Happy Birthday to Me!

Before I get into this post, I need to share for posterity the cutest thing going right now, before the phase ends and fades into our memories: Carter has "kids".  At first it was just Patrick the Hedgehog (from Christmas) and Colin the Bear (Jacob's gift to him when he was born).  But then a blue and white dog that was a hand-me-down from Jacob and a red dinosaur that I think was originally Craig's made it into the mix.  He puts them to bed each night, making sure they're covered and have a pillow.  It's so stinking cute.  Hopefully that means he's in training to be a great dad!  I just happened to catch them in my bed, where he tucked them in to watch TV on Saturday morning, and figured that cuteness needed to be shared.

Anyway, after freaking out about our weekend plans on Friday evening, I finally hatched a plan and we enjoyed some Friendly's Wattamelon Roll that Jacob insisted we get to celebrate my birthday early.  I woke up Saturday determined to have a good day.  We had a lazy-ish morning (well, if a run and some packing counts as lazy) and then went to lunch at Red Robin to get my birthday burger...finally.  Everything took longer than planned--getting packed, out the door, and having lunch--but luckily we weren't really tight on time and I was able to stay pretty chill about it.  We had a very nice lunch--so nice that the people next to us (probably in their 50s or 60s) complimented us on our well-behaved children!  Haha!  Admittedly, Jacob was pretty good that day and they probably didn't see Carter on a phone until after they spoke!  But we were having a particularly good family conversation, so I guess we looked good!  After lunch it was on to Minnehan's down near Geneseo to enjoy some mini golf on a beautiful day.

I did terrible, which I pretty much always do there since it's a really hard course and something about it makes my short game mysteriously awful.  Maybe how the cups are set into the green?  Carter even beat me--though of course we give him a few assists here and there--but Jacob killed us all.  He won by eight strokes!  It was also his day in the arcade, as he beat the basketball game high score twice!  First he hit 68, and then he got 73!

After golf, it was on to the main event--probably one I could only get family approval of on my birthday!  We headed to the New York Festival of Balloons in Dansville, which is about an hour from home but less than a half hour from Minnehan's.  I had never been before and really wanted to go last year, but with a family wedding on my birthday weekend, it didn't work out.  I almost forgot about it this year, but then a friend of mine went on Friday night.  It took a while for it to pop back into my head after our other plans fell apart, but then it all fell right into place once that became the centerpiece of the trip.  Even better, our route to Buffalo that night would go right through Geneseo, and was the same route I took home from school.  I'm always up for a little college nostalgia!

The balloon festival was fun!  In addition to the balloons, there were a bunch of food and craft vendors, so there was a lot to see while we were there.  The balloons were just starting to fill when we arrived, and we walked around a bit before launch.  At one point we found ourselves near the Nunda Mustard booth (selling all different mustards), and I did a double take because I know my boss moonlights as a booth attendant for them at events.  Sure enough, there she was!  However, it became apparent pretty quickly that she was having a tough time.  She'd been spending a lot of time lately helping her sister's companion (who Craig and I knew because he played for the Amerks decades ago and was a big part of their alumni association), as he'd been ill, and he had passed away that morning.  So she was clearly having a tough time, and was happy to see me and get some hug therapy.  She offered up awesome suckers to the boys while we chatted, and then eventually we had to let her go so we didn't miss all of the balloons.  I felt terrible for her to have to be there in the midst of all of that.

The balloons were so beautiful.  They took off one at a time over about a half hour span or so.  They were so colorful!

What started as just a few in the field suddenly turned into a colorful batch of bubbles popping up all over.

With the sky so clear and blue in places, they almost looked fake!

I loved how they just filled up and took off with barely a sound, aside from the cheering crowd, and just magically floated up in the air.  It was almost like when a bubble catches the wind and floats upward.  So serene and beautiful.

I loved the variety of colors and patterns.

This pig cracked me up and was the only oddly shaped one that actually flew.

It was so neat to see them all dotting the sky.  It almost looked like it should have been a mobile in a baby's nursery or something.  They seem to defy gravity when you don't see anything propelling them upward.

A couple vendors were selling fabric ones that hang and spin around on your porch, and seeing the real ones flying almost made me want to buy a bunch and recreate this view.

The sun behind them was so bright that I was surprised my pictures even turned out.  I liked the way it lit this one from behind.

After the launch, we grabbed the kids some snacks--lemonade and kettle corn for Jacob, and a hot dog and cotton candy for Carter.  Craig and I opted to grab a sub in Geneseo on our way through there later.  I grabbed a selfie with Jacob in line for kettle corn...

Photo credit to Craig on this one - he made the cotton candy look huge!

While we were getting food and looking at vendors, I saw some character balloons get inflated.  I could only get a sun glare picture of this one, as it was already starting to deflate by the time we walked back over to that side of the site.

I spotted this contraption flying high through the sky after all the balloons had passed.  Not sure you could convince me to do that!

Hard to see in this picture, but there is a plane towing a glider near the top of the glowing clouds.

There were more character balloons, too.  I missed the one that looked a little like Woody from Toy Story, but caught these...

The boys each wanted to do an inflatable--Carter picked an obstacle course and Jacob picked a basketball themed one, of course.  I guess they didn't take Carter's ticket on his, so he got to do a bonus slide.  I grabbed my selfie with him while we waited there.  And yes, it was getting cool out...darn you, ending summer.

