First Day!

This is a couple days late, but here is the requisite first day of school post!  Jacob started first grade on Thursday.  He was clearly nervous but he was doing pretty well, all things considered.  We made it out the door with just enough time to snap a few of the usual pictures...

Showing us his wild side...

The "nice picture"

My Favorite :)

 We made a deal with his therapist to work on taking the bus most days.  We have the right to drive him when the weather's crappy and we don't want to stand at the bus stop, but we're going to make a concerted effort to take the bus because sometimes it works out better for our timing...assuming we can get ready in time.  So...down to the bus stop we went.

I took this picture of him, and he looks a little pained, no?

Really, he was OK!

We took a selfie that turned out to be one of the best pictures ever of the two of us together.

While we waited, Carter tried to perfect his climbing-up-people skills...here he is on his way down.

Finally the bus came, and Jacob seemed to hope that it wasn't his bus.  But it was.  And he climbed up without looking back...until the bus driver told him to wave...

So far so good.  We've had two days, two bus rides, and zero communication from the authorities, so that's a good start.  He likes his teacher, he seems good with the kids in his class, and the homework setup (a weekly set of work, rather than day-to-day assignments--aside from a nightly reading assignment) seems promising.  Of course, none of that homework has happened yet, so Jacob's been in pretty good spirits.  I know that will probably change, but I keep hoping this teacher will somehow connect with him better.

I can't help but wonder how much impact our Disney trip had on him last year.  We were in a tough spot and the last thing I wanted to do was take him out of school so soon.  But after postponing the trip for Craig's mom's medical emergency, and then not going with the rest of his family (with our consent) because I was pregnant and we'd have a newborn for the foreseeable future, we had to get it scheduled within the original year window from the postponement.  We didn't want to go in the summer with the crazy heat and a new baby, so we had to go during school.  The first suggestion was the first week of school, which I immediately said no to.  But then the next week came up, we were low on options, and not wanting to be too picky about a trip we weren't paying for, I consented.  He went to school for two days, had a weekend, then went for one more day before we were gone for six school days.  Ouch.  Nothing like getting settled and then shaking things up.  He probably missed out on prime bonding time.  And with the Celiac diagnosis, things were definitely a little frantic when we came back.  Add in lots of late arrivals due to therapy and doctor visits, and I guess I can imagine it was hard to feel comfortable.  So maybe this was what he needed--a fresh start to truly get him off on the right foot.  Maybe he was just out of sync last year.  I know his issues probably go beyond that, but it can't hurt to have a better start.  And so far, it is a good start.

I should also mention that Carter started in a new room at daycare this week.  He's too old for the pre-toddler room, and they were finally able to re-open the toddler room that Jacob was in when he started at this daycare and the same age Carter is now.  Ironically, he's also got the same teacher, who has actually been the assistant director for the last couple years and just came back from maternity leave after having her first baby.  They're short on staff at the moment, so she's stepped in to handle the four kids in Carter's room.  He spends some of his time with the bigger kids (from about 20 months through the twos), which blows my mind a bit when I leave him there in the mornings.  Some of those kids use the potty, for pete's sake.  He's growing up so fast and I can't believe that this is the age Jacob was when we switched daycares.  Mind-boggling.  That kid cracks me up, though.  He's definitely got a temper and a determined streak, not to mention a penchant for drama, but oh, he's so funny sometimes.  I really need to take some videos now that I have my new camera.

So, it was a week of new beginnings around here.  I got to spend last night and earlier today with my oldest friend, Heather, who I've known since Kindergarten.  She hitched a ride to town with her father-in-law, who had some churchy meetings to attend.  We reminisced and she played lots of Legos with Jacob.  She even took Jacob on the carousel at the mall!  It was nice to have her here, as most of the time our interactions are for a few minutes after church on holidays when we're both in Buffalo!  And the fun doesn't stop for me...from one great friend to another on consecutive weekends!  Next weekend I go to Syracuse overnight for a concert with my college roommate Mary, my first trip to her turf since before Jacob was born.  The concert will be great and the time with her even better.  It will be nice to have a break from life at home, but I will definitely miss the kids and wonder how my boys are faring.  Carter misses me so much when I'm not around, and I do worry about that.  He'll survive, but I'll be thinking about all of them.  It'll still be awesome, though, no doubt...and hopefully I will come back refreshed.

Still a week of work (and school) to get through before that, though...

Finally a September to Remember?

As we head into September, I find myself feeling a little apprehensive.  All my life I've had a bit of a birthday hangover to manage.  For most people they wake up the day after their birthday and it's just another day.  Maybe it's a bit of a letdown once the excitement is over, but for me, the day after also signifies SUMMER being over.  And when I was a kid, that also meant that school was generally less than a week away, which was a double bummer.  As I've grown up, things have been a little easier, but the last two autumns have brought many challenges, and I can't say that leaves me feeling any love for this one.

Two years ago I was still feeling pretty cruddy as I moved out of the first trimester into the second, and then had a bit of a funk in October when I found out that Carter was a boy.  Obviously he has more than made up for that by being his wonderful, charming self, but I'll admit it was a tough time there for a bit.  But last year?  All hell broke loose.

