another rainy saturday

It has rained here for the past 4 weekends, and with the temperatures hovering around freezing, we decided to stay in today. We didn't get a whole lot accomplished, but we did manage to enjoy some pizza, made some cupcakes together (with the help from The Mayor) and then ate those cupcakes. All in all, a pretty good Saturday.

the boy knows how to eat some pizza

helping pour in the ingredients for the cupcakes

licking the icing from the beater

that was good!

enjoying our hard work

right before my eyes

Right before my eyes my baby boy is growing up. It is amazing to have a front row seat to the everyday changes that occur in the life of your child. And it seems like literally overnight, he has gone from a baby to such a big boy. The way he speaks, moves, asks for things, recognizes people and things...it is amazing how his 2 year old brain works.

Today we went to an indoor playground to burn off some energy, and the first thing The Mayor ran to was the biggest and tallest play set in the joint. This thing was about 12 feet up in the air and off he went, up the ladder, all by himself. It was almost too much for his very pregnant mother to handle. I had to go up 2 rungs myself just to keep my hands under his bottom to make sure he didn't fall backwards. He went up and down this thing...over and over...and my heart almost stopped beating every time. He is becoming such a big boy.

the play set

the ladder...and this picture doesn't do it justice

off he goes...all by himself

rules don't apply here

This is a plaque that should be mounted on the doorway to the entrance of my parent's home. And in my next life, I want to come back as a grandchild to them. Last night, as almost every Wednesday night, Mamie and PopPop watched The Mayor so we could go to our small group. While on our way to small group, I receive a text message with a photo of The Mayor enjoying his own individual mini-pint of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream. Yes, this is the $1 one serving portion size, but for a 2 year old, I can only imagine the look in his eyes when this was placed in front of him. I responded with "please tell me he ate dinner" to which my father responded "ok. He ate dinner". Such a lie! Where was this treatment when I was a kid? Not only was ice cream a rare treat, but I am pretty sure it wasn't offered up to me INSTEAD of eating a dinner. Must be nice to be a grandchild.

the perfect storm

I make it a point, a true effort, to never wish this time away. I can honestly say, in the 2 years and 3 months that The Mayor has been on this Earth, I have never said "I wish this time would pass" or "I can't wait until he is older or can do 'this'...". I know this time will be gone, much faster than I could ever want, and I will wish with every fiber in my being that I could have it all back. So I do relish this time...it is after all the reason I decided to quit my job after The Mayor was born and stay at home with him. I could not fathom dropping him off at a daycare center everyday to have someone else see all of the milestones in his life. That is my job...that is why I am here. To be The Mayor's mother...

...that isn't too say there aren't days where I do wish I could hide...in a dark closet...and go by another name other than "momma". Being 32 weeks pregnant, sleep is non-existent and raising a 2 year old when he is having one of his days...sometimes those things get on a collision course and I call it 'The Perfect Storm'. Today was that day.

I woke up exhausted...even if I am fortunate enough to fall asleep at night, I am waking up every 2 hours because I have a 32 week old fetus doing the cha-cha on my bladder. So the constant interrupted sleep is still tiring. And it is extremely rare, but every once in a blue moon, The Mayor wakes up in a foul mood. And today was that day. He is cutting his last molars and it is making him so crabby. He is biting...and biting hard. He actually broke my skin last week. He is chewing on everything...from his own fingers (he almost broke his own skin the other day), to his sippy cups, to my shoulders, making new bite marks in his crib, pretty much anything that goes into his mouth. But this morning I was bound and determined to take his foul self to the children's play museum to play and burn off some energy. We barely made it 45 minutes before I picked him up, we said our good-byes to our friends and took off. He just would not listen to me. And my patience was just not there today. I barely got into the car before I broke down in tears...from exhaustion, guilt, exhaustion (oh, did I already mention that?)

