"Window" Shopping

On the computer...I'll call it "screen" shopping...

the luxuries I am drooling over...

Dell Studio 17 Laptop (in Tangerine please! :))

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 Mega Pixels
(because my camera can't get a crisp picture of my moving child these days!)

Toyota Prius
(because I hate gas!)

Aside from the laptop (which is becoming an almost immediate necessity), I will not likely be the owner of any of these luxuries any time soon. Oh well, I can dream right?! :)

You've got to be kidding me...

The air conditioner....well, it's not broken. Lovely. Don't get me wrong, I am SO happy that we have a cool house again (it was scorching today!), but a little irritated about the unnecessary lack of air conditioning these last couple of days. Anyway, it's almost embarrassing to admit what the problem was. Apparently there's a breaker that's only connected with the air conditioner that was off. A flip of the switch and wa-la, we have a cool house again! YIPPY!

Sweaty boy = Cute curls

Do you think I have pictures though? Nope. Sorry. I love when it's humid or Tate is sweaty and his hair curls. :)

Why is he so sweaty with the weather as beautiful as it is you ask? Well, our air conditioner broke. It's a good thing it broke now while the weather is so nice and the windows can be open. For some odd reason though, it's been almost 85 degrees in our house since it stopped working yesterday! I have no idea why when it's been mid 70's outside.

Anyway, we are attempting to adjust our routine with Sean's new work/school schedule. Because of Tate going back to daycare full time, he has to get up early every morning. He's been known (at least these last 2 weeks) to sleep in until 9ish and now he's got to get up at 7:15 to get ready and get to daycare in time for Sean and I to get to work or school. This has been rough on him these last 2 mornings to say the least. He is NOT happy when we wake him up. I'm talking, kicking and screaming, won't eat, hitting, flailing about, throwing his breakfast and sippy cup...you name it. It makes it hard to drop him off. So, I decided to slowly inch his bedtime back little by little. Tonight was the first inch. I layed him down a couple minutes after 8:00. He usually is down around 8:45, so we'll see how this goes. I still hear him mumbling a bit in bed. We had wind down time from 7:40 until bedtime and it seems it was more benificial for me. While Tate was watching his "show" (he chose Handy Manny...I'm not complaining, it was a nice break from Nemo!) I ended up falling asleep! Okay, so guess I should inch my bedtime back a little too! :)

It's 8:25 and I am seriously contemplating going to bed! I'll try to make it until 9:00.

I lied...

A couple of posts ago, I said I would post pictures from this weekend. I would if I had any I felt were worth posting. Of the very few I took, the good ones seem to be blurry. That seems to be a common occurrence these days. I need a new camera, a new computer, a new printer...none of these of which I will get any time soon. Although, I will say that I am happy I have a new system to my day to day life! :) I love it. And though a load of laundry a day may seem like common sense to many...there is an anti laundry gene in my family (minus my mom) I believe and a load a day just has never been something I did. So instead, I was left with a pile of 6 or 8 or 10 loads to catch up on over the weekends and I was miserable every second doing it. A load a day keeps my misery away! It's great! Why I haven't done this all along, I may never know. And my planner has come out of it's summertime hibernation and she's been filled with things to keep our family organized and oh how I've missed her!

not that I don't want to spend time with him this morning, but

Tate is STILL sleeping! It's 10:40 and he is snoring away in his room! This has been the most productive morning I have had in possibly, ummmm, let's say 22 1/2 months! I don't know how Tate's daily schedule is going to play out after this morning of sleeping in, but he apparently needed some sleep and I will take it! :)

