All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!

Category Archives: Seasonal


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The Monday Snapshot – Practice Run = Success!

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We will be meeting Santa again this year, but in St. Louis this time two weeks from yesterday.  Meeting Santa last year was not a great experience for Matthew.  We got cute photos of him being scared, which wasn’t exactly what we were going for.  HA!  When Matthew was Bryson’s age, we got cute photos, but he was rather stoic in them.  But man alive, they were cute!

Today, while walking the mall with my mom friends, I thought, “why not try a Santa picture with Bryson?”  He was dressed for the occasion (a darling sweater outfit because jeans don’t fit his little legs) and was in a good mood.  So I got in line (there was no line) at 9:56, waiting for them to let us in.  He did great.  He was so cute and had a great time – and yes – his outfit was pretty perfect!

Of course I bought all the digitals (say it with me, “of course you did!”) and a 5X7 that I’ve already shown Matthew, asking him if he wants to meet Santa too.  He says no.  😉  We’ll see in a couple of weeks.  I’ll keep using that photo as bait, and the Santa-dressed sock monkey Bryson picked out for him while we paid for the photos.

Our photos next week better work out – we all (and I mean, we ALL, including B) have matching sweater outfits for Breakfast with Santa!  I have officially turned into my mother (sigh).

 


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Stupid DST

I can never remember when we are, and aren’t, in daylight savings time. I really don’t care what’s correct, just as long as we remember to set our clocks back or forward, whatever the case may be. With phones, vehicle clocks, and other devices tied to satellites for time setting, remembering DST has become easier for me.

I woke up at 1:30 to Matthew climbing into bed with us. I don’t put the gate up in the hallway anymore just so that I don’t trip on it during my one million visits to Bryson’s room each night. Matthew hasn’t gotten up in the night for months, so I figure, what’s the need? Ha!

So at 1:30, my big boy climbed into our bed and laid on my chest, and I didn’t stop him. He climbed off of me and laid down between us, snuggling into B. B woke up and I said, “pretty cute, can he stay?”. Of course Daddy said yes!

I realized it had been 5.5 hours since we put Bryson to bed and I hadn’t heard from him yet. Unusual. He looked good on the monitor, but I knew I’d feel better if I checked on him. Of course he was fine! So I went back to bed.

I then woke up to Bryson’s crying at … 1:13. What? Had I read the clock wrong all those times I checked it when Matthew woke up? No – I forgot about DST! I realized that it was actually 2:13 by my (& Bryson’s) clock and that he’d gone over 6 hours between feeds. Huzzah! Was this reallyhappening? It was!!!! I nearly ran to his room!

As I turned on my baby feeding app, it said it had been 5 hours since his last feed. EFFERS! How could they not account for DST? The one night he sleeps over 6 hours between feeds isn’t even reflected in my app. GAH! And more frustrating – the one night he sleeps 6 hours between feeds, and DST sets us back an hour meaning I’ll probably be up with him again before 6:00.

But he did go 6+ hours, and that’s progress! And now I’m in Matthew’s bed as he snuggles with Daddy. We all won tonight (even B because I brought the baby monitor with me), even though DST makes me a loser in the end with yet another night feeding.

Stupid DST!


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The Monday Snapshot – Family Photo!

We went down to Kansas City this past weekend to see some friends and to spend some time at an indoor water park.  We have a few friends and family members who live there, so we try to see everyone each time we go, which isn’t always possible.  One of our sets of friends down there is Steph and her family from Blawnde’s Blawg.  Steph and I have been “bloggy friends” for a year and a half now, and we’ve seen each other 4 times if you count their stay with us on their way to ChiBLOGo (I certainly count it because Steph and I stayed up late, talking and wondering (and sometimes crying) if we could love our soon-to-be-babies as much as our current babies – HA!).  I can’t imagine going to KC and NOT seeing Steph and her family – they are so much more to us than “bloggy friends!”  I was so excited when they were able to meet us for a LONG dinner on Friday night and then again the next day at the apple orchard.

