Worth 20 Bucks

I stopped worshiping the sun about 9 years ago. I still continued to sunbathe on occasion, but the last time was 4 years ago (note - that is before pregnancies and the last time I wore a bathing suit, for those of you tracking at home).
I went to visit my friendly neighborhood dermatologist for my regular mole check. My last one was 4 years ago. Not much had changed in general. I had a sun spot on my cheek that got darker during my last pregnancy, but it faded somewhat afterwards. It was still visible and the skin was dry and flaky. He took a glance at it with his super bright light and reached for his "super-freeze gun". When a doctor refers to something as pre-cancerous, well it almost makes your stomach turn. My cheek is still stinging and burning a little. I feel better knowing that I took action before that term didn't include the pre- in front of it. Totally worth the $20 co-pay.

To Be on HGTV

If I lived on the West coast, I'd nominate myself to be on one of those decorating shows. I am at a loss on window treatments for my living room. The 3 windows across are troublesome. I have neighbors across the street and at night you can see straight into our living room (not that I've seen them looking, but I know it's possible). And we face south, so we get lots of day light which can fade furnishings and can waste energy usage. What's a girl to do?
I bid a fond farewell, okay not so fond, to the movie theater look we had going on.





















I found some great striped chocolate silk curtains, fully lined for 50% off at BB&B. A total steal! I have one in my possession, more are coming by mail. Even if the store is out of stock they will order more at the sale price and knock off the shipping cost. I may have buyer's remorse once I see it all in person. Already I realized the top of the panel is much narrower than I thought due to the pleating. Here's a sneak peek on the far window, with my lovely assistant.

Saturday Single Mom

Adrian is at a lacrosse tournament in Asheville for his adult league. Conveniently it's the same weekend as the Bele Chere music and arts festival. It's okay, I'm rocking the single mom routine this weekend. Although I have neglected to take a shower and Nicholas hasn't had a nap, we're still in very high spirits around here.
We went to our regular park earlier than ever before and the playground equipment hadn't reached untouchable temperature yet.





















Seconds after this shot Nicholas landed flat on his back under the ladder. My heart leaped out of my chest. Against better judgment I scooped him up and tried to comfort him. He did not recover at normal Nicholas speed, his pain threshold is pretty good. I carried Travis and Nicholas rode in the stroller back to the car. He says he doesn't want to go to that park anymore. I'm sure he'll change his mind once he is over the trauma, but I don't know if he'll go back on the ladder.

For lunch the boys had Italian wedding soup. It has to be the Progresso brand, others have different noodles and meatballs which do not meet the standards at this house. Can you tell how much Travis likes it?











We were out running errands and I offered to get milkshakes. I was actually turned down. How am I going to use the excuse that someone else just had to have a milkshake so I got one too? I guess I saved money and calories which is nice.
We'll see what the rest of the day holds. I hope it goes well and so does tomorrow. I might not go crazy this weekend. Woo hoo!

To Buy or Not to Buy?

I know it's only July but this has been on my mind recently - do you buy toys throughout the year or holdout to Christmas? We enjoy buying/making gifts for family and obviously, family being the focus of the holiday season. If distance were not such an issue we'd spend loads of time with extended family too. Last year, Nicholas was aware of the holiday because it was discussed at school. We hadn't decided where Santa Claus would fit in for us, but the outside world took care of it and introduced him. He received a couple gifts from Santa - the items he truly wanted and described with great detail and passion. We bought a few other things from "us". In the end, a few gifts we purchased were hidden away and saved for his birthday. We wanted him to treasure each gift from us and from other family and friends.

Nicholas has taken to asking for toys and books throughout the year, not excessively by any means. It's the typical boy stuff like a Batman costume, Transformers toy. He asked twice this week if Santa had come. I have no idea what drove him to think Santa was coming in July unless it came up at school. We have held strong thus far. Really the only new stuff is the occasional Happy Meal or cereal box toy. We did buy a croquet set but that was more of a family purchase even though he was the one asking.

The point I am driving at is, why are we are staying true to the commercialism of Christmas? Do I have to feel obligated to only give my children gifts at Christmas and their birthdays? Is it possible to buy a toy during the year and still enforce the concept that you don't get everything you want when you want it? There is a fine line between making our children happy and spoiling them. But how do we find that line? Especially with the current budget crises that everyone is feeling, I think spreading things out makes more sense than overindulging children for a holiday that is supposed to mean more than presents. We should be the ones who determine when our children can get new things (outside of the necessities like underwear, shoes, and socks). Although Nicholas can get pretty stoked over a new pack of underwear.

