Weekend Update
Dan Day seems to have been a success. The man himself is off having dinner with some friends in Skokie (I tried to pick something between us and the city that was close to the highway) and appears to have been happy with what he got out of the day. We didn't do all that much. I made him a tomato herb fritatta for breakfast and his favorite South Beach Meatloaf for lunch, cleaned the kitchen, and generally tried not to pawn the Doob off on him. He spent some nice time reading to Kaden, doing yard work, watching the Bears beat Detroit and working on the computer. We went to see "Little Miss Sunshine" which was funny and great. So, a good day, and I'm glad I got it in.
I was nervous though, because after Church I started getting contractions every 6 or 7 minutes. It lasted a couple hours, then stopped, and since then I've just had them every hour or two like usual. They weren't painful, just noticeable with lots of pressure. Phew.
Michigan Game
Oh, yeah. That's what victory feels like, baby. All the more satisfying after my friend from high school, who went to Notre Dame, sent this HORRIBLE email out on Friday all about the "history" of the rivalry. I swear, it was the most hateful, vitriolic piece of propaganda I've ever read. I guess he's a Republican, so he's not used to fact checking his sources, but I'd just like to say to him,
Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Of course, I didn't get to watch the game because my friend with the c-section (I have to start referring to her by something else. From now on, my friend who had the c-section will be known as "my friend with the really nice house.") had a birthday party for her kids. My dad invited Dan over to watch the game on the big screen at his house, and I said right out, "Daddy, Dan does not want to watch the Notre Dame game with you. Trust me. He wants to be alone so he can wallow in his own self-pity if we're doing badly." So Dan watched it alone at home while I took Doob to the party and...can I tell you?
HE BROKE HIS WATCH
because he was cheering so forcefully. Doob and I were laughing our asses off during the first quarter, which we all watched together, because Dedah kept leaping up and pumping his fists in the air and yelling "Yes! YES!" and "Go! Go! Yes!" like a man posessed. The first time he did it (which was in the first 4 minutes of the game when Burgess picked off a pass by ND's quarterback and ran it in for a touchdown) Doob just huddled on the stairs watching him. I was laughing, so I guess he clued in that it was a good thing, but I think he was fairly overwhelmed until Dan calmed down and said, "Did you see that Doob? We got a touchdown!" which he understands. After that he thought it was funny.
Well, apparently Dan turned it UP a notch when we left and started pounding his fists on the carpet and throwing his arms all around and lo and behold, he broke his watch.
*sigh* At any rate, a win is soooooo good. We really needed it.
The birthday party was fun. Doob had a blast. He loves going over to Anthony's house because Anthony has all the best toys. A hummer in the basement that you can drive around, a Thomas track with James and a water tank, a tool table with a drill that makes real drill sounds and spins around, a little baby-sized piano he can bang on, etc etc etc. It doesn't help that my friend with the really nice house has SUCH a nice, clean house that I've always felt too intimidated to invite her over here. Seriously. She could show this place. It's in one of the ritzy new developments in Vernon Hills and is decorated like something out of Better Homes and Gardens, and she keeps it SPOTLESS. There is grass all over my carpet right now from Dan doing yard work and spots of paint on my kitchen floor from Doob fingerpainting last Tuesday. It's not that I feel she'd be all, "Dude, your house is a sty," but she's the type who always apologizes about how messy their house is when you come over and it's like, Seriously? You could eat off her floor. I've never even seen so much as a dish in her sink and despite having two kids, there are never toys on the floor or clutter anywhere....
How did I get on this? The party was loads of fun for Kaden. She rented one of those big moonwalk bouncy things and had it set up in the backyard. Usually Kaden's too afraid, and at first he woudln't even go in. "No, Mommy, I can't go in the bouncy thing right now." But I said, "Hey, what about if Mommy puts her hand through over here and holds your hand, would that help?" And he's all "Okay!" *bounce bounce bounce bounce* "Whee!" And that was that.