The day kind of got better but at dinner he was so sweet...just sitting there quietly eating his tacos. So I started to cry...I felt so guilty for being irritated with him earlier in the day. He is 2 years old for crying out loud. Can I really expect my child to be perfect every day? We all have our days...and if I am going to have my days at 33 years old, what makes me think my 2 year old is going to be any different? So I sat back and thanked God for blessing me with this precious child, and even though today was my perfect storm, I was still so fortunate to have The Mayor in that storm with me. I am looking forward to tomorrow...a new day...with the little love of my life.

my little grocery shopper

the water table...the table that eventually caused us to leave. The Mayor thought it would be more fun to put the water on himself and the floor then keep it in the tub...

of course my little man would have found the train table

what...a...day...

Oh man. "What a day" doesn't even cover it. We woke The Mayor up at 8AM so we could get him into the bath, feed him breakfast and load him up in the car by 8:45 so we could head to Chattanooga. We were going to Chattanooga to meet up with our favorite photographer for The Mayor's 2 year pictures. She normally comes to Atlanta, but she has been on maternity leave and we just love her so much that we offered to meet her half way in Chattanooga. We were meeting at a local park at 11AM. It was pretty cold, but considering the weather and the fact that The Mayor is 2, it went very well...

...until we had been at it for about an hour and The Mayor was getting tired. So we stopped for a while to let him have a snack and then continued with some pictures. We found the perfect spot for some last photos...the lighting was great, the scenery was perfect...if only The Mayor was willing to participate. We tried to push it just another 5 minutes...BIG mistake. I am not sure what I was thinking when we planned a road trip with The Mayor, but I did not pack one single toy. I guess since we had our portable DVD player in the car and he was entertained with a movie on the way there, I didn't think I was going to need a toy. Lesson learned. To try to pacify him and get him to cooperate by allowing us to take some pictures, we gave him daddy's iPhone. And in a fit of 2 year old rage, The Mayor proceeded to throw the phone down on the ground and the glass screen of the phone shattered into a hundred pieces. Gag. My husband just walked away and I wanted to cry.

Instead of sticking around Chattanooga to enjoy lunch and a trip to the aquarium, we loaded up and headed home. After arriving home, we headed to the mall and luckily the folks at the Apple store were able to replace the screen...for a "small" fee of course, but it saved us from having to buy a new phone. The Mayor has lost his iPhone privileges...obviously...and I have learned to always have toys in my diaper bag...especially when expecting my toddler to be a happy participant in an hour long photo session.

Sadly, no pictures were actually taken by me today to capture the roller coaster of a day we had. But I can not wait to see the pictures from the actual photo session. It will be so much fun to compare these pictures from the pictures she took last year. The Mayor has changed so much.

It is now past 8:00 in the evening, and The Mayor is down for the night. Thankfully tomorrow is a new day...

practice makes...

not perfect, but I will still take the practice. Today, I was the lucky aunt and was Bennett's first babysitter. Meega had a doctor's appointment, so Bennett came over to play with me and The Mayor. Balancing the needs of a 2 year old and a 6 week old...gave me a little glimpse into what my life will be like in 8 1/2 weeks. The Mayor wanted to be everywhere Bennett was. He wanted to kiss on him, hug on him, help me feed him...he didn't want to leave our side. When Bennett was in my lap eating from his bottle, The Mayor was right behind, climbing up into my lap and wanting to hold the bottle. Then he would lean over and give Bennett kisses. It was so sweet and made me realize he is going to be such a sweet and caring big brother. But it is going to be tough. All of my friends with more than one child have said going from one to two children is the toughest. You really take for granted just having the one child to focus on. I am pretty sure I will be exhausted for the first couple of months, but I know it will be so worth it!

