Criminal Intent

I flew back to Bub-a-lello (Max's version) on Tuesday afternoon, and, as usual, we were running a little bit behind. I guess some things never change. As we were doing the hustle, trying to get everything in the bag on time, I guess we forgot to remember all of the new rules for flying.

When I got to the airport and walked through the security station I heard the man who gets to look at all of our stuff yell "bag check!" It was mine... :( So I sat there as the man opened my backpack and pulled out my hair gel stuff. It was bigger than three ounces. Crap. Oh well. He threw it away and ran it through the x-ray machine again. No go. I wondered what it was this time. Tooth paste. It was bigger than three ounces. Crap. Oh well. He threw it away and ran it through the x-ray machine again. No go. (Are you having deja-vu?) You've got to be kidding me!

At this point I start to get a little nervous, and it didn't help that the guy running the x-ray machine was eying me down like I was under the direction of Bin Laden! So the guy walks over to me and asks, "Do you have anything sharp in here?" I reply, "Maybe a pen or something." He keeps searching. "No, I'm looking for something else and I can't seem to find it." So I try to be as helpful as I can as to alleviate any suspicion that I am trying to sneak something past him. I grab the strap and say "There's another pocket right here." As I pull the strap around a RAZOR BLADE that I had put in my bag a few days earlier and completely forgotten about flies out of the pocket and lands on the table. CRAP!!!

The next thing that I knew I was standing naked in an interrogation room. Then I snapped out of my worst-case-scenario daydream and the guy said "I doubt you even knew about that! Let me run this bag through one more time and you can get on your way." I guess he could observe the fear in my eye. Luckily it passed, and I got to go on my way, but I couldn't help but wonder if that was a good thing or not? On one hand I was glad that I could go through, but on the other hand I was a little shocked. I mean, I just tried to go through security with a razor blade! Doesn't that at least warrant a few questions?

Anyway, let me just say that I will never pack my bags in a rush again! Lesson learned.

Wednesday--What day?!

I've always found it odd--not to mention a bit awkward--that the middle day of the week is referred to as Hump Day. As a student I always enjoyed Wednesdays, as it marked the approaching of such days as Friday and Saturday--the very reason the day is referred to as such, and while I am aware that the origin of this description is supposed to have more to do with the growth on a camel's back than other somewhat derogatory connotations, part of me knew there was more to Wednesdays than marking the middle of the work week. Now, thanks modern marvels such as the internet, forwards and You Tube, my hypothesis has been proven correct. God Bless America...and Wednesdays.

Bitter Sweet

Thing 2 is beginning to learn the concept: just because I can't see it, does not mean it doesn't exist. For Example, she will be sitting on my lap, though unable to see me, and feel the need to crane her neck backwards, make eye contact with me--she will literally stare at me until I look at her--beam, and then turn back around. She will do this over and over and over again just to make sure I haven't disappeared into thin air--because mom's do that, you know. We're good at making things vanish: owies, privileges, Peanut Butter M&M's...mmmmmm.

Anyhoo...

As I was putting her into the high chair for "safe keeping" whilst I ate breakfast, she kept peering up at me--neck craning--with THE MOST displeased expression a baby could ever make.

Didja just eat a lemon, Per? Sheesh.

All the more peculiar, she would only look at me for a moment before she put her head forward, as if merely making sure I was still there, and repeated the process over and over and over again, occasionally flashing a smile. After taking what should be an illelegal amount of pictures of her doing this, I realized, 'this is one of those things I'm gonna wish I had on film.' I reached for my camera:

Oops. I'm not exactly sure what caused the outburst--nor am I sure what my mother is talking about in the background, but I did realize that with my back turned to the vastly bright bay windows, when looking at me, she was also looking into the brilliant rays of sunshine; hence the sour grapes.

Livin' La Vida Loca on Tres de Mayo!!

In 2007, Cinco de Mayo was celebrated on the first Saturday in May. Apparently our upstairs neighbor is operating on a year-old calendar, because for some reason they had a fiesta (in honor of this great Mexican holiday) last night. Is it just me, or is that a little wierd? I mean if any holiday was meant to be celebrated on the actual day, wouldn't the title "CINCO DE MAYO" tip you off a little bit?

