Avery's Antics 3.5

"Avery... why did you rip up all this toilet paper?!"
"I was feeding the duckies!"

"How do you say 'adios' in spanish?"

"If you don't get me a snack, I'm gonna go into beast-mode!!!"

"What does Daddy do at work?"
"He protects our country."
"Why?"
"Well, America is like a castle. And Daddy is like a knight. He protects the castle from any bad guys that want to come in."
Thinks for a minute...
"So does he go where the bad guys are and have a gun and a sword and a stick to poke them in the eye?!"
"Um, yeah. Something like that." 

I told Avery to give me a sassy pose and this is what I got... Lord help us!

365 Days Ago

What a difference a year makes!

Exactly one year ago today, June 3rd, 2011 I was 10 weeks pregnant with Lear and had this 3D ultrasound done. We didn't know his gender or the color of his eyes, but this amazing little peek at our baby boy was forever captured on film. A profile view, with one foot crossed over the other and his eye, ear and jawline clearly visible, this was the first time we saw our son. It's astounding the amount of detail and human form he already possessed at barely 1-inch long - his beating heart no bigger than the asterisk* on your keyboard. What an astonishing miracle it is that technology can provide a small glimpse into that "secret place" where God knits us together (Psalm 119:13-16).     

  

Fast forward 365 days (366 since it's a leap year?!) and Lear will be 5 months old tomorrow! He certainly still resembles his ultrasound photo in the large head department. Yowzas. Sorry kid, I think you inherited your momma's fivehead (bigger than a forehead... get it?). This isn't an official doctor visit month, but on our bathroom scale he's coming in around 18 lbs, aka: too dang heavy to be hauling around in that baby carseat! You may have noticed in the photo that he's free-style sittin' alone these days. Not entirely un-wobbly, but can hold his own upright for a stretch of 10-15 minutes at a time. He's wearing 6-9 month clothing and hasn't started any solid foods yet. Mostly because I'm too lazy to start! 

No teeth yet, but he does have a little hair, I promise. It's just so light and thin that it doesn't show up in photos. Opa asked if he has eyebrows, but I think the jury's still out on that one. He's a chill dude while awake, which is his saving grace, since he doesn't sleep worth a darn. 5 months in and this Momma's still waiting for more than 4 hours of consecutive sleep... ugh. He has more than a few nicknames including Learbug, Chunka-saurus, and Shucky-boo (what Avery calls him... don't ask). 

Five months have gone much faster with babe numero dos! We love you Chunk!

Running on a Bridge

Ok. Let's just be honest here - I don't run. Do not be misled by my post title to think I am some kind of an athlete or something. In fact, the closest thing I've ever done to a "real race" was saying "On your mark, Get set, GO!..." and then letting Avery beat me to the mailbox.

BUT, knowing that our time here in San Diego may be limited, I've decided to try and live fully in this wonderful city we call home. That includes signing up for my very first REAL race. The Coronado Bridge Run is the only annual chance you have to cross the Coronado Bridge on foot, as the bridge is typically closed to non-suicidal pedestrians. I tried to convince some friends to do it with me, but alas, they slacked and it sold out before they registered. Already I knew this would be interesting trying to do such a race with 2 kids on my own...

The day got off to a panicky start when my alarm did not go off as planned and I woke up an hour later than intended! Good thing I had intended to wake up at 4:45a. Concerned about the parking situation with 10,000 fellow participants vying for a spot, I mad-dashed us all out of the house in 20 min. I must be "clean livin'" because the parking angels saved us a spot right up front at the finish line. Hallelujah!

With Lear in the front pack, Avery walking alongside, and the double stroller packed we boarded the bus to take us from Coronado back over the bay to the starting line at the San Diego Convention Center. After feeding Lear and asking Avery multiple times if she needed to pee, we were all set. Literally, as the air horn blares for the race to begin, Avery looks up and says, "Mommy, I lied to you. I have to got potty really bad." Seriously?!

After 15 min locating and utilizing the port-a-potties, we are now joining the race at the back of this massive crowd. As previously stated - not a runner... but I really did want to jog/power walk to try and get a decent time (decent for me anyways).

Check out all those people!!!

We get on the bridge and the views are awesome. Both over the edge and of my cutie-patooties in the front. I won't lie - pushing 50lbs of kids and 34lbs of stroller up that incline was no joke.

