PJ Party

I wanted to do something special with John to celebrate his birthday. Saturday, the Chick-fil-A had a wonderful event called a PJ party. Basically, you show up in your pjs and they had fun things for kids.

We got there later than I would have liked. Since Tim works nights, John's schedule is set to him and he usually doesn't wake up before eight. We got him up and needed to give him a quick bath due to a diaper fail. We put him in his new Thomas PJs and got going.

We ordered two meals for us and a kids meal for John for $15 and ate our breakfast. John did so well! He ate a whole chicken finger and a few fries and drank all of his lemonade. He loved seeing all the other little children walk by.

John then got to make some biscuits. Poor little guy cried when the nice lady sprinkled flour in his hand! After some help from his mama, he had two biscuits ready to go. They led us into the kitchen and one of the ladies told John and another little boy about the baking process. It was pretty cool for me to be able to share this with John. Here's my boy, post flour.

 

 

While we waited for the biscuits to bake, we got to design our own pillow cases. I tried to get John to color, but he mostly picked up the markers and ordered me to "color this!" Here is what Tim and I came up with:



 

 

Soon, my little guy got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. Of course, he was rewarded with a kiss from his best girl. (PS: That's me underneath all that hair!)

 

 

 

 

We really had a great time at this family friendly event. I have to give great praise to the ladies of Chick-fil-A for the wonderful job they did with the kids. They really went above and beyond to make this a fantastic event. I'm hoping to come back for the mother-son date night in June!

 



Johnny's Birthday

This has been a pretty busy last couple of days for us! Thursday, my mom had a birthday. Friday, John had a birthday and Saturday, we had John's birthday party.

Tim and I both took Friday off to celebrate and clean the house. As you can imagine, it's hard to get things just so. When I was running around like a mad man, I asked myself who I was trying to impress? It was our parents, grandparents and siblings. However, after that moment of clarity, I was like a chicken with its head cut off.

We got up and had munchkins from Dunkin' Donuts (John's favorites). Tim's parents stopped by later to visit with the birthday boy. We had grilled cheese for lunch. I had to pretty much fight John the whole time to get him to sit in his seat and buckle him in. Ugh!

After lunch, I talked to my mom and she pointed out that it was nap time and offered to take John so I could get some shopping done. I went to Walts and picked up chips, some salads, pop and some groceries we needed. Next up was the dollar store where I picked a few party supplies that I needed. I went back home and we cleaned until it was time to pick John up.

After being a little devil for his mama, John had been a perfect angel for his grandma. He enjoyed his nap and was cuddling up with Grandma when we picked him up. We took him to Olive Garden for his birthday. My sister's boyfriend gave us a gift card for Christmas and I was tired out from cleaning, shopping and wrangling my little guy. We went to the one in Matteson since it is both better and less crowded than the one near home.

John was perfect! He had some salad, a bread stick and some of Tim's and mine pasta. His favorite was the salad. He kept asking for "more salad" so I gave him some, then he'd just sneak some more off my plate. I never saw a little guy so crazy about lettuce as he is!  They also provided him with some crayons and he loved it!

We all enjoyed dessert. Tim and I had an amazing tiramisu and John had ice cream. We thought with all the cake he had the day before and then on Saturday, we should choose something else. He loved it, but he especially liked that they put it in a coffee cup. I couldn't believe how neatly he ate it! I was so proud of him!

We went home and I finished cleaning the upstairs while John and Tim played downstairs. We turned in pretty early knowing the next day would be filled with fun!

Really? Go away!

So I'm on day three now. Or two and 3/4ths. I pushed myself into going to work yesterday. I don't know why I do that to myself. I have tons of sick time and even though I'm trying to save as much of those days as possible for our hopefully second child, I end up sicker and more tired.

I'm going to the doctor today. I know I have a sinus infection. I ALWAYS have a sinus infection. Some people always get colds or bronchitis or some other such ailment. Mine are these soul crushing, exhaustion inducting sinus infections which leaves me with the face that would scare children. But I'm stubborn as hell. I don't want to go to the doctor's. I want to tame the beast myself. What happens when I do that? I manage to stay sicker longer. As much as I'd like to loosen my grip on Western medicine, after five days of doing it my way, I need to get back to normal.

I have to be better on the weekend to be able to clean my house for John's party next week. I pray he doesn't get sick.

I have to be better to go to work, make money and save that sick time for what will hopefully be the birth of our second child.

I have to be better to take care of my child in the matter he deserves. Thank God for Mater's Tall Tales for making my morning easier and for my parents and Tim for picking up the slack.

I have to be better to try to tackle all the things I'd like to accomplish this year.

In other news, with time between naps, I'm planning great and wonderful things. Not sure how much of them will be accomplished, but I am hopeful.

