KerryAndGabe.com

Something that makes me happy: Playing games with friends!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about when our next games night will be…

Something happening around the house: We had about 40 people at our house yesterday for games “night!” I am pretty sure that’s a record attendance for us! Wow! Gabe didn’t expect for Kentucky to be in the Final Four, so he lost some gaming time while he was watching the game by himself in the bedroom (it was too stressful to watch with people!).

Something I’m reading: I decided not to read A Clash of Kings at the moment and started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I didn’t give myself much time to read this week as I was focusing on my photobooks. I finished my first volume for 2010. I am pretty sure I will need 2 more volumes. I maxed out the first 12×12 volume at 101 pages.

Something I’m watching: Baseball’s opening day was this week, so too much baseball was on our TV. Gabe’s sad that he got the internet baseball package instead of getting the better DirecTV package.

Something I’m playing: I actually got to play some games yesterday. Yay! I played Expedition, Klunker, two games of Mosaix, Taboo, Wordigo, and half a game of Set. I feel like I’m forgetting something else that I played… I haven’t played Set in a few years, so I was a little rusty. I downloaded the iPhone app this morning, so maybe I can get some practice before my next match.

Something tasty: I’m hoping that the beef stew that we have cooking in the crockpot will be tasty. It smells good!

Something Maddie is doing (37 months old): Earlier today, Cullen and Maddie were eating by themselves at the table. Cullen got to the point in the meal where he starts throwing food on the floor. Maddie gently and firmly said to him, “Cullen, that is not OK. Don’t throw food on the floor. Look me in the eye, Cullen. It is not OK to do that. You need to do the right thing.” Ha! I guess she is actually listening sometimes. I think she’s still having a rough time with her transition at preschool. This week we had a bit of a breakthrough with dinner. She is so wiggly, and we have to tell her over and over to sit still and to stay in her seat. Early this week, she was driving me crazy with all the times I had to tell her to get back into her chair. She has started picking up Cullen’s straw cup when he throws it (and he’ll do that over and over). It’s sweet the first few times, but then Maddie doesn’t focus on her dinner. So, I gave her a couple of playing cards and told her that every time she gets up from the chair, she has to give me a card. She can watch Mickey Mouse before bedtime only if she has a card left at the end of the meal. When she asks to be excused from the table, she has to scrape her plate into the trash (she was getting mad when we threw her food away after she said she was done). It worked like a charm!! She now gets 3 cards at the beginning of dinner, and if she has one card left at the end, she gets to watch Mickey Mouse before bed. If she has all 3 cards (and she eats a good dinner), then she gets a special treat like a couple of jelly beans or mini marshmallows. The last two times we have done this, she had all 3 cards left at the end of the meal. This is a huge breakthrough for us! I hope it lasts.

Something Cullen is doing (14 months old): Cullen is practically running now. We are amused by how he just decided last Sunday that walking was the thing to do, and now he barely crawls at all. It’s so cute to see him toddling around! He added some more words this week. Some of his new words this week were water, more, star, hat, box, and bubbles. I’ve also forgotten to mention that he points and says, “that” often. This morning, he pointed to Annabelle and said, “Annaboo” which was about the cutest thing ever. He said it multiple times throughout the day. It was adorable. He’s been crankier than usual off and on this past week. It may be due to the cold he has had or teething (his top two teeth are through the gums) or another ear infection. He had a few rough nights this week, too. He’s loving on stuffed animals and the dolls more. He will also pass them to us and say, “awwww,” urging us to hug the doll or stuffed animal and say, “awwwwwww.” This evening, I was blowing raspberries on his chubby baby cheeks, and he was giggling and loving it. He kept turning his cheek to me so that I could do it again. Then he gave me a series of wet, slobbery kisses all over my face. Extreme cuteness is sometimes messy.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: The Walk MS event is this week. I contacted another local company this week in the hopes that they do fundraising events. I haven’t heard back from them yet. More on that later, if it pans out… We are still quite a ways away from our $8,000 goal. I hope that we will get some last minute donations this week.

Something I learned: I learned a couple new games.

Something I’m looking forward to: Walk MS!

Something captured: Maddie made a necklace at school and put it on Cullen after school.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Getting caught up with thank you notes from Cullen’s birthday and from Team B-Patrol donations received so far. I’m going to try to keep up with those better this year.

