not so irrational fear

Back in high school, we went on a family vacation to San Diego.  One of the highlights of this vacation was a visit to Sea World.  It was an awesome day with beautiful weather until my brothers and I decided we wanted a snack.  Adam went up to the churro cart and got one for each of us.  He handed me mine and then I stepped away into the sunshine to eat.  After I stepped away the nice lady at the churro stand told Adam that we need to be careful eating out in the open because the seagulls will try to grab your food and she suggested that we eat under the awning next to the stand.  Being the nice brother that he is, Adam grabbed Ben and went to stand under the protection of the awning...leaving me out in the sun just to see what was going to happen.  About 2 minutes later  a huge seagull swooped down and literally grabbed the churro out of my mouth, scaring the ever living s*#@ out of me. 

Cut to November 2011 when I started my new job in Bismarck and discovered that the grounds around our building are swarming with giant turkeys that are not shy at all about coming right up to the building.  One day there was a turkey right in front of the door, tail fanned out, staring at me through the glass and I had to have someone come and chase it away before I would step outside.  Now that spring has come and gone it appears that the turkeys have procreated.  There are two different mama turkeys that each have 6 - 7 babies that follow them around all over the place.  For someone with a completely justified fear of birds to have to look out their window every day and see 100s (OK so maybe not 100s but a LOT) of turkeys roaming around all over the place sends me into a not-so-mild panic each and every time.   

 

This is just one of the mama turkeys and 6 of her babies.  The babies are getting HUGE and really aren't even that cute.  Who knew that any kind of baby animal could look as ugly as a baby turkey? OK, so maybe I am a little biased.

long time gone

Holy cow...I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post.  I am also having a hard time with the fact that August is coming to an end which means September and preschool are right around the corner (for that whole story see what happened to july? for more on that).  We have been to North Carolina and back (more on that later), cried during the Olympics and then cried some more because they are over, had Uncle Addy staying at our house for 4 wonderful days, finally spread grass seed in our yard and are currently watching with great anticipation for some green to start popping up all over our currently nothing-but-dirt yard.  No wonder August is disappearing!

First off, the summer Olympics.  Some people may already know this but for those of you who don't...I have a minor (OK maybe not so minor) obsession with watching Olympic swimming and especially with Michael Phelps and I can honestly blame it all on Cayden.  Before the 2008 games in Beijing, I had never really spent much time watching or caring about the Olympics.  They were on and I would sort of keep track of the medal count but never really watched any of the events.  Then came August 2008 and me about 7 1/2 months pregnant with Cayden.  I don't know how it is with other women but when I am pregnant some sort of new TV show or event catches me and reels me in big time.  With Harper it was "The Office" and with Cayden it was Michael Phelps and the summer Olympics.  I barely slept during that week and got so excited that at times I even managed to get my huge pregnant self standing on my bed or bouncing on the couch to cheer.  Over the course of the next 4 years, my obsession did not wane and I made sure to watch every TV show or news story that featured or even mentioned him.  As Cayden became more and more aware of what Mommy was doing he began to recognize Phelps and has even thrown a complete tantrum because there wasn't any more to watch of him at that particular moment.  Needlessly to say, we had a great time watching swimming (and diving and beach volleyball and volleyball) and Mommy cried A LOT!



This is the best I could get of the kids together in the Team USA gear!  I even got Cayden to start saying "Go Team USA"



As for our trip to NC...if you have about an hour I can tell you the full story of our horrible travel days that started with our final flight of the day (on our way there) getting turned around back to Atlanta about 15 minutes prior to landing in NC on time, canceling of said flight once back in Atlanta, nasty Delta representatives, 2 hours waiting for our bags, a very expensive vehicle rental and subsequent 4 1/2 hour drive and the stealing of my debit card number that resulted in someone removing $500 from our checking account via a Mexican bank.  We did get lots of time time to relax at Pop and SuSu's new lake house (know to all southerners now as Bottiwood) followed by a wedding in the rain.  Mandy and Josh wanted an outdoor ceremony and that is what they got.  They were lucky enough to be under the gazebo and had no idea that the rest of us were getting soaked as we sat and watched them say their vows until the ceremony was over.  It was funny, special and exactly what they wanted (an outdoor wedding with the mountains in the background).  Our trip ended slightly better than it had begun but still resulting in a 2 1/2 hour delay of our last flight of the day on our way home.  On our flight back to Atlanta that first day there was a guy sitting behind us that made a very true and pretty funny joke that pretty much sums up our whole crappy travel experience...What does DELTA stand for?  Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport!  I also just have to mention the irony of this awful travel in that it was the worst travel experience I have ever had and just happened to be the first time in over 2 years that Jake and I had flown together.

Here are some pictures of our NC trip (from my phone because of course on the trip from hell I also managed to forget my camera) and the rest of August so far:







Uncle Addy helped him stuff his cheeks with cheese...YUM!

 

Chilling with Unci Bun at Bottiwood.

 

Playing video games at the airport in Minneapolis...he had been asking since Greensboro (two airports ago). 

                                                                                  The didn't even make it out of the airport parking lot in Bismarck before passing out...and yes, Cayden is wearing his Team USA swimming shirt again.

 

He thought he was super funny wearing two sunglasses and yes, his Team USA swimming shirt again.

 

He really does love his sister, even enough to share his Capri Sun with (and his Team USA shirt because he is wearing it again).

