Category:  2010

“I’ll take ‘Things that will disappear permanently’ for $600, Alex.”

(beep-beep)

“What are BABY WORDS?”

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I know it’s part of growing up, and I wouldn’t have it any other way but I can still be just a tiny bit bummed about it, right?  The first week of 2010 brought the end to some of my favorites of Austin’s “baby words”.  You know, words he ALWAYS mispronounced, and mixed up the syllables with.  I ‘d them.. and now they’re gone forever.. sigh.  I purposely haven’t tried to correct his words like that, b/c I knew they would disappear in time on their own and they were so fun and cute to listen to.  I mean, it’s not like he’s gonna go to high school mixing up his L’s and W’s.  I just wanted to enjoy it while I could.. I would even whisper to someone if I heard them telling him the right way to say a word, “Shhhh, they’ll disappear soon enough.”  And, alas, they have. I felt a little stab the first time I heard him pronounce them correctly..

The three that bit the dust were:

“Que-uh-deesa” = Quesadilla  (my very favorite, I think!)

“N’m'N’s” = M’n'M’s

“Reebo’s” = Rubio’s

Oh, well.. maybe he’ll say “Lellow” (Yellow) and “You’re Lecome” (welcome) for a few more weeks before he officially grows up.

(…..SIGH…..)

That is what happens when you let a 3 yr old help to name a dog.  We have liked several names that never quite stuck with him..  Sarge and Tug being the top 2 contenders..  Salty was on the table for a while.. Finally we really liked “TUG”.  But Austin hated the name.  We would ask him if that was his new dog’s name, or if he liked that name and he always and without hesitation said, “NOOOOOOO.”  Like he was repulsed by it.  I don’t think it was just a rebellion or control thing.   I asked him in several ways, and at several diff. times of day/moods and he seemed to genuinely not like it.  Maybe we are letting him have too much say, I don’t know, but I hate to think that we would name the dog something that he hates to say.  It’s going to be in our family for the next 10 years or so.  So we wanted to find something that all 3 of us could live with.

His suggestions were equally repulsive to us…  His first suggestion:

CORVETTE.  um, NO.  Not a dog name.

His next suggestion… PERCY.  Of Thomas the Tank Engine fame.  The dog is going to be huge.  “Percy”..?..  I think I would be embarrassed to yell “Percy!” at our big dog.  Chris totally agreed.  Percy-VETO.

His third suggestion, wasn’t so bad.. getting closer..  Turner.  You know, the screwdriver on Handy Manny.  Not a completely bad suggestion, but we weren’t feeling like the dog “looked” like a Turner.  FYI, Turner (purple one) is the standard head screwdriver.  Felipe (yellow one) is the Phillips head.  Don’t mix them up, Austin will correct you.

So then we came up with the name Buster.. and I thought, oh that’s a dog on My Friends Tigger and Pooh.  Maybe we can sell it to Austin that way.  And he latched right onto it and loved it.  He has even referred to the puppy as Buster a few times.  Like, “when we pick Buster up” or “when Buster comes home”…. So I think the dog’s name is officially Buster. 

We wanted to make the middle name Duke in memory of our dog that we lost.. and when we mentioned “middle name”, Austin promptly told us that the dog’s middle name was Car.  Very matter of fact.  Then the last couple of days he has been saying that the dog’s name is Buster Car Warren (his middle name) Fannin.

I think “Newman” is a good dog name, too.. you could do a Seinfeld impersonation every time you called your dog.  Hello, Nnnnnnewman.  Sit, Nnnnnewman.  I digress.  (Chris put the veto on Newman.)

Well, that is the process of naming a dog, when you let a 3 yr old in on the negotiations…

Here, from birth to 7 weeks..

Buster Duke (Car Warren) Fannin

(maybe on his fancy papers, we should make it the Duke of Bustershire.. call name Buster-LOL)

Birth:

One week:

Two weeks:

Three weeks:

 Four weeks:

Five weeks:

Six weeks:

Seven weeks:

We will meet you in one week, little Buster.. Busteroo.. Filibuster.. Bust your chops.. Blockbuster.. Door buster.. Buster Keaton.. Bust-a-rhyme… Hmm.  “BUSTER” has lots of Bustery nick-name potential.

I read in a book last night that a Newfoundland is not the breed of dog you want to have if you are a fastidious house-keeper.. or if you are someone who is very finicky about their clothing being pristine. LOL!!  My mom is probably laughing and shaking her head right now.  Sounds like the PERFECT dog for us!!  

If Tiffany has another Gingerbread House Decorating party for the kids in 2010, I resolve to make mine (I mean Austin’s-)look less like this:

(from 2008, we missed it this year-)

And more like this:

I have realized in the last few days, that I miss posting on my Xanga.  I tend to just check FB all the time, and that’s it.. but I like to ramble on my blog and post pictures that make me happy over here.  So I resolve to blog more in 2010, even if no one reads it but me.  

