A journey to Health

Well, We've been dealing with sickness for the last week or so.  Now all four of us seem to have a lingering cold. Hopefully it will pass by the weekend.  Nobody likes being sick.  In the meantime, I'm sticking to my PJs unless I have to go out. One glance at the fridge suggests tomorrow, Sigh. The chorus of sneezes and freezing weather is all the motivation I have right now.

On the brighter side of things, Lucian and I painted today.  This was his first experience with paint and paintbrushes.  I thought it was a lot of fun. We had three different colors of non-toxic paint, 2 brushes, and a bowl of water for cleaning. He liked the fact that there was a bowl of water and made his own little mess. He was very good about cleaning off the paintbrushes with the water and towel.  We only used to sheets of paper in the process as well.  It was fun to watch him at work. Too cute.

I also feel compelled to share a story of what the little stinker did to me while he was sick. One day while Joe was away, Lucian and I were upstairs playing.  This is when he was still pretty sick.  He was also very emotional about everything.  Mama needed a potty break and he wasn't too happy about it.  Nonetheless, it had to happen.  While Mama went potty, Lucian was very upset and would cry on and off.  Eventually he came into the bathroom to cry in front of me.  I told him it was going to be okay I'd be done in a second.  Instead, he decided to steal the only roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, run to the front room, and throw it across the room.  Then he ran all the way back to me in the bathroom and collapsed on the floor crying.  I told him I needed the toilet paper, but he just cried more. Eventually I just got up and got a new roll.  I took him back into the front room (his playroom) and found the toilet paper roll in a jumble.  He really annoys me sometimes - little prankster.

I feel like he is going to be the emotional kid from the movie "Parenthood".  I feel ya Steve Martin.  Not an easy situation.

What day is it?

Ever since the new year I have been lost. It never feels like the day of the week it actually is, and it is totally messing with my internal clock.  Tomorrow is Friday, but it doesn't feel that way.  I'm still excited though. First of all it's Friday what's not to like? Second of all we start gymnastics back up.  Last week was off due to the holidays. I'm happy to let Lucian burn off some extra energy! He is so full of energy - it is crazy. Even when I think he is about to settle down and relax for a little, he is back up again running around.  On one hand, I get tired just watching him.  On the other, I'm glad he is so full of life.  I want to take him outside more, but it's cold and he often refuses to put his jacket on.  Other days he seems perfectly content playing inside all day.  I'll even ask him if he wants to go out and he shows no interest.  I know if I took him out anyways he would love every moment.  Maybe if it's nice out tomorrow we will play outside a bit. Or Saturday, perhaps? We need fresh air and exercise! At least we will get some of the latter tomorrow morning. Can't wait!

Goodbye 2012

Another year has come and gone.  It felt like an eternity yet a blink of an eye.  I'm anxious to see where the next year takes us and how Lucian will grow as a person. He amazes me every single day and I feel blessed to call him my son. I'm a proud Mama.

Some parental successes of 2012:

Back to potty training more regularly
Regular bowel movements
Will let me put gloves on him and a hat
Will halt when we need him to
Dancing and gymnastics are a win

Recent Lucian successes of 2012:

Learned how to text message from Mama's phone
Can turn the remote control car on and off by himself
Assists in putting on his shoes when willing
Uses the potty like a big boy
Can speak a few words and conversation has improved
Is more intelligent than Mama and Daddy can comprehend
Climbing, balancing, and jumping have all improved
Has turned his bed into a personal trampoline and diving board ;-)

It was nice to be able to take a few relaxed breaths recently and realize how far we've come.  I think Lucian is starting to settle down from his craziness/testing stage. Though some days will be better than others, I can certainly see the difference. I'm mostly just happy we all survived the craziness and hope we do in the upcoming year as well. If I could make a toast right now it would be to less self induced head injuries in the upcoming year. Maybe we will make that a resolution. Happy New Year's everyone.