The end of summer was when the worst of Jacob's behavior started.  Those last few weeks of August nearly killed me.  We had no idea what was going on with Jacob, and it was so hard.  I was so sad, so heartbroken, so angry, and so confused.  Everything was overwhelming.  The start of Kindergarten was just plain scary as a result.  I looked back in the blog and was reminded of how the joy of that day was replaced by fear about everything--how he'd settle in, if he'd make friends, what would happen if he had a meltdown--and quite frankly, a lot of those fears weren't unfounded.  He had a tough year.  Yes, he learned a lot, but we had a lot of speed bumps along the way.  And let's face it, he didn't really make any solid friendships...unless you count those with the psychologist and the counselor.  My fear this year isn't any less.  The worries I had about him being in a new place have been replaced by fears about how he'll respond when the work gets harder.  His behavior in general is a little better--or at least, we know a little better how to manage it--but he is still terribly stubborn and almost never wants to listen to us.  Particularly when it's about something he doesn't want to do--go to bed, get ready for school, leave his toys/shows to come to dinner, do homework.  I am dreading getting back in the routine of getting home late, forcing him to do his homework, eating dinner, and battling him when we say it's time for bed right away.  I wish he'd do his work at the afterschool program, but he's a bit into instant gratification and can't quite comprehend that if he does the work now, he can play later at home when he'd most like to.  He just sees the opportunity to play and doesn't care about anything else.  We also know better now just how epic his attention span/distraction problems are.  Aside from hoping his teacher connects with him better, we have no illusions going into this year about the challenges we're facing.

In addition to all of the behavior issues last year, at this same time we were discovering that Carter had a rice intolerance.  By itself it might not have been such a blow, but on top of everything else it was devastating.  I felt like everything was spinning out of control.  Then Craig's dad needed open heart surgery.  Obviously we were crazy worried about his health first and foremost.  But beyond that, our trip with Craig's parents to Disney was a couple weeks away, and after already postponing it a couple times, this put it into limbo yet again.  It just seemed like no matter which way we turned there was something to worry about.

The trip to Disney itself was...interesting.  On one hand it was great to have a change of scenery, and no place is more magical than Disney.  On the other hand, it was hard enough to deal with our issues on our own turf, let alone on vacation where kids are always out of their routines and more prone to meltdowns.  On top of it all, our first full day there was the day we found out Jacob probably had Celiac disease, which was just another giant weight added to the burden we were carrying around.  Luckily we got to play around with Disney's ability to cater to those with food allergies, which felt like it gave us something constructive to do with the news, but yeah, it was tough.

Looking back on that trip, by some miracle the better memories have come to the top.  That hasn't always happened for me in the past, as often when I look at old pictures of Jacob I'm reminded of the trouble I had to go through to get that photo, or what he did to make that event particularly difficult.  Yes, I know that's sad.  But for some reason the Disney photos aren't like that.  I know how hard the trip was--the heat, overtired kids, the ill-timed lack of gluten-free foods, the cold I caught--but I remember the good stuff, too.  I think about how cute Carter was, how surreal it felt to walk around such a lovely resort, the times that Jacob was legitimately sweet, and the fun of riding the rides and gobbling down an ice cream treat shaped like Mickey's head.  There were good parts of the trip, and I think if we weren't so spent going in, maybe those would have been even clearer at the time.  I'm glad we got the chance to do it, but I won't lie--I don't need to do it again for a while...well, unless it's just Craig and me :)

Once we got back we were faced with the reality of Jacob's likely diagnosis.  We had to get back in the school groove, catch up on some homework, deal with doctor's appointments (the GI doc and his therapy appointments, not to mention Carter's allergist visit), find new foods to eat, and just survive Jacob's daily challenges.  I honestly felt like I was living in a fog for many months.  It was a combination of the weight of these challenges, the disbelief that we were dealing with such serious issues, and the exhaustion of having to deal with all of it.  I probably shed at least a couple tears daily for a couple months straight.  It was just SO HARD.

A year later things aren't quite as intense.  Carter's intolerance is gone, Craig's dad is doing well, and Jacob is still very difficult but we manage.  We're still working with a therapist, still trying everything we can to motivate him, and muddling through each day.  It's not ideal, but at least for now it feels functional.  It definitely didn't feel functional last year, so I guess that's progress.  It's been a long year.  Fall is slowly but surely making its way here, and I pray that this year makes up for the past two.

A Beautiful Birthday

So....my birthday was over the weekend.  I turned 36.  It's a little mind-boggling that I'm officially closer to 40 than 30, that my 18th birthday was half a lifetime ago, and my 21st birthday was already a decade and a half ago.  When my mom was my age she had a 7th grader and a 3rd grader...and as that 3rd grader, I remember her at this age pretty well.  I certainly don't feel that old (most days) but I don't look it either, so I guess I'm lucky there.

Originally I had wanted a nice quiet weekend at home.  We've been traveling so much and it seems like we're never home.  But then a few things came up and it became apparent that another weekend on the road was in the cards.  I decided to just make the best of it and squeeze in all the fun I could!

