Mother/Son Bonding

Rob chose to work this weekend so P and I have had plenty of bonding time.


Yesterday we spent most of the day outside, enjoying the beautiful weather. We went to the park, where he rode his trike. We also played in our yard for quite awhile, walking around, exploring and throwing rocks into the horse trough. After being outside, we decided to go cheer on P's babysitter at her high school basketball game. Our next door neighbor was also doing the halftime cheerleading and we wanted to watch her as well. When we first walked in, P was mesmerized by all the people and music. He made me proud when he put his hand over his heart (with my help) for the National Anthem. Once the game started he lost interest...quickly. 5 minutes into the game he was saying "Done". When I ignored him, he started doing the sign for it as well as saying it. I guess he thought I didn't hear him so if I saw him then I'd acknowledge him. I bought him some popcorn and that did the trick, as did the mascot. The Mucker mascot is a teacher or parent that wears jeans, sweatshirt and a big grizzly looking mask. P just stared at him the whole time. At one point the mascot came over and asked for High 5. P licked his hand then slapped the guy's hand. The guy didn't seem bothered by the slobbery High 5. (I watched when he walked away to see if he'd use hand sanitizer- like I would- but he didn't so my guess is he's a parent). After our neighbor did her little cheer routine we left because P was antsy again and I wanted to get home for the NASCAR shootout. In our house we don't celebrate Valentine's Day (aka Hallmark Holiday) but we celebrate the opening weekend of NASCAR. (You can read about my thoughts on tomorrow's holiday....well, tomorrow).
This morning P and I went to the early service. About 10 minutes into the service, our pastor got up to announce that someone in the congregation had passed away. P took that opportunity to shout,"Daddy!". I put him in my lap and told him we'd go bye-bye in a few minutes. Wrong thing to say! He started yelling,"Buh-bye" and waving to everyone. I quickly scooped him up and took him to the foyer where he proceeded to run around and entertain the stragglers out there. He was getting so loud that I finally decided it was best to leave. We came home and read about 7 or 8 books and now he's down for a nap. I should be studying for my exam but when given the choice between studying or writing you know what I'll choose every time.
Stayed tuned to hear about P's first Hallmark Holiday party that's happening this afternoon and my thoughts on the romantic national holiday.......

Too Much

I pondered whether to write this, knowing I'd receive no sympathy from the readers, but Rob said he was tired of reading "Slumber Party" so here are my thoughts. Some weeks 2 days of work seems like a lot! I know, I know! No sympathy but I just had to get that out in the open. My wonderful husband, who usually works 7 days a week, shot daggers at me when I mentioned that to him over dinner.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love everything about my job. But, it makes for a long day when your toddler is sick, you're not feeling 100% and you don't sleep well. That was the case yesterday. To top it off, I had an eye appt that I was late for because all the buildings look the same and I haven't been there in a year. (I don't have to go back for another year because my optometrist told me he can't make my vision any more perfect than it already is, thank you very much!). So I left the house at 7am with a toddler who was under the weather and didn't get home until 5:30pm. Then I had to make dinner with a fussy toddler hanging on my leg. Fortunately, Rob helped clean up and gave P a bath so I could wash the dishes. After I put P to bed I was beyond tired so I soaked in a hot tub. I was supposed to study for this 3 hr exam I have in a couple weeks but my brain was mush.
I was kind of praying that P would be under the weather enough this morning that I wouldn't have to go to work. But he woke up not coughing as much and definitely not as fussy. So I couldn't justify not going to work since I had only worked one day this entire week. But man, oh man, even though today was much better I was sure happy when that 3 o'clock bell rang, signaling the weekend. Bummer that some people aren't as fortunate to have the weekend off. Rob's alarm will be going off at 4:30am so he can begin day 6 of his work week. (At which point I will be grabbing his pillow to put over my head so I can get 2 more hours of shut eye.) Guess I won't be getting any sympathy from him for this blog, but I'm sure glad my 2 day work week is over. It was rough!

Slumber Party

When I was a little girl and was invited to slumber parties I would be excited for days. The girls and I would have fun enjoying junk food, girl talk and staying up way too late. Now when I think of slumber parties I cringe. Maybe it's because I'm older or maybe it's because my slumber parties these days don't include the fun times that they used to. Either way, I am no longer a fan of them anymore. Please give me the honor of describing my latest slumber party....
I was sound asleep, next to my husband, enjoying sweet dreams when all of a sudden I was awoken by screaming. I groaned, rolled over and prayed it'd stop. No such luck! After about 20 minutes of listening to P cry and scream I went to his room. I rocked him and rubbed his back, praying he'd fall back to sleep. When that didn't happen, I took everything off the QUEEN sized bed so he and I could have our monthly slumber party. It started out great and I thought, "Finally I'll get some sleep!". Yeah right! First his head rammed into my lower back then it moved to a side kick into my ribs. The fun of getting head butted, kicked and punched went on for about 6 hours. My slumber party buddy ended up sleeping sideways when he did sleep and took up the entire bed! When I dared to open my eyes this morning, P was patiently waiting for me to wake up to inform me of the obvious.... a plane was flying over our house. I guess some things don't change: little to no sleep and one person always wakes up first, waiting for everyone else to wake up. I'm sure one day I'll appreciate even the slumber parties with P but right now I just really appreciate a huge cup of coffee!