This was Jacob's choice.  You can see him shooting...

This balloon was a tethered one.  It went up in the air a bit, then came back down.  A little higher and it might have been tempting!

I would love to ride in a balloon some day, but much like bungee jumping or skydiving, I'd really like a guarantee I won't die.  So many obstacles and not a lot of steering capability.  That makes me nervous!

We eventually got on the road to Geneseo, and I very much enjoyed my Aunt Cookie's sub.  They are just so good.  Turkey, mayo, lettuce, and banana peppers - simple yet perfect!  The ironic thing is that I ate too many subs in the dining hall at college (out of necessity since a lot of the other food was gross) so I almost never ate at Aunt Cookie's when I was a student.  But I feel I've made up for it since!

Geneseo truly is my happy place.  Had to say hi to Emmeline the Bear (on top of the fountain) as we passed by on the way back to the van...

I drove around campus a bit and pointed out a couple of my dorm rooms and some other landmarks.  I really do love it there.  Ironically, when we got to my in-laws the next night to celebrate Craig's dad's birthday, our niece was talking about Geneseo because her best friend just started there and she's considering going there.  She was even supposed to go with a friend on Saturday night to visit her best friend, who's a freshman, but that fell through.  She ended up getting a call while we were there to reschedule the trip for that night.  Hopefully she enjoyed her trip!  I would love to see her go there because it's a great school and just the right size for her.

I enjoyed taking my old route home through all the little towns en route to the Thruway in Batavia.  So many memories and mixed emotions of trips on that route--excitement to see my friends, dread of going back for another semester of classes or getting back in town for a Sunday night of questionable dinner and catching up on the studying I didn't do at home.  Still, I love it there.

On Sunday morning we got to go to the baptism of this sweet little nugget, Lucy.  

As usual it was a little odd being back at our old church, which is now just a shadow of its former self.  Just a small group of the remaining members, but nice to see familiar faces nonetheless.  I was disappointed that the hallway down to the gym was locked, as Jacob really wanted to see it.  The playground was looking a bit rough, too, but there aren't many kids (and no school) to use it anymore.  It always breaks my heart at how it has all gone downhill from the thriving, active church it once was.  Anyway, Lucy was an angel, and we had a very nice time at the party in the early afternoon.  I always love getting time with family.

After that we went to Craig's parents, which was surprisingly low key since his brother's crew (minus our niece) was at our sister-in-law's parents' place for the weekend.  We were also surprised to find a new little buddy there.  Say hi to Hank...

He was a rescue of sorts, and the absolute sweetest little guy.  Look at that tongue!  He seems to fit in perfectly with their other two dogs, and just made me smirk with his crooked teeth and expressive ears.

We had a lovely little mini-celebration there...

They sang to me, and then we sang to Craig's dad, and then we had a bonus visit from Craig's aunt and uncle.  Soon enough it was time to come home, but it was a very rainy drive.  We had a rather quiet day on Monday, our last day of freedom before Jacob's orientation days started.  We all started very slow in the morning, and then I finally worked out, did some laundry, washed Carter's backpack, blogged, and once again helped Jacob through editing his summer reading write-up.  I finally had to pass him off to Craig because I felt like Jacob was tuning me out after hearing the same thing over and over again.  I think he's pretty much done now, and thank goodness because it has been a bear.  They better teach him some critical thinking skills this year because I need this to be easier next year!

This morning began a new era in our house, but I'll save all that for one all-encompassing first day of school post, so you'll have to wait a couple days!

T-Day

After months of deliberating, weeks of waiting, and days of "will we or won't we", the big day is finally here.  And as I type, a giant piece of my heart is sitting in an operating room.  I'm not gonna lie--part of me wants to curl up in a ball and sob.  My anxiety has been working overdrive for a couple weeks now and every worst-case scenario has passed through my mind.  But I know that he needs this--and if there was any question when it was just the snoring, there wasn't once round two of the strep hit last week.  But it's still so hard to send your child into an operating room with all of the unknowns of anesthesia and painkillers, and know they're going to come out with the worst sore throat of their life...and that it will stay like that for a while.  Knowingly doing that to your child is hard, no matter how positive the long-term end result is.

I was nervous when Jacob had his leg surgery, but I might have been even worse when he had a mole removed when he was two, if only because that was his first round of anesthesia.  So when he went in for his leg, even though it was a much bigger deal, I felt better about it in general because he'd already gone through anesthesia twice--once for the mole and once for his endoscopy to diagnose his Celiac Disease--so that part of it didn't concern me nearly as much.  The stakes of the actual surgery were bigger, though--hoping that they didn't find any surprises once they got in there and knowing we had a very long recovery ahead--but for whatever reason this surgery just has me on edge.  Carter's never been put under before, and actually never really had a major illness that has challenged him like this one.  Oh, and add in that an informal Facebook survey of how my friends' kids fared after surgery elicited a couple "fine after a couple days" responses and a few more "expect to watch a lot of movies for a few days" to contrast with a couple other "watch out for days 5-10" from Carter's teacher and someone else...I truly have no idea what to expect.  And that alone has me on edge.

