Pumpkin Patch Time.

Lastnight we took the kiddies to the local Pumpkin Patch. It was the girls' first time there and they loved it. Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long and I wished that we could have taken them earlier in the day (for better picture taking). At first Vanessa was a little reserved but with the carnival like atmosphere (the inflatable airslides, animals, and music), she warmed up to the patch rather quickly. Natalie followed suit. They were having a ball running around and picking up the miniature pumpkins. The one thing that I was looking forward to was the set up of the pumpkin patch. Previous years they have the pumpkins on the ground set up in a spiral design or maze. This year they propped all the pumpkins on hay blocks so the girls' couldn't walk around them. I wanted to see Vanessa try to pick up a regular size pumpkin because at home she'll try to pick up big objects such as weights or watermelons. She's going to be a weightlifter when she grows up. Not this year....bummer. It would been great to take pictures of.

No Dress Up This Year.

This year we decided to not play dress up for the kiddies. Originally we were contemplating dressing up the kids as Flintstones characters. Fiona wanted to design the costumes and I wanted to buy it. O' so little faith I have in my wife =). We were thinking that Natalie could be Pebbles, Vanessa could be Bam Bam, and Jadon could have been Dino (and if we took it a step further I could have been Fred and she could have been Wilma). Fiona didn't want to buy it at all and the amount of time to design and create the costumes would have exceeded the deadline. Not only that but Fiona has been really busy handling the duties of her mom since she's out of the country (both at the business and house keeping). We can always fall back to our last year's costumes because I am sure the girls can still fit in them. This time Vanessa can be the cow and Natalie can be the chicken. I guess will try to make it up to them next year.

Jadon The Entertainer.

Jadon has taken it upon himself to provide early morning entertainment for the girls when they wake up. With day light savings ending, he was up at the crack of dawn. He'll go into the girls' room and sing songs for them and do other things to make them laugh. I hate to be awoken up so early in the morning but how could I get angry with someone who is entertaining the girls and having a good time? He can be a sweet little boy at times. Other times he can just really act up and be really disobedient.

The Speaking Has Begun.

Vanessa is coming around to talking more with actual words. Aside from the usual "bye," "hi," and "nigh' nigh'" she is also using "No, no! Bad, bad!" (she doesn't pronounce the 'd'). It is so cute when she says it because she uses it in context. When we scold Natalie, Jadon, or even herself she'll say that. She has also identified dogs too. She'll say "doggie, woof." Fiona has been listing all the words that she can say and has come up with over 20 (which is the minimum that babies/toddlers her age should know). Natalie on the other hand isn't where her sister is. She probably knows less than half. Most of the time she mimics Vanessa. But I will say that Natalie is advanced in other areas than Vanessa.

Another thing that the girls have been doing a lot lately is consoling each other. When some one gets hurt or cries, they'll pat each other on the back of give each other a hug. And it's even cuter when they actually hug each other at the same time (a rarity). A lot of times Vanessa just pushes Natalie away. Then as an added bonus they occasionally kiss each other on the cheeks (actually Natalie does most of the kissing).

Christmas Shopping Has Begun!

In my household, our Christmas shopping has already started believe it or not. We'd figure we would beat the rush and not save it for the last minute. So far we have gotten the girls a Little Tykes kitchen set. Since they love to hanging out in the kitchen with their momma and pretend cook we decided to get them their own. For Jadon we have gotten him portable Matchbox cases that open up into a themed set (i.e. autocenter, harbor port). He loves his vehicles. As for Fiona, I have started my shopping but I am not going to divulge that ;). Not only do we have the Christmas shopping to contend with but we also have all the kiddies' birthday in January (with the girls' six days before Jadon's). And then Fiona's birthday to follow (with Valentine's Day!). Major ouch on the credit cards. But I'm more of a giver than a receiver so it's like a treat for me.

Lunch Date.

I have a lunch date with three ladies today. Woohoo. I hope Fiona doesn't get jealous. Well she shouldn't because it's with her and the girls. No patients today which means it's a slow day which means I have decided to work a short day. We're planning to go to a Seafood Buffet. This will be the first time that we have taken the girls to a buffet (besides Souplantation). Too bad Jadon doesn't get to go with us. He's in school.

Actually this work day was even more shortened because earlier this morning (after going to work for a few hours), I went home to baby sit the girls while Fiona took Jadon to the doctor's office. The doctor didn't find any ear infection whatsoever but did clear out a lot of earwax. Hopefully it was just a build up of wax that was hurting his ear. As for the coughing, the doctor prescribed an antibiotic but told us that we can wait until the weekend to see if he gets any better. After Fiona got home, I went back to work and here I am typing up a blog until lunch time =P~.

Link Changes.

