Goings On...

This week has been absolutely stunning...the temps have dropped into the 80's during the day and it is just about the best thing ever! It has even been cool in the mornings! I know our super hot days are not over, but we are on the downward slope now with the arrival of September. School has started and our daily activities have gone back to normal without the presence of big kids everywhere we go. It is amazing how much more peaceful the weekdays are when school is in session. I have jumped on the good weather and taken Colin out for park play after a solid three month break. Around here, you just don't want to play at the park in the middle of summer. Unless that park happens to be underwater....but I digress. He has been having a blast to be back on the swings and his climbing skills have far improved. He takes off up the rock walls at the playground and I find myself holding my breath and praying often. My hair gets more grey with each passing day as the mother of a fearless boy! His new favorite thing on earth is to collect rocks. Jer has taken Colin out to a tiny local airstrip on several occasions and Colin spends the whole time collecting various rocks from the gravel pavement. He loves to hunt for them at the park, too. He is so enamored with finding rocks (and insisting these rocks live in my house) that I am thinking about making a trip to Michael's to find some nice ones and letting him "find" them in the backyard. He is in love with all things "choo choo train" related and we find ourselves at the Train Depot at least once a week so that Colin can have a blast with all the Thomas tables and trains. I am keeping an eye on craigslist for a table that we can have at the house, but I am still wary about it. I don't want to buy such a large thing for our already packed little house and then Colin get bored after two weeks. I think it might keep his interest, however, because he seems to really be in love with those trains. He can easily play for a solid two hours at Train Depot with no signs of being ready to leave, which is impressive for Colin's personality. He generally bores of things in record time. I found another indoor play area called Safari Park that just opened down the street from us and he adores that place, too. The downside to this place is the price, $10 per child is pretty steep for Colin's age. We will probably limit ourselves to once every two weeks at that rate. Paradise Pond is still our favorite...you just can't beat $1 to play and the place is packed with fun for toddlers. With the low rate, Colin and I sometimes go two or three times a week. I am going to back off a bit now...I don't want him to burn out on the place before I need it during the cold weather days. You just can't beat fall weather in Texas and we will be taking full advantage this year and spending as much time as possible outdoors...picnics and parks, here we come!

Speaking of parks, my sister Alieson and I took Colin for a picnic at the park today with plans to play afterwards. We even packed his little personalized lunch box that he got for his birthday and he carried it all the way to the table while looking as adorable as humanly possible doing it. The picnic was a blast and it felt so refreshing! Colin started throwing things in the trash for us (one of his favorite pastimes...Mama! I go trash!) and things were going fine. Alie and I started walking toward the trails and Colin was standing in one place screaming and stomping his feet. I assumed we walked into a random tantrum and asked him to come on and we would go play. He still did not come to me and as we walked to him, we saw them...ANTS!! His little legs were covered in them! We snatched him up, yanked his shoes, socks and shorts off and went nuts getting them off. The whole thing scared the hell out of poor Colin, who I am pretty sure just experienced his first scarring memory of childhood. These damn ants were ANGRY and bit the hell out of him. He has probably 15 bites on one leg and 10 on the other. He was a little trouper, though, and managed to stop crying and calm down after only a few minutes. He spent the afternoon getting slathered in ointments and taking Benadryl. The bites are nasty, but he is doing well and on the road to recovery. He also scored an orange creamslush from Sonic out of the deal, so I think he is okay. :-) Still, moments like these are hard on a mommy...I did not even notice the ants around us and should have been looking out for that kind of thing. I don't like my little man getting hurt on my watch! It just happened so fast!

The rest of this week will be spent running errands, my yearly OB/GYN visit, playdates with Colin and the whole waiting game concerning my VERY pregnant sister. I have gotten to the point that hearing my cell phone ring makes me jump up with excitement, only to be disappointed. I swear this is like watching a kettle waiting for it to boil! :-)

Mom Trip!

I made a spur of the moment decision this weekend and spent my first ever night away from Colin! Jer was off work on Friday and Saturday and I decided on a whim to take a 24 hour trip to my parents house for a little "me" time. It was a lovely experience and I vow to do it more often! I drove the sports car (which I never do!) and listened to grown-up music the whole time! I stopped at the outlet mall on the way and just walked into all the stores to look around. I did not buy a thing, simply relished the time to walk in stores and browse without my boys pestering me to go! :-) I arrived slightly before 4pm and took a leisurely shower, actually fixed my hair, and went to dinner and the movies with my parents. It was fantastic! On Saturday morning I made a surprise appearance at my sister's baby shower that was given by her Sunday School friends. I had lunch afterwards and then hit the road for home. The trip was quick but much needed and I am so glad that I decided to do it. Colin and Jer are becoming bosom buddies and I don't think that they missed me too much. Colin was very excited to see me when I walked in the door, but it did not go unnoticed that he woke up this morning calling for Daddy on the monitor instead of me. I think I have been moved to second place for the time being. :-)

My sister is just about ready to pop with my little niece and the whole family is getting so excited. As of Friday, she is 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, so she could go at any time now. I just can't believe that I will have precious little baby girl toes to kiss any day now! YEA!!!!

Colin at 25 Months

We are getting a new roof. It is LOUD. VERY VERY LOUD. Luckily they are close to finishing as we speak and I am so glad to finally have this mess taken care of! The new roof is courtesy of the hail storm from hell last spring and I can't express how much I never want to see hail again. For reasons that I can't fathom, Colin is currently sleeping as they machine gun nails overhead. The child wakes up if you crack a diet coke can, but sleeps through roofing. Only me. :-)

I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that the best part of being a mother is watching your child become his own person. I watch in awe at how fast he is growing and changing and I love to lay in bed at night and wonder what his future holds. What will his passion be? Will he play a sport? Love to read like me? Be a science geek like his dad? :-) There is nothing like a tiny baby in your arms, but it is even more amazing to see Colin as my little boy instead of an infant. Colin is turning into his own little man. There are several things that I have made note of lately, not the least of which is that I have been wrong about him. Colin and I spend a lot of time out and about now, playing with kids his age and in busy places. Every single time that we go out, a mother will lean in and say something to the effect of:

Is he always so quiet?
He is very shy!
He is a thinker, huh?
You have an introspective little one!

That last one was from yesterday when I took Colin to an indoor play park. Normally, the first thing out of my mouth is, "Oh no! Not at all! He is just quiet/shy/introspective when he first gets to a new place!". It hit me yesterday like a ton of bricks that I am quite wrong about this and I don't know how I have been so insane. Colin is absolutely a quiet thinker and extremely sensitive and will probably be called "introspective" at some point later in life. In the comfort of his own home, of course he is loud and silly. We are his home base! How Colin lives in the outside world is obviously a giant part of who he is and that part is without a doubt very sensitive and shy. He is a watcher...he closely watches everything and everyone around him. He inspects everything with precision and takes his time checking things out. When he plays with train tables, for example, he keeps a serious look on his face and does not tend to giggle or rough house with the trains. He will play happily forever with the trains on the track, while carefully putting them in the compartments and sliding them down the track. We have encountered several boys around Colin's age during these outings that play very rough. This is not a bad thing, boys are boys and toddlers at that! Yesterday, one boy was very pushy and shoved Colin away from the table. Colin stepped back and looked at him with a face that was clearly shocked. He did not cry or push back, but rather just stared at him like he was a bit crazy. ;-) He does not run up and take things away from other kids, as a lot of the toddlers his age do. That is not to say that he won't transition into a phase like that down the road, but for now, he is much more of a lover than a fighter. :-) He is very sensitive, however, and once he decides that a place is too loud or rough, he will let you know he is ready to go. He is not a big fan of strangers touching him and he likes to take his time to get to know people before he gives them his two dimpled smile. Most of all, he does not like to be pushed or rough housed with by other kids, especially ones he just meets. Despite the shyness that he has in public, he loves to go to new places and is always the first one to go check out everything he sees. He absolutely does not like to sit in a chair and watch movies. We took him to the IMAX movie "Dolphins" last week and he lasted about 10 minutes. He would have watched the whole movie if he had been allowed to move seats when he wanted and check out all the stairs and speakers and projectors. He likes to walk around, try everything out, experience everything by feeling it and seeing it up close. He is very sweet and loving. His obsession with babies continues with him announcing "baby!" when he spots an infant carrier while we are out. He says "HUG MOM!" and holds his hands out when he wants to put his arms around me. There have been several moments in the last few weeks when I have had to reprimand him for something and he shocks me with "I sorry, Mom". I can't express how that melts my heart. He talks in these sweet little sentences now and surprises us with how funny he can be. He will offer you a cookie, but if you go to take it, he will grab it away and then roll with laughter. He asks to "get cozy" and will pull the covers over both of us in bed to watch his shows. When we are laying together, he will pat my hair and the side of my face very lightly and say "Mommy, Mommy" in a sing song little voice. He has turned into a beautiful, precious little boy who I just can't imagine life without. For all of these quiet, sweet things he does, he still jumps on the furniture, yells at the top of his lungs and throws giant tantrums when I won't let him do something he wants. I must emphasize that he is no less a "terrible two" than the rest of them! However, beyond that inevitable part of him, he is such an interesting and brilliant little man.

