On having a boy...

If anyone would have told me how amazing it would be to have a little boy, I don't know that I would have completely believed them... 

The moment I found out I was pregnant (alone, in my bathroom, on a thursday, after work), I thought to myself, "this is a boy, I am having a boy."  Don't ask me why I thought that, or why I did not believe it throughout the duration of my pregnancy, but I just want to make that known.  As I started telling friends and family, I got a nearly identical response from almost all of them- I was most definitely having a girl. 

As the consensus grew for a little girl Groth, I also started to believe it.  Wow, I must be having a girl.  So I started to think of this baby as a she.  As the weeks went on, I still kept the door open for a boy.  The nursery was done in a gender neutral under the sea type theme. 

When the 20 week ultrasound moment arrived, we had the tech write the gender down on a piece of paper.  Not even a week later, we opened that envelope among our family.  "Boy" was all it said.  To be honest, I was a bit shocked.  I am even a bit embarrased to admit, even a bit sad.  I had to let go of the idea of me having a daughter. 

So, I prepared for the arrival of a little boy.  And it was so fun.  Pregnancy did not agree with me but the promise of what the pregnancy would bring and the energy surrounding it was fantastic- with all the hope, anticipation, worry, joy and happiness of knowing you are finally going to meet your child. 

My immediate post partum period was also rocky and difficult.  I really don't think I bonded with my baby until he was about 6 weeks old.  But I have been making up for it ever since, like triple time.
 

I truly don't think the sex of your baby really matters.  They look at you with their clear, sparkling blue (brown, green, hazel, etc.) eyes and it is all over.  You are hooked.  You have a new purpose that is more important than any other purpose you thought you had.

And suddenly, those 30 some odd years that your have lived before this little creature existed is...insignificant.  (Of course not truly, but you get the point)  The past 14 months have had more meaning, love, joy, worry as any of those previous 30 some odd years.

You could sit for hours, mesmerized by this little person putting toys in a container and dumping them out and think it is the most incredible thing ever.  Surely, you have the most advanced baby/toddler in all the land. 

Surely, he talks more, understands more than any other baby/toddler around.  Surely, he is the most beautiful child on Earth.

And now I get to raise a little boy that has all the hope and promise of becoming a wonderful man someday.  

Mom Goggles

Yep, I've got a pretty sturdy pair of mom goggles.  What is this new trend and where can you buy a pair, you ask?  Trust me, if you are a mom, dad, grand parent, teacher, daycare provider or even a super special aunt or uncle, you already have a pair too.  No, you won't be able to see them, they are invisible.  But they are amazing!  They make anything made by or with a picture of your favorite little one look like a masterpiece.  I am not kidding.  I so did not get why my parents liked all the lame crap I made at school for them for mothers' day, fathers' day or any other holiday.  I even dreaded the thought of my house filled with the same cheesy projects.  But I need not have worried about it.  Mom goggles saved the day.

Here is an example:

To the ungoggled eye, this will appear as a pretty rudimentary art project with a poorly cut out wreath and a picture slapped behind it and then laminated.  To the goggled eye, it looks like it is made out of the most vibrant construction paper with the sweetest little face with the most beautiful eyes looking up at you, begging for you to love them.  It makes your heart swell against your ribs and it almost hurts...in a good way.  I literally carried this around with me for 2 days after his daycare provider gave it to me.  I showed it to everyone I work with, my CMAs, PCAs, NPs and MDs.  And yes, I will keep it forever.

As a Christmas present, the NP I work with gave me a kit to make a stepping stone with your child's name and hand or foot print on it.



This is now one of my most prized possessions.  It was not easy as every time we tried to get his little hand print, he would dig his fingers into the cement and end up with a fistful of cement that he quickly dropped on the floor.  Since a few attempts with the hand proved that was not going to happen, we moved to the foot.  With the hubs holding the boy and me stabilizing the foot, he was still able to dig his little toes into the cement. On our second (or was it third) try with the foot, I was able to "fix" the cement enough so it actually looked like a foot print and we called it good.  This is just sitting in our dining room right now.  I don't know if I will be able to put it outside for fear of it getting ruined.

So there you have it.  If I continue to post pics of silly little projects made for me by Sully, please don't get annoyed.  My mom goggles are here to stay.

14 months, oh my

Dear Sullivan,

Yesterday, you were 14 months old.  It is always strange for me to think about how you have only been here for 14 months but it has been the most meaningful, difficult, incredible, frustrating and HAPPY 14 months of my whole life.  You have brought so much joy to our lives, it is overwhelming to think about.  Lets see, what are you up to now...

