Holidays

I started this holiday season with huge dreams of a completely handmade Christmas, one that showed my loved ones how much they mean to me, and how unimportant the commercialism truly is to celebrate the holidays. I didn't get anywhere close to finishing my list, that was broken out in Excel with a tab for each family member, links to tutorials, ideas, and pictures that inspired me. Instead, I completed one handmade gift for my mom's birthday (Christmas Eve), am 95% done with a gift for my oldest, and have a well-thought out idea for my youngest (some of the prep-work is complete as well). That's all. I'm not sure how we are now three days away from Christmas and I haven't completed anything else on the list. I still want to make ornaments for our nieces and nephews, and I think we may have eaten all the christmas cookies we made over the weekend. I also had this grand idea of completely outfitting the boys play room for Christmas to include painting over the mauve color with something fun and playful, to inspire them to want to play there, we have ideas for a fort and stuffed animal zoo, a reading nook, and a place to do crafts. Like I said - grand ideas. We haven't actually done much to start that room yet.

We have certainly been celebrating the season: my oldest (who is still only 3 1/2) can sing the entire song of We Three Kings (he's amazing!), we read from our collection of Christmas/Holiday books every naptime and before bed, the boys take turns with the advent calendar, we are visiting the Christmas Train tonight, we have been to visit Santa, made sugar cutout cookies, and decorated the house.

Perhaps that long list of things we've been doing coupled with the fact that at least one person in our family has been sick at any given time in December has caused me to be behind. I really think that's just an excuse though. I would love to have made more this year. Instead though I have given myself a break. I could be disappointed, instead I'm thrilled that I made what I did. I could say that I'll be better next year, I'll start in the summer. Truth is, I won't. I know I won't. So I'm cutting myself some slack this year - instead of doing the play room before Christmas the hubby and I can work on it during my 10 days off between Christmas and New Years. We still bought less - much less. And we are creating memories in our new house - isn't that what this holiday is really about?

What gifts did you make this year? Does your family have any holiday traditions that you treasure?

Found it...

Lately I have been comparing myself to my beautiful little almost two year old baby boy. Jack may be one of the sweetest ones in the world and gives his big brother a run for his money sometimes with the cuteness factor (we are very blessed parents!). Jack is the prince of pointing out the obvious in his own innocent way. He will happily shout "found it!" whenver we are looking for something, regardless of the fact if he: a) actually found the item we were looking for, b) saw mommy or daddy with the item 10 minutes after we found it, or c) saw something that did not remotely resemble what we were looking for in the first place but he thinks it's pretty cool. It's quite hilarious and he knows it - could be why he does it in the first place, this kid loves to laugh. Getting back to my comparison to him. As we are transitioning to life in Tulsa, I have had many opportunities to count my blessings. My kids are thriving, I am really enjoying my new job, my husband and I are able to go out on a date, we have found a beautiful house that we love and are in the processing of trying to make it ours. In the meantime we are in a rental house and since we don't plan to be here very long we didn't set up cable - this has led to countless hours in the backyard playing "Simon Says", baseball with the boys, and running around as a family. I feel like we have already been able to spend a significant amount of quality time together and we've been here less than a month. Perhaps the newness factor will wear off soon. Perhaps it won't. For now, I'll just remind myself how lucky I am that we have more health, happiness, love, and togetherness than I cold have ever dreamt possible. I knew when we first started talking about moving to Tulsa that we were going to do it for the kids, for our family; to slow life down a little bit. As Jack would say, we "found it!".

Settling in

Wow - so much has happened in the past month. The only way to describe leaving my last job is to explain it to you the way my (now former) co-worker explained it to me.

It feels as if you are in a war-zone and missles and bullets are flying around you. You watch as a close friend dodges each bullet as she or he runs toward the US Embassy. As that friend pulls open the gates and escapes into freedom, you feel nothing but happiness that as they turn around and wave with a huge smile on thier face.

