Happy 2nd Birthday!!

Today Julian is 2.
If you're up for it, please leave him a birthday wish by clicking 'comments' below- I'm going to keep it for him!




Julian's birthday will forever be both happy and sad for me (and probably for him as well.) I think of his birth mother and how difficult this day must be. So today I wish her so much love and strength. I wish I could tell her how amazing a child her son is...maybe some day.

Everyone is asking how we're celebrating. Well, we're keeping it low key. His friends sang Happy Birthday at the park yesterday and this morning we let him eat as many eggs with spinach and tomato as he wanted. He actually ate so much he told us he had a tummy ache. His belly was so big it popped out of his jammies.

He got a balloon, a dump truck and a few books. Bike to come next week as a gift from BB and BaBa. He's going to go ape-shit (Julian, not BaBa.)

Always the ham.



We have a house guest- the daughter of my sister's best friend from CT. It's been super fun to have her here and she even made scratch spelt challah for us on shabbat along with chicken and green beans. Now that is a good guest.



My only new news is that this afternoon we go to Henry's birthday party and then start interviewing new day care providers as our fabulous, perfect, bilingual in home day care we've had J in for 4 months is closing. I'm super bummed about this...but should have seen it coming.

Here are some fresh photos.

Rachel and Julian mapping a route.


Birthday book- trucks and diggers, of course.


Smoothie.


My bad.


Came home from work to this cuteness this week.


The last popsicle of summer.


This photo reminds me of a bar in a Western gettin' ready to draw.

Reptile Man.

So I'm finally recovered from vacation. Got home to a week of exhaustion that I haven't felt since before I had my surgery. From now on, no vacation. What? You heard me, no vacation. Anyone that loves me can come here and I'm happy to pitch in for plane, train and bus tickets. I'm happy to take a week off. But if y'all want to see the Julian it's either here or Jon's going alone- until Julian is 3.

This weekend our adoption agency had their annual "reunion" the name of which is a bit confusing to me as I don't know anyone but the staff. Nevertheless we loaded up the car and drove to east crack of nowhere to a suburban play park just in time to see the hired entertainment. "Reptile man" unloaded his crates of snakes, snapping turtles, lizards etc. Oh joy. Julian had had enough within about 8 minutes. And tell me, really, wouldn't you expect "reptile man" to be a guy with scales tattooed all over his body, a slit in his tongue and some weird creepy contact lenses? Reptile keeper maybe. Reptile man? I think not.

Then home for a nap and straight to a bbq when J got up. One woman was talking about her 3 year old daughter sitting in the tub scooched up to the faucet. When the mom went to turn the water off the girl said "NO mommy, I'm washing my vagina!" At which point another mom pops out with "Wow, I didn't figure that out until I was 30!" I'm still cracking up.

Julian is recovering from another upper respiratory tract infection and a bout of asthma. Another round of steroids and his nebulizer every 4-6 hours. He is such a trooper. (BTW just looked it up and apparently you can use trooper or trouper. Who knew?!) Anyway...he's feeling much better now. The roughest part is that the meds turn him into a frantic ranting raving running jumping spinning twirling lunatic. Getting him down is virtually impossible until he just collapses. I imagine it is like when you have that one last shot of espresso even though you know you shouldn't and they 'oops' make it a quadruple.



It doesn't keep him from wanting to snuggle with mama during milk time though, thank goodness.





Here are a few shots Sharon took at the mountain last week. She calls the first one "Sleeping Boy with Brocolli."







xo
-s

Vacation?

We spent the last week on "vacation." I put the word in quotes because truth be told it is 1000 times more tiring to chase a 2 year old all day than it is to go to work then come home and chase a 2 year old for the evening only. Yet another round of props for all of you SAHM&Ds.

Sharon and Jeff, or Ya-ohn, and Depfss as they became known over the week, flew up from SF to go to the Mountain House with us. It allowed Julian to get to know his aunt and uncle much better and let me tell you, the kid was in LOVE. He would wander around shouting "Depfss, Depfss!!" any time Jeff was not within 10 feet of him. We had a lovely time.

Sharon taking Julian to see the cows.


Jeff putting on Jules' shoes.


Hugs for Auntie.


"Cheers." Anananana smoothie.


Ooh, stainless.




