Odds And Ends

 

Finally got the pictures back from the photographer at Aiden’s 1st Communion.  They turned out pretty cute!

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Even though Brennan will take one if I insist, I think it’s time to phase out his naps.  He’s no longer a preschooler, something he reminds me of every hour on the hour since yesterday.  Aiden gave up his naps on his own at age 3 so I’m feeling pretty lucky that I’ve had ‘me time’ every afternoon while staying home with Bren.  And this summer with Aiden around I don’t feel like having the battle every day about why Aiden gets to just have quiet time and not nap time.  From now on Bren will have an hour quiet time in his room with his books.  If he ever falls asleep great.  If not, no biggie.

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Tate is SO much happier of a baby now that he’s on his tummy medicine.  He is much more the content baby from the early days.  Still has his fussy times, that’s what being a baby’s about, but they are fewer and farther between.  Remember me saying how he won’t nap in his crib?  Well, the medicine has made a huge difference in that too!  I guess that acid was bothering him while laying down (duh Mom!), and now that that’s under control he is much more comfortable laying on his back for a nap.  He still doesn’t take marathon long naps, usually an hour is all, but he is getting used to those so maybe in the next few weeks he’ll take fewer short naps and string together a couple of 2 hour long naps every day.  I was looking back at the boys’ baby books and Aiden took a bunch of catnaps with one longer 2 hr nap every day at this age so we’re not doing anything unusual for my babies. 

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Don’t laugh, but this Sunday I’m going to my very first ever brunch at a restaurant!  I’m so excited!  A friend asked if Andy and I would join her and her husband to celebrate both of our anniversaries.  Is it weird that at 30 some years of age I’ve never been to a real brunch before?  The big boys are staying with their grandparents, Tater gets to tag along like usual. When we get back to town we’re going to the ‘Cruise In’ on the square.  Our town is celebrating it’s 175th Birthday and starting Sunday they are having a full week of fun activities centered around the town and it’s history.  I love car shows, so excited to go up there and stroll around the square checking neat old cars out! Should be a fun Sunday for this gal!

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I have to brag about my awesome husband a bit.  Yesterday was our 17th anniversary of when Andy asked me out.  We were 16, which means we’ve been together longer than we were apart.  How crazy is that?  Anyway, I posted this on FB – check out his comment.  Swoon!

What are your weekend plans?  Ever been to a Cruise In?  How about a brunch?

Have a great one!

She’s Baaaa-ack!

 

It’s time to get my butt in gear.  Tate is almost 4 months old, enough with the excuses.  To jump start my fitness journey I will be doing the 30 Day Shred again.  Yep, good ol’ Jillian Michaels. 

Sunday is June 1st and there are 30 days in June so what better time to get started?  Who wants to join me? Anyone else need a push and want someone to help push, motivate and encourage them?  I could definitely use all of that from someone and I’d be willing to give that to anyone else who needs the help. 

Saturday I will be taking my ‘before’ measurements, weight and pictures (heaven help me).  I will also be setting some goals for myself, which scares the heck out of me.  I am scared of failing and everyone knowing about it.  Time to put those fears aside and get with the program.

Who’s joining me?

End Of An Era

 

Today is Brennan’s last day of preschool. Big sad face.  He is so darn excited to be a Kindergartner now which helps me deal with the fact that he’s growing up so fast.  Here are ‘before’ and ‘after’ pics of Brennan in his preschool career.

       August 2012                                                                        May 2014

Wow, he sure has changed!  He’s such a big boy now!  To think, he was so excited for Preschool 2 years ago that he walked around wearing his back pack for days before his first day!  He even wore it to the bathroom!

Ha ha!  What a cutie patootie! (He will kill me someday for showing that!)  Now he’s so excited for Kindergarten it’s all he talks about.  How things do change.  I’m happy he’s so excited for school, he loves going to play with his friends.  He’s excited to start going every day in the Fall.

At 3:30 this afternoon let Summer vacation begin for Brenner Joe!

