Thankfulness 2013: Day Twenty

All kids have it, mine just excel at driving me nuts with it.  Regardless, I am thankful for their curiosity and determination.  If they hold on to that natural instinct to understand things and figure them out down to the bare nuts and bolts, it can take a child so very far in life.  It is a combination that is crucial in any aspect of their lives and any path they choose to follow.  I hope that I do not stifle it even when I get irritated and end up at the end of my rope with the endless questions and messes.  From a toddler who opened the ziplock snack bags around the early side of 1 year old, to a 10 month old who topples garbage cans and climbs into cubbies much too small, this will always be a blessing in a very convincing disguise.

Thankfulness 2013: Day Sixteen

Party Day!!

This afternoon we had our first HouseParty!  It happened to be a Lego Duplo event and it could not have been a more perfect event to be selected as hostess for.  I am thankful for the opportunity to have friends over for fun and in no little part am I forgetting the free products that the company gives us for having the party!

Thank-you House Party and Duplo for the chance to host this party!!

If you're not familiar with House Party, it is essentially a website that you apply to host parties sponsored by various brands (clothes, electronics, toys, food, crafts, etc) and the sponsors send you out a Party Pack.  This pack has the main pieces of your party.  In our case it was filled with six sets of Duplos (see the boxes in the photo?), paper crowns, posters, plates, napkins, stickers, coupons, etc.  You are required to share the items given at your party with your guests.  For this party, the kids come play with the blocks and take home the crowns, posters, stickers, etc along with a snack bag and coloring sheets that were printed off for them (to match the theme of planes and pirates of course).

Check out both House Party and the sponsors that they work with!  It is such a fun time!

**By the way....that pirate ship cannon actually shoots...and it is pretty fun.  I may or may not have played with it when I set up all the sets last night.**

Thankfulness 2013: Day Thirteen and Fourteen

Alyssa is getting pretty sneaky.  She can make two phone calls without my phone being unlocked.  She has learned to navigate to the ICE list on the emergency dialer in the lock screen. So while I contemplate how to teach her to utilize things like that in an emergency for real, I am thankful that we have the technology we do.  Beyond the complications that it can create for child proofing and safety, it is such an amazing set of resources.  We can look up thousands of questions that our toddlers demand answers to.  We can have endless entertainment options available at our fingertips.  The most amazing thing to me though is along with the transfer of knowledge, we can transfer virtual lives.  Our family and friends who may otherwise not get more than the Christmas card in a year, can keep up with our family including photos, daily rants, chats, and whatever else they may want to know depending on the tech form used.  Phones provide a few ways to talk to people quickly.  The Internet allows for video calls or photo swapping, and of course blogs share our stories easily.  Such a wonderful tool!

Related to tech in the general sense, my e-reader!  I absolutely LOVE my e-reader!  I am so thankful for e-readers (physical and app forms)!  Reading relaxes me and gives me a mental break from daily stresses like trying to leave the house with a toddler and an an infant.  I would be so much closer to full blown crazy if it weren't for my e-readers.

Six Months Ago

At this time back in January I had just turned 26 and had my first major surgery.  Honestly, being scared of the idea of surgery and the prospect of having it on my birthday was unnerving but my little guy was willing to go along with the plan and wait until the day after.  So today, because Wyatt is laid back and ready to go with the flow, he is 6 months old rather than 6 months and a day.

Weekend zoo fun.

He sits pretty well if he isn't tired.  He holds his own bottle when he doesn't want to be lazy (which if given the option he'll happily hand over the job).  He loves to eat his foods but gets impatient with the process still.  He doesn't mind baths or swimming overall unlike his sister.  Other than being late for a bottle, he is very calm and happy.  He keeps us on schedule even when we don't want to be...but rarely lets us use the car to knock him out long enough to get home.

He is a sweet baby boy who snuggles and wants nothing more than to hold my hair and marvel at the textures of everything he can grab.  If it can get in his mouth it seems even more magical!  He can scoot along but hasn't figured out the crawling pattern enough to get really cruising.  Toy pick-up is more crucial now because of that scoot being faster than you remember.  Playpens are NOT as fun as chasing down his sister's toys that are always just within scoot distance and the "frogger" is only acceptable for short bursts of time until he realizes that his sister is free to leave the room at a moment's notice.

Mister Wyatt has been nothing if not a relaxed baby.  He sleeps, eats, and well, yeah.  Just like every other baby out there except that he babbles rather than cries.  Smiles are abundant.  Snuggles are always welcome.  Giggles are contagious.  Chewing is mandatory.  And playing with his feet is one of his greatest joys.

There is nothing more satisfying than watching my two babies growing up together.  Seeing Alyssa get excited when he scoots across a blanket or babbles 'mama' (which is not a word yet even if the toddler is certain of it).

I'm having so much fun seeing him grow and learn!  I can hardly wait to see how far he goes over just the next six months.  I love my babies!

Vacation!

Never again.  Okay, maybe in a couple years.

We spent a whole week away from home.  With a toddler--who doesn't nap.  Yup.  Insane might be a little strong of a word but I'd think psychologically draining would be a minimum to aptly describe a vacation with two very young children.  Specifically a vacation that isn't touristy.

Water is so much fun if I'm dressed!

