Thanksgiving Weekend in a (n Absurdly Long) Nutshell

Editor's Note: Feel free to scroll through this post as quickly as possible. It is truly absurdly long. It's really intended for my crazed, hyper-detail-oriented readers (Grandma and Grandpa, Gangy and Grandalf, miscellaneous stalkers, etc.) Plus, it's not funny at all. Any good intentions for humor that I had were summarily squelched by the absurd length. Sorry. ENJOY!

THURSDAY

The day started with cuddle time on the couch (say hello to No-Makeup Jean):

Weston loves his blue blankie, and he snuggles with it all the time:
We watched the Macy's Parade (of course!!) while the bird roasted:

I whipped up some side items:

And Tim carved that beautiful bird:

It was a veritable feast, and clearly much, much too much food for two people:

Hooray for a great meal and bounteous leftovers!!

For his part, Weston enjoyed sucking on his mashed-potato fingers:

FRIDAY

I went early-bird shopping on Friday morning (WHEE!), and this is the only photo that I took (hello again, No-Makeup Jean):
That evening we headed to Old Town for the annual Holiday Celebration. Weston explored while we waited for the trolley:

The child is always palpably more satisfied with his existence when he's roaming around with the help of a couple fingers:

He looked cute and cozy in the stroller, thanks to his swell new hat:

We enjoyed the festivities with Takob:

Family photo fun!

A big section of a street was blocked off and covered with snow. Well, it wasn't actually snow... it was more like a sheet of icy slush, but everyone enjoyed it (and I hoped that maybe someday they'd make it to Utah to experience real powder):

Ya just don't see this in SoCal... except in Father of the Bride, the night before Annie's wedding:

We also got to enjoy some reindeer hindquarters:

Later we posed for a lovely group photo:

And I fed Weston some baby cereal while Tim rode a bronze wolf:

Weston was adorable at the Cheesecake Factory:

Bursting with baby excitement:

Enjoying the delicious spoon:

Looking very much like Tim (for the first time in his life):

Next we hit Squeeze & Scoop, the new fro-yo joint where you squeeze your own fro-yo, top it however you like, and then weigh it to pay. I think I was the last person in Pasadena who hadn't been there yet:

It's very light and cool and trendy inside:

We concluded our evening by visiting the newly-lit Christmas tree at One Colorado, where I proceeded to take a horribly blurry photo:

SATURDAY

My appointment at the salon finally arrived! Say goodbye to Old Jean:

Voila New Jean!

I strongly recommend that you visit Erika at Madison 101 if you're in need of a new look. She is incredible:

I love my short bob!!

That evening, we put up the ol' Christmas decorations. I helped Weston hang his shiny new ornament:

Here's Tim getting in on the decorating action:

Weston enjoyed staring at us and the pretty lights:

It's fun having our tree up. It makes me smile.

Afterwards, Weston played in the Christmas tree box for a good long while:

And later, we busted out his tiny collection of Christmas-themed board books:

SUNDAY

On Sunday evening, we visited Griffith Park for the annual walk-through Light Festival. Weston got good and bundled up:

It was sponsored by the L.A. Department of Water and Power (I don't know about you guys, but for me, Christmas = L.A. Department of Water and Power):

There were many cute displays:

But somehow a whole herd of radioactive zombie deer managed to get in, too:

It was much haha fun time yah!

The Puppy Who Lost His Way

It's raining outside right now. It's very quiet inside. Tim's at class. Weston's in bed. I'm baking cornbread for tomorrow's cornbread stuffing. And I have a doggy story to share.

During my walks around the neighborhood, I see a lot of dogs, most of which are behind fences or on leashes with their owners. Perhaps because there are so many dogs in my neighborhood, I also see a lot of "Lost Dog" signs, which I always stop to look at, so that I can memorize the dog's face and keep my eyes peeled for it, just in case.

A few weeks ago while on a sunny morning walk, I noticed a couple of large, friendly-looking dogs across the street. They were going from yard to yard, sniffing the bushes, running around, moving on to the next yard. I wasn't sure if they were lost, or if they'd just gotten out of their gate and were going home or something. They didn't look particularly distressed. I stopped and watched them for a little while, but ultimately kept going.

Two days later, I saw a "Lost Dog" sign on a telephone pole... with a picture of one of those dogs. ARGH! I was kicking myself all day that day. I even considered calling the number and telling them that I'd seen their dog two days earlier, if that would help. (I didn't, because I thought that might be weird, and potentially saddening.) But I made a new commitment to pay better attention to lost pets and no longer miss opportunities like that to help out.

Fast forward to yesterday evening, when I was out on a walk again. A few blocks from my house, it happened. I saw another dog. This one was clearly lost -- it was walking slowly, almost limping, and it was sniffing all around and wandering in and out of the street. It looked calm, not aggressive, but perhaps slightly confused.

So, I made good on my new commitment. I followed that dog around for probably 20 minutes, all the while pushing Weston in the stroller. I kept trying to get her to come towards me so that I could read her collar. A few times she approached me and then backed off. One time she approached me and actually let me pet her, but I didn't want to scare her by reaching under her neck for the collar tag too suddenly. So I lost her again.

Finally, I approached and managed to see her tag -- Jamie was her name. Then I was able to call her: "Jamie! C'mere Jamie! Jamie! Want to go home?? Come here, Jamie! Jamie!!" It was sort of working, but not really. She kept wandering away (into yards, into the street, down the sidewalk, etc.), sniffing all around, while I kept following her and calling to her. I kicked myself for not bringing my cell phone along, because I had no idea how I was going to get Jamie to follow me home. But I had to figure out a way. Time was passing and it was getting dark. I was still following her around. All of these ideas and strategies were running through my head, and at the same time I was wheeling Weston all over the place in the stroller after Jamie, trying to coax her to me again, and trying to get her to come with me. All of this was happening when a man in his driveway across the street called Jamie, and she went trotting off towards him.

