Tanner Updates

Christopher's cousin Tanner is now 5 months old. Here are some recent pics.

Hmm, updates?

So it has been over a month. Wow! I have not been keeping up like I should. So I will try to catch up to what C has been up to. He finished up his swim lessons and did not quite graduate from Youth Level 3. I had thought he was an awesome swimmer and he just was average in the class and never really progressed while in the class. I do have to say I was less than thrilled with his instructor. She didn’t have a good handle on the kids and C knew it and was a big goof in the class. Then at lesson 7 of 8 realized she hadn’t even been getting his name right the entire session. Way to get a kid to listen to you, call them the wrong name for 3 ½ weeks. He enjoyed it, so that is what really matters. He wasn’t very happy that he didn’t “graduate” to next level, but he will be fine. We have been tinkering with the idea of swim team, but will probably wait until the next session.
He had his first project to do at school. They are studying Community Helpers and had to pick one to do a report on. He chose Police Man. I tried many times to correct him and say Police Officer, but he said, but I want to do Police Man. He had to write down ways they help the community, what they do, how they become one, and why he would want to be one. He made a nice poster board with police themed pictures and had to present in class. I asked him why he chose police officer and he said so he could have a “real gun”. LOL. I did find out he wasn’t the only kid in class that had decided that.

Halloween 2008

Christopher really enjoyed Trick-or-Treating this year. He said thank you *most*of the time, said Trick-or-Treat and Happy Halloween.
He ran from house to house. We went with the neighbor twins that are identical. So at the beginning of the night he ran with N and then at the end ran with J. They took breaks in between. It was nice that I had someone to walk with and C loves them so much, they have the coolest toys he says.
He got to TOT at his friend Leya's house and stop for a picture with her.
After TOT we went over to their house to warm up, it was so cold. The boys ate some candy, but mostly played some Chicken game on the Wii and then Batman Lego on the Wii. C did not want to stop playing. It turned out to be a lot of fun.
Here are some pics:

Vote for my CuteKid

I submitted a picture of the Dude for the CuteKid contest. Vote for him.

http://www.thecutekid.com/ckgallery/votemypic/email/1638

Nickerson Look-alike Meter

I found this cool gadget on another blog and thought it was cool. I know I don't necessarily need this gadget to tell me that C looks so much more like his daddy than me. So according to the pics I loaded, C looks 45% more like Chris than myself. I had played around with it a bit and depending on the pics I chose, it was anywhere from equally (never skewed to mom) to 45% more like Chris.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Free genealogy - Family search

Calendar of Presence

My AP group is doing a daily calendar of presence for the month of October which is Attachment Parenting Month. It is really cool. It is one topic a day that gives you an idea of how to focus on your child for that day. I don’t always need a reminder to get down and focus on Christopher, but sometimes I get wrapped up in what I want versus what he wants. So each day a topic is posted that you can try to do that day to have presence in their lives and show your love and care.

Some of the ideas that I have loved and will do or have done this month are:

1. Take a walk with your child.
2. Bake with your child.
3. Play a game your child wants, without being hurried and play as many times as they want.
4. Make eye contact with your child each time you speak with them today.
5. Collect fall leaves.
6. Work on an art project.
7. Look at the stars or watch the sunset.

They are all simple ideas of ways to just connect with your child that day.

Soccer is over, onto swimming

Soccer season ended on Saturday with his final game of the season. He played really well. He had two favorite boys on his team and the three of them played so well together. They really came together with blocking, passing, and scoring goals. He got a trophy which he was super excited about. It is a little soccer boy. He is up to two trophies now. He didn’t happen to score, but he did have two assists.
This week he started swimming lessons. He is now in Youth Class 3, it is 6-9 year olds and they need to be swimming at least 15 yards unassisted. He was about average in the class. He wasn’t the best, but not the worst. His teacher said he did well and listened a lot. I am so happy for him, he LOVED being in the pool. He swam and treaded water. He needs to work on listening to the teacher a little more; I think he was so excited to be in the water, that he was having a hard time sitting still at all. He has lessons the whole month of November.
Not sure what we will do for his next activity, Chris wants to make sure that he is not over scheduled and doing more than one thing at a time. Spring soccer starts end of February.

Halloween Party

Christopher got to get dressed up in a costume yesterday and go to Daddy’s office. He absolutely loves getting dressed up in costumes and has a ton of them. Of course because Mommy is frugal, they were bought at after Halloween sales. This one though he picked out for Halloween last month. He is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. They had someone at Daddy’s office taking pics and they got a good picture of him.

His office did a really good job of entertaining the kids. They had a pumpkin craft, painting a pumpkin, and trick or treating. And yes I dug into his stash already and picked a few choice things to have at my desk. :-)

Here is C as a TMNT:

My Baby is 5

My little Dude turned 5 yesterday. Here are a few pictures of my guy on his 5th birthday.

Profile Shot:


Me and C:


The family:


Christopher and his cousin Savannah:


Three shots of my absolutely cool and handsome dude!






He had a good birthday and I cannot believe he is 5 already. He is getting so big!

What I sent in C's Pocket Today

Last night our conversation was this:
C: "Mom, do you think you could write down our phone number?"
Chris: "Why do you need the phone number written down?"
C: "Kierston wants our phone number so she can call and tell us that she can come to my party."

Oh my, it is starting already and we are only in Kindergarten, girls want his phone number. I am sure he will be asking girls for theirs, too. Ahhhhhh!

This is the same Kierston who he he was crying because he said the principal would not allow him to invite her to his party. We managed to work something out and I sent an invite to Kierston. He says she is coming, but I haven't heard. If her mom is anything like me, she lost the invite and this is how the phone number conversation started. She needed it so her mom could call. At least that is how it would have happened in our house.

So this morning, I sent him with the phone number in his pocket so he can give it to Kierston.

