fall break

fall break means:

no alarms at 6am. sad but true fact 7:30 is now considered sleeping in & it's wonderful!

being able to stay in our pajamas ... until 8am. or all day!

drinking coffee from an actual mug. multiple cups. not a coffee thrown in a to-go cup, on your way out the door, barely warm while finishing it. 

no homework. this makes the kids, therefore mama is happy.

three extra hours added to each day. three hours not spent in the car going back & forth to school. this is three extra hours spent goofing around with the baby loves instead. 

thanksgiving. hello food & food & pie & football. lots of football. 

spending friday at home because i am not one of those people who wants to go get trampled over on black friday. instead that day will spent home, watching news stories about crazy shoppers. 

christmas decorations. also when you get the christmas tree put up your kids might say something like " this was the best day of the whole year" and you'll melt into a puddle.

family. who doesn't love an extra dose of family. thankfully i have one that isn't crazy & we all love getting together on thanksgiving. no crazy aunt here .... 

fall break, i am a fan of you

"because you're so good at it"

every morning at 6am when the alarm goes off, i roll out of bed. stumble to the kitchen & get the coffee going! i watch. i wait. drip ... drip ... drip....

i pour my coffee, add cream, sugar ... iron colton's uniforms & make his lunch. then i start to get everybody up & out of bed.

at this time j stumbles from the bedroom straight to the coffee pot. no waiting, no watching. bam, it's just there ready, like a glowing light ... "come to me" says the coffee. 

this got me to thinking ... "how come i am the one who gets up everyday, makes the coffee & is responsible for everyone [& when i say everyone i mean husband included] out of bed?!"

 

image 

"because you're so good at it" is the response i get!

typical man! honestly though, wouldn't it be great to wake up to a cup of coffee waiting for you every morning ....

ahem ....

that didn't take long!

achoo! achoo! achoo!

that's the only sound i hear when i pick colton up from school friday. i ask him how he's feeling & he tells me he has been doing that all day. immediately, i think his allergies have sprung up from nowhere so i start him back on his allergy meds. claritin & a nasal spray.

saturday morning he's not sounding much different & he keeps telling me his eyes are bothering him. i think for sure that means it's his allergies. knowing that his meds take some time to have an actual effect, i give him some benadryl to temporarily relieve his symptoms.... nothing happens. hmm....

six hours go by & he is just as bad, if not worse than when he woke up. this time i give him two tsp instead of one... not much change.

i am now convinced it's not allergies ( i am however keeping him on his meds since fall is fast approaching) he's got a cold. a cold i am sure he brought home from school. it took 8 whole days of being in school for the first sickness to come home.

fast forward to sunday. colton is sneezy & his nose is running away, but his spirits are high & he is happy. me? i wake up with a sore throat & stuffy nose. it gets worse as the day goes on. by sunday night i am loaded up on cold meds & just ready for the day to be done.

monday, labor day. i promised braedon i would go to the dollar store & see if they have any new puzzles. so i head to dollar tree, the grocery store for a few things, gas station & home.

when i get home jeremiah tells me braedon didn't eat his breakfast & feels really hot.
"did you take his temperature"
"uh, no"

men. poor baby has a fever of 101. give him some meds & comes down. lets fast forward to about 6pm. braedon & i are sitting on the floor at the coffee table doing his homework, after an hour long ordeal to get it done he is finally coloring his pages. he's sitting on my lap. next thing i know his moves are getting slower & slower & slower & then he's passed out. right there, on the coffee table. crayon in hand. ohhh man was his brother cracking up!

moved him to the couch where he slept a few hours. woke up, took some more meds for his fever, had a couple waffles per his request & back to sleep he went.

this morning he is currently snuggled up in his room, watching a movie & playing his leappad ... with a fever!

poor guy! made it through surgery like a champ only to get hit by some icky germs colton brought home. we're really hoping he breaks his fever today so he can go back to school tomorrow. he hasnt been since last wednesday! 8! after a healthy summer for both kids it took 8 days!! in school for the sickies to start! sigh....


