Monday, February 25, 2013

Spring Holiday Love

Okay - so in an effort to try to momentarily forget that Luke is going to be one (!!) in 5 (!!) days, I have been thinking a lot about the next 6 weeks of fun. Although I love fall and its beauty, and I love the magic of Christmas, I just think the spring holidays have won my heart. I hate overly dislike winter. The colors of white, brown, and pine green (thankful at least for those pine trees!) are probably my least favorite. The cold snowy weather makes leaving the house difficult at times. Dragging kids out in the weather is even worse with the coats and car seats and getting in and getting out...it just is not my idea of fun at all. So not only are spring holidays fun, but they are a welcome sign of the life and color returning to our region.

This year St. Patrick's Day is on a Sunday...and on a weekend we aren't busy. So I'm going to go back to something fun I did as a child - Savannah and I are going to make a Leprechaun trap! I saw a pin on Pinterest the other day that reminded me of the fun of this little contraption. Savannah loves chocolate, so the possibility of finding chocolate coins in the trap on St. Patty's Day morning is more than enough to get her interested in building such a thing. She loves to paint and craft, so I think on the 16th we'll have a ton of fun turning a shoe box into a nifty trap. Of course there's all the fun of wearing green on St. Patty's Day. And green food - lots of green food! I'm going to make Thin Mint Truffles (again - Pinterest!) and maybe some sherbet and sprite special drinks...I just think it will be fun to celebrate a silly holiday with the family.

Then probably a holiday that has stealthily found its way into my top three favorite holidays recently - Easter! As I've mentioned once or twice before, our family is finally not busy the weekend of Easter. Our church usually hosts an egg hunt and luncheon on the Saturday before Easter. This year I'm on the education committee, and we met last night to discuss the hunt and our plans for VBS (I am the resident craft leader!). Instead of the traditional egg hunt, we are going to offer a little bit more to the kids in attendance. All kids will make a bucket to collect eggs in (think pastel colored sand pail for the beach, with Christian foam stickers attached) and get to find lots of hidden eggs with goodies inside. In addition, they will make a craft (that's where I come in), listen to a Bible story, sing a few songs, and then get lunch. I think it is a great way to reconnect with the kids that have been home bound all winter - and to get the kids excited for the upcoming summer VBS. I am not sure yet what kind of craft I will do with the kids...but I do have a few ideas I'm going to run by the committee next week. I think Easter weekend will be really fun...I will prep crafts on Good Friday...then on the 30th we will take the kids to the church for all the events...then when Luke is getting in his afternoon nap, Savannah and I will make the bunny cake for Easter Dinner. We used to have this cake every Easter at my house and I think Savannah will have a blast helping me create it for our family.

The next week we will celebrate Savannah's birthday...I need to get started on creating decorations for her party. I've made the first of 10 invites...and the others just need assembled. I have lists of supplies needed, as well as a few other things done...I will be working diligently on plans next week.

Aside from the excitement of spring arriving soon (3 weeks from Wednesday!) and all the beautiful colors to expect, we did enjoy one facet of winter this past weekend. We took the family to the mall for the annual health fair. Luke was just under the age limit to participate in the baby crawl. (Kids had to be 6 months to 1 year.) We did this with Savannah and she won third place overall...so we figured we'd take Luke and see what happened. He was number 27 of 28 babies, so his first heat was the last of the preliminaries. We watched all the other babies and Carl held onto Luke. He was squirming the entire time - he just wanted down. So when it was finally our turn to go, he was really, really ready to be put down. Savannah and I waited across the finish line to "coach" him over to us and Carl held him at the starting line. When they counted down and announced "Three, two, one, crawl" Luke was off as soon as Carl let go. He sped halfway across the crawling space then kind of stopped and looked around at everyone. None of the other babies in his heat had moved at all. Then Luke saw Savannah and I acting all silly and dashed off to us. He easily crossed the finish line. Honestly, I think the other 5 babies in his heat had maybe moved 3 feet from their starting line. I gave Luke a kiss and turned to give Savannah a hug for being such a good coach and Luke turned around and crawled back to Carl...all before any of the other babies had even made it halfway going the right direction! He was just grinning and giggling the whole time. He is such a ham! Since we were in the last heat, it was right back to the crawling mat to compete for grand champion crawler. Again, Savannah and I waved a bunch at Luke and got him excited...as soon as they said "crawl" he was off. He paused a little in the middle...but then dashed for us again. He easily won first place. He is our crawling champion! In the end, he made out with some great prizes too. He won a stuffed dog, three rubber duckies, a book, a set of sippy cups, a box of wipes, some pedilite juice boxes, a bottle, and a VTech Sit-to-Stand Activity Walker. So we gave Savannah the stuffed dog - it was her reward for being such a good sport about all the attention on Luke and helping coach him to us. (She was so proud of her brother - never once did she pout about him being the center of attention - and she didn't know she was getting prizes, she thought they were all for Luke.) The walker is actually one we'd bought at a consignment sale last fall, so we took it back to Walmart ($30!) and bought him something else. In the end the prizes were nice, but it was just so fun to watch him. He loved every last second of it all. Both my kids made me proud that day...I love being their mom!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

