7 Quick Takes

-one-

I am ridiculously excited for the upcoming holiday season.  I always think of "The Holidays" as starting with Halloween.  I have all three of them off work, and I just cannot wait.  We tried Elijah's Halloween costume on him today to make sure it fits still.  It's a hand-me-down from Sophie, but it's just what I've always wanted for my first child's first Halloween.  Stay tuned and I'll post a picture after Wednesday.

-two-

In keeping with the ridiculous excitement, I already  have Elijah's first Christmas present.

I think he'll probably get mostly clothes because he is already wearing 12 month outfits and we don't have a lot of 18 monthers.  But the Toyland at the Farm and Fleet near our house opened recently!  Nathan tried to ban me from going in there.  Silly husband!

-three-

Up until now, Elijah has taken a morning nap, just about everyday.  Usually between nine and ten, he passes out and sleeps for a half hour to an hour.  But it is his late morning nap at 11:30 that I really count on to get things done or take a nap myself before going to work.  I've noticed that if he takes a long morning nap, his other one is much shorter.  So, I have been trying to abolish the morning nap.  It hasn't been easy, and it's still not everyday, but we're definitely working on it.  

I've been told to just let him nap when he wants to, but he wakes up happier from his later nap if he sleeps longer.  Any thoughts?

-four-

Today is Elijah's nine month birthday!  I still find myself seeking out other moms, mostly those with kids around his age, or my own mother, for advice.  I feel like I should have a better grasp of things at this point, and for the most part I do.  But when he's not feeling well, or if we're getting close to some milestone or talking about changing his routine a little, I start feeling very insecure.

-five-

Love this face!

-six-

I realize this is only going to matter to a few people, but, very exciting news around our house recently.  We have found the blue ring!  The rock-a-stack has been minus it's blue ring for the last couple months or so because we had no idea where it was.  We have an old-style one, so the blue ring is actually the smallest.  I was walking through the living room the other day and looked up at the shade of our floor lamp and noticed something blue in it.  Sure enough, there it was.  There has been much speculation about how it got there.

-seven-

Yesterday we had shift-bid at work for next year.  In case anyone is interested I will be working 2nd shift 3-11 pm for the first eight months of the year with Tuesday-Wednesday weekends.  I will then move to 3rd shift 11 pm to 7 am for the last four months with the same weekends.  I also took my two weeks vacation one week being for Elijah's first birthday and the other, the last full week in June, so hopefully I can be at Ribfest this year.  

It didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but I'm sure it'll be just fine!   

For more 7 Quick Takes, check out Jen's blog!

The Bluest Blue

A couple weeks ago, my husband declared my car, a 2000 Ford Taurus that used to belong to my grandparents, unfit to drive.  Apparently the head gasket has problems (I have no idea what this means); and I'm sure the transmission is about 20 miles from saying "No, not any more!"

So, I started driving Nathan's car, which is manual and I hate it, and occasionally, my parent's car while we looked for a replacement for me.

What I really wanted was a brand new Ford Fiesta.  But adoption turned out to be so expensive and we are contemplating it again, (not any time soon, don't get excited.)  So we looked around at used cars.  We checked out a 2006 Ford Focus hatchback, which I liked; a 2008 Dodge Caliber, and a 2004 Toyota Corolla, which Nathan liked.

My hatred of driving is so strong, that I refused to be the one going to the test drives.  I was fairly certain that as soon as I got behind the wheel of something I don't own, there was going to be an accident.  So Nathan went.  The first place he went was to the Corolla.  It was also the last place he went.  Three days later, he bought it.

At first, I was less than pleased.  It is an 04 after all and with 81,000 miles, was more used than I was hoping for.  But everyone said Corollas are good, dependable cars.  And this car had one thing going for it in my mind...it's blue, my favorite color.  But this isn't just any blue...

You may remember that I am a fan of Doctor Who.

This is the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), Doctor Who's ship, which can travel anywhere in time and space.

The moment I got truly excited about my new car for the first time, was the moment I realized, it's TARDIS blue. 

Then, I drove it for the first time.  I actually, genuinely like it.  Tauruses, for being sedans, are actually big cars, they're long and wide and I always felt it was too much car for me.  The Corolla is nice, it's little but big enough for Elijah's car seat, and it drives very well.  It also has almost all the little things I wanted like power locks and doors and a CD player and remote unlock.  The only things it's lacking are an auxiliary audio jack for my iPod, and remote start, which I really want.

The first couple times I drove the Corolla, I had so much fun.  That was before I realized it doesn't change anything about driving...driving is the same...

And, when I said the Taurus used to belong to my grandparents what I meant was I purchased it from my uncles after my grandmother passed away.  When I opened it's trunk the first time, I found two pairs of shoes tied together.  I don't know which one of my grandparents they belonged to; I like to think one was his and one was hers, but they were probably both his.  And for the next four years, I drove around old shoes in the trunk because I couldn't bear to get rid of them.

