Two Weeks to Christmas?! &%#$!

Excuse my symbols, but I can't believe that it's even December! In our house, it could pretty much be July. We have no tree, no lights, no presents...a whole lot of nothing going on here. In the last 10 days, I've been to a three-day training in Bloomington, done my civic duty at the Champaign Courthouse (meaning sitting in the freezing cold jury assembly room for hours), stayed home with the Ethan-boy after we discovered he had a double ear infection (for how long, I have no idea - he's not fussy at all!) and a lovely case of pink eye (pic below), and gone to work as much as possible. Brian has been up well past midnight most nights in order to do late-night weather briefings and prepare lectures for class, and last week he flew a plane into that lovely winter storm we all heard about. We're a little frazzled. :)

However, with my whining comes the understanding that people do this kind of stuff all the time! So I'm pulling myself up by my bootstraps (the Jewett clan will appreciate that one) and getting over myself - bring on the Christmas cookies!

I keep reminiscing about last year at this time. With a little guilt, I have to say that I'm so relieved that Ethan is now 13 1/2 months old and not 6 weeks old any more! Those newborn days were wonderful, but hard - I don't think I've ever felt so clueless in my life. He's a totally different kind of challenge right now, and such a fun one.

Did you just tell me NO, Mom?

(Apparently our childproofing needs a little work. I think the goal is to keep the kid's hands out of the cabinet.) He is learning several words, like "No!" and "Stop!" pretty well by now. :) After falling down our two stairs once, he now stops when I tell him to.