The holidays are here!

So, it's been a while. A little too long. Where do I start! Kian's been sick almost all Fall! uggghhh! On antibiotics now for a nasty rash around his mouth for the past month AND sinus infection! It's all finally going away, thank God! Runny nose+mouth rash=notsohappybaby! When he is in a good mood, he is soooo much fun! But he seems to be going through some cranky times again. Maybe it's the whole "being sick" thing, I hope. or teething. Who knows! Nevertheless, we love him and enjoy spending as much time playing with him as possible.

Kian is such a curious, bright, inquisitive little guy. His favorite things are things he's never seen before. He cracked me up this morning when he took the remote control from me and put it in the entertainment center on top of the vcr...slightly out of his view. Within a minute or two, he forgot where it was and started wandering in circles, looking for it! He even put his hand on his head and scratched! It was so cute!

Today, he saw some new Christmas decoration that I bought was sitting up on top of a couple of tubs of decorations, just out of his reach. He rolled his little wooden train over to the tubs (which is about 4 inches tall), stood on top of it, and reached for the bells! He still couldn't reach them, but it gave us a giggle!

Lately he loves rocking chairs. He climbs into any of the 4 rockers we have in the house (one of them being his) and smiiiiiiles while he rocks away! He's gotten somewhat more affectionate lately, too, and this is often when we get hugs, kisses, and snuggles from him, which we haven't had for a loooooong time!

We had a great thanksgiving 'brunch' with the Bray's in Anacortes (the BEST baked french toast EVER!) We spent some time with Grandma, Grandpa, Jodie, Mayson, Carla, James, Jackie and her two boys Tony and Carter. I even tried taking the three little boys outside to play but there was too much wind, too much dog poo, and nothing to play with!

From there we drove to Stanwood for dinner with my family. We watched Kian with an eagle eye on the way there, hoping and praying for a nap between family functions-half hour was the best we could get. We saw Russ, Kari, and Carter, along with Grandpa Gary, Tim, Anita, Vicki, Brad, Brooke, Ashley, Brittney, Scotti, Jason, Barb, and Matt. It was a little quiet there, without my cousin Ingrid's family since they moved to California. Brooke, Carter, and a slightly whiny Kian kept us entertained, though!

Today, we met Vicki and the girls at Santa's Den in Marysville for our annual trip to see "THE REAL SANTA!" The girls have been seeing him for about 20 years, and now we've joined the tradition. We even had their dog, Chloe, and our Maggie there! It was fun, although Kian didn't want to have much to do with Santa...mostly just wanted us, not that he was afraid of Santa. Just a little fussy today.

yet another cold!

Kian and I are both sick...AGAIN! What is with this?! I go years without a fall cold, and now I'm on my 2nd one a few weeks into fall! I could blame it on Kian being in daycare, but hello...I teach! I think I have plenty of germs around there! This one has hit me harder than the last one. Last night my nose was COMPLETELY stuffed, like during my csection, and it scared me. That sounds weird, but true. I am missing 6 conferences today, and I'm hoping I'm feeling at least a little better tomorrow, since I have about 10 conferences and I don't want to reschedule those!

We are trying to prepare for daylight savings time with him. He almost always goes to bed around 6 or 6:30. We've been trying to push him out to 6:30-7 instead. He is still waking somewhat early, some days it's 4 or 4:30, but more often it's 5:30. Wonder what this weekend will bring!

I just heard some interesting news yesterday about a guy that I met at the Y a few years ago. He flirted with me, made me feel like he was 'interested', etc. I thought maybe it would lead to a date, at least. But, things got weird, his live in girlfriend got ahold of my email and told me to leave him alone. Nuff said! He disappeared for a while, then showed up a little and things were awkward, but I met Jeff shortly after that and life went on! Now I find out that he may be a convicted child molester living under the radar! This is what I've learned...most of the disappointments in my past are there for a reason. Either I learned something valuable from them, or they just weren't meant to be! Thanks, God!