Nap Nightmares Personified.

I picked up Buddy before nap at his preschool today, hoping if we came home he would finally take a nap. Umm, he wouldn't. So now he is crabby, laying on the couch exhausted, refusing to sleep. Awesome.

I get a break tomorrow though, Mama is going to the Twin Cities to see some plays! I'm really excited :)

EDIT: It's 7:30 pm. Buddy's bedtime is usually around 9 pm. I guess the last week really took a toll on him, because this NEVER happens. I don't think Buddy has fallen asleep on the couch since he was 2 years old!

Nap Nightmares.

As I've said before, Buddy is right on the verge of not needing the naps anymore. If it's been a laid-back day we might not need it, but any day with excitement needs at least an hour of napping.

For instance: on Saturdays, we have a chill day (usually). We go to the library for story-time, maybe go out and get lunch, clean house, and do other relatively calm activities. Those days, it might be OK to skip nap.

Here's an example of when it's not OK. Buddy has been with his dad for a few days. This probably means late bedtimes, lots of junk food and movies, and probably lots of outside time. This is great time to spend with Dad, Buddy loves it, and I want them to be able to relax and enjoy each other. However, this means that for the next 2 days, Buddy will have a confused schedule which will make it hard to take his nap at daycare. Meanwhile, we still have our own stuff planned, lessons and parks and plenty of other fun things.

This basically means that Wednesdays and Thursdays, my first few days with Buddy each week, end up being hell. Kiddo starts to get upset and horrible by around 7pm each night, but won't fall asleep until around 9. Every single situation causes a fight, and it ends up with me taking away TV in the morning out of desperation! Which, of course, leads to a rough morning.

I'm getting really frustrated. I can't wait till this summer, when Buddy and I can sleep in, stay up late, and enjoy ourselves doing whatever we want :)

Easter

I'm a horrible mother and forgot to bring my camera to Easter (as usual). So this will be a text-only entry, which I know is super boring :(
Anyway, Easter this year was really fun, in surprising ways. We started the day early, with a 6:30 am wake-up call from Buddy "Mom!!!! There's a basket outside the door!!! And there's a BOOK in it!!!!"

It went from there to a frantic Easter egg hunt, and as soon as Buddy finished eating candy we made a quick breakfast and then had to run to church early, since Easter is the biggest choir holiday.

The choir sounded amazing, it was one of those great moments where I could hardly sing because my heart was so full and I was enjoying it so much. Rejoicing at church was great.

By the time we got back to my father's house for lunch, we were all kind of worn out, plus it was nice out. So we went for a bike ride and ate leftovers rather than doing the usual Easter lunch thing.

Then in the afternoon, we went to Buddy's grandparents (on his dad's side) which was great. I love that family so much, and I love that even though I'm not with Buddy's dad anymore, I'm still welcome in their family. They are all great people, and we had a blast at dinner there.

Finally, I was plied with leftovers and sent home, where Buddy got the inevitable tummy-ache from eating too much candy, was whiny and obnoxious, and finally collapsed into a sugar coma.

All in all, great Easter!

Earth Day!

Mama loves Earth Day. Seriously, I love it. So I was looking for crafts and activities to do today for probably a week in advance. Of course, hardly any of my ideas happened, but Buddy had his own creative thoughts and I went with it!

We started the morning off with a litter walk. This was Buddy's idea, since when I asked him what we should do for Earth Day he said "Pick up the earth, duh!" 

We also invited a few of the extended family members. Unfortunately, we went to a park that was surprisingly clean, and it was freezing outside! Buddy really got into the idea of cleaning up, and once we dropped off the friend we went back and did some more "litter walking" around our neighborhood. I think my bud was proud of himself for making a noticeable difference, and he wants to do another clean-up soon!

You know you're a hippy when it's not an issue of finding an appropriate shirt for Earth Day, but an issue of picking just one! Buddy's is an ice-cream earth that says "save some for me", mine is an earth with different colored hands holding it up saying "we're all in this together".

Our Earth Day craft (that I picked), an Earth luminary. I used tissue paper, mod-podge, a circular candle-holder, and a paintbrush.

Buddy hard at work, cutting up the tissue paper and then painting it on. He did NOT like it when the mod-podge got on his fingers, so I had to hold the glass and the tissue paper on while he painted. Hence, awkward photos, it's tough to take a picture one-handed and all sticky :)

The finished project! It looks cute, I'm proud of it. Buddy didn't like making the "continents", so there are only 3. But it's still nice!

And this was Buddy's idea for a craft, he just wanted to color an earth and make some promises to it! I traced a bowl for the outline, and let Buddy draw the continents and then color them in. My favorite of Buddy's promises is "Keep room clean (Mom too!)". His words, not mine!

I'll Stop Procrastinating... Tomorrow.