I guess I should have know that these guys were amatures when I heard the constant thud of a techno beat. I mean, come on! If you're going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo on Tres de Mayo, the least you could do is get a mariachi band! And for heaven's sake, even I know that you don't drink the Canadian LaBatt Blue cerveza on the 5th of May! Where were the Cobras! (Shout out to all my East LA homies!)

It was a little frustrating because part of the reason Abby and the kids went to Utah a week before me was so that I could have some peace and quiet to study for finals, and anyone that knows me well knows that I have a hard time studying or falling asleep to loud noise. Well, once I gave up on the studying, and I realized that I was never going to fall asleep with the boom...boom...boom...boom-boom-boom as my background music, I decided to run down to Walgreen's for some "sleep-aid." When I got home I pounded about half a bottle of NyQuil, and the next thing I knew it was morning. Thank you NyQuil. I love you.

I HATE GATEWAY COMPUTERS!!!!!

That's all. Just had to get that off my chest.

We Made It!

What does the most outgoing little buddy in all of the world do when he's imprisoned on an airplane with 2 hours remaining until landing?Introduce himself!

Pictured are Thing 1's new friends: cute "Blondie" from the family of 7 all traveling together (that's right, family of 7; for a moment I thought they were our Biggest Family on the Block friends, the Caspers, then I counted the kids and realized there was one boy too many...) and Vanessa, almost 2, traveling with her mother, Andrea going to Grandma and Grandpa while Dad completed his second year med school finals back in DC--one gets the pleasure of sharing stories with others during 2 hour layovers.

Once pure delerium was reached, Blondie and her older sister kept Vanessa entertained across the isle, while Max sat in Vanessa's seat and played with Andrea. Her stickers and crayons and movies were increasingly more enticing than his own stickers...and crayons...and movies. Thank goodness for Andrea. Airplane lavatories are simply too cozy for mom, infant, and toddler.

We are are here, we are settled and up two friends. Would I fly again with my children and no Jeff? Surprisingly, Yes I would.

Golly, What a Day

Thursday, April 2nd started out as any normal day, that is until Thing 1 didn't ask me to tie his princess skirt with his blankies (affectionately named yellow and blue) the minute we finished breakfast. In fact, he didn't ask me to tie his princess skirt at all that day. Rather, during his morning dose of cartoons, he became rather intrigued with the garb of the Backyardigan Cave People and wanted to spend the morning wearing an animal skin and a bone necklace, just like Uniqua. Perhaps 'twas a subconscious foreshadowing of events to happen later this day.Being the promoter of imagination that I am, I tied yellow as so, and found him an old string of beads to pose as his bone necklace. Feeling ever so manly, Thing 1 showed me his muscles.

Meanwhile, amidst all the cave person hallabuloo, Thing 2 was enjoying tummy time on her play mat...or so I thought..."Tadaah!"

Apparently, Thing 2 wanted to get in on all of the firsting action. She rolled from her tummy to her back! Trying to one-up her big bro, she didn't stop there. Reaching for her dangling toy, she actually grabbed it instead of her delightful little toes by mistake.
Still, the toes remain a very definitive step in the grabbing process, mind you.Once she got the hang of this, though, Thing 2 seemed content to just keep on hangin' on...and on...and on...She'll never let go, Jack. Doesn't she look so pleased with her accomplishment?
We are proud of you too, Princess P.

Later in the day we headed with friends for Things 1 and 2's first trip to the ZOO.

There, we had the ever so important argument on how to pronounce Elephant...(I'm not sure who gave in first, but I'm pretty sure they they agreed to disagree.)

...became entranced by Gorillas......so entranced, in fact, that we could not, for one second, peel our little eyes away from the beasts while banging our own gorilla-like chests for a photo-op.


We also got to sing to Mr. Crocodile...
Can't Catch Me!

Hold hands, and more hands...then fall down...and stay there.

We giggled on a camel saw... monkey bums????

and--Oh Look!A Big Horn!! That's why we come up here.

