Blast from the past

Then: Wyeth 3 days old. Seren 30 months.




Now: Wyeth 25 months old. Seren 55 months.




Still reading to her little brother.

New names

We didn't give our kids easy names. Nope. Not familar at least. Pretty easy to say and spell but 'unique'.

We have been wondering what Wyeth would come up with in terms of pronouncing his own name.

And as of this week, according to Wyeth, I gave birth to "Sissy" and "wrr-wuff" (kinda like werewolf for 'wyeth')

Sissy and wrr-wuff, I love you both!



Work continues to do a number on my self esteem. The work is happening. It is but it has been a tough month! A long ass 28 days if you ask me!

We have completely adjusted our family schedule so I can arrive early, avoid traffic and then work a little longer as I face a deadline. The good news is that I'm out of the house without too much drama. Leaving at 6:45 doesn't leave too much time for drama. But it has also meant that this week I left twice without saying goodbye to Seren due to her sleeping in. (She wasn't feeling well). So that stinks. I write her a note and she calls me immediately when she wakes up. But, the good news is that when I come home from the office, it is much earlier and I have been doing some good PLAYING.

I just wish my own mental stress allowed me to relax more and just DO the work instead of second guessing myself. ALL OF THE TIME. Oh well. In time.

Meanwhile, outside of stress work land, life is going well. We are busy thinking about Seren's 5th bday (What to do?) and realizing that kindergarten is coming up before we know it. I'm still in shock about that; we register next Friday. NEXT FRIDAY!

INSANE!

Weekend here we come!!

Gratitude

I have been working lots recently. As it getting to the office at 7:20 and then working at night after we put the kids down from 9-10:30. Not fun. And it is wearing me down. And I'm not even sure if it is worth it. But I can't be Debbie Downer. So I have started to think of all of the things I'm so grateful for.

* Babies that stay inside. I have two friends on bedrest- both with twins- and it is working! I'm so happy for the families. I love seeing babies COOK and grow.

* Carseat warmers. I love that my Buick comes with butt warmers. They are the best! Especially with this nutty winter we have had.

* Dunkin Donuts Coffee. Need I say more? It is fueling this report.

* Valentine Dance Party last night- the kids and I cut a groove last night. All four of us wore red yesterdday- what amazing sweeties I live with.

* Extra daylight. Have you noticed? The other silver lining that comes with my early commutes is that I get to see the sun rise it all of its glory. Wow! The colors are stunning. So glad I get to really 'see' that.

* Good friends: Nuff said

* Good health: we always take it for granted but shouldn't.

* Family: my nuclear family that makes me smile daily and our extended family that acts as our support system. Couldn't do 'life' without them.

What are you grateful for today!?

Digging Deep

I was putting Wyeth to bed last night when he picked his nose. But he didn't quite finish the job. It just made it worse. Nothing like boggers coming out of my kid's nose to make me squirm and just HAVE to get it! So I started to dig deep.

At that point, Wyeth looked at me and spoke his very first phrase/sentence.

"No Mamma. Yuck. MY nose."

And that my friends, is why we become parents! For Hallmark moments like that!

Show Me the Money

As a working mom with a stay at home husband, Seren often asks me why do I need to go to work? And what do I do there? She continues to 'cancel' work for me during these snowy days. She draws a picture of me at my desk and then writes a huge X through it. "See! Work is cancelled!" Do you think if I show this to the VP he'd understand?

When the questions about why I have to go to work come, I sometimes explain to her that I'm working so we can have money. And we need money for things like our cars, groceries, our home, etc. And that Daddy works too, he just works from home.

Last week she asked me, "Ok, so you go to work to get money. But how come you never come home with any?"

I had to laugh.

I think she thinks I should walk in the door at 5:15 with a wad of Benjamins in my purse.

Two Words and Oscar Worthy Performances

Wyeth finally, finally, is saying two word phrases pretty consistently.

NO GO.
Bue tuck (blue truck)
Momma coat (mom's coat)

Etc. SO that is a huge for us! GO Wyeth! The words are coming fast and furious. I am loosing track. This week brought: 'my' as in 'my hat'. And 'nuff' for 'enough pasta'. So I am relaxing a little bit on this. The other thing I'm proud of is that he can recognize the alphabet. As of this week, he knows all but four of the capital letters. A, G, L and Q confuse him. Not bad for 26 months.

The tantrums continue to come and go. I read a book a long time ago by the man known as the doctor of Happy Baby- Dr. Karp. In the book, written for toddlers, he suggests that you are to throw a fit if your child throws a fit.

I tried this about three weeks ago and it works like a charm.

Last Saturday my mom and I were trying to leave Burger King bounce house. Or whatever the heck it was. [I hate these things!] But after several weeks of snow and rain, it suited us just fine. In fact, the kids LOVED it. Leaving was not going to be an easy sell.

Wyeth did NOT want to leave. He did NOT want to put his coat on. He did NOT want to put his shoes on. He was mad and not having it. Little feet stomped. Tears flowed. The works.

I managed to fold him in half and stick him in his car seat. My mom, Seren and I headed away from Burger King with screaming boy.

And then I just acted like he did. I made the same tone scream he was screaming. I stomped my feet. I moaned. I scared the hell out of my mom who didn't know what I was up to! I hit the steering wheel with my hand. Oh I did I "cry"! I howled! I really did an amazing job of throwing a fit like a toddler.

My mom 'comforted me'. I sniffed back the tears.

And Wyeth just sat there with an expression that read, "What the hell? My mom has really flipped her lid this time!"

End of tantrum.

I'm jinxing this by writing it but it has worked every time. So far. Thanks Dr. Karp!

Splunking

Thanks for your notes of encouragement after last week's depressing post. We are making it through. Last week picked up!

And we are lucky that we have had a great January! From New Year's eve celebration, to ice skating with the kids, to sledding, to our weekend in Baltimore, to my bday party celebration, to our photoshoot and time with our city friend, to three birthday parties and even more sledding. (One foot of snow last week will do it!) GOOD times!

Last Friday, I returned from work to find Sam and the kids giddy to show me Wyeth's room. Oy boy. Now what?

Sam had the kids watch the Planet Earth video on caving. Then after talking about caving and what it would be like, he created a 'cave' in Wyeth's bedroom. He set up a ton of our stuff and draped blankets all over it. Then the kids put on mining 'helmets' and crawled underneath it all. Through a tunnel, into our play tent and then UNDER the train table.

They were all smiling and sweaty from all of the activity by the time I got home. I, of course, joined them.

It was a blast! Go Sam for yet another an amazing idea!

The 'cave'


Already in


Going in the cave



The miners


One of the cute miners