Harper visit!

My blog posts about Harper are the most popular by far.  So I will give you a much needed update on the little nugget.  She and her Mama came to visit today.

Harper is 8 months old now, loves mangoes, is very interested in her hands and feet, hardly cries, rolls places and her hair swooshes to the side.

Obviously, she is doing fab and looking fantastic!!!

 
Girls with bows, could it get any better?

The girl is full of faces.

Rocking the bed head look...

And then it was time for the tornado to make his entrance.  He was so gentle (for the most part) and sweet with her.  He pets babies...

Basically, it was a hit.  Sully really loves babies, just not when his Mama is holding them.  He even shared some of his toys with her.  He is such a rough and tumble boy so when he does gentle, nice things, it warms my heart.  Especially when he does them for Harper.  He only sees that she is a baby that needs toys and I love that.

Mr 17 Months

Dear Sullivan,
Today, you are 17 months old!  You seem to be pretty much over your super severe case of separation anxiety that you had over the last few weeks which makes morning drop offs a breeze.  Your schedule has been pretty stable since you were 3 months old.  Monday is Mama day, one day is Gramma Subes day and the other three days you go to the most loving, wonderful day care.  You are one happy, strange, goofy guy.



I have to admit, you were mistaken for a girl today!  To be fair, the person whom thought you were a girl was a half block away from you and I have refused to get your haircut.  You seriously have some fantastic hair going on right now.  Very 80's hockey mullet.  I just can't bring myself to cut it off- and I am not sorry.


Lovin' quesadillas here.

We have so much fun.  Laughing, giggling, being silly all the time.

You have added a few more everyday words to your vocab.
"Uppy" (puppy)
"Blay" (blanket)
"Baby" (no translation needed)
I am sure there are more, but I can't completely understand your dialect yet.

We found a juice you like!!!  Lucky for us, it contains a full serving of both veggies and fruits- ha!  You are still not really into eating actual fruit much.  Mostly you just eat hot dogs and corn dogs.  Like almost every night.


Tomorrow you will participate in your first Crazy Legs walk!  Woot woot!  I bet you are super pumped.

I watched all of the videos I ever took of you last night.  You still have the same giggle that you had at 6 months of age.  It was so hard to believe that I would grow to love you so much more in just a few short months.  I remember taking those videos.  I remember just how much I loved you then.  I had no idea I would be capable of loving you even more than at that point in time.  But I do.  I am.

Love,
Mama

Addiction...

A long overdue addiction post, I know.  And to make up for it, I have two current addictions I would like to share.



1.  St Vinny's on Willie street.



It is a treasure trove for old furniture.  You seriously never know the gems you are going to find there. I have been obsessed with scouring the store since fixing up the guest room into a craft/sewing/play/guest room.

I found this rolling table, which I was foolish enough to think I would be able to roll it in and out of the closet.  Too big- but makes a perfect sewing/craft table.  Did I mention it rolls?!?  Love...

Oh, and I guess you get a sneak peek of my new crafty space.

Needing more storage, I found this metal storage piece.  It actually has dividers in it on one side, perfect for paper storage.  It will be absolutely perfect when my dear Dad makes a base for it (hint, hint).

If you live in Madison, you must go to look around.  The turnover in that place is crazy.  I went back two days after I scored the rolling table for a different desk for the closet but it was already gone and replaced with lots of other cool stuff.



2.  Now that I am a mother of a toddler boy....



I am not kidding.  I have them everywhere- purse, diaper bags, kitchen, car.  They are a necessity.  Who knew the very thing that I would tease my Grandma Dohms about always having, I would now never be without?  Every time I see them on sale for $0.99, I pick up a couple packs.

The hubs, the Hero

If any of you know my husband, you probably know that he has an unhealthy, overly dramatic fear of bees and wasps.  To his horror, he spotted a wasp buzzing up against our kitchen window, from the inside, today.  Cue the near panic attack.

He could not find a fly swatter or maybe didn't even know where to look for one (c'mon, really?).  So he settled on a Sudoku book that was in the dinning room.  When the massacre was over, he came into the living room to recount the entire event starting from lifting the bamboo window shade to find the wasp, to the wasp wedging itself in the little area were the sill meets the window so that he could not use a simple swat but needed to use some jab moves to complete the kill.  About 45 seconds after recounting the details to me, he was pretty sure the wasp was just "playing dead" so he better go check to make sure it was not still alive.  This led to a cutting of the wasp in half with the Sudoku book.  Even then, there was still some discussion about whether it was truly dead.

So now it sits on the window sill waiting for me to dispose of it since the hubs simply cannot bring himself to move it.

Thanks for saving the family from that mean, sneaky, tricky, impulsive, horrible wasp- we really owe you one!

I know he thinks he is a hero for killing the wasp, but this is why I think he is a hero...

No, not because he plays slightly-above-average driveway basketball.  Because he plays slightly-above-average driveway basketball with our boy.  For that, he will always be a hero.

Friday Fever

I love the drive home from work on fridays.

Another busy work week down and a 3 day weekend ahead of me.

A friendly invitation to a change of pace from the rat race of the previous four days.

A break from all those post day care drop off pep talks to myself.  Convincing myself that I am not traumatizing my child (too much) because I am a working Mama.

A possibility of sleeping in the next day.

I love it.  It is like a little holiday every single week.

Which calls for a celebratory happy meal...