Today, I had 2 exams for school. In a row. One for Calc 3, and one for Conservation.
Not the best timing, but I can handle it, right?

Except I did my typical thing, and didn't REALLY start to study until yesterday morning! I kept thinking "Oh, I still have 3 days. Oh, I still have 2 days, Oh, I still have 36 hours..."

Then 9 am yesterday morning came. And I actually started to study, rather than just skimming through the homework. And I panicked! I realized I was not ready, at all. I immediately dropped all other plans and settled down for 24 hours of studying.


My tests went fine, of course. They usually do, once I buckle down. I just wish I could manage to get prepared in advance, rather than just cramming at the last minute!


Anyway, that's why I don't have any witty stories or cute pictures of Buddy. I'm hoping to do something fun with him for Earth Day tomorrow though, so expect something then! 

A New Me?

This last year, I needed a break from school. I also desperately needed money! So I took a full time job working in a call center. This meant sitting on my butt all day, doing nothing but eating and smoking cigarettes.Over the next 6 months working there, I gained about 50 pounds. From what I gather, this is pretty typical for employees, as almost all the people I knew there gained between 20 and 70 pounds while working there.

Well, all of a sudden I decided to get back to the life plan. I enrolled back in school, quit working at the call center... and all of a sudden realized that none of my clothes fit and it was a struggle to walk up a flight of stairs!

I've been working on it. I've been slowly starting to work out, and am now to the point where I can comfortably work out at least 3 times a week for about a half hour. I quit smoking cigarettes. I feel better, and I have more energy. Unfortunately, I've lost all of 2 pounds.

Summer season is approaching, and I'm slightly terrified to bring out the shorts and tank tops again. Not only will I have to buy new ones (nothing from last summer will fit) but I also have all sorts of angry red stretch marks from my rapid weight gain.

I'm working hard, and hopefully all this work will pay off! I'm aiming not just for weight loss, but a lifestyle change. Even before last year, I was a junk food addict and never worked out. Hopefully all this work I'm putting in will help me become a new me!

Disaster Strikes!

Ok, I meant to give an update about the whole Chuck E. Cheese party thing earlier, but it was an exhausting day, and I haven't had the energy to write about it until now.

Long story short: the party SUCKED.

Well, the kids didn't hate it. The actual party part, that was fun for them. But, here is a list of everything that went wrong, starting from 9 am that morning before we went!

1) go shopping at Shopko for a present for the birthday boy. Get all the way through the checkout line, just to realize my debit card is in my other coat. Awesome.

2) While running up my cement stairs in a hurry to grab said card, I trip and fall. Scrape my hand, rip up my foot, and hurt my knee.

3) My ride gets here. It turns out Buddy and I are expected to fit into a 2-door car that already has 3 other people in it. NO. Not for a 2 hour car ride. I clean out my Mommy-van, and put $50 worth of gas in so we can all fit comfortably. (I didn't have a spare $50. No good.)

4) The boys (Buddy and his cousin) fight like cats and dogs the whole ride down. Hitting, stealing toys, etc.

5) We get there, on time, as was the plan. The birthday boy and family? Don't get there for another 45 minutes.

6) As we wait, the weather gets worse. Sleet, wind, cold, gross.

7) Even after birthday boy shows up, we have to wait in a crowded line for 15 minutes. Buddy has missed his nap, crabby, and bored.

8) Party starts, but birthday boy's mom is disorganized and hasn't planned for food/beverages/game tokens for all the guests. I shell out more money.

Anyway, after all that garbage, the actual party was fun. Buddy enjoyed the games, he always loves giving people presents, and he had fun with his cousin. But then we had to endure the drive home, and Buddy was crabby until I finally got him to bed at night.

Pictures to come, but just trust me. It was a gloomy, frustrating day.

EDIT: I know this has become ridiculously long. but, here are a few pictures that I stole from my cousin, who I carpooled with.

Our first glimpse of Chuck E. Cheese's

The wild boys, plus Mama chaperone. I look haggard. I can't even blame this on "bad picture", It was a miserable day.

We went here while wasting time before the birthday family got here. It was actually kind of cool, first time I've been there!

Walking in. I'm separating the boys, since they've been fighting for 2 hours at that point.

Demanding that the boys take one nice picture. Seriously, look at the forced grins on their faces!

He floats through the air with the greatest of ease...

Tonight was the circus! It was a cute, little circus. It only had horses and dogs, the performers were second rate, and the acts were kinda, well, lame.
Unless you are a 4-year-old.

The kid was in awe!

And thinking about it, I guess it was pretty cool. There was a fire breather (although I missed the picture where he actually blew fire "like a dragon" as Buddy says), a contortionist, people doing tricks on horses, a clown, a juggler, a hula-hooper, and probably more things I can't remember.

