Fourth Fun Time

Although there are many activities to choose from on the fourth of July - there is usually a parade you can attend, fireworks of course, and any number of food and music events- we chose to stay in this year and save our money as well as our sanity.  That's not to say that we didn't have lots of family fun though!

We went to the park to play at the playground and as we anticipated, it was extremely crowded.  We still managed to have a good time.  Logan loves going down the slide.  It is by far his favorite playground activity!

Logan got a new pool yesterday, so we of course had to have a little pool time!  He had a blast!  The weather hasn't been at its warmest here, but that didn't stop Logan from wanting to stay in the pool forever.  He threw a fit when it was time to come inside and although I reassured him that we would have many more opportunities to play in the pool, he was less than happy with Mama for a while!

After dinner we did some arts and crafts, because it wouldn't be a holiday without a little craft time with Mama!  We made a Fourth of July Sparkler!  We simply rolled a piece of heavy paper into a cone shaped tube and taped some red and white stars around the outside.  We stuffed some silver, tinsel like filler in the top and we had ourselves a sparkler! The bottom of the cone was large enough for Logan to place his arm in to wave the sparkler around.  He played with it after making it, but as a special treat, after bath time and stories, when it was getting dark out, we took it outside so he could see his sparkler shimmer in the lights.  He loved it! 

To finish the evening we decided to watch the Macy's 4th celebration on television. Logan fell asleep just as the fireworks began, so he missed it! Oh well, I guess that he  had enough fun for one day!  All in all it was a great fourth of July! 

Playing Catch Up

Now that it is July, I figured its time to get back to blogging.  Three months off is too long!

Lets get caught up.  I am now 28 weeks pregnant with son #2.  It amazes me how different pregnancies can be, even when I'm having another boy.  Lets just say this pregnancy is no joke. I was sick the entire first trimester and some of the second - thankfully that is over, but now I am suffering a whole slew of different ailments that are both discomforting and down right annoying.  My back is killing me.  Its not just my back, its my back, my butt, my thighs and lets not forget those lovely leg cramps that I get when I wake and stretch in bed.  Speaking of lovely legs, mine are anything but.  I have developed the dreaded spider and varicose veins  that I got during my last pregnancy, however this time there are more - and they are on both legs! Oh, I know the pay off will be huge and I will forget all about the displeasing aspects of my pregnancy (maybe) once the little bundle arrives but I anticipate these final two months are going to be rough on Mama.

My not so little toddler is becoming more needy, well, more needy of me, not wanting to spend as much time with his papa these days.  I have successfully achieved getting him to say mama when he wants my attention rather than crying and whining.  Now if he wakes in the night he will say "Mama" and as much as I hate getting up in the middle of the night, it is so sweet to hear him speak rather than cry and I can't help but smile.  Luckily, he is sleeping through the night much more often now!  He doesn't go to bed easily, but I will take that over waking all hours! I am really enjoying my time with Logan now that he is a little older (not that I didn't before, but he is so much fun now).  I love watching him get excited about what we grown ups take for granted or see as an ordinary occurrence.  He is so very precious.  I could not ask for a better child!

We are still in our one bedroom apartment and my husband assures me that we will be moving in september (keeping our apt. through Sept. to accomodate me having my baby in Los Angeles).  Where we will be moving to is still up in the air.  I am quite anxious about this.  I have begun packing what I can as I don't want to be packing in the last two weeks of my pregnancy! I figure if I pack a couple boxes a day, eventually it will get done and it wont seem like a burden.  Other than those boxes stacked in my home of course.  "We are in transition" my husband keeps telling me as I complain that I can't handle the increase in box clutter and decrease in a zen home setting.  Oh well, in a few months all of this will be behind me and it is going to be fabulous!

Can We Say Tired?

Oh Sunday, how you exhausted me!

We broke down and rented a storage unit this weekend.  It had to be done.  I mean, we were literally bursting and although there is still some clean up to be done, I know it will feel much less cluttered as a result.  It is amazing how much 'stuff' you accumulate over time.  Luckily I have purged fairly regularly so that I don't have a huge donate pile.  This doesn't solve the problem  challenge we have of needing a new home, but it makes the space we are currently in more tolerable while we search.  For the past few months I have been stashing away boxes anytime we get a delivery and it felt so good to pack up our belongings in boxes that we didn't have to purchase for the purpose of packing.  It also felt pretty good to get rid of all those boxes!

Just as we finished loading up the rental van, our power went out.  Ok, so my husband did all of the loading into the van, but I packed up all the boxes!  It is the first time in years we have been without power.  You see, it was a blustery day here in the West and a tree fell on a power line behind our home.  After the fire danger subsided, we dealt with hours of no power which made it difficult to clean up some of the areas that were torn apart.  We survived though!  Now we watch some television before bed.  Not a bad end to a tiring day.  I am really hoping that my toddler and baby to be allow me to get some rest tonight.  I should probably step away from the computer and try to sleep now. Yes.  That sounds like a plan.