First Birthday on the Horizon

Now that I can finally check the weather forecast for Luke's big party day it has really hit me that he will be one year old in just 9 short days!!

I have been doing a million things to prepare the house and the family for his big day. I've even been prepping the birthday boy! We sing to him a lot now - and even show him a candle (#6!). We sing in crazy loud voices and he just giggles and smiles. He has even learned how to blow out a candle - although he may decide he doesn't want to do it on his actual birthday. I have been decluttering and putting our birthday decorations, food prep, plate prep...as much as I can do ahead of time. I have a list of all the things that need done (and when!). I have to make cupcakes, a Cat in the Hat - hat cake, cakepops (plain belly sneetches and star belly sneetches)...all of that needs to be planned and made ahead of the actual morning of his big day.

While all the party planning is pretty much my normal crazy self, the whole singing and candle prep is something new. I was telling a good friend about it, and she teasingly said I'm try to make sure he has the perfect birthday photos and want things to run smoothly...while I totally can see her point, that isn't at all why I'm doing it.

As you may recall, Savannah's 1st Birthday was adorable and fun, but she cried a lot. Especially when we sang to her. I felt horrible. I felt like her day had been ruined by my attempts to throw her a big bash. So I learned. Luke's party won't be nearly so crowded...only our closest friends and family. We also are preparing him for the noise. I want him to be happy - it has nothing to do with photos. Honestly, the pictures of Savannah crying are so funny and cute now...so it really, really has nothing to do with that. I just want him to enjoy the day as much as he deserves to. I'm sure I will completely go photo crazy too - documenting every last detail - but not for my sake. There's no way he'll remember this party...but one day, when he's older, he will realize how much time I put into celebrating his first year of life. He will be able to see how much we love him and how happy we are that he is a part of our lives. So yes, I may go crazy with the camera, but not for myself.

Luke is growing into a toddler faster than I thought possibly...9 more days....he is already walking around the basement, climbing on the couch, and this week gave up his bedtime bottle...next week it's on to sippy cups...he is losing his baby qualities...

Monday, February 18, 2013

This Too Shall Pass

A year ago I was on pins and needles waiting for Luke (or Ella) to arrive. I knew he (or she) would be here so incredibly soon. I had forgotten how tiring a newborn was - I was just excited. Then Luke arrived. And he was so very different in temperament than Savannah. It seemed to take him forever to learn to sleep easy. He was in our room every night for a month (Savannah went to her crib at day two - she slept SO much better there.) I wrote this post about having the kids in my room at night. Carl took a picture of one of those mornings (3/21/12) when he left for work and the rest of the family was completely zonked out in our bed...it is a photo I now cherish...



Now our house is different. Luke has matured so much...he is much less inclined to meltdown. I really think that has come about because he's mobile. He just loves to get into things and is so curious about everything. He eats easier, he is almost done with bottles (we plan to switch him to sippy cups and milk next week!), and he sleeps better. He naps in his crib once or twice a day (it depends on how busy he's been)...and he goes to bed easy. Sleep really is what is so different about our house. For the first few months of Luke's life, sleep was such a rarity. Luke woke up at least once a night, and there were stretches when he'd be awake 3 times in a 9 hour span. The first few weeks of his life Savannah went to bed in our bed, with us (partly because she was ill, partly because we had no energy to force her to stick to the old routine). I was so worried Savannah wouldn't go back to her room easily, wouldn't handle bedtime as well as she did before Luke. But here we are, a year later, and our house is somewhat into a routine. There will be days that things are hay-wire...but pretty much at 7pm we do bath time (and for now they bathe together...although that will be changing as they age) and then by 7:15 Luke is getting his last little bottle. He drinks it down, gets a minute of cuddle time (he squirms after that) and I put him in his crib and walk out. He's usually pretty tired, but awake, when I put him to bed. (He even naps like that, although no bottle right before - just cuddles.) We rarely hear anything from him until the next morning. Savannah finishes her bath when Luke is getting his bottle, so by 7:30 she's in her bed reading books with Carl. She gets her book, a prayer, a cuddle, and a kiss...and then Carl is out of there. She goes to sleep when she's ready. Both kids are doing amazing when it comes to bedtime...once again, Carl and I have from 8:00pm to spend together. In all honesty, I'm still pretty exhausted by that point and am not much good for more than watching TV on the couch...but as the kids get bigger it will be a bit easier. I'm just amazed at how well Luke has changed into a kid that wants to go to bed and how Savannah transitioned back into her routine after the craziness of having a newborn in the house changed things.

