Halfway there!

Today was actually a rather relaxing Wednesday. Mostly because ... I stayed home all day with my dragon monster. The roads were horrible this morning, & my tires suck (for lack of a better word). I need 2 new tires like you would not believe. But, it's the holidays so they will have to wait. With that being said, I decided to cash in some sick time & spent the day cleaning, organizing & cuddling with my little guy. I got a lot of stuff done, namely cleaning out the guest room for our visitors this weekend.

Much to my excitement, my favorite little cousins Paige & Nate are coming over Friday after school (for them), work (for me) for a cookie baking-fun night! I haven't gotten to spend much time with them lately and since I was planning on baking up some treats anyways, I figured I'd enlist two little helpers. I've found some really delicious sounding cookie recipes that we are going to try out. We are also going to watch Shrek 4 (I've been kinda anxious to see it ;) ). It'll be a fun night, it works out well too because Trevor, Hunter and I have a Christmas party to go to on Saturday in Penfield so it's convenient for me to drop them off at their Dad's house (about 10 mins from where we are going). Lookin' forward to Friday!

One of the things I had to knock off my list tonight was sealing & addressing the Christmas cards. They arrived last week and have been sitting in their lovely orange Shutterfly box on the kitchen island. Now that we are nearing the end of the week before Christmas, I figure, it's probably time to send 'em out. Here's what my Wednesday night consists of.. Christmas cards, wine & ELF on TV.. love it!


Funny side note, yesterday we had pizza at work (it was super snowy & due to our office location-if it snows bad, no one can get up the hill, they advise us not to leave for lunch). I was going to make Pad Thai for dinner but it has peanut sauce and crushed up peanuts in it as part of the recipe. For now, Hunter's not allowed to have anything with peanuts in it, so I brought home 2 slices of pizza to warm up for him for dinner. I came home, set the tupperware container down on the coffee table and got caught up in something [hugging hunter, getting dinner started, etc.]. I had Trevor come into the kitchen with me to cut up the chicken (I absolutely despise touching raw chicken... yuck). All of a sudden we hear "MMMMMMM", from the living room. (Hunter's latest word). We both come into the living room to find him chompin' on the pizza.




Someone must have been hungry! I'm not even really sure how he got the top off of the tupperware container, or how he knew that there was food in there. He continues to surprise us everyday with his new words or actions.

Dear Hunter,
In the future, if you are hungry, just let Mommy & Daddy know and we will warm that pizza up, cut it up for you & get you a nice sippy cup of milk & a side of your favorite manderin oranges to go with it. But, if you can't seem to wait, have at it. We wont judge.

I just love him.

It's 9:30 am, Do you know where your remote is?

Funny little story for ya on this lovely Tuesday Morning. This past week/weekend Trevor & I were going crazy looking for our Bedroom TV Remote. It's not very big, so we assumed it got lost in the mass confusion of our bedroom. It wasn't as "crucial" to find as the living room TV remote because we really didn't spend much time watching tv in our room unless it's bedtime. But still, everytime I walked in the room I'd fumble around in a box or peek behind a shelf, because it was making me insane thinking it could just "disappear". So for about a week straight we changed the channel the old-fashioned way...and just assumed it would "turn up". Well on Saturday morning I was doing some heavy cleaning (for our housewarming this coming weekend) and I went to load the dishwasher and much to my surprise...look at what I found...




Hmm, a remote in the dishwasher. I wonder how it got there....



Yes, that is Hunter Charles in the bottom part of the stove. He finds it hilarious to pull the drawer out and stand in it. *Before you call child services we would never let him do this when the stove was on* :). I believe he probably snagged the remote off of the bed-side table and when we had our backs turned, snuck it in the silverware tray. Sneaky sneaky little dragon.

Good-Bye Coffee Table.

I'm saddened to report that we have had to put away our beloved coffee table. If you remember a while back, we had it built to match our living room decor. Now, I have discovered that it is more of a hassel to try and keep Hunter off of it, then to just put it away. See, our little toddler has become quite the adventurous one to say the least. Anything that is at his level, he is climbing on, unplugging or just genuinely interested in playing with. Like I mentioned before, our house is one level, *thank god*, so there isn't much harm in letting him roam. What we discovered last night though, is that you can't trust a wandering dragon.

It's about 8:30 on Thursday night, and we are watching a movie. Hunter has already had dinner, and was enjoying some playtime before he had to go to bed. We knew he was out of the room, but I thought he had gone into his bedroom (which is literally a couple feet from the living room). All of a sudden, we hear him "talking" (in hunter world this sounds like a mix of baby-babble and german). This sparked my curiosity, as Trevor and I were the only people in the house. So we quickly get up (let me warn you people, this all happened within the matter of 2 minutes!).. and go into his room. He's not there. So we walk back towards the den, and find this....













