Haircut Trauma

Oh the joys of getting the lad's hair cut :) This time I decided to skip my salon and go to a kid friendly place. My salon is great with him but after two haircuts there, he cries if we pull in the parking lot :( I thought if we went to a new place there might be less tears.

We chose this place and it was really cute ;) Z was mesmerized by it.....he looked around, checked things out and seemed totally unaware of what was about to happen. They called us in and as soon as Z saw the high stool, he ran! I ran after him, found a truck for him to play with but it was too late....he was sobbing! I told the lady to skip the cape and asked if he could sit on my lap. She said it is much easier if we can strap them in. We did and the tears (and now snot) continued to flow. She put on the movie and I handed him a lollipop but he was too far gone to want anything but out of that chair.

At this point he was starting to frighten the other little patrons. "Why is that boy crying mommy?" "What is wrong with him?" It was a nightmare! He kept looking at me with these longing eyes but he needed his haircut so there was nothing I "could" do ;) I told her to cut it short so that we wouldn't need to come back for quite awhile. His last cut was in March and I think only having to bring Z to have his hair cut 3 times a year is the way to go :)

When it was all over, I took him out of the chair and gave him a big hug. He got his prize and lollipop and I got the honor of paying $17 for a child haircut! Are they kidding? Yes he got a lollipop and a prize (a silly "elfsize" notebook) but I think $17 is a bit much! She didn't even wash his hair! My haircut costs $26 (I know it is a great deal) and I get a shampoo and style!!!

The kid friendly salon was adorable, the hairdresser was very nice but for only $5 I can bring Z to my salon where they have lollipops and he can cry and not frighten other children :) I think we will wait until the holidays before going through this again.

Our Linen Annivesary

Happy 4th Anniversary S! It was four years ago today that we wed under a Blue Moon (it was there behind all that fog). What a magical night that was. All of our friends and family under one tent.....laughing and dancing the night away! The food was delicious, the music was perfect (band for cocktails and dinner and the DJ for dancing), the cake was to die for and then there was you :)

Thanks for being my husband for for loving me so much!

Enjoy the dish towels I got you :) I think the 5th year anniversary is called the Recreate Your Honeymoon Anniversary :) We better start saving our pennies! I love you!!!

Weekend Recap....

S is home!!!! Thanks to mom and dad for putting up with Z and I all week :) It was a wonderful week but it was nice to come home and try to get back into a routine. It was nice to come home on the weekend and have S for two whole days (Z was glued to him). The weekend was the perfect balance of family, summer and chores :)

Saturday was a gorgeous day on the east coast ;) We drove home, played with Z and then packed it up to go to the beach! Every year we try to have a picnic dinner on the beach. This ritual has changed a bit with the addition of Z but it is still wonderful. The weather was perfect, the beach was gorgeous and Z was so excited to be there. We were able to distract Z long enough to set up the tent and then we went straight for the water.

It was FREEZING but that did not stop Z, he went right in :) We splashed in the waves, built sand castles, ate our picnic dinner, sipped our wine and enjoyed the scene. I even got a quiet moment when S took Z for a walk. I LOVE THE BEACH! On the way home we stopped for ice cream....it was the perfect summer evening.

On Sunday, S and I painted the dining room. I had originally wanted red but many people urged us to go another way. We picked hydrangea blue and I love it ;) It was so nice to get it all done in one day (this was possible with S home to help and Z actually napping). After painting we cooked all the produce from our CSA and had a very delicious dinner. Have you ever baked Kale? It was so yummy :) We drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top and baked it at 350. SOOOO Good!

Thanks for a great weekend S and Z :) Only 4 more months before S travels again....mom and dad get ready :)

(Sorry no pictures tonight...I can't find my cord!!!)

I'm Sad :(

I feel that I am still new to this blogging world and because I do not have that much time, I have not been able to explore all of the wonderful blogs out there. I have 5 or 6 that I check everyday and I love to read about their daily lives. I feel like I know these women and hope that if we ever met in a bar or at a playgroup, we would get along fabulously :)

Well two of these ladies are calling it quits for awhile. One is going back to school to become a nurse and the other feels she needs to spend more time with her family. I understand their needs to put themselves and their family first and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. That being said.....I am so sad about their blog breaks. They are both fantastic writers and I often find myself laughing out loud while reading their stuff. I am constantly quoting their blogs to my husband and if you were to over hear our conversation, you would think that I was talking about people I knew :) (creepy I know).

