Weekend Wrap-Up

It is May.

The time of the school year where the end is in sight, but feels SO far away.

The time of year where one day you can wear shorts and a tank top and the next you have to wear layers.

Such an in-between time and I like it and hate it at the same time.

Those are just my ramblings.  On to the weekend.

Friday
Chris went golfing, so I headed over to the condo after work and Cal and I hung out and had dinner with Boom, Bops, Auntie Yoda and Auntie Mari.  After dinner we decided to get frozen yogurt at Menchies!

YUM!!!

Saturday
While I went with Mary to a bridal shower, Chris took Callie to Charlie's 2nd birthday party!  Callie was VERY excited to pick out Charlie's gift and go over to his house.  She was really hoping for birthday hats, and it looks like she got her wish!

Callie and the Birthday Boy!

It was an "Up" themed birthday party- lots of balloons!

On Saturday afternoon, Callie had a shopping date with Grandma while Chris, Bob and I went to Menards to begin looking at stuff for redoing our bathroom.  Stay tuned!  Looks like Callie got the good end of the deal- she shared Gelato with G-ma!

This girl has a sweet tooth

Saturday night we went to pick up a fun new outdoor playhouse that I had ordered earlier in the week.  We got it home and put it together with about 10 minutes to spare before bedtime.  Hopefully this will be a fun place to play this summer.  I'll let her give you a tour:



Sunday
We took a family trip to the zoo this morning.

After an ALMOST 3 HOUR NAP (!!!!!!!) we took it easy, did yard work, and hung out in the playhouse again, this time getting a little stuck.

This picture makes me laugh

I got to enjoy a toddler-free dinner out with Jenna (baby girl is due in the next couple weeks!!!) and Bethany and then headed to church, where Callie was WIRED and my mom spoke as part of the sermon about the importance of our church community.  It was wonderful.

I'll leave you with a fun fact: It was today, 6 years ago, that we brought home our little 8-week-old puppy Kona Hope.

At the Park

I love our park.

You've probably seen dozens of pictures of Callie at our park by now.  On the swings.  Hanging by the slide. 

So far, it has been a place to go for Callie to play and get energy out, and for us to...hover. 

I wouldn't say we're out-of-control-helicopter-parent hoverers, but we hover none-the-less.  Parents just don't want their kids to get hurt.

Over the past few months, though, we've slowly backed off.  While we used to climb up on the playground equipment with her, now we stand back and watch, fostering her independence (at least I hope that is what we are doing).

While before Callie used to watch other kids from afar, now she's starting to get interested.  And brave.

On Monday, there was a little 4-year-old girl at the park playing alone.  Callie noticed her right away, and came over to me and said "Hey!  Who's that girl?"  I told her she could go say hi.  She thought about it while she did some more playing on her own.  Then, she got brave and went up to the girl and said "Hi!"  The girl said "Hi" back. 

Callie's face lit up, and she turned to me and yelled "SHE SAID HI!"

She followed the little girl around for awhile and then wanted to swing.

Then the little girl followed us the the swings and asked to play. 

So I watched Callie run off, following the girl, chattering away.  So excited.

"Wait for me!"

As a mom, especially a mom of a rather shy kid, it was magical.

I know (and I worry) that it won't always be this easy.  Having experience working in both elementary and secondary schools, I've seen how mean girls can be. 

I hope and pray every day that we are teaching her to NOT be a mean girl, to be PROUD of being herself, and to ALWAYS be willing to say "Hi" at the park.

Light

The past few weeks I've felt...heavy.  Not sad.  Not angry.  Just heavy.

Heavy with the weight of a lot going on at work.  Heavy with a house that never seems to get clean and a yard that never seems to look nice.  Heavy with the pressure to exercise or take time to run.  Heavy with a toddler who is pushing the limits and testing my patience daily.

Heavy.

Which is ironic, because the past few months I have worked hard to become about 12 pounds lighter.

