Celebrating My Pooker--Happy Birthday Shane!

I feel like Shane's birthday has lasted a week. It will continue on even longer for him. He is heading down to Las Vegas this afternoon with a good friend. He's actually going down to cheer on the Zags for the West Coast Conference. Which reminds me, I'd like to give a shout out to the Wells Family for Shane's Vegas survival bag--thank you, very thoughtful, and creative. Shane especially likes the Charmin to go, and the toilet seat covers. We had a conversation with Liv explaining that Shane would be in Vegas for a few days, her response was so cute! When Shane told her that he was going to Las Vegas she said, "but why is it Lost Daddy?"

We had a nice little celebration with Shane's side of the family last weekend with burgers, beer, and chocolate cream pie. Last night we celebrated, just the 4 of us, with tortilla soup, and my Dad's famous chocolate cake(thanks Dad!) We like to keep things simple around here :") Especially with kids. Olivia did request party hats, party horns, and as many candles as Shane needed for his age--haha! This will be the 10th birthday I've celebrated with Shane, crazy how time flies! I love you babe, many blessings to you throughout this next year.
XXOO...

No More Terry Bradshaw

Well, I finally gave in. I cut Nolan's short top long back, it really was starting to look like hockey hair, or my favorite comparison, like the sports broadcaster Terry Bradshaw. I was holding on to anything that would make him seem more like a "baby" and didn't want to cut his ducky hair. It's so fine, and blond. I feel like he's such a big boy now, no more nursing, has a little boy hair cut--awww! He did great, didn't even shed a tear(then there's sappy ole' mom.) He was being kind of a stinker--how odd! He kept grabbing the comb and trying to comb his hair and reach for all the tools while the stylist was trying to cut. I think it turned out pretty cute, and now realize that he looked like there was a little rat tail hanging off the back before :") The little pieces of his ducky hair are now tucked away in a little baggy. Nonetheless, the new hair cut looks much better.

Salsa

So I've tried something new, and am loving it! I have wanted to learn to salsa for a long time. I'm now at the time in my life when I can go out for the night and not worry if I'll have a hungry baby to feed :") Last week I went to a salsa dance 101 class. I was a little nervous, but one of my best friends was there to coach me through that part. As soon as we started to learn a few basic steps, I knew I was hooked. After the lesson, I stayed for the salsa dancing night, and had a blast! It's a really great way to exercise as well, I was sweating by the time I left. A bit embarrassed at times when instructors would ask me to dance, and here I was at the BEGINNER stage and felt like an idiot. It's funny though, when you have someone who knows how to lead, you do better. Between Kjersti(who's amazing, and on performance team at the studio,) and the other instructors, I learned a ton in the few hours I was there. I can't wait to go back this weekend. I've already asked Shane if I can get some private lessons to speed up the learning process. I told him he could combine my birthday, and mom's day gift. I'm so eager to get this down, now I just have to work on getting Shane there--ya right!

The end of an era, and a few tears

I knew the day would come when Nolan no longer needed/wanted to nurse, and would sleep beautifully through the night. The time has finally come for both, and now I wish I wouldn't have wanted both of those things. What the heck is wrong with me, why wouldn't I want sleep? It's all because I know these things make my baby boy more grown up =( Both of our kids were terrible sleepers for the first year plus, but then they become great sleepers. Also, neither of them would ever take a bottle. We tried several bottles, & nipples, but they wouldn't have anything to do with them. Not even a bink!

