nine eleven

Five years ago, the whole world changed.

Four years ago, I was still mourning and terrified.

Three years ago, I finally became who I want to be (not three years ago to the day, granted, but it was about three years ago nonetheless)

Two years ago, to the day, I was extremely pregnant, miserable, and wondering why I Julia was still inside me on my due date … until 11pm, when my water broke and I knew I’d be having a baby within the next 12 hours.

One year ago, sadly, is a blur. Julia’s birthday crept up SO FAST (I know, I know … cliche) but oh my gosh, I remember being in denial about her really actually being one day shy of one year old.

Today, I appropriately reflect on “The Events of September Eleventh” – both the events that happened in the world and the events that happened in the hospital two years ago. I am still in horrific shock every time the media makes me watch those airplanes and I’m still in completely blissful shock every time I marvel at my daughter growing up.

Let me tell you about our weekend! “Norm and Grappy” are Julia’s grandparents, my dad and his wife (I guess that makes her my step-mom but I’m still so uncomfortable with that that I can’t even write “step” and “mom” without a hyphen or space bar.. she’s a great person, really an almost perfect match for my dad – I do love her, but it’s just weird that he’s now “REmarried” .. but anyway, this is becoming a very long parenthetical side-note).

Last night, the family celebrated Julia’s birthday! We had Norm and Grappy all the way here from Colorado, Grandma and Grandpa from the “other side of town” (it’s a small town, they only live like 1/2 mile away), and Aunt C and Uncle T+ their two kiddos (Julia’s cousins of course, ages4 and 6). It was a ton of fun, except that I get weird and start reminding myself of my mother (ack) when so many people are in the kitchen while I’m trying to do my own thing.

Julia’s grandma made her an Elmo cake, and we cooked out with burgers and brats. Proudly, Rich and I got Julia the “Elmo knows my name!” doll – and (thank goodness, much to our delight) she loves it and won’t put it down. I’m a little undecided about the choice of gift … I love that Julia loves her baby dolls and would regret having replaced something more-real-ish like a baby with a fuzzy red monster that is too hyper and loud. But – she still stops to kiss her baby whenever she leaves the room, so that is good.

She also got some new bath toys – and … oh my … fun pictures are coming soon, let me guarantee ya that. (Picture soap crayon mustache and fun bath fingerpainting).

But, Julia’s birthday weekend wasn’t just all about her. (Well, it wasn’t anyway, even without this next fun thing I want to share … because 9/9 was Norm’s birthday and 9/10 was grandparents day!) … oh no – Julia also decided to share a present with all of us! This morning, when Grappy was in the shower, Julia suddenly decided she needed to go potty. She promptly stripped off her pants, pulled her diaper loose and walked right into the bathroom – where Norm helped her onto her potty seat. She peed in the potty, wiped, flushed, and washed her hands … as if she had been doing this everyday all along. In fact, Norm (my dad …. his name isn’t really Norm, that’s just what we call him) said that he proceeded with this not knowing that this was something new. Her mannerisms, her words and her quick actions led him to believe that she does this kind of thing all the time!

Julia loves to “pretend” to go potty. If we ask/beg her to – she’ll sit on the potty for approx. 2.3 seconds – then she loves to wipe and flush and wash.

But, this was the first time that she actually went in the potty and did so KNOWING full well what in the heck she was doing! That rocks – so fun to see it happen, totally unsolicited … especially the day before her second birthday. What a big girl! We are now in the market for some panties with Elmo on them! hehehe

Well, Norm and Grappy are probably landing right now back in home in Colorado. It was a great visit – but I’m honestly glad they’re gone (lol – kinda fun having an anonymous HONEST blog now). I love my dad dearly – he’s my ROCK, and I don’t know WHO the heck I would be without him, let alone where I would be.

But, his wife kinda drives me crazy. (I do mean “kinda” .. it’s not like I can’t stand her .. I really do like her most of the time, lol) and my dad really enjoys laying around watching football. I almost wrote a letter to the NFL or to broadcasting stations, or to SOMEONE to plea … to beg them to save some hours out of the day where football-related things could NOT be found on the boob-tube. There were many mid-morning, mid-afternoon, mid-evening naps on the couch by Norm and Grappy. Y-A-W-N, how boring. (hey, if football is so great, how come the ones who WANT to watch it are the ones that end up falling asleep on the couch in front of the tv when it’s on, anyway?)
Ok – this is quite the post … long and full of needless information and long parenthetical nonsense. I shall hit publish now and go play with my kids (hubby is a kid, too) some more before Julia hurries up and turns 3.