No couch potatoes here

Today has been a rough day. Not to play the pity me card, but I'm sick, and I've discovered that's one of the hardest parts of being a stay at home mom. When I get sick, I don't get to take a day off. I can't send Kyle off to daycare and spend the day sleeping and watching tv. I still have to get up and play even though I feel awful. Maybe it's worse because we live up here, far away from family. I can't call up my mom or sister or aunt and ask them to come help. As if I needed one, there's one more reason to move to Georgia! So, we've been trudging along, watching the clock tick away until 5:30, the magic Daddy's home hour! I've learned something today though. If you know me well, you know I'm a compulsive organizer. I hate when things are out of place and I hate when things don't have a 'home'. So ordinarily I try to play pretty neatly with Kyle. Today's been more of a 'do whatever you want' day. Kyle wanted to move all my socks into Brad's dresser drawer. Have at it! That means I get to lay on the bed and watch! Take all the shoes out of the closet? Sure, I'll just sit in the glider and watch you. Not being so anal about organizing has been fun and freeing...until tomorrow when I find the energy to put it all back again. We even tried to watch a video. Again, if you know me, you know that's not my thing. Kyle never watches movies or TV. Not that I have anything against kids watching a show here or there - we just really don't here - he's had no interest whatsover. My wishful thinking self was hoping today would be the day he'd sit and watch something, anything, at least for a half an hour. So I pop in the Veggie Tales movie, sit down with Kyle on my lap, get a whole 3 minutes out of him, and he decides he'd rather go play with his piano, then his little people garage, then Elmo. I desperately tried the Wiggles, Barney, Boz...no luck. Oh well. At least we got 2 naps in today. That's something - and we only have 2 1/2 hours left! Oh ya, and it's snowing. Again. Hooray for winter.

Happy Everything!

Okay, okay, so it's been over a month since I've updated this. Sorry! Sometimes I get convinced that no one reads it but then I get complaints so here I am back again. Hope everyone had a great Christmas, Hannukah and New Year. We were very lucky to spend Christmas with my family in South Carolina this year. After the ordeal of getting there, (flight cancellation, being hung up on by a CS rep, spending 5+ hours in the Memphis airport - fun with an 18 month old, flying into a different airport) we finally made it out of the cold and snow and were thrilled to be on the hidden gem of Fripp Island. As always, it was great spending the week with my sisters, brother, mom, nieces, nephews... We walked on the beach, cruised around in golf carts, played cards and games and discovered that the deer would come and eat out of our hands. That was amazing! Kyle even got to feed the deer. The weather was warm enough that the kids went swimming in the outdoor pool on Christmas Day - no adults joined them, but we enjoyed being outside in summer clothes on Christmas! We had a great time and would love to go back. We're especially glad Beth drove and was able to bring home all the piles of gifts for us.
















All the Crittenden cousins

















Our amazing home away from home on Fripp





















Kyle at the pool on Christmas Day - he never made it in the water though
















Kyle feeding one of Santa's reindeer
















This deer really liked Brad





















Kyle on the beach
















Kyle and Chloe at the pier

New Year's was uneventful but fun. We all went out to a Japanese steak house for dinner and headed home where Brad and I played the Wii until midnight! We had a great time and made it up to see 2009 enter in. Can't believe it's already 2009 - that means Brad and I have officially been together for 15 years - almost half my life!!
We celebrated with the Gates side of the family on New Year's Day - so fun to have all the cousins together! The holidays always fly by and now we're on to the loooong months of cold, snow, and ice. We're planning on taking Kyle sledding soon - hopefully he likes it a little more than he did last year!

December Update

Days fly by so fast that it's hard to remember all that's been happening here. Kyle and I were lucky enough to take a trip to Georgia the middle of November. He once again was a champion on the plane. On the way home he was awake the whole flight. Going down he fell asleep 5 minutes before landing. He amused himself with toys, books, and food and we were lucky enough to have no one sitting beside us so we could spread out. The worst part of it all was the ATL airport on the way home. It actually was empty - no line at all at security - which is very unusual, but if you've been there, you know it's pretty big - with a train to take you between terminals even. So, we get to the airport and are told we're flying out of gate C 20-something (of course the last gate in the C terminal.) So we trek over there (me carrying Kyle, a little people Mayflower boat and a Ginormous carry on bag overflowing with who knows what) only to find out we're actually at gate C 12. Up goes all the stuff and we hike over there to find out, that no, we've been moved again - this time to the D terminal. By the time we made it there I thought my arms were going to fall off, but luckily that was the final gate and the rest of the flight was wonderful - until we flew over Lake Michigan and I was greeted by snow in Wisconsin that is. UGH. Anyway, our vacation was great - lots of visiting with family, great eating, and playing. We miss it! Playing with play-doh

Back home we had a good Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Kyle got sick with a double ear infection 2 nights before, thus ruining our plans to go in early and eat Portillos. Oh well. He was much better by Thanksgiving Day and we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner with some of the Gates family.