B and I both had our phones, and Steph had her fancy camera, but none of us got photos of all of us together.  What a bummer!  There was one shot I wanted to get of Matthew and Chloe together, but both of them were D-O-N-E with all of us by the time we got the cameras out!  I mean, come on – there were DOGS and FIRES and WISHING WELLS and BARNS to play with and explore  😉

However, I did get my new favorite photo of my boys together (see my banner above) and Steph got a family photo of the 4 of us.  Aside from my “boo boo” black eyes and cut, I absolutely love this photo.  Thank you, Steph, for taking it!

(I did apply a filter to make it look a little more fall-like, and to mute my super bright teal shirt and my scuffed up face!)

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The Monday Snapshot – Hope

Remember this post? Looking back, that was just CRAZY of me.  What was I thinking buying sleepers for an embryo that was only 4w2d old?  I remember people saying that they hoped I didn’t jinx myself.

Today’s post proves that you cannot jinx a pregnancy.

You just can’t!

These sleepers are sized 3-6 months – and that should have worked for the Halloween season.  However, Bryson is 17.6 pounds this morning, so I am in a rush to get these particular sleepers worn in the next two weeks or so.  For some reason, they are just special to me.  We talked about giving them to someone – but they symbolize too much.

They symbolize MY hope!

This is my contribution to the Monday Snapshot hosted at PAIL.  Go check it out!


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The Monday Snapshot – Seasons

Friday marked a seasonal shift for us here in Iowa. It’s been unseasonably hot for weeks, but on Friday, there was finally a cool breeze in the air. It was so cool that I had to get some jeans out for Matthew to wear and I realized that this was his first time wearing 2T pants. Matthew’s gotten rather slim this summer, with his size 5 diapers being bigger on him in September than they were in May, but there’s no denying his growth in height. His legs are longer and leaner, and he definitely needs the extra length in his 2T jeans.

He looks so much older.

He looks like a big kid versus a toddler.

It’s a new season, both in temperature and in parenting. This picture makes me very aware of that.


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All I Can Really Ask For

It’s a beautiful day outside, and I’m just waiting for Matthew to wake up so we can go out and get some fresh air, even if that fresh air is just between the car and mall to pick out a new blanket for him 🙂

It’s been a rough few weeks, it seems, and not for us personally, but for the people we know. We’ve just gotten bad news, after bad news, after bad news for three weeks now and on Sunday night, I fell apart from it all. It all started with someone our age (a childhood friend’s husband) dying from a 10 year-long battle with cancer. I don’t keep in touch with this gal, but a good friend of mine does and she’s kept me informed of the situation. Things had gotten worse and worse over the last few months and then the end finally came, and it crushed me. Thinking of a father leaving a loving wife and a 5 year-old daughter behind makes me sick to my stomach. After that, we just kept getting bad news every few days, and it shook me to my core. By last Sunday, there just wasn’t much left in me to be strong when I read about someone losing a 1 year-old. I fell apart on the sofa and told B that, “there just is too much bad stuff happening to people we know and people who our friends know.”

He agreed, but pointed out that some good things have happened too. And he’s right.

This week has been good for me. I’ve reflected on just how lucky we are that Wilson’s ultrasound was clear a few weeks ago, that we crossed into viability on Saturday (but we sure want Wilson to stay in there for a lot longer), that Matthew’s back to eating well, that my already affectionate boy is becoming even more affectionate, and that Matthew is finally back on schedule after a horrifying few days and nights dealing with DST (as I type this, he’s waking up early from his nap – HA!). It is also getting nice outside – like REALLY nice! I went out without a coat today and was perfectly comfortable. Spring is around the corner, if it isn’t here already, and this is GOOD!

We will be getting out of the house tomorrow for real – and hanging out OUTSIDE! We went on the best walks last spring and I’m hoping we can do that again this spring. I’m not sure that Matthew will tolerate the stroller like he did last year, but we’re going to try. I love being outside, and I can feel the opportunity knocking on my door. It’s killing me that the mornings aren’t warm enough to take our walks, given that Matthew naps 2.5 hours each day starting at 1:00, eating up much of the afternoon.