Bye, Bye Summer

Just had to share a shot from our September Beach trip to Wrightsville Beach. Got a picture of the twinkies, Gabby and Derrick, and the dude at the end of the summer after they spent hours in the pool and on the beach. Despite using tons, i.e. several bottles, of sunscreen, they tanned. They tanned a LOT! Christopher went to the Beach with the Twinkies three times and we went to the pool even more, then the camping trip that had a pool. He is so lucky to have such great friends to make such great memories with! So Gabby was okay with the shot, C was trying hard to be modest (for once) and Derrick was trying to show it all!
This is cute!

Football and Cheerleaders

When I wrote about the football game, I totally forgot about the cheerleaders. One of C’s favorite parts of the football game was the CHEERLEADERS. It was really cute.
Mom, look at the cheerleaders.
Mom, where is that cheerleader going.
Can I go watch the cheerleaders do flips?
That cheerleader just hugged her boyfriend.
That cheerleader just kissed her boyfriend.
I am going to cheer with them, Go Hawks Go, Let’s Go Hawks, Way to go Hawks, etc….
That cheerleader has a sweatshirt on, why does she have a sweatshirt on.
Does the other team have cheerleaders?
The other team has a boy cheerleader.
Why is the cheerleader so high up?
I was telling my mom about the football game and how enamored he was with the cheerleaders and we just laughed. It is so the dude. He loves girls.

Soccer Game

C is playing Fall soccer now and seems to be enjoying it much more than T-Ball. I also enjoy watching it more than I did T-Ball. He had a really good game this past Saturday. He seems to have learned to take the ball and turn it around with his foot. He is the tallest and has the longest skinniest legs of any of the kids. His coach is pretty impressed with how well he is picking up the game (but he may be telling that to all the parents, heehee). He scored two goals on Saturday! He did make a mistake though that was pretty funny. He was kicking the ball along the sideline and doing really well and was getting close to bringing it in toward the goal, when he reached down and tried to nudge the ball with his hand to keep it straight. It was so cute! He has two games this weekend, so I am looking forward to those.
We are also going to an NC State Football game! I am super excited about that. It will be so much fun. We went to our first local high school football game this past weekend with C. Chris and I had gone to see a few when I was pregnant, but we hadn’t been to see another one since. C was so excited and really got into the game. He was rooting for the team and picked a player to cheer for (even when said player was not even in the game). I am sure the kid was like who is that kid cheering for me? He fell asleep during the last few minutes of the game and we went home. I still can’t believe he fell asleep in all that loud noise of the stadium. I carried him back to the car and by the time we got to the car my arms felt like jello. I guess the 3 pounds he gained to bring him to a whopping 40 even makes a difference.
Here is the video of the soccer goal:

Not happy to see me?

I am on call for work this week and we get off at 3 pm when on call so we can be ready to take emergency calls at 4 pm. I was excited about getting out of work a little early and picking up Christopher for some extra mommy and son time. So I get there at 3:30 and they were about to head outside, he sees me and breaks down in tears. He was oh so not happy to see me. Man, so glad I wanted to spend extra time with him. He did not want to go home with me. So I left him for a few minutes and went over to Trader Joes, then went back at 4. I really know better than to feel hurt, but it did hurt my feelings just a little. I picked him up early again today. No tears, but I did get an upset, “Why do you always have to do that, picking me up early?” He asked if tomorrow I would please not pick him up early. So I guess I get some me time instead. I can at least be happy that he enjoys his time in after school care, right?!?!

Funnies of the Day

There were two really funny things C said yesterday.

1. I was brushing his hair getting ready for school. He had a few knots and it hurt him. So he says, “Mom, why are you so hard headed?” I was laughing so hard. He totally didn't get how it came out.

2. Last night at bedtime the master manipulator says as I am putting him to bed. “I don’t get it, how can you leave your child all alone in their room every night?” Seriously! He really doesn’t like to sleep alone, but even more so hates that I may get to watch TV after he goes to bed. He is back into the routine of sneaking into my bed almost every night. Oh well, maybe he will stop by the time he goes to college.

Love and Heartbreak already?

Christopher fell in love Friday with a 1st grader. He was so excited to say he fell in love with a little girl Kennedy, who is in first grade. She drew him a heart, they hugged three times. Well yesterday I pick him up and Kennedy wouldn’t play with him yesterday. She likes someone else, says Christopher. Last night on his chalkboard he asks me to write his name, her name, heart is broken, he drew a heart. How sad for him! This is much too soon for my son to be getting his heart broken by a little girl. He said this morning he did not want to go to school if Kennedy has a new boyfriend. He had pretty much forgotten about it by the time we left for the school bus, though.

Bus Rider

Christopher was very determined to ride the bus to school. It was one of those things that we had always said we would allow, but then when it came time to do it, we were scared and nervous. He begged and begged to ride the bus, so we gave in. It is an Express Bus, so it only stops at our stop and one other school and then goes to his school. The Kindergarten kids sit up front. He has a little Kindergarten girl that gets on at our stop, Jennifer, and they sit together. It was pretty hard seeing him get on the bus for the first time, but he loves it so much! He has now ridden the bus for three days and still wants to. I think it is great that he is so independent. It also allows for him to go into the cafeteria in the morning and buy his lunch. I would love to see him do that all by himself. He has taken a liking to Cocoa Pups (Cocoa Puffs) in the cafeteria in the morning. Thank goodness we are giving him a healthy snack before sending him off on the bus.

Here he is ready to get on the bus the first time:


Here he is excitedly waiting for the bus to stop for him to get on:

Yummy, Yummy Kid’s Meal

While my mom was visiting, we took a trip to Mad Hatter in Durham for lunch. The food was so good and ended up being a yummy treat for Christopher.
Mom and I had a Thai Chicken Hot wrap which is a wrap Chicken and Jasmine rice with a peanut sauce. We also had the fries. They are soo good, hand cut fries served a in soda fountain glass with three different dipping sauces, jalapeno ketchup, basil aioli, curry aioli. I like the basil aioli the best.
The yummy treat for Christopher was the Kid’s meal which is $3.95. He had fruit salad, chicken fingers, milk, and a Build-Your-Own Cupcake Kit. He was so happy about the kit. It came with a vanilla or chocolate cupcake, frosting in a pastry bag, and three mini cups of sprinkles on a tray. He can’t wait to go back and make another cupcake.

