Reflecting on 2008

Here are some random reflections from 2008.

* The trek to the Tennessee Mountains. Our June visit to the Smoky Mountains was our first real vacation with Sydney. We also enjoyed our trip to Colorado to see friends and vacate in the mountains. Our time in Breckenridge really felt like a vacation.

* Mustard: It's like the fourth member of our family. Sydney can't eat without it. It's stained our clothes and the kitchen floor. When she's older, we'll take her to the mustard museum in Mt Horeb, Wisc. (Brian and I have been there twice and I've even read the owner's book, "Habeas Codfish." A great book about the legal history of food.)

* Cooking class: Brian and I took a cooking class at Kitchen Art. (Thank you Forbes family for watching Syd at the last-minute.) The class was fun, and Brian and I talk about making some of the recipes ... some day ... It's probably more likely that we will sign up for another class.

* My camera: One of my highlights was the camera that Brian & Syd gave me for mother's day.

* The Twilight books: I had heard about Twilight and never expected myself to be such a fan. Then the book was picked for October's bookclub, and the next thing I knew I had read all four books. Then, I was stressing about finding a sitter so I could see the movie on opening weekend. It's pure eye candy. Simply a fun book to read. (If anyone else even compares this book to Harry Potter, be ready to debate with me. Twilight is good, but it's not that good. BTW, I can't wait for the HP6 movie to come out in July.)

* Tina Fey: Yes, I know she's on every single top 10 list of 2008, but her Sarah Palin impressions were roll-in-the-floor-funny, and Brian and I've started watching 30 Rock together.

* Scrabble: Solo downtime for Brian and I is scarce, but we like to play Scrabble when we can.

* Speaking of Scrabble ... let me give a shoutout to the Barenaked Ladies' kid CD, Snacktime. Even though we've heard the CD 842,539 times, it still makes Brian and I smile, especially the alphabet song that has some great Scrabble words.

* Running a 5K the morning of Thanksgiving. My time was awful (in my defense I spent the semester studying) but it was just cool to run a race on a holiday. The course was beautiful too.

* Brian and Sydney: Every moment, thought and laugh that they inspired or shared. Life is good.

Happy New Year!

What is the opposite of the affirmative?

Yep, Sydney has turned into Captain No.

Mommy: "Hi, Sydney. I love you."
Sydney: "No."
Daddy walks into room and smiles at Sydney.
Sydney: "No."

The parenting/toddler books advise that we avoid setting her up to say 'no.' We try to avoid yes-and-no questions, but it's usually best to just not talk to her. It's like having a very short teenager.

The tantrum phase is getting better. She knows what the rules are, and you can just see her eyes and mind processing her actions and the consequences when she's throwing a fit. Plus, I remind her that I drink a lot of Coke, therefore I will outlast her because of the caffeine in my system.

In time Brian and I will prevail.

Bring on the snow!

Christmas was not white in West Lafayette, so Sydney tested her new sled indoors.

Parents, aunts and an uncle took turns pulling her.

A nice way to see the sights.

Free rides can be exhausting.

So tired.
I love this photo. Brian does a fabulous job as family photog.

The good news is snow is expected Jan. 2. My snow baby (OK, I am) is hoping for at least three inches.

Christmas highlights

Here are a few holiday highlights from Christmas morning.

Sydney distributes her gifts. She made bookmarks.

Opening presents took FOREVER, because Sydney wanted each book read to her as soon as she opened it. Of course, half of her gifts were books. There are three gifts that have yet to be opened.

Bow-tiful!

Christmas is always a reminder of how blessed we are with family, friends and life.

Basket case

Somewhere, a photo exists of a toddlerish Jackie sleeping in a laudry basket.

The Graduate

I'm back ...

What an awesome opportunity to earn a degree from Purdue while working full-time.

I enjoyed 'going back to school.' It took me longer than expected, but 12 classes later it's good to be done. I think some folks were worried that I was aiming for tenure as a master's student :)

This semester was class-free, I spent the time studying for my final exams (8 hour comprehensive exams.) The hard part was getting organized. There was a lot of information to sort through.

