WEEKEND WRAP UP | NOVEMBER'S WARMTH

What an offbeat weekend.  For real.  Saturday was normal. Sunday could've played out a little differently for us.

 

The weather has been unusually amazing for a November up here.  Friday was the exception.  That day was an all day mix of snow and rain and really the first snow that I've seen in the area as we head into the cold months.  Conner and I bundled up and went for a visit to see friends for a little while.  Nothing like going over to someone's house and playing with all of their toys and eating nearly all of their raspberries in the house.  (I forgot how much that little bird loves raspberries.)

 

So since we were halfway to the grocery store, we braved the weather a little longer and got the shopping done for the week.  Big win here everyone...  We made it through the stores without stomping all over the groceries (a very common problem) or running all through the aisles. However, there was a lot of junk food consumed to get us through those quick trips.

 

While we visited with Karra and Amy, the discussion of home break ins and strategic gun placements came up. I bring this up because it plays into this weekend.   I used to be paranoid about living out in the woods, but that fear has gone away.  I don't worry about people trying to break in or cause harm to us.  I've grown content with the quiet area and became more comfortable as we slowly get to know our "neighbors" more. 

 Can this boy be any more comfortable eating his snack?

 

When I got home I talked to Joe about looking for a small handgun for myself.  This is something we've discussed before, but I had forgotten about it completely because of the feeling of confidence I have with being out here.  Joe was all in for looking at guns Saturday morning, but I told him I was in no hurry.  And I'm going to bookmark that story here and we'll pick it back up a little later.  In the meantime, let's talk about Saturday.

 

Saturday's weather was awesome.  We made a trip to pick up chicken feed and a quick Walmart stop.  After that quick run into town, Conner took on the roll of daddy's little helper and spent the next 2 1/2 hours out in the garage "helping" Joe build the new dog pen.  There is nothing more that kid loves than to be right in the mix of whatever project Joe is working on.

 

I had to be the mean parent by breaking up their fun and sending that little boy off for his nap.  Yeah, he wasn't happy over that.  But we got to spend the evening with Uncle Phil and Aunt Lori after he woke up.  Lori's taking on the huge, helpful role of taking care of Conner when it's time to leave for the hospital.  Let me tell you, that boy is going to have a blast and probably won't want to see us come back home.  He loves playing with Lori!

 We haven't gotten past the newborn stage of sticking Everything in his mouth.

 Can life with these two get any cuter!?

 

 

Sunday.

Sunday was even better with the weather.  However, we dealt with some unexpected events.  We got ready to head off to church in the morning to point where I had Conner in his carseat and the car warming up.  But, I had no idea where Joe was.  After about a minute of searching, I see him walking back to the house looking quite angry.

 

Apparently, the dog ran off on him. So, instead of heading to church we had to spend the next 45 minutes searching for her.  Eventually, a couple of young guys found her and returned her to us.  Oh boy, she was in trouble.  This is a h u g e flaw of hers.  She runs away too much hence is the Saturday project of building a new dog pen for her.

 

So, since we had to change our morning plans, we didn't want to pass up this extremely rare November day.  We got back in the car and headed into downtown TC.  I love walking the downtown area so we did that for a little while, had lunch at the Mackinaw Brewing Co, and played at Clinch Park.  Before we knew it, it was already past the start of Conner's nap time so we headed home.

 

This is where I'm going to pick up where I left on from the "I feel safe at home" conversation from Friday.  As we approach our drive, I hear Joe ask, "What's in the ditch?" I start searching and all of a sudden I see this incredibly suspicious, ragged looking guy in our ditch.  Joe slowed down as we passed and he laid down as flat as he could in the weeds, but we had made eye contact.

 

Joe pulled in, got out and started walking back out to talk to the guy.  Oh. my. word.  talk about the fear of what could've happened next.  And of course it was the one day - the one day - that neither Joe nor I had our phones charged. I watched as Joe walked down the road to find this man in the ditch wondering if this guy had a gun, if he had just done something terrible and was on the run, if something awful was going to happen to Joe.  So many outcomes were going through my mind and since I always jump to the worse case scenario, I thought for sure this wouldn't end well.