We've stocked up on soft foods, and two flavors of Jello are gelled in the refrigerator.  We will experiment with smoothies and lightly pigmented popsicles and eggs and pudding and yogurt.  He's never had oatmeal but we'll try that.  We'll sleep with him in our room and stick to the infant-like every-three-hour medicine schedule.  Whatever he needs, we'll do it.

Someone just brought a phone out with the surgeon on the other end.  He's out and did fine!

*****************

He came out of surgery pretty quickly.  In fact, Craig was still off getting us lunch when they brought the phone out with the surgeon on the other end.  He made it through just fine, with pretty big adenoids and very big tonsils.  I went back to see him and he was very, very pathetic.  He was in a lot of pain, and could barely talk.  He was crying and was making a noise like he was having trouble breathing.  He was fine, though, as his oxygen levels were high, but he had a tough time for a while.  Craig came back with food and ate his lunch before I took a turn.  When I came back he seemed a lot better--much more relaxed and trying to rest.  He was drinking water but still refused a popsicle or juice.  He tried to rest for a bit and when he woke up he slowly got back to being his chatty self.  We got to leave around 3pm.

He's been content since he got home, just sitting on our bed and watching TV.  He ate a very decent dinner--jello, a banana, some gnocchi, and half a sausage without the skin.  He doesn't seem to be in pain--at least not unless he swallows, and even then it's not bad.  We'll have to keep up with the medicine at all hours, but it seems like it will be worth it.  He went to sleep without an issue, but I'll definitely feel better being able to wake up and shine a flashlight on him to be sure he's okay.  I'm sure we're not out of the woods.  Maybe he'll be sorer tomorrow.  Maybe it will be when the scabs come off in a few more days.  I've already had to tell him more than once not to run through the house.  Every time he gets up from the bed, he scampers to wherever he needs to go.  It's going to be tough to keep him down, that's for sure.  Lots of shows and some tablet time, and hopefully some Legos and Hot Wheels and magnetic tiles when we can.  I'm looking forward to the snuggles, regardless!

Just a few pictures to share from earlier today...

Hanging out pre-op with his buddies, Colin the Bear and Patrick the Hedgehog

He got to decorate his mask with stickers and was so cute practicing with it.  The surgeon pretended Carter was blowing him away when he blew into it, which made him giggle and try even harder!

Post-op and pathetic :(  Trying to rest with an ice pack across him.  

I'm so proud of him.  He was such a big boy, so happy and brave heading in and so sweet and patient even when he was in pain afterward.  He struggled a bit when it was hard to breathe and talk, but he reached out for my hand and hung in there until the medicine kicked in.  Such a sweet boy.  I feel so grateful things went so smoothly today, and I hope and pray that continues.  It'll be an interesting week and a half, no doubt.  But I'm so happy to bid those pesky tonsils and adenoids farewell!

Weekend of Firsts!

We had a good weekend!  Of course, it started out by finding out on Thursday that my Great-Aunt Lois had passed away.  She was my mom's aunt, the last of her generation, and she was 90.  She'd fallen last week, and she was ready to go to heaven.  So while it was sad, it was a blessing.  With that in mind, I needed to work on finishing my work on Friday so I could take off today for the funeral.  And with a ton of stuff on my list for the weekend, I had to try to cram in as much as I could so I could leave Sunday and make it in for the viewing. 

I started checking off my list Friday night by sorting through Carter's artwork and taking pictures.  I snagged this mask because I realized I never had him model it for me, and this picture cracked me up!

When I put him to bed that night, we had two "lasts"...last time reading in the chair in his room, and last time going to bed in a crib!  Saturday was going to be the big day of moving his bed into his room!  But first, we had Jacob's first lacrosse tournament!  His team has gone to "Lax at the Lake" for the last two years, but because of schedules I would have had to do it alone and I just couldn't fathom it.  But this year things were looking good.  The weather all week looked good, and then suddenly when I checked it on Friday, that area--which is quite a bit southeast of us--was set to have cooler, rainy weather.  Noooo.  We also went back and forth all week about getting a hotel, as it's a 90 minute drive and we had to be there at 7:30am.  But the rooms were expensive and some not that close anyway, so we just sucked it up and woke up at the crack of dawn.  I was up at 5am, Craig at 5:15, Jacob by 5:30, and Carter at 5:45.  We dragged ourselves out the door a little after 6am and started the drive.  It was a little highway driving and a lot of country roads, out into the middle of the Finger Lakes. 

It was cool and damp when we got there, but we settled in and tried to keep warm.  It wasn't awful, but it wasn't pleasant either.  At least the view was nice...

Green hills

Jacob scored the tying goal in game #1, which was nice to see.  After the first game, we headed up to the snack tent to fuel up for game #2.  Luckily I thought ahead and brought gluten-free donuts becaue I saw that donuts were one of the snacks teammates were bringing. 

A teammate's parents own a fabulous donut place, and this is what they brought for the rest of the kids!

Lacrosse donuts!

Game two marked the team's first win of the year!  Also, my mom game to see that game.  She happened to be in Rochester for a weekend reunion with her college dorm mates, and she and her good friend (often referred to as Colin's grandma in this blog a while back) made the hour drive to come watch.  By then the cold had dissipated a bit, which took the edge off.  The rain held off and it started to get a little brighter.  During break #2, we took a team picture...