Busy Weekend

 

Hey there!  How was your weekend?  Ours was great.  We took time to honor our fallen heroes and to visit our loved ones at the cemetery.  The flags flying in the breeze were so beautiful, I get such a thrill when we pull into the cemetery every year.  Our funeral home directors really go all out putting up the big flags that line the drives.  So pretty.

We took advantage of the long weekend and did quite a bit of odds and ends around the house and yard this weekend.  Saturday we worked our tails off, I was so sore and exhausted that night!  Not sure I can even remember all the little things we did, like painting the trim around the doors and garage door, tilling the garden and putting up the fence to keep the rabbits out, and going through the basement storage rooms to find stuff to put out on the curb for spring clean up this weekend.  That doesn’t even take the tip off the iceberg!  It felt so good to get so much done.

The weather finally felt like summer this weekend.  Highs in the 80’s and higher humidity.  Awww.  Loved it!  I got a little sunburn on my neck and shoulders while working outside yesterday.  We were cutting the dead branches out of the berry bushes, found a ton of berries coming on! Going to have another bumper crop this year!  Can’t wait to make some more jelly and cobblers!

My garden is coming along nicely.  The potato plants are up enough that I went ahead and added some dirt around them to start building up the hills.  I mentioned we tilled the garden, was getting a little weedy.  We have a mini cultivator that we use for weeding in between the rows, it does a pretty good job.  While I had it all tilled up I went ahead and planted 2 more rows of green beans.  This was a little later than I had intended originally but it won’t matter to me, I’ll can them whenever they are ready.  It’ll be nice to have an extended growing season of beans, love fresh green beans!  The carrots aren’t doing too bad, although the rabbits got ahold of them and ate quite a bit off.  I’ll take whatever I can get. 

An update on Tate’s crying jags -  we got him on a tummy medicine to control acid reflux and he seems to be a much happier baby.  He hasn’t had one of his uncontrollable crying fits since the middle of last week, that has been so nice!  He is on a liquid medicine so I don’t have to crush any pills this time (I did with the boys and it was a major pain).  He takes it very well.  So happy that he is happy.  He’s still a demanding baby, he likes me being close by and talking to him most times but that’s ok, he’s not hurting anymore.  Now I feel like I can take him out to supper again without worrying about him crying the whole time and disrupting the other diner’s meals. 

How was your Memorial Day?  How is your garden coming along?

Brennan’s Preschool Graduation

 

Cue the waterworks.

I am a crier (something I’ve mentioned many times before), and when it comes to firsts and lasts I’m over the top with my crying! 

Last night was Brennie’s Preschool Graduation.  Oh my goodness, was it the cutest little thing ever! They wore caps and gowns (adorable), they sang a few songs that were so super cute (I usually think elementary school songs are cheesy but these were so great and fun!) and they had an awesome slide show set to music with pics of the kiddos from the whole school year. 

The preschool staff did an awesome job putting this graduation ceremony together!  They made some pretty cool diplomas for the kids with their picture on them, so neat.  They each got their name called individually and the head teacher called them all by their first, middle and last name without a cheat sheet!  That tells me she knows these kids really well and loves them.  The cute little gal in the corner of this next picture is Bren’s friend, Maddie, but what I was really trying to capture was Brennie getting his diploma from the school Dean of Students (a.k.a Principal).

After they received their diplomas they stood off to the side of the stage to get their picture taken by their parents.  Here’s my graduate!

And to really twist the knife that was already in my heart all night they turned around to face the audience after all getting their diplomas and sang a “Goodbye to My Friends” song.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yep, I was that mom!  Tears just a streaming!  Oh my Brennie Joe, when did you grow up so fast? 

Nope, nope!  I’m not going to start again!  At least not until Wednesday when he has his very last day EVER of Preschool.  *tears*

Here’s a pic of that last song.  See them waving goodbye?

Then, just like in high school, they tossed their caps at the end! 

Well, sort of.  Ha ha, I think they were nervous about it. 

My folks came to help Bren celebrate.  Mom stood in the back and held Tate the whole time taking advantage of some extra snuggles with him.

After the program was over we had a cake and lemonade reception.  Then came home and snapped one more pic of our graduate.

