Don't mess with 'H'

Now on the other side of 16 months, there are a few things Harmon does not care much for. He used to hate when I called him 'Nator, he doesn't like waiting for his food, and you take your life, and your eardrums, in your hands when you pick him up to get him ready for bed. Even early on, he showed his dislike for losing to Ohio State (get used to it, kid). But, now that he is mostly walking and can get to us easier, he is taking a more hands-on approach to his most recent dislike. He does not like it much when Aimee and I hug. I am not sure if he is being protective of his Mama, because he thinks I might be hurting her, or that he just wants to be the one to say when it is time to dole out hugs. Whatever it is, he will physically try and pry us apart when we hug. Someday he will understand if it wasn't for hugs, he may not be here.

16 months old

Harmon is 16 months old today and is just rolling right along. He's walking, although not on a full-time basis. I assume one day he's just going to start running all over the place.

One of our favorite new things is when he stands at his bedroom door and says "read, read." He loves for us to sit with him and read, so much that we have to keep adding to his library. We read with him before bed and before naps and at other random times throughout the day and he loves it. Hopefully, this is a sign of good things to come.

Over the weekend, we made the trek to Pottery Barn Kids at the fancypants Somerset Mall. We saw the toddler chairs on-line and wanted to see how Harmon reacted to one of them before we made the purchase. So, we took him out of his stroller and put him in the chair and he loved it! He also loved several other very expensive Pottery Barn Kids' items (yikes) but we decided on just the chair. After we got home and had dinner, we put the chair together and he crawled right into it. We had it in the living room on our area rug with the back to the hardwood floor – which was a bad decision. While sitting in the chair, he kept throwing his head back until the whole thing flipped backward. Of course, he bumped his little head on the floor and was crying so we had to collect him and console him. I know you're not supposed to laugh at your kids but, once we realized he was OK, Kevin and I looked at each and TOTALLY DIED! I don't know if it was the look on his face as the chair was falling backward or that all you could see from our angle was two feet in the air or the fact that he still was in a perfect sitting position when I picked him up to hug him but it was hilarious!

We thought maybe he might be a little averse to the chair after the incident but it doesn't seem to have registered with him. Today, before I came to work, he sat in it and I sat alongside him and we watch Blue Clues together. Kevin then called me in the afternoon and said he was sitting in it watching the Wonder Pets too. So, he must like it and I'm glad because it's part of his Easter present!

Here and there

Well, it looks like we made a good decision in switching Harmon's day care. We got a call last night from one of the teachers from KidZone saying they officially are closing. Kevin and I both breathed a sigh of relief from our end but also felt really bad for the great teachers who now are looking for new jobs. Sad!

Our last few days have been pretty uneventful. Kevin's Dad left to go back to Peoria Friday morning. He was here working hard on our basement for a week. The transformation is amazing! On Friday night, we went to Pizza House for dinner (for the first time since New Year's Eve). Harmon was perfectly behaved but completely uninterested in dining with me and Kevin. He was WAY more interested in the waitress, the hostess, the people at all the tables around us, etc. Good times!

On Saturday, I had a 9 a.m. dentist appointment (no cavities, woo hoo), followed by a 10:30 a.m. hair appointment for Kevin and finally a hair appointment for me at noon – all in Waterford near my parents' house. It was a very busy morning. After all the appointments, we dropped Harmon off with my parents – where he proudly displayed his new walking skeels – and went to see Zodiac, which was a great movie. Speaking of Zodiac, I thought about reading the book so I looked up some reviews on on amazon.com and many reviewers were saying it was the scariest book they've ever read … so I don't think I'll be reading it. Kevin thinks I'm annoying NOW about being left alone; imagine life after reading that book!

