A Hobby for Mommy

Five and half years ago, when I became a mom, every aspect of how I defined myself changed.  Some ways were for the better, others probably not.  If I'm honest, it has taken me the better part of these five years to figure out who I am as "mom."  How do I parent, how do I relate to other moms, school...how has my relationship with my husband or friend changed...how much free time I get, how important is it, how I use it.  This last one has probably taken the longest to work out.  How do I balance being ME with being MOM, when the two are inseparable, yet I need to be defined by more than just that one word!?

In that last year I have recognized and landed on two hobbies that I have grown attached to and that I find both enjoyable and a great source of stress relief.  One, shockingly enough, is running.  Took me about 6 months to stop hating it, but 15 months in I kinda love it.  About 10 minutes ago I signed-up my family of 4 for the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Dash.  Woot Woot!  The other is baking and making my baked good beautiful.

That one's not a surprise.  I've loved it my whole life.  So much so that my mom never bothered with the Easy Bake Oven, but I regularly found real kitchen supplies - even a small electric one year! - under the Christmas tree.  I pretty much took over the Christmas Cookies (an big thing in our family) in high school and college.  More recently I've come to enjoy the challenge of making shaped, themed birthday cakes for my kiddos. 

Which is why I was SO VERY excited when my bestie, who pays excellent attention even from far distances and on very little sleep (thanks to her newborn), gifted me with a cupcake decorating class for my birthday.  I went this past Saturday and had SO MUCH FUN.  Honestly, in another life I may go work in a bakery.  Or at this shop.  Or just bake a lot and get fat.

My teacher was awesome - she's even been on Food Network's cake decorating competition show, and she did win the $10,000 prize.  I want to go spend a million dollars at this store buying all kinds of new supplies and tools.  And I'm brainstorming what additions might be made to this year's Christmas Cookie Tray as a result of what I've learned.

Obviously it was a Halloween-themed event, and we pumped out all these treats in 3.5 hours.  She had everything baked, but we did all the decorating.  I mentally predicted which treat each family member would pick first when I got home, and I am pleased to announce that I was correct in my predictions!  My kiddos, they eat with their eyes first a foremost!

Now I'm going to go eat the brain.  Good thing my one hobby can undo the affects of the other!

Lately with Lady A

Funny that I'd call her that in a blog title, because I never use that name out loud anymore.  In fact, she gets called her full name most of the time, unlike her brother whom I mostly call by one nick name or another.  Funny - it really should be the other way, given the length of their names!

Anywho...

Although I do regularly call her "Baby Girl," it is very clear that she is no longer a baby.  She is doing a lot of growing up these days - I can see it in her attitude (which is much more, um, opinionated these days), her play (which is more creative), her interactions with other kids (she gets what the big kids are doing and tries hard to keep up) and in what she's learning.  One night she set things up for her baby doll to join us for dinner.  She and baby took turns taking bites throughout the meal.

In spite of all this growing, she is still the littlest around here, and sometimes when you're little you just don't get to do certain things.  And Baby Girl is no longer indifferent about missing out on things that the rest of us are doing.  Do not joke with her about staying home while everyone else leaves, lest she leave you with her "Don't Stay Me At Home!" line she demanded at Gommy.  And don't ask her to stay in the car when Mommy and Sam are dropped at a birthday party at the splash pad, lest you suffer a 20 minute melt down.  Chris texted me this picture while we were at the party - when they got home she ran to her room and came back with her swim suit so that they could head back to the splash pad.  She didn't handle the "not this time" all that well.

One day last week, while Daddy was out of town, I took the kids for donuts as a special after-school treat.  She handed me this and told me she was done.  Do all 2-year-olds go through a phase of eating only the parts touching the frosting, or is that just my 2-year-olds?

This morning was our last music class for the fall session.  The kiddos all dressed up for "national wear a costume day" - the music class was at a Baptist church...teachers hands were a bit tied on what she was allowed to call our little celebration!  That would be Mommy's very first ballet costume she is wearing - her favorite of all her dress up items.  Fear not: of the 8 little girls at class today, there were 3 Elsa's. 

We started up a Tuesday morning bible study a few weeks ago, so even though our music class is over, our weeks are still sufficiently full.  She's a good side-kick to have around - and way better at shopping than her brother was at this age!