The food was great, too. She's Italian, as in grandparents-off-the-boat-has-relatives-who-do-not-speak-any-English Italian, so of course she had three different kinds of meat, plus pasta, veggies, salad, bread, cheese, fried zucchini blossoms, procciuto, a big fruit plate, two different cakes, brownies, muffins and rice krispy treats. And the whole time she's all, "Did you eat? Did you have anything? Did you try the veal? Do you want to take anything home? Have some salad. Here's a plate of cake. Here's a big bag of food I put together for you to take home to Dan." I felt very at home because it's just like how my mom does a party. European hospitality. If you can walk out of there without feeling sick the hostess didn't do a very good job. ;P
Here's a picture of Kaden with some of the other kids at the party. Notice the blue and orange smiley face on the back of his head? That's cake. He's so darn tall that when he stood in front of the counter, he accidentally pressed his head into Anthony's Bob the Builder cake. And then he refused to turn around for the photo, so we have a nice shot of the icing in his hair. Pictured is (clockwise from far L): Marc Anthony, Kaden, Anthony, Antonia and Antonio. You think I'm kidding. I'm not. I told you this family was Italian!
Also on Saturday, we took Doob to the Buffalo Grove Fire Department's Open House. Oh, Lord. First of all, how cute is he in his little fireman's costume that I bought for Halloween?
This Open House was off the hook, I tell you. They let kids slide down the pole. You could sit in three different fire engines and an ambulance. They took apart a car with the jaws of life in a demonstration (which we missed) at 11 am. You could aim a fire hose into a pretend burning house and put out the flames. Here's Kaden doing that:
It was pretty darn cool. They also had a helicopter land and let all the kids run over and look inside and touch the controls and stuff, gave out free hot dogs, chili, popcorn and lemonade, and had a very touching bell-ringing/flag presentation ceremony around 1 pm. It was quite a day, I tell you.
And the whole day started for me at 8:15 am with a Mother's Breakfast my rosary group put together at a diner just up the road. It was awesome. We chatted about all sorts of mothery things from the rising c-section rate to disciplining our kids to the search for a Pastor at my parish. I don't know if I've commented yet how much more comfortable I feel with the rosary ladies than I do with the women in my MOPS group. I don't know if it's because MOPS is so big, and I really don't feel much bond with the women in my small group, or if it's because I get to see my rosary ladies actually BEING mothers whereas I only see my MOPS women as fellow females/professionals. But at any rate, I've decided not to do MOPS after this semester. I'm getting much more, spiritually and relationshipally, from my rosary group. Oh, and my omlette was damn good. Can I also say how I love orange juice? I don't care if it's a glass of sugar. It's TASTY.
And I'll leave you with my new favorite picture. Dan and Doob in matching outfits for game day, watching as the helicopter came down out of the sky.
I'm exhausted. Good night.
I was nervous though, because after Church I started getting contractions every 6 or 7 minutes. It lasted a couple hours, then stopped, and since then I've just had them every hour or two like usual. They weren't painful, just noticeable with lots of pressure. Phew.
Michigan Game
Oh, yeah. That's what victory feels like, baby. All the more satisfying after my friend from high school, who went to Notre Dame, sent this HORRIBLE email out on Friday all about the "history" of the rivalry. I swear, it was the most hateful, vitriolic piece of propaganda I've ever read. I guess he's a Republican, so he's not used to fact checking his sources, but I'd just like to say to him,
Ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Of course, I didn't get to watch the game because my friend with the c-section (I have to start referring to her by something else. From now on, my friend who had the c-section will be known as "my friend with the really nice house.") had a birthday party for her kids. My dad invited Dan over to watch the game on the big screen at his house, and I said right out, "Daddy, Dan does not want to watch the Notre Dame game with you. Trust me. He wants to be alone so he can wallow in his own self-pity if we're doing badly." So Dan watched it alone at home while I took Doob to the party and...can I tell you?
HE BROKE HIS WATCH
because he was cheering so forcefully. Doob and I were laughing our asses off during the first quarter, which we all watched together, because Dedah kept leaping up and pumping his fists in the air and yelling "Yes! YES!" and "Go! Go! Yes!" like a man posessed. The first time he did it (which was in the first 4 minutes of the game when Burgess picked off a pass by ND's quarterback and ran it in for a touchdown) Doob just huddled on the stairs watching him. I was laughing, so I guess he clued in that it was a good thing, but I think he was fairly overwhelmed until Dan calmed down and said, "Did you see that Doob? We got a touchdown!" which he understands. After that he thought it was funny.
Well, apparently Dan turned it UP a notch when we left and started pounding his fists on the carpet and throwing his arms all around and lo and behold, he broke his watch.