I can hear The Mayor waking up from his nap. He just said "momma, are you?". So for now, I am going to get my precious boy and enjoy the fact that it is just him for the next 8 1/2 weeks and spoil him rotten with my time.

watching over his cousin

The Mayor wanted to lie down next to Bennett

I can't believe The Mayor used to be that little...

giving Bennett a kiss...this was kiss number 37 of the day

soothing his cousin by rocking his chair

grandparents

I believe God's gift to every parent is grandparents. And thank heaven one set of The Mayor's grandparents live 3 miles down the street from us. If you had asked me 15 years ago if I would ever want my parents to live 3 miles from me, I would have said "heck no". And the "heck" probably would have been replaced by something not appropriate for the family blog. But cut to more than a decade later, and I could not be more thrilled that my parents are just 3 miles away. They love our child more than I think they love us (and I am totally fine with that) and they are always willing to watch The Mayor (which I am really totally fine with).

PopPop and Mamie usually watch The Mayor on Wednesday nights so we can go to our small group. I am not sure who looks forward to it more, them or The Mayor. Today was one of those days where I could not drop him off early enough, and once I did, I threatened to maybe not come back to get him. All day today he was so sweet...until we made a trip to Publix. And even then, he was the perfect child. Until I decided to give him a dum-dum lollipop which he accidentally dropped on the floor. He just looked down at it and then started to cry. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't pick it up and give it back to him. And such a rookie mistake, I didn't have a backup. I got him to stop crying when we were in the checkout line and I let him help put our groceries on the conveyor belt. Until we ran out of items and then the waterworks started back up. He was crying so badly that another mother came over and tried to talk to him and occupy him long enough for me to pay and get out of there. We got into the car and I immediately called Mamie to make sure they were home. And off we went...groceries still in the car...to Mamie and PopPop's house.

Of course, in perfect toddler fashion, he was so well-behaved while at Mamie and PopPop's. What is up with that? Don't you just love how your child has no problem being a pill for you but will be such an angel when around other people? Oh well, this is when God's gift to us parents really comes in handy. The only thing that would make it even more perfect would be if Big Daddy and MeMe lived closer.

giving "belly kisses" to the dog-dogs

working out on the Wii with Mamie

we're getting there...

It is slow but steady. But we are definitely getting there. After one month of someone in this house being sick, we finally got around to painting The Mayor's new big boy bedroom. And by "we", I of course mean my fantastic husband. I was on "Mayor" duty.

The project officially started yesterday morning when my husband/father of the year woke up on a Saturday morning at 6:45 to get the last few items in the room emptied out and the room prepped...and then the ceiling was painted. The Mayor and I were up and out running errands earlier than normal, but we wanted to be out of the way and avoid as many paint fumes as possible. We stopped by the house around 10:30 AM to pick something up when my husband informed me that he was starting to get sick. Not from the painting, but had the feeling of the flu again. He already had a fever, aches, pains and chills. Not again! Obviously the painting came to a halt and he was laid out all day long.

We were fortunate that a great nights sleep (we were both in bed by 8:30) seemed to do the trick and he woke up feeling 100% better. So after a few more hours of prep (taping off the trim), he got started painting the walls around 2:00 and finished about 5 hours later. But that includes painting the bedroom, the closet, the bathroom and the vanity area. He is a machine!

It looks amazing. I am so happy with the color. Next step, need to put up the crown molding and then get The Mayor moved in. Hopefully, this will all be done in the next week or so. I am ready to get The Mayor's new bedding washed and put into his crib and get his curtains put up and the room decorated. He is moving on from his baby bedding into some big boy train bedding. Can't believe my baby is two. Such a big boy!

Pictures will be posted once the room is complete!

fluke? or sick?

Does this look like the face of a boy who is sick? Nope. But an hour before this picture was taken, The Mayor greeted his Mamie and PopPop by throwing up twice in their driveway. Well, actually once on their driveway and once on him and his daddy while his daddy was trying to get him out of the car. We stripped him down, took him inside Mamie and PopPop's and he immediately calmed down and went to the train table. 10 minutes later he was jumping around and playing. I will ask it again...will it ever end??

