Halfway through 2010 - Goal "Check In"

The year is flying by! Andrew is getting bigger, work is plugging away, and Brandyn is home for the summer playing house husband - yay!

Just a quick checking in on all the things I wanted to accomplish this year.

- Grow a few of vegetables/fruits/herbs in our back yard. Done. Thanks to my parents who helped us construct and above ground planter box. We had lettuce early this spring, now we have tomatoes, herbs, and a squash plant that grew on its own, out of our compost which we used to accompany the potting soil.

- Participate in the March for Babies. And I'm going to bump this year's goal up a little bit... I'm going to create a TEAM! The race is April 24, 2010. Done! Thanks to my friends - our team had 22 walkers raised $3,450. My friends and family helped me personally raise $1,145.

- My "green" efforts are to *try* and eliminate paper towels from our kitchen and instead use rags. I would also like to purchase only environmentally friendly cleaning products from Method. Done and done. The paper towel thing was much easier than I thought - although guests of our home aren't all on board.

- Date night *alone* (not with friends) with my husband once a month. I can't say "done" cause its on-going, but I'm happy to say that we're succeeding so far.

- Explore community churches to participate in. Well... I Google'd a few churches in our area, and nothing caught my attention. I need to work on this.

- Walk 30-45 min, 2-3 days a week. I'm going to start... TODAY. (Seriously).

When can they tell time?

Andrew needs a clock in his room... and a little lesson on what "weekend" means. This weekend we were visiting friends in Reno. The first night there - he woke up at 5:30 - ouch!! We took him back to bed with us, but he did not fall asleep. The second morning he woke up at 6:30 - MUCH better.

This morning - Monday morning - he woke up at 6:30, I brought him to our bed the same way we did the two weekend morning - and he fell back asleep until 7:30!!!! Meanwhile, I had to sneak out of bed at 7 to get ready. UHG! Why can't he sleep in on the weekends!!

Work from home Fridays...

How I get things done.

The stupid games I play...

Last week Brandyn and I took Andrew to an amusement park for the day. Brandyn was going on a class field trip and we would be chaperoning 40 7th graders from 10:30 am to 5 pm (really, we just checked in with them three times).

When I told a few friends what I was doing - they gave me a little "you're crazy" look. A toddler, all day, out and about, no crib for naps, no white noise, no dark/quiet room, etc... don't get me wrong - I thought it was crazy too. But a crazy challenge that I was excited/willing to take on.

When it comes to taking Andrew to places we've never been before I get this bizarre twist of feelings. Part of me get super nervous about messing up his schedule and putting ourselves in the unknown... but part of me... gets an adrenaline rush for the excitement of seeing him behave and succeed with the challenge!

We've taken Andrew out and done so many different things with him - long car rides, airplane, dinner/bedtime at a friends, sleep over at family's, napping in his stroller, babysitters, etc., etc. And I'm always surprised (and proud) of how well he adjusts.

The thrill of the end result pushes me to do these things, but when they fail, its the fear of the unknown that makes me hesitant to try again. All in all, 9 out of every 10 times we expose him to a different situation... he does very, very well. Its sorta like a game to me, with a WIN at the end (well, most of the time!).

Up next....... camping! Ack!

Water time!!

Butterflies!!

Last Friday, Andrew and I accompanied Brandyn on a class field trip to Discovery Kingdom. One of the highlights - the butterfly habitat!

Out of the mouths of babes...

Andrew is quite the talker - he's constantly babbling something or other. He often talks at you with real purpose, expecting your response. If you ask him a question, he almost always answer "Yeah" and nods his head in agreement (even if you ask him a question to which he should respond "No"). Last night, we started singing. We know its singing cause he dances around and spins in circles.

Some of his words areL

Byeee and sometimes Bu-bye.
Ni-night. (Usually in response to our prompting, but sometimes he says on his own if he's super tired and ready for bed).
Hi! (Short and sweet!).
Nose (Said to get our attention when we haven't interacted with us in a while. He's got almost a "I'm so smart" attitude when he says it.")
Mama and Dada
Aaa-Done (With his hands waving about his head in sign).
Mi (Milk).
Ball
No (Said with a questioning tone - No? You've never heard a cuter word, I promise.)
Hi Dada! (Hopefully soon to be followed with "Hi Mama"!).
Yeah. (Complete with head nod).
Shhh (shoe).
Sock. (And holds it up to his nose and quickly pulls away, mimicking my "Phew - your socks are stinky" game!).