I have spent much of the last 24 hours trying to get organized for our crazy life that we'll be living now that Sean's back in school. I have re budgeted now that Tate is going to be back in daycare full time (huge expense), I have payed bills, organized in my most wonderful planner what days I take Tate and pick him up from daycare as opposed to what days Sean does. I have planned out meals and grocery lists for the next month, marked important events (that I may otherwise forget in our hectic schedule) that we need to attend/buy gifts for, done a lot of sorting, removed the clothes from Tate's room that are too small and replaced them with some fall items (I LOVE fall!) and have folded and put away clothes that have been taunting me these last few days. Today, we will both get clean (I need a shower and Tate a bath!) which has seemed to have been put on the back burner this weekend and we will also be visiting Sean on his lunch break to go eat with him. :)

I am feeling good about getting organized and hope that I can keep it all up! We'll see. I'm trying out this new flylady.com website in hopes that I can get my house in order! The weather is exceptional today (hasn't even reached 70!!!) and I think I may hear the sweet chatters of a 2 year old through the monitor!

WOOHOO!!!

I got some GREAT deals at a local consignment shop today! We managed to last about 12 minutes in there before Tate decided to start ripping all of the clothes off the hangers and this mommy darted out of there as fast as she could. I bought Tate 2 pair of Children's Place pants and a fleece Polo sweatshirt. I could have spent so much time in there finding all kinds of great things, but I would have had to re hang everything within Tate's reach. The average price for an item of clothing in there was about 3.99 and everything they sold was "gently used" so it all looked practically new to me! I will definitely have to head back there when I am alone someday! All it takes is some good deals to brighten this mommy's day! :)

where's the week gone?!

It's been a while since I've blogged, I know. I get annoyed at the regular blogs I read when someone doesn't post for a long period of time :) so I am that annoying blogger this week. It's been a rough week. I have been ill and finally left work early yesterday to try and get myself healthy. I solid night of sleep last night and some drugs and I was good to go today.

Tate has seriously become a different child this last week. I really don't know what's been up with him, but his drooling was out of control and the doctor seemed to think that his tonsils were probably the culprit of that...although, this last week, the drooling has stopped and along with that, so has the whining and the crying at bedtime. He has suddenly become obedient, sweet and cuddly. Full of hugs and kisses. Kris, his daycare provider told me yesterday when I picked him up that he had by far the best day he's ever had at daycare. She said he was so sweet (not this he usually isn't) and listened to instruction extremely well. She said that he played well with the other kids and interacted well with them and she has noticed that he has been talking SO much more! I have noticed as well. We went to Target tonight and Tate walked next to me while I pushed the cart and at one point Sean went into an isle a few isles down and Tate was looking for him. I told him to say, "Daddy, where are you???" Tate headed Sean's way hollering "Daddy, whey ah you?!!" That's the first time he's put together 3 words into a sentence! As small as this may seem, it was a big deal in our world! It was so cute!

Sean's crazy life has begun. He is starting a new work schedule because of his new school schedule and because of the transition, he works Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday (all 10 hour days) and then Tuesday has school for 7 hours (his first day) and then goes to work for 4 hours, and then Wednesday works for 6 hours! Then, going forward, he has class every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and works every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Seriously, I don't know how he does it. This summer has been SO WONDERFUL having him around so much. He is so sad and keeps talking about how he's going to miss Tate so much because he won't have as much time with him. In his free time, he is usually studying...or sleeping, so it's really hard for him. We are just so happy that in 8 1/2 months, he'll be DONE...at least for a couple of years! He has worked SO HARD and has been so dedicated to doing well in school, work and still finding time for family...he is truly unbelievable! He is one of the top producers at work and manages to get A's in almost every class he's taken and amidst all of the stress, his job as a father and husband is still a priority to him. We love him so much!

We plan to enjoy this last weekend on Sean being available in the evenings after work. After this, evenings will be dedicated to studies. Please pray for him in this last year of school, it is going to be so trying and I am sure it will be hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel at times.

