Happy Birthday to me

Today was my birthday - the big 36.  Do I feel a year older?  Absolutely.  It's amazing how the older you get the older you feel.  Ok, that sounded kind of corny but you know what I mean. It was a nice day overall.  Spent a morning with my MOMS group and got to talk about feelings.  Then headed back to the house and spent the afternoon with the boys.  Scott hadn't been feeling well so he went to the doctor and then came home and surprised me with a birthday cake!  I think the boys loved it even more than I did.  We had a nice dinner from New South Kitchen and watched an episode of Lost.  Scott saw fit to get me a new computer for my birthday!  I can't wait to pick one out and get on with using it.  This Thinkpad has served me well, but it's time to pass it on to the boys for their use and enjoyment.

Nick got his third round of smileys in a row.  I'm so proud of him and I think he is proud of himself.  He's trying to get 6 hours of wii time (2 weeks worth of smileys).  I know he's got it in him to do it.  He's such a smart kid and can do anything when he puts him mind to it. 

Andrew is having carseat issues lately.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but every time I put him in and drive, he cries.  I'm wondering if he wants to face forward.  I was hoping to be able to turn him around, but wouldn't you know, I take him to his one year well visit and they tell me that they are now recommending you wait until two years old to turn them around.  So backwards he will stay for a bit longer.  My husband is, of course protesting because his legs are so cramped in the front of the car.  We'll see if we can't just move it to the middle for longer trips.  Anyway, I ramble on.  American Idol calls so I'm signing off for now.

Andrew's First Birthday

Well, my youngest is now officially one year old.  My parents came down this weekend to help us celebrate and we had a really nice time.  On Saturday afternoon after my parents got here we went for a walk at the Greenway for an hour or so.  My kids really love wandering around on the trails.  Nicholas is into exploring everything and was questioning grandma on how electricity works.  Alex started strong but then slowed down exponentially as usual and was done about a mile into the walk.  Andrew just chilled in the stroller and took it all in. 

After finishing up our walk, we headed over to The Waldhorn restaurant for a birthday dinner (yes it was more for us than him, but he did really enjoy the pretzel rolls and sausage).  We enjoyed delicious food some of which included a sausage sampler, rouladen, duck, and schnitzel.  After dinner we headed back to the house where we blew out candles and sang happy birthday to Andrew (pics to come shortly).  The next day we made homemade noodles while Andrew napped and then headed to Ikea for a little lunch and shopping in the afternoon.  I did buy a few small things including lingonberry jam, some candles, and some cups for the kids.  Andrew was so tired by the time that we got home that he didn't even eat dinner.  He just went straight to bed.

All in all it was a nice birthday celebration.  We all had a nice visit with my parents and now it is time to get back to in's and out's of day to day life.  The upside is that we are one day closer to spring and even though it's still February, it feels like spring is coming.  Maybe it's the rain today; I'm not sure.  All I know is bring it on.  I am so ready.

Updates

So my parents are coming to visit this weekend for Andrew's first birthday.  It should be a fun time.  The best part is that it will force me to clean the house which desperately needs it.  I'm hoping we get a chance to go to IKEA when they're here.  I know my mom would enjoy it (and secretly I'm really craving their daim torte).  It's amazing to me that Andrew is already one.  While at times, it felt like time was crawling, for the most part, it's gone by really fast.  We're now getting into my favorite stage; one to two.  Old enough to understand and communicate, but young enough not to talk back.  Perfect.

Nick is still plowing through kindergarten like a bull in a china shop.  I got a call from his teacher on Monday once again relaying her concern for him.  While I appreciate that he is not being "left behind", I'm frustrated that there seems to be a lot of, for lack of a better term, complaining, but not a lot of resolutions as to how to fix the problems.  We are into week two of the tutor (he meets up with her again tomorrow) so hopefully that will help a bit.  The teacher did insinuate on the phone however, that she thinks Nicholas has ADD.  While I'm not ruling it out, I can't say that I'm convinced either.  While it's true that he does have a difficult time focusing on his schoolwork, he has no problem focusing on tasks that he enjoys such as puzzles and legos.  Maybe there's a selective ability to turn it on when you want to?  I don't know, but if so, that seems more behavioral than medical to me.  Honestly, at this point I'm wishing I had wrote the letter to the school talking about the type of teacher that would work best for Nicholas.  You better believe I'll be writing that letter for first grade.  To me, it really seems that while Nicholas' kindergarten teacher is good at what she does, she's not a "good" fit for my son.

The boys make a tent

Yesterday was the day after the snow day and it was beautiful out.  The boys played for over two hours outside and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  I don't know all of what their games were about, but when all was said and done, this is what was left to show for time outside:

 

When I asked what it was, I was told that it was a tent and that it was a very dirty job.  And indeed, if you could see all the mud on their pants from the tent making effort, you would agree that it is indeed a dirty job.  Yes, I let them watch Mike Rowe once or twice and now they are very into "dirty jobs".  I thought it was cute and plan to send it on to Mike himself so he can see what a real dirty job is.