ANYWAY, while we were at the movies, Harmon developed a bit of a fever. He had a bit of a cold, which we're more than used to with day care as a part of his life, but had some new things going on too. He had really goopy eyes and a slowly-disappearing hives/rash thingy. I had called about the hives/rash the previous Friday and spoke with the nurse who assured me he wasn't going to die of scarlet fever but then he developed the eye thing and I felt bad for not taking him in. SO, the rest of the weekend was spent making sure he was happy and comfortable.

Of course, directly following Harmon's cold is some kind of ailment for Mommy. Again, it started with a sore throat last Thursday and then, on Saturday, I began losing my voice. Saturday night and Sunday night were awful as every time I would TRY to lie down, I would start coughing violently so I got almost no sleep – so damn frustrating. Because I was a zombie, I called in sick on Monday and Kevin and I took Harmon to the doctor's office Monday afternoon. Turns out he had a bit of an eye infection so she prescribed him some drops and, after taking a look in his ears, she saw some fluid. She said there was no ear infection YET but it probably was on the way (thus the fever) so she prescribed us some more antibiotics. As for the hives/rash issue, apparently Harmon is allergic to fish, as this was the only thing he ate recently that was out of the ordinary. So, no eggs or fish for him for a while. I'm actually glad about the fish – I hate fish!

Not much else is new. Harmon continues to walk just enough to tease us and then goes back to crawling. I'm sure he's just going to take off and run one day and then we'll be in for it!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

This morning, Kevin and I dropped Harmon off at his new day care center, Annie's Children's Center in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown District. It was hard but not quite as hard as it was his very first day in February 2006. We took him into the room where the toddlers were, put him down and he crawled over and got all involved in what the other kids were doing. We waved and told him goodbye and he was fine. I wasn't though as I cried when we left. It just feels weird getting used to new people taking care of the most important person in your life. I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly but the first couple of weeks will be hard. To console me, Kevin drove to Starbucks. When all else fails, a Venti Lite Mocha Frappuccino makes you feel a little better! I called Annie's at lunch and spoke with Harmon's new teacher, Abby, and she said he was having a great first day. He ate well during snack time and at lunch and he was playing well with the other toddlers. The only glitch in the day was some fussiness at nap time, probably because he was overtired. Abby did tell me that they have one toddler who is very touchy-feely and likes to hug everyone. Evidently, he was trying to hug Harmon, who was not having any of it. She said he was getting a little frustrated by this, which doesn't surprise me. He hugs when he wants to and, if he doesn't want to, he squirms and contorts his body until he can get away from the hugger! Anyway, I pick him up around 5:45 p.m. so we'll see how the afternoon went.

As for our old day care, when Kevin was there Tuesday for Harmon's last day, there still was no clear plan for them. It's a shame because it was a great place with great teachers. But, they've known about getting kicked out of the church since last April so it never should have come down to the wire like this. Hopefully, for the sake of the teachers and the kids who are left, they'll be able to pull something together.

A little Betsie has arrived!

Early this morning, my best friend in the whole world, Betsie (Simon) Feldman, gave birth to her first child, a tiny little daughter named Julia Charlotte Feldman. She was born at 1:16 a.m., weighing in at 6 pounds and 10 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. She’s a little one and she was a week late. Imagine how small she would have been if she was on time!

I met Betsie our freshman year at the University of Michigan. We were paired together as roommates in the desolate North Campus dorm of Bursley Hall but we managed to have a good time. And, for the next two of three years, I would live with her again – first in our house on State Street and then in our apartment on Hill Street – and continue to have a good time. There’s not much we haven’t been through together in over 15 years of friendship and I’m so excited to see how she’ll handle this next step in her life. Ever since I’ve known Betsie, she’s always taken care of everyone so I know little Julia is in great hands!

Congratulations to Betsie and Paul and I can’t wait to meet Julia!

OK, some photos of us over the years!

Here we are at graduation in the "Big House" in April 1995:

And together again at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1998. This is when Michigan won the national championship and probably the last time we won a big game, let alone a Rose Bowl! Good times!

