All the Sun For You

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


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Nightmares Are Made of This Stuff

I had a rough morning.  A really, REALLY rough morning.  Here is why:

I let Matthew have a lot of freedom and when I’m brushing my teeth in the morning, I let him cruise around the bathroom.  I watch him constantly, but he has full access to the joint because we haven’t baby-proofed it yet.  I have setup one specific drawer for him to get into, but all the ones he can reach have been cleared out of anything dangerous.  Today, he was standing up, digging through one of my drawers (the one with the maxi pads – he loves that drawer!) and he stood unsupported as he clapped his hands.  Fine.  No biggie.  Then… then… he started to dance and threw his head back – and I watched in horror as he fell flat back into the wall behind him, smacking the back of his head on the wall and crashing flat-backed on the floor.  Holy hell.  I will probably have nightmares about this moment for the rest of my freaking life!

I am not an alarmist – when Matthew falls, I usually pause and wait to see how he reacts and then try to calm him if he’s upset.  Not this time.  Oh no!  I gasped, and swore as I dashed to him (I was only 2 feet away but it felt like 100 yards), and I started to cry as I picked him up.  He was a wreck – wailing – HYSTERICAL.  I was in a panic and thought that this is exactly the type of freak accident that can really harm (or kill) a baby.  I kissed him and immediately went to nurse him – knowing full well that if that didn’t calm him down, that I’d be calling B up from his office in the basement and we’d be going to the ER.  I NEVER think this way.  I NEVER make a big deal out of injuries of any sort – or injuries to anybody.  This was different – I knew that this could very easily be a big deal.

But it wasn’t.  He calmed down and bounced back quickly (not as quickly as normal though).  I did not.  B came up later and asked how the morning was (he hadn’t heard a thing down in his office) and I just started to cry and could hardly form the words to tell him about it.

Oh yes – this one will stick with me FOREVER.  Watching it happen (it felt like slow-motion) was horrifying.  I am so grateful that he is OK.

You can be sure that I did not let this poor child sleep for quite a while after it happened.  By the time I would let him nap, he was over-tired and needed lots of help falling asleep.  I was very happy to oblige him!  When he woke up, I took him to his favorite place (Chip.otle) for guacamole!

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A Show For Daddy

I need to record this before I forget. Matthew finally let B in on the walking thing yesterday (Saturday) – just 13 days after I got to see him in action. He has not taken more than 2 steps at a time since I posted on the 13th, but he has progressively gotten more confident with his standing and will even bend down to get things without needing support now. He’ll throw his head back to drink from his sippy while standing unsupported, but he would not walk more than two steps – and he has not done it for B to see.

Until now!

Today he was standing at his truck, and B was sitting on the floor and called him. And he just walked on over! I got to see too and counted steps, of course, and there were 4 without a doubt!!!! And they were effortless. Quite the show for Daddy. 😉

I am SO glad B got to see this!


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Relief!

I didn’t pump last night.  I nursed Matthew pretty late (8:45) and then went to bed earlier than normal (10:45).  That’s only two hours so I figured there wouldn’t be much worth pumping.  Of course I went to bed worried that I had just messed up my body’s supply and demand for milk.  I worried about it all day.

It’s 11:22 tonight and I just pumped.  THREE ounces!  I guess I’m still producing.  Why do I worry so much about messing up my milk supply?  I have 55 days worth of milk in the freezer which will get Matthew to 14 months of age on nothing but breast milk and homemade, natural, WHOLE food.  What is my problem?

So in other news, I weighed myself today.  (Truth is, I weigh myself every day.  Before you get all “that’s not healthy, crazy woman,” on me, please note that I’ve always done this and I find that it keeps me from eating like a cow.  The minute I stop weighing myself daily, I get out of control because I love BAD food.)  I am very happy – I am 34.6 pounds less than when I got pregnant.  I have lost 10.8 pounds since starting our Paleo/primal lifestyle 6 weeks ago and that’s without doing any exercise (which I’m really not proud of).  I have lost 3% of my body fat.  I weigh almost as little as I did at my prime 5 years ago.  I am happy about this!

I would recommend this lifestyle to anyone.  I am SOLD on this!  I have never felt better!  No bloating, no fullness – just comfort and satisfaction all the time!

You know what I thought about today?  I thought that the next time I get pregnant, at the end of that pregnancy, I won’t even weigh what I did before I got pregnant with Matthew.  That is a relief!  I only gained 18 pounds with Matthew but I was super chubby – the chubbiest I have EVER been.  A year’s worth of fertility drugs and 2.25 years of TTC depression will do that to a gal.

