Update

Well, we moved from the hood to paradise, basically. Chicago style paradise, which doesn't mean hotdogs or super deep dish pizza, but we moved north in Chicago. We have a large back deck, a small yard, free heat and laundry, and we are steps (like 50 steps) from a giant, awesome, green expansive park. My commute is longer. It means I am on the bus an hour each direction every day. BUT, everything else is far far far better.


E. climbs trees now too. And he's really good at it. He was made for it! He can climb anything, this kid.


Work is not so good right now and hasn't been for over a month. I'm not sure when (or if) it will get better. I feel as if I must need to reexamine my career...but this isn't the time to do that as I need to have a job and at least it pays pretty well.

I'm getting a lot of pressure from my family about E's behavior. He is an intense kid who likes to push boundaries. We don't always know what to do about it. My mother seems to think he's going to be a bully and that we are to blame. It's very hard having him around her when she constantly is on him for every little thing he does. We have rules in our house, but they are not the same as hers. I don't know what to do about it, and every time we have to see her I worry for days about what he might do and what she might say. It makes me a very stressed parent. This week, my brother is in town, so I am extra stressed because we will be around them a lot. It doesn't help that E is 3, and that he's still adjusting to the move (we moved may 1st). Of course my mother swears that moving isn't a big deal and doesn't get why he's having a hard time. We moved a lot as kids, and she thinks it was easy for us. In my case, I know I was too afraid of her to seem like it was anything but easy. Also, our first move was when I was 8.

"Every kid is different, he's a bit more sensitive", isn't enough for her. Of course, this is the same mother who came down on me for holding him too much when he was a baby. Can you hold a baby too much?

I'm very sad and frustrated. Being a mom of a kid going through 3 is hard enough. It really is. I wish I had some support from her...but I should know that's not something I would ever get.

Here are some great pics from the weekend. Sorry to be such a downer. I just feel alone right now, and so much like I need to wrap my family up and take them far far away from her.

e and his "best friend" and cousin.

putting his hat out for candy

I'm coming back

and I have a lot to update on. Big life stuff. not much (any) crafting, but lots of other things. If you ever read me, please keep me on task to do this update. I feel like I need to blog. Even if I don't have time to very much anymore.

E is 2. and so smart and so fun. Here is a picture of him. He's changed so much.


he did his own hair here, and ate too much sugar.


a visit to the zoo during our week on our own, that's for the update, but i love this picture.

also from our week on our own. He's walking the dog and dressed in an outfit of his own design.


Us saying goodbye to mama.


Kicking back in jammies in the yard on st. pats day.

Hernia, furloughs, birthday countdown, and where the hack i've been

could they BE any sweeter?

Ok. So I've been away forever. Literally. Well, literally, a month. it feels like forever though. I've been away trying to work more efficiently at my job. That means no blogging at work. Would I actually ever have blogged at work? guilty. yes.

Because i work for a state university that is struggling through a financial crisis right now, I decided my job wasn't so much of a sure thing anymore. Why do I think this? well, it's a combination of them telling us so AND the furlough. We are all being furloughed 4 to 10 days. Thus the never blogging. That coupled with the fact that I've been doing more hours for the dog training and also coupled with the fact that my little baby is quickly approaching his 2nd birthday (which means a lot, but it means he's taking off in all kinds of directions). Link with that the fact tat J has been sick a bunch, her job ended so I'm working more hours and we're trying to sell stuff to make up or a 2 source income loss (furloughs and a lay off).

Then on Thursday of last week, something more happened. I woke up with a bad stomach ache. I felt bloated and sore al at once. Looked at my stomach and low and behold, I had a lump protruding from underneath my belly button. What the? I suffered through it Thursday. made an appointment with a new Dr. for the beginning of march and carried on. In discomfort. I also had a cold. I was coughing a lot. Every cough hurt. Went home. told J. She was like, well, maybe you should see a Dr. before that. I thought, eh, maybe. Friday. more pain. larger lump. Ok. So I went to the er to find that my suspicions were correct. I had an umbilical hernia. My brother had one too, last year, so I guess it must be genetic. They tried to push it back in. OUCH. When they couldnt, they decided to admit me and correct it surgically. Great.

What does this mean? Well, it means a lot o things. I'm on sick leave for the week. I am recovering from minor abdominal surgery. I get lots of rest, lots of olympics. I have a more normal looking belly button than I've had in years (see, it was looking funny for a while. it just started with the hard lump on Thursday).

Oh, and I can;t pick up anything heavier than a gallon milk carton for 6 weeks. E. is about 30 pounds. Which means J is on duty 24 7 and i can only talk to him. and kiss him. it's very hard. He's a very physical kid, and I find myself really missing him.

