Month: January 2014

fun and trouble in Tennessee

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Our start to the New Year left a lot to be desired.  
This was Dexter, in the car at about 8:20am on January 1st, not 2 minutes after we left our house.  Our car was filled to the gills with gifts for my Tennessee family and our clothes, etc.  Everything we needed for a 4 day trip.  Luckily it was only on the straps and not down in the seat.  If you know me at all, you know this is just about the worst thing that could happen to me as a mom (aside from getting puked ON, which also happened recently). Anyway, we grabbed a bucket and decided to try again. I was a mess of nerves and on edge for the first couple of hours of the drive.  By lunchtime, I’d calmed down but started to worry again that he’d get sick after eating.  After eating, we let them play for 20 minutes or so to see how he was going to do.
We made it to Tennessee without further incident and everyone seemed to be feeling great. We picked up my mom and headed straight to Dollywood, another hour away.  The forecast was showing temps of 54 so it sounded like the perfect time to show the boys the beautiful light displays there.  
Too bad it was getting dark by the time we showed up and the temperature had dropped 484,923 degrees.  Okay, it was like 40 but we were all freezing.  We ended up only staying for an hour or so before finding someplace in Pigeon Forge to eat and heading back to mom’s.  

The boys couldn’t have been happier to leave Dollywood and get back to Grammy’s because they knew present-palooza #3 was waiting for them. 

Grammy with her littlest grandsons.

 

My sweet niece Penelope just days before her first birthday (today!)
Thursday we relaxed around the house most of the morning and then I spent a few hours with a dear old friend of mine.  While visiting her, I began feeling a little sick. By the time we got back to my mom’s I was ready to lay down and call it a day.  The same stomach bug eventually bit me and I was feeling pretty miserable.  I tossed and turned from the time I went to bed until about 3am when I finally decided to go sit in a chair in the living room.  As soon as I nodded off there, I heard Theo yelling from the next room and I knew what had happened. I jumped up and ran in there and turned on the light, only to find him sitting up, crying. He had thrown up all over my mom’s new comforter. NOOO.  I think I started crying right then. I was in no condition to be standing up, let alone cleaning up yet another pile of puke. I yelled for Ryan and sat on the floor with 2 crying kids while Ryan cleaned up the bed.  
Speed on through the next 12 nightmarish hours and miraculously, by Friday afternoon we were all feeling much better.  My sister and her husband had planned to take the boys to Build-a-Bear as part of their Christmas gift so I agreed to meet somewhere for dinner and see how that went.  Theo’s energy had returned but his appetite was missing. A-okay.  We proceeded to the mall so they could make their little pals.  
When I explained to Theo what Build-a-Bear was, he seemed disappointed and said he didn’t like bears.  Funny that they had tons of options and that’s exactly what he chose!

And he shall be called Honey Bear.
Dexter chose the mouse, who has been called everything including Squeakers, Squeaky, Mousy, Koogie, and Cookie.
Don’t we look just alike? No? I know.

What about me and my niecy poo? No? Still nothing?

Thanks, Hamer family!
I’d never done or seen the Build-a-Bear process before but I thought it was super sweet. The boys really got into it and are still carrying their little animals around and sleeping with them.  
We’d planned to celebrate Penelope’s 1st birthday on Saturday but we decided to cut our trip short and leave Saturday morning instead of Saturday night due to impending bad weather at home.  So she opened her gifts from us back at my mom’s on Friday night. 

And Saturday morning, we hit the road. But not before catching a quick glimpse of our star-athlete-in-the-making nephew in action. 

Crossing the bridge back into Indiana.
We got home around 6pm Saturday and nestled in for the snowstorm.
Looking around our house now, I have to say I feel a little guilty. Our kids have so much STUFF.  They love their toys and there aren’t tons of things that they never play with. I’ve been pretty good about going through them routinely and donating or passing down to someone else.  But I won’t be buying a single toy until their birthdays (Theo’s is in just over 2 months…how is it possible that my baby is almost FOUR!?). 
So that concludes Christmas 2013!  Here’s to hoping that we got all the puking out of our systems for a long while.  My stomach leaps out of fear every time the kids cough, hiccup, or gag at all.  NO MORE PUKE.
Health, wealth, and happiness to you this year,
~C~

project 365

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

My pal Mindi guilted talked me into doing a Project 365 this year so I’m joining her and a couple of her blogger friends in their collaborative linky that has grown to over 90 members, Catch The Moment 365. Click the button below to learn more or, even better, join up!

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Starting this Friday I’ll be linking a weekly post with Mindi, Sarah, and Stephanie showcasing 1 picture I’ve taken each day and I hope/intend to do this thoughout all of 2014. As I mentioned in my previous post, I think this will be my most challenging resolution this year; simply because I have a hard time making myself go through my photos, take the time to edit them, etc. This commitment will give me the push I need.

