Germy Rant

Will you allow me to rant a bit?

Not that it's a huge ordeal or anything.  Just something that I thought was rather comical, actually.

Today Maverick and I wanted to hang out with my sister, and being that its still a gajillion degrees outside we went to a McDonald's with a playplace.  After a while all the friends that Mav was playing tag with left, so he was finding other ways to entertain himself.  So naturally, he picked the most disgusting thing there--the trashcan. Ha!

Not the trashcan per say, but the flap.  Which is pretty fun to play with if you're a toddler!  I kept trying to entice him with the other stuff but it was a losing battle.

Eventually another little boy came over to play with Mav, and his mom just about had an aneurysm when he joined him by the trashcan.  She screamed, "NOOOOOOO!" and pulled him off to the side and whispered something in his ear.  I don't want to assume anything, but I'm pretty sure she told him to stay away from the nasty child by the trash, ha ha!  I just smiled and continued to offer other choices for Mav and about 5 minutes later he was off playing tag again.  (although I'm pretty sure that playplace equipment might have had more germs on it, ha!)

So here is my rant.  Well, maybe not rant...just my point-of-view I suppose.

First, I'm a big fan of whatever works best for your child, you, and your family.  (within obvious reason, of course)  Every child is different.  Every person is different.  That is the glorious way that God made us. :)  I know that I don't like getting unsolicited advice or, in this case facial expressions.

With that said, it just works for us to be non-germophobes.  Maverick eats off the restaurant table.  He lets our dog lick his food before he eats it (which actually super grosses me out, but he sneaks it sometimes, ha!).  He has never sat in a grocery cart liner, therefore he touches the unsanitized handle.  He is exposed to the germs I bring home everyday from the mega-petri dish known as my work.   I could go on, but you get the point.

Mav has never had an ear infection.  He's only been sick once (besides the teething runny nose).  Thankfully God has blessed us with a really healthy child...and I think the nightly prayers for continued blessings of health don't hurt. :)

Germs are good.  Just to throw it out there--when I went back to work after my maternity leave, I got SO sick the following week because my immune system had lost its...well...immunity.  :)

Okay, I'm done now.  Thanks for letting me rant.  Here is a cute picture of Maverick for your time:

Oh yeah, one more thing.  This sort of falls in the unsolicited advice column.

I'm still deciding on whether or not its worth taking Mav to the store right now...until he turns 6 or something!  He is quite adamant about NOT sitting in the cart.  Which isn't that big of a deal, except when I'm in a hurry or have a million things to shop for--and trying to keep a toddler from pulling everything off the shelf is counterproductive.

So today was one of those days when I was in a hurry.  I was determined to put Mav in the cart right away, so that he would know right from the start that there was no room for discussion.  As soon as I lifted him up, he went stiff as a board and screamed.  ALL of Target was watching me since I was at the front of the store (you know, where all the check out lanes are...and all the people coming & going are).

I'm trying to bend his legs to poke his little feet through the leg holes.  A shoe falls off one foot.  I'm sweating from exhaustion and embarrassment.  I finally get Mav buckled in.  But he is raspy, beet-red, and using a tone of screaming that vibrates your bones.  I dropped my to-buy list in the scuffle, and its nowhere to be found...but I continue, determined to get what I can remember.

Mav is still screaming.  A lady walks past and says, "They do grow up eventually."

Really?!!  Because that wonderful piece of information is so helpful right now.  Ugh.

(sorry, I know she was just trying to be nice...and I just smiled at her...but tears were welling up in my eyes because I felt like the worst mom ever)

Eventually the Cheeze-Its and milk that were offered to him from the get-go calmed him down, and I think I got most of what I needed.  Just another experience to chalk up in the good 'ol mom handbook I guess.

Thanks for letting me vent.  Again. :)

Huge Catch-Up!

Whew! Barely made it home from my parents' house (which is about 4 streets over) without the awesome Elmo & Curious George cupcakes melting! My dad surprised Mav with some deeeeelicious cupcakes this morning, yum!

Well, from the looks of it they melted a bit...George and Elmo are sliding off, ha!

It seriously needs to start cooling down. I like how the weather guy said, "A cool down is coming Monday." A cool down from 110 to 92 degrees...hey, I'll take it! I guess I shouldn't complain though, and really count my blessings that I have a house with air conditioning...because there are many that don't.

Our beautiful and awesome dog, Belle, only takes about 4 steps outside to go potty.  Then its a sprint back inside!  Every summer she blows her coat continuously until about October.  It is a HUGE pain.  But she's worth it. :)

I have to vacuum at least once a day, but the past couple weeks it's been two (or more!) times a day.  It's not that I'm a neat freak...take a look for yourself:

I can't believe I'm letting the entire world see my messy carpet, ha ha!  But this is what our carpet looks like at the end of EVERY day.  That's why we had to invest in a Dyson vacuum.  We've gone through 3 vacuums in 4 years, so it was time to invest in something that could handle Belle's fur.

If you have an animal that is genetically engineered to thrive in Siberia's worst winters, and live in a seasonal climate...buy a Dyson Animal! :)

Some new stuff in the land of Mav's coloring to report.  First, it is crucial to make sure ALL crayons (even the little bits) are all accounted for and put out of reach when not supervised, ha!  Let's see...he's colored a wall, a couple books, a truck, our table top, inside of a cabinet, and a wooden puzzle.  Fortunately most of it was able to be removed.

He will also hand me a crayon and want me to draw a shape for him to color in.  It's pretty hilarious when I draw a shape that he doesn't like.  He'll just hand the crayon back, ha!  I also made some coloring sheets for him: 

I drew some originals, and then made copies.  Don't laugh at my car, ha ha!

Not that its a huge deal at all, but I like to balance coloring sheets with blank paper so he can expand his imagination. But the way I see it:  Mav likes to color my shapes in, and he asked for it on his own. :)

I'm also excited about these!  Every summer at work, we have a tie-dye day.  I remember last summer I made a onesie for Mav.  (sniffle sniffle!)  This year I made size 2T shirts. :)

One of the most wonderful things about my work (besides all the awesome people) is sometimes scoring free kids stuff.  Granted, it's very used kids stuff.  But new to Maverick! :)

I walked this little couch in the door yesterday, and Mav covered his mouth with his hands and squealed!  Then he ran around in circles, and jumped on it.  Christmas should be exciting this year, ha!

 Too many excited and cute faces!

My work has furnished quite the playroom for Maverick.

Not the toys, but this cute little shelf.

 And this cute little kitchen. (Boys can pretend cook too!)

 And this cute little tool bench with working sander and jigsaw.

 The Mav has really been into his trucks lately.  He likes to drive them around, then rearrange their parking order a bazillion times. 

 He also loves to spin all the wheels. :)

It's also pretty funny how he says, "Buck! Buck!" when he plays with them or sees them in real life.  A firetruck pulled up next to us at a stoplight, and Mav was shouting, "BUCK!" to them.  At least he's using a B instead of an F, ha ha!

Oh, and I finally took a picture of the homemade density bottles that are so much fun to play with!  Half vegetable oil and half food-colored water...maybe some glitter too.  I also recommend glueing the caps on, ha!

Okay, that should be enough updating to last a few days.  Going to enjoy some Netflix for the rest of Mav's nap!

Hades Sticks

I was on a blogging streak!

Oh well.

UMMM, not to sure what to write.

But I felt like I needed to write something since Mav is taking a quick nap.

It is ridiculously hot outside.
In Robbie's words: "Hotter than h-e-double-hades-sticks"

Due to the aforementioned weather conditions I have desperately searched for indoor playgrounds that are cheap and/or free.  Sort of successful.

FYI: The McDonald's by our mall has the best. playplace. ever.  Mega fish tank.  Separate toddler playground (that isn't lame).  Oh, and mocha frappes for mommies.  :)

I promise more pictures soon!

Testicular Cancer, Schmesticular Schmancer

If you are one of the handful of people who read my blog on a regular basis...ahem, Dad...don't worry this is just a RE-telling of the old story.  Trust me, nothing to report any time soon!   

For everyone else who may have clicked on over from Kelly's Korner Blog, welcome! :)

I normally don't participate in SUYL posts (I really just enjoy reading all the other stories!), but every so often I sort of feel led to do so.  When I saw today's topic about sharing the exciting news of pregnancy, I kinda felt like maybe there is someone out there in the blogosphere who might be in the middle of what Robbie and I went through a few years ago--and would like some encouragement.

My husband Robbie is an avid snowboarder and outdoor retail salesperson, and used to take trips out to Colorado and Utah to "test" new inventory (in the name of fun, ha!).  In January of 2007, he was on a trip much like all the ones he had been on before when he took a super nasty fall down the mountain.  It was a really nasty fall; he tumbled several hundred feet head-over-heels type of fall.  It wasn't even Noon yet, and he decided to hang up the board for the rest of the day while his buddies stayed on the mountain.  During a shower he took later that afternoon, Robbie discovered a lump in his testicle.

For once, I am so thankful that he did not listen to me! :)  He called to tell me about it that night, and I told him that it probably wasn't anything to worry about--and that he most likely herniated something during the nasty fall.  Once he was back in town, he listened to his intuition to see a doctor, and a couple weeks later was diagnosed with Stage 4 Testicular Cancer that had spread to the kidney lymph nodes.

Exactly 3 months from our wedding day, Robbie had radical orchiectomy surgery to remove the entire left testicle and the casing around it.  From the beginning I emphasized that if he wanted to postpone the wedding, it would be more than okay.  But he really wanted a goal and something to focus on during the upcoming chemotherapy cycles. 

Robbie had to endure 12 hour sessions, 5 days a week, for 9 weeks straight.

I can't even begin to describe those 9 weeks.  They were awful and exhausting.
But they were also full of hope and strength, and SO much love.

Fast forward 2 years.  :)

We received a letter in the mail from the lab where Robbie had to freeze a pre-chemo sample, of well, you know.  It was going to be a substantial amount of money to continue storing that sample.  So we talked and prayed about it, and felt that if God wanted us to have children He would make it happen.

Needless to say, we were very surprised and overjoyed to find out that I was pregnant in April of 2009.  It was a lazy Sunday afternoon--the kind when you stay in your jammies and watch movies all day.  I had no inclination whatsoever to take a test.  To this day, I still have no idea why I grabbed one from under the sink at the last moment.

After about 10 minutes of pacing the bathroom and being frozen of emotion and sound, Robbie tapped on the door to see if I was okay.  (Sort of funny to think about now, ha ha!)  Somehow I got my feet to walk my body down the hallway, holding this little stick in my hands.  And then--boom!  Crying, lots of crying.  :)

Robbie and I hugged and cried for like 15 minutes, and were too shocked to think of a creative way to tell our parents, ha!  So we drove over to both houses and shared the news in person.  One of the best days of my life!

Our son Maverick decided to arrive about a week before he was due.

He arrived in the wee early hours of Thanksgiving Day.

Could God have picked a better day?  I don't think so. :)

And, to this day Robbie is free and clear of cancer.  In fact, his oncologist said that it looked like he never even had cancer since all the "dead" cells were gone too.  Praise God!

A Good Reminder

For days like today when:
--Mav was being crazy and screaming at Chick-fil-A
--I had to drive him around for 15 minutes to get him to take a nap.  I was not going to suffer 4 days in a row of no nap! :)
--Mav was throwing puzzle pieces just to see my reaction (you know, because the first 10 times it wasn't clear that we don't throw things in the house)
--Mav just plain 'ol wears me out

I like to read this book excerpt and really stop to cherish this season of life that goes by way too quickly.

"If I had my child to raise all over again...

I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less;

I'd do less correcting, and more connecting;

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch more with my eyes;

I would care to know less, and know to care more,

I'd take more hikes, and fly more kites;

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play;

I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars;

I'd do more hugging, and a lot less tugging;

I would be firm less often, and affirm much more often;

I'd build self esteem first and financial estate later;

I'd teach less about the love of power,

and more about the power of love."

--Different Children, Different Needs: The Art of Adjustable Parenting

I am so beyond blessed to have been given this amazing little boy.  He really is so wonderful and I love every minute with him...sometimes I keep him up longer at night because I don't want to interrupt the snuggling on the couch...even if it's been a rough day! :)

Too Hot!

