jody berger

This

This pretty much sums up how I've been feeling over the last few days.

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On Sunday, Scott took Ethan to his religious school class.  They talked about the Western wall in Israel, where many people put written prayers into the crevices of the wall.  Apparently someone from temple is going to Israel soon, and offered to take written prayers to the wall.  The kids were given the opportunity to write something and place it to be taken to Israel.  After Ethan was done, Scott asked him what he had written.

He said, "I made a map so G-d can find our house."

 

Big Bed

Tonight is Ethan's first night in his big bed!  It's long overdue, but we wanted to put it off as long as possible.  In the crib, E would stall a bit or call us in for another hug or one last potty trip, but he was really good at settling down and going to sleep on his own.  I'm not sure how it's going to be with him in a bed!  But it is time.

We got him a full size bed, and he picked Spiderman sheets from Pottery Barn Kids (he wants the whole Spiderman theme from PBK...the clock, the nightlight, etc.  But he can wait for some of those as birthday presents or something like that!)

It was really fun putting it all together and rearranging his furniture.  He was so excited and happy.  When the mattress was delivered, he kept commenting on the delivery guys tools, how they were working, everything.  At one point, he told them to be careful not to hurt themselves.  It was adorable.

He definitely stalled a LOT tonight, but I think he was probably nervous and excited.  He did end up going to sleep on his own, which was really important to me.  I did not want to start something where he would need one of us to be with him when he fell asleep, etc.  The only concern I have for tonight is that the bed rail we have is not high enough for his mattress.  It only goes up about 2 inches above the mattress, and I'm afraid he'll fall out of the bed!  But it is what we have for now, and it will have to do until we can find another one that is a better fit for his bed.  Hopefully he doesn't tumble out!

It was sad to take apart the crib, but so exciting to see how happy he was for the change.  I want to try to repurpose one of the crib sides as a magazine rack that can prop up against my bedroom wall.  I saw a post about that somewhere online, and think it would be perfect for me.  I always have a stack of a zillion magazines right next to my bed!  I have also seen it repurposed as a quilt rack.  I love that idea, but I don't own multiple quilts and I am not a quilter/sewer.  So.  Not really useful for me. But the magazine thing I could get behind!

busy

Lately I find myself wishing for things to slow down so that I can just enjoy the steady kind of humming along of regular life.  I am thankful every day that we don't have anything dramatically awful going on...just everyday difficulties and annoyances that seem to be dragging on and on.  It's always a battle for me--knowing full well how amazing my life is and not taking that part of it for granted at all (especially in the face of big awful stories like the shootings in Newtown and smaller, just as awful stories of friends and acquaintances becoming ill and/or going through personal tragedies) BUT still knowing that it's ok to wish for things to be easier for a bit.

Earlier this month, we had to take Ethan to the ER in the middle of the night for croup.  It was the second time in less than 5 months, and it was very scary this time.  Luckily, he is fine once they give him the oral steroid.  But the onset is so fast, and so unexpected.  This time it was pretty severe and he was scared.  In December, he had pneumonia.  I spent the afternoon of Jordan's birthday at the doctor with E getting the diagnosis.  Luckily, he did not have to be hospitalized.  Antibiotics did the trick and we just had a few days of very high fevers (he tends to run about 105 when he gets something bad) and then he was fine.  Last week he had a nasty cough but he seems pretty much back to normal now.  His class has gotten hit hard with colds, flu, coughs, etc.

Scott's had a bunch of work trips lately.  I usually don't mind them, but it does get hard when we have a lot going on and it's all on me.  Two weeks ago he was in London, and this one was very hard on the boys for some reason.  I think they just missed him extra this time. I normally like having some alone time, but our annoying clover mites came back along the kitchen windows, so I had to spend hours packing up the kitchen to get ready for a pest control treatment. Not what I had in mind for "alone time", especially since I had to miss my book club due to Scott's trip, Jordan's baseball schedule, and our babysitter being out of town all at the same time.  The boys desperately wanted magic wands (?!), and Scott scored big time by finding them some awesome Harry Potter type wands in England.  Everyone was very psyched and happy for about two days after he came home, until he smashed his shoulder really badly playing softball last Sunday.  (Good news:  it's not broken.  Bad news:  he still has almost no range of motion and it could still be something like a torn rotator cuff.  He can't have an MRI until swelling goes down and we aren't totally sure he needs one anyway.  We are holding out hope that it's just a bad sprain/strain and will get better with time.)