And just for posterity's sake, here are some pics from the snow day on Saturday:

 

  

  

  

  

Yes that's Andrew trudging through the snow over by the driveway.

Started a new blog today

So I'm pretty excited to say I started up a new blog today called Car Camping Adventures for Families.  As you've probably read in my previous posts, I'm not only getting excited for camping in a couple months, but I'm writing up a camping cookbook.  So I figured the natural progression of this would be to start up a camping blog for those of us crazy enough to venture into the wild outdoors with small kids.  I'm pretty proud of what it looks like so far and am looking forward to expanding on it weekly if not daily.  I already have a bunch of ideas for upcoming posts so I see it growing quickly in content.  I'm trying to figure out how to get it some visibility.  I've already posted it on my facebook page and added it to a few directories.  I think now I will try and get it attached to a few other peoples blog rolls to continue to get it out there.

Andrew is not sleeping for nap today.  I'm not sure what the issue is, but he has probably slept for a total of 1.5 hours today nap wise.  We are supposed to be heading for dinner at Mcallisters in just under an hour and I'm not sure he'll be in any mood to do it considering he's been up most of the afternoon.  I guess we'll take it one minute at a time and see what we decide in the end.  I can always cook something quick and simple at home if he decides to go to sleep.  No go so far though.

Tomorrow is the next installment of MOMS.  I'm excited for it, but I'm a bit nervous the daycare will get upset with me considering Andrew has a bit of a cold.  I'll assess it in the morning and see if he's able to go or not. 

Good Morning Monday

Poor Andrew is sick.  He has a fever and has just been irritable in general.  Yesterday he was probably up for a total of 3 hours and did nothing much except nurse.  I expected a rough night but bless his heart, despite all that, he still slept through the night for me and is sleeping as we speak.  I'm hoping he's feeling a bit better today as the doctor's office is not really what I want to do today (As though the grocery store is that much more exciting).  I can't believe he's going to be one in less than two weeks.  The time just seems to have gone so fast!  He is such a sweet and easy baby.  I can't imagine him not being with us. 

Scott just sent me pictures of his parents home in Delaware with their new snow.  What a winter this has been for snow!  My Aunt and grandparents dug out of five feet (yes I said five) of snow just a few weeks ago and now DC and Delaware is hit with close to 30 inches.  El Nino is definitely making himself known.  We've only had one storm that resulted in snow down here and it was fairly puny, but it let us get some sledding in so we'll take it.  Now that I have a child in the public school system, snow days aren't my friend as much as they used to be.  Nick had a snow day last week and now he needs to go to school on Presidents Day.  It's a bit of a bummer because everyone else including Scott has off that day and we had planned on doing something as a family. Well, we'll see.  There may still be a mysterious cold that shows up that day. :)~ 

Infant botulism, lent, and other oddities

The sun is out this morning for the first time in what feels like weeks and it just puts a smile on my face.  I am so through with the winter and can't wait for the promise of warmer weather and more time spent outdoors.  I suppose that dream will have to wait a few more weeks though as we are expected to get freezing rain and snow on Tuesday. 

Anyway, on to the topics of the day.  First up, infant botulism.  Have I got your attention yet?  No, I don't think we have it, but of course I had to wonder a few minutes.  Andrew woke up at 4:30am this morning crying and we couldn't get him back down no matter what we did.  He finally fell asleep again about 20 minutes ago.  I have no idea what's wrong; there's no temperature, no rash, no nothing.  So of course I flash back to a couple days ago when I accidentally gave him a bite of my homemade bread with some honey butter on it.  Yes, call me a bad mom, I gave my child honey before he was one.  Once I read the symptoms of botulism though, I realized that is most likely NOT what it is.  Why do we moms do that to ourselves?  We instantly drop the guilt on ourselves.  You'd think after raising kids for almost 6 years now I would learn a bit more.  I'm still not sure what it is, but at least he's sleeping for the moment.

Lent is coming up and it's time to figure out what to give up for the next six weeks.  Scott and I gave up alcohol and dessert one year and, needless to say, we were two very cranky people by the time it was all over.  So this year, I'm going to do something a bit different.  I'm giving up the internet games that I play.  I spend way too much time on them as it is, and hopefully taking six weeks off from them will not only break my habit to them, but also help me to get a lot more stuff done in my life.  Now if my mother in law would just give up smoking for Lent.....

Finally, we survived the birthday party and had a really good time.  Eight kids were there including my oldest two and everyone seemed to have fun bowling.  The cake was delish, the cookies were delish, and the t-shirts were a hit.  Now on to Andrew's party in two weeks.  That one should be a bit calmer as he'll be the big 0-1. 

the birthday party

Ha.  When I first wrote the title to this blog post I accidentally put partay and then thought about how that might be the more appropriate saying for it.  Alex's birthday party is tomorrow and he'll be four.  We're having a bowling theme and a handful of kids are coming in addition to his cousin.  I, of course, have taken on more than I probably should have for this event.  I made cookies (yes I feel the need to show them off to myself and my one follower - hi Amy!)

