The Best Teammate I've Ever Had

Honestly, this has been a challenging week for me as a mommy.  Anthony has been up every night around two to four hours crying and/or wanting to play.  Typically he just needs his diaper changed and he's good to go until the morning.  That certainly hasn't been the case this week.  I think everything got off kilter on Saturday when he only got a short hour nap for the day.  Ever since then his sleeping schedules have been all off and as the end of the week approaches I'm completely exhausted.

Tonight Mark had a long commute home because of the nasty weather on top of a busy day at work.  He walks in the door over an hour late with a smile on his face, a kiss for both of us and starts loving up his "Bubsy" right away.  They got right to playing together, had bath time, and practiced saying all of the fun words like ducky, adios, and cookie.  

At one point Anthony grabs one of his favorite books and sits down in daddy's lap.  It's at this point I well up with tears and grab my camera to capture this moment.  It's evident just how much Anthony loves his daddy and how awesome a daddy Mark has become in six short weeks. It's also evident to me how much of a team player Mark really is in our relationship.  He knows I'm tired and I'm trying my best, but there are limits to what I can do.  I'm so thankful we have become parents and that we get to do all of this together.  Everyone should be that blessed...

Karma

Mark recently had the opportunity to go to a Wild game with his buddy Charlie.  That morning he woke up puking and barely made it through our godson's baptism.  Needless to say, he didn't make it to the game and he was quite bummed to pass up a good time.  Later that night as he's still puking he has a revelation that it all boils down to karma.  

I should backtrack a bit in my story.  

When we lived in Red Wing Manda and Damon came to visit us the eve before their Wild hockey experience.  That night we had a good time playing games and drinking - some more than others.  Manda ended up being sick all night as well as the next day and blamed it all on "Mark's" Hard Lemonade.  In this situation Manda stayed back from the game and Mark got to go in her place.

This whole karma thing was a bit funny for me because, of course, Mark was basing it all off of a television show - My Name is Earl.   No surprises there, right?

Today, though, I am feeling a bit of Earl Hickey's karma in my own life.  I was so excited last weekend that we got no snow; it hit up north instead.  I'm really looking forward to spring and can do without the white stuff until next November.  

Crap.  

Karma.

The snow is here.

We're smack in the middle of this storm's path.

This was taken around 3:00 this afternoon.  I'm afraid to even look out the window tomorrow morning.  If I see 23 1/2 inches like what Grand Rapids got last weekend then I will REALLY know that Earl Hickey's karma is true and after me.

Good thing we put out the deck furniture, huh?!

I hope you get home safely, Lex!  I can't believe you have conferences on a night like tonight!

Going Up North

This afternoon I let Anthony and Zoey know the plans for this weekend - we are going up north. As you can see by their expressions they are both excited for the pending trip.  (Hopefully the incoming storm doesn't make a liar out of me!)

WOW!  I get to see my grandparents, auntie and uncles again?!  I'm so excited!

Really, mom?  Did I hear you correctly?  We are going up north and I get to come.  I can't promise I'll finally be a good girl in the car, but I can promise that I'll have tons of fun playing with Nedward and that I'm super excited!  Should I go wait by the door?  Are we leaving now? After lunch?  Before daddy comes home?  Can I wait in the car?  Can I?  Can I?

Anthony soon forgot about my announcement and went on to read and play with his farm animals.  Zoey, however, remembered throughout the day and is convinced that she needs to follow me everywhere so I don't accidentally leave her.  Maybe I should have waited until Friday to break the news.

Booooooooooo

In Anthony's world every animal makes a growling noise.  (This shouldn't come as a surprise to those who have met him because he LOVES to growl.)  Just this week we have been working on what sound a cow makes.  He's slowly getting it.  When Mark or I say MOO instead of growling he'll say BOO back to us.  Maybe this is what he pictures when he sees a cow?  Maybe it's a scary - BOO - cow?  

At his doctor's visit this week I was told he should be saying 6-20 words and putting two words together at his age.  That hasn't happened yet.  He current says hot, hat, ball, num-num and oh oh - only five words and none of them are put together in a two word phrase. I think the doctor's comments offended him because he didn't want to be labeled in any way.  That night in the bathtub he said ducky repeatedly; before bed he was saying milk; and last night he was saying cookies while reading with Mark.  

I think he'll be a talker in no time, but until that happens I guess we are stuck with the scary cow.  BOOOOOOO!