 

My next thought was to check the house.  If this guy robbed us, I wanted to know now.  I ran inside and quickly scanned the first floor and bedroom for any signs of a break in.  Nothing that I could tell, so I ran back outside to stay close to Conner who was still in his carseat.  By then Joe was confronting the man.  I couldn't hear Joe, but I saw the man spring up from the ditch with both hands up.  I could hear him telling Joe, "Don't tell anyone what you saw, and I will leave you alone."  Perfect.  He kept telling Joe that as he held his hands up and crossed the road.  Eventually, he ran off over the meadows across from us and Joe came back up the driveways signaling me to call 911.

 

Guys, I've never called 911 before, but Joe said the 911 folks were not very helpful. Like flat out worthless and even hung up on him. Doesn't give you too much confidence in a 911 dispatcher when they hang up on you!!! But, at that moment a sheriff's car came driving down our road.  Joe started chasing and waving down the sheriff's car.  The cop must not have seen him, but a random driver did and stopped to talk to Joe and ended up giving him a ride to catch up with the sheriff.

 

Meanwhile, this full term pregnant lady and her 2 year old were left back at the house without a phone since Joe took mine and no real idea if there was any other suspicious guys out in our woods or even hiding in our house.  Not really knowing what to do, I kept Conner occupied in the backyard playing with the chickens as I kept a close eye on the woods ready to grab him at any moment and run for my car just in case.

 

After what seemed like forever, Joe returned with info from the cop.  They were already looking for this guy.  They knew this so called "Brent" guy and were apparently very familiar with him.  So to bring closure to this story, this Brent character lives not too far from us, (yay.) has a drinking problem, and this is clearly not the first time this guy has been in this situation. 

 

Unfortunately, the cop told us there's not much you can do about this but he's harmless. He's much more of a nuisance than anything. Joe mentioned the whole fact of him trespassing, but the cop asked him if we really wanted to pursue that and if it's worth it. Umm... no I don't want to go through the effort and yes I do want something done because he has no business being on our property acting creeping and suspicious like that. 

 

Just when I got to the point of feeling completely safe out here, this happens and you do feel uncomfortable.  Fortunately, like the cop said, this man is harmless and was able to give us some info on this guy if we ever saw him on our property again.  Well, Brent, you better hope I don't find you on our property again or I will probably give you a "talking to" that your parents apparently never gave you growing up to set you straight.

 

It does shed light on the fact that I need to fully set out a plan on how to protect my kids especially if Joe is away.  I've gotten too comfortable and naïve about harm never coming our way.

 

So, that's our weekend in a nutshell.  I did ask Joe if he'd paint my toenails for me.  Long shot, I know, but I'd figure I'd ask.  And after a long pause in which I thought maybe he'd actually agree to try it, his response ended up being, "There's spray paint out in the garage.  I can do a quick spray over your feet.  You can choose from green or yellow."  So there's that.

We stopped in at Cherry Republic for tasty samples and hit up their indoor play area before lunch.  Ball pits are awesome. Until it's time to get out.  Then it's a tantrum.

 I really wish this wasn't blurry so you can see how cool the indoor playhouse at Cherry Republic is.

The splash pad at Clinch Park is still fun even without the water.

 Fox hats... yes please!

 This man takes naps anywhere.

 Umm... practicing his stunt moves maybe?

 Stepping stone to a high ropes course right here.

TODDLER LIFE | 25 MONTHS

It's so hard for me to fathom that it has already been a month since this little Conner bear turned two.  Time does an amazing thing at flying by and leaving you in a blur of what just happened.  I try to soak in every moment as a life of three before his little world is turned upside down, but somehow I still let this time thing get the better of me and here we are.  Time gone by too fast.

 

This month has been especially meaningful to me since it is our last month before our three becomes four.  And it's been in this past month that Conner has exploded in communication.  I spend a lot of time flipping through picture from last year, last month even, and I'm amazed at how much he has physically grown.

 

He has such an amazing physical ability at whatever he tries that Joe and I are no longer surprised when he accomplishes something new.  I feel like I catch myself saying, "Well, that's a first" more and more frequently as he learns new skills and new words and new concepts.

 

As more and more baby gear and baby items keep popping up around the house, Conner doesn't miss a beat at recognizing them as for the baby.  He still loves to come up to me and give this baby belly so many kisses one after the other so freely.  Little boy, I hope you continue to give those kisses to your little sib after they arrive.

