Oh Hi

Declan is going through an adorable phase of saying "Oh, hi!" all the time. We wake up in the morning to baby breath on our faces, Declan's eyes an inch away from ours - "OH HI MAMA DADA HI DADADA HI!"

We're moving into the new house on the 17th. Yay! I love fresh starts. And I hate this house. So it's win-win.

Work is good, but crazy. Working with a bunch of girls can get old. The speed of gossip in that place is amazing or disgusting, depending on which side of the gossip you're on. ESPECIALLY regarding pregnancy. We have six pregnant girls (out of about 30 total) and everyone is *obsessed* with figuring out who's next. I have been asked about twenty times in the last two days if I'm preggo.

Nope. Just too much Thanksgiving food, people. Leave me alone.

On a happier note, thing's I'm loving right now:

Raising Hope.

Christmas shopping.

Planning for the new house.

Plain White T's "Rhythm of Love".

The Boden and MiniBoden catalogs that arrived today.

Getting back to writing again (I was up til midnight last night, starting a new story. It felt wonderful!).

My Pandora station that I have customized so much that I'm thumbs-upping EVERY song.

Teaching Declan to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

Whole wheat chocolate chip waffles.

Oh yuck. Why is everyone in love with this stupid song that's on Glee? "Time of my Life?" Give me a break. I mean I love me some Glee, but this song is cheesy and overdone.

Way to ruin my happy list!

Better redeem yourselves with the next song, New Directions!

Baby's First Stomach Flu

We've been through a heck of a week here at the little white house. At the end of last week, Aaron came down with some weird tummy bug... but he's forever having tummy issues, so I kind of blew it off. I mean, I could name five things off the top of my head that Aaron ate that day that could have made him puke (a whole box of graham crackers, raw eggs, a half gallon of milk, questionable leftovers, outdated hot sauce... I could go on.)

But then, in the wee hours of Monday morning, I woke up to vomit on my shoulder, courtesy of Declan. Change the sheets, stay up with him for a while, back to sleep. He seemed fine, except some weird messy diapers here and there.

And THEN, Tuesday night, I woke up from an afternoon nap with Declan and felt super queasy - BAM. It hit me hard. I was head-in-the-toilet for hours. And Declan thought it was the funniest thing. He stood there beside me, laughing, pulling my hair, patting my back, trying to reach in and play with the potty water... hey, Mommy was playing in the potty, why couldn't he?

But we're through it, it's over, and I'm glad. I don't know how parents deal with any sickness longer than 24 hours. Of their own, I mean. Sick kids, they're a pain. You feel bad for them and cuddle them. Sick parents? They still have to do all the work! I had to boil raviolis and heat up veggies for Declan while gagging and heaving. I had to get him ready for bed, put him to sleep, brush his teeth... Before Declan, I would have just been curled up miserably on the bathroom floor all night.

On a happier note, we're all starting to get really excited for our trip to Austin! Aaron's dad has ever-so-generously offered to drive us to and from Kansas City, so we changed our flights - we're now arriving in Austin at 5:30 pm on Christmas Eve!!

Aaron's requirements for the trip are - watching football, sleeping in, The Salt Lick, playing with Daisy, and lots of cookies. My requirements are - spending lots of time with family and friends. Luckily, I think that all of these things are probable!

I have a very tired baby who only took one nap today, for less than an hour. Off to bed!

Eras

(Relatively) late night nostalgia.

My favorite eras of the past 2 years.

Christmastime, 2008 - Home from college, sleeping late, staying up later, talking to Aaron on the phone allll the time, seeing friends, basking in family.

Late summer, 2009 - I hated bedrest while I was on it, but now it sounds like a dream. Lounging at the pool, on Sue and Becky's couch, watching Dexter snuggled on the futon, feeling Declan squirm in my belly.

