I wish I could blog daily, I seriously have enough going on in my head that I could come up with a topic of interest every day. I am going to try to make that a goal of mine, to write more often. Lets see how I do!
But for now, here is a bunch of random things going on in our world. I'll be very general, and hopefully a lot of these topics I can go into more details about in later posts (ya know, now that I am going to blog more often). So here it goes.
- We have been in our new house almost 1 year! I can't believe how fast it has gone. We are still very much in fix it up mode, and we have the "what should we do about..." or "What project should we start next" conversation every day. Top of the priority list is to finish the basement, patio and backyard landscaping, dining room, and maybe upstairs bathrooms. In the meantime we have been tackling smaller items- setting up a craft area in the playroom, Mike is building cabinets and cubbies in our front hall closet, front of the house landscaping, 20 privacy trees in the backyard around the base of the hill, painted the boys bathroom rainbow, and hopefully some new light fixtures soon.
-We love our house, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that we are considering moving. I would say its about a 50/50 shot right now, but things in life keep popping up that suggest maybe it would be a good idea to move out of state (craziness with Mike's company, craziness with Toms River, my parents interest in possibly retiring out of state, financial reasons, they are building something mysterious behind our property, and of course the fact that many of my life-support friendships are now out of state). Who knows- no real plans yet, all just pretend.
-I miss my friends like crazy! And Ryan misses his friends... and Mike misses his guys.... you get the point. We are really really missing all the important people that have moved far away. And not just my North Carolina people- my South Jersey and Maryland girls too. Everyone is just to damn far away. I read an amazing blog once that described this feeling. I want to know what they do each day, and see how they decorate their homes for the holidays, and watch their kids grow up, and see the new sweater they got on sale last week. All those things that are so normal when your best friends are near buy, that get lost when suddenly they are far away.
- We bough another house the end of August. We officially own three homes and rent two. Mike has always wanted to dabble in real estate investing, so this year we took advantage of some opportunities. Let me tell you, financially balancing three homes is not easy. Hopefully it will be worth it in the long run.
- It's been a busy travel year for us. Since April we went as a family to Tampa, the OBX, as a couple to Colorado for my cousins wedding, NC twice, Mike on a guys trip, me on a girls trip to Disney. Ryan and I are going next weekend to visit all our buddies in North Carolina, but then that will probably be it for awhile until our spring family Disney trip (Staying at the Polynesian this time- woohoo)!
- I am learning more and more and more about what healthy living is really all about. Its become a major passion recently. I am constantly learning and researching and really feel like I finally get how it all works. Things I have questioned my whole life finally make sense. This particular topic really needs a post of its own, I can't wait to share some of the changes we have made. Its been about a 4 years journey- pretty much since Ryan was born (motherhood changes everything), but the past year I have really become confident in my knowledge and some of the changes we have made as a family.
- My sister just ran the NYC marathon on Sunday and she killed it! We all went up to watch her, what an amazing experience. It was her first marathon and she finished in 3:42. I am incredibly proud of all her hard work and dedication. Congrats to all NYC marathon finishers.
-So are you going to have another baby?? That's the question I get asked almost daily. For a while I said I wasn't going to even talk about it until after our vacation to Colorado. Well that was 3 months ago. I have no updates or news as of now, but I can say we sure do hope to be able to have a third baby. Only time will tell.
-I have been super sentimental about my boys recently. I could explode with love each day. I LOVE being their mom, like seriously love it! I have always loved them, but something recently has made me slow down and actually appreciate and fall in love with each day. I feel like I can appreciate that they won't be this small forever, and that time is going fast. So I want to take in every day and every stage and make a million memories, because before long they will be big boys, then preteens, then teenagers (ahh scary), and eventually adults with wives and I will no longer be the most important woman in their lives. My point being- having toddlers and preschoolers is SO MUCH FUN, and I am going to love it instead of getting annoyed by the hard parts.
-Speaking of the boys- lets do a brief update on both of them:
Ryan
-He is 4 years and 8 months.
-He loves dinosaurs, ninja turtles, fire fighters, police men, power rangers, sharks, sea creatures, and as always, trucks.
- His imagination is UNBELIEVABLE. Like, crazy smart thinker. Every day we act out a new story line full of adventures.
-His newest obsession is crafts. When he was younger he had no interest in coloring or drawing, but I guess he is making up for it now. He spends hours every day coloring, cutting, gluing, stapling, taping, painting, writing, making stories, decorating my house, etc. He calls them projects and he spends most of his day at home working on projects.