Thing 2 had a delightful first day at the zoo as well.She was particularly fascinated by the inside of her eyelids.

A day of firsts is definitely what we had, for it was also the first day we met our new landlords at 341 Parkside, as well as the first night Thing 2 decided it was also time to start waking up 3-5 times a night (hence the lag in our blogging). I believe we have since nipped that last first in the bud. For all of our sakes, let's hope.

Marketing 101

I walk by this house everyday, and apparently they are selling. I guess that since the market is so hot in Buffalo right now you don't need to get much exposure to sell your home. Just throw something together in Print Shop, tape it to the window, and wait next to the phone....hmmmm.


They must not have received many calls cause a few days later I found this...
I'm still trying to figure out what this sign means. Maybe they need a second mortgage or something...I can't seem to think of any other reasons why someone would buy something they already owned.

The worst part is that the sign appears to be professionally made. Oh well. At least it's in a nice area. Here is the neighbor's house:

And across the street:
And a few houses down to the corner:
I'm telling you...we live in the struggle. At least it's adding to our street-cred.

And I forgot to post this after we got back from our nice, warm, spring break trip to Utah.
I was so mad at the snow. I decided to protest by throwing it away! Not very efficient, I know, but at least I got my frustration out. It's just too bad that it melted before the garbage man came!

Katchup

We couldn't put it off any longer. Elder has officially become a New Yorker. Even though th plate looks much better than the orange Utah plate, I feel like such a sellout! Sorry, Elder.

Here are a couple pics of thing 2. She has decided that she no longer likes to sleep through the night (I knew it was too good to be true) and has been keeping us up a lot lately. This is partly to blame for the lack of posting. She is still such a sweetie though. Even though she is so extremely tired she smiles every time we make eye contact with her. She is a happy baby. I use to tell people that I didn't know if I'd ever be able to love another child as much as I loved Max, but thankfully there is an answer for that! The sweet child you fall in love with becomes a crazy person at precisely the same time you have another sweet child. I remember being so anxious for Max to grow up and do something besides nothing! That's probably why it took him a little longer than normal to start walking! This time around I am enjoying the immobile stage much much more. And for just that reason, Thing 2 will probably start walking next month!








Here are a few pics of Thing 1. The weather has been pretty nice, so it's been great to come out of our cave and see the sun!


We watched the movie August Rush the other night and thought it was great. It is so nice to watch movies that make you feel good when you're done watching them rather than "It was good, BUT." I thought the music was really interesting and the story was pretty decent too. I must admit that I am easily amused, but I guess if I were a harsh critic I'd say the story line seemed long in some places and extremely rushed and underdeveloped in other places. But it still had me involved, entertained and feeling good through most of the show. Look to the bottom of our playlist for August's Rhapsody and it will give you a sample of some of the great music in the show. If anyone knows of any other good movies like this, please recommend.

Oh, and 1 more thing. Abby is going to kill me for posting this, but if anyone is wondering where Max got his lazy eye...It wasn't me!

Let's Go Buffalo!!!

A little while back I posted this article written by Edward Glaeser who is an urban economist at Harvard. I guess a lot of people around here were a little upset with what he wrote, so he is coming to Buffalo this Friday from 2:00 until (I think) 4:00 to have a forum. I believe that he will be speaking about resurrecting Buffalo and will then have a Q&A that should be pretty good. I'm excited about this, but I realize that it doesn't have anything too do with teeth so many of my fellow soldiers might not want to go. However, if any of you would like to venture into the world of economics I would love to have some company. It costs 10 bucks (for students--30 otherwise) and I think that includes food. It should be pretty good. So if anyone wants to go, give me a call.

She Makes The Rockin World Go Round!

Perry's results from the official weigh in:

75th percentile in weight

75th percentile in head

and......................................

10th percentile in height!!!
She's officially a "Fat Bottomed Girl!"

Sorry that we've been slacking. More to come tomorrow...with pictures!