Something I’m thinking: I’ve been thinking about our mortgage and kinda wishing that we hadn’t refinanced into a 15 year mortgage in mid-2009. We have a great rate, at least! A 15-year mortgage does make for a hefty mortgage payment, though…

Something I’m hoping: I hope that we can meet our fundraising goals for Team B-Patrol this year. I’ve been working on some of my fundraising efforts this weekend.

Something happening around the house: We had games night yesterday. Yay! The train table is currently in the living room so that we would have room for card tables in the library. It’s something different for the kids right now, but we won’t be keeping the train table there permanently!

Something I’m reading: I finished Mockingjay, yay! Now I’m ready for our book club meeting next week when we’ll be discussing The Hunger Games series as well as Rebecca. I started on Still Alice, which is our selection for March. I’m looking forward to getting back to books on the kindle, but the last few books have been print ones. Gabe is reading Nurture Shock. I’m glad that he wanted to read it, and I’m looking forward to reading that one, too! Of course, it’s another print book that we already own. Gabe will be getting his kindle tomorrow!!! He should have received it on Thursday, but UPS screwed up and “lost” our package. Gabe didn’t know about it until Saturday when I told him why I was so anxious to receive the amazon package. I’m sure he wondered why I was itching to get the diaper bag that we ordered!

Something I’m watching: I’m watching the Grammy Awards while writing this. I don’t usually watch them, but everyone on Facebook kept writing updates, so I felt like checking it out.

Something I’m playing: We played Tikal on Friday night. That was the first time that I had played that one in years. Yesterday, at our games night, I played Dominion twice (the first time we had a card combination that did not work well! the second time was more fun) and Agricola. That was the first time that I had played Agricola since TBGT. What a difference it made to play by the correct scoring rules! We were all learning or relearning, so almost everyone was able to redo something due to a misunderstanding of the rules. I am very interested in playing Agricola sometime where everyone has played at least once. I think it will make a big difference.

Something tasty: I’m back on dairy products again! This is the first time in a while that I was able to eat the pizza at games night. I’m still trying to consume dairy products in moderation, but it seems like Cullen is doing well with it.

Something Maddie is doing (35 months old): Maddie drew me a picture of our family for the first time this week. It was adorable, and I’m planning on a separate post about it (though I know I often have intentions and then don’t get around to doing it). This afternoon, Maddie created Valentine’s for all of her classmates. She drew a picture of each classmate, sometimes with herself, sometimes with other kids, sometimes by themselves. She decorated with stickers and told me what the kids were doing in the pictures. I loved them all! She has started showing more interest in writing her letters. Most of her letters don’t end up looking like anything, but she has been able to copy some of my examples. She’s been very sweet with her little brother this week. She tells him everything is going to be ok when he’s crying, and she gets toys and books for him. One night this week, she started crying not long after she went to bed. She said, “I need my Mommy…and my Daddy…and my baby brother!” It was very sweet!

Something Cullen is doing (12 months old): Cullen has had a rough week, poor little guy. He had a fever for several days, so we were home together from school and work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. He felt pretty miserable for several of those days. We went to the doctor for a total of 3 times, and we’ll have a follow up in a few weeks. He was first diagnosed with croup. The following day, he was diagnosed with an ear infection in his left ear, in addition to his croup/cold (which may have been RSV). On Tuesday night, his fever came back and he was diagnosed with a double ear infection on Wednesday (and it obviously wasn’t responding to the first antibiotic). He seems like he is feeling much better. He hated both antibiotics (and is still taking the second one). We are giving him just the augmentin (the one that he didn’t respond to was the cefdinar). He has been putting objects inside of containers a lot lately. He’s loving the game of putting things into things and taking them out again. He has been having fun putting together blocks and is so proud of himself. He loves walking with the walker wagon and riding in the walker wagon. Maddie and Cullen had a lot of fun when we put both portable booster seats on the floor. Maddie arranged them like a “train” and both kids sat and laughed in the train. Cullen is doing great with the introduction to dairy! I’ve decided to stop pumping, since he should be ok with cow’s milk at school. We’re doing a combination of cow’s milk and coconut milk to supplement the breastmilk that he will be receiving for a few more days. He’s still nursing at lunch during the school day and in the evenings and at night (and during the day when we’re at home together). I was very thankful that we were still nursing when he was sick earlier this week. It’s so easy to comfort him and ensure that he’s getting enough nourishment when he doesn’t feel well.