Home Improvement!

When we moved into our first house during the summer of 2005, one of the things that was attractive to us was the mostly unfinished basement. It does have a full bedroom down there, but the rest is pretty wide open. Right away, we imagined a carpeted family room with lots of room for a nice, fluffy couch and big TV for watching football ... I mean educational programs with Harmon. Well, work is now underway on this space. My Dad came up from Illinois for the week and has been working almost non-stop (with me for four of those days) to make our dream a reality. He makes Bob Villa look slow. The walls are up (this is a view from the bottom of the stairs into the back of the room), the wiring is in place and the insulation is placed. The room is so huge and will be great space for our family. Aimee jokes that it is my "man-cave," that one room all men have in their homes where they can go and drink beer and watch sports. Well, I don't drink beer and Aimee likes sports, too, so everyone is invited.

Let's Go Krogering

Almost every Monday afternoon, Kevin volunteers to do some of the grocery shopping so he packs up Harmon and they head to the local Kroger. In addition to these Monday trips, Kevin usually has to go at least one other time during the week to replenish Isabel's food. Although he doesn't mind doing it, he claims he sometimes feels like he lives at Kroger.

When I got home this past Monday and was talking with Harmon about his day, I asked him all about his trip to Kroger with Daddy. Since he's so good at repeating, I asked him to say "Kroger" and he did - just as plain as could be. Kevin heard it and came running in and he repeated it for him too.

I guess he likes going Krogering with his Daddy!

Also, another new trick, as reported by my Mom today. Apparently, he likes to push up the center couch cushion and then crawl up underneath it. He's been crawling up into the blanket basket for a few days but now he's taking it to a whole new levo!

Check-ups, baby steps, hair cuts, etc.

Harmon had his 15-month check-up Friday morning and it was uneventful. Usually, Kevin and I are full of questions but Harmon has been to the doctor’s office a bit more than usual lately with the bronchiolitis followed by the ear infection so most of our questions have been answered. Harmon checked in at 28.4 pounds (91st percentile) and 34 inches long (99th percentile). Needless to say, he’s still a big boy. He did have to get two shots but the good news is that he is done now until school starts. We didn’t do the blood test this time to see how the iron supplement is working so we’ll do it at his 18-month appointment on May 11. We talked a lot with the doctor about the whole walking thing and, thankfully, there was some progress to report. Last Sunday night (Feb. 11), Harmon took a few steps between me and Kevin and then, on Wednesday night (Feb. 14) when my Mom was watching him, he took four or five steps from her to me. He’s also finally taken a liking to his push toy, which is helping a lot. He’s all over the house with it now. So, overall, things are going well and we’re so thankful.

After Harmon’s doctor’s appointment, we ran some errands. He’s been wet a few mornings recently so I finally figured out that he needed the next size up in diapers. So, we bought some size five Pampers Cruisers. We also had to get him a lunchbox and some shoes for his new day care. I still need to get him a couple of back-up outfits so it’s on my list to stop by Once Upon A Child.

Because Harmon’s hair grows like weeds, we drove up to the Carnival Cuts at Twelve Oaks Mall again on Saturday. This is his third haircut but I think the best one yet. The stylist really sheared him in the back but it looks SO cute. Unfortunately, it makes him look like such a big boy.

Not sure what today holds. We were hoping to get Harmon out in the snow for the first time this winter but the forecasted high is only 20 so I’m not sure that will happen. It looks like 30s the rest of the week so maybe we can get to it sometime in the next few days.

A minor miracle happened today – Michigan beat Indiana in basketball for the first time in the Tommy Amatuer, I mean Amaker (or should I say, Coach Radio) era. To be more specific, we ended an 11-game losing streak against the Hoosiers. At this point in the season, I was just hoping we would continue to lose instead of winning a game here and there and getting our hopes up. Because, down the stretch, we’ll blow it like we always do and miss the NCAA tournament AGAIN. You know, it’s not even worth me blogging about.