I picked up a plastic slide for the yard yesterday (finally a decent Craig's List experience again) and Julian was sooooo psyched. The slide part is pretty small but he doesn't seem to care.

I have an old friend on the way over so I'm going to keep this post short too. Sorry no ROFL stories to share.





This was a yell of excitement.


Woo hoo, my slide!!


xo
-s

We have rice!!

Things are going smoothly here, if you don't count the fact that I drove my car into a parked truck (people are fine and the truck is fine but both doors on the passenger side need to be replaced.) I told Jon how the truck was parked all the way to the street instead of only up to the curb cut and he nodded and said "so you decided to drive into it?" Nice. Really it was so far into the street I didn't want to drive into the opposing lane as I turned around it so I cut it too close. And yes, I still shouldn't have driven into the truck. And yes, I am aware that I am not a good driver. As if that's not enough car trouble Jon's car has been overheating...the head gasket needs to be replaced. Oh, and when we brought it in we also found out the front brakes only have 15% left so we have to redo the brakes too. We actually are going to have to rent a car to drive while they're in the shop.

Julian is coughing again and I am just praying it is not from the rice we introduced into his diet. In the past he has gotten a bad rash on his face from rice, but never a cough. We are going to be SO psyched if he can have rice. His daycare provided did a happy dance when she heard we'd be trying to introduce it. If he continues to do ok we'll try corn again, and maybe wheat. Our fingers are crossed! Please send some good vibes his way.

I can't believe how Julian's language skills are just exploding. 4 word sentences are common now and he is getting much better at articulating his needs. We're working with him on using his words when he's mad instead of, oh, bitch slapping me across the face...but that seems to be a work in progress. Our friend Evan introduced us to the book Hands Are Not For Hitting. I'll let you know how that is going in a few weeks.

Jon and I are trying to squeeze in as much of the Games as we can after Jules goes to bed. We have still managed to not turn the TV on in front of him. I've been tempted to cave as in the future we plan to allow sports watching but we're hoping to wait until he's 3. We'll keep you posted on that too. And re: the games... What the hell is up with beach volleyball? Regulation bikinis? Come on. And those Chinese gymnasts? If they ARE 16, they are on some very very scary drugs.

On that note, I'm off to try to squeeze in an hour or so tonight so here are a few photos for the record and I'm out.

This was my shirt when I was little. It was 102 degrees so I figured a tank top was in order.




Here is Miss Good Sport Kitty.


xo
-s

Armpit.

Last weekend we had a small group of friends over for a BBQ. Here are a few snaps.




I love this one with Julian and our friend Owen. I have never, ever seen Julian take to a veritable stranger like that. It was so very sweet.


We all just got back from an overnight at the Mountain House for Rob's annual Lobster and Champagne birthday bash. There was a huge crowd (yes, I'm ok) and we hung out all afternoon and evening then spent the night in a nearby hotel. Julian was so spun out from a shorter than usual nap and so many people that we couldn't get him settled down until after 9pm. He was sobbing "home, home" which made my heart sad but I have to admit that I was impressed with the abstract thought.




He woke up in a fabulous mood and proceeded to eat his breakfast (3 eggs with spinach) part of my breakfast (oatmeal) and another egg from Jon's plate. We stopped back by the party on the way home and one of the dads said "he ate 4 eggs?" Yes, I answered. "With the yolks?" Um, yes. I thought that was so odd. Who would feed their kid egg whites without the yolks?


Julian is starting to engage in pretend play and that is changing the face of all of our games. He will stand at his new kitchen and make us eggs, or soup or what not. We'll pretend there is a frog under the pillow and that I am a digger and he is the dirt. It's fun.

As Julian gets more and more words (we can't even come close to counting anymore) we are finding some areas that need some working out. Daddy doesn't drink beard, he drinks beer. The peach doesn't have an armpit, just a plain pit, etc etc. Endless hours of entertainment to be had over here, let me tell ya.

Dang thee Pookie M......

I have been fortunate enough to have good experiences with Craig's List thus far. Well, that ended this weekend. As a firm believer in the "jinx" I think it is because I was reading a post on Michelle Smile's blog about what a crappy experience she had buying a dresser on Craig's List and I thought to myself, 'Wow, I've only had pretty good experiences.' Ha!