I’m starting to organize and optimize my chances for success now by creating a folder on my desktop with sub folders for each month. Since I get on my laptop several times a week, I will plan on scanning through my photos for the day/few days prior and selecting which ones will go in my weekly post, edit a couple at a time, then slide them on over to that folder. Then, when it’s time to create my weekly post, it’ll be quick and easy. Hey, I said it was a plan.

fingers crossed,
~C~

twenty.fourteen

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

First of all, Happy New Year!  I hope this year is better than the last and brings each of you much happiness and success.  There’s no reason for this time of year to be the only time of year to make a positive life change. However, it seems kind of like a clean slate so each January, we all think of ways to improve ourselves and our lives.  Whether you call it a resolution, a goal, or just a hope, I wish you the best of luck and hope that you are able to remain dedicated to what’s important to you.

For me, in 2014, I am focusing on a few areas in my life.  
Health & Fitness
Last year, I met my goal of losing 20-24 pounds and staying in that range.  I’m really proud and excited about my continued success but I know that I will not be able to maintain that success without continued action and caution.  During the month of December, I enjoyed a few too many sweets and threw caution to the wind as far as my diet was concerned, knowing that I’d be buckling down again in January.  I started running last year and I hate it. But I love it.  It seems I do best when I challenge myself and have to beat a personal goal.  This year (am I really saying this!?) I intend to run 300 miles in 2014.  Why 300?  I tossed a few ideas and numbers around in my head.  My thought with 300 miles is this… 6 miles per week for 50 weeks.  If I run 2 miles, three times a week, I will have 2 weeks when I don’t have to run at all.  That is a pretty tight schedule and if I get behind, I’m screwed.  I’m hopeful that my own fear of failure to meet my goal will keep me on track.  I might run 3 miles twice a week.  Or maybe there will be weeks when I run 3 miles four times.  I don’t know how this will work out.  All I know is that the more I run, the easier it should get.  The further I should be able to run.  What this doesn’t take into account is sickness or vacations or holidays or injuries.  I can’t predict the future but I think if I am dedicated, this is possible.  I think this will be my most challenging goal of 2014.
Parenting
While I don’t think this will be my most difficult goal for 2014, I think it is the most important.  After what happened on December 7, I decided to stop yelling at my kids.  Since then, I’ve only “yelled” once, and I’m not sure that counts. Truly not trying to justify it, but I was yelling out of panic, not anger. Dexter started wadding up a map from one of their books that was certainly not the trash he was about to turn it into.  I told him to stop, but he didn’t hear me over the enormous sound of paper crinkling so my voice quickly escalated into a yell, as I shouted “stop! Stop! STOP!”  He stopped.  I looked up at Ryan like a deer in headlights and said “does that count??!”  This was on December 16.  I haven’t yelled since then!  On Sunday, Theo lied several times about something insignificant and it was really making me angry because I knew the truth.  If I hadn’t already committed to no more yelling, I think I would have lost it.  Instead, I put my hand on his shoulder and got down on his level.  I said very calmly, “you’re not telling the truth and mommy is getting really upset.  I don’t want to yell at you so I need you to listen to what I’m about to say.  Are you listening?”  He nodded.  I already felt myself calming down.  “Theo, I need for you to go sit on your bed until you are ready to tell the truth.”  He did.  It worked.  There was absolutely no reason for me to yell.  It’s degrading to the small, innocent person I’m yelling at and it makes me feel like the worst parent alive.  No more yelling.  Please look up the Orange Rhino Challenge for more information.  Since learning about this, I began following a Positive Parenting: Toddlers and Beyond group on FB, which has already posted so many useful tips and interesting articles about the potential damage that yelling can cause.  Eye opening, really. 
Photography
I did Project 365 in 2012 for about 3 1/2 months.  The goal being to increase the amount of pictures I’m taking, to take pictures of different things, to improve my photography skills and abilities, and to increase the likelihood that I will force myself to spend some time sorting and organizing my photos into something meaningful (aside from a space eating monster on our external hard drive).  I’ve gotten super lazy about taking pictures of the boys unless there’s some occasion to do so.  The best pictures I’ve taken have been of ordinary moments and I’m hoping to capture some of those again in 2014.  So, I’ve agreed to participate in Project 365. My friend Mindi has promised to encourage me along the way, since she just wrapped up a successful Project 365 in 2013.  I can do this!  I will take at least one photo every day and post one picture that represents each day of 2014 in weekly posts.  Wish me luck – this will be tough for me to keep up with!
The things that I mentioned in the previous post are still important to me and will continue to be a work in progress, but as far as “resolutions” are concerned, this is it.  Three.  Running 300 miles.  365 days of no yelling.  Successfully completing Project 365.  
Will you join me in any of these?  What are your goals or resolutions for 2014?
xo,
~C~