Dude Started School - Kindergarten

Dude had his first day of staggered entry that our local schools do for Kindergarteners. It is a school day during the week and the kids come in just one day for assessments. Then the teachers call you that Friday and you find out who your kid’s teacher will be. C started on Wednesday, August 27th. I was so nervous. I took him to school with my mom and we sent him off. They didn’t let the parents past the hallway that leads to the Kindergarten hallway. He looked a little nervous walking back holding the teacher’s hand. But, he was pretty excited to be starting K.
Mom and I spent the day having coffee, shopping, eating lunch, and picking out school supplies for C. Then we headed back to the school at 2:40 to get him. He was exhausted. He then proceeded to say that he had the “worstest day ever in his life because I picked him up”. Apparently he had been looking forward all day to riding the bus home. Unfortunately I was a bit over-protective and didn’t let him ride the bus on the first day of school.
Since a picture is worth a lot, here is C before school and after, you can really tell how tired he was.

Sickies at Day-care

One thing I hate about having kid in day-care is sickies. Well, he started a new summer camp for two weeks at a realy cool day-care (and work footed more than half the bill) before he starts Kindergarten. I am pretty happy there and looking forward to using them for teacher work days. I walk in today and see a BIG notice that there was an incidence of Fifth's Disease there last week. Ugh! I soooo hope we don't get it. The note goes on to explain that it causes a fever of 102 degrees. I have heard it also called slapped cheek disease because your cheeks turn red and look like you have been slapped.
But on a positive note, we have been really happy there, they were exploring space last week and he got to learn about the planets and rockets and space shuttles. When he starts K, he gets to go to the big kid side where they have a cafe, game room, gym, and computer room. A few of the teachers had subbed or worked at our previous day-care and they even remembered C and took the time to say hi and help him get acclimated.

Surfer Boy Pictures

Here are some pictures of my Surfer Boy!

He was a surfer boy!

This past weekend we took a trip down to the beach with some of our friends from our playgroup. We stayed down at Carolina Beach, NC. The house was a 3 bedroom, 1 bath with a yard, patio, and grill. It was all right, probably wouldn't stay there again, but it was CHEAP and walking distance to the Beach and Boardwalk. We got down on Friday and ate dinner and then put the kids to bed and stayed up playing cards and listening to music. Saturday Elysia’s kids woke us up at the crack of dawn yelling and playing and then proceeded to go back to bed until ten. (Yep, I am totally hating on her because her kids are such good sleepers). Mine would not go back to sleep so I cooked breakfast while Christopher and Stefan watched TV. After breakfast we got ready for the beach just in time for Lita to arrive with Malaya and we all headed down to the beach. It was a lot of fun. The kids played a lot and then we went back for lunch, nap, and dinner. After putting the kids to bed, we played cards again and went to bed too late. Sunday was much the same, got up, cooked breakfast, then beach time. The rain storms threatened our beach time, but thankfully passed in time for us to go. The kids loved being buried in the sand, playing on the shore, playing in the sand, and running around. Christopher loved all that, but loved being in the water the most. He had gotten a boogie board for being a good boy at camp all week. I wanted him to have it so bad that I was really hoping he would behave so he could get it. The water had been a little rough Saturday and Sunday, but we still had fun.
Then Monday came and we trekked down to the beach one last time before leaving. Chris and I took Elysia's kids with us while they slept in. We hit Britt’s Donut Shop on the Boardwalk for some of the best donuts I had ever had in my entire life. Christopher totally agreed, albeit in his shorter life. Then we headed to the beach. This was the earliest we had gotten out there all weekend, even after sleeping until 8:30 am, woohoo! The water was so calm. Christopher stayed out in the water probably two hours surfing on his boogie board and loving life. He kept saying stuff like: "I have been surfing my whole life", "I am such a good surfer", "I love surfing", "I am going to be a surfer when I grow up". It was adorable. I loved being at the beach. I am also so proud of myself for going to the beach for three days and not getting sunburned. Thank goodness.

Hubby's Birthday Cake

I hadn't made a cake (decorated) since C's 3rd birthday. At the last minute I decided to make a cake for Chris' birthday party, so I thought I would share a picture of the cake. It is an North Carolina State Basketball Cake. I used a great recipe for the frosting called Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and it tasted soooooo good. The cake was a moist pound cake type cake that was made with a cake mix with added pudding, eggs, flour, butter and more. I really like the taste of Edible Art cakes and while I could never decorate a cake that well, I swear the cake tasted as good.

Here it is:

Freak?

C had an accident at summer camp. It was bound to happen at some point. Poor kid, made it to the bathroom but didn't get his peepee pointed in the right direction at the right time and boom! pee down the pants. Unfortunately, I guess a few kids saw that he had peed his pants before the counselor could figure out that for the last three weeks I have been packing a pair of extra pants in his backpack on the small chance this would happen. So Christopher is telling me about it and says, "They laughed and teased me and made me feel like a freak!". Um, excuse me, what did my 4 year old just say? Freak? Really now, he is growing up way too fast, he sounds like a 2nd grader. Of course, just like the dodge ball incident, I got all protective and was sad for my little guy. Chris was not so understanding and sad for C. He said, see, maybe next time you won't pee your pants, they won't tease you if you don't pee your pants.
The dodge ball incident was that they play dodge ball at camp. This is a completely new game to C. He told me he got hit in the head and his head hurt. I remember dodge ball and how much I hated it and wanted to get all protective. Chris told him, you need to get out of the way of the ball. Luckily the situation resolved itself the next day when C came running to me and tells me he knows what he was doing wrong in dodge ball, standing too close to the line. Problem solved without mommy's help.