At the rate I’m going, in another 6-8 weeks, I may hit my all-time adult low.  I’m not holding my breath.  However, B and I are going to take Matthew for a run tomorrow and we’re trying to get serious about exercise again (we used to be insanely fit) – so if I can actually pull that off – I may be able to hit that low before 6-8 weeks from now.  I have never felt so motivated!

We got a lot of work done on the house today.  B power washed the deck and I trimmed up the front plantings.  I have a lot of work to do still, but hope to finish it this weekend.  I have cake toppers to make and I can’t do that until my front plantings look good!  We are out of town next weekend and the following week (hello, North Shore of Minnesota!!!!), so the weekend after that will be busy with more house/yard work.  We have a long list, but I feel confident that we’ll knock most things off of it.

Matthew got in his little pool for the first time today!  So cute!  I took tons of pictures, many of which are posted below.  After he was done, we let him run around the house totally neck-ed, which he enjoyed too much!  Tomorrow?  He gets to try out his new water table for the first time.  SUMMER IS HERE!!!

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First Medal!

So something happened today that B and I viewed rather differently.  Matthew got his first medal.  I did not know he’d be getting a medal today at the gym – but he did, and it was cute, and thank God my friend was there with a camera!  It was absolutely adorable, but I didn’t think it was that huge of a deal.

So there we were at dinner tonight (I insist that we go out at least once a week for a nice dinner so that Matthew keeps his manners!), and I tell B, “oh, hey, Matthew got a medal today at the Litt.le Gym.”  He stopped eating and looked up at me with a stunned look, and asked, “what for?”  I explained that next week is his last class as a Little Bug so they decided to give them medals like they do with the big kids.  I just kept eating my dinner, not making a big deal of it.  B asked, “so if he’s not a Bug anymore, what will he be?”  “A Little Bird,” I replied without looking up.  There was some silence so I looked up and he had this look on his face that I can’t really describe.  He said he wished he could have been there, and I assured him that I did not know that this was happening this week (I really didn’t.  The other mother knew because her other kids go there and they told her about it earlier this week.  That’s why she had her camera.).  With that, he turned to Matthew and promised to never miss another event in his life.

How sweet is that?

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An Offer!

I am ready to jump into business with my sis – she even changed her Etsy store name so she’s ready for me to jump in as well!  Anyway, we are going to be offering cake toppers similar to what I made for Matthew.  We have not found anything quite like it on Etsy and we’re getting lots of feedback that it’s a great thing to offer.

So – what this means is that we need samples to list.  This is where you all come in.  I’ve already reached out to a few of you who I know have birthdays coming up, and I was about to reach out to one more when I thought, why not just post it?!  So here’s the offer – I need sample work and would LOVE to create toppers for real babies versus just making them up!  So please let me know if you’d like one (FREE, of course!!!) and I will get it started.  I will need to know your color scheme/idea and theme.  If you don’t like what I make for you, you most certainly don’t have to use it.  HA!

These are 100% custom – I will design around what you’re doing for your party.  I am doing one right now where there is no particular theme but a color scheme – and that’s great!

You can either email me, or comment below.  It’s up to you!  I will do up to 10 free toppers (and maybe more – we’ll see!) so please let me know ASAP!  Two are already gone!

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Here’s a tidbit of news on the sleeping/nap front.  This kid gets it!  Holy hell – we are now putting him down WIDE awake and he doesn’t get upset.  The other night at bedtime, he couldn’t get comfortable so he crawled around, stood up, babbled, etc. all without crying for us.  He finally fell asleep totally on his own.  Today for his nap, I put him in his crib with his Boo (monkey), lovey, and a soft book and he played for 10 minutes and then laid down to sleep.  ON HIS OWN!  Now, I know this may be normal to many of you – but this is amazing for us!  I am so happy!  So very, VERY happy!!!!!  The best part?  His naps are now running from 1.25 – 2.5 hours EACH!!!!!  I can’t remember the last time (besides vacation or a cat nap in the car) when he slept for less than an hour.

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We played outside today for a few minutes.  It’s warm, but windy, so we only stayed out for about 15 minutes.  You all know I can’t help but photograph Matthew out in the yard no matter what kind of mood he’s in!  I love being outside, and so does he!  Today, he was introduced to the rocks around the foundation of the house.  Good times!

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Documenting the Process

This will be boring to everyone but me.  Since I’ve documented the party process thus far, I wanted to document the cake prototype.  The circles will be mini tulle poms – my Etsy gal agreed to make them for me!!!!

I could not be happier with how this is looking to turn out!!!


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“Hello, Lover!”

I was on vacation over the weekend – which was a long weekend for us – and had no internet connectivity.  This was painful for me only when nursing Matthew or rocking him before a nap, because that’s when I usually get caught up on my blog reading.  When I got home, I had 52 new posts in my reader.  WOW!  I got caught up last night and am ready to do some writing myself!