But today?  Today I made a conscious choice to try and feel lighter.

I upped my patience level with my toughest kids at school and we all did great.  I came home from work and started pulling some of the thousands of dandelion weeds from our front yard.  Because of my 9 mile run yesterday, I got a rest day today.  And best of all, my toddler was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. for me tonight.

No power struggles.  No temper tantrums.  Just a happy-go-lucky little girl, turning me into an elated and relieved mama.

I don't know what tomorrow or next week or next month will bring, but I'm thankful for this feeling today.

Okay, self, let's keep it up! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hmmm...what to write about the weekend...

We really just bopped around as usual.  We find that being home too much turns a certain toddler into either a little monster who we affectionately call "Destructo-Cal."

So it is really just easier to be out doing stuff most of the time.

We went out to dinner on Friday night and just hung out as a family.

Chris worked on Saturday, so Cal and I headed to Southdale to run around and, of course, ride the choo choo.  And do "crazy eyes" in all the pictures Mommy tried to take.

MMMM! Foothie!

We swung by the condo that afternoon where we took turns being on toddler-watch while the others napped.  That evening Cal and I had a movie night (Strawberry Shortcake!) and a jammie walk.  The 2nd half of the jammie walk was me trying to carrying a screaming, flailing toddler and dragging along a sniffy boxer until we finally made it home.  Longest. Block. Ever.

I had a really good 9 mile run to the condo this morning, and then while Chris took Callie to the "Childrens Zoom Zoom," I tackled THIS monstrosity in the back:

UGH

It looks much better now, though the furniture still needs to be cleaned and the forest that is our backyard needs to be tamed.

Much better!

We're hoping to get the backyard looking decent enough to get some fun outdoor toys and have another place to hang out this summer.

Tonight we headed over to Andy, Jenna and Charlie's house for some BBQ and hanging out.  They are expecting their little girl in a couple of weeks, so it may be the last time we all hang out before there is an itty bitty one around.  Can't wait!

Callie and Charlie were ADORABLE playing together, especially outside in their little playhouse.

They were "having a nice meal" (as Callie said multiple times) and she also got to use her newest favorite phrase "Um, I forgot!" multiple times. She would go in and out and purposefully forget to shut the door, and then say it after she pretended to realize it.  So funny.

Later on, they ganged up on Chris and there was an all-out toddler vs. 30-year-old wrestle-mania in the basement.

Now we're battling sleepy time and will hopefully win soon.  :)

Blogiversary

Happy Blogiversary to Baby Goose!

Three years ago today, I wrote the first post on the blog.

Tonight I spent a little time reading some of the earliest entries...the nostalgia crept up on me as I remembered how I felt.  How excited we were.  All the little fun and not-so-fun details of pregnancy.

It seems like it was a long time ago, but life has only gotten better.

Since then it has become a place to share highs and lows, document milestones, and keep those near and far up-to-date as we continue to learn how to do this parenting thing.

Speaking of parenting, if you follow the blog these days, you know that we're deep in a phase that is popularly known as terrible twos.  And in one of our new music class songs, the terrible twos are mentioned:

Nothin' is wrong
Me and my baby just get along
Can't seem to lose
We got those nothin' blues

Rain or sunshine
Can't get over that child of mine

No terrible twos

I got the nothin' blues.

We listen to that song often in the car, and I may or may not have reminded her a few times that she's in the terrible twos stage (jokingly of course...).

So now, every time she hears them sing "terrible twos" she proudly exclaims, "HEY! THAT'S ME!"

Haha...oops.  She's definitely a "terrible two" right now, but she is OUR "terrible two."

And we love her like crazy. :)

Thirty / Three

Today I entered my 30s.  It was as wonderful day.  I got all sorts of sweets at work.  My 5th graders managed to pull off serenading me with the birthday song on their own.  Chris and Callie sent me birthday texts/pictures all day.  Facebook messages poured in throughout the day as well.  We had dinner with both families (missed you, Laura!).  My mom made a delicious pink lemonade birthday cake.  And though Chris has training tonight til 10, he's bringing me home a bottle of wine to have before bed.  I am one lucky 30-year-old!

But what makes April 24th more special, is the fact that it was early in the morning THREE years ago that we found out we were having a baby.

And now that baby is a little girl who loves her some cake (her concerned face in the above picture is regarding the fact that cake was being passed around the table...and not in front of her).

Thanks to all for the lovely birthday wishes, texts, phone calls, cards, messages.  I feel very loved. :)

Weekend Wrap-Up: The 28-Month-Old Edition

It is April 22nd.  A certain toddler is 28-months-old.  A very dramatic 28-months-old.

I'm telling ya, this 2-year-old business is so great and so hard all at the same time.

The great:
*Watching her vocabulary development and all the learning and thinking that takes place in her head
*Watching her start to interact more with other people and other kids (though she is still REALLY shy, it is getting better)
*Getting the hugs, cuddles, and kisses (when we can slow her down enough to give us the time of day)
*Her yearning for independence and being SO proud of herself when she does something by herself
*How much she loves our family and how much they love her
*The fact that she is still little enough to want me the most when she is upset (unless it is me that made her upset, then I'm out)
*When I look at her beautiful little face in AWE that this little person came from me

The hard:
*The mood swings (O.M.G...the mood swings!)
*Her yearning for independence when it is for things that are still just too hard for her (and she doesn't understand that they are still too hard)
*The way she pushes boundaries, making us really work hard to be consistent and not give in (even though it would be So. Much. Easier.)
*The way I sometimes feel like Jan Brady from the Brady Bunch Movie when she says "Am I invisible?  Do I not have a voice?" (shout out to my sisters- they are probably the only ones who will know that reference)...basically, more often then not I talk to her or ask her do something and she either ignores me or does the exact opposite

So, there you have it.  The great and the not-so-great things about 28-month-olds.  Thankfully, the great things FAR outweigh the hard.

On to the weekend...

Friday
We were sad to find out last Monday that our friend Alison's mom passed away after a very brave battle with cancer.  Chris and I were thankful to be able to go to the funeral on Friday afternoon.  It was a wonderful celebration of her life.   We spent the rest of the evening home as a family, just doing our normal things.

Saturday
We weren't very exciting on Saturday, which may be the cause of our toddler being Little Miss Moody.  Or maybe we weren't very exciting because our toddler WAS Little Miss Moody.  Who knows.  But by early afternoon, we needed a change of scenery so I took her over to see Boom and Bops.  She helped Boom wash bird poop off their car (Backstory: Callie noticed the bird poop on Friday when driving with my mom, and was VERY interested in it...so she was excited to help.)

On Saturday night I went out with my friend Adrea, so Chris and Brent hung out with Callie.  Brent is one of the few guys that Callie will actually warm up to really quickly.  I heard that she even wanted him to put her down for sleepies instead of Daddy...

Sunday
We did a lot of activities to avoid mood swings.  Grocery store.  Muffin making.  Etc.  Then we took her to G-ma and G-pa's house for some play time and nap time so we could get our out of control laundry situation under control.  G-ma and G-pa were also babysitting a 4-month-old baby, Zinnia, and Callie loved her!

Sunday afternoon we were walking around the neighborhood and ran into our neighbors, so Callie decided to help them out and pull Ben and Hannah in the wagon. :)

Sunday evening, while Chris and Bops went to a T-Wolves game, Cal and I headed to Auntie Cat's for a delicious soup dinner and fun at Lake Nokomis.

I'll leave you with a (cell phone quality) video of Callie sort of singing her new favorite song: Fun.'s We Are Young. She calls it the "Whoa Whoa Song."  If you listen to mainstream radio, you probably hear it every 15 minutes.  If you don't, here's a snippet:


It also seems appropriate to post a song called "We Are Young" as I currently only have one day left in my 20s. :)