Living vicariously

As the mom of 2 boys, I often long to have a baby girl to dress in pink and frills. A baby girl to paint nails, put ponies and pig tails in her hair, crochet head bands and hats, barrettes, and all things girly. I long for pink in my house of blue.

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY BOYS! Being a mom of boys has it's own special rewards. The relationship between mother and son is quite special and I find joy in my son's everyday "being a boy behavior". Sports, trucks, dirt, bugs, superhero's, and the adventure that only comes with boys. I may never get a girl to dress up in, well, pink and frills..or I may get a girl who hates pink and dresses and anything girly. I mean, she would be raised in a house of blue.

Until the day I hope to be blessed with pink, I will live vicariously through those around me with baby girls. In this case, Amy. Not only do I get to play with 1 girl, I get 2! Might I add, these beautiful twin girls are 9 months old..which means their 1st birthday is right around the corner! In a conversation today, Amy and I talked about her thoughts on decorations and color/themes. The party planner in me mixed with my love of all things girly and pink and I had WAY too much fun finding stuff! Pink and polka dots...oh the possibilities!

To top it off, a couple weeks before Addison and Riley turn 1, a very good friend, Tracy, will be welcoming her beautiful little girl, Katelyn, into the world. This means, 3 beautiful girls to spoil. Will there be 4? We shall find that out in April as well! April is shaping up to be a very exciting month!

It's official!

Braedon lost his first tooth today!

It was so close and I had a feeling it was coming out today. I had another look at it this morning when he got up and it was hanging on by a thread. I told him to play with it as much as he could and to use his tongue to push on it to help loosen it up and to make sure he didn't swallow it at lunch LOL! I was actually pretty surprised that it was still in when I picked him up from school this afternoon.

So we ran home quickly since I have class on Wednesday nights. I grabbed all my stuff, packed my dinner and snacks for the boys to eat on the way to Chris' work. It didn't even occur to me that it would be hard for him to eat the apple he had requested..duh! He also asked for grapes since that is what I was packing for Cohen. So we rush out the door snacks and drinks in hand, get all everyone loaded up and ready to go. I literally get 2 minutes down the road (talking to Chris to let him know we were on our way) and Braedon yells "Mommy mommy! My tooth came out!!".."What?!"..."Yeah I was eating a grape and it just came out...here it is"...Yeah phone in one hand, steering wheel in the other...hold phone with shoulder, attempt to drive with knee while I reach behind me to get the tooth before he dropped it. You know, this scene is kind of ironic...you know with all my carseat safety knowledge and all...yeah lets get them all buckled in nice and tight and then attempt the knee steering, holding a phone with my shoulder and reaching behind me..oh well!

He was so excited and he wanted me to call the tooth fairy right then and there...then he wanted her number and promised he wouldn't tell any of the other kids what it was! Oh geez!

The real adventure came when I got home from class. My first attempt at playing tooth fairy which means getting the tooth pillow out from under the regular pillow which had his precious little sleeping head. Now normally, he sleeps pretty soundly..BUT not tonight! I had a plan in place though and it worked out perfectly since I had class tonight. The plan was to go in there and attempt to swap the tooth for money but if he woke up, I would just give him a hug and kiss to let him know I was home. While giving him a hug, I would reach under his pillow to grap the tooth pillow then let him go back to sleep before replacing it. BRILLIANT, right?! Well that's exactly how it went. He woke up the instant I opened his door..nice..I gave him a hug, conveniently slipped my hand under his pillow and grabbed it. Oh and by the way, thanks Grandma Di for the awesome tooth pillow but next time, let's get one WITHOUT VELCRO :D Luckily I had stepped out his room to make sure he didn't suspect anything..I mean, he is a genius and EXTREMELY observant which makes this even harder. I replaced the tooth with the money and waited for him to go back to sleep...then I oh so carefully crept back in his room, slid it back under his pillow and crept back out to which I found my oh so wonderful husband right next to me to scare the bejesus out of me and almost ruin the whole being quiet thing. He rustled around for a second and then went right back to snoring!

