I should be sleeping!

I have a surprise vacation day today.  I know--how does one have a surprise vacation day? :)  Well, this week due to the holidays, we have a LOT less kiddos at work than we were expecting.  Yesterday a few people got the day off...and today a few different people (a la me) get the day off.  Woo hoo!  So with my work being closed on Monday...that's a 4 day weekend.  I'll take it!

I was hoping to sleep in until about 8 when Mav usually wakes up...but that wasn't the case.  First, he ended up in our room/bed around 5am.  Which is actually pretty routine.  Mav wakes up when I'm getting ready for work, so for the sake of time--I toss him into my side of the bed.  He loves it.  And its only for a few hours anyways.

Have you ever tried sleeping next to a 2 yr old (especially one the size of a 3 yr old)?  They are quite violent, ha!  After being karate punched in the face, and kicked in the throat...I just gave up trying to sleep.  Oh well.

Gives me more time to swoon over stuff like this:

And stuff like this:

I held off Christmas shopping for New Baby I because they had an ultrasound scheduled for Dec 28th, with the hope that they would find out the gender. 
Jon and Johanna are expecting a sweet baby girl in May.

A girl!!!!

SO excited for them!  And excited to finally get to shop in the bigger, more variety filled section!  Let's face it--shopping for boys is super easy...and super boring.  Sure, you can find funny or cute shirts.  But that's IT.

Yawn.

We can't wait to meet you sweet baby girl!

A Wonderful Day!

...from start to end!

Today is my 28th birthday. (I started writing this on the 27th, ha!)  I'm already trying to convince myself I'm old, that way 30 doesn't seem so bad, ha!  This has been a wonderfully great birthday.  No super crazy presents or big parties, just wonderful time with my family--which is the best gift ever!

First, God gave me a fantastic scene outside my window:

His gift was this beautiful snowfall!  Just enough to make everything nicely coated, but not enough to be a hassle.  In fact, most of it was gone in a few hours.

Robbie had these beautiful roses and my favorite breakfast (biscuits and gravy) on the table for me.  So sweet! :)

Pretty soon I had 2 beggars lingering around my breakfast food...

Oh Belle.

And this little guy.  His new thing is making that face when I get my camera out.  He turns his head and gives this sly grin, ha! 

The rest of the day was filled with having fun in Mav's new tent.  His great Aunt Ginny gave him this tent/tunnel combo...and now we can't get him out of it.  Ever.

This picture describes his every moment in the tent, ha!

Everything goes in the tent.

Everyone goes in the tent.

Even Belle.

The forts are just going to get bigger as Mav gets bigger.  :)

Later on Robbie took me out for one of my most favorite dinners: sushi!  It's funny, because I used to hate fish.  Wouldn't even think about going near sushi.  Eventually Robbie got me to try a veggie roll...and then one day I was brave enough to try a salmon roll and haven't looked back since.  I love to try all kinds of sushi now!  Last night we were adventurous and ordered white tail and salmon roe--and it was disgusting!  It was like eating pure salt.  (They are the two rolls all the way to the right)

The lighting was dim, and I didn't want to use a flash...so its sort of a bad picture.  We ordered WAY too much!  We were starving...and still ended up with about 4 pieces left.  Funny how those little things fill you up so quick!

Such a wonderful birthday, I'm so blessed with the best family ever! :)



While the laundry is washing...

So I don't know if this is a fair moment to mull over my endless thoughts about a second child.  I just spent an hour and a half trying to get my son to sleep.  And I'm pretty sure with the way things are going, this is how he is going to go sleep until he is 19...so how could I even fathom another kid?!  Ha.  I'm so tired.  But I keep telling myself only 3 more days of getting up at 5:30am, and then I get to sleep in until 8am for five days in a row!!

Gosh.  I've typed a sentence (heck, a paragraph) in this slot 3 or 4 times now...and have erased it.  I don't know how to start.  This isn't really supposed to be a serious post.  Just some whimsical thoughts about the craziness that is parenting.

