Snot bubbles

Something that I've learned about motherhood: When your child has a runny nose, never leave home without a tissue...or 12...or a roll of paper towels.

At the park this morning, Anna sneezed and a gigantic snot bubble came out of her nose and rested gently on the side of her face. It was the biggest snot bubble that I've ever seen come out of a human. Even though she was in the stroller, turned away from me, I could see the snot bubble from behind her head. It looked as though a greenish jellyfish had landed on her face. It was so large, it was blowing willy nilly in the breeze, like a wayward Macy's parade balloon, tethered by ropes of mucus and steered by boogers, dressed in Holiday garb. Naturally, I didn't have anything with me to mop her down with. As luck would have it, the weather is a little warmer today, so I was able to take her fleecey jacket off (thanks for the jacket/snot rag, Erika!) and use it to wipe her down. It wasn't pretty. And that's all I have to say about that.

Glutton List

Just so you'll know, I'm occasionally updating the Glutton List, as I think of things that A.C. might like. Behold the gluttony.

Snotty Thanksgiving

Snotty Thanksgiving,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Finally a re-cap of Jurica Thanksgiving, 2007--Turkey, Family & Snot.

Anna seemed to enjoy her first turkey day. She ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, dressing and pumpkin pie. She also had a cold, so there were trace amount of snot all over her person (and her parents). We got to see lots of family and had a really good time. Aunt Julie went with us and is now an honorary member of the Jurica clan.

The day after Thanksgiving, I did something that I don't think I've ever done before: I went shopping. On "black Friday". Early (ish) in the morning. With the crowds and whatnot. Of course, we only went to one store, but the sales were really good and, dare I say, it was totally worth it. I got about 50% of my shopping done and had a pretty good time to boot. Everyone was in a good mood. I wasn't there for any wrestling, sucker-punch-worthy merchandise so everything was very peaceful. I think I'll do the same thing next year.

Christmas Decorating

Natural tree,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

By far, my favorite thing to do in the whole world is decorating our house for the Holidays every year. For the first time in years, we got a real tree. It's perfect. We didn't get to go to the cut-your-own-tree farm because the weather was cold and rainy all weekend and I really wanted to get the tree this past weekend, so we went to Houston Garden Center Sunday afternoon and got one. While not quite as cool as the tree farm, it was fun and a good experience. The guys there put the base on for us and tied it to the car.

We got the tree home and it fits perfectly in our living room. Not too big and not too small. I love it. Aunt Julie and I made a couple of cranberry garlands for it last night and they look great. Kevin did a fabulous job on the lights as well. I like a tree to just sort of glow...I don't like too many lights and our tree looks great. Anna seems to enjoy looking at it (and yanking on the branches) and, so far, the cats have left it alone (except to sleep under it, which they do every year). So, I will enjoy our decorated house and pat myself on the back a few times, until I attend the Heights Holiday Home Tour next weekend, wherein I'll see homes professionally decorated and trimmed and come home, feeling like white trash, like I do every year. Good times, good times. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Happy Holidays!

Another Christmas movie clip

So, apparently, you either love Will Ferrell or hate him. I sort of love him. I love the movie Elf and this is a classic scene.

Waxing Philosophical

Ok, I'm just gonna come out and say this: If Anna Claire ends up with eyebrows and a mustache like this (Lourdes, Madonna's daughter) I'm going to take her to get waxed. While I really hate to see little girls rushed into adulthood, by letting them wear makeup too early, dressing too grown up, etc., I have to say that a good esthetician could do wonders with this little girl and clean everything up without making her look too old for her age. You know that she's going to look back at pictures of herself and cringe and that's just not fair.

Busy weekend

Trying out the bow,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

We had a fun and busy weekend. We traveled to Edna for cousin Jill's wedding. Anna had a lot of fun playing with her cousin, Nolan and being adored everywhere she went (as it should be).