Conner, you are the sweetest, most energetic little boy I could've ever imagined.  There are moments that you can have me almost in tears with the stress of managing your temper and energy and the next second have me laughing until my side hurt.  Your precious little voice saying "Hi, mom" makes my heart melt every single time you say it.  The way you look up to me holding up your finger asking to kiss this baby belly one more time will forever be printed on my memory.  Your smile gets bigger and brighter every month just like your personality.  I love when you come to snuggle in bed with me after you wake up from your nap which will always end in you jumping on the bed and diving into me.  You are so smart.  So happy.  So funny.  So cute.  Your are the best, little boy.

 

TODDLER LIFE - 25 MONTHS

Toddler Talks

Every week we are hearing new words come from him.  We aren't even coaxing him to say most words that he chooses to say.  He'll just surprise us by grabbing an object and saying what it is when we least expect it.  He has really been catching on to the ABCs and can now say the most of the letter in the alphabet.  There are handful that he hasn't quite figured out yet, but he loves pointing to letters and telling us what they are.  And this little boy is starting to form more and more sentences.

The biggest pitfall we're having this month is him not being able to make up his mind.  One second he's asking for an apple and when you hand it to him, he screams "NO!".  Then when you put the said apple away, he gets mad that you're taking it away from him and demands that you return the apple.  This of course doesn't end there.  You return the apple to him which is all of a sudden no longer wanted and he once again screams "NO!" Eventually, we get to a point where when you hand him the apple, he takes it.

Toddler Play

Nothing changes much with this boy in terms of what he prefers to play with.  Every night he still runs his Tonka truck through the house and sits and watches his train go around the track.  And don't even dare thinking about turning that train off if he's not even playing with it.  He'll notice the minute it goes silent and demand that you turn that train back on.

 

When we go to the playground he has more interest in playing with other kids and gets over his typical shyness after a few minutes.  But he is so much like Joe that he is so content with keeping himself occupied without anyone being there to entertain him.

 

He has figured out how to dance which make this mama pretty excited.  (I can finally have a dancing partner.)  He's also developed a love for watching Scout from Leap Frog on Netflix.  You could leave that boy watching the same episode of Leap Frog for hours and he'd be happy.  Unfortunately for him, he has parents that don't let him do that.  But, these Leap Frog episodes have done an incredible job at developing his ABCs.  So there are some plus sides to TV.

Toddler Eats

I wish I could get this little boy to eat meat.  If it's not in the form of a hotdog, chances are there is no getting him to eat it. Period.  Joe has been shredding chicken into the tiniest pieces to sneak onto his fork without him recognizing.  We're successful for about the first two bites and then there's no more eating whatever we were trying to sneak it in.

He's got a sweet tooth like his mama so he really enjoys getting an occasional sugar dose through candy or cookies.  This month he's really been loving on apples, peanut butter, string cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, goldfish, broccoli, pizza and a serious love for chocolate milk.

 

Toddler Sleep

What can I say? Our big boy is an awesome sleeper.  Ever since time change, he's been getting up earlier in the morning - something I'm not thrilled at, but Joe's a morning person so those two hang out and do their thing having manly time together.  Joe and Conner still have their time together at bedtime which I love.  I love that Conner has a dad that he loves spending so much time with, and I love that Joe is that dad that loves his son and wants to do things with him like putting him to sleep at night.  It's a beautiful thing.

Naptime has gotten a ton easier too.  With this being the first week Conner is home with me, I have refused to lay in bed with him until he falls asleep for his nap.  Something that he has always expected in order to fall asleep for a nap.  But, with a newborn on the way, we needed to get this under control and he has gone right to sleep after I place him in his bed and walk out of his room closing the door behind me.  I mean, getting to point of putting him in his bed for a nap is a battle.  He fights me tooth and nail, screaming and kicking all the way, but as soon as I close that door, he gets down to business of sleeping.

24 Month Photo Dump:

 

 

 

38 WEEKS + 2 DAY

Happy Veteran's Day to all and a huge thank you to all who have served and are serving still! This family appreciates all of you and all you have done for us directly and indirectly.