Two More Wedding Pictures

We got some more wedding pictures and I had to share two that I absolutely love! My little man looks so grown up! I knwo I am partial, but he is one handsome kid. Almost every picture he took at the wedding was great. Everyone commented on how photogenic he is.

Dry or Secondary Drowning

This happened to my co-worker's nephew and I wanted to pass it along for those few of you who read my blog as a public service announcement. She lost her nephew this past weekend on July 13. The death has been attributed to secondary drowning. He died Sunday and the autopsy was done yesterday. It is so sad. They said they went to the pool for a family get together and the boy (age 6) said he felt funny after the pool and said he needed a breathing treatment (he has asthma). After the breathing treatment he told his cousin, go get my mom and when she got to the room, he had passed out. My co-worker did CPR on him for 10-15 minutes until help arrived and the paramedics worked on him for ten minutes but never got him breathing. The took him by ambulance to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. He had thrown up after the breathing treatment. Apparently the breathing treatment exacerbated the problem.
I hadn't realized you can drown after being out of the pool. I saw online that kids ingest the water and it can cause them to drown hours (up to 72) after being in the pool. I wanted to make people aware of this after this evry sad event that my co-worker went through. They ingest 4 ounces (24 teaspoons), the symptoms to look for are: coughing, trouble breathing, pain.
Not my co-worker's nephew, but here is an article on the local news about a boy who died in SC of the same thing.

Patching

I had said a few weeks ago I would update on the patching and well, forgot. We went to go see his eye doctor and find out how his eye was doing. He had surgery about 15 months ago for strabismus. For about 6 months before the surgery and ever since we have needed to patch his left eye. Before the surgery we needed to do it 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, which was kinda hard with a just turned 3 year old. Then after it was more like 3 hours a day, 7 days a week. Chris and I got real lax with it and hadn’t done it consistently before this last appt . Well, his eye sight is now 20/40, possibly 20/50. He can see really good out of both eyes at close distances but one you get to far vision, his right eye misses a line that his left can do that would put him at 20/20. The doctor really thinks he can get his eye sight closer to normal with patching and training his right eye to see by patching the left. So, I went and got some new patches which I really like more than the OrtoPad we had been using. I saw a little kid with a cool patch and asked her mom where she got them. The poor mom barely spoke English and I thought she kept saying Fresno Prism, but the beauty of the internet is that you can find anything is you remotely know what you are looking for. It was Fresnel Prism and their designs are just slightly cooler than OrtoPad, but they stick soooo much better so I have a feeling that we can get our 20-25 hours of patching in each week. We have remembered almost every day since the last eye appt. Here is a pic of the little man with a patch on.

ETA: They added 4 new designs when I went to look just now, so next time footballs and lizards. This past time we got flames, stars, spiders, and trucks.

Tanner Nikole

Introducing Tanner Nikole. She was born on Saturday July 5th at 9:44 PM and weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. Same length as my baby C was and just a mere ten ounces heavier than he was.
She is adorable and is still real pink and has cute, cute, cute red hair.
I can't wait to meet her, but it will probably be several months before we get out to California again to see my family. We have gone already twice this year.

Photography Blog

I was looking at a photogrpahy blog of a girl I know, I had only just now realized she had a blog and started her photography business. I always knew she took great pictures, just hadn't realized she was doing it professionally now. In her blog, I happened on a picture of Christopher and is it so cute. She specializes in weddings, maternity, babies, kids, and children's birthday parties. Which is a great idea, so you're not running around trying to get pictures at their birthday party and can enjoy it more or like me for his second where I forgot my camera. Doh! The picture was from his patching days (which are not over, will update in a new post) at a birthday party for his friend Mari in September. She really captured a cute shot of Christopher, his cupcake and the best blueberry gelato ever on his lap and his hand in his mouth.
Check it out on her blog: Amanda Olson Photography
Amanda is a great photographer, she took the Father's Day pictures of Christopher from last year. They turned out so cute despite my grumpy boy that day. She put them in a montage and emailed them to me. I added a poem and printed as an 8X10 and it was a great present for hubby. Hmmm, she is running a $50 special right now, I might need to get some pictures of Christopher done.

Ah, Pool Season

Our pool opened up before the trip to California, but we did not manage to get in before we left. So yesterday Christopher finally got into the pool. I left him there with the neighbor and went home to finish steam cleaning the carpets, joy, not! He is such a little fishy, I am sure we will continue our tradition from last year and visit the pool almost every day now. Last year we went every weekend and almost every day after school. And, the bonus was he slept SOOOO good last night! He plays so hard in the pool, it always makes him sleep well. Yay! He had been off since our return from Cali/Las Vegas and not wanting to go to sleep at night and then being dead to the world still at 845/9:00 am. It was pretty hard getting him up.
Funny for the day (yesterday) is our neighbor asked us what we did in Vegas and he said, "We visited the casinos." No mention of the family picnic or the family dinner or anything, just the casinos, how embarrassing. Just makes me wonder what he tells his classmates at school.

The pic of the day is a flashback from the fist time Christopher was at the neighborhood pool:

This is toward the end of that first summer:

Brother's Wedding

My younger brother Aaron got married this past weekend. He married his long time girlfriend Patty. Christopher got to have the honor of being the ring bearer. He really wanted to marry Patty, but settled as the ring bearer. Christopher has been saying for over a year that Patty is his girlfriend and that he was marrying her. The colors were fuschia and black and the wedding was very pretty. Christopher wore a black suit with a pink fuschia bow tie. He was one of the cutest ring bearers you will ever see, of course I am biased.
They got married in Lancaster, CA at Cascades at Rancho Vista. Lancaster/Palmdale area of Californis is where I am originally from.

Me and Aaron:

Chris and Aaron:

The Wedding Guys:

Chris and Christopher:

Quarter Update

Christopher is fine from the quarter incident. He had a belly ache for just a day. We never actually saw the quarter again, but we assume that all is okay. I am wondering if maybe he either 1) swallowed something other than a quarter, perhaps a dime or nickel, 2) never swallowed anything and it was all a rouse to get to come home from school, or 3) really did swallow. Who knows?!?!

