Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Ornament Envy
We decorated our Christmas tree over the weekend. It's very toddler-friendly. With a curious two-almost-three-year-old and a new baby on the way, it will be a while before we can have a Christmas tree filled with fragile ornaments. I don't care so much about having a "department store tree;" I'd rather have a tree full of ornaments with meaning. So I got a little upset when I realized that we don't have ornaments to commemorate our important milestones. Okay, a lot upset. I blame the pregnancy hormones.
I love beautiful Christmas ornaments, but there is a soft spot in my heart for Lenox. I love to give ornaments as gifts, and I'd love to get a new ornament every year (hint, hint, Paul). But we just haven't bought ornaments for ourselves over the years. We don't have an ornament to commemorate the year that we bought our home (2007), or Joey's first Christmas (2008). We don't have an ornament for the first year Paul and I were together (2004) or the year we got engaged (2005). We don't have an ornament for 2009, which must have been pretty uneventful because I can't recall anything big happening. The only annual ornament that we do have is for 2006, the year Paul and I got married. And actually, we received that one as a gift.
Fortunately, all of these annual ornaments can be found on eBay, new or used, for every important milestone. I bought our ornament for 2007, and I'm the high bidder on one for 2008. I do wonder, will buying these ornaments so many years later give them less meaning? Will it matter that I purchased these potential family heirlooms from eBay? I hope that in 20 years I won't even remember.
I love beautiful Christmas ornaments, but there is a soft spot in my heart for Lenox. I love to give ornaments as gifts, and I'd love to get a new ornament every year (hint, hint, Paul). But we just haven't bought ornaments for ourselves over the years. We don't have an ornament to commemorate the year that we bought our home (2007), or Joey's first Christmas (2008). We don't have an ornament for the first year Paul and I were together (2004) or the year we got engaged (2005). We don't have an ornament for 2009, which must have been pretty uneventful because I can't recall anything big happening. The only annual ornament that we do have is for 2006, the year Paul and I got married. And actually, we received that one as a gift.
Fortunately, all of these annual ornaments can be found on eBay, new or used, for every important milestone. I bought our ornament for 2007, and I'm the high bidder on one for 2008. I do wonder, will buying these ornaments so many years later give them less meaning? Will it matter that I purchased these potential family heirlooms from eBay? I hope that in 20 years I won't even remember.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Baby Losavio: 33 Weeks
At 33 weeks, Baby Losavio weighs more than 4 pounds and is more than 17 inches long. This is what she looks like now:
It's getting really hard to be comfortable. If I'm sitting, I become short of breath due to my uterus constricting my diaphragm. When I stand, the baby puts pressure on my bladder. I've also discovered the joys of acid reflux.
This week BabyCenter suggests laundering the baby's clothes, bedding, blankets, and such. I suppose that I should also find a place to put those things...
And now for a baby name hint: Baby Losavio shares her name with a U.S. city.
This week BabyCenter suggests laundering the baby's clothes, bedding, blankets, and such. I suppose that I should also find a place to put those things...
And now for a baby name hint: Baby Losavio shares her name with a U.S. city.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
It's That Time of Year.
We got our Christmas tree today. Fortunately we do not have the storage space to store an artificial tree. Sure, artificial trees are convenient and economical, but they don't appeal to me. We get a live tree each year and our house smells wonderful.
As we prepared to decorate, I baked chocolate chip cookies, made hot chocolate on the stove, and put "A Christmas Story" on the TV, you know, to get into the Christmas spirit.
Joey was an excellent helper. She got ornaments out of our storage boxes and gave them to Paul to hang. With the exception of two ornaments which are out of her reach, our tree is very Joey-friendly this year.
I think that Crumpet is going to enjoy finding all the new places to sit.
As we prepared to decorate, I baked chocolate chip cookies, made hot chocolate on the stove, and put "A Christmas Story" on the TV, you know, to get into the Christmas spirit.
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| Chocolate chip cookies in progress |
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| Naked Christmas tree |
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| Our little helper |
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| Our mantel decorated with clippings from our tree |
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| Finding a place for all the ornaments |
Junior Technophile
I bought myself a "fancy phone" for Christmas.
My old cell phone broke right before Thanksgiving, but as luck would have it, I was due for an upgrade and many retailers were offering smart phones for ridiculously low prices on Black Friday.
Joey is quite adept at using my new gadget. It's amazing how quickly she catches onto things like this.
By the way, Joey did dress herself: pajama top, leggings, wellies, and, of course, a tutu.
My old cell phone broke right before Thanksgiving, but as luck would have it, I was due for an upgrade and many retailers were offering smart phones for ridiculously low prices on Black Friday.
Joey is quite adept at using my new gadget. It's amazing how quickly she catches onto things like this.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It didn't seem excessive at the time...
For years, I have bought Christmas wrapping paper at the end-of-season sales. Over time I have bought so much wrapping paper that it's quite possible that I will not need to buy Christmas paper for many years. Some paper I bought because I liked it. Some paper I bought because it was cheap. And now I'm paying the consequences. I have a lot of paper to use and I have promised myself that I will not buy any more Christmas wrapping paper until I need it. I am tempted to wrap every gift in a very large box just to use this paper faster, but I will not buy any more Christmas wrapping paper until I need it. You hear that, Internet? I WILL NOT BUY ANY MORE CHRISTMAS WRAPPING PAPER UNTIL I NEED IT!