On a much better sports note, Spring Training for Tigers’ pitchers and catchers started on Friday. The first day featured A LOT of pitchers fielding practice, which is no surprise! The rest of the team will be ready to go in Lakeland on Tuesday, Feb. 20. The first true exhibition game is Wednesday, Feb. 28 (against the Mets) and Opening Day (against the Blue Jays) in Detroit is Monday, April 2. Gotta’ love baseball! Go Tigers!

OK, one last thing. Here’s our Valentine from Harmon for Valentine’s Day 2007. Love those little handprints!

He loves his blanky

My Mom called me at work yesterday to tell me a cute Harmon story.

While she was watching him, he starting playing with this basket of blankets we keep in the living room. He often puts his little Roll-a-Around balls in there but he appeared to be doing something different so she went over to check it out.

He pulled off the top blanket, which was a U-M blanket, and then pulled off the next blanket, which is a Cardinals-Tigers combo blanket. Each time, my Mom thought he was reaching for that particular blanket. But, he really was trying to get to one of his baby blankets, this one with one yellow side and one green side. He used to sleep on this blanket on the floor for HOURS when he was just a few months old.

So, she pulled the blanket out for him and placed in on the floor. He promptly crawled right over to it, sprawled out and went to sleep. Is it possible he actually "remembers" this blanket? He never naps on the living room floor anymore but couldn't resist when she put the blanket down so it must have some meaning to him! I wish I could have seen this whole scene. It probably looked like this, only in a larger version (and minus the hat).

He is SO cute!

Will you be my valentine?

To all those who love me so much, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

As a small “thank you” for all you do for me, I got you all a little something sweet. It’s not chocolate. In fact, you can’t even eat it. You COULD drink it but you might just want to save it for a keepsake. If you DO want to drink it, go ahead because you still could save it for a keepsake.




Mommy and Daddy helped me choose this gift (using this photo) and do tags and bows for all my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I hope you all like it.

If any of you would like to make a gift like this, you can visit the Jones Soda web site. It’s fun!

Love, Harmon

Zoned out

Harmon attends KidZone Child Care Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He’s been there for a year now (with his first day being Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006). We visited five places before choosing KidZone in what was not a very fun process. It’s no surprise that it was hard for us first-time parents to find a place to leave Harmon (at only three months old) AND feel good about it but we quickly found that in KidZone.

When we chose KidZone, however, we didn’t know they would have to move at the end of February 2007. Currently, it is housed in Zion Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor but the church is going through renovations and re-claiming the space KidZone currently holds. For some time, the KidZone director has been trying to find a new location and, last week, after several other deals fell through, we all thought KidZone finally had a new home. We even received a letter on Tuesday giving the new address and asking parents for help with the move! Although the new location isn’t as convenient for us, we decided to make it work because Harmon really likes his friends and teachers and has done really well there. On Friday, however, Kevin received word from a friend of ours (whose daughter also attends KidZone) that the deal, once again, fell through. Evidently, KidZone made an offer on a property and the LOCAL sellers’ office approved it but the NATIONAL sellers’ office said “not so fast, my friend!”

This news was very unexpected and everyone now is in panic mode. KidZone is working up another offer and has received a 10-day extension from the church but no one knows what will happen. Several parents already have moved their kids because of all the uncertainty but there also are other parents, like us, who keep hoping things will work out. Friday’s news, however, lit a fire under us and we finally had to act on some casual calls we had been making to other day care centers over the past couple of weeks. Late Friday, we visited Annie’s Children’s Center, which was the first place we visited back when we first started this whole crappy process. In 2006, Annie’s part-time program required a minimum of three days of care and Harmon only needed two so it never worked out. The location was great – almost exactly between my office and Kevin’s office – the “tuition” was reasonable and we liked it a lot but, as I said, it just didn’t work out. This time around, though, you CAN schedule two days a week and there IS room for Harmon. So, Kevin and I have a big decision to make.