It seems like the "pressure" to have a second child is sort of worst than having the first.  At least for us, anyways.  And really, it's not outside pressure.  Nobody is harping us, ha! :)

But I guess since our first wasn't really expected to happen...it makes planning (or wishing) for another one tricky.  I don't want to say difficult...it's not difficult because we want another one...just tricky in how to make it all work (hopefully).

We've always wanted 2 kids.  You know those fun, quirky, long night conversations you have before you get married (but you know you're talking with the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with)?  Two kids was always our dream.  A Maverick, and a Ruby.

Obviously we believed that God would decide, ultimately.  And we didn't know the very unexpected road God would take us on with Robbie's cancer.  Through it all, He blessed (more than blessed!) us with our Maverick.  And if he is our only child, we are beyond forever grateful.  Beyond. 

Until recently (this Sunday as a matter of fact) I've really had this heavy on my heart: I've limited myself and my expectations of God to this "ideal" timeline and plan.  For as many times as I've read in scripture about people who think they've figured it all out...you'd think I would've given myself a huge forehead slap a long time ago, ha!  :)

I'm so glad that God never gives up on me.  I'm a mess.  But I am His creation, and I've been put on this earth for Him.  I need to re-focus on that first.  It's so hard when everyday life, emotions, and people get in the way!  But really...its in everyday life, emotions, and people that God works in us, and through us.

And it's really, really hard to not look around and focus on what others are doing.  What kind of jobs they have, if they get to stay home, how many kids they have, what their house looks like, where they went on vacation, etc, etc, etc.  Every time I start to think about it I hear, "That's their story.  Not yours.  Don't be envious.  You'll miss what I have for you.  What I've designed especially for you."  

And I'm so glad that He is outside of my timeline and what I think is best.  :)

Wow, ha!  Didn't plan on pouring out my heart. :)

Really need to stop my over-use of smiley faces.

                              :)

Neck Strains and Randoms

The desire to blog this weekend was there, I promise!  But life was a little crazier than normal.  Let's see, I guess it was late Saturday night when I woke up to Robbie groaning.  I thought he was getting throw-upy sick (he is a groaner)...but he kept saying "I can't move, I can't move."  So I helped him to the couch and propped him best I could, all during which he was literally agonizing in pain.  That was about 2am, and I think I finally nodded back off to sleep around 6am just to wake up again with Mav around 7:45am.

Every little move, even breathing was exceptionally painful for him.  He described the pain like being stabbed with a thousand knives while burning in jet fuel, ha!  So I played nurse best I could, all while trying to help Mav understand that he couldn't sit on, jump on, or even touch dad.  It was a LONG Sunday, ha!  We debated back and forth about going to urgent care...but Robbie really didn't want to pay the extra money.  So we hunkered in for another night and fortunately his doctor was able to see him 1st thing this morning.

Apparently he severely strained his neck muscle (the doc used some fancy anatomical word for it) while sleeping.  He got some good anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxing meds.  So hopefully that will do the trick!  He might need a trip to the chiropractor too.  Which he will LOVE.  He used to go once a week...I teased him about being addicted, ha!  He hasn't been in forever, so I think he deserves it!

Now...on to some random thoughts.  Really random, ha!

1. Even though I've been married 4 1/2 years, I still love watching all those tacky bridal shows.  I marathon watched "Say Yes to the Dress" last weekend.  Pretty sad.  But I love it, and I don't apologize!

2.  What is with people not turning right at a red light?!?!?!  Completely baffled by it.  And it totally frustrates me when I'm driving!!

3.  I had a fleeting moment about taking one random picture every single day of 2012, and blogging about it.  But with my current record of blogging, that will probably last until January 12th.

4.  I really want to blog about all sorts of emotions about a second child.  But I have only 15 minutes until I need to be back at work.  Maybe I'll get some time tonight?  No, we're not pregnant.  Just a lot of random thoughts.  About as random as this post, ha!