Something I am struggling with: Laryngitis! I lost my voice about an hour before games night started. I don’t feel too bad, otherwise, though I had a much needed nap today (thanks to my awesome hubby). I’m sure it helped me to get some extra rest. I still don’t have my voice back!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I had my final cake decorating class this week. I had so much fun with the class, and I look forward to making more fun cakes. I’m planning to make the cake (and cupcakes?) for Maddie’s party in a couple weeks, a cake for my sister’s birthday (she requested one), a baby shower cake, and my nephew’s graduation cake. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of other cake making opportunities to try out my new skills! I started more fundraising efforts this week for Team B-Patrol‘s fundraising for the National MS Society.

Something I learned: I know I’m late to the party, but Pandora is pretty cool. I finally started using it in the past week or so. I haven’t exactly “discovered” any new music this way, but I have bookmarked some stuff that I want to possibly purchase.

Something I’m looking forward to: Maddie’s 3rd birthday and the start of our celebrations for her!

Something random: Cullen loves playing with the remote. Sometimes, he records random stuff on our DVR. This week, he recorded America’s Funniest Videos and Dr. Phil.

Something captured: We had snow this week – just the right amount! Most of the snow had melted by lunch. I took this one with my iPhone using the 100 cameras app.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Pajama days!

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about all the things on my personal “to do” list including address some thank you notes from Christmas (yes, I’m slow, but I did manage to write them!), write some thank you notes for Cullen’s birthday, write/send Maddie’s birthday party invites, write Cullen’s 1-year letter, and countless tasks with photos and video.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to get some more blog posts written soon. I was really on a roll with writing up posts and scheduling them several days in advance. Unfortunately, I’ve run out of prescheduled posts.

Something happening around the house: We hosted Cullen’s 1st birthday party yesterday. We had a great time celebrating Little Man’s birthday!

Something I’m reading: I’m about 70% through The Girl Who Played with Fire (thanks to the kindle for letting me know the percentage). I’m more into the book now, but I swear both books have taken forever to get interesting. I hear that I’m going to have to read the next one since this one ends in a cliffhanger or something…so I guess I’ll read it, too. I’m loving the kindle!!! I’m probably going to read Mockingjay (in printed book form, sadly) next since our book club plans to discuss the series at our February meeting. We’re also supposed to read Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. I wish it was on kindle! I did manage to borrow a copy from a friend, but I haven’t gotten the motivation to start it yet.

Something I’m watching: We’ve been watching more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse this week. Maddie has been more interactive with the show. She always says, “Oh, Toooooooodles….” when it’s time to use a mousekatool. She answers some of their questions, too. It’s pretty cute! And, of course we always do the hot dog dance at the end!

Something I’m playing: We played Euchre with my parents. We also found a renewed interest in Angry Birds on our iPhones. I played a little on my mom’s iPad, too. We got my dad hooked on it!

Something tasty: I think I ate too much cake and buttercream frosting this week.

Something Maddie is doing (35 months old): We had orientation for her preschool this week. We are excited (and a little nervous) about this upcoming change. We assume that she will be moving up to the preschool shortly after her birthday next month. She keeps talking about how she’s going to go to Children’s House when she’s 3. I’m not sure that she quite understands what all that means, but she does know that some of her friends have moved up to Children’s House. It’s a big deal in the 2-year old room. She has also been talking about who she wants to invite to her party. She wants to invite all the girls and 3 boys. She’s very specific about this. And, she wants a cake with purple icing. I guess I’m going to have to make her a special side cake as I’m planning to make the Winnie the Pooh cake for her to match the theme.

Something Cullen is doing (12 months old): He’s now a big ONE YEAR OLD! I can’t believe it. We had a party on Saturday with a few of his classroom buddies and family and friends. I think that Cullen had a good time. Cullen is a big eater, and I thought for sure that he would dig into his smash cake and make a huge mess. He barely got his fingers dirty. He didn’t get any cake on his face. We opened up the cake for him after a little bit, and he ate some of it. He still didn’t make a big mess. Oh, well! Cullen has been eating huge meals this week. He still loves chicken the best. Cullen often eats more chicken than his sister. There isn’t much that he won’t eat, and he gets excited when you bring food to his tray almost regardless of what it is. He especially gets excited for the coconut yogurt and applesauce. He didn’t take any more steps this week, but is cruising like crazy and walking with the walker wagon. His new trick is to climb into the walker wagon where he will sit waiting for someone to push him (and sometimes stand). Today, he climbed in and out of the wagon probably 30 times. He’s doing more climbing at school and apparently is peering down into the other babies’ cribs at naptime and tries to wake them. He has climbed the bookshelves and the lunch table. If the teachers don’t get him out of his chair when he wants out, he takes matters into his own hands and climbs onto the table. These are sure signs that he’s ready to move up to the toddler room! I’m a little nervous about him moving up before he can walk, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. He will probably be motivated to walk once he sees all the other kids doing it.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I attended my first cake class which gave me just enough information to do Cullen’s birthday cake. My second cake class is tomorrow.