-The start of the school year was a struggle. But his teacher has been fantastic working with him, we changed occupational therapists, I adjusted his vitamins and refocused on his diet and nutrition, and I think he is starting to settle in and show some improvements. He has very classic ADHD symptoms and is dealing with many sensory processing issues, but we are doing so much to help him with his brain/body connection and I believe we are already seeing some changes.
-One major plus to our house is that the back yard is our own personal woods. He can spend hours exploring, gathering acorns and leaves, swinging on the swings, doing obstacle courses. He loves being outdoors.
-Daddy is Ryan's favorite person in the world. Everything Mike does is just "soooo cool". If Daddy does it, Ryan wants to do it. If Daddy likes it, Ryan likes it (this specifically hurt when he decided to root for the MEts this year instead of the Yankees- booo)
-Ryan is a big bag of emotions and he is really good at talking about them. Its kind of cute to watch a little person go through the range of being happy, then anxious, then sad, and then process it and go back to being happy again.
-He is super protective of his brother. He watches him closely when they explore in the back yard, and is always checking to make sure the gate on the stares is closed. He gets worried when Patrick crying and wants to know where he is at all times. They are turning into best buds.
-Ryan prays to God every single night to have a baby sister. Man he is putting the pressure on.
- There are little things that Ryan is doing recently that really shows his independence growing. Things that are not a big deal really, but to me they are big signs of him growing up. Some examples: he gets up in the middle of the night and uses the bathroom and then goes right back to bed without needing my help. I only know because I normally hear the toilet flush. He can swing himself on the swings for a very long time. He picks out his clothes, gets dressed on his own, puts the dirty clothes in the hamper, without needed a lot of prompting. He makes his bed most mornings. Sometimes he washed the dishes after dinner without being asked (and actually really cleans them, not just play in the water). He plays independently for much longer stretches of time. Little things that are signs that he is really growing up before my eyes
- Oh Yea, his very favorite song is Drinking Class by Lee Bryce. He knows every word. Proud mamma moment, I guess :)
Patrick
-1 year and 10 months old
- The almost two stage is hitting us hard. Boy is strong willed.
-He is so friggin cute and he knows it.
-He knows what he wants, and knows how to throw a fit til he gets it. But he can also switch on the big smile and flirty eyes in a second.
- Like most second children I would assume, he wants to do everything that Ryan does.
-He is incredibly stubborn- but I believe he has been that way since the day he was born, including during labor.
-He is also incredibly love-able and cuddley. He loves to snuggle and offers hugs to everyone, included strangers.
-His favorite songs are Let It Go from Frozen, Shake your Sillies Out, and also Drinking Class.
-Donald Duck aka Quack Quack is Patrick's favorite character and stuffed animal.
- He won't go anywhere without his school bus. Some kids have loveys and some have teddy bears... Patrick's comfort object is a school bus. Its very cute.
-He is suddenly giving me a hell of a time with sleep again. He was awful til he turned 1 year old. After that he fell into a good routine. Right to bed with no problems between 6:30-7 and up between 6:30-7 most mornings. Some days earlier but not the usual. Then his naps were never great, an hour at best. But he would go right down on his own without any fuss. Then on Saturday everything changed. He refuses to take a nap during the day and just cries hysterically for hours even though he is exhausted, he refuses to fall asleep at night, up to 2 hours of crying each night before he falls asleep standing up or finally gives in and lays down, and then up for the day by around 5am. The tears have been starting just by mentioning nap time or bedtime, and he does whatever he can to try to stall and avoid going up to his room. He is beyond exhausted. We have been pretty miserable all week. Not sure whats going on, or how to change it... but it sucks to see him so upset. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers that he settles back into his happy routine soon.
- He eats like a teenage boy- that is all.
-Getting him in and out of the car seat is a full blown wrestling match.
-He is a slow talker, even slower than Ryan I think. He has some basic animal sounds (dog, cat, sheep, cow), Mama, Dada, Gigi, Bubba, Uh-Oh, Yes, Bus, Quack Quack, Snack, Go, and NaNA (banana) . That is about it. He can do some sign language, and he is pretty good at letting us know what he wants in non-verbal ways. BUT I do think life will get a lot easier for all of us once he starts picking up a few more words. We have many frustrated moments of whining and tears because I have no idea what he is trying to say to me.
-He is generally calm and happy and can go with the flow. He plays well by himself and can be very silly.
Well I think I have gone through a lot of topics I wanted to touch on. Hopefully I will be back very soon to talk about some hot topics, or whatever else pops into my mind between now and then. Until next time...
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