My pregnancy with Wilson (I don’t think we’ll be using that name – sigh) is going really well, and quickly. This baby is WAY more active than Matthew ever was. Matthew moved a lot – from side to side – but he never did flips and huge movements. I remember wondering when he would flip on me, causing that roller coaster feeling in my stomach that people talked about. It never happened.  I suppose with a short cord, you can’t do much in there but move from side to side. I think Wilson has plenty of cord because he’s flipping and moving around all the time. I now know what it feels like to have my bladder danced on for minutes on end.  Matthew carried high, with his head in my rib cage the whole time. Wilson seems just a bit lower, and gets around in there so I never know where I’m going to feel him next. He keeps me guessing. Dr. H says that he is going to be our wild man 😉

B keeps reminding me that Wilson is going to make his appearance in late June and that we have a lot of work to do before he gets here.  We need to move rooms around, which involves clearing out the baby store-room downstairs (where all the plastic baby stuff goes to wait for the next baby) to make room for another baby upstairs.  We are torn about what to do – move Matthew into the new room (which was my plan) or let him keep his room and put Wilson in the new room.  Matthew loves his room and we hate moving him out of there, but we also think he’ll want a big boy theme sooner than not and we have that all ready for him (camping and nature hikes).  We just don’t know what to do – and I’m dragging my feet clearing out the baby store-room.  It’s going to be a lot of work and I want to do it when I can devote a lot of time to it – not just an hour here and there.

I’m getting excited about Wilson coming to live with us!  It’s starting to feel more real and I do catch myself daydreaming about the day he’s born and introducing him to his big brother.  I wonder what he’ll look like and how big he’ll be, and if he’ll be calm like his brother or a wild man, like Dr. H is predicting!

Spring has a way of making me feel optimistic and hopeful, and I’m just so grateful for it!  I needed this.  I needed to get out of my stupid funk.  With the late snowstorms, cold temperatures, sad news, and gloomy skies, it was hard for me to NOT waste time on stupid things.  It’s time to be active again, and enjoy the outdoors!  We’ve spent far too long indoors this year (by this time last year, walks were a normal part of our days) and it’s time to get out!

I’m not sure that spring has quite sprung here just yet, but it’s spring-ing, and that’s all I can really ask for!

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In the Books

Christmas 2012 is in the books.  It’s over.  It’s done.

We I learned a lot.

Back in November when PAIL had their monthly theme post on Traditions, I skipped it.  I skipped it because I had no idea what I wanted our traditions to be.  I knew what I didn’t want them to be for the holidays, but I had no idea what my plans were for the traditions we would establish for our family.

What I knew (and still know) we won’t do:

  1. Christmas morning will never be spent away from home unless we are traveling somewhere special (this does not include my or B’s parents’ homes – I mean real vacations)
  2. We are not religious and we will not pretend to be during the holidays, like many families do  😉
  3. We will not exclude Santa from our traditions, but will try to keep ourselves in control when it comes to gift-giving
  4. We will not spend the holidays with both families – we will alternate between the two families every year so that we can honor #1 above

 

B and I have talked a bit about what each of our families did for the holidays, but until this year, those conversations were in passing and we didn’t really dwell on anything because we had no idea what we wanted our traditions to be.  This year, we did discuss what each of our families did and we incorporated aspects of each into our own holidays with Matthew.

These conversations were rather short – because B’s family had two traditions besides gift-giving.  They decorated the tree together, and B’s dad opened each ornament and gave it to the child who it belonged to and let him/her put it on the tree wherever they wanted it to be.  And they woke up to the smell of blueberry muffins on Christmas morning.  They ate muffins (and crescent rolls) and opened presents.  Sure, they went to Grandma’s the night before and their aunt and uncle’s every-other year for the holidays, but as far as their immediate family’s traditions go, tree decorating and blueberry muffins were it.

Easy!

