Author: eaumaison (Page 135 of 210)

I had a mini-vacation of 6 days off last week.  No reason, it’s just how my schedule worked out.  When I started up again last week . . . there’s really nothing interesting to report.  I had some sweet old men patients.  Love them.  Treatments went well.  Still working on cultivating good rapport with the docs (they are kind of aloof).  I was on call this weekend.  I worked a full Saturday and 7 hours Sunday.  Yesterday and today are off.  Yesterday was spent doing blessedly little.  A few chores and errands, a long walk with Ben and Jack.  Lots of Jack time.  I made Ben go to the library to study so I could “feel like a mom” and have alone time with my little dude.  Last night we stayed in.  Played some Dance Central on Kinect.  Watched TV and munched on PB and chocolate chip cookies.  Why can’t I make PB cookies that are soft and chewy?  It’s impossible!

Today doesn’t feel quite so free.  Although I got to sleep past 5 am (for real!  Jack didn’t wake until 6!), and I’m twiddling my thumbs so I started this blog post, I have a full day.  A conference call in 30 minutes to discuss opening our new dialysis unit tomorrow.  Then the first dance rehearsal for Amanda’s school.  With drive time I’ll be gone from 1:30 to 6.  Need to put together a meal plan and shopping list for Ben too.  Not much I know, but it means if I want to knit today I better do it now while Jack is napping.

Here’s a Jack video, because, why not?

Jack is going to need a proper dresser in his room soon.  I’m sick of modern particle board crap that falls apart after 5 years.  Good quality new wood furniture is frighteningly expensive.  So I’ve started an extremely passive search for a vintage dresser.  Mostly this involves trawling through craigslist once a week for mid century dressers, and cursing when I see the ones I like were quickly sold.  One time while driving home via 44th I made Ben stop for some “antique” shopping.  Mostly crap, but there’s a new store that specializes in mid century furniture called Retro Consignment.  I was stunned at the fabulousness we saw once inside and couldn’t stop taking cell phone photos.  Observe:

 On the left is a vibrating belt exercise machine, with sleds behind them.  They also had bizarre water skis, looked like 1940s or 50s.  On the right an array of typewriters

 A beautiful, working projector on the left, on the right I want this blue chair and love seat set.  But so impractical for my big boys!

 I swear that we had this exact stereo when I was a kid.

 A decent dresser we were considering. (Just browsing for now.  We had no transport to get large furniture home and, more importantly, no money post-holidays for furniture purchases.)

Also loved this teal sofa.  They had brilliant old television sets.  Not pictured is the wet bar I saw and was seized with an inexplicable urge to OWN RIGHT NOW, OMG I ALWAYS WANTED A BAR.  Ben shook his head and herded me out the door soon after that. 

I will be back with fists full of cash.  Oh yes, give me time.

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Here’s the zoo video from earlier in full quality, plus other photos from our outing. (Click the little square of arrows to make the video fit your screen, if it’s too long.  The phone takes a weird aspect ratio of video.)

Because of my work schedule, we met my family for Christmas on the 29th-1st.  We went to our place in Bailey to cozy up and celebrate in the grand, Waterhouse way.  This is a lot of pictures, and there are more on flickr.

Reuniting Jack with my family:

Showing off his table manners:

We arrive in Bailey. The rest of the family spent the night.  I was on call and stayed in Lakewood until the morning.  

Jenn doing her sinus therapy with husband’s help:

Let the presents begin!  Oof, heavy:

Kinects for Ben and Andy and Jenn, and a Kindle for Jenn (now everyone has one!)

 Jem fished her present out of a bag when no one was looking:

What a nerd:

Can you believe this?!  Mom made this aviator sweater for Jack, it’s incredible!  The helmet comes from Soil, that independent children’s clothes crafter I love.

Jack was happy with the paper, but occasionally needed pieces fished out:

 I love this, we’re all pointing to the ball he just opened, and he hasn’t noticed it yet:

Another amazing homemade gift – Amanda wrote two children’s books for Jack.  The ABCs of Zelda and a counting book of Mario.  They are absurdly nerdy and cute.  I’ll have to post a detailed walkthrough of the books later.  