[later this week posts on: surgery day, school so far & homework!]

the first day of school!

let me give you a little rundown of our day!

my alarm started blaring bright & early. 6am to be exact! that's going to take some getting used to, bedtime isn't usually 11pm around here. in fact most days we're not even eating dinner until 10:30-- but im sidetracked, that's for another day! 

anyways 6am. first order of business... snooze, twice! by 6:10 im out of bed. second order of business ... coffee, lots! head into brae's room, get my sleepy little sweetie up! i tell him "wake up, its morning" "its time for school" his response ..."hahahahaha!!! it's still dark, why are we going somewhere in the middle of the night" always making me laugh that one is. get him set up with some cartoons & breakfast. coffee. coffee. coffee! get colton up, kids get dressed, brushed teeth, a million pictures & out the door by 7:10 (which is a little later than i had wanted for the first day)

first drop off is colton. he can be at school at 7:30am. our county's school district is pretty cool ... free lunch for all students. why not take advantage of it, right? plus colton was thrilled with the idea. so we all walk him in, go to the breakfast line. he picks out his meal. they have hot & cold breakfast available. he pick cinnamon toast crunch ( also known as "golden squares"- dont ask), it comes with strawberry graham dinosaur crackers. he gets his milk for his cereal & his apple juice.

we find a table, he eats everything & we head to his classroom. he signs in on the big poster board. finds his name tag at his table, hangs his backpack on his chair, sits down, picks up his pencil & starts his morning work pack. 

who is this kid?! the same kid who literally cried everyday for months last year. the same kid who would cry so hard he would puke last year. suddenly that kid turned into a mature, excited, cant wait to be at school kid. i am so incredibly proud of him there are really no words for it. of course he insisted on a hug from us, he also gave his brother a hug & told him good luck. we left. he didn't even turn around to watch us leave. this year the tears i wanted to shed were not because it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest but because of happiness! i am so glad it went so smooth. 

next order of business, get braedon to school. in ... oh crap 25 minutes. im not going to lie, i was a little worried we were going to be late. we werent. phew. pull into the parking lot & braedon is nothing but smiles. walk him into his classroom where he tried to b-line to buzz lightyear. the same buzz lightyear he's been talking about since open house. non stop. we explain to him its not time to play yet, that time will come. that he has to go sit quietly with the rest of the kids. he starts trying to play with the kitchen. no, braedon you cant do that either.... he gets mad. he walks over the wall. slides down. sits with his arms on his knees & looks at us, with a mean face.

i ask j "do we leave now?" he says yes. ( i had already given him hugs & kisses) we say goodbye & we walk out. i peek my head in a couple times all secret agent like. he hasnt moved. we start walking away. i look back. his teacher is standing in the door way. i look at her, she looks at him, she looks at me. "he's okay" & we leave. 

at 11:30 i pick up brae. his teacher says he did fantastic. as soon as we left he joined the other kids. he didn't cry, he wasn't upset at all. totally different from colton last year & to be honest not what i was expecting!  he tells me all about his day on our way home. how he played with this & that. made friends. wrote letters. painted with apples. he used red. they put apples in water, to see if they sink. told me about his morning snack & that he didn't try the juice because "my friends said it tastes yucky" hahaha! oh kids.... he did amazing. he loved every minute of it & he cant wait to go back tomorrow. oh & he got a sticker. which means excellent day. if you get a sticker everyday, you get "treasure box" on fridays. 

at 2:30 we pick up colton. he also tells me all about his day. his lunch "was delicious" i packed it, what would you expect, haha! he talked to some kids, they played outside, they did work & they danced. oh & "there is something very important in my backpack for you the teacher said"-- referring to the 8923 papers for me to sign. he didn't cry either. lets face it my babies are officially big boys now! oh & he got green, which also means he had an excellent day & did everything he was supposed to.

once he was done filling me in on the deets, he turned to brae & said "how was your day, did you love it" the entire rest of the ride home would consist of them talking about their first days of school with each other. mop me up because i am a big pile of mush! 

so there you have it. a novel later. our first day really couldn't have gone any better. i hope everyday is as good as today ...

the best news!

friday morning we were up & out of the house early to head to braedons appointment at the specialist. i had been so nervous all week & the morning was no exception. thankfully once we were there everything went pretty fast & i wasnt left sitting with my thoughts for an hour.

to make the story short. what the pediatrician thought the problem was, was confirmed by the specialist that it is NOT the problem. there is NO problem. this means no surgery, no increased risk of a couple other scary things. we'll go back in one year for a recheck but the doctor doesn't foresee any future problems at all! phew! best news mama has ever heard!

friday afternoon we then went to pick up J from work & headed to colton's school for the mandatory new parent meeting. learned a lot about the school & the rules during the hour long meeting & then we were free! roamed around the campus a little. bought school spirit shirts, one for him ... & one for me. because i am totally that mom! anybody who knows me, isn't surprised.

