A random 2 weeks [part 1]

Another blogger I follow, recently went through the exercise of creating a daily journal for a random period of time to see if she could glean any learning/reflections about her life.  So, I thought I would do the same to see if I can learn something about my life as well, based on a random 2 week snapshot.  The first 5 days of my random 2 weeks are posted below:

Wednesday, November 7
5:45 Alarm begins to buzz.  I grunt and turn off the alarm.  Roll over.
6:00 Ryan's alarm begins to buzz.  He gets up dutifully and hops in the shower.  I roll over.
6:20 I finally roll out of bed and begin getting ready for work.
6:40 Feed/water Sophie.
6:45 Wake Henry, cuddle for a few minutes in the rocking chair, change his diaper and get him dressed.
7:00 Pack our bags and let Sophie outside.
7:08 Buckle up and head to Grandma O's house.
7:43 Leave Grandma O's house and head into work.
8:18 Arrive at the office.
12:30 Head out for a walk with Britney.
1:25 Return to the office.  Eat an apple and check messages.
1:42 Yippee, a flex day.  Pack my bag and head to to Grandma O's house.
2:03 Arrive at Grandma O's house to pick up Henry.  Chat with Grandma O, play blocks and drink a smoothie special just for me (by Grandma O, aka MY Mama). Yum.
2:50 Pack up and head home. Henry falls asleep in the car.
3:06 Arrive home and carry Henry up to bed for a nap.
3:10 Change clothes and go hunting for my ipod for a quick run (3 miles) on the treadmill.
3:54 Crack open the work laptop.
4:00 Quick break to chat with Ryan on the phone and watch 2 hours of The Voice in approximately 25 minutes (I love the DVR) while I try to prioritize my work to-do list.
4:30 Actually do some real work in earnest.
5:30 Make dinner, get Henry up from his nap, feed/water Sophie.
6:15 Read a book with Henry and put leftovers in the fridge.
6:30 Vacuum the entire house, including the stairs while Henry chases me with a car phone charger that he is pretending to a light saber or gun, can't tell which.
7:25 Play blocks, read 3 more books and play trains with Henry.
7:50 PJs, brush teeth, wash hands, vitamins and a few cuddles before Henry goes to sleep.
8:18 Lay Henry in his crib for the night.
8:20 Dishes and wipe down stove.  Take garbage and recycle out. 
8:45 Chat with Ryan on the phone.
8:55 Check email and Facebook.
9:10 Laundry
9:30 Shower
9:45 Crack open the work laptop.  Work for an hour.
11:00 Blog
11:15 Lights out.

Thursday, November 8
6:38 Whoops.  Slept through the alarm.  Jolt out of bed.  Get ready for work. 
6:52 Feed/water Sophie.  Make coffee.
6:56 Change and dress Henry.
7:03 Let Sophie out.  Pour coffee.  Pack bags.
7:16 Head to Grandma O's, who wanted to spend an extra day with Henry this week. 
7:40 Leave Grandma O's for the office.
8:18 Purchase a scone at a local bakery that is on my way from the parking lot to the office.
8:24 Arrive at office.
5:02 Leave office.
5:41 Arrive home, say hello to family and change clothes.
5:55 Start making dinner.  Ryan soon takes over...thank goodness because Henry really wants me to pay attention to him, and him only.
6:25 Put leftovers away.  Read books, play blocks, chase, trains, and tickle monster.
7:42 Begin bedtime routine with Henry.  More books, clean diaper, PJs, brush teeth, water.
8:12 Lay Henry in his crib for the night.
8:15 Change clothes, find a charged ipod (aka Ryan's ipod because mine is dead...surprise, surprise), run on the treadmill (5 miles!)
9:26 Dishes.  Speed watch an episode of The Voice.
9:50 Check email and Facebook.
10:02 Shower
10:20 Crack open the work laptop.  Work for about an hour.
11:20 Blog.
11:30 Good night.
12:15ish Ryan wakes me up after returning from an evening with friends to chat.  Although I am grateful my husband is at the core my friend (and desires to tell me all about his day/night), I am low on sleep this week and would be rather be sleeping this night! 
12:45 Still chatting and get up to use the restroom, which really wakes me up.
1:15 I can read the clock, so obviously I'm still awake.  Soonish, I fall asleep again.