So while in March 2012 I was pretty sure we'd never, ever sleep 8 consectuive hours again...we do. We have our evenings again...and we have happy kids.

Now I'm ready for Easter! For the first year since Savannah was born, we finally have an Easter weekend to really appreciate the holiday. In 2009, Savannah came home from the hospital on Easter Sunday. In 2010 we had birthday parties surrounding the holiday. In 2011 we spent Easter in Alabama. In 2012 Luke was tiny and Savannah's birthday party was the day before Easter, and on Easter everyone (except) Carl was so ill we couldn't make it to church and my parents had to travel to Ohio to visit my ill grandmother. We finally will get to spend the weekend celebrating Easter this year! The kids already have adorable outfits - I cannot wait to see them all dressed up together...they are just too cute for words when they are. This year I totally fell in love with the Carter's Easter Shop...Savannah is wearing this dress and Luke will wear this button-down shirt and this sweater. He'll either wear khaki or gray pants - depends on which we can get for a good price. I think the colors this year will really bring out my little ones' blue eyes. I am hoping for at least a sunny Easter, even if it isn't warm. I can't wait for the church's annual Saturday before Easter festivities...and then Easter Sunday...and Easter dinner...and the joy that Easter is in the springtime! I am SO ready for pastel colors and spring. I miss my world of color - wintertime in the north is full of brown, white, and gray. I am ready for the green grass, blue skies, and warm breezes!

As soon as Luke's party is over I'm putting out the Easter decor...

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Like Night and Day

When Luke was born, I knew our parenting style would probably be a little different than it was with Savannah. He's a boy. I figured it would be somewhat different to raise a boy than a girl. I also knew that Savannah was an amazingly easy baby. As Luke is approaching his first birthday, I've been reminiscing and reading old blog posts from the time just before Savannah turned one. I really don't think Carl and I realized just how easy we had it with Savannah. I thank God many times for his infinite wisdom in granting us Savannah before Luke!

Savannah was always a laid-back, cautious baby. She didn't take risks. She didn't become mobile early on (we even survived her first Christmas without her being mobile). She ate all foods easily. She was rarely sick. She only really cried when hungry or tired. She had very few meltdown days. We could tell her no and she would just shrug and accept it. (I read a post about her ignoring our bar stools in the kitchen after being told no...) She slept through the night early on. Honestly, she was an angel.

Luke is nowhere near his sister in temperament. He didn't sleep well through the night until close to 6 months. He is an immediate risk taker. He has no fear. He climbs absolutely anything he can in order to get a better view - it is like he has an insatiable curiosity. He eats some things and doesn't others. He is LOUD. He babbles at high volumes just for the fun of it - especially when he's eating. He has been mobile since the early fall - making the holidays difficult. He does not have any desire to understand the word "no". We don't have those bar stools in our kitchen (and haven't since the summer) because he absolutely will not leave them alone. We have used more baby safety devices than ever before...and we have been forced to become creative with them as well. As soon as we put something new up (to make it more safe) he finds a way to make that unsafe. We are always on our toes. The first four months of his life I really think he spent crying more than anything else. He hated the car (and hated is a mild way of describing it). His cry was so high pitched we were sent to the ENT and Neurologist to be sure he was healthy. We saw two other specialists with him also...he is sick more than Savannah was (I will give him some credit here - he has a big sister going to preschool....she was home with just us at this age).

I knew how different they were, but when I begin reading about my life with Savannah when she was his age it really hit me that they are 100% different. They look adorably the same (just this weekend Carl saw a picture of Savannah as a tiny baby and thought it was Luke!) but they are so, so different. I don't know if it is the gender thing, or just personality, or a combination...I have no idea. I am so grateful that Savannah was first. We "got our feet wet" learning to parent with an easy child. I remember thinking our marriage was harder during Savannah's first year...I don't know if we would have survived if Luke had been first. We also have an amazing big sister in Savannah. She is (and has always been) a very empathetic little girl and loves to please. She cares for Luke so much and loves to be the big sister who helps out. She keeps an eye on him for the two seconds I have to run to the bathroom. She won't let him near dangerous things...obviously she can't be a babysitter yet, but she is a BIG help around the house. If they had been born in reverse order...hmm...I don't know...life would be...difficult.

