Random [seven]

1. Kids & Eggs - What is so magical about hunting brightly colored eggs? I have no idea, but he sure loved it. Annie held Kane's basket while he searched for the eggs, illuminated by the morning sun.

Some of those magic eggs had candy.

And Kane was kind enough to share some of that good stuff with Annie.

2. Garden - We've been working on our garden and built a little fence to keep dogs and babies from trampling our tomato and jalapeno plants. We also built an herb 'spiral' with square boxes. We like to push the envelope.

Matthew planted some of those seeds he had started in the milk jug greenhouses and we added seven others so we will have nine fresh herbs to use this summer. I can't wait.

3. Water hose - Kane's new favorite toy is the water hose. He loves to spray it around the yard, but specifically at Roscoe. Gertie won't go anywhere near the water. Roscoe, on the other hand, does back flips trying to catch the stream. It's funny to watch and makes Kane giggle like a little baby.

4. Newborn babies - Very early this morning, a good friend gave birth to a brand new baby girl. Most babies are brand new, just fyi. So why did I want to jump in the car and head straight for the hospital? Because nothing beats a new baby. Which reminded me that I never blogged about our friend that had a baby a few weeks ago. I went to visit and, of course, took a few pictures while I was there.

I also love new moms. They're pretty great too.

5. Walks - Now that the sun stays up past 6, we have time to take the dogs for a walk after Matthew gets home from work. Capturing five shadows in one frame was a little harder than I thought.

Half-way thru the walk, Kane wanted to walk the dogs. That means he wanted to hold the slack in the leash while dadda carries him and gets to fights the dogs pulling because, truth be told, they aren't the best walkers. I get to hang back and take pictures.

6. Kane and I went out this morning to meet some friends for breakfast and when we got home, Atmos Energy had locked me out of my house. Odd, I know. One end of our alley had piles of busted up concrete, the other end freshly poured concrete. I couldn't access our garage, at all. And I didn't have a house key for the front door. It was on the counter, right where I left it that morning because I didn't know I would need it.

And it just so happens that my garage door opener is programmed into my car (I don't have a physical box on my visor that I can walk around with). I had no way to get into my house and a toddler who needed some lunch, quick. I was not at happy camper. Mostly because there was absolutely no notice given and the workers, although not rude, were stammering "Uh, uh, uh...this is a pickle...uh, I don't know what to tell you...uh."

I called Atmos, I called the contractor. I drove to my father's house, got his spare key (thankfully it was there...he was over 2 hours away), drove home, opened the door, got my key, drove back to his house to return his keys (our house key was attached to his car keys and I wasn't sure which one would open our door so I had to take the whole set), then was finally able to come home. Pain in the tookus.

Both companies had a supervisor call me back within 3 hours and apologized profusely. One even gave me his personal cell phone number in case I needed anything else. At that point, there was nothing they could do - I was in my home. But the calls didn't feel like enough. Like an apology wasn't good enough. Which got me thinking...when did an apology become too little?

I was severely inconvenienced because whoever was in charge of notifying the residents of the alley work dropped the ball. They made a mistake. It sucked and I was pissed, but it wasn't the end of the world. So what does Atmos owe me? Why couldn't I accept the apology and move on? Should they have to pay for my gas and time to fix their mistake? Or is that just part of life...stuff happens. Is it the ugly side of "entitlement" that my generation is often labeled as having? Or just three years of law school wanting some action? I'm not sure, but I would love your opinion.

7. Ice Cream - to end on a happy note, here's a baby with some Ben & Jerry's.

Being a SAHM

I'm a SAHM. That's code for Stay-At-Home-Mom, in case you didn't know. I love it. Most days. Sometimes it's really, really hard. But from the outside, it looks like I get to sit around the house all day and go the park when I want and that looks awesome. I'm well aware of how awesome it looks. And I'll let you in on a secret - it is awesome.

For example, this is my day so far:

7:30 - wake up

8:00 - make a yummy, homemade, healthy breakfast of eggs, scones, blueberries and blackberries

9:00 - play & read books, then get dressed

10:00 - head to the gym where I got to drop Kane off at childcare and get a workout in

10:45 - let Kane run around outside (his treat for going to the gym with me) while I enjoyed some coffee

11:15 - put Kane down for a nap, then shower, eat lunch and blog

Sounds easy, peasy huh? Some days it is. I won't lie. Actually, I can't lie because this is posted on the internet where only the truth is allowed. Plus, I want you to be feeling pretty jealous of my awesome job right before you read this next part.

The part where I tell you what else I've done today. I cleaned the kitchen after breakfast. I can hear you thinking "Oh, big deal" in your sarcastic way because we both know it isn't hard. Except when you have to clean the kitchen three times a day. Every.single.day. It can get pretty old.

And I picked up toys after our play time. No big deal, except when your toddler pulls out more toys as you are picking them up. It can get pretty old.

And I listened to fussing, crying and general protesting while getting him dressed, getting in the car, going to childcare, getting back in the car, changing a diaper, me not moving fast enough to put him down for a nap. You get the idea. It can get pretty old.

It's an awesome job, but it's not all fun and games. Some days are pretty lonely. Some days, I'm covered in snot from head to toe. Some days, I just want to lay down and close my eyes for 5 minutes. But it's a two sided coin. I really do love it. But it doesn't end. I can't go home from work and leave the stress behind, because I'm always at work. My job is my life. It lasts 24 hours a day. But some of those 24 hours are so awesome, I understand why you're jealous. And you should be.

Like last week when we got to play outside and soak up some winter Vitamin D as we waited for Annie to arrive.

And work on our balance beam skills. For free. Who needs to pay for Gymboree when you have a brick lined flower bed?