Friday, November 9
6:40 Roll out of bed.  No rush today because it is FRIDAY.  TGIF!!! Get ready for work.
6:55 Feed/water Sophie.
7:00 Henry wakes up.  Cuddles in the rocking chair, change and get dressed.
7:10 Breakfast with Henry.
7:42 Leave for work.
8:15 Arrive at the office.
12:00 Pick up take out from a new Greek place. Work through lunch.
4:48 Leave work...yes a few minutes early.  Determined not to work tonight!
5:25 Pick up Thai take out for dinner.  Yes, I am determined not to cook today either!
5:42 Arrive home.
5:48 Feed/water Sophie. Let her out.
5:55 Have dinner with family.
6:25 Put leftovers away. 
6:30 Read books.  Play blocks and trains with Henry.
7:22 Surprise visit by our friends the Ripleys. Enjoy a beer.
8:00 Say good-bye and start a bath for Henry.  Night time routine (PJs, brush teeth, water etc.)
8:35 Lay Henry in his crib for the night.
8:38 Sit down on the couch with a slice of carrot cake.  Eat half and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.  Watch a little boob tube and chat with Ryan.
9:02 Surf the Internet for the perfect train set for Henry for Christmas.  I can't seem to make up my mind, but for whatever reason I've been obsessing about it.
9:35 Head upstairs to get ready for bed.
9:42 Climb into bed.  I actually made it into bed (and was asleep) by 10 this night!!!!  Blissful sleep!

Saturday, November 10
6:17 Roll out of bed.
6:20 Shower.
6:35 Feed/water Sophie.
6:45 Clean master bathroom. 
7: 10 Make coffee.
7:15 Clean downstairs bathroom.
7:32 Blog and enjoy a cup of coffee.
7:52 Henry wakes up and begins talking to himself.  I gave him 7-8 minutes (since he was content) to wake up by himself before I headed up.
8:00 Cuddles, change clothes and get dressed.
8:24 Prepare and eat breakfast with Henry.
9:00 Clean up from breakfast.
9:10 Laundry
9:25 Pack up and load into the car to run errands.   Henry loves to go "bye-bye" because it usually means he can run around and touch all sorts of new stuff.  "Shopping" is great fun for Henry, although, it is bit hard to keep him focused on the task at hand. I of course forget Henry's shoes on this trip (he likes to ride in the car without shoes so I don't always put them on before we leave).
9:40 Arrive at Target. Henry has to sit in the cart, which doesn't thrill him, but I gave him a few boxes to hold (which he proceeded to rip open...but I saved the barcodes so they could be scanned at checkout).
10:15 Arrive back home to unload car and pick up Henry's shoes.
10:35 Arrive at Fred Meyer.  Now Henry has his sneakers on so he take full advantage of being able to run.  "Shopping" is challenging this morning.  : )
11:15 Arrive at Grandma O/Grandpa Jim's house for a visit and lunch.  I regretfully can't remember the last time my dad has been able to spend time with Henry or me (maybe a few weeks...maybe a month...oh goodness I'm a horrible daughter) so I made it a point to schedule a visit.  Henry had a great time building a lego fort/castle with Grandpa Jim and then he was awesome (content, quiet, and a great eater) at the restaurant when we went to lunch.  Proud Mama! 
2:15 Pack up the car to return home.  Henry falls asleep in the car.
2:23 Arrive home.  Carry Henry up to bed for a nap.
2:30 Change clothes for a jog.
2:35 Procrastinate running and check Facebook instead.
2:50 Finally get on the treadmill for a run (made it 5 miles again today!)
3:50 Stretch, drink water, prepare a snack, and ponder doing some work.
4:00 Procrastinate working and pay bills and check email instead.
4:10 Ok, finally crack open the work laptop and work for an hour.
5:12 Blog (this daily journaling is time consuming!)
5:24 Think about what to make for dinner and wonder when that sleepy little man of mine is going to get up...it's been more than 3 hours!
5:35 Feed/water Sophie.
5:40 Wake Henry up.  Cuddle in the rocking chair for a couple minutes.  Read 7 books with Henry before convincing him to go downstairs for dinner.
6:15 Dinner with Henry.
6:50 Clean Henry up from dinner and put leftovers in the fridge. Help Henry set up a train track to play trains.  Play with tractors.
7:05 Laundry and change linens.  Henry loves it when I change the sheets on the bed.  When I change the sheets I put them on the floor in a pile as I put the cleans ones on the bed.  Henry likes to flop on the pile of sheets as if they were a pile of leaves, giggle and then say "ahhhhh." Read more books and watch Henry try to play tug-o-war with Sophie. 
7:40 Begin bedtime routine (clean diaper, PJs, brush teeth, vitamins, water).
7:55 Read more books.  I'm a complete sucker for that little boy asking me to read to him.
8:20 Lay Henry in his crib for the night.
8:25 Scrapbook (I am STILL not done with Henry's baby book.  I am determined to have it done before he is 2!!!)
9:15 Laundry.  Start doing the dishes.
9:30 Talk to Ryan on the phone.
10:00 Finish dishes.
10:15 Take garbage out.
10:25 Shower.
11:00 Ease into bed and drift off to blissful sleep.

