Aside from today I will only be posting one other day this week (Wednesday) so I wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving now! Sorry my blogs haven't followed a pattern the past week: I posted twice last Wed. and not on Thurs or Fri but now am this weekend. Cosmo's news just took front and center. So rather than getting back into the daily posting/memes last Tuesday as planned, it will be next Monday, November 30.
For today I wanted to give an update on Logan since he turned 19 Months Old last Wednesday! :)
Let's see. . .he can truly count to three! In my post written on October 21, Today's Agenda: Shoppin' I mentioned that Logan was saying "Tee, Tee, Tee" before sliding down his slide (because we always said "one, two, three" when we used to slide him down). Well last week he started saying, "One, tee, tee" on his own before doing many things - one time it was running across the room, one time it was throwing a ball, another time it was driving his car, etc. So I picked out three of his toys and was counting them in threes and after watching me for a minute he did the same thing (even though he's not saying the "th" or the "wo").
Another cute thing was the other day he found his Mickey Mouse bucket that he went trick-or-treating with. Aside from Halloween there was just one other day that I gave him candy from that night (he found his Skiddles one day), otherwise Joe and I ate it all, LOL. His face lit up and he ran to the door and pointed outside, talking jibberish, very animatedly to me. I could tell he was remembering going trick-or-treating and was telling me about it. :)
It's funny that some days I'll have his full attention and I will talk about something (I'll say more than just a sentence to him) and he stares at me for a moment and then says, "What?"
Last week he started saying "mine" to things. . .right now it's cute (he's not bratty about it) but I've heard that gets old fast, haha.
I've been giving him choices lately and when he makes his decision he always points and says, "That one!"
On Friday I was giving Bella a bath by myself and Logan ran off. When I found him, I saw that he had gone to the kitchen, grabbed himself a bowl and pored himself some puffs! He was sitting there smiling and eating. I had to laugh.
Lately when I've been vaccuming, I'll tell him that I'm going to vaccum and he runs to his playhouse and then gives me the okay to turn it on (he must feel safe in there, haha).
Speaking of his playhouse, he has been playing "make believe" (using his imagination) which is so entertaining! On the side of the house there is a little table with pictures of food and when he sits on the little chair next to it he pretends he's eating! :)
For our week, Logan went to Babysitter's Tuesday & Thursday morning as usual, however I've decided that starting December 16 he's going to go just on Wednesdays (so rather than two 4 hr days, 1 full 8 hr day). After taking two naps there and having no problem, and also the last couple of times when I've picked him up he has cried and wanted me to take him back in, he's given me signs that it's time for a change! When he first started going at 11 months old, a full day seemed too much right away, plus Tuesdays & Thursday mornings worked best with my babysitter's schedule. But Logan has been going for 8 months and now my babysitter's busiest days are Tuesdays & Thursdays. So with Wednesday being the middle of the week, that seems like the best day for me to have a break and get more done (since in the morning I spend an hour getting ready and another hour eating breakfast and lunch)!
Here he is hugging and kissing Cosmo:
On Wednesday I found my wedding ring so I was very relieved about that (I mentioned in my post Kicked Our Colds that I lost it for about two weeks)!
On Friday the weather was great so I took an hour walk with Logan which was very nice. Whenever he sees Thanksgiving decorations he shivers and says, "Oohhh" like he did with Halloween decorations, haha! Joe said when pretty soon he sees Christmas lights he's going to think they're supposed to be scary, lol.
I've been using my Sephora foundation for a month now (I mentioned I started using it in my post, This & That) and am loving it. I've finally found the perfect skincare line for me!
I was sad to say goodbye to Logan on Saturday morning but we decided that since my friend Sarah was going to be visiting from Seattle, he would stay with his grandparents in Iowa again until Wednesday since he loves it so much and that way I could have a distraction/interruption-free time with Sarah. (Until now the longest we'd spent apart was 96 hrs. This time it will be around 101!) So we met my mom & stepdad half-way at 9:30 am and then Sarah's flight got in at 3:54 pm. I had spent the week cleaning & sterilizing our house from being sick the previous week, so after we picked her up and went to a new pizza place, The Pizza Gourmet Co. (it was okay but not anything great), we spent the rest of the night hanging out, having girl talk, and drinking wine.
Today (Sunday) she and I went to the grocery store and bought ingredients for beefy cheese dip and buffalo chicken cheese dip and enjoyed them with chips while watching football with Joe all day & evening. I also made double chocolate chip cookies for dessert!
In my post, Our Weekend, I wrote about my college best friend, Christy. I thought I'd conclude today's post by doing the same thing about my junior high/high school best friend, Sarah.
Sarah and I met on August 19, 1992. We were twelve years old, I was a brunette with straight hair and dark brown eyes and Sarah was a blonde with curly hair and blue eyes. She was bubbly and outgoing, I was described as "sweet." (Here we are in 1994)
I had been praying for a best friend. The friends I'd had since moving to my small town in 1988 lived across town or in the country, and so outside of school it was hard to ever get together. Also, I felt we were growing apart. In the small town where I lived, groups did not change or mingle. I refuse to ever live in a small town again because I admit I have a tainted view after my experience. Most people were born there, their parents were born there, their grandparents were born there. Most of my classmates still live there. I hated the idea that people were put in certain roles and never allowed "out." Of course I tried, by joining every activity that supposedly contradicted the next. So ultimately I was my own person in that town, never feeling like it was home or that I really belonged there. As soon as I graduated I was OUT. My stepdad transferred the same month I finished high school, and so I actually haven't been back (other than to drive through to show Joe) in 11.5 years. I've kept in touch with two friends from there, but that is it - not including Sarah, who moved away in 1995.
So anyway, during the summer of 1992 Sarah moved into the house behind mine and it was a prayer answered. Not only did she live close enough that we could run to each other's house in one minute (and carpool to and from school together) - but we felt like we'd known each other our entire lives. We were instant best friends. We were inseparable for the entire three years she lived there. (Here we are in 2002)
Junior high was the worst years of our lives - we may not have made it through had it not been for each other. I will share my story here someday. I'm getting closer to being ready. But not today.
I will say, though, that when you go through the hardest time of your life, when you go through experiences that change you, break you, experiences that many people may never fully understand or be able to identify with - you are bonded to that person for life. That is what happened with Sarah and me. We do have a ton in common, but we also have so many differences that people often seem surprised that we would be such close, strong, true, life-long friends. Maybe it is a soul thing, or maybe it is because of those three years we spent "coming of age together". . .maybe both. Whatever it is - there is no one who gets me more without me saying a word than Sarah. There is no one I've lived such a parallel life with, despite having opposite lives (she is a single, career woman [Commercial Credit Analysis] who lives in Seattle).
We've had ups and downs over the past 17 years, but I have no doubt we will still be best friends when we are 80 years old. We can talk about anything and everything. We can share our deepest secrets, our mistakes, and know that we will not be judged. We've seen that we can live in different towns for high school and college (she went to The University of Northern Iowa and double majored in Finance & Marketing while I went to Iowa State University and majoried in Journalism & Mass Communication with a minor in English), and live across the country from each other as adults (I moved to Nebraska in 2003, she moved to Seattle in 2004), and still remain close!
I'll end with pictures of her sharing the two biggest moments of my life (my wedding and birth of my son)!
AGAIN, HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!