 

 

where did my baby go?

OK, so I know my last post asked who is this creature referring to Harper who we now affectionately and frustratingly call Hurricane Harper but this week I now have to ask where did my baby go?  I had this horrible realization right around her first birthday that our house no longer had any babies and that we really don't even have two toddlers.  We now have a toddler and a preschooler.  I swear that at the exact moment I had this thought, Harper grew up.  It was like overnight she decided that she was a big girl and she even looked the part.  They say that your younger kids always do things a little sooner and seem to grow up a little bit faster because they are trying to keep up with their older siblings but I wasn't sure I really believed it.  I believe it now!  Maybe it's just the hair or mommy's crazy emotions (the Olympics are making me cry multiple times a day) or maybe she is just growing up too fast.

who is this creature?

This little creature has recently invaded our house.  It is approximately 2 1/2 feet tall, close to 20 lbs, has strawberry-blonde hair and answers to the name Harper.  Don't let the sweet smile and big blue eyes fool you, she is CRAZY!  It happened about 2 weeks ago and I was hoping it was a fluke but overnight my good, sweet baby girl became this loud, screaming, tantrum throwing, toddler who doesn't want to go to sleep at night and who has decided to shoot Mommy these wicked little looks that say "I know what you want me to do and I am NOT going to listen."  Daddy compares her to a tornado the way she rips through every room in the house grabbing whatever toy or object is within her reach (especially if it belongs to her big brother) and getting Cayden to chase her around.  Our house was never really all that quiet with dogs and babies but now that we have a preschooler and a toddler both running around it truly is a circus.  Now that Harper has entered the wonderful world of toddler-hood, it's time to start the countdown to the magial age of 4 when, as I hear it from other parents, the terrible twos and horrific threes become a distant memory.

This pic was taken right before Hurricane Harper ripped through the living room and spilled Cayden's chocolate DQ shake all over the floor, the couch and her pretty pink outfit!

This is a more accurate reflection of the way she moves around the house.

what happened to july?

Sitting at work this morning, I looked at my calendar and realized that August is just around the corner...like next week around the corner.  I have no idea what happened to July but boy did that month disappear fast.  I know we had nice weather, played lots, worked hard and visited Great Grandma and Grandpa and made one very hot and sweaty trip to the zoo.  I was really hoping that July would slow down a little because with August comes a whole bunch of stuff I am not quite ready for...swimming lessons that make for busier evenings, work deadlines, weddings with lots of travel and Cayden's first day of preschool.  I know that most of these things are good (with the exception of the work stuff) but crazy days and busy nights mean time racing by even faster and winter weather inching closer and just the thought of having to drop Cayden off at school for the first time makes me breakdown into tears.  Even though he has been going to daycare since he was about 6 weeks old preschool is a whole other story.  School is where big kids go, not my baby.  He has already grown up too fast, gotten too big (he only has about 2 feet to go before he is just as tall as I am), gotten too smart and even developed a littl bit of an attitude that comes out when he thinks Mom is being stupid.  Going to school means he is one giant step closer to leaving home and leaving me, my little sidekick who has done everything and gone almost every where with me since the day he was born.  Nope, I am not ready!

Here is what we've done so far in July:

Mr. Smarty Pants

For those of you who don't know about big boy toys, the newest thing that is all the rage is bay blades.  Basically they are a fancy top that spins and if you have someone else with you, your bay blades can battle by spinning them on the same surface and hoping they bump in to each other and one can knock the other one over or interrupt its spin.  Cayden has learned all about them from the big kids at daycare and is currently obsessed.  He convinced me (which isn't all that hard to do) to buy him one while we were out shopping the other day.  One would think that something that is basically a top wouldn't require much assembly but that would be WRONG!  It took me a while to figure out how to put the bay blade together and actually needed Cayden's assistance.  That's right, my 3 year old had to show me how to start putting this stupid thing together.  Once it was together it was time to spin.  In order to spin the bay blade, you put it on this little piece of plastic and pull the little rip cord.  However, you first have put the little rip cord into the plastic thing.  Again, Mommy was having some trouble figuring out how and where the rip cord goes in so Cayden stepped in to give me some direction.  His exact words..."Mommy, turn it over like this.  See this little picture?  It tells you how to put the string in.  That's how you do it."  Jake and I really messed up having kids that were smarter than us!

oh how i wish...

For the month of July, our daycare schedule changed a little bit and thanks to my awesome job I am now able to stay at home on Monday mornings with my kiddos.  I can't even begin to tell you how nice it was to not have to get up early and rush out the door first thing in the morning after a very busy weekend of traveling and fun with Great-G&G.  Both kids got to sleep in and wake up on their own, I got to ejnoy my coffee in my pjs while getting to actually watch the Today show (as opposed to just listening to it for about 20 minutes while I get ready) and Live with Kelly and nothing was rushed.  It was an amazing morning and it made me wish so badly that I didn't have to work, or at least not work full time.  I swear I just about started crying when I had to leave for work because we had had such a great start to our week.  To keep myself from crying, however, I did flash back to last fall when I wasn't working and was at home all day, everyday and remembered that not all mornings were that great.  Funny how we have to really try hard to remember the bad days because, I swear, 98% of what I remember is always great! 

Cayden brought all his blankets out to the couch and told me he wanted Harper to snuggle with him...so of course, she did (bringing her baby and her own "fuzzies" with her).