I honestly cannot remember how my parents handled requests for new toys during the year. It must not have been emotionally traumatizing in the long term, and I don't think I am spoiled. I may have acted spoiled as a child, but some of that may have been a personality defect that I have conquered. Do any of you remember what your parents did? Or have any of the experienced parents thought this over before? What was your strategy?

A Special Day

Lately the weekends have felt like a hostage situation. Travis must be exhausted from his week at school because he catches up on all his naps on Saturday and Sunday. He will sleep till 8:30 or 9, up for an hour, back to bed for 3 hours. Then he's up for lunch and play time lasting almost 2 hours, back to bed again for 3 hours. Finally he's up for an extended period of 3 to 4 hours before crashing for the night. So yes in total, he will sleep 13 hours at night and then 6-7 hours during the day. At first I thought it was a growth spurt but I honestly don't think he could grow any more. We work in family outings as best we can. Nicholas still naps for 2 hours in the afternoon. And when I can sync up the afternoon naps - heaven!
Anyways, back to my point. Sometimes there's things we want to do and places to go, as a family. Our choice is to delay naps or to interrupt naps which can result in meltdown city. It can make the outings unpleasant. So what are we to do?
This Saturday we chose to separate. Travis went down for his marathon morning nap, and Adrian parked himself for all-you-can-watch manly TV. Tour de France for the most part (Nicholas called it Turtle Fonts. It took several tries to translate that one!). Nicholas and I went on a special outing, just the two of us, reminiscent of pre-Travis days.

• Farmer's Market at North Hills: It's a small market of about a dozen or so tents. And a bluegrass band playing outside the Starbucks/Ben & Jerry's building. We bought another sunflower, one cucumber, and one good sized zucchini. I made mental notes of the loaves of bread, peppers, and hand made soaps for next time.
• Lassiter Falls: It looked different than it did 10 years ago. A lot of trees and brush had grown blocking off what used to be a more beach-like observation area. And some sort of work is being done at the dam, orange fencing and large pipes lying around. We found a safe vantage point. While I was let down by the falls not matching my memories, Nicholas was very pleased. He liked the rushing water over the dam, through the holes, and asked lots of questions. He was certain ducks would enjoy going over the falls.
• Sertoma Park and Shelley Lake: We went to the playground first. The slides were still hot enough that Nicholas stuck with the tube slide. He tried climbing a ladder instead of taking the stairs. After he figured it out and was feeling confident my nerves settled, a little, just a little. Since we were on our own I let him be in charge of time. He did several rounds of up the ladder, across the bridge, down the stairs, again and again. Then he wanted to see the lake and ducks. Another family with an extroverted daughter a little older than Nicholas offered to share their loaf of bread. He had a blast throwing pieces of bread to the Pavlov ducks and geese. After all this activity he was sweaty and cute with his cheeks all red. We wanted water, cold water.
• Bruegger's Bagels: I have a weakness for a sundried tomato bagel, chicken salad, lettuce and tomato. And luckily tomatoes are available again and deemed safe by the FDA. We sat and had our lunch together. Nicholas went for the unadventurous option - plain bagel, plain cream cheese. We took our cue from the arrival of a pre-teen girl soccer team, and headed home fed and hydrated.

We were home just in time for Travis to get up for lunch. Then both boys went down for afternoon nap. What a good and filling day with my first born. :)

What's On Your Nightstand?

1. George Orwell 1984 - Stopped reading because it required brain power which I don't have at the end of the day.
2. Laurie Notaro We Thought You Would Be Prettier - I've read it multiple times and go back to random chapters. Hysterical, I tell you. I loaned Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club to a good friend. It was almost like my life story in some chapters. More of her books are on my Amazon wish list - hint, hint.
3. Inside Lacrosse magazine - I wanted to read about the real Mikey Powell. He's cute and there must be more to him than just a professional athlete/musician.

What you can't see under that stack...
A few MAD magazines - Who doesn't love a good laugh to get rid of the day's stress?
Ben Hogan Five Lessons The Modern Fundamentals of Golf - Great for monotone reading to calm a baby back into sleep mode.
Anne Tyler Digging to America - Love her writing. I have tons of her books. She's from Raleigh but most of her stories take place in and around Baltimore. I enjoy being able to picture the real place in my mind. You may remember her from The Accidental Tourist.

