Meant to be

I came across this picture of Molly and me when I was tidying up the other day. It stopped me in my tracks.

This has always been one of my favorite pictures. It was taken on a trip to see Michelle and the girls back in March 2006. When Mike saw the picture when I got home from Oklahoma he said "We've got to get you a baby. I've never seen you smile that big ever." I chuckled and cried a little on the inside, knowing my body wasn't able to make babies.

We know the story now. Baby Nate is here and making me happy every day. But the funny/Twilight Zone-musicky/foreshadowing part of that picture?? It was taken on March 5th. Nate's birthday. Two years to the exact day that Nate came into this world. Amazing!

Marriage is pretty damn good

Today Mike and I are celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary! Here's to the best (for the most part!) 12.5 years together. Love you hon with all my heart.
This beautifulness was waiting on the porch for me this afternoon. Thanks Mikey!

Saturday randomness

Well my day started off with breaking my toe. So that sucks. On top of that, Nate subsequently stepped on my toe in the afternoon, then I ran into a door with my thigh and it hurt so much I instinctively put all of my weight onto my foot. Garrr.... so the swelling has gotten worse and my toe and now part of my foot is a lovely shade of purply/black.

Then Nate and I were outside and Nate took a digger onto the patio and has two scraped knees. They go with his purple forehead from running into the wall while not looking where he was going (he probably comes by THAT honestly!).

Then...Mike tripped outside and scraped his head on a clamp. It's been a rough day at our house. Say, who wants to come over???

Mike's coming right along on the shed. Most of the siding is up as of today.

Door will go right there...



We were going to head out to the ball park tonight but we figured with Nate's attention span we might be able to see about oh - 15 minutes of a 3 hour game. We decided to go eat and then head to the park instead. Nate had a blast and enjoyed his swing time and going down the slide.

Notice the scraped knees...

Footloose and Bottle-Free!

Nate's officially off the bottle. We found a sippy last weekend that he really liked so it was unceremoniously designated "The Milk Cup". It wasn't really a conscious decision to switch over to sippies only this week. He was a bit difficult up till last Monday, so I wasn't about to screw around with taking the bottles away at the same time. Yesterday we made it through the day with just using the milk sippy and Nate didn't even seem to notice. So, I bagged up all the bottle paraphenalia and put them away. I have officially washed my last bottle and I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

The picture's not from today, but it's cute nonetheless.

Panacea

For the past two years, Mike has always said (sometimes in jest but mostly not) that the cure for all that ails us around the house is a SHED.

"Where's my $@&# drill/screwdriver/level/paint brush..." was always accompanied by a frantic jumping up and looking around the entire house for said item. Toolboxes and fixer-upper items are strewn from top to bottom depending on where the last project took place. Hence, the frustration level of not being able to find a.damn.thing. I get it.

But now (drumroll please)... the shed is being built. Mike took off a shift from the fire station so he'd have an almost entire week to work on the shed. He's been kicking some a$$.

The foundation goes down

The walls are going up

And the roof is being raised.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate (although the weather peeps are calling for storms Friday-Sunday) and you'll see some completed pictures by the weekend!

*And yes, I feel all smart and stuff by using the word panacea. I don't get to work that into many conversation these days. :)

Motherhood

I know today is supposed to be all rainbows and butterflies but I'm really not feeling it. Don't get me wrong - motherhood as a whole (so far) has been pretty darned great and amazing. I'm just feeling worn-out and overwhelmed. This past week has been extremely difficult. Nate's developed this screeching, temper-tantrumy, kicking and screaming when he doesn't get what he wants, demon child personality. And he's teething. Perfect. Thanks.

I don't know quite what to do. With myself or with him. Mealtimes are the bane of my existence. I make something, he promptly screeches and throws it on the floor. I try to find something else that appeals to him and yep - he wants no part of that either. I've pretty much resigned myself to saying SCREW IT (that's the polite version) - Drink all the milk you want because I'm tired of standing on my head to find something you'll eat at this one meal. And when he does eat, I need to come up with better options than chicken nuggets and fish sticks. He's vetoed bananas and green beans almost completely. There is a slight possibility that he's burned out on them from eating them every day for 6 months, but I stick with what I know he will eat, ya know?

I don't know what to do about the tantrums. He stands under the key holder and screams till he gets THE set of keys. Not just any set will do - I've tried. It's always MY keys he wants. The ones that if he loses, I'm screwed because I won't be able to get in the car or lock up the house.

To anyone with "strong-willed" children - please send me some advice. I don't want to perpetuate the problem by giving in all the time, but how do I make it stop?? PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!

It really is a good thing that Nate's is so frick-fracking cute because if he didn't run around and giggle and give me googly eyes throughout the day, I might run away from home.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone. I hope your day is great and your sanity is intact!


(Who me? I would NEVER cause my mother any grief!)