Something I learned: This whole cake decorating thing is a bit of an investment. It’s also quite tedious!!! I’m still planning to do a cake for Maddie’s birthday, but I now know I better take a vacation day to prepare that one, too. I’m very glad I decided to take Friday off to work on Cullen’s cake. Preschool orientation took up most of the morning, but the rest of the day was spent baking and icing.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m looking forward to my second cake decorating class and to book club! I just realized today that book club is this week.

Something random: One of the ladies in the cake class was also in our birthing class over 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Maddie.

Something captured: We had to put his hat on his head a dozen times to get this photo. Each time he kept it on his head for about 2 seconds.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Baking and creating in the kitchen! I think I’ve finally justified the need for a Kitchenaid mixer. I have wanted one for a very long time. Too bad that I didn’t figure this out a few weeks ago. I’ll have to wish for one next year!

Something I’m thinking: I am itching to get my 2010 photobooks done, but I know I won’t get much time for that until at least after Christmas.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that the weather doesn’t interfere with our plans to host our families at various times over the holiday break. I can’t believe that it isn’t even officially winter yet, and we’ve already had like 4 different winter events (and the bitterly cold temperatures in the teens – brrrrrr!!!! Our heating bill is going to be insane this time).

Something happening around the house: I’ve gone through several iterations of destroying and cleaning up the kitchen in the last few days!

Something I’m reading: I’ve made a half-hearted attempt to start reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve been busy.

Something I’m watching: I forgot to mention that we watched the finale of Amazing Race, and I can’t wait for next season’s “second chance” edition!!! Woohoo! I see some favorites returning.

Something tasty: I updated my recipes to include the cupcake bites and the mint variation on OREO truffles. I’m going to try making peanut butter OREO truffles today. Friday night, I made red velvet cupcake bites. Saturday, I made Chex Mix, ginger snaps, and Devil’s Food cake cupcake bites. I’ve already made 4 batches (well, two double batches) of Chex Mix. I think I might make another 4 batches before the end of the year. I have to make the original oven recipe. The microwave version just won’t do. I love Chex Mix…YUM! I’ve been making the batches dairy free (for me!), and I still think it’s great. I plan on making a few vegan batches later this week (did you know that regular Worchestershire sauce has anchovies? I have some vegan Worchestershire sauce so I can make Chex Mix for my vegetarian friends).

Something Maddie is doing (33 months old): Maddie is quite the helper in the kitchen! She watched me make some things and was just as excited as she would be helping. She helped me mix batters, helped me pour in ingredients, and was almost solely responsible for coating the ginger snaps in sugar before putting them in the oven. She’s pretty good about listening when I tell her to stand near the kitchen sink and away from the oven when opening and closing the oven door. Her best friend’s family gave her a Christmas apron as a gift, and she loves wearing it while we “make things.” Her classroom had their holiday party on Friday, and we decorated gingerbread houses. I think Maddie was the only one who wasn’t eating more candy than they were using to decorate! I had told her that she couldn’t eat the candy when we made the train from the kit last week since gingerbread house kit candy is a bit sketchy. The candy at her holiday party wasn’t sketchy, but I let her continue to believe that the candy was just for decorating. She has had a few M&Ms while we’ve been baking (and has sampled pieces of the ginger cookies). Oh, and her bedtime has continued to be terrible! I hope that this is just a short phase. She hasn’t been falling asleep until after 10pm. She does better when we put her to bed later than her usual 8pm bedtime. We’re going to have to try to shift her bedtime back to 8pm. It’s been nice on the weekend, as we’ve had more time in the evenings to bake together, and she’s been sleeping until almost 9am in the mornings!!! That’s unheard of for Maddie. She is much more likely to get up at 6:30am than she is to sleep past 7:15am on any day. Unfortunately, this routine won’t work for our daily work/school schedule. Hopefully, we can work on this while on our holiday break together. We have to keep an eye on her these days with Cullen. She tends to want to push him out of her way when he’s trying to get one of her toys. We are constantly working on her to not snatch things from him, regardless of whether they are “her” special toys or not. When we tell her to go to time out, she is not usually happy about it but goes to the time out corner without a fight. She tends to do a good job about staying there until we allow her to leave. She then tells us what she did wrong and what she can do instead (push her shopping cart instead of push her brother, tell a parent to remove Cullen from her domain instead of scream and push her brother, etc). She doesn’t get sent to time out for many reasons unrelated to her brother.