 

and will begin making the cake today.  I also made team bowling shirts for all the kids which were a pain in the you know what, but were cute enough when finished to be worth the effort.  To top it off, my SIL is hopefully coming down to stay with Alex's cousin so she can come to the party too.  I say hopefully because if  you live on the East Coast and haven't looked out your window lately, the weather stinks.  Freezing rain, regular rain, ice, snow... you name it, it's falling somewhere on the East coast.   If all goes well, people will show up, bowl and have a great time.  In the meantime though, I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to do too much in too short a period of time.  

Next up, Andrew's birthday in two weeks and Nick's party in May.  He wants a lego Star Wars party, so you will be seeing deja vu of this post in a few short months.

Grrr

Do you ever just wake up frustrated?  You're not even sure what the problem is, you just know the first person that talks to you is going to take the brunt of it?  That's how I feel this morning.  I feel like I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  I think I'm mostly frustrated about Nicholas, my five year old.  We continue to struggle with his focus issues and his teacher is really no help.  She sends these emails almost every day telling me how poorly my child is doing but offering no ways we can fix it.  I know he's smart and I know he can do the work, he just doesn't.  I've decided to hire a tutor for him once a week to see if that doesn't help.  She's another teacher from PSE.  When I told her about Nick's issues, she said that described pretty much her entire second grade class, which makes me wonder if Ms. Sherrill is being a little bit too hard on him.  This is kindergarten afterall.  Sometimes I just wish I could hear something good from her.  If we weren't so far into the school year, I'd consider moving him to another teacher, because I feel like she's just not a good fit for our family.

On another more positive note, the MOMS class went great.  The women are all so nice and everyone is in the same situation which is so reassuring.  I'm thinking it's really going to help me and I'm so glad I decided to join.  Scott and I also finally broke down and paid the HOA dues so that we could do some of the activities in our neighborhood.  We just joined the supper club and I think I'm going to see about joining the book club as well.  It's amazing that we don't recognize a single name in the supper club groups.  I thought I knew alot of people in this neighborhood, but clearly I was wrong.  I'm looking forward to getting to know a few more.

Anyway, time to sign off and get going with this day.  The exterminator is coming at 10am to check for termites (oh joy) and I want to get the upstairs cleaned today.  I'm sure you feel better now that you know that exciting tidbit from my life.

MOMS group starts today

So I joined this MOMS group through my church that starts today and I'm really excited about it.  It's an eight week program that meets Wednesday mornings and centers around the issues of being a mom.  Loneliness, stress, low self esteem;  all the issues we moms feel on a daily basis but don't really feel like we can share with anyone.  While I don't regret moving to Charlotte, it hasn't been the easiest of adjustments.  I'm really hoping this class helps.  I've heard such positive accolades from women just like me who participated.  I'll let you know more after it's over today.

On other news fronts, Nicholas got all smileys from the teacher yesterday for focusing on all his tasks earning him a half hour of wii time.  I'm so proud of him for really putting forth the effort to have a good day.  The teacher is still on him like a cheap suit, but hopefully if we can have a few more days like yesterday, she'll back off a bit.  We've got an email out to a few teachers to hopefully get him some one on one tutoring help.  It can't hurt and if it goes well, we'll probably keep it up through the summer.

Speaking of summer, I know it's the dead of winter still, but dang if I'm not ready for summer to be here.  I'm tired of being cold and tired of getting up early.  It will be so nice to not have to drag my unexercised flabby rear end out of bed at 6:30 every morning.  The baby once again decided to get up at 5am, putting a damper on my beauty rest.  I let him go (he would cry or 10 minutes, sleep for 15 and then start over again for those of you who are about to cry foul for me letting my child cry it out), but he still didn't stop the cycle until 6am and by then there was no getting back to sleep.

Well, a shower calls. 

Let it snow

So Charlotte had it's first snow/ice storm this past weekend.  We got a whopping 1 inch of snow, but you'd think we just got a foot.  The snow came on Friday, it is now Monday, and school is closed.  Yep, for an inch of snow.  Maybe it's because I grew up in Wisconsin, maybe it's because I really really want my kids back in school (let me put the obligatory "yes I love my kids" I just love them more when I get a few hours away from them a day) but I find it CRAZY that there's no school today.  So instead of enjoying a relaxing day with just the baby and me, I have two crazed boys running around the house creating mess and havoc.  We are heading to Chick-fil-A for lunch here in a minute and it can't come fast enough.  Let's see, a peak at the upcoming forcast says potential freezing rain tomorrow night and the possibility for snow on Friday.  All I have to say is this week is getting longer by the second.