We already had plans in Rochester Friday night, which meant that we physically couldn't leave town until Saturday, which was good because I didn't feel like I had to cram in packing to be ready Friday.  However, we had a busy night planned.  I walked from my office over to Frontier Field, where I met Craig and the boys for a baseball game.  It was a bobblehead night, Stan Musial, to be exact, and THAT enticed Craig's family to come in since his brother's family are Cardinals fans and Musial was a Cardinal when he got to the Major Leagues.  So we got there early and waited in a very long (but thankfully quick once it moved) line and got bobbleheads, one for each of us so we had enough to share if his family didn't make it before they ran out.  His brother's family got them, and we had to (gladly) pass one off to his parents.  

We had a really nice night at the game--it was cool but pleasant--and the kids had a blast.  Carter was a bit cranky and dismissed my first attempt at dinner for him.  He ate option #2, but then I needed to spend quite a bit of time out of the seats just letting him wander because he did not want to sit!  Eventually he fell asleep in my lap and stayed asleep through the fireworks.  He woke up as we were leaving the stadium and stayed awake in the car (while Jacob fell asleep), but went right down once we were home. 

My entire goal for Saturday was to get us ready in enough time to eat lunch and run to Target before hitting the road at a good time for Carter to nap.  The problem with car naps on trips to Buffalo is that they're not quite long enough, but it beats having a well-rested kid who gets bored in the car and screams as his entertainment.  So...I was actually successful.  The main point of the trip to Target was to buy my new camera.  After breaking it on our trip to Syracuse, I'd been using our first digital camera (since relegated to being Craig's work camera) and researching to find the best one.  I'd finally made a decision, then concocted a plan to use a couple gift cards and my Target RedCard discount to bring it down to a price I was a little more comfortable with.  I really wanted to get one I'd love (meaning, nice zoom, great in low light, nice size, etc.), and there was one that fit the bill.  I haven't really put it to the test, but (spoiler alert) so far I am thrilled.

I forgot to mention that Craig and Jacob headed out earlier on Saturday to go up to Canada for a junior lacrosse tournament involving teams affiliated with most of the NLL teams.  Craig wanted to cover it (and the owner saw him and thanked him--score!), and took Jacob with him.  Apparently Jacob was pretty good and even got to play in a pick-up game with younger siblings of one of the Knighthawks!  They got back into town (Buffalo) just before bedtime on Saturday.

In the meantime...shortly after we got to my parents we left for a surprise party for the mom of my oldest friend, Heather.  My parents had been invited and when Heather found out I was going to be in town, she told me to come, too.  We also made plans for Sunday (and this coming weekend!)...more on that in a bit.  The party was fun.  I got to see some people I hadn't seen in years, the guest of honor was shocked and thrilled, and Carter was his usual charming but energetic self.  Between the three of us we were able to keep him occupied.  I couldn't help but test out my camera, and of course I'd have to use one of my favorite subjects!

Angle's a little funny and his eyes aren't looking quite at the camera, but gosh he's looking grown up these days...in spite of those baby face cheeks!

I loved the technicolor cupcakes, too!

I don't actually have a picture of the birthday girl because, well, I'm a little gun shy with my camera these days as rushing to pull it out is what caused the demise of my last one, and we didn't have a lot of warning for me to slowly pull it out for the big moment.  I'm coming up with some (hopefully) foolproof ways to protect my new one, though!

Sunday was my actual birthday.  We were all up bright and early for church.  The boys were a little antsy (Carter woke up on the wrong side of the bed, for sure), and I decided that I couldn't take Carter on my post-church adventure with Heather and her husband.  Since he's usually so good in the stroller, I considered it, but his behavior definitely convinced me he'd be better off at the house having a normal lunch and taking a normal nap.

The adventure in question was a trip to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.  It used to be one of my favorite school field trip destinations, but I hadn't been there in years.  In fact, the last time I was there was my sophomore year in college, conveniently in the middle of my art history class, on a random extended family outing to see an exhibit featuring the work of this famous glass blower...Dale Chihuly.  Now, if you've been around this blog a while, you know that I am obsessed with Chihuly's work, and that visit to the gallery was what started it all.  We walked around the gallery a bit that day, and I loved being able to name artists without having to look at anything except the painting itself.  Still, I didn't get to do a full visit, and I've been wanting to go back ever since.  Earlier this summer I read an article about a visiting exhibit at the gallery.  All of the most famous works from the gallery had been part of a traveling exhibit, but were back in Buffalo for a couple months.  I decided I had to go to see it and revisit all of the works I loved as a kid.  When I posted it on Facebook, Heather volunteered to go with me...and luckily we were able to make it work!

The Albright-Knox is quite the place.  It has one building that dates back to 1905, and another that was added in the '60s.  Most of the art is pretty much from the Impressionists to now, and it boasts a pretty amazing roster of artists.  Seeing the classics back in town was really awesome, and it brought back so many memories for Heather and me.  This was one of the first ones we saw, and I can still tell you exactly where it used to hang in the gallery.

In case you can't tell, it's a painting depicting the motion of a man walking his dog.

There was another exhibit in this same wing, and it was full of these crazy wall-sized paintings with very thickly textured paint.  The paintings themselves weren't really my style, but I couldn't resist an up-close picture of the paint...

Can't even imagine how long it took to dry!

Another classic is this Jackson Pollack...

I've always felt like his work was overrated since I could probably do something similar, but I do really like this one...

Another famous one, the Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup cans...