While I understand that some may think it's in poor taste to compare my last job to a war-zone, at times, to those of us on the inside, it was an easy comparison. It was also nice to know that those I left behind are just happy to know that I have found something better. The new job is awesome; I'm still in that new hire cocoon, but I'm enjoying everything that I'm learning and am excited about the possibilities that are in front of me.

The move to Tulsa itself has been so wonderful for my family. The boys are thriving and really enjoying being around all our extended family. They have created bonds already and we only hope things continue to progress as they are currently. We have also already put in an offer on a house we have found and love. It's absolutely the dream house and fingers crossed, we'll be in it before Thanksgiving. Walking into homes during the search this is the only one that reached out and made us realized that we could visualize raising our families here. The garden will take a bit more planning because of all the trees on the property, but since the house feels like it's in the woods, it's a task I'll take on. The garden may not be centrally located and instead be multiple areas with garden boxes strewn about the property based on where the sun shines through, but I'm still excited about the planning process and what we can grow.

a new day

We graduated. My husband and I walked last Friday, on our oldest sons third birthday. We have (un)officially obtained our Master's degrees. It was a bit anticlimactic since we have to complete our final class before we are officially done. The empty casing that should have held our degree was simply a reminder that we have more to do. The time we had was exhausting; but luckily we have both of our moms there to help with the kids. I am happy to be home. A week in Vermont with mosquitoes the size of small airplanes was a bit too much, especially for my children who seem to attract them just as much as their mommy does...

I am still waiting on that magical phone call that could transform the comfortable little life we have created here in beautiful CO. I'm wondering if it's the right decision; second guessing myself is something I'm good at (who isn't?). However, since I don't actually have an offer letter in hand I guess I'm putting the cart in front of the horse. In the meantime, i plan on enjoying my time here, doing all the things I have taken for granted simply because they were in my backyard. Lunch with a good friend, a hike perhaps, accupuncture, a date with my husband, maybe even a trip to the Maroon Bells (six years of living in CO and I still haven't been there...)

Labor Day

The upcoming three day weekend only reminds me that this little boy will soon be arriving and truth be told, I'm not feeling 100% ready for his arrival :)

Sure, the crib is set up, the newborn clothes are washed and we already have the main things like carseats and diapers, but...
the crib needs a mattress pad and clean sheets on it, the newborn clothes are clean but have been sitting crumpled in a laundry basket in my closet for weeks, the diapers need to be washed and hung to dry (not to mention I need to get some baskets to store them in), we need to buy another base for the infant seat and actually install them so the hospital lets us take him home... I could go on and on. Instead, I'll revel in the fact that I get to meet this little guy in about a month (maybe a little more, maybe a little less) and then we get three months home together as a family.

I am so looking forward to that. PB's mom has been in town and it's been nice to have her helping out. Too bad PB hurt his ankle while sliding into 2nd base at this weeks' softball game and therefore he hasn't gotten to do near as much as he'd have liked. My mom will be coming in soon for about 5 days to help as well and hopefully he can do the things he wanted to do this time around. Mom and I will spend some time making some freezer meals and doing some other chores around the house to make it easier when the little guy gets here.

In the meantime I've been knitting up a storm, making wool longies and shorties - the newborn size it so darn adorable! I've got another set of newborns on the needles right now, and another skein of yarn waiting to be cast on for a pair for poopster so he doesn't feel left out. I'd post pics but I think they are on the home computer...

I'm back...for now...

Things here are going strangely well. The little one is sleeping better and better everyday (though now that I've been open about it I'm sure it will change again). He has 7 teeth (7!) and is walking around like crazy. He loves to dance and it appears that Madonna might be his favorite :)

He's the absolute greatest thing I've ever "done" in my life, and I'm so glad to be his mama. He is in the sweetest, cuddly mood lately and will just wrap his arms tight around my neck and lay his head on my shoulder for a while when I ask him for a hug - I love it. He loves playing catch with daddy and checking out the tomato plants with me everyday after work.

