I'm Going Crazy...

Well, there are some that would argue that I'm already there, but whatever.

We've come to the end of our car search. Kinda. The search is over, the new car has yet to be obtained. Taran has officially completed the paperwork for our new minivan. Now, it's a matter of the dealership actually acquiring it so that we can trade in our current vehicle. That means that sometime next week (hopefully) I'll be officially inducted into the "soccer mom" club. It took a long time for Taran to convince me that a minivan was the best idea for us. I hate it, I truly do, but there really are no other options. Nothing else is big enough, gives us enough storage space, has rear air for the kids and enough room for their car seats, gets decent gas mileage (relative to size), and isn't a giant boat. So, minivan it is. It'll be good for us, just not my ego.

I've spent the past couple of days at home which has been bad for my sanity. Assuming I had any to begin with. I've got some crazy cabin fever and I am in desperate need of a girls' night out. I think the last time I had one was when Noah was about 5 mo. old. The kids are seriously wearing on me. I keep convincing myself that the few hours I get in the evening after Noah has gone to bed will refresh me, but it's not enough, especially considering that August doesn't necessarily sleep at the same time. Usually by the end of the day I'm so exhausted that I just want to veg and in vegging, I don't really appreciate the free time I have. And that's if I let myself veg and I'm not occupied by laundry or dishes or who knows what else that needs to get done around the house.

On a happier note, I have been keeping myself occupied with my crafts. I've finally finished all the shoes that I had official orders for. I also recently completed a cloth diaper cake (for display only) and a Halloween cake (also for display only). They were fun. I got to try some new things I hadn't done before and it was awesome to work out new tricks. I have many more projects prepped and ready to work on, I just haven't gotten around to doing that (and in many cases, I haven't had the energy).

Tomorrow I have my annual eye exam (not excited) and later in the week I have my regular mommy meeting and a meeting for the mommy foundation. Maybe with things to keep me occupied the week will go by faster. Next weekend my in-laws are going to be here, so that means a lot of cleaning on my part. It's nice when they are here, but I really don't like the pre-company prep. That part is never fun. Oh well. At least it forces me to clean on a semi-regular basis so that can't be all bad.

Busy, busy, busy...

I feel like I say that a lot, "busy, busy, busy," but it seems like that has been the case lately. Despite the fact that I've been getting an extra hour of awake time thanks to the boys transitioning from (or is it to?) Daylight Savings Time about a month early. I still feel like the days are passing me by before I know where they went. As a result, I'm feeling less productive as nap time and bedtime result in true "down time" for me. And by down, I mean almost catatonic. Ok, not really, but it's like I switch to lazy mode where I get very little done and just veg in front of the TV or read.

Our awake time seems to take us various places in an attempt to get Noah a release for his insane amounts of energy. I'm not convinced that tiring him out makes him behave better. Sometimes he just gets wired and whiney. Sometimes it works, other times, there is no change. Oh well. So that means parks and play dates which wear me out too since I spend a large portion of the time disciplining or playing with Noah - not the easiest task with a baby strapped to you, but I'm not about to leave him in a stroller while I tend to (or chase for several yards) his brother. It'd be nice if Taran was able to join us all the time (1 to 1 is a much better ratio than 2 to 1), but he comes when he can.

To add to the normal hustle and bustle, we've been squeezing in the continued mini-van hunt. Not easy working with Taran's hectic work schedule. I think we settled on one, but we have to wait until the dealer finds what we are looking for. I had no idea new cars were in such limited supply. I guess it makes sense, but never having had a new car, I just figured the manufacturers had a stash of the cars and you only had to order them if you wanted upgrades and whatnot. I was wrong.

My crafts have gone a bit by the wayside. Ok, I guess not really. I've been working on a bunch of shoe orders so the personal projects and the extra products I wanted to make for my baby boutique have been put aside. I may pick that up again though since I'm between orders and waiting on details for orders from a few people, so maybe I'll get productive on my own stuff. That means not vegging, but it's hard to move off of a comfy couch after a busy day. Such is life.

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...