My sweet little handsome guy.  *Sigh*  Time is going too fast.  I don’t even want to think about his high school graduation.  I’m glad I have these pictures from last night, though, they’ll be fun to pull out at that time and compare. 

Do you remember your preschool graduation?  Do you cry at your kids’ events? 

Have a great weekend, friends!

It’s Not All So Perfect

 

If you follow me on IG (homemadehappenings) then you saw earlier this week that I was having a rough go of it with Mr. Tate.  I am the type of person that won’t talk about things that aren’t going so well for me (for the most part).  For instance, if Andy and I have had a fight no one will know about it because I would hate for anyone to think we don’t have a great relationship because of that.  Because I don’t want anyone to think I don’t have the perfect baby I don’t talk about how fussy he is some days.  It’s silly, I know, but that’s how I am.

For the past few weeks (maybe 6?) the little Mister has not been a super happy, content baby.  In fact, he’s been very needy and has had these fits where he’ll cry and scream  non stop for sometimes up to an hour.  We can do nothing for him to make him happy.  Because these fits were happening mostly in the evenings we chalked them up to colic.  Monday I decided enough was enough, so I googled ‘colic’ and found that it’s usually gone by 3 months of age.  Tate is 3 1/2 months old.  I called our dr. right away. 

We are now trying 1/2 tsp of Maalox whenever he gets into one of these crying jags.  I have given it to him twice, and both times he instantly stopped crying.  The first time I wondered if it was a coincidence, but when it happened again the second time it made me think that maybe this whole time he’s been having acid reflux, which totally makes me feel like the worst mom ever.  I’ve let my poor baby suffer this whole time because I just thought it was colic!  Oh the poor poor little baby! *insert sad face*

I will try it again today, just to be sure, then will call the dr. back and we’ll probably start him on some tummy med’s.  Then the challenge of giving it to him begins since he doesn’t take a bottle.  Hopefully there is some liquid form of whatever we are to give him instead of crushing a pill and adding it to a bottle like we did with the boys.

Now you know my sweet little shmumpkin isn’t the perfect baby, although he’s the perfect baby for us.  Yesterday in the morning Tate was the happiest, most content baby he’s been in weeks.  That was before I gave him the med’s, but it was so nice to see him like that and know that hopefully we’ll figure this crying thing out and he’ll be like that much more often. 

My next challenge with Tate, after figuring this all out, is getting him to nap in his crib and for longer than 20 minutes.  He will nap very well in his swing, in my arms, or in his car seat if we’re on the go.  But once I lay him in his crib for a nap he wakes up shortly after (or right away, depending).  Because of this he will take many tiny catnaps throughout the day, which translates to me not getting anything done around here because I can’t start anything major (hello weeds in my flower beds!) because he’ll be needing me shortly.  And it also means that he’s fussy more often because he’s tired all the time.  I think I’m going to need to just commit myself to staying home for a week or 2 straight, no running errands and meeting Andy for lunch, so we can work out a real schedule.  I’ve never had to do this with the other 2 boys because when I went to work at 3 months their new sitters somehow got them on a schedule. 

Obviously it’s not all doom and gloom like this post suggests.  I love going in to Tate’s room in the morning when he first wakes up – he lays in there talking to his stuffed animals and the walls until I get him up, then he gives me the biggest, widest, most open-mouthed smiles I’ve ever seen!  When he’s getting sleepy he likes to rub his little face on mine and then snuggle in close.  He gives me big open-mouthed kisses on my cheeks.  He lights up when he sees his Daddy.  He sleeps all night long!  He’s a sweet little guy, I hope we can figure out the crying stuff so he isn’t suffering anymore. 

 

P.S.  I am so sorry my posting has been so sporadic lately.  I really hate that and will try harder to be more consistent.

 

Have a GREAT Thursday!

Our New Flooring!

 

As you know, last week we had new flooring installed in our kitchen, dining room and front living room.  Starting last Tuesday Andy and I tore out the old carpet and linoleum and on Thursday the flooring guys came and put down the new floor.  It looks so great!  We absolutely LOVE it! 

Andy and I still need to get the baseboards put back up (after we pull out the million and one nails that’s in them) so divert your eyes from that!