Jacob is right in front of the coach on the right

By game #3 we were a little disappointed in his playing time overall, but he seemed to be putting in a good effort.  We're wondering if he's just not listening to the coach, or what. 

Digging for the ball...he has a black helmet with red straps

His team tied another game and it was finally time to head out.  Overall it wasn't a bad day!  I wouldn't want to do it in really cold or really hot weather, but it was fun!  We drove to a Pizza Hut in town where we knew we could get gluten-free pizza, had lunch, and headed home.  Clearly it was a busy start to the day!

When we got home, I had a hard time dragging myself out of my chair.  I wasn't feeling great (not sure if it was exhaustion or what), but eventually I dragged myself up and we all went out for frozen yogurt for dinner.  It was part of a week-long fundraiser for school and $5 maximum night.  When we got home, I started working on the big boy bed.  I disassembled the crib, moved all of the pieces to the basement, and then Craig and I started bringing up the pieces for the bed--a basic bed frame, a box spring, the new mattress, and a bed rail.  Plus I had to make the bed.  It was pretty tiring, but eventually it was ready!  The room was super cramped and needed a complete overhaul Sunday, but at least Carter got to sleep in it!  The giggle he put out when he saw the finished product was super cute!

Well, he went down fine, but when I went in to check on him for the second time right before I went to bed, I was stunned when he was nowhere to be found!  It took me a few seconds to realize he was curled up in the tiny space you see on the bottom right of the picture above.  His feet were against the wall, he was all curled up, and he was halfway under the bed!  I have no idea how he got there.  He was sleeping in bed last time I checked him, and then he was on the floor.  The bed rail was pretty high up, but there was still a good for or so of space (about equal to the pillow's width) at the top of the bed, and all I can figure is that he tried to snuggle up on the pillow, rolled off, and somehow slipped past the bar to the floor.  There was only a small space, though, so he could have bumped into the side of the bookshelf...but we didn't hear any cries and he didn't seem injured, so we're just not sure.  We moved the bed rail up further on the bed, and he's been fine since.  Crazy.

I had Carter nap in the Pack 'n' Play in our room on Sunday so I could work in his room.  He was resistant but eventually fell asleep.  I spent a couple hours just rearranging his room.  I moved the bookshelf across the room under the window, moved out our reading chair, its footrest, and a small rocking chair (it used to be mine!), moved a small table from under the window to next to the bed, and moved the soccer ball bean bag chair from Jacob's room to Carter's, since Jacob indicated he was ready to give it up.  So now Carter has a reading corner and a lot more floor space to play.  It'll work for now.  I'm still thinking about moving his bed under the window to open up more wall space for the dresser.  There's not much room regardless, but it's so much better.  I also cleared out a ton of baby stuff and took down the bumper I was using as a wall decoration.  Most of it is sitting in a couple piles to clear out/put away, but it's a start.  I still need to decide on furniture and big boy decorations.  I did find a new quilt for Jacob's bed (plain stripes) so Carter is getting the sports bedding.  He's also getting some sweet Spider-man sheets, so I think his décor might be eclectic!

After the room redo I had to quickly pack a bag and change my clothes so I could head to Buffalo for my great-aunt's funeral.  It was a nice opportunity to see family I haven't seen in a while, including my aunt and uncle from Wisconsin, who are still struggling with their grief after their daughter's sudden death last month.  Obviously it was for a tough reason (again), but family time is so important.  I spent the night at my parents', and the funeral was this morning.  I ran a couple errands on my way home, and we had a pleasant evening at home.  We have another busy week on deck--my race tomorrow (finally), lacrosse Wednesday, baseball game or lacrosse practice Thursday, baseball Saturday, family picnic Sunday.  So much to do!  

Which means it is definitely time for bed!  More soon!

This Week in Blog History

It's amazing to think that this blog has been going on for over six years now.  When I started it I had no idea how long I'd really keep it up.  I did well with a website back in the day, but eventually I stopped updating that...but would it be any different when it was about my own family?  Turns out I shouldn't have worried.  I do wonder how long I can keep this up, and I worry about Carter getting the shaft in the long run since I've documented more than five years (and counting) of Jacob's life, and what if I can't do the same for Carter?  Still, six years of posts is pretty amazing.

Sometimes it's fun to look back and see how we've progressed.  A while back I did a post like this and planned on doing it more when blog fodder was low, but I don't really think I ever did.  So, today, I will.  As a side note, we learned this weekend that Carter can climb stairs (while having a grown-up shadow, of course!) and that he's getting much closer to saying "Mama".  Well, he can say it, but we're not sure he gets it yet.  But he might, ever so slightly.  Fingers crossed on my end to make that word #1!  And now, without further ado...

2008 - I was doing some maternity shopping with mixed success.  I was waiting to feel baby movement.  I was enjoying most of pregnancy so far despite my all of my reading giving me a lot of things to worry about.  I put together a giant desk that moved into our office in order to accommodate some switcheroos happening in making our guest room into the baby's room and the office into an office/guest room combo.  It was a cautiously exciting time in general...so many unknowns, but so many exciting new things ahead.