WALKING everywhere!  You took your first few steps on your first birthday but really, your walking has taken off over the last month.  You now prefer it as your main mode of transportation.

You love climbing stairs but you will not yet try to go down the stairs, even when I am right there and trying to show you how to do it.  Not yet.

You have ALL of your teeth!

You recently went through a hunger strike but I am not sure what your cause was.  I will never know but I am just soooooo happy you are eating again!  You will even eat some wet and sticky things with your hands (gasp)!
-foods you like are cheese, goldfish crackers, sloppy joes, chicken tenders, green beans, but mostly cheerios

(when we get home from daycare or Gramma's, you pull these out of the pantry for a snack)

-foods you don't like are fruit (bananas, clementines, blueberries), avocados, eggs

You LOVE your bath and getting your teeth brushed.

You are such a big boy now that you recently, just this week, gave up your bottle.  (your dad was a little sad about this)  You are very picky about sippy cups, though.  You prefer the Born Free ones that are $11 per cup.

You sleep through the night very well.  However, you have recently been getting up at 4:30 am for some milk then go back to bed and sleep until 7ish.

You are in the big boy room at daycare even though you are not supposed to be there until you are 2.  You are so over that boring baby room.  You cry and cry if you have to be in the baby room, you are not a baby!

You are always doing the strangest things, like carrying a picture of your mama, dada and uncle Jesse around while talking to it and kissing it.  Such a goof.

One of your favorite things to do is close the garage door and turn off light switches and your humidifier.  You are pretty proud of yourself when you do those things.  You also enjoy putting objects into something and then dumping them out.  You are a good stacker of blocks and often applause your efforts.

You say "mama", "dada", "uh oh", "no", "yeah" and often times will repeat words that we say.  I think you try to say Turbo but it comes out as "Turr".

You are starting to cuddle a lot.  You like to give hugs, to humans and dogs.

Well, there is the rundown.  You are a busy, busy boy and although not everyday is easy, everyday is meaningful and I would not have it any other way.

Love,
Mama

Monday Funday

I am so lucky, I always get a Monday Funday after my Sunday Funday. 

This Monday started out with a 7 am grocery shopping trip.  It was not my proudest moment, but I will share with all of you to save you a possible embarrassing situation.  FYI they will not sell you alcohol before 8 am.  Not even boxed wine.  Yeah, I had no idea and I felt like saying, "I promise I won't start drinking any of it until well after 8 am."  But I refrained and just went on my way. 

Then, I saw this school bus in the ditch.

Then, Sully got to meet Harper!!  Remember Harper?

As you can see, she is doing FANTASTIC!!  They were so cute.  Sully did so good, no baby stomping or anything.  He layed there so nice and even offered up his thumb for Harper if she was interested.  It was very cute!

After Harper and her mama left and Sully woke from his nap, we tried out the sled.  Lets just say some one LOVED it!

And finally, I wanted to redo the pinterest inspired print I had made a little while ago.

Here is what it looked like the first time.

And here is the redo.



Much better.  I had to do it on Picnik.  You can find the instructions here.

It was a busy day!

Mostly refreshed.

The quilt is done!!!  Here is the room, mostly refreshed.  I say mostly refreshed because I want to get a new light fixture and also do something with the lamp shades but that will come later.  See the before here.

(Ignore the dog toy graveyard in our room)

Extreme close up.

Some personalization...

Since the quilt is queen-sized and I just have your standard sewing machine, there was no way I could finish the quilt any other way than with the ties.


And here are the skulls.  They are so festive, they just love Valentines day!

Looking forward to Sully meeting Harper tomorrow!!  Woot woot!

Letter to myself

Dear Me,

It is totally ok if your son does not want to eat food right now.  He will not starve himself, no matter how many days it seems it has been since he has eaten more than 2 bites of anything for any meal.  He is still happy, energetic and naughty.  He is fine.

His refusal to eat is not a direct reflection of you as a mother not offering foods he might like nor is it for lack of trying to present a variety of foods for him to sample.  Don't take his disinterest in food so personal.  You are just fine, too.

However, you need to get over it and stop getting so frustrated about it.  Stop doubting yourself and stop letting others comments chip away at your confidence.  Have more patience with your son right now because it may be like this for some time, like, maybe until he is 8.

You can do it, and you will.