Hopefully we'll get some pictures this weekend. I have been slacking in that department. I'll try to post some in the next couple of days!

last minute trip

Tate and I made a last minute, quick trip to Muscatine on Saturday to pick up Bode. He had been staying there for a couple of days while Chris and Brenda basked in the Florida sun. We were to keep him on Sunday night. The plan was to meet in Williamsburg on Sunday and Cassie would pass him off. On Saturday afternoon, the thought of driving to Williamsburg and back in one day with Tate being forced to sit in the car for that long was just not too appealing. So, we decided on a whim, to drive to Muscatine Saturday afternoon. We arrived in time for a bit of hanging out, supper and about 20 minutes at the (super cold!) pool and then bedtime. We left on Sunday and despite the short time spent there, we had a great time. It was so great to see all the kids together. I love them all so much! We managed to get some cute pictures too...imagine that!

Iowa State Fair

We did the fair tonight. It was so much fun and until the last 20 minutes or so, Tate had a blast! He was DONE by the time we left though. His favorite thing was probably the big slide (see video below) and he really liked the ski lift thing too. It made me a bit nervous because it's so high and you aren't really strapped in, but he sat still and just took it all in. We did a round trip and he cried when we got off. He loved it! He really liked the animals and tractors too of course. He did a little dancing and LOTS of eating. He loved the traditional fair food...he ate a well balanced meal of a hot dog, french fries, funnel cake and his first taste of cotton candy. I know, I am such a bad mom! He loved the sweets the best...shocker! He ate about half of a funnel cake and a large chunk of cotton candy. Again...see the video below. I think my favorite part was the horses and just people watching. The HUGE Big Boar was unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it...it just layed on its side. I don't even know if it could stand. Crazy. I took pictures, but they don't do it justice at all! It was great weather and a great family activity! :) Tate is snoring in bed and I am heading upstairs to watch the Olympics!

Checking out the animals...

yee haw!

oh, the food...

thank goodness I have such long arms and was able to get this stellar family photo...ha

enjoying the scenery from above...

Tate may be praying that he doesn't fall out of the car in this one...

IA State Fair

the cutest octopus...

...ever.

going to the fair

So I should be in bed right now. I can't sleep because when I lay down, I hack up a lung. Ugh.

Tomorrow (if I"m still alive), we are going to the Iowa State Fair. It's been several (maybe 5 or 6) years since I have attended...not so much a fan of the crowds. We will go after I get off of work, and I am excited! We got free tickets and free food tickets and all kinds of stuff from our work, so that was the draw at first. When I got to thinking about it though, I realized that Tate would probably really love it. There are so many cool things to see and all the animals and tractors will be so neat to him I am sure. I plan to take several pictures...shocker, I know! :) Hopefully I'll get those posted tomorrow night. We'll see how late it is when we get home and how tired I am.

So that's all for now. Nothing much else going on.

Good night!

Gymnastics

Last night Bode was trying to teach Tate how to do a somersault. Bode's somersault is kind of half somersault, half flip. Tate's on the other hand is a bit more cautious...more like a roll...well, it IS a roll. Oh well, he'll learn some day. :)
Here they are each doing their version of a somersault in unison.

Olympic Bound

Computer Genius

This child loves the computer. I made the mistake of letting him "type" the other day and when I took him away from the computer...as you can see, he was not happy. He is so funny, he puts his right hand on the mouse and hits the keys with his left hand. He always rolls the ball on the top of the mouse that you are supposed to use when you want to scroll down. It's amazing the things that kids pick up on! He even looks up at the screen while he's typing to see what it's doing as he hits the keys. Too funny.
He actually looks like he knows what he's doing in this picture...ha!

And this is what he looked like when it was time to get off of the computer.

Wednesday...

Tate's most recent love....Nemo. He loves the movie Finding Nemo and when we say, "what show do you want to watch before bed?" He most recently responds with, "NEMO!". A little show watching before bed gives him a chance to wind down. He gets in a zone when watching Nemo and it's a nice change for us as well. Quite frankly, I was getting tired on watching Little Einsteins, Mickey and Handy Manny all the time. I do like those shows, but it's nice to add something different to the mix. :) Plus, Nemo is one of my faves too!