 This is what I saw the first time I popped the trunk on the Corolla:

Nathan moved them to the new car.

2/3rds

Elijah is 2/3rds of the way through his first year.  His eyes are lighter than they were when he was born and decidedly blue, not grey.  His hair went through a brief red period around 1-2 months, but is back to blonde with red highlights.

He is very happy, and very fun.  He is working his way through a stage where he doesn't like getting dressed or undressed.  With two front teeth on bottom and three on top, Elijah is a very calm teether.  The only thing he wants when a tooth is breaking through is to be carried around.  He sleeps through every night, even when teeth are coming through.

He loves his food, whether it's a bottle, Gerber crunchies, or fruit/veggie puree.  He holds his own bottle regularly now.  He loves music, rocking back and forth in his boppy when we've got music on.  Books are another of his favorite things.  He reaches for them and loves to flip the pages on his own.

Elijah has a couple new tricks: he picks his head up all the time now, and Army crawls.  He can push himself onto his hands and knees and rocks there for a little.  We'll have a crawler before Halloween!   He has just learned how to sit up on his own and we're working on waving.  He has also turned into something of a ham baby.  Every time he sees the camera he smiles.  It's pretty hilarious.

He loves games with movement, when we hold him and dance or run around.

Nathan and I have discovered that while we both love to play and spend time with him individually, we have more fun with him when we are all together.  Things are changing all over.  The car I've been driving, which used to belong to my grandparents, has become undrivable.  We are going to look at other cars tonight and I've been thinking what I want in a vehicle.  My biggest priority is having enough room in the back for Elijah's car seat.  And then, of course, safety and gas mileage.

We can't wait for Halloween!

My Lucky Streak

It started with The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone.  When I picked it up off the shelf I was reluctant to start reading it.  At 748 pages the fictionalized biography of Michelangelo, a subject I never felt special interest in, intimidated me.  When I finally made my way through it and came to the end, and read the last words, I was more depressed than normal to finish a book.  I wanted it to keep going.  The story is immensely detailed, from artistic techniques in the 1500s to the people Michelangelo consorted with.  I loved every page, even if I did have some trouble with the Italian names.

And no, I haven't watched the movie yet.

I decided after that I need something a little lighter.  So I moved on to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.  The strange premise intrigued me: I couldn't help wondering how the author was going to pull it off.  The odd format took a little getting used to.  After the prologue it reads like a biography interspersed with sections from "Lincoln's journals" about his vampire hunting escapades and companions.  In the end, I actually really loved it.  You have to be able to totally suspend belief and put aside what you know about Lincoln's life and just go with it.  The narrative is clever and the book moves quickly.

And I don't know if I will be seeing the movie at all.

I've had a used copy of How the West was Won sitting on my shelf for probably close to two years.  Everyone knows how much I love Western movies.  I wasn't sure what I would think of a Western novel.  Turns out, I liked it quite a bit.  The story follows a family moving out west, how the various members become involved with the people they find there, and how their lives shape the places they live. I love the way Louis L'Amour wove the stories together and kept everything cohesive.

For a change, this book was adapted from a movie--which I haven't seen yet.

I don't really remember what drew me to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, other than the cover art was beautiful and the story seemed interesting.  It is historical fiction in a way, following the mid-1990s rediscovery of  an illuminated haggadah in Sarajevo.  A haggadah, I learned, is the book containing the prayers and rituals Jewish families use at the Passover Seder.  This particular haggadah is special because it has illustrations, and dates from the 1400s a time when Jewish people were not illustrating these kinds of books.  Anyway, while that part of the story is true, the rest of it was invented.  The narrative involves a modern manuscript conservator who is consulted about preserving the damaged book.  The story flips back and forth tracing an invented history of the book backwards beginning of course, during the Nazi occupation.  The story is incredibly interesting and entertaining.  I had to check Wikipedia a couple times to sort out the factual parts from the fictional ones.

This has not been made into a movie.

Unfortunately, my lucky streak came to a halt recently.  After finishing People of the Book, I picked up The Hobbit in anticipation of going to see the first movie in December.  I had avoided reading The Hobbit for a long time, and now I know why.  I was so bored that I got to about page 50 when the traveling party was put into sacks by trolls and decided that was as good an ending as any, and put the book down.  I hate quitting a story that way, but I could not muster up the energy to keep going with it.  I'll probably end up seeing the movie anyway.

Findings

I know I haven't posted my normal "ode to September" this year.  It turns out the apple season started early this year, so Nathan has been out at the local orchard on weekends helping out friends of his parents' who own it.  Then, he said his father anticipates starting work to get ready for harvest toward the end of the month.  And that means Nathan will be helping a lot with that as well.  And as much as I know he enjoys pitching in at the orchard and loves harvest, it is hard to have him gone so much.  So, I haven't felt very "pro-September" this year.  Until  today.  Elijah and I went for an afternoon stroll.  We were walking down a north-south street in town when something fell at my feet.