His birthday is Sat. and we have J's parents coming from MN. My mom and fam (who have been great through all this hernia business) will come too. But that's it. Small party. I can't believe he's going to be 2. He talks like crazy now (4 to 6 word sentences) and uses the potty a little. He knows when he has to poop, but has a hard time with pee. Sometimes he makes it to the potty, sometimes not. But every time is a win. And we're not in a huge hurry at all. We have switched to disposable diapers till I'm better. I'm the diapers washer, and J doesn't need that to add to her duties. The laundry is in the basement. Sorry environment.

Well this post is everywhere. For real, I hope that the promised squirrel will be done this week. I've been pretty remiss, but also, pretty overwhelmed for as long as I can think Sorry Leslie. I hope you still feel like a winner and are still reading.

Some recent cute pics!

table surfing. kid loves to climb

cousins

no time, just a little holiday cheer

a tree!!!!



I mean it...I don't have time. I'm in the midst of seeking career advancement, christmasing, mothering a very needy toddler (needy in a good way, he's just got a lot going on right now)

We are so far from being done with christmas decorations and gifts that i feel a little sick thinking about it. But that might be the chocolate i just downed too....can you say sugar high?

The squirrel design is coming slowly and sorry leslie, is kinda on hold until after christmas! hope you're still reading and not disappointed. I've scrapped a couple designs because they didnt seem cool enough.

Last weekend we got a tree, at hmo dpoe. Twas fun and easy and less stressful and expensive than a treelot. That doesn't stop me from feeling a little bad about getting a tree from a big box store...i mean we are a diy christmas family, but we just can't afford a nice tree from a lot or nursery and we can;t do the driving to the country this year, which we have NEVER done, for the record. Last year, since we were out of town from the 2oth to the 27th, we didn't get a tree at all.

E. is loving the tree. He says hi to it every day. We just got the lights on it last night, so it's not even decorated yet. It smells great. Just not as far along as it was, pre baby.

Hope you all are staying sane. I know we aren't.
some christmas pictures

smile for the camera!

Preview

where?

lights from our adventure at the zoo.

I've been completely remiss of late, not posting, not commenting. It's like I did the 30 posts in 30 days challenge (I think I did 29) and then i dropped away with little else said. I've actually been quite busy. That's the reason for my absence. Quite busy, and some of the things that fell off behind my blogging efforts needed to be caught up on. Like folding laundry. and other stuff. Seriously, i've barely even been on facebook.

So what has been going on? Our staycation was awesome. Then it ended and the week that followed was hell on wheels. Just busy and too fast. Peanut has decided to nurse all the time again. And is going through a Mama period, so I miss him, but I know it will change eventually. I just get a few fewer hugs and cuddles.

He had a well baby appointment and that was good. He is 26 lbs now...and I forget all the other vital information. He got a DTP booster and didn't even cry. Just looked at it, and then at the nurse. Said owie. He got a bandaid and that was it. J had to work so I had to take him myself. The hardest part was getting his weight and measurements since he didn't have time to transition into the room. He kind of freaked out because he was afraid. Poor guy. He made it, but he didn't like it. He did have a rather swollen spot on his leg from the injection for a few days. It went away and he seems fine now. oh, and aparently he has an extra tooth. Anyone ever hear of such a thing? It's coming in a little sideways between 2 other teeth. Good times.

This weekend, E's cousin K (who is 5) came over and stayed the night on Saturday. That was fun, as e loves his cousin. I feel bad though, because e beats on k, and k is so nice and well behaved he never fights back.

Other than all that, and folding long ago cleaned laundry, I've been working out some sketches for the squirrel. It's fun making a squirrel. My dogs loves them. I may have to make her one too.
I've also been making a lot of bread. If you want to feel like a total kitchen genius, learn how to make "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day". It's Delicious and super easy.

Ok, I'm supposed to be doing something else. I better get to it.
Thanks for reading and understanding that I'm busy!! I'll try to post more again soon.


evolution? or just another human?I love this human!!






hugging the baby gorilla

Thanks for calling me out of my cave of silence, Kristen!! You look great!!!

Holiday Spirit

me (looking puffy) and e: he wanted to get down

So I have a long weekend, and we have really been taking advantage of it. Yesterday we went to the Christkindlmarket downtown for some delicious wine from a boot.