Might as Well Be a Four Letter Word

This evening as I was getting Max's shoes on to go spend our tax return (ya baby!) on a much needed double stroller, he asked me why we needed to get shoes on when we went bye bye. I told him that we put shoes on so we can protect our feet from germs and things that might hurt them (glass, nails, etc) that are laying on the ground. He thought about that answer and then said, "Why? Why do we need to protect them from that stuff?" I told him that germs and cuts on our feet can make us very very sick and that's not good. He paused to think about this answer and then said,"Why?" My heart sank. OH NO, I thought, What if we've entered the never-ending "why" questions nonsense? What will I do? I don't remember exactly what I said, but apparently I sufficed his curiosity because that was the end of that conversation.
We went about the rest of the night without another "why question" cycle and I was beginning to think I was in the clear. Oh, but no...
As I put Max down for bed he asked me if he could have quiet shoes in bed with him to sleep (Quiet shoes are my shoes that he is allowed to wear because they don't make too much noise on our wood floors). I told him no. He asked me why. I told him that shoes aren't for bedtime. He asked me why. I told him because they have germies on the bottoms of them. He asked me why. I tensed a little and then said,"Because we walk around outside and on dirty floors with our shoes on and that's where the germies come from." He asked me why, but it was more like, "But whhhyyyy?"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

After several more back and fourths, I defused the conversation. "I don't know, honey, you'll have to ask Heavenly Father because He knows everything."
"Oh," He said.
It worked! Yay!
"And Jesus?" he continued.
"Yup. And Jesus. Goodnight buddy."
"Goodnight Mommy," as I shut the door.

The Man Upstairs must be urging more patience upon me...or Max just really really wants to know about germies. If that is the case he is going to have to ask Gramma Mesha as she is the one who made up such words as coldy, all-gonny, and germies. It just leaves me asking with pleading eyes heavenward, "WHY?"

Take that Jenny

46 words

Speedtest

3 Times in 1 Day

Whew. I'm Beat! Just letting you all know that I posted three times tonight...four if you count this one. I had a lot on my mind, I guess.

ENJOY!!!

P.S. This is why I don't let Jeff post pictures of me online. They all look like this...or worse. (And yes. I edited the picture. It was a little too large and scary for me to keep looking at.)

R S T L N E

Yes. Eye am aware of my spellen error. En fact, der well be alot of dem tru-out des post. Allow me to explane. Several weeks ako a water bottle spelled--or leaked--en my purse. Amonk da waterlokked casualtees was my cell pone. Sence den, Eye av not been able to use my four key. Et semply well not work. Wat exactly does des mean, you ask? Well, my dear frends, et means any text messaje you receeve from me well read lyke des post as da four key olds da place of da 3 letters of da alpabet dat come after da letter F. Et also means dat ef your pone number as a four en et, Eye cannot call you unless you were prokrammed en my pone pryor to des unfortunate event. Woo knew dat dose 3 letters were used so often! Not me, but eye mess dem...very muc.

What's In a Name?

Every time I come across someone at the grocery store, or the doctor's office, or anywhere in public for that matter, the passer or passersby inevitably notice my darling little girl--sometimes they think she's a boy, but that is an entirely different issue--and they comment with delightful little baby talk at her. Perry, if she is awake, makes eye contact with them and coos in return, thus prompting further conversation. I slightly dread this for one reason and one reason only. These so-called friendly strangers always want to know her name. When the cursed question arises, I answer them the two or three times it takes them to hear and/or understand that her name is indeed Perry--not Carry, or Mary, or Terry. Then I watch their faces change from an admirational grin to pure confusion as they ask, "How do you spell that?" I tell them. Unamused, they reply with something like, "That's interesting," or, "Oh," or my personal favorite,"Hmmm..." The conversation awkwardly ends there and we continue on our separate ways dissatisfied with the encounter all together. It's starting to make me itch...

After several complaints of these incidents, Jeff decided to see what the public blogger world thought, just for kicks. We are pretty sure that the majority of the votes for Perry came from our families. As for actually changing her name? No decisions have been made as of yet. Thanks for your participation and we will let you know if anything changes!