As always, God is wise beyond any human!!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Sicky McSick Sick

I am so tired of winter and the germs that are inherently associated with it. I have spent most of this season convinced that I am doing something wrong as a mother since my kids are almost always trading illnesses with each other. Honestly, it has been the worst season for illness in my house - ever. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. We wash our hands so much that my hands became overly dry and I had to visit the dermatologist. I clean constantly (which makes for a very LONG day on top of working and party planning!). I feed my kids lots of healthy foods...Savannah gets vitamins every night too. She drinks lots of OJ and eats oranges almost every day. I honestly wondered why my kids seemed to be sick all the time!

I have begun to realize that this year is just a tough year. Several of my friends (in town and out of town) have kids that are sick, get better, get sick, and repeat the cycle endlessly. The weather in our area hasn't helped, but the germs are strong this year. Savannah is in school more, so more contact with other kids. We spend more time at the Play Place at the mall since it is too cold to play outside...and since we now have two kids in the house it is even harder to keep germs at bay. I really think this is just a year we will survive and have stronger immune systems on the other side. Today Savannah was supposed to have preschool, but so many kids were either sick or being held at home by parents trying to prevent illness, that school was canceled. I know her teachers spend hours cleaning the rooms and toys. The freeze out the rooms on exceptionally cold nights...they even wear masks if they are at all feeling ill and are at school.

So I'm done with winter. I'm done with illness. I want my kids to be able to get outside and use up their energy. I cannot wait for summer with Luke - he is going to keep me on my toes running everywhere!

(T-minus 19 days until Luke is one year!)

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

24 More Days!

Luke will turn one in 24 days. It just doesn't seem possible that a year has gone by since my first meeting with my handsome little one. He has changed SO much. Each day I think how charming he has become. He is so very different from his sister too. He jumps head first into things (often getting himself in quite the predicaments!) and he smiles often. He babbles constantly...and he is a food critic for sure. Each and every meal he practically yells through. He puts food in his mouth and then we hear "Ya ya ya ya!!" and then he repeats the whole thing. He doesn't just talk while he eats, he voices himself loudly. Honestly our house is only quiet when he is asleep. He is also developing into an emotional little guy...if I'm lying on the couch he will crawl or cruise over (he still won't let go and just walk around!) and he leans into me and puts his nose right against mine and just grins. He is such a flirt.

As his birthday has been approaching, I've begun to feel the sadness of him turning one. I love him so much, and now that he is a little older he is much easier to handle. He still keeps me on my toes, but there is much, much less crying. He just is as content as can be as long as he is fed and had a nap. He will play with anything...and even has begun to really play independently too. There are days that although I have an evening out planned (for say a United Methodist Women's meeting) I almost want to stay home to play with Luke and Savannah. When a mom would give up the precious little time she gets away from the house, you know she's in love!

I am just so proud of my little ones. They are such unique little people. Of course, with that comes unique attitudes too. Savannah is already starting some of the drama I'm sure we will see well through her teen years. I am amazed at their development though. They each have different strengths...but they each adore the other.

With all this nostalgia over Luke turning one, I'm sure some have wondered if Carl and I will think about a third. I've been pretty clear that we aren't planning for a third...and the fact that Luke is growing out of the baby stage doesn't seem to change my mind. There are times that I miss being pregnant, or the excitement of having another, the idea of a gender reveal party (which if we had a third, I most definitely would do one of these!), and just the idea of a sibling for Savannah and Luke to love...but then reality wins out. I know I will probably always want to have those things...even when I'm 40! And honestly, our Disney Cruise convinced me that I don't want more children. It isn't that the children on the boat were unbearable...completely NOT the case. It's because I want to take my kids on a cruise like that...and often. Carl and I have already started talking about trying to cruise with the kids every 2-3 years with smaller vacations on the years between. We will visit Disney World in 2014...but then may not go back for a while...maybe 2018? After that we may not go back for a long time...but we will cruise. We love it...and it's magical and relaxing. Disney World is magical, but NOT relaxing. So we want those trips for our kids...and having a third would seriously crimp that plan. Now, if God decides we need a third child, we will love a new one immensely...we'll just change our priorities. For now, we are happy with our family of four...and our plan (although God's plan isn't always our plan!) is to keep it that way for good.

Now just to plan our Disney 2014 trip and keep saving for the Disney Cruise in 2016!!!