We went to my family's lake cabin.  Alyssa doesn't like to swim...or wade...or do anything with the water except sit on the dock and splash her feet.  Distraction and tiring activity #1...gone.  Oh sure, the rare moment of running through the waves splashing on the sand were there (I was given photographic evidence as I was not the one capable of getting her near water).  Too bad they were few and far between.

Sand playtime was a huge hit but unfortunately that is not nearly as energy spending as swimming.

Learning to Sit!

Wyatt decided to throw up between every.single.meal.  Not sick, not to the point where we were running to the doctor because he was under-nourished or getting dehydrated (no where close to this level thankfully).  Just a constant need for burp cloths to handle puddles of spit-up every half hour or so.  Laundromat--yay!

Walk of Flags 2013

The two vacation portions that were undiminished:  #1- Chris and I got the chance to go into town and see his veteran's flag finally.  They are put up by volunteers throughout the summer (daytime only) and the town is lined with over 1800 flags each time.  Each one represents a veteran and the sight of the town lined in these flags is gorgeous.  I grew up passing them and never thought I'd see one that personally means something to my family.

#2- We (adults) were able to watch the fireworks on the Fourth shooting over the lake.  Behind the treelines there are two more lakes.  I'm sure you can see in your mind a fraction of how amazing our show is every year.  My kids sleep like rocks.  Perfect! The only thing that would be better is if they could (HAPPILY) stay up to watch in awe and excitement the same show that I grew up watching.

Those kid's poles catch all the best fish!

From now on, our lake trips will be half weeks (four days or less).  I think our grasps on sanity and the toddler-ness adjustments will be preserved much better for this timeline.  Touristy vacations would be easier because there are places to go and distract them with....wear them out until naptime is back in the game!  (Dream on, Momma...)

Dating

Hey there...come here often?  Oh yeah, I'm usually the one chasing a little blonde girl and pushing a handsome little babbler in a monstrous double long stroller...We mostly stick to the Barnes and Noble lego or train table.

Don't you love meeting up with someone you so rarely get to see out of certain contexts?  You know, people like your siblings away from your parents.  Girlfriends without the kids.  HUSBANDS without kids?  That is the novelty that we had.

We get the occasional trip to a store without the kids.  Valentine gifts (tickets to a comedy show) that require driving 4hrs to get to--luckily with a set of grandparents in between to drop off a couple kids who would not be appropriate audience for said show.  A Christmas party for his company...Oh, there was the hospital stay while Wyatt was asleep in his newborn state of nearly constant unconsciousness too!

Typically our 'alone time' is filled with schoolwork, crafting of greeting cards, catching up on the latest NCIS or NCIS LA, or apart altogether doing errands of sorts while the other is home.  If we are both home, we are lucky to only have to remind Alyssa that bedtime is required or 'tomorrow' doesn't come and if she doesn't sleep NOW...a handful of times.  If we have a miracle night, there aren't any tears coming from behind a gated toddler's door.

So while our friends are tag-teaming our kids alongside their own toddler, we celebrated still being adults with tastes that run more mature than My Little Pony or chicken nuggets and french fries.  (Well, maybe not much more mature than french fries...)

We highly recommend Iron Man 3....but stay until after all the credits have run through.  Now back to the standard parental lifestyle of attempting to remember to NOT pull our hair out, we'll go bald naturally eventually anyways from stress hormones.

Family Rooms

When we lived in our old house (starter house for us), there wasn't any extra rooms.  We had our room, Alyssa's room, the bathroom, kitchen, laundry/furnace room, and the living/dining combo.

Now we have all that PLUS a basement!  Oh, and a whole third bedroom (where the laundry/furnace was in the old house is a bedroom in this house and that was relocated to the basement here...seriously, it is funny how very similar layout this house is with a mere addition of a second level)!

What can we do with all this extra space?  Well, we definitely can fill it....They usually call it a Family Room nowadays.  The upstairs living room is considered the 'formal living room' and the basement is a Rec or Family room.  Here is the kids' half:

Yes, that is just under half of the family room filled with kid things.

The couch that you can barely see is the invisible barrier signal that toys SHALL NOT PASS (says Momma every night just after picking up the half of the room not shown).  There is a tv for movies across from the couch and the other half of the room is currently emptied of boxes but not furnished.  I have such grand plans...Momma plans....

In the meantime, I love our kids' side.

Did you see our Ikea storage for crafting/coloring supplies?  The chalk/colors are in lockboxes in those pop-out drawers so there will be less chance of wall coloring rather than table or color books.  I love these things and they just look so fun!

Regardless of what a parent thinks of the kids' play areas...they always enjoy moving out of there whenever possible.  Toys are like invasive species that way...they hitchhike rides from unsuspecting toddlers.  Notice the lacing boards beginning the trek from one end of the room, along the couch, and eventually they'll make it across there to the unfurnished area.  Sneaky things, those toys.

I'm still thrilled to have this extra space to spread out to on rainy days like this week has been and is continuing to be.

Clownin' Around the Playground

We made our first trip to the local playground at our new house finally (in between our multiple winters--melt, snow, melt, snow...SIGH).  It was a lot of fun even if our little man looks put out for only getting to swing.

Alyssa had fun being a monkey on some new things to climb...

Then there are the classics...

Driver.

Foreman and her worker.

...and of course, the swing?

Ummmmmmm....yeah.

Kinda creepy but I think it is the older part of the park that they kept.  The seats are neat though as they are baby swings with one side open to form an actual seat for that toddler who can't quite balance when swinging by themselves.