We are slowly preparing for the arrival of his little brother - which we still can't believe could be as soon as 4-5 weeks away. The crib is up and the newborn clothes are clean, but that's about it! I need to pull out the carseat, wash the newborn dipes and generally do all the things that I want to do (you know, the knitting, sewing and making really cool things for him like I did when I was pregnant with Poopy). We toured the hospital this past weekend and are happy to know that we will not be splitting our family up for the first few days of this new little ones life. We can all be together in the hospital until I'm ready to go home which gives me a large amount of relief.

PB is doing well and enjoying being home still. I think we are all looking forward to my maternity leave when the four of us will get three months together - all of us at home. What a gift that many families don't get a chance to have.

Work is still crazy busy but that is life. I've been handed more and more responsibilities and can only hope that means good things for the future. Until the little ones are big enough to get overseas, this job is treating me pretty well and I'm learning a lot on a daily basis.

Life is great

Life

Life has certainly been moving quickly this past year. Poopster turned one last week and I really had to stop and wonder where time went - he is sooooo big. He's taking steps, though crawling is still much faster and therefore his preferred method of travel for now. He is saying mom/mama and dada, dah (for duck and doggy) and is getting bigger and bigger every second. He does not look or act like a "baby" anymore which has been a hard thing to come to terms with. Sometimes late at night (or in the middle of the night) when I'm rocking him to sleep and he cuddles in next to me he seems like my baby again, and I know that the feeling will never entirely go away. Even when his little brother arrives in October.

Didn't you hear? We're having another little one and it's gonna be a boy. PB and I are thrilled of course and poopster loves to give his little brother zerberts through my belly which is the cutest thing in the world. It's amazing how blessed we are as a family and I'm honestly in awe of everything that we have going for us.

We're taking him camping for the first time tomorrow which should be really fun - can't wait to see how he handles it as he adores being outside. I've been very bad about updating the flickr account but hope to do so before the end of the weekend...

Ahh, life

So, it's been a bit crazy these past few weeks. We've got poopster on his new medication and the doc thinks it's working...(we're not 100% convinced yet) and we'll take him back in for another visit in a few weeks. Good news is thta the allergy test came back negative, which means that I got to start adding dairy back into my diet and means we got to give buster some mac&cheese last night - he LOVED it! I'll add some pictures just as soon as I get them uploaded on the computer.

My mom flies in this afternoon and I am really excited for her visit. It's been a while since we've seen her, and poopster has grown so much since December.

Not much else to update on, I'm trying to study as much as I can because my certification exam is in 1 month - eek. I guess it's good I was always better at test taking when I crammed rather than smartly study..

Easter

Happy Easter all! We lounged at home and had a wonderful time. Didn't even color the eggs until this afternoon but I'm so glad we did it. Poopy loved the brightly colored eggs and couldn't really understand why we didn't want him to eat them...

We're on day 4 of his new medicine - not sure if it's working yet or not, doc said to give it minimum two weeks before we'll really know if it's working or not. He seems to be doing well, Friday night he didn't sleep too well but last night was great. He came to bed with us around 6 or so and all three of us slept in until approximately 8. I love those mornings. Poopy cuddles up next to the hubby and seems pretty content to share the bed with mommy and daddy.

Bought a bread maker yesterday and have already made two loaves - the garlic, black pepper bread I made to go with our steaks tonight was fantastic. Can't wait to try out some sweet breads, I'm thinking cinnamon raisin... yum.

Still studying for my certification exam at the end of May. I've got a long way to go to be prepared for the test so here's hoping I start having time at work to read some of the books (still on the first of 5 - eek!)

The Poop

We have tons of crazy nicknames for the little one - Poopster, the poop, buster; we joke sometimes that if we are overheard by strangers they are going to think we are crazy... either way, he does look at us when he hears any of the nicknames in addition to his name.

