An Island of Activity in a Sea of Blah

Having a kid with a birthday the day after a holiday (even a crappy Hallmark holiday) that happens to fall within some of the worst winter doldrums is actually a much better scenario than I expected when I gave birth the day after Valentine's Day eight years ago.  I was desperate to not give birth on Valentine's Day, hence my serious concern with how I felt when I woke up on the day before Carter ended up being born.  I legit thought I was going to go into labor that day after the worst night of sleep (worrying about going into labor) and an absolutely exhausting day.  I was actually shocked when I made it to bed that night, but thankful I would not have a Valentine's baby, which would have effectively ended any sort of romantic Valentine's Days for at least the next 18-22 years.  Of course, two kids who are a huge handful together pretty much did that anyway, but at least the possibility is there.  It would be nice to get back to that someday.

Anyway, we managed to have three whole interesting days in a row in the middle of February, which is pretty great, particularly given that interesting days are in extra short supply these days as it is.  Maybe it's four days if you count Carter's Friday.  He had a really fun day at school celebrating Valentine's Day and his birthday, complete with his goodie bag of Valentines and treats and a cupcake at lunch.  He was so excited to give me my Valentine's gift when we got home, too.

So cute!  It will definitely be added to my decor for years to come!

On Saturday, Jacob had a basketball tournament to finish off his fall basketball league that got canceled months ago.  It was only two games.  He was allowed two spectators but with Carter we're three, so I knew I wouldn't be going.  Instead, I decided to drive to Buffalo--for just a few hours for the second Saturday in a row--because my friend Heather was in town with my sweet godson.  Carter and I drove in late in the morning (no complicating weather this time!) and ended up having lunch with my parents in an actual restaurant.  It felt safe enough with tables blocked off and everyone else walking past wearing masks.  We all very much enjoyed our Moe's, and then I left Carter with my parents so I could go see the baby without my easily-bored companion to hassle me to leave.  

As usual, it was so nice to see the whole crew--Heather, Peter, Mason, and Heather's mom.  We always have plenty to catch up on, and of course Mason was such a cutie!  I was enjoying his content little mood under the baby gym when I got there.  I even got a few smiles--but of course I was trying to enjoy the moment and didn't grab my phone!  He got a little cranky after that and ended up napping for quite a while, until I had to leave.  So, I had to settle for a couple sleepy shots--one sleeping and one sleepy smile as he woke up a little as I took a few shots...

Those cheeks!

Also, Heather sent me these side-by-side shots afterward.  The left is Saturday, the right is right after Thanksgiving.  It's about a 2-1/2 month difference.  Can you tell he's doubled in size?!  So crazy!  But what a good job he's doing growing!  (Same for my hair, it appears!)

It's so amazing seeing an infant grow like this after being so many years removed with my own kids.  You forget how quickly it can happen.  It's going to be fun to watch, even from afar!

Right before Carter and I left to come home, my mom gave him his birthday gift from my parents.  Since we don't know when he'll have a party, and with break week ahead, I think it was a good call.  He got this ProjeX video projection target shooting game.  He had a blast (no pun intended) with it that night! 

The three different types of targets move into place and you and your opponent aim and shoot to get it first.  

He was really proud of his record of 20 targets on Sunday!

Valentine's Day was pretty low-key, but a pleasant day nonetheless.  The boys got me roses and chocolate, we got the boys assorted candies, and I got Craig a new puzzle - a 300-piece of The Office that he'd been eyeing up.  I got lucky enough to find it at Target the other night so I didn't have to order it and have it come late.  He put that together in the afternoon--much easier than The Simpsons one.  The boys mostly behaved, and I was able to get a little relaxing in in between grocery shopping, wrapping, and cupcake baking.  I even had a glass of wine.  I probably would have done more to celebrate the day if we weren't going to have special treats and meals the next day.

As for Carter's special day, I was really happy I took Monday off.  It made the weekend a bit more enjoyable.  I picked up a special breakfast for him when I shopped on Sunday.  He'd been asking for "the soft pancakes" for a while, here and there ever since his tonsil surgery two years ago.  I bought microwave pancakes then because I figured they'd be nice and soft for him since cereal was out of the question.  We have pancakes for dinner pretty frequently but apparently Eggo does it a little better!  He was very happy to get them for his special breakfast.

We got a little bit of a slow start in general that morning, and had to rush through gifts a bit because Craig was hopping on a call.

He was excited to get an accessory set for his Treasure X pirate ship he got for Christmas.

 

We had a little too much fun disassembling it.  You had to bang the bottle on a table until the rubbery bottom cracked and could be peeled off.  There was a tiny treasure chest and a squishy octopus inside.  We eventually figured out that we needed to snip a hole in the octopus (we could have tried to pop him but this just seemed safer) and squish out three pieces to an action figure.  They were wrapped up in slime, and the whole thing felt ironically similar to childbirth--from the tiny hole stretching to let out big pieces to the slimy mess!  The treasure chest had to be dropped in water, at which point it sent out bubbles and an orange powder, and then opened to pop out a tiny fish.  It was really cute and he will likely be getting another for Easter because that was fun!

He also got more Robux for Roblox, three books (two of which were free through cereal box points--maybe someday he'll appreciate them), and a Mandalorian Lego set.

For the last two gifts we shifted over closer to Craig, because I know he was excited for Carter to get this gift.  He first opened up Mario Kart for Wii, and then got two extra wheels.  He's wanted Mario Kart for a long time--I'm pretty sure every time he begged to go into GameStop he was hoping this was on the "sample" game system.    

During lunch I finished off cupcakes, since a cake will wait for his party.

Gotta use all of our spare sprinkles!

After lunch it was time to get Mario Kart up and running!  We played a bunch for the rest of the afternoon but there is definitely a learning curve!  We did have a really good time with just the two of us while Craig and Jacob were busy with basketball practice.

By 24 hours later, Carter was a total pro!  Craig and I can't seem to stop driving off cliffs and elevated roads.  Oh well.  We did his choice of Red Robin for dinner and then sang to him with a cupcake.   

Blowing it out!

We watched the movie of his choice to finish off the night, and that was about it.  Not the most exciting day, but a pretty good one nonetheless.  I think he's happy with his gifts (if the constant begging to play Mario Kart and ProjeX against someone is any indication) and hopefully we can figure out how to safely have a party at some point.  A year without a fun cake just doesn't feel right!

We almost had one more exciting day in a row because we were supposed to get a big storm with about a foot of snow on Monday into Tuesday, but we only got about 4-5 inches so it just meant more shoveling and a little more to play in for the kids.  It looks like the next winter storm that was supposed to hit is also now going to miss us.  It's just that kind of winter, I guess.  We have a couple places to go on Friday, so I suppose that's a good thing.  Only one more day off for me, unfortunately.  It's been a quiet week off (minus the fighting and yelling, of course), but maybe that's what we needed, at least if we couldn't get out of town for some excitement.  I'm just happy to be sleeping in a bit and not packing lunches for a few days.  But it's a bummer that basketball practice stopped us from going anywhere.  It's hard to believe Lent begins today and we're less than a month from the one-year mark of this crazy quarantine experience.  And still...one day at a time.  Just nice when you finally get a few exciting ones.