Always Exciting

Another exciting day. Christopher was at day care yesterday and decided it would be a good idea to swallow a quarter.
I was in training all afternoon, so they ended up getting hold of Chris to pick him up. I got the call after Chris was almost at the day-care. He was complaining that his belly hurt. Really, huh? Ya think! Well he took him home while I finished up at the office. The doctor said as long as he can eat/drink normally there is not much we can do. We need to make sure he passes it, but not anything else.
Christopher and I had a long talk about not eating/swallowing things that don't belong in his mouth and that if it had been worse he might have missed his trip to California. He wouldn't have been too happy about that.
He is back to normal today, thank goodness. Not sure that he learned his lesson as I caught him this evening putting a water bottle cap in his mouth. We never had these issues when he was a baby, why now?

The Suit

We went to a Simchat Bat on Sunday, a jewish baby naming ceremony. Friends of our had a little girl a few weeks ago. It was so neat to see how they came up with her name. I got a little teary-eyed when they explained how they chose the name. It was such a beautiful ceremony.
I took advantage of the opportunity to get dressed up and Christopher wore the suit that I had bought on clearance for $7. It was so, so cute on him.

Last T-Ball Game

Christopher had his last T-Ball game of the season Saturday and he played pretty well. Much better than the first game. The first ball he hit really well and made it to first, they played with outs this time, so thank goodness he made it. He made it the second time, too and hit it even further. They switch positions up, so the first time out he played on the pitcher mound. He had almost every ball hit to him. He missed two, but the rest he managed to stop and throw to first. Here is my first video I am posting with him getting the ball and throwing to first, first baseman caught it, too! The next time out he was in the outfield and no balls made it to him. He really enjoyed the T-Ball season.

Shopping

Finally, I figured I would post something about myself. I went shopping this weekend and bought a new pair of jeans. Now, I have secretly wanted a pair of designer jeans since last year when I wore a pair of Monica's (Callie's Mom, shopper extraordinaire) last year. I wore a pair of her Seven's and they fit heavenly! I am not a really materialistic person, but for someone who lives in jeans, I really haven't splurged and bought a cute, worn-in, really comfy, good looking pair of jeans. Have to justify my purchase, haha. I just had been too cheap to buy a pair. Well, we were at Belk and on the clearance rack was a pair of Lucky Brand Jeans in my size that were marked down to $40 from $110. Let me just say I heart my jeans. They are soooo comfortable and they look great!
My other great find was a great Claiborne suit in black for Christopher for my brother Aaron's wedding next weekend. He is going to be a very handsome ring bearer! It was $35 marked down from $98. Just for the heck of it, I got him this other suit simply because it was $7 and adorable. It is blue pinstripe pants and vest with a light blue shirt and tie. He will be GQ!

Safety Violation

We were down in South Carolina visiting friends this past weekend and one thing that totally cracked me up was the kids went to rides bikes and scooters and Christopher asks for his helmet and when the little girl said I don't have to wear mine, he said "That is a safety violation!". It was hilarious. I guess I am a little over protective and paranoid, but I do always make Christopher wear his helmet. I *think* it is the law in NC, but not 100% sure. I do know when they have bike rally at school, helmets are mandatory. I am thinking that school is where he learned the whole safety violation thing. I guess it is just so habit now, I don't even think twice, we have two, a bugs one and a Buzz Lightyear one Mimi got him for his birthday from the Disney Store.
Here he is cheesing on his two wheel scooter that he had to have since he was "getting too big" for his three wheel scooter:

We had a blast with his little friend Callie. They are so cute and fun together. Callie is just five weeks older than Christopher. I actually am embarrassed to say I did not take any pictures this weekend, but here is one of Callie and Christopher from the Fall at the NC State vs. East Carolina game in Greenville, NC. (Notice again the cheesy grin)

Park Playdate

We got together with some friends at the park this weekend. The weather was great and the kids had a great time. My entrepreneur son and his friend Aiden started a rock business. They gathered a bunch of rocks from around the playground and were selling them for 79 cents. Not real money, but each kid that wanted a rock had to pretend to give him 79 cents. The kids rode the boat, carousel, and train and played for a long time. We then went and had Mexican Popsicles, Mexican Paletas. They are so yummy. I tried Jasmine Green Tea and Elderberry Lavender. Of course, I got to try other’s paletas, like Pomegranate Tangerine, Hibiscus Strawberry, and more. Christopher had two Chocolate Brownie ones and we even brought a puppy pop home for Calvin, it is frozen chicken stock wrapped around a raw hide.
Here are the kids riding the boat and the train:

Please ignore Christopher's juice stained face ;-)

Ergo

Here is a website to enter to win a free Ergo until May 30th. I don't own one, but have borrowed one a few times from my friend Gretchen and when we have another kid, this will be one of my must have items. I carried C in one as late as 3 1/2 years old in it. Maximum age will depend on weight, of course, but technically I could still carry him and he could still fit at 37 pounds (they go to 55 pounds). He is big/old enough to walk on his own now though, contrary to his opinion.
Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

Daycare Lunch

We get a daily report of what is served at the school for lunch. I know there is a menu posted but I don't ever remember to look at it. Bad mommy, I know. I really should so I don’t have to worry about what he ate for lunch or if an alternative was available. Compared to other daycares, they feed him really well and very healthy. They try to use mostly fresh foods, then frozen, then canned. Whereas most centers feed mostly canned. I worry though when I get the daily report and see that there is only one item he eats, like today. Wonder if he is going to be starving when I pick him up. This was today's menu from the report:
For lunch we had cheese and pepperoni pizza, tomato and cucumber salad, bananas, and Milk.
Skills: Sharing, Taking Turns, Self-Help Skills, Following Directions, Responsibility, Table Manners
Of those items, he eats bananas (an drinks milk). He doesn't eat pizza (for the most part, sometimes he will, mostly not, or will take off all toppings and just eat the crust). He claims he is allergic to cheese, but really he just doesn't like it. I overheard another kid say he is allergic to celery, so all the kids in his class claim allergies to things they don't like. It really is funny. Now Christopher is not picky when it comes to eating, there are just a few things he just won’t eat, cheese, hot dogs, and salad to name a few. The other day the menu was kielbasa, rice, melon, green beans, and milk. Now that I am sure he ate a lot of and ate everything that was offered. For most kids it would have been the other way around, mom didn’t have to worry about the pizza, but maybe about the kielbasa and rice.