Love,
Me

Do over

We moved into our house 6 years and 3 months ago.  Our bedroom was the first room I painted and "decorated".  Since then, the wall color and furniture has stayed the same but the comforters and room arrangement has changed.  I finally found a comforter I liked last winter.  But now, I am bored with the room.  Here it is...

See nothing wrong with it.  It is a perfectly good room.  But we have lived in it for 6 years.  So I need a change.  I would love to say I am going to do a full "remodel" of the room but that would be exaggerating.  I am not going to be adding any architectural features, bumping out a wall or even repainting.  I am going to add some color.  This brown and blue palate needs wake up.  So this is more of a bedroom "refresh".

So here is what I have been working on...

Quilt:

Yeah, I am loving it.  I am still working on getting the layers together though.  I have had a few hiccups but I will get it eventually.

Wall art:

Ok, this is going to be unexpected so just bear with me...



Yikes!  Right?  Yeah, I wanted to use some antlers for an art project for above the bed.  So what do I do?  I call my mom.  She was able to round up some discarded, unused carcasses deer skulls.  And then we made some deer hair broth.  Well, we just needed to get the meat and hair off of one of the skulls so my dad boiled it on the grill for about 20 minutes.  (Don't you love it when you parents share that same enthusiasm for your delusions ideas?)

And the cleaned products.

So those two along with one from my parents were spray painted white.

Then my dad whipped up a board to display them and I polyurethaned it today.

Looking at the skulls, they seemed a bit too literal and raw to me.  So I wrapped them with some yarn I had laying around from my knitting days and this is a more abstract version that will be mounted on the wood panels.

Curtains/drapes:

Not sure yet.  I have some ideas but nothing concrete yet...

I know, you are thinking I have really lost my mind but I assure you, I have not.  Hang in there and don't judge it until I show you the final product.  I am hoping to get it done sometime in February so you won't have long to wait!

Back to normal

I am coming down. You know, from that early January high I get every year. This was year was especially just-smoked-a-bong-like but without the awareness of your body weight and the paranoia that follows. I think my head was literally spinning with the hope, promise and ideas for what this year would hold. There are so many things I want to do and try but I need to remember I have the whole year to get these things done.

Slowly, as the routine of life resumed, I was brought back down to reality. And that is ok. Having you head spin for longer than 2 weeks is exhausting! Life is back to its normal pace. Without any vacations or time off to look forward to (or to just live to get to). But I plan on changing that soon. Just not today.

We are headed to Motown for a showdown. Not really. It is for my nephew Jerry's Baptism. I love going "home" to see my family. I really do. But it takes lots of effort. I am always amazed at (sorry guys who actually read my blog) a man's inability to multitask and not get caught up in distractions. This morning, the task at hand was getting out the door and on the road. This entails the exact same details and duties every.single.time. We have kinda fallen into our set "jobs" when getting ready to leave town.
Me: pack for myself, pack for Sully, pack for Turbo, and make sure I have my camera and anything else we need for that particular trip.
Hubs: pack for himself and make sure Lita has food, water and clean litter.

I had all my tasks done, had fed the boy, dressed him. But the hubs was still trying to decide what he was going to pack to wear for the next day. Sigh. After a short debate with me, he decided to pack both jeans and dress pants, because he still had not decided. Cool. He is packed. So all the bags are by the door and it appears like we are ready to leave. Oh no. He forgot about the cat. So he takes care of that then comes upstairs singing a song about an ortho and a gyno getting together and making an albino. Seriously? Yup seriously. Sigh. So I ask him if he has packed this and that and he looks down and says yes then slinks away to go gather the things I listed. Really? Doesn't perform the standard duties to get the show on the road but has time to make up a song about an ortho, gyno and albino? Sigh. Yes, life is back to normal.

Pinspired

I have been wasting spending a lot of time on Pinterest the last few days.  I am using Pinterest to create some idea boards for our bedroom and Sully's toddler room re-design.  I am finding lots of great ideas and am so excited!

I have also been finding lots of other ideas...


And here is my Sully version that I whipped up on Word this morning and then printed out on photo paper...

Then I saw this pic and just had to try to recreate it...



So I got right on that this morning with my favorite subject...

(Don't worry, no baby was hurt in the taking of these pics.  I tested the mirror, all is good.)

Of course, I could not stop there.  Don't you think these bibs are too damn cute??

And then an update of Sully's new favorite feats...

On

Off

We have never turned our tv on or off that way so I have no idea how the kid figured this out.  Ridiculous.

 And then there is this...

Poor Turbs, she is at the mercy of this little creature as to whether or not she can leave her kennel.  She is a good sport about it though.

Happy Monday!