My family’s holidays were a bit more complicated (but fun).  We spent tons of time making Christmas cookies together – all sorts!  Our favorites were the sugar cookies but we also enjoyed the Spritzes my mom would make (they are awesome in milk).  We would spend time as a family wrapping presents together, in disguised boxes so that no one knew what we were wrapping.  We decorated the house together (this was not fun – too much micro-managing from our parents every.single.year) and listened to Christmas music all season long.  We opened presents the weekend before Christmas so that we were free to travel and spend time with extended family on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.  Santa came to our house (he was a wonderful Santa and he came from the time I was 2 until I was 13) the Saturday before Christmas and brought us a very special gift at that time.  Our grandparents would come over and we’d get all dressed up (ugh), have a huge Christmas dinner, welcome Santa, and then open presents.  It was quite fun and memorable, aside from getting dressed up  😉

On Christmas Eve, we went to my dad’s folks’ house and had a great time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  This was yet another formal affair (ugh) but it was super fun, nonetheless.  My sister would play the organ and we would sing Christmas carols together.  We had another huge, formal meal, opened presents, and played games together with the sound of traditional Christmas music playing in the background.  My best Christmas memories are of this time, without a doubt.  We would go to Christmas service (not mass) as an immediate family at midnight (my dad’s family went to mass) and we loved that because all we did was sing Christmas carrols and the church had a fabulous choir!  We would come home, snuggle into bed, and then wake up Christmas morning to stuffed stockings (we knew that they were filled by Mom and Dad because Santa had already come to see us the weekend before) before loading up the car to head to my mom’s family’s home 3.5 hours away.  Once there, we spent the next day and night with cousins, cousins, and more cousins!  Even more fun memories there!

So – when you strip out the extended family events, my family had many traditions.  Some worth keeping (cookies, Christmas music) and some worth scrapping (making the decorating of the house a miserable affair).

So, without further delay, here is what we did, and what will continue to be traditions for our family:

  1. We will most definitely listen to Christmas music in the house (and in the car) from Thanksgiving through Christmas – all sorts of Christmas music as long as it’s peppy
  2. The house will be decorated by the family but it will be fun, dammit!  Any aspect of it that is not fun will be handled by me, myself, and I as to spare everyone the agony of my control issues
  3. We will always have Christmas lights in front of our house, and they will be the type that make our children happy (colored lights, lighted lawn ornaments) – not the ones that make me happy (white lights)
  4. We will go on several drives each week to look at Christmas lights
  5. The year that we spend Christmas with B’s family (they live close by), we will have a Christmas Eve dinner with our closest couple friends and their child(ren).  We did this two years ago and again this year, and it was the best part of Christmas for us both!
  6. Sugar cookies will be made sometime during the holidays.  I made the cookies the day before Christmas Eve and we frosted them Christmas night.  That was not my plan, but Matthew’s sickness made things hard on Christmas day.  Next year, I hope to have them done by the night of Christmas Eve *
  7. Christmas Eve will be spent with extended family before coming home for dinner with our friends
  8. Christmas morning will be greeted with homemade raspberry and/or strawberry muffins and boxed blueberry muffins (for B!)
  9. Christmas morning will always be spent at home unless we are on a fun trip
  10. B and I will wrap the kids’ gifts together – we did that this year and had a great time together!
  11. Christmas day will be loosely scheduled – up in the air.  It was nice being home but we also missed being with family this year.  We will definitely spend time on Christmas day with B’s family the year that we’re spending with them, but it won’t be as much time as we’ve spent in the past
  12. We will ALWAYS have backup food ready to cook on Christmas day in case we get snowed/sicked in.  HA!

 

So there you go – that’s my plan for our holiday traditions going forward.  I couldn’t have come up with all of that without going through the motions of a holiday season with a real, bona-fide toddler  🙂

Now, much of this won’t apply for next year because my dad has already Bogart-ed all of Christmas (24th – 27th) with a family trip to Colorado, but I’m willing to take one for the team (my family) next year so that I never have to do it again .  This will allow us to re-establish our traditions going forward from there.  Sometimes, you have to give your controlling parents what they want, so that you can ultimately end up with what you want in the end  😉

* B has ALWAYS asked me to make sugar cookies with red hots.  I have never done it.  I’ve never had the desire, until this year.  It made me really happy to do this for him  🙂


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Merry Christmas?