 

How far along?  38 Weeks + 2 Day.  12 days left! Almost down to the single digits!
Total weight gain:  29 pounds. 
Maternity clothes?  Well apparently my maternity shirts don't want to fit over my belly anymore, but my non-maternity jeans are still fitting.  My outfits end up looking like very unattractive belly shirts.    
Sleep:  Bleh. I'm lucky if I can sleep until 3 am before my brain turns on for the day and I start going through the list of all the things I need to get done. 
Best moment this week:  We had the 38 week dr. appointment and as usual, hearing that little heart beating away is the best moment.  I've had some unsure feelings about how my doctor would respond and work with our doula, so we were lucky enough to have our doula take time out of her morning to come to the appointment with me.  And after the introductions and talks, I feel way better that we're all playing on the same team.  That just ups my excitement for the labor and delivery and make for a great week.  Do you know how awesome it is to be going into labor and delivery for a second time after a horrendous experience the first time and being flat out excited for it?  I don't have any nervous feelings about this.
Cravings:  Cold frosting all the way.  Any other time, I hate frosting, but tell me there's a tub in the fridge and I will eat that entire tub before you can finish asking me "What about your blood sugar?"
Symptoms:  The new one at this point in this pregnancy is mild swelling.  I've been lucky to avoid any swelling up until now, but I hit that point where it just happens despite my every effort to counteract it.  I entirely admit, the sugary snacks that I cave into every once in a while doesn't help with the water retention.  Other than that - still feeling those Braxton Hicks and nesting.  Oh nesting, I want to clean all.the.things. Just too bad I don't get enough sleep at night to give me the energy to follow through on it all.
Looking forward to:  Really, I'm just looking forward to meeting this baby, stop having to check my blood sugar and going on maternity leave.  I've got Conner home with me these next couple weeks while I'm still pulling off a full time job.  It's tough and exhausting.  I just want to get on maternity leave so I only have one full time job to focus on.  After all, it's not easy quieting a screaming two year old while you're on a conference call meeting.

 Big brother wanted to get in the pics but didn't want to look for the camera. Of course.

WEEKEND WRAP UP

It's becoming more exciting (and overwhelming!) that we are down to our last weekends as a family of three.  Every weekend that we get closer to this little new addition, the less energy I have to keep up and the more energy Conner has. That's how I perceive it.  In reality, Conner always has this absurd high level of energy, but it seems more since I am progressively getting slower.

 

These evenings are filled with Conner shouting "Com'mon, daddy!" as Joe chases him through the house. These are the days that I am so grateful to have a husband that can work all day and come home, get chores done, and somehow pull out a crazy amount of energy to chase this little boy around.  And then there is plenty of "wrestling" between the two and outdoor leaf pile jumping.  I get exhausted just watching these two.

 

We just came off a rare November week of sunny skies and temps in the 70's, and the weekend greeted us with more familiar fall weather in the 40's and 50's.  The cooler temps didn't stop us from getting out and enjoying what we could before the bitter cold and snow come.

 

Saturday morning we played around the yard, and I was able to get in some practice with my new camera lens.  I'm trying to get as familiar as I can with it before #2 comes, and I admittedly just have fun with taking pictures.  Unfortunately, I don't have a child that cares to smile for the camera so of the 100 pictures that I take of him outside playing, I get about 6 pictures of him actually looking my way.  He likes to give this mama a challenge.

 

I'm so excited to say that the nursery is 95% complete!!  I only have one more thing to do in there and we are done!  I can't wait to show everyone what we've done.  We also moved the changing table from Conner's room into the nursery, and that in itself makes it feel so complete.  Now all we need is that baby.

 

Conner took a three hour nap on Saturday! I love the free time that long naps give me, but whoa, we pay the price with a very unhappy toddler when he sleeps that long.  That's usually about the time that I suggest we talk to Nana and Papa which perks him up and gets him happy again, so FaceTime we did! 

We FaceTime my parents every week and have done that since Conner was born (sometimes multiple times a week). We are far from a technological family, but it is amazing how helpful that has been to establish and grow a relationship with his grandparents.  It also amazes me that he knows what buttons to push to open up the program and call Papa.  So after our FaceTime fix on Saturday we were back to one happy little boy.

 Can you see that crazy hair of his?!

