I'm sick again.  AGAIN!  That's three colds in as many months.  Jack started a runny nose a couple days before me.  What is it with kids and germs?  Before Jack came along I went 12-18 months between colds. 

I felt crappy and feverish this morning and called in sick at 4:55.  By 10 I felt a bit better and was very glad I took the day to rest.  With a high of -6 degrees, I couldn't have picked a better day to stay home.  I spent a lot of time on the couch building a mountain of soggy tissues, watching Ben and Jack make each other giggle.  Perfect entertainment.

He taught himself to clap yesterday. It's pretty darn cute.

Taught himself to clap from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

We spent some Christmas money on new blinds for the living room.  Aren't they lovely!?  They are faux wood blinds from Bali via Lowes.  They were having a sale, with free upgrades on the valence and cloth tape.  Score!  The biggest treat was paying for installation.  I felt the tug of penny pinching, that little voice in my head saying "you can do this!  Why pay someone else to do something you can install yourself?"  Well, little voice, BOO YA! Installed in 15 minutes while I was away at work this morning.  No need to fiddle with tools and balance precariously on couches while marking a level with pencil, or worry about entertaining the baby and keeping the dog at bay.  Let professional dude do what he does.  Merry Christmas, indeed!

Canceling church because of weather is the closest a nurse can come to having a snow day.  (I texted my mom that our church was canceled and she asked if it was for the weather or the superbowl.  What??  Uh, I don't think that has ever happened, Mom.)  (I'm going to assume she was joking.)

  It's been snowing since yesterday afternoon - thick, wet snow with a layer of ice underneath everything. 

We're spending the morning doing very little.  Laundry, TV, playing.  We also send each other goofy things we find on the internet.  Like this and this and this.  I've discovered that Ben did not know who Anderson Cooper is, did not know about the Remix the Clips game on Jimmy Fallon, and has never seen rice krispies treats made with fruit pebbles.  It's amazing how we can spend so much time together and still live in different spheres.


Last night we ordered Dominos pizza and watched OSS 117 on Netflix watch it now.  Dinner and movie without leaving the comfort of home!  Ok, I lied.  We only watched 57 minutes of OSS 117 because it was 10:30 at that point and apparently we are old people who can't stay up very late anymore.  We'll finish it later.  So far it's pretty funny.  Like a French version of Hot Shots.

We're trying to reach our friends to find out if the superbowl party this evening has been canceled too.  What am I going to do with 32 deviled eggs if it is?

I was tempted to post about my rehearsal today, but my sister beat me to it!  So I'm going to let her tell the story.  Read her post here about our solution to bad weather.  I spent about an hour putting together 2 versions of the dance section, with 5 additional videos breaking down parts in more detail.  It sure beats the 7 or 8 hours I would have spent getting up there, teaching, and driving home.  Amanda showed me the last run through they did and I'm so impressed!  I'm so tickled seeing 30 kids following my image on a screen :-D  It was funny seeing them all drop their right arm at the end pose, something I did casually as the music faded out, it was not meant to be a dance step.

PS, I think this is the one they were watching in her clip.  I'm too embarrassed to post them all ;-)

Blackberry lavender for Ben, cherry cordial for me.

I worked on the 14th so today is officially Valentine's Day for Ben and me. We exchanged chocolates, had lunch out, and browsed FT. I think a walk with a cranky baby is in our near future.  Here's some random pictures and thoughts.


Jack practicing his standing skills (Grade: C+). At a Super Bowl gathering he "played" with Zach, a friend's baby who is familiar with other kids via daycare.  Jack was stunned by this other being who attempted to interact with him.

The other day Jack grabbed a bag of Salt and Malt Vinegar Boulder Chips off the table and scattered them on the floor.  I'm still sad.  Those were good chips!  

Speaking of snacks, there's a new Dr. Pepper called Dr. Pepper 10 (Ten?).  It's pretty good.  Oh, the exciting life I live.

Molly enjoys her new view.  I wanted to make a grumpy troll face on our grill snow fall, but it was too cold. Most of the snow has melted and today we're gallivanting about without jackets. (Picture from last week, before snow melt)

Getting excited for our trip to Boston next month.  Our friends graciously offered to pick us up at the airport!  Oh my heavens, I can't explain how happy this makes me.  We were seriously stressing out over the plan to get a taxi and install a car seat and cart all our gear alone to the airport.  Friends are the best. 

Ben bought me irises.  I love early spring flowers.  The purple is my Coraline sweater.  I'm getting stockinette ennui.  I picked up some fabric at FT today.  Hopefully an easy, fast project will recharge my knitting juices.  Oh, we ate at Chipotle today.  After jealously watching us scarf burritos, and scattering the bites we gave him on the floor, I bestowed a basket on Jack.  He thought it was dang fantastic.

