A little excitement

Yesterday, I was in my office and heard someone out in our main area so I peeked my head out and saw a man walking toward the door. It's not atypical for someone to come in and not say anything and then leave again. We don't have a receptionist so a lot of times someone will come in for directions, not see anyone right there, and then leave. Most of the time I hear them and help them, but since he was on his way out I didn't say anything. Plus, he looked a little "off." I assumed he was one of the many people that come in here looking for the Probation and Parole Office that's across the street but kind of hidden so it's hard to find.

Next thing I know I hear my boss Sue yell out, "Excuse me! Give me my purse back please!" I ran out to the main area and saw him take it out of hiding (he had a shirt thrown over it) and handed it back to her and then just walked out the door. My coworker Jim came running over (he sits in the back office and can't see the main area from where he is) and started following the guy out the door. He pointed out to me there was a safety officer next door at 7-11 (you can see the parking lot through my office window) so I went to get the cop while Jim kept an eye on the guy to see where he was headed.

I ran over to the officer in his car and told him briefly what happened. I gave a quick description and heard Jim yell that he was headed down the hill toward the library. I started to tell the officer when he said, "Just get in!" I got in and he called it in on his radio and we were off! We turned the corner and I saw the guy up ahead. I said, "That's him" and he got on the radio again saying he was about to be in foot pursuit of a suspect. I put my seatbelt on and we raced up to where the guy was. The officer stopped the car, told me to stay inside, and ran up to the suspect. He yelled for him to get on the ground and the guy sort of hesitated and had his hands underneath the shirt he'd used to hide Sue's purse. Next thing I know the cop pulls his weapon and is shouting to him to get down and show his hands. I was shaking. It was crazy being so close to the action. Another officer pulled up behind me and they cuffed him and she took custody of him since the vehicle I was in was a safety vehicle, not one used for arresting people.

Several more officers arrived and I was talking to them while they were dealing with the guy. One of them asked me to get Sue, since it was her purse that he stole. I walked halfway up to my building and she was on her way down. The cops asked how much the purse and it's belongings were worth and the good news is that it's a Kate Spade from Bloomingdale's. Since it's so expensive, they got him for grand larceny, on top of the many counts of theft for each credit card.

The officer called this morning and asked a few more questions about what I witnessed and then told me the guy's name. I looked him up on the Sex Offender Registry and wouldn't ya know it...convicted rapist. I started shaking thinking about what could have happened. When Sue first confronted him I was terrified he was about to draw a gun on her, and thank God he didn't. He just walked away calmly. It could have gone in a whole different direction and it's really, really frightening to think about that. I'm trying hard not to.

The guy's being held without bond and we'll probably be expected to make a statement at his preliminary hearing in about a month. But the cop was pretty certain that with his record and the grand larceny charge on top of all the other theft charges, he'll probably plea and it won't go to trial.

Craziness.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Saturday we took Carter back to Portrait Innovations for his 18 month pictures. Here's a sneak peek. If you're my Facebook friend, you've already seen all of them.





On Sunday we headed out to Chris' parents' house to see them and my FIL's son and his girlfriend who were in town from Boston. Carter behaved himself despite not having an afternoon nap, and having a shortened morning nap due to a poopy diaper. That's always a bonus. We had a nice time visiting with them and went out to a fabulous dinner.

Memorial Day Monday we finally ventured out to the pool. Carter was scared at first and clung to me on the steps, but after a little while he warmed up and splashed and kicked. By the time we left he was walking all by himself all around the baby pool. When we were leaving he had to make sure to say goodbye to every last person before we could go. After that he took a 4 hour nap (woot!) and then we grilled Asian chicken skewers for dinner. Delish!

All in all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. I was even able to go shopping all by myself and get some summer work clothes. It was awesome.

18 month stats

He's moved on up! Carter is now finally in the 33rd percentile for weight (after hovering around 10% for most of his life) at 24 pounds. I've noticed his face is chubbier than it used to be, but I can still see his ribs when he walks around in a diaper. Naturally lean, that one.

His height is 32 inches, which makes him exactly average. 50th percentile. His head is in the 82nd percentile, which makes it sound huge but it seems all of my friends' kids have big noggins (like in the 90th percentile and higher) so his is small by comparison.

