the boy

apollo learned how to alter his voice from normal baby gaga to baby scream. he can also stand by himself. ya'll are missin' out on the fun here in screaming stand land, mt.

ho hum hum-bug day

today was extra wrotten. like a piece of fruit that you have forgotten in your lunch sack. i had some of the worst, most, unfriendliest customers today. someone actually yelled at me. lucky me. and then on my last break i go to have a chat with my boss. it was short. like my career at target. a lunch sack you have forgotten you own due to the length of time between usages. we waited an hour tonight for a booth at our favorite pizza joint. apollo proceeded to cry or fuss the entire meal. much like he cried/fussed most of the previous night leading to this gloomy day. i'm tired (thank you apollo), ill (thank you sinuses), and depressed (thank you lack-of-day-light). i wish it was yesterday, which was a pretty wonderful day. but it's not. and i can't go back. this lunch sack is found after falling out of a high shelf in a closet onto your shoulders, leaving behind a moldy smelly residue on your freshly washed shirt. when you bend down to pick up the remains of "squished fruit and a lunch sack," you see that it is in fact your favorite piece of fruit that you would very much like to enjoy right now. instead, you drop it in the garbage can. along with the lunch sack. some things aren't worth saving. so steven bought me some flowers. i managed to place them decoratively in a cup full of water only to have them spill all over the counter. the shelves. the new toaster i got for christmas. so that's it. today's not worth saving. im going to bed with apollo and vanity fair (the book, no witticism there). and lucky steven is on his way to work.

Cliche Christmas

Merry Christmas!



We woke up before dawn because the little boy was awake and crawling all over us. So we got up and opened presents. The presents were all wrapped and sitting under the Christmas tree. Outside it was snowing. Not a mean aggressive snow, but a light snow like you see in the movies, or in snowglobes. Just enough to make everything white. Apollo is wearing his Christmas sweater (see below). We both have the day off and get to spend it all together. So far Christmas has been everything you would think Christmas would be.

presents

i want to open my presents. i think i know what one is. it smells and feels like coffee. which is great cuz i love coffee. and i know what's in another one. a blanket. i know this because i opened it. on accident. it was in birthday wrapping & i forgot that it was for christmas. happy mistake.

play date

apollo is really quite confused. there is this other thing in the house. it is smallish, walks, cries, and takes attention away from apollo. play date number 1 is currently underway. i've laid them both down for a nap. of course neither is sleeping but rather fussing in their designated corners. hopefully they will fall asleep though. and i can get a minute of peace. or at least enough time to sip my cold coffee.

it is kind of wonderful though. seeing how the brain works. luke has interacted with other children before, so he's not new to the game. but apollo is all eyes. apollo actually crawled to me in order to sit on my lap, i imagine for a little reassurance. ironically enough, luke is also the same size as apollo. it makes me feel like my child is severely behind in basic childhood development, and luke is a baby boy wonder. really he is 14 months old. and, albeit a cutey and pretty smart, luke's relatively average.

two & half hours down. seven to go.

Proof

You may be saying, if there isn't video it didn't happen. Well my friends, I swear I am not a liar.

crawl to taxidermy

apollo crawled today. his first. it was really awesome. i wanted to call steven and let him know, but he left his phone at home. so im now letting the world know. we can add "crawl" to "grab, reach, rock back n forth, & sit up." before you know it apollo is going to be into taxidermy.

the check up

apollo had his six month check up yesterday. he is 20 lbs. 27 inches long, and completely normal. he also got some shots, poor guy, but all seems to be well so far.

truoo love.

stress & success

christmas time is a blur of emotions, isn't it? merriment, stress, excitement, anticipation, and giddiness. i mean, presents! yes! who doesn't like presents. there is currently ONE present under the tree with my name on it (in the spot after "to" not "from"). at first i was happy about this, perhaps even merry. but now im slightly stressed. what's in this box? i gotta know. im excited and giddy at what the wrapped box may or may not contain. the anticipation is killing me. come on steven relent!! there's only a couple more days until christmas..or something like that. and i love LOVE decorating for christmas. i don't go crazy, i just like seeing sparkly lights and glitter all over. i wish we could decorate this way all the time. of course, our tree is 2 feet tall (almost) and contains one set of white lights and approximately 20 plastic snowflakes. not my best work, but work that is able to sit on a counter away from apollo. success. and these plastic snowflakes are not a choke hazard. double success.

speaking of success the work in which i get monetary value from is going ok. target, although not the ideal place to work, seems to be relatively undemanding. i think i may have even made a friend. it's too bad that everyone that works at target seems to be from a different town. bozeman is pretty expensive to live in, so most people commute to bozeman for work but live in surrounding little towns. so i have now made a friend, but she lives an hour away. which means, i have still made no bozeman friends. thank goodness i don't have that hour commute though. i'd hate it. i don't know if our trusty old buick would like it either. speaking of buick, our car is close to retirement. so if anyone else is buying a cool brand new car and wants to get rid of their not-so-cool-anymore old car - you know my number.

another update for work- i may/will probably be babysitting as well as working at target. so apollo will have a playmate a few days a week. im really excited but also slightly concerned. Luke, the little boy, is 14 months old. I fear this may open up a whole new set of rules in our house as Luke can probably walk, crawl, and find ways of getting into all sorts of trouble. i guess it's time to baby proof our house. today was supposed to be the first day, but Luke's father didn't have to work today. he's a construction worker, and his boss called off work as the temp is -10 degrees. yikes!

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

Today is Apollo's half birthday. He was constipated to the point of tears and we tried feeding him prunes to which he made a very sour face and stuck out his tongue and spit it out. Happy six monthiversary buddy!

Weekend Out

We've done a lot of Bozeman things this weekend. Friday we went to one of the local coffee shops Wild Joe's and got to see some art and music. One of the guys I work with played violin with keyboard played by Jason Lytle (Lead singer for Grandaddy and Bozeman resident.) It was beautiful music and while they were playing someone was doing live manipulation of video footage which created a very surreal effect. Also a couple of people including the roommate of the guy I work with had paintings hung on the wall. We would have loved to have stayed till they were done playing music but the little man was way too tired. And he kept us up all night. But that's another story.
This morning we ate our breakfast at noon at the Nova Cafe. Jury's still out on the food, but we've been wanting to go there for a long time, and it's a unique Bozeman eatery. Then this evening before Kalina had to work we went downtown where the annual Christmas stroll was happening. They block off Main Street for the evening and let vendors set up shop in the street and all the business have like open house. We saw Alpacas and a live nativity with these tiny little goats and they had horse carriage rides and free hot chocolate and carols. The streets were crowded with people and dogs and strollers and tents. It was pretty cool but we couldn't stay long because it was pretty cold out and Kalina had to work at six. I think it will be even better next year when Apollo may realize how cool it is to see Alpaca on Main Street and go for horse drawn rides.
Between the Christmas Stroll and us now having a fully decorated and lit 2 foot tall tree with stockings and wrapped presents underneath I think I'm now officially in the mood for Christmas. Now if only I got a break several weeks long like I used too...

unpacked

we are completely unpacked and i have to say it feels pretty wonderful. yesterday we got our new montana licenses which mean (drum roll) we are now officially montana residents! yeow! we have yet to get a working stove and our toilet is on the fritz but overall its been a pretty good week so far. and the peanut butter and jelly sandwich i am eating is.. well its ambrosia my friends.