Mother's Day

Today was my 5th Mother's Day. My little guy woke me up and snuggled and said Happy Mother's Day. I was going to sleep a little longer and he said, "we can't cancel Mother's Day". I told him we won't and I did get to sleep in, that was nice. I got coffee made for me and a new coffee mug that him and Chris had gone to crazy glaze and made. It turned out cute and says "I love Mom".
We went out to lunch at Bonefish Grill and ate a yummy lunch. Christopher was the only one that ate healthy. He chose the kid's meal of grilled chicken and veggies. I had chicken in a light cream sauce that probably had nothing remotely light in it, but it was yummy! We also had the Bang Bang Shrimp, mmmm!

After lunch we went to run a few errands and got Christopher a new pair of shoes. They are super cool and we got a great deal on them. He got a new pair of Merrell's. He loves them and Merrell is a great shoe. He was so excited he put them on as soon as we got in the car. He is going to summer camp and has been really rough on his shoes so we wanted something that would last all summer and look decent.
We then went to an inflatable jump place for him to do some jumping. He had so much fun and played for two straight hours jumping and sliding. While we were there I realized the ring he had put on his finger earlier that day was getting more stuck. We tried to get the darn thing off and it was not coming off. We tried soap, ice, lotion, etc. There was a pediatrician there for the play date and she said we would probably need to go to Urgent Care. I called around to find one open and couldn’t, so quickly went home for an internet search and found one that would be open. I had 24 minutes to get there and we pulled up at 7:56 pm. They closed at 8 pm. They took him in right away and sawed the ring off. It had started to turn purplish and was very swollen. They used a ring cutter to cut it off. The doctor then gave him a Popsicle, coloring book, and crayons. Way to motivate him to want to go to Urgent Care again. Tomorrow he plans to wear his doctor suit (a hospital gown) and bring his ring into class for show and tell. He still claims all the time he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. He did say he wants to work in an office and see kids and will only work in an office that gives out toys. But, only the kids that are good will get a toy.
I think I deserved my Mother's Day, right? Especially since we had our first trip to Urgent Care with Christopher.

T-Ball Game

Christopher had his first T-Ball game today. It was so cute. He is a Lugnut. They name the teams after minor league teams. They did pictures ahead of time and then played. The pictures were cute and the photographer had a pretty easy time doing the individual shots, but the group shot was hilarious. One kid had his hat down so far you couldn’t see his face and one kid kept trying to pick his butt. Christopher had his big cheese grin and looked pretty cute!
So a few people asked me what it is like for 4-year-olds to play t-ball. Honestly, it is just getting them used to playing, all for fun, no outs, no score, all get a trophy. I will give you a few highlights of the game, starting with Christopher highlights. He played right field first time out and no balls came to him, so he was busy asking Chris where he got the camera from while Chris was videotaping the game. Then he played first which was pretty eventful with the second hitter hitting the ball and Christopher running to second. Hey at least he ran to the correct base, albeit at the wrong time. Then as he was trying to throw the ball home, once it fell out of his hand and landed behind him and another time hit the coach in the back of the head. The rest of the game was pretty uneventful and he hit the ball three times and got to run around the bases. Some of the team highlights were the three kids on his team who were picking grass and throwing it at each other in left field. The kid who was too busy picking his nose and the ball went right past him. The other kid who was assigned to the pitcher mound and he thought he had to stay right there, so the ball went right past him several times.
Here he is waiting to bat:

Here he is in right field, he always crouches like that waiting for the ball:

Endless Questions

I don't think I have mentioned before how long my commute is. Well, anywhere from an awesome 35 minutes this morning to a gawd-awful hour and 15 minutes. The longer trip is in the evening. A little insight from one of my previous bosses, people don't all go into work at the same time, but they all typically leave around 5. I have C on my evening commute, Hubs takes him in the morning. We carpool any day Hubs does not have class, this makes my commute more like 40 minutes and Hubs 1 1/2 hours because he drops me and C off.
So yesterday C was in the car with me and these are just a few of the questions and statements I heard on the way home:
How does cruise control work?
How do you get to take your foot off the pedal?
How does the car move forward?
I pedal my bike to make it go forward, how does a car go forward?
How does gas work to make a car go forward?
Are we still in a moderator drought?
How can we be in a moderator drought and it is raining?
How do people know it is a drought?
How do they measure the water in the lakes?
If it keeps raining will we be done with the drought?
If it rains all summer, will I be able to go to the pool?
Why doesn't it rain a lot in the summer?
Carson caused another drought, he used too much water at school last week.
I have to pee.
I really have to go pee so bad.
Can we please stop so I can go pee.
[Stopped at first chance and went potty]
Does my pee help the bugs drink?
Does my pee help the drought, since it is wet?
How does cruise control work?
Why does daddy have school all the time?
I'm hungry, what's for dinner?
And so on and so on. Man, that was more grueling than my hour long teleconference at work. It is pretty cool though that he is really trying to figure out how things work and understand the world around him, but maybe that is why sometimes I just let him watch the DVD player.

