postponing the inevitable

well, I'm gonna be out of town for my birthday this year. Away from my family and friends. Initially I wasn't fond of the idea, but I've been saying for years how I wish my birthday was in the middle of the year instead of in January, right after the holidays. So I think I should take advantage of this opportunity and move my birthday to May or June. I'll celebrate my half birthday, instead :-)

So that's great news for all of you who were thinking of showering me with expensive presents. Now you'll have an extra few months to save up! LOL!

Happy camper

This past weekend we took Trent on his very first camping trip. We went with our friends, Bryan and Danielle, who have two young children (4 and 21 months), both of whom also go to Trent's daycare. There were also two other couples, each with 2 kids. So a total of 7 children at our camp site! what a zoo! (wine helped me not freak out).

Trent was very well behaved, though with a lake and a fire pit to worry about, we had to have eyes up our arse to keep track of him. The other kids had fishing poles, and Trent was very excited to use them, but children aren't always the best at sharing so we bought him his own. He was so excited! obsessed even. He did, however, relinquish the fishing pole long enough for Sophie to play with it. What a nice guy!
Bryan and Danielle are pros at camping and there were two shifts for dinner. One for the kids who ate beans and hotdogs, then a later dinner of extremely gourmet burgers for the adults. We set up a movie in one of the tents and the kids all settled in to watch, excpet Trent, who insisted on getting in and out of the tent to give us hugs every 2 minutes. But it was very cute. When the kids' bed time rolled around, everyone had little issues of their own to deal with.
I put Trent in his car seat in the car and read a story to him and he fell asleep like a little angel. Then when I transitioned him to the tent he freaked out. 20 minutes of "I wanna get out!" at the top of his lungs, then he passed out. I felt bad because everyone was trying to sleep.

In the early hours of the morning, I heard some of the other kids having their little "moments" as well, so I actually felt a little better about Trent's peace-disturbing outburst.

We all slept on a blow up bed int he Tent, even though it was queen sized and even though Trent isn't that big, he still managed to take up the most room. And of course the thing had a slow leak so by morning it was almost completely deflated. I didn't sleep at all, and I could tell that Trent's sleep wasn't great quality. Brian seemed to have passed out nicely though. Must be a man thing.

We were surprised and happy at the success of our first toddler camping trip, but our celebrating ended abruptly as Trent threw is first of many tantrums of the day. The disruption in his sleep caused him to be a holy terror for most of Sunday. But we cut him some slack because he had a legitimate excuse.

So in hindsight, I'm glad we went. While it was a lot of work to keep an eye on the little guy, it was a good experience for all of us, and Bryan and Danielle made it easy for us, which we so appreciated! We made some new friends, which is aways a plus. And now Trent knows what to expect the next time.

Christmas is coming!

This year I'm really excited for xmas. So much so that I have even opened up to the possibility of having a tree (not a real one). Certainly enough to at least deck the halls. Why? Because my family is coming, and Trent is old enough to understand what all of it means. Last year he was so helpful in passing out presents and we were so proud of him. This year I can only imagine how much fun it will be for him. Even more fun is the fact that he will have his cousin Louise to play with.

Yesterday we attempted to get a head start on xmas shopping. We have good indentions of doing it way early to avoid that mad-dash last minute. So we went to the outlet malls in Round Rock, but sadly, only came home with a few small stocking stuffers and some PJs for Trent. I'm sure it'll all come together. I find the best presents when I'm not actually looking for them.

Another cool thing about this xmas is that we will be featuring some traditional English food on xmas day. Not specifically xmas food, but things like roast lamb and mint sauce, yorkshire puddings and gravy (yes, I know you traditionally eat that with beef but I don't care), ginger and pear trifle, and of course we plan to set a christmas pudding on fire! In addition to that, everyone will be required to participate in the wearing of the paper hat from the christmas crackers. I predict the evening will end with a farting contest between Daz and my dad ;-)

I can't wait!