NCE

So we, as a family, are new to the elementary school.  I don't like to be "new" to anything.  I like to fit in, feel comfortable and at home.  I like to know what's going on and how "to work" a place.  I like to know who everyone is, and be known.  And it frustrates me that arriving at this place takes time, regardless of what the new place is.  But one thing I have learned along the way: the best way to fell connected and at home is to get involved.  So...

I've over-committed myself.  As per usual.  Grade Level Coordinator (for room moms, although I am sharing this job with a friend), Work Room Volunteer (I did negotiate this down to an every-other week commitment), Friday Readers, and this week I will spend the entire school day there teaching Junior Achievement.  And I encourage those around me to get involved, too.

Enter "Watch D.O.G.S."  That's, "Dad Of Great Students."  Their way of getting the Dads more involved at school was to have them commit to volunteer one full school day out of the year, rather than hodge-podge hours throughout the week, like is more my style.  Chris got his turn earlier this month.  I think that when he signed up he mostly did it because he was "supposed to" and he knew Sam would feel special having him there.  When the day was over, it was clear that he enjoyed himself.  It was such a great opportunity for him to see how the school operates, get a picture of how Sam spends his day, get to know his teacher a bit and see how the kids in his class interact. He met some more people at the school - including the Principal's husband, who was there Watch DOGging with his 5th grade daughter (although because he is also a middle school VP, he actually ended up substitute teaching.  Ha!).  He gained some insights I hadn't yet, and Sam DID feel special having him there. 

And I got everyone we live near and are related to involved in our first elementary school fundraiser.  Thanks again for all of your generous donations!  Sam loved everything about the Boosterthon Fun Run - from the prizes he brought home daily (literally, at least one a day for 9 school days) to the running around and getting water cups for 40 minutes with his buddies.  We made a poster so that he could earn an extra prize (obviously.  And the Boosterthon chair posted it on Facebook - woot woot!).  And although I did go to watch the event, I did not volunteer for it - proud of me?!  I wasn't sure if I'd have Annabelle with me or not, or I would have volunteered.  There's always next year ;-)

So I'm over at the school a little bit more each week, feeling a bit more at home each time.  The good thing is, Sam already feels at home and comfortable there - and I guess that matters more than my feelings, right?

Bonus Picture: I was in the PTA room when they were counting box tops one day.  Have you ever seen such a tiny box top?  I cannot imagine what product this cam off of!

The Big 6-0!

Happy Birthday Papa!

In my books, a big birthday deserves a big celebration.  That's just too hard to do from a different time zone.  So...I invited him down here!  And he came, along with Gommy and Uncle Matt and Uncle Kate, for a weekend in Houston to mark the occasion.

The 'rents came in on Thursday morning so they got to see Annabelle's classroom at preschool pick-up.  I was intentionally vague with Sam as to what time they'd be arriving, so they were able to surprise him at elementary pick-up.  He was very excited, and it was cute to watch him run up to them.  They also got to go to soccer practice.  All terribly exciting things, but this is our real life these days!

Friday morning they were actually able to go into Sam's classroom with him to participate in Friday readers.  He felt pretty special to have to readers come with him!  Grandparents report he was a model student while they were there - perhaps I should send them in every week!  And I think the grandparents enjoyed seeing where he spends his days and getting a small feel for the school.  And then they came home to play princesses for awhile.  I do love when I get to let Annabelle direct the play while Sam is at school. As luck would have it, Friday was actually early dismissal for the district, so they weren't able to eat lunch with him.  Instead they used the afternoon off to head out to Chuck-E-Cheese's.  I'm no 5-year-old, but I think that's better than ANY afternoon at school ever could be.

(Please don't tell Annabelle.  She took a 4-hour nap on Friday afternoon and has no idea what fun she missed.  Sometimes there are privileges to being the oldest!)

Matt and Kate flew in late on Friday...fun for the kids to wake up with more people in the house than when they went to bed!  After a cinnamon pancakes with maple/apple topping, some of us visited a new Farmer's Market while others played outside.  We overate on "football food" for the Ohio State game and then loaded up to cheer on Sam at his soccer game.  Fortunately he scored a few goals for his visitors!

Saturday night was the big deal - dinner at a steakhouse, with the kids!  I was obviously nervous about taking them there, but they did really really well.  Especially Annabelle, who sat in her booster at the table for 2.5 hours.  Seriously!  She got a little upset when the well-intentioned server cleared her "bwead" while she was in the potty, but that was easily remedied with a new loaf, just for her.  Sam needed to go outside for a bit, but I don't blame him.  It was a long, wonderful, filling meal!  And a big birthday deserves a big meal, right?  (We also saw a proposal while we were there - fun!)

