Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Marin

I blogged about Marin here quite a while ago. For those of you who don't know the story, click here for an abreviated version (go to the end of the story and click to watch the amazing TV news clip of her journey).

And for those of you that remember this girl - the girl who was headed for the Olympics before a brain tumor and paralysis took over her body, I just wanted to pass on the fact that she is Beijing bound. The kiddo with the 'rush' over two years ago wish will swim in the Olympic pool this summer.

Here's a link to her website. It's really an amazing story.

One of those weeks...

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you simply start out behind? I'm having one of those this week. I've tried catching up... and it's just not working, so I'm just going to accept it. That's so much easier said than done. But ah well. It's fine, I guess.

I'll just count my blessings, enjoy the kiddo and the sunshine, and keep on keepin' on. It's usually these weeks that put life into perspective a little too.

I guess they're not all bad.

21

Adam and I found a movie theater with a cry room. This is super exciting. It's also an old theater that only shows one movie per weekend. This is cool too - it's like you walk back in time when you walk through the doors.

Anyway, we went to this theater to see the movie 21. Adam had read the book on which the movie was based and the plot sounded interesting. The story is centered around a few MIT students who decide to take on Vegas Blackjack with an elaborate card counting scheme.

According to Adam, the book and the movie really diverged in places. In order to fit in Hollywood, the movie had to be a little flashier than the reality in the book. However, the movie - taken simply as a movie - was pretty good. There was a bit of suspense and for the most part, I found myself really rooting for the main character. The whole scheme sets up an interesting mind game... the group didn't do anything illegal (well, they didn't set out to, at least), but yet they were constantly looking over their shoulders hoping not to get caught - knowing that if they did, they were probably in more trouble than they would have been had the whole thing actually been illegal. Though we, as movie-goers, all sat there, knowing that the end of the story couldn't simply be that the students all walked away with a lot of money... it was still interesting to watch the plot unfold.

Adam sat beside me, knowing the card count as the numbers flashed across the screen during almost the whole movie, which was pretty impressive. Watching this movie with him, it became apparent that gambling simply comes down to a numbers game - and because of that, it can actually be pretty boring (I mean, I knew that all along... but he really hit that fact home). Take out the glitz and glamour of the casino and it's more boring still (though of course, it's amazing to watch Adam's mind work - and I was blown away by the things that he remembered and knew).

Anyway, the bottom line is that gambling - once you know what the characters in the movie knew - is pretty dull. But there's more to the movie than that. And because of that, I'd say that it's worth a rent.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Dinner and a movie - revived

We've not been doing our 'dinner and a movie' Wednesdays lately. But last night, we started them again. We watched Michael Clayton and ate Pasta Pascal - ratings are below: =)

Pasta Pascal
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 25 Minutes
Yields: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
5 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
4 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound angel hair pasta

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, saute garlic in oil 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in onion and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer.

2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

3. Toss hot pasta with tomato mixture. Serve.

Ratings:
Adam - Pasta: ***; Movie: ****
Melanie - Pasta: *** (would have been better with a little crushed red pepper and not nearly as much pasta - maybe only 1/2 a pound); Movie: *** (This is based only on the first hour - I fell asleep and plan to watch the rest this weekend!) =)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Figment of your imagination


Adam loved Figment when he was younger (I guess he may still!). While we were in Disney World, we decided that Addy needed a Figment to add to the collection at home.


Adam took a picture to document all of the changes made to the character in the last 20 years. (Addy's is the one on the right.)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Head to toe

It's hard to believe that Addy has been in our lives for 14 months now. I never want to lose sight of just how much of a blessing she is. And to say that I want 'the world' for her is something of an understatement. I ran across a Mother's prayer in a blog the other day that pretty much summed all of this up. Read it here.

FWIW, I don't read the blog where this is posted - it was linked from a blog that I do read... so I don't know what other content surrounds this post. Regardless, the prayer is pretty cool.

Monday, April 21, 2008

The things you learn

We were in Disney World this past week. It was a ton of fun and Addy got to see Mickey for the first time.

But we learned some things along the way, as you do anytime that you do something new, I suppose, so I thought that I would share the Top 5 things that we learned when traveling with an infant/toddler.