14 Weeks Tired

I thought it would be a breeze.  Well, maybe not a breeze, but as simple as my first.  Boy was I wrong.  14 weeks into this pregnancy and I am still waiting for my energy to surface.  Why is it so much more difficult this time around?  Is it that I am older?  Is it that I have a toddler to chase around all day (who still wakes more nights than he doesn't)? I figured that being a stay at home mom would make it easier to handle the minor discomforts that come with pregnancy, however I am finding it was so much easier when I was simply a mom to be with a full time job.  Perhaps being in the office day after day was a blessing in disguise.  I was able to sit at my desk much of the day and was distracted by my work duties so I may not have noticed that I was feeling a little nauseous.  That being said, I am much more ill this time.  I was dizzy and hunched over the toilet bowl daily, multiple times a day for weeks until recently.  Luckily I think the worst is over.  I now appreciate that I was able to go out to lunch everyday when I was working.  I ate some amazingly delicious food while I was pregnant with Logan.  I find myself craving some of the lunches I used to have but the restaurants are too far away to justify visiting frequently.  Now I have to actually cook lunch everyday.  It used to be fun.  Now its a chore!

Yes, I had it easy prior to being a mom.  I would come home from work and plop down on the couch if I so desired, snoozing for a bit prior to making dinner.  I recall phoning my boss on more than a few occasions to let him know that I would be in late because I hadn't slept throughout the night and felt like crap in the morning as a result.  I could take a three hour nap on the weekends.  When I had to walk the dog it was easy.  Simply throw on shoes grab the leash and we were off.  Those were the days.  It is so unbelievably difficult to walk the dog now that Logan wants to walk but won't hold my hand and always wants to walk in the opposite direction from the dog.  I can't seem to get the two of them in sync!  Logan is becoming more heavy as the weeks go on and carrying him while walking the dog is equally as uncomfortable as struggling to walk with the two!  We don't take a lot of walks now.  We tend to go outside and throw the ball for the dog so he gets exercise.  Thank goodness I have a husband.  If I had to do it on my own all the time I would lose my mind.

All that being said, I am so grateful to be expecting baby number 2!  I love being a mom and can't wait to have another peanut to snuggle.  I am so excited for Logan to have a sibling! Time is flying by and I know the new little bundle will be here before we know it, which is scary, but luckily there isn't a whole lot we need to do to prepare.  Well, except get a new home.  There's that.....

I'm A Lucky Gal

Did you all have a splendid St. Patrick's Day?  We did! It was raining most of the day but we made the most of it!  In the spirit of the holiday we did some crafts and made green the theme of the day!  I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful family to have spent the day with.  My son is so much fun to be around.  I love playing with him, dancing around and even doing chores with him.  He is actually a good help!  I am a lucky gal.  

For our first craft we made a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow!  The little guy enjoyed placing stickers on the paper and gluing pieces of gold into the pot of gold.

Next was finger painting a clover!  Logan really enjoyed getting into the paint.  Good thing it washes off easily!  

Finally, we made a leprechaun hat.  Logan likes to try to roll the paper into a tube (he does the same thing with magazines)!  It is so cute!  

We even had a green shake for a special treat! 

My lucky charm?  My husband, who made us dinner and gave the baby a bath last night.  Love him.

I'm Dreading Sleep Training

It has become a struggle to get my little guy to go to sleep.  Once he is sleeping, he sleeps fairly well, but getting to that point has proven to be a rather large challenge.  This time change doesn't help either.  He is a complete night owl.  I am ready to go to bed before him.  It's my fault.  I didn't sleep train him when he was smaller.  I now need to get him to the point where I can put him in his crib awake, but it is a battle I am not looking forward to.  I kept saying "when we get a house I will make this happen" but who knows when that will be.

Tonight after we finished our night time routine my husband and I turned off all the lights (and the tv was off of course) and tried to get him to go right to bed.  I put him in his crib, but it was clear that this was not going to work as he was literally trying to climb out.  I think we can put the mattress down one more notch so that is the next step.  We instead put him in his swing after I tried simply rocking with him.  We need to stop using the swing and get to a point where he can soothe himself to sleep.  We gave him a toy to play with and sat with him until he was sleeping. He was asleep about 40 minutes earlier than the past few nights so I can't complain, but I think the time has come to sleep train.  I am going to need a serious bubble bath to handle that stress!

Monday Fun Day ~ Alphabet Board

Our Monday Fun Day Activity was another fun with felt project!  As you may recall, we made a felt board months ago that we used as a story board, starting with one of our favorite books, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?"  Today we are using the felt board to begin our alphabet series.  We made letters A, B, and C today.  Each letter has an object beginning with the respective letter to go along with it.  A is for Apple, B is for Ball, C is for Cat, etc.  Three letters were about as much as the little guy could take.  His attention span didn't allow for more! We reused our cat from Brown Bear (the purple cat) and created the apple and ball today.  Once we make all of our letters and objects, I may go back and spell out the name of each object.  One step at a time!

This was a fun project.  Logan enjoyed playing with the felt, scrunching it up in his hands and straightening it out! He also likes pressing the pieces onto the board.  We set the board up on a easel and I imagine he will be pulling the pieces off the board and reapplying them before the end of the day!