There were so many other classics...Monet, Gauguin, Dali, Kahlo, Picasso, and more.  It was so cool to see them and it's almost hard to remember that they're the real thing, not just a poster.

There were other works, too...I really liked this one.  I just like color, I guess.

One of the highlights of any of our field trips was the mirrored room.  I wasn't even sure it was still there (come to find out, it had been on loan for years and just came back this summer), but we were thrilled to see it again.  Of course, we weren't so thrilled to find out we needed socks to go in it, as Heather and I were both in sandals.  We could have bought socks from the store, but we made do with standing in the doorway while Heather's husband Peter got his first walk around it.

Hard to tell, but it's a big cube with mirrors outside and an open "door" at the corner.

This is almost impossible to comprehend, but I am standing at the door taking the picture looking in.  There's a table and chairs in the center, and everything goes on infinitely.  Awesome.

Outside we took a stroll around the grounds to see the outdoor sculptures.  This one was really cool, mostly because the surface was glass mosaic.

I got a couple awesome shots of the mosaic standing where I was standing in the picture above, but zooming in to see the details.  Yep, my camera is cool.

Here's the outside of the 1905 part of the gallery.  There is a sculpture in the very center.

The sculpture is a seemingly endless stack of little men sitting on each others' shoulders and covering each others' eyes.  It was weird and jarring and stark...and very tall.

Around the side of the building was this giant head.  This picture is so weird and creepy.  The head just looks superimposed.

It was a great trip and it makes me want to visit galleries elsewhere.  So fun!  I'm so glad I got to go and enjoy it all.  I also loved giving my new camera a workout!  So many beautiful things to capture!

Back at my parents' house, everyone was getting ready for a Labor Day picnic.  My mom needed something from the store, so I ran back out and picked up the fixings for Buffalo chicken dip, too.  The picnic was low key as a lot of other family members were out of town, but we had a nice time and I got sung to before we left for our next stop...

Love my boys!

Our next stop was Craig's family, as his dad's birthday is tomorrow.  Considering he was in the hospital at this time last year, en route to open heart surgery, it's definitely a birthday worth celebrating.  We had a fabulous dinner and a delicious gluten-free cake (Jacob was so excited!).  

Oh, that face...Teddy is so stinkin' cute.

And so is this guy, when he cooperates!

We were all stuffed full of food and it was getting late, so we piled back in the car to come back home.  Unfortunately, we had two cars for the trip and had to go retrieve mine from a lot near the Thruway so we could both drive home.  It was a late night, but fortunately we had all day Monday to recover.  I spent hours putting together a fancy Lego set that was my birthday gift from the boys (long story--I'll try to explain with photos soon) and trying to get organized for meeting Jacob's teacher this morning.  We did dinner out last night with a good coupon, and did some quick school shopping with another coupon.  We were back to the grind today, complete with Carter in a new room at daycare and Jacob enjoying his last couple days there.  It all gets real on Thursday.  I'll be posting about all of that soon, too.  Busy busy...but what a lovely weekend it was!

Sweet Freedom

For quite a few years, Craig has had this random fascination with Michael McDonald.  Who?  Yeah, the singer...the guy who was part of the Doobie Brothers, then had a pretty solid solo career in the 80s.  He's got that really unique and very soulful voice, and even if you don't know who he is, you've probably heard him and marveled a bit that that voice can come from a white guy.  Two years ago we went to Pittsburgh with Craig's dad for a baseball game, and in looking through stuff at the hotel, I discovered that Michael McDonald was in Pittsburgh that night performing at a casino.  I guess prior to that I never really realized he was still actively touring, so from that moment on I kept my eyes and ears open in case he came nearby.

Earlier this year he came to Rochester as part of our jazz festival, but the minimum $60/ticket price tag seemed a little steep for a random fascination.  Fortunately, not long after I saw that he was coming to Artpark in Lewiston (near Niagara Falls) for their summer concert series, and the tickets were only $12!  Jackpot!  I hatched a plan to take two half days off of work, leave in the afternoon, drop the kids at my parents', go to the concert, and get an overnight date out of the deal.  And guess what?  It actually happened.

This past Tuesday was the day.  We've been on the road for various things so many weekends in a row, and the suitcases have barely been put away over the past month, but we had to do it again.  We haven't had a night away in ages (possibly as far back as May 2013), so it had to happen.  It took me until the night before to find a hotel room I was satisfied with, but it was worth it to have a night away and a morning without pint-sized human alarm clocks.  We picked up the kids early and headed off to Buffalo, stopping only briefly at my parents' to drop them off and give a few instructions.  We had to get there as soon as we could to claim our general admission seats.

I haven't been to Artpark since my high school graduation, and probably at least half a dozen years before that for their summer activities for kids.  It used to be a favorite summer spot for my grandma, aunts, cousins, and me, as we'd go there once in a while with a picnic lunch, then head off to watch the performers, paint pictures, and do crafts.  They had pottery wheels and clay, random craft projects, and a line of boards to put up paper and paint.  It was glorious.  I graduated in the indoor theater there, and nowadays the giant wooden decks where most of the crafts were are gone and in that area is a giant outdoor amphitheater, home of their Tuesday concert series.  It was cool to go back, but I wish we would have had more time to wander to see the random pieces of art scattered around the grounds.  We found a good spot for our lawn chairs, and headed off to find dinner from the many vendors.  Among all of the cooler days we've had, that night happened to be a hot one.  We sweated through our dinners (cheeseburger for Craig, pork noodles for me), and tried to appreciate the fact that it wasn't raining or cold.

