Where was I ten years ago?

It seems the thing to do to write up where you were and what you were doing ten years ago today when you heard the news of the planes crashing in to the World Trade Center, so I'm jumping on the band-wagon. Here is what I remember from that day.

I was in lab, I'm not sure which, but it may have been organic chemistry. I remember my lab partner was really stressed out and he was talking about possibly getting sent out. He was in the reserves and it was just the beginning of the semester, but he was thinking he wouldn't be able to get a refund on his tuition and certainly couldn't get credit if he left mid-semester. I had to learn from him that a plane crashed into the first tower. Class must have ended pretty soon thereafter because I remember going immediately to my dorm room and turning on the news. As I watched the coverage of the first crash, I witnessed on the live feed that was showing video coverage of the first plane, the second plane coming in and crashing into the second tower. I was in shock. I continued to watch the coverage. I remember they kept showing the video of the plane coming in over and over. Several cameras were set on the tower after the first crash so the second one had several views. Continued coverage described the fall of the towers and the crashes at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

I remember that at first, people thought that the first plane had lost control. No one seemed to know what was going on. Over the next several days I heard about terrorist attacks, Bin Ladin, and Al Queda as the events were explained. We learned that on the last plane, the passengers fought back and it had missed it's intended target. It was a confusing and upsetting time. Clean-up continued for what seemed like forever. The Ross Volunteers, and organization out of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets was sent out to help in the efforts.

Not long after, the next Aggie football game displayed an overwhelming view of Red, White, and Blue in the stands as Aggies showed up at the game supporting their country. An amazing view, I only wish I had been there.

I don't remember a ton of what happened closely thereafter. My lab partner did not get sent out. He was able to finish the semester. I also remember, that a friend of mine who was in the Marines got his clearance acceptance delayed because his paperwork was in the Pentagon. It's the big things and the quirky things you remember, not the little ones, I suppose.

A busy weekend

It's only about halfway into the weekend and we are all exhausted.

I had my normal mommy meeting today where we got off to a rough start with Noah and his very physical behavior. On the upside, I was able to hand off some of the shoes I had made that one of my mom friends ordered and picked up a potential new order.

In the afternon we attended a "family" reunion for an organization Taran and I were in while in college. It was so wonderful to get to see some old friends no matter how brief, but it also reminded me how secluded I've become in my "new" little life as a mom. It's a bit sad, really. Sometimes getting over that hump is the hardest part. In any case, Noah had a great time playing, even in the 106 degree heat - and depressingly enough, that is not an exaggeration. Poor Taran had to chase him outside while I stayed in and protected the wee one from the sweltering heat. He's such a good sport and luckily has a far superior tolerance to heat than I do. I hope Noah gets that from him because I'm a wimp. It's the end of the day and we are all worn out. I suppose that's the way to ensure good sleep.

Not a whole lot going on tomorrow, a few errands to run. Monday will be busy as well with August's 4 mo. appointment in the morning and then we are hosting dinner for a co-worker friend of Taran's and his wife. Fortunately, I've managed to keep the house from becoming a complete disaster area over the past couple of weeks since we last had dinner guests, so while there still is cleaning to be done, it's not terrible. We just need to plan a menu and take a trip to the store.

So, a good but busy start to the weekend. I'm not used to this pace of multiple outings in a Day and having had more outings than normal in the past week (some days with more than one) I'm wearing out. I remember the days when I had much more stamina. Here's hoping I can maybe keep up the pace and get that back. Yay for optimism. =)

More days gone by...

It's hard to believe that so much time passes between blog posts. I feel like there is nothing to report, but I suppose that depends on who's reading it and how much they know otherwise.

So, this week has been busy. Taran returned from the rig earlier than expected which was really nice. This go-round out there was stressful for both of us. While out there, the first big tropical storm of the season came through. Well, kinda. It was mild enough that they decided that the rig workers would ride it out. Not that that made me feel better. I also for the first time made sure to do some hurricane prep by getting a few recommended supplies. I wasn't terribly worried about food since I've had a habit of stocking up more since I've started couponing, but things like water and batteries were necessary to pick up. As it turns out, the storm passed south of where Taran's rig was stationed and they just got some waves. We didn't even get rain. Oh well, at least I have some supplies should I need them in the future.

This week I've also been inspired to create new projects for my baby boutique (despite having a lack of time to work on them. I also received some orders for more shoes which is super exciting - we just need to hash out the details for them. I can't wait to get to work on those.

Taran and I went and dropped off my second donation of milk to the drop-off site for the milk bank. I had almost 3 gallons collected which is awesome. It's so nice having Taran with me for those trips since the trip takes about 45 minutes and otherwise I'd have to unload kids and load them back up with no time to stretch legs and play, well, in Noah's case anyway - August would want a snack at the least. The other option is to stop somewhere to let Noah run around which can prove to be difficult depending on where we are. In any case, with Taran it was an easy run in an out so there was much less stress! Thank you, hubs!

