May happenings

The weather is starting to warm up, which means a lot more of outside time. As I speak the child is somewhere in the backyard wielding two water guns.

I love rain, but this, this has been glorious lately ...Super cheap activity. It includes a whole lot of these (Soft blocks. My mom actually found these ones at Ross for super cheap)

And a bowl full of this ... (Men's shaving cream)

And a little bit of imagination,
It pays sometimes to have a mommy that use to be a teacher.

Our latest flannel story we made, pattern courtesy of my works flannel board workshop.

There have been an abundance of these in our yard lately. Notice it missing anything? Murphy now has a boarder line obsession with patrolling the yard for them.. This particular one had a mean streak, so I didn't feel that bad it lost its tail, served it right. What you don't see in this picture is me standing on a ledge because my son has ran inside and slammed the slider door shut while the lizard bum-rushed me and the dog, leaving me with no escape.

Thanks Sully.
Speaking of obsessions, Sully has one with birthdays right now. He insists that his birthday is every Saturday if you ask him. Anything that can be lit is now a candle, which warrants an impromptu Happy Birthday sing-a-long, no matter where we are, or what we're doing. The little candles at the Mexican restaurant full of people are no exception either.

Yes, thats a birthday cake. No, its not anybodies birthday. Yes, I'm just a rad mom.
Sully doing some afternoon painting projects ...

Its still a little too cold to hit up the pool just yet, but it hasn't stopped us from having a little water fun in the sun in the meantime.
Our new chalkboard wall I painted in the kitchen. He loves it so much I'm extending it all the way down to the floor, which I should have just done in the first place. (Stupid, Steph)
A few weeks ago we all gathered at the beach with a few soon to be new family members and friends to witness this event we all had a little part in helping with ...
(My sister and her best friend Danielle aka accomplice in crime aka cake eaters)
My sisters boyfriend waiting for her on a bench overlooking the ocean, just seconds before he popped THEE big question. (All the pictures I have of her are like this - bent over either laughing or crying.)
To be honest, I never thought my sister and Danielle would come back from Vegas that fateful Valentines day weekend over a year and half ago with a soon-to-be-husband in tow for my sister.

Anybody who is capable of balancing out that teeter-totter without slamming down hard to catapult her off is a win in my book. I've never seen you drive a yellow car, I'm pretty sure your ears aren't pierced and you don't have any holy man ink on your body. I'm also pretty sure you've never summoned "The Wizard" in my kitchen at 2 am in the morning.

All wins, dude.

I knew when she came back from that epic first date, this was different - mainly because we didn't stay up late trash talking you over ice cream. You make her happy, and my kid doesn't run away from you crying, so we're legit.

We're excited to have you become official, because I think we can agree you've already been a part of this family for awhile now.

I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas until you find out it followed you home and lives about 20 minutes away from your house.

Maybe that little fat angel in the loin cloth with the arrow actually does know a thing or two.



And just because he's freakin' cute. Who doesn't love water fights?

We had a fun day at the zoo this Saturday, but it didn't yield too many photos since my little bit is everywhere anymore and I flew solo with my fam since the hubs was home sick.

We're going camping next weekend for the first time ever with Sully. Wish us luck and stay tunned ....

Spellbound

Tonight in the bathtub, Sully pointed to the foam S sticking on the wall and said "S!"

He then methodically followed it with a U, L, L, I, V an A and an N.

I would like to solve the puzzle Pat.

What is, my son spelled his frickin name!

He also yelled "Sulliban!" right after. (His V's sound like B's and its really cute)

I whipped my phone video out and asked him to do it again.

He laughed.

I offered candy and he started with the S, and then laughed and said "Nooooo."

Tease.

Nobody is ever going to believe me.

Thank you Leapfrog.

I will be giving you 5 gold stars.

Two

I attempted to start writing this entry back in March.
The 16th to be exact.
Yeah, I'm aware it's now
May 13th - and almost an entire month past Sully's
2nd
birthday.

Two.

I've attempted to start it so many times, but to be honest,
I'm left stumbling a lot, searching for what I
want
to say,
that isn't redundant or rehashed feelings from the past
2 years.
I swear its been the blink of an eye, Sully.

