That Little Witch, DST

Extra hour of sleep, my ass.

(WARNING: Lack of sleep may produce blog posts rife with PG-13 rated vocabulary. It'll be no worse that what you see on prime time TV...so deal with it.)

Ah - Daylight Savings Time. I never understood why Hoosiers were so up in arms when we started switching our clocks a few years back. I (and the other 47 states) grew up with DST, and it was no big deal. Apparently, the Hoosiers whining about the change must have all had kids.

This fall started out promising. We slowly adjusted Miles' schedule to keep him up a little later the week prior, and on Sunday morning, he slept great! Sure, Marshall woke up at 5:15, but that was 6:15 the day earlier, and that wasn't so bad.

Then came yesterday morning. Marshall woke up at 4:30. OK, no big deal, it's just a blip. He'll get used to it. And Miles still slept until 6:15.

Then came this morning. 4:30 again. Miles wakes up me...Jason...and Marshall. After much whining (and threats to take away candy), I convince Miles to play "quietly" in his room while I feed Marshall. He comes in to ask for breakfast. He comes in crying because he can't build a tower with his Lincoln Logs. He comes in to ask me if I like his Army boots. All before 5am.

And then the "quiet" play starts. Whatever jerkfaces bought Buzz Lightyear (aka the World's Loudest Toy) and Bulldozer That Plays Cheesy 80s Rock Anthem (WTF?) are getting big red frowny faces in my Book of Mommy Offenses. Sorry if that's you...my brain is too hazy to remember who I'm offending right now. That's what happens when you have a migraine and a space ranger comes in to greet you with flashing lights and sirens at 5:15.

So, here it is, not even 9am, and I've done some work, written this post, and drunk three cups of coffee...all while waiting for Marshall to wake up from his "mid-morning" nap so I can take him to day care.

When we were still lucid on Saturday, we did get out and enjoy the beautiful weather at the Butler football game. Some pics for your viewing pleasure:

Diggin' the Dinos

Miles got full use out of his Halloween costume this year - Buddy from Dinosaur Train. He tried it on for various family members at least 5 times, then he got to wear it for two different parties at school, and he put it on once again to visit Uncle Billy and Cathy.

All that matters is the big day though, Trick-or-Treat!



I'm embarrassed to admit that I got a little snippy with Jason over the ToT plan gone awry. I thought he would take Miles out to a few houses, then bring him back so I could check him out in action. Well, somehow the Candy Hound convinced Daddy to circle the entire block. Once Miles returned, he wanted to hand out candy (check out the tail):



I finally convinced him to go back out with me...he made it three houses before declaring that his feet hurt. Oh well - I got to spend most of my Halloween night with this little dino instead!



We did manage to get one quick pic with the two dinos together:




But the best one came beforehand!




Thanks to cousin Lyla, we had a cute jack-o-lantern. We visited the Kolbs last weekend and they took us to the cutest little pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkin. We had a great time!

Canvas, Carrots, and Cousin

It's school picture time! This year, picture day was a rare warm October day, so they took them outside. They turned out wonderfully!







Go to the photographer's website if you want to order some. They're expensive, but we couldn't resist the one of the boys together.

We missed a week of good home picture-taking, because Marshall was sick and wasn't too interested in smiling, even away from the camera. Luckily, he's back to normal!



That's his carrots face. He also loves pears and bananas. What should we try next? Maybe we'll be up to that delicious turkey-in-a-jar before Thanksgiving.

Last weekend was Daddy's last band contest. We are so proud of the Pride (yuk yuk) and how well they did at Semi-state. We are also SO happy to have our weekends free once again! Uncle David, Aunt Hilary, and Gavin came up and hung out too. Marshall had fun showing Gavin how to play some tunes on his favorite toy, the piano.



Next up - a couple of cute dinos on Halloween!

A Prediction

Jason and I were sitting on the couch last night watching the Tigers game when I glanced up and realized that Miles was wearing his Tigers hat in this year's pictures:

Then, I started to think back. Miles had his one-year pictures taken in his Colts jersey:

And...the Colts went on to lose in the Super Bowl that next season.