2009 - Jacob was seven months old (equivalent to Carter when we were in Disney, for reference).  I was marveling at how life with a baby had become our new normal, and how exhausting but rewarding it all was.  Jacob was recovering from his second bout of bronchiolitis, both of which left him with nasty coughs that lasted for months.  Fortunately, he was in between bad bouts of sleeping troubles, which was a major relief.  He seemed to be getting closer to crawling, but in reality he still had more than a couple months before he accomplished that milestone.  He was still having a lot of trouble with solid foods, but I was hoping that daycare peer pressure would help him along there.  We also did our first visit with long-distance buddy Colin, who was a couple months younger than Jacob and in town visiting his grandparents with his mom Laurie.  It was so cute to see them together.

2010 - Jacob was nearing 18 months and was starting to talk.  He had a number of words in his vocabulary, including "Amerks" and "Knighthawks".  Very important words!  His love of sports was already quite clear, and in addition to running around the house with a stick of some sort, he was getting more creative in his play.  He was adjusting to his new daycare that he started at the beginning of the year, but it was a long process that involved a lot of tears and quite a few bad reports.  It seemed to take a long time for the folks at the new daycare to appreciate him the way the ones at the old daycare did, but now they love him despite his challenges.  His behavior was starting to get very challenging at times, and he even had recently jumped out of his crib in frustration one night.  We were in the process of selling our house, which was crazy.  We were close to getting an offer on our house, which was important to keep the deal we had on the house we have now.  Thank goodness it all worked out!  Craig and I enjoyed a night in Toronto without Jacob for a Knighthawks game, which was a nice break.  God knows we could use one of those right now!

2011 - We were starting to make real efforts to get Jacob potty trained.  I bought him underwear and created a potty chart.  It would be a while still before we had any success with that, though.  Nearly a year, I think!  We also had Jacob's mole removal surgery on his leg, which was stressful leading up to it but a non-event once it happened.  Luckily no other suspicious ones have showed up since.  The scar on his leg is barely visible, and someday it will all be covered in hair anyway!

2012 - Jacob was just getting over his pneumonia/strep throat/stomach bug debacle that almost landed him in the hospital.  He had crushes on his daycare teachers, and even claimed to have sent one birthday flowers from her boyfriend!  We were in the process of trying for baby #2, but pretty much at the point where we had to take a break from trying because of our upcoming trip to Florida--which of course didn't happen when it was supposed to after all.  The break was to avoid being massively pregnant when the trip was supposed to happen.  I pondered the reasons why God was allowing us to go through the fertility issues, and most of my reasons ended up being pretty true.  We were starting to deal with some of Jacob's behavior issues, but he was also showing us amazing skills like doing puzzles, which was really cool to see.

2013 - I was largely pregnant and getting very uncomfortable.  The bad pressure was starting and while I didn't know it at the time, I was only about 3-4 weeks away from Carter's arrival.  I was really worried about going early for a lot of reasons, and the discomfort was really starting to get to me.  We had gotten some major projects around the house taken care of, but the baby's room still needed a lot of work.  My co-workers threw me a small, surprise shower which gave me a big gift card that got used up pretty quickly when I went to replenish our stock of baby stuff!  I was worrying about life with two kids, and even wrote a letter to an as-yet-unnamed Carter about being baby boy #2 in our home.  I told him about his brother, about how I'd wanted a girl, how this pregnancy (and all the waiting leading up to it) had been, and encouraged him to stay in there as long as possible.  At least he listened for a little bit!

It's hard to believe how much history we've got behind us in this parenting gig, considering this was just a week out of each year and there were a lot of significant things happening almost every year.  As much as I'd like to think things were so much simpler then, I know that each period had stresses of its own (though, of course, nothing quite as serious and concrete as we're dealing with now, with major behavioral concerns and serious, permanent diet changes).  It's quite the history I'm writing, though, isn't it?

Busy

Sorry, I know it got a little quiet here over the past few days.  Things have been crazy.  Or maybe I'm just extra tired and thinking about and/or writing blog posts just isn't happening.  I'm way behind on so many things--going through mail, writing thank you notes, cleaning, etc., and this weekend didn't help, as we were busy Saturday and Sunday seemed to turn into a recovery day.  I meant to do all sorts of stuff yesterday afternoon with Carter in tow, leaving the big boys home to play, but I got sleepy right along with Carter and never made it.  So Craig and Jacob swam and I tried to nap, and then we ended up all going out together in the evening and cramming in as much as we could.  We had some hiccups (like a dumped full cup of ice water at dinner and not making it to the last place I wanted to stop at), but we survived.  We exchanged Jacob's new table, bought a can of formula and team snacks for tonight's t-ball game, and I still managed to use the coupon for the last stop we didn't make (Kohl's) by scoring a pretty awesome online order that took me most of the rest of the night to figure out.  It was a 30% off coupon that was expiring, and I didn't want to let it go to waste since there were things I was eyeing up for myself and Carter is rapidly outgrowing a lot of his summer clothes.  I'm quickly realizing that this four-month shift in birth months is a weird one.  I had hoped that the stuff that was big on Jacob during his first summer would at least get Carter through the hot weather, but slowly but surely I find myself throwing outgrown clothes into the bin in the closet.  Boo.  He'll actually need a handful of stuff that fits him when he's a full seven-month-old baby because we'll be in Florida for a week in September, and I'm hoping that anything I get him now will fit that bill.  Otherwise we're going to be doing a lot of laundry.  But I'd rather get stuff now that he can get some good wear out of, particularly before summer clothes start disappearing.  Hopefully by next year the larger six-month sizing interval (12-18 months) will work a little bit better with what we already have.