 I'm still attempting to jog/power walk through the crowds and we're about 1/4 up the bridge when it happens. Avery barfs. Yup. All over her jeans and hands and the front of the stroller. For posterity (and proof) I took a picture, but will spare you the photographic details. She's had a wicked cough the last couple days and I think she just got coughing so hard that she gagged. Suffice to say that I had to stop and wet-wipe that whole mess down the best I could.

By now we are in the waaaaay back. How you can tell you're in the waaaaay back? Well, we are now walking next to a blind lady with her guide dog and a dude in a wheelchair with no legs and one arm. THAT IS NOT A LIE. I would have taken pictures of them, but figured that'd be a tad rude. Although I guess the blind lady wouldn't have noticed...

Oh yeah, and the trolley that's supposed to be bringing up the rear - passes you. :(

At this point I give up all dreams of attaining a "decent time" and decide to take pictures instead...

Avery decides to walk for a bit too.

And, heck, while we're in the VERY back, might as well see how many photos we can get together by asking perfect strangers to snap us.

1- At the top, 273 ft above the water.

2- Notice the empty bridge?!  ;)

3-

4 -

5 - The most important one! Finish Line with two cranky, hungry kids. Does that timer clock say 1 hour 58 min? Yes it does. But let's shave off about 25 minutes for the whole pee/puke situations. A solid 1.5 hours to go 4 miles. Hey, we had a blast and I still don't claim to be a runner. ;)

Avery's Antics 3.4

"Let's watch Beauty and the Beef."

Me to Lear: "Are you gonna be happy if I sit you on my lap or do I need to put you in your swing?"
Avery: "Mom, why are you giving him options?"

Working in the backyard, I leave Avery to watch Lear in his bouncer seat to run inside for something. Return a minute later to him and Avery holding STICKS (!)
"Avery!!! Lear cannot have sticks yet. He's too little and will poke his face."
"But MOoOOooM, we're roasting marshmallows!!!!"

"Why are Daddies bigger than Mommies?"
"Usually adult boys are just taller than adult girls."
"I know why Daddies are taller. It's so that when I ride on his shoulders I can touch the sky."

"Those yum-yums (dessert) were so good tonight. They have lots of protein, don't they."

Talking to Matt via Skype, he says to Avery: "I can see a booger in your nose!"
"Oh, that's 'cause it's falling out. I'll push it back up there." 
And, indeed, pushes it back in. Ha!  

Wearing her princess outfit and holding her play phone:
"Who are you talking to?"
"I'm texting my prince."

Avery earns a quarter every night that she picks up all her toys. At the store the other day with "her money," trying to decide what to buy, she stopped at a rack of un-inflated foil balloons.
"Mom, I want to buy one of these."
"Ok. We will have to take it to the counter to get it inflated."
"No, I don't want a regular balloon. I want a tooting balloon!"
Yes. My daughter was sorely disappointed to learn she wasn't buying a whoopie-cushion!

"Lear is Nemo today!"

 

Bonus Feature - Husband Humor:
Me: "Lear really is such a happy baby. Unless he's hungry or tired, he's smiling all the time."
Matt:"Well, yeah. He's a dude. If I were suckin' on boobies 5 times a day, I'd be smiling like that too!"

Headband Tower Tutorial

So, I am admittedly one of the worst people about birthdays. I have all our extended family birthdays written on the calendar, but for some reason I'm absolutely awful about sending cards and certainly not gifts. Have you ever read the book "The Five Love Languages"? Well, my numero uno language is Words of Affirmation. My least? Gifts. Hmm... not the best excuse, but might explain a few things.

Even though I can't remember the last time I sent Matt's mom a birthday card (yikes, sorry Laurie!), I did decide that I really wanted to make the effort to hand make a gift for my nieces' & nephews' birthdays each year. Since we don't do gift exchanges with them for Christmas, their birthday is the one time a year we can let them know how special they are to us, even though they all live far away.

And, being a crafty type, it gives me a great excuse to try all those ideas I find on Pinterest. Last year I sewed them all munchkin-sized bean bag chairs. This year, I'm gonna do something unique for each one.

Jaylene turns 4 today... Happy Birthday Jaylene! I decided a headband tower to store her lovely hair things would be the perfect gift.