Our trip was fantastic!  We went up to Wisconsin where we rented a nice, large cabin that has enough room for at least 6 adults.  I don’t share space well (not well at all, actually) so if we share a cabin with anyone else, it must have a bedroom for each couple because I just can’t handle the whole, “I’ll crash on the floor or sofa,” approach to travel.  I am too old for that.  HA!  Actually, I think I’ve always been too old for that.  We had 5 adults and Matthew – and it was perfect!  Matthew slept pretty well considering he was in a new place.  The first night was rough, the second one was not, and then the third was rough again because we moved to a different bedroom so it would be quieter for him.  He napped on schedule for at least an hour each time while we were there, and fell right back into his routine here at home.

We just hung out – and cooked.  Boy, did we cook!  The kitchen is fully, FULLY stocked with every pan, utensil, and gadget you can think of so all we have to do when we get there is go to the grocery store and settle in.  We sat around and chatted, shopped in town, soaked in the private hot tub, and took Matthew for walks.  It was great!

I needed this trip.  I seriously needed it.  I’m not one to get the travel itch but I was ready and needing to get away.  I can’t even say why I needed to get away, but I did and it felt so good to hit the road.  We hit the road again in less than two weeks to go to another favorite place and that will be fun!

Here are some photos from our trip!  Nothing but sunshine, fun, and friends!

   

 

 

 

So… I’ve been working on Matthew’s birthday.  I’m a little embarrassed that I’m so into this, but what the hell – he’s my baby who I fought tooth and nail for and I’m going to celebrate him!  His birthday is pretty much on my mind 24/7 – and I’ve rethought the cake, the cupcake toppers, and some of the decorations.  All of this has been “rethunk” for the better.  I’ve made things easier.  Much, much easier.  I don’t want to stress myself out to the point that I don’t enjoy his party once it gets here, so I’ve simplified some things.

For those of you keeping track, I am on my third cake idea and I think I’ve settled on the design.  I better have, because I made the cake topper tonight!  When I got done, I literally said out loud, “hello, lover!”  * I am so happy with how it turned out!  Take a look (and yes, that is my staging foam cake that is to scale (circumference only – not height!)):

I have contacted a gal on Etsy to custom create some tulle pom poms that I’ll put all around the perimeter of the first cake tier.  I hope she’ll do them for me!  She is also going to make tulle cupcake toppers for me and maybe a little tulle banner thing-y to put above the topper.  We’ll see.  That may be too much.  I am a firm believer that “less is more” (I do NOT get this from my mother.  Her mantra is “more is more.”  HA!).

So I am going to make the infamous tissue pom poms that you see all over Pinterest and Etsy.  I tried it out tonight and it is easy peasy – so I added it to the list of things to do.  They will be hung from the entry chandelier and also placed on the mantle.

I got the proofs of Matthew’s birthday invitation photos.  The gals are working on the design now, but here is a preview.  This is not the one we’ll select because he’s not smiling, which is too bad because I just LOVE the angle and setting of the shot!  I want to do this same type of image for my sister’s and my business and put all of our kids in the photo.  This is a photo of my computer screen, so it’s not good, but you get the idea.  This was taken by my good friend, Denise, from White Linen Photography:

Here is the shirt I got done for Matthew’s big day.  I love it!  Again – thank you to Etsy – this time Heather Lynde at Lullaby Loft:

Once I’m done with this birthday party, I get to plan my friend’s baby shower!  I have her party all planned out up in my head and just need to execute it with the help of 3 other friends.  I love this stuff!

* If you’re a fan of “Sex and the City,” then you know where this came from  😉


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First Real Mother’s Day

Today feels like Mother’s Day to me because Matthew has napped TWICE in his crib, for over an hour each time!  He’s napping now!  YAY!  Now – this does not mean he goes down for naps easily.  Oh no.  I nurse him to a drowsy state, lay him down, pat his back, sigh as he starts to howl, and then… this morning… I decided to walk out.  I decided today that this baby needs to learn to fall asleep without nursing, because in 1.5 months (sniff, sniff), he won’t be nursing anymore.  I don’t want him to have to adjust to too many changes at once, so I just decided on a whim today that I’m done holding him for his naps.

I was spending 2-3 hours a day in the glider in the nursery – and that just wasn’t good for anyone.  The house was always a mess because I had no time alone to clean it up, I was becoming resentful of having no time (not even 30 minutes) to myself, and Matthew was not sleeping soundly in my arms – he would wake up several times.  He used to transfer to his crib so easily – it was ridiculous how easy it was and it was working.  But he got a cold two weeks ago and he’s only been napping in my arms since.