The Before’s

The During’s

And now…

The After’s

The color is Hickory and it’s a wider plank.  We are so happy with it!  Now we are thinking of having them do the same stuff down the hallway. And next year we will replace the carpet in the main living room with new carpet.  It’s really not very good looking – there are some mystery stains from the previous owners that we can’t get out.  It’s a shame to rip up carpet that’s still in good condition otherwise but after awhile you get sick of living in someone else’s filth, you know?

And because I can’t resist sharing this photo of my little Tater Bug, I’ll end the post with this one of him playing with his football.  He likes sticking his tongue through the holes, ha ha!

 

 

Currently

 

Today I have been banished to the basement.  As I am sitting here typing this the guys are upstairs banging my floor together!  I canNOT wait to see it all done (and to share it with you!)!!!

My sweet friend, Erin, did a ‘Currently’ post today and I thought it sounded like a good idea since I have never done one before.

CURRENTLY  I AM….

Watching Garfield with Brennan.  Since we are stuck in the basement I thought I’d let him watch cartoons so he’d be quiet while Tate was napping 5 short feet away.

Listening to the guys upstairs banging and sawing. 

Feeling cooped up.

Reading Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth.  Love this book but I don’t seem to find much time to sit and read these days.  It’s been slow going on my part.  Normally I devour books but lately I just don’t sit and read like before the baby was born. 

Eating a little less junk.  I haven’t been in the candy bowl in over a week and it feels good!

Missing my husband.  After him being home the last 2 days tearing up the flooring I had already gotten used to him being around.  Miss flirting with him.  Think I’ll send him a love note text.

Anxious about summer break.  I get anxiety over what I’m going to do to entertain Aiden every year.  The kid loves going to school to see his friends, burn off steam and get out of the house.  He gets so bored at home all summer. I try to sign him up for as many day camps as possible but those run out in early July (why do they pack them all into the same month?).  I’m hoping to find some fun science experiments to try with him on rainy, boring days. 

Excited for the weekend.  We are celebrating our niece’s 14th birthday Friday night, and watching our 5 year old niece’s dance recital Saturday.

Celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary Sunday!  I can’t believe it’s been 12 years already!  You never think you can love someone more than you do at that time, then you wake up the next day and love them a little more!  It’s totally like that with me for Andy.  I love that man! 

Wondering why I didn’t think to bring snacks down here with me. My tummy’s growling!  I was smart enough to bring down a giant glass of ice water, though.  That’ll have to do for now.

Scared of the spider Brennan saw in his Imaginext Castle that he lost track of before we could kill it.  My skin is crawling knowing that spooky little guy is roaming around in here with us.

What are you ‘currently’ doing/thinking/feeling/excited for?

 

Under Construction

 

Ugh, construction!  We are tearing our flooring up in preparation for our new flooring that’s being installed starting tomorrow.  It makes me feel icky.  I can’t wait to show you pics of the whole process so you can see just how nasty the original flooring was that was under the linoleum and carpet.  Ick!  No one is allowed to walk around in the house without their shoes on until this is all done.  Yuck!!!

In addition to being totally grossed out by that, I’m getting an icky feeling from the mess we are living in.  This picture shows the amount of dust that was created just by Andy using the shop vac (ours has hormonal issues and blows a TON of dust out when it’s turned on).  This dust will just get worse as the guys who are installing the flooring use their saws to cut the floor to length. 

Think of how much dusting I will have to be doing starting Friday after they are done!

Here is a sneak peak at the flooring that’s going down. 

Ha ha, sorry, just a tease!  But can you see the couch sitting in front of it?  Yea, that couch doesn’t normally sit there.  It’s been moved because of the whole tear out process! AAAAHHHHHHH!  I’m going insane over here! 

All of this is just a few short days process but it’s got me all tied up in knots.  I can’t imagine having to live in a construction zone for months like some people who gut and redo their entire house!  That was always my dream, to get a neat old farmhouse that needed updating and to do it ourselves.  This has me second guessing that.  Andy and I have done some pretty big renovations before, like totally gutting our bathroom in our first home. Now THAT was disgusting!  I survived it but talk about having a poopy tummy for a few days!  I totally felt disgusting during that long weekend.

