Andrew's Christmas Program

As I said in my last post Andrew was a cow in the Christmas program for his school.  Monday night was the big performance and I was so excited leading up to it.

On Monday I had to pack a lunch for him because they were bussing the kids to the church in the morning to have a little run through and then they were having a picnic lunch with the kids. Andrew was pretty pumped about getting to ride a bus like a big kid and according to J that was all he talked about on the way to school that morning.

I left work at 4:00 so I could go pick him up and get him home to eat dinner before we had to head to the church at 6:00. I put the pants of his costume on him and told him we'd wait til we got there to put the top on so he wouldn't get messed up.  We grabbed the cameras, some snacks for Elliot and the diaper bag and headed out the door.  We got there right at 6:00 and headed in to find out where he was supposed to meet everyone.

We found the room where they would be performing and I took Andrew back to the waiting area. His teachers were rounding everyone up to sit in a circle and I couldn't stop smiling at the cuteness:

I snapped a few pictures and headed out to find our seats.  We had about 20 minutes to entertain Elliot before the program started. Fortunately he was pretty happy to stand in front of us and eat some goldfish snacks while watching all of the action around us:

At 6:30 the director of the school said a few words letting us know that the kids were so excited, but that if anyone saw their child getting upset and freaking out they could go get them off the stage.  Right after that the kids started coming out:

Unfortunately Andrew ended up being to the far right so it was hard to see him. I didn't want to stand up and block the view of parents behind us, but I held up my phone to snap some pics:

He's the little head all the way to the right:

I could see him looking around for us and I finally made eye contact with him. Once he saw me he got a giant smile on his face.  They sang a whole medley of songs. We got some video with the flip camera, but I was trying to do it while juggling Elliot so it's kind of shaky. I got this one with my phone:

Elliot hung out with me and watched the singing:

After it was over they herded the kids back to the waiting area and I went back there to get him. He was so excited about the performance.  We snagged some snacks on the way out, and I tried to get a cute picture of him on stage:

At that point I think he was kind of overwhelmed with the crowd, so we made our way out to the hallway. As we were walking out another mom stopped me and asked if I was Andrew's mom.  When I said "Yes" she said she was so happy to meet me because her son, Leopold, talks about Andrew all of the time.  I was excited to meet her as well, because Andrew talks about Leopold all the time, too.  They are new to town and Leopold is only at school on Monday-Wednesday-Friday, but according to their teacher they are good buddies.  I love that he is making little friends.

Anyway, even though our seats weren't good and it was hard to see him (and he didn't sing much) it was such a cute performance.  I was so proud of him and can't wait for his next little performance.

The Christmas Cow

What? You've never heard of a Christmas Cow??

Yeah, me neither.

There will be one this year, though.  Andrew's school is putting on a Christmas program next week and all of the kids in his class had a choice of what barn animal they wanted to be for the manger scene.  They sent home a sheet last week showing what each child had chosen and my little dude picked "cow".

Once I saw that I went to work looking online to get some ideas. I knew I could take the easy way out and buy a cow costume, but I didn't want to do that.  I wanted to do the crafty mom thing and make one for him.  Normally I avoid pinterest like the plague because it makes me feel inadequate, but I figured it would have some good ideas.  I found some good ideas and wanted to get started, but first I had to find a hoodie and sweatpants for him.  Finding white ones was proving to be almost impossible. I tried to talk him into being a brown cow with brown spots, but he was adamant - white cow with black spots.

Eventually we found some on Amazon that qualified for prime shipping and ordered them.  They'd get here on Tuesday, so that seemed fine since the program isn't until next Monday.  Then I picked Andrew up at school and saw the note in his box telling us that they are having a dress rehearsal today - four days before the program - and they need the costumes for that.  So instead of having a whole weekend to work on it I would have a day.

Due to that I decided to work from home yesterday so I could get some sewing time in.  On Monday I ran out and got all of the supplies I would need: black, white and pink felt, googly eyes, a button, white embroidery thread and some embroidery needles and some fun fur yarn. I got all of that for less than $15, so I was pretty happy.