Sunday, November 11
7:25 Wake up to Henry's sweet voice.  Lay in bed and just listen to him.  Precious.  (Ahhh...I actually got 8 hours of sleep.)
7:35 Get up, get dressed.
7:40 Get Henry up, changed, dressed.
7:50 Read books with Henry in the rocking chair.
8:24 Head downstairs and make breakfast.
9:00 Clean up from breakfast. 
9:10 Play trains, blocks, chase, race cars, pictures pages and whatever else Henry wants to play with Mama.
11:15 Ryan comes home, we pack up the car and head to New Season's to pick up a few items for dinner.
12:15 Arrive back home and make lunch.
12:40 Clean up from lunch.
12:45 Read books, free play with Henry.
1:50 Lay Henry in his crib for a nap.
2:00 Head out for some Christmas shopping (yes, I am determined to be done before the madness sets in). 
3:35 Arrive back home.
3:40 Prep veggies for dinner.
4:00 Surf the Internet for Christmas ideas for my parents.
4:25 Get Henry up.  Read a few books and free play.
5:15 Feed Henry dinner while Ryan makes a special dinner for us.  Enjoy a glass of red wine (I can't remember the last time I had a glass of wine with Ryan).
5:50 Clean Henry up and put his dinner leftovers away.
6:10 Sit down to dinner with Ryan (flatiron steak with blue cheese and chantrelle and shitake mushrooms, zucchini and onions with Parmesan for a side).  Absolutely scrumptious!
6:30 Put leftovers away and play blocks with Henry.
7:00 Laundry.
7:10 Read a few more books and play tractors with Henry.
7:25 Bath time for Henry.
7:50 Lay Henry down in his crib for the night.
7:52 Dishes and wipe down kitchen.
8:25 Watch a movie with Ryan.
10:40 Shower
11:05 Climb into bed.
12:10 Still awake and looking at the clock.  Trouble sleeping.  Drift off to sleep shortly.

Friday Thanks

I have many things to be grateful for these days.  Below are some highlights.

* Birthday parties.  Henry attended a birthday party last Friday for his friend Brae (my dear friend Britney's son), which was at Playdate PDX.  What a fun place to have a birthday party.  Henry had an absolute BLAST.  Anytime Henry has a good time, Mama has a good time.  His joy makes my heart sing.  And, the red velvet cupcakes were scrumptious.

* Tractorfest.  My friend Emilie hosted a visit to her farm last weekend.  Her husband, Farmer Thomas, farms 1200 acres in the Forest Grove/Banks area.  Henry was in complete awe of the dozen+ tractors, chickens, cows, pickup trucks, four-wheelers and EXPANSIVE green space.  It rained the entire time, but it didn't phase Henry in the least!  Then Emilie invited us into her house where Henry found a few model tractors that Emilie let him play with.  They were the old metal style toys like I had when I was a kid.  Henry LOVED them. Mama could totally get used to that lifestyle...if only money were no issue.

* The start of the UP basketball season.  GO PILOTS!!!  Keep the purple pride strong.