I am very grateful that we can do some of the work ourselves and that we are getting new flooring, I’m just over the mess already. 

Can’t wait to show you before and after pictures next week!

Have you ever lived in a construction zone? What renovations have you made to your house?

Sweet Baby Tate Is 3 Months Old

 

Wow, 3 months!  Oh Mister Tater, how I do love you!  I can’t believe our family lived so long without you in it!  So often in every day I sit and just marvel at you, at how perfect you are, at how much I absolutely love you.  You make me feel complete, Tate.  Thank you, God, for giving me this amazing little baby boy!

New this month:

• TATE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!  Yep, he goes down around 9:00 every night, wakes up between 6 and 6:30 every morning! 
• He has outgrown size 2 diapers, we are now in size 3’s (as of yesterday)
• He is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes but the one piece sleepers are almost too short.  He has a few 12mo outfits that he wears now.
• Hanging out in the jumper
• Giggles!!!  Tate was 9 weeks 4 days old when we first heard his deep voiced giggle!  Oh my goodness, so adorable!
• Longer stretches of calm, content baby

At 3 months old Tate LIKES:

• His jumper!  He is so content in that thing.  He just hangs out in there, looking around, taking in everything he can see in the upright position. He follows me around the room with his eyes.  And he gets to wobbling, jumping, dancing and moving in that thing! Those chubby little legs can really go!
• His big brothers!  On Sunday he was a tad fussy.  I put him in his high chair for a minute so I could help Andy.  When I came back he was happily watching his big brothers jump around and act goofy in front of him.  The big boys made fools of themselves for Tate for 20 minutes and he was a happy camper! 
• Daddy!  Most mornings when Andy gets up to take his shower before work he goes into Tate’s room to check on him.  There lays Tate, chewing on his fists, cooing to himself.  As soon as he sees Andy his little face lights up and he gives his daddy the biggest “I’m so happy to see you” smile! 
• His blue snuggle blankie.  Tate has become a blankie man!  If I give him his blankie he grabs ahold of it and rubs it on his sweet little face.  He gets his little fists balled up inside of it and then sticks it in his mouth.  If I lay it on my shoulder he’ll snuzzle down in and make his little nest.  I love that Tate loves his blankie!
• Laying on the floor kicking his legs, putting his little fists in his mouth and sucking on them, and cooing at Mommy and Daddy
• Being outside under the trees.  He cranks his head all the way back to look up at them, trying to figure out what they are.

At 3 months old Tate does NOT like:

• A bottle.  Nope, still have not been able to get Tate to take a bottle.  I am just fine with this now.  I’ve come to peace with the fact that he’ll never take one and I won’t be able to leave him for more than an hour, 2 at the most.  Why would I want to leave this sweet little bundle anyway?  It stinks for Daddy, he wants to have that bonding time with Tater, but we both decided it wasn’t worth upsetting the little guy anymore.  So mommy and her milk only it is!
• Sleeping in his bed during the day.  Tate will sleep in his crib all night long, no problem, but during the day he wakes up 10-20 minutes after I lay him down in his crib.  Naps are taken in his swing, the car seat or in Mommy’s arms.
• Being hot.  He is such a hot blooded baby!  He gets so hot sitting in his car seat.  He has not liked the hotter, more humid days we have experienced over the last month.  We’ve only had a few so far but I’m wondering how he will handle the hot, humid weather this summer.

 

Excitement over the past month:  Mother’s Day!  Easter!  Aiden’s First Communion!  These events were all made even better because Tate was there with us!

My favorite picture over the last month:

Tummy time!!

I’m excited to see all of the new things Tate learns over the next month.  Maybe rolling over will be his new trick!?!