Tuesday night I tried the sweatsuit on Andrew to make sure everything fit and to mark where the ears and face should go.  That night after Andrew was in bed I got started on some of the sewing to get a head start:

I got the patch and the tail sewed on and the ears constructed before turning in for the night.

Yesterday I dropped the boys off before heading home, logging onto my computer and pulling out my supplies.  It was kind of slow going since I had to try to get the patches to lay flat on toddler sized clothing. Plus I had to back out some of the stitching when things went crooked and the embroidery thread tangled a few times.  After a day of sewing I had this:

I was pretty pleased with the results, even if the ears look a little odd.  The real test would be to see what Andrew thought of it.  When he got home I told him I had a surprise for him and showed him the outfit. He was excited and wanted to try it on right away:

Seriously. How cute is he?

He didn't want to take it off, but I told him he couldn't eat dinner in it since it would get dirty.

This morning when I was helping him get dressed he kept asking to put on his cow costume. He had a bit of a meltdown when I told him he couldn't wear it, but I assured him that he would get to wear it for a little while for his dress rehearsal at school.

So there you have it - a Christmas cow.  Kinda cute, huh?

I'm a Bad Blogger

I know I have been MIA, not that there is really anyone to notice.  I've just been missing the motivation to write about anything lately.  It's not that we don't have anything going on here. I mean come on, with these two crazy kids there is no shortage of stuff to talk about:

They keep us busy, that's for sure.    That and this:

This was last Wednesday's run when it was pretty warm outside

have kept my schedule pretty full.  I'm in week 9 of my training and the half marathon is right around the corner.  I'm starting to get nervous about how the weather might be on race day (January 17th), but yesterday's 39* temperature and windy rain have me a little better prepared.

What I'm not prepared for is Christmas. Or J's birthday, which is next Wednesday (I hate that his birthday is the week before Christmas).  I've done some of the Christmas shopping for the boys, but that's about it.  I couldn't even really get into it on Cyber Monday to do any shopping.  I'm not sure what is going on with me. I don't seem to have the attention span to do anything lately.  Hopefully I can get some motivation back, because there is too much to do over the next couple weeks to be this unfocused.

On that note, maybe I should try to get some work done so I don't lose my job.  I need it so I can finish Christmas shopping for these two:

Elliot is 15 Months!

A year ago right now I was getting weepy about the fact that it was my last week at home with Elliot. I only had six weeks of real maternity leave (this country is ridiculous), but I worked from home with him for an additional eight after that.  I thought those 14 weeks went fast  and I swear the 12 months after that have gone by just as quickly. It's hard to believe this little sweet is 15 months today:

Size: I'm not really sure about his exact size, but we have his 15 month well check on Wednesday morning so I'll find out then. I'm going to predict that he is smaller than Andrew was at this age.

Wearing: He is still in size 3 diapers and I don't see that changing any time soon.  He still wears 12 month clothes and fits in them just fine.  He's my little dude and I like it that way  :)

Milestones:  Walking faster but not quite running.  Climbing EVERYTHING in sight.  Andrea swears that he says "Please" and "Bye bye", but so far the only thing that sounds like a word to me is when he points at something and says "That".  He's up to 11 teeth so far with three out of four molars in. He's been getting up the last couple nights and I'm starting to wonder if it's the fourth molar trying to break through.  This past weekend he started pulling his blanket out of his crib and carrying it around when he's ready for a nap.  He has also started pulling out his rocking cow and actually playing on it:

Eating: I still nurse him in the morning and before bed and on the weekends he'll nurse before naps.  Some days he eats great and other days it's a struggle to get more than goldfish in him. One thing he does love are the little gerber raviolis, particularly the beef ones.  I've given him little bits of cheese with no hives and he can eat the gerber yogurt pouches without a reaction, but I think he's still having some reactions to milk.  He's doing better with the almond milk and loves his straw cup.  He's getting better at using a spoon to feed himself, but a lot of food still ends up on the floor.  I'm also still pumping at work, which some people might find weird, but I'm not ready for him to wean so I'm keeping it up. Andrew self weaned at 14 months so I've made it an extra month so far with Elliot.

