5 Years

Today, Michael and I have been married for five years! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. We have survived a deployment to Iraq, and the pregnancy and birth of our first son! I love him even more now then I did then.

Today he also returns home from his two week AT (Insert excited squeal here!) I told him I didn't want anything for my birthday besides a date night out to my favorite sushi restaurant. He has planned that for tonight, and even arranged care for Patrick. To say I am excited it an understatment!

Michael, I love you more now than ever. You are an amazing husband and father and I can't wait to see what there is in store for the next five years.

Pinterest

Since Michael has been gone, I have been doing a lot (besides playing with Patrick and cleaning the house!) Pinterest is a serious problem that I have! I just can't stop pinning things, it's horrible! Here are the projects that I have done so far:

Patrick now has lots of new CUTE onesies! I need to start putting these on regular T-shirts, but I haven't found ones without pockets! Suggestions? I know he will thank me later for his cute wardrobe (Insert Michael's eyeroll here!)

Ok, so this wasn't Pinterest inspired, but we needed to plant plants on the side of the house to finish off our gardening. I took care of that! Ignore the weeds, I am letting Michael finish those off....and mulch!

This is a wood growth chart I made for Patrick. The numbers aren't on yet because I haven't quite decided how to do it yet. It is supposed to look antiqued or distressed. I thought I did very well with that, then my Dad came over and was confused by the whole concept. HA. Oh well!

Yes, just call me Martha. This was done on burlap. CUTE.

This is our front door. I ordered the Welcome from Etsy, because I wasn't quite that talented (and didn't own a Criket machine) but the burlap wreath I made!

I am quite impressed with my talent! I already have other projects in mind, but I need Michael to sand things when he gets home! I know he is beyond thrilled!

Patience

We are more than halfway through this two week AT and I feel stupid and ridiculous even feeling like this. I am exhausted. Words can't even describe the exhaustion. I am just tired. Tired of doing everything around here. Don't get me wrong, I do most everything anyway, but the at least Michael is normally here to give me a 5 minute reprieve.

Not to mention Patrick is starting to get a stubborn streak in him. He is also starting to hit. I am torn as to what to do with that. I have been smacking his hand and firmly saying "No." I would much prefer a timeout to hitting. It doesn't make sense to me...hitting him because he hit me. Don't get me wrong, I believe a kid needs a good spanking every now and then (if the need arises) but Patrick is too little to understand a time out. Any suggestions?

Today, he was hitting his head against the wall (Why?) so I moved him from the wall and tried to distract him with other toys. Well he didn't like that, came over and smacked my leg! I said, "No, we don't hit Mommy." To which he smiled, and hit me again! Ughhh. Then I smacked his hand and sat him on the carpet away from me, again saying 'No.' He cried that time, but then came right back and did it again! What do I do?

By the end of the day I am spent and my patience is gone. I feel so bad getting short with him or yelling, when he is so little and doesn't understand why I am doing it. After bath time today he would NOT sit still long enough for me to get his diaper on, even after handing him everything I had in arms reach to distract. I yelled at him, and he started crying. My heart hurt. Seriously. But what do I do? After I put him down for bedtime, I felt so bad I went back up and rocked him.

When I tell Michael he always suggests getting my parents to watch him for a bit. Well that's nice, but then I feel like a failure. Why can't I watch him and just handle it. It's two weeks for crying out loud. I did it for a whole freaking year and survived and I am struggling with TWO WEEKS. What the hell would I do if he deployed?

Ugh. For now I am going to have a glass of wine and feel like the WMOY...Worst mom of the year.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my Mom's birthday! She is such a great Mom. She coached me in field hockey since I was old enough to hold a stick, gave me advice and guided me. She never pushed, but instead let me come to my own decisions, but was always close by if I needed her. Now she has turned into a great friend. She swears we have always had a 'connection.' She claims when I was a baby, when she would walk by the room, I would ALWAYS wake up out of a dead sleep and look for her. She also claims that she knew I was pregnant before I even told her (She may be crazy too!)

Love at first site! Patrick loves his Nana!

Happy Birthday Momma! I hope I can be half the Mom you have been to me.

House Tour

Ok, so this post took long enough for me to get together! We still have pictures to hang and furniture to sand and repaint, and boxes to unpack (still!) but here it is! Welcome to our House!

Front of house (obviously!)

Our (Michael's) office. We still have many things to hang in here!

This is our entry way when you walk through the front door. Off to the left, is our office. 

Once you walk through the entry way, past the office and stairs you walk into the family room. It has two story ceilings and you can look up into the loft area. 

Off of the family room is our kitchen. I LOVE this area. We have so much counter and cabinet space it's amazing. Off to the left (behind the cat) is all counter space and the oven. I guess I should have done a better job of taking pictures! You can see our breakfast area off to the right in the dark. If you look in the left corner of the picture there is a doorway that takes you to the laundry room and an entry to the garage.

If you look back at the entry way photo, there is a doorway off to the right. This leads to our master bedroom and a half bath across. I didn't take a picture of the bath, but here is our bedroom. Again, in LOVE.

