Thursday, February 24, 2011

Truth and Lies

You know, Amy, I don't read any other blogs so I don't know who I would tag!  But I'll do it anyways!

I am going to list 5 things about me, 4 of which are NOT true.  Can you guess which one IS?

1.) I broke my finger playing "crack the whip" on my first day of 4th grade.
2.) My first job, besides the CL Park District, was to shovel horse poo and haul hay bales at a farm in Union.
3.) I'm pregnant.
4.) I have a birth mark on my tummy next to my belly button.
5.) One of my favorite foods is grashoppers dipped in chocolate.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Hola world

Not a whole lot going on these days, but a few points worth mentioning. 

First off, I wish you all could have seen my shadow last night when I was coming out of band.  I was backlit, and had my tuba on my back, and my shadow on the ground seriously looked like a Racing Sausage.  Big, unidentifiable mass on top, with skinny arms and legs poking out the sides and bottom.  I get a lot of comments when I carry my tuba, and usually just go with them (a little annoyed...), but even this was pretty funny.

Preston got his first hair cut a few weeks ago.  He was a serious champ.  We found a really fun little place in the 'Tosa village that specializes in kids haircuts (Whimzikids).  It was a little pricey, but worth it for the first haircut of my little boy's life. 

Hmm.  I'm just so handsome!

On the weekend of January 29th, we headed down to Illinois.  Skip and I dropped Preston off at my mom and dad's, then took Metra down to the city to meet friends for Lindsay's 29th Golden Birthday party.  We had a great time catching up with everyone!  Afterwards, we met just about all of the Prestons at the Parthenon for dinner.  We had our own room for 25 of us, and had a great time.  We took the train home, too, which was fun as well. 

Me and Lindsay
All the Augie girls
Preston working on his spoon skills at the Parthenon.  He's getting really good!

I felt a little bad the next day, because as a (way late) Christmas present for Skip, I took the Jeep to Turtle Wax to have it totally cleaned out.  Well, apparently there was so much dog hair that it was a complete challenge for the guys there, and we didn't get on the road until almost 3 o'clock (after dropping the Jeep off at 10am...).  However, the guys did a great job and the car looks like a totally new car!  On our way back to Milwaukee, we swung through Racine to have dinner with Mannings for Charlie's birthday.  We had a great meal of sushi and hibachi at Shogun, then visited for a bit before heading home.

Oh, there was a blizzard last Wednesday.  Did anyone else hear about it?  ;) Here are some of the pictures I took:

Preston and his doggie watching Daddy outside

Even my tall dog was covered.  He had a hard time peeing...
My car was high-centered in the driveway.  Without me even having to do anything!

We got the Jeep out.  Then our nice neighbors towed the Mazda when it got stuck at the end of the driveway in all that mess.  Wish I would've gotten a picture!


Preston was happy to hang out in a 5-foot-tall snowbank.  Mommy, not so happy to see her baby in a 5-foot-tall snowbank...

This lovely little "growth" popped up out of the snow like a little stalagmite from the ice melting off our roof.  A little phallic, don't you agree? ;)

We got to spend some time with Weseloh's on the 5th for Lilly's 4th birthday.  Preston had fun playing with all the kiddos, and it was great as always to visit with Sarah, Mark and their families.  I can't believe Lilly is 4-- she was a teeny baby when we moved into our old place on 64th St!

As far as upcoming plans, we're hanging out with Harrisons this weekend, and maybe getting some time with Ziemers and Hackers as well.  I can't say enough how great it has been to think, "hey what am I up to this weekend?" and be able to say "I don't know yet!"  I kind of like a little bit of empty-calendar spontaneity!

Ah, the temper comes out...

I think my dear little son has inherited the Eckel temper... God help us all!  Actually, it's not that bad, but he has been showing his frustrated side a little more these days.  When he gets really mad, he swats-- usually at my face, which really hurts sometimes.  I've done okay in redirecting him to "be gentle to Mommy," and sometimes I'll think he's going in for the swat when he'll instead sweetly stroke my face.  Okay, I LOVE that.

Other times, he is a back-archer.  That usually comes out when I'm trying to put him in his car seat, but only in the house.  So, I'll usually these days just put him in his seat IN the car, which he gets excited about.  [Yes, my teenie weenie still is in his "bucket" infant seat (at least in my car-- we've got a regular car seat for the Jeep)-- but both still rear-facing.  I think he's over 20 lbs now, but the infant seat is only rear-facing, and the new seat can't go forward-facing until 22 lbs.  So he's relegated to staring out the back winshield for another couple weeks.]

Another fun little development has been the biting.  Usually that's just to get my attention.  Sometimes when we're sitting on the couch, he'll come up to me or Skip and go to bite us on the knee or toe, which is fun. Not.  Last night, I was wearing a really thick sweatshirt and he got my arm.  It doesn't really hurt, but it sure is a way to get attention...

None of these little quirks are common, though, so he really still mostly is my sweet little goof.  His more endearing new developments are that he can now climb the stairs, say "pickle," eat with a fork, and climb the TV stand.  I officially have a toddler!