A blink.
And then my baby, you were two.
Its bittersweet.
So
extremely
bittersweet.

There have been quite a few happenings the start of this new year, that have left me,
breathless.
My heart-aching a little.
Or a lot.
But all none-the-less, that have left me
completely and humbly
grateful
for everything
that is
you.

I can honestly say there hasn't been a day since you've been born, that I haven't stopped at
least
once
a day,
and caught my breath -
and
thanked
the universe for whatever I did to
deserve you.

And as I sat on the park bench last week,
watching you play,
and run,
and squeal -
I was left wondering -
If every parent feels this way about their child.

And I felt a deep void for those who don't.
Because how
can
you
not.

And while we have those days that I swear I'm going to hang you
upside down,
by your shoe strings,
outside in the tree with a
For Sale sign
slapped to your chest -
they are far outnumbered by the
amount of days
that I've stopped dead in my tracks,
around the corner -
and listened to you
sing
in your playroom when you think
I'm not there.
And I smile so long,
and so hard,
that it hurts.

Far outnumbered,
by the amount of times
you've proudly cracked eggs into the bowl,
which have left me fishing out more shells
than I care to count.
And eating more crunchy muffins
than I care
to talk about
as you declare - "Mmmm these tasty Mama!"

Far outnumbered,
by the nights I've sat with you and your daddy watching hockey,
and listened to you scream
at the television,
waving your arms around like some
kind of baby sports lunatic.
Rooting for a score - waving your stick up high,
and patting us on the head like you see them do
when the goal is made.
(It is in fact, where you let your first
F-bomb fall on stunned ears -
when a goal was let through.
What can I say,
you're your father's
boy.)

I'm hard pressed to remember what life was like
before.
Before hoards of toys overtook my house.
Before I ever willingly woke up at 6 am on a Saturday.
Before the crayon drawings ever appeared on my walls.
Before I ever dealt with screaming fits of rage in the toy aisles.

And that's okay,
because the
truth
is
you
are so much more fulfilling than a
clean house
ever was.
I'd take
your wake up call
over any alarm clock -
any day.

And as I scoop your screaming flailing ass up in the store
and carry you like a football under my arm,
pushing my cart with my other free hand
cool and collected-
I smile
and nod at other mom's,
because
I've got this.

Because as you grow,
I do too.
As you become more confident
in the
person
you're becoming,
I do too.

I'm hard pressed to
remember
"before"
some days.
And that's okay.
Because
you
are the best thing,
I've
ever
done.

And that's worth
any before
I could ever
truly remember
during these past
two years.
Its worth
everything.

Any expectations I had the morning of
April 16th, 2009
on what this journey would be like
what it would hold -
well -
there's no words.
It has exceeded anything
and everything
I spent dreaming up those 9 months.

And we celebrate.
We celebrate all the milestones,
all the smiles,
all funny quips,
and faces,
and words and numbers
and crayon drawings on the walls.
Even the Baby For Sale days.

We celebrate you,
and everything you've brought to the table
these past
two,
wonderfully magical,
challenging
and rewarding
years.

You've exceeded
anything
and
everything
I ever thought I could dream up
that morning,
two years ago.

A million kisses Bubbi -
to the moon and back.
Happy Birthday Sullivan.

A what fish?

You know quite a few sea animals.

You know what a whale is.

What an octopus is.

What fish are called.

Dolphins, sharks, eels and sea lions.

But yesterday one stumped you.

You sat quietly for a few minutes when it popped up, and we could see the wheels in your head turning, until you proudly declared;

"APPLEFISH!"

It was really a jellyfish we were looking at, but Daddy said since you pulled it out of one of the food groups, and technically apple can be made into jelly - it counts.

Applefish put a smile on my face.

Brat

I was making lunch yesterday in the kitchen when Sully came up to me.

Now, you need to know that Shaun and I's approach to the TV rule is on opposite spectrum. I have a somewhat hardcore approach ... unless you're sick on your deathbed to warrant marathon carton watching - you get a cartoon in the morning with your breakfast, and then one at night before bed, after you've eaten and bathed. Daddy ... well not so much. And that's fine. We just have different feelings about it. (Sully can usually be found with Shaun watching hockey. A surprise, I know.)

