Our Sort-of "Babymoon" in Phoenix

Tom and I visited our friends in Phoenix, AZ over the Thanksgiving weekend so we could become the godparents of their new baby.  It was such an honor to be asked, and I'm very happy to have a godson now.
 

We left our kids with Tom's parents for four whole days.  We've never been away from Sly for more than one night, and have never been away from Stella overnight at all.  I was worried that they might miss us or have a tough time adjusting, but I was totally wrong.  Each day we called to see how they were doing.  Stella was apparently in a better mood than ever, and learning all sorts of new tricks that I've been unable to help her do for all of her 15+ months (such as walking for real, and climbing down stairs).  Sly would be put on the phone to say hi to us, and then quickly say, "I'm done talking to you now" and hand off the phone to the grandparents!  Geez - so much for missing us, kids!

It was nice to get away by ourselves for a bit, though.  Anytime Tom and I find ourselves out without the kids for whatever reason, we joke that we're "on a date," and make sure to do the little things we never get to do anymore, such as holding hands or (in my case) actually having a car door held open for me (since Tom isn't busy loading a kid into a car seat!).  So we called this a four-day-long date, including the boring parts in the airports and everything in between.

On a date.  Tom doesn't like flowers in his hair.

Pheonix was, of course, quite different from my hometown of Pittsburgh...

Positives: It was interesting to see all the new flora and fauna.  I have never been to the southwest before, nor have I ever seen a desert in real life.  My mind kept imagining the early settlers who first came across this land, and what they must have thought about it, and how they would have lived.  There is a lot of cowboy and Native American history there, and it was fun to learn a bit about it.  Also, we ate some delicious meals.  There are a lot of great bars and restaurants to check out.

Pony express statue

Saguaro cactus

Negatives: We could sit outside in short sleeves in December.  Many people might see this as a good thing, but I don't think I could ever stand living somewhere that didn't have seasons.  Yes, I may get sick of the snow and cold come February....but at least I get to experience it each year!  And there's no grass there, except for the few places which are artificially watered like crazy...which seems somewhat ecologically irresponsible to me.  Also, there's hardly anything there that's old.  Almost all the buildings are 1950's or newer, and just not architecturally interesting to me at all.

Can't you just picture a western movie taking place here?

Believe it or not, I'm only 5 or 6 months pregnant, or so....(I lose track all the time).

Mountains!  Palm trees!

Pretty much every plant in Arizona can seriously hurt you, as we found out the hard way (Tom is doing a re-enactment)

Improper Toddler Talk, Date Night, and Thoughts on Modest Dress

Tom and I both have a lot of trouble remembering that Sly is listening to everything we say, and is wont to repeat it.  We're good about not swearing or saying anything on that level, but our speech is still peppered with somewhat less-offensive words I just don't want to hear my toddler using.

Me: "That sucks"
Sly: "Sucks! sucks! hahahaha"
-Tom and I exchange looks-
Tom: "Christine! Look what you did!"
Me: "Oh crap!"
Sly: "Crap! crap!"

And today over lunch, Sly repeated a charming little phrase that he had heard Tom use: "secret butt hair".  Lol.  Don't even ask how we got on that topic...

Another word that Sly has picked up recently is "hate", which can be frustrating.  Now that he has a word for the concept, he's decided that he hates various things.  About a week ago, he began inexplicably to hate one of his winter hats, and anytime we try to put it on him, will yell, "Sly hate it!" and throw it to the ground.

*****

Tom and I went to the symphony last night, having been given tickets by a friend who couldn't go.  Actually, there was some sort of mix-up with that.  When they scanned our tickets at the door, they almost turned us away.  Apparently, this friend gave us his tickets, but then called the hall to exchange them for a different performance - so our tickets were null.  The admissions people felt bad for us, though, and let us in anyways.  Tom needs to call that guy up and give him a hard time.

We realized that it's the first time we've been out together with no kids since Stella was born (over three months now)!  So I suppose it was a date.  But my dad, who was watching them for us, tells me that Stella screamed non-stop for the last hour, and refused to take the bottle of milk which I so lovingly and painstakingly pumped for her...so it might be the last date we have for a little while.

"My plan worked - now Mommy has to stay with me all the time!"