Number one is a Valentine's Day party for two. I wanted to sign up for story time at the park district, but found the $16 fee for the two of us to be cost prohibited. I have two Valentine's Day books already and just picked the third up on Saturday. I am hemming and hawing about purchasing a few more. I will print out some lovely color sheets that will be colored in between stories. I want to make cup cakes and have red punch. I'm also thinking of Johnny helping me prepare Valentine's for his little friends. If it is a success, I hope to do the same for St. Patrick's Day. I also hope when he connects more closely to other little children, I can include others in a Valentine's Day gathering next year. It helps me sleep at night after buying the books, you see.

Well, I better get on to napping. Praying that whatever my kind doctor sees fit to provide me with for fighting off this will do the trick. After that, it's in God's hands.

Sick Day

It's kind of sad when you look at your husband all doe eye and say, "I really don't feel good," he follows up with, "Do I need to take you to the ER tonight?"

Since we got married, I ended up in the ER over a badly twisted ankle, a dislocated shoulder, an asthma attack while pregnant, falling at work while pregnant, dehydration caused by a stomach bug and an extreme sinus headache.

I had been feeling poorly for a couple of days when I woke up yesterday congested. Determined to keep one of my New Years goals, I ushered my boys to church. There, it suddenly got worst. I blamed it on the pointsettas (which I think I'm allergic to) and used a ton of hand sanitizer. We got home and Tim went to work.

John took it upon himself to make sure sick momma didn't get much rest. We tried napping which ended with him on my head and eventually biting my face. We watched Mater's Tall Tales. He ran out of the room to sneak between the wall and the bookshelf. Following that, he tried to wrestle the cat. Finally, I got him playing and did dishes (the hot water greatly releaved my sinuses). I gave him a snack and he threw it all over the floor. Later, we went back upstairs and he went for a second round with the cat and cried when I closed the door so we could watch TV in peace. He wailed at the door a good ten minutes. I got him to calm down and Tim comes home.

He has to fill the car up. Seeing him and then seeing him leaves puts John in a tailspin. I endure ten long minutes until Tim comes home. He takes John downstairs and within a half hour, the kid is passed out cold for the night.

To his credit, Tim made me grilled cheese and tomato soup after he put the boy down. He also offered to take me to the ER for a cold.

Today, I got up and could imagine going into work. I'd be blowing my nose every two seconds getting next to nothing done. I'm imagining my coworker next to me muttering, "Why didn't she just stay home." So I called in. Or rather e-mailed in.

Now the house is blissfully quiet as the boys have taken off to parts unknown. I'm going to sign off and see if I can get in my second nap of the day.

After all, even moms get sick.

Gift of Life

I was thinking of the gifts of the lives that God has in trusted me with today. It was never when I expected it, but was when I needed it.

When we got married, Tim and I agreed to wait until I finished my graduate studies to have children. I finished up at the end of 2008 and we were still not in a hurry. September 2009 was closing in and we thought it would be fun to have a child in June. Well, September and October came and went with nothing. I got to admit, I was sort of surprised. My grandmothers had fifteen kids between them. By my parents' second anniversary, my mother had given birth to my brother and I. I was starting to have my doubts.

Then, December came and it looked like it *might* be the month! I'm super regular and when it didn't show up within two weeks, we thought that was it. I was even reading up about pregnancies and discovered if I was pregnant, I would be due around my father's birthday.

Well, I finally took the test and no. No I wasn't. It was pretty devastating. I didn't know why it didn't work out and was quite frustrated.

Within a week or so of this happening, my brother calls me. He rescued a kitten from the duct work at the fitness center he maintains. He somehow managed to talk me into adopting yet *another* cat which surprisingly, Tim agreed to. It's amazing how easily my brother talks me into things! The funny thing is that I asked God in my heart for a new life to take care of and here she was in all her glory.

She turned out to be a great if dominate cat. She gives me so much joy and tolerates my young son. I wouldn't have expected my bundle of joy would be of the feline variety, but God knew what I needed while I waited for my son.

More time pasted and it was getting harder and harder to stay focused. One day in March I was walking into work. I fell and dislocated my shoulder. I ended up in a sling for weeks and needed rehab. I was glad then I wasn't pregnant as the dosed me up with some pretty powerful meds.

I remember being in great pain on Good Friday and offering it up in some little way.

Well, when your shoulder is healing, it's surprising how many things you feel completely uncomfortable doing. Like trying to make a baby! Finally, our wait was over. In that first time after I healed, we conceived our Johnny! He's our miracle and gift of life.The funny thing is he was born the day after my mother's birthday!

Goals

The New Year is here! Happy 2013! I hate resolutions. I mean, big promises to do things I know I won't follow through with. Instead, I've been thinking of all the things I want to do better. Since one of them is to get more organized and the key to organization for me is to write it down, here I go.