Something Cullen is doing (47 weeks old): Cullen’s holiday party was also on Friday. One of his teachers inspired me to give the cupcake bites a try since she made cake bites for the party. I haven’t been able to eat them since they are not dairy free, but everyone seems to like them. Cullen is excited about his new egg shakers (which is a good thing since Santa is bringing him a few more). Cullen’s last two nights have been so much more pleasant. That’s not to say that he didn’t wake up or nurse during the night. He still did that, but he went back to sleep pretty easily and didn’t scream all night. I’ll take that every night for sure. I think he also didn’t join us in bed until after midnight both nights, but I’m not always sure what time Gabe goes up to get him. Since the last two days also involved him not taking his antibiotic (which still involves a huge screaming fit each time), I’m not sure whether the two events are related or not. Perhaps the antibiotic is still the culprit?? I don’t remember if I have mentioned his separation anxiety in these things. He is very attached to his parents right now (especially me), and he does not like it when we leave the room, especially when we leave him at daycare. We found out this week that Cullen doesn’t like it when Gabe leaves him either, so it’s not just a Mommy thing.

Something I am struggling with: I can’t find the spare battery for my little camera. We tried to find it before Thanksgiving, and I still can’t find it. Maybe it will turn up after we shuffle around everything for Christmas?

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’ve been doing pretty well with my mini goals. I sent out the majority of my cards yesterday, as planned. I have a few more that were lacking addresses and the ones for the teachers. I hope to make some more ginger snaps, schedule a few blog posts, and wrap presents today. Oh, and I finally got Cullen’s letter finished up and posted yesterday!

Something I learned: I learned how to make cupcake bites. Mine don’t look as awesome as Bakerella’s, but I was excited about how cute they turned out!

Something I’m looking forward to: Christmas!!!!!! I love Christmas!!!!

Something random: The other day, I thought of the perfect gift idea on the way from my office to the parking lot. I used the amazon.com app on my phone, found what I wanted to get, ordered it, and it was on my doorstep two days later. It was a lovely combination of two things that I have come to love in the past year or so – amazon prime and having a smartphone (specifically an iPhone).

Something captured: Our family at Maddie’s party at school

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: It makes me happy to watch my kids having fun.

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking it’s about time for bed. I’m so tired, but what else is new?

Something happening around the house: The cleaners came on Friday morning, and then we went out of town for the weekend. It was nice to come home to a clean house!

Something I’m reading: I finished The Unseen and can’t decide what I want to read next.

Something I’m watching: Gabe and I went to see The Social Network which we thought was interesting. I was definitely curious about how much of the movie was true.

Something I’m playing: Angry Birds. I’m still playing Carcassonne as well, though I missed some of my turns this week. Ooh, we also played a little Spades last night in the mountains. It had been a while since I have played Spades!

Something tasty: We had tasty chili in the mountains.

Something Maddie is doing (31 months old): She’s been asking me to do the whole bedtime routine more and more. She loves for me to lay down with her and wants me to sing to her. This weekend, we didn’t even attempt naps on Saturday and Sunday since we were too busy having fun in the mountains. She was a bit whiny in the evenings, so I think she still needs to take that afternoon nap most days!

