Poor, plague-infested Craig!

Strep throat for all! Well, hopefully not. But Craig went to the doctor this am and was put on the strongest legal dose of antibiotics (practically, anyway). His pills would choke an elephant! I tried to get him to go to a hotel and avoid infecting us (happy new year), but he is going to stay away from us while remaining in the house. Basement bound!

Holiday card 2008

Card created by Paperzest.

NHL All-Star voting

The time is now! Three Washington Capitals players - Alexander Ovechkin (league MVP), Alexander Semin (yes, that is his name), and Mike Green - are on the 2009 All-Star ballot.

Please vote today - and vote often!

Here is a link to a perplexing article about how the NHL's marketing people virtually ignore Ovechkin - despite his reigning MVP status, and despite the records he continues to shatter - in favor of Sidney Crosby... which is starting to make the league look really stupid, not to mention short-sighted. *sigh*

And a classic quote from my hockey husband, Mark: "It reminds me of the way the Original Six are Gods and the rest of us can suck hind teat on a south bound mule."

SO VOTE NOW! Please! And feel free to vote more than once. =>

New bed update

While putting her to bed last night, Craig said Rory repeated - over and over again - "this is the most fantastic bed ever."

Hah! She loved it, AND didn't fall out. Always a bonus!

Big weekend for Rory!

Her first haircut (finally!), AND a she moved up to a twin bed - such changes!

I finally decided that her shaggy locks had to be trimmed. Her first haircut, at nearly 3.5 years of age. So off to Cartoon Cuts we went, which is a bit of a scam in that kids sit glazed in front of Nickelodeon like zombies, and a kind man named My cut her yellow hair. The scam works, and I had worried that Rory would be nervous about getting her hair done, and I knew the TV would "refocus" her, so to speak. She handled the entire process like a champ, and even seemed to enjoy it. So next time, I will find another locale. One that doesn't cost nineteen bucks.

Not much was cut off, but My straightened it out a bit and sheared off the raggy stuff at the bottom. It isn't worth posting before and after shots, because it doesn't look all that different, but here is are a few pictures of her in the chair. He even gave me some of her yellow curls as a keepsake.

And the bed! Craig is putting together her fun, new Ikea bed as we type! More on that later.

And one day, I will post some Christmas shots. Maybe in time for New Year's. =>

I hate UPS

Maybe "hate" is too strong a word, but I cannot remember the last time I sent something via UPS that actually arrived within their stated shipping timeframe. Every single thing I have ever ordered or shipped using them has been late - irrespective of whether it is holiday time or not.

The latest victim is my mother's birthday present - ordered on 12/15 for her 12/20 birthday - still hasn't arrived in Sedona. The tracking number provides me this tidbit of info: "rescheduled for delivery." The Website goes on to say that due to holiday shipments, the package will be late. Glad I paid the extra cost for earlier delivery (which I specifically did because I don't TRUST THEM).

Grrr. And today my mother leaves for Christmas in Vegas, which means the package will certainly be delivered today and will then sit on her porch (hopefully unstolen) for three days until she returns.

Long live FedEx! I have never doubted a FedEx delivery, nor has one ever let me down. Yes, they can be more expensive, but obviously there is a reason for that. Reliability.

Happy birthday to Grandma!

Courtesy of Fiona, who first refuses to sing, then starts singing happily, and who then gets interrupted by Rory - a common occurance these days. => My mom, the Grandma in question, turned 66 on December 20. She can get her kicks!

Wrap-o-rama!

Tonight's the night!! Break out the tape (scotch) and the drinks (not scotch), because tonight is post-kid-bedtime-wrap-fest-2008! Wheee!

Ho cubed!

A shift in the hockey universe

I just bought a Boston Bruins jersey. A black one, on which I will have "Orr/4" stitched by my pal George over at Concrete Pond.

As a lifelong Hartford Whalers fan, this feels quite blasphemous, I admit. But the Whalers left Hartford in April of 1997 - nearly 12 long year ago. And one day I will *live* in Boston, and will become a Bruins season ticket holder. I already have my hockey husband picked out (not that anyone could replace Mark!). But this still feels highly weird.

