Happy Birthday, Little One!

Happy Birthday, baby boy!

We know a lot can happen, and it's not over till it's over, but we are thinking about you today. Wishing you a happy First Birthday!

Wanting to tell you that we are hoping like crazy that you will be our new addition. I can't explain the excitement that the picture of your sweet little face has generated. Jim and Liam are both SO excited that you are a boy. I just fell in love with your face. Natalie doesn't really understand, but she was quite happy to eat your birthday cake today as we celebrated - she loved the blue icing.

Liam penned a sign that he taped to his bedroom door. It started off as a warning "No Babies Breaking Legos in This Room" (this is is his one big fear about babies in general). But then I think he felt bad for you, and amended it to read "Except Boy Babies". So apparently he is only excluding Natalie from breaking Legos in his room.

We are sending you our hopes and prayers on your birthday.

Oh yes, and Liam drew a new picture of the family that includes you in it already.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We have a lot to give thanks for today. Not the least of which is that we enjoyed a wonderful meal with some good friends and neighbors. We missed family, but we still had some good company and good food.

We all listed 3 things we are thankful for, and Liam's list was: 1) My family, including Tigger, 2) Books, and 3) Star Wars video games.

Natalie's list was: 1) Family 2) My Farm Books (a little set of very simple books with pictures of farm animals, equipment, buildings, etc. that were given to Liam by Aunt Mary years ago - Natalie is currently obsessed with the farm books). and 3) Princesses.

Jim and I listed: Liam and Natalie, our extended family, and friends. Our warm, safe house which already has a Christmas tree decorated in the family room. And the potential addition of a new family member!!

We can't post too much information yet, and don't want to get too excited just yet (but of course that is impossible.) We have received a referral of a little boy, and without getting too excited (yeah right) I will just say that he is absolutely, impossibly adorable. He turns one in two days, and I so much wish we could celebrate it with him. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this one works out. And feeling very thankful this Thanksgiving!!

Letter to Santa

Liam sent his letter to Santa. I told him that we needed to tell Santa when to come so that we can be sure he comes before our trip to Canada (we will actually be in Canada on Christmas day). So he just wrote at the bottom "and come soon".

The other funny thing is that on the word "game" he drew an arrow from the "e" to the "a". This is apparently what they do in Kindergarten to show that, in Liam's words, "the silent e kicks up the a". Very interesting.

He was a little perplexed by my description of the mail carriers taking his letter all the way to the North Pole. I may have gone too far when I explained that the last leg of the journey would be by snow mobile. Not sure he believed that the mail was ever carried that way.

In case you can't read it, here is the translation:

Der Santa,

Hi How are you?

For Crismas I wud like Star Wars legos, Indiana Jones legos, video games.

Thanks Santa I love you

and come soon

Why 40 is Better....

OK, I have no shame, it's true.

I really don't think I have to even spell this out...but YES, 40 is better than 13. Much, much better. Much less painful. Much more relaxing. I would definitely NOT go back in time, even if I could. At least not until about...age 33 or so.

As I'm typing this, Natalie just came up and asked who this is in the picture. When I said it was me, she pointed to the hair and with a very perplexed look she asked "What is that??" Funny girl.

The Big One

4-0

Well, so far nothing appears to have fallen off or completely stopped working.

Jim ran interference this morning and let me sleep in a bit, so it was a good birthday even before I got out of bed.

If I can figure out my birthday present, I should be able to add some video to my blog in the near future...maybe even a clip of Natalie at gymnastics -she had another great week in her independent class! (Yeah, Coach Debbie!)

I was going to post a picture of myself at 13 just for amusement, but I'm too tired to scan it right now. Maybe I will do that later in the week.

Instead I will attach a list of things it has taken 40 yrs to learn:

1. When you are young having a baby seems like the easiest and the worst thing in the world. When you are old it seems like the hardest and the best thing.

2. If it tastes really good, you probably shouldn’t be eating it.

3. When you are a working mom you spend a lot of effort trying to find time to be with your kids. When you are a stay at home mom you spend a lot of effort trying to find things for your kids to do without you.

4. It takes 30 days to establish a routine (such as going to exercise class) and only 1 day to break it.

5. There is a good possibility that domesticated animals should never have been. (At least obnoxious orange striped ones.)