Today I went to the local Big Latch On. Conveniently, it was taking place where we normally have our Saturday mommy meeting and almost at the same time too, so it's not like it was out of my way. I would have gone somewhere else though if it were in a different location. There were 15 moms there and a reporter from a local paper so that was pretty cool. They had also set up a silent auction for the Smart Mommies Education Foundation, the non-profit that hosts our meetings. I hope it did well. I didn't bid on anything b/c I'm cheap. Also, I didn't look closely at all the things up for auction but I did see some items which I either had or didn't need so I nothing drew me in.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have some work friends of Taran's joining us for dinner. Taran is planning on making chicken-fried steak which he makes wonderfully. I'm going to make the sides and we'll have mashed taters and black-eyed peas. Not a ton of color on that plate... Oh well.

So, that's the wrap-up of what's been going on with us. Maybe I'll get better at posting regularly, but who knows... =)

It's been two years already?

Ok, so I should have put up this post several days ago, but what can I say, I didn't think about it. Or I'm lazy. Or I was too busy. Or whatever other excuse you can come up with can be filled in. I didn't do it on time. Deal. =)

So, yeah, this passed Sunday, my baby boy became a boy. He turned two. I dunno. Two years in my mind are really the baby years. They change so much from month to month that I can't stop thinking of him as a baby at the age of one. I look at him now though and he really is a boy. He runs, plays, climbs, and throws tantrums. Yeah, he's two.

It's been amazing lately seeing all he can do and all he does. He's starting to put more and more words together which sometimes is adorable (like the other day when he was saying goodbye to the baby, the dog, and the books) and sometimes is not so cute (like when he's whining about something). It is exciting to see the development and depressing because he is getting more independent. At least when he's happy. If he's cranky or upset, that's when he wants his mommy. And some of those times I want to bang my head into a wall because as much as I want to snuggle my son, I don't want him to think crying is an appropriate response (like when the doctor comes into the exam room).

I'm not really ready for him not to be a baby anymore. I don't know if I ever will be. Even with currently have another baby, I'm not ready for Noah to no longer be one. Being a mom makes you funny in the head that way.

Another day...

So, yeah... It appears we didn't make it to the year mark with Noah's tubes before he started having  problems. Luckily, it's not an ear infection this time, it's his sinuses. I'm not sure that that is any better, but oh well. Back to the antibiotics and ear drops.

Over the past few weeks, all of us have been suffering form allergies and congestion. Taran and I seemed to recover relatively quickly. The boys? Not so much. Noah continued to have drainage, but since it was clear and he was acting like himself, I figured it was still allergies, gave him his allergy medication and ran the humidifier when he was sleeping. He had a few really bad nights where he was waking up a decent amount, but I just figured it was a little bit of reverting as I've heard toddlers do and I assumed it would go back to normal after a while. This too, shall pass, I decided. It appears that as in so many other situations, I got the symptoms wrong, and this is why as moms we have to accept that we will screw up.

Sweet boy

After noticing some discharge around Noah's ear yesterday, I didn't think a whole lot of it, because I could have missed some food bits from breakfast when I washed him up. I wiped his ear off and later I swabbed the entrance to the ear canal. This morning, he had more stuff in his ear and I was sure at that point, that something was going on. I had to cancel plans with my friend Laura (we had a Target and mall playdate for ourselves and our kiddos) and scheduled an appointment with the ENT. So, yeah, Noah has a sinus infection. He had a low grade fever, but you'd never know it. I suppose that's the reason that he was better behaved around the other kids in my mom group - and here I thought he was getting over the bullying. Way to go, self, you were so wrong...

Wee man

Luckily, wee baby is doing just fine. He still has some of his congestion, but it seems to be improving. Otherwise, he's doing his baby thing - eating, sleeping, and making diapers. Although, lately he has really taken up the whole cooing thing and has been talkative as anything. Complete with baby toothless grins. So adorable!

My newest pair of baby shoes

For me things are same ol', same ol' with the exception of having new projects to work on for my baby boutique. One of which is a pair of shoes for a little girl. I had to rework my pattern and pick up the material, but I managed to get those completed in record time. I just hope they fit, otherwise, it's back to the drawing board. No biggie though, I need to figure out how everything will work out with the shoes though since I've officially added them to my baby boutique. I've also worked on some new ideas for cakes which is awesome and I'm excited for opportunities to integrate them. Beyond that, I want to add some sewing projects to my baby boutique items, but that may be a bit down the road before I gather materials so I can experiment and have pictures for examples.

New bouquet for diaper cake topper

We did a bit of yard work today. Taran mowed, we both worked on trimming the bushes, and I weeded some. That's a never ending project, let me tell you! It's kinda like laundry and dishes. No matter how much you do, there's always more to do...

July!

It appears I'm behind... And once again, a friend has reminded me that I haven't updated my blog in over a month. So, I guess I will update it. I can't promise anything particularly witty or intelligent, but here's what's been going on...

