Autumn Art

Here's a little project that Little Guy and I worked on this week. We both had fun, and his artwork now hangs on our front door to welcome any visitors who might come our way.

We used his hand prints to make leaves, and LOTS of glue, but it was worth the mess to see how much he enjoyed himself.

We Love Firefighters!!

Fireman Sam is a wonderful children's
series from Wales.  Little Guy Loves it.

At the moment, we are living and breathing all things related to fighting fires. We play with toy fire trucks. We color pictures of fire trucks. We pretend to be firefighters. When we have TV time, we watch Fireman Sam episodes on NetFlix. When we are in the car, we make siren noises. At night we read bedtime stories about firemen. You get the idea.

Last weekend we went to our local Fire Station’s open house/pancake breakfast (lucky timing indeed). As you might expect, Little Guy had a ball! He loved meeting the firemen, sliding down the pole, sitting in the fire trucks, playing in the bouncy house they provided and just walking around the station. Truthfully we all had a pretty good time.

Daddy helping Little Guy slide down the
fire station pole.

Baby Boy wearing his brother's fire helmet

When we got home, we decided to make a fire station for his trucks. We started with a cardboard box (a heavy duty box once used for fruit), covered it in bits and pieces of red scrapbook paper (which I drew “bricks” on). Little Guy helped me arrange assorted paper to make walls, a roof and a big yellow “X” for his rescue helicopter to land on. The resulting “Fire Station” holds most all of his trucks, and has already offered a lot of fun play time.



LG with his cardboard fire station.

 

And in action



Homework: "H" is for hat

Little Guy started attending a new daycare/pre-school when I returned to work.  In addition to getting lots of play time with his friends, they practice letters and numbers, have story time, and do crafts.  Little Guy loves it, and looks forward to going every day. 

His teacher asked that we practice printing letters for fifteen to twenty minutes a day.  We practice writing and also coloring (as that is something he needs to work on).  At first he didn't act all that thrilled to be doing this stuff at home, but now he's really enjoying it.  I'm going to start posting a few of our projects every week, so that we can better track his progress.

Below are some pictures from the past week.  We did at least one project every night last week, but I didn't always take pics.  Here are a few of the things we worked on.


For this project, I drew a big "H" and then cut out letters from
magazines.  I piled the misc letters on the table, and LG picked
out all the H's to glue onto the big one.

  

It's kind of hard to see here...but this was a coloring
page of a Hen.  He colored it (you can see why we're practicing
our coloring), and then he glued on 'feathers'.



He loves to use glue!



A Sweet Gift from Afar

The picture is of Baby Boy and his new softie heffalump, which was a lovely and sweet gift from Miss Zoe of Pennyblossoms.  It was promptly named "Wilson" by our three year old.  I'm not sure why he chose that name, but it works.  Baby Boy already likes to touch the silky soft Wilson, and Little Guy even picks him up for a hug now and then.  I have a feeling he'll be a favorite with our boys. 

So, a great big American "Thank You" goes out to Miss Zoe.  I promise you will soon be getting a little something in the mail from us as well.  Thank you for your thoughtfulness and for always knowing just what to say and always saying it with a kind heart.  Though we may never meet in person - I feel that you are a dear friend.



Thank you Miss Zoe!!!



No Time for THAT!

It’s been a while since I really wrote anything of substance for this little blog of mine. I hate excuses, but here are mine: I was pregnant. Then I was even more pregnant (and mildly miserable). Then I gave birth to a lovely little boy (our second). Then I was on maternity leave and for some reason I could not focus on writing much more than a post card. Then Little Guy had his CT scan, and his surgery and Baby Boy was too adorable to ever put down, etc… and then my leave was over.

After I returned to work, it felt like every waking “free” moment should be spent with Hubby and the boys (working Mama guilt sometimes overwhelms yours truly).

So anyway, things like writing and sewing and reading have taken a back seat of late to the crazy little every day stuff that makes my life so vivid and rewarding (and frankly, worth writing about in the first place).

I’m really sorry that I haven’t made more of an effort with blogging these last few weeks/months …. not sorry for you (I know you probably have better things to do than read my silly ramblings), but sorry for me. Sorry because even though my bits of this and that are often silly and disjointed, writing helps me clear the fog from my brain. It soothes me in a way that a bubble bath can soothe after a crazy stressful day. When the world seems out of control around me, writing down my thoughts brings the spinning, surging, stampeding whirlwind that is life… into crisp focus. The rush of it all slows down (though maybe for only a few minutes) and I can see clearly. The stuff that does not matter begins to recede and I’m left with some moments of calm.

And frankly, I can use all the calm I can get right now…so stay tuned. More posts to come.

 

“Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect, just be an excellent example of being human.”

-Tony Robbins

Sharpened Pencils

“Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” – Tom Hanks as Joe Fox in “You’ve Got Mail”

 Well, first of all I adore that film – it’s the perfect romantic comedy in my opinion…but I digress.

The reason this old movie quote came to mind, is that (although I’ve never been to New York) I too, LOVE Fall. I love the changing colors, the crisp air and the simple beauty that this season vividly boasts.

