Norm

Norm was our dog, she (yes Norm is a girl) was put down today. Normandy was 16 years old. When we went to the pet store to pick her out, it was on a whim, really Nick had finally pestered my parents so long about getting an iguana they just wanted to shut him up. I have no idea how we went into the pet shop for an iguana and came out with a puppy, but we did. Norm was the chubbiest puppy in her litter, she was also the calmest puppy in her littler (sound like a character from Cheers?). We found out her birthday was the day after the anniversary of D-Day... So the best name for her was Normandy, and we called her Norm for short.

She went on her first backpacking trip when she was a puppy, she even had her own backpack. When we (the humans) went for a swim in a trail-side pond, Norm was so protective of us she jumped in the pond (without ever having been swimming before). Of course when she got out to us, she nearly drowned us! Near the end of our week long trip we hiked 12 (?) miles the last 4 miles were up a steep slope of sand and rock. Norm led the way...

Norm was an amazing camper and backpacker. She was also a wonderful walking partner. She and I would walk the entire outer perimeter of Coronado, several times a week while I was in high school.

My most favorite memories of Norm are from more recently. When I moved home from school I began to notice that when Norm and I were home alone, no matter how sick she was, she would position herself between me and the door. Norm was a very protective dog... ok so she thought she was and put up a good front. But when it came down to it her bark was worse than her bite. She sent more than one delivery person running out of or jumping over our front gate!


Norm had a very expressive face, and I will miss seeing it when I come home. After battling cancer for 2 yrs, she finally decided she couldn't do it anymore. She stopped eating and drinking. The last two days she struggled to stand up. I'm glad she's no longer in pain. I love my dog. I miss her.


I wish I had a picture of her on my computer so I could post it with this.

He walked!

Tuesday Gryph took his first steps, to me!
We were playing in the living room, Jon and I were watching Gryph put "his" (appropriated from the kitchen)blue sauce pot on his head. He put the pot down and stood up to look in his toy basket. Being the silly mom I am, I mimicked him. Gryph thought it was silly and tried to take the pot from me, in doing so he reached for me and took 2 steps to get closer to me! I bawled! I was so happy for him, but also so sad to see him step further away from being a baby! (pun intended)
Jon has been trying to call Gryph a "toddler" for the last 4 or 5 months, ever since he started crawling. I've always argued that he hasn't officially toddled, well now he has, so now he's a toddler!
After the first two steps he took two more to me. We tried to get him to walk to Jon, but he kept sitting down. We let him rest and 15 minutes later he took 7 steps to Jon and the blue pot! He did this in front of our friend Scass (not his first name) and I cried... again... and then got teased for being such a sappy mom!
In the last two days he's gotten really daring and has taken a step away from me towards something else. But only one step. In no time he's going to be running circles around me and I'm going to be hating that he's not crawling.

In the mean time I guess I should by him some shoes!

I can't find pants!

Why don't clothing companies make pants that fit a bigger girl? Why do they make plus sized clothes in "low rise"? Nobody wearing a size 16 or larger should be wearing low rise pants!
I'm trying to find decent looking, resonably priced shorts and pants for the summer... and everything that would be flattering on me is LOW RISE! I spend most of my day bent over, I don't need to show off my crack to the whole world.


Ugh. I just needed to rant.

Mommy bragging time!

So I haven't talked much about my son, Gryphon. He's the light of my life and has been doing some pretty amazing things recently.

1. He has 8 teeth, the two on either side of his bottom two middle teeth came in 2 weeks ago!

2. He has stood unassisted 4 times, we keep trying to find ways to get him to stand but he's not falling for them.

3. He bear crawls! Hands and Toes! It's so cute to see his little butt so high in the air. I've heard this is a step closer to walking!

4. Gryph stacks blocks!!! So far he has made stacks of 2 and 3 blocks. It's amazing and he's so cute when he places one block on top of the other, he'll look at us and clap. So, of course we clap for him.

5. We received this wonderful shape sorting cube from one of my Aunt and Uncles in NJ. The day that we got it Gryph was able to pop the shapes into the correct holes! I was floored! He needs a lot of help matching the shape to the hole, but will turn the pieces until they are the right direction and will put them into the hole. It's amazing to see his concentration, he plays with this toy for up to 20 minutes...quite a while for a 10 month old.