Hmm.

I ran away as quickly as I could with a stroller. The guy had probably decided that he didn't actually want me to steal his dog.

Maybe I was a little too gung-ho about that commitment. But you could argue that Jamie made it home safely after all. :-)

Free! FREE! FREEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Weston is weaned! The child is weaned!!! Bwah-hahahaha!!! I’M FREEEEEE!!!!! (Cue scene from Home Alone where Kevin screams with joy and goes nuts and runs all around the house.)

So, we’ve been in the weaning process for about a month now. First we downgraded to four nursings a day, and then a little while ago, we downgraded again to two nursings a day (morning and night). The other night when I went out, Tim gave Weston a bottle and put him to bed, and I pumped so that the ol’ funbags wouldn’t get too sore. And guess what… it was only like two ounces of milk!! Haha! (Sorry, kiddo. Maybe that’s why you always seemed to get hungry again so quickly.) After that realization, I decided to make the weaning final, and just switch entirely to formula.

It’s been a mini-emotional roller coaster for me with weaning. It’s equally delightful and traumatizing to watch Weston get older. Delightful because he’s learning and moving and communicating more each day, but traumatizing because he’s becoming less and less dependent on me and more and more interested in his environment and other people. (My mother-in-law once pointed out that the irony of childrearing is that your real goal is to get them to be fully independent and leave you.) Nursing will always have a special place in my heart because it gave us a quiet, loving opportunity to bond and be close (multiple times a day, to boot). I also really enjoyed the idea of being able to follow through with my pregnancy even after he was born by continuing to nourish him. So, it’s been a little bit of an emotional battle for me: the freedom and convenience of the bottle versus the bonding and the health benefits of the breast.

Not that it mattered, though, because I have never known such bottle drama as I have with Weston. (I’ve also never been a mom before, so, who knows.) He took bottles occasionally in the beginning, then didn’t, then did, then did NOT, then DEFINITELY DID NOT, then sort of did, and then, finally, did. I think it was the combination of a few things that finally got it to work: a warm bottle, a fast-flow nipple, and an eventual penchant for experimentation, brought on by the introduction of the highchair and new flavors and textures of solid food. One time several weeks ago, I had to go out without Weston, so I pumped a bottle and left Tim with my well wishes and a sympathetic look for his upcoming misery. When I got home, I learned that Weston took the bottle, without any freaking out, wailing, or mental/emotional breakdowns (on either of their parts). Apparently, Tim had put him in the highchair, stuck the bottle in his mouth, and waited. And Weston drank. Aaaaaahhhhhh, thank you, Bottle God. Sigh of relief.

Since then, he’s been fine with bottles, even when we switched from pumped breastmilk to formula. Maybe consistency was the answer, because we certainly weren’t consistent before when I was taking care of him all the time anyway, and could much more easily nurse him than go through the bottle drama for the simple sake of being consistent with a bottle. The mini-emotional roller coaster aside, I couldn’t be happier right now. I am very, very excited that Weston is now able to be cared for by anyone… Tim, family members, babysitters, homeless dude wandering in front of our house, etc. The feeling of loss that he doesn’t need me for nourishment anymore is passing, and it’s being replaced by a feeling of JOYFUL, BLISSFUL, HEAVENLY FREEDOM. Especially since we’re going to Disney World with Tim’s family over the Christmas holiday, and Weston won’t have to be attached at the hip to me!! (Love you, Weston. Really.)

Anyway, here are the immediate results of The Weaning a couple of days ago:

(1) I thanked my nursing bras for their exemplary service and said goodbye for now, and then I pulled out my happy, comfy, non-nursing bras, gave them a hug, and welcomed them back.

(2) I drank Diet Coke without the guilt of caffeinating my child (instead of drinking Diet Coke with the guilt of caffeinating my child, haha).

(3) I decided to set up an appointment with my stylist friend for a haircut. A HAIRCUT!!! I’m goin’ nuts here.

(4) I went to Costco and bought the ginormous two-pack of Kirkland formula. (Three to four bottles a day for the next three months?? I’m gonna need a lot more than that, too.)

(5) I came to terms, for now, that my baby is growing up and needs me a little less each day. There will continue to be mini-emotional roller coasters about this, all throughout his life I’m sure, but for now, I’m hugging him and cuddling him and cherishing all those nursings and loving that he’s growing up. :-)

Yay Vampire Fun!

Yeah Twilight GNO!!! BAAAAAAAA IT WAS SO FUN!!!

Vampire Fever

As we ALL know, Twilight is opening this Thursday at midnight. I know some of you are obsessed, while others are indifferent or completely unawares. I, personally, will be channeling my inner 12-year-old and going on Friday night with a few girlfriends. I imagine that we will be surrounded by shrieking 'teens and 'tweens who will be wearing plastic vampire teeth and t-shirts with pictures of Edward's face in a big sparkly heart, and who will be clutching their bedazzled iPods and listening to Jonas Brothers, HSM, and Bella's Lullaby Remix. It will be off-the-hook awesome. And, I am not ashamed to say, I think there will be some Edward-induced giggling on our part, too. (Don't worry, Timberwolf, you know my heart is yours.)

In the meantime, check out these cupcakes from TAMN's latest giveaway. How sweet is this: