A Day of Sunshine and (Mostly) Good Luck

Neither Greg nor I come from an Irish background, though I have some Scotch-Irish ancestors. Regardless, the boys and I got into the spirit of things today. We all wore green. Henry is chewing on some Irish soda bread that Nick and I made this morning. He loved it!

On Saturdays, Greg works all day. Now that he's home with the boys all week during the day, Saturday is his only full day of working as a therapist. I'm finding things to do to keep us occupied without Daddy around. For starters, I gave both boys a bath. You know, for luck.

I even wore green shoes myself. I'm very happy with this pair of Dansko sandals. My feet can't handle anything else now that I've tried them.  I can only wear Dansko shoes, according to my podiatrist and ortho.

Actually, back to the subject of luck, I felt pretty lucky when I looked at this picture and saw that my ankle was pretty much back to normal size. Baby weight is gone. At least the baby weight from Henry. The baby weight from Nick. . . well, I'm still working on that. Anyhow, my ankles look positively trim compared to last June.

After the dressing in green, we decided to try something new. Last year I helped Nick make cookies with green sprinkles, but I wanted to try something more authentic this year. We made Irish Soda Bread with raisins. I didn't have any caraway (Nor do I know how to spell it. Had to look that one up.) and I used 3 cups of bread flour and 2 cups of white whole wheat flour. Other than that the linked recipe is exactly what we did. Here is Nick helping me squish the butter into the flour.

Nick only needed one time out the entire time we were baking. (For throwing a spoon across the room.) I'd call that some pretty good luck. I tend to have more patience while we're baking than at other times. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is the sweet reward at the end of the baking experience. Nick is learning to stir without getting flour all over everything.

Here's what the final soda bread looked like. (Look in the bowl.) It was sweet, but not too sweet. The raisins were perfect, and the texture was unique. I like it. Nick and Henry did, too.

We also did some neat St. Patrick's Day crafts. Nick decorated this shamrock with a big "N" for Nick. Then he stuck all the stickers on himself. He also stuck several stickers to the kitchen table, our hardwood floors, and the refrigerator. But the stickers came off without too much trouble. I'd call that pretty lucky.

Here's what his final project looked like. Not too shabby. Nick looks angry in this picture. It is because he had just refused to go to the potty. I think it's going to take even more than the luck of the Irish to potty train this boy.

I'd say that Henry liked his first St. Patrick's Day. I finally got him to clap on cue. This really made my day. I love when he responds and copies us.

Henry liked the Irish Soda Bread so much that he kept crawling to it and stealing pieces out of the bowl. I guess the crusty part must feel good against his teeth.

Snow, however fleeting, was welcomed by Nick

Nick jumped for joy when he found out it was going to snow last Friday. He wasn't quite so pleased with the 2 hour + drive home Friday evening, though. About every three miles, Nick decided to announce, "I don't want to be in the car, Mommy. I want to be at home." Yup. Me, too, kid.

 Just guess what his first question was Saturday morning? "Can I go outside and play in the snow?"

Greg took this picture on Saturday, while they were shoveling. Yup, that's a rake he's using. Nick and Greg might have saved themselves the trouble--nearly all of the snow melted when it rained last night.

Greg said that this snow still wasn't "good packing snow," whatever that means. Nick couldn't make a snowman with his daddy because of that, so they drew a snowman in the snow instead. This snowman is only 2D instead of 3D, but he's still cute.

In the course of the last few weeks, our weather can't make up its mind. We went from highs in the 50s and sunshine to wind chills in the teens and tons of snow, back to temperatures in the 40s with rain. Then, this afternoon, the temperatures dropped and all of the puddles froze.

Wordless Wednesday

On a Hot and Sunny Day. . .

I try to take the kids out in the morning, before it gets too steamy. I lay out a blanket in the shade so Henry has a safe place to hang out. He loved it. This is about as happy of a look as Henry gets.  :)

For Nick, all it takes to make him happy is a $7 wading pool and some tupperware.

It's funny, though. Nick doesn't spend much time actually in the pool. He'd rather dump out the pool one cup at a time. I'm not complaining. It keeps him busy. Every once in awhile I go over and dump him in the pool, and he laughs. Then he continues emptying the pool.

Yesterday, he was using this cup and pretending to drink coffee. "Mommy, look. I drinking my coffee. It good coffee." Can you tell this kid lives with two caffeine addicts for parents?