Our First Family Camping Trip

We went camping at Jordan Lake this past weekend for our first ever family camping experience. Elysia organized the trip for our interracial families playgroup. We had 10 families camp Friday night, 2 families come and hang out on Saturday, then down to 7 families of campers on Saturday night. The area was great, they had tons of room for the tents to be set up, water at the site, we were right on the lake, and there was a playground right there, too. Having the playground was awesome, the kids loved going to the playground a LOT. The bathrooms weren't too far of a walk and had warm water even. There was a huge fire pit and we had a fire going most of the time we were there.
Friday night we set up the tents and then lets the kids play on the playground while dinner was being cooked. We had chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers and a big pot of chili. Saturday morning, we had coffee, cereal, yogurt, fruit, eggs, sausage, and more. The kids played on the playground more, we fished a little (the fishing area was not that great near our campsite, but some of the group walked to the pier where it was nicer). Lunch was leftovers.
Saturday afternoon we had a few more kids and parents come to hang out, we mostly let the kids ride bikes/trikes around the campsite, play on the playground, and fish some. Then we cooked out again, pretty much the same, burgers, dogs, chicken, had pasta, potato, and macaroni salad, and stuff. The kids drank way too many juice boxes. Then we roasted s'mores.

After all the s'mores (each had 3) and eating, the kids went to bed and the adults stayed up chatting and hanging out around the camp fire. Saturday night we totally got rained on (well at least we stayed dry inside the tent). It was so loud and it seemed like it poured all night. Our air mattress was a bit defective and by the end of the night we were all sleeping on the ground. So next trip we need to make sure we have a working air mattress.
We packed up Sunday and got home by 10:00 am. The tent is drying out in the garage and we all showered for a day of birthday parties (2) on Sunday. C said the best part of camping was playing with friends and eating s'mores. I think the best part was hanging out as a family with our friends, too.

Karma

C came home from school the other day saying that one of his classmates had thrown the ball at a bird and her nest and broke the bird's eggs in the outdoor classroom. He was very sad to learn at school that if the eggs get broken they will never become baby birds. We then talked about what baby birds look like, will the mommy bird have more eggs, what do the baby birds look like in eggs and more. He talked about it all week how the kid threw the ball and then broke the eggs and how sad it made him. He said the mommy bird was sad, too.
Well, he came home today and said the same kid fell down and scraped his knee today. I couldn't help but think ain't karma a b1tch. I know, I know, I know, so mean of me to think. Very mean of me to think. But, he made C so sad by breaking the bird eggs. I am glad he didn't really get hurt because then I would feel even more guilty of thinking that.

Guilt Trips

The dude has mastered the art of guilt trips. I am shocked by the guilt trips he can make. These are two examples of our conversations:

C: Mommy, you going out?
Me: Yes, I am going out, give me a kiss goodbye.
C: I want you to stay here
Me: Mommy is going out, you'll be here with daddy
C: If you go out, that means you don't love me.
Me (at the moment) total shock. Then realize that I really do need a night out. Reassure him that he is loved and that mommy is still going out.

Me and C are watching TV and a commercial comes on for a gazillion bubbles barbecue and our conversation goes:
C: That is really cool mom
Me: yeah, it is (feigned interest)
C: Can we get that?
Me: No, I don't think so
C: Why?
Me: That doesn't look like a fun toy
C: When I grow up I am going to get married and when I have a kid, I am going to buy him that.
Me: (again shocked looked on my face and no words to answer that).

I really want to know where they learn these things.

Middle of the Night

Last night I stayed up a bit too late and at 11:30 Hubs and I were downstairs watching TV and I hear C get up. I know sometimes he looks for me, so I went upstairs just to check on him. He was in the bathroom with his pants pulled down about to pee into the cabinet. Now, I have heard this from other moms of boys, they wake up to find or realize their little guy had peed in the drawer or closet or trash can thinking that they were or had peed in the toilet, but it had never happened with C. I was a little shocked. It was just so funny walking in on him about to pee on the bathroom cabinets. Luckily, I caught him in time and asked what are you doing and he said trying to make my pee come out. So I carefully put him over the toilet and he went. I don't think he ever woke up all the way and he has no memories of it. I had to laugh a little and ran down to tell Hubs what I witnessed, he was not amused by it like I was. I laugh a little even now thinking of it.
So to all the moms of boys, laugh just a little at it!

Summer Camp

Yesterday hubby registered C for summer day camp. I have to say I am pretty excited. We had to pre-pay for the entire summer up-front and we wrote the check out for $570. Some would say wow, that is a lot of money, but can I tell you how happy I was when I heard the amount. Let me tell you where I am coming from. That is about 2/3 of what we would have paid for ONE month of day-care. Yes, one month. So that is a huge savings. HUGE!
Now, don't get me wrong, I am going to be a little very sad when I see my little guy off to his first day of summer camp and he runs off to be with the big kids (the campers are ages 5-12, but they split the 5-7 and the 8-12 year olds into two groups). I will also be a little lot worried when he gets on the bus to go to the pool and field trips, but he is growing up and he will have so much fun.
I was talking with a group of moms this past weekend and they asked about C going to Kindergarten this year. I responded that yes he is going and I am so excited. They all looked at me with shocked faces and said, "Really?" with very confused looks. And yes even about Kindergarten I am pretty excited. Excited, nervous, scared, happy, and more. One of my reasons for being excited is day-care costs. It will be nice having him go to school and not going to day-care and spending a small fortune on day-care each month. But, yes I will probably be one of those moms that cries on the first day. A little bit of scared, happy, nostalgia, and excitement all in one. He has already talked about riding the bus to school. Yikes! The one part of Kindergarten that I dread are my relatively care-free nights now. Yes, I have to feed, bathe, and take care of him, but I don't really have to worry about his homework or studying. We read almost every night, but when he is in K, I will feel much more guilty if I skip a night of reading than I do now.

