was on Saturday, and he turned 25! It is hard to think about, I don't keep track of Ryan (or Alyssa's) ages so much anymore. So, when I think about it, it throws me off a little bit! I was married at 25, and still in school for my bachelors. Here Ryan is at the UofA for his masters/PhD, TA-ing classes, tutoring kids and building up his own college teaching resume thing. As far as I know, no girlfriend to speak of, not that having one is important. Any way this was the first time I left Nikolai for a longer period of time than just going to the store...
So Saturday was busy, kinda....
We had a nice breakfast with Brandon's dad at Jerry Bobs, and Travis came over to tow his mustang back to his house. Now that he has a house (crazy to think, he owns his own house now), I guess he wanted the mustang there to do bodywork. I think the boys never finish putting the roll bar in, so that might be one thing he wants to do. The engine though is still here and probably will be. I don't blame them, not necessarily wanting to move it. It's a heavy thing, a car engine... (they worked on it Sunday anyway)
Well, then I had dinner with my brother at Chili's. For one thing, he had never been there. Since he said he wanted Applebee's I figure why not Chili's? It is like Applebee's and besides, I wanted their peanut butter lava cake (YUM! even Brandon liked it! and we don't really like cake)... But sometime during the planning of our dinner outing, I had asked my brother who he wanted to be there (out of the 3 of us), and his response was just me. Granted for one, it is my brother; and two, we have not spent much time together like we used to and I kinda wanted just brother and sister time. So this means that I have to leave Nikolai to go to dinner with my brother.
Russel, a guy Brandon works with, suggested that we start leaving Nikolai with a sitter and go out. This is a good way to get used to leaving him for when I have to go to work. The dinner with my brother, a perfect opportunity. Brandon has all he needs here to take care of him, and it's not like I don't trust him to take care of his own son, so what better way to start the 'training'?
It was hard to leave because it was normal feeding time and I had to go. Nikolai was crying and tired, and that made it worse. Once I got out the door it was easy. I wanted to call, not to check up on Nikolai, but because that is what I would have done if there were no Nikolai - talked to Brandon on my way there. I tried not to call, because I figured that would make it hard to not want to turn around. That did not last long, I wanted to talk to my husband, so I called. And again, I was fine. I later talked to Brandon and told him I didn't have a problem leaving him. His response, "because it was me you left him with, it will be harder when it is the two of us that leave him." I think he is right.
Throughout dinner the conversation with my brother was great. It was nice spending time together like we used to. Just talking about who knows what, and it was longer than 45 minutes! That was lunch a few Wednesdays ago, between a tutoring meeting and a class. I was lucky to get the 45 minutes I got! Thinking about it now, I don't really remember much of what we talked about, just that there wasn't much of a silent moment. And I got to spend 2 hours with him for his birthday. I am glad he agreed to dinner!
The rest of the weekend...
Sunday we went to Babies 'R' Us to return some diapers. As it turns out, Pampers Swaddlers irritates Nikolai's poor little bottom. It has a mesh weave and that sticks to his bottom and gives the poor little dude a diaper rash, bad... Granted he gets them anyway, but the swaddlers makes it worse. It was the second week into his little life and his little bottom was chapped so bad it bled. Just from one night! SO the several boxes we had needed to get returned. At least we got a gift card, and we can use it for diapers when we need them. We still have a bunch!
We also got drapes for Nikolai's room. We got the rods up and the drapes (missing one because they only had 3 in stock) and I love it! We had to stop by Lowe's to get a Masonry bit for the holdbacks. I think that may be on the list of things to do today, though I do not know what Brandon has planned. The room looks so good with the drapes! So much better than with the horizontal mini-blinds. The blinds are old, falling apart and so hard to clean! I look forward to only having to clean drapes (not that I have cleaned the blinds)! The drapes are the environmental ones, that are supposed to keep outside air out, inside air in and reduce noise! We are so excited to being closer to finishing Nikolai's room!
The sad part of the weekend...
Al is sick. He has this funky fungus growth on his eye and fins. Brandon noticed it yesterday when he went to feed him. Our poor fish! For those of you who don't know Al, he is our Albino Tiger Oscar Cichlid whom we have had for the last 3.5 years. Granted not that long, but for a fish? Anyway, he is approximately somewhere between 11 and 12 inches long and at least (if not more than) 6 inches high, not including the bottom fins stretched downward. Since they are to live anywhere from 10 - 15 years (though I am not familiar with one that has), it was saddening. I think that is on the list for today as well: drain and vacuum the tank, empty and replace the pads in the filter, then treat the tank. No carbon filter for him for a while. :( Al did not eat yesterday, so I hope that the water treatment works well and fast for our lovely fish.