We could wait it out and, worst-case scenario, have KidZone close AND lose our spot at Annie’s. Best-case scenario, we could wait it out, have it work out and let Harmon stay with those he knows and loves. The other scenario is to pull Harmon out of KidZone and enroll him in Annie’s and hope and pray he adjusts OK. As an aside, if he cries when I leave him with perfect strangers – he knows now, he had no clue when he was three months’ old – I don’t know what I’ll do. ANYWAY, another thing to think about is pulling Harmon out of KidZone and then having the whole thing work out. We’ll feel terrible.

Whatever happens, we need to do what's best for Harmon and make sure he has good people to care for him two days a week so we're going to Annie's today to finalize everything. It sucks to go through this all over again but it is what it is and no amount of whining about it (on my part) is going to change the situation. Hopefully, we'll all adjust just fine - AGAIN!

Shredding

Kevin and I are a LITTLE behind with our shredding of receipts, documents, etc., so we need to have a midnight shredding session like Eddie Barzoon in The Devil's Advocate!

15 freakin’ month’s old

Harmon is 15 month’s old today. It gets old saying this OVER and OVER, but I still can’t believe it. He goes for his 15-month check-up on Friday so we’ll have all the official stats after that, along with any word from the doctor on when to start panicking about the whole walking thing. I told myself I wasn’t going to grip since the whole crawling thing worked out just fine after he waited forever to do it. But, as each day goes by, I find myself thinking about it a lot and hoping that everything is OK. He cruises a ton and will stand on his own so I know he can support himself. I think he’s just afraid – he HATES to fall down. I’m sure it will happen and then I’ll wonder just WHY I wanted it to happen but, until it does, I’ll worry – it’s what I do best.

The talking won’t stop, though, which is a very good thing. It’s time, however, for me and Kevin to start being REALLY careful about what we say around him. He repeats a lot, which is a little scary!

For his 15-month birthday and Valentine’s Day, we picked him up a few things over the weekend. He needed a new pair of gym shoes so we got these from Stride Rite. Damn, toddler shoes are expensive! We also are getting him ready for spring with his first denim jacket and his Easter outfit – shirt (in cactus) and, of course, sweater vest (in pudding).

BREAKING NEWS: As Kevin and I were getting Harmon ready for bed tonight, we spotted both of his upper, first molars poking through for teeth #15 and #16. The only teeth left to make an appearance are all four of his second molars. After that, he'll have his allotment of 20 baby teeth!

A not-so-good first

Over the last couple of weeks, Harmon’s favorite pastime has been playing with his ears. Since a fever never accompanied this playing, Kevin, the doctor and I all assumed it was just those upper molars coming in. Last Wednesday, however, while he was with my Mom, he developed a nasty little fever so we took him in to see the doctor. After taking a quick look, the doctor diagnosed him with his very first ear infection (in his left ear). I was bummed because he had made it almost 15 months without having one or having to take antibiotics but the doctor actually said that ear infections are common side effects of the bronchiolitis he recently had. Whatever the cause, he’s been on antibiotics since Wednesday night and has been alternating between Motrin and Tylenol and he seems to feel just fine. Other than a few hours in the early afternoon of last Wednesday, when my Mom said he was just not himself, he has been perfectly fine. We’re so thankful he’s still so good natured, laid back and well behaved even when he’s not feeling well at all.