I can't wait to see his face in the morning when he discovers his money! Oh the magic of childhood!

Loose tooth

I guess a more appropriate title would be loose teeth..

I had been worried about the lack of loose teeth Braedon had. He teethed really early and got his first 2 teeth at 3 months old so I had been told and assumed he would start losing teeth early. At his 5 year well check, his pediatrician had mentioned that it was a possibility so I was on the look out...then his 6 year well check came and still no signs of loose teeth. A couple kids in his class lost teeth and he's one of the older one's along with Megan-his "girlfriend"..and still no loose teeth!

I had Christina take a look at his teeth because some of his teeth started looking really grey and of course, I was being a paranoid mom with this whole losing teeth. He definitely grinds his teeth which I used to do but she couldn't feel anything loose. The next morning, literally, when I was brushing/flossing his teeth, he told me his teeth hurt. My first though "Great! Cavaty.." NOPE. His front 2 teeth were loose...barely but still loose. I was so excited!

He had a dentist appointment last week. I was a bad mommy and hadn't taken him in almost 2 years. They took x-rays and were very impressed with how clean and cavity free his teeth were. The x-ray also showed a handful of teeth that had lost their roots completely and "would be coming out very soon". He had 2 of his 6yr molars in and the other 2 were poking through. Long story short, 2 days after his dentist appointment, brushing his teeth again, he told me his bottom tooth hurt. I was expecting it this time because the dentist had said he was surprised they weren't loose yet and bet the bottoms would come out before the tops. This tooth was VERY LOOSE. He can no longer eat with it, it's really starting to pull forward and the teeth around it are turning out to make room for the big tooth. As of tonight, it seems to only be hanging on by a thread..the TOOTH FAIRY better get ready!!

School for me!

And I am still maintaing an A average in school! Yipee! I completed my 4th class last Wednesday and my final grade was finally posted. I have 3 A's and 1 A- :-) I start yet another class on Wednesday which technically starts my second semester.

I feel like I am a professional student and I've been working on my degree for a very long time. August '08 I decided enough was enough and I dedicated myself to finishing what I had started so long ago. The online program at University of Phoenix was exactly what I needed. Looking over the program, I knew I would need to make a campus class or two work. Math is not my strong point and my degree program requires a Statistics class, Accounting, and Finance. I wanted to get accustomed to the campus class so I talked it over with Chris and took a ground class so I would be prepared as to how it works and the committment it takes to be in class. Turns out, I loved it and the schedule works well for us. My classes are every Wednesday night from 6-10. Braedon gets out of school at 3, we come home for a quick snack, and the boys and I head out to meet Chris at work. We swap cars, Chris takes the boys home and I go to class. I like the relief of pressure I get from taking a ground class. Sure, I have to be there every Wed but aside from writing my paper (or whatever the weekly assignment is) I don't have to worry about school or participation or checking in the rest of the week. The online format requires you to participate 4 days per week.

My goal is to finish my degree by June '11. With all my transfer credits and classes I've taken so far, I am set to finish October-ish '11 but I really want to be able to walk at graduation. This means I need to "double up" on classes a handful of times to get there. 2 classes may not seem like a lot but the classes are excelerated which means a class that normally takes 16 weeks (a "normal" semester) is scrunched into 5 weeks so it will be intense..but I know I can handle it. I will take 1 online class and 1 ground class to help with the intensity of it.

Oh and to top it off, Chris is *finally* going back to school as well. He was supposed to start in August with me but he wasn't there yet. He has completed all his paperwork and should be starting Feb. 2 :-)

Braedon!

Last week was an exciting week for us!

After the holiday break, I felt like we were back at square one with Braedon and his behavior at school. He did so well over the 2 week break but it's probably because he didn't "have to do anything" as far as school work or anything that really required any sort of concentration.