Firsts that occurred this weekend:

• Anna's first taste of dressing and cranberry sauce. She gave them two thumbs up

• Anna learned how to clap

• Anna wore a bow in her hair to the wedding. There was a minor meltdown when cousin Nolan pulled it out of her hair in the church nursery though!

Christmas Traditions

I posed a question to Kevin recently about what traditions he'd like to start for Christmas. I wondered if there were any traditions that his family had that he'd like to incorporate into our family Christmas. He told me about two that he'd like to carry on. First is the tradition of the presents (at least the big ones) from Santa not being wrapped. As a child, I can imagine that it's much more believable that the gifts not be wrapped. He's a busy man and if he had to wrap each gift at each house, it would take far too long.

He also wants to carry on the tradition of getting to open one gift on Christmas Eve. That gift was always new pajamas that Kevin and his siblings slept in Christmas Eve. I love this idea and am already shopping for a new pair of pajamas for Anna's Christmas Eve gift.

When I was a kid, we'd go to my grandfather's house on Christmas Eve (but back home in time for bed). My cousins would be there and I'm sure we were crazy and out of control, fueled by a week-long diet of cookies and cheese and in a complete feeding frenzy about the hordes of gifts that were about to be bestowed upon us. Lucky for our parents, Christmas Eve holds the power of the most serious threat in the world...worse than terrorist threats: Santa Threats. The Santa Threats probably kept us in check a little. I mean, you don't want to ruin 2 months of good behavior on a few hours of cousin-induced insanity...especially since Santa probably already has your gifts loaded on the sleigh and ready to deliver (it's not inconcevable that he might turn the sleigh around and bypass your house, due to bad behavior). My grandfather had a set of authentic sleigh bells, rusty from years of being exposed to the elements in the snowy wonderland of upstate New York. A few times on Christmas Eve, Paw Paw would sneak over and shake those sleigh bells. It would jolt my cousins and I back into shape, as if Santa himself were right outside, watching our behavior.

Another Paw Paw-ism was the thing that he used to say every Christmas, right before we got ready to open presents: "Aw...let's just wait until next year" (to open these gifts). As a child, in the frenzied excitement of present-opening, you'd at first think that he just might be serious, at which point your bottom lip would begin to tremble a little as you watched the hopes and dreams of all that you were about to receive flushed down the toilet. Naturally, he'd quickly relent and the present-opening would proceed. Later, that became a good joke for us older kids to play on the younger ones and to watch their bottom lips tremble and the twinkle leave their eyes.

I hope that, in addition to incorportaing our families' traditions into our own Christmases, special traditions of our own will develop over time. I also hope that Anna grows up with fond memories of holidays spent with friends and family and traditions that she can some day pass on.

And yes, I plan to post clips of my favorite Holiday movies on the blog every chance I get. Lucky you.

'Tis the season

We're planning to get a real Christmas tree this year. We (I!) have lofty plans for us to go to a cut-your-own tree farm and have the whole good, old fashioned, family Christmas (channeling Clark W. Griswold). I realize that my lovely, hand-blown glass ornaments just aren't safe this year, as we'll have a potential toddler in our midst. I have enough non-breakable ornaments to make a decent tree, but I would also like to add some natural (read: edible, if need be) decor as well. I'm thinking popcorn and/or cranberries. How do I go about doing this? Do you use fishing line to string them? All of my crafty readers, please help.

Sacrifices

I very often feel guilty for not working outside of the home. There, I said it. Financially, it's a big sacrifice. We went from two incomes and no dependents to one income and a big, new, shiny dependent all in the course of a year. If I could do things over, I might've rethought my decision to sell my business, but at the time, it was a big burden. A rock in my shoe. It took my positive energy away from my baby.

