2 kitties, thing, and I'm tagged.

Kerri tagged me. It's the Gratitude Tag.

Here are the rules: Name 10 things your are grateful for and then tag 5 people.
I am grateful for:

1. Getting Julian home before things started getting really gnarly with the adoption process in Guatemala.

2. My sweet, supportive, and overall fabulous husband. Even after almost 10 years I am still in awe that I ended up with him. Seriously, I lucked out big time.

3. My family and their sense of humor, and the gift of laughing until I cry (or pee) when I'm with them.

4. My friends. After a very sad and odd falling out with a friend this year I took the opportunity to assess what is important to me in a friendship. The end result is that I've reached out to put more energy into the relationships that are important to me, and I've let go some that simply weren't healthy. I'm very thankful this year for true friendship and the heart opening that comes with it.

5. My staff at ENHC. Thanks ladies, you rock.

6. Green tea shakes. Yummm...

7. The return to sanity. I was almost embarrassed to say I was American when I was in Guatemala because I disagreed so profoundly with my government's policies over the last 8 years. I'm beyond grateful that the tide is changing.

8. My health.

9. Books.

10. Blogging. What a great way to connect with other Guatemamas and a fun creative outlet to boot.

I'm tagging 4 friends- not 5, just 'cause.
Gwen
Artsweet
Ruthie
Jen

OK now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Julian had his first few day in undies last week. We went and picked some out together, talked about how big guys wear undies and go in the potty. He was so excited. Day 1 was great! One accident only, and it was the wet kind. :) Then day 2 Jon put him in his superhero undies instead of the boxer briefs. They were uncomfortable for Julian and he insisted on a diaper. When I woke up the first thing he said to me was "Mine no like undies." Sigh. We'll try again next week.




Julian loves being just like the kitty. And yes, we do pick and choose our battles at the dinner table.










Thing.


And check out the packed in board...


Doug and Rachel are here for Txgiving and we're putting the last flourishes on dinner so I'm off. More later!

Maya's Visit.

OK I don't have the wherewithal to figure out how to format this properly. Just wanted to share these photos of our visit with Maya today. How freaking cute is this? And how about those mad yoga skills? xo

FFF- Favorite Foto Friday

One of the Guate mom bloggers started this and I keep meaning to join in. So here I am. The theme for FFF this week is "Blowing Kisses." And yes I know it's Saturday but if I don't do it now I may never join in. :)



Yesterday Laura arrived for a visit. She really wanted to go for a walk but Julian would have none of it. So we decided to go hang in the back yard. But...about half an hour earlier we'd spotted through the bedroom window a beautiful bird that had clearly fallen prey to a neighborhood kitty. I told Laura she'd have to take care of the dead bird before we went out there. I am very very very squeamish about dead animals and I certainly did not need to get into that discussion with Julian. So Laura rallied and went out there with a bag and newspaper to handle it. About 3 minutes later she walked in with the victim- not, after all, a bird, but a purple pinwheel. Then Julian asked us if we could go for a walk...

Te amo.

Julian and Jon came home late tonight from a very busy afternoon...a haircut, music class, dinner at whole foods, and a long drive home. I had miraculously already arrived home from my late night at work. We sat on the floor of the kitchen and had soup together. Then brush teeth, stories, and bed. I'm reading Huevos Verdes Con Jamon (Julian picked the Spanish version tonight) and Julian starts 'crying' (read: pretending to cry) for O's and milk. Our 'no, it's time for bed' turned into a little bit of real crying. So I hugged him, gave his Papi a kiss, and asked Julian if he wanted a kiss goodnight before I left them for their night-night ritual. Julian nodded his head through the tears. I leaned over and kissed his cheek and said 'te amo' and Julian looks up at me with his sweet big brown eyes and says "damn!"

Here we go...

Tagged.

I was tagged by Ruthie. What does that mean, you may ask?

I'm supposed to list 7 weird things about myself and then tag 7 other blogger friends.
I don't think I have 7 blogger friends who I know well enough to tag, but I'll take a leap and say here you go Gwen and Kerri. :) I'd tag Michelle but she has a zillion blog friends and I'm going to take a leap and guess that she has been tagged already but isn't posting...Michelle?

And here I go.

1. I like to crack my knuckles in multiples of 5.

2. I can read and write upside down.

3. One of my favorite comfort foods is sour cream and bananas (now tofu sour cream and bananas.) I thank my sister for passing this on to me.

4. The sound or sight of someone biting into an apple or a popsicle makes me feel the same way I do when people run their fingernails down a chalk board. Icky shivers, anyone?

5. I was born without a right pectoralis major muscle.

6. It is impossible for me to read a book or watch a movie where someone is mocked, made a fool of or is humiliated. Oh, or if there is too much suspense. This means I walk out of movies (or turn them off at home) at least half the time. It drives Jon bonkers.