3-tier Frog Cake

I, of course, have kept up with my regular attendance at meetings for my mommy group. The "group owner" has been working on getting her non-profit organization (a mom support and education organization) off and running which is cool. I really would like to help out, but since I still feel like I'm pulling my hair out with two kids, I really don't want to promise to do anything and then flake out. In the mean time, I'm just standing on the sidelines and observing what's going on and if I see an opportunity, I'll jump in. For example, today, they are having a booth at the local Independence Day "festival" and along with holding a bake sale, they were looking for items to either raffle off or sell in a silent auction. I made a diaper cake and donated it for said event. I hope it does well. Though, I have to admit, it was a bit selfish since I'm hoping to get my name out a bit more in the diaper cake biz. I suppose it's win/win really - as long as someone actually wants to bid on it in the silent auction. I really hope it goes for what it's worth and not a super low amount - that would be a blow to the ego.

My pump - it's a hard worker these days.

I've also been working on pumping a lot of milk. Well, the purpose was not to pump "a lot," really. I was just pumping. See, I had contacted the Mother's Milk Bank of Austin to get signed up as a donor. I went through the phone interview and was waiting on the donor packet to arrive in the mail so I could complete the next step as a donor. About that time, I heard of a mom in our mom group that was having some supply issues and was welcoming milk donations. I figured, why not? I could certainly pump and help her out, so I set off. I pumped some for her and some extra to boost my supply enough so that when the paper work went through I could donate at least something to the milk bank. The paperwork seemed to take forever and in the mean time, I'm just pumping along and creating a stash in my freezer as well as passing it along to the mom that needed it. Finally the packet arrived and I got it filled out and sent back, received my donor ID and was able to pick up some bottles for donation (they require "rigid" containers for collection at the milk bank). So, starting with the first day of July, I was officially able to start pumping for the milk bank. Yay! It turns out also,  that the mom I had been pumping for has been on a new milk boosting medication which has helped her immensely and she won't need me to pump any more (at least for now. I told her not to be shy if she needed more at any time.). So now, all my pumping efforts can go toward the milk bank which is great, but that means unless I get more bottles with each visit to the drop off site, I'll be going once a week to pick them up. We'll see how it all works out. I also have to get blood work run before I can drop off my first "installment" but they recommend doing it when you are close to having enough for your initial donation of 100 oz. So, I guess that means in the next several days I'll have to see about doing that.

Aside from that, I'm mostly trying to survive with two kiddos. Luckily the mommy meetings and regular trips to the mall or where-ever with my mom friend, Laura, allow me to get out of the house and give Noah some extra stimulation so he's not crazy with boredom and cabin fever. It's rough though. That kid needs to be able to run and climb to really burn off that energy which isn't the easiest for me to keep up with having a baby strapped to me, but I try.

August had his two month visit last Thursday. I can't believe he's that old already! Everything went well. He's growing (though not as quickly as Noah, but then, he was smaller to begin with so I guess it's relative) and up to 12 lbs 7 oz. He got his first big set of vaccines, which was no fun, but he did ok. Nursing after a trauma like that will fix anything. =) Noah did fantastic and though he was bored at the doctor's office, was surprisingly well behaved. I was so proud of him. I'm glad he behaves for the most part in public. =)

Two pairs of boy shoes size 2T packaged and ready for sale.

This past week I had my first sale of the shoes that I make. Up until then, I had only made them for Noah, but one of the moms in my mom group liked them so much she asked me to make two pairs for her. I was happy to do so and tried to package them up all nicely. Some of the other moms seemed interested in possibly buying them, so I may go ahead and add them to my baby boutique as another product which is a pretty exciting prospect for me.

This weekend, we anticipated going to visit Taran's family but that didn't pan out well since he returned from the rig several days later than planned due to a training course he had to take. We stayed in town and had some friends visit and wouldn't you know it, it's been about a year since we saw the one friend. We had a nice time, though I have to admit, we may not be the most fun hosts b/c we didn't do much but sit and chill and chat. Oh well. They've headed back now and it's back to our regular routine. Hopefully that includes more frequent blog updates, but we'll see...

I'm a Survivor!

Today marks the end of too long of a time period where I had to figure out how to be a single mom of two for the first time. Taran returned from his stint on the rig today to find both boys alive and well and me too.

I have to say it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, though I kinda protected myself. I limited outings to the bare minimum which helped greatly. I also had help on the weekends with various family members coming in to town which was awesome. The biggest difficulty I noticed was in the house. Before having two kids, housework got a bit behind, but I didn't have much difficulty catching up if needed. With two kiddos, it's much harder. Cleaning, laundry, and dishes it seems were done on a catch-up basis - when say, the sink was full of dishes or I ran out of clothes - which is definitely not ideal, but that's how it worked.

In case you were wondering, chasing a toddler is not as easy when holding a wee baby. The Moby is my friend keeping the infant close while keeping Noah out of things or chasing him and bringing him back to the time out chair he was avoiding. It's also not so easy to clean off breakfast dishes if I happen to set August in the bouncy chair and Noah is loving on him a bit too much, and by that, I mean sitting on him. Yes, that's right, I caught Noah sitting on his younger brother in the bouncy seat. Sheesh...

It's definitely an adventure. I'm glad that the hubby is back. Maybe I can go grocery shopping or something now kid free! Or maybe with just one... Even that would be a break. I still adjusting and I'm sure as time goes on I'm going to figure out this two kid thing. For now, I'm attempting to maintain my sanity.