The concert was nice - they played Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and some other stuff (haha - am I offending any classical music lovers by calling it "stuff"?).  I certainly appreciate the value of classical music, and when I listen to it, I am aware of the tremendous genius of some of the composers, and the talent of the performers.  Yet in practice, I feel like I often treat it as not much more than "pleasant background music."  But I have seen this Symphony performed before and own a recording of it, so I was familiar with the music, which always makes it more enjoyable.

It was exciting to get to wear a dress for once, since I wouldn't have to worry about nursing Stella for the evening.  But I regret the decision I made.  Tom always asks why I never wear anything like the standard "little black dress" when we go out.  So, since it was also his birthday, I decided it was time to finally honor that wish of his.  I wore a dress that my mom gave me a while ago because it was too tight on her.  I never really checked it in a full length mirror, since we were in a rush to get ready - I just threw it on and asked Tom quickly if I looked okay, to which he gave a strong affirmative (ha!).  Anyways...once we got to the concert hall, I caught a look at myself in a mirror, and suddenly became very self-conscious.  The dress was just...not appropriate.  I'm not a huge modesty nazi or anything, but I do have a line, and I think that dress crossed it.  At intermission, we saw not one, but two couples from our church.  And I was too embarrassed to go over and talk to them :-(.  So yeah...it's time to remove that dress from the closet.

When I pick clothes, "modesty" is not a quality I necessarily look for.  This is because I have such a hard time pinpointing or defining what that really means.  Not that it's a bad virtue to strive for, by any means.  It's just difficult for me to say definitively that this garment "is" or "is not" modest.  There are so many factors involved, and I don't think modesty can be your only consideration in dressing.  If I had to give names to they the qualities I chose in my clothes, I would say I look for items that are reasonably "classy" and "feminine",as well as having a color/shape/style which appeals to me personally.  And if clothes are truly classy and feminine, I think they're de facto fairly modest.  After years of dressing this way, it's helped me develop more of an instinct about what is or is not appropriate for me.  If I can say "I don't feel classy" or "I don't feel feminine" in a particular outfit, then I will not be comfortable, and it's probably also not very modest (or else it's a drab, shapeless, grungy outfit of some sort, which I should also be embarrassed to wear in public!)

Assorted Cute Photos from an Otherwise Ordinary Life

My posting has slowed down a bit since Stella arrived.  It's not even that I've been too busy to write.  I just feel like life has been pretty ordinary (ha!  my blog title proves appropriate!), without many events or interesting ponderings to share.

....Although some of my favorite blogs to read/look at are the ones where the writers simply document the sweet little bits of "ordinary life" - so maybe I just need to be better at seeing the beauty and blessings in the everyday.  hmm....this is actually a good project for myself....

Anyways, life with two little ones is going well.  I still maintain that the transition has not been bad at all.  But again, I haven't even made it through month one.  I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop...

We had a few slightly more interesting happenings this weekend, which I mostly failed to capture on camera [Yes, I'm the least dedicated blogger ever.  That said, I don't want to ever feel like I'm missing out on real life because I'm too worried about taking pictures of it to share on the internet.  I'll need to factor that in to the proposed "project" I mentioned above].  Our good friends stayed with us, and became Stella's godparents on Sunday.  I didn't get ANY pictures of the baptism itself , but am awaiting some copies to be e-mailed by the grandparents. 

But I did get one of Stella sleeping near the cake at the party afterwards!

She had been wearing a traditional long white baptismal gown, but it had already been removed by this point.  There's something cool about the gown that I also failed to get a picture of...my mother-in-law will be sending me one soon, though.  So stay tuned for "Baptism part II: the stuff I was too distracted to document myself"

Stella got maybe the coolest baby book ever from her new godparents....

(sorry that these came out so dark)

 It teaches counting using themes from Pride and Prejudice.  Some sample pages...

 Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy

 This page shows "four marriage proposals".  I love the artwork!

Also, Sly got a birthday gift from a great-aunt and -uncle: the CUTEST SHIRT EVER!

Cannot WAIT to put him in this!

And here is Stella after someone thought she would like to play with some Legos...

Also, notice what seems to be nail marks on her forehead?  Notice that they are at an angle completely impossible for her to have made herself?  Yes, I have my suspicions about who did that...