So, this sacrifice means that we don't go out to eat nearly as often as we used to (of course, having a squirmy almost-ten-month-old who goes to bed before 7pm has something to do with that too). We will probably not get that hot tub that Kevin and I used to dream about, to relax in on our patio. Kevin's dream of a music studio over the garage is a distant memory. Kevin is going to be getting rid of his shiny, two-seater convertible, in lieu of a more economical and child-friendly four-door sedan. If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not. While it would be nice to have a little more disposable income, Anna going to daycare just isn't an attractive option.

I was lamenting our situation last week when this email came through the list serv of the kids' group that we're members of. Someone posted a question about how to save time, while working and raising children. This is one of the responses:

I work 40+ hours/week at my evening job and 10+ hours/week from home
in the mornings.
I shuttle my children around to at least 5-10 hours week of
children's activities (free play not included)
I spend 2 hours on the highway between driving to babysitter and work.
I do the bare minimum of household chores which includes 30 minutes
daily of washing dishes & pumping gear, 2-3 hours on the weekend
(washing clothes and groceries).
I keep up a very OCD breastfeeding/ pumping schedule that keeps me up
to 2 am on most nights in an attempt to fight against a decreasing
milk supply.
I sleep an average of 5 hours a night and wake up at 8a.m. when my
spirited 3 y/o wakes me up demanding breakfast!

I have wronged my health/body (no exercise)
I have wronged my children (gasp! They don't always get a bath every
day!)
I have wronged my husband (if we are lucky we see each other on the
weekend)
I have wronged my house (last thorough cleaning I think was Spring
2004)

I vow do better/do more tomorrow!

Reading that made my stomach hurt. There's no way that I could be happy doing what this mom is doing. And her children? How is this good for them? It made me appreciate the life that we've created for Anna. Our days are largely stress-free. We have our quiet morning rituals. Mama gets at least one cup of coffee in her before she goes to get the petite bebe out of bed. Then we ceremoniously open the blind in her bedroom and wave hello to the day and predict what the weather might be like. We greet our backyard birds and squirrels. We sing silly songs while we eat breakfast. We go for walks at the park and visit with dogs and their owners (Anna give humans a single-handed-wave and reserves her patented double-hand-wave for humans walking dogs!). It's a simple, but beautiful life and it fits us perfectly.

A day at the zoo

What happened to my wee 'lil baby?,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Kevin, Aunt Julie and I took Anna to the zoo today. It was a great day and now my baby girl smells like a baby goat.

Cornbread!

What can I say? Cats love them some cornbread.

Scenes from the Park--Bike Man and Bandana Dog

Most every morning, Anna and I go to our neighborhood park to go for a walk around the jogging trail. It's about the same time every day and we see the same cast of characters every day. We don't know anyone's name, but I've labeled each of them on my own:

The first installment of Scenes from the Park is about Bike Man and his dog, Bandana Dog. Bike Man and his dog live directly across the street from the park. Bike Man is outside every morning, rain or shine, usually tinkering with his truck or in the garage, listening to NPR radio news and milling about. His dog, Bandana Dog, is a Shepherd-mix of some sort, white and tan spots, who always wears a bandana. The bandanas range from holiday-inspired to sports-related. Judging by the way that Bike Man presents himself, (rather scruffy, pot-bellied and not terribly friendly) you'd never guess that he'd be the type of dog owner to dress his dog up...who knows, maybe there's a wife in the picture who coordinates the dog's wardrobe.

Usually while we're at the park, Bike Man gets on his bike and slowly rides around the park, not interested in his target heart rate or muscle-building, by any stretch of the imagination. Bandana Dog follows him, always a few yards behind. I've never seen a dog as intense as Bandana Dog. He has no interest in the other people, dogs, squirrels or children whom he passes in the park. He's all about the sniffing--nose to the ground and occasionally looking up to spot his owner. When I first saw Bandana Dog roaming around the park, I thought he was lost. Then, I noticed that he was following (albeit very far behind) Bike Man and then, after seeing Bandana Dog in the Bike Man's front yard a few days in a row, I understood.

