All the Sun For You

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


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Father’s Day

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B’s first Father’s Day has come and gone, and I think it was a decent one!  My friend and I setup a date for our husbands for Friday night – it was a surprise date and they each thought they were going out with their wives, but we sent them out to their favorite restaurant so they could have a guys’ night “just like old times.”  Our friends are expecting their first baby in September and he was really excited about their night out once he found out about it.  He said it was just what he needed after a long week!  B, on the other hand, thought about his baby the entire time  😉  Sure he had fun, but he missed his baby boy.

And I guess this is how life has changed for B.  We used to go out quite a bit when Matthew was tiny because we were told it’s important to have date nights, etc.  And we enjoyed those nights out, even if we did talk about Matthew the whole time.  But now that Matthew is older and so much fun, we prefer to just take him with us.  I know, I know – we need to have date nights to keep our own relationship strong and fresh, but Matthew is a great dinner date and makes the nights even more fun.  So here was B, out with his best friend, all dressed up for old times sake, at his favorite restaurant, drinking his favorite drinks and eating his favorite food – all the while missing bath time, book time, and bed time… missing his baby.  It actually breaks my heart to write that  😦  I think I missed the mark this year on Father’s Day.

The rest of the weekend kind of came and went without much fanfare.  B went to a beer festival on Saturday (he wished he hadn’t signed up to go) and then we had my cousin’s baby’s first birthday that night and his friend’s birthday right after that.  He stayed at his friend’s birthday bash while I went home to put Matthew to bed, so he missed the bedtime routine again and that made him sad.  I just feel awful when that happens – I know better than to take that time away from him.  I know I didn’t take it from him on Saturday night, but I sort of did on Friday, even if my intentions were really nice.  Sunday was a lazy day and we did house projects most of the day.  I’m happy to say that B did not miss bedtime on Sunday!

B is a terrific father – I could not have asked for a better husband for myself, or for a better father for my child(ren).  He just is so kind, so patient, and so happy with us!  I always knew that B would love our baby, but I didn’t know he’d love HAVING a baby.  From the moment Matthew entered the world, B has been a changed man.  He became a father that day and the very few walls he had built up around him came crashing down.  He became a softie to not just me (he was always a softie with me), but a softie to everyone around us.  Everyone saw the change in him.  Everyone comments on how much he loves Matthew.  Everyone enjoys watching him enjoy his time with his son.

Happy Father’s Day to my best friend!  Thank you, B, for making this beautiful family with me!

First photo of B and his son. This moment changed my husband into the man he is today!


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Such an Idiot

I feel like an idiot over this whole sleeping thing with Matthew.  I have always thought that he was a 6:00 AM riser – that that was just how he was.  He has been creeping that time back (earlier and earlier) every day and a couple days ago, I said, “we just need to let him fuss and see if he resolves it himself.”  I didn’t have the heart to do it – I mean – he got up at 6:15 yesterday and that was really good for him!

But this morning?  He cried at 5:15.  He stood up in his crib (never a good sign), and I said, “let’s just wait a second and see.”  He was back down and asleep within a minute.  A MINUTE.  That goes to show you how quickly we were running to him when he woke up around 6:00.  He then slept until 6:40.  He woke up happy.  Chipper.  Elated!  He spent the entire morning pleasant and cheerful, versus tired and cranky.  He went down for his nap at 10:15 just perfectly – and slept for an hour and a half.

I’ve been letting this poor baby get up too early.  SHAME ON ME!  He didn’t want to be up that early any more than we did.

Major fail on our part – but oh well.  It’s not the first… and it won’t be the last  😉


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Hope Floats

Something big happened – I got my first post-pregnancy period.  Not exciting to anyone but me, I suppose, but it’s worth a post.

All this time, I’ve worried about weaning Matthew solely because I need to get that first period post-nursing so that we can move onto TTC Matthew’s sibling.  I have written several posts and comments about this topic, I was so upset about it.  Our RE said it would take 2-6 weeks given that I’m still nursing him exclusively (aside from his 3 meals a day) – he nurses 4 times a day still.  I figured that it would take 6 weeks for me to get my first period once he was weaned – but I got it today!  Why the exclamation point?

