Halloween 2009

This is Michael's first Halloween. The last of his first holidays since he'll be one much too soon and so of course I had a "vision" of what it would be like.

Vision A -
My husband and I trick or treating with Michael and his cousins in Philadelphia. Family and friends would all oo and ah at his adorableness.
Then DH got accepted into OCS so he wouldn't be able to go to Philly with us and I needed to go to the Netherlands for a business trip. Which leads me too...

Vision B -
I would take Michael trick or treating with his cousins in Philadelphia. People would oo and ah, I'd put Michael to bed and then get on a plane to the Netherlands. He'd spend the week in Philadelphia with my Mom while I was on travel.
Then Michael got RSV, and a double ear infection and nearly went to hospital which led me to decide to cancel my trip and our visit to Philadelphia. So....

Vision C -
Michael and I stay home. We wear our Halloween finery, dress up the dogs and hand out candy to dozens of trick or treaters.
Except there were no trick or treaters and Michael's temperature went up and he went to bed early.

So Michael's first Halloween was basically him walking around the apartment in his costume for an hour. I'm hoping that we'll be able to re-celebrate Halloween next weekend with his Dad. And that I don't eat all 80 pieces of candy I bought before next weekend.

And for your viewing pleasure...

Nemo and his Dasani

Frank, the angry sea turtle

Bailey, as a squirrel

And some big hugs at the end of the night (blurry, but just had to share)...

The silver lining

They say that there is a silver lining to every cloud and I have to say that in this case that just may be true.

Michael has RSV and being that he is my son, he believes in the whole go big or go home ideal. The only thing keeping him out of the hospital right now is that his pediatrician, the nurse practitioner and myself are worried about exposing a child with compromised lungs and immune system to all the fluey kids already in the hospital. His pulse ox was 92 earlier today but after two nebulizer treatments we got it back up to 96/97 which was enough for him to come home with me. We are also joined by a nebulizer machine, bronchiodialator, inhaled steroids and oral steroids. He is getting breathing treatments every four hours which means that Mommy is basically living her life in three hour intervals in between setting up the treatments, administering the treatments and then cleaning up all of the equipment.

And have I mentioned that my contract at work is in the midst of a huge technical meeting this week and I have to talk to my boss about whether or not I will be traveling to Europe next week as planned? Yeah, my boss is going LOVE me after our conversation tomorrow.

But in the midst of all this, there is a silver lining. In the hustle of every day, trying to keep the house in order, care for two dogs, be a good employee and a good single mom/military spouse I have to take 40 minutes out of every four hours to hold my son. Sure, most of the time he's wrestling and crying but when I give him his treatments at night, its forty minutes to hold my baby (who really is more of a boy than a baby at this point). I smell his freshly washed hair and feel his warm (okay, feverish) little body against mine. I would do anything to have him healthy, but I try to close my eyes and savor these moments because I know all too soon he won't need me like this anymore.

But for tonight, he still does.

I am disrespecting the Turkey

My two favorite holidays are Halloween and Thanksgiving. My sister always has a big to do for Halloween, with lots of friends, family and kids in cute costumes. And how can I not love a holiday that is all about food?

So I've always had an issue with Christmas stuff appearing in October. What about Halloween? What about Thanksgiving? Don't they deserve to be the center of attention? Why are they always in the shadow of the fat man?

And now, I am a Mom. Today I ordered Michael's Christmas outfits and this weekend I am hoping that the hubs and I are going to go out and start to do some shopping for Christmas and his birthday. It's not even Halloween and I am going to start Christmas shopping.

My sincere apologies to the Great Pumpkin and the Turkey.

11 Months (a day late)

I wanted to talk about my baby turning 11 months old in this post, but as I look at the picture to my left I see someone who is much more boy than baby these days. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw this boy crawl and he's quickly working himself up to a run. He's still not talking but he is mimicking my tone of voice when I talk, which can be a bad thing when I am yelling at people in the parking lot!

My boy and I continue to face the world as a dynamic duo these days while the Hubs continues his training at OCS. He is a handful to say the least and I miss the days of laying him on his belly and being able to turn my back and know he would still be there when I turned around. But I love watching him grow and learn. He has an independent streak that scares and delights me at the same time. You would never describe him as a Momma's boy, but in those quiet moment reading his bedtime story and rocking him at night the love we have for each other is almost tangible.

So while I have my moments where the final days of his babyhood make me sad, I am so overwhelmed by all that the future holds. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Who me?

OK, it's embarrassing how long I've been gone.  And even more embarrassing how long it's take me to "accept" this award from my dear friend Fearless at The Recovering Actress.  But I am doing it now, even if it is largely because I promised to blog this weekend and its nearly midnight so I've got to do something quick.  Anyway, 10 totally honest things about me.

1. I thought my husband was going to be a one night stand.  Then he was the one night stand that wouldn't go away, then I dumped him, over the phone.  And still he gave me a second chance.  I'm a lucky girl.

2. I have a nervous habit of pacing.  It's much better now but it used to be really bad and drove my parents nuts to hear me walking back and forth in my room all night long as a child.  

3. I chose to formula feed my son from the very beginning and never even tried to breast feed.  That could be a post into and of itself, but again its late, I'm tired and I no longer feel the need to justify the decision to everyone I see on the street.

4. I'm terrified to TTC again, terrified not to TTC again and am feeling rather ambivalent about it all at this point.  

5. I'm an Irish Step Dancer.  Yes, I can do that Riverdancey stuff and a jig.  No it does not involve jumping around like a drunk frat boy on St Patrick's Day.  Yes, I do want to kick their asses when they do that.

6. I'm scared of the dark.

7. I have a tendency to over schedule and over plan things.  This results in situations like there where I am up blogging at midnight.

8. I don't like many of my IRL friends as I do my Internet friends.  

9. I never wanted to be a military wife and now I can't imagine my life any other way.  I'm nervous and worried to death about the Hubs at OCS and hope and pray everyday that he completes the course successfully.

10.  I love the movie Angels in the Outfield and yes, I cry every time.  Since I know what's going to happen I actually preemptively cry.

So now I am supposed to nominate 7 other bloggers, but since I'd consider it a good day if 7 people read my blog, I am going to ask each of you to accept this award.  When you've posted your 10 things, let me know in my comments section so I can come find out more about you.

Well Crap

I haven't blogged in ages so you would think that I would have tons to blog about.  But I got nothin.  

Maybe tomorrow.