Friday, September 18, 2009

Updates for a Rainy Day

It is raining. It won't stop raining. I don't recall the last time we had weather like this around here...we are well over a week now of dreary rain soaked days. I actually LOVE a cool overcast day, but the constant downpour is keeping us indoors and keeping Colin stir-crazy. I feel like I am living in the Twilight books, but without the awesome vampires to keep me company. :-) I am just not in the mood for composing proper paragraphs at the moment, so here are random updates in bullet format. Ha!

*I had a girls night out with friends on Wednesday and that was a treat! We celebrated my friend Eren's birthday with dinner and margaritas at Abuelo's and we laughed so hard that my face hurt afterwards. It was a wonderful break and reminded me how lucky I am to have friends going through the same things that I am. There is not a man alive (or childless woman for that matter) who wanted to overhear our conversation. There are just some things that only mothers can empathize with and find absolutely hysterical. :-)

*Colin has been trying relentlessly to lose his nap. Needless to say, this turn of events has not made me happy. He won't lay down in his bed at all now for naps and will NOT sit in his room and play quietly, as so many of my friends do with their kids. Lately we have gotten in my bed together and watched a show, during which he would fall asleep. That trick has also stopped working as of late and I am starting to give up hope. He is SO fussy in the evenings without a nap and still falls asleep in the car with ease if he is tired, so I know he still needs it. Yesterday, he fell asleep in the car at 11:30am, so today I tried a new approach and we got in my bed at 11:30, which is a couple of hours before his normal nap time was. Sure enough, although it took 30 minutes, he did fall asleep. I don't know if it is a fluke...only time will tell. But it is entirely possible that I was missing the window and putting him down too late. This whole sleep thing is very fluid...as soon as I think I have things figured out, he changes everything completely. I am praying that I can keep the nap going for several more months...I need that time just as much as he does!

*Colin is still amazing me every day with his speech. He now speaks in sentences and surprises me constantly with things I had no idea he knew. As of only a few days ago, he tells me "what hurts". Mothers know...you spend so much time with non-speaking children trying to figure out what is wrong and praying that you guess right. Colin came up to me out of the blue and said, "Mama, this ear hurts!". I was blown away. I took him to the doctor and sure enough, he had drainage in the throat and his nose was totally stuffed. The doctor said his Eustachian tubes were probably popping and causing his ears to hurt. I love this new stage! If he is crying and I ask what he hurt, he will tell me exactly...hurt head or hurt toe...he tells me now!! It's the little things, good people!

*The speech progression has also brought about a new stage that I find both wonderful and a mess at the same time. He now tells me what he wants to eat. The problem with that is the obvious...I often don't HAVE what he wants to eat or it is not an appropriate choice. As in, "GRAPES!" or "CHICKEN BITES!" or "WONDER PETS GUMMIES!". Okay, first of all, this is totally my fault. I never EVER should have shown Colin that something as amazing as Wonder Pets Gummies existed. Now he wants them for breakfast. Um, no. Well....mostly no. Some mornings I am just too tired and give in. Is that bad? :-) Anyway, when this box is done, I am reserving the purchase of Wonder Pets Gummies for grocery store meltdowns only. Which means that we will have a new box in two days. Never mind.

*I cut my own bangs two days ago and they look HORRIBLE. I really must stop doing this. I keep trying to grow them out and then I have a panic attack because they are constantly in my face and then I cut them. I need medication to stop cutting my freaking bangs. Sometimes I do a good job and they look okay. This time...not so much. I look like a 12 year old. MUST. STOP. THIS.

*My mom gave me a copy of The Neely's cookbook and I can't stop cooking from it. Everything is SO GOOD. I love to cook and now I am really going crazy. We are going to be very fat people if I don't go back to "Cooking Light" in short order. ;-) I have also gotten addicted to Pioneer Woman's new website, Tasty Kitchen. It is the most addicting thing, just like everything else she does. I am currently glued to my kitchen.

That should do it for this round of boring tidbits from my life. Did I mention that it is raining?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Wait is Over!

The story unfolded exactly like we knew it would...Jer had been on vacation for a week in anticipation of Meredith going into labor and her water broke the night before he had to be back at work. :-) We got the frantic phone call at 9:15pm Friday night, Mert's water broke and they were rushing to the hospital. My first thought was to run to the car and start driving, but then I remembered that I was the mother of a two year old who was soundly asleep at the time. Oops! I was forced to attempt sleep that night and wait for morning to hit the road. Colin and I had to go alone Saturday morning while Jer worked and we made record time arriving at her hospital room by 11:00am. Just as I knew would be the case, she is STUNNING!! Pryce Lucille Bowler was born at 8lb 4 oz with a full head of jet black hair, just like Jackson and my Colin. We birth big babies with a lot of hair in my family. ;-) Mert looked absolutely beautiful and you would NEVER guess that she just had a baby. I seriously don't know how I am related to her. She is healthy and happy and all is well. Jer made it into town separately by 6pm Sunday night, so he got a chance to see Pryce too. I was so glad he was able to pull off the trip...family events don't seem right for me without him around. We spent three days running back and forth to the hospital with Colin in tow, which went pretty well considering! He had Jackson to play with and they have certainly gotten louder and more "WWF" style in their play, which does not make for a peaceful hospital room. HA! Cory is so in love with his new little girl and it was so much fun to watch Pryce turn immediately into "Daddy's Girl". The whole weekend was a dream! We all drove home today. Jer goes back to work in the morning and I am going to attempt to get Colin back on a bit of a schedule...we are having major nap trouble at the moment, but I will save that for another post. It is a life changing moment watching your baby sister have her own baby...I love them all so much. I can't wait to get back!!

Colin is in love with Pryce. In fact, he has taken his love for babies to a new level with this one! The overriding thing that I will take away from this weekend is what an incredibly sweet little boy I have. All he could talk about was "Baby Pryce" and every time he saw someone holding her, he climbed over that person to lay his head on her. "Hug Pryce, Mama!" was frequently yelled to me. He counted toes, patted her hair, tried to pat her face, and best of all, he would wrap his arms around her as best he could and lay his head on hers. It was the sweetest thing I have even seen in my life. As we were leaving today, he went into meltdown mode while the whole family tried to take him away from the baby to get him in the car. Once we got on the road, he chanted, "GO SEE BABY PRYCE, MAMA!" at random moments for the whole drive. He is such a blessing in my life and I was reminded of it yet again today...to have a son so special and loving is a gift beyond all gifts!

So the weekend was perfect, the baby is BEYOND perfect and all is well with the world. I will post pictures here as soon as I get them onto this computer! Also, take a moment to check out my brother-in-law Cory's new blog...I added him to my blog roll at the bottom right of the page. He is so hysterical and it will be so much fun to read all about life with my crazy...er...awesome sister Mert and my wonderful niece and nephew. Take a look! :-)
 
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