P(isms)

P is full of funny antics and entertains us daily. Today was no exception. Here are some funny things that took place today:
* Walked around and played for HOURS, holding a sweet pickle. He licked it but never ate it. Finally I took it from him because of how many times it fell on the ground.
* In the car he held up his foot and said, "Please help", wanting his shoes and socks taken off (This is a daily occurrence).
* He loves the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" so he plays that on one of his toys and waves his hands, twisting his wrists, trying to do the spider part of the song.
* He tried to open mouth kiss/lick his lil(male)buddy when their play date ended.
* I made homemade chili tonight and knew P wouldn't be a big fan. So, I gave him applesauce with his chili. He proceeded to take his chili out of the bowl and put it in his applesauce bowl. Then he ate both as a combination.
* My dad plays cars with him and says, "1,2,3....GO!" before rolling the car across the floor. Today, P brought his toys to the kitchen and would say, "2...GO!" and LAUNCH his cars across the floor.
* After dinner he saw Rob relaxing on his recliner. P went over to his "recliner", put his hands behind his head and crossed his ankles, relaxing himself.
* Last but certainly not least.... During his bath he grabbed his testicles and yelled, "Balls!", proud of his discovery.

He constantly makes us belly laugh! We are so very thankful to be blessed with such a fabulous kiddo and we never take him for granted!!!

Let's Recap....

I was woken up way before I wanted to this morning which started my day out wrong. Then we ate breakfast in shifts because I didn't get all the french toast done at the same time....grrrrr! After breakfast, P and I went out to enjoy the beautiful weather while Rob watched "Cars". With the gorgeous weather and training last Sunday, I thought we'd have a good training with Ruby today. Wrong! Well, I take that back. I did not have a good training with Ruby but Rob did. On the way home we grabbed pizza for the Superbowl.
Now I am not a huge football fan. I don't understand the fascination with grown men wearing tight clothes (white pants none the less), chasing each other on an "empty" field to gain possession of a piece of leather. Kinda freaky if you ask me....especially if you add in all the butt smacking that takes place. But, that being said, I enjoy the Superbowl for the parties, food and commercials. However this year Rob asked that we don't go to a Superbowl party because his team, the Packers, were on and he wanted to hear the coverage. So I agreed, still looking forward to the food and commercials. Well, the pizza was devoured before we even got home and the only good commercials were the McDonald's bear one and the Darth Vader starting the car. There's been no "wardrobe malfunctions" or controversial plays or even good fights. So, that being said, I am spending the 4th quarter sitting on the toilet. Watching P take a bath of course. Good luck boys! I'm sure you'll play just fine without me watching the game!!

Gorgeous Genoa

Yesterday we decided to have a family exploring time so we went to a new place about an hour from here! Genoa is my new favorite "I-want-to-live-there-in-my-dreams-and-if-it-didn't-get-dark-there-at-2pm" place. It's a quaint historical town. We drove through it and had to stop to let the deer cross the road. Then we went back to the community park and let P run around. He collected sticks and watched more deer while Rob and I had a knife throwing contest (I won by the way!). We went to a few of the historical buildings and shops. Then we drove back through the town. As we were leaving Rob called his friend, John, who lives down the road. He invited us over so we went to his house for awhile. P slept in the car but when he woke up he and John played with his tractor and some rocks. Once we got home I did a quick cleaning then our neighbors came over for dinner. It was such a great Saturday! I love visiting new places and exploring so the combination was perfect. I love family days spent in the beautiful outdoors!!

Ode to the iPhone

Just like TV, I'm not big on cell phones being "babysitters" for kids. However, P sees me on my phone A LOT...probably too much. On the way home from the store, P asked for it. He held it up, said "Cheese!" and "took" a picture with my phone. He did it like a pro! Then a few minutes later he held the phone up to his ear. He plugged his other ear and had quite the "conversation" with his daddy. At one point he laughed hysterically and nodded his head. So whatever they were "talking" about was funny. He cracks me up, catches on quickly, (ok, maybe he's seen me on the phone SEVERAL times) and is so good with technology! Gotta love modern times!!!!