A Boy and A Cat

I have loads to post about and not much time to do it this evening. I will leave you instead with a picture from the end of our glorious weekend. After a trip for ice cream and chasing Mom and Dad at the park, we go home for the bath and bedtime portion of the evening festivities. Colin finds Ferris Mewler lounging on the cat bed and decides to join him. Look at Ferris. I would not say he is exactly pleased with the arrangement. :-) Anyway, I hope everyone had a special weekend, too! Good night!!

Dust Off The Yearbook...

One of my favorite things to do in the world is go through the closets in my parents house. They still live in the house I grew up in and in every nook and cranny is a memory. I took these pictures of my high school letter jacket during my last visit...I need to spend some time filling this journal with tidbits from my life that Colin can revisit one day himself. My own mother was a cheerleader and I have always adored looking back at her life before "mom".

My high school was, and is, old. The building is old and the traditions are old...the school opened in 1958. My mother was the head of the English department (and AP Senior English teacher) for almost my entire childhood and did not leave the position until 1999 when she moved to Director of Advanced Studies for the school district. Growing up with a high school teacher meant that I grew up in that school almost as much as my own home! In fact, my mom arranged for me to ride the school bus from middle school to the high school in order to meet her when she got off work. I remember vividly getting off the bus at all of 12 years old and walking to her classroom in "A unit". Everything seemed so massive and her students in her last period classes always treated me like a little mascot. I thought they were very old and very cool. I went to all the games, plays and drill team performances from what feels like the beginning of time. I could not wait to get there myself and it felt like it took forever to be my turn. Most of all, I was beside myself to be on the drill team. As a little girl, I would sit in the bleachers and tap my feet to the music while watching in awe of what I considered the most beautiful girls in the whole world. I started taking dance at around 3 years old, so I was ready ready ready!! I just knew I would die waiting for my chance to wear bright red lipstick and white boots on the field during a Friday night game. :-) Once in high school, the wait continued...freshman girls had to be in "Cheering Squad", which was incredibly lame but being on campus and near the drill team was enough to keep me happy. Sophomores were in "Pep Squad", which was basically JV drill team and a requirement in order to try out for the real deal. The real thing was, of course, The Southern Belle Drill Team, which was comprised of only juniors and seniors. Tryouts were in the spring and it was a giant deal...looking back, it was too big of a deal...the stress on the girls trying out was "Lifetime Made For TV Movie" worthy. Luckily, I made the team both years in a row and had the wonderful chance to live out my childhood dream. We were busy girls...dancing at all the football games, pep rallies, camps, spring show, basketball games...you name it, we were the entertainment. Our dress uniform had a white hat that tied under your chin and it was big time trouble if it came off. Therefore, right before we went on the field, we would pull them so tight that you could hardly swallow...not to mention the 400 bobby pins on the inside. When we came off the field, the Belle Guards (i.e. super cute boys that we voted on to follow us around!) would come around and loosen the straps before we passed out. That makes me roll with laughter thinking back on it! We were not allowed to move when standing in position on the sidelines, so the boys ran around yanking our hats loose! Goodness, I have so many memories that this post could be days long! Another memory of note...my senior year, I was the shortest girl on the team, and therefore I lead the team out on the field to our fight song played by the band (we were in a height line). It was my job to count hash marks and stop the whole team in the right place on the field. My junior year, I was second in line and did not have to worry about it. I remember that first game staring up into the burning white lights and the giant stands and thinking..."HOLY CRAP! What if I go too far?!?!". I was taking giant deep breaths with my plastered on smile and praying to God above that I did it right. I did. :-) At drill team camp my junior year, I accidentally left one of my white keds in the dorm room. We did not go back to the dorms until after dinner, so this was VERY bad. Not to mention that I was a "Baby Belle" and did not want to mess up! I got demerits (of course) and also had to dance on the burning August concrete for most of the day with one shoe on. I was very happy for jazz class in the gym because I had both of my damn jazz shoes! HA! Anyway, the shoe thing became a huge inside joke to this day and my oldest friends still call me "shoeless" and take pictures with one shoe when they go places. (Melanie and Melissa!) Speaking of Melanie and Melissa...two of my oldest and best friends...they always got me in trouble. We were not allowed to eat in the stands during games, but they always had bags of chips and snacks in their bags. They would eat the whole game and I would put one cracker in my mouth and hear our director scream, "CHALNA! ; DEMERIT!". Everyone thought it was just soooo funny. Our annual fundraiser was a huge car wash that took place in four locations across town and the whole drill team and pep squad worked in shifts at them. All the boys in the whole school would take their trucks out "mudding" the night before and we would have lines of red clay covered pick-ups to wash while the boys started water fights and tried to be awesome. I can see those afternoons in my head...we had so much fun, but I don't think the cars were very clean.