Well, apparently the two-year-old has caught on fast about whose a quick TV sale and whose not.

Okay, so back to the kitchen, where he came up to me and very politely asked,

"Mommy, TV please?" and cocked his head to the side and gave a big toothy smile.

He was selling himself hard, let me tell you. I bit my lip trying not to laugh.

"I really like the way you asked. But we have music on right now."

"Mama! TV PLEASE!" ... the sweet smile now being replaced with an abrupt I'm-really-serious-right-now-foot-stomp.

"Not right now. We're about to each lunch."

"Wheres Daddy?!"

I thought this wasn't suppose to start until they were like, teenagers. Freakin' brat.

Smorgasbord

My folks took off today for a 2 week vacation to Hawaii, so I figured what better reason for taking off some vacation time myself to spend with my most favorite little guy. I'm off starting today and won't return to my office until next Tuesday, which will be a half day at that (woo hoo!). The following week will be heavily office-time reduced as well (Yay!) Which is the whole reason I actually have a moment to breathe and do this (I swear something clicks over to hyper-speed once they officially turn 2! Keeping up with a full-blown toddler is no joke!)

So what have we been up to the past couple months? Well ...

In May I hosted a baby-shower for my girlfriend Nikki (my sister's awesome diaper cake) ...

And Sully and I have still been busy making flannels for our favorite songs and stories. Its one of his favorite things to do now. He'll say "Mama, sit!" and point to the floor in front of the board, pull out a song and start singing it while he puts it on the board.

God forbid I chime in.

That's cause for a level 10 meltdown. It usually involves lots of hands and fingers wagging in my face, "No's" being screamed and occasionally felt animal cut-outs being thrown around the room until I get the picture and shut up - or stop laughing.

Our cute little "Counting Cupcakes" we made out of small scrap felts pieces and hot glue.

(Sully can count to 14 now - and typically always skips over 11 with me. Poor little lonely number 11. I wonder sometimes if he's tried to sing Speckled Frogs too.)

Sully singing Slippery Fish.

One of my favorite things I've completed so far this month.

I found this pirate fleece fabric in the clearance scrap bin at Joannes, along with some golden-yellow fleece that was scrapped out in clearance and they matched perfectly! They sat in my craft closet for a couple months until Sully spotted the fabric one day and started screaming "PIRATES!" and wouldn't let it go until I agreed to finish it. The fleece was normally $11.99 a yard, and even though it was a awkward size, it fits Sully perfectly and he loves it. The whole thing cost me 8 bucks total and about an hour of my time in front of House Hunters late one night.

Its now his new go-to.

Shaun and I are planning to build a vegetable planter in our yard so Sully and I decided to give our green thumbs a go and give actually growing something edible - a trial run. We planted...

Cilantro, Dill, Garlic Chives, Basil and Onions

And while I have no photographic proof that all are in fact alive and doing well (and not a heap of dirt on my patio) all are thriving and have now been transferred into permanent pots from their seedling homes.

I'm pretty sure in a couple months we'll be eating some fresh basil, tomato and mozzarella sandwiches (yummy!)

Sully decided to water himself

Lately, I've been HUGE into couponing, more so than normal. I'm not 'gonna lie, I love the Krazy Coupon ladies. Its my dream to one day walk out of a grocery store with a full card in tow, having had their establishment pay me.

My family is always giving me crap about how I don't buy anything unless its on sale - or how nobody likes to go shopping with me because I'll spend hours debating and calculating in aisles. And while I haven't quite earned my golden coupon badge just quite yet, I'd like to think I'm pretty saavy, enough so that I get to sport around at least a bronze star.

Here are my bags of dog food I scored for $5 bucks each!

My loot from Target. Before all my coupons the total was $69 bucks and some change. I only ended up paying $32 and some change. Target lets you stack manufactuer coupons with their Target online coupons. Plus every week they seem to have some "Buy 2 get a Target card" promotion going on. Its how I got a 100 count box of Huggies for $4.00! What what!?!