5.  Everytime I go to QT and buy a fountain soda, a candy bar, and a bag of Funyuns--I'm totally embarrassed.  But not embarrassed enough to not buy them.

Hope you're having a great short work week! (If you are in the 'working world'...if not, then I hope you are having a fabulous working week at home!) 

Have you noticed that you are more productive at work knowing you're about to have a mini-vacation?  Or at least I am, because I'm in such a good mood!  I think that is proof enough that we all need more time off! :)

Keepsakes

This post most likely will not interest you at all, ha!  I'm not even going to upload pictures.  I just really keep meaning to write down all the cute things Mav is saying right now...and I have a few minutes at the computer.  The hope is to someday publish all of my blogging from the past few years into those cute books you can buy online, so we have a hardcopy to keep.  :)

Maverick loves "chicken" or "kickin" trees!  (Christmas trees)  Also, as we drive around town he says "Chicken lights pretty!"

He is a little obsessed with lights, buttons, and doors.  It seems like every 2 minutes he is saying, "Open the door!"  or "Turn on the wight! (light)".  There isn't a way for me to type it, but he says, "Press the button!" so cute...I'll remember when I read it.  :)

When I get home from work, he knows its time to make dinner.  So he 'helps' me by standing next to me and narrates everything I'm doing.  "Make dinner?!  Plug in mikker (mixer)?!  Turn on sink?!  Stove hot!!"

Anytime he hears an airplane fly over he says, "Air-pane up in da sky?  Bye bye air-pane!"

He likes to pull on the antenna of Robbie's Jeep when we walk through the garage and say, "Pantanna!"  Occasionally he'll say it and point to one on another car while we're out driving.

When we're in my Jeep he begs for us to "Open the woof (roof)?  The ky (sky)!!!"  Today he kept asking and I told him it was too cold outside...but for fun I gave in and opened it.  He loved it!  Fussed when I closed it, but I was freezing! :)

Robbie taught him to line up his hotwheels and say, "On your mark, get set, go!"  Now whenever we are at a stoplight he yells, "On mark! GOOOO!"  He also likes to say "Red mean top (stop)"  and "Geen (green) mean GO!"

Ever since the1964 stop-motion "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" was on tv a couple weeks ago, Mav has been obsessed with watching it.  We have it on dvd, so if it were up to him we would just continuously loop it for 24 hrs a day, ha!  He always so pitifully asks to watch it by saying, "Woo-doff?  Woo-doff?" in a sweet little voice.  :)

When we do watch it, he goes on and on through the whole show:  "Chicken town! (Christmas town)", "Dare goesh hish nose! (There goes his nose)", "Wight nose! (light nose!)", "Make toys?", "No-man (snowman)", "No-bake (snowflake)", "No-monster (snow monster)", "Geen-gle bells (jingle bells)". 

He also does the funniest thing when Yukon Cornelius (the prospector--it's sad that I know his name) licks his ice pick/hammer.  Maverick runs to his tool bench and grabs his screwdriver (which he calls 'dewdiver') and licks it with a wry smile on his face.

Mav also likes to refer to lots of things in the third person, especially when its something fun.  He'll say, "Mamick's i-keam-cone! (Maverick's ice cream cone)", "Mamick's bank-it! (blanket)", "Mamick's a-poo-ter (computer)", and "Mamick's tool bock! (tool box)".

What's great is when he repeats stuff he hears me say all the time.  He'll ask to do something, and before I answer he'll say, "Okay. In a minute."  Ha!  Or when our dog Belle wants to go outside he'll say impatiently, "In a minute Belle!" ;)

I love watching him when he talks because you can really see him thinking about how to say words, and put a few words together to make a thought.  Sometimes he gets a little breathy, and has such a serious look on his face to get it all out.  It's so cute.

I guess I could go on and on.  I just don't want to forget all these little things.

Before I  know it, he's going to be writing a high school English paper.

