The Q..

Today is our first day in Albuquerque, NM and so far it's shaping up to be a great day. Originally, we had planned to stop a couple of hours outside of the city but the trip wasn't as long as Big Daddy had thought. Don't tell that to O though who was pretty well behaved on the 9 hour(11 hour total with stops)drive.

But in true Critter fashion, the boy fell asleep 35-40 minutes from our hotel having not had a nap the entire trip. But in spite of the brief sleep he did have, the boy didn't fall asleep until 11pm (10pm local time - did I mention that we're now Mountain Time?). The kid has stamina that's for sure.


We're in a great hotel in the old part of town. Old Town Albuquerque was established in 1706 and many of the old buildings..and church..are still standing. That's where Critter and I are headed this morning actually. Most of the buildings have been converted into shops and so we're going to take in the history and the local culture. I can't say that O will be real thrilled about the shopping/history stuff, but it does get him out in the stroller which he is always happy about.


Speaking of our great hotel..you should see the view! We have two different views even. One is of the Sandia Mountains and the other is of Downtown and Old Town, Albuquerque. This morning I was fortunate to take some nice pictures in the earlish morning light. We were already passed sunrise, but the sun hadn't yet come up over the mountains and so the light was still soft. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll wake a tad earlier to capture an even more stunning sunrise. The sky was also littered with hot air balloons early on. We are, after all, in the hot air balloon capital and it's no surprise why.

It's gorgeous here..in an ugly sort of way. I mean, with 310 days of sun (though sure enough..it was storming like crazy when we got here last night) and very little rain, there isn't a great deal of greenery.

Okay..so we're off to go exploring. I apologize for the size of the pictures. Big Daddy's computer doesn't have my photo editing software on it, so I haven't edited or resized the images. I promise to do so when we get home..cross my heart. More details on the Q later. Bye y'all.

Road Trip

This Sunday we are leaving on a bit of a road trip. Of course it is work related for Big Daddy, but we are turning it into a mini family vacation. Big Daddy has plants in Albuquerque, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas that he has to visit a few times a year and I've been wanting to go with him to NM for a while now. Prior to our economic slump and gas gouging, Big Daddy normally flew out there and then rented a car. Now, it's comparable for all of us to drive out there for the week and see some sights along the way.

The problem is, what sights should we see? I've never been before and don't know that much about things to do and see. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Not Quite There Yet..

Critter isn't ready to be potty trained yet it seems. Perhaps we weren't diligent enough, but after a couple days it became pretty clear that he wasn't ready yet. And rather then set ourselves and the boy up for heartache, we've slowed things down.

We're a much happier household. It's amazing just how stressful potty training actually is.

Potty Training - Day 1

9:30 am - We've already had 3 accidents, 2 pants peeing and 1 poop. Hard to imagine for a kid who has only been up for an hour and a half. Fortunately for me, Ms neat/clean freak, It's all happened while we were outside.

10:25 am - Another pee accident and this too was outside. O had just gotten off of the potty, gotten dressed and headed outside so that we could go pay our water bill and then go swimming. Low and behold, when I went to strap him into his car seat..he was wet! He hadn't even been dressed more than 5 minutes.

1:15 pm - Guess what? O had another accident. This time though he told me while he was peeing. That's progress, right? That's what I keep telling myself at least. It happened about 10 minutes after we sat down to eat lunch..15 minutes since he had been sitting on the potty (with no success obviously).

So as you can see, potty training hasn't been much of a success at all. We've now been through all 6 pairs of his britches and it's only been half the day. I guess six wasn't enough, huh? So..the kid is in bed for a nap (I'm sure..happy as a lark he's got a diaper on) and I'm doing his laundry. Obviously we're headed out after his nap to purchase some more. I am NOT going to be doing laundry every day!

At least both he and I are in a good mood and staying positive. I was even happy to hear the sad lilt in his voice as I was taking him off the potty to get ready for nap time, "I didn't pee in the potty, Mama." "No, you didn't baby, but you can try again when you get up from your nap." "Yeahhhhhhh!"

Potty Talk

I guess it's time. Critter is ready for potty training. The only problem is..I'm not. I want O to be potty trained, truly. Nothing would make me happier in fact. Think of all the money we would save! So, my problem you ask? I'm a bit of a neat/clean freak. I am (I come by it honestly, don't I Mama?) and with all of the messes that I'm sure will occur, I'm a little hesitant. I know he's a little kid. I know this is what happens when you're potty training. I get all that. It doesn't mean I have to like it though.

I've decided that I need The Potty Whisperer. Really, that's what they call her! It's a nurse from Chicago and in 5 hours..she has your kid potty trained. 5 HOURS!! Can you believe that? No fuss! Mo messes! I'd kill for a potty training experience like that. Unfortunately, it's not a possibility for us, but a parent can dream, right?

Instead, I'll be the one to do the majority of the training. I'm thinking though, that it would be best to wait until the end of the summer..after we've gone on our vacations. O is prone to to crazy stuff while he is away from his house and his own things and I'm wondering if our being away is going to throw him off his game. I guess we'll find out, won't we?

Wish me luck!

Knock Knock..

Who's there?

Ben..

Ben who?

Ben wondering how you were doing.


Okay, so I've been gone for a while. Not physically gone..just MIA. Since the summer arrived last month, I'm lucky if I see the inside of my house until 8pm (the time Critter comes in from outside to calm down and get ready for bed). The weather has been fantastic and we've been outside enjoying it.
That's the thing about Texas. You have to get outside and enjoy the nice weather before the really hot weather settles in. We've been in the low to mid 90's for the last 2-3 weeks and while that's hot..it's not as hot as it's going to get. Nor is it that bad because it doesn't get that hot until the afternoon. It's when it doesn't cool down over night and you START at that hot of a temperature first thing in the morning that's the killer.

So what have we been doing you ask? Well, as I mentioned, we've been outside a great deal. Mostly the Critter has been running around, swinging on his new swing set (the big project that I mentioned in a previous post, but never got around to taking pictures of yet), swimming, bug catching, or playing in the dirt. We've been working on getting the boy to ride his tricycle all on his own as well as going for lots of walks. At the beginning of this month, we had a garage sale and there was a few weeks of prep to get ready for that. Who knew I had so much stuff I wanted to get rid of considering I'm the furthest thing from a pack rat.
We took a weekend trip to Texas hill country about a month back now as well. It was part work trip for big Daddy, part family fun weekend. We went to the State high school track and field meet to cheer on a boy from our neighbourhood as well as to just get away before Big Daddy had to make a visit at a plant down in that area. For Mother's Day, Big Daddy and O took me to Fredericksburg, Texas..a small German town in hill country. What a lovely day that was! We ate authentic German food and toured through the downtown, which was FILLED with tons of kitchy shops. After a short recess on a downtown park, we drove about 15 miles north to see this really neat natural rock formation just outside of town. It's called the Enchanted Rock. It's a big, huge, dome shaped piece of pink granite sticking of the earth. It goes up a few hundred feet and for a fee, you can camp, hike up it, and visit the park. We didn't do any of those things, however. It was something like $15/person..even for a short visit like ours would have been..just to get some pictures. So I took some from a distance instead. There is always next time though.

Lately O has been requiring a great deal more attention. He seems to be losing his independent streak and is wanting us to play with him more. As best we can tell, he is needing and wanting more kid interaction. We've (meaning me specifically) been busy trying to give him just that.
Speaking of which..I've had to start and stop writing this post several times (over several days even) because the boy is wanting to play. Even now, he is wanting just that so..I'm going to cut this post short I think, and take my boy outside.

Write you soon, kiddies.