Jon & I have had our eye on this particular kids chair for the dining table (the Stokke Tripp Trapp for those who know it) and I was sooo excited to see it listed on Craig's List not only for half the price of a new one, but in our first choice of cherry finish. I emailed and asked the woman (Pookie) if she'd hold it because I didn't want to drive out that far if she had already sold it because my son had strep and wasn't feeling well. She emailed back that I could come and get it right then, but I couldn't actually download that email so I called the number she posted. No problem she said, no need to come that night, she'd hold it until I got there, even to the following day if necessary, she just doesn't prefer to hold things because she worries people won't show up. Oh and just bring cash as people always bring checks and she only takes cash. I told her I'd be there in the morning. I was so happy I even did a wiggle dance.

So it's the morning after a very bad night's sleep for me, Julian is fussy and still sick. I get in the car, drive 20 min to her giant cookie cutter house, walk up and introduce myself. She says "I'm sorry." Note there was not a drop of emotion in this statement. I was very confused. "Excuse me?" I query. And she says "I didn't know if you were coming, I sold it to someone who got here earlier."

WHAT?

"They got here at 8:30, and they bought the expensive stroller."

SO?

I was shocked. After mumbling something about that not being in integrity & that I told her my baby was sick and it was a very long drive for me, I held back my tears and got back in my car to drive home. Now anyone who knows me knows that I don't really care that much about the chair, I can buy the thing new. But I have this defective mind that thinks that things should be fair, and when things aren't fair I get upset. Yes, I know this is idealistic and I know it has caused, causes, and will continue to cause me a great deal of difficulty in life, but I just can't help it.

Anyway, I spent the next 4 hours after arriving home ruminating about all the things I should have said. Perhaps some day Pookie will google her name and find this post. So Pookie, if you are reading this, I hope that you feel badly for being so lame.

Here is what I wish I had said...

What the !%^* is wrong with you? You just did the very thing to me that you didn't want someone to do to you. Have you noticed that your kids are right here in the driveway? Is this really what you want to teach them? To make a commitment then bail just because you feel like it? How would you like it if someone did this to you? You. Suck.

Dang thee Pookie M.....!

Goings on.

Brief report on what's goin' on around here.

1. Julian is starting to talk up a storm. Stringing 3 words together is commonplace. The first time he did it in front of me he said "outside man beard." Too long to explain but trust me, it made perfect sense.

2. We went to the first of 2 summer picnics in town for families that have adopted from Guatemala. The shots from the picnic weren't very good but this is what happened the moment Julian and I got in the car. Or I should say the moment that Jon and I swapped cars and I got in with Julian because I got mine stuck in a freaking ditch?


3. I had a horrible mom moment yesterday. We were all outside and I was sweeping the deck. Julian reached out for my hand to go down the stairs (he wanted me to go with him, he wasn't asking for help.) But then he turned around and fell down the last 3 steps to land on a paver. Nice. Real nice. And no, I won't post a photo of the (minor) damage.

4. Jon's folks wanted to get some posed photos with Julian when they were visiting. There may be 22 month olds that want to sit and pose for a photo but mine isn't one of them. I think the candids are sooo much nicer anyway. How sweet is this?


5. It is my humble opinion that in one's own home it is acceptable to pass gas if necessary. The other day I did so and Julian pinched his nose and said "P.U.!" He then looked at me and to add insult to injury signed "eggs." Nice. At least he does the same thing when he lays one himself. "P.U.!"


6. It's been hot hot hot. Lots of time naked in our (private) back yard. Julian that is. We don't go naked. Or at least I don't. Can't vouch for Jon when I'm not here.



This photo is amazing when it is larger. The sun hitting the water from the sprinkler.


7. I saw this beautiful handmade wood and metal xylophone the other day at the Waldorf store. The sound was absolutely amazing. Hand made in Germany. $80. Seriously.

Hey, maybe the flip side of this gasoline conundrum will be that petroleum based plastics will end up getting so expensive that it will increase the demand for quality wooden toys and they will become more affordable?! This xylophone was a gift to Julian when I was laid up after my surgery. He loves it. But I bet he would have loved the wooden one more.



8. Art shot of Elwynn. Jon took it. I think the colors and the composition are pretty cool. Not sure if it will read on the blog though.


Ta.