Sunday was church, brunch, a bit of hanging out and a few airport runs.  The weekend visits always seem to go so fast!  I am happy that Annabelle now no longer needs to be re-introduced to any family members after extended absences, and happy that she still has no idea that Uncle means "boy" and Aunt means "girl."

Annabelle had a couple good quotes from the weekend, unfortunately I can't share them all here.  But here are a few:
"Don't stay me at home!"
"Mommy, I coming!" (said with teenage sass...help me!)

September Recap

So here we are at the end of September - Sam has completed 5 weeks of Kindergarten and Annabelle finished her 3rd week of Preschool!  We've been experimenting a bit, trying to figure our how these new school environments and schedules play into our family's daily and weekly routine.  Although we aren't perfect yet, I'd say we are on our way to a much better rhythm than we every achieved last year.  Hooray for that!

What does this routine look like?  So far like this: Mommy's busiest period of the day is 5:30-9:00am.  Its all downhill after that...or at least until the 5:00-7:30 time slot.  I wake up, run, get Sam up around 6:45 and spend the next half hour encouraging breakfast down his throat (I don't care if you're not hungry, no one likes to be around you when you haven't eaten!) while packing lunches/snacks/water bottles/tote bags.  Monday-Thursday Sam gets on the bus at 7:30 (I drive him on Fridays), then I get my coffee, breakfast and a shower.  Annabelle wakes up anytime between 7:00 and 8:00 and she eats and plays while we get ready for our day.  At 8:50 on Wednesdays and Thursdays we leave for Preschool - our other days are lovely and flexible at this point.

We've adjusted Annabelle's nap time, which over the summer had been pushed way back to accommodate Sam's quiet time.  We now aim for a 12:30/1:00 nap, which is helping her line up with the nap schedule at school.  Good news there is that, after 2 weeks of "resting quietly," she is finally learning to sleep on her nap mat!  Sam's naps officially ended with the beginning of Kindergarten.  We still do quiet time occasionally on weekends, but honestly only if it works into our schedule.

Annabelle gets plucked from her bed at 3:15 to go grab Sam from school by 3:30.  We are home by 3:45...for a dicey period.  Sam is generally tired when I pick him up.  He definitely needs down time and a snack when he gets home, but I'm hesitant to put him in front of the TV for a half hour every afternoon.  He does well if we go straight to a park, but the weather is still a bit unpredictable for that to be an every day thing.  We're going to play around a bit here and see what works best for everyone over the next month.  No regular homework yet (hooray!) but he and I do 20 minutes of reading most days.

Some days the kids manage to play nicely together after school - I think they actually miss each other sometimes.  She has finally taken to dressing up when he does, especially if it involves her princess shoes.  I'm not entirely sure how the "under the table" scenario began, but it involved Sam rubbing Annabelle's back and singing her our "nigh-night songs."  

One of my goals for the year was to allow Annabelle to be a bit more on her own sleep schedule, since her sleep has been determined by Sam's schedule most of her life.  It appears that her nap time will still be bound by school schedules - hers and Sam's - so I am extra thankful for the bus.  Walking Sam to the bus rather than driving him allows me to let her sleep/hang in her bed as long as she wants in the morning.  One day recently she chose to play in her bed until 10:10am!  I watched he on the monitor pull various toys into her bed, always careful that some part of her body was touching the bed.  If you look closely in this picture you can see her playing with Elmo and her doll stroller in her bed...

Annabelle and I have been anything but bored while Sam is at school.  On Monday mornings we take an adorable little music class with some friends.  No pictures, I am too busy playing with her to take pictures.  We've taken several long bike rides, she always asks to keep riding when I think we're done.  We've been playing puzzles and princess and reconnected with her great love of art.  She begs constantly to "Play Paint!"  She's been seen standing in front of her easel for up to an hour.
 

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm enjoying having a few hours of kid-free time a week.  It has allowed me to be more consistent with my very-part-time bookkeeping job and get several doctors appointments out of the way that I've been putting of for...well...2.5 years.  I even had my wisdom teeth taken out on Friday!  I found this sign at the Gyno's office to be particularly amusing.  I've accomplished some kid-free shopping a lunch with some moms from the elementary school!