As I said, Saturday was busy.  Actually, the busyness started Friday night when I left the boys home with Craig and headed to Geneseo for a reunion of sorts.  During my college years I spent the vast majority of my time involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.  My roommate found out about it, and we both got involved early in our second semester.  It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us, as we met a ton of awesome people.  We both rediscovered our faith in new ways, and it really made those 3-1/2 years more fulfilling than we ever could have imagined.  Well...it's now been over 16 years since that discovery, and over 13 years since we graduated.  There have been a couple reunions since, but this one was mostly to celebrate our college pastor, Dave, who is retiring.  He's got his reasons, and I am happy for him, but those kids won't know what they're missing without him.  He's an incredible man and was a second father to so many of us.  In the years since I graduated, I can't even tell you how much I've loved popping into Geneseo from time to time and seeing the look on his face when he sees me.  A couple years ago when I stopped into town to buy a baby shower gift for a good friend of mine, I randomly prayed on the way down that I'd love to somehow run into him while I was there, and sure enough...who do I see walking down Main St. but him!  The odds of it were slim, and yet...there he was.  Made my day.  Anyway, Friday night was a throwback to Friday nights of old, with the same kind of meeting we used to have...some music, a speaker, and lots of time to catch up with old friends.  It was nice to go without the kids (though they did have childcare, that just seemed like a battle I didn't want to fight) and just enjoy myself for a night.  Even though I catch up with everyone over Facebook nowadays, it was so nice to see them in person.

Saturday there was a picnic.  It meant another trip to Geneseo, and this one was with the kids.  Craig had to work up in Canada, so it was all me.  All things considered it went well.  Jacob was a little difficult at times and didn't want to be social with the other kids during craft time, but we survived.  I got more time to catch up with friends, the food was great, and it was generally a lot of fun. 

From there we headed back north and east to Victor, to visit with more friends.  I've blogged many times about our visits with my parents' friends' daughter Laurie and her son Colin, along with their more recent addition Kelly.  The last time we saw them Kelly was just a few months old...and now she's two!  I guess we've all just been a little busy in the interim when they've been in town!  We've kept up online, of course, but it's still amazing to realize how much time has passed.  Once upon a time we were both pregnant at the same time, and now not only do we both have two kids, but both of those first babies are on their way to Kindergarten.  We discovered during this visit that we possibly enjoyed their time together more when they ignored each other, as they were quite a handful this time.  I'm not sure who influenced who at which time, but they got into a lot of mischief, including throwing balls into trees and gardens, going too far out in the yard, and touching things they shouldn't have been.  They were both equally stubborn during dinner, as well, and finished off the visit purposely crash landing on the grass from riding scooters around the driveway.  BOYS!  I think they both felt like they had found a suitable partner-in-crime, or at least someone else to pin the blame on, so they just did whatever seemed like fun at that moment.  Oy.  Definitely easier when they just laid on a blanket and stared off into space!  Kelly is quite the adorable little girl, though she's definitely got some spunk!  I forgot how cute that phase is where they can talk just enough so you know what they're saying, and where it's cute when they say or repeat certain things, but before it turns into a constant stream of elaborate questions.  Those days will be here again for us soon enough, and I'm sure I'll remember the tougher side of that as well!  But despite the troublemaking, we had a nice visit.  Here's a shot of all four kids, three of which are enjoying their ice cream sandwiches...

Still, I was happy to get home after so many hours away, but I definitely felt like I accomplished something after surviving that long of a day away alone with both kids!

One other wacky thing from the past week was a freak storm that hit our area.  Last Thursday Craig called me while I was still at work.  He had gotten out of work early and was getting ready for t-ball.  He said, "I don't know what happened in Greece, but it's a mess."  There were trees down, a road closed, and branches everywhere.  There had barely been a rainshower in the city, but Greece got hit with a major thunderstorm, and our neighborhood in particular (particularly the road we take to our neighborhood) got hit with a microburst, leaving lots of tree damage in its wake.  The road to our neighborhood had a bunch of large trees down, and there was this view across the street and two doors down:

What you can't see is that there are actually two arms of that tree down, and they just brushed up against the house where they fell.  That tree is now gone, not surprisingly.  We had no damage, but it definitely feels a little too close for comfort.  We've had a series of bad storms, including quite the light show I drove home through on Friday night.  Seems everywhere from here to Canada has had some sort of damage lately.

Today we were back to the grind, another long day of work and t-ball.  Jacob finally got his game ball tonight!  He was due since everyone else had gotten one, but he tried hard tonight, the long-awaited first night of coach pitch.  He had a hard time with his coach's pitches (he's good with Craig's), but the swings looked nice even when they didn't connect.  Still, he was excited to get a game ball.   

 

Amidst all of the craziness, I have had this picture putting a smile on my face all week... 