Peanut enjoyed the fact of (though not the length of time on) the train we took to get there. The market itself was very crowded, and it was too crowded for our very walkie toddler to be walking. But we had promised him he would be walking and not in the ergo the whole time, so once we got someone more clear, we let him walk. That was when we found an awesome sax player playing some great festive tunes.  As is often the case (or always the case) he had his case open for folks to put money in. I gave the peanut a couple quarters. He shyly put them in, sneaking up and then back again, and then he asked for more.  i gave him another, same thing.  then i was pretty much out of money. so he says more, does the sign for more, and jumps up and down. So i say to him, knowing it's the wrong question, more music? He looks me flat in the face, no, more Money!

it was really cute.

today we went to the free zoo. it was awesome.  we went late in the afternoon and lucked out because it was also the first night of zoo lights. So much fun. I think this christmas is going to be awesome.  Watching p watch and experience the world is probably my favorite thing about being a mom.  We want to make the lights at the zoo a yearly tradition. I will post pictures from that later.

another cute cousin shot from turkey day

thwartsville

i do, i do....i do, i doooooooo.

thwart

1. To prevent the occurrence, realization, or attainment of: They thwarted her plans.

2. To oppose and defeat the efforts, plans, or ambitions of

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

Today, I had an early appointment training a dog. I got all parked and got my stuff, went in the trunk to get my alternate bag, set my keys in my bag(thinking literally, "i will bring this bag"), decided 3 moments later I didn't need said bag, forgot keys were in there, closed the hatchback went into front of car again, locked the doors, began to walk away, realized I wanted the bag afterall, reached in pocket for keys, and remembered location of said keys. Thankfully, I had my phone, so I called j right away and she and peanut hopped on a bus to meet me. pretty thwarted. I went to my appointment and it was good. I got out and J and e were just about there. so I met them walking, got the biggest hug ever from e.

The reason I feel like I'm in thwartsville now is in part due to a general sense I've built up all day.

Like right at this moment, I'm trying to blog and I'm having a hard time. i'm sleepy and hungry, but before that I had to feed the dog, before that the cat was pestering me, before that the baby had woken up and was having a hard time getting comfy again. All of that started to happen as soon as i sat down to blog.

other thwarts arts of the day?

little old ladies at the grocery store in front of every thing i needed

peanut tried to thwart everything

ok' I'm actually dozing between lines. I'll post more tomorrow.

foto story friday: fall frollic

c'mon!

this way!

a buck!!

cool, i climb

yeah!

help from mommy is good too

and mama

under, i fit

another deer, time to rest against this tree

Perfect Fall Day

Here in Chicagoland, as everywhere, I think, the weather has been crummy since, well, for a while. We had a mediocre summer, a crummy start to fall with very cold temps and lots of dismal rain. My backyard is a mud pit. When I say that, and I mean dismal, it rained for days, it makes what I am going to say next all the more meaningful. This weekend made up for everything!!

Made up for the days as dark as evenings, for the constant battering rain, the 45 degree days with gooey leaf puddles, made up for everything.

We took Peanut to the north park nature center today, kind of a wild place in the middle of the city. It feels like you are in the woods, though you can hear the traffic go by and the planes overhead from time to time. It's so beautiful and serene. And what's fun is being able to let peanut run free because there are no cars to worry about or houses for him to walk into. There was even some very interesting deer drama between two stags courting a doe. It was quite interesting. I was in heaven watching Peanut enjoy nature the way I do.

I will post pictures later. I want to now but my computer is very slow and I'm not in the mood to deal with it. Downloading the camera takes awhile.

this is a picture of peanut at a different nature center with his mama. She gets him out and doing things often.

one or two brief last notes...I want to without sounding pathetic, say that i really need to lose weight and am looking for some busy person ideas for that. I saw a picture of myself today that I couldn't believe.

Anyway, if you have any ideas, drop me a comment or two. And read my other posts this week. 8 posts in 8 days, and only 3 comments: thanks Leslie, Meg and Kristen!

leapin' leopard

with mama

suckers!!

bay? bay? (band? Band?)

our little leopard on the way to the parade

pumpkin carving on the night of halloween

Halloween was sick house here, but the previous week there was a neighborhood parade and trick or treating in the stores in our hood. Peanut had a blast. There was a marching band. He LOVES marching bands. Sadly, we got the tail end of the band and he wanted to follow them where they were going. He stood watching them saying, "bay? Bay? C'mon? Bye!!"

Monday Moody Mahem

hat!!

I am moody. He is moody. The sky turned cloudy and sunny all at once, and that too is moody. How many meltdowns this morning, let's see....
y'know...i'm too moody to list them. Let's just say, a bunch. And one was because I wouldn't let him pick up the dog poop. That one actually had tears involved. And him trying to run back into the house. yeah, that kind of day.

picking flowers in the yard, deep in thought.

sleeps with a fist.