6. The times when your children drive you the most crazy, are the times when they remind you the most of yourself.

7. It is easier to tell your husband what you want him to do than to wait for him to guess.

8. Turning 40 is much, much better than the alternative.

Deal or No Deal

It is Benefit Enrollment time. Ugh. This is something I deal with mostly alone. Somehow Jim gets out of this chore by throwing up his hands and proclaiming that he doesn't understand the US healthcare system, and they don't have to worry about these things in Canada, so he can't help. I'm not sure why that works, since I am a US citizen and I don't understand healthcare either. It's not like I took a class on it in school.

So this year I notice an option to use an online tool that will assist me in my choice of health plans. All you have to do is answer a few questions and it will recommend a health plan for you. Sounds great. I start to answer questions...and realize I have a problem. What do they mean, would I prefer to get in to see a doctor quickly, or pay $xx less in premium? Is that really a choice? I picture myself bleeding on the floor of an ER and saying to myself "I wish I'd paid the higher premium!"

Would I rather have a doctor that communicates well, or a lower deductible?? Is this really a choice? First of all, show me one who communicates well. And then if you DO, do I really have to pay more for them?? I picture them in medical school dividing the doctors into categories: Communicates Better than Your Avg Fifth Grader...you will demand high deductibles; Communicates Like a Farm Animal...too bad, you will get the patients too cheap to pay high deductibles.

You get the idea. You may think I'm exaggerating this survey, but I'm not. I was really astounded by the "trade-off" questions. I can see what they are doing, of course, setting my expectations low so that when I get frustrated with my level of service next year I will think back to this survey and say to myself "Oh yeah, I guess I DID pick the cheaper option..." Very sneaky.

To which Jim just shakes his head and laughs. "We just don't have these questions in Canada." Hmmm...perhaps they just have low expectations from the beginning...most of life is, after all, management of expectations. Meanwhile, I made my choice and I can look forward to a year full of late doctors who don't explain anything. I guess I'll just consider myself lucky if they sanitize their instruments (if something isn't on that survey, can I assume it is included in the basic premium??)

My Little Girl Is Growing Up

Natalie has been taking gymnastics classes for about a year now. It has been a mom & tot class where I participate as well and help her through the routines after her "coach" shows us what to do. She does quite well...when she is so inclined...we had a rough summer of rampant disobedience in class. I was to the point where I would have to go stand with her in a corner of the gym facing a wall until she wanted to actually participate (yes, I know she was only 2, and it's not like we are preparing for the Olympics - but she was distracting other kids who had not yet realized they could be so ornery). At the age of 3, they move the kids to an "unassisted" class, where the Moms sit on some bleachers and watch from a distance. I have been dreading this transition. No wonder, considering my flashbacks to her first weeks at preschool when she was horizontal on the sidewalk screaming for someone, anyone, to save her from her awful fate. She can be...ummm..dramatic.

This was her first "unassisted" week, and I tried to play it up and repeat about 1,000 times how EXCITING this is because she is now a BIG girl like some of the neighbor girls (much admired). But let me tell you, I was scared. For myself, mostly. What would I do on the bleachers while my child was screaming loud enough to frighten a gymful of young gymnasts??

Turns out, she was excellent. I had a moment of panic during their warm-up when she turned to look at me, and I waved (why did I do that??) and she broke down crying. It didn't help that it was Mr. Jeff trying to comfort her out there. He's been her coach over the last year, and she has given him the cold shoulder the entire time. She apparently decided early on that middle aged men should not be gymnastics teachers. Who could blame her really? Although, to Mr. Jeff's credit he is incredibly patient, and EVERY other kid loves him. Anyway...she does not. But after warm-up she went with her new class, and Coach Debbie is...a woman...and a good coach, who can do real handstands...and a woman...

She went with Coach Debbie and never looked back. She did the bars and the beam all by herself (what 3 yr olds can do...wipe that image of Nastia Liukin out of your head), and the trampoline (of course, THAT she would do with the devil himself standing nearby...or even Mr.Jeff). I was so proud. And so relieved. Afterward, Miss Debbie told me that most kids run back to where the parents sit at least several times during the first class. Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed for next week. Meanwhile, this week was wonderful. Is it too early to request that all of her future teachers for any school or sport be women?

