Categories
Activities Cole Family & Friends Mothering Ryan Shopping Work

Happy Friday

This has been a busy week, so I am glad it is Friday!  We have been having very cold temperatures but fortunately, we were able to get out and go for some nice long walks, before it got too cold.  I wanted to go this morning after our music class, but it is just too cold out for Cole. 

 My in-laws got sick on Wednesday, so I had some last minute shuffling for child care.  Our wonderful child care provider J, who the boys go to for the mornings on Thursday, was able to take them for a half day on Wednesday, so I went to work in the morning, and then had the afternoon “off.”  I played with the boys, read them lots of stories, and then indulged myself with a 2 hour nap, while the boys took their nap too!  It was wonderful.  After the boys went to bed, I worked for a few more hours. 

Yesterday, as I was getting ready to leave work, my boss asked to speak to me.  Without getting in too much detail, her biggest client, and the one who she has had the longest (18 years) needed some help preparing their 2008 budget reports for their board meeting in two weeks.  She is absolutely swamped with work, and she asked me if I wanted to take a shot at preparing these budget reports.  She explained it to me briefly, and I told her I would try.  Fortunately, I can do all the work from home.  I wasn’t really sure, if I had bitten off more than I could chew, so last night I reviewed exactly what I was supposed to do.  It is fairly complex, but I think and hope I can manage it.  Of course, my boss said to let her know if I have any questions, but I am really hoping I can get it done in the coming week.  I am really happy and surprised, frankly, she asked me to take this on, since this is her most important client, but it also feels good to have a mental challenge, and be able to put my skills to the test. 

Tomorrow we have some dinner plans “in the big city” with my brother and sister-in-law, and my dad and step-mom are going to babysit the boys, while we go.  The boys are already super excited.  Joe has another busy work week ahead of him, and at the end of next week, my youngest sister, who lives out of state, is coming for a long weekend visit.  She will be staying with me for a night, so I am very excited to see her.  It has been over a year, since she has been able to stay with me, when she comes to town. I think we will go shopping- we always love to do that.  Sisters make the best shopping partners too, because they can be honest and don’t worry about hurting your feelings. 

Ryan has just turned into a little chatter-box.  He just goes on and on about everything, and he comes up with the funniest things.  The other night he told me he was going to go to dinner with some friends, and he’d be back, when he got back.  (say, that doesn’t sound like something his mother would say, does it?)  When I asked him who his friends are, he just said, that was his business! 

He has also learned somehow, somewhere how to pee standing up.  Neither Joe nor myself had taught him this, and to tell the truth, I like him sitting down- let’s just say it is less of a clean-up for Mommy.  Anyway, when I asked him where he learned to do that, he said, “At my work.”  OK then!

Ryan always asks Joe and I how our days at work go.  Last week, he was whining and he said he was tired.  This was after my work day, and I told him I was tired too, and that I had to sit in a hard chair all day (not really, but my regular chair was broken, and the chair I was using, just wasn’t as comfortable).  The next day he was very concerned and asked me if I was tired after work.  I told him no, and he said, “Oh good- you didn’t have to sit in the hard chair then?”  It is just amazing how much they process.

Cole is blooming into his own little person- very determined, but also very sweet.  When something happens that he doesn’t like, he sticks his bottom lip out in a major pout, and then crunches up his forehead, and looks down at the ground.  He is saying “mama” a lot, and says “da” for yes.  Funny, how he has his own language, and funny too, we know what he means.

 Those are all the updates for now- I hope everyone has a great (and warm) weekend.

Categories
Family & Friends Household Me Mothering Ryan

Mommy Day

I got a lot accomplished today!  Joe took the boys this morning out to his parents house, while he changed the oil in my car.  While I had the house to myself, I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned. 

I did three loads of laundry, cleaned both bathrooms, mopped both bathrooms, mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the kitchen, and dusted upstairs.  All of this in less than three hours!  It is amazing what you can accomplish without two little monkeys (a.k.a. Ryan and Cole) underfoot. 

I was bummed though that I didn’t get the upstairs vacuumed; I was just turning on the vacuum when Joe and the boys came home, and the boys were tired, and needed their naps.  Then I made myself think of everything that I did get done, and felt pretty good.  I can finish vacuuming tomorrow.

Tonight I had girls night out at a Mexican restaurant.  It was really nice to have a kid-free dinner and catch up with some of my friends that I haven’t seen for a while. 

I wasn’t planning on being home for the boys’ bedtime, but when I arrived home, they were just going off to sleep.   Cole was out like a light, so I snuggled with Ryan.  He asked me if I had missed him, and told me he loved me so much, and Dad made him the best dinner ever.