Olivia nursed for 17 months, and her little brother beat her by 8 days. He has nursed for 17 months and 8 days. I still remember the day Olivia stopped nursing. I cried all day long, and when I looked at her, I thought she was all grown up and in a sense didn't need me for certain "things." I was sad that I'd never nurse her again. The same goes for my little buddy. I'm writing this with tears in my eyes. I knew it was time, especially since he goes around looking at women and says "boobies," or walks up to me and says "momma feed you." The other day he grabbed one of my bras and smelled it, then he looked at Shane and said "momma feed you." When he says that he means momma feed me, but he replaces me with the word you. Olivia used to say things like mama hold you, instead of mama hold me. Guess it's just a part of them learning how to speak properly? Back to what I was saying. Nolan has finally weaned himself, and I know this chapter is finally closed. Even if he asks me at this point, I can't, because it's been 2 days and that would just be way too confusing to not only my body(which is slightly engorged,) but also to him. It's kind of like when you're potty training your child, you wouldn't have them start going on the potty, but then put them back in a diaper. This entire blog may sound really strange, but for a mom who loved nursing, it's hard to let go of something that has been a part of my daily routine from the moment my son was born. I was telling Shane, that now I want another one! He said, "we needed a bigger house first." Typical guy response!

A Sweet Day in Pre-K

Olivia had a mommy-and-me(Yaya showed up too)valentine's day party today at school. When we got there the kids sang a couple songs, and then had a performance that revolved around the verse 1Corinthians 13(Love is patient, love is kind.) Olivia was in the front row, and I could tell she was a little shy to be "on stage." There were a couple other kids who were sitting down, and wouldn't even make eye contact with the crowd, too cute! The kids made their mommy's a darling valentine, and then we sat at the table and decorated heart shaped sugar cookies. There was an impressive variety of candy to decorate with. The kids made valentine bags to hold all the cards, and treats they would be getting today. Cute bags with lots of colored polka dots on them. At the end of the day they all got a red heart shaped balloon(which Olivia and Nolan are now fighting over.) It was a sweet day!

I LOVE my husband!

I worked a super long shift today, and my feet can usually keep up with me while I run around on a concrete floor all day--but not today. My feet were so sore, guess my ballet flats didn't do the job. All the girls I worked with today had the same complaint. I was going to take a picture of my wounded feet, but figured that might be a little too much. All I could think about was soaking my feet tonight, and when I went to look underneath my bathroom sink for my fave foot soak, it was gone. I'm so desperate to soak them, so I'm going to come up with my own concoction to make that happen. Of course I'm out of Epsom salt too, darn it! Shane just headed out to the store to get me a bag of Epsom salt so I can soak my feet. I thought it was very sweet, I love him! The cherry on top would be a cup of sleepy time tea, and the book I'm currently reading, Firefly Lane. I have both, which makes for a perfect trio. Here's to relaxing!

One of my BIGGEST petpeeves!

There is nothing that drives me more crazy than moms who take there sick kids out in public when they should be AT HOME! Ew, and equally important, when you get invited to a "play date" and a parent forgets to mention they have sick kids, but that "they're fine now" even though they were throwing up the night before. Hmmm...I clearly don't understand it. First of all, the poor kid probably wants to be at home in their comfy cozies on the couch or in bed, so why drag them out? Second of all, it exposes my children to the "crap" that they're carrying into target, mobius, story time, school...the list goes on. I'm tired of it! I can't count how many times I've run in to moms that tell me that "ya, little Lucy was throwing up all night, and had diarrhea this morning, but we just had to get out of the house." Or when I'm out with my kids and there's a sick kiddo who's hacking up a lung, with a loose, phlegmy cough, bright red cheeks, and a nose that's running green snot. I know what it's like to feel cooped up and want to escape after being at home with sick kids. But guess what, that's part of the job that comes with being a parent. I think it's stems from selfishness, and have I mentioned I just don't get it? I quarantine my entire family if any of the above are going on, because I'd feel terrible to expose anyone to our germee's. And believe me, my kids and I have missed some very important events, but there's no way I'm bringing our crud to a child's birthday party. I just wish other parents had the same respect. I think I'm just bitter because my daughter has caught something from a person who clearly knew they had a sick child and didn't bother to keep them at home. This isn't the first time I've had this happen. Sadly, I've talked with two other moms today who have sick kids for the same reason. So frustrating!