Five on Friday

1. Today is my mama's birthday! This past Monday was my mother-in-laws birthday so tomorrow we are taking both moms out to lunch to celebrate together. I love the fact that both of our moms like each other so much. They are actually really similar which is probably why I get along with my MIL so well. 

2. Last night I had to go downtown for a work event. I very rarely go to after hour work events because I prefer to spend my evenings with my little family. I already feel bad enough being away from Hunter for 50 hours a week. Anyways, I had to go last night and wasn't able to get home until after Hunter was in bed. Kristian told me that when he put Hunter to bed and was closing the door he heard him say "nigh night mama" ugh! Kills me. And THIS is why I want to be the one putting him to bed every night. 

3. Hearing all the stories of the people stuck on the highways in Atlanta and Alabama is just more reason why I work from home on days when they are calling for snow. We had a similar situation a few years back in the DC area. Fortunately I made it home in 2 hours but I had coworkers that spent 8 hours on the road that day. Basically one of my worst nightmares. No point risking an accident or getting stuck when I can work just as easily from my house.

4. Hunters two little friends on our street are both having birthday parties in February (one is on Sunday). Best part is both parties are at their houses, I love when I can just walk to a party. Worst part is trying to buy the kids a birthday gift, I never know what toys they already have and end up taking forever to pick something out that I think they might like/won't annoy the parents.

5. After finally finishing a book I started reading back in August (!) I started reading Divergent this past week. It definitely reminds me of The Hunger Games but I like it so far and hopefully can finish it before the movie comes out. I love to read but I've gotten really bad about not taking the time to do it (other than reading my US Weeklys).

Why I sometimes go to bed angry

One of the most common pieces of advice that couples receive before they get married is "never go to bed angry" well I have to admit that I don't really agree with this advice, at least not for me. This was actually a topic that Kristian and I had to discuss quite a bit during our pre-marriage counseling because we are very different in how we prefer to handle conflict.

He always wants to hash things out immediately and definitely falls into the "never go to bed angry" camp. I, however, prefer to stew a bit before diving right into whatever we are disagreeing about. I like to have time to really think about and compose my thoughts/arguments on the subject and even if we "resolve" a disagreement a lot of times I'm still worked up about it for at least a day afterwards.

So for me, whenever I'm upset about something, especially if that something happens in the evening I would prefer to just go to bed. Sleep on it. And hopefully wake up more clear headed, less angry and better able to discuss whatever the issue is because it's amazing how in the light of morning issues that seemed SO huge the night before no longer seem to matter quite as much. If I'm forced to talk things out immediately I have more of a tendency to say things I may regret later.

This obviously is something we've had to work on and adjust to since our styles are completely opposite but for the most part we've done well. I think my husband now understand that giving me some space before duking it out typically works out more in his favor while I understand that I can't keep him or our issues left hanging forever. As much as I hate conflict I've found that discussing/resolving things within a 24 period usually works out best for the both of us.

SWW

This Week I'm Saying So What If:

-I have teleworked the last two days because of the weather. I hate driving in snow and I'm not good at it. Plus I'm not really busy at work right now so anything that does come up I can easily do from home. 

-Staying home with Hunter the last 5 days (including the weekend and MLK day) has made me wish I could be a stay at home mom. I'm loving this time with my little guy and I'm really not ready to go back to the office tomorrow. 

-One of the main reasons I took Hunter out to play in the snow yesterday was to get some cute pictures. It's not often that we get a good amount of snow and I really want these pictures to look back on when he's older. I still get a kick out of looking at photos of me as a toddler playing in snow. On the plus side he absolutely had a blast. 

-The other night we wouldn't let Hunter out of his booster seat until he ate at least some of his dinner. He's become extremely picky, especially at dinner time and bribing doesn't seem to be working. When Kristian was younger his parents wouldn't let him leave the table until he ate his dinner so we're working on that approach (within reason considering Hunter is only 2). Our goal is to get him to at least try his food before we let him get up. 

-I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I should have the last 5 days being home. I have done some cleaning and laundry but I would rather play with Hunter and then just be lazy during naptime. 

-I let Hunter watch two episodes of Mickey in a row last night so that I could make dinner in peace. 

-I liked the movie Frozen more than Hunter did. If it had more trucks and buses in it than he probably would have liked it more. 

Taking a Snow Day

Today our area got hit with several inches of snow. Living in Northern VA, snow is a pretty big deal and schools were already shut down as of last night just in anticipation of the impeding weather. Kristian went in to work for a couple hours early this morning and was home before the snow hit. I decided to forego my hour commute and telework while also spending the day with my little guy.