So what do I do to make myself happy on a hot and sunny day? I brew a nice cup of iced tea (Earl Grey, of course) and sit next to Henry on the blanket. I've been sitting in the sun, though. I know, I'm naughty. But just a little bit of sun makes my skin stop breaking out, so I indulge. The best part? My Nook works great even in bright sunlight.

I've been reading at an incredible pace this summer. It must be all of the sitting around and breastfeeding. I'm not a TV person, and I have to do something to stay awake. Just since I got my Nook, I've read:

A+ Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
A+ Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
A   The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
A  The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
B+  Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
B+ Bossypants by Tina Fey
B+ Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
B  Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today by David P. Clark
B  Daffodils in Spring by Pamela Morsi
B  The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma and Jim Brozina
B  How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
B- The Sweetest Thing by Barbara Freethy

That's not counting the three books I'm currently reading. I think this Nook is going to be addictive. Also possibly expensive.

I do like hanging out in the backyard, though. I have a great view of Nick, I can read, and Henry gets to practice his baby push ups.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Enjoying the Sunshine

Filling up with (imaginary) gas. . .

Going for a drive. . .

Happily napping. . .

Working on the lawn. . .

Snuggling up all cozy. . .

Reflections on Becoming a Mommy of Two Boys

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how things will change once I have two boys. On June 9th, I am having a baby, and Nick will no longer be an only child. Nick has doted upon since he was born, and we have about a million pictures of him. To tell you the truth, I have a folder of videos and pictures from every month, and during an average month I might take 200-600 pictures, most of which feature him.

The pictures in this post are from the one sunny day we had last week, when I took Nick to the park to run off some energy. He was desperate to get out in the sunshine, and headed straight for the slides.

I took a ton of pictures of Nick at the park, as usual. For example, I probably have several hundred pictures of Nick playing at various area parks. (See also here, here, and here, and here, and here.)  Will I be too busy to reflect on my boys once there are two of them? I guess I'm not so worried about the first few months, but once this new baby starts crawling, I think I may be in some trouble, with two little boys to chase.

I've said before that I blog mostly for myself, so that I won't forget what life was like as a mom of young children. I'm under no illusions that my life is terribly fascinating, but it is my life, and this is how I express myself. Some days I have to force myself to sit down and go through pictures and write, but I'm always glad that I did. I love being able to go back and remember things when Nick first started to crawl, videos of some of his first words, and pictures of making St. Patrick's Day Cookies together.

My worries, of course, aren't just about keeping up with photographs and blogging. I've been thinking about how I'll spend quality time with each of my children. I think I'm going to have to plan time alone with each boy regularly, so they each feel appreciated and special. This will get more complicated, because I may be working as many as three jobs at a time, in addition to being a mother. (I work full-time as a teacher, I will be teaching graduate school as an adjunct instructor, and I do freelance writing projects. Oh, and I'm tutoring this summer.) I have to say, though, that I feel like my working life makes me a better, more fulfilled parent. I'm lucky enough to enjoy my work, even though it makes me frazzled sometimes.

I am definitely looking forward to the birth of this child, despite my stress levels. This little boy was very wanted, and I know he's going to be a great addition to our family. I think Nick will make a great big brother, and we're working on getting him ready. I'll write more about our plan later this week.

On a whinier note, there are also the not-so-fun parts of being 38 weeks pregnant that I'll be glad to leave behind. Frankly, I'm just about done being pregnant. I just checked the weather forecast, and temps will be in the 90s this week. I work in a school with no air conditioning, so I'm a little concerned about how I'll be feeling. I was pretty miserable today.

No matter what, though, very soon I'll have two children. The thought of that makes me scared but also excited. Kind of like standing at the top of a very tall slide, getting ready to take the plunge.

Nick, at least, has me to hold his hand while he comes down.   : )

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Sticky Marshmallow Fingers

Visiting with Gigi

During my spring break, Nick and I decided to take a day to go and visit my grandmother, who Nick calls Gigi. (G.G.=great grandma) She just had cataract surgery and we figured she could use some cheering up. Nick picked out pretty yellow tulips and cupcakes to bring for her.

I think Nick's favorite part of the visit was romping with Lucy, the Yorkie pup.

My grandma made us lunch and dinner, and we talked and watched Nick run around and try to destroy things. At one point, he kept sneaking into the living room and stealing Hershey's kisses from the candy bowl.  For a two-year-old, he can be pretty surreptitious--Nick would put the candy behind his back so we couldn't see it. He must've gone back seven or eight times before we finally put the candy bowl where he couldn't reach it.