See?!  Nothing catastrophic.  Just annoyances that seem to come one after the other.  There have been a few other random things, along with a backed up kitchen sink and a scare with Lucy.  Happily, I fixed the sink (I think) with some baking soda and vinegar and a few shoves with a wire hanger.  Even more happily, the Lucy thing seems to be a fluke and it looks like she's just fine (she is almost 12 years old so I am starting to worry a bit more as she slows down a little!)  I am trying to look on the bright side. I know it's way better to see the positive and think of all I have to be grateful for.  But sometimes the annoyances get to me.  What can I say?  I hope that tomorrow will be a better day!!

Believe

"There was a time when nobody believed they'd find ice cubes on Mars, cure polio, or clone sheep.  You might be thinking that Bradley Cooper will never be yours, that winning the lottery is not an option, that dreams dim, friends fade, love is a losing proposition.  And there's a very decent chance you're correct.  But always remember, there's a cloned sheep out there proving that you just never know."

--Lisa Kogan (O, the Oprah Magazine February 2013)

Books

I've been reading more. Like actual BOOKS reading.  (Which has been great for everyone except my poor magazines--that pile has grown to an enormous tower!)  I joined Erin's book club about 6 months ago, and it's been a great experience.  Really nice group of women, good book choices, only meets every two months so it's not an overwhelming time commitment.  (I actually updated my sidebar to reflect some of my recent reads!)

It was my turn to pick a book and host the January meeting.  I was really torn between picking Gone Girl and Tell The Wolves I'm Home. (Don't read too many reviews for either--you don't want spoilers!)  I ended up choosing Tell The Wolves I'm Home for book club, though I did read both books for my own enjoyment.  They were both excellent!  I admit that Gone Girl really gripped me--I could NOT put it down.  I was literally sneaking away from my family to try to read more and find out what happened.  But Tell The Wolves I'm Home was a much more fulfilling read.  I flipped through the end again tonight looking for a specific page, and I cried all over again.  I totally recommend either of them.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Tell The Wolves I'm Home (by Carol Rifka Brunt):

"I stared out the car window and understood that I was in a place where nobody knew my heart even a little bit." (p. 25)

"There was always the chance that the gift might be so wrong, so completely not the kind of thing you liked, that you'd realize they didn't really know you at all." (p. 152)

"There were all my secrets, spread out on the table. Like someone had taken my insides and scooped them out for everyone to see.  Look, here are her stupid hopes!  Look, here's her dumb soft heart!" (p. 240)

E

Ethan loves school, and is really thriving there.  In fact, he loves it so much that he'll be starting five (half) days a week in January.  These days, whenever it's a Tuesday or Thursday (his non-school days), he gets very upset in the morning.  He also gets upset when I pick him up after lunch on M/W/F.  So we are keeping him at half days, but he'll be going every day.  I hope he is happy about the change!

Last weekend, he started writing his name!  It's a little shaky, but it's definitely his name.  I am so impressed. I'll post a picture soon.  And he's very into the letters and what sounds they make, and also into counting.

He still loves pancakes for breakfast, and peanut butter/almond butter/sunflower butter pretty much all day long!

He still loves a good Pitbull song, but also seems to really like 80s music. Lately I've been listening to the "classic alternative" station on satellite radio, which is pretty much the music I loved in high school, mixed in with some older "alternative" type music.  I love it, and he does, too!  Kids Place Live has some fun stuff, but it gets old day after day.  I'm happy to have an alternative.  :)

He's definitely still my strong-willed, sometimes bossy boy, but he seems to be mellowing just a little bit.  I've been working really hard at staying calmer with him, because I know he responds to that.  He is so smart and funny, and I love when we get to spend happy fun time together.  I want to write more about him--a snapshot of him at three and a half--but I've been really behind with blogging lately and figured it was better to get some of it out now.  Hopefully a longer post won't be too far behind!

