Happy Leap Day!

Make the most of your extra day today! It also happens to be Spence’s 16-month birthday. If it weren’t for leap year, we’d have had to skip the 16 month celebration!

Can I brag for a second? I have the happiest little guy. He’s got such a great disposition – just laughs and plays and hugs. Oh, the hugs. He hugs so well.

That’s not to say we don’t have our moments. There are tears a few times a day – usually right after the word "No" is uttered by mama or dada. We’re still figuring out our dynamic about when it’s worth going to battle versus when to give in. He’s got my stubborn streak which I must admit is not my most endearing quality. But, did I mention the hugs?

He’s getting so smart too. He understands so much now. Since he’s not really verbal yet, it’s easy for me to forget how much he knows. I’ve been testing him lately with things like – "Go get your socks and shoes" – and I’m amazed when he comes back a minute later with the goods. The first time I asked him, he went straight to his toy box so I assumed he didn’t understand my request. But, to my shock, he pulled a pair of socks out of there. He’d remembered that he put his dirty socks in there the day before. I can’t even remember these things!

And he’s so helpful. He brings things to me that he thinks I need. He started throwing away any paper that he finds anywhere. If he spills his water, he gets very upset until the mess is cleaned up. If he sees the bathroom door open, he runs over to shut it. When I load the dishwasher he’s right there to "help". Now if he could only learn to run the vacuum.

I’m trying hard not to worry about the talking. It seems like he does things in his own time. The walking came just late enough for me to worry for a good month or two. And I think the words might be the same way. We still two more month for him to develop a small vocabulary before the doctor said we might want to worry. But, since he’s understanding so much, I shall try to bury my worry for a while longer. But, I would love a "mama" or two.

Happy 16 months sweet baby!

Bookworm Tag

This is my kind of tag. You don’t have to run around, just open a book.

Sheri tagged me with this little ditty:

1. pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. open the book to page 123.
3. find the fifth sentence.
4. post the next three sentences.
5. tag five people.

Here it goes:

Once when he’d come in Ray had been silent for a long time, so long that Samson began to wonder whether he’d noticed him enter. "Ray?" The doctor turned.

Phew. I’m glad that wasn’t a spoiler since this book is on my nightstand, but I haven’t cracked it open yet. It’s my book club book for March so I shall be forced to start it soon. Though I just noticed that random excerpt seems closely tied to the book’s title – I wonder if perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a key passage? Hmmm

I’ll tag merry, skip, and anyone reading this who doesn’t have a blog – just play along in the comments of this post.

Decision #1 about #2

One of the good things about having a "surprise" pregnancy is that you never have to make the decision about whether the time is right to have a baby. It’s the right time, like it or not. I never had to grapple with the questions like "Is this the right time?", "Do we have enough money?", "Is our apartment big enough?", "Is it the right time in my career?", etc., etc. We were close enough to thinking about having a baby that I’d lofted such questions into my mind, but never actually had to come close to answering them.

So, in contemplating baby #2, I’m forced to try and figure out when the time is right for the first time. I’ve heard people say many times that there’s never a perfect time to have a baby, you just have to take the plunge. This is usually said to people deciding to have their first child, but I’m coming to the realization that it applies to second children as well.

I still have all of the same questions I would have had with #1 about space, money, and career, plus I have things to think about like the right spacing between siblings. You can do them really close together (9-18 months), which is good because you haven’t completely left the baby realm yet and it won’t be jarring to go back to sleepless nights (if you’ve even left them yet). But, that’s really really close together and seems insanely hard on the parents to me – double strollers and all. Or you can do medium spacing (18 months – 3 years)  which seems good because the older child is a little more independent by the time baby comes, but I think you have to deal with some insane sibling rivalry at first. This is also the spacing that always seemed perfect to me growing up – the siblings that were 2-3 years apart seemed close enough in age to be friends.  And then you have the longer spacing (3+ years) where the older child can be a bit of the helper for you with baby, but you’ve been away from the baby word for so long that it must be tough to go back.