 This boy.  I just wanted one picture with his daddy and he had to jump in the leaves right as I snapped the pic.

 A daddy's boy all the way.

 Conner shut himself in the chicken pen. Typical.

 Conner, you are my sweet little bundle of energy.

Do you know what this is??? It's the first package of Joe's venison that we pulled out the freezer. By far the best tasting venison I have ever had and top that off with roasted seasoned potatoes... yes, please!

 

Sunday was great. Why? Because I snuck in a nap. Sunday naps are amazing, and I usually hate naps.  We started the day with our dog running away taking herself on a walk. That girl is too friendly and free-spirited that Joe and I are going to put up a fenced in area for her.  We'll see how that goes with stopping her from sprinting off.  A shock collar and electric fence doesn't stop her so we'll see if a fence does. Doubt it.

 

Fortunately, I found her in time to get her home before loading up and heading to church.  And since the afternoon was one of those perfect fall days with crisp air and sunny skies, we picked up lunch and headed to the park in town to eat and let that little boy burn off energy.  There was a little girl that was Conner's age at the park and she was persistent to get Conner to play with her.  It took him a while for him to warm up, but I gotta hand it to that little girl, she kept at him until he finally played on the slide with her.  Little boy is already getting chased around by cute girls on the playground.

 

After I got Conner down for his nap, that's when I snuck away and took one myself.  Joe as usual spent his time more productively by cleaning up the leaves from the yard.  Leaves - they are a never ending task around here and Joe's most hated thing to do.

We had to implement the "eat and run".  Conner will take a quick bite of food and run off to play and repeats that cycle over and over.

 

Conner had his last day of daycare on Friday, so we are ending this weekend and entering into a week that is sure to be stressful. All the more reason to really enjoy the family time this weekend.  It will be hard working full time and having this little boy around.  I envision these next two weeks will be me feeling like a terrible parent because I will let him watch way too many cartoons just so I can focus on work and get through meetings on the phone. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! 



37 WEEKS + 1 DAY

 

20 days left! I admit the pictures are from yesterday, but close enough.  I had just enough time to snap a few pics last night, and that's about it.

 

Yesterday we had our 37 week check up and our pre-registration with the hospital.  This is getting real!

 

The prenatal appointment went good as usual.  Blood pressure, heartbeat (my favorite part), and everything else was normal.  Normal is so perfect.  The hospital registration went really well too.  We decided to skip the tour since we just went through this a little over two years ago and went straight for the paperwork.  It seemed like there was a lot less paperwork/questions this time around, and trust me, it was appreciated.

 

Joe and I got out earlier than we expected and we couldn't pass up the rare opportunity of a 70 degree day in November in downtown TC without a kid.  We did a 3:30pm dinner date at the Grand Traverse Pie Company. yummm.  Joe snuck in about 3 bites of apple pie before I had that entire slice devoured.  He's a good husband.  He will let me have the majority of any dessert.

 

 

How far along?  37 Weeks + 1 Day.  20 days left!
Total weight gain:  28 pounds. (Halloween candy. So guilty.)
Maternity clothes?  Yep.   
Sleep:  Broken up.  At this point I'm getting used to it, but time change hasn't helped.
Best moment this week:  Conner's 2 year check up was less than fun, but I was pretty excited to see his weight finally go from the 9-12% range up to 32nd percentile! Getting to hear baby #2's little heartbeat going strong. Unexpected dinner date with my favorite man in the world. Oh! I can't forget... my new camera lens was a major highlight.
Cravings:  Flavored sparkling water and apples with peanut butter.  Conner and I have been eating peanut butter straight out of the jar.
Symptoms:  Hello nesting! With the realization that this baby could be here any day, I've been going crazy finishing projects and cleaning the house.  Braxton Hicks contractions have been making themselves known a ton these days.  Wow, they are a lot stronger and more frequent this time around!
Looking forward to:  At this point, I'm looking forward to crossing items off the "get-done" list.  I'm pretty committed to finishing the nursery this week and then I need to pack a hospital bag. Let that last sentence sink in... yes, it's finally time to pack a hospital bag!

Solo shot of the baby.