So anyway – I walked out today and he howled and screamed – this was true “crying it out,” but I refused to give in.  I texted my dear friend about it and she reassured me that I was doing the right thing.  After 35 minutes (holy hell!), I went in, laid him down, rubbed his back and nose, and watched him drift to sleep.  I did the same thing for his afternoon nap but after only 10 minutes of howling – and he’s been asleep for an hour and 25 minutes so far.  He’s even woken up twice in this nap and put himself back to sleep without any visits from me.

Finally – some time to myself!  I’ve caught up on laundry, dishes, etc.  And now I’m reading all of my friends’ blogs on a real computer and not just my phone – while eating home-made spiced nuts made by my wonderful husband.  How fantastic this feels!

So Mother’s Day.  Holy smokes – B went ALL out this year!  Last year was a let-down because I didn’t even get a card, despite being almost 8 months pregnant.  I was not a happy mother-to-be.  But this year?  Oh you guys! I didn’t get a Mother’s Day – I got a Mother’s Weekend!

On Saturday around 2:30, I was working on Matthew’s birthday banner when my friend, Denise, came over with her daughter.  This surprised me because she was scheduled to come over at 5:00 to take photos of Matthew for his birthday invitations.  It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, but B had booked pedicures for the three of us girls for Mother’s Day!  How nice (I really needed one!)!  As we were walking out, he put cash in my pocket and said to stop at the frozen yogurt place afterwards and then handed me a gift bag saying to open it with the girls when we got there.

So we’re waiting for our pedicures and I opened the bag, and there was a gift for each of us.  B had picked out a special book for each of us and they were all very fitting to our unique personalities and our current life situations.  How nice is that?  We loved our pedicures and then went for frozen yogurt as advised to do (this is not a paleo/primal snack) before heading home.  B was making a huge dinner for the three of us!  We took Matthew out for his photo shoot while he finished up our dinner.  It was the best dinner I’ve had in a long time!

On Sunday, the fun had not stopped.  I woke up to find a card on the pillow next to me.  It was from Jackson, our boy cat who sleeps up by my face every night.  An hour later, out on the kitchen table, there was another card – this time it was from Janie, our youngest kitty (she thinks the table’s her special sitting place).  A while later, there was a card on the vanity from Lily, my precious cat who’s pulled me through some rough times.  I brush her every single day up on the vanity, so that’s why her card was there.  I went to get dressed and there was a new dress hanging in the closet from my hubby.  And finally, at one point when I went into Matthew’s room, there was a card waiting for me in the rocker – the card from my sweet boy!

B gave me his card on Monday morning.  So I truly had a full weekend of love and appreciation!  B and I write long notes in our cards to each other – and this weekend was no exception.  He wrote me a heart-felt note from each of the three cats, Matthew, and himself.  That’s a lot of sentiment to write for one holiday!

It was a wonderful day – and weekend!  The only regret is that we did not get one single picture of Matthew and me together.  Oh well – we have some from the day before!  Because I don’t have Mother’s Day photos to share, I’ll share some fun random ones from the last few days!

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What I’ve Been Up To

This is what I’ve been up to.  OMG – this thing took forever to figure out (I’m a perfectionist) but once I had it figured out, it was a snap to do!  This will go above the table during the birthday party, and then up in his room afterwards.

On a side-note, my little sister found my blog.  No biggie – I’d mentioned it to her but hadn’t sent the address.  She found it via her Etsy store – apparently someone clicked the link to her store from my blog.  She hadn’t seen the referring link (my blog) before, so clicked it to check it out.  So hello to you, Lewis, in case you’re still reading!!!

Back to my little project – I am doing this same type of thing for my friend’s baby shower.  Now that I know what I’m doing, I’m going to get started!  I am estimating that each one of these little dandies takes about 3 hours of time, start to finish.  This one took much longer, but because I was figuring it out along the way.

Next up for the big birthday?  Cake topper and animals for the forest scene on the cake.

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And another side-note… but really this deserves much more than a side-note (but it’s not my news to share, so I’ll keep it a blurb here).  I still want to post about my first Mother’s Day because B went all out!  However, my day was devastated with the news of the passing of Ainsley Knepper.  If you don’t know her story, please honor her memory by clicking over to her mom’s blog and offering a bit of love and support.  Jen is the very first blogger I ever READ, let alone followed.  I’ve been following her for over 3 years now.  I don’t know her IRL, but I sure have known and loved her story.  I do not love this part of her story – it is rather heartbreaking  😦


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It Happened

Matthew poo-ed in the tub tonight. I about died. All I knew to do was scream for B. I have bath toys to wash tomorrow… On Mother’s Day. Ha!!!!!!

To all of you who think your kid may be the ONE kid who will never do this. Um… Good luck with that! A dream was shattered tonight, Ladies! Ha! Ha! Ha!