Christmas Photos

I was just comparing these photos and figured I would just post them. These are the cousins at Christmas, 2008-2010. I love seeing the progression of ages!

Christmas 2008 (Patrick-10.5 months, Gavin-almost 3, Nina-7 months)

Christmas 2009 (Gavin-almost four, Patrick-nearing 2, Nina-19 months)

Christmas 2010 (I realize this is a duplicate photo, but Patrick-nearing 3, Nina-2.5, Gavin-almost 5!, and Leo-almost 8 months)

My cousin and her husband welcomed their first baby today.  It makes me feel all warm-and-fuzzy...the forming of a new family, the magic of the birth day, the whirlwind of it all.  I told Patrick that he had a new cousin, to which he naturally replied "Is it a baby dinosaur?  A red one?  I think I will like a red dinosaur baby!!  Is that true?  Is that true?" 

So here we are, Christmas over and New Year's Day quickly approaching.  I'm already mourning the end of the holidays.  They come and go so fast.  This year, we're ringing in the new year by saying farewell to my sister- and brother-in-law's 62nd street house.  Oh, the times that were had in that house:  My first date with Adam included a quick visit to see the house as Katie and Josh were just moving in.  Soon after, we shared numerous glasses of wine, the wedding planning, the new babies, the late nights, and dance parties.  Cookouts, bonfires, and lazy days = good times, good times.  I feel like there should be a picture montage to properly say goodbye (you work on that, Katie.  I know you will.)

Just in time for the party, my face will hopefully be mostly healed.  The chapped eyelids I mentioned earlier actually ended up being the start to an allergic reaction...to what I was using to soothe them:  the vasoline, I believe.  The more I used, the worse it got, so the more I used, and the worse it got.  See this vicious cycle?  The day after Christmas, I woke up with little oozing slits for eyes.  Seriously.  (Adam woke up, too, with a "Oooh, Catie...your eyes...")  Slowly, they have been healing.  The accompanying face rash is also drying up.  My lips look good, though.  Nice and puffy.  Granted, that's the only part of my face that did benefit from the reaction, but if I ever need a quick collagen look, I know where to turn.   As of this morning, the swelling is mostly gone, my eyes are a little scaly (but manageable) and I am beginning to see my eyelashes again.  (I would post pictures, but to be honest, I am far too vain to do that.  I have barely left the house in a week.)

Here are a few pics from Christmas morning (again, courtesy of KM...where would I be without her and her excellent photo-taking).  I'll post Christmas Eve (Hatcher) pics soon:

Merry Christmas from the Waldens, 2010

2010, According to my iPhone

I apologize for the "Private Setting" on the video below.  I fixed it.  I finally uploaded all of my cell phone pics to the family laptop and put together this movie montage with a few of my favorites, in chronological order.  I learned while editing this that our family really enjoys taking pictures of each other while we're sleeping.  Life according to the pictures my iPhone:

Hello, Winter

First note regarding this cold time of year:  I love Indiana winters.  I may be one of the few, but I really do.  For this reason, I will probably never leave Indiana, or at least the Midwest.  The thought of going without winters makes my heart sad.  As much as I love them, though, my sensitive Irish skin does not.  My eyelids are chapped.  Top and bottom lids.  Both chapped.  Blinking is bizarre.  As I sit typing this, my face is slathered in Vasoline.  Truly.  It does help...it doesn't treat anything, but it does help.  That is, until the end of the day, when my face gets slathered all over again.  Come Spring, I will have to replace my pillowcase cover, which has now developed a darker "vasoline" smudge right in the middle.  To me, it's worth it.  And, weirdly, the Vasoline tends to make a heat barrier, of sorts, and I feel as though my face is less cold.  Maybe it's my imagination, but whatever.  I love my Vasoline.

Second note regarding the Winter:  The fuel line on my mom-car froze on Wednesday morning, thanks to the -2 degree reading on the dash.  (Car would not start.  I had obvious power, but the *@#% thing would not start.)  I have heard to always keep gas in the car during the winter, and I have pushed the limit before.  This time, however, I had a quarter of a tank, which I think is pretty reasonable.  Nonetheless, I was out the door and planning on going to my final when I realized that the car was dead.  I ended up taking Adam's car and left he and the boys stranded.  God Bless that man.  That morning, he was a quick-thinking lifesaver (though he kind of had to be, as I almost dragged him out of the shower to try to jump my car and there was absolutely no way he was going outside dripping wet and in boxer shorts.)  In a way, it was good that the car froze because we found out that our alternator was bad.  And something else was, too.  And something else.  And a little optional something else.  Several hundred dollars later, I have my car back.  And it's a gem.  So go the holidays...and the hemorrhaging of money.  It's life.  I'll take it.  (I kind of laughed when I wrote that.  When Adam called me, he prefaced the grand total with, "I have news for you, Catie, and I really need you to not freak out.")