Here's a step-by-step on how to make one for your own special chick-a-dee:

1. Materials:


2. Be sure you buy the BIG oatmeal container (5"dia), not the small one. Headbands will fall right off the smaller one. Open (and save) the lid. Dump all the oats into a bowl, but don't throw them away. You'll need them later.


3. Measure your container. Mine was 9.5" x 16". Yours will probably be similar.


4. Add 1.5" to the circumference of your can & 1" to the height. Cut your decorative fabric to this dimension.

5. Add 1" to the circumference and subtract 0.5" from the height. Cut your white fabric to that dimension.

6. Trace the bottom of your pillar candle holder on the felt. Cut out a circle slightly smaller than what you traced.


7. I found my wood disc and candle holder at Michaels. They fit perfectly together. Hot glue the disc to the top of the holder. Take outside and set on scrap cardboard to spray paint. 
( If you want to avoid the spray painting all together, find a pillar candle holder that is already a color you like. I would have used this gorgeous glass one I saw at IKEA, except I'm making it for a 4-year-old and had to consider the breakage factor. Also, the wood disc isn't a necessity - I used it to re-enforce the somewhat flimsy bottom of the oatmeal container, but you could fore go it and glue any candle holder directly to the bottom. )

8. Use your permanent spray adhesive (I highly recommend Super 77 from Home Depot), to coat one side of your white fabric. BE CAREFUL and do this outside. This stuff is wicked sticky - please avoid getting it anywhere you don't want it to be. ie: hands, driveway, patio, etc. I literally laid my fabric out in the street to spray it so that the overspray just went on the asphalt. Pick up the fabric gently, making sure it doesn't accidentally stick to itself. Lay the white fabric out on your workspace, align your oatmeal container, and slowly roll the container over it until it's covered. Don't worry about making it perfect, as this layer is simply to help cover the oatmeal label. Come to think of it, you could probably just spraypaint/paint the container white to avoid this step all-together. Or just peel off the label, if it comes off easily! Dang, why didn't I think of that earlier!!!


9. Use an iron and a small strip of fusible bonding web (aka: stich-witchery) to "hem" one short edge of your decorative fabric. Make it about a 3/4" hem.


10. Apply spray adhesive to the wrong side of your decorative fabric. Align the top edge along the open top of the container (just below the plastic lid rim) and roll on as before, ending with the "hemmed" edge. Make sure you smooth out any air bubbles as you go along. Secure the seam with hot glue.


11. Tuck the bottom 1" of fabric into the container bottom. It should stick there from the spray adhesive already on it.



12. Oops, I forgot to mention to also spray paint the oatmeal lid. After drying, I coated both with a clear gloss varnish for durability.


13. Hot glue the felt round to the bottom of your base. This will keep it from scratching whatever surface it sits on.


14. Now cover the entire bottom of your oatmeal container with gobs of hot glue. Or, if you're attaching a candle holder by itself, cover the top of the candle holder. Center your oatmeal container on the base and put your hand inside to firmly press all that gluey mess onto your base.

15. Remember how I had you save the oatmeal? Well, you want to re-fill the container about half-way. This helps add weight to the tower, so it won't tip over. But don't fill it all the way up or it may get too top-heavy.



16. Run a bead of hot glue on the inside edge of the lid before putting it back on top. This will keep your headband tower from turning into a hot-oatmeal-mess in the hands of a youngin'.

17. You're done! Technically you could stop right there and be on your merry headband-organizing way. But...















... if you're anything like me, you may wanna add some pizazz.

I used craft supplies and scrapbook paper that I had laying around to spice this baby up.

Make (or buy) a few cutsie headbands and you've got yourself a pretty sweet little gift!

Crazy 4 this boy!

4 months old today and this little cutie continues to capture my heart! I'm completely smitten with his hungry hamster cheeks, his slobbery bubble blowing, and that kung-fu grip on anything that dares get close enough to those chubby hands. He rewards anyone willing to spend a little time in conversation with HUGE toothless smiles and continues to exhibit a very easy-going nature.

However, a new shrill screech that I've nicknamed "the pterodactyl" has found its way into his vocabulary. Momentarily deafening if he catches you right in the ear!

