Seven

Happy Fourth of July!

Six Five Four Three Two One

Two Years Old

Two years old...how did that happen?

We had an amazing family day on Saturday to celebrate with many of Calvin's favorite things--a giant breakfast, the splash pad, frozen yogurt, and playing in the yard.  Of course, Calvin really enjoyed eating "Happy Birthday Cake" and loved blowing out his candles.

It was almost as amazing as getting to "help" make the cake!  Although, it's the first time he got to use the hand mixer, which he thinks is pretty cool.

Two years ago I was blessed with a sweet, amazing, hungry little baby boy who wanted nothing more than to eat and be in my arms.  I'm so grateful I was able to cherish those minutes and hours of holding him on my chest and staring in wonder at him.

One Day Old

Now, I have a big little boy who is counting on his own, knows his shapes, and talks up a storm.  He climbs ladders, recites books, requests music, and reminds me to use sunscreen.  He loves to help with laundry and vacuuming and throwing away trash.  He cleans up his toys, helps take care of the dogs, and enjoys washing his hands and brushing his teeth.  Now, I still get cuddles before nap, but bedtime is all about Daddy...although it never happens before giving me a kiss and telling me night-night.

Two Years Plus One Day Old

I am so very thankful that I was chosen to be Calvin's mother.  He is energetic, insightful, thoughtful, and kind.  He tries so hard to make me laugh and readily gives me affection.  He loves to learn and play and help others.  And, he thinks I hung the moon.  When I think about what kind of person I want to become, it's the person that Calvin already thinks I am.  He inspires me to be better and do better every day.  It's been an amazing two years that make me all the more excited for all the years to come!

Mother's Day

Yesterday in nursery Calvin's wonderful teachers took the time to do a keepsake hand print with a poem of all the little kids.  They also made and colored cards and taped kisses to the envelope.  When I picked him up, My heart skipped at being handed these gifts--the first in a long line of Mother's Day art projects for years to come.  Really, it was just paper and string and crayon and red paint, but it was a wonderful reminder of all that I have now, how far we've come, and all the memories we'll create in the future.

Devin was wonderful in cooking for me all day and waiting on me readily.  Calvin was sweet and hilarious.  We spent time together playing the piano, making messes in the playroom, and reading even bigger than usual stacks of books.  He didn't know that the day was special, but he willingly shared his Mr. "Tomato" Head with me anyways.  Then, for the first time in a looong time, Calvin needed me in the middle of the night.  I stumbled upstairs, got him orajel, and rocked him for a few peaceful minutes.  I loved that reminder of everyday (or night) motherhood.  A lot has changed since last Mother's Day, but I'm glad we still got a little extra time to rock together.

Of course, Mother's Day wouldn't be complete without mentioning my own amazing Mom.  I loved that Calvin asked to go to "Maw's House" yesterday morning.  We would have both enjoyed a day with her.  I've written about my Mom a couple times before, but I just wanted to say once more how thankful I am for her every day.  No matter how old I get, she still listens through my tears, laughs through my stories, celebrates through my successes, and guides through my struggles.  I'm so lucky to have her in my life!

101 Update

The Challenge: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. 

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Items in blue are completed; green items are a work in progress.  My full list is here!

1.  Learn to play 20 useful songs (hymns, carols, children's songs) on the piano.  Right now, I've been working on learning a couple of Calvin's favorite songs.  I'm getting better at them, but it'll be a long time until I'm good at anything! Thankfully, Calvin enjoys hearing me play even when it's just practice, so I have plenty of opportunities to improve.

5.  Organize the garage. As part of my nesting this pregnancy, I've been tackling this project a little at a time.  It's much better than it was, but there is still a long way to go!

6.  Grow a salad.  I decided to start simple.  I've got a patio tomato plant growing.  If that goes well, I'll try something more challenging next and work my way up.

23.  Make homemade caramels.  I have a recipe bookmarked, and I've read tons of tips and tricks.  I'm felling very confidant about making them, but I need an occasion, because the recipe is time consuming and HUGE.

27.  Find a better way to organize all our important paperwork. I picked up some accordion filling systems, but have yet to do the transfer.

29.  Go on a picnic.  We did this!  The first really nice day of spring we spent outside doing yard work in the morning and enjoyed a brotzeit with fruit for dinner as the sun set.

