Out the Window:
well I must say, the Big Storm was a bit underwhelming last night. we frantically cleared a place in the garage for Charles' car last night ahead of the storm, which was supposed to hit around 6. no lie, at 6 right on the dot there was a big gust of wind and a few drops of rain on the deck. I quickly shooed the dogs outside because I knew they'd never go out to pee if it was raining (damn daschunds)and by the time I got them down to the basement door the "rain" had stopped. other than some apparently quiet rain in the night, we had nothing else here! it's still plenty humid, but for now the sun is trying to shine and all is calm in NE Kansas.
What I'm Wearing:
the usual - kakhi pants that are entirely too big for me, teal tank top, grey cardigan. these pants. they're the size 18 post-baby pants and I was just telling Charles the other day that I greatly look forward to setting them on fire once my 14s fit again. in the mean time, I'm pretty sure I could catch pies in the front of these suckers. not that I'm complaining about the fact that they're too big, I'm quite happy about it, I just wish I didn't have to pull them up all the time or worry about them falling down while kid-wrangling. it's a special skill to rock both the "mom look" AND a "gangster sag" at the same time. first world problems, right?
The baby:
mr. lucas has no patience for baby stuff. he is pretty much sitting up on his own and has quite a lot of stamina for tummy time. he can scoot backwards but not yet forwards. my goodness this is moving quickly! he loves to be in the thick of things and laugh at his silly brother, especially when he's dancing and singing. his sweet little face is the source of all sunshine, especially the little baby chicklet smile with those two bottom teeth. and if you attack his fat little cheeks with kisses he squeals and then gets this big old man belly laugh happening and it is hilarious! he's sleeping through the night without any issues and eating his solids like a champ. the daycare ladies totally love him. they are really great at working with him on his tummy time and sitting up. I was leary about taking him to the CDC so young, but it really has been a great thing for him.
The little boy:
I don't know what the age cap is for "toddler", but I think Cameron is probably good to be a little boy now. he's quite the big shot. his main lady at the CDC has been off since the beginning of march, so the potty training came to a screeching halt, but she will hopefully be back next week and we will attack it with renewed force then. I'm also hearing good things about a "potty watch" that the kids wear and can be set at regular intervals to vibrate and let them know when it's time to potty. really, I think he totally knows how to do it and we just need to get forceful about it and quit allowing him to be lazy. I'm not looking forward to that. at all. hopefully lucas is a faster learn. this man poop in a diaper stuff is not cool. he's also quite the sassy pants. common phrases include: "don't talk to me like that mama!" (when I have not said a word to him), "don't touch me!" (not sure where that one came from), and "go to your room mama!" (to which I reply "I wish I could buddy!"). mostly these are all just funny, but can be quite embarrassing when my 3 yr old yells at me in public. not sure how to get around that. I swear, I do not yell these things at him. I am forceful with the "go to your room"s, but not in a yelling angry way, just in a direct and "I'm in charge" way. logically, I know that he is regurgitating it all back to me as he hears it, but it's still humiliating.
in the kitchen:
last night I made some awesome cheeseburger soup! I've seen a lot of recipes on pinterest for it but not made it myself. I didn't like the sound of the ones that I was looking up though, plus I didn't want to go buy a whole bunch of ingredients. so mine ended up being a pound of ground turkey, 3 peeled and diced potatoes, about 3 cups shredded cheddar, a packet of liptons onion/mushroom soup, 3 cups beef broth (the recipes all called for chicken - why!?!?!?), a small can of petite diced tomatoes, about half a cup of diced dill pickles, some pepper and dry mustard, and about 1//3 cup diced onion. I totally had 2 bowls and brought more for my lunch today. yes. just - yes.
Crafting:
well.... Cameron and I have done a lot of coloring lately, does that count? little michelle (his awesome godmama) sent him some paints and markers and HUGE sheets of construction paper for his birthday.
I have a friend having a baby in the next 3 or 4 weeks so I plan to pick up some towels and wascloths to sew together for hooded towels. And I'm still technically working on the hand-quilting for lucas' blanket. it's just not super easy to get time to safely sit around with a needle for more than 2 minutes.
Reading:
nothing now. although I now have 3 books, 2 from mom and dad's church and now another one from mine, that I'd like to read. I don't know where it came from, but I'm really enjoying this trend of parishes providing the members with reading materials to deepen their faith. the classes and prayer groups and all those regularly-scheduled opportunities are awesome, but just not always realistic for people to attend. but by providing something for everyone at no cost that allows them to develop on their own time - it's much easier! yay!
Bringing me Joy:
my boys. my silly silly boys. Cameron's latest thing in the car is that he notices when we go up and down hills and will call out the direction followed by "WEEEEEEEE!!!!!". oh how exited we are to ride roller coasters with this boy! he's also still doing a lot of singing. "sugar" by maroon 5 is a favorite. he's getting pretty good too!
also seeing Charles with the boys. he has so much stress, well, we both do, but his job makes him more miserable than I've ever seen him, and it is painful to watch and hear his voice when he's at work. but he is amazingly good at leaving it at the door once he is home with the kids. he and Cameron are really getting close and Cameron has entered the "daddy's little shadow" phase. and it was about this time with Cameron that Charles left for korea, so it's fun to see him get to experience it with lucas. although that's short lived..
Thinking about:
stressful summer coming up. charles will pretty much be gone from the end of this month till the end of june. then at the start of july Cameron is having surgery on a cyst in his neck, followed by a surgery for charles the following week. combine that with my summer work schedule starting after memorial day (4 - 10 hr days) and it's shaping up to be quite a doozy. I've been borrowing an increasing amount of worry the last couple of weeks and finally my body broke out in hives over the weekend. oh how easy it is to stress over things beyond your control...
finances.
remembering to focus on what's important: i.e. - having happy, healthy kids who love me for who I am, not what I can give them. quality time over quantity. more dancing and singing and coloring and snuggles and books. less worrying about body fat and having surplus. help more people. be the type of person I want my kids to be.
pictures:
little man on Easter - he is clearly obnoxiously excited about big boy sitting up stuff! :D
here he is a couple days ago, passed out in a carrot coma. yes, my 7 month old is wearing 12 month pjs.
big boy is all about stickers, naturally. so he discovered this sheet of free address labels that came to charles from somewhere and went to town yesterday afternoon. isn't he just the Bee's Knees? (oh yes I did!)