Flannels purchased today. Must make more baby blankets! They have even more vinyl coated fabrics.  I'm going to pick a pattern to lay out under Jack's high chair.  Meals are getting messy!

I'm getting even MORE excited for our trip to GJ this weekend.  It's my Bday, but mostly I'm excited to leave work behind and see my family.  I love the Roots on Jimmy Fallon, and we discovered their appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba (we watch their songs online for Jack). 

I LOVE this song.  Like, I completely, utterly adore it.  It makes me a little tearful and burst with joy to see Jack clap and squeal while it plays.

Done!

Well, maybe not.  I might blanket stitch around the edge with yarn.  But it's in a functional state.

After a relaxing long weekend in Grand Junction I'm back to work, starting with a Rapid Response not one hour into my day.  Blerg.
 
But we had a great time. I love watching my parents play with Jack.  His every whim to be picked up was catered to.  It was a treat being together with all my siblings.  There were three dogs in the house causing much craziness.  And, of course, I came home with bags of lovely gifts.  I took many pictures and videos, but like I said: blerg.  I'm digesting leftover lasagna and chocolate cake while surfing on the couch under a quilt. I can't be bothered with photo editing now.  Mostly I got on blogger to pass on what Ben told me when I got home:

"Here's a pro-tip for you: don't take a baby to the car wash." 

Noted.

Ben took Jack to the Mexican grocery store while I worked. I hear it was like a magical place for him. Bright colors, kids, and loud music.

Sigh.  Looking through these I realize the vast majority are just of Jack.  Why didn't I take any with Jenn and Andy??   I guess that's what my life has come to. Anyway, here's a nice summary.

 Stopping in No Name for a rest room and milk break.  We made the trip with just two stops (right, Ben?).  On the way home we made only one stop.  Not bad!

 Grocery shopping on arrival.  With my family it's all about FOOD!  Jack got a lot of experience with solid foods over the weekend.
 His first balloon, dinner with Richard, parents, and Amanda.  Jack handled it pretty well, considering how overwhelming a visual and audio experience Red Robin can be, the strong desire for family to pass him around, combined with having spent five hours in a car seat.  He's such a good kid.

Not many  pictures from Saturday morning and afternoon.  Where I wanted to kill our dog for going #2 in the bedroom at 6 AM.  After the sun came up all was better.  The smell was gone, Jack was cute, family lazily emerged from soft beds having enjoyed sleeping in.
 My mom gave Jack a spool of ribbon to play with.  Ribbon and yarn and cloth = his favorite things. Can't wait for this guy to try spaghetti.

We had lunch at Cafe Rio together before splitting to go shopping.  Andy and Jenn took the dogs out and went downtown.  Amanda and I went a little crazy at Ulta.  We all met downtown in the yarn store and got Palisade Peach fudge across the street before hurrying back home.  During all this Ben took Jem and Jack over to Grandpa Rick's for playing. 

That night Kristin and family came over!  Coral is so crazy cute.  I took a bazillion pictures of them (all on flickr).  I love how they're looking at me like they need a cue  Uhh, are we supposed to play together or something?  At most, they poked each others' faces.  Love it. 
 Comparing baby shapes. . .
 We made several attempts at getting me and Kris together with our babies.  Not very successful.

 I think this is as close as we'll get. 

 Jem was determined to sleep in Amanda's bed that night.  She was not amused.
 Beautiful clouds Sunday morning. 
My folks enjoyed the excuse to get out their hard chairs during church to keep Jack quietly happy. 

 Back home for a quiet afternoon.  Jack does his "Behold!!" pose for bubble wrap.  Ben pointed out that it's like what Link does when he acquires a new item in The Legend of Zelda. 



Love this.


Pasta making!  I had a birthday lasagna with salad and garlic bread, with chocolate caramel cake for dessert!




In the hyperactive state right before bed, playing with Grandpa and Amanda.

 Back on the road home.  Here we are after a snack break in Eagle.

 The roads were nice (this is Vail) and somehow we missed the Idaho Springs ski-traffic jam.
 Jack got pretty bored towards the end.  I caught him feeling around outside his chair for something to entertain him (he found my knitting bag, luckily only went so far as the handle).

Oh so happy to be back home and not in a car seat!

My little Jack is one month older today! 


This week has been the week of the tongue. 

And a third tooth!


I've caught him in the crib rocking on all fours, but he still favors rolling for getting around.




He's a pro at clapping.  We were at an Oscar party and he couldn't help himself from dancing with every song and clapping for every speaker.

I love LOVE this photo.  I have been trying to capture this look since he was born.  We first caught a whiff of it when he was one week old.  Remember this?


So tiny!  Back to the present . . .


Ben enabled Jack with his first "sword." 

He's been carrying it around all week.


We love you, Jack. We're so happy that you're part of our family.