I really don’t know how you make this decision – maybe it’s one of those things that you just know when you know? I have the baby pangs now from time to time, but I’m also sure I’m not ready yet. But, at the same time, it can take quite awhile from the time you decide to start trying until you have the baby (at the very least 10 months right?). So when you decide it’s the right time, it’s not like you can order a baby and have it on your doorstep in 24 hours. It seems like it would be best to be able to project into the future – "I’m not ready now, but in a year I will be, so let’s start trying now."

I’m curious to hear how other have or plan to make this decision…

Little Snow Man

I’ll never understand with all the crazy technology why weather men (and women) can’t predict the weather with any kind of accuracy. Yesterday I checked the weather and they were calling for 1 inch of snow. I woke up this morning to many more inches and it’s still coming down. I got to dress up my abominable snowspence and check out the white stuff. Things are much more fun through a child’s eyes!

Vacation through Spencer’s eyes

So cool! They just caught me sneaking a cookie and they’re not taking it away from me. Vacation rocks!

And look at this – they’re letting me keep my paci for this hike. Whoo hoo!

Giant red rocks. Woah!

This isn’t a bad way to roll. How come I never got to ride in one of these before?

Choo choo! This train is craaa-zy.

Hmmm. What trouble can I cause now?

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, pool water makes me laugh uncontrollably.

Clinging to vacation

Oh lordy, I am back in slushy, cold NYC and I miss my Arizona! I was determined to try and cling to that wonderful vacation feeling for a few days, but it’s so, so difficult. We landed last night in the middle of an ice storm and then had almost a 2 hour white knuckle drive back from the airport during which we saw several cars spin out and crash. Once home I had a message on the answering machine that they weren’t able to retrieve any of my harddrive data and a note on the washing machine from the cleaning woman that simply said "Is Broken". Oy, pass me a margarita.

But, vacation was awesome. Spencer is a great traveler and did amazing on the flights and everything. There was hiking, swimming, watersliding, fish tacos, and margaritas. It felt great to feel the sunshine and get away from behind a desk for week. And, I didn’t even TOUCH a computer all week (unless you count an iPhone, which I guess is kind of a computer, but not really…). I loved it. And I’m sad it’s over. But, trying to stretch that vacation feeling for a few more days. Photos to come once I get my laptop up and running.

Indecision ’08

I’m still wavering about who I’m going to vote for tomorrow. 11 hours until I vote – I have no idea how I’ll make my decision either. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe?

I’d be very happy with either Obama or Clinton as President. So, I guess I can’t lose. Obama seems like the sexy choice. The big risk, big reward option. Clinton seems the practical, nose to the grindstone, get the job done option. I tend to go with the Clinton-esque option for most things in life, which makes me lean towards her, while at the same time making Obama all that more intriguing. What’s a gal to do?

Which one of these things doesn’t belong?

• Football
• Beer
• Antibiotics

I’m living in a sick ward. Spencer is finally sounding better, but hubby has taken a turn for the worse. He went to the doctor today and was diagnosed with a double ear infection and a sinus infection. I am furiously doing laundry and popping Cold-Eeze trying with all my might to avoid the sick. I’ve had a dull earache and sore throat for 24 hours now. The nose is starting to drip. Please, oh please, nothing happen to jeopardize our vacation. Pul-lease let us all have healthy enough eardrums to board a plane on Wednesday. I really need vacation. And sunshine. And vacation (did I mention that already?).

In honor of our afflictions, I started watching Sicko. Man, this country is more messed up than I even realized. Did you know that in France the government pays for someone to come help new mothers a couple times a week? The helper might do laundry or cook dinner or watch the baby – whatever the mother needs. And doctors make housecalls. So, when you’re baby or your other baby (hubby) is sick, you can call the doctor to come out and check their ears no matter what time it is.  I didn’t get to finish it because nursing duties called me away, but I might need to move overseas. Or to Canada.

In other healthcare news, I went yesterday to get a prescription filled. I opened the package last night and discovered that they’d given me the wrong medication. Now granted, it was just birth control and not life or death consequences – just cramps and babies implications – but the mistake freaks me out. What if it were a medication that I didn’t know what it was supposed to look like? When I called the pharmacy to report the error, they explained that they were very busy when they filled it. Um. hmmm. People whose jobs have life or death consequences should never be too busy to be careful.