I love wearing sweaters and boots. I love hearing football games on the radio (though honestly I am not a football fan). I love curling up under a fluffy quilt with my sweetie while we watch the baseball playoffs.

I love the color orange. I love picking out Halloween costumes for the little ones, and baking cookies shaped like giant pumpkins. I love hayrides, S’mores and steaming apple cider in big ceramic mugs. I love bonfires and ghost stories under a harvest moon.

The wonder and beauty of Autumn is fleeting, and soon the leaves will fall. Trees will be left bare in readiness for the harsh Winter to come. The breezes will change from crisp to brutal, and all those cute sweaters will be hidden under parkas and heavy scarves.

Winter isn’t here yet though. For now, the world is alight with color and the air is cool and full of promise.

If I knew where you lived, I’d send you a bouquet of sharpened pencils… of course being who I am – I’d wait till the school supplies went on clearance and I could buy them at half price. The sentiment though, would still be there.

Wishing you and yours a lovely Autumn.

Little Guy: BIG News!!

We received great news last week! The mass removed from behind Little Guy’s ear turned out to be only a “skin cyst”. Though not a wonderful thing for him to have had, it was not something which will require further treatment or something which should ever return. We are thrilled beyond words, and so very thankful for such a positive outcome!!

And Minnie Moore!

When I was a very little girl, my family knew a sweet older lady. I think her name might have been Mary Moore, but for some reason I always thought her name was Minnie. The reason that is important for the purpose of this little story, is that in my neck of the woods it is not uncommon to hear the following at the conclusion of the traditional happy birthday song*:

“And MANY MORE!”

This of course is a wish for the birthday person to live a long and happy life, full of many more birthdays in the future.

But when I was little, I just thought it meant that Miss Minnie Moore got to have a lot more birthdays than anyone else did. I was jealous of that sweet older lady, imagining days of cake and presents with no end in sight.

I say all that, to say this (to my baby brother, for today is his birthday)…

Happy Birthday to YOU, and MINNIE MOORE!!!!!!!

I love you David! You make me so proud to be your big sister.

*You know the song I’m talking about….but I did not want to have to pay royalties for this blog post, which is why I’m not sharing the whole song here. You understand.

Maternity Leave Comes to an End...

After twelve weeks of snuggling and cuddling, my maternity leave has come to an end. Though parts of my leave were stressful (Little Guy’s CT scan and surgery & a death in the family), most of my time off was really wonderful.

Baby Boy and I were able to bond and spend a lot of quality time together. Nuzzling his chubby little cheeks became a favorite pastime. When I had ‘free’ time (translation: the baby was sleeping), I read books and watched old TV shows on NetFlix. Little Guy continued to go to daycare, as we knew pulling him out for three months would only make going back that much harder. He also started going to a pre-school, which he loves. It’s truly amazing to see how much he’s learning. He is like a hyper little sponge, soaking up new information every day at warp speed.

I went back to the office on Monday, officially ending my time off. Though it wasn’t fun to drop the boys off at their respective caregivers that morning; it was easier than I’d anticipated. Certainly, it was easier than when I dropped Little Guy off that first time three years ago. (Oh the tears! You’d have thought I was never going to see him again.)

I think the biggest reason for the difference is that I’ve been down this road before. I now know that my baby won’t stop loving me, and won’t choose his babysitter over time with Mommy and Daddy. I know that at the end of the day, he’ll be just as excited to see me as I will be to see him.

Baby Boy is now going to the same babysitter we used for Little Guy for the past few years. She’s a great lady whom we trust completely to care for our sweetie pie. Little Guy’s preschool is only a few minutes away, and his new teacher is also a wonderful lady who clearly loves what she does, and the children love her in return. Knowing that my little ones are in loving and capable hands makes a really big difference in my overall attitude toward returning to work.

Part of me would love to stay at home someday, but that is not an option for us at the moment. I can't complain. I am very blessed, and very thankful:

• That my little fellows are safe, happy, and thriving - learning new things and making new friends.



• That I have a great job to return to….a job that challenges me and keeps me on my toes.
  


• That I had the opportunity to stay home for these wonderful weeks, so that I could spend precious time with the baby.
  


• That I’m married to a marvelous man who supports me and is always there for me, no matter what.
  
  Life is very good, and I am very blessed…with home…with family…with work.

Little Guy Update



This picture was taken just after
we got home.  He was still
pretty groggy.


Little Guy had his CT scan on the 12th of September. They had to sedate him for it, as he just wasn’t able to lay still for the time needed. The results were very promising. The cyst (or mass, as they keep calling it now) was isolated behind the right ear and had not spread under his skull. (Thank God!)

The doctor did want to remove it – so we went in on September 28th for surgery. The doctor was able to extract the entire mass (though appearing quite tiny on the outside, it was actually a couple inches long, having curled behind his ear under the skin). He has some stitches, but after the first day hasn’t complained at all. He’s a trooper.

We get the pathology report on Thursday. We are (of course) praying for good results.