First Sleepover and Favorite Ornaments

We're home enjoying a nice evening, after a fun weekend.  For the first time ever, Maverick stayed overnight somewhere else besides home.  And it was also the first time he stayed overnight without his parents.  When my dad first asked us if they could keep him...I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive.  More for them--since Mav has been waking up so often at night.

But wouldn't you know it--that little stinker was perfect for them. :)

No fussing at all about changing clothes.  At our house we have to either trick Mav and catch him off guard, or just chase him down and endure the screaming.  And no fussing at all about going to bed.  I quit, ha!

I'm so happy that it went so well!!  It is so awesome to know that he can stay with Grandma & Grandpa if he needs to...or if Robbie and I need another break.  :)

Don't get us wrong--we love our child more than anything.  But I would think most parents agree that you need a break, and some time to spend with your spouse like the "good ole days".  This was the first time we were child-free since Mav was born...we couldn't decide how to spend our time, ha!

We ended up walking around West County Mall and landed inside Barnes & Noble.  One thing we used to do ALL the time before Maverick was born, was drink coffee and read magazines in Borders...it was so wonderful to do that again!  We had also made reservations for our most favorite restaurant--The Elephant Bar.  It is fancy without being ridiculously expensive, and the food is SOOOO good.  They seated us in a floor to ceiling booth, so it was almost like eating alone.  Perfect!

Then we decided to go see a late movie in a real movie theatre.  Overpriced tickets, sticky floors, stale popcorn, and all. :)  We saw "Moneyball" and as hardcore lovers of the game of baseball, we loved it!  We didn't get home until after 1am!!  I can't remember the last time I was out (for fun) that late.

And here is the most unbelievable thing of all.  Just guess how late we slept in.

It would almost be embarrassing...except I woke up so refreshed I don't care. :)

Ten Thirty.  Ten Thirty!

With that said, we couldn't wait to see our little guy again.  Although...we were looking forward to a big hug or some sort of sign that he missed us...but he actually fussed about going home!  I see where we rank compared to Grandma and Grandpa!  :)

In some of my free time today I browsed Pinterest and saw some cute pictures of Christmas ornaments.  I thought it would be fun to try some photos of my favorite ornaments, and share them with you.



This is my Baby's 1st Christmas ornament.  When I was little I didn't understand why it said 1984.  I thought it should have said 1983, the year I was born.  But I was born 2 days after Christmas. :)



Growing up we had a lot of these beautiful glittery bells on our tree, and I would just stare at the sparkles.  Now I have some for our tree!

I think I made this ornament at either school, or Girl Scouts...and I think that is my 1st grade picture.

Another childhood favorite.  I would lay under the tree and twirl this ballerina forever. :)

When we brought Maverick home from the hospital, our parents, and Johanna slipped into our house and cleaned it (since we weren't expecting to have Maverick that day, ha!); stocked our kitchen; and decorated for Christmas.  My mom bought this ornament and put it on the tree. :)

This is another one that I grew up with.  No idea why I liked it so much as a kid.  I think I liked playing with the fake snow.  Now I think it's really cute.

Homemade ornaments are the best!

My parents had a ton of vintage glass ornaments, that we now have.  They are so beautiful!

Another 1st Christmas ornament for Maverick. :)

This is the same story as the ballerina...I just loved playing with it as a kid.  Both are wooden, and I'm not sure where they came from.  So cute though!

Alright, now off to chill the rest of the evening before another busy week begins.  There is a tiny bit of snow in the forecast, but nothing at all impressive.  I secretly hope they are wrong, I'm ready for the big snow!

 

Our November

Curse you--sleep routine!  Hahaha.  It is 7am on a Saturday.  Everyone in the house is sleeping except for me.  I usually wake up around 5:30a for work everyday and 7am is like the latest my body lets me sleep.  I just toss and turn...so I might as well blog, right?!  :)

Happy December to you!  This month is so fun and exciting!  A little scary, too...because I get one more year closer to 30.  Eesh.  30 looks so old in print!  Ha!