He grins like a maniac when he sees me come home from work. It's the absolute greatest feeling in the entire world. He is showing incredible personality and is soooo alert. So many people have said this to us - how he's more alert and focused than any other baby they have seen. Frankly he's been that way since he was born. He is constantly checking out the world around him.

His sleep is still touch and go - I think he's finally starting to teethe although I've been saying that since 4 months and he doesn't have any teeth yet :). I think the trips and lack of continuity in routine has definitely affected him. Although last night he only woke up at 2am to nurse and then again at 6am. After nursing at 6am I thought he was going to be up for the day (it's pretty standard) so I brought him into our bed thinking I'd get another 15-20 minutes if I was lucky. He slept between us for the next 2 hours! I can't remember the last time hubby and I got to sleep in together. It was great - add to that the fact that poopy was absolutely adorable, snuggling in next to each of us to get comfortable, and I was just in heaven.

When I was feeding him his dinner tonight he started to make a funny face so I make a fish face at him. He laughed so I kept doing it, and he started to make his own fishy face! I called hubby in (he was getting ready to go play poker with the guys) and poopy made the face for him too. Of course as soon as we got the camcorder out he just smiled for the camera, but I was glad that hubs got to see it before he left.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend - we all got to relax and hang out. Played mini-golf with friends yesterday, planted my seeds for the spring/summer garden, and just got to have fun together. The naps I got both yesterday and today also helped - my energy lately is just shot. And now I get to chill, make some cookies while poopy sleeps and wait for hubby to get home.

Cali

At the last minute I was told I needed to make a trip to one of our offices in CA - to do more layoffs. Not fun. Add to that the fact that I've never left poopster overnight (or even with a babysitter) and the tears started flowing (damn hormones!). Thankfully I was alone at my desk when the waterworks started, otherwise it would have been worse. I called the hubby and at his recommendation I started looking for flights for him and we ended up going out early, making a weekend trip out of it and having a ball!

We got to take poopster to the beach...

He ate some sand...

Played in the pool for the first time...

And just generally had a great time. Yet another reason why I love my husband so much - he made something that could have been so horrible for me into a fantastic weekend with the family.

He's crawling all over the place now - has pretty much given up on the scooting as he found that he moves more quickly when he gets up on his knees. When he gets on tile it's even better - he gets in a downward dog pose (hands and feet) and walks/crawls like that. It's hilarious to watch and I think it's because he doesn't like how the tile feels on his knees. Either way he's adorable.

MIA

So, I've been missing in action for the past few months - It's been hectic with the holidays, the babe's sleeping habits (which are finally getting better!), and all the crazy things going on with my job. So, to recap breifly, we moved the poopster to his own room right after Christmas :(. He actually started sleeping much better pretty much right away which means that PB was right when he said we were probably keeping him awake at night. Sleep has been touch and go but for the most part it's significantly better than it was from months 4-6. He's also now napping in his crib thanks solely to my superhero husband and fab stay-at-home-dad. I can't take any credit for that one.

We had visitors and went to Tulsa for a short weekend. It has been fun but honestly I'm looking forward to being just the three of us again for a while.

We switched to cloth diapering at 7 months and haven't looked back - I love it! It is saving us time and money, and poopster hasn't had any issues. While the initial start up was a couple hundred, we won't have to buy any more diapers - ever. These will last him until he potty-learns. So, we'll definitely be saving money in the next few months.

We've had the mildest winter that I've seen in Colorado in a long time, and I must say I'm pretty thankful. I'm not sure I'm digging the snow and cold much anymore especially now that I'm worried about how warm poopster is when we're out and about.

Speaking of poopster - he's getting bigger and cuter every day (if that's even possible). He is a total ham and loves the camera!!

Family

My mom was just here for a visit - it was wonderful to have her here. She really helped with poopster and it was great to see her with him. Hubby and I went out (first time leaving poopster) to my company holiday party. It was nice to get out and we are looking forward to establishing some kind of date night in the near future.