Now it is my favorite time - Christmas decorating time!!! We hauled out all 9 bins plus all the miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit in bins and have decorated the house. It looks beautiful and Kyle is loving all the santas and snowmen all around. He's been great with the tree so far and has been having a great time finding the elf every morning. The elf has been named by the way, TWIG. We're very much looking forward to Christmas and heading to South Carolina with my family but don't want to rush the time away.

Crazy TWIG hanging around

Kyle himself is awesome. He really is a funny kid. He still loves animals and is pretty good at making animal sounds - he's got the hippo, snake, elephant and giraffe down pat. He loves to eat - the kid really should weigh about 50 pounds (in GA he ate half my mom's French Dip sandwich one day at lunch plus mac and cheese and other random snacks). He's not saying many understandable words (unless you ask my mom or aunt who think he says everything from duck to dollar store - to me they just sound like 'duh') but he chatters away and is signing some too (more, eat, all done, and my new favorite - please). He got his 2nd much needed haircut - hopefully the curls will come back!! We had fun (not so much) trying to take pictures the other day and we'll be visiting Santa soon - we'll see how he likes the big guy this year!! Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!!!

Kyle's new favorite way to eat yogurt

His new 'do

Kissing a picture of Grandma

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this morning of Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a list of the many things I'm thankful for. There are many and I hope I can remember to be grateful for them all year round. So, here goes.
1. Kyle - no explanation needed but seriously, who knew that a little boy could take over my heart in just 17 short months? He amazes me and makes me laugh and smile every day.
2. My amazing family - with all the quirks and craziness sometimes, they help define who I am. We can argue and disagree but we always love each other. I am beyond lucky to have so many amazing people to proudly call my family.
3. The blessing to be able to stay home with Kyle. This is truly one of those things I don't take for granted.
4. Technology. I love being able to reconnect with old friends and keep in touch and share memories so easily.
5. Couches and a rug that are easy to clean. Seriously, with 2 dogs and a kid (and Brad), it's the little things in life that make me happy.
6. The sense of security I have - I never worry about having all that we need - we may not drive fancy cars, live in a huge house, or shop on Rodeo Drive, but I don't need those things. Our needs and many of our wants are provided for always. That security brings contentment to my life.
7. Arcadia. Heaven on Earth.
8. Friends who 'get' me. It's not the quantity but the quality of friends that is important to me and my friends are quality people.
9. Nice generous people. Everywhere I go it seems people are always helping one another out and giving of themselves freely. I don't think it's just because of the holiday season. I really think most people deep down are really good and just need opportunities to help. They inspire me to be a better person too.
10. An amazing God who has blessed me beyond measure.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope your lives are joyful and blessed as well!

Cleaning out the pumpkin

The slightly overdue video of Kyle having a blast with the pumpkin...He continues to crack us up every day. We are blessed!

Frozen in time

Sometimes I wish it was possible to freeze time. Everyone always says time flies by with a child and it is so true. I look at Kyle and wonder where the last 16 months have gone. We've definitely had some tough moments but when I look back all I remember are the good times. I can't believe he's already walking around and communicating. Where did that helpless dependent baby go? He's now independent in so many ways and has this amazing personality. Kyle picks out the food he wants to eat, the shoes he wants to wear, the books he wants to read. He just amazes me at all that he can understand and all that he can do. Sometimes when he comes toddling into the room I look at him and see a glance into the future. I don't see a wobbly 1 year old, but a 10 year old playing baseball or an 18 year old getting dressed up for prom. I know those moments will be here before I know it and so I try my best to enjoy every moment that is speeding past us. If I could just freeze him and capture him in this moment in time it would be perfect. But at the same time, I'm so excited to see how he changes and grows throughout the years and I can't wait to experience all of that with him. Will it always go this quickly? Probably. For now, I'll just count my blessings and keep telling myself how lucky I am to get to see his adorable smiling face every morning.

Halloween Fun

It's already November!! We've had some great fun with Halloween this year. Kyle dressed up as a skunk and was super cute. Good thing he doesn't quite get the connotation of that yet. He got to wear his costume quite a few times. We went trick or treating in our neighborhood on a very cold and windy day then went to our town's party in the park. He won the costume contest!! His prize was the computer game Zoo Tycoon 2. Maybe in a few years he'll enjoy that! We also went to a Halloween story time at Borders, visited Dad at work, and then went to a Halloween party on Friday at the mall. We did more trick or treating, listened to ghost stories, played with pumpkins and had fun seeing all the kids in costumes. Kyle actually liked wearing his costume and had a lot of fun. He has decided he loves candy - his favorite are Reese's peanut butter cups (mine too). He had a lot of fun carving pumpkins too. I'll try to get up a video of that later - no problems for him with the stringy pumpkin guts!!

At the Family Farm - feeding goats