We put off his MMR shot until this visit in the hopes that the risk of any ill-effects that it *may* cause are lowered. They gave Carter an autism screening test and he passed with flying colors. His social skills are fantastic and the doctor was VERY impressed with his vocabulary and communication level. He said he would have been happy if I said Carter had 10 words; the fact that he has over 70 thrilled him. Smartypants, he is. I'm very proud.

18 Months

Tomorrow, Carter will be closer to two than to one. But for today, he's still my baby. Halfway between one and two. He's so polite, extremely smart, hilariously funny, and such a happy boy. I don't know what I did to deserve him and I'm so grateful for him. He makes strangers smile. What a gift that boy is. What a gift.

To celebrate his birthday, we took him to a new Indian restaurant in town. My boy tore up some Chicken Tikki Masala. Tore. It. Up. I love that he's willing to try new things. He makes me proud.

Happy 18 months, sweet little man.

One more thing

I knew I was forgetting something on the list earlier. I wanted to share how weird my husband is. I bought OJ for our Mother's Day brunch but I got the kind with extra pulp, because apparently I like to chew my juice. Chris HATES the pulp in it, but last night he was craving orange juice (plus, he's sick so it's good for him). So what did he do? He put it through a sieve! What a weirdo.

Catching Up

On Mother's Day we had my parents and Chris' parents over for brunch. It was nice to get to stay home for once and not have to worry about whether Carter will get a good nap, or if he'll sleep in the car, or if we'll be too tired to drive home later. It's just so much easier when people can come to us, rather than having to drive to Baltimore, or Leesburg, or Delaware. All that packing and driving and crankiness gets exhausting. Life is easier on our home turf. Hopefully one day soon we'll have a bigger place and can host more get-togethers.

My mom bowled on our Wii and killed all of us. It was crazy. She got 185 I think as her best score. Me? I barely got over the 100 mark. I still need some practice.

Here's the one halfway decent picture Chris was able to get of Carter and me on Mother's Day. Kid wasn't cooperating. But, in his defense, he was popping a few teeth through so I'm sure that didn't feel too great.

After everyone left and Carter got a little nap, we headed out to the local elementary school to play on their playground. Carter enjoyed playing in the dirt and showing me his hands and saying "messy" over and over again.


Some other tidbits:

• Carter went for his semiannual dentist visit this morning and screamed like someone was cutting him open. It was horrible. I had to pin his body down while a hygienist held his head still while another hygienist cleaned his teeth. Thankfully, they were very quick and he recovered immediately. The second they stopped and he was allowed to sit up, he crawled in my lap and said hi to them. Then they gave him a "byoo" (balloon) and all was right with the world again. The doctor was very happy with the way his teeth looked and said all we have left are his 2 year molars (the rest are either popped through or just about to). He warned me that those are the biggest and toughest ones. Not looking forward to that.
• Girl said farewell to her blog this week. It makes me so sad, but I'm sure not half as sad as it makes her.
• I get my final crown on my broken tooth tomorrow. Can't wait for this to be over with. It's been damn expensive between the root canal and the crown(s). Good thing we planned for this.
• Our cleaning ladies started on Monday and I'm so happy. Our place looked amazing and I don't feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up anymore. It's nice to know that twice a month they'll be there to hit the reset button. Thankfully we were able to use our tax refund to pay off a loan and can use that money we were paying toward the biweekly cleanings. It worked out really well.
  

The end of an era

My favorite jeans, the ones that I can wear fat or thin, have a hole in the knee. The thighs have been wearing thin for a while now but I've been hoping the day they died would come later rather than sooner. Poo.

In other news, Carter has tooth #15. It's his lower left canine.

Oh, and also, we started with a cleaning company today. I feel like a new woman in this clean condo!

Bye-Bye Mama and Dada

As of two days ago, we are now Mommy and Daddy. That's too grown up for my little boy!

File this under TMI

I have a clogged milk duct and it really hurts!! Every time my arm brushes against it, it makes me wince. And now I'm nervous that it's going to turn into mastitis. So far, I feel fine (except for this cold that keeps lingering) but from what I've read, mastitis has a very quick onslaught. When I get home I'll hop in a hot shower and try to massage it out (ouchie!!) but in the meantime I'll just have to suffer since I'm at work.

Let's look at the bright side, though. I've made it almost 18 months with no medical issues related to breastfeeding. That's pretty darn good!

I just have to share

We never did family photos growing up, so maybe that's why I find this site so funny. Enjoy!