Tooth #2

Jordan let me pull his second loose tooth tonight!  It was really, really loose, and I didn't want him to swallow it (if you recall the fate of loose tooth #1.)  But I also just thought it would be cool to pull it.  At first, he said no.  (He didn't just say no, he covered his mouth and ran away from me all over the house, as if I was going to just reach in and yank it out against his will...)  In a sudden burst of bravery, he told me to go for it.  I grabbed a napkin (hey--those teeth are small and slippery!) and yanked on it, and out it came!

Then we gave him the super cool Ninjago green ninja tooth fairy pillow we had ordered for him from Etsy.  It came out so cute and he loved it!

His top two teeth are both very slightly loose, but I think we have a while before they actually come out.  I'm not sure if he'll let me pull any of the others, but it was fun for tonight!

Pretend it's August...

...just for a second...

I was looking through some summer photos, and realized that I never blogged these.  This was a super fun day in August--August 5th, to be exact--when the Jackson family came down to visit.  

Scott ended up having to work for the whole day (which sucked), and it was really, really hot (which also kind of sucked), but it was so, so amazing to get to spend the day with Susie, Kevin, and the kids!  We went to Irvine Regional Park (Irvine Park Railroad), and rode the train, fed the ducks, had a picnic, played ball, went to the OC Zoo (on premises), and had an all-around great time.

Love these guys.

And the newest addition to the Jackson family...

Teeth

Jordan lost his first tooth yesterday!

Scott was in Vegas for the weekend (for fun), and Jordan had the early (9am) soccer game on Saturday.  I had no clue what to do with the boys, so I thought we'd head down to Legoland.  WIth our passes, we have free parking and free entry, so even though I knew it would be crowded, it seemed like it would be fun.  I checked traffic before we were going to leave, and it turns out something major had happened along the only freeway we could reasonably take to get down there, and they were predicting 2 hour delays! Ugh.  We waited it out a bit, and then I checked traffic online again.  Sigalert.com was still showing major slowing, but the traffic cams made it look like things were flowing pretty well.  So we braved traffic.  I told the kids we might have to get off the freeway if it was awful and just figure something else out.  It ended up taking us about 45 min longer than usual (it's usually just under an hour), but Ethan slept part of that time so it wasn't too bad.  

It was SO crowded down there!  We saw the Halloween monster show (funny, not scary) and went on a ride, then walked around a bit.  We started thinking about dinner early, hoping to avoid some crowds, but even at 5:30 things were packed.  So I told them I would buy them a halloween rice krispy treat and then we would just drive to a nearby place so we would not have to wait as long.  We all ate the treat while we were walking to the car, and when we got to the car, I thought Jordan looked a little different.  I made him smile, and realized his tooth was gone!  He must have swallowed it!  He was DEVASTATED.  I felt awful.  Even I was sad that the tooth was gone without us having it, but I told him it was totally not a big deal.  He was convinced that the tooth fairy wouldn't leave him anything, and he was also sad because he really wanted to see his tooth.  I told him that since he would fall asleep in the car on the way home, we would wait til today (Sunday) to write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining what happened, and then we would put the letter under his pillow.  I promised him that the tooth fairy would still leave him a treat.  :)

At dinner, I really played up the "celebration" angle.  We had a nice meal and ordered two different desserts to share.  :)

He wrote his letter today, and it was super cute.  I'll take a photo and upload it later, along with a picture of his new grin!

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

I just found a few recipes randomly in my office, which probably means I meant to share them here!  This one is for a really yummy cinnamon bun pancake recipe.  I used the version on Bree's blog, which was (I think) slightly adapted from the Tasty Kitchen website.  (I originally saw it both places and thought it looked amazing!)

These are good as is, but with the frosting they really taste like cinnamon buns!  It's worth the extra effort (and calories), I promise!

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

2 Tablespoons maple syrup (or corn syrup)

1/4 cup melted butter

1 Tablespoon vanilla

 

Put all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Whisk the dry ingredients together.

Add the wet ingredients and whisk together until well combined.

Preheat a griddle or large saute pan over medium heat.  Cook until brown on both sides.

 

To make frosting:

1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar

2 Tablespoons melted butter

2 Tablespoons milk

 

Whisk the ingredients together until smooth and a pouring consistency.  If too thick, add more milk.  If too thin, add more powdered sugar.

Enjoy!