Master bathroom. Double sinks, shower and claw foot tub on the left. Straight ahead is our closet. Not the best lighting...I should have turned more on!

At the top of the stairs is the loft area. Patrick's room is right on the left at the top of the stairs (He is asleep so you get that picture some other time!) This is where we keep some of his toys. He loves it!

Loft, another view. I love that you can see downstairs.

Guest room upstairs - a work in progress!

Another bedroom upstairs. Again, a work in progress. There is a bathroom attached to this room, and a huge storage area. The door isn't pictures but it's to the left of whats in the picture. 

Upstairs bath

We are so happy with everything and we are loving living here. The neighborhood is nice and quiet and Patrick loves playing outside! I am excited we have off in the summer because now I have time to really turn the house into our home!

Sorry about the picture taking and format. I don't claim to be a photographer!

Another Year Older

Today I turn the big 2-8. I don't like that number. When I hit 27 this past year I was a little sad, I am getting OLD! I know many people will laugh at that, but for some reason that number just seems old to me.

28. We are supposed to have our ten year reunion this year (which I don't think I am going to anyway) which is just crazy to me! I have been out of school for ten years? Where has that time gone?

I look at my life and am so amazed at how much I have accomplished in 28 years. I have my Master's degree, a good job, an amazing husband, a smart and handsome son, and a gorgeous house. Does it get much better than that?

Today, my husband is away (like every other year....I can't remember the last time we spent my birthday together!) but little man and I plan on having some fun. Today will be our first pool day! It is supposed to be HOT, so he won't stay in too long! I plan on taking the pack and play to my Mom's and putting him down for his nap and then I can get some much needed relaxation and sun! After that, maybe I will go to dinner with Patrick too! He can be my birthday date!

While I may not like the age, I am thankful for another year to spend with my amazing family and friends and look forward to what the next year brings!

Two Weeks?

That time of year has come again...the two week AT. I remember thinking before Michael deployed that two weeks was so long. I felt like those 14 days would never be over. HA. Then he deployed. To Iraq. For a year. Yeah, needless to say, I felt like a complete idiot for complaining about two weeks!

Two weeks is nothing!

I love the people that always say, "I don't know how you do it!" or "I couldn't do it!" Really? It's not like we have much choice in the matter! My response to those people is always the same, "Do you love you husband? Then you can do it!" I would go to the end of the Earth for that man, so I can wait as long as it takes!

Anyway, I have never experienced AT with a toddler! Talk about exhausting. We are only on day 4 and I am looking for light at the end of the tunnel. Don't get me wrong, I love my son and I have so much fun with him, but he is exhausting! I better be 10 lbs skinnier with all of this running around I am doing!

I keep trying to think of new things to do with him! One day we went shopping, one day we played outside in the dirt (not so much fun for me!), we take walks every night, we made a mold of his foot, and have tried new foods like hummus (which he loves!). We plan on Toddler Time at the library this week, maybe a Strawberry festival on Saturday, and hopefully going to the pool for the first time this year. It is supposed to be HOT this week! Any other suggestions for me?

First Steps

While this post is well overdue, almost two months now, I just had to post it! He is so cute! Now he is practically running all over the house!

Happy Father's Day!

I was blessed growing up. I had parents who were amazing role models, and as I have gotten older, have become good friends and mentors who I look to for advice, especially now that we have Patrick. While I love both of my parents more than words can describe, I am definitely a Daddy's girl. He was the one that I always looked to for approval, and who I measured all of the guys I dated against (because there were SOO many, ha!)

Now that we have Patrick, seeing Michael as a dad has made me fall in love with him all over again. He is an amazing Father. Seeing his face light up when he comes home from work and Patrick runs to him just makes me melt. No one can make Patrick laugh like he does. From his funny faces, to wrestling around with him on the floor, Patrick just can't get enough. I am so happy and proud that I have found someone who is such an amazing husband and father. We love you!

I'm Back!

I have really neglected this blog for awhile now! I am kind of disappointed in myself because I had been doing really good. I could make excuses, like we moved into our house, life is insanely busy, Patrick is a wild man now, but the fact is, I just really didn't feel like it! I had things I wanted to write about and events with Patrick I wanted to document, but at the end of the day I was exhausted and really just wanted to have a glass of wine instead.

Life happens.

So much has happened since the last time I wrote! Our house is coming along, we actually have curtains and rugs and new furniture, oh my! Patrick is walking all over the place and is learning to say more words everyday. He really is so much fun right now, I just love him to pieces!

Today was the last day of school! I am free! To say this year was challenging is an understatement. I have to say this was the first time I dreaded going to work. 99% of my class was amazing, but there were a few that made me hate my job. The good news is, they have moved on, and as weird as it sounds, I am ready for the new class to come along. Almost. First, I have some summer fun to enjoy! We are planning a lot of day trips with little man, and I can't wait to see his reactions to the many things we do together this summer.

Hopefully with summer break starting I can blog during nap times and catch up on everything that has happened with Patrick and the house! Plan for picture overload! Stay tuned!