll be better with this idea than when he was younger. If the idea is a total flop, I’ll leave Sunday night.

The other day Rusty came home from work. Josh greeted him at the childproof gate by the back door to the garage. Rusty said “Well hi!” to Josh, then Josh replied “Hi”.
We were shocked! Josh has begun to say a few words but nothing with any regularity. Occasionally he’ll ask for ‘muh-muh’ meaning me, or ‘da-da’ meaning lots of things not me. I held him up to see what we were cooking and told him it was hot. “Hot Josh, this is hot.” He repeated ‘hah’. He’s also practicing inflection. I often ask him “where is it?” when we play peek-a-boo with objects. After throwing a toy and putting his hands up as if asking a question, I’ve heard him say ‘ah-eaih-eh?’ He makes the same sound of asking the question.

Rusty and I had discussions last weekend about future plans I general. We both want to move to a Blue state. We both want to renovate our house to be more interesting and comfortable. But we’re a bit at odds about having a second baby. I want one sooner rather than later. My worry is that we would decide a couple or few years from now to have a second and then the kids will be further apart in age and I will be further from a prime age for childbearing. His worry is that another child will take up more space in the home than we comfortably have room for right now. [For those who have not seen our house, we have three bedrooms, two baths. One of the small bedrooms serves as a computer room where Rusty keeps his servers, computer equipment, and occasionally works from home.] Making room for a baby in that room would entail moving computers to the common area (i.e. dining room/ front room) or keeping baby in the common area at nights. We haven’t figured out how to make this work yet, but we’re talking about it. Which is an excellent first step.

Dang! The boy is still sleeping! It’s 10am. We have to play at the park, clean out my car, get some groceries, paint a pumpkin or two (me, not him). Now I’m worried he’ll be up all day without a nap. Which wouldn’t be so bad come to think of it. Now that I have my leisurely obligations out of the way, I could tolerate a full day without break. This may be an experiment on how to wear out a Sarah!

This weekend was awesome! Lee & Barb got hitched and are now touring the hill country of Texas before going back to Portland. Their wedding was just like them: relaxed, joyful, fun and in good taste. The reception was at the Plano Art Centre so we had seating outside in the garden/patio area. Rusty was a groomsmen on the grooms' side. I have to clarify this because both sides had men and women. We created an after-party at Tommy's. I stayed until midnight getting a ride home from Matt & Sam. Then on Sunday morning we headed to brunch hosted at the home of friends of the family. Joshua, by the way, had fun at the reception and brunch, although he came down with a cold on Saturday which got worse by Sunday.

Speaking of which, his breathing became short and wheezing yesterday morning so I took him to the pediatrician's as a precaution. It seems that every chest cold has the likelihood to cause difficulty breathing so we got a nebulizer to keep at home and plenty of Xopenex. Now we can take care of his breathing problems without running to the doctor's or going to the E.R. The pediatrician suspects Josh will out grow this. I certainly hope this is true.

I was a whooping 3 days late on my period but started it this morning. So I'll be drinking an ale on Friday when I go out with other moms. I can tell that actively trying is going to make me crazy. Being late on my period made me hopeful and full of mixed emotions. Feeling grumbles in my stomach (probably from gas) gave the illusion of something greater. I guess we'll just have to try, try again!

Oh, and PMS is full force now. confused

I think my whining and moaning about the weather finally paid off. Today started out rainy and cool. Tomorrow is supposed to be cool and muggy before dropping to a high of 65 on Thursday. Why such a big deal? I plan to take Josh to a pumpkin patch festival on Thursday and having cooler weather will be more comfortable for him to be in his costume. I just hope it’s not too muddy then.

I made an awesome dinner this evening. Here’s what we had: Breaded Pan-Fried Pork Chops, Ginger Asparagus with Cashews and Wild Rice Pilaf with Cranberries. I will make the rice and pork recipe available on recipes.ringofsaturn.com either tonight or tomorrow. Tomorrow we’re having trout. I invited massage therapist friend Teel over for dinner. She’s a vegetarian who eats fish so dinner will be easy to accommodate her diet.

Lee and Barbara are in town preparing for their wedding celebration this weekend. Rusty is in the wedding party though it’s not clear what he is. He wasn’t named Best Man and we don’t know who is, or if there is one. I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I can’t wait to see them get hitched, to see lots of people I haven’t seen lately, and to be fed. Let’s face it, weddings are good for feeding you. Well, this wedding anyway! True to Iron Chef DogCow’s nature, we’re celebrating the nuptial from Thursday evening (grilled stuff at the parents’ home) to Sunday brunch with friends of the family. I plan to take Josh to the reception for a bit. Hopefully he’ll last a while before I have to take him home. There’s a park in walking distance from the reception in case he’s feeling extra energetic.

I’m just days away from finishing my book. I’m reading Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. This is a fantastic book! So good that it is keeping me from my sleep because I can’t stop reading. Even though I’ve already seen the movie and I listened to a condensed version on disc a few years ago, reading the book has been just as great as if for the first time. Speaking of which, if I am to get any sleep tonight, I should probably wrap up and get to reading.

From a recent email:

Regarding how we are. . . Remember how Josh was always lively in class with the Plano Moms Group? How he always wanted to stand and squawk? Nothing has changed expect he's older, runs, climbs and points at everything. He's still very active, always on the go and makes so many noises! He's not trying to learn language yet. Going 'eh eh' and pointing seems to get him (eventually) everything he wants. He's very independent, has no concept of strangers nor dangers, and loves to play chase. He also has bruises all along his legs! I guess you could say we're about as normal as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The governor's debate is going on right now. The four incumbants are doing the rapid Q/A from a panel who ask various questions about policy, plans, ideals, and trivia about the state. The two independants (Kinky & "Grandma" Strayhorn) sound uninformed and unprepared but had strong colorful personalities and a little fire in their responses. The two party candidates (Bell & Perry "Zzzzz") are prepared for the debate but sound boring and slow to the point. Although I do want a governor who is highly educated and can actually manage, I also think having a lively personality is the type of catalyst that will move things to progress. Keeping the state's history in mind, I also need to consider who could someday make a decent President. Kinky may be fun for governor in Texas, but would we really want him in charge of everything? It's just something to take into account.

Ninety degrees in October. Ninety! That’s, what, 10 degrees warmer than the average? I’m forming a theory that some places will have it easy during the impending global warming reaction that has been predicted for the next 50 years. Other places, like Dallas, won’t do so well. I predict the area will suffer drought and excessively warm air. The trick now is to find those places that will benefit- and MOVE!!

Josh has been a light eater the past few days. Last night he barely touched his corn, macaroni and breaded chicken. To make up for his appetite loss, I’m feeding him vegetables and fruits for snacks instead of crackers and dry cereal. He ate a quarter of a tomato and some corn for a snack yesterday. And some banana. And two bites of kiwi. His newest craving- rice pudding! I got a container of rice pudding from Target recently. He’s ape over it! It’s a treat to pull out when he’s eaten well.

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