Are You Zhazha?

Before I leave you wondering…

Yes, I locked Nia in the car. I really did that.  I was one of those people.  I will tell you all about the hour of fun we had while waiting for Triple A to show up a few sentences later in this post because there was just so much that happened. I think it’s best to break out the bullet points!

• The visit to my sister’s house was GREAT!  It was so wonderful getting to see her home and spend time with them there (and eat tons of delicious homemade cookies).  Even the drive to Cleveland was awesome!  Nate was like a completely different boy!  He didn’t cry at all!
• As soon as we got to good ole’ Weirton, my mom and I hit the road to Pennsylvania to shop.  There weren’t even open handicap spots!  It was nutso!  I almost ran a stop sign too!  That should have been the first sign that my brain was struggling.
• That same night Andrew and I headed back up to Pittsburgh to catch up with our friends Chris and Julie. Lola watched the kids for us so we were able to have some couple time.  Chris and Julie made it possible for me to do something I never did before – enjoy a Primanti Brothers sandwich! If you don’t know about them – they are YUM.  They put cole slaw and french fries on the sandwich.  Again, YUM.
• The next day with Chris and Julie was also a great time. We took Nia ice skating and she had a blast.  She kept wanting to go around and around but it was getting harder and harder for daddy and mommy to go that slow and bear her weight.  I took some really cute pictures of her skating but sadly, I cannot share them. That is a “bad” that I have to tell you about but first, now it’s time to talk “kid locked in car.”   Yep, this is when I did it.  We were leaving the ice skating rink and I had the task of getting Nia buckled in as Andrew paid for parking.  It’s a long explanation of how I did it – but in the end all that matters is – I did it. I put the keys on the car seat, buckled her in and then closed the door.  All of that would have been ok if I didn’t have the doors locked and if Nia could get out of her child safety seat.  And she certainly was not learning how to do it through a window as her parents tried to mime to hert.  She kept saying, “Just come in and get me!”  We finally got through to her that we couldn’t come and get her – that a man was coming to help.  She tried to help.  She tried to pull her stay-puffed coat arm through the buckle’s strap.  Nope.  She tried using her Barbie to reach the lock.  Nope.  She picked up a book to read.  (She could reach that but not the keys!)  It’s so funny too because there I was so upset and she was totally fine.  Like, “Whatever – I’m waiting for the man to come.  Is he here yet?”  I love you Bean.  I’m so sorry I did that – trust me – it will NEVER, EVER happen again.  I’m sure I’ll do other bad things along the way – but you can take this one off the list.
• Christmas was a wonderful day.  The kids loved opening presents (they had 3 rounds of opening that day) and Nate is at that age where everything he opens gets a “OH” and the really great things get a “WOW!”
• The next day my sister and I braved the shopping crowds and scored big on some sales!  I loved being able to hang out with just her.  We haven’t been able to do that in a really long time and it was needed!
• I also loved being able to celebrate Nate’s 2nd birthday with family. Even though he was pretty sicky that day, he still did great and blew out his candles like a champ!  (Getting us all sick in the process…)  After the party, we got to hang out with my good friends from high school Julie (another one) and Mary Lou and their families.  It’s so crazy to think that we all have children!  We’re like all grown up now and hardly get to talk but we can meet up like we just talked yesterday.  I love that!
• Andrew and I got to have date night!  At the movies!  My mom watched the kids for us so we hit the theater to see “I Am Legend.”  We really liked it – but not the theater experience.  I’m sure I was annoying when I was a teen but come on!  Taking flash pictures, ringing cell phones and laughing loudly during the sad parts – a police officer came in to settle them down but it was during the last minutes of the movie!  I’m not sure when we’ll be back to a theater – why spend $20 there when we can just buy the DVD and enjoy it in the comfort of our own home and annoyances?
• Coming home was also an adventure.  We had a luggage carrier strapped to the roof of the Malibu Maxx and it started pouring rain the last hour of the trip – that rain came in through our doors because of the way we had to tie the carrier to the car.  We were using a coffee cup to catch the drips!  It was also on the way home that I so stupidly lost one of our camera’s memory cards.  The one that had the visit to my sister’s on it.  The one that had Nia ice skating.  The one that had all the Christmas pictures on it.  I think it was on my lap and fell out of the car when I got out for a potty break at a gas station.  Andrew called.  Of course, it wasn’t turned in to the gas station. I’m still so sad over the whole thing and really mad at myself.  I will always have the memories in my mind, but still.

So there it is.  Christmas 2007 is history and a new year of laughs, horrors, love and adventures has started.  I can’t wait to share another year with you!  Hopefully, it will feature more of the good stuff – even though some of the bad is more fun to read!