Last month, on our trip to Missouri to visit the fam, I ended up with a couple of pictures that made me “remember when”…. 

So today, on the first day of 2010, I am going to post them, along with the pictures from back “when”..  THEN&NOW….  They make me happy!   

Then.. (Michelin Tire baby)

(at Mom&Dad’s)

Now.. (at Mom&Dad’s)

Then…

Now…

That’s all.

 **This year is almost over, just one more day.. so in celebrating the new year, I thought I would reflect on the past year**

TEN things I did in 2009:

1. Mothered a very energetic little boy into his third year of life..  .. without any major injuries or illnesses.
2. Survived some uncomfortable situations.
3. Survived a trip alone with my son, where we had to arrive home at the airport, with two bags to collect, plus a carry-on, walk to a shuttle to go to a parking lot, to find where my husband parked our car, and drive us home.  All with only two hands, one of which was on my son at all times, who was very sleepy and dragging his feet the whole way.  (After surviving that, I felt like I could do ANYTHING!!)
4. Finished a (sock monkey) queen size quilt that I had started over a year ago.
5. Got to know my husband’s family better.
6. Made new friendships and renewed old ones. (Many with the help of facebook)
7. Spent lots of time with my Grandma.
8. Survived losing our dog, and the unexpected effects that it had on Austin.  We miss him dearly, but are looking forward to a new puppy in 2010.
9. Lost about 10 pounds, though I have managed to put some of it back on through the holidays.
10. Got to visit my family in Missouri twice!  I miss them!

And my favorite picture of 2009:

Happy New Year!!  2010 here we come!

HOLIDAY CHEER!

We spent the two weeks prior to Christmas in Missouri visiting my parents, and family.  Some highlights of the trip were (in no particular order):

• Visiting family and friends, old and new.
• Meeting all of the new babies that had been born at church there since we last visited.
• Presents!
• Making sugar cookies with my mom
• Visiting some fun Christmas-y things in Kansas City.
• Smooth airplane flights.. we were a half hour early both coming and going!  (Yay, Southwest, not that I’m partial or anything.)
• Watching Austin play with the toys at Granny and Grandpa’s house.
• Generally watching Austin hang out with Granny and Grandpa, and all of our other relatives there, which included two aunts, two uncles, one cousin, two great-uncles, two great-aunts, one second cousin and in-law, and two third cousins.  Last but not least a big furry sheepdog, two tiny scotties, and two small poms.  He had lots of family to visit both furry and human.
• Watching his cousin Cameron play hockey, and they WON! Yeah! (Hooray #2!)
• Watching the Cardinals descend on the bird feeder in my parents’ backyard.
• The Mickies that I forgot to bring home on our last trip were there waiting!

Airplane ride: going

Airplane ride: coming home

Hockey fun.. right after landing at the airport we had to head straight to the game to catch it.. therefore explaining the “who are these people and what am I doing here” look.  (My bro. Kevin and SIL Cheryl)

We love #2!  Go Cameron!

Hooray for good sportsmanship and zambonies.

Happy Grandparents..

Grandpa and his boys.

Reee-united and it feeeeels so good… sorry but that song plays in my head when I look at this picture!

Peppermint sugar cookies:

Driving the “jet car” at Grandpa’s:

They even let him drive it in the house.. I’m pretty sure they would have NEVER let us do that when we were little kids!

Some presents!

new outfit..

Mickey ornament:

Hot Wheel truck:

Cardinal: (actual, not baseball)

Dad taught him how to “left-click” the mouse and play a little preschool computer game..

Union Station, downtown Kansas City:

Beatiful old building..

Austin loved this painting:

The Christmas model train display that they have every year.  I read that it takes an entire month for them to set it up.  It was HUGE!

Austin’s favorite car.. he laughed hysterically at it.  He still talks about it.  “The little funny car shaped like an O-val!”

Laughing at it with my mom:

Other scenes from the station:

Larger scale steam replica:

Train ride:

Cow:

Interior:

Diner:

Gift shop:

Across a heated, glass sky-way…..

we walked to Crown Center (maybe like a 10 min. walk)

This is the line outside of Fritz’s, the diner where the trains cruise around the walls and drop your food to your table.. we did not wait in that line. 

Instead we ate at a Streetcar Named Desire, and the food was good and pretty economical!

The Gingerbread Village!   (my favorite)

(It had a Santa and reindeer flying around above it and a little gondola going up and down a wire and a train.  Austin loved it.  It makes the little gingerbread house that we built last Christmas from a kit look really sad.)

