weekend inventory

Holiday weekends always throw me for a loop.  I never seem to know what day it is for the rest of the week. 

This weekend was lovely.  We spent Saturday napping, cleaning and making snacks for the hockey game.  Sunday was a trip to the zoo and Monday was pajama day, as planned.

More on the trip to the zoo tomorrow though.  Tonight we're going to see Of Monsters and Men and we will probably get soaked.  It's raining cats and dogs and of course we have lawn seats for this show.  We're going with our friends Kristin from SXMW and Mat, plus last night I was talking to my bestie, only to discover her and her man will be at the show too! So happy!  We can all sport the drowned rat look together and it will be adorable.  There are talks of bringing a canoe and a patio umbrella though just to be safe.  Ha.

Enjoy your Monday Tuesday night, staying dry!  Thank goodness for another day off tomorrow!

long weekends are for lovers

I am so ready for this weekend even though I don't technically have a long weekend.  I'm working tomorrow morning.  I had a 3 day weekend last weekend though and this will be my third Monday off in a row.  Mondays are awful terrible things and I'm really feeling like everyone should have Mondays off to stay at home in their pajamas.  Saturday and Sunday should be set aside for doing fun things or catching up on necessities, while Monday is simply a day to prepare your soul for the work week, all the while in your jams and most likely laying in bed or on the couch.

I spent yesterday preping for Memorial weekend.  Really good stuff.  Between pretending to work and watching a gaggle of geese waddle past my office window on three separate occasions, I did some googling to find something red, white and blue to make or bake.  I was hoping to find something outside of the strawberries-and-blueberries-arranged-to-make-a-flag idea or the jello-whipped-cream-layered-look.  This was a tall order if you can imagine.  I did find a few cute ideas though.  Pancakes that are super patriotic are most definitely getting made and eaten in a super american fashion.

In other news I got the iPhone 5 finally.  It's super sleek and sexy the way iPhones should be.

Isn't it the cutest the way Bella is all up in Hank's business.  I think he might start calling her "mama".

Happy weekending to you and be sure to remember those fallen heroes that gave their lives for us and our country.  We will be getting our bums to the zoo on Sunday.  Fingers crossed for good weather and a happy baby!

wwmd?

WWMD? aka What Would Martha Do?  The answer to that question is, she would buy stock in mason jars.

Seriously though, mason jar sales must be at an all time high with the ever increasing popularity of Pinterest and it's never ending mason jar craft ideas. 

One night not too terribly long ago during a particularly long stint of pinning, I decided to bore inspire DJ with some of my most inspiring pins.  He hates loves this as you can imagine and maybe he was just trying to cut me off quickly, or maybe I found his crafting bone among the hanging mason jars, but DJ grabbed the lap top from me to get a closer look at the re-purposed light fixtures.  He said, "Those are awesome.  Let's do it tomorrow." 

And we did.

You can find the directions to do it yourself here.

PS: TWO of my friends had their babies today! Welcome to the world Ethan & Emma!

what it means to be henry's mommy

I wrote a post like this months ago, back when Hank was just a peanut.  Since that post, so much about my little munchkin has changed.  I can't explain in words how complete my life feels with Hank in it.

What it means to be Henry's mommy...

...it means that at the end of the day after Henry is fast asleep, I get to pick up his toys.  I say "I get to" because it feels like such a privileged to to be the mother of a little boy.  A little boy that has reached an age that he spends his days playing.  No longer are the days of eat, sleep, poop, repeat.  No, no, now Henry shakes his maraca, bangs his drum, smashes his piano and twists and jumps.

...it means knowing that textured foods are a work in progress.  Some things, like noodles and avocado, make him gag the moment they cross his lips and some things, like whole wheat pancakes, mango and crackers are perfectly acceptable.  First they must be carefully inspected and then immediately shoved in his mouth.

...it means that when I notice him scratch behind his left ear that he is one of two things; frustrated or sleepy.  Either of those two things though require a snuggle.

...it means that if I want to play a movie other than Baby Einstein, I have to lay on the floor next to Henry for the duration and I'm always okay with that.

...it means knowing that there will be a few days in a row that Henry will leak out of every diaper.  It will be random and it will only last a few days.  It will pass and the diapers will stop leaking after a few days and there is no reason to switch to a new brand each time this happens.

...it means that despite the flack that I get from certain family members about teaching Henry sign language, it works for us.  He already understands a handful of signs and can do "milk" and "dog" all by himself.

...it means being able to distinguish the difference between the hungry cry, the bored cry and the tired cry from another room.

...it means buying carts full of clothes for him instead of myself, and not being sad about it.

...it means having to let go of anxiety when leaving him with someone other than myself or DJ.

...it means knowing that some nights in the bath he prefers tug boats and turtles and the next night he may prefer ducks and sting rays, but they should never all be in the bath tub on the same night.

...it means that if I want to hear him belly laugh, all I need to do is take him outside to watch the dogs (Bowie especially) run in circles.

...it means that I have to stop trying to make the size 2 shoes fit.  He's in a size 3 and that's all there is to it.

...it means knowing that he likes to sleep with a blanket no matter the temperature.  Which leads me to the reason for buying the angel care monitor so that I don't have to sleep with one eye open looking at the video monitor.

...it means realizing that doctors can predict when a child is going to get his first tooth about as accurately as they can predict the exact day that you're going to have your baby.  (although I did have Henry on his due-date, but that was only because I was induced)

...it means that he cries out for me when he sees me leave the room.

Just like the last post about being Henry's mommy, I could write endlessly.  It's funny how you just know your child.  Their noises, their expressions, their likes and dislikes.  It's great being a mom.

TGIF

Whew it's finally Friday.  We survived another week.  Happy Mother's Day weekend to all of you gorgeous mommies out there! I hope you feel as loved, respected and important as you are! 

I read a quote this week that I think is so perfect.  "Motherhood is a choice you make every day, to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is...and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong." Donna Ball.  It's just so true. 

The mother's day celebration starts tonight for me.  DJ and I are going to see The Great Gatsby.  So excited.  I've been listening to the soundtrack on repeat all week.  I can't get enough.  Bring on more Leo!

oh hey sunshine

Long live lawn work warm days!

Over the past few weekends we worked on our lawn.  Lawn work is truly an ongoing battle.  Nowadays I have a reason to sit down and supervise though, as apposed to just sitting and supervising before and being referred to as a lazy bum.  Henry conveniently needs to be tended to the minute the lawn work gets too hard.  Ha.

The lawn bags have been never ending each week.  The more we buy the more crap we decided needs to be ripped out and replaced.  Since cutting down one of the enormous trees in our back yard we are finally able to plant more grass and eliminate some mulch.  When we moved in to this house the whole back yard was covered by weeds, trees and overgrowth.  Over the past two years we have practically doubled the size of our backyard.  It's been a lot of work though. 

Sunday we got up early and went to Lowes.  We bought mulch and grass seed, among a cart load of other things that we needed.  Once we got home I decided to try putting Henry on the grass, just to see how he liked it. 

He LOVED it.  Henry was all about the way the grass felt.  He kept pulling the grass and rubbing it.  He was a very happy camper.  After a few minutes I set him on his blanket and he kept pulling the blanket onto his legs so that he could reach the grass again.  Serious cuteness.  Daddy slaved over the front lawn and Henry and I snuck inside for a nap.  It's hard work watching daddy. 

We woke up after our nap and treated ourselves to some ice cream.  Well DJ and I had ice cream.  Henry got to watch all the cute puppies and enjoy the afternoon walk.

mr personality takes a bath

If you haven't noticed already, let me just go ahead and tell you, that Hank has the biggest personality.  He is the happiest and sweetest child.  His growing curiosity and sense of humor continues to amaze DJ and I each and every day. 

One of my most favorite parts of my day lately, is giving Hank a big boy bath.  While down in Florida we gave Hank a bath every day.  He was inevitably covered in sand, sun block, chlorine or just plain old sweat each and every day, requiring a bath.  We didn't bring the whale tub with us so we chanced his newly aquired talent of sitting up.  I supported his back and caught him when he tipped, but he had a blast every night splashing and playing.

Since we've been back from Florida, Hank is none too impressed with the confines of the whale tub.  He squirmes and arches til I finally set him on the deep end of the whale so that he can see Teddy the turtle swim around.  I've finally given in completely and we decided to skip the bath tub dance each night and just fill our tub.  Hank is in heaven, I tell ya.  He gums the heck out of his blue tug boat and his turtle.  The first few times he would reach a point where he was sick of sitting up though and just wanted to lay down.  The tub was shallow so I let him lay in the water.  He was panting with excitement.  Maybe he felt like he was floating. 

Closing proceedures follow bath time and Hank falls fast asleep in my arms every night.  Another favorite part of our daily routine.

vacation finale

Read here about the first half of our vacation.