At his check-up today:

- 16. 5 lbs (81st %)
- 25 in (48th %)
- 42 cm head cir. (57th %)

While I try not to compare my kids too much, it's amazing to note that Avery was 17 lbs - AT ONE YEAR OLD! Yup. At just 1/3 the age, Lear weighs only half a pound less! Same parents, same momma-milk, and two very different kids. I'm loving Lear's pudge rolls and excess creases!!!

Going It Alone

It's been a week since Matt took off for training. We miss him terribly and it brings tears to my eyes every time we come home from an outing and upon opening the door Avery yells, "Daddy, we're home!" I must have reminded her a hundred times already that Daddy won't be home for awhile.

We were incredibly spoiled having him around so much these last few months.

My steely, super-momma skills got soft having Matt pitch in with all the child-rearing responsibilities. Not that I'm complaining! Slowly I'm learning to manage a 2-kid family without the help of a husband. There is a very fine balance between it simply being easier to stay home all day and everyone going absolutely bonkers being stuck in the house. One major hurdle is giving myself permission to get maybe only one or two major chores accomplished every 24 hours. Trying to do more only ends with my frustration and the kids feeling bored or neglected.

As long as we've been married, Matt has spent good chunks of time away from home; deployments, extended training trips, and working overseas. Many wives/friends/family outside the military community have commented on how they couldn't imagine living life that way. While occassionally more difficult, there are also little perks to having your husband away for a time...

- No one asks what's for dinner at 4:30p.
And no one cares if you serve Cherrios. Again.
Because you just haven't made it to the store. Again.


-  If I feel inclined to wear my pajamas all day, make showering low on the priority list, not wear a lick of makeup and neglect that long list of errands - no one notices. (So long as I don't leave the house!)


- No nap guilt. When Matt's home, he never gives me a hard time about taking a mid-day snooze, but I put pressure on myself to always be doing something productive when the kids are napping. There's something about having a husband come home in the evening that makes me more accountable for my daytime checklist. When that accountability is lax, I take lots of glorious naps with my little ones.


- The TV is rarely on and, when it is, I'm in charge of the remote.


- We try to eat dinner as a family at the table. One of my stress reliefs is doing crafty projects, but they have a tendency to take over the kitchen table for days on end. The kids don't seem to mind. Avery and I just eat at the counter together instead.

- After the babes are down for the night, I have a couple hours to do as I please. When Matt is home I enjoy spending the evening with him watching an on-demand movie or talking about the day's news, but doing so leaves little to no time for those aforementioned projects (or blog posts!).


- No one eats my restaurant leftovers. You know, the ones you're really stoked to have for lunch the next day. ;)
(Haven't been out to eat yet, so I couldn't photograph any actual doggy-bag)

- By the time Matt sees my new shoes, I can honestly say, "Oh, these? I've had them awhile."


- In his absence, I've commandeered what is typically his computer nook with my sewing machine and fabrics! I love not having to dig them out of the closet, set them up on the kitchen table, and put them away when I'm done. When the sewing itch hits, I'm free to scratch.

- We love coming up with creative ways to show our affection from abroad. It's actually fun putting together care packages of things we know he loves, having Avery do drawings for him to put up in his room, and surprising him with funny photo texts of whatever we happen to be doing that day.


Of course, for every 1 "perk" of him being away, there are 100 reasons why we wish he were here.

Yes, wrangling 2 kids alone is tough and some days I feel like I'm gonna totally lose it. But, I'm glad that is the largest responsibility I face. I am so fortunate to have a husband that I'm proud of, who loves us, AND brings home the bacon. These seasons in our home/away cycle give me a wholesome appreciation for those truly single parents. Even though my partner is physically missing, I don't have to worry about paying the bills in addition to holding down a household.

Life is all about perspective and choosing your attitude in every situation. Today I'm choosing to find joy in these little things. Temporary separations make reunions all the sweeter - although I'll probably always disdain meal planning! ;)

Play Ball!

 

Last night we took Lear to his very first baseball game! Padres vs. Phillies at Petco Park downtown San Diego.

He liked it, or at least the first hour of it that he was awake...



Avery had a great time "writing down the hits," gorging on cotton candy, shakin' her booty to the music, and generally not paying much attention to the actual ball game at all. You know, typical 3-year-old stuff.



Such a lovely night for a game. (photo credit for the pic of me below goes to Avery! ha ha ha)