Since I've haven't been able to blog as much, this will be a catch-all November post.  I just went through my November 2011 uploaded photos folder, chronologically, and picked some cute ones.  :)

Mav thinks the flash on my camera is the most hilarious thing ever, ha!  I luuuuuuuuuve his expression in this pic! He looks so much older...like it could be a 7th birthday smile or something.  It is beyond amazing to watch Maverick grow. :) 

I love so many things about this next picture.  This was first thing in the morning, and he ran to his little table to play cars...priorities!  I remember buying that little red table at a church garage sale when I was pregnant with him.  The cars on the table are mine from when I was little. 

The green chair is extra special to me.  Starting when I was just a little older than Mav, my Mee Maw (great grandmother) would let me "help" her wind up her cuckoo clock.  She bought it in Europe (on one of her many world trips) and I just was completely fascinated by it in every way.  She would pull over that little green chair for me to stand on, so that I could pull on the little girl swinging at the bottom to start the clock after she wound it.

  When my Grandpa Lee past away (her son), I inherited that little green chair and cuckoo clock.  The clock is hanging in our spare room (but we never found the key to wind it up).  And the little green chair is perfect size for Mav to use.  It is pretty old, since it was my grandpa's childhood chair.  But sturdy as ever.  My only apprehension is that I might need to strip the paint...I'm afraid it might be lead paint.  I wonder if there is a way to tell?

A couple weeks ago on a boring Sunday afternoon, we decided to go on an impromptu frolic in Forest Park.  This time of year you never know when it's going to be the last sunny day for a few months, so we didn't want to waste it.  (Since then, the weather has turned really cold).  Forest Park is the most amazing place ever.  I've been to Central Park in New York...and Forest Park is way better. :)

We decided to meander around the World's Fair Pavilion and the Boathouse.

We almost got married at the Pavilion, but there was much more cost in having to set up everything there since its pretty much bare on the inside.  The art gallery/train foundry where we got married already had everything, and was awesomely beautiful & historic, too. :)

My handsome little guy.

(I've received a ton of compliments on the shirt...we got it on sale from Children's Place.  Such a funny face, ha!)

Taking a break half-way up.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of stairs...until you start climbing them.

Belle wears her pack when we take her out, so that she feels like she is "working".  When she has it on, she is SO obedient and stays right with us.  Otherwise she would've been almost to Illinois, ha!

At the very top!

I love my boys!

This was taken on Thanksgiving day, at Robbie's parents' house.  Maverick has at least 2 cars in his hands 24 hours a day.  :)

Getting ready to eat Thanksgiving meal!  Maverick stopped using highchairs long ago because he is advanced stubborn.  He doesn't even like booster seats.  Sometimes I wish he would still sit in one, but it's probably a good thing he rocks the big chair by himself.

We had a mini-birthday celebration for Mav on Thanksgiving, and one of his gifts came in this bag. :)

Okay, okay...Noa is one of the best gifts ever...but he was just playing in it.  He is such a handsome little guy, and it is so great to watch his personality grow too. 

Maverick and his Aunt Robyn (my sister).  Mav was pretty worn out by the second Thanksgiving meal that day...but we had lots of fun!

Mav's 2nd Birthday "watch me grow" photo.  I can't believe I've kept up with it for 2 years!  I am so glad that I did.  Even though it has been so challenging to get that child to sit still for a few photos, ha!  If we are ever blessed to have another child, I definitely want to do it with them too.

I know I've said it before, but it is truly amazing to watch a little bundle of blankets turn into a little person.  Mav's vocabulary has exploded, and it is so great to hear him use 2-3 sentences at once.  Plus, the things he says are just hilarious.  You always wonder what your baby is thinking, and its so fun to actually hear it now. 

When he talks to Robbie on the phone he talks to him about the "vacuum cleaner and washing machine going around and round".  The not-so-funny thing he is always saying right now is "mine!".  He usually screams it when I'm trying to clean his toys up, ha!

Thanks for sticking around to the end of this post, it was a long one!  There is a certain little boy talking in the monitor now...so off we go to start our Saturday!