 My very first colored leaf of the season landed right at my feet.  Suddenly, it all hit me.  And I finally feel ready to say, Welcome, September, I've missed you. 

In other news...
Elijah is growing and changing all the time.  He is so close to crawling, and we can tell he really wants to.  He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but hasn't quite figured out how to pick his head up at the same time yet.  And he gets very frustrated laying on his tummy and reaching for things.

Today, I was in the kitchen making a bottle; I had left him in the living room sitting in his Boppy and playing with his little letters and shapes farm.  I finished getting the bottle ready and returned to the living room to find this:

I left the tote bag I take to work leaning against the end table and he had twisted around in his Boppy and pulled the bag over.  This is the first time we've caught him going through something he wasn't supposed to.

Finally, I saw this on Pinterest the other day and immediately called Nathan into the room to see it.  I don't know why, but we both laughed the same way at it: that kind of start low and then the more you think about it really start laughing type laugh.  We would so put it on Elijah if we had one.

Have I Told You Lately...

...how much I hate driving, and cars?  Because if I haven't, let me assure you, it hasn't diminished at all.  If anything, it's gotten worse.

Take yesterday and this morning for example.  I got in my car to come home from work last night and the minute the ignition was turned, the car started shuddering, really seriously, shuddering, the whole car.

I sighed, decided it would probably work itself out as I drove, and turned into the dark night time streets.  As I headed out into the country between where I work and where I live, my check engine light, which is usually on, started flashing.  I realized it had been a while since I got my oil changed and decided that was probably the issue.

This morning, I got Elijah fed, napped, and ready to go and we headed up to Dekalb for an oil change and lunch with Nathan.  As we were leaving Wal-Mart, where we got the oil changed, the car was still shuddering, check engine light still flashing.

After lunch with Nathan, he got in so he could drive it and see how it handled and of course, of course, it was perfect.  Grrr...All this does is reinforce my desire to live somewhere with an extensive public transportation system, so that I can forget I ever learned how to drive.

To my car's credit, it is 12 years old and has been driven hard in those years, it used to belong to my grandparents, and they drove it to Texas and back once or twice. It has also been inadvertently beaten up a little bit.

However, when we do have to replace my car, this is what I want:

A candy blue new model Ford Fiesta.  It's roomier than it looks and surprisingly nice.  Not that this will make me want to drive.

7 Quick Takes

one

Everyone in our house: all bipeds, quadrupeds, and face-scooters are mostly back to full health.  I'm healed up quite nicely and my bruises are even starting to fade.  Hyperion is back to himself as well.  He has his last round of medications today.  Thank God! 

two

The week after we got home with Elijah in February, I went to my church's rectory to talk to the priest about having the baby baptized.  I found out that priests individually decide if they want to baptize adopted children when they come home or when the adoption is final.  Father decided he wanted to wait until everything was done and dusted.  I told him that would be in early August and he checked in with me every couple weeks for the next six months.  I was very happy when I got to call the rectory last week, I waited until after the cath, and tell him everything was ready.

I'm even happier to say, Elijah is going to be baptized into the Catholic Church on Sunday, September 23!

three

Tomorrow is shift change at work.  I am effected only a little. I stay on second shift but my weekends change to Tuesday/Wednesday.  Shift bid for next year is right around the corner and thanks to some retirements and relocations, I am a couple rungs farther up the seniority ladder than I was last year.  I will have a little more choice about what I shifts I pick and what weekends I take.  I'm looking forward to it!

four

Am I the only one who gets really excited thinking that in one week it will be September?  I'm almost giddy about it.  I'm feeling that way about all of the next four upcoming months.  It'll  be Elijah's first September, his first Halloween (I can't wait for that!!); his first Thanksgiving, and then Christmas.  Nathan keeps reminding me that he won't remember this Christmas, so I shouldn't go too crazy with presents.  That's going to be difficult.

five

It's no fun living far away from the other babies in your life.  My mom told me my 17 month old nephew has started trying to say 'Elijah.'  When my brother or sister-in-law says to him, "Brian, who's your cousin?" he says, "Eeiyah!"  Too cute.  Miss that little guy.

six

Does anyone have any sippy cup training pointers?  We have two kinds, one with a straw and one with two handles and the sippy nub-like-thing.  I gave him the straw one first and he seemed to do okay with it in the beginning, but then he started chewing on the bottom or using it to just chew on the straw.  The other kind he doesn't get at all, even when put it in his mouth and tip it up.  He just chews on the nub part.  Then he turns the cup upside down and gets himself thoroughly wet.

 seven

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