I Hope that everyone has a great Valentine's Day, whether or not that they celebrate it... :)
So Saturday was busy, kinda....
We had a nice breakfast with Brandon's dad at Jerry Bobs, and Travis came over to tow his mustang back to his house. Now that he has a house (crazy to think, he owns his own house now), I guess he wanted the mustang there to do bodywork. I think the boys never finish putting the roll bar in, so that might be one thing he wants to do. The engine though is still here and probably will be. I don't blame them, not necessarily wanting to move it. It's a heavy thing, a car engine... (they worked on it Sunday anyway)
Well, then I had dinner with my brother at Chili's. For one thing, he had never been there. Since he said he wanted Applebee's I figure why not Chili's? It is like Applebee's and besides, I wanted their peanut butter lava cake (YUM! even Brandon liked it! and we don't really like cake)... But sometime during the planning of our dinner outing, I had asked my brother who he wanted to be there (out of the 3 of us), and his response was just me. Granted for one, it is my brother; and two, we have not spent much time together like we used to and I kinda wanted just brother and sister time. So this means that I have to leave Nikolai to go to dinner with my brother.
Russel, a guy Brandon works with, suggested that we start leaving Nikolai with a sitter and go out. This is a good way to get used to leaving him for when I have to go to work. The dinner with my brother, a perfect opportunity. Brandon has all he needs here to take care of him, and it's not like I don't trust him to take care of his own son, so what better way to start the 'training'?
It was hard to leave because it was normal feeding time and I had to go. Nikolai was crying and tired, and that made it worse. Once I got out the door it was easy. I wanted to call, not to check up on Nikolai, but because that is what I would have done if there were no Nikolai - talked to Brandon on my way there. I tried not to call, because I figured that would make it hard to not want to turn around. That did not last long, I wanted to talk to my husband, so I called. And again, I was fine. I later talked to Brandon and told him I didn't have a problem leaving him. His response, "because it was me you left him with, it will be harder when it is the two of us that leave him." I think he is right.
Throughout dinner the conversation with my brother was great. It was nice spending time together like we used to. Just talking about who knows what, and it was longer than 45 minutes! That was lunch a few Wednesdays ago, between a tutoring meeting and a class. I was lucky to get the 45 minutes I got! Thinking about it now, I don't really remember much of what we talked about, just that there wasn't much of a silent moment. And I got to spend 2 hours with him for his birthday. I am glad he agreed to dinner!
The rest of the weekend...
Sunday we went to Babies 'R' Us to return some diapers. As it turns out, Pampers Swaddlers irritates Nikolai's poor little bottom. It has a mesh weave and that sticks to his bottom and gives the poor little dude a diaper rash, bad... Granted he gets them anyway, but the swaddlers makes it worse. It was the second week into his little life and his little bottom was chapped so bad it bled. Just from one night! SO the several boxes we had needed to get returned. At least we got a gift card, and we can use it for diapers when we need them. We still have a bunch!
We also got drapes for Nikolai's room. We got the rods up and the drapes (missing one because they only had 3 in stock) and I love it! We had to stop by Lowe's to get a Masonry bit for the holdbacks. I think that may be on the list of things to do today, though I do not know what Brandon has planned. The room looks so good with the drapes! So much better than with the horizontal mini-blinds. The blinds are old, falling apart and so hard to clean! I look forward to only having to clean drapes (not that I have cleaned the blinds)! The drapes are the environmental ones, that are supposed to keep outside air out, inside air in and reduce noise! We are so excited to being closer to finishing Nikolai's room!
The sad part of the weekend...
Al is sick. He has this funky fungus growth on his eye and fins. Brandon noticed it yesterday when he went to feed him. Our poor fish! For those of you who don't know Al, he is our Albino Tiger Oscar Cichlid whom we have had for the last 3.5 years. Granted not that long, but for a fish? Anyway, he is approximately somewhere between 11 and 12 inches long and at least (if not more than) 6 inches high, not including the bottom fins stretched downward. Since they are to live anywhere from 10 - 15 years (though I am not familiar with one that has), it was saddening. I think that is on the list for today as well: drain and vacuum the tank, empty and replace the pads in the filter, then treat the tank. No carbon filter for him for a while. :( Al did not eat yesterday, so I hope that the water treatment works well and fast for our lovely fish.
I Hope that everyone has a great Valentine's Day, whether or not that they celebrate it... :)
Poor fishie and Nikolai's bum! Hope you had a great Valentine's day too!
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