Daniel Tiger on the Loose

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. There is no stress of making a big meal, or purchasing perfect gifts (although, I'd lie if I didn't say I liked doing those things too.) Halloween is just fun. The park in town has a big Halloween party every year, and this was our first year going (last year it was snowing.) 

Bug had two costumes, a Nittany Lion ("We Are...") and his Daniel Tiger costume. He somehow went through a growth spurt between the time I ordered the Daniel Tiger costume, and the time that it showed up. 

Long story short, he was a Daniel Tiger/Nittany Lion hybrid, but looked adorable. His favorite thing in the world was open, the train. We got away with only riding it twice (having a long line helped.) He "sort of" got the idea of trick or treating and his favorite prize he walked away with was a new tooth brush. Hopefully he is that happy about tooth brushes in a few years. 

We had a great weekend. Sunday, the poor guy woke up with a high fever. I of course remained totally calm (read: panic and call the consulting nurse and all but took him to the ER.) Just as I was about to cancel all plans for the week and prepare for a horrible illness, I decided to look in his mouth. There was the start of his 2 year old molars. Poor guy was miserable, didn't eat or nap, but so far nothing else has seemed to come up (aka-I think it is his molars.) He wouldn't eat dinner (well, he tried....but he had a hard time chewing) so he got the dinner every 2 year old wants for dinner --Ice Cream. 

Mom Of The Year...

I'm mom of the year. Bug has (had) a hat that he loved so much. He wore it everyday, and sometimes when he didn't need a hat. Well....I lost it a week ago. I've looked everywhere and nothing. Poor guy is so bummed. 

I know I said before to buy two of something if your child loves something, but I failed my own advice. 

Long story short. If you happen to have this hate laying around somewhere, I will happily buy it from you. It's from Old Navy and about 2 years old. 

Catch Up

Last March, I thought to myself, "Two more months and then I'll have all summer to blog." I did indeed have all summer....but it didn't go quite as I had planned.

Let's play a little catch up.

In May I went to a conference in Texas and almost sweated to death. I don't know how those of you who live there can handle the heat...and that was just May.

In June, El' Bug and I traveled back East to Pennsylvania. I don't know about you, but traveling for 15 hours with an overactive 2 year old is LESS than fun. Also, if you're like me and you bought the "huge" extra safe car seat (in our case it is a Britax Advocate) DO NOT PUT YOUR CHILD ON THE PLANE IN THE SEAT. I can not explain how how uncomfortable I was for 15 hours (one way, we'll get to the way back in a minute.) The seat took up his spot and part of mine. I sat with my shoulders rolled in for the whole time (so the person next to me had their seat). IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!

Pennsylvania was a quick trip. One thing I did figure out while I was there was that El' Bug was going to become a big brother. I was so excited and it killed me to not say anything to my husband, but I wanted to tell him in person. I also was lucky enough to start feeling like shit prior to even taking the test (which is why I took the test.) It was our second to last day there, which was good because I probably would have blabbed it to everyone.

After a quick trip, it was back onto the plane for another 17 hours of hell with a car seat that I'm pretty sure grew over the two week visit. On top of being squished into the seat I spent about 6 hours trying to not throw up. Have I mentioned pregnancy was awesome?

While Bug and I were gone, my amazing husband spent the entire time building me the world's most amazing garden (which is on the FB page if you missed it.)

He left for the field, and I resigned myself to the couch and showered when I could stand up long enough to get my hair wet. Luckily Bug is in daycare so I was able to must up enough strength (aka-not puke) and drive him to school, and then I'd come home and sleep/be sick until after nap then I'd go get my best buddy.

Along with feeling like shit, I got migraine after migraine after migraine. The nicest thing ever was the day my friend (and neighbor) came over to take Bug to her house to play. I didn't think he'd go, but he all but buckled himself into her car seat.

My husband came back from the field because he hurt his back. I felt really bad for him because he loves his job, and this is the icing on the cake for him (camping in the Alaskan wilderness). I was however SO happy that he'd be home to help with Bug.

I spent my summer feeling like the worst momma ever.

In July we went blueberry picking and were enjoying an awesome afternoon. I managed to bend over to pick up a berry and poof, out went my back. I tried to pretend that it was going to be fine. Hubby and Bug went home, and I stayed to pick with a friend. After another 30 minutes I realized I wasn't okay and I really did something. On the way back to my house I started feeling sick. By the time we pulled into the driveway I couldn't even get out of the car.

Normally when I hurt myself I pretend like everything is fine and refuse to do anything about it. Now that we have Bug, I knew I needed to figure out what to do with him. LUCKILY one of his teachers at daycare lives close, is young (aka not in bed at 10) and answered my message. She came over and we went to the hospital where I spent more time than I'd like. There isn't much they can do for you when you're in excruciating pain. My asthma started kicking in while there so between that and the drugs I didn't feel much better.

I spent the next 8 days on the couch and after a few extra trips to the doctor to put in some ribs that popped out of place I started to feel normal.

Have I mentioned how "awesome" my summer was? I didn't have much energy to do much more than lay on my couch. Blogging was the last thing on my mind.

The one thing I remember daily is that even if my summer sucked, I am still very lucky and there are so many people who would love to have those problems.

So long story short, Bug is going to be a big brother. We're pretty excited. :) Hopefully I'll blog again before the baby comes....

Marching On....

Okay, *stretches arms up* Let's try this blogging thing again. Life has been slightly crazy/insane/wild for the past few months and I had a project I was working on that kept me from any real "down time" - AKA Blogging time. That's done for now, and well....here I am. I figured I probably should have something to go with the Facebook page.

The Bug is now 22 months old, and pretty much awesome. I know all parents say that and they are right. Their kid is the most awesome. Bug is talking a lot more now-a-days. We had him visited by the Eary Intervention Specialist because he wasn't talking. Of course while she was here he was throwing out words like "Kangaroo" and "Octopus." Oh well, I'd rather look stupid than not catch something early. He is still considered "delayed" in speech, but not enough for services. Every other area he was 30+ months on, so I am less worried. It is hard to be a Special Education teacher and not look at your kiddo daily to see if they are meeting milestones. I just know how important early intervention is, and am afraid I'll miss something. I excel at worrying.

I nicknamed my kiddo the "Bug" when he was 2 weeks old. He was a snuggle bug then, now he's just the Bug. He's into everything, he helps make dinner, wants to do whatever mommy and daddy are doing and is all around hilarious. He had to get a 4th haircut the other day due to finding a tub of Vaseline at daycare......and styling his whole head of hair. It was impressive.

We had had a very mild winter so far. This past weekend we got dumped on with 12 inches of snow, and I'd say it finally looks like an Alaskan winter. It was 30 degrees on New Years Eve if that gives you an idea of our winter. We've had or fair share of -40, but it was only for a week or too. I'd say the temps have hovered around -15 on average. We've had some awesome stretches of warm weather (above 0) which have been fun to get outside in. The Bug loves helping outside, but hates getting dressed to go outside. The struggle is real for him. Yesterday he crawled into my car and to the front seat to hit the door opener so he could go outside. I was impressed he figured it out, but less impressed with his screaming/crying when we helped him get his winter gear on.