Adrian found my assortment of reading materials odd. I have explanations for all of it as you can see. It did get me thinking about the topic. What do other people keep on their nightstands? Commercials and catalogs show the standard alarm clock, glass of water, eye glasses, and maybe a knick knack or photo. When you go to other people's homes you usually don't get to peek at their nightstands. So am I weird? Or is everyone else just boring? If you don't mind, for my curiousity and maybe other readers' - what's on your nightstand?

T-Shirt Pictures

I promised to post these when I had the time. (Currently I am allowing the DVR to record "So You Think You Can Dance". Then I will start watching it from the beginning and skip commercials and some of the obnoxious judge Mary commentary. I hate catching up to real time on my DVR too early in a show.) So here you go...
First is part of the Superhero series. Batman was in a previous post. Captain America was left at school in the water park bag. The Joker is my favorite but he hasn't worn it yet because he hasn't "felt like a bad guy" yet.









Next are the shirts I made for our friends' daughters with the intention they would share them. I hope they like them all and won't fight over them. Of course I wouldn't mind making more.

Another New Baby

I just love new babies. This one is of course, delicious. I could eat her up. I am so pleased that a friend has a girl for my boys to chase down. Congratulations to Julie and Justin! Check her out!

Croquet anyone?

Nicholas first played croquet at a wedding we went to in May. It was set up on the lawn and the people had a very nice set from LL Bean. After weeks of continued begging to play again I bought an average set from Dick's. He really enjoys it. I think it's mostly because he can hit the ball. His attempts at golf and baseball are less successful.
The game is a lot of fun. And I realized my lawn is sorely neglected. It's difficult to get through the course with tall weeds in the way. I need to get one of those professionally manicured lawns I've seen at other people's homes. Although I think they outsource their labor. My lawn guy has a full time job, a family, and other activities that stand in the way of proper lawn maintenance.

Forward Progress

As predicted at Travis's 8 month report, he is making forward progress in a unique way and cut 2 top teeth. One tooth came in a couple weeks before the other so he's our little snaggle tooth baby right now. It's so cute!
He still does a lot of rolling around for his primary transportation. Nicholas had a more defined military crawl where he went forward with his elbows and his lower body caught up. Travis is more like a frog. He pushes forward with his legs and his upper body catches up. The technique is interesting. Also, he will get up on elbows and knees like a traditional crawl and then flop his belly forward. That's his best move to cover distance. His daycare teachers love it.
Travis decided this past week was going to be "developmental milestone week". He began the week confidently doing his various forward movement efforts. By the end of the week he was pulling up on any sturdy low-height object. Daycare has a big foam doughnut with a foam pad in the bottom. They call it a swimming pool. Sometimes it's filled with balls, or it's just empty. (It's handy for containing some babies) I usually hang around for a few minutes at drop off. Travis pulled himself up on the edge of the pool and then lunged himself forward to get in. Once he got his full body in and sat himself up he was very pleased with himself and had a huge grin on his face. "Look at how cool I am, Mom."
I remember Nicholas was this age and how excited I was for him to grow up. I dressed him in big boy style clothes and he wore shoes. I was eager for a toddler and all the fun we could have. It's totally different now. Of course I was eager for Travis to pass the cranky baby phase, but now I'm really wanting him to slow down so we can savor a baby. If you had told me six months ago that Travis would be the first one to bed and the last one up in the morning, I totally would have bet against you. We started filming a lot more recently so we can relive the cool physical development. We are really trying to enjoy each of them at their current ages. They are individually so special. And when they interact it's even more special. They feed off each other. If one laughs, the other tries to laugh harder. Even sweeter is when they hold hands in the car. I hope they love each other this much in 12 years, but that's way way down the road. I'm focused on today...are we going to a new park or to see the dinosaur exhibit at the museum? Hmmm...

The Day the A/C Died

Boy is it hot in here. The A/C died sometime during the day yesterday. When I came home with the boys last evening it was nice and toasty. I changed into something more breathable than work attire, cranked up the box fan in the hallway upstairs, and cracked the windows. Luckily your average East coast thunderstorms were rolling through and cooled everything. Outside was a nice 72, a little sticky, but better than the toasty 80 something we were experiencing.
Travis might be the only one who had a good night sleep. He wore a tank top onesie, had a window cracked, and the box fan blowing directly in his room. Nicholas eventually came across the hall from his room. He got too hot. I woke up multiple times. Once because I had a dream that giant bugs were sneaking in.
Adrian is calling around today to see what we can do about this. Hopefully tonight will be a lot cooler. Otherwise I'm eating ice cream for dinner.
Did I mention we got a new roof last week? And our washing machine drain backed up and water was going through the wall to the floor in the adjacent room?
I sure hope it really does only come in 3s...please.

