Its officially Baby Watch 2017. Baby Taynor should be making his appearance any day now, so I am trying to fill my days keeping busy, with the occasional rest, so I don't get to stir crazy. What a perfect time to blog about some of the random things going on in our family.
- Yesterday was Ryan's last day of Kindergarten. I can't believe how fast that went by AND how great of a year it was for him. I was filled with anxiety about how the year would go. Would he make friends, would he be able to handle the full day schedule, would the teacher get frustrated with him and his lack of ability to focus and concentrate?? Would he love going to school or would it be torture? Well as many people assured me, everything ended up being just fine. He had a teacher that totally understood his personality and loved that even though he could be a bit distracted and anxious, he was a "really great kid". He made plenty of friends, and he really loved getting on the bus each morning. Academically he did pretty well. Not top of the class, but definitely did not struggle. He learned so much in school, and as I knew he would he continued to learn and pursue all of his passions outside of the classroom (sea creatures, dinosaurs, outer space).
-On the topic of Ryan, he is finishing up his soccer and baseball season. Another area of Big change this year. Up until this year we did organized activity to keep him busy and because lots of other kids his age were starting to play sports. But he didn't really love any of it. We are so excited to see that change big time this year. All of a sudden he was playing actual soccer and really having fun. And baseball was even better, he LOVES going to baseball and practicing baseball all the time with Dad in the backyard. Maybe we just start kids to young, they need a couple more years to mature, but this spring season was a great success. Now he wants to try a swim team, wrestling, basketball, and do gymnastics again this summer. Clearly we can't do it all, but I will let him try to all at some point to see what becomes his favorite.
- Patrick is totally your average 3 1/2 year old boy. Big personality, lots of potty jokes, loves to play in the dirt and with bugs, has a bit of a threenager attitude and temper, and wants to do everything and anything his big brother is doing. His favorite expression right now is "me too" after every single thing Ryan says. I want cereal- me too! I want to go to bed- me too! I need to go to the bathroom- me too! Its super cute actually. He did amazing at school, and his best buddies were the two girls in class. I hear about Anna every day, his first little crush. We have caught him a few times wearing tutus at pick up and telling me he wants to be a princess ballerina when he grows up.
- Both boys are OBSESSED with Mike. Like seriously worship the ground he walks on. For a while, Patrick was glued to me but all of a sudden he is a self proclaimed Big Kid and Dad is totally the cool one around here. Its amazing how much they love him. I do think its a little bit because "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and Mike has been working very long days and traveling much more than he ever has, so when he is around the boys just can't get enough of him. Whether is cuddling in bed on the weekends, helping him with the yard, wrestling (lots and lots of wrestling) after dinner, or just relaxing watching movies... its all so much more fun with Dad. I have a love hate with this dynamic. It is amazing to watch and so sweet to see how they look up to him. But I am a bit jealous, I'll admit. I am stuck being the life coordinator for the whole family, while Mike gets to be super hero. But in all seriousness, I'll take it. I love to watch their love for him.
-House projects, an every day conversation around here. This winter we checked off a few more boxes! The biggest one being that Mike finished out basement! And it is awesome! I'll post pictures when I can but it turned out great. We have an adult hang out space, a kids play room space, and still left lots of storage space for my seasonal things, a workout area, toy overflow, and kitchen overflow. We are 96% finished. We are waiting on counter tops for the bar area, a few new light fixtures, and to finish the ceiling over the play room, but even without those few things, it is a fully usable space. This was a huge project that took over 6 months to complete and had a hefty price tag, but it was worth it. And as with all projects, the completion of one leads to the need to start a new one. Now that the toys are in the basement, we have a large living and dining room area that are ready to be renovated. New floors, light fixtures, furniture, built ins... thats the next big project. BUT that needs to wait for a little while. I think we will be living with empty space rooms for the near future.
-We also replaced our roof this year- that is one of those not so glamorous projects. A lot of money, but not a lot to show for it. People don't come over and say "wow I love what you did with your roof". But it needed to be done, and we can check that off the must do list too. Unfortunately it took a chunk of money that could be used for the other things on my wish list. To help balance it out, Mike did all the landscaping work himself and that is growing in so nicely and adding a lot of life to the front and back of our house, and he is spray painting our worn out shutters to give them a fresh look without spending much money.
-Still on the list of things I dream about doing to the house - a back deck and patio area, putting in a pool (major dream world), living/dining room renovation, kitchen remodel, and master bath remodel. And on a smaller scale, changing all of the door handles and light fixtures throughout the house.
-Last but not least, our summer plans. This summer our plan is to not have much of a plan. The boys will go to camp twice a week for 6 weeks to give me a little bit of one on one time with the baby. But other than that I wanted to be free and flexible to enjoy actually having the summer off from work. If we get invited to go swim with friends, we can go. If we feel like having lazy pajama days, we can do that too. I am looking forward to enjoying this family time.
Will post pictures of the renovations, and the boys, and hopefully our new baby very soon!
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