Apparently the Yahoo site that I store my pictures has changed it's layout so I have updated the links of my picture realm to reflect that. I thought about switching over to Flickr but I don't see myself doing that for quite some time. I already have a lot of images loaded up on Yahoo's site. Besides, it is part of the package that I have with Yahoo because my isp is through them. Also it looks like Yahoo is starting to streamline their photo service to mimic Flickr (since they own them). I will attempt to update my photos (although the picture file size has increased significantly so it will take longer to upload them) at some point in the near future.

RoboDon.

Over the past week, I have had two separate incidents where people have made comments about my boot in relationship to Robocop. I guess it does look like his leg. Too bad I don't have his gun.

Nothing Much To Report.

Well I've just about settled in at the new work location. My desk is in place, computers hooked up, and I'm just chugging along. I really like the new place. (1) It's close to home, (2) it's a much bigger office space, (3) I have a slight window view, and (4) patients will be much happier going to one location for both scan and consultation. Our prior situation would not allow for the mobile scanner unit and our offices to be together. So people would go the scanner unit (typically 20 minutes away from the office), get scanned, and either elect to have their consultation on board the trailor (via video satellite) or come to the office for an inperson consult). Most patients choose the latter.

As far as the home front, everyone seems to be getting over their cold. We all have a lingering cough with Jadon's lasting the longest. Jadon has been a little more defiant, Vanessa has been a major Miss Crankypants, and Natalie is just flying under the radar being cute. Can you guess who is my number 1?

Back In The Driver Seat.

This morning I drove to work! Albiet, it was only a five minute drive but still it felt great to get back in to the driver seat. Being not able to drive for the past month has been driving (no pun intended) me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Fiona (and Elliot) chauffeuring me around but as a person who loves to drive, it's pure torture.

The last time that I have not driven for a long period of time was when I was 16 (or was it 17?) and I had just gotten two citations within three weeks. The first citation was for doing a "California Roll" on a stop sign really close by our house. The second was for speeding doing 75 mph on a 55mph zone (actually I was going 90 and I slowed fast when I saw the cop). I felt so bad when I confronted my parents. I ended up grounding myself. No driving for awhile. I ended up walking to school. At about a months' time my mom told me that I can drive again. Boy was I just a stupid driver back then. It's not to say that I didn't go ticket free after that but I will say that I haven't gotten one in over 11 years.

Cast Off.

Today is moving day (and yesterday), so I had Fiona drop me off this morning for a few hours. My work area is not quite done yet. Apparently my boss is going to have the walls repainted because it doesn't go with the decor. That means that my desk won't be put together just yet. So they temporarily put me up in my bosses office (she's going to be working in the fields for half the week next week). I worked until Fiona picked me up, had lunch, and then she took me to the orthopedic's office to have the cast remove. Oh does it feel soooooo good. I was a little scared because the nurse who sawed my cast off was distracted by my girls. So she's sawing away but she doesn't have her eyes paid attention to me. After the doctor inspected it and said everything was proceeding well. I'll be wearing a boot for the next two months (good thing about it is I can take it off). Every two weeks I will be taking out these angled flats which will adjust my ankle slowly to a perpendicular state. My physical therapy starts in about a month. Not only that but I can drive now (although cautioned by my doctor). But at least my work is only five minutes away. After the doctor's appointment I had Fiona drop me off at work where I am not blogging. Time to get back to work (or look like I am working).

On The Move.

Today will be my company's last operating day in the city of Newport Beach. Tomorrow we will be moving to Tustin (about 10-15 minutes from our present location). This will be quite beneficial for me because commuting to work will only be 5 minutes away. I still have to complete some packing but that should be done in no time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I can't help lift boxes or help take down and put the computer servers due to my ankle. So the next day or two will probably yield me minimal work hours which is fine with me because apparently I am feeling a little more sick then yesterday. I have a tad bit of a on-and-off stuffy nose and an ever so slightly cough. So far though it hasn't been too bad being a little under the weather. As long as it doesn't ever get bad as it did a little over month ago (stomach flu of sorts).

Sickness Is In The Air.

Over the weekend, Jadon has developed a pretty nasty cough. And well once one kid gets sick, it's pretty much a domino effect from there. Fiona went out to get some medicine and for the first time, Jadon has taken it with no problems. He almost seems to be begging for it at times. He's still sick (hopefully on the path to getting better). Now Natalie seems to have developed a fever (102 degrees). She napped for well over 2 hours in the morning which is quite uncharacteristic of her. But otherwise she seems to be behaving normal. Vanessa, so far, has not been affected. For me, I am popping 1000mg Vitamin C pills. I am feeling a slight scratchiness in my throat and hopefully that will be the worse that it gets. No time to get sick.

Diaper Free.