**********

In other news, Tom and I are planning a date night for very soon.  The entire date is going to entail us going to a bar (somewhere, anywhere) and drinking alcohol.  Because we haven't been able to do that since before we had kids!  I'm looking forward to it, especially since it's the time of year when they start serving PUMPKIN beer :-)

Date Night 2

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my husband and I had decided to try having more regular "date nights".

Since I forgot to report back on how our first one went, I'll just do that now. We ended up staying in, and waiting until Sly was in bed. Then we went down to the kitchen and whipped up some chocolate malts in the blender. Tom put on some records, and we pulled out the silver candelabra and several silver candlesticks. We sat down at the kitchen table, and created a "wall" of candles on either side of us, and in the middle, we set the boardgame we had chosen: Labyrinth Junior! (I found it at a flea market for a buck. It's less challenging than the adult version, but still a lot of fun.). It was a very pleasant evening, and best of all, FREE!

Last night, we had a more traditional type of date, though we still managed to do it on the cheap. We got my mom to watch Sly for the evening, and we went out to dinner. There's a great little Chinese joint we know. For $16, we each got: hot tea, soup, egg roll, entree+rice, AND dessert! How can you beat that?! We had wanted to go to the dollar theater for a movie afterwards, but the selection of movies was pretty disappointing. So instead, we bummed around town for a little while, and I dragged Tom into a couple stores as part of my recently mind-consuming search for curtains (our new house has FIFTEEN empty windows!!). Then we stopped in a dark and cozy little bar right along the railroad tracks and had a couple beers. I am not really a beer drinker, but when October comes, I can't resist the pumpkin-flavored ones!!

I have to say, I actually liked the first date better. When you have such a casual and intimate set-up, it naturally leads to pleasant conversation and good company. I found that last night, when we actually got out of the house, we felt a lot of pressure to "make the most of it." Since the movie didn't pan out, there was a lot of "I don't know, what do you want to do?" business after dinner. We felt like we had to go somewhere and do something "date-like." And I know Tom was not thrilled about the little shopping excursion.

So far, I think one of the best things about planning out dates this way is the anticipation of them. Even when you've decided on something very casual and ordinary, the fact that you know it's a "date" coming up makes you start to look forward to that time. In the days leading up to these two official dates we've had, I've noticed our relationship has been much smoother and, well, loving. So even if the dates themselves don't always turn out to be fantastic, I think that in itself is a definite positive.

A Cheap Date

We went on a very impromptu date last night. As we were finishing up dinner at home, Tom suggested seeing a movie, since we have to make good use of our popcorn bucket before the year is up (more on that later). We called my mom (our stand-by Tuesday night babysitter who lives only two miles away), looked up movie times, and left the house all within 15 minutes.


Let's do some math on what a date like this would typically cost:

Three hours of babysitting at $8/hour......................$24.00
Two movie tickets at $10/ticket ..............................$20.00
Large popcorn.......................................................$7.00
Two small drinks at $3.75/drink.............................$7.50
GRAND TOTAL................................................$58.50

YIKES! How on EARTH do couples ever afford to do the dinner and a movie thing, when the movie alone costs so much??

Going to the dollar theater is the best deal ever. And it's not even actually a dollar - it's 99 cents per ticket! I know saving one penny doesn't really matter, but in these days of ten dollar movie tickets, that's just unheard of! And so is this popcorn bucket I mentioned. It's a huge plastic bucket that we bought earlier in the year from the theater for $10 (and it came filled with fresh delicious buttery popcorn). Every time you go back to the theater during 2010, it only costs $2.50 to get it re-filled. Also, we snuck* cans of pop (or "soda" as some people so erroneously call it) in my purse.

So let's do the math on what we actually spent:

Three hours of babysitting...........................FREE
Two movie tickets at $.99/ticket.................$1.98
Extra large popcorn...................................$2.50
Two cans of pop**.......................................FREE
GRAND TOTAL.....................................$4.48

What a great way to have an inexpensive date, and still get out of the house!



*Spell check is telling me that "snuck" is not a word. I suppose I should say we "sneaked" in cans of pop. But I like snuck better.
** I said the drinks were free since we already had them at home, but if you want to get technical, they came out to $.25/can since I only buy 12-packs when they're on sale for $3.00.