Oh my goodness.  It is hotter than -h-e-doublehockeysticks- outside!!!  This was the thermometer in my Jeep about noon today:

Which wouldn't be so bad if I lived in Arizona or something.  But I live in the midwest.  Where you chew the humidity in the air.  So even sitting in the shade is pointless because your sweat cannot evaporate.  Ugh.

So I decided to take Mav to the indoor playground at the mall today, and we had a special visitor: Nana!  It was the first time she has gone with us, and it was a lot of fun.  She even splurged a dollar so that Mav could experience the rides on the other side of the escalator. (until now Mav didn't know those moved, ha ha!)

I do have to say that I am very proud of how my son interacts with other kiddos at the park/playground.  He is very polite, never shoves or yells.  In fact, he tends to avoid confrontation altogether.  He likes to find a buddy or two to play with, its very cute!  I hope that it never changes...but we'll see. :)

We also had a lot of fun playing with some homemade density tubes that I brought home from work.  By the way, these are a super cheap and super fun science lesson!  All you have to do is fill a bottle (with cap) halfway full of water colored with food dye, and the other half with vegetable oil.  Add some pieces of alka-seltzer tablets--and you get a lava lamp effect!  When its all done bubbling, screw on the cap and enjoy watching the oil & water separate.  (I glued my caps on since Mav likes to unscrew them...and I added glitter!!!)

Robbie STILL has my camera at work.
This is not my photo. Courtesy: Blue Fruit Design Blog

Late afternoon was spent with a pretty fantastic dance party in the living room.  I pulled up iTunes on the computer and Mav went to town running in circles, jumping, and clapping for almost an hour straight, ha ha!  We enjoyed some Johnny Cash and Dixie Chicks (pre-political turmoil).  I guess this hot weather called for some boot-scootin' music.



Courtesy: http://www.bludshot.com/

 

Courtesy: uulyrics.com

Playing and dancing to music in the living room reminds me of great memories I had when I was younger.  My dad would dust off his 8-tracks and play ABBA and Queen for me, and I would bop around the room all day.  So much fun! :)

By the way--is my toddler the only toddler in the universe to stop taking naps at 19 months?!!  Oh my goodness.  The past few days have been awful around here because Mr. so-and-so refuses to take a nap.  I've even tried the special car trick, and the nap with mom on the couch trick.  Nada.

Please tell me he is not done with naps?!  Agh!

  

It's actually not so bad at all...until about 8pm.  Then the child gets SO cranky.  Eeek.

Anyways, so Mr. Crabby-pants and I ended the evening at my parents house enjoying yummy dinner, yummy ice cream, and the Home Run Derby.  (Robbie had to work late...benefit #428 of parents living in your subdivision)

I'm ready for bed!

Cardinals Game!

Okay, so I might not ever get around to the Explodapalooza photos...or the zoo photos...ha ha!

That's what I get for slacking off.

Well...I wouldn't say slacking off.  We've been too busy for slacking off!

This weekend my cousin-in-law (I suppose that title exists, right?) visited from Florida and we had a lot of family fun!  I had to steal her pictures from FB since Robbie had to take our camera to work again.  Thanks Sarah for the photos!

Friday night we went to the Cardinals game!

I was SO excited to take Mav to his first game this season--he's already been to 5 or 6 games but those were all last season when he was too little to really care.  Actually, Robbie and I could've taken him a couple times this year but it was either the weather or something that would've made it sort of miserable for him.

(Papa, Sarah, Nana, Mav, Me, Jon & Noa, Johanna)

This is a fantastic photo...except Robbie is missing. :( 

He had to work late, and I felt so awful that he couldn't go.

(side note: Isn't this a great shot? I suppose the Busch stadium folks get good at taking pictures, ha!)

This game was also exciting because it was my nephew Noa's first game ever!!

He is 5 months old--perfect age for his introduction to our family heritage.

I got a pretty good workout carrying a 30 lb toddler all over the city, ha ha!

Isn't it funny how your kids always prove you wrong?

I totally thought Mav would be terrified of Fredbird.

Wrong!

(He must have been familiarized from his Cardinals ABC book)

He  L-O-V-E-D  Fredbird!

We couldn't get him to look at the camera because he was so enamored.