OK, some funny things that happened while Harmon was “under the influence” of a mixture of Amoxicillin, Motrin and Tylenol:

1. In the waiting room, which was filled with only sick little BOYS (GD, where were all the girls? Wait, I know. Probably shopping since babyGap and Children’s Place contain 90 percent girl clothes), Harmon took a quick liking to a wall-mounted abacus that is in the waiting room (the beads look like balls – hence the attraction). Of course, as soon as Harmon started playing with it, another little boy – who was maybe four or five years old – had to come check it out. He (I think his name was Tyler) came over and started hogging it thinking Harmon would just move out of the way but he was sadly mistaken. Harmon stood strong, not giving up any ground, and continued to play until Tyler grew bored. All the while this is going on, Harmon was jabbering more than any of the other little boys in the waiting room even though he was much, much younger than they were. I looked at my Mom (who was nice enough to meet us at the doctor’s office so we didn’t have to leave work any earlier than was absolutely necessary) and said “why is my 14 ½ month old son the loudest of the bunch in the waiting room?” You would not have known he wasn’t feeling well if you would have seen him at that point – he would not shut up!

2. Once we got home, Harmon was being really silly, saying weird things and doing weird stuff. He also was tripping all over everything and falling down like a drunken sailor. I think maybe he was hopped up on some Motrin since the nurse gave him a dose more suitable for Andre the Giant than a 14 ½ month old!

3. Lastly, along the lines of doing silly things, Harmon finally discovered his football. He usually plays with every other ball BUT the football but, for some reason, he found it and could not get enough of throwing it. We thought it was ironic because Wednesday, Feb. 7 was National Signing Day. Maybe it’s a sign of things to come!

Bits and pieces

One year ago today, I returned to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave with baby Harmon. Those first few weeks were SO hard but I think, a year later, we've all adjusted well. When I came back to work, I came back 80 percent time. I still am doing that and it seems to be working for everyone so I hope to continue with this schedule indefinitely. I always thought it was ironic that I returned to work after the birth of my first child on my Mom's birthday. Maybe it provided a good reminder that I am a Mom first and an employee second – just like my Mom always was for me and my sisters. So, happy one-year-back-at-work-part-time to me and, more importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mom!

Speaking of my Mom's birthday, we all took her and my Dad out to dinner to P.F. Chang's on Saturday night. We tried to make it a surprise but that's damn near impossible with my Mom. It was fun anyway and my parents LOVED P.F. Chang's (my sisters and I were a little nervous). My Mom commented that she's never had that much shrimp in an entrée before so I can see return trips to P.F. Chang's in the future – YUM! We all had a great time and had some very chocolaty birthday cake (and I had 1,000 Diet Cokes). Harmon was a little angel, eating all HIS food and lots of ours and being a good sport as he was passed around the table to be played with and tickled. We were there for almost three hours and he was perfect the entire time.

On Sunday, we stayed home to watch the Super Bowl. Since we were home all day, I thought I would give Harmon a special treat and let him play with ALL his Roll-A-Round balls (usually, we give him four or five at a time – and they ALL end up under the couch)! He was confused at first but had a good time.

He seems to say a new word almost every day and here are some of the latest: Harmon, Isabel, Erin, happy, bippy (my Mom and sisters call his pacifier a "bippy" and we call it a "binky"). He'll pretty much repeat anything you say to him and it sounds pretty close.

Valentine's Day is fast approaching so Harmon needs to get to work on his gifts for everyone. Kevin and I aren't sure what we're getting each other (if anything) but we know one of these will be involved.

Kevin's Dad will be here soon to help get our little basement project going. Kevin spoke to him last night to try to get an idea on time and it looks like that visit might occur in the next week or two. Yeah, a basement room soon!

OK, did you see this? Is that even a "real" number? Of course, the next president will spend a large part of his (or her) administration cleaning this mess up (budget should be balanced by 2012 – yeah right – conveniently AFTER "W" is gone) before getting to his (or her) own agenda and then it will appear he (or she) got nothing done. UGH!

On a lighter note, one of my guilty-pleasure shows is "My Super Sweet 16" on MTV. If you like that show, you have to see this! Funny!

Is this one yours?