*sigh* At any rate, a win is soooooo good. We really needed it.
The birthday party was fun. Doob had a blast. He loves going over to Anthony's house because Anthony has all the best toys. A hummer in the basement that you can drive around, a Thomas track with James and a water tank, a tool table with a drill that makes real drill sounds and spins around, a little baby-sized piano he can bang on, etc etc etc. It doesn't help that my friend with the really nice house has SUCH a nice, clean house that I've always felt too intimidated to invite her over here. Seriously. She could show this place. It's in one of the ritzy new developments in Vernon Hills and is decorated like something out of Better Homes and Gardens, and she keeps it SPOTLESS. There is grass all over my carpet right now from Dan doing yard work and spots of paint on my kitchen floor from Doob fingerpainting last Tuesday. It's not that I feel she'd be all, "Dude, your house is a sty," but she's the type who always apologizes about how messy their house is when you come over and it's like, Seriously? You could eat off her floor. I've never even seen so much as a dish in her sink and despite having two kids, there are never toys on the floor or clutter anywhere....
How did I get on this? The party was loads of fun for Kaden. She rented one of those big moonwalk bouncy things and had it set up in the backyard. Usually Kaden's too afraid, and at first he woudln't even go in. "No, Mommy, I can't go in the bouncy thing right now." But I said, "Hey, what about if Mommy puts her hand through over here and holds your hand, would that help?" And he's all "Okay!" *bounce bounce bounce bounce* "Whee!" And that was that.
The food was great, too. She's Italian, as in grandparents-off-the-boat-has-relatives-who-do-not-speak-any-English Italian, so of course she had three different kinds of meat, plus pasta, veggies, salad, bread, cheese, fried zucchini blossoms, procciuto, a big fruit plate, two different cakes, brownies, muffins and rice krispy treats. And the whole time she's all, "Did you eat? Did you have anything? Did you try the veal? Do you want to take anything home? Have some salad. Here's a plate of cake. Here's a big bag of food I put together for you to take home to Dan." I felt very at home because it's just like how my mom does a party. European hospitality. If you can walk out of there without feeling sick the hostess didn't do a very good job. ;P
Here's a picture of Kaden with some of the other kids at the party. Notice the blue and orange smiley face on the back of his head? That's cake. He's so darn tall that when he stood in front of the counter, he accidentally pressed his head into Anthony's Bob the Builder cake. And then he refused to turn around for the photo, so we have a nice shot of the icing in his hair. Pictured is (clockwise from far L): Marc Anthony, Kaden, Anthony, Antonia and Antonio. You think I'm kidding. I'm not. I told you this family was Italian!
Also on Saturday, we took Doob to the Buffalo Grove Fire Department's Open House. Oh, Lord. First of all, how cute is he in his little fireman's costume that I bought for Halloween?
This Open House was off the hook, I tell you. They let kids slide down the pole. You could sit in three different fire engines and an ambulance. They took apart a car with the jaws of life in a demonstration (which we missed) at 11 am. You could aim a fire hose into a pretend burning house and put out the flames. Here's Kaden doing that:
It was pretty darn cool. They also had a helicopter land and let all the kids run over and look inside and touch the controls and stuff, gave out free hot dogs, chili, popcorn and lemonade, and had a very touching bell-ringing/flag presentation ceremony around 1 pm. It was quite a day, I tell you.
And the whole day started for me at 8:15 am with a Mother's Breakfast my rosary group put together at a diner just up the road. It was awesome. We chatted about all sorts of mothery things from the rising c-section rate to disciplining our kids to the search for a Pastor at my parish. I don't know if I've commented yet how much more comfortable I feel with the rosary ladies than I do with the women in my MOPS group. I don't know if it's because MOPS is so big, and I really don't feel much bond with the women in my small group, or if it's because I get to see my rosary ladies actually BEING mothers whereas I only see my MOPS women as fellow females/professionals. But at any rate, I've decided not to do MOPS after this semester. I'm getting much more, spiritually and relationshipally, from my rosary group. Oh, and my omlette was damn good. Can I also say how I love orange juice? I don't care if it's a glass of sugar. It's TASTY.
And I'll leave you with my new favorite picture. Dan and Doob in matching outfits for game day, watching as the helicopter came down out of the sky.
I'm exhausted. Good night.