Random [nine]

1. The plague hath stricken our home. Kane started vomiting Tuesday night. He developed a fever shortly thereafter and has been sick ever since. Snot. Coughing. Sneezing. Fever. Bad sleeping. It's been great.

2. And this morning, I woke up with a sore throat and congested head. Guess I should have known that having a baby cough in my face for 48 hours would give me the plague. We've been doing a lot of this today.

3. Things that make me feel like a good mom:

Instantly grabbing my baby when he starts vomiting, with complete indifference to the fact that I will be covered in throw up by the time it's over.

The fact that my sick guy sleeps best when lying on his momma.

Not giving my kiddo antibiotics when they aren't needed.

4. I tried to take a Happy Valentine's picture on Tuesday, pre-plague. It didn't end up well. Here's proof that not all my ideas work out.

5. Last week, Kane decided to eat a blue crayon.

But then realized they don't taste all that good.

6. Last week, we went to Going Bonkers. It's great. Think McDonald's playground times a hundred. They have a huge climbing structure with slides and slants and surprises everywhere. Plus, it's cheap - $2.50 for Kane + $1 for me. I can afford that kind of entertainment.

In this picture, you can kinda-sorta see how high we are. On the bottom left, there's a woman sitting at a table at the ground level.

7. I'm grateful that we had fun last week and that I had pictures to blog because this week was spent in quarantine and that doesn't make for great photos. I'm also grateful that by being a SAHM, I can take Kane to places like Going Bonkers or the museum in the middle of the day when it's not so busy. We both get to play and don't have to fight any crowds. Swoon.

8. This kid loves salsa. And he loves to dip chips in salsa himself.

9. Kane wants to play bubbles about 17 times a day.

I'm off to tend to my sicky and wipe his nose, despite his protests. Hope you have a great weekend and take a moment to appreciate that fact that you can breathe thru your nose. It's the small things really.

Recharged

Right after I posted my last blog, I felt whiney and decided to take charge. I strapped on my running shoes, changed Kane out of his pajamas and headed to the gym.

If you "Like" me on facebook, you know that Kane has separation anxiety issues. He's always been a little shy, takes a long time to warm up to new people, and is much more comfortable in his momma's arms than anywhere else. To help with his separation anxiety, we joined a gym with a childcare center. He needed to be cared for by people other than his parents or grandparents. And realize that when I leave, I come back. And it's not the end of the world. And how to play with other kiddos.

It's been a little over a month, and it's been rough. He bawls when I drop him off. He has cried hysterically for 30 minutes straight. I promised the workers I wouldn't be gone for more than 30 minutes at a time because they have other kids to take care of and a screaming child is no fun. Not for a momma and not for someone with 4 other kids to care for, even if they are being paid.

Of course they are super nice and say things like "Oh, he's not the first one to cry" and "It's ok, we know how to handle it". But they also say things like "I'm not going to lie to you - he was pretty upset the whole time". Bless them.

So on Thursday, I wasn't surprised when he cried when I dropped him off. I went to the cardio room and 5 minutes later Miss Nancy came to tell me that he settled down very fast and was fine. She just wanted to let me so that I would have a good workout and not be worried. Like I said, bless them. So I did my 25 minutes on the elliptical and went to pick him up and saw this:

[note - this is a cell phone picture]

Holy Moly. That's my child, not crying, and actually playing! I was ecstatic. I snapped this picture and sent it to Matthew, accompanied with twelve exclamation points. I wanted him to feel my elation and an excessive number of these - !!!!!!!!!- is the only way to get it done. True story.

Miss Nancy even said "It's so cool - I've never seen him play with anything, ever." Talk about being recharged. And being so proud. What a great start to the weekend, even if it was only Thursday.

Our Friday started with a breakfast playdate and then a trip to the Barnes & Noble at the mall where we found a train table.

And at the mall, we saw a little girl with a yellow balloon. Kane loves balloons. And he loves anything yellow. He can say "weh-whoa", but calls balloons "balls". I always correct him by saying "ball-oooooooon", as if there are twelve o's that make the word four times longer than it really is. So he's probably never going to know how to correctly pronounce balloon.

Anyway, he saw her balloon, tried to take her balloon, she wasn't having it, so we asked her mom where she got that balloon and off we went to the Nordstoms kids shoes section. The nice guys hooked us up with a yellow balloon and I had one happy baby.

And I think shot should be an advertisement for Nordstroms. Call me if you want to talk business.

And since it was Friday afternoon and we were energized, we put on some music and cleaned the house.

Guess what my guy picked...Bob Marley. Very few people know that I love Bob Marley. When Kane and I have a dance party, 90% of the time it's either Bob Marley or the Beach Boys. [As I was writing this post, I got to see the Beach Boys on the Grammys. Love it.] When we hear Bob's beats, we sway, we bounce, we dance and we sing. And we clean.

And sometime during our dance party, Matthew came home and we celebrated the Official Start to the Weekend. And I got to enjoy some loving from my little cuddler.

He loves it when I lift him so high he can touch the ceiling. And when I blow raspberries on his belly. Since he's 20+ pounds, I get to skip the bicep curls at the gym when we play that game.

[In case you didn't already know, I have gray hairs. You can see them here:]

See - he's pointing to the ceiling and saying "up!". And check out the reflection in the mirror - that's Matthew being our camera guy.

And Saturday morning did not disappoint. These guys made me French freedom toast.

And on Sunday morning, Kane had a meeting with his Chief Advisors and they handled some business.

It was a great, slow weekend. I'm recharged. And ready to take on this week. And so is the spotted puppy.

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.