it was finally time for him to meet his teacher. we couldnt be more happy! she is young & spunky & energetic! she seems like she is going to be great!

yesterday morning we went to braedon's school for open house & i admit it was nice to see old faces. colton's teachers were wonderful last year & i am so excited they get to teach braedon this year. brae was pretty excited to check out his new school. colton loved seeing his teachers again, gave them big hugs & told them all about his new school.

when it was time to leave, braedon started bawling. im talking crying so hard you can breathe kind of crying. he just didnt want to go! i am glad he likes being there. i hope he is that excited about it when we drop him off tuesday & i hope he doesnt act like that everyday when it's time to leave, or i might have to invest in ear plugs, for the entire school.

a little while after we got home my neighbor came over & invited us all to her son's birthday party. we've probably only talked a handful of times since they moved in about a year ago. so the gesture was extremely nice. the boys & i ended up heading over there. they rented one of those huge, inflatable water slides. the kids were thrilled. they just played & played & the little boy (10) was so nice to the boys! eventually brae came over & fell asleep on my lap. after spending a couple hours of fun in the sun, the rain was coming so we decided to head home. we went to say goodbye & the boys wanted to say thank you. she wouldn't let us leave until we had food so the kids had hotdogs, i had a sandwich & she even sent a plate home for jeremiah. so sweet! i later caught him scraping every last bite of the plate, apparently she is a good cook!

today is nothing special. J is at work, like usual, the kids are playing & i am just trying to get some stuff down before things get crazy when school starts! i mean seriously, tonight is our last night of summer freedom. by tuesday we'll all be in bed early because we'll be waking up at 6am everyday.

i am excited to see them grow & really am excited for this new adventure at the same time, it's just so sad.

can we just pause these next two days ... for like a month ....

growing like a weed!

thursday we headed off the ped for braedon's 4 year well check appointment,

they started off with the usual. 

Braedon @ 4 years  

height: 40 inches. 

weight: 35.3 lbs

perfectly average. he is right in the middle of the chart for height & weight(unlike that skinny big brother of his)

she then asked me a billion questions about his development.

asked him a bunch of questions so she could evaluate his speech, make sure he is hitting his milestones & of course he is. 

she said is healthy, happy & a  very smart little boy!

always makes mama feel good to hear that.

he was referred to a specialist [ im not going to go into all the details about that here on the interwebz] its nothing that's causing immediate health problems. BUT its got us feeling a little anxious as we might head to the specialist & hear the solution is surgery SO please keep him in your thoughts & prayers. 

that is something mama NEVER wants to hear.

oh & shots?! easy peasy! seriously. all day i was so worried he was going to freak out about shots & i didnt even mention it to him before hand because i didnt want to stress him out. 

we laid him down, he played his nintendo ds & she stuck it. 

his response?!

ehhh. he didnt yell. he didnt cry. he was just sorta like what the heck was that & why did you do it?

then he was angry because she put a bandaid on him & he "didnt have any owies"

so proud of my tough boy! 

our appointment with the specialist is friday morning ( & then we have a new student meeting & meet the teacher at coltons school) so check back at the end of the week & i'll get a post up with all the happenings of the day. 

guess who's back ... back again ...

oh my goodness. blogger? what's that? how do i log in? do i even remember what to do once i am there?

basically you get the idea. it's been ages since i've visited my little corner of the interwebz. i'm not sure what happened, i'm not sure really how i fell off the wagon. i do know that i miss it.

i think part of me felt like i was growing out of my blog. "baby loves" i feel like with a title like that most would consider it a "mommy blog" and for the most part it was. i really only talked about the boys, our family adventures with boys but with the title "baby loves" i felt like that was all i could really talk about. i love my baby loves blog & it will be around forever. it holds so many amazing memories. i just figured it was easier to start new than re-do the old.

now don't get me wrong, obviously those boys of mine are my whole world & i am sure they will still be around this new place of mine plenty, but i don't want to be limited. along with my boys, i have lots of passions & lots to say & i want to be able to share it all.

regarding the boys, unless we were out having some grand adventure, i feel like i didnt have much to say. obviously most people know the daily happenings of a sahm. its not always glamorous. there just wasnt something to say everyday. both kids are going to be in school, it just changes as they grow. when they're not babies anymore & you don't have dedicated monthly posts, the milestones slow way down, you get what i am saying.

so here i am. opening this new space of my own. to talk about whatever my little heart desires. the kids, our adventures, what's on my mind, the awesome meal i just had or maybe even the last episode of RHoOC.

let the new adventure begin ...