That really brought back memories for me, because I can remember doing the exact same thing. In fact, one time, when I was about 5 or 6, I snuck a whole bunch of chocolate out of that same crystal candy bowl and hid the wrappers under the couch cushions. I was caught and I can remember having to write a silly sentence about 100 times. It was something like: I will not take candy without asking. It seems my son has inherited the tendancy to swipe chocolate whenever it is in the vicinity.

It was a sunny day, so we decided to go outside with Lucy for awhile. Even though it was somewhat chilly outside, Nick wasn't even a little bit cold. Too busy running full speed towards and away from the puppy, he got quite a bit of exercise. You can tell, though, that Gigi was a little chilled.

I really love this time in the spring when you can have the windows open and let in the fresh air. Spring is such a hopeful time, and I have to say that Nick is so much more mellow when he gets to run around and play outdoors.

Nick has quite a few doting grandparents--four grandmas and three grandpas--but there's only one Gigi. Since Nick lost his Grandma Marie in February, she's his only living great grandparent, and very special to him. You'd think he'd get confused with all of the relatives, but we have pictures up all over the house, and Nick can point to them and name everyone. He knew just who I was talking about when I said we were going to visit Gigi. In the car, he asked, "I see Gigi. Puppy, too?"


Yup. Puppy, too.

At times, I felt sorry for the puppy, because Nick was not very gentle with her. But Lucy kept coming back for more, and licking the heck out of my boy. He didn't seem to mind much.

I spent most of my spring break working on a very big freelance writing project, all while potty training Mr. Nick. I also had papers to edit for some friends and a Power Point presentation I was working on for work. Not very relaxing.

So getting to take a rest from the computer and drive up for some adult company was really nice. I think Gigi liked the company, too, though she looked pretty tired by the time we left. It's hard for anyone to get used to the energy of a two-year-old!

Wordless Wednesday

All About Bikes. . . and Trikes

It all started with Nick reading a story about a bike at daycare. Nick was especially interested, and our babysitter, who believes in the Montessori approach, went with it and brought out activities having to do with bikes. The kids put together diagrams of a bicycle, colored them, and learned to name the parts. My boy was totally into it. See the picture he made?

Bikes are his latest obsession. He can point to and name the pedals, wheels, tires, handlebars, and even the horn.

When we went to Costco on Friday, of course they had out their display of bicycles--adult bicycles. "Mommy, I want to ride that bike." Then, later in our shopping trip, "Mommy, I want that bike!" I told Nick that he had his own bike at home in the basement. Actually it's a tricycle, but he got all excited. Greg brought it up into the living room and he's been sitting on it constantly. Greg brought it outside all three days this weekend and let him ride around the block, again and again. . . and again.

Nick mostly just sits on the trike or scoots a little with his feet, as you can see. Greg pushes him when they're outside. But he knows that this is a big kid bike, so he's excited everytime he sees it. I'm not sure how long it'll be before he's able to reach the pedals properly.








































He also started climbing on the seat of his tricycle to get things. Last night, he used it to get onto the kitchen table, grab a handful of kitty food, and fling it across the floor. "Here kitty, you eat it!" So the trike started Nick on a pattern of climbing. He climbed a lot Friday night, and even sat on our cocktail table for awhile. We had to tell him, "No stand on bike!" repeatedly.

Wordless Wednesday

A Trip to Iowa: Part Five

It's Alive! It's Huge!

For the last part of my Iowa trip, I got the grand tour of my friend Gardenmom's gigantic garden. Nick and I were both awed by the size of this garden. I cannot imagine the amount of produce she got from a garden this size. Wow. All the plants look so healthy, too--even in October. I didn't even realize that this much stuff would be alive this late in the season. Greg demolished all of our growing things about two weeks ago--said the season was over and we might as well accept it.

In fact, I think poor Nick was worried that it was going to swallow him right up. I do believe that this garden is at least twenty times the size of mine. The height of these plants makes Nick look downright tiny.

I think seeing this garden inspired me to make mine much bigger next year. I'll have all winter to work on my husband.  ;)  It would just be less grass for him to mow. Although I don't think I'd want one this big. Nick acted like he was in wonderland. He had this look on his face, as if he were saying, "Very strange place."



After our garden tour, I cleaned out my car, and Nick helped. You would be surprised at the mess one mommy and one toddler can make during a very long car trip. (Or if you know me, maybe you wouldn't be surprised.)

It was a really long drive, but the visit was definitely worth it. I want to make a trip out there again next year sometime, maybe when I can see more things in bloom. Nick loved playing with all the other kids best--he got mad when they had to leave. He was so happy and entertained all weekend. We really did have a great time.   : )