6. Gryph's working on new sounds, he has down B, D, S, A, O, and now V! The face he makes when he does the V sound is the cutest thing I've ever seen! Along with these new sounds are new sound combos that make it sound like he's talking. I swear he said "Nap" after I asked if he was ready for his nap, I asked several times, just to be sure. When I laid him down he fell right to sleep! He also loves to pull Jon's socks out of the sock drawer,and says something that sounds quite a lot like "socks".

7. Finally his new favorite game is to blow rasberries (or zerbits) on my belly! These little play sessions can last 15 minutes, I'm amazed that he hasn't hyperventilated! Again he makes the cutest faces when he comes up for breath!

Gryph also loves being outside! So much so that if he sees an open door then he runs (crawls with lightning speed!) for the door and cries if the door is closed before he can get out it! He can also play for more than an hour outside, and still make a fuss when it's time to go in! I'm very excited for when he gets older and wants to play outside instead of sittitng inside playing video games.

I think that's enough bragging for now! I can't help it, I'm so PROUD of my baby boy!!!!

Something so funny, that I realized a few weeks ago

Before moving to South Carolina I HATED reality tv, especially shows about rich people that are superficial and waste their money on stupid things...

Now that I'm here I've been watching almost all of the reality shows I hated. I am so grossed out by myself. Then I started thinking about why I watch the shows, here's what I came up with:

I HAVE NO DRAMA IN MY LIFE!

That's right, there's no work drama, no friend drama, no mama drama. I'm a drama free person, but my subconcious is having a hard time accepting my drama free life. So it's seeking out stupid reality shows. I now watch both Real Housewives, American Idol, Chopped, Hell's Kitchen, Sober House, and yes I've watch 2 episodes of Real World (ugh!). I also love all of the competition reality shows on Bravo...even Make Me a Super Model.

HELP MY BRAIN IS TURNING INTO MUSH AS I TYPE!!!

But how nice is it to know I have no drama in my life? Pretty cool.

Home sick

Now that I have my tickets home, and now that I am going home I am getting SUPER homesick! I keep day dreaming about all of the places I want to go, and the food I want to eat, and the people I want to see. I'm so excited to be able to go to Concert in the Park, and to celebrate Gryphon's first birthday with our family and friends. Not to mention we'll be in town for Jon's brother's (Luke) 30th (?) birthday and my mom's __ birthday!

I'm also extremely nervous to fly, alone with a one year old. That's right when Gryphon and I come home he will be one! We have one seat for the two of us....he can't stand to sit still for longer than 3 seconds! I'm not sure how he's going to handle two planes and a 3 hour layover. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it. I don't think I'll be drinking anything before the second, and longest, flight; the idea of leaving Gryph in the seat while I go to the bathroom or trying to fit both of us in the airplane bathroom seems a little rediculous.

Fortunatly for me, a good friend is flying with her one year old this week. I'm hoping to benefit from her experiences.

OH HAPPY NIGHT!

So 2 months ago I had to stop nursing Gryphon....it was a very hard and sad time for me. I had always thought that I would nurse my baby to his first birthday, if not longer. My milk production slowed drastically after the "Mad Dash" cross country drive from SD to Goose Creek. I was giving Gryph more bottles than I wanted because it was easier and faster to bottle feed him in the car. If I oculd do it all over I would never have given him formula, I would have waited for my milk to come in, and had a cranky baby for a few days. (Now I know for next time)

So when Gryph turned 7 months, I had to stop nursing him.
TONIGHT I was getting into the shower and noticed some milk plugs (I'm not going to explain for those of you who don't know, it's kinda TMI). So I decided to clean them out, and as I was squeezing....Milk came out! So I took my shower, and I felt let down (not sad).... I decided to try to express after I got out of the shower.
I was successful.... well sort of. I got enough out from each side to cover the bottom of a bottle. That bottle is now in the fridge with water in it to keep the milk from going sour over night. Tomorrow Gryphon is getting some of mommy's goodness with his morning bottle!!

I am so excited. I felt like a failure as a mom when I had to stop nursing him early. Now I feel better.