Poopster is 6 months old today. I can't believe how time flies. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital; a tiny 6lb 1oz when we left, he's now a healthy 15lbs. I love watching him grow, learn and experience new things. He's still rolling like crazy, laughing, and is very interested in the world around him. Everything catches his eye and he finds the funniest things amusing/interesting. When we rock in the living room and I hold him on the right side he stares up at the ceiling and just smiles. Every time. The ceiling is blank so we aren't sure what's making him smile but something is. It's like he has a secret picture that only he can see when he looks up there.

I love his smile. Not only is it the sweetest image on the face of the planet (who could resist that gummy smile???) but it means he's happy and that melts my heart. In general he's a pretty happy little guy, and hubby and I love to think that he's happy with us as parents... I guess we won't really know the answer to that one until he's a teenager :)

Santa Baby...

Sorry for my prolonged absence from the blog. It's been extremely hectic at work as the transition is taking quite a bit longer than I had initially anticipted. I'm still doing at least two jobs, and don't really see a light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon. I'm excited about the new opportunities, and as soon as I have time to relax a bit, may even be able to do some work trips to Alaska, Hawaii and Guam (crossing fingers...).

We moved as well... about a month ago and are now trying to settle into a house much much closer to work. Once we made the decision that PB would stay home with the little guy we decided it was time to cut my commute time - it's now under 15 minutes in rush hour!

We started solids, oatmeal speccifically, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Buster loved it! He knew exactly what to do immediately and was quickly leaning in to reach the spoon, trying to grab the spoon out of my hand, and crying when he finished all the oatmeal! I am still amazed everyday by my beautiful boy. We've successfully introduced carrots (last week) and tonight proceeded to sweet potatoes. He wasn't a big fan of the carrots initially, but I think he's come around. He liked the sweet potatoes pretty well right off the bat. I can't believe how much fun each new thing is.

Buster is rolling over consistently whenever we put him on his back - it's right to grabbing the feet, rolling on the side, and moving onto the belly... he's also putting everything in his mouth and is ready for his teeth to cut through the gums... as are mommy and daddy :) although I still can't get over his gummy smile - which I now get whenever I walk in the door after work. It's the best thing in the whole world and melts my heart everytime.

This week my building at work had a holiday party with a very realistic looking Santa. Buster was fascinated by Santa. He didn't cry and could not stop looking at Santa - I wasn't sure if it was the beard (which he grabbed), the hat or the big red suit, but he was in a trance... we are really looking forward to Christmas this year with our little guy.

Promotion

So, it's official - last week I was offered a promotion at work; a nice jump that takes me at least two levels higher than I am now... so this re-org is working out in my favor. The final details have yet to be ironed out, but it means that Chris will be a stay-at-home daddy and I will stay at work. For now. While I know this is the right decision for our family financially, it's one that weighs on my heart. PB is a great dad, and baby boy isn't in daycare which is the most important thing to me, but it is still hard to not be the one home with Colin each day. It's been a rough time being back at work - pumping, stressing, not getting as much quality time with my little guy as I was when on maternity leave... It's still for the best. I should know soon about the salary increase that comes along with this promotion, and it will allow me to get the global certification I want. It will also give hubby time to go back and get his master's, so that when we are ready for baby #2, he'll have the master's and I can stay at home with both kiddos while he goes back to work. Sigh. I'm actually really excited about the work opportunities but I can't help but feel sad about the timing.

We don't have all the answers so we're just taking it one day at a time. I'm so thankful for both of the boys in my life - they make everything worth it.

My beautiful boy

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I am swamped at work and when I'm not at work I want to spend 100% of my time with my beautiful boy... I am so lucky that my husband is a phenomenal dad and that while I'm at work he is the one at home with our little one. They come to visit me at work and we have lunch at a park nearby - it's the highlight of my week and I love being able to relax at lunch with my baby. I still can't believe how big he's getting! He's now in size 2 diapers, loves to suck on his hands, talks and coos whenever he gets the opportunity and is so happy the majority of the time. His gummy smile melts my heart.