Last night, it occured to me that Jadon (for the past week) is diaper free. He no longer wears his pullups at night. The last line of defense, the last visible sign of him resembling a baby. For some reason I thought that that time would be commemorated with something special but it went without much notice. We actually ran out of pullups and Jadon wanted to be put into underwear. So we obliged. No accidents at all. Can't wait until the girls are potty trained and off diapers. Imagine the money we'd save.....

Waiting For Jadon.

Two days ago, I told Jadon that when he goes to school the following day that he shouldn't cry. He told me that he didn't want to go. I tried to tempt him with all the things he could do at school. I asked him if he'd like to play with the trains, bicycles, eat snacks, see his teacher Mrs. Hamilton. He said yes to all of them. So I told him to go to school and have a good time and that I will come with momma to pick him up. Because I'm on crutches, he asked me if I was going to wait in the car in the parking lot. I told him yes I would. Yesterday after we picked Jadon up, I asked Fiona if he cried when she dropped him off. She said that he didn't cry and that he said he would not cry because dadda is waiting in the parking lot. So apparently he thought that I would wait all day for him in the school's lot. Fiona didn't bother to correct him. How cute was that? Whatever works for him as long as he doesn't cry (although he did cry when nap time came around).

I Set Myself Up.

Yesterday Fiona, the kids, and I went to the Knott's Berry Farm Chicken Restaurant. We weren't thinking that there was going to be a long wait. Unfortunately we were wrong. The line wasn't terrible, it was that a bunch of waitors went on break at the wrong time. So Jadon and I waited in line while Fiona was outside with the girls. In line, there was a young couple who started to befriend Jadon. They were asking him questions (i.e. how old are you, what's your favorite game). Then we started talking. It was their first time at the restaurant even though they lived locally. Then we found out that we went to neighboring rival high schools. And then I made the mistake of asking what year he graduated. He's six years younger then me. Mental note to myself: don't ask these types of questions anymore. Normally I'm not self conscious at all when it comes to age but lately I have found myself to feel old. It's not that I get bent out of shape about it, I have just come to be more aware of it. Perhaps it's the kids or my ankle injury or the white strands of hair that I am plucking from my head. I can only hope that I'll age well. =)

Jadon The Fibber?

There have been a couple of instances where we thought that Jadon has been lying. I don't know why he's doing that but he is. It's not like there was an incident where he told us the truth and we came down hard on him (at least I don't think so). There was one time where Fiona suspected that Jadon got a hold of some small scissors and trimmed Vanessa's hair. When probed, he denied it (several times I might add). Then yesterday all three kids were in our bedroom with the door closed. All was quiet and then Jadon came out by himself and closed the door behind him. I asked Fiona to check on the girls and she found them in our bathroom. Apparently someone had taken a Lysol toilet bowl cleaner from the counter (which was too high for the girls to reach), twisted the cap to open, squirted it on the floor, and put the cleaner back on the counter. We interrogated Jadon but he said that he didn't do it. Fiona and I found it extremely hard to believe that but we couldn't get mad at him because we didn't see him do it. He apologized but still denied any wrong doing when we asked him if he had done it. This is new territory for us and I'm not liking it. I am just thinking that it's way to early for him to start lying to us.

Jadon Cried After All.

Fiona just called me to let me know that he cried when she dropped him off to school. I guess it finally hit him. He called me (actually Fiona did) to tell me that he didn't want to go to school this morning. I told him that he's going to have lot's of fun, eat snacks and lunch, and learn. It sounded like he was fine with that but apparently not. Jadon forewarned Fiona that as soon as she closes the door (at school), he's going to cry. I wonder why all of a sudden he's starting this up. Hopefully it's just a little phase.

"Shut Up And Go To Sleep!"

Lastnight when we put the girls to sleep, Natalie just cried. She always cries when we put her to sleep. I mean she's nearly two years old and she still has to cry (Vanessa has grown out of that stage long ago). Anyways, usually Natalie cries for the first 10-20 seconds and then she's quiet after that. Lastnight she was going for five minutes or so. Fiona was listening in and she heard Vanessa baby talk something to Natalie and then she stopped crying. My guess was " Shut up and go to sleep!" There were few other incidents where I'd hear Vanessa saying to Natalie "Nigh' nigh'!" (but I don't think that was stern enough).

Brotherly Imitation.

Yesterday morning Fiona and I were getting the kids dressed. I was sitting down when Jadon went over to his room, brought over his lotion, and started to lotion up my knees. My knees were apparently dry from crawling and he felt it necessary for me to receive some lotion. What a nice thing for him to do. Vanessa seemed to have been paying attention to this little scenario. In the afternoon I was sitting on the couch. She had found a toy soap dispenser in the toy chest and she brought it over to where I was sitting. She pretended to dispense some lotion and started to rub my knees. That was sooooo darn cute. Fiona and I could just eat her up. Yum!