The opening act was Toto, a band from the 70s and 80s that you may remember for hits like "Africa", "Rosanna", "Hold the Line", and "I'll Be Over You".  Considering they're aging 60-something rockers, we weren't sure what to expect, but they were awesome!  There were at least four old guys with some newer folks sprinkled in, but the old guys could still rock and it was great!  I loved hearing the classics live!

During the intermission, we wandered over to the far side of the amphitheater to look out at the Niagara Gorge...

Not a bad view, eh?  The bridge in the distance is the Lewiston-Queenston bridge to Canada.  It looks so impressive from down here!

 This view looks a little the left from there, back toward the stage and the crowd.  We were sitting at the far side of this crowd, right about in the middle, not far from that large illuminated screen.

It was such a nice evening.  It never got very cool, but I never needed a sweater, either.

Michael McDonald's voice hasn't preserved quite as well as the Toto guys, but it was still a great show.  I loved hearing his classics live, too.

The video screens were helpful!

We loved hearing "Takin' it to the Streets", "Minute by Minute", and the song the title of this post is based on, among others.  He looks sort of like an overweight old dude in a black t-shirt these days, but he's still got a ton of soul in that voice and it was nice to hear him live.  We just enjoyed the evening and appreciated not having to attend to every little thing that the kids need.  When you're so preoccupied with getting them to eat or sleep or just stop invading your personal space, it's nice to get a break.  We enjoyed every second.

We headed out from the concert and crossed over the border in Niagara Falls pretty easily before heading to our hotel.  The nightly fireworks started just as we hit the customs booth, so we missed that show, but once we dropped off our stuff, we headed out to Clifton Hill.  We stopped at DQ for Blizzards and wandered down and up, stopping a few stores and looking at all of the other parents dealing with their overtired, out-too-late, over-sugared kids.  As much as I wanted to kiss our kids good night, at that moment I was relieved they were not with us!

We headed back to our room, which was a giant suite-type room that I got for the same price as a normal one.  There was a cute couch, a tiny kitchen space, and just a lot of space in general.  We weren't there for long, but it was really nice.  I slept pretty good considering we were in a hotel room, and while we couldn't sleep too late because we had to make it back to Rochester by lunch time, it was nice to wake up on my own and not have to get up and attend to the kids.  It was a nice change of pace, for sure!

We headed back to reality, grabbed a quick breakfast, and picked up the kids before heading back to Rochester.  I fed the kids lunch and dropped them at daycare, then went back to work, which has been non-stop craziness since I got back from vacation.  I'm still buried by a mountain of work--some of which came in while I was gone, some of which involved time-consuming urgent projects, and some of which piled up while I was stuck doing those time-consuming urgent projects.  It's been exhausting and seems like a hole I will never climb out of, but I have no choice but to keep chipping away.  It's not easy...and it's part of the reason this blog has been pretty quiet lately.

So, another weekend is upon us.  A baseball game in Rochester with Craig's family, complete with a bobblehead giveaway, ushered in the weekend.  As of today a new digital camera has been purchased, and three parties and one fun outing (and a work thing for Craig in Canada) have lured us back to Western New York for yet another weekend.  Next weekend we WILL stay home...but we have a guest!  And the weekend after that I'm in Syracuse (alone!).  The fun never stops...which is bad for my productivity, but good for our fun level!  School starts late this week, Carter moves up at daycare, and I officially enter my mid-to-late thirties in approximately 45 minutes.  Whew.  Time to get a good night's sleep to prepare for all of this stuff!

Picnic!

This summer we've had an endless streak of events on weekends that started pretty much back in June and will go right through Labor Day.  It's been fun and crazy, but it's winding down.  This weekend we had Craig's family picnic.  It took a year off last year, but was back this year and Jacob was excited.  The big event at this picnic has always been the softball game.  In recent years it's been more of a free-for-all baseball-ish game for all ages, but he enjoys it.  And he's finally old enough to really play! 

Before we could get to the game, we had to do the picnic part...hang out, eat food, and find ways to keep the kids occupied.  The park it's in has plenty of areas to wander, and Jacob kept himself occupied by playing a lot of wall ball--throwing the ball off the wall and trying to catch it.  Carter liked watching Jacob, but he also kept trying to join other parties and wander into the parking lot.  UGH.  He's a very determined little boy!  This picnic always seems to take forever to get to the food, and finally we did.  By that point Craig had been gone for a while to take care of an event for work (good thing he was already in Buffalo!) and made it back shortly after the meal, just as the game was getting organized. 

True to form, Jacob was a little annoyed about the loosey-goosey rules of the game, and that it only ended up being three innings, but he had fun nonetheless.  He played catcher when he was in the field and did pretty well hitting. 

In the meantime, Carter was having a blast making a new friend, one of his distant cousins.  Cousin Teddy is headed to college and is--get this--6'7" tall!  He loves kids, and Carter loved it when he picked him up and held him over his head!  God knows it's rare I get up that high, let alone Carter!  The giggles were so great!