*  Visit to Powells as a family.  Henry loves bookstores like his Mama does.  He loves books and he loves to run around.  He was in seventh heaven because he was able to run around and read lots of books.  AND, he talked Mama into buying him another tractor book to take home with him (like we really needed another one!). 

* Mom's cooking.  My mom still makes me my favorite foods.  This week she made me a korean noodle dish one day and korean style jello another day.  There is something special about mom's cooking.  I'm sure it is the love it is made with. And I love her.

* Halloween.  Ryan surprised me with a visit to the office with Henry.  He was a complete ham, smiling at all the ladies in the office.  We enjoyed dinner with our friends and trick-or-treating that evening.  It is fun to create new traditions with Henry.

* New words.  Henry's new words include "butt," "wa wa" (for water), and "baapa" (for backpack).  He is trying to mimic more and more words every day.  And lots of sounds. When we were at Emilie's farm, when Henry saw the chickens, he pointed to them and said "bauck bauck." SUPER cute.

* Homemade clam chowder, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, korean style flank steak, roasted root veggies, and sauteed brussel sprouts (with bacon, green onions and pine nuts).  Dishes made with love by this Mama for her family this past week.

* Dinner at a favorite Thai restaurant with the family after a long week at work AND salted caramel ice cream for dessert.  YUM!

* Ryan shaved his mustache, just for me!

Adventures, Celebrations and Precious Moments

Henry still loves to climb up the stairs by himself.  He's always so proud of himself when he reaches the top.

 Goodness.  This smile is a cure to any bad day.

 Mama's little helper.

 Ooooohhhhh...digger.  Oooooohhhhh...roar.  Ooooohhhhhh....

Grandma Sherry helped create sticker art with Henry last weekend.  Henry has studied his masterpiece everyday since then.

 Henry love trains.  This particular train is his new favorite toy.

 Sittin' in Daddy's chair enjoying some snacks while watching the game.

 How do I get this thing to move forward!?!

 Now, this is FUN.

 Mama, I can climb the ladder like a big boy.

 Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

 Mama, I can navigate the slide all by myself.

Henry went to visit Grandma Sherry at school on Halloween to participate in the costume parade with cousins Stella and Mason.

This expression cracks me up.

Hmm...what does this button do on Mama's work computer???  Ryan brought Henry by on Halloween to visit Mama at work.  Henry loves to push buttons.  Mama's work computer keyboard was no exception.  I think everything still works.

Mama may be partial, but Henry may be the best looking UPS delivery man there ever was.



Trick-or-treat!!!  Daddy, go FASTER.

Mama, you're crazy!  Happy Halloween to everyone!!!

20 Months

Henry's imagination is really starting to bloosom, which is so fun to witness.  He likes to play pretend (in this case with a spatula) and tell stories (none of which I can understand because he tells them in Henrinese).

Run, run, run.  This boy is ACTIVE!!!  He's fast too.  Man oh man it is hard to keep up with him, in particular if he has a flat, expansive area to run (like an aisle at Home Depot). 

And GOOFY.  Such a joy!

Other observations:

Henry doesn't like to wear socks unless sneakers are paired with them for a trip outside.  He much prefers to go barefoot.  Henry has become a bit finicky about the length of his clothes. For example, if his pants are too long and he starts to walk on them, he will stop, point to his feet or pull at the bottom of his pant legs, grunt and look up at me.  He clearly wants them rolled up, but not too high.  If your roll them too high he'll pull them back down and we start the whole process over again.  Same thing with long sleeves. 

He loves dips, sauces and condiments.  Funny because Daddy doesn't like them at all!  He now will say "di, di, di" (for "dip") and make the motion of dipping.  He likes to eat cucumbers with hummus or hot sauce (korean bean paste style), pancakes and waffles with syrup, turkey sandwiches with mayo, scrambled eggs with ketchup, toast with butter, peanut butter, or jam, chips with guacamole.  Try to serve any of these items plain and they will not pass Henry's lips.  He also will not eat leftovers.  How he knows something is from the day before, I do not know, but he does and he will not eat them.  Strawberries, grapes and oranges are his favorite fruits these days and smoked salmon remains his favorite meat.

