Today was your last day of being two.

(birth)

We went to the zoo, and you helped me push the stroller around.

(Halloween - 5 months)

We rode the train.

(crawling, first vehicle obsession)

You ran around with your friend and chased the geese.

(sick day)

You told me about nine times that tomorrow you wanted “chockat cake . . . with FWOSTING! And Thomas!”

(your sense of humor)

You had a tantrum about eating at the dinner table. I explained that we eat at tables.

(playing in the pool at Mimi and Poppy’s)

You pointed out that the train table is also a table, and that it also has two little chairs . . .

(your first steps)

Dinner was at the train table tonight.

(walking on your own)

As I put you to bed you told me you loved me “so much.”

(my favorite picture of you)

I told you I loved you so much too.

(Christmas - 19 months)

I told you that you were my big boy. You said Yes.

(second birthday)

And I asked you how you got so big, how it had happened so fast.

(Halloween - train engineer, of course)

You wanted to sleep with your “favorite cars: owange O twuck, bwue wace car, and big wed wace car,” as you have every night for the past three weeks. You always list them for me, despite the fact that I have known which are you favorites this whole time.

(first day of school)

I told you that “tomorrow when you wake up, you’ll be three.” How did this happen?

(last week at the carnival)

You fell asleep, snoring and exhausted from your last day as a two year old, with my hand rubbing your head, your arm slung over your eyes, and telling me that you really like cake . . . and pudding too.

Labels: Birthdays, Pictures, The Big One

This week Sam said what I’ve been dreading for quite some time:  “I want a doggie.”  Oh boy.  And of course I can’t help but consider it.  I’m in trouble.

It’s all because we’ve been reading that Pretzel book about the dachshunds.  And tonight when we started reading it he said again, “I wish I had a doggie.”  To which I responded, “One day we’ll get you a dog, when you’re older.”

To which he said, “We get one at May?”  Obviously he has retained the information that his birthday is in May and at such time he will be getting things that I have been putting off.

I hope I can hold out beyond May.  Two kids, two cats and a dog?  I don’t think so.  I may need to be reminded though because I don’t think I can stand up to many more, “I love Pretzel; I wish I had a doggie”s.

Labels: Birthdays, Talking, The Big One

I’m going to grab this from Steph over at Adventures in Babywearing. I have many things I’ve been wanting to share and amazingly this covers several of them - so here’s what I’m into this month:

The Thing I’ve Been Working On The Most: Trying to find a balance. Things got bad enough this winter that I accepted that I HAVE to fit in some time for myself if I want to be the best mother I can be. And I had to recognize that doing that is not selfish and it’s not a weakness. I plan to write more about what I’ve been doing to accomplish this in my next post.

TV Show I Used To Love But Now Hate And Refuse To Ever Watch Again: 24. Oh, it used to be so good, but no more . . . ever again.

TV Show I Sometimes Hate But Really Like This Year: Oprah. you know, I never watched Oprah before and I used to feel it was all a big cliche. You know, SAHM who watches Oprah. But I have to admit it: I love Oprah. I love her. I’m an Opraholic.

The CD I Can’t Stop Listening To: I’ve really been loving Brandi Carlile. I saw her first on one of those late night shows doing this song from her more recent release, The Story, but I got her first self-titled release and I think I love it even more.

My Favorite Blog Entry This Month: I just realized this part is supposed to be my favorite blog post of mine from this month, rather than someone else’s, which I had originally written in. Well, I don’t have many to choose from if it has to be from my own blog since I have been so bad about it lately. I suppose this one is my favorite because, although it is very short, I’m pretty sure it says quite a bit. It sums up what I’ve been doing this month in one sentence.

Blog I Am Always Visiting: I really like the new blog, Green Mom Finds. We’ve really been working hard over here to be green and healthy, and I’ve found a lot of helpful tips and products from this new site, which was started in part by Cristina from Mommy Off the Record.

What I’m Most Looking Forward To Next Month: Well, my birthday is tomorrow, and my husband seems to be extremely confident about his gift. I have no idea what it could be. I’m also hoping my mom will visit this month.

Head on over to Steph’s if you’d like to see what others are into or to participate.

Labels: Birthdays

A few little tidbits of info for those interested, because man, there is just no time around here anymore! How do those of you with more than one do it?

I didn’t get to have a VBAC, but the recovery from this cesaerean has been much easier (not that it’s fun by any means), and I was able to learn more about why the first one had to happen with Sam. That has given me some unexpected closure and let me stop being so hard on myself. There really wasn’t anything I could have done differently that first time around that would have resulted in a vaginal birth, nor could I have changed anything this time. And I’m now ok with that.

Robert was born nearly a week early but weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz., 6 oz. more than Sam who was 4 days late. He is almost identical to how Sam looked when he was an infant.

My water broke in the baby pool at our apartment complex…while I was standing up so it’s not like it was hidden by the water of the pool or anything since the pool is like 2 feet deep…nice…

As I was walking through the gate at the pool, one of my old lady neighbors commented that I was “about to pop.” Wisdom, people. Wisdom.

And now let me just introduce Robert to ya’ll and I’ll try to be back again soon.

