catch the moment: wk 40

Posted on October 9, 2015December 29, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

Wait, did I just type week 40? How are there only 12 weeks left in 2015? This, I have to admit, has been a rather dull photo week. It’s been a weird, kinda sad, super stressful and odd week with some really great moments sprinkled in for good measure. I’m looking forward to things being better going further into fall and October. This is definitely one of the boys’ favorite time of year with Halloween coming up. They love checking out spooky decorations and picking out their costumes -which we’ve yet to do. Yikes! Running out of time and this month is getting ready to fly by for us.

274/365: Thursday, October 1st. Theo is getting interested in video games! He’d been asking about going bowling so I suggested letting him try it on the Wii. He loves it and he’s rather good at it! As a bonus, his victory dance is pretty cute.

275/365: Friday, October 2nd. We went to the local high school’s homecoming parade to show our school spirit and when I pulled my DSLR to snap a couple pictures of the festivities, I found out that my battery was dead. Boo. We talked about going to the football game but it was windy and started to sprinkle so we decided to go to the movies and see Hotel Transylvania 2 instead. It was weird to see the boys running around with other kids and hearing kids who are complete strangers to me calling Theo’s name and chasing after him. It was a great family night! Dexter sure does love his blue raspberry icees & popcorn at the movies. I snapped this picture on my phone.

276/365: Saturday, October 3rd. A brief break in the middle of a day FULL of fighting. It was a weird, rough day. I knew I needed to go shopping for myself and for the boys. All week I had been looking forward to my day of shopping ALONE! But the whole 5 hours I was gone, I was rushing through the racks, checking the time, and feeling anxious and frustrated. I couldn’t find anything I really liked. I didn’t want to spend money. It was so cold and rainy outside and the mall was blazing hot inside so I was burning up, plus carrying crap. I didn’t have a stroller so every time I wanted to look at anything, I had to sit all my stuff down. It just felt like an ordeal. I was so looking forward to shopping alone and I felt nothing but loneliness. I needed a second opinion. I missed my kids (who were home fighting). I didn’t feel cute at all when I tried things on. I tried to buy stuff for the boys and every time I held something up, I questioned if they would like it and if it would fit. I am not looking forward to taking them clothes shopping but I guess that’s what we’re coming to. Once I got home I immediately felt relieved and at the same time, mad at myself for not being able to enjoy my time. I started cleaning and cooking and playing with the boys and instantly felt better.

277/365: Sunday, October 4th. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day here in central Indiana. A perfect day for open windows, sidewalk chalk in the driveway, the smell of fabric softener wafting through the windows from the vent in the basement, candles burning, food cooking, grocery shopping, and all that other good Sunday stuff. For my instagram #souperbowlsundays challenge this week I made Hot Eats & Cool Reads’ Beefy Tomato Macaroni Soup. It might be my favorite soup so far. Looks like chili but no beans and totally different flavors. Very tomato-y and hearty. The leftovers tasted even better than the night I made it.

278/365: Monday, October 5th. UGH-the start of a very busy, hectic, and stressful work week. It started off by rushing the boys to their pediatrician’s office at 8am for their Flu Mist vaccinations and ended with me working late. Ironically, this was the domino setup Ryan designed with the boys that night. Theo and Dexter just haven’t been getting along very well lately.

279/365: Tuesday, October 6th. I took a brief brain break from work to meet my sweet friend and her even sweeter baby (if that’s possible) at our favorite local spot for lunch. Baby’s first trip to Ben’s! Ryan’s parents stopped by Tuesday night with some fall and Halloween decorations for me to look through and to visit. We ended up all going out to eat, which was nice. Unfortunately, Dexter woke up Tuesday super congested with watery eyes and a runny nose from that stupid Flu Mist. I forgot that it’s a live virus and that Dexter probably had a similar reaction last year. I’m thinking about making him do the shot next year. He was miserable by bedtime.