I love to see the change in my husband as well. Being the primary caregiver during the weekdays has given him a new confidence with Colin. I know it's semi-unsual for dads to be the stay at home parent, and I know how lucky we all are that they are getting this incredible bonding time.

Work is going through a global reorganization in the coming year - and our department is already starting the process. If I didn't know that my tiny department is already extremely overworked and overwhelmed I would be worried. Instead, I'm actually excited about the new possibilities that this re-org brings. While I would love to be the stay at home parent full time, if I get promoted and make enough for Chris to stay at home then it's the sensible thing for our family if I'm the one that works full-time. Anyway, it's still a bit earlier to talk about as nothing has been announced yet. However, the rumor-mill is going full strength and if they hold a minute aount of truth to them, my department is going to go through a major over-haul, my boss will be shifting to a new area and it could get interesting. I'll keep you posted...

Visiting family and back to work

last week we took a trip to AZ to visit my family and show off baby boy to everyone. It was a nice trip, though it was EXTREMELY hot! Luckily the A/C decided to wait until the night we left to completely break down. While I'm terribly sorry for my mom I'm thankful that it stayed working for our visit for baby boy's sake...

After we returned home it was time to get ready for my return to work :(. FMLA time was up, and hubby's had started. He's now at home with the little one, and while I'm totally jealous because he's where I want to be, I'm so glad that they have this bonding time and frankly, I'm thankful that my husband actually WANTED to stay home with him. A girl I work with told me she can hardly get her husband to change a diaper. I feel sorry for her because to me, that sounds like she's a single mom - not in a partnership...

My first day back I cried the whole way to work, talked about Colin all day long, posted pics all over my desk etc. Absolutely no work was completely during that time. I'm slooooowly transitioning to do some actual work, since I have reviewed the 1313 emails that were sitting in my inbox - eek!! It's getting easier in the sense that I'm getting numb - I still cry, and it's still really hard to leave him in the morning. But, I'm thankful that he's not in daycare and that he's home with daddy, and I know they are getting such an incredible experience right now. That gets me through the day. Although I do count down the minutes until I get home to my boys.

Labor Day Weekend Update

We were a little nervous about taking Colin on an 11+ hour car ride to Tulsa this past weekend but it went pretty well. We had a few bumps in the road at the beginning, but quickly figure out how to make it work. After spending two hours reaching into the carseat in the back, we stopped, nursed and I moved to the backseat to be next to Colin. That seemed to work pretty well. I was also glad to have brought the battery-operated pump because I was able to pump and feed him from a bottle which made things super easy. We headed out after Chris got off work on Friday and made it just past Salina before we got a hotel. Baby boy had been put in jammies when we stopped for dinner in Hays and had fallen right asleep. It was the first time he had really slept since we had gotten in the car that afternoon, so needless to say he didn't even open his eyes when I changed his diaper in the hotel! Poor thing was pooped. The next morning we didn't rush and headed out to Stillwater to stay with Chris' old college roommate. His little girl will be one this month and she's just a cutie. The first thing she did was come over and give Colin a kiss :) I think he's got his first girlfriend.

The next day we headed to Chris' mom's house and had lunch with the family. Colin got pretty fussy and I think it was mainly because he's used to mom 24/7 and not used to being passed around and generally having so much going on. We took a long nap and he felt better. On Monday we went to the cabin his aunt and uncle have on the lake and hung out with his dad's side of the family. Spent the night up there and headed home on Tuesday. It was a great trip...

lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

On Saturday we needed to get out of the house, so we got in the car and started driving...usually doesn't lead us anywhere interesting, but this time we headed to the Denver Zoo. We figured we'd just walk around and head home when it got too hot but luckily about 30 minutes into it we got incredible cloud cover and a nice breeze so we hung out for quite some time, showing Colin all the animals and having a great time together. Some pics...