My Mom watched Harmon today on her usual Wednesday and called us at 5:30 p.m. to see if we wanted to meet her at Chuck E. Cheese’s. Of course we did, so we went there right from work. We all had a great time eating pizza and watching Harmon take his turn on all the rides. He even scored yet another ball at the end of the night! As we were waiting to purchase said ball, there were three little kids in line in front of us. One of the little boys starting groping the little girl and her Mom looked at us and said, “Is this one yours?” We looked at her like, yeah, sure, he’s ours and we thought we would just let him stand there, in plain view, and rough up your daughter! Finally, “this one’s” Mom came over to retrieve him and the little girl and her brother (who did nothing, by the way – nice brother) left. As we walked back to our table to pack up, Mom called the other Mom a “dingbat” and, of course, Harmon repeated it! I guess we REALLY need to start watching what we say and evidently controlling our out-of-control children in Chuck E. Cheese’s.

By the way, make the world a better place, punch Nick in the face!

Pancakes and proposals

Over the weekend, we gave Harmon pancakes. On Saturday, we woke up and thought pancakes sounded good so Kevin dusted off the griddle. He mixed some batter for himself and Harmon and did a separate mixture for me that contained chocolate chips (Kevin makes THE BEST chocolate chip pancakes). Anyway, as Kevin and I were eating, we thought we would give it another go with Harmon. He tried them back during the Christmas break and wasn't at all a fan. This time, though, he loved them! After eating some of his usual breakfast, he devoured four silver dollar pancakes. It was very cute.

Turns out Kevin really needed those pancakes as he spent most of Saturday moving a huge shelving unit from one wall of our basement to another. After taking care of our little water problem (it was a clogged ground water drainage pipe, by the way, and thanks to Mom and Uncle Dave for helping us out with it), it's again full-speed ahead on our basement project. Kevin's Dad is planning on visiting sometime next month to work on it with him. And, I've already completed the most important part of the project – I've picked out paint swatches!

On Sunday, we took another trip to our local IKEA store. This time, we were on the lookout for some table lamps for our bedroom. Kevin has asked about these 1,000,000 times but I've been holding off thinking we might actually get a bedroom set one day. But, seeing as how that's not going to happen for a long, long time (mostly because the basement takes priority right now), I gave in. We found some cool lamps that look nice and they didn't cost too much. Amazing how much thought we put into a set of $14.99 lamps!

Over the weekend, we also finished Harmon's week-long breathing treatments. It's a good thing too because it was getting old for all three of us. He pretty much is back to normal (and back to day care) but, then again, you never really can tell when he's sick anyway. Even though he was feeling better, I think we did detect a food allergy or food intolerance to eggs. On four different occasions, we've given him eggs (straight versus mixed in something else) and he's either rubbed his eyes raw or thrown up or both. So, we'll have to take a look at it with the doctor at his next appointment, which is Feb. 16.

No walking yet but he is cruising everywhere and all he wants to do is walk with you. Sometimes, he even does a spider monkey (see photo above) kind of walk up and down the hall and along the gate that surrounds Isabel's cage. Any day now! The doctor and I both think that he's concentrating more on talking than walking right now and that would explain the almost-one-new-word-a-day pace. He now says "car," "cookie," "cracker," "water," "caca," "poo poo," "pee, pee" and is working hard on "love you." Also, much to my delight, "mama" finally has returned to his vocabulary on a regular basis. I just love hearing it!

OK, now on to the BIG news of the weekend. My little, tiny, baby sister is getting married! Her boyfriend proposed on Friday and she called me (and the rest of the family) and thoroughly stunned us all. Although they've been together for a long time AND have talked about rings and weddings and what not, it still was a surprise. Maybe it's because she just turned 23 in October! But, they are thinking about a late fall wedding in 2008 so she'll be 25 by then. So, congrats to them! And, I can't wait to help with the wedding!