Late winter, Early spring 2010 - Getting into a fabulous routine, babysitting Beck, walking to the store, jamming to KGSR, nursing, watching the baby blossom

The past couple of months, 2010 - Even better schedule, steady job, a walking, babbling, clapping, laughing toddler! Cuddling up in bed at night after splashing in the bath.

Right now. A sleepy baby pointing to (read: poking) my eyes, nose, mouth, ears, as I write.

Small Things

- We're pretty much well again... finally. I had a tonsillitis flare-up for a few days, but they're back down to normal. Declan still pulls at his ears, but no more runny nose and we finished the antibiotics tonight. Friday we go back to the doctor to see if all of the fluid is gone from behind his eardrum.

- I am so excited that it hit 70 degrees today, November 9th! Like Texas all over again. But I heard that we're in for snow in the next couple of weeks, once this heat wave moves through. Darn.

- Work is crazy hectic, but I still like it. Every once in a while it hits me how valuable all of the adult interaction I get at work is to me. This time last year, I was basically a shut in. I would have killed to just casually chat with a group of friends for a few hours every day.

- Also at work, we have FIVE pregnant women. Well, one is the wife of a male employee, but he's having a baby, so that counts. They say births and deaths come in threes, so everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting for a sixth to make the announcement. It will NOT be me, but I'm excited to see who it is! (Although that rule of three thing hasn't held true at all from what I've seen.)

- The dad on Raising Hope (which is my pick for best new TV show this year) is really hot. The mom is very pretty. The son, eh. The dad? Yeeeeah.

- Tickets are booked for Christmas! Flying from Kansas City to Austin on December 24th, arriving at 8:45 pm. Austin to Kansas City on December 31st, leaving in the afternoon, I don't remember the time exactly.

-Now Declan is throwing a giant screaming fit because I won't let him have a SIXTH graham cracker. Jeez.

NOOOOO-vember

Not looking forward to winter. Hence the title. Also because Declan has learned to shake his head "no." He can't say it yet, thank goodness, but he's pretty clear about shaking his head.

Okay but the main purpose of this blog post is to sort out my feelings about house hunting. You know, when you're car shopping, there are obvious things everyone wants - the safest, nicest looking, best gas mileage, newest car for the lowest price. I'm sure I forgot something there, but you know what I mean.

Anyway with houses, everyone wants different things. Even Aaron and I, looking for a house for the same family with the same stuff, want different things.

So I decided that the best way to do this would be to make a list of the things that would be in/at our dream house (for right now, and for our budget, not our real Dream House) and then when looking at places, we just get as close as we can to this list.

Our dream house would actually be a ground floor apartment (to lessen heating / cooling bills).

It would have a little fenced area outside the back door, just a patio and a small grass area for Bruce to pee in.

Inside, it would have hardwood floors throughout (or at least in the main areas), modern appliances (including a dishwasher!), and quality countertops.

Central heat & air is a must.

It would have two bedrooms and one or one and a half baths.

It would have lots of big, nice windows that shut properly.

It would come with good blinds / curtains!

There would be good water pressure and no stains on the bathroom fixtures.

It would have modern, non-flourescent lighting.

It would accept big dogs, without a huge pet deposit.

Utilities (electricity, gas, water, sewage, garbage) would be pain by landlord.

We would have a one or two car garage, with room for some storage (out-of-season clothes, strollers, baby items to save).

Rent would be less than $800 / month.

Of course there's lots more that I would love to have, but then we start getting into the realm of wishful thinking. Aaron wants to go look at an apartment this week that's in a great location (just east of downtown, closer to my work, the elementary school, the park, Lindsey, etc.) and is 2 bed, 1 bath, but I highly doubt that it has a fenced area (that was probably wishful thinking, too) and it's probably carpeted and a little outdated - every apartment around here is.

Oh well, we'll keep searching! It's so much easier in a big city, there are *always* apartments available, all over the place. Here, it's like no one rents. No one at all. Except us.

Boo hoo.

Okay, see ya! Off to bed, finally.