And run to greet Annie when she arrived.

And then help Annie unload the car. Because you know when Annie comes, she brings stuff.

And that stuff always includes a bag of goodies that Kane loves to dig in.

And since we're talking about Kane digging in things, let's go ahead and cue the digging in things montage here:

[Note - there is more on why this kid is shirtless later on...]

Now back to our awesome day....which included a trip to the fabric store.

And as if that wasn't enough awesomeness in one day, we topped it off with a trip to the museum. Due to a little miscommunication with our friends, we were about 20 minutes early. While we were exploring, Kane found his favorite exhibit...the water table. It always starts out gentle. As if he hasn't seen water in a while and needs to get reacquainted with her.

But proceeds rapidly to smacking, splishing and insane amounts of splashing. Like "Wow, look at what water can do!"

And always, always, always ends up with a drenched shirt. So I did what any normal mom would do. I just took it off and let him go shirtless. So when our friends arrived, he was already that kid.

This is Miss Savannah. She is 2 months younger than Kane and all girl. Which I find hilarious because her momma was, and still is in some respects, a tomboy.

In case you didn't notice, it looks like Kane is about to tackle her in that pic. One reason we scheduled this play date was to take these pictures of Miss Savi...

[Thank you MCP Actions for the layout]

And then we headed back to the scene of the crime. Where Kane went straight for the water and Miss Savannah was more interested in entertaining us.

I told you she was all girl! She did get in the water. But only her fingertips. She didn't want to have a wet dress after all.

This sign makes me laugh. It's a children's museum (you have to be under 6 years old to play here) and this is the water table area. "Wet Floor" is an understatement.

When we were ready to go, I took off his shoes and had to wring out both socks. I probably got half a cup of water from his socks alone. His pants were drenched. His shirt was soaked. His brain was bigger and his smile was huge. And that's what being a SAHM is really about.

Wellies Bubbles & Rain

My boy woke up hungry today. It seems as though his appetite is back. For now. But I know it could disappear just as quickly, so I'm going to ride this wave for as long as I can. Carpe Diem. Shovel as much food into that little mouth as I can. Or just let him do the shoveling.

We had a grand breakfast of eggs, waffles and berries. Delicious. And then he let me know he was "all done".

And with the return of the appetite, comes better nights. More sleep. Less waking to nurse. Happy momma. But we've also had some fun packed days, so maybe he's just worn out. Either way, I will take it.

Last weekend, Annie bought Kane some wellies. Galoshes. Rain boots. We call them wellies around here, but you know what I'm talking about. Earlier this week, Kane was modeling his new boots. Now that he has his modeling credentials, his ego is humongous. He struts around without pants on, striking poses, thinking he is the center of my world. Damn, he knows too much already.

Sing with me...

I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk yeah
I shake my little tush on the catwalk

And then we had a special middle-of-the-week treat when Annie was in town for a work meeting and stopped by. Now, when Annie comes, she always has a bag of presents. Like, a Mary Poppins bag. A magical bag, filled with treats and gifts and fun. And Kane knows this.

This week was BUBBLES. Now, Kane has seen bubbles before. He likes bubbles. But these were special bubbles. Not only did they come from an ice cream cone, they were flavored. I guess scented is more accurate...I'm sure they weren't meant to be eaten because even special scented bubbles are still just soap.

He kept saying "bubbles, bubbles". The other word he repeatedly says is "dog". Well, that and "momma, momma, momma, MOMMA". Point is, he doesn't usually keep repeating the same word. But "bubbles" got to cut the line, head straight to the VIP room, and enjoy the bottle service. Bubbles must be very special.

And after that nice, warm day, came the rain. We needed it and are happy to have it. But it came fast and hard and flooded the yard.

But the earth soaked up the water and we headed out front to find the perfect puddle to test out the wellies.

Babies are funny. They find one spot they like and stick with it. There were about 20 other puddles within a few feet of this one. Some were bigger, some were deeper. But Kane liked this puddle and nothing I said would make him leave his beloved area where the sidewalk dips and leans and traps rain along with grass and dirt. Maybe he knows a good thing when he sees it. Maybe the grass isn't always greener in a new puddle. Guess he's not a maximizer like his momma.

And after playing in puddles, what else can you do on a rainy day? Go to the museum, that's what. If you live in Dallas and haven't visited The Children's Museum at the Museum of Nature and Science, you're missing out. We love it so much, we are members. They have great stuff for kids from crawling to walking to climbing to jumping age.

We started our trip in the fossil park, which was a new adventure for us. It's filled with very small rocks and I always thought he would try to eat them and I would have to spend the whole time saying "Yuck. Don't eat that" and he would keep doing it and I would be scared he would choke so I would have to drag him out of there crying. Geez, I sound like a crazy person just typing that. Well, I should have given him some more credit because he didn't put a single pebble in his mouth.

He loved digging around for those fossils. I wonder how many times I've skipped letting him experience something fun because I had this completely made up scenario in my head and expected the worse. I don't want to be that mom. And funny enough, I get to choose what kind of mom to be. It's another life lesson a baby will teach you. Carpe Diem, right?

And after my 16 month old showed me how to be a parent, we went to explore the rest of the museum. We found animals.

We found musical instruments. My little artist can use both mallots at the same time. No need to hide your amazement. I already know he's the most talented toddler around. I can be proud of anything, remember?

We found a theatre area with Hollywood lights and a stage.

We found a thermo-heat-sensor-tv-area thing. Very technical and very fancy. I love how you can see my camera.

And, we found a Lego urinal. Seriously, where else in Dallas can you find a Lego urinal? The membership is worth that alone.