I am hoping, hoping, hoping that since he hasn't had much of an appetite for the past 3 days but ate pretty well today that maybe it was too much for his still tender tummy and that is what caused him to be sick. He has been in the best mood since the incident on the driveway; he isn't acting sad and puny like he did earlier in the week when he was really sick. So fingers crossed this is the end of the road and some greener pastures are just around the corner...regardless, I will keep him home tomorrow just to be sure.

he insisted on putting his shoes back on but wouldn't put on clothes

playing with his collection of tupperware

i love family

Meega and Bennett came over today for a play date. I love that my sister is on maternity leave and lives so close, and even happier that we are now finally healthy so we can all be together. It was such a great day, there wasn't much playing, but there was a lot of love. The Mayor loved having his new cousin here, he kept wanting to kiss him and hug him. It was so sweet; he is going to be such a great big brother.

For lunch, we went to Mickey D's for some much needed cheeseburgers and french fries and then home for The Mayor's nap. It was great for me because then I had total cuddle time with my new nephew. Made me miss those days of cuddling with The Mayor but so excited about being able to cuddle with my daughter in just a few short months. Life is so good!

will it ever end?

Seriously, there has to be an end in sight...Day 11 of the first month of the new year and someone in this household has been sick every single one of those days. It started with The Mayor and an upper respiratory virus, moved on to daddy who I believe came down with a case of the flu and then me, I think I had a touch of the upper respiratory virus The Mayor had. The past couple of days The Mayor has seemed like he was on the mend. His fever was gone and his cough was getting so much better...until today. He was acting weird during breakfast; he kept saying he wanted to go "nite nite", even though he had just woken up, and he wasn't interested in eating. A few minutes later...there it was...vomit. 2 years, 2 1/2 months we have gone with The Mayor never throwing up and today was our day. He threw up twice. We went straight to the doctor...I wasn't messing around especially since he had such a bad time with the upper respiratory virus. He was diagnosed with an ear infection and may have a stomach virus. Off we went to Publix to get the prescriptions filled, when...there it was again. He threw up while in his stroller 10 feet from the entrance into Publix. Stripping down a sick child in the parking lot of a grocery store when it is 35 degrees outside...well, let's just say I can think of much better ways to spend my morning. Luckily, my winter coat was in the car so I bundled him up in that to keep him from freezing to death.

Thank goodness my parents only live 3 miles from me and my dad was home. He was able to get the prescriptions to Publix for me while I gave The Mayor a bath and put him in some PJs. Some much needed cuddle time while watching "Cars" took us to nap time, when The Mayor all but asked to be put to bed. You know your baby isn't feeling well when he doesn't leave your lap for over an hour (when he usually won't sit still if he is awake) and then shakes his head "yes" when you ask him if he is tired and wants to go "nite nite". Hopefully a long nap will give The Mayor some energy and he will at least feel like drinking some fluids.

Day 11 of the first month of the new year and I am already done...bring on February...

snowfall

I giggle as I type that title. Typical Atlanta, the news channels all have "Severe Weather Watch" or "Winter Storm Watch 2010" as their lead-ins for the evening news. Seriously, we have a LIGHT dusting of snow. It has covered our deck, but you can still see the grass through the snow. Hardly "severe weather"...but in true Atlanta fashion, school has been canceled for tomorrow. Geez...

It started snowing when The Mayor was napping, and it was still snowing pretty steadily after he woke up. We quickly bundled him up (the only item of winter clothing that stayed on was his coat...the mittens and hood were long taken off). There wasn't nearly enough snow on the ground for him to pick up anything to eat or play with, but it did snow on him. Every once in awhile he would look up and try to catch the snow, other than that, we just played outside with his toys. He lasted about 30-40 minutes before the cold got to him and we headed inside. We kept trying to put the mittens on him to keep him outside, but no such luck.