1. You can never have too many grapes, raisins, pretzels, strawberries, Goldfish, fruit snacks, Cheerios, fruit cups, water, etc... Here we did ok. I thought that we were taking way too much food for Addy (though I still did pack it all), but we actually ended up running out on the last day of the trip. She ate like a champ while we were there (eating all of the above and eating well at meals too) - something that we attribute to the fact that she didn't really ever want to sleep. Because there was always something going on (even in our quiet hotel room, I guess), she fought to keep her eyes open. (Which is another thing to know too - being away is much more exciting than being at home - and kids (at least our kid) didn't want to miss any of the excitement). So anyway - if it seems like too much food, it's probably not.

2. A pacifier strip that attaches the pacifier to the child's clothing is a necessity. We learned this one the hard way. Addy only uses her pacifier at nap times and at bedtime, but we wanted it available to her on the plane (one, because we hoped that she would sleep for some of the 6+ hour ride, and two because we wanted her to be able to alleviate ear pressure problems by sucking on it), but she decided that she really didn't want it some of the time and because of that we had to ask the man behind us to retrieve it more than once. We really did try to make sure that she didn't fling it, but those quick little hands are simply too quick at times!

3. It's wise to put the "I won't allow..." in your back pocket. Though Addy was really well behaved for the trip - even as tired as she had to have been - we had a couple rough patches on the plane coming home. Adam and I don't give into Addy's crying when she's crying just because she wants something that she can't have. However, when you're 34,000 feet above the earth in a cramped and tiny space that you're sharing with 165 other cramped quiet people and holding a loudly crying baby, you begin to rethink some things pretty quickly. Addy, a couple times, got to continue playing with something (i.e. Mom's keys) even after putting them in her mouth numerous times - (which doesn't happen on solid earth). But I think that that one leniency was worth it - for all involved in the situation.

4. If you would like to arrive at your destination without a black eye, a fat lip and missing hair, you might consider buying your child a seat on the plane. Until age two, children can travel without a seat. At about age one, the saved money may not be worth it. We've traveled with Addy as a 'lap infant' on three other trips (which means six other flights) before with relatively little hassle. But now she wants to explore and squiggle and touch things. These are all skills that we're happy that she's developing, but on a plane it doesn't always work so well. For three hours on the way home, we all struggled. Adam had half a seat because Addy and I were trying to get settled in a place where she couldn't grab things that she shouldn't have and didn't kick the seat in front of us. It was an on-going battle. Toys were no longer interesting and everything on the plane was. She wanted to flail and play with (read: pull as hard as possible) my hair, take my glasses off my face and stick her fingers in my mouth. Even though we had kept her awake before the flight and had let her loose in the airport to burn energy, she was still something of a Wild Child on the plane. You wouldn't think that someone so little could cause pain, but there's quite a bit of punch in those little fingers and hands.

5. And the last thing that we learned is those first 10 (maybe even 20) minutes of a child's sleep are super deep - and almost nothing can cause awake-ness. Addy did finally fall asleep about 3.5 hours after take off. All was well, we were flying along and then BANG, DROP, RATTLE etc., we hit terrible and very unexpected turbulence. We rocked and rolled for about 5 minutes in the worst turbulence that I've ever been in. The flight attendants told people that were up (like I said, it was very unexpected) to sit in any seat that they could find and told people who couldn't find seats to sit on the floor and hold on to the seat next to them. I was panicked - and even though Adam was trying to calm me, I thought that our numbers may have been called. I squeezed Addy tightly as my seatbelt caught me and held me to the seat numerous times. But through all of the jostling and even my squeezing (I was sure that some of her organs had to have been moved around as tightly as I held her), Addy slept. She awoke only after it was over when I responded to someone's question about Addy sleeping through it all - and even then, she quickly drifted back to sleep.

We learned a lot more about traveling with a kid, but these were the top things. I'm sure that our learning is just beginning. It was a great trip and Addy proved what a good, adaptable and interested kid she is. We enjoyed spending so much fun time with her, and I think that she enjoyed the fun time with us too. It was a worthwhile trip for all of us, I think, and, I can say with the knowledge gained on this trip, we'll be even better prepared for the next one (trip, that is - I'm sure that Newbie will teach us a whole new set of rules to traveling with kids).

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

LOLCats

Click here for out-of-control cuteness. Then check back tomorrow and the next day and the next!

Humorous Pictures