280/365: Wednesday, October 7th. Even when he’s feeling like crap, you can still get a smile out of him. His little face is raw from wiping his nose so much. His eyes had stopped watering but still congested and nose still runny. He insisted on wearing scary pajamas and wanted to read this souvenir Haunted Mansion book from our first trip to Walt Disney World. UGH. This topic probably deserves its own post but to sum it up, it was a really hard parenting night for me on Wednesday. We had actually had a GREAT day. Both boys had their parent-teacher conferences by coincidence on Wednesday and both teacher had great things to say about Theo and Dexter. We were so proud. The evening and story time progressed into bedtime smoothly. For whatever reason, Theo made a bad choice. After their lights went out, Theo apparently tried to get Dexter in trouble by telling him to scream. Dexter refused and Theo threatened him with “if you don’t scream, I’m gonna hit you.” Dexter still didn’t scream, so Theo punched him in the nose. I wasn’t in there but I imagine it wasn’t a light tap, but that Theo hit him as hard as his little fist could hit. I’m pretty devastated about it because it clearly was not impulsive – it was premeditated. He had time to make the right choice and he didn’t. Dexter didn’t retaliate and apparently didn’t try to get out of the way of Theo’s right hook. I know Theo’s only 5 but it breaks my heart. Dexter certainly doesn’t deserve to be treated that way and I can’t stand the thought of Theo becoming a bully. To Dexter or to anyone else. I cried my eyes out and texted my friends. The general consensus is that it’s partly normal brother / kid stuff but that it can’t be tolerated. We’ve had serious conversations with Theo and right now the consequence is going to be that Theo sleeps in the guest bedroom for a week or so until he can earn back our trust and show more respect for his brother. I felt really sad about it all day today and also had a very stressful work day. I will be glad to get off work at noon tomorrow.

And that’s the end of our weird week.

xo,

~C~

catch the moment: week 39

Posted on October 1, 2015December 29, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

My last post started off in a similar way – 2 Thursday nights ago Dexter wasn’t feeling well and ended up staying home from school the next day with a little fever but was better by evening. This past week, Theo didn’t feel like eating dinner Thursday night but didn’t seem to feel too bad otherwise. He woke up a couple hours after going to bed with a fever and ended up staying home Friday. He felt okay on Ibuprofen but his temp would creep back up a bit without it. Lucky for all of us, he was completely fine by Saturday. I’ve been getting into this whole Fall decorating thing a little bit this year. I found some good deals on wreaths and bought 3. Two for our front doors and one for my mantel. The ones for outside have some red leaves and gold sparkly-ness. The one inside has sunflowers and mostly oranges. This is kind of fun!

267/365: Thursday, September 24th. Theo graciously held the door open for me so I could photograph at least one of my new wreaths without a glare.

268/365: Friday, September 25th. By the time I got home with Dexter, Theo was feeling ok and him and Ryan were both itching to get out of the house. A quick dinner and a trip to Lowe’s wore Theo out. His fever started coming back while we were at Lowe’s so we aborted the mission. Dexter was really loving that huge burger and he ate most of it. And most of my fruit. And 2 chocolate chip cookies. Oh, the teenage years are going to be expensive.

269/365: Saturday, September 26th. I’ve added a little bit more to the mantel but I think it’s almost done. I want to get 2 canvas prints ordered from 2 separate photo sessions we’ve had done in years past. [Wow, it’s been 2 years since we’ve had any official family/kid photos taken!] I’m not sure the canvas prints will fit or work well on the mantel, but we’ll see. They’ll work somewhere!

270/365: Sunday, September 27th. A friend of Ryan’s from high school lives close and was kind enough to invite us over for lunch and to watch the Colts game Sunday. We had a great time and the kids had fun playing with a new friend and lots of new toys at a new place-all their favorites wrapped up into one. I think this is the first picture this year that I didn’t technically take. What can I say, Ryan’s arms are longer and stronger than mine. Have you ever tried taking a selfie with a DSLR? It’s not easy! I was having a great hair day – I only mention it because I chopped my hair off today and this picture is making me miss it.

271/365: Monday, September 28th. After school, after work, after a quick shopping and dinner trip to the mall, the boys wanted to relax and do a bit of art.

272/365: Tuesday, September 29th. Wouldn’t you know it – I met my beautiful and adorably pregnant friend for dinner on a beautiful night downtown and forgot to grab my camera out of my car. I realized on my way home that I was running out of time to take a picture for the day and snapped this one quickly at a red light.

