Good Riddance 2013...

Well, it's been an interesting week.  I've been trying to get projects done here and there, with some degree of success.  I put all of my CDs into books today, finally got the easy-change frames for the kids' artwork hung in the toy corner of the living room, and have mostly sorted through my pictures from the summer so I could clear out my camera's memory card.  It's been a challenge managing both kids mostly on my own, and it's a good reminder why I'm not a stay-at-home mom.  Jacob has been difficult and Carter has been happy but needy.  Naptime has been helpful, but it's been a weird week nonetheless. 

Last Friday Lori came to give the boys their gifts--Jacob as her godson and Carter because it's his first Christmas.  Jacob got a Dick's gift card and a snowball maker...

Yes, Jacob is wearing shorts and moose socks.  Welcome to our world.

Carter got some sleepers and pop beads.  I had suggested those since I felt like he needed some basic toys that don't make as much noise!

I think he likes them!

He is also enjoying his walker, by the way.  He's not doing fantastically well with it yet, but he can take a few steps with it!

Saturday we went to the Knighthawks home opener, and Jacob got to go on the field with the rest of Hurricanes Lacrosse to be part of the tunnel that welcomes the team out on the floor. 

You can't see him here, but he's somewhere in the middle right by the bright lights.

He enjoyed the experience and it was a good game.  The Knighthawks raised their championship banner and started the season with a win.  Sunday was a relatively lazy, uneventful day.

Monday we took a trip to the Rochester Museum and Science Center.  I'd never been there before, and neither had Jacob.  I had a buy one get one free ticket and needed to use it this week, so I figured it was worth the trip.  It was an interesting mix of old school history and newer technologies.  One of the more interesting things was the tesla coil "concert".  Tesla coils emit electricity and make very loud noises while doing it, and they harnessed the noises into musical performances.  Here's a picture, but hopefully I'll upload the video soon...  

Carter did great wearing headphones to block out the noise, and was transfixed as he watched.  Jacob enjoyed it, too. 

As interesting as the newer technology stuff is, some of my favorite stuff was the old-school dioramas, typical of what I remember from my field trips to similar museums.  Here's one showing Rochester back in the 1800s.  I actually recognized a church in a different part of the display.

Jacob's favorite part was the Native American history.  This life-sized display had audio along with it, and a lacrosse stick in the background.

The statues below were at the front of the exhibit but didn't have an explanation, and Jacob asked the entire way through why the Indian had snakes in her (his) hair.

Turns out it was a symbolic thing about combing the snakes out prior to the two Indians signing a pact. 

Carter was delightfully patient the whole time.   I caught him here with his foot up on the stroller, just hanging out...

Here's another Native American diorama.  Seriously, these things are pretty cool.

Here's Jacob in front of another one...

And here's a display we stumbled across showing lacrosse!

There were a lot of hands-on activities, but we didn't take a lot of time to do them.  Jacob did, however, like the water and sand table.

He also liked the giant mastodon skeleton (and the "clothed" one in the background).  Who knew they found two of these in Rochester?!

Craig had a little fun with the dinosaur dress-up area...

All in all it was a pretty good visit.  Today was a pretty awful day behavior-wise (maybe a glutening at dinner last night?), but luckily Jacob fell asleep watching a movie tonight so at least we didn't have a bedtime battle to finish out the year.  Craig and I watched Love Actually while I wrote this blog post and had to pause it in the last few minutes so we could watch the ball drop. 

Even though I know the end of the year doesn't mean a darn thing, I am very happy to see 2013 bite the dust.  Aside from Carter's birth, the year was pretty darn crappy.  Way too much stress, lots of bad news, and a lot of changes.  I know that waking up tomorrow nothing will really be any different except for the date I write on my checks, but I'm hoping for a miraculous turnaround nonetheless.  When I realized that our baby would be born in "unlucky" 2013, I was actually a little annoyed.  I knew it was ridiculous, but now that we've gone through the year, I feel like that annoyance wasn't entirely out of line.  It was a rough year, for sure.  The "13" had nothing to do with it, but it seems like a like of people were happy to see this year go.  We are among them.  Hopefully we are on to bigger and better things...better help for Jacob, an easier time with our gluten-free/rice intolerant food situation, Carter's first birthday, a little less craziness with our jobs, and far more good news than bad. 

Good riddance, 2013.  And 2014, please be gentle.  We need a break.  Happy New Year, everyone!