Today, Bike Man was making his leisurely twirl around the park and Bandana Dog was doing his usual thing. Bike Man had gotten pretty far away, while Bandana Dog was sniffing a particularly interesting morsel near one of the trash cans. We approached Bandana Dog and I cooed my usual, Bandana Dog greeting, "Hey there, Pup-Dog". He looked up at me, looked over his left shoulder, then over his right. I noticed a wave of panic cross his brown eyes. He then turned around to face the other direction, his head bobbing and weaving, his tail nervously batting rapidly from side to side. He was looking for Bike Man. He'd probably spent too much time sniffing and lost track of his owner. I looked around and spotted Bike Man down at the corner of the park. I said to Bandana Dog, "It's ok...he's over there", foolishly pointing to Bike Man. Bandana Dog looked at my finger then looked the direction that I was pointing and took off running, finally rounding the corner of the community center, where Bike Man was at last in his line of sight. Then, he sped up to catch his buddy. It was a funny little snippet in our day.

Yo Baby, Yo Baby, Yo Baby, YO!

DSCN1074,
originally uploaded by veggiejj.

Anna, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for her morning yogurt on this cozy Fall morning.

Glutton List

Ok, here goes...I've been asked to give some ideas of what Anna Banana might like for the two ginormous gift-giving holidays that she's about to embark upon (Christmas and her birthday, in January). I plan to update this list as I think of things, so this is a first-draft, brain-dump of sorts.

• These We've given them as gifts and they're always a hit. Recently, Anna and I played with some of them at Whole Earth Provision and she enjoyed them immensely. We'd prefer to have the birds that we might see in our backyard (Cardinal, Robin, Bluejay, Woodpecker, Mockingbird and French Hen-->just kidding 'bout that last one).
• Crayons that are made for younger kids.
  

• Some balls to play with. Nothing fancy. Like those plastic balls at the store that are volleyball-size and cheap. Just something to roll back and forth.

• A new pair of Robeez shoes. She's outgrown her first pair and, now that she's trying to walk, a new pair would be helpful. She would need size 12-18month.
  

• Blankets: She has a drawer full of sweet, soft baby blankets, but as she grows, they're getting too small for her. We have one large, fleece throw (machine washable) that someone gave us when she was born and it's wonderful for throwing on the floor to make an impromptu palate; snuggling with her in the recliner; etc. At least one more of those would be great--the one that we have came from The Company Store, just so you'll know..and it's monogrammed, but beggars can't be choosers, no?
• A child-size toothbrush. As she gets more and more teeth, we need to get on the ball with establishing good dental hygiene. They make some that fit over an adult's finger and I've heard that they're a good place to start.
• Books, preferably board books, as she loves nothing more than to sink her teeth into a good book (literally)
• Anything having to do with music and the making thereof. While she has free reign of her daddy's fancy keyboards and guitars, she would probably enjoy an instrument or two made for children to whack at and drool upon.
• Clothes are always welcome. She's currently wearing anywhere from 9 month to 18 month-sized clothing, depending on the brand and fit.
• Duck is her favorite word, so anything that gives her the opportunity to say her favorite word is a big hit these days.
• Bath toys
• Push toys. She's becoming more and more comfortable on her feet, so a push toy would be a lot of fun for her

Jubilation

A few exciting things to report:

First (and most importantly), our good friend--and loyal Hey Drivel Drivel reader, Ashley passed the Texas BAR exam! She's officially an attorney now. We're so proud of her because she worked her butt off for this. I met Ashley right as she was beginning law school so I feel like I've earned a law degree right along with her (except, not!). Hooray Ashley! And hooray for me because I've got free legal services for the rest of my life. (So don't try to sue me because I'll sick Applewhite on you)

Second: It's officially the Christmas season, so say Target and other major retailers. I know it's sort of disgusting and weird to see the Halloween pumpkins and candy in piles labeled 50% off and Christmas trees being put together in their place, but I still get giddy every time I see Christmas stuff in the stores...especially this year, since we have a new little elf to share the season with!