Something Cullen is doing (37 weeks old): It’s been a big week for Cullen!!! I took him back to the doctor on Monday since he continued to have rough nights and had developed new cold symptoms. Fortunately, he did not have another ear infection. He did have a very bad cold that still has a lingering cough. We’ve had a rough time getting him healthy! He starts his regular, maintenance dose of antibiotic tomorrow. We would have started it this weekend, but since we were out of town and nowhere near hospitals, we decided to wait until we got back. We didn’t want him to have a strange reaction and not be near a doctor! This week, I wondered whether Cullen had cruised at all (thinking he hasn’t been given too many opportunities) and whether he is capable of getting himself into a sitting position. Whether or not he did these things before this week, he did them both this week! He pulled himself to a standing position at his piano and cruised around to the opposite side. As for the sitting, I think this might be a new skill as well because he’s doing it frequently. He even sat up in the pack-n-play this weekend when he woke in the middle of the night. If it isn’t a brand new skill, it is one that we can definitely say he has now mastered. This weekend, he added clapping to his list of talents. It’s so cute! Once this weekend, he pulled himself up to a standing position. When we said, “yay!!!!” he started clapping (and fell after a few seconds of that). I love the clapping!!! As if this wasn’t enough, he cut his first tooth this morning. I guess he did have a good reason for being extra fussy this morning. Oh! One more thing! He got his first pair of shoes this week – a soft pair of Robeez Mini Shoez. We figured they will help keep his socks on for the fall and winter. It’s a bonus that they are quite cute! EDIT: I forgot to mention…he also had his first taste of (dairy free) pancake this weekend!

Something I learned: I learned a few things about the history of Facebook.

Something I’m looking forward to: We’re going to the museum with friends next weekend. I’m thinking we should go to a pumpkin patch soon and carve some pumpkins! We might do that this week as well.

Something captured: The kiddos at school just before heading to the mountains on Friday.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Autumn.

Something I’m thinking: I love this fall weather.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that this beautiful weather is here to stay.

Something happening around the house: It’s never really quiet in our house. Even when the kids are sleeping, we hear the white noise coming through their monitors. The sound machines are constantly playing.

Something I’m reading: The Unseen by Alexandra Sokoloff. I’m already about halfway through it. i had to put down Mockingjay so I could make progress on book club books. I’m already interested in reading more from this author, especially since she’s a local author.

Something I’m watching: We’re trying to keep up with our shows. We’re already pretty behind in some of them.

Something I’m playing: I didn’t get to play any live board games this week, but I’m playing Angry Birds and Carcassonne on the iPhone.

Something tasty: Dairy free brownies with chocolate chips!

Something Maddie is doing (31 months old): Maddie’s bedtime routine after bath often involves reading books before going upstairs for brushing teeth and the potty. She then has to hop off the bench (we use a small bench as a step stool in her bathroom), run into her room, turn on the “bog turtle” nightlight, and run to her bed. Usually she wants Daddy to do the bedtime routine up until hopping off the bench. Then she sometimes asks for me to come and do the rest and snuggle with her a few minutes in bed. Some nights she wants Daddy to do it. Sometimes she asks for me, and Daddy convinces her to let him stay. Tonight, Maddie asked, “what’s Mommy doing?” Thinking that she was going to ask for me, he said that I was downstairs but wasn’t it great that we read books together? She replied, “Mommy read two books.” Gabe then commented how nice it was that Mommy reads her books and how well that I read them and do the voices, etc. Maddie then said, “and it makes me happy.” SO sweet!

Something Cullen is doing (37 weeks old): My sweet little boy can’t seem to get well. He still had an ear infection on Tuesday morning when we returned to the doctor. We started a new antibiotic, but by Friday morning, we didn’t feel that it had improved. We went back to the doctor, again, but he felt that the ears were clear. Friday and Saturday nights were rough as he has another cold. I’m not sure if his nights are bad because he can’t breathe well or because he is getting yet another ear infection. In other news, he climbed up onto the lunch table at school! Oh boy, we’re in trouble!

Something I’m looking forward to: Gabe’s birthday, rescheduled book club, and fun times with friends.

Something captured: Maddie and I went to Keira’s birthday party this weekend. Maddie and her best friend are so cute!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Planning and thinking about future vacations makes me happy!

Something I’m thinking: We had a great weekend, but I’m quite tired after two late nights. I should be going to bed…

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to get Cullen’s 8-month letter posted soon…

Something happening around the house: We had our first games night since Cullen was born! We had a great time and hope to have another one before too long.

Something I’m reading: If anything, I read a little of Mockingjay.

Something I’m watching: Getting ready to watch tonight’s Amazing Race premiere.

Something I’m playing: Yay, I played more games this week! In addition to playing Carcassonne on the iPhone, I started playing Angry Birds. Since we had games night, I was also able to play some real games, too. I played Small World, Telestrations, Die Mauer, and Alhambra.