 

Technically it's a reject from the five month shoot, because it wasn't set up at the right spot to compare to the others, but I love Carter's face in this one.  He's just so sweet, so happy, with such perfectly friendly eyes.  I have it as my wallpaper at work, and every time I flip back to it, I just marvel at how lovely it is.  I feel so lucky to have him.  I know we're still in the honeymoon phase and we'll no doubt have our challenges with him, too, but for now I am just loving having him around. 

Well, here we go with another week...

This Week in Blog History (plus a bonus video!)

Since I can't seem to formulate any other thoughts to expound on, I'll take the opportunity to start what I hope will be a periodic series here...this week in blog history!  I now have over four years to recount, so let's see where we've been:

2008 - I had just had my car accident, which totaled my first car.  It happened the week of my first baby shower, so it made for a tricky week.  Craig had to drive me to a doctor's appointment and got to hear the baby's heartbeat and feel around my belly, which was certainly more than he bargained for.  I pondered if getting a haircut would make it feel like a mom 'do, or if getting a new car would leave my old car as a symbol of my pre-baby life.  I looked forward to my shower, and ended up with some amazing gifts and a lovely time with my family.

2009 - We were dealing with some random sleep problems for Jacob, which looking back on it was probably just another round of teething.  Sleep was rare and we were exhausted!  He had also been diagnosed with eczema, which turned out to be pretty much a non-event, thank goodness.  After a conversation with a father-to-be friend of mine, I looked back on my labor experience and wondered how I might do it differently next time.  I still wonder about that, for that matter!  I recounted a very busy weekend that included Jacob's second-ever baseball game, a trip to the zoo, and outdoor dinner by the lake.  I discussed God's wisdom in preventing human babies from getting mobile as quickly as animal babies, which is funny to look back on in light of a picture my cousin posted on Facebook yesterday of a new foal that was born on her family's farm.  Amazing how it was up and walking, but thank goodness human babies have to wait until they start controlling their bodies and understanding the word "no" just a little better.  Finally, I took one of my favorite accidental pictures--a picture of a tulip in our yard with Jacob's and my shadow silhouetted on the house's foundation behind it.  Love it to this day.

2010 - We were still settling in from our move nearly a month earlier, but managed to get the house in decent shape before welcoming some guests--my parents friends, their daughter, and her son Colin, who's just a couple months younger than Jacob.  It was fun watching the boys finally run around together and talk just a little bit!  We'd just purchased our potty, which means we have had that thing sitting in our bathroom for two years now.  I'm ready to hide it and make Jacob start using the big potty, just because I know he can.  I discussed how Jacob really is just a small person, in how some of the behaviors I don't understand at first are actually no different than how I handle things as an adult...from sleeping to not wanting to eat certain foods, we all have our moments.  We had another hectic weekend, where we went to Jacob's little friend Angelica's birthday party (she turned 4 last week!), and had a great time at the zoo with Lori.  I still look back fondly on that day!

2011 - This week last year was Easter week.  I dealt with the difficulty of talking to Jacob about death in the context of Good Friday, and had a blast with him in pleasant weather on Holy Saturday, despite the fact that my mom had to spend the whole day at the hospital with my grandma, who was really starting to go downhill.  We had a nice Easter, though.  That week we took Jacob to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time.  The boys have been back since, but I've managed to avoid it!  It definitely wasn't my favorite place to spend an evening, but I'm sure we'll have to do it again soon.  Jacob's been asking.  A year ago I also attempted to get treatment for my lack of smell, which ended up not working.  I haven't given up hope, but it's been another year without two very important senses.  I also blogged about one funny experience when Jacob and I had to dash through the rain to our car, and while I was freaking out, he was laughing.  And I needed that!  That was just one of the little elements of Jacob's personality that was just starting to emerge.  We've seen a LOT of personality come out in the last year, that's for sure!

It's amazing to look back on how far we've come in four years. 

Speaking of that...check out this video from Easter weekend this year, when Jacob was giving his golf clubs their first workout of the season.  Kid's got some talent...or maybe I'm just used to my lack thereof...

Weekend Review

Despite the fact that it was a rainy, miserable, cold weekend, we managed to keep ourselves occupied and have some fun.  Friday's night's movie night (per my last post) wasn't exactly ideal, but in retrospect I take some solace in the fact that he probably didn't bother other people too much with his antics.  Much preferred to the screaming child or something worse, you know?

Saturday was a pretty low key day.  It was so awful outside that there wasn't much reason to leave the house.  I spent a good chunk of the morning sorting through Jacob's clothes, doing the much-dreaded every-few-month try-on to see which things from last season still fit.  I cleared out enough space in his closet to put in the new/hand-me-down stuff for the fall, and as the weather officially cools, I'll take out the rest of the summer stuff and stow it away until next spring's try-on session.  I also did a bit of work on my own closet, taking out the sleeveless stuff and selecting a few things for donation that I either haven't worn in ages and won't wear again, either due to style changes or (more often) my post-pregnancy belly that won't quite go away.  It's pleasantly freeing but it's still a bit of a melancholy process because it either feels wasteful or sad when the clothes no longer work for me.  I also worked on getting out the Halloween decorations and made a fantastic dinner--this really great creamy chicken casserole we fell in love with when someone gave us a batch during the week my grandma passed away.