Parenting quote from NYT blog

The other day, I was reading a blog on the New York Times Website, and the post - about investing too much of yourself in how you parent your children - generated a ton of interesting comments. Following is one of the comments I enjoyed the most:

"My kids are 30, 26, 23, 20, and 16. When they were pre-teens, I felt anxious about all sorts of things about our relationships. Then they got to be teens, and I became the Anti-Christ, especially to the oldest one, a girl. Then things got really bad. What will happen is that they will throw you out of their inner lives, and all this enmeshment will be a vanished dream. They will become utterly alien and you will have no understanding of how they think (because they won’t be thinking, in part). And then they will grow up, and they will be pretty nice, and fun to be with, and, to your horror, they will start talking about having children and will be TOO IMMATURE to have children, and then they will have children and grow up right away and do a pretty good job. You are who you are. That’s a given in their lives, that’s the diving board and the platform and there’s no use worrying about it. Your gifts to them are bad and good, and they will never appreciate you in the way you want them to, but will appreciate you in some ways that you will never expect. So relax."

Fiona is 22 months old

And taking over the world, I say! She talks up a storm, laughs at everything, and her favorite toys are her lion (Nani), her variety of polar bears, and Lego. She and Rory play well together, and she is close to the point at which we no longer have to worry about her killing herself (or others) at any random moment. I pre-embrace that moment! =>

Those gorgeous Dreesen ladies!

My good friend, Markus, who lives in Berlin, just sent me this picture of his three lovely daughters. Paulina is on the left (she is 14), Marie is on the right (she is 16), and Lilly is in front (she is 8).

They are just lovely!

Holiday card angst!

I love this time of year, and sometimes I hate it. We have decided to reduce the number of holiday cards we send out this year, and I hate feeling like I am leaving people off. I beg your forgiveness now, and promise to post pictures of our card both here and on Facebook.

Here comes Digit!

I got a new toy (the Flip Mino), and with it will now come a steady stream of new videos! And not just of the kids, lucky readers - kitty cats and hockey and anything else that catches my fancy, too!

But first, Digit. Aka, the favorite, squidgee, digie, fuzz bucket, and more. She is a 7-toed polydactyl dreamboat. She was born feral and we tamed her, and she quickly became one of the most affectionate cats I have ever had. Digie!

Listen for the purring!

My boss just resigned

My boss, Maysoon, resigned this afternoon. She has accepted a job with a Portugal-based software company, and will be moving to Austin, TX (where she used to live) to work out of her living room. She is already dreaming of wearing her sweatpants and uggs while working. Good for her!!

Cool kid "I spy" toys on etsy.com

About a year ago I discovered Etsy, and I love it! Our good friend, Christina, has a PaperZest site on Etsy where she sells her custom, "anything but ordinary stationary," for starters.

Etsy is a community of artisans who hand-make everything they sell: jewelry, toys, clothing, purses, ceramics, soap, music, housewares - and the list goes on.

Recently I found these totally cool baby/toddler toys.

They are fuzzy blankets filled with clear beads AND things you need to move around and find (aka, move them inot view in the clear section of the blanket. You can customize what the artist puts into each blanket, which is great. She can add your kid's name in individual letters, sports stuff, bugs, shapes - whatever your child is interested in. I just ordered two, and can't wait to give them to the girls.

So I thought I'd share. Enjoy Etsy! Just in time for the holidays. =>

On using mobile phones in the loo

Can someone please tell me WHY people talk on their mobile phones while using the bathroom?

I used to consider the bathroom to be the last bastion of the mobile-free world... the one place in which people wouldn't use their phones. But just now, at work, someone was in there chatting away.

Weird stuff. And annoying. It's bad enough that we have to hear people's one-sided conversations every other place we go. Talking while peeing = not cool.

2008 Mayhew Fall Family Photo

This shot was taken, as always, at Meadowlark Gardens. Also as always, it was taken by Hope Reynolds, who was our wedding photographer and who does a great job despite the insanity of the event. This year, the insanity included Fiona teething and being extremely moody and uncooperative. Extremely. =>

Hope took over 75 photos, and this was the only one that worked. By "worked" I mean a picture that includes all four of us. Fiona was so resistant (shall we say) that we gave up soon after arriving - and this shot was taken in the first five minutes. Phew!

Enjoy!

Rory's quotes from the Thanksgiving holiday

We just got back last night - sorry about the lack of posting (to my three regular readers ;->). Hope everyone had a great holiday week!

OK, so Rory's two insane quotes from the trip to CT:

"My pull-up is a poop hammock."

And my personal favorite, and the one which will go down in family lore:

"Mommy, you have a gigantic bum!" (Spoken in a bathroom stall, as she gently and lovingly patted said bum while it was nekkid and using the loo). I howled with laughter, as did the other people in the bathroom. How amusing! (Or maybe not! ;->)