Here's an assortment of pictures from the day...

It's rare to get a picture of the two of them together, so when they were just sort of accidentally sitting together, I had to take my shot...

He was sort of doing "cheese" in this picture, and I couldn't resist!

Gosh, he's handsome!

Jacob gets a hit! (and Daddy's playing third!)

Carter liked the game but he was also enjoying the equipment!

Had to get a picture of my boys in their Polska shirts, but Carter wasn't being very cooperative by then!

 

The end of the game marked the end of the picnic as we had to head back to Craig's parents' house to spend the evening with some friends of theirs who were in from out of town.  We had a late-ish night but Jacob played nicely with his cousins in the pool and Carter charmed everyone as usual.  Today we all slept in a bit and then headed out to the outlet mall in Niagara Falls to hit up the Nike store, among other stores (found a great pair of sneaks for Carter with Aunt Kristin's employee discount and some pants  for Jacob at The Children's Place).  Of course, the rest of Western New York and Southern Ontario was there, as well, and with a ton of construction there was nearly no parking.  Still, we survived and got on the road to finish off the weekend at home this evening. 

 

It's sort of a weird start to the week already.  I have piles of work waiting for me tomorrow, and while I don't really want to finish the weekend, I do want to get back to chipping away at the mountain.  At the same time, I know it's only for a day and a half, as I'm off Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning for a special date night with Craig, so at least I know I have a little reprieve--though the resulting stress at work may not be worth it, but I am NOT giving up this date that I've been planning for months!  Next weekend is my birthday, which I was hoping to spend as a quiet weekend at home (finally), but alas...it doesn't appear that will be the case.  It's also Craig's dad's birthday weekend and I'm assuming there will be something for that, and my parents are throwing a picnic.  I've also been desperate to get back to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo (haven't been since college) because some of their best known works are back for a bit after a traveling exhibition.  I know some of them are ones I remember from many a field trip in my youth, and I'd like to see those old favorites before they go back on the road.  So my goal if I'm giving up my weekend at home is to sneak away for a few hours to go enjoy some art.  We'll see how that goes.  Oh, and we have to do some school shopping this week, too, so it looks like there won't be any dull moments for a bit yet.  Yay for summer!

Reflections on "Vacation"

Well, we're back to our usual existence--kids at daycare, parents at work--and so far the transition back has been OK.  I'll admit that I pretty much reached my limit on togetherness by Sunday afternoon.  There were a lot of things that made Sunday tough, including a scheduling glitch that caused me to miss an event I had been looking forward to--a party to celebrate the 3rd birthday and remission from leukemia for my friend's son.  I was so upset about that, for many reasons, and it sort of took the wind out of my sails for the rest of the day.  To the point that when we got home from our weekend in Buffalo I went into my bedroom, closed the door, and stayed there for a couple hours until I had the composure to function.  Of course, Jacob still tried my patience every chance he got, and Carter is such a handful that it takes a lot of energy and patience to keep him out of trouble, and by last night I was definitely lacking in that department.  Being with both of them all week definitely took a toll on both of us.  I know that sounds terrible, but it's true.  Being on duty 24/7 can be very challenging.  With Jacob everything is a battle, and with Carter, you're always having to be aware.  That much time together means that there are many more instances in an uninterrupted span of time where you have to do the disciplining.  Normally they get some disciplining from teachers at daycare/school for part of the day, and us at home for part of the day.  But without that change of scenery, it's all us, all the time, and that's not really fun for anyone...they don't want to get it, and we get sick of dishing it out.  When we're all having a good time together, the time together great...but when we're not, it's that much worse because we don't get a break.

Jacob had his good moments during the week--a very good first day on our trip, lots of time spent playing Legos by himself without being asked--but spending the week with him really brought to light a lot of his challenges right now.  It reminded me that we still have major battles ahead of us, particularly as first grade looms.  His attention span is zero.  You can tell him to put on his shoes or change his shorts 10 times in a row and he still won't be able to focus long enough to do it.  He says a blatant "no", or worse, makes some sort of smart remark when even the simplest direction is given to him.  Bedtime has been painful.  I have no idea where that awful disrespect came from.  We certainly have never let it pass here, so why he keeps it up, we have no idea.  He rambles endlessly and usually throws out random potty talk at any given moment.  Craig and I have likened it to being with someone with Tourette Syndrome.  I know that's terrible and someone out there would probably be mad about that statement, but seriously--how many people do you know that just randomly talk about smacking their butt in the middle of a conversation about something totally different?  Or accuse people (jokingly, but still) of pooping their pants?  Craig did this exaggerated but not entirely inaccurate example of what it's like living with Jacob ("Pee!  Poop!  Butt!") that had Jacob and me rolling, but I did try to explain to Jacob afterward that he probably shouldn't be laughing because it's sort of making fun of his tendency to say potty words randomly.  We figure there's just so much going through his head and he's unable to censor it.  We're continuing to see his therapist and may get another opinion from another specialist.  It could be a long year.