On day 4, Jay, DJ, Henry and I decided to check out the little zoo that was close by.  Amanda unfortunately had to work so it was just myself and the boys.  It was another very hot day and as bad luck would have it the pool was going to be closed and would remain closed for the next few weeks apparently.  Bummer.  The four of us started in the gift shop and goofed around.  Henry didn't find us funny at all.  He crashed in the stroller while I rode a camel (fake) and DJ and Jay braved a hurricane (fake).  I found lots of pirate stuff for Henry's room though in the process.

We tried out a few frozen drinks when Henry woke up and needed a little snack himself.  After our snack break we headed in to see the animals.  Every animal could be fed and there were little food stations all over the place.  At the entrance though we bought alligator food (that looks like little turds) because they had a huge area of gators!  We fed ducks, birds, gators, turtles, camels, fish, goats, bunnies, you name it we fed it.  It was a small zoo but truthfully one of the best.  Wayyyyy, better than the Detroit Zoo, by a million.  We all were hot and sweaty but it was a really great time.  Just when were about to leave we stopped and saw a sign that said "enter at your own risk".  Inside it was full of various animals roaming freely!  It was so cool.  Peacocks, iguanas, giant turtles and exotic birds of all kinds walked around like they could care less that you were in there.  DJ and Jay took turns watching Henry on the outside, but I was in animal heaven.

After the zoo we barbecued again and I put Henry down to sleep.  He woke up in a panic and had no interest in going back to sleep.  Henry, daddy and mommy all got into bed and watched "Brave".  Have you seen it?  You must if you haven't.

Our last full day was day 5, Wednesday, and we spent the day in their little downtown area shopping around, eating at Ford's Garage and walking along the water.  Henry needed a more relaxing day.  The boy's poor teething gums were really bothering him.  He was a grump or sleeping for the majority of the day.  After mingling around all day we got back to the condo and ordered mexican food and curled up to watch a movie after Henry went to sleep.

Thursday was our last day.  That morning not only did DJ get up and take a walk with us, but my brother in law did also.  The morning walks were among my favorite vacation moments.  The temperature was perfect and the quiet was wonderful.  Most of the day was spent running around doing last minute travel things and wishing we didn't have to leave. 

We got to the airport and it was super irritating.  Everyone was the opposite of helpful.  I used my credit card to pay for our bags and it gave me an error.  We were running out of time so instead of protesting I just gave the woman cash.  (skip to the following week when I realized that they collected my cash and charged my credit card twice.  then when I called for my refund on Monday, I checked again two days later, just to discover they only refunded ONE bag instead of the four that they owed me. not cool.) Anyway, we finally got to our gate after many other annoyances on the way to discover they were already boarding.  We jumped to the head of the line to preboard with Henry.  Just as the plane was fully boarded (we were not in our own row this time) the pilot announced that there was going to be a half an hour delay.  Eff.  I had planned these flights perfectly for a sleepy baby.  Michigan was being bombarded with thunderstorms.  After a half an hour the pilot came back on and said the delay was extended another hour.  Double eff.  Henry was not having it.  Temper tantrums, whining, crying, tears, thrashing, the works.  DJ checked out in typical dad form.  Luckily the plane started to unload a bit due to people missing their connecting flights and choosing to stay in Florida.  We had our own row again.  This did us no good.  We were on the plane for 2.5 hours.  I walked with Henry at one point and stood in the emergency exit section where there was at least a little air circulating.  A row of older women sat there and asked if they could hold Henry.  I could not hand him over faster.  He loved it.  These women bounced him and played and played.  They asked me if I was a germaphobe.  Trust me, at that moment when Henry had finally stopped screaming, germs were the furthest thing from my mind.  Once we finally took off Henry fell asleep.  Hallelujah.  I had a drink, the adult kind.  The turbulence was awful.  I have never been on a scarier flight in my life.  We landed and they made an announcement to let all of the passengers with connecting flights get off first, and anyone with a small child.  Ha.  Oh, you don't want my child to scream anymore?  Henry and I left DJ in our dust to carry all the bags.  Just kidding, I grabbed the diaper bag and my purse.  I could have kissed the dirty airport ground, I was so happy to finally be off the plane.  My mom picked us up and took us home.  We ordered pizza and the rest is history.

Despite our rough end, our vacation was definitely one to remember.  DJ hates not being able to see his brother every day and it kills him that he can't share the most important thing in his life, Henry, with him every single moment.  It was long over due that we made this trip.  Thank you again Jay and Amanda for having us.  We love you!