Miles had his two-year pictures taken in his Butler gear:



And...that was sandwiched in the middle of two straight losses in the NCAA National Championship game.

So, I'll go out on a limb to say that the Tigers will win the American League, only to lose it in the World Series. It's an honor just to make it to the championship, right?

In less loserly pursuits, Marshall is the proud bearer of one tooth! On October 7, Aunt Ashley and I discovered it - quite a surprise! The best part of it all is that there was no whiny, sad, long, drawn-out process. Marshall has never been the best sleeper - sure, he goes right back to sleep - but he was up every hour or two that week. Other than that, he was his normal, happy self! He's so happy that one of his teachers at day care said she thinks he might be the happiest baby she's ever had.

But, as usual, the picture I have to share is of crazy-face Marshall...but cute nonetheless!

Goin' to the Lodge

We had a big weekend! As is thankfully becoming a tradition, Jason's band swept District contest by winning every caption and coming in first place. We broke out the ol' Bee (scratch that - Yellow Jacket) costume once again, partially for cuteness and partially for warmth:



After the contest, we packed up the "brown car" and headed down to Cincinnati to meet the Kolbs at Great Wolf Lodge. We had all kinds of little things go wrong:

• We explored every inch of Mason, Ohio looking for the La Rosa's Pizza. Thanks, Crappy GPS, for telling us that La Rosa's was smack dab in the middle of Kings Island.
  
• Aunt KK accidentally took a sleeping pill instead of an anti-nausea pill right before we arrived. She was a trooper though and stayed awake all evening!
  
• Marshall arrived with an exploding nappy, which required a classy sink bath:
  
  
  
  
• We missed story time with the Wolf, even though the brochure said we were right on time. Luckily, Miles still got a pic:
  
  
  
• The girl at the ice cream shop literally pulled ice cream from a crying kid's hands. The front desk told us we could charge food to our room with our fancy pants bracelets, so we ordered the ice cream and stood in line to pay. Then the cashier tells us money has to be pre-loaded for it to work. And yes, not a single one of us had any money. Poor Miles - we were walking down the hall after he had calmed down, when he realized he was still holding the spoon. "What is this spoon for?" Pic in happier pre-ice cream debacle times:
  
  
  

The good news? Despite all of this, we all had a great time! Miles was a brave guy and went down the little water slide at least 5 times...he also has asked me if we could return at least 5 times too!





In totally unrelated news, Marshall had his 6-month well baby visit today. He was a good boy, even with the round of shots he got. He cried a little after the shot but managed to flash the nurse a smile of forgiveness before she left. He is 17 pounds (31%) and 26 1/2 inches (41%). That's a little smaller than his last appointment, but the doc didn't mention it, so we're guessing it's not an issue. It's good news for hand-me-downs though - above-average Miles born in June and below-average Marshall born in March means perfect sizing!

Since I last posted, Marshall is also sitting up! He had he first taste of cereal a couple of weeks ago and is doing well with it. We try green beans tomorrow!

Deep Thoughts

Despite my Jack Handy reference, I feel a need to have a serious post.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day thinking I was too busy to commerate the 9/11 anniversary. Sure, I heard the echos of the tributes in the Sunday sermon, NPR, at the football games, and on Facebook posts...but I was too distracted to soak it all in. That is, until I turned on the TV last night.

I caught a documentary I had seen back in 2001 - the one where the camera crew was actually in the towers that day, intending to document the life of FDNY fireman throughout a 9 month period. It took me a while to realize I had already seen it. I can't believe that I could even forget it. But somehow I did.

And that made me worry a little bit. How could that day seem like yesterday but at the same time seem so hazy to me? Then I started to reflect again on my personal experience with the day...and I realized how much I forgot about what I actually lived through.

So, in the interest of this blog being a way for me to remember - and for my kids to know their past - I figured I'd document what I experienced that day - in my past. At least before I forget even more.

We had been married for barely two months, and I hadn't yet been a full year at my job. I remember the exact spot I heard the first reports - in my car, driving down Pennsylvania, not quite to my office in downtown Indianapolis. I was listening to Bob & Tom, when Tom announced the news that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers. Bob and Tom are never serious, so the tone made me realize quickly that something wasn't quite right. Nevertheless, it was one of those moments where, yeah, I was sad for those people in lower Manhattan, but it seemed like just another far-off news story.

