Crafty for Mom

Warning:  If you are my mom or Subes, don't read this post until after Mothers' Day!!!



So I thought I would share my easy Mothers' Day cards that I made for our Moms and Grandmas this year in case any of you needed ideas.

This time in our lives, were littles are little, is so very short.  It is hard to believe there will be a day, in the future, where my little Mister's hand is actually bigger than mine.  Hurts to think about.  So I am going to suck it up as much as I can right now.

So I grabbed the boy, some blank cards and some craft paper and we created.

 Crafting is messy.

Notice those little toeses.

Ok.  Here are your step by step instructions:

1.  Get some blank cards.

2.  Get out some of your pretty craft/scrapbook paper that you just have laying around or go buy some.

3.  Trace your little's hand on the back of your craft/scrapbook paper and cut it out (Uncle Joey style).

4.  Take all your little hands and glue them to the front of your blank card.

5.  Open up the cards and have your little sign the card or draw some original art.

6.  Write your little's name, month and year on the front.

7.  Write your message on the inside and there ya go.  Super easy and meaningful.

Yes, I did make my own Mothers' Day card and I don't feel bad about it.  In fact, I think I am going to frame it.

Sully told me what to write on the inside.  I just love this kid!

Tiny Dancer

Some one has been on a dancing jag around here, and he is little.

After the dancing, he thought spinning around in circles until he fell on the floor was a good idea.
It was about 5 minutes after this video that he ended up doing a running puke right onto his flip couch.  (How the hell to do clean that thing??)

Happy weekend.

Mamas vs Daddys

The little Mister has not been himself the past 2 nights.  He was happy and having a great day yesterday until about 4:30 pm then he started to get whiny, clingy and his forehead felt like it was burning up.  I took his temp and it read 102.4 F.  High, I know.  (No, he didn't have any other worrisome signs)  So I pumped him with both Tylenol and ibuprofen.  I stripped him down to his diaper, gathered him and his "blay" and we swayed and danced in the dining room in the dark.  He just let me hold him, his head on my shoulder, his bare legs dangling.  We forfeited the normal evening routines of food forcing, teeth brushing and book reading for straight up swaying and cuddling.  It was great.

Tonight, after playing for a bit outside, he sat on my lap on the couch and watched some E! news with me.  After some attempts at food that he threw back at me and a crazy bath, he was fighting sleep so I went up and just rocked him for a bit.  Once again, head hit the shoulder and we were back in the zone.

He gives me these moments so I don't feel bad at the fact that he almost never utters "mamama" (except for during a super out of control tantrum) and numerous times a day (very enthusiastically and excitedly) says "Da-ddy Da-ddy."

Daddy gets this...

Giggle monster.


And Mama gets this...

Snuggle bug.

And that's ok.  That's why Mamas bodies are cushier and softer.

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!!