Of course I asked him what this wonderful dinner consisted of, and he told me, cheese, tortillas, carrots that were cut up, and strawberries.  Guess I don’t need to make him his own gourmet pizza anymore- evidently Dad has the culinary touch.

Categories
Activities Cole Family & Friends Ryan

Ryan’s Birthday Bash

The indoor amusement park party, was a bit hit!  There were lots of fun rides, for kids of all ages including a suspension bridge ending in a slide, a carousal, a giant ball pit, a tea cup ride (think of the tea cups at Disneyland), and an enclosed Ferris wheel to name a few.  Even my 9-month old niece had fun on the rides.  But by far, Ryan and Cole’s favorite ride was the train, that went around on a real track.  I think we ended up riding it no less than twenty times.

We arrived at the building and saw Joe’s sister, with her three kids, getting out of their car.  Cole had fallen asleep on the ride down, so Joe opted to stay in the car with him for a while and let him sleep. My sister-in-law helped me bring some of the food in, and as soon as we checked in, she took Ryan off with her kids to start playing.  My brother and sister-in-law, arrived, and my brother helped me carry in the rest of the items.  My brother’s wife told me that she used to come to this place when she was a child, and loved it!  She took my brother around to show him all the fun! 

It seems like everyone started arriving pretty much around the same time.  There were other families, and parties there obviously, and everyone was off with their kids, enjoying the rides.  I would catch a glimpse of  a friend or family member, and try to get over to them to say hello.  At 12:15 it was time to eat. We had some pizzas, vegetable and fruit trays.  After the kids were done eating, they wanted cake!  So we obliged.  Ryan loved his Thomas cake.  Joe was filming the singing and blowing out of the candles, but told me on the way home, the camera wasn’t on!  Fortunately, some of my family at least got some good pictures of Ryan blowing out his candles, so I’ll have to get those pictures from them. 

After lunch, most of my family left- they had another party to go to, but it was nice that most of our friends were able to stay and play longer.  It seemed like everyone was having a fun time.  We had to drag Ryan and Cole out, around 2:45- they were both so tired, but didn’t want to leave.  They wanted to ride the train one more time.  🙂  We are so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends who helped us make Ryan’s day so special!

Ryan kept saying on the way home, what a fun party that was.  At one point he said, “Man, that was fun!”  He sounded so grown up.  After some naps (Mom and Dad included), we headed out for some dinner, and then dropped by Joe’s parents house, to finish off the birthday cake with them.

This morning at 8:04 (Ryan’s birth time), I hugged him and told him, “Happy Birthday.”  He hugged me back, and said,”Happy Birthday Mom- I love you so much.”  I got tears in my eyes.  That was the sweetest thing, I think I have ever heard. 

Ryan wanted to play with his gifts the rest of the morning, and Joe and I did some serious cleaning of the house, re-organization, and put all the Christmas stuff away.  It was sunny, but a bit cold, but we decided to take the boys to the park anyway.  We lasted about half and hour, before the wind was just too cold.

We had a pretty low-keyed evening and I gave Ryan his toy trumpet, which he just loved!  Unfortunately, Cole loved it too, and wants one.  He followed Ryan around crying, trying to grab it from him.  I may have to have a relative get another one from the toy store “in the big city” for Cole.  But Ryan could blow into it, and make notes.  He was even marching in time to his little songs. 

Before the boys’ bath, they had some ice cream, and we put a candle in Ryan’s, and sang to him one last time.  Before bed, I curled up with Ryan and read him one of his new gifts, Farmer Boy Birthday, from Little House on the Prairie.  He loved the story, and wanted Joe to read it to him again.

Now that his fourth birthday is over, I can’t wait to see how my little guy changes over the course in this next year.  One thing is for sure…I’m sure it won’t be boring.

Categories
Activities Family & Friends Mothering Pregnancy & Birth Ryan

Quick Update

Tomorrow is Ryan’s fourth birthday party, so I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off today.  On top of that, I have a lot of work I am supposed to be doing at home this week.  Sometimes it seems like there just isn’t enough hours in the day…

Good news is though, I have until next week to complete my work, and should be able to get a lot of it done on Tuesday.  I think we have gotten everything for the party- the place we chose (the indoor amusement park) has a restaurant, so we will be able to have some food there, but are bringing some vegetables and fruit trays too.  Tonight, I have to assemble the party favors- which are very, very, simple.  I’m not a big party favor person- I never know what I am supposed to get, so this is really hard for me.  But we ended up with a few goodies for the younger kids.  🙂  In the morning, we just have to pick up the cake.