This year I decided to go with a color scheme, in order to have a little continuity under the tree and also to finish off rolls faster. Since I had so much of it, I decided on red, green, and blue. Then I realized that I had so much red, green, and red/green plaid that I should save the blue for another year. Then I decided that I should probably choose one red, one green, and the two plaids because the rolls were already partially used. And then after wrapping several gifts, I realized that I had so much red and red/green plaid that I didn't even need to use the green paper, which was still wrapped in plastic. So red and red/green plaid it is.
Now, the wrapping paper that Santa uses is different. Santa's paper is multi-colored and fun, but not cheesy or childish. Santa's paper is also top-secret. When I was a kid, Santa used our paper to wrap gifts, which means that he must have spent a lot of time at our house. He also put my mom and dad to work writing gift tags. I told Santa that while I'm happy to bake cookies for him, he should probably ask our elf Crumpet to write the gift tags.
This year I decided to go with a color scheme, in order to have a little continuity under the tree and also to finish off rolls faster. Since I had so much of it, I decided on red, green, and blue. Then I realized that I had so much red, green, and red/green plaid that I should save the blue for another year. Then I decided that I should probably choose one red, one green, and the two plaids because the rolls were already partially used. And then after wrapping several gifts, I realized that I had so much red and red/green plaid that I didn't even need to use the green paper, which was still wrapped in plastic. So red and red/green plaid it is.
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| The assortment of papers that I originally planned to use. |
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| The papers that I actually used. |
What's Going On
Pregnancy is wearing me out. I realize that I haven't been blogging much lately, so here's what's been going on with the Losavios.
Our Elf on the Shelf arrived last Wednesday. "Crumpet" has been moving all over the house, but hasn't caused any mischief yet. I certainly wouldn't mind if he wanted to tidy up the house or bake cookies. If you're wondering how we came up with the name "Crumpet," read or listen to The SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris.
We celebrated Thanksgiving at our home last week. My dad and brother drove up from Daphne, Alabama, and Jim's mom Emma was with us from Michigan.
We served:
Turkey
Rice Dressing (part of Paul's family's tradition)
Holiday Sweet Potatoes
Stuffing (my secret recipe)
Triple Corn Casserole
20 pounds of Mashed Potatoes
Bacon-wrapped Green Beans
We still have some leftovers if you're hungry.
Last Friday was the Iron Bowl, the annual match-up between Alabama and Auburn. It was the last regular season game and also the last home game of the year. Unfortunately, Alabama lost to Auburn by just one point. It was a disappointing end to the season, but perhaps next year will be better.
Paul's band, Chinese Dentist, played a gig on Friday night. The band has been together for a looong time, but rarely practices or plays a gig these days. Only three of the five members still live in town. They are able to get together about twice a year to play at a local bar, usually The Booth, Egan's, or Little Willie's. Since the bar would be smoky, and I didn't want to catch any flack for being pregnant in a bar, I opted to stay home. Check out some of the photos taken by a local photographer.
The demolition of the old Tuscaloosa County High School, which is practically in our backyard, is nearly complete. I blogged about the demolition here and here before I got bored with it. I'll post some pictures of the aftermath within the next few days.
I had my 32-week prenatal check-up this week. Baby Losavio's heart rate is good, my weight gain is "perfect," my belly is measuring normal, and my blood pressure is good. Everything is looking great.
So there is our week in review. I hope that you have been having a good week.
Our Elf on the Shelf arrived last Wednesday. "Crumpet" has been moving all over the house, but hasn't caused any mischief yet. I certainly wouldn't mind if he wanted to tidy up the house or bake cookies. If you're wondering how we came up with the name "Crumpet," read or listen to The SantaLand Diaries by David Sedaris.
Turkey
Rice Dressing (part of Paul's family's tradition)
Holiday Sweet Potatoes
Stuffing (my secret recipe)
Triple Corn Casserole
20 pounds of Mashed Potatoes
Bacon-wrapped Green Beans
We still have some leftovers if you're hungry.
Last Friday was the Iron Bowl, the annual match-up between Alabama and Auburn. It was the last regular season game and also the last home game of the year. Unfortunately, Alabama lost to Auburn by just one point. It was a disappointing end to the season, but perhaps next year will be better.
Paul's band, Chinese Dentist, played a gig on Friday night. The band has been together for a looong time, but rarely practices or plays a gig these days. Only three of the five members still live in town. They are able to get together about twice a year to play at a local bar, usually The Booth, Egan's, or Little Willie's. Since the bar would be smoky, and I didn't want to catch any flack for being pregnant in a bar, I opted to stay home. Check out some of the photos taken by a local photographer.
The demolition of the old Tuscaloosa County High School, which is practically in our backyard, is nearly complete. I blogged about the demolition here and here before I got bored with it. I'll post some pictures of the aftermath within the next few days.
I had my 32-week prenatal check-up this week. Baby Losavio's heart rate is good, my weight gain is "perfect," my belly is measuring normal, and my blood pressure is good. Everything is looking great.
So there is our week in review. I hope that you have been having a good week.
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