The schedule has also allowed me to treat each kid one-on-one.  Last week I was able to meet Sam for lunch while Annabelle was at school, and his eyes lit up when he saw a whole "cheesy peesy pizza" rather than a happy meal!  And this week, since she napped on her mat two days in a row, Annabelle and I treated ourselves to some pumpkin treats.  Cookies for her, latte for me!  True story: she saved part of her cookie to share with Sam.

Although Sam is back in Soccer, there has been plenty of play time on the weekends, too.  We are slowly growing our list of "play date friends" in our immediate area, which is nice for all of us.  We've also squeezed in some family outings, including a morning at the park with our community group and an afternoon kids concert at church.  

I cannot leave out the fact that Chris has had a month of transition as well.  He's been settling back into his old/new job quite nicely. He and I made a point to celebrate the grown-up transition in grown-up style with a date to our favorite steak house.  Mmmmmmmm!!!

I think this is going to be a good year for all of us.  It will be a full year, but from the looks of things, they're only going to get more and more so for the next...15 years.  A full year, but a manageable year.  As I was telling a friend the other day, I feel like I'm leaving the trenches of "baby world" and entering some prime "kid years."  And I'm really excited about it!

Her First Day!

My Baby Girl (that's actually what I've taken to calling her these days - Baby Girl.  Only sometimes does she inform me that "I not a baby!") went to preschool this week!  And you know what, it wasn't hard on either of us - not one little bit. 

I will be the first to admit that after 2.5 years with her as my every-present side kick, this mama is very much looking forward to 10 kid-free hours a week.  "You're going to be all alone with no one to play with!" mocked my son.  Umm...I've got plenty to do to fill my time, don't you worry.  Want to know how I spent my first kid-free day?  At a 2 hour PTA meeting and the Gyno.  Par-tay!  Ok, so I did manage to meet Chris for lunch in between, but you get the idea...

But my desire for kid-free time is not what made it so easy for me to drop my baby off this week.  First, this was not a new school environment for either of us.  She is around the corner from Sam's pre-k classroom, she is beyond comfortable in the building and the director already knows her/us.  She has great teachers this year.  Second, she wanted to go SO BADLY.  All summer long Sam and I pointed out to her and talked to her about "her preschool."  She began to comprehend that "Sam has a go kinagawden, I have a go pwe-schoow."  And now she points to the building when we drive past, labeling it as "my pwe-schoow."  She was craving the social interaction, crafts, singing, etc that come with a preschool environment.  And heaven forbid her brother get to go to school all week and she be stuck at home with mommy every day!

So day 1 arrived, and was marked with our new family tradition of Sprinkle Pancakes for breakfast.  She was happy and cooperative for picture taking, excited for her turn to hold the sign.  As we were walking in to the building, as I held her hand, carried a purse, tote bag, nap mat and 2 bags of "school supplies" she cautioned me to, "be carfuw my pit-ture!  Two hands!"  She was quite concerned I'd drop the sign before she'd had all of her pictures taken!

And after the last picture was taken and the glass doors were opened, she marched right in.  She did not, as I'd anticipated, march to Sam's old room out of habit!  She found her room (we'd been there for "meet the teacher") and said hi to her teacher.  I began to sign her in and deposit her water, lunch and snack in the appropriate bins.  When I turned around, she was gone.  Didn't give a kiss, hug or even say goodbye.  I peeked into the room to find her happily examining toys and playing with the other teacher.  I called to her to say goodbye, got a smile back...and that was that.  And I left.

5 hours later I collected a happy, although tired (still learning to nap on her nap mat) girl.  I asked some questions about her day and got more out of her than I anticipated.  Later that night, after nap and dinner, Chris asked one question and the girl started spilling all kinds of information on us.  Honestly, we didn't get that much about Sam's collective days at preschool out of him for the first two months he attended.

"I go pwe-schoow, it's my fiwst day!  I paint.  Miss Kim help me.  Its yewow.  I nap my nap mat.  I Pway bwocks!  I go back my bwocks lwader..."

I cannot wait to see how she blossoms this year.  Her little personality is getting goofier each day, and I love it.  Her teachers have said that she has been quiet so far, but I know that will change soon!

Bonus picture: Start a new job at the beginning of the school year and your wife makes you take a picture, too!