I’ll write a complete blog post about the party of course- Ryan is SO excited though.  It is fun to see how excited he is getting about his party. The weather is supposed to be nice- no snow- so that is nice. 

Finally, I can’t believe my “baby” is going to be four in two days.  It just doesn’t seem real. Where did the time go?  It seems like I was just pregnant with him.  He wanted to see my c-section scar the other day- he asks to see “where he came out of my tummy from.”  Then he tells me he was all curled up in there, and he liked to kick me!  What a little monkey.  🙂 

Categories
Family & Friends Fun Stuff Holidays Household Parenting

2007- The Year in Review

Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess  had a post that inspired me today, to do my own year-end review.  She did hers a little differently (and spent more time on it, I’ll add,) I took the first paragraph from the first post of each month, and listed them here.  It was fun to see all the topics I have covered over the course of the year, and am looking forward to continuing to blog about life with my boys, and other topics in 2008!  Links are provided to the entries, in case you want to reminiscence, or missed that post.  Happy 2008 everyone!

A Mama’s Blog 2007 Review

JANUARY

Welcome to A Mama’s Blog– This is my first official blog and entry.  I wanted to start a blog so I can preserve the memories and day-to-day activities with my two sons, Ryan-age 3, and Cole-age 8 months.  They seem to be growing up SO fast, and there are so many fun things they do and say- I want a place where I can preserve this time, and also the time I have now with them as a stay-at-home mama.  I hope one day to be able to print the best entries and give Ryan and Cole a journal of their childhoods.

FEBRUARY

Music Class–  Since Ryan was about a year old, we have been going to music classes, specifically, Music Together, on Thursday mornings.

MARCH

You Know it Has Been a Long Winter– You know it has been WAY to long of a winter, when you are taking off your three-year old’s clothes for the night, and after taking off his sweater, he looks down at his short-sleeved shirt, looks at his bare arms, looks at his Mom & Dad, and bursts out in tears saying,

“Hey, who took my sleeves off my shirt? My arms aren’t covered.”

APRIL

Ryanisms– Two cute things Ryan said yesterday:

“Mommy, I’m an alligator who makes loud noise with sharp teeth.” Then he proceeds to growl.

“I was playing and turned into Mac & Cheese Boy.”

MAY

Ina May Gaskin– Tonight I got to hear “The Greatest Midwife in the World”, Ina May Gaskin, speak for two hours.  She was amazing, and had wonderful things to say about birth, how she became a midwife, her birthing experiences as a mother and as a midwife, breastfeeding, and parenting.

JUNE

Eight Things You Don’t Know About Me– I’ve been tagged by Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess  to tell you 8 things you don’t know about me:

JULY

Bachelorette Party– My older (& only) brother is getting married this Thursday.  Last night, I attended a bachelorette party in honor of my almost sister-in-law (K), and I had a blast!

AUGUST

Another Sick Child– Ryan has now come down with the virus Cole had last week.  I honestly can’t remember the last time he has been sick, and he is so miserable.  He just curls up on the couch in the fetal position- poor little guy!  He also has turned into a little dictator- hurling “commands” at me one after another- “I need some water,” I want to watch a little TV,” “I want mac & cheese for lunch,” and so forth.  Since he is hardly ever like this, I am playing “genie’ and his wish is my command.

SEPTEMBER

Social Weekend On Friday night, I met up with my very good friend, Mary, We used to work together, and now she is an RN and lives about 40 miles away.  I wish we could say we are great staying in touch, but we are both so busy, we don’t get together as often as we like, but when we do, it is like we pick right up from where we left off, from the last time we talked.  I have two sisters, but Mary feels like my “third” sister. 

OCTOBER 

Fall is in the Air On Sunday, my dad, the boys, and I, went to the mountains to let the boys play, and to see the magnificent fall colors- specifically the Aspens.  Joe had to work, so it was a great day to spend a Sunday!

NOVEMBER

Trick-or-Treat Our actual Halloween night went pretty much like I thought.  Joe and I both arrived home from work around 5:30, and we ate dinner at Joe’s parent’s house. 

DECEMBER

It’s Christmas Time– Tonight we put up our Christmas tree, and decorated it as much as possible.  Since we have a little munchkin- aka- Cole, we had to decorate the top 3/4’s of the tree, because nothing would last within his grip.  We put a few non-breakable ornaments at the bottom, and Cole is having fun taking them off, and putting them back on.