 

Mother’s Day Weekend

As if there aren’t a million and one Mother’s Day recaps out there, I’m adding mine to the lot.  #sorrynotsorry

Friday night we went to the big big city to go to Dick’s Sporting Goods for the very first time.  We went to look for a basketball hoop for the boys.  Holy smokes do we love that store!  Andy could spend his entire year’s salary in there if I let him!  Same with the boys.  It was definitely boy heaven! We found a hoop we liked (plus a million other things), but it was too big to fit in the back of the car.  Totally my bad!  I told Andy we’d just pick one out then order it online because they had free shipping. What I didn’t see was the fine print that said “Free shipping UP TO $15”.  Womp womp!  Andy measured the back of the Traverse but it was definitely a no go.  So we paid for the darn thing because of some deal they were running that night and told them we’d be back the next day.  The good thing about the extra trip up there was seeing our awesome friends for supper who live up there. 

Saturday the boys had their last soccer games.  Both boys made goals this time!!!  Brennan’s been a goal kicking machine (the littles don’t have goalies so they can pretty much just run the ball up the field and kick it in if they line it up right) but Aiden hasn’t had luck on his side in that department this season.  His big goal was to make a goal, and he finally did!  He was so darn excited! I’m so happy I was there to see it! The tricky thing was that both boys were playing at the exact same time.  Luckily  their fields were right next to each other so I could just stand in the middle and turn back and forth and keep an eye on both. 

After the game we headed back up to the big big city to get the basketball hoop.  After picking it up we decided to give Cold Stone Creamery a try because we had been given a gift card for them.  My review: Eh, it was okay.  Nothing to write home about, definitely not worth the money and we won’t be going back anytime soon, if ever.  Sorry for all you CSC fans out there!  We just didn’t get what the big deal was.

Sunday was  Mother’s Day, as you all know.  I woke up EARLY to Mr. Tate needing fed.  I knew I wouldn’t get to sleep in, so no surprise there.  It cracks me up that Tate is exactly like his big brothers – absolutely no sleeping in for these boys.  Most days Tate is in his bed talking and cooing by 6:15, some times we’re lucky and he’ll sleep til 6:30.  But you won’t hear me complaining, he sleeps all night long so getting up at 6:15 is no biggie!  So the two of us went out to the living room and hung out until the big boys got up.  Then about 7:15 I decided to make some racket in the kitchen to make Andy think I was making my own breakfast, knowing full well he’d come running because he wanted to make me breakfast. Sure enough, here he came running!  Ha ha, what a great guy!

I was given some super cute hand made gifts from the boys that they made at school.  I love them so much! Top one is from Aiden, bottom is from Brennan.  I didn’t get a picture of the letter Aiden wrote to me ‘from Tate’.  It’s pretty funny, will include that tomorrow in Tate’s 3month post.

“Butterfly hover near my mother, tell her that I dearly love her”

“My mom is good at putting Tate in his car seat”

“I like when my mom plays with me”

“My mom is really pretty”

“My mom’s a good cook”

“I love my mom”

Such sweet boys!  From Andy (and the boys) I got to go pick out a bunch of flowers at the local garden center.  I picked out 2 Columbines, a Hibiscus and a Clematis.  We also replaced some bushes, which I was going to do a post on how to plant but there was a big storm coming in so I said the heck with it, let’s just get them in the ground. So when I get some more to replace a couple other shrubs I’ll take pictures then.  Then the boys took me through KFC’s drive thru for Chicken Tenders.  I am not a huge KFC fan, but last weekend we picked some up and took it to Andy’s folks’ for lunch.  I fell in love w/ the tenders! So that’s what I picked for my Mother’s Day lunch, ha!  We went to the park to eat it and I had my first Mt Dew in forever!!! It tasted SO good but Tate still had an upset tummy from it, so won’t be having a Mother’s Day Mt Dew for quite some time again.

After our lunch in the park we came home to plant my new plants, just as the first round of stormy weather came through. We were lucky, no tornados here, although the sirens did go off.  I was praying that the electricity didn’t go off because Andy was cooking my Crock Pot Cake to take to my mom’s for supper.  The power stayed on and my cake turned out amazingly!  Andy’s such a great guy!  The boys took this pic for me while I nursed Tate.  Looks like we need to work on their skills, ha ha!

We had supper at my folks’ house with my sister’s family and grandma.  The kids all had fun together, the guys made the supper (for the most part) and cleaned up the dishes after, and us girls all watched “Call The Midwife” together.  Perfect ending to Mother’s Day!

Have a great week!