As for Carter...well, Jacob was never the type to dig in cabinets or hang out in the bathroom, but Carter will frequent every dangerous household spot he can find.  Ugh.  He was constantly running off to Jacob's room, trying to tackle him, pulling out countless toys, and running off with Jacob's lacrosse sticks.  He'd frequently be found wandering into the bathroom (and try getting a six year old to remember to put the seat down...) or climbing up and down the stairs.  He was such a handful.  His naps were blissful and allowed me to get a lot done, but bedtime was a welcome relief, even if putting that smiling face to bed did melt your heart a bit.  He's got such an amazing little personality and I love how happy he makes people when we're out in public.  We'd barely made it through the produce section yesterday at Wegmans and we'd already had a three people remarking how cute he is.  He's just so social!  He will wave and say hi to anyone, and I'm pretty sure he says, "Bye-bye" to everyone was pass on our way out...including every car.  He just loves making people smile.  He's finally growing in some hair (he needed his third haircut last week and he looks so adorable!) and he officially hit 18 months on Friday.  It is so hard to believe he's getting to be such a big boy!

Once we were done with our trip, my goal for the days we were home was to tackle a serious to do list I have accrued over the past few months.  I literally have a list on my iPod with all of the random projects that need doing.  I needed to log the Goodwill donations that have been sitting in a corner of our bedroom for months, so we had a list for tax purposes.  I needed to sort through the hand-me-downs to get the next round of clothes ready for Carter.  I had to soak and scrub Jacob's backpack to make sure it was salvageable for this year (it is!).  I had to scrub my kitchen floor on hands and knees, because nothing cleans it well and it was gross (though I did just buy a mop with a scrub brush that I think might work for next time!).  There were about 10 other things on the list but I'm not sure I got to any of them.

Then I had my unofficial list, which included a couple "fun" things.  I wanted to clean up the old Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine that I inherited from my parents' house years ago and actually make sno-cones.  I decided mid-week that I should make the gluten-free cinnamon rolls that Jacob always begs for when we pass by them in the store.  I did that for breakfast one day, and while they were good, I now have it on my list to try a recipe using gluten-free Bisquick, because I think they'll be better!

During the course of going through my to do list, I ended up adding a few things that had been bugging me.  I cleaned out my desk because I was having trouble closing the drawers and I knew it could be better.  I cleaned out an entire small bin of miscellaneous technology items (cords, cables, old cameras and music devices) and added to my donation pile, then moved half of my overflowing craft bin into the spare one.  I switched around all of the kids toys, so a lot of Jacob's toys moved into his room, some of Carter's toys moved into the shelves that Jacob's toys vacated, and a few more of Carter's toys moved into his room, so he has a few things to keep him occupied there.  With the room that created, I was able to bring up a couple more of Jacob's old toys that had been relegated to the crawl space until Carter was older.  They were all little things that make a major impact on quality of life, but I normally just don't take the time--mostly because, as I experienced, one project leads to another, and normally I don't have time to risk creating more projects for myself!

The big project, though, was the hand-me-downs.  That was the ultimate "one thing leads to another" project.  I initially pulled out three bins that I thought might have the next set of clothes for Carter.  I had an inkling there were still some 18 month clothes packed away somewhere, even though I had pulled out a ton quite a while ago and thought I got them all then.  But as we got into the summer I realized a couple things were still missing, so I knew I had to start digging in.  I went through the first three bins and realized that there were probably a lot of clothes that were packed away out of sequence.  So, rather than miss out on time with certain clothes a year from now, I decided I needed to pull out every single bin from the crawl space, sort them all by size and season, and have them ready to go.  And, in theory, now when Jacob grows out of stuff, I can even sort those items into the appropriate bins.  It was a huge project that took many days' worth of Carter's naps, but it's done.  Now I have the challenge of figuring out how to fit a ton of 18 and 24 month clothes into Carter's closet and dresser.  It was an interesting exercise going through the past four-plus years of clothes, reliving moments and rediscovering my favorite outfits.  Sometimes it shocked me how recent certain items seemed, and other times it seemed so long ago.  But it was a pretty clear reminder of how quickly time goes.

I'll admit that after our week at home I'd like a vacation from my vacation.  It would be nice to have a few days without the kids to keep chipping away at my list, but judging by the amount of work on my desk at the office, I couldn't be away from there any longer.  But it was good getting a few things checked off at home, and it was nice to have some time with the kids where we weren't rushing out the door or having to run errands, rush through dinner, and cram some playtime into a couple hours in the evening.  While it wasn't perfect, it was a nice change of pace for a week.  Bookended by weddings where Craig and I had time to ourselves, it really wasn't half bad as a whole.  I love my kids, I love my husband, and I wish like crazy that my priorities could be different so the time I spend reflects those things.  But this is it for now. 

It was an interesting week.  Now to replace that camera... 

Syracuse, The Worse Part

After our fun dinner with Mary, we headed to the Syracuse Chiefs' stadium.  It was a nice night and we were looking forward to another game.  I hadn't been to this stadium since 1999 when I interned for the Buffalo Bisons and another intern and I chaperoned a booster club trip there, and Craig had never been there.  It all started simply enough.  We parked and I got this picture on the way in...

After we took that picture and started walking toward the box office, a guy stopped me and asked if we needed tickets.  He had free tickets as part of being a shareholder or something, and offered them to us.  So, of the six tickets in two days that we would have had to buy, we only paid for one!  Nice people are still out there!