My camera is horrible, and the lighting was weird, so these aren't the greatest pictures. But Buddy says they need to go up!

The fire dancer.

The clown making grown men shake their booty. Buddy laughed hysterically.

The contortionist. She was VERY young, and Buddy said "she is gorgeous!". She did more impressive stuff, but I was too in awe to take pictures.

The juggler, pre- and post- Michael Jackson transformation.

Buddy and his cousin.

They were super wired, and all their pictures together looked goofy!

The tightrope walker. She kinda sucked.

The horse people. There was a little girl who did horse stuff too.

Anyway, that was our night! And tomorrow we're going to Chuck E. Cheese in Green Bay for another friend's birthday, which should also be amazing :)

Real Life!

So, usually Buddy and I are pretty isolated. We mostly do our own thing, stranded in our own universe of mommy-and-kiddo.
But this week, we've been social!
Buddy' dad picked him up on Monday afternoon and kept him till Wednesday morning, so I got to spend some time with my much neglected friends. What I found: I can't keep up with the party crowd AT ALL anymore! That's right, I went out on Monday night and tried to party. It lasted maybe 3 hours. Then, before midnight, I went home and went to sleep! Because I'm lame. The same sort of thing happened Tuesday night, except I had a friend come visit me here at home. She got here around 4, and by 8 pm I was kicking her out! Hey, Mama relishes her alone time.

Buddy is getting to be social too, which is much more exciting. We had a short playdate tonight, we are going to the circus with some boys tomorrow night, and on Saturday we are going to Chucky Cheese's! Expect pictures.
I'm really excited about this development, since usually I feel like the fact that I'm a young mom hurts Buddy's social life. But I'm going to be out with 2 other young mammas, and Buddy will get to hang out with friends!

Mama's a wimp :)

Ok, so there was weird weather yesterday, as everyone in Wisconsin knows.
What not everyone knows, is that Mama is TERRIFIED of tornadoes. And thunderstorms. And hail. And the threat of those things made me into a little 8 year old girl, who runs crying to her daddy.

Which, of course, I did. I blamed it on Buddy being "freaked out and possibly having a panic attack", but my father saw right through it. Direct quote: "Are you sure it was Buddy who was scared, dear?"

Yeah, I'm a wuss. And we didn't even get any bad weather, just a threat of bad weather. There wasn't even really any rain. Hah.

Children's Festival

You know, Mama is NOT rich. So I'm always looking for events to take Buddy to that are either free or VERY cheap. Luckily, our downtown area offers a ton of things like this, and I'm usually only a quick car trip away!

Today, we went to the Children's Festival. It's an event  that I remember going to with MY family, so of course I invited Grandpa along. And it was very nostalgic! Every station I went to I would say "Dad, remember that one year where we made a birdhouse? And David (the brother) and I fought over who would pound in the nails?"
"Dad, remember that one year where they had a giant ear that you walked through to get to the hearing test?"
"Dad, remember when I made that button with the feathers on it?"

Dad, of course, remembered none of these fond memories.

But Buddy got to make some new memories! The coolest station was the Noon Optimists, they gave out nails and assorted pieces of wood, along with safety goggles and a hammer, and let the kids go wild! Buddy (with lots of help from Grandpa) made an awesome "police car" and the wheels actually spin! He's working on decorating it as we speak.

Of course, because I'm a bad Mama, I didn't bring my camera to the Children's Fest. But, I did force Buddy to stand still with his car for a couple pictures when we got home!

(as seems right, you can see my Coke Zero and a Stephen King book on the couch. This is pretty much an all time accessory.)

Welcome!

So, this is me.

This is my buddy.

Those were our fancy pictures. In real life, we look more like this:

Mama is 22, Buddy is 4. We are a cute little family, the 2 of us! Of course, Buddy has a dad (no immaculate conception here), but he's off on his own. Buddy sees him for a day or 2 a week.

Anyway, this is probably the boring intro post, so I apologize in advance. But just to share some actual life, I'll tell ya a story about yesterday :)

Buddy didn't take a nap at preschool yesterday. Now, he's 4, so he's on the verge of not needing the nap anymore. Sometimes if he skips it he's fine, but sometimes he's a ROYAL TERROR. Yesterday was one of the latter days. There was no way to please the kid!
Buddy wanted a snack, but didn't want any food known to man. Banana? No. String cheese? No. Raisins? No. My fault that I couldn't offer him anything he wanted, of course.
Next, Buddy wanted to take a bath, but didn't want to get undressed. My fault again, that I couldn't come up with some way to make that happen.
Buddy wanted to read, but didn't want to pick out books. He also didn't want ME to pick out books. Of course, my fault that I couldn't figure out how to read a book that neither he nor I picked off the shelf.
It went on like this all night. Good thing he's a cute kid, because he was NOT cute last night!