Tonight we went to Target to pick up some necessities and decided to stroll through the toy isles to come up with some birthday gift ideas for Tate. We were thrilled to see they have Handy Manny toys at Target now! Tate was SOOO excited and we definitely have some gift ideas now! Also, he is always excited about the Little Einsteins toys, cars and "guys". So we will not have a problem finding things for him this year! :-) He had fun just playing with the toys in the isles. Then, he got to play for a while at the play area and then home to go to bed.

Sean is feeling better today, thank goodness! His health issues turned out to be less severe than we originally thought and he is on the mend.

I can't believe it's Thursday tomorrow! Woohoo! This week has flown by faster than the usual week. I am not complaining! We don't have any big plans for this weekend, but are hoping this beautiful weather sticks around.

Sorry, no pictures tonight. I haven't taken any for a few days. I'll get on that and hopefully have some pics along with my next post.

Where has the time gone?!!

He is going to be 2 in 2 months...and he looks like it too! Where did my baby go?

Tater Time Out

The other day, Tate was being a stinker. He did something (I can't even remember what it was now) and he knew it was something that he shouldn't be doing. Right after doing it, he looked at me all nervous and I said, "Tate, if you do that again, you will get a time out." He immediately walked over to the wall and pressed his nose against it and stood there for about a minute like that! It was kind of funny so I had to take a picture. I have never made him stand in the corner or face the wall or anything like that so who knows where he got that. I think he was just disciplining himself or being negative...one or the other. :) I just thought it was funny. He finally let himself out of his "time out" and continued playing.

sick house

Tate had his ENT appointment today and it's looking like he will probably be getting his tonsils and adenoids taken out. :( It's not for sure. We're going back in 3 months to see if they look any better, but things aren't looking optimistic. Ugh! Please pray that his tonsils shrink and he doesn't need to get them taken out.

Sean is having some health issues as well. I won't get specific, but he is not a happy camper and is going to be heading to the doctor tomorrow to get checked out. He has been laying down, resting all day while trying to watch Tate as best he can. He's done really well, he managed to get Tate to the ENT today when he probably should have been seeing a doctor himself! My poor babies!

I barely have a voice left, which isn't too convenient when your job is to talk on the phone all day. My throat is sore and I am just plain exhausted...so to bed I am going.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Here are some pics from our birthday gathering at Chris and Brenda's on Saturday night. Yesterday was the big birthday and we watched Bode while Chris and Brenda went out for supper. It was brief, but still fun. Bode is hilarious. He and Tate played well together tonight and we watched the end of Finding Nemo (which Tate LOVED) and the beginning of Ratatoullie (spelling?). HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!

Prayer

Tate was starting to eat lunch a couple of days ago and I was picking up the living room from his morning shinanigans and I looked into the kitchen and he was praying! He had his head bowed, his hands folded and he was mumbling. It was about the sweetest thing in the world. I had my camera in arms reach, so I snapped this picture. Although, he was looking at me by the time I took the picture, he was still mumbling his prayer and acting very serious. He takes his praying very seriously and never forgets. He is also drawn to prayer several times throughout each meal and expects that we pray frequently during our meals...whenever he bows his head and folds his hands, he expects us to do the same.

A great night

I went on a shopping spree tonight....for FREE! It's great when you have nephews that are older than your child is because you end of getting a ton a free clothes. It was so much fun and I walked away from Chris and Brenda's tonight with 2 HUGE boxes full of clothes! YIPPEEEE! This was way better than taking advantage of the tax free shopping this weekend. :)

We hung out at Chris and Brenda's to celebrate Chris's birthday (it's Monday) tonight. It was really fun. They had sushi which was SO YUMMY as usual (thanks Chris!) and then we ate Minnesota Chocolate Cake. MMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! We stayed up until the wee hours playing cribbage and chatting. It was such a great time. I need to head to bed now...it's 2:30 am! Ugh!