The New Car Seat

To those that know me, they know that I am absolutely anal about my car seats and what C rides in. No, it doesn't have to be the cooloest, but it has to be one of the safest. In my car I have a Britax Marathon in the cowmooflage pattern. In Hubbies car we have an Evenflo Triumph 5.
C finally grew (well almost) out of the car seat in daddy's car that we have had since he was just under one. The Evenflo Triumph was a nice seat and lasted a long time. But, he finally got to where his ears were pretty close to the top of the seat. You will know your kid outgrows his forward-facing seat when:
1. Over the weight limit
2. Shoulders above the top harness slot
3. Top of ears over the top of the shell
So after LOTS and LOTS of research we narrowed it down to the Britax Regent and the Graco Nautilus. I love Britax seats, they are so cool and sturdy and safe and easy to install. But, Chris liked the Graco better. So, I had to research more and go through the list of pros and cons. We finally decided on the Nautilus. This was for a few reasons. In case I ever needed the seat in my car, the Regent does not install well into the Captain chairs of the Odyssey, the cup holder on the Nautilus is a plus especially considering how many times my guys tend to leave milk cups in the seat and make mommy wash the cover, and the Nautilus would truly be the last seat for daddy's car and it was slightly cheaper. It has a steel reinforced frame and it is easy to install. It is new this year and all the car seat techs are raving about the seat. It harnesses to 65 pounds, has high top slots (19 inches), and then converts to a high back booster until 100 pounds and can also convert to a back-less booster from 40-100 pounds.
We got it in the mail and it is nice, it took me about 30 minutes to put it together. Which included, putting the head rest on and snapping the arms into place and adjusting to cover and moving the crotch strap out to the far position. Then probably another 30 minutes to get it into the car, but it was pretty easy to install. I got it in there nice and tight.
So I asked my boys what they thought of the new seat after using it today. Hubs answered, "it's a car seat, I didn't have to ride in it" and C said "it was comfy on my bum bum." Needless to say, neither one of them share my passion about car seats.

T-Baller

We have a little T-Ball player! I am so excited. Practice starts April 12. We had the orientation and boy did he pay attention. He came out of there ready to go with his list of stuff that he needed and needed now! He was ready. We went shopping and got him a glove, pants, bat, balls, and a tee. He still insists he needs a batting glove socks, and belt. In all due time. He was busy trying his pants on and letting me know I needed to take them in a little in the waist.
So Sunday after the orientation it was pretty cold but he had his stuff and daddy had said he would take him out so the cold was not going to detour him at all. We went to the park and he practiced catching a grounder coming toward him and throwing and then hitting off the tee. He has a pretty good arm (meaning his throws actually go about as far as mommy's already). He wasn't too coordinated hitting of the tee, but did pretty good. He was so cute playing t-ball. I can't wait to go and watch him play. He will have 6 games for the season and everyone gets a trophy.
Hmmm, wonder if I will be one of those obsessed my kid has to be the best moms? It's supposed to be all in fun :-)
Oh yeah, I had said it was cold right, he lasted about 30 minutes and said it was time to go home, he was cold. He came right in the house, went upstairs and put a pair of gloves on his hands to warm them up.

Cooking Class - Last Session

Well, cooking class session #3 was not as big of a hit as the previous two. The first item made was pickles in a blanket. It consisted of a piece of turkey, cream cheese, and a pickle rolled and then sliced and served with a toothpick. He informed his teacher (and everyone else) he did not like pickles or cream cheese. The next item was stuffed celery. This was a mixture of cream cheese (yeah the stuff he does not like), crushed pineapple, and minced maraschino cherries spread onto celery. He apparently does not like cherries either. Sigh.
The last item was the only hit for him. It was Peanut Cheerio Pretzel Mix. Not sure what all was in it but it did have peanut butter, peanuts, honey, vanilla, pretzel snaps, peanuts, and cheerios. All things he liked, yay! Success, third time's a charm for him. All the kids loved this last item. No pics of the cooking class items since the first two we did not bring home and the last was quickly devoured by us and unfortunately, the dog ate some too after we went to bed. Darn Calvin! At least he saved me some calories.
He has told his teachers at school he is allergic to cheese. He does not want anything that has cheese, is remotely cheesy, has a texture of cheese, smells like cheese, etc. I thought it was pretty funny that he was able to grasp that other kids did not have to eat something if they were allergic to it, so he would claim an allergy to cheese, seems pretty smart to me. Hubs did not think it was very funny.

My Jedi Knight

The dude got chosen to fight the Dark Side at the Jedi Training Academy. He got to fight Darth Vader!!!!! He told everyone: I wore a brown hood, got to hold a light saver (yes saver), and fight Darth Vader. It was sooo cool!

California Trip, Day 3

Yay! We are in California for a few days vacation with my mom (Mimi) and my sister (Aunt Jocie), who is on Spring Break.
The trip was not as good as has been in the past, the dude has always been an angel on the plane and a great traveler. Well, this time he wasn't great. He whined a lot, only fell asleep on the descent into Salt Lake City, and said he did not feel well. Hint #1, he never says he doesn't feel well. Hint #2, he only ate fruit loops, one piece of candy, and 4 bags of peanuts the whole trip and barely drank some water, no milk. Luckily, he did not disturb those around us, just me a little. We landed, he was so excited to see Mimi and Jocie. We went to go to lunch and he got sick at the restaurant. He ended up being sick the rest of the day and went to bed at 6:30 p.m. He woke up at 3:30 wanting to go into the "hot pool" (hot tub). I managed to get us to stay in bed until 6:45 when we went up and snuggled Mimi. He felt 100% better and is not sick anymore. Yay!
So far, we have gone in the hot pool three times, went to the Sacramento Zoo, and went to dinner at Hacienda Del Rio, have been eating there since I was a kid. He has been totally loving on his Mimi and his Auntie. He also has got to hang out with my brother's girlfriend's son Brian, who is 3. They are on the alligator together.

Museum Fun!

We went to the museum today with some of his friends from the playgroup. He saw Malaya, Sammy, Kimberly, and a few other friends. Him and Malaya have been playing together for about 2 1/2 years. I have always joked that he is going to marry Malaya. But between Alina at school, Kimberly, Malaya, the neighbor Leyana, and more, who knows. But we really love Malaya, she is such a sweet, cute, energetic, happy girl. Here is the dude dressed as a fireman and me and then him and Malaya in the sandbox. He is wearing an eye patch he made at the craft table at the museum.