Well, this means that my cycles are coming back and when I am fully done nursing (some time in July – notice how that got moved out from June?!), then the first post-nursing period will come on cue and we can begin our FET!  I decided the other night that I am nursing Matthew into July just to help my own heart get through it, and if that pushed our FET process to September or October – then so be it.  But if I’m cycling now, then that means that we can still start our FET in August, most likely, even if I nurse into July because I won’t have to wait 6 weeks for a period!

And then there’s this.  We can start trying naturally now.  I even asked B today if we could run some tests to see if anything has changed because maybe we don’t need IVF/FET – maybe with his new paleo lifestyle, things have changed and we can (gasp!) get pregnant naturally or with an IUI.  He enthusiastically said yes, so I will call our RE next week to get that setup.

My first thought when I saw the blood was, “well, I guess I’m not accidentally pregnant.”  How silly is that?  After all the IF business we went through to get Matthew, I thought that maybe, just maybe, we could get pregnant naturally without a single period?  I mean – it happened to my younger sister who only has one ovary.  HA!

This all reminds me of one of my favorite corny movies – Hope Floats.  At the end of the movie, she says, “Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it’s what’s in the middle that counts. So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.”

Here I am at the beginning, all over again, and my hope is already floating up.


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Birthday Madness!

I am in full-on birthday mode!  I created a new page on my blog of all the things that need to get done, and have been done so far.  I still have much to do, but B and I went through the list tonight and he likes what all is planned, and is very supportive of helping me find the time to finish up the rest.  I wasn’t going to do a couple of things, but he wants the party to be a huge, fun bash as much as I do – so he’s added to my list.  HA!  We used to entertain like CRAZY (full-blown, 100+ guest lists, extensive food selections, endless drinks, SO FUN!), so we’re both pretty excited about this!

You can find the list here.  I’ve included pictures of the things completed so far.

I am never so happy as when I have a party, or an event, or a project to plan the hell out of!!!  🙂


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Birthday Party Progress

I had a night alone.  B is out of town for the second night in a row, and Matthew is sound asleep.  It’s late – very late – but I’ve been working!

So I’ve been thinking about how to weigh down the balloons for Matthew’s party.  Being the person I am (perfectionist, anal retentive, detail-oriented, annoying-as-all-hell) , I don’t want the generic weights you get at a party store.

I was going to make these cute little felt animals and weigh them down with something, but I couldn’t figure out how to weigh them down enough and – well – I’ve never made felt animals!  Now is not the time to try something completely new that involves sewing – even if it’s simple sewing.  I’ve never sewn anything.  This is what I was thinking of copying doing:

After deciding to scrap the felt animal knockoffs ornaments, I was back at the drawing board.  Believe it or not, I must be the only person on the planet with this problem because the internet was no help at all – not even Pinterest.  I searched Etsy, Pinterest, and Bing (because Google is not allowed in this house for business reasons!!) and nothing came up other than boring old fake present/gift weights.  NO!  So I got to thinking.  What could I do?  What could I do?

I settled on the fake present/gift idea because – well – I’m running out of time and I don’t want to be stressing over something that no one will even notice at the party (other than me, of course).  This is one of those details that is solely being done for my own satisfaction.  No one else will even care, let alone notice.  So I hoofed it down to the basement (I hate being alone in a basement – even our finished basement) to the gift closet to see what little boxes I have.  And I found these fabulous little jobbies!

These were used by my friend, Denise, last year when she gave us ornaments for Christmas with Matthew’s photos on them.  My mind got to churning.. yes, yes… this is perfect!  I was going to weigh them down with rocks from our plant beds out front – but then I found a Zip.loc baggie full of those red glass beads that I’m sure we all have used sometime in our decorating past (don’t ask me why they were in the gift closet… I don’t know).  You know the ones – little drops of colored glass to fill a clear vase to then stick fake flowers in?  I brought them upstairs and got to work!  Once I found my container and weights, I knew exactly what I was going to do!

Step 1 was to text Denise to see if she had 2-3 more of these little boxes.  We shall see what she says tomorrow.  If not, I need to know where she bought them!  Step 2 was to fill them with red glass beads that no one will see (I clarify that because red is not one of our party colors).

Step 3 was to pull out the Cri.cut machine and get to work!  I made 3 big animal cut-outs (because I already had 2 made), put them together, and tested them out.  Final products are below.  The animals aren’t attached yet – I’ll probably do that just before tying the balloons onto the hole at the top of the box, but you get the idea!

