Just Us - Life plain and simple

Mr Solo

2008-09-08T18:21:00.002-06:00

December 15th 2000 - June 27th 2008

I miss you more than words can say mate

xxx

Time flies....

2008-03-17T23:14:00.003-06:00

Been a long time. My boy has grown up! 'tinkle, tinkle shar' can now be heard at any given moment in full and the terrible 3's is upon us! Our first winter in CO has been fine, though more snow wouldn't have been a bad thing!

Just a couple of recent ones...

Just a quick one

2007-11-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

I finally got my camera ack, minus the lens, ARGH! Still, I took camera, kit lens and Mr. A out to Garden of the Gods for a quick shoot and I just love this shot! Mr. A likes nothing more than to get down amongst the plants/sticks/dirt and explore!

6 weeks and no camera

2007-10-08T22:42:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's true, my beloved XTi has been away for 6 weeks for repairs. So, no pics. I wanted to post though because DS just said the cutest thing tonight (well, he said two cute things) We have a ritual which started around 2 months ago where after our story time in the rocking chair in his room I turn out the lights and sing to him. He asks "mummy sin?" Well tonight, after a weeks hiatus from this ritual, he asked me to 'sin'. So, we turn out the lights and I sit with him and I ask him what I should sing, expecting no answer or a request for me to 'sin' again. Nope....it took me a couple of seconds to realise it, but he requested ' tinkle, tinkle shar' my heart nearly stopped it was so sweet. This week though I heard those 3 words that makes a mother just stop in her tracks....'wuv oo mummy'....awwww, now that's just the best thing anyone has EVER said to me!

Love you baby boy

My blue eyed boy...

2007-08-21T10:52:00.000-06:00

is growing up so fast! In January he will be three. It seems like yesterday that I was taking this picture wondering what I was going to do with this new pink bundle of 6lb 9oz tiny.

This was taken within minutes of coming through the door form the hospital on Jan 29th 2005. Mr Solo is checking out the new arrival with curiosity. These days my poor cat is on the alert for DS so he can run away as fast as possible!

And now...taken just a few days ago....

Up until sometime last year I was regularly keeping a journal. Just things about my boy, his daily life, his milestones, his quirks that make him him, but I haven't written in it since last fall. Such a long time and so many things have changed.

A quick list of my DS

He loves loves loves the Tubbies.... every time the sunshine comes up on a new day in Tubbie land he grins from ear to ear exclaiming "Baby Shine!!!!". At the moment if I dare try to move him during his beloved show there are consequences!
He loves trains "Choo-choo"
He loves planes in the sky
He loves motorbikes and trucks and gleefully blows raspberries imitating the noise they make
He loves Mr. Solo. A few months back we had to take Solo to the vet. As we were leaving him there DS bent down and attempted to give Solo a kiss and a hug. Now, obviously this didn't and still doesn't go down well with Mr. Solo, but my heart just mealts at my boy's huge huge heart.
He is compassionate...he will sit with another child when they are sad and will not move until they are happy again. He doesn't do anything, he just stops whatever he is doing, goes over the the crying child and sits down quietly next to them. Doesn't move an inch. Doesn't say a word, just sits with them until they are done...amazing.
He can name all his body parts and point to them...that on was accomplished last fall.
He can count to ten...this is a more recent milestone. For a while there 6 and 8 just didn't feature in the game, but this past few days he has decided they really are an integral part of the whole count to ten ritual
He still loves loves loves to read. At the moment he loves Apple Tree Farms First Words book or as he calls it "Tease book" tease is his word for cheese...the is a piece of cheese featured in the book and he became fixated on this page sometime last fall.
Sammies (sandwiches) with Buh-buh (peanut butter) and Deli (jelly) are the flavour of the month at the moment.
He loves going swimming wiht his daddy. In just a couple of short weeks (yes it's been that long since he was last in the pool as a three month old) he has made so much progress. With the help of a noodle and a lot of 'Kick-kick-kick-kick!!!!' he can find his way around a pool no problem. But oh dear, when it is time to come out the tantrums start!
Yes, my boy has finally reached that wonderful stage of the mercurial mood swings and every day there are many many melt downs...so funny but so not funny at times!
He has so many words now, his latest ones being 'Pooh Bear' for all teddy bears, not just Pooh! "I fean" (ice cream), 'Car', 'Aston do!" (Ashton do it), "Mummy help?" when he needs helps with something. "Bess oo" (bless you in response to someone sneezing, sooooo cute!) "Digyou" (thank you), 'Sit, sit" (when he goes to sit down or he wants you to sit with him) "go go" when he wants to go in the car, 'shore" (sore, with a little frown and a concerned look when he has a boo boo, or someone else does) "oh noooooo, nooo work..!" when something doesn't work or doesn't do what he expected it to do, he becomes so concerned and puts his hands up in a shrugging gesture, palms up to the sky, totally adorable and so funny! "Monkey" Whilst we were still living in NH we would take him to the Rain Forest cafe. He loves that place. The thunder, the lightning and especially the animated apes. "Horsey", "eeh-aw",for donkey. "Duckie", "dump dump dump dump!" for jump, he got that from the Tubbies last year. "Shar" for star, "Shircle" for circle. These came in January after he got a black board for christmas and we started drawing shapes for him.
He loves to jump like the tubbies and spin around.
Nothing, absoloutly nothing, gets past him. He notices everything! Last night we went for a walk around our nieghbourhood and a garage door was slightly open. He was very concerned about this and studied it for a few seconds proclaiming "Oh noooo, nooo work!!!! Door open!"
'Cuh-wuh" (colour) every time he sees a pen or a crayon or chalk...he insists on helping me with my shopping list and wants to sign on the dotted line on my credit card slips...THAT, is promised him, will be a LONG time coming!