Sleep: He's still sleeping about the same - around 10.5 hours a night. Most of the time he is still napping twice a day.  Yesterday he took a 2.5 hour nap in the late morning/early afternoon and that was it. He was a bear by 7:00 PM which leads me to believe that he isn't ready to only take one nap.

Personality: He's crazy and a handful.  We were seriously lucky with Andrew and the fact that he didn't really get in to things and he minded us for the most part. Elliot gets into everything and there is no distracting him.  Last weekend he discovered the Thanksgiving window clings in Andrew's room and nothing I did would distract him from them. I carried him out into the living room half a dozen times. Each time he would hop down off the couch and hightail it to Andrew's room to continue ripping them off the window.  I seriously don't know what we are going to do about Christmas decorations because there is no way he is going to leave thing alone.

Loves: Chasing his big brother around, hiding things in the washing machine:

playing in the bathtub (even without water):

and making this face:

Hates: Laying on his back to get his diaper changed or to get dressed, waiting for anything, and being stopped from doing things. I have to shut the bathroom door so he can't get in there and mess with Andrew when he's going to the bathroom and he freaks out when the door is shut.

He's a funny and sweet little guy and I adore him more and more every day. He's the perfect completion of our little family.  <3

Another Year Older

Yep, I made it through another trip around the sun.

On Monday I turned 38. Man, that sounds old.  It means I'm inching oh so close to the big 4-0.  I think I'll remain in denial about that for a bit longer.

We "celebrated" on Saturday by going out to dinner.  My in-laws came down for the weekend so they could watch the boys for us.  I say "celebrated" because J had (has) a horrible sinus infection and wasn't up for a wild night out or anything.  That morning we had a little outing to the car show at the park while Elliot was napping.  Andrew liked looking in all the cars:

It was a beautiful day for it so we spent a couple hours there and on the playground.  That night we went out to dinner at Basil (a fun thai restaurant that we haven't been to in forever) and then went to see a movie.  It was nice to have a dinner out just the two of us, not having to worry about keeping the boys  occupied and entertained.  Date nights have been few and far between over the last year so it was good to get out, even if J felt like crap.

Monday was my actual birthday. I considered taking the day off of work, but I had too much to do and since I get Veteran's Day off I went to work.  When I woke up I'd kind of forgotten it was my birthday until I looked at the weather app on my phone and saw the date.  I wasn't expecting any sort of gift since we'd bought me a necklace a month or so ago, but J surprised me with this:

It's Andrew's birthstone (aquamarine) with some diamonds around it.  I really want to get something with both boys birthstones, but I haven't found anything yet.

I went to work as usual and then went to my Monday body pump class. When I got home Andrew was standing there with a big smile on his face and he shouted "Happy birthday mommy!  We have cake!".  J laughed and told him it was supposed to be a surprise.  Luckily the prospect of getting cake made Andrew anxious to eat his dinner so we didn't have the normal night of telling him to eat.    He was very excited at the prospect of cake:

Andrew sang to me and then helped me blow out my candles:

We all had cake (Elliot threw his on the floor) and then the boys were off to their bath to get all of the icing off of them.

While it wasn't a big birthday party or anything fancy, it was perfect for me - a lowkey evening with all of my guys.  I couldn't ask for a better way to ring in my 38th year on this planet.

Halloween Recap

After weeks of watching the calendar and inching closer and closer to the pumpkin (there is a jack o'lantern on Halloween on our calendar) the day was finally here.  I'd done some last minute running around last Thursday to gather the last things that were needed for Andrew's pirate costume.    After he ate his breakfast and watched a Halloween episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I got him dressed for school:

I was doing dropoff for both boys since J had to be at work at 7:00 for a volunteer day.  So I gathered up both boys and we headed out.  When I got to Andrea's to drop off Elliot I put him in the lobster costume she had for him so she could take him to the library trick or treating. He wasn't thrilled:

I quickly said my goodbyes and ran Andrew to his school. I attempted to get a cute picture of him outside by their pumpkin setup, but he was feeling less than cooperative and started whining about wearing the thing on his head:

I  took the eyepatch and head thing off and threw them in his cubby in his class before kissing him goodbye and telling him I'd be there at 11:30 for his school party. I worked from home that day so I could attend. I hate that I miss out on so much of what happens at school, so I wanted to be there for this.