So the first week back was rough...even rougher because he was not going up to 1st grade for math. The 1st grade class was "re-organizing". My guess is they were re-testing the kiddos because they were split up into 3 levels-below 1st grade, average, above average-and they needed to make sure everyone was where they should be. This meant Braedon had to stay in Kindergarten during math. He has been working on double digit addition/subtraction so you can imagine the torture of having to do single digit addition and "how many are in this picture".

Ok so fast forward to last week-I picked him up from school as I always do but Miss Fredrickson seemed distracted so we didn't really talk much about his day-no biggie. I get home and when I looked in his folder for the day's report, announcements, homework, I saw a permission slip. WELL! This wasn't just any permission slip...it was a permission slip to test him for the Gifted and Talented program!! Oh...my...goodness! I talked to her the next day about it and learned the testing will be in March and that she requested it. She said "he's a very analytical thinker and always thinks outside the box" and "I really just think there is something there"! I finally felt like my thoughts were being heard! After months and months of conferences with her and the assistant principal to figure out what might work and countless times of me telling them "HE'S BORED!"..they finally listened! I've always known he was smart and not just being biased. His preschool teachers always said something. Not only is he smart, he's quick to learn which is always a good skill to have.

So the test is really hard and there isn't much I can do to prepare him for it but everyone at the school is confident he will do just fine. If for whatever reason he doesn't make it this year, they will definitely test him next year. And once he's in, he's in!!

Isn't that great?! I'm so excited for him and I know this will be what he needs. He's not being challenged enough and is getting uber bored in class which then leads to misbehavior.

New Year's Resolutions

LOL! So we are going to pay absolutely no mind to the fact that January is almost over and I am just now getting around to this :-) Then let me say, WOW, it's been awhile since I have been on my blog...

I figured if I type these out, I will surely follow them, right?

1. Keep up on my oh so wonderful blog-I mean, I started it as a way to keep track of the every day happenings around here..and well, I haven't done a very good job of it especially since going back to school but as BFF Amy has said, it's like a second homework assignment...oh goody!

2. De-clutter and organize my life, starting with the house. We bought this house and moved in the 3rd week of July '08 and there are still boxes in the front room and our room...oh and the garage. I had an excuse though-I was VERY pregnant with Cohen, he was born in October, Thanksgiving in November, Christmas in December, then the new year...and I have no more excuses after that..so 1 1/2yrs later, I think it's time to get it together, WDYT?

3. Live a healthier lifestyle-notice the wording is NOT "lose weight" because really, who ever does? We have been making necessary changes to our diet for Braedon and it has helped greatly. I've noticed a difference in how I feel all around but we do slip up and fall into the rut of fast food, ordering in, etc. So, I plan to buy more organic that I already do, make dinner most nights instead of "picking something up" and being more active.

Ok that is it for this post but stay tuned...I will get better at this! I promise!

Almost there!

GRRR!!! So I had this whole post typed out last night when blogger decided to stop working! Did it save ANY of it? Of course not! The one time I didn't copy before submitting and this is what happens!

So here it goes again-

Cohen is so close to walking he can taste it! He has been walking with assistance for a few months but had this complex about letting go. He would freestand for a while but as soon as he realized it or wanted to go somewhere, he would slowly lower himself to the ground. He loved to push things around and would move chairs all day long. At any given time, our barstools and dining chairs were virtually all over the kitchen and dining room. The 2 things that prevented them from being everywhere else is the baby gate and the carpet in the living room.

All of that changed literally 2 days ago. First he figured out how to stand from the seated position without help from anyone or anything. Then he laughed that he had done it and started taking steps. He was laughing so hard he fell down...but right back up he went. Every time he does it, he is giggling. It is so cute! Last night at Braedon' soccer practice, he went crazy! He took about 10 steps before he fell and kept getting up again. I was surprised at how long it took him to resort to crawling. He is seriously FAST when he crawls which is why it is taken him so long to try to walk. I have no doubt in my mind that by next weeks practice, he will be running all over the field!

This is an exciting milestone but at the same time, I know what having a walker is like and I have not been looking forward to it. Walking brings a whole new aspect to things. I am just thankful he wasn't an early walker like Braedon who walked at 7 months...no joke!