I'll miss the program, classes, profs and studying (yes, I'm a dork) but it is a relief to be done.

Eventually, I hope to catch up on blogging ... or at least not fall so behind again. Now with all of my "free time," I hope to spend more time with my crew (Brian and Syd) and running/going back to the gym.

Our next assignment is to determine new sleeping arrangements for Sydney. The big Sydney news of late is her climbing out of her crib. Brian heard a thud Friday morning and found her in the floor. After the initial shock wore off, she continued to recite 'uh-oh.' Yeah, uh-oh.

Blog vacation

I'm taking a sabbatical from blogging right now. I'll be back in December. But here is a sweet photo and story for now.

We have a Sydney Log where the sitters makes notes about their activities,you know ... read books, play with play-doh, played outside, etc. . Brian decided to list his activities today:
Played run away from Daddy, then yell and scream.
Harassed Vader.
Protested diaper changes.
Long division.

I love watching these two together.

I'll be back next month!

I can help: August

My father generously replaced our garbage disposal when it went kaput. Thank you Dad!

Looks like he has an apprentice-in-waiting.

Mapping Milestones

August, which marked Sydney's 19-month mark, seemed liked a good time to shoot some pretty portraits of our little girl. I scanned the Weather channel for a pleasant forecast. We picked a colorful place - the White River Gardens in Indy. Of course, I had the perfect dress saved for such an occasion.

Here is what we came up with.

This is the front-runner for our 2008 family Christmas card.

This one will make a nice 12 X 16 for the family room.

If she had a driver's license, she probably would want this photo retaken.

Pretty picture.

Colorado: Boulder

The remnants of Tropical Storm Ike kept us girls indoors today, so I completed our Colorado Chronicles. (More photos posted below this post).

Schreiber and Sydney (I love this photo!). On our way to Title IX -- one of my favorite stores.

Colorado: Elk Meadow Hike

After the Sydney combustion of 2008 (see blog below), she slept as we drove from Breckenridge to Evergreen. Good ol' Jefferson Co. Open Space. We found a new place to hike.

She was still a bit fussy. I tried entertaining her with stickers, which she just stuck on Brian's back, and rocks. You can guess what she did with the rocks ... Poor Brian.

Colorado Hiking: Lilly Pad Lake

Lilly Pad Lake hike: The abbreviated version. Sydney finally hit her 'peak' on this hike. After poor Brian hiked uphill (according to our trail book about 700 feet) with Sydney screaming and crying, we conceded that we could not continue. We had been shortchanging her on naps and we think it finally caught up to her ... and us. We turned around and went back. I bookmarked this hike for a future trip.

This is Brian and Sydney on the way down.

Aspen view.

Chipmunk.

Pine cone.

Colorado Hiking: Lake Dillon

The Lake Dillon "hike" was more like a walk. Then it turned into a sprint when a mountain thunderstorm moved in. Notice the drenched baby below.

Colorado Hiking: Cucumber Gulch

The view.


Sydney was well-behaved and Brian was a trooper hauling Sydney on his back. Brian carted her around while we hiked, and I carried here through DIA when we arrived. Transporting her in the hiker through the airport was worth the hiker's cost alone.

Sydney wants a look.


The trail.

Oh deer!

We even saw a beaver.

Taking a break.

Breckenridge, Colorado

Sydney wailed through our first night in Colorado. Amazing to us, Sydney expressed her feelings through her beloved Gossie books. We tried many things to soothe her as she cried, and one of those was reading her Gossie books. When I finished reading the story, which is about a gosling who looses her beloved red boots, Sydney took the book from me, then flipped backwards to the page where Gossie is crying and the text says "Gossie was heartbroken." Sydney whimpered the word "heartbroken," while touching her tear-stained cheeks. Heartbreaking for us parents, too.

She was fine after that, and after a few days visiting our friends, we headed west into the mountains. Our new homebase was Breckenridge.


Sydney was sluggish the morning of our departure.

Snow-capped peaks.