This is what's happening

A.J. is walking full time now. He started doing it about a week before he turned 11 months. He was taking steps before that, but for over a month now, he'll have nothing to do with crawling. He even tries to get me to chase him. He knows he's not supposed to be playing in the bathroom, so he takes off for the bathroom door giggling while I yell out "A.J. – NO!" You can picture this ...

In addition to Stella's usual high maintenance, she is doing a potty training protocol through her school, which has involved an exhausting regimen of bathroom trips, accidents and wet pants, a sensor with an alarm that doesn't work because it doesn't always "catch the stream." I've never been so stressed in all my days. If it were my idea, I probably wouldn't have picked now to potty train her, but the school is offering support so I am going with it ... as best I can.

Grandma is in hospice now. She is in our thoughts and prayers. She had a massive stroke about a week and a half ago. Everyone is so sad about this. We love her so much and she has been so important to everybody.

My Valentines

Believe it or not, John and I actually got to go out to dinner for Valentine's Day. Going out on V-day isn't something we've ever made a custom of, but it just happened to be a day when we could get a babysitter. We went out to our favorite restaurant in town, Asuka -- a Japanese-Korean place -- which is kind of a gem because Battle Creek lacks quality restaurants. (Thanks to BC's largest employer, Denso from Japan, the restaurant serves a lot of young Japanese transfers). We had a big plate of spicy raw tuna sushi and our entrees were Korean: Bi Bim Bap for me and John had his favorite, Bulgogi. Mmmm, what a treat.

John introduced me to Korean food when I first came to Michigan and there's nothing in the world like it. It's so tasty. They pickle Daikon radish and make these amazing side dishes ... my mouth is watering right now!

So since I got taken out to such a nice dinner by my hubby, I was glad to make him a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies for Valentine's Day.



I've only made homemade, from-scratch cookies a few times. It's tricky ... mix the wet and dry separately, don't overbake, yadda yadda. I used the Fannie Farmer cookbook -- the same book I refer to in making pies -- and it had the most basic, easy cookie recipe, and they turned out pretty good.

Because he's so adorable, I let the newest man in my life eat the first cookie:



Today, Albert John and I went to Stella's school for her Valentine party. Stella enjoyed all the Dum Dums she got ... she loves those things. Albert simply tried to eat all the crayons when everyone sat down to color.



Crash!
A few nights ago, after the kiddos were in bed, I settled quietly into bed to watch a little TV. John was still downstairs. All of a sudden, there was an earth-shattering sound ... I wondered if a meteor had hit the house. My heart skipped a beat. I jumped up and ran downstairs. John and I looked at each other and said, "What was that?!"

Turns out, the heavy snow and ice on our roof pushed one of the gutters off. Here is the view from the master bedroom, dangling between the two levels. It fell from the upper roof to the roof above the family room. It'll have to be replaced come spring.



Go away, winter!

Another Saturday afternoon with kiddos

I'm blogging as an escape right now. A.J. is crying in the Pack & Play. Stella is doing god-knows-what upstairs .... I keep hearing crashing noises. I hope nothing is permanently destroyed, but I'm too lazy to go upstairs and check!

I did want to share the new website of the organization that employs me: the Calhoun Child Abuse Neglect Prevention Council. (Or http://www.calhounprevention.org/)

I didn't build this site by myself. We hired a guy who designs websites in his spare time ... his full time job is a police lieutenant. But I think he's done a good job on it and the price was right for his services. This is the website that is paid for from a grant that I applied for, too. I hope to be able to do frequent updates on it once I order Microsoft Web Expression.

There are several pages that need to be completed, but you can see the general idea. Just wanted to share.

This morning was rough with Stella, so on our way to swimming, I asked God to please throw me a bone today. And as it happened, Stella had a great swim this morning. She is learning to jump into the water from the side, which is an important leap of faith for her (and a motor skills challenge, too). She was kicking her feet while practicing the backstroke (with tons of help from her teacher, of course). And she put all the colored balls in the basket like she was supposed to. We were all proud of her and cheering for her. Mama is proud of Stella!



Albert John is a handful. But he can do some amazing things, too. He can play the drums really well. He will even play the drums for a few minutes after everyone has left the room. He's really into it, and understands how to hit the different drums on the drumset. He's something!



Fancy Dogs

I don't have the chance to cook much anymore. Ever since AJ became mobile, I haven't been able to take the time to cook anything that takes time.

So the most sophisticated recipe I've come up with lately is "Fancy Dogs."

It's basically a hot dog (Koegel's Vienna) cooked in my 10-inch cast iron skillet, with the bun toasted right beside it, Irish cheese, tomato, cucumber, Creole mustard and a hot pepper. I wish I could say it was healthy. I can only say that it tastes very very good.



I used to think there were only a few things you could eat with hotdogs ... ketchup, relish, mustard, etc. But no, you can put almost anything on a hot dog and it's good.

A few years ago, I thought I would get into the business of writing recipes. I'd better give up that dream if this is the best I can do! But it's still a Puzzuoli Family favorite.

Have a good day.

Albert's own room!

Well thanks to my wonderful mother- and father-in-law, I no longer have a crib and a changing table to navigate around in the master bedroom . . . AJ has his very own room. Joe and Kathy helped us convert our spare bedroom into a great space for the little guy.

His room is quite a bit smaller than Stella's, but that's what you get when you're second-born, I guess. But it sure is cute now. Kathy did some shopping and got him some great curtains (so dark that he sleeps like a log at naptime), some decal-dots to liven up the gray walls (his room is way down the list of rooms to be painted), and some cute pictures for the wall of race cars, boats and planes. It's a boy's room!



Joe and Kathy are always hanging things up for us when they come to visit. It's the only way anything ever gets done around here!



AJ has lots of cute things in his room, even a sign that says "Thank Heaven for Little Boys." So true.



He thinks he's big stuff and he showed off a lot for Grandma and Papa. Though we've got to admit his walking has stalled out a lot. He took a break from practicing during this last bout of colds, so he's still primarily crawling to get around.



He loved his Papa and Grandma. Being a man's man, he was pretty crazy about Papa!

I gotta say it though. I am so tired of winter. We have gotten hammered so many times from big snowstorms. Stella's 4th snow day was Friday ... she only went to school two days last week. The other problem has been the constant barrage of wintertime respiratory illnesses. I can't stop blowing my nose and coughing. I am also tired of wiping runny noses and cleaning up crusty noses! Ugh! This is why you always see tons of Michiganders outside milling around on the first warm sunny day of the year. Everyone is desperate for a break in this pattern!

Stella is one who is desperate for stuff to do. It hasn't been easy keeping these guys entertained this winter. My own struggles with having colds has stifled my creativity. But I loved it when Stella puts on her fancy scarf and prances around ... so cute!



Anyway, pray for spring.