Well girls, it has been fun reading about your lives over the last few months. I wish you both the very best. And know that if you ever feel the need to blog again, I will be here to read it.......

:)

A Great Day

Today we checked out my parent's local children's museum and had so much fun! It was clean and full of stations for imaginative play. Z had a blast driving the pirate ship, sliding down the slides, driving the fire truck, fixing the race car and playing in the pizza shop. My dad surprised Z and came to see him play (the museum was right near his work) and Z was so excited to see him. He grabbed his hand and led him around the museum like he owned the place. I was so happy that my dad could share in this fun experience :)

We Made It....

Well as you know, S is away for the week and so I have been staying with my parents. I know what you are thinking...I am 31 years old now and should be able to stay home alone :) Yes I do agree with you on that but I like being with people! I tried living on my own in Grad School and let's just say it was the biggest waste of $6,000! I had to pay up front because I was a poor grad student and I think I may of slept in the apartment 25 times all year! Yes I am a wuss! I hate being alone :)

Well last night, Z and I went home. I had a meeting at 3:30, had to make dinner for a friend who had a baby and we had Kindermusik early this morning. It only made sense to sleep at our own house. The night started off great. We had dinner together, watched some George and both got into our jammies. I read Z his 5 books, gave him his water and tucked him into bed at 7:30. He talked for a bit (very usual) and then started to scream. I ignored it for a bit and then at about 8:40, I went to get him. I brought him downstairs and he started calling "Daddy? Daddy?" and looking around for S. I felt so bad for the little guy and told him that Daddy was away. I offered to let him call him but he cried out and threw the phone. I calmed him down and took a wiff of him. It was a good thing that I gotten him because he had pooped :)

I changed him, let him watch the end of the Baby Borrowers (such a weird show) and then tried to put him to bed for the second time. This time we read two books, got him his water and kissed him goodnight. He immediately started screaming. I got myself ready for bed (yes it was only 9:15pm) and sat at his door while he sobbed "Momma". My heart broke, I went and got him and let him sleep in my bed. He was draped across me and it took me quite awhile to console him and then when I thought he was drifting off...I went to make the move to put him on S's side. This backfired and he started to sob again. I calmed him once again and waited for him to fall asleep. At that point, I pondered moving him to S's side or putting him back in his room. His room has the room darkening shades and that was my only chance of sleeping until 7am....but I might wake him. I decided to chance it and almost had it but I laid him down into a wet spot of the bed (where he had been sobbing). He woke up and started to cry. I massaged his chest and prayed that he would go back down....thankfully he did. I crawled into bed at 10:15, so tired from the nights events :)

This morning, he woke up at 8am!! I was so thankful for the extra sleep (I have a race tonight). During breakfast I asked if he wanted to sleep at his grandparents tonight.....he said "YES!". So we are back here for two more nights. Yes I am a wimp but here I have help and Z is distracted so he doesn't notice that S is missing. If S ever comes to me and asks to take a job with more travel...my answer will be no...I don't care how much money it is for. He works long hours now, commutes a lot but at least he is home every night to sleep :) I am thankful for that!!!

The picture above is of my mom's dog ;)

OK Soda

I am staying at my parent's this week while S is away on business. It has been like a trip down memory lane for me. I have been exploring old photo albums, yearbooks and notes and letters from the past. All this reminiscing made me remember my favorite snack in High School. I loved to come home and eat SunChips (any flavor but French Onion was a fav) and drink OK Soda. Does anyone remember this stuff?? I LOVED it!

My friends and I would drink it all the time and we loved to call the fun hotline "1-800-I FEEL OK". I guess our area was a test market that that the soda only lasted for a little over a year. All good things seem to end too early...."The Brady Bunch" only lasted 4 seasons, the musical group, "The Jets" (I loved "I've Got A Crush On You"), Rainbow Brite (I wonder where my green sprite is?) and of course the Snorks (I loved Snorkland).

What a Weekend!