Merry Christmas

Today was a wonderful Christmas day.  Last night it was snowing.  Lucian was able to watch it out the window.  I know he wanted to go out and touch it, but he had to wait.  I was excited myself.  I love snow. After I was able to get him to sleep, Joe graciously cleaned out the front room in preparation and built a cute little track with Lucian's wooden train track.  Nothing elaborate.  Just a nice little track to place his gifts about.  After the boys went to sleep, I moved all the presents in the room and placed them around the track in the corner.  I was excited about morning.  Especially now that Lucian is in the present opening stage.

This morning was fun.  Every morning Lucian wakes up and goes to the front room to play.  That is why we chose to set everything up in that room.  Plus our little tree, which we will be moving outdoors soon, is in the window of that room.  When he woke up this morning he did his usual move to the front room.  As he broke through the threshold I heard this big "Ohhh".  I knew he noticed the difference and the added presents wrapped in pretty paper.  Daddy and I made our way into the room and Lucian wasted no time in jumping into the action.  He played with his train for a little and then went to the presents.  He did a great job opening and exploring each gift with curiosity.  If he talked more, he probably would have asked a million questions. It was great. We played, we ate, and then we got dressed.  There was snow for us to explore!

After the struggle of getting everyone dressed and ready to go.  We grabbed his new sled (thanks grandpop!) and my camera and took off.  After getting him into the sled, Joe pulled him around the yard.  He loved it.  We decided to go the field across the way since there wasn't that much snow left from it melting.  Plenty for us to drag him in though.  He enjoyed the little ride.  Then we built a little snowman.  Lucian helped roll the balls of snow and pack extra on the sides. We stacked them up into a snowman shape.  He loved it.  Then Daddy taught him how to taste the snowman.  Lucian was ecstatic about having built a giant snow cone.  Even with the snow melting as we went, we all had a great time.  After visiting my family for the holiday and enjoying some food and company we came back home to find no more snow on the ground.  Our snowman, however, can still be seen across the way.  He's not too big and not too small - he's just right.  The boys went over to see him and say hello.  He was doing well even after some more tastings from Lucian.

Overall, it was a successful holiday season.  There was snow on the ground making it a white Christmas.  We built a snowman, sledded, opened presents, visited loved ones, and ate snow (not yellow of course).  Lucian received a lot of presents that he is currently enjoying.  Out of everything he received, I think he enjoyed the play scarves that Daddy and I have been hand sewing for him to play with.  They brought lots of laughs and several falls.  Doesn't get much better than happy tears.  Merry Christmas everyone. I hope the next year is just as fruitful.

Pictures

Pictures are officially updated through Halloween.  There are quite a few - phew.  Next time I'll put up the holiday pictures. You are welcome :)

Holiday Pictures and New Years

It's official.  We have our annual holiday pictures done and ready.  The location and weather ended up working in our favor for these beauties.  That means the holidays are officially here.

Photo with santa = complete
Family photo = complete
Wrapping presents = incomplete
Shopping = incomplete

So we have a little work to do before the end of the year - big deal. Doesn't everybody?  I know one thing I'm going to complete before that pesky ball drops - getting these pictures online of course! At least we can all enjoy the season with family, good memories and a big cup of cocoa. Maybe we will even get a bit of snow? I hope so.  We could use a big snowman in our little yard.

Visiting Santa

Every year our borough has a little Christmas party.  Well, it's really just a chance to enjoy some snacks and take a picture with santa.  It's one of the two free pictures we get every year (the other being the Halloween hayride).  We got to the hall too early and ended up coming back.  When we returned we immediately got in line for the picture since it was very short.  Figured it would be better to get the picture done right away.  Lucian, naturally, didn't want to sit on santa's lap.  Mama had to sit on santa's lap too.  Daddy had to get his attention for the picture.  In the end, the picture came out pretty good.  The second photographer, who I thought was just affiliated with the first, was actually a reporter for the local paper.  That's right, the next day Mama and Lucian was featured in the Berks and Beyond section of the Sunday paper.  How awesome is that? Super awesome.  We ended up getting a copy of the paper so we can treasure the moment.  I will see if they have any online.  Otherwise, we will attempt to scan it to post.  We will see.  Just thought I'd share such a fun moment.  Afterward, we enjoyed cookies.