State of the Union

Since I can't stomach a State of the Union Address from someone who still hasn't mastered the English language, I tend to boycott the TV on nights like last night. However, Kevin was watching MSNBC's Keith Olbermann (see, old SportsCenter fans have followed Keith into the mainstream) tear apart, word for word, every other Bush State of the Union Address and forgot to change the channel when the lies, I mean the address, started. So, on my way to the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of the TV screen and saw the following:


While the Pinocchio in the foreground made me want to put my head under a tire, the sight to the audience's right was rather refreshing. It was so awesome to see Nancy Pelosi – a woman and a Democrat – sitting in the Speaker of the House spot. Maybe there is hope!

By the way, do we really need a State of the Union address at this point in the Bush Administration? I think it's pretty well known that we're all screwed (well, unless you're rich)!

OK, one last thing - these cartoons are good!

Talking in your sleep

We know Harmon is a crazy sleeper, if only from where he ends up in relation to where he went to sleep. But, he also talks and crawls in his sleep. On numerous occasions, he’s blurted out his favorite words in the wee hours. At 3 a.m., for example, we’ll hear “ball” or “dada” and think, damn, he’s awake, what the hell is going on. But, he ALWAYS goes back to sleep. I guess he must be dreaming about his Daddy or his beloved balls! This morning, I witnessed this first hand (as opposed to just hearing it through the monitor). I stayed home with him today as he's still not 100 percent and we slept in a bit together. I woke up before he did and watched him sleep and say "dadadadada" in the softest, quietest, little baby boy voice. It couldn't have been cuter! Well, I guess it could have if he would have said "mama!"

In addition to the sleep talking, we’ve also noticed some sleep crawling. Sometimes, like when he might be having a nightmare, we’ll check on him and he’ll crawl from where he is back to his original sleep location. He also does this when we’re napping with him in our bed. He’ll get up on all fours and crawl back to where he started the nap. This sleep talking and sleep crawling usually takes place when his eyes are completely closed so he’s not awake. Who knows what goes on in the minds of babies!

Damn day care germs

On Wednesday evening, Harmon started to cough a bit. He also coughed a lot overnight but we thought it was just another damn day care cold. When we arrived at day care to drop him off on Thursday morning, two of the teachers wanted to warn us about cases of bronchitis and pneumonia. Evidently, several kids were out due to this. When we got him home Thursday night, his cough had worsened and by Friday morning (after another rough night of sleep), it was bad enough for me to call the doctor. Almost every other time I’ve taken him in, they’ve looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears and told me it was just a cold. This time, though, I was glad I trusted my instincts and took him in because he quickly diagnosed with bronchiolitis. GD day care germs! So, while we were in the exam room, we did a breathing treatment and he got juiced up with some steroids. We also were sent home with a prescription for the steroid, prednisolone, which we are to give once a day for three days, and another prescription for albuterol, which we are to give him a minimum of four times per day through a nebulizer. Basically, he has to sit and inhale this misty medicine every four hours or so. So far, we’ve given him five of these breathing treatments and it’s gone OK. It sounds like the cough is moving up in his chest and he seems to be better during the day but the night coughing is the worst. After waking up four times last night, Kevin finally decided to have a slumber party with him and sleep outside in the living room. After this, he was able to sleep until 8:30 a.m. this morning and he had two really good, long naps today. And, as usual, he handles sickness so well. He’s his normal, playful self and he’s eating and drinking like a horse. We put him to bed for the night a little while ago so, cross your fingers.

Of course, while all this is happening, I have to feel like crap too. I’m not sure really what is going on with me. On Thursday night, I had the chills and an upset stomach. Yesterday, the chills were gone but they were replaced with full body aches. Today, what a surprise, I’ve developed a sore throat and a headache to go along with the body aches. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I feel so guilty about feeling sick because it puts such a burden on Kevin and I hate that. It’s just not my nature to sit around and let him do all the work. ANYWAY, here’s hoping Sunday will be a better day for Harmon and me. And, please dear Lord, don’t let Kevin get sick too. Yikes!