Labels: Birthdays, Pictures, The Little One

My boy turned two this week, and with it came his first phrase. I’ve been worried (as usual) about his speech lately, wondering what the doctor would say at his 2 year check up when I told her he was not yet speaking in phrases. At least now I’ll have a little something to offer even though it took a lot of work to get it out of him. What is it, you ask? “Blue sky.” Otherwise known as “Boo Ky,” because we still have no S’s and no L’s. Regardless, I love this as a first phrase.

I was reading over my birthday post for him from last year and agreeing with everything I wished for him when he turned one - for his childhood to last as long as possible, for him to retain his sense of wonder with the world - it’s all still true. So the other day, when he totally stopped what he was doing (playing with trains) to stand up and gasp at the beautiful sunset outside, my heart was warmed. I love it when Sam sees something that makes him exclaim, “whoa!” usually something big, or even just big by comparison, like a particularly large ant, or when he hears an odd sound and he inhales and looks at me with his mouth wide open and a big smile on his face, or anything that results in him running his silly bouncy run while yelling, “Yay!” And I love that he looks up and notices that blue sky whenever we leave the house.

Before:

And after:

Labels: Birthdays, Talking, Toddler

Unfortunately, very unfortunately, I am turning 30 this week - Friday, to be exact. I am less than thrilled at this prospect. It doesn’t help that Hubby will not hit 30 until August so I am the first to reach this…milestone. And so the question becomes: what would make me happy on my birthday? What can possibly be done to avoid tears and depression over getting “so old”? I do not want to at any point start talking about where I thought I would be/what I would be doing/what I would have accomplished/etc. by the age of 30 (not that I actually feel bad about those things but, you know, birthdays tend to do weird things to one’s perspective…). I do not want at any point to examine my scalp for gray hairs, my face for fine lines and discolorations, my ass and thighs for strange bulges. I do not want that.

So what do I do? Bear in mind that Sam has caught yet another cold which means that my original plan of leaving him with my one mommy friend so that Hubby and I could go out is now out of the question for fear of Sam’s little girlfriend getting sick. So this means whatever happens we will all be together, which is fine. I guess I’m just a little worried about being hit with the “Oh crap, I’m 30″ no matter what activities I use to distract myself. And maybe I’m being ridiculous. Maybe come Friday morning I’ll feel great about everything and there will be no tears in sight. Who knows. But I don’t want another day of colds and the cold keeping us trapped in our apartment, moping around with nothing we can think of to do. Honestly, what can you do when it’s gross out and it seems like every time you leave the house your toddler catches yet another bug? I’m scared to take Sam out when his immune system is down but that’s like all the time. We already spent most of January staring at each other. Anyway…I digress…birthday activities. Winter. Sick kid. Pregnant birthday girl. Any ideas?

Labels: Birthdays

I’ve always associated my Dad with the outdoors; he’s just an outdoorsy type of guy. Growing up, if my father was not at work then he was probably out in the yard doing an array of gardening tasks and projects. I never understood what he could possibly be doing to pass so much time.

When I picture my childhood I envision our back yard when we lived in Maryland. It had a treehouse and a trapeze that my dad built himself. And it was full of trees and leaves and secret places. That yard was my absolute favorite place to be. I ran around pretending to be Wendy, Dorothy, Sheena, a fairy, a gelfling, a unicorn, anyone or anything I wanted. My dad would walk around the yard with me and point out the things I’d miss, like a snake coiled up a few feet from where I’d stepped. He’d drive me around on the lawn mower down the hill in the grassy part below. This will sound strange, but I did this meditation thing back in my theater days where we envisioned ourselves in a safe space and I automatically saw myself back in that treehouse.

When I got older and we lived in a different house things were different. I didn’t want to go outside. It was all about locking myself in my bedroom, shutting out the light as much as possible and blasting some awful hair band. My dad would force me to go out back and do yard work under threat of grounding or losing my phone. I hated it. I hated weeding and planting and whatever else he had me do, and I was certain that absolutely no other kid my age was being forced to do manual labor outside – I, and I alone, was being tortured. I started to dread any Saturday in which the weather was nice because I knew I’d be forced to “go out and enjoy it.”

As the weather gets colder here I’ve been watching my plants out on the patio freeze and slowly droop. I contacted my dad back in the summer to get his advice on what to plant out there and discuss how to do it successfully. My potted caladium and coleus had tripled in size by week 6. I was left wishing for a yard in which I could start a real garden, a place that would support perennials, and wishing I’d paid more attention to everything my dad taught me. Hubby and I are starting to look into buying a house this spring and my number one priority for looking at a home is for it to have a yard. I want Sam to have his own place outdoors where he feels free. Right now I do my best to get him outside as much as possible to parks, playgrounds, or the arboretum. I look forward to seeing what my dad has done for Sam in his new woodsy backyard in the mountains where he and my mother recently retired. I know it involves a play area with tree stumps, and holes and crevices especially good for inhabitance by elves.

Every weekend Hubby and I try to figure out what we should do with our free time with Sam. Hubby lists possibilities as they come to mind and quite frequently, if the weather is nice, every indoor suggestion will be met with a disdainful, “There’s no way we’re doing something inside. It’s a beautiful day and I intend to enjoy it.”

Happy Birthday, Dad. Hope you have fun out in the yard today.

Labels: Birthdays