7. I like my food and tea so hot that it almost burns my mouth.

Wow. I'm weird.

Now here's a cute photo to reward you for sitting through that.

Halloween.

I told Jon this morning that I wanted to go to the grocery store. "Have you looked in the mirror?" was his response. OK so my hair was a little out of control, sue me.

Julian was a kangaroo for Halloween. Or, more like he was a kangaroo a few times before Halloween. On the actual eve we couldn't get him into the costume. Here is a photo from about 3 weeks ago.



The day after Halloween we had two events to attend. Reed and Finn's 1st birthday party, and a "Day of the Dead Children's Tea." Now, when we got the invitation I was befuddled. I had to read it 3 times. What she meant was 'Day of the Dead' Children's Tea, not Day of the Dead Children's Tea, thank god. Anyway, it was at our old daycare provider's home and it was so fun for Julian to get to see and play with his old friends. I am really hoping we can continue a relationship with them as they are just fantastic.



The birthday party was fun for all. Mindy and Ann had hypo-allergenic cupcakes that Julian could actually eat. The were delicious, and I was very impressed. So Julian is having a ball looking at the chickens, playing with the other kids, running around with his post-cupcake joie de vivre. I'm chatting and hanging out, and then suddenly Jon is handing me Julian's sopping wet high top converse sneakers. I look at him quizically. Apparently Jon and Julian as well as Michelle and Eli were playing soccer in the back yard. Did you know that fallen leaves are perfect cover for dog poop? At least Julian was not, like the little girl dressed as Clifford, playing barefoot. (!)





You will notice that Julian is in a cow/kitty costume. This took a great deal of wrangling, including our own face painting.





After all the parties were done I walked to the grocery store to pick up some juice. At the store was a very cute young hippie boy, mid twenties, maybe. He was the type I would have fallen for 20 years ago. He kept smiling at me in this kind of flirty way. I was feeling pretty good about my 40 year old saggy self when the guy in front of me in line said "Oh, you still have your Halloween make-up on too?!" Oh. Duh. The cute guy was smiling at me because I had a FREAKING CAT NOSE AND WHISKERS. Awesome.



xo

Different Things.

This morning I sat down on the couch and Julian was swallowing something. Since we don't allow food in the living room I said "What was that?" He replied "Mommy medicine." My heart skipped a beat, "Where did you get it?" "De-yah" (there) and he points to a brown smudge on the living room pillow. OK, at least he hadn't found a vitamin or an Advil or something. Jon had pointed this smudge and chunk of dirt stuck to the throw pillow the night before and we'd forgotten to clean it up. The cat had been sick so we were worried that it was, you know, not dirt but when we smelled it, it didn't smell so we figured it was dirt. I said "You ate dirt?" "No, Mommy medicine!" I brought it to Jon and made him taste it. Yes, I made him lick the pillow.

He laughed. It was chocolate. I have NO idea where Julian got the idea that chocolate is Mommy medicine, and even less of an idea about how a chunk of chocolate got on a pillow. I don't even really like chocolate that much. But we are clearly going to have to have a talk about what is and what is not, medicine. :)

It's been a busy few weeks.

I had breakfast with Tasha and Syd this weekend. Tasha is the wife of one of Jon's soccer buddies (a group of boys that used to play until 90% of them had major knee surgery, Jon included.) She is someone I always thought I'd enjoy as a friend, but we'd never gotten past the 'chat at the party' phase. The kids really enjoyed playing so perhaps if we can make it happen again I'll find out if I was right.







We started Julian at his new school. Today Jon is leaving him for 2 hours without us. I'm a wreck. Last night we filled out a VERY long questionnaire about Julian, his habits, interests etc for the teachers and admin. The first question was "How does your child behave when he is alone?" We laughed.

Here is Julian's last day at his great daycare.



My sister forwarded me this most amazing Obama video- it had me in tears. O.K. so anyone who knows me understands that it's no great feat to do that but this one is really touching. Check it out when you're done here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ky8Hvq-F0U

I was watching TV last night and Jon, as usual, came stumbling out of the bedroom after having fallen asleep putting the baby down. I had saved him some of the (fabulous if I do say so myself) Yucatan pork stew we had for dinner. Should I be grateful he didn't dirty an extra dish?
1. Notice the 'I fell asleep with the baby' hair.
2. No, he does not do this in front of Julian.





This is one of 2 toys he has that is crazy plastic-y and has batteries. This crowd rides on a tractor we got from Joan and Bill. It is his favorite toy, of course. "Ol Don-AL." Yes, the tractor plays Old Macdonald. Sigh...

Julian is starting to line stuff up. Right on target.



-S