Dad strumming his uke from Andy:

And then he whipped out his own crazy handmade gift of the year – cigar box guitars.  These are so beautiful and they sound great!

 Dad got Mom a cool microscope, and brought creepy crawlies to test it out:

 My lame homemade gifts this year, but they crack me up.  I made Amanda and Andy and Jenn BLANKET STATEMENTS!

Sometime while we were opening presents it started to snow.  A white Christmas!

 That night I gave Jack a bath in the kitchen.  I’ve decided using storage tubs is a genius bath method.  Yesterday I gave him another bath in a tub in the tub, catching all his splashes.  I could sit in the bath fully clothed to support him, and use less water to fill his small tub.  We’ve taken to calling them “tub tub baths.”

Too many presents 😉

The adorable outfit from Jenn and Andy:

A hiking backpack.  I think he likes it!

And a final cute outfit to finish them off!

Oh, what a glorious Christmas.  We were all severely spoiled.  I also got a swift and winder, yarn and fibers to spin, fancy fabric, some art, many little gadgets, silpats, lotions, a ballet date (babysitting included!) and the aforementioned iphone 4.  Later Ben picked up an AT&T microcell device.  It gives us five bar coverage all throughout our house.  I’m thrilled!  We canceled our Vonage house phone plan today.  My big gift is a trip to Boston this spring to attend the nephrology nursing conference.  We are both daunted (because of the ten month old who will accompany us) and excited by the idea, and very grateful for the trip. What will come in the oh-1-1?  I’m excited to find out.

//www.youtube.com/get_playerI’m testing emailing a video to my blog. If this doesn’t post right I’ll fix it later.
UPDATE:  Sweet.  I got an iphone 4 for Christmas and it does some nice stuff.  Like this!  Jack had a great time at the zoo.  We got a membership for Christmas too.  We love gifts that last a long time.  I think Ben and Jack will get good use out of it.  One nice thing about the membership is you don’t feel like you have to get your money’s worth for each visit, since they are unlimited.  So instead of rushing around to see everything in one day, we leisurely hit a couple favorites.  Just the birds, some apes, and the mountain sheep on the way out.  An hour was the perfect length for Jack.

I have a few days off, but oh so much to do! But I promise to post christmas II pictures soon.

I can’t believe it either.  He’s such a happy guy.

He makes this face a lot:

And this one:

He got a Sophie giraffe for Christmas and it’s a winner.

There’s that face again.

And again!  He can cry and laugh at the same time -look close and you’ll see tears here.  Not sure why.  He was enjoying his first hummus, baba ganoush, and taboulih meal and all of the sudden was DONE.  But I can usually make him laugh through his tears.

Still making friends with the animal.  He is completely charmed by Jem.

I tried to take some photos on his tummy.

But he immediately flipped and continued towards the edge of the bed.  

Stinker 😉

Ben, like most men, is terrible at finding things. I have been enjoying back posts of Hyperbole and a Half over the holiday.  There was one in particular that was JUST LIKE US and I filed it away for future sharing.  It came into use faster than I expected.

When Ben announced he was going to water Brian’s lemon tree and check on Zoe the cat, I asked if he had the key.  Not yet, he said.  I watched him look in the tiny basket by the door.  I watched him look in the basket on the bureau.  Then he looked at me and shrugged “I can’t find it.”  I shrugged.  He stared at me.  I let out a major sigh, put my laptop on the couch, and dug the keys out the basket on the bureau in, like, 4 seconds.  But before I let him have them I picked up my computer and retrieved this comic:

He called me snarky and snatched the keys off the couch.  I chased him to the door and demanded he also see this part:

He said I was being super snarky and left.  I settled back on the couch with my smugness, sure that I had taught Ben an important life lesson about looking harder for things. 

Later this morning, Ben im’ed a link to me and demanded instant viewing of said link:

Touche.

PS Ben will probably berate me for the style I chose to post H and H’s comic.
PPS Why am I bald?

A Christmas Eve bath!