Matthew woke up at 1:36 on Christmas morning with an awful fever (104). I was up with him until 3:45 and then again from 4:50 until 7:30. I didn’t sleep much while I was with him – he was just too uncomfortable and shifty for me to rest.  It was a hard night for all of us.  B knew to get rest because he knew I’d be exhausted once we got up and that he’d have to be the primary care-giver until I got a nap in.

We had to call B’s family to let them know that we wouldn’t be making it to their family celebration and they totally understood.  I knew it was the right decision, but I hated missing it because it was at his aunt and uncle’s family farm this year (where B’s dad grew up) and we always have a good time out there and enjoy the big, country Christmas dinner.  We alternate Christmas every year between B’s family and mine, and I hate that we missed B’s family’s Christmas this year.  We did see them all the night before at B’s grandma’s house, but it wasn’t the same and I feel like they got the shaft.

I had intentions of making home-made raspberry muffins before anyone woke up, but that didn’t happen for obvious reasons.  I finally got them made around 8:45 or so before we opened gifts.  Matthew is still too young to understand presents and was feeling awful, so there were tears here and there because he just wanted to be held and fall asleep.  It was quite sad.  B and I did not discuss Matthew’s gifts this year and we both ended up getting him a lot of things – more than either or us would have planned had we discussed.   Needless to say, there were a lot of presents to open for a sick little boy.  By the end, we were rushing things.

Matthew got 10 or 11 new books (we seem to have misplaced one already) and as we were opening them, he kept wanting us to read him his OLD books.  So funny!  We stopped a couple of times to read his two favorite “old” books.

Matthew’s nap was short – he just felt terrible.  I don’t think he even slept 2 hours.  I napped for about 45 minutes before getting him up.  We spent the bulk of the afternoon in bed together, as a family, watching CG.  Matthew snuggled with us both and laid still for many, many episodes.

One of the biggest problem we had yesterday was that we had no food in the house.  We were planning on having a huge meal at B’s family’s and then just eating muffins later on.  Not a single grocery store was open (which is how it should be) nor were any restaurants, so we swung by a gas station that makes pizza and had taco pizza for Christmas dinner.  It was actually good – right up my alley!  Matthew wouldn’t touch his food and we assumed it was because he was so sick, but it turns out he was majorly constipated.  B’s grandma fed Matthew a TON of cream pie on Christmas Eve.  I only witnessed 2 bites but B and his brother said she gave him 10 or so when B was with him.  We think the introduction of gluten and refined sugar messed him up – which makes sense.  We learned a valuable lesson – we are the parents and next time, we will put a stop to it.  We let it happen because (at the time) we thought the joy she was getting was way more important than the damage it could be doing.  WRONG.

Matthew finally did his business after eating a pouch of prunes and much agony.  After that, he was in a good enough mood to snuggle on the sofa, eat some oranges, and read his new books.  We read all of Matthew’s new books to him and that was nice and cozy.  He was in no mood for a bath so we put him to bed at 8:00.  My poor boy literally woke up every 20 minutes after going to bed and would cry and cry for a few minutes each time.  I could not let him go through that any longer.  B and I finished up frosting sugar cookies, cleaned up quickly, and prepped for a roommate for the night.

At 10:45, Matthew joined us in bed.

I was up every hour or so helping Matthew settle himself, but that was better than him crying and being miserable alone every 20 minutes.  Matthew slept pretty well for the circumstances and B and I both enjoyed seeing him sleeping next to us.  There’s something very peaceful about having your baby sleeping beside you!

Today is better.  Matthew’s not feeling great and still has a fever, but he’s better and that’s what matters.  He went down for his nap with no problem and is still sleeping almost 2 hours later, which is better than yesterday!

Not the Christmas I imagined, but are they ever?  HA!

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