Yes, he hoisted himself up on the chair..and proceeded to get on the computer desk. That thing he is holding, that is a wireless computer mouse. It is now his cell phone. He is yappin' away like nothing is out of the ordinary, and when he sees us just watching him, he starts laughing. I think he knows he is not supposed to be up there, and finds it hilarious that he actually got away with it this once. Well guess what Mr. Charles. There' s a door to the den :).

This isn't the first time we've caught him trying to climb, but it's all the proof we need to get rid of "climbing surfaces" temporarily until he understands the word "No" better. Ohh Toddlers, how I love 'em.

You Kill the Joe, You make some Mo

Ah that saying brings tears to my eyes as I recall how much I have laughed about it. I guess truthfully, in order to get the full extent of what happened to me in the break room today, you have to watch this video first.

Terry Tate-Office Linebacker

Now you can imagine why I started laughing to myself like a fool, and why I actually had to turn away to look out the window after I started brewing another pot of coffee. Let me recreate the scenario for you…

It’s 9:35 am, in Paychex world it already feels like 3:00 in the afternoon, but NO, I’ve only been at work for 35 minutes so far. My coffee cup is empty, and I decide it’s time to refill. Now, at the Linden Hills office where I work, there are two break rooms. Each one contains a coffee-maker, that can technically hold 3 pots. Normally one is decaf, and the other two are regular. It is part of my colleagues and myself’s duties to make more coffee when it’s empty or getting low. I do my fair share in replacing what I take due to the fact I drink about 5 cups a day while I’m at work.

On this particular morning though, I am very eager to refill. I have a conference call coming up that I’m not looking forward to, so my coffee is like my pick-me-up for the morning. PLUS, I just bought a new creamer that sounded delicious, so basically I’m practically “running” to the break room.(Running is in quotations because to me that means walking steadily, as I am wearing heels and do not want to wipe out in front of the entire office).

As I’m entering the break room I pass by a colleague of mine who shall remain nameless, but is carrying his Paychex Monogrammed Travel Mug (GO GREEN), much like myself. He smiles and says Good Morning, and I return his greeting with a hello and big smile (I am about 10 feet from my destination at this point), and continue on my way.

Much to my surprise, the pot is empty. Now, if you were watching the video closely, you will see that this is not office protocol. So I think to myself, “WWTTD?” (What would Terry Tate do)? That’s when the visions began…

All I could picture was my coffee-loving fellow Paychex co-worker pouring the last cup into his stupid blue mug (I chose yellow), and then envisioned myself charging at him Terry Tate style, while saying “You kill the joe, you make some mo”. Funny, as I start another pot and stand there waiting, I start laughing to myself at the thought. Mostly because I outweighed the guy by like 30 lbs, and also because he was so unsuspecting. Then of course, in walks another colleague and sees me laughing to myself. I’m surprised I have friends at all, taking into consideration my “Creep-Factor”.

Basic lesson of this story; RE-FILL THE COFFEE! It’s the right thing to do.

Much Needed Caffine Overload at Work

Let me tell you a little bit about my job. I am an HR Online Advisor for Paychex (A payroll company in Rochester, NY).

I have around 100 clients that I work with daily. Basically, I train them on how to use the site, build benefits, etc. and then serve as their go-to person for as long as they have the application. You may be thinking… Wow, awful redundant. Believe it or not, going over the same exact website everyday is not as boring as you’d think. I have met a lot of awesome clients & get to plan my day however I want. Not a bad thing.

Today however, I am absolutely exhausted.
Hunter a.k.a the Dragon, did not sleep well last night. He has been awesome lately and slept for 7-8 hours at a time. For a 2 ½ month old, pretty impressive right? Well something was clearly bothering him last night because he woke up in the middle of the night appearing to be hungry.

Mommy to the rescue.

So we sit on the couch, he eats, then falls asleep (typical Hunter). TV is on, and I’m so out of it at this point I actually think I ended up watching Making the Band (a show I despise), and ended up falling asleep on the couch with him still laying on my chest. When I woke up I realized it was 4:30 am, Hunter was still sleeping on me, and it was time to put him back in his crib, so I turned off the TV and put the bottle in the fridge. Or so I thought.

When I wake up this morning around 7:15 am, Hunter is fussing, clearly he is hungry again. I walk into the kitchen (fairly exhausted after waking up a couple times last night), and start to make a bottle. Then I remembered his unfinished bottle from last night & decide to be resourceful. I open up the fridge and much to my surprise, there is the TV remote right where I normally put his bottles J. The half full bottle is on the coffee table, next to the other remotes. Oh, what a sleep deprived state of mind can do to you.

(Actual Photo!)