Moonlighting

One of us has been doing a bit of moonlighting....

Let's be honest. I couldn't stop laughing. In fact, I'm still laughing. Chris is certainly a good sport.

Miserable

Well, so much for the ol' 10th anniversary. Good thing we celebrated a couple months ago. Chris flew back into town on Wednesday night and soon after I realized I had caught some sort of stomach bug. It was awful, awful, awful. I threw up (among other things that I will avoid mentioning here) every hour for 24 hours straight. I was so glad Chris had our anniversary off from work...so he could take care of me and Caleb. :) He is such a good guy. He really is a trooper and took good care of me!

It was especially ironic since that same morning (Wednesday) I had a doctor's appointment in which we had a long discussion about needing to actually gain some weight during this point in the pregnancy. So far, I've only lost weight. Which I'm not sure how that works since I feel HUGE! I told my doctor that I had gained enough weight the five years before I ever got pregnant the first time to cover it all, but she didn't go for that.

At first I thought it was just a weird pregnancy thing since that's kind of been the story of this pregnancy...but after several hours, I realized it was probably something else. So I was just hoping that Chris and Caleb wouldn't get it. We kept an eye on Caleb, but everything seemed normal. Until tonight. At Walmart. Picture a jam packed, last weekend before Christmas, full store, and a two year old who had just eaten dinner, a nice dad that picked up that two year old...only to have that two year old lose what looked like every meal for the last two years all over both of them and a very busy aisle of Walmart. Poor Chris and Caleb. They were just covered in nastiness. And poor Walmart employees who helped us clean it up. I'm sure we made their already fun day even better. Merry Christmas to them! Caleb fell asleep on the way home and even slept most the way through a bath. Poor kid. I was really hoping he didn't get it because I knew how miserable I was, and wouldn't wish it on anybody. Any tips for containing messes when kids puke every hour or so? I've never been so thankful for the "Little Green Machine" (an awesome ready to use mini steam vac that is perfect for such messes at home!) Looking forward to a long night and day tomorrow! :) Hopefully it only lasts 24 hours like mine did!

Unfortunately, the beginning of the week was fairly busy and we interacted with lots of different people. So to anyone out there that we are responsible for spreading this Christmas cheer with, I AM SO SORRY!

The Best 10 Years

So tomorrow is our 10 year anniversary. Hard to believe!! We've had so much fun and so many adventures together. Not a day goes by that I don't think about how truly lucky I am to have been able to marry Chris. Here are some pictures from the big day ten years ago.






Wow. You don't realize how much you change til you look at pictures from long ago. Yup. Several hundred pounds ago and....well...yeah...nuf said. :)

We already mostly celebrated with a trip to Hawaii a couple months ago, but thought I would recap the last 10 years here.

We love to travel. Here are the places we've been together (that I can remember off-hand):

• Cincinnati (lots of times)
• San Diego (at least twice)
• Seattle (several times)
• Las Vegas
• Boise (to see the Cincinnati Bearcats whoop up in basketball!)
• Anaheim
• Miami
• Washington D.C.
• Phoenix
• Hawaii
• Wyoming
• Houston (several times)
• Utah (lots of times now that we live in Texas!)
  
• 3 cruises (one from Galveston, one from LA, one from Miami--visiting such places as Cozumel, Progresso, Ensenada)

Other cool entertainment;

• Les Miserables
• Phantom of the Opera
• Brian Regan (lots of times!)
• Gabriel Iglesias
• Spurs Games
• New Jersey Nets game (ok, so it was in Utah vs the Jazz, but we were there for the Nets)
• Reds games
• Astros games
• Bengals games
• Lots of USU basketball, football, and hockey. Go AGGIES!
• Cincinnati Bearcats basketball games. Go BEARCATS!
• Disneyland/California Adventure
• Kings Island (best roller coasters ever!!)
• Alamo Bowl (twice)
• Monster Truck Jam :)
• A few concerts, (someone else liked most of these better than I did! But I'll include them anyway. :) Reba, Sugarland, Gretchen Wilson, Sarah Evans, Voice Mail
  

We've only lived in two different towns

• Logan, UT (tiny upstairs apartment for a few months, then bought a condo)
• San Antonio, TX (nasty apartment for a few months (still too many months for me!), then a nice apartment for a few months, then bought our house

Between us, we've completed 4 college degrees

• Only one for me--my bachelor's
• For Chris: one bachelor's and two masters degrees

4 Vehicles (owned together)

• When we got married, we traded in our two cars (that I didn't count in the total) for one more reliable
• We still have two of the four we've owned
• Oh, and one motorcycle. We sold it when we moved down to Texas...thinking we would buy another. Still haven't done it (because Krista's not sure she wants Chris driving it around here with all these crazy drivers). Chris is still mourning his loss.
  