Sully's latest food obsession. French's Fried Onions. If he sees this box he goes nuts like a monkey in a cage for a banana - I swear. So far he's swiped 2 cans. (Relax, they weren't completely full)

I'd like to make the disclaimer that the next series of photographs are truly pitiful.

Embarrassingly

pitiful.

Sully turned the big TWO on April 16th. I was so busy running around like a maniac chicken looking for its head, that I had to resign trying to get the pictures done as well, which I relied on my MIL for. I've yet to get those pictures, so here is what I do have.

And trust me, it ain't much.

Sully cares about two things these days - cars and trains. So we went with a Cars birthday theme. We had a nice little gathering of close family and friends this year. It was fun seeing all of his little boy friends in one place, since usually we play date with just one at a time.

The cake came about in a comedy of errors sort of way. Basically I ran out of time to order the cake, and while making the cake was never on my list of things I wanted to take on, it became one of my favorite things.

It was a collective effort. I baked it, my best friend Sam made the frosting, I slathered it on, Shaun decorated the top of the cake (Yes, my husband did that!) and Sam used her hand-dandy writing skills on it. And wah-lah!

Note: Ignore the photo-bombing bonehead in the background.

Sully's Aunt Sam was able to make it out for his birthday this year. We've been friends since we were 11/12! Dude, thats almost 20 years.

He's only seen her a handful of times, but you'd never know it by how he acts with her. (I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the Target shopping binge she took him on for his birthday.)

Hey, whatever gets it done!

We spent Easter Eve's Eve with my sister and her boyfriend coloring Easter Eggs where we collectively and unanimously decided - that shit was a lot more fun when we were kids. I blame the commercialization of holidays.

Or maybe we just need to come to terms with the fact we're no longer 7.

No yeh, I blame the commercialization.

I had way more fun watching Sully play with the eggs and splash and color and make just, a complete and utter mess. He freaked when the coloring wouldn't come off his hands.

Aah, alas, he is definately my child.

Sully and I spent Saturday afternoon at my folk's house and all of the neighborhood kids for the Easter Egg Hunt. (Shaun had to work, boo.) For being the youngest kid there, he held his own.

He found so much loot that we were stuffing our pockets because he quickly exceeded his baskets allowed capacity.

Yeh, thats right.

I totally make my kid dance for candy.

And no, I don't feel ashamed at all by that fact. Truffle shuffle boy, truffle shuffle.

Sunday morning Sully helped me make deviled eggs for daddy. He's become quite the little chef in the kitchen. The counter is one of his favorite places to be anymore.

Some other fun random tidbits from the past couple months ....

• Senator Dutton pulled his proposed bill that would end my jobs funding. We live to see another year!

• As soon as we found out my job was safe, we found out Shaun would be losing his come July. They're outsourcing their department and laying everyone off. Oh, the irony.

• I've been trying to get Sully's Two Year pictures taken for 6 weeks now. The photography gods are not in our favor. Week One - It rained. Week Two - Sully got really sick with a virus. Week Three - It rained. Week Four - Our photographer got really sick. Week Five - Sully fell off our bed and wrecked his pretty little face. I'm skipping this week in hopes it'll trip up the bad juju.
  
  
• Here's a fun fact. I've killed 5 fish in two months. I'm pretty sure I've become the John Wayne Gacy of Petco fish. Don't worry, I'll keep this lie up as long as he believes fish can transform shape and colors.

• Sully had some x-rays done on his legs at his two year checkup. His bones at his knee stick out a little funny - and the last thing I expected was being sent to the lab for a workup, but rest assured, our little guy is fine. It's just how he is! Everything came back clear.

• We've rescued 4 different lizards from our yard in 1 month. One actually made it all the way inside and took refuge under our couch. Now Sully is obsessed with finding lizards in the yard. And so the dirty boy shoving frogs in his pockets begins ...

• I've been working on this post for 3 flipping weeks. Trains, and chalk and "Mama c'mons!" have taken priority.

I'm pretty sure this is what it feels like when your brain vomits.