Something tasty: Well…last night at games night, we did our usual thing and ordered pizza. It all smelled so tasty!! I was strong, though, and I didn’t give in…until today at lunch when we had an entire pizza and nothing else interesting for lunch. I thought that I had been planning to reintroduce dairy within the next month, why not? First, it wasn’t as tasty as I had dreamed it would be. And then 2-3 feedings later, Cullen spit up a considerable amount. Coincidence? Hard to say.

Something Maddie is doing (31 months old): We attempted Candy Land sometime recently, and it didn’t go well at all! She was too interested in matching the color of the pieces to the colors on the card and didn’t care about the board at all. We “played” again today, and we made some progress. We didn’t make it through an entire game, but I actually managed to get her to move pieces on the board and take turns. It took considerable effort to keep her focused, though!

Something Cullen is doing (36 weeks old): Poor little dude was diagnosed with an ear infection on Tuesday. I felt like I should have known, but he never ran a fever! It’s no wonder we had a few terrible nights. We were just about to start him on the regular antibiotic, but now we’ll do that after he finishes his antibiotic for the ear infection. Little boy is interested in pulling up, climbing, and crawling anywhere we let him. He may be waving (seems to be at times), and today I think he was trying to give me big open mouth kisses. He thinks it’s hilarious when I cover his face in kisses. He’s such a sweet boy.

Something I am struggling with: The usual.

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I discovered that one of my goals was to replace the kitchen sink…and we did that back in March. I just need to mark it off. Woohoo!

Something I learned: I think this might have been in the previous week, but I learned that Cullen needs a new sun hat. Turns out that his head is a bit larger than it was back in April. Who knew.

Something I’m looking forward to: Dinner with friends, book club, and a photo session with Catherine!

Something random: Telestrations can produce a lot of random stuff.

Something captured: This was one of my favorite results in Telestrations last night – “seedless grapes” turned into “peeing on an electric fence.”

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Something that makes me happy: Managing to play some extra games this week.

Something I’m thinking: I’ve been thinking about getting started on the year’s photobook (well, volume 1 from January to June). I’ve been unable to get started, despite my good intentions.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping the mood of my kiddos improves soon. They have been super cranky this afternoon and evening. Fortunately, they are both in bed now (but for how long?). Cullen is getting over a cold, and we are worried Maddie is coming down with it now.

Something happening around the house: My parents came for a brief visit on their way back from their huge vacation (transatlantic cruise).

Something I’m reading: I read a teeny amount of Mockingjay.

Something I’m watching: I went to see Eat, Pray, Love. I enjoyed it, but I see why the critics gave it bad reviews. Mostly, I enjoyed having a girls’ night out!

Something I’m playing: We bought the Alchemy expansion for Dominion and have had a chance to play several nights this week. We even played with friends on Friday night. We’re still playing lots of Carcassonne on the iPhone.

Something tasty: I had dinner at Lucky 32 this week as a birthday treat.

Something Maddie is doing (30 months old): Maddie went to the dentist for the first time. We are doing fine with her home care, but she has enamel hypoplasia. This means that she has a lack of enamel on her baby teeth. We are hoping that she won’t have the same problem with her permanent teeth. This is often genetic and can be due to illness/fever in the mother during pregnancy. I can’t remember whether I had a fever with Maddie, though I do know I was sick a few times. I know I had a fever or two with Cullen.

Something Cullen is doing (35 weeks old): Cullen is getting around with his army crawl. He goes all around the house quite quickly. Cullen isn’t quite as restrained as Maddie was at his age. We haven’t gated off the kitchen or blockaded the living room with furniture. He’s pulling up onto the activity table, baby piano, Maddie’s chair, and ottoman quite a bit. He’s also starting to climb over things (like me when I was playing with him on the floor). He still says “dada” frequently and may be adding a few other sounds to his repertoire. He sounded like he was saying, “mama” earlier today. He’s been sick for the majority of the week. He has a very runny nose and trouble breathing at night. Our nights have been very rough.

Something I am struggling with: I’ve been exhausted this week. This is due to not getting much sleep at night (with Cullen screaming quite a bit) and catching Cullen’s cold.

Something I’m looking forward to: Our return to games night!

Something captured: The kiddos were actually playing together this morning. Maddie and Cullen were army crawling all around the house.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

So, it’s not Sunday. Again. Oh well.

Something that makes me happy: Seeing things through my kids’ eyes.