I went home and got some work done before heading back for his party.  Each class what as a different time so they could accommodate the parents.  I got there at 11:25 and the parking lot was jam packed.  I eventually found a spot and made my way over to the playground to wait for his class to come out.  As soon as he spotted me and came running:

Seeing that smile on his face never fails to warm my heart. Notice he's not wearing most of his costume.

After some hugs we walked around to see what there was to do. I snapped a picture of him in the scarecrow cutout:

Got a picture of his hand painting (they had face painting and offered the option of face or hand. He chose hand):

And we got sno cones:

We played and got snacks, drew with chalk, and just hung out and had a good time.  Pretty soon it was almost 12:30 and it was time for me to go. Andrew got sad when I said I needed to leave, but thankfully Ms. Becky was there to give him hugs and distract him so I could leave without him melting down.

I went home and did some more work before sneaking out to do my long run for the week for my half marathon training:

While I showered J went and picked the boys up.  We coaxed Andrew into eating some dinner before we headed out for trick or treating.  We got both boys into their skeleton "costumes" and I used some halloween makeup to make Andrew's face skeleton-like.  Then we grabbed their pumpkins and hopped on the golf cart to drive over to the next neighborhood (very few people in our neighborhood seem to give out candy so we go to the next one over).

J stayed with Elliot on the golf cart while Andrew and I walked to the first couple houses. All the practicing that we'd done on saying "Trick or treat!" was quickly forgotten.  He started clinging to me and smiling shyly at anyone handing out candy.  After the first couple houses we parked the golf cart  and started to walk to the next house.  Getting a picture of the two of them together was pretty much impossible:

For the most part we carried Elliot and he didn't really collect any candy. Other times we put him down and tried to get him to walk with us, but it mostly went like this:

By the end of the night Andrew was getting more into it and was excited about heading to each house.  We hit all the houses and went until around 7:30. By then Elliot was getting cranky and Andrew was slowing down. We walked back to the golf cart (me carrying Elliot and J carrying Andrew) and headed home.    We did a quick bath and tried to get them in to bed not too far past their bedtime.  Andrew was a little too excited to settle down, but eventually all the walking and the excitement of the day caught up with him and he was passed out.

So there you have it - Halloween 2014 was a wrap.  All in all I call it a success.  Maybe next year Elliot can take part and Andrew might be a little less shy.

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Friday, which happened to be when Elliot turned 14 months, we decided to take half days at work so we could go to the pumpkin patch and hopefully avoid the huge weekend crowds.  We picked them up from Andrea's and school and headed to Boone Hall around 12:45.  The parking lot had a lot of cars, but it wasn't slam packed.  We tossed Elliot in the stroller and headed for the entrance.  I went up to pay the admission for us and was a little taken aback that it cost $10 each (except Elliot).  $10 for a three year old?

Whatever. We headed in to see what there was to do.  We stopped for a quick picture:

They had the big jumping pillows and Andrew said he wanted to go in there., Of course once he was up there he did this:

Then we headed over to the jump castle area. Andrew didn't want to get in, but he wanted to try the basketball game. Even cheating he couldn't make a shot:

The boys played in the sand area and went down the slides before we headed over to the hay ride.  We parked the stroller off to the side and hoped that no one would steal it, then climbed up.  The hayride took off and Andrew happily pointed out all of the things that we saw along the way:

Once we got done we went and got our stroller and decided to try the corn maze:

Unfortunately we didn't take that picture before heading into the maze so we had a little trouble finding our way through.  Andrew must not have had faith in us, either, since he took a flag with us:

We wandered around in the maze for about 30 minutes before throwing in the towel and heading for the petting zoo.  Last year Andrew didn't really want to touch any of the animals, but this year he was all about it:

After all of that we headed over to the actual pumpkin patch to look for some pumpkins and take some pictures:

We had to take the same pumpkin picture that we did last year:

And I made sure that I got a picture of me with my boys:

All in all it was a fun little outing, even if it was a little too hot for my liking.  Bring on fall!