Apparently you can't get a happy meal without a toy.  I tried and failed.  Why would you do such a thing?  Because he already has the same toy.  Yeah, we are health nuts around here.

Happy Friday Holiday.

Weekend Warriors

Saturday was jam-packed for us.  It started out with the boy's first trip of the season to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison.

Sully with uncle Aaron, auntie April and cousin Sean.

The boys checking out the goats.

Hmmm, guess some one didn't like the carousel...

Little stinker wouldn't even sit any any of the animals or horses.

Snack break.

I guess a giraffe says, "oooooooh."

PS When do kids stop drooling???

Sean close-up.

Some one was happy to see that cousin Jens showed up...or at least that he wore that pretty around his neck.

After the zoo, we headed to High Noon Saloon to watch cousin Jens rock it out.  And rock it out he did...

He is so cool.  His band is called the Husky Nom Noms and Sully loved them.

After that, the Shagers graciously watched the littles while we went out to dinner with April and Aaron.  And we thoroughly enjoyed a dining experience that was longer than 15 minutes and didn't end in a hurried can't-you-see-what-is-happening-here-bring-the-damn-check moment.  Woot woot!!

Judgements, Expectations and then Reality

Before I had a child, I was a fantastic judge of others parenting styles.  So quick I was to internally (and sometimes externally) shake my head (smh- you're welcome).  I was so sure I would do it differently, correctly.  I was silently, methodically cataloging all the errors I saw other parents making and righting them in my brain, sure that I would do it better.

When I would talk to my brother and he would excitedly tell me, "Yeah Jack was hungry today, he ate 3 hot dogs!"  I would respond, "Wow, he was hungry!"  But in my mind I was thinking, why are you feeding a 16 month old 3 hot dogs?!


And I could go on and on about all the other times I silently judged, taking mental notes for when it was my turn and I could do it perfectly.

I was positive that I would be able to magically will my child to never have a tantrum in public, to go to bed without a fuss, to sleep seemlessly throughout the night, to eat healthy foods, to play quietly by himself, to not go through separation anxiety, to keep my house clean despite having a child and two pets, to make time for myself and my friends, to not disappear from the little social life I had, to not be a slave to a schedule, to still go on vacations and not feel bad about being away from my child because it is healthy to have time alone with your hubs, to not constantly bombard people with pictures of my kid, to be able to talk to my husband when we are alone and not have the conversation centered around what our baby did that day...all these things I knew for sure. 

(So delusional, I know)

And then it was finally my turn. 



It was here.  It was my turn right now.  To do everything perfectly, just as I had planned.

And after a very short time, this little nugget grew into this little man...



A little man with his own agenda that does not always jive with his Mama's. 

He throws tantrums in stores, throws most of the food I offer him onto the floor, refuses to eat anything but the occasional hot dog or PB&J and Goldfish crackers, HATES all fruit, has a set nap/sleep schedule that I do not want to mess with, throws his little body on the floor and wails like some one is murdering him if I leave the room, I have passed up opportunities to go on vacation so I can stay close to him, my kitchen floor will be sticky for another 18 years, my house looks like a daycare, I post pics of him to fb and here almost daily and all my conversations with my hubs start and end with Sully.

I let him eat chips, I hover over him sometimes, I don't always mean no when I say no, I buy him too many toys, I let him go outside without a hat on.  If he wanted 3 hot dogs in one sitting, I would happily oblige.

Basically I look at him through rose colored glasses.

The old me would have seen lots of mistakes, mentally righted them and promised to never do those things.  The old me would continue to judge others parenting, seeing only their errors (or what I perceived as errors) rather than seeing all the sacrifice and love.

Thankfully, that is not me anymore.  I give all parents a break, including myself, now.

So lets all go eat some hot dogs.

Easter

 It's Easter Sunday and when life includes a toddler, that is a very exciting day.

Just look at that lazy smart Easter bunny, putting the basket in such a strategic location so the Sullymon is sure to see it.

First, the "caaaa?" caught his eye.  Then he noticed the snack container and we immediately had to fill it with Goldfish.

And then, brace yourself, he found "a caaa-ow?" that says "ooooooo."

I have to admit, right here, that we will not be attending any sort of church services on this holiday as we have not on any other holiday either.  I grew up a practicing Catholic and the major holidays revolved around a church ceremony and then a family get together with lots of food, cousins and gifts.  As I have grown and started making my own decisions regarding religion, I realized that the Catholic church was just not for me for a variety of reasons.  However, I do believe in a higher being (although I don't know what the name of it is).  We are not Atheists (not that there is anything wrong with that).  Honestly, I am having a hard time deciding how to incorporate any sort of spirituality or religious perspective in Sully's life.  I do think it is important but I truly do not want to participate in any organized religion at this point of my life and I am done faking it so I am not going to drag him to a church that I don't feel comfortable in as a feeble attempt to incorporate some sort of connection to a higher being because I don't know how else to do it.

So, I know this could open myself up to criticism or preaching but I am hoping some one might have a book to suggest or even ideas as to how I could go about teaching Sully about a God.  As each holiday goes by and I continue to fail at injecting any sort of spirituality into my child's life, I feel a pang of guilt and know that I should be making it a priority.  I honestly just don't know how right now.

But I will figure it out, I am sure.  Just like all aspects of this parenting business, you figure out what works for you and your family.  And if it looks different than some one else's way of doing things, that is OK.

Until we figure it out, I am just going to enjoy my little super hero today.

Happy Easter everyone!