273/365: Wednesday, September 30th. What a big day for Theo! For all of us really. Saturday we got a letter from his teacher saying to keep it a secret, but that she had chosen Theo as the student in her class who best exemplified the core value of “initiative” for the month of September and that he would be honored at a school assembly with an award. Theo has been talking about initiative and giving good examples of how to demonstrate it all month. Ryan’s dad was able to make it and boy was Theo surprised to see all of us at his school. When they called his name, he popped right up. Afterwards, I asked him if he was surprised when the principal said he won the award for his class and he said “no because I’ve been doing all that stuff!” Ha! Yes, you have but don’t think you are going to get an award every month! I’m so proud of him.

Fingers crossed that no one is sick this weekend. October is going to be a busy and exciting month for us! I wish I could put time in slow motion right now. I want to enjoy every bit of this month and delay winter as much as possible. But since it’s not possible, I guess we’ll move on.

Oh, it’s cute – now Dexter is proud to be showing initiative too. He cleaned up after himself after breakfast this morning and ran to tell Ryan all about it. It just took about 10 minutes for him to understand what Dexter was talking about because he forgot how to say “initiative.” This whole Kindergarten thing might just benefit the whole family after all.

xo,

~C~

catch the moment: wk 38

Posted on September 24, 2015 by mommyinthemidwest

As much as I go on and on about how much I despise fall, I have to admit something. The weather we’ve been having is amazing and can carry on this way forever as far as I’m concerned. To celebrate the official first day of fall today, I may have bought three wreaths, 6 sparkly pine cones, and a lighted pumpkin sign. We got our mantle right before Christmas last year and I was bummed to have missed the fall decorating season. Not this year, my friends! Look for a picture of the new decor in the next couple of weeks. The appeal of autumn’s not lost on the boys – it’s probably their favorite time of year because it’s comfortable to play outside and oh, did someone say Halloween?

260/365: Thursday, September 17th. We thought Dex was just tired after a long school day but he ended up sleeping most of the evening and even threw up once. He had a little tiny fever but luckily this bug was short-lived and he felt a lot better the next day.

261/365: Friday, September 18th. My wonderful friend threw a slumber party for her son’s fifth birthday and was kind enough to invite my kids. It was my kids’ first ever sleepover with friends. First time they’ve stayed anywhere without mom and dad or nana and pop pop. I was much more nervous than they were. Although Dexter felt really good, I thought about him relapsing. Or missing us at bedtime. I worried that him and Theo would fight or that they would forget to use their manners. They’d never fall asleep, or worse- they’d wake up at 5am. I was relieved to hear that they did great! Ryan and I weren’t sure what to do with ourselves. We wandered downtown and had a quiet dinner then walked around since it was such beautiful warm night.

262/365: Saturday, September 19th. After picking up the boys, we went home to lounge for a bit and eat lunch before meeting some other friends at the Children’s Museum. We ate dinner on the way home and meant to get straight inside for baths, but we just couldn’t. It was too nice out. The neighbor’s dog wanted to play. Theo and Dexter wanted to pretend they were sleeping in this dip in our yard where a tree used to stand. P.S. Dexter’s not very good at playing dead.

263/365: Sunday, September 20th. Finally! The wait was over. I got to meet sweet little 8 day old Charlotte. She’s perfect in every way!

264/365: Monday, September 21st. Dex and Batman and I made a quick trip to Target before school to pick out the snack he would bring to share with his class that day. Halloween Danimals yogurt smoothies in case you were wondering.

265/365: Tuesday, September 22nd. Whoa-only 100 days left in the year! We stopped at Lowe’s after school to get some paint samples for the hall bathroom and the boys spotted these skeleton window clings. They love decorating their bathroom mirror with different ones throughout the year.

266/365: Wednesday, September 23rd. Daddy doesn’t like it when they sit on the counter. Mommy doesn’t care. Mommy wins.

Happy first day of Fall. I guess.

xo,

~C~

mommy in the midwest

Project 365

catch the moment: wk 40

catch the moment: week 39

catch the moment: wk 38