His favorite toys remain his blocks (lego style) and cars/trucks/tractors.  He has also recently taken a great interest in airplanes and helicopters.  He is such a boy!

Friday Thanks

Five things I am grateful for this week:

1. Grandpa Keith.  My father-in-law gave me the gift of 22 hours of no responsibility last weekend, by taking Henry over night for a little grandson-grandpa bonding time.  Grandma Sherry was at the beach and Ryan was at work, so I had no one to be accountable to.  It was GLORIOUS.  I hightailed it to McMinnville to spend the day with my two dear friends, Jen and Shannon.  AND, I finally got to watch Brady play soccer.  He even made a goal!!!

2.  Rain.  I am a true Oregonian.  I actually really like the rain and grey skies.  It has a calming effect on me.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the sun too (especially on a cool crisp fall day when it is around 60 degrees and blue skies), but I dig the rain.

3.  Squash.  Fall brings some of my favorite foods, squash and sweet potatoes.  I made the first batch of butternut squash mac n' cheese with spinach and sausage of the season.  Delicious!  Comfort food makes me happy (especially when I can "hide" some veggies to make a dish a bit more nutritious without compromising the scrumptiousness).

4.  Playdates.  I have mentioned before that we have amazing neighbors.  Last weekend I watched all the kids.  It was so much fun watching Henry try to mimic everything Micah (almost 4) did and then watch Micah try to impress me by doing tricks.Maddie (6) convinced us all at one point to have a singing/dance contest.  It was a hoot.  She sang songs about love and kindness while doing ballet, Micah sang rap songs about rockets while break-dancing, and Henry providing back-up "vocals" while doing happy-feet.  Then it was my turn.  I told Maddie that I didn't know the words to any songs and she replied "c.o.m.e. o.n! ... you must know the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  I indeed do know the words to that song, so I sang it while Henry played sleigh bells and Micah played the recorder.  It was AWESOME!

5.  Snuggles.  Henry is a very, very, very active boy these days.  There are few moments now when he wants to slow down long enough to snuggle with his Mama, if even for 30 seconds.  He's fine with sitting next to me while we read books, but he doesn't want to cuddle.  But this morning, I got a rare gift. About 4 minutes of snuggles in the rock chair right after Henry woke up.  Precious and cherished.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch on Wednesday this week.  I took a few hours off of work so we could take advantage of the dry weather and middle of the week light foot/car traffic (the weekends at the Pumpkin Patch are a zoo this time of year).  I am most content during moments like these when we share new experiences as a family, building memories and traditions.

Look Mama!!!  There's goats!

Goin' for a cow ride.  Fun times, but oh so bumpy!

Quick, get your picture because I don't want to stand with the pumpkins! Henry + lots of stimulation + nap time = no smiles for Mama.  He was actually pretty content at the pumpkin patch, but every time I took out the camera he would give me his serious face or wave his arms and give me his squish face. 

Henry's strong and a great helper.  He lifted his pumpkin all by himself.

Happy Times

 His smile gets me every time.  It is irresistible.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little dude!!!

 Henry likes shoes now.  In particular Daddy's shoes.

Henry has been working on mimicking noises, mainly animal noises.  They include "oof, oof" for dog, "vvvvvvvvvvv" for airplane while he swirls his arm in the air, "rrrrrrrrr" for car, "zzzzzz, zzzzz" for bee, "nyuuuu, nyuuuuu" for cow, "wooooar" for dinosaur, and some unintelligible sound for duck.  No new words as of late, but I am encouraged he is trying to mimic more noises.  Plus, it is just too cute hearing him make the sounds for the various animals, bugs and things that move.

Bonk!  Henry is like a mini wrecking ball.  He is constantly running into things, scraping up his knees, tripping over his feet etc.  Just when one cut/bruise/scratch heals, three more arrive.  I suppose it is a sign that he's a very active boy, but he's starting to look a little like a boxer....who lost the match.

Buckles are great fun.  Henry is still incredibly inquisitive and loves to figure out how things work.  He doesn't quite have the grip strength to undo this buckle, so Mama has to lend a helping hand (like 25 times in a row).

My precious baby boy is growing up to be quite the little man.  It's completely bittersweet!  I wish I could bottle up these precious early days so I could indulge in them forever.