I am pleased!  I can check this project off the list!  Now all I have left to do is:

  1. Order/buy balloons
  2. Buy plates, utensils, etc.
  3. Make decorative pom poms for entry, mantle, etc.
  4. Glue letters and animals on banner
  5. Buy beverages/food for event
  6. Decide on favors or not (I really, REALLY want to give the big kids sparklers and the little kids bubbles, but I’m not sure if sparklers would upset parents or not)
  7. Cook food (if we’re doing more than cake – still not sure)

This list looks long, but it’s nothing compared to what I started with!  Progress was made tonight – and the mess from it is put away.  Bring on the next project!


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I Cheated

This post is one big confessional.  Get ready.

Confession 1:  I cheated on my paleo diet – just two days in.  I honestly tried not to, but here is what happened.  I packed a 100% paleo lunch to take to the pool yesterday.  Raspberries, nuts, paleo trail mix, and a peach.  Wonderful, wholesome snacks.  When I got there, there was a huge sign saying, “no outside food or drinks.”  I am a rule-follower – to a fault, quite honestly.  I don’t like to rock the boat – rules exist for a reason (you can imagine how much fun it was being my mischievous friends growing up!).  My friend asked if I thought that rule applied to our kids and I said, “hell no!  What can I possibly feed a baby from their menu?  Sure, most babies eat chicken strips and fries, but not my baby.  They can shove it if they tell me I can’t feed him his real food.”  But for myself – I just can’t be that bold and disregard their rules.  I gave some raspberries to Matthew while nibbling them myself but I was starving.  STARVING.  I had a chocolate chipwich.  If you don’t know what this is – you’re probably better off!

I then continued to blow the entire day since, you know, it was already messed up by the chipwich.  I stopped at McD’s as Matthew napped in the car for an hour+.  Holy hell – this is one big, fat FAIL!  Surprisingly, for dinner, I was good and ate nuts and berries since I was pretty full from my sinful lunch.

Confession 2:  I am not making Matthew’s birthday cake.  (I cringe as I type that!)  Here’s why.  I was going to order cupcakes anyway, and just make the two-tier cake myself.  However, I am not a baker – I am a cake decorator.  Why spend the time making and frosting a cake when I can better spend that time making decorations and tasty food?  When I was picking out cupcakes, I saw their “adult flavors” for cakes and figured this is a good opportunity to get a freaking AWESOME cake for the adults and then simple cupcakes for the kids.  It’s easy, then, to say, “kids, you can’t eat that cake but the cupcakes are all yours – knock yourselves out!”  The adult cake has one tier of orange mimosa and one tier of strawberry daiquiri.  Oh yummy!  They are not decorating it at all – it will arrive as just white cake – white frosting, white piping.  I have my cake toppers to make it beautiful, yet tastefully simple!

Confession 3:  I was struggling with the SAHM thing.  Don’t get me wrong – I was always loving it – but holy hell – I was pretty bored.  I just need to put that out there because I don’t think that feeling is uncommon.  We spent time with my friend and her daughter last week at the indoor pool, then went to baby gym on Saturday and Monday, then the pool yesterday, and we’ll have play group tomorrow and the outdoor pool again on Friday.  I am much happier with this type of schedule and fun interaction for both Matthew and me.  Today is my “chill day.”  We may go to the indoor pool, we may go to the mall, we may go to the park.  I have no idea – but we will get out of this house.  We must get out of this house every single day.

Confession 4:  We are cancelling the Seattle trip.  I put the decision on B since he was the one who was sort of down about our last trip.  I said that I wanted his expectations to be met with his next trip and I feared that if Matthew and I came along, that he would be let down because of limitations.  I was not going to make the decision for him – I don’t believe in doing that.  I would have fun no matter what we did out in Seattle, but I know that it can be hard to have fun when you have a baby with a strict nap schedule and bed time.  I don’t need to be busy on vacation.  B does.  So I left it up to him to decide.  Secretly though (and here’s the confession), I was hoping he’d cancel.  Here’s why.  1)  I would be traveling back with Matthew on a plane by myself, and given how he screamed in the car coming back from Minnesota, I feared for myself and everyone else who would be on that plane.  2)  We would only have a hotel room (not a cabin or suite) and that would mean silence for us during nap time and bed time.  That isn’t fun for anyone.  3 – and this one is a little crazy)  I am not comfortable traveling on a plane without B – knowing that if something happened to that plane and us, that B would be left childless and a widow.  If we’re going to take a family vacation, then we travel together for the entire trip.  If the plane goes down, we all go down together.  This is insane, I know, but it freaks me out.  It works the other way too.  If B’s plane would go down without us on his way back, that would be awful.  Just awful.  I know he travels often for work and that’s always a possibility (even in cars) – but it would be different as he came back from a family trip situation.  B cancelled the trip, as I knew he would, and I confessed all of this to him upon that cancellation.