Fun times at Kevin and Cheryl’s:

Helping Lisa grade her 5th graders (or is it 4th) papers.. we had lots of fun visiting and grading!

Last but not least, perpetual hair twisting:  which must mean it’s time to go to sleep!  Goodnight!

(This post has sooo many pictures.  If you made it to the end, contact my friend Lisa, the teacher, and she will give you a star. )

Thanksgiving 2009

We had loosely planned to spend Thanksgiving in Missouri this year, since it had been several months since we had been there to visit.  Chris had to work, so we were making our own plans…  Then I discovered that with the rest of the family out of town, my Grandma, who turned 92 this year..  would be eating alone. 

Which would have made me really sad.  So we scrapped our travel plans and decided to stay and eat with her.  Also, we were thankful to be invited to eat with our Fannin family, with Chris out of town, but they were more than understanding. We missed all of you!  But sometimes the best things come from changed plans.

Since it was just her, Austin and I, we did not have the traditional all day prepared, 50 pounds of leftovers, gluttony of Thanksgiving food.  Which I won’t lie, I do enjoy.. But I decided to make her famous chicken tortilla bake that we all grew up having at her house, and at church dinners.  I had forgotten that it is so easy to make.  Chris is now a huge fan of it too.  Austin is still in the finicky stage so he opted for apples and cheese and graham crackers. Yes, he’s crazy.

Throw in some gooey pumpkin butter cake for desert and yummy yum yum.  It was such a great, relaxing day.  The weather was so nice outside.. Austin was able to wear shorts! He was needing a haircut!

He played and did all of the things he likes to do at her house.  It warms my heart that he has gotten to know her.  Their paths won’t have crossed for too long in this life, but hopefully he remembers her when he grows up and the love and fun at her house.  And some things that he’s learned by being around her.

He knows all of the things he can play with and what he can’t.  Coins in a glass candy dish with a lid, wooden spools in a little ceramic house with a lid, the broom, the phone, some little hot wheels that she has collected at yard sales over the years from the curio cabinet..

He likes to talk on her bedroom phone..

I asked him to hang up before that annoying busy signal that blasts your eardrum came on, and he said, “Mommy, I’m waiting for to talk to the lady.” (The lady that says, “please hang up and try your call again”-haha)

We did puzzles, one of my g-ma’s favorite pastimes, and one that Austin likes too..

Above is a puzzle from Chris’s mom that we put together that day, and below is Austin’s new puzzle that we brought to do just for that day. My g-ma is on the phone with my uncle from Missouri who called to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving.

Then, naps were had by all.  A three hour one by this sleeping boy!

It ended up not being the Thanksgiving that we had anticipated a month or two prior, but I felt very blessed to be there.  At 92, I know that we won’t have many more of these times together and it ended up being just the best happy day!  We did miss Chris, though.. and both sides of our family.  The only way the day could have gotten any better would have been if they were there to share it with us!

This is a pic that I borrowed from a blog that I found… www.twiddletails.blogspot.com … a picture of a quilt that was hand pieced and hand quilted by a woman from Japan..

It was shown at the Houston Quilt Festival-2009.

The hexagons are less than one inch in size, all the pieces are cut from one hexagon pattern.. I can’t even imagine how many of them are in there!!

Isn’t it just amazing?  WOW. Craziness!

Here is a pic or two or three of our newest Fannin family member..  We don’t get him for another 8 weeks, at least, but here are his one week old pictures…  We have not settled on a name, but are leaning towards, “TUG” …  today, Austin came up with the name “TURNER” out of no-where!  Turner is one of the screwdriver’s names in the Disney show Handy Manny.

But for now, here is our little Tugger..

He’s really ours…  I can’t believe it!

Next week’s pics should maybe show him with his eyes open…

He has a little white goatee on his chin..

Oh, look at that face.. I just LOVE it!  He may grow to be BIG and furry and leave dog-hair tumbleweeds here and there, and slobber on things, but I have a feeling he is going to bring lots of love and learning to this house…

Wow, I have really been neglecting my blog.  Oh well, I don’t think anyone even reads it anymore.  Seems like everyone had rather facebook or twitter (tweet?).  I do not tweet, but I do spend a fair amount of time on facebook.  Kind of addicting.  And faster.. BUT, you don’t get the joy of reading a post from someone, you only get a sentence or two.. I miss reading posts from the blogs of others, maybe they will make it back to blogging eventually.

I’m feeling “newsy” this time, so I think I’ll turn to the bullet point format.