My memories from those sweet days are so precious to me, as are all of my friends that shared it with me. I would love for ya'll to leave comments of your favorite memories from drill team, or high school, or your own dance teams if you did not go to school with me. :-) I could go on forever, but Colin will be up from his nap any minute and I have dinner to make. How life has changed!

The Southern Belle Drill Team, 1993 - 1994. This is my junior year. I am the very last girl on the right, second from the top perched on the high ladder. I was SO EXCITED to be taking that picture! :-)
This is just after I made it the second time, joining the Senior Line. The girls hugging me are Ann and Sarah, two of my big sis's.
My big sis Sarah hugging me before the Red/White game, which was the spring game and first performance of the new line. I thought I was a rock star for being a big shot senior. ;-)

Two Very Special Friends

Last Friday night was a magical evening! First, a little background...when I found out that I was pregnant with Colin, I joined a message board for mothers expecting babies in July 2007. The board was wonderful and it was awesome to have a large group of women to talk to who were literally going through everything at the exact same time that I was! On the board, I was immediately taken to two women...April and Kimberly. They both seemed like kindred spirits to me and I found myself following their lives just as I would a best friend that I knew in person. Kimberly moved about 15 minutes down the road from me, so we got the chance to become good friends in real life and I value very much the friendship that I was able to make with her whole family. April and Kimberly both keep blogs like I do, and from that I feel like I know them both like family of my own. April should honestly be my sister...she and I end up saying and doing the exact same things and our boys have been like little clones of each other through action and mannerisms. I just adore these girls and could not be happier to know them!!! We found out last week that April, who lives in Oklahoma, was coming to our area for a family event and that we could all three finally get together in person. I was so excited that I could barely sleep! :-) On Friday night, all three of our families met at Babe's (because really...you must take all possible excuses to eat fried goodness) and went to the splash park around the corner afterwards. Despite the 100 degree temps and having to wait outside for an hour for a table, it ended up being a magnificent evening and lived up to every expectation. The boys all managed to get through the long wait and dinner without major meltdowns and they had an absolute BLAST at the park. Since all three husbands were there, the girls actually got a chance to talk while they chased the toddlers. It was so soothing to be able to talk for an extended period of time to good friends like that!! I must say that it brings me a lot of peace and happiness to have women in my life that are going through the same ups and downs that I am and can share in the experience. I have been a self admitted "guys girl" in the past and generally shied away from what I considered girly interactions...I have moved on from that and now value these relationships beyond words. I am so honored to have these women in my life and I hope that when I look back on this blog post in years to come that I still count them as close friends. Now how is that for a cheesy Chalna post?!? Would you expect anything less? :-) Here are some pictures:

This one is Kim's son Hayden at the splash park. He was absolutely hysterical!!! He spent the whole evening waiting for those giant water buckets to rain down on his head, much to the amusement of the grown-ups! I love that little boy!

Colin watching Hayden in disbelief. He could not believe that anyone would want a bucket dumped on them. :-)

From left, Hayden, Colin and April's son Schafer. This is the only shot that I managed to get with all three boys and barely at that! :-)

Chalna, Kim and April...in one place!! Amazing!! :-)

Colin gives Schafer a pat on the back while waiting for dinner at Babe's. Could they be any more adorable?!? I think not!

Colin's ROUGH Week!

Yet another week has past since my last post, but I promise that I had good reason this time! I was back to single mama status for 11 days with Jer on his trip to Europe and insanity ensued as usual. Things went downhill last Saturday morning. Colin was in very poor spirits all day, but I assumed he was in a bad mood because his dad was gone. The older Colin gets, the more upset he gets about Jer leaving town. I chalked up his bad mood to that and carried on with our day. Our good friends were throwing a 2nd birthday party for their son on Saturday night and I really thought it would cheer Colin up. Sadly, I could not have been more wrong. I had to go solo to the party, obviously, and after about 15 minutes I really really needed a second pair of hands. Colin was in such a bad mood...he was crying endlessly for no reason and things that normally would not bother him were only making things worse. There was a beautiful display of cupcakes on the kitchen table and Colin went to reach for one. When I told him we had to wait a bit, he completely lost it (and knocked my full wine glass out of my hands). I tried to get him back on track by taking him outside to play and at that point he spotted the beautiful pool in the backyard. He made a beeline for it and I had to snatch him up rather quickly, which startled him...thus pushing him past the point of no return. I have never seen him this upset in all his two years. It was unsettling to say the least. At this point, I was heading into panic attack mode. Dinner was being served and it was a packed house while Colin was screaming and laying on the floor. In an effort not to completely ruin the party, I literally ran out the door with my poor child in tow. I thought to regroup in the car, but Colin continued to scream bloody murder, so we just drove straight home. I left the party without even a nod to our host and felt horrible about it!

The next morning we packed up and left for my parents house...I decided that he needed a change in scenery and I needed another set of hands! The drive was great and Colin seemed just fine at first, but he woke up that night with a screaming fever. By the time morning rolled around, Colin and I were the first arrivals at Direct Care to see a doctor. The pediatrician took one look in his ears and cringed, calling me over to look for myself. It was HORRIBLE! Both ears were severely infected to the point that it gave me chills! Colin got a shot of antibiotics immediately and we were sent home with an oral prescription as well. He was completely lethargic for two days...he did not get out of bed at all. I certainly had my answer for his bad mood the weekend before! The poor little man was sick as a dog and I had no idea! We ended up staying at my parents house for a few days longer, but we are finally back home now. Colin is still sick..he took two naps today (unheard of!) and spent most of the day laying in bed with me ( REALLY unheard of!). He is obviously better than he was, but is still far from 100%. Today was his last day of antibiotics and he now has a red rash all over his stomach, legs and cheeks. I think this is from the meds, but I still plan to take him back to our pedi on Monday morning to double check his ears and make sure he is totally well. I don't like that he still feels so exhausted and under the weather. Hopefully he will be a new man tomorrow.

The good news is that Jer is home! It is so great to have our little family back together! I was able to go out shopping this afternoon...my sister is having her baby shower next weekend and I had a blast getting to finally shop for girly stuff! I am like a kid in a candy store! YEA FOR BOWS!! :-)