Speaking of cars (this blog post is kind of all-over-the-place), the hunt begins for a minivan.  I know the typical "ugh" response to a minivan, but that is not mine.  I am so excited about it!  Really...excited.  I love minivans.  Once soccer season starts and Patrick is signed up, I will officially be a soccer mom.  (And, let's be fair, that's kind of been on my to-do list since birth.)  So far, we have it narrowed down to either the Toyota Sienna or the VW Routan.  I guess we'll figure it out in March.  I love car shopping, though, so I insist that I get all of the research parts done now.  I can deal with the rest later.  Actually, since both Adam and I have a little history in the car business, I don't worry too much about getting ripped off.  I know people, he knows people... We'll be fine.  And who doesn't love a new car?  Especially one with 31 cup holders or whose backseat folds 7 different ways to provide optimal storage?  Seriously.  You minivan-haters are crazy.

Christmas is coming in a week.  I have a lot to do.  Tomorrow.  It's a good thing that I love gift wrapping.  It's a bad thing that gifts don't come with boxes from the stores anymore.  I hate making an extra trip to buy boxes.  (I only say that because that is the one reason I am not wrapping tonight.  No boxes.  Boo.)

In keeping with the all-over-the-place theme, Leo has 7 teeth now.  One more on the way.  Maybe he'll get a porterhouse for Christmas dinner.  He says "Mama" and "Baba" and give big, wet, open-mouthed kisses.  And he has a hot temper, much like his mother.  Patrick is so in love with Christmas, I worry what will happen when it's all over.  He's become even more outgoing (if that's possible), as he has found that he has something to talk about that everyone "gets."  (Santa even understood him clearly when he asked for a dragon and a robot...and Legos and a Transformer for his "friend" Leo.)  This time of year is absolutely superb with the little ones.  And, despite our "cutting-back," the kids are making out like little bandits.  Even Leo, who would never, ever know the difference if he didn't.  He got his manatee, by the way.  Adam saw it and responded, "Catie...this had better be a fat dolphin."  Not a chance.  I win!

Damn You, AutoCorrect

I am supposed to be online Christmas shopping right now.  Sadly, I cannot focus.  What is not sad is that I just found the funniest website I have ever seen in my entire life.  My throat hurts from laughing.  I have tears running down my face.  Adam is so annoyed at my constant laughter, I really think he's considering going to his man cave just so he can hear the TV.

If you're not familiar with the iPhone, it has what is called "autocorrect."  When you send a text, it notoriously changes the words to something you didn't mean if it recognizes what is usually a typo as an attempt to type something else.  (I hope that made sense.)  In short, it changes your words to something you did not actually type.  I've sent a few of these, but not quite this funny.  I've put a few of them on here for your reading pleasure.  I hope you enjoy as much as I did.  (NOTE:  Green text is all from the person whose phone it belongs to.  Gray text is from the person to whom the message was sent.)  These are all courtesy of http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/:

Nothing says "Mom-Slash-Student" like making a cozy work area in the hallway so that your two-year-old can be watched in the bathtub.  Furthermore, the entire reason he was put in the bathtub was because he tends to stay there for at least an hour and I have a case study due at 8am.  In an attempt to keep him quietly occupied, and myself semi-focused, here is where we are today. 

Tomorrow, we have lecture and ATI testing, Thursday lecture, and Friday a dosage calculation exam and simulation.  After that, final next Wednesday, and then it's Christmas Vacation.  Let me rephrase that: it's CHRISTMAS VACATION.  My very last one ever, I'd guess (assuming, of course, that the next semester goes well and that I will have no repeats.) 

Four school days to go.  With my motivation tank on empty, I have a feeling it's going to take a lot to get me there.  So close, so close...

Our Son Is Not A Mana-teee, Mana-teee

Adam hates my Leo Manatee song.  Here is our conversation tonight:

Adam:  Leo is so cute.  He's so tough.  Do you want to know what I call him?
Catie:  What do you call him?
Adam:  I call him a gentle giant.
Catie:  Kind of like a manatee?
Adam:  CATIE. Come on.  A manatee is not a gentle giant.  It is a gentle sea cow.  It is a fat, slow, cow that swims and eats lettuce.  Or algae.  Or whatever it eats, but it has a flipper like a platypus and gets hit by boats because it is slow. 
Catie:  A little like a manatee?
Adam: "Our son is not a mana-teeee, mana-teeee."  (That last part was sung.  Seriously.)  I cannot believe we are even having this conversation. 

I think I'm going to buy Leo a stuffed manatee for Christmas.