37.  Find/make a good bookshelf for Calvin's books.  As part of Calvin's transition in rooms (see #59), this will be happening.  I spend time almost daily researching options and have it nearly narrowed down to what I want.

39.  Put together 72 hour emergency kits for our family.  A few more items have been added!

41.  Have all clean clothes put away before bed for a month straight.  I did this...barely.  On the last night I almost forgot a couple items in the dryer.  I would have been so sad if I'd failed by one night!  From it, I learned just how much I despise clean clothes in a laundry basket.  But, I realized I really didn't mind that much if they were in the dryer.  As a result, my laundry habits have improved, but I'll probably never hold myself to a regular standard of having them all put away before bed.

44.  Teach Calvin to bake and share the goodies.  Done!  Calvin loves to cook, and we do this regularly!  At Christmas, he helped with at least half of the treats that we made to give away.  He's also helped me make a snickerdoodle cake and bacon chocolate chip cookies for a residency event.  And, I think he helped me with another cake, too.  He also helps with treats and cookies we keep for ourselves frequently, too.

46.  Sew curtains for the whole house.  I haven't made any progress on this since the last update...oops!

48.  Find a new dentist for Devin and me.  Done...ish.  He's been found, and I've had my teeth cleaned.  I also had to have an old filling replaced and have already taken care of that!  However, Devin's schedule has not allowed him to get in himself just yet.  So, I'll count it complete once Devin gets his teeth cleaned.

59.  Decorate a big boy room for Calvin. This is so much fun!  We've picked out a theme, and we're all pretty excited about it.  Calvin can almost climb out of his crib, so we are hoping to get this done in the next month or so and transition him to the twin bed then.

60.  Back up our computers.  We got an external hard drive for Valentine's Day (oh the age of practical gifts), and it does it automatically every time we plug it in!  It has tons of storage space and some nifty features, too!

91.  Consolidate our bank accounts.  Done!

92.  Figure out a good calendar system for our family.  I bought a Sandra Boyton Mom's Family Calendar for under our Christmas tree this year, and I LOVE it!  Not only is it a lot of fun, but it's very straightforward.  There's a column to keep track of each of us, and I use an empty column to keep track of household items.  We also keep Devin's schedule on the iPad and in Google Calendar, and he carries a day planner for himself (but his also tracks procedures and time and such in there, too).  Overall, this system works pretty great for us!

One thing I didn't account for with this project was the new goals that would pop up along the way.  Already, I want to replace items in my list as I've come up with at least a couple things that interest me/matter to me more than some of the things on this list.  But, for now, I'm going to stick with the list as is and make changes only if I must down the line!

Discovery Place Kids

I uploaded the pictures for this post almost four months ago after we visited Discovery Place Kids.  This was right around the time Calvin fell in love with steering wheels.  Since then, he has outgrown pretty much everything he was wearing in these pictures.  (Seriously, he's even gone up a size in his diapers and socks since then.)  It's an amazing reminder of how much he's grown so very quickly.  Every day he is more fun than he was the day before.  Also, I really need to get him back there because he loved it SO much!

Scrub

What do you get with a bottle of cheap cola, WD-40, a couple new pairs of pliers, a new socket, a handful of spark plugs, and a funny shaped battery?

A car that is running again!

After a lot of trial and error and some renewed days of car-sharing, Devin managed to get Scrub back up and going.  Of course, I like to mention that a (very) little help came from me!  I consider myself very lucky to not only be married to a doctor, but he's one who can fix just about anything he sets his mind to as well!

P.S. Scrub doesn't look that shiny and pretty in person....this was the perfect lighting for him, I suppose!

Eighteen Months

It's been 18 months!?!?!? since this little star entered our world.  He is such and incredible little person.  Sometimes, my breath still catches when I hold him, breathe in his peachy smell, and remember that he is mine.  I am so very blessed to be learning from and with him every single day.  In honor of this half birthday, I thought I'd share a few of the most important lessons he has reminded me of lately.

Friendship is special.

Conversations are amazing.

Books are magical.

Music is wonderful.

Food is for enjoyment.

 Laughter must come often.

Joy should be embraced.

Hugs and kisses should be generously given.

The world is for exploring.

Moms are important.

Everyone needs a star in their lives...

Calvin is most certainly ours!