Even after we walked away, he kept running up to him for a high-five.

It was awesome!

For the most part, Maverick loved everything about the ballpark.  He would often just be so glazed over from all the sights and sounds.  It was precious.  I can't wait until we can sit there and talk strategy and Cardinals history.  We love our Redbirds!

About the 4th inning he was getting pretty antsy, so Mav and I walked all over the place.  He kept saying "bah-eh-ball" and pointing to the field.  Also, he kept getting compliments on his jersey (thank you Rachel!).

I think his favorite thing (besides Fredbird) was the giant scoreboard screen.  We tried getting him to eat cotton candy (yep, you read that right!) but he was too weirded out by it I guess.  But he enjoyed peanuts by the hand full!

I'm pretty sure Nana and Papa were in heaven being at the game with their two grandsons!  As you can tell by the flushed faces though, it was HOT.  And HUMID.  And SWEATY.

Both Mav and Noa did SO good considering it was pretty miserable outside.  But I think they were both too concerned about the awesomeness of the game to care. ;)

The Cards ended up losing a come-back-from-behind-nail-biter.

But if you ask me, I'd say it was a winner! 

The Bombs Bursting In-Air

Oh my, I have WAY too many photos that I want to post.

Still deciding on whether to choose Blogger or Facebook.

Facebook is easier...but Blogger is more fun (which requires more energy).

Our annual Explodapalooza was fantastic.

Maverick LOVED the fireworks!!

For tonight, I will just post some fun pics I took of the fireworks.

Because I'm so stinking tired.

Excitedly, I had an unexpected day off today.  So we went to the zoo.

And I have a gazillion cute pictures to post from that as well.

However, this was the first time Mav has been to the zoo since he was itty bitty.

And we more or less chased him through the entire zoo, which was fun--but exhausting!

 Enjoy! :)

I was experimenting with my shutter speed, so this is what turned out...

Just hum your favorite patriotic song as you scroll:

(it wasn't quite fully dark outside, so that is the sky in the background)

Just hair, right?

I suppose most moms only get emotional when it's their kids first haircut, or the first time their little girl gets her hair majorly cut off.  Well, it's sort of embarrassing to say that I got teary eyed when I cut Mav's hair yesterday!  I don't know why...he's already had like 8 haircuts since his hair grows so fast.  But this was the first time we let it grow really long, and he had adorable curls!

BUT it was getting pretty long.

Ever since he was born he's had a pretty thick mane. Which is funny, because they say the more heartburn you have while you're pregnant--the more hair your baby will have when its born. I had awful heartburn one night early on, but that was it the entire pregnancy. I was sure that Mav wasn't going to have anything on his little head. :)

OH my goodness.  I wish I could go back in time to that moment!

I can't believe he was ever that small!!  Oh man, did I really look that pitiful? Ha ha!  Give me a little slack, I had just given birth. :)

His poor little head!!  I was afraid it would stay like that forever, ha!  As you can tell, he got stuck.

I also remember liking that little pimple skin tag thingy, but it went away after a bit.

Sooooo, fast forward about 19 months:

I love his hair this way.  Very left-coast surfer kid.

Which I would love if he turned out that way...hee hee!

Have you seen those hilarious baby toupee skits?  I could totally donate Mav's hair! :)

So this is the new 'do:

I think he still looks pretty handsome. 

And now that I've washed it too, it looks more relaxed.

Is it me, or does he look like SUCH a big boy here?!

His hair is still wanting to curl, and has a texture to it....I wonder if it's going to stay that way?

Or turn flat and straight.  We'll see!

It's funny how Mav really looks like me most of the time (or so almost everyone says), but then pictures like this one show SO much of Robbie in him too.  Love it!

Have a safe and fun Independence Day tomorrow!

We're going to our annual "Explodapalooza" with our friends that we usually only see once a year on this holiday.  Robbie is dragging our Weber charcoal grill all the way there so he can "properly" grill the meat.

No propane meat allowed. :)

I'm hoping that Mav will like the fireworks, but my feeling is that he will be scared of them.

Which is perfectly fine with me!  He can watch with me from a far distance.

(I've had a pretty bad burn from one landing on me...NOT fun!)