Well, I feel much better now!  Thank you, internet, for listening!


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Color Me Happy!

I have never been a pool girl. Never.Ever. I have never been confident in my body, even at my peak fitness level, so pool time just wasn’t going to happen for me.

Until now!

I took Matthew to the public aquatic center today. We were there for 3 hours. We went with another mom friend of mine and her SWEET daughter. We all had a ball! And it was not so warm… Topped out at 76 American degrees (are we the only ones who measure in f?) as we left. If was 69 when we got there, but it did not matter… We had a super time. We had so much fun that I bought a summer pass and we’re going back tomorrow!!!

I now understand how some families live at the pool in the summer…. I may be one of those mothers. I need to stock up on Little Swimm.ers and sunscreen. It’s a good thing I bought 2 new swimsuits the other day. Matthew and I are set!!!!

I think I’m finally getting the hang if this SAHM gig of mine. 🙂


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Advice?

I did something for my own sanity that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.  I started a play group!  I sent out the email to the interested moms and nannies last week to solidify a weekly day and time (Thursdays at 12:15) and I setup the first activity for THIS Thursday!  I am really excited about it because I know these moms and nannies, and I LIKE these moms and nannies!

It’s now summer, and I need to keep this little boy busy!  I am working on his activity schedule that I plan to follow pretty closely.  I am making sure we leave a free day in each week to just do whatever it is we feel like doing.  Here is what I’m thinking:

  • Monday – Gymnastics
  • Tuesday – Aquatic Center
  • Wednesday – Free day (or Aquatic Center make-up day)
  • Thursday – Playgroup
  • Friday – Indoor Swimming at the Y

I have the Monday, Thursday, and Friday activities set for every single week.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be our flex days.  This may sound really rigid (because it is), but Matthew is super social and needs to be with other kids a lot – and I like the idea of him getting to play with other kids most days of the week.

We have a date with my friend and her daughter for the aquatic center tomorrow and I can’t wait!  I may even take Matthew’s lunch with me and have a little baby picnic while we’re there.  We’ll see.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to contain him long enough to eat anything while at the pool!

In other news, Matthew is walking again, slowly but surely.  He’s very tentative but by the end of the day, he’s crossing the room again.  He crawls more than he walks, but that’s OK because I’m sure he’s still a little sore and scared.  It doesn’t help that his 3 year old cousin was over yesterday and literally pushed him to the ground at least 3 times.  I watched her walk right up to him, put both hands on his shoulders, and push him to the floor.  What do you do when another kid pushes your baby?  I was stunned!  The third time was on the tile floor and she literally threw him to the ground and he hit his head pretty hard.  She also just walked up to him once and smacked him across the head.  We’re not happy.  B is going to talk to his sister about it because she kept acting like they were accidents and they.were.not.accidents.  I have no idea what causes a 3 year old girl to do this to a baby.  B mentioned today that he’s probably nervous about walking around, living in fear that his cousin will jump out and toss him to the floor.

This whole cousin thing has me riled up because I have to see them again on Thursday without B there – and this little girl knocks Matthew down every time they’re together so I  know it will happen on Thursday.  I think I’m going to intervene and tell her to never do that again because it’s mean.  Advice, anyone?  I have been told by a few people that as his mother, I have a right to tell her to stop if her mother won’t.  Thoughts?


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All Clear!

Our doctor just called us (9:10 PM on a Friday) to say that Matthew’s x-rays were normal. There was a questionable spot on his shin bone, but it turns out he’s just fine. Yay! And B is so relieved, so that makes me smile!

Matthew handled the x-rays just fine until the final 5th one. The first 4 he took with no anxiety and let them maneuver him however necessary. The 5th one was a tricky position and had to be done twice. I learned a new trick! If I sing to him, he calms down immediately. Unbelievable!