After that my memory starts to fail me. I actually had to look up the times when everything occured to see how it paired with what I remember. So, the following is really my best guess. As I've been listening to the recounts this anniversary week, I've been wondering why I was so late to work. It was 8:48, after all, and I was still a newbie who arrived on time. It wasn't until today that I realized that Indiana was still on Central time.

When I got to my office on the 12th floor, the TVs were on as usual. Instead of market news on CNBC, the news coverage was on. I used to park about 4 blocks away to save money, so I can only assume that by the time I arrived, they were reporting that the second plane had already hit.

I checked some e-mails and thankfully received one from a friend who lived nearby. She was safe, but could see the smoke from her apartment. It was around this time that I remember hearing all the reports of people jumping from dozens of floors up. Yes, I was only on Floor 12, but that was still way higher than I wanted to be at that point. I wondered why my coworkers weren't more freaked out and was glad when I convinced at least one woman to join me in the coffee shop downstairs...on the ground floor at least.

The TV was on in the coffee shop. I'm not sure whether it was there that I heard about the Pentagon or if it was the tower collapse or both. Either way, it was enough to make me want to get the hell out of downtown. My coworker went back upstairs, but I told her that I was going home. I didn't care if I had work to do or not - I had a feeling that no work was going to be happening for anyone anyway.

By the time I logged in to my work e-mail from home, they had decided to let all of my coworkers leave. I was also able to exhale a little after hearing back from another friend who lived in Tribeca. She saw the first plane crash from her bedroom window. At that point, we had grown apart as friends, it was still numbing to me to think about my childhood friend in the middle of all of that, unable to even go back to her home for days. I still have the e-mails saved, even though we haven't corrsponded in years. She wrote to me in the coming weeks about returning to an empty neighborhood, except the National Guard troops and her authorized neighbors. A few weeks later, she told me about all the work it took to clean up dust from her floors, furniture, and clothes from when the towers fell.

I spent the rest of the day planted in front of the TV. By the time Jason got home from school, I felt like I had to get out and do something. I gave him the choice - go give blood or go to church. Thanks to his fear of blood and needles, we ended up at Our Lady of Mount Carmel that evening.

So, kids, that's where I was. Over the next ten years, I'm sure my memories will fade more. I'll look back on this antiquated medium called a blog and be thankful that I can at least have something to tell my 13 and 10 year old boys.

And I'll remember.

Oh, God.

As an addendum to the Miles-isms, I thought I'd add some of Miles' recent musings on God. We say the same set of prayers every night ("Now I lay me..."), but I can't really remember the last time we made it all the way through without a question. Some of them are truly sweet or profound. (Why does God make the dark? Does God have feet?)

I even get quotes from the Bible, mostly from the movies at day care Bible Time. Miles told me the big elaborate story of when Satan tests Jesus. Of course, it was in much simpler words (The Devil was mean to Jesus), but he got the details right (the desert, up on a high mountain, up on a really, really tall building aka the temple). Then he told me, "And Jesus said, 'Man cannot live on bread alone.'"

But the best, of course, are the funny ones. A personal favorite: "Why is his name Jesus? I think that's a funny name because it sounds like 'Cheesy'!" Also, "Does God make bathrooms?"

On to Marshall news. He's getting really close to sitting up on his own, but I wouldn't call it official yet. He's also showing lots of interest in us eating lately and tries to steal our food if he's sitting on our lap. We're sticking with the doc's advice and waiting until he turns 6 months to start solids. I'd like to say it's because we're giving his intestines time to mature, but we're really just lazy and like the fact that the doctor gave us a pass to wait a little longer.

He also is getting much more tolerant of baths and is really having fun splashing. Here's last night's post-bath pic:







Most of all, Marshall loves watching his big brother Miles. Nobody can make him laugh quite like Big Bro:

We're also still getting pumped for football season:



Miles even made me put these stickers on his face this morning before day care. Wonder what his teachers think of me?