HALLOWEEN 2015

This weekend had so many moments where I just wanted to lock myself in my bedroom and escape the stress that a little two year old can bring on.  I'm accustomed to high stress situations at work with some serious money on the line, but somehow a two year makes that stress seem so easy to deal with.  There were so many moments where I just wanted to hand him off to someone else and walk away.  But then something happens and I laugh so hard my sides hurt and all is good again.

 

So let me tell you how Friday went.  Conner had his 2 year doctor check up on Friday, and I was looking forward to it for a long time.  I think the problem started when Joe said he needed to stay at work a little late and couldn't meet me. Then I found out that Conner puked on his pants at daycare, and he didn't have another pair of pants to wear.  (The temps were in the 40s by the way.) Instead, he had a summertime romper.

 

After I got there to pick him up 20 minutes late, I was hoping that I could just wipe off the puke and have wear those dirty pants to the appointment.  Work with what you got, right? That didn't work.  His pants were rinsed and they were still wet.

 

So there's that.

 

His awesome daycare provider did let us snatch an extra pair of pants from another little boy.  Yes! And then Conner for the first time ever decided to jump in a mud puddle as we headed out to my car and got everything soaked.  pants. shoes. romper. (he still had that on since he didn't have a shirt.) We were back at square one, and then he decided to be so traumatized by that that he just cried. the.whole.time.

 

And there's that.

 

We got so lucky.  I had a pair of shorts and long sleeve t-shirt in my car from who knows when.  So as the time quickly ticked away, we hurried and changed in the car and got over to the appointment as soon as possible.  Nothing makes you feel like an awesome parent more than walking your toddler into a doctor's office in shorts while the weather is cold.

 

I can't even tell all the details that just kept making this afternoon go downhill because I'd be typing forever so I'll just hit the next main point.  Once we got into the exam room, the nurse wanted to prick his finger to check iron levels.  And this is where I instantly got mad that Joe skipped out on the appointment.  They wanted me to hold Conner so they could poke his finger and get blood.  Yeah, right.  It was a 10+ minute battle with the nurse and I trying our hardest to get Conner to be still to quickly get the blood.  We have a lot of boys on my side of the family so trust me when I say that Conner's strength is absurd for his age.  I've always called him my little Samson.  I got to the point where we laid him on his back, and I laid on top of him and he still managed to twist himself onto his belly.

 

Then from there it was blood everywhere.  On the walls. exam table. belly. face. legs. arms. everywhere.  Then we had the pleasure to wait for the doctor for over an hour to do her exam.  And then we finished with a flu shot on top.  There's even more still that went downhill, but we'll just end Friday night there.

 

Let move on to Saturday.

 

I consider this year's Halloween a success (if you lower your expectations).  Conner nailed it looking cute in his dinosaur costume this year.  I admit, it's the same costume he wore last year, but it fit, so we rocked it.

 

Snoozin' on the way to trick or treating since there was no nap Saturday afternoon.

 

 

The weather was cold and rainy, go figure. Thank you to the GT Mall for having an indoor alternative to trick or treating.  We met up with Shannon and the boys at the (crowded!) mall and went through about half of the mall collecting candy, stickers and store coupons? Just go with the flow I guess.  By the time we hit Target (and only 1 stop from Auntie Anne's), Conner decided it would be a good time to start having a breakdown unless we let him go into Target.

 

At that point, we broke away from Shannon and the boys so Conner could have his Target fix.  That of course meant that he wanted to run and hide between all the clothes racks and aisles.  Typical two year old. Joe and I finally coaxed down to the toy aisle to let him look around.  We actually found a couple of wooden trains for about $2 each, so we let him pick out a couple instead of going around for more candy.  That was a perfect alternative.

 

 

Afterwards, we hit up Joe's grandparents' house for a little visit.  Just a side note on the one of the many reasons I love Joe's grandma - at 80+ years old she still dresses up on Halloween to hand out candy.  That woman is the best.

 

 

 

As for Sunday, not much happened there. Conner was pretty sick and snotty nosed so we stayed home all day.  I conquered a lot on my nursery to-do list.  Joe got some stuff done around the house and took some time to catch up on sleep.

 

Highlight of the weekend (besides my cute little dinosaur), I ordered a new lens for my camera that got delivered this weekend.  Talk about being super excited for this little baby to come and take some precious photos!