Misunderstandings

Liam asked Jim the other day why he couldn't just quit work and stay home with us all day. Jim tried to explain the facts of life about work and money...and Liam said "Well, Mom stopped working. Oh yeah. She was fired."

I guess my noble effort to quit my high-powered job (ha ha) and become a devoted stay at home mother has been misconstrued. Needless to say, I wasted no time in hunting Liam down the first chance I got and setting the record straight. I explained that I did NOT get fired. I decided to gallantly forego my steady income in order to spend much more quality time with he and Natalie. Liam just nodded and kept grinning at me with a coy little grin. I swear it looked like he was thinking "Sure, Mom, sure. And I was really keeping my hands to myself in line the other even though my teacher said I wasn't." sigh....

My misunderstanding with Natalie doesn't cut as deep, at least. The other day she grabbed a book and sat pretending to read. It was To Kill a Mockingbird. Good choice, Natalie. The problem was, she then wanted me to read it to her. I told her it was a really big book and we should probably try to read something smaller. She then hunted high and low and gathered up a pile of very small books. Teeny tiny books. I'm talking 3 inches by 3 inches. You know how they make some kids books very small...I'm not sure why...I guess they figure small people like small things. That day she refused to read a normal-sized kid book. Mommy had told her we must read "small" books. So she went for small. I tried to explain I meant easier to read...but then realized it was pointless and read her some very teeny tiny books.

At 40, Brain and Body Slow

This was an actual headline. Thank you, Discovery News, for being on top of this very important story. The funny part (??) is that they were surprised to discover that there IS an actual peak at 39, and the downhill slide begins after that. So I laugh about turning 40...how much difference does one year really make, after all...but apparently a lot.

Yikes.

I officially have 15 days left before it is all downhill. I guess I'll be up all night now, planning my next few weeks. These could be my final days if I ever want to play professional sports, win a chess tournament, or drive a race car. If I had only known earlier...

Here is the article...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/11/03/brain-decline-age.html

Writing On His Own

Since school started, Liam's class has kept "journals" in which they write....who knows what. The idea is that they would start out mostly drawing pictures, but that before long they would include words that they know, and progress to sentences. He is just getting into the whole reading/spelling thing right now, but he has started to try and sound out words enough to spell things. Yesterday he brought home an assignment that had a page with this typed at the top:

"If I had a magic pebble I would...." and he was supposed to complete the sentence all on his own.

This is what he came up with:

"I Not B UFrad UF N E (and something not distinguishable at the end)"

All the letters were run together so at first I just scratched my head. Then he told me it says "I would not be afraid of anything."

SO cute. I love the answer to the question, for one thing. And then the writing...I think he has already mastered the language of Text Messaging!! In fact...it makes me wonder if young people these days are someday only going to write this way, because that is all they need to know to text. But aside from that...I was so proud of his effort. I will definitely keep this page to show him in 30 yrs.

And where is MY MAGIC PEBBLE???

Election Day, according to Liam

So tomorrow I go to vote for the Boss of Our World. That is Liam's term for the President of the United States. He has a hard time remembering that stuffy title, so he just refers to him as the Boss of Our World. (OK, maybe he'd LIKE to be over the whole world...but we know that only inlcudes the US...and Puerto Rico...right???).

NOT to be confused with the other very important title, Boss of Our Neighborhood. Our Home Owner's Association president is the father of Liam's good friend, Christopher. Somehow his perky little ears must have heard us talking about the HOA "president" in idle conversation, and now he is convinced that Christopher's father has some great power over us all as Boss of Our Neighborhood (sometimes also called Boss of Where We Live).

Who even uses the term Boss anymore??

I think Liam has an interest in all these political issues...he also told me the other day that his Kindergarten teacher "would like to be a principal." Not sure if she told him this (maybe during an exercise in goal setting?), or he deduced this on his own. Perhaps someday Liam will be Boss of Our World (actually, Natalie may already hold this title, and it may be more of a dictatorship) - he certainly has some diplomatic skills. He will always tell you what you want to hear. If asked if X or Y is his "favorite" he will always say Both. And if caught doing something sneaky he can definitely charm his way out of it. Yep, he's ready.