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.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, February 15, 2010
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.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, February 8, 2010
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. :)~
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. :)~
Sunday, February 7, 2010
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.
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.
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