• I have found several blogs on blogspot that I like to follow.  Lots of ladies that quilt and do crafty things.  If this sort of thing interests you, go to www.filminthefridge.com and there is a list to the right of the page on her site of blogs she follows.  Lots of neat ones.
• About a month ago, or maybe two months now, we went to storytime and I asked Austin if he wanted to write an “A” on his nametag by himself instead of me writing his name.  He wrote an A alright, and then the rest of the letters in his name!  I was shocked.  He wasn’t quite 3 yrs old yet.  He has written his name a few more times since then. It’s not the neatest most legible writing for SURE, but you can tell it’s his name.  I  reading to him, and I  storytime at the library!!
• I have had the worst shoulder pain for several months now, it comes and goes usually but each time it comes back it is WORSE until finally I was in tears one day. After talking to Becky (who has had the same exact symptoms that I had and in the same shoulder) I found out that massage therapy helped hers so she gave me the name of the gal, and I’ve been twice now and it is HELPING.  I am so happy and relieved not to be in so much pain.  It is just irritating after a while to have your arm hurt every time you do something, esp when you have a small child to take care of!
• The massage therapist told me that I was lucky I came in when I did b/c I was for sure on my way to a frozen or “locked” shoulder which is very painful and hard to fix.  I still have some pain but WAY less than before.  I have to go in for two more and then after that hopefully it will be fixed.
• We are getting a PUPPY.  Yes a newf puppy is going to be joining our family.  It (and its 7 siblings) was born the night before last.  We’ve been on a waiting list and were shocked that the breeder called us yesterday with the good news. 

• Possible names for above mentioned puppy:  Salty, Stretch, Sarge, Moose, Chinook, Grizzly… hmm.  We have a whole list of names, but will probably wait to name it until we see more pics of it as it grows.  The breeder is going to start next weekend posting weekly pics of the puppies with their assigned family’s name so we can watch our little guy grow.  He will come home at 9 wks old, sometime in January.  The website is www.greatbasinnewfs.com if anyone wants to look at the pics and follow along with us.  We are so excited!!

• Halloween came and went.  Austin was Thomas the Tank Engine this year and he was way more into it than last year.  He did really good, walked around a whole block with KC (a little storytime/gymnastics friend) and some other kids.  Well, he was usually lagging way behind, but theoretically we were “with” them. ha! The little chocolatey faced boy was beat when we got home!

• We also went to an event at UOP a few days before that for a “safe trick or treat”.  He liked that too, and even wore a drawn on mustache with his costume that day.  That day, he walked with a diff. storytime friend, Caleb.

• On the campus of UOP, at Morris Chapel is where my parents got married in 1962~so it was extra special and fun for me to take Austin there.. it was one of the buildings on the safe trick or treat tour.  It was kind of odd to trick or treat in a chapel though. ha! A little creepy..

(me and my baby where my parents got married almost 50 years ago.. and can you tell he had NO nap that day?)

• Since finishing the sock monkey quilt, I pieced and put in the frame, an “I Spy” quilt.  It’s a fun one.  I like that there are so many diff. fabric squares in it.  Over 50 diff. prints, all little boyish prints.  The frame looked kind of sad with nothing in it after the sock monkeys were in it for several months, so I’m glad something else is in it.  I think I’m hooked on my hobby.  Colorful fabrics make me happy.  Someday I will take a pic and post it of my favorite quilting fabric.  I want to make something with it, but yet I don’t want to cut it.  It’s so colorful and cheery.  Ahh, oh well.

• Austin is saying funny things all the time now.  Quoting lines like “I am MRS. NESbitt!!” from Toy Story, and saying big boy things like, “What’s that about..?!”
• He is also reading a few words, whether it is actual reading or just word recognition, who knows.. but either way I love it.  The other day I was reading to him and he recognized the words “moo” and “quack” on the page, and there were no corresponding pictures on the page to cue him. 
• On the potty training front, its still not happening yet..   Oh well.  I wish it would be done with already, but I don’t want to make it a tug of war thing, and I don’t want to start spanking him or punishing him for it.  So I will try to be patient and I guess it will happen when it happens.  He was a late walker, a late talker.. etc.  Maybe he is just going to be a late toileter.
• Seems I may be potty training a child and a dog at the same time come January.
• Speaking of January, we have planned our first big family vacation, other than going to Monterey for a few days or to visit family.  We are going to Disneyland in January!  Austin is so excited he can hardly stand it.  We keep watching videos on youtube of people’s kids meeting the characters.
• After our vacation, we will pick up our new puppy.
• My grandmother has an ulcer on her leg that she is seeing a wound nurse for.  I think she bumped it on the dishwasher door or something, but it won’t heal.  Please pray for her.  She’s doing fine otherwise.  Hopefully she doesn’t catch the flu that’s going around these days.

This is entirely enough news.   If you made it this far, I’m impressed.  I think I would have dozed off after the 3rd or 4th bullet point. HA! Until next time…have a great week!