New Year, Same Stuff

Some people get really fired up and motivated upon the start of a new year.  They make resolutions and come up with all sorts of goals for the year.  Me?  I change the calendars and move on with life.  I don't need a major shake up or change for 2015.  I'm happy to just continue.

A few things that have made me happy lately:

1. Cracking open the Play-Doh that Matthew received from my parents for Christmas.

He had a great time, and I sadly discovered that my dough sculpting skills haven't improved much since my childhood.  Check out  my masterpiece!  This picture was taken about 3 seconds before his head pitifully plopped onto the table.

2. Ice cream sundaes used to be our New Year's Eve tradition.  We don't really celebrate the holiday anymore since having Matthew, as it's no fun to stay up until midnight when you have a kid who will surely wake up at 6:00 a.m. on New Year's Day.  We still had sundaes when my parents visited though.

3. When my parents spend the night, they bring their dog Andy with.  Matthew is quite fond of him, and I love seeing Chewie with a playmate.  

Brake Job

I had an oil change recently and was told that my brake pads and rotors were pretty worn and should be replaced.  Tears in my eyes (as there are any time large sums of money are requested), I texted Ernie with the info and the amount of the estimate.  He simply replied, "Nope."  Yes, I did need those things replaced, but Ernie was able to buy the parts and do it himself, so it didn't cost as much.  Free labor!  I love having a mechanically-inclined husband.  Matthew supervised the work.

A moth landed on one of my tires which, from the right angle and distance, made it look like I had a major issue with my tire.  I freaked out for a split second.

Last weekend, we got a few goodies from my cousin that her son had outgrown.  One of them was an awesome wagon.  Matthew and I had to take a couple of trips around the neighborhood.  He had a blast!  

Ernie took Chewie for a couple little trips too.  She loves riding in the truck.

On Sunday morning, I finally got to make biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  I had bought pork sausage earlier in the month with the intention of cooking this favorite of Ernie's for Father's Day, and then I got sick.  I guess it's not fair to say that I made biscuits and gravy; I made the gravy, and I threw frozen biscuits in the oven.  We can't all be Martha Stewart.  I made barbecue beef patties and mashed potatoes for dinner, but Matthew pretty much just ate a little bit of the potatoes and then scarfed a bunch of watermelon.  He's so appreciative of my cooking.

Toy Story

I've been sick since last Thursday, which has obviously been a bummer.  I used to rarely get sick, but now that I have a toddler, it's hard to avoid the germs.  Yes, I'm blaming the kid.  I've been told that's what they are for.

Managing to go to work (aside from wimping out and taking one half day last week) has been about all I've been able to do.  Ernie has been doing most of the parenting duties, and I've been alternating between sleeping and watching shows on Netflix.  I'm currently working my way through Breaking Bad, my show of choice after finally finishing Dexter recently.  Not having cable really makes me behind on popular culture.   I started watching Dexter back in December and was so excited about how awesome it was but kept it to myself to avoid becoming the butt of jokes.  "When you're done watching Dexter, want to put on powdered wigs and listen to records on my phonograph?"

I'm starting to bounce back though.  I still have a slight cough, but it no longer makes people get wide-eyed and instruct to me to stay away from them.  That's a definite improvement.  I'm having more energy to get stuff done at home too.

My favorite daily chore happens after Matthew goes to bed.  I've pretty much turned our living room into a playroom, and I take great enjoyment in tidying up Matthew's toys at the end of the day.  I have a spot for everything.  Certain toys go in certain containers.  Any item missing, even a small puzzle piece, is hunted down with determination that can be borderline crazy to anyone present. But it makes me happy to bring him downstairs each morning to a nicely arranged play area with everything in its place and waiting for him.  I know it will be destroyed in 10 seconds, but those first 9 seconds of him wandering around and deciding where to begin makes me happy.

This task was kicked to the curb while I was sick.  I laid on the couch and looked at the tornado of toys scattered throughout the room (and spilling into adjacent rooms), but I just didn't have it in me to pick up.  It made me feel bad that when he woke up in the morning he didn't have a nicely arranged area to dive into.  Ernie regularly points out that Matthew probably doesn't even care.

I'm willing to bet that Ernie is right.  I care though.  It makes me happy to spend a little time each night getting ready for our next day of fun.

I'm disappointed this morning because there are two items that are missing.  One of them is a book, of all things.  How does a book go missing?  We're also missing a guy from the farm.  I've been scouring the house with no luck.  I feel incomplete.  Matthew, of course, is fine.  I'm clearly the only one troubled by this.  It's just so vexing!

Shopping and Swinging

After tackling the porch steps on Friday, Ernie forged ahead on Saturday with many more outdoor projects.  While he worked, Matthew and I decided to go out for a little while.  Our first stop was Target.

Matthew loves riding in shopping carts.  Being a stroller in a store doesn't cut it anymore.  He likes to be up higher and able to observe more freely.

I picked up some boring household items, but I also got a few things for Matthew.  It's getting way too warm for his footie pajamas, so some new summer pajamas were in order.

Once we left Target, I decided to stop at a playground that I knew had toddler swings.  I've been wanting to allow him to enjoy some swinging, but our previous playground stops only had swings for bigger kids.  Matthew definitely enjoyed the swing.

Once he grew tired of swinging, we walked around the park and explored.  When I decided it was time to go, Matthew resisted and ended up falling and scraping his knees on the asphalt.  Poor kid!  I felt so bad.  I cleaned him up as best as I could, and then we headed home.  

At Target, Matthew had spotted one of his favorite books from his day care and was stretching and trying to get out of the cart to get to it.  Obviously, I had to buy it.  I also picked up a couple new toys for Matthew's Little People Farm. I figured these new toys would make up for the knee scrapes he suffered.  Turns out, all I needed were the boxes.

Picture Perfect

We do not have much hanging on our walls.  Our house was brand new when we moved into it back in 2005, and it took a long time before we committed to hanging any pictures.  There is a chocolate lab painting upstairs, two train pictures in the living room, two lighthouse pictures in the downstairs bathroom, and Brett Favre in our dining room (I'm really surprised I got away with that).

I decided I'd like to have some family pictures displayed in Matthew's room.  Something to hang made sense, and I wanted to have pictures from both sides of the family.  At the first store I looked at, I immediately found a frame I loved.

There is plenty of ink in our printer, and I had several sheets of photo paper, so I decided to see what I could put together.  I went through pictures from our wedding and from Ernie's mom and stepdad's wedding.  I dedicated one side to my family and one side to Ernie's family (four pics each).  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Ernie will be hanging it in Matthew's room sometime this weekend.  Well, hopefully this weekend.  He has a lot of plans for things to accomplish around the house on this three-day weekend.  Last night, he tore apart the front porch steps after he noticed they were unsteady.  He discovered rotting wood and other fun stuff.  One trip to Home Depot and lots of work fixed that though.

Once Matthew wakes up from his nap, I think a trip to a playground is in order.

1 Year and in the Clear

I took the day off from work yesterday to take Matthew to the doctor.  He was diagnosed with hip dysplasia when he was a newborn and had to wear a corrective harness.  It came off in May of last year, with the scheduling of an appointment to follow-up in a year.  Matthew had to be x-rayed, and unfortunately, the x-ray machine in the doctor's office was broken.  We had to go elsewhere to get the x-ray done, which meant going to a huge, overwhelming x-ray room.  Matthew freaked out and was really upset, but he cooperated well.  When we went back to the doctor, we were told that Matthew looked "absolutely perfect" with no need for any additional appointments.

I'm so grateful to have this experience behind us!  Because of the x-ray machine issue, our appointment took a little longer than expected.  Matthew was ready for a nap not long after we got home.

We are having a potluck lunch at work today, so I put a dish together yesterday to contribute.  I decided to make Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad.  I made it once for us for dinner and loved it.  I had served it warm then, so this is my first time making it in advance and serving it cold.  I hope it goes over well.  It's obviously a bit spicy, so we'll see if people like it or if I should just go back to bringing cookies on potluck days.

For our dinner, I decided to make beef burritos.  The only thing I omit from that recipe is the garlic.  That's odd for us, as we are big garlic lovers.  The first time I made these burritos though, the garlic seemed to stick out too much.

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen yesterday but also plenty of extra time to play with Matthew.  I love days off with him.  He seemed to have recently went through a phase where he was extremely independent in playing, but now he seems to prefer having us around, even if it's just to sit on our laps while he plays.  He really enjoys books, blocks, puzzles, and his Fisher Price Little People farm.

Speaking of which, I think Matthew could use a lap to sit on right now.

The Simple Things

Thursday night was another round of preliminaries for Your Hometown Idol.  Now there won't be any action until the finals in July.  I had planned to write about this on Friday, but I woke up that morning extremely sick.  There was no way I was making it to work.  I couldn't even bring myself to watch TV or read a magazine.  I was too miserable to sleep, so I basically spent the day in bed doing nothing.


That was my entire Friday, pretty much (how thrilling).  I couldn't even keep down water for most of the day but started seeming a little better in the evening.  Ernie and Matthew walked to the store to get me some Vernor's.  I sipped it slowly for a couple hours, and it made me feel better (oh, the magic of Vernor's!).

I felt better on Saturday but was still very sore and achy and had a headache.  It was pretty much another day of doing nothing but hanging out.  Chewie was a good companion for that.