That's just some of the things. I know there are many many more. I so regret not updating his journal for so long...but now I have an opportunity to start again. He has so many more milestones and achievements to go.....

10% O2...

2007-08-06T00:10:00.000-06:00

Yep, breathing 10% oxygen instead of the normal 20% takes it out of you! We live at the base of a mountain called Pikes Peak and a couple of weekends ago we decided to travel up it. Let me tell you, getting up there is a little scary! Hairpin turns and sheer cliff drops less than a foot away from you is an experience! At 14, 100 feet only small flowers and shrubs grow at the top and only at about an inch every 75 years or so!

This is where 'America the Beautiful' came about, and yes the view is certainly beautiful, in fact, despite my clammy hands and shortness of breath (more due to the scary trip up and back down again than the 10% oxygen) I can't wait to go up again, and again, and again!

Phew!

2007-06-28T05:01:00.000-06:00

Well, we have finally found a home in Springs, the floor is finally down on the 1st floor of the house in NH, we met with a property manager who seems to think that we will have no problem renting our house out, we're living out of a hotel, the carpet should be down next week, the landscapers have finally arrived, I've lost my drivers lisence again!, yet more problems with my green card which I have to sort out today......
Well you get the picture!
Still we had some fun in the garden a few days ago.....and I got a chance to get some more focusing and metering practise in.

DS is a real water baby, just like his daddy!

2007-06-12T02:05:00.000-06:00

One week to find a home in Colorado Springs. This place is just one huge urban sprawl. HUGE! We don't even know where to start.... Lol! Anyway, not the best shot but I managed to get this on of Garden of The Gods on our way up to Manitou Springs today. Amazing place!

Saying Goodbye

2007-05-16T17:38:00.000-06:00

Well, totally unrelated to the topic of this post, but today I broke my toe! Couldn't happpen at a worse time really, but I suppose it happened for some reason, I just can't see what at the moment. We have so much to do and we're one man down!

Anyway, since finding out we're leaving NH I've realised how many things I haven't gotten to do since getting here, so this week I took a walk down to the swamp in our neighbourhood and took some pictures, just as I had said I would when we first moved to the area 18 months ago. I'll be going back to get more when the lilly pads bloom. I'm only sorry I didn't get the swamp during the Autumn or Winter.

We seem to go through life making notes of things we want to do, or people we need to drop in and see or call or e-mail, and yet so many times we put these things off thinking there will always be tomorrow. Today I got this e-mail that made me stop and think even more about how little I did on my 'to do' list whilst living here in NH

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND. Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible. How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television? I cannot c ount the times I called my sister and said , "How about going to lunch in a half hour?" She would gas up and stammer, "I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain" And my personal favorite: "It's Monday." She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together. Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect! We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college. Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our li ves is a litany of "I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord. My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? ;And why are you waiting? Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you. Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?" Do you hear the reply? When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"? When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over. It's National Friendship and FAMILY WEEK Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND. If it comes back to you, then you'll know you have a circle of friends. To those I have sent this to... I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you do. "Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as well dance!"

Into the West

2007-05-12T13:53:00.000-06:00

In just a few weeks we will be moving....again! But this time we have decided we will be staying put for a good long time. It's time to put down some real roots and Colorado seems to be a great place.

In less than 3 short years I have made a good many good friends here in New Hampshire and I'm sorry to be saying goodbye to you all. But I'm hoping with this blog I can still keep in touch with many of you.

I don't know what the future holds, but I DO know I want to see my walls filled with Christmas cards. Pictures of happy families in the snow or in front of a roaring fire makes me smile! So please, keep in touch, let me know how you are and I'll keep posting here to keep you up to speed!

HERE is where you can find us after the middle of July. Feel free to visit us, just give me some notice as housekeeping is not my strong point!

Chris