By the way, I corrected my time zone setting to Eastern Time. I considered picking an exotic locale to reflect my daydream time zone.

Other Activities

Over our 4 day staycation we got a few things accomplished. My primary goal was just spending time with the boys and having fun. That was done over the days with outings to the movies, the park, Farmer's Market, and general errands - Target, Harris Teeter. Completing chores and such were not on the list. Although I did get a few things done today (some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and shower and tub) but nothing in the realm of hard core.
I did a few t-shirts, okay a lot of t-shirts (12 to be exact). Some friends had a baby boy so I made him 3 onesies (giraffe, elephant, octopus). And his big sisters got 4 t-shirts (hibiscus, angel fish, butterfly, bamboo). Nicholas got some superhero t-shirts (Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Captain America, Joker). He said he needed a bad guy shirt for when he's feeling bad.
Adrian had friends over to watch the UFC fight last night so I had ample anti-social time to work.
I will post some photos when I get around to it. I do have a photo of Nicholas wearing one of the creations. He was very eager to wear one ASAP.

A Tip

Here's a tip from Adrian for all you single men:
Take a 3 year old to the Farmer's Market and buy one large sunflower for the child to carry. Women of all ages will melt and say "awww" when they see the child.

Fourth of July

July 4th was full of family fun. To start the day Nicholas recited the Pledge of Allegiance. I am very impressed. I had no idea a 3 year old could learn all the words and annunciate every word correctly, for the most part ("liberty and justice for all" sounds a little funny).
While Travis was down for his morning nap, Nicholas and I cleaned off his picnic table and water play table. They had been neglected this year and needed some love. We filled up the water play table and Nicholas went to work. He scooped water into the spouts, tried to sink the boats, and tossed water over his shoulder. We went in to change him up to dry clothes. By that time Travis was up and ready to go out.
We drove over to the closest park. Nicholas played on the excavator and Travis was in the baby swings. Adrian and I alternated between the two. The metal slide was much too hot to play on. So we walked over to the pond to check out wildlife. Sadly and amazingly, the ducks come out of hiding and swim over as soon as people walk up to the pond. They expect food, which of course we didn't think to bring with us. We got to see lots of dragonflies, Canadian geese, ducks, a heron, and a couple of turtles. Nicholas really wanted to see an alligator and a snake and thankfully we did not see any of them.
We upheld our patriotic duty to be American and had McDonald's drive thru for lunch. The Southwest chicken salad is quite tasty. I think it's Newman's Own dressing that makes the difference.
Both kids took gigantic naps. And the grown ups snoozed a little too. So relaxing.
For dinner I tried a new recipe. I was afraid to share the ingredients with Adrian, he can be a little picky. Noodles with spinach and tofu in sauce made from broth and hoisin sauce. It came out great. We all loved it and can't wait for the leftovers.
We watched one of Nicholas's favorite movies, Firehouse Dog, and then the boys went down for the night.
The grown ups sat outside with cold beverages and kicked back. Neighbors near by were shooting off firecrackers (which by the way Nicholas wants to eat some - a logical misunderstanding). The skies were overcast so we got to enjoy the nearby fireworks reflecting off the clouds. It was pretty neat to watch all the flashes of light and enjoy the light breeze blowing through the trees.
That closes out Day 2 of our staycation.

1st Movie

Since daycare had a teacher work day before the holiday, we both took off work to stay home with the boys. I suppose it's better than leaving them to fend for themselves all day.
Adrian wanted to take Nicholas to his first movie. We viewed the trailer for "Wall-E" online to make sure he was comfortable with the character. He has had previous encounters with robots in movies and it has not gone well at all. Our neighborhood theater had an early showing at 10:20 am. Nicholas was very excited to go. All the ground rules were laid out and expectations were set. Stay in your seat, the screen will be bigger than our TV, eat candy and popcorn, etc.
Nicholas had a lot of fun. You don't realize how small he is until he's in a theater seat. He can barely keep the seat from folding up on himself. But that leaves plenty of room for his popcorn and Twizzlers. He went to town on the goodies during the previews. As the movie was underway, he asked for a pillow and snuggled up on Adrian. He seemed to miss the comforts of watching movies on the couch at home. About halfway through he told Adrian he wanted to come home.
It may be a while before we try the movies again. The cost is borderline outrageous these days. We can pay $3.95 for an On-Demand movie and pop our own popcorn. And of course we can pause for everyone's potty breaks.
Today's outing for them was worth it though. Adrian was very happy to be a part of Nicholas's first movie. And Nicholas was very happy to do something with just Daddy.