The stadium looks pretty impressive from the outside, with a full blown upper deck and this tower...

 

But honestly, that's about where it ends.  There is no fancy signage outside, and the inside is just lacking pizazz and decent amenities.  It's fine, but it pales in comparison to Rochester and Buffalo. 

 

Once we got in, we wandered through the concourse and headed into the store.  We looked around and while we were there, one of their mascots, Scooch, walked in.  Carter was checking him out, as usual, and as I pulled out my camera and turned it on to try to capture his face, the camera whipped out of my hand and landed on the carpet-covered concrete floor.  That's happened a couple times, but this time something went horribly wrong because the pieces covering the lens were messed up.  The lens wouldn't retract, and as I tried to unjam it, some of the pieces came off.  So...my camera is officially dead.  It was only 2-1/2 years old.  The whole thing just makes me sad.  And in the middle of a vacation, I was extra upset, because I sort of feel like if it's not on camera, it almost didn't happen, you know?  I was heartbroken.  And cranky.  And as we sat there in our seats, Craig checked his phone and saw the news about Robin Williams.  Not a good night at all. 

 

The only good news in the mess was that Craig keeps our old digital camera in his car for work, and once we got through that game, I'd be able to use that for the rest of the trip.  Small consolation, but better than nothing.  So, the next few pictures are from Craig's phone.  Here was our view from our first set of seats (we had to move around, which I'll talk about in a bit)...

Here's a rare sighting of me, sitting with a cookie-eating Carter...

We had to get up and walk around because Jacob wanted to get down to their kids' area, which was free but total chaos!  He wanted to do the pitching thing, and then we did an inflatable version of skee ball. 

We wandered back up to the concourse, but by that point all Carter wanted to do was wander off.  We tried to sit but he refused.  He was a major handful.  By the 7th inning stretch I took him to the bathroom to get him changed and in his jammies so we could leave and plop him in bed right when we got back.  Jacob was unhappy we were leaving, but it was the best thing for all of us.  And Carter actually did stay asleep (which is nothing short of a miracle, seriously--that kid never stays asleep getting out of the car!) and we were all in bed before 10pm. 

I slept pretty lightly since Carter was still a little restless.  The next morning I woke up to the sound of rain.  The forecast was terrible and we had planned around it.  We were going to go back to the SU campus and visit Manley Fieldhouse, which has a lot of Syracuse's sports hardware.  It's an unassuming round building flanked by some office wings, but inside was pretty cool.

Right inside were displays with equipment and memorabilia of the various SU sports teams...

...and beyond that some selected trophies were featured on pedestals.  In case you're wondering, there was a giant trophy case with the rest!

Here's a closer view of the lacrosse team displays...

One of the more impressive features of the building is the Carmelo Anthony wing...

 

The wing highlights all of the successes of the men's and women's basketball teams...

 

Notice the championship trophy below...and interestingly it's in a display case that's visible in the practice gym, too.  Talk about motivation... 

The practice gym was set up for volleyball.  Nice facility.

The visit wouldn't have been complete without a photo with the giant "S".

We also saw this cool sculpture featuring Gary Gait, one of the great SU lacrosse players and a former Knighthawk.  It's him scoring a goal from behind the net, which was almost unheard of back in the day.

On our way out we snuck a peek at the field in the fieldhouse.  We saw some soccer players walking through the building and some cheerleaders practicing on the one side.  This picture is hard to see, but the low ceiling was just as you walked into the field area before you hit the track.  It looked really nice, though, with workout equipment on the far side. 

We finished up at SU and braved the rain back to the car.  We decided to go to Destiny USA, Syracuse's giant mall, to grab some lunch and run into a few stores.  It actually worked out well, as the Pizzeria Uno in the food court had a great deal on gluten-free pizzas through the quick service window.  Carter and I shared some Popeye's chicken.  We did a little shopping and I stopped into Best Buy to start my camera shopping.  The mall is huge and intimidating, so we didn't venture too far in.  We had to keep the time in mind as we had to get back to Rochester for my office's summer outing, a night at the Red Wings game.  And yes, that would make three games in three days.  And this one included free tickets, too.  So, three games, one ticket purchased.

The weather was iffy, but the rain stopped for most of the drive and cleared up through the beginning of the game.  We had a nice meal under a tent on the patio at the game, including gluten-free pizza for Jacob.  All was well until shortly after the game started, when the rain began.  We hung in there for a while, just hanging out under the tent and chatting with my co-workers and their families, but when the game went into a rain delay, we headed to the team store.  I looked at the radar and it looked bad, so we headed out into the rain and called it a night.  The game got called sometime later.  They only got a couple innings in, so the good news is that we get free tickets to another game.  The bad news is that just as we were getting Jacob into bed, the power went out.  And it stayed out, so we went to bed early...again. 

The rest of the week has mostly been time at home.  Lazy mornings, the kids tearing the house apart, and me digging into my to do list.  It's been quite the week of organizing hand-me-downs, logging donations, scrubbing the kitchen floor, and organizing as much as possible while my brain isn't cluttered and my energy isn't depleted.  I still have so many things I would have liked to get done, but alas, now it's off to Buffalo for a family wedding on my side.  The progress was good while it lasted!  Back to reality in a couple more days :(