It always amazes me how fast the weekends go by! This past weekend was jam packed with FOOD, GIFTS, BOOZE and FUN :) We started off our weekend early with S taking the day off on Friday. I woke up to find my birthday present nicely wrapped waiting by the bedroom door. I ran to get it and brought it back in bed with me. I was so excited (I am still such a kid). It was a new video camera because ours broke 6 months ago. I squealed with delight, gave S a kiss and ran downstairs to charge the battery. Our plan was to spend the day at the amusement park and I wanted to bring the camera with us. After all, I have 6 months of footage to make up for!

When we got to the park, Z did not know what to make of it. Where were we? What was this strange place? Our first ride was the carousel, we thought we would ease him into amusement park culture. Well the music was so loud that he started his day in tears. He kept crying "off...go way". We all sat together on one of those benches on the carousel and went round and round. I am so glad we did not try to put him up on one of the horses because this ride really flew! I thought they all went really slow....oh well!

The rides did not get much better from there.....he did not want anything to do with kiddie land (can't say that I blame him, you have to ride without your parents) and sort of liked the antique cars. The train ended up being the big hit of the day. My mom took Z for the rest of the day and S and I did the "real" rides! Man, I must be getting old. I was complaining of nausea and back pain after each jolting ride. I remember going on these rides a few years back and then jumping back in line to go on again and again. Those days are over!! S and I hit about 6 rides and then went to have a late lunch in one of the air conditioned restaurants. I think our favorite ride of the day was the sky ride (you know those peaceful chair lift like rides :). We are a couple of senior citizens I tell you!

After the park we brought home a lobster dinner to share with my parents . An early celebration for my mom and I. It was great! Saturday was another fun party day...this time with my whole family. We got take-out at my sister's house, she made a delicious cake and then there was Guitar Hero :)

Sunday was the big surprise party for my dad. I haven't written about it because I was afraid he would read my blog. My sisters, mom and I planned a huge party for him to celebrate his year of being DG of Rotary. The boys took dad golfing for the day and we had 5 hours to put the whole party together. My one sister cooked, my mom and I cleaned, set up tents and furniture and my other sister decorated. It was really challenging to do all of this work with a 22 month old and a 10 month old to care for. Some how we managed to do it all and I got out of the shower just as the first guests were arriving. We had 50 people come to our Island Party and dad was completely surprised! It was so worth all of the hard work to see his face light up in disbelief. What a great time ;)

So that was our weekend. S got up bright and early for a business trip so I only got about 2 hours of sleep. I am so exhausted! I plan to go to bed super early and hope that I wake up tomorrow with a little less back pain (I lifted so much yesterday) and a little less tired ;)

I hope you all had a nice weekend!

Summer Running

Well I am 10 weeks out from my 1/2 marathon and this last week I came into a bit of a running slump. I was tired, overwhelmed with life and running took a bit of a back seat. To get out of this slump, I have set a new and crazy summer goal! By the end of summer......I hope to run to each of the 5 towns surrounding my town and back to my house :)

Now some of these towns are not too difficult to get to. In fact, I have already run to one of them and it was only 3.5 miles round trip :) The furthest town is about 10 miles round trip and that run will be very hilly....I am saving that one for last!

I know this seems like a very silly goal but I find that I like to run with purpose. I hope to knock off town number two this weekend. That's the one thing I really want for my birthday today...a nice long run followed by a nice long shower (maybe I'll get to shave :)).

Enjoy the weekend and Happy Birthday Mom (yes we share the same birthday, my maternal grandfather shared it too!).

They Are Growing Up So Fast!!!

My little baby bird friends are growing up so fast! Today was a big day for the clan....the babies left the nest for the first time and have been hanging out in the tree branches. They are so cute! One of them is right near the window and so we have been staring at each other all day.

Z can see them all now! He sees the dad (he's so bright) coming in and out of the tree with food and can see the babies moving around. I showed him this clip of a bird hatching and he was very intrigued. We have been talking about how baby birds come out of eggs but I think I am beating a dead horse :) I was not able to find little birds for his nest but I did order him this but I don't think that will help either. Oh well.

I am sad to think that in a few short days (maybe sooner) my bird friends will vacate their temporary home and go to live in the yard. It has been so much fun for S and I to watch them hatch from little eggs and grow to be the little birds they are today. I hope that next year we are lucky enough to have birds lay eggs in our tree again. This has been so much fun!