Building a Better Self

One thing that's simple and I keep not doing is to take better care of my skin. It is pretty oily and at 31 I still get pimples. But I don't do anything! My goal is to actually use the products I have and see which ones work. I don't expect a miracle, but I do think it will look better.

Another is to work out more. For me, this will mostly be by walking. I joined the gym a while ago and was doing good, but slacked off due to sickness and the holidays. I'd like to try and do an organized walk a season. When I signed up to do the 5K at church, it gave me motivation. I'm someone who needs motivation to do things! I am also thinking about trying a Zumba class. It sounds like so much fun, but I am so uncoordinated, it's also worrying. However, does it really hurt to try? So what if I look foolish?

Lastly, food! I'd like to cook more and eat out less. Food is a hard thing with our work schedule. I don't want to do too much on the four days that we both work. John and I usually eat dinner with my parents and Tim eats at work. When I don't eat with my folks, my goal is to keep some skillet meals on hand rather than going to a drive thru. On Saturdays, I'd like to cook dinner with enough for John and I to have leftovers for Sunday. I'd eventually would like to cook a hot breakfast on either Saturday or Sunday. Tim would like to cook as well. Since Mondays is his evening off, we hope he can cook on that night. I'd also like to focus on making healthier lunches to take to work and to have on hand for John and Tim. We have tons of cookbooks and I have pinned so many recipes on Pinterest. It's time to try some.

 Finances

You'd think after spending thousands of hours and dollars on obtaining two degrees in Accounting, I'd be a budget whiz. I wish! This is another area I'd like to work on. However, sometimes my desires and/or pure laziness gets the best of me. That and doctor bills! Between having John, various illnesses and ailments, that's one expense that can really add up! Here are some things I'd like to work on:

Well, one way is ties into my food goals. Basically cutting out a lot of our eating out. However, I'd also like to shop more sensibly. Specifically following the way I grew up. I'm from a family of six. My mom grew up with seven brothers and sisters. Growing up, she learned to stretch a dollar and applied this when she became a mom herself. I need to follow the three golden rules: 1) Make lists! Stick to them. 2) When planning our big shop, gather all the ads. Circle the items on sale. Good to a place that price matches. Don't feel silly! 3) Coupon, coupon, coupon. My Grandma Eleanor was the coupon queen and I need to follow her lead. Try to match coupons to sales. Also, do not buy things just because I have a coupon if we won't eventually need the item.

Refinance the house. I was disappointed early last year to find out that no one wanted to work with us on our upside down mortgage. Thankfully, I did find out we had a Fannie Mae loan which are eligible for the new HARP program. I did contact our mortgage company but didn't like the terms. I've been receiving mail from other companies, but am nervous about the reliability. Again, I need to do what my mom did and call, call, call! My first step is to call HARP next week to get a list of reportable companies in my area and hop on it.

I have other items a little more personal in nature that are on the list inside my head:)

Learn

In the field of learning, I'd like to continue my study of photography. I have always loved to take pictures and last year, Tim and I purchased a Nikon DSLR 5100.  I took a class this fall and learned quite a bit. However, I feel I have so much more I need to learn. I'd like to focus on shifting to a more manual approach. To meet that goal, I have signed up to take a class from the photographer I connected with on Facebook (well, actually, it originally was Freshman English, of all things:) that has taken so many beautiful pictures of my son. I am also using Pinterest to put aside many different articles to peruse as the time goes by. Finally, I am doing a 365 project. For the next year, I am taking an image I capture each day and sharing it on Facebook. Doing is the perfect way to practice, right?

I'd also like to aid in the growth of my son's learning. We will be continuing story time. Now that he'll be two in two weeks (!), there are some parent/child classes we are eligible for at the park district. I am also hoping to do a swim lesson, but would like to wait until the weather warms a bit. I hope to continue reading to him, visiting the library and other places we can learn at and doing puzzles. I'm not a teacher, but I hope mainly I can give him the best.

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I'd like to focus more on going to church. I am a doer and have spent the last three years leading a social ministry. I'm looking to be more of a learner. It's my time to be Mary and put Martha aside. I also need to get back to weekly attendance. I've lacked in this area since Sundays became Tim's workday and I need to pick up the slack. It's a challenge, but it is necessary for us and John's faith formation.

Organize/Clean

I'm not organized by nature and I loathe cleaning. I need to make both of these a priority. My number one goal is to focus more on the cats' needs: keeping them groomed, the litter boxes cleaned and giving them fresh water without them asking me to. I would like to take one day of the weekend to clean up John's toys. Doing it every day is impossible, but it does need to be done. Weekly cleanings of the bathrooms and kitchen is also at the top.

Keeping up with paperwork and various bill schedules is next on the list.

Finally, just being more organized in the mornings and less rushed. Hoping to start a habit of laying out clothing and packing lunches in the evenings come next week!