After Hunter woke up from a 3 hour nap we headed outside to check out the snow. He had a blast. He loved running through the snow chasing after Moxie and despite the frigid temps was very upset when we finally brought him inside.

Five on Friday

1. Hunter officially moved to the 2-3 year old room this week or what they call Preschool 1A class. Umm how is my baby already in preschool??! He loves it, he had been crying a lot during drop off but the last two days when I've dropped him off in his new room, no tears just smiles. Apparently he was telling his other teacher that he didn't like that room because it was the "baby room". He's happy to be reunited with the older boys that transitioned in the fall. 

2. This weekend I'm getting my mom's treadmill that she no longer wants. I've been wanting one for a while, not so much to lose weight but just to get more active and be healthy. The only time I really have to work out is either early in the morning before Hunter wakes up or at night after he's in bed and I'm not going to do that outside in the dark or spend lots of money on a gym membership so hopefully this will work better for me. 

3.Hunter has gotten into a habit of yelling mine and Kristian's first names if we don't immediately respond to his calls of "mama" or "daddy". It's part hysterical and part annoying. I really didn't expect this until his teenage years. I keep telling him that he is to call me Mama or Mommy.

4. I haven't really watched American Idol the past few years, I couldn't stand the judges. I swear if I heard Randy say 'You're in it to win it dawg" one more time I would lose my mind. But I did tune in on Wednesday night to watch because I actually like J.Lo and I love Harry Connick Jr. I thought it was pretty good so I may try watching more this year but I don't think I will catch every episode. I'm just glad they got rid of that awful Nicki Minaj, she was just terrible and in my opinion had no right to critique anybody.

5. Both my mother and mother-in-law have a birthday the last week of January and I have no idea what to get either of them. It's hard enough shopping for them for Christmas and then a month later have to figure out something to get each of them.

SWW

This week I'm saying So What if:

-I've been letting Hunter watch more t.v. in the evenings than we used to. By the time I get home it's dark and cold, we're both tired and I really like the snuggle time. Once spring comes I'm sure we'll be back outside playing more in the evenings. 

-I turned down the chance to drink some of a $250 glass of Louis XIII cognac Friday night. My company had our post-holiday holiday dinner at Capital Grille (a fancy steakhouse) and my boss let the table order two glasses of Louis XIII cognac which is $250 PER glass. The bartendar was a little heavy handed and split up the two glasses so everyone could have their own tiny glass to sip on. I didn't try it because I don't like cognac and didn't want to waste it. 

-I'm pretty sure I'm suffering from SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. I've just been kind of bummed out for various reasons and I know the cold weather, getting home when it's dark out and not really having any fun holidays coming up isn't helping.

-I'm going to tell Kristian to buy me a Valentine's Day gift this year. The past two years I told him he didn't have to get me anything, so he didn't, and I was secretly annoyed at the end of the day. So this year I'm going to just own up to the fact that I want something. Nothing expensive but just something little and cute, isn't that one of the perks of having a husband? 

-I try to bribe my kid with dessert in order to get him to eat his dinner. He's become so picky lately and not wanting to even eat foods he's liked in the past so I tell him if he eats even some of everything on his plate he can have a treat afterwards. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. 

-Our Christmas lights are still up outside. We don't actually turn them on but they are still up. Hopefully my husband will take them down this weekend.

-I haven't started Hunters 2 year photobook yet. It's such a time consuming task that I keep putting it off. 

Wheels on the Bus Party

After last years first birthday party which I spent way too much time, money and stress on I said I wanted to keep things more low key this year. Kristian kept reminding me of this and giving me the side-eye everytime I brought up something else I wanted to buy or do for Hunters party. What can I say? When you find a theme and see all the shit on Pinterest for said theme it's hard to reel yourself in. BUT I do think that I kept things a bit on the smaller side this year as far as decorations/DIY/expense. With all that said I don't plan to host another birthday party for him at our house for at least a few years. It's a lot of work no matter how small you go.

Since Hunter is obsessed with buses we had a Wheels on the Bus theme and he loved it. It actually wasn't that hard to pull off and we did most of the setting up the day of during his nap time. We had about 25 people which is a lot for our small house but it was mainly our immediate families and some of Hunters little friends and their parents.

First up the decorations:

I framed the birthday invitation and the cute bus photo I had gotten of him at Chuck E Cheese, placed those and some of his toy buses on the mantle and hung up each of his monthly photos for the past year (I don't plan on taking anymore monthly photos).

 Our invitations were done by Kristen at Little Laws Prints and they were adorable. 

Kristian came up with the idea to make a bus out of some boxes that the kids could play in. It turned out awesome and the kids all got a kick out of playing in it. I also took a black table cloth and painted some white lines on it to look like a road. I put this on our coffee table with some more bus toys and on our cake/dessert table.

The favors were very simple and basic since I made them just for the kids. I ordered a bunch of really tiny metal school buses from Amazon and added those with some bubbles, stickers, markers and candy.

The cake/dessert table was my favorite party. We had a banner made from Little Laws Prints and my future sister-in-law made the bus cake (she also made a firetruck cake to ensure we would have enough for everyone).

The sweets used were based on the Wheels on the Bus song (I can't lie I found this idea on Pinterest). We had donut holes for the wheels, cry baby candies for the baby that goes wah wah wah, chocolate Twizzlers for the wipers that go swish swish.

We also had sugar wafers for the doors that open and close, Bugles for the horn that goes beep beep and chocolate gold coins for the coins that go clink clink. I had ordered cute bus place cards to write what each item was but because of the weather they didn't deliver in time.

For the rest of the food we did basic appetizers, veggie and cheese tray with crackers, pigs in a blanket, meatballs, chicken nuggets etc. Most of the food was eaten.

I got Hunters Bus birthday shirt off of Etsy. He loved it.

Hunter had a great time playing with his little friends. My mom kept commenting on how well he did at the party, he didn't seem shy or fussy. I think the 2 hour nap beforehand helped. 

My friend Kelli brought her 3 year old son and 11 week old daughter so I got to have some baby snuggles. It's amazing how quickly you forget how small they start out as. Surprisingly Hunter didn't get jealous seeing me hold the baby. He came up and wanted to see her but really didn't have much interest. 

We opened gifts which, thanks to Christmas, Hunter is a pro at now. However, one of the first gifts he opened was a truck and he kept wanting to just play with that rather than finish opening everything. 

My mother-in-law painted this amazing little rocking chair for him. She had been working on it since October and the detail she put in it is amazing. Such a great keepsake for him to have.

We then sang and Hunter blew out his candle (with a little help from me).

I was so happy that two of my oldest and dearest friends could make the party. I've been friends with Kelli (on the left) since middle school and Colleen (in the middle) since college.

The party really couldn't have gone any better and the main thing was that Hunter had fun. So much fun in fact that he woke up at 1:30am and puked twice from all the candy and sweets he had eaten. The first time was on me, so that was fun. I guess next year I will try to monitor his sweets intake a little better.

SWW

This week I'm saying So What if:

-I think it's a bit silly that schools were closed yesterday for cold. I realize we live in VA and aren't used to this but it's not FL. Kids do have coats, hats, gloves etc. It's called layering and if you are really that worried about your kid standing outside for the bus then drive them to school or keep them home. That's your choice. Schools were open today and it felt the same outside to me as yesterday did. 

-I don't get the whole "my word for the year is _____". It just seems silly and pointless to me. Just make a resolution like everyone else. More than likely you won't keep it anyways. 

-I was so happy that Kristian actually wanted to watch The Bachelor with me last night (I DVR'd it). He likes watching all the crazy chicks and it's funny to gets a guys take on all the girls and their behavior. 

-I was incredibly annoyed that 3 items I ordered from Amazon Prime for Hunters birthday party a week in advance (Prime is supposed to deliver in 2 days) didn't arrive in time for his party due to the weather. We made due just fine without them and now I can send the items back for a refund which is nice but it was still frustrating. 

-We still haven't fully cleaned up and put everything away from Hunters birthday party over the weekend. I just didn't have the energy on Sunday and now that I'm back at work I"m too tired in the evenings. Maybe this weekend we'll get our house back in order.

-I'm not planning on having any more of Hunters birthday parties at our house for several years, from now on we will do places like Chuck E Cheese or bowling or indoor activity centers where all we really need to do is bring the cake and goody bags. I've enjoyed doing his last two parties at the house with a fun theme but it is a lot of work and expensive and I think as he gets older he will enjoy going to fun places with his buddies more.

-All the stuff I had planned to do around the house during my two weeks at home didn't get done. Between the holidays and Hunters birthday and party the time just flew and I had other stuff to do or places to go everyday. Oh well. 

More fun than it was 2 years ago

This past Dec. 30th I spent the day in a much more enjoyable way than I did on the same day two years ago. Not that meeting my son wasn't enjoyable but let's be honest, labor followed by an emergency C-section with anesthesia is not a really pleasant experience. Since Hunters birthday fell on a Monday this year I decided to take the day off of work, keep him home from daycare and spend the day together having fun. Since Hunter will never have to go to school on his birthday due to it falling over winter break I really want to try to always take off work and spend the day together. At least until he gets old enough to want to hang out with his buddies instead of his boring, old mom.

When he woke up we just hung out in my bed and cuddled while he watched videos on the iPad for a while, followed by a breakfast of pancakes and muffins and playing with his Christmas presents. Around 11 we went to the nearby "Big boy park" with our neighbor/Hunters girlfriend. When we first got there it was empty which was great. The two kids were able to run around without worrying about any older kids knocking them over. Kristian was able to get off work early and meet us there. 

After we got home, we ate a quick lunch and Hunter took a nap. When he woke up we decided to give him his birthday present from us which is a battery operated ride on ATV from Bass Pro. Whenever we looked in the Bass Pro Christmas Catalog he would point to it and say "Mine".

He likes to push it and even sit on it and move it with his feet but he's too scared to push the button and just ride on it right now. Hopefully by the time it gets warms outside again he won't be so scared.

After that we decided to take him to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. It was also Kristian's first time at Chuck E Cheese which I found shocking. I went there so many times growing up and even had a couple birthday parties there.

Hunter was fascinated by all the lights, sounds and other kids. He and Kristian played a few of the games but he was too scared to get on any of the little rides. I actually think Kristian had more fun than Hunter did and he plans to take him back some afternoon after daycare.

I was so excited to get this picture since I was able to frame it and have it out during his Wheels on the Bus birthday party.

We got home and had pizza for dinner (his favorite) then had our neighbors come back over for cupcakes. The two kids played for a while until it was bedtime.

We finally upgraded Hunter from high chair to booster seat and he LOVES it. 

It ended up being a really great day and I think Hunter had a lot of fun as well. I know he still doesn't quite understand that it was his birthday and what that means and just thought it was an extra fun day with mom and dad but it was important to me that we spend this day together as we have the past two years.

Month 24 Update

This will be the last monthly update.

Weight/Height- As of your 2 year checkup you now weigh 34 pounds and are 35 inches tall and are perfectly healthy!

Eating- You still prefer to snack over having a full meal. Favorites include- applesauce, oranges, cheese, pasta, crackers, cheerios, cherry tomatoes, any kind of sweet or candy, muffins.

Sleep- In bed by 8pm and up around 6:30am. Still napping about 2 hours a day.

Clothes- 24 months, 2T and wearing sizes 6 and 7 shoes.

Appearance- hair is getting darker and turning more light brown. Green/grey/blue eyes. 

Likes- All things having to do with buses, cars and trucks. Now obsessed with construction trucks. You love watching Mickey Mouse and Modern Family. You still love to play outside though it doesn't happen as often since it's so cold out. You like to help me bake muffins and call yourself the muffin man. 

Milestones-

-You can speak in short sentences.

-You know the words to multiple songs including Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Little Star, No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and the ABC song.

-Can count to ten

-Can say most of your ABC's (by singing)

-Can recognize and say many different kinds of construction trucks including dump truck, loader, bull dozer and excavator.

-Recognize most family members and say their names when looking at photos. 

-You now sit in a booster seat at the table instead of the high chair and you love it. 

-Had your first trip to Chuck E Cheese. 

-You've peed and pooped on the potty at daycare many times but still not fully potty trained (mainly because I'm too lazy to do it at home)

-You know and can say all the names of the kids in your class.

Everyone, including your teachers tell us how smart and advanced you are especially with your verbal skills. We are so proud of you!!

Day 1

It's Jan. 1st the start of another year. Most people spend this time reflecting on the past year and making resolutions for the upcoming year. For us 2013 was a good year. Every year since 2008 we've had at least one major life change and I had anticipated a pretty calm 2013 and for the most part that's what we got. We did take a wonderful trip to the Cayman Islands for my sister-in-laws wedding, we bought a new car and I got a job promotion and raise. But nothing as major as years past which included getting married, buying a house and having a baby.

Looking ahead to 2014 I have the same resolutions I always have, the typical- eat better, budget better, get more organized yadda yadda yadda. And I do intend to try to work towards improving in those areas. But mainly I just want to continue to be the best wife, mother and friend I can be. I want to focus on my little family. We are really enjoying the age Hunter is in right now and watching him learn new tricks everyday. We are still discussing a possible baby #2 and I think this year we will hopefully make a decision one way or another as to whether or not we want to be one and done or try for another.

I haven't had too much to complain about the past few years. Like everyone we've had our good times and bad but overall things have been pretty good and my biggest wish for this year is that we continue with that trend. Having more ups than downs, more smiles than tears. The details aren't that important.

Last night for the 6th time I rang in the New Year with the love of my life. Even though we didn't get dressed up or go out there is no where else I would have rather been then with him while our baby boy slept upstairs. I can't wait to see what this new year has in store for us.