Something I’m hoping: I hope that things go well this weekend with That Board Gaming Thing. I’m not sure how everything is going to work logistically with the kiddos.

Something happening around the house: Ants, again. We had pest control come out, but I see a few tonight, so I’m not sure that they did any good.

Something I’m reading: I started reading Mockingjay, but I haven’t gotten too far yet. I haven’t had much time to read (what else is new?).

Something I’m watching: We are trying to watch Food, Inc. tonight. It has some interesting things so far…

Something I’m playing: More Carcassonne on the iPhone, but I hope to have better answers after this coming weekend!

Something tasty: Peanut butter treats – yum! Thanks, Shannon!

Something Maddie is doing (30 months old): Daddy taught her how to draw smiley faces this weekend. I was surprised when she was drawing them earlier today. They aren’t all smiley, but she’s good at drawing the circle and then drawing the eyes and mouth. Cute. She was excited to visit the alpaca farm twice this weekend. She has talked about them quite a bit since our visit. She also attended her first real concert – a bluegrass concert in the mountains. She loved dancing with her best friend, Keira. Maddie does not stop talking. She was annoyed this weekend when her baby brother was crying non-stop in the car. That was a lot of fun when both of them were screaming.

Something Cullen is doing (33 weeks old): I thought that Cullen was getting better in the car, but he still hates it as much as ever. We went to the mountains this weekend, and Cullen cried for the majority of the time we spent in the car. He does decently with the daily commute, so maybe he just gets tired of it after more than 15 minutes or so. I thought we’d be over this by now. We are considering swapping out the infant carrier for the bigger rear facing seat in the hopes that he will be more comfortable. He and Maddie took turns screaming in the car, and at night they took turns waking each other up with the screaming. He is vocalizing more and more and practicing his “Dada” sounds. He will often say, “dada” back to me when prompted. Super cute!

Something I am struggling with: I’m often feeling overwhelmed these past couple weeks.

Something I’m looking forward to: My return to That Board Gaming Thing after missing it for the past couple of years.

Something captured: Maddie was so excited to see the alpacas!

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Sunday, Monday…what’s the difference, really?

Something I’m thinking: I’m thinking about making some muffins for breakfast with Maddie. Obviously, I started writing this before breakfast on Sunday. We did indeed make muffins.

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to be able to attend That Board Gaming Thing after missing it the last couple of years. I suppose we need to decide this week.

Something happening around the house: Ants! It feels like they may finally be under control. I hate dealing with ants!!!!

Something I’m reading: I didn’t read anything this week, but I do plan to start on Mockingjay very soon! I did start on this last night, but I only read about a chapter or so before passing out from exhaustion.

Something I’m watching: We watched some more Supernatural. I’m not sure we watched anything else. Shows are going to start pretty soon, and I don’t know how we’re going to keep up with them this year.

Something I’m playing: I’m mostly playing Carcassonne on the iPhone. Fun!

Something Maddie is doing (30 months old): This weekend, she didn’t nap on Saturday or Sunday. Saturday was mostly our fault, but Sunday we stuck to the schedule and still had no nap. She continues to answer every question with, “Um, I don’t know…” regardless of whether she knows or not. I know she gets that from both of her parents. She had a great time with her Kentucky grandparents and Aunt Heidi. She and Grandpa are “buddies” and talk in British accents about potstickers and a “spot of tea.” This amused us all. I also love how she declares that she’s “playing a game” when tossing a ball or doing some other repetitive action. She’s getting the concept. It won’t be long before I can teach her some “real” games!!!

Something Cullen is doing (32 weeks old): Another week went by, and I didn’t finish up the photos for his letter. At this rate, I’ll have to post the 7 month and 8 month letters at the same time. Cullen had pears for the first time, and I made him a new batch of carrots that weren’t singed. Tonight, he tried organic cereal “puffs” for the first time. It turns out that he has that pincer grasp down pat. Who knew? He picked one right up and put it straight into his mouth. He’s not quite sure what to think of them so far. I don’t blame him. The ones we got aren’t as tasty as the Gerber kind, but I like the smaller ingredients list and the organic content.

Something I am struggling with: I’ve been quite exhausted this weekend (hence posting a day late).

Something I learned: I learned that Shutterfly has some new layouts in their photobooks since the last book I created.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m definitely NOT looking forward to my dental appointment this week.

Something captured: Cullen and Maddie playing a duet.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey