Ready?

I must say "Are you ready?" a lot to Wyatt, because quite often he'll be about to do something (take a bite of food, have his diaper changed, jump off the stairs) and he will ask himself "weady?" It's pretty cute. So- are you ready? Here comes another lengthy picturiffic post!

Lee is wonderful, I love him, and he bought us a Wii. He's funny, he named his mii Lii. The kids love Daddy, and Skeeter and Wyatt go dashing to the front window whenever I say "Daddy's home!"

I'm fine. I'm back in the groove of work, and I have manged to still cook dinner most nights. My mii's name is Melodii.

Wyatt is at such a fun age- you can actually watch him learn new things and try new things and test new boundaries (incidentally, how do you put a kid in time out while he's taking a bath?). He loves to play with toys, especially all the toys from Aunt Marianne (thank you again!) and to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ("Kicky? Kicky?"). When we have hot dogs for lunch he sings "Haw daw, haw daw!" and when we put the toys away before naps and bedtime he sings, "Clee-up, clee-up!"

Jana is doing great. She sleeps all night, she naps well during the day and is smiley and giggly when she's awake. She likes me ok, but she LOVES Daddy. She will coo and sing and laugh when Daddy plays with her. What a sweetheart.

Skeeter is furry and we love him. He is super glad that I'm feeling up to getting everyone out for walks again, and I am super glad that the weather has been somewhat compliant to be able to (see below)!

So here's the photo documentary of our lives to date.




I LOVE when a new baby starts to smile and interact- you get to see their little personality start to emerge!




Jana and sweet cousin Kate



Wyatt, Jana and ultra cool cousin Paul


Christmas Day- the wings are embroidered on the pillow, but I didn't notice until after that it makes her look like a little baby angel. We already think of her that way anyway!


My favorite gift of 2008



Skeeter in the snow

Wyatt really liked his new frog pillow and blanket. Good call, Santa.

Opening presents Christmas morning

'Twas the night before Christmas...

...and all through the house....

...not a creature was stirring....

...except Mommy with the camera! Please note what Lee's reading. He did it totally on his own, I swear.

I'm a dork, I know. I thought they were hilarious, though. Merry Christmas, Skeeter!

JanaBean

Putting on Christmas Eve jammies!

Wyatt and Daddy opening his first Christmas Eve jammies!

Here Wyatt gives "milk bath" a whole new twist. After this picture, he got a water bath.

It's not as huge as it looks, I was crouching down. But it was still an awful lot of snow.

Deep and drifted snow!

Frosty pine in the front yard. Daddy shoveled multiple times daily for about a week while this storm raged on and on. Special thanks to Uncle Brian for letting us borrow his snow blower a few times!

Funny things happen when it snows a lot, then blows a lot, and then freezes. This is the drift in the front yard by the driveway.

The front of the truck after said snowing and blowing. It was an extremely east-bound wind!

Skeeter can't walk through snow this deep, so he lopes like a deer. It's SO funny.

It snowed a TON right around Christmas- I was glad we weren't planning on traveling, because we would have cancelled those plans!

Christmas Baby

Wyatt was running away to play, but gave Jana a quick kiss before he left. What a sweet big brother.

My Christmas Elves. I can't believe Christmas 2006 I had no children, and Christmas 2008 I have two! I think I will try the novelty of NOT having a baby this year. :)

Jana would cry without her pacy, and Wyatt didn't feel like holding still, so I'm glad we got any pictures at all!

Ha ha! Huge dog nose!

Sweet little Christmas Jana. Demonstrating a healthy tonic neck reflex.

Christmas Beast

I had imagined taking cute pictures of Wyatt holding Jana by the tree. It took about two seconds to give up on that idea!

We hope you are all well and happy and enjoying the shiny brand-new year. We are looking forward to achieving our lofty goals this year, and wish you all luck in yours!

Love and tasty Chocolate No-Bake Cookies (in our house they are affectionately called "Poo Stacks"),

L,M,W,J and S

USE ONLY AS DIRECTED

If you ever get the chance to chat with my brother Matt, he'll tell you some funny Ambien stories. Even though I only use it once in a while, I think I may have acquired a story from my own Adventures in Ambienland.

Here's what the pamphlet Walgreens gives you says:

This medicine may cause dizziness. DO NOT DRIVE, OPERATE MACHINERY, OR DO ANYTHING ELSE THAT COULD BE DANGEROUS until you know how you react to this medicine. CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR if you continue to have trouble sleeping or notice changes in your behavior or thinking. SOME PATIENTS TAKING THIS MEDICINE have performed certain activities while they were not fully awake. These have included sleep-driving, making and eating food, making phone calls, and having sex. Patients often do not remember these events after they happen. Such an event may be more likely to occur if you use a high dose of this medicine.

Had I but known. Prepare to enter the Tale of Melody's Midnight Brownies, starring Ambien CR.



The Tale
Date: December 30-31, 2008
Time: Between 21:30 and 02:00
Weather Conditions: Gentle snow falling

I was getting ready for bed, and took an Ambien. I plan on around 30 minutes for it to take effect, and in all my wisdom, I managed to get in a little "discussion" with Lee in that 30 minute window. In all honesty, I have no idea what it was about. But I was mad. So mad. So mad, in fact, that I left the bedroom and came into the kitchen all upset. I was ticked at Lee and (here's where you can tell the Ambien starts working- my logical thought processes get all screwed up) I decided the best way to get back at him was to force myself to stay awake through my Ambien and MAKE SOME NEW YEAR'S EVE GOODIES! Ooooh, that'll show him!
... yeah.

I had a recipe my sil Tami gave me that I'd been meaning to try and it suddenly seemed as though no time in the history of mankind was so perfect as THIS moment to make some peppermint brownie pops! So I did. Even in my perfectly gorked state (or perhaps because of said state) I documented the whole train wreck. Here goes!


This is the mess of preparing the brownies. I remember leaning on the counter for support because I was SO dizzy. I laid down on the kitchen floor to rest while the brownies were baking.

Brandishing a knife while in this state was potentially dangerous. I had asked Lee to get me a box of candy canes while he was getting the groceries. No joke, he brings home this ginormous box of 52 candy canes. What am I gonna do with over 4 dozen candy canes?!?

Scooping the warm brownie into balls, and inserting the peppermint stick. I remember at the time saying aloud to myself, "These look like poop on a candy cane!" Then I laughed to myself, because I thought I was so freakin' hilarious.


Pretty much delirious by now, I looked and thought to myself, "Now that's not very many. I better bake two more batches of brownies!"

In they go! I distinctly remember almost falling as I put the pan in the oven- my equilibrium was non-existent by then.

Yeah, that looks like it might be enough (*psh!* If it were the main course! What was I thinking?)

Time to melt down some Symphony bars to dip the brownies in. I don't have a double-boiler, so this is what I came up with at midnight, 2 hours post-Ambien. While the chocolate melted, I went and laid in the doorway of the kitchen, deciding the carpet was actually pretty comfy.

Hmm. How to get these cane crooks into mashed up pieces?

Yeah, the Magic Chopper! Full of hard candy canes in the middle of the night! That won't wake up the kids at ALL!

Lots of dipping and rolling and here's the finished product! I thought they were very tasty, particularly considering my pseudo-intoxicated condition while preparing them. I accidentally broke several while I was making them, so I think the grand total was exactly 4 dozen brownie pops. Gee, I hope it's enough...

At the last minute I decided against taking a picture of all the dirty dishes I washed, but even though I was by all definitions sleep-walking by now, I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher again. The only evidence of my nighttime revenge was an inconspicuous 48 brownie pops! I bet Lee really learned his lesson for whatever it was he did or didn't do.

I will get around to posting Christmas and our fun snowstorm pictures soon, but I have a confession.

...shh....

I took an Ambien two hours ago and I can barely see to type and lack sufficient balance to stand. I'm going to crawl to bed now!

Although here's some quickies in case you've forgotten what we look like!


JanaBean 3 months old!

Skeeter and cousin-dog Puppy romping in the snow.

I was taking pictures of the snow and Wyatt wanted to see what I was up to.

They love to chill and play together.

I hope you are all well and happy, and that this new year is being nice to you thus far. Lots of love and leftover holiday treats, and plenty of good, restorative sleep!