I woke up on Sunday and felt amazing.  I was so excited!  Ernie and Matthew were already awake, so I rushed downstairs to join them.  I brewed some coffee, got a load of laundry going, and sat at the computer to pay bills.   I was thrilled by my ability to be able to accomplish these mundane tasks.  It really made me appreciate how wonderful it is to just wake up and be healthy.

Since Matthew basically didn't get any attention from me for two days, I was eager to hang out with him.  We ran errands together and had a blast, although he was a little angry at me for not letting him run around the parking lot at Trader Joe's.  How dare I not want him to get hit by a car in the small and busy parking lot!  The parking lot at the next grocery store was quieter though, so he was able to walk from the cart return back to the car with me.  He loves his independence in situations like that.  Occasionally, he will be fine with holding my hand, but he normally just wants to forge on his own (with me right by his side, ready to yank him out of harm's way, much to his dismay).

Ernie had mowed the lawn while we were gone, so we got to enjoy some time in the freshly groomed backyard when we got home.  While we were playing, we found a little friend.

Of course, now I wake up this morning feeling sick to my stomach.  I couldn't even finish one piece of dried toast or a glass of my beloved Vernor's (breakfast of champions!).  I'm trying to look on the bright side and compare how I feel now to how I felt on Friday.  I'm hoping I'll feel better as I get on with my day.  I better, as I've been looking forward to being able to complete the routine tasks I take for granted.

Lord Snappington II

We had severe weather in the area yesterday.  There were a lot of tornado warnings, and local schools were on lockdown.  This all started late in the afternoon while I was still at work, and Matthew was at daycare.  Storms make me nervous in general, so needless to say, I was a little freaked out.  Fortunately, it seems like we mainly got slammed by thunderstorms with tons of rain; wind wasn't really a factor.

The rain was definitely significant though, and our section of road is flooded.  Chewie suddenly started barking while looking outside at the driveway, which really isn't too shocking (she barks a lot.  A LOT.)  Ernie peeked outside though and realized she was barking at a snapping turtle that was making his way up our driveway.

This is the second snapping turtle we've seen at our house.  A few years back, there was one that I named Lord Snappington.  I took several pictures of him and hoped he'd be back, but that was our only sighting.  Obviously, this turtle had to be dubbed Lord Snappington II.  I had quickly raced upstairs to throw some clothes on so I could go outside and get some pictures, but Lord Snappington II was pretty darn fast and had already disappeared back into the water by the time I got outside.

Although not the greatest picture, Ernie did snap this one quickly through the window while I was upstairs getting dressed, so at least we have something to remember him by.

Mother's Day

I wasn't expecting anything on Mother's Day.  Ernie isn't one to make a big fuss of holidays, so I was just looking forward to another nice weekend day at home.  Ernie was kind enough to get up with Matthew in the morning and let me sleep in (which he actually usually does on the weekends, which is awesome).  When I did come downstairs, he immediately asked me if I'd like to go out for breakfast.  It was still some what early, so we figured we'd beat the Mother's Day crowd.

Ernie and I had excellent omelettes.  We ordered French Toast for Matthew, which he'd never had before.  We sampled it, and it was really good, but Matthew was happier nibbling on some of my wheat toast.  At home, I opened my cards: one from Matthew, one from Chewie.

I chose to make one of my favorite recipes for dinner: Mexican Stuffed Shells.  It's an easy recipe, but it takes a little time, so it's not an ideal recipe for a weeknight after work.  It's a perfect Sunday dinner.

It was a beautiful day, not too hot outside.  We spent time in the backyard playing with Matthew.  I blew bubbles that he had a blast chasing, and we also kicked around a ball.  Matthew loves being outside.  I am not an outdoors person, so I'm trying to adjust for his sake.

I spent the majority of my life planning on never having children.  I was perfectly content with not being a mother, and my husband also didn't want kids.  For some unknown reason, we both changed our minds in 2010.  We got engaged later that year, married in 2011, and Matthew was born in 2012.  I can't believe I spent so many years not wanting this.  Being a mom is hard, but it is so incredible.  I feel so lucky each and every day.

Mother and Son Evening

Ernie had a work function last night, so that meant Matthew and I had the evening to ourselves.  I was feeling overly ambitious at first and thought it would be fun to make pizza and cookies.  Realistically though, by the time I got home from work, there just wouldn't be enough time.  Store-bought pizza and cookies were just fine.

I can't speak for Matthew regarding what his favorite food is, but I've never seen him reject pizza.  That's my boy!

After dinner, Matthew wanted to do some reading.  Everything is more fun when done in a fort, so I created a little book nook of a fort for him. 

Matthew loved it at first, but he soon preferred to do his reading on my lap, which was fine with me.  I could tell he was starting to clunk out, so I put on his pajamas and figured it was cookie time.

Unfortunately, Ernie wasn't home in time to see him before bed.  We sure had a good time together though!