Our Little Reader

Everyday this week Anthony and I have sat down 2-3 times per day and spent about 30-45 minutes reading in his books.  I have to admit this is a mommy's and teacher's dream come true!  When he first came home he wanted NOTHING to do with books, which, of course, made me nervous.  I see too many students who struggle with reading and comprehension and was hoping that would be one struggle he would never have to go through.  (Yes, I realize he's only 19 months and not a 7th grader. I also realize all of this is a bit over the top on my part.) 

Things have definitely changed in the past few weeks for Anthony.  He's come to love his books and the act of "reading". During the times we're not reading together he will put a couple of his books on the couch and sit there "reading" to himself.  

His favorite book, without a doubt, would have to be Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?.  This is definitely not a sitting-in-the-chair type of book.  He always wants down so he can dance, do his crazy looks and jump up and down.  It's always entertaining and something we're still trying to video tape because it is so cute how into he always gets.  

Today we were done reading all of his books and he jumped down and grabbed Mr. Brown.  He was getting super excited before I even started reading.  Just the though of "BOOM, BOOM, BOOM Mr. Brown is a wonder - BOOM, BOOM, BOOM Mr. Brown makes thunder" was too much for him to contain himself.   What fun!

My personal favorite books of his lately would have to be Thankful Together, which has a beautiful prayer at the end, and The Teeny Weeny Tadpole, which has great action and fun pictures to look at.  

Maybe if I can't be the weekly/daily reader of the house anymore he can take my place?!  

Yesterday's Play Date

Yesterday afternoon Nicole and Isaac came over for their first play date with Anthony.  I didn't let him nap over four hours yesterday (only 2 1/2), which pretty much put him in a bad disposition to start with.  Needless to say, Anthony was a bit of a bear and wanted everything Isaac had, didn't want to share and was in a hitting mood.  Lovely.  I would have never guessed a few months ago that a simple play date could be so stressful/complicated.   Maybe next time I should let him get LOTS of REST?!

A rare moment of just the two of them sitting together on the couch.  If you could read Anthony's mind he's trying to figure out a way to get that cell phone AND put a baseball hat on Isaac's head.  In his mind EVERYONE should be wearing a hat even if they really don't want to!

He has finally put his plan into action.  He stands up on the couch (a definite no-no) to sneak behind Isaac and plop the hat on his head.  Yay!  Mission accomplished.  Well, sort of.  Isaac promptly threw the hat off and Anthony began to think of Plan B for getting him to wear the hat!

Here's another rare moment.  Isaac is playing with the cell phone and Anthony is playing with his Tonka truck.  For once he wasn't following Isaac wanting everything he had.  (I should note that this was a moment - a short amount of time - because it didn't last long.)

Just for fun I decided to google play date today.  The second thing that popped up was PlayDate Etiquette.  I should have known there would be material out there to read on hosting the best afternoon play date EVER.  It all seems a bit over the top, but maybe I should check it out so next time Nicole and I can spend more time actually talking.  Yesterday I felt like a bit of a mommy referee.  Am I the only one who has ever experienced this?

It really sounds like I was completely frustrated and the play date went awful, but that isn't true. I'm still learning how to be a mommy and adjusting to a lot of things just like Anthony.  The greatest part of their visit was seeing the difference between Isaac, 24 months, and Anthony, 19 months.  Isaac's language is so much stronger than Anthony's. He's talking a ton and starting to put words together, which is great to see.  It's fun to know that he will be exploding with language soon and finally letting us know his thoughts.  I'm looking forward to all of those milestones we'll get to be a part of in his life.

Thanks for coming over, Nicole and Isaac!

On a random last minute note, I have to mention our couches.  You know they've got to be atrocious when you see them on an episode of True Life about a bunch of teenagers that have run away from home and are now living together in a drug/alcohol/sex induced state.  (I'm really not making that up!  And, yes, I have become a bit of a MTV/VH1 junkie. That's what happens when you grow up in the sticks with PBS and a very fuzzy CBS and ABC for television.)  Back to the couches, we would really like to get new ones, but haven't found any that we like.  We're hoping to get leather and figure out a good arrangement for our open living room layout.  Any thoughts?  If so, PLEASE let me know!

See any snow, Manda?

I thought it would be interesting to do a little compare and contrast with the weather we are having in Becker and the weather that is happening up north by all of our family members.

Here's a picture of our backyard.  (Yes, Mark has got his work cut out to repair the lawn from all of Zoey's pee marks.)  As you can see, though, there is no longer any traces of snow.

Our deck furniture is out with the hopes of using it soon; it is one of my favorite places to be in the summer. Any snow to be found?  Nope!

Be sure to check out Manda's blog - Team Tuttle - to see a HUGE difference!  I'm glad the snow missed us this time around.  SHE can have fun singing Christmas carols in April!