We needed to go out to pick up milk anyway, and I had noticed that the coupon I had set aside for Jacob's Halloween costume expired that day, so we decided to head out in the evening to get Jacob's costume.  After originally insisting that he wanted to be a ghost, at some point in the last few weeks he settled on Batman.  As you may recall, he started on this Batman kick after the Labor Day long weekend trip with Craig's family when he saw some Batman DVDs and got Batman pajamas.  He now requests to be called Batman ("I'm not Jacob, I'm Batman!") and refers to Craig as "Robin".  Since he seems to be pretty deeply entrenched and Craig is fueling it (the weekend viewings of the old school Batman TV show on this new channel we have were among his fuel), I figured we could take the risk to buy the costume this early.  The coupon made it within my threshold, though not nearly as cheap as the few bucks we spent last year on his fire helmet (he already had received the jacket as a gift).  So much for attempting to make it through his childhood without a major branded obsession.  At least it's one that's stood the test of time, right?

So, off we went to Party City, where I had a $10 coupon and had pinpointed an acceptable costume.  There are many preschooler Batman costumes out there, but most of them are pretty odd looking.  Admittedly, so is the one we ended up with, but I think ours is exaggerated enough that you laugh more than thinking how pathetically store-bought it is.  We tried it on Jacob before we left, and I couldn't even get the mask on without laughing.  Once I got the mask on, I had tears.  So funny.  In a good way.

Check out the six pack!

Too cute!!

Now if we could just get him to stop asking to wear it.  I don't trust its durability and I am NOT buying another one if this one rips while he's messing around in it.

Sunday we met my parents at their friends' house out in Victor (east side of Rochester), where their daughter Laurie was visiting with her two kids.  You may remember them from our last day of vacation, when the boys got to play and I got to hold her new little girl.  Our parents had just returned from two weeks together in Alaska, and it was my first time seeing my parents in over a month, which is a pretty long stretch for us.  Colin was very excited to see Jacob, and the boys got right to playing...

One big McQueen, one small McQueen...the big one had to be shaken up and then it took off very fast!  They got in a pretty good groove taking turns, since the second shake-n-go car (Mater) was losing his battery power.

Eventually playtime headed to the basement, and they continued to have fun...

Puzzles...

Togetherness in the car!

They even set up a "gas pump" for the car, using an unplugged shop vac...

Fill 'er up!

They played very well together.  As usual there were a handful of sharing issues but they were very well-controlled.  They still did some parallel play, but that's to be expected since their interests are a little different overall.  Jacob was completely happy to throw a soft football to anyone who would play with him, though he probably got more than he bargained for when Colin tackled him!  They were both good sports, though, and in the meantime the moms got to chat about the joys of three year olds...potty training, ill-fitting pants (tiny waists, long legs), and tantrums.

I got to hold sweet little Kelly for a while, and later on I hung out next to her spot on the floor while she contentedly stared up at the baby gym.  Oh, how I miss that age, where they smile at your goofy faces and lay there completely content, unable to roll or crawl away.  I know there's a lot of hard stuff that goes along with that age, but she was just so sweet...and I even caught a smile!

urprised at how functional he was while we were there.  By the end, though, I could tell he was starting to crack.  We snapped one last picture of the boys, and then headed out...

Such big boys!  They're almost exactly the same height, despite how it looks here.  Let me tell you, they're both a far cry from our first visit!

We got in the car a little before 6:30, planning to go home, have some dinner, and meet up with Craig, who'd spent the afternoon at a lacrosse tournament.  Jacob fell asleep by the time I hit the end of the driveway (it was a longer than average one, but still!), and barely woke up when we got home.  I plopped him on the couch to get myself settled, but when I went to try to wake him up, he just snuggled into the couch more.  I left him for a bit and tried again a little later, but again, no dice.  Craig snuggled up to him at one point, but I decided that we really needed to do something--namely, get him up to his room and see if that woke him up--since normally the second he hits his bed, he decides he wants to be awake--or if he was really down for the count, despite not eating dinner.  He settled right into his bed and I left him just like I would at bedtime, but fully expecting him to wake up at a really inopportune time in the middle of the night.  Right before I went to bed (early--just in case we had a long night ahead of us), I changed him out of his jeans and into his pajama pants to make sure he'd be comfortable.  He slept right through that, too.  I was still convinced he'd wake up in the middle of the night or really early in the morning, so off to bed I went.  But sure enough, I didn't hear a peep out of him until just before 7am!  He slept nearly 12-1/2 hours!  Normally he sleeps about 10-1/2, no matter when he goes to bed.  I was hoping all that sleep would deliver us a perfectly sweet child, but no...he was perhaps more difficult than usual.  Other than dinner, that is.  He inhaled his dinner, which doesn't surprise me one bit considering his missed meal last night. 

So, yeah...crazy weekend, but really good.  It was nice to see my parents as well as the Dohertys/McDonoughs, and I feel happy knowing that we got Jacob's costume in case we want to take advantage of any pre-Halloween events, like the one at our zoo that we're always missing because I'm figuring out his costume at the last minute.  The weather was a tough reminder that winter will be here all too soon and we'll be stuck inside (or freezing outside) for months, but at least I got a jump on that too by organizing clothes.  On to another week--ridiculously busy at work yet again--and at least one adventure to look forward to this weekend!