The Mayor is now sleeping and daddy just got back from the grocery store to stock up on winter weather essentials...you know, ice cream. He did say it was starting to rain outside and the lows tonight are in the teens, so I guess school would have been canceled anyway due to ice. We are going to kick back, relax, eat some ice cream, watch Alabama play Texas in the National Championship game and watch the snow turn into icy slush. 1st snow of the year...sounds about right.

trying to warm up his hands...he just didn't get if he

wore his mittens, he wouldn't be so cold!

it doesn't happen often...

...but when it does, it is pure sweetness. Once every couple of months, something will wake The Mayor up from his slumber and he can't go back to sleep unless he is rescued and cuddled. It is pure joy to wrap him up in his blanket and rock with him in his chair. The way he immediately calms down and then looks at you with a huge smile through red, swollen, wet eyes and then rests his head on your shoulder...makes it all worth it.

Tonight we had one of those nights. And it was bliss. We kissed and said "I love yous" and I rubbed my nose against his. He thought this was so funny. He kept looking at me and saying "momma's nose" prompting me to do it again. Then he would giggle and ask "momma's nose" again. There really isn't much sweeter in this life than the love and innocence from a 2 year old.

Tomorrow morning will be a tough one for me since I have now been up for the past 2 hours; The Mayor is sleeping but I am now wide awake. But I will think about this special moment that only he and I have shared and it will make me smile...and be worth it.

still sick and snow

The Mayor is feeling better, daddy is still sick but not quite as sick as he was earlier in the week, and now I think I am coming down with whatever the heck is going around this house. Boooooo! Just like me, get sick once everybody else is starting to get better. And...it is supposed to snow tomorrow! I love snow, I just hope I am feeling good enough to get myself and The Mayor bundled up to play in it tomorrow afternoon. Who am I kidding, I am getting us out there even if I am on my deathbed. It doesn't snow here often; we aren't going to miss it if the white stuff decides to fall.

Our county is releasing school early tomorrow in anticipation of the afternoon snow. Hope that doesn't jinx us!

sick

Well, so far everyday this year, someone in this house has been sick. True we are only 4 days into the year, but still...

The Mayor is finally on the road to wellness. He hasn't had a fever all day today and his cough sounds so much better. But now daddy is down and out. He had to miss work today and it is looking like he will be out again tomorrow. Luckily, me and Bear have been able to avoid the germs. Hoping it continues to stay that way.

This week has been boring. We haven't really gone anywhere and it is too cold to play outside, so we have been held up in the house watching a lot of TV. I think we have watched about 56 episodes of Thomas, his new Thomas movie about 4 times and now we are on to the movie "Cars". We usually don't watch this much TV, but with a sick toddler, a sick husband and a pregnant self, the energy level in this house is subpar. It is sad when you are actually looking forward to your dentist appointment in the morning so you can get out of the house. And if everyone has a great night tonight, we plan on meeting Meega and Bennett at the mall tomorrow for a little outing and some lunch. Praying for a great night!

"helping" me fold the laundry

going "nite nite" with daddy

until he heard me taking pictures and then "nite nite" was over

*the picture at the beginning was taken earlier in the week when The Mayor was really sick...he looked so sad

happy new year

We are ready for 2010 and all the excitement it is sure to bring. 2010 we will go from a family of 3 to a family of 4, we will learn the ins and outs, ups and downs and joys and stresses of having a son and a daughter, and I will hopefully not lose my mind as I learn to balance the needs of not one child but two children as I continue my role as stay-at-home mother.

Until all of that fun begins, I will continue to enjoy this weekend and the fact that daddy is still on vacation and there are two sets of hands to handle one sick child. The Mayor is still sick...we went back to the doctor this morning because he is still running a fever and his cough is horrible. Still looks like a virus, to which I am thankful, but I do wish this virus would quickly leave! Until then, we are staying put and plans to paint The Mayor's new big boy bedroom are put on hold. I don't want the paint fumes in the house while he is coughing like he is. But that is ok, we are still 11 weeks away from Bear's arrival, so we have time.

Happy New Year!