Some Bunny Loves Me

In all of our lives we have incidents when we just cannot comprehend the rationality of such things. These things can be peoples' actions, new ideas, or even outrageous fads. We think,"Is that for real?" or "Did that really just happen?" These things become a part of our reality as we incorporate them into our lives (be it by acceptance or mere tolerance) then, over time, they become a part of our past--like the afro--only to be regurgitated periodically throughout time.

Every night Clementine sleeps in our bed. Similarly, every night I wake up to feed Perry. Most often I am not out of bed for longer than 30 minutes. Sometimes I can even be back into my room with in 20 minutes. Eager to return to slumber, I shuffle back to my room only to find that dang dog elongated on MY SIDE OF THE BED! As I try to shove her over 50 lbs of dead weight over just enough for me to fit on the queen size matress, she GROWLS at me as if I were some mistress crawling in the sheets for her husband! Hello? What, or should I say Who, does she think she is? Has she EARNED a place on my mattress by simply being a lazy, hairy, druely canine? We go through this same routine every time I get up from our used-to-be-a-pretty-wheat-colored chair in our family room. Clementine hops on the second I hop off. To further my bewilderment, If I am sitting on the chair and our bedroom door happens to be closed, Clem will putter around the house groaning and barking at both me and Jeff because she has no place to lay. I think, Lay on the blasted floor! You're a dog for crying out loud!

As we all know fashions come and go. Some are extreme and some are mild. Some we love and some we don't. Some make us shudder at the thought while others make us shudder as we try to wear them. I feel this way about one such baby fashion. Now, I don't quite shudder at this, but I certainly do scratch my head. Mostly because I so desperately want the giant flower bow to be cute on Perry, but I am not quite understanding the concept. Is it supposed to be larger than the babies' head on purpose? I think the idea is that our bundles of joy will look like living Anne Geddes-esque photos. Now, don't get me wrong, I have seen these on many other babies and I think it is darling....I'm just not fashion forward enough to make it work. Sorry Perry.

Max and Clem have a sort of love/hate relationship. In the past, it's been very loving. However, in the present, it is mostly based on mutual intolerance. Max squawks if our puppy is to so much as sniff in his direction when he has food in his hands. Likewise, Clem feels the same when our boy tries to play with her. Anywhoo, this is one of my favorite scenes at our house. Poor Max, defenseless against Clem's unforgiving jaws.

give me five......well, maybe

Since I've been catching so many colds lately I've been paying extra attention to things that could be causing this annoying problem. I'm sorry if this makes you sick (pun intended) but nearly 50% of the guys at my school seem to think that handwashing after using the potty is optional. I really can't stand it anymore. I want to follow these people of the restroom and yell "Don't touch this guy! He didn't wash his hands!" Maybe I'm wrong, but I have to think that this sickness is contributing to my sicknesses!

Isn't there a law that requires certain employees to wash their hands while they are working? If so, shouldn't there be a law that required ALL people in public places to wash their hands?!? I'm usually against excessive government regulation, but in this case the non-washers are hurting others, not just themselves. I would love it if there was some way to tell whether or not a person washed their hands when they exited a public bathroom, and if they didn't a loud siren and flashing light would go off or something.

Sorry for the rant. Does anyone know any good, long-lasting hand sanitizer for me? Or how about some supplements to boost my immune system. Maybe I should just wear rubber gloves around all day at school. Hey, that's a good idea!

RE: Privatization

Abby told me that my last post sounded mean. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be mean, I was really wondering if having a public blog was leaving us open to some weird thing that I didn't know about. So if any of you took offense, I beg your pardon.

Oi Vey!

I've heard and agreed with the saying, If Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy...until I my son turned 2. Whoever coined this delightful little phrase must not have had a toddler. Or, perhaps, failed to recognize the reason Mama ain't happy is probably because her toddler REFUSED to smile for a flippen' St. Patrick's Day Picture in his couldn't-be-more-perfect-for-the-occasion Mr. Froggy towel! The saying should read: If the toddler ain't happy, you better BELIEVE nobody else is!

Oh well. He still makes a pretty cute naked leprechaun, even when he's throwing an unbelievable tantrum, don't ya think? We'll go to bed tonight and wake up for a better day tomorrow...we hope!

Happy St. Patty's!