Hospital/ER visits (We averaged at least one a year there for awhile...we've slowed down the last couple years though)

• Broken shoulder (Chris)
• Kidney stones (Krista)--at least a couple times :(
• Lots of stitches in forehead (Chris)--result of a run in with a racket in an intense racquetball game :)
  
• Gallstones/surgery to remove gall bladder and two accompanying fun endoscopic blah blah blah procedures to place a stint in the pancreas and remove it
• Broken finger(Chris)-- this happened like a week before we had Caleb--luckily the surgery they thought they'd have to do, didn't end up being needed. The things Chris will do to try to get out of changing diapers).
• Lumpectomy (Krista)
• One delivery of a very cute baby :)

Kids

• Well, we're way under par on this one--we only have one. But he's very cute and very fun.
  
• And another is well on his way!! Only 7 weeks left!

That's all the excitement I can think of for now. Here's to the next 10 years being even better than the last!

Shamu!

For the last month or so, Caleb has been obsessed with Shamu from Seaworld. He likes to reenact the Shamu show for us.

He assigns us a place on the stairs to watch the show...either high or low. When we are assigned to a lower spot on the stairs, we get splashed like the people at the Shamu show who are sitting in the splash zone down low. When we are assigned a higher spot on the stairs, we do not get splashed...just like those at the show that sit above the splash zone. For those that haven't been to the show, they have the audience chant Shamu! Shamu! while you move your arms in imitation of Shamu's tail which splashes everyone. With that explanation, here is Caleb's reenactment that happens about 10 times a day:

What a heart breaker dad, huh? Caleb just wanted his dad to be a second Shamu for double the splash...but dad just wouldn't do it for the camera. I don't get it. :) For the record...Chris has no problem joining in when the camera is not on. You should ask Chris to see it next time you run into him. :)

Ok, maybe I've been Shamu a time or two too.

Mac Heaven Ever Expanding

Much to the delight of Mac users everywhere, the general populous is now able to participate in video chat via Google's new Video Chat tool. Comparable solutions, such as iChat, required premium memberships to utilize the video chat feature. With Google's free version, you are only required to have a Gmail account and to download a small file to enable this revolutionary communication channel.

Serge, a Google Video Chat engineer located in the Google Sweden office, explains how to use this new tool in a short three minute video (located here).

This tool is compatible with Mac computers and does not require any special set up to work with the camera built in to your Mac. Krista and I downloaded the required 6 MB software on each of our Macs (download), followed the simple instructions, and we were able to have a great face-to-face chat while she was at home and I was in my office (diligently laboring, of course). It also works one way, meaning that if you are on your Mac and want to chat with someone who does not have a Web cam, you can both install the software and the technologically challenged party will still be able to see you. You will only be able to hear the audio portion of their conversation (provided they are at least using a computer with a microphone attached). This sounds a lot like a Mac commercial...hmmm.

I see many possibilities here. I am continually impressed with the innovations I see from both Mac and Google. (i.e. Shazam, Chrome, and the new MacBook.)

See the latest on how Windows compares by clicking here.

I Don't Get It

I really don't get it.

I have all these theories when it comes to parenting. Some work. A lot don't.

When I put Caleb to bed, I give him a bath, help him brush his teeth, and have a vitamin. I help him put on pajamas, read soothing books, sing a couple soothing songs, and tuck the cute boy in with lots of kisses. I leave his room and then lately, the fun starts. The Battle of Bedtime, if you will. Last night he was up until midnight messing around.

Now there is Chris. When Chris puts Caleb to bed, he gives him a bath, helps him brush his teeth and have a vitamin. That's where our similarities end. He chases Caleb all around, wrestles him while putting his pajamas on, reads the craziest loudest books he can find, sings the least soothing and most ruckus causing songs and the room just resounds with giggles and hyperness. Chris puts Caleb in bed with lots of kisses and friendly banter and leaves the room.

Now in the meantime, I am thinking to myself, that kid is never going to go to sleep now. I prepare to give Chris my motivational speech, (I don't like to consider it nagging, right Cindy?) about how Caleb needs to calm down before going to bed. I hold my tongue and save it for when I first hear that little puff of air when Caleb is opening his door to start the Battle of Bedtime. Just so I have evidence on my side, right?!? But you know what?!? That puff of air doesn't ever come. The kid lays in his bed and goes to sleep. The first time...I thought...hmmm...he's lucky tonight. Second time...what a fluke. After lots of times, well...I'm at a loss.

Can anyone explain this to me? Again...I just don't get it. I can't bring myself to use the same method at night either.

New theory: Chris should just put Caleb to bed every night.