Bad mom of the year award!

Well, we all have these stories but I think this one takes the cake for me. Discipline is never a fun thing especially when you are trying to have fun at the zoo...

My awesome girlfriend, Jenny, and her daughter, Emma, are in town for the week visiting.  Since we are such great mom's we decided to treat our kiddo's to a day at the zoo.  Not only that but we (actually Jenny) gave in and paid for them to make bracelets out of glass beads (thanks to the zoo for so perfectly locating that station at the entrance).  Tyler insisted that he wanted a necklace instead of a bracelet.  And once again, me being the wonderful mom that I am, obliged and spent the next 15 minutes putting together a necklace for my angel.  Well, apparently it didn't measure up to his likes and the whining began.  A couple threats later he was still going.  That was about the time the necklace came apart and the beads went back into the bowl... no necklace, or bracelet, for him!  As you can imagine he was not a happy camper.  That was about the time the good old arm crossing and "huh" came out.  As parents do, I tried to ignore him.  He found a nice place on a rock near the African Savannah to pout about his misfortune.  After a few attempts to make him laugh, I gave up telling him that he better get up and walk because we were moving on.  In an effort to prove a point I kept walking glancing back to my stubborn child camped out on the rock.  Just out of sight for him, I stopped to watch and see what he was going to do.  Enter worried stranger.  I can only imagine what he must have been thinking when he walks up to find a 4 year old crouched over and crying on a rock, no obvious parent with him.  That's when Tyler looked up to see that we were indeed not there and started crying even more.  Well, thanks to the nice, caring gentleman my attempt to prove my point was spoiled and I had to go running back to him explaining that I was indeed his mother and promising that I really wasn't abandoning him on the rock, as much as I may have wanted to at that point.  Walking back to the stroller with child in tow Jenny so nicely proclaimed that I had indeed won the Worst Mother of the Year Award today!  If only I had a picture to go with it.

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy, we love you because...

 

You wrestle with us

You keep us safe

You read us stories

You take us to the park

You work hard for our family

You fight for our counrty

You take us to school

You kiss us good night

You give us toys

You watch movies with us

You lay with us until we go to sleep

You love our mommy

You love us

But most of all because you are the best daddy in the world!

 Thank you for all that you do for us.  We are counting the days until you get home so please stay safe and strong.  We are here waiting for you!  We love you to the moon and back... always!

Love,

Tyler and Alexander ( and mommy)

A picture is worth a thousand words!

A boy and his horse

There are many reasons why we love to visit Grandma and Grandpa in California but I would have to say that the horses are at the top of the list (next to Grandma and Grandpa that is!).  Tyler had a blast running amok on the ranch while I took full advantage of the extra help and indulged in some relaxation and solo outings.  Thank you Grandma Jill and Grandpa Jan, we had a great time!

Quick update from Iraq...

Please pray for Dan and his company as three of his soldiers have been injured while out on a mission.  We miss Dan more than anything and this come as a real eye opener this close to the end.  Although their mission has not been extremely dangerous, this is a reminder that there is still an enemy out there.  Please pray for his safe return in August.  We love him and want him home more that words could ever say!  Stay safe baby!

It most certainly was not me monday...

I got this idea from another blog and thought it was very fitting, as this week I have had many not me moments.  Enjoy!

I most certainly did not leave my precious little 5 weeks old asleep by himself on a couch... unattended... and was definitely not laying on his stomach when I did that!

I did not leave Alex asleep in a swing and go out to watch Tyler riding his horse and come back to find him all sweaty from screaming so hard. 

I, a NICU nurse, surely has not let my infant sleep in my bed for the past 5 weeks.

I did not let Tyler have a can of pop simply because I did not want to put up the fight when I said no and have to answer the question "why can you have pop and I can't?".

Everybody knows it was not me that let my child wear cowboy boots with shorts out in public!

It was not me who let her child out in San Francisco with no socks on.  Thanks to all those strangers who felt the need to comment.  Come on people, it was 70 degrees out!

It wasn't me, a breastfeeding mom that had a glass of wine with dinner last night!

Lastly, it most certainly was not me that let me child pee in a beautiful public pond in San Francisco...

OK, so I really didn't but this picture sure looks like I did!

A day in San Francisco...

Tyler, Alex and I headed down to the Bay for a day.  Margaret was brave enough to join us for the adventure.  Much to my surprise Tyler was great and Alex was a real trooper.  We enjoyed food, fun street shows, watching the sea lions, a visit to the Exploratorium, dinner at The Rainforest Cafe and a ride on the Carousel.  I even got a cool surprise on the way home...  Tyler says to me "Mom, since you do everything for me, this picture is for you!"  Ahh, finally some appreciation!  

Thank you Margaret for joining us.  We had so much fun!

At the beautiful pond outside the Exploratorium.

Trying out the big chair

Giredelli Square

Margaret and Alex

Picture post from not so sunny California!

We made it!

Monday was a big day... Tyler and I made it around Greenlake.  It was a beautiful day for a jog.  Thanks Auntie Colleen for the motivation (and the pushes) that got us around!  Let's do it again soon!

Apparently I have a lot to teach him...

Tyler and I were hanging around the house today when he came out of his room with a pez dispenser and some candies (not quite sure why there was candy in his room).  Sitting down at the table with me he says, "Mommy, you want some?"  I told him no thank you but thank you very much for offering.  He replied with "Why not? ".  I said I just didn't feel like candy (it was, afterall, 10 in the morning and I was still working on my coffee!).  He then said "Is it because you have a fat tummy?".  Yes, Tyler, Thank you very much!  Got to love him.

Later this is the what I found laying on my couch.  Do you think he is trying to say something...

My new favorite thing... wearing my baby!  And my new hair-do (I think Alex liked it).  

And last but not least... my little 1 month old.  I couldn't catch any of his smiles, but he does!

What a difference a month makes!

Here are some pictures of Alex at 3 days and at 1 month.  He is growing up so fast... make it slow down please!

1 month 3 days

While having a husband gone is not easy and sometimes (a lot of the time) downright hard, it is made a little easier with the help of friends.  All I can do to keep my mind off how much I miss Dan and wish he was here is to keep busy.  Sometimes it feels like I never stop and when I do I get sad, frustrated, mad and just plain fed up.  Don't get me wrong, I am so proud of Dan and all that he has accomplished and I am SO proud to say my husband is a soldier.  However, I am just done with this deployment stuff!  I want my husband back!  I want our family together.  It isn't fair that he is missing out on so much and that we are missing out on our daddy!  

In an effort to keep busy Lauren so graciously took us to the lake cabin in Lake Chelan this past weekend.   While it can never totally be relaxing with a 4 week old and a 4 year old we had a lot of fun.  Tyler and Alex did wonderful on the 3 hour drive.   Sunday was a challenging day for Tyler.  Whether it is the new baby, having daddy gone or just being tired he is having s rough time lately.  Well, maybe I should say I am having a rough time.  He is perfectly happy to be talking back to me and constantly whining.  All of this would seem much easier to deal with, I am sure, with a full nights sleep!  The whining and defiance almost sent us home, but we rallied and made it to the water park.  I am so glad that we did.  It was 4 hours of good old fun.  There was no yelling, no discipline needed and the look on Tyler's face as we raced down the slides was priceless.  I so needed to see him happy like that because lately I feel like all I can do is upset him.  We all needed that!  Thank you Lauren for making this trip possible.  Although we(Tyler and I that is) had our moments, I think we all had a wonderful time.  There is no way I could have done it on my own.  I can't wait to do it again!

On the home front we are doing as well as can be expected.  Last night was a rough one.  Alex has turned a corner in the last few days, and not a good one.  He is wanting to eat every 1.5-2 hours and has been awfully fussy the past 2 days.  If he is not being held or fed he will let us know!  I feel as if he is having tummy aches because his cry is not just a I want to be held or changed kind of a cry.  He seems to think that the only thing to make him feel better is to nurse and then he gets even more upset because it hurts more.  Poor little guy.  If only he would take to the binky like Tyler did.  Tyler is a champ and does what he can to comfort his brother.  He doesn't seem phased at all by the crying.  On a good note he is more and more alert these days and has even flashed us a few smile (including at 3 am the morning when he was ready to play!).  I can't believe he is 4 weeks already.  Why must this time go so fast?

Tyler's last day of school is today.  We are very sad.  The Children's School has been a wonderful place for us and we are really going to miss it next year.  Let's hope that Our Lady of the Lake is as wonderful as TCS.  

Bring on the summer!