busybusy

Things are fast and furious around here. We are getting ready for Akello’s baptism, which occurs on Sunday, and have been trying to get ready for the big day.
Yesterday we went to the mall as a family for the first time; this was akellos first trip to the mall ever. He seemed to take it ok, and we taught him to politely decline the sales reps at the fragrance counter.(haha, that used to be our jobs)



We took him with us so that he could pick out what he wanted to wear for his baptism, or christening. I don’t know what the difference is. Someone asked me that today and I told them that baptisms are for Baptists and christenings are for people that believe in Christ. Haha. They just said, “oh. That makes sense!”

But seriously. Akello picked out a good outfit and we came back home and setup the computer so that Theresa could record a song that was going on in her head before it was gone.



After Theresa recorded her vocal track. I put akello up to the mic since he was in such a talkative mood.



Of course once he got there he was quiet and just wanted to play with the mic so all I recorded was some fingers tapping on the microphone.



A while back we were thinking about moving akello to the floor bed, but also to put the floor bed in our bedroom. Now for whatever reason we moved his bed into our room but he has still been sleeping with us, and the floor bed is still in the room taking up space. I forget the reason that we have not moved him to the bed AND I forget the reason I have not put the floor bed back. That’s how unimportant it is, how often we change our mind, and how tired we are to even think about it.

Well this has left a void in his room, and Theresa had said that she wanted to, (if we have another child) convert the office into the babies sleep room, where all they did was sleep,
And then akellos nursery would be the playroom.

I liked that idea, so Theresa wanted to find a play mat, or better yet, a gym or exercise mat for that room. Because the flor tile looks cool, but those flor tiles are placed directly on the cement slab and its not the comfiest floor to walk on, much less bang your face against while in the throws of tummy time.

So I told her that there were some at target and even bought "the puzzle" version on a hunch and brought it home.



Theresa preffered the other version, the foldable black gym mat as opposed to the “puzzle piece” one that I had picked out

So I as all set to get this one, even though it was $40 as compared to the $14 puzzle version.Not that im opposed to spending $40 on a mat.



Well Theresa suggested Academy too. Well I thought….Duh! and I went over to academy to look around. And that where I found this!!



Bigger, cushier, cheaper and blue!

Theresa approved.

The other day akello’s Internet Aunt Corina came to visit, dragging along Joey and Steven. They arrived just in time for akello to awake from an afternoon nap!









Joey was able to snap some pics of akello and me, (a rare sight as im usually the one with the camera)




Here is a shot of us doing the superman/new ab workout.


i swear, if you want to drop some pounds, have a kid! its a constant workout, from dancing with him for 45 minutes so that he'll go to sleep, to playing with him to holding him, to going on walks, constant movement.

Speaking of pictures. Its tough to get a good shot of akello these days b/c once he sees that camera he just freezes and stares at it. I have to shoot from the hip and get creative to get a smile out of him while taking his picture. I delete tons of photos that I take everyday and manage to get one or two good ones. Thank god for digital. Speaking of digital,

I noticed a new mannerism in the world today. Gone are the days when we used to take one picture of something and move on. With digital, and the immediate display of our results, we take a ton more pics, until we are happy. So the act of taking a picture takes much longer than it used to, especially when you get the “oh, let me see” people.

Nowadays I see peopl take a picture, then they huddle around the camera to see it, then they complain and go back to pose again, and then go through the steps over and over.

Well, with this in mind, I have also taken pictures WITH akello. I will either put him on my lap or lay with him as I did when Corina was over and let him look at the big LCD display and we take pics together so that he can get revenge and flash other people in the eyes.



Here is one of his latest works. He calls it, “Visitor. # 35 in a series”


Oh!

I had been meaning to talk about my sling that I ordered. So a while back you may remember how I went to that meeting and checked out a sling to see if I liked it or not….
Well I had to turn that back in. but I did like the sling and wanted to order one. I went to kangaroo korner to get one, but there were so many fabric options and colors that it became a little overwhelming. Plus you had to figure out your size, and who has time or fabric tape laying around to measure their chest.

Well after these past few days of holding him in my arms I made it a priority and ordered one up the other day. I can wait for it to get here.

I went with the “mesh” version. It’s supposed to be for warm climates and quick drying. And it’s made out of that nylon/spandexy material like my running shirts are made out of which I like.



Oh,

I never really posted a note about our Christmas. We had a great Christmas and spent it at home, and had visitors come to us throughout the day to say hi. Akello was able to wear some cute Xmas outfits that Michelle gave us and akello received lots of money from his friends and relatives for his college fund.

Theresa and I both like the spirit of Xmas and while we don’t get too much into the commercial aspects of it, we do like the feeling of holiday food and family. I bought or made every holiday drink there was, eggnog/brandy-cider/brandy-hot coco-baileys Irish cream/coffee. Even though I get burnt out on that stuff after one cup, I still have to have just a smidge every year. That and tamales.

This year my grandmother didn’t make any tamales, so we bought some. My parents gave my in-laws some tamales for Christmas and we were over to have dinner with my in-laws on new years day. They were telling us about how they didn’t know what to eat with the tamales, as a side dish. I told them, “You don’t eat anything with them, just coffee. That’s it”

I had to tell Theresa the same thing. Christmas morning I was getting out all the tamales and she was like, “well, should I make some beans or something?”
And im all, “nope…. just tamales…. that is all